Here it is, the next chapter! The response for this has been amazing, you guys are way too nice. This chapter was written at the same time as the previous one so the flow should be really nice. The ending however was completely unplanned. Like, I was writing and I knew I had to end it somewhere (it was hard enough to try and split the chapters before) and before I knew it, the line had written itself (just like this entire story so far – the number of breakdowns I nearly had because for a week a couldn't write anything but this which has never happened to me before). Regardless, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter just as much.
Review Responses:
CaitHawke4Ever: Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm glad that you noticed that since it was actually something I did on purpose to showcase how time would change Mai's personality in terms of confidence, but how she would stay the same over all. It was the same sort of thing when I was writing Naru where I feel like he naturally gets swept up in Mai's energy a lot so he'd mostly just reacting, instead of actually stopping to think about how it should be weird to speak with someone familiarly after five years.
Eirlys Ardene: Wow, thanks so much! I'm glad that the plot line interests you so far and that you like my writing style. I feel like recently I've really found a style that suits me well so hearing that you're also enjoying it means a lot to me. As for the regular updates, I can't promise they'll always be perfectly on time, but I do spend a lot of time working on them to try and get them out on time. In nine updates for the other story I update regularly (The Cases of London. The first few chapters are super rough since they're from over a year ago now and I haven't gone back over them but the stuff afterwards gets a lot better) I've only been late this most recent time, and that was only by a four hours so I take a lot of pride in keeping it. Thanks so much for your review!
Guest: Aw, I'm sorry. I really would like to update this one more and if I ever get to the point where I have enough written constantly to be able to update it more frequently, then I definitely will, but to start off with I need to get used to having something extra to update, especially something with such a long average chapter length. Thanks for the review though, and i'm glad you're enjoying things so much to feel that strongly.
Ayeilin: Haha, personally I hate my summaries. I find it really difficult to explain my intent for what I'm writing in a way that can grab someone's attention and make them want to open it (especially with the meagre amount of words FF gives you to work with...), so I'm glad you gave it a chance regardless and more importantly, that you're loving it so far. Hopefully the pattern continues. Thanks for reviewing!
Jainga: I'm glad you're excited for more and you're in good company with your favourites since that's the stance of most of the fandom. I'm glad you're enjoying this particular take on an England arc since I wasn't sure how it'd be received, especially considering it's a very different style to my other England based GH fic. Thanks so much for your review!
Joys: Hopefully you enjoy reading about the dinner as much as I enjoyed writing it! And don't worry, I have many plans for our favourite couple for in the future. Thanks so much for reviewing!
Gally619: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you're enjoying things so far!
Bewitchedquill: Thanks so much, and I'm glad you're enjoying things. I actually don't find things to be that heated just yet but thanks for pointing it out because it means that I'll be much more cautious in the future about how other people might view things. Hopefully you continue to enjoy the turn things will be taking in the future – though I can promise that things are not going to be anything like Trusting Intuition forwards.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt
Chapter Key:
"English Speaking"
"Japanese Speaking"
'Thinking'
Chapter Two
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"Mai?"
Mai sighed at how chipper and awake he sounded as she snapped out of her melodramatic thoughts. "Did you even plan on sleeping tonight?" She asked, a little concerned, stalling on the actual subject.
There was a snort on the other end and she shook her head, a fond smile forming on her face.
"You didn't call me to discuss my sleeping habits – and don't think I'm not aware that yours are way worse then mine, Miss. Hypocrite. Now what's up?"
Mai rolled her eyes but didn't say anything else on the subject because he was definitely right.
"Okay so basically I ran into Madoka and Naru's mother today at the convention and from there I ended up seeing Naru and Lin as well – they're doing fine by the way – and somehow ended up invited to a dinner with them all and now I don't know what to wear." She rattled off as quickly as possible, her cheeks flushing.
The other end was silent before there was loud laughter from her best friend.
Pouting, Mai glared even though he couldn't see it.
"Yasu, this is serious! If you don't intend to help me then I'll call someone else you jerk."
"I'm sorry Mai. It's just such a rom-com situation that I can't help myself. I'll help though, I promise. In exchange, make sure you let me know all the good details on how things go with Big Boss."
Mai flushed further at the tone of Yasu's voice. "Yasu." She hissed, scandalised, "It's with his family as well. And even if it wasn't there's no way anything would happen."
On the other end, Yasu rolled his eyes at his friend before sighing. 'Then why are you so worried about what you wear then?' Is what he wanted to say, but he didn't. It would only serve to make her hang up on him and if that happened then he couldn't play a part in getting those two together and that just wasn't worth it.
"Fine. You know the light pink vintage style dress* I made you pack? Wear that with the silver flats that you packed and you'll be fine."
Mai let out a sigh of relief at his words.
"Okay. Thanks Yasu, you're a life saver. I'll let you know how everything goes when I get another chance to call you but I need to go and get ready if I don't want to be late."
"Go on Mai. Have fun!"
"Goodnight!" She offered before hanging up and moving to put her phone on charge so it wouldn't run out on her while she was out.
Grabbing the aforementioned dress and headed to the bathroom to get ready.
A quick shower later found the brunette with a hair dryer and hair brush.
'Maybe I should cut my hair short again? This was never such an issue then' She groused as she untangled another knot from her hair. It wasn't long per-say but even with it just past her shoulders it was a lot longer than she usually kept it.
After what felt like years, her hair was dry and brushed, her dress* was on, she added a touch of lip gloss to herself – forgoing the proper make-up even though she did have it and would probably wear it for the night of the ball.
Giving herself a once over in the mirror, she nodded happily at herself after a moment, before exiting the bathroom and grabbing her handbag, putting her phone inside after checking the time so that she wouldn't forget it.
Even though there was another thirty minutes until it was time to head down to the lobby, Mai wasn't sure whether to sit down and work on anything. Thinking about how things had gone last night when she'd planned to write for a little bit,she hesitated before deciding to just sit down and answer a couple e-mails.
Setting an alarm on her phone so that she wouldn't lose track of time too much, she took a seat on the chair in front of the desk and opened her laptop to get started.
Just like last night, she was soon distracted and before she knew it, there was a sound interupting her focus.
It took a moment before she realised that it was her alarm going off.
Looking down, she winced at seeing that it had taken her a couple minutes to notice it going off and now she would only have a minute to get downstairs.
Saving her current e-mail as a draft, Mai shut the lid carefully before grabbing her bag, throwing her phone back in as she raced towards the door. Stopping for a second, she slipped on the silver flats before racing out the door, making sure the door was locked before taking off down the hall, her dress rustling with the movement as she made it to the elevator.
Her foot tapped impatiently as she waited for it to arrive.
The second the doors opened, Mai stepped in, pressing the button to get them to close straight away. As the elevator slowly descended, she couldn't help but think that there was no way Naru wasn't going to call her on this.
'Five years and yet some things never change.' She thought to herself.
As the doors opened up, she stepped out into the lobby and immediately spotted Naru who looked a mixture of amused and exasperated with a touch of his signature irritation.
Walking across the lobby to meet him, she fought the urge to run again and instead focused on trying not to look like an idiot with all these people around.
Naru smirked. "I could have sworn I said to i'd be here at six o'clock on the dot. Is you boss also in the habit of letting you get away with being late? Or is this a trait you reserve especially to irritate me?"
Mai huffed. "Hello to you too Naru. It's only a couple minutes for a personal engagement, the only one who's so worried about timing is you." She shot back before rolling her eyes. "Always such a narcissist. I don't aim to be behind schedule, sometimes things just happen. And my current boss is very understanding of that."
The blank look she got in response made her bite her lip a little to avoid grinning. Even though she wasn't aiming for it, Naru's irritation was still a good source of amusement for her and after so long without it, she couldn't help but feel happy.
Sighing, Naru turned to walk towards the entrance again. "I'm not going to stand here and debate over this further with you. You're going to make us even later than we already are."
Rolling her eyes, Mai followed after him, unsurprised when they came to a stop in front of a fancy looking car.
Pressing the button to unlock it, Naru slipped into the driver's seat leaving Mai to slip into the passenger side.
Settling in, Mai placed her handbag on her lap, the car silent as Naru pulled out onto the road.
"So, will you tell me where we are going to dinner since you've already achieved your goal?" Mai asked after a moment, glancing over at Naru.
Oliver smirked. "You don't need to know." He informed simply, intentionally trying to rial her up.
Without thinking, Mai took the bait, cheeks flushing in anger as she glared at him.
"What the heck is that supposed to mean? It's not going to hurt to know!"
His face remained unchanged as he fought the urge to smirk further.
'So easy.'
"And it won't change anything if you do, ergo you don't need to know."
The response was so simple and cold that Mai couldn't help the flush of familiarity even as her anger grew at his ridiculous responses.
"Do you always have to be such a jerk about everything?" She demanded.
Naru pretended to think about it for a moment before glancing over at her.
"I've always been a jerk – it's not like this is new to you. I can't change my personality Mai." He informed her, voice slightly colder than intended. Noll could have cursed himself for displaying such an obvious weakness.
Of course Mai picked up on it straight away but before she could say any more on the subject Naru was pulling into a park easily and switching the car off.
"Come on. We're still on time which is miraculous considering how much time I lost because of your being late."
Immediately all thought of figuring out what was going on in Naru's head flew out of her head as she stepped out of the car, shutting the door while glaring at him.
"I wasn't that behind!" She insisted.
"Late is late, Mai. Five minutes or fifty – you are still late." He pointed out, making her splutter in irritation.
Good.
If she was focusing on his words then she wouldn't think about what had happened in the car.
Walking towards the entrance to the restaurant, Naru rolled his eyes at the curious look on Mai's face as she looked around.
It wasn't too fancy but it was definitely more high-end than Mai was used to going to.
Pulling open the door, he raised an eyebrow at the shocked look on Mai's face.
"I did open the door for you earlier, or has your brain already reached the point where it can no longer remember details from only a few hours ago?" He quipped.
The brunette huffed, slipping through the door and then waiting for Naru to walk in himself.
"I'm aware of that. But when you did it earlier it was to spite me. This is just getting weird." She insisted.
A dull sense of irritation flared in him before he squashed it.
"Well then in future i'll be sure to leave you to open your own doors." He responded primly causing Mai to flush.
"That's not what I meant!"
He fought the urge to smirk at the predictable response.
"Then what did you mean?"
Mai flushed, crossing her arms and looking down at the ground.
"Kami, you're such a jerk." She mumbled.
Satisfied that things were back to normal, Naru ignored her before walking up to the server.
"I'm with the party who reserved under the name Luella Davis? Is everyone else here?" Naru asked, voice cold as the lady gave him a flirtatious look and smiled.
"Of course. The rest of your party is already here. I'll show you to them right away." She informed him.
Mai supposed she shouldn't be surprised by the ladies reaction but part of her couldn't help the pang of jealousy that she felt.
'No Mai. You don't need to be jealous. You got over Naru years ago. Years! Stop it.' She coached herself.
Following after Naru, her jealousy was completely forgotten as they reached the table and Mai saw the smiling faces of Luella and Madoka.
Grinning at them, she was even happier when, after taking a seat between Madoka and Naru (who took the seat at the head of the table – something Mai was utterly unsurprised by for obvious reasons) – Mai was even happier to see Naru ignore the server who was trying her best to get Naru's attention and failing hard.
"Someone will be over to take your drink orders shortly." She informed them after a moment, smiling one more time at Naru and looking extremely annoyed when she didn't even glance back at her.
Rolling her eye's at his predicted lack of manners, she smiled at the girl. "Thank you."
Seeing that she was being dismissed the girl turned heel in a huff, moving back towards her post.
Madoka giggled. "I see things are normal for Oliver." She commented, even more gleeful at the glare she got for her comment.
"It's annoying." Was the only response she got making the pink-haired woman roll her eyes.
"And yet so many other men would kill to be in your position. Honestly, Oliver. You'll never get a girlfriend this way." She sighed dramatically.
Mai blinked before turning to Naru. "A girlfriend? Does Madoka not realise that you married your work years ago? Or did you divorce it in the past five years?" She inquired, voice purposefully dumbed down.
The shocked laugh it pulled from Luella and Lin (how was that for a confidence boost? Yasu will be so proud) was well worth the glare she got in response from Naru.
"I'm afraid not Taniyama-san. He's as attached to his work as ever." Lin informed her, a smirk tugging on his lips when the glare was turned to him instead.
"You're being ridiculous." He declared after a moment.
Luella laughed from his other side.
"Now now, let's not give Noll too much trouble. Hello dear. This is my husband, Martin. Martin honey, this is Mai Taniyama. She used to work for Noll back in Japan and she met up with us at the paranormal convention earlier today."
She resolutely ignored Oliver's correction of it being a parapsychology convention not a paranormal convention.
Mai smiled brightly at the older man with greying brown hair and offered her hand to him.
"It's wonderful to meet you Mr. Davis." She informed him, glad that she remembered that they shook hands here and didn't make a fool of herself.
Part of her was tempted to add, 'I wish I could say i've heard a lot about you but since I didn't even know you were Naru's parents until he left five years ago...' but she forced herself to keep that petty part of her locked up tight. She's already given in once today and nothing good would come of reminding them of how things ended in Japan.
Smiling kindly at her, Martin shook her hand easily.
"It's lovely to meet you as well Ms. Taniyama. I've only ever heard good things about you." He informed her, thinking on what he actually already knew about the young girl in front of him from speaking with Madoka and reading the case reports from Lin and Noll.
Mai laughed lightly. "Please call me Mai. And I can actually believe that given how little Lin and Naru talk."
The older man couldn't help but chuckle at her response. "Yes, I suppose it is true that I've only ever heard of you from Madoka." He couldn't help but agree. "But I'm sure if Lin and Noll were asked about you I would only hear lovely things then too."
The brunette gave him a disbelieving look. "It's a nice thought, but an unlikely one." She argued lightly.
Luella pouted a little at the easy denial from Mai. She was such a lovely girl, why would either of them have reason to complain?
As if on cue Noll smirked.
"She was almost always late – something that hasn't changed." He started, easily ignoring Mai's indignant exclamation of "two minutes for a social engagement is not late, you jerk!", "reckless, never knew how to follow instructions, always ran off on her own, constantly got herself in trouble, constantly kept important case information from me," - once again he ignored her response of "you kept most case information from us - "fell asleep on the job more often than not" - "that's just mean, you know that the only way I can have psychic dreams is by sleeping" - "and was always extremely loud. That's just to name a few."
Mai glared at him, cheeks flushed in embarrassment at his words.
"Why do you always have to be such a bastard? Would it have killed you to just, not?" She demanded, slipping into Japanese without meaning to.
Oliver took the switch with ease.
"Mother was confused as to whether you had bad traits or not. I was simply making sure she didn't remain so uninformed." He responded, his amusement not betrayed in his voice, but Mai could spot the minute details on his face even after all this time.
'That's a new shade of red.' He noted.
Throwing her hands up, Mai shook her head. "You're impossible." She decided, switching back to English after seeing the confused look on Martin's face.
Luella shook her head at her son's antics, aware that she had been the one to trigger that onslaught for the poor girl. Yet, part of her couldn't bring herself to be too disappointed in Noll. Not when his little 'rant' – Oliver would insist that he never ranted – had given her a lot of insight not only into how things were when they were in Japan, but also into the relationship between the two of them. Even though she'd caught a glimpse of it earlier, watching the two of them argue once more made it all the more clear.
The slightly fond look of veiled amusement on Lin's face caught her attention as well. It would seem that this really was just how the two of them interacted normally. It was more emotion than she's seen from Noll in the last five years combined – and that was only including tonight's dinner so far.
"Surely you can say more than just rude things about the poor girl? Honestly Noll." Luella scolded slightly after waiting a moment.
Before he could reply, Mai cut in. "That's already, Luella. I'm more than used to it at this point. The day when I get a compliment out of Naru will be the day that pigs fly." She informed Luella with a small smile.
Naru frowned slightly at this but before he could make a comment on it, the waiter showed up to take drink orders.
Mai was probably just as relieved at Naru to see that their waiter for the night would be a male and not a female.
"A bottle of moscato for the table please dear. Did you want wine Mai, or something different?" Luella inquired, looking at the brunette.
Mai shook her head. "I'll just have water thank you." She stated, smiling. "Thank you though."
The blonde haired woman seemed unsure but let it go.
"Alright then. Are the rest of you happy with just Moscato then?" She inquired, glancing around. "I know Noll will only have water. What about you Lin?"
The Chinese man shook his head slightly. "I'll stick to water as well."
Pouting, Luella muttered boring – much to everyone's amusement – before letting the waiter go.
"I suppose we should think about what we're going to eat." She stated.
Mai blinked before realising that in all the excitement she hadn't even glanced at the menu yet.
Picking it up, she read over the English with ease, debating over what to get. There were a variety of things on the menu, mostly different meats with salad or vegetable side dishes.
Skimming over them, she decided on the Chicken Kiev with chips and salad fairly easily.
It didn't take the other's long to decide either.
Waving down the waiter, they all put their orders in, thanking the waiter politely when he left.
"So, Mai. What do you do for work? Surely you must do something with the paranormal to be attending a parapsychology convention." Martin inquired after a beat of silence, giving the young girl his full attention.
Madoka lit up, turning to her friend. "Oh that's right! I got distracted earlier so you never did tell me what you do for work these days. And when I sent Yasu a text about it earlier he just told me that it was 'top secret'." She informed, pouting at the response the younger man had given her.
Mai couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I forgot that you and he still keep in regular contact. And while I do still do dabble in ghost hunting on occasion, I'm actually here just for research purposes." She reponded, thinking about how to broach the subject of her actual job.
"Oh? You're job requires research into parapsychology or ghost hunting?" Martin inquired, even more intrigued now.
Tilting her head, Mai bit at her lip. "Not exactly. It's not a requirement, mostly I find it fascinating. But it does help me with some things." She revealed.
Luella laughed at the look of frustration on her families' faces.
"You might want to give them a straight answer. Madoka looks like she's ready to strangle you." She encouraged Mai.
The brunette giggled. "I suppose so." She agreed, despite the urge to keep them in the dark. It was good to have the upper-hand for a change – especially when it came to Madoka. "I'm actually a published writer."
There was a moment of shocked silence before Luella jumped in. "A writer? What kind of writer? Anything we might know?" She asked, extremely curious now. It was definitely not the kind of job she expected such a sweet girl to have. 'I would never have pegged her as a ghost hunter either though.' Luella admitted to herself. And it was so clear from the sparkle in the girl's eye whenever ghost hunting was brought up that she was as much of a ghost hunter as any of the other loons at their table.
"I don't know if you'll have read any of it. I'm a horror writer primarily." Mai divulged, her thoughts wandering for a moment.
There was no way that Naru had read any of her work because it was all fiction – even if she did her best to keep the parapsychology details as on point as possible – and Martin didn't seem like the type either. Lin might but Mai honestly had no idea what kind of things he would read outside of non-fiction works. Maybe Madoka?
"Oh? I think Madoka is a huge fan of horror works, right?" Luella thought aloud, directing her question towards her pink-haired friend.
Madoka hummed in agreement.
"That's true. I read them in English and Japanese. I haven't heard of anything releasing from you though?" She thought.
Giggling at her friend, Mai rolled gave her an expectant look. "Really Madoka, I'm a writer. How many writer's do you know that don't use a pen name?"
The woman looked openly shocked for a second before laughing. "I can think of a few but I get the point. So what name do you write under then?"
Even Lin looked interested at this point and the attention made Mai a little twitchy.
"I usually use the pen name Fuji Katsumi." The brunette admitted after a moment of silence.
There was an even longer beat before Madoka let out a very loud shout.
"You're joking. Please tell me you're joking. There's no way!" She ranted, quietening when Lin put a hand on her arm.
Luella coughed a little to cover her laugh at the response from her friend.
"I'm not much of a horror reader, but I'm going to assume that you're doing pretty well at the moment?" She guessed.
Madoka threw her hands up. "Pretty well. Pretty well? Luella, she's award winning! Fuji Katsumi's works are some of the most sought after on the market. She hasn't written a single thing that didn't become a hit. Critics are calling her one of the greatest writers of this age. They're saying that she'll become the next Stephen King, for God's sake."** She ranted.
Flushing at the rant coming from her friend, Mai gave her an awkward smile before bringing her hands up to do jazz hands. "Ta da?"
The look she got in return made her laugh slightly.
"At least I know why Yasu didn't tell me what you did." Madoka admitted, "I've been hooked on your stuff since the first time I read one of your books and he knows it. Actually, I think he's the one who first recommended it to me."
Rolling her eyes, Mai couldn't say that she was surprised. Her friend always did have a flair for the dramatic.
"Well, now you know so it doesn't really matter, does it?" She pointed out, smiling.
Giggling now that she'd calmed down, Madoka nodded. "I guess that's true. I'm still going to shout at him later though." She concluded.
Mai didn't respond to that, Yasu had brought it upon himself after all. And he definitely hadn't told Mai about the fact that Madoka was such a big fan or she wouldn't have told her while still inside the restaurant. At least she knew for a fact that Madoka's genre of choice was Horror. It was like she didn't get enough in real life.
Seeing that his employee and friend had calmed down, Martin smiled at the embarrassed girl.
"You use parapsychology research in your writing?" He inquired, even more intrigued now that he knew what the research was for.
Nodding, Mai took a sip of her water before responding. "Yes. Mostly I use my own experience in the field but having other's experiences and suggestions on hand is good for inspiration and I like to keep things as close to factual as possible despite the fiction genre. It makes things scarier – which is the point of a horror novel after all." She explained. "I was actually invited here for that reason. When my publishing company received the option they all but kicked me out of the office and to the airport. They thought it would be good for me to get away from Japan and experience different cultures and gain some more insight into the topic so that I could continue keeping my writing fresh. They figured after such a good track history I was bound to stagnate. I wasn't going to argue with an expense paid trip overseas."
Lin's lips twitched at that admission and Martin chuckled. "No, I don't suppose you would." He agreed.
Thinking over her words, Martin frowned after a moment.
"Now that you mention it though, it sounds like you've written quite a lot. But it's only been five years since Noll was in Japan and you hadn't published anything back then. How many works do you have?" He inquired.
Before Mai could respond though, Lin cut in.
"Fuji Katsumi has eleven published works at this current time." He informed Martin.
Mai's eyebrows furrowed as she turned to look over at him in confusion.
His lips twitched again at the look on her face.
"Madoka has every single one of your books proudly displayed in English and Japanese at home." He informed her simply.
In truth, he too had dabbled in her work on occasion after Madoka rebuked his comment on how "surely they can't be that realistic" with a response of "there hasn't been a misstep in parapsychology knowledge or ghost hunting techniques in a single one of her works so far".
He was fully willing to admit – only to himself though – that he'd gone in intended to prove his fiance wrong and instead found himself drawn into the plot line and without any mislead information on his field of practice to show for it.
Martin eyed Mai with an impressed look.
"That's two books a year and then some assuming you started publishing the year after Noll left Japan." He calculated.
The brunette hummed in agreement. "I did start publishing about six months after Naru and Lin left Japan, yes. I usually publish three books a year but I always have a few in the works. I tend to get distracted if I only have one thing to keep my attention." She admitted sheepishly.
For the first time since they'd started on this subject Mai heard Naru scoff.
Glancing over, prepared to start an argument, the brunette found herself being cut off by the arrival of their food, Luella cracking open the wine that had gotten forgotten on the table while they were distracted before.
Trying to turn the topic of conversation away from herself, Mai looked over at Luella.
"Well now that you know what I do, I'd love to know about what you do with your time." She suggested, smiling sweetly.
Agreeing that the girl could use a break, Luella smiled back at her and launched into a conversation about her psychology studies and the classes she taught at Cambridge.
Interested in the subject, Mai focused all of her attention on the older woman as she explained some of the things that the first years were studying.
Noting her interest in the subject, Luella grinned. She loved finding someone else who enjoyed her passion. Even though she was surrounded by parapsychology lovers, they weren't nearly the same as psychology lovers.
"If you were interested and have time while you're here, you're welcome to sit in on some of our sessions if you'd like." Luella offered the girl.
Mai blinked at the sudden offer before smiling. "I should have time. But are you sure it's okay?" She asked, a little worried. She wasn't paying for the class, would she really be allowed to attend.
The older woman waved her off easily, laughing. "Don't worry about that. I didn't think you'd have an interest in psychology though?" She lead.
Humming, Mai shrugged slightly. "I have an interest in a lot of things these days. My passion will always be writing but I find that research into other topics really helps me to impact the audience. Psychology is a really good way to improve that. Plus, it's just an interesting topic."
Madoka nodded. "I could never get into it on the same level, but I do see the appeal. If you're going to sit in on some of those lectures then you should attend some of the parapsychology ones as well. Martin and Luella both hold a class on Tuesday's so if you visit Cambridge then, you'll be able to catch them both. I'd be happy to take you myself." She offered.
Mai bit her lip. "I don't know. I'm not sure I'd be able to follow along well enough for it to mean much to me." She worried.
Luella looked like she was going to make a comment but Oliver beat her to it, the look on his face practically screaming that he thought she was being stupid.
"You spent two years working under me in the field, are a credited psychic and are currently attended the lectures for a parapsychology convention. If anything, you're overqualified for the classes that Father teaches." He informed her.
Mai flushed at the sudden praise, unsure exactly how to respond. She'd been exaggerating when she mentioned that Naru had never said anything nice about her (she pushed back the memory of the school hexer case firmly) but usually it was a lot more backhanded.
Madoka seemed to think the same thing, bumping her shoulder into Mai's with a teasing grin.
"Would you look at that. A genuine compliment in a very Naru-like form." She teased, deferring to Mai's chosen nickname for Oliver.
Mai couldn't help the smile tugging at her lips as she tried to pout at her friends teaching.
"Well I guess that if Naru thinks I'll be able to understand it well enough than I don't really have any choice, do I?" She agreed, laughing slightly.
Smirking, Naru took a sip of his own water. "Of course you don't. They'd drag you along regardless. But I'm never wrong so there's no need to concern yourself."
Mai couldn't help but roll her eyes. "And he's back. Just when I was going to have to consider possession." She joked.
"Are you implying that you wouldn't have been able to notice if a spirit had decided to possess me soon than that?" Oliver couldn't help but ask, waiting for the expected response.
Huffing at his tone. "You know for a fact that even Medium's like Masako have days when they can't sense spirits. Seeing as I'm not a medium, I'm even more suseptible to these 'off days'." She grouched, just as expected.
Raising an eyebrow, he took a pointed bite of his own food.
Martin chuckled as he observed the two, gaining the attention of Mai who gave him a confused look.
"Noll had just proved his point. You'll do just fine in my lecture even without the next couple days of lectures that you'll be attending." He assured her.
Whipping her head back over to Naru, she gave him a disbelieving look that he decided not to respond to.
Madoka shook her head at the two of them.
"You two are hopeless I swear." She sighed, grin pulling at her lips and ruining the effect.
As they all finished up with their food, their waiter appeared again, taking their plates from them.
This time however, with the current lull in the conversation, it was clear that perhaps having a male waiter wasn't such a good thing.
Oliver was certainly starting to regret his earlier stance.
"Did you enjoy the meal?" The male asked Mai, shy smile tugging at his lips and making him look a specific 'boyish' type of handsome. The kind that made old ladies coo.
Mai smiled at him. "It was lovely." She agreed.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'll be back shortly with some dessert menus for you to peruse." He informed her.
Naru glared at him but he didn't seem to notice as he left the table.
From beside Mai, Madoka giggled at the reaction and couldn't help but fuel the fire.
"Looks like you found yourself an admirer." She teased.
Mai blinked, tilting her head in confusion. "What do you mean? He was just being friendly." She insisted.
Hearing Lin scoff from the other side of Madoka, Mai's eyebrows furrowed.
"Mai, how often does that kind of thing happen and you just assume they're being friendly?" Madoka inquired, even more curious when she noticed just how oblivious the younger girl apparently was to the affections of others.
Thinking about the question, Mai shrugged slightly. "People are usually friendly to me like that. It's not unusual. I'm a nice and social person. I end up in random conversations all the time and I almost never end up being asked out. You're just reading into things too much."
Lin sighed, suddenly concerned. "Taniyama-san, that may be the case in Japan but I think you'll find that men in England who stop and speak with a pretty girl are actually trying to gage you before asking you out." He informed her.
Mai was a little unsure what she should be more surprised by; Lin speaking such a long string of words to her or that said string of words was on the subject of romance of all things.
"If you say so." She agreed amicably, not wanting to get into the subject of romance too much further – at least in relation to herself. "But it doesn't really matter anyway. I'm not exactly living in England and I'm not one for hook ups or flings. And all of this excludes the fact that I'm as married to my own work as Naru is."
This seemed to shock everyone at the table.
"You mean to tell me that you spend an average of eighteen to twenty hours on your work a day with minimal breaks when you're left to your own devices?" Luella demanded, a worried look on her face.
There was a sense of satisfaction at not being on the receiving end of that look for once that Oliver took sadistic glee in.
As if sensing his happiness, Mai shook her head quickly.
"I said I'm as married to my work as Naru, not that I have all his bad habits." She denied quickly. "I take a break every four hours maximum to stretch my legs, I keep snacks at my desk for when I'm on a roll and can't get away from the work for long enough for a proper meal – although I do have at least one proper meal a day -, and I usually get between six and eight hours of sleep just like I should. I'll admit that I don't always manage to stick to the schedule but it's pretty accurate. Outside of that though, I spend all my time on writing. Two to three books a year doesn't just happen."
Luella eyed her suspiciously before concluding that she was telling the truth – as she well should considering Mai couldn't lie to save her life.
Turning to Oliver, the blonde gestured towards Mai.
"You should take some cues on healthy working habits from Mai. Then I wouldn't have to worry about sending Madoka to you whenever she's at the office as well to make sure that you haven't gotten lost in your work and forgotten to eat for the past fourteen hours again."
Mai blinked at the sudden information before turning a glare of her own to Naru.
"Fourteen hours?! For the love of Kami-sama, Naru. Are you really incapable of keeping track of time and providing your body sustenance based on it's needs?" She demanded.
Honestly, she left them alone for five years and this is what happens. Back when she worked at the office, Mai could make sure that the ate lunch on days whenever she worked weekends or was away from school, and she always brought dinner to them whenever they seemed like they were preoccupied. She'd even gone through the effort of figuring out which snacks he'd eat so that she could give him something with his tea on occasion. It would seem that without that Naru had forgotten how to eat without her there to force him to.
Noll wanted to argue against being coddled but the scientific way that Mai had structured her argument had given him pause for a moment.
Before he could finally respond though, Mai was turning her attention to Lin as well.
"You better not tell me that you're as bad as he is Lin, or so help me I'll make it my mission while in Japan to force feed the both of you." She continued, her irritation practicallly palpable in the air.
Madoka giggled, ignoring the betrayed look that her fiance gave her in response as she offered no help.
"I'm not nearly as bad." Lin settled on, not wanting to lie to the girl but also not wanting the same dressing down that his charge was receiving.
It didn't seem like Mai was taking it though.
"That's a fancy way of saying that instead of going fourteen hours without food, you usually go twelve." Mai retorted easily.
As usual, her instincts kicked in at the most inopportune moments for everyone else, hitting the nail on the head.
Madoka almost cackled at his being caught so easily. She was almost sorry that Martin was so lost with his lack of understanding since she was ranting in Japanese, but she'd be sure to fill him in later. He could probably guess what was happening based on the tone of Mai's voice and their previous topic of choice anyway.
Rubbing at his temples, Naru really wished this topic hadn't come up as he tried to think of a way to get Mai off her war path.
His mentor seemed to be against any of his hopes however, something that wasn't really a surpise considering the woman basically lived to make his life more difficult.
"Now that I think about it, this might be their first meal for the day. Neither bothered with breakfast today and they joined us later for lunch and I didn't see either of them grab anything." Madoka mused, a glint in her eyes.
Luella was enjoying this just as much. Her Japanese was rusty but certainly still good enough to follow along with the current stream.
Realising this, Mai glared harder at the both of them.
"This is ridiculous. You're both men of science. How is it, then, that simple concept called "self-care" is such a hard topic for you to understand? You don't even need to stop working fully, just go grab something simple to eat and continue working while you eat."
Before her rant could pick up any more steam though, Martin decided it was time to stop things, feeling a little bad for the other men.
"Come now. I'm not exactly sure what you're scolding them for – although I can guess – but I'm sure they've learnt their lesson. With the convention over the next two days, you have the chance to make sure they eat lunch and you're more than welcome to join us for dinner those nights as well. I have some more things I'd like to discuss with you that I'm curious about." He offered.
Mai sighed, taking a deep breath and then letting it go, smiling sweetly at Martin like she wasn't just ripping into two men, one of which was much older than herself.
"I would love to discuss things further with you, if you don't mind the intrusion that is." She agreed easily, much more comfortable after the nights events.
Luella tsk'ed. "We've been over this already. If we didn't want you there then we wouldn't offer. I for one have had a brilliant time tonight and would love any chance to get to know you even better." She insisted.
Flushing, Mai nodded in understanding. "Then I look forwards to it."
As if sensing that there was finally a free moment – although perhaps in reality he had been keeping an eye on them and waiting for things to settle down again – their waiter appeared with the aforementioned dessert menus.
Mai took hers with a longing look as she flipped it open, biting her lip as she debated over getting something.
Even though she had more money then she knew what to do with these days, she still wasn't keen on spending it on frugal things, instead putting it away.
Ayako had teased her, claiming that she was treating everything like some middle-aged housewife on minimum wage. Mai knew she was right but it was hard to break sixteen years of habit in only five years.
When their waiter asked if they would like anything, he took notes down as Lin passed, Madoka getting a piece of chocolate mud cake to share. Martin ordered the mini pavlova and Luella requested a rocky road sundae.
Mai waited for Naru to respond in the negative.
"I'll have an earl grey tea and Mai will have the mud cake." Oliver stated.
Her head turned to look over at him quickly, eyebrows furrowed.
The waiter seemed a little unsure but Mai wasn't paying any attention, still trying to figure out Naru's angle. He hated sweet things, with few exceptions. Mud cake was not one of them.
Seeing the dilemma on the poor boy's face, Madoka smiled reassuringly.
"That will be everything, thank you."
Nodding, the boy turned and walked away.
The four adults turned away from the younger two to give them a moment as Mai tried to figure out what to say.
At Mai's confusion, Naru only raised an eyebrow, smirk on his lips.
Huffing at his look, her eyes narrowed.
"What did you do that for? I didn't need anything." She hissed quietly.
Noting that they were being ignored, Noll couldn't help but give an actual eye roll to her.
"You wanted it but didn't want to spend money on it even though I assume you make a lot these days." He shot back, voice quiet as well as he gave her a knowing look.
"But-"
"Did I choose wrong?" Naru cut her off.
He was still smirking, the jerk.
"You know that you didn't." She mumbled after a moment.
"Of course. I'm always right after all. Mud cake is your favourite western dessert – chocolate being your favourite flavour. You prefer mochi*** when it comes to Japanese desserts though."
Blushing, Mai huffed but didn't argue further. How could she when he was correct.
Mostly she was embarrassed (and happy) that he took enough notice to know which her favourites were and wasn't quite sure how to react in this situation.
Still a little off balance, she turned to the conversation going on between the others and just listened in for a while. It was nice to have a moment where she wasn't expected to keep up the conversation.
It didn't take long before their desserts arrived, the conversation lulling a little as they each dug in, Naru sipping at his tea calmly.
Pressing her spoon through the cake, Mai hummed a little as the flavours coated her tongue, chocolate filling her mouth. She resolutely ignored the look she was getting from Naru as she polished it off.
She'd never admit it to him but it had totally been worth it – even if it was overly pricey.
For the first time that night, Mai pulled out her phone, checking the time briefly only to be shocked when it read nine thirty-seven.
Seeing her surprise, Luella gave her a curious look.
Mai turned her screen around and the older ladies face matched hers.
"Has it really been that long already? How time flies. I suppose we'd best be getting back home or we'll all be falling asleep tomorrow." The blonde woman murmured.
She looked as reluctant as Mai felt to finish off their meal.
Even though things had been a little bit embarrassing in the beginning, Mai had really enjoyed her time tonight and she honestly wanted it to last a lot longer.
Without warning, Mai yawned, her hand coming up to cover her mouth straight away.
Oliver sighed at her, ignoring the pang of familiarity from her tiredness. 'How often had she spent tired or sleeping on my watch while in Japan?' He wondered.
He threw the thought from her mind, instead pushing away from the table and standing gracefully.
"Come on. I'll get you back to the hotel before you fall asleep at the table."
Mai flushed. "I wouldn't fall asleep at the table." She argued.
The unconvinced look that she got in response from her three friends at the table made her throw her hands up as a show of surrender.
Pushing away from the table, she stood as well – not nearly as graceful as Naru, but at least she didn't fall over – and bid the other's goodbye as she trailed after Naru who hadn't waited for her at all, already on his way to the exit.
Moving quickly, Mai caught up to him, making sure to call him a jerk for good measure before they delved into a comfortable silence. After how much talking she'd done over the course of the night, Mai found that for once she could appreciate it.
Shivering slightly from the cold outside air, she rubbed at her arms slightly while they approached the car.
"Idiot. Next time bring a jacket. England is always cold in comparison to Japan so you're better save than sorry." Oliver informed her, pressing the button to unlock the car and getting in to start it.
Mai pouted as she got into the passenger side again, happy when she realised that Naru had put the heaters on for her.
Smiling a little, she waited as he pulled out of the lot, watching out her window as the streets rolled by.
"I'll keep that in mind." She replied belatedly.
Then it was silent for the rest of the drive, the brunette opting to enjoy the peace for once.
It seemed like forever and no time at all when they were pulling up in front of her hotel.
Opening the door and stepping out, Mai smiled at Naru.
"Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow."
Oliver rolled his eyes as if to say obviously, a smirk pulling at his lips.
"Goodnight Mai."
Shutting the door, Mai made her way into the building, waving as Naru pulled away from the curb even though she knew he wouldn't be paying attention.
(She was incorrect. Oliver did in fact notice and he had fought hard against a smile in response but ultimately lost the battle, figuring that if no-one else was able to see then it didn't really matter.)
Happy to be inside the heat once more, Mai made her way to her room with only a little impatience, sleep tugging at her and exhaustion pushing for her to be faster.
It felt like years before she made it to her room, fumbling slightly with her key card before finally swiping it and unlocking the room, pushing the door open and welcoming the relief she felt at making it back.
'Nearly done.' She promised herself, putting her things down, putting her phone on charge and then grabbing her pyjamas to change and brush her teeth.
Routine over with, Mai made her way over to the bed and practically collapsed onto it, barely gathering enough energy to get under the covers before she felt herself falling asleep, body heavy and mind blank.
If only her dreams would be as quiet as she'd thought.
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*If you guys can't imagine anything, or just want to know how I saw the dress being, then let me know because I do have an actual link for this dress. Or if you wanna look it up yourself (because FF hates links) it's on shein and its called Ruffle Solid Dress.
**If you live under a rock (or just don't know any authors or the inspiration for some of the most well-known horror movies out there I guess) and don't know who Stephen King is, he's a very well-known writer who I know primarily for his works in horror for things like "It" "Carrie" "Pet Semetary" "The Shining" and more.
***Mochi is a Japanese style candy. I personally am not a fan but as far as traditional Japanese desserts go, this is probably the most well-known one so I figured it was a safe option. They're rice cake pounded into a paste and shaped with a filling inside them and they can be both savoury or sweet, although I've only ever had them as a sweet option.