Long time no see! I realise that this next chapter took a lot longer to come out than any of us expected, the real world has been a struggle and so has finding the energy to write. But regardless, I'm back and I have a schedule that I should be able to keep. For the time being I'm aiming for fortnightly updates on Sunday nights. The next two chapters are written so at minimum you have those coming your way over the next four weeks. University is starting for me so whether the updates keep up will largely depend on that, but I'll keep you guys update on any changes~

In this chapter I tried my hand at some protective!Yasu as well as a quick journey through Naru's psyche again, so let me know if you guys enjoy that!

Review Responses:

Joys: I'm glad you enjoyed that, hopefully you enjoy this chapter just as much~

CaitHawke4Ever: Haha, to be fair I don't think a moment goes by when Naru isn't in information gathering mode. I'm now realising that it was a missed opportunity for exactly that which- too late now but still T_T No comment on whether Lin will know or not, but chapter 32 will tell you more ;) Thanks for the review as always and hopefully you enjoy this chapter despite the lateness!

RichkeyZero: You're very welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed the explanation~ Hopefully I haven't kept you waiting too long and you're still excited to see what the next chapter holds!

Seijuuro-chan: It's been a while so you may not remember this request, but thank you for making it! I have added it to my collection of notes and if the opportunity comes, I would love to try my hand at one of the classic england horror figures. Jack the ripper could indeed be fun and I've personally never had the chance to do a re-write of it do it's definitely on the "maybe" list~ Thank you for the review as well, and I hope you enjoy this newest chapter despite how long its been ^^;;

BF110C4: Right? I'll probably never stop bringing up this fact in my writing so I'm glad that it resonates with you. Thanks for the review and hopefully you enjoy this newest chapter~

Guest: I believe google said that this meant "please update soon", in which case, I apologise for the lateness, but the next chapter is here!~

Kallen21: Hopefully the wait wasn't too long them! Thanks for the review, fingers crossed you enjoy this chapter as well

Ghost loves japan 77: I'm glad that you enjoyed it, especially since Mai standing up to Naru is one of the most fun things to write~ Hopefully you enjoy this newest chapter just as much!

Bewitchedquill: You'll just have to wait and see, won't you? :P Thanks for the review, I'm happy that I've got you interested. Hopefully you enjoy the newest chapter~

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt

Chapter Key:

"English Speaking"

"Japanese Speaking"

'Thinking'

Chapter Thirty

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Tuesday, April 29th

"Perfect timing, Yasuhara," Martin praised. "If you wouldn't mind, we could actually use those notes of yours. Mai's a little run-down from all the questions, so we were just finishing up on that end."

Yasuhara grinned. "Of course," he agreed, stepping further into the room, a large file tucked under his arm.

Pushing up from her chair, Mai smiled at Martin, avoiding looking at anyone else, and offered a short bow. "In that case, I'm going to head back to the University and spend my afternoon on my studies. I'll see you at class in the morning, Professor."

"Of course, your studies are important. Thank you for taking the time for this," Martin wished her, waving her away when Mai offered another short bow before leaving the room.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Yasuhara's nature seemed to completely change. "What did you guys do?" he demanded.

It took a moment for Martin to reconcile this version of Yasuhara with the one that he was used to dealing with.

"I'm sorry?"

Yasuhara sighed loudly and repeated his question.

"We didn't mean to do anything, Yasu. Mai mentioned that she'd been able to sense auras before Noll even left Japan and things go a little heated," Madoka explained.

Yasuhara's eyes narrowed, light glinting off of his glasses. "Let me guess. You all blamed her for not telling you sooner about everything," he started, "and when Mai said she didn't even realise what had been happening, you all jumped on her to explain further. Naru was probably especially mad about everything, and in turn that put Mai even more on edge."

"Got it in one," Madoka agreed.

Rubbing at his temples, Yasuhara allowed himself to fall into his seat, suitably exhausted now that his suspicions had been confirmed.

"You can't just do that. Mai is offering you guys information that she usually keeps close to her chest. You don't get to be mad about what she hasn't told you, especially when you withheld so much information from her as well," Yasuhara scolded. "If Mai chooses not to tell you about something – then that's her decision."

Madoka wilted at the reminder.

"You are correct, Yasuhara. Mai was under no obligation to give us information – not then and not now. With any luck, however, she'll still be willing to speak with us more on the subject and we can move past how terribly today went," Martin said, shooting a look towards his son.

Glaring at Yasu, Oliver didn't bother to say anything in response. The moment the other man had brought up how long they'd kept his identity a secret, he'd known that there was nothing he could say to argue further. It was becoming clear to him that the real problem with keeping his identity secret was that it meant he was permanently unable to demand answers like he once could.

It was frustrating, but there was some truth to Mai's words as well, which didn't help with the odd feeling that was creeping up on him. He didn't need to feel guilty over pushing for information, and it wasn't like being rude was anything new to any of them. Why it had mattered so much now was beyond him.

Except he did know why it mattered now. They'd discussed Mai's feelings over being interviewed this morning, and it has always been clear that her own view of her psi wasn't as high as everyone else's was. And instead of using that to try and keep things from going too far today, he'd been the cause of things going too far.

'Such an idiot scientist,' he cursed himself.

"Now that we're agreed on that, shall we take a look at the information you've got compiled here?" Martin suggested.

Yasuhara smiled. "Of course."

Throwing the thoughts of guilt from his mind, Oliver vowed to focus on the facts for now.

He'd deal with having upset Mai later.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It turns out that later meant much later, because it was gone five in the evening before any of them realised just how long they'd been going over Yasuhara's notes.

There was so much information, including: what testing Mai had agreed to go through – documented clearly, various cases that Mai had participated in and used her abilities on, and a detailed account of how she goes about using each of her abilities on command.

There were answers to questions that none of them had thought of yet, and more than enough for them to be thoroughly enthralled up until the moment that there was a knock on the door.

"Enter!" Martin called out, turning to look at whoever was bothering them.

"Sorry to bother you sir, I just thought that I should check if you were planning to stay late tonight or not. It's nearly five-thirty is all..." the secretary trailed off, clearly unsure.

Blinking in surprise, Martin looked down at his watch and let out a noise of shock. "So it is. Thank you for letting us know. We'll pack up now and head out, but you're welcome to leave ahead of us. I'll make sure things are locked up for the night," he promised.

The secretary nodded. "Of course. Thank you, sir."

With that, she exited the room just as quickly, leaving them all to start packing up.

"If you don't mind, would it be possible for us to keep any of this information for the time being?" Madoka asked.

Yasuhara smiled, pushing his glasses further up his nose so that they would flash. "Oh, ye of little faith, Madoka. This file is yours to keep – these are all copies of the information that I put together for you."

"Of course, they are," Madoka laughed, picking up the now put back together file to drop in her office on the way past.

"It's late, Yasuhara. Noll and I will drop you back at campus," Martin suggested.

Yasuhara smiled brightly. "If you insist," he agreed easily.

"In that case, you guys should head off. Lin and I can handle locking up for the night," Madoka promised.

Martin hesitated, but Madoka made a shooing motion with her hands. "Off with you, Martin. The sooner you get Yasuhara back, the sooner you can return to Luella."

Chuckling, he nodded finally. "Very well. I'll see you in the afternoon tomorrow."

"Yes, yes. Go on."

Rolling his eyes, Martin herded Yasuhara and Oliver from the room, not bothering to glance back at two of his favourite employees. "We'd better hurry up before Madoka throws us from the room," he joked.

Oliver rolled his eyes but started out of the room and quickly made his way back up to the main floor so that they could head home.

The thought of sending Mai a message crossed his mind. Perhaps he could ask if he could call her later to- to what? Apologise? That would be what Gene would have suggested but he wasn't very good at that sort of thing, so what exactly would he do? What would he say?

Considering how the plan of calling Mai seemed to be forming in his mind, Oliver scrapped it immediately.

He would think of something – somehow.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Friday, May 2nd

It was a decision that he was very much regretting by the time Friday rolled around. He hadn't figured out what he should say to Mai yet, and she was definitely going to come by in the afternoon, just as she had every week before.

Yasuhara had even dropped by to let him know – which was frustrating because he could tell that the other man was finding his struggle to fix things amusing.

Wracking his brain, he cursed himself. He knew many things about Mai, but he still had no idea what he should do to apologise.

The word in his mind sounded just as annoying as it had every other time he'd considered this and he cursed himself for letting something so prideful stop him from making amends with someone he was attached to.

'It's not like you've never apologised to Mai before,' he thought, annoyed at how dramatic he was being. He's apologised to Mai on two separate occasions before this one. What made this time any more difficult?

Nothing, he decided. Nothing made it more difficult.

He would apologise, then they would get past everything and he could turn his focus back to more important things such as finding out how Mai's key ended up in his pocket.

With that decided, Oliver finally found himself able to focus, quickly becoming enthralled in his work.

It wasn't until three hours later that he found himself being dragged out of his work, Mai stepping into his office after knocking, the same as usual.

She was smiling, but something about her seemed awkward in a way that made something in his chest squeeze.

"Hey Naru," she greeted.

He narrowed his eyes at the fake cheerfulness.

"Mai."

"I'm sorry," they both blurted at the same time.

It was silent for a moment, before Mai broke it with a quiet laugh.

"You go first," Mai prompted.

Oliver nodded. "I'm sorry. I was too harsh, and you were right to get frustrated with my attitude."

Every word seemed to physically hurt him, but he forced himself to say them regardless, an odd tightness sitting in his chest while he waited for Mai's response.

"I accept your apology," Mai said finally, smiling properly this time; the light in her eyes practically twinkling. "And I'm sorry for losing my temper. I know what you're like when it comes to this sort of thing, I should have expected it. You like to know everything about everything, so finding out that you actually didn't know that much was never going to gain good results."

Oliver had to concede that Mai was correct. The tightness that had released when she'd forgiven him turned to warmth and spread as he was reminded yet again of how much attention she paid to him and his (bad) habits.

"Now that that's out of the way though, perhaps we should turn our attention to getting things done this afternoon," Mai suggested brightly.

Thinking on the key in his pocket, Oliver decided against asking Mai about it today. Now wasn't the time to be fishing for information – especially not information that she was purposefully not talking about.

"Tea?" he suggested, causing Mai to laugh again (and why that made him feel even warmer, he couldn't comprehend).

"Tea."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

With the awkwardness resolved, the afternoon seemed to fly by and before Mai realised it, Yasu was knocking on Naru's door and letting them know that it was time for them to start heading back to campus.

Sighing, Mai started to pack her things up quickly, throwing everything into her bag quickly.

Getting up from her seat, Mai smiled brightly at Naru. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Naru."

Naru rolled his eyes, but they were soft, so Mai knew that he wasn't actually annoyed with her.

Waving goodbye, Mai followed after Yasu happily.

"I take it things went well with Naru?" her friend teased.

Mai pouted. "Of course things went well. He even apologised which was surprising."

That seemed to catch Yasu by surprise as well, but he recovered quick enough.

"So, what did you two spend the rest of the day doing?"

Mai raised an eyebrow at her friend. That wasn't subtle in the slightest; he must be losing his touch. "Nothing interesting. We went over some more case request files and took care of some paperwork. I took a look at some possible cases and gave him some insight, and I got a head-start on the reading that Dr. Sinclair gave us yesterday."

Deflating, Yasu sighed. "I should have known. How is it possible for two people to be so boring?" he whined.

Rolling her eyes at her friend's drama, Mai sped up her walk slightly. It took her friend a moment to realise before he jogged briefly to catch up. "That was mean, Mai. You know that I'm a researcher, running is not my thing."

Raising an eyebrow, Mai scoffed. "You're so dramatic."

"I don't want to hear that from someone who spent the past couple of days wallowing in self-pity."

"I did not!" Mai denied. "I've just has a lot of classwork to get through the past couple of days."

"Ah-huh."

"Yasu," Mai whined.

"Mai," Yasu mocked, unable to help the amused tilt to his smile as Mai let herself giggle.

"You're ridiculous," she declared.

"You started it."

It was silent between them as they continued their walk back to campus, the sun beginning to set as they enjoyed the moment of peace between the way everyone was shuffling around them.

"Are you excited?"

Looking over at the sudden question, Mai tilted her head. "For what?"

"Well, you're doing the aura reading sometime this weekend aren't you?

Groaning at the reminder, Mai let her head hang. It wasn't that she didn't want to do the aura reading. It was always interesting to practice focusing herself on a single aura and trying to glean information from it. She was more concerned about how things would end up going when she was being watched. This wasn't like when she did them for her friends.

What if she screwed it up?

"Stop worrying over it. I didn't bring it up so that you could work yourself up over it," Yasu scolded lightly. "This is nothing new, remember. The only difference is that this time you'll have the famed Oliver Davis there to watch."

Mai flushed at the wink Yasu sent her. "How is that supposed to help anything?"

Yasu titled his head curiously. "Well I figured that having him there might help you to relax somewhat," he mused. "Though I suppose in reality it just adds to the pressure, doesn't it? Oh well."

"I hate you."

"No, you don't."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Saturday, May 3rd

The next morning came all too soon and Mai groaned as she forced herself from the comfort of her warm bed. Unlike her usual schedule, she'd be getting changed and heading straight to the Davis' manor for her jog and then they were going to hold the aura reading immediately after she completed her flow of Qigong with Lin on the garden grounds.

Nerves skittered under her skin; crawling like ants in a familiar but off-putting way.

"Stop it, Mai. You've done this a million times. Get it together," she coached herself.

Pulling on some comfortable jogging clothes, she grabbed her things and quickly headed out of her room, not at all surprised to see Yasu standing outside of her room waiting.

"Ready to go?"

Mai smiled, trying to put as much confidence into her words as she could. "Yup."

With that said, they headed down to meet up with Madoka who was driving them over to the Davis'. It was early morning, barely six, and almost no-one else was up just yet so it was quiet as they made their way over to the car.

"Are you ready for this, Mai?"

Glancing at Madoka from her spot in the back seat, Mai smiled. "Of course."

Madoka hummed. "There's no reason for you to be nervous. This is mostly unofficial as far as testing goes. I think Martin's curious more than anything," she admitted, giggling.

Unable to help herself, Mai giggled as well. She felt herself relax a little, knowing now that the stakes were lower than she'd thought. "I still think he's going to be very underwhelmed. I've been told it's boring enough when you have spiritual abilities. I can't imagine what it's going to be like from an outsider perspective," she admitted.

Nodding from the front passenger seat, Yasu smirked. "It really is just a lot of Mai just standing there and somehow figuring things out about your mood. It's somewhat creepy actually."

"Hey!"

Laughing at his description, Madoka glanced over her shoulder for a moment to wink at Mai. "Luckily, we happen to deal primarily in creepy so that won't be an issue."

Shaking her head, Mai allowed the subject to be changed for the rest of the ride as they debated over various topics until they arrived at the Davis'.

Slowing down from the jog she'd started almost as soon as she'd gotten out of the car, Mai allowed herself the chance to even her breathing before she began running through her Qigong motions. She could feel eyes on her from the other side of the garden and couldn't help but feel relieved that they were giving her some space for the time being.

It was nerve-wracking to be doing this with so many eyes on her, but she tried not to let that dictate her mind, focusing on clearing it and running through her movements fluidly.

In the background, she could hear Lin listing off her flow of movements as she performed and even though she knew it was for the benefit of the researchers who had minimal knowledge on the subject, she couldn't help but ground herself to Lin's smooth tone.

Before long, her flow was coming to an end and Mai was bringing herself back into the present slowly, reigning in her abilities slightly but hyper-aware that they were stretching further than ever before.

That was new.

She didn't have time to consider that, however, since she could feel the approaching presences of everyone as her eyes slowly opened.

Blinking for a moment at the brightness of everything, Mai focused on keeping her nerves at bay.

"-fascinating," Martin muttered. "Mai, how does it feel now in comparison to before you preformed your Qigong flow?"

Mai's first instinct was to shrug – how was she supposed to explain that? – but she pushed it down and took a moment to try and turn her feelings into works.

"Sensitive. Everything is brighter – clearer. It's a lot like the difference between seeing without glasses on and then putting them on. I can glean more than usual without so much effort as well."

"Interesting. Does this happen every time?"

Thinking about that and about how sensitive she was in comparison to the past couple of times she hummed. "To an extent. Some days it works better than others," she admitted.

For the first time today Naru spoke up. "Do you know what the cause is for the more sensitive days? There must be a linking factor," he mused.

This time Mai did shrug. "If there is then I haven't noticed it," she admitted. "I'll keep it in mind in future though and let you know if I notice anything."

Naru made a note in his notebook while Mai turned her attention back to Madoka, Martin and Lin.

"Am I just reading Lin-san today?" Mai asked.

Martin nodded. "We thought he'd be the easiest for you to read since he's a spiritualist."

"What kind of reading do you want?"

Frowning, Madoka tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"It means that she wants to know whether you guys want to keep things simple or if you want a more in-depth reading."

When Martin opened his mouth to reply, Mai cut in quickly. "If you want a more in-depth reading, we need to discuss that further. In-depth readings can be rather revealing and they're definitely a more personal thing. I would need Lin-san's permission for that kind of thing..." she added hastily.

In an instant Martin seemed to deflate slightly and Mai couldn't help but feel a little bad. Perhaps she should have just done a basic reading and never offered?

"Just how personal?" Madoka asked. There was a glint in her eyes that Mai didn't much like.

"Depending on my sensitivity and how much Lin-san opens himself to my reading... extremely. A basic reading is going to reveal current feelings and emotions, as well as the colours of his aura and what they mean. I can also tell the flow of his chi, but that's likely not going to be of any note. More in-depth means I can sense images, symbols. It essentially means I can build a picture about what is causing those emotions. The more Lin-san opens himself to the reading, the more I can glean. It's hard to explain."

"You did fine," Martin assures her. "I suppose we had better just go with a basic reading for the time being. Can you do more than one of us?"

Mai nodded. "I can do as many as need be until my sensitivity drops in a little while. In this state I don't use much spiritual energy. Normally I can manage two, maybe three before I start to feel drained."

"In that case we'll just get Madoka and Lin to be read," Martin suggested. "They're polar opposite personalities so that should wield interesting results."

Mai nodded in assent. "Lin-san, are you going first?"

Lin nodded in agreement and for a moment everything fell into stillness. Without being a spiritualist, it would just appear as though Mai was standing there, her eyes closed for a moment before she opened them.

"Your aura is a mix of blue, yellow and green. You have some purple of course and there was a flash of pink as well," Mai listed off.

In the background Martin quickly jotted down the information but didn't interrupt to ask what that meant lest he break her concentration.

"As expected, your flow is perfect with no blockages. Mostly from you I sense calmness and quiet. Your aura feels sturdy and dependable. Interestingly enough I can sense an undertone of... excitement? Interest?" her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to discern that further before giving up and moving on. "I can also see your shiki's aura's hanging around you, though they appear mostly in neutral colours due to their nature. That's all the surface information that I can pick up."

"Very well. What of Madoka?"

Releasing her attention on Lin's aura, Mai allowed herself a moment to centre again before she reopened her eyes and focused on Madoka instead. "Your aura screams turquoise and red. You have some gold as well and a little orange. I can't sense any blockages in your chi, but I can tell that your spiritual chakras are tightly shut, and you have no access to them. However, your first four chakras are open – your second and fourth in particular.

"In terms of emotions I can sense your base emotion is excitement and mischief. I can feel a constant loving warmth from you, but I can also feel that you love fun. I can sense your interest in what's going on right now and your restlessness to find out more. That's everything that's surface though."

Drawing herself back, Mai allowed their auras to fade to the background now that it was over and forced herself to slowly focus more on the physical and let go of the auras surrounded herself before she became to overwhelmed.

Clapping lightly, Martin grinned. "That was much more interesting then you lead me to believe. And you can feel all those emotions and feelings?"

Mai shrugged. "Sort of? I can see them in the auras and that seems to leave something of a phantom feeling behind," she explained.

"Fascinating."

Naru cleared his throat and Mai turned her attention to him. "Yes?"

"Can you give us a run-down of those colours. In particular you made it seem like Lin was expected to have purple in his aura."

Blinking, Mai nodded. "Of course."

Mai allowed Martin and Madoka a chance to prepare themselves to write before she began speaking.