Location: Tokyo, Shibuya Street. "Shibuya Psychic Research".
After opening the door, the autumn wind rushed inside. Outside by the cherry blossom tree, the smell of red tea wafted through.
I (Taniyama Mai, 16 years old, student) am working at "Shibuya Psychic Research", a paranormal investigation office. This office exists to perform scientific investigation of paranormal phenomena, ghosts, and extra-sensory perception. Even though I say it's a team, and only the director, his assistant, and the part-time assistant work here, there are three outside people who help too.
The staff is exceptionally small here, and the details of this office are kind of suspicious. The office is located in the Shibuya district of the city center and was newly built there. At a glance it looks like a coffee shop or an easygoing office. Outside, the air is very nostalgic. The trees on the streets are changing color. Movie ads for "An Unbelievable Story" had been pasted everywhere on the opposite sides of the street; I'm not sure whether or not it's a good movie.
Every Saturday, I come here to the office and do paperwork. I've organized the old issues of a Psychic Research Magazine by date.
Assembling things, registering things, transcribing table of contents, and ordering books. In other words, I do manual work. I guess the level of my job will only be this high. And now, we're not doing any ghost hunting. Because now things are moving slowly, and there's no other way to go about doing this. But every day, I continue to do who knows how much meaningless work.
The sound of the doorbell ringing.
Right. It's a guest!
The client who just came in looked like a girl in high school.
"Not here. I heard that this is where they do investigations on ghosts, but."
"Yes. That's right," I said.
But then the two girls looked at me with their round eyes. They were about the same age as me. They looked surprised.
"What kind of situation are you in?"
One of them answered in a timid voice. "It's about this headstrong girl. The one...who was possessed by a fox spirit. Can you help her?"
Oh, so it's about spirits. My office deals with spirits. "Is it a fox spirit?"
"Yes. ...My friend. A doctor looked at her, but she just seems to be getting worse. A spirit showed up too. Is the director here?"
I directed them to the sofa.
"Please, call the director now."
I knocked on my boss's door.
"...Boss?"
A bored voice responded, and I opened the door.
The director of "Shibuya Psychic Research" had a map opened wide on his desk. His beautiful, deep, pitch-black gaze fell on me. My knees felt weak.
"...A client?"
"Yes, it sounds like someone got possessed."
The director frowned slightly. This map was quite an obstacle to him, because he kept thinking about it. At this time, don't even bother mentioning anything about spirits to him. Because then, he seems to dislike people unrelated to the paranormal field even more. My boss replied, saying that clients only come during office hours.
Reluctantly, the director stood up. He has been looking at the map all day, so it's no wonder he was in such a bad mood.
The girls sitting on the sofa were all uncomfortable, sitting so closely together that their shoulders touched. When I left Naru's office, I noticed they were tense and pale. Looking at them, I opened my mouth.
The director walked calmly to the sofa, as his head tilted down slightly as he spoke.
"Nice to meet you. I'm the director, Shibuya."
The girls looked so dazed that it surprised even me. If I mention the head of this office, I'm talking about a 17-year old guy. Plus, even if the client has bare feet, they might still run away.
Suddenly the the two girls shrieked, their eyes staring into each other's.
"What are the details of your problem."
The leader of "Shibuya Psychic Research", Shibuya Kazuya-san (also known as narcissistic Naru-chan. Seventeen years old. Ghost Hunter.) spoke in a cold manner.
They opened their mouths simultaneously.
"That...!"
Then they looked at each other.
Naru did the same thing.
"Only one of you needs to explain," he said coldly.
They looked at each other again, and then the person whom I spoke to at first opened her mouth.
"Umm. There was a classmate who was doing Coccri at school last month. A friend of ours saw it too, and it seems that she's been possessed by a fox spirit. Since then, she has been acting weird."
"Weird?"
"Sometimes she acts strange. She says and does weird things."
Naru sighed softly.
"Be more specific."
The girl hesitantly lowered her head.
"Oh... In the middle of class, she jumped onto a table, laughed, and then cursed the teacher. Also, one time in P.E., when we were practicing the long jump, she suddenly ate...sand from the sandpit."
...Huh? She ate sand? The girl's face was distorted in concern.
"Whoever died then must've been that kind of person. This is serious," the girl emphasized.
Naru's fingers entwined together as he pondered the situation.
"And you want the fox spirit to leave," he said presumingly.
"Yes."
They nodded their heads.
Lifting his head, Naru stared back at them.
"My apologies—but I cannot help you. Whether or not she's possessed...I suggest you take her to a neurologist."
He responded as he stood up.
"Well then."
They let out an indignified scoff, but Naru didn't take notice. His pitch-black eyes turned toward me.
"Taniyama-san, please lead them out."
"But."
...You're not helping her? Can't you at least (if her friend is possessed) recommend her to someone else?
Without turning around, Naru continued to walk toward his room.
"Um, boss!" I called out.
Naru turned around, looking at me with a different expression in his eyes.
"Well, Taniyama-san. Tea."
...Okay.
If Naru makes that kind of face, then it's no good. He won't listen to a word I say.
After the stoic man shut his door, I turned towards the girls.
"Sorry... Here, things are a little different."
The girl laughed bitterly.
"...But, it's terrible. If only you could see her!"
...I was thinking the same thing, but.
"In this office, the director is a professional. Being possessed by a spirit isn't something we handle. I'm terribly sorry about this."
They gave each other an unsatisfied look.
I decided to explain more.
"There's something you should know. He only accepts cases that he deems important."
In our case, "Shibuya Psychic Research" requires that you pay a fee. This fee will cover the expenses of the investigation. We have to do research and check out the situation in person. The fee isn't really high, so even a high schooler's money would be enough. But it needs to be a really serious case for us to drag all the equipment there, and keep Lin-san and Naru busy with the investigation. Those two aren't stupid either.
The girls lowered their heads.
I started to feel bad for them, so,
"Um, I think what you said is true," I said in a small voice. "How about you give me your name and school, and I'll compile a report of your problem. We might look into it."
And then their faces brightened.
"Really?"
"Yup. But I can't guarantee it."
I took out an SPR pen, and the talkative girl eagerly took it. The sound of the pen scribbling on the paper. She wrote the information with round characters.
"Name...Itou Kiyomi. Occupation...High-school freshman. Address..."
Afterwards I saw them off and watched their figures fade away. They were the same age as me. They were brave, to come all the way here to help a friend who had been acting strange recently. I carefully folded the piece of paper and placed it into my breast pocket.