Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture, Vol. 1 (light novel)

Naoya Fukamachi is a university student whose ability to infallibly detect lies has left him friendless and isolated. When he writes a paper about a strange festival he wandered into as a child, though, he catches the fancy of his folklore studies professor, Akira Takatsuki, a handsome and eccentric man with a passion for all things mysterious. Soon, Naoya finds himself working as Akira's assistant, helping him interpret an array of unexplainable phenomena, from haunted objects and cursed effigies to urban legends. As this odd couple continues their investigations, however, Naoya realizes that his professor has had a few bizarre childhood experiences of his own...