Finding You:
Chapter 4:
Mai retrieved her photo album and matched the background of the photo which was a painting of a cherry blossom tree, to a set of photos where there was a residue and a blank space indicating that a photo had been stuck there and removed later. She placed the photo in the area, it fitted perfectly.
The series of photos were taken at what looked like a ramen restaurant. Mai checked the date on the back of the photo which matched with the date that the Case #26 had been solved on so the photos were taken at the celebratory meal for the case, but why had the photo been removed from the album and placed in the case file? It didn't seem to be an official thing to do, but Naru hadn't commented on it when he had gone through the file. Admittedly, he had only taken the disk out, he hadn't touched the report so the photo may have been placed between the pages.
She frowned. If that was the case, the photo would have dropped out on her way to giving it to Naru. Had he put it in there?
She glanced over at Yasuhara, who might know the answer, but he was part of the group that was keeping something back from her, making her unwilling to ask. She needed to ask someone who would be willing to tell her and was close enough to her to know what was going on.
Bou-san and Ayako were not candidates, neither were Yasuhara and Masako. Lin was a maybe as was John. Naru was an unknown, he was keeping why she had stopped working for him back, but he had shown her the video and if he had put the photo in the file, he might be helping her get her memory back.
She scrolled through the contacts on her phone which were limited. Aside from the SPR irregulars, Lin and Madoka, there were not many people. Keiko-chan was a possibility. If she still had her number, then they were still acquainted and Keiko had never had a direct connection with SPR so she was her best option.
Mai resolved to call her during her lunch break so there would be no danger of anyone from SPR overhearing her. However this plan was unexpectedly scuppered by Naru.
"Mai, come with me," he ordered as he swept past her, dressed in his coat. "Wrap up warm."
They walked down a few streets together and through the famous human tide crossing in Shibuya until Naru led her into a restaurant. The waiter at the counter smiled at her.
"Taniyama-san! I haven't seen you or Shibuya-san for a couple of years! You two can have your usual table."
Rather understandably Mai gave Naru a questioning look whilst they were led through the relatively quiet restaurant by the waiter.
"We used to come here every day for lunch," he informed her as they sat down at a small table in the corner. "I thought it might help you with your amnesia."
Mai smiled. "Thank you, Naru."
Naru returned her smile with a real smile on his face, not his fake one for clients. "I will order your favourite for you."
Mai opened the menu doubtfully to find that there was quite the variety of dishes available from a sunday roast to spaghetti to ramen. The photo of the Kitsune Udon caught her eye. She glanced up to see Naru staring at her with a glint in his eye.
"The Kitsune Udon and a glass of grapefruit juice, right?"
She blinked. "How did you know that?"
"Because you ordered it very frequently over the four year period that we ate here. Guess what I am going to order?"
The amnesiac ran her finger down the pages of the menu. Ramen was not an option- the image did not suit Naru. Her finger stopped on the list of western dishes. Most of them like fish and chips did not look sophisticated so she settled on a sunday roast.
When she told him, Naru smiled again. "This place is the only restaurant in Tokyo that gets it right which is why I chose to come here with you so frequently."
A very obvious question made itself apparent in Mai's mind. "Why come with me? Wouldn't Lin-san be better?"
She conjured up an image of Lin and Naru sitting together out of work hours in a restaurant discussing the weather and the state of the economy, it didn't feel right.
"Although your intelligence is inferior, your personality is more agreeable and talking to you has its good points," Naru informed her, much to Mai's surprise.
She thought back to all of the conversations she had had with Naru. These conversations normally involved him asking for tea or insulting her intelligence.
"You just liked making fun of me whenever I said anything stupid," she said.
Naru did not answer which answered Mai's question. She sighed.
"Sometimes I wandered if you ever saw me as a person beyond your slow witted assistant."
She looked down at the patterns on the tablecloth, missing Naru's frown and downcast expression completely, meaning that she missed out on yet another hint.
"Mai, although you don't remember it, I stopped making insults about your intelligence and animal instincts once you became more trained," he told her kindly. "In return you stopped making comments about my narcissism."
Mai risked a glance at Naru. He looked entirely serious and not pitying like he had been when she had confessed to him. Clearly a lot had changed with Naru in the past six years."
"Are you still a narcissist? Do I need to stop calling you Naru?" she asked, returning to her previous curious mood.
"Mai, how can I be a narcissist if I am in-" he broke off suddenly. "Naru is fine."
After their lunch the pair walked back to the office at a slow pace due to the fact that the amnesiac kept pausing to compare technology and fashion stores to the ones she remembered from six years ago. Instead of telling her to hurry up like the old Naru would have done, he seemed to be content to wait for her.
Only when they arrived back at the office did Mai remember that she had been planning to call Keiko. She sighed and sat down at her desk, planning to call her after she had finished work and managed to type a memo on her phone to remind her.
"Mai."
She looked up to see Naru standing right by her desk. "Yes?"
"Some clients should be arriving in a few minutes, go make some tea and keep quiet," he ordered and walked away.
"Did I embarrass myself in front of a client?" she hissed at Yasuhara who twitched.
"Just the once. It was understandable, the client was an idiot who kept flirting with you and in the end you poured tea over him."
The clients this time turned out to be a young married couple who were living in a house which appeared to be haunted as the furniture regularly moved and ghostly footsteps could be heard. Mai was expecting Naru to say that they were imagining it and to go see a doctor which would be very typical of him, but he took notes quietly and arranged to visit the house the following day.
Yasuhara and Lin did not look too surprised by this, leaving Mai to infer that the narcissist had decided to actually be pleasant to clients and not look bored or be picky with cases.
Later that day, on her route back from the toilet to her desk, Mai walked past Lin's office and heard Naru's voice.
"I know it is perfectly obvious what is causing the hauntings, but it would be good for Mai to start participating in cases again and develop her abilities, it will help with her amnesia."
She inched closer to the door to hear Lin's reply.
"...Noll. Are you trying to make up for what happened two years ago?"
Her ears pricked up. Was Lin referencing whatever caused her to leave SPR?
Unfortunately for her she heard footsteps approach the door and someone turn the door handle so she darted back to her desk and tried to look busy. Yasuhara looked up to give her a mystified look, presumably for the speed at which she had run to her desk from the toilet which was not her usual practise. Lin's office door was not viewable from his desk, something that Mai was glad for due to the fact that she was positive that Yasuhara was in on whatever was being kept from her.
That evening Mai packed her bag with necessities to last for a few days, as per Naru's instructions. As most of the incidents occurred at night, it had been decided that they would all stay the night and the former narcissist had informed her that he was not going to drive her home or to a supermarket if she ran out of anything. Vaguely, she wondered what would happen if she ran out of tampons.
She set her alarm to ensure that she didn't arrive late like she often had and saw her memo about calling Keiko. She dialled her number in lieu of finally getting an answer, unaware that Naru had got to Keiko first.
They exchanged pleasantries and Mai explained about her amnesia and turned the conversation onto the feeling that something was being kept from her.
"I haven't spoken to you for about a month, so I wouldn't know," Keiko said. "Maybe you got drunk and said or did something you shouldn't have done."
Mai blanched. She really hoped that it wasn't the case, but she had a gut feeling that there was more to her situation than a drunken mistake.
"Perhaps. Keiko-chan, why did I stop working for SPR two years ago? Naru says I need to find out for myself and no one else will tell me," she griped. "It isn't helping my amnesia."
There was a short silence before Keiko replied and Mai thought that the connection had cut for a moment.
"...I don't know. You never told me, I'm sorry that I can't tell you. I think you should just do as your boss says and work it out for yourself."
Their conversation passed onto other channels and Mai got the dirt on what everyone in her class in high school had been doing since graduation and who married who.
"...Guess what job Michiru-chan has now?" Keiko asked.
Mai considered it based on her interests in high school. "Fashion Designer?"
Keiko laughed. "No! She's a housewife with two children."
"Really!?" the amnesiac gasped and happened to notice the time. "Ah! It's nearly midnight and I have to get up early for a case tomorrow. I will call you when I can."
"Bye, Mai-chan."
The brunette placed her phone on the bedside table, turned off the light, settled down to go to sleep and had one of the most random dreams she had experienced.
Her stomach felt like it something was being stabbed into it repeatedly and she doubled over in pain in her futon with one hand scrabbling in her overnight bag for painkillers, a search that turned out to be futile.
She limped across that tatami mat floor, past a sleeping Ayako and Masako and into the brightly lit neighbouring room where Naru was sat watching the camera feed.
"Mai, it's one in the morning..." he said without turning around. "What are you doing up? Did you have a dream?"
She flopped onto his lap. "Stomach cramps. Do you have any painkillers?"
He sighed. "No one ever told me that being a boyfriend was this challenging. I still remember you sending me out to the convenience store at 5 am to get you your... necessities."
As he spoke he deposited her off his la and passed her his water bottle bottled and rummaged in the first aid kit for painkillers.
"Take two and go back to bed," he ordered.
She pouted. "Painkillers don't work instantly."
Moments after taking the painkillers she winced in pain and relaxed when Naru put his arms around her and squeezed her tight.
"Go to sleep Mai."
A short while later she dropped off to sleep and was jerked awake almost immediately by someone carrying her and placing her delicately into her futon and pulling the covers over her. Naru kissed her forehead.
"Sleep well, Mai," he whispered softly. "I need some more information to solve this case, let me know if you have an informative dream."
As a random trivia point the full version of Naru's interrupted line is the final line from one of my other Ghost Hunt fanfictions. I quite liked that line so I used it again.