Ghost Hunt, Volume 5 by Shiho Inada and Fuyumi Ono

The team is still at Ryokuryou High School, where the students are under assault by innumerable ghosts and spirits. Where have they all come from? And what is the black cloud that is eating up the smaller, weaker spirits that have congregated around the school, and growing larger with each spirit consumed?

At last, thanks to Lin, they understand the nature of the problem. The students have been playing a game called Orikiri. This is a type of spell that conjures up spirits. The students have been using the spirits called up to tell their fortunes, but thanks to the way the spell is set up, the spirit isn't dismissed after it is called up. Instead, it stays around, causing mischief.

This version of the spell also has a purpose: to kill someone named at the center of the Orikiri. And the victim is named in Babylonian, which has kept it secret up until now. The target is Matsuyama-sensei, a bullying and scornful teacher. The student who started the game, Sakauchi, could end it, but he is already dead, and his spirit has been devoured by the darkness.

There is another way to end the curse... turn the curse back on the ones who made it work, which means the curse could kill every student at the school who ever even made or played Orikiri, not knowing its intent. The dark spirit, manifesting as a large black dog, is now ten feet tall and capable of affecting the real world. There is no chance that either Matsuyama or the students will escape death. Even if the curse is spread out over the hundreds of students at the school, they could all die.

But there simply isn't any other choice. Mai screams at Naru, unwilling to sentence the students to death. Or Matsuyama, either. But the other exorcists back him up. There is no other way. No matter which way is chosen, someone will die. Who will Mai choose, and can she save the students, who had no idea what they were doing, from dying en masse at the morning assembly? And what will the cost be to her if someone dies?

An effective ending to the story of Ryokuryou School. Mai usually trusts Naru to do what is best, but when he is ready to up and leave, letting the curse fall, she loses all the trust she had in him in an instant. Even worse when he decides to turn the curse back on the students who sent it to save Matsuyama sensei. Mai is caught between a rock and a hard place, and her inability to choose who should die could cost everyone their lives.

Of course, there's an unexpected twist ending, and even I, who had read all the previous volumes, didn't see it coming. Yes, Naru is cold-blooded, but is he such a bastard that he'll actually kill students to end the curse? Given what we've seen of him so far, it's hard to say, so we, the readers, lose faith along with Mai.

In the end, Naru is still a very mysterious figure, cold and apart from other people. He and Lin seem to be similar, both rather aloof and hard to get to know. It makes me wonder why... and hope we'll get answers soon. I recommend not only this book, but this entire series, for shocks, horror, and just all-around excellence.