File 01: The Mysterious case of Mai and the Maggot Man

That morning, I was unusually early for work. Partly because I didn't want Naru to be a pain in the ass about my lateness, but mostly because I went to visit my parents graves. You know, just to keep them company a while.

"Mai, why do you look as if you've been crying?" Ah.. Crap. I had hoped Naru would just stay in his office and not bother about me being early.

"No reason, really." I shrugged as I hung up my coat and sat down at my desk to a mountain of paperwork. I could feel him staring at me. He wasn't going to leave until he got an answer, that much I knew.

The sooner I tell him, the sooner he'll leave me be. I thought to myself.

"Well… since it's the anniversary of my mum's death, I went to visit my parents grave. Forgive me if I got a little emotional." I told him irritably. He looked away.

"Sorry.. I didn't know." I raised an eyebrow. Was he apologizing to me?

"You need some tea?" I ask, wanting to change the topic. He nodded.

"Thank you, Mai."

"No problem."

As I waited for the kettle to boil, I sighed. Geez, I hated it when Naru was nice to me, it totally threw me off. Just when I think I've figured him out, something weird happens. I was staring off into space when suddenly everything went black and little white orbs floated all over the place. Just brilliant.

"What do you want now, Gene?" I asked, just as irritated with him as I was with his brother. For a long time, I had thought Gene was Naru (long story, but don't you lot mind that just now). Naru left back to England when he found gene's body.

I'm just glad that Naru came back, SPR wouldn't have been the same without my narcissistic jerk of a boss. Who couldn't see that it was him I loved, not Gene. Idiot scientist.

"Aww Mai, you just can't stop thinking of Noll, can you?"

"Shut up. Just show me whatever it is I need to see.""Okay, but I gotta warn you, it's not pretty.""When is it ever?"

"Meh. you have a point." he shrugged.

The scene changed, and we were standing outside a hospital at night. I shivered when I saw the sign. It was the hospital where both of my parents had died. Great.

Gene put a comforting hand on my shoulder. I relaxed a little.

I could see men taking someone into the hospital, and he appeared to be struggling. I wanted to help him, but, as always, Gene shook his head gravely.

"Just watch." He told me gently. His eyes were pained. I nodded, reluctantly.

The men had a jar of something with them. I looked closer… eww! Maggots. The man they were holding strove harder to escape when he saw the jar. Knowing what was coming next, I wanted so much to avert my eyes, but I couldn't. One of the men held his nose, and the other unscrewed the lid of the jar and shoved it into the poor man's mouth. Gene covered my eyes for me.

"That's enough. I'm sorry you had to see that, Mai." I wanted to cry and gag and scream out with repulsion. I was shaking, and Gene could see that.

"You should wake up now, Noll will be worried." I nodded, not wanting to spend another second in this wretched place. But I knew I would be back there. Our next case would be there, otherwise, I wouldn't have seen it. Just my luck, isn't it?

"Mai?" I wake up to Naru's face practically right in front of mine, his big blue eyes looking at me with concern.

"Uh… yeah?" I blink a couple of times. "Oh no, the tea!" I exclaimed, and sit up, narrowly missing whacking Naru in the face. He puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Mai, it's alright, what did you see?" His eyes studied me and I looked down, trying not to think to much, or else I'd be sick.

"There were some men, outside a hospital, and they shoved… maggots down a man's throat. It was disgusting." Just saying it made me want to throw up.

"Alright, just let me get you some tea to settle your nerves a bit. If you can stomach it, okay?" I nodded. I was used to him being nice to me after I had my dreams. Especially the ones where I die… and I know why that is, because he knows exactly how I feel. After all, he touched something of his brothers and saw his death. Not pretty.

He came back with the tea.

"Thank you, Naru." I said as he passed me the cup. It helped me forget, just for that little moment.

"Do you know where the dream occurred?" I nodded.

"The hospital where both my parents died."

"Oh… Mai…" I couldn't bear to see that look in his eyes… that sadness. The compassion. Naru shouldn't look at me like that. Not if he doesn't care.

"Hey, it's okay, I'll be fine. I'm a big girl Naru, I can look after myself." He laughed at that. Laughed!

"I don't think so, you're more incapable of looking after yourself than anyone else I know.""Oh shut up Naru!" I stuck my tongue out like a little child and he smiled.

"There we go, that's the old Mai back."

"Now you just have to put back on your cold heartless mask and everything will be back to normal."

I think he would have laughed, except Lin had to walk in right then.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked, in mock innocence. I rolled my eyes and grinned.

"Nah, I just almost got Naru to laugh.""Mai, you're deluded.""Not as much as you" I muttered under my breath. If he heard me, he didn't respond. I sighed. When the hell was he ever going to figure it out? Idiot scientist.

"Mai had a dream, I think whatever our next case is, it'll have something to do with her dream."

Well yeah, it always does. Idiot.

Just then, the door opened.

"Hello, is this Shibuya Psychic Research?" I stood up and greeted the middle-aged man with receding, greying hair that had appeared in the doorway.

"Hi, welcome to Shibuya Psychic research, how can we help you?" I bowed and waited for an answer.

"I'm the chairperson of…." He said more, but the thing that I was really worried about was the fact that he was the chairperson of the hospital my parents died in. The one I just had a dream about. I felt sick to the stomach.

I think Lin noticed, because he looked up from his computer.

"Want to go get some tea for our guest, Mai?" I nodded, glad of the excuse to get away.

Naru was talking over the technicalities of the case with the chairperson of the hospital. I tried not to listen, but I couldn't help catching snippets of conversation as I brewed the tea.

"-always, at the scene of the sightings, witnesses say they've seen a man with maggots gnawing their way out of his eyeballs or some part of his body. They're traumatised for weeks, and refuse to go anywhere near the hospital. It's bad for business-"

"-Has anyone been harmed?" Naru pressed. The chairperson sighed, and nodded.

"I'd say being killed counts as harmed. He was only fifteen… he still had so much to look for. After…I hardly recognised-" The chairperson choked up just as I came through with the tea. Seeing the look on his face, I was horrified.

"Your son?" I asked, my voice quiet with sympathy. I placed the tea carefully on the table, and sat next to the man, putting an arm around him as he cried into his hands.

Eventually, the chairperson regained his composure and dried his tears.

"Thank you, young lady. Yes… well, my adopted son. We couldn't have any of our own, you see. He was everything to us. My wife and I. She's so heartbroken. I don't want another family to lose someone in such a horrible way. There are some horrible ways to die, but if you'd seen…" All his emotions were coming out rolled into one. This was probably the first time he'd confided in anyone.

"Of course we'll help." I told him, looking pointedly at Naru. He sighed and rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Agreed. This doesn't sound like something we can ignore. We have to be sure that nobody else dies because of that thing." He was looking curiously at the chairperson. Of course, Naru was adopted, just like that boy.

I had a sickening feeling that it was connected.

The chairperson looked relieved, but still very depressed. I smiled encouragingly at him. Maybe soon I'd get up the courage to ask him more about his adopted son. I had a hunch that I'd need to know.

Naru was watching me as I helped the man back out to his car. He thanked me and was genuinely grateful for our agreeing to help. He even waved as he left. Then there was something like a flash of recognition in his eyes. He rolled down the window of his car, and called out to me

"You're not… Kimi-chan's daughter, are you?" He asked. Dumbstruck, I nodded. He looked down at his feet. " She was a great woman. I was honoured to have known her. You have her eyes." He paused again. "I'm going to visit her grave tonight, to pay my respects." I was touched. I didn't know what to say, so I just bowed gratefully.

"Arigatou. Sir."

When I returned to the office, Naru was sorting through some files or something.

"He knew my mother." He looked up. Smiled sadly.

"Must have met her in the hospital, maybe?" I shook my head distractedly. I didn't think that was it.

"What was his name, Naru?" He rolled his eyes, but I knew he would tell me, sooner or later.

"Kano Itigawa. Why?" That name rung a bell… why was that? When I remembered, my cheeks burned crimson red.

"What is it? Did your mother know him? Was he a family friend or something?" Full of questions today, wasn't he? Well, I supposed I should tell him.

"Yeah, she mentioned him, once or twice, when I asked her what she had been like as a little girl." Naru's eyebrow arched questioningly. I wondered if he would see where this was going. "He was her childhood sweetheart." Naru blinked. I'd managed to surprise him.

Even Lin stopped typing at that.

A/N: Hi everyone! I'm back! Bet you weren't expecting that! Well, I'd started this story ages ago. But now I'm finally done the first chapter. I thought I'd let you all know that I'm still alive

Mai: You had me worried, you silly old writer, you.

Me: I know, but with school and my NaNo novel… well, life's been hectic.

Naru: And some of us have actually been working. You moneyless scrounge.

Me: That was a low blow, Naru, even from you ;p

Expect an update at some point in the hopefully not-too-distant future. if you know, I don't get swallowed up by exams D: