Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume4 Chapter2 (section)

=== 7 ===

The sun had set, and the surroundings started to turn dark. The monk and John returned to the Meeting Room.

Once the monk entered the room he let out a whistle.

“Oh, Mai, in a world of your own with your boyfriend? How mature.”

Really. Who’s my boyfriend?!

“Yasuhara-kun is also very quick. Youth is great~:

That, ah…

“Takigawa-san, that’s not fair. It was a rare opportunity for us to talk in depth.”

En!

Upon hearing Yasuhara’s clever retort, John’s head hit the whiteboard. The monk, too, stared at Yasuhara with a tic on his face.

“I wish you would be more considerate of the feelings of others.”

As though imparting a secret, the monk placed his hands on Yasuhara’s shoulders.

“Young man… Have a little chat with me.”

“Yes.”

“I understand your feelings, but you have to consider the situation and the location.”

“Ah, right. Then, next time I’ll try my best.”

That… that…

“You have to consider the atmosphere for this sort of thing…”

That… hey, hey?

Looking steadily at Yasuhara, the monk said, “Do you like Mai?”

“Yes I do.”

… …

“Ah, but I also like Shibuya-san. He is very beautiful!”

Gong. John’s head hit the whiteboard once more.

“But I like Takigawa-san even more *heart*”

The monk looked severely at Yasuhara from the corner of his eyes.

“Young man…”

“Yes?”

“You, you are teasing me?”

“Of course *heart*”

With a shout “ai”, the monk released his fist. In order to dodge the monk’s blow, Yasuhara escaped behind the table.

“Don’t make fun of adults!”

“That’s because you were thinking of making fun of children.”

Yeah, yeah…

Smiling, Yasuhara poured coffee for the pair of them.

“How is the work going?”

The monk looked like he had been asked a question he would rather not answer.

“I don’t feel like answering work related questions.”

“It’s not going well?”

In response to my question, the monk only shortened his neck. John made a mark on the Geography Room where the fluorescent light dropped during cleaning. He marked it with a sign “J”. It meant that the location had already been exorcised by John. While he continued marking other locations, he answered in place of the monk.

“The volume is too large.”

The floor plan of the school was on the whiteboard. Troublesome places were marked with numbers, and the places that have been exorcised were marked with red.

After a whole day, only one fifth was done.

“What’s the situation with Masako?”

This time, can we still not rely on Masako?

The monk sighed.

“Although she insists that while she can’t see it she can definitely feel it, I don’t know what is really going on.”

“Hey, hasn’t Naru said before that within Japan, Masako is first class? Would something like this happen to a first class medium?”

“Yeah…”

The monk groaned painfully.

“Masako is good at channeling spirits.”

“Channeling spirits?”

“Ah. She summons a spirit and lets it possess her body. Then she can make prophecies, and answer questions. What she does is not too different from Kokkuri.”

“Ah, television programs frequently broadcast that.”

“Apparently she has got a lot of it right. But…” The monk looked pained. “Naru has said before, ‘the only things spirits know have got to do with death’.”

Hmm.

“I have never doubted this before, but when Naru said that I thought that might be the case. For example, I let Masako summon my Grandpa’s spirit back from the dead. My Grandpa, possessing Masako, not only knows things that only my Grandpa and I would know, but can also answer my questions. ‘How will my luck in Love be?’ ‘It’s only so-so.’ That type of conversation.”

“Yeah.”

“The conversation between the spirit and myself is like that, but what really goes on?”

I...see. This is really difficult. John cut into the conversation.

“Some time ago I was asked to help write an article. There are researchers who say that there are 2 types of mediums.”

“2 types?”

“Yes. Real mediums and ESPers.”

The monk nodded.

“Ah, I’m not sure where but I have heard that before. It should be Professor Davis.”

“So you remember. What the Professor said, was, mediums need not have psychic powers.”

“Ha?”

I did not fully understand their conversation.

“That’s why… say; the medium can summon my Grandma’s spirit, right? Grandma’s spirit borrows the mediums’ body and says things that only Grandma and I would know. There are people who say, that my Grandma’s spirit need not necessarily have possessed the medium’s body.”

“? But didn’t the medium know of things that only John and his Grandma should know?”

“Yes. But, it might not be the spirit that tells the medium. The medium might have ESP… there’s a chance she's a psychometrist.”

“Psycho…? What is that?”

“Psychometrist. That is a person with psychometry. This ‘psychometry’ is the power to be able to sense the history or related events through an object. For example, you pick up a bag on the street. A psychometrist would be able to see the past and the future of the bag; what type of person the bag’s owner was, what he is doing now, what he will do after that.”

“Is it like that?” I asked, and John nodded.

“Yes. Exactly. Professor Davis himself is a psychometrist, that’s why he came up with that theory.”

“This Professor Davis, is he that person with psycho kinesis (PK)?”

“Yes. Professor Oliver Davis. He was a researcher in England’s SRP – Society of Psychical Research. Not only was he a talented psychometrist, he was also able to use PK. He is of a minority of psychics who is able to use both PK and ESP. Professor Davis had a brother named Eugene Davis, who was a medium. The professor had mentioned before that Eugene Davis was a pure medium. Although Eugene did not know German, if he summoned a German spirit he would speak German; if it was a Greek, he would speak Greek. Such occurrences are very rare. It should be impossible unless he was possessed by a spirit. However, amongst the mediums, there are some who speak Japanese regardless of the nationality of the spirit summoned.”

That is the case…

“Not long ago I saw a program of Itako (a spirit medium in the north east regions of Japan) channeling on television. At that time Itako summoned Marilyn Monroe. To summon Monroe alone is hilarious, but that Monroe could even speak Japanese. Overall, I felt it was very strange and very funny.”

“Is it?”

“There are such cases, but on the other hand, there are also mediums like Eugene Davis, Rosemary Brown and Frederic Thompson.”

“Ha…?”

The monk explained to be by the side, “Mrs. Brown composed music with the help of spirits. She supposedly had no musical training herself, but could make music through summoning a spirit. The spirits that were summoned include Beethoven and Chopin and other composers, so some of her music was even orchestral styled. The music was completely in the style of the various composers, and from a musical perspective they appeared to be very highly received. 

“As for Thompson it was drawing. He let the spirit of a painter called Robert Swain Gifford possess his body, and allowed it to draw. The drawings were all sceneries, places that Gifford visited when he was alive; furthermore, they were places he never mentioned a desire to draw to his friends. More incredibly, Thompson had neither visited that location, nor seen a photograph of the place. Of course, the art was completely in the style of Gifford.”

“He…”

John nodded.

“Despite all these, amongst the mediums there are those who excel at answering questions and making predictions. Professor Davis also once said, rather than calling users of this type of power ‘mediums’, they are more likely to be ESPers. Personally, he did not believe answers and prophecies etc were passed on by spirits.”

“Hmm hmm”

“So it was like that.” The monk quietly muttered.

“Masako would be considered a medium of the latter type. Whether it is answering questions or making prophecies, she is excellent. In other words, rather than calling Masako a medium, she is more likely to be a psychometrist. She also said that she finds it easier with spirits that have a stronger connection.”

Yasuhara sighed, looking concerned.

“It’s really complicated.”

For no reason I simply could not relax.

“As for this, I know… But what exactly is going on? Did it just change such that Masako does not have the ability to see spirits?”

“I’m not saying she is completely incapable of that. But if we consider ‘Masako can see spirits’, it is more likely that she has a ‘clear vision’ through an object, the school… although I’m not too sure myself.”

Hmm~

“That’s why Masako need not necessarily be able to see those spirits. Right now, right here we might be swamped by spirits Masako could not feel.”

I see…

“Mai, do you understand?”

“Ah… I’m getting a headache…”

The monk sighed.

“Me too. It’s because of thinking about some unimaginable things.”

“Exactly.”

“Therefore, Mai,” the monk looked at me.

“Have you felt anything yet?”

Me?

Before I could reply, Yasuhara blurted out, “Ah, haven’t you said it before. The fire would be in Broadcast Room or something like that.”

John and the monk turned to face me.

Wu… Wait a little. That might have been just a simple dream.

“Mai?”

With the monk’s urging, I related the incident with difficulty.

“It was a dream I had when I was napping.”

“And then?”

“I say…”

Trembling with fear, I described the dream. Of course, I removed the part where Naru appeared.

With a serious face, the monk stood up.

“Mai. Go to sleep. Go and sleep now.”

“Ha?”

“Your dreams have meanings. It’s collecting information. Be a good child now and go to bed.”

“That’s right. Mai-san, please go and sleep.”

What happened? Even John was like this.

“It could be just a simple dream.”

“That’s impossible. The exorcism in the Locker Room was really done by Hara-san and Matsuzaki-san.”

Uh?

“Bu… But, it might be a coincidence…”

“Did you know? This was researched by Charles Tart and others: dreams and ESP have a very deep connection.”

“Ha…”

“Especially the initial cycles of REM sleep. It’s known to experience ESP type phenomenon then.”

“Yes. A more accurate way of putting it is d-ASC, discrete-Altered State of Consciousness.”

Wait a minute...

“This state of the consciousness dissociating is the strongest, when mediums summon, or when ESPers use their powers of psychometry. Just as Naru said, you have latent ESP. Furthermore you got the part about Ayako doing the exorcism right. Your dreams definitely have meanings. Go to sleep.”

That can’t be. Furthermore, can’t you stop endlessly saying those profound words? To start, even if you order me to sleep, it’s not that simple to sleep just like that!

“Forget it.”

It was Yasuhara who piped up.

“Even if it is Taniyama-san, it is troubling to be forced by others like this.”

Exactly, exactly.

“And she does not seem to believe in her own abilities.”

Yeah yeah.

“We can’t rely on Masako. We were just grasping at last straw that you are, Mai. Perhaps, like Masako’s ability to see spirits, you would not be able to accurately predict this situation.”

“That’s right. The more reports the merrier, that’s decided.”

But…

“Tonight we will find out.”

Yasuhara said with certainty.

“Tonight, or more accurately tomorrow morning, if the fire happens we would know to exactly what degree we can rely on Taniyama-san’s dreams. If a fire occurs in the Broadcast Room, you will be able to believe in your own abilities, Taniyama-san.”

En… maybe…

“If that’s the case, Taniyama-san will be helping us overall.”

“Young man, since when did you start to be Mai’s manager?”

“From now on.”

Really… I’ll follow your wishes then…

At dusk everyone gathered; the monk and John explained the entirety of the situation.

Although I had anticipated it from the start, Ayako and Masako gave me cold looks. Contrastingly Naru and Lin-san remained expressionless.

Before Ayako could let out her sharp tongue to speak, Naru raised his hands to ask for silence.

“Yasuhara-kun is right. We only need to see where the fire occurs to find out. Lin –“

Naru turned to the Lin-san who stood at his back waiting like an attached spirit.

“Set up equipment in the Broadcast Room.”

Really? Is it alright to believe the dream I had? I will not be held responsible…

With unsettled feelings, I moved the equipment into the Broadcast Room. I asked Naru where it was suspicious, he replied, “over there”, with a confidence of a psychic. I was a little suspicious, but nevertheless, I was a little happy. But if there was no fire I would become a laughing stock. “I have to get this right this time”, I thought in my heart. 

Waiting for the results of the experiment, I anxiously awaited the arrival of dawn. When the sky brightened, more accurately at 4:32:24 am, flames suddenly spurted from a cool wall.

It was the Broadcast Room.