Chapter 2

"Mai?" Ayako called as she entered her house.

No reply, but she could hear the faint noise of the TV. She entered the living room. Mai was asleep on the sofa, the TV blaring. She shifted a few hairs off Mai's face.

You idiot. She thought. Why did you leave him?

"Mai, wake up." She said, shaking her roughly.

"…What? Oh, hi Ayako. How was your day?" She sat up and stretched.

"Wasn't bad. I went to the SPR office."

"Oh. How was Naru?"

"He was…" Ayako tried to think of a word. "Depressed."

"Oh." Mai's face was unreadable. Probably a trick she'd picked up from Naru.

"Look, I know you think he thinks he doesn't love you anymore, but I think that he thinks it's the other way round."

Mai scrunched her face up. "I bet I'm the first girl to reject him." She said. "And I can't go back in time."

"At least talk to him."

"No!" Mai yelled unintentionally. "I can't do that." She continued.

"Why not? You're 24 now. You have to take responsibilities."

"I do take responsibilities. I was thinking of getting a job as a waitress."

"That's not what I mean."

Naru held his head in his hands. He wondered where Mai was…

No! Don't think of her! His brain screamed at him. He looked down at his desk and slowly opened one of the drawers, rummaging around till he found it. A blue velvet box. He wondered what he was going to do with it now. He'd bought it for Mai, but now he couldn't give it to her. Maybe it'd been a stupid dream. Sighing, he put it back and closed the drawer.

He called her mobile yet again.

Yet again, she didn't pick up. He didn't leave a message.

He still had hopes she'd come back. Even if she left him, she wouldn't leave SPR, right? Besides, SPR was pretty much her family. She wouldn't abandon them. She would keep contact with at least one of them, if not all.

He just had to extract the information from them. Easier said than done. Sometimes they reminded him of clams.

There was the sound of his office door opening and he looked up. His eyes widened.

"Mai…"

She sat on his lap and hooked her arms around his neck, looking him in the eyes for a few brief moments before bringing her mouth to his and kissing him hungrily. He wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her closer-

"Noll. Noll. Wake up." Someone was shaking him, waking him from his dream. He blearily opened his eyes, and turned his head, detaching his face from his desk in the process.

"What is it?" He asked Lin.

"It's 7 o'clock. Are you going home?"

He looked around his desk. There wasn't anything urgent to do, so he nodded. "May as well."

Mai's phone rang, and she looked at it. Naru. She put it back, waiting for it to stop ringing. He didn't leave a message. Mai would have thought that if he had wanted her back, he'd leave her a message.

"Oh yeah, Bou-san's coming tonight. I hope you don't mind."

"What?" Mai asked.

"I invited him last week."

"Why?"

"Because we're friends." Ayako rolled her eyes.

"Oh. Are you sure it's not because it's something more…?"

"No, Mai, shut up. Or I'll kick you out." She threatened. Mai pouted, but shut up.

There was the sound of the doorbell. "Ohh, that'll be him! Do I look okay?" Ayako fussed over her hair in a mirror, frowning at her appearance.

"You look lovely. You know, you could have told me he was coming more than five minutes beforehand."

Ayako didn't say anything, but ran off. She could hear the front door opening, and faintly Ayako and Bou-san talking, but couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Hi Bou-san." She said as they walked into the living room. He looked surprised to see her.

"Mai! What are you doing here?"

"I'm currently lying on the sofa."

"I can see that. But why did you and Naru split up?"

"He doesn't love me anymore."

"But-"

"He doesn't." She stated firmly. Monk opened his mouth to argue, but decided against it.

Naru focused sadly on the necklace in his hand. He absently played with it for a few moments, recalling buying it and giving it to Mai. Then he closed his eyes. He needed to focus.

He was Mai. It was an odd sensation. He tried to focus on the emotions. Sadness. Anger? At him? Desperation. But mostly sadness, like she hadn't wanted to do it. But then why had she done it? It didn't make sense.

He could feel his (or hers?) fingers straying to the necklace around his/hers neck. The fingers hesitantly undid it and placed it on the table. As soon as their fingers left the necklace the vision ended.

He opened his eyes and tried to make sense of the feelings. Anger. He'd felt that, bubbling down somewhere deep inside. It seemed to be directed at him. Desperation and sadness. Like leaving him had been the last thing she'd wanted to do. He frowned. That didn't make sense. His brain tried to find something that made sense.

He felt that he didn't really have to dissect the anger. Most people who knew him seemed to spend most of their time angry at him for one reason or another.

Aha. She hadn't wanted to give up her home and job – as far as he knew, she hadn't been searching for another job prior to their break up and she probably didn't have enough money for a proper place to live, and she'd probably grown attached to their apartment and didn't want to leave it – explaining the sadness, but she was desperate because she couldn't stand hm any longer yet didn't want to leave her home and job.

Content with his explanation, he got changed for bed.

Two completely sleepless hours later, he got up again and looked at the clock on his bedside table. Eleven pm. He stifled a groan. He tried calling Mai again; just to see if she was so sleepy she'd answer her phone without checking the caller ID. No such luck.

He laid down again and tried to get some sleep. And failed miserably. Another hour later he got up again and made his way to the kitchen. He rummaged around in some drawers. No sleeping pills. Damn. That only left a cup of tea. And perhaps a book. He found an unopened box of tea and skim read the label. Yeah, seemed fine. He quickly brewed a cup and selected a book he hadn't finished yet and curled up in an arm chair.

It wasn't long until he felt his eyelids droop – he'd hardly slept the night before, and was a lot more tired than he'd like to admit.

The days melted into weeks, which in turn melted into months. Naru hadn't heard any news of Mai, and he had no way of contacting her. He suspected she'd bought a new sim card because the number wouldn't even dial when he tried calling her mobile. He had no idea whether she was still in Tokyo, but he suspected that one of his 'colleagues' had taken her in. But they were as silent as the grave.

He'd received every sign that she wasn't coming back, but he still waited. He'd noticed the worried glances the others repeatedly gave him in the office, and even Lin had mentioned something about sleeping. Or was it eating? He wasn't sure. It didn't make that much difference because he wasn't doing much of either. He'd never been a great sleeper (or eater for that matter) but he realised that that his new routine was extremely unhealthy. Not that he cared.

After a particularly sleepless night he staggered into work next morning extremely early. He sat in his chair, not doing anything, but just staring at the desk. Before he knew it he was asleep, the hard wood feeling surprisingly comfy. He didn't wake up when Lin came, nor when the others arrived, loud as they were.

It was much later when he woke up, long after lunch time. And suddenly his thoughts seemed as clear as crystal. Mai wasn't coming back, no matter how long he sat staring at his apartment door for. And in that case what was the point of him staying? He wasn't even doing any work, and several disappointed potential clients had been turned away since Naru hadn't bothered to even interview them. He had taken a case near the beginning, just to see if she would at least come on that. But it was different without Mai there, more straightforward for a start, and it had felt wrong.

He stood up like a man with a purpose. He would go back to England. Clear his head. Maybe if he was away from the apartment and Japan he would stop thinking about her. When he'd gotten back into a regular routine, without the office hindering him, maybe then he would come back and search for her. He needed a break. To look at it all from a different perspective. And he couldn't do that when thoughts about Mai walking through the door prevented him from doing anything.

And he could ask for his parent's advice. His father understood women much better than he ever could, he'd know what to do. The sooner he left the sooner he'd come back. With all this in mind Naru booked the earliest flight he could catch.

Then he paused. What if Mai came back when he was gone? He'd… he'd have to go anyway. He could leave her a note explaining everything. Yes, write it all on paper. He'd never been that good at communicating his feelings face to face.

Naru scrabbled in his drawers for a clean piece of paper and a pen, then started to write.

Ayako opened the door. Monk stood nervously on the door step.

"Come in."

Monk obediently did so. Ayako led him into the sitting room. Monk noticed she looked paler the normal.

"Where's Mai?" He asked. Ayako bit her lip.

"She's working."

"Working?"

"She's decided to get a job. No, two jobs." She looked close to tears.

"And you're letting her?"

"No, she won't listen to me. I told her it's too much, but she says she's saving up so she can move into her own flat and not be a burden on me."

The phone rang. Ayako composed herself, and then picked it up eagerly.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Is this Matsuzaki-san?"

Naru cursed and dug deeper in his drawers. There must be an envelope here somewhere. His hand brushed against something hard but soft and he froze.

"Yes, I'm Matsuzaki-san." Ayako said in disappointment. She'd hoped it would be Mai, or Naru having worked out where Mai was and phoning to shout at her, or try to speak to Mai.

"You are the contact for Taniyama Mai?"

"Yes." Ayako breathed.

"What is it?" Monk asked, when Ayako had put the phone down. A tear rolled down Ayako's cheek.

"It's Mai."

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! :3

This story progressed so much faster than I'd expected. We just put about 3 months into one chapter. I originally thought it'd take a few more chapters. But nevermind. It also means we have to almost completely re-write another chapter.

Please review and let us know what you guys think!