Alright! Final chapter of the case! Almost to 100! I can't believe it, thank you all for your continued support and reviews and just views in general! Thank you for bearing with my long awaited updates and I hope you guys continue to read until the very end. Enjoy!

Chapter 7-Himari-san

April Day 4, 5:19 P.M.

"May I come in, Himari-san?" Mai asked sweetly with the friendliest smile she could plaster on her face without looking creepy. The old woman looked frightened and began to close the door.

"I don't know who you are, but please leave me alone!"

"Wait!" Neither of the women standing in the entryway knew why the older of the two listened, but the door stopped in its tracks. "Please, you used to own a Reiki Therapy business years ago, right? I have some questions about it."

"Why would you care? There are plenty of other Reiki businesses around, hell, going online would probably benefit you more than talking with an old geezer like me."

"Himari-san, I'm from Shibuya Psychic Research and we are investigating the property you used to own," Mai admitted, softening her look. "I just want to hear about what happened when you owned it, did you have any paranormal experiences there. Outside of any instances during Reiki treatments? I'm just looking for answers."

"There weren't any ghosts when I was there, now go away!"

"What about your business partner?"

Himari reeled back as though she had been struck. "He's long dead."

"Please, just let me in and we can discuss this. I'll answer any questions you have if you answer mine."

The woman moved to close the door, but hesitated, opening it up wider. "Just how did you find me?"

Mai gave a half smile. "You probably wouldn't believe me, but a little friend showed me the way."

"That is certainly interesting," John commented as he and Naru replayed the footage of the greenhouse. The time stamp was the same as when Ogawa tried to go up the stairs. "It's almost as though they are reaching desperately for something."

Naru stroked his chin in thought as he watched the vines spread out into the walkway in the greenhouse. Some were even grabbing onto the nearby tea plants. Comparing the footage side by side, the vines were definitely becoming more frantic as Ogawa was stopped on the stairs by Monk and Ayako. But what did any of this mean?

"I've given him a protection charm, however we know that it may protect him from a harmful spirit it won't necessarily stop one from influencing him," Ayako announced as she, Monk, and Masako arrived in Base. "Did you guys find something?"

"Come take a look at this," John said motioning the group over as Naru rewound the tape. "This is the greenhouse at the same time you found Ogawa-san on the steps."

"Those vines aren't dancing anymore," Ayako commented, shaking her head and putting her hands on her hips.

"Dancing?" Monk repeated with a raised brow.

"You had to be there," Ayako answered with a wave of her hand. "So this confirms that activity in the main building is connected to the tomato plants. Do we perform an exorcism in the greenhouse then? Or do we try to seal off the exits and exorcise as we go? Or would that spirit simply escape to the greenhouse? Or-"

"I guess the priestess wants to show off to the owner's son," Masako chimed in with a smirk. "Though I'm not sure what exactly she would be showing off. Not much to see."

"Are there even any trees around here you could use?" Monk asked with a raised brow. "We're not exactly near a shrine and all of the trees nearby are definitely not old enough to be of much help."

"Maybe we should hear Ayako out, guys," John tried to mediate. "She may not have the best track record, but when it mattered most she was able to get the job done."

"John you're not helping," Ayako groaned as a sweatdrop appeared on her forehead.

"Hey, where is Mai?" Monk asked, finally noticing who was actually missing from their group. "I thought she was supposed to get here around four."

"Mai is following a lead, she'll give me an update in the next hour or so," Naru answered, not taking his gaze off the monitor. "Considering we really only have minimal information, virtually no evidence other than the vines, I suggest we wait for her before proceeding with any form of exorcism or cleansing."

"So what do we do now?" Monk fought the urge to roll his eyes. Why would no one give a straight answer about anything?

Naru tossed a recorder behind him. Ayako fumbled but manage to catch it at the last second. "Back to the basics, why don't you all perform an EVP session in the greenhouse? Bring the thermal with you."

"Thank you, for agreeing to speak with me, Himari-san," Mai said as she sat down in the living room. The older woman handed her a cup of tea.

"You didn't give me much of a choice," Himari replied, taking a seat across from her on the couch. "I apologize for the mess, but I wasn't expecting company. You're just lucky I made too much tea."

Mai took a sip and scanned the room. It wasn't messy, per say, but it wasn't pristine either. The furniture was worn from years of use, the walls had some paint chips, the carpet had a few stains here and there. It did need a bit of an overhaul, but it didn't appear that the older woman really had the money or the energy for such a project.

"Well, go on, ask your questions, I did have some things I wanted to get done today," Himari said, putting her cup down in annoyance.

"Your business partner, what can you tell me about him?" Mai asked, deciding to get straight to the point. Their research found that the man had died, but Masako claimed the spirit inhabiting the building didn't want to die. Ayako wasn't sure it was a suicide, but Mai had to rule this person out of the equation entirely. If there was anyone who could do that, it was this woman,

"Masaru was a good man. To my knowledge he didn't have any paranormal experiences when we owned the building," Himari responded curtly.

"This is going to sound a little insensitive, but do you think his spirit might linger and haunt the building you two once owned?" Mai asked, trying to figure out how she was going to do this. It wasn't like she had prepared a set of questions. She wasn't planning on being here, wherever she was.

"Why would he do that? He was so unhappy with his life there I don't see why he would stay." Himari waved a hand dismissing the notion.

"Why do you say he was unhappy?"

"You did enough research to find out where I live, you must know what Masaru's fate was." The woman's eyes grew cold and stern as they bore into Mai's.

Yet she didn't waver. "You were the one who found him, weren't you? I'm sure it was a horrifying experience." She tried to soften her look, but for some reason felt she still needed to be on the defense.

"Have you ever seen someone take his own life?" Venom dripped from the woman's words as she spoke, trying to intimidate the girl.

"In my line of work, I unfortunately have," Mai answered, keeping her voice steady. Something was off about this conversation, about this woman's hostility, what was it?

"I don't suppose you actually cared that their life was wasted."

And there it was. She was still angry. So Mai answered honestly. "I didn't know them well enough, but I wouldn't say I didn't care that their life was cut short. One in particular, I was actually relieved, awful as it is."

Himari shook her head. "You couldn't even begin to understand what it was like. Why do you suddenly care? He died before you were even a thought."

She's hiding something. An inner voice said to Mai. So Mai decided to take the kid gloves off and get to the point. She let out a breath.

"Himari-san, it's obvious that you do not want me here, and do not wish to speak with me, yet you still let me in. You want to tell me something, but it has nothing to do with whether someone as young as me cares about something that happened in the past," she said, putting her cup down on the coffee table and leaning forward. "So let's keep my visit brief and I'll be out of your hair for the rest of your life."

"Sounds like a good idea to me, the door is right there."

"Then what is it that you're not telling me?"

"Does he really think the spirit is just going to tell us his name? Why he's haunting this place? Why he thought it would be a good idea to make tomato vines strangle people?" Ayako ranted as the group entered the greenhouse.

"It does seem pretty pointless," Monk agreed, carrying the thermal camera.

"Come on guys, when has Naru made us doing something without a purpose?" John asked dragging over a couple of folding chairs.

"Not counting the times he made us do work that he didn't want to do? Like we're his minions?" the priestess scoffed with folded arms.

"Ah yes, let's keep insulting our leader as he listens to us from the comfort of Base," Masako remarked dryly, with a kimono sleeved gesture to the camera not too far from them.

Pouting and letting out a groan, Ayako rubbed her face. "I'm sorry, I'm not really sure what's going on with me today. I'm rambling and babbling and questioning-"

"You're not kidding about the rambling," Monk commented with an eyeroll, earning a jab in the gut. "Ow! Hey!"

"Suddenly, I feel much better." A satisfied smirk graced the priestess's face.

"I'm glad we're all starting to sound like our old selves," John said with an innocent smile. "But, perhaps we should actually get some work done." He pressed a button on the recorder, turning the red light on. "Greenhouse, John."

"Ayako."

"Takigawa."

"Masako."

"If there is someone here with us, can you move the vines?" John asked. Monk turned the camera towards the vines.

On command, the vines wiggled on the floor. "Thank you," Ayako said, earning an eyebrow raise from the monk. To which she just shrugged and raised a brow of her own.

"Can you tell us your name?" Masako asked, closing her eyes.

Everyone paused; the only sound was the vines rustling on the ground.

"Did you die here?" Monk asked next.

Another pause. "Are you the spirit of the man who killed himself?" Ayako asked, keeping her eyes on the vines. They were frantically moving, to where no one was sure. "Why did you do it?"

The vines stretched out further into the walkway, causing the group to abandon their chairs. "Are you upset that there is a greenhouse here?" John asked tilting his head to the side. Perhaps the spirit would tell them why he was sticking around. Maybe he hates tomatoes.

"Do you not like tomatoes?" Monk asked, earning quite the look from the priestess. It was his turn to shrug. What else do you ask a spirit who was haunting tomato plants?

"Are you upset that you died?" Masako asked, causing the vines to move in a frenzy.

"Did you want to die?" Ayako added on, watching as the vines tried to reach out for the group as they slowly backed away.

"What is it that you need to know?" the older woman countered, holding down Mai's gaze.

"What did his note say?"

The fire in Himari's eyes grew like fire. She balled her frail hands into fists before crossing her arm. "I don't see what this has to do with anything. He took a rope and hung himself in the stairwell."

"Himari-san, why did he kill himself?" Mai asked, softening her voice slightly. "You must have asked yourself that a million times, but it could really be useful. We need to find out the identity of this spirit, before he hurts someone. Even if you could rule Masaru out, it would help."

"Why do you insist that he could still be there? He hated himself and me and everything he had to live for." Himari stood up to finish the conversation. "I'm an old, bitter woman, eager to spend the rest of her lonely days in peace. So if you don't mind, I'll be more than happy to show you to the door-"

"You and I both know that is a load of crap." Mai stood up as well. She didn't really care if this woman hated her or would kick her to the curb, but she had enough of this round about game. "You loved him. You still love him."

"Get out," Himari growled, before balling her fists and screaming, "I said 'get out!'"

Mai managed to not flinch. At least she got a reaction, one that could help her figure out some answers.

"And you're angry at him for leaving you. He had enough of living and decided to leave you here," the teenager said, letting out a breath. "I was too young to really feel anything when my dad died, but when my mom died, it took me a while to forgive her."

Suddenly, the old woman didn't look like she was about to fight a teenager.

"They may not have taken their own lives, but their deaths still hurt. How could they leave their only child? But some things just can't be helped. You might know that Masaru could have gotten help or confided in you or that there are so many other ways for things to have played out. But Masaru didn't see that. He only saw one option. And he took it."

Himari blew out a breath and sat back down on the couch, gesturing the girl to follow suit. "Sit back down, you don't have the full story."

With a surprised look and a raised brow, Mai said, "You're going to talk to me now?"

At that, the woman chuckled. "You're stubbornness won't let you leave until I do, and you appear to be pretty passionate about what you do. Something we have in common, or at least used to have in common."

Mai sat down and took note of her cup of tea. "You said I don't have the whole story," she said taking a sip and allowing the elderly woman to continue.

"Not even close."

"Good work," Naru congratulated taking his headphones off. "We may have some answers."

"Wow, the spirit actually answered our questions?" The priestess worse a face of amused suspicion as she spoke, sending that look over to the monk. "I guess there is a method to this."

"Not necessarily," Naru replied, clicking a few times on the mouse as the group gathered by the monitors. "Listen."

"If someone is here with us, can you move the vines?"John's voice could be heard through the speakers.

"Himari…"

"Thank you," Ayako's voice appeared, earning her the same odd look from the monk.

"Can you tell us your name?"

"Himari…"

"Did you die here?"

"Die?"

"Are you the spirit of the man who killed himself?"

"Die…"

"Why did you do it?"

"Himari…"

"Are you upset that there is a greenhouse here?"

"No…"

"Do you not like tomatoes?"

Silence.

"Are you upset that you died?"

"Yes…"

"Did you want to die?"

"Himari…"

Naru stopped the recording and looked back at his team.

"Naru, I thought you said we had answers," Monk said, scratching his head. "I mean there was an answer to almost every question, which is pretty impressive, but nothing we can use-"

"Who's Himari?" Ayako asked shaking her head. "Ogawa-san called me by that name when he was trying to go upstairs. And judging by the voice, I doubt the spirit's name is Himari."

"I can answer that," John said with an eager smile. "Himari was one of the owners of the Reiki business that used to inhabit this building before Ogawa-san bought it."

"That would explain why Ogawa said the name sounded familiar, considering how long the building's been in his possession I doubt he would remember the name of the woman he bought it from like it was yesterday," Monk agreed with a nod of his head.

"The spirit is definitely not Himari," Masako chimed in from behind her kimono sleeve. "However, her business partner, the man who committed suicide just became a very likely candidate."

"But Masako, he answered 'yes' to your question. He didn't want to die, so why did he kill himself?" the priestess asked her hands on hips.

"You think the guy was murdered?" Monk raised his brow.

"I think there's more to this story that we don't know yet." With a huff, she turned to the young manager in charge. "You said we found some answers, seems like we only found more questions."

"I believe I said we may have answers," the manager retorted, leaning back in his chair. "At this point we may have to wait for Mai to come back with her update-"

Buzz. Buzz.

Naru pulled out his phone and examined the text. "Which shouldn't be too much longer."

I can't do it. The way it's going, life isn't worth living.

I'm sorry

Masaru

Mai placed the suicide note gingerly on the coffee table. "Finding him must have been terrible," she commented taking another sip of her cooled tea.

"That's one way to describe it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't devastated," Himari replied as Mai remembered her vision from the day before.

She was the one crying.

"You were right when you said I was angry at him," the woman said with a heavy breath, her voice drained from emotion. "He was more than a business partner to me, and I thought I was more to him. The way we would talk about the future, I truly thought that we would have one together."

She stared down at her hands as she spoke. Almost as though she were reliving the memories. "After the funeral, I sold the property and moved into this house. You can pretty much see what happened from there." She let out another breath. "I thought he had been going through depression. That, that was what drove him to end it all. I believed it for years. Angry that he didn't confide in me what was troubling him. Not that I'm really qualified to do anything in the realm of psychology, but at least I could support him."

"You keep saying you 'thought' and 'believed,' what really happened, Himari-san?" the teenager asked.

"One day, someone knocked on my door, in a very similar fashion as you. Outside was a man who was vaguely familiar to me. Turns out I had met him at Masaru's funeral. He had been his doctor. I invited him in and made tea, when he said he wanted to discuss Masaru's death."

"And you 'kindly' asked him to leave." It wasn't a question.

The woman smirked and nodded her head. "You catch on pretty quick for a stubborn little thing." She picked up her teacup and took a long deep sip. "Turns out everything I thought was true about Masaru's death, was a lie."

"So he didn't kill himself?"

"And here I thought you brighter than that." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Masaru took his own life alright, but he didn't do out of depression. At least, not directly because of depression. Turns out his doctor had diagnosed him with early stages of dementia. He was having difficulty concentrating and becoming confused easily and frequently. I didn't really notice because I have moments like that too, but not to the same extent that he did."

"That's why he decided to put an end to it?"

"Not entirely," Himari admitted. "There was another demon plaguing him. Shortly after the diagnosis of dementia, the same doctor said he had early onset Parkinson's Disease. Once I heard that I remembered certain things that should have been red flags. The slight tremor that he had when writing and doing anything with his right arm. Apparently, he asked about his options and found out about the ultimate end that he would face and decided that he would rather go out while he was still almost whole. Life wasn't worth living to him if it meant he would end up incapacitated before he retired."

It was at that moment Mai realized the reasoning behind the woman's outburst when she first arrived and the fight to get her to open up. "You feel guilty for being angry at him." Her eyes held sympathy for she had once been in the same position. "You're still angry that he left you, but after finding out why you feel you shouldn't but to can't stop it. Then you're angry at yourself for being angry at him."

"Isn't it ridiculous?" the woman scoffed. "You understand why there's no way that Masaru could be the one haunting that building."

"Actually," Mai began to admit. "With what's we've gathered from our evidence, it's very likely that Masaru is the spirit we've been dealing with."

"So he's been there all these years…"

"Himari-san?" The woman looked up at the girl. "I know I said that I would be out of your hair after you agreed to talk to me, but I'm going to need your help again."

It took quite a bit of convincing, but Naru and the others were finally able to talk the Ogawas into leaving the property along with the remaining staff members for the evening. At least for a couple of hours.

"So Mai's bringing her lead here?" John asked as the group waited in Base for one of their favorite brunettes. "I wonder if she figured out that the spirit here is the former owner. She did have a vision yesterday…"

"She did?" The monk and priestess said together, spinning toward the priest. Even Naru's ears perked up.

"Did she tell you about the vision?" Monk asked as the priest nodded. "Well, what happened in it?"

"Not much," John began, tapping his chin in thought. "I believe she said she was in the room that is now Ogawa Sr.'s office and saw a woman crying. After researching, we assumed that she was one of the owners and the scene was from shortly after the other owner took his life."

"I wonder why she didn't mention anything yesterday?" Ayako thought aloud. Monk shrugged next to her.

"She was more focused on where Naru went when she and John came back from researching," he said cocking his head.

"To be fair, her vision really didn't tell us much other than give us an idea of what to look for," John reasoned, holding his hands up in defense. "But we were already looking into the history of the former owners, so the physical evidence we found was more substantial than a dream."

"I suppose…" the priestess reluctantly agreed.

"The aesthetic in this place is god-awful," a voice could be heard saying from the hallway. "I understand I sold the place years ago, but I didn't take everything. I left plenty to work with. Disrespectful."

"Good, everyone's here," Mai said with a grin as she led the elderly woman into Base. "This is Himari, Reiki Master and former owner of this building."

"A flattering introduction won't make up for you interrupting my day." Mai could feel a sweatdrop appear on her forehead. The old woman made her way over to the couch. "So this is the ghost hunting group you told me about. Just as a figured, a bunch of kids."

"Hey, what do you know, Old Hag," Monk grinned nudging the priestess, "you finally get a compliment on your appearance-"

THUNK!

"Ow!"

Well, those two seem to be on better terms, Mai thought as she approached her boss. "Naru, can I talk to you about something?"

The young man nodded and stood to follow the girl into the hallway. In the background Himari could be heard making jabs at the bickering investigators. "I take it you have a plan?" he asked crossing his arms.

Mai returned the gesture and crossed her own. "The spirit here is Masaru, Himari's business partner," she explained looking sadly at the ground. "I know Masako said the spirit here didn't want to die and Masaru killed himself, but it is him."

"I believe you," Naru said causing the girl to look up at him with wide eyes. "While you were gone I had the others perform an EVP session. When we reviewed it a voice could be heard saying Himari's name."

"He truly didn't want to die, Naru," she said, feeling a weight in her chest. "He was sick and didn't want to let that take over him."

"And you brought Himari-san here, because?"

"They have unfinished business, they were more than partners in business," she explained with a sigh. "We can't go around and blindly exorcise the property, so I think our best bet to try to cleanse Masaru's spirit. And the way to do that is to have Himari talk to him."

Naru appeared to be thinking the suggestion over before he let out a breath. "Luckily, John and Monk are both prepared for an exorcism. If we all go into the greenhouse and use Matsuzaki-san's charms to seal it, we'll be able to perform an exorcism if the cleansing goes wrong."

"You think it's a good idea?" Mai asked a surprised yet relieved smile spreading on her face.

"It's worth a shot, considering the activity that's been happening and yet we don't have much evidence to suggest another plan of action," he answered, making the girl's grin spread wider. He couldn't contain his own smirk. "Well, let's see what happens."

"Did you just come here to insult us?" Ayako could be heard asking the elderly woman as the manager and his assistant returned.

"Simply an added bonus," Himari replied smugly. "Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing here, that girl forced herself into my home and dragged me out here against my will. I should call the police for kidnapping."

"Himari-san, we discussed this," Mai said with a disgruntled sigh and an eyeroll. "You are here to help us put Masaru's spirit to rest."

Himari rolled her eyes this time. "I still find it improbable that he would stay. You may have been able to convince me to humor you and come all the way out here but-"

But Naru had an idea. He managed to walk over to the monitors and click a few buttons before he found what he was looking for. He hit the play button and John's voice played loudly through the speakers.

"If someone is here with us, can you move the vines?"

"Himari…"

"Thank you,"

"Can you tell us your name?"

"Himari…"

"Masaru?" Himari froze and looked at the black clad manager whose no nonsense expression silenced her.

"This voice was captured inside the greenhouse earlier today," Naru explained. "Do you recognize it?"

"I don't know how you did it, but there's no way that's real," the woman huffed crossing her arms and looking away. A hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Himari-san?" Looking up the woman saw a girl who looked very much like a doll. It was Masako's turn to try to convince the woman. "I think Masaru would like to hear what you have to say. Whether or not you believe he's here. Why don't we go to the greenhouse and you can finally put this to rest."

The rest of the investigators kept exchanging looks, wondering what the woman was going to do. "If it means I can go home and get on with my life in peace, fine."

"Masaru, if that is you, you will stop that right now!" Himari ordered as the tomato vines retreated. "You're a ghost and decided to haunt tomatoes? You hated them when you were alive, always taking them off your sandwiches."

"See, asking if he didn't like tomatoes, wasn't that stupid of a question," Monk whispered to the priestess who lightly elbowed him.

"Is this really such a good idea? She is rather harsh," the priestess remarked as the monk next to her gave a small groan.

"That's rich coming from you."

"It's worth a shot," John answered with a shrug. "They were business partners and I'm assuming good friends. She is probably just what Masaru needs."

"I'm supposed to tell you that it's okay to move on. That your life is over and I am fine and you can rest in peace," Himari continued, ignoring the whispered chatter behind her. "But that's not what I really think. I shouldn't be angry with you for what happened, but I still am. Instead of telling me what was going on, you took matters into your own hands and ended your life. What kind of sense does that make?"

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea," Mai muttered fighting the urge to groan.

"Keep watching." It was Naru who reassured her.

"I'm not okay. You left me here alone and didn't trust me enough to tell me why. I didn't find out for years. I thought you loved me like I loved you, but I suppose I was wrong." The vines started to go toward her again. "I said 'stop that!' You can't intimidate me with those things."

The vines stopped, but didn't retreat. "We had so many plans. We were going to train students and open up franchises. None of that happened, because you left me."

"He's not happy," Masako said, feeling her chest tighten. "Seeing her is making him so sad."

"But I can't change the past and neither can you. Especially not by attacking people with vines. I heard you tried to strangle someone, that is not the Masaru I knew."

The vines retreated slightly but made their way slowly toward the woman. "I know why you did what you did, and while I don't agree with it, I understand." A vine lightly wrapped around her frail hand. "Holding my hand isn't going to erase the years of pain I endured because of you." She still smiled ever so slightly. "But I do appreciate the gesture."

The grip tightened just a bit. "You don't belong here, Masaru, frightening the new owners isn't going to change your situation. I promise one day you and I can hash it out properly. Face to face. But we can't do that if you're still here. Do yourself a favor, go home."

One last squeeze from the vine came before it went completely limp and fell to the floor. A wide eyed Masako looked around. "He's gone. He crossed over," she said in surprise.

"Of course he did," Himari said with a roll of her eyes. "He doesn't belong here, he was just upset he didn't tell me goodbye properly all those years ago. He still hasn't but don't worry, I'll give him a good whooping in the afterlife when I get there."

Mai and John were in charge of hailing a cab for the elderly woman after the cleansing. Everyone else was busy cleaning up and putting away the equipment as Naru made a phone call to the Ogawa father and son to let them know that the spirit was no longer on the property.

"So how did you find Himari-san anyway?" John asked the brunette as they waved the cab away.

"Let's just say I had a guide," she said with a smile. When the priest cocked his head, she shook hers in response. "Even if I went into detail, you wouldn't believe me-"

Kono omoi wo keshite shimau ni wa, mada jinsei nagai deshou?

"Moshi moshi?" Mai pulled out her phone with an apologetic look to the priest. "What's up Michiru?"

"Hey, are you going to the festival tonight?" her friend asked as she looked at the time on her phone. She still had to help clean up and she was still in her uniform. "Or did you forget?"

"I did forget actually," Mai admitted scratching her head. "We just closed the case a few minutes ago so we're still packing up."

"And you're in Ayase?"she heard Keiko said. Must be on speaker.

"Yeah, it's in Ueno right? It'll take me a bit of time to get there, especially if I stop at home first-"

"Just meet us there,"Michiru interrupted. "Genji's meeting us there and he's gonna be driving so you can leave your schoolbag in his car. No one's going to care if you're still in your uniform."

"Yeah, I haven't changed yet so I can be in my uniform too so you don't feel awkward,"Keiko offered.

"Alright," Mai chuckled, "I'll meet you guys there. I text you when I get on the train."

"Awesome! See you soon!"

"Looks like you have Friday night plans," the priest teased with a grin as she hung up the phone.

"Yeah, I really didn't think this case would be over in time for me to go, but I guess I can still make it if we hurry up with cleaning up our equipment."

Luckily, since the location and activity wasn't as large as some of their past cases, gathering the equipment and loading it up in the van did not take very long at all. "Hey, Lin's not back yet, how are you going to get the van back to the office?" Mai asked Naru as he shut and locked the back of the van.

"Father Brown took the train here and offered to drive the van back if necessary," he answered, handing the keys to the priest. "Which, is necessary."

"You can count on me, Kazuya," John grinned.

"Hmm, a nice hot bubble bath is waiting for me when I get home," Ayako commented stretching her arms. "After the week I had, I need it."

"Trying to thaw that frozen heart of yours, huh, Old Hag-"

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" A voice exclaimed as the group turned to see their interloper.

She was tall, taller than Ayako and wearing heels on top of that, had black hair with two bleached streaks framing her face. She was lean, dressing in a leather crop jacket, white shirt, jeans and heeled boots. She walked up to the group and punched Monk in the arm.

"So this is the ghost hunting group you're a part of? Houshou has told me a lot about you," she said, her hands on her hips. She scrunched her brow and pursed her lips. "Wait, do you guys call him 'Houshou?' Or 'Norio' his stage name? Or is it just easier for you to call him 'Takigawa?'"

"Actually, he prefers that we call him 'Monk,'" the medium was the one to respond, causing the woman to laugh.

"That's hilarious! Just look at you!"

"Hey, I might not be part of Mt. Koya anymore, but I'm still a monk, Kimiko," Monk argued nudging her. He laughed gesture to the group before him. "Guys, meet my cousin Kimiko, she's filling in for our band's singer. Since we have a gig tomorrow and virtually no time to practice, she's been bugging me nonstop this week."

"Cousin?" Mai and Ayako whispered sending each other a look.

"That's only because you couldn't be bothered to attend the practices I went to," Kimiko rolled her eyes. "At one point they were asking me if I could play bass to fill in for you too."

"Yeah, right," Monko shook his head. "Anyway, we have Masako, Mai, Ayako, John, and our ring leader Kazuya."

"Nice to meet you," the group, minus Naru, replied.

"Nice to meet you guys, I hope you guys, at least those of you that can get in, come to the show tomorrow," Kimiko said with a grin. "Now if you excuse us, I need to get this guy to practice. There's still a bit of fine tuning before we go on tomorrow."

"Break a leg!" Mai called as the two left. John and Naru got into the van and waved their goodbyes to the group. The high schooler couldn't help but smirk at the priestess. "And here you thought you had competition."

"Shut up," she replied with a satisfied smirk. "I'll see you guys later."

Thus left the medium and high schooler alone. "Hey, I'm meeting up with my friends at a festival in Ueno park, you can come if you want," Mai offered with a smile.

"Thank you for the offer, but I do have plans of my own," the medium replied turning away. "Someone like me doesn't need to rely on the charity of someone like you."

"It's not charity if a friend wants to hang out with you!" Mai called to her as the medium made her way down the street. "Jeez, does she really have to be so condescending all the time?" She pulled out her phone and squeaked when she saw the time. "Keiko and Michiru are going to kill me!"

So this was not one of my favorite cases, to be honest it was actually very hard for me to write. The hardest part was figuring out why Masaru took his life, which I really didn't know until a few months ago. In a way, it was a bit of closure for me seeing as my grandfather had been suffering from the same thing. Thank you again for bearing with me and this case.

At the same time this case was necessary, for character development. We are going to explore the other sides of some of our favorite SPR members. What are you looking forward to seeing the most?

Post Case 8- Weekend- In the aftermath of a case, that led to some very personal matters brought up, everyone goes their own way to their own version of reality. Some questions are raised, and a few answers are found, but will things go too far?

I hope you guys enjoyed! Please leave a review!