(A/N): I realised I made a mistake when writing this - I always forget this, but Yasuhara's first name isn't actually Yasuhara, it's Osamu, yet I always refer to him as 'Yasuhara' but oh well. Everyone else seems to do it, so I don't care that much.

Oh yeah, in this story, Yasuhara's father is Hideharu Matsuyama, a.k.a. the douche bag teacher from Forbidden Pastimes at Yasuhara's school. I forgot to mention that earlier. Sorry about that.

This chapter is not as long as I thought it was, so sorry about that.

Will there be Mai/Naru? Hmm. You'll have to read to find out... ;)

Thank you for reading (and thank you to those lovely people who left some very nice reviews :D) ad I hope you enjoy this chapter!

I spent a lot of my shift at Seagull's Point Restaurant waiting for Kazuya Shibuya to arrive, and trying to figure out how I'd approach him and start the conversation. Tonight was a lot less busy, and it was mainly the locals who were at the restaurant that night. Once again, Ayako had to throw out the drunken man from the previous night, but other than that, it was pretty quiet.

"It's pretty quiet, isn't it?" Yasuhara voiced my thoughts as I served him. "Though I prefer it that way."

"Yeah…" I was only half listening; I was still thinking of how I'd bring up the conversation.

"Hey, is that your brother?"

"Yeah…"

"He's totally chatting up John."

"Yeah…Wait, what?!"

I peered over. My brother was sitting down at a table, and John was serving him. They were talking friendlily together, and if I didn't know my brother better, I'd say he looked a little shy.

"What. What." I stared at them. "Are they going to hook up?"

"I don't know. I don't think the light house keeper looks very happy about it. Maybe he's one of those 'protective father' types?"

I glanced over to the window seat, where Lin was sitting. He was watching the two very closely, in particular Houshou. From the intentness of his gaze, I was surprised my brother didn't notice.

"Oh my gosh." I breathed. "John's writing something down."

"Probably his order. You know, because that's what waiters do. Write down people's orders." Yasuhara pointed out, amused, and I shushed him.

"No, no, look. He's giving it to him. Oh my gosh." I grabbed Yasuhara's shoulder and squeezed it. "He's giving him his number! Oh my gosh!"

"Ow!" Yasuhara rubbed his shoulder. "Hey, hey, John's coming this way, act natural."

I fumbled for my notepad and began scribbling down random letters. "Ok, that's one cider! I'll go get that immediately for you! It's not a problem! Apple cider, right? Apple is my favourite!"

John walked past, oblivious.

Yasuhara crossed his arms. "You really suck at 'acting natural'."

"Shut up. I try my best. Do you want an apple cider, though?"

Yasuhara smiled. "You know me too well."

As I went to go get it for him, I realised that, with the drama of my brother chatting up one of my co-workers, I had completely failed to notice that the person I had been waiting for ever since I arrived on my shift was finally there. As soon as I served Yasuhara, I headed over to him, getting my notebook out quickly.

When I neared, though, I slowed to a halt. Another man, who I didn't recognise, was talking to him confidentially.

"Look, I heard that, for paranormal experiences, you were the bloke to go to." He was saying. "And I've had a paranormal experience."

"…Go on." Kazuya Shibuya said, after some hesitation.

"So…I was on this boat two nights ago, and it sank. I almost drowned. But someone saved me. Something saved me."

"What do you mean?"

"…Everyone's saying I'm crazy, but I know what I saw. It…It was a person…but with a fish tail."

Kazuya Shibuya stared at him. "…You mean a mermaid?"

"Yeah, yeah, that."

So this was the man that Madoka Mori had been talking about the other night…

"…I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid my area of expertise is that of spirits, PK and ESP. I can't help you, it seems."

"Oh." The man looked crestfallen. "Ok. Sorry for wasting your time."

"That's fine." As soon as the other man had left, I hurried over.

"Hello, are you ready to order?" I asked, smoothing out my hair.

"Ah, yes." He was even more handsome up close. "Could I have some Bulmers, please?"

"Of course." I wrote it down as slowly as possible. "…So…you, um…I'm Mai. You work with my brother."

"Your brother is Houshou Takigawa?"

"Yeah, that's the one!"

"You two look alike."

I laughed, and shook my head. "Not really, honestly. Anyway, I've heard that you're into…parapsychology, was it?"

"Yes."

"Well…you see…how do I put this…do you think I could talk about it with you, perhaps? Y-You see, I think I…witnessed something paranormal recently, so…"

Kazuya, at once looking intrigued, smiled a little, which only improved his good-looks. "I have a day off tomorrow. How about we talk then?"

I couldn't help but grin, thankful for how willingly he was agreeing to this. "Ok, that sounds grand. Have you heard of a café called Piccolo Corelli?"

Sitting at the café the next day, I waited anxiously for Kazuya to arrive. For the entire morning, I had been texting Masako furiously with questions such as: What should I wear? Formal or casual? Or formal-casual? What if I was stood up? Did this count as a date? What if he didn't believe me about the ESP thing? In the end, I convinced Masako to come along too, and she sat at a nearby table, stirring at latte and ready to stand in and rescue me if things went disastrously.

Outside, it had started raining half way to the café, catching my unprepared and ruining my hair. I knew that, in no time at all, it would go frizzy and unkempt. Self-consciously, I tried flattening it a little, then ran my combed my fingers through it to give it back some volume. Nervously, I glanced at Masako, looking for an opinion on my appearance, and she looked up as well, giving me a thumbs up. A second later, I glanced down as my phone buzzed.

You'll be fine. You look great. Xx.

I gave her a grateful smile, and my feelings of nervousness faded a little.

Moments later, I looked up to see Kazuya Shibuya walking into the café, running his hand through his wet hair as we put down his umbrella, shaking off the rain water from the cover.

"Ah. Good afternoon." He sat down opposite me, and shrugged off his wet coat. "You look well."

"U-U-Um, thanks…"

Looking at the menu of drinks, he asked me, "Do you know what you'd like to drink?"

"Oh, I'll probably just have a c-cappu-cappuccino." My tongue tripped around the word. "W-What about you?"

"I think I'll go for a cup of tea."

My nerves couldn't take it anymore. "H-How about I go order?"

Not waiting for a response, I dashed off to the counter to order the drinks. Ok, Mai. Calm down. Act cool.

Bringing the drinks over to the table, I placed them down and sat back in my seat.

"So, um…you're pretty young to be an officer."

"That's true. But I was offered a place to study early."

"A-Ah. You must be pretty clever, huh?"

"You could say that." He said smugly.

"So…" I still couldn't bring myself to bring up the ESP matter. "…What's it like working with my brother?"

He considered it. "Well, on our first day together, he forgot his badge."

I chuckled. "Oh yeah. That was a laugh."

"So, you wanted to speak about a paranormal incident you experienced?"

"Ah. Yeah." I moved my hair behind my ear. "Well…ok, how do I put this…I had a dream."

"A dream?"

"Yeah. And in my dream, someone hid some bags in a bush. So, when I woke up, I looked in these bushes. And, uh, the bag was there! Crazy, right?" I chuckled nervously, sipping my cappucino.

Kazuya stared at me, intrigued. "Tell me about this dream."

I explained to him the contents of my dream, and when I mentioned the back pack, he frowned.

"…Did you tell your brother about this dream, by any chance?"

"Not exactly. But I did give him the back pack when I found it."

Kazuya rolled his eyes. "So that's how he found it…well, from what you've described to me, it seems like you have ESP. Clairvoyance, most likely."

I still couldn't believe what I was hearing. "W-W…Are you sure about that?"

"There's a test you could take if you want to be certain. May I ask, have you had any other strange dreams recently?"

"Yeah, I had one where I was drowning and…" I paused, frowning. Something occurred to me.

"…Ok. Let's say, for arguments sake – only for arguments sake, just to make that clear – that I have ESP or whatever."

"Go on."

"Ok. So, I had this dream where I was drowning, and I'm pretty sure a boat was sinking. I thought I was going to die, but someone saved me."

Kazuya frowned and asked urgently, "When did you have this dream?"

"About three nights ago. The night of the boat sinking. Do you think – if I really have ESP, that is – that that dream could have been about the boat sinking?"

Kazuya closed his eyes in thought. "…That is a very probable possibility."

"Ok. But…something's bothering me." I frowned. "Everyone says that the reason that boat sank was because of a storm, right?"

Kazuya nodded. "It's hard to be sure, but we managed to pinpoint roughly where the boat sank. It wasn't particularly far from the pier, and there were no rocks or other hazards like that about, so a storm is our best guess."

"Well, it's just…in my dream, I remember looking up, and I could see the stars. The sky was really clear that night. If it was a storm, then why was the sky so clear? I mean, to sink a fishing boat, it would have to be a pretty big storm, right? So why was the sky so clear?"

Kazuya frowned. "…That is puzzling." He furrowed his brow. "…Unless…" His eyes widened, as if he had just figured something out. "…Mai, what did you say was in that duffle bag?"

"Just a bunch of wires and some tins. Why?"

He looked troubled. "And you say the person with the duffle bag went into a fishing boat?"

"Yeah." I paused. "…Now that I think of it, I think it was Yasuhara's boat. But, you know, it might mean nothing. Because I probably don't have ESP."

He didn't seem to be listening. "I need to search this boat."

"Wait, what?"

He stood up and put on his coat. "Thank you for your help."

"W-W-W…I didn't do anything! Wait, you can't go search a boat based on a dream! It probably means nothing!"

He buttoned up his coat. "I knew that this wasn't an accident. Four boats don't just sink like that in such a small time frame. I knew it."

"What?! What are you talking about?! It was just a dream!" I threw a look of confusion towards Masako. "I don't have ESP! Like…yeah, I had those dreams, but…ESP? That's impossible!"

Kazuya scoffed. "It's perfectly possible, let me reassure you." He began to hurry from the café.

I turned to Masako. "Come on!" I called, before following him out into the rain. Muttering something about not being able to finish her latte, Masako followed me reluctantly.

Outside, it really was tipping it down, and I quickly opened up my umbrella, before running to catch up with Kazuya.

"Kazuya, wait! You can't just assume something like that based off a dream I had!" I insisted.

"Well, I can't completely deny the possibility either." He retaliated. "If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. But if I'm right, then it changes a lot."

Masako caught up with me. "What's going on?"

"Apparently, I have clairvoyance, and now that means that the boat accidents weren't really accidents."

Kazuya rolled his eyes. "When you put it that way, it makes me sounds crazy."

"Well, this whole thing is crazy!" We had arrived at the pier. "My dream can't have any relation to what's happening in real life!"

"Unless you have ESP." Kazuya countered.

"He has a point." Masako joined in seriously. "If you do have ESP, then your dreams could be important.

I groaned. "Not you too, Masako!"

"I'm searching this boat." Kazuya approached Yasuhara's fishing boat, which was still tied up at the pier from yesterday. On the hull, I could see some faint traces of paint from the graffitist. "If you're right, Mai, and your dream has no meaning, then there'll be nothing on board. But I can't put my mind to rest until I've searched it. Ok?"

I crossed my arms, frowning. "…Shouldn't you have a warrant or something?"

"It'll be fine." He got on board carefully, and called back to me, "You said the person went into the hold, right?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I scowled. "You make sure you don't get caught."

For a minute, I waited, as the rain continued pouring down. "This is unbelievable." I muttered.

"Well, so is finding those bags based off your dream, but that still happened." Masako reasoned, and I sighed.

"Yeah, but…it can't be true, right? It's just a coincidence…right?"

"Well, we'll see."

Soon, Kazuya emerged from the hold, getting out his mobile.

"Let me guess. Nothing was there, like I said." I called out.

He shushed me angrily as he dialled a number and held the phone to his ear.

"Fine! Whatever! I don't care. I'm going home." I turned angrily and began to walk away.

"Is this Houshou?" Kazuya was asking. "…I think we need to rethink the boat incidents…"

The next words made me freeze where I stood. "I found a bomb in the hold of the Matsuyama family's boat."

I turned around slowly, sharing a look of shock with Masako. Did he say…bomb?