Ghostly Hauntings (Ghost Hunt fanfic) (Naru x Mai)

Chapter 8

It wasn't that they doubted John's intelligence, he had been the one that had deduced Naru's true identity and brought them to his body after all. He just had a lot of trust in people that didn't always look worthy of it.

"If we need some extra people, I will let you know," Lin assured him.

John really did have some unexpected friends, Mai reflected. He even knew Masako Hara. An idea to her mind suddenly.

"Can we get Masako Hara to communicate with Naru's brother and ask him who killed him?" She suggested.

"No, he didn't see anything significant," Lin dismissed it immediately. "Or at least Noll told me that and I believe him because of the nature of the accident. There might have been some small detail he noticed the second time round, but I don't think talking to Gene would do much. Additionally, he appears to have passed straight on, she wouldn't be able to reach out to him anyway."

Mai felt a little disappointed, but she could see that he was correct in his criticism.

"That said, you have given me an idea," the omnouji said.

He refused to say anything further on the topic when pressed and they all soon gave up. Mai passed the time by helping the others with their proofreading and suggesting places to find information. She had gained a head start on her work by having Naru proofread it the day before.

Naru soon appeared in the same way as he had before. Now everyone was used to his appearance and didn't bat an eyelid when he arrived. They all just greeted him and returned to their work.

Right after he had appeared, Mai was pulled into a disagreement between Yasuhara and Keiko over which connective word would be best to for use in the penultimate paragraph which left Naru alone with Lin.

"Do you enjoy living with Taniyama-san?" The omnouji asked with a shade of awkwardness.

Naru winked at Mai. "She has good reading material lying around."

Lin looked extremely confused and then appeared to decide that he really didn't want to know the full details. This was good because Mai didn't want to have to explain it.

"Taniyama-san has identified some potential suspects from photos," Lin said. "Do you feel like you recognise anything?"

He brought over the circled photos and Naru took hold of them to have a look. His eyes rested on Urado and then he raised his eyebrows.

"Plastic surgery?"

Mai nodded and then took a look for herself. Now that she knew about it, Urado's face did look plastic. Naru was just more observant and faster on the uptake than her.

"I do feel a little familiarity with them," he admitted. "I can't tell you which one it is though."

As he spoke Lin's phone started to vibrate and the omnouji carefully drew it out of his pocket.

"I'm going outside to take the call," he said and hurried out of the hospital room after taking back the photos from Naru.

Mai's posture slumped. She was disappointed that she couldn't narrow down the suspect any further. If only she had remembered more about him.

"Don't berate yourself," Naru said softly. "Narrowing down the suspects to three is not bad progress. Lin has been here for a year and has never found anything."

Mai frowned. "I know..."

Naru's pale finger flicked her forehead and she winced. For a flick from a ghost it was painful.

"Stop dwelling over it. Investigating them will probably bring up some evidence."

Mai rubbed the painful area on her forehead and sighed. Naru was right. She couldn't do anymore right now. It was Lin's turn now to start investigating the three teachers that she had identified.