Finally we're getting into the actual story! It only took two years!

Just going to apologies in advanced if any of the characters seem OOC, I'm trying my best to keep them in character until they have justifiable reasons to change. This chapter is basically setting up/the preliminary stages of the case; so not too much action this update. Without further ado, let's begin the story.

Once again, Ghost Hunt does not belong to me and this case is slightly inspired by episodes 33 and 34 of the podcast Sword and Scale.

I apologise in advance for any mistakes; the person who normally edits my work has not yet gotten back to me and I wanted to publish this chapter ASAP.

Mai sighed as she laid her head on her paper littered desk. The day had seemed to drag on, the clock slowing down each hour until, Mai swore, it had stopped at the 4:30 mark. The days in the office were like an endless cycle of repetition lately, with no new customers coming in with cases "interesting enough" for Naru to even consider accepting them.

"Mai, tea."

The demand, like always, came from Naru's closed office door and Mai sighed again as she got up to complete the routine that she could quite possible do in her sleep. As she pondered the chances of her successfully making tea while unconscious, Mai placed the cups of now brewed Earl Grey onto a tray before carefully making her way towards the boss' office.

She knocked before entering, not bothering to wait for a reply as she balanced the tray in one arm and opened the door with the other. Naru was sitting at his desk reading one of the thick books he seemed to have an endless amount of. He would occasionally make note of something on a notebook beside him or glance at his computer before going back to whatever is was he was reading.

Mai made her way towards his desk and carefully set the cup down somewhere within his reach before stepping back and waiting for an acknowledgement that she knew he would not give. She was willing to wait there anyway; anything to get away from her boring desk with its boring paperwork (also to have an excuse to stare at his face, however, she would never admit to that out loud).

He didn't even glance up from his book when he asked if she wanted anything else and Mai puffed out her cheeks, pouting, before turning around and walking back to her assigned area in the office.

She had just set her own tea down, ready to sit and stare at nothing again, when the bell above the entrance rang. Mai stood up straight, smoothing out her clothes, and turned to face the person who would hopefully improve her day with her professional smile in place.

"Good afternoon, sir. Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research, how may I help you today?" As Mai spoke her prepared line, she hoped that the desperate hope she felt was not portrayed in her voice.

"I was hoping to speak to your boss about a potential case, is he in?" Mai's smile widened as the man spoke, her excitement over finally having another client rising.

She directed the man towards the couch whilst telling him that, "yes my boss is certainly in and I will just fetch him right now," before practically skipping over to Naru's door and knocking.

"Naru! There's a client here who wishes to speak to you~," she didn't bother trying to keep the sing-song tone out of her voice, she was too damn excited.

Finally, I may be able to escape the endless torture of paperwork and tea!

Mai then pranced her way to the kitchen to make more tea, informing Lin about the client on her way, before seating herself on the chair between the two couches.

Naru had already given his introduction by the time she sat down and the man, who she learnt was Jun Akatsuka, took as sip of his tea before he started speaking.

"I just moved into a new place that is closer to my work, and everything was completely normal for the first few days… But things started happening that I couldn't explain."

"It started with the temperature in the main bedroom. Even though it is the middle of summer, the room will get so cold that it feels like winter," the sound of typing filled the room as Jun explained the important events that were happening.

"At first I thought it was the air conditioning somehow turning on by itself without my knowing, but we hired an electrician to check it out and everything was in working order. Then one night the lights started flickering and we could hear a man saying 'I'm sorry' over and over again. And then, yesterday, something happened that made me decide to finally have this looked into…"

Jun pause then, taking a deep breath and sipping his tea before looking directly at Naru.

"I had just come home from work and walked into the bedroom to change into more comfortable clothes… and the bed… it was drenched in blood. But no one had been home all day and the house was just as I'd left it in the morning and there wasn't a body anywhere or any other sign of where the blood could have come from-"

Jun cut himself off then, realising that he was getting quite worked up, "I'm sorry. As you can probably tell, both my wife and I are afraid with how things seem to be escalating. We're worried that whatever is doing this will one day turn to physical violence. Please, you have to help us."

Jun bowed slightly to Naru then, his head down. Mai shifted in her seat so she could have her full attention on her boss, who was in his typically thinking pose. Naru glanced at her briefly from the corner of his eye, seeing the pleading gaze she was directing him, before inwardly sighing and accepting the case.

"We will need a fairly large room with a decent amount of electrical outlets and two separate rooms for sleeping. If you could leave all the necessary details with Mai, we will see you soon. And Mai, contact everyone else and let them know we have a case."

With that he stood and disappeared into his office once again. Mai jumped up from her seat, getting the client's details before showing him out. She only just managed to contain her excitement until the door shut; they finally had a case!