(A/N): I realise it's been quite a while since I last uploaded, and I'm sorry about that.

I've been having a few problems with some different things, and a load of volunteering to do as well, so again, I'm sorry it took me a while to upload.

(I'm not giving up on this story, though. I think I'm too stubborn for that. As for Sea, Sand and Murder, I'll hopefully finish the next chapter soon.)

I hope you're all having a good summer! I'm certainly glad to not have to wake up so early every morning.

Thank you for reading this story, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

"What do you think is going to happen?"

I faced Houshou, who was sitting opposite me at the café. The place was relatively empty today, which was a rare event, but quite an enjoyable one. I still disliked the press of crowds and small areas. Large, packed masses were enough to make me feel uneasy, and any small room sparked my nerves. Elevators were out of the question. I had not attempted to use one since the Mattaku incident.

"I don't know. Naru-kun and Lin-san are definitely on edge about it, aren't they?"

"Yeah." The two of them had insisted on keeping the artefact under lock and key. It had been decided two days ago to keep the relic hidden away, after Lin had announced the ominousness of whatever resided inside the container. Considering that spirits – our main forte – did not appear to be involved with the item, we had been 'put on hold', as Kazuya had phrased it, much to the irritation of everyone else.

"I wonder what they can really do." Houshou went on. "It's not as if they can just exorcise a spirit and call it a day's work, you know?"

"Mm." I nodded. "We don't even know what's inside it, or what exactly it does."

Houshou frowned, scratching his head. "I hate curses. They're so difficult to deal with."

"That case at Rokuryo high school was definitely a lot of trouble, wasn't it?"

He sighed. "If we're dealing with the same problem, I think I'll cry."

Outside, though the air itself was mild, the wind was cold and harsh. I was just thankful that it was not raining.

"But…what I'm really concerned with," I bit my lip, "is why that man – Dara Brennan – was missing in the first place."

"Do you think he ran away, maybe?"

I tilted my head. "But from what? And the police seemed to think he had been abducted. That makes me nervous."

Houshou scratched his shoulder distractedly. Ever since he had dislocated it, it often ached. At times, it was so painful for him, that he couldn't move his entire arm.

"…Maybe…maybe someone wants whatever is inside the box. Sandra Perkins was looking for it too, wasn't she?"

"It certainly seemed that way. From what we heard on the extract, though, none of the other archaeologists or historians wanted anything to do with it."

"Do you think they know about what's inside?" Houshou wondered. "If they know what's causing the curse-like presence?"

"I don't know…" We fell quiet, troubled. It was a tricky subject, and we knew too little about the artefact itself to draw any real valid conclusions about its nature, or why it was simultaneously feared and sought after.

"Did Naru-kun mention who exactly Dara Brennan is?" Houshou spoke up.

"He told me briefly before I left." It had just been when I was about to leave the office. He had pulled me to one side and spoken to me quietly.

"…Apparently, he's an archaeologist and historian, like Sandra." I remembered. "He's from the Republic of Ireland, and he focuses more on Prehistoric Irish history, but he had worked with Sandra Perkins a few times." I thought back to what Kazuya had told me. "He had been staying over here 'on business', although what that business was, isn't very clear, apparently. He was staying in Osaka, and had been here for about 10 days when he went missing, a week or so ago. And…" I hesitated. "…Actually, Shibuya-san was acting really strangely."

"What do you mean?"

"He asked me if I knew him. Actually, he kept on repeating the question, to check I was certain. So, I asked Shibuya-san if he knew Dara Brennan. He said he didn't, but...I don't know. I just don't think he was telling the truth."

Houshou frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah. When I asked him what made him think I would have known Dara Brennan, he just told me that Sinead was a friend of his."

"Sinead-san?" Houshou sounded surprised. "Your cousin?"

Sinead Brown, my cousin and close friend, was a liaison officer who worked internationally, often focusing on crimes and events that could only be explained through spiritual and supernatural means. As of now, she was in Nigeria, searching after members of the infamous smuggling group, R.M, which had been heavily involved in the Mattaku Psychiatric Ward.

"Yeah." I tilted my head in thought. "I'm pretty sure that she and Shibuya-san have worked together at some point."

"Three years ago." Houshou said .

"Huh?"

"Mai-kun kept on talking about it. Apparently, they met three years ago in Ireland."

I frowned. "That's strange….Neither of them talk about it much, do they?" Now that I thought about it, Sinead had only ever mentioned it in passing to me once, very briefly.

"Not really…Have you ever been to Ireland?"

"No, no." I shook my head. "A flight from Australia to Europe would be really expensive."

"Yeah, I guess we're not all minted like Naru-kun and Ayako-kun are."

I laughed. "If only."

Houshou hesitated, and he looked away suddenly, avoiding my gaze for a while.

"…John. Can I…Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

He looked extremely uncertain. "I…I know that…" He exhaled. I watched him curiously.

"…I know that you and Brooks-san…you had a relationship and…John, are you ok?"

Hurriedly, I rubbed my eyes, turning my head to hide the tears. "I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

The mere sound of his name was enough to spark that raging grief inside of me. It had been more than a year since he had passed away, but any reminder of what had happened to him hurt like a fresh wound.

Kazuki Brooks was a man I had met before the Mattaku incident. We had become very close, but he had been inextricably entangled in the situation, and eventually lost his life to it. We loved each other, but in the end, I had been forced to cleanse his spirit from a lonely abandoned house where the spirits of the Mattaku victims were residing.

At first, it wasn't just the anxiety I had been grappling with, or the PTSD, or the guilt of knowing I had erased the one I loved from the face of the earth. It was sheer, overwhelming grief. For months, it was as if I was drowning in some sort of force that I could neither fight against nor had any desire to. It got bad. Bad enough that I heard whispers of speculations about my mental state slipping into depression.

But, somehow, I don't know how, I pulled through. Maybe it was the constant therapy that helped me to deal with the events that happened last spring. Maybe it was the satisfaction of knowing that those who had done this to me – to us – had been convicted, locked away forever, never being able to hurt me or anyone else again. Or maybe time itself had simply washed away the pain and soothed the scars that had been inflicted upon me.

Still, whenever I heard that name, those scars would be reopened. It was enough to make me cry, every single time.

"…Yeah." My voice was a lot quieter than before.

"And I know that such strong feelings for a person don't fade away so quickly. I understand that. But…" He trailed off. I looked back up, and stared at him. He was hiding his gaze again.

"…But?"

He bit his lip, and stared down at the table. "…The thing is…I…"

"…You…what?"

He swallowed hard. "…I…I…"

"Bou-san!"

Houshou jumped at the sound of his name being called very loudly across the café. Everyone turned to stare as Mai came scampering over to us, followed in tow by Yasuhara.

"Hi!" She grinned, sitting herself down next to Houshou, cheerfully ignoring the disapproving murmurs of those watching. "How are you both?"

Yasuhara sat down by me. "I hope we're not interrupting anything important, are we?"

The glare that Houshou gave them both was more irked than normal at their antics. "No. Not at all."

"Excellent." Yasuhara smiled in the charming, professional manner he liked to adopt. "How are you, John-kun?"

"I'm good. Is college going well?"

"Yes, it is. In fact, it's actually quite easy. For someone of my intelligence, anyway." He said, jokingly.

Mai scoffed. "Aren't you humble? Almost as humble as Naru-kun."

He shrugged. "Almost."

"What are you two doing here?" Houshou scowled.

"Oh, you know…" Mai leant forwards, smirking. "We were just checking everything was fine…"

"Bou-san wasn't going cheapskate or anything, was he?" Yasuhara asked me. I did not understand what he was insinuating. We weren't on a date, so I didn't quite follow.

"Of course I wasn't!" Houshou interjected defensively. "Did you come here just to be nosy?" I wondered why he was so irritated about their untimely interruption.

"Actually, there was a point to us coming here, in all honesty." Yasuhara resumed his more serious demeanour. "I heard recently that you've come across an unusual case. I tried to contact Naru-kun, but I couldn't get hold of him."

"Oh, right." Houshou scratched his head. "Where do we start…?"

It took a while to explain the situation to Yasuhara. The entire time, he listened with a thoughtful look on his face. When the explanation was finally finished, he remained quiet for a moment longer.

"…I see." He frowned. "Do you think…that Lin-san perhaps knows more about this than he is letting on?"

"What?!" Mai stared at him, incredulous. "What makes you say that?!"

"It just sounded like, from his reaction, that he had actually come across this artefact before."

"Well, why didn't he say anything before?" Houshou remarked. "The moment you showed it to Naru-kun, John, wouldn't he have said something?"

I tilted my head. "Actually…at that point, I'm pretty sure Lin-san was on his computer. He didn't actually come over and look at it. Then Shibuya-san put it straight into his drawer when I left to go to the police station."

"And it sounds like he knows quite a lot about this artefact, just from having one look at it." Yasuhara continued. "His warning, too…I really think there might be a possibility that he has come across it before, despite what he says."

Houshou and Mai still looked a little sceptical, and I had to admit, I found it hard to imagine that Lin would lie about something like that.

"And what about that woman? The one who approached you?" Yasuhara asked. "Could you tell what country she was from? That might help us find her. Whoever she is, she definitely knows something about this artefact, and it doesn't seem like she was approaching you out of ill-intention. Actually, if anything, she was trying to be helpful in some way. If we could find her, she could tell us some vital information."

"That's true. Um…" I tried to think back. "She…she…I think she might have been Hispanic, maybe? That's just a guess…"

"What did she look like?"

"Dark brown hair…Wearing a red coat…and a scarf, too."

"Her hair was pretty short, wasn't it?" Houshou commented. "Maybe just a bit shorter than yours, Mai-kun."

"That's right." I nodded thoughtfully. "And her eyes were brown. She was of average height, I'd say. Probably Ayako-kun's height. Maybe in her forties."

"Huh?" Mai frowned, and pointed to the window of the café, on the other side of the room. "Like her?"

We turned to look. A woman was standing on the other side of the glass, watching us intently. The red coat she wore stood out like blood against the dreary grey landscape of the city.

Immediately, I turned back my gaze, and gestured for the others to do the same.

"…That's her." I breathed to the others. "That's definitely her."

"What do we do?" Houshou whispered. "Is she following us?"

I nodded, not daring to look at her lest she left – it took all my will power not to.

"Why is she following you?" Mai hissed. "What does she want?"

"…Last time, she was warning us not to get involved with the artefact." I pursed my lips. "Maybe she's here to warn us again."

"Perhaps." Yasuhara looked unsure.

"Well, what do we do?" Houshou repeated. "Should we try and talk to her?"

At last, I dared a glance at the window. "Shit." I stood up quickly. "She's gone."

We ran outside, ignoring the stares of the other customers, to the cold wind that attacked us with icy swipes, despite the mild weather.

"Where did she go?" I scanned the streets hastily, trying to pick out the red coat against the throngs of people.

"I don't know." Houshou exhaled. "…We should find her."

"Bou-san, go with Mai-kun." Yasuhara decided suddenly. "I'll go with John-kun. Be careful."

"Will do." With that, the two of them set off left, and we began our search to the right. Already, I could feel my nerves building up, and I moved quickly to try and shake off the adrenaline that was seeping into my blood.

"Who is she, exactly?" Yasuhara asked as he kept up with me.

"I don't know." I paused. "…I don't think it's Sandra Perkins. Their voices are different."

Yasuhara's voice lowered. "You don't think…she's following you…" He hesitated, as if struggling to put his thoughts into words. "…Like colleague-san did?"

The mere mention of the name was enough to make my blood freeze. "…I don't know." It was all I was willing to say on the topic. I didn't want to think about that now.

Sensing this, Yasuhara did not pursue the matter further, but pulled on his gloves and scanned the streets once more. Still, there was no sign of the woman.

"Maybe she went up a different street?" He suggested.

Really, there was no way to tell, with the dwindling but still large masses of people, walking down the streets and bracing themselves against the frequent blasts of winds that buffeted them.

"…Maybe." I shivered, gazing on the streets one last time. "…I think we should find Houshou and Mai-kun again. They might've had better luck."

I began to retrace our steps down the street, walking briskly in the cold. "Let's go."

Very soon, I realised I was walking alone. Yasuhara had not moved; he was staring at the opposite street.

"…There she is!" With no warning, he began to run.

"Wai – Yasuhara!" I took off after him, suddenly filled with fear. We didn't know who this woman was, and whether her intentions were good or bad. This could be a trap.

Yasuhara moved surprisingly quickly, and surprisingly recklessly. He barely waited for the traffic lights to turn before crossing the streets, and soon I was more terrified he was going to be knocked over than attacked. Passer-bys stared and tutted, shaking their heads as we disrupted the pace, and it was a miracle neither of us crashed into anyone.

"Yasuhara-san!" I called ahead, beginning to tire. "Wait a minute!"

He didn't slow, but only glanced over his shoulder. "Hurry up!" He shouted back.

I quickened my pace. At this point, I didn't even recognise the street we were on.

At last, Yasuhara began to slow, and turned into an alley way. I followed, though it grated against each and every instinct that I owned.

"Y…Yasu…hara…" When I reached him, I bent double, breathing hard. "…Let's go. Alley ways are not good."

He didn't respond, so I grabbed his shoulder and straightened myself out. "Please, Yasuhara-san. Let's –"

I froze. There she was. She was panting hard, as if she'd been running. Her red coat had been stained with splashes of mud.

For a moment, we stared at her, and she stared at us, as we regained our breath.

Finally, she spoke up. "…You move fast."

"Thank you." Yasuhara replied.

He made to take a step forward, but I grabbed him and pulled him back, my nerves beginning to climb rapidly.

"Yasuhara-san!" I whispered urgently. "Please be careful!"

"Why were you watching us?" Yasuhara demanded, fearlessly. "Have you been following us?"

She frowned, and folded her arms indignantly. She looked just as fierce as Yasuhara did.

"I was looking out for you."

"What?" I stepped forwards now. "Why? Who are you?"

"That artefact you're looking into?" She pursed her lips. "Someone around here is too. Someone kidnapped Dara when he had it. Doesn't it occur to you they might try and do the same to you? I'm telling you, get rid of that thing."

"Wait, you knew him? The man who went missing?" I regarded her warily. "And what do you know about that artefact?"

She looked around uncomfortably. "He went missing around two weeks ago. I was meant to meet him here, and he never showed. Then the police told me he had been abducted." Quickly, she glanced over her shoulder. "And someone has been following me ever since. That's why you should get rid of it, before something bad happens to you as well."

She turned to walk away, but Yasuhara ran after her, and grabbed her by the arm.

"Hey! Don't just leave! You need to explain to us what the hell is going on here."

"I don't need to explain anything." She retaliated, shaking off his grip.

"You can't just say things like that and walk away." I agreed. "Tell us who you are, and why everyone is so scared about this artefact."

She looked between us for a long time, her brow furrowed, as if she was mulling over her choices. We needed her to talk to us. Whoever she was, she knew something about the artefact. The information could be invaluable.

After a painstakingly long time, she sighed heavily.

"…Fine. I'll tell you what I know."