GH: THE MISSING ARCHIVES II

I shouldn't be uploading chapters that often, right?

But it felt about right, to upload the epilogue as soon as possible.

Hope you guys enjoy it


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? Epilogue.

"Oe, Mai… why are you crying?" Kei asked, with wide eyes.

Kei had just entered the house wearing his work clothes: a dirtied. scorched white t-shirt, worn trousers and a bandana keeping his hair from getting in the way. It wasn't his best look, but I hated him because he could still look good in those unfashionable clothes. He had stayed locked up in the shed - which he had converted into his workshop - all morning fixing the rest of the cameras that had been damaged in the previous case. Usually, he worked in the technology room at the society's headquarters, but since the cameras were from SPR, he'd decided to repair them at home. It was faster; he said.

"Well done, dork. What did you do to her this time?" Rei said, poking her head into the living room. She too was in her casual outfit: a loose shirt, shorts, and her platinum blonde hair tied up and hidden under a hairband.

She was wearing her glasses, instead of her contacts, and if I hadn't been in the middle of emotional breakdown, I would have laughed at how similar those looked at the moment.

"Why does it always have to be my fault?" Kei said, rolling his eyes.

"It's not his fault," I replied. "I just finished my readings for the class and oh my god… it ended so sadly."

"Eh? You are crying because of that?"

"Yes!" I said, rubbing her eyes. "They loved each other so much, but she had to die at the end because she was human!"

The twins exchanged looks, and I saw Kei shrug, dumbfounded.

"I don't think we understand…" Rei said.

"The story! The girl fell in love with yokai, and it was so hard for them to be together, but in the end, she died and he was left alone! It is so sad!"

"Well, that's pretty much expected when you get yourself involved with a yokai. Their life span is longer than a human's, after all." Rei said, tapping her cheek. "As long as they live their time together to the fullest, there is no regret, right?"

"Still… it was so sad!"

"Mai, you're too sensitive," Kei sighed. "Ok, if it's nothing serious, I leave you to play your girly magic around this. I'm in desperate need of a shower."

"Ok, fine… go take your bath, stinky brother." Rei said. She stepped into the living room and dropped by my side on the couch.

Kei gave us a mocking look before leaving the room; leaving Rei and me in a conversation about tragic love stories.

"I am back!" we heard Aki's voice call from the main entrance.

"Welcome home, Aki. We are in the living room…" Rei shouted, "having a conversation about love tragedies if you want to join us!"

Aki entered the room with a curious look, and to our surprise, she did not come alone. I heard Rei let out a soft screech in horror as she yanked off her hairband and tried to straighten her hair, and I looked curiously over the back of the chair.

"Yo, jou-chan!" Bou-san greeted me with a smirk.

"Excuse our interruption," John said, politely. His face seemed apologetic.

"EHHH? What are you doing here?" I snapped.

Bou-san, John, Yasuhara, Ayako, and even Lin and Naru were standing at the entry of the living room. Bou-san and the other greeted us with a smirk. But unlike the rest of the group, the last two were the only ones who seemed to be taking the situation more seriously. Lin nodded at us, and Naru seemed to be more upset than normal.

"I met them outside," Aki replied, tilting her head. "They said they were here to see you, Mai, so I let them inside."

"What?" I said shocked, "How did you even get my address?"

"How you say?" Ayako replied. "Well, obviously. We had John show us the way."

"I am sorry, but they were pretty insistent," John said, apologetically.

I wasn't sure how to react to their sudden arrival, so I just opened and closed my mouth without a word coming out from my lips. Luckily, my two friends' reaction wasn't that slow.

"Ah, right… Tea… yeah, we have a guest, Tea is on call," Rei said, jumping to her feet.

"Eh… I'll better go with you. The kettle is new…" Aki said. "Please have a seat."

I saw them sneak away to the kitchen and sighed. They were abandoning me now?

"You were not kidding about the house," Bou-san said, looking around. "Mai, how come you've never invited us over, huh?"

"Well, maybe because this isn't technically my house, so I can't go around randomly inviting people," I replied. "What are you guys doing here, anyway?"

"Well, since you teased the subject during the entire case, we decided it was time to do some house-living conditions inspection," Yasuhara said, winking at me.

"In other words, you just came to snoop around, didn't you?" I sighed.

"Hey, we worry about you. We had to come and make sure you were being treated well!" Bou-san said, winking at me, too.

"Ahh…" I groaned. "Ok, I see why you would force John to bring you here, but…"

I lowered my voice, making Naru nor Lin would hear me.

"Why are Lin and Naru here, too?"

"Lin-san said he wanted to come to see how the cameras were doing," John said with a small smile. "I am not sure why Shibuya-san tagged along, but it is all right, no? It isn't like he isn't welcomed or anything."

Well, that was true. Naru was, more or less, the twins' friend, so it wasn't like he wasn't welcomed to their house or anything. It just felt a little weird to have Naru and Lin sitting in our living room so casually, especially when I was used to seeing them only in the office or during cases.

Rei and Aki returned to the room carrying a tray with cups, a teapot, and sweets to accompany. My friends were much better hostesses than me, and they took care of serving the tea and sweets with admirable courtesy.

"I am sorry, Shibuya-san," Rei said, setting the teacup and the sweet in front of him. "Your visit took us by surprise, and I am afraid we only have wagashi to accompany the tea."

"Don't worry about it, kid." Bou-san smiled, "Naru can survive with tea alone."

That was true, too.

"How are the cameras going?" Lin asked.

"You're asking the wrong twin," Rei chuckled. "However, last time I checked, Kei was almost done with them. He was working on that the whole day. He's taking a bath right now, but you can ask him once he comes out."

"Oh, that's right. Naru…" I said, turning to that grumpy narcissist. "I saw the news this morning, and they were talking about Miyashina…."

"What about it?" Naru replied.

"What do you mean what about it?" I replied, rolling my eyes. "That was our case, aren't you at least interested in what happened after we left?"

"Shinzo-san was satisfied with our results. That's the only thing that matters." Naru answered simply.

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I couldn't understand his logic.

"You might have a point there, Naru," Ayako said. "But Mai is right. That little town became really hot news after we left."

"It did?" John asked.

"Yeah, don't you watch the news?" Ayako asked. "The police broke through the shrine's underground tunnel. They found tons of bones down there. Gods know how many people were left there, forgotten."

"Well, the good news is that their souls will finally find peace," Bou-san said.

"Yes, may God heal their souls in the afterlife," John whispered.

"Talking about that. What happened to the Yama-uba?" Yasuhara asked, turning to Rei.

"Ah, well. We were planning to send it to Kyoto. My family would probably know what to do with it, but…"

"But…?" Bou-san asked.

"Eh…, "Rei sighed. "Some things came up, so we couldn't send it to Kyoto. We ended up storing it in the Missing Archives for the time being. We will probably take it back when we go home."

"Is that really okay? Storing such a dangerous thing down there?" Ayako asked.

"Oh, it is all right. My brother is thick-head, but he knows his way around seals. That Yama-uba won't be coming out from that box for a long time."

"Still, with all that has happened lately, I don't know if I am okay knowing that Mai spends her free time down there," Ayako said concerned.

"It's not like she's alone, and besides none of us stays down there that often," Aki replied. "Right, Mai?"

"Oh, yeah. Actually, I spend more time in the upper archives than there. Don't worry about me."

"Ah, how do you expect me not to worry when you're such a trouble magnet, seriously," Ayako said, pinching my cheek.

I let out a giggle, and everyone seemed to agree with Ayako.

I was about to say something in my defense when the door of the room slid open and Kei entered, with a towel on his head and to my terror, shirtless.

"Oi, Mai…have you seen any of my shirts? That stupid Zashiki Warashi (1) stole them again, and…"

Kei stopped dead in his tracks and stared in horror at the room. Beside me, Aki pinched the bridge of her nose, and I heard Rei mutter something like "What a way to dig your own grave, brother." The temperature in the room was suddenly as cold as a fridge and I saw my friends struggle to hold back a laugh.

I, however, jumped up and started throwing cushions at Kei.

"You, idiot! How many times do I have to tell you not to walk around half-naked!"

"I'm not half-naked! It's not like you haven't seen me shirtless before… wait, no that sounded wrong."

"Kei, if you're not saying anything useful, maybe it is better if you don't say anything…" Rei sighed.

"Go dress, yourself, exexhibitionist!

"I can't…I don't have my shirts!"

"Ahhhh…stupid Kei!"

Each case has its beginning and its end; and I am happy when that ending is as joyous as it is now.


(1) Zashiki Warashi: literally guest room child, are spirits that live in storage rooms and Japanese houses. They are popularly described as red-faced kids with a short bob. They like to make pranks to people, but in general, they are seen as omens of good fortune.

It would be fun to make Q&A to everyone in the story, don't you think? Mai probably has lots of amusing stories from the past 4 years away from SPR. If you guys would like to aske them questions go ahead and I will make a small section in the AN to answer them.