Chapter 2

Lin cursed.


I looked up from my book. It hadn't been there the night before, along with a baggie of candy, so I was starting to suspect that somehow it had gained magical properties. If only it had been given a sturdier frame. "What's wrong?" I asked with more than a little interest. If Lin spoke, something was probably up.


"Some kid entering the old schoolhouse." He hesitated. "Keep an eye on the screen for me. I'll go check what she wants."


More like terrify the living daylights out of her. I wouldn't want to be the poor kid when he finds her. I waited until she strode off before dragging myself over to the open back doors and plopped down where he'd been sitting. Sure enough, a girl in a school uniform was pulling open the door. It hadn't been too clear through the window, but now that the door was opened I could see a brunette pixie cut and anxious yet curious brown eyes. I had seen that somewhere...


Mai...


I scrambled for the earpiece under my hijab and flicked it on. "Oy, Lin!" I began, but my jaw dropped as I noticed a little bundle of wires next to me. He hadn't been wearing it...


Static. "Where's Lin?" Naru demanded.


"He went to the old schoolhouse—some student is sneaking around there." I said once I found my voice. "Look, he's going to get injured because of her. You need to get there as soon as possible."


"I'm going." Static, then silence.


I kept my eyes on glued to the screen. A bell rang in the distance. The girl stepped forward, eyes wide with wonder as reached out to touch it. "Huh. That's strange. I don't think someone could've forgotten it here..."


This, I decided, was impossibly cool and weird at the same time.


"Who's there?" Lin barked from somewhere off-camera.


The girl jerked away and scrambled backwards, stammering anxiously. "Oops! Sorry, I was just..." I closed my eyes as she bumped into a shelf. There was a yelp, a crash, then nothing. When I opened my eyes again, the screen was blank.


I sat back in the trunk, careful not to lean my back against the monitors. I waited about an hour or so before Naru strode back alone. "It was a bad sprain and a decent cut on his face." He said as a greeting. "Won't be able to stand for a few days, so I'm stuck with you. What do you suggest?"


"Give me a sec. Um..." I sifted through my mind. The answer came a few minutes later. "Right. Hire her as compensation for the camera and Lin's injury."


"The camera has insurance."


I shrugged. "She doesn't know that. Do you want the help or not?"


I'd scored a point. He nodded decisively. "Fine. I'll ask her when we go to meet those girls today." He said, taking up the laptop and headphones. "I hope you've prepared a story."


"I did, actually. 'Once upon a time, I was walking along when I was stopped by a kid named Kazuya Shibuya. He blackmailed me into working with him and forced me to tell scary stories.'" I glanced to see if I'd annoyed him, but of course he'd gone and slipped on the headphones the second I started talking. Stinker.


Hours passed, and nothing happened. Naru occasionally got up to eat and I did my best estimating prayer times based on the sun and the time. It felt like an eternity had passed before he stood, closing his laptop screen. "It's time." He gave my red and blue striped crop-hoodie a derisive glance, adding, "I've changed my mind. Please wait outside the old schoolhouse."


So maybe he had heard my story. He pointedly tucked the van's keys into his briefcase. Like I could've used them—I'd never driven before and I'd never learned. Still, he looked so smug that I decided I'd humor him this one time. I grimaced dejectedly, staring up at the clouds until he left before trotting off in the direction he'd indicated.


Like I said, only this one time. He was fair game after this.


What seemed like twenty minutes passed before he returned with a dejected Mai. He completely ignored me as he led her around the side to where a row of microphones were lined up outside the opened windows and promptly ordered, "Take those microphones down and gather them up. I'll get the mike stands."


She obeyed, and feeling a bit of pity I moved to help her. "Nice to meet you." I said brightly. "I'm Nira...Narumi."


Mai returned my smile with a hint of relief. "Mai Taniyama. Are you also working for him?"


"Um. I'm...a leech?" I offered. "Long story short, I'm stuck with him."


"It's the other way around." Naru corrected.


"Oh." Our answers didn't seem to make sense to Mai so she took the safest route of beginning to work. She and I carefully detached the mikes from their stands and carried them in our arms as Naru trailed after us, collapsing the stands. "So, what do you use these microphones for?" She asked as she struggled to get her hands around their thick circumference.


"I suppose microphones are generally used to collect sounds." Came the dry response.


I gave him a dirty look as Mai sputtered indignantly. "That's not what I was asking!"


"It's dangerous to go into a haunted building that you're not yet familiar with, so it's important to first collect as much information as possible from the outside of the building." He spoke like he read a textbook and ghost stories every night. Still, I couldn't help but admit that adult celebrity ghost hunters sounded like amateurs compared to him. "For example, record sounds from outside or set up cameras around the building."


Mai was just as impressed, her eyes wide as she worked. "So...aren't you scared of that haunted building?"


"Not particularly."


I couldn't help myself. "Oh, Lord." I muttered. He wasn't just a spooky textbook—he was a cool, collected spooky textbook. This time he gave me a steady stare before turning back to his work. I wondered how long it would take him to get rid of me. Judging from the info and advice I could possibly supply him with, not that fast.


Mai moved onto another mike. "By the way, why are you doing this at your age?"


There was no hesitation. "Because they need me."


They? I searched my mind for a they who'd possibly need Naru and came up blank.


His answer threw her off-balance. "Bu-but there must've been some cases you couldn't solve?"


"Never. I can always." He said solemnly.


Maybe it wash because he was so matter-of-fact when he said that. Maybe it was because of his obvious ego. "How impressive!" It was hard to tell if she was annoyed or nervous by his confidence. "Your handsome, and on top of that your capable of getting a difficult job done."


He paused, all of the mike stands bundled into his arms. "You think...I'm handsome?"


Her eye twitched. "Yeah...I guess. Everyone else seems to think so."


Naru turned as if nothing had happened. "I see. At least you have good taste." He remarked before striding off as if he hadn't said something mildly ridiculous.


Mai stood rooted to the spot, her outrage more than apparent. I sighed, shaking my head at his back as I adjusted my hold on the mikes. "Wow." I stated. "Just...wow."


"Hurry up and come over here!" He called in response.


He was standing at the van's open back, setting down the mike stands with a clatter. "Let's carry them out." He announced, gesturing to the equipment.


"You mean all of them?" Mai demanded.


"We're going to need everything." He remarked drolly. Already he was unbuttoning and rolling up his sleeves with the casualness of someone who'd done this millions of times before. "Nira, do you mind helping?"


"Not a bit." I chirped.


"Good. Take things down from the shelves for me and be careful." He said, stressing the last two words.


Mai still wasn't convinced, watching the equipment with the suspicion of someone unused to so much gear. "Do you really know how to use all of this stuff?"


"I'm smart, unlike you." Another rapid-fire response. "Let's go."


She paled. "Are we going inside?"


"Of course. Don't worry, I won't make you go inside by yourself."


Mai cast my spot by the van a longing look but followed him inside—it was either obey or pay him for the camera, and the latter was practically impossible for her.


Naru showed up a few more times to carry in more equipment, and when he came by for the last monitor and wires he briskly gestured for me to follow him. Dust swirled around us and tickled my nose, and as we passed through the first floor I noticed the fallen shelves and splatters of dried blood. Naru must've cleared up the camera's debris before stopping by to collect Mai.


They'd set up in the first empty classroom they'd found. Shelves towered high on one of the long tables, the monitors whirring to life. Naru plugged in the last one before turning to a long flat rectangular machine. "Ah, what's that?"


He continued plugging it in as he spoke, back in Textbook Mode. "It's a tape recorder, but this one is a little different. It can record for up to 24 hours. This is what we plug our mike into."


"What's it for?"


Naru's face darkened, a tape in hand. "I hate having to explain everything to amateurs." His voice was low and full of genuine loathing.


My eyebrows shot up as busied myself, checking that the wires were plugged in properly. I didn't bother hiding my grin as I listened to Mai's indignant response. "You knew I was an amateur when you hired me. If you've got a problem with that, then I won't help you!"


"She'd got a point." I said mildly, pushing a wire in even more. The monitor's image sharpened.


Naru tried to stare her down, but when that didn't work he let out a short, ill-tempered sigh. "It's to record the sound of a ghost or anything else unusual. All today I recorded the sound of the first floor through the window, just as a test."


Understanding dawned on her. "That microphone from earlier."


"Correct. We'll set the mike and recorder in the room."


I whirled around, horrified. "We're staying overnight?" I demanded. At the same time, Mai asked, "You don't stay overnight, do you?"


"Not yet." He ignored my relieved sigh as he readjusted another tape. Lin wasn't here to drive us around, but at least the place we were staying at was within walking distance. "If there really is a ghost, first I'll need to determine how powerful it is."


"You're the type of person who looks before he leaps."


"What?"


"You're extremely careful."


Huh. Why did she have to translate such a simple saying? I wasn't Japanese and I still understood it completely. I filed it away under Things To Look Into When Naru Isn't Being A Slavedriver. I returned from my musings in time for another sigh, and "It's an infrared camera." Naru was pointing out various boxy cameras. "To save you the trouble of asking, this is a thermograph and this is a super high-speed camera. The infrared and super high-speed cameras are for shooting in the dark. The thermograph is a camera that's sensitive to temperature and captures temperature levels."


Mai was finally impressed, mostly by the tech than her impromptu teacher. "Wow."


I yawned.


"I might as well teach you this, too. Thermography is to measure temperature—when a ghost appears, the temperature drops in the surrounding area."


"I see."


Naru wasn't sure about that, and to be safe he flashed her a glare. "Now if you understand, stop asking questions and get to work!" He snapped.


His tone urged her on. "Yes sir!" She called over her shoulder as she scrambled off with a clipboard, pen, and digital thermometer.


I gave him a dirty look. "That wasn't nice." I remarked.


"I had no intention to be so." Came the cold response. He began typing away, focusing on the glowing computer screen as the keys filled the air with their clicking. He was still typing when Mai returned, her papers completely filled out.


"I'm back!" She sang out. "I measured the temperatures in each classroom like you asked. This digital thermometer is pretty handy."


Naru took the clipboard, scanning the data and flipping through the papers. I leaned over his shoulder to see. "Nothing unusual...the temperature isn't lower in any particular area..." He muttered as Mai began to toss and catch the thermometer, the bulky device landing in her hands with a muffled whump.


Whump.


"The first floor's a little lower than the other classrooms..."


Whump.


His eye twitched. "But not enough to matter." He decided, handing me the clipboard.


Whump.


"Then that means there are no spirits here?" Mai asked hopefully, most of her attention on the thermometer.


Unable to restrain himself, Naru snatched the thermometer out of the air before she could catch it. "We don't know that yet. Ghosts can be shy. It's normal for psychic phenomenon to stop temporarily when an outsider comes in." He said shortly. "Anyway, this isn't helping us gather any information. First, let's position the infrared camera: four of them on the second and first floor hallway and one at the enterance. Nira, stay behind here and watch the base."


Mai's face soured, but she followed him grumpily. It was that or pay for the camera. I almost felt bad for giving Naru the idea of tricking her, but the plot had to go on.


I was deeply absorbed in a book—The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz—when he returned without Mai. "I sent her home." He said by way of explanation as he set the clipboard on a desk. "She'll be here tomorrow."


"Are you done?" I asked blearily from my spot on the dusty floor. I had my dinner of fried chicken while they'd been working, and when they didn't show up fast enough I dug through my backpack in hopes of some sort of entertainment that wasn't messing with the computer. I'd read the books billions of times before, but that didn't mean I wasn't grateful for it's sudden appearance. I stretched, wincing as a joint popped. "Man, I'm tired."


"Just a moment. Get your stuff together." He said absently. "Wait for me outside the van."


Yeah, right. I personally didn't believe in ghosts, but that didn't mean I was willing to wait outside a creepy-looking building while the sun was setting. I brushed my clothes off and stumbled over to the door where I paced until he straightened, shoving the clipboards in his briefcase. "Alright. Let's go."

Comment