Paranormal Research Club - 1

There was something almost comforting about the bar when it was late at night. Perhaps it was the fact that there was barely a person inside or the delicate yet charming ambiance of the dimly lit area; maybe it was for a more practical reason like the fact that the place is a short distance from the workplace and let him smoke.

The black-haired man sighed, releasing wisps of light grey smoke into the air, when the familiar chime echoed as the door opened.

"Hokuto."

"Hm?" The man identified as "Hokuto" looked up and turned to the one calling him. Almost immediately, he grimaced and turned away. "Listen Canary, I'm not here for your bullshit about how I should stop smoking."

"I've just entered this place and you're already getting snappy about that?" The man then clicked his tongue. "You think that every word I saw out of my mouth is some kind of personal attack. Have you ever considered lightening up?"

"Really not in the mood to lighten up." Hokuto growled. "That, and I don't want to hear how I'll have dried up lungs if I don't stop. You act like I have an addiction, god damn it!"

Frowning at the grumpier than normal Hokuto, Nathan sat down beside him at the bar counter. "Alright, you're more pissed off than normal so something has to be the matter. Is it because of the recent rainy season we've been going through?"

"Why don't you look and see?" Hokuto said, nodding towards the small TV hanging in front of them.

Curious, Nathan himself turned to the television. The screen itself showed the beginning of a news broadcast, the broadcaster an older man with hair slicked back and wearing a suit that showed off his prestige and professionalism.

Hello and welcome to everyone who is just joining in on our broadcast. Our top story concerns the disappearance of famous paranormal investigator Miyuki Nishimura. Miss Nishimura, aged 32, had disappeared shortly after she had recently had a live event related to an important announcement that she had stated on her blog.

While authorities are continuing their investigations in order to find the investigator, they are also keeping a close eye on anyone who attended that event, fearing that they too might be kidnapped.

"Ah, that case about the investigator." Nathan then looked at Hokuto. "You guys are still working on it?"

"Yep and we haven't found shit yet. No weapons in her hotel room, no signs of struggle, all of her stuff still in one place. It's like the woman disappeared without a trace." He blew out another cloud of smoke. "But god damn, have you heard the things that woman said during this event of hers? She claims to have found another world."

"Another world?" Nathan asked, his eyebrow raised. "You mean like a completely new world?"

"Completely, been hiding under our noses apparently." Hokuto then scoffed. "Though I don't buy it. If she went missing, it's probably more likely that she was kidnapped as a way to take her out of the public, a possible hit, but...another world? You have to be kidding me."

"I don't know Hokuto, that Miyuki woman does have merit and she hasn't been wrong yet. Being able to connect many things to the paranormal...it's almost fascinating to find out that there might be more paranormal forces in our world than we've imagined." Nathan then chuckled. "Though, I would rather leave all that discovering to my daughter."

Hokuto had made a rough growl as he put out his cigarette. "You and your daughter need to keep your head straight. It's a miracle Miharu manages to keep up with her."

"You're such a worrywart, Hokuto." The European man said with a grin as he looked towards the window. "Though...I think this place might experience a sudden change. After all, this is only the beginning of this story and the events have yet to unfold."

"Seriously, keep your head screwed on, dude. Enough of that weird speech you like to use."

The blonde then laughed, putting his friend on the back. "Don't get so down~. Come on, I'll drive you home after you've gotten your fill."

And so ended the conversations between fathers; now the only sounds that could be heard were the smooth jazz of the bar and the light pattering of rain outside.

Begin Case File #1: The Mysterious Disappearance of Miyuki Nishimura

Day 1: A Brewing Investigation

Wednesday

Late Afternoon

Nestled inside the busy city of Suruga, Holland International Academy prided itself as the best education one could give their children. With their motto of "We soar with pride and achieve the extraordinary", the student body was full of take-charge students and even the general atmosphere of the foreign school gave off the sense of regality and prestige.

As she finished the last bits of cleanup in the classroom, a lone girl wiped the sweat from her brow and then looked towards the window; her brow then furrowed as she ran a hand through her hair. Miharu Asashi, a third year of the academy, knew that this rain was unusual, even for the rainy season.

Her method of getting home aside, she knew that this amount was Susano'o's doing. He is the god of storms and they have been dealing with storm after storm so it only seems plausible. Unlike others in the city, Miharu could tell when it was just Mother Nature at work or if the divine had some part in it; after all, she was born into a family of shrine priests and priestesses who were entrusted to keep watch over the city and the local shrine.

"What good does he get making a storm out of this?" She said. "First he complains about me never visiting him enough, now he's making storms to directly prevent me. He just wants to complain about something, doesn't he?"

The classroom door then slid open with a loud bang, enough to startle the poor girl right out of her skin.

"MIHARUUUU!"

She knew that voice anywhere; she laid the broom against one of the walls and then placed her hands onto her hips as she turned to face the person at the doorway. "Noelle, what on earth are you doing? You know there's still clubs going on!"

Noelle Canary was another third year of the school and someone who also happened to be one of Miharu's closest friends. A transfer student from America, she was a take-charge type of girl who could be considered the living embodiment of the American stereotype.

She was good at sports, she had blonde hair and tan skin, she had a loud and unique voice, and she had a chest that earned her envious looks and googly eyes whenever she walked. All that she needed now was to be painted in red, white, and blue and pinning her on the side of a bomber plane.

"Oh come on Miharu, it's not like they can hear me." She said with a snort. "Barely any clubs do activities on this floor."

"You can just admit that you hate when the spotlight isn't on you." A tall male with dark brown hair said as he waltzed inside of the classroom. "Sheesh, you Americans can't live without making a scene."

Noelle then gritted her teeth and swung at the boy, who expertly dodged it. "Cram it Ryota! You're the one with a stick up your ass!"

Ryota Yukimura was Miharu's other close friend and also the complete opposite of Noelle. He didn't like to make unnecessary scenes and tended to do things at his own pace; he also has a habit of butting heads with Noelle just because of how different they were.

"I do not. You just tend to be too loud." He answered back. "Anyway, what's this "important" club business you need to drag me out of practice for?"

"Club business?" Miharu tilted her head.

"Yeah, club business!" Noelle said with a wide grin. "I know that this isn't an actual meeting but this is really important and I could find you guys so you can get an exclusive taste of the information I got!"

"You read information, dumbass." Ryota said with a snort.

"Anyway, I don't have time to deal with Ryota's mouth so come on, let's just go to the library so I can tell you guys!" Noelle said with a sense of urgency as she grabbed their wrists and tried to move forward but the two refused to budge.

"Noelle, what do you even want to talk about?" Miharu asked. "We can't just rush off without knowing."

"Ugh, fine! It's about the disappearance case! The one that's been all over the news!" Noelle answered as she puffed her cheeks out. "I'll tell more about it when we get the library, okay?"

The two knew that the longer they waited here, the more impatient Noelle would get so they decided to finally listen to her and walked to the school's library together.

[Location: Library]

The wooden doors of the school's library gave way and creaked open as the trio of students stepped inside. As they were walking, Noelle began telling them that she wanted to discuss the disappearance that had been all over the news for the past few days: the disappearance of Miyuki Nishimura.

Miyuki was a woman that everyone had their eyes on, fan and skeptic alike. She was a famous paranormal investigator known for doing the one thing that a "rational" person in this day and age would think is possible: Proving the existence of the supernatural.

Whenever she deducted that a case that was because of a paranormal force, it was something deemed irrational...up until Miyuki could produce results that could actually be replicated.

Whether it was a case no detective could solve, checking out an area that had been going through strange events, or finding out the cause of mysterious accidents, she could always somehow link a part of all of the case to the supernatural.

Miyuki was able to find ghost activity in a school in Hokkaido; she had photographs of bakanekos; she could even use her knowledge of the paranormal to help out cities work in sync with the youkai she found. It was a feat that earned her both praise and suspicion alike.

She has suddenly disappeared after hosting a live event in another city and once that had happened, the town has been going through constant storms.

"So Miyuki Nishimura went missing? I remember my mom was talking about it." Ryota then frowned. "Though why does this concern the club, other than the fact that she's the one who gave you inspiration?"

"Welll..." Noelle twiddled her fingers. "I was thinking that maybe we could be investigators ourselves and try and find Miyuki?"

"Noelle, we are not doing that." Both Miharu and Ryota said in unison.

"Come on guys! It's the best thing we could do! We could evolve from our small discoveries and actually do something big! It'll put us on the map, don't you guys want that?"

"Considering that we're a high school club and not a fancy organization, not really." Ryota said with a frown.

"Plus finding a missing person, especially someone as famous as Miyuki? Isn't that a job for the actual authorities?"

"Isn't your dad a cop?"

"That doesn't mean I suddenly know how to handle an investigation case!" Miharu then crossed her arms. "Plus how are we supposed to find them if the authorities haven't managed to find her yet?"

"Well, we do what Sherlock would do: Go back to the scene of the crime and look for any possible clues." Noelle then walked over to the computers and sat in one of the chairs. "Or in this case, read her blog posts. Even though we're still investigators, right?"

"Oh yeah, people did say that she made a blog post before she went to that live event." Ryota said, finger on his chin. "Maybe that would give us some clues."

"Ryo!" Miharu hissed. "I thought you didn't like attention! We should keep our noses out of this!"

"I know but she isn't going to stop unless we listen to her!"

"Aha!" Noelle's loud shout of triumph brought their gazes over to her. "Feast your eyes on this! While you guys were talking, I managed to find her latest blog post!"

Ryota and Miharu walked over to the computer and felt their jaws drop when their eyes read the title of the specific blog post. If their eyesight wasn't deceiving them, that blog post was talking about discovering a hidden world.

"She found a new world?" Ryota then narrowed his eyes. "That's too good to be true. I know she has a habit of finding paranormal causes but a whole new world? That's completely out of nowhere?"

"It wouldn't hurt it to read it, right?" Miharu asked, the sound of rain pouring down in the background. "Maybe we can find something."

Ryota looked at the two girls and sighed. "Fine. Canary, read it so we can, at least, see if she's bluffing or not."

"Sure, whatever you say." Noelle said as she clicked on the hotlink, taking her to the full page of the blog post itself. "Ahem. My dear investigators, I am writing about something that could completely change the way that humanity treats the supernatural. As we spend our days buried in technology and shedding off the ways of the past, we have ignored our youkai companions and failed to see what was right under our nose: The existence of a world full of youkai."

As the trio became absorbed into the article, they failed to realize that they were now being watched. In the darkness of the library, a pair of golden eyes stared at them from the corner, eyeing their every move as they kept reading.

I had originally taken on this project after I had come into contact with rumors about it. Lately, mental institutions have had cases of seemingly normal people who had disappeared, only for them to come back with claims that seem like they were taken straight from a children's book.

I went to Houraisan, I saw Togenkyo, A Devil of Scarlet, and much more...these were all claims made by people who disappeared and reappeared out of nowhere. While these claims were met with skepticism, I had a feeling that this situation was far too coincidental and decided to dig deeper.

After all, solving things related to the paranormal was my job and obviously, this had connections to it!

The eyes narrowed as the shadow of the room seemed to seep more and more throughout the library, the lights in the area slowly growing dimmer.

I had spent weeks researching this, using any lead that I could find and while most of my leads led me to dead ends, I had soon found the evidence that was crucial to my goal. This world apparently had a "barrier" that allowed itself to completely block itself from our world; this means that the people who made these claims were taken into the "world" by this barrier...however all barriers have holes and this one is no different.

It was soon revealed that the pair of eyes was not just eyes but rather merely part of a thing. It was almost humanoid and black as tar which only made the bright gold of its eyes stand out more; its hands were large and sharp enough to pierce a human skull, their eyes beady and fixed on the teens as if they were prey.

As the shadowy figure crept close, it had tipped over a small table, causing the lamp on it to fall over and shatter into pieces. Hearing the sound, Ryota turned his eyes away from the article and looked towards the direction of the crash. "Did you guys hear that? And why did the room suddenly get so dark?"

"It might be because of the storm." Noelle said. "I heard from my dad that lightning was going to happen tonight. Anyway, come on! We're almost at the end!"

"...I don't have a good feeling about this, Noelle." He said and turned back. "Finish this article and we're immediately leaving this place, got it?"

"Fine, fine." Her eyes then scanned the document. "Now where was I...Aha!"

Now that I was aware that this barrier had holes of its own, I soon wanted to learn about why these people were transported and how so. As I looked into the profiles of each of the missing people, I noticed that they were all people with lives so average and dull that the world won't necessarily miss them if they had suddenly vanished without a trace.

Could this mean that people would have to willingly make themselves disappear in order to see and interact with this barrier? And once a person entered this world, what were the risks and how could they survive? What about those who didn't survive?

I had taken all of this into account and soon, with a little of elbow grease, I had finally done it: I had finally found the most foolproof method to enter this world without fail...and that is what I will reveal to you at the live event.

While I am excited to show this often to the public, this is information that should be handled carefully compared to my other cases. As much as I want to reveal the full details here, I will have to start off small...for who knows what could happen if I revealed too much too soon.

Once close enough, the figure raised one of its hands with the intent of taking all three of their heads in one strike. At that moment, feeling a disturbance, Miharu had slowly moved her gaze from the screen...

CRASH!

There was a particularly nasty crash of lightning all of the sudden, just when Noelle had finished that sentence. It was loud and instant, like a gunshot that had made their ears pop, as the entire library was bathed in blue light.

The three students stayed wide-eyed and frozen, not because of the sudden lightning but because of the shadow of a ghastly monster that was suddenly cast in front of them; even Miharu with her head slightly tilted away managed to catch a glimpse of the beast. They didn't dare move, merely staring at the shadow with trembling fingers as they felt those golden eyes burning holes right into their soul. Soon, the shadowy form then broke apart and disappeared into nothingness.

As the lights inside flickered on and off, Ryota swallowed a shaky breath and then suddenly grabbed both Noelle and Miharu's hands. "Alright, that's it. We're leaving now."

"Bu-But wait! We need to shut off the computer!"

"Noelle, you saw the same thing that I did! We are leaving now! Someone else can worry about that!"

The three then hurried along, quickly sprinting out of the library and slamming the doors shut so whatever they saw wouldn't be able to follow their tracks. After seeing that thing and the storm intensified, they should take the hint and hurry on home.

And so, this was the conclusion of their final average day in the city of Suruga. As three members of the Paranormal Research Club hurried home, this would be the last day that their lives would be unchanged and without danger.

Now that they had decided to dig into the mysterious case of Miyuki Nishimura, no one could be considered safe.