"Hey, Naru? I have a favor to ask."
Mai's boss looked up at her words and arched an elegant eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Well..." Mai held the tea tray liked a shield in front of her. "There's this house I'm interested in. It's currently being renovated, but the work keeps being interrupted by what sounds like a haunting. I was wondering if maybe we could check it out?"
Naru picked up his cup, took a sip. Peering over the rim, he watched as Lin walked in.
Though the Chinese man towered over Mai, they seemed to fit together, somehow.
"Very well," Naru decided, setting the teacup down on his desk. "I'll take the case."
He struggled to hold back a smile when Mai squealed happily. He succeeded, but Lin did not.
They had set up Base in what would be - if Mai got the house and had her way - a super cute office. Alas, Lin hadn't seemed to think this was important enough information to add to the case file.
Ignoring the pouting Mai, Naru crossed his legs and leaned forward. He somehow managed to look menacing despite the fact he was currently sitting on a cardboard box. "So, why exactly did you hire our services?"
The builder (a quick peek at Lin's laptop revealed his name to be...光宙...?) scratched the back of his neck. "Well, we're pretty sure the ghosts haunting this place are the spirits of this couple that lived here. They both died when a fire broke out. Faulty wiring or somethin'."
"We need you guys to get rid of them. They keep possessing the workers and making them fight or...kiss. Trust me," he shuddered, "It's only funny when it isn't happening to you."
"Ooh la la," Monk chuckled, once the man had left. "Looks like this is the case for you, miko."
Ayako narrowed her eyes. "You touch me, I'll kill you."
"Ha! As if I'd even want to."
Once they finished with setting up a camera in the hallway, Mai went over to lean against the wall. Lin followed, gently gathering her up in his arms.
"You're shivering." His voice was sharp with worry. The man hastily shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around her small shoulders.
Mai smiled up at him.
"Thanks." A moment of silence drifted by, then, "Hey, Lin?"
"Hm?"
"You don't think Naru is going to harm these spirits, do you? I mean, they aren't hurting anybody."
Lin drew her closer, until their bodies were pressed together. He could still feel her trembling. "You know he always does what he believes to be right."
She nodded, seemingly comforted. Taking a quick look around, she reached up and pressed her lips to his.
Takigawa was having a pretty chill day until he saw Mai and Lin canoodling in the second floor hallway.
Feeling kind of grossed out, he took a step back and shouted down the stairs, "Lin and Mai are possessed!" before barreling forward and shoving them apart.
"Well," Mai sighed, rubbing at her forehead, "this sure does suck."
"Yes," was Lin's muffled reply. "It very much does."
They were currently locked in two separate rooms, their friends assuming that the ghosts were using them to quench their...desires. Ugh.
Luckily the house was a bit of a mess because of the renovation, and there was a pretty big hole in the wall for them to communicate through.
Sadly, there would be no escaping through it: their make-shift window was lined with nails.
Mai could see Lin was standing with his arms crossed. He was muttering under his breath about how he was going to kill 'that boy'.
It was kind of obvious that Naru knew about their relationship, so how come he was being a jerk and not backing them up? Honestly-
"You fucking bastard!"
Lin whipped his head around to look at his girlfriend with wide eyes. "Mai, what-"
His expression turned sour. "If I'm a fucking bastard, you're a fucking bitch, Sana."
"Cheater!"
"Nagging liar!"
"Ugh!" Not-Mai clawed at her hair. "Why the hell do I even love you? I mean, it's you're fault we're dead for kami sake!"
Not-Lin dropped the lightbulb he had been about to throw. "Did you just say...you still love me?"
His tone was twisted with disbelief.
"Of course, idiot," Not-Mai said, perhaps with a hint of fondness. "Even if you are stupid enough to leave the oven on before coming to bed."
"Well, I know you're not too bright, but..." Not-Lin reached a hand through the hole in the wall. "Are you enough of a fool to give me another chance?"
She took it. "Of course, you bastard...if you don't leave me first to go to hell."
One couple passed - happily? - on, while the other couple just passed out.
"We really are terribly sorry," Ayako sighed, tugging at her necklace.
Monk looked only mildly queasy now. "Yeah, we had no idea you guys were a thing."
"Really." Lin shook his head and chuckled, amused...and content. "We've been together for five months."
Having woken up some time ago, Lin and Mai were now sitting together. Since the spirits had moved on, they had all gone back to the office for tea.
"I should have put extra lemon in your tea, Naru-chan," Mai fumed. "Why didn't you tell them we're dating?"
Naru shrugged as he stirred his drink with a silver spoon. "Because it was amusing to watch."
"By the way," he continued, before the angry girl could explode. "Did you two get the house?"
"Thankfully yes, since Mai wanted it so much," Lin nodded, actually quite pleased himself. "On top of that, the landlord was grateful to us for helping him, so he lowered the rent."
"I'm glad to hear it."
"This means we can afford a good TV!' Mai pumped her fist, anger momentarily forgotten. "We need HD so we can watch all those cheesy ghost hunting shows!"
Both Naru and Lin cringed, though the latter didn't really mind.
Mai might have had her quirks, but so did he: Lin was just glad neither of them had died in some horrible accident yet.
Yet...
Naru was choking on smoke, and he wasn't even in the house. A cellphone dangled from his fingertips, the 119* operator saying that a firetruck would be there soon - soon, but too late.
As he watched his best friends home burn with them inside it, Naru could think only one thing: history repeats itself.