Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Naru: Mai, tea!
Me: Mai, me too!
Mai: What? Tea addicts! Go get it yourselves...
Naru: (glares)
Me: But I'm lazy. XD
Naru: (still glares)
Mai: Fine! (rushes off to make tea)
Naru: We have the same tastes. (looks at my black clothes)
Me: I agree. Although, you lack a bit of red... Oh! I have to get back to writing the chapters...(mumbles) I might stop by to get chocolate, pocky and cookies.
Mai: (had fallen asleep and dreams that me getting either chocolate, pocky or cookies was going to be a bad thing)

First and foremost, I want to thank all those who reviewed. I love reading your comments about the fic. Thank you to my beta and friend, Leenstarz or as I like to call her, Tama-chan! Please take note that there would be a crossover. But, I don't want you guys to know yet, so I'm not telling. XD There are hints on the next chapter though. There are also implied novel spoilers, just to let you guys know.

John, Takigawa and Mai, left the room, but not before receiving a school map from Naru. Takigawa stalled for a moment, thinking of his first line of attack.

"We should check if there are any classes in the rooms we're assigned to." The other two nodded at Takigawa's words. "Mai, if there is no one there, get the measurements Naru-bou wanted. Wait for us to get there with the equipment."

As they went through each one of the classes, they seem to have noticed that Naru had given them rooms that were currently empty. 'Darn, Naru thought of everything.' Mai mentally cursed.

They returned to the base after they had finished. There, Naru was rereading the case information. "Ne, Naru," Mai uttered, approaching her boss, "Here are the temperatures you wanted me to check." He simply glanced at her as she handed him the measurements. "Mai, tea." he ordered.

'Sheesh.' Mai thought, 'No please or thank you. How do I put up with this stuff?' She made her way towards their makeshift kitchen, boiling hot water. While waiting for it, she let out the tea and some honey.

"Anyone else wants some?" she asked in a loud voice, so the other members could hear her. A chorus of "no's" reached her ears so she let out only one tea cup and a spoon. She made the tea and gave it to Naru, who made no acknowledgement of her existence. Mai stood there for a while, until Naru finally looked up to her with a glare. This made Mai forget about wanting a 'thanks' from Naru and went towards Bou-san and John.

After getting directions, they made their way to the cafeteria, where Ayako was eating. The trio bought their food and went to sit with the miko, as it was the only table that hadn't been fully occupied. Mai went to sit in the empty space next to Ayako, Takigawa sitting across her with John beside him.

"Any luck, Ayako-san?" John inquired politely. "Nope." She quickly replied. For John and Mai, this was a sign that the conversation was going nowhere. But for Takigawa, this was a perfect way to tease her. "You didn't sense the ghost?" Takigawa started. "That must be because you're a fake."

"I am not!" She reached over the table to whack the monk with her purse. Satisfied, she went back to eating her lunch. John and Mai chuckled at this. They do that all the time; almost to the point that they are either really irritated at each other or they are flirting. Mai likes to think that it was the latter.

"Where is Masako?" Mai piped up, interested on the whereabouts of the medium. Ayako explained that she had gone outside to eat, because she was allergic to the food they were selling in the cafeteria. "I think she didn't want to eat here because the food doesn't suite her lavish tastes." Ayako scoffed and continued, "She's just bummed that Naru rejected her this time." Even Mai couldn't help but smile at that.

The group was really hungry, as there were no more conversations being made. They were possibly the most silent of all, as the students were very intent in their conversations. A scream, not really recognizable at first over the noisy crowd, was slowly and steadily being heard.

They were curious, so they went to look at the source of the scream, a girl by the sound of it. But before they could locate her, the earth shook, forcing the students and them to take cover under the tables. Ayako seemed agitated, holding on to the nearest person she could hold on to, which seemed to be Takigawa. He didn't notice it, thinking that it was his "little sister", Mai. But as he turned to provide comfort, he noticed that she was curled up in a ball. He realised that it was Ayako, and not Mai, and he kept this to himself. Mai hugged her knees closer to herself. She was cold and felt a sharp pang on her arms.

Over the sounds of distress coming from the students, one voice was clearly heard most of all. It was soft and light, at this volume, it cannot, no, shouldn't be heard at all. But it is, and the students seemed to notice it as well.

A little boy was walking around the cafeteria. "Doko desu ka? Where are you?" he whispered, repeating the same thing over and over again, as he moved about. It was until seconds later that the shaking and the ghost boy disappeared. The students came out one by one, most of them still clearly terrified.

The cafeteria door suddenly opened, Masako entering in a rush. Her brown eyes quickly scanned the area and let out a breath of relief. Naru and Lin entered, somehow realising that something was wrong. "What happened?" Naru asked earning a look of astonishment from the four members of the team that had survived the ordeal. "You mean you didn't know?" Takigawa couldn't help but ask, just to make sure.

"Naru," Mai reported, "There was an earthquake a while ago. Don't tell me that you didn't feel it?" Naru with a quick shake of his head told her that they didn't.

"Yes. Also, the boy was here." Masako obviously wanted to stay on top of Mai. "I feel a slight disturbing aura. But I don't recognize it."

"What did it feel like, Hara-san?" Lin spoke up this time. Both he and his shiki had felt something, but they were unfamiliar with it. Masako looked shocked at first, but shrugged it off. "I can't really explain it. But, it was sort of cold and painful." She thought for a moment. "And that it didn't feel like a ghost. That… is all I can remember."

"This means that the ghost must be really strong." Naru concluded. Weaker ghosts would normally slow down their actions when intruders arrive. It is only the stronger ones that would either continue with their actions or it would increase. "Mai." Naru was now looking at Mai, his face appearing to say, 'If-you-have-something-to-say-to-me-say-it-now'. Mai was puzzled, and made a step backwards. She wasn't really thinking that she could help out with the investigation; all she does is manual labour and making tea. She wasn't really smart or useful, plus she gets in trouble most of the time. She wasn't really psy–SPLASH!

Mai shivered as the water hit her. She wasn't really paying attention, and it seemed that she had took too many steps backwards, only to be drenched in water a student had accidentally spilt.

"Gomen, gomen!" The girl bowed, showing that she was truly apologetic of her actions. Asumi then went up to the girl, who they later known as Suzuki Tamiko, and semi-scolded at her friend.

"Sumimasen, Taniyama-san." Asumi spoke, bowing at Mai. "It's okay." Mai was now embarrassed at the big deal they had made.

"Maybe she's not a danger-magnet." Ayako teased.

"Maybe she is just unlucky." Takigawa whispered back. But not soft enough, as Mai seemed to have heard and sent them an angry look.

"Kobayashi-san, please bring all the students in the cafeteria to the base." Naru ordered, turning to leave. But not before he added, "Mai, get yourself a change clothes. I don't want a wet assistant. It is very unprofessional." The rest followed him to the base. And here I thought he was almost being nice. Mai thought as he turned to look at Tamiko. "Ano, Tamiko-san," Mai started, conscious of what she was going to say. "Can I borrow clothes? I don't have them."

"Oh!" Tamiko didn't seem to try and hide the glee in her voice. "But it's just my school uniform. Is that okay?"

Mai gave a nod, and followed the girl to the changing rooms.

Author's Ramblings

I wanted to upload this chapter earlier, but because I had to mock exams, it was delayed. Hehe...