Well, this came a lot faster than I had anticipated and that is mainly due to your awesome reviews! Thank you for helping me get to my goal of 200! lol Sorry, I never mentioned it before because I really didn't think this fic would get there before this chap but thank you so much! Please keep the feedback coming! Now this will be my last chap for a while and will be the last chap for this case. There will be another case but you might not see an update until at the very earliest late May. I have school work and other things to work on before I can get to the next case so please bare with me. But for now enjoy the latest chapter!

Chapter 6- Exorcism…No...

October Day 4, 9:05 A.M.

It was only moments after Mai knocked on the door of the house outside the Ibaraki Prefecture, that an older woman opened the door. "You must be Taniyama Mai-san," she said, Mai's heart soared when she recognized the woman's voice.

"Hai, Kita-san," Mai replied, giving a bow. "This is my friend Yasuhara Osamu, he's my partner for the history assignment. I hope you don't mind that I brought him."

"Oh, that's perfectly all right," she replied, gesturing them into the house. "Please come in, I have already started to prepare tea. Green is all right with you, yes?"

"That's perfect," the two answered, as they were lead into the living area.

Mai and Yasuhara took their seats on the couch in the living area, the older of the two making a note to check the time on his phone before placing it back in his pocket. Moments later, Haru came back into the room with a tray and three cups of tea. "So, what made you interested in investigating that horrible asylum?" she asked as she took a seat.

"We attend school in the Ibaraki Prefecture and the whole class was assigned to do research on historical buildings, we were assigned the asylum," Mai explained without missing a beat.

"I see, so what were you looking to find out?" she asked, taking a sip of her tea.

"We would like it if you could tell us about your experiences as a nurse there," Mai asked politely.

"The place was very crowded, more patients than doctors and nurses combined to care for everyone," she explained. "You probably have done your research and know that most of the time the patients were kept sedated, otherwise a riot would potentially break out."

She continued to talk about her experiences, how it was actually fairly calm because of the sedated patients every once in a while one would try to fight, but other than that it was a quiet place. She went on about the cleanliness of the facility, that it could have been much better however with such a small amount of staff and so many patients there wasn't enough time in the day to keep up with the cleaning. Her fellow nurses were much older than she was at the time and would often leave her to her own devices, the staff was not as friendly as she would have liked.

"Because I was so young in comparison, I was found as inferior to the doctors and nurses, I had even protested against some of our treatment methods, but was threatened with termination if I continued to go against policies of the facility. There are many things there I wish I hadn't done, but had to in order to pay the rent on my apartment. It really was a horrible place," Haru finished, taking a sip of her tea. "To be honest it still sort of haunts me. I'm sorry you two were assigned to research such a horrible place."

"Don't be sorry, we're sorry you had to endure such a place," the college student replied.

Mai herself began to feel guilty. "Yeah, I'm sorry for making you relive it." Something in her heart clenched. She couldn't help but feel a little sick, Kagome Mai had her horrible death at that place, but it seemed that even the nurses didn't enjoy their lives there.

"No need to apologize, what's in the past, is in the past. Was that all you needed?" the older woman asked with a smile. It was now or never.

"Actually, after all the research we had done, we were wondering if you might be able to tell us about a girl named Kagome Mai, a schizophrenic patient around the time you said you worked there," Yasuhara asked, the two investigators noticed the change of face with the older woman.

"Kagome-san, was…a strange girl to say the least," Haru began, as Mai took notes on the notebook she brought with her. "I was never her nurse, but I had heard stories from the other nurses and doctors. She had been brought in because she was known to have visions and delusions and would babble on nonsense. It was scaring her parents so they bought her here."

"Was she kept sedated?" Yasuhara continued as Mai waited eagerly, despite her newfound reluctance to interview this woman, she was here on a mission and she was going to see it through.

"Yes, just like all the other patients, it was only when it was time for her therapy. That was usually when she had just woken as well," she explained, Mai stopped her writing.

"Electroshock therapy?" she asked earning a nod from the woman.

"That's right, luckily I never had to help with any shock treatments. My job was mainly to keep them sedated." Haru gave a sigh. "Kagome Mai was an interesting patient, you could say. I heard rumors and stories, but it wasn't until I witnessed it myself that I knew just how strong she was. I watched her lift one of my fellow nurses off the floor and throw her into the wall! As crazy as this might sound, she was still asleep and I never saw her lay a hand on her nurse! She would babble on and on about random things but there was one thing she said that still continues to scare me."

Mai and Yasuhara gave each other a look. "What did she say?" Mai asked, her heart racing.

"She was telling her nurse that her father would die that night of a heart attack. That her nurse needed to get him to the hospital before it's too late," she answered. "She turned to me and told me that my then boyfriend was seeing other women at one of the clubs in town." She gave a sigh and looked down at her hands. "She was right on both occasions. But it was the day before her death that she called me Kita-san, as I left the room. I was in there to give her more medication to keep her sedated. Kita is my married name, did meet my husband until several years later."

The pieces finally clicked into place for the young brunette. The reason Kagome Mai was put into the asylum. Why she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Why she was most likely remaining on the property. The proof she needed to stop her employer from forcing her friends to perform an exorcism on the poor spirit.

"Are you saying that Kagome-san knew and understood things that she shouldn't?" Yasuhara tried to confirm.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to say," the woman nodded. "It was as though she were psychic or something. But that's preposterous!" She almost laughed.

And there was the word Mai was hoping to hear. She gave her coworker a look. "That explains everything," Mai gave an exhale, catching the woman's ear.

"I'm sorry?" Haru gave a confused look as Mai realized she had said her thoughts aloud. "What explains everything? And why are you so interested in Kagome Mai, I thought this was a simple history project?"

Yasuhara and Mai looked at each other. Man it was so much easier to pretend to be Naru than to pretend he was still in high school. Something is just not right about that. "To be perfectly honest, we are not doing a research report for a history class," he explained. "In fact, I'm no longer in high school at all."

"Just who are you?" The look on the woman's face was of pure suspicion. "Why are you really looking into that horrible place?"

Well, time to come clean. "I did lie to you, and I'm sorry about that," Mai began, surprised she was so calm. "Our names really are Mai and Yasuhara, but the reason we are looking into the mental hospital is because we work at Shibuya Psychic Research. We look into cases possibly caused by paranormal phenomena. Ghosts to put it blatantly. We are currently investigating that mental hospital which is now a nursing home. We believe that Kagome Mai is one of the spirits inhabiting the building and needed to find reasons why she might stay."

"You can't possibly be saying that she is haunting the place," it was no surprise that the woman scoffed.

"Actually, that's exactly what she is saying, Kita-san," Yasuhara answered. "And with your testimony, it appears that she had latent psychic powers, which could be part of the reason, along with her tragic death why her spirit remains in the building."

"With her history of throwing people into walls, fighting with the strength of a man-" Mai continued.

"Where did you hear that?" The woman's eyes grew wide as she spoke. "I never told anyone since I worked there that."

Shit, Mai cursed to herself. I need to be more careful with what I say.

Her university student coworker gave a sigh. "Much like Kagome Mai, my partner, Mai has latent psychic abilities as well. She actually had a vision of Kagome-san's death just two nights ago," he explained. "Her abilities aren't quite what Kagome experienced, but they still have their moments."

"What he is trying to say is I have had a history of visions and dreams about the past. My more recent one included what I believe might have been Kagome Mai's final ECT treatment," Mai explained further. "It would not have been the first time I have had dreams of memories of spirits, however that is where I heard Kagome being described as fighting like a man." She could see the confused face of her hostess, wanting to believe but finding it far too ridiculous. "Kita-san, in the end, we are only here to find answers. Thank you very much for taking time out of your schedule to speak with us, you have given us the exact information we needed and we very much appreciate it." The perplexed look never disappeared from the woman. Aspects of disbelief and guilt began to float in her eyes, causing the brunette girl to give and sad smile. "We truly believe that you were only doing your job while you worked there and that you didn't agree with much of it. Our job is to put the past to rest, so that you and others might be able to do the same."

"You are very wise for your age, Mai-chan," Haru commented, her perplexed look became one of curiosity and wonder. "Was it from this job that you learned such wisdom?"

Wise? Me? Mai's mind repeated, it was her turn to be in disbelief.

"As much as I would like to go into Mai's wisdom, if we don't leave now we'll never be able to get a hold of Naru," Yasuhara interrupted having looked at the clock behind their hostess. "It's about nine forty right now, we can get back before ten if we leave soon-"

"Oh! I'm sorry!" the woman gasped. "That clock runs twenty minutes slow."

The color from Mai's face drained faster than it gained a bush after finding out she fell asleep on her boss. "Shit!" she muttered under her breath, wide eyed.

"Thank you very much for your time, Kita-san. We need to get going now," Yasuhara interjected with a smile. He smoothly got up as his shorter companion jumped to her feet about to race out, but the college student literally held her back. "Again, thank you for speaking with us."

He finally turned to leave. "You're welcome, I hope things work out," the woman found herself saying, the whole encounter baffling her to an extent.

Once the two had made it outside, Mai raced for the car opening to realize Yasuhara had locked it. "Damn it! Yasuhara!" she cursed as he fumbled with his keys.

"Sorry, Mai!" he answered as the car unlocked at the press of a button.

Grayish black clouds began to gather above them. Thunder could be heard in the distance.

"I thought you were keeping track of the time!" she exclaimed as soon as they had both buckled their seatbelts.

"My phone died, I forgot to charge it last night after you made all those calls," he replied putting the car in gear.

"Do you have a car charger?"

"I think it might be under your seat." He made his way to the highway.

"Yasuhara! Naru is going to kill us!" Mai bent down and examined under her seat, finally finding the cord and quickly plugged it into the slot. "Hand me your phone."

"Sure," He handed her the device, "since when did you become so bossy?"

"I'm not bossy! I just don't want to lose my job!" She quickly plugged the charger into the phone.

Shocked the college student gave her a look. "He threatened your job over this?"

"Yeah, Naru's in some mood and seems to have it out for me or something. I don't know, but unless he picks up I'm screwed!" She turned the phone on and dialed the number.

"You have reached Shibuya Kazuya. Leave a message…"

Mai swore once more.

"C'mon, Naru! An exorcism is not what this girl needs! I have proof! Call me back!" she nearly shouted into the phone. Her partner raised a brow.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Seven after." Drops of rain began to hit the windshield and thunder crashed loudly just after a bolt of lightning lit up the sky. "Just great."

"Isn't there some legend that ghostly activity is even greater during a thunder storm?" he asked as they curved around an exit and into a red light.

"The barometric pressure changes during the day and especially before and during a rain storm. It is also noted that when the barometric pressure drops it changes people's mood, since it drops more toward the afternoon, it can make children and even adults anxious and cranky, hence afternoon naps," Mai replied. Somehow she felt something different in this storm, like she could feel the electricity in the air making her hair stand on end. "I don't see why it can't do the same to spirits. Some even believe that spirits themselves can change the barometric pressure. So, if Naru is having a Monk perform an exorcism on a female spirit who had psychic abilities while alive…" Her eyes widened. "I think you need to drive faster, Yasuhara."

However, her driver just looked at her and pulled off to the side of the road. Confused the brunette looked at him back.

"What are you doing?"

"Since when were you an expert on these things? No offense, Mai, but since our last case you changed, is there something wrong?" His statement caught the high school girl off guard. "I'm sorry, Mai, it's just-"

"Nothing is wrong, I'm just sick of Naru degrading my intelligence," Mai replied calmly. She gave him a smile. "I'm sorry if I was scaring you, but I think our first priotiy should be to get back to Base before Naru kills us."

"Alright…" Reluctantly, Yasuhara put the car back in gear and drove back onto the road.

October Day 4, 10:23 A.M.

Back at the nursing home, loud claps of thunder shook the building and either a wind gust or lightning had shut down the power, interrupting the exorcism. "Keep going," Naru ordered just as rapping sounds banged the walls. "We can't stop now."

"Tasukete!" a weak voice cried out, now audible to the investigators in the room. "Please! I'm scared!"

"She sounds terrified," Ayako whispered to Lin next to her. "Is this really a good idea?"

"I don't know…" Those words were the most uncomforting thing the Chinese man had ever said.

"C'mon, we have to run!" Mai exclaimed, jumping out of the car once they had parked.

"Mai! Wait up!" Yasuhara trailed behind in the pouring rain as lightning lit the sky above them.

Soaked, Mai rushed into the nursing home, finding Shouta passing the through hall. "Shouta! Where's Naru!" she exclaimed.

"He's with the rest of your team in Yuina's room since the spirit seems to always be in there." When she sped by him, he ran after her. "Mai, they're in the middle of an exorcism, I don't think-"

"I found my proof!" was all she said when a loud crash of thunder shook her and everything around her. Within a second the lights were out as well. "Damn!" She ran faster.

"Since when does she curse?" Shouta asked the spectacle man who ran in shortly.

"I think she might be hanging with truck drivers or sailors when she's not on cases, but I haven't had a chance to spy on her recently," he answered, speeding by the boy and up the stairs, leaving said boy more confused than ever.

"Wait, what?" He trailed after as well.

"Tasukete! Please! I'm scared!" The cry made Mai feel hollow for a second. She found the door and tried to open it. It was sealed shut with a lock and some charms Ayako must have placed.

"No! Not like this!" Mai was frantic as she began to bang on the door. She could feel the energy of the young spirit as it banged on the walls from the inside. She needed to get this door open and give her proof to her employer.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She could see the door from the inside of the bedroom; she placed her hand on it just above where her head would have met. "There." With that she held two fingers together. "Rin, pyou, tou, shah, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen!"

The seal was destroyed and the door unlocked, swinging open and a gust of wind nearly knocked Mai off of her feet as she vaguely saw the spirit dash out. "What on earth?" She could hear her friends ask as they saw her in the hallway.

"Mai! Where have you been?" She was not surprised when the priestess was the first to run over to her.

"An interview," she replied matter of factly.

"If you were running late, you should have called." She was still not surprised at her employer's pissed off tone.

"I did call you. Seven times. Left seven messages." She held her ground she would not back down from him.

"Well, you interrupted a much needed exorcism. Are you satisfied?" Looks like he wasn't going to back down either.

"With an eyewitness testimony that Kagome Mai was able to fight her nurses while sedated, being described to 'fight like a grown man' as well as said witness stating she saw a nurse lifted off on her feet and thrown across the room with no one touching her. And statements claiming she would tell her nurses about her visions and warn them when someone would die among other things, and being right every time. I think we can all come to the conclusion that Kagome Mai was not a schizophrenic patient, but a child with psychic abilities." Her argument and voice showed insight beyond her years. "With Yasuhara-san as my witness to the interview, I think we finally have an answer to the case."

She handed her employer the soggy notes she had written down, a little smudged but still legible. "We have an answer as to why she is remaining on the property, not an answer on what to do with her."

Mai's heart sank. "E-excuse me?" she internally cursed herself for her stutter.

"I said, you have not come up with a solution to the current haunting. That is what we really need." His voice was as cold and indifferent as ever. Oh how she wished she could smack him if her confidence weren't so low.

"Please! I'm scared! I want my family!" A cry that only she could hear, shot adrenaline through her system.

Mai lifted her head back up and she knew she was the only one who was going to go all in for this girl. She did a head count and who was missing? She gave a gasp and sprinted down the hall, ignoring the shouts of protest from her friends.

She knew exactly where that little girl was going; she could picture the mental hospital in her mind. Following the path from the ECT room to where Kagome Mai's room should be, that had to be where she was going.

Kimura Kiko was finally starting to feel like herself, but that meant she was getting bored sitting in her room all alone. Luckily, Yasuhara actually brought her a book the day before. Couldn't have been from the library, he didn't have a card for the one nearby, but at least he was thoughtful enough to stop somewhere to get it. However, even that was beginning to bore her.

A gusty breeze opened her bedroom door and blew her hair around as she registered what just happened. It couldn't have been the window; John had closed it for her before he went to meet up with the rest of the team that morning. It was only when she heard sobbing that she saw the little girl curled up on the floor in front of her bed.

Her body was partially see-through, but her sobs were real. Was this the ghost everyone was talking about? "Are you Kagome Mai?" Kiko managed to ask. The girl perked her head up. "Why are you crying, Mai-chan?"

"I-I'm scared…" she stuttered. "I-I want to go home!" She began sobbing again.

"Well-" she was interrupted when our favorite brunette ran into the room.

"Kiko!" she exhaled, seeing the ghostly girl on the floor. "Kagome Mai?"

Again the girl perked up her head, tears streaking her face. Fear filled her eyes as she scurried backwards. "No! Don't hurt me!" she cried, as Mai knelt down to her level.

"I'm not here to hurt you, no one here is," Mai said calmly with a kind smile on her face. "I know what happened to you here, but that won't happen again, I swear."

The girl hugged her knees and lowered her head. "It's not my fault…"

"When you were alive, this building was a mental hospital and you were a patient here. That was thirty years ago. It's a nursing home now, with nice nurses and treatments that don't harm people." She continued to shake her head. "No one here is going through the torture you went through. And I know you would tell Yuina that someone was about to die, because of your visions. You had visions and dreams right? Of things that were about to happen? About people you barely knew?"

Her head lifted up in wonder.

"When you were younger you noticed things would move on their own. When you were a patient in the hospital you were known to be able to throw people in your sleep. That fact scared you. You thought that there really was something wrong with you. But there was nothing wrong at all." Mai slowly moved a few steps closer. "I know people who were able to do the things you could do. My friend, over there, and I have had visions and dreams similar to the ones you did. We would know things we shouldn't know, just like how you knew things you couldn't possibly know."

The girl herself actually took a few steps toward the brunette psychic.

"Not many people understood why you were able to do these things back then, even now it's hard to understand, but you were not schizophrenic. You had latent psychic powers, just like me. Mai, I may never be able to fully understand what you went through when you were alive, but I know your visions and dreams. They can be scary, even scarier when you realize they weren't just dreams. I had a dream of one of your treatments; you must have been so scared, in so much pain. But you don't have to go on like that anymore. You're not alive anymore, you need to move on, find the light and walk towards it."

Kagome Mai stood up and made her way to the brunette of the same first name. As she stood next to the kneeling investigator, it was even more prominent at how malnourished this girl had been. She was only as tall as the girl kneeling. "Will Okaa-san and Otou-san be there?" she asked with a half smile on her face.

Mai's heart clenched, of course this girl just wants to see her family again, but she didn't know if they were dead or not. "I don't know if they are there yet, but they will be one day," she replied. "You'll be much happier over there, and not alone."

The girl shed a few more tears as she hugged the investigator. Mai hugged her back. "Thank you," she whispered as her body turned a golden color and faded away. The rain outside lightened up and the lights came back on.

"Did Mai just complete an exorcism?" Monk asked outside the room with the rest of the jaw-dropped team. The priestess gave a surprised smile.

"No, she completed a cleansing."

Surprisingly, it only took about an hour to pack everything back into the car, they were actually an hour ahead of schedule for once. With a little time left over, because Naru was giving Chiyoko a final report of the building, Mai found herself sitting in the garden with her brother-like friend. "It's a good thing you and Yasuhara arrived when you did, you pretty much saved the day, Mai. You should be proud," he said with a smile as the monk sat on the bench next to the schoolgirl.

"I'm glad I was finally able to help, instead of get in the way." Mai gave a sigh as she looked down at the ground. "I just can't believe Naru actually made you go through with the exorcism."

The monk raised a brow. "He didn't make me do anything." The girl's head perked up in surprise. "I was going to tell him that I wasn't going to perform an exorcism because I knew you were still getting information."

"But you guys sealed Yuina's room, I could hear Kagome Mai crying, I could have sworn you guys were-"

"Mai, look, John and I went to approach him about the exorcism that neither one of us were comfortable performing under the circumstances. Before we could even say a word, Naru asked John if he would do a blessing for Kagome's spirit, instead of a full-blown exorcism." Mai's eyes widened. "In the case that you and Yasuhara didn't contact him in time."

Her jaw dropped. Her mind whirled. Her world turned in that same sickly slow spin she felt two cases ago at the Gensai residence. "B-but why?"

"Who knows?" He shrugged. "Maybe he believed you all along-"

"Then why make me go through all that hassle? Why treat me like crap the past few days? Why test my patience and purposefully aggravate me?"

"I don't know, Mai, he probably wanted to teach a lesson," Monk shrugged. "Now the question is, what did you learn?"

It was moments like this that Mai definitely saw the wise monk within her rock star/exorcist friend. She barely noticed him leave as she racked her brain for the lesson that she learned, but couldn't put to words.

Two weeks later…3:02 A.M.

"No!" Mai gasped as she leaped into a sitting position. The image of the demon that had nearly dragged her into Hell back in early October was fresh beneath her eyelids. The ghost of his taloned hand still gripped her ankle, trying to drag her further in the pit flames. The knife in her hand, the taloned hand forcing her hand to stab her foreign friend. After over a month, she could finally remember some of the nightmares that plagued her.

She couldn't move, the terror had flooded her. Her breathing came in shallow huffs and tears flooded her eyes. Her body shook uncontrollably, trembling at her powerlessness. It was a few minutes before she gained influence on her own body, and even then she was only able to sob. Her body quaked with each sob, each cry, each sniff. Why had she let herself become this? Sure her job was filled with darkness, but she was always able to remain cheerful.

You see, Mai has always been able to take care of herself. Her father died when she was young, so she learned a lot from her mom. Her mom was always able to find some way to support the two of them and would teach Mai that she could do anything if she was determined. She put that advice to good use when her mom died. Luckily a kind teacher let her stay at her house until she was old enough to work and support herself, but even then, Mai would do whatever she could to grow stronger from the situation. Rarely did she ever need help from anyone, she could do it herself, she was a grown girl after all. Which is probably why she had such a hard time asking for help in anything. It was only recently that she would recognize that she needed some help in school, especially with this demanding job of hers.

It was with relief and reluctance, that Mai knew, she needed help. Shakily, she wandered over to her dresser drawer, rummaging through it as tears still continued their river down her face. Ayako tried to giver her advice, and that did seem to help a little, but these might terrors, she didn't want her friends to worry about her, so there was only one person who could help. Finally she found the slip of paper and her river of tears had ceased. It was now or never, if she waited any longer there was no telling how much more sleep she would lose. She was already only getting about four hours a night at best.

Stumbling to the phone, she dialed the number with care. The dial tone turned into several rings as she waited for the line to be connected. It was only during that final ring that she had second thoughts. "Moshi moshi," a very tired male voice answered the phone. "Hozumi desu."

"Hai, my name is Taniyama Mai and I was told you might be able to help me…"

Congrats to everyone who guessed I would introduce Hozumi to the fic! He will definitely appear soon I just need to take a break and rematch the anime and get a feel for everything again. I will get there, I know I will. Until then a preview to the next case

Remains: It's cold and rainy in mid-November, so why is SPR investigating a graveyard! Meanwhile, Mai will find someone who may know exactly what she is going through, and to a tee.

Again that's all for now sorry if the case was rushed things will be much better next case! Keep the feedback coming!