"They were fine. Exactly how I said they'd be." I growled, stomping over to him as he selected a clipboard. A new day brought a nitpicky Naru, which meant I had no choice but to check on the equipment while he pored over the clipboard. "If it's not Lin it's Mai, and if it's not her it's me. I wonder how you'd survive on your own."

"I'd be great. No doubt I'd have a moment of peace." He said cooly, picking up a different clipboard.

I snorted, snatching up the one he'd just put down. "Staring at these isn't going to make the numbers change." I remarked. "Now, I could probably make something happen."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure I have an eraser somewhere." I made as if to search my pockets, but the clipboard was whisked from my fingers before I even budged a centimeter. I waggled my fingers tauntingly at him, but it was as if he hadn't moved. He turned a page calmly.

"Hello!" Mai called as she trotted over, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a night's sleep. I raised a hand in salute that she returned. "What are you doing?"

"Reviewing the data we collected yesterday."

"Huh." Bemused, she leaned over his shoulder. "Did you find anything?"

"Nothing unusual. Either there are no ghost or they're hiding for now...so there doesn't appear to be any danger at the present time."

I leaned against the van. "Y'know, I'd do the same if I was a ghost. Then, when you're least expecting it—"

"Well!"

I almost died of fright.

"Impressive equipment!" The voice—a woman, the haughty I-think-I'm-a-hotty type—rang out as two people stalked forward: the aforementioned woman with red hair and stylish clothes and a tall ponytailed man dressed slightly more sensibly. The man looked pretty impressed, but the woman kept on smirking. "For kids' toys they seem pretty fancy, don't they?"

Ah. There was a dangerous glint in Naru's eyes as he drolly asked, "And you are?"

"I'm Ayako Matsuzaki. Nice to meet you."

I bit back a gasp of realization. Ayako and Bou-san. The team would start to show up—not that they would act like a team in the beginning, of course.

"I'm not interested in your name."

Bou-san snickered. Figuring this would take a bit, I shifted position until I was a bit more comfortable.

Ayako looked like she was fighting back the urge to chuck one of her shoes at his head. Note to self: only tease her out of arm's reach. "Thanks. But you know, you can't exorcise spirits with your face."

Someone should've told her that before she caked her face with makeup.

That comment caught Naru's interest. "You're in the same business?"

"You could say that." She said casually, preening a bit. "I'm a miko."

Mai snickered incredulously. The gleam in Naru's eyes grew: here was what he'd need for revenge. He was almost as bad as I was. He smiled sweetly. "I thought you had to be a pure and innocent young lady to be a miko."

A vein popped in her forehead. "Oh? That's not how I look to you?"

"For starters, I'd say you look too old to be innocent." He watched her face flush red with a fiendish delight. Another note: get better at verbal sparring. "And you wear too much makeup to be pure."

Bou-san couldn't help it— he burst into guffaws that shook his entire body and, unfortunately for him, caught Naru's attention.

"And you? You don't act like you're Matsuzaki-san's assistant."

"No kidding." Bou-san straightened. "I'm Takigawa Hoshou, a monk from Mt. Koya."

Naru arched an eyebrow, completely unimpressed by the newcomers. "Mt. Koya now allows long hair on their monks?"

"He's an outlaw." Ayako put in, probably hoping he'd turn on Bou-san.

"I'm just taking a break!" He snapped. "Anyway, kids' playtime is over. We'll take over from here. The principal told me he no longer had confidence in you. Who could blame him. You're only seventeen."

That...wasn't fair. I was seventeen. Deeming that the conversation was no longer important, Naru returned his attention to his clipboard. Still, Bou-san wasn't deterred.

"The principal thought your company was established and trustworthy because your office is located in a nice, prestigious neighborhood like Shibuya." He said, a bit insistently. "But he mistook your name for your location, and once he found out the 'president's' age he decided to call in professionals."

"Is that so?"

Bou-san faltered by his lack of reaction, but Ayako took over. "But the principal is also overreacting, gathering so many people to work on an old building."

"That's right. I would've been enough."

"Well, we'll see about that." Ayako whipped around back to Naru. "By the way, little boy, what's your name?"

He still didn't look up. "Kazuya Shibuya."

Bou-san shrugged. "Never heard of you. Must be third-class."

"I've never heard of Takigawa Hoshou, either." Ayako inserted.

Instinctively my brain shut out the argument that ensued after. I almost wished Naru had waited to send me to check on the base. Mai looked startled, while Naru didn't seem bothered at all...like he was used to such banter. I leaned over to Naru. "I'll be back. I need a break from these two." I muttered.

His lips barely moved and his voice was just as low as mine. "Already?"

"Says a lot about them, doesn't it?"

I circled around the perimeter of the old schoolhouse, returning in time to hear Naru say, "Okay. Let's set the equipment up in there."

Naru was handing me a camera when Bou-san spoke suddenly, nervous. "Oh. Hey, that's..."

I followed his gaze. A solidly built older man in a suit, and...

"Oh, hello! How are things coming along?" He said warmly. I swiftly stepped behind Naru. "We have one more guest joining us. I'd like you to meet John Brown."

I peeked. A tall blond boy with large blue eyes beamed at us, like he'd been waiting to meet us and couldn't think of anyone else he'd rather meet. Without warning he bowed deeply, creating a 90 degree angle with his body. "Hello."

They froze. Even Naru paused and glanced over his shoulder at John, who went on as if nothing had happened. "I'm John Brown. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The principal chuckled awkwardly. "Brown-kun learned Japanese in the Kansai area..." he said by way of explanation as he slowly stepped back. "Please excuse me, I must go now..."

Another 90 degree bow. "Thank you." John said brightly, completely ignoring the fact that behind him, Ayako and Bou-san were laughing fit to die.

Naru stepped in, ever the mature adult. "Brown-san? Where are you from?"

"I'm from Australia."

From behind me and Mai, Bou-san managed to speak. It came out as a choked guffaw, making him sound worse than John. "Hey, dude, I'm begging you! Don't speak in such a weird Kyoto dialect!"

That confused the poor guy. "But if I want to speak politely, shouldn't I speak in the Kyoto dialect?"

"The Kyoto dialect is just one of many! Trust me on this. You need to stop it, okay?"

John thought about this for a moment, then shrugged and went back to smiling. "Then I'll try to speak more casually." He decided, very obviously not doing anything to change the way he spoke. "Are all of you psychics?"

Even Naru had to chuckle, making John one often most amazing people I've met. The only reaction I could elicit from him was a snarky response. "You might say that. What about you?"

"I'm an exorcist." Came the cheerful response. Right—John tended to have a higher success rate than the others, but it was still hard to reconcile this cliche Aussie with someone with the ability to drag spirits out and toss them out like nobody's business. Ayako and Bou-san sobered, watching him warily.

Naru was unfazed. "In Catholicism, I believe you have to be ranked higher than a priest to be an exorcist. You're very young even to be a priest." He remarked.

"You're very knowledgeable. Actually, I'm nineteen. I just look young for my age." John bowed deeply again to a bemused Naru and incredulous Mai.

Nineteen? Even though I'd already known it, it felt hard to believe while looking at him and then comparing him to the cold and formal Naru.

Even though they'd established that Naru was a nobody and probably a fraud, his natural air of authority led them into the base. Impressive as his equipment and setup was, they refused to let their earlier opinions be swayed. "How unfortunate that all your efforts have been in vain." Ayako announced, ignoring Mai's glare.

"I'm impressed. The president of a research center, with all this professional equipment. He must know what he's doing." Bou-san's tone made it clear that he felt the opposite. I cast him a dirty look. If there was one thing I hated, it was their type—those who felt that everyone but them was wrong. He noticed my glare and smirked.

Before I could give him a piece of my mind Naru spoke, looking and sounding completely uninterested and unimpressed. "Did you come here to play around or find a ghost?"

Ayako stormed out immediately, raging as if she'd been holding in a volcano. "This is why don't like kids!" She snapped, her heels clicking furiously against the wood floor. Bou-san followed after, but John hesitated. Poor guy looked confused.

"Aren't we all here to work together?" He inquired. When no response came from the retreating 'adults' he turned to us. "I feel a bit awkward. I'd like to help, so do you mind if I stay?"

"Please do." Came the courteous reply.

I flashed the relieved John a grin as he came to stand by the monitors. He gave me a respectful nod. "Glad to have you." I said brightly.

"Likewise. Are you Shibuya-san's assistant?"

"Um." I withered at a glare from Naru—he'd already given me three university-level lectures discussing the importance of me keeping my mouth shut—and even though it wasn't aimed at him, John cringed. "Sort of?"

"Hey, what's this image?"

The glare was transferred to Mai.

"I believe it's a thermographic image. Yellow represents higher temperatures," John pointed to a golden pixelated blossom, "and in contrast, blur represents lower temperatures."

"I see." Mai flashed Naru a dirty look, but he ignored her. "Thank you, Brown-kun. You're very kind."

"It was nothing. And you can just call me John." He replied, flushing and scratching his head bashfully.

Mai looked like she was about to say something but one of the monitors caught her eye. "Naru!"

I would've looked as well, but something caught my eye in the corner of one of the screens: a flick of braided black hair. It vanished on the first floor and didn't reappear. Either a ghost, or...

Without a word to Naru I dashed out of the room, hitching up my abaya a little higher once I was in the hallway. I pounded along, belatedly realizing that it would've been better to check which room the camera had been in. It was too late for that. If it wasn't a ghost, there was no time to spare—especially for me, probably the slowest runner in the world. It felt like an hour had passed before I'd found a classroom that looked slightly familiar, and when I was there it was empty. There was one clue, though: the window was opened. I clearly remembered that Naru had had the windows closed (I'd been the one to carry out that particular task, which was the only reason I'd remembered). I smiled to myself, a little satisfied.

"Bingo." I muttered.

A scream rang out through the air.

For a moment I thought it had been the window frame and reared away. My sense of direction kicked in a second later and I whipped around and again sprinted out the door and towards the scream. I really was pretty slow because by the time I reached the source, the door had been kicked down and Ayako was striding out indignantly. I slipped inside to see a petite girl in a kimono turn to Naru and say, "I've been meaning to ask you. Have we met somewhere before?"

Something flickered in Naru's eyes as he tucked the nail he was holding into his pocket. "No, I believe this is the first time."

The girl—Masako Hara the TV medium, I recalled—tilted her head. "Is that so?"

Mai sighed, clearly annoyed at the medium's apparent interest in him while Bou-san and John watched bemusedly. I felt for her: for some odd reason, looking at Masako made me feel very, very annoyed. "Naru! The sun is about to set."

"Ah." He quickly turned towards the window, ending the conversation with Masako at the same time. "We need to put our equipment in the second-floor classroom in the far west corner of the building. Then we should get out of here."

"Young one, you're not staying over tonight?" Bou-san inquired, stretching. I could imagine he was planning a restful night at some cozy hotel where he wasn't in annoying and annoyed company.

"Not tonight." Something in me died. Not tonight, he said, and that meant he"d stay over at one point. There was also no way I was walking back to our boarding house alone, so that meant I'd also have to stay. "Mai. Tomorrow after school, please be prepared to stay."

"Tomorrow is Saturday!" She looked as dismayed as I felt.

"Would you rather pay me back for the camera?"

She deflated, and not for the first time I felt bad for encouraging Naru to trick her into working for him. "I'll be there." She whimpered.