(A/N): Hey there, here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long to upload, but I've been on a school trip for the past week. I can't believe I'm on chapter 8...it won't be too long until I reach chapter 10! Anyway, here you are - I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you review too :)

Throughout the entire rest of the day, Takigawa kept a watchful eye on me. In the end, I just told him I was talking to myself, speaking my thoughts out loud. Of course, he did not believe me, I could tell from the way he raised his eyebrow and pursed his lips slightly, but I think he was just humouring me for the time being. I tried to avoid him as much as possible after that, although it was difficult to do, since he was determined to follow me around. The others did not notice the awkward tension between us, or the silent questions Takigawa was sending me through his gaze every time I glanced at him. Right now, Ayako was considering whether or not to do an exorcism, Masako had already set out to search for ghosts, Mai was resting her eyes after what must have been a bad night's sleep and Kazuya was going over plans and building construction details again.

"I'm not sure if there's much point…" Ayako rested her finger against her cheek. "There aren't any trees around here, so I wouldn't be able to get rid of them for certain..."

"…Huh…? I saw trees…" Mai muttered indistinctly, her eyes still shut.

"Not any live trees. The ones around here are all dead." Ayako corrected her. "What's the matter with you? Bad sleep?"

Mai mumbled something indistinguishable.

Ayako sighed impatiently. "Speak up."

"I said, I had a weird dream."

At once, we all turned our attention to her.

"One of 'those' dreams?" Takigawa sounded slightly concerned. He often did, after the dream Mai had experienced in that mansion a while ago, a dream of being murdered.

Mai nodded. "It wasn't bad. Just…strange."

"What happened?"

"Well…There was this old man, and he was driving in his car…I didn't recognise him…He was going pretty fast…" Mai recollected the events of her dream. "And…well, I think he was trying to slow down, but…he couldn't. And I think he crashed."

Ayako frowned. "A car-crash? Do you think it has something to do with this case?"

Mai shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe. I don't see much relevance, but who knows."

At that moment, Masako returned from her search for any spirits.

"Well?" Mai looked at her expectantly, perhaps wondering if the strange man from her dream had appeared, if he was of any relevance to the case.

However, Masako shook her head. "They are here. But they are inactive again."

"Oh..." Mai's face fell slightly. "You didn't…see an old man anywhere?"

Frowning, Masako shook her head again. "No."

Kazuya had stopped his research. "Have you managed to see any spirits? In their human appearance?"

"No, I have not. They are suddenly very reluctant to show themselves."

Kazuya furrowed his brow. "That's strange…at first, they're completely inactive, unwilling to show themselves…but suddenly they start scratching the walls and making noises. Why? What changes their temperament so quickly?"

"Well, didn't you say we upset them somehow, Masako-kun?" Ayako recalled.

"Yes…but I don't know what it was." Masako admitted.

From what Sayomi had told me, she didn't seem to know why the others couldn't see her, but she hadn't told me why exactly the spirits would suddenly start whispering or scratching at the walls. And what confused me is that the rest of SPR could see the spirits in human form from the photographs that the builders took, but were unable to see the man on the screen. I could still not think of a single reason why this would be. But what reason could there be? And what had we done to upset them? What had we been doing right before the noises started? Well, not much, to be honest. I had been talking to Mai, and Takigawa and Kazuya had just finished talking to the builders. Was that something to do with it? Actually, now that I thought about it…

"Shibuya-san, so far we've talked to the teenagers, and you talked to those builders. What about the hikers? You said there were some other people who experienced the whispering, right?"

Kazuya nodded. "Yes, I did. It was a couple who had been hiking and stumbled across the house. In fact, I managed to come into contact with them, and they said that they would be happy to answer our questions whenever was convenient. Now would be a good time. They live perhaps half an hour from here. Lin, drive over there. Take Father Brown with you."

"No, it's ok. I'll take him." Takigawa suddenly spoke up. I turned to him, surprised.

"Huh?"

"It's ok. I'll take you." He said, almost forcefully.

Kazuya eyed him suspiciously for a moment, but eventually said, "Ok. Takigawa-san and Father Brown, you go." He passed Takigawa a piece of paper. "The directions are written on here."

The streets blurred past in the window as we sped along the road, a mess of undistinguishable features. The piece of paper, with neatly written directions inked on, was clutched in my good hand. Takigawa did not say much; he just kept his focus entirely on the road. The only words between us were when he asked me to read out the directions. Finally, he pulled the car into the drive of a small, detached house. From the car, I could see an uneven lawn, peppered with dandelions. The car ground to a halt on the gravel underneath, spitting out the last of exhaust fumes. However, Takigawa did not get out of the car. Instead, he turned to me.

"You…you saw a spirit, didn't you?" His tone was not sceptical, but very hushed.

I said nothing. My silence seemed to answer his question.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" He asked me, wearily.

"No one would believe me. No one believed me about the man on the screens." I might as well tell him now.

"So…you're certain you saw this man on the footage?"

"Yes. It wasn't just a shadow or a memory. I saw him." I emphasised the last three words. "So clearly. I know I saw him. I don't know why you or the others couldn't."

Takigawa considered it. "…Ok." He spoke up at last. "I'll believe you."

"Really?" I couldn't help my face lighting up.

"Yeah." He smiled weakly. "I can't rule out your opinion just because I didn't see it. I can't make judgements like that." He sounded sad, so I frowned slightly in puzzlement.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind." He opened the car door. "Let's go talk to these people."

Stepping out of the car, and awkwardly closing it behind me, I walked to the front door of the house with Takigawa. The tension between us seemed to have lifted, and I was glad for it. Standing at the door, he reached out for a door bell, and pressed it down. Soon, the door opened.

"Hello, can I help you?" A confused young woman, her hair tied back in a ponytail, looked between the two of us.

"We're with Shibuya Psychic Research, you were contacted by our manager." Takigawa told her.

"Oh, I see. Do you want to ask some questions or something?"

"Yeah, just about what you saw."

"Ok, I'll just go get – hey, wait a minute…" She stared at me. "It's you!"

Startled, I glanced at Takigawa, who threw me a puzzled look.

"I-I'm sorry, do I know you?" I asked nervously.

"Oh, you probably won't remember. You were unconscious. My boyfriend and I, we found you. In the river."

Inside the house, Takigawa and I waited in the living room for the woman and her boyfriend. She had introduced herself as Rin Ikeda, and had hurried to go find her boyfriend. The room was neat, though slightly dishevelled and littered with various outside equipment that was tucked away in a corner, or strewn on the floor here and there.

"They found you in the river?" Takigawa whispered to me. We were sitting on one of two battered sofas.

"Yeah…I don't remember it, though. I was unconscious."

"Why were you in a river?"

Because I jumped in, for reasons I did not know myself. I didn't say as much, though.

Before I could say anything, the woman, Rin, and a man entered the room. He was tall and lanky, casually dressed in paint stained clothes.

"This is my boyfriend, Hayate. Hayate, this is Takigawa-san and Brown-san from Shibuya Psychic Research. They want to ask questions about that house we saw."

Hayate sat down on the sofa opposite me, staring at my broken arm.

"Well, I'm glad you seem to be recovering." He remarked. "You looked a lot worse for wear when we saw you."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Yes…thank you. For finding me."

The man smiled. "There's no need to thank me. Now, you wanted to know about what we saw?"

"Yes." Takigawa held a note pad and a pen in his hands. "Why exactly were you near the house?"

"Well, we had just been hiking in the nearby area, and we decided to cut through a forest near the house. When we came out of it, we ended up in that field around the back of the building. We were simply walking around it, back to the main road, and we saw someone standing at the door step."

"What did they look like?"

"It was a man, I'm not sure of the age. Um, let's see…he was black, and…of average height, I guess. But he was very beaten up, and bloodied. So we went over to him, to see if he was ok. Then he went back into the house."

"What did you do then?"

"We followed him inside. But, it was like he just…vanished. We couldn't see him anywhere. Then someone began whispering."

"Whispering?"

"Yes." Rin sat down next to Hayate. "It started off quietly. But it got louder and louder. It sounded as if there were several people there."

We had heard this before. "What could you tell us about the whispering? Could you understand what was being said?"

"Umm…" Hayate raised his eyes to the ceiling, recollecting what happened. "Well, there were quite a few different languages, so it was hard to tell…They kept on saying a name, I think…No, not even a name. Just the word…Mattaku."

"Mattaku?" Takigawa frowned. "Did they say anything else?"

"Umm…no really. I'm sorry, most of it was in a different language. There was definitely English…German too…Russian as well, maybe…? I'm not sure…"

"So, you didn't see the man again?"

"No." Rin shook her head.

"When exactly was this?"

Hayate looked at me. "Around 7pm. It was March 22nd. A week before we found you."

Immediately, Takigawa put down the note pad and turned his attention back to Hayate.

"Do you think the hauntings you experienced and…finding my colleague…have any connection? The way you just phrased it…makes it sound like you have suspicions." The suggestion was unexpected.

"I don't know. Maybe. It just seems very…coincidental for two such unusual things to happen so close to each other. And when you think about what you told us, too...Surely it can't be a coincidence…"

I froze. "What?"

"Don't you remember? You woke up very briefly, and you talked to us. Didn't the police and the doctors tell you?"

I shook my head. The police hadn't even visited me.

"What exactly happened?" Takigawa intervened.

Hayate sighed. "Well…after what we saw in that house, we alerted the police about the bloodied man. They didn't really say much, just that they'd search for anyone missing in the surrounding area who matched the description. So, that was that, really. The incident spooked us a bit, so we decided to go on a small camping trip, away from Tokyo, in a rural area. We camped not too far away from the river. Anyway, Rin and I were just walking along side it, looking at the scenery, when we found you. You were washed up on the bank, caught up in a bush."

"How did you see me?"

"Well, the blood in the river was a giveaway. And there wasn't much vegetation, so it wasn't tricky spotting you."

"Then what happened?"

"We pulled you out. And to be honest, I didn't think you were even alive. You were beaten and bruised all over your arms, one looked broken, and your head was bleeding badly. And you were very pale, white as a ghost. We checked to see if you were breathing, and you weren't. So I tried CPR, and soon you were up and coughing."

"And then, did I say anything?" I couldn't remember any of the events. Did I say anything about why I was in that burning building?

"Yeah. You mentioned the name again, Mattaku. You spoke in English a lot, so it was hard to understand. All I could pick up was that name. But you were only half-awake, really, so you kept on drifting in and out of consciousness. When the ambulance arrived, you began saying Mattaku again and again. You were still saying it when they lifted you onto a stretcher, and when you were in the ambulance, too. Eventually, you passed out again, and I didn't see you after that."

Takigawa and I shared a glance of shock. "I…really said that?"

Rin nodded. "We don't know who this Mattaku is, or what it is even…but both you and the whispers from the house said the same thing."

"Did you tell the police about this information?" Takigawa asked solemnly.

"Yes, we did. They didn't look too sure about the house incident, but they took what you said into account. I thought they would have told you." Hayate looked surprised.

"That's what you'd think…" Takigawa agreed. I was just as puzzled. Doctor Nakumura had not said anything about this. Why hadn't he told me?

Suddenly, a thought sprung to mind. "Um, by chance, do you remember what I was wearing? When you found me in the river?"

"I'm not too sure…some kind of blue uniform."

My heart sped up. "What about the man you saw? What was he wearing?"

"Oh, I think he was wearing some kind of lab coat. It was hard to tell, it was so covered in dirt."

My mind reeled. A blue uniform, just like the Sayomi. And a lab coat, just like the man on the screens. What did it mean? And what on earth – or who on earth – was 'Mattaku'?

"Thank you for your time." Takigawa was saying. His words sounded very muffled.

"Oh, it was nothing. If you remember anything else you wanted to ask, just call us." I think Rin was talking, but I wasn't really paying attention. Everything was suddenly so…hushed, and the air felt heavy, like I was underwater. Takigawa stood up, so I followed him out of the room.

Outside, the fresh air hit me refreshingly, but it was not enough to shake me from this strange state. By the car, Takigawa turned to me, a confused and shocked look on his face, presumably from the conversation inside. When he looked at me, though, his expression became worried.

"John-kun, are you ok? You look pretty pale. D'you want to sit down?"

I could barely mutter a word before everything started spinning.

Water. It's heaving from my lungs. With each wretch, sickening and laborious, thick liquid pours from my mouth. Every movement I make hurts. It hurts a lot. My head, my chest, it hurts a lot. I want it to stop. My arm is shooting hot, aching pain. I want it all to stop.

Someone turns me around roughly. I don't like it. It makes my head whirl. I feel like I might throw up. Blood is tinging at my mouth. The taste is vile. What is happening? I don't understand where I am.

Someone's there. Who is it? A man. I feel scared. Who is this man? Is he going to hurt me?

But…no. He's talking to me, putting something around me. A coat? I don't know. He's making me lie down. Is he here to help me?

"…call an ambulance, you're going to be fine…"I think I can just pick up what he's saying. Yes, he's here to help me. Am I…safe now? Maybe I can trust this man.

My hand is reaching out to him. It's shaking, I can't keep it straight. But he takes it in his own hand. His skin is so warm, it feels like it's burning against my skin.

"…Mattaku…" The word is barely a whisper. My throat hurts so much.

"What?"

"…Mattaku…" I strain my voice louder. It sends spasms throbbing through my head.

"Mattaku?" The man is confused, he keeps looking around to someone. A woman. She is on the phone. She is talking to someone. She sounds scared.

"Mattaku…it's important. You have…to understand." No Japanese is coming out, just English.

But the man isn't listening. Why won't he listen? I try to call out for him, but my vision is going. Black is overwhelming me. The pain is so bad. No, he has to listen…

"Mattaku…" I force away the blackness. "Don't forget…Mattaku…"

He is saying something,and I can't understand it. So I just repeat myself.

"Mattaku. Don't let me…forget."

A white van has arrived. Sirens are screaming, and piercing through my skull. I want it to stop, stop, stop. People are coming, people are surrounding me. Everything is tinged red and blue. An…ambulance? They're lifting me onto a stretcher.

"Don't let me forget…Mattaku…don't let me forget…" No one's listening. The man is still with me, he's coming into the ambulance with me. Everything is a lot darker inside.

"Mattaku…" I stare at him desperately. Please, please understand. "Don't let me forget about Mattaku."

Someone is forcing something across my mouth, pushing air into it. No. No one is listening. I'll forget, I'll forget all about it. No.

But everything is going dark again. And this time, I can't stop it.

"…Don't let me forget about Mattaku…"