GH: THE MISSING ARCHIVES II

So this is a little extra chapter retelling how Mai met her new gang.

I thought of making it a new file, but decided to put it as an extra chapter here.

Hope you enjoy it!


DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters from Ghost Hunt, or any concept from the games mentioned before.

Extra File: Haunted apartment

It had been raining non-stop since the night before. It was not a downpour, but rather a casual spring drizzle, and the soft patter of water against the ceiling and the office window was a very pleasant sound.

Possibly Naru would have enjoyed the atmosphere had it not been for the group of noisy people gathered in the room.

"Care to explain why you are all here?" Naru demanded in a terrible mood.

"Ah, come on, Naru," Bou-san said with a smile. "Just because there isn't case active, it doesn't mean that we can't drop and say hi, right?"

"Of course," Ayako said. "We are friends, and friends hang out in their free time."

"Well, if you want to do a social gathering, chose somewhere else. The office isn't some event hall."

"Uh, I don't think Shibuya-san is too happy about us being here," John smiled.

"Nonsense, Naru is just being shy, right Mai?"

"What? You are asking me?"

"Of course! Who knows Boss better than you, after all?" Yasuhara said, patting my back.

"I suggest you to leave if you don't have anything important to discuss."

"Ah, Naru, come on. After all this year, one would think you are more willing to socialize with us," Bou-san said. "Look even Masako has joined us today!"

"I just happened to be passing by, and I thought I should check-in," Masako replied with her typical air of dignity.

Naru threw Bou-san one of his fierce glares, and I was surprised that he hadn't staggered. Some of Naru's glare was scary enough to sink even the bravest person. I was busy filing the old cases, so I just laughed at the comments my friends made while still wondering how long it would take for Naru to explode and kick them out of the office. Suddenly I heard that my phone was ringing with an incoming message, so I left the folders on the table and checked the device's flashing screen.

It's that time of the year,

As is tradition, today we will have nabe (1) for dinner. Something you wanted in particular?

-Kei-

My eyes automatically looked at the calendar hanging on the wall. I had almost completely forgotten, but Kei was right, it was today.

"Oh, isn't a little hot to be eating nabe?" Yasuhara whispered playfully.

Yasuhara's sudden comment next to my ear almost pulled me from the chair in surprise. I looked at my friend and colleague with irritation, but he just smiled at me innocently.

"So, what are you celebrating with Kei-san? If he's asking you what you want to have in the nabe, it must be something important for you!" Yasuhara said, emphasizing Kei's name.

That did the trick. Everyone in the room fell silent and turned to look at me. I could almost swear that Lin had momentarily looked my way through the open door of his office.

"What was that again?" Ayako asked. "Are you having a date with the Abeno boy?"

"Didn't know you two were that way through? So who confessed?" Bou-san teased.

"Oh!" I said angrily, "You guys are totally wrong! It's not a date, and the nabe thing is something we do every year, and by ´we´ I mean everyone: Rei, Aki, Hikaru, Kei and I."

"Something you do every year?" John asked curiously. "Could it be that you are celebrating something?"

Ah, John was the only reasonable person in the room. That was why I liked him so much.

"Yeah," I replied with a smile. "It's my anniversary of living with them!"

Time sure passed fast. It felt like yesterday when I first met everyone. After parting ways with everyone at SPR, things had become a little sad for me. I had entered college with great expectations and ready to start my life fresh, but sadly, things rarely turn out as we would want them to be. However, I didn't regret it, as I had earned exceptional friends in exchange.

"Now that we are at this subject," Yasuhara said. "Mai-chan, why don't you tell us how you met the Abeno and how you ended up being their freeloader?"

"Well, you know what? I think I speak for everyone when I say that's a story I want to hear," Bou-san smirked.

Look at my friends, feeling defeated. Everyone, including Masako, looked at me expectantly. Naru was not looking at me, but even though she was focused on her free, her silence made me think that she was either too absorbed in her reading, or she was listening carefully to the conversation; even Lin's click seemed to have stopped.

I sighed, knowing that this time there was no way I could escape their curiosity.

"Ok… well…. it all started 4 months through my first semester in college…"


I arrived on campus shuffling and feeling exhausted after another sleepless night. It had been my mistake; I had fallen asleep during the afternoon, while writing my essay on culture and dialect, and had completely lost the opportunity to sneak into the library to sleep in the archive. It was a small space under the stairs that led to the study room, and she had accidentally discovered it one day while working on arranging books. It was not the ideal place to sleep, but between that and spending the night in my apartment, it was a thousand times better.

Of all the things that could happen to me entering college, ending up in a haunted apartment with a murderous ghost was the last thing I needed, but with my luck, that was just what happened. If Naru were here, she would possibly have told me she was an idiot for not having suspected that something was wrong when the price they gave me was so low, but at the time I was only happy to have found an accessible place and such a good location.

All of that went overboard after the first week of living there. At first, they were small things, but as the days progressed, the spirit became more and more violent, to the point that I simply could not be in that apartment after dark.

The worst part of it all was that I was bankrupt, and there was no way I could afford another place to live, so, until my contract with the owner of the place ended, I had no choice but to put up with my paranormal roommate.

At the time I thought about asking John, Ayako, or Bou-san for help. But after hearing how well their lives were doing outside of the SPR, he gave up. If they could, I should be able to.

Well, apparently I was wrong.

"Why do I have such bad luck. I must have done something in my past life to deserve this," I mumbled, feeling pathetic. I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I totally failed to see the person holding a heavy box that was walking in the opposite direction.

We collided face to face with such force that I fell flat on my rear, while the box landed between with a loud crash. All the contents inside it went rolling all over the floor and I groaned in horror. I had worked with Lin long enough to recognize those things. They were camera parts, lenses, and other accessories needed for recording. The worst part of all, those things were all frigging expensive.

"Oh, my god! I am so sorry! I am such a klutz…" I apologized, moving to pick all the scattered things and putting them back into the box, hoping and praying that none of them were broken, as I had no money to replace them.

"Ah, relax, it's no problem," the person replied with a slight Kansai (1) accent that made me remember John. I looked up and found a boy with black hair, pale skin, and glasses, picking up things as well. I had to admit, even if he wasn't as handsome as Naru, he was definitely a good-looking guy. "It was also my fault for taking so many boxes at the same time. The pile was blocking my view…"

The boy smiled at me kindly. Yeah, definitely too unlike Naru.

"I hope I didn't break anything…" I said worriedly. "Thermal lenses are a little out of my budget right now."

"Oh, so you're familiar with these things?" he said, surprised. He then shook his head and smiled. "Don't worry about it. These were old stuff I picked from the old storage room. I thought I might find some use to them. If something broke, there's really not much loss there."

I was relieved. The last thing I needed was a debt, considering my current situation.

"Well, that's a relief…" I said, handing him one of the camera parts. The boy smiled at me, reaching out to pick the object from me.

He paused for a minute, staring at my hand.

"Eh…well, I should go. I need to be in the library…" I said, feeling a little strange.

"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry…" he said, taking the camera part and dropping it in the box.

"No, no. I should be the one, sorry." I repeated. "Well, bye."

And I ran out of there. Maybe I was worried that the boy would change his mind and decide that the broken things in the box did have value, or maybe I was just eager to take a nap in the silence of the library. The point was, I ran as fast as I could.

The library was empty, and after choosing a secluded corner, I decided to get some sleep. The sleepless nights were giving me a bad headache and there was no way I could focus on my work, with that throbbing pain in my skull.

I don't think I had slept long when the sound of flying papers woke me up. I looked around, feeling disoriented, but saw that nothing seemed out of the ordinary in my cubicle. Surely I had imagined it.

I stretched out my arms, feeling a little better, and then I saw something at my feet. It looked like some kind of steering wheel; it was folded into a strange origami. Maybe the person who had been sitting before me had dropped it.

Tokyo Gakuden University

Society of Paranormal Research and Occultism

Have problems with ghosts?

Come see us.

No charge


"No way that happened," Ayako laughed. "So you met Abeno boy first, and the next minute you receive that?"

"Yeah, " I chuckled, shaking my head. "The flyer was handmade. To his credit, the calligraphy was very neat, so I think it was Rei who wrote it."

"So Kei-san must have sensed the spirit's influence on you when he met you," John said.

"Yup, I was probably reeking ghost or something, for him to notice right away. Then again, he's an Abeno. They can probably notice a haunting from miles away…"

"Ok, so they pulled that trick and sent you that flyer. I guess that is how you ended up in the SPRO?" Yasuhara asked.

"Yup, that's how I got there for the first time…"


I wasn't sure what I was thinking when I stepped into the gray building, maybe I was already a little desperate and I took that flyer as some kind of divine intervention.

Part of me expected the place to look a little like Naru's office, but surprisingly, it didn't. It looked more like some sort of office room with a reception in the lobby. The woman at the desk smiled nicely and asked me what could she help mi with, but I wasn't sure what to answer.

I couldn't just blurt something like oh, hi. Well I have a psychopathic ghost in my new apartment and we'll I found this origami with the info of your society so, I was wondering if you could help. If I was here, I would laugh like an idiot if I heard someone tell me that.

"Oh, hey. It is you again!" a familiar voice with a Kansai accent said.

It was the guy of the cameras. He smiled me brightly and approached the desk. He gave the girl in the reception a smile saying 'I'll get this" and turned to me.

"So, welcome to the Society of Paranormal Research and Occultism from Tokyo Gakuden University. SPRO for short," He said, motioning me to follow him. "My name is Abeno Kei. I assume you've come here because you have a certain ghostly problem?"

I stared at him shocked. How did he know? Then I remembered that it was a Paranormal Research society. It was obvious that I had some ghostly issues if I had come to them.

" No, I mean yes," I replied." I think I have a jibakurei in my apartment."

"Well, someone is well-read," Kei replied, surprised. "how I about I call my partner and we can discuss this calmly?"

Well, what did Iu have to lose? If these guys were the real thing, my apartment would be cleansed, if they weren't, there would be no significant changes to my current status, right?

Kei took me to a meeting room and offered me a drink as we waited for his "partner" to arrive. Ten minutes later I saw a fir with black hair to enter the room and sit next to Kei.

My first impression was a shock. Who wouldn't be shocked to see two people that looked so much alike?

"Hello, I am Abeno Rei," she said, giving me a bow.

Same last name. Of course, they were siblings, most likely twins. What was my deal with twins that were ghost hunters?

"You are…?" Rei asked.

With all the shock, I had forgotten to introduce myself.

"Taniyama Mai, first year from the faculty of cultural sciences."

"Cultural sciences? So you are one of Akihara's pups?" Rei asked.

"OK, Rei. Let's let the girl speak," Kei chuckled. "Taniyama-San, tell us about your haunting, please."

Maybe I was used to Naru's way to deal with clients and his weird way to choose the cases he would take. The Abeno were very nice and quick to accept my case, and we quickly settled a date for them to come and have a look.


"They accepted just like that?" Bou-san asked. "Had it been Naru, it would have a lot harder to convince him, haha."

"You'll never know, Takigawa-San, the client this time would have been Mai, don't forget it."

"Why didn't you call us, though?" Ayako snapped. "Living so long with a spirit!"

"Well, I just didn't want to bother you. I know you guys were all busy."

"Now that I remember, there was this one time you offered to help around the church…" John said. "You said you could stay over with the kids all the time we needed you to, was it because of…"

"Caught… I was sort of running away from my apartment. Let's say I was looking for any excuse to stay out of it at nighttime, so I did end up applying for all the night shift jobs I could find."

"So that's why you looked like a zombie," Yasuhara said. "Did you get any sleep at all?"

"I took naps during my free periods during the day," I shrugged. "Of course, that pattern was okay at first, but as time went by, it weighted on my body…"

"Of course it would, and if you add up a damn spirit sucking your energy, that makes it worse." Ayako scolded. "Mai, you dummy. These are the kind of things you should call out to us for…"

I smiled in embarrassment. Thinking back on it, maybe I had really been an idiot.

"Well, well… it is not all bad news. Thanks to this little incident, Mai had Kei-san jump in like a knight in shining armor…"

"Knight in shining armor isn't quite how I would put it…" I replied. "But…"


"I am Sasaki Aki, please to meet you."

The tall, slender girl with burgundy hair gave me a polite bow. Something in her mannerism reminded me of Lin, maybe because like him, she seemed to be quiet and stiff.

"She's part of the team," Kei offered with a smile.

"Ah! Taniyama Mai, nice to meet you." I replied, bowing ceremoniously.

"So this is the place…" Rei said, tilting her head a little. "Well, there's definitely something nasty here. Maybe more than one…"

"Yeah, a man killed his family in my apartment, he then went into a murderous spree and killed several of the other tenants, before killing himself. It happened several years ago before I was born, so I didn't know about the place's history when I came here."

I had looked through the place history when I began suspecting what was going around. It was a habit I had earned from working with Naru, and it had eventually led me to study what I studied today. At some point, I had hoped I could find out what was wrong with the place and maybe help the spirit cross over. Unfortunately, the things I found only made me realized that things were far too out of my level.

"Well, someone did his homework," Kei said, impressed. "Not a lot of people think of looking at the place records so far behind."

"I used to work in a paranormal research office when I was in high school. I learned a couple of things there," I shrugged. "Research was my main job since my boss thought I was too stupid to do it, but I still helped out sometimes…"

"Your boss thought you were stupid?" Rei repeated. "Well, what an A-hole."


There was a general laugh, and I could swear I heard a soft scoff coming from Lin's office. Naru didn't seem to react.

"Did Rei-san really call him that?" John asked.

"She's all civilized. I wouldn't imagine her talking like that…" Ayako laughed. "Praise the girl…"

"It is very rude, however…" Masako said, reproachfully.

"Ah come on, Masako…." Ayako laughed.

ooo OOO ooo

"Well, I am impressed, nevertheless." Kei smiled. "what exactly did you do for your boss if it wasn't ´research´?"

"Obviously you weren't a medium nor and spiritualist, or you wouldn't have this issue…" Aki said.

"Nah, I was more of an errand girl than anything. He had me check the equipment, set up cameras, and other minor tasks. My prime job was probably brewing tea."

"Te?"

"Well, he was British, so he had a thing for tea."

"What is he? A grumpy old man?" Rei said, and I laughed. If she knew how wrong she was? Naru was probably younger than her.

"Well, since you have so much experience with the equipment, how about you help us with these babies?" Kei smiled.

And that was exactly what I did. My companions were extremely friendly, and it was not difficult for me to become friends with them in a short time. They were quite impressed by my familiarity with a paranormal investigation, and they were always eager to teach me something new.

The twins were onmyouji and from a renowned family; in the same way, Aki turned out to be a good family spiritualist too. All three were from Kyoto, which explained their accent, and from what I could glimpse, childhood friends.

"Have any of the other tenants had any experiences?" Rei asked me.

"They have seen or heard little things," I replied, rubbing my arm. "In general, everyone knows the place is haunted, but it seems that violent activity is focused on me."

"Well, it isn't rare for spirits to cling on to people who can see them, and you obviously can," Rei said. "This isn't the first time it happens, right?"

"Excuse me?"

"Ghost attaching themselves to you," she added.

"Ah, no. It seems ghosts tend to like me," I replied. "My friends always teased me about it."

"Curious…" Kei smirked. "Alright cameras are set and ready."

"Why do we have to record this?" Rei asked. "We know who the spirits are, and thanks to Taniyama-san we have enough background information to fill the report. Can't we just exorcise it and be done with it?"

"You know SPRO protocols. We need the logs of the investigation for the archives," Kei replied, typing on his computer.

"Stupid bureaucracies," Rei sighed. "It would be much easier if…"

We never got to know what she was going to say when suddenly the most horrendous rapping sounds echoed through my tiny apartment.

I covered my ears, feeling the temperature drop dramatically. Terror was beginning to take over me, but then I felt a pair of hands rest on my shoulders. Aki was by my side, and her presence made me feel a little calmer.

"naumaku sanmanda bodanan indoraya sowaka!"

The mantra sounded similar to what Bou-san used to recite in his exorcisms, but it was clearly different.

I looked at Rei, who was the one who was chanting with a little curiosity. Naru never had an onmyouji on the team; the closest I had ever been to an onmyouji was Lin, but he claimed to be something different, and even so, he rarely participated actively as an exorcist.

"Naumakusanmanda bazara dan sendan makaroshada sowatayauntarata kandman

Naumakusanmanda senda makashada taratakan"

Was it my imagination or was the building shaking? Was it an earthquake?

"Snappers! This one is putting out a fight," Kei smirked. "Need some help, sis?"

"I've got it under control," Rei replied. She sounded slightly amused.

The rapping sounds were terrible; it sounded like the entire building was screeching and I looked at the twins in shock. How could they be so unfazed at such a terrifying time?

"Pff, fighting back won't stop me from sending him where he belongs," Rei said, sounding annoyed.

"I don't think it will go away without a fight," Aki whispered. "Rei…"

"I know, I know," Rei said. "Things might get a little shaky. Aki, maybe you should take Taniyama-san outside."

"I understand. Then…Taniyama-san, please come with me."

"What…?"

Without answering me, Aki helped me to my feet and led me out of the apartment. Rei was still inside reciting her chants, and I saw Kei come out behind us. Her hands were in a pose I didn't recognize, but I assumed it was a mudra of some sort.

"That thing sure is vicious…" Kei said, joining us. "I am surprised you have lasted this long in that place, Taniyama-san."

"Only because I've been avoiding to stay there as much as I can," I gasped. "What's going on?"

"The spirit is reluctant to leave," Aki said. "This could be bad. Rei might end up engaging it in a fight."

"Wait… what? A fight, with a ghost…?"

"Eh, and knowing my sister, she's going to cause a fuss," Kei sighed. "I am sorry, Taniyama-san. I am afraid your apartment might get a little ruffled. Let me offer you compensation for any damage beforehand."

I was confused. I had no idea what was happening, but if the noises that seemed to be coming from the apartment were an indicator, I didn't want to imagine what was happening inside.

After a few minutes, the noise finally stopped. The three of us looked at the old building, holding our breath. Rei worked her way towards us, adjusting her black hair and making an "ok" gesture with her hand.

"The spirits have been exorcised," Rei smiled. "Things should be ok now so….."

Rei had not finished speaking when suddenly ... a creak. Before our bewildered eyes, we heard a series of screams and a cloud of dust rose, blinding us momentarily.


"Wait… what?" Ayako said, "You mean… the complex collapsed?"

"The official report said a combination of unstable terrain, old infrastructure, and seismic activity caused it. Fortunately, the noise made by the spirit alerted the neighbors and they had evacuated the building thinking it was an earthquake. Nobody got hurt."

"You were not kidding when you said they caused you to lose your home," Yasuhara said with wide eyes.

"Uhm, yeah. I don't necessarily blame them. It seems Rei's power was a little out of control at the time, so her clash with the spirit was too much of a burden for the building." I replied. "Either way, they were very sorry about the incident, and since they had several rooms to spare in their house, they offered me a place to stay until I could get a job and move out. Kei Subsequently, Kei's report of the case reached professor Akihara; he found out about the research I had done and offered me a place in SPRO, and that's how I ended up there."

"That' was surely an ordeal, huh?" Bou-san chuckled. "But I am glad they reached out to help you. For what you told us, that spirit was surely a bad one. Who knows what would have happened if you had stayed there any longer. One way or another, those guys saved you."

"Yeah, they did!" I smiled. "And that happened exactly today, two years ago. The first meal I had in their house was nabe, so they kind of made it a tradition."

"Well, it is less scandalous than I expected," Bou-san chuckled.

"True, true. I can't say I am not disappointed with the lack of spice…" Yasuhara added.

"My apartment literally broke down," I said. "What more spice did you want?"

My friends began to annoy me with some nonsense that they had conjugated in their imagination. Many of them made me roll my eyes and laugh at the ridiculousness.

Living in the Abeno residence had become the second accident, for which I was grateful in my life. The first one being was when I broke Naru's camera during my freshman year of high school. Both incidents were very different, and both had equally different outcomes, but both had led me to meet wonderful people who eventually became my family.

And for that…I had no regrets.


(1) Kansai: southern region of Honshu, Japan. The central area is Kyoto. The twins are originally from Kyoto, so they do speak with the local accent, however they can often make it less noticeable. It isn't something I can write out in English, but kansai accent is pretty funny.