14AmyChan: Don't own Ghost Hunt. Long AN at the end.

She broke.

How, you ask? Sir, I'm not sure I have the clearance for that.

You are?

I'm simply verifying. It's one of my jobs.

Are you sure?

All right. Where do you want me to start?

Her name is Mai Taniyama, poor thing. Though, don't let her catch you saying that. She'll do to you what she did to them.

"Them" was her coworkers.

No, of course not! From what I understand, she loved them like family. Ever since her parents had died, she had been looking for a replacement for those bonds she had lost. Not intentionally, mind you, but for some people to stave off the loneliness.

Why, you ask? Truth be told we have no idea. Maybe one of them said something to make her snap, maybe something huge took a toll on her, but we don't know. We've tried to get her to talk, but she doesn't say a whole lot.

I can't give you that information unless you're family. And as we've established, Taniyama is an orphan.

Right, you have all the clearances. Still, are you sure you want to know? You seem… close… to her…

It appears that while away on a business function with her group, Taniyama first exhibited the symptoms.

The symptoms include paranoia, depression, flashes of anger, bipolar attitude, long periods of forgetfulness—not like loosing your car keys, but days worth of information gone—and even traces of self-harm. For some reason, her coworkers did not see these as signs of a…problem…and instead tried to care for it themselves. The survivor said the last thing she heard them doing was chanting over Taniyama. For what reason, I can't even guess.

Yes, you heard that correctly. Survivor.

I'm not at liberty to disclose that information. Suffice to say that the survivor was taken to an orphanage and is being well-treated for the trauma she has endured.

We call her the survivor because she survived. Surely you should be able to put two and two together. Your reputation precedes you, even if your image doesn't…

But it is possible. The events occurred and there is nothing that can be done to save her mental health. If her coworkers had sought out professional help rather than chant, then they would probably still be with us, God rest their souls.

Let's see… Ayako Matsuzaki, Hoshou Takigawa, John Brown, Masako Hara, Osamu Yasuhara, and Madoka Mori. Why?

I'm sorry for your loss.

Do you want to know?

All right. The autopsy reports showed that Matsuzaki and Takigawa had both of their throats slit. Brown appeared to have died by drowning, but there was no body of water around, save the empty tub found on scene. He was found with a burlap sack over his head, the drawstrings and his hands tied tightly. Hara was found with a ribbon around her snapped neck—

It was black, if you have to know.

Very well. Mori was found with strangulation marks on her neck. Her eyes were wide when the authorities got there. Poor thing must have been traumatized from the amount of blood on her.

Yes, blood.

You are correct, the rest of the bodies were either in separate rooms entirely or had no blood on them, and when the testing came back, we found it was not Mori's blood at all.

It was Yasuhara's.

He was found at the front door with his cell phone and Taniyama.

I'm so sorry…

Sir, I really am sorry, but you must calm down! Sir!

Sir, if you don't calm down, I will call the authorities!

They were found on the front porch. Taniyama had gotten a hold of a kitchen knife and was stabbing him repeatedly with it. After the authorities subdued Taniyama, they began their investigation to see if the girl had been framed.

No, she was not.

The call history? I don't know, I would have to look it up.

Very well, wait a moment.

Yes, I found them. The last call had been the 9-1-1 report, calling the authorities to the residence.

The calls before that alternated between the local library and a contact named "Naru-chaan". He had also sent a lot of texts to this person.

You are? I see…

You still want to see her?

Sir, I'm afraid that isn't a good idea. She is still unwell and isn't responding to the treatments we've been giving her. Chances are—

Are you su—

Very well. Taniyama is on the fourth floor at the very end.

You're welcome. And sir!

Be careful. You don't know how much of the girl you knew is still there…

…

Miss Chan to floor four. Be ready for cleanup, visitor for Taniyama.

14AmyChan: side note: in Japan, the number four sounds like death. Most businesses don't have floor four as a result, like thirteenth floor in America. Also, I just wanted to try writing something downright creepy. I'm not very good at it, but I hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit.

Also, I was considering doing a second chapter with Mai and her new visitor. Think I should?

Please read and review. *^_^*