Written for Mizumori Fumaira
(decreed by whitephoenix18)
Mai turned and headed towards the door calling to Naru as she put on her coat. "Naru, I'm leaving now!"
"And where are you going?" Naru asked suddenly appearing at his open door. Mai turned around and surprised to him. She stared at him, fixing her coat as she asked "What do you mean?"
Lin's office door opened and he stepped out. As he closed it behind him, he noticed Mai standing by the door and Naru glaring at him. He looked between the two for a moment, before walking over to Mai. From the corner of Naru's eyes, he watched as Mai face go bright red.
"Hey Lin." She said quietly as he reached her. He nodded to her in recognition.
"Naru I'm leaving early." Lin said as he grabbed his coat from the coat rack and walking out.
"I guess I am leaving now too." Mai said quickly as she quickly following after him.
"Wait, Mai!" Naru called after her but the door had already closed behind her. She was gone. Naru stood there, staring at the door that Mai had just left.
Naru turned and walked back inside his office, slamming his office door shut. He walked over to his desk and opened the book that was on it and he began to read the contents. This had been happening a lot lately. Mai and Lin both would leave early everyday together and then they would come in late the next day. Naru let it go for the first few days, thinking it was nothing, but then those days turned into weeks. It became such a habit with the two, that Naru was surprised when they didn't leave together.
Naru tried to ask Lin about it once, but he ignored him and pretended he had no idea what he was talking about. So, Naru tried to ask Mai about it, but she would go bright red and run away with some silly excuse.
It has gotten to the point where Naru had started to think of different things that they were doing together. Naru slammed the book shut, not wanting to think about what they were doing. Mai probably had homework to do and had to leave early and Lin was just giving her a ride home. That was all. Naru stood up and decided that he was going to go home. There was nothing else he could do here and it pointless to try to find something.
The next day
Naru sat at his desk, looking at his clock every few minutes. Mai was already two hours late and Lin also still had not yet show up as well. He had heard Lin come in late last night, but didn't bother to wake him up this morning, thinking he would wake up shortly after he left anyway.
Naru glanced at the clock again. They were now two hours and five minutes late. Feeling annoyed, Naru looked at the book he had been staring at since he had arrived. He wanted more then anything for them to tell him what was going on.
The front door opened and Naru heard voicing. Listening closely, he heard a giggle; one that he knew was from Mai.
"I really had fun! We should do it again after work today."
"I think that would be great, though I don't think that is a good idea." said a voice that belonged to Lin. Naru stood up and walked over to the door, pressing his ear up against the door, listening to them closely.
"Why not?" Mai asked. She sounded like she was pouting.
"I don't want Naru to get too suspicious." Lin said. His voice had gotten closer. "It would not be a good thing."
"Okay." Mai said quietly. It was quiet for some time, before Mai spoke up again. "But let's do it again…soon."
"Alright." came Lin's voice as Naru heard his footsteps and the sound of a door opening and closing.
Suddenly, Naru heard a knock on his door. He jumped back in surprised before he heard Mai's voice float through. "Hey, Naru, I am here now, would you like some tea?"
Naru opened the door and saw Mai standing there, smiling up at him.
"What I would like to know is why you are two hours late."
"Well technically I am two hours and fifteen minutes late." Mai said, then realizing her mistake, smiled up at him and continued. "It was nothing. I was just out with-" Mai cut herself off. "I just slept in."
"Do you think I am stupid?" Naru asked.
"No why?"
"Then tell me why you came in late."
'"I just slept in late that's it!" Mai yelled at Naru. He opened his mouth to say something but Mai cut him off. "I will go get your tea" she turned and walked away before he could say anything else. Naru watched her go, wanting her to come back. He wanted her to stop lying to him. He looked at Lin's door, wanting more then anything to knock down the door and ask him what he was doing with Mai everyday.
Holding back the urge, Naru walked over to his desk and sat down, opening the book he had been reading earlier and began look over the words that were on the page. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't get those thought of what they might be doing out of his head.
There was a knock on his door and Mai walked in. She walked up to his desk and placed down a fresh cup of tea. She then bowed and walked out, not saying a word to him. Naru watched her go, not saying a word.
It was like this for the next few days, each day getting worse and worse. Mai and Lin would come in even later and then leave even earlier. It got to the point where they would only spend an hour or two in the office all day.
Naru would barely say anything to Mai, when she was in the office and if she called him after hours, he would pretend he did not hear his phone go off. When she tried to ask him a question, he would just nod his head and pretend to be working on something that was already done.
There was a knock on Naru's door and Mai walked in with fresh tea. She walked over to his desk like she did everyday and then would bow and turned to leave.
"Mai." Naru said. Mai stopped suddenly, not expecting to hear him say anything. "I want an answer." He said. She turned to face him confused. "Tell me where you have been going with Lin."
"I don't know what you are talking about." Mai said before turning and walking quickly to the door. "I think I left the burner on." Mai reached out for the door handle and pulled it open before it was slammed shut. Mai looked to her right to find an arm there, keeping it closed.
"Don't run away from me. I asked you a question, now answer it." Naru said. Mai turned to find him inches from her.
"I well…um..I left the burner on…so I have to go-"
"You didn't leave the burner on, so now answer my question." Naru said in a quiet voice.
"I told you nothing is going on!" Mai yelled at him. "I have just been extremely busy with some of my homework and projects that is all!"
"Then explain why Lin is leaving with you early, or why you both keep coming in late. And if I remember correctly, this is the first time I have heard anything about you having extra homework and projects."
"Well I…um…"
There was a knock on the door. Naru looked up to hear Lin's voice drift in. "Naru is Mai in there with you?"
"Yes, why?" Naru asked, not letting Mai speak.
"She left the burner on in the kitchen."
"I told you!" Mai said before pushing Naru back a little and opening the door. Naru looked up at Lin who was standing there, watching Mai run off to the kitchen. Lin looked back up at Naru for a brief moment before heading back into his office.
The next day, Naru walked into work to find no one there. It did not surprise him at all. He walked into his office and sat down, waiting for them to come in. They did not. Naru waited all day, but no one came into the office. It was normal for Mai to some times not show up, but for Lin to not come and to not tell Naru was something new to him. He started to wonder where Lin was when a thought occurred to him. He was probably with Mai.
Sighing to himself, Naru stood up and walked to the door. He grabbed his coat and put it on before locking up and beginning to walk home. The sun was still setting, so it wasn't too dark that Naru couldn't see where he was going, but it was still pretty late. He walked in silence, thinking of all the things that could have kept Lin out of work. The only one that he could think of was Mai.
Naru stopped and pulled out his phone. He dialed Lin's number and waited. He didn't pick up. Naru hung up and dialed another number. She didn't pick up. Naru put his phone back into his pocket before continuing down the street. It didn't take long before Naru had reached his apartment building. He walked up the stairs and over to his room. The lights were on. He remembered shutting them off when he left this morning. He twisted the door knob and it opened. It wasn't even locked. Naru pushed opened the door and walked inside. Suddenly…
"Surprise!" screamed people as they jumped out from behind objects. Naru stopped, and looked around the room. The thing that bothered him wasn't the strange balloons in his house or that people were hiding behind things or the party hats that everyone was wearing, which made them look ridiculous. It was that there were people in his apartment without him knowing about it.
"What is going on." Naru asked as he walked in.
"Happy birthday!" Mai yelled as she skipped over to him and hugged him. Naru just stared down at her, not moving.
"Yea, why didn't you tell us it was your birthday huh?" Bou-san asked.
"Because this might happen." Naru said to himself as he looked around at the other people here. Bou-san, Ayako, John, Masako, Yasuhara and Mai were all here. Even Lin, who was standing against the wall was here, a small smile on his face. "Why are you all even here?" Naru asked as Mai let go and ran off somewhere.
"Because it's your birthday silly!" Ayako said as she walked over to him. She gave him a hug and when he didn't hug her back she slowly moved away from him. She could feel his glare on her.
"Happy Birthday!" John said from his seat by the table. He looked extremely happy and uncomfortable at the same time.
"It's time for your present Naru!" Mai yelled as she came around the corner. There was something in her hands that Naru couldn't see. Once she reached him and held it up, Naru felt his heart stop. In her hands, was none other then a yellow fluff ball.
"Isn't it cute!" she said as she held the puppy up to his face. Its dark brown eyes stared up at him, a little whine coming from it as it titled its head.
"If you can call it that." Naru said under his breath.
"Here hold it!" Mai said as she trust it at Naru. Naru quickly grabbed a hold of the puppy that was being placed upon him. "It was Lin's idea. He said you needed something cute! That's why we have been leaving work together, so we can find you this cute puppy."
"I don't want a puppy." Naru said plainly as it wiggled in his hands.
"Aw but you look so cute with it!" Mai said as she smiled up at him. Naru looked from her to the puppy back to her. He didn't think he had a choice in the matter. He was going to have to keep it.
Naru glanced up at Lin as everyone else started to give him his present, which he knew he wouldn't want. A small smirk stayed on Lin's face the rest of the night as he watched Naru struggle with his new found friend.
