Chapter Four - Box Five

Kouga, while a manager wasn't aware of how to read a single note of music, and only recently had learned what sheet music looked like. Enjoying a considerable private income he didn't need to know much of it, he was intelligent enough and had decided to invest in the Opera with Hachi as a much more suitable person who could deal with the actual musical needs of the school. He simply enjoyed having the extra title and the prestige that came along with it, being able to move amongst all the rich parents of the student body.

Hachi, meanwhile was a composer himself, who had published a small amount of successful pieces in a variety of forms of music and enjoyed all manner of musicians. He didn't have a lot of money, but his ability to play several instruments and his ear for talent had gotten him far in the venue. With his friend, Kouga's help he'd garnered this position and the extra work that went with doing his partner's job as well. As a result people made it priority to be in his good favor and just not irritate his partner, who was known to be short of temper.

T he first few days the partners spent at the school were given over to the delight of finding themselves the head of the magnificent an enterprise; they had forgotten all about that fantastic story and the small spotting of the ghost. It was lovely, the school was very good at taking care of itself and even Hachi had more free-time to enjoy the talented practices of students and the amount of work that had been put into the architecture of the modern building. It looked much older than it's time and likely had been extremely expensive in the costs of creation, but he hadn't had a chance to look at those records yet. Then, an incident occurred that proved to them the joke, if the ghost was a mere joke - was not over.

Kouga reached his office that morning at eleven o'clock. The managers shared secretary, a Miss Ayame, showed him half a dozen letters which she had not opened because they were marked "private."

One of the letters at once drew his attention, not only because the envelope was addressed in red ink, but because the writing seemed familiar somehow. He couldn't place where he'd seen it before given all the signatures he'd seen through his years. He opened the letter and read:

Dear Mr. Manager:

I am sorry to have to troubled you at a time when you must be very busy, renewing important engagements, signing fresh ones and generally displaying your excellent taste. I know what you have done for Kikyo, Kagura and Sango as well as for a few others whose admirable qualities of talent or genius you have suspected.

Of course, when I use these words, I do not mean to apply them to Kikyo, who sings like a squirt and who ought never to have been allowed to leave a child's basic choir; nor to Kagura, who owes her success mainly to the loose nature of many of the board; nor to Sango, who dances well enough, but could use much improvement. And I am not speaking of Kagome Higurashi either, though her genius is certain, whereas your pointless obsession with popularity prevents her from being cast in any important roll. When all is said, you are free to conduct your little business as you think best, are you not?

All the same, I should like to take advantage of the fact that you have not yet turned to Kagome Higurashi, despite her being in the school on scholarship, out of doors by hearing her this evening in the part of Rosie in Mamma Mia, as that of Sophie has been forbidden her since her triumph of the other evening; and I will ask you not to dispose of my box today nor in the future, for I can not end this letter without telling you how disagreeably surprised I have been to hear, on arriving at the Opera, that my box had been sold, at the box-office, by your orders.

I did not protest, first of all, because I dislike scandals, and, second, because I thought that your predecessors; Totosai and Myoga, who were always charming to me, had neglected, before leaving, to mention my little fads to you. They often seemed to have memory issues and I have not been haunting this place so long that they thought to mention it. I have now received a reply from those gentlemen to my letter asking for an explanation, and this reply proves that you know all about my Memorandum-Book and, consequently, that you are treating me with outrageous contempt. If you desire to live in peace, you must not start off by stealing away my private box.

Believe me to be, dear Mr. Manager, without prejudice to these little observations;

Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant, School House Ghost.

The letter was accompanied by a cutting from the public column of the local newspaper:

S.H.G.-There is no excuse for Kouga and Hachi. We told them and left your memorandum-book in their hands. Kind regards.

Kouga had hardly finished reading this letter when Hachi entered, carrying one exactly similar. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"They are keeping up the joke," said Kouga, "but I don't call it funny."

"What does it all mean?" asked Hachi. "Do they believe, because they have been managers of the School, we are going to let them have a box for an indefinite period?"

"I am not in the mood to let myself be laughed at long." said Kouga darkly, his temper just beneath the surface.

"It's harmless enough," observed Hachi. "What is it they really want? A box for tonight?"

Kouga told his secretary to send Box Five on the grand tier to Totosai and Myoga, if it was not sold. It was not. It was to be sent off to them. Neither of the pair lived that far from the school, both owning homes in the ritzy neighborhood where it was placed. He frowned a little about it. "Why should two old men amuse themselves with silly games like this?"

"They might have been civil at the very least!" Hachi replied. "Did you notice how they treated us with regard to Kikyo, Kagura, and Sango? They offered them the positions before we even joined on. We simply have allowed them to stay there."

"By the way," Kouga commented. "They seem to be greatly interested in that young beauty Kagome Higurashi. What do you think of her?"

"You know as well as I do that she has the reputation of being quite good." said Hachi.

"Reputations are easily obtained," replied Kouga. "Haven't I a reputation for knowing all about music? And I don't know one key from another in truth."

"Don't be afraid: you never had that reputation." Hachi declared with a laugh.

Then, before Kouga could turn his temper on him, he ordered the students looking for scholarships or acceptance to be shown in, who, for the last two hours, had been walking up and down outside the door behind which fame and fortune-or dismissal-awaited them.

The entire day was spent in discussing, negotiating, signing or canceling of contracts; and the two suddenly overworked managers left for home early, without so much as casting a glance at Box Five to see whether Totosai and Myoga were enjoying the performance.

Next morning, the managers received a card of thanks from the ghost:

Dear Mr. Manager:

Thank you. Charming evening. Higurashi exquisite. Choruses need some waking up. Kikyo a splendid commonplace instrument.

Kind regards. S.H.G.

On the other hand, there was a letter from Totosai and Myoga:

Gentlemen:

We are much obliged for your kind thought of us, but you will easily understand that the prospect of again hearing Mamma Mia, pleasant though it is to ex-managers of the Opera, can not make us forget that we have no right to occupy Box Five on the grand tier, which is the exclusive property of the ghost of whom we spoke to you when we went through the memorandum-book with you for the last time. See Clause 98, final paragraph.

-Misters Myoga and Totosai

"Oh, those fellows are beginning to annoy me!" shouted Kouga, snatching up the letter with a snarl.

And that evening Box Five was sold.

The next morning, Kouga and Hachi, on reaching their office, found a security report relating to an incident that had happened, the night before, in Box Five. I give the essential part of the report:

I was obliged to call in a school guard twice, this evening, to clear Box Five on the grand tier, once at the beginning and in the middle of the second act. The occupants, who arrived as the curtain rose on the second act, created a regular scandal by their laughter and loud complaints. There were cries of "Hush!" all around them and the whole House was beginning to protest, when the box-keeper came to fetch me. I entered the box and said what I thought necessary. The people did not seem to me to be in their right mind; and they made stupid remarks. I said that, if the noise was repeated, I should be compelled to clear the box. The moment I left, I heard the laughing again, with fresh protests from the House. I returned with a municipal guard, who turned them out. They protested, still laughing, saying they would not go unless they had their money back. At last, they became quiet and I allowed them to enter the box again. The laughter at once recommenced; and, this time, I had them turned out definitely.

"Send for the security officer," said Kouga to his secretary, who had already read the report and marked it with blue pencil.

Ayame, the secretary, had foreseen the order and called in the man in question from the waiting room."Tell us what happened." Kouga demanded bluntly. The inspector began to splutter and referred to the report. "Well, but what were those people laughing at?" asked Hachi more reasonably."I believe they're possessed of some mental issues sir, they seemed more inclined to linger outside than to listen to good music. The moment they entered the box, they came out again and called the assistant manager on shift, Miss Kaede, who asked them what they wanted. They said, 'Look in the box: there's no one there, is there?' 'No,' said the woman. 'Well,' said they, 'when we went in, we heard a voice saying that the box was taken!'"Hachi could not help smiling as he looked at Kouga; but Kouga did not smile. He himself had done too much in that way in his time not to recognize, in the inspector's story, all the marks of one of those practical jokes which begin by amusing and end by enraging the victims. The security head, to garner favor with Hachi, who was smiling, thought it best to give a smile too. A most unfortunate smile! Kouga glared at his subordinate, who henceforth has made it his business to display a face of utter consternation.

"However, when the people arrived," roared Kouga, "there was no one in the box, was there?"Not a soul, sir, not a soul! Nor in the box on the right, nor in the box on the left: not a soul, sir, I swear! Kaede told it me often enough, which proves that it was all a joke." The security officer said with his new "Oh, you agree, do you?" said Kouga. "You agree! It's a joke! And you think it funny, no doubt?"I think it in very bad taste, sir." The security officer was quick to comment."And what did Kaede say?""Oh, she just said that it was the School House Ghost. That's all she said!" And the head of security grinned. But he soon found that he had made a mistake in grinning, for the words had no sooner left his mouth than Kouga, from gloomy, became furious. "Send for Kaede!" he shouted. "Send for her! This minute! This minute! And bring her in to me here! And turn all those people out!"The security head tried to protest, but Kouga closed his mouth with an angry order to hold his tongue. Then, when the wretched man's lips seemed shut for ever, the manager commanded him to open them once more. "Who is this 'ghost?'" he snarled in displeasure. "There's obviously someone behind this."But the security head was by this time incapable of speaking a word. He managed to convey, by a despairing gesture, that he knew nothing about it, or rather that he did not wish to know. "Have you ever seen him, have you seen this ghost?"The security head, by means of a vigorous shake of the head, denied ever having seen the ghost in question. "No, no sir, never.""Very well!" said Kouga, suddenly Head of Security seemed ready to buckle and beg for his job, wanting to ask why the manager had suddenly gotten so serious but thinking better than opening his mouth again.

"Because I'm going to settle the account of any one who has not seen him!" explained the manager. "As he seems to be everywhere, I can't have people telling me that they see him nowhere. I like people to work for me when I employ them!"

Having said this, Kouga paid no attention to the inspector and discussed various matters of business with his acting-manager, who had entered the room meanwhile. The inspector thought he could go and was gently-oh, so gently!-sidling toward the door, when Kouga nailed the man to the floor with a thundering: "Stay where you are!" Ayame had sent for Kaede despite her resting after being up late and soon she made her appearance.

"What?" This was said in a rough and solemn a tone that, for a moment, Kouga was impressed. He looked at Kaede, in her faded sweater, worn shoes, old taffeta skirt and colorful new hat looked like she was an insane old woman. But she had rights having worked here even before the managers they'd taken over from and they couldn't turn her out without paying her very well for her time.

"What happened last night to make you call in security, Kaede?" Kouga asked seriously.

"I was just wanting to see you about that sir, talk to you, so that you might not have the same unpleasantness as Totosai and Myoga, they didn't listen to the ghost either at first."

"I'm not asking you about all that. I'm asking what happened last night." He interrupted with a frown.

Kaede took a deep breath then huffed with indignation at the way he spoke to her. She rose as if to leave, gathering the folds of her skirt, but, changing her mind, she sat down again and said.

"I'll tell you what happened. The ghost was annoyed again!"

As Kouga was on the point of bursting with his face a new shade of red, Hachi interfered and conducted a much nicer set of questions,, whence it appeared that Kaede thought it quite natural that a voice should be heard to say that a box was taken, when there was nobody in the box. She was unable to explain this phenomenon, but it was not new to her. Nobody could ever see the ghost, but everyone could hear him.

"And, when the ghost speaks to you, what does he say?"

"Well, he tells me to bring him a footstool!"

This time, Kouga burst out laughing, as did Hachi and Ayame, the secretary. Only the Head of Security, warned by experience, was careful not to laugh, while Kaede ventured to adopt an attitude that was positively threatening.

"Instead of laughing," she cried indignantly, "you'd do better to do as Totosai did, who found out for himself."

"Found out about what?" asked Hachi near tears, he had never been so much amused in his life.

"About the ghost, of course!...Look here..." She suddenly calmed herself, feeling that this was a solemn moment in her life:

"Look here," she repeated. "They were playing Rent. Totosai thought he would watch the performance from the ghost's box. ... I was watching him from the back of the next box, which was empty-Totosai got up and walked out quite stiffly, like a statue, and before I had time to ask him what had happened, he was down the staircase, but without breaking his leg.

"Still, that doesn't let us know how the Opera ghost came to ask you for a footstool," insisted Hachi.

"Well, from that evening, no one tried to take the ghost's private box from him. The manager gave orders that he was to have it at each performance. And, whenever he came, he asked me for a footstool."

"A ghost asking for a footstool! Then...this ghost of yours is a woman?" Kouga asked with a scoff, only women asked for footstools at the theater.

"No, the ghost is a man."

"How do you know?"

"He has a man's voice, oh, such a lovely man's voice! This is what happens: When he comes to the school for a performance, it's usually in the middle of the first act. Though he hasn't actually been here too many times, usually it's during the Tuesday or Thursday performances, but never on the weekends. He gives three little taps on the door of Box Five. The first time I heard those three taps, when I knew there was no one in the box, you can think how puzzled I was! I opened the door, listened, looked; nobody! And then I heard a voice say, 'a footstool, please.' Saving your presence, gentlemen, it made me feel all-schoolgirl like. But the voice went on, 'Don't be frightened, Kaede, I'm the school house ghost!' And the voice was so soft and kind that I hardly felt frightened. The voice was sitting in the corner chair, on the right, in the front row."

"Was there any one in the box on the right of Box Five?" asked Kouga.

"No; Box Seven, and Box Three, the one on the left, were both empty. The curtain had only just gone up."

"And what did you do?"

"Well, I brought the footstool of course! It wasn't for himself he wanted it, but for his lady! But I never heard her nor saw her." She said with a romantic gleam in her old gaze.

"Eh? What? So now the ghost is married!" The eyes of the two managers traveled from Kaede to the security head, who, standing behind the old woman, was waving his arms to attract their attention. He tapped his forehead with a distressful forefinger, to convey his opinion that the widow Kaede was most certainly mad, a piece of pantomime which confirmed Kouga in his determination to get rid of an security head who had allowed them to keep a lunatic in their service. Meanwhile, the worthy lady went on about her ghost, now painting his generosity.

"At the end of the performance, he always gives me a twenty dollars, sometimes a hundred, sometimes even more, when he has skipped a performance or two. Only, since people have begun to annoy him, he gives me nothing at all."

"Excuse me, my good woman," said Hachi, "excuse me, how does the ghost manage to give you your money?"

"Why, he leaves them on the little shelf in the box, of course! I find them with the program, which I always give him. Some evenings, I find flowers in the box, a rose that must have dropped from his lady's bodice...for he brings a lady with him sometimes; one day, they left a fan behind them."

"Oh, the ghost left a fan, did he?" Kouga asked dubiously. "And what did you do with it?"

"Well, I brought it back to the box next night."

"You brought back the fan. And then?"

"Well, then, they took it away with them, sir; it was not there at the end of the performance; and in its place they left me a box of caramel sweets, which I'm very fond of."

"That will do, Kaede. You can go."

When Kaede had bowed herself out, with the dignity that never deserted her, the manager told the security head that they had decided to dispense with his services; and, when he had gone in his turn, they instructed the secretary to make up the needed paperwork to look for a new Head of Security. Left alone, the managers told each other of the idea which they both had in mind, they should look into the matter of Box Five themselves.

End Chapter

Sadly, no Sesshy or Kagome goodness but had to work with ongoing plot stuff. Should be back to our main pair before much longer however.

-LfL

Thanks again to my beta. :)