Chapter 3 – He Caught her off guard
After class, Mai called her six classmates who will be interviewed by Naru, and that includes Hashimoto-san too. They are on their way to the old library when Hashimoto-san asked her "Ne, Taniyama-san, how come you know the ghost hunters that investigating the building?"
"I went there earlier." She answered deadpanned, honestly she got the feeling that she will loudly declare to them that she's a psychic.
Her eyes widened "That's absurd! I told you don't go to that building with a strong psychic like me to tag along" she scolded
Mai just rolled her eyes, I'm tired of hearing that nonsense. When she opened the door, she was welcomed by Gene and John, "Mai-chaan, long time no see" Gene greeted.
She chuckled "We just met three hours ago, Gene, that's not that 'long time'"
"Eh, but I –"
"So, you must the ghost hunters that Taniyama-san was talking about" Hashimoto-san interjected, cutting off Gene's words "I'm a strong psychic myself too. I can help you with your investigations." She said gesturing to herself, Gene looked at Mai, who just rolled her eyes at her pronouncement, John stifle a laugh, seeing her reaction.
"Really? But we want to interview those girls first." Pointing at the five people who still standing at the doorway. They went to the second floor where the Naru and the others are gathered, without wasting anytime, the young boss interviewed them immediately.
"When we heard the rumor that there was a student who committed suicide here three years ago, the six of us went here to have a Test of Courage, when we enter, the door abruptly closed by itself, and Hashimoto-san tried to opened it, but it was locked. So we decided to go on with the test." Shiba paused, she hesitated to continue.
"What happened when you continue your test?" Naru asked impatiently
"The bookshelves starting to rattled, but there's no wind." Eri nervously stated, "And then when all of us we're on this floor, the bookshelves fell down, but fortunately, Hashimoto-san called us to watch out, that's how we avoided it." Mai, who's standing beside Gene, snorted softly at their statements.
"What's with that reaction?" Gene whispered to her
"There are no ghosts here." She answered, whispering too. Gene stared at her "You're a medium?" he asked, well, she stayed silent, she didn't deny it, but she didn't confirm it either. Naru stood up, denoting that he's already done with the interview, five of her classmates went back already, but Hashimoto-san choose to stay.
She took a deep breath "I can sense a strong spirit, not just one, but a lot. It's dangerous, you will need my help on this case, and I'm very much willing to help." She said out of the blue, smiling at Naru, who only raised his eyebrow listening to her statement; the others looked at her derisively.
"Stop being so hoity-toity, you're just craving for attention." Ayako affirmed, putting her hands on her hips"You don't have the ability to sense spirits. You just want to stand out from the rest." she blanched for a moment, and then she remember "I was attacked yesterday!" she showed them the bruise around her neck and the others peeked at it listlessly. Yasu tried to touch it, but she instantly brushed off his hand "Don't touch it, it still hurts!" she complained, she pointed at Masako, "I wonder if that girl can really sense a spirit"
"We have two mediums, and they both confirmed it." Naru said, who was reading his notes, Mai was watching the monitor when she called everyone, their eyes widened when they saw the chairs on the first floor moving rapidly, but stopped after a few minutes "Poltergeist" they heard Hashimoto-san uttered.
"No, it's not." Naru objected, he switch the thermograph on, and a color blue light covered around the chair "object caused by poltergeist should be warm, but the chairs isn't radiating any heat." he said confidently, leaving her speechless, he looked at his team "What do you think about it Bou-san?" he asked.
"I think its jibakurei*." He answered.
He looked at John "What about you John?"
John shook his head "I still don't have an idea. It's hard to tell, since our mediums already confirmed it." he said honestly
"There are! I can sense them!" Hashimoto-san still insisted her claim, Mai sighed "But they already confirmed it." She said at her classmate.
"Fine, I will look around again." Masako said, and went down to the first floor
"Me too." Gene said too, and start walking from where he was, he walk every corner, and concentrating his self.
"What about you Matsuzaki-san? What do you think about it?" Naru asked her.
She flipped her hair "Same as what that idiot monk said, its jibakurei."
"Hey! Don't copy my answer; are you really that useless old hag, that you would copy mine?" Bou-san whined, he received three thwacks from Ayako, "Why would I copy your answer idiot monk? You don't have an amazing brain to begin with." She whined back, and they started their useless bickering again, Madoka and Yasu just chuckled at the two.
Naru stared at Mai who's laughing, she's a psychic, he can feel it, and then an idea came into him.
"What about you Mai? What's your idea from the activity earlier?" he asked her, same as how he asked his employees.
She shrugged "I told you earlier when I got here, I don't sense any spirits too."
She took the bait, Naru resists his urged to grinned "You don't sense any spirits too, then I claim that you're also a medium?" he asked, he was surprised when she nodded, the others who are listening too, and the two stopped of a moment, but they start bickering – again.
"I am. But if I were you, you should investigate it on another angle." She answered confidently, the two fully stopped at their meaningless and useless argument and stare at her, the others stopped from whatever they are doing and stare at her too, amused on how confident she was on her answer, Naru caught her off guard, they all thought, but it seems, she wasn't aware of it… yet.
Naru continue to asked normally "Hm. In another angle, you say? Like what?" the two mediums joined them quietly, Mai was staring at the ceiling, "Like, ground subsidence for example. According to the history of this place, there is a part of this land that was formerly a swamp, but it was not stated specifically where. And I think, it's here, where this building was built." They all went silent, but before Mai would noticed the silence.
Naru asked her again "If it's a swamp, how come they managed to build a huge building?" he's not stupid, he know how, but he want to see how she will answer him.
"I'll bet they used an aquifer, you should check if the wells in the nearby area dried up, if it was then the land subsides, it will leave a cavity on the ground, which naturally, will affect the building above." She explained, she narrowed her eyes when she noticed a huge damage on the ceiling, this building will collapse soon, she thought. When she noticed that everyone is silent, she looked at them, they are gaping at her from amusement, her eyes widened upon remembering what she just said earlier.
She shot a glare at Naru, he's writing on his notes "Ground subsidence huh, I'll take your advice Mai, I'll let Madoka investigate the land, and Yasu to check the nearby wells." He looked at her "And next time, you should not let your guard down that easily." He smirked at her, as he close his notes, she heard the others giggled.
She felt her blood boiled "YOU JERK!" she squeaked and gave him her strongest punch, when she saw he stumbled on the floor, she ran outside the building. She called a taxi, and went home. That narcissistic jerk! He did that on purpose, and he's enjoying it! Dammit, Mai, what now?! Worriedly asking herself. She's hundred-percent sure that he will try to find her; he might ask their school president, or at the diner where she works, or worst, he will investigate about her! She slump her body onto her bed, and groaned from frustration. Running away from him might give her more trouble, she decided to face him tomorrow she sighed, tomorrow will be a long day! And she got a feeling that something might happen.
[A/N]
*is a ghost of a person who committed suicide