RP Shinjuku Academy Paranormal Investigation Club

UmbraSight

UmbraSight

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Afternoon light spilled through the tall windows of the club room, casting the usually gloomy space in a warm glow. Outside the track team was gathered in a close huddle around their coach, distant voices reaching the room as an indistinct murmur of sound which mixed with the chattering of voices that drifted up from the floors below. In the far corner of the room, between a line of storage cabinets and the windows, an older tv sat on a stand, slightly turned to one side to ward off any potential glare from the sun. The tv was on, but the image seemed to simply be a still frame of the blank wall next to the television’s stand.

The table that sat in the middle of the club room was surprisingly busy for the room only having two occupants. It wasn’t messy, but most of it was Akina’s doing. An electric kettle steamed as a bag of tea steeped (she had requested a hot plate to warm a proper kettle, but she had had less luck with that than she had with the dress code) sat in the middle of the table, next to that four cups had been laid out neatly, a camera sat to Akina’s right resting on top of a closed laptop, and to her left was an open textbook and a half-finished answer sheet.

Akina sat at the end of the table, dressed in a simple blue and white kimono instead of the school’s standard uniform. It was hard to say if she actually owned a proper uniform, as she hadn’t been spotted in one since junior high. Her hair had been drawn back into a simple bun held in place by a long pin. Akina looked up as the kettle beeped, her gaze quickly sliding to the room’s only other occupant who had arrived not long after she had. “Would you like a cup, Eiji?” She asked as she rose from her seat and stepped around to the kettle. ”Green tea today. Thought it’d be nice while we waited for the others.” She added with a smile.

She wasn’t sure what they’d be doing today, the local forums had been quiet lately, but one never knew when something interesting might come through the door.
 
Eiji was seated at the table, notebook open beside her, distractedly filling in answers for the day's English homework. She didn't really need to think about it, since she'd been speaking English for as long as she'd been speaking Japanese. Mom was from Canada, and had come over to Japan for a year during college to teach English. And then she'd met Dad, and they'd apparently kept in touch while Mom finished her degree, and then Mom had come back to Japan and been here ever since.

She'd made sure Eiji spoke English well, though. Eiji didn't really mind. Being good at English was an advantage, and it usually made up for the things that Eiji wasn't as good at - like history.

Eiji actually loved history, or what she thought of as the real history. The sort that came in little stories about different people and places and times - but those little stories didn't tend to be quite as concerned with names and dates and who was in charge of which army, and that was pretty much all that school history focused on. Eiji liked history as old people told it, but old people didn't start with "In May of 1953..." They started with "Oh, let me tell you a story about when I was a boy - there was this creek that ran past our house, and..."

That was the sort of history Eiji liked. Not the sort involving remembering dates.

Even so, not being good at history was something Eiji could live with. She still wasn't sure what she wanted to do after school, but she had crossed history teacher off the list and was fine with that. She'd get help if she needed it, maybe from Akina. Akina had been doing homework too, or at least pretending to. Eiji thought that Akina was spending a lot more time looking at the doorway and hoping someone else would show up, but she didn't mention it. Eiji hoped someone else showed up, too, because if no one else did she was going to feel weird, and she already felt weird.

Being in a new school was always hard. Eiji thought it was harder for her, although she acknowledged that everyone probably felt that way. It was harder for Eiji to blend in, though. She'd gotten her mother's hair, which was light brown and meant everyone knew she was at least part foreigner. Akina had pretty dark hair, held up in a bun. Eiji's hair was... well, in her face, as usual. She'd attempted a barrette, but bits kept escaping. Eiji's mom called her hair the color of maple wood, which Eiji had always liked. The other school kids called it the color of mud, which was not as complimentary.

Akina's voice broke through this reflection, fortunately only with a question about tea. "Oh... I'd love some, actually." She'd been distracted, but now that she was thinking about it, the tea smelled very nice. Like home, like mom used to make.
 
The school was still strange and exciting, like the creaking insides of new leather shoes, or the contents of a chest from an attic that hadn't been touched for years. Kyo liked that feeling. It was fun, finding yourself lost, then wandering and wandering and wandering until you found someplace you recognized again. She'd wished there were a bit more people around, though - being lost was a lot more fun with people.

The students here were strange and exciting too. She was still taking time to learn their masks, but she thought she was making good progress. Like - a boy in her homeroom who always smiled at the teacher whenever they locked eyes, or a girl she ate lunch near that stuck her tongue out at one of her friends behind their back. The other friends laughed at that. Kyo laughed too. It made her feel like she was next to them, even though she was sitting on the other side of the courtyard.

After a while wandering, she eventually found the classroom on the note. She checked it again, to make sure the letters and numbers were still the same, then confidently stepped inside. It was mostly empty. The other clubs, of course, weren't like this, but the other clubs weren't as interesting, either. That was something Kyo had learned about other people - they didn't like interesting things. Interesting things had a habit of scaring them, or making them confused, or - well, they said they were stupid and boring, but interesting things couldn't, by nature, be stupid and boring, so that was probably just part of their mask. Looking uncomfortable in public because something was too interesting was, after all, against the rules, and the masks were there so you could follow the rules.

The two people who were there, though, were just as interesting as the club. One of them broke the rules quite a bit. She wasn't wearing the normal uniform, instead dressed in something straight out of the Edo Period. That was one of Kyo's favorite periods, if you had to ask her. The girl's black hair was tied back, which - while odd - wasn't outright wrong, but she had a television that seemed to be showing a recording of a wall, which was quite wrong.

The other girl was a less wrong, but the wrongness she had was in her contradictions. She had a very proper, quiet mask, seeming polite and well-trained, but there was a messiness about her. Like - someone trying to draw between the lines, but their hands kept shaking, scribbling over into the white. She was also, Kyo noted, most likely new to the school, by guess of Kyo not seeing her around much until now. Kyo was very good at remembering faces.

Kyo approached the table, but didn't sit at it, instead settling into a desk a row away. She put on her best smile.

"You're both very pretty," she said, opening with a standard compliment to break the ice. "Is this the ghost club?"

Transition into setting the scene, showing intent for approach. Move into small talk. Colloquial.

"Your television is broken."

A perfect introduction.
 
With a steady hand Akina filled two of the empty tea cups, one of which Akina pushed across the table to Eiji, careful not to spill any on the girl’s textbooks. Eiji’s hair was in the mess it usually was, today that involved loose strands escaping from a clip that was not quite up to the task it had been assigned. That was fine, but it made her want to ask some days if she could braid Eiji’s hair but that always seemed like something you’d ask a friend not a club member.

“There you are,” Akina said with a smile, picking up her own cup as she returned to her seat. “Left the sugar and honey in the cabinet, if you’d like any.” Akina said, her gaze once more flicking back to the doorway as if she were expecting to find someone suddenly there, and find someone there she did. A blond girl Akina didn’t quite recognize —though she did feel a minor tug of familiarity in the back of her mind — stepped through the threshold and made herself at home in one of the room’s empty desks. Akina smiled her greeting as the newcomer spoke, her words seemed a little stiff but she had an odd confidence that made Akina want to smile.

“This is the ghost club, if that’s what you’re looking for.” Akina said, blowing a puff of air across the top of her cup to scatter the steam before she took a sip. She chuckled lightly when the girl mentioned the television. “Thank you for the concern, but it isn’t broken despite appearances.” Akina said, setting her teacup down. She reached over and placed a hand on her video camera, and as it shifted the image on the TV wobbled. She slid the camera around so the lense was facing her before wiggling her fingers before the lense. On the television her fingers wiggled back.

“It had a live broadcasting feature I was testing out earlier, and I just forgot to turn it off is all.” She explained. After a moment realization flashed in her eyes. “Oh, right, excuse me. I’m Ogami Akina, I suppose I’m the captain for this club, it’s a pleasure to meet you.

A late introduction was better than no introduction at least.
 
She had been trying to put this off all day, to no avail. Miiko had been pacing campus, circling ever so closer to the club room with each pass, and dreading it more and more with each step. Why couldn't she just go home? She'd rather be with the track team, but she couldn't do that anymore. Mom said the house was too crowded, so she had to be here.

Just as she rounded the final corner, further down the hall, she caught sight of someone else entering the club room, someone she didn't recognize. She felt a flutter in her stomach, and so badly wanted to turn the other way and take a train home. Instead, begrudgingly, she began the final walk down the hallway. She didn't watch horror movies, they always seemed too intense. The books never packed a punch like they should've to be interesting, and the ones that did gave her nightmares. Why had she signed up for this? A poster on the wall advertised one of many other clubs, something about board games.

Right, this one actually involved doing things, not just sitting around. That's why she had signed up. Frankly, Miiko had hoped she would have been turned away, but no such luck. So lost in thought, she didn't even realize she was in the doorway until the wall she was watching as she walked disappeared. She froze, like a deer in headlights, the doorframe framing her as she stared into the club room. Three other people. At least she sort of recognized Akina, that was a saving grace. The other two were entire strangers.

She meekly entered the room, mumbling a "Hello" as quietly as she could muster as she made for a seat. She began praying mentally that they wouldn't have to introduce themselves, as she attempted to settle in to her seat.
 
Eiji accepted the cup of steaming tea, blowing on it a little to start the cooling process. "Oh, no thanks," she responded, to the offer of honey or sugar. "I just like it plain." That wasn't to say she didn't like sweets - Eiji liked desserts and candies quite a lot, honestly. It was just that if she had to limit how many sweet things she had a day, why waste some of that on tea?

Other people were starting to arrive, or at least one other person. Her hair was even lighter than Eiji's, which made Eiji wonder if she was a foreigner, which made Eiji remember how much she hated it when people asked that. She was glad she hadn't said anything. Akina made introductions, or at least an introduction, and another person came in as well, someone quiet.

"Hi," she offered, in response. "My name is Mayuri Eiji. It's very nice to meet you all as well." She noticed the extra tea cups remained empty, and nudged one of them gently, hoping to attract Akina's attention to the courtesy without making it obvious to the others. Being polite was very important, but this wasn't Eiji's offer to make. Sometimes people got very upset about that sort of thing.

Well, Eiji thought they were people. Or sort of people, anyway. She peered at the video screen, which didn't seem to be doing too much interesting right now. "So, do we have a host spirit for the club? Will they be joining us today?"
 
"Oh," Kyo replied, watching the television screen. Fascinating. She wasn't exactly sure what it had to do with ghosts, but it probably had - something. They did recording stuff on the ghost hunting shows too. Maybe they were going to go somewhere, and bring the TV with them?

"Eiji," she repeated, after introductions. "Akina."

She grinned. They were on a first name basis! It was almost like they were all friends, now. A new person had entered the room quietly, slipping between the desks with a soft 'hello' before finding her own seat. Feeling confident, Kyo left her far seat to sit directly next to the newcomer, grin widening.

"This is the ghost club," she explained, "And that is Akina, and that is Eiji. And the television is not broken."
 
“Welcome, you are Saneyoshi Miiko, yes?” Akina asked, giving a warm smile to the second newcomer who came through the door. Her application had mentioned something about her leaving the track team, if memory served, so hopefully they could offer her an enjoyable alternative. She returned her gaze to the blond girl, “I’m sorry I don’t believe I caught your name.” Was there another application she had misplaced?

The gentle shifting of a teacup caught the corner of Akina’s eye and her lips moved with a mute ‘oh’ when realization struck. Akina stood and picked up the kettle as she made her way back around the table. She looked back to the two newcomers. “Would either of you care for a cup of tea? It’s green today and freshly brewed.” As Akina spoke she filled one of the empty cups. “I have some sweeteners in the cabinet as well.”

“Oh? A host spirit? I don’t know if we have one like that, though there are some spirits around the campus. Like a fox that hangs out around the old tree by the baseball field, perhaps we could give it some offerings and it might join us.” As Akina spoke she reached across the table and turned it to face the blond girl, putting her up on the television. “I think it lives in the hollow.”
 
O-kay. So she hadn't made it in unnoticed. Miiko didn't think she had, but she had at least hoped she wouldn't be approached, and certainly not so forwardly. "I-uh-mm, yes. That's me," she said in response to Akina, her voice as still as her posture. She spoke quietly still, unsure of her words. While she hadn't stopped wondering why she had applied, and even shown up, to this club meeting, it was brought to the forefront by the barrage of questions from the as of yet unnamed blonde girl.

Despite her anxiety about introductions and participation in a club she had not previously ever been associated with, Miiko had managed to pay attention to the names and questions and statements sent her way. She knew Akina, or knew of her, and know she at least knew the brunette, who only stood out slightly compared to the girl in front of her, was named Eiji. Her eyes shifted to the aforementioned blonde, giving an awkward nod and an even more awkward "I see..." before looking, once more, to their host.

Should she take tea? Eiji had, but was that a member thing? Was she a member? She had only just shown up for the first time today, she couldn't be a member. Maybe she should ask for tea next time. Will she show up next time? Mom would be upset if she didn't. "No thank you." She would bring her own drink next time. The talk shifted to spirits, and now Miiko was definitely out of her depth. Of course, she had heard stories, like anyone had, but she hadn't ever really paid much attention past the stories. She shifted in her seat, uncomfortable in her lack of knowledge and under the gaze of the girl with no name.
 
Kyo stared at her quiet friend, sitting - moreso perched - in her seat, feet up on the edge, knees pressed to her chest.

"Miiko," she said pleasantly. "Like Miiko Hiiragi. That's a pretty name."

Then Akina asked her her name, and in her excitement, she'd realized she hadn't said it. She leaned over the table to meet Akina's eyes with polite and level contact.

"Kyo!" She smiled wide enough to show each and every tooth. "and I don't like tea."
 
Eiji was a little disappointed that the club didn't already have a host spirit, but she tried not to show it. Akina spoke of a fox spirit nearby, and maybe making an offering some time. If it had been all this time and no one had made an offering yet, Eiji could see why none of the spirits were hosting the club. It would not be polite to say this. Instead she just sipped her tea, which was still too hot and burned at the tip of her tongue.

"I'll make an offering to the hollow spirit after the meeting," she resolved, "Since I'm new at school it should be fine." Eiji could get away with not having made an offer yet since she hadn't been here. The rest of them... well, she wondered if the rest of them even remembered how to do things like that. She had noticed that a lot of people in Tokyo didn't seem to.

Miiko - the quiet girl, someone Akina seemed to know, or at least know of - seemed a little shy. Human-shy, though, not spirit-shy. Eiji offered her a little smile, and hoped it helped. She refrained from asking Miiko too many questions, though - the other girl might need a little time to warm up and feel comfortable. Sometimes Eiji felt like that, too. A lot of the time, Eiji felt like that.

The blonde girl - Kyo, apparently - seemed a little... well, strange. She seemed excited to be here, but almost like she didn't quite know how to act in social settings. In a lot of ways, she reminded Eiji more of a spirit than a person. She wondered if there was anything to that... some spirits had been known to pretend, after all.

Well, if that was the case with Kyo, she didn't seem to have any intent to harm them. Eiji was glad that Akina had remembered to offer her tea, even if Kyo had declined.

"Is there something you would like?" Eiji asked her, testing gently. Some spirits could get very particular about their offerings.
 
“Oh is that so?” Akina said, placing the teapot back down. It was a little unfortunate she had already poured the cup, but it couldn’t be helped now. She’d just drink it herself later so it wouldn’t go to waste, it was always a little sad wasting tea even if it came from an electric kettle. Eiji was kind enough to ask Kyō if there was something she’d like to drink instead, if they didn’t have it on hand now then Akina could pick it up for their next meeting. Maybe she could get a mini fridge? A fridge was probably less of a fire hazard than a hot plate anyway.

Akina blew another puff of air across the top of her cup before taking another long draw. It was a nice tea, but maybe a touch too hot. She’d need to read the manual again later to see if she’d done something wrong. With that thought, Akina looked back to Eiji, “speaking of offerings, I’m sorry to say I don’t know off the top of my head what fox spirits like but I can pick up anything you might need if you give me a list.” She said with a smile.

She looked back to the two newcomers, her smile remaining on her lips. Kyō had quite the smile of her own going on didn’t she? “Kyō, I assume you were looking to join our little ghost club? Miiko is new as well, so I hope we can offer the two of you an exciting time.” Akina said with a wink before taking another sip.
 
[Volt]

It was hard to get bored of exploring old buildings, yet somehow Sayane was approaching that feeling. She needed something else to do, and while she would have been content to just try more dangerous ones, now of all times was when her mother decided to start acting like one, suggesting she join an after-school activity. She apparently had finally noticed her daughter coming home covered in dust and filth. Better late than never, but Sayane would’ve preferred not at all.

She’d looked at all the various clubs and none had really spoken to her. They all were athletic or wanted commitment, and she wanted something she could easily weasel her way out of if she wanted. Then another flier caught her eye: the paranormal investigation club. Sayane knew about ghosts, she’d given them plenty of food before.

So she made her way through the school at the end of the day, making sure she found the right one before sliding in, a stick of Pocky stuck in her mouth. There were a few other girls already here, a couple of them sipping tea. Didn’t exactly seem like a place for ghost hunters. Sayane piped up from the doorway as she entered.

“Hey, this the ghost club?”
 
Kyo looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Sweet drinks," she finally said, then added, "with bubbles."

She smiled a wide, toothy smile, eyes flitting between Eiji and Akina as they talked about the fox spirit.

"Have you tried offering it sweet drinks with bubbles? Everyone likes those."

She nodded, self-assured, only turning - a little bit too quickly - as another newcomer entered the door.

"This is the ghost club," she echoed, "and this is Eiji, and this is Akina, and this is Miiko, and this is Kyo."

Her finger moved to each person in turn, settling at last on her own chest.

"And the television isn't broken."
 
“Sweet bubbly drinks? That shouldn’t be a problem to get then.” Akina said with a smile, “I can see about getting small fridge to keep them cool, but I don’t know if I can get permission, so I hope you don’t mind them being warm.” She shifted her attention towards Miiko to ask if there was anything she could get her for the future, however another new face stepped through the door.

“Ah, welcome! I don’t believe I got an application from you, were you looking just to just observe today?” Akina said, picking up after Kyō’s… succinct introduction. It seemed that in a short amount of time the room had turned rather lively, and Akina motioned for the new girl to take one of the open seats.

“Alright,” Akina said brightly, turning to look at all the new faces, “well, as we have so many visiting today, how about we look into a rumor—” another knock at the door cut Akina off, and the last new face of the day poked her head through the door.

“Excuse me,” the girl said, honey colored eyes giving the room a quick once over before choosing Akina to linger on. “Is this the investigation club?

……

Hasegaea, Chiasa a first year student and a member of the school’s swim team, sat at the table between Akina and Eiji, her gaze down at the steaming cup of tea. Chiasa’s brow was furrowed and her lips pulled into a neat frown. The girl studied the steam as it curled in lazy wisps before, with a nod, she picked up the cup and took a long sip.

“Right, so, it started a few months back with little things like coins and stuff going missing. Nothing major, y’know, but it started getting bigger with time, like earrings or glasses and even a shirt!” The girl scrunched her nose as a sour expression crossed her face. She took another sip of tea. “The other girls, they think it's just a weirdo or something, but, y’know.”

“Is there a reason why you believe this is something supernatural?” Akina asked. Chiasa released a breath and set her cup down.

“The other girls, they uh, they think it’s just a weirdo but the teachers have watched the doors and they’ve never seen anyone sneaking in, and there’s this… feeling. You guys like ghost and stuff, so you know what I mean?” She said, glancing around at the other faces gathered in the room.
 
Sweet drinks, with bubbles? "Um, did you mean bubble tea or soda-?" Eiji started to inquire, as Kyo's answer really could have gone either way. Someone else was arriving, though, apparently someone else that Akina had expected to come as well. This club seemed very popular, after all. Eiji had been a little worried at first, but apparently she had just been early and there wasn't anything to be concerned about.

Kyo handled the introductions, in her own way. Eiji felt like she was starting to get a feel for her a little bit. Kyo seemed nice, she thought. A little different, yes, but lots of people were different, and it was pretty obvious that she meant well.

Akina moved to start the meeting, which didn't even manage to make it through a sentence before there was yet another knock, but this one was apparently unexpected, someone who had a lot of questions about missing items on the girl's swim team. Most of the swim team apparently thought it was a weirdo, which was entirely possible, but it was also possible that there was something else going on.

A feeling.

Eiji knew how those went, sometimes. Like how at home she had a feeling of being watched over; that someone was looking out for her. She didn't have that in Tokyo, and she'd found herself sometimes looking over her shoulder, not because she felt like someone was there, but because she felt like someone should be, and wasn't.

"When did all this start happening?" she asked the swim team girl. Spirits often did things for reasons, after all - usually they did, even. It was just that sometimes their reasons didn't really make sense to humans, so it seemed otherwise.
 
Chiasa visibly relaxed in her seat when she wasn’t met by laughter out of the room. She still felt like she was being a little ridiculous with all this, but they were taking her seriously. She turned in her chair to face Eiji, her eyes drifting up to the ceiling as her lips formed a thin line.

“It was two, maybe two and a half months ago.” The girl said carefully as her gaze dropped back down. Realization flashed in her eyes for a moment, and she quickly added, “I don’t know if it matters but it was around the same time they started construction on the new sports field, if that helps.”
 
More people had signed up for this than she had expected. Oddly enough, as yet another girl filtered in through the door, this one much more casual, it actually set Miiko's mind a bit more to ease. It was easier to participate in the background, and to get by without being asked too many questions, when there was more people. Hopefully that's how this club would work for her, just doing what they wanted from her without too many questions, that would be an ideal situation.

Before the new girl could get herself introduced, however, yet another person appeared in the doorway. This one, however, was not someone who was looking to be a member of their ragtag little group. She introduced herself as Chiasa, and she brought with her, a story. Stuff going missing seemed normal enough, at least to Miiko. Her first thought was a prank by one of her friends, someone just trying to have a little fun. What puzzled her was that the teachers hadn't seen anything, and that feeling. It wasn't something Miiko was familiar with, but she had heard of something similar from spooky stories she had heard from friends as a kid. Eiji took the lead, and asked further questions.

'Two and a half months ago?'

"Uh, it's happening in the changing rooms, right?" she asked, very suddenly and a bit louder than she had meant to. Already she could feel the burning anxiety in her chest, but if she was right, she might actually know what Chiasa was talking about. Nothing important of hers had ever gone, so she figured she had just misplaced it, but if it was happening to other people, too...
 
The next question came from the quiet girl who was sitting in one of the classroom desks. Chiasa gave her a serious nod. “It’s one on the east side, yeah.” She said, before taking another sip of tea. Maybe she should have asked about honey.

“Have you heard about any of the other changing rooms having the same problem?” Akina asked. Chiasa shook her head.

“No, I even asked the boys about it, they’re just next door y’know, and they said that none of their things have gone missing.” Chiasa said, putting her cup down with a little frown.
 
"Mmmmmmm," Kyo said thoughtfully. Hopping up on her seat, she squatted, leaning forward over the table and grinning at Chiasa. "If it's a spirit, it's probably an old pervert."

She tapped her head.

"Better to burn the whole place down, maybe. Mhm, mhm."

She shifted, hands sliding around her eyes.

"The next time you change, can we watch? I've never seen an old pervert spirit. That sounds like fun."
 
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