(A/N: Eh Naru's the main character and this chapter isn't even from his POV!?)

7 Mysteries Academy

Chapter 3: Hotel Hijinks.

There was a pregnant pause with the group. The tension was heavy. His heart skipped a beat. His eyebrows furrowed. He filled his lungs with air and let them out with a deep sigh, with one eyebrow raised and his hair rustling slowly with the movement of his shoulders, he asked his next question.

"...What do you mean you still have contact with Mai?"

John fiddled around with one of his golden lock of hair. His bright cyan eyes, shimmering with innocence. "I mean what I said Naru." He answered nervously.


+Elsewhere+

The fresh minty shower invigorated her body; she loved the tingling feeling it gave her skin. Not being fussy with her hair, she used up a small bottle of the hotels shampoo, it came in a brown bottle that was slightly translucent, she didn't mind though, after all it matched the darkness of her eyes. The look and texture of the product reminded her of a one-night stand she had with an employee, slimy and slightly shimmering in murky silver, although she remembered it being more sticky between her fingers. She frowned for a moment before brushing the thought off and let the coconut liquid cleanse her long reddish hair. She rubbed her body roughly and quickly letting her body get hotter and hotter, she made sure to scrub every part of her body as she felt herself get warmer, finally her body couldn't take it anymore and she stopped to turn the water down.

After letting the water rinse off the bubbles that had lathered on her body she let a cold rush of water cool her down to open her pores and cool her body down, the sudden rush of coldness suddenly hardening intimate areas of her chest. She stepped out onto the cold white tiles of the bathroom and turned off the shower. The bathroom itself wasn't all that fancy; the shower was a cheap model and only had a simple shower-head, none of the fancy jet-streamed ones you would get in other hotels… The shower didn't even have a curtain, just a short flimsy plane of glass that didn't do much to cover anyone's modesty. There was a bidet in the far corner and a large sink. But what her favourite feature of the bathroom was the vast mirror, even from standing in the shower one could see every inch of themselves in the mirror above the sink, it wasn't tall particularly, just incredibly wide as it took up much of the wall. It must have been hell for the maid to clean up the rooms but that wasn't her concern.

She took a scratchy white towel from the rail and wrapped it around her body but not before examining herself. Over the past few months or so she had finally been blessed with her body fat plunging up to her breasts than the rest of her body, her daily routines had finally been paying off, putting on a silky bra, she realised that it was getting slightly tight. She pouted as this grey silky one was a bra she loved and didn't want to dip into her savings to spend around £30 for another decent bra. She brushed the towel to wipe off remaining water droplets from over her long silky legs, she didn't get much taller, hardly grew at all for that matter since she was a child, but working as a waitress let her appear taller from the heels they had as uniform. She put on a fresh set of silk panties to match her bra, no longer did she wear those childish panda ones as her stable and steady income let her buy clothes she actually wanted rather than ones she could make do with from the bargain bins from the clearance section of the store. Oh yes, she had worked herself up in life and was proud of it! During her childhood she was a slightly chubby child, but as she was young she didn't care, when she grew to be an adult however, she wanted to be seen as more mature and swore to lose her baby weight. She looked up and down at the mirror again, by the looks of it, it had all paid off! She had it all! The high rise apartment, a high paying job and a great family – now all she wanted was a man that was suitable enough for her to remain at her side.

She walked over to the music player she had borrowed from a friend and placed it in the dock to blast out loud music. It didn't matter if the noise disturbed the neighbours, it was her last day of working here before heading out back to the cafe – she had only planned to work at the hotel for the summer anyhow, so it didn't matter if she got complaints. The woman dropped her towel on the floor in a damp pile and started to rock her long auburn hair to the music, droplets of water hitting her cheeks as she did so but she didn't mind – she opened the navy blinds to her window and saw the sights of the city, she didn't care that she was pretty much flashing, she was to high up for anyone to notice. She felt close to the sun as the glaze hit her eyes.

She breathed in a deep breath. "Today is going to be a great day!" She said out loud as she relished in the sunlight warming her hair. She heard unmasked moans and grunting from the room above. 'A better day for some...' She joked. The noise got louder and she decided to distract herself by doing the rest of her tasks before she could leave.

She left her bed a mess as she threw her mini suitcase on it, it was red and masculine, an item she borrowed from the one she lived with as a favour. She planned on stopping by a sushi place to return the favour as he was a foodie. She recounted all her items and products in the case before going into the bathroom and taking all the soap and toiletries she could find. They may have not been the best quality, but they did the job and they were free, so she decided to take them home with her. She eyed up the towels as she left the room but then shook her head. 'Too rough for my skin'. She thought.

She put on her hotel uniform and sat down on a chair and looked at the mirror in front of her table. She rubbed a finger over the yellowish-greenish name tag. 'Keiko Kitagawa'. It read. She smiled as she read the name. She quickly dried the rest of her hair with a hairdryer and put it in a neat bun; she placed the small hat on her head and flattened out any bits still pointing out. Her hair had grown from just below her ears to just past her shoulder. 'Hmmm….it's time for a new 'do'. She realised.

The sunlight had also lightened the colour of her hair, but she didn't mind, she enjoyed the fresh air she got from working at the cafe – it was centred right in the middle of the main park, and the greenery made her feel happy. At first she declined the job offer at the hotel, whilst it looked relatively new it was actually pretty old, the hotel in particular was lavished with rumours of being the place to go too for one of two reasons, one in being to have an affair with your lover and the other to leave the world. There were a few rooms in particular apparently rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of a hanged pregnant maid, and the corridors in the east wing being haunted by a cheeky boy who died drinking too many products from the cleaning trolley…She didn't believe in such rumours however, and thought they were just silly tales used to gain tourists at the hotel.

She looked at the small selection of makeup products she was given to wear and put them on, she still felt uncomfortable wearing bright red lipstick as she didn't think she could pull it off, but the howls she got from passer-by's at the hotel proved otherwise. Although it didn't really make her feel comfortable…

With the makeup done she took one final look in the mirror and packed the rest of her things and shut her suitcase. She pinched off the train ticket to Shibyua that she attached to the side of the mirror and placed it safely in her pocket. She fixed her tight midi skirt and made sure her brown stockings didn't have any rips. She carefully slipped into her blue suede high heel shoes and walked out of the hotel, leaving her key card with the receptionist at the desk and headed to the train station.

The train ride only took a few minutes but was much faster than walking as she could cut straight across the city instead of being stuck with detours. She managed to exit at the stop that took her near the entrance of the park. Had she taken a space in another carriage she would have had to walk the entire route from the outside of the park leading in, saving her around a ten minute walk. 'Today must be my lucky day!' She thought. She shivered slightly as she walked through a cold patch of air that made her shiver, but she thought nothing of it and blamed it on the air conditioning.

She walked up to the cafe, the design of which was a giant pink castle, despite the cuteness of the design, many adults and men visited the cafe for it's refreshing atmosphere and food. She loved every minute of working here. Just coming in to start a shift made her feel like a princess coming home.

The staff was dressed in maid-style aprons and occasionally the cafe held events to bring more customers in such as 'animal-ear day' or 'glasses-day', there were occasionally some weirdoes that visited but it helped that the manager also doubled up as the staff's bodyguard. The manager was a young man, not that much older than her and had blue eyes and blonde hair, she had wondered if he was foreign due to his hair colour but never had the guts to ask. Although he looked pretty, his personality was rotten.

She ordered a small pastry item for herself, a nutty baklava oozing with honey, and a foamy misto drink – her usual but she had no chance of changing her routine, she preferred it when things went her way. She looked at the blue haired waitress in front of her, her hair in two neat buns on either side of her head.

"Can I get a box of shrimp tempura as well please? To go as well." The waitress nodded and went to the back to deliver the order. She knew it would take a few minutes and waited patiently.

Truthfully she had thought about drinking stronger coffees, but this was the favourite of the child she had waiting at home. They would both sit and share from the cup and laugh at each other's foamy moustaches. Before she knew it, her order was ready and she kindly paid the staff and headed out.

She exited the park and went further down the district, as she passed by a few shops she stopped and stared at her reflection, her bun had started to come loose and a lock of her reddish-brown hair had been flowing down her neck in a curl. She sighed and thought about lopping her hair off into a simple, shaggy, bob cut – at least it would be better to maintain.

The hairs on the back of her neck started to risen, as if her body was warning her of something. Looking further down she noticed her handbag was undone. 'Ah I must have forgotten to zip it back up after I paid the lady...what was I so distracted about again?'

Had she been paying attention, she would have realised that today was most certainly not her lucky day, as she had failed to notice the glowing pair of eyes that had been following her since she stepped off the train.


(A/N:

I wanted to try this new thing were we get chapters that aren't from the point of view of the SPR members. How did I do? You may be wondering where Mai is, well dear readers, Naru and the rest of the SPR gang will be investigating that very question in the next chapter! You will definitely see her then!

I'll answer some PM's I got under Anon. (This was a registered user but I'm withdrawing the name as I don't want any hate messages going to them.)

Anon PM: What is the relationship between Mai and Yasu? Naru was told everyone had lost contact with Mai! SL: What could this mean?~ Maybe love? Maybe not? Maybe Yasu knows a dirty secret of Mai and is blackmailing her!?

Anon PM: WHERE IS KIMI?! SL: Ehh right? Where is she? Was she not in this story? Did she appear already when you weren't looking?

Anon PM: Please have Mai with Naru. SL: Please vote on the poll! (I've put it back up!) Mai may end up with someone you don't want if you don't vote! Right now Mai is looking to end with an OC than a character you already know!

Anon PM: I came to this story for the haunted school _! SL: (/゚Д゚)/ You shall see the school not in the next chapter but the one after that!

This person kept replying so I'll use chat format for this:

Anon PM/Thread: Calling it, Kimi is Naru and Mai's secret lovechild! 1 Mystery solved.

SL: Wahh you called it indeed. I'm too predictable aren't I? My writing is pointless *Waves white flag*

Anon: Uwah, really?

SL: No. Kimi is actually a possessed spirit who is waiting until it's stronger so it can kill Mai and take her body. *Sigh* I actually planned to kill Mai off after announcing she was pregnant with Lin's child. This is why she has not been in contact with the group for so long; she's been dealing with that!

Anon: ಠ~ಠ

SL: I jest surely. Truthfully I can only say at this point Kimi is a daughter of one of the characters in the story but her mother hasn't been confirmed.

*At this point Anon was incredibly rude*

SL: -_- I will not be confirming the relationship of Kimi so soon in the story. You will get a clear answer the sooner you solve the hints in the chapters. The most obvious answer is not the correct one.