Ghost Hunt Vol 5

Untitled Part 4

Ghost Hunt:Volume 5 Chapter 3ContentsChapter 3 - Hide-and-Seek[]

(tl/n: I know the title on the front page says 'Hidden Ghost', but the Chinese raw does say 'Hide and Seek'. I'm not too sure which to go with.) (note: 隠れ鬼 (kakure oni - hidden oni) is a well known game in Japan similar to hide-and-seek.)

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"Has anyone seen Suzuki-san? Hey, has no one seen her?" It was Igarashi-sensei who asked us, who were gathered in the dining room, that, with an embarrassed look in the morning.

"It shouldn't be that she ran home on her own. And there wasn't anyone who saw her leave. Her luggage is also left in the room. Even her contact lens case is also..."

Yasuhara had Igarashi-sensei seated next to him. He had the servants bring forth a cup of red tea, then placed the red tea in front of Igarashi-sensei.

"Please calm down. Are you a little better? Breathe deeply. Do you take sugar or milk with you tea?"

Igarashi-sensei shook her head.

"Just take a sip. Ok, drink, then breathe deeply. Ok?"

Igarashi followed Yasuhara's instructions to the letter. She took a deep breath.

"I'm really sorry. I gave in completely to panic..."

"No need to apologize. I understand that you are very worried about Suzuki-san. When did Suzuki-san's absence start?"

"She wasn't around when I got up this morning. Due to my advanced age she is always by my side. When I woke up at daybreak, she was still sleeping soundly. Then..."

"About what time was 'daybreak'?"

Vaguely mumbling to herself, Igrashi-sensei shook her head.

"And what time did you get up?"

"7 am this morning."

It was now 10 am. She had already disappeared for at least 3 hours.

Yasuhara summoned the head servant, and asked if he had seen Suzuki-san. Including Ohashi-san, not a single servant had seen Suzuki-san. 'What was the possibility that she had left the mansion?' was what was put to Ohashi-san.

"Basically, the front door is locked from the inside, and there hasn't been a scenario where the lock has been opened. I think it's impossible that she has gone outside."

"What should we do?"

Igarashi-sensei covered her face with both hands. Yasuhara gently patted sensei's shoulder.

"If that's the case, Suzuki-san must be somewhere in this mansion. Perhaps she only got lost, and is daydreaming where she stands now. It's still too early to consider her missing. In conclusion, let us search a little first."

Yasuhara said that then turned towards Naru.

"Narumi-kun, is that all right?"

Naru nodded.

Before noon, we shouted Suzuki-san's name while splitting up to comb the house. Even after playing the tapes recorded the previous night did not show a hint of Suzuki-san. Furthermore, for some unknown reason, the cameras were cut off their power source at 7am this morning. As a result, the night vision cameras were of practically no use in our search for Suzuki-san.

We walked through countless rooms, and even opened things like cabinets to search. Listening closely after shouting for Suzuki-san brought no reply. We couldn't find her anywhere. Igarashi-sensei and I went to wake the other psychics up, and questioned them about Suzuki-san. Not a single person in the mansion had encountered Suzuki-san.