Finding You:

Chapter 1:


The first of May should have not been a significant day of Mai Taniyama. For the past two years, all of the first of Mays were filled with her usual monotonous working hours, trapped in a cubicle in the crowded office of a company.

This year, a rogue taxi on her way to work broke the pattern.

Mai slowly stirred, fighting against the pain in her head and the dry ache in her throat and lungs. Her eyelids fluttered and she eventually managed to keep her eyes open long enough to register her surroundings.

The white walls surrounding her were not her bedroom or even the infirmary at school. She frowned. Was she in a hospital?

A glance down at her hideously patterned crinkly nightgown confirmed that.

She reached up and gingerly touched her forehead which seemed to be the epicentre of the pain in her head.

"Ow," she moaned out loud and removed her fingers from what felt like a gauze pad on her head.

Mai looked around at her hospital room. There was no IV drip attached to her so she couldn't have been unconscious for too long. She pushed back the covers and slowly sat up being careful not to make any sudden movements that would aggravate her aching head. Once she had achieved that she swung her legs round. She wiggled her toes to restore blood flow before she made any attempt to stand.

The door to her room was pushed open and she was surprised to see a breathless ponytailed monk striding in.

"Bou-san!"

"Jou-chan!" he wailed. "I came rushing here as soon as the hospital contacted me."

"Why would they contact you? You aren't my emergency contact," Mai queried, fully aware that her emergency contact was the teacher that she had lived with.

Bou-san raised his eyebrows, but changed the subject.

"The doctor prescribed you some painkillers so you can leave now," he informed her with a smile. "I'll get your clothes for you."

Now that her brain was functioning past the pain, the most obvious question came to Mai.

"Why am I here?"

The monk paused on his way to the closet in the corner. "Shouldn't you know more than me? All I know is that you got hit by a car this morning."

Mai screwed up her face as she though back to the morning. It was a school day so she had risen early and met Keiko and Michiru on the way to school. That part she remembered but she didn't remember anything about a car.

"If you say so," she said doubtfully. "What's the time?"

"Half past four," he answered as he rifled through the closet.

That meant she was late for work. Naru was not going to be happy that he was not getting his tea.

"Can you call SPR to say that I can't come in for a few days due to the accident?" she requested, not expecting Bou-san's reaction.

He froze and turned round. "What!?"

Mai blinked in surprise. Surely you were supposed to inform your workplace of when you weren't able to come in to work.

"Is there something wrong?"

Bou-san placed a pile of clothes at the end of her bed and sat down next to her.

"Jou-chan, you don't work for SPR anymore."

"I don't...?

She didn't have any recollection of handing in her resignation or being fired so this was strange.

The monk frowned at her. "Jou-chan, how old are you?"

"Eh? 17..."

He signed. "No, you're 23."

"But I go to high school, I was on my way there this morning," Mai protested. She had definitely not aged 6 years whilst she had been unconscious and the accident had happened in the morning.

Wordlessly the monk passed her the stack of her clothes and she gasped. It wasn't her school uniform, a tight black skirt and white blouse didn't come close.

"I think we need to speak with a doctor..." he stated the obvious.

For the better or the worse Ayako Matsuzaki turned up to examine Mai. A familiar face was calming to Mai, but seeing how the priestess' appearance had changed was a reminder that something was not right with her mind.

Ayako poked and prodded her and shine a light in her eyes for an entire hour whilst a frowning monk watched.

"I should arrange for an MRI scan, but it's evident that the head trauma from the accident caused you to lose some memories," she summarised and reached out to give Mai's hand a comforting squeeze. "It appears that you have lost 6 years of your life which will be very disorientating at first."

"How can I get my memory back?" Mai asked worriedly. 6 years was a long time to her.

"I would suggest reacquainting yourself with your normal life- you will have to take time off work, Mai. Your job is too demanding for a 17 year old," Ayako told her with a serious tone to her voice. "Houshou and I will help you as much as we can so please don't dwell on it too much."

"...Are you two on first name terms now?"

Bou-san patted her on the arm as he couldn't touch her head. "Try not to freak out too much Jou-chan, a lot has happened since you were 17- you even dat-"

"Technology has advanced greatly as well," the redhead cut the monk off suddenly. "You should check out your phone."

Something flat and black was passed to her. She turned it over and felt it over. The phone she owned at 17 was a brick that she only used in emergencies.

"Where are the buttons?"

The car journey home was disorientating due to the complete change in landscape and shops. The route was familiar as she had been told that she still lived in the same apartment so she knew that her favourite Dorayaki shop on the corner was now an Okonomiyaki restaurant and the Takoyaki stand had disappeared. She pouted before pulling down her skirt.

Did she really wear this tight short skirt every day and work in an office?

"Bou-san, why don't I work for SPR anymore?" she asked suddenly. "Did Naru return to England again permanently?"

The monk nervously scratched his neck. "No.. he is still here with Lin-san."

"Why don't I still there then?" she demanded, guessing that he was hiding something.

"You and Naru had a parting of ways."

"Did he finally fire me then?"

She had always had a tendency to rub up the wrong way, but he had never threatened to fire her. Maybe she had done something unforgivable.

"Jou-chan, let's leave Naru to last. He probably won't trigger anything anyway because you haven't seen him for a few years," Bou-san suggested carefully. The saga of Mai and Naru's strange relationship was going be a little too much for a 17 year old Mai. "John is currently in Japan so we can see him. Oh, and we can arrange a visit to the television studio to visit your best friend. Guess who it is?"

As he predicted, this distracted Mai completely.

"I-I'm best friends with Masako Hara!?" Mai screamed giving the driver of the taxi a fright.

The monk placed her hand on her shoulder. "I think we won't give you anymore revelations for today. As for you and Hara-san, she really is your best friend- none of us quite know why, but you two are definitely friends. She is one of the contacts in your phone book."

Mai squinted at her mobile phone and located the power button and successfully navigated her way to her contacts. "Masako-chan" was the first on this list as her most used contact.

"No way."

"Her snobbish personality is still the same as ever though," he warned. "Ayako and I will arrange for a meet up tomorrow so don't worry too much. Just go to sleep when you get home."

That night Mai had a strange cacophony of dreams ranging from being chased by an axe wielding ghost through a dilapidated mansion to holding hands with her narcissistic former boss.

She woke up scratching her head in the only place where it didn't hurt. Had those dreams been memories, future events that had not yet occurred or completely random, she asked herself. The monk had promised to call her when he had arranged for everyone to get together so she occupied herself whilst she was waiting by familiarising herself with the contents of her wardrobe and apartment.

Fashion had really changed since she was 17, Mai reflected. Unlike the looser styles fashion she had been accustomed to, everything was tight fitting and short. She picked out the longest skirt she could find which came to just above the knee and she resolved to ask Ayako or any female that she was close to as to why all her skirts were so short. Admittedly she had favoured skirts when she was younger but they were more practical than the ones she found in her wardrobe now.

At 10 o'clock her phone began to emit some incomprehensible song and she tapped the screen gingerly to receive the call.

"Jou-chan, I've arranged to meet Ayako, John, Hara-san and Yasuhara today in a cafe at lunchtime- all that Hara-san and Yasuhara can spare is their lunch breaks," Bou-san said. "I'll pick you up."


The amnesiac glanced around the table at everyone. Masako looked prim in a kimono as usual and her hair was perfectly straight, but she was slightly taller and her eyes were warmer and she had smiled briefly at Mai, causing the brunette to goggle. John and Yasuhara looked the same as when she had last seen them, except that Yasuhara was dressed smartly and had changed his style of glasses.

"Where do you work, Yasuhara-san?" she enquired once they had advanced past questions about her amnesia.

Yasuhara, who had been smiling happily and joking, froze. "In an office, I just do standard stuff like filing."

Mai noted his reaction but didn't say anything. "Apparently I work in an office of a shipping company full time now, I can't believe it. When did my life get so boring?" she said and stabbed and piece of meat.

Yasuhara flinched and Masako took up the conversation.

"Mai, if you would like to know anything about your past, please ask and I can always give you another tour of the television studio- you rather liked it last time."

"Invite me too," Ayako interjected. "The new series of my favourite drama is being filmed at the same studios as your show and the main character is very good looking."

"I believe I only invited Mai," Masako retorted.

"If you're going to invite the old lady, invite me too; I need to warn this actor about a certain old lady."

Mai beamed, some things had definitely not changed over 6 years. She was so intent on watching the familiar disagreement play out in front of her that she didn't notice a tall figure dressed in black run past her to the queue at the counter.

She only became aware of this familiar person when he called out to Yasuhara.

"Don't be late back to the office, you have 15 minutes left of your lunch break," Lin said, not expecting a table full of SPR irregulars to turn and glared at him or to see a certain brunette female. "Mai-san?"

Mai glanced at Lin, he was still dressed the same in black trousers and a white shirt, however he looked more stressed and was holding a polystyrene cup of tea in one hand.

"Hello, Lin-san," she smiled and then became aware of the expressions on everyone else's faces. "Is there something I'm missing?"

"Mai-chan has got amnesia from a car accident," Yasuhara explained to Lin. "She is missing 6 years of memories."

He stood up and pushed his chair in. "I've got to get back to the office."

On the way back to the SPR office Yasuhara explained everything to the omnouji.

"They haven't told her anything about Naru yet, but they can't avoid it forever," he sighed.

"Should we not mention it to him?" Lin wondered aloud. "However he will eventually find out, he does regularly talk to Brown-san and Madoka might let it slip once she finds out from everyone else."

They walked up the bustling street in Shibuya that led to the eponymous Shibuya Psychic Research in a thoughtful silence. Once they were outside the building Yasuhara paused.

"I think we should tell him and end the stalemate between them."

"I agree, ever since that day 2 years ago he has become increasingly irritable," Lin agreed. "He always sends me out halfway to Shibuya to get him tea since he can't have hers."

"It's to everyone's benefit: I get disciplined less frequently, you don't get sent out for tea, Mai-chan gets her memory back and Naru... might return to how he was before," Yasuhara concluded with a confident grin. "Let's go."


Oliver Davis stared at the clock on the wall in irritation. Yasuhara's lunch break had ended 3 minutes ago and Lin was taking extra long bringing him his tea. He debated ringing both of them, but that was too petty even for him.

He sighed out loud and put down the book he had been trying to read. Recently his concentration was getting worse and it was hard to maintain an interest in something for more than 10 minutes. When his concentration drifted, his thoughts ended up going towards a certain female psychic with shining brown eyes- he frowned he had done it again, he was thinking about Mai.

It seems that the phrase "out of sight, out of mind" did not apply in his case, it was more "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

He hadn't seen Mai in 2 years, but he could still remember everything in clear detail from their first meeting to their last.

The door to the main office opened and he knew exactly who had arrived based on the footsteps.

"You are both late. Lin, tea," he ordered, expecting only Lin to enter his office. Instead Yasuhara joined him which was unusual as the man preferred to stay out of his way.

"What do you want, Yasuhara?" Naru demanded with a scowl and picked up his book again.

"I met with Mai-chan at lunch today," he began and shivered when he received a cold glare. "She was in a car accident and has amnesia."

Naru dropped his book and used the time it took to pick it up to reassemble his frantic thoughts. Mai could not have been injured too badly if she was meeting with Yasuhara so he didn't have to draw parallels with the fate of his twin.

"Retrograde?" he enquired calmly.

"Yes, she has no memories after the age of 17."

Naru raised an eyebrow thoughtfully and noticed how his assistants were observing him closely.

"Do you want me to rush to her or something?"

Both shook their heads.

"Just so you know, they're not planning to tell Mai anything about you," Yasuhara said, very sure that this would be the thing to rile Naru up. "She expressed an interest in visiting SPR, however everyone talked her out of it."

Yasuhara knew that he had got it right when Naru's eyes tightened fractionally and his hands twitched.

"Is that so? They cannot keep her away forever," he said. "Get back to work. Lin, tea."