Another one I came up with and i couldn't choose which was better between this one and Left, But Not Alone. Review if you want me to continue it! I'm just looking for something people enjoy so that I can write more ^^

Italics-thoughts, "whispering"

Naru, Mai, and Houshou waited patiently in the small conference room provided for them, while they were investigating the on goings of Yuasa High School. Multiple paranormal phenomenons where happening across the school and Naru decided that he should call in for some help. Therefore, Hara, Ayako, and John where currently walking towards the group's base.

"So who's this again?" Ayako said, as she pointed to the person following behind them. John smiled and said, "I'll explain when we see Mai and the rest. I'm sure they will want to know as well." They all reached the room and calmly walked in. No one really noticed the other person, until Mai spoke up.

"Who's this?"

All heads turned towards said person as they examined them. They were young, probably around 19 years old. Short blonde hair that had natural streaks of brown was spiked up on their head, which revealed two rings pierced on their right ear. They were wearing a sleeveless red and black jacket, showing off a tribal tattoo that went down their arm, and grey skinny jeans. Said person turned their head and spoke.

"Xavier Freimont. I'm a friend of John's."

All heads went to John, who looked a bit frazzled at his friend's short answer.

"Yeah, she asked if she could come along with me and possibly help out. I hope you don't mind."

They were surprised at what John had said. Not because this new person wanted to help out, but because John referred to Xavier as a she. Xavier in no way looked anything like, what they would assume as, a proper lady. She just stared back, bored, and Naru quickly returned to the task at hand.

"I think we can just exorcise whatever comes our way, and if that doesn't work, we'll just have to figure something out…Hara, please look around the school starting with the desk and the track room lockers."

"Please, just call me Masako." She grinned as Mai steamed and Xavier rolled her eyes.

"Matsuzaki, please go with her and exorcise any spirits."

"Oh?" She put her index finger to her mouth, "Aren't you going to say anything back to Masako? I seem to remember something awful said to me before."

Naru was about to answer, but Xavier did that for him.

"Puh-leeze. Do us all a favor and go strut your stuff outside with the spirits."

A few chuckles were heard here and there, before Ayako huffed and stormed out of the room, dragging Hara with her. Naru sighed and told John and Houshou to also search for spirits while he and Lin interrogated more students.

"Mai and Xavier, stay here and wait for everyone to contact you. If everyone understands, let's begin."

They all left the room, leaving Mai and Xavier to sit around. Xavier pulled out some gum and began silently chewing a strip, while Mai sat down and came up with something to do.

"Hey, Xavier. Why did you decide to come here with John? Are you two good friends?"

Xavier slowly looked at her as she leaned back against the wall, before looking away.

"We've been friends since I stopped him from stepping on a snake a while back. I decided to go with him because I had no where else to go. Anything else?"

Mai shook her head, noticing that Xavier wanted the subject dropped. She rested her head on the palms of her hands thinking. I wish I had paranormal powers. That way I could help out…Although Naru probably wouldn't let me…I wonder if Xavier has any.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when one of the students walked in.

"Wah! You scared me."

"Oh, sorry. I though that Norio would be in here. What are you doing?"

The girl pulled out a chair and sat down across from Mai, not even noticing Xavier as she looked at the video screens.

"I'm holding down the fort. Houshou is out patrolling."

"Eh, so how's the exorcism going?"

"We just got started." Mai sighed and rested her head on her hand again. "But it looks like it'll be a lot of trouble. There's just too many of them."

"I know right? I wonder what exactly is going on with this school. Curses, ghost, supernatural powers, all we need now is a UFO an-"

"W-Wait, supernatural powers?"

Mai was surprised and brought Naru in so the girl could began explaining. Apparently there was a student who could bend spoons and caused a bunch of trouble with the teachers. Xavier and Lin just stood back silently, absorbing all the information that was given about the student cursing the teachers, and how the stories and weird things began happening not to long after that whole incident.

"That's why everyone is saying that it's Kasai's curse. She hasn't even been coming to class lately. She just stays in the biology prep room."

Naru, Mai, and Xavier (who just tagged along) went to the room to confront Kasai. We were met by the biology teacher, who seemed to have a good relationship with Kasai.

"Why don't you just explain what happened, Kasai?"

"No! They'll just call me a liar too!"

"But he works in psychic research. He won't just reject what you have to say."

"Fine, what do you want to ask me?"

"I heard rumors that you may have been the one that has caused the outbreak of events here at the school. Stories about bending spoons and keys, as well." Naru said calmly.

"They're not stories, their the truth. But you probably don't believe that."

"Why not? Even I can bend a spoon."

That seemed to catch everyone's attention and he was given a spoon to prove a point. Xavier merely blinked in response to the spoon breaking and joined the rest when Kasai tried to prove herself. The moment she leaned over in her chair, Xavier chuckled.

"You shouldn't do that. Bending the spoon on the chair…If they catch you, no one will believe you."

"T-That's not true! I really can do it!"

Xavier just shrugged and raised her palms as Naru took over to 'comfort' her. That only aggravated the girl more and she began saying things like, "That's why they left" and "That's why the teachers hate Kei-sensei". Xavier sighed and headed to the door, waving over her shoulder, letting Naru and Mai know that she was leaving.

"Wait, Xavier…"

She paused at the door, waiting to hear what Naru had to say.

"Don't tell an-"

"I won't. Don't worry. Even I have my own secrets." Xavier said and walked back to the base, where everyone else was now at. Houshou and Hara had just begun arguing about there being spirits, while Xavier just took a seat and watched the show. Naru and Mai walked in, not minutes later, and John had made his way over to Xavier.

"No way!"

"It's the truth. There are no spirits here. I checked the whole school."

"There's got to be at least one in that seat, right? There were four accidents in a row from there!"

Houshou was now in Hara's face and John leaned over to Xavier whispering, "Did you feel anything?" Xavier shook her head and John nodded before going to calm the two down. Then Ayako started arguing with Hara, so Xavier promptly tilted her head back to take a nap.

I awoke startled, as sweat dripped down the side of my head. I had another nightmare and I wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon. I noticed that everyone had left the room except for Mai, who happened to be taking a nap of her own. I sighed, pulling a hand through my short hair. There are no spirits here. I know that much, but what could be causing these stories? I went back over the notes that had been written down, as I moved my chair to where I could look at the monitors as well. Nothing the students had given us seemed to pop out to me at all, but then I came across a single teacher who claimed to have a hand tapping at his house window. Why is he the only one being followed home? None of the other phenomenon's went home with the students, so why is this teacher so special?

I was interrupted in my thoughts when John came in and offered to give me a ride to my work place. I'm trying to pay for the small apartment I'm living in, so I work multiple small jobs with flexible hours. This next one happened to be a bartender at a nearby club. By the time I finished, it was early morning and I needed to get back to the school. It took me a while to walk there, but I wasn't that late. Everyone had gone to start the exorcisms and I was left in the base with Mai.

"I hope everyone hurries with the exorcisms, so we can leave."

I rolled my eyes and spotted Kasai in the door way. She took one look at me and walked out. She was up to something, so I stopped Mai from going after her and went out myself.

"Did you need something Kasai-san?"

"No, not really um…who are you again?"

"Xavier Freimont. A friend helping out."

"Are all these people friends of yours?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess you could say that. Houshou, John, Ayako…they're all cooperating to get this done."

"Hara Masako, what does she say about this?"

I glanced at her, thinking it a little odd that she would use Hara's full name.

"She's the same as me. There's nothing here. I don't believe in ghosts and spirits, so I think it's probably just coincidences or pranks. Hara just says there's no spirits, but who knows what goes on in her head."

Kasai turned around, shocked at what I said. "There's no spirits? Even with everything that's happening, not all of them can be pranks and coincidences, you know."

Mai came out of the room, while I just shrugged again and let her handle the spoon bender. After a little while, everyone returned to the room and began talking about Kasai being suspicious. Mai was a bit dense when it came to the subject of PK and ESP, so Naru explained each of the different types; PK-MT, PK-LT, and PK-ST. Mai still didn't seem to get what was going on, so everyone began talking about Kasai again. I just got up and filled my cup with coffee for the fourth time. I'm guessing that John saw my shaking hands.

"Um, Xavier? I think you've had enough coffee. You're hands are starting to shake. Are you okay?"

They all turned to me, noticing my jitters. I finished off my coffee and set the cup down.

"Just tired. My job kept me up all night and thanks to this bundle of nonsense, I haven't had any sleep."

Some of them tensed and were about to say something when one of the students came crashing in.

"Something terrible happened! Yoshino-sensei was in a car accident and he's been taken to the hospital!"

Naru, Mai, and Houshou left, while the rest of us stayed behind. John suggested I get some sleep and I did just that, until a nightmare hit me again. It was different than the normal ones though. They're normally about my past, but every once in a while, they become twisted and demented.

I was surrounded by fire, looking for a way out, but I couldn't find anywhere to go. The fire was an eerie blue glow and I had a feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around and a man stood there, wearing nothing but a white gown. He had a sword in his hand and he ran me through, leaning close to whisper in my ear.

"You can't hide from the messenger of the harvest god, the white fox."

"-vier! Xavier!"

I sat up, startled out of my mind. John was holding onto my shoulders, looking concerned as I sat there holding my stomach, trying to catch my breath. I got up and hurried out of the room, to the nearest restroom and promptly threw up in the toilet. I cleaned myself up and returned to the room, only to find everyone gone doing exorcisms except for Mai. I sat down, putting my head in my hands as Mai came over with a glass of water.

"You okay? John told me to keep an eye on you when you came back. Did something happen?"

"I-It's nothing."

We were both startled when Naru decided that now would be a good time to come in. Mai got up to make some tea and Naru sat across from me. It was silent for a minute before Naru asked me, "What happened?". He was calmly looking over his papers, but I knew the question was directed to me.

"Nothing. Just a nightmare."

"Don't lie. John told me about you. That was not just one of your nightmares. So, once again, what happened?"

I sighed, knowing that Naru wouldn't give in until he got his answer.

"I don't believe in spirits or ghosts. Never did and probably never will, but I get attacked every once in a while when I sleep. John has helped me before, but this one was…different."

Naru waited patiently as he took a sip of his tea.

"I was surrounded by glowing blue flames. I couldn't find a way out and I felt someone watching me. When I turned around, a man wearing white stabbed me with his sword and whispered to me, 'You can't hide from the messenger of the harvest god, the white fox.'"

Mai's eyes widened and Naru set down his cup, suddenly interested.

"That's what the first girl said! They said she was possessed by a fox."

I nodded and leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling while Mai began voicing her opinion.

"Hey, Naru. About Kasai-"

"I don't know."

"That was fast! I…There's just something that's been bothering me."

I suddenly sat up in my chair, still staring at the same spot on the ceiling. The lights began flickering before they finally just turned off. Something began coming down from the ceiling and I stood up, watching as a woman glared at Naru and I. We both glared right back, until Houshou came in and dispelled her. Mai fell to the floor, but stood up suddenly.

"That woman she was after Naru and Xavier! She never looked at me once, and yesterday I had a dream where the school was full of foxfires. That thing was one of them! I don't know how I know, but I do!"

She began crying and I just sat down with a loud sigh. Foxfires huh…

The next day, I walked in and immediately dropped my head onto the table in front of Naru. He just raised his eyebrow, before Mai gave him his tea.

"Naru, why are you're eyes all red? You too, Xavier. You look like you haven't slept in days."

"I haven't. With this and work, it just keeps piling up. That, and that lady from before paid me a visit when I finally did get home."

"So that's where she went. I was staring at her half the night before she disappeared. So I managed to get some sleep."

I glared at Naru but he just drank his tea silently. Then, Lin came up behind me and began yelling.

"Why would you do that? You should've called me!"

"I was wondering what would happen. Besides, it would've been rude of me to wake you up."

"What would you have done if something happened?"

"If it got worse, I would've called. Never mind. Nothing happened, so you don't need to worry. Although, Xavier, I suggest you stay with John or someone if this matter is not solved today."

"Yeah, yeah. I just wish I could get some sleep."

The rest came in, bring up the fact that someone (not necessarily Kasai) could be making straw dolls to curse everyone with. John sat next to me, ruffling my already messy hair, trying to comfort me in a friendly way while everyone talked about what the curse could be. Suddenly, Naru spoke up.

"Lin!"

"Yes, that is one possibility."

"Why didn't I notice it before? This is a zuzhou."

"A zuzhou?"

"Ah, Mai. You and your limited knowledge." They all turned to me, surprised that I said anything. "A zuzhou is a hex, made by driving a nail into a hitogata; a straw like doll. The dolls illustrate the hatred of the person driving the nail in so it doesn't hurt the actual person. It actually calls upon the gods or spirits to deliver a death curse. It's one of the onmyouji arts…enmi, I think."

They were all shocked, except for John, who just smiled.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, Xavier actually has a major in parapsychology, or paranormal studies. She may not believe in ghosts, but she still wanted to learn about them."

"Well sorry. It seemed like a more interesting major than Japanese history, although…I did major in that too."

They sweat dropped, before they continued.

"You're correct. The evil spirits wouldn't have enough energy to kill over night, and only high-strung people would be really effected. Such as the fox case. It also explains why the whole school has been thrown into a panic."

"But who could've done it?"

"Kasai-san of course."

"But-"

"Who else?"

"Yoshino-sensei is also the person who hauled her up during the assembly. On what grounds do you have to say it wasn't her?"

I felt a bit bad for Mai. Sure, she had no reason other than a gut feeling, but I didn't think Kasai could've pulled it off.

"I don't know why, but…It's not Kasai! I'm sure of it."

"I agree with Mai." I said, getting up to stand behind her. "Kasai may have a motive, but none of the other points add up. Kasai doesn't have enough power to do this and I doubt that she even knows what a zuzhou is. So how could she do it?"

"Very well, I will believe you two. Lin and I will search for the culprit, while everyone else searches for the hitogata."

"Wait, us?"

"There are two ways to get rid of the zuzhou: Turn it back on the hexer, or burn it. They have to be buried somewhere near the target, so it would have to be somewhere around here."

They began arguing and I just got up and began searching the school. After not finding a hole lot, I headed towards the stairs to the second level. I spotted Masako already on her way up there and planned to just search elsewhere, until I heard her scream. I ran part way up the stairs, when she fell down and knocked me to the floor. I tried to catch her the best I could, but she still ended up more injured than me. I called an ambulance and Ayako ran to get the rest.

John got into the ambulance with Masako, telling me to stay and continue helping out. I waved him off and the rest of us headed back to base. Tensions were getting high, and Ayako and Mai began arguing again as Naru spoke up.

"Whoever the culprit is, this was a warning. They're telling us not to stick our noses into this case any further."

"Are you kidding me? Masako was pushed down the stairs! And you were attacked by that spirit!"

Oh yeah, just forget about me. I leaned back against the wall, but hissed in pain when my lower back made contact.

"Xavier, did you get hurt?"

"It's nothing, Mai. Masako was worse."

"Let me see!"

She stomped over and grabbed the bottom portion of the black sweater I was wearing, lifting it up. I heard several gasps when they saw the large bruise covering the whole lower part of my back, and just looked away from the glare Naru was giving me.

"Why didn't you tell us you got hurt?"

"It wasn't important. I can still help with the case and…I've dealt with worse."

"What do you me-"

"Fine. Me, Lin, and Mai will look for connections to the desk and the track team. Houshou, Ayako, and Xavier will continue searching for the hitogata. Got it?"

"R-Right."

The three of us went outside and began searching, but Ayako started complaining about getting her nails dirty. She paused, so I made a snide comment.

"What? You're speechless at the fact that no one around here cares?"

"No!…Isn't that the Kasai girl you guys were talking about?"

I looked towards the hallway she was gesturing to and saw some long hair go around the corner. I wonder what she wanted, I thought. I stood up from my position on the ground, but stumbled and fell to my knees.

"Oi! You okay?" Houshou asked.

"Yeah. My back just hurts. I'm going to head back and maybe pass by the infirmary for some pain killers. That fine with you guys?"

Houshou nodded, while Ayako just scoffed and went back to searching. I got my pain killers and went back to the base to get some water, interrupting Mai and Naru's conversation.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude."

"It's nothing…Why are you here? Aren't you suppose to be helping search for hitogata?"

"I was, but my back was bothering me so I went to get some pain killers. Oh, and we saw Kasai-san watching us outside. I thought you would want to know."

"I see. Anyway, what were you talking about before we were interrupted, Mai?"

"Well, onmyouji's could dispel the curses right? I told Kasai-san that you were an onmyouji."

"Where did you get that idea?"

They talked a bit more and I learned a few things. Who would've thought that Lin was an onmyouji?

"Very well, Mai. I will trust you one more time. You go help search for the hitgata. Xavier…You can just stay here. I have to go research something."

"Aw, don't leave me here! Let me come with you!"

"No."

"But I might know who the culprit is~"

Mai and Naru turned their head to me quickly as I looked at the ceiling, innocently.

"Fine. Come."

We were returning to the base when Naru spotted Mai over a gate.

"Mai! What are you doing?"

"Yeah, that's a restricted area for a reason!"

"There's a girl trapped down here! Her backpack is over-"

We followed her gaze, but when I saw no backpack, I ran to the door just as Mai was being pulled into the sewer. Naru and I rushed over and grabbed her, trying to get her to calm down.

"Mai, put you foot on the ladder. Can you do that?"

"Yeah…ah!"

I heard the ladder break under her, but Naru and I didn't have a good grip on anything. We all fell down and I could only try and grab onto the ladder, which was a horrible idea. I grabbed one of the top rungs, but I also had a grip on Mai. The added weight pulled my body downward and I let go when pain flooded my shoulder. I would've yelled, but I hit the ground hard and was knocked unconscious. I woke up with a pounding headache thanks to someone yelling.

"Hey! Anyone there?"

"Shut up…"

"Ah! Xavier! Are you okay?"

"I'll be okay when my head stops pounding. How about you and Naru?"

She looked over at Naru as she helped me sit up. She touched the wrong shoulder though, and I immediately hissed in pain. She let go, shocked.

"I-I'm sorry! Your hurt!"

"Don't worry about it. I probably dislocated my shoulder on the way down. I tried to grab the ladder, but doing that while carrying two people was a bad idea."

She helped me move to lean against the sewer wall next to Naru, and I tried my hardest to not move and cause myself more pain.

"Mai, what were you doing over here?"

"I-I heard a child crying and when I went looking for her, I saw her down here."

She turned around quickly, probably thinking about how stupid she was for not noticing it before.

"That means they're after you too, Mai."

She was mentally freaking out. I could tell by the way she was making faces. They were quite funny, so I couldn't help but chuckle a bit; stopping when I moved a bit too much.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

"Are you okay now?" Naru said.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"First you get depressed, then you get mad. Then your mood improves and you start thinking positive. It all shows on your face."

"That's why I was laughing. You make some silly faces."

She walked over and held my nose closed.

"Neh! Wat ere ou oin'?" (Hey! What are you doing?)

"It's punishment for laughing at me! Besides, it's nice to see you express yourself more. All you ever do is stand in the back looking bored."

She let go with a smile on her face, and I just huffed. I only tuned back in when Naru brought up something interesting.

"Mai, do you want to see my pet?"

He pulled out a 500 yen coin and Mai made fun of him, so it hid. It was interesting to see the two of them interact this way. Even more interesting to see Mai's reaction when the coin talked back.

"You wouldn't be afraid of Mai, would you?"

"Mm-hm"

"You shouldn't be. She isn't as scary as she looks."

"He's right. She's even scarier than she looks!" I said, laughing. "Hey what about me? Are you scared of me?"

"Yeah, you're scary looking."

"Aw~ No fun, and here I am trying to be nice."

Naru put the coin away despite Mai's protests and we began talking about when we were going to be saved. Just then, we heard steps in the water. Naru sat up and I tried to, but the pain was too much and Mai was keeping me down.

"What's wrong?"

"Whatever happens, stay close and keep calm."

"Don't have to tell me twice."

The woman from before popped out of the wall, pulling a sickle out of her mouth and coming closer to Naru. I could practically feel Mai freaking out, but the woman backed off and disappeared all of a sudden. My tensed muscles relaxed as a light shined down through the sewer opening.

"Naru, are you there?"

"That was quick. We need a ladder and a flashlight. We won't be able to get Xavier out without help."

I was brought back to the base, not wanting to go to the hospital until I heard what Naru had to say. We had found a pile of hitogata in the sewer, containing Mai, Hara, Yoshino-sensei, Naru, and my own hitogata. Houshou and Ayako were happy that the culprit didn't have hitogata's made for them as well. All in all, there wasn't a whole lot that could be said.

"All we need to do now, if flush these down the river or burn them. That should take care of the enmi."

"But will that make the culprit give up?"

"We don't even know who it is."

"It's not Kasai-san, okay?"

"Ugh, shut up…you're getting too loud."

I glanced at Naru, as I grit my teeth. Ever since we'd gotten out of the sewer, I noticed that he wasn't looking to good. Just then, he let his head drop.

"Naru? Hey, Naru!"

Houshou pat his shoulder to check on him, but he just fell to the ground.

Naru and I were sent to the hospital, seeing how I should've gone earlier, leaving the hitogata's to the rest. I had dislocated my shoulder severely, tearing several muscles, and being forced to wear a sling. At the moment, I was resting in Naru's room, a few bandages here and there, and seven stitches on the left side of my forehead. He had called everyone to come to his hospital room, so he can discuss the case and Lin, Houshou, and Ayako were the first to arrive.

"How's your condition?"

"Simple anemia and Xavier was in a worse position."

"Yeah right. Dislocated shoulder, torn muscles, seven stitches, and a slight concussion. The only thing keeping me down right now, is this sling and my pain meds."

"Haha, true."

"What about the hitogata?"

"We burned them and dumped the ashes in the river. All we need now, is the culprit."

"Xavier and I have an idea."

"Oh, it's Kasai right?"

"There's no one else."

I sighed, before closing my eyes and leaning my head back. I only opened them when Mai burst through the door with Kasai, Ubusuna-sensei, and Taka (one of the students). I glanced at the four of them with half-lidded eyes, before listening to Naru speak.

"Takahashi-san and Kasai-san. Did you hear Mai tell you about me being an onmyouji?"

"What's that?"

"I did. Why?" Snapped Kasai.

"Did you tell that to anyone?"

"It doesn't matter. Why don't you just say it? 'You're the culprit'"

This chick.

"Look. If you want to blame yourself, fine. Just answer the bloody question."

They were all kind of shocked at my outburst, but Ubusuna-sensei answered the question.

"Would it be wrong if I heard it? I didn't tell anyone else though."

"Then, let me ask this as well; where did you come from?"

"Fukushima. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Ugh, I'll be back in a sec. I'm going to chase down the nurse that has my pain meds before my head explodes from all the idiots in this room."

I got up and grabbed the nearest nurse who got my pain meds, before returning to the room just in time to hear Naru tell about the names.

"The only people who know my name are the principal and you. Also, as far as I know, the only person who knows Mai's full name is you."

"Okay, then what is my motive? Why would I put a curse on you?"

"That's easy, Ubusuna-sensei." All eyes turned to me as I returned to my seat and swallowed my pill with some water. "You heard about Naru being an onmyouji which is a threat to the curses, so you tried to get rid of him."

"Then why would I curse Mai?"

"She knew, no matter what happened, that Kasai wasn't the culprit. Her instincts were a bit too sharp for your liking."

Just then, Kasai broke down, saying that she was the culprit in a desperate attempt to protect the only person who stood up for her. Naru calmed her down a bit and joined me in proving that Ubusuna-sensei was the culprit.

"You're the one who taught Kasai-san the spoon trick."

He continued and Lin walked over handing him an old magazine with her as a child being called a fraud for pulling off the trick on television…AND she completely lost it. She began yelling about how she could bend the spoons and they just so happened to photograph at one point when she couldn't. Then, she smiled while telling us that this whole thing was just a joke.

"Ten years ago, there was an accident where a man drove wildly before crashing. During the investigation, he told police that there was a hand the was on his window. He was the reporter who published your story in the magazine."

"Are you saying that was my doing as well?"

"I'm not saying that, but if it's true, you can't get away with saying that this was all just a prank."

"Seriously, you're lucky no one has died. Because trust me, I'd put you're ass in prison so fast-"

"Xavier."

I stopped as the insane woman stood up and began walking towards me. I stiffened, but relaxed slightly when she went to the vase of the table behind me. She began arranging the flowers, but I knew something was up and kept my eye on her. I saw her reaching into the flowers and stood up, before Naru called Lin. I grabbed the woman's wrist and held it behind her back, holding her against the wall as Lin pulled out a hitogata with Naru's name on it.

"Xavier, release her…Sensei, you need some rest. Zuzhou uses both mental and physical strength. You're quite worn out."

"I guess you're right."

Crazy people.

A few days after the case was solved, I was sitting in the Shibuya's Psychic Research office, still recovering from the whole escapade. I had to quit all of my jobs thanks to what happened with my shoulder, causing me to lose my apartment, and John didn't have room for me to stay at his place. Naru invited me over to his office today to test Mai and I for psychic abilities. Turns out, Mai got everything wrong and I guessed on all of them and got them all right. Either way, we were both confirmed latent psychics.

"Hey Xavier. When did you find out who the real culprit was? You knew before I even began researching Ubusuna-sensei."

"Hm? Oh, that…in a way, it's the same as this test. I guess and got it right." I smiled, hoping to piss Naru off, and it worked. "But, I also didn't narrow my suspects down as much as you did. As soon as I knew it was zuzhou, I expanded my search to include any people Kasai, the principal, Takahasi, and Ubusuna-sensei were on friendly terms with. Then I cancelled out the obvious two who had no connection at all and the only person Kasai spoke to was Ubusuna-sensei. Any other questions?"

"Yeah, how did you take down Ubusuna-sensei with only one arm? That was crazy!"

"Oh, you'd be surprised what I've done in my spare time. John why don't you explain, I'm going…to take…a nap."

"Woah, she's out already?"

"Yeah…She hasn't gotten much sleep since she lost her apartment and the jobs she had."

"What? Why?"

"Well, let me start with what I know. You see, Xavier is actually an orphan. Her parents left her a long time ago and she was raised in an orphanage. She was never adopted or even considered because she acted out so much. She ran away from the orphanage and began living on her own at a young age, somehow making it through life okay.

I didn't meet her until she practically tackled me, saving me from stepping on a poisonous snake outside my church. I was surprised and wanted to do all I could to thank her, but she never asked for anything. I didn't meet her again for quite a few years. Apparently, she told me she had been found by a lawyer who explained to her that her parents had died leaving her quite an amount of money."

"Wait, so she's rich? Then why doesn't she just buy a place?"

"Well, she used that money to go to college before researching multiple martial arts. She knows pretty much everything, from simple self-defense to fencing and bare knuckle boxing. If there was one, I'm sure she'd have a major in martial arts and fighting. When she finally got back to Australia, she donated what was left to her orphanage.

She told me that she didn't want to use her parent's money and that she only wished to go through life with her own power. She's extremely independent, and I was extremely surprised when she asked to come with me here. She became a very good friend of mine after an incident, which she may or may not tell you about herself. It's not my place to say it and I already felt that I've said too much."

"Oh, well at least she has more intelligence than a wild animal."

"Who are you calling a wild animal? I suppose bending spoons isn't unusual either?"

"Mai, thanks for waking me up."

"Sorry."

"Naru! You did that? Now you listen to me-" Lin half shouted.

"I know."

"No you don't!"

"No, I know. I won't do it again."

Now everyone wanted to see him bend a spoon. Lin argued against it, but Naru really had no choice. He sighed before picking up his spoon and bending it. Everyone was surprised, except Lin, me, and Houshou who called him out on it. He explained the trick and the surprise vanished. Mai looked even more confused so I tapped her shoulder and sat between her and Naru, with Lin standing behind us. I made sure they were the only ones watching and I grabbed a spoon; placing it in between my index finger and thumb side ways, so both ends were out in the open.

"Naru, it's no fun if you don't do it properly."

I looked at the spoon and both, the handle and the spoon bent to form a perfect circle. Lin and Naru's eyes widened and Mai was about to yell when I covered her mouth.

"Be careful of what you do and say, because not everything is a trick."