Chapter 6 – A Brand New Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt, if I did the series would never have ended and Mai and Naru would have little paranormal grandbabies for Martin and Luella running around by now.

Author's Note: In the translated Light Novels for Ghost Hunt, Mai is already using the informal names for all of her companions, even the term Bou-san to refer to Monk so I am doing the same. I also originally intended for this chapter to be longer, but it was running long, and this seemed like a decent cut off point – it also gets an update out faster for you all. I've already started on what was going to be the second half of this chapter and should finish it by tomorrow of the next day hopefully. =) Please review and leave feedback if it please you, because it pleases me when you do, lol. Edited:9/26


Mai slowly stirred to a form of consciousness as she became aware of the darkness surrounding her. Gazing around the area she found herself in, she noticed hazy violet-tinged foxfires that illuminated the atmosphere surrounding her and she realized that she must have travelled to the astral plane in her sleep. Mai beamed happily and began searching for her second favorite person through the haze of the astral plane.

"Gene," she called out, "Oh, Genie! Have you gotten enough rest yet, onii-san?" Mai asked as she felt his presence materialize beside her and she turned to smile at him lovingly. "Gene! I am so happy to see you so soon! Naru and I have already started making arrangements to get you home to Martin and Luella, and for me to go with you both… I mean, I don't know how what happened with the three of us happened, but wow…" she trailed off, her rambling stopping just long enough to let Gene answer her.

Gene smiled at her in return, her excitement rubbing off on him and he said, "Mai, thank you for being you no matter what time we find ourselves in. I was so worried about my brother, I knew my death would not be easy for him, and I feared that he would slowly lose himself to grief and anger." Gene tugged on Mai's arm, pulling her close to embrace her and said, "I don't know what happened the other day between the three of us either, but I believe strongly that it was meant to happen. I have spent a lot of the last couple of days sleeping and conserving my energy, but I have been able to check in on the two of you and I am so impressed by how well you're both handling everything, and I think we both know that Noll has never been any good at change," he grinned at her with mischief alight in his eyes as he continued, "You've even gotten him to laugh and tease Lin! Do you know how hard it was for ME to do that?" he asked excitedly.

Gene chuckled and went on, "Let's not even start on him expressing emotion or affection so freely. I'm pretty sure I heard him tell our parents he loved them, not to mention a certain trouble magnet of a psychic who is currently cuddled up asleep beside him. A certain girl who is astounding in every aspect I can think of; the same girl who I am so proud to know as my sister now, but I didn't call you here tonight just to play the proud big brother." Eugene beamed at Mai and she smiled back at him with a happy expression.

"I know you never call me to you without a reason, you always have a vision, or advice, a lesson for me, or even a warning of danger that is coming. Considering what case we are on, I have to imagine you either have a lesson for me or advice to impart. Am I right?' she asked Gene, and she pumped her fist in victory when he nodded enthusiastically at her.

"Mai, I want you to practice two things, first I want you to remember the last lesson the future me taught you, in how to mentally project your visions to another. Dad can be almost as obstinate as Noll, and if you're able to share with him and Mum the visions we had, they will probably jump to have you and Noll research it, so you two need to practice that as often as you can. I also want to ask you to please practice channeling. I need to be able to give Mum and Dad some peace of mind as soon as I can," he said and looked hopefully at Mai.

Mai nodded at Gene, her face serious as she began to say, "I will be…," and then her posture slumped as her astral form started to fade and she looked around frantically while Gene laughed at her expression. "Don't worry Mai, it looks like my little brother just woke up and wants a morning cuddle, better get going," Gene said to her and the last thing Mai saw on the astral plane was him starting to make silly kissy faces while she glowered at him.

Mai woke slowly, her annoyed face transferring from her dream to the waking world, causing Naru to pause with his tender and loving kisses along her jawline and cheek. Mai sighed when she realized her bad mood had caused her love to halt his wonderful and affectionate way to rouse her from her sleep.

Mai snuggled closer to Naru, leaning up to kiss the tip of his nose before saying, "Sorry, your brother is just a pain sometimes is all. Making stupid childish faces at you being sweet to me like it's something to be teased about," she muttered darkly before looking over at the clock on the wall and groaning. "We better get up and head to the school, it's almost time to get this case really started," she complained and got up to get ready for the day as she explained to Naru why his brother pulled her into the astral plane.

After heading back to the old school building Mai and Naru set up a viewing station in the back section of the van go over any footage captured overnight, but just as they expected they encountered nothing unusual on any of the recordings. While the two were making notes concerning the lack of evidence from the previous night they heard two sets of footsteps come up behind them noisily.

Mai and Naru both turned around and came face to face with a tall flame-haired woman in her mid-20's wearing flashy clothing, and a sturdily built young man in his early 20's with long sandy brown hair tied back in a ponytail. The woman looked scornfully at the teenagers, and said, "Those sure are expensive toys for some kids to play with," causing the man walking beside her to snicker and say, "Playtime is over kids, time to let the real professionals get to work."

Naru glared at the two newcomers in front of him and questioned them, "Just who are you?" Their rude introduction made Mai wince as she remembered the attitudes the two approaching them had when they all first met. Sure, the woman was beautiful, but she was utterly lacking in charm at this point in time, and the man was acting like a dismissive jerk.

The woman responded with, "I'm Ayako Matsuzaki, nice to meet you," her red painted lips spread into an arrogant smile that faltered when Naru looked at her dismissively and said, "I have no interest in your names."

Ayako looked angrily at Naru and said, "How arrogant, but you're definitely a handsome young man." Naru smirked at her and simply said, "Thank you," before turning back to his own companion as he dismissed the new duo.

Ayako crossed her arms in a huff and responded, "Forget it, even with that handsome face, it won't be of any help, you can't exorcise ghosts with your good looks little boy. Like I tried to say I am Ayako Matsuzaki, a shrine maiden," the redhead proclaimed with pride.

Mai decided to join the conversation and asked politely, "So, you're a miko? Does that mean we're all in the same industry?" Naru turned back to the newly declared miko and raised an eyebrow in question at her saying, "I was under the impression that miko were young, virginal maidens." His flat response to Ayako caused Mai to giggle softly behind her hand, and the man beside them also let out a genuine burst of laughter causing Naru to turn to him and query, "And who are you? You look too intelligent to be her assistant?"

Mai turned away from all three of them at this point as she attempted to hide her amusement, instead making it appear like she was focusing on the equipment in the back of the van, and she heard the sandy-haired man answer, "I'm a monk from Kouya Mountain, my name is Houshou Takigawa. The high school principal called in some real professionals since he said leaving such an important job to some teenagers seemed like a scam."

These words caused Naru to glare coldly at both the monk and miko, and the air seemed to take on a chill for a moment before he retorted, "Kouya Mountain allows long hair now?" The question aimed at Takigawa seemed to startle him, and he snapped at the dark-hair boy, "I'm just on a break right now, ok?!" The monk seemed to notice Mai for the first time as she tried to stifle her giggles at his predicament and asked, "And who is the giggling little girl with the big mouth over there?"

Mai's levity disappeared quickly, and she addressed the monk, "The little girl, has a name. I'm Mai Taniyama, and I'm a medium, Naru's assistant and an investigator with Shibuya Psychic Research. For someone who looks like an apostate monk to judge so quickly based on appearance is really a sad thing, wouldn't you agree?" Although Mai gave both Takigawa and Ayako a sweet smile, it didn't reach her eyes and when she received no backlash to her statement she continued, " And before you ask who Naru is, he is," she said pointing at her fiancé before going on, "His name is Kazuya Shibuya and yes he is the boss, and yes we both might look young, but I assure you that our ages have no bearing whatsoever on our skills and professionalism."

Takigawa snorted in derision as the younger girl turned away from him in dismissal and he replied, "I can't say I have ever heard of any of you," causing Mai and Naru to exchange a knowing glance as they each barely stifled their amusement. The monk went on, not noticing the silent conversation occurring between the two, "Besides all the principal had to do was call me and it would be cleared up in no time," as he finished speaking Ayako, the shrine maiden stared indignantly at him and started to protest loudly. Both monk and miko began to squabble with one another, each declaring they were the true professional and the only one needed while snidely insulting the other, the argument finally culminating in Ayako whacking Bou-san upside the head with her handbag in fury as Mai and Naru traded another knowing look between them at these antics.

During the escalating argument a small shadow snuck up amongst the growing group at the old school house and announced her presence with a dramatic air, "Oh, thank goodness you're all here! I'm a psychic you know, and the old school house has been giving me…" Kuroda was interrupted mid-tirade as Ayako turned her scorn to the schoolgirl instead of the monk.

"Oh, stuff it. You like attention, don't you? Do you really need to be noticed that much? Get lost, the last thing we need is another little girl, and one who is grandstanding a fake skill at that," the miko turned her back on the new arrival rolling her eyes.

Kuroda stood still, rage apparent in her form as she a deadly look sparking within her eyes at the shrine maiden in front of her and threatened, "Just you wait, I'll summon a spirit to get you good! I'll show you who the fake is!" Ayako flicked her hand dismissively at the girl threatening her, and stated, "I'll be waiting then, do your worst…as if you could," before laughing cruelly at the young girl.

Mai walked over towards Kuroda in an attempt to calm her ire and said to Ayako, "That's really mean. Didn't we just talk about appearances oba-san?" Mai retorted insinuating the miko was an old woman causing her target to turn red in embarrassment. "I may not agree with Kuroda-san's assessment of her gifts, but I do believe you both need to learn some manners," Mai said chastising the elder spiritualists for their rudeness as she noticed a shaken Kuroda silently walking away from them towards the newer school building where they both attended classes. She saw Kuroda pass two other figures around the halfway point between the two buildings and sees her principal escorting a short, blonde-haired teenage boy towards them.

As the principal got closer he noticed that all of his recruits were in one place and said, "Ah, everyone is together already, how wonderful! We also have another guest, this is Mr. John Brown who hails from Australia, please take care of him." The blonde young man smiled genially at all of the people gathered around and spoke with a kind voice as he gave everyone a deep bow, "How y'all doin?" I be Brown, and I'm from the great Outback of Australia. Glad ta meet y'all," John says politely as Takigawa and Ayako both burst out rudely in exaggerated laughter at his strange accent. Brown looked at them in bewilderment, not understanding why what he said was so funny to those two and asked, "Is my Jabanese really strange?"

Naru smiled kindly at John and said, "It's pretty strange, but no stranger than an Australian accent usually is," he chuckled as John took a deep breath, smiling at the other teenage boy and exclaimed, "Jabanese be so dif'cult!"

The principal forced a smile on his face and tried to explain, "Um . . . Brown-san learned Japanese in the Kansai area . . ." the principal turned his smile towards John and said sheepishly to the Australian boy, "The dialect they taught you in Kyoto can be a bit hard for other regions to understand, so just bare with them and you will all come to an understanding I am sure. Taniyama-san there has been taking English classes as part of her curriculum at our school so maybe you two can help one another that way too."

Mai laughed to herself, knowing that both she and Naru could speak perfect English if needed, but she remembered that other than the unusual accent John had at first, that he spoke Japanese extremely well.

Bou-san, his breathing becoming calmer as his fit of laughter started to recede, said to John, "Listen carefully Brown-san, Kansai-ben is a dialect often used by comics, so I suggest you not speak it anymore, got it? Otherwise it'll seem like you're speaking comic-talk." John nodded earnestly then he asked the assembled group, "Y'all are psychics?"

Naru kindly responded to John, "Well, more or less, the red-head lady of there is Matsuzaki-san, a miko. And the other man beside you is Takigawa-san, a former monk of Kouya Mountain. I am Kazuya Shibuya, a paranormal investigator, and this is Mai Taniyama. She is a medium and latent psychic who works for my company Shibuya Psychic Research as an assistant and investigator. What about you Brown-san?"

John Brown, smiled kindly at Naru, and answered his question, "Ah, I be an exorcist, mate." At his announcement both Miko-san and Bou-san stopped laughing and started staring at John with wary expressions, while Naru said, "I thought in Catholicism you can't be an exorcist unless you're ranked higher than a priest . . . You seem really young to even be a priest"

John Brown nodded eagerly and said, "Thas' right, mate you is very knowledgable. Howeva', I'm 19 already. I jus' look like a young 'un." His answer caused everyone other than Mai and Naru to stare at him in shock, but before anyone could finish the conversation the high school principal spoke, "Taniyama-san, before you get to work, is it possible I speak to you about your exit exams?"

Mai nodded at her principal and indicated they should speak around the side of the van, while everyone else went into the building to begin exploring. Once the two were alone, the principal looked at Mai with a serious expression and said, "Taniyama-san, are you positive you want to try to take exit exams? You have only been going to high school for a few weeks now, you shouldn't let someone else push you to do this if you aren't comfortable. I know that sometimes its very easy to be convinced by a handsome face, and I'm not sure how reliable one such as this Shibuya-san is," he gave Mai a concerned look and sought to reassure her in a paternal manner.

"Sensei, I appreciate your concern and your support," Mai started to say before pausing for a moment to think. Stiffening her spine, she gives the principal a confident smile and continued, "I appreciate all the support you have given me since I first applied to your school, and the willingness you have to let me try this. I have been alone for quite some time Sensei and it has been very hard to stimulate myself to put in the effort I know I should as long as I have had no one to motivate me," she says and has the foresight to look at her principal with embarrassment.

Mai gave her principal a contrite expression and then bowed very deeply to him in apology saying, "I am so sorry Sensei, I should have been giving much more effort. I know you believed in me and I didn't give it enough seriousness, but I promise that I will show you now what I am capable of. Please, Sensei, let me take the exams and I promise I will pass them all right now. Shibuya-san is very reliable I promise and when the case is finished, you will understand just how much of a professional he is. He recognized me for what I am right away, and encouraged me to stop wasting my potential, but instead to do something productive with it," she looked over at the principal with earnest eyes and finished her plea, "I have needed people like you and him to offer me support and motivation, and I am so very glad I can feel so connected to our school and try to help make it better by also working with Shibuya-san."

The principal of Mai's high school gazed upon the female student he knew to be an average pupil who reliably attended his school, and had a bright and cheerful attitude, this earnest and mature young woman making her appeal to him was a new facet of her personality he did not know yet, but it impressed him. Returning her deep bow, with a slight one of his own he said, "Taniyama-san, please forgive me if you feel that I have underestimated you, it has never been my intention. I find your request to be very authentic in its nature and will allow you to take the exit exams during the time you would normally be attending classes this week as long as you also still complete all your work just in case you do not pass the exams. Hopefully this sounds fair to you?" he asked and Mai nodded vigorously, her excitement evident, but her sensei still had one more question for her, "If you do pass your exams, what are your plans? Do you plan to work full-time for someone like Shibuya-san?"

Mai paused for a moment to formulate her answer in her mind, "Well yes, and no. Shibuya-san has offered to introduce me to someone he knows at a prestigious university and has also offered to assist me in gaining scholarships to pay for my education. I know he already discussed my situation with an attorney yesterday about my emancipated status and what steps I need to take to leverage that into a more secure position where it may not be revoked during my education process. If I study parapsychology I can also use my work experience with SPR to gain extra credits at the university program he knows about and graduate earlier with an undergraduate degree," she smiled self-assuredly at her sensei to let him know that this course of action was something she had thought through carefully.

The principal watched the self-assured young woman detail her plans for the future with surprise, and he found himself very impressed at the consideration she had put into them and he knew without a doubt that from that point on he would not doubt either Taniyama-san or her new employer. He gave her a slight nod of affirmation and told her, "Very well Taniyama-san, I will place my trust in the two of you from now on. Please, work hard to achieve your goals and I will help as much as I can. For now, though, you better get to work before I get you in trouble with your boss," he laughed jovially and shooed her off before he turned to walk back to newer school building the other end of the campus.


Mai hurried into the old school building, determined to get started on the official investigation on the right foot and found Naru currently alone in the base. Heading over to Naru, to stand next to him by the bank of monitors in the room she spoke to him softly in English, "What have I missed so far?" Oliver, taking his cue from Mai, lowered his voice until it was barely audible and answered her question in English as well, "Just a lot of whinging about we have too much tech, and how they can handle this, blah blah blah… Oh, and yeah, it's clearly the work of an earth spirit," he said with a snicker. While they were talking, the young priest, John Brown returned from his quick perusal of the property and walked up next to them silently, catching the tail end of the words in English. John gazed the two of them an inquisitive look but didn't say anything; Mai smiled mischievously at the blonde exorcist and lifted a finger to her lips, whispering to him, "John, no one asked if we spoke English, so let's not spoil the surprise yet?," she patted him on his shoulder affectionately, and went on, "It can be our little secret for now, I have an instinctual feeling that keeping this a secret for the moment will help us figure out the case." John nodded at the petite cinnamon-eyed girl and replied very quietly in relieved English himself, "Sure thing, Miss Taniyama, I'm very grateful you guys can understand me."

Mai shook her head and said, "Please call me Mai, and my boss Naru, for him being a narcissistic Naru-chan," she said giggling. John nodded once more, and opened his mouth to speak, when a blood-curdling scream broke out and he gasped, "That sounds like Matsuaki-san!" John ran out of the room in the direction of the scream they all heard, and Mai turned to wink at Naru as they followed closely behind him to go rescue the trapped miko.

Just as they had seen in the AVE, Ayako was trapped into the room with a large nail jammed into the door's tracks. No one but Mai and Naru noticed the true reason the shrine maiden was trapped, and true to form Bou-san used brute force to get the stuck door open, not realizing that Naru had removed the object obstructing the door's mobility and that he could have simply opened it normally at that point.

Under the guise of calming Ayako down, Mai herded all of the irregulars back to the base room she and Naru had set up, and she hoped they were quick enough to catch Kuroda in the act of tampering with footage, but unfortunately they were too late. Mere moments after everyone settled themselves into the base and began arguing about the cause of the activity in the building, Kuroda burst into the room. Never one to eschew attention, Kuroda panted dramatically and proclaimed, "I was attacked! The spirit attacked me just now, in the second-floor hallway!" the pigtailed teenager swanned her way over towards where Naru and Mai were standing near the bank of monitors and proclaimed, "The spirit grabbed my hair, yanked my head back and began to choke me! It said, 'leave psychic, you are far too powerful and disturb my quest to resolve my issues – leave or die!' The spirit will hurt anyone who doesn't do as it commands, even those who aren't as strong as me must go and never return to this place," she crowed in glee, believing that she had managed to create an impenetrable story.

Turning to the computer on the desk beneath the shelves of monitors, Naru typed in a few keystrokes and it brings up a list of cameras for him to pull footage from. Choosing the camera that pans the second-floor hallway Kuroda claims she was in, another few keystrokes by the ghost hunter opens the folder from that camera's directory on the cloud storage, and there is no data at all to be found. "This is quite peculiar," Naru says to the crowd assembled behind him. He slants a knowing look at Mai and states, "It's a good thing we have a second storage apparatus in the office that the cloud backs up to in real time as well. That will be a good indication if a naughty spirit decided to tamper with our data here on site, if there is no data collected there either, we will have to assume the camera itself was faulty and that there was no interference," he says in a dispassionate voice.

Mai looked pensive for a moment then added, "Naru, don't forget the hidden duplicate cameras that are recording solely to your research laptop. I did set one up on the second floor near the area where Kuroda says she was, it's a good thing we have backups for our backups huh?" she grinned at him and winked, absentmindedly running the tips of her fingers over his shoulder as she spoke.

In the meantime, with each passing reveal of a backup storage for camera footage by the SPR team, Kuroda grew paler. She realized that her act wouldn't hold up after they checked out those sources, and the more upset she grew, a soft rapping noise could be heard from the walls surrounding them all.

Kuroda swallowed heavily as her stress began to manifest within her even more when the knocking in the environs became louder, and she began to exclaim in mock indignation, "See, there is the spirit now! Listen to it, its warning us not to worry about stupid cameras, but to get out. It probably deleted your footage so you couldn't see what it did to me! We need to leave now the spirit is getting madder!"

Suddenly, a soft-spoken feminine voice calls out from the dark shadows beyond the base doorway, "That is false, there are no spirits here." Mai jumps in apparent fear, gripping onto Naru tightly and calls out, "Gh…ghost!" while she uses the perception of her fear to nestle into Naru's chest and giggle, and he strokes her hair in an attempt to look like he was trying to calm his assistant and speaks up sternly, "Mai! What kind of medium cowers in fear of a possible ghost? Besides, that's no ghost it's a secondary medium that I suppose your principal hired not realizing you had that avenue covered already."

Mai slowly let go of her fiancé's shirt where she had been gripping it tightly during her theatrics and peeked around his shoulder to look at the new arrival. "Oh! I know who you are," she cried out happily facing the petite girl who was wearing a traditional kimono. "You must be Masako Hara, right? I'm Mai Taniyama, it will be nice to chat with another medium besides my spirit guide," Mai walked closer to Masako with a friendly smile but was summarily disregarded as the doll-like girl smiled coquettishly at the young man she immediately recognized as Oliver Davis from an exhibition she attended at the American Society for Psychical Research.

Masako put her hand on Naru's forearm and says, "Have we met before? I'm sure we must have for you to recognize me immediately like that." Naru brusquely shakes his head and replies, "We have never met, but your reputation precedes you. You are known to be one of the best mediums in Japan after all, and as a paranormal investigator it is my job to keep abreast of talent like yours," he then turns to Mai, "You're right about her identity, Mai. Lucky for us, your principal decided to contact the only medium alive in Japan that is almost as accurate as you to join us. The two of you already seem to be in agreement of there being no spirits here already so this should be interesting." Oliver smiled at Mai, mentally sending her an amused snicker as he skillfully rebuffed Masako's initial advance on him by comparing her at a loss to Mai.

Drawing this exchange to a close, Naru clears his throat to draw attention back to him, and says, "Now that everyone has met, we really need to actually begin investigating. Please feel free to explore the building as you wish but be careful. There is a reason the building is set to be demolished after we are finished investigating here, and keep in mind the walls are not stable, and the flooring and stairs have rotten points so watch your steps." He nodded disdainfully and sat down at the desk beneath the shelves of monitors and he opened his signature black notebook to begin making notations of his observations from the day so far as the rest of the spiritualists left the room to delve into the depths of the structure.