"So Hana-san, why exactly did you buy this Ryokan?" Mai curiously asks as she helps Yoshiro build a toy spaceship.
"As they were debriefing possible causes of the spirit with Yasu's revelations, Koizumi and Yoshiro came in to ask Mai on a 'play date'.
Needless to say, there is a jealous brooding narcissist inside base, along with the 6 unfortunate souls who must deal with his temper tantrum.
"Oh please, call me Koizumi."
"O-oh," she stuttered, "In that case, whenever you call me by my first name, please drop the honorific."
"My husband and I met in a different country," she began, "I'm from the U.S."
"One day, he was traveling and we met," She chuckled with a faraway look, "Strangest man I have ever seen at that time. He was so polite and hot. You don't really find men like that where I'm from so I went for it."
Mai coughed awkwardly in response.
"And you know," Koizumi had a devious look on her face, "That day I knew that..."
She leaned over to whisper in Mai's ear, "I wanted to have his babies."
Mai blushed so hard and began to choke on nothing. She hugged Yoshiro, hoping he wouldn't hear anything his mother was saying. Yoshiro happily returned the hug.
Koizumi was laughing so hard that tears ran down her face, while Mai glared at the older woman. Yoshiro just cluelessly sat there hugging Mai.
"Ha ha," Mai awkwardly laughed along, "L-let's not talk about that."
Koizumi eventually calmed down and apologized. "I just couldn't pass up the opportunity, and the look on your face was worth it."
She scooted closer to Mai and whispered, "Although, if you hadn't reacted, I would've continued."
Mai punched her in the arm and scooted away. "I swear, weird perverted woman," she muttered.
"Well, that's basically the story of how I met him. I knew he wouldn't be able to stay that long, and I was gaining my business major at the time. So he asked me to come here, and build a business with him."
"I wanted to make a place that made people happy," she explained with a wistful look. "The look of happiness on families' faces when they're bonding is satisfying."
Mai smiled softly in response, knowing that making others happy is satisfying.
"Luckily, this Ryokan was quite cheap and in good shape. The daughter of the last owner put this place up for grabs because she decided to move to a different country."
Mai raised her eyebrows at that, Yasu didn't really talk about the previous owner in detail.
"Ne, ne, onee-san," the child began, "Did he visit you too?"
"Who?" She inquired.
"The boy!"
Mai was extremely confused, she believed Yoshiro was the only child in this Ryokan right now.
"I don't know who you mean..."
He began to recount all his night escapades with a child around his age. They always played with his cars or spaceships when his parents put him to bed.
Mai curiously looks over to Koizumi, only to see her looking at her son with a baffled expression.
"Are you sure that's true sweetie?" She questioned. "I know there weren't any children staying near your room, could it be an imaginary friend?"
Mai didn't say anything, choosing to consider what he's saying.
"No! I'm not lying," he snapped at his mother.
Her eyes widened. "How bout' telling us his name?"
"He goes by Aki-kun!" The boy exclaimed happily.
"And why haven't you told me of Aki-kun before?" His mother inquired.
He puts his finger to his mouth, "Shh!"
"He doesn't want anyone to know," he whispered conspicuously while leaning in real close to them. He bounced right back and said, "But I think it's ok if it's onee-chan and okaa-san."
Mai narrowed her eyes, 'Why do I get the feeling this isn't a simple imaginary friend', out loud, she asked, "When did Aki-kun start to visit you?"
"After we moved here."
"And how old is he?" She asked.
"Eight!"
He jumped into Mai's lap, "Don't worry! He's like a guardian angel."
Mai's arms circle around the child, "And why do you say that?"
He shifted in Mai's lap to look at her, "He told me he protected me and my friends at the Lake."
Both their eyes widened, Mai hesitantly asked, "Why would he say that?"
The little boy scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, "He said because we wouldn't have made it out alive."
Mai immediately recalled Yasu's findings and her dream, 'Where's papa?'
"W-why are you saying things like that Yoshiro!?" The mother demanded, horrified that her child was talking about something so morbid.
This goes way beyond a simple imaginary friend,'/em the mother fearfully thought.
"But I'm not lying! I swear," He jumped out of Mai's lap and insisted.
Mai simply put her hand on the woman's arm, and said, " I don't think what he's saying is a lie."
The boy then points at Mai, "See! She knows I'm right," he stubbornly says.
Mai leaned in real close to the mother as he said that, and whispered, "I believe in him, children tend to be more spiritually sensitive. Don't worry, as long as we're here, we will do everything in our power to protect your son."
Koizumi took a deep breath to calm herself and slowly nodded her head, "O-ok..."
"Excuse me," Koizumi cleared her throat and stood up, "I have to get back to work. I'll take Ryo to his room."
"Oh, why don't I do that?" Mai suggested. "You just go."
Koizumi looked unsure at that, but once she saw the demanding look on Mai's face she gave in.
Once, Koizumi gave them the directions to the boy's room, she went on her way. Mai took hold of the boy's hand and began walking to his room. They talked about anything from his studies to his favorite hobbies and toys. And in no time, they made it to his room.
Mai helped put away Ryo's toys while he changed into his pajamas. After all was done, she tucked him in and made sure to stay until he fell asleep.
She made her way back to base, with one stop to the kitchen to make some drinks.
'I better take him some tea, or else he's going to go further into his fit,'/em Mai mused.
"Mai entered base and immediately heard a collective sigh of relief.
She swung her eyes to the 'perpetrator', "What did you do to them?" she questioned testily.
Monk rushed over to Mai and 'weeped' into her shoulder, "He's a monster Mai!" he wailed.
Mai hastily put her tray down and patted the weeping Monk's head. Noting that no one was correcting her statement, even John had a miserable look on his face.
Her glare intensified, and she repeated her question.
"I was only doing my job," Naru snapped back, "Unlike these idiots."
Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance, "Oh, I don't know, maybe if you actually asked nicely, once in a while, then they would probably do what they're told," she replied sarcastically.
"And why would I do that?"
"Nooooo, my head already hurts too much," Monk groaned out painfully.
Mai growled, "Ok, you know what," she began, "Everybody except Naru, do one last sweep, then head to bed."
She pointed at Lin, who was typing away on his laptop, "You too, Lin."
They all got up and ran out of the room. They didn't want to get caught up in between Naru and Mai.
Both stared each other down, no one was backing down. The tension within the room was palpable. Naru hated how nothing was in his control now, and Mai hated how whenever something didn't go his way, he ended up pushing people away.
Mai slowly picked up her tray and set it down in front of Naru. She stood in front of him with her hand on her hip, she sighed, "Honestly Naru, do you not realize that we are not you?"
Naru opened his mouth but was cut off by Mai.
"We all love our job, and we love working with each other. The best part is, we get to work with Naru, not just Oliver Davis."
Naru immediately recalled something said in his birthday card given to him by Mai, 'You're not a bad guy.'
"I'm sorry," he murmured quickly. He didn't want to be lectured.
Mai's eyes widened, "What was that? I didn't hear you."
Naru glared at her seeing the mischievous spark in her eyes. "You heard me."
She pouted, "No fun."
"Retrieve the papers Yasu was looking at," he 'smiled', "It seems to me that you are stuck with me."
'Oh to all the gods that exist, what have I done?' she thought to the gods.
She sat down to begin reading over the files but shot up as she remembered Yoshiro's words.
She turned to Naru, "I think Yoshiro is being protected by the child spirit."
He took out his notebook and raised an eyebrow, "Continue."
"He first asked me if the little boy visited me and played with me. Apparently, the child spirit frequently visits Yoshiro to play at night and his name is Aki-kun."
"And why do you believe that it's a spirit? It could simply be an imaginary friend."
"Well yes, that was a thought, but then he said something rather concerning," she said.
"He said that without Aki-kun, the children wouldn't have made it out of the Lake alive," she revealed.
Naru sat there and continued to note down the new information. He quickly snapped shut his notebook.
"Continue to look over the files," he ordered.
So they sat there in base reading over file after file. Not realizing both drifted closer to each other as time passed.
Now, both were next to each other on the sofa, papers were strewn across the floor and table. Both were tired but relentlessly pushed forward for some more clues.
Without realizing, Mai was slowly nodding off, Naru realized when her head kept bumping into his shoulder.
The papers fell to the floor as she finally succumbed to sleep, and laid on the boy's shoulder. Naru looked at her and sighed, he carefully reached for his cup of tea only to find it empty.
Unknowingly, he wasn't far off from Mai. And as she snuggled closer, he realized he was getting too comfortable. At one point, while reading he was leaning his head on Mai's.
Sooner or later, both teens were now snuggled up against each other. Mai was now on Naru's lap, while Naru had his arm encircled around Mai's waist. All thoughts about files were forgotten.
Eventually, the SPR crew were beginning to wake up and do their daily routines. Lin and Monk (surprisingly) got up earlier than everybody and were on their way to base. Both were chatting about what happened yesterday. Monk was excited, his head was about to burst with all his bizarre ideas.
"Maybe she made him sleep on the floor."
He was practically running to base, and when they saw the door Lin stopped him with a warning look.
Monk pouted, and put his hands up in surrender, "Alright alright, I'll be quiet."
Monk slowly opened the door, then quickly shut it. Lin raised an eyebrow. Monk looks him straight in the eye, "Maybe I need some more sleep."
Lin rolled his eyes and went ahead of Monk. Monk stood off to the side with his arms crossed, waiting for Lin's reaction.
Lin slowly opened the door, and quickly shut it. Monk's jaw dropped, he had never seen Lin look so confounded. Lin's eyes were wide—so WIDE!—, and his jaw was practically on the floor.
Lin then took a deep breath to calm himself and opened the door once more. He looked back at Monk, "Takigawa, take pictures."
Both nodded, determined to make it their life's goal to document this monumental moment.
The moment that Mai and Naru were snuggled up against each other.
