A/N So this goes out to all my readers! I am...sitting in the bathtub of my guest bathroom, on a pile of old blankets, being crawled over by two 11 week old kittens. They needed extra socialization before they could be adopted. So my whole family, bf, son and myself, have been taking turns sitting in the bathroom with these kittens trying to get them up to speed with their friendlier siblings.
I am literally writing this chapter for you guys on a cracked iPhone in the bathroom from under a pile of kittens.
If you've ever considered writing but had too many reasons why you don't have the time/equipment/whatever...
Your excuses are officially invalid.
In-va-lid!
Go write People!
This fandom is tiny but mighty!
Ps, this chapter's title comes from an episode of InuxBoku SS
Much love to you from the official mascots of "Where The Light Enters", Runt and Greenbean.
"Where The Light Enters"
"Tea and Distance"
Mai signed off on the last of the transfer papers, putting them into an envelope to mail the next day. She grimaced, imagining what postage overseas must cost.
Still.
It would be worth it to be able to transfer to the University of Chicago at the end of the current semester.
She was finally putting Reo Sanda's check to good use.
A knock on her apartment door had her pausing.
She took a breath, steeling herself.
Yasu stood on the other side, arms crossed.
He pushed his way in without waiting to be invited.
"Sure, Yasu. Come on in!" She called after him.
Turning and putting his hands on his hips, he asked "Going somewhere?"
Mai sighed.
"Not for a few weeks." She hedged.
"Mai." Yasu's voice was obviously unamused.
"Fine." She threw up her hands. "I'm transferring to the University of Chicago next semester."
Yasu's jaw dropped. "The University of Chicago? As in, the one in Chicago? In America?"
"Ye-es." Mai agreed slowly.
Yasu stared at her.
"I think it's time you told me what's going on."
She walked past him towards her tiny kitchen. She'd already started boxing some stuff up, but she'd left her tea stuff out.
"Want some tea?" She asked.
"With a side of answers?" He retorted.
"I've been thinking about it for a while. It's just time for a change." She evaded his stare.
"You are so full of shit right now." He accused.
"You've been avoiding all of us since the last case. Except for Naru. Him, you're not avoiding. You're ignoring. You've been ignoring him so hard I'm starting to doubt his existence. So what did he do, and who's going to distract Lin while we get rid of his body?" Yasu said.
God, she loved her friend. She was going to miss them all so much. But maybe Yasu most of all. He had a way of taking imperfections and making them so much more reasonable.
"He didn't do anything." She shrugged, focusing on the tea. "We were together for, like, a minute and a half. Now we aren't."
"It's because he blew up the fountain, isn't it?" He asked, scowling.
"Apparently, my presence encourages him to lose control." She picked her words carefully.
"He's an asshole". Yasu said flatly.
"He's an asshole." Mai agreed lightly, telling herself the tightness in her throat would go away in just a minute.
"Wait. Naru's an asshole so you're going to Chicago? Can't we just ship him back to England?" He asked with a devilish glint in his eye.
She choked on a laugh. "I'm not sure it works that way."
"Don't know until we try..." She heard him mutter under his breath.
"Okay." He placed his hands palms down on her counter. "But Chicago? You're sure? What about your stuff? What about my stuff that I keep here? What about me? Does this make me the official baby sitter of team creepy, crawly and crazy?"
"Yes to Chicago. Yes, I am sure. My stuff is going into storage. You're stuff is also if you don't get it out of my apartment ASAP. Lastly, you will be a great baby sitter. Just remind Ayako that Bou-San is on her team, always. Remind Bou-San that Ayako's only acting out because she's scared. Remind Masako that it's okay to tell people no once in a while. Remind John that it's okay to have doubts. And remind yourself that you're awesome." She rattled the list off with a smile.
"And Naru and Lin?" He asked sceptically.
"Three sugars, one cream. Coffee, Black." That was all she had for him on those two...
"Where's those forms...Masako and I will just go with you..." He said with wide eyes.
She laughed again. "Sorry kid. No luck."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
She placed the last of the files in her outbox for Taka, the new secretary, to grab in the morning.
She'd been doing her best to discreet wrap up any last paperwork before midterms, so she could spend her last couple of weeks focused on friends and school. Inside her drawer was her letter of resignation she intended to turn in next week.
She stood, stretching.
She purposefully did not glance through Naru's door.
Just like she did not purposefully watch him out of the corner of her eye.
Every damn second of every moment.
Just like she wasn't remembering what it was like to kiss him or he kissed by him.
Just like she wasn't always four seconds away from either crying or throwing a stapler at his head.
Or both.
Twice.
She'd kept it together. She didn't start arguments. She didn't stomp or glare. She didn't badmouth him (Yasu didn't count).
Really, it worked well.
He didn't speak to her and she didn't slap his stupid perfect face.
Oliver Davis was nothing more than the name on the signature line of her paycheck, and if he wanted space, well she was about to give him an ocean full.
She hoped he drowned in it.
Her phone pinged and she looked down idly.
Reading the message, she froze.
"We need to talk. In person. I need your help."
Everything has a price.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Noll picked up the phone, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly.
"Shibuya."
"Oliver, darling. It's Mum." Luella's voice was light, but only a fool would miss the thread of steel lining it.
"Hello Mother." Noll braced himself. If she was calling during work hours, she meant business.
Just probably not the SPR kind.
"I just wanted to check on you. How have you been since you got out of the hospital?" She asked.
"I'm perfectly well, thank you." He loved his mother, truly he did...
"And the rest of the team? Lin, Miss Hara...Mai?"
And there it was.
"They all appear quite well. How have you been?" He deflected artfully.
He'd been raised by this woman. He knew battle strategy.
"Oh, I'm fine darling. But I must admit, I'm just a tad bit worried about the Tokyo office. Not the quality of the work, of course darling. It's exceptional as always. It's the moral I'm concerned with. Lin mentioned things have been a tad...chilly around the office since your last case."
Noll doubted Lin had said anything of the sort. But he'd long since given up attempting to discover how his mother knew the things she knew...
"Well, actually he might have used the term 'glacial'.." She was still talking but he was no longer listening, attention focused on the girl standing at her desk outside the office.
They'd barely spoken two words since the day in hotel room. She'd obviously been upset, with every reason to be.
He'd heard people use the expression "It's killing me..."
But to a scientist who'd lived the early years of his life being passed around from orphanage to foster home and back again, it had always sounded melodramatic.
And yet this distance between Mai and himself was doing just that.
It was killing him.
Even knowing it was the right thing to do, even knowing it was the only thing he could do.
It had still taken every ounce of self control he'd had not to...
Well.
Not to do everything. Or Anything.
Whatever it took to fix this thing between them that he'd broken.
But that was the problem.
He wanted to do anything, and his anything was a lot more dangerous than most.
But watching her now, he knew something was wrong.
Deeply wrong, if the expression on her face was anything to go by.
She was staring at her phone like it had just bitten her, and now poison was slowly creeping through her veins.
He'd seen many expressions on her face, but for the first time, she looked...
Haunted.
"I have to go, Mum. I'll call you..." He hung up without waiting for her response. He'd pay for that little stunt later, but right now his instincts were telling him something was wrong.
"Mai." He said her name from his doorway.
All around them, the rest of the staff froze. Everyone had been doing their best to stay clear or the Cold War between their Boss and Mai.
She didn't answer for a moment, obviously lost in her own thoughts.
It twisted something inside of him to watch her. He'd barely allowed himself to look at her these last few weeks, knowing how dangerously hard it would be to not give in.
She blinked, coming back to life slowly. Something changed in her eyes, like shutters coming down, or a door closing.
One minute she was the Mai he'd known for years. Yes, she'd grown and changed. But the inner part of her had remained intrinsically the same.
But this person in front of him...
While not a stranger, he got the sense that she could be one to him.
If she wanted.
This person in front of him was someone other, and he hated it on sight.
It shocked him, the strength of the emotion. He hated everything about it, the look in her eye, the careful way she held herself, the expression on her face...like she was a million miles from anywhere he'd ever think to look for her.
"I'm going out." She said, looking anywhere but at him.
Even her voice was different. It was hollow, like a chasm had opened between them.
"It's not closing time." He said the words automatically. He could care less about work, he just knew instinctively that wherever she was going, he didn't want her too.
She blinked, meeting his eyes for the first time in weeks.
There was something a little cold and cynical in her eyes.
"Fire me."
She walked out without another word as everyone around the office sat gaping.
One by one they slowly turned to look at him. He knew they expected him to be mad, but all he could feel was fear.
He'd thought he knew what it was like to chase after Mai Taniyama.
But something about this was...different.
And he knew he was the last person she'd run to no matter what the circumstances.
He couldn't be with her the way he wanted too. It was solely a problem on his end. The closer he got, the more dangerous he became.
But that didn't mean he would let something harm her.
So he followed her.