Because I'm batman.

Chapter 6

Yasu had walked into the other boys hanging around Joe's door, insisting they couldn't start without him. Since Yasu was the dorm's resident manager (always had to be in some seat of power or other), he swiped out his master key and commanded them to get out their phones in case they caught Joe naked or in some other nefarious act.

They hadn't caught him naked, though. They caught him lying in a pool of his own blood, his throat slit.

I watched them wheel out the body bag on a stretcher, feeling a bit disconnected from the scene. The blinking lights of the ambulance and cops hypnotized me. It could have been a party. Dancing disco lights. The glow of the light spotted skyscrapers towering up and behind could have been beautiful in a holiday sort of way.

But there was a boy who had been killed right above my head, and I couldn't help but feel that if I had known what that foreboding feeling had mean when it had passed through me in front of the library, maybe I could have stopped it.

Naru was a few feet away from me, talking to a detective, who nodded and jotted down notes in a black book, not unlike Naru did when questioning witnesses on a case. The detective thanked him, and then walked over to me.

"Did you know him?" he asked.

"No. I'd never even met him." The thought crossed my mind to tell him about my feelings in front of the library, then was squashed. This was a real world detective, not Naru. "I really have nothing to tell you. My boss and I had just returned to base from checking out the library."

"For ghosts," he stated diplomatically, but I could still hear the skepticism.

"For evidence of one, yes," I said coolly. I had never been able to remain aloof and unaffected as Naru could whenever faced with those who would mock our line of work.

"And do you believe this…ghost killed this boy?"

"Ghosts can't slit people's throats. I thought even you would know that, detective."

"But you've had people who've gotten hurt on your cases before. I even have it in my notes that the last case you were on, a priest suffered hydrogen sulfide poisoning."

"If you had read the case, sure, you would see he was influenced by the spirit of a man who committed suicide in the exact same manner. John Brown is a personal friend of mine who never suffered a suicidal thought in his life."

The detective raised one of his thin eyebrows. He was a generic appearing middle-aged man, with dark eyes, hair, and a thin mouth with lots of frown lines.

"That's a bit of a stretch, Ms. Taniyama. I wouldn't say you could know every thought in his life. But let me rephrase my question, then: do you think a ghost 'influenced' Jounchi to kill himself?"

"Why would it matter if you don't believe my work legitimate in the first place?"

He gave me a wry smile. "Excellent point. Very well, then. Since you seem to be a woman of my kind," he snapped his notebook shut and leveled a look at me that turned every line of his generic features into something sharp, critical, and not at all welcoming. "A bunch of ghost hunting kids walk into a dorm and a few hours later someone dies in the room above them. I ask again: do you really thing a ghost could have killed that kid? Or, perhaps, the soon to be married couple need their business to go well so that they'll have the money to fund their honeymoon."

He could have punched me in the face and it would have had less affect on me than the words he had just said. I had never experienced this kind of fear before, all icky and slimy like wet squid and worms, mixed with a patchy fury that struggled to get itself together.

I somehow managed to get my lungs working enough to push out, "Isn't it illegal for a detective to bait people?"

"Unethical, maybe," he clicked the top of his pen, as though out of habit. "I find I don't much care when homicide is involved."

"Then different question: is it illegal to punch you?"

"As I'm a cop, yes, aggravated assault and all that. But I'm still waiting for your answer."

I was cross between grinding my teeth and bursting into tears as I spoke. "I have no idea. As you so kindly pointed out, we just got here. We are answer a request by a friend of Joe's who I met trying out wedding dresses. I don't think I need to tell you we're plenty legitimate nor that I would never, ever, even consider harming someone as you're implying, nor would Kazuya."

"Ah yes, Kazuya, the famous Oliver Davis." Clicky clicky went the pen. "I saw the video where he smashed that aluminum brick into a wall. A knife would be much lighter, don't you agree?"

I couldn't hold it back. I had to.

I slapped him across the face.

Naru was over in an instant. It was a testament to his trust for me that instead of grabbing my hand and pushing me back, he stepped in front of me and glared down the detective, who had a hand to his cheek, but appearing unsurprised. My fingers tingled from the impact, and tears budded in my eyes.

"If you would please not provoke my assistant, sir," said Naru calmly. "We will end our contract with the college president once you are done with your questions. I think an adult like yourself can restrain yourself until then."

To my astonishment, the man smiled in satisfaction. "That won't be necessary. Forgive me, but I had to be sure you weren't a suspect before I begged your cooperation, Mr. Davis. I know a fellow detective when I see him."

I gaped at him. At least Naru had the mind to not betray his disbelief.

"I don't see how upsetting her proved that to you," he said.

"It's all about character. All the evidence in the world could mean nothing if your suspect doesn't have the character necessary to commit the intended crime." He inclined his head to me. "I apologize, Miss Taniyama, for provoking you. I never truly believed you or your fiancé could have committed the crime. It was just to be sure you weren't involved."

I made a very mature growling noise and wiped at my eyes furiously. "Screw you, I'm done with this."

"Stay, Mai."

Now I wanted to throw Naru. My face was flushed, tears smeared all over my cheeks, and several people were still staring at me for slapping a police investigator across the face and not getting cuffed for it, and still Naru couldn't stop to consider other people's emotions.

But, because he was my boss, and because a part of me thought Naru might come through for me in the end and say something particularly nasty to the guy in my defense, I folded my arms and tried to be inconspicuous.

"You don't want my help because you think it's a ghost," said Naru.

"The door was locked from the inside, the window was three stories up with no signs of having been forced, and all he had as forewarning was a supposed threat given by a ghostly red kanji. I didn't get where I am today by discounting anything before the proof comes in, but, yes, I find it unlikely that it was a ghost."

"Then why do you need my help?"

"Because this isn't just about a murder," he clicked his pen one last time before slipping it into his breast pocket. "If this isn't a ghost, someone is using a ghost story to cover up their crime."

"And you need me to disprove the story so no one else tries to use it too." Naru had that straight-lipped smile on his face he got when he felt particularly cocky. "I'm surprised, detective. You've only had, what, an hour since learning I was near the scene of the crime and already you know so much about me? You couldn't have read all that in the car."

"Like I said, I know a fellow detective when I see him." The detective mirrored Naru's thin smile. "I've been a bit of a fan ever since that old sinking school house case down by Shiguri High. Can't tell you how many times I was called to verify one of its freak accidents."

"That's nice. Are you done?"

Naru aimed a frown at me from over his shoulder. Usually it was me reminding him to mind his manners, not the other way around. But if he was going to act confuse, he should have bothered to remember that I don't just go around slapping people. Accusing people of murder when you're in the position to hold them to it is no laughing matter.

"I apologize again for my jibes," said the detective, inclining his head towards me. "It's alright, Mr. Davis. I did make a low blow."

"If that's, all detective, my team and I would like to take a look at the crime scene—mainly taking some temperature scans. We won't get in the way of forensics."

"Then be my guest. Tell them I sent you and they should let you right on pass. Oh, and one last suggestion, and this is between us: a camera or two in the women's dorm might get you a clue or two."

Naru gave a nod to show he understood, then took my forearm and moved us back towards the glass double doors of dormitory 2-B.

We didn't take the elevator. Rather, he pulled open the door to the stairwell. It wasn't till we were halfway up one and the door closed behind us that he turned on me.

"What was that all about?"

"The guy was an ass!" I said.

"Ass or not, you could have landed yourself in jail. Nothing he could have said should have warranted slapping him—you're an adult, for Pete's sake!"

"He accused you of using your PK to murder that boy so you can—"

"I don't care what he said. Contain yourself. Honestly, what is wrong with you this week?"

And before he could see just how hard that hit me, he had dropped my arm and was on his way up the stairs. I stood there even after the door to the third floor had closed behind him, the punch leaving an aching, raw hole in my chest.

That shouldn't hurt this much. I shouldn't be this sensitive. Should I?

Biting my lip to hold back the tears, I pressed my forearm to my eyes.

"What is wrong with me?"