14AmyChan: Okay, so this one's a touch longer, so I hope you enjoy it~! *^_^*

Naru: I think they've been waiting for this since you stated "foolish dream"

14AmyChan: It's a slow process! One does not simply say "I'm in love" overnight. It's a process!

Naru: Now that you have understood that concept, we will point out that Chan-san does not own Ghost Hunt.

14AmyChan: Nope nope. Or any other obscure references I may make, knowledgeable or otherwise.

Hypothesis (n): a proposition, or set of propositions, set forth as an explanation for the occurrence of some specified group of phenomena, either asserted merely as a provisional conjecture to guide investigation (working hypothesis) or accepted as highly probable in the light of established facts.

What were a few of the facts that led to this moment? Oliver listed them in his head.

Fact: He had intruded on a ghost story session during one of his cases.

Fact: He had hired one of those girls after finishing said case.

Fact: This girl had established an unorthodox routine in his office that he had come to begrudgingly accept as a way of life now that he had this girl in his life.

Fact: This girl had been with him on a few cases before this one, leading him to allow himself to somewhat depend on her instincts and good hunches.

Fact: This girl had done nothing extraordinary to achieve the previous two facts, simply be herself.

Oliver Davis thought briefly on these facts while he walked around the schoolyard, searching for anything—or anyone—out of the ordinary. As of late, his assistant had been raising more queries in his mind, and most of them were about her place in his life. No mere assistant could get him to bend over as he had for her, but he was not sure if they were quite friends. More than assistant, less than a friend for now, and taking up more space in his mind than she should.

Always poking her nose into places where she oughtn't, Oliver thought, though the inkling was dismissed as he kept a keen eye around himself. It was then that he noted something by the gate. A certain small someone of his thoughts hoisting herself over the fence and to the other side, seemingly searching for something.

Without his bidding, Oliver shifted directions and followed his petite assistant towards the gate. Though why the girl had hoisted herself over when there was a perfectly functioning door right there was beyond him.

Oh, it's locked, he noted dully as he called out to her. Upon receiving an explanation from the girl halfway down the manhole, he was able to deduce that she had been tricked in a matter of seconds. He placed his hand on the padlock and wondered if he should tell her to get out of the manhole and climb back over or if he should go get the key when he heard her shriek.

Clink!

The padlock was broken in an instant with a small amount of PK as he rushed to the girl who was surely falling in.

"I-I'm okay," she tried to assure him as he approached her. She was trying to pull herself out, though Naru could already tell. She, too, had fallen victim to the curse that was going around. Thoughts of her becoming as grievously injured as some of the previous recipients of the curse propelled him forward faster.

When her fingers slipped, he had thought he would not make it in time, and nearly let out a sigh of relief when he had. It's not through yet, though, he cautioned himself as he instructed the obviously shaken girl to begin climbing back up. He was slightly impressed with her strength. She was petrified, but not crying. And still coherent enough to follow simple orders.

She took his word and began doing as he directed, but that was when the ladder broke. Her weight shifted so suddenly so drastically and Oliver found that he could not keep his grip on her and stay on the surface at the same time.

He, too, fell into the manhole.

And at that moment, he formed a hypothesis. A hypothesis about why he would do anything for this girl. From allowing their coworkers to partake in their tea to falling down a manhole where they could both become seriously injured. The hypothesis concerned as to why he would do such things for this girl. For a certain Mai Taniyama.

Though he would hold off on addressing that one until the time were appropriate. For now, there was a set of debris that he had to move.

He concentrated.

14AmyChan: Okay, so I was rewatching this scene to get reference because I was going to have him thinking when he was already in the well, but then I noticed something. Mai climbed over the fence. Naru went through the gate. My personal theory is that he used some of his PK to undo the lock, because if a child was in danger and there were an open gate nearby, Mai would use the gate.

Naru: Now that that unnecessary explanation is out of the way.

14AmyChan: Hrmph!

Naru: Review on this hypothesis to gain a theory.

14AmyChan: Nice way of saying it, Naru.

Naru: My brain works differently than yours.

14AmyChan: Wanna bet, narcissist?