Ghost Hunt, Volume 10 by Shiho Inada and Fuyumi Ono

Naru has been in the Hospital ever since their last case over a month and a half ago, but now he decides to discharge himself from the hospital. The rest of the Ghost Hunters have been keeping Naru company and staying to make sure he is okay, and Mai realizes that, even though he was in the hospital for so long, no one from his family ever came to visit him.

She wonders about his family and why none of them came to see him, and why he has no insurance and had to pay his medical costs out of pocket. But on the drive back to Tokyo, they make a wrong turn and end up in the middle of a forest. They stay in a campsite overnight, and the next morning they make another wrong turn. This takes them to a lake and Naru suddenly decides to stay. He tells the others to return to Tokyo while Lin and he stay there. And that after this, he will be closing the office, leaving Mai out of a job.

The Mai and the others decide to stay with Naru, even though he makes it clear that he wants to be left alone. He says he has been looking for this place for a long time, and asks Lin to call in Divers. Mai hears that the divers are looking for a body, and she sees Naru standing by, watching. She asks him if it is true, and he seems unsurprised that there are already rumors. Mai asks him whp the divers are looking for and he tells her it is his brother.

Soon after, they are back in the cabins and are approached by two older men. One is the mayor, the other is his assistant. He says that two years ago, the local school closed. Ever since then, strange things have been happening. They were going to hire some psychics to look into it, but since the SPR team is already here... He also says that some people claim to have seen ghosts and spirits in the school. Some say the school is cursed. The town wants to tear down the school to help build an income-making resort, but they don't want any rumors of Ghosts and Curses to scare people away.

Naru agrees to look into the school while he is here, since he wants to be around anyway because of the divers combing the lake for his brother's body. But when they get to the school, they discover that they have been lied to. And not only is the school haunted, the ghosts there are quite malevolent. But when they are trapped inside the school, will they be able to find a way out before the ghosts inside find a way to kill them all?

I enjoyed this series a lot, and after waiting so long for this volume to come out, I was rather disappointed to see that the series might be coming to an end. I do have to admit that I am rather hoping that something will happed to change Naru's mind, and the series will go on, but at this point it's a moot point- they are trapped in a haunted school and there's no telling if any of them will actually survive.

Maybe at some point, Naru will realize that he is one of the best people to deal with this sort of stuff and decide to keep the office open. Maybe he'll die- although I hope not. Maybe someone else will die- and he'd keep the office open in their memory. But given Naru, I think that's a faint hope at best. I just really don't want this one to end- like Saiyuki Reload and Saiyuki Reload Gunlock, it's one of my favorite series, and the thought of it ending fills me with sadness.

Yes, the story in this book was very creepy, but what scared me more was thinking the series might end soon. It's almost horror, but not quite. Yes, the stories can creep you out- this one certainly did! But it never crosses the line into shock horror. It's more the subtle kind that creeps up on you, giving you chills without exploding heads or people being gutted. If there is such a thing, it's subtle, restrained horror- and all the more effective for that. This is one of my favorite series, and I'll pull a major sulk if its actually coming to end. I hope not. Highly recommended.