One Fine Day (Ghost Hunt) (NaruxMai)

Chapter 8

One Fine Day:

Chapter 8:

Blissfully unaware that a photo of him stroking a cat had been passed around, Naru met with Bou-san the next day to give him the cat. It was a Sunday so he spent most the day catching up with homework and trawling the internet for anything connected to the supernatural or the Seven Wonders of Japanese high schools.

The next day at school, the club members gathered together with Bou-san to discuss when and how they were going to sneak into the old school house. It was agreed on that the monk would make a copy of the key in the security guard's office and they would start investigating in three days time.

Naru occupied himself in that time by selecting the equipment that he wanted to use and wondering what to do with Mai. By now it was quite clear that she had some abilities that could not be chalked up to coincidence and her powers were developing as she had gone from just having feelings to remembering things she had dreamed about. If used correctly, her abilities could help to solve the case.

He resolved to test her as the case progressed. He was intrigued by her abilities and if he helped her develop them, his parents would be pleased. Or that was what he told himself.

***

The night they started investigating was a rainy one with the added amusement of thunder and lightning. Naru had to admit that the rain and thunder added a little atmosphere to sneaking around the school grounds at night. The girls did not feel the same way strangely enough.

They were huddled together in the rain waiting for Bou-san to unlock the padlock that secured the old school house. The monk had his flashlight between his teeth to find the keyhole and was having difficulty due to the rain and the poor visibility. The three females were hugging each other to keep warm as the night was cold and wet.

"I've done it," Bou-san announced triumphantly.

He pushed the door open and as he did so, there was a rumble of thunder and seconds later, a flash of lightning that caused the girls to scream and the monk and Naru to jump in surprise. Naru was the first to recover from the surprise. He switched on his flashlight and shone it inside.

"Come on. The thunder and lightning was a coincidence, don't let it scare you. The sooner we finish, the quicker we can all go home and dry off."

Extremely reluctantly the girls disentangled themselves from each other and followed the monk and narcissist into the building. They grouped together by the old shoe lockers to discuss strategies.

"This is only a reconnaissance to check for any signs of the stories mentioned so it's fine for us to split into groups," Naru ordered them.

"Shouldn't I be the one giving the orders?" Bou-san grumbled. "I'm the teacher."

"Who solved the previous case?"

Before an argument could break out between the monk and narcissist, Michiru pushed Mai towards Naru.

"Mai-chan is the only one that can deal with Shibuya-kun so they can go around together," she said eagerly. "Keiko-chan and I will go with Bou-san."

Naru found this arrangement pleasing. It had worked on the previous case and he had never really had a conversation with Keiko or Michiru without anyone else present so it would be awkward to walk around with one of them. Mai and Naru took the first floor whilst the others went up the stairs to the second floor.

"We cannot check the well or the statue because of the weather, we can look at those on another night," Naru said to Mai. "Therefore we only have to look for signs of the other five."