Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt.
"A stepping-stone can be a stumbling block if we can't see it until after tripping over it."
III-Tripping
Mai began her busy day with a brunch. She walked quietly along the corridors to reach the entrance of the dining room. It was eerily quiet except for a clock ticking slowly at some distance. Mai flushed as she saw no one in the room. Her eyes immediately fell on the dining table. It had been wiped clean with no trace of food on it.
Sighing, she slammed her palm on the table dejectedly. She couldn't believe that she had overslept during a case. Naru was going to kill her and she was going to kill Ayako, for not waking her up on time. Slow footsteps heading into the room startled Mai. She turned hurriedly to face a person whom she recognized as Yamamoto Ken. He eyed her tiredly, evident that he hadn't slept quite well.
"Overslept?" He asked with his lips curved in a sheepish smile. Mai nodded, blushingly.
"Yes." She said. "You too?"
"Yeah." He affirmed as his eyes traveled to the the table. "Couldn't get much sleep yesterday night. I'll go look for Ba-chi. Maybe she can mend something for us to eat."
"Ba-chi?" Mai asked. He grinned.
"She's the cook. Quite old but still working at her age, we call her Ba-chi since she's a newcomer to work at this lodge." He said and headed for the exit that lead to the corridor. "You wait here, I'll be back in a flash."
"Sure!" Mai answered cheerfully. "Thanks!"
Several minutes had passed when he came back with two plates clasped in both of his hands carefully, so as to not spill anything. He placed the two plates on the table gently. He smiled at her.
"Eat up!" He said. She nodded and looked at the plate filled with a bowl of rice, small amount of grilled fish, a few pieces of nori, tamagoyaki and a small dish containing pickled vegetables. They grinned at each other before clasping respective chopsticks in their hands.
"Itadakimasu!" They chorused cheerfully.
...
Mai trotted back to the base with a guilty look on her face. She slowly pushed open the door and entered the base. Much to her inconvenience, all eyes fell on her and a few giggles escaped the lips of Bou-san and Ayako. She glared at Ayako, who quickly shifted her glance to the ceiling, trying to pretend that she had done nothing wrong. Bou-san did the same. Masako hid her smile with her Kimono sleeve, while John smiled at her sympathetically. Lin decided to ignore the oncoming commotion and Naru stared at her, waiting for an explanation.
"Uh..." She fidgeted. "I-I overslept a bit." Her fingers in a fidgeting stance, she looked at Naru hoping that he wasn't glaring at her.
"So?" He asked. Mai bit her lips uneasily.
"Ayako didn't wake me up." She blamed Ayako.
"So?" He asked once again.
"Uh...Nothing." Mai answered. He sighed.
"Then get to work. Now."
A few giggles, a few snorts, a chilling glare and then an awkward silence.
...
"It was all your fault!" Mai screamed. She bent down to look at the reading the EMF detector showed and jotted it down in a notebook. "All your fault!"
"Don't blame it on me." Ayako retorted. "You were the one to oversleep."
"Well, you could have woken me up!" She hollered and threw her hands up in the air dramatically.
"It's an impossible task." Ayako muttered. Bou-san snorted as he checked the video cameras and adjusted them accordingly. All eyes on him, he looked at them, innocently.
"What?" He cried.
Bou-san, Ayako and Mai had teamed up for the usual 'set up cameras and check temperature' rounds. Masako and John had gone together for their usual 'spirit sensing' rounds while Naru and Lin, as usual, sat in the base as Naru ordered his subordinates around mercilessly while he just went through a bunch of useful papers stacked up in a file by his assistant.
Mai sighed as she picked up a dysfunctional camera. She clasped it carefully in her hands and looked at it with scrutiny. Tapped at it a few times before she noticed a dent on the back of the camera. She kept the stand holding the camera slowly down and dismantled the video camera from it. Again looking at it from different angles, Mai scrunched it in her hands irritatedly.m
"Mai-" Ayako began only to be successfully cut off by Mai.
"What's wrong with this piece of junk!" Mai muttered. "Should we take it to Naru?"
"That 'piece of junk' is worth millions of yen." Bou-san said mockingly. "It's better if we hand it over to Naru-chan. Who's room is this?" Mai handed over the video camera to Bou-san.
"I think, this is probably Keisuke-san's room." Mai informed.
"We should probably get this thing replaced soon. Most of the supernatural incidents occurred here after all." He nodded at Mai as he carefully took the video camera from her hand and headed out for the base.
...
"What's wrong with it?" Bou-san asked curiously. Naru examined the camera in his hand and slowly put it down on the desk. Lin nodded at Naru after checking a few things that he had ordered him to do. Naru slowly relaxed his back on the chair and looked at a curious Bou-san.
"The Lens and CCD compartment have been damaged from the outside." He said slowly.
"What's a CCD?" Bou-san questioned.
"Charge-Coupled Device. It's the image sensor of the camera." Naru explained. "Probably, the footage has all been deleted." Bou-san glanced at Lin who nodded.
"The footage's deleted. I checked." Lin said before turning back to the monitors.
"What do you mean?" He asked, suddenly a bit more interested than earlier. He took a seat opposite to Naru and looked at the camera on the table. "Do you mean that a spirit did this?" Naru shook his head.
"No. It was deliberately done by a human. The CD was probably removed from it and all the footage was deleted from it." He said thoughtfully as he looked at the camera.
"What do you base it on?" Bou-san asked. He once again shook his head.
"It's just a suspicion." He muttered. "I want to make sure of it."
"But, what do you base it on?" Bou-san urged him to answer. He sighed.
"The first thing you do in agitation is to smash the camera against the floor. This way the Lens and the light sensors would have been affected. Then only would you be calm enough to realize that you could simply delete the footage that caught you doing something that would land you in trouble." He explained. Bou-san looked stunned.
"B-But for what reason would someone do that?" He stuttered.
"That is what I plan to find out." Naru said with a whiff of confidence. Lin stepped out of the base with a few more video cameras in his hands and left for the exit of the lodge.
Several minutes after Lin had left, Mai slowly pushed open the door and entered the base. The only two people in the base were a stunned Bou-san and a seemingly confident Naru. Their eyes fell on her as she slowly paced towards his desk.
"Where's Lin-san?" She asked.
"He's gone to set the camera outside the lodge." Bou-san said.
"What for?" Mai inquired.
"No reason." He said. She was a bit confused but she decided to remain quiet.
Mai sat down wearily on the couch. She looked at Naru and Bou-san discussing something interesting. Her eyes momentarily landed on the clock. It was half-past one in the afternoon. They had been working for a long time. Mai massaged her tired shoulders and looked at her boss eying her. She blushed as his eyes quickly paced back to Bou-san. Mai flushed at the reasons behind his ephemeral glance at her that were entering into her mind. She shook her head vigorously and slapped her cheeks to bring her back to reality.
"Mai." He called out to her. "Did you set up an infrared camera in Nakazawa-san's room?" Mai sank into the couch and began to reflect on yesterday's events.
"I do think I set one up." Mai said, slightly muddled by the numerous thoughts entering her mind.
"Bou-san, bring it to the base if there is one." He ordered. Bou-san nodded and left for Keisuke's room.
After several minutes of waiting, Bou-san entered the room, flabbergasted. His hands held a small infrared camera that had been smashed to pieces. Mai stared at it, astounded. The lens had been smashed rather badly, loose pieces of glass were hanging from the shattered lens. Bou-san handed it over to Naru.
"So..." That was all Bou-san could say.
"I'm no longer suspicious." Naru declared. "I'm convinced."
...
Mai stared at Bou-san as he completed the explanation of their suspicions to the whole team. It was a curious thing to do and Mai wondered why. Her eyes landed on Ayako, who seemed equally astonished. A similar expression appeared on John, Masako and to her surprise Lin's face. She looked at Bou-san wide eyed as he continued to blabber on about his feelings on this matter.
The whole team had been silenced by the incident that had occurred, but Mai felt the rising excitement in the atmosphere. It was clearly exciting everyone. Sitting on the couch, Mai leaned forward. She placed her elbows on her thighs and cupped her chin in her palms. There was a sudden wave of excitement hitting her. She wondered from when she had become so fearless during cases. Her eyes traveled to Naru, who clearly was himself a little thrilled but he concealed it.
"So, this is all the dirty work of a human?" Ayako asked while rolling her eyes. "If he gets caught, he needs to pay back few millions of yen to Naru."
"Might have also been a lady." Bou-san muttered.
"We are not here to tackle crime, we're here to tackle the supernatural." Ayako reminded. "Does it even matter now? We're not here to make speculations."
"To be frank, it actually does not." Mai said sensibly. "Unless it has something to do with our case, it's no use pondering over it. A maid might have also dropped it while cleaning up."
"Ignorance is no excuse, Mai." Bou-san said eying her. She looked at him and sighed.
"Yes, but we need not waste time on this." She answered. Ayako nodded.
"Mai's right. Let's just get back to work. We had our part of excitement, it's best we keep it aside until it proves out to be important to our case." Masako said as she got up. One by one, each of the team members left, leaving Naru and Lin once again alone in the office. Everyone had gone back to work normally except for Bou-san, who seemed a little glum.
...
It turned out to be quite a normal day for Naru with a few moments of excitement until he received a call from Madoka later in the afternoon.
"Are you Shibuya Kazuya-san?" A meek lady, probably one of the maids, asked an engrossed Naru.
"Yes." He affirmed.
"There's a call for you. You can pick it up at the reception desk." She informed. He nodded and stepped out of the base to attend the call. He reached the reception desk, picked up the receiver and placed it against his ear.
"Hello Naru!" A cheerful voice greeted.
"Madoka?" He asked irritatedly on recognizing the voice. "What did you call for?"
"Naru-chan, did you read today's newspaper?" She asked inquisitively.
"No." He said curtly.
"Well, why didn't you?" She inquired.
"There are no recent newspapers here at the lodge." He answered sharply.
"Then, listen to me carefully. I know you hate publicity but I just wanted to confirm. Did you allow anybody to write an article about your current case?" She asked.
"No." He said slowly. "Why are you asking?"
"Well, there's an article in the newspaper, about Nakazawa Lodge being haunted and the SPR investigating it." She informed. His eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?" He asked suspiciously.
"Someone published an article on it." She began. "There isn't much information in it, but to me it clearly seems like someone did this for publicity. Probably someone from the lodge."
"Thank you Madoka." He expressed his gratitude and slammed the receiver on the phone. The receptionist seemed a little startled as she saw the slightly angry man rush back to the base before returning to make a few calls once again. He once again placed the receiver against his ear and dialed a known number. As soon as the other end picked the call up, Naru immediately began to boss around.
"Yasuhara." He began. "I want you to be at Nakazawa Lodge tomorrow."
"What for boss?" He asked, a little startled at Naru's sudden demand.
"I need you to bring today's newspaper." He said.
"Okay." He acquiesced before inquiring once again. "What do you need it for?"
"I just want to make sure of something." He answered and once again slammed the receiver on the phone, this time a little gently.
...
Mai and the others slowly returned back to the base after toiling for the whole day. Mai sighed as she sat on the couch and looked at a confounded Naru. His eyes narrowed, his face had a blank look. There was something that had been evidently troubling him, but Mai decided to remain silent in case if she were to incur his wrath.
"What's wrong Naru?" Masako decided to break the silence. He slowly shifted his vision from the blank wall to her. He shook his head and parted his mouth to speak.
"Are you all done?" He asked. They nodded simultaneously to his inquiry.
"Yeah-" Bou-san was cut off by a spine chilling hoarse scream. It was definitely a man's voice. The team seemed startled and immovable for a moment before Bou-san got up, slammed open the door and rushed out of the base in the direction of the scream. Mai and the others followed him behind, silently rushing towards the source of the scream, perplexed by the sudden commotion.
Mai's heart sank as she saw Keisuke lying on the wooden floor next to the staircase, right next to the the dining room. She eyed Bou-san who immediately fell on his knees and began shaking him violently.
"You stupid monk! Stop it!" Ayako screamed. "He might have fractured a few bones! Stop moving him you idiot!" Bou-san stopped immediately. His eyes seemed void of feelings but surely, fear was creeping into them. Ayako sat next to Bou-san and kept her fingers on a spot on the back of his neck. Hearing a continuous pulse, she sighed, relieved.
"He's alive." She informed. Mai released the breath that she had been holding in for a long time. "He's fine, just unconscious with probably a few broken bones."
Naru looked at Lin and nodded. The receptionist, all the servants and attendants came rushing in, clearly distraught.
"Oh my god!" A woman whispered. "Is he dead?"
"No." Naru informed coolly, hiding his irritation.
"Oh!" The woman whispered and looked at her co-workers.
"Call an ambulance." Lin ordered. The lady ran to the reception desk and dialed 119 shakily. An hour later, Keisuke had been moved to the hospital, everything had been resolved, except for a pounding headache that affected Naru.
...
'The first thing you do in agitation is to smash the camera against the floor. This way the Lens and the light sensors would have been affected. Then only would you be calm enough to realize that you could simply delete the footage that caught you doing something that would land you in trouble.'
His own words resonated in his ear. He shook his head slightly and shifted his vision back to the printed text. Soon all the content on the paper was nothing but a blur to him. He had lost himself in a sea of thoughts. He picked up a pencil between his fingers and played around with it until he felt irritated and dropped it on the desk. He definitely had a speculation of his own but he was still far away from convincing himself. Naru looked at the clock, it ticked slowly and nothing seemed to be interesting him. Hiding his head in his hands, he sighed. He was stuck somewhere and he just needed something to make him realize a way out of it.
"Staircase..." He whispered to himself.
Naru soon steeped out of his temporary den, the base. His eyes wandered around searching for some clue. He sauntered along the corridor and finally reached the staircase. He looked at the entrance of the dining room and the lounge, a little farther away and a small view of what seemed like the reception desk. The lodge itself was quite small. The huge entrance of the lodge lead to what seemed like a huge hall divided into a small extension for the reception desk, a huge lounge and a little farther, the dining room. The corridor seemed to be in the interior of this huge space which lead to all the rooms, a staircase had been constructed in the center of the hall which lead to the upper floors having more rooms.
"Quite congested." He commented.
He moseyed towards the staircase and mounted it slowly and cautiously. His eyes on the steps, his hand on the handrail, he slowly bent over the last stair. His interest shot up as his eyes caught the view of something that would be more than enough to prove his theory to himself. A chuckle escaped his lips as his eyes shifted from one end of the stair to the other.
"It's more than just an accident."
...
That evening, Naru had laid down plans for himself, the first one was to make a call to Madoka, which he did quite simply without much hassle. The second one was to visit the hospital Keisuke was admitted to.
A little faraway from the lodge, Fujikawaguchiko Hospital stood tall in front of him. Lin had driven him up to the hospital, after which Naru negotiated that he wanted to do the job himself. His eyes slowly wandered from the outside to the entrance of the hospital as he stepped forward to enter the hospital. A pleasant lady stood at the reception desk who greeted him amiably. Naru made his way to the reception desk slowly.
"Nakazawa Keisuke." He named his client. "He was admitted in the afternoon, unconscious."
The lady nodded at his words and swiftly turned a few pages of the register and looked at him over the counter smilingly.
"He's in room 305." She said. Naru nodded and let without much to say. He chose to use the elevator instead of the stairs and in a few minutes he was in front of room 305. The usual dull gray doors of the hospital and a numberplate hung on the wall adjacent to the door. Naru knocked on the door slowly and entered the room on hearing a grunt of approval.
His eyes collided with the glum, black eyes of the doctor. The bespectacled man looked at him with scrutiny.
"Relative?" He asked.
"No. He's my client." Naru said. The doctor nodded. "If you don't mind, it's work related."
"Nothing wrong with him. He'll be discharged tomorrow. Quite a lucky man to not have fractured his bones after such a fall." The doctor muttered. "Take your time."
Naru sat on a chair beside Keisuke, who had been comfortably laid on the bed, a blanket covering him completely up to the chest region. His weak eyes landed on Naru before he took a fancy once more to the ceiling.
"Nakazawa-san." Naru began. "I need to ask you just a single question."
"What is it?" He asked, still staring at the ceiling.
"Did someone push you from behind?" Naru asked simply. A few moments later, Keisuke turned his head to look at Naru. His eyes were filled with an emotion which Naru was quite accustomed to. Slowly his eyes diverted back to the ceiling, staring at them lifelessly. His lips parted slowly and he closed his eyes.
"I tripped."
...
Naru returned when the clock struck eleven. By the time he had returned, everyone had retired for the day much to his annoyance. He was more than just pleased with himself. He knew that he had accomplished what he had headed out for and that he had more than ample time to rethink his theory, to make it flawless. There was just two more things he needed, Yasuhara and his newspapers, and he was sure that they would arrive tomorrow without fail. All he needed next was a call from Madoka.
"Deception..." He mumbled as his eyes wandered back to the ceiling. All he needed was some rest and then start working again. "Nakazawa Keisuke..."
He muttered a few more senseless things before falling asleep in the chair itself.
...
Her head spinning badly, she found herself tripping. Tripping slowly on the pathway to nowhere. She knew there was something wrong with her but she did not know what. Her eyes half closed as she trotted towards what seemed like a noose. That is when she felt a pressure being exerted on her shoulder, she slowly turned to look at a blurred face which was fairly recognizable, yet she couldn't remember who. Hey eyes weary, she suddenly came to a stop. Her eyes on the person who slowly elevated her on a wooden stool. She obeyed helplessly.
Her eyes now on the noose in front of her, she realized what she was going to do. She resisted, unable to break free from the tight grip of the strong pair of hands. She screamed, muffled by a rough hand covering her mouth. Slowly she lost control over herself and the silhouette tied the noose around her neck. She cried silently. A few seconds later, a hard push on her back ended it all for, her legs dangled and her hands on the rope, struggling to break free but not effective. A few seconds of struggle and her neck broke, leaving her body limp.
A startling scream resonated in the whole lodge.
A/N: Thanks for reading and for leaving lovely reviews behind. A very exciting chapter for me to write, hope you enjoyed. Please review. A sort of cliffhanger for you guys. ;] Plenty of transitions in this chapter, I couldn't keep a single scene longer than I intended to, but I tried my best to keep everything clean and easy. I got stuck with the plot but now it's all sorted out. I replied to everyone who reviewed, hope I did. As for anonymous reviews, thanks Hodgeheg. :D
Sorry, I don't know about the professional video cameras Naru uses. Just used anything that struck me. xD This was such a good chapter to write. Next chapter; next Saturday. Till then, keep reading and speculating.