Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 5 Chapter 3 (section)

=== 1 ===

“Has anyone seen Suzuki-san? Hey, has no one seen her?”
It was Igarashi-sensei who asked us, who were gathered in the dining room, that, with an embarrassed look in the morning. 

“It shouldn’t be that she ran home on her own. And there wasn’t anyone who saw her leave. Her luggage is also left in the room. Even her contact lens case is also…”

Yasuhara had Igarashi-sensei seated next to him. He had the servants bring forth a cup of red tea, then placed the red tea in front of Igarashi-sensei.

“Please calm down. Are you a little better? Breathe deeply. Do you take sugar or milk with you tea?”

Igarashi-sensei shook her head.

“Just take a sip. Ok, drink, then breathe deeply. Ok?”

Igarashi followed Yasuhara’s instructions to the letter. She took a deep breath.

“I’m really sorry. I gave in completely to panic…”

“No need to apologize. I understand that you are very worried about Suzuki-san. When did Suzuki-san’s absence start?”

“She wasn’t around when I got up this morning. Due to my advanced age she is always by my side. When I woke up at daybreak, she was still sleeping soundly. Then…”

“About what time was ‘daybreak’?”

Vaguely mumbling to herself, Igrashi-sensei shook her head.

“And what time did you get up?”

“7 am this morning.”

It was now 10 am. She had already disappeared for at least 3 hours.

Yasuhara summoned the head servant, and asked if he had seen Suzuki-san. Including Ohashi-san, not a single servant had seen Suzuki-san. ‘What was the possibility that she had left the mansion?’ was what was put to Ohashi-san.

“Basically, the front door is locked from the inside, and there hasn’t been a scenario where the lock has been opened. I think it’s impossible that she has gone outside.”

“What should we do?”

Igarashi-sensei covered her face with both hands. Yasuhara gently patted sensei’s shoulder.

“If that’s the case, Suzuki-san must be somewhere in this mansion. Perhaps she only got lost, and is daydreaming where she stands now. It’s still too early to consider her missing. In conclusion, let us search a little first.”

Yasuhara said that then turned towards Naru.

“Narumi-kun, is that all right?”

Naru nodded.


Before noon, we shouted Suzuki-san’s name while splitting up to comb the house. Even after playing the tapes recorded the previous night did not show a hint of Suzuki-san. Furthermore, for some unknown reason, the cameras were cut off their power source at 7am this morning. As a result, the night vision cameras were of practically no use in our search for Suzuki-san.

We walked through countless rooms, and even opened things like cabinets to search. Listening closely after shouting for Suzuki-san brought no reply. We couldn’t find her anywhere. Igarashi-sensei and I went to wake the other psychics up, and questioned them about Suzuki-san. Not a single person in the mansion had encountered Suzuki-san.

“I haven’t seen her since the séance.”

This was Minami-san’s reply. Igarashi-sensei grasped his pajamas and refused to let go. 

“Can you ask the Professor, Professor Davies? If it’s the Professor, he might know of something…”

Saying that, Igarashi-sensei started frantically searching for something in her shirt pocket.

“Right, I’ve been always carrying this…”

Igarashi-sensei produced a small, cylindrical object from her pocket. That was a contact lens case.

“Take this to the Professor. If it’s the Professor he should know where Suzuki-san is right…?”

Oh yes, the Professor is a clairvoyant – a psychic who, through an object, can read its owners’ past and future.

Minami-san accepted the contact lens case with a grudging expression, and took it towards the Professor who was sitting on his bed looking over. Minami-san handed the case to the Professor, then exchanged a few words with him in English. The Professor shook his head. 

“Apparently he can’t see from this type of object.”

Minami-san shrugged.

“If that’s the case… what type of object can he…”

“The Professors’ clairvoyance is limited to items that were worn on the person at the time of disappearance.”

Items that are worn on the person at the time of disappearance… we couldn’t possibly have something like that, unless we were exceptionally lucky!

I massaged Igarashi-sensei’s – who had covered her face with both hands – shoulders.

Whatever, although saying such is a little insulting to Bou-san, but the Professor is a completely unimpressive person. At the very least he should have taken the case, and tried his best to see for us, couldn’t he? If something that was worn at the time of disappearance could have been easily found, even the police could have done something.


In the end, even after searching into the afternoon, we couldn’t find a trace of Suzuki-san.

Minami-san said:

“She could have fled home after last night’s séance left some frightening memories.”

Mihashi-san said:

“Young people these days all lack a sense of responsibility.”

Although I felt very angry, I couldn’t tell them they were wrong. If that were the case then everything would be fine, was what I thought in my heart. Compared to believing that Suzuki-san had vanished, it would be better to simply believe she was irresponsible.

“… perhaps it could be that way.”

It wasn’t just anyone who said that, but Igarashi-sensei.

“Yeah. Perhaps she’d gone back. Ah, I’ll give her home a call after I get back to check. I really must scold her properly…”

In the end, those words marked a turning point, and brought the search for Suzuki-san to a close.