1

"Good evening."

The one who raised his optimistic voice and entered the base was Yasuhara who he met in Shibuya Psychic Research"s office some time ago. Behind him was another person, a man had accompanied him.

After bowing his head a little Hirota compared Yasuhara to the man behind him again.

Was the man of about the same age as Hirota? He didn"t look that much like a medium. His face appeared carefree. He thought that this guy was also quite a tall man. He left an impression with his somewhat light hair that was grown long into a ponytail. -- Hirota hated men who had long and dyed hair.

When the man smiled and said "Yo", Naru bluntly nodded and looked at Yasuhara.

"-- Did you complete the thing I requested?"

"Yes. All of it," Yasuhara said and showed the paper bag in his hand.

"Thanks for the hard work."

Possibly having noticed Hirota"s dubious expression, Yasuhara smiled after gazing at the man.

"Ah, this person is named Takigawa-san. He was formerly a monk in Mount Kouya. You could say that he"s a cooperative worker or a helper. -- Well, at any rate, he"s that kind of person."

Hirota again returned a nod at Takigawa who bowed his head a little. He kept away from speaking his mind that he didn"t look like a monk.

"This is the client"s cousin Hirota-san."

When Hirota greeted him again with a "h.e.l.lo", Naru called him out.

"-- Hirota-san. Tea please. For all the people here."

Again, he wondered, but he had forgotten the tea due to that disturbance a while ago, so he reluctantly stood up.

The one who gave him the final blow to his disappointed state was the monk Takigawa.

"Ah, do iced coffee for me."

Without replying, Hirota left the room. Possibly having seen his great displeasure, Mai had chased after him and tapped his arm.

"This time I"ll help you out."

"Yo, Naru-chan. Long time no see," Takigawa said while he squatted down in the middle of the narrow room. "How was your home town?"

"It"s considerably better than Tokyo in some parts. -- Thanks for the bouquet the other day."

"-- A bouquet?" Yasuhara said while shutting the sliding screen. "C-could it be a proposal? If that"s the case I"ll hold Takigawa-san in contempt."

Takigawa laughed with a complacent smile.

"Discrimination is not allowed, young man."

"I have disdain for your sense of sending a bouquet. It would have been horrible if the red roses came with a ring."

"Idiot. -- It was a flower offering."

Ah, Yasuhara muttered.

"Funeral flowers? I see, so nowadays you can send flowers oversees," Yasuhara said and bowed his head lightly in the direction of Naru.

He had returned to his country for the funeral service of his older brother who had died in j.a.pan. He had come to j.a.pan to look for his brother who disappeared in j.a.pan and eventually returned to his country with his remains. -- Yasuhara once again recalled.

"Please accept my sincere condolences. I"m sorry for not giving anything for the memorial service. -- is what I"d say, but this is too late."

Naru only made a bitter smile at this.

Takigawa watched Naru.

"Even so, you came back quite early, huh. I expected that you wouldn"t returned for about another half year."

"I"m not that carefree. I"m the one who is responsible for that office after all."

"Ah, I see," Takigawa said and raised a hand towards Lin who sat in front of the equipment. "Lin hasn"t changed either."

At this he simply returned a courteous nod.

"Even more so," Yasuhara kept an eye at beyond the sliding screen. "What"s the matter with Hirota-san? How come is that person serving us tea?"

A sarcastic smile appeared on Naru"s face.

"He proposed out of good will that he wanted to help out with the investigation, so I happily accepted it."

"Hmm... ... What a benevolent person, isn"t he?"

"Would I make a person of good will serve us tea?"

Takigawa persistently looked at Naru, but Naru in question made a cool face.

"You haven"t changed at all huh."

"I can"t complain."

"Now now," Yasuhara smiled. "Wasn"t Takigawa-san quite cold to Hirota-san as well?"

"What"s with that?"

"Hirota-san appears to be quite a denier. Yesterday evening Shibuya-san complained about it on the phone. He appears to have various things against us and just now he was also glaring at you."

"Really, well. I feel bad for the deniers."

"Oh? You feel sorry for them?"

"That too. I can"t help but sympathize with them. They have to pa.s.s through pain each day."

"Haa?"

"They"ll be bullied by Naru-bou."

"Pfft," Yasuhara grinned and stifled his laughter again. "I"m not saying anything. The one who said it was Takigawa-san after all. -- Ah, here are the things that you requested."

Yasuhara picked up the paper bag and handed it over to Naru.

"-- And?" Takigawa looked from Naru to Lin. "For what reason did I have to specially forego my closing party and come here?"

Naru answered this very concisely.

"I want you to perform an exorcism."

"On who?"

"No one."

"Wha--at?" Takigawa raised his voiced and Yasuhara was once again confused.

"What do you mean by no one?"

"Like I said. There is no one, but I want you to do a flashy performance," Naru said and made a cynical smile. "What? I even have dry ice or lasers prepared for performance?"

"I don"t need it."

"I want you to do the Mikkyou ceremony as flashy as possible. In order to create a strong impression of an exorcism."

"Hey, wait a minute," Takigawa scratched his head. "Can you explain it in a bit more detail? For what reason do I have to do that sort of thing."

"Like I just said. For the reason of making people think you did an exorcism."

"Look here. I heard from Yasuhara about what you"ve been asked to do?"

Because he didn"t know the whereabouts of the Agawa house, he made Yasuhara guide him and along the way he had roughly heard about the circ.u.mstances.

"In short, this house has something like a poltergeist happening here, but why do I have to do an exorcism for appearance"s sake only? If the state of affairs can"t be improved, even the client won"t agree with this right."

"About that," Naru gazed at the paper bag that Yasuhara brought. "I prepared the props for the performance. That way there ought to be no problem."

"What does that mean in other words?" Takigawa put his arms together in disappointment. "Are you making me pretend an exorcism? I have to put on a play in order to make you guys look successful?"

"Something like that."

"Are you making a fool of me? You brat."

When Takigawa was about to put pressure, the sliding door abruptly opened. A rage-filled Hirota stood there with a tray in one hand.

"-- I heard that, you swindlers!"
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