I've never been very good at casual conversation, but with the right people, the task doesn't prove too difficult. Like with Gene, for example. My brother and I could talk for hours; Gene knew what to say and how to say it. However, Gene never talked as much as she did.
She seemed to always have something to say. Whether it was to yell at me or ask me a stupid question or state the obvious which was also stupid that I was forced to bully her for the sake of my sanity. She was so easy to bully. Her reactions were amusing and passed the time. Also her being angry made her quiet, which gave me a few moments of peace and quiet.
I supposed I can say that it wasn't a huge surprise when she confessed. She'd always looked at me a certain way and then she began to get the dreamy look in her eye that most when get when they begin to 'fall in love' with me. More like a brief infatuation with my outer appearance. I realized she'd been seeing Gene in her dreams and I just knew tat she was in love with Gene.
I wasn't prepared for the look of utter sorrow to cross her face when I told her that she was in love with Gene. I figured she'd be happy to know that the man she loved was kind, caring and yet she looked at me as if I'd taken her heart and spat on it.
It is not as if I'm completely immune to my own emotions. Mai was always cute. She was a pretty girl, with a humble attitude. However, I viewed her more as a 'little sister' than the type of woman I could fall in love with. I would never tell anyone else that I found her cute but I did.
Leaving was harder than I thought it would be. I'd grown accustomed to scolding the irregular members of SPR for being too noisy in my office. I'd grown to tolerate all of their personalities and even like them, sometimes. I'd grown accustomed to having her close where I could keep an eye on her to be positive that she she wasn't being an idiot and getting in to trouble, as per normal. Lin and Madoka seemed to miss her the most as well, even though I know they missed them all. What was it about her that made it so difficult for people to leave her? I wasn't sure I'd ever find out.
Getting Gene's body to England and having a formal burial was what should have brought my mind to peace but it didn't. I soon realized my PK was out of control and I had no way of reigning it in. I was waking up nearly every day with things floating around my room and I began to cough up my own blood.
I, much like my father, am always prepared for whatever scheme my mother cooks up. She's very good at surprising us, and she had done it yet again.
Visiting my parents' after work had become a daily routine for me. It kept my mother off my fathers' back and kept me sane so I would be free of phone calls from her all night.
My mother makes excellent tea. She always had for as long as I could remember. So I wasn't surprised when she set down tea of my own and then for my father. She seemed to be continuously glancing at the door, as if expecting company. My father noticed it too because he continually shot her bewildered looks for her strange behavior.
The door bell rings and my mother is gone in the blink of an eye. The conversation between my father and I immediately switches to her odd behavior until I'm cut off by my mothers' voice, "Mai-san."
Before I even realize it, I'm standing so quickly that my chair scrapes against the floor and I'm to the front door in few strides. I realize vaguely that my father is right behind me.
Mai stands there in the doorway. Her eyes hold more wisdom, more intelligence than they had before. Her face doesn't hold a smile, which is the biggest change of all.
The sight of her astonishes me. It's Mai⦠but then again, it isn't.
"Mai?"
When she speaks, her voice is deeper than I remember, "Naru." Her lips twitch and I see that sunny smile wanting to pull through, but she doesn't allow it.
Why?
I hadn't heard the name 'Naru' since I left Japan. It was like a memory from the past coming to torment me. However, unlike my other memories, this one brought warmth.
She seemed to be on guard, as if waiting for me to be hateful toward her. I was never hateful toward her. A little rude and sometimes mean, but never hateful.
Instead of trying to figure her out, I raise an eyebrow at her, "What are you doing here?" I was completely aware of my father staring at the both of us from behind me, but it didn't even occur to me to speak in English.
Speaking in Japanese with Mai was about as instinctual and comfortable as speaking with Gene used to be.
"Your mother invited me." Her eyes sparkle with hidden mischief.
"Hey big boss!" A voice says. I see Yasuhara Osamu glide in right behind Mai. He turned out to be a handsome man. Not as handsome as me, but still.
"And you're here-?"
"We're a package deal." Mai says, placing herself in front of him as if to protect him. Stubbornly fierce eyes stare back at me, "You want me? You get him. Bottom line."
Ah. A look I recognize.
Wait a second. Yasu and Mai? Mai and Yasu? As in, dating?
The thought sends an unfamiliar pang through my body. I don't dwell on it, instead moving to look at my mother, who smiles and says, "I have a plan."
"Oh no." My father groans in English, "I know that smile."
A painfully familiar giggles makes my head turn. Mai's hand is over her mouth but I can see her raised cheeks, as if she was hiding her laughter. My mother smiles at her, before turning to my father and I, "Everyone in the kitchen. Madoka will be here in a few moments to help me explain." She'd spoken in English, but Mai and Yasuhara begin moving towards our kitchen as if they'd understood her.
With a inquiring look from my father that I ignore, I move toward the kitchen.
The two women hold conversation about meaningless things while they prepare tea. Eventually they begin to converse about tea while the three of us sit at the table, staring at them.
"It smells wonderful in here!" Madoka glides in with Lin not far behind her. She squeals when she sees Mai, "I was wondering when you guys were finally going to get here!" She'd spoken in Japanese that time. She smiles at the rest of us, "Now, let me explain what is going on."
"Absolutely not." I growl in English, trying my best not to throttle my mother and the pink haired woman in front of me.
"Oliver, dear," my mother smiles the smile that used to be able to make Gene do anything she asked, "Think about this. Mai-san could really help you with your-"
"I said no." I bite out between clenched teeth. There is no way I'm subjecting someone as small as Mai to that. She's too young and way too innocent. Even if it would work, she'd have to live with me in her head all the time, and I don't want to deal with the thoughts of a woman enraptured.
"Noll," Madoka snaps, "Don't be stubborn."
I toss a glare her way, "You're the one who thought this was idiotic plan up aren't you?"
My father chimes up, "Actually, Oliver, it isn't that idiotic. It makes sense. I think I she can help you balance out your power, then it's worth a shot."
I shoot him my frostiest glare, "No."
"Good thing you don't get a say so, huh, Naru?" Mai's tone chimes around me like strings on a harp. But not in Japanese. She'd spoken in English. It wasn't perfect, but it was still astonishing. I remember when she was in the old SPR office hading the upmost difficult troublw saying 'water,' and now she's speaking English, albeit with an accent.
Despite how amazing I think it truly is for her to come this far in her studies, I can't let her convince me to do this to her.
"Don't be an idiot. My PK could kill you-" I'm cut off as chest heaving coughs wrack my body. My mother shrieks my name, running to my side as I attempt to stop. I cover my mouth and I vaguely notice my mother's hands disappear to be replaced by a set of much smaller, more delicate hands.
Something bubbles up my throat and in my mouth. Copper fills my mouth and I spit the blood out in to the cup my mother places in front of me. A hand rubs my back as I continue to cough up my own blood.
Eventually it's over and I look up. Yasuhara is standing next to my father with an aloof expression on his face. He's looking to the side of me. Turning my head, Mai is staring at me with a stubborn expression, one that I know very well. She glares at me, "We are doing this, Naru. Whether you like it or not. I won't let you kill yourself because of your selflessness."
My chest tightens. How does she know my reasoning for not wanting to do this?
She turns on her heel and stomps out of the room.
A chuckle makes me turn and I see Yasuhara grinning at me, "Well, you aren't getting rid of her now. You know how stubborn she is. Might as well get used to it." With a wink (after his oddly unaccented words), he stands up and calls in Japanese, "Hey, girl! You better wait up!" With a polite thank you to both of my parents, he runs after her.
I look up at my parents, who are stunned in silence. Sighing, I pull my handkerchief from my pocket and wipe the left over blood from my mouth. My father looks at me and smiles, "I've decided that I like her." My mother nods rapidly in agreement. With a silent groan, I move toward the bathroom to wash my face. If both of my parents like Mai, then there is no way I'm getting out of this.
Later that afternoon, my father catches me before I leave for my apartment. He puts his hand on my shoulder to stop me and I turn to see him looking at me with an unreadable expression, "Oliver, try to deal with this for now. Your mother is really just worried about you." I didn't miss the underlying message that he was too, which is why he didn't put a stop to this the minute he realized what mother was doing.
"She had no right to bring that girl here." The words surge forward on their own but I don't stop them.
My father raises an eyebrow, "Who is that girl, anyway?"
"Her name is Mai Taniyama. She's my former assistant and she's in love with Gene." Both of his eyebrows shoot up now, "She can speak to Gene through her sleep. They have a psychic connection that links their two powers together." I notice after I said all of that that I've been scowling.
"So there is a way for Miss Mai to contact your brother and draw on his powers."
I understand immediately where he's going with this, "Father, even if she is able to, there is still no guarantee that she will survive. I could fry her from the inside out."
"You could, but you won't." He fixes me with a leveled look that I've seen for the majority of my life. It means he is about to tell me something I won't like. "You care for this girl, Oliver. Maybe not the way Lin cares for Madoka or the way I care for your mother, but you do care about her. Maybe even a little bit more than you're comfortable with, but that is irrelevant. When you shoot your PK at her, you will hold back, even if we tell you not to."
This is my father. A man who is ten times more perceptive than anyone gives him credit for. The same man who taught Madoka and Lin everything they know. He is someone I respect above all others, thought a big part of that is that he is one of the only people to never lie to me, no matter how hurtful the truth is.
I scratch my jaw, feeling the prickling of hair growing there, and look up at my father, "It's difficult not to care about that idiot on some level. You will understand what I mean soon enough." I turn away, "Good night, Father."
He doesn't say anything else as I leave.
The next day, I'm at the testing lab that mother texted me and told me to be at. I arrive before everyone else. I'm typically early, for everything, even when Mai and I were coworkers. However, that is not the point. Mai is always late. Always. There is no exception. No matter how much she matures or how much older she gets.
At least that is what I thought.
"I'm surprised you're actually here, Naru." Her voice invades the intense reading I'd ben doing and I look up to see her standing in the door way of the lab. I'm seated across the room at a desk. Both of her eyebrows raise, "I'd gotten the sense that you wanted nothing to do with this plan."
"I don't." I say in a murmur, quietly assessing her appearance and simultaneously closing my book, setting aside.
Her hair got longer.
It falls down her back like a shiny roasted brown waterfall, ending at her mid drift. Her eyelashes and eyebrows seem thicker than I remember. Her nose is still slightly pointy; her cheek bones are still high; her lips are still pale; her skin is still tan; her legs are still long, but Mai herself still is short. She's always been so much shorter than the rest of us, but it has never seemed to bother her. Even now as the white sneakers sit on her feet and not heels, it seemed to completely skip her mind.
"Why, though? If it does fail, you'll be dead. Don't you want to life, Naru?" She tilts her head to the side, blinking her large eyes, looking more like a curious puppy than a human woman in that moment.
I'm quiet, staring up at the face that I've known since I was seventeen. Even if I haven't been in to contact with her, it doesn't seem like she has changed much. She is still clearly angry at me (probably) for my abrupt leaving) but she still cares about me.
It's an oddly warm feeling.
The same feeling I used to get when Gene was give me a present for our birthday, or when my mother would do my tie for my school uniform because I've never been able to do it, or when my father would tell me he was proud of me. I recognized this feeling.
Family.
For some odd reason, Mai feels like family. The same way Lin and Madoka feel like family. I suppose it is just because she knows that much about me and I'd grown truly comfortable with her.
When I left Japan, it felt as if I was leaving a family member behind. More than a family member really. I can understand my own feelings, at least to some degree. I know enough about myself that I recognize that I thought of the Japanese SPR as a second family, at least to some degree. I wasn't as close to them as I am with my parents or as I was to Gene, but it was nice to have people around me that I didn't have to act like a different person; even if I had used an alias.
"Naru," Mai's strangled voice snaps me out of my reverie. My eyes focus on her face once again, which has gone pale and ashen. Her eyes are wide, "You want to die?"
I immediately realize that she took my silence as an admission and I roll my eyes, snapping in an unintentionally irritated voice, "No, Mai. I do not wish to die."
She looks at me with prominent relief washing over her features, "Oh thank God."
I raise an eyebrow, "Mai, you do realize that this plan that you three have conjured up can kill you, correct?"
She smiles. It makes the room light up from the innocence and complete trust shining out of it. She giggles quietly, "If you really believed that, you wouldn't be doing this, no matter who forced you."
She is right and she knows it too. I wouldn't let my power hurt her. Even when she'd just started working for me, I had this uncontrollable unnecessary urge to be completely positive that the stupid, childish teenager didn't kill herself.
I raise an eyebrow at her, "You're bolder than you used to be."
Her cheeks color and she ducks her head, "Blame Yasu."
That is when I remember, "Where is he?"
"Back at our hotel," she pulls out a paper from her jean pocket, walking across the room to me, "He was asleep when I woke up so I figured I'd follow the directions that Mrs. Davis gave me." She hands me the paper.
"You can read English?"
"For the most part." She says, moving closer and finding a seat close by me, but not so close as to make me uncomfortable. She'd always done this. Somehow got close to me physically, but didn't make my internal alarms go off. Gene did the same thing, but I'd assumed it was because he knew about my inner qualms I have about people touching me or getting too close.
"Who taught you?" I cross my legs and place my chin on top of my fist, genuinely interested in who had a hand in making her bilingual.
"Yasu." Mai says, smiling again, but not at me. I suppose it is a memory that makes her smile, "His dad is the CEO of some huge national company, so he's apparently been all over the place and knows a whole boat load of languages. On top of that, he's studying to become a history teacher, and to do that, he needs English as a minor. He's fluent in it anyway but it a technicality. He would teach me whenever I had a day off of work. It was hard at first, and I still have a few issues now and then, but the hardest parts were over when I got the hang of L's and R's."
"Are you in college as well?" I won't be surprised if she was. As much as I insult Mai's intelligence, she was a fast learner and I'm sure she still is.
"Yes." Mai says, looking at me with large brown eyes, "I'm majoring in linguistics and a minor business."
"Linguistics and business." I say, silently impressed, "So you do have a brain."
"Naru!" She barks with a glare and a blush.
"Well well well." A voice says, making both of us look at the door, "Not much changes, huh?" Yasuhara and my parents both stand there with Lin and Madoka not far behind them.
My mother is staring at us in open wonder, while my father watches us with a closed off expression that I can't read. I forget that they've never seen me have a civil conversation with anyone outside of my immediate circle of friends. The general populations of humans that attempt to flock me are all idiots. Especially the women. Madoka grins at us, skipping in to the room, "Alright! Let's get this show on the road people!"
I look over at Mai and with a sigh, stand. Holding out my hand to her, I wait silently while she realizes it is for her and watch her smile, before grabbing it and standing.
