Case Two- The creepy ass doll.

"Clearly the work of an earth spirit."

"Let's hope this time it actually is, we have yet to be swayed in our paranormal beliefs." Rachel laughed as the group settled into the new 'base' in the home of their new clients.

"Ooh, where's the pharmacy, we need some aloe vera here!" I snickered, eating a snickers bar. (A.N/ I'm not funny.)

"It's a human, the evidence speaks for it's self," Mai replied, crossing her arms.

"Land subsidence," We added in, monotonously.

"Don't forget, nearly half of all poltergeist are caused by women under stress..."

"Sensei Sensei! What's a poltergeist!?" Rachel called out childishly, throwing a hand in the air (A:N/ Ayoo~) Mai rolled her eyes and continued.

"The woman of the house doesn't get along with her sister in law, that could cause it."

"I'd buy it, she seems a bit unpleasant." Ayako nodded. Rachel and I sighed and sat down on a conveniently placed sofa. 

"I'd hoped the intro to the new case would be more interesting and dramatic," I frowned, watching the professionals discuss the case with avid curiosity.

"Yeah, like a ghost attacking, a love confession or something to shock our readers...." Rachel nodded in agreement.

"We should have said we were pregnant." I exclaimed, hitting my palm with my fist, eyes shining.

"Dayum, did you hear that? It was the sound of the fourth wall breaking." 

"Humanity has just received a grim reminder!" 

"It's amateurism at best." Naru's emotionless voice bought the two back to reality as he had his say in what was causing the case. He stood up, arms folded and face blank.

"The culprit is usually an adolescent child or a teenager. Norako's already in her 20s which, although there are cases, it's unlikely."

After setting up the cameras, we found themselves trailing after Mai, with nothing else to do but this or listen to Ayako complain or worse...Naru.

"Oh, I was just taking food to Ayami, would you care to join us, Mai? You two can also join if you'd like." 

"Yes, we'd love to!" Mai smiled, following the lady upstairs to Ayami's room whilst chatting to her. 

"I feel like a third wheel..." Rachel said, laughing, I nodded and muttered words of agreement as they arrived to see the small girl sat on the floor reading. She looked towards them with doe eyes, looking like a doll, although not as emotionless as the one sat next to her.

"I have chills," Rachel said as she spotted the creepy doll on the floor.

"Nice to meet you," Ayami said, holding the doll's hand out. Mai took her hand and greeted her.

"Hi, Mini!" Rachel said, also doing the same.

"Your dress is pretty, Mini!" I smiled. The girl smiled, clutching the doll to her chest.

"Are you enjoying your new book?" Norako asked, smiling. The girl looked nervous, holding the doll tighter and didn't answer. What had gotten over her?

"What's wrong?" Norako asked, as the girl turned away, a sad look on her face.

"Why don't you have some food?" Mai suggested, tentatively. The girl dismissed it and went back to where she had previously sat.

"I'm not hungry..."  She mumbled and we decided to leave, after a few minutes of silence, waiting for her to reply.

Naru had decided to do a hypnotic suggestion thing on the ladies of the house, much like what he did at the school. This time, me and Rachel got out of it though, as we weren't clients of the case. 

"Focus your eyes on the light," He said softly, the warm purple glow lighting the room as it dimmed and brightened in a calm rhythm. The three girls watched it, hypnotized by the glow, eyes wide and captivated.

"Tonight a vase will move." He said, switching the light off and sending them back to their daily activities. The vase was put in a chalk circle, locked in a room so no-one could move it physically.

By nigh time, the vase still hadn't moved.

"I'm bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, yeah," Rachel sung, as we sat waiting for something interesting to happen. So far, nothing.

"Boooored." Suddenly, the lady with the short hair who's name we kept forgetting burst in, making us jump in surprise. She was breathing heavily.

"Come quickly!" She gasped and everyone ran after her, myself nearly tripping trying to keep up with them. A strong arm prevented me from face-planting the wooden steps.

"Woah, don't fall," Monk grinned, helping me regain her footing. I  blushed and stuck my tongue out.

"I wouldn't have fallen, my prince saved me~" I joked, mentally face-palming at the stupid response.  Rachel nudged me and wiggled her eyebrows as we continued.

"What the...?!" All the furniture had been flipped over and moved away from the walls.

"I thought you people were supposed to stop this from happening!"

"Are you sure the little girl didn't do it?"Ayako scoffed, glancing towards Ayami who looked scared.

"The rug was moved too, even I don't have that strength..." Monk frowned.

"It wasn't Ayami!" The girl said shakily, as a deafening scream erupted from a neighboring room. The furniture had been flipped there too! 

"Classic poltergeist activity." Monk clarified.

"It's an earth spirit, I'll have it gone by the morning." Ayako said, sweeping out of the room.

"Where does she get her confidence from?" Mai sighed as the shrine maiden left.

"Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's mabelline!" Rachel and I sung. No-one got the joke. Culture shock much? 

"Looks like your onto something, care to share?" Monk turned to Naru who was posing- I mean thinking.

"Sharing is caring~" Rachel added in. Naru returned from his thoughts to look at the rest of us.

"Don't you think this is a rather quick response for a poltergeist?" Naru suggested, "Usually they back off in the first 24 hours..."

"Normally they shy away, like on the tv programs, nothing ever happens on camera. I think this is full on hatred," Monk frowned. "The house is aware of our presence and is trying to get rid of us, this poltergeist means business." Soon after, Ayami's room was declared off limits. We retired to our make shift rooms and prepared to sleep, however neither of us were tired. Rachel looked towards Mai, who was fast asleep. 

"Soo, your getting action with Monk, eh?" She joked, as we battled on mario kart.

"Nearly falling over and dying of embarrassment, you mean." I laughed, groaning as the Com2 driver hit me, causing me to fall two rankings. 

"I think he likes you," Rachel continued, smashing the buttons as we neared the end of the race.

"You think? I don't know, I'm not the love doctor, I suck at these type of things."

"Well, I think he does. We'll have to ask Mai for a second opinion!" 

"And to see if she still likes Naru!" I giggled, both of us freezing as we heard footsteps outside. We held our breaths, awaiting to see if the person would give away their identity, but nothing happened. We sighed and went back to our game.

"Do you think they heard?" 

The next morning, the vase hadn't moved. Neither had we because we fell asleep at 1 in the morning and slept through the first couple of hours of the investigation. 

"Mornin'" We said, shuffling into the room where the gang were watching Ayako doing her thing. She knelt in her shrine maiden uniform and waved the paper around, chanting. 

"Sometimes I amaze even myself!" She laughed as she finished the 'clensing' or whatever. She looked around, waiting for a response but was greeted with silence. A vein ticked in her forehead, Rachel and I had fell asleep again. 

We actually slept for the rest of the day, apparently, as when we woke up, the sky was black as ink. 

"Our sleep pattern is mucked up..." Rachel yawned, stretching her arms.

"It's Naru's fault, hey, where did this come from?" I added, holding up a blanket. Rachel shrugged and we sat for a moment, when a scream broke our eardrums and we fell off the sofa...wait since when were we on a sofa? 

"Kana!" Mai shouted from the kitchen and we ran to see what the commotion was. Gigantic flames licked at the ceiling as Monk struggled to put them out with the fire extinguisher, Mai and Naru defending Kana. When they finally died out, we all sat there, before Mai pointed to the window.

"Someone's out there!" She shouted, and Naru ran to catch the culprit, but no-one was there...

"There was a child..." Mai said, and we headed to Ayami's room where she was tucking in Mini ready to sleep. Norako flicked on the light and Ayami froze, turning towards us.

"Sweetie, were you just outside?" She asked. Ayami shook her head.

"Are you sure? Mai said she saw someone, now I'm not mad-"

"Ayami didn't do it!" She yelled. "Ayami didn't do it!" Suddenly, the furniture started shaking and a thumping noise echoed in the room. A bookshelf teetered and wobbled, descending to the floor...

"Aunt Nori!"

Extra;

~Mai's inner monologue~

Naru, that's my boss.

That's Lin, Naru's assistant.

Houshou Takigawa, a Monk from Mt Koya..

Ayako, a self styled shrine maiden and....

Asheigh and Rachel...college students from England.

Rachel: Wait...shouldn't it be more like this? 

                Naru, the boss ass bitch.

Ashleigh: Lin, the strong, silent type.

Rachel: Monk, who actually is a rockstar. 

Ashleigh: Ayako, the couger and...

Rachel&Ashleigh: Us! Rachel and Ashleigh the awesome stars of this story, destined for fame and fortune~!

Naru: No.

A.N/ I wrote this before the actual chapter //shot// hope you enjoyed it! Votes, comments and fans appriciated! Also, who's been reading Akumu no Sumu IE? The artwork has improved so much (not that it was bad) and Monk was looking mighty fine in that cardigan if I do say so myself! XD