Hello minna-san! It's been a little while since I updated.. hasn't it? Tehe. Well, summer is finally here and that is when I update the most, if you remember from Requiem last year… probably not, right? *nervously sweatdrops* Um.. so don't kill me?

Chapter Name: Utsukushi Uso

IRREGULARS

Normal POV

Ayako had been the first to call everyone after she had wandered into Mai's now empty apartment.

"Hello? Monk? I've got some bad news…" The redhead began, standing the middle of the empty living room. Mai's old pink cell phone was a few feet away from her heels, screaming out words she didn't want to believe nor hear. She took a breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. After a moment, she set opened her eyes again and spoke. "Mai's gone."

"Wait what?"

"You heard me."

"Of course I heard you! Its just… well I- Mai wouldn't- but wait-"

"Stop blabbering and listen to me for a second you old man." Ayako snapped. "I came to pick her up, and her door was open. I was really worried so I went in slowly, but I noticed there was no furniture in the halls and panicked. When I came into the living room, it was clear; Mai left." She stared down at the pink cell phone in front of her. It seemed to stare back, almost innocently, but her heart was breaking. She was so sad, she was angry.

"Wait so there's nothing left? Not even a note or something?"

The phone stared.

Ayako stared.

"Ayako…?"

The redhead snapped out of her reverie. "Sorry, I was checking the rest of the house." She lied, turning her head away from the pink phone as if it had offended her. "There's nothing, Monk."

"I thought she would at least let us say goodbye to her before she left."

"Well her employer was that ridiculous Naru. Where do you think she would get it?" As the words tumbled out of her mouth, the redhead had an epiphany. "Hey, Monk? I've gotta go. Can you tell the others about this for me and cancel that lunch?"

"Ayako? Wait-"

The miko pressed the 'end call' button and stared down at her phone. Her knuckles soon turned white as anger and sadness built up inside her chest.

Naru would know something.

Ayako scrolled through her contacts and plugged a certain one into an international free call system.

She pressed 'call'.

Monk sat on his couch, staring down at his phone. He had just been getting ready to go pick up John and Masako for a small lunch to say goodbye to Mai, but now that the brunette was gone, there was no point.

The bassist removed his jacket and slung it over the back of the couch. He put a hand to his head and ran it back through his hair with a sigh.

Why did she leave so suddenly?

Either way, he was going to have to call the others and give them the news. With another large sigh, the man opened his cell phone again and pressed 'call'.

A week had passed. Everyone had taken the news of Mai leaving so suddenly a bit hard. It had been Masako who had surprisingly suggested that the petite teen simply wanted space.

"After all, this is a very crucial point in her life. We all saw Mai's face whenever she talked about her mother."

At this, the group fell into a thoughtful silence.

Bou-san often attempted to round up the irregulars for some hanging out; sometimes for lunch, a movie, or even his own concerts. The team appreciated his efforts, and some took over for him. Ayako once organized an entire shopping spree for them a few weeks after Mai and Naru had both left and SPR had closed.

It seemed that every week, they met up again.

Of course, sometimes not everyone could make it, but the group members would smile and shake it off. "Next week." Monk would grin. "John will probably make it next week. After all, he did call ahead to tell us that something came up last minute for his church."

And sometimes, Masako had shootings. Or Yasu had to study for a test. Or Ayako was on duty at the hospital. Or Monk had band practice.

But it was like this that SPR's irregulars managed to survive.

Happily waiting.

Ayako collapsed onto her bed with a sigh, her mind racing but body tired from a long day at work. It was often during nights like these, the nights that came after the SPR members met up, that her mind wandered to Mai and Naru the most. Of course, her sleep was important, so she often shoved the thoughts away for some piece of mind. However...

Almost a month and a half had passed. If what the pair said was true, then someone was coming back in another month and a half.

Ayako wasn't so sure it was going to be Mai.

The redhead sat up and reached over to her nightstand and opened the drawer. She dug around a bit before her fingers brushed on a familiar solid shape.

The phone.

In the darkness of her room, Ayako stared down at the pink phone with pained eyes. The moonlight seemed to be her only comfort these days, filtering through her thin curtains and dripping onto her floor. The redhead flipped the phone open and watched as the screen powered on and the device came to life.

Her eyes narrowed at Mai's wallpaper- a picture already offered by the phone company in the phone. She had gone through the phone before, of course, looking for any clues.

Of course, it was wiped clean.

Wait. An icon in the notifications caught her eye. What's that?

She quickly went into the phone's alerts and found where the notification came from. This was not a new situation- she often found the notifications on from the phone wanting to make updates from its factory settings. The program worked that way.

But today… today there was a different icon.

Voicemail.

Ayako pressed a few buttons before the icon opened, having to fiddle with it a bit because it was a newer model than her own.

The dial tone went through once before a woman's voice spoke.

"Please enter your password."

"Password?!" Ayako growled. She thought for a moment. "Maybe her birthday?"

7-3-XX

"I'm sorry, that is not the correct password. Please try again-"

Huffing, Ayako punched in another number.

"I'm sorry, that is not-"

She paused, not wanting the phone to lock her out of the mailbox. The redhead pondered on what the pin could be.

"Knowing Mai, it would probably be something really sentimental…" The woman muttered to herself. "The day we first met?"

4-X-XX

"The day we got her the phone was…"

3-12-XX

"It would have had to been a number she would have known about from the time we met to the day we got her the phone… Naru's birthday was something we discovered after that…" Ayako stared down at the phone.

So maybe sleep wasn't that important.

Ok, I know this was short, but I seriously don't have that much planned for the Irregulars until later, so for now, their chapters are going to be a bit short. At least this will help us keep an eye of everyone instead of just Mai and Naru, you know? :)

Also, I know the timeline here is a little jumpy, but I tried to make it so it was understandable. As I said, nothing really happens with them until later. For now, they will continue to sport their kicked puppy appearances.

That is.. unless you're paying attention to Ayako. *smirks evilly*

Thanks for reading! Drop a review please?

~Crescent T.