Chapter Fourteen: Mai is Smarter Than Someone

Mai was feeling smug as she reached the next lecture, with her entourage. It was six twenty-five, so she had officially disobeyed Naru! Of course, this did mean that there were less chairs, and Naru and Lin had only saved one, expecting her alone. Mai almost had to wrestle Masako for it, but the young medium managed to charm the man on the other side away from his seat.

Mai eyed the other girl, annoyed. Damn… why was Yasuhara so slow? He could have dazzled her in half this time.

Okay, so what ended up happening was Lin sat on one end, with Mai next to him. On Mai's right was Naru, and Masako was on his right. The people on the floor don't matter. All you have to know was that Ayako was grumbling. She did not like the floor. All right, back to the story.

Mai couldn't help but notice that there were a lot more ordinary people here.

"Hey Naru, why's this one so crowded?"

He sighed. "If you had been paying attention to anything I said, you would have heard that this lecture is about protection from ghosts in the home. Obviously civilians are interested in hearing this. While professionals have the proper tools to exorcise ghosts without having to use many protective wards or needing to be told the warning signs, some people are not comfortable calling in outsiders, so many of them come to lessons like these…."

Mai really, really tried to pay attention. Naru was at least a better public speaker than the last guy, but he had his own special impatient look he kept just for her, and it was a huge turn-off. After about ten seconds, he turned away.

"You know, Mai, if you paid attention more, you might not fail world history this year."

Mai gasped. "How do you know I'm failing world history?!"

He smirked, looking down his nose at her. "I pay attention, of course."

This time it was Lin, not Takigawa, who had to keep Mai from jumping on and pounding her irritating, snide little jackass of a boss.

"Mai-san, remember that meditation mantra we talked about?"

She sighed. "Yes, Lin-sensei, I remember."

"Perhaps now would be a good time to practice it?"

Mai sighed again. "I guess you're right." The girl took one deep breath, crossed her ankles, and folded her hands in her lap, thumbs and index fingers together as if she were going to exorcise something. She and Lin had worked on this mantra so many times, she no longer stumbled over the Chinese words.

"Wǒ bu kuài shā hai zi wǒ táo zuì zhe. Wǒ bu kuài shā hai zi wǒ táo zuì zhe. Wǒ bu kuài shā hai zi wǒ táo zuì zhe…"

"Very good."

(Translation: I will not kill the narcissist. I will not kill the narcissist. I will not kill the narcissist….)

Just then, the crowd sort of hushed. A slightly paunchy, impressive man of average height had stepped onto the little podium in the front of the room. He was very professional-looking, with neatly combed hair and a trim white suit. When he introduced himself, he had the self-assured tone that managed to convey his knowledge.

Mai--and Naru, if the look on his face was any measure--wanted to get up and walk out right then and there. Why?

Well, for one thing, they had already met the speaker.

For two… Their overall impression of the president of the Minami Paranormal Investigators was not favorable.

Mai looked at Naru pleadingly, aching to get away, but he shook his head once, slightly.

"I would like to start my introducing you to the warning signals of spirits in the home. It takes extensive training and years of experience to recognize all of these signs properly, but a few are noticeable to the average civilian…"

Mai was going to kill herself, but fifteen minutes later she sat straight up, frowning. Minami had already moved on to how to stop the ghosts, and Mai couldn't help but wonder if he wanted to hide his lack of real knowledge. She had already noticed that something was off. Mai opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it just as quickly. Only Naru noticed.

"Mai?"

"His theories--they're not correct. If he's talking about spirits, then he has the warning signs for ghosts and poltergeists messed up, right? The defenses are the same. They don't work for ghosts."

Naru smirked slightly. "But they do for poltergeists, right?"

"No… I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Because… because poltergeists aren't real ghosts, right? They're just energy. Holy objects don't affect psychic energy, so wearing them or using them would have no effect, and you can't call in someone if they get too bad--if the poltergeist is called by a human, it cannot be exorcised. John and Ayako and Bou-san all failed the exorcisms in my first case."

"How could the poltergeist be stopped?"

"Well… Making Kuroda-san aware of what she was doing was enough, right? And Lin told me how you stopped making poltergeists once you learned to control your PK." Naru's eyes tightened just a tiny little bit, but he made no comment. "And I've read how some poltergeists have occurred when people are unhappy in their surroundings, or in unfamiliar places, so putting them back in their comfortable place would stop them. Otherwise, intentional poltergeists are caused by hitogatas or other curses, right?"

"Very good, Mai." Naru lifted his gaze to Minami-san again and said, very clearly, "You're wrong."

He stopped speaking immediately, and, from the look on his face, he recognized Yasuhara very clearly. That egotistical little bastard wasn't the type to remember anyone but the most important person in the room, and no one had thought about filling Minami-san in on the true identity of their president. Anyway, this did not bother Mai--she was perfectly content to sit and back and listen as Naru gave the speaker one of his famous reprimands. The problem was, Naru hadn't said it in his voice.

He had said it in hers. So now everyone was staring at her.

"E-excuse me, miss?" the man asked, stuttering a little bit. Mai could see a faint sheen of sweat break out on his face.

Mai, furious, glanced at Naru, but he only looked down at her and nodded slightly, encouraging her in his own cold, un-encouraging way. Mai swallowed nervously.

"Er, I don't mean to be rude, but I think you've mixed up poltergeists and ghosts. Your warning signs and defenses are kind of … switched." Mai was blushing furiously, and she almost had to start chanting that mantra again.

Minami wasn't going to take this lying down. He looked back into his audience immediately and started explaining how this little schoolgirl was wrong, and Mai was not eager to correct him again. Then Naru, as if he hadn't done enough already, stood. After about a second of hesitation, Lin stood and followed him as he very slowly and calmly walked out of the room, and then Masako. Mai, her face as red as an overripe tomato, scrambled out of her seat and had to follow too. The rest of SPR had no qualms about abandoning Minami-san and showing the crowd how little the professionals thought of him. Ayako didn't even seem to notice the people watching her leave, and Yasuhara was so calm, he smiled and bowed respectfully to Minami-san before leaving.

The gang had gotten so used to eating together--spending most of the day together, in fact--that no one thought twice about going to dinner as a group, even though neither Naru nor Ayako were hungry. Naru just sat there, as comfortable as he ever was in the midst of these very comfortable people.

It took a loud, gravelly clearing of the throat for them to fall silent.

"Shibuya-san, correct?" Minami said, addressing Yasuhara.

"That would be me," Naru said calmly.

"But you called yourself--" he stopped and shook it off. "That was very rude of you. What is your name?" he asked Mai abruptly.

"Taniyama."

"There was no need to interrupt me in the middle of the lecture. It was unnecessary and very disrespectful."

"Would it not be more disrespectful to ignore the error and let you continue speaking about a flawed topic?" Naru said. He had developed the slightly confused, angry look that said "What is wrong with these people?" Mai had seen it a lot when he dealt with people who didn't know what they were talking about.

"Sooner or later someone would have noticed the lack of reason and corrected you, and that would have been embarrassing, not to mention disastrous for those who were intending to take your advice."

Minami's face was getting red. "As for that, I do not see what you were talking about."

"Mai has only been working in the paranormal for a year and she knows more than you do? That cannot be good for your reputation, Minami-san, especially in having been caught in such a blunder as bringing in fake psychics…."

No one can really think of a good comeback against something like that, not when they were talking to Naru, so Minami could only make a few garbled noises and walk away. Everyone exchanged a few good laughs at his expense, and they continued with their dinner.

Mai was cheerful when she went back to her room later that night. She had seen a glimmer of pride in Naru's eyes. He had tried to hide it, but it was there. This might very well be the first time Naru had felt any kind of pride for anyone but himself. It wasn't a declaration of everlasting love, but it was something.

So, not only was there a spring in Mai's step, but she was actually humming as she made her way through the hotel. It was late. There were a few people wandering home, but for the most part, the different rooms--like Conference Room 6--were empty.

Only Conference Room 6 wasn't empty.

Mai caught a glimpse of a kimono and smiled to herself. Masako. Perhaps someone had decided to steal a few more minutes with a certain brainiac? Mai had meant to sneak past without interrupting, but the lack of something caught her eye--color. There was no colored shape with Masako, only the black of the shadows. Mai's heart stopped as Masako stood on her tiptoes to kiss Naru.

All the breath left Mai's lungs. She waited for a moment, willing Naru do straighten and give Masako one of those sharp looks. He didn't do anything.

Mai spun around and walked away. She paused at the elevator, and decided to take the stairs. She needed something other than silence, and hard physical exercise sounded wonderful. Mai finally reached her room, several floors up, and put her hands on her knees. She was panting--those stairs had not been a good idea. By the time she stood upright, panting was not the problem. No, the tears streaming down her face were the problem.

"Mai?"

"Mai, what's wrong?"

Dimly, Mai heard Ayako, and felt Bou-san hug her. She tried to say nothing was wrong, that everything was fine, but she couldn't. She just shook her head and hugged back tighter.

Aw, poor Mai. Will she ever get to yell at Naru? Next chapter, perhaps? Ooh, maybe she can slap Masako!

Response to last chapter's beta note: Riza does nothing at all to help with my deadlines! All she does is bug me about when she can read it! (UNTRUE!) Oh, and, also, when I told her how I was giving you guys the evil disappointing cliffhanger, her exact words were, "That's so evil! You should totally do it!" (DID NOT!)

Oh, and considering I haven't even posted a disclaimer since like chapter four or five, much less given her credit, I don't think she should care. Fuyumi Ono should care, but she hasn't come knockin' on my door, so TOO BAD, RIZA! (SCREW YOU! SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO THE NEXT CHAPTER YOU SEND TO ME FOR 'EDITING'!)

She is right about the typos, though… (Damn right I am.)