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I am the manry-est of men!

"Yeah, that is true... maybe looking at some of the old case files might help? Most of the files for the original case were made public, so we should be able to find them at the library," she said thoughtfully. The other store patrons were starting to get restless from the storm. A message played over the store's speakers. "Attention, shoppers: The area has just been put under a severe tornado warning until seven-thirty this evening. For your safety, we ask that you remain inside the store until the warning has been lifted. Thank you for shopping at Electric Trends."

I am the manry-est of men!

Raenah sighed at the announcement and thought about what Minato said. How were they supposed to dig deeper? It wasn't like they could talk to anyone involved in the incidents; most all of them had either moved away, died, or been moved to mental health institutions. "The valley hasn't flooded since the sewer system was expanded under the town sixty some odd years ago," she explained, "but the drains in some parts of town do get backed up at times."

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"Alright, but let's wait until that warning has been lifted. It's only another half hour, and the library is open until ten," Raenah said with a nod. "The drains themselves are fine, but people have been littering and blocking them more and more often. It's really bad up by the college since most of the out-of-area students are absolute pigs. Ah, no offense to you, of course; you don't seem like the kind of person to be so careless." The storm began to lighten slightly, and the other store patrons began to relax. The street lights came on outside, signifying that it was officially seven o'clock.

I am the manry-est of men!

Raenah hummed in acknowledgement and slight agreement, watching through the front doors at the storm outside. After a while, the announcement came on that the all-clear was given for the tornado warning, and she walked with Minato to the library under their umbrellas. The poor man's college was nearly empty because of the weather, and those that were still there weren't bothering to speak in hushed tones even though they weren't loud. "Was there anything you wanted to look for specifically while we're here?" she asked him.

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She pondered for a moment and said, "Well, there are old newspaper articles about the incident in the archives section, and we might want to check out some occult books since this whole thing started with the valley's ghost story. Which section do you want to check out first? We have a little over two hours tonight." She set her bag and wrapped umbrella at a table in the study section so they could have a place to spread out whatever materials they found.

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Raenah had gathered some occult books and browsed through them. "Huh, that's weird. Maybe it had something to do with the ritual? It's said that the ritual summons something. Depending on who you ask, it could be a ghost, a demon, or even the dead. Most of the books here say things about summoning monsters and demons using mirrors, so maybe they were possessed by whatever they summoned," she said showing some of the diagrams in the books that looked similar to the pictured in the articles.

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"Ah, wait a second, I think I remember reading something about the mirror being a gateway to the spirit world or something," Raenah said as she flipped through the pages of a large, leather-bound book. The were diagrams and drawings on almost every page. She stopped on a page with a large mirror on it and started muttering the page's text aloud. "Full-length... connection... spirit world... home of the soul... it looks like this is the page. Take a look." She passed the tome over to Minato and started looking over the old newspapers again.

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She leaned over and read a couple of the passages in the book again. "Yeah, that's what it seems like. Man, this is some creepy stuff. It's no wonder they stopped the investigation if things like that were happening," she said looking through a newspaper.

"Ah, hey, look here. This was the first victim in the incidents. Jeremy Swift, age 23, Junior at Crystal Valley University," she said and pointed to a faded monochrome picture that accompanied the article. She read the accompanying text aloud.

"April 2nd, 1973. Late Sunday evening Reflection Police were called to the boys' dorm at Crystal Valley University. The remains of 23 year-old Jeremy Swift were found in the room where he lived, discovered by his roommate after returning from a visit home. Investigators have said that they believe that foul play may be involved but that they do not have any suspects at the time of printing.

"In an interview, Swift's roommate said that the scene was like something out of a horror movie, and that the room smelled like the inside of a meat locker. 'The carpet was burned, and there was a melted candle over by the mirror on the bathroom door. The body was... well, it was in pieces, all over the room,' said the roommate.

"Police found several books on the occult on Swift's bookshelf, and already several students have come forward with information about Swift prior to his death. Swift had been behaving strangely for several days the previous week, and hadn't been seen since Friday. Classmates of Swift have said that he had been distant and distracted, even paranoid. Police are wondering if bullying may be involved and will continue to investigate."

She handed the article to Minato and hummed quietly in thought to herself.

"I remember reading that the police were up in arms after that because there were six more cases exactly like this, and that one of the victims was one of the officers investigating the case. That's when they put a stop to the investigation. There were two more victims after that, and that's when they decided to demolish the dorm."