"We can investigate his motive later," said Jeffrey. "But the most important thing now is to get rid of the ghost so that it will stop its haunting. That's what Tiffany's father asked us to do, isn't it?"
"You're right!" answered Shaun. "The school cannot possibly return to normal if Yuki doesn't leave. Now the problem is: in what way are we going to remove the spirit? Do we want to do this peacefully, i.e. by persuading her to ascend to heaven by herself; or shall we do it forcefully?"
"I'd prefer if Yuki is willing to let go of her own resentment," replied Blythe. "That'd be the best method."
"I agree," said Shaun. "Let's go find her and see if we can persuade her. But where has she gone?"
"I saw her going up the stairs to the top floor," answered Jeffrey.
Nevertheless, Yuki's ghost was nowhere to be found when the detectives arrived at the top floor.
Without warning, Yuki's phantom appeared out of nowhere. However, the moment she set eyes upon the detectives, she attempted to escape.
"Yuki-san, don't leave! We're here to help you!" said Shaun.
Yuki appeared extremely reluctant to communicate with Shaun and endeavoured to leave. Nevertheless, she discovered that she had stepped onto Blythe's Taoist array, which the latter drew on the floor before her arrival. Thus, she was unable to leave. She hissed angrily.
"I think it'd be better if Blythe communicates with her instead of you, Shaun," said Jeffrey. "I mean, after all, she has been betrayed by her scumbag husband, so she probably hates all men now. Blythe is a girl, so she'd probably be more persuasive than you."
"I guess you're right," answered Shaun.
"Wait, but I thought she was deaf," said Jeffrey, "How can she hear us?"
"Ghosts don't hear us, they use their feelings," elucidated Shaun. "They can understand us by what we portray to them. They can feel our emotions towards them."
"Wow, that's complicated!" muttered Jeffrey.
"Yuki-san, you have already revenged upon every single soul who had wronged you by setting fire to the house, so your resentment should have dissolved long ago," said Blythe calmly in Japanese. "But, why are you still here? Please, let me know why. I'm here to help you quit your obsession so you can go to heaven instead of roaming around here. After you go to heaven, you can meet your loved ones there, including your mother and father. You don't deserve to suffer alone in this world, in which you don't belong anymore."
After hearing Blythe's words, transparent tears rolled down Yuki's cheeks and she lowered her head. Nevertheless, unlike in their previous encounters where the spirit willingly ascended to heaven, Yuki stayed where she was and there was no beam of light coming from the sky. The detectives were bewildered. Why was Yuki so unwilling to communicate with the detectives and what was preventing her from ascending to heaven?
Glancing at his watch, Shaun realized that it was already half past three, meaning that the sun would rise soon and the ghost would disappear until the sun sets again.
"We have to hurry," said Shaun. "The sun's about to rise, so we're gonna have to come back again tonight."
"What? No way!" exclaimed Jeffrey. "We were lucky that we got past that guard today. There's no way we'll be lucky the second time round. Plus, I don't think it'll make any difference anyways. She seemed to be determined to stay, so there's no point in wasting more time trying to persuade her. We should just forcefully exorcise her. That'll definitely save us a lot of trouble."
"I agree with Jeff, it seems like there's no other way," sighed Shaun. "If we come back again tonight, she might deliberately try to conceal herself so we won't be able to find her. Then, our efforts would be all in vain. If we've already managed to trap her in the array, it'd be a whole lot easier to exorcise her now."
After reaching a decision, Blythe took out her Taoist charm which her grandma gave her. Whilst chanting a spell under her breath, Blythe stuck the charm on Yuki's forehead. Immediately, Yuki's spirit transformed into a puff of white smoke and dissolved away into the thick mist surrounding them. Moments after Yuki's phantom was exorcised, a weak ray of light appeared on the far horizon, signifying the rise of the morning sun.
"Phew! That was close!" exclaimed Jeffrey. "I thought we wouldn't be able to make it! Now, let's get outta here before we're caught by that security guard."
Despite her success in removing the spirit, Blythe was not satisfied with the result. She had a premonition that something was not right and that trouble was on the way.
~To be Continued~
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