"Nana!"

The six of us gathered around Nana as we tried to wake her up. I shook her shoulders and called her name countless times, but she wasn’t responding.

"Nana, please wake up!"

"What’s happening to her?" Miki asked.

"I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling about this…"

Nagisa got up and walked towards the door. “I’m going to get Yuko and Ayaka. Maybe they can help.”

"Okay. Hurry back."

She nodded and started running down the hall. I heard a small groan from Nana and turned back to her.

"Nana-chan, can you hear us?"

"Naachan!"

"Wait, I think I saw her move."

"Give her some air…" We all back away a bit as we watched Nana slowly open her eyes.

"Nana..!"

"Thank goodness."

She slowly pushed herself up and her head faced the ground, her hair still covering her face.

“Are you okay?”

When she looked up and our eyes met, I felt something was wrong. Her eyes looked different. They were darker than normal, pitch black. It’s like they were looking straight through me.

“N-Nana..?”

She crawled closer to me, still looking at my eyes, until my back touched the wall and her face was really close. I closed my eyes, not knowing what was going to happen next…

And then, I felt her…

Sniff me?

Yes, she was sniffing me, from the top of my head, to my neck, both my hands. It was honestly, kind of strange, and incredibly awkward.

“N-Nana, stop!” I said as I pushed her away a bit.

After staring at me for a while, she smiled and came closer, rubbing her head against my chest. I could hear a small sound coming out of her.

Is she… purring?

“Aw~ that’s so cute!” Mio said. “She’s acting like a cat!”

“A cat?” I looked down and saw her pawing at my shirt. “But, why is she?”

“Beats me.”

Meru walked up and knelt down.

“Nana, shake,” She said, holding out her hand. When Nana saw it, she smiled and placed her hand in Meru’s palm. “Ah kawaii~ Shake again.”

Nana took her hand and shook Meru’s other palm, letting out a small meow.

“That’s too adorable~~~”

“But still… this is strange.” Ryouha walked over and looked in Nana’s eyes. “How come she suddenly started acting like this?”

“What are you saying, Ryouha-tan?”

“Do you think it’s an effect from a Chaos gem?”

“No. If it was, my gem would’ve reacted. All of ours would.”

Ah, that’s right. When I was on stage last week, my ring was pulsing like crazy. It was because there was so much dark energy from the Chaos gems.

“So, if it’s not that….then, what happened to Nana?”

As Miki got closer, Nana started crawling towards her and hugged her, rubbing her cheek against Miki’s.

“N-Nana!”

The cat-possessed girl smiled and Miki’s cheek shortly.

“OH MY GOD, SHE ME!!!” Miki said, freaking out. Nana hugged her more and the two fell to the ground.

“Guys, I’m back!” Nagisa walked in with Yuko and Ayaka. “Is Nana alr—?”

When they saw the current situation, they were pretty much speechless. Ayaka chuckled a bit silently, while Yuko kept looking back to me and Nana.

“Uh… what happened?” Nagisa said.

“Nana woke up, and she started acting like…that.”

“GET HER OFF ME!!” Miki said as she tried to get Nana off.

Yuko walked over. “Nana~, are you okay?”

Nana sniffed her hand and hissed at her, making her jump back. She seemed to start panicking, looking around the room rapidly and walking to the other side of the room.

Her meowing grew more, and became louder. She started scratching the wall as if there was something after her.

“What’s going on now?”

“I think it’s because me and Yuko entered the room. Our auras are different and they’re affecting her.”

“So, what do we do?”

“Leave it to me.”

Ayaka walked up to Nana and patted her head. After she calmed the girl down, she kept caressing her head and started talking to her.

I couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying, but it seemed to be calming her down.

Eventually, Nana fell asleep in the kitsune’s embrace. Ayaka smiled and laid her down on the couch.

“What did you do?”

“I just had to calm the spirit possessing her so it’d be easier to remove.”

She took out what looked like a *paintbrush and murmured a few chants before drawing out a pentagram over Nana.

She took in a deep breath, and…

“Ha!” When she waved it over the star pentagram, a small orb of light floated out of Nana’s chest and changed form.

It turned into a cat and crawled around Ayaka’s shoulders, purring as she petted her head.

“Time for you to go.”

The cat jumped off her shoulder and walked off, disappearing into the wall.

“So… that cat was possessing Nana?”

“Yup. Must’ve stuck onto her somehow.”

“That’s amazing, Ayaka! No wonder you’re an onmyouji!”

The kitsune smiled before walking out of the room. She turned to Yuko and said, “I’ve got some work to take care of. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Gotcha!”

Since Nana was asleep, Yuko decided to wait with us for her to wake up.

After about ten minutes, Nana finally started to stir and got up from the couch, holding her head.

“Naachan!” We all walked over to her to make sure she was okay.

“Mm, what happened..? My head hurts…”

“Nana, are you feeling better?”

“Are you not a cat anymore?”

“Eh? A cat?”

“Un! You were acting like a cat!”

Nana looked at all of us, and when she realized what happened, she held her head. “Oh no… Not again!”

“Again?”

“This has happened before?”

“Well, not specifically with the ghost of a cat, but… Yes, this has happened to me before.”

“Eh?!” All of us harmonized as we came a bit closer to her.

“Why?”

“Ever since I was young, I had this… sixth sense. The ability to sense spirits and see things others couldn’t. When I was a child, I used to think it was just my imagination. But, it never went away. I eventually told my parents after starting middle school, because I thought I had gone crazy.”

“What did they say?”

“Surprisingly, they weren’t freaked out. They understood me and helped me at that time. It’s always been like that, so I had to live on with it.”

“So, you can see ghosts?” Mio asked.

“Does that mean you can talk to the dead?” Meru panickly hid behind the older girl.

“Sometimes.”

“Is that why you started feeling bad during practice last week?” Ryouha said, sitting beside her.

“Yes, but, I didn’t sense a ghost. I could sense dark aura. And it was really strong, so it overwhelmed me.”

I then thought of something and asked, “Could it be… you could sense our auras, too?”

“Yes. When I first met you and Miki, I could see the auras surrounding you. I knew there was something special about you, but I didn’t know what.”

“What was my aura like?” Miki said, coming forward.

Nana smiled. “Just like your personality. Bright and loud.”

“Bright and loud… Awesome!”

“And me?”

“Hm…” Nana took a long look at me. “Your aura says a lot about you. You’re kindhearted, caring, helpful, and hard-working. You’re a determined girl who doesn’t give up easily, and you love a lot of things.”

“Woah…” All of them looked at me, and I blushed a bit.

“Guys, stop staring! It’s kinda embarrassing…”

Just then, the door opened and Ayaka walked in. There was another young woman behind her I didn’t recognize. I don’t think she was a member of the staff or works as a singer.

I wonder who she is…

“Ah, Umechan. Is that our new client?”

“Yup.”

“Client?”

“Hai.” The girl stepped forward and bowed in front of us. “My name is Iwatate Saho, 16 years old.”

“Iwatate Saho?” Miki walked towards the girl and her eyes widened. “No way, Saho, is that you?!”

“Eh?”

“Miki-chan, do you know her?”

“Wait, Miki? As in Nishino Miki?!”

“Yeah!”

“Oh my God!”

The two screamed happily and hugged each other. I guess they were good friends…

“Holy cow, Saho! It’s been ages!”

“12 years, right?”

“Has it really? It feels like a lot longer!”

“Oh, you…”

The two just laughed as they caught up with each other. Apparently, Saho and Miki were in the same kindergarten and were close friends, but Saho’s dad got a job away from Tokyo and had to move.

There was also an accident years ago where another one of their friends was hit by a car and killed, and it really effected them. Especially since she was only 4 when she died.

Anyways, her dad got a new job in Tokyo, so she got to move back.

“So, what’s this about Saho being a client?”

“Well, our agency wasn’t made just for running idols.”

“Eh?”

“There are people who will need our help with ‘special’ cases, and we help them.”

Ayaka walked up and whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry. When we use our powers, we always erase their memories afterwords.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Alright, Iwatate-san, sit down.” Yuko escorted her to a seat and all of us gathered around her. “So, what can we help you with?”

“Well, it’s about this house next door to me. After I moved in and I first saw the house, I thought no one lived in it, but then the first night I stayed, I thought I saw a child in one of the rooms.”

“A g-g-g-ghost?!” Miki quickly hid behind me, shaking.

“I wanted to make sure of what I saw, so one day, I went over to the place. Just like I thought, there was no one there. But the whole time I was inside, I kept hearing a child’s laughter and running footsteps.”

“Was she trying to get your attention somehow?”

“Maybe. I think I actually heard someone call my name. I thought it was my mom, but she was outside, while the voice was coming from inside.”

“This definitely means the ghost knows you.”

“What do you think we should do?”

“I think we need to go over there and try to figure out who that ghost is. If we can figure that out, maybe we can reason with her and try to get her out.”

“What do I need to do?”

“That’s easy. Since the ghost seems to know who you are, you should be able to talk to it and reason with it.”

“Hey, Mako-chan, Miki-chan, why don’t you two come?”

“Eh?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Miki and I are friends after all.”

The two of us smiled widely and stood up. “Thanks!”

“Ah, wait, can Nana-chan come, too?”

“Eh? ..N-Nana?”

Nana walked forward and bowed in front of the girl. “That’s me. I’m Okada Nana.”

“Okada… Oh…”

“What?”

“Uh, it’s nothing. It’s just… the girl who died…”

Miki’s smiled disappeared. “Oh, yeah… Her name was Nana, too…”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Aoki Nana.”

“Woah… I-I’m so sorry, you two.”

“No, it’s okay, Nana-chan. Don’t worry about it.”

“But…”

“Come on, you guys. Let’s go.”

“Right.”

…..

We arrived at the house and saw it was rundown for a really long time. There’s no way someone could live in it the way it is.

"This is the place."

"This is where you used to live before moving, right?"

"Yeah."

Nana crossed her arms as she looked around the open yard. “Did the two of you use to play here with Nana?”

"Yeah…"

As we walked through, Nana suddenly shivered and rubbed her arms a bit.

"What’s wrong?"

"Oh, right, Saho-chan, Ayaka-san, we didn’t tell you. Nana can sense ghosts."

"Eh?!"

"So that’s why you wanted to let her come here."

"Saho-chan! Miki-chan!"

Nana turned around as she heard a little girl’s voice.

"Did you hear the ghost?!"

"Kowai~" Miki hugged Saho as Nana turned back around, still rubbing her arms even though it was summer.

"It’s definitely a girl… And she knows both you AND Miki."

"EH?! Me too?! Why~?"

"Guys, let’s just go in there and see if we can find the ghost."

We all slowly walked into the house and split into groups. Ayaka, Yuko, and Nana went upstairs, because Saho said she heard stomping coming from the upper level once.

Me, Miki, and Saho stayed downstairs and looked around the living room. It was huge, like a kid’s playroom, and everything was covered in dust.

"Wow. This all happened over 12 years?"

"No one’s lived in this place forever."

We looked around and saw some pieces of paper and crayons on the ground.

“What the—?”

“Oh my god… I can’t believe no one touched these…” Saho picked them up and showed pictures that they all drew back when they were young. “These are so nostalgic~.”

“Dear Lord, I was a terrible drawer back then.”

“Hahaha!”

I looked and saw one of them was three girls, all smiling and holding hands.

“What was Nana like?”

“She was… always smiling. She loved playing and having fun.”

“She was so innocent and ignorant with everything.”

“I bet she doesn’t even know she died…”

…..

Ayaka and Yuko walked down the hallway to search one of the rooms.

“Nana, stay here while we look down this way.”

“Just call us if you find something, okay?”

“Okay.”

The two of them walked into one of the rooms while Nana looked around and found a door. She opened it slightly and felt a cold chill as she entered the room.

It looked like it belonged to a small child, with dolls and toys scattering the floor.

She walked towards one of the dressers and saw a picture of a little girl, wearing a pink dress with pigtails in her hair. Beside it was a tiny pair of pink shoes, dusty and dirty.

“Are these… Nana’s?”

She felt another chill and felt as if something was telling her what to do. She suddenly wanted to touch the shoes, and she didn’t know why.

Her hand moved on its own and she picked them up gently.

“..!”

…..

A few minutes as we were looking through the living room, we heard some footsteps coming this way. Miki got scared and quickly hid behind me and Saho.

“Is that the g-g-g-ghost?!”

We saw Nana slowly walk in, staring at the ground.

“Oh, it’s just you, Nana.”

“Mou~ that scared me!”

“Hey, come here, Nana-chan. We found some drawings that we used to draw with Nana.” She picked up another sheet of paper, and made a confused expression. “Are? This one isn’t finished.”

“Eh? Why?”

“I don’t kn—ah!” She was suddenly cut off when Nana suddenly hugged her from behind and clinged onto her back.

“Saho-chan! Saho-chan!”

“Wha-? Hey, what are you doing?!”

“Nana, what’s gotten into you?”

Nana stepped down and looked at me, tilting her head a bit.

Again, I saw a change in her eyes. It was different from the last time I saw them, they were…

“N-Nana?”

“Who are you?”

“Eh?”

=====================

Footnotes

*1. Makai(Magic) Brush - A special paintbrush-like object many alchemists and onmyouji used in ancient times to perform spells.