Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt.

"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."

VII-Truth

Lin mumbled something in his sleep. His eyes were half open while he managed to keep a close look around. Wrapping the blanket tightly around him, he cursed the snow that had managed to make him shiver. Swaying back and forth purposely, Lin tried his best to stay awake. Suddenly a sensation on his shoulder, his neck twisted in a flash and his eyes, bloodshot. He calmed down immediately to see that it was only John. Apologizing profusely, John sat beside Lin. Calming himself down, he suddenly felt a great relief to have a companion awake and beside him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get you worked up." He mumbled.

"Hm." Lin nodded.

"It must be tough to stay awake alone." Lin confirmed to that too, embarrassed. John chuckled and wrapped his blanket tightly around him. Before he knew, his teeth were clattering. "What is this, Antarctica?"

"We aren't wearing heavy clothes, probably because of that." Lin began. "Plus, the forest is always cool."

"Get a grip you two." Bou-san muttered, alarming the two of them. "It ain't that cold either."

"That's because you're wearing a jacket." John commented enviously.

"Oh, maybe you're right. Wanna share the jacket?" He asked grinning. Lin remained taciturn, probably a little disgusted by his words while John openly declared his thoughts by blushing violently.

"Control yourself." Ayako voiced, startling the other three. Slowly getting up, she coughed. "Perverted monk. I thought you were just a lolicon. Now see, your true colors are showing." Bou-san laughed loudly, waking up almost everyone who had managed to sleep peacefully. Masako was the first one to blink open her eyes. She fumbled uneasily to adjust her clothes and then looked up at them, covering her lain body with the whole of blanket. Ayako chuckled as the medium blushed.

"You were sleeping just fine." She confirmed. The faint tinge on her face grew darker.

"What the heck? Is it morning? Am I in Norway? Why the hell is it so dark then?" Mai complained sleepily. She mumbled a few more words before dropping dead once again. Ayako crawled towards the brunette and stroked her hair playfully. Muttering an expression of satisfaction, Mai inched closer to Ayako.

"It seems like we are here for a picnic." Bou-san commented.

"No, we aren't." Naru's deep voice was the next in line to startle everybody. He got up swiftly, brushed off the snow on his blanket and stared at them with his shining blue eyes. Ayako gulped. He seemed pretty annoyed at the commotion that they were causing. Bou-san smiled cheerfully at him.

"You all seem awfully relaxed." He muttered.

"Well, we are not exactly relaxed, but we're fine." Ayako replied.

"And why is that?" He asked.

"Because we've been through a lot and we'll get out of this situation too." The answer seemed to satisfy everyone. Mai managed to sleep even while everyone continued chatting pleasantly. She groaned now and then but she would eventually manage to go back to sleep. Rotating in a clockwise motion, she kicked her legs with no warning, sometimes which hit Ayako in her stomach or thighs, much to her annoyance. Looking up at the sky, Ayako sighed. She exchanged glances with Bou-san at times and blushed slightly. Her eyes managed to float to a certain Chinese man made of sturdy wood.

"Hey, Lin. Aren't you scared?" Ayako asked.

"..." He remained silent and glanced at her with a cold look in his eyes.

"No need to glare, I'll take that as a no." She laughed. Bou-san chuckled.

"We seem to be quite in a situation." John mumbled unhappily. "It feels like an unsolved mystery."

"Unsolved mystery." Ayako repeated emphatically and blew the bangs off her face.

"No, it's damnable but not unsolvable." Bou-san laughed.

"God! We were being serious here for a moment!" She complained. Her shout woke up Mai once again but she dozed off peacefully on receiving a few pats from Ayako. Masako looked at Ayako and smiled.

"It's time that we actually get out of here." Masako voiced, shakily. Her voice seemed to die out on her. She buried her face in her hands and sat there thinking. Bou-san comfortably squatted on the snow-laden floor. Moving uncomfortably, John finally stood up. Lin remained sitting on the rock that he had reserved for himself.

"Yeah, it's high time." Ayako spoke wearily. Her hands were shivering. She consoled herself, thinking that it was just the chill of the weather, but she knew better. Something in her heart had started to brew, she knew what it was. Fear. She was beginning to fear everything. "I want to go home or at least, return to the lodge."

"Hn." Lin agreed sympathetically.

The conversation had ended up in silence. Broken thoughts floated in everybody's mind. The atmosphere was getting heavier. The distorted trees hanging above their shoulders intensified their fear. Masako kept her face buried in her hands. Ayako consoled her by patting on her head. Bou-san sighed and prepared to sleep once again. His eyes towards the dark sky, his back against the snow, he lay on his back tiredly. It was as if he had given up on the conversation. Suddenly, Naru cleared his throat.

"What is it, Naru-chan?" Bou-san asked.

"Wake Mai up." He ordered. Ayako shook the girl slowly and called out her name. Mai slowly stirred and came back to reality.

"Why?"

"It's almost morning and since we all are awake, it's the best time to discuss a few things of importance." He replied.

"What is it?" She asked. Her eyes immediately met with those of Naru, who stood tall in front of her with a notepad in his hand. Grasping the situation, she nodded at him. "Oh."

"I would like to go over the facts and discuss somethings with you all." Naru began. Noticing that all eyes were on him, he continued with his eloquence. "To begin with, I hope you all have the facts still fresh in your mind. First, Hara-san introduces me to this case. I take it up and we meet up with Nakazawa Seiko, our client. She tells us a story of the lodge being haunted."

"Mm-hm." Bou-san encouraged Naru.

"We reach the lodge to investigate, Mai notices a signboard at the entrance of the forest which has a few pleas on it, asking troubled people to not suicide."

"Yeah, what has that got to do with this?" Mai asked.

"We meet Nakazawa Keisuke, the owner of the lodge. There are two other people residing with him in the lodge. Yamamoto Ken and Matsuda Ryuu." Ignoring Mai's question, Naru started off. "Now, there seems to be some kind of tension between Matsuda-san and Nakazawa-san which seemed to intensify while we were lunching together."

"Go on." Ayako muttered.

"The important part starts here." Noticing all ears perked up, Naru continued with an air of importance. "Nakazawa-san trips on the staircase. I met him in the hospital and her clearly told me that he had tripped. It was probably a moment of confusion where we all believed it to be an accident. But there is more to it. I noticed something very curious. I found a piece of thread tied to one of the balusters of the staircase. Unfortunately, I found another piece of thread on the opposite baluster."

"You mean-" Bou-san looked at him flabbergasted.

"Yes, it was definitely a planned event. Nakazawa-san was meant to trip on the thread that had been tied across the staircase. Of course, Nakazawa-san survived without much pain but definitely, the staircase fall could have killed him as he could have broken his neck. Another thing that left me amazed was that whoever had tied the thread had plenty of time to remove the remains of threads during the commotion or any time after we dispersed, so that he could have made the murder attempt look like an accident, but he did not. Why?"

"Because he wanted to make it look like a murder attempt." Bou-san answered with fervor.

"Exactly."

"He, you say?" Ayako asked.

"There are only two people in the lodge who could have had the chance, Matsuda Ryuu and Yamamoto Ken. I don't believe that the maids or any of the staff would do this."

"Hn." She mumbled.

"Continuing, there is something that has been bothering me. Mai and I had the chance to witness something very much disturbing. Nakazawa Seiko in arms of Matsuda Ryuu in her room." Naru ended with a pause and a look which expected lots of gasps. Indeed, he received them with much pleasure. "This gives us the reason behind the tension between Matsuda-san and Nakazawa-san."

"Oh my God." Ayako mumbled. "Seiko was cheating on her husband?"

"Well, I do believe that the four had known each other since high school, so there are chances that she might have lingering feelings for Ryuu-san." Mai mumbled uncomfortably.

"Hey, what about the rapping sounds?" Bou-san asked with sudden remembrance.

"Yeah, you told us that it would stop itself. Care for some explanation?" Mai asked with annoyance. Naru let out an inaudible chuckle.

"You will know that soon enough. But we need to return to the lodge." He answered curtly, successfully creating an atmosphere of excitement amongst his co-workers.

"Damn you!" Bou-san hollered childishly.

"Before returning, I suppose we'll have to look for Keisuke's dead body." Ayako groaned. Her comment incited fear in everyone.

"But we're lost, aren't we?" Mai commented.

"Not exactly." Naru answered. "Lin, I suppose you do have the booklet that I had given to you earlier?" Lin nodded.

"What booklet?" Bou-san queried.

"A map." He announced. Another set of gasps entertained Naru. He smirked. "I'm always prepared."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ayako screamed, completely red with anger.

"We would have had to camp here anyway." He answered indifferently.

"Then why did you tell us that we were lost!" She screamed even louder.

"We are." He replied coldly. "We just have to figure things out."

Lin handed him the booklet and Naru spread it out on the rock that Lin had been previously sitting on. Taking out a compass in his hand, he dropped it gently beside the map. Looking at his surroundings now and then, he narrowed his eyes at each detail. Muttering a few things, he let out a sigh. He tapped his fingers on the map and surveyed the area closely. Making a few silent comments to Lin, he grabbed hold of a pencil and circled on an area in the map.

"You know Naru-chan, they say that the compass doesn't work in Aokigahara because of the huge magnetic rocks present here." Bou-san smiled smugly.

"Sure. It's all bunkum." He replied. "My compass seems to be working just fine."

"Maybe it's special!" Bou-san laughed. Looking at Bou-san indifferently, Naru shook his head.

"We're here." He pointed at a certain place on the map. "We're still within five kilometers of the forest. Most people suicide within the first kilometer. We'll have to head back south before we can hope of making any discoveries."

"How sure are you?" John asked. Naru looked at him, a smirk on his face.

"Need I tell you?" He asked with an air of pride. John looked surprised before he gave Naru a confident smile.

"Hey! Wait up! I thought you gave us this long explanation to show that maybe Nakazawa was murdered! Shouldn't we be going more interior?" Bou-san asked.

"I do believe that he was murdered." Naru began. "But to make it more natural, the murderer must have hanged him on a tree within the radius of a kilometer."

"How do you know that he was probably hanged by someone?" Ayako asked.

"Mai's dream." He answered.

His reply was short, but it made the necessary impact. The others remained silent and pondered over everything that Naru had revealed to them. The chance of his theory being correct was more and they had no choice but to believe in their boss. Mai blushed faintly as Naru mentioned her. Cupping her chin in her palm while her elbows rested on her thighs, Mai sat there looking at everyone as they nodded at Naru. He then ordered them to pick up their bags and head for south. Mai picked up Ayako's handbag and handed it over to her. Bou-san and John assembled all the blankets together and stuffed them back in a bag. Masako looked around for any remnants and then signaled that everything was picked up.

All eyes on the sky, they noticed the small broken up clouds in the sky being illuminated by the rising sun. The sun had scattered much of it's light rays and had colored the sky a bright orange-red. Adjusting her boots, Mai looked at Naru as he pondered over the map in his hand. Lin looked at Mai and smiled understandingly to which she couldn't help but blush. Spurning around swiftly, she walked along with Ayako and John as they spoke about the possibilities of Keisuke not being found in the forest at all to which Mai replied surely that he was in the forest somewhere.

"I would recognize that tree anywhere!" Mai claimed haughtily. Ayako and John nodded, agreeing to her claim and then turned over to Masako to ask for her opinion. The pack was led by Bou-san and Naru while Lin remained at the back as a protective measure. Talking merrily while walking for a few hours, they ended up taking the situation rather lightly. Stopping at a point, Naru pointed to a mark on a tree. He nodded at Lin as they discussed something.

"We're probably nearing the entrance of the forest." He muttered. "Stay close."

Walking another few meters, the place suddenly become familiar to everyone. Mai pointed towards a signboard as it came into their view. Naru nodded at her comment and then checked the surroundings. Finally, he looked at everyone.

"The entrance is just a few more steps away. Matsuzaki-san, John and Hara-san can return back to the lodge. Mai, Bou-san, Lin and I will be traveling to the area where most bodies are found." Naru declared.

"Why do you always get the fun part?" Ayako complained.

"That is because we need to have somebody inform Seiko that we are fine." Naru mumbled. "Plus, it will be hard to manage if there a lot of people. I don't want us to get lost again."

"Yeah, we'll go back." She agreed.

...

Several minutes later, Masako, John and Ayako made it out of the forest. Ayako let out a sigh of relief and dropped down on her knees while John took her by her arms and got her up. The lodge was just a few more steps away but Ayako remained stubborn that they should rest for a while. Masako grinned at her and flopped down on the snow-laden ground as well. John sighed, but before he could walked to the lodge, Ayako pulled him down by his hand and he was forcefully made to sit down.

"We'll make it." She said. "We don't need to hurry."

"We were just for a day in the forest." Masako muttered with irony, which went unnoticed by Ayako. "Tired already?"

"Yeah." She replied. "Good thing, Naru brought a map along with him. I hope they'll be fine."

After a few minutes of chatting while they sat on the snow, Ayako gradually rose to her feet and then they all headed to the lodge. To their surprise before they could push the door themselves, it flung open by itself and a teary Seiko was there to greet them. She took them in hurriedly while Ayako complained that she was famished. Entering the dining room, she made them sit comfortably and got the cook to prepare some food.

After all the commotion and eating that took place, finally Ayako made it up to Seiko's room with Masako. John requested that he didn't want to break the news to her, so he was allowed to go back to his room. Ayako slowly knocked on Seiko's door. A 'yes' came through the door. She nodded at Masako before entering the room.

"Hello, Seiko-san." Masako greeted. She smiled at her. Masako returned the smile.

"Is there something that you need?" She asked.

"Well, er- there is something that we must tell you." And that was all the maid passing by the room heard before she heard loud wails from the room. As she glanced over her shoulder, she saw one of their guests leave the room as the loud crying sounds continued. Her face remorse-stricken, the maid concluded that something bad had happened.

...

Sitting on a chair in the verandah, Ayako slowly breathed in heavily. Her eyes were fixed at the entrance of the forest. It was almost dusk and there was still no sign of Naru and the others. While thinking of all possibilities, her mind slowly wandered away to what Naru had said. It was almost impossible that Seiko would feel so much of pain on losing her husband, after all, she was cheating on him. Unless she was a great actress, such an exhibition of grief wasn't an easy task. To her, Seiko's grief seemed genuine but she had to believe in all possibilities.

"Darn." She muttered under her breath. Everything that they were after was connected with either the forest, or the tangled mess of relations that she herself has been a witness to. Not much to the forest, but it's presence seemed to be there and she had no choice but to feel it's eeriness.

Ayako squinted her eyes when she noticed unclear figures following the pathway to the entrance of the forest. She finally got up from the chair and waved heartily. A big pleasant smile was plastered on her face as she saw Naru and the others clearly but her face soon turned grave when she noticed the look on their faces.

As they inched closer, Ayako mumbled rather unhappily, "I suppose you found the body?"

Immediately the brunette engulfed her in a hug. Ayako placed her arms on her back and felt the girl shivering. Within a minute, everything was more than clear to her. Mai's state was more than enough to confirm the ugly truth.

"K-Keisuke-san - He's d-dead..." Mai clamped Ayako's shirt in her palms and sobbed painfully. Ayako patted the young girl on her head before letting go of her slowly. By that time, Masako and John had also managed to come down to the verandah. She proposed to take Mai away and Ayako agreed. After Mai and Masako had left, Ayako folded her arms across her chest.

"Where's the body?" She asked.

"Still in the forest." Bou-san muttered.

"Why?"

"Well, this is a police case! We shouldn't be moving the body around!" He exclaimed unhappily.

"Yeah...Seiko is completely broken." Ayako mumbled. "I guess you were wrong about her cheating on Keisuke-san."

"Yet to be proved." Naru said with an air of indifference. "I need to talk to her."

"You-!" She began angrily. "You're going to torture her!"

"She will talk herself." He said. "I need not push her."

"No! Don't!" Ayako cried.

"Lin, contact the police." Naru disappeared into the lodge and headed towards Seiko's room.

A/N: Sorry, I've been a bit lethargic with my fanfic. Things aren't progressing at all and now I'm utterly confused as to where to take this plot but I've a faint idea. I'm not giving up either, so please wait patiently while I make amends and do review! It feels nice to get reviewed, you know! Nearing the end! *Does happy dance* Thanks Jacques, Dunhaveaname! :D