Ghost Hunt Volume 1 Chapter 4
Sep. 22nd, 2017 12:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sera131Table of Contents
Chapter 4 - Central Pressure 912 Millibars
1
“What did you just say?”
It was the next morning. Michiru looked at me closely.
“Enter rival.”
“Who!?”
Hey! Don’t strangle me, Keiko!
“Her name’s Hara Masako. You know her?”
“The Hara Masako that appears on TV a lot?” Yuuri asked.
“Do you know her?”
“Yeah… She’s always on the psychic special features of talk and variety shows… She’s about the same age as us. She's pretty, huh…”
“Sort of. She looks like a Japanese doll, though.”
“Did she go for Shibuya-san right away?”
“No, it was the other way around, Naru-chan…”
“No way!” Keiko tried to strangle me again.
“I’m telling you, that sharp-tongued Naru didn’t say a single sarcastic thing to her. I bet he only goes for pretty girls.”
“Gah…” Keiko said dejectedly.
“Anyway, you probably don’t want to hear this, but you should give up on Naru. He’s two-faced, a liar, sarcastic, and narcissistic.”
“But he’s hot.”
...It’s fine as long as he’s good-looking?
As I was feeling completely fed up with her, my eyes met with Kuroda-joshi’s, who looked like she was spying on us.
She’s an oddball, too. I wonder if having psychic powers warps a person’s personality.
Kuroda-joshi looked like she wanted to say something.
I thought she was going to make some kind of comment, but she suddenly just left the classroom.
...Hmm.
***
When classes were over, Keiko and the others kept bugging me to tell them about Naru. But explaining everything from scratch is tiresome, so I quickly headed to the old school building.
The weather was nice today, too.
But if I have to stay the night and it rains, the atmosphere’s gonna be unbearable!
Still, I find it oddly reassuring, or rather I don’t feel so scared, knowing that such strong-willed psychics will be running about.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
I entered the old school building while muttering in my head. I’m totally fine. I’m not scared.
“Heyo!”
When I flung the door open, Naru wasn’t there. Instead, a unsettling person stood in front of the equipment.
Shoot, it’s Kuroda-joshi.
“...What are you doing?”
“Nothing. I just came to see how it was going. Shibuya-san wasn’t here.” Joshi touched one of the machines.
“You shouldn’t touch that; Naru will get mad.”
“Really?” Kuroda-joshi continued to touch it. While running her finger along the edge of the machine, she said, “Hey, what happened yesterday?”
“What happened…? Not much. Naru said there wasn’t anything unusual.”
“What else?”
“Well, there was the incident where Miko-san got locked in a classroom. But everyone’s divided on whether or not that was due to a haunting.”
“Why?” Joshi glanced up.
“...The medium, well, she said there weren’t any spirits here. But Miko-san made a fuss about it being a Chirei.”
“I see… The medium, that’s Hara Masako, right?”
“Yeah.”
“She’s a fraud.”
“Huh!?”
A fraud…?
“She just gets attention on TV because she’s a little pretty, you know? She doesn’t have any psychic powers.”
“...Huh?”
What’s she getting at?
“There’s a spirit here. And it’s a strong spirit.”
“That’s just a feeling, right?”
Kuroda-joshi stared at me fixedly. “I… was attacked a little while ago.”
What!?
“When I was walking in the corridor, someone suddenly pulled my hair really hard. When I tried to get away, they grabbed my neck…”
“No… way.”
“It’s true!” She smiled. It was a sinister smile. “I heard a voice. It said, ‘Your powers are too strong, you’re getting in the way.’”
The air around us stilled.
Kuroda-joshi looked as if she wanted to say something.
There was nothing I could say in reply. I mean, I didn’t know. I’d never seen a spirit before. I had no way of telling if what she said was true.
There were conflicting views. Masako said there weren’t any spirits here. Naru said it was dangerous inside haunted houses.
Unpleasant rumors. An old school build that had fallen to ruins while it was left half demolished.
As we lapsed into silence, Naru returned. He looked between us. “What’s going on?”
***
Having finished listening to Joshi’s story, Naru mulled it over for a moment. “When was that?”
“A little while ago. I got scared and was going to go outside, but then I noticed all the equipment in here. Then, after I went inside, Taniyama-san…”
Naru placed his pure white fingers on the computer keyboard. “Let’s play the video. Where was it?”
“The second floor corridor…”
***
Naru rewound the video.
There were more than ten TV monitors. The videos replayed on those as well, a row of numbers at the edge of their screens.
The numbers changed with every second.
Ah, it’s counting the time.
When it showed the number, “13:12:26,” the sound of light footsteps came through the speakers.
Joshi appeared on the camera in the entryway.
She looked around, then went up the stairs. She was acting a bit nervous.
She disappeared from the video of the entryway. A moment or so later, one of the cameras on the second floor captured her coming up the stairs.
She climbed to the top of the stairs and scanned the area from side to side.
It happened then.
A white, horizontal line flashed across the screen. It happened again and again. Then the screen filled with static. It showed up like the rustling static on a TV at the end of broadcasts, and then the video cut out there.
“What the heck! It’s broken.”
Naru looked over the other TV screens. The other videos were fine. Only the TV showing the area of the second floor corridor around the stairs failed to display anything.
“...It couldn’t possibly be broken,” Naru said, fiddling with the equipment.
The screen remained unchanged.
“Could this be significant?” Naru murmured.
“...Huh?”
“Sometimes, when a spirit appears, video and cameras stop working properly,” Naru explained, then looked at the screen. “This— I wonder which it is. A spirit or electromagnetic interference… or….”
He fell into thought. After a moment, he turned toward Joshi. “Kuroda-san, you said you heard a voice, right? What kind of voice was it?”
“It was hoarse, but I think it was a girl’s voice.”
“I see…”
“Hey, Naru? Masako said there weren’t any spirits here, right? Why’d she say that?”
“I don’t know… I thought her abilities were reliable…”
...For real? Isn’t it just that you wanted to trust Masako because she’s pretty?
Kuroda-joshi tilted her head. “I wonder if Hara-san’s actually sensitive to spirits.”
“Well… female mediums tend to have ups and downs. Or maybe the spirit’s wavelength matches yours.”
“Eh?”
“If there’s a spirit in the old school building, it’s possible that spirit’s wavelength matches yours considerably.”
Joshi smiled. It was an odd smile. “Could be.”
As she answered, voices and the sound of several footsteps could be heard.
Miko-san, Bou-san, John, Masako, the principal, the vice principal, and the guidance counselor appeared.
Miko-san was at the front, wearing hakama with a white kimono.
Miko-san’s exorcism was set to begin.
2
“Watch closely now.” Miko-san cast a sidelong glance at Naru, smiling triumphantly.
She ordered John and the teachers around self-importantly, making them set up a plain, wooden altar in the entryway. Oh, John, you poor thing.
While watching them work, Bou-san asked, “Do you think she can do it?”
“Who knows.” Naru’s eyes were cold.
“Well, I guess I’ll at least watch and see how it goes. What’re you going to do, boy?”
“I’ve never seen a Shinto exorcism ritual before. I think I’ll watch.”
***
Miko-san stood in front of the plain, wooden altar that was set up in the entryway. The three teachers solemnly lined up behind her.
As for us, we didn’t really feel like lining up there, so we observed the ritual from the lab’s corridor-side window.
Miko-san clapped her hands and waved a rod with fluttering white paper attached to it. ...I think that’s called a haraigushi.
“Tsutsushinde kanjou tatematsuru, miyashiro naki kono tokoro ni, kourin chinza shimaite…”
Wow, what is she saying?
“Shingu no harai kazukazu kazukazu, tairakeku yasurakeku, kikoshimeshite nekau tokoro o kannou nouju nasashimetamae…”
“What is this? What is she saying?” I asked Naru in a whisper.
With an annoyed look, he said, “Be quiet. You don’t know what Norito is even though you’re Japanese?”
“Norito?”
“Shinto incantations and such.”
Oh. This is my first time hearing that.
Ayako calmly performed the ceremony.
I wonder if it’ll work.
“Chihayafuru koko mo Takamanohara nari, atsumaritamae yomo no kamigami…”
Norito sure sounds monotonous….
I wish I could at least understand what she’s saying.
“Namu honzon kai Marshi-ten, rairin ekou kikou shugo shitamae.”
Aaaah… I’m sleepy…
I shamelessly fell asleep halfway through the ceremony.
Well, I’ll probably be forgiven since Bou-san slept through the whole thing.
3
“There is nothing to worry about now. You can start construction any time after today.” Miko-san smiled at the principal after the ceremony.
...Seriously?
Well, the principal seemed happy. He was all smiles, praising Miko-san.
Masako and Bou-san looked at her with contempt.
“Why don’t we throw a dinner party tonight?”
“Just in case, I make it a rule to spend the night after an exorcism to keep an eye on things.”
“Oh, I see! As you’d expect of a pro.”
Hey, Principal, quit drooling!
“Well then, you haven’t had lunch yet, have you? Let’s get lunch or something somewhere.”
It happened as he was fawning over her.
…*Creak*
An unpleasant sound suddenly came from the ceiling.
The teachers and Miko-san halted abruptly and looked up at the ceiling.
It came from the entryway, near the entrance.
*Snap* —It sounded like something breaking.
At the same time, the glass in the transom window above the door cracked.
*Crack* The window clouded over and in the next instant, burst inward. Shards of glass rained down directly on the principal and the others, who were immediately below the window.
***
“Nothing to worry about, huh?” Kuroda-joshi aimed sarcastically at Miko-san. “What’s wrong? Can’t perform an exorcism, can you?” She chuckled.
Miko-san glared at Joshi, but didn’t say anything. Covered in bits of broken glass, Miko-san was uninjured, but the principal’s head, with its receding hairline, had been covered in blood. There was no way she could say anything in response.
“That was an accident,” Masako threw out coldly.
Miko-san nodded at Masako’s words. “That’s right. I properly…”
“...That does not mean you were able to perform an exorcism. There were no spirits here to begin with.”
A three-way standoff.
Masako says there isn’t a spirit, Miko-san says there is a spirit, but she exorcised it, and Kuroda-joshi says there’s a spirit, but it wasn’t exorcised.
On one side, the three women were glaring at each other. As for the guys, they just puzzled it over.
“Maybe it’s a coincidence?” John said, tilting his head.
Bou-san said, “Maybe there’s something after all? Something too strong for Miko-san to handle.”
Naru lowered his gaze. “...If that’s the case, though, there should be more of a response from the instruments.”
Aah, I’m getting irritated.
I wish I were psychic, too. Then I’d outwit these guys and solve this right away.
I absently looked at the TV screens.
Suddenly, I noticed something odd about the western classroom on the second floor.
I set up equipment there yesterday, so I remember it.
There’d been a mountain of old desks in the room, piled in front of the blackboard. Weren’t there a bunch of old chairs cluttered in front of that?
...And yet…
“Naru.” I called to Naru, who was talking with Bou-san and the others.
“What is it?”
I pointed at the screen. Somehow, a single chair had appeared in the center of the classroom.
It wasn’t like that yesterday. There wasn’t a chair there.
After knitting his perfect eyebrows, “Did someone go in the western classroom?” Naru asked the group of psychics behind him.
They exchanged glances.
“No… ?”
4
While everyone watched, Naru rewound the video.
It replayed on the screen.
Looking at the time, the glass was just about to break in the entryway.
One camera was recording in the entryway, but it was facing the altar, so the scene where the glass broke wasn’t pictured. Only the sound was captured in the video.
Just then, on the screen showing the western classroom, the chair moved. No one had touched it, though.
All of the chairs had been sitting haphazardly in front of the blackboard. Out of nowhere, the dusty chair had moved a great distance. It moved even farther. The chair slid across the floor, catching again and again, then stopped close to the center.
The distance it moved was around 50 centimeters.
***
“What does this mean?” I looked up at Naru.
“...I don’t know,” Naru said.
Kuroda’s voice came from behind. “It could be a poltergeist.”
“Poltergeist?”
“I believe it means ‘Noisy Ghost’. It’s a spirit that does things like move objects and make noises. —Isn’t that right, Shibuya-san?”
“Yes. You know your stuff.”
“It’s common knowledge.”
...Sorry, I’m lacking common knowledge.
“I don’t think it’s a poltergeist, though.”
“Why?”
“Objects moved by poltergeist usually feel warm.”
“And…?”
“Looking at the thermograph, there was no temperature rise in that chair. There aren’t many cases like that.”
Kuroda-joshi stared at him blankly.
Thermograph. That was… a device that displays an object’s temperature using color codes so it’s visible to the human eye.
Hmm, is that right?
John looked at Naru. “I know that, but… aren’t there other things that satisfy the conditions for a poltergeist? I’ve got a feeling it’s a poltergeist.”
Naru faintly smiled. “Tizané, right?”
“What’s that?” Miko-san asked.
Masako looked at her with contempt. “Are you really a psychic?”
“What!?”
Naru raised his hand wearily. “As expected, Hara-san knows. E. Tizané. He was a French police officer, but he classified poltergeist phenomena.”
“Oh.”
Judging by his tone of awe, Bou-san didn’t know either. Kuroda-joshi was amazed, too.
“There are nine criteria in total. Bombardment, doors opening and closing, noises, knocking… Of the nine criteria, if we were to count the door closing on its own, the moving object, and the glass that broke, that’s three phenomena that have happened so far. I’d say that’s weak for a poltergeist, no?”
“What about the attack on Kuroda-joshi?” I couldn’t help asking.
As soon as I said that, Bou-san and the others raised their voices.
“What!?”
...Oh yeah, I guess they didn’t hear Joshi’s story.
Since I let that slip, Joshi had to retell her story and Naru had to replay the video… the one that strangely had nothing recorded.
Kuroda-joshi seemed somewhat proud, but Naru glared at me in irritation.
5
“Thoughts, Masako-chan?” Bou-san said somewhat facetiously from the silence.
“It’s just her imagination,” she said weakly.
Kuroda-joshi glared at Masako. “It’s not my imagination! Why don’t you just admit it already? There’s an evil spirit in the old school building!”
Masako stood up calmly.
“Are you running away?”
“...Running away? Why would I?” She stared at Kuroda-joshi. “I'm going to look around again.”
“You’re not being honest.” Miko-san smiled wickedly. “Why don’t you just admit it was a mistake?”
“...There are no spirits in the old school building,” Masako said flatly, then left the lab.
After watching her disappear from sight, John said, “She seemed shaken up.”
“No doubt,” Naru answered. “Psychics are considered such because they can perceive a reality the average person is unaware of. If you make a mistake, you can’t call yourself a psychic anymore.”
Oh? Covering up for her, huh?
You really are a sucker for a pretty face.
“You’re just a sucker for a pretty face, Naru.”
I was shocked for a moment, thinking that had escaped my lips.
But it was Kuroda-joshi who had said what I was thinking.
“What do you mean?” Naru gave her a cold look.
“You’ve been covering up for her an awful lot, haven’t you?”
“I’m familiar with her work and I have a high opinion of her abilities. So I’m just showing her the respect she deserves.”
...Hmm.
“I wonder.”
Whoa, I’m syncing with Joshi!
Is it possible we’re like-minded? Wow.
“Well, I wish you’d show us a little more respect,” Miko-san said irritably.
“What about you should I have a high opinion of, Matsuzaki-san?” Naru replied coldly.
...You really have a lousy attitude.
Bou-san laughed. “Well, you deserved that. You can’t perform an exorcism. And you got trapped and screamed.”
“When did I scream!?”
“You were screaming when you got trapped in the classroom the other day.”
“I didn’t scream!”
“Oh, then was that a bark? Were you yapping?”
...There they go again.
If Miko-san is a dog, then Bou-san is a monkey. They’re always fighting. Ah, shut up!
Miko-san nearly lunged at Bou-san.
*Crack*
There was a sound like dry wood splintering.
...Miko-san, don’t break the school building!
*Snap*
Everyone was silent.
The old school building’s ancient, so it’ll come down if you go thrashing about!
A sound like wood snapping came from the direction of the ceiling.
Bou-san looked around. “Rapping sounds?”
Huh? Rapping sounds…is that maybe what happens when a ghost appears…?
A chill ran down my spine.
*Snap*... *Crack*...
There was a sound near the western ceiling.
*Snap*
Following that soft noise, there was a crash and a crack ran down the blackboard on the west side.
A faint scream came from somewhere.
Then, a hush fell over the area once more.
John suddenly cried out. “Hara-san!”
Huh?
John’s eyes were fastened on one of Naru’s TVs. Quickly standing, he said, “Hara-san fell from a class on the second floor!”
Collaborators: bebekgulings
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