Ghost Hunters, Lies, & Money (Ghost Hunt Fanfiction)

In Which: Mai and Bou-san Are Chicken

Day Five

11:00am

The Miyuki Theater

They turned another corner. Mai blinked, her eyes attempting to adapt to the growing dimness. With the oil lamps extinguished and fewer windows as they went, each new hall they came upon became increasingly gloomy. Mai brushed at a section of bangs stuck in place against her forehead, it was also increasingly humid.

"Kinda stuffy in here," Bou-san commented, rubbing the back of his neck.

Mai nodded, looking intently at the walls, waiting for the moment when she would spot the cluster of pictures.

We must be close...

Maybe it was the still air, the strange silence as they walked, or the fact that Mai had gotten little sleep the night before, but somehow, before her eyes, moonlight spilled out across the hall floor.

Mai paused; the sliver light was gone, replaced by a blank wood floor. A warm hand touched her shoulder,

"Mai?"

Mai shook her head and smiled lightly at the monk who was looking on at her concernedly,

"Sorry-- it's nothing..."

The two continued on and so did her waking dream. They passed an open door and the room was transformed, suddenly dark as night, the objects inside cast in shadows. The moment she paused, everything returned to normal.

Mai moved on at a quickened pace, the brief flashes of what she had experienced the night before rising to the surface as if urging her on, guiding her to the hall of pictures.

"We must be nearly there? I don't remember it taking us this long last time," Bou-san remarked, running the back of his hand over his brow as the stale air was getting to him.

Feeling equally uncomfortable in the heat, Mai took up a handful of hair, holding it away from her neck,

"We must be," she agreed, her eyes trained on reading the wall ahead.

Then, out of the gloom, a frame emerged-- and then another. As if pieces of ornate decoration, photograph after photograph stretched down the wall. The mix of black and white and color held countless sets of eyes, each staring down at Mai as if curious of her presence. There was one frame among them though who did not own a set of eyes and that blank spot was the one Mai came to stare into.

Making up the corner of her family triangle was Miss Miyuki's frame, its gold edges tarnished. Bou-san came to stand behind Mai,

"So the name plate just fell?" the monk asked his eye's traveling over the black letters which spelled out the heiress's name: Toki.

Not Kioko, Mai thought her fingers reaching out to brush the cool metal.

After a moment she answered the monk, shutting out the image of Mr. Miyuki.

"Yes, it just dropped to the floor..."

"And there was another name behind it?" the monk prodded, narrowing his eyes at the plate as if he could identify its secrets.

Mai nodded and her hand dropped back to her side, "Kioko..."

Behind her Bou-san straightened up, "Well, let's see what this frame is hiding."

Purposefully the monk moved around Mai and took hold of the name plate, his fingers closing around the edges.

Mai stepped back, the beating of her heart suddenly loud in her ears, her eyes unable to look away from the golden plate about to be removed. The tense moment stretched into seconds and those seconds stretched into minutes. Mai blinked,