The Voodoo Club (self-insert #3)

Chapter 3

Naru greeted everyone with a brisk nod as they entered the conference room and gathered around the table, getting right to business. "We won't be able to spend much time researching each individual case as there are too many of them. We'll just have to try to get rid of as many spirits as possible and if that doesn't work, we'll just have to come up with an alternate plan." He stated, ignoring the face Bou-san made. "Hara-san, please look around the school. First, check the desk that the ghost supposedly came out of, and them the art prep room. Then the desk that's supposedly possessed by spirits, and the track team's locker room."

She beamed at him, her sleeve covering her sly smile. "It's okay if you just call me Masako, you know?" She said with all the sweetness in the world, ignoring Mai's venomous glare.

He did know, and he didn't seem to care. "Matsuzaki-san, would you please accompany Hara-san? And if you see any spirits, please get rid of them."

"I see." She paused, and with a knowing grin she added, "So you didn't say anything back to Masako, huh? If it were someone else you would've given them a difficult time."

Naru chuckled, completely unfazed. "If you have so much time to be chatty, why don't you try to use it to prove your talent for exorcism? I'd love to see you succeed for once." He moved on as if her face wasn't matching her hair. "At any rate, there isn't enough equipment to cover all of the cases. I'll need to rely on everyone's psychic powers. As you patrol around the grounds, please wear these. Mai, would you stand by here and wait for my call?"

Mai nodded firmly. "Roger. What about you, Naru?"

"Lin and I will continue our research." He paused, then sighed. "Nira, you can join us."

Thank God for that. We all filed out, splitting into our separate ways. I trotted after them, trying to keep up. "So." I said conversationally as I puffed along. "What's the plan?"

"Research." Naru said helpfully.

I nodded. "Sounds good. What does that consist of?"

"You giving us information."

Sir Dorey would've been so proud. Speaking of information, a sudden thought struck me. "Hey, Naru? You know how you told me to call the others?" I asked. "When I finished, there was this woman passing by."

If I wasn't someone from an alternate universe, I could expect nothing but a scathing reply. Instead, he had to give my words some thought. "What about her?" He asked wearily.

"She seemed different. Some people seemed wary and other were curious. She looked as if she was expecting us." Another piece of information surfaced from The Fog. "She's Kei Ubusuna, the biology teacher."

"Ubusuna?" He tested the name. "That's not a common name."

"Should I do research on her?" Lin inquired.

Naru paused. "Not yet. I'd like to get a feel for things right now."

"Another thing." I added and received a sigh. Taking that as a signal to continue, I went on. "Taka-san's teacher has been seeing the supposed spirits in his hospital room. Suppose that the supposed spirits are supposedly following him and, unlike a jibakurei, are supposedly bound to him?"

"You're annoying. Also, for someone who supposedly doesn't believe in ghosts, you think like a parapsychologist."

"Nope. I'm thinking like a detective. This is a murder mystery, and I'm trying to figure out what's going to happen before anyone gets killed." I hesitated. "Though that just makes everything a billion times more stressful. Yikes."