Um...Naru's much more introspective, so there's not much talking in this chapter. Thanks to everyone for reading. Oh, and I hope you're prepared for massive spoilers...Mwahaha.
FANfiction means...
Kazuya Shibuya, called Naru or Noll by those close to him, knew that his part-time worker was anxious about something, but, like most things she worried about, he decided that it probably wasn't something he needed to concern himself with. After all, she was always worrying about something or someone.
Once she had delivered that slightly disturbing message and left his office, the nineteen year old was left to either go back to reading, or to contact his mentor as per her request. Standing, he decided to do neither and began to pace the room, brooding.
His parents had been pushing for him to move back to England for a long while now, and lately, even Madoka had dropped a few hints. She never came right out and said what she thought, but she felt free to mention just how much his parents missed him every chance she got. Lin, the Chinese man who'd initially come to Japan to keep an eye on him but had remained out of loyalty, thankfully stayed quiet on the subject, but all that did was frustrate the younger man. He knew why Madoka and his parents wanted him to go home; he didn't know why Lin seemed strangely reticent on the subject, even when Naru outright asked for his opinion.
Naru, obviously, didn't want to go. He'd made a comfortable place for himself here in Japan, and though he'd lived in England for most of his life, Tokyo just felt like home. SPR, the business his father had funded, had gained a certain fame, and he told himself that it would be ridiculous to leave it in someone else's hands, where it would assuredly fade into oblivion.
Perhaps, too, he felt the need to stay within traveling distance of the place where he'd finally found his twin brother's body. Their house in England didn't make him feel their connection, but he couldn't help but feel it here, in the country where Gene had died.
He continued to pace while considering new arguments he could make for staying in Japan, preferably without hurting his parents feelings. As cold as he seemed, he really didn't like hurting people, something that his assistant Mai finally seemed to understand.
A brief smile crossed his face as he thought of what had happened on their most recent case. The little girl they'd been questioning had refused to talk to him, saying that he was scary--which Mai had heartily agreed with. But then, she'd smiled and said that he was only scary so that the monsters would be afraid of him. The little girl had been delighted at the thought, and had asked him to check her room for monsters every night before bed for the entire time they'd been there. Mai and the other workers thought it was hilarious.
He'd taken to leaving Mai to question children a while ago; undoubtedly they enjoyed her simple mind, but even he had to admit that it was more than that. Most people liked Mai, and it wasn't because she was good-looking or smart.
It wasn't that she wasn't pretty, either, he mentally corrected himself, and she wasn't a complete idiot. But it had been made clear, time and time again, that when the SPR workers were out and about, he and the famous television medium Masako Hara were the ones who had to fend off suitors. Which was, of course, made doubly uncomfortable by the fact that most of the people who became had prolonged contact Naru or the medium were their clients; so they had to be polite.
The point was, while Mai was quite pretty; she wasn't the type to make men stop dead in their tracks. And though she seemed to do well in school, and had plenty of common sense, she often went with her gut instinct instead of stopping to think. This led him to the conclusion that it was not her looks that people liked about Mai but the girl herself.
It was only once they'd gotten to know the group that the clients started gravitating toward the young woman. He'd noticed it from the start; even on the first case Mai had worked on. People talked to her, they told her things without even thinking about it. All he could do was question people, but Mai often managed to get more information out of people just by having conversations with them.
Lin had noticed the change immediately . Naru had always been the one to question the clients, even when Yasuhara was pretending to be him, so letting Mai question the people who'd proven to be recalcitrant, or simply unable to remember details, would seem, to anyone else, odd. The older man hadn't said anything, in exactly the same way that he wasn't saying anything about Naru choosing to remain in Japan. This frustrated Naru to no end; he was missing something; he knew that he was missing something, but his assistant refused to say a word.
The dark-haired man paused briefly to take a sip of his now-lukewarm tea. Well, even if it was cooling off, it still tasted fine. Making tea was one thing that Mai did quite well.
And again, he had to correct himself. Mai was good at talking and listening to people, and she always finished the chores around the office with a minimum of fuss. She never intentionally slacked off, and despite the highly charged atmosphere under which they often worked, she wasn't inclined to panic or have mood swings.
Too, her powers had steadily progressed, though she still had trouble calling them on command. In fact, unless they were needed to help someone, they were pretty much dormant. If she left SPR and got a normal job, she'd probably never be bothered by ghosts or spirits, unless she entered a haunted building, of course. It was something that Naru pushed out of his mind every time the unwelcome thought forced its way in.
Thinking about it, there wasn't much that Mai was really bad at; it was just that she wasn't dramatic about all of the little things she did. Yes, he was aware that she liked appreciation, but she never boasted about anything she'd done. In fact, she often downplayed her psychic abilities, something he--and the others--found continually frustrating. She wouldn't tell them about a scent, or a strange feeling, convinced it was her imagination.
And the thought was back again. Mai could, if she wanted to, have a normal life. She could leave SPR, find a normal job, and never have to deal with, not just the paranormal aspect of their work, but the irritation he knew he caused her as well. She could work with people who said 'please' and 'thank you' and didn't insult her intelligence every chance they got.
Growing bored with pacing, Naru dropped gracefully into his chair. The sandwiches that Mai had left were still sitting on the plate. Picking one up, he peeled back the bread a bit to examine the insides. Liverwurst and cheese, his favorite, only available at one deli in the entire area. It hadn't taken Mai long to figure out that, while he liked Japanese food, her boss actually preferred Western fare.
Naru bit into the sandwich almost viciously, finishing it in two bites before moving onto another piece. He needed a new case, anything to get his mind off of the strange way his friends--yes, he would admit, at least in his mind, to considering the SPR workers friends--had been acting. Because it wasn't just Madoka, Lin, and Mai, oh no! Everyone around him seemed to be acting oddly.
Houshou Takigawa, the Buddhist monk who insisted that his 'day job' was being a bassist and that his work as a monk was simply the back-up, had taken to not only acting nervously whenever the group got together--something Naru only knew because Mai had mentioned it--but also hugging the girl more than usual. The resident Miko, Ayako Matsuzaki, had been losing her temper more than ever in the past month or so. Masako had been pouting for a good month before abruptly changing moods and mercilessly teasing Mai. Even their priest friend, John Brown, and Yasuhara, the college student who helped with research had been acting oddly, though Naru grudgingly admitted that their oddness was bafflement at the actions of the others.
Still dwelling on the overall strangeness that had been his life lately, Naru finished his sandwiches and leant back in his chair.
His reveries were interrupted, however, by the sound of the outer door opening, and Mai greeting someone. The voices were muffled by his closed door, but still, as the conversation continued, Mai's voice sounded a bit…off. Frowning, he rose from his chair and headed to the door.
"Um, but--" Mai's voice was much clearer now, and her nervousness was obvious to the dark-haired man. His frown grew fiercer as he opened the door.
"Mai. What's going on?" His eyes locked in the young woman, Naru ignored the visitors for a moment. It served them right, for making her look so pale and shocked. Only after assuring himself that his assistant wasn't actually hurt, physically or emotionally, did Naru bother to look at the people who'd so surprised her.
Immediately, he felt his own eyes widen in a mixture of shock and disbelief. What were they doing here?!
"Hm, guessing from your expression, I'd have to say that Madoka didn't have a chance to warn you that we were coming." The man's voice was warm and deep, and the tone contained more than a trace of amusement.
The voice suited him; he was a big man, tall and stocky with graying-brown hair. His light brown eyes shone with the same amusement that could be heard in his voice. His outfit was casual, pants and a white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
At his side was a rather tall woman; she was only an inch or two shorter than Naru with short, dirty blonde hair. Her eyes were a light blue, almost gray and they crinkled at the corners in a friendly way. Her outfit was pretty much the same as the man's, pants and a button-up shirt, though hers was blue.
Naru continued to stare at their guests, and Mai continued to stare at him, waiting for him to react so that she could follow his lead.
The woman's grin widened even more, and she twiddled her fingers at the stunned couple.
"Surprise, dear."
"Mother!?"