Mirror Mirror (self-insert #9)

Chapter 15

"What are you wearing?"

I followed Naru's judgemental stare down to my feet. "Toeless socks with skids on the bottom." I said helpfully. "There's also no heel."

He raised an eyebrow. "There's no point to those."

"You sure about that?"

Naru returned his attention to the monitors, not feeling the need to argue what counted as a sock.

The door slid open to admit Hirota. He glanced at the screen where Mai and Masako sat across from each other. "What are they up to?"

"Currently trying to purify the spirits."

The investigator glanced at me. "Why aren't you helping them?"

"Oh, I'm not psychic."

He blinked. "So...what are you doing with Shibuya Psychic Research?"

I thought back to that first moment under the cherry blossoms, staring at a dilapidated school house that had seemingly come out of nowhere. "It's a long story." Both literally and figuratively.

He shrugged and turned back to Naru. "In what way are exorcism and purification different from each other?"

"Exorcism is the expelling of spirits with all your strength. Purification seems to be distinguished in that it cleanses spirits, but indeed, I wonder what the difference is."

"You can't tell the difference?"

"Vague Japanese psychic terms are numerous and difficult."

Hirota pondered that for a moment. "May I ask you something?" When Naru glanced his way, he wrest on. "What on Earth is a ghost, really?"

Naru shrugged. "I don't know."

I laughed. The look on Hirota's face was priceless.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be here. I'd go home and write theses."

"Doesn't that mean you don't completely understand it?"

Naru gestured to the wall of equipment. "Aren't I closer to understanding it?"

"How so? Are you saying that your understand of that phenomenon alone is insignificant?"

"I wonder if it's because the spirits aren't on good terms with electronic measuring instruments. We can't record valid data when those guys start to move since the machines immediately stop working."

"But you probably have a lot of experience with this sort of thing happening, right?" Hirota froze, then hurriedly added, "No, it's not that I've actually become a supporter."

Naru smiled lightly. "It's a waste of breath to share personal experiences, Hirota-san. It's meaningless if I can't obtain the recorded data as evidence. At least, that's my mentality."

"However, are you guided by any...hypothesis from experience?"

"Are you interested in knowing such a thing?"

Hirota hesitated, the struggle to explain his thoughts obvious on his face. "...If there is something there, it should have a physical component. Then, why hadn't that ever been discovered yet? Among the sciences developed, why does this alone have both its causes and laws undiscovered?" He asked slowly. "My coworker always says it's because science can't explain everything. Certainly, there are many matters that even modern science can't understand, and yet it looks like there are still people who refuse to understand psychic phenomena. If there is something, won't you tell me? Are there really spirits? Are they human souls?"