(A/N): I'm really, really, really sorry this took so long to upload. I was meant to upload it a while ago, but then one thing led to another and I was delayed. I'm sorry you had to wait so long, and thank you for being so patient. I have just broken up for summer, so I should be able to write a bit more. I definitely plan to get as much as I can done this summer, before I go into next year when exams get more important.
Anyway, here's chapter 13. It's a bit longer than I originally planned, but oh well. Thanks for reading!

"His name is Kazuki Brooks."

The receptionist typed hastily on a hospital computer. A scowl was set on her face as she searched through records and files. After a long while, she shook her head.

"There's no record of a Kazuki Brooks being admitted here."

Takigawa frowned. "You sure?"

Sighing in frustration, the receptionist pushed the key board away from her.

"I've checked four times for you. There is no record."

"Ok. Thank you for looking." Takigawa turned to me.

"You sure that was his full name?"

I nodded. "I'm certain."

Takigawa and I were at the hospital, trying to track down the man from my flashback.

"This is starting to become like the Itsuke Watanabe situation." I remarked. I had made sure to tell Takigawa about this man and his granddaughter, Sayomi.

"What do you mean?"

"There was no record of him either."

Takigawa frowned, his expression troubled. As we walked out of the hospital, he murmured to me, "…Do you think this colleague of yours had something to do with this?"

"Most probably." It was a worrying thought; someone in the hospital must have been bribed to erase the records. Perhaps Doctor Nakumura had even been bribed to withhold the information about Mattaku from me, and when he had second thoughts, the colleague killed him.

"And the police still don't believe that he exists?" The disbelief in Takigawa's voice was clear.

I nodded grimly. The sooner we could prove his existence, the better. This morning, we had already tried talking to some police officers again, explaining his actions to try and show he was real. Unfortunately, they demanded at the very least 'credible photographical evidence' before they even considered my story.

"Well, hopefully Naru-kun can help us." This was our next plan – to explain the situation to Kazuya, in hope that he could help us.

As we walked along the busy streets of Tokyo, I felt less uneasy than usual. Yes, the claustrophobic feeling of being surrounded by so many people still made me anxious. And whenever a person brushed past too close, I still felt my heart speed up. But ever since I told Takigawa, these feelings had lessened. Even if the police didn't believe me, just the fact that someone else knew lifted the isolated fear that was eating away at me.

We arrived at the Shibuya Psychic Research office. And now, standing in front of the door, courage began to drain from me. It was the same thing I was worried about – would they prefer not knowing? Even so, I knocked steadily on the door. I held my breath as it opened.

Mai was standing in the door way.

"Oh, hi Bou-san! John-kun! Come in! What brings you here?" She stepped aside, allowing us to walk in.

"Oh, there was just something we wanted to discuss with Naru-kun." Like me, Takigawa never called him 'Davis-san'. "How have you been?"

"Ugh." Mai pouted. "Exams, exams, exams. I have maths coming up, and I'm actually a bit scared."

On the other side of the office, someone laughed. Looking over, I saw that Yasuhara was sitting on one of the sofas.

"What, the great ghost hunter Mai-sama is scared of an exam?"

"Oh, how are you, Yasuhara-san?" I greeted him.

"Great. I get to stand in as the boss while he's out."

So Kazuya wasn't here. "When did he go out?"

"About…" Yasuhara looked down at his watch, "…half an hour ago, I'd say."

We'd just missed him. Sharing a brief glance of disappointment with Takigawa, I asked,

"Do you know when he will be back?"

Mai shrugged. "Recently, he just keeps going off like that. Whenever I ask where he and Lin-san are going, he just says 'some business'. It's infuriating. I'm left all alone, and it's really boring."

"Even with my company, it's been very tedious." Yasuhara wafted a handful of dishevelled school papers. "No one has called with a case, so she's been studying while I helped." He looked down at the papers in his hand. "You know, maybe you should stop missing school all the time and actually make some notes for maths. Let's say…it's an area that needs improvement."

Takigawa grinned. "Better be careful, Mai-kun, or you'll end up with a job at the supermarket."

"I already have a job, baka!" Mai bristled angrily. "Here! At SPR! And," She folded her arms indignantly, "everyone has areas of difficulty in school. Even you did."

"Not me." Yasuhara raised his hand.

"Anyway, I bet you sucked at maths when you were at school." Mai smirked.

"Actually, I had no problem with maths." Takigawa mimicked her posture and tone. "…It was English, for your information."

Mai scoffed. "English? Please. English is easy. I can quote Shakespeare. To be or to not be, that is the question." Quickly, she leaned over to me and whispered, "Is that right?"

I decided it would be wiser to pretend she was right. "Yeah…pretty much…"

Bringing the conversation back to relevance, Yasuhara asked, "So, what did you want to talk to the boss about?"

"…It's complicated." Now was not the right time to start delving into the situation, not when we had barely walked through the door. I glanced over at Takigawa, and he nodded approvingly.

"Do you want me to find out when he'll be back?" Mai picked up the telephone.

"Would that be ok?"

"Of course." As she dialled in the numbers, I turned to Takigawa.

"What should we do if he's not back for a while?"

"Well, I don't think there's much we can do. We'll just have to wait until he comes back, I guess." He lowered his voice. "He's been acting a bit…edgy recently."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, but it's like Mai-kun said. He and Lin-san keep on leaving without an explanation. The last time they did that, they were searching for a body."

I nodded. "At the abandoned house, Lin-san definitely seemed uneasy about leaving Kazuya-san by himself."

"Yeah." Takigawa glanced over at Mai, who was sounding frustrated. "Something's up, that's for sure."

With no warning, Mai slammed down the telephone. "That jerk!" She shouted.

"What's he done now?" Somehow, Yasuhara's tone was tired.

"He keeps on doing this! Just prancing off to who knows where without saying a word beforehand, then not telling when he'll be back!"

"What do you mean? He won't tell you?" Takigawa looked puzzled by this behaviour.

"He just says, 'I'll be back when I want, carry on looking after the office'." Mai glared at the phone as if Kazuya was still on the other end. "Why does he have to be so enigmatic and vague? Can't he give a clear answer for once?!"

"Well, what do you say we leave this boring place and go out? Go get a drink?" Takigawa made the suggestion quite suddenly.

"Um…" Mai faltered, unsure. She seemed torn between the options. "We should really be looking after the office…then again…you know what, ok. If you're buying." Whether it was just to relieve the boredom, or she wanted to get back at Kazuya, Mai looked happy at the idea.

"That depends. What exactly do you mean by 'drink'?" Yasuhara asked with an innocent tone.

"I'm not buying you alcohol, if that's what you want." Takgiawa replied bluntly. Shrugging his shoulders, Yasuhara stood up from the sofa and headed to the door.

"Well, I assume you're buying anyway. Let's go, I know a good place."

Mai followed him out of the door, stopping quickly to grab the office keys. As they went out, I turned to Takigawa, slightly bemused. But before I could even say a word, he answered my question.

"It'll be easier to ask questions when Mai's not in a bad mood." He explained.

"Ask questions?"

"Yeah. Ever since the case in the abandoned house, she's been suspicious about the circumstances surrounding the selling of the house."

A thought occurred. "Did…she have a dream?"

Takigawa nodded. "Yeah. She told me about it. Apparently, she saw the manager being given a whole load of money in return for the house. There was nothing normal about it, no deed or anything. Apparently just a tall, well-built man wearing black handed over a bag filled with money, and promised more to come."

I frowned. Well-built? The colleague was not particularly well-built, or even tall.

"That description doesn't sound like colleague-san…" I told him. "Maybe someone stepped in for him? He's careful, he probably wouldn't do something like that himself."

"Well, you see anyone who might be working for him? Did he mention anyone?" Takigawa asked.

At once, a name occurred. "…Saburou. When he talked to me, he mentioned someone called Saburou."

"Who is he?"

"He…" I faltered. "...After what colleague-san said, I think he was the one…who strangled me."

Takigawa inhaled sharply. Stifling his shock, he talked in a quieter voice, "…If that's the case, we need to be even more careful. We don't know how many people are working for this creep."

"When should we tell them?" I ask. "Mai-kun and Yasuhara-san?"

Takigawa bit his lip. "I'm not sure. Shouldn't we wait for Naru-kun to come back?"

"I'm uneasy about that. We don't know when he'll be back. It could be hours, it could be a full day or two. And the longer they don't know, I feel the more we're putting them at risk." It was hard to decide. On the one hand, if they became involved, the colleague might punish them. But what if the colleague tried to attack them anyway? At least if they knew the sitatuion, they would be…prepared in some way. The sooner they knew, the better.

After being ushered out of the office by an impatient Mai, Takigawa and I sat opposite each other in a busy café. Although the weather in Tokyo was meant to be fairly mild in April, and April was not even the wettest month, today the heavens had opened. Cars still persisted in lines of traffic, but with each change of the traffic lights, the amount was becoming less and less. The streets were now empty, despite being filled with people earlier on, as everyone took refuge in shops while the rain lashed down. Even above the noise of the customers in the café, I could easily hear the noise of rain against window. I watched as a flock of sodden pigeons took shelter underneath shop panes or benches, unable to fly from their water-logged wings. Only a crow, hopping along the pavement and snatching up the remaining pieces of discarded food, remained on the streets.

"Wow. You know, I don't often see the Tokyo streets empty." Takigawa remarked. He had given Mai and Yasuhara a wad of yen notes, allowing them to buy what they wanted. Now, the two of them stood in a long queue, waiting to order. From the way Takigawa kept on looking over at them uneasily, and counting the left-over money in his wallet, I think he was beginning to regret his decision of entrusting them with money.

"Really? Even in the winter?"

"Yeah, a lot of people still brave the weather in winter. Hey," he looked out of the window, then back at me swiftly. "You shouldn't stare at that crow for too long. Don't catch its eye or anything."

I frowned. "Why?"

"Don't you know? It's bad luck."

"Oh…" I was still unaccustomed to Japanese superstitions, since I was so used to the western variety.

"Don't you have that in Australia?"

I shook my head. "No. We have things like…don't walk under ladders, or break mirrors. 13 is an unlucky number, too."

"Oh." Takigawa pondered this. "I've heard that a bit, but generally for us, the numbers 4 and 9 are unlucky. 4 sometimes sounds like the word death, shi. 9 sounds like the word suffering, ku. They're both so unlucky, companies sometimes avoid using them."

Well, something made sense. "I always wondered…there's no room 9 or room 4 in the hospital."

Takigawa nodded. "It's the same in a few hotels, too. Oh, by the way…how come you're a doctor?"

"Oh, I'm not a doctor. I'm a nurse."

"Really?" He looked surprised.

"Yeah."

"I thought that there were rules about who could become doctors and nurses. Only people from the Philippines and Indonesia, right?"

"Yeah. Well…" I leaned in forwards. "Keep this a secret, ok?"

He smiled. "Ok. What is it?"

"Technically, I shouldn't really be working there. It's against regulations. Because I'm Australian."

"So how come you are?"

"Well, the hospital was apparently going through a crisis because some time back, there was a failed operation and a patient died. Unfortunately, the spirit of that patient, being angry about their death, turned into a site bound spirit, and was attacking all the surgeons at the hospital. So, they called on me to exorcise it. Then, because I actually have medical training, I was given a job to keep an eye on things. Occasionally I have to exorcise spirits and stop possessions. I mean, you can imagine how disastrous it would be if a surgeon got possessed, or if a spirit started attacking patients. So, that's how I cam to be a nurse, despite my ethnicity."

"Really?" Takigawa looked even more surprised.

"Yeah. Not all of the doctors know about it, and some don't even know I'm from Australia – I have to say I was born in the Philippines – but a few of them do, and a lot of the nurses know."

"Don't the patients say anything?"

"Not really. When they do, I usually say I'm from the Philippines. If they ask about my appearance, I tell them I have an English parent. Not many people ask, though. I mean, if you're ill and you're getting treatment, then you're not really going to start complaining about things like the appearances of nurses, are you? Once, though, a health inspector came around for a surprise visit. No one knew beforehand, so I didn't know to stay off for that day. In the end, I was shoved in one of the janitor's cupboards until the inspector left."

Takigawa laughed. "Really? In the janitor's cupboard?"

"Yeah. Hey, what I've been wondering…how did you get into a band? You're a studio musician, right?"

"Umm…" Takigawa scratched his head. "Well…I like music. My sister really got me into it at an early age. So, when I went to college to study music, I met some other guys who were really interested in music too. And, I guess it kind of grew from there. My father was completely against it."

"How come?"

"Well, because my family owns the temple, he really wanted me to follow his footsteps. Become a monk, work at the temple. Things like that. He hated the idea of me becoming a musician. He even banned CDs at the temple to try and stop me from following it as a career. So I just left, instead. As soon as I could, I went to college. I mean, obviously I kept up with Buddhism and training and things like that, but I decided to pursue a music career instead of a religious one." He paused, and looked at me.

"What about you? Why did you become a nurse?"

"Well…I just like helping people, I guess. Medicine is really interesting, too, and I've always admired people who worked in hospitals, so I guess it was the most obvious career path."

"What about being a priest?"

"It was a similar situation to you, I guess. My father wanted me to be a priest, so I did. But he also wanted me to try and follow…a military career, you could say. I didn't want to, so I trained as a nurse. Then, because of some family reasons, I ended up moving to Japan, and I thought I wouldn't be able to become a nurse because of the foreign policy. It turned out I was wrong."

"So you had a pushy father too, huh?"

"Yeah. It's…frustrating, isn't it?"

"Definitely. Well, I know my father has accepted my decision. Sort of."

I smiled. "That's good."

As we talked, Takigawa's phone began to ring. Frowning, he took the mobile out of his pocket and, when he saw the caller, he scowled in irritation.

"Damn it." He looked up at me. "It's the singer from the band. The one I told you about." Sighing, he told me guiltily, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to take this."

Begrudgingly, he pressed accept and began to speak.

"Hello? Yes, it's me…" At first, the conversation was fairly relaxed, but soon Takigawa was sounding more and more frustrated. Finally, he lowered the phone, putting his hand over the speaker, and said to me,

"I'm really sorry, but I think I'll have to take this somewhere more private."

"Oh, of course." Quickly, he stood up and walked from the table, starting to speak on the phone as he did so.

Now, I waited in silence, staring out of the window once more as the rain lashed down. The crow had long since flown away, giving up its scavenge and instead choosing shelter over food. The sound of the rain was somewhat comforting. I looked at the pavement, covered in water, and watched the rain drops hitting the surface. The ripples darted across the water, in a hypnotising fashion that I was unable to draw my eye away from. Regardless of everything, I found myself relaxing, perhaps for the first time since I got out of hospital. When my eyes grew heavy, I tried to wake myself up again. I couldn't just fall asleep in the middle of the café.

"John!"

I turn around, scanning the crowd for who might be calling me. Today is the 6th of December, and the snow has been falling gently down for a while. All around me, people are trekking through the thick layer that has formed on the pavements. Flocks of pigeons huddle together to shelter from the cold, while a lone crow bravely attempts to pick discarded food off the street. No one else seems too uncomfortable about the cold, but I am not used to this weather. My feet are beginning to lose all feeling, and my hands are raw from exposure. I only have myself to blame – my gloves are lost somewhere in my apartment.

"John!" The voice calls me again. Whoever it is, they aren't using an honorific. Maybe they aren't Japanese…?

"John! Nurse Brown!"

I recognise the voice, with the American accent. Finally, I see a man pushing his way through the crowd.

"Kazuki?"

The American grins, while he tries to catch his breath. "You know…for a minute…I thought I'd gotten the wrong…person." He bends over, gasping for breath. "Then again…there aren't many people…around here…with the whole…Aryan look…going on…"He speaks between each inhale.

"I didn't realise at first, that it was you calling me. Where were you?"

Still breathing heavily, he points wildly in no certain direction.

"A while back." He wheezes.

"Um, are you ok?" I watch him with concern. His breathing sounds ragged and painful.

"Yeah." He straightens up, but immediately grabs my shoulder for support. Quickly, he pulls out an inhaler and breathes deeply, before continuing.

"I have asthma. Pretty badly, my lungs are very weak. I have to be careful around bonfires and barbeques and things like that."

"Oh, that's…well, a shame, for one thing."

"Yeah, to say the least. I almost died from it once."

"Really? Are you ok now?" He smiles at my apprehension.

"I'm fine, honestly. I mean, running sets it off, but it's only thick smoke I have to worry about."

"What happened this time?"

"I saw you, and I didn't want to miss you, so I ran."

"You ran? For me?"

"Yeah. I wanted to thank you. You made my hospital visit a lot more interesting. I got a bit lonely without anyone to talk to."

"Oh, don't worry about it. Anyway, how have you been holding up?"

"Absolutely fine, there were no complications after the surgery or anything like that." He smiles, abashed. "Watching where I step, though."

I laugh. "I would hope so. It's still icy."

In response to this, he grins mischievously. "Enjoying the snow then, mate?" He imitates my accent, badly. I ignore it, and reply,

"I guess it's pretty. But I think it should be less cold. I'm not used to cold."

"Is cold just a myth too, down under?"

He persists with the accent, so I tell him,

"We don't sound like that."

"You do." He insists.

"Anyway, if you call Australia 'down under' while you're there, you'll probably get beaten up."

He raises an eye brow. "Really?"

"You'd be surprised. People get tired of the stereotypes and things like that."

"I'll consider that before I ask if you wrestle crocodiles."

"That would be wise."

He notices my hands. "Where are your gloves? Your hands are white."

"Lost."

He takes them in his own hands, which are protected by thick gloves. The warmth from his hands is comforting, and he rubs them together to try and bring life back into them.

"Thanks. They're absolutely freezing." I tell him. He looks slightly concerned.

"You should wrap up more, you know." He pulls me closer to him. With his thick coat, I can feel his warmth on my own frozen skin.

"God, you really are freezing." He puts an arm around my shoulder.

"Hey, you want to go somewhere a bit warmer? Maybe go get some coffee or something? Instead of staying out here and catching hypothermia."

Right now, with the cold gnawing away at me, it doesn't sound like a bad idea.

"I'll pay." He adds quickly.

"…Ok." I agree to his request. "But…maybe don't do the accent again."

He grins. "Ok."

I snapped awake. Yasuhara was resting his head against the table, startlingly close to me.

"You don't look like you're 20." He remarked casually. Briefly, my surroundings confused me as I tried to process what was real and what had been a memory.

"W-what?" I looked around. Takigawa had returned from his phone call. Mai was carrying a tray with coffee cups, watching Yasuhara with a bemused expression.

"You look like you're the same age as me." Yasuhara went on. "Have you ever been forced to show your ID or something?"

"Uh…" All I could think of was about Kazuki. Before, he had just been a vague memory. Now, he looked so familiar. I had seen him before, I knew it. But where?

"Sometimes." I rubbed my eyes. How long had I been asleep?

"Oh, leave him, Yasuhara-kun." Mai placed the tray down, and sat opposite me. "Are you ok? You fell asleep."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired. Sorry about that."

Takigawa sat down next to me. "Don't worry about it." Hushed, and asked, "Did you…you know…"

I nodded. "Not much."

"What was that phone call about, Bou-san?" Mai spoke up suddenly, and her tone was suspicious.

"Oh, one of the band members was just asking about something. Someone was asking around about me, apparently, and he was a bit edgy about it. Nothing much."

"Really?" Mai swirled the liquid in her cup around with a stirrer. "Well, it's just…we were wondering something. Yasu-kun and I."

"What's on your mind?"

Mai said nothing, so Yasuhara spoke up instead. "We heard you two talking. In the office. About a man called Saburou."

"And my dream." Mai interrupted. "And the abandoned house. And that there was something you wanted to tell us."

She stared at us, waiting for an answer. Glancing at Takigawa, I began to speak.

"You know I said…I was in a car accident?"

"You were in a car accident?" It seemed that no one had told Yasuhara.

"Well…I wasn't really in a car accident."

"What?!" Mai looked shocked. "Then-then what happened? Why did you lie to us? I never thought you'd lie to us! Naru-kun, sure, but you?!

"The thing is, I can't remember. I have amnesia."

This stunned Mai into silence.

"Earlier this month, I woke up in hospital, and I have no idea what happened the previous month. But I do know that…" Swiftly, I looked around me. He was nowhere to be seen.

"…I've been…stalked…by a man. I don't know his name. I just know him as the colleague. And now, he's planning to…punish me. I don't know why, but it's something to do with what happened last month. I'm sure of it. And whatever happened, I'm sure it's connected to the abandoned house."

No one said anything for a while. At last, Yasuhara spoke up, with a calmness that seemed to ease the situation.

"So, this abandoned house you mentioned…Mai-kun, you had a dream about that, right?"

Mai nodded. "Yeah, about someone buying the house from the estate manager."

"I heard you had a case at this house. What exactly happened?"

Back at the office, Mai rooted through files and papers as she searched for the information on the abandoned house case. After a few minutes, she emerged from behind the desk holding a paper-back folder.

"Just in case we missed anything." She passed it to Yasuhara, who began to read the papers.

As he read, she turned to me. "Did you tell the police about any of this?"

"Yes, but they won't believe me. I think he might have bribed or blackmailed them."

"And you think that this…colleague-san bought the house?"

"It's a definite possibility." I thought back to Ayako's remark. "It's like what Ayako-san said. If you're going to buy a house, why would you buy one filled with spirits? And the spirits were calling for help. There's something very wrong with that place. I'm not sure what." An idea, a speculation, was hovering at the back of my mind. Yet it was such a terrible, terrible thing…I didn't want to acknowledge it as a possibility. Not until we had ruled out every other alternative.

"You know what? I think we should go over there." Mai suggested suddenly.

Takigawa frowned. "Isn't that trespassing?"

"Who cares?" Mai shrugged. "There are a lot of spirits there, and they're unable to move on. I think we should at least try and help them to do that."

"I'm not so sure." The idea made me uneasy. "What if…I don't know, it could be dangerous. If colleague-san has something to do with this, then he might react badly if we went over there."

"But what can he do to us? Kill us?"

When I said nothing, and Mai looked at my grim expression, her argument waned slightly.

"Really?"

"He killed someone who works at the hospital. And he has this fear of…being vulnerable. I don't know how to phrase it, really, but he talked about it briefly. That he 'didn't like being vulnerable'. The way he said it, and how he looked when he did…as soon as things start getting out of hand, or he thinks that we're getting too close to the truth, he'll react badly. So we have to be careful."

At this point, Yasuhara had finished reading the papers. He walked over to us, the folder still in his hands.

"Actually, I think Mai's suggestion is not entirely reckless." He told me. "The two of us are students. If anything were to happen to us, people would start asking questions."

"He knows that." I explain. "He stages it like an accident, so no one asks questions."

"Even so, the death of two students would gain a lot of media attention, through one way or another. And I doubt even this colleague-san would be able to prevent that. Investigations would be made, even if he did bribe or blackmail the police, like you think. If he's clever enough, which I assume he is, he will think twice before trying to do away with us so quickly. Besides, we're students. Other students went to the house, right? And nothing bad has happened to them. If he sees us at the house, he'll just assume we're, I don't know, just some teenagers with nothing better to do."

"Shouldn't we at least wait until Lin-san gets back? Won't that be safer?" Lin was good in a fight, so if anything went wrong, at least he would be there.

"If we travel in too big of a group, then we'll get conspicuous."

His argument was compelling. Maybe we could go there, and it would be ok. I would seriously doubt if colleague-san was watching over the place personally, and even if he had left someone else to watch over the house, I wouldn't think that they would pay us much attention. Nonetheless, I could not shake the feeling of anxiety inside me.

"Well, do we at least have any more information about the house?" I tried to sway the choice of action in a different direction.

"Information will be easier to find if we visit the place." Yasuhara refused to be persuaded.

In the end, I reluctantly agreed to visit the abandoned house once more. Takigawa seemed uncomfortable with the idea, but he agreed too. Even so, he protested each step of the way. As he drove us in his car, a small four-doored car, he frequently asked Mai and Yasuhara,

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It'll be fine, Bou-san. Honestly." Mai reassured him each time, although Takigawa was still unconvinced.

At last, we arrived at the house. There was nothing much different about it, compared to last time. A fence hadn't been made, no protective techniques. The only thing different was a new sign, sticking out of the grass.

'TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED'.

"You know, if this colleague guy doesn't want anyone coming into the house, he hasn't done much about it, has he?" Yasuhara opened the car door and stepped out.

"Maybe he doesn't want to be too defensive about it." Takigawa stepped out as well, and faced the house, his hands behind his head.

Mai got out the car too, as did I. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"The fact the house has even been bought, what with all the spirits and the bad construction, has caused enough conjecture, and putting up a 10 foot electric fence or something would only increase that further."

"Oh, I get you."

I observed the building, my eyes straining for anything new or unusual. So far, nothing seemed particularly different. There was no sign of anyone around, no sign of life or otherwise. No security cameras on the wall, not even a small fence or even a warning tape blocking the entrance. Apart from the sign, that was it.

"This doesn't look too bad. Let's go in." Yasuhara began walking to the door. Mai swallowed, exhaled, and renewed her determination.

"Yeah, let's go." She followed him eagerly.

"Wait a second!" Takigawa called after them. However, they just turned around and beckoned to us.

"They're pretty eager, aren't they?" He commented as we followed hesitantly.

"I thought they'd be more…cautious." I had to agree with him.

"Maybe they've just been bored." Takigawa suggested. "All Mai-kun has been doing is revising for exams, and Yasuhara-san has been helping. There have been no cases since we left this house, apparently, and Naru-kun keeps on wandering off somewhere, so I wouldn't blame them for wanting to do something more interesting. Just to get it all out of their systems."

"I guess…" Still, it seemed a bit…extreme, almost, to dive head first into a potentially dangerous situation.

Now we were at the door step. No one had stopped us, no one had even appeared. Living person or spirit. It did nothing to ease my anxiety – if anything, it set me further on edge.

Yasuhara took the door handle, and pushed the door gently. It was not locked; it swung wide open, with a long, dramatic creak that made Mai shiver and fold her arms tightly around her.

"This place still creeps me out after last time." She stepped tentatively through the door. "With all the whispering and the scratching and everything. Do you think that will happen again?"

"I hope not." Takigawa replied bluntly.

Inside the house, it was cold. Colder than outside. Immediately, we were wary.

"There are spirits here." Takigawa breathed, his words coming out with a snatch of condensation. "There has to be."

"Was it this cold last time?" Again, Yasuhara remained collected.

"Only when the spirits appeared." I told him.

"So, they might appear?"

"I wouldn't be surprised." The house was deathly quiet. All I could hear was the sound of our breathing, the sound of our clothes brushing together with each movement. Not even the floor creaked. It was so quiet, and yet each noise seemed amplified and deafening. Somehow, this made an inexplicable panic rise inside me. It wormed through me, making me feel agitated and terrified at the same time. Finally, I could bear it no more, and spoke up,

"I'm going to look upstairs." The idea was not a productive one; just a desperate excuse to break the silence.

"Should I go with you?" Takigawa suggested, looking at me with concern. "You look a bit pale."

"Oh, I'm fine." It was a blatant lie. "But if we're here, we might as well start looking for anything that might help us."

"…Ok." Takigawa glanced up the stairs. "Just…be careful, ok?"

"Don't worry, I will be."

As soon as I was out of sight, up the stairs, I found myself almost collapsing with exhaustion. What had come over me? What was wrong with me? I leant against a wall, trying to gain breath that I had lost without even realising. Nausea overwhelmed me. What was wrong with me? I asked the question over and over in my head. Ever since I had gotten out of the hospital, I had been…different. The smallest thing would spook me completely. I felt like I was constantly on defence. When people walked too close to me on the street, I would get nervous. When someone was too loud at the hospital, it made me jump. Thinking back, when Ayako and Takigawa had been fighting during the case, Mai had remarked that I had suddenly become pale. And whenever Takigawa placed his hand on my shoulder, I would tense, as if I thought he was going to attack me. Why did all these things, things that no one would pay any attention to, make me so…scared? And even now, I was fretting over the fact that the house was quiet, and over the smallest of noises that suddenly seemed so loud. What was wrong with me? No, that wasn't the question. My hand played with the bandage on my neck. What had Doctor Nakumura said?

…You have been severely beaten, Brown-san. Severely beaten. Your skin shows ligature marks, and several other signs of…abuse…

The mark on my neck did not appear by accident. Ligature marks did not appear for no reason. The real question was, who had done this to me? And what had they done that had turned me into such a nervous wreck?

After calming myself, I stepped away from the wall. It was a bad idea to stay near walls, I had decided, after the case with Urado. Masako and Mai certainly felt that way, I knew. Instead, I walked carefully into a room, which was probably once a bedroom. Although the floor boards sunk ever so slightly beneath my foot, it made no sound. The door moved back and forth, presumably from a draft, yet this time made no noise like the main door. In the room, the dust on the floor was upturned and disturbed, unlike the thick blanket that coated the door and window panes. Someone had been in here. At once, my eye was drawn to a single pencil on the floor. Picking it up, I realised it was a coloured art pencil. That girl, Yumi…apparently, she and her friends had been here for an art project. Maybe they had left it here. They had left here in a hurry, after hearing the whispers, so it would make sense if they had left some of their art equipment behind. In the corner, I saw an unopened bottle of beer. Yumi had mentioned going to get alcohol, so that made sense as well. Apart from that, the room was empty. There was no point staying here, so I turned around to leave.

And there he was. Standing still, watching me. Completely silent.

The man from the screens stood in the middle of the room. This time, I could see him clearer. And this time, I began to recognise who he was. His clothes were covered in black soot and splashes of red. A dirty lab coat. This was the man from the burning building, the man who had led me out and died swiftly thereafter.

But there was more. And as we watched each other, quiet and calm, the realisation came crashing over me. I knew who this was. Part of me didn't want it to be true. But I knew the name of this man. I recognised him.

He did not say anything for a moment, and then he spoke up. His language was English.

"It was unlucky, I guess." I knew that accent. That American accent. "That the asthmatic ended up in a burning building. It did my lungs no good at all. Maybe if they hadn't been so weak, I wouldn't have died."

The man from the screens, the man from the burning building…

His name was Kazuki Brooks.