(A/N): Hello again :) Sorry for the short delay - this chapter took longer to upload than I anticipated...

Initially, this story wasn't meant to be particularly big, but I've actually been really enjoying it and, somehow, it's ended up a longer and more complex than I originally intended. I don't mind, though. I'm finding it really fun!

In past reviews, there have been a few questions about the setting of the story (I think I've answered some of them via PM) but I thought I'd answer any queries here. I'm half Irish, on my mother's side, and I go to Ireland a lot, so don't worry, I do know what I'm talking about!

Just some info about Carlingford and Ireland - Carlingford is a small Irish coastal town in the Republic of Ireland. The ROI is different to Northern Ireland, as Northern Ireland is part of the UK - that is, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ROI is NOT in the UK. It is an entirely different country. So, the United Kingdom = England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. (Also, Great Britain = England, Scotland, and Wales.) It's pretty complicated! The term 'the British Isles' can be used to refer to the two geological land masses that make up all the countries, but this term generally isn't used a lot as it does not take into account any of the political boundaries.

Also, (no one has asked this but I thought I'd put it in) the name Aoibhin is pronounced 'Ay-Veen'. A lot of non-Irish people struggle to pronounce and spell some Irish names, so that's how you pronounce that name. (I have a sister called Aoife and people often have no idea how to spell her name).

Oh yeah, I mentioned the Garda - that is the name for the police in the ROI.

As for the characters, most of them have Japanese names, but that is just because I thought it would be fun to put in real characters from Ghost Hunt (I think I mentioned that in the first chapter?) I don't really mind what you think of them in terms of ethnicity, but assume that everyone's nationality is Irish. That is, apart from John and Masako, who I am keeping as Australian (for important reasons) and Japanese (because I can.) It will be easy to see who the OCs are, actually, because they'll be the only ones without Japanese names :L

Oh, yeah. A lot of the places I talk about in this fanfic are actually real places in Carlingford (e.g. the castle ruins, the clam farm, the Long Woman's Grave). Of course, Seagull's Point Restaurant isn't actually a real place - that would have been very cool if it was, though! Finally, (confession time) there isn't actually a lighthouse in Carlingford (sorry to disappoint anyone!). At the very early stages of the plan for this fic, when I had just really gotten the idea for a seaside au, there were only two things I was definitely sure that I really wanted to do; have John be a merperson, and make Lin the grumpy lighthouse keeper. Later, I decided to make Carlingford the setting for the fic, but the idea of Lin being a lighthouse keeper was so fixed in my mind, I decided I didn't want to change it. Sorry about that...

Finally, Naru's accent...Well, you can assume it's English. (I spoke with someone about this, and where I'm from, 'British' accent will generally mean an English one as opposed to a Welsh/Scottish one, but that might change from region to region, as technically, a British accent could mean from any of the three countries.) As for whereabouts in England Naru is in this fic...I don't know. I didn't think it was ever mentioned in the manga? To be honest, I always just assumed he was from London, as most 'English' characters from non-English stories are from London. But...who knows. He could be from Gloucestershire for all we know. So, his accent could be anything. Actually, my cousin from Ireland mentioned she could only just tell the difference between my accent and the accent of one of my other cousins, and we live at other ends of the country, so Mai probably hasn't pinpointed where Naru is from. I'll let you all come up with your own theories with where he's from in England. Where do you all imagine he's from?

I think that's everything...If you ever have a question, just put it in a review and I'll be happy to answer it :)

This is a very long author's note. Sorry about that!

Thank you so much for reading this story! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

It had begun to rain again, the grey stratus drifting slowly over the area. The sea had become choppy and agitated, and I wondered if John would go out swimming tonight – like he had the night I'd had my first ESP vision, when the murderer attacked the fourth fishing boat with a bomb.

Sitting by Lin's seat in SPR, I realised Kazuya still hadn't told me what exactly had happened at Yasuhara's house, or the hills an hour earlier. I needed to find that out. He'd promised, after all.

The restaurant was not as empty as it had been, which was a good sign. People had come in to shelter from the rain, not wanting to be caught in the downfall. I was glad to see the small increase in business for Ayako – even the regular drunk man was here, sitting moodily on a bar stool and already drinking an impressively large beer, and it was somewhat comforting to see him after his recent absence from the restaurant.

Lin took a long drink from his own beer, and looked out the window.

"I'll need to get back to the lighthouse soon, if the weather keeps up like this."

"Well, can you tell us about Aoibhin?" Kazuya interjected quickly.

Lin took another drink. "…I met her twenty years ago. At sea."

"At sea?" I took a sip from my own drink. "How did you do that?"

"I was in a boat, and she was swimming. We ran into each other. At first, I was a little shocked when I realised she was a merperson."

I choked on my drink, almost spraying my contents across the table as I coughed. Kazuya slapped me on the back until I controlled my coughing fit. Lin watched on silently.

"Wh-What?!" I finally gasped. "Aoibhin was a –"

"Yes. She came here from Giant's Causeway." He looked down at his drink. "Part Blue Shark."

Well, that must have explained why he was so willing to befriend John. I wondered how he felt when he saw another merperson turning up on his doorstep, after the last one in his life – who he had loved – had passed away. "Wait…so you get more than…human blue marlin…hybrids?" I asked tentatively.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes. There is – or there was – a type of merperson for most species of fish. Most of them will have…died out, though. A lot of merpeople were murdered by fishermen, and even more have been killed by pollution. Most have been forced to migrate inland. There are a few groups left, though."

"What kind?"

"The sharks were pretty hardy survivors, I hear. A lot of tropical fish have just moved inland, and so have some of the long migraters. The folks that live in the abyss…well, they were always a little…detached from the rest of the communities, always have been. They're so isolated from everyone else, I'm sure they're doing fine. Even with the ocean floor overfishing, I have a feeling they're just going to swim deeper down. They can't do that forever, though."

"Abyssal merpeople…" I'd seen pictures of the strange, grotesque creatures that lived at the very depths of the ocean, their features deranged and bizarre so to be able to live in such dire, extreme conditions. I wondered if the merpeople were equally as frightening to survive such depths.

"…Have you ever seen an…abyssal merperson?" I asked.

"No. Few have. They can't come up to shallower water – the changes in the pressure would kill them – and the other merpeople can't go down, either. I once met someone who'd gone down there. She was very old, came to Belfast on holiday. She'd swam down, once, as far as her body could take the pressure. Saw a couple of the merfolk down there."

"Really? What were they like?"

"Well…let's just say they don't look nearly as human as John does. And they're not nearly as friendly, either."

The thought was quite chilling. "Wow…"

"About Aoibhin," Kazuya shifted the conversation back into focus, "What was she like?"

At once, Lin's face fell. "…She was kind. Carefree. Never wished bad on anyone."

I glanced at Kazuya. Right now, ordering the deaths of so many innocent people…I wouldn't call her 'kind'.

"Is today any kind of significant day for her?" Kazuya asked. Lin seemed particularly upset today, so I understood why he was asking.

He nodded. "…The anniversary of her death. She died today, 15 years ago."

"…I'm sorry for your loss."

Lin just shrugged, staring out of the window again, avoiding our gaze.

"…Could I ask about how she…passed away?"

He hesitated before nodding. "…She used to always go out swimming at 4 o'clock each day. The water is normally so clean around here, so it was a great place to swim at. It's why she came here in the first place. But that day, she came back and a few hours later, she was suddenly so ill." His face looked pained. "I took her to the hospital, but it was too late. They diagnosed it as chlorine poisoning." He ran his hand over his face. "…The water she'd been swimming in had been polluted with chlorine."

There was a silence. Neither of us wanted to speak up for a while.

Finally, Lin began to speak again, his voice husky. "…They did the autopsy, but when I went to lay her body to rest, she wasn't there. Her body disappeared from the morgue. A few months later, around the times of the Yoshimi murders, they found her body in the sea."

I felt sick. "S-Someone stole her body and dumped it in the sea?"

"Her body wasn't the only one." Kazuya remarked. "Another man – Patrick Delaney – was found, too."

Lin frowned. "You mentioned that before, but I was never told of it when the police allowed me to finally bury her."

"It was hard to find, actually. Matsuyama had the information hidden at his house."

Lin raised his eyebrow. "How did you get your hands on it, then?"

We looked at each other.

"Uh…"

"L-Look, that doesn't matter." Kazuya hastily brushed the topic aside. "You had some pictures in your house of people related to both the current murders and the Yoshimi murders. Why?"

Lin took a drink. "…At first, I didn't see any connection. I thought that Aoibhin's death was just a freak accident. But then, the recent murders started happening…The likelihood of such brutal crimes happening in the same, small town in such a short space of time can't be a coincidence." He frowned. "Then, while I was researching, I realised that there was very little information on the Yoshimi murders. It struck me as strange. Why had there been so few reports? And, when I looked into the backgrounds of Hideo Atsukio, Noriko, all the fishermen who had drowned, and now Naoki Suzuki, I realised none of them are related to the Yoshimi's themselves."

"What?" This was a surprise.

"They have no real personal connection. Hideo and Suzuki weren't even from around here. But there is one person they relate to."

"Who?" If it wasn't the Yoshimis…

"Hideharu Matsuyama."

I froze. Yasuhara's father?"

"Hideo and Suzuki were hired by him. The fishermen who drowned either used to work for him or were good friends with him. Noriko was first hired by him as the police receptionist, shortly before he left the force five years ago."

"And Matsuyama was the officer in charge of the Yoshimi murders…" I realised.

"And of Aoibhin's body." Lin told us. "That man is strongly connected to this in some way. He might not be the murderer, but…he did something, I'm sure of it. He did something, or found something, and covered up Aoibhin's death. And we're not the only ones who know."

"What do you mean?" Kazuya asked. There was a look in his eye, though, that made me think he knew what Lin was going to say.

"The murderer knows. And, whatever role Matsuyama had in the Yoshimi murders and Aoibhin's death, the murderer is angry about it. These deaths are to punish him. I'm sure of it."

We hurried back down the empty streets, the wind tossing around dust and spray angrily. Lin had gone back to the lighthouse, since the weather was getting worse. Even though it was summer, I found myself wishing I was wearing gloves. It only took a few minutes for my hands to go numb from the biting wind.

"We need to tell your brother about this." Kazuya had to raise his voice to be heard over the wind.

"Definitely. Oh, yeah – you told Lin that Patrick Delaney worked for White Nights." I remembered him mentioning it on the hillside. "Is that true?"

He nodded. "I was doing some research, and it turns out, Delaney worked for them, although the company went by the name 'Right Nights' back then. After Delaney was murdered 15 years ago, they changed their name, for some reason."

White Nights…how did they connect to this? And why were they giving Matsuyama money? The monthly deposits he got, the cover-ups, the information he hid – what did he know? What had he found, or done? What was he hiding?

I felt a surge of sympathy for Yasuhara. Everyone hated his father – that was bad enough – but to know his father had such a strong link to both serial killings? How would he feel if he knew that?

Something suddenly occurred to me. "Hey, Kazuya."

"Yes?"

"Aoibhin died because she swam in water that was polluted with chlorine, right?"

"Yes."

"So, for some time, the water around here was heavily polluted with chlorine, right?"

"Yes."

"Then, how come the council was allowed to build the clam farm?"

Kazuya stopped abruptly.

"…I don't know. That clam farm has been here for a while, hasn't it? A good ten years or so."

"Yeah. Like, I know the water is clean now – the clams can live in it, and John has been swimming in it fine – but if it was so heavily polluted that someone died, even if it was only polluted for a short time, surely they wouldn't have been allowed to have that clam farm? I mean, they're so strict with the water regulation, they didn't even let Matsuyama take his boat out when Yasuhara put graffiti on it." It just didn't make any sense.

Kazuya considered this for a long time. "…I don't know." He finally admitted. "But you're right. This is very strange."

"Oh, and one more thing." I stopped, and folded my arms stubbornly. "You promised you'd tell me about the alarm."

Kazuya stopped, a creeping look of dread on his face. "Well, yes, but we need to tell –"

"No, you're putting it off! You keep trying to avoid it!" First, it was 'we need to find Lin'. Now, it was 'we need to find my brother'." He was clearly avoiding the topic.

He scowled. "But this is more important."

"I know, but you promised." I looked at him, trying to make my gaze match mine. "Look. You heard our sob story, right? Now you tell yours."

He sighed heavily, and nodded with defeat. "…Fine."

The weather was wild and harsh as we sat down on a bench that overlooked the sea, rain coming down in bursts.

Kazuya was quiet for a long while. I did not disturb him as he prepared himself for whatever it was he had to say.

"The reason…I could turn off that alarm…" He began, his voice strained. He paused for a long time again.

"…I have ESP."

I stared at him in shock. He had ESP? "Wh-Wh-Wha – How – What –"

"That's why I know so much about parapsychology."

I opened my mouth, then closed it in disbelief.

"My ESP is different to yours, though. You're a latent psychic, so you can't really control it. It comes to you randomly. Mine, though… I have post cognition and clairvoyance. If I touch something, or concentrate on it, I can focus my visions around that object."

"I-Is that what you did with the alarm?" I asked, still reeling from the information.

"Yes. I had a vision of Matsuyama using the alarm, so I could see what number it used. It was very, very tiring, though."

I remembered how pale he's looked after – it had been as if he'd run a marathon. "How come?"

"…I…It's been a very long time since I've used it."

"Why? If you're a police officer, why haven't you just used your ESP to solve this case? Concentrated on something the murderer touched?"

He looked down at his feet, and swallowed. I had never seen him looking this emotive before.

"…I can't. Not anymore."

"What do you mean?"

He closed his eyes. "…Because of my brother. We…I can't do it without him. The power is too much for me to handle by myself. So, when he died…I couldn't do it.

"We used to work on cases together. He was a medium. I had ESP. We solved a lot of cases together. If we tried anything too big when we were apart, we could collapse. But as long as we were together, we were fine."

He laughed bitterly. It was a very sad laugh, filled with self-resentment. "…I was confident in our abilities. My ability. He was so humble, but I wasn't…I got careless. We were on a case together, in an abandoned office complex, looking for a murderer, and I forgot to check one of the exits. I didn't cover it."

He paused, and looked down at his own hands. "…One exit. That's all it took. One exit I forgot to cover because I was too caught up in the chase and my own abilities. The murderer we were after shot him in the back four times. My brother lost his life because of me."

We stayed in silence for a long time. To feel responsible for your own brother's death…

…It got bad. I tried to end it…

How alone must he have felt? Guilty? Helpless?

I touched his shoulder gently. Poor, poor Kazuya. "…I'm sorry." The words felt like a meagre, weak offer of consolation, but Kazuya nodded, and inhaled shakily.

"…After that, I couldn't use my powers anymore. When I did – for a task too big for me to handle, a vision that went too far into the past – I collapsed. Cardiac arrest. I was in the hospital for weeks. Smaller things, like that alarm, are very tiring, but not fatal. Anything bigger, though…"

Something occurred to me. "Wait…what about that bottle? How come we had that vision of Lin waling into the hills?"

"It's because we were holding hands. I wanted to see if I could bounce the energy off you, between us, like I did with my brother. It worked, but not for as long."

"Wait…so together, we can have specific concentrated visions?"

"Well, it worked that time, but I'm not sure if it will always work. I'd need to test it out a few times."

"But, this is great!" I stood up and paced up and down the pavement. "If it worked, we could solve this case for good!"

However, Kazuya looked unsure. "…I don't know…"

"Do you mean you might collapse?"

"No. I…I mean…I don't like doing it anymore. It…brings back some painful memories."

Oh. Slowly, I sat back down. That was very insensitive of me.

"…I'm sorry." I apologised. "…And I'm sorry for bringing up painful memories." I understood now why had had been so reluctant to share it with me.

He let out a long breath. "…That's ok." He turned to me. "…You must think I'm terrible."

"What?"

"For causing my own brother's death."

I recognised the hatred in his voice towards himself. The guilt. I had heard it in Houshou's voice, too, after the incident that made us leave Dublin. A self-destroying hatred.

Gently, I took his hand. "…Kazuya. What happened was an accident. You can't keep on blaming yourself forever. I'm sure your brother wouldn't want you to be hating yourself."

He paused. "…How can you be so sure?"

I smiled sadly. "I just am."

He sighed again, and rested his head on my shoulder. "…Ok."

We stayed like that for a long time, the rain falling on us.

Finally, Kazuya spoke up again. "…Thank you. For listening to me."

"That's fine. And thank you for telling me."

Slowly, he stood up. "…And I guess…we could try…"

"What?!" I stood up excitedly. "You mean, try to have a vision?"

"Yes. We can try." He looked towards the beach, and began to walk. "I can't guarantee it will work, though. We'll try down by the cave. If he's visited Aoibhin's spirit recently, we'll know."

"Oh, Kazuya." I called out to him. He paused, and turned. "I just have one more question."

"Yes?"

"…What was his name? Your brother's?"

He smiled, and glanced towards the sea again.

"…Eugene." He finally spoke up. "…His name was Eugene."

Down on the beach, the waves were getting more and more restless, the grey water crashing onto the sand, dragging back sand and shells with it, only leaving behind a trace of white spray. A few seagulls wheeled the sky, their cries keen and sharp even over the noise of the waves. The air tasted of salt, drowning out the other scents of seaweed and wet sand. Tonight was going to be a stormy night.

"We shouldn't stay too long." I told Kazuya as we walked towards the cave. "The waves are looking big, and the tide's coming up." I hadn't stayed here at Carlingford long, but I still knew the dangers of the sea when a storm was coming. "I don't think we should go directly into the cave, either. It's too risky."

"Agreed. We'll stand outside. That should suffice."

When we reached the cave, though, we realised we were not alone. Masako was standing by the entrance, not caring that the wind was going to rip her umbrella away from her, or that the sea had already engulfed her shoes.

"Masako!" I called her over. She didn't hear me. "Masako! What are you going here?"

Gradually, as if in a trance, she turned around to face us. As we got nearer, though, I realised something was wrong.

She was very pale. Her skin almost seemed to be glowing in the darkness of the storm. Her eyes were wide open, but glazed and unseeing, as if they were made from glass. The wind howled around her, this time prying the umbrella out of her grasp and tossing it into the waves. She did not notice – it looked as if she hadn't even been aware she was holding it in the first place.

"Masako?" I asked tentatively. "Are you ok?"

"Wait." Kazuya suddenly put his arm out in front of me. "Don't touch her."

"W-What? Why?"

"She's possessed."

Cold dread surged inside me faster than the tide.

"W…What do you –"

"I've seen it before. In our investigations, Eugene would often allow himself to be possessed by the spirits of the victims, so we could get information from them about the crime. He looked exactly like this whenever it happened."

Masako did not move, or say anything. She just watched us silently, the waves lapping at her legs.

Cautiously, Kazuya moved forwards. "…Hello?...Can you understand me?"

Masako didn't say anything.

He moved forwards a little closer. My heart felt louder than the sea in my chest. "…You're not Masako Hara, are you?"

Still no response.

"…Are you…Are you Aoibhin O'Cuillin?"

A smile. Then a laugh.

It was still Masako's voice, but there was something…different about it. Something off. A hint of malice shone through, colder than the rain beating down on us.

"…Yes." She took a step forwards, the water swirling around her feet. "And you…you are Kazuya Shibuya."

Kazuya did not move, but I saw his hand reach for where his gun should have been.

"…I heard about you. You and her." She glanced over at me, and I quailed in her gaze. "You're trying to stop us, aren't you?"

Now, Kazuya took a hasty step backwards, and I grabbed his hand tightly. "What do you mean?"

"He knows that you know about me."

My mind suddenly flashed back to what I found out when Hideo Atsuki was murdered:

…The murderer had seen my message about the ghost. The murderer knew we were getting closer to the truth…

"And what do you intend to do about it?"

She smiled again. It was a twisted smile that looked out of place on Masako's face. "He wanted me to tell you there's nothing you can do to stop him. And if you try and get in his way…you'll end up on the victim list."

My blood froze.

"…I see." Kazuya replied calmly. "Fine. We'll stay out of his way."

I knew he was lying, but I still felt angry. "Aoibhin? Why are you doing this?!"

"Mai!" Kazuya hissed at me.

"What happened to you to make you want to do this?!" I remembered what Lin had said – that she was kind, and carefree. Why had she changed so much? "What would Lin think if he saw you like this?!"

She froze. Suddenly, she looked puzzled. Sad. She shut her eyes and held her head.

Kazuya moved forwards carefully. "…Aoibhin?" He said gently.

Tentatively, he reached out and touched her on the shoulder. She gasped, and her eyes shot open again.

Kazuya grabbed her before she fell to the ground. Shakily, Masako righted herself, her eyes wide.

"What – What am I –"

"Masako!" I hurried towards her. Her face was rapidly gaining colour again, and her eyes had lost that distant quality. The spirit was gone.

"You were possessed by Aoibhin's spirit." Kazuya told her grimly. "What were you doing here?"

Rubbing her head, she sighed. "I…I was trying to find her. I think she and the murderer are planning something again."

"What?!" Kazuya and I looked at each other nervously.

"She was more worked up than normal. Excited. She was going on about how the weather might ruin their plan. When I asked her what it was…" She shook her head. "…I can't remember what happened."

"The weather?" I frowned. "What does the weather have to do with anything?"

"I don't know. Something to do with the rain? Maybe –" Kazuya froze, his eyes wide.

"What? What is it?"

He pointed towards the peer. Despite the darkness of the sky, I could see something clearly; smoke, twisting upwards in the air, from something glowing.

The three of us ran to the pier, out of breath. It wasn't long before we heard the sirens.

"Sirens?!" I panted. "What's going on?!"
"That's a fire engine." Kazuya shouted back to me. "I think…the murderer was decided to burn something."

My stomach dropped. What had he done? Had he decided to burn down a house?

We soon realised we were not the only ones who had noticed the smoke. A crowd of people had gathered at the pier, braving the hostile weather to see what was happening. Beyond the throng of people, though the sirens had stopped, I could see blue and red lights flashing glaringly. Hastily, we pushed our way to the front of the crowd. Everyone was too enthralled by the scene in front of them to notice us. A fire engine was parked on the road, and two police cars were also there, the officers already interviewing people and taking notes.

Kazuya looked onto the scene, pale. "…No wonder he didn't want the weather to be so wet."

One of the boats had been torched. The top deck was completely black with soot, and all the nets had been reduced to cinder and a few burnt ropes. Smoke was still hovering up, being swept away quickly by the wind.

"Wait…doesn't that boat belong to Yasuhara's father?" Masako asked, the blood drained from her face again.

"Y-yeah." That was the boat that had been graffitied, then Yasuhara had taken out when he had caught John in that net. "It's Matsuyama's."

With the officers, I could see Yasuhara being interviewed. He looked sick. He kept on staring at the boat, unable to take his eyes off of it.

When I followed his gaze, my blood froze.

Something had been written in red paint across the hull of the boat, almost in mock impersonation of the graffiti that had once been there.

'MATSUYAMA – I KNOW WHAT YOU DID.'

There was no doubt now. Matsuyama did something 20 years ago.

And now, the murderer was angry.