"Hello?" A woman with bright eyes and hair the color of rich mahogany pushed open the door to Shibuya Psychic research, "Is there anyone I can speak to?"
"Oh, hello! I'm Mai Taniyama, Mr. Shibuya's assistant. I'll go get him for you." Mai started towards Naru's office.
"Oh, wait Miss Taniyama! Um, well, it's you I'd like to speak to. My name's Misao Taniyama. I'm your father's sister."
"Wh-what?" Mai stared at the woman, aghast. Her father had no siblings, he had always said he was an only child, a fact she reiterated to this woman.
The woman who claimed to be Misao smiled softly, "We had a falling out, about a year or two before you were born. Your grandparents, on his side, were wealthy and powerful and they wanted him to marry a wealthy and powerful woman. He was going to go along with it; he had even begun courting his fiancé, Kiyo," The woman paused, "They were a handsome couple."
"Dad said there was no one before Mom…" Who was this woman to soil the image she had of her parents! Her parents were good people and they'd never loved anyone but each other, "I think you should leave." Mai said quietly.
"Why s-"
"I said I think you should leave!" Mai said more insistently now, her words coming out in a rush. She could feel the tears coming and her chest tightening.
"Mai…" The woman started towards her.
"Mai! Are you all right?" Naru had come out of his den roused by his secretary's voice.
Misao turned towards him and gasped, "Kiyo? Is that you?!"
"No, ma'am, my name is Kazuya Shibuya. May I help you?" Mai almost gasped in anger at Naru's calm demeanor. Leave it to Naru to be calm and collected when someone is asking if he's Mai's father's old fiancé.
"Of course not, it's just you look so much like her." She continued looking at Naru, raising her hand to her chest before returning her attention back to Mai, "I always liked Kiyo better than your mother, not to be rude Mai. Oh! I have a picture of her in here somewhere!" She began rummaging through her handbag and Naru looked at Mai, wondering how Mai found the weirdest people to bring into his office.
"Mai, who is this woman?"
"She says she's my aunt."
Of course, someone this scatterbrained and direct could only be a relative of Mai's. Naru couldn't help but think.
"Here," She handed the picture to Mai. It was incredibly worn with tearing all along the edges, there were two people in the picture, Mai's father though about ten years younger was standing behind a woman seated in a plain wooden chair. The woman looked at first glance, a slightly more feminine Naru: A more pointed face, sharper cheekbones, large eyes lined with dark lashes. As she looked closer she saw more subtle differences. This girl's hair was longer though not by much, her sloping nose was a little smaller, her eyes not quite such a vivid blue.
Naru had come up behind Mai and was looking down at the picture over her shoulder, "How did you get a photo of my mother?"
"This is your mom, Naru? Are you sure?" Mai asked, what was her father and Naru's mother doing together? Did this mean…? No, Mai refused to think about that. If it was true that would mean that Naru was her, her…Ah! She couldn't even think the word.
"Oh, I was right! I knew you looked like Kiyo, enough to be her son. You take after her so much." Misao seemed ecstatic to have found some tenuous connection to Kiyo. "Do you know what happened to her? Do you keep in touch? She disappeared without any warning! No letters or calls to any of us!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what happened to my mother," Naru's face was a mask.
Misao's face fell, "You must know something!"
"No. I know nothing about her."
She turned to Mai, "How about we go out for lunch, my treat! I'd like to get to know my niece more."
"Naru, is it okay if I take my lunch a half hour early?" Mai asked.
Naru's mind raced, how could he keep Mai away from this woman? He didn't trust her, not after she asked about his family. She would want to know more and Mai was an open door. And Mai, the trusting, naïve girl would tell her everything and anything she wanted to know.
"Did you finish filing the papers from the last case? And the write-ups?" Naru said.
"Yea, right before I brought you your tea."
"I guess so. Make sure you're back on time." Naru said and stalked back into his office, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Mai and Misao ventured down the empty streets; not many people were out due to the intense heat of midsummer. Finally when the pair could stand it no more, an ice cream shop came into sight.
"Let's go in there, it has to be cold!"
They ordered and sat down.
"So, Mai, how did you meet Kiyo's son?"
"It's a long story," Mai laughed, she wouldn't even know where to begin, "Where have you been all these years?" Mai said.
"I've been in school for most of them; I was never able to decide what I wanted to do though."
"And now we have a leading expert on paranormal research. Tell us, Mr. Hardy, why exactly people should believe in this P.K. that you so firmly believe in?" The T.V. turned in the corner of the shop turned on and a former socialite turned talk show host asked a wizened old man.
"There is substantial proof, the Ganzfeld experiments, the psychic craze that swept Japan a few years back, and most notably the Davis twins," The old man said, holding a mug in his hands.
"Can you explain the Davis twins for those of us unfamiliar?" The socialite said, a smile plastered on her face, "Most of us aren't well versed in psychic phenomena."
"We have a clip. This is closely guarded footage taken at a paranormal conference several years ago. The footage was leaked less than twenty four hours ago." A clip of two young boys began playing on the monitor.
"That looks a lot like Naru," Mai couldn't help but say; she was enraptured by the screen. The boys were around eleven or twelve with dark hair.
"Watch closely as the first twin, Oliver, bounces his P.K. off his twin and then the second twin bounces it back. They repeat this process until substantial energy has built up than Oliver picks up this 50 kilo block and slams in into the wall without touching it." The man said, barely able to contain his excitement.
"Amazing!" The host squealed and oohed appropriately.
Mai couldn't help but shake her head. It was impossible that it was Naru. Plus, Davis? Their names were different. There were probably thousands of people who looked close enough to him, especially younger children.
The man continued, "This is such an amazing video, particularly for the research community that hadn't had the ability to see it before now. Except for the lucky few at the conference, most of us had only read reports on this."
Misao looked enraptured by the TV report, "Mai, do you believe in this? I guess you do though, considering where you work?"
"Oh, um, well, I guess you could say I didn't really believe at first," Mai started, "But when you do what we do, it's kind of difficult not to believe in spirits before long."
So, I wrote this like years ago, but deleted it also years ago. Now I want to rewrite it so here we are.