I do Not own the Anime/Manga Ghost Hunt, or its characters.
Set before the team learns about Naru's PK.
Monk frowned, "That's a lot of injuries for just one person."
I gave a non-committed shrug; it wasn't like I wanted to tell him why I had been hospitalized so many times growing up. We fell into silence again, only this one was heavier and a bit uncomfortable. He turned back to the window and I felt like I had offended him or something. That was weird though. How could I offend him if he hadn't asked a question that I hadn't answered?
No, not offended, I decided. Hurt that I wasn't willing to come forward with more information, probably because he thinks that I think I shouldn't tell him for one reason or another. I bit back a sigh, because that was exactly why I wasn't telling him.
This was gonna be a long drive.
-X-
The next hour passed in the same silence. Tamari slept peacefully in the back, for which I was glad. I kept following the directions given to me by the computerized voice, and every time it spoke up suddenly, Monk would jump a little. He wouldn't know where we were going, or what it said until I had changed direction. I was beginning to think it unnerved him a little.
He let out a heavy sigh when it spoke again. "That's gotten annoying."
"What?" I asked, though I was betting I already knew.
"Not knowing what it's saying." He sounded like he was pouting, so I glanced over real quick. He was slouched in his seat, arms crossed and a pout put firmly in place. I knew it was rude to laugh, but I couldn't stop the chuckle. He scowled, "That's not funny."
"You're right," But I couldn't smother the chuckles. "If you want, I can teach you some English while we're driving."
He blinked and sat up, "Lay it on me."
"Okay, so the English word for 'monk' is..."
-X-
"John, pull over!"
"What?! Why?!"
"I need to take a leak."
"I think peeing in public is illegal." Jeez, don't scare me like that again. I thought something was wrong.
"Do you want your jeep to smell like pi-"
"Pulling over!"
-X-
Finally, finally, we made it. My back was sore, my butt was numb and I really needed a bathroom break. We had pulled off to the side a few miles back and ordered the biggest sodas I have ever seen from a fast food place. Bad idea, on my part.
A gravel driveway led up to the school, past the iron wrought gates. Students were milling around, all wearing the same uniform. There was a front yard, expansive and dotted with trees, grass poking through what little snow remained. I went all the way to the building to the back, where the driveway ended. There was a large circular pond, which had the gravel driveway circle around it. I pulled up along side it. The water was murky, looking a nasty green with stuff floating along the top.
I jumped out, my legs going all tingly as I stretched them. They ached in ways I could hardly believe - almost as bad as when I had flown over here on a nearly twenty hour flight, thanks to unexpected delays. Monk had gently woken Tamari a few minutes prior, and she wouldn't stop apologizing for falling asleep. We were able to get her to stop when we started telling her what we'd need during out stay. She stepped out of the jeep, smiled as she passed and headed inside.
Monk and I trailed behind her, leaving our stuff in the vehicle. To the left and right were large buildings, full of windows and teenagers spilling out the front doors. The reflective surfaces of the windows made it hard to see into. Tamari began, "To the right is the freshman and sophomore dormitories. To the left, the junior and senior dormitories. Ahead of us, is the main building."
Monk and I pulled up along either side of her, "Is this where all the activity happening?"
"Correct, Father John. The dorms haven't had any happenings."
To our immediate right stood what looked to be an old-styled, gothic mansion. It expanded outwards from the front. It almost reminded of Bruce Wayne's manor, but I kept that bit to myself. It was four or five stories, dark stones and kept clean. It had spiraling columns and gargoyles - they looked mean, twisted in protective poses and worn by times, seemingly distorted - balconies and a wrap around porch. In a word: creepy.
I followed her up the stairs after a moment of looking at the student body. They hadn't started classes yet; it was one of the newest trends in the USA, starting classes an hour or so later than traditionally done. According to newer research, teenagers in this era of time had a chemical in their brains that kept them up later than they wanted. Some scientists theorize that this chemical had always been present, but is only now making itself known because kids now-a-days don't do back breaking labor all day, and are therefore not physically exhausted.
It made sense, I guess.
We entered into a long corridor, a staircase to our immediate right and left. I could see a computer room at the very edge of the hall, closed doors lining the corridor. The stairs curved upwards a story before breaking into a landing that I could just barely see. She led us up the wooden stairs, past pictures and awards hanging off the wall and in inlaid display cases. "You'll be given the library on the third floor, eastern wing. It overlooks the pond."
"Great." Monk nodded, "Now, we'll need you to just tell them over announcements that we're here and were to find us if they want to tell us what they know or saw."
"Of course. Anything we can do to help," she led us down a short hall and opened double doors to the library. With just a glance, I knew it was bigger than my apartment.
Books lined the walls so high that there were ladders attached to the golden rods, and they had wheels at their bottoms, to move them. Bookshelves made of dark hard wood sat in long lines on one side, crammed with thick volumes. To the other side were tables and leather padded chairs, still surrounded by books on walls, and computers. There was still more than enough room to set up our own tables for the screens. There were large windows that flooded the area with light.
"Its not our largest library. If you need something bigger -"
"Oh, no." I cut her off, realizing that we hadn't said a word after walking in. "This is more than enough room."
After that, she had to leave to attend to her duties. She left us a blueprint of the building's layout so we wouldn't get lost. Monk walked down the aisles of the bookshelves, as I texted Mai, telling her we made it and had Base ready for their arrival. I looked at the ceiling, which was ten feet above my head, painted of dragons and a brewing storm.
"Man, would you look at all of this?" He called, holding up three books. "They're all the same book - look at the book cover and authors. They're all in different languages!"
I squinted to see from where I was, "English. Japanese. Chinese. German. And...I think, Russian."
He looked at the five books he was holding before putting them back, his voice conversational, "You know a lot of languages?"
My gaze found the ceiling again, shrugging, "I can make do. I'm fluent in English, Spanish, and Japanese. I can identify Chinese and German, but that's about it."
His eyebrows rose to his hairline, but he quickly focused on something else, "Why are you staring at the ceiling?"
-X-
By the time the others arrived, we had interviewed all the girls who had witnessed anything strange and had agreed to stay in the substitute teacher housing. Lin, Monk, Naru and I brought up the screens and bigger machinery while the girls took our personal bags and dropped them off in our assigned rooms. As Monk and I helped carry load after load up the stairs, we explained everything we knew - which was really just relaying what Tamari had already told us.
By the fourth or fifth run, Monk was panting and Naru had traded in his long sleeves for short sleeves. Lin loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves. By the seventh or eighth run, they were all out for the count, taking a fifteen minute brake while the girls ran up the wires, cords and small cameras. Having not taken up so much at once like Lin or Monk, I still had the strength to heave the stuff up those dreaded stairs. I had the stamina, after living on the fifth floor for a little over a year now. Class was in session, so we tried to stay quiet.
It was late morning by the time we had Base set up - let alone actually go and set up the cameras. Mai and Ayako went to do that, following one of the maps I had sketched out from the blueprint. I had circled in red where the attacks had happened, and that's where the first cameras were set up. Masako and Monk were set to search for spirits while I took my first rest of that day. Naru wasn't an idiot. He couldn't have me work so much and not be ready for if something happened.
In my time off, I pulled out a book I had been reading for the past few days about PK. There were a lot of theories as to why one person may have a lot of it, while others had little to none. It was also an interesting read, because they had little lessons to try and see if you had any yourself. I hadn't tried any, but figured it could be fun to try sometime.
-X-
"Now we wait."
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