#fightingacrobat

 Who Do You Call? Act 3

 They all stood outside the gate to Shinichi's house, peering at the empty place, either unimpressed, suspicious, excited, or nervous. "Ano," Kobato began, tilting her head to the side. "Maybe it's a good Ghost."

 No one replied. Robin sighed and walked up to the gate. "Well, we better check it out. Who knows what we'll find in there."

 Everyone nodded, except Ran. "I think I should go home," she suggested nervously. "I...shouldn't get it in the way. Eto, I'll see you all tomorrow!" and with that, she turned and scurried of the scene.

 Shinichi scratched the back of his head. "We won't find anything," he said and began inside after Robin.

 "Will you shut up?" Kazu muttered and they all walked up the pathway. As they walked up the pathway, the door slowly creaked open and everyone was a little unnerved, except for Shinichi, who was trying to think of logical explanations for the occurrences.

 The group entered the house, peering into the darkness with hesitation. "I don't see anything," Shinichi muttered. Suddenly, a vase fell off a table not even a meter away from Kobato.

 She jumped backwards into Syo, who caught her at the last second. "I didn't break it!" she pleaded, almost as though she was scared of getting in trouble.

 "Don't worry," Robin began. "We know."

 Shinichi frowned a bit and walked into the darkness. Everyone else followed.

 There was silence as they walked, aside from their footsteps on the hardwood floor. Suddenly, there was a ghastly shrieking. It was inhuman and painfully loud. Everyone stopped to cover their ears as the wailing continued for an extended period of time.

 It suddenly stopped, meeting them again with silence. However, paintings began to move, pictures falling, doors swinging open and shut, ghostly moaning and shrieking from all corners.

 "Sh-Shinishit!" Sasuke snapped. "What the hell do you think now!?"

 But Shinichi said nothing and just watched the entire house shake and move on it's own.

 Kobato started screaming and Yusuke was beginning to panic, wondering if there was something truly wrong and everyone was beginning to believe a Ghost was residing in Shinichi's house.

 Kazu opened his eyes and brought his eyes to the ceiling, where the shaking was so tremendous, a chandelier clinked against itself.

 And then everything suddenly stopped. Everyone unplugged their ears, opened their eyes, and looked around, confused.

 Then, there was laughter.

 Not eerie, odd, scary laughter, but happy, mischievous, normal laughter. It was coming from nowhere, from everywhere, and no one could tell where it was coming from. Shinichi tilted his head and eyebrow. "...Kaito?"

 A closet in the corner burst open and out fell Kaito, giggling and howling, rolling on the floor he was laughing so hard.

 "Kaito!" the group yelled simultaneously, each voice in it's own surprised, angry, or shocked manner.

 Kaito just continued to laugh, while everyone remained in angry or shocked silence, when a high pitched noise filled the air. Slowly, everyone's emotions melted away into curiousity. The lights began to flash on and off.

 The thief jumped up from the floor and joined the others, appearing just as surprised. "K-Kaito!?" Kobato gasped, but Kaito shook his head.

 There was a light chuckling and everyone turned to the voice. Simply, it was Shirayuki, flicking on and off the lights. Everyone chuckled with relief.

 ...

 "I told you there was no such thing as Ghosts," Shinichi laughed as he sat down on the bed. Everyone had gone home, leaving Kazu and Shinichi to stay in the "haunted" mansion.

 Kazu sighed and sat down beside Shinichi. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered.

 There was some silence before Shinichi patted Kazu on the shoulder. "What made you want to hunt Ghosts anyway?"

 The blond shrugged for a second, but Shinichi interrogated with silence. "When I was little, I always wanted to play Ghost Busters, but Ikki didn't and neither did Onigiri. We always played Devil's Game and I was always the Devil, so I thought maybe fulfilling a childhood wish would be kinda cool."

 The raven stared at Kazu for a long time, before smiling a bit. "That's a lie, isn't it?"

 "No, it's the truth," Kazu replied. "It's just not the only truth."

 "The only reason," Shinichi corrected. "There is only one truth." Kazu growled impatiently with Shinichi, who merely smiled back. "What other reason is there that you wanted to play this game?"

 The blond sighed and fell backwards on the bed. "What if I told you it was a secret?"

 "Then I would find out, one way or another."

 Kazu sighed and closed his eyes. "Then good luck with that."

 ...

 The following day, Kazu arrived to his normal group of friends at the corner cafe in downtown Bunkyo. He blinked when Kaito was there, but no Yusuke. "Eto," he began. "Where's Yusuke?"

 "He moved," Robin frowned, poking at his food. "He couldn't stay."

 "Eh!?" Kazu stammered. "But he didn't even say goodbye!" He took his normal seat and ordered a round of food.

 Sasuke nodded. "So we dragged this guy to hang out with us, since he pulled such an awesome prank last night." Kaito and Sasuke exchanged grins.

 "Works for me," Kazu shrugged, as he got his food. He took a bite of his favorite sushi and beamed. "What do you guys wanna do today?"

 Who Do You Call? Act 2

 "Kaito!" The thief flinched at his name and he nearly ducked for cover when the voice finally registered and he regained his posture. Shinichi was approaching. Not at a fast pace, but he looked a little angry.

 The hall was nice and bright. They were on the third floor, so the sky was easy to see over the lush trees. The day was beautiful.

 The raven-brunette stepped back a bit as Shinichi took a few too many steps and nearly walked into Kaito. "Do you have anything to do with the Ghosts Kazu and the other failure detectives are looking for?"

 Kaito stood stupidly for a long time, wondering what the hell Shinichi was talking about. "I..." he said. "No...?"

 The raven stared at Kaito for a long time, when a third character entered the scene. "Relax, Shinichi. He was just helping me look for my shoes," Kaito and Shinichi turned to the voice of Ran, who was standing by the locker, holding up a soaking wet pair of shoes. "since you were too busy on your case."

 Shinichi sweat dropped a bit, as though he was caught in the act of stealing a cookie. "S-Sorry," he apologized, to Ran instead of Kaito.

 Kaito pushed Shinichi back and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Baka," he hissed. "Don't make such assumptions, will you? You lose your good face as a detective..."

 The detective pouted and backed up so Kaito could have some space. "Why were you upset at Kaito anyway?" asked Ran, walking to the boys. Shinichi glanced at her shoes and guessed they somehow ended up in the fountain outside. He assumed the deed was done by a girl in Ran's gym class.

 "Kazu is spending time with some idiots looking for a Ghost." Shinichi scratched the back of his head. Ran seemed to recoil a bit, as the word Ghost had physically electrocuted her. She managed to regain most of her composure and continued to walk to the boys.

 "Sounds like your jealous," Kaito commented with a knowing smirk, but Ran shot him a look and he went silent.

 "I don't see what's wrong with letting Kazu play around with some friends," Ran said, turning her attention back to Shinichi. "You know he won't find anything, so you don't have to worry about him getting hurt."

 Shinichi shook his head. "No, it's not the Ghost. It's the people he's with that bothers me."

 Ran sighed, but she couldn't say more as a nearby door opened. The sign above read, "Music Room 2" and out peered a blue-eyed male. The three stared at the newcomer for a long time as the blond blinked back.

 ...

 The stairs were dark and the basement was dark. However, it was large. Robin flicked on a flashlight as one of the gadgets he carried around with him and tried to shine as much light as he could on the room, in one sweep.

 Kazu had brought his Air Treks and wondered if he could produce a fire for light. Then, he realized he could burn the building down and decided against it, so he just switched on the back breaks and walked around the large empty space.

 Yusuke started behind the stares, shining a flashlight into the dark. Sasuke leaned against the wall at the bottom of the stairs while the other fanned into the darkness in search of their Ghost.

 There was a short time, before Robin muttered, "I don't think we'll find anything here."

 No one said anything in the disappointed silence, but kept looking instead. Suddenly, the light switched on. All four boys yelped and jumped, turning to the direction of the light switch.

 Sasuke, who was standing beside the light switch, jumped four feet in the air and almost crashed into a crate behind him. When their eyes adjusted to the light, they all huffed in relief.

 "Kobato..."

 The innocent pinkette glanced at all the boys, then asked, "Why are you all in the dark like this? Wouldn't it be easier to see with the light on?"

 "No," Sasuke mumbled, swatting her hand and the light switch. The room was dark again. Robin flashed his light at Kobato so they could see her. "We're hunting a Ghost, so it has to be done in the dark."

 Kobato blinked and put a finger to her chin. "I don't think there would be any Ghosts down here," she said. "unless they wanted to be alone. You might have better luck checking the bathrooms. That's where Miss. Mary is, right?"

 "Eto," Kazu muttered. "Miss. Mary?"

 "I think she means Bloody Mary," Robin said, before tuning back to Kobato. "Thanks. We'll check there then."

 Kobato smiled, glad she could be of service again. The boys each muttered a, Thank you, as they passed, Kobato beaming and returning a quick, You're welcome, and taking the keys to bring back to wherever she got them from.

 ...

 "Eh? Kazu and his friends left already, I thought," Syo said as he followed Shinichi down the stairs. Ran had to head home to dry off her shoes and Kaito decided to go with her, for whatever reason. He probably didn't want to stick around Shinichi too long.

 Shinichi nodded and he began down the next flight of stairs to the main level. "So did I," he said. "but Shirayuki-sensai told me that Kazu came back with Robin, Sasuke, and Yusuke to hunt for Ghosts."

 "They are just trying to have a good time together," the blond replied in defense. "Why are you so interested in what Kazu is doing with them, anyway?"

 Shinichi frowned and scratched his neck. He opened the door to the main level and started towards the basement door. He didn't bother to answer Syo's question. He tried the door, and frowned slightly more when it wouldn't budge. "It's locked," he said.

 There was some silence before the stylish idol had his attention drawn to a motion on the corner of his eyes. A pinkette was trying to find her way out of the school, skipping while doing so. "Excuse me!" Syo called to her. The girl turned and blinked, tilting her head. "Can you help us?"

 The girl's eyes lit up, and she hurried over to the two males. "Hai!?" she chirped.

 ...

 Unfortunately, the boy's bathroom was closed and locked, but when Yusuke tried the girl's bathroom door, it opened almost magically. Now the four boys were wandering the inside of the female bathroom.

 It was soft yellow and pink, much like the boy's bathroom. "Well, this is no surprise," Kazu sighed. He had broken into girl's bathrooms before, with Ikki and Onigiri. He mainly did it to check out the bathroom because he had never been in there before, but Ikki and Onigiri clearly had other ideas.

 "So, what are we looking for?" Sasuke asked, walking to the mirrors with Robin. Yusuke was opening all the stalls, almost expecting to find someone.

 "Could you stop that?" Kazu asked and Yusuke raised an eyebrow at him.

 Before anything else could transpire between the two, Robin said, "Maybe we should try to summon Bloody Mary."

 Suddenly, Kazu seemed a little nervous about the idea. At the sight of Kazu's fear, Sasuke smirked. "Don't tell me your scared, Kazy-chan," he chuckled, and Kazu glared at him. However, the scared expression didn't leave.

 "How do we do that?" Yusuke asked, standing beside Robin. "Flick off the lights and say her name three times?"

 "There is many variations on how to do this," Robin explained, folding his arms. "that involve turning, saying her name, and flicking the lights."

 "We could be here all day trying to summon her," Kazu whined.

 However, the conversation was cut down when the door slammed shut. The four boys flinched and turned to the door to see a rather angry teal-haired teacher by the door. Kazu felt a shiver down his spine as he recognized the teacher; "E-Eh, Kaioh-sensai..."

 "Out," she said, her voice steady but authoritative.

 The four boys filed out of the girl's bathroom until Michiru was alone in the bathroom. She would have scolded him, but she had something to get to. She walked into the stall and changed to Sailor Neptune. She sighed and ran off to her work.

 ...

 "The bathroom?" Shinichi and Syo blinked as Kobato lead them to the bathroom where the four Ghost Hunters had just left. Shinichi tried the boy's bathroom first. "It's locked, but knowing those four..." He turned to Kobato and pointed to the female bathroom. "If you could, please."

 Kobato nodded and opened the door, peering inside. "No one's in there," she said.

 Shinichi sighed and rubbed his finger against his chin. "Where would they be now?"

 "Ano, what about the roof?" Syo suggested.

 The trio exchanged looks, before heading towards a stair case to the next level.

 ...

 "Eeeehhhh," Kaito sighed. "Hunting Ghosts sounds like fun."

 Ran blinked, trying to ignore it. Shinichi says Ghosts are real, so they mustn't be... "Why didn't you try to find those four with Shinichi," she asked. "and join them?"

 The thief looked up at her, adjusting his backpack. "Are you crazy? Shinichi would probably disband them before I had the chance."

 Kaito glanced up a hill, where Shinichi's house sat quietly. He stopped for a moment, staring at the house for a long time. Ran stopped, looked at him, then at the house. "Is something the matter?"

 There was another long silence before Kaito's face lit up. "I got it!" he cheered, then turned back to Ran. "I've got the perfect plan!"

 ...

 Kazu, Robin, Sasuke, and Yusuke lounged somewhere near the edge of the roof; Kazu sat over the edge, Robin ledge against a nearby wall, Yusuke and Sasuke stood in between.

 "No luck," Kazu sighed. "That was embarrassing..."

 "It probably didn't help Yusuke opened all the stall doors," Robin half-sneered.

 "Hey, I was making sure no one was in there!" he growled in reply.

 "That's even worse!"

 "Guys, guys," Sasuke snapped, interrupting the yelling contest. "Relax. Yelling at each other won't do any good."

 Kazu sighed and everyone drew silent, retuning to the position they had before. The roof door opened, and everyone turned to see Shinichi, Syo, and Kobato had entered the scene.

 The blond perked up a bit at the sight of his best friend, but wasn't entirely sure if the appearance of Shinichi was such a great idea. He turned and swung himself back onto the roof, running up to Syo, who met him halfway. "Hey!" he chirped.

 Syo smiled. "Hello!"

 "What are you doing here?" he asked. "School ended a long time ago."

 The idol nodded. "I was practicing in the music room," he explained. "when I heard your boyfriend talking to some others outside. So, I thought I would see what was up, and he told me he was looking for you, and-"

 Suddenly, yelling burst from across the roof. Yusuke, Sasuke, Shinichi, and Robin had somehow started a brawl quieter than a mouse (unfortunately, they were all yelling and trying to kill each other) while Syo and Kazu were talking.

 Both blonds sighed in unison, unsure what to do now, when the door burst open for the third and last time. It was Ran, and she screamed, "S-Shinichi!"

 Instantly, everyone stopped and turned to Ran, who looked terrified. "Eto, Ran," Shinichi blinked, walking up to her. "Are you okay? What's the matter?"

 "Y-Your house," she stammered. "Th-There's a Ghost!"