Purifying the Impure

[Tetsu]

THE PLOT

 

[Play This Before Reading Further.......]

 

 

The world is filled with many phenomena, beings and objects which a normal person living a normal life can't explain. Ghosts, Poltergeist, Demons, Human Possessions, Curses and other things have been all around us, and lately, their appearance has been very in random places, which has gone beyond the alert level.

 

Knowing this, a group of experts have gathered, studied and solve the cases. Mikos, Priests, Psychics, Medium Channelers, Monks and other concerned people had formed the group "Society of Paranormal Studies" or SPS. They work in an office and accept paranormal requests from clients which they later decide to accept or not, depending on the need.

 

LET'S GO!! Society of Paranormal Studies, SPS!!

 

 

---

 

 

THE RULES

 

*Once you picked a role, do some research about that role. If you pick a Miko, the internet has so much data to provide what a Miko is and what a Miko does.

*one character per person

*God modding is not allowed. However, killing/purifying/exorcising can be done as much as you want, depending the need to do so.

*This Rp should follow an order.. we can determine at the intro posts

*hetero can be allowed, however, relationship setting is optional.

*Even though we may be dealing supernatural beings, there shouldn't be any vampires, catwomen, crossbreed, demigods or such thing among our characters. having those in NPC's can be discussed later.

*also, i hope this stays original (though i admit it's an anime inspired) ...however, no one likes having 2 rp with very similar category (occult/paranormal detective stuffs for this)

 

 

---

 

 

THE ADDITIONAL DETAILS

 

[Things we will need]

-A monitor and a CCTV camera/Digital Camera (Night Visioned)

-Digital thermometer

-Sound detector/recorder

-Electromagnetic Field Meter

-Camera

 

[sPS rule]

1. Do not concern yourself with a profession not of your own. (do not exorcise if you're not an exorcist)

2. Your own safety is the priority. Pull out if you have to; Run if you need to.

3. Do not act on your own. Everyone is bound two work at least on pairs. Contact the rest if ever you encounter the enemies

4. Act responsibly, no slacking off.

5. Let everyone know what finding you have.

 

[useful data]

-we run in an office, we take clients there

-we examine a case before accepting them from clients

-we use a room in a clients house as a base where we hold our meetings

 

 

---

 

 

THE CHARACTERS

 

Aoba, Lewin - sVerrine

 

 

Name: Aoba Lewin

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Orientation: Bisexual

Job: Psychic

Ability: Psychometry (obtaining information about a person or an object by touching it)

Likes: Strong alcoholic drinks (especially Vodka), talkative persons, jazz, drama shows, persons who give their best in appointed tasks.

Dislikes: Spontaneity, animals, egoists, cowards, spicy food.

Personality: Patient, Sarcastic, Instinctive, Perfectionist, Systematic, Stubborn, Overprotective, Jealous.

Bio: Being born a half, with Japanese and English blood running through his veins, Aoba Lewin has led an uneventful life until reaching adolescence. A short while after his fourteen birthday, his mother's attitude gradually started to change by day. At first, they blamed it on the fact that she was overworking herself and encouraged her to take some days off from the office, but her condition only kept aggravating. At the end of the first month, she was mostly cursing and threatening to kill Aoba and her husband. Neither the neurologists, nor the psychiatrists could give a reason to her comportment or prescribe a medicament.

Desperate, his father decided to call an exorcist, although he highly doubted that would solve the problem. But, the car that he was driving together with the exorcist crushed in front of their house. While the exorcist survived, Aoba's father died immediately. He blamed the accident on the woman and said to be too frightened to perform any kind of exorcism on her. In complete grief, his mother regained bit by bit pieces of her old self, but her normal state lasted only for two years, when the strange behavior occurred again. During that time, Aoba discovered that he possessed the strange ability of reading the aura of the objects he touched. He never gave it much thought, afraid that it would affect his mother in the end.

On the day of his graduation, his mother committed suicide. Taking pity on him, the grandmother from his father's side took him in and raised him for another 3 years - a period that Aoba loathed the most, but also when he learned how to fully control his ability.

 

 

Tokugawa, Kouki - Satou

 

Image:

 

Name: Tokugawa, Kouki

 

Age: 19

 

Gender: Male

 

Orientation: Bi

 

Job: Monk

 

Ability: Vanquishing evil Spirits, Setting up Spiritual Barrier, Purifying objects and locations which are vessels of evil spirits

 

Likes and Dislikes: Kouki loves silence and praying. He would something pray and meditate in a closed room. He hates violence and noise. And there's much of it out there in Tokyo, which is why he never really went out except when he needs to.

 

Personality: Hard working, Patient and understanding. He can get mad at rare times and even furious at rarer times. He, though, knows how to control his temper.

 

Bio: Keita lived a secluded life in a monastery. He had a peaceful life, not worrying about anything as he studied the way of the monks. However, as the country reached recession, people stopped donating to the monastery, leaving them no choice but to close it down. Now a wandering monk, Keita took a chance to go to Tokyo to see what's life is to offer there. From there, he took advantage of being a monk and became a monk for hire. He vanquished evil spirits around homes, purifying them and places spiritual barriers around.

 

He was surprised how needed his services were. As he enjoyed helping people and as he saw how it helps him to survive in the city, Kouki had decided to make it a business. He rented a rundown and cheap office and began accepting clients. At first it was only him and he took only the jobs he can do. However, as time passes by, he made allies with people of different abilities and personalities. That's how the SPS was formed.

 

 

 

Shougo, Shima - blurbur

 

 

Name:

Shougo Shima

 

Age:

26

 

Gender:

Male

 

Orientation:

bi, Seme

 

Job:

Medium/ Channeler

 

Ability:

Able to talk to spirits, able to guide spirits to their resting place to ease them and let them be at peace once more, able to sense a demon nearby.

 

Likes and Dislikes:

Likes eating healthy, going to exercises almost every day in the gym to keep himself physically fit, loves reading books, loves scarfs and over sized button up shirts, cats, and long hair.

 

Dislikes sweets, junk food, Unfit people, fan girls, demons, cats that scratch, and women with crying children.

 

Personality:

He is more of a snob than anybody, He the stuck up person you see going down the street and bumps into you and says nothing and keeps on walking as if nothing happened. But yet he is very intelligent body, considering he reads so many books. Although he is book smart, he is not very common sense smart. The only reason why he is so stuck up is because that he has the ability to reach out to the wandering spirits around him and inevitably talk to them, in a sense of being there beside them. Not many people have this gift, so he dedicates his time into getting to know each of the spirits he encounters, which doesn't give him time in the real world to make any true friends. In a case of perversity, all of his friends are actually dead before he meets them. And he has an odd sympathy for cats, even though he doesn't have a true feeling for keeping a pet (most likely because they die within a week, like his gold fish that he had.)

 

Bio:

He was a sympathetic child at a young age, because of his mother babied him as her only child. He was a sweet body to his friends and family, until he started to develop his power to see spirits and and demons around him; this started the horrid life after he was 6. the day when he saw his own half brother staring at him with a hole in his body. But the rest of his body was somewhat transparent, not all there... The poor boy scream in terror, but his mother would not listen to his frantic cries and dismissed it as a meager nightmare. The boy knew other wise, the day was filled with body's around him floating slightly looking at him then turning away as if it was nothing and went on their way to nothing. There was no sign of them leaving him from his sight at all during his childhood. By the time he was 17, he was mingling and practicing the thought of talking to them, he was lightly good at it although they sapped his strength from him, slowly killing him every time he talked, which made it hard for him to study on the practice of doing so. by the age of 25 he nearly master the ability and finally got accepted as a renowned Channeler.

 

 

 

 

Singure, Leba - Spell

 

 

 

Name:

Leba Singure

 

Age:

23

 

Gender:

Male

 

Orientation:

Unwillingly bisexual

 

Job:

Exorcist

 

Ability:

He has the ability to cast out demons that possesing unwilling host; useing what ever means possible to vanquish the demon in the process.

 

Likes:

He loves to talk about guns many a times. Rope, chains, any method of tieing up a person unwillingly. Coffee addict, especially if he dips a tad of rum mixed with it lightens his day. Reciting lines in the Atharva Veda to himself for motivation while at the afflicted area. Adrenalin addict.

 

Dislikes:

Hates snobs, sweets, books (except for the four Vedas), hates the sound of a crying baby for that fact of the baby itself.

 

 

Personality:

He is a very sadistic person at heart. Considering himself to be a very odd ball of a group of people and does not get along very well with people, except for animals. He is a very perverted person, teasing people at their own demise.

 

Bio:

He was a very young child when he first vanquished a demon from a human's body, it also was his first expirance with the "rough" tyeing the person down to do the exorcism. Unusually this was the first expidition to the realization that Leba was a sadist at heart. This was a benifactor of being an exorcist himself. Considering he was very motivated in vanquishing the demon at his pleasure, because of the host was restrained. At the age of 21 he was in the the secret circle of the Vaishnava exorcists; compelled to be the best of the exorcists ever to be knowned, he now to the day he came upon the city, tokyo reciving an unknown letter to him, more or less an ad that wanted the best of the combined holy clergy to fight against the unknown abyssal. This was a start for him to stand out and show his ability to the world.. For a change..

 

 

 

 

Noboru, Yoshi - Techno

 

 

OPTIONAL:

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.

for appearance.

 

 

 

 

Image

✪

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Name

✪

Noboru, Yoshi

 

 

Age

✪

22

 

 

Gender

✪

Male

 

 

Orientation

✪

Straight

(but it may change, who knows?)

 

 

Position

✪

Seke

 

 

Job

✪

Onmyōji

 

 

Ability

✪

Multi-talented but specializes in warding evil spirits and using shikigamis.

 

 

Likes and Dislikes

✪

Likes

"Odd" things, wasabi, shogi, people who interest him (or more particularly, the people who wouldn't back down against the dark world.)

 

Dislikes

Hot weather or sun, people who he deems uninteresting (ex. people who easily gives up.), dislikes almost N/A

 

 

Personality

✪

He's an intelligent guy, raised to be the best of the best. That didn't make him feel superior to others or arrogant. In fact, he's lazy and does what he wants and if in meetings, there are times he wouldn't show up. The only thing that binds him to do his job is to see if the case is interesting and watch it unfolds.

 

He's "odd" as he says/does unusual, weird sayings/things from time to time. He is "mysterious" in the eyes of other people, they say he's like a ghost with pale, ghost/vampire-like complexion and haunting gold eyes and also the fact he brings an umbrella to hide from the heat or sun. He likes collection things that people wouldn't give a second glance at or sees it very... different? like the voodoo dolls, etc.

 

He may act arrogant when he's really not and has wacky socializing skills if not, non-existent. So he's a loner with different views and sees the world as a dark one. Unexpectedly, he shows kindness to children.

 

 

Bio

✪

The Noboru clan go way back to the Meiji period. They were known as a multi-talented clan, raging from various skills of the Onmyōji. However, the clan dwindled as they was stripped of their political power and went into hiding. As the years go by, their members slowly ceased by death, slowly forgotten, and the family with their Noburo blood inside their veins slowly dwindled.

 

Until a miracle happened, Yoshi was born.

 

He was deemed as the heir to the clan because of his pure Noboru blood, they discovered despite the mother being a civilian outside the clan (which was unacceptable for the father's mother.). As such, he grew up being taught of the Onmyōji skills they were famous for and it helped them when Yoshi showed that he took it like a sponge absorbing water. His grandmother who was the strict head of the clan, taught him personally, seeing him a hope that the Noboru clan will once again, rise and hoping for him to pass everything to his sons/daughters.

 

Because the one who has pure Noboru blood flowing in their veins was said to have children with the same pure Noboru blood. With incredible talents.

 

He was a child when he was possessed, as he had an ability to see spirits and demons with his left eye. A powerful spirit took his body until his grandmother vanquished it, the only one to do so as the family members' attempts were in futile. And so he was given an eyepatch for even with a useful ability, it would leave him vulnerable to the dangerous spirits with strong presence.

 

What the clan didn't foresee was Yoshi leaving to start in Tokyo for some various reasons.

 

 

 

---

 

 

THE ROLEPLAYING ORDER

The roleplaying order will be determined through the order post in the first cycle which I will be starting. That is to say, everyone who is yet to post is welcome to post in the first cycle after me. We will be following that order in the succeeding cycle... You may call it First come, First Serve.

[Tetsu]

CASE 01:The Cursed Church

 

 

 

---

May 31, 2013, 3:14 PM. It was boring and hot afternoon in the Society of Paranormal Studies or SPS. Kouki was sitting in a couch reading a newspaper which was due the day before. He was reading it, however, to pass the time. It had been more than a week since the last time they took a case. The last one was quite tiring and these few days did help them rest. The problem is, they would not earn any money if they don't take a case.

 

"Hmmn... we have to pay the rent for the last two months, a month of electric and water bill as well. We should take a case sooner and pay them. I'm almost out of money as well" Kouki said before he sipped tea from the ceramic tea cup. The tea was giving him refreshment, even in the midst of May afternoon. He focused his attention again to the newspaper, reading everything written including the Obituary and the Advertising part.

 

Krrring....

 

The telephone suddenly ringed. And with a swift hand he grabbed, he grabbed the phone.

 

"Good afternoon! Thank you for calling Society of Paranormal Studies hotline. May I know who's speaking?"

 

"Yes"...

 

"Yes"..

"I'll be expecting you. Within an hour, correct?"

 

"Yes. Thank you for calling"

 

He said in a business-man-like manner as he finished the conversation. Iba, Shinichiro was the name of the caller. Apparently, there was a cursed church in his neighborhood. It was actually an old and abandoned church which was almost broken down by age. The caller said that they whoever enters the church had meet misfortunes. Three days before, Shinichiro's son played hide and seek and entered the church even with his extreme warningn to the kid. Two days later, yesterday, the kid was involved in a car accident. It was the 7th incident in the neighborhood, all involving with kids going to the Abandoned Church.

 

Kouki was surprised about what he learned. Churches are supposed to be holy places, one of the places where evil should not reside. However, there it was. Finishing drinking his tea, he turned towards his crew.

 

"Guys we have a new case! The client will come within an hour. We will sortie as early as five in the afternoon depending on the availability of a base. I do hope we won't be staying within the church"

[「viviD]

Many heads were turned as they stared at a single figure, staring with different expressions in different people. The single figure they were staring at was the only one using an umbrella. It wasn't really hot, the weather was fine. A beautiful sunny day and yet this only person was using an umbrella. Not only that,

 

he was wearing what looked like a military uniform. It didn't help with his haunting gold eyes and very pale skin.

 

No wonder there were many people staring at him. But the boy (man?) didn't even notice or just didn't bother, simply ignoring the stares boring into his skin.

 

"Ah." He took out his cellphone to look at the time. "Hmm~." Should he...? Nah, he didn't felt like it, besides, someone would just text him or call him if there was a case or if he was needed when he wouldn't show up.

 

That's how everything works for Yoshi Noboru.

[sVerrine]

As Kouki announced that a new client was coming over, Aoba rose from the couch and went to pour a cup of coffee. It hasn't been a long time since he joined the SPS, but he surely felt more comfortable here than at his previous job. Although it wasn't worth a lot of money, he still regarded it as a given to be able to use his ability and earn money from that.

 

He gazed at the outside scenery as he sipped from his mug and thought about the new case. A church. A cursed church. He was as surprised as Kouki to hear that; it wasn't impossible, but rather uncommon for a spirit to lurk freely around God's holy place. It must have been rather powerful and strong willed. Or was it perhaps a poltergeist? The possibility for the church to be not as holy as they might expect was also high. Aoba clicked his tongue and abandoned his thoughts. It was futile to think about it when they didn't even go there to investigate.

 

A short while after that, the client, Shinichiro, knocked on the door and walked sternly into the room. He was taller than the rest of us and his face didn't betray any emotion. Our clients were usually desperate, sunk in fear or desolation, but this one only glanced steely at us.

 

"Is this Society of Paranormal Studies?" He asked.

 

"Yes." I answered. "Is there a problem?" I asked, seeing his speculative, untrustworthy eyes. After he gave a thoroughly look to each of us, he replied.

 

"No, it's just that you look quite young for such a job."

 

Well, neither of us was older than 25, so he was right in a way.

He was a rather suspicious character, so just to be sure, before serving him a cup of coffee, I patted his shoulder lightly in a friendly manner. Some flashbacks from Shinichiro's life came to me- a child in a hospital bed, a shabby church and also the image of a soldier shooting him in that particular spot that I touched.

'A war soldier, huh? No wonder he was suspicious of us. Well, at least his story was true.'

[Spell]

Leba gritted his teeth at his failed attempt of making a loop tie around his wrist as he sat at his desk, full of supplies scattered every where. the taut expression on his face explained the intense motion that his brain was moving to explain why he couldn't get the tie right at all. He gnashed his teeth together and threw the rope down in disgust; flicking his gaze to the other side of the room which held the door entering the room.

 

The new case somewhat intrigued him, not to the point he was shedding tears in distraught; although he was looking forward into the exorcism. Despite going to thChurch'shs he was puzzled by why the demon or fiend resorted to staying there. It was a very odd case that he thought so himself. He retorted a sigh through out the room because of the quietness in the office. The only noise he could hear was a slight buzz of a fly that was bolting around the room. Quickly after the that, there was commotion of footsteps out side the office that seemed to be the new supposedly client.

 

Mr. Shinichiro opened the door with a firm grip. He seemed a more older type man, with a Grey suit on that somewhat matched his slicked back hair. His formality seemed a bit off since most of the group was out of dress and in casual clothing; which was suitable since there was no need to go to the site in a suit expecting to exchange formalities with a Demon.

 

"Is this Society of Paranormal Studies?" He asked in a stern tone.

 

"Yes." Aoba answered "Is there a problem?" It seemed like Aoba was on to something but it seemed as if, the usual of people underestimating our capabilities. Leba shrugged it off and "humphed" his self back to his own buisness of sorting through the "exorcist" supplies that he had brought with him that day.

[blurbur]

Shougo sat on the usual black leather couch that was in the break room of the office area. He was enjoying a hot warm green suplimented tea that he brought to his work. With one leg crossed over the other he was balancing a book across his knee. The cover of the book discripted The Phenomenology of the Spirit by G.F. Hegel. He was fairly into it until he noticed the strange figures behind the fogged glass in the locked storage room.

 

'Why, Why would something be in that place at a time like this?' He mumbled to himself as he placed his book mark neatly into the crease of the book, setting it down beside him. Shougo stared at the figures behind the fogged glas for a quite a while before the slowed down dissolving into nothing. They were just animated ghosts of the office that he saw once in a blue moon.

 

Shougo gathered his thing he had, finishing off his tea before throwing it into the trash bin and decided to go back to the group's office in a casual pace, but when he got there, there was an older man that set afoot into the office. He heard Aoba talk to the man in the usual tone.

 

"seems we have a job to do?" Shougo said a-loud for the group to hear him behind the man. He smirked as he pushed himself pass the man managing not to bump into him. He flicked a gaze back at Aoba who seemed to be warming up to the man, atleast thats what he thought so far.

 

'hopefuly this is a rather chalanging job than before' he mumbled to himself after he sat down at his desk and began typing to occupy his time, listening to Aoba's conversation with the client and whoever may decide to chime in.

[Tetsu]

[Yoshi, we have a client. Please come to the office. Now.

 

PS. I said now. Don't wander around again.

 

 

-Kouki-]

 

After sending the short SMS to the one guy who's probably not going to come if not asked to, Kouki placed his phone above his desk as he waited for the client to come.

 

"Is this the Society of Paranormal Studies?" the familiar voice asked. It was Mr. Iba, Shinichiro, the caller and their client.

 

"Good afternoon Mr. Iba"

 

"Shinichiro is fine"

 

"Oh! Then, Mr. Shinichiro, I'm Tokugawa Kouki, the owner and the leader of the Business. I am the person you talked with on the telephone. Please sit down wherever you find comfortable. I'll be very glad to hear more precise details about this case"

 

Kouki walked towards the sofa as he waited for Mr. Shinichiro to do so. He did indeed asked him to sit anywhere he find comfortable, but there couldn't be anywhere more comfortable in the office than the soft sofa they bought just a couple of months ago.

 

"Hey, can anyone bring Mr. Shinichiro..." He asked but paused when he realized he doesn't know what the client would drink. Looking at Mr. Shinichiro, he asked "Tea or Coffee?"

 

"Coffee"

 

"Coffee. Can anyone please bring Mr. Shinichiro a cup of coffee?" he asked again. It was Aoba who served him, however before he did so, he patted him by the shoulder. Kouki knew what he did. Aoba used Psychometry on the guy. That means, he find the guy suspicious. Kouki eyed him, with the same look he had every time Aoba does his work. That looked means that he needs to inform him what he saw.

 

"So Mr Shinichiro, let me summarized what we had discussed an hour earlier", Kouki talked in a more serious manner compared to the business-man like he had been using a while ago as he continued, "There is a cursed abandoned church in your neighborhood in which seven people had been victimized by this thing we assume as a curse, right? The latest victim is your 10 year old son, Iba, Takuto. After going to the cursed church, he met an accident two days after. How can you be so sure the church is involved when there had been a two day gap prior to the accident. He could have met a curse other than in the church or better yet, this could be a pure accident"

 

"You seem to be incapable of believing your clients." The man stated in a cold and composed manner, though Kouki could feel the distrust in the man.

 

"No Mr. Shinichiro! I'm trying to gather as much accurate data as possible. Lives are at stake here. These seven victims so far had safely survived with the accidents. However, we cannot be so sure what's going to happen the next time. This could prove fatally dangerous. We need to do something about it soon!"

 

Contented, he saw Mr. Shinichiro nod in affirmation as the guy started to talk.

 

"Very well. I'm very much convinced this is a work of a curse. I said there had been seven victims. However, that itself is inaccurate. The neighborhood we lived in is a new Housing Estate. We had been there since it opened ten years ago. Anything could have happened before we settled in. And in these ten years, I have witnessed the victims all having a cross like bruise somewhere in their body before they met their accidents. My child... too had that mark. However, when he met the accident, it vanished, or that it may have been overlapped by a new wound from the accident. "

 

Kouki wrote the details as he listed to the client speak.

 

"The church is just across the Neighborhood. There had also been a plan to demolish the church and make it into an extension of the neighborhood 3 years ago, but unfortunately" Mr. Shinichiro stopped, gulping as he continued "all of the workers of the demolition project died... all involving car accidents"

 

"So its not just kids who are being targeted. based on your statement, the case so far all involved in children. However, there had been adult victims and this time, there seems to be some casualty. There's a contrary out there don't you think?", Kouki asked

 

"Some of us went to the church too. Adults. But none of us died nor was involved in an accident. We believe the demolition team just angered the thing that resides there and killed them."

 

"I see. We will go to the area the sooner our last member comes back. Do you have a place for us to stay? We would like to observe closer to the church, but I hope we wont be staying within the church premises."

 

"My house is directly across the church. However, its quite far."

 

"That's too bad. We shall be staying outdoors then. Please lend us any available tents if you have" Kouki said. The case this time seemed to be a case related to earth-bound spirits. A malicious spirit who seem to have a deep connection to the church. It could be a former priest. That is odd though, as most priests live in sanctity and and when they die, they goes straight to heaven. However, when sinful priest dies, his evil deeds prevents him from going to heaven. That must be the case this time. However, he can't be too sure. there are things that doesn't match. Why would a priest curse a kid who went to that particular church? Why nothing happened to the adults who went there?

[「viviD]

His

suddenly started playing that startled the people near him. The music was... kinda creepy, as a result, they slowly walked faster just to avoid this 'odd' person. Yoshi didn't noticed or just plain ignored it, he was just too unreadable.

 

"...ha? a message...?"

 

Flip.

 

[Yoshi, we have a client. Please come to the office. Now.

 

PS. I said now. Don't wander around again.

 

 

-Kouki-]

 

"...eh~..." A small sound escaped his mouth, tilted his head side to side, back and forth as he thought about it with fright intensity, he didn't noticed that the stares were multiplying. '...Should I...?' Yes, should he? The case might turn out interesting, maybe. And Kouki said to come now and to not wander around again.

 

He wasn't to blame because most of their cases were not interesting, in fact, on some cases, there was no need for him to be there, the others were doing fine. Would their cases be more interesting now...? Yoshi hope so because he would be more unmotivated to come.

 

"..... oh well~"

 

He was close to the office, anyway.

 

.

.

.

 

"Yo...~" He opened the door in a quiet manner, he was lazy to open (/slam it open/) the door using his feet and greeted them with no enthusiasm, as if he was tired already. He spotted the client drinking coffee and as soon as the client saw him, eyed him critically. And his closed black umbrella too.

 

He ignored it, opting to slump on the soft office chair that he bought using the money he 'borrowed' (aka, took) from his family. It was comfortable, just right for him. Yoshi dropped his umbrella in his desk that was empty and lifted his legs to the office chair that still had enough space, folding his legs.

[sVerrine]

Aoba listened carefully as the client presented the details of the case. Spirits that haunt only childre - that didn't make any sense; why would they spare the adults when they are, logically, more dangerous than mere innocent children? Or maybe the children weren't than innocent? Maybe they disturbed something inside the church that made the spirits go wild and curse them?

 

Aoba closed his eyes and took a deep silent breath and chased away all his thoughts.

As Kouki decided they were to stay at Shinichiro, his resilient eyes scanned Yoshi who just entered the room. The man sighed, stood up and gave us his address.

 

"I'll be waiting for you. I hope you'll be able to drive away any kind of spiritual power, if there is any." He gave a sly smile and left the room.

 

As soon as we were alone, Aoba opened his mouth and started speaking about what he could sense through my powers.

"Well, his child is in hospital right now. Luckily, he is not badly injured, I think we can speak with him if we don't find anything in the church. Anyway, Shinichiro was involved in some war and doesn't have a strong affinity for the spiritual world; I guess that's why he was sending us those doubtful looks. "

[Spell]

Leba furrowed his brow as the man explained the problem. This was not a very ordinary case at all, considering the spirit targets only children. this would only cause trouble and more to come. There was no very true way of luring the spirit out to actually do the exorcism without a child at hand on the scene. Besides that fact of sleeping outside the place, and even in tents was more enough to seem like an idiotic display of "Look what we are doing!" sign for the media to take as a spotlight and use as coverage since the modern day television has multiple shows about "ghosts".

 

"This case will be nothing but trouble for us if you think about it. The media will be all over our ass by the time we set up tents at the place using us as a front headline. Also we need a willing child to help us. And I doubt that a child will come up to bat. Unless..." He butted into the conversation, grinning ear to ear wondering if the idea came to mind in some others minds as well.

 

"But... If you can think of another way of sorting this situation out without a child to lure the damned thing out of its hiding place, please take your stand!!" Leba slumped back into his chair whittling on a piece of rope, stripping it off a sliver each time with a pocket knife that he had stashed in his trousers. He sat up in his chair throwing the slivers of rope into the trash bin that he had beside him, finding no more use in whittling on a piece of rope.

[blurbur]

Shougo tensed as he heard Leba explain his "masterful" plan in attempt to get it to go his way. His hand paused over the keyboard as he shrunk over in his chair and his hair touching the tops of his hands that hovered over the board.

 

"Why would someone in their right mind use another child just to lure some type of malicious spirit like that? Its unethical and very inhumane to the child and the spirit! Did you think about there should be another way to bring it out? Of course not, because you're an exorcist..." Shougo growled and began typing furiously again on the computer, making even more of an excuse to be obnoxious. This was one of the reasons why shougo had a hard time of dealing with the living; he was very easy to snap and try to re correct people of the wrongs in society, but in reality he was actually in the wrong.

 

"There is a different way of handling problems other than using a child. Besides Mr. Shinichiro would not agree to such things because he seems like the person who wouldn't let another child get harmed for the sake of exorcising a spirit." Shougo huffed out another comment with ease knowing that it was the more "logical" way of thinking things.

[Tetsu]

When the client finally left, Kouki sighed and looked at everyone. All were present, including Yoshi who he wasn't that sure would come. Aoba told him about what he saw in the client, well, nothing important at the moment, but such information might prove useful later. He wrote what Aoba said in a note as the guys discussed the case.

 

"The media is going to be a problem. That's only if they get a hint of what we're doing. And, it's going to be dangerous for them to be around the church, so we're all going to be tight lipped with the matter. We need to discuss this too with the client. We'll be staying in tents outside. But don't worry, I'll be placing Warding Charms around the tent. We will also be on a rotation on looking out, just to make sure nothing happens while everyone is asleep." Kouki said as he continued.

 

"And, we won't be using a child, at least for now. It's not safe for the child to be used as a lure. Well, that would speed up our investigation but we don't want anyone to get hurt in the process... especially a child. We're not yet sure what's there in the church, so we're going to rely on ourselves. Lewin, you will have to visit each victim and try to use Psychometry on them. It will be a vital information for us, so you will be doing your work earlier than us. Yoshi and I will work on warding to keep the thing out there restraint inside the church premises. Shima, you'll try to Reason Out with the evil, it's probably a hostile spirit, but when you feel its dangerous, pull out. Leba, you will be the one who will exorcise, but you won't be taking action early on. You will be on standby and and will be guarding us whever something happens."

 

That was the plan for the case. Although there were still some unclear stuff going on, they will have to got there. This was not their hardest case so far, but it seems its not going to be easy either. Kouki stood up as he took his and the guests, cup, bringing them to the dishwasher.

 

"Let's go" he said.

[「viviD]

Yoshi, who was not unkind to children, stared at Leba with a blank expression (were he used almost everyday) but his eye was cold. He took the umbrella on his desk still staring at Leba and pointed the tip at him.

 

"...I will stab you in the eyes and watch you bleed." He said in a bland threatening tone, as if it was normal to say that. The cold look in his eye slightly disappeared as Shougo then Kouki spoke. They weren't going to use a child in Yoshi's watch or else he will stab them with his umbrella if they do. He wouldn't feel regret doing that.

 

Not one bit.

 

.

.

.

 

He jumped out of the van, it was bad luck that he had to ride with Shougo and Leba. Oh no, he didn't hate them or something, it was just that they somehow got into an argument. Shougo with his snobby book-ish self and Leba with his sadist pervert-ism.

 

Yoshi had stopped them by trying to stab them both with the tip of his umbrella with the intent to make them bleed, though they almost crashed. Shougo was the one driving after all and well, the pale vampire-like boy did try stabbing him.

 

He should have move to the other van with Kouki and Aoba when Shougo and Leba entered the van.

 

Now back to the start.

 

The rumored cursed church looked shabby and rundown, the trees to each side were dead along with the front grass. Some looked like they were near dying. In other words, the place was the type for people to use them as test of courage or make rumors about how haunted it is.

 

It was beautiful.

 

Yoshi took a picture with phone because once the case was over, they would return back to the office and there might be a chance that they will destroy this church. And he was too lazy to visit plus with no reason.

 

He had already made warding charms inside the van, all he had to do was give it to Kouki. Ahh, the desire to explore was rising, if he did so, Kouki will scold him and get mad. Troublesome to deal with.

 

If this case would be more interesting later one, then he will stay and do his work and if not; he was out, it wouldn't matter to him if they get pissed or not. He will not deal with a case he deemed not interesting. It would be so boring.

[sVerrine]

As soon as Kouki finished appointing jobs to them, Aoba left the agency in a sprint, heading towards the hospital that he learned about from his client's memories. It was the one from the center, not far away from where he was, perhaps a ten minutes walk.

 

The man walked in a rush, hating the hot weather that made him sweat even at the faintest move. As he saw the well common white coming from the hospital walls, he thought of a way to enter the boy's room. But seeing Mr. Shinichiro in front of the exit doors, chatting vehemently to a tall woman, all thoughts left him. They greeted and Aoba quickly explained the reason for his visit. Shinichiro shot him such a glare that he remained stiff on the spot until the other agreed rapidly to Aoba's genuine request of seeing his son.

Aoba left the two of them with a cold greeting and dashed through all the patients and doctors. Sincerely, he hated the crowds, the senseless amalgam of people running aimlessly around him, and when all those people were also sick, the matter would naturally take a turn to the worse.

 

Aoba kept his breath until reaching the right room. He took in a huge gap of air and walked into the room without knocking.

The kid was no more that nine and he didn't hold any peculiar features. He was as plain as his father.

The child looked startled at first, but quickly adapted to the conversations that Aoba shortly started to make. He understood well the reason for him being there and didn't show fear or resent. He was smart and tough; Aoba had to admit.

 

During the conversation, the man touched lightly the child on his shoulders, or patted friendly his head.

"So, why were you inside that church?"

"It was a courage test, obviously. I had to show everyone I was not afraid of something as idiotic as a ghost. "

Aoba raised a brow, but hold his question for the moment. "Ok, then tell me what happened."

"Well, I entered it and it looked pretty normal. It was indeed dark and all the things were basically mourned in dust, but that was all, at first."

"What happened afterwards?" Aoba encouraged. The child avoided meeting his eyes. Aoba didn't push it and waited for him to consider everything inside his head before giving out words.

"I didn't tell my dad about it because I know about his beliefs regarding the 'spiritual world', so you absolutely won't tell him anything. What I'm telling you here, stays here."

Aoba took hard thoughts as he listened to the kid. Were all sons of the military citizens like that? Such strong will and determination inside of a 9-years old... Aoba admired him in a way, but laughed amused in his mind as he remembered his old self.

Aoba nodded in agreement.

"I saw an image of my mother. I know it was her because she was wearing her long black coat. You see, she died three years ago in an accident. That was the coat she was wearing; something like that - I will never forget." He paused, and continued after a short moment of silence. "Anyway, I followed her in a room where stood a huge cross with a guy crucified on it. I lost my conscience in the process, though, and then I remember my dad picking me up. I was involved in an accident afterwards, as you already know."

Aoba touched him several times, and his memories testified his words. He, indeed, saw a woman in a black coat, wandering inside the church. It was strange though that even his body fell in some kind of trance after entering the altar.

Before ending his visit, Aoba asked for the whereabouts of the other 6 children, and the 9-years old provided him with more than he needed. Deciding on his next stop, he cheerfully walked outside the hospital's grounds.

[Spell]

Leba Grumbled as the van ride went on thinking about his plan was a miss as usual, but he snickered at what yoshi said to him back at the office.

 

"...I will stab you in the eyes and watch you bleed." Yoshi said

 

This was all the joy to him as he hummed to him self twisting his knot that he brought along for the joyride; knotting, and whittling them with his pocket knife. Although his Job was only to exorcise the spirit he also joined along in expeditions of others to watch how others did their works. It some how fascinated him in a way, except for Shougo's line of work. Simply because of the fact shougo only had time for the dead instead of the living. And because you could not see the what Shougo was actually looking at or speaking to. For all who knows It might just be a state of mind that the poor man was in.

 

The rest of the van ride was quite boring for the fact that no one really spoke during the ride. Yoshi was either coldly staring out the window, or gripping his umbrella, again, coldly staring at both Leba and Shougo. The church was quite a sight to see in a city as young as this. It was very well built to still be standing at this condition it was in. Leba marveled at the structure also taking a few snap pictures of the structure. He sighed knowing that a magnificent piece of art will be torn down but for the sake of apartment or some worthless office building, which was very sad in Leba's case.

 

Leba sat back as most of his other workers busied about since his job was far yet to come in the case yet and might not even come...

[blurbur]

As Shougo parked the van in the desired spot he gazed around silently at the gothic looking church. Many of the trees were already dead, with barely enough life actually around the place to make it look some what appeasing to a unique eye. He moaned in displeasure as he heaved a large backpack out of he van onto his shoulders. This back pack had most of his things like his laptop, incense, rose water, and other sorts of odd things he might need to lure the spirit out to talk to him.

 

There was already a dark aura lurking around that Shougo could see in the depths of the church. It seemed as if this spirit was really attached to this church, but not in the good way...

 

This is not going to be a good spirit at all... it seems it's already in the final stages of rage.." Shougo's heart saddened knowing he could not save this soul but he would try despite the fact that it would have a chance of attacking him because of the rage. He gazed over at Leba who was, as usual, working on some device to tie some one or something down. Then to Yoshi who was admiring the gothic building taking pictures of it.

 

" Hopefully we do not have to do something rash to the spirit, that will only make matters worse.." Shougo said out loud to the others while putting his pack down on the sidewalk. He reach in the pack and pulled out the book he was reading earlier and started where he left off, sitting down on the sidewalk.

[Tetsu]

As they headed out, Yoshi, Shougo and Leba went to one same van. It somehow worried Kouki as they just had a heated conversation a while ago and a heated conversation is not something very good for Yoshi. He prayed that the Gods be with them and that nothing happened. He was in another van with the equipments consuming the space at the back. Only the front side is available for ride, and it was supposed to be Lewin's seat. He was planning on making a detour and to drive the guy to the hospital first , but before he can say so, the guy had already disappeared.

 

He followed the other van from behind and when it waggled, almost crashing, he almost had a heart attack. It was a good thing that they arrived at the site safe. Night has began to enveloped the surroundings which just adds the creepiness of the place. Dead trees, surrounded the shabby looking church. His already shabby office looked like heaven compared to this ruined church.

"Yoshi, do you have the warding charms with you? We'll be placing them around the the outside walls of the church. Shougo and Leba, you bring the equipments..." Kouki paused as he looked for a suitable base for them. He spotted an old gazebo which looked just fine then continued talking " to that gazebo over there. Afterwards, set up cameras and microphones from the outside. No one must go inside, please, and let's stick around together."After telling the guys what to do, he grabbed his phone as he called the mobile number provided by Mr. Shinichoro.

"Good Evening Mr. Shinichiro. Kouki Tokugawa, the director of SPS, speaking. We have arrived at the site. It would be great if you would provide us the tent needed sooner so we can set them up."

 

"Yes"

 

"Yes"

 

"Thank you. We'll do the job to the best of our abilities, Sir. Goodbye"

 

Kouki then planned to call Lewin. He needed to know how is it going on at his end. Investigating is going to be hard. They'll be relying solely on Lewin's Psychometric ability. The office used to have some sort of detective. It was easier for them to investigate with his help. But with him on the leave and uncertain of his coming back, investigation made it difficult for them.

[「viviD]

"...Hm?" He looked up from checking the photos he recently took when he heard his name coming out of Kouki's mouth.He glanced around when he didn't see Aoba anywhere. Oh right, he was supposed to talk to the victims of the cursed church, their leader must have dropped him somewhere close to one of the victims. It wasn't any of his business though.

 

Ah. The warding charms. Oh my, he didn't took his Cobra Courier XS bag due to wanting out of the van thanks to the two idiots that were previously mentioned. Wah. He was too lazy but it couldn't be helped, maybe Kouki will allow him to explore the church despite saying not to separate.

 

But.

 

He did say that they shouldn't get inside, it's not like he would do that. Just a tinsy winsy exploration. While putting the wards on the outside wall. It was like hitting two birds with one stone. He just couldn't repress the urge. Besides that, he was already getting bored.

 

Where's the fun?

 

Yoshi went back to the van to get his bag, inside wasn't anything important. Ipad, second cellphone (except more expensive), paper manikins (shikigamis), wood manikins (solely for spirits), warding charms (ofuda) that he made inside the van and other stuff that wasn't worth mentioning. How he fit it all in his bag.

 

Well. No one will know.

 

"Kouki, is it alright if I explore a bit? I won't go inside the church, don't worry. I'm not gonna be out for long, just a tiny bit. I'll put the ofuda while I do so. Okay? okay." Without waiting for the boss' response, he walked away. Just like that, he was gone.

[sVerrine]

It was already past sunset when Aoba arrived at the church. It was shabby, old and the architecture was nothing but plain and appalling, just like he saw in the children's memories. The place didn't matter as much as what was inside it, so he gave no further thought to its appearance.

 

He sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands before setting off to the colored van where he suspected to find everyone. Yoshi was the only one missing, but as Aoba find through touching a bit the pieces of furniture inside the van, he was out investigating and placing charms.

Aoba let out another sigh and scolded himself for using too much his powers. The physical exhaustion coming out of him running around the town was nothing compared to what overusing his abilities done to his mind and soul. The negative emotions of the victims were feeding from his spirit.

 

As he entered the van, the others watched him expectantly. He chose aimlessly a place where he rapidly sat down.

"Well, this spirit or whatever it is will definitely give us a headache." The affirmation served more as a mental note. Aoba couldn't see the others' reactions because he still had his eyes covered by his palms.

 

"First thing first, I couldn't go to all six children because three of them have already moved town due to the accident." He paused, keeping his eyes closed and moving one hand through his sweaty hair. "Chronologically speaking, the first victim revealed to me that the spirit was the ghost of his dead uncle." Aoba wanted to gave much more details about this uncle, but he didn't find the power or reason to do so. He kept the descriptive parts at minimum. "The second victim showed me, in fact, that this spirit took the form of his dead sister, while the fourth and fifth saw their beloved grandmothers. Finally, the seventh of them, our client's son, held the memory of yet a different person, namely his dead mother that lost her life in a car accident."

Aoba opened his eyes slowly and the absence of light made his eyes comfortable with the environment. He stared at a non-existent point in the space.

"At least, the pattern of the curse is identical. The spirit lured them inside the altar, cursed them and the victims lost their conscience, being found by their parents. After that, all of them were involved in accidents."

 

Aoba let out another loud sigh and suddenly changed the subject. "Can we get back our detective? Frankly, I'm a very indifferent person when it comes down to people's feelings, that's why they don't open up to me. Basically, I can only use my ability to extract information from them. It's a very convenient power, hence it has consequences and is very tiring." Aoba made a silent pause and thought how unusual it was for him to complain about work. After a while, he continued.

"You all know that when you left An with anyone, it wouldn't take him more than five minutes to obtain whatever he desired from that person. His mind was of such mature of understanding human psychology - it rarely happened to use my power just for obtaining information. I would rather use it for more useful things. "