Yo! I promise I haven't forgotten about this. I'm just really bad at updating things. Thank you to all readers so far!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or any of its characters. I do own the unfamiliar characters though, so there's that...

Mai was...confused. Ever since they had heard from Kazumi-chan, Bou-san had been behaving oddly. He kept falling into thought, and she couldn't remember how many times she had nudged him out of them, only for him to fall into them again mere moments later.

She had never seen him with such a serious face before, and it was only serving to worry her. Had he figured something out about this case, perhaps? Or was it something else-something unrelated? Because if it was about the case, surely he would have brought it up with the rest of them by now, right?

"Shouldn't we speak to Michael?"

It was Ayako's voice that drew the girl out of her thoughts, and she looked up, blinking. The miko was looking at Naru, a small, questioning frown on her face. Realizing what had just been asked, Mai frowned slightly herself. They hadn't spoken to the butler yet? Weird.

She glanced at Bou-san again, and saw that his eyes were hazed over. He was out of it once more, she noticed, and sighed softly. Part of her really wanted to ask him what was going on. This just...wasn't normal, not for him, at least. This was just far too strange.

"Mai!"

The girl's head snapped over so fast, that she cricked her neck. Hissing, she reached up to rub it. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I don't pay you to ignore me."

Feeling chagrined, Mai cringed, before apologizing. "Sorry, Naru. What was it you wanted me to do?"

"Accompany Lin and speak to Michael," the young boss ordered. "And bring tea on your way back."

Mai blinked, surprised, but nodded in acquiesce and got to her feet. Lin inclined his head in her direction, laptop in his hands, and the two left the Base together without further ado. It wasn't until they reached the end of the hall, that they realized they had no idea where their quarry was. ...Dammit.

The two exchanged a half exasperated, half amused glance, and began to walk in a randomly chosen direction, sure they would find the man they were looking for eventually. ...Perhaps they should have requested a map...

It took some time, but the two finally found Michael in the third kitchen they came across, and politely asked if they could ask him some questions. He agreed without complain, so they began without preamble.

"We've been told you've also experienced odd things in this house," Mai started. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"Of course," the man agreed with a nod, wiping his hands clean on a towel. He wasted no time in beginning. "I came to this place with Isaiah approximately one year ago. My personal experiences began only a handful of weeks ago, however, when I began noting odd occurrences."

"Such as?"

"A strange sensation of being watched, my belongings vanishing only to reappear in odd places I most certainly would never have left them in. I have also witnessed objects-small ones-moving on their own, and doors opening and closing when there is no one else in sight, and no movement in the air, not even a breeze, let alone a gust strong enough to do this."

Lin quietly typed all this down, while Mai listened closely, nodding. Both of them had already realized that Michael and Kazumi had so far had many of the same experiences. The only real difference between them was that Michael experienced things less frequently than Kazumi and, as far as he knew, hadn't ever been touched or harmed.

In fact, out of everyone, it seemed as if Kazumi had the most experiences, and Isaiah the least. It was a little odd, considering that unlike the other two, the girl didn't even live in the house. She merely visited it and its occupants fairly frequently.

But what that told Mai and her handful of years of experience in working in this field, was that this spirit, whoever it was, was particularly attached to Kazumi, yet was unable to follow her to her own home for some reason. It turned out that everyone else in SPR had come to a similar conclusion.

Still, that didn't answer all their questions-didn't even answer half.

What was linking the entity to this property? What hadn't it attacked anyone before this winter, even though Isaiah and Michael had both been here multiple times before their current stay? Had Kazumi triggered it in some way? Had it attached to her because she was a girl? Did she perhaps have abilities of her own?

There were just far too many questions. There were just far too many things that were still unknown to them. Either way, it was a good thing they were on the case. There was definitely something strange about this situation. They just...didn't really know what...

After Mai filled the others in on what Michael had said, the group had dinner, and then split up for the night. There were so many rooms in this place that there was absolutely no need for any of them to share one, which they were certainly pleased with, because this was rare indeed.

But as Mai lay on her large, soft bed a little while later, she found that she wasn't able to get to sleep. Now that darkness had finally fallen, Mai couldn't help but think that the entire house felt...different. The air felt thick and tense, and there was just a strange sense of foreboding in place.

Mai felt eyes on her, watching her, even though she knew for sure that she was alone in the room. There wasn't even a camera in here! The feeling was incredibly uncomfortable, and she knew without a doubt that this was exactly what Kazumi-chan felt when she was in this massive house. How horrible. No wonder she didn't want to sleep here anymore, even without all the creepy touching.

Mai really wished she wasn't alone right now...

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