Introduction: He would never admit to anyone that the only reason he'd ever even agreed to try anything else BUT Black Currant tea was because Mai had asked him to. Then again, organic mango Ceylon tea wasn't really that bad, and he was glad she had introduced some variety into a small part of his dull routine. Though, again, he would never admit it.
Complicated: It was oddly complicated, having to keep Masako happy enough that she wouldn't throw a tantrum and expose his secret, while subtly showing Mai how much he'd grown to care for her. And then, there was his dead twin brother, who only seemed to further complicated things by vying for Mai's affections from the other side. Yes, things were extremely complicated, but it had been a long, long time since he'd had this much fun.
Rivalry:Gene was in love with her, and nothing could be done about it. It was all the times he'd saved her, helped her, led her…He couldn't help it. Mai was the kind of girl that he and his brother would have fought bloody battles over if they'd met her when Gene was still alive. Now…well, now there was nothing he could do, short of waiting for her to die…But he didn't want that. He wanted Mai alive, because she made his brother happy, and Noll hadn't been happy since Gene had died. And so he would continue to do as he had done before, pretending he was Noll whenever he was around Mai, intent on not letting this misplaced sense of affection cause a rivalry with the only other person he loved in the world.
Unbreakable:Parental bonds are strong. Sibling bonds are resilient. Twin bonds are downright impossible to tear apart. This applied especially to Oliver and Eugene, who had one of those bonds that no one but themselves could explain. What one felt affected the other, and neither could get away with anything without the other knowing. This helped them present a united front to their parents whenever one of them broke the precious family vase, and helped tremendously when Noll fell out of a tree one time. As they aged, their bond grew stronger, to the point where they were steps away from telepathic communication. The day Gene died, Oliver felt a part of himself painfully tearing in two as their bond shattered into a thousand irreparable fragments.
Obsession: Before he'd met Mai, Ayako, Houshou, and John, Gene's death had consumed every waking moment of Oliver's time. Every night, his brother's face appeared in his dreams and every morning, he had to convince himself it wasn't Gene staring back at him in the mirror. He ran a careful and thorough search through all of Japan, trying to find Gene's murderer, trying to find his body, trying to lay his brother's spirit to rest. It had become his life, his only goal, and it seeped into every pore on his body until nothing else mattered but finding Gene. Then he'd met Mai and everyone else – and things changed. He was forced to take haunting cases because that was his disguise. At first, it was an annoyance; anything that distracted him from his brother was an annoyance. But soon, he'd seen how competent Mai was as an assistant, and the others had slowly become his friends…Eventually, he learned that it felt…nice…to help people, to save their lives. And at some point, without him realizing it, seeing Mai's happy and astonished face every time he did something right became his new obsession in life.
Eternity: It was strange, not knowing what time it was and slipping in and out of consciousness at random intervals. He hated it. He hated being stuck in what he assumed was limbo without knowing WHY. He hated knowing that his brother was somewhere out there all alone. And he knew his brother hated being alone, because Gene hated being alone as well. It was lonely…having no one to talk to, no one to laugh with, no one to keep him company in what he was sure was going to be one very , dull eternity. And then one day, a girl had appeared in the vast darkness that was now his home. She had mousy brown hair and a strong personality; she was loud and temperamental, but also kind and altruistic. She thought he was Oliver. He found that through her, he could communicate with his brother in a way, help him solve dangerous hauntings, and he even saved Mai's life a couple of times. She never realized that the figure she kept seeing when she dreamed was not his brother, but Gene. And he never did anything to discourage her otherwise, because he knew he couldn't have her. As Gene grew to love her, he realized that eternity wasn't going to be spent in boredom, but in Hell.
Excuses: He didn't love her. That couldn't happen. She was silly. And loud, she was very loud. And she was always insulting him! Wasn't "Naru" an abbreviation of the word "Narcissist"? All right, granted he was always insulting her as well, but he didn't really mean anything by it! It was just who he was…Except he did enjoy watching her face redden in annoyance whenever a remark hit home. And she did make an excellent cup of tea. Noll didn't know what he was going to do now that Mai was leaving and he would have to make his own tea…Maybe she didn't have to leave? He could offer her a permanent job or…No, it was best if she left. Or was it? She had latent skills, and who knew what could happen if they ever awoke…she might be a danger to the rest of the world if left to her own devices. Yes, it would be best if she stayed close to him. He could keep an eye on her, make sure she was all right. No, that didn't sound right. Mai could take care of herself just fine except…well all those times she'd almost gotten killed. Yes, it seemed that asking her to stay would be the smart thing. But what would he tell her? "You're dangerous to society, please stay here?" Yeah, that would go over well. Or maybe, "I'd like to keep you here for observation…" No, that made her seem like a science experiment. Well…maybe he could be honest? Tell her exactly what was on his mind and what he wanted? And that was? What, that he loved her, and would miss her terribly if she left? Wait, wasn't this what he had been arguing with himself about? That he didn't love her? Okay, what were his excuses again? For the life of him, he couldn't remember.
Rebirth: There was nothing more that Gene wanted than to be born again into the world and be with his brother once more. He wanted to eat corn dogs again, and play with friendly dogs on the street, and wrestle with his brother for control of the remote. He wanted to run tedious errands for his parents, investigate paranormal events again, sit on a street corner drinking an expresso. Oh God, how he missed coffee. More than anything, Gene wanted the right to fight for Mai's heart. He couldn't stand the thought that his brother would get her by default, perhaps never really appreciating what she did for him. Gene wanted to get his body back, and give Noll a run for his money, like he deserved. He hoped with all his heart that whoever was keeping him in the vast darkness where he spent most of his afterlife now would take pity on him one day and return him to his family. He knew it was a hopeless wish, but that wish was all that kept him going.