A man with sandy blond hair looked at the twilight sky. He didn't have to wear his brown fedora and inserted a brown tinted Police glasses into his jacket's breast pocket. He still wore dark clothes because he had a skin pigmentation problem. His skin burnt easily so he would apply SPF 50++ on his skin whenever he went to work or for an outing. Since they would be going at twilight he applied a light coat of it on his skin. The lotion had also properties that repelled insects. He was walking towards the driveway when he stopped in his tracks.

His luggage would never fit in his partner's vehicle. It was a Land Rover. He had five bags of differing sizes. Looking at the vehicle, than at his bags he snapped his fingers once and the five bags shrank five times the size of the originals. His footman placed the incredibly smaller versions of the LV bags into the trunk of the car. He gazed at his partner who was seated on the garden bench situated in the gazebo. She looked on like someone immune with the quirky attitudes of the rich.

She also looked like someone who knew there was important stuff in each bag. She didn't look disgusted only wonderment. Not of his bags but at his palatial courtyard. Her mind was far away and she looked haunted. It reminded him of the time when they were hunting for the first cursed item. They had encountered a bizarre phenomenon on a highway. She had that same haunted look. He blinked as a shadowy cloud passed over his head as if telling him to pay attention to his surroundings.

He glanced back and nodded slightly in greeting at an unseen audience, "Hello there, my little kitties. I'll be taking a trip with my partner to retrieve the second cursed item. But," He looked at his partner who was miles away, "I'll let her rest for a while. She doesn't like travelling at this twilight hour." He sighed regrettably, "Unfortunately, we have no choice but to go at this time."

Leaning against the side of the car, "Time flows and each second wasted creates a wider gap in acquiring the cursed item." Gazing at his partner then shifted his attention to the invisible audience, "the place we were headed for the first cursed item was what I'd call a 'hotspot.' I called it 'Phantom Zone'…"

Haruhi huffed in frustration, while looking at the road map. She was sure that the road they were on was supposed to lead to Highway 44. Instead they found themselves at a forked road. According to the road sign, the right fork led to Eastside Street while the left one went to Westside Street. She furrowed her eyebrows, scrutinising the map again. These roads weren't in the map and the map was a new one.

"Perhaps the previous council road developers or planners forgot to jot this place down." She tapped a finger on the map, "But," she looked dissatisfied, "that's silly bordering on the crazy, isn't it?"

Umehito just stared at the forked road with narrowed eyes, "Why don't we just take one and see where it leads to?"

She shrugged, "Okay, you're the boss." She pointed at the forked road, "Which one?"

He gave a slow mysterious smile, "The left one."

"Okay."

The trees on both sides of the road grew so closely together that sunlight couldn't penetrate the canopy, lending the area a creepy air. The leaves whispered eerily, "Enterrr… eenterrr.."

She shuddered, suddenly cold. "Did you hear that?"

"Yes,"

"Good, I'm still sane." She let out a relieved sigh as she turned on the radio. Only garbled noises emerged but she kept it on because she felt chilled to the bone.

He just remained silent. His eyes focused ahead as the clearing appeared. Both he and she caught a glimpse of a wooden house with two little girls playing hop-scotch. She was relieved to find people living there. He wasn't, he looked suspicious. She slowed the car.

"Don't stop," He commanded, "drive on."

"But we're lost," she tried to reason with him, "I just want to ask for the way out of here." She slowed down when she met a man coming their way.

She rolled the glass window down, "Excuse me, sir, I need to ask you where Highway 44 is? We're a bit lost."

The man bent down, looking expressionless at them. His impassive yet bloodshot eyes gazed intently at her, "Go back to whence you came," he hissed, "Go!"

"Sorry," She shrugged, "but there wasn't any sign bearing the words 'Trespassers will be prosecuted.'"

A grotesque smile appeared on his face, "Would you like to be?" She felt a shiver of chill running down her spine as he said this.

"But, we're lost," she insisted. "Where is Highway 44?"

The smile disappeared. His face became serious and he frowned, "Leave now, before nightfall." He left her staring incredulously at his rudeness.

"Come on," Umehito tapped her shoulder, "time to go."

"What?" She held both hands up, "Was it hard to say 'I don't know'?"

"Look," Umehito pointed calmly at their surroundings.

She looked and found the children weren't there anymore. The whole area became gravely silent. It was too peaceful for comfort. Her instinct told her to heed Umehito's advice. She stepped on the accelerator and drove off as fast as the car could speed away. The car reached the forked road again then she saw a path out of the forked road and she took that path. From the rear mirror, she could not see the forked road anymore as it was covered by fog. Nightfall came, the twilight stars shone brightly in the sky. They were on Highway 44. The highway had a smooth flow of traffic.

"What was that about?" She asked a little too loud. Then it struck her, she glanced sideways at him, "You knew, didn't you?"

Umehito just nodded, "Yes."

He blinked out of his reverie and then looked at the unseen audience. "That forked road did exist fifteen years ago. But as the population grew so did the need for expansion. The people who lived there didn't want to leave. Providence, however," he said while looking heavenward, "had a hand in evacuating them. There used to be a mining quarry here which left the land very weak, so there was a massive landslide. That place was destroyed with everyone in it. If we didn't get out of that place before nightfall, I would have had my hands full in slaying the living dead."

He glanced at his partner who was walking towards him, "To me they were just pitiful souls trapped in bodies that should have been disintegrated ages ago. But because they had unfinished business in this living world that made their spirits linger on in their ageless bodies. The place only appears once in every ten years on a full moon before nightfall and if the living dead were to get us at nightfall, we'd be one of them. They were dissatisfied spirits, so I'd cast a containment barrier to that place. That barrier would shield unsuspecting passersby from entering that place and it would also prevent the living dead from crossing the barrier. If they did, they'd be annihilated and whisked into the netherworld where they belong."

Haruhi appeared before him, "I'm okay. Let's go."

"Sorry to have you take leave for this."

She shook her head, "I've quit my job as assistant attorney because I'm taking my masters online for a year or so. Of course, I can help you out to hunt for the cursed items." She smiled, "Besides you'd be employing me as your assistant until this quest is over."

"Yes, you are." He smiled lazily, "We have to go to Ekuba Station. There's something I've to get there."

Suddenly his cellphone rang, "Takashi, good to hear from you. What? Another one… okay, we'll meet you there."

"Was that Mori-senpai? What did he say?"

"Yes. The second victim was found dead. Headless, handless, feetless and bloodless. Takashi wants us to meet him at Hirajuku Hospital. We'll go there first."

She entered into the 4WD and turned the ignition on. "Well, hop in. I'd preferred if we could just teleport there, you know."

"Only on emergencies but you already know that." He smiled knowingly.

A small smile appeared and she rolled her eyes heavenwards, "Hmm."

And so began our quest…

THE END

A/N: Dear Readers, this is the last installment of Neko's JoM. Like I said before, if you'd like to read more independents then please leave me a line or two. If you'd like to read their escapades on their supernatural quest, please leave me a line or two. Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing this fic.