Chapter 12

"Naru, what's going on?" I asked as soon as Mai and I got to the office. The others hadn't arrived yet.

"The janitor's house was caught on fire earlier this evening." He answered as we all sat down. "The police found a gasoline can not far from the house. They're analyzing it now for fingerprints."

"How's his wife?" Mai asked, looking concerned.

"She's shaken up, but she's going to be okay. She didn't suffer any serious injuries, but she did lose her house." Lin answered, frowning.

"That poor woman," I muttered shaking my head.

"Who would do such an awful thing?" Tears ran down Mai's cheeks. I hugged her.

"It had to be Ichirou-san." I said frowning. "He's the only person that I can think of who would do this." Naru nodded.

"Yes, that's what Lin and I were thinking too."

"There's no doubt in my mind that the others think the same. So what should we do now?"

"I'm not sure. That's why I've asked everyone to meet up here." Naru said sighing. I nodded. While we waited for the others to get here, Lin made some tea.

"Here Mai, drink this," I said holding the cup up to her. She nodded, sniffling, and took a drink. She took in a deep, shuddering breath and let it out slowly. "Are you calm?" She nodded.

"Y-Yeah, thanks." I smiled.

"No problem." The others finally showed up, looking worried. Naru spent the next hour telling everyone about what was just discussed. After everyone was filled in, Naru looked like he was weighing his options.

"We can still hand in those papers of Kohaku-san's." John offered. "They explain everything that Ichirou-san is up to."

"Let's do that Sunday. I'm sure everyone needs some time to get over this shock." Naru said finally after thinking it over. We nodded.

"Also, we can still go check out Ishida-san next Saturday." Masako added. Naru nodded.

"I've decided that Lin and I will go and check him out."

"No way, we're coming with you Naru." I told him sternly. "You can't do everything by yourselves. I know how dangerous this is. I don't know about you, but I've been through a lot of dangerous situations ever since I can remember. Probably more than a normal person should. This is nothing compared to what I've had to go through." I looked away as I said this. I've seen some pretty horrible stuff. The things I listed off before were nothing compared to the other things that have happened. I've seen animals get killed and people have gotten into accidents all because of those little incidents. A little girl that looked to be six years old got caught in between two cars that would've almost hit me if I didn't move out of the way in time and the little girl died. I blamed myself for that little girl dying. I sighed. "Well, anyways," I paused. "I think it would be safer in numbers if we go to talk to Ishida-san. That way if he tries anything, he can't get all of us together if we go. Those that get away can go and call for help." Naru nodded after a few minutes of consideration.

"Alright, we'll go together." After a few minutes of silence, we all decided to leave.

"Come on, Mai. We've got some ghost stories to think about for tomorrow." I told her grinning once I'd gotten myself together. She smiled and nodded. "John, Monk, you better watch out, we might just scare your pants off." Monk chuckled.

"Then I guess John and I will have to work on our stories for tomorrow too. Isn't that right, John?" John smiled.

"Yes, I look forward to it."

"Did someone say ghost stories?" Yasu asked curiously, but to me it looked like he was eager about it.

"Yeah, Mai, Monk, John, Michiru, Keiko, and I are going to be telling ghost stories at our school tomorrow." I answered smiling at him.

"That sounds fun, but it's too bad I won't be able to join you. I still have a few loose ends to wrap up in my research for this case."

"Maybe you can join us the next time we decide to tell ghost stories." Mai offered smiling at him. He chuckled.

"I'd be honored to join you."

"Great, we'll let you know when we decide the date and time." I said grinning. Telling ghost stories with Yasu seemed interesting.

"Right, we've kept Michiru and Keiko waiting long enough." Mai said smiling at me.

"Oh, that's right! Guess what guys?" Everyone looked at me. "I got a job at the café near Mai's apartment."

"Congratulations!" Everyone, minus Naru, said smiling and/or grinning at me. Naru of course had his head stuck in some file. I rolled my eyes at him, but smiled none the less.

"Thanks," Not too long afterwards, Naru booted us out and Mai and I were walking back to the apartment.

"I think I'm starting to get over the shock now." Mai said finally when we got inside. I smiled.

"That's good. Let's get some sleep. We've both had a pretty long day." She nodded. Sometime around 8 in the morning, my phone went off. "Hello?" I said tiredly.

"Aki, it's me."

"Nii-san? What's up?"

"Mom and Dad want you to come home."

"Mom AND Dad? What do you mean? I thought Dad left." I sat up feeling more alert now. I decided to go into the living room, so I wouldn't wake the others.

"As soon as he heard that you were gone, he came back." I rolled my eyes.

"Of course he did."

"Look, they just want to talk to you."

"I'm sure they do. Let me guess, they're sending me off? Or are they moving away and expect me to come with them? Oh, or maybe they're moving away and leaving me here?"

"Aki, stop!" I could hear the scowl in his voice.

"Then what do they want to talk about?" He sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry for hurting you like I did. I know you probably don't trust me anymore, but trust me when I say this. They want to apologize to you. They feel guilty for the way they were treating you."

"Well that's too bad. If they feel so guilty, I expect them to call me, not you." I said coldly. "And another thing, I don't believe you. Unless they come to me and tell me themselves, I'm not coming home. I don't even know if I can call that house my home anymore. I'm sick of being treated the way I've been treated and I'm not going to stand here and take it anymore. So, you can tell them that unless they come to me, I don't want to talk to them." He sighed again.

"Somehow I knew you'd say something like that, but you know they won't like that."

"At this point, I really don't care what they like. They can shove it somewhere uncomfortable for all I care."

"Don't say that about Mom and Dad!"

"Well, I'm not taking it back, so good bye." Then I hung up the phone. I sighed and returned to our room. Why does he have to make me so mad all the time? And what was the point in calling me if he already knew my answer? Maybe he gets a kick out of making me mad. Jerk... I thought getting back under the covers.

"Are you okay, Aki?" Michiru asked from next to me. I sighed.

"No, my brother called me." She frowned.

"I get the feeling that that's a bad thing." I nodded.

"You know how I told you about having family issues?" She nodded. "Well, you see, my mom, dad, and brother don't like the fact that I can see and talk to ghosts. They've treated me like an outcast ever since I was little. They made me go to therapists and things like that since I was little too."

"That's awful." I smiled.

"That's not the worst part. My parents were fighting because of me a few days back and my dad ended up leaving. It made my brother get mad at me and he took his anger out on me and pretty much kicked me out." She gasped.

"Why would he do such a horrible thing? I think being able to see and communicate with ghosts is an amazing gift." I smiled and hugged her.

"Thanks," She hugged me back.

"You're welcome. But seriously, that's really wrong of them."

"I know," I sighed as we let go of each other. "He called me because according to him, my parents feel guilty about everything I went through. I told him if they were really guilty then they'd come to me and tell me that themselves and basically told him I didn't want to talk to them unless they came to me." She nodded.

"Good," I grinned.

"So have any good ghost stories in mind?" She grinned too.

"Just one, but you'll hear about it later." I yawned and the two us went back to sleep.