Ghost Hunt Vol #3

Untitled Part 17

Ghost Hunt Novel Volume 3 EpilogueOctober 3rd, 2020Ghost Hunt Novel Volume 3 Epilogue
Translated by Hermina05 from Ruthless Nights Scans on October 3, 2020.
Not proofread.

Epilogue
Tokyo, Shibuya, Dougenzaka. "Shibuya Psychic Research". The office.

The office is full of people today too. It's the team of psychics. Nowadays, I feel like they come and go more often than the customers.
"Don't take this place for a tea house."
As they entered, Ayako said, "Darjeeling, straight." and took a seat.
"Isn't this cold? Giving a hard time even though we are on good term."
"This was a tough one."
"You say that a lot."
"Oh, you just noticed?"
"I knew it."
"You always have to be sarcastic."
Ayako went silent.
Heh. Serves you right.
Even so, I stood to make tea. Oh right. A Darjeeling straight for Ayako. Ice coffee for Bou-san, hot coffee for John and Japanese tea for Masako. Shouldn't you at least order the same thing or drink what is offered?
These guys (except John, who always says he doesn't mind what I bring). I walked around and gave everyone their drinks.
Today, as usual, Naru is locked in his office. Lin-san is organizing material in the other room.
Just as I thought that, Naru came out.
"Mai."
After calling out to me, he looked around and shook his head.
"Yes. How may I help you?"
Keep smiling.
I tried my hardest to be kind. He was just discharged from the hospital after a week-long stay.
He pointed at the sofa.
"Sit there."
"Okay."
"Lin"
Naru called and Lin-san came out of the other room.
He had a small machine in his hands. It was old with some English words on it.
"I want your help in an experiment. Is that okay?"
Naru pointed towards the machine. There were some LED lights (like light bulbs) on it. Four of them side by side. Each one had a number from 1 to 4. And below them were switches.
"One of the lights will turn on on its own. You need to guess which one it will be and push the button first. Can you do that?"
"I can... but what is this?"
"It's a psy. ability test."
Psy. ability... As in psychic ability test... Heh?
"It's useless. I have no powers."
"Will you do it or not?"
With a cheerful voice I said,
"I'll do it..."
Jeez. I surely don't have powers like this. It would be very useful in real life though. I could guess the answers in tests.
I mumbled.
The machine lighted up. I just pushed the buttons that felt right and the experiment began. The others looked at it with interest.
The experiment lasted nearly two hours. I was so tired. The results were bad. I knew I couldn't do this.
"Like I told you... I'm not good at this..."
As I said that Ayako and Masako both said "As expected."
I felt a little ashamed.
Naru looked at the paper with the results.
"As I expected..."
"What?"
"Mai has latent sensitivity."
What?
Ayako and Masako exclaimed at once.
"Sensitivity? Mai?! You mean like "sensible"?!"
Wow! That was not nice.
The both of them looked at Naru who turned to them with a serious expression.
"Sensitivity as in Psychological. ESP. Psychic."
What! You must be joking!
"I thought it couldn't have been pure coincidence that she had so good intuitions in this case."
Eh?!
I didn't know what to say.
"Zero hits out of 1000 tries."
"Huh?"
"You tried it a thousand times and never guessed it right."
"It's bad, right?"
Naru looked at me seriously.
"Why?"
He turned to the results.
"If you do it a thousand times, you should have a certain amount of correct answers based on probability. And out of a thousand tries the probability of getting it correct is 25%. That is the normal."
That is the normal... So, I'm not normal?
"Then what?"
Ayako leaned forward.
"You mean to say that Mai has psychic powers?"
"Something like that..."
Huh...? Me?
What should I say? I felt like I was in the spotlight suddenly.
"I see. So, this is why she had such a great insight in this case."
Bou-san said.
Then Ayako,
"Then how come she has not been useful up until now?"
"This was not the first time."
Bou-san said.
"What?"
"I thought Mai's intuition was pretty good."
"So, you agree with Naru?"
"Doesn't matter. But Mai was useful in the Morishita case too."
Ah, thank you, Bou-san.
"You're kidding."
"No. Remember, Mai had that weird dream."
Ah. I haven't told anyone about what dream Naru said. How do you know?!
"She said something weird when she fell in that well."
What... how?
"Mai probably saw the past of that family. Can anyone do that? It sounds like postcognition, doesn't it?"
I don't think so... But there is no way to check.
"And that child."
"Huh?"
"She saw the silhouette of a child when the gas burner exploded. When we went to Ayami-chan's room, she was in there. Which means that what she saw was probably a spirit, right?"
Well, if you say it like that...
Naru nodded.
"Bou-san, you've very observant..."
"You too, Naru-chan..."
"I thought it was weird."
Everyone's gaze was directed at me.
I might be cool too...
Yay!
"But"
Masako seemed to be the only one not satisfied.
"It doesn't mean that her ability is great. The spirit at that house was strong. Enough so that even people without insight could see it."
"But this time she saw a ghost even you couldn't see."
Ayako interrupted and Masako turned to her.
"This was a first for me. The case was special."
"Is that so? It's good. You're a human too."
"Still, it's better than being useless from the beginning."
The two women glared at each other while John tried to calm them down.
Naru simply added,
"Mai's sensitivity is towards harmful things. It's unusual."
Huh? Unusual...
"She has the ability to sense strong evil. Within spirits, she finds the ones that would cause harm. It's a self-defense instinct. Just like an animal. She can distinguish between friend and foe."
"Oh, I see."
Ayako laughed.
"But it's not really an animal's instinct. More like a beast."
"She has a spiritual antenna. Sometimes, children with fur and tail are born. Maybe she is like that too."
I'm a beast....
Ayako seemed happy.
"In other words, she has the body of a human and the heart of a wild animal."
These guys...
"Naru"
I got angry.
"I'm telling them."
I said loudly while glaring at Naru. He seemed confused.
"Who is the beast? Who is the one with unusual power? Huh?"
"Well... that was just an example."
Oh. How rude. Naru looked annoyed.
"Hm. Then what about you? Bending spoons isn't unusual?"
The office went quiet.
"Don't you think that bending and breaking a spoon just by touching it is unusual? I don't think ordinary humans can do that."
Everyone turned to Naru.
"Wait."
"Naru."
"No way."
While everyone looked surprised, a loud voice cut in.
"Naru!"
Lin-san...?
Lin-san looked angry.
"Did you really do that?!"
Naru's shoulders slumped. He looked like a 17-year-old.
"You mustn't..."
"Mai!"
Hmhp. Shouting now is too late. I already said it.
"Naru! You're not supposed..."
"I know. I know. I get it."
"You don't get it!"
This was new. We all watched the unusual scene.
Lin-san yelling at Naru.
Suddenly, Bou-san clapped his hands.
"Well, I want to see Naru's hidden talent."
"Ah, me too!"
Naru sighed. He seemed uncomfortable.
"Mai... I'll remember this."
Bleh.
"I want to see it! It's not fair that only Mai saw it."
"Yes. That's right."
Naru sighed again then took the spoon from his tea cup.
"Naru!"
Lin-san raised his voice but he stopped him.
"It's okay. I might as well demonstrate, right?"
Naru held the spoon between his right thumb and index finger. He lightly touched the spoon with his left index finger and it bent down.
"There."
He threw the bent spoon to Ayako.
"Impressive."
Ayako said then tried to do the same. I picked up my spoon too and held it loke Naru. I supported it with two fingers then pressed down with another. Nothing happened.
Amazing...
Suddenly, Bou-san cleared his throat.
"Um..."
"What?"
"That's nice and all but..."
Eh?
Surprised, we all turned to Bou-san.
"You are too easily impressed. Right now, he did that with the strength of his finger!"
"Eh? But I can't do it."
"He did it! You would know it if you watched from the side."
"But"
"Naru used his palm to support the spoon."
Eh? I quickly tried it. Put the handle of the spoon on my palm and pushed it... It bent. With just pure strength. John bent his too.
"Is it okay for a parapsychologist researcher to cheat like this? Eh?"
Naru turned to us with a satisfied smirk.
"The best way to avoid con men is to know their tricks."
Huh...
"I heard you like magic tricks... so that was it."
"Of course."
And we're back to work...
Lin-san sighed when Naru talked to him.
"I won't do it anymore. I promise."
"I want you to take better care."
"All right."
"How's that?"
Lin-san sighed again.

Well, that's it.
While playing around and teasing each other I feel like I got a little bit closer to them.
But I'll remember this. I won't let you call me useless next time!

--------------------------
Hello,
So this is the end of the novel. Well... the missing parts anyway. Now you can get back to to continue and read all the volumes in English . :)
I hope you liked my translation and enjoy this awesome series.
Bye,
Hermina