Disclaimer: I don't own any of this and I'm not trying to sell any of it.

AN: I've been waiting to write out this chapter since before I even started writing the fic. Honestly, I think this chapter really marks a change in Mai that will be reflected in later chapters. It is literally the reason I came up with the story, it's the reason I came up with the idea of "Personal Cases", and the reason why I decided to use "bold" text to represent a foreign language. I don't think any other chapter will meet this chapter's length, or at least I hope not, but if so then so be it. I just wanted to thank everyone who takes the time to read this story, everyone who decides to follow the story for updates, and especially to everyone who sends me a review because it's a combination of all those things that drives me to write the story and that actually motivates me to finish chapters that are quite lengthy… such as this one.

AN 2:are used for both radio/TV broadcasts as wells as writings placed on white boardsapparently.]

AN 3: Updated 3/8/16 – expanded this section by about 5 pages. **spoiler if you haven't read this chapter** I wanted to elaborate Mai's thoughts as she's learning more about telepathy. In a future chapter, she'll explain a little more about it. **spoiler over**

~o0O0o~

PERSONAL CASE: WHAT MAKES A GOOD ASSISTANT?

The goals of society or…

~o0O0o~

"Mai!" An annoying voice calls to me from somewhere. My eyes are shut and I don't care to look at wherever Gene's standing, or floating, or whatever it is he does nowadays. "Mai!" His voice fills the entire room and I'm happy that my neighbors can't hear him. The reason he's being so loud is because I'm currently trying to drown out my alarm clock and he's trying to yell over it.

"Oh shut up," I say before he can yell my name again. I roll over and throw my hand on top of my alarm, searching for the off button so that I can rid myself of its blaring racket. I don't mean to be in a bad mood but it is two in the morning…

~o0O0o~

My body wakes up after I stretch and yawn and take a quick shower. The shirt I decide to wear hugs my body gently, I have a loose skirt on that goes to my knees, as well as sandals. Gene told me ahead of time that I should wear clothes that are as comfortable as possible today. I also put a pair of socks in my purse incase my feet get cold later.

After nearly throwing up, I decide to take a Dramamine pill to ease my nerves; even if I won't be flying for several more hours.

I gave myself some extra time to get ready so I end up waiting ten minutes for Monk to arrive.

~o0O0o~

"Good morning, kiddo," Monk says through a drawn out yawn as I climb into the backseat of his car. "Got everything? Bags? Passport?"

"Check and check," I say with a wide grin.

Ayako, who's sitting shotgun, moans annoyed. "How can you be so cheerful at two-fifty in the morning?"

I shrug, nod to Yasu, who is sitting in the back seat with me, and then look out the window, watching the lights stream past us as we head to Tokyo.

~o0O0o~

"Where is the long term parking again?" Monk mumbles as we arrive at the airport.

"This way," Ayako says, pointing at a sign reading 「Long-Term Parking」.

Yasu and I grin at each other, both of us humored by how married-like Monk and Ayako act. After we find a vacant spot, we park, and then head for the airport.

"Why do we have to be here so early?" Ayako whines as we check our bags in at one of the several stations in the large airport. It's surprisingly busy for three in the morning.

"Something about always arriving three hours early for international flights," I say, trying to remember Naru's words as best as I can.

She sighs again and we head for the security line. Gene's the one who told me to wear the sandals, and I'm happy I did because I don't have to fuss over my shoes like the others, especially Ayako; who wore boots, when I passed through the line.

"Where's the terminal?" I ask once we've collected our carry-ons and shoes from the security guards.

"Looks like we have to go that way," Yasu says, pointing out a sign that indicates our terminal.

"I'm starting to think we were supposed to get here sooner," Ayako says while we head for the gate and terminal for our flight.

"I bet Naru and the others are already here," Monk says.

~o0O0o~

It takes another fifteen minutes for us to reach the gate, and sure enough, Naru, Lin, Masako, and Madoka are already there.

"I thought I told you to be here three hours early," Naru says, snapping at us as we walk over to the group.

"Calm down, man, we got here at three. It just took a while to get through security," Monk says, trying to calm him down.

"Meaning that you've arrived at the gate at four-forty and not three," Naru says; his voice raising and causing heads to turn around us.

"Don't you worry about Mister Grumpy-Pants," Madoka says as she throws one of her arms around Naru's shoulders and then messes with his hair using her free hand. "He's just in a bad mood because he's tired."

"I thought the whole point of getting here three hours early was to avoid being slowed down by security and the like, especially when travelling internationally," Yasu says. "Isn't that right, Big Boss?"

Naru rolls his eyes and shrugs out of Madoka's grasp.

The rest of us decide to take a seat and I pull out my plane tickets to go over everything again. Our flight leaves at approximately 6:10 am and arrives in Korea at 8:30 am. From Korea, we take off again at 2:15 pm and then arrive in London, England at 6:25 pm. That's roughly six and a half hours of flying and a total of over fifteen hours of sitting. I put my tickets away and decide to stand.

Nearly everyone falls asleep as we wait for our first plane ride. Naru stays awake but refuses to talk and Yasu decides to read a book he brought called British Paranormal Investigation by Professor A-B Davis.

I head for a small merchandise store and buy a granola bar. We decided that we would all wait until we reach Korea to eat breakfast but I want a snack to settle my stomach until then.

"Your pill will be fine for now but you may want to take another one when we reach the next airport," Gene advises me as I walk up and down the terminal a few times until we start being called to board the plane.

The plane is the same size as the last one I road in a few years ago, during a school trip. Madoka was boasting about how international planes were huge and had multiple TVs and wide aisles. This one seems pretty standard.

~o0O0o~

Masako, Yasu, Monk, Ayako, and I take our seats in the coach side of the plane while Naru, Lin, and Madoka sit in first class. I should have seen that coming. I don't get cold right away; instead I fall asleep during the shorter of the two flights.

"So Mai-sempai, are you ready to put your English to the test?" Yasu asks me. The group is sitting around a small table near one of the restaurants in the airport. We found our gate and decided it was time for breakfast; even Naru is with us, sipping coffee.

I laugh awkwardly to Yasu in reply but instead of brushing off his question it looks like I've caught the attention of the others.

"Are you not good at English, Mai?" Madoka says from across the table.

"Well… I mean… I pass my class fine. Average I guess…" I say, trying to dissuade the attention.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Masako says to me before sipping at her tea.

"I just haven't had a lot of opportunities to use my English outside of class so I don't know how proficient I'll be," I say. "I'm sure I'm not the only one here who's like that… right?"

"Please," Ayako says brashly. "I was raised by doctors. They provided me the best education they could so my English is pretty spot on."

"Too bad you haven't done anything with that education," Naru says without missing a beat.

"Excuse me, brat?" Ayako says as Naru ignores her and continues to sip his coffee.

Masako turns to me. "I'm surprised that your English isn't that great. Even my English skills are good, though I have been to America."

Brag all you want Masako but that won't impress Naru, I think angrily. I turn to Monk and say, "I'm sure your English is good too, huh?"

"Sorry kiddo, but I've traveled to America a couple of times too and a few of my songs are in English, so yes, I know the language pretty well," he says.

Yasu and I don't need to talk for me to know that his English skills are amazing; his annoyingly cheerful expression is enough to tell me.

The conversation moves on and we chat about a few things here and there. Some of them move back to the gate to nap until the plane loads, until it's just Masako, Naru, and I sitting at the table.

Masako and I glare heavily at each other, neither of us willing to leave the table so that the other could be left alone with Naru.

I should have never told her that he took me on a date.

She's conned him into going on several dates of her own though, so I don't know why she's angry with me!

"Mai, that's your plane," Gene says to me suddenly and I notice he's pointing to the windows outlining our gate.

I decide to ignore Masako and Naru and instead head to the gate so that I can gawk at the plane. It looks like it's three times the size of the one we flew in earlier. With my departure, Naru leaves the table, quickly followed by Masako, and the group gathers on a single row of chairs while we wait for the flight attendant to call us to board.

Within half an hour we've seated ourselves in the plane. Naru, Madoka, and Lin are back to sitting in the first class section of the plane. Monk, Ayako, and Masako sit beside one another in the middle row of the plane while Yasu sits next to the window and I sit next to him on the isle side.

I wanted the window seat…

The plane is a lot bigger than the last. The seats seem to be made out of a comfier material. There's a large TV at the front of our section and the back of every seat also has its own, smaller TV. After another ten minutes we finally take off and begin the four-hour long flight to England.

It's about time for a nap.

~o0O0o~

"Mai… wake up," Naru says to me. He's shaking me awake, causing the other passengers to look at us wearily. I pull my head from off of Yasu's shoulder as my eyes attempt to open and look at him.

"What's wrong, Naru?" I say.

Naru leans down beside me and whispers feverishly into my ear. "Tell your little ghost friend to leave me alone. It's cold enough in this stupid airplane without him freezing me half to death."

I'm suddenly aware of Madoka's laughing coming from the front of the plane as well as Gene's snickering to my side.

"Why can't you tell him?" I say.

"Because apparently he only likes to listen to you," Naru snaps and then storms off. I look at Gene but he just grins back.

"Don't worry," Gene says. "I just wanted to tease him a little. I'll stop now." He vanishes but I know he's gone to possess my key for the time being.

~o0O0o~

Eventually, the four hours pass and we finally land. The hustle through immigration is hectic but goes as smoothly as possible. Afterwards, we find ourselves waiting for our luggage and being greeted by an old, wrinkly man wearing a brown suit, a matching brown hat, and carrying an umbrella.

"It's good to see you again Master Oliver," the old man says in a slurred British accent that I have trouble processing. He turns to Madoka and Lin and greets them as well, and then turns to the rest of us. "Please to meet all of you. My name is Eldon; the Davis's butler. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He passes by each of us so that we can give him our names while he takes our hands in for a handshake.

"I do apologize that Master Davis couldn't be here to greet you, Master Oliver. He's busy with the guests, you know," Eldon says to Naru as we gather our bags, which have started unloading onto the conveyor-belt.

Naru doesn't say anything but allows Eldon to grab his bags for him. Once our items are collected, we head outside to the limousine that Eldon has parked nearby. As soon as we step out of the doors Eldon has his umbrella open and over Naru's head to save him from the drizzle.

"Why is it raining?" I complain while we hurry to the long car.

"It rains here a lot actually," Madoka says and I turn to look at her; she has brought an umbrella with her and is carrying it over hers and Lin's heads.

Eldon opens up the door to the back of the vehicle and stands by it as we pile in. Once we're safe from the rain, our luggage stored in the trunk of the car, he closes the door and ambles to the driver's seat.

At six-fifty in the evening, London is as bustling as ever. The roads are narrow and winding and I get lost trying to remember the route we're taking. The limousine splashes through small puddles that are forming from the rain and I feel that this is a city that's almost never completely dry. Hundreds of lights streak by us, contained by the dreary, gray sky. I take in every possible detail that I can; fat pigeons that barely wobble out of the way of passing pedestrians, and a variety of panhandlers; including a man covered completely by gold spray.

The atmosphere changes when we exit the city. Suddenly the moisture is more beautifully expressed by the brilliant deep shades of green that color and highlight the large tree-like bushes that follow the still narrow road. The grass is equally green and lush, and I'm overtaken by the life of it and the openness of the night sky. The further we get from the city the more I want to look through the window so that I can see the stars. Through the breaks in the clouds overhead, I can make out multitudes of tiny, shimmering white dots that remind me of my night with Naru.

No wonder he became interested in astrology when he gets to admire these whenever he wants…

~o0O0o~

The Davis's house is the most exuberant thing though.

No…

Not a house…

A mansion.

We drive up a long, cobblestone driveway that forms a circle in front of the double doors to the mansion, and splits off to an employee and guest parking lot that's filled with thirty or so cars. I can make out four stories from the front side of the house, but its sitting on the top of a hill and I have a feeling that other stories have become hidden by the descent towards the back.

Naru exits the vehicle first, followed by Madoka, then Lin, while the rest of us attempt to help Eldon with the luggage.

"Oh no sirs, you are the young master's guests,"Eldon says as an equally old woman, with wispy white hair held in a tight bun, walks over to him and helps him unload our belongings.

"Hurry up," Naru says to us from the steps leading to the doors.

One of the front doors opens and a woman appears, jumping at Naru and wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. I recognize her short, somewhat curly blonde hair and frail looking body. She's his mother.

"Noll! I'm so happy Madoka was able to convince you to come!" His mother says as she hugs onto him tighter.

"Mother, please, I can't breathe," Naru says and she loosens her grip on him slightly.

"Oliver, it's been too long," a man says as he exits the house as well. He and Naru shake hands and then the man slaps Naru's back and ruffles his hair. This man also has blonde hair, though he's balding. He's taller than Naru and a little older then Naru's mother.

"Good to see you!" The man calls to us. "My name is Atticus Bram Davis and I'm Oliver's father." He nods his head in his wife's direction. "This is my wife, Darla Elwyn Davis."

"I still can't believe I have the honor of meeting the Atticus Davis," Yasu says with impeccable English. I can barely even make out his Japanese accent. "I just finished reading your book British Paranormal Investigation."

"Good man," Atticus says as he takes Yasu's hand. He turns to Naru. "Is this one of the assistants you've been writing to me about?"

"Yes, this one has a great amount of potential," Naru says. Darla finally releases Naru so that she can shake Yasu's hand as well and Naru takes the opportunity to sneak into the house.

"His dad has a stronger personality then I thought he would," I mumble to Masako as we walk to Naru's parents.

"Please Mai, don't tell me he makes you uncomfortable," Masako whispers back with a snicker.

I growl silently to myself and slow down so that I fall behind everyone else.

Maybe they won't notice me…

The Davis's stay outside so that they can greet each of us as we enter though. I try to avoid direct eye contact as I make my way to them—the line in front of me quickly growing smaller—and then I notice a rustle in some bushes at the side of the house.

My head turns sharply as I catch sight of a lanky, red fox; its tail and paws covered in black fur.

"You must be the other assistant Noll's been telling my about," Atticus says but I'm fixated on the fox. It stopped walking midstride and locked its gaze with mine.

"Mai-san, it's a pleasure to see you again," Darla says, then asks me, "is everything alright?" when I don't answer her.

"S-sorry," I say as I turn to her, breaking my connection with the fox. "There was a fox."

"What was that?" Atticus says to his wife.

"She says there was a fox," Darla tells him and they look to where I was staring, but the fox is gone.

I bow to them embarrassed and then enter the house without giving them a handshake.

"Mai, it's been forever since I've seen you," I hear a familiar voice say as I enter the large greeting room. The room is covered in white walls decorated in gold trim and tan tiles. A large chandelier hangs from the ceiling. I search for the source of the voice and find myself looking at a familiar face with blue eyes and blonde hair.

"John-san! What are you doing here?" I rush over to John. I haven't seen him in over a year.

"I came to England for religious study and decided to stop by the Institute after Madoka learned I was in the country and asked me to. I haven't left since," John says and he starts laughing.

"It must be nice to reunite with old friends again," Atticus says to us as he and Darla come inside, followed by Eldon and the old maid.

Monk's stomach growls and Ayako snickers before her own stomach growls.

"Guys, why don't I show you to the cafeteria?" John suggests. "That way Kazuya-san can have some time alone with his parents?"

"Why do you still call him 'Kazuya'" I ask as John starts showing us down a hall.

"Habit I guess," He laughs. We follow him down a branching hallway that ends at a door locked by a key pad. "The open area we were just in is more like a reception area. There actually isa receptionist down the other hall and that leads to a bunch of meeting and seminar rooms. If you go up the stairs, there'll be a fork in the hallway. Turn left and you'll reach a door leading to the Davis's living quarters. Turn right and it leads to the third floor of where we're going now." He punches in a code and the door opens.

"Where are we going?" Monk says as we follow John through the door.

"This side of the mansion is what the residents call the Institute. It's a large academy filled with students of various ages who either have active or dormant psychic powers or who are interested in psychic and paranormal research. It's filled with test and research labs, as well as classrooms and a large dormitory. It's really a great place for people who want to better harness their understanding of the field or who want to better understand their unique abilities."

~o0O0o~

After a brief five-minute walk, we enter into a large cafeteria filled with countless people. What appear to be teachers, are sitting off to one side of the room and rows of tables filled with a variety of different age groups make up the student-body.

We walk through the dinner line and pick up a plate of food before making our way to a small table. My plate is covered in mashed potatoes, roast beef, peas, and thick slices of bread that are soggy from soaking in the warm gravy that covers everything. Awkwardly, I eat my food with my fork and knife. It isn't my first time using silverware but I feel like everyone in the cafeteria is staring at me and it makes me jittery.

"Do you know if the professor has decided anything more on that Kokoro girl?" Madoka says to John as we eat.

"Yes, apparently she'll be sent over in a month or so," John says.

"Kokoro?" Ayako says to them.

"Yes, it seems that Naru, Mai, and Lin-san came across an interesting little girl on one of their cases and she's been invited to live at the institute," Madoka explains.

"That's awesome," I say in between bites. "She can finally get away from that terrible orphanage."

~o0O0o~

We eat for a few more minutes and then continue the short tour. It's already eight and we only need to force ourselves to stay awake a few hours longer. Madoka and Lin head back to the front of the house to take care of business; there are a few personal offices in the family side of the mansion where they work.

As the rest of us walk down the main hallway, we pass by the Society of Psychical Research Museum,which grabs Monk's and Ayako's attention. John offers to walk them through it while Masako, Yasu, and I choose to see what else lies down the hallway. Yasu then leaves us when we pass by the Society of Psychical Research Library leaving me alone with Masako. She doesn't talk to me and basically ignores me as we start walking past a few class rooms. At the foot of some stairs we come across three teenage girls roughly the same age as us.

"You must be the foreigners visiting from Japan with Oliver," one of the girls says. She's speaking English but with an accent that I can't place. "My name's Jolie." All three of the girls are taller than us by several inches. Jolie is tanned, with long blond hair that falls to her elbows and deep, woody brown eyes that reminds me of the same life I felt while driving past the foliage on our way to the mansion.

"My name's Kevine," another one of the girls say. This one is shorter than Jolie by two or three inches. Her complexion is pale and she's covered in freckles. Her hair falls in curly red tendrils that touch the tops of her shoulders and her eyes are a bright, unworldly green. I can't make out her accent either, but it is different than Jolie's.

The third girl is the tallest and seems to tower over us, though she's only a few inches taller than Jolie. Her skin is darker than I've ever seen and her eyes are also dark. Her hair falls evenly down her shoulders and frames her face gently but I can see an animalistic quality hidden in her eyes. "Louise,"is all she says. Her accent is British.

"Come now Louise, there's no reason for you to be so cold,"Jolie says with a wry smile.

"You mentioned Oliver's name. Do the three of you know him well then?"Masako asks and I'm happy that she has an accent.

It's not as bad as mine though…

"We've lived here for a few years,"Kevine says. "Louise has been attending school here her whole life though, so she knows the twins better than anyone."

"Not that there's much to know," Louise says. "Those two were always secretive. Well… Oliver was at least. I suppose we all knew Eugene pretty well."

The girls giggle and blush to one another and I look around for Gene to see his reaction, but he isn't showing himself.

"I see," Masako says and I think she's treading lightly so that she doesn't come off as overly snobbish. "We were heading for the experiment labs. I was hoping to see what kind of testing systems this facility has. Would you three care to show us?"Then she turns to me and says, "Mai would love to test some of the experiments out."

I have a hard time making out the conversation; it's going by too quickly. "What?" I ask Masako but she doesn't answer.

"Does she even understand English?" Jolie asks Masako.

"Just a little,"Masako says.

Jolie leans over to Kevine and whispers, "This could be fun…" before the three of them decide to show us to the labs.

We head further up the stairs until we get to the next floor.

"This is the only lab that stays open all day," Jolie says and she opens a door that leads into a room that looks like a gymnasium. "This is where students test their PK abilities."

"And work out or exorcise,"Louise adds when she sees our expressions.

"So what are your names?"Kevine asks us.

"I'm Masako Hara,"Masako says. "And this is Mai Taniyama."

"And Mai's the one who want to try the experiment then?" Jolie asks.

Masako nods her head so Jolie grabs my hand and drags me to an 'X' that's been put onto the floor using blue colored tape. Kevine goes to a machine that looks like a type of cannon and turns the power on.

"This is a fight-or-flight style test used to see if dormant PK abilities can be activated. It fires a ball at you and your goal is to move the ball so that it doesn't hit you… without using your hands," Jolie explains.

"What?" I say, but Kevine pushes the start button and the machine begins to throw balls at me.

I duck and try to avoid being hit by the rubbery missiles as fast as I can, but the machine doesn't let up and a few pelt me in the face, a couple get me in the chest, and one of them hits my leg by the time it has run out of ammo. Masako and the three girls are laughing themselves silly and I decide to leave the room.

"Where are you going Mai?" Masako asks as I leave.

"Bathroom," I mumble and then close the door behind me.

Hopefully you enjoy your new friends…

~o0O0o~

I look for any sign of a bathroom but I don't find one so I walk back downstairs; I noticed a bathroom outside of the cafeteria.

Once I'm in the bathroom I study my face. It's red and scratchy from the imprints the balls made.

"Who are those girls, Gene?" I say while I look at my reflection some more.

"Well, Jolie is from France, and she can see into the future a little. Kevine is Irish and she has a power similar to Noll's, in that she can see visions related to the things she touches. It's not as strong though, of course. And then Louise is English and she can create fire."

I suffer mild whiplash as I turn quickly to look at him. "Are you serious?"

"Well… Noll and I saw her do it once. She didactually create a fire, but she hasn't been able to do it since. She can cause things to heat up though. We just haven't figured out how to get her to recreate the spark that started the fire that one time."

"Wow…" I say, and then a sly smile spreads across my face. "What did those girls mean by they all knew you pretty well?"

Gene's face grows red and he pretends to have a coughing fit. "Why don't I show you something to get your mind off of those bullies?"

I nod my head; anything to get away from Masako and those girls. I follow him out of the restroom and we walk back to the house entrance before heading up the stairs and turning right; towards the family's personal headquarters. There's a lock on the door but Eugene tells me the password and I'm able to open it.

"Where are you taking me?" I whisper to him as he leads me around a few corners, up another flight of stairs, and down a long hallway.

"This one," Gene says and he stops in front of a door.

Hesitantly, I open the door and enter the room. It's a bedroom. The walls are filled with abstract paintings, there's a guitar, a small desk and bookshelf, and of course a bed.

"This is my room," Gene says. "Well… was my room."

"It looks completely untouched," I say as I walk further into the room.

"Not necessarily. Noll told our parents about my death as soon as he witnessed it. While he was traveling to Japan my mother came into my room and cleaned everything; it's something she does when she's anxious."

"How do you know she cleaned it then?"

"I came home as fast as possible and watched her. Then I traveled back to Japan to help Noll as best as I could."

I don't respond but instead, stand by his window and look outside. I don't want him to get worked up. As a ghost, who knows what he would do when he lets his emotions get the best of him. He seems relieved though, so I preoccupy my mind with the garden that makes up his parents' back yard.

"Now I have an even bigger surprise to show you," Gene says once a few minutes of silence goes by.

We leave his room, closing the door behind us, and walk to the next door down the hall.

"Is this Naru's room!" I say with a slight gasp as we walk inside.

"Yep," Gene says with a bright smile.

While Gene's room seems like that of an average teenager's, Naru's is filled to the brim with books. A whole wall has been converted into a giant bookcase with nothing but books on the paranormal and spiritual, ranging from studies to sci-fi novels. Naru's desk is twice the size of Gene's and also has books on top of it and is cluttered with papers and pens. His walls have posters of constellations, galaxies, and different kinds of world maps. There's even a telescope on the balcony that connects his room to Gene's.

"I just realized something," I say as I nervously sit on Naru's bed. "Naru's a nerd…"

Gene bursts with laughter. "More like a huge dork! He's a scary mad scientist, that one." I join in his laughter for several minutes. I scoot backwards on the bed, heading for the head frame, so that I can stretch out. There's another book on Naru's bedside table so I pick it up and open it.

"F-r-ankenstein; or, The Modern Pr-ometh-eu-s," I read aloud with slight difficulty. "By Mary Shelley… I am by birth a Ge-ne-vese; and my family is one of the most disting-uished of that repub-l-ic..."

"You really have a hard time with English don't you?" Gene says to me.

"I'm tired… That's all…" I say.

"At least you can read fine. It's not a bad thing to have to sound your words out; especially words like Prometheus or Genevese."

"Ha, ha," I say bitterly and then decide to change the subject. "Why did you take away the mental link I had with Naru?"

"It's not my job to give you powers. It's my job to teach you and train you until you reach a level where I'm comfortable enough to leave Noll in your hands," Gene says.

"I understand that, but we're talking about telepathy," I say. "That's not a power I have."

"Then it's not a power that you should harness."

"But you let Naru and I share the link for nearly two months…" I falter for a second. "Isit a power that I have?"

Gene doesn't answer me.

"Well how am I supposed to do it?" I say as I sit up on Naru's bed, my bare feet slipping a little on his black, silk comforter.

"I don't know, Mai. Noll and I never figured out how I connected us. I just knew that I could and so I did." Gene floats to one of Naru's walls and leans against it, folding his arms in front of his chest and frowning like his brother always does. "I can't hold your hand forever, Mai, but there's an entire library here if you want to try and figure it out yourself."

"Fine, I will then," I say. I hurry to Naru's bookcase and pull out a random book before taking it back to Naru's bed. I open the front cover and begin to skim over the first few pages. Eventually though, whether it's because I've been up since two in the morning or because the English is making me tired, I fall asleep…

~o0O0o~

"Don't worry, Mai-san," Darla says as she pulls Naru's comforter over me. "Noll's going to sleep in Gene's room tonight so you just get a good night's rest…"

~o0O0o~

In the morning, I find my bag sitting in Naru's room with me. I change quickly and then hurry downstairs so that I can find my friends. No one turns up as I search around the family part of the mansion, so I decide to go to the cafeteria on my own.

For breakfast I'm provided a bowl filled with cereal practically drowning in milk, as well as some toast and a banana.

I miss my rice and fish…

I notice the three girls from last night and avoid making eye contact with them as I sit at an empty table. Once I've finished my cereal and toast, Naru shows up.

"Mai…" he says, but before he can get another word out the three girls have hurried over to him.

"Oliver, it's been forever," Jolie says noisily.

"How have you been coping?" Kevine says with a whine.

"We've missed having you here," Louise says with a hint of seduction and I mentally yell at myself for the expression I'm making; I can't hide my emotions as well as Masako can.

Naru ignores them and walks closer to me. "We're having nothing but meetings and seminars today so you're excused from your duties for now. You don't have to participate if you don't want to."

"Excuse me?" I say as my emotions quickly turn from jealousy to anger. "Why do you assume that I don't want to participate?"

"Because I know your English is limited," Naru says pointedly.

The three girls try to contain their giggles.

"My Eng-l-ish is just fine!"I say, but my thick accent causes the girls to laugh openly and loudly at me. I sit back down and stare at my unpeeled banana. Naru sighs heavily at the situation and then leaves without saying anything, letting the girls seize the opportunity to sit with me.

"You have a thing for Oliver, don't you?" Louise says to me.

"No one, and I mean no one, has been able to get romantic with Oliver,"Kevine says.

"Eugene on the other hand…" Jolie starts to say and the three of them pause for a second before she continues. "Well… You'd probably have had a chance with him."

"Don't get us wrong,"Kevine says quickly. "He wasn't a player or anything…"

"…He just wasn't a robot like Oliver is. He was actually willing to date," Louise says.

"I don't think anyone will ever understand what that nerd's problem is," Jolie says.

My hands are clenched tightly at my sides and my jaw is starting to hurt from the pressure I'm putting on it. I'm close to seething.

How could they talk about Naru like that?

Gene looks like he's thinking the same thing. He gives me a look that tells me exactly what he wants so I nod to him and then relax my body. Gene will take care of them better than I can. Within half a second I'm floating out of my now limp body and watching Gene take full possession of it.

"To explain it to you simpletons in the clearest way possible. Gene would have never been interested in any of you if he had known you were manipulative, condescending, unsympathetic shrews. The lot of you are so preoccupied with your uppity charades that none of you seems to notice that you've created the most repugnant of personalities. Maybe, if you had any drop of sense in your empty skulls then someone like Noll would consider you. But. As long as you keep up this repulsive routine, don't expect anyone to be interested in you. Period." My body stands from the table, grabbing the last of my food, as Gene's flawless English rushes out of my mouth. "To spell it out for you: bugger off you gobby twats!"

After his release of verbal tension, Gene hurries my body out of the cafeteria and back up the stairs, to Naru's room.

~o0O0o~

"Stupid psychics…" I grumble as I eat my banana while sitting on Naru's bed. "How can people like them have cool powers like foresight, psychometry, and the ability to start fires? And what's a gobby twat?"

"That's called Psycho-Pyro kinesis or PK Fire for short," Gene says as he mixes his knowledge into my rant. "And it'd be best if I didn't explain gobby twat to you…"

"Yeah, whatever," I continue to mumble. "All I've got is the ability to dream out resolutions to our group's cases."

"That's pretty handy though. And you can also astral project and you're becoming a pretty accommodated medium."

"I guess… I'd still be cooler if I was telepathic. That'd show those girls…" Gene laughs at me as I stew in jealousy, then I notice the book I took from Naru's collection last night.

Maybe I could be…

With a new resolve, I stand from his bed, and scan through his books, pulling out anything and everything that has something to do with telepathy.

A good third of his large bookcase is pulled to the ground by the time I'm done searching through everything.

This isn't enough… I think before rushing out of Naru's room and back to the institute side of the house.

In ten minutes I've made my way to the SPR Library where Gene helps me locate the 'T'section, for telepathy.

"It's weird being in a library that has nothing but books on the paranormal," I say to Gene as I begin pulling books from the shelves and placing them on top of a rolling shelf the librarian lent me.

"Who are you talking to?"

I turn and see a young boy about twelve looking at me. "Oh… um… mysel-f…"

"You're Mister Oliver's other assistant!" The boy says. "I saw you last night at dinner. My name's Carnig. What's yours?"

"Mai."

"Why aren't you at the seminar Miss Mai?"

"Oh… you know… just teaching mysel-f telepathy…"I turn away from him and continue scanning the books.

Carnig's eyes grow wide as I gather the hundred or more books I've collected, placing them securely on the cart and waving goodbye to him.

"So you do know English… You're just bad at it," Gene says as I haul the heavy load to an elevator.

"That's what I've been trying to tell everyone…" I say through gritted teeth.

This cart weighs a ton!

Back in Naru's room, I dig through the drawers of his desk and pull out a few highlighters and sticky notes. I pick up a book from the pile of his books and start reading through it, highlighting anything significant about telepathy, and reverting to an English-to-Japanese dictionary that I grabbed.

"There are so many concepts and ideas here!" I say loudly as I finish the first book and start with the second. "How am I supposed to remember so much information?"

"You could write it down somewhere," Gene suggests.

"Like where? This isn't going to stick if I write it down on a notebook."

"Follow me." Gene floats out of the room and I skip a step or two to catch up to him. We walk through the family's living room and come to another hallway. "If we follow the hallway then we'll stay in the family portion of the mansion. If we use this door however…" he indicates a dark brown door at the beginning of the hallway, "…then we'll crossover into the seminar hall of the building."

"So?" I say confused.

"So, the meeting rooms here have large white boards that you can write stuff on."

"Oh! I get it!" I say and he gives me the password for the door so that we can cross over to the seminar hall. I enter the room closest to the door and knock. No one responds so I open the door and enter the meeting room. It's big, with a long table that can seat twenty people, and white boards covering all four walls. "This will work perfectly."

~o0O0o~

I take the next half hour to move all of the books and writing utensils to the meeting room, and then begin taking advantage of the white board to the left of the door.

Tele meaning "distant" and Pathe or Patheia meaning "feeling", "perception", "passion", "affliction", and "experience"

A distant feeling, passion, affliction, or experience.

Like when a heart aches… I think for a second though I don't know why.

Information from one person to another.

Communicating…

Obviously.

Scientific consensus: telepathynot a real phenomenon.

Phenomenon being a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially by one whose cause or explanation is in question.

Or, the object of a person's perception; what the senses or the mind notices.

So…

Telepathy is not noticed by the mind… I wonder

Telepathy lacks replicable results from well-controlled experiments.

Lack of evidence.

Longing… that goes unnoticed…

~o0O0o~

"This is going to be hard to do… isn't it?" I say after putting down the twelfth book I've read.

"Remember Mai… Noll and I couldn't even figure it out," Gene says.

"Right…" I say. I decide it's time to sleep so I start walking back to Naru's room.

Apparently I've claimed it as my own.

"How long has SPR even been around?"

"Since 1882."

"Wow… and your father is the head of it all?"

"No. Currently the president is Richard S. Broughton. My father is the president of a branching division meant to teach and study willing individuals. SPR's official location is back in London, but my father's mansion is so large that he converted part of it into the institute and another part into a series of meeting halls for when large events take place."

"I guess I didn't realize how big this all is," I say as I stretch across Naru's bed and let sleep take over; it's been a long day of reading, highlighting, and translating.

~o0O0o~

The next day I stock up on food from the cafeteria and stay hauled up in the meeting room. I haven't seen my friends in a whole day, but I guess they're interested in all of the seminars going on. Gene explained to me that an annual convention is taking place, where scientist and paranormal experts from around the world gather and brief everyone else on their recent discoveries and experiments.

Apparently, Naru was offered a position on the register to report his findings but declined, not wanting to present in front of a large crowd. That's why Madoka showed up at the office in Japan; to bully him back to England to see his family and present to everyone since a lot of people were looking forward to his appearance.

"Whatever, they can just have fun without me," I say loudly as I pick up book thirteen and begin another long day of reading.

~o0O0o~

Telepathy is similar to two concepts: delusions of thought (inserting and removal) and psychological symbiosis.

Claims that the thoughts one receives via telepathy aren't real…

Psychological symbiosis: when an individual has the limited capacity to be aware of, respect, appreciate, and/or comprehend the subjectivity of another.

But didn't I just determine that emotion is what drives telepathy?

The insertion or removal of thought is a symptom of psychosis, particularly of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Scary…

Delusions of thought insertion may be reduced by antipsychotic medication.

Suppression…

Empirical findings support the idea that people with schizo-typical personality disorder are likely to believe in telepathy.

I'm sure people without schizo-typical personality disorder believe in it too…

At least I hope so…

~o0O0o~

Soon night is back and I'm eating dinner, alone, in the cafeteria. The cafeteria is nearly completely empty, because the students who are still at the institute are encouraged to attend the seminars. I finish the plate of fish and chips I'm served and then go back to Naru's room so that I can sleep. Another day without seeing my friends or talking to anybody but Gene… and the kitchen worker who served me.

~o0O0o~

"Naru!" I say as loudly as I can. It's dark and I can't see anything around me; surprisingly, I can make myself out perfectly in the blackness surrounding me. I scream Naru's name out as loud as I can, but he doesn't respond and he doesn't appear.

Where is he? I think frantically as I search around for him; turning around again and again but still seeing nothing but black.

If I don't find him soon…

If we never connect…

I'll lose him forever…

My heart lurches in my chest, crawling painfully to the middle of my throat as I feel tears crawl down my cheeks as I sleep.

~o0O0o~

I follow my previous routine the next morning, grabbing a bunch of food so that I don't have to eat lunch in the cafeteria, and then locking myself in the meeting room again. I write my dream on the white board. The board is covered in English but I write my dream in Japanese since it's personal.

Once I'm done, I start on book thirty. The more I skim through the text the more I recognize English and the better I get at taking in the information without having to read through the whole book.

A little after lunch and there's a knock on the door. I open it and am greeted by the old woman who helped Eldon with our belongings.

"Hello there, dearie," she says to me and enters the room with a tray of tea and cookies. She sets the tray on the table and then stands straight, her hands folded in front of her, over her apron. "I wasn't sure if you were eating so I thought I'd bring you a snack. My name is Leala."

"My name is Mai," I say. At least I can say that much fine.

"I don't mean to pry, but Master Oliver's other guests have been questioning your whereabouts. Why don't you join them in the convention?" Leala asks.

"The convent-ion just seems borin-g, to be hone-st. I might be alone but I li-ke what I'm wor-king on," I say.

Leala starts chuckling gently. "You sound just like Master Oliver. He thinks the constant chatter between scientists before and after the seminars is a complete bother. He'd rather be working too. No wonder you're one of his assistants."

I smile as she tells me this. It's almost like she's complementing me.

Maybe she is…

I don't think Naru hires too many assistants.

"Do you mind if I ask what you're working on?"Leala says once she has stopped laughing.

I raise a finger to my lips and the end of my nose. "It's a sec-ret. Don't tell th-em where I am okay? Or they'll just poke fun at me."

Leala smiles and turns to leave, catching site of everything I've put on the first white board. She turns to me. "I won't tell them," She says with a wink and then leaves the room after I thank her for her understanding, as well as the treats she has brought me.

I continue reading through my books.

~o0O0o~

Latent Telepathy: transfer of information with an observable lag between transmission and receipt.

Slow to send the thought when you're first learning to use the ability?

I never had that problem…

Because of Gene maybe?

Retro cognitive, Precognitive, and Intuitive Telepathy: transfer of information about the past, future, or present state of an individual's mind.

Being able to understand someone's entire state of being? Sounds intense…

I don't have a strong cognitive ability to begin with. So I shouldn't have to worry about that.

I bet I could feel Naru's emotions though, seeing as how intuition is my best talent.

Emotive Telepathy: transferring kinesthetic sensations through altered states.

The ability to think emotions and not just thoughts.

Have we already experienced that?

Super-conscious Telepathy: tapping into the super-conscious to access the collective wisdom of the human species for knowledge.

Umm… I'm sure someone of a greater caliber than me could do it.

Maybe.

I'll just move on from that one. It's like the SUPER advanced level…

~o0O0o~

The fifty or so books I've read are filled with sticky notes. Only the library's books have been allowed to avoid the onslaught of Naru's highlighters.

He's going to murder me when he sees what I've done to his property.

I have to stay focused though, so I keep reading and highlighting; referring to my translation dictionary whenever necessary.

~o0O0o~

The sender-receiver model has not yielded anything more than slightly above-chance results.

Poor choices for candidates?

Despite irregular and non-outstanding results, the sender-receiver model is still the most commonly assumed method of approach.

Or maybe they need a new way to test. Sender-receiver… That's like when Naru tested Kokoro-chan. Her form of telepathy must be different than mine.

Her powers are more apathetic while mine are emotional.

~o0O0o~

After reading a particularly fantastical article, I struggle to write what I've learned on the board; I've moved to the second white board. The article, though spontaneous and sloppy, holds an interesting ideal and I attempt to sum it up in one quote, deciding to stick to Japanese to make it easier on myself.

「Humans limit their capabilities to understand and perform telepathy because they misconstrue and limit their thoughts as humans, when they should broaden the way they think and craft a different concept and take on the power. How would an extra-terrestrialuse telepathy? 」

Once I've summed up the article as best as I can, I work on a few more; skimming through several more books.

~o0O0o~

Intellectus: the processes of thinking while in the awake state. Includes the sense of emotional feeling, will, and decision-making.

So, regular thought processing…

Intuitos: anything that does not fit intointellectus, but which still influences persons.

The ability to think when not otherwise awake…

Is considered that intuitusis greater than individuals, but that individuals have a kind of intuitive thought processing capability.

Intuition being the human's subconscious ability to access that "super conscious" that I read about early.

Probable that clairvoyance, intuition, and telepathy were all originally held within the same concept and not identified separately.

So telepathy may be another way of channeling the feeling of an object; only that object is a person.

Maybe animals even…

~o0O0o~

Leala stops by for a few minutes around dinner, bringing me something warm to eat and then leaving again.

"What is it like for you when you link with Naru?" I ask as I take a break to eat my dinner.

"That isn't something you need to worry about," Gene says. "It's common for psychics to experience and feel things differently, so even though there's poor understanding of telepathy, I think it's safe to say that the same rule applies."

"What's that mean?" I say after swallowing a particularly large bite. I chug some milk as he answers.

"Basically… You've experienced the sensation of having your mind linked to Naru's once before. If you want to know what it's like, then you need to focus on that time."

"That was almost three months ago!"

Gene doesn't answer so I finish eating and think about when I first connected to Naru. At the time, I was trapped in a cellar, surrounded by piles of dead bodies and skeletons.

All of my senses were completely blocked so why am I having trouble remembering anything passed what I learned when we finally escaped?

Once I'm done eating, I decide to read a few more books. I've finally gone through half of the pile.

~o0O0o~

Telepathy cannot exist without its thoughts and their direct transfer from one brain to another.

What about the emotions? Are those thought?

Thought: process of thinking; serious consideration; recollection; reasoning power; the power to imagine; something that is thought; the individual act or process of thinking; intention; plan; the intellectual product of organized views and principles of a period, place, group, or individual; characterized by careful reasoned thinking.

Mindful: inclined to be aware.

Awareness of the transfer of said thoughts.

Mindless: inattentive, destitute of awareness, mind, or consciousness.

Ignoring said thoughts or sending them without realizing?

Cansomeone telepathically pick up someone else's mindless thoughts? Cards of symbols and color shapes to test for telepathy.

Kokoro-chan could…

TELEmeaning across

Thoughts sent despite the distance between the sender and receiver.

EMPATHYreferring to "the capacity for participating in another's feelings or ideas as a result of becoming infused with them."

I could take on Naru's personality? And him, mine?

Direct transference of thought from one person to another without using the usual sensory channels of communication; A form of extrasensory perception (ESP).

Sending thought without the normal means of communication.

These are getting repetitive…

The agent may think of a random order of five card symbols while the percipient tries to think of the order on which the agent is concentrating.

Kokoro-chan would excel with this while I would fail.

Does this mean that I would excel is understanding the sender's feelings while she wouldn't be able to sense their emotions at all?

~o0O0o~

"None of this is making sense," I moan as I finish writing the last of my current notes on the white board; the second board now completely filled.

"Why doesn't it make sense?" Gene says.

"All of these articles and books talk about the same thing; the concept of one person transmitting thoughts to another."

Gene looks at me befuddled. "Yeah… and?"

"When I was linked to Naru, it was so much more than that. Sure I'd pick up his 'meaningless' thoughts, they would always pour through the back of my mind like an endless drizzle, but we could send clear messages to each other too. And it wasn't like I had a power, it's like I had another sense.

"If I limited the capabilities of one of my senses, all the others would get stronger, including the part of me that was telepathic. We transmitted more than just thoughts. There were images; feelings. I've heard things coming through his ears. I bet I could have felt things through his fingertips."

"That's how it was with me too," Gene says. "But we never found a way to explain it."

I sigh out of frustration and decide to read one last pile of books; I can finish the rest tomorrow.

~o0O0o~

Apparent ability to reproduce sketches made by others, even when separated by several miles.

There's the images I was telling Gene about!

Boredom leading to "decline effect" where the accuracy of card guessing would decrease over time for a given participant.

The mindless chatter I paid no attention to.

Attempt to send an image to a receiver during the detected dream states. Near the end of each REM period, the receiver would be awakened and asked to describe their dream during that period.

Gene used to do this to me all the time. Well, I normally woke up on my own. But he still sent the dreams to me!

Still no satisfactory experimental protocol designed to distinguish telepathy from other forms of ESP, such as clairvoyance.

That's what this institution is trying to correct… Isn't it?

There have been rare claims of shared visual hallucinations; shared psychotic disorder.

If it's shared, then it isn't psychotic… Right?

The phenomena cannot be produced or reproduced on demand.

That can be said with most any psychic power though!

~o0O0o~

I finally decide to go to Naru's room and sleep. My brain is racked with pain from everything I've been taking in.

Once sleep has taken over me, I find myself surrounded by black again. I can see his back though.

"Naru?"

I walk over to him calmly, my arm rising as I reach out to touch his back. A memory starts to come to me.

"… So then the woman went back to the public restroom with the police officer and, as he'd instructed, she went inside and waited to hear the 'voice' again."

I remember telling that story… I think as the images of my friends' faces, illuminated eerily by the light of my pen-styled flashlight, starts to fill my mind. I watch as they jump at the end of my story. Then they tell their own stories and we get to the end of our game.

After telling a story, the storyteller turns their light off. When all the stories are told, and all the lights are off, there's supposed to be an extra light. A spirit.

A spirit didn't turn up though, so we did the second phase. We counted everyone in the room; there were only a few of us.

"One…" My friend Keiko says. She told her story first.

"Two…" I say.

"Three…" My other friend, Michiru, says.

"Four."

The three of us scream as the main light of the room turns on, revealing Naru; my first time ever meeting him, so long ago on a stormy night perfect for telling ghost stories.

I can feel my heart beating feverishly at the memory.

~o0O0o~

The next morning, I decide to skip the cafeteria and head straight to the meeting room. Leala has been here, and she's left me a tray holding breakfast. Pancakes, toast, eggs, and bacon are definitely nice, and I appreciate her more than ever for bringing me such delicious food, but I still miss my Japanese meals. I miss my friends too. I haven't seen any of my friends in four days now.

Part of me wonders why none of them have attempted to look for me. The other part wonders why I haven't tried to find them.

After I finish eating, I take a look at my final stack of books and sigh heavily.

It's time to finish what I've started.

~o0O0o~

No "theory of telepathy," as various explanations have unbridgeable gaps to current science.

So scientists do not believe in the ability? At all?

Scientific quantum theory as a basis for telepathy, the idea claiming that the mind is a naturally-formed physical scaffold for a matrix of electrical and quantum impulses.

Sound like that "super conscious" again.

Claim that telepathy is not "extrasensory", rather that the brain is a telepathic organ.

Something it could always do…

~o0O0o~

With my mountain of books finally finished and three of the four white boards filled to the brim with notes and a couple of dreams, I decide it's time to finally rest my mind. Without anything to read anymore, I'm not sure what else I should do.

My head feels like it's going to explode.

Too much knowledge!

~o0O0o~

I take the time to wander down to the Davis's backyard so that I can explore the beautiful garden.

The initial view is breathtaking. A small field, filled with flowers, and a fountain in the center; the brim containing the water is big enough to sit on. There's a skinny stone walkway that leads from the doors to the fountain, and also to various benches positioned under the many trees that surround the field.

I walk the path and find myself being led past the trees into a small forest that surrounds the garden. There are a few bushes intermingled among the tall trees and a bench to sit on and relax. I sit on it and fold my legs on top of the bench with me, closing my eyes as I begin to meditate.

Being able to clear my head is nice. Even though there's so much information currently being stored in it, I'm happy that I can release it, if only for a few minutes. As I rest, I begin to feel warmer and calm. The inside of my eyelids slowly start to turn red as a strong light radiates through them. My eyes open once the light become too unbearable, and I'm left staring at a distorting form.

A red and orange blob of light floats before me, twisting and contorting as it replicates the body of a genderless human the same height as me. Its appearance reminds me of the same liquid-light quality that Lin's shiki have. The being lurches towards me for a second and I fall backwards, off the bench in shock.

My eyes close for a moment when my body hits the ground. When I sit up I witness a fox dashing into the bushes.

The spirit is gone.

It's dark now—I've been meditating longer than I thought—so I decide to go back to Naru's room. I could go to the cafeteria and eat, I bet everyone's there now anyway, with the time of day it is, but I choose not to. I've learned so much that I want to focus and try to find a foundation for my knowledge before I forget all of it.

I feel like I'm cramming for school…

While I sit on Naru's bed, I notice a book I missed. It's one of the first books I pulled from his shelf and started looking at before my resolve was decided. I skim through it quickly, my eyes naturally selecting key words throughout the English text. By the time I've looked through all of it I decide to write one last thing on the white boards in the meeting room.

Once I get to the room, I grab a blue marker and choose the last board, the fourth board, which is still untouched.

Communication through means other than the senses, as by the exercise of an occult power.

With that last thing written, I head back to the bedroom and take out a journal I've started for my own personal notes. I sit at Naru's desk and start writing about the spirit I saw after meditating, and soon I find myself falling asleep at the table.

~o0O0o~

My body starts to grow warm. The word "talk" resounds through my head like the heavy beating of a large drum. It's the same as when I first connected with Naru. My body is warm, my flesh feels like it's burning up; that sense where I'm so hot that I feel cold, or am I so cold that I feel hot?

This is the feeling I have when I connect with Naru?

As soon as the thoughts leave my head I'm pulled into another memory; a memory where Naru and I have fallen and were injured. He teases me with childish ventriloquism that makes me smile despite the situation we've gotten ourselves into.

~o0O0o~

"Naru?" I say. He has appeared before me after the memory flashes by. He's looking at me but I'm not here, I'm sitting on the chair, my top half of my body folded atop his desk.

"So this is where you've been hiding," Naru says as I watch him lift me up from the desk. He carries me to his bed and tucks me in between the mattress and his blankets before leaving the room to go to Gene's bedroom.

I don't think I've ever felt as strongly for him as I do now…

That warmth and gentleness.

~o0O0o~

In the morning, I climb out of bed and stretch up to the sky with all of my might.

Didn't I fall asleep at Naru's desk? I think before my face turns red as I remember my dream.

I change quickly and then head back for my personal research-meeting room.

"You're still not done researching?" Gene says once I grab another marker, ready to cover the rest of the fourth board. He doesn't try to hide the sound of shock in his voice. By "still not done" he means "haven't given up."

"There's still one more thing that I need to take into consideration," I say.

"What's that?"

"The experience you gave me." I draw a crude picture of a person and write Eugene underneath it. Then I draw another person and right Naru. I finish the drawing with an arrow pointing from Gene to Naru. "This is how it works for you two… well, worked… You were the one who connected your minds."

Then I add me into the mix and draw an arrow going from Gene to me to Naru. Then I add another arrow from me to Naru. "You connected the link between me and Naru, but the connection never broke when you disconnected us. I can only assume it's because I was keeping us connected until you showed me how to disconnect."

"It's a good theory…" Gene says.

"I know…" I say while my grip on the marker tightens. "It's just so frustrating! I know what needs to be done. I know it'll work. But aside from the confidence I have in myself I can't explain any of it logically!"

"Now you know how I felt," Gene says.

"That doesn't help you know," I mumble.

"What doesn't help?"

I turn and see Naru enter the room. He's followed by his father, a few men and a couple of women that I don't know, Monk, Ayako, John, Yasu, and Masako.

"So this is where you've been, Mai?" Monk says as the room quickly fills.

"What are you all doing here?" I say.

"My father wanted to meet you since you are my other assistant," Naru says. "You two weren't given a chance to talk." His eyes narrow and I know he knows that I never took the time to shake his father's hand and really introduce myself. I look away sheepishly.

"I just want to see what makes her special enough to be your assistant," Atticus says. "It's clear that the brilliance expressed by Lin and Yasuhara make them cutting edge material, but what does this girl possess? She hasn't even attended a single seminar…"

"She definitely isn't as intelligent as Lin or Yasuhara-san…" Naru starts to say and I glare at him. "…and she lets her emotions overrule her, but shedoeshave strong psychic powers which more than make up for her faults."

"What is all of this writing?" one of the women asks as the group scans the room.

"I was t-rying to validate the existence of telepat-hy… I know that it exists but I was t-rying to find a way to p-rove it," I say tiredly. My brain still feels full.

Naru rolls his eyes at me. "What's the point in wasting your energy with something like that? Obviously your work was pointless."

"It wasn't pointless…" I glare at Naru again but then smirk, "…because I learned to do this."

Satisfaction pats me on the back as I watch his eyes widen. He looks around the room for the first time and reads some of what I wrote. "I underestimated her…" I hear him think to himself. His eyes focus on mine. "Don't talk to me anymore and start learning my signals."

I wonder what he means by signals, I think to myself as Naru turns to his dad.

"There is no need to underestimate Mai. She fits the bill for a good assistant and will be allowed to work for me forever if she wants to," Naru says to his father before turning and leaving the room. "I'll be in my office. I want tea," he tells me with his mind before he's gone.

I sigh loudly, not hiding my frustration. Before Atticus can ask me what's wrong I say, "Your son wants tea."

Of course! Go figure!

I reactivate our telepathic bond and what does he want from me?

More tea!

I head out of the room, following behind Naru's wake; Gene saying, "I'll show you to the kitchen."

~o0O0o~

AN: Yes, that is the first sentence from Frankenstein… only screwed up because of Mai's poor English skills. Did you know you can buy it on the kindle for $0.00!? Guess who owns Frankenstein now? Also, I figured it'd be okay to use because 1) it's just the first sentence, and 2) it was on the "preview" for the book on Amazon.

Fast Facts! #17) the original SPRor Society of Psychical Research is a real place! The term "telepathy" was coined in 1882 by Frederic W. H. Myers (a founder of SPR). Don't believe me? Look it up!

Fast Facts! #18) So… Richard S. Broughton is the current president, but only since 2011. The story should really be happening several years ago, but since I already gave Mai a smart phone I decided to just keep everything in the present. Technically, the SPR president during thecorrecttime would be David Fontana, which, humorously enough, Naru's real last name, Davis, means "Son of David".

(Not really facts) Fast Facts! #19) all of the「」of information come from five to six different websites containing reports about telepathy. No the information isn't set down word for word and yes one of the websites was Wiki. Who cares though? I'm just trying to write a good story!‥(´口`*)うわぁぁぁ~ん

Fast Facts! #20) Thank-you to everyone who has pointed out that the Davis's are named Martin and Luella. I still can't find concrete proof of their names outside of the fanfictions though, so since I've already named them what I have, imma stick with it lol. Eugene = Well Born, Oliver = Elf Army, Darla Elwyn = Dear, Loved one; Elf-friend, Atticus Bram = Father-like; Father of a Multitude

Fast Facts! #21) Eldon is English and means "the old servant", Leala is English and means "faithful", Jolie is French and means "pretty", Kevine is Irish and means "beautiful", Louise is English and means "famous warrior", and Carnig is Armenian and means "small lamb".

go figure a long chapter would have a LOT of fast facts lol.