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Mai let out a soft sigh as she dried her hair with a towel as she went back to her room. She, John, and Takigawa had all agreed they needed to take showers before even attempting to search for the second hot springs. Mai shuddered at the thought of the smelly water they had been doused in.

'I'm not sure I can take many ghost appearances before Naru, Lin, and Yasuhara can get here. This is just too much. She's going to tear this family to shreds before she's happy. I don't understand.' she thought as she entered the room. She tossed the wet towel on her futon before shaking her head. She turned to leave the room again before sighing softly. A sudden sadness had entered her heart. She didn't understand where it had come from but it suddenly hit her.

"Mai?" she blinked as she realized she was standing the hallway and John was staring at her. She shook her head before giving him a small smile.

"Sorry, my head was in the clouds. There seems to be such a sense of sadness about this place." she whispered. He nodded in agreement before walking closer to her.

"You're right. It's almost as though the Ryokan itself misses Kasumi. This is going to be a rather difficult case, both supernaturally and emotionally." he told her. Mai hummed in agreement before turning to him from where she had been staring down the hallway.

"Is Bou-san still in the shower?" she asked. John nodded and she giggled. She had learned early on the monk absolutely loathed being dirty. Every time something that required them to get their hands dirty he would do it but he would also be the first one in the shower. She felt he and Ayako shared that trait.

"Do you want to check out the gardens again or perhaps the lobby? I want to see if there's anything else we can find." John suggested. Mai sighed as she thought about it. She found she really didn't want to return to the gardens. She glanced at John to see he was looking at her while waiting for her response.

"We probably need to go get the blue print just so we know where we are when we start poking around. I would rather not spend too much time in the gardens though. Something about them just bothers me." she told him. He blinked before tilting his head.

"Perhaps it's your intuition acting up again. There might be more to the gardens than we think there is." he pointed out. Mai sighed before bringing a hand up to her chin. She knew John was more than likely right.

"Go get the blue print. I want to call Yasuhara to see if he can find any more information about the accident that apparently started all of this." she said. He nodded before leaving her alone in the hallway. She pulled her cellphone out and dialed Yasuhara's personal line. She didn't want to call and risk getting Naru. She knew he was still upset with her about hanging up on him. She could only hope Madoka would have him calmed down by the time he showed up.

"Mai, I was just about to call you! Boss is so not happy with you." was his greeting. She rolled her eyes as she leaned against the wall beside the door leading into the bedroom.

"When is he not mad at me? Anyway, I need a favor. What do you think you can find out about the accident that happened to Kasumi? Something is just rubbing me the wrong way." she told him. She heard him chuckle but didn't say anything about it.

"From what boss has been saying you're saying, I understand. Something does seem off about this. Give me a second. The police report should be public. Ah, here we go, the accident report and the obituary were both published in the local newspaper. Do you want me to read them?" he asked.

"That would be good." she replied.

"Alright, this is the police report. 'Shimizu Yumi called and reported her mother laying face down in the waters of one of their hot springs. An ambulance responded and declared Shimizu Kasumi, age 45, dead at the scene. Drowning is the suspected cause of death, the investigation is still open.' That's all that one has. Let's see what the newspaper article has to say.

"Here we go. 'Shimizu Kasumi, daughter and mother, was found deceased in her home. It is thought she slipped while cleaning the hot springs, hit her head, and drowned. Her young daughter found her when she went looking for her mother after realizing she hadn't shown at the local festival as she had promised. The police are not answering questions but above anything this has been a tragic loss not only to the Ryokan but the family as well.' That's all there is in the newspaper article. I can do a little more digging if you want." he told her. She sighed before shaking her head. There was something telling her there was more to the story than what met the eye.

"Alright, I'll see you the day after tomorrow, then." she told him with a sigh. Her brows furrowed as she heard what sounded like a car horn on his end. "Where are you?"

"Eh…well, you see…I was out of milk. I decided to walk since it was so nice out. You know how traffic is in Tokyo. See you later!" he told her. She jerked as he hung up on her before pulling the phone away from her ear. She had a weird feeling he had been lying to her but she wasn't sure why.

"Mai, I've got the blue print. Takigawa is waiting for us." she glanced at John as he was peeking around the corner. She nodded before following him downstairs to where the monk was waiting for them sitting in front of the small fireplace. He climbed to his feet to walk over to where they were standing.

"Alright, so…how, exactly, are we going to tackle this?" he asked. Mai took the blueprint to look at the two weird rooms. She motioned with her head to follow her as she walked. She climbed up the stairs and into the second floor hallway on the wing opposite of the one she was staying in. She counted the number of doors down on the paper before walking down that many doors. She pulled on the handle only to frown as it opened easily. She certainly hadn't expected it.

"This is one of the rooms. The next one down is also over it. I bet that door will be locked." she said. She watched as John tried the handle before shaking his head. She had been right. She sighed before entering the small room. It looked exactly like the one she was staying in. She blinked as she realized there was one difference. There was a sliding door on the wall that undoubtedly led to the room they needed access to.

She walked over and was surprised when it slid open easily. She swallowed as she heard Takigawa and John follow her into the room. All their eyes went wide as they saw the back of the door that led into the hallway. It had three long of pieces of wood across it and were bolted on the door frame.

"Chances are they did this shortly after Kasumi passed away. I bet they realize at a later date they needed access to the room so they cut part of the wall away. People do irrational things when they've lost a loved one." Takigawa said. Mai nodded in agreement as she looked around the room. She walked over to the closet and slid the door open. Her eyes went wide as she saw how different the side wall on the right looked.

"I've found it." she told them. She could feel them peeking over her shoulders. She knew they had reached the same conclusion as her when she heard the quick intakes of breath. She went over and began pushing on the wall. She frowned as it refused to give. She continued to push before her hand brushed something and the wall gave in. She blinked at the stairs before turning to the two men behind her.

"We should probably get flashlights." she told them.

"I packed some. I'll go get them." John volunteered. She nodded before turning back to stare down the stairwell. She shivered as she came to the realization that a short distance down the stairs was the place Kasumi had died. There was no other way around it. She could feel the same sadness from earlier only stronger as she continued to stare. She felt as though she could cry at any moment. She jumped in surprise when Takigawa put a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay? You look kind of spaced out. Do you need to lay down?" he asked. She frowned before shaking her head. The feeling inside her wasn't the same one as when Gene was trying to show her something. She was surprised he hadn't tried to get her attention again in all honesty. It made her realize he was having as much trouble with this case as she was.

"I'm okay…this place just seems to be infested with such sadness is all. Since there are live trees here perhaps Ayako can do a ritual to disperse the sadness and maybe even help this ghost, if it is Kasumi, realize this isn't the right thing to do." Mai suggested. Takigawa hummed in thought before shrugging his shoulders.

"After seeing what she can do it isn't a bad idea. The only downside is that if it doesn't work it'll only upset the ghost. Not that we haven't done it to others." he replied. Mai nodded in agreement before looking up as John entered the room with only one flashlight.

"The batteries in the other one are dead. I'm going to see if I can find some in the desk. I called Miwako and she said I could poke around. You all can go down to see what you can find. I didn't tell her what we needed them for." he said as he handed the light to Mai. She nodded in gratitude before he once again left.

She turned the flashlight on before turning to the stairwell. She took a deep breath then began to descend. She had to force herself not to hold her breath when the smell of rancid water once again hit her nose. They reached the bottom of the stairs that opened out into another hot spring with no changing area. Her eyes went wide as she saw the water was bubbling almost angrily.

"Man, what is with the water? Even if it's not kept it shouldn't be that odd looking!" Takigawa exclaimed. Mai nodded in agreement before looking around the cave like enclosure the hot spring was in. She noticed a table and walked over to it.

She felt her eyes sadden as she noticed pictures of Kasumi were sitting on it. She supposed this was where they'd had all the pictures removed to once it got too painful to look at her. She also noticed the incense holder and realized this was also their shrine to a woman they had loved dearly. Mai found she could relate as her parents' deaths had also hit her hard even though she hadn't known her father very well.

"Hey, Mai, come look at this. These rocks do look dangerous." Mai turned and walked over to where he was standing at the edge of hot spring. She realized he was right. The rocks were jagged and chances were if anyone hit their head they would be in danger of drowning.

"You're right. I wonder why there wasn't something for her to hold onto to clean. I know one of my friends work at a hot springs and they have a rail for them to hold onto as they clean." Mai whispered softly. She glanced at Takigawa and he shrugged.

"Maybe they just didn't think about it. Who knows? Hey, I think I hear voices." Mai watched as he turned and walked back to the stairwell. She took a step to follow him only to gasp as something tripped her. She let out a cry and heard Takigawa call her name in surprise. She gasped again as whatever was around her ankle began to pulled her towards the water.

"Mai!" she was jerked to a stop as someone grabbed her wrist. Her eyes snapped up only to widen as she saw Naru was the one who had grabbed her. She sat up with his help only for her eyes to widen as she saw the roped tangled around her ankle. She wasn't sure how she had managed to miss it.

"A rope?" she whispered softly. She reached out and managed to undo the rope on her ankle. She blinked as the light on her flashlight went out. Her eyes were drawn to the hot spring only to widen again.

There was a glowing figure walking across the rocks holding onto the rope tangled around her ankle. She realized the roped had been attached to the wall as something the person cleaning could hold onto. She watched as the figure slowly made its way across the rock. Her eyes went wide as she realized it was Kasumi when her head turned to look into the water. Mai gasped as Kasumi began to sway. Mai reached a hand out to try to stop her only to wince as the woman crashed into the water.

She watched with horrified eyes as a warm glowing light floated up from the water. She realized it had to be Kasumi's soul. Her eyes widened even more as the soul began to transform into the figure she had been seeing around the Ryokan. She felt tears swelling in her eyes as she realized as much as she had denied it she had been wrong. Kasumi was the ghost haunting the Ryokan.

"Mai!" she was jerked as the light flooded her senses once again. She realized she had been seeing another vision. She glanced at Naru to see he was staring at her as though he were confused. She could feel wetness on her cheeks and realized belatedly she was crying. She covered her face as sobs began to wrack her frame. She looked up through her fingers when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She wasn't surprised to see Madoka was standing there looking worried.

"It's Kasumi. I was wrong. The ghost…it is her." she whispered as the tears continued to roll down her cheeks.

"What makes you say that?" Madoka asked gently. Mai shook her head as she began to lower her hands. She rested them in her lap as she looked over at the hot spring. She could almost see the memory of her vision playing out.

"She must have gotten dizzy and fell. When…when her soul left her body it began to transform in that ghost…thing. I just don't understand. I really didn't think it was her. I really, really didn't." Mai whispered softly. She glanced at Naru as he stood up. She should have known better than to think he would comfort her.

"This is why I told you to wait to come down here, idiot." he told her. She glared at him as he turned away to talk to Lin. She glanced at Madoka as the woman actually growled at what he said. She stopped when she realized Mai was looking up at her.

"He was worried. He dragged both Yasuhara and I from doing other things so we could get here early. I had to let Martin know we needed to reschedule the conference call because everyone will be distracted. He wanted to get here to make sure you were alright." Madoka told her. Mai felt warmth bloom in her chest but quickly stomped it down. She knew Naru would never admit to what Madoka had just told her.

"Mai, I need you to walk us through which incident has occurred so we can set up equipment." Naru turned to her as he spoke. She blinked at him before her eyes widen as everything grew blurry. Before she knew what was happening everything went black.

Mai blinked her eyes open only to jerk back when she realized Gene was kneeling over top of her. He moved back to allow her to sit up. She looked around and realized with a start that she was in the room she had been visiting Takae in. She also realized that both Takae and Kasumi were sitting at the table drinking tea.

"They want me to come with them because it's their first time going to the festival. I can clean the hot springs when we get back." Kasumi said as she set her teacup down. Mai blinked at the scowl on Takae's face. She hadn't thought the gentle old woman could look so mean.

"No! There needs to be someone here to run the Ryokan. My arthritis is acting up too much to watch it and clean the hot springs. It needs to be done before our guests going to the festival get back. We cannot let them bathe in that filthy hot spring." Takae told her. Mai breathed deeply at the tone. She wondered why Takae was desperate to not have her daughter go.

"Okaa-san, it will be fine. The girls want me to go. Just for one night to stop being an innkeeper and be their mother. Surely, you can understand how I feel." Kasumi said gently. Mai had the feeling she had dealt with her mother acting like this before.

"I do not. You are the owner of the Ryokan, it is your responsibility. It comes before all else." Takae said stubbornly. Mai could feel her mouth drop open. She had really not thought the old woman to be so mean.

"Okaa-san, I am sorry. The hot springs will be cleaned when they are cleaned. I promised the girls and I will not break it. If this disappoints you, I am sorry." Mai watched as Kasumi stood up and left the room. Mai found herself following the woman. She watched as Kasumi stopped outside of the door before shaking her head.

"Alright, okaa-san, I'll clean them as a surprise for you before I leave. I won't tell anyone just so you'll be surprised." Kasumi whispered before disappearing down the hallway. Mai felt her eyes widen before turning to Gene. He nodded in agreement at her look.

"Exactly. She only told her daughters so they wouldn't worry about her being at the festival. It could very well be that because of her giving into her mother that her spirit is angry. People change after they die." he reminded her. Mai shook her head. Even though she knew the ghost was upset she just got the feeling there was more than met the eye. She was positive that this time she wasn't wrong.

"But to change that much? It's just not right. Something made Kasumi this way. Something angered her so much she can't find rest and is taking it out on those who loved her because she doesn't…oh my gosh! What if she doesn't realize who she's terrorizing?" Mai cried exactly. She watched as Gene shook his head.

"She knows. The real question is…who is her true intended target? She's still around and upset even after Takae got hurt." he pointed out. Mai crossed her arms before her eyes went wide as a knot formed in her stomach.

"The twins and that Rentaro guy. I just don't get what any of them could have to do with Kasumi's accident or her death that would make her so angry." she said. She watched as Gene furrowed his eyebrows. She could tell he was confused. She didn't blame him. The case was getting more and more confusing as the days went on.

"Perhaps it's not the accident nor her death we should be focusing on. We might need to focus on the time before the accident. She was obviously irritated with her mother. Maybe you should ask around and see what the last conversations with her were like." he suggested. Mai nodded in agreement only to wince. She knew those conversations were going to be painful for both parties involved.

"You're right. I'm not looking forward to it though. Naru is as subtle as a rock to be honest and Lin isn't much better." Mai told him. The older twin winced before getting a glazed look in his eyes.

"Speaking of…you might want to go back. The ghost is giving them a welcome party that has him irritated. Maybe if you show up she'll go away." he told her. Mai nodded as she felt herself drifting back towards consciousness. She could hear Takigawa's chanting already.

"Gene, do you think we'll be able to help her and solve this case?" she asked as he slowly began to fade away from her vision.

"Honestly, Mai, I don't know."

Naru's here! That means everything is going to be okay, right? Hmm. At any rate, please remember to review!