Chapter 8
"You know, I would've really liked to have gotten to know Shichirou." I said later on that day. I was at the Base with Mai, Lin, and Naru. Everyone else was doing Exorcisms to see if it would change anything.
"Why?" Mai asked curiously. I shrugged.
"I can really identify with everything he went through before he died."
"Aki!" Mai said wide-eyed.
"Oi, I'm not saying I'm gonna go and start a fire or something! I'm just saying, that I can relate to him and the problems he had. I wish I could've been there for him. I think we would've been great friends, you know?" She smiled and nodded. "So, have you talked to Ichirou-san about what Yasuhara told us earlier?"
"No, I'm waiting a bit on that. We should investigate more before we jump to any conclusions without any facts." Naru said looking at me.
"Yeah, well how are you supposed to find those facts without getting his side of the story first? Isn't that like Investigation 101 or something?" He sighed.
"Yes, but there are other things we need to investigate."
"What I want to know is what Shichirou meant when he said 'just like the others'." I muttered, frowning. "It suggests that there are more like him maybe? And if so, what are they afraid of? I don't think they're afraid of Shichirou. Maybe they're afraid of Ichirou-san?" Mai shuddered.
"If that memory you saw about Ichirou-san really happened, I'd say they're afraid of Ichirou-san, but if he was really into some occult stuff, then it may be possible he summoned a really bad spirit without knowing it." Naru said thoughtfully.
"Plus, I don't really think Shichirou is the one who started the fire. It's possible someone could've started it while he was in there." I said frowning.
"I've got some information on the fire." Yasuhara said walking into the room.
"Good timing!" I said grinning. "I don't think we got to properly introduce each other earlier. I'm Haru Aki, but you can just call me Aki." He smiled.
"Yasuhara Osamu, but you can just call me Yasu. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure's all mine."
"So what did you find out about the fire?" Naru asked interrupting our nice conversation; RUDE!
"Well, from the police reports, there was no way that Kohaku-san started the fire. I looked into it a little more. The ones I did read were revised copies of the original. They put that just to close the case." I frowned.
"So they were covering something up."
"Yes and again, our friend Ichirou-san is brought up in it."
"Let me guess, he'd been near the gym at the time of the fire?"
"Yes, you're really good at this Aki-san." I shrugged.
"I guess you could say I'm a bit of a mystery otaku."
"Is that so? I'm a bit of one myself." Oh? I'm starting to like this guy. Naru cleared his throat. "Oh right, sorry. Um, anyways, in the original reports, Ichirou-san was there just before the fire started. He was seen talking to Kohaku-san by two girls who were passing by to go to class. They were running late is what the reports say. The girls said Kohaku-san looked upset and angry, but they were in a hurry so they couldn't see anything else that was going on." Mai frowned.
"Ichirou-san was giving him a hard time again, wasn't he?" I was starting to like Ichirou-san less and less.
"Yes and his fingerprints happened to be on a gasoline can that was found after the fire was put out. The police couldn't find what ignited the fire, but Ichirou-san's alibi was that he had borrowed the gasoline can the day before and brought it back to the school janitor who is the owner of the gasoline."
"But why bring it back to the school to return it to him? Why not wait to return it after school?" Mai asked confused.
"That alibi isn't very good, so why did the police believe it?" Naru asked frowning.
"There's more to it. The police noticed this and asked Ichirou-san the same questions as Mai. Ichirou-san then said that the janitor asked him to bring it to him at school and they left it at that."
"They didn't even try to confirm with the janitor?" I asked wide-eyed.
"Nope, they just thought it was good enough I suppose. However I did look up the janitor and he's retired now, but I went by his home and asked him some questions. He said he never told Ichirou-san to bring it back to the school."
"Ichirou-san sure is looking more and more suspicious." Mai muttered.
"The janitor also said that Ichirou-san borrowed a lot of paint from him and paid him back for the paint. He said Ichirou-san would never tell him the reason for it, but he didn't want to push it. He said he could feel a bad vibe coming off Ichirou-san and didn't have the courage to say anything."
"Then if what the janitor is saying is true, then Ichirou-san is the one who started the fire and it is possible that he is involved with occult stuff." I murmured. "This isn't good."
"If it's going as far as this, I don't think there is much we can do." Naru said finally. "We'll have to involve the police and let them handle this." Mai looked like she was about to protest but didn't say anything. I understand the feeling. I want to help Shichirou and the others who were the victims of Ichirou-san but the only way to do this is to involve the police.
"Oh, here you all are." Ishida-san said walking in here. "Ichirou-san would like a word with you Shibuya-san." Hm... had he heard what we were talking about? He looked nervous. Maybe, just maybe he was involved in this all too. It's true Ichirou-san couldn't do everything by himself. Naru nodded and followed Ishida-san out of the room. As soon as I was sure they were gone, I asked,
"Ne, Yasu? Do you have anything on Ishida-san?"
"No, but I can do some digging."
"Why?" Lin asked curiously.
"Ichirou-san couldn't have done all this on his own." Mai frowned.
"That's true." Yasu said thoughtfully.
"Did you find out anything else?" Lin asked him.
"Well, I tracked down some of the students who knew Shichirou and they all described him as kind and nice but everyone thought he was creepy because he claimed he could see ghosts." I jolted at this. So we are the same. I don't know why but I felt like crying. What if I ended up like Shichirou? What if I ran into some teachers like Ichirou-san who would give me a hard time just because I can see ghosts?
"Aki, are you okay? You're crying!" Mai said hugging me. I sniffled and wiped my tears on my shirt.
"S-sorry, yeah I'm okay. It's just, I've realized that Shichirou and I are the same." She bit her lower lip. "He got bullied by everyone because he could see ghosts and I've been bullied for the same reasons."
"So you can see ghosts?" Yasu asked me. I nodded.
"I can communicate with them too."
"I tracked down his parents. The mother died two years ago and the father moved on and has a new family." How could he move on just like that? His wife and his son are both dead and he just moved on to a new family, just like that? "I talked to him and he was devastated about his son and wife but he told me, life goes on after death, so he did the same thing." I wonder if my mom, dad, and brother would do the same thing if I had died. I bet they'd be happy to have gotten rid of me. I mentally shook my head. Now wasn't the time to think about that. Masako, Ayako, Monk, John, and Naru all returned at the same time. Naru looked troubled.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Ichirou-san has called off the investigation."
"What? Why now? After he didn't call it off after that student died?" Ayako asked frustrated. Naru sighed.
"It looks like we were right about Ichirou-san."
"And Ishida-san." I muttered.
"Eh? Why Ishida-san?" John asked curiously.
"We'll discuss this later. Let's get all the equipment put up." Naru said as he and Lin started to shut everything down. After we had everything packed up, we all went to a restaurant down the road. We hadn't even had lunch yet!
"So what is this all about?" Ayako asked frowning as we all took our seats.
"Well, Yasu did some digging on the fire and it seems Ichirou-san is the one who set the fire. He was seen talking to Shichirou by some girls and the police covered it up with a revised report claiming that Shichirou started the fire. Also, the janitor whom Ichirou-san borrowed the gasoline can from said that Ichirou-san also borrowed paint from him and never told him his reason for needing it. I guess Ishida-san heard us talking about it and when he told Naru that Ichirou-san needed to talk to him, he sounded nervous. I bet Ishida-san has something to do with all this. I mean, how could Ichirou-san have done all this by himself?" Monk frowned.
"I see, so there's really nothing we can do about this, is there?" John said frowning too.
"That's what we were talking about before Ishida-san came in. I guess the only thing we can do is tell the police, but the only evidence we've got on Ichirou-san is the janitor and those girls' testimony." I said sighing.
"You can really relate to Kohaku-san, can't you?" Masako said eyeing me sadly. I nodded.
"Yeah, I feel bad for him and I don't want to leave it like this but there isn't anything we can do about it now."
"We should all watch our backs. I'm sure Ishida-san and Ichirou-san won't let us go this easily after finding out everything we know now." Naru said in warning. We nodded. "This turned out more dangerous than I thought it would. If I had known, I wouldn't have accepted this case."
"It's not your fault Naru. I'm sure Ichirou-san didn't expect this to happen either." Monk said sympathetically.
"Oh, Mai, do you mind if I bum off of you for a few months?" I asked her when we headed out to the cars. She looked at me shocked.
"No, but why?"
"It has to do with why I was out in the rain the other day. I'll tell you once we get back okay?" She nodded. "Besides it won't be permanent; it's just until I can find the money to get a place of my own." She smiled.
"Well, I bet if you asked Naru, he'd let you work at the office." I shook my head.
"Nah, as much as I like mysteries and the paranormal, I'd rather work in a place with less gloom. I mean there are some good moments on cases, but I would rather work at a café or something like that."
"Oh, then I can help you there! There's a café down the street from my apartment, they're hiring!"
"Really? Thanks Mai! I so owe you one for everything you've done for me!" She grinned.
"Anything to help out a friend!"
"Oh that reminds me, we still have some ghost stories to tell." I said winking at her. She laughed.
"Yeah, I can't believe you got Monk and John interested into telling ghost stories with high school students." I shrugged.
"It's a talent!" She grinned. I still couldn't stop thinking about Shichirou though. I wish there was some way to help him. I gasped, stopping in my tracks. Shichirou was standing in front of Lin and Naru's van. "Shichirou, what are you doing here?"
"Please help me put a stop to Ichirou."
"How? There's nothing I can do about it." He looked so sad. I wanted to pull him into my arms and hug him.
"You're going to go to the police right? I'll tell you what I found out about what Ichirou was up to. I have the papers hidden underneath a stone under a bench at a park a few blocks down the road from here. It's on the south side where very little people go through there. So it should still be there. Please go get them! That can be your evidence!" I nodded.
"Okay, Shichirou, I'll go get them. Thanks for the help." I told him smiling. "We'll try our best." He smiled and nodded.
"Thank you and I'm sorry for hurting you." I shook my head
"It's okay, I forgive you." He looked relieved and finally he disappeared.
"What was that about?" Monk asked shocked.
"There's a park a few blocks down the road. Shichirou told me he hid the papers on the research he did of Ichirou-san."
"And he told you where to find them?" Naru asked me. I nodded.
"Yes, so what do you say Naru? Shall we give up on the whole thing or go to the police with those papers?" He sighed.
"We need to examine the papers first." I grinned.
"Alright, to the cars!" John chuckled as we all piled into the cars and went to the park. This has been very interesting for my first case so far. Maybe once all of this is over, Shichirou will stop possessing the students. I hope so.