Finding You:

Chapter 11:

"Where was our second date?" Mai asked interestedly on the way home in Naru's car. She didn't think that a trip to a gloomy forest could be topped for the worst places to take your girlfriend.

"I took you to your hometown and we visited your parents' grave. As I had the intention of wanting to spend my life with you, I thought I would pay my respects."

Mai was surprised. It was unlike Naru to be that thoughtful and she could not quite imagine Naru bowing in front of her parents' grave and professing to desire to spend the rest of his life with her. She wondered if he had done the same for her middle school teacher, Haruka Ozawa who she had lived with for a while.

"I also met Ozawa-san," Naru added, appearing to be on the same tack as her. "She made me promise to treat you kindly and I broke that promise in the end."

His words caused an abrupt halt in the conversation and neither spoke again until he pulled up outside her apartment block and opened her door for her.

"I expect you to come into work tomorrow as usual," he informed her seriously and changed to a lighter subject. "I hope you enjoyed today."

"It was very strange, but I felt safe with you," she answered honestly, deliberately neglecting to mention that she had regained a solid memory of their first date. Something was telling her to keep it quiet and her animal instincts had not let her down before. "Thank you, Naru."

He gave her one of his most genuine smiles and drove off leaving her to find something else to do to occupy herself on her unexpected day off. After the date in the forest Naru had taken her out for lunch in Shibuya to the same restaurant again and she had experienced another feeling of déjà vu again and Naru had told her that that was what they had done on their first date.

She took her coat off and went to check the TV guide. She was still tired from a sleepless night and did not feel like doing anything psychically demanding. Mai was disappointed to find that there was nothing on but daytime talk shows and children's programmes.

She remembered that she had not contacted Ozawa-sensei yet, mainly because she had not found in her contact list on her mobile phone. Instead Mai picked up the landline phone in her apartment and found her former teacher's number there instead. It was probably there because it was expensive to call a landline from a mobile phone and she had always been one to save money.

Haruka picked up after five rings. "Is that you, Mai-chan?"

"Yes, Ozawa-sensei. It's Mai. How have you been?"

As she spoke, the amnesiac recalled Naru's line about Haruka making him promise to take care of her meaning that he would not have been able to persuade her to lie like he had done for Keiko. Therefore her former teacher would be able to confirm if Naru had been telling the truth about what happened two years ago.

"I'm doing well, Mai-chan. Is there anything important that you would like to say to me or did you just call to talk?" Haruka asked.

"I have a question. It's very important."

"I thought so, I could hear it in your voice," she sighed. "You sound worried."

"I have amnesia. I can't remember anything past the age of 17."

An intake of breath could be heard over the line and Mai continued on.

"I've been like this for over a week. Naru offered me my old job back and no one ever told me that we were engaged. I was tired of not knowing so I astral projected and witnessed a few memories and realised I had dated Naru. He eventually explained to me why we split up, but something feels wrong."

"What did he say?" Haruka enquired sharply.

Mai related what she had been told. "We were on a case two years ago. I jumped in front of Naru and got hit. I needed surgery and Naru told me to apologise and I wouldn't until he did and he never did."

Her former teacher's response confirmed all of Mai's half formed suspicions.

"Mai-chan...I'm afraid to say that he left something major out of his explanation. I can understand why he did... but keeping you in the dark cannot be an option for much longer."

Mai bit her lip. This was it. She was finally going to find out the truth and judging by everyone's refusal to tell her it was going to be upsetting.

"I want to know. How am I supposed to get my memory back if no one tells me the truth!?" she declared, fully aware that once she heard it there was no going back unless she had another accident and got amnesia again.

"Mai-chan... At the time of the case you were several weeks pregnant."

Mai barely managed to prevent the phone from slipping from her grasp. She had been pregnant two years ago!? She was beginning to understand all the secrecy around her. If she had been pregnant then...

"The attack caused you to have a miscarriage."

Mai balled her hand into a fist. She had lost a child... Naru's words from the hospital took on a new meaning.

"You never told Davis-san about your pregnancy and he only found out at the hospital which may account for his harsh behaviour to you at the time," Haruka carried on.

"We never had any free time together and you kept trying to tell me something and I was always too busy to listen.." Mai's mind automatically supplied the appropriate memory.

"Ozawa-sensei, I need some time alone," she said quietly and hung up, letting the phone drop from her hand.

Two years ago, when she was 21 she had been engaged to Naru and she had become pregnant. She had lost the child by jumping in front of Naru who had been trying to save her. He had refused to apologise for blaming her and she had refused to apologise until he did.

The psychic winced. Her head was beginning to spin from all the sudden revelations. She sat down on the floor to steady herself. Naru had apologised yesterday which meant she needed to apologise now and then they could be together, but she did not feel anything for him. He had rejected her eight years ago which had effectively placed a dam in her feelings for him.

As if to contradict her an image of Naru hugging her came to mind followed by one of him putting a ring on her finger and another one of him kissing her. She took a deep breath as all of her memories came back in full force.

"I will only say "thank you" when it's you, Mai..."

"Your finger looks best with it on..."

"You can't call me a narcissist if I am in love with you..."

A very solid and appropriate memory came back to her. It was what happened in the hospital two years ago.

She opened her eyes, still sleepy from the anaesthetic and Naru's face came into her sightline. As her vision cleared she absentmindedly absorbed all of the details. His usually neatly arranged hair was a mess and his face was sickly pale. Her eyes moved downwards. His dark blue shirt was untucked and covered in blood. Whose blood was it?

It was her blood, she realised as she recognised her surroundings to for what they were. Of course it was her blood, she was the one lying in the hospital bed.

"...Naru," she moaned, her mouth dry like sandpaper.

"Mai!" he exclaimed and moved closer. "You're awake!"

"What happened?" she slurred her words sleepily.

"The spirit slashed at you and your stomach was covered in lacerations. You have just had surgery to stitch them up and replace your lost blood. It was serious surgery so don't even think about sitting up."

"...Okay."

Mai thought back to the case as she lay there. The spirit had violently attacked several female guests at a ryokan and SPR had been called in. The investigation had not been easy and Naru had been constantly busy so she had been unable to tell him that... she was pregnant.

"The baby!" she shouted out as soon as she realised. "What happened to it!?"

As she spoke her hands moved unconsciously to her stomach which was covered in bandages.

Naru's eyes tightened. "You had a miscarriage due to the attack. Was that what you were trying to tell me earlier?"

Mai felt a tear roll down her cheek, leaving a cold trail behind.

"I only found a few days ago. I was complaining to Ayako about feeling constantly tired and throwing up in the morning and she gave me a test," she explained haltingly as the tears would not stop falling.

A tissue was handed to her by a blank faced Naru and she wiped her tears gratefully before waiting for his response. She knew him well enough to know that a poker faced Naru was not a good sign.

His response was to glare at her and launch a tirade at her.

"If you knew you were pregnant, why did you jump in front of me!?" he demanded. "You saw the photos of the victims, you knew what the spirit was going to do!"

"But you were going to use your PK and I don't want to see you get resuscitated again," she protested.

Her fiancé sighed heavily. "I had to watch you lose consciousness from blood loss, I travelled in the ambulance, I waited outside the operating theatre and only after you came out did I find out that you were pregnant. I think that it was much worse for me to see that."

Mai lowered her eyes, she could not meet Naru's eyes. He was right.

"I wasn't thinking properly," she muttered inaudibly.

Naturally Naru heard and made a scathing reply. "That was obvious. After so many other dangerous encounters with angry ghosts, you still have not learnt your lesson. I have employed you for six years and you still don't think properly in situations like that."

He paused and gave her a searching look. "There cannot be a repeat of this. You cannot work for me again until you apologise and promise to learn from this. It is your fault."

Mai sat up immediately causing her vision to swim and Naru's hands pushed her back down gently contrasting his tone.

"It isn't my fault that the ghost attacked me!" she griped. "You're being a idiotic narcissist again, Naru! I'm not going to say sorry until you stop punishing me for something that isn't my fault."

She watched as Naru turned away, picked up his coat and walked out of her room. He stopped at the door to have one last go at her.

"It looks like we won't be seeing each other for a while, Taniyama-san. Come back to SPR again when you want to apologise."

With that he left, closing the door behind him.

The present Mai Taniyama blinked and focused on her surroundings. It was her apartment which was strange as she had been on her way to work. Hadn't she been hit by a taxi? That was right, she had ended up in hospital and Bou-san had come to take her home and had noticed her amnesia.

Her returned memory of what she had been doing before the accident along with the other returned ones only meant one thing. She no longer had amnesia. She was the 23 year old Mai Taniyama again. The office lady with an ex-fiancé.

Naru.

The narcissist had clearly not wanted her to recall that memory of their conversation at the hospital because he knew he had been in the wrong. However she had been wrong too.

She picked up the phone and dialled a number that was not in the contact list.

"Mai?" asked the person who picked up.

"Hello Naru."

"I deduce that you must have your memory back as you are the only person that uses this number," he said tonelessly.

"Correct. I have something to say to you."


The revelation that Mai was pregnant probably isn't too surprising as it wasn't really hidden and lots of people have guessed it already. I threw subtle foreshadowing out the window for this one.