Hey, guys! I'm back with the third chapter of Doubles at the Daichi Hotel. I'm not sure I like the cover picture right now too much, but we'll have to live with it till I find something better.

Quote of the day: The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others. - Albert Schweitzer


"Name?"

The young lady in front of them smiled, showing off all her perfect white teeth. "Satomi Shimizu."

"And why are you staying at this hotel, Ms. Shimizu?"

"Please," she said, and Mai thought she saw her bat an eyelash. "Call me Satomi."

"Ms. Shimizu, please try to answer the question," Naru said in a bored voice.

The blond lady wasn't deterred. Her smile didn't waver. "I'm a freelance writer. I'm in the area researching an article."

Mai's head shot up. "About the ghost here?" she asked, giving her a hard look. Didn't Mr. Daichi's son say they were trying to avoid bad publicity?

"Oh, no, no, no, nothing of that sort," Ms. Shimizu said, honey dripping from her words. "I'm writing about the new scandal involving the mayor of this town regarding the money he borrowed!" She giggled a little. "Nope, I don't like to involve myself in these sort of things."

Mai resisted the urge to roll her eyes. And yet here you are.

"So what is it that you have seen, Ms. Shimizu?"

"Oh, dear, yes," Ms. Shimizu said, her voice and expression taking on an air of horror. She leaned forward so she was closer to Naru. "I was walking down in the morning early for breakfast. It was dark then, and usually a hotel is not so cold, but that day, I was sure it was. It was freezing!"

Mai looked at her, curious now. Low temperatures were usually a sign of a supernatural presence. But she had just checked every room, every hallway in the entire hotel. Maybe the spirit came out at certain times?

"I was just making my way around the corner, when I saw it!"

Ms. Shimizu leaned even closer and put her hand on Naru's knee, a terrified look plastered on her face. "It was me, I swear it was! She had my hair and my skin and my height and gait, but she looked cold and a little white - unearthly you could say."

Ms. Shimizu set her mouth in a pout. "I was going to go after her, find out what she was, but then she turned around and -" She squeezed Naru's knee as if for comfort. She swallowed hard. Her voice became dark and somber. "Her eyes! There was nothing there - just black, dark holes. And her mouth was open in a horrible scream!

"And then she vanished."

Naru bore all this with a straight face. He took Ms. Shimizu's hand and placed it back on her own lap. "Thank you, Ms. Shimizu," he said curtly. "That will be all. Mai, please show her to the door."

Ms. Shimizu drank the last of her tea and rose from her seat. Mai took her to the door and nearly shoved her out. "Thank you, Ms. Shimizu. SPR really appreciates your help. Good-bye."

She slammed the door on the lady and slid down to the floor. "Lin! Did you see that? She was totally trying to flirt with Naru! Who does she think she is? She's like, ten years older!"

"Lin, please delete her account of the incident. It is non-important."

"Hm? Why?" Mai asked from her slumped position. "What if we need it later?"

"She left me her business card."

Mai got up and took it from him. "What's wrong with a business card? Maybe she wants to research this hotel after all this is over."

"Look harder, Mai".

Mai stared at the card as hard as she could. She turned it both ways. On the backside of the glossy card was a number scrawled in black ink.

"WHAT? WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? NARU WOULD NEVER LIKE SOMEONE LIKE THAT!"

Mai chucked the card in the trash and then went to look out of the meeting room SPR was working in. She sighed.

There was a huge line of hotel customers, most of which were girls in short skirts and too much makeup. The were talking and laughing and giggling with each other.

"Naruuuu," she groaned. "There's still so many girls here to see you!"

"Are you jealous you're not as beautiful as me?"

"Ugh, you're such a disgusting narcissist! I would never want some boy all over my leg, trying to get me to hook up with him! That's just gross!"

Naru frowned and dusted off his pants. "Yes, that does present a problem."

He strode to the door and looked outside. "Mai, call Mr. Daichi. Inform him that there's been a change of plans."

"What are we doing now?"

"Tell him we want two adjoining meeting rooms. Males will speak to me, and females will speak to you. No more tea. And remember to take good notes as Lin will be taking them for me. Can you handle it?"

"Of course I can!" Mai said indignantly.

"Then get on with it."

After that, at least half the patrons left the line, and the interviews went quickly and smoothly. Mai took Naru's black notebook and took notes in there, while Lin recorded the information from Naru's interviews.


"So, Mrs. Yamasaki, have you actually seen this ghostly double?"

The old lady in front of Mai nodded vehemently. "Yes! I saw him!"

"Him?"

"Yes, it was Mr. Daichi!"

Mai wrote 'Mr. Daichi' on the paper. "And how do you know it wasn't really him? It could have been him wandering around, after all."

"No, no!" Mrs. Yamasaki cried. "It wasn't him! It wasn't!"

Mai nodded patiently. "And why wasn't it him?"

The old lady grew flustered and wrung her hands. "He - it - I don't know! I know it should be him, you know, but it wasn't! The thing was too - too -"

She frowned a moment and squeezed her eyes shut. "Too short!" she said triumphantly.

Mai frowned and looked at her closely. Was she just trying to make something up? "Too short?"

"Yes! Now I remember! Mr. Daichi is of slightly over-average height, but this was - this was -"

"Shorter?" Mai supplied.

"Yes!"


"And how can you be sure it wasn't the maid, Mr. Hamasaki?"

"Because…." The middle-aged father blushed furiously. "She wasn't - he wasn't -"

Naru raised an eyebrow. Idiot.

Mr. Hamasaki's voice sank to a whisper. "It wasn't a woman," he managed, motioning furiously to his chest.

"Not a woman? Don't they have male maids?"

Mr. Hamasaki only got redder. "He - it - had long curly hair, cut like a woman's."

"Was it wearing pants?"

Mr. Hamasaki nodded.

"Clean-shaven?"

"Yes. I mean….I don't know? At the time I thought it was just the maid, so I didn't really pay attention."

Naru nodded thoughtfully. "Arigato. That will be all."


"No, no, Ms. Miyamoto, do not cry!" Mai said, trying to soothe the frail, sobbing lady beside her. She put an arm around her and handed her a tissue.

"Thank you," Ms. Miyamoto said and hiccuped. "It's just - she died not long ago." Fresh tears poured down her cheeks.

Mai hugged the woman and was quiet until she cleared her throat. "Were you identical twins?"

The lady nodded and blew her nose. "We looked exactly the same. Except her eyes were bigger."

"And was the - was what you saw exactly her?"

"No…." She trailed off and wiped a stray tear. "She was….young."

"Young? Or younger than she should be?"

"Younger than she was when she….when she….passed away." Ms. Miyamoto took four tissues out of the box and held them all to her face and sobbed harder.

"Please, Ms. Miyamoto, I apologize if I'm prying, but could I ask one more question?"

"If it'll help you, love," she said in a watery voice.

"How old was she when she passed away?"

"She was thirty-four," Ms. Miyamoto whispered. She turned to Mai with huge, bloodshot eyes. "Do you think it's her? Do you think I could see her again?"

Mai knew the feeling. When her mother died, she saw her everywhere, wanted her to come back, if only in her dreams. But she also knew that this wasn't the case.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your sister, Ms. Miyamoto," she said, taking her hands in her own, "but she moved on to a better place. She is not trapped here. She is happy, wherever she is."

Ms. Miyamoto took a deep, shuddering breath and managed a trembling smile. "Thank you, love."


"But you don't have any real proof it couldn't have been him?"

"It couldn't have been him, I'm telling you! I had just seen him eating breakfast, and then there he was upstairs!" Mr. Itou said angrily.

Naru brushed an invisible speck of dust off his sleeve. "That is merely circumstantial."

"Listen to me, you brat!" Mr. Itou yelled. "I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE, SITTING THERE LIKE THE HEAD OF THIS COMPANY, BUT LET ME TELL YOU THAT TAKING A MENIAL SUMMER JOB INTERVIEWING CLIENTS IS REALLY SCREWING WITH YOUR HEAD, AND I'M NOT GOING TO SIT HERE LISTENING TO YOUR ARROGANT ATTITUDE ONE MORE SECOND!"

At that, Mr. Itou got up, strode out, and slammed the door behind him.

The knob slowly turned and Mai peeked in. "Is it okay for me to come in?"

"Yes," Naru said. "It was only an angry client."

"Yeah, I heard." Mai came in and plopped onto the couch next to Naru and rested her head against his arm. She laughed. "He said something like he can't believe you would act like the head of the company."

"It doesn't matter what he believes."

"He really was angry. Did you manage to tick off all our clients like that?"

"That was only the second."

"Naru! That is so bad! Why would you do that? Can't you give the narcissistic personality a little break?"

"I cannot give being perfect a break."

"What does that even mean?"

"Tea."

"JERK!"

"Leave me my notebook."

Mai resisted the urge to break his nose with it and threw it at his arm instead, reveling in the little grunt he let out when the sharp corner hit him.

She walked to the kitchen slowly, mulling over the results of the evening. Some of the people at the hotel said they saw the exact person, some said the doppelganger was not quite right. Did the spirit not know how to replicate people's characteristics perfectly? Was it trying to perfect the process?

She asked for hot water from the cook, made tea for Naru and Lin, and brought it back to the sitting room. She gave one cup to Naru, and one to Lin.

"Are we going to eat dinner soon? I'm starving!" she announced to Naru, standing in front of him. He made no effort to answer her question but stared at the notes Mai had written in his notebook.

"Mai, why are there drawings of a cat in here?"

"I was bored. Can we please go eat dinner?"

He didn't answer.

"Naru?"

Silence.

"Naru, answer me!"

No response.

Mai pressed both hands against his shoulders and put a knee against his hip. She leaned all her weight on him so he couldn't move, and pressed her lips to his. She kissed him harder and deeper until she felt him relax under her grip and kiss her back.

Too soon, she had to break away and take a breath. She smiled on seeing Naru slumped in the couch, breathing hard. There was a little color in his pale, white cheeks, and his eyes were bright and unfocused.

So she kissed him again.

And then a third time.

When she was sufficiently sure he was almost passed out and going to acquiesce to anything she asked, she skipped over to Lin.

"Lin, can we please eat dinner now? Naru's not going to say no." She followed Lin's gaze to where Naru sat motionless on the couch and giggled wildly.

Even Lin cracked a smile at that. He stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, Mai. Let's go."

"Come on, Naru!"


Sooo what do you think? I don't think Naru's too OOC, so let me know what you think!

For next time: A cute boy touches Mai's hand and a certain someone doesn't like it. Plus, you know, other stuff.