I'm still alive!

So, I posted a little one-shot with an explanation for my little unannounced hiatus. But either it was worse than I thought, or way too niche because it didn't get much attention from you guys (not a complaint, just what I noted using the stats function). So just a summary, I was in a car accident and the jackass who hit me made it her life's mission to make it as difficult as possible to handle the aftermath. I'm talking trying to flee the scene, blatantly lying in her report, leaving town and refusing to answer paper mail, emails, or calls from her insurance company, the works.

And for the record, she was so crazy, the investigation rightfully determined she was 100% at fault for the crash (which hardly ever happens) even AFTER she hit me from behind and told the police I crashed into her (which really, never happens). So in a way, I'm lucky she's batshit. Bright side, bright side.

So yeah, besides that, my little sisters were in the back seat and I had a really hard time sleeping for a while after that. I would just keep circling back to how many ways we could've died. It was too hard to write for the same reason, writing gives me too much time to think.

But I'm doing better now! My car is being repaired, I'm back in school, and the hiatus has lifted!

Thank you all so much for your patience, I'll get back on schedule and you definitely won't wait as long for the next one.

It could because this is chapter 12 or because I left for so long, but you guys were a lot more vocal this time around with your feedback. I welcome criticism and would like to address some of it at the end of this chapter, just by the way.

Please enjoy!

"You know, you didn't have to stay up with me, Mrs. Morishita." Harry murmured, pen tracing absently across his notebook as he sketched out runes. Angles and shapes in nonsensical patterns lined his paper, the only entertainment Harry indulged in while staying on task.

"I was going to stay up anyway, so I may as well know what's going on," She sniffed irritably, the faintest shadows peeking from the concealer under her eyes. "I don't know how Noriko can go to sleep after what just happened."

"She's probably just tired, she was lucky that shelf didn't seriously hurt her." Though she had gone to bed with hardly a headache, there was no doubt Noriko would wake up with a colorful array of bruises come morning. Just like everything else in the Morishitas' home, their furniture was of clearly expensive make and quality, and therefore quite heavy.

"I suppose, but she didn't even want to turn off the gas after a fire in the kitchen. Are we just going to hope it doesn't happen again?"

It seems that Kana grew chattier as the night wore on, Harry held in a sigh. "That probably wouldn't help anyway, the fire wasn't natural. Besides, this ghost hasn't done anything twice. I wouldn't worry too much about fire again."

Kana arched an eyebrow, skeptical to the last. Thankfully she simply leaned forward to snatch another shortbread cookie from the platter, how she could look irritable while eating a cookie was beyond Harry.

Harry indulged in another cookie himself and went back to his notebook, laying down another runic alphabet. Wandering runebinds sat like bookends on either side, and the pages looked like gibberish even to Harry. He couldn't think of another glyph that might affect the woman spirit, she was too tied down.

Would an Othila rune help? Perhaps something more akin to classical protective wards, aimed toward home and family, might protect the Morishitas? Or would it backfire and merely strengthen the woman's hold? She was old enough that she might be too integrated into the home for a simple glyph to discern.

Perhaps with Berkanan to provide an interest in growing things it would at least favor Ayami...Too risky, at best both protections and attacks would strengthen and at worst the woman would be near impossible to exorcise. Not that she wasn't proving to be formidable regardless, prayers and rituals weren't doing a thing right now.

"Does this happen often?" Kana casually gestured to where the woman's spirit stood rigidly in place. She was visible only as a dangerous jolt of power across his glyph, but Kana still didn't look over to that side of the room.

"What?"

"This whole haunting thing, do many families wind up like this or is it just…" She looked like she badly wanted to squirm, "Was there some way to avoid this?"

Harry set his pen down, regarding Kana. "How could you have known beforehand this house was haunted?" He wondered.

Kana's thin brows were slowly furrowing and her lips were pursed again. "You really think it was just bad luck? People just accidentally wind up in houses full of dead children? Just so happen to have dolls like Minnie laying around?"

"What do you mean? What's wrong with Minnie?" Hadn't Shibuya mentioned the doll earlier as well? Harry couldn't resist craning his neck to check the doorway, just to be sure it hadn't somehow made its way downstairs again.

"That awful doll...Don't tell me you haven't noticed how creepy it is. Ayami won't go anywhere without it no matter what I do and she's only gotten more attached over time. I don't care what Noriko says, Ayami is too old to be that interested in imaginary friends, either. She skipped going to a friend's birthday party because I wouldn't let her take a china doll to the lake!"

Kana got very chatty when she was tired, or maybe it was stress boiling over? Harry blinked as the normally closed off woman grew pink in the cheeks with the passion of her tirade.

"So you think it might be haunted too? Because she's too attached?"

"No, I think it's haunted because no matter how many times I toss in the washer or leave it at the park, it keeps coming back," Kana said, manicured nails digging into her skirt. "Back in my purse, back on the counter, back in Ayami's bed- I haven't told Noriko because she'd tell my husband I tried getting rid of his gift in a heartbeat, but a normal doll would've been gone weeks ago."

Harry glances at the doorway again, down at the floor. Haunted objects weren't anything new, but goosebumps crawled up his skin as he could almost feel the weight of Minnie's stare bearing down on him.

What he could see of the floor was clear, the hallway was quiet and empty, the doll was probably tucked away with Ayami in Noriko's bedroom.

He turned back to Noriko, "And you haven't told Shibuya either?"

She shook her head.

"Okay, would you mind if I told him? We could watch Minnie separately, keep it away from Ayami." It would help him as well, knowing where the doll was at all times. He didn't know why the woman spirit would bother with a doll, but it if even Shibuya wanted more information on it, the eeriness of it wasn't only in Harry's head.

"Do you feel that?" Kana sounded frightened.

Harry snapped to attention, checking over his glyph even as he searched the room for any danger. "What's wrong?"

The children were freely roaming, too strong for the woman to grasp onto. He began to relax, turned to ask Kana what she was feeling when he noticed it himself.

The woman spirit remained ramrod still, she never moved from her place in the sitting room. Unyielding as stone in her malevolence, but something had shifted. Her power wasn't collecting the children into a broad hammer, but inking in faint waves spreading throughout the room. So weak and still she was baying for blood.

The woman on her own couldn't attack, shake the furniture, grasp onto them and dig her fingers in, but it was enough to chill the room by four dozen degrees.

The living room was transformed into a deep freezer, it burned his skin after the heat of the Japanese summer night just outside, it was so unnatural he recoiled.

Harry clamped onto Kana's arm, already cool to the touch. He sucked in a dry, icy breath and abandoned his notebook to retreat from the room carefully. The chill deepened, the shadows of the room stretched to lap at their frigid heels as shivers worked themselves up his back.

"You said she was too weak-" Kana hissed, panicked and shuddering against his side as he led them straight to the SPR's headquarters.

The door flew open before he could reach it, Shibuya nearly crashed into them in his haste, skidding to a stop at the last moment.

"You two- the sitting room just dropped forty degrees, what happened?" He demanded, backing up only enough to let them inside before shutting the door behind them.

Harry let go of Kana, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to get blood back into his fingertips. It was immediately warmer outside the sitting room, but he felt chilled to the bone. His body was reacting as though he'd been in an icebox for five minutes rather than ten seconds. Kana was feeling similarly, it seemed, for she was shivering fiercely and remained crowded near Harry.

"Well?"

"It was the woman, this is all she can do on her own. The children are untouched." Harry explained, rubbing his arms roughly as the chatter eased from his teeth.

"She can attack us without the other ghosts now?" Kana looked fit for murder, could she actually be shaking with rage?

"What reason would the woman spirit have to waste more energy like that? You both didn't have any trouble escaping." Shibuya said, disregarding his client in favor of glancing at the wall of monitors.

Harry followed his gaze, the thermal display for the sitting room was awash in deep azure blue that only seemed to darken with each passing minute. He was disturbed to note that it was at its most concentrated at the couch, directly where he and Kana had been sitting.

"What reason have any of these ghosts attacked?" Kana broke away from Harry to loom over Shibuya, eyes lit with anger and fear, "You have no idea why this is happening, not from the start! What if there is no reason? What if this is just a house full of ghosts that hate us? It's been chaos here from the very first day and for what? I don't even like this neighborhood!"

Harry felt as though he'd been struck by lightning, felt like an utter moron. "That's it, chaos!"

Shibuya arched a brow, Kana whirled on him, ready to bite his head off next.

"The spirit is at her most powerful when she's using conduits like the children and the doll- I can disrupt her influence with chaos!" Harry rushed to explain, mind abuzz with his runic breakthrough.

"Mrs. Morishita and I had been talking about Minnie the doll just now, I think the woman is using it as a physical puppet for herself. We need to separate Ayami from it anyway, I'll go get it and see if I can use a chaos glyph on it!"

Shibuya's eyes lit up, "What were you talking about?" But Harry was already out the door and taking the stairs two steps at a time.

He didn't bother switching on the hallway light, darting into his room to pick up his satchel. He threw the strap over his shoulder and went down the opposite side of the hallway until he stood before Noriko's door. His speed left him abruptly, the air dropped from his sails.

He didn't want to go in uninvited, but if he knocked he'd wake Ayami up for certain.

Harry chewed on a lip, warring over his urgency and his desire to not be socked in the face.

Could he get Kana to do it? But what if Ayami woke up? Their relationship is already so rocky...Mai, maybe? But then he'd need to go wake her up first….

"Oh!" Harry breathed, remembering the dig of wood in his back pocket. He plucked his wand out and sucked in a steadying breath. Honestly, he could hear Ron grinding his teeth in frustration all the way across the globe. Was he a wizard, or not?

Placing a slow, guilty hand on the knob, Harry gave it a soft turn until he heard the whispering click and carefully cracked the door open.

With the lights out, he couldn't see anything and could only listen for rustling and any interrupted snore. Noriko and Ayami hadn't reacted as the door creaked open, they were still asleep. It was very late.

Harry raised his wand in the darkness, let the tip waver just beyond the confines of the bedroom. "Accio Minnie!" He hissed, and briefly, his wand lit up and filled the room in its soft orange glow.

Just as the light died away completely, a dark shape rocketed toward his head from the blackest depths of the room. With only the faintest embers of the spell to illuminate the doll, Minnie looked demonic. A blur of shadow and tinted light and perhaps even supernatural malice cast her face into a twisting snarl, flat green eyes blazing with hatred, too many teeth bared and glinting, she looked like a feverish nightmare so distorted were her features.

Her smooth china hands were curled into sharp claws outstretched and aiming straight for his eyes as the last of the light went out and she returned to a barely visible rush of darkness hurtling ever closer.

With a barely audible curse, Harry twisted and caught the doll from the side like a rugby ball. His heart thudded hard in his chest as his cheek stung from where the silk of her dress had brushed by like razor wire.

It was a mistake to have done this alone in the dark, but Harry gripped Minnie tight and raced down the stairs, praying that the yanking struggle he felt from the doll was only gravity bouncing it along each step, even when it didn't always align perfectly with his movements.

"You have the doll?" Shibuya barked upon his return, bright blue eyes zeroing in on the doll crumpled in his grasp.

Harry tossed it into a chair, glad to stop touching it at last. It looked perfectly normal, if not unfriendly now under the steady overhead lights keeping shadows at bay.

"Why did you bring it here?" If not for how smoothly Kana moved, Harry would've said she scrambled away from the chair and into the opposite corner of the room. "Shibuya was just saying that the ghost was trying to shut me up about it, and you brought it closer?"

"My runes, I think I can make it harder for the woman to control," Harry said, digging into his satchel for the rune glyph he was constructing in his mind's eye.

Thurisaz, the chaos rune for the center. It was a difficult rune to bend into a glyph, charged with an infectious sort of rage that often destabilized other runes, but he could manage it.

Hagalaz, the disruption rune was next. Easier to work with and perfect for making sure the woman spirit couldn't use the chaos rune to her own advantage. Controlling so many spirits takes concentration and an unbreakable foundation, neither would be possible now.

The last rune...perhaps Uruz the strength rune. It wasn't spiritually inclined, but it would amplify the chaotic specialty without necessitating Harry risk the glyph's stability further by adding a second Thurisaz.

Plucking the tiles from his satchel, Harry walked past the wide-eyed Kana and came to a halt before the chair Minnie was slumped in.

"Is it okay if I leave her here for the rest of the investigation? You can move the chair, but since I'm using tiles, the doll can't be repositioned. Any shifting might destabilize the glyph."

Shibuya took a moment, silently mulling over something, his lips twisted. Finally, he nodded, "Go ahead."
Harry straightened Minnie out flat on the seat of the chair, golden hair fanning out beneath her in tangle-free curls despite the rough handling. He placed the three tiles on her chest and fed them his magic. Charged as they were, he only needed to guide them into place with a touch of his palm as their power came crackling to life, snapping into proper formation.

The chaos of the glyph had it spitting like oil on a pan, searing sparks across his hands as he smoothed over the connection, stabilizing the glyph into something powerful, but less volatile. It was easier with imbued tiles, he wasn't looking forward to the resistance he'd get using paper next.

Once the glyph was set and thrumming steadily, he dropped his hand and checked his detection glyph. The children were dispersed, the woman was pale with the exhaustion of her efforts, but nothing else had changed.

He turned to check the monitors as well, the thermal camera of the sitting room remained firmly sapphire toned, though perhaps the edges of the room were lightening up.

"What did that do?" Kana broke in, closer now than she had been before. Lin had also finally turned around in his seat, typing ceasing for only a moment as his eyes traced over the disrupted doll.

"This glyph is for disruption and chaos, she can't use it with the help of the children spirits, it would break her focus. If it was possessed before, it's still possessed, but I doubt it'll go anywhere now." Harry answered, satisfaction curling in his chest as he took in his own work.

The doll was creepy still, there was no denying it. But was it only his ego or was there less cruelty in the painted lines of its porcelain face?

"That's what I was speaking to Mrs. Morishita about while you were away. I don't think it was a coincidence that the temperature plummeted as it did while you were discussing Minnie." Shibuya announced, "We have evidence to suggest the woman spirit is using it to get close to Ayami. Mai will have more details in the morning, but for now, I want Ayami separated from the doll."

Harry shivered, the woman must really be getting desperate to try shutting them up so aggressively. What was so important about Minnie in particular that she'd waste even more energy to protect the doll? Just how dangerous was Minnie to Ayami?

"What were to happen if you used this glyph in the sitting room as well? Would this impede the spirit?" Shibuya asked next, fearlessly brushing past him to lean over the chair for a better look at his work.

"It might not," He admitted, for he had no idea why the woman stayed where she was. Was it a possessed object? A body buried underneath the floorboards? The dead center of the house as it was many generations and remodels ago? "But I'll give it a shot."

Shibuya nodded sharply and straightened out, hawkish gaze scanning the room. "Right. Lin, keep a lookout with the cameras. Mrs. Morishita, stay here."

Harry watched Shibuya make his way to the door with some confusion, "Will you be following me?" Shibuya wasn't a spiritualist, right?

"Yes," He said shortly, turning for the door as though he would be the one creating a glyph.

Harry snatched his satchel and caught up with his surly employer, "You know I can protect myself," He whispered out of the corner of his mouth. He'd already used his magic to protect himself from the kitchen fire, Shibuya should know he was capable.

"Don't waste time arguing," Shibuya didn't spare him a glance as they reached the living room.

The bone-deep chill came back with a vengeance and robbed him of his reply, sinking its fangs deep into his spine and sucking the air from his lungs. Harry wrapped his arms around himself, feeling more like he was stepping out onto a sheet of ice in the arctic rather than a plush rug in a family home.

His only consolation was seeing the discomfort sweep across Shibuya's face as his skin erupted into goosebumps. Should've thought of the cold before insisting he tags along.

Childishness aside, he checked on his glyph as they reached the abandoned couch, his notebook lay forgotten and a few shortbread cookies were scattered across the coffee table from Harry and Kana's mad dash to escape the supernatural activity. Everything remained as it was, the woman was weak and statuesque, almost harmless if it weren't for the freezer she'd created from the Morishitas' home.

Shibuya stood by the couch, a sentry as Harry gathered up his notebook and found his pen. He turned on his heel and faced the spot where the woman stood, the exact placement only he could sense.

The woman was less a person and more a discarded shard of unfiltered rage and ill-intent, he really didn't want to put himself in her space. He'd need to get close enough to touch and would be distracted while he made the runes stick, that was vulnerable even for him.

The silence dragged on as Shibuya seemed content to watch him flounder, gathering up his courage and gearing himself up for a major display of trust.

Now he felt like a bit of an arse for getting irritated with Shibuya's babysitting, he was really going to depend on Shibuya spotting danger while he was focused on his craft.

Letting out a breath that fogged in his face, Harry finally crept closer to where the woman stood. Hair on end, he stood nose to nose with the ghost he couldn't see with his own eyes but could sense as she remains exactly where she was unflinching. The last time he was this close to a ghost, she blasted him into a table and almost killed John.

Stressing himself like this wasn't going to help though, he needed to do his job. So, slowly, he knelt to the floor and got to work.

Thurisaz first, he pressed his pen against his notebook and inked the rune in the lower middle of the paper, large and bold.

"The Thorn is sorely sharp for any thane

Hurtful to hold

Uncommonly severe

To every man who lies among them."

He whispered the runic poem to himself as he pressed magic into the shape he'd created. More a wish than a spell, but it gave his magic the direction it needed to bring the unruly rune to life.

Next was Hagalaz, he placed it in the upper left of the page, just as large as the first.

"Hail is the whitest of grain

Whirled from heaven's height,

The wind hurls it in showers

Into water then it turns."

Finally, his strength rune Uruz. He drew it in the upper right of the page.

"The Aurochs is fearless and huge of horn

A ferocious beast, it fights with its horns

A famous moor-stalker that:

A mettlesome wight."

They were all individually powered now, humming low in his ears and practically dancing off the page in their chaotic energy. The paper felt white-hot now against his numb fingers and he clumsily dropped it on the floor directly under the spirit lighting up his detection glyph.

Now for the hard part.

He turned to check on Shibuya before he devoted his concentration to linking the runes into the triad he wanted, his employer was far too quiet.

Shibuya's cheeks were chapped pink with the cold and his jaw was trembling minutely from where his teeth may be chattering, but he appeared unmoved besides, eyes constantly scanning the room for further activity. It was safe to continue, for all that it was so cold Harry could feel his joints locking up in his crouch.

Harry looked back down at his paper and began pulling at the magic, letting it fizzle and spark uncontrollably as he began slowly linking them together. The Thurisaz was the worst by far, overwhelming and unforgiving of any misstep. He was moving at painstaking speeds, sluggishly smoothing it over and over, using the similar nature of his chaos rune and disruption rune to encourage a connection.

Reminiscent of his past experiences mastering runology, by the time he moved on to the third rune, Uruz, pink burns and irritations littered his hands and arms. His teeth were chattering loudly now and he couldn't feel his face or extremities, but he was almost done.

Linking the Uruz was less frustrating, but it was much more explosive as the combined disruption and chaos came in contact with an amplifying factor. In the deathly quiet of the room, the crackling of magic sounded like thunder in his ears, and send cascades of sparks across the floor when it didn't strike his skin.

With a final shower of bright fireworks, the glyph clicked into place and flashed briefly with the chaotic power now simmering within the confines of the glyph. A circle of lightning trapped in place with pen ink and notepaper.

Harry slumped tiredly, finally, finally pulling his hands away so he could stuff them under his arms in a bid to save them from frostbite. He'd say his whole body ached, but he would have to feel it for that to be the case. As it was, any part of him sheltered enough from the unnaturally low temperatures seared more painfully than the actual burns did.

"Are you done?" Shibuya demanded, impatience clipping his tone even shorter than it usually was.

Harry nodded, the glyph was complete.

But would it work? Harry checked on his detection glyph to see if the woman's presence had dispersed at all.

To his sinking disappointment, she was only as faded as she'd been the last time he'd checked. Stationary as always, as united with the house as any support beam. The glyph wasn't touching whatever served as her source, even with the power he'd imbued it couldn't reach her.

"It didn't wor-" Harry began, but all at once, a battering force of wailing cut him off, rushed him from all sides and filled every corner of the room.

High pitched, gut-wrenching sobs, piercing shrieks, incomprehensible cries blasted through the house, coming from the walls and ceilings as though the very foundation was in agony. It drowned out his words, raising and dropping in volume at random without losing intensity. None of it was human.

Harry jolted away from where the woman stood, checking his glyph. How could she possibly still have the energy for this? The chaos glyph couldn't have strengthened her hold on the children for power, this wasn't possible- where had he screwed up?

The answer he received was worse than he could've imagined. His mouth clicked shut in shock, his heart clenched with horror as he realized what he was listening to.

"Get up!" Shibuya was suddenly right in his face, expression thunderous. "What happened? We need to go to headquarters!"

Harry moved to straighten out, "It's the children!" Only for his joints to remain locked firmly in place even as the rest of him moved. Without even the dignity of wavering, he flopped directly onto his face, scraping his nose against the wooden floors.

"Potter!" Was it alarm or anger that made him sound so ferocious? Either way, hands even icier than the floor wrapped themselves around his shoulders and yanked him back upright.

"'M fine, I'm fine. Calm down," Harry told narrowed blue eyes over the unearthly crying, a little too close to his face.

And he was, it didn't even hurt all that much. The cold had just locked his hip into place like it might a man three times his age.

Shibuya didn't bother speaking with him again, nor did he attempt to settle him on his feet. The teenager threw one of Harry's arms across his shoulders and dragged him out of the room at an impressive pace. It hurt his arms and he felt like an abused ragdoll with his legs trailing behind him, but he couldn't complain when that was the only reason he was upright at all.

Humiliated, he let Shibuya carry him out of the awful sitting room and down the hallway. Toes scraping against the hardwood, shoulder wrenched above his head, and whole body thumping gracelessly against Shibuya with every stride. As close as he was, he could even hear the chatter of Shibuya's teeth from inside his closed mouth.

Of course, because Harry hadn't been punished enough for working in the cold without stretching first, Matsuzaki and Monk were wide awake on the other end of the hallway and staring at him plastered against their employer.

At least they had clearly just gotten out of bed, from Monk's outrageously messy bedhead to Matsuzaki's rumpled sweats. Harry would've looked much more composed by comparison was he not scrambling for purchase at Shibuya's bony shoulders.

"What the hell is going on?" Monk growled, fright in his eyes as he grasped Harry's other arm and helped haul him past the door and into a seat. Shibuya sighed in gratitude, the only sign of fatigue present in his enviable stoicism.

"My runes worked, I used a chaos glyph on the doll and the spirit," Harry explained briskly. He felt bruised and battered but got to work rubbing himself down roughly in a bid to get his joints to unlock.

"How would that help?" Matsuzaki didn't look pleased to see Minnie laying on one of the chairs, immediately backing up to join Kana on the other side of the room.

"The room's temperature is slowly warming," Lin said, his only contribution in hours, Harry was sure.

Monk followed his gaze to the wall of monitors and balked, "Crap, is that the sitting room? Is that why you two look half frozen to death?"

The thermal footage was still deeply steeped in cobalt blue, but Harry was happy to find it several degrees lighter than before. The woman wasn't in control of the room any longer, she couldn't maintain it under her own power.

Shibuya was pulling his jacket on with some difficulty, back to the group as he spoke quietly with Lin, so Harry continued to explain.

"The spirit dropped the room's temperature to get me and Mrs. Morishita to stop talking about Minnie. At least we think so." Harry winced as the screaming took on a louder pitch before slowly sinking to a reasonable level.

"So she's making this racket in revenge for putting those runes on the stupid doll?" Matsuzaki ground out. If intent alone could set things on fire, Minnie would've been a bundle of smoldering hair under the force of Matsuzaki's glare.

"No, it's because I placed a glyph in the sitting room. She," Harry swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat, "The control she had over the children is...highly diminished."

There was a long pause, Kana, Matsuzaki, and Monk stared down at him uncomprehendingly as the screaming gave way to a dozen half-formed pleas. For mercy, for help, he wasn't sure. But he found it kindled a hatred inside him for the female spirit that hadn't existed beforehand.

Surprisingly, Kana was the one to understand first, or perhaps the only one willing to ask aloud. "Oh my god," She gasped, hand flying to her mouth, "Those are the children? All on their own?"

"I imagine without the constant d-drain of the woman spirit, this is the activity they chose for their new excess," Shibuya said cooly, lips tightly pressed.

"They sound like they're in so much pain." Monk was furious, "Shouldn't they be free without the woman's influence? What's keeping them here?"

"My glyph isn't touching the woman's spirit, it's only disrupting her to a certain point. She still has influence over them, it's just much looser than before. They'll remain here as long as she does." Harry said.

He doubted that information went over well with Monk and Matsuzaki, both of whom clearly weren't convinced runology had a place in spiritual cases. However, only Kana voiced her criticism, "So you've only made things worse?"

"Actually, the fact that Potter's glyph hasn't directly affected this ghost narrows down her location by quite a bit. She must be under the floorboards, either her body or some cursed object." Shibuya declared, drawing the room's attention as he slouched comfortably against the line of tables.

"Not on another floor?" Matsuzaki asked skeptically.

Harry had a guess to why it wasn't likely, "We would've seen more localized activity, like the room above the living room freezing as well. But so far all activity that wasn't in the living room could be traced back there with my glyphs. It would've appeared like a separate entity was powering them if it were from a different source."

Monk took a stab at his theory next, "But why doesn't it look like a separate entity now if the body is still not directly on this floor? It's below us, right?"

Harry frowned thoughtfully, that was a pretty good question. "Hm...she could be less than the whole floor below us if she's close enough to the floorboards to register on my glyph than it doesn't matter that she's technically below." It would have to be fairly close, however. Not the six feet of a traditional burial.

"That sitting room is one of the newest additions," Kana huffed, "If a body was right there, the contractors would've known about it."

"It doesn't have to be a body, maybe it's a ring or something small like that," Matsuzaki said with a shrug.

Without any warning, as suddenly as a switch, the screaming came to an abrupt halt. Everyone fell still, cries ringing in their ears.

Harry checked his detection glyph, pity choking him as he took in the sorry situation. The children were bouncing still, struggling at a greater speed to escape than they ever had before, frenzied no doubt by their sudden and newfound freedom. They were so scared and hurt, those cries were chilling. Without respite, the only reason the children had dropped the horrifying activity was that they simply lacked the energy to continue.

"They couldn't keep it up," Harry whispered sadly.

Kana shuddered, "You mean that'll happen again? The screaming will be back?"

"Unlikely," Shibuya said, "With the woman weakened for as long as she was before losing her control, there was an abnormal excess of energy. I doubt the ghosts will have time to recharge before they're used again or the case is progressed."

Another hush fell over the group as they collected their thoughts, the quiet was nearly as striking as the wailing at been, the space it had gouged from the air was painfully empty distracting in its own right.

Those poor children...Harry's heart twisted in his chest. So many young, young spirits in such pain for Merlin knew how long. Crushed firmly under the foot of their tormentor as they were, he could only imagine the fear and hopelessness the house was drowning in. If the SPR hadn't been contacted, could Ayami have joined them? The thought dropped into his gut like a block of ice, how many of these dead children had been just like her up until they were trapped here under unknown circumstances?

"Okay, so the doll is probably haunted," Monk dropped into a chair beside Harry, scrubbing a hand through his wild tangle of hair as he consolidated their information. "With luck that was the main way the boss ghost was interacting with Ayami and she's safe for now. The boss ghost is probably a curse or something if the source is a small object. Maybe a bone? One of the older families could've been cursed by someone with a grudge."

Harry thought that was a good theory, hopefully, Hara would arrive tomorrow and confirm it for them. Then, the solution might be as simple as pulling up floorboards and entrusting the cursed object to a shrine for exorcism.

"If Harry's glyphs work, the doll is harmless and the children spirits can't be used for big powerful attacks like shaking the house, did I get that right?"

Mostly, Harry hummed, "I only disrupted the control over the doll. Sort of like if I wet a previously dry bar of soap and also set it on the very edge of the tub for good measure. It's still possessed, but much harder to hold onto with any precision or force."

"Well, that's better than nothing," Matsuzaki decided, "This house was becoming a complete safety hazard after that awful stove fire."

"So is it safe now?" Noriko's meek voice rang from the hallway. Everyone whipped around at the sudden interruption and not a second later, Mai was poking her head into the room, eyes wide as saucers.

"What the heck was all that awful screaming?" She herded the rumpled Noriko and Ayami in with her as they entered the room. "It was so loud it woke me up, and when it didn't stop…"

"Mai was kind enough to check on us and we didn't think it was safe to go downstairs until it stopped," Noriko explained, clutching her niece close as she crept further into the room as if a ghost might jump up and bite her.

"Potter attempted to disrupt the ghosts with a chaos glyph and the circumstances allowed the children spirits the power and freedom to present us with their own activity. It won't likely happen again and wasn't an attack, so you can go back to bed." Shibuya said flatly, the room was growing crowded now and he eyed its other occupants like rowdy drunks at a bar.

Mai reared back, insulted, "You don't have to be so rude about it!"

She might've continued railing at her stone-faced employer had Ayami not finally caught sight of Minnie.

"Minnie! What are you doing to her!" She gasped, dashing away from Noriko and toward the china doll splayed in the other corner of the room.

Harry angled himself to grab her as she ran by, dislodging the glyphs placed upon Minnie's front would break the connection and he'd have to set it up all over again. He could do it, but it was so late now that the hour was nearer to sunrise than sunset. All he really wanted at the moment was a safe bed to sleep in and a heat pack for his hip.

Thankfully, before she could dart past, Monk threw an arm out and trapped her in a gentle hold. Large as the man was, he didn't need to move from his seat to catch her and reeled her in effortlessly. Ayami lashed out, yanking and shoving but it didn't even slow him down and soon she was back with Noriko and Mai.

"You big meanies!" Ayami hollered, incensed, "Let her go! Give her back to me! Give her back!"

"Ayami, it's okay. You can see her from here, she's fine." Mai was trying to soothe her, but her face had gone cherry red at that point and a full-blown tantrum was soon to follow.

Shibuya stepped forward, commanding attention as he loomed over the girl. "Minnie is staying with me for a while. Now, I need you to tell me everything you know about this doll." He said this with all the calm expectation one might use when speaking to a business colleague, rather than a little girl with a quivering lip.

"G-give her back! I want her back, you can't take Minnie away from me!" Ayami sobbed, oblivious to Noriko's attempts at comforting her as she glared up at Shibuya.

After a few more minutes of trying to get through to her rapidly imploding niece, Noriko glanced up at Shibuya, "You couldn't give it back for the night? Why do you want the doll?"

"Minnie is imperative for furthering the investigation, we believe the doll is under the influence of ghosts and they have been communicating with Ayami." He turned his attention back on the girl, "So I need you to tell me all that you know right now."

Harry...wasn't sure what Shibuya was expecting to gain with his unforgiving approach, Ayami only cried harder, stomping her foot against the floor. "Nuh-uh! Minnie's mine! You can't take her away from me!"

This was getting out of hand fast, tears were pouring down Ayami's face and she looked moments from making another break for the doll.

"We're not taking her away," Harry tried, "She's only over there, you can see her any time you'd like."

Ayami wasn't listening, she lurched away from Noriko with her eyes screwed shut, "Give her back! Give her back right now! She doesn't want to be with you! Give her back!"

"Listen, Ayami," Shibuya hardly moved a muscle, and yet something in his expression was suddenly so distant and unforgiving as he stared down his nose at the crying girl, "Your step-mother Kana was attacked for even mentioning the doll and if we don't stop Minnie, eventually, she is going to get one of us hurt. So talk!"

A stunned silence followed, even Ayami gazed up in disbelief.

The terrible moment passed and Ayami gave a wordless wail. She threw herself away from Shibuya, falling into Mai's embrace as she dissolved into heaving sobs.

"What on earth are you playing at?" Harry demanded furiously, wobbling halfway out of his chair and no doubt looking ridiculous but far too angry to care. They came to the house to save Ayami, not terrorize her right alongside the ghosts. If Shibuya thought he would tolerate interrogating a child like one might a criminal, he would be sorely surprised.

Mai wasn't far behind, clutching Ayami to her chest as she glared daggers up at her employer, "I don't believe you! You just shouted at a little girl!"

Shibuya crossed his arms, utterly unrepentant, "I'm only doing my job." The startling edge was gone from his voice, at least, cooled to indifference.

"Well, it sounds to me like some of us have been up for a little too long," Monk jumped to his feet and easily commanded the attention of the room, save the quieting Ayami who was still wrapped up in Mai's embrace.

"Everyone's tired and not thinking as clearly as they should," He said straight to Shibuya's face, "I think we should call it a night and regroup in the morning. Everything should be fine until then, right?"

There was no room for argument in Monk's tone, even under Shibuya's venomous glare.

"Now that's the best idea I've heard all night," Matsuzaki yawned, shuffling right past the two and out the door. "I'm off to bed, don't wake me until nine at the earliest."

If looks could kill, the entire room would be dead over at Shibuya's hand. When he spoke, the words came out clipped and begrudging of every breath, "Fine. We'll resolve this tomorrow morning. It'll be dawn soon, everyone can go to bed."

A collective sigh of relief could be heard as the tension plummeted throughout the room. Noriko and Mai bundled Ayami away while she was distracted in her exhaustion and Monk followed after Matsuzaki, eagerly trudging back to bed. No one spoke a word, tired and drawn in turns.

Finally, even Lin pulled away from his laptop and ghosted out the door, leaving Shibuya, Kana, and Harry behind.

"You were right," As though Lin's departure had been a cue, Kana picked herself up out of her own seat, digging her nails back into the sides of her skirt.

"Pardon?" Harry asked.

Kana shook her head, "I meant Shibuya, you were right. The way things are going it's a miracle that no one has been hurt yet. But it'll happen soon. There's a chance it'll be me."

Harry resisted scowling at Shibuya, of course, he'd spook the client on top of potentially traumatizing Ayami. "That's what you hired us for, we're here to make sure you don't get hurt,"

He leaned forward and tried to catch her eye, "We've managed to stop just about every attack so far, you're safer now than you've been for months living here by yourselves."

Kana scoffed, the sound a touch too watery as she turned her head away, "I don't even know why I'm here. I hate living in this freaky house so why don't I just go? I could pack my bags and leave tonight and everyone would be happier for it."

Alarm trickled down his back, "That might just put you in even more danger," He protested, "What if you're followed? We wouldn't be there to help you, at least here we can know what to expect and how to defend ourselves."

Kana whirled around, chin high. Her eyes were shiny but narrowed at him as she sneered from across the room.

"You expect me to believe that? Whatever is here is clearly only concerned with the house, I'd be just fine if I simply checked into a hotel room and got some true peace and quiet for once. Who's to say I can't just pay for a temple service or something on the rare chance I'm still troubled?"

Harry wasn't so generous in his estimations, she'd be defenseless on her own and he'd seen a spirit or two latch onto people who've lived in far less haunted houses for half the time.

He could spy the skittish look of someone ready to bolt, however, and knew that line of reasoning would be as productive as arguing with a brick wall.

He switched gears, "What about Ayami? You're her step-mother, would you really abandon her to a house full of dead children?"

A flinch wracked Kana's frame and her face drained of color, "Don't you dare- you can't say that to me. She won't even talk to me, as far as she's concerned I'm scarier than the actual ghosts! She doesn't need me."

"She does," Harry insisted, "Ayami's just a child, she doesn't know what she needs. That you've stuck around, that you're still making an effort to connect with her- she needs that kind of care and she'll realize it when she grows up a bit."

"What do you know? You have no idea what it's like! Everybody loves giving me advice to wait, to be patient, to stay away so she'll willingly leave her room but not too far away that she doesn't have the opportunity to completely ignore me. It's only gotten worse, Ayami will never want me here!" Kana looked crushed under her own words, helplessness and resentment darkening her face, fear in her hunched shoulders and trembling hands.

Sympathy welled up in Harry's chest, how could it not when the only thing keeping Kana from succumbing to tears was her rapidly unraveling pride? If he was sure she'd be okay after leaving, he might've honestly allowed her to admit defeat and quietly escape the haunted house if it meant she'd get a reprieve from the Morishitas' troubles.

But that was only fanciful wishes, she'd have to eventually come back to a family three ways splintered and faithless. Running away wouldn't solve anything, if Kana truly wanted a relationship with her husband's family, she had to see the only way forward was staying.

"I don't understand," Harry gathered his thoughts slowly, peering into Kana's dark, hurt eyes, her lashes glittered with unshed tears, "I don't know what it's like to be in your position, you're right. But I've been in Ayami's. I've had people step in and try to be my family more than once, it was never perfect, I never handled it the way I should've." He hadn't behaved like Ayami, often clinging too tight where she pushed away, but their situations had as many differences as similarities. He certainly never had an aunt like Noriko to give him a place to reject from.

"But the ones who chose to stay, no matter how difficult it got," Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, "There are no words for how grateful I am for them, it means something when you stick around, I promise. And if you leave, you'll be taking something precious from Ayami, even if she doesn't realize it yet."

Kana's breath hitched, a sob catching in her throat. The outrage that kept her gaze level with him drained and she quickly pulled herself away. Red splotched high on her cheeks as another choked breath hiccuped in the empty quiet of the headquarters.

Harry waited for her response, but it never came. Kana fractured right where she stood. She pressed a hand over her mouth too late to hide her quivering lip and darted from the room.

Harry watched her go, chest tight. He had no idea if he'd made things better or worse.

Her footsteps quickly faded from earshot as she fled to her bedroom and eventually, Shibuya gave a huff

Harry twitched, twisting his head to catch his employer lean casually up against the tables lining the wall, "Well, I suppose we'll have to wait and see if Mrs. Morishita remains." Shibuya said.

"No thanks to you," Harry snapped back, temper flaring all over again.

Shibuya lazily hefted himself off the table and sauntered over to Harry's seat, not an ounce of regret in his bright eyes, "I said nothing but the truth, it doubtlessly has already occurred to her before we were even called."

"Exactly, and then we were called. To make sure they aren't hurt, not to rub it in their faces."

"So we should lie and tell them they're completely safe? Complacency is much more dangerous than nerves in a situation like this, you should know that by now." Shibuya retorted, "Mrs. Morishita is a grown woman, she doesn't need coddling."

"You know damn well there's a difference between keeping alert and shouting about inevitability to a little girl." Harry knew Shibuya was rude by nature, but he wasn't going to sit and pretend for even a moment that Shibuya had anything other than an irrational outburst just then.

Shibuya had the nerve to purse his lips, as though Harry were being childish. To his credit, however, he didn't bother refuting the point. Instead, he stretched out a hand and left it hovering right in front of Harry's face.

Harry leaned away, scowling irritably at the intrusion, "What do you want?"

"Unless you plan to sleep in here with Minnie, you're going to need my assistance getting up the stairs." Shibuya said, face smoothing over into patronizing boredom.

His employer was an arse, nothing natural about it.

"I don't need your bloody help," Harry snapped, shoving the hand out of his way. He wasn't hurt and he'd been in a warm room for about twenty minutes at that point, he wasn't going to subject himself to being carried like an abused teddy bear a second time.

Harry hefted himself off the seat using mostly his arms, contorting awkwardly to get his legs locked underneath him. His hip throbbed a warning and his leg felt like it was attached through rusty car parts, but he stood upright and glared at Shibuya.

"Was that really easier than just accepting a hand up?" The prat asked cooly.

"You can get the lights yourself, if you'd like," Harry returned with equal condescension, and limped right out of the room before he did something he'd regret in the morning. Shibuya didn't chase after him.

The stiffness gradually lessened with each step, and by the time he'd gotten past the ornate rugs and to the stairs, he hardly felt it at all.

Climbing the stairs was a touch more difficult, but he pushed through the prickly pain and was already halfway up before something stopped him.

"Hey," Harry glanced up to spy Monk peering over the banister, still sleepy-eyed.

"Shouldn't you be back in bed?" Harry asked, resuming his slow climb to the sound of Monk humming conversationally.

"I will in a minute, Mai is still calming Ayami down, poor kid is pretty wired. So I offered to get some hot chocolate or something."

Harry growled, if Shibuya had actually scared Ayami that badly he'd turn right around and sock the tosser himself, "Is she frightened of the ghosts hurting her?"

He reached the top of the stairs where Monk was sidled up. Now that he could get a good look at the man's face, he could see the worried creases at his temples, where crows feet might appear in ten years.

"No, now she thinks some of this mess is her fault. I wasn't around for most of the conversation but I think she was pressured into keeping quiet about something. Seems to me you made the right call to separate her from the doll."

"Mrs. Morishita helped with that, turned out she'd been trying to get rid of it for months but it kept coming back," Harry confided.

Monk shuddered, "Seriously? Geez, that's creepy. Don't tell Ayako that, I think she'd ditch us in a heartbeat."

Harry was too tired to laugh, but he cracked a smile at the thought of Matsuzaki running right down the mountain as fast as her heels could carry her. If he were kinder, he'd be impressed she agreed to handle a case that involved something she was so scared of.

"Okay, I'm gonna go before Mai starts searching for me. Get some rest, tomorrow we're hitting the ghosts hard." This seemed to energize Monk, who began hopping down the stairs like a man on a mission. Bold even as Harry saw Shibuya shutting the door to headquarters and stalking up the hallway, Monk gave a wave and ducked into the kitchen without missing a beat.

Harry didn't want to speak to Shibuya, now headed up the stairs himself, so he quickly shifted and retreated down the hall and to his own guest room.

The room was black, but it wasn't cluttered, so he just made his way slowly to the mattress and lowered himself down into the blessedly soft sheets. It didn't make much sense, but his body suddenly weighed two tons and he hadn't the strength to move from where he'd first positioned himself.

It was quiet and warm, walking had given him a stretch and he didn't so badly need a heat pack anymore. Sleepiness overtook him easily, wrapping him up in fuzzy thoughts and half-remembered sensations as his eyes fluttered shut.

Tomorrow, John would come, Harry remembered. A smile quirked his lip in the darkness of his room, he couldn't wait. He would bring Hara, just what the case needed, and Harry would get to see his friend.

Tonight had been hard to get through, but tomorrow promised new chances and fresh ideas. It would be better.

With that wish in mind, Harry slipped off to dreamless sleep and didn't wake up until the sun was high in the sky the following morning.

Just as he'd promised himself, Harry completed his morning stretches the way he'd swore he'd been doing in all his letters back home. He'd almost forgotten a few, and the stiffness was embarrassing, but he'd gotten through them alright.

His recent cases had been a great deal more physical than he was used to and he couldn't keep slacking if he wanted to pull his own weight in investigations like this, it was driving motivation behind every awkward squat.

Once he'd washed and changed into something fresh, still a little sleepy and eyes underscored by dark bags from the previous night, he opened the door with the intention to wander downstairs for breakfast.

Bad Girls Get Punished

Only to freeze where he stood, nails abruptly digging into the door frame.

Was...was that blood? Red, jagged writing sprayed across the wall facing his door, glistening wet and inhumanly sharp. It was so fresh, beads were still trailing down the wall and streaking the cream wallpaper scarlet. Harry thought he could even smell copper in the air, it was all he could think as he stared at the message in horror.

Bad girls? Was it talking about Ayami? What had she done? Where was she? Fear lanced through his heart and he raced down the stairs on bare feet.

"Ayami!"

And that's a wrap!

Yeah, I have no idea what was actually written on the wall since the anime never bothers to translate it, so bad girls get punished was my best guess. Feel free to correct me! I'm genuinely curious.

I think I maybe played my hand too early here, but I never liked how the anime treated Kana. Like, it's so much judgy subtext. We're supposed to take one look at her LiPsTiCk, immediately understand she's a bad step-mom and let that bitch bow out. She's bitchy, yeah, but just about every other character, bitchy or not, gets more depth than her. Even that throwaway park episode ghost!

Maybe she's not a bad step-mom? Maybe she just got married into this family only for her husband and only connection to leave her for months with a girl who doesn't like her, and a sister-in-law who would clearly rather hang out with her niece all day. All while living in a haunted mountain mansion! Maybe she's stressed out and totally alone!

So that was my tedtalk on why Kana Morishita deserves a hug, earrings be damned. Thank you.

Okay, I'm going to speak generally here because I don't want anyone to think I'm attacking them or using their feedback as some flamer strawman.

Some of you believe I'm not upsetting the SPR power balance enough and as a result, Harry's runes aren't very interesting or important.

I think a lot of this is the result of how slowly I draw out cases, we're only on day 2-3 of the Dollhouse case and this is definitely affecting the pacing. So I'm just going to defend my decision here.

At this point in the show, literally no one has done anything.

Mai's had a few dreams and Masako faints, that's it. That's the action right up until the big case finale. This is very much still level one. Already, I'm cutting this case in half and things are progressing about two days before they usually happen.

I've noticed that most of the people complaining about this haven't watched Ghost Hunt recently if ever. Ghost hunt is a slow burn show that relies more on atmosphere and stylized storytelling than big action set pieces. Harry has plenty of time to improve and is more than pulling his weight right now. You may just not like slow-paced shows, which is fine, but please don't think I'm doing this just to make sure Harry doesn't outshine my favorite character or something.

Second complaint, which I think is much fairer. I'm throwing a bit too much whump in here. It's a bad habit of mine, I'm trying to get away from it but it's easy to slip into when I want something exciting to happen or to get some character chemistry in. I promise I'll ease up, I don't want this to be a Harry uwu fest AT ALL. This is supposed to be corny fun, like the show, but not through babying people. Please be patient with me, I'm still improving and this is my first stab at a large cast. I might go back and touch up earlier chapters, I agree the nervousness is too much and I'm really trying to strike a good balance.

I have a lot of relatives with bad joints, as well. Including my mom. So I don't want to completely erase how difficult arthritis is to live with, but I'll try to ease up the tone and multitude. How was this chapter, for example? I toned the drama down by a ton compared to earlier drafts.

Okay, someone asked me why I don't just PM people personally when I want to talk to them here. I'd like to say it's because some are anon, which they are. But mostly it's because it didn't occur to me at all lol. I'll start doing that instead. Starting now, in cause you're wondering why you're getting a PM from me after reviewing last summer.

And that's it! Thanks again for reading and reviewing, I love writing for you guys and I hope to these notes didn't discourage anyone from enjoying this fic exactly as they want to. Cheese, faults, slow-pacing, and all haha!