The Voodoo Club (self-insert #3)

Chapter 2

The base room isn't very big—just a conference room with two tables pressed together and a whiteboard, I typed as I glanced around the small room Yoshino-sensei—Yuasa High's student advisor—had led us into. Also a little ornamental table, but I don't think you'd be able to put anything on it. More shelves?

Probably. Ask Naru if we could get more tables in there. While we went to the school, Lin was preparing the equipment. Be sure to note the trouble hotspots so I know how many cameras to bring.

Yessir.

I logged out just as Yoshino-sensei began to explain his own troubles to Naru. "At night...I hear someone knocking on my window. The noise just won't stop. I open the curtain, but then I see a slender glowing hand knocking on the glass." Ever the chicken, Mai paled. "The hand disappears and the knocking stops, but the next night the same thing happens. If I try to ignore it, the noise would continue until the morning. I'm getting very little sleep these days."

"Do you only hear a knocking sound?"

"Yes."

"Can other people hear the knocking sounds?"

"Yes, but it doesn't seem to bother them as much." He said soberly, his bags standing out on his face.

"I see." Without waiting he had Bou-san write up a charm for the grateful man and sent him on his way.

"All of the sudden..." Bou-san murmured. "Hey, kiddo. How hard is this case going to be?"

I shrugged, showing the email to Naru. "These cases get harder and harder as they progress, so it's definitely not as easy as the Morishita case."

"Not as easy? Kid, Mai fell in a well!" He protested.

"Exactly. Prepare to be challenged."

"Tell Lin I said it should be possible." Naru cut in.

Like he didn't have fingers to type things out himself. Naru said that we should be able to bring in more tables. The principal and teachers seem to be eager to give us everything we need.

That's good. See you soon.

The bell rang for the lunch break, reminding me of the rushed breakfast I'd choked down. I was reaching for my magical floppy backpack when a timid looking girl knocked on the door before entering. I instantly recognized her as one of the students who'd come to the office about the fox spirit girl. Sighing internally, I pulled out a Ziploc box of vegetable enchilada and a notepad and pen. If she was here, then other students would start showing up and vomiting information. Disobeying Lin was not a good career move.

"Kiyomi Ito-san, correct?" Naru glanced at his own notes...not that he needed to, of course. Because he probably remembered it clearer than the rest of us did. "When you stopped at my office, you came to enquire about your friend who you say is "possessed by a fox spirit." Where is she today?"

"She hasn't come to school for quite a while now."

"You mentioned that she jumped onto desks and ate sand..."

Kiyomi nodded. "And that's not the end of the story. One day she jumped into the school pool with her uniform on even though it was a very cold day."

"Has she hurt any of the other students?"

"No, she hasn't."

Naru leaned back in his chair, studying the nervous girl for a moment. "Normally if someone's in that type of condition, the first thing I would wonder is whether she has some type of emotional illness. But why do you think she's possessed by a fox spirit?" He inquired.