When I repeated Naru's words to Lin, he nodded and left the office and took a seat on the sofa. I returned to my work, occasionally glancing at the tall man. He was reading yet another piece of paper with great interest and making marks on it in pencil, though I could not see what they were.
Hara-san and Naru were in his office for only ten minutes.
I was just clearing the undrunk tea away when Hara-san left, looking smug. Naru stood in the door of his office, his face completely blank. And for the first time, I agreed with Morishita-san; his eyes did look dead.
"I'm leaving for the night, Lin, you will take over. Mai, go home." He said, as soon as Hara-san had shut the door behind her. Lin looked up at Naru, not quick enough to hide the look of alarm that had flashed across his face.
Naru returned to his office for his coat and left without another word, completely ignoring Lin's protests.
"Go home Taniyama-san." Lin said after Naru had shut the door behind him.
"But…" I began to protest.
"Go home." He repeated. I did not argue any more, but gathered up my things and left as quickly as possible. What on earth had that all been about?
If I had to guess, I would have said Hara-san's case was so urgent that he had to rush out immediately. But if that had been the case, why on earth had he not explained to Lin?
The only upside to the situation was that I had the whole evening to do homework. Goodie.
And so I worked all evening, catching up on every piece of homework I had been given and hadn't completed yet. I paused only to eat some dinner. Pleased with my evening, I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. I brought my laptop to my room with the plan of watching something before sleep overcame me.
I switched off the main bedroom light, turned on my bedside lamp and started browsing for something to watch.
I knew, about ten minutes into Ju-on: The Grudge, that watching a horror film had been a very bad idea. What is it about humans that they like getting a kick out of scaring themselves to death? I have always been a sucker for scary stories and while Ju-on: The Grudge isn't particularly scary, it has a few good moments that would make anyone jump.
However, the last time I had watched a film like this, I had had Keiko and Michiru sat either side of me. We had all been squealing and giggling and it had been okay, because we weren't alone. Now though, I was in my apartment by myself. And I was suddenly very aware of how many noises my apartment made at night.
I could hear the pipes groaning like old men and the floorboards of the apartment above me squeaking as my neighbours moved about.
And I could hear something else.
It sounded like footsteps.
But not those of my neighbours
And it was far too close to be someone outside the apartment.
I paused the film and listened carefully; letting my hand slip under my pillow to the knife I kept there.
There was a soft cluttering sound from outside my bedroom door.
There was someone in my apartment.
I crept out of bed as quietly as I could, holding the knife firmly in my hand. All the sounds I had heard while watching the movie were amplified now. The groans and creaks were louder and my ears were trying to pinpoint their locations precisely.
I slipped out of my room and down the corridor. I could barely see anything as the lights were off and the curtains were shut. My hands fumbled for the light switch. I clicked it on to see a dark figure in my kitchen.
"Get out!" I said firmly and a hundred times braver than I felt as I pointed the knife at them.
"Put the knife down Mai." A cold voice replied.
"Naru?"
My hands dropped to my side and I rushed over, leaving the knife on the table.
"What on earth are you doing here?" I asked. It was only then I noticed he was leaning heavily on the worktop next to the sink. "What's wrong?"
"Where is your first aid kit?" He asked, ignoring my questions.
"I thought you'd gone through my entire apartment?" I asked, scowling as I located the first aid kit from a lower drawer. "And you can remember my bra size but not where the first aid kit was?"
I handed him the little green box and watched him struggle over to a chair.
"What happened?" I asked in genuine concern.
"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to." He replied and I sighed.
"You mean that you don't want me to know the answer to."
"Same thing." He growled, pulling off his coat and lifting his scarlet stained shirt up to inspect his wound.
"Oh my!" I gasped. The right side of his stomach was covered in blood.
"It's just a flesh wound." He said. "I need to clean the blood away."
I turned to find some kitchen roll as he found a roll of plaster tape from the first aid kit and measured out the required length.
"Hold your shirt up." I said calmly.
"It's fine." He said, making to take the paper. But I held it out of his reach. He scowled again and lifted his shirt and I began cleaning the cut. He had been right; it wasn't deep and once cleaned up, looked more like a large paper cut as the incision had been so neat. Once washed with water, I took an antiseptic wipe from the first aid kit and used that on it. Naru did not wince, but I felt his body tense as the antiseptic stung. He passed me the strip of plaster; I peeled off the backing and stuck it over his cut.
"That should do it." I said. "How did you get in?"
"If I told you that, you would prevent it happening again."
"Exactly." I muttered darkly.
We stood together in the kitchen for a minute before he spoke again.
"I can't leave yet, not until the coast is clear." He said finally, looking away from my gaze.
"You're welcome to stay." I said politely. "I was watching a film…" I trailed off awkwardly.
"I am not watching films with you." He said curtly.
"Fine." I glared up at him. "Don't then!" I turned on my heel and stormed back to my room, closing the door behind me and leaving that mysterious man in my kitchen.
It was at this point that I really wished I had a lock on my bedroom door and made a mental note to purchase one at the next given opportunity.
"Mai?" I heard his voice float through to my room. I decided not to answer. Honestly, you can't just turn up in someone's house, expect them to patch you up after what I would have guessed to be a knife fight and then be rude to them! I thought English people were supposed to be polite. "Mai?" He repeated my name.
"What?" I replied from my bed, determined that I would not move from the safety of my duvet.
"Tea."
"I'm still not sure about this." The redhead said.
"What about it?" Her companion asked, brushing his long light brown hair out of his eyes.
"Using her." The female admitted. "Her associations are less than savoury."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." The man said calmly.
"I hope so." She sat back thoughtfully.
Author's note: Thank you to everyone who has updated! I'm sorry this is a bit filler-y and short. I keep thinking "next chapter the thing will happen" and then I write it and haven't actually got to it yet. Perhaps next chapter... Who knows...
Please review with your thoughts! I'd love to hear what you think Naru will get up to in Mai's apartment :P Plus I've had an awful day so reviews would cheer me up. I will try and write more tomorrow night and give you all a nice long chapter to make up for this one being so short!