Chapter 5 Show and Tell All
"Welcome, I am Dean Miaken! Now I'm pretty sure my associates have many questions, but I have to let Detective Otto take over." The woman was in a lab coat with brown silver streaked hair and was quite lanky. She sounded like the voice giving them permission to land, and was highly disappointed not to have more time with them.
"Thank you Dean Miaken." said the younger detective, he turned a board behind him and Miaken around to reveal his work in tracing the recent crimes, taking pudgy fingers and pointing to a list, then moved to other items including the previous class photo. "Here is what was stolen and where. Mostly bits and pieces that were sentimental and wouldn't sell. No signs of breaking and entering and a glowing goo found where the items were."
Miaken pointed to a photo of her findings under a microscope. "Here is a close up of the subject under a microscope. We found the substance where the children are seen and mostly around the school's greenhouse too. Now tell us, were they aliens, or space creatures?!" Miaken was getting more and more thrilled by the promise of life in space and other dimensions to the point of having Otto do some deep breathing exercises to calm her down.
"Actually, it seems like ectoplasm." Nikki said.
"What's that?" Haku asked. Whatever it was he knew he had to protect Zabuza, especially since he didn't have his weapon. Haku was lucky, he keeps senbon concealed on his person at all times, but even those were running low. No throwing or long distance combat for him.
"Remnants of when ghosts manifest. Ghost like this usually show up because of unfinished business, completing it should help." Nikki continued.
"How do we do that séance?" Otto suggested. Even Haku and Zabuza knew it was a bad idea. While they weren't ghost hunters, Zabuza insisted on watching horror movies to gain knowledge of how to stalk prey and use their environment to their advantage. Not to mention maybe desensitize Haku to violence. Haku liked to watch horror to serve Zabuza and because he enjoyed the mystery, intensity, and effects on the psyche. In those moments it was almost like a family film night.
"No way, that'll invite more, possibly deadly ghosts. We need to find how this connected to their lives and somehow solve what's keeping them from resting in peace." Nikki explained. "Have you been able to find any personal info about these kids?"
"That they disappeared February 8th years ago, used to have a memorial every year, then one by one their families moved. I brought their yearbook and there's microfiche in the library. Let me know when you're ready to go."
"Thanks" Haku and Nikki said in unison. Nikki moved closer to Haku so they could look at the yearbook.
Zabuza decided to take notes while Haku and Nikki tried to do research. They kept feeling watched and found a group including the dean staring a bit too close. Nikki didn't like their stares, sometimes going to a new dimension went well but this may not be the case.
"We have so many questions! What's it like in your dimension?! How is your body different?! Is that one next to you a male or female?!" Said another professor. His enthusiasm was almost too much. Another student in the group of thirteen even asked if Haku was both genders.
"I'm male." Haku added trying to hide how much the question irked him. Boy, he felt didn't match his age but man still felt a bit premature.
"Just think of us as out of towners, we're humans like you." Nikkia replied, her tone was gentle but firm enough to hint that they were busy. Zabuza thought she talked too much and was a bit of a know-it-all, possibly more of a hindrance in fights especially since he had a kunai instead of his sword. As annoying as someone like this may be, they're good for figuring out what to do and secrets to use as leverage. He'll hopefully guide Haku to have the girl wrapped around his painted fingers.
"Did you find anything, Haku?" Zabuza asked, he hoped that only addressing him would give their chatty friend a hint.
"We figured out the missing possessions were in some way related to the missing children's passions and that maybe that's why they were taken. To replace something." Haku replied. Zabuza wasn't liking this, Haku had keen eyes on his own and now he was relying in this little overdressed girl for way too much, he already was soft enough. He looked to over to see the little pest was blabbing to Otto their guesses, showing notes too. Suddenly there was a call on Otto's radio, five of the children were spotted outside the church.