Thank you all for the nice comments :)

I will let you guess where I took inspiration for this case. Also I am going to start revising GH part I.

Among other news, I opened a server on discord to encourage more interactions with my readers. so feel free to dm if you are interested to joing.


Case 2: Haunting corridors 01

"Ah! It's been ages since we had a school-related case," I said, putting down a box in the room we would be using as the base. "It feels nostalgic!"

"Nostalgic?" Hikaru asked.

"Yeah, I told you before, right? The first time I met Naru and the others was when they came to investigate my school. It's been so long!"

"You bet," Bou-san said. "You were in the first year in high school, right, jou-chan?"

"Yeah!"

"Now that I remember," Yasuhara said, "we also met when you were investigating the events in my school."

"Yeah," I nodded cheerfully. "We had a lot of school requests at that time. We don't get that many now, do we?"

"Nah, none are interesting enough to get Boss's attention," Yasuhara nodded, "until now."

"Well, it is still very nostalgic. It reminds me of my school days."

Maybe saying that wasn't exactly accurate. Hiromiya Girl's Highschool for Arts was a private school for girls. The main campus was in a rural area on the outskirts of Tokyo. It was a fancy and elite boarding school that I would have never been able to afford, and it was too different from my school.

My high school had a lighter vibe. It made it feel friendly and welcoming, even if schoolwork was quite exhausting sometimes. Hiromiya felt different, but I couldn't quite pinpoint why. The building felt a little hostile and oppressing, even intimidating.

"Seems like the school has taught many famous figures in arts," Rei commented.

"Yeah, judging by the Wall of fame we saw in the lobby, they are proud of that," Kei said, "how much do you think the tuition costs?"

"A lot of money, probably," Rei shrugged. "This school looks like one of those elite and toxic learning environments. Now I see why Shibuya-san first thought it could be a matter of student stress."

"Toxic environment?" I asked.

"You know. Elite schools, like this, usually demand a lot of their students. Since it is a high school with an arts focus, I wouldn't be surprised that the level of rivalry among the students is high, too," Kei said, crossing his arms. "That could make anyone go mad..."

"I think I can understand that," Yasuhara said. "I was in a school like that, too."

I remembered Yasuhara's highschool. The teachers were strict and demanding, and most students had little to no chance to enjoy themselves. Maybe that was what made me feel uncomfortable.

"Where's Naru, by the way?" Bou-san asked. "I feel weird not hearing him scold us for chatting at work."

"He went to see the principal," I replied, taking out the thermometers. "We can talk until he comes back."

"If I am not wrong, I am not paying you to talk, Mai."

Naru's voice interrupted me, and I turned around flushed. Sometimes he could be so sneaky. I saw him walk to the table with his black notebook and sit down silently. Despite his bitter comment, he didn't look annoyed, so I guessed that he had said it out of habit.

"Welcome back, Naru. Do you want me to make tea?" I said, trying to deviate his attention.

"Sure," Naru answered, flipping the page he was reading. "I just spoke to the principal. He is willing to cooperate with everything we need, but since this is a boarding school, we need to be careful not to bother the students."

"Especially since they are girls," Bou-san nodded. "So what's our attack plan, Naru?"

"Hara-san and Matsuzaki-san will arrive tomorrow," Naru said, "Brown-san will be here by evening. For now, we will run some preliminary research. Rei-san, and Hikaru-san, I want you to walk around the school and see if you feel anything in particular. Takigawa-san and Sasaki-san, you will accompany them. Kei-san, I will entrust the safety of the base to you."

"No, problem," Kei replied, crossing his arms. "what about you?"

"The principal gave me a list of the affected students. Mai, Lin, Yasuhara, and I will interview some of them."

By noon, the entire team arrived at the base feeling drained. The interviews had taken us the whole morning. Between listening to random stories and shameful flirting attempts at Naru, we managed to compile a small list of hauntings that we wanted to compare to Rei and Hikaru's results.

"These are the spots where we felt something off," Rei said, marking the school's layout on the board. "We haven't checked the dormitories."

"That's alright," Naru said, grabbing his chin and staring at the blueprint. "Momoka-san, what do you think of it?"

"The area has many spirits. That is common in rural areas with a vast expanse of wilderness. Wandering spirits tend to take refuge in forest expanses," Hikaru replied, "However, I don't sense any hostility from them, and they seem to avoid the town and the school."

"That's odd," Yasuhara said, scratching his head, "I thought ghosts liked people since they could get energy from them."

"Some ghosts are scared of crowds. Especially those who are very old," Hikaru shrugged.

"So it would be safe to say that none of those wandering ghosts are responsible for the school hauntings," Naru said. He nodded silently and turned to me.

Was he going to ask for tea this early?

"Mai..."

"Yeah?"

"What do you think?"

"Eh? Me?"

That caught me by surprise. I was expecting Naru to demand tea from me, but instead, he asked for my opinion. That was new.

"I asked you, didn't I?" Naru answered impatiently.

"Ah, yeah. Sorry, it's just that you don't usually ask me," I replied. "Well, I haven't had any dreams lately. However, maybe it is just me, but don't you think the school feels a little odd?"

"Odd?" Naru asked with a frown.

"Yeah, it is like intimidating. I feel overwhelmed by being within the school. The place makes me feel restless, but I don't know why."

"Well, it is a big building," Bou-san said, "maybe that's why?"

"You think?"

"No," Naru said, shutting his notebook. "Mai has always been able to detect danger even before she realizes it is there. That might be Mai's instinct telling her something about the building. Is there any place in particular, or is it the whole building in general?"

Since when did Naru trust my instinct?

"Uh, I felt it as soon as I entered the school, and on our way to the base, too. I no longer feel it here, though."

"That might be because of my barrier," Kei said. "but Hikaru already said there aren't spirits here, yet we have two folders of witnesses. Maybe Mai's paranormal radar is up to something."

"I could be wrong," Hikaru said, but Kei shook his head.

"Nah, if it were Rei or me, we could be wrong, but not you," Kei added, crossing his arms. "We can crosscheck when Hara-san arrives..."

Hikaru nodded.

"What about you two?" I asked. "Did you sense anything?"

"Nothing yet," Rei sighed, "but I can walk around to see if I can catch something. Just because I didn't sense anything this time around doesn't mean there isn't something roaming the hallways. Did you get anything useful from the students?"

"Well," Mai nodded, "they were talkative."

"No joke, half of them tried to get Shibuya-san's number..."

Bou-san let out a laugh, and I sighed in irritation.

"Teenagers," Rei shrugged. "They are a full bag of hormones with legs, especially when it is a girls-only school."

"You are talking like a granny," Kei snorted, "did any get any luck though?"

"Pff," Yasuhara laughed, "I think there is only one girl he's ever given his number willingly."

"You mean Masako, right?" I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, no," Yasuhara replied, wagging his eyebrows, "I asked her, and she got his number through other means. Nope, there is only one who got it willingly was..."

"Oh, it was Mai, right?" Bou-san smirked.

"Eh? Me?"

"Yeah, don't you remember?" Yasuhara said, teasingly. "That time you came to the office late and with a crutch because you had that accident in the train station?"

I thought back on that incident and rubbed my chin. I did remember that day. It had been an unlucky day, starting from the morning when Kei told me to take one of his amulets since the star predictions looked ominous for me today.

Bad luck hit first when I lost the bus and had to walk to campus. I arrived on time but got greeted by a pop quiz. To make matters worse. My pencil broke as I was writing. Then came lunch, I realized I had left it on the table before leaving the house, and when I reached the cafeteria to buy something, I noticed I had also forgotten my wallet. I got saved by the twins who treated me for lunch. Eventually, classes ended, and I made my way to SPR, but I ended up in an altercation and fell down a set of stairs. I was lucky, I had been quick to turn and avoid falling on my head, but my arm a left leg were not that lucky.

I had to go to the hospital and arrived at SPR very late.

"Oh, yeah..." Kei said, "I remember that. Rei and I had to go pick you up from the ER. You insisted you wanted to make a stop at SPR to explain to Shibuya-san why you were late and why you probably would skip work that day."

"That day, everyone was horrified with the surprise," Yasuhara said, "Even Shibuya-san. He even told you that you should have called, but you said you didn't have his number..."

"Oh!" Bou-san clapped, "He took your phone and added it, didn't he?"

"Eh-hem..." Naru interrupted. "If you have so much time to gossip, I would like you to set the cameras and recorders on these spots of the school..."

"Oh! Sure, sorry..." I said, picking the list from him. "I assume you want us to look around while we are at it, right?"

Naru looked at me, and I saw him smirk at me teasingly.

"Seems like you are brighter than usual. You might still have some hopes..."

I glared at him and swallowed a rude remark that I was ready to throw at him. I took some of the equipment and walked out of the office.

Rei ended up following me as Aki and Bou-san teamed together. Kei had stayed at the base, helping Lin set up everything on their side, and Hikaru was helping Yasuhara filing the info from the interviews.

"So, girls had their eyes on Shibuya-san?" Rei asked in a casual tone as we set the last camera.

"Don't remind me," I growled, "maybe I am getting old, but the way those girls were talking was driving me nuts. It was as if they had never seen a man before. I saw some eyeing Lin-san and Yasu. It was crazy."

"Some of them were chatting up Kei and Takigawa-San earlier," Rei said, "hormones are something, but honestly, who can blame them? Look how things are around them."

"What do you mean?"

"Teen girls trapped in the middle of nowhere," Rei said, looking through the window, "dealing with the stress of academics and old-fashioned teachers over your shoulders all day with nowhere to run and nothing to distract yourself. I am not surprised they were ready to eat our guys alive."

As if Naru would ever let himself get eaten by a group of teenagers, I thought with a snicker. I finished setting up the camera, and we headed to our next spot.

On our way, we stumbled with a group of girls that were sitting on a bench gossiping.

The girls turned their heads at us, but I saw the disappointment in their faces when they saw that none of our male companions were with us.

"Hormones..." Rei whispered at me with a smirk.

I chuckled, giving her a slight elbow before the girls could hear her.

"Hey, you come with that handsome boy's group, right?" One of the girls asked us.

Handsome boy? Did she mean Naru?

"Uh, do you mean Shibuya-san?" Rei asked, tilting her head. "Yeah, we come with him...why?"

The girls talked to each other in mutters, and I let out an irritated sigh.

"Is it true that he is a ghost hunter?" another girl asked, "Did he come because of Futabe-san's incident?"

"Futabe-san?" Rei asked.

Futabe. Why did that name sound familiar?

"Shhh, Rika-chan, don't be stupid. Who would care about Futabe?"

"Yeah!, she got what she deserved!"

"Excuse me, but who is Futabe-san?" I asked. None of the girls had mentioned anything about a student by the name of Futabe during the interviews.

"She was a student, but from what I heard, she went missing."

"Missing?" I asked. Why had nobody mentioned a missing student before?

"That's an old story," the girls who had first talked to us said, "Everyone knows she got transferred due to misbehavior."

"That's what the school wanted everyone to think!" the girl who had first mentioned Futabe added, "My cousin was in the same year, she said Futabe had lots of enemies in the class, and so many girls had tried different ways to take revenge on her. One day she just stopped coming, and that's when all the weird stuff began to happen."

"Someone told us the weird things started after one of the students committed suicide..." I said.

"Oh, no! Weird things were happening even before then. It alls started with the stupid stories..."

"Stories?" Rei asked. She looked at me as if asking if I knew anything.

The girls had mentioned something about ghost stories going around the school. Honestly, most of the interviews had been lax since the girls were more interested in knowing Naru than actually answering our questions.

"Do you mean the seven mysteries thing?" I asked.

"Yes!" they answered. "There was a rumor going around that if you went through all seven mysteries in order, you would meet a ghost at the last one. The ghost would fulfill any request you had."

"Well, that is a generous ghost..." I heard Rei whisper, "Who came up with those stories?"

The girls exchanged looks.

"Futaba was a year below us, but I wouldn't know if the rumors began among the second years or somewhere else..."

"I think the first years said that someone had found them in an old book in the library..."

"A book?" I asked. "What book?"

"I don't know," the girl shrugged, "I just hear that someone found a book about ghost stories in the library."

"Interesting," Rei said, crossing her arms, "I guess we should relay this to Shibuya-san, right Mai?"

"Yeah, Naru would probably want to know about it."

"Oh! I can tell him!" one of the girls said excitedly.

"Why you? I was the one who brought it up!"

The girls began bickering, and I sighed in irritation. Naru got blessed with a handsome face, but once those girls got to know his rotten personality, they wouldn't find him so attractive. Then again, Naru was always feigning gentleness when it was someone outside of our circle.

"You don't need to worry," Rei said to the girls, putting her hand over my shoulders. "I am sure he will prefer his favorite girl to tell him, and that role is solemnly my friend's, here."

"Eh?" I said in shock.

"Favorite girl?" the girls said in shock.

"Yup, sorry to pop that dream," Rei smirked, "But Shibuya is already taken."

"Ehhh?"

Rei chuckled. She turned me around, ignoring my shock, and pushed me forward, leaving the gossiping teens behind.

"Taken? Naru is going to be so angry when he finds out..." I said. I wasn't sure if the communication line was on when Rei had made that comment. If so, there was a chance that Naru had heard it, and if not, at least Lin-san had.

"Oh, please," Rei answered, shaking her hand. "I did him a favor! The only way to make those girls leave him alone is either making them think he already has a girlfriend or that he is gay. Since he already has a thing for you, I think the first choice was the right one."

At those words, I stumbled with a rock on the ground and fell flat on my face.

"Woah, are you alright, Jou-chan?"

I felt somebody pull me up and pat the dust off from my clothes. Bou-san and Aki had arrived at the courtyard, too.

"Bou-san!" I said, surprised. "Yeah, I am alright. I just tripped."

"Always the clumsy one," Bou-san laughed. "Are you done with Naru's list?"

"Yeah, we set up the last camera a while ago," Rei answered for me, "but we got distracted on our way back. What about you?"

"Same here. Heading to the base?" Bou-san said, tilting his head at the building.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"I think I'll walk around a little longer," Rei said, crossing her arms, "Do you guys mind escorting Mai back?"

"Eh? Where are you going?" I asked.

"I didn't sense anything on my first round, but I might get lucky now. You get back and rest. Perhaps you will have one of those enlightening dreams..."

I rolled my eyes.

"Besides, you should probably tell Shibuya about what we heard."

Rei was right, and as a result, I headed back to the base with Bou-san and Aki. I made some tea and used the chance to speak to Naru, who was scribbling something in his notes.

"A wish-granting ghost?" he asked, sipping his tea. "That's stupid..."

"Uh, I know. I don't think ghosts have the power to do that, right?" I snickered, "I just thought you might find the info useful."

"Mmm.." Naru said, grabbing his chin. "

None of the students we interviewed mentioned anything about this rumor. They say a student went missing?"

"Uh, Futabe, but they didn't tell us much about her. I don't think they knew her too well, but they seemed convinced that the school had lied about her transfer."

"Transferring school is something prevalent. I don't see why the school would lie about it. It is most likely that the girls had spread a baseless rumor."

"Yeah," I nodded, "but..."

I had a strange feeling when I had first heard the name Futabe. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like I had heard it before, but no matter how much I tried to remember, I could not recall where.

"But...?" Naru said, looking at me quizzically.

"Eh?"

"What were you going to say?"

"Well," I sighed. "There is something about it that bothers me. I don't know what exactly..."

Naru looked at me for a moment and then sighed.

"I'll trust your judgment," Naru said, putting his notes down. "I will ask Yasuhara to look into it."

I looked at him, surprised. Naru didn't usually take my word right away, but he didn't seem to hesitate this time. Was there a reason for that? I couldn't help but wonder.

I watched Naru sip his tea, and suddenly a heavy wave of dread hit me, making me wince a little, but the sensation disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared.