I feel like it's really picking up here! I'm really enjoying this, and hopefully you all are, too! Thanks for all the fabulous reviews!!! ;D

*I do not own Ghost Hunt in any way, shape or form*

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"...because she told Ayako-chan about what happened last night?" somebody--Bou-san, I think--said.

I pushed my way through the heavy fog of sleep the clouded my mind and into awareness. I recognized the strong smell of antibacterial chemicals, and the annoying beep of a heart monitor. There was a slight pressure on my left index finger, and I assumed that it was monitoring my heart. I was in a hosiptal.

"Maybe," I heard Ayako say. She was so distraught-sounding, she didn't seem to notice or care how Bou-san had called her "-chan".

I fought against my heavy eyelids, trying to open them. I couldn't seem to get them open just yet.

"I have to disagree," Masako said.

"I agree with Hara-san," John remarked.

"Why is that?" Akyako asked.

I listened as I tried to push open my eyes. Multi-tasking didn't seem to be working well at the moment, because it only made it harder to try and open my eyes as I listened to them.

"Because she was one in many," I heard a familiar narcisstic voice say.

I let myself rest for a moment as I realized that Naru was here and close to my bed. Why was he here and not at the orphanage? Hell, why was I even in here?

"One in many what?" Bou-san asked.

"Testifiers. Mai wasn't the only one who told us about things that had happened there and what happened the previous night, but none of the other girls was injured."

"That does make sense," John consented.

At that moment, I was finally able to flutter my eyelids open. I was in a darkening hospital room totally done in white. The white linoleum tiles were squeaky clean, the walls were white, and the cupboards were white. All of the SPR team--excluding Lin-san--was seated somehow around the room.

I shifted slightly, and the movement made my head ache terribly. "Ungh," I groaned quietly.

"Mai?! Are you awake, Mai?!" Ayako started yelling after a moment of silence.

"Mai! Finally, you're awake!" Bou-san shouted.

Their yells hurt my head. "Stop yelling," I muttered.

"Mai," Naru said quietly. At least someone wasn't yelling. Before I could turn my head to look at him, his face was suddenly close to mine, and I could see his eyes clearly. I could have been delirious, but he almost looked relieved. "How do you feel?" he asked.

I suddenly remembered my outflung statement to Naru while being shoved into stupid Nazuka-san's car; the one where I'd said that I loved him. What a terrible moment to recall something like that. My cheeks flushed, and I rushed to answer. "Like my head weighs a ton," I replied aggravatedly, closing my eyes so that it would maybe help with my state of mind from Naru.

I heard Naru pull away, and I opened my eyes again. "Why am I in here?" I asked.

"You remember, don't you?" Masako asked.

I started nodding but winced when it felt like my brain was being knocked around inside my skull. "Yeah, but what happened with you guys? How did I get here?"

"Shortly after you left, a girl came running in screaming that another girl had just been attacked," John began. "We rushed out, hoping to see the scene of the accident, and we found you there."

"Really, Mai, you scared the hell out of us!" Bou-san said, running a hand through his hair.

Nothing ever scares Naru. He probably wasn't scared, I thought with an inward sigh.

"Why?" I asked. "I was just knocked out! That's no big deal!"

"No big deal?!" Ayako shouted histarically. "You were knocked out in a pool of your own damn blood and you call that no big deal?!"

"Blood?" I repeated in confusion. "From where?"

"You've got a pretty nice slice on the back of your head," Bou-san told me.

That would explain the pressure going around my head; it was a bandage. "J-just from hitting my head?" I asked.

"The banister was very sharp. You must've hit it very hard for there to be so much damage," Naru explained from beside me. I wanted to turn my head and look at him, but it would make me dizzy.

"How deep was it?" I asked weakly.

"Deep. You're lucky your skull wasn't fractured," Ayako said. She suddenly sounded exhausted and distraught. "Besides your nasty cut, you have a concussion. The doctor was even worried that you would go into a comatose state."

I closed my eyes, trying to take all this in. Apparently, it was worse than I thought. I opened them again, and looked around at all of them gratefully. I noticed that they had dark circles under their eyes. "Didn't you sleep?" I asked in disapproval.

"Not much," Masako said. I couldn't tell if she was annoyed by that or not.

"Like Bou-san said, you had us pretty worried," John said compassionately.

Seeing how much they cared about me made me want to cry. I quickly blinked away the tears, not wanting to give myself an even worse headache than I already had by crying. "Thanks, you guys," I whispered hoarsely.

"If only you didn't worry us so much," Bou-san said playfully.

"No teasing the injured girl!" I objected feebly, closing my eyes again.

"Just rest, Mai. We're right here," Naru said quietly.

I felt myself relax, and I fell back to sleep surrounded by my friends and Naru sitting beside me.

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Awww, I liked this chapter! Read and review, please! :D