AN: Here's the second chapter!

I could update so soon only because I had a holiday today (lucky!). I don't think it will happen again and again though...

Thank you all for your interest in this story!

Enjoy!

The New Case

May 24, Friday

Mai Taniyama sighed as she tried to think up of things to write for her essay, but came up empty.

She glared at the offending piece of paper.

She had just started university, and had chosen psychology, history, and science as the subjects for the first year. It was fun, and the subjects were interesting. Plus, the professors were understanding, and did not give them much homework.

Except occasionally, like today.

She did not mind it much. She was already done with her psychology and science essays, only history was left.

'Describe, in your opinion, to what extent did Adolf Hitler consider his treatment of the Jewish people as justified, and why.'

Really, his treatment of those innocent people wasn't justified at all, but she had to explain it in no less than a 1000 words.

She had no idea how to start, let alone what to write. And what piled up the pressure was the fact that some of her subject credit depended on this blasted essay.

It was an off day for her.

She sighed again, and pushed the paper away. She did not have to submit it till next Thursday, so she decided she would start working on it tomorrow. Today, she was going to relax, clear her head and have some fun.

She slumped slightly at that thought (there was no fun to be had at the office, even the word itself was a taboo), placing her head on the table and suppressing a groan. No, she wasn't going to sleep; that would be a fatal mistake. Her boss would scold her endlessly, if she did. Or rather, if she got caught.

But better not to risk it. For some reason, she felt like the narcissist had a sixth sense when it came to her wasting time lazing about (trying to make it fun). She definitely wouldn't put it past him to come out of his lair the moment she even thought about taking a short nap, and glare at her before insulting her lack of work ethics and brain cells. Then he would give an order of tea, scowl one last time, and walk back to his office. And her mood would be effectively ruined.

All that due to her just thinking about sleep (think of the horrors that would follow if she thought of doing anything remotely fun-like!).

He did not mind it when she slept on cases, as it proved useful to them. Her dreams helped them to understand the reason behind a particular haunting, and decide on a course of action.

Atleast she was useful, even if it meant she had to sleep on the job.

Not that she was complaining.

Speaking of her boss, she glanced at the clock. It had been two hours now since she had last made him tea, and he had not asked for it again. Normally, he would be ordering her to make it every hour or so. Was something wrong?

She snorted. Here she was, worrying about her boss, and what lack of his precious tea would do to him. The narcissist really needed to get a lid on his addiction for tea, or it would be his downfall.

Mai imagined how he would behave if he suffered from tea withdrawal, and giggled.

It would be funny to watch, that's for sure.

She glanced at his door, hoping he hadn't heard her (and hoping his sixth sense hadn't picked up on her thought of 'funny'). She was already on the verge of pulling her hair out because of the boredom, and if he came out to ruin her day, she would surely turn homicidal.

She knew he loved it when she suffered.

Work, though, had become a smidgen more bearable since Yasuhara had joined. His snarky remarks and weird plans to prank the boss and Lin-san always made her day; especially since it would leave the narcissist frowning some 1-2 years worth of frowns.

She knew she loved it when Naru suffered. It was tit for tat, really.

Ah, she was thinking too much of her boss again.

Dang it!

After Naru had left for England, she had been shattered; mostly because of how her confession had gone.

Disastrous; that was the only word to describe it.

She had known there was really a little hope of him having any feelings for her. If he did, she knew it would be a miracle. But even so, she had confessed. She had only wanted to convey her feelings, whether he reciprocated them or not. She could no longer go on hiding her feelings, especially when he was going to return to England. She could not go on, not knowing what could have been.

But instead of just acknowledging her confession and politely rejecting her, the jerk had doubted her feelings, and made her doubt them herself.

"Me or Gene?"

Really, she had been shocked. But then, she had thought that maybe he was right; he was a genius after all. Maybe she was projecting her feelings for the dead twin onto the living, breathing twin.

She had then felt guilty. She knew how much it would have hurt Naru, to be compared to his brother, and to be sought as a replacement for him.

She had wanted to apologize, but could not find the courage. When she had returned to the office, to help pack, he had behaved as if nothing happened. And before going back, he had given her a picture of him and Gene when they had been young.

The picture that now sat on her desk at home.

She had cried every night for a week after he had left. And slowly, it had dawned upon her that she was not mourning Gene as much as her lost chance with the narcissist. Most of her tears were because she missed Naru.

In the end, she realised it was Naru that she loved.

She had been angry then, at the boy. Because he could not face her feelings for him, he had decided that she loved Gene, so that Naru wouldn't have to go to the trouble of breaking a girl's heart.

He was a coward, nothing else.

Her anger had helped her make the resolution of forgetting about the jerk, and finding a new, better love.

And Masako had helped her with it.

After Naru had left, she had grown close to Masako, mostly because both had been in love with the narcissist, and both had been hurt by his abrupt departure. After a week of calling the boy names and listing out his faults and bad habits and everything else bad about him (as a sort of moving-on therapy, something she had read on the internet), they had decided to find a new love, and show the excuse of a human being (Naru, of course) that they could do better than him.

So, Mai had started dating her classmate from school. He was cute, and friendly, and had paid a lot of attention to her. But the flame had run out after two weeks.

"I don't know Mai, but I feel like you are holding back, like you are not enjoying this relationship."

That had been his excuse for breaking up.

When she had told Masako, the medium had just made a face, and vowed to find someone for Mai.

Not a week later, Masako had introduced her to one of her co-workers. And he was hot. Mai had been happy; he had proved to be a wonderful boyfriend. Gifts, dinners, movies, and what not! But that too had lasted only for a month.

He had fallen in love with someone else.

Cheh.

Masako had tried dating too, but without results. Then she had stopped trying altogether. When Mai had asked her why, she had just blushed and told her that she was in love with someone.

After much prodding, and threatening, Mai learned who it was.

Their priest, John Brown.

Mai had been happy for her friend. Masako confessed that what she had felt for Naru was nothing compared to what she felt for John. But she did not know if the priest would accept her feelings or even return them, or if he could return them (seeing as he was a priest). And so, there had been no progress in their relationship since then, as Masako refused to confess.

Then, her nightmare from England had to return, not three months after he had left.

Mai and the other SPR regulars had continued to work under Madoka, though the cases were few and far in between. So when she dropped the bomb, everyone had rejoiced, except Mai.

And she had finally been feeling like she could move on.

Masako had sympathized with her, but had been against Mai's idea of finding another job. She had told Mai it would seem like she was running away, and that would make the narcissist extremely smug, and give him an unfair advantage over her (more than he already had).

That had been enough to stop Mai.

When he finally arrived, he had greeted them in the same arrogant way, and behaved with her as same as before; insulted her brain, and demanded for tea.

So she too had decided she would act like nothing had happened, like she hadn't confessed and he hadn't broken her heart. She would work for him, and continue to find another love.

Not that that had been easy.

And it did not help her at all that in all 18 years of her life, she had only dated twice (and that too both only in the last three months).

She sighed again at the depressing thought. She so wished there was a new case, just so she could distract herself.

Mai got up from her chair, and stretched. She then walked to the window, and looked out at the world below. It was a beautiful, sunny, summer day. Though it was hot outside, she was quite comfortable in the office as the air conditioner was on. Such joys of working for a rich boss.

"I do not pay you to stare out the window."

Speak of the devil.

"I know. I was taking a break." Mai said, and turned to look at him.

"You have taken enough breaks, and there is still plenty of work to make yourself busy with." Naru commented as he walked to her desk, and patted a pile of papers sitting there.

"I can see that. Work is boring." She snapped slightly, leaning against the window pane, something she had picked up from her boss.

"Oh? That does not mean you can ignore it."

She glared at him. She wanted to scream at him, and tell him where he could put his work, but he signed her pay checks, and she needed the money.

"Fine." She conceded, and moved to her desk.

"But first tea." The narcissist smirked at her, causing her to growl under her breath.

Oh, how she wanted to rip that arrogant smirk off of his pretty face; but suppressed the instinct, instead choosing to glare at him again.

"It is a part of your job." Her boss politely pointed out, but the smirk remained in place.

Damn it! Where was Yasuhara when you needed him? He would have been able to make a comment that would have made her snicker, and would have made the boss scowl and turn tail back to his office. But he was busy with extra classes today, so it was her bad luck.

"Of course, sir. Anything you say, sir." She said through gritted teeth, and started moving towards the kitchen.

"It's a good thing you know when to show respect to your superiors. Atleast, you are smart enough to know that. And to say I had lost all hope."

That's it!

She was about to punch him right in his arrogant face, when the front door opened.

"Excuse me. Are you open today?" A man, probably in his late thirties, asked as he looked around the door at them, with a slight hesitation in his tone.

Immediately, Mai calmed down and put on her business smile.

"Of course! Please come in."

"Thank you." The man said, relieved. Then he entered the office, and was followed by another man, who seemed young, probably in his early twenties.

"Please sit down here. I will get some tea. Meanwhile, here is the boss." Mai said to the two men, and pointed to Naru.

He glared at her, but turned to their possible clients and bowed slightly. Then he sat down opposite them on the couch.

The two men looked at him surprised. Mai supposed they would be. Naru, even though he was 19 now, was considered too young to run a business by many, almost all clients that they got; though his glare and cold attitude, as well as sharp business acumen, made sure that none dared to comment on it.

Mai then left the three men alone and went to the kitchen, to make tea. Most clients they received would be shaken up by the paranormal activities happening around them, and so she made tea to calm them and help them tell their story better. It always worked.

She returned after five minutes, carrying a tray with four cups filled with delicious tea, if the smell that wafted off of the warm liquid was any indication. She placed a cup each in front of the three men before taking one for herself, and sitting down besides Naru on the couch. She was surprised he had waited for her to return before they started. Lin-san was out for the day, so it was only the two of them.

"My name is Kazuya Shibuya. And this is my assistant, Mai Taniyama. How may we help you?"

"Ah yes. I am Jirou Kaji, and this is Matsu Yamamoto", the older man started, "We are here with a case request."

"Please start from the beginning."

"Well, I run a construction company. And recently, we have been given a contract to renovate an old mall. It was burned down about 20 years ago, and now they want to restore it. We have been working for three weeks now, and things have started happening..." Kaji-san trailed off, and looked at Yamamoto-san, who nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"From the beginning the place has been giving us problems. The pipes we would repair would again break. Then the machinery would stop working, even if it is brand new. And there have also been reports from my men that they hear a woman's voice. We have checked many times, but couldn't find anything. Then there have been rattling sounds. And the windows on all floors would be open when we arrived at work in the morning, even though the night before each and every one of them had been closed properly."

"Are you sure that it is not just a prank? Perhaps some kids are doing this." Naru asked. It seemed as if nothing they had said yet had piqued his interest, since he had yet to write anything in his black notebook.

"No. The site is properly sealed off. And we have a guard at the entry gate at all times", Yamamoto-san said.

"We also have a camera at the entrance. So we can keep an eye on all those who enter", Kaji-san added.

"Hmm. Anything else?"

The two men looked at each other. Then Yamamoto-san turned to them, visibly disturbed.

"My boss died the day before yesterday. He jumped from the terrace of the building." He said with a tremble in his voice, Kaji-san next to him echoing his expression of quiet terror.

Mai gasped.

"He committed suicide?" Naru asked, frowning.

"NO! He could not! Nashi-san was not the type to do anything like that!" Yamamoto-san said urgently, the cup in his hands shaking with him, spilling a little tea on his shirt. "It was so sudden! I was with him till..." He trailed off with a hitch, and Kaji-san patted his arm to calm him down.

Yamamoto-san nodded to the older man, and took a deep breath before continuing, "We had been working on an old elevator. It was midday, and very hot where we were working. So Nashi-san asked me to get some water. Then, after 10 minutes when I returned, he was not there. I looked around but I couldn't find him. Then I heard footsteps from the floor above. So I checked and saw Nashi-san on the third floor, going up the stairs. I called after him, but he didn't answer. I followed him, ran up the stairs, all the while calling out to him, but he did not turn even once. He went up to the terrace. As I reached there, I saw him walking closer to the edge, looking at his side, as if someone was there. I was about to call after him again, when he just turned and jumped off..." Yamamoto-san now had tears in his eyes, "I could do nothing. And before I ran back down, I heard a woman's laughter. I looked around but no one was there."

Yamamoto-san was trembling again, "I was so afraid! I couldn't even move after that..." He trailed off again, and Kaji-san patted him on the back, muttering words of reassurance.

Mai pitied the man, he had to watch his boss die.

"And the most weird thing of all were Nashi's eyes", Kaji-san continued, "When we found him, his eyes were open, and they were blood red in colour. And for a man who jumped, he had a look of complete calm on his face, as if he had only been sleeping."

Naru assumed his thinking position, with one arm around his torso, and other propping up his chin. Mai knew he was intrigued now.

"Please help us! My men have threatened to stop working there now! And with what happened, even I am afraid to go back there! Please!" Kaji-san begged.

Naru thought for a while, and Mai observed him. She knew if this were truly a suicide case, then there was nothing for them to do. But the clients looked convinced that it was not so, and were truly terrified.

Then her boss sighed and looked up at the men.

"We will take your case. Please leave your contact information and address with my assistant. We will need a large room with lots of electrical outlets, and three rooms to use as sleeping quarters. Please make sure there is electricity and water."

He then turned towards her. "Mai, inform the others. Tell them to be here at 7 am sharp the day after tomorrow."

At her nod, he walked back to his office.

"Thank you!" The two men exclaimed, relieved that they agreed to help.

Mai smiled at them, and went to her desk to get a note pad and a pen. Then she passed both to Kaji-san, who wrote down the necessary information.

The men then bowed, thanked her again, and shuffled out of the door.

Mai sighed as she looked over the details Kaji-san wrote down, shaking her head at the distance they were going to have to travel to reach the case site. But atleast she got her wish, they had a case now, even though that meant no time for her essay.

That concerned her little, since she would take it on the case with her. She did not understand why Naru took the case, it did not seem like paranormal to her. Maybe he took it because he was bored. They had not gotten a case for a few weeks now.

Oh well. Time to inform the others.

Aaaaaaah! Finished!

Hmm... I think this is all confusing...

I will make it interesting from next chapter though (or try to).

Ciao!