Chapter 2: On our way

MAI'S POV

"Mai-chan! Lunch is ready!" Mrs. Takumi called from the house.

I put down the small shovel in my hand and looked up towards the house. Mrs. Takumi stood by the door with a smile on her face. "Coming," I replied back and got up.

I walked towards her and took off my gloves. I have taken a liking to helping Mrs. Takumi in the garden every day. Since I started living here, my mind has been so occupied that I hadn't thought about Naru and the SPR once. I think it's better to forget then to hold on to this pain of not being able to reach nor touch him, which is why I moved here in the first place. But it was also for Mrs. Takumi.

"I am so glad I have you here with me. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have you here with me Mai-chan," Mrs. Takumi said after we settle down on the kitchen table for lunch.

"Me too. I'm glad I'm here with you too," I replied. Mrs. Takumi hadn't been doing well since Yuki died. She sometime would hallucinate and say she saw Yuki around the house. But she hadn't been hallucinating for a while since I've been here. 'I'm glad I can help her stay sane as long as I can,' I softly smile to myself.

"Ah, I just remember," Mrs. Takumi said all of a sudden, "I need to do some grocery shopping."

"I'll do it," I stood up before she could.

"It's alright, I have to move around every once in a while," Mrs. Takumi gave me a soft smile and stood up, "I can't stay in the house forever, right?"

"But" I wasn't even done with my protest when she interrupted "Nope, you just finish your lunch and rest. You have been working too hard for your own good. It's not good to do too much work. You need to rest once in a while," with that said and done, she dash off, well, not basically dash off, but you know what I mean.

I sat back down and look at my half eaten sandwich and push it aside. Now that I'm not doing anything, my mind is drifting back to Naru and the others. 'I wonder how they are doing. Are they well? I wonder what Naru and Lin-san is doing in England? Should I give them a call? Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, I don't even know any of their phone numbers,' I lay my head down on the table, 'I want to see them all again. I missed Naru.' I missed Naru so much that it's unbearable sometimes. But I'll just have live with it until I can forget about him. But when will I forget about him?

*GHOST HUNT*

NORMAL POV

"Sheesh, that girl," Monk-san sighed heavily against the steering wheel, "We haven't seen her in a year and she gotten herself in trouble again."

"Not to mention the nonchalance boss who didn't even bother to say hi after such a long year," Ayako hissed from the passenger seat.

"Now, now you two," Yasuhara-san said from the back seat, "Just let it go concerning Shibuya-san, and Mai-san, well, let just hope she is alright."

"I agree," John-san said from beside him, "Everyone knew Shibuya-san would be like this, so just let it go. Getting to Mai-san as soon as possible is our top priority right now. So let's not be angry about Shibuya-san's behavior."

"You have a point," Ayako sighed in agreement.

"By the way," John-san continued looking a bit confused, "Isn't Sakurako High built on top of an ancient castle that belonged to an unknown ruler?"

"Now that you mention it," Yasuhara-san said from the seat beside him with a remembering look, "I read something about that once in an article when Sakurako High was built 24 years ago. While I was going through some of my grandfather's old newspaper, I found an article about the school ground. I don't remember much of the details since it were a far while back, but I do remember the article said something about discovering an ancient wooden box. Archeologists couldn't open the box to study what was inside, so it was sent to a top research lab in England, and then was later sent Tokyo Museum."

"That story might actually mean something. We should keep that in mind in case something concerning the school comes up," Monk-san said.

"Hm," John-san nodded in agreement.


"This is so exciting!" Madoka squeaked in delight as she bounced in her seat beside Naru and behind Lin-san, who is at the moment, concentrating on driving.

"Madoka," Naru glared at her, "This isn't a tripped, and remind me again why you are here?"

"I'm here because I haven't see Mai-chan for a whole year thanks to you two, so I am coming along whether you like it or not," she firmly explained.

"And beside," she returned to her happy-going-attitude, "I know you missed Mai-chan just as much, maybe more, so let's not pretend you don't care one bit about this, ok?"

Naru just let out a long sighed, "This is going to be a long trip."


AUTHOR"S NOTE- I know it is short and very random, but i hope you continues to review this story. Thank you for reading! (Bow)