It was very bright out by the time Mai woke up again, the young woman rubbing her eyes at the light hitting her eyes. Sometime between the night and the morning Naru and Lin had switched places, Naru watching the road as they drove over farmland. Mai had never seen Naru drive before; in fact she didn't even know if he had a Japanese license, but maybe he had gotten it someday she was off from work. The drive continued on bit longer before she managed to pull herself up into a sitting position. She glanced through Lin's window, the man being fast asleep, then Naru's, the back window and looked around the front, only flat land with corn being grown visible.

"How far are we from the town?" Mai asked and Naru glanced at the clock.

"About six hours, we'll be there a little after lunch" He said, the young woman settling back into the seat. She first read some books for school since next week she was going to be having test for colleges. Once bored she doodled on some notebook paper, drawing cupcakes and hello kitty all over the paper. Soon enough though she was staring at the ceiling in boredom, not able to stand reading anymore and her paper was already filled with drawings of cats.

"Reach down in that bag Mai" Naru said, looking over at a black bag that was tucked by Lin's feet, and curiously she pulled it out. Inside was a gaming system, and she looked over at him confused. "I knew you would get bored"

"But stuff like this is expensive Naru" She whined, turning it over in her hands. While she knew Naru was a well-known scientist she didn't like the idea of him spending all this money on her. He had other things to spend whatever amount of money he got on. Like, books, or more black suits.

"Would you rather be bored?" He asked in an almost teasing tone and she huffed, going back and forth on her answer to him. It was obvious it was an expensive thing, the system so light and small. Finally she looked over at him with a pout, showing that he had won and slowly opened it, the toy already having a game in it. The next two hours went by rather quickly after that, the young woman battling bad guys and monsters. They made it to the site they were meeting the gang and she closed it quickly, pushing Naru out of the van so she could hop out. Lin stayed in the van, sleeping for the time being, since he had been driving the entire night. The other two, stretched one outside the car and Mai groaned as her bones cracked.

"When you do think the others will be here?" She asked, turning around to the man who was leaning against the car. He looked down at the watch on his wrist and seemed to think for a moment

"If they left when they were supposed to, an hour or so since they had more people to pick up." He said and with that Mai admired the surroundings. It seemed like they had made this spot for tourist to stop at, with a picnic table set up and a little pond which held some fish. There was a machine to buy fish food and she put in 100 yen to feed the fish. They haply ate the little pellets and swam around with appreciation for the meal, Naru watching her as she giggled at the small fishes. Once done she grabbed one of their blankets setting it on the ground by the pond and started to play her game again, legs waving back and forth. She had defeated a boss by the time the other car showed up and filled out of the car.

"Bou-san!" Mai said with glee, getting up from the blanket to run to the people getting out and jumped on the older man.

"What? I don't get my name shouted?" Ayako huffed and Mai giggled, hugging the woman with glee.

"Nah, it would just sound too strange" She said with a grin and helped them unpack the lunch they had packed and lay blankets on the table. It seemed Masako couldn't come to the case till Thursday since it was such late notice so she with John would drive to the location if Naru needed them. Now she only had Yasu, and she showed off her new little game. The small little character ran around in circles and jumped very cutely, which entertained the man very much

"I wish everyone jumped like that, I believe there would be a lot less war in this world" He said and she grinned, the two then tried to jump like the character. They only ended up looking like jumping rabbits and they were called to lunch. They all ate, with Lin finally up from his nap, though he looked half-awake the entire meal. It seemed a storm had followed them all the way, since it had been raining on the other car but not on them.

"We're lucky it broke up by the time we got down here, this farmland would be flooded" Monk said as he chewed his sandwich.

"Well we could go swimming in this pond with all the fishes if that happened" Yasuhara laughed, seeming to enjoy the idea. Mai stopped chewing her sandwich, remembering last night and the words that had been whispered into her ears since then. Was this part of the case? Then why wasn't she hearing anything else, it seemed somehow she wasn't getting past this part in the case, but maybe soon. Looking she saw that Lin had been watching her and she grinned weakly at him, showing that she was alright. It seemed that everyone had noticed her strange behavior and was watching her.

"Oh the fish would eat our toes right?" Mai laughed, stuffing her sandwich into her mouth. They watched her for a moment longer before going back to their conversations. It seemed everyone was trying to figure out the ghost that they were about to meet. It seemed it wasn't in fact connected to a certain place, so it could be anywhere in the small town. There didn't seem to be much need for cameras so Naru had only packed a few and some other equipment just to track the ghost. Everyone finished off the meals and packed up, saying goodbye as they headed back to their cars. The three got into the car, Naru driving again and set off once again down the country road, the others speeding down the road probably out of excitement to get to the settlement.

"So you've been having dreams right?" Naru asked Mai after a while, the young woman taking off her cardigan due to it getting warmer. They were traveling south, almost to the tip of Japan. Any farther and they would be on their way to Okinawa.

"It's not really dreams," She started pulling out her little game to play with, ", It's words I keep hearing"

"What are they?"

"Let's go swimming" Mai said almost solemnly, feeling a heavy weight to the words. Naru seemed to notice this and didn't ask anymore, the three riding in silence. After a while Mai decided to start up conversation again, talking about school and her friends. Somehow she got around to talking about what they were planning to do after school.

"Yoko said her parents are going to make her run their family business someday, but I think she'll probably just leave and get married to her boyfriend instead. Her brother can run it; he seemed to enjoy working there on the weekends"

"Which one is Yoko?" Naru asked and she laughed

"Yoko is the one with red hair"

"Oh, the one who dyes it"

"Ya and Mimi said she's going to be a lawyer, but I don't think that'll happen. Mimi is too sweet; I think she would break down in the middle of a trial or something if someone shouted too loud. Well, she does have a temper if someone gets her mad enough so she could do ok" She said, watching Naru turn onto other road that seemed to span into nothingness.

"What are you going to do?" Naru asked and she paused for a moment, wondering exactly what she was in fact going to do once high school was done. It was March, and school ended in June. There of course was testing for schools, but sooner or later they would ask what she was going to major in. Her thoughts flashed to what her friends had said, about her marrying Naru. It made her frown for a moment before looking up at the man with a grin.

"Probably just an office lady" She answered, shrugging.

"You're smart enough to get a better degree than that, with your grades you should able to go to any school you want" Naru said she looked down at her hands, Lin's typing on the computer keeping a silent beat to the car. In fact she had been looking at big schools in the country, even out of the country to see what they had to offer. England. Of course, considering tuition she would be able to get close to a free ride from the college down the street. It was a nice place, not too fancy but she could get an average degree from it. After all, Naru would only stick around so long, and she wasn't even sure how much more time they had together. Any day Naru could choose to just pack up and leave, not looking back.

"It would be too expensive to go to schools like that; Yasu has connections with the school down the road. It'll be a good price" The young woman said and looked up to see the town coming into view. She squealed, jumping up and down in her seat with excitement to get out. It seemed Naru had more to say, but seeing that Mai was so excited he dropped the subject and drove the three of them up to the hotel they were going to be staying. Since it wasn't a specific building being haunted the entire city had decided on a hotel they could stay in, a very nice one from the outside at least since this was a tourist town. A woman welcomed them in and her husband helped them move their luggage into the rooms, with it being off season each person got their own room.

"I'm so glad you came sooner than expected, the ghost has been acting up more and more lately" The woman said, everyone sitting down at the lobby table.

"Yes, we have had it visit us last night, so I decided to take things into my own hands" Naru said, and the woman looked shocked. Her husband came in with some tea and Naru talked with the woman for a bit to get some background information on the town. It wasn't a big place of murder, or a disaster, in fact the town was very quiet. She had no idea where the ghost had come from, and seemed very worried about what would happen when tourist season came around, but Naru assured her that the entire thing would be put under wraps. No one would know that the ghost was ever there, and SPR would be out in a few days, no more.

"You think this case will be over in a few days Naru?" Mai asked as they went back to their hotel rooms to settle in.

"I received some information about a drowning a couple years ago. It wasn't a big deal to the locals so they probably didn't remember it" He said, looking outside a window as they paused at the lake the town was built around. With some difficulty a person could see the outlines of another city on the other side. The two stopped for a moment by her bedroom and stood there, watching the waves through another window.

"That would make my dream logical; someone went swimming and drowned-"She mumbled, yet had a frown on her face that didn't manage to get past the young man who was watching her.

"But what?"

"Those words scare, like there was some kind of evil intent to it" Mai sighed, unable to explain. Naru crossed his arms, the two stood there thinking before she looked up at him grinning. "We're going to go swimming tomorrow right? It's warm enough down here, and you said the case should only take a few days" The woman said happily, and he paused for a moment before answering.

"Yes, you can go swimming tomorrow, but today you have to interview some of the locals for information" He said, the girl letting out a groan out of annoyance. Of course, they were still working even if it she was trying to turn it into a holiday. Naru said his goodbye and headed to his room, the young woman watched him turn around the corner before moving to go into her own room.

'Let's go swimming'

Mai turned around, snapping her head to look down the hallway opposite of where Naru went. Sweat dripped down her face, and eyes widened, her breath seemed almost labored. That voice, it was just down the hall, and she was so scared. So scared. She needed to run away, but her feet trembled, afraid that even a step would awake him. Her hand tried reaching her doorknob, but nothing would work. He was going to notice.

"Something wrong?"

I have such a hard time responding to you guys! I don't even know why it annoys me. I finished this about a week ago but put it off because the time it takes to respond. Sigh. And now I'm going to a anime convention this weekend, but at least this is my spring break so hopefully i'll some more stuff out. I'm also going to try to get another story out soon so please look forward to that!

Lovenarumai hehe, I hope it'll be a good case too! And welcome to the reviewing crew, it makes me happy to meet you

Chrysantia-Sunshine I wonder too...hmm guess you have to read to find out

adanyasophia07, oh I never knew there was a word for it! I'm glad to know, maybe i'll put MU in the story some time, it's such a good thing to have isn't it? I'm glad you're enjoying yourself and really happy to welcome you as a reviewer, heheh

Musical Teardrops, oh the intensity is just starting! I will make this the biggest climax ever, and guess what? I already have the next case in my head.

WhisperToTheWolves Yup, did I ever tell you I am scared of drowning?

Naruisawesome what is up the swimming thing? Hm, guess you have to wait to find out, and yes I fangirled over my own story for that part. Sigh.

thearistcrat, I find the swimming creepy too! I mean what if something you know...grabs you?

Thank you for dealing with me all this time! I promise to post soon and maybe even a new story to say sorry ^^