Ghost Hunt:Volume 6 Prologue

Prologue

“Now then...”

She lowered her voice to speak confidentially. The woman, who was wearing a navy blue outfit, leaned forward, causing the sofa to creak. ‘Now then,’ she repeated once again,

“Please report the contents of the investigation.”

“Yes. —Full name: Shibuya Kazuya. Occupation: Head of ‘Shibuya Psychic Research’. According to the information found through the best efforts of this investigator, his birthday is September 19th. Currently, he is seventeen years old.”

“You don’t need to say ‘best efforts’ and so forth. Please report only the facts, investigator. —If he’s seventeen, then he must be a student?”

“He doesn’t seem to go to school.”

The woman crossed her legs. After briefly looking up to the ceiling in thought, she said,

“Virgo, huh? Virgo is the worst personality.”

For some reason, she decisively declared that.

“It is, isn’t it? According to my observations, his blood type seems to be either A or O type.”

“Seems like it, right?”

When the woman nodded, the man, who had been silently listening to the conversation, cut in.

“I heard A. But, that’s sort of... unrelated, isn’t it?”

The woman glared at the man.

“Observers do not speak. —Investigator, please continue.”

“Yes. His address is unknown and his home phone number is also unknown.”

“Complete secrecy, huh? Family?”

“It’s unknown. But, it seems there’s no doubt he has parents, right? His father is a university professor.”

“Hometown?”

“That’s also unknown. However, since he doesn’t know a lot of detail about Tokyo’s geography, he doesn’t seem to have been born and raised in Tokyo.”

“I see… How is the financial health of the office?”

“I don’t exactly know, but… I don’t think it’s profitable. There isn’t a large amount of work, and the request fee also isn’t a large sum.”

“In spite of there not being work, there’s a lot of staff. An assistant and… two part-timers. What the heck, where does that much money come from?”

“I don’t know. It’s strange, right? So to speak... isn’t it that, ‘There is where there is.’”

The man, who had been listening to the conversation in indifference, lightly laughed. The woman glared at the man a second time. After that, she leaned forward once more.

“The amount of work isn’t a lot, right? Well then, what does he do on a daily basis?”

“He reads books, looks at maps, etc. He’s gone traveling at present.”

“Ah. He’s traveling now, huh? Where did he go?”

“If I remember correctly, Tōhoku.”

“He didn’t go for...hot springs, did he?”

“What? Absolutely not.”

“What else? What about the assistant? Did you find out his real name?”

“Lin Koujo seems to be his real name. He’s originally from Hong Kong. Other than that, his profile is unknown. His address is also unknown, but Shibuya Kazuya seems to live within a distance where you can hear if you knock on the wall.”

The woman grew silent. Before long, she raised her voice hysterically.

“Then, what?! In short, nothing I don’t know, isn’t that what you’re saying?!”

“I know, but I can’t do anything about that...”

“This good for nothing.”

“It can’t be helped—! It’s not my fault! You guys… ”

I unintentionally yelled in earnest.

“You guys, Naru’s secrecy is bad!”

***

Tokyo, Shibuya, Dōgenzaka. ‘Shibuya Psychic Research.’

I, aka Taniyama Mai, stood firmly in the middle of the fashionable office, breathing heavily. I was coldly scrutinized by the man (Takigawa Houshou, originally a monk from Mt. Koya) and woman (Matsuzaki Ayako, a miko). And in spite of me being a sixteen year old girl who out blooms even a flower, too.

Yes! Naru is bad, you guys.

Shibuya Kazuya, head of ‘Shibuya Psychic Research’. His appearance is exceptionally good while his personality is exceptionally bad. Haughty, arrogant and narcissistic, no question about it. He’s called ‘Naru’ because of his narcissistic personality.

Why is he so eager to conceal everything!

My shoulders trembled angrily. Taka (Takahashi Youko, work colleague), having watched from afar, patted me on the back.

“Whoa, whoa. The director’s secrecy probably isn’t something recent.”

“But—”

Well, just remembering makes me angry.

Originally, what started all of this was a woman who came in the Spring. That person, Mori Madoka, was acquainted with Naru and Lin-san. That is to say, an acquaintance. In other words, isn’t it true that she knows everything we don’t know? Although I wanted to ask a mountain of questions, she returned home without telling almost anything.

So, this had sparked my curiosity. No one knew anything about Naru until Mori-san came. However, when the person who knows everything comes and no information can be gained from them, it results in frustration.

—Thus, in order to satisfy my curiosity, I began working to gather information. Knowing Ayako planned the same process of information gathering, the two of us have been collaborating since the rainy season, however, summer had come without us discovering a single thing.

If you ask questions and are refused answers, they can be discovered through tailing, but in the end, the answers were few.

“Are you also interested in me?”

That— guy—!

Yeah right, why would I? I mean… I mean… It was merely genuine, intellectual curiosity about what kind of secrets Naru has hidden since he’s so keen to hide everything, not because of any particular romantic feelings or emotions. “Interested”? Don’t be ridiculous. You’re completely conceited.

...No, to tell the truth, I was a little interested (blush), but when it comes to this, I have no intention of admitting it at any cost. Taniyama Mai is not so straight-forward as to admit, “Yes, that’s right,” when, “are you also interested in me?” is asked.

“But, I think Mai is bad, too.”

After Taka said that, I turned to look at her.

“Why?”

“Do you think the boss will simply tell you what he’s hiding?”

..oh.

“Doesn’t that mean trying to figure it out is unreasonable? Even ordinary people have one complaint about another party. Let alone, since you’re dealing with the boss, don’t you think the obvious response to a hundred complaints is a hundred sarcasms?”

“...That—that’s true, but...”

*depressed*

“Well, I also understand Matsuzaki-san’s and Mai’s feelings. But, if not done in moderation, it may result in regret.”

“There would be regret.”

Taka looked in Senpai’s direction. Senpai (Kasai Chiaki, a psychic girl in a slump) lightly shrugged her shoulders,

“He’s hiding, so doesn’t that mean don’t look?”

“...Yeah.”

“The story says, if you forcibly look at the one who said, ‘Don’t look’, they might return to the mountain.”

“What… is that?”

“The Crane Wife. It means the other cannot help here anymore if their identity is discovered. Don’t you think that’s it?”

“No way...”

“But, you mustn’t declare things, right? For example, the boss is a wealthy heir and his parents oppose, so he hides and runs the office secretly. I think it’s quite possible that, after Mai finds his house and carelessly visits, everything will be leaked to his parents and he will have to close the office.”

“Madoka-san had said they don’t particularly oppose.”

Chiaki-senpai lightly sighed.

“As an example of the story. Is it okay for the boss to be gone?”

“Well... it’s what he wanted.”

When I said this, senpai sternly pointed.

“If nothing else, such a good part-time job won’t come again.”

...ugh.

“Wouldn’t you be worried?”

“...I’d be worried.”

After all, I am a self-supporting student. If I were to lose this outside the norm part-time pay, it would be terribly painful.

Bou-san, who was listening to our conversation with interest, cut in.

“Is the part-time pay here good?”

Taka nodded.

“Yeah. Better than the general public. Even I, as the secretary. Mai is better because she’s sort of an investigator. On average, an office lady gets much less.”

Yeah. When I go on an investigation, the hourly wage is for twenty-four hours, and in addition to that, I receive a risk allowance.

Bou-san tilted his head in confusion.

“Something wrong?”

“No. Before, when I asked why he hired Mai, Naru-bou said, ‘I hear she’s hard working and it’s cheap.’”

Taka also tilted her head in confusion.

“It isn’t cheap, right?”

“Yeah. I’m free to increase my part-time hours. And since the salary is hourly, when I don’t have enough money, all I have to do is increase my hours.”

Actually, I’m trying to increase my income, so I work in the office as much as possible when there’s not an investigation.

Ayako made a disgruntled noise.

“What’s this? You have such a sweet part-time job? Will you also get paid for talking to this idiot?”

“I mean, even though I want to, there’s currently no work.”

Looking at Taka as I said this, Taka nodded.

Bou-san tilted his head even more.

“It doesn’t seem like such difficult work.”

“It’s difficult when we go on investigations.”

If you’re not careful, your life is cut short.

“What about ordinarily?”

Hearing Bou-san, Taka and I looked at each other. Taka pointed at me.

“If a client comes to the office, Mai keeps them occupied.”

I also pointed towards Taka.

“Taka does office work. She organizes purchased books, does odd jobs, and makes tea.”

“What about right now?”

“Mai is supervising while Lin-san is on lunch break. Even though she wants to keep occupied, she can’t since there currently isn’t a client.”

“Taka is doing the morning cleaning of the office. And since both Lin-san and Naru are gone, no chores have been requested, and there also aren’t any purchased books to organize today. Our psychic colleagues have come to visit, so she made tea.”

Bou-san rested his chin on his hand with a serious expression.

“The phone rang repeatedly for some time.”

“But the answering machine got it, didn’t it?”

“An answering machine does the job, but you don’t answer the phone?”

“Actually, yeah—”

“That’s right—”

Taka and I nodded.

“We’re not supposed to answer the phone. That’s what we were told.”

“That’s right. We’re also not supposed to touch the post. The mail-box downstairs requires a key, and only the boss and Lin-san have the key.”

“Speaking of which, were not even supposed to clean the boss’ office. It shouldn’t be entered without permission.”

“Furthermore, the financial matters are also no-touch.”

Bou-san and Ayako amicably held their heads between their hands.

“What kind of financial sense is Naru using?”

“Right? If it was me, I wouldn’t pay for such part-time work.”

“What—”

“Naturally. The point is, right now, aren’t you just drinking cups of tea in an air-conditioned office?”

That— that might be so.

Taka puffed her cheeks.

“Because the boss said it was okay.”

“Right. He said that.”

“In exchange for a comfortable job, we also face difficulties with human relations.”

“Right. Even the child before me certainly didn’t last with it.”

When I said that, Taka and Chiaki-senpai looked at me blankly.

“? What?”

“Child before?”

“Yeah. Naru said that when he invited me to work part-time. He said, ‘The child before quit.’”

“But, didn’t Madoka-san say, ‘That the pair even hired someone is surprising.’”

Huh? Now that you mention it, she had said something like that…

Ayako tilted her head.

“Was there really a ‘child before?’ You usually wouldn’t quit such a sweet and comfortable part-time job. No matter how bad the pair’s personalities, don’t they practically hole themselves up in the boss’ office and resource room respectively and not come out?”

“That… that’s right.”

Bou-san crossed his arms.

“Worse is the management of his money. There aren’t that many clients and most are declined. How could he set up this lavish office and the like in this prime location with that work style? On top of that, he has two part-timers for hardly any work. And in addition, the part-time pay is good.”

“But, doesn’t Naru think it’s inexpensive hard work? It’s like I thought, his family is definitely wealthy. So isn’t his sense of money different from ours?”

“Although there are also rich university professors, it’s still not as lucrative a business as to say, ‘definitely.’ ”

“Well, it could be a family originally from a wealthy house. Surely, the son’s upbringing is the cause of such an arrogant personality. Uh-huh.”

“The truly rich are gentle and calm.”

“You know, that’s a case of to each his own...”

As that was being said, the door opened and Lin-san returned.

Overlooking the inside of the office, Lin-san seemed to very lightly nod in the direction of Bou-san and Ayako.

“Sorry to bother you.”

Ayako said as she leaned forward.

“So, Lin-san. Was there a part-time worker before Mai?”

“No, none.”

Lin-san said this as he pulled two envelopes, which seemed to contain journals, from the mail he held in his arm and handed them to Taka. It’s Taka’s job to collect the cards removed from the table of contents of the journals.

...but, there was no one?

“No one?”

“Yes.”

Said expressionlessly, Lin-san went towards the resource room. On the way, he signaled to Chiaki-senpai with his eyes. For now, Senpai is PK training with Lin-san. For a long time it had passed, but recently, there are visible signs of a revival of spoon bending.

Bou-san muttered quietly.

“What is Naru-bou thinking?”

Right, right.

Taka spoke uncertainly.

“I wonder if it’s possibly like this. He acts bad, but at his core he’s a nice guy.”

“N-No way!”

No, to be honest, it’s not that I don’t think so, but like...

‘Anyway,’ Ayako issued in a sharp tone.

“Maii. Didn’t you, in fact, say that he was actually really kind?”

I glanced at her coldly.

“No way...”

...No, not at all.

Hmmm. These circumstances only deepen the confusion...

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