Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
By Ono Fuyumi
Ghost Hunt
I Can't Sleep Due to the Abundance of Evil Spirits
Prologue
Reluctantly, the director stood up. He has been looking at the map all
day, so it's no wonder he was in such a bad mood.
The girls sitting on the sofa were all uncomfortable, sitting so closely
together that their shoulders touched. When I left Naru's office, I noticed
they were tense and pale. Looking at them, I opened my mouth.
The director walked calmly to the sofa, as his head tilted down slightly as
he spoke.
"Nice to meet you. I'm the director, Shibuya."
The girls looked so dazed that it surprised even me. If I mention the
head of this office, I'm talking about a 17-year old guy. Plus, even if the
client has bare feet, they might still run away.
Suddenly the the two girls shrieked, their eyes staring into each other's.
"What are the details of your problem."
The leader of "Shibuya Psychic Research", Shibuya Kazuya-san (also
known as narcissistic Naru-chan. Seventeen years old. Ghost Hunter.)
spoke in a cold manner.
They opened their mouths simultaneously.
"That...!"
Then they looked at each other.
Naru did the same thing.
"Only one of you needs to explain," he said coldly.
They looked at each other again, and then the person whom I spoke to
at first opened her mouth.
"Umm. There was a classmate who was doing Coccri at school last
month. A friend of ours saw it too, and it seems that she's been
possessed by a fox spirit. Since then, she has been acting weird."
"Weird?"
"Sometimes she acts strange. She says and does weird things."
Naru sighed softly.
"Be more specific."
The girl hesitantly lowered her head.
"Oh... In the middle of class, she jumped onto a table, laughed, and then
cursed the teacher. Also, one time in P.E., when we were practicing the
long jump, she suddenly ate...sand from the sandpit."
...Huh? She ate sand? The girl's face was distorted in concern.
"Whoever died then must've been that kind of person. This is serious,"
the girl emphasized.
Naru's fingers entwined together as he pondered the situation.
"And you want the fox spirit to leave," he said presumingly.
"Yes."
They nodded their heads.
Lifting his head, Naru stared back at them.
"My apologiesbut I cannot help you. Whether or not she's possessed...I
suggest you take her to a neurologist."
He responded as he stood up.
"Well then."
They let out an indignified scoff, but Naru didn't take notice. His pitchblack eyes turned toward me.
"Taniyama-san, please lead them out."
"But."
...You're not helping her? Can't you at least (if her friend is possessed)
recommend her to someone else?
Without turning around, Naru continued to walk toward his room.
"Um, boss!" I called out.
Naru turned around, looking at me with a different expression in his
eyes.
"Well, Taniyama-san. Tea."
...Okay.
If Naru makes that kind of face, then it's no good. He won't listen to a
word I say.
After the stoic man shut his door, I turned towards the girls.
"Sorry... Here, things are a little different."
The girl laughed bitterly.
"...But, it's terrible. If only you could see her!"
...I was thinking the same thing, but.
"In this office, the director is a professional. Being possessed by a spirit
isn't something we handle. I'm terribly sorry about this."
They gave each other an unsatisfied look.
I decided to explain more.
"There's something you should know. He only accepts cases that he
deems important."
In our case, "Shibuya Psychic Research" requires that you pay a fee. This
fee will cover the expenses of the investigation. We have to do research
and check out the situation in person. The fee isn't really high, so even a
high schooler's money would be enough. But it needs to be a really
serious case for us to drag all the equipment there, and keep Lin-san and
Naru busy with the investigation. Those two aren't stupid either.
The girls lowered their heads.
I started to feel bad for them, so,
"Um, I think what you said is true," I said in a small voice. "How about
you give me your name and school, and I'll compile a report of your
problem. We might look into it."
And then their faces brightened.
"Really?"
"Yup. But I can't guarantee it."
I took out an SPR pen, and the talkative girl eagerly took it. The sound of
the pen scribbling on the paper. She wrote the information with round
characters.
"Name...Itou Kiyomi. Occupation...High-school freshman. Address..."
Afterwards I saw them off and watched their figures fade away. They
were the same age as me. They were brave, to come all the way here to
help a friend who had been acting strange recently. I carefully folded the
piece of paper and placed it into my breast pocket.
Chapter 1
School /
The next day was Sunday. It was a fine, autumn day, with the wind
blowing gently and a clear sky hanging above. The heat wasn't as
intense as it normally was.
I looked outside the window beside my desk. There were three papers
spread out on my desk. Yesterday, we got three requests, and I think
another one is coming. They're all piling up. One was a request to
exorcise a ghost, another to exorcise a fox spirit, and then one about a
poltergeist.
"Why is all this happening?"
I casted a doubtful look onto the papers and noted the name, "Yuasa
High School." Yuasa High School is an all girls private high school near
Tokyo. One of my junior high friends went there, so I knew about it. It's
supposed to be a strict school. It wasn't the best academic girls school
around, as it was quite lenient with grades.
Yesterday, we got three requests from students in that school.
...What's happening there.
It's not just one problem either.
***
"Naru-chan."
I could hear the sound of the door opening, followed by a rough voice.
That voice...came from a former monk. That guy is always using the
office as a coffee shop.
"Yo! Mai-chan, how are you feeling?"
Bou-san (Takigawa Houshou, 25 years old, a former monk) waved at me,
a bright smile on his face.
I responded angrily, saying yes, everything's fine.
I looked at him when he entered. Black hat, black sunglasses, black
everything. Except for the hot pink t-shirt he was wearing beneath his
coat.
Bou-san, did you forget that you're supposed to be a monk?
"Give me some ice coffee," he commanded as he slumped onto the
couch. "Please, the vending machine's too far away."
"If you're that tired, then you should be panting right now."
"Don't be so mean. I had a lot of work today."
Bou-san also mentioned a paranormal case that he was asked to
investigate To put it simply, he wanted to talk about it with us.
"It's work-related? Really?"
My voice was full of uncertainty as I spoke.
"It's true, it's true. That's why I want ice coffee."
Okay, okay. I guess I have no choice
I went to the kitchen and poured the ice coffee into a glass cup. Ice
coffee is Bou-san's favorite (and he'd take ice coffee even on a cold day).
I continued to prepare it for him.
"Even so, what's up with the getup?" I asked him.
I eyed Bou-san's lavish outfit suspiciously from top to bottom.
"...Okay."
Bou-san left the room to write the mantras. Afterwards, Yoshino-sensei
took the charms and bowed. Then he left the room, his back turned
against us.
"...That was sudden. What do we do now?" Bou-san asked.
Naru shrugged and looked at his watch.
"If we wait, class will end soon," Naru replied. "We can let the students
come in and tell us about the incidents. It's almost the end of the day."
The first group who came to the conference room included Itou-san, the
girl who came to SPR earlier. Her friend had been possessed by a fox
spirit. She looked nervous.
Naru told the six girls who came to sit down as he prepared the taperecorder.
"I want to confirm the incidents that occured here," he said.
As Naru spoke to Itou-san, all the others became nervous.
"As I recall, your friend has been possessed by a fox spirit. Is that right?"
"...Yes."
"Is she here today?"
"No, she has been staying home for a long time now. Her mother won't
let her leave the house even though she seems to be healthy now."
Itou-san looked back at her friends for confirmation, and they nodded.
"Please tell me the situation again."
Itou-san repeated the story. The group of girls murmered agreements,
and we were able to get a better grasp on the story than from what we
heard in the SPR office.
One day that girl just suddenly did something really strange. Her
unusual actions (jumping onto a desk, running around the classroom,
and then crying and laughing aloud) became worse (bad-mouthing
others, proclaiming prophesies, just a lot of things that didn't make
sense). In the end, she jumped into the pool on a cold day, and then she
swallowed sand, pebbles, and chalk.
"Did she hurt anyone?" Naru asked.
"No, she didn't."
"I see. You said she was possessed by a fox spirit. Why do you think
so?"
"That's because..."
Itou-san looked back at her friends. Somebody...
"That's because she said so herself," one of the girls said.
"Yeah," another girl agreed.
After we heard the details, that girl seemed to have said her friend was
possessed by a fox spirit.
Naru lightly tapped his desk with his finger.
"Well, at the time we thought nothing of it. When someone's at that
state, wouldn't you think she's sick? Wouldn't it be a good idea to take
her to a neurologist?"
The group of girls started to whisper to each other. Eventually it was
Itou-san who answered.
"It's because...she said, 'I am Oinari-san's servant, the white fox'. And
she started acting strange after we played Kokkuri-san last month."
"Kokkuri-san... With paper and...what else? Glass? Goblets? Did you use
any of those?"
"No, we used a pencil. We wrote five characters onto the paper with a
pencil."
"...I see. It sounds quite simple. Did you have fun with it?"
"Yes." Keiko-san nodded.
"Nothing else was strange, but... Kokkuri-san didn't return, and we didn't
make fun of him either. But, as we were leaving, she said something
weird."
"She told us she felt like she was possessed. She complained that her
shoulder felt heavy."
"That's right. She started acting strange the very next day."
"Yeah."
The girls started to talk amongst themselves again.
"...Okay. Where did you do Kokkuri-san?"
"In the classroom. First year, room three."
Naru looked up at the rough map of the school, which was on the board.
He was clearly contemplating something.
"Please write down your friend's name and contact number. I will
investigate this throughly."
After Itou-san left, the next group, which included Kugayama Minori-san,
came in. A student who looked slightly younger than me, and a student
who looked older than me, came in as well.
"Your request regards a...poltergeist in a classroom," Naru stated.
"Yes...erm, about that."
Kugayama-san nodded nervously.
In the track and field team, strange things happen in the dressing room.
Lockers are toppled over, and equipment get scattered all over the floor.
But then Miura-san's group returned. Sighing, we were tired out when
the last group, including Takahashi Yuuko, came in.
One of the seats in her class is cursed. The last person who sat there
was dragged by a train.
I was surprised that someone as cute as Takahashi-san was a fan of Bousan's band. It didn't go with his slouchy style.
Takahashi-san faced me. Then Bou-san shook hands with her, a crooked
smile plastered on his face.
"You really came" she said in adoration.
"Seems like it."
Then Bou-san introduced us.
"That handsome guy over here is the president of "Shibuya Psychic
Research", Shibuya. And the little girl over there is his assistant,
Taniyama."
"Nice to meet you." Takahashi-san smiled mischieviously.
"Same here."
"I want to hear the entire story."
Bou-san turned around to look at Naru, who continued to speak.
"Is the person involved in that accident here today?"
I looked at the group of eight in front of us.
"She's here."
Takahashi-san indicated a girl in the back.
"I'm the second person to get in an accident, but..."
"I wanted to say the story back then, but," the girl hesitated for a
moment.
"It happened when I tried to get off the train. Well, I was getting out of
the train, right? As I was leaving the train, someone tugged my arm. It
was really forceful. My arm got stuck in the door, and the train started
moving, so I ran to keep up with it. There was nothing else I could do,
right? Anyway, I fell and was dragged along the platform. This went on
for five meters before the train stopped."
Her shoulder was dislocated, and her leg broke. She removed her cast
last week.
"Did anyone see you get dragged by the train?"
"About that."
Everyone turned to look at the girl.
"There weren't many passengers on the train that day. No one was near
the door when my arm got stuck."
Naru scribbled down some notes.
"What time was it?"
She reported the time the incident happened, as well as the situation of
the other victims. After answering the questions, Naru went on:
"Do you know why these accidents happen to people who sit in that
desk?"
The girls exchanged doubtful looks.
"We don't know...right?"
They whispered to each other.
"...I see. Thank you."
He shut his binder with a slam. Then Naru turned around to face Bousan.
"I want to see the desk."
"Ah, well, I'll show it to you."
Takahashi-san's hand shot up into the air.
The girls brought us to Takahashi-san's classroom. It was classroom 2-5.
The classroom was on the second floor in the south wing of the school.
The cursed desk was near the window.
"Over there."
After she said that, Naru walked over to the desk. As he touched the
desk, his dark eyes narrowed.
"Is anyone sitting here now?"
Takahashi-san shook her head.
"Nope. The last person who sat there is in the hospital now."
"Was the desk ever moved?"
"No, it has always been over there."
Naru was contemplating.
After a while, he looked satisfied and left the desk.
"I heard that your teacher was behaving strangely."
Takahashi-san nodded again.
"That's right. He said he saw a ghost in class, so now he's not coming to
school. He wasn't the type to believe in them either. But now he's in the
hospital. They say that he still sees ghosts in his hospital room, and that
he's suffering from Neurosis."
...Hmph.
"Okay... Thank you."
Naru placed his hand on his chin. This was an expression he often
showed when he was thinking.
Two teachers were waiting in the meeting room when we returned. One
teacher said he saw ghosts in the car mirror when he drove.. The other
said that he felt like someone was following him even though no one
was.
In addition, the two said they often heard eerie sounds.
...There're so many things going on here. What do we do?
Anyway, after we finished the inquiries, I was able to make tea for
everyone.
Principal Mikami told us we could use his set of tea. And that's why I'm
here right now, making tea, while Bou-san's being so rude as to fling
himself onto a chair and prop his feet onto the table.
"That lax guy," I mumbled under my breath.
"Isn't this really bad?" I asked.
Bou-san nodded, a look of mischief on his face.
"Look at the sheer amount of incidents that occur here."
I looked at the notes that Naru took.
"...There's no way this is happening. Just thinking of exercising them all
by myself makes me dizzy. Geez."
He let out an exaggerated sigh and then looked at Naru.
"Naru-chan, can you think of a one-time solution of exorcising all the evil
spirits here?"
"Blow up the school and all the people involved," Naru murmered in an
irritated tone.
"Oh, that does work. But then we'd have to make this school off-limits for
a long time afterwards. Though that definitely is a way to solve this
problem in one shot."
Hey you
***
We finally finished the investigation for today. Tomorrow, we will meet up
at the school and continue our work.
I wonder what conclusion we will arrive at. Us ghost hunters, that is.
Naru and his assistant, Lin-san, Bou-san, the priestess Ayako (Matsuzaki
Ayako, presumably 23 yrs old), the medium Masako, and the priest John
(John Brown, 19 yrs old, Australian).
Chapter 2
Psychic /
The next day, all of us were facing Yuasa High School. The team was
made of seven people: me, Naru, Lin-san, Bou-san, Masako, Ayako, and
John.
However, it was at Naru's request that everyone had gathered here
today. I wonder if they have a lot of free time... It's hard to imagine, but
is it because of Naru's popularity?
Naru entered our small conference room and started to explain the
circumstances. So far, our tasks seemed simple.
"Anyway, there are a large number of incidents, so we can't spend much
time on every one of them. Just try to exorcise as many as possible, and
if that's ineffective we'll think of another plan."
"John and Bou-san, go here, okay?"
Naru passed the memo
hospitalization to them.
regarding
the
cursed
desk
victim's
Norio...who's that?
"Takigawa-san."
"Bou-san? So 'Norio' is basically just Bou-san's nickname?"
"It's written as 'Hounama', but read as 'Norio' , but it looks like it's right.
But it isn't, right? Are you the only one here?"
"Yes. Bou-san left to do some exorcisms. Would you like to sit down?"
"I'll sit."
Giggling, Takahashi-san energetically entered the room and sat down
with a pat. What a friendly person.
"Here's some tea. How's class?" I asked.
"Thanks. ...We have to teach ourselves the material because our teacher
is in the hospital."
"Since a lot of our teachers have been hospitalized, everything is selftaught. I feel grateful. By the way, Taniyama-san, I think that's about it."
"Please, just call me Mai."
"Well then, you can call me Taka. Everyone calls me that."
"Okay."
I guess I can call her Taka-san even though she's my senior.
"Mai, why are so many incidents happening here?"
"Work."
"It's a strange job."
"If you could be understanding, why do these incidents keep occurring?"
"Of course, you can talk about it. I'll listen to you."
Hee hee hee. I really like this person.
"Actually"
I talked about the circumstances of the case as I arranged the notes.
Taka-san also helped out.
"Well, life is tough, isn't it?"
"Guess so."
"Well, it's a good thing this job isn't dangerous, y'know?"
"It's not a job where you feel at ease though, right?"
"So they're not hauntings?"
"Right now we're not sure."
"Is that so"
I decided I liked her strange manners.
Like a boy, she crossed her arms. "What's wrong with this school. Must
be because it's a really haunted school. Curses, ghosts, and psychic
powers. If an UFO comes along..."
...Eh?
"Taka-san, what did you say just now?"
"It's Taka. It's all because of this huge assembly gathering on psychic
powers. The existence of curses, ghosts, and psychic abilities..."
"Stop! Who's this person with psychic powers?"
"Oh, you didn't hear about it? It's Kasai Chiaki."
"Oh."
Taka tilted her head.
"In this school, there's a third year. She has psychic powers."
"Whaa?"
He muttered something. As the tip of his finger touched the spoon, the
spoon's neck became bent and fell down.
Clink! The sound of the metal echoed throughout the room.
We quietly took in a breath.
Then he handed the headless spoon, which was now a mere stick, to
Kasai-san. She timidly accepted the bent spoon.
"Amazing..."
"Do you believe me now?"
"...Yes."
Kasai-san tightly grasped the spoon handle.
"It all started when I saw this TV program in the Summer," Kasai-san
said. "I just happened to see this late night program about spoon
bending. I ended up thinking about it afterwards, and I tried to bend one
by myself."
The girl picked up the fallen head of the spoon and joined it to the
handle. This created a five degree angle.
"I don't have anything amazing to show you though, not at my level."
Shrugging her shoulders, she tossed the broken spoon onto Ubusunasensei's desk.
"The next day, Mizuo bought spoons and called lots of people. Then I
bent the spoon, though I couldn't do it as easily as you. It took me a long
time to bend the spoon in one shot."
".........?"
Kasai-san stopped talking to Naru. Ubusuna-sensei then continued for
her.
"...Sorry. But this child isn't lying. It's just, sometimes she can't bend it,"
Ubusuna-sensei explained.
...You say so, but we didn't see that.
"...Um," I timidly cutted into their conversation.
Naru slowly turned around.
"That was a trick. While your body was bent, you tried to bend the spoon
with the chair."
"Ehh."
"Placing the spoon into your shadow, you'd bend itagainst the hard
edge of the chair."
What?
Naru's eyes were serious as he spoke.
"The majority of the Gellerini nearly lost all their psychic powers in a
short amount of time. As a result, they had to resort to tricks in order to
cover up the loss of their powers. Some of the Gellerini were caught and
labeled as impostors. Right then, it looked like you used one of the
typical tricks that the Gellerini used."
.........
"But I really can bend it!" Kasai-san shouted.
"If you are caught using that kind of trick, you will lose your credibility.
Got it?"
"...Yes."
"The Gellerini's powers were terribly unstable. Every paranormal
researcher knows this fact. If you can't do it, then just say you can't do
it. Don't pay any attention to those people who do not believe because
they never believed in psychic powers from the beginning."
"I understand."
"Yes. It was Yoshino-sensei's car key. And that's just the beginning. But, I
opposed the teacher in front of everyone, y'know? Since then, the
teacher's criticism was relentless... I became quiet, and coming to school
has been hard with all the gossip. But Kei-sensei has been nice to me
despite all the criticism she has to face. Just what is the Biology Club
doing, and other stuff like that. The members of the club have been
sending me glares, and afterwards a lot of them left the club. I...made
them quit the club. That's why I've been idle lately; I just can't help but
think about this."
After Naru listened to what Kasai-san said, she stuck out her tongue.
"I see. Did you also say: 'I'll curse you to death'?
"After he said all those mean things to me, I flew into a rage. I couldn't
help but get angry."
"So you were just saying it?" Naru said to Kasai-san and Ubusuna-sensei
as he looked at them.
"It's possible that...something like cursing him to death would be hard to
do."
"Yes, that's right," Naru agreed in a dull voice.
When Naru and I returned to the conference room, we heard lively voices
from inside. Everyone had returned.
"Did they just come back from exorcising?" I asked casually.
"Mai."
"What."
"I have a favor to ask of you."
...F-f-f-f-f-favor?! Naru wants a favor from meeeee?!
"...P-, please go on."
Oh.
"Hold on a sec', Ayako, you're being reckless as usual, aren't you," I
remarked.
Ayako shot a cold glare at me. "It's not a joke! It was scary! Because I
was like hey, and then Masako said that nothing was there..."
"Just to be on the safe side, shouldn't we exorcise all of them, since we
don't know what to expect?"
"If only she weren't such a flirt. Anyway, it's because Masako said
nothing was there," Ayako grumbled as she faced John.
"But...that can't be," murmured the boy with sunlight-colored hair and a
white bandage.
"John! Why's that?!"
"Ah, is that it? It's nothing important. It only happened for a short time
anyway," John chuckled as he turned to Bou-san's side.
"A spear was thrown at us."
...A spear.
"By spear, do you mean the kind of spear in spear throwing?!"
"...That's right."
"But, in reality it's because someone was trying to hurt us."
...But isn't that really dangerous?!
Naru's calm voice boomed like thunder. "Can you be more specific?"
Suddenly looking worried, John turned to Bou-san for help.
"When we were coming back from outside, we opened the door and
looked into the track and field team room and saw a spear flying towards
us. Of course, no one else was in the room," Bou-san explained.
...It was that dangerous... Moreover, is the bandage the reason to aim at
their heads? Just thinking about it makes me shiver.
Naru replied in a hard voice, "And? Did you eventually get some
exorcisms done?"
Ayako decided to be mean.
"...Masako said that she has not seen even one ghost around the
school..."
Naru looked back at Masako. "...Is that true?"
"Yes." Masako looked up and nodded. Her face was brimming with
confidence.
"...That can't be."
"But there aren't any. I thoroughly looked all around the school, and
there were also no spirits in other places."
Bou-san interjected, "You'd expect there to be spirits here, right? But
there aren't any at all. It's natural to think that since this is where the
curse is taking place. And because four accidents had already occurred,
more will continue."
"Then they're deceiving us," Masako stated.
"The whole school?! Stop joking."
"It's a fact."
The deathly silent Masako turned the other way.
Naru looked at Masako and let out a sigh.
Then Bou-san and John both asked, "Over here? Why?"
"Maybe they're failing. No one looks happy here."
...Could that be it? Yeesh. I wonder if I can just believe that.
John looked a bit apologetic, "But that girl who was possessed can't be
faking it. The exorcisms weren't effective. Takigawa-san and I alternated
our exorcisms numerous times, but in the end we had to struggle to do
it, and they came back anyway."
"I see..."
Naru appeared to be deep in thought.
"These extremely strong spirits are very lucky now. Tomorrow, if that girl
calms down, you can ask her questions again."
"No, it's okay," Naru dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "Go see
the girl at the hospital."
Bou-san looked confused. "The hospital... You don't mean the one in the
neurology section?"
"What's wrong?"
"Oi, oi."
"Doing something like that. It's not the ghost's fault though."
Followed by an emotionless voice:
"What seems to be an evil spirit could just be a neurotic disease. In
actuality, when consulting a neurologist, there would be many
symptoms and different methods to deal with them. Of course, we can't
just deny the possibility of possession. If the girl so far as goes to a
temple, then the counselor would be concerned, right? One would
assume the possession is responsible for a hysterical personality."
"Ah..."
...What do those difficult words mean? Ayako also looked confused.
"Sometimes a hysteria fit will look as if the victim is possessed by a
spirit. This could be the case with her, right?" Bou-san replied.
"So you think it was a hysteria fit? Hysteria could be the cause..." Naru
nodded.
"Ohh."
"As for that girl, she might be possessed by a spirit. She was suppressed,
although this could hold true for all Japanese students. She did the
Kokkuri and is now seized with the idea that 'it's a curse'. Thinking about
that brought about the trigger for her bout of hysteria. Generally she'd
explode on her parents or teachers. The spirit possessing her had
distorted her mind. She behaves as if she were possessed. If she
unconsciously acts possessed at home, she would be calm there."
Oh...
"So what are you trying to say?" Bou-san asked Naru. "Unless she's
possessed by a spirit, she has hysteria?"
"I fear that's the case. If she gets visitors while she's in the hospital, then
things would be clear."
"Then what about the others? What about the hand coming out of the
desk and the knocking sounds? Are all those due to sicknesses too?"
Bou-san looked back at Masako, who had a look of satisfaction on her
face.
"...So there are no ghosts here."
Naru shrugged. "If I were a neurologist, I'd conclude that there is a mass
breakout of hysteria in this school..."
He muttered something, and then glanced down at his feet.
"You can't think anymore?" asked the monk.
Hearing that, I instinctively listened.
"Ah, Mai didn't know? Even though things may appear this way, as a
parapsychologist this is my conviction."
...Sorry about that. For the most part, I was listening.
Chapter 3
Onibi /
anyway. The maze was a reflection of the mirror. I had walked and
walked. It was just my shadow and me. I had walked to the middle of the
maze. For some strange reason, I was rushed and clumsy, which is why I
had slammed into the glass.
What's with this huge maze anyway!
The maze was getting darker and darker. Ah, that's why. This maze
darkens as time passes. While thinking about this, I could no longer see
my feet. The only available light was the light reflected by the mirror.
What do I do? There's no exit. As I feared, he didn't come!
I started to run. My reflection also ran. Hundreds of me turned and ran,
but in the midst of all, only one shadow wasn't moving. I aimed at it.
That must be the clue to get out of this maze. I rushed towards the
unmoving shadow.
...Naru.
In the darkness, Naru was there, completely clothed in black. Only his
hands and face were pale as moonlight.
"It's impossible to get out," I told Naru.
Without saying anything, he pointed at something to his side. His pale
fingers left a white trail in the darkness.
I could see the tip of his finger.
That's...the school. The inside of the school was inversed black and
white, like a photographic negative. The wall was black, while the
blackboard was white. The wall and floor had a white outline, but other
than that they were transparent. This was the school's shadow.
And that's an unripe will-o-wisp. There were pale, clear will-o-wisps
scattered throughout the entire school. In the darkness, I stared at them
fixedly, placing all my attention on them.
"What's...that?" I asked Naru as I looked up at him.
Naru answered, "You'll understand."
...I'll understand? So that's it. Of course, I get it now. That will-o-wisp has
evil intentions. Furthermore, it's not of this world. I shivered.
There were countless will-o-wisps. All of them were evil. I couldn't help
but watch them. They exhibited a cold color. As I was watching them,
they flashed little by little. Gradually the scene became blurry and
normal colors came into place again. I could clearly see a wall.
"...?"
A wall. A very pale green wall. I was surrounded by a strange wall on all
sides.
"Mai!"
What?!
I lifted my head and saw Naru. There was a harsh expression on his face.
"Just now, you were asleep, weren't you?"
Eh? Asleep? ...Of course.
Huh?!
I looked around to see everyone's cold eyes piercing at me.
"I'm sorry. I did fall asleep."
A...awkward.
"You were completely sound asleep with your eyes open."
"Sorry..."
Naru looked at me with cold eyes. "Are you my assistant? Or are you a
hindrance?"
...W-, why you.
Naru lightly tapped the table with his finger. "I don't know whether or not
Kasai-san's situation is related to this case..."
Ayako leaned towards him. "Well, how much faith do you place on that
child, Kasai?"
"I believe her."
"Heh." Ayako's cruel eyes flashed. "Well I think she's lying. Please, as if
she can actually bend spoons."
??
"Isn't spoon bending fake?"
I asked, "It's not, right? Spoon bending isn't just a magic trick."
I wasn't sure though. But it's probably safer to ask Ayako instead of Bousan or John.
"So is it?" I asked.
John nodded. "Right. Uri Geller started spoon bending. Uri Geller is the
best psychic of the century...his supernatural powers were shown to the
public. He had PK, clairvoyance, and prediction abilities similar to that of
a prophet. He made the impossible possible. Geller was everywhere
when it came to spoon bending. All the children saw him do it too."
"Um, you mean the Gellerini?
"Yes, that's right. But the Gellerini had unstable powers. When they lost
their powers, they would rely on magic tricks. Some of them were
exposed as cheaters.
"I see."
"Because of that, some people began to doubt Geller's ability."
"They doubted Uri Geller?"
"Yeah. At that time, America's Society of Parapsychology had publicly
announced that Uri Geller was a fake. That incident left such a strong
Kulagina has strong PK powers, but I've never heard of her having ESP.
Only Kulagina and Davis have that kind of PK power."
"That's right," John agreed. "But for Uri Geller, assuming his PK was the
best, was his ESP also the best too? If that's the case, then that means
his power was unrestricted. However, I still think he was a fake."
Ayako leaned forward. "I've always wondered about that. Why does the
spoon bend? If the metal bends, then what kind of spoon is it? And if PK
can bend the spoon, then is it even a spoon? Isn't that strange?"
"So you're basically saying that PK is just a magic trick?" I wondered
aloud.
"No, that's different," Bou-san asserted. "There are three types of PK: PKMT, PK-ST, and PK-LT."
...Wow, this is too much information.
"Spoon bending would fall under the PK-ST category. It's the ability to
influence stationary objects. There are a lot of misunderstandings
regarding this ability. There have been many reports of frauds that claim
to have this. Actually, PK-MT is considered the best ability out of all of
them. This is the ability to influence moving objects, such as changing
the eyes of a die as it's rolling. If you're thinking about getting a two,
then you really will get a two."
"Hehh."
"PK-MT is also widely considered to be fake. However, the majority of
people have this. This latent ability varies in power for different people."
"...Do I have it too?"
"Maybe. If someone has PK-ST, it doesn't necessarily mean that said
person is a fake. Unlike the Gellerini's PK, Shelby Meyer's was fake. She
bent a special type of metal. She seemed credible but terribly arrogant."
"Huh?"
"Generally, for people with psychic abilities, like Geller, would act as a
magician. In that case, he would be able to perform magic without
...I continued to think about it. As I was tidying up the place, there was a
light knock on the door.
"Yes?"
My voice stuttered, as we were just talking about Kasai-san a moment
ago. I couldn't help but feel like I was in a flutter.
"Huh? You're alone?" the girl asked.
"Yeah."
Her eyes swept through the room.
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, come in, come in."
"Thank you. ...What are you doing?"
"As a good-for-nothing, I'm just arranging documents here while looking
over the equipment."
"How unlucky."
Once again I noticed that Kasai-san was sitting in a strange position.
"Heh..."
What a strange thing to say.
"So how're things going?"
"Well, it's weird. Shibuya-san seems to think our medium's having
problems," I said.
"I'm different though. NaruShibuya-san, is also different. He's a ghost
hunter," I clarified.
"Heh, cool."
I looked blankly ahead. Come to think of it, no one has ever asked me
what a "ghost hunter" was.
Oh yeah, Kasai-san has some psychic abilities herself so she must
comprehend some of those strange things.
"...But, he might actually be an Onmiyouji[3]. Ah, I'm not admiring him
or anything, but it's true," I continued.
Kasai-san whistled.
"In that case, he's even more amazing. Hehh, to think he's an Onmiyouji
too," she said.
I was so moved that I was speechless.
"And what about the exorcisms? Did they go well?"
"Well, it seems that we have a difficult road before us. Our group's spirit
medium says there are no ghosts here. We were almost fighting about
it."
Kasai-san raised her eyebrows. "There aren't any? Then what caused the
incidents at the school?"
"Yeah, well. I don't know about that. The only person in our group who
can see ghosts is the medium, and she says she can't see any. We'll
have to investigate from a different angle.Oh right, Kasai-san, have you
seen any spirits here?"
Kasai-san waved no. "No. I don't have that kind of power. I might not
even have ESP."
"ESP?"
Does she mean the kind that everyone was talking about?
"Don't tell me you don't know? ESP is a type of psychic ability. I'm no
good at ESP, not at all. But I can do PK. I had no choice but to use my PKST. ...And that's when strange things have been happening."
Kasai-san shrugged.
lately. In any case, there are no ghosts here and no ESP, but people still
claim to see ghosts here. Some students discuss these things in private
with Kei-sensei."
This time Kasai-san let out a real smile.
"Ubusuna-sensei, right?" I asked.
"Right."
Kasai-san grinned. "...It's because I'm a junior. When I was attacked by
the school, she came to my aid. The teaching practically came to a halt.
And eventually I couldn't think anymore."
"...Oh. What does Ubusuna-sensei teach?"
"You don't know? She's the Biology teacher in this school."
I had to gather up my thoughts for a moment.
"So, about what those students were talking about..."
"Eh? What?" she asked. "Even if I knew, I can't tell you. It's confidential."
"Oh."
Kasai-san edged closer to me.
"You can go to Yoshino-sensei's house and ask him."
Kasai-san seemed ready to move.
I was also a bit restless.
"By Yoshino-sensei, do you mean the one who humiliated you in the
school morning assembly?"
"Yes...that's the one." She let out a satisfactory smile. "Hehh, I see. Did
he make you nervous?"
"Well, about that He had dark shadows under his eyes."
"Serves him right. ...No, what am I saying, this isn't right. Sorry, I
couldn't help myself."
"It's okay, it's okay."
We furrowed our brows and laughed heartily.
While laughing, I imagined a spoon in my mind. And then I bent it. So
bending a spoon can change people's fates; what a warped idea.
...I couldn't help but think that way.
As I talked with Kasai-san a little while longer, Taka-san came into the
conference room.
"Yeesh, I can't find Norio anywhere," she whined.
"That sucks. Would you like some tea? I was just about to make some."
"That would be nice. Kasai-senpai, nice to see you."
"Same here."
Kasai-san was on her toes now. She seemed wary. But Taka didn't mind.
Though already cheerful, Kasai-san eventually became relaxed and
opened up to us more. We were able to wipe off her seemingly
unfriendly personality, and our conversation eventually became really
exciting. We were even able to see her smile.
"...It's been a long time since I had a conversation like this with someone
other than Kei-sensei," Kasai-san said gratefully.
On the other hand, Taka looked really tired.
"...Poor you... If you want, we can hang out sometime," Taka suggested.
"Yeah. Thank you. Today was really fun. And Taniyama-san, thank you."
"Will you come back?" I asked her.
"Yeah."
The next day, everyone gathered in the conference room. Naru brought
up news about Yoshino-sensei. Yesterday, Yoshino-sensei was in a car
accident by himself, and one of the members of the Track & Field Club
had collapsed in the locker room.
Naru frowned. The teacher in the car accident said he saw a ghost in the
rear mirror. These incidents still happened even though John and Bousan performed exorcisms yesterday evening.
...In other words, the spirit isn't gone.
Furthermore, Taka's already hospitalized homeroom teacher, wasn't
doing well either. His condition worsened, and despite being in a
hospital, he still sees a ghost, which continues to cause disturbance
there. He's also vomiting blood.
Despite the exorcisms, the teacher's condition wasn't improving.
"...It's not working," Naru calmly stated.
We were speechless as well.
Suddenly, I recalled the dream I had yesterday about the school. Will-owisps were scattered everywhere. I had the feeling that they were evil
spirits. But the dream wasn't important or anything.
Not long afterwards, Ayako was glaring at Masako, with a sarcastic look
in her eyes.
"So there are no ghosts here? Even with all that's happened?"
Stubborn Masako.
"There are none," she firmly replied.
Even so, the medium had an uneasy look in her eyes.
"Did you observe everything thoroughly? So you really didn't see even
one spirit at all."
"Even if you expect there to be some, there are none!" Masako was
almost shouting. "If I don't see them, then there aren't any here!"
"Well then, how do you explain this school's situation? Is everyone lying?
Or is this a mass breakout of hysteria?"
...Ayako, you're sure enjoying yourself. Stop it.
Masako scowled at Ayako. After watching the two, we decided to leave
the conference room.
While doing so, Bou-san said, "HeyNaru-chan."
With an unhappy, bitter expression in his eyes, Naru looked at the monk.
"Masako is just being obstinate. Lighten up. Masako's trying her best."
"...It's not good enough."
Upon hearing Ayako's protest, Bou-san turned to the woman. "Quiet,
you. We need Masako in this situation. Although Masako can't see any
ghosts, this place really is haunted. Probably because the spirit is
exceptionally strong, or because we're dealing with mass hysteria. To
make matters worse, we're unsure if the exorcisms are helping at all.
Naru, don't you think so?"
We became silent and looked at Naru to see his reaction. He was
completely calm and composed as he answered, "If we cannot rely on
Hara-san, then would you care to find another spirit medium to hire?"
...What a blunt answer.
Clearly this guy was thinking, "I hate Masako." But, to say something like
that, Masako definitely won't be able to rest in peace (not that she's
dead or anything like that).
What a cold-blooded jerk.
Bou-san was so shocked that when he saw Naru, the monk stood up and
shrugged his shoulders. Ashamed, Ayako stood up too. As if attracted by
a lure, John also stood upand then our meeting ended.
Leaving me with Naru and the yet-to-be-found Lin-san.
"Naru, what you said just then was kind of mean."
"Of course it was."
...Oh. So it was obvious, wasn't it?
"What did you tell Masako?"
So many strange things have been happening, and Masako is no match
for them.
For a moment, Naru seemed to falter.
"Exactly what kind of weakness of yours does Masako know about?" I
pressed.
"There's no such thing."
("...Oh. Well, back then you should've told Masako that.")
Can I really say that? If I could I would. I don't know. I can't help but
recall Naru's ever unpleasant face when he went on that date with
Masako.
After sending me a glare, he stood up.
"Lin, let's get back to work!"
This guy is running away!
I hastily left, tilting my head to see his back go into the distance. Since
he ran out of mean things to say, he just did whatever he could to evade
the question. And he was ambiguous again. I'm positive something
happened. Just as I thought, she's using his weakness. The problem is:
what kind of weakness is it?
For a moment, I recalled the spoon bending incident. I wasn't really put
in such an awkward position. The spoon incident was nothing compared
to this.
As always, the world is filled with numerous puzzles...
Chapter 4
Curse /
Chapter 5
Hitogata /
Chapter 6
Spellcaster /
Epilogue