Chapter 2

Mai's P.O.V

It was just another boring day at the office for me. I made tea for Lin and Naru, without getting one thank you from Naru again. Honestly, can't he be grateful for once and say thank you? I mean how hard is it to say two words? I am grateful for the job though. I gasped. Is it because he's still angry at me for breaking the camera!? I didn't know he could hold a grudge for that long!

Somehow, I don't think that's it -.-

I wonder if Naru remembers Aki from this morning. Oh well... "Hello, is someone here?"

"Ah, come on in the door's open." I said getting up and opening the door. "Come in." It looked like a married couple this time. Huh, I could see some resemblance between them and Aki. I gasp. "You don't happen to be Aki's parents are you?" The lady smiled.

"I see, you go to the same school as her?"

"Yes, she's my classmate. My name is Mai Taniyama."

"I'm Yuzuki Haru and this is my husband, Isamu Haru. We're here on Aki's behalf. Is your boss around?"

"Yes, have a seat and I'll get him for you." I wonder if this has to do with the fact that Aki can see and talk to spirits. Aki isn't going to be happy about this. I thought frowning as I knocked on Naru's door.

"Come in."

"Um, Mr. and Mrs. Haru are here to see you."

"What is it about?"

"Their daughter..." I said frowning.

"What's wrong?" I shook my head.

"I think I know what this is about, but you'll see." I sighed and left the door open as I went back into the sitting area. I waited patiently as Naru got Lin and the two of them joined me on the couch sitting across from Aki's parents.

"What have you come here for?" Naru asked them.

"You see, we just moved back to Japan a few days ago, but that's not why we're here. Our daughter Aki has been claiming she can see and talk to ghosts since she was very young. We moved to America to see if it was just a phase but she saw them there too." Mrs. Haru said shaking her head. "My husband has walked in on her having conversations with herself. But she wasn't talking to herself, she was talking like there was something in the room with her."

"How old is she now?"

"She's about Mai-san's age."

"Mai, do you know her?"

"Yes, I met her this morning and from what she's told me, so have you." I said scowling at him for forgetting her. He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"What do you mean?" I groaned.

"She literally ran into you this morning."

"I see." I smacked my forehead. "Anyways, has she told you about being able to see and speak with ghosts?"

"Yes, and I believe her." As I was saying this, I could see the disbelief in her mom and dad's faces.

"I see. Will you call her and have her come here?"

"I can call her." Mrs. Haru said digging out her phone. Naru nodded. She dialed a number and put the phone to her ear. "Aki, dear, will you come to this address for me? Don't argue with me, young lady." She said scowling. "Now get over here," Mrs. Haru gave her the address and hung up the phone. Then she snapped her phone shut and sighed. "She's on her way."

"Good, now, has anything else happened when she was speaking to these ghosts?"

"What do you mean?" Mr. Haru asked frowning.

"Did knocking noises occur or doors slam shut by themselves?" Lin offered.

"No, nothing like that." This was beginning to not look good for Aki. I thought frowning. About twenty more minutes of Naru questioning Mr. and Mrs. Haru, Aki finally came in. She sighed.

"I've already figured out why I'm here, so don't bother even trying to explain." She said crossing her arms. She looked at Naru and frowned. "You don't believe me do you?"

"No." She nodded.

"I thought so. I'm just going to tell you now: I don't plan on trying to make you believe me."

"Why's that?"

"You can't make someone believe something they don't want to believe." She said shrugging.

"I do have questions for you though."

"Go ahead."

"Do the ghosts come to you or do you look for them?"

"They come to me no matter where I'm at or who I'm with."

"Have you tried summoning a spirit?"

"No, are you kidding me? I've read enough books on the paranormal to know not to do that. What if something bad appeared? I wouldn't be able to send it away." Naru nodded as Lin typed away on his lap top.

"Last question, when did you start seeing the ghosts?"

"For as long as I can remember. It didn't bug me at all when I was little, but when middle school came along, it started to freak me out a little, but I've gotten over it and just accepted that there isn't anything I can do about it." Naru seemed to accept that answer.

"So?" Mr. Haru asked looking eager. Aki stared at him in disgust. I can tell she doesn't like her parents very much.

"All I can do is prove whether or not she can actually see them and even if I did tell you my opinion, it wouldn't change anything. I can't make her not see ghosts." Mr. Haru's face fell in disappointment.

"Well, thank you for your time and we're sorry for wasting it." Mrs. Haru said standing up. "Come on, dear." She took her husband's hand and led him out of the door. Aki sighed and started to follow them.

"Miss Haru, I would like to ask you something else." She frowned and turned to look at Naru.

"Yes?"

"We got a case just before your parents walked in, would you like to come with us?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"This is just so you can know for sure whether or not I can see and talk to ghosts isn't it?"

"You're smarter than you look." She sighed.

"Fine, I'll come with you, but I'm not doing your grunt work." She said before walking out of the door. I couldn't help but laugh. Naru sighed.

"I didn't even tell her about our cases!" I chortled.

"Just get back to work and tell her to meet at the office at eight tomorrow. I'll call your principal and have him make her exempt for the next few days." I nodded and went to the phone. It's a good thing she gave me her number. She picked up after the second ring.

"Hey, this is Mai."

"Oh, hey Mai." She sounded a bit stressed and upset.

"Are you going to be okay?" She sighed.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's not something I should be surprised about anyways. They'd go to the extremes just to prove that I'm just being crazy."

"That's awful of them."

"I know right? Well, anyways, what did you want to talk about?"

"Naru said to meet at the office tomorrow at eight. We're doing the briefing here and if my suspicions are correct, you might get to meet Monk, Ayako, Masako, and John too."

"Okay and I'm serious about the grunt work. I refuse to do it." I laughed.

"No one has ever said that to Naru and not done it."

"Just you wait, I don't even work for him."

"As of tomorrow you sort of do." She scoffed.

"Whatever." Mai smiled.

"See you tomorrow, Aki."

"Okay, see you tomorrow Mai." Tomorrow was going to be interesting. "Oh, Mai?"

"Yeah?"

"We should get together and tell ghost stories sometime."

"I'd love to! I haven't had the chance to do it with Michiru and Keiko for a long time because of work and Michiru has a boyfriend and Keiko has one too, so we really haven't found the time to."

"That's understandable. The next time we talk to them we can ask them to join us."

"That sounds great! Bye!"

"Bye!" I put the phone back on the receiver and sighed. I miss the days when Michiru, Keiko, and I stayed after school to tell ghost stories. I thought as I got back to work. If Naru walked in, he'd have thought I was slacking off.