Tada~ Two weeks passed by before neither you nor I noticed. Or at least, it was before I noticed. It's been a wild ride starting uni but I have managed to get one chapter written in those two weeks, so we're on track for me to stay ahead on future chapters and hopefully *knock on wood* keep schedule. The edits on this one are a little rough – beta read by the amazing stillwaitingforjudgement as it is, I left the final edits until later than usual and I'm tired. Apologies for any remaining mistakes, they are all my own fault.

But none of you care about that~ This chapter has the wonderful explanation of aura colours, of which came from a variety of sources that I just grabbed from to suit my purposes because there are so many different sources, not to mention some (I think) cute Mai/Naru moments to break the somewhat informative edge the previous chapters have had~

On another note: *announcer voice* Do you want more TCOL? Go and check out the wonderful ncisduckie over on AO3 (or if you're already on AO3, simply click on the "inspired" link) to enjoy an amazing fill for chapter 27 she wrote. It's literally amazing and everyone should read it and give her some love. The woman wrote fanfiction for my fanfiction and if that doesn't deserve an award, I don't know what does.

Review Responses:

Babe: That's an interesting thing to consider. You'll just have to keep reading to see if that's how things end up going~ Thank you for the review!

Stephanie12356: I'm glad to hear that, thank you for reviewing and letting me know~

CaitHawke4Ever: I'm glad you enjoyed that~ Thank you for reviewing and letting me know, hopefully you enjoy this next chapter just as much!

RichkeyZero: You're welcome as always. Wait no longer for what the colours mean because it's here~ I hope you enjoy, thank you for the review!

Fanficluver4life: It could be for any number of reasons from busy life to just the less-frequent update schedule in the second half of last year. Either way, I'm glad you've returned to continue reading and that you're enjoying things. I can't quite recall when your previous review was, though I could probably search for it but if things seem different it may be because your last read through was pre-August last year-ish. That was when I finished up the complete overhaul of this story and did a thousand rounds of edits to improve the older chapters (and makes some continuity changes). But again, regardless I'm just glad to have you join us again. I hope this next chapter is just as enjoyable as the previous ones~

Bewitchedquill: *Takes notes* I will definitely consider those two situations. They could be a lot of fun to play around with and I always love having a chance to write Mai's abilities~ Thank you for throwing them my way and for the review~ I hope you enjoy this latest chapter!

Kaze Hatake: I'm so glad to hear that, it really means the world to me that you enjoy this so much. You're so very welcome for the updates, thank YOU for supporting this story and leaving a review to let me know this. I hope this chapter is just as enjoyable as the previous ones~

Kallen21: Wait no longer, here it is!

Ncisduckie: *whispers* it's because he's an emotionally constipated idiot. Honestly. I think the true chaos of the ghost hunt series is secretly Naru. (Shh, let me have my cliché words of romanticism ;w; The romance is so far at the end game I need this – who let me write a slow burn, huh?) You aren't the only one who went down that path (I certainly did when I wrote it). But will it even happen *shrugs* We'll never know~ (Or, well, we will. But not for like another year or so when I finally finish this monster of a fic…) Adfghjk auras are just nonsensical colour theory lmao. But hopefully I turned it into enjoyable nonsense. (*mum voice* If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. You don't have to review every chapter.) But I'm glad you enjoyed, hopefully this chapter lives up to expectations. And I do appreciate the review despite my light-hearted reminder that you can just, you know, read and not review sometimes. *Heart emoji bc ffn hates the arrow thingies*

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt

Chapter Key:

"English Speaking"

"Japanese Speaking"

'Thinking'

Chapter Thirty-One

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

Saturday, May 3rd

"Purple denotes spiritual and psychic ability, so it was a given that Lin would have that in his aura. I do as well and if I were to check I believe you'd have the most purple in your aura. In fact, your aura is likely to be very similar to Lin's. Often people with purple auras are more quiet or mysterious. They make good teachers and philosophers."

"Mai breaks that stereotype though, of course," Yasu piped up, grinning at the laugh pulled from everyone else.

Huffing, Mai ignored him. "The blue denotes over all calmness. The ability to stay cool, calm and collected in most situations. Usually they are considered eloquent but are known to work too often and live too little," the last part was spoken with an undertone of smugness that neither Lin nor Naru appeared to appreciate. "The green can mean a love of and connection to nature and a natural ability to heal, but it's also a result of being a well-grounded person with a high level of consciousness.

"Yellow means a variety of things. In Lin-san's case I believe it's a testament to his high spiritual development as well as his intelligence and level of awakening. It sometimes means that the owner is headstrong and known for ignoring their emotions as well as being judgemental. They value their alone time."

No-one commented on Mai's remark about being judgemental, though Mai was sure she saw Martin's eyebrows raise. Instead, Naru raised another question.

"You said a flash of pink as well. Is that something of note?"

Humming, Mai nodded. "Of course. While it is possible to have a pink aura, it's extremely rare. More often, it appears as a flash temporarily, though this is also rather rare. It's a note on Lin-san's ability to be perfectly balanced between material existence and spiritually aware."

"How rare is rare?"

Mai hummed. "I've only ever seen one other flash of pink and that was from my master. Not even in the monks at Mt. Koya," she admitted.

"So extremely," Madoka joked, winking. "What about me? What do my colours mean?"

Mai couldn't help but laugh at the eagerness in her friend's voice. "Calm down, I'm getting there. Turquoise means that you're highly energised and influential. It also means that you organise well, and you can multi-task. The red can mean a few different things. In your case I think it's in relation to your competitiveness and how fiery and intense you tend to be. It's also likely a testament to your passion.

"The orange in your aura is likely due to the ease with which you interact with people and make friends. It's a note to your confidence as well. It's likely a smaller portion of your aura since you lack the other characteristics of someone with an orange aura." Before they could stop to ask what those are, Mai continued. "The gold is a reference to your need to be the centre of the attention and the fact that you thrive off being social. It also denotes independence and a lot of parties."

"Interesting," Martin muttered, scribbling quickly onto his page. Just as he opened his mouth to speak further the sound of Luella's coughing interrupted.

"Perhaps you should leave that alone until a more decent time? Breakfast is ready and I'm sure that Mai needs a chance to replenish her energy after all of this," she waved her hand before laughing, "whatever nonsense this is."

Chuckling, Martin nodded. "Of course. Right as always, love. Come on then, everyone. The sooner we've eaten, the sooner we can ask Mai more questions."

Groaning good naturedly, Mai rolled her eyes. "Oh joy."

Despite her complaints, Mai was actually rather happy to answer all of their questions for the rest of the morning, all too aware of the extra attention Naru was paying to the information and trying her very best not to think about how the reason for that was likely his book... on her abilities.

It still felt surreal.

"Mai, Earth to Mai."

Blinking, Mai turned to look at Yasu. "What?"

Her best friend sighed dramatically while Madoka giggled from across the room. "You weren't paying attention to what I was saying at all, were you?"

Shrugging sheepishly, Mai shrugged her shoulders a little. "Sorry? I can't seem to focus too well anymore. I'm feeling a little tired," she excused, though now that she mentioned it, it definitely wasn't a lie.

Yasu seemed to realise that because he let up on his scolding immediately. "You didn't over do it again did you?" he asked.

Mai shook her head. "Not that I can tell. It wasn't that intense of a morning. You know me, I'm always tired anyway so this shouldn't be too much of a shock," she joked.

Letting it go, Yasu repeated his question about their upcoming assessment piece, forcing Mai to focus at last.

Later that night found Mai staying the night in Gene's bedroom and staring at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep. When she'd checked only moments before it had been two in the morning. She had a feeling that if she checked the time again it would have only been a minute or two since then.

Groaning, she rolled onto her side in an attempt to finally fall asleep, just as she'd tried a few times now.

And yet another few minutes passed by and she found herself rolling over again, energy coursing through her body.

This was ridiculous.

Reluctantly, she forced herself up from the comforts of the bed. Perhaps a cup of tea would help to relax herself enough to fall asleep.

Kami-sama she hoped so. She'd need all the rest she could get to make it through her study session with Naru in the morning (which was the entire reason she was staying the night in the first place).

Not to mention normally she'd be getting up in a few hours to go for her jog and so far, she hadn't managed to catch any sleep at all.

As focused on her thoughts as she was, Mai barely noticed when she reached the kitchen. On autopilot, she'd set the kettle on to heat while preparing herself a cup for tea before she even knew what she'd done.

Recognising how much of a habit this had become, she couldn't help but flush. She could honestly say that becoming this comfortable in Naru's parent's home was something that she'd never expected to happen, least of all in her first year of university.

Life really was strange like that.

"Mai?"

Startled from her thoughts, she placed a hand over her heart as she turned to face the new person in the room.

Realising that it was a mildly amused Naru she couldn't help but huff. "You jerk," she hissed. "What the hell are you doing sneaking around at this time of the morning?"

Raising an eyebrow at her pointedly, Naru rolled his eyes at her. "I could ask the same of you."

Flushing at the comment, Mai pouted. "I was just making some tea to help me to sleep."

Frowning, Naru eyed her carefully. There was something about the look in his eyes that made Mai shiver with unease – like he wanted to make a comment but wasn't going to.

That wasn't like Naru though. He'd never been concerned about someone else's feelings enough to not say whatever was on his mind.

Now that she thought about it though, she couldn't help but realise that he'd been like that for a few days now – possibly over a week if she thought hard enough about that.

Weird.

"Have you been having trouble sleeping a lot lately?"

Tilting her head at the odd question, Mai shook her head after thinking for a moment. "Not at all. Tonight is a rarity. It's probably just because of all the excitement this morning. Usually my abilities slowly wind down after a while but today they seemed to be brighter for longer than usual. It seems to have had a weird effect on my body," she mused. "It's nothing to worry about though. This used to happen when I was training. It's just been a while."

Naru stared at her for a moment before nodding.

Without waiting for him to request it, Mai turned around and began to fix him a cup of tea; relaxing into the motions while the comfortable silence fell between them.

He didn't say a word as Mai finally handed him a cup a few minutes later, but he did nod in lieu of a thank you which was an improvement.

Maybe he was tired as well. Mai snickered at the thought.

"I'll be on case again on Monday, but it shouldn't be a very long one. Only a few days at most," Naru said finally.

Tilting her head, Mai smiled. "Make sure you're careful," she insisted before lighting up. "Do you still have that charm I gave you?"

Raising an eyebrow, Naru nodded. What a ridiculous question.

"I'll recharge it for you so that it'll work properly on your next case as well. Of course, it would be best if for once this case went without any attacks, but I'd rather be safe than sorry," Mai rambled.

"Are you sure that you should be recharging it given your current predicament?"

Mai grinned. "On the contrary, it's probably the perfect time for it. Since my wakefulness is probably due to excess energy, maybe recharging your charm will drain me enough to be able to sleep."

Naru seemed doubtful but couldn't seem to find flaws in that logic as he sipped on his tea.

Finishing her own cup with a sense of victory, she wasn't surprised to find that Naru finished his own not a moment later.

He was such an addict.

"If you pass out, I'm going to leave you there," Naru warned as they made their way back upstairs to their rooms, Naru holding out the charm for her to grab.

Rolling her eyes, Mai huffed. "I'll be fine. It's only a charm recharge. It really shouldn't be a problem."

She opted to ignore the scoff that came from Naru at that comment, focusing instead on making it to the top on the stairs without tripping for once. Whenever she was around Naru she always seemed to become even clumsier than usual.

Luckily, the gods seemed to be smiling down on her (or perhaps simply taking pity) because she made it to the top without incident. Grinning in victory, she ignored Naru's comment about how stupid it was to feel proud over making it up some stairs.

"I'll recharge it in here so that I can go straight to bed if I do happen to get tired," Mai informed Naru when they made it to Gene's room. Swinging the door open, she settled herself on top of the covers with her legs crossed and the charm held delicately between her fingers.

Naru didn't bother to respond, stopping in the doorway to observe as Mai closed her eyes and allowed her breathing to even out.

It was definitely odd to see the usually energetic girl fall into a meditative state, especially with what appeared to be a sense of ease.

It had no doubt taken a lot of time for her to get to this point. He couldn't help but smirk at that thought, lips tugging up at the corners.

Slowly, a glow seemed to seep from Mai, radiating around her.

Frowning, Naru narrowed his eyes at her. For him to be able to see even this much of the energy in play right now, she was bound to be using a rather large amount.

Slightly on guard now, he watched at the golden energy seemed to flow into the charm she held in her hands like an endless wave.

After a minute of this passed, he couldn't help but start to become concerned. This was a lot more energy then he'd expected her to be expending on this task – by a landslide. He'd need to check with Lin about whether or not this was normal and find out more.

Just as he made that mental note, the glow seemed to fade away from Mai in an instant. At first, he was relieved that she'd finally finished.

That was until the petite woman fell backwards, her body weight causing the bed to bounce slightly before becoming still once more.

It took a moment for Oliver to understand just what had happened before he shook his head slightly, rubbing at his temples from the headache that he could already feel forming.

He should have known better than to trust that anything with Mai was ever going to go the way it was meant to.

Her closed eyes and even breathing told him that she'd passed out. Just as he'd predicted.

What an idiot.

Stepping closer to the bed, he didn't even register what he was doing until he was shifting Mai into a more comfortable position and pulling the covers free from underneath her small body so that he could cover her.

There was something... soft about doing this. Something private. Mai's sleeping face was so peaceful. There were no creases from anger or stress, only smooth cheeks. Absently he noted that she'd lost some of the baby fat that her cheeks had still been holding onto when he was living in Japan.

It made him ache somewhat for the time he'd missed before he shook those thoughts away.

Scoffing at himself, once he was certain Mai was tucked in, he gently took the charm from her hands. Something about it seemed to radiate warmth and for a moment he was overwhelmed at the left-over feeling of what he assumed was Mai's abilities.

There was something warm, gentle and calming about how they felt on his skin before the feeling faded.

Just another thing to ask Lin about when they were further into the morning he supposed.

With a final glance at Mai who was still sleeping soundly, mouth drawn into a pout as she muttered something quietly, Oliver turned around and headed out of the room, letting it click shut quietly behind himself. She was too cute.

As soon as that thought registered, however, he banished it entirely.

Clearly it was time he got some rest as well.

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

Sunday, May 4th

It was hardly a surprise to Oliver when it passed eight in the morning and Mai still hadn't appeared from her room.

"Are you sure she's okay?" Luella fretted, glancing over at the door again.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his mother's inability to calm down, Oliver repeated himself for the fourth time that morning. "As I have told you mother, Mai wore herself out recharging a spiritual charm earlier this morning. She needs to rest in order to replenish energy again. It's expected that she would sleep through."

Sighing, Luella finally let that drop, turning herself towards something she was more interested in. "And just what was she doing recharging a spiritual charm in the middle of the night?" she asked instead.

Could it be that her son was finally beginning to sneak around? Or perhaps they had been having a heart to heart?

Before her mind could fly away with too many possibilities, Oliver scoffed.

"She was having troubles sleeping and so was I. I went to make myself some tea and found her also in the kitchen. She made me a cup as well and we finished them. I mentioned that I was going on case again on Monday and she recalled that she still needed to recharge my charm with her energy and insisted it would be a good way to rid herself of the excess energy keeping her awake," he explained. "Evidently, she was correct."

Martin couldn't help but chuckle at that admission. "A little too correct, so it seems."

Humming in admission, Oliver didn't bother to respond further to that. This conversation was a waste of valuable time. Since it would seem Mai was going to sleep for a couple more hours yet – not a surprise in the least – he could at least occupy his morning by going over tomorrow's case details.

Excusing himself from the table, he quickly made his way upstairs to the library with that purpose in mind, only stopping briefly to retrieve his file from his room.

Soon enough he was settled in at his normal table, trying not to think about how his body seemed cold without the heat of another person sitting next to him. After even just a couple of weeks of studying with Mai at this table it already felt odd to sit here without her.

He quickly shook those thoughts from his mind. They weren't of any practical use to him and they only served as a distraction.

'Focus.'

As predicted, it wasn't until ten o'clock that the door to the study opened, a tired looking Mai stumbling in.

The signs of sleep were still obvious on her face, eyes slightly puffy and her hair a little bit messier than usual.

"Good morning Naru," she chirped. It lacked her usual enthusiasm and he rolled his eyes when it was immediately followed by a yawn.

"Idiot. If you're still tired then you should go back to sleep," he scoffed, turning back to his file so that he wasn't looking at her any longer.

Predictably, Mai mostly ignored his comment. The second he turned away he could hear her soft footfalls before the warmth he'd been awaiting in his mind joined his side.

He could feel her gaze on the file in front of him and he waited for her to say anything.

"Is this for the case tomorrow?" she asked finally.

"Obviously."

Mai sighed, already too used to this sort of reaction. "Of course. Stupid question."

"If you knew that then why'd you bother asking it?" Oliver couldn't help but rib, turning to glance up at her with an unimpressed stare.

Mai huffed, crossing her arms. "I was just double checking," she grumbled finally.

Sighing, Oliver let that drop. "Have you eaten breakfast?" he asked instead.

Frowning, Mai shook her head. A light flush formed on her cheeks and her gaze was now on the ground. "When I woke up and realised the time I panicked. I just got changed and rushed here," she admitted.

For someone who – during his time in Japan - had ranted about the importance of breakfast, that was definitely a hypocritical move.

When he mentioned as much aloud all he received in response was a glare. "I wasn't thinking clearly, okay?" she huffed.

"When are you ever?" Of course, he was referring to her debacle this morning that ended with her passed out from spiritual exhaustion.

Blushing red when she finally caught on, Mai huffed. He saw her leg twitch, like she was going to stamp her foot in irritation but managed to fight down the urge.

No matter, he was just as amused knowing that she'd felt the urge as he would have been had she given in.

"You're such a jerk!"

Raising an eyebrow, he didn't even bother to comment about how this wasn't news to anyone, positive that she could understand from his gaze alone.

Naturally, she did – further proven by her groan of irritation. "I'm going to get something to eat and the rest of my study materials," she hissed, slamming down the books that she held in her hands and turning around.

He didn't bother to respond as she stomped towards the door, footfalls considerably louder now.

"Maybe when I return, you'll have learnt some basic manners," she called back over her shoulder before the door slammed loudly behind her, the noise making his ears ring for a moment.

"Doubtful," he muttered, lips twitching.

She really did make it too easy.

Despite the somewhat unexpected way that their Sunday had begun, Oliver had to admit that it had otherwise been a decent day. Knowing that Mai would soon be starting work on her paper for her Introduction to Paranormal Cognition class, he'd spent a large part of the day drilling her on her knowledge and giving her more information on the subject when she faltered.

To his shock, she soaked up the new information like a sponge and he'd found himself begrudgingly admitting that when it was a subject that she was truly eager to learn about Mai was capable of putting in the right about of effort to learn what she needed to know.

Still, this was a much faster pace than things had gone previously, and Oliver couldn't help the small feeling of pride when he read over the brief essay that she'd written up as an overview of the subject.

It was messy, as he'd expected of the first draft of a quick essay, but it definitely had potential.

"Have you considered what you're going to write your essays on for each of your papers at the end of the year?" Oliver asked finally as he laid it down on the desk again.

Blinking a little at the question, Mai shrugged her shoulders a little. "I'm not too sure. We've been told that we still have a couple of weeks before we need to have made a decision though."

Oliver hummed in agreement. "That's true but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. It's better to get a head start on things then to leave them last minute, especially since you normally spend so much time over at the office instead of on traditional study time. It might be best if you switched to working on your essay there even."

Sighing a little, Mai nodded in understanding. "That's true. I would rather be ahead anyway since most of the end of year essays are going to be due at the same time," she agreed. "Do you have any idea of what I should do it on?"

Raising an eyebrow, Oliver shook his head slightly. "You'll have to decide that yourself. I can help you study but I can't give you ideas for your assessment pieces. Everything needs to come from your own mind. My only advice is that you should choose topics that you have a decent amount of knowledge on and that you feel you could comfortably debate about."

"Debate about?"

Smirking a little. "Of course. This is your own intellectual work; you need to be able to defend any points that you make just as you would in the field. Everyone who reads over your work is going to be looking to poke holes in your facts to see just how thorough you were in your analysis. The more air-tight you are in your knowledge and facts, the better your mark will be."

Noting that he had Mai's complete focus, Oliver couldn't help but feel a little intrigued when he realised that she was already considering her options. Good. He wasn't ashamed to admit – at least in the safety of his mind – that he was interested in what she would end up writing.

Her entrance essay had its flaws, but it was still far above anything that most of the students in Mai's level were going to write, not only in terms of how well she'd researched her facts but also in terms of ingenuity. She'd taken a subject reasonably well-known and debated over and she'd presented a completely new perspective to the reader.

A knock on the library door shook the both of them from their thoughts and they both turned to look over at the newest person.

"Sorry to interrupt you two but Luella was preparing to come barging in here to demand you join us for dinner and I thought it might be better if I were to come and grab you instead."

Grimacing at how loud his mother might have been if she'd come barging in, Oliver sent a silent thank you to his father for saving them from that fate.

The amused quirk of his father's lips told him that his thanks had been received.

"I didn't realise how late it had gotten," Mai muttered, staring at the time on her phone in shock.

Chuckling, Martin shook his head. "We figured as much when neither of you appeared. Did you get through a lot today?" he inquired as she began to pack up her things.

Nodding, Mai beamed. "Naru and I were just discussing my end of the year essays. He suggested that it might be a good idea to start thinking on my topic and arguments earlier rather than later," she informed him.

Martin hummed in agreement. "Of course. You have a lot going on at the end of the year so he's right to assume that you should get things started sooner rather than later. If you ask, maybe Oliver would even be willing to proof-read your essay for you."

Biting her lip, Oliver could have sighed at the reluctant look that passed over her features. He was glad that Mai was as easy to read as ever.

"I'm just going to drop these in the room. I'll be down in a minute," she informed before darting off without replying to the last thing his father had said.

"That was weird," his father noted, giving him a pointed look.

"I'll wait for Mai, let mother know we'll be down in a minute."

With a knowing look that Oliver didn't want to consider the meaning behind, he waited patiently for Mai to exit her room (and wasn't it terrible to think that at some point, it had become Mai's and no longer Gene's?).

It wasn't long before she was stepping out of the room, jumping a little when she realised that he was standing there waiting. It didn't take much more than a raised eyebrow and a pointed look for her to break.

"It's just- it feels like cheating," she admitted.

It was such a ridiculous notion that Oliver couldn't help but vaguely wonder just what it was like to live in Mai's mind and worry over these sorts of things all of the time when they ultimately didn't mean a thing.

"Don't you remember before term started up? Father was quite clear when he told you that you and Yasuhara-san should use us like any other resource. It isn't like having myself, Madoka or even Lin read over your essays is going to give you a leg up. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't take it. You aren't competing against your classmates. You're trying to do your best with the resources at hand. I can assure you that there are people in your class who have other academics willing to read over their work and help them get the best marks that they can. You just happen to have the best options available to you."

His last comment made Mai roll her eyes good naturedly, a small smile forming on her lips. "I suppose you're right."

"I always am."

Giggling at the expected response, Mai sighed. Yeah, he kind of was.