Ghost of a Chance

The Nightmare Dwelling (Part 19)

Masaru charged at Naru with a knife. Naru managed to steady himself and was about to risk using his PK again without Gene's help, when a voice spoke up.

"Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen," Mai said, performing the nine-cuts on Masaru. "Nomaku sanmanda bazaradan kan!" Masaru was hit by the force of her spiritual energy and crumpled to the floor before his attack could reach Naru. Naru stared at Mai with wide eyes, surprised.

"Stupid! Why are you here!?" he said. He never intended for any of the others to put themselves in danger. He was surprised Mai got past Hitomi.

"Because you are unreliable, obviously! Where's my thanks?" Mai retorted. Naru sighed. With the condition he was in, he couldn't argue with any of that.

"Secure the knife that he dropped," he instructed Mai.

"Okay," Mai said seriously.

"I'm surprised Hitomi let you come," Naru said.

"She was worried about you. Naturally, she wanted to come herself, but I'm more effective for situations like this," Mai said.

Meanwhile, Hirota was still struggling against Sasakura, who continued to try to attack him with a knife. Hirota stepped backward and found himself up against a wall as Sasakura swung his knife at him again. Hirota's eyes widened as the knife hit the wall, cutting into it. He quickly took advantage of the moment it took Sasakura to pull the stuck knife back out of the wall and tried to move away, but he slipped and fell.

"Whoa," he cried as he hit the floor. He looked up just in time to see a figure step forward from the shadows. His eyes widened slightly in surprise as he realized who it was.

"Piiii," Lin whistled, and his shiki flew past Hirota to protect him from Sasakura's next attack.

"GAH..." Sasakura groaned loudly, making Hirota turn to see what had happened to him as he heard the knife hit the floor. When Hirota looked, Sasakura was kneeling on the floor with his back to him, and he seemed to be in pain.

"Are you injured?" Lin asked Hirota.

"Lin! You—" Hirota said. "What... was that?" Something had definitely flown past him just now, he knew that.

"That was my shiki," Lin said, helping him up.

"Shiki...?" Hirota asked.

"Oh, you are all right. Good then," Bou-san said as he and John caught up to them.

"!" Hirota said. "Why..."

"Later," Bou-san said. He stepped past Hirota to restrain Sasakura.

"Please hold him down, just like that," John said as he opened his bible to begin the exorcism. "In the Lord's name, I command you—"

"Naru!" Mai yelled as she chased after him and Masaru, who had gotten back up and was trying to attack him again. For some reason he seemed really intent on hurting only Naru. Naru led Masaru into a room with windows and pulled the curtains open on the glass doors.

'Damn it... This window is not a mirror,' Naru thought. He turned his back to the window and leaned against the glass. 'It's sink... or swim!' Masaru came staggering into the room. With grim determination, Naru held his hand against the glass. Gene's reflection appeared and touched his hand in the glass. Naru's hand glowed. Masaru charged at him, and Naru welcomed him with another 'stun gun' attack to the gut. He dodged as Masaru fell forward against the glass, too stunned to move.

"Naru," Lin said, coming into the room. "Are you all right?" he asked as he came over to him.

"Yeah..." Naru said.

"You used your power," Lin said.

"And I'm safe thanks to that. Overlook it this time," Naru said, hodling his hands up and sighing.

'Naru,' Gene thought. 'It has separated from him. Kosori is here.'

'Where?' Naru thought.

'The rear entrance.'

Hirota sat on the floor in the hall, panting.

"Can you stand, young'un?" Bou-san asked.

"Just... leave me... for a bit..." Hirota said, breathing heavily, sweat-dropping.

"Oh, really?" Bou-san said with a grin.

"Why are you back here?" Hirota asked.

"Well, things happened," Bou-san said.

"Bou-san!" Naru said urgently, rushing over to them. He pointed to the rear entrance. "It's here!"

"Eh?" Hirota said as they all turned to look. "What's—" He felt an icy chill near his hand. He looked at it. 'The air is cold... pungent... and it smells like blood.' A silhouette appeared in the doorway. Hirota's eyes widened in shock at the eerie creature that was standing there. 'Kosori...!' He realized he was actually seeing something different. The silhouette was human. 'No... That's—Sekiguchi...!?' A man shirtless man stood in the doorway, holding a hatchet that was dripping with blood. 'I see now. Kawanabe Minoru saw Sekiguchi's figure overlapping with the monster called Kosori. Kosori is... Kosori is here.' Sekiguchi stared back at him with wide eyes, splattered in the blood of his victims.