Dangerous Souls

Nightmare

Chapter 10-Newspapers

February Day 4 8:23 P.M.

"So much for sticking in groups of three," Monk said. He and Kiko were now searching the second dorm building, before heading for the Academic Building.

"Well, he said to stay in groups of three and then Mai runs off without John or Ayako realizing," she replied as they headed up the stairs. "It's easier to keep track of one partner rather than two."

"You have a point-hey!" He stopped one of the students heading to his dorm. "Hey, sorry, have you seen her? She was supposed to meet back at our Base a little while ago and isn't answering her phone." He knew it was a lie, but the student didn't know. Monk held up his phone that had a picture of the two of them from more than a year before.

The student studied the picture for a second, you could practically see the wheels turning in his head. "Sorry, man, I haven't seen her." He shrugged and walked off.

"Thanks anyway," Monk sighed, crossing his arms. "I know Naru wants us to head to the Academic Building, but all of the students for the most part have returned to their rooms for the storm."

"And one of them might have seen where she went," Kiko nodded. "When did you take that picture with Mai?"

"It was right after one of the first cases we had," he answered. "Mai and Masako both asked Naru to investigate a local park. Mai asked first, Naru declined. When Masako asked, he decided it was interesting enough for him."

"I bet Mai was thrilled." She smiled as they walked down the hall.

"Not at first, but then we found out that the spirit was targeting couples. She wanted to be paired up with Naru, but Masako got to him first." He smiled at the memory. "Long story short, Masako took Naru out for dinner to thank him for taking the case and Mai was bummed out, so I took her out."

"You took Mai out on a date?"

"She needed a little cheering up, and Ayako came along with John."

"The poor priest."

Monk laughed. "It was a fun night. This is the picture I have with Mai's contact info." He pulled out his phone again and showed Kiko the picture of the monk and Mai hugging.

"She reminds you of your sister, doesn't she?" she asked, he nodded. "That's why you've been protective of her."

"They're both stubborn as hell and Mai's only a few months younger than Hoshiko. I didn't like it when Ayako brought Mai here for this case, but I also didn't like any of you girls having to be a part of this. When I found out what happened to her..."

"You thought about Hoshiko and you're almost glad that she decided to pursue acting instead of going to a college where this was going on." She found another student in the hall. "Hey, excuse me!" She grabbed Monk's phone and showed the young man. "Have you seen our friend? We can't find her and we want to make sure she's not out in the storm."

The man cocked his eyebrow up as he tried to place the face on the picture. "That's the chick with the shiner, right?" Kiko nodded. "I saw her about an hour ago coming out of the Academic Building. Not sure where she was heading, but she looked preoccupied."

"What do you mean?" Monk asked, taking his phone back.

"I was coming out of that building too, so I only caught a glimpse, but from what I saw it looked like she was spacing out and not realizing where she was going."

"You didn't stop her to see if she was okay?" Monk crossed his arms and scowled.

"Hey, I saw the eye and I don't want to get in the middle of anything. Not my business to know where she got that from. Not my business to know where she was heading."