Black Phantom (Ghost Hunt fanfic) (NaruxMai)

Culinary

Black Phantom

Chapter 9:

A cherry blossom petal landed on Mai's coat as she walked to the train station to get to work. She brushed it off mechanically and it was only when she rounded the corner of the street did she remember that there were not any cherry blossom trees in the vicinity of her apartment and it was still winter so none of the trees would be in bloom in any case.

"Taniyama-san?" a voice asked.

She glanced behind her to see that there was no one there. Mai whirled around to see a glimpse of something black run past her. As she spun around again, her paranoia that someone was watching her growing, she noticed that the previously busy street that she had been on was now deserted which was an oddity in Tokyo.

"Hello...?" she called out hesitantly and her heart began to beat faster in fear.

She glanced around nervously again and noted that instead of the sounds of car engines, chatter and people's shoes tapping against the pavement, there was a dead silence.

The psychic felt a shiver go down her spine as the air ripples behind her and she knew that someone or something was behind her.

"I'm behind y-"

The shrill ring of her alarm black jolted Mai out of her dream and she promptly forgot all about it as she carried out her usual morning routine of trying to wake herself up, shower, eat breakfast and look presentable before leaving her apartment.

"Mai, tea," Naru ordered her as soon as she walked into the office.

She divested herself of her coat and left the office whilst muttering darkly under her breath about demanding narcissists.

Naru yawned and rubbed the traces of sleep out of his eyes. He never got much sleep on heist nights on the account that he spent most of it running around and disguising himself. However he had not been able to sleep at all after his encounter with the woman known as Yoshiyaki and for fear that Gene might actually be dead.

"Have you found anything yet?" he asked Lin was also lacking sleep.

Once they had returned home he had showed Lin the notebook he had taken the night before which had turned out to be blank much to his chagrin. However the omnouji had suggested a form of invisible ink might have been employed so he was shining an ultraviolet light over it.

"Nothing so far."

"Did you read about Masako Hara this morning?" Mai enquired after returning with Naru's tea.

She pulled out a newspaper from her handbag. "She is, well was, a famous psychic medium. She was on TV a lot."

Lin spotted Naru shudder and he hid a smile. Masako Hara was indeed known to his charge. They had met at a conference in England and it had been love at first sight for one of them and it certainly had not been Naru. Naru had spent most of his time avoiding her and in retaliation she had threatened to post the video of his PK demonstration all over the internet if he didn't take her on a date. A phone call to her parents had sorted the girl out and she had returned to Japan a couple of years ago and now she was dead.

"She was stabbed through the chest with a blunt paddle like object, leaving a hole...ew," Mai winced as she read aloud from the newspaper article. "The famous medium's body was found two days ago floating in Tokyo Bay and a preliminary forensic report suggests that she has been dead for several weeks before discovery. Found in her clothes were..." she trailed off.

"What is it?" Naru questioned, noticing Mai's hesitant manner and her frowning lips.

"Found in her clothes were five cherry blossom petals."