(A/N): To make up for not posting in a while, here's another chapter. I wrote a beautiful time line for you to help put in perspective the order of events (you'll see later). Enjoy, and if you are reading this, please leave a review. They make me very happy :)

When I woke up, I found myself lying on the back seats of the car. The doors were shut, and I could hear the faint hum of traffic. The car was moving, I think. Groaning, I slowly pushed myself onto my elbows. My head was pounding, but I brushed aside the feelings of nausea. I must have blacked out…and then…I must have remembered something. It was a flashback, I think…My amnesia was beginning to fade, it had to be. A feeling of both relief and dread filled up inside me, and I wasn't sure which feeling to side with. Takigawa was sitting in the front seat, and at my awakening, he turned around to face me.

"Hey. You ok?" His tone was concerned.

"…Yeah…" I sat up right. "Sorry. I had a dizzy spell, I guess…"

"You better be, you scared the crap out of me!" Takigawa said jokingly. "You haven't been out for long, just a few minutes. I almost decided to go and fetch someone, but…" He frowned. "…Well, you started speaking."

"I started speaking?"

"About Mattaku."

I sighed. What was Mattaku? It was clearly important. I had been obsessed with it, obsessed with not forgetting it.

"I, um…I remembered something."

At once, Takigawa was alert. "What? Did you remember what this Mattaku thing is all about?"

I shook my head regretfully. "No. But I remembered being at the river. When I was found. And I…Mattaku was very important to me. I was desperate not to forget it, I kept on mentioning it to people."

Takigawa frowned thoughtfully. "So…the hauntings, they might have something to do with your amnesia? And why you were found in a river?"

"Maybe…" I realised I still had not fully explained the situation to Takigawa, about the colleague who was trying to find me, or the burning building and the man with a gun. I should really tell him, maybe he could help me. Yet I remained silent as we sped on, my mind refusing to create the words. Was it fear? Fear of damaging our friendship, or fear of getting him too mixed up in this forsaken situation?

Soon, we arrived back at the house. However, as Takigawa parked around the back, I the field, I notice that everyone was moving more equipment. Had some of the cameras got damaged?

"Hey, what's going on?" Takigawa called to Kazuya, stepping out of the car. I quickly slipped out as well.

"We're leaving." The words were blunt.

"What? Why?" Takigawa looked from Kazuya to me, just as confused as I was. Carrying some cables and a camera, Mai struggled to the van. She looked furious.

"We don't know. The manager just called off our investigation really suddenly." Her voice was clearly being restrained from shouting. "But we're not finished! The spirits here need our help, something is clearly wrong!"

"Apparently, someone else has bought the house now, so we're not needed." Ayako, although she still sounded angry, was a lot calmer than Mai.

"I still don't see why we can't carry on investigating." Mai's voice had a dangerous hint, as she glared at Kazuya.

"Whoever was bought the house doesn't want us to investigate. It's as simple as that." Kazuya was not fazed by her irritation.

This wasn't right, we couldn't leave now. What about Sayomi? What about the man on the screens? The spirits calling for help? We couldn't just abandon them, not when they were trapped and unable to move on.

Yet, in the end, all we could do was pack up the last of the equipment and leave. Kazuya and Lin left in one of the vans without so much as a second look back.

"I can't believe this, what happened to his pride?" Mai sounded slightly surprised as well as angry.

"I don't know. But there's nothing we can do." Takigawa patted her on the head. She sighed in frustration, but nodded.

"Even so, it feels wrong to be leaving." Masako was staring at the old building. "There are so many spirits here."

"I know. What I'm interested about is how this run down place got sold." Ayako squinted at the poorly repaired frame work. "If you have the money to buy a house, you might as well buy a nice one that's not filled with spirits."

"It is strange…" Ayako's remark echoed in my head. She was right – why would someone buy a house like this? Unless…

"He doesn't like evidence. He tries to hide it, like the rest of us."

…Someone didn't want this case being solved?

In no time at all, I found myself facing my more mundane job – working at Shibuya hospital. It was a tough job, but the pay was good, enough to support myself easily. As the only male nurse in the hospital, and a foreigner too, sometimes it could be demanding. The remarks I sometimes got from the other doctors were hard to ignore, but I had some good friends there, too. Luckily, my sling had been removed, so it was easier to work now. Since I was a priest, sometimes I was asked by patients to perform sacraments of the ill, or to offer support. These patients were usually suffering from terminal diseases, so it could be very emotionally demanding, too.

However, there was something…different about the hospital on my first few days back. Something was wrong. I felt so nervous all the time, and the sterilised smell was almost unbearable. Each day was a slow torture, and each day I found myself trying to leave as quickly as I could. The problem was, by the time my shift was finished, it was dark outside. The streets were completely concealed in shadows, with only some meagre light from street lamps to help show the way.

On several occasions, some of the other nurses picked up on my nervous state.

"What's wrong, John-kun?" Amaya was a young, ferocious nurse who always jumped to my aid if the other doctors ever gave me problems. And after a confrontation with her, they rarely bothered me again.

"Hm?" I was searching through hospital records diligently, looking at Doctor Nakumura's appointments and shifts, trying to find when I could see him and ask him about Mattaku. So far, I had come up with nothing – he was not working any shifts right now, and all his appointments had been either postponed or transferred to a different worker.

"Is your arm still hurting?" Whenever there was a problem, everyone came to her. She was always more than happy to listen to her co-workers' dilemmas, and not afraid to sort them out either.

"No, it's fine…" Sighing, I gave up on my search for Doctor Nakumura. I would just have to keep my eye out for him, maybe tell the receptionist to alert me when he next came back on a shift.

"Actually…you wouldn't happen to know when Doctor Nakumura is coming back in?"

"Who?"

"Umm…he's the brain specialist, in his late forties with greying hair and a beard." I tried to describe him.

"Oh, Naku-san, the one who had that affair ages ago with Hachiro-kun's wife?" Leiko spoke up from behind another desk at reception. She was the eyes and ears of the hospital, and knew everything about everyone's social life.

Amaya played with her thick, black hair. "Ummm…Oh, that Naku-san! He had an affair with Hachiro-kun's wife?" The memory came to her quickly.

Leiko nodded. "Mmhm. Pretty girl, works in radiology. But she's been…around the block a few times, you could say." Her voice lowered to a whisper.

"So, anyway, why did you need to find him?" Amaya asked me.

"Just something I wanted to ask…" I did not dwell any further on the matter. Already, I was beginning to feel worried. Why couldn't I contact him, the person who had held valuable information from me? Someone who might know more about my situation?

A quick glance outside showed the streets were already becoming dark, and my shift was finally coming to an end. The smell of sterilised floors was still enough to make my head swim, and rose a sickening feeling inside of me that I tried to shake. Nonetheless, it clung to me tighter than a noose.

Outside, the air was cool and thick with cigarette smoke that wafted around the doors from hospital workers. I hurried down the empty streets, with only a few stragglers braving the cold night air. The buses ran regularly, even through the night, and were often filled with hospital workers heading home. Only 10 minutes away from the hospital, the stop was small and secluded from the busy Tokyo offices and shops. Despite the reassuring, small distance, I could not suppress the anxiety that ate away inside me. I edged away from each stranger that I encountered, and always stayed by the street lights.

Usually, nothing happened. But tonight, something was different. Tonight, I felt more nervous than before. Each snatch of darkness seemed to move like a shadow. My neck hairs stood on end. Someone was watching me, I was sure of it. I hastened my pace. I was probably overreacting. It was just my nerves.

Walking past a pub heaving with people, all singing and waving neon glow sticks, I knew that the bus stop was surely only 5 minutes away now. I would be fine.

Once more, I entered a barren street, away from the blaring music that amplified form the pub. The darkness, only broken by a few street lights, fuelled my fear more. This was the street that I had to walk down every night, and proved to be the worst street, with just two street lamps to light the way. Hesitating, I stepped into the darkness, hurrying to the first patch of light.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks.

Someone was there. Someone was watching me. Standing by the next glimpse of light. A mere silhouette, nothing more. I could not see a face. Just a sheet of darkness.

The person rocked back and forth on the heels of their feet, and watched me.

"Wh….Who are you?" My voice was scarcely a whisper. A pathetic murmur.

The person said nothing. Silence lingered for a long moment.

I gathered my courage, and raised my voice. "Who are you?"

Then the person turned around, and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

My legs felt weak. Bile rose at my throat. Energy suddenly lost me, and I stumbled to a wall, clutching it for support. Oh God. Oh God. I felt so scared, so sick. Who was that? Who the hell was that? As terror raged through me, I shook and trembled by the wall, taking deep breaths to calm myself. It could have been anyone, anyone at all. I tried desperately to reassure myself. Maybe it was some drunkard wondering around on the street. It had to be, it had to be. I wanted it to be. Not every single person out there on the streets was an evil murderer, not everyone was the 'colleague'. I was just overreacting. Slowly, my nerves began to calm. I was just overreacting. Nothing more. People often acted very strangely towards me because of my appearance, many people had stopped and stared at me before. This time was no different. I was just overreacting.

"Are you ok there?"

I yelped and spun around, my nerves rocketing once more and my heart beat pounding again. Takigawa stood, carrying a guitar case and watching me with a curious expression. He was dressed in a long white coat with a feather necklace hanging around his neck. I remembered that he was in a band, and his rather unusual outfit made more sense to me.

"Um, yeah, I…" Swallowing, I glanced quickly back to where that person had been standing. No one was there now. Takigawa noticed the line of my brief gaze.

"What's the matter? Has someone been bothering you?" His tone was suddenly grave, and angry.

"No, no, I just…" I struggled to think of an excuse. "…No. I'm fine, really. Um, what are you doing here?"

At that moment, a pair of chattering teenage girls ambled up to Takigawa. They were both carrying glow sticks.

"Hey, Norio, you were really good up there tonight." One of them told him shyly.

"Yeah, you're such a good guitarist." The other one added.

Takigawa smiled and thanked them, and the two girls hurried off past us, giggling and squealing.

"So…you had a concert then?" My question had been answered for me.

"Yeah, in a pub just around the corner." I remembered seeing it, filled with people holding glow sticks. So Takigawa had been playing there.

"Hey, did you see any...um…you didn't notice anyone who was really…"

"Drunk?" Takigawa finished my sentence with amusement. I nodded.

"Well, it's a pub, so there probably would have been." He informed me.

"Did anyone really…stick out, though?" I asked further. He shook his head, and frowned.

"Why? Did someone harass you?"

There was no point covering it up now. "No, it's just…well, I was walking home, and…um…someone was standing just there…" I pointed towards where the person had been. "And…they just stood there and watched me for a bit. And then they walked away. It was probably just…you know…"

Takigawa nodded in understanding. "Look, I know with your amnesia and everything, you'll be really worried about what happened and you'll be freaking out a bit if people act strangely towards you. But you don't need to worry." He tried to reassure me. "You're right, it was probably some weirdo who got hammered. There are plenty of those kinds of people lingering around the streets at night. Why are you out this late anyway?"

"My shift at the hospital ends late." At this information, Takigawa sounded surprised.

"Wait, you work at a hospital? I thought you were a priest."

"I am. But I can't support myself just being a priest. I need other jobs too."

Even so, Takigawa looked troubled. "Working at a hospital is pretty stressful. You shouldn't really be doing such chaotic work when you're just out of hospital."

"It's fine…" I began, but Takigawa wasn't finished.

"And does your shift always end this late? It's dangerous for someone like you to be wandering the streets at night. I mean, I'm not saying that you're weak or anything, but foreigners like you can attract a lot of bad attention from sickos."

"My bus stop isn't far away…" It seemed all my half-hearted argument was lost on Takigawa.

"You know what? I don't want you wandering around the streets at 1am, especially when you've just gotten out of hospital. Not tonight, anyway. Stay at my place tonight, it's not too far away."

I thought to protest, but as I looked once more into the darkness, and anxiety gnawed away at me, I changed my mind.

"Um…ok. If that doesn't bother you."

Takigawa's apartment was large and spacious, but a complete mess. Music sheets and guitar cases were strewn across tables and a small, battered sofa. The carpet was dirty and dusty, with stains of mud and other spillages embedded into the material. The blue painted walls were bare, save for a single framed picture of Takigawa with another, younger girl who looked very similar to him. I could see a dining table in a kitchen with cutlery and dishes left abandoned on it. However, in one corner of the main room, the floor was spotless and a small, wooden shrine was positioned, with unlit candles that were short from constant use that had eaten at their wax.

"Sorry about the mess." Takigawa shut the door firmly behind us, and then slung his guitar case onto the sofa. "I don't have much time to clear up around here."

"I know what you mean. I don't either." I looked at the framed photograph of Takigawa and the girl. She looked a few years younger than him, and was smiling happily as she wrapped her arms around him. They were both standing with a mountainous tableau behind them.

"That's my sister." Takigawa noticed me looking at the picture. "The mountain behind us is Mt. Koya."

"Oh, I see. She looks very much like you." I remarked. "What's her name?"

"Miyuki." Takigawa said her name softly. His eyes looked wistful for a moment, then he quickly walked to the door.

"I'm afraid I've got to head back quickly and help the others pack up our equipment. I won't be long. If anything happens just ring me, ok?"

"I'll be fine, Takigawa." I smiled slightly. He was treating me like a young child, and his fatherly nature was somewhat amusing. "Thanks for letting me stay over, anyway."

"It's fine. But get your shift time changed, ok?" Before I could answer, he was out of the door.

In the end, I found myself in the corner again, away from the door, and peering out of a window again, waiting for Takigawa to return. It had been half an hour, and I couldn't help feeling anxious. In my hand was a crumpled piece of paper, with the scrawlings I had made about Sayomi and the man on the screens. Maybe I should write down some more information…

Soon, I had made some more notes, about the time line of what had happened:

March 5th – the last day I could remember before the memory gap.

March 21st – this was the day when those teenagers had experienced the hauntings at the house, apparently.

March 22nd – this was when Rin and Hayate experienced the hauntings.

March 29th – when Rin and Hayate found me in the river.

April 4th – I woke up in hospital on this day.

April 11th – when I was discharged from hospital.

April 13th – Day 1 of case

April 14th – Day 2 of case. Also, when I met Rin and Hayate, and had a flashback. Case later cancelled.

April 18th – Back at Shibuya hospital for work.

Today was April the 22nd. The events had happened so close together. Surely they were connected. They had to be, after what Rin and Hayate had told me. Not only had I said that word – Mattaku – like the spirits they had heard, but I had been wearing the same clothes as the spirits spotted at the building. Yes, the abandoned building was connected in some way to my disappearance. But how? And now, we couldn't even investigate the building…

Maybe I should try and analyse the fragments of memory about the burning building. Like the man with the gun, for instance. Who was he? I couldn't place a name to him, and I couldn't recognise him, yet even thinking about him made my heart speed up. In my mind, his face seemed like a blur to me, though.

A thought suddenly struck me. What about the other man? The man who had helped me escape from the burning building? I think…he died. Yes, he died outside the building. Who was he? I couldn't think of who he was either, but…

I knew him. Something about him was familiar, the harder I thought about it. I had seen him before, clearer than the hazy memory.

Then I realised. The man on the screens. He looked similar to the dead man from the building. Were they the same person?

Next to the description of the screen man, I wrote in small writing, 'Man from burning building.' I could barely keep my eyes open, though. I was so tired. Maybe I should rest my eyes for a moment…

After about an hour and a half of packing away stereos and speakers, Takigawa finally arrived back at his apartment. It had taken longer than usual, after one of the speakers had vanished. The somewhat arrogant singer of his band had insisted that Takigawa and their main electrician had merely miscounted, but Takigawa knew otherwise. In the end, they had not been able to find the missing speaker, and simply headed to their separate homes. Now, Takigawa was back, at half 2 in the morning. He had not bumped into anyone suspicious on his way back, and there had been no one lingering around outside his apartment, so he could at least tell that to John. It would help ease his mind.

Opening the door and entering his front room, Takigawa's gaze immediately fell on John, curled up in a corner opposite his shrine, by the window. The young man was fast asleep. Poor guy, the whole situation must have been a nightmare for him. Closing the door tightly, Takigawa walked quietly over to him. What was he doing in the corner?

As silently as he could, Takigawa crouched down beside John as he slept. His face was pale, and he frowned slightly in his sleep. In his hand, a piece of paper was tightly gripped, while another had fallen to the floor. Takigawa picked up the fallen piece of paper, trying not to make it rustle. On it, slanted and messy notes had been written. Takigawa scanned over them. They were in English, so he took care to translate them carefully. They mentioned a spirit, a woman called Sayomi. So this was who John had been talking to outside the house. Yet as Takigawa read on, his eyes fell on strange words. This woman had…warned John? Had he translated that right? To be sure, Takigawa reread the sentence. No, it was definitely right. The woman had warned John about something…a colleague?

Takigawa read on, about the man on the screens that only John had been able to see. His eye was immediately drawn to a small, neat sentence that stood out from the rest of the scrawled handwriting. John must have written it recently. Again, Takigawa translated it.

'Man from burning building (?)'

Burning building? What on earth?

Takigawa stared at the sleeping amnesiac. Could he remember more than he was letting on?

Strangely, Takigawa's eyes were this time drawn to John's neck. He could see the bandaged wrapped around it. When he had asked what the bandage was for, John had muttered something about cutting it. Yet there were no traces of blood on it. And surely the cut would have healed by now. Before he knew what he was doing, Takigawa was reaching his hand ever so slowly towards the bandage. His fingers brushed it.

Then John stirred, and Takigawa retreated his hand. He watched John nervously, as his eyes flickered open slightly. Confused, the young man stared at Takigawa, his blue eyes bemused.

"…Kazuki?" His voice was hushed.

Who was Kazuki? "Um, no…It's me. Takgiawa."

John blinked a few times, then seemed to regain his senses. He scrambled into an upright position, looking embarrassed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were there, I must have fallen asleep…" He began, sounding slightly panicked. "Um…what time is it?"

"It's about…25 to 3." Takigawa checked his watch.

"Oh…" John frowned. "Um…was there something you needed to tell me?"

"Hm?"

"Well, it's just…you were crouched down beside me, so…"

Takigawa felt his face flush, and he quickly stood up and strode over to the sofa.

"No, you just looked a bit cold, I was wondering whether or not to fetch you a jacket or something." He hastily made an excuse.

"Oh, ok." John seemed to believe it. To avoid any more questioning, Takigawa turned on his television, with a cracked screen and the minimum amount of channels, and switched it to the news. As the news reporter spoke, Takigawa thought about what John had said.

"So…have you heard of a guy called Kazuki?" He tried to ask casually.

John frowned, and thought for a moment. After a while, he shook his head.

"No, sorry…Why, who is he?"

"Oh, well…you were muttering the name…in your sleep…"

Suddenly, John had hurried over to Takigawa and stood close to the television. He stared at the writing on the screen, his eyes wide in shock.

"What is it?" Takigawa turned up the volume.

"…victim was believed to work in Shibuya hospital. Doctor Nakumura's car was found in a river in the early hours of yesterday morning, and a body was found inside. Experts believe it to be Nakumura-san, although cause of death has not yet been discovered, although sources reveal that the brakes failed on his car, suggesting that his tragic death was an accident…"

Takigawa turned to John, who looked now even paler than before, and was beginning to tremble slightly.

"Did you know him?" Takigawa asked gently. Now, John turned to Takigawa.

"He…He was my doctor. When I was hospitalised."

On the television, the news report came to an end, and the adverts began to play.