Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume4 Chapter4 (section)

=== 4 ===

I could feel the ice-cold floor beneath my cheek. Brushing my forehead, some fragments fell down.

I opened my eyes. My surroundings were pitch-black and I could not see a thing. The weight on my back was very warm. Neither my arms nor my legs would be energized. As I tried to force energy to my extremities, the weight on my back disappeared.

At the same time sounds could be heard.

“Mai!”

That was Ayako’s lament.

“We are fine.”

Naru’s voice came from above my face. Naru rose just when I lifted my head. His shadow emerged through the door.

“Naru?! What happened?!” That was Lin-san’s voice.

“The ceiling collapsed. The floor also caved in. That’s all.”

Naru answered as though nothing had happened.

“Is everything all right?”

“Ah.”

Naru answered as he helped me up. He carried me and lifted me up. Lin-san caught my arms from above. Just like this I was pulled up, and placed on the corridor floor. As my body was moved, fragments of something dropped pitter patter down. 

Yasuhara patted my back. I did not quite grasp the situation. 

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m not sure. I think not.”

Yasuhara let out a breath with a “hu”.

When I turned back blankly, Naru grasped Lin-san’s hand and emerged from the room.

“You’re all right?”

“Ah. It’s not a big deal.” – said as though it was an insignificant event.

The monk said, “What do you call a ‘no big deal’? The ceiling fell in!”

“The ceilings of this type of buildings are only made up of soft wooden boards. It’s no big deal. Mai, are you injured?”

“I’m fine.”

Ayako turned and stared at Naru.

“Why is it able to cause something like this…” – in a trembling voice.

Naru did not answer, brushing his dust covered body. The Monk shone the torch around the Sickbay.

The floor had collapsed exactly following the shape of the wall. And covering that was scattered wooden boards from the ceiling.

“Don’t joke with me.”

The monk’s laughing voice grumbled.

“It has hatched.” I said softly to myself as I got up with Ayako’s help.

“Hatched?”

Everyone turned to me.

“En. They have always been dormant. Now they have already gathered enough energy to hatch. There’s already nothing we can do.”

“Mai, did you hit your head just now?”

Ayako gently shook me.

“…”

I did not answer. I felt no answer was necessary. Because, I knew. That was the truth of the situation…

Naru sighed as he walked on.

“Regardless, we cannot handle it as we are now. It would be better to seal the school.”

“The school will have a lot to say about that.”

“When they see this floor, they won’t be able to say anything – if they have any sense (of propriety) at all.”