GH: THE MISSING ARCHIVES II
Thank you, everyone, for your wonderful support.
I hope I can live up to your expectations. I will do my very best. Please enjoy this chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters from Ghost Hunt, or any concept from the games mentioned before.
File 001: Can you see me in the dark? #1
Shinzo Takashi was a middle-aged man, probably in his late 40s and early 50s, however, his physical appearance made him look much older. He was thin, his black hair was streaked with gray, and dark circles marked his eyes. The
"Shibuya-san, thank you for coming so soon. You didn't have any problems reaching this place, did you?"
Shinzo-san had mentioned in the interview that his village was located in a fairly rural area. After getting off at the train station, the group had to drive an extra hour to get to the investigation site.
Miyashina was a very small farming town. It was located at the foot of a small mountain, and the first thing I noticed was the abundant wilderness that surrounded that small area of civilization, and my instinct made me feel uncomfortable.
"It was ok. The road was pretty straightforward," Naru answered. "Did the equipment arrive?"
"Yes, it has been moved to a proper location. Please allow me to show you the way."
We follow Shinzo-san through the village. People looked at us with curiosity, some even came out of their houses to see us.
"Well, talk about unwanted attention," Yasuhara mumbled.
"Eh, I hate feeling watched," Bou-san said with a shudder.
"Uh, something feels a little odd about all this attention," Rei said, frowning.
"They're country people," Yasuhara reasoned. "It is normal that they would feel curious about a bunch of people coming from the city."
"Uh, I wonder if that's the case," Rei said, biting her lip.
"Your fox is being a little more cynic than usual, huh?" Kei said.
"Oh, shut up."
I didn't say anything, but in a way, I agreed with what Rei said. People's gazes made me feel extremely uncomfortable, but I tried to ignore that feeling as we followed our client.
Shinzo-san took us to his house where the entire investigation equipment had been stacked up inside a room; Naru looked around and then told us that we would use it as Base, the Shinzo-san took us to allegedly haunted location. His own house was located directly next to the building we were going to investigate, and he led us to see the surrounding area. The house itself didn't seem like a big deal. The structure was old, and it was clear that it had been struck by the years and nature, even though the house seemed quite solid. It took me a few minutes, and some turns around the property, to realize that it was exactly the same building that I had seen in my dreams earlier.
"So you've been trying to take down this building, right?" Naru asked.
"Yes, we wanted to take it down, so we could build an inn for tourists, but then the noises and the vision began. I have been hearing screams every night. I haven't been able to sleep in the past week."
Well, that sure explained the black circles around his eyes.
"Is there any particular area in which you have seen more activity?" Naru continued, but Shinzo-san shook his head.
Shinzo-san shook his head.
"The whole property seems to be the problem, and recently," Shinzo-san said nervously. "I feel like it's moving."
"Moving?" Naru repeated with a frown. "what do you mean?"
"You see… At first, it was only outside. We heard the noises come out from the old house and people would see the shadows pacing through the windows, but…" Shinzo-san said. He looked at his hands nervously. "lately, I've heard the same things closer. Like it was inside my house. I haven't been able to sleep since it began."
"Inside your house?"
That last statement had gotten Naru's attention.
"Yes, forgive me. This only started a couple of days ago, so I didn't mention it in our original interview."
"What kind of things have happened in your house?"
"I've heard running feet. My wife has seen shadows move through the windows as if something was looking at us from the outside. Sometimes you can even hear someone tapping on the glass."
"Does it occur at any time of the day?"
"No, only after nightfall."
"I understand," Naru said, scribbling into his notes.
"Please help us."
I felt pity for Shinzo-san and his family. His wife looked almost as worn as he did, but the couple was very kind and helpful as we set up base. The room was a little small, but it would suffix. While I helped Lin and Yasuhara set up the shelves and the monitors, Naru sent the twins, John and Bou-San to survey the location while Ayako and Aki Talked to Shinzo-san and his wife. He wanted a medical opinion of the family.
"Naru, if the hauntings have spread from the house to this one, do you think the equipment we have will be enough?" I said, counting the boxes. We have around thirteen cameras the most."
"We'll make it work. Once we find the main haunting points we can focus on them." Naru said without looking at me.
"But it is weird, don't you think?" Yasuhara said. "have you ever had a case in which the haunting would spread from one place to another? I wonder if it could move to other parts of the town, too."
"That would be a problem," I said. "we really don't have enough equipment to cover that much, Yasuhara."
"I'm just saying."
"This gives us a lead, however," Naru said, rubbing his chin. "If the hauntings have moved to Shinzo-san's house, then we are not dealing with a jibakurei after all."
"Yeah, a jibakurei wouldn't be able to leave the property, right?"
"Uh," Naru nodded. "Mai…"
"Right, Tea…" I replied automatically. He hadn't asked for his cup today after all.
"Later," he answered, shaking his head. "Is the house the same you saw in your dream?"
Oh, so he wanted to ask that.
"Uh, well. I can't tell you for sure, but I think so. The place I saw was less hit by the years, but it could be."
"If my thoughts are correct, you might have seen a scene from the past, so it wouldn't be strange that the house looked a little less old," Naru reasoned. "If you have another of those dreams…"
"I will let you know right away, I know." I sighed.
Ayako chose that precise moment to step into the room. Her eyes wandered over to us and then she sat down on the couch located at the wall opposite the screens.
"These poor people," she said, pushing back her hair over her shoulder. "According to what Mrs. Shinzo told me, they have not slept in three days. If it continues like this, their situation could become dangerous."
"Dangerous?" I asked.
"This definitely isn't something you would understand, Mai. Seeing as falling sleep is pretty much one of your best skills." Naru said, passing some papers to Lin.
"Well, excuse me." I pouted. "And for your information, it isn't like that; but what do you mean by dangerous, Ayako?"
"There's a limit to how much time someone can go on without sleep," Aki said. "Usually after about 264 hours, the body starts to malfunction, starting from brain activity."
"That's when people start hallucinating, right?" Yasuhara asked.
"Hallucinations are a common symptom, yes. Hey, Naru. Could it be that the whole haunting is just a case of hallucinations due to lack of sleep?" Ayako asked.
Naru pondered over Ayako's opinion.
"I doubt it. The hauntings began far before Shinzo-san had issues sleeping."
"That rules out hallucinations as a cause…" Aki said.
"Either way, let's wait for the rest to finish their surveying the area, and then we will discuss our options," Naru said. He picked his notebook and turned to me. "Mai…"
"Ok, I know. Tea is on the way."
ooooOOOOoooo
"There was nothing out of the ordinary in the building. The house is pretty shabby, so we didn't venture inside…" Bou-san said. The scouting team had returned, and Naru was listening to their report. "but it looks like a normal abandoned old house to me."
"Without Hara-san and Momoka-san to tell us if there are spirits here, we can't be sure if it is haunted or not," John said.
That's right, Masako had some kind of show, and Hikaru was called home by her grandmother. Our two main mediums were out of the picture, so we had to rely on other sources.
"Kei-san, Rei-san…?" Naru said, turning
"Uh, there's nothing off about it. I don't sense any malicious presence in the house." Rei shrugged.
"The house has an unbalanced energy flow, however…" Kei said, "There are a lot of energetic contradictions which cause the place to be some sort of ground zero, energy speaking."
"So you there are no ghosts?" Yasuhara asked.
"No, there are ghosts, ok? Just not the ones we were asked to investigate," Rei replied. "Non of the spirits I felt out there were violent or had ill intentions and they weren't even in the property. Most of them are wandering in the woods that surround the town."
"Could it be that it is some wandering spirit that comes from the forest and not a ghost in the house?" John asked.
"That's unlikely. Those spirits avoid the town, so I don't think they would roam into town just to scare the locals," Kei said, shaking his head.
"So no ghost in the property…" I said, "but Shinzo-san's fear is real."
"Well, we are not saying there's nothing here. Just that whatever it is, isn't here right now," Kei shrugged.
"We will see the response we get before trying to come with any theories," Naru said. "These are the spots where we'll set the equipment. I want some cameras set in Shinzo-san's house as well. Mai…"
"Yes?"
"While you're setting the cameras in the property, try using the spirit camera."
"Oh, ok."
I took the writing pad from Naru and read the instructions: four cameras in the perimeter of the haunted building, another three inside.
"Ah, we will need an extension for the other house, right?" I said. "There's no electricity there."
"Oh, no. There is a power plant, but we need to set it up." Kei said, "I'll help you out with that… don't worry."
"Ah, ok…"
"I'll appreciate that Kei-san," Naru said, and I thought that would be it, but he turned to John and added. "John, please accompany them."
"Eh? Me?" John said surprised.
"Eh, Naru. It's just setting the cameras. Kei and I can do that on our own."
"Knowing your luck, you might get attacked while you're doing that," Naru replied.
"Even so…" I said, pouting. "Kei would probably be able to handle it…"
I heard Bou-san and Yasuhara scoffing softly behind Naru; Ayako smirked and Rei was shaking her head in amusement. I turned to Kei and saw that he was covering his face with his hand. Naru just glared at me and told me to go to work.
oooOOOooo
Installing the cameras and the rest of the equipment was a simple task, and since the property was small, it could be done by two people with no problem. I didn't know why Naru had made John join us. It wasn't like I didn't want his company, but considering the situation, there were possibly other things that John would be much more useful at.
"Sorry, John. Seems like you were unnecessarily sent as the lightbulb," Kei laughed. "but damn, the hostility real."
"Well, it might have become a little worse since he found out Mai-chan and you lived together."
"Eh?" I said, turning on the camera and adjusting the angle. "but I cleared that up, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but…" John said.
"Maybe it wasn't the best way for him to find out…" Kei laughed. "I just hope he doesn't curse me or something. Why did you have to tell him that?"
"It's not my fault! You sent that box to the office instead of the home!" I said with a frown.
"It got mixed up with SPR things, it wasn't my intention for it to end up there."
"Then don't push the blame on me. Besides, they would find out one day… right, John?"
"Yes, most likely," John chuckled. "But I think the problem was knowing the package was from Kei-san and that you two lived in the same house."
"Well, it isn't like it was some romantic present or anything…."
A few days after we finished the Rougetsu case, a box with my name had appeared in the SPR office. The box turned out to be a package from Kei, who had left a note inside. The box contained Asou's camera, and several files and a photograph of my mother that the Abeno clan had found in the hospital when they had been cleaning the place.
"Talking about that…." Kei said, looking up from the power plant. "Have you looked through those things we found?"
I shook my head.
"It's been two months…." Kei said, tilting his head. "I figured you would have looked through it several times by now."
"A part of me is curious about what is in those documents, but another part tells me that maybe my mother did not want me to know about her past. It may be silly, but if my mother had wanted me to know about the subject, I guess she would have told me instead of keeping it a secret for so long. " I said, looking absentmindedly at the house in front of us. "Maybe I'm over-thinking it. There's probably nothing important inside those files, but ..."
I wasn't ready. The image I had of my mother was something valuable to me, and part of me was afraid that after reading those documents, that image would change forever.
"I see your point there," Kei nodded. He picked another tool from his utility belt and kept fidgeting with the power plant. "Take your time. It is not like those files will go anywhere, so…"
"Mai-chan's mother was from Rougetsu, right?" John asked.
"Well… I really don't know." I sighed. "She worked there at least, but whether she was originally from there, well, I don't know."
John and Kei said nothing. The air filled with tension, and John chose to change the subject.
"Mai-chan, maybe you should try taking a photo of the house?"
Asou's camera was a souvenir of Rougetsu's case. The Abeno clan had given it to me since apparently I was the only person who could make the camera work. It turned out to be quite a useful tool in cases since the photographs he took usually revealed things that were not visible to the naked eye. So far it had never shown me a ghost, but hidden items and other things.
I took a couple of quick snaps and put it back into my bag.
"The outdoor cameras are set. I guess we should put the ones inside now…" I said, checking the clipboard that Naru had given me.
"Uh, we should be careful. Takigawa-san said that some panels might be rotten." John said.
"Well, let's get over this," I said cheerfully.
"Mai-chan, do you feel anything about this place?" John asked while we looked for a safe place to enter the house.
"Eh? Why are you asking me that?"
"Well, your radar for danger is usually pretty accurate. So it is reasonable to ask for your opinion." Kei said, smirking. He pointed at a small opening and then crouched to enter the building.
"It's not like Naru actually trusts my opinion," I replied. I crouched so that I could pass through the hole through which Kei had disappeared seconds ago.
"That's not true. Shibuya-san seems to trust your judgment about the cases," John continued. He passed me the other three tripods and the camera boxes before coming through.
Well, it was true that lately, Naru took my opinion with more consideration; and although his personality and his attitude had not changed, his way of treating me had undergone a tiny variation.
"Careful over there… those floorboards are a little loose," Kei said. "Your psychic abilities have improved considerably. Especially after what happened in Rougetsu. I am not surprised if he's more aware of your abilities by now."
"Well, I bet he still considers it animal instinct, though."
"I don't think so," John said. "I believe Shibuya-san considers you an important asset to the team."
"For making tea, maybe…" I laughed. "Let's hurry, shall we? This place is making me uneasy."
We hurried to finish installing the cameras and return to the base. It was getting dark, and if there was one thing I was sure of, it was that I didn't want to be in that place at night.
