Disclaimer: I do NOT own Ghost Hunt. Wonderful and fantastic genius, Fuyumi Ono-sensei does.

[[HOUSE OF EVERGREEN]]

Episode 7: The History

"Chinami Amamiya, 17, eloped with her lover one day", it read, "and mysteriously vanished afterwards."

That's the woman! I think. But somehow, my mouth doesn't open. Luckily, Masako is standing beside me, so I tap on her shoulder lightly, and point at the photo. She trembles lightly as she also sees the photo.

"That's the spirit… in this house."

I stare at her, and she nods, confirming my suspicion. Ayako approaches towards us – she heard everything. Ayako asks Yasuhara-san for the document, and also reads it.

"Are you sure?"

She asks with a small frown of curiosity on her face. With those words, she puts down the document on the desk gently. Masako nods once more, her face full of assurance.

"Yes."

"Then why is she here? She eloped, right?"

Eloped… With whom? Asking myself that question, I suddenly remember these words: "And that's when he and she met for the first time."

He…? Who's he? Maybe… China-san's lover? China-san? Why am I calling her that? Hang on, where did I hear all these words?

Just then, Ayako's words with accompanied with a mild sigh distracts me from my thinking.

"What happened to them then?"

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't find any data on it. However,"

Yasuhara-san apologies with a wide grin on his face. Well, it's obviously not a face of a person who is truly apologetic. Very typical of Yasuhara-san, I sigh. He adjusts his glasses with his right index finger swiftly, and begins his reading in a very professional manner.

"I'll summarise the data I gathered. The oldest residents of this land recorded are the Amamiya family, and they first moved to this area sometime between 1700~1750. The family was daimyo*, so they were powerful and rich. It was told that Hoshino Amamiya-dono**, the one who first moved into this area, was a strict, but righteous man. The family statement of Amamiya house was to be "Green always like evergreens", and only evergreens were planted here. This tradition has been kept since then.

The house itself was built this house during Meiji Restoration***. Also, the tradition of burying their dead families and relatives in this graveyard began on 1914. Chinami Amamiya-san was – let me see – born in 1945 and disappeared when she was 17; so in 1962."

"Those are the facts?"

Naru asks. Yasuhara-san replies with a small, and brings out a bigger pile of documents out of nowhere. He's grinning proudly. Where did he get them from?

"Yes. And there is other information too. Hoshino-dono's great-grandson, Senji-dono, was a very short-tempered man, and he punished those who didn't agree with him brutally. It has been told that couple of farmers who had issues with him, mysteriously vanished. No one has heard or seen anything since.

Senji-dono died pretty early, and his son took over the place, just before Meiji era. His son was a prodigal pleasure-seeker. He lavished the family's money upon his pleasure: he drank, he gambled, did merrymaking; and just for his pleasure, he built this fancy Victorian house to show off his background. Thanks to the constructors and all the money went into this building, and to this day, this building is still strong. However…"

Yasuhara-san's confident voice trails off. Naru lifts his eyes and fixes his gaze on him. I can read his eyes, asking for the next part.

"I think this family is very tight-lipped. Because there are absolutely no primary sources available to support this idea. None whatsoever. And most of these information about the lords' personalities are rumours and gossips from villagers. However, it is true that some of them disappeared, and it also has been noted that Senji-dono taxed them very heavily."

"Tight-lipped…" Naru mumbles under his voice. "That's an interesting word to use."

Ayako rebuts, bringing us back to the point.

"But what about that Chinami woman? Have you got any information about her?"

"Yes. Before she eloped, the family was planning to marry her to the heir of another aristocratic family. She refused it, and tried to elope with her lover. It failed, and according to the maid, she did not appear for 2 or 3 weeks afterwards. Her lover disappeared too. Then the engagement went according to the plan, and that night, the lovers successfully eloped."

Wow… what a story… It's good they escaped right? I smile, but Ayako protests with a sulky voice, repeating "I don't get it; why is she here then?" Here… does she mean this house or this world? I wonder. But Naru leaves the room with the data Yasuhara-san got without answering Ayako's worries.

###

The graveyard, in this bright, hot sunlight, somehow doesn't seem as scary as I thought it was before. It's just a simple graveyard. Masako is asked to locate the spirit here.

"It's one spirit… It holds a very strong grudge… But…"

Her voice becomes lost in the silence of midday. Under the bright white sunlight, her skin seems much paler. She seems confused, troubled.

"I… cannot pinpoint its exact location."

To be continued =]

Comments:

Thanks for waiting – this part took me SO LONG to write! Especially with all the historical background (although not much) I had to research, I just didn't feel like writing! Ugh!

Also, I'm back to school now. I have a 5 minute speech that I just finished writing for the first week back. Sigh… Year 11's sure going to be tough…

So, I might take a long time for each chapter now, apologies for that. But the whole thing has been planned out before, so it's just the matter of writing off! I'll try to update every fortnight!

Words that you might not know:

*Daimyo: powerful territorial lords who ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. It is estimated that there were around 200 daimyos in this [Edo] period.

**Dono/tono: roughly means "lord" or "master". This title is no longer used in daily conversation. The word dono originally meant the residence of the aristocracy. It's often translated as "Lord" or "Lady" in English subtitles, though noble status is not necessarily implied. It is similar to sama, but the former is less formal and often carries undertones of personal affection.

***Meiji Restoration (-Era): a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure at the beginning of Meiji Era (1868 – 1912).

Source: Wikipedia