The Scaredy-Cat Paranormal Investigator

"I wanna go home." My voice echoes around the entrance of the abandoned hospital. "Hello, mic test… Ugh! Why did I even come here all alone?" The camera flickers—it's the first time it has ever done that, I think. I'm not usually the one recording.

Maybe I should just go home and tell everyone I did it. Ugh, but then Soma-kun will definitely ask for the footage. Why did I have to go and declare to him that I can do it solo?! Stupid Kasumi!

Damn it! Why did he have to be busy today of all days. We can't grow the Paranormal Investigations Club's Youtube channel if we take long gaps in between investigations.

Endou-san and Yano too. At this point, I wouldn't mind if they piss off the ghosts with their PDA. I just want people with me while exploring.

As I recall my clubmates—the only ones who are remotely interested in the paranormal, a strong gust of wind made the nearby trees rustle thunderously.

As if that wasn't enough to open every single pore in my body, the birds nesting on the trees flew overhead, ominously covering most of the night sky.

So creepy. Well, that's my cue to lea—no!

I have to prove to Soma-kun that I'm competent.

All this time, it had mostly been the two of us doing these investigations, with him in the lead using the knowledge he learned from his guardian.

Apparently, Soma-kun's guardian is a clergyman straight from the Vatican. Never heard him talk about his parents though.

With the way he speaks to me so casually despite being my junior, he probably doesn't have much respect in me.

Now is the perfect time to prove to him that I am a capable person.

Maybe he'd start calling me Aoi-senpai instead of Kasumi-chan. Heh, wouldn't that be great.

With newfound motive, I brace myself to a full night of solo paranormal investigation.

I take a couple of deep breaths. First of, I need to focus and not think of things that'd make me afraid, like interpreting every sound as a ghost or that there's someone behind me.

If I can manage to do that then I'll be fine… I hope.

Secondly, I need to be as respectful as I could be to not agitate the spirits. Soma-kun commended me before for being polite towards the dead but I don't know if that has any actual effect whatsoever.

With that settled, all I have to do now is go inside and start the investigation.

It's now or never!

I slowly but surely take a step with my right foot, then my left, then my right, and then my left.

Before I know it, I'm inside the hospital's lobby.

To my surprise, it's a lot cleaner than I expected. It's very different from the videos I watched from overseas, that's for sure. The groundskeeper I chatted with earlier probably cleaned this part of the building.

Now that I think about it, that guy was pretty weird. Although he was very polite, I just couldn't shake the weird feeling I got speaking to him.

Eh, I'm probably overthinking it.

I check on my camera. Months of part-time work from all four members plus the club budget allowed me to purchase this bad boy.

It seems to be capturing footage well now. The flickering earlier got me a bit spooked for the repair expenses.

I should do an intro for the video first before I go any further. It's hard to keep track of everything when I'm doing things alone.

"Hello, everyone!" I point the camera towards me as I gave my usual energetic wave.

"Tonight, I, K-chan, will be conducting my first ever solo paranormal investigation." Note to self: insert cheerful applause sound effects here.

"The location this time is at an abandoned hospital within Hiroshima Prefecture. S-kun was the one who recommended this place but he went and ditch me." I acted all cute and sobby in front of the camera. Even though it's far from the truth, I'm sure Soma-kun will understand.

"It was said that the doctors and patients within this building all perished when the nuclear bomb fell many decades ago. After the war, there was an effort to remodel and reuse the hospital but it never pulled through. In the end, the government chose to build another hospital in the heart of the city. Rumors suggest that the reason why that is is because this place is haunted by the ghosts of the victims of the great war." That was rather bleak but that's the history of the place as told to me by the groundskeeper. How'd he know it though? I tried to research it before coming here but I couldn't find anything at all. Hopefully, he didn't just made it up.

"Well then, let's start this off shall we." I pull out an EMF reader from my breast pocket and start carefully pointing it at various directions.

I don't actually know how to effectively use the device but I managed to get some readings in previous investigations so I just hope I luck out.

My grip on the reader is tight since I only borrowed it from the science teacher. My habit of accidentally dropping and breaking things won't occur this time.

It took a moment but as I point the reader down the hall, it made the loud beeping sound that it does when it picks up electromagnetic fields.

"I'm going down this way, I guess." My footsteps, though soft, seems to echo within the empty building.

As I wander further down the hall, the reader starts to go up a level, confirming what's already apparent: I'm going the right direction.

The rooms in the ground floor has all its doors stripped off revealing a bunch of empty spaces save from a few chairs and tables in some.

So far so good. The investigation is going so smoothly that I could already hear Soma-kun call me Aoi-senpai.

As if the universe could read my mind and doesn't want me to be referred as a senpai by my junior, an abrupt noise that sounded like violent gunfire from a war movie emanated for a few seconds from the floor above.

I gulp my saliva in anxiousness as to what could have caused that loud sound. My saliva got caught up in my throat sending me to a coughing fit.

"Cough, cough, augh!" I'll make sure to edit out this part before I show it to anyone.

It can't be ghosts right? Surely, it must've been like a stray cat knocking over something. Yeah, that seems plausible and realistic.

I try my best to shake off all the bad vibes I'm feeling and make my way to the stairwell.

"That loud sound just now… It seems to have come from the second floor. Hopefully, it's just a cat or something." The shakiness of my voice betrays the deadpan expression I'm trying to make. This investigation is turning out to be more than I bargained for.

I'll just investigate that loud noise and shoot a few more minutes for some extra footage then I'll make a run for it.

As I made the decision to cut my investigation early, I place the EMF reader back in my breast pocket, and from the same place, I pull out my phone to record more footage with.

Now armed with essentially two rolling cameras on both hands, I ascend to the second floor of the hospital.

Scattered chairs and weathered desks immediately comes into view halfway up the stairwell.

"Weird." I counted 6 chairs and 2 desks scattered on the floor. Can a cat really knock over something that heavy?

"I guess that sound was from the chairs and desks falling over." The weird feeling wouldn't leave me though. Putting aside the fictitious concept of a cat knocking over something many times its body weight over, chairs and desks falling over wouldn't make that loud continuous sound I heard a minute ago.

As I look and flail my arms around to get more footage of the scene, I suddenly felt a chill wrap around my body.

It's gotten cold so quickly that I could see my breath every time I exhale.

This is getting mega weird!

I can feel all the hair in my body standing in dread.

Yep, it's time to book it. I can forget about Soma-kun ever calling me his senpai. Not like I don't have other ways to make him call me one.

But before I could even turn around, I hear a cat's meowing from the end of the hallway.

What the heck! There really was a cat.

I really should just make my way out of here but if I could get footage of the cat then I think I can make a decent video out of all this.

I tread steadily towards the feline's cry as I point both phone and camera towards that direction.

In front of the only room so far that has a door, I saw it. A black kitten licking its wounds as its black fur is coated with a tinge of red, possibly its own blood.

"Oh, you poor thing!" I broke out into a power walk towards the pitiful creature as I stuck my phone back in my breast pocket and laid the camera on the floor.

I gently pet "Kitty" as it continues to wail in agony.

Maybe Kitty here really did somehow topple the chairs and desks over and got caught in it.

No matter what happened, this little one needs medical attention.

I think I saw a vet clinic in the city when I arrived earlier. Hopefully, it's still open around this time.

I gently lift the cat on one hand as I try to grab the camera with the other.

With Kitty safely tucked on my hand, I turn around to grab my camera and make my way out of this place.

Before I could do so, a strong, overpowering force pushes me, sending me flying backwards.

The force was so strong that I ended up freeing my grip on Kitty.

The door, which I was sure was closed, is now wide open as I get hurled inside it.

All I could do is lie on the floor as I gasp for air. Whatever happened there is completely unnatural.

"Crap… what the hell,?!" I regret coming here without Soma-kun. I'm sure that if he was here, none of this would happen.

I wobble as I try to stand up and get out of here.

The light from my camera—my main light source—shines brightly at my face from outside the room.

I have to get out of here now!

Kitty is nowhere to be found but if can get the camera, I'm sure I can find him fast.

The moment I got back on my feet, the door closes shut on my face, making me stumble back on the floor.

Without my camera's light illuminating my surroundings, I cannot tell whether my eyes are open or shut.

The darkness sends me into a panic as I try to open and bang on the door, to no avail. The door knob is non-existent and yet, it is jammed shut.

I can hear Kitty outside hissing at something like he's about to fight.

Suddenly, I hear a loud sound, much like the one I heard earlier, outside.

It lasted for about 30 seconds until it just abruptly stops like it never happened.

Silence ensues.

"Just what the hell is happening?!" I muttered to myself.

All of a sudden, hushed knocking echoes throughout the dark room.

It made me step back.

Whatever or whoever this is, is probably the one responsible for all the events tonight.

The knocking stops.

"Aoi-senpai, it's me."

That voice…

"Soma-kun?"