Believe Myself

[madimpossibledreamer]

Writing this series: wow, kindaichi sure is in love with miyuki and is projecting that on willow hard
the spellings might not be accurate; i just found a random site that did 'names in romanji!' so  (and kept Willow as Wilo rather than Wiro for ease of reading and also because he's got some idea of how to spell it if he doesn't think consciously about it)
honorifics here are a mix of Kindaichi's thoughts on the situation + Xander's own thoughts + current situation, so it's Bufi-sama not only because Xander thinks really highly of her (what would buffy do) but also doesn't think they're as close as he wants + she's currently a princess.  Giles is some weird adult who deserves the typical adult respect (but also there's a reason he's comparing him to Kenmochi-san).  Willow's a close friend but he doesn't feel right dropping the honorific entirely.  He might not remember Xander, but they're still close because they're from the same source, but he adds the -kun out loud to respect Willow's feelings.
Wilo-chan=Willow
Jairuzu-san=Giles
Zandaru (-kun)=Xander
Bufi-sama=Buffy

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/The Case Files of Young Kindaichi
Summary: Kindaichi tries to solve the mystery of what's going on and why he's even here and gets some help from a certain "ghost".
Word Count: 1564
Rating: Teen

 

        Hajime is both more and less confused by the time they reach the house.  The ghost girl, who had introduced herself as Wilo-chan, is helpful, when she speaks slowly.  He’s still missing a few things, because she’s used to speaking fast, but she is making a genuine effort to accommodate him, which he appreciates.  People, apparently, are turning into their Halloween costumes.  This is the first time this has happened, but the town is prone to supernatural occurrences.  According to this Jairuzu-san person, who sounds a lot like Kenmochi-san in that he’s an authority figure who knows procedures and stuff and is supposed to be responsible for them, Halloween is supposed to be calm and quiet when it comes to the supernatural.  Obviously, he was mistaken, but the question is why.
        It’s a frustratingly familiar feeling.  It’s what happens in the middle of a case, where he’s started to gather clues but has no idea what they mean and can’t put any of it together.
        He’s putting aside the whole ‘supernatural is real’ aspect of it all.  For all he knows, this is a bizarre, long, detailed dream.  It’s similar to a locked room mystery, which he is unfortunately very familiar with.  Sure, it’s impossible, but it happened, so obviously it’s actually not all that impossible.  The question is, how and why.
        Maybe it’s grasping at the familiar, but he feels almost certain the cause is a ‘who’, too, although he can’t pinpoint why.  Frustratingly, he’s pretty sure he knows where the missing clues can be found, too—he’s pretty sure this Zandaru person holds the key, or several.  That he’s seen or heard something relevant.  Point one and two.  If only he had an idea what that even referred to, but he’s pretty sure he’s on the right track.
        How, he doesn’t have much of a hope of understanding.  Not every detail, anyway.  But if people are turning into their costumes, there has to be something about the costumes, or something.  Even with magic, there has to be some sort of rules, or people would just be playing at being gods all over the place and destroying the world when their changes don’t align.
        No.  It has to follow rules.  It has to have some sort of scope, for a start—
        “…a friend lives here,” he catches the end of his new ghost-friend’s explanation, and they’re walking up to a house, and that sparks an idea.  TV.
        Once they’re safely inside the house, Kindaichi makes a beeline for the TV, ignoring the girl in the ballgown crossing herself when it turns on as if it contained evil spirits and the ghost girl, babbling away at his back.  He’s noticed she has a tendency to do that when she’s stressed, and apparently she’s currently stressed.  It’s not like he can blame her.  This seems like a pretty stressful situation.  He can’t make out most of the English, since they’re pretty much all talking faster than his comprehension level, but that’s fine.  If it’s something that’s only making the papers, it’ll be utterly useless right now, but they might be having some sort of emergency broadcast, which could tell them how widespread this effect is.  And even he doesn’t need a perfect score in English to figure out what’s happening from just the pictures.
        Finally he finds something.  The buildings are a little taller, and the background looks a little more crowded, so he guesses it’s a bigger city nearby, if not one of America’s big cities like Tokyo or Yokohama or Osaka are in Japan.
        The newscaster lady is pretty.  Apparently that’s a thing no matter where you are around the world.  But there’s no emergency scrolling bar anywhere on the screen, and they haven’t interrupted to show live footage.  The tone of her voice is normal, not worried or excited.  They could be hiding things to keep people from panicking, but he doubts it.
        “It’s probably just affecting this city,” he announces.  Usually, he doesn’t bother explaining these things one at a time, but he’s not the expert here, and as much as he hates the idea of having to play catch-up, he’s also smart enough to know when he needs help.  And even if people haven’t died yet, it’s only a matter of time, because he assumes most costumes are not as friendly as him.
        “That didn’t even occur to me,” Wilo-chan responds, slower so he can understand.  She comes closer and sits next to him, legs crossed.  “Usually all the weird stuff just happens here, so I didn’t even think about it.”
        It’s nice and calms his nerves slightly, having her in his line of sight so he knows nothing bad is happening to her, even though logically nothing can happen to a ghost.  So he doesn’t have to hear her scream and see her end up in the hospital because of him, again…  She’s not Miyuki, he tries to remind himself again, even though that doesn’t seem to be working.  He surfs a little, but doesn’t find another news channel, unfortunately.  One or two more would probably have confirmed it for him, but instead they’ll just have to make do with the tentative evidence suggested by one.  “And why do you still remember us?  If anything, I would’ve thought you would’ve been like Bufi-sama.”
        He inclines his head a little to indicate the princess.
        “But it’s not like you escaped it either, not entirely.  Obviously.”  She’s a ghost, but she still remembers what it used to be like.
        “I am making tea,” Bufi-sama announces regally and disappears into the kitchen.
        There’s a lot going on.  “Is she trying to get a break, or should we go help her?”
        Wilo-chan considers that for a moment and smiles.  “If we hear a crash, we go help.”
        It’s as good a criteria as any.  “Hai.  So Zandaru-kun dressed as me, and I keep feeling like I almost remember things but don’t.”  There’s also the question of ‘why’.  He’s almost certain Ikutski’s articles wouldn’t have made international news, and he’s not sure how else Zandaru-kun would have learned about him enough to consider him a viable costume option.  But that isn’t probably as important as figuring out the memory question.  “Bufi-sama is completely lost.  You became a ghost, but your memories are the same.”
        They sit in silence for a moment before the redheaded ghost lets out a long, slow breath.
        “Nani?”  English, Hajime, he reminds himself.  “What?”
        “I think—I think both of you might be helping fuel the spell on you.”  She doesn’t sound too confident, but it’s a lead.
        “Go on,” he encourages her, and she smiles again.
        “Well, Buffy wanted to become someone different, someone her boyfriend would be more into.  You…”  She almost looks like she’s going to break down crying.  He tries to put a comforting hand on her arm, forgetting about the whole ghost part, but as weird as the sensation is apparently it’s enough to help her, because she starts again.  “Those bruises are all Xander.  I don’t know what happened tonight, but I’m scared…”  She leans toward him slightly, face miserable.  “I think his dad started beating him again, and he lied to me and said that it stopped.”
        They sit in a weighty silence.  Hajime is horrified.  He’s heard of such things, of course, seen newspaper articles and shocking news reports, but he’d never considered such things happening to himself.  His mother loves him.
        It would put the pieces together, though, the kind of sick, scared feeling, the urge to put on a brave face despite all of this, the gnawing hunger in his gut.
        “Wilo-chan,” he begins.  He is almost certain that Zandaru-kun will hate him for what he’s about to say, but it feels right. 
        “Yes?”  She sounds as scared as he is, which helps in some way.
        “I’m really hungry.”  Such small, innocuous words.
        It takes her a second.  He can tell when it sinks in, because she lets out a small, “Oh!” upset expression mirroring his own.
        And then she looks determined.  “We can fix that, Hajime-chan.  I’m sure Buffy’s mom won’t mind if we grab something.  We could probably even make you a sandwich.”
        That’s very sweet, but then, she’s like Miyuki.  Of course she is.
        “You should finish explaining first,” he tells her reluctantly.  Because as tempting as food is, they really need to find the answers.
        “Oh.  Well, Buffy and Xander had good reasons for wanting to be someone else tonight.  So that might be a component of the spell.  I chickened out of even wearing, um, this…” she gestures at her outfit, “…and put on the traditional ghost sheet over it.”
        That makes a lot of sense, actually.  You know, for spells and magic.  “Are you sure that you’re not the granddaughter of a famous detective?” he asks, and she tries to push him in retaliation.  Forgets about the whole ‘ghost’ thing, apparently, but she’s still smiling, which was the point.
        This is familiar.  And makes sense.  Which is nice, in the middle of all of the rest of this.  “And now let’s get you fed!”
        Embarrassing, sure, but it’s kind of nice to have someone fuss over him like this.  Particularly when the hospital isn’t involved for once.  It’s not like it happens all the time, but it happens far more often than he’d like.