Ghost of a Chance

Omake 2: Go! Go! Ghost Hunt!

[July, just after the Doll House case ended...]

"I don't know about you guys, but after that last case, I think I could use a vacation," Hitomi remarked.

"Hey, since it's summertime, let's go to the beach~!" Mai suggested cheerfully.

"Ah. Good idea," John and Hitomi said with bright smiles.

"The beach?" Bou-san asked dubiously. "Are we going to wash potatoes or something!?"

'Why potatoes...?' Hitomi wondered.

"No way. I don't want to get sunburned," Ayako answered bluntly. She didn't want to get all sticky with sand and sweat either.

"I'll pass," Masako said. "I'd rather not deal with the spirits of those who drowned in the ocean."

"Ah, that's true..." Hitomi said sympathetically, sweat-dropping. She remembered that one time her eye patch slipped off while she was swimming... It wasn't pretty.

"Well, then how about the mountains?" Mai asked.

"That sounds like fun too," John and Hitomi, the optimistic duo, replied cheerfully.

"The mountains...?" Bou-san said thoughtfully. "Hmm... too much pressure on my back for an old man like me..."

'You're only in your twenties...' Hitomi thought with a wry smile.

"What? You want us to climb a mountain?" Ayako asked incredulously. "No way!"

"I'll pass," Masako declined again. "I'd hate to encounter the spirits of those who got lost up there."

"Ah, that's also true..." Hitomi said, remembering the time a bird snatched her eye patch while she was climbing a small mountain on a school trip... Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.

"..." Mai sweat-dropped. There was just no pleasing some people. "Then, where would you guys like to go?"

"Why don't you take Naru with you instead of us?" Ayako suggested slyly.

"What!?" Mai exclaimed, surprised.

"Uh, hey, John and I said we wanted to go too..." Hitomi reminded them.

"There's no way Naru would want to go..." Mai said to herself, already off in her own little world.

"Hello?" Hitomi deadpanned softly, waving a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Mai..."

"Mai. Hitomi," Naru said, making them flinch guiltily when they realized they had been caught goofing off again. "I'll take the two of you to the ocean," he said, shutting a binder of notes.

"Eh—What!?" Mai exclaimed, shocked by this uncharacteristic display of generosity.

"What about John?" Hitomi asked, sweat-dropping. There was something really suspicious about this...

"Ah, it's all right," John said with a small smile. He just remembered he had something else to do that weekend anyway.

[A few hours later...]

Yes, Naru took them to the beach, all right. For work.

"Gyaaaa! I see a ghost!" Mai cried, turning blue with shock.

"Only one?" Hitomi asked, munching on a cup of cherry-flavored shaved ice while she stood next to Naru, staring out at the army of drowned fishermen, sailors, swimmers, and surfers.

"Eh? You mean...?" Mai asked, paling even more.

"Watch out for that riptide, Mai. It's a killer."