Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume3 Chapter2 (section)

===5===


When Naru and I returned to the conference room, we heard lively voices from inside. Everyone had returned.

"Did they just come back from exorcising?" I asked casually.

"Mai."

"What."

"I have a favor to ask of you."

...F-f-f-f-f-favor?! Naru wants a favor from meeeee?!

"...P-, please go on."

"About my bending the spoon earlier."

"Yeah?"

"Keep it a secret from everybody."

"Why? It was amazing."

"Please. Especially from Lin."

...Wha. O-okay. But why?

I really want to ask him about the details. But Naru looked truly worried, so I decided to let the matter drop.

"Of course," I assured him.

It's not bad to have the upper hand for once. I'm grateful, Naru.

Light-headed, I bowed slightly, while Naru opened the door to the conference room. For a moment, he looked like his real age. But just as quickly, the expression reverted back to his beautiful, emotionless state.

Inside, Ayako and Bou-san were in the middle of a lover's quarrel.

"Why are you so incapable and useless?" asked Bou-san.

"How am I useless!"

As usual, their relationship seemed good.

"What's the problem?" Naru asked as Ayako looked the other way.

"...What's wrong?" I absently asked Taka and Bou-san in a cheerful voice as I turned to face them.

"Instead of helping out, this idiot is doing nothing but standing around, not to mention trying to run away as well."

"Where did you guys go?" I asked.

"The room with the poltergeist."

Oh.

"Hold on a sec', Ayako, you're being reckless as usual, aren't you," I remarked.

Ayako shot a cold glare at me. "It's not a joke! It was scary! Because I was like hey, and then Masako said that nothing was there..."

"Just to be on the safe side, shouldn't we exorcise all of them, since we don't know what to expect?"

"If only she weren't such a flirt. Anyway, it's because Masako said nothing was there," Ayako grumbled as she faced John.

"But...that can't be," murmured the boy with sunlight-colored hair and a white bandage.

"John! Why's that?!"

"Ah, is that it? It's nothing important. It only happened for a short time anyway," John chuckled as he turned to Bou-san's side.

"A spear was thrown at us."

...A spear.

"By spear, do you mean the kind of spear in spear throwing?!"

"...That's right."

"But, in reality it's because someone was trying to hurt us." 

...But isn't that really dangerous?!

Naru's calm voice boomed like thunder. "Can you be more specific?"

Suddenly looking worried, John turned to Bou-san for help.

"When we were coming back from outside, we opened the door and looked into the track and field team room and saw a spear flying towards us. Of course, no one else was in the room," Bou-san explained.

...It was that dangerous... Moreover, is the bandage the reason to aim at their heads? Just thinking about it makes me shiver.

Naru replied in a hard voice, "And? Did you eventually get some exorcisms done?"

Ayako decided to be mean.

"...Masako said that she has not seen even one ghost around the school..."

Naru looked back at Masako. "...Is that true?"

"Yes." Masako looked up and nodded. Her face was brimming with confidence.

"...That can't be."

"But there aren't any. I thoroughly looked all around the school, and there were also no spirits in other places."

Bou-san interjected, "You'd expect there to be spirits here, right? But there aren't any at all. It's natural to think that since this is where the curse is taking place. And because four accidents had already occurred, more will continue."

"Then they're deceiving us," Masako stated.

"The whole school?! Stop joking."

"It's a fact."

The deathly silent Masako turned the other way.

Naru looked at Masako and let out a sigh.

Then Bou-san and John both asked, "Over here? Why?"

"Maybe they're failing. No one looks happy here."

...Could that be it? Yeesh. I wonder if I can just believe that.

John looked a bit apologetic, "But that girl who was possessed can't be faking it. The exorcisms weren't effective. Takigawa-san and I alternated our exorcisms numerous times, but in the end we had to struggle to do it, and they came back anyway."

"I see..."

Naru appeared to be deep in thought.

"These extremely strong spirits are very lucky now. Tomorrow, if that girl calms down, you can ask her questions again."

"No, it's okay," Naru dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "Go see the girl at the hospital."

Bou-san looked confused. "The hospital... You don't mean the one in the neurology section?"

"What's wrong?"

"Oi, oi."

"Doing something like that. It's not the ghost's fault though."

Followed by an emotionless voice:

"What seems to be an evil spirit could just be a neurotic disease. In actuality, when consulting a neurologist, there would be many symptoms and different methods to deal with them. Of course, we can't just deny the possibility of possession. If the girl so far as goes to a temple, then the counselor would be concerned, right? One would assume the possession is responsible for a hysterical personality."

"Ah..."

...What do those difficult words mean? Ayako also looked confused.

"Sometimes a hysteria fit will look as if the victim is possessed by a spirit. This could be the case with her, right?" Bou-san replied.

"So you think it was a hysteria fit? Hysteria could be the cause..." Naru nodded.

"That could be the reason. It could just be a misunderstanding."

"Huh...?"

Naru turned towards the priestess and me.

"'Hysteria' is a medical term. It could be an explanation. The girl, however, was relaxed and not serious at all. So as a matter of fact, it's the exact opposite. 'Hysteria' is a term used in nerve medicine. Generally the term 'hisuterii'[http://www.baka-tsuki.net/project/index.php?title=Ghost_Hunt:_Volume3_Translator's_Notes] is used... The word 'hisu' is derived from that word. 'Hysteria' alone can be the cause, which means that one could say 'hisu' is the cause."

"Oh. I've heard of that before."

"Someone with hysteria would try to suppress their extreme desires, instead of carrying them out. Apart from an explosion, I can't think of a way to place a limit on all these strange occurrences." 

...My poor brain was not excited.

Bou-san said, "So what you're saying is this? For example, if a girl really likes a guy, society will always view the guy as a lecher. I always limit variations."

...Hey hey Bou-san, what kind of example is that.

Naru shrugged.

"It's the closest thing I could think of even though it is a bit different," the monk admitted. "Basically, I'm saying that most couples break up instead. Well, if I say something difficult, then Mai wouldn't understand, so I simplified it..."

...That's too much help right there. Please if it's because of the suppression, then I also think the suppression caused hysteria.

"The superego would be influenced by others and changed as a result. 'Convulsions' would be considered typical. Someone may want to behave violently, but then suppress the feeling so that he or she doesn't explode in anger. In this case, 'Convulsions' would be one of the many symptoms."

"Ohh."

"As for that girl, she might be possessed by a spirit. She was suppressed, although this could hold true for all Japanese students. She did the Kokkuri and is now seized with the idea that 'it's a curse'. Thinking about that brought about the trigger for her bout of hysteria. Generally she'd explode on her parents or teachers. The spirit possessing her had distorted her mind. She behaves as if she were possessed. If she unconsciously acts possessed at home, she would be calm there."

Oh...

"So what are you trying to say?" Bou-san asked Naru. "Unless she's possessed by a spirit, she has hysteria?"

"I fear that's the case. If she gets visitors while she's in the hospital, then things would be clear."

"Then what about the others? What about the hand coming out of the desk and the knocking sounds? Are all those due to sicknesses too?"

Bou-san looked back at Masako, who had a look of satisfaction on her face.

"...So there are no ghosts here."

Naru shrugged. "If I were a neurologist, I'd conclude that there is a mass breakout of hysteria in this school..."

He muttered something, and then glanced down at his feet.

"You can't think anymore?" asked the monk.

Hearing that, I instinctively listened.

"Ah, Mai didn't know? Even though things may appear this way, as a parapsychologist this is my conviction."

...Sorry about that. For the most part, I was listening.