I'm late... Sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt.

Mai was so young when she lost her father. It was so sad. Mai, who did not understand, merely assumed he went on vacation.

Her mother accepted this but the parents started talking; expressing condolences. So Mai found out the truth. She cried for days. Finally, when she stopped crying, a year or so after, her mother suggested a vacation.

"It's a small town," her mother smiled, "It's by a river too."

"Where are we going to live?" Mai asked. Her mom glanced at her.

"I've taken care of that. We're going to live with a cousin of a friend of a co-worker of mine."

When they arrived in the town, they stood in front of the first house that they saw.

"See, it has the best view of the river," her mother said cheerfully. "Let's go in."

Her mom knocked on the door.

"Mizuki-san?" she asked opening the door and peering in. "Mizuki-san, it's us."

Instead of an old woman, a little girl Mai's age came down the stairs.

"Mizuki left," she said in a small voice, "She said that when you two came, she said to show you to your rooms."

"How long will she be gone?" Mai's mother asked, "Should we just wait for her?"

"She'll be gone a long time," the little girl replied, "So no."

The little girl bowed deeply. "I'm Joanna. Nice to meet you."

Mai and her mom also bowed and introduced themselves. They followed Joanna to their rooms.

"Thank you," Mai smiled. Joanna smiled back.

After that, Mai and Joanna became very good friends.

"She's a nice person," Joanna said, one day, "Let's go."

Mai followed Joanna to the house next door. They went through the front door.

"Hello, are you here?" Joanna called inside.

It was silent. Joanna went in and motioned for Mai to follow.

"I think she's out buying more food or something," she said. "By the way, do you know the best thing about this house? It echoes very prettily."

Mai raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Singing here makes it sound prettier, here," Joanna started singing Amazing Grace.

"English?" Mai asked.

"Yup!" Joanna grinned, "Me and my parents used to live in America until we moved here."

"Where are your parents?" Mai asked curiously.

Joanna was silent for a few seconds and when she opened her mouth to say something, an old lady came in.

"Ah, you're here!" she brightened up. "This is Mai."

Mai bowed.

"No need to be polite," the old lady smiled. "Joanna, have you shown her the back?"

"No, not yet!" Joanna grinned and dragged Mai to the back.

The yard was full of colourful flowers taller than Joanna and Mai.

"It's a maze!" Joanna told Mai. "Come on! I'll show you a secret spot!"

Joanna brought Mai to a dead end where the flowers completely covered them.

"This can be our special club!" Joanna declared.

"Cool!" Mai praised it.

Every day, Joanna and Mai played in their club. They crouched under the flowers with their toys and doing their secret handshake.

"Wanna know a secret, Joanna?" Mai asked.

"What is it?" Joanna looked up.

"I don't have a daddy," Mai whispered.

"That's okay," Joanna whispered back. "I don't have a mommy or a daddy."

They smiled at each other and ran back in.

Every day, they played in the maze and they told secrets.

"What happened to your parents?" Mai asked Joanna.

"My daddy died..." Joanna frowned, "The meanies burned down the house to destroy the evidence."

"What about your mom?" Mai asked.

"Mommy started getting in a lot of trouble and we moved back here," Joanna said, "But she left me with Mizuki and said she'd be back another time."

"So what happened to Mizuki? It's been two weeks but we haven't seen her."

"I don't know," Joanna frowned again.

"It's okay," Mai said, "We're best friends and almost sisters. We'll protect each other."

"Right," Joanna smiled back, "We'll do anything and everything to protect each other."

They pinky-sweared on this.

One day, Joanna and Mai were playing in the town where people sold food and Joanna, who was hungry, decided to steal an apple. She immediately dragged Mai away and ran back to her house.

Later on, they went next door. The old lady had promised to tell them a story. But instead...

"Did you steal an apple?" the old lady asked. "I thought I saw you two in the marketplace..."

Shocked, Joanna dragged Mai back to their house and into the back.

Mai sat down in front of Joanna. Joanna was talking about how bad their situation was.

"I got an idea," Joanna said.

They stood up and together, walked into a room and sat down on some chairs.

"We can talk to her," Mai tried to convince Joanna. "She might listen!"

"You don't understand, Mai-chan," Joanna groaned, "She's not going to listen! She'll tell everyone and I'll have to move."

"But you didn't even steal that much!" 'Mai' protested.

"It doesn't matter!"

"But..."

"She'll tell everyone."

"What are we supposed to do?"

"There's one way."

"What?"

Joanna looked Mai in the eye. "We can kill her."

"Kill her?! Why?"

"It's okay!" Joanna grinned, "She's old anyway! She's going to die anyway!"

Mai hesitated but eventually nodded.

"How?" Mai asked, "How are we supposed to kill her?"

"We can't leave any evidence," Joanna walked over to a drawer and pulled it open, "So we'll have to burn her house down."

Joanna took out a pair of matches.

"Wait here." Joanna left and came back with a bottle.

"What's that?" Mai asked.

"It's oil," she answered, "It makes the fire spread better."

"Hey, do we really need to do this? Won't dying hurt?"

"Not this one. We'll wait until she's asleep."

Mai followed Joanna next door. Joanna ordered Mai to hoist her up so she could look through the window.

"This is great! She's already asleep!" Joanna exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah... great..." Mai agreed weakly.

Joanna eagerly opened up the bottle of oil and started pouring it onto the house's walls. She turned around and stopped smiling.

"Why are you frowning?" she asked. "Go ahead! Throw the match in."

"Um, wouldn't the fire catch onto our house too?"

"They're too far away from each other."

Mai looked up at the house.

"I don't think we should do this," Mai shook her head, "It's still killing."

"You know what? I'll leave it up to you," Joanna backed up, "You decide whether or not to set it on fire. But remember... she's going to make me go away."

Mai looked back and forth from the house to Joanna. She stepped forward and offered Joanna the matches back.

"I thought we were best friends," Joanna's eyes started to fill with tears, "You promised we'd do anything and everything to watch out for each other! YOU PROMISED!"

"I... I..." Mai stuttered, "I know. We are best friends."

Mai struck a match and threw it into the house. She watched as the house got engulfed by flames. In the background, she could hear Joanna cheering.

I'll stop the chapter here so that you won't get bored. It's only a recap chapter anyway so I'll do part two next time. Flashbacks are fairly hard to write so sorry if I took too long. I'll definitely try to get the next chapter in before the next weekend ends.

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