Hi again, everyone! I just finished writing The Tanaka House Terror, and this is the sequel, but can be read on it's own. I apologize for the sucky summary, but in my defense, I lost the paper where I outlined the plot. Fingers crossed that I find it soon...
Just a little word: I hope no one is too disappointed with this story after The Tanaka House Terror. I poured everything I knew about writing a story into there, and everything I could think up about the characters into their personalities, so I might not do this one that great.
Anyways, now that that's out of the way, let's get on with it. Enjoy!
Quote of the day: I'd rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you.
He was kissing her.
It had only been a few seconds since Naru had slammed the door to his office shut and pressed her against it, pressed his lips against hers, but to Mai, it seemed like the moment had always existed and always would. One hand was holding her wrist to her shoulder, trapping her against the door, and the other was laying tentatively on her hip. It had been two weeks since she had first kissed him in the hospital, but the novelty of the closeness between them still made her face heat up and her fingers and toes tingle, and she hoped it always would.
She moved her free hand to reach up into his hair, to pull him down a little harder against her, to press him to her so there was no space in between, and -
The doorbell rang.
Naru was reluctant to break it off, and Mai had to forcefully push him away a little. His eyes were dark and a little unfocused, and it made her smile involuntarily. Just two weeks ago she would never have expected to have that effect on him.
"Tell whoever it is that their case needs to be handled by the police," he growled, "And only to come back it they have proof it's supernatural."
"Naru!" Mai cried. She crossed her arms over her chest. "That's so mean! It's office hours, and we're not doing anything. I'm going to tell them to come in."
"You will not," he said coolly. He took her by the wrist once more, sat her down hard on the chair in front of his desk, and walked briskly from the room.
After getting over her initial shock of being manhandled by her boss/boyfriend, Mai set her mouth in an angry line and went after him.
She reached the front door just as he was calmly informing a rather short man that his problem was the work of criminals. She placed her hands on Naru's side and shoved him as hard as she could. He merely stepped sideways from the force of her push, and it infuriated Mai that he did it so gracefully. Monk had pushed her once, and she had fallen flat on her face. She would give anything to see the Master Narcissist fall flat on his face.
She tore her eyes away from him and stepped in front of the door, throwing it wide open. "Sorry about that," she said as pleasantly as she could. "Come inside, please."
The man looked anxiously between Naru and Mai. "I mean, I wouldn't want to intrude -"
"No, no," said Mai, glaring at Naru. "You are not intruding in the least." She took him by the arm and lead him inside, pretending to be oblivious to Naru's angry gaze. "Mr. Shibuya will attend to you in a moment. Would you like some tea?"
The short man looked utterly bewildered at the difference in the two SPR members' attitudes and didn't seem to know whether he should believe Mai's warmth or Naru's cold dismissal. "I - well - if you're sure it's not any trouble."
Mai smiled at him. "No trouble at all, Mr. -?" She looked at him expectantly.
"Daichi. Akihito Daichi."
Mai held out her hand and he shook it. "This is Mr. Kazuya Shibuya and my name is Mai Taniyama. Pleased to meet you. I'll be right back with the tea."
As she arranged two teacups on a tray in the kitchen, she frowned at the lack of conversation that was coming in from the sitting room. When she finally made it there with the tea, she realized Naru had not said a word and was sitting opposite Mr. Daichi with a cold, calculating glare plastered to his face. Poor Mr. Daichi was sweating profusely and picking at his clothes, trying to make small talk, but Naru was only grunting in reply.
Mai decided yelling at Naru would be unprofessional and calmly put the tea on the edge of the table. She placed one cup in front of Mr. Daichi and one in front of Naru and then sat down beside her boss.
"So, Mr. Daichi," she ventured into the silence. He looked extremely relieved, and it gave her enough encouragement to begin conducting the interview on her own. "You said you are having supernatural problems?"
Mr. Daichi pulled at his collar. "Well, yes. I mean - there can be no other explanation, can there?"
"If you could tell us what's going on, we can decide what to do," Mai told him when Naru didn't say anything.
"Well, it started a while ago - maybe a month, I think?" Mr. Daichi wiped his upper lip nervously. "Guests were coming up to me and telling me all sorts of things. One saw a ghostly mirror image of themselves. One saw a long-lost twin brother they didn't know existed and demanded that I tell them who it was. Silly stuff like that, you know?"
Mai had no idea where this was going, but she nodded for his sake.
"Then - then I saw it myself. It was - it was one of the guests who had just finished speaking to me about a so-called ghost. It was the guest, only….it couldn't have been because the guest had just left the hotel. I called for the guest because I assumed that she had forgotten something, but she ran from me."
"Ran from you?"
"It was the oddest thing." Mr. Daichi nodded a little to himself, no longer a nervous wreck now that he was engrossed in his recollection. "Later I called the doorman and asked him about the guest, but he said she had gotten into a taxi more than fifteen minutes ago."
"So what you're saying is that there seems to be duplicates of people walking around?"
"Or twins."
"Or doubles."
Mr. Daichi nodded again. "Whatever you want to call it, yes. I'm not sure if it's supernatural, but….do you think you could look into it?"
Mai finally looked at Naru at this point. She could conduct interviews and invite people in and pretend to run things all she wanted, but - in the end - it was Naru who had final say and she couldn't argue with that. He was the boss, after all.
"What do you think, Na-Mr. Shibuya?" she asked, catching herself just in time.
Naru stared blankly at Mr. Daichi just long enough for him to break out into a sweat again and then sighed heavily. He rose and stalked off to his office. Mai thought he wasn't going to say anything at all and she would have to run after him and demand that he take the case when he carelessly tossed over his shoulder, "We'll take it, Mr. Daichi."
Mr. Daichi didn't seem to know whether he should be relieved or horrified. Both, Mai thought, what with Naru's awful attitude. And just because Mr. Daichi had had the unfortunate luck to ring the doorbell during a kiss.
Mai thought of the kiss and smiled a little to herself before remembering that Mr. Daichi was still present. She cleared her throat and stood.
"We'll be there tomorrow at around eleven o'clock, Mr. Daichi," she said, and asked him for the address and a phone number.
After he had given her all the information, she added, "If we could have two bedrooms and a conference room prepared for us, that would be very convenient. The conference room should have plenty of electrical outlets." She remembered their previous case and added, "And if it could be on the ground floor, I will love you forever."
Mr. Daichi seemed confused but nodded all the same. "As you wish. You will name your price at the end?"
"Yes. Mr. Shibuya's very particular about this sort of thing." Mai held out her hand and they shook. "Don't worry, Mr. Daichi. We'll rid your hotel of whatever is terrorizing your guests."
Mr. Daichi frowned. "That's just the thing I don't get. No one's been hurt yet."
Mai was puzzled as well, but she banished her confusement and showed him to the door. "Don't worry," she repeated. "SPR will figure it out."
So there's the first chapter. Anyone excited?
For next time: Boring work, a boy with a cute smile, and a few kisses.