Previously on Ghost Hunt:

"What is this, an indoor track meet?!" Housho asked, hearing the multiple footsteps.

"Does it matter? Do you want to stay and find out?" Mei-Lin told the older man. Her body was trembling once more feeling the malicious intent, it was suffocating her to the point she almost couldn't stand anymore. Everyone noticed the girl was growing pale once more and her body was trembling. This wasn't a good sign.

"Hey, it's too dangerous in here! Get outside!" Housho told everyone.

"R-Right, Mei-san, Kuroda-san, hurry!" Mai told the two. She quickly took both of their hands and started running for the entrance.

"Yeah..." Kuroda replied following the girl. Mei-Lin didn't reply and followed after the girls, barely managing to keep up. They were close to the entrance when one of the shelves started to fall over from the constant shaking in the building. Mei-Lin's eyes widened and with enough strength she pushed Mai out of the way, replacing her spot. With the last of her strength gone she collapsed to the floor holding her hands out to soften the impact of the shelf. There was a small tear in the corner of her eye as she squeezed them shut. At that moment only one name came to mind...

"Kazuya!!"

And like that, she faded into darkness

✛幽霊∞✛∞シリーズ✛

Where am I...? It's so dark... I wish the lights were on... and yet I feel so tired... Mei-Lin was laying down in a dark area with bright lights surrounding her. She felt as though she was about to fall asleep until a warm hand touched her forehead. She opened her eyes and saw a familiar face above her. "Oliver...? You're back. I'm relieved..." Mei-Lin was about to close her eyes until she saw that familiar smile. Kazuya was not someone who would smile like that... there was only one person and he had the same face as him. "Eugene!"

Mei-Lin sat up and hugged him, burying her face in his chest as she felt her eyes tear up. "Stupid Gene, where are you?! Why did you have to-" Mei-Lin lightly pounded his chest as she started to cry but winced feeling her head hurt. It must have been when she got hit by the shelf, which meant she was still unconscious in the real world. Eugene gently set her down and patted her head.

"You should rest a little longer."

"I don't want to." Mei-Lin's eyebrow furrowed as she looked up at Eugene. She held his hand and tried to fight the urge to sleep. Eugene smiled softly as he watched his stubborn friend try to stay awake. She had so many questions and wanted to say so many things but that would have to wait.

"Still so stubborn. Rest. We'll see each other here soon..." The lights slowly began to dim away and all she saw was darkness but wanted to say at least one thing before she woke up.

"I miss you... Oliver and I both...miss you."

✛幽霊∞✛∞シリーズ✛

Monday, Day 5

✛幽霊∞✛∞シリーズ✛

Mei-Lin let out a small groan and woke up to see she was inside the van and covered with a blanket. She heard the voices of the others and saw they stepped away a bit to discuss their current circumstances. Kuroda had already left leaving only Ayako, Housho, John, and a once unconscious Mai there. After Mei-Lin was hit with the shelf, Housho pushed it off her and carried her out of the building only for Mai to get hit by a shelf herself, which resulted in Ayako and the others helping her out. The group could only wait anxiously for the two girls to wake up and fortunately, Mai was the first one to recover.

"Say, don't you think something feels wrong here? The exorcisms had absolutely no effect." Ayako said. "It's about time we thought about our own safety, isn't it?"

"You're saying you want to run away?" Mai asked. After all of that, she just wants to call it quits and run away?

"Now, look! It was your boss who ran away first, wasn't it?!" Ayako retorted, she refused to be seen as the one trying to run away when it was their boss who ran off! "He's probably at home, quivering right now!"

"Are you serious about this?" Mai couldn't help but find it to believe. That Naru the narcissist is quivering because of ghosts at home?! Unbelievable.

"No, he probably ran away because of us," Housho admitted. "We did all gang up on him this afternoon, after all."

"You mean, that incredibly swollen-headed, self-assured, world's greatest holier-than-thou narcissist?" Again, it was just too hard to believe.

"In Shibuya's case, he probably got mad and went home to make up some straw effigy dolls, don't you think?" John suggested. Housho, Ayako, and Mai stared at him in shock before imagining that. Kazuya in a dark room pouting... with a bunch of voodoo dolls that look like them. They couldn't help but laugh, the thought of it was too funny and very fitting!

"That sounds more like him!"

"I'll be glad to let him know that's how you think of him." Their laughter came to a halt when they looked over at Mei-Lin, who was wide awake and fixing her clothing.

"Mei! How long were you awake for?!" Mai said rushing to check up on the girl with the others.

"Since the priestess suggested running away." So since the beginning! The others couldn't believe the girl kept quiet for so long and watched her in shock as she checked her phone before grabbing a bag.

"Hold on, you should rest a bit more." Ayako tried to keep the girl in the van, worried about her injuries.

"I'm fine, there's still work that needs to be done anyway. You can run if you want but I'm going to continue my job until Kazuya comes back." Mei-Lin responded. Ayako got a bit irked and looked down at the girl, she was so cheeky! Mei-Lin looked over at Mai as she fixed the bag on her shoulder. "Mai, go to school. If there's anything important going on, Kazuya or I will contact you."

"Ah, r-right..."Mai looked away from the girl's gaze. Mai couldn't help but feel a bit awkward since only moments ago she was dreaming about Kazuya, her boss, and possibly Mei-Lin's boyfriend! She was going to take this secret with her to her grave! Mai watched as Mei-Lin packed a few things in a small bag before closing the door and locking the van... What was she planning on doing with that stuff?

✛幽霊∞✛∞シリーズ✛

"Good morning." Mai greeted her classmates as she entered the classroom. She made a quick trip back home to change into her uniform before rushing to school, fortunately, she was still on time. The first one to notice her was Kuroda and she broke away from a group to speak with Mai. "Good morning, Kuroda-san."

"Are you okay? Any injuries? What about the other one?" Kuroda asked.

"Oh, no. It's nothing. Mei is fine as well, in fact, she started working again the moment she got up. Sorry if I made you worry." Mai reassured her classmate before going over to her friends. "Good morning."

"Good morning!" Keiko and Michiru greeted back, rushing over to their friend.

"Hey, Mai, I heard you had something terrible happen yesterday," Keiko said, looking at her friend a bit worried.

"Huh? How do you know?"

"From Kuroda-san. She's been bragging it to everyone." Keiko pointed to where Kuroda went, seeing she was surrounded by their classmates.

"Still, it was surprising, huh?" Michiru asked Keiko.

"Mm-hmm, out of nowhere, Shibuya-san called us up." Keiko agreed. Wait, what?!

"When?!" Mai asked, grabbing Keiko by the shoulders.

"Last night, right?" Michiru answered, looking at Keiko for confirmation.

"Uh-huh."

"Last night? He's been missing since yesterday!" Mai said. "What did you talk about?"

"U-Um... this and that. Stuff about the schoolhouse, as well as, um..." Keiko answered nervously.

"As well as stuff about Kuroda-san." Michiru finished for her. What is that guy up to!? That jerk... Did he tell you why he never came back?! What on earth would he need all that information for?! If he had time to flirt and chat with her friends, he had enough time to call her or even Mei-Lin! Mai was going to ask her friends more questions when the door to the classroom opened and a teacher walked in.

"Oh, there you are. Kuroda... Taniyama..." He called out, grabbing both girl's attention. "Come to the Principal's Office."

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"Excuse us," Mai called out politely as she opened the door and entered with Kuroda right behind her. What she wasn't expecting was for the people to be inside. Naru? Mei? Masako... and everyone else? Why? Standing in front of the principal's desk was Kazuya and Mei-Lin while everyone else was seated down, even Masako, who just recently left the hospital.

"Please sit down." The principal instructed the two girls, gesturing to the two empty seats beside the group.

"This is now everyone who is involved with this case, right?" Kazuya asked looking over at Mei-Lin. Mei-Lin did a glance around the room and nodded her head. This was everyone. "All right, let me have a moment of your time." Kazuya signaled Mei-Lin to turn off the light and close the curtains. Once the room was completely dark, he turned on an odd-looking light that Mei-Lin carried in her bag earlier. The large, round bulb glowed bright pink, slowly turning on and off.

That's a strange light. It comes on, then goes back off. Mai thought to herself as she stared at the bulb.

"Please focus on the light," Kazuya instructed in a calm, and soothing tone. "Please match your breathing to the light. Slowly now... relax your shoulders... Can you hear yourself breathing?" Mai felt herself slowly feeling sleepy as she listened to the instructions, her mind becoming foggy and all she could see was the light. I'm feeling sort of sleepy... Maybe it's because of what happened last night... I could just be tired... "Inside your mind, please count your breaths." Naru's voice is so far away... "Tonight, the chair on the 2nd floor of the old schoolhouse will move. Tonight, in the laboratory, in the old schoolhouse." Chair? Laboratory... chair... chair...

Seeing that the group was in a trance and with the suggestion implemented, Mei-Lin opened the curtains, letting light into the room. Everyone winced and shielded their eyes from the sudden light. "Very good. Thank you very much." Kazuya said. The experiment was done, now all that was left was the results.

"That sure is bright," Housho commented with a yawn while rubbing his eyes.

"What's going on here?" Ayako asked, shielding her eyes from the sun, still feeling a bit tired from earlier. While the others were getting themselves together, Mei-Lin and Kazuya were packing up light, preparing to head back to the van. Mei-Lin looked over at them and saw that everyone was looking at the wooden chair, suggesting that the suggestion worked. Mei-Lin and Kazuya left the office, with their business done. She opened her mouth to speak with Kazuya before Mai came out of the office and rushed toward the both of them.

"Naru! Mei!" Mai called out as she caught up to them. "Where did you go yesterday?" The question was directed at Kazuya, wondering where he was while they were dealing with the old schoolhouse.

"Here and there. I heard you got hurt." Kazuya replied. Mai glanced over at Mei-Lin, he must have heard it from her.

"It wasn't any big deal. Say, what was that earlier?" Mai said, brushing it off. She didn't get hurt that bad so she didn't think it was a big deal.

"Don't you have to get back to class?"

"Never mind that."

"I get it. You want to be stupid." He commented with a smirk, looking back at Mai.

"Huh... I see. No wonder you're ignorant." Mei-Lin commented looking off to the side. If she had this attitude with the school it's no wonder why she's like that. Mai reared back, irked at their comment as she let out an annoyed growl. Both Mei-Lin and Kazuya had reached the school's entrance and were putting on their shoes before Mai snapped out of her annoyed state and rushed after them.

"Hold on, there's something I wanted to ask you," Mai said quickly. "Did you come back last night?"

"To the old schoolhouse? No. Why?" He asked. Mei-Lin's eyes widened a fraction but it was so quick that no one noticed it luckily. Did she... There's no way right.

"Oh, um, no reason," Mai said a bit nervously with a light blush dusting her cheeks. "Well, I'm going back to my classroom. Bye-bye." She waved to the both of them nervously The both of them looked back at her suspiciously...they may need to see if she broke anything when they weren't there. When they were far away enough so that Mai or anyone could listen in, they started discussing business.

"...Did he say anything about where he is?"

"No, he just told me to sleep and it seems like it only happens at certain times." The time that Mei-Lin checked her phone, she got a message from Kazuya saying he has a new theory he wants to test and ordered her to grab the lamp and meet up with him. Of course, she texted him that she had something to tell him as well and was quick to inform him of her vision of Eugene.

"I see, it looks like we'll just have to wait and see then. Though now we can add latent ESP to your abilities." Kazuya said as he patted Mei-Lin on the head. Though normally this would make Mei-Lin happy she looked at Kazuya with a blank expression.

"...I'm not going to be dissected, am I?" Kazuya had a small smirk and even chuckled a bit.

"Who knows?" He walked ahead of Mei-Lin, heading towards the old schoolhouse. Mei-Lin let out a sigh and followed after him, she should have known. But what else was she supposed to expect when this was the guy she fell in love with... and unknowingly, another had also fallen in love with him as well.

✛幽霊∞✛∞シリーズ✛

Mai felt incredibly nervous as she made her way to the old schoolhouse to meet up with Kazuya and Mei-Lin after they left she started to think why she was dreaming of Kazuya the way she did and she only came to one conclusion, she was in love with Kazuya. It was already evening and she was sure that she would be fine seeing him face to face... until her eyes landed on the narcissist who was wearing headphones as he listened to the audio in the van. When she saw him she immediately remembered the look of his smiling face in her dreams. Ah, no! I'm remembering it, no matter what I do! Mai cried out in her thoughts as she covered her face, becoming more and more flustered. Then, I really am... The moment she thought that and peeked out of her fingers, Kazuya looked her way, staring at her. D-Don't look over here!

"Mai, were you the one who set up the microphone on the 2nd floor last night?" Kazuya asked, ignoring the girl's strange behavior.

"Uh-huh. Mei-Lin suggested it. I actually wanted to set up the video too, but I couldn't figure it out... Also, she said for now it may not be necessary." She explained nervously.

"It was a pretty good job, for you," Kazuya said. "It picked up some fairly interesting sound." Mai didn't say anything and stared at Kazuya in a small daze as she admired his handsome features. Kazuya noticed that she was being very quiet and looked at Mai again. "What?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Hey, you know those shoe cubbies?" Mai quickly came up with a topic so it didn't look like she was just staring at Kazuya with a lovestruck face. "The ones that fell over? They were warm! You said that objects that poltergeists moved had elevated temperatures, right?"

"I'm impressed you remembered," Kazuya said.

"Mm-hmm."

"Oh, Mai-san's here, too," John said. Mai looked over and saw John walking over to them, standing beside Mei-Lin who was carrying several wooden boards and a pack of markers.

"John? Mei?" Mai was curious as to why he was here, looking back and forth between Kazuya and Mei-Lin as he helped her with some of the materials.

"All right, shall we get started?" Kazuya asked. Everyone here, now they needed to set up the scenario.

✛幽霊∞✛∞シリーズ✛

"Hmm. A chair, and a night-vision camera?" Mai said aloud as she watched John set up the camera while Mei-Lin sat a chair in the middle of the room and drew a circle around it. "Hey...Hey, I said!" Mai called out to Kazuya to ask what exactly it was they were doing, getting annoyed at how he wasn't answering, before seeing he was tinkering with another gadget. "Naru-chan, what's that?"

"Radar." He replied

"You mean, that thing that's on airplanes and stuff?" Mai asked. "What are you using it for?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't work."

"But I'm your assistant," Mai said with her hands on her hips, frowning.

"Correction, temporary assistant until the debt is paid off, meaning this case." Mei-Lin corrected from inside the room. Mai flinched a bit and pouted.

"Still!"

"No, I can't. I'll let you know tomorrow, but you can't ask me until then." Kazuya said firmly. He was going to say that she couldn't ask Mei-Lin either but there was no way that Mei-Lin would willingly answer. Of course, his answer only made Mai pout even more so her cheeks were very puffy.

"Shibuya-san seems to have a plan. Why don't you wait until tomorrow."John suggested, trying to calm Mai down. Kazuya ignored them before picking up a hammer and holding it out to them, making Mai flinch. Did she think he was going to hit her with it?

"Take that plywood over there, and board up all the windows and doors in this room for me," Kazuya ordered. Mai took the hammer and stared at it before getting to work. Instead of giving in to temptations and hitting him with the hammer she decided to take her frustration out on the plywood, hammering the nails in. For crying out loud, he could at least tell me a little bit, couldn't he!?

After several minutes passed of her putting up the plywood, with the help of Mei-Lin and John, everything was boarded up. "All finished." Mai was exhausted both physically and mentally. Mei-Lin and John both noticed that the last nail she hammered in was bent so Mei-Lin was quick to pull it out and hammer in a new one. As she did that, Kazuya held out a marker to the group.

"The three of you, sign all of the boards." He said. Mai and John shared a confused look but Mei-Lin was quick to grab a marker and started writing her name in big letters over each board. After the three of them signed each board they all looked at Kazuya and Mai was somehow even more exhausted than before.

"We're finished writing..." Mai panted out.

"All right, then sign here, too. When you finish, you can go home." Kazuya said, his hand on top of a piece of paper that was taped on top of two boards.

"Say, what's the meaning of all of this?" Mai asked him while they all wrote their names on the paper.

"You'll find out, come tomorrow."

"Hold on, Naru!"

"Shibuya-san has something in mind," John said trying to calm Mai down. "Why don't we just wait until tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, then! Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow!"

✛幽霊∞✛∞シリーズ✛

Tuesday, Day 6

✛幽霊∞✛∞シリーズ✛

"...Or so I thought, but it's bothering me so much, I couldn't sleep at all!' Mai grumbled as she made her way to the old schoolhouse with dark bags under her eyes. Now that she thought about it when was the last time she got a decent amount of sleep? "Huh?" Mai looked up and was surprised to see a third figure instead of the usual two, however, it wasn't John or anyone else but Kazuya's other assistant. "It's the real assistant. This is so awkward. I'm the one who got him hurt, and all..." Mai wanted to go back but it was too late to run when Mei-Lin and the other assistant turned back to look at her, which made Kazuya look back as well.

"You're awfully early, aren't you?" Kazuya commented when he saw her.

"W-Well, I can't stop thinking about that thing we set up yesterday," Mai said nervously. She was trying to avoid looking at Lin, who she knew was staring at her since she felt his and Mei-Lin's eyes burning the side of her head.

"Wait a little while longer. Everyone will be here soon."

"Everyone? You mean, Priestess, and those guys?" She asked. "but why?" Of course, neither Kazuya nor Mei-Lin answered her as they rummaged through the van. W-What's with him!? She finally, and reluctantly turned her gaze to Lin who was looking at her. "A-Are you feeling better now?" She asked nervously. Her question was met with complete silence and she swore that the temperatures dropped a few degrees! Hurry up and get here, everyone!

✛幽霊∞✛∞シリーズ✛

"So then, what are you going to show us today?" Housho asked. It was night time and everyone had finally gathered in front of the boarded room. Mei-Lin was looking at Lin with a very small pout. Lin was holding a camera and despite Mei-Lin insisting that she could hold it and that she shouldn't put pressure on his ankle, he stubbornly told her to be there if Kazuya needed anything.

"Shouldn't you give it up now, before you embarrass yourself?" Ayako asked.

"Says the two who failed to exorcise the so-called ghost, couldn't come up with an explanation and even thought of running away," Mei-Lin said. Housho and Ayako both glared at the girl but Mei-Lin just looked away with a blank expression.

"Mei, Mai, John, confirm that the paper you signed yesterday hasn't been torn," Kazuya ordered them. The last thing he needed was another fight breaking out.

"Let's see..." Mai said, moving closer with John to examine if there were any signs of sabotage or a break-in. "It looks fine, the same as yesterday."

"Yes," John confirmed.

"No problems here," Mei-Lin said.

"All right..." Kazuya said. Mei-Lin handed him a crowbar and Kazuya slightly nodded his head, telling her to stand back. With no hesitation, Kazuya started to pry off the boards surrounding the entrance in a fluid motion. Mai and John stared at him in shock. He was a lot stronger than he looked. Once the last board was gone, everyone started to approach the room but Mai and John stopped at what they saw in the room... How was it possible...

"Shibuya-san..."