~~~AKEMI~~~
Akemi went back to school after the sudden call she received on the clinic. Here the heiress stares at the Old school building with a solemn expression, 'There's no doubt about it... this old building...'
Before Akemi could finish her thoughts a sudden pain stung her eyes making them close.
The pain overwhelmed her all over— her ears ringed and head to swirls around her.
Akemi frowns, her eyes saddened. 'It's happening again...'
~~~NARU AKEMI MAI~~~
Akemi straightens up her posture from the van when she saw (Naru) and Mai walking towards her, particularly the old building.
She lifted up her hand and waved at the two, an angelic smile plastered on her face. Akemi hid her laugh by her other hand as she noticed Mai's reluctant wave, still stunned at working for a strange guy with strange work.
Instead of waving back, (Naru) narrows his eyes at Akemi when they finally stood near her, standing in front of the old school building.
"Hello again~!" Akemi giggled, "How is Lin-san?"
"He is fine. What are you doing here?" (Naru) asked Akemi, placing a hand in his pocket with his folder tucked on his arm.
"Ooh! About that— The call I got earlier has been moved, I'm free all day to help!" Akemi said, stepping closer to (Naru), her face bright and sparkling.
"Looks like you're stuck with me till tonight, Kazuya! — Ne~ is it okay if I call you Kazuya?" Akemi bent towards (Naru) nudging his side lightly with her elbow.
(Naru) kept a blank stare.
Before Akemi left from the sudden call from her grandfather about 'helping' the business and with (Naru)'s lacking help power, Akemi suggested about getting help from others in the meantime.
From her words, (Naru) already thought of the perfect victim.
"U-uwah...O-ojou-sama you're too..." 'how should I say this... Bold?' Mai sweat dropped at the closeness of her sempai and the strange guy (naru).
Akemi lifted up her attention and kindly smiled at her kohai, "Taniyama? You are Taniyama Mai-san, right? Is it alright if I call you Mai~?" Akemi asked as she straightened, clasping her hands to her front with (Naru) already leaving the girls behind to get to the van planning to do actual work.
'I'm sorry... I hope Shibuya-san won't bully you too much...' Akemi sweat dropped as she got a feeling that it would be worse than that.
"U-uh Hai..." Akemi beamed, finding her kohai cute. "Then you can just call me Akemi," the angel then turned to glance where (Naru) is. "You too, Kazuya!" Akemi wrapped an arm around Mai's and pulled her closer to the van, Mai's sempai practically bright in excitement.
"H-hai, Akemi-sempai..."
'Just what did I got myself into...' Mai sweat dropped as she let Akemi drag her.
~~~
"Taniyama-san take those microphones down and gather them up, Akemi... you get the mike stands." Akemi perked up as she heard (Naru) called her without suffix,
"Is it really okay for him to call you that, sempai?" Mai leaned closer to Akemi, whispering as she glanced at (naru) with a distrusting stare. 'he is younger than you you know, sempai?'
"I don't really mind!" Akemi gave Mai the microphones and took the stands for herself. "-If anything I prefer it if people were to call me Akemi instead of Ojou-sama..." Akemi said, unaware of Mai's flinch- her words striking home.
"Besides he is really handsome so I don't mind~" Akemi beamed bright flowers practically floating around her.
"Ahehe~ I see..." Mai sweat dropped at her sempai's antics. "Ano... what do you use these microphones for? You're not going to sing are you...?" Akemi laughed at Mai's question but it seemed to send a different effect to (Naru).
"I suppose microphones are generally used to collect sound." (Naru) spoke up his voice laced with sarcasm making Akemi laugh but she forced it down as she did not want to hurt Mai's feelings and thought of her as a bully.
'He is definitely bullying her...'
"That's not what I was asking! I know that much!" Mai glared at (Naru)'s back, the boy not paying her any mind and continued his work— his action irked Mai even more. 'Why this little piece of-'
"It records the sound," Akemi answered Mai instead, Akemi noticed Mai's glare directed at (naru) and hid her amusement. "-It's dangerous to charge inside a haunted building immediately especially when you are not familiar with it yet so before collecting information inside, you should start outside just in case." Akemi explained, Mai sending her a grateful smile— her eyes bright in awe.
"Is that so, sempai?" Akemi nodded, glancing to (Naru) to confirm but the man didn't care to react. "Akemi-sempai I didn't know that you know about ghost hunting!" Akemi chuckled at this, 'I just answered a simple question...'
"Well I watch a lot of T.V. shows about it and my family is known to have psychics so I went through a phase that is all..." Akemi waved her hand, Mai nodding in understanding. 'Psychics? Sempai has a psychic family?'
"Aren't you scared of that haunted building?" Mai asked once more, directing her question to (Naru) this time, (Naru) sighing at Mai's question.
Akemi noticed this and bumped her hip at (Naru), sending him a look. (Naru) glanced at her— the two staring at each other for a few seconds, challenging the other.
"Not particularly." (Naru) said, letting Akemi get the win for now.
"By the way, why are you doing this at your age?" and unlike the last question, (Naru) spoke without hesitation.
"Because they need me." Mai sweat dropped by the confidence he seemed to emit, Akemi also stunned at how high he seem to deem himself.
"Bu—but there must have been cases you couldn't solve—?"
"Never." (Naru) spoke with certain. "Because I always can." Akemi too sweat dropped at his confidence but she couldn't help but be in awe as well— having the feeling that if someone were able to do it, it would be him.
"~Ahh..." 'Wow...I'm speechless, I can't stand this guy!' Mai gritted. "How impressive! You're handsome and on top of that you're capable of getting a difficult job done." Mai barked, Akemi and (Naru) glanced at her, noticing how she sounded weird.
"You think...I'm handsome?" Akemi watched Mai, curious for her response unaware of the subtle glance (naru) sent towards Akemi— Mai's words reminded (Naru) of Akemi's unexpected praise on their first meet.
"Yeah...I guess... everyone else seem to think so." (Naru) peeked once more at the heiress beside him, seeing Akemi nod in agreement— almost applauding Mai.
'Ara~ how bold of her! I like her very much...' Akemi giggled, (Naru) letting out a deep breath.
"I see... At least you have good taste." (Naru) spoke, turning his back on the two girls. Not entirely oblivious at the heated glare on the back of his head.
'I...I'm absolutely stunned! Of course both his looks and his title are impressive but the most stunning thing is his Narcissistic behavior!' Mai grumbled in her mind, imagining— flowers and petals floating around (Naru), who looked down at her.
"From now on I'm gonna call you Naru-chan!" Mai unknowingly muttered under her breath, her words amusing Akemi.
"Naru-chan?" Mai turned to her sempai not even bothering to hide her disdain for (Naru).
Akemi sweat dropped at the intense expression on Mai's face. 'he really is bullying her...'
"Narcissist! A huge narcissist- in short, Naru-chan!" Mai barked, enough for her sempai to comprehend but low enough for (Naru) not to hear, who was already a few steps ahead of them.
"Oi! Both of you hurry up and come over here!" they both jumped as Naru yelled at them.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
Akemi and Mai saw Naru already by the back of the van, Mai jogging towards him her steps excited in hopes that she is now able to go home. "Ok, I helped. So was that enough? I want to go now—" Mai asked but wasn't able to continue when Naru revealed the back of the van by stepping aside.
'What in the world are these?' Mai stared at each equipment with confusion while Akemi just smiled at the additional work.
"Let's carry them out." Naru ordered, 'Ehh?!'
"You mean all of them?!" Mai pointed to the tons of monitors and other gadgets. 'b-but this could take minutes! hours!'
"We're going to need everything." Naru said, his tone left no more questions asked.
"Roger!" Akemi lifted one of her hand to salute to Naru playfully before patting her arms to ready herself from all the work she is gonna get. Her usage of English caught naru's attention but it might just be a phrase she learned.
"N-no way..." Mai muttered as she stared at the packed Van. Hearing this, Akemi glanced at her kohai, already having one of the heavy monitors in her arms.
"Tired already?" Akemi asked with a gentle smile, but her eyes showed her concern and Mai couldn't help but get pierced by it.
"N-not yet!" Mai forced herself to say and took one of the tools that Naru passed her, receiving a few amused looks from Naru and Akemi. Mai waited and watched as Akemi walked ahead inside with a smile on her face, carrying the monitor as if it weighed nothing but her steps did seem to be slow, as if maintaining her caution but Mai thought of it of just making sure Akemi won't break anything and be in debt like her.
Naru following Akemi with his eyes, staring at her with furrowed brows as Akemi gestured for Mai to go ahead.
'What part of this is Ghost Hunting?...woah there are a lots of Sci-fi comics...' "Do you really know how to use all this stuff, Shibuya-san?" Mai asked as she returned back to the van once more to get the other equipment— Akemi following just beside her.
"I'm smart, unlike you." Naru said bluntly, not even paying attention to Mai. "Let's go."
"Are we going to stay inside?" Mai asked, getting scared at the thought of staying at the building for a few more hours than necessary.
"Of course. That is where the base will be— don't worry Maruyama-san will be with you." Naru said to Mai- Akemi pouting behind her as she heard Naru going back to last name basis.
Both Naru and Akemi walked ahead, the girl falling a few steps behind Naru while Mai followed behind her sempai.
'Why do I have to go through all this? The old building with the scary rumors... Yikes~!, it feels creepy in here...' Mai kept glancing at every corner of the building— hoping that nothing pops up. Akemi looking back to glance at her kohai and sweat dropping at Mai's obvious discomfort.
"Let's use this room." Naru slid the doors open, walking inside with his steps making creaky sounds.
"Could you build a shelf, please? I'm going to bring in some more equipment..." Naru requested to Akemi and Mai, receiving a nod from the oldest and a panicked look from the youngest.
"Sir, yes sir!" Akemi saluted at Naru, "We'll gladly do this... our-shelf~" Akemi giggled at naru's obvious disdain for the pun, the sempai glancing at Mai's apparent fear.
"You're going to leave me here all by myself?!" Mai cried, Akemi stepped closer to Mai— patting her shoulder. 'if she said my-shelf it would have made a good pun...' Akemi shook her head out of that thought and placed her attention at Mai, hoping that her tease would ease her even just a bit.
"What am I? Chopped liver?" Akemi joked in hopes to calm down Mai's obvious panic. When Mai realized that Akemi, her sempai, would indeed be with her— made her flush in embarrassment for forgetting such an angel.
'Amateurs...' Naru thought to himself as he sighed.
"Don't worry, Boss! We shall build the shelf!" Akemi said to Naru who shook his head— glancing at Mai.
"Are you sure? I think Taniyama-san would rather carry the other equipment... It probably weighs 40 kg..." at Naru's words, Mai's shoulders deflated and helplessly answered that she'll build the shelf instead.
The two started working but Mai couldn't help but still feel scared, "Akemi-sempai.. aren't you scared?"
Akemi shook her head at her kohai with her attention focused on the shelves she is making, "umhm... I actually watch a lot of paranormal documentaries and activities– so I am really excited on catching one in real life!" Akemi said, picking up a few of the boards. "When I found out psychics are mostly common in my mother's side of the family I went through a phase and dreamed of becoming one! Ahahaha~"
'Not like there are any ghosts around here anyway~ mouh...' Akemi pouted.
SQUEAAK!
Mai flinched at the sound stepping closer to Akemi, who seemed unbothered by it. "It was just the rotting wood, Mai... Calm down." Akemi said, "There are no ghosts here." Akemi assured,
"B-but if there are none then why did the school hired a psychic!" Mai sobbed, her gaze going around every corner of the room out of fear.
"It's Ghost Hunter not psychic," Akemi corrected. "-the reason the Principal hired Shibuya-san and Lin-san is to assure if the cases happening here were really paranormal-"
BOOM!
"Aaah...!" Mai jumped and clung unto Akemi as the ceiling let out a grating sound, Akemi couldn't help herself and chuckled at Mai's squeaky manner.
"It really is nothing Mai... This building is not haunted," Akemi repeated, trying to assure Mai but it went on deaf ears when Mai tried to comfort herself.
'It's nothing...it's okay...' Mai froze as a hand slid by the door, she was about to scream but when the hand revealed itself to be Naru's did Mai finally calm down.
"Don't just stand there. Get to work." Naru spoke sharply at Mai, his eyes narrowed and stoic as usual. Mai was almost relieved at a familiar face.
'Whew! It was just him... I don't like him!' Mai's nervousness disappeared and turned to work on the shelf but was shocked to see it already built with Akemi standing by it with a calm smile.
"I told you it was nothing, Mai..." Akemi laughed, "Although, the boss is someone you should be afraid of!" Naru glared at Akemi's tease and just passed the two girls by.
Hearing Akemi joked made Mai feel a bit lighter, and let out a small smile. 'it seems Akemi-sempai's smiles are infecting me...'
~~~AKEMI NARU~~~
All the while they prepare the equipment, Mai kept asking different questions about every gadget she finds. Akemi find it almost hilarious as Naru would often show his annoyance for how much Mai could talk— and of course in the end Akemi would feel bad when Naru won't even bother to answer Mai's questions so she took it upon herself to answer the questions to the best of her abilities.
There were at times that Akemi won't answer as she just finds it entertaining— especially when Mai threatens to break a certain gadget for answers.
'She really is a bold person...' Akemi giggled to herself as Naru sent Mai to check every temperature of the room.
"You want me to go all by myself?!" Mai cried, staring at Naru in disbelief as the narcissist handed her the gadget.
"Yes." (Naru) nodded, "I need Maruyama-san here in the base, so no one is left but you." Naru dismissed the girl with a passive wave but Akemi and Mai could definitely imagine him looking down at her with a sly smirk. As if they could tell that this was Mai's consequence for poking the beast.
The air around him practically says 'That's-what-you-get-when-you-mess-with-me'
With slumped shoulders Mai accepted her fate albeit regretting what she has done and left the room, Akemi walking to stand closer to Naru.
"You actually do not require my assistance on anything, do you?" Akemi asked and Naru answered without a slight hesitation.
"Not one bit." Akemi sweat dropped, 'Poor Mai, being bullied by such a narcissist...'
"But I do require your assistance after this investigation..." Akemi blinked her eyes at him 'After?'
"Assistance after the investigation? Like after today or..."
"After the investigation." Naru affirmed. "I would like to ask if you are free after? I have something I would like to discuss with you."
Akemi felt her face warmed up from his questions, her hands slapping her cheeks to cover it up but it was in vain. She was blushing.
Akemi is a beautiful person and especially kind, men and boys asking for her hand or courtship isn't new for her. Akemi felt a drop of sweat fall on her forehead as she remembered the 'suitors' seemed to disappear out of the blue the moment her family, especially the males find out about Akemi being 'tricked' into having dinner with them. 'Would that also happen to Kazuya Shibuya-san?'
"L-like a date?! I know I said the next step would be lunch for us... But I did not know that you..." Naru's brows furrowed, his shoulder becoming tensed as he realized what his words could have meant.
"You are mistaken." Akemi froze. 'Eh?'
"I simply have something I want to discuss with you after the investigation."
'I guess he'll live then.'
"Can you not say it now?" Akemi asked with pure curiosity, the misunderstanding rejection forgotten.
Naru shook his head.
"Our situation today isn't suitable for what I am about to say to you." Akemi hummed, nodding at his words.
"Okay then, I'll come to your office to talk." Akemi smiled, not really planning any kind of agenda as she is also tempted to know what a psychic researcher would inform her. She would be there to talk and that's it.
Naru nodded at Akemi and went back to his notes.
"I'm back! I measured the temperature in each classroom like you asked... this digital thermometer is pretty handy!" Mai walked inside the the base room, her attention on the digital thermometer as she handed the list to Naru.
"Nothing unusual . The temperature isn't lower in any particular area...then that means there are no spirits here?" Akemi sweat dropped as Mai casually threw the digital thermometer and catching it after, repeatedly doing it as Naru read the list.
"Mai, you sure are a daring person— after breaking a camera... Now you are planning on the digital thermometer that might be worth half the custom made camera~!" Akemi said as Mai froze at the same time throwing the thermometer in mid-air— Mai panicked at this but Naru managed to grab it in mid air, his stare intense at Mai.
"We don't know that yet, ghosts can be shy... It is normal for psychic phenomenon to stop temporarily when an outsider comes in." Naru said, his glare intensifying— directing it to Mai.
"Anyway, this isn't helping us gather any information first... Let's position the infrared cameras: four of them on the first and second floor hallways and one at the entrance." Naru ordered, Akemi standing up straight with a smile—saluting at him while Mai just stuck her tongue behind his back.
"Sir, yes sir!" Akemi and Mai then left.
~~~
"Ah— ouch!" Mai placed a hand on her back, as she felt it throbbing in soreness. 'My...my back...' Mai winced.
Akemi smiling in concern for her kohai as she watched Mai struggled to straighten up her back.
"You may go home now. We're done for today, the cameras will do the rest." Naru said, as he started jotting down on his notebook.
"Hai~!" Akemi smiled, standing perfectly fine— Mai blanched at this but she shook herself out of it and stared at Naru, her brows furrowing in confusion. "Seriously, you really don't look like a psychic..."
"Ghost Hunter. Don't confuse me with psychics." Naru corrected without fail, not even bothering to lift up his gaze.
"Aren't they the same thing?" Mai mumbled, managing to glance at the notebook in his hand. 'Is that English?'
'They are entirely different, Mai...' Akemi sweat dropped at her kohai,
"Well, I'm leaving now... See ya!" Mai waved, her back hunched from being over worked but before she could go too far Akemi turned to ask her in sincere concern.
"Do you need a ride?" Akemi looked back at Mai's retreating form— the girl staring at her sempai with a smile of awe. 'Sempai is concerned for me!'
"Don't worry Akemi-sempai, my house is just close here! I'll be perfectly fine!"
"That reason is no good. A lady as young as yourself should not go home alone, especially at this time! A lot of things could happen in just a minute!" Akemi insisted she drive Mai home and in the end Akemi won with her reason.
"Thank you so much, Akemi-sempai!" Mai bowed but let out a groan as she heard her back crack from her movement, they waited as finally a black car stopped by the school. Mai gaping at it with wide eyes watching as a man and a woman came out of the car already knowing they are bodyguards. 'S-so rich!'
"How about you, Kazuya?" Akemi glanced at Naru who looked up to meet her gaze with a contorted brow.
"What about me?"
"Do you want a ride home?" Akemi asked, gesturing to the black car with two bodyguards guarding the back door open.
"Thank you for the offer, but I plan on staying here for a few more...minutes." Akemi felt her lips tugged into a frown but said nothing more and bid him goodnight.
'He'll be alright... right?' Akemi worried.