Ghost of a Chance

Doll House (Part1)

[July, day 1]

Summer was in full swing. The cicadas were humming boldly under the hot sun as Hitomi dropped Naru and Mai off in front of their latest client's house using the SPR van.

"See ya later!" Hitomi said brightly. Mai smiled and waved goodbye as she drove away to return to the office, where she would wait with Lin-san until they had a better idea of what equipment they would need.

"Wow, what an amazing house!" Mai exclaimed when she turned around and saw the huge Western-style house. It was practically a mansion! She followed Naru to the door, where they were greeted by the client, Morishita Noriko-san, and led inside. About three days ago, this woman came into their office and hired them to do an investigation after experiencing some strange things in her house. She said the furniture would suddenly start to rattle, she would hear someone banging on the walls when there was no one in the room, and doors would open and close on their own.

"I'm so sorry to have to drag you out all this way. This is my sister-in-law, Kana, and my niece, Ayami," she said, introducing them to the other two residents of the house. Mai and Naru respectfully returned their bows in greeting as she continued. "My brother is on a business trip overseas right now, and it's just us in the house, so I'm feeling uneasy... It's just been very creepy."

"Who's in charge here?" Kana asked abruptly.

"I am the manager, Shibuya Kazuya," Naru said, stepping forward.

"You..." she said, surprised to learn that the one in charge of the company her sister-in-law had hired was still in his teens. "Well, all right," she said, quickly recovering. "Is it really the work of, you know, ghosts?"

"It's our job to investigate that," Naru replied neutrally. He couldn't make any assumptions one way or the other just yet.

"What is the equipment status in each room?" Naru asked once they had finished setting up base after Lin and Hitomi arrived with all of the necessary equipment.

"All of the monitors are connected and working now," Lin reported after running a systems check. "Each one is operating normally."

"Based on what Noriko-san said... I wonder if it's a poltergeist?" Mai said thoughtfully.

"It certainly sounds like it..." Hitomi agreed, crossing her arms. It sounded like they already had three out of nine of Tisane's list of criteria going on.

"Oh, you sound like you're starting to get the hang of the job, part-timers," Takigawa teased playfully.

"Bou-san!" Mai said as they glanced over to see the monk and priestess standing in the open doorway. They must have just arrived. Neither of them were officially members of SPR, but they would call them in to help with exorcisms.

"Yo!" he greeted them with a smile.

"Overdoing things as usual, I see, with this mountain of equipment," Ayako commented. "Let me see," she said, crossing the room to get a closer look at the images on the monitors. "I'd say this is the work of a chirei (land spirit) or something," she stated confidently.

"Really? Even though we haven't recorded any unusual data yet?" Hitomi asked a little challengingly, raising an eyebrow.

"I think it's the work of humans," Mai stated confidently, crossing her arms.

"My, listen to you!" Ayako remarked.

"Now, now, just listen," Mai said, waving her finger. "Statistics show that humans are the culprits in half of all poltergeisting, right? And many of them are cases of women under stress, and if you're looking for any likely women in this household, it'd most likely be someone who can't get along with their sister-in-law."