Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Manga 12 would be out in English. Why isn't it, again?

A/N: Um, surprise? Not even going to start with how I'm the worst, I'll save it for after.

Chapter 40 - Adjusting to a New Normal

-0O0-

Mai could feel the stares of her classmates as she slouched in behind Yasuhara. Their secret was out – everyone knew that they both personally knew Dr. Oliver Davis, hero of the parapsychological world. And they all knew that Mai was a psychic.

Naru's forbidding presence had kept anyone from harassing Mai about these topics last week, but he wasn't here now. Plus, it looked like Professor Davis wasn't in class yet – so it was open season on the transfer students.

"Buck up, Mai-chan, they can smell fear," Yasuhara whispered gaily.

Mai glared. How was he so freaking chipper? Mai wanted to crawl into a hole. Maybe it wasn't too late to fake food poisoning…

"Oi, Taniyama!" someone called. Mai cursed quietly and steeled herself to face the Inquisition.

A pleasant, sandy-haired guy waved for her attention. What was his name again?

"Is it true you're a psychic? And that Oliver Davis' new treatise was written about you?"

Didn't Madoka make that annoyingly clear last week? Mai sighed. "Well, yes, I am a psychic." Awed murmurs all around. "And, um, I guess I was part of the treatise, although it wasn't all about me. Na – Dr. Davis would never write a treatise based on the study of only one psychic. He's a much more thorough researcher than that."

Yasuhara was impressed with Mai's skillful downplaying of her central role in Naru's treatise. It was certainly mostly about her – but Mai had successfully made it sound like a more collaborative effort.

The transfer student considered the academic consequences of Naru's research methodology – to support his analysis of Mai's abilities, Naru had sought and utilized the perspectives of several other reputable psychics. He had also tested these psychics for the same capabilities that Mai-chan had. By measuring Mai against established psychics and including their viewpoints in a published text, Naru had effectively validated Mai as a powerful psychic. Mai's name had been deliberately left out of the report at her request, but the other psychics Naru had consulted met with her. Their classmates knew now, as well, so word would go around the world of parapsychology like wildfire. Odds were Mai would be a well-known psychic herself by the end of term.

Eventually, Yasuhara thought with a wily smile, the notoriety would be even more satisfying: Oliver and Mai Davis, famous paranormal ghost-fighting duo!

And eventually eventually… parents of psychic babies! One of the Big Boss's most admirable attributes, in Yasuhara's opinion, was Naru's resolve to achieve an established goal. I.e., once Naru actually realized that Mai very obviously returned his feelings, he would be all over her like white on rice. Or black on tea leaves, Yasuhara amended with a sly smile. Big Boss was wound way too tight, after all. When Naru actually got mad, it was rather explosive – one could only imagine that he would be the same way with passion. Yasuhara snickered as he considered what Mai was in for once Naru got his act together. Big Boss was a determined man when he wanted something. Mai-chan wouldn't know what hit her.

Good, Yasuhara nodded to himself, she deserves to be happy. A brood of psychic babies ran through his head again. They'd better name me godfather to at least one of them.

-0O0-

"I think Roger might challenge you to a duel soon, Yasu," Mai mused. Even after Martin had finally arrived to end Mai's torment, a couple of apparently envious students picked at every single thing either transfer student has volunteered during class. Chief among them was Roger Todd – on the whole, Mai wasn't sure whether Roger hated herself or Yasu more. Today it was definitely Yasu.

"I'm sure he was thinking about it, Mai-chan," Yasuhara replied brightly. "After my last rebuttal, I was waiting for him to punch me in the face and name a time!"

"It would be a slap in the face, not a punch," Naru informed them coolly, "And it's usually done via glove."

"Well, I'm glad he managed to restrain himself this time." Yasuhara rolled his eyes. "Truth be told, I don't think I'd be much good in a duel. There's a reason I focus on the research end of ghost hunting."

"Sometimes I miss those days," Madoka said wistfully. "Arguments in the classroom, every Monday turning into a series of 'whose is bigger' competitions…"

"Now that's a contest I could win," Yasuhara asserted.

Madoka giggled.

Mai groaned.

Naru rolled his eyes.

Lin continued typing.

"Physically speaking, of course," Yasuhara clarified – as if anyone had doubted his meaning.

"Confident, are we?" Madoka asked saucily.

"I've reason to be," Yasuhara replied sniffily. Then he winked at Madoka, cut his eyes at Naru, and winked again.

Madoka raised an eyebrow. Yasuhara was planning on messing with Noll? How exactly did he plan on drawing Oliver into a conversation about genitalia size? Very well, she'd bite. "Oh really?"

"My equipment is physically superior," Yasuhara affirmed. Then he threw a blinding smile at his best friend. "Right, Mai-chan?"

Oh. Madoka clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from snorting. Across the room, there was a distinct break in Lin's typing. A quick glance at Noll revealed that his whole body had frozen in place.

Meanwhile, Mai stared carving knives into her meddling best friend. "Seriously, Yasu? Are you seriously referring to The Incident? I thought we agreed to never speak of it. Ever."

Upon hearing this confirmation that something involving Mai, Yasuhara, and Yasuhara's equipment had occurred, Naru's eyes went wide. He stared very hard at his book, fingers white from gripping the cover so tightly.

"No, we agreed never to speak of it in front of Bou-san or Ayako," Yasuhara corrected smugly. "Neither of whom are present!"

"Speak of what?" Madoka asked urgently, wanting to both hear the story and watch Noll's emotional aneurysm.

Mai groaned, burrowing into the couch that Luella had vacated on her way to bed. "Go ahead, Yasu. You've probably got everyone thinking something worse happened, anyway."

"Naturally," Yasu agreed, taking in Naru's incredibly tense posture. He took a deep breath and entered Story Telling Mode. "One night in freshman year at Todai, I got very drunk."

Madoka snickered. "As all the best tales begin."

"Quite," Yasu agreed. "Anyway, I found myself – as I often do – off somewhere quiet with a lovely lady I'd met at the club."

"And Mai was there?" Madoka asked confusedly.

"No, no – don't be so impatient, sensei." Yasuhara simpered at his giggling mentor. At the sound of Lin loudly clearing his throat, Yasu snapped back into his account. "Anyway, it turned out that 'very drunk' is not always the best state of mind for amorous activities."

"Wow, who would have thought?" Mai wondered sarcastically.

Well, it might go a long way toward making you and Big Boss loosen up a bit, Yasuhara thought to himself. Wait, that wasn't a bad idea. Perhaps he and Madoka should devise a situation in which Mai and Naru get wasted… odds are, they'd be on each other in minutes. But how to convince Big Boss... maybe we'll put some in his tea and say it's a new flavor? "Anyway, my lady friend might have been a little overzealous with a certain part of my anatomy."

Madoka grimaced. "Ouch?"

"Major ouch," Yasuhara granted. "So much ouch that I feared it had been… damaged."

"Equipment damage is a big mood-breaker," Madoka noted sagely. "Now I know why you were so unwilling to head into the clutches of our equipment-crushing ghost."

Mai groaned. Of course they'd have to bring that up again.

"Exactly," Yasuhara agreed. "So I stumbled out of the club and somehow managed to hail a cab. In my inebriated panic, I decided that Bou-san's place was a better destination than a hospital."

"Why?" Mai asked, despite herself. She'd always wondered why Yasu chose to plague them with his… misfortune.

"It's a bit hazy, but I'm pretty sure I thought the hospital would laugh at me, and I know my parents would have shot me. So that really left only one alternative."

"You have loads of friends," Mai pointed out. "Guy friends who probably would be better judges of… equipment damage."

"Yes, but guys do not just whip it out in front of other guys. We have… size issues."

"Thought you said you were confident," Mai mocked.

"No need to create unnecessary comparisons."

"Especially when your best male friend is three inches taller than you."

Yasuhara's glasses flashed. "Losing your girlish embarrassment over there, Mai-chan? Now, where was I… ah, yes. So I arrived at Bou-san's and spent a good bit of time figuring out the stairs. Eventually, I found the door and called Mai-chan's phone."

"And I answered, blissfully unaware of the horror about to befall me," Mai grumbled.

"Oh, come now, Mai-chan," her tormentor laughed.

Mai threw a couch pillow at him.

"Anyway, Mai-chan opened the door and let me in. I immediately explained the situation –"

Mai scoffed. "He started drunkenly hissing something about a girl and sake and kung fu. I thought he'd been in a fight, or something."

"Kung fu?" Madoka repeated.

Yasuhara grinned impishly. "I actually said, 'kung fu grip.'"

Madoka snorted.

Mai gagged.

Naru sighed in disgust.

Lin gave in and abandoned his laptop.

Time to end this nonsense already, Mai decided. "He looked fine," she related, "So I made him a snack and sat back down on the couch to wait out the drunk. At which point…" Mai hesitated, but fought on. "Yasu planted himself in front of the television…" Nope, she just couldn't do it.

TTMPI's head researcher had no such problems. "At which point I planted myself in Mai-chan's eyeline, pulled down my jeans, and asked her if everything looked alright."

"More like screamed, 'IS IT BROKEN?'" Mai corrected, face flaming.

Madoka fell over laughing and Lin actually cracked a smile.

Naru closed his eyes in grudging relief. Now that he knew the whole story, he could relax and focus on etching this entire idiotic conversation out of his head.

Mai sympathized with the disturbed look on his face. "Maybe you'll be more successful at blocking it out, Naru. I haven't managed it yet."

"Hey! I think I'm offended!" Yasuhara huffed.

"Yasu, that moment ranks right up next to Urado's face on my terror scale," Mai informed him. "Of course, that could be due to the similarities of the incidents. Unexpected horrible visual three inches from my face…"

Naru's lips twitched unwillingly.

"Now I know I'm offended," Yasuhara drawled.

"And you don't think whipping your equipment out in your best friend's face is offensive?" Mai asked incredulously.

"I just wanted to know if it was broken!"

"Like I would have known, anyway!"

Suddenly, Naru reckoned the colors in the room looked brighter.

Yasuhara wondered if Big Boss realized that his reactions were outwardly discernible to others. "Yeah, well, I think a broken dick would be rather obvious, even to the uninitiated."

Mai glared. "Then why didn't you just look at it yourself?!"

Yasu froze, mouth open. "Um… I don't know?"

His best friend smiled smugly. "I win."

Yasuhara's smile back was even smugger. "Oh, I don't know, Mai-chan. You may have won today… but you'll have the image of my equipment in your memory forever."

Mai retreated back into the couch cushions. "I hate you."

-0O0-

Three days before Christmas, the whole group trucked out to Heathrow to pick up Ayako and John. The entire party was palpably excited – Mai was practically vibrating with delight; Yasuhara and Madoka were even cheerier than normal; Martin was quietly thrilled to meet John; Luella was happy to have Ayako back; Naru was admittedly pleased to be meeting John again; Lin was… present.

Mai and Madoka waved enthusiastically when they saw the twosome walk through the gate. Ayako looked at thrilled as she ever did after a plane ride – Yasuhara was quick to relieve the tired and twitchy doctor's bags as she trudged over. John seemingly retained his default level of perkiness.

Naru actually took a step forward to greet the young priest – and then Mai flew past and launched herself into John's arms. Naru expected that John would blush and stammer until Mai realized her mistake… except that instead, Father Brown wrapped his arms around Mai and hugged her right back.

Madoka cackled alongside Naru as his eyes widened. Resisting the childish urge to stamp on her foot, Oliver Davis ground his teeth and waited for the unexpected and entirely too-long embrace to end.

Mai backed away first. "John-kun, I'm so happy you're here!"

"It's great to see you, Mai-chan," John enthused. "I feel like you're taller than when I last saw you!"

"She wishes!" Yasuhara hooted.

"She should wear the heels I buy her, then," Ayako scoffed.

Mai drew breath to retort, but Naru beat her to the punch. "I shudder to think of how often Mai would fall were she to wear heels on a regular basis," he intoned. He waited expectantly for her to start yelling at him – but instead, Mai laughed.

"Ha, I was going to say the same thing, Naru!" she beamed. Then Mai flipped back to face John and Ayako, and Naru stood stock-still, feeling discombobulated.

Madoka grinned at Noll's behavior. He had goaded Mai on purpose to pull her attention back to him… and had failed epically. Mai was already hugging John again. And Noll was so thrown by her agreeing with him that he couldn't even pick another fight.

But Mai's brief interaction with Naru had drawn the priest's attention. "Naru-san!" John Brown called happily. "Good to see you, mate! You've definitely gotten a bit taller. Not as tall as Lin-san, though."

"Nobody's as tall as Lin-san," Mai groused. She backed away from John to give him a clear route to Naru.

Madoka giggled maniacally. As Mai stepped away from Father Brown, Noll relaxed infinitesimally. Luella's lips twitched as she watched her son's clenched fists slacken and his posture shift from ramrod straight to simply rod straight.

Mai, of course, noticed none of this – and then started when someone's bag struck her in the shoulder. "Ow!" she hissed, rubbing the sore joint. The young man who'd backed into her apologized hurriedly as he juggled a child, a suitcase, and the offending duffel bag.

John turned back to assist Mai upon hearing her yelp – but a black-clad arm reached past him and yanked Mai away from danger. John whipped around again just in time to see an annoyed Naru pull Mai back into the safety of their group… and plant her right next to himself. John smiled as he extended his hand to his former boss, feeling a bit like he was greeting a young businessman and his new wife.

Obviously there had been some progress, then. Upon returning to Japan, Ayako had informed Masako and John that while Mai and Naru were back to normal with each other and had a couple of cute moments, neither one understood the other's romantic feelings. Perhaps Naru had gained some enlightenment since then? He was certainly more forward with Mai than he'd been in the past. It was probably best to ask Yasuhara, John decided – Yasu was the preeminent social detective of the group.

Meanwhile, Oliver Davis nodded to himself in satisfaction. Now that Mai was safely at his side – safely out of the way of wayward suitcases, he obviously meant – Naru could greet John, one of the sanest and most useful men of his acquaintance, with equanimity.

"Father Brown, it is a pleasure to meet you again," Naru said, the genuine feeling evident in the expression causing John's smile to brighten. "We are glad to have you in London for the holiday."

Luella teared up a bit upon hearing her socially disengaged son greet a friend like a friend.

Martin turned astonished eyes on his wife. "Did Noll just exhibit good manners just now? Is he actually happy to see someone?" The head of SPR shook his head. "Did I miss something?"

Mrs. Davis rolled her eyes. "I honestly don't know whether you or Noll is worse. Yes, Martin, you've missed rather a lot lately."

-0O0-

Madoka laughed as Ayako threw a veritable mountain of clothes onto her guest bed. "Aren't you only here for a week? That is at least a month's worth of outfits."

"Some of them are for Mai," Ayako explained as she separated the clothing heap into two smaller ones. "She doesn't like spending money, so I buy most of her wardrobe. Can't have her wearing the same things all year."

"Mai-chan ruins a lot of clothes on cases, too," Madoka mused thoughtfully.

"Ai, I know." Ayako groused. "She tore through one of her nicest shirts on that last case. Something about the floor exploding around her?"

Madoka winced. "Yeah, that happened."

"I don't know why Mai insists on wearing her best outfits on ghost hunts!" Ayako hissed. "She's always fainting, or falling, or tripping, or drowning – perhaps I should have bought her some of those jumpsuits that cleaning crews wear."

"While that would definitely be practical," Madoka allowed, "I can't really see Noll confessing his feelings for Mai-chan as she stands there struggling with a shapeless jumpsuit."

"Ugh, maybe that's why she wears pretty things on cases – to impress that oblivious ghost hunting narcissist." Ayako rolled her eyes heavenward.

"Well, I don't think he's quite so oblivious this time around," Madoka replied slyly. "Haven't you noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

"I suppose you don't know Noll as well as I do, so it can't be helped. But Noll – although still fighting it with all his might – has recently realized that he is in fact very attached to Mai-chan." Madoka gave Ayako a meaningful look.

Ayako searched Madoka's eyes for any sign of joking… and then a slow grin spread over her face. "Really?" she asked, her usual syrupy voice edged in delight. "That's excellent news. Mai is completely stuck on him, so I'm glad to know there's hope."

"Oh, there's hope," Madoka affirmed gleefully. "I haven't spent two years trying to knock Noll over the head with his feelings for nothing. He may be stubborn, but between Yasuhara and myself… and I'm pretty sure Luella's on board… they'll probably be Oliver and Mai Davis before I'm Madoka Lin."

"Wait, you're marrying Lin?" Ayako almost shouted.

"Shut it, and not yet." Madoka glared at her silent boyfriend's profile. Lin was across the hall, quietly aiding John and Noll with unpacking equipment and case notes from Japan. "He's so damn shy about everything. We'd known each other for ten years before he even asked me out."

"Well, Mai told me about the hating Japanese people thing," Ayako said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, he's not as serious about that as he makes out," Madoka replied, waving a hand dismissively. "He may rail about his heritage and the crimes of Japan every now and again… but he was also Noll's and Gene's qigong mentor for a few years, then Noll's assistant for almost as long… and he's more attached to Mai-chan than he lets on."

Ayako grinned across the hall at the stoic Chinese man – who apparently felt the two sets of eyes and glanced over.

Upon seeing the fox-like grin on Ayako's face and the scheming one on Madoka's, Lin looked away immediately and contemplated escape from whatever Very Bad Thing they were planning for him.

"Coward," Madoka laughed.

Ayako had a harder time suppressing her mirth. "So, Oliver and Mai Davis, hn? You think it's possible?"

"Didn't you see how terrified Koujo looked? If I can do that to him with a smile, Noll is toast. Lin is much less easy to rattle."

"Indeed," Ayako agreed, "I've always thought him to be practically imperturbable. I was totally shocked when Mai told me that he blew up at her on the fake vampire case."

"He is itchy about the Japanese issue sometimes," Madoka sighed. "But Koujo was mostly worried about the whole fake Oliver Davis thing on that case. He didn't know if we could pull off unmasking the fake without revealing Noll's identity. Noll wasn't worried, of course – but then again, he almost never is…" Madoka rolled her eyes. "And so Lin worried for both of them."

Ayako privately thought that Madoka rolling her eyes at Naru's confidence was a bit rich. Madoka acted like 'fear' and 'danger' were a pair of complete strangers often discussed by other people, but whom she'd never met.

"Anyway," Ayako said aloud, "You still might have your work cut out for you on both ends. Mai has been staunchly opposed to having a boyfriend since her breakup with that unfaithful medium."

"Wait, medium?" Madoka asked. "Mai-chan said he was in the business?"

"Yes," Ayako allowed. "Although hopefully Mai's 'no boyfriends ever again' decision will crumble like dust should Naru show interest."

"Hopefully," Madoka agreed. "Yanking Noll out of his shell has been a rough go. Was it that bad a breakup?"

Ayako considered. "It ended badly, but I honestly think it was important for Mai to have done. It snapped her out of the funk she was in after SPR closed, and it opened her up socially. She's obviously never had a whiff of a relationship since, and she's only more devoted to that narcissist… but at least she's been in a relationship and isn't completely clueless anymore."

"Which is good," Madoka said thoughtfully. "That way, when Noll gets his act together, Luella can get grandbabies sometime this century. One of them has to know what they're doing."

"Mai never slept with her ex-boyfriend," Ayako said, slightly shocked at the major leaps Madoka's mind was taking. "And don't say things like that around Bou-san. He's very protective of his jou-chan. Houshou might say something stupid to Naru and then all your games will be thwarted."

"Ugh," Madoka grumbled. "Another landmine to step around."

"Unfortunately," Ayako replied. Then her smile returned. "Grandbabies?"

Madoka nodded enthusiastically. "Luella had been despairing that she'd ever get them. Unless Noll somehow reproduced with his textbooks."

Both women stifled laughter.

"Ayako! Madoka!" Luella's voice sang up the stairs. "It's dinnertime, so time to stop whispering secretly upstairs and join the table!"

"I think she's spending too much time with Yasuhara," Ayako ruminated, a note of alarm in her voice. "That's something he would say."

"Nah, she's just in a really good mood," Madoka replied as they walked downstairs. "No cases this week."

-0O0-

"Madoka!" Martin spied his favorite employee in the doorway. "I'd like to discuss that strange case file with our guests."

Luella tutted loudly, unhappy with Martin's topic of choice. She did not want her evening dominated by yet another long night of paranormal discussion. "We were having such a pleasant evening," Luella moaned. "That case isn't even starting for a month, and it's almost Christmas!"

"Mother, we still have to work this week, even if there aren't any cases," Naru said severely. "It's not a vacation."

"Naru, you know what 'vacation' means now?" Mai asked saucily. She was enjoying Happy Luella and came down on her side without missing a beat. Besides, the best way to derail Naru was to annoy him into frustrated silence.

"Mai, a vacation from school is still only that. It does not constitute a vacation from work and responsibility, as well."

"Holiday weeks are a vacation from everything, Naru! School, work, whatever! Just because you don't consider national holidays like Golden Week to be worthy of your observation doesn't mean you can force others to work!"

"And yet I have. Therefore, your argument is unsound. You won't have to concern yourself about Golden Week here, so the point is moot."

"Yeah, well… here they celebrate Christmas for a week!" Mai shot back. "And I'm sure there are lots of holidays that SPR is closed for, right, Professor?"

"Er, yes, Taniyama, we're closed for Easter week, and Bank Holidays, and…"

"See, Naru?" Mai sneered. "Your father isn't a mean slave driver like you."

"No, he's a nice slave driver," Naru argued. "The case at John's church wasn't the first time I worked Christmas."

Luella made an angry noise. "Only because there was a snowstorm and you were trapped up there in the moors."

Naru opened his mouth to retort, ignoring his father's frantic head shaking. "That's just what we said so that we could finish the case."

"What?" Luella hissed dangerously. She whipped around to face her husband, who was too late in schooling his face to look less panicked. "Martin!"

"Noll, you little..." Martin started – before diving out of the way of a throw pillow. He decided to retreat quickly into the kitchen, Luella hot on his trail.

"I can't believe you outed your Dad like that, Naru," Mai said, stunned.

"I play to win, Mai," he replied.

"Hopefully," Ayako and Madoka whispered feelingly.

-0O0-

Two days later, the entire group was again assembled at the Davis estate. Luella had bullied a recalcitrant Martin into closing SPR for two extra days preceding Christmas, and Mai had spent a glorious forty-eight hours sightseeing with Ayako, Yasu and John. Madoka and Luella had accompanied them most of the time, and even the Serious Parapsychologist SPR Team had been tempted into the private Winchester Cathedral tour led by some of John's friends.

Following her first official Christmas Eve dinner, Mai sought the quiet of the library. Having everyone around for the holiday was amazing, and a dream come true for an orphan who spent years without a family for holidays. However, everyone was also louder and crazier than usual – and after hours of togetherness, Mai needed a break. Perhaps Naru was rubbing off on her.

Speaking of Naru, the friend-coworker-secretly-bonded in question stood silently by the doors leading out to the balcony. Mai smiled – likely Naru wanted to escape outside, but it was too cold to be out there tonight. She turned to leave, as he likely sought the same solitary respite she did.

"It looks like it might snow tonight," Naru's voice stopped Mai in her tracks. She took his unexpected words as an invitation, and sidled over to join him by the doors.

"My mother would be happy," Naru continued quietly, eyes fixed on some point in the distance. "She's unsurprisingly enthusiastic about white Christmases."

Mai hmmed softly, lifting her steaming cup to her lips and breathing in the soothing smell of green tea. "I like snow."

"Equally unsurprising," Naru noted. He sipped at his own Earl Grey.

Mai turned her face to the night and studied the moonlit lake. "You've asked about my starting TTMPI," she said, eyes still on the water. "It was right around Christmas, actually." She felt Naru turn to look at her. He didn't respond, but she knew he was listening.

"It was that second Christmas after you left – I was making my key necklace with the kids at the orphanage." Mai pulled said necklace out of her shirt, isolating a very familiar key. "And I was sitting there that day, staring at the key to SPR. And I realized I really wanted to work for a ghost hunting office again."

Naru very nearly smiled.

"But I didn't want to work for just anyone," Mai continued. "I went on interviews, but I didn't find anybody I wanted to work for. Some of them were fakes, some were clueless. One group didn't even know why you'd need a thermal imaging camera," she groused, rolling her eyes.

Naru smirked as he remembered explaining thermal imaging to a wide-eyed Mai.

"This one guy I interviewed with was kind of creepy – he kept hitting on me. I was afraid that if I brought tea into his office, he'd ask me to sit on his lap or something."

This recollection birthed conflicting streams of thought – firstly, Naru wanted to find the unprofessional idiot who had so discomfited Mai and fry him. But then Naru's brain flashed an image of Mai in his own office, with her warmth in his lap and her face close enough to –thoughtsscreechingtohalt.

Naru shook his head to clear it, extremely annoyed with himself. No matter how closely he guarded against these useless thoughts about Mai, they seemed to crop up the instant he was sufficiently distracted.

Usually by Mai.

"So I started to weave the SPR key into my necklace," Mai's voice cut through Naru's self-flagellation. "And then I thought about how nice it would be to use the key to open SPR again. I could work with all the irregulars again, stock all my favorite tea… but who would run it?"

Naru's fingers turned white as he gripped his cup harder. If he hadn't just up and left Japan, would it have taken Mai so long to pursue parapsychology? Would she have applied to Cambridge immediately upon graduating high school?

Would the two of them still have wound up standing here now, together?

-0O0-

Luella and Martin stood together at their bedroom window, watching Noll and Mai in the library. Luella's psychological training noted Noll's relaxed attitude and his position directly next to Mai. Oliver normally avoided physical contact with anyone, and even used to regularly duck his own twin's attempts at a hug. Yet there he was, voluntarily close enough to Mai to bump shoulders.

Mai was talking now – and Luella smiled as Noll turned his head to listen. Mrs. Davis wondered if Mai knew that Noll's reactions to her were singular. Mai was certainly focused enough on Oliver – albeit subconsciously – to know his movements well.

Martin shifted beside her, and Luella looked up. Her husband was scrutinizing the scene before them with the attention of a scientist observing a test subject.

"I suppose that this is what you've been on about?" Martin asked quietly. "Here I was, focusing intently on Taniyama's varied paranormal abilities and I managed to miss the most amazing one – she's managed to capture Noll's undivided attention."

"I think she's captured more than just his attention," Luella chortled.

There was a pause as that sunk in. "Do either of them know?" Martin wondered.

"Noll has finally figured it out," his wife answered. "Gene was wiser than we knew, calling Oliver an 'idiot scientist' all the time."

"Hn," Martin smiled ruefully. "I suppose he gets that from me. Now I understand what's had everyone so animated."

"Yes, dear, you've been a bit slow on the uptake there. But I know how you get when something's caught your interest. And Mai's numerous abilities are definitely in need of further study."

Martin nodded, eyes shining with professorial fervor. "Just think of what Taniyama could be able to do once she's trained up properly!"

"I'm more concerned with keeping her alive and well," Luella countered. "Noll deserves happiness… and I deserve grandbabies."

-0O0-

"Naru?" Mai asked from somewhere far away.

They probably would have wound up here anyway, Naru concluded, a truly stupefying level of relief coursing through him.

Perhaps even earlier, if Mai had gone straight to Cambridge. But perhaps later, if Naru's single-minded determination to find Gene had shifted to the identification of his murderer. Part of the reason Naru was forced back to Japan so quickly had been to prevent exactly that. Luella steadfastly refused to allow her remaining son to fall down the next rabbit hole of obsession.

Mai waved a hand in front of his face. "Are you alright?"

Naru sipped at his tea to avoid having to respond.

Mai snorted. "Right. So I ran the whole thing by Yasu, who bizarrely suggested that I run it."

The former head of SPR Japan raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly!" Mai agreed. "How could I possibly run it? It would have made much more sense for Bou-san or Ayako to do it, or even Masako-chan… but they were all too busy with other jobs." Mai paused, smiling a little. "And then I sat down and talked myself through what it would take to do it myself."

Naru nodded, allowing a small gesture of his internal support for Mai's initiative. She always leaped headfirst into whatever it was she decided to do… his eye twitched as fondness for Mai's characteristic impetuousness crept through him.

"It still felt scary, but it was a better option than working anywhere else I'd tried. I had no money, though, and I didn't know how I'd afford employees." Mai shrugged. "I mentioned the idea to Ayako at dinner later that week – she was all for it, of course."

Mai turned wry eyes to Naru. "I don't know what Ayako finds so incredibly unfulfilling about being a doctor, but she was ready and waiting for the go signal. So the next week, I quit waitressing, came home, threw my uniform on the kitchen table and yelled, 'Let's do it!' Ayako celebrated, Bou-san choked on his noodles."

Naru gave a small smile at the image, and Mai's heart leapt of its own accord. She allowed her hair to fall in her face as she drank her tea, hoping it would hide the blush. "So that's the story," she finished, smiling as she rested her cup in its saucer. "I guess it's kind of silly."

"You certainly put more thought into TTMPI than I did when starting SPR," Naru noted. "And it certainly seems to have worked out well."

Mai gazed up at Naru in shock. Did he just compliment her? On purpose? And tell her that she had done something better than he had?

Oliver looked right back, trying to puzzle through Mai's reactions. Her face eventually settled on her "distracted by Naru's face" expression. "I suppose my acknowledgement of your merit does deserve such unwavering awe," he intoned, amused.

He became considerably less amused upon remembering it was really Gene's face that Mai was attracted to.

Meanwhile, Mai blushed hard and glared harder. "Ugh, you narcissist! Why do you always have to say things like that?!"

Because I'm the socially inept twin, Mai. Outwardly, Naru rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, I'm going to bed before I give in to the urge to kick you."

The appearance of Mai's usual frustration with him thankfully re-centered Naru's focus. "So this is how you react to a legitimate compliment. Interesting."

Mai gritted her teeth. "No, this is how I react to your big fat head."

"No, you react to that by ogling it. You just demonstrated that."

"I was caught up in the moment! You actually created a moment, Naru! And then of course you ruined it."

"Well, considering I created it, wouldn't that simply even out the conversation? You should be feeling thoroughly neutral right now."

"I'm feeling like throttling you," Mai bit out.

"I don't think that the jury would accept 'ruining a moment' as a reasonable excuse for murder."

"I'll play tapes of you being yourself at the trial."

"So you keep tapes of me."

Mai finally cracked, storming from the library. Her incoherent cry of rage echoed through the house.

Alone with two empty tea cups, Naru closed his eyes and wondered whether he'd won or lost.

-0O0-

Martin choked. "Grandbabies?"

"Don't be so stodgy, darling. I imagine that their children would have lots of paranormal potential for you to research endlessly. I'm sure Christmas dinners in the future will be full of adorable tots eating turkey and pudding with electrodes attached to their foreheads."

"That was only one year! The head of the department was there and Noll and Gene had been pulling PK tricks all week…"

"Of course, dear. Well…" Luella was cut off the sound of yelling erupting from below them. Mai was yelling something about kicking Oliver. "They've a long way to go yet," Luella sighed.

Mai's footsteps thumped down the hall and a door slammed.

"This is going to make research trials a mess," Martin moaned.

"Just think about paranormal grandbabies, dear."

-0O0-

Downstairs in the kitchen, Yasuhara and Madoka sighed as the sounds of Mai yelling drifted down from above.

"Can't they get along for an entire conversation?" Madoka moaned.

"All things considered, the peace lasted longer than usual." Yasuhara was relentlessly optimistic. "Big Boss has obviously realized his feelings."

"Merry Christmas to all of us," Ayako shared a scheming smile with Yasuhara and Madoka.

Lin rolled his eyes as the sound of stomping reverberated through the kitchen. "There is such a thing as being too positive," he drawled. "They won't be speaking come tomorrow morning."

"Well, luckily we're here for three years," Yasuhara replied jovially. "Even you and Bou-san weren't that stubborn, Ayako-san."

-0O0-

Naru and Mai refused to even acknowledge one another at breakfast.

Mai ate her eggs and apple slices with frustrated gusto, sipped angrily at her second cup of Lady Grey, and determinedly acted like Naru wasn't there at all.

Naru read the morning paper, ate sparingly, and behaved completely normally.

Which only irritated Mai more. As her obvious displeasure produced no visible effect, Mai selected an alternate form of attack. She grabbed her class notes and started to flip through them. Noisily. She sighed aloud, muttered entire paragraphs to herself, and made sure to ask Martin for the definitions of five words (three of which she already knew).

It was on her third bout of rummaging through her notebook that Naru finally snapped.

"Would it be possible for you to read without disrupting everyone at the table?"

Mai grinned behind her paperwork. "No one else seems to be bothered, Naru. You're just being unreasonable."

"Unlikely, as I thrive on reason. Interesting choice of words, though, for someone as thoroughly illogical as yourself."

Mai growled. "You –"

"Are correct. I am already aware."

"– are a jerk!"

"Sitting at the table and reading quietly does not make me a jerk."

"Picking on me does!"

"You most definitely started this interaction."

"No, you did. I was happily ignoring you before you started in about reading too loudly!"

"No, you started it by making a great loud show on purpose to annoy me."

"I did not," Mai lied. "You say I always read too loudly. You're just overreacting."

"I barely react, therefore I can hardly overreact." Naru casually turned his page.

"Then what do you call this right now?!" Mai cried.

"Persevering through adversity." Naru folded the paper under his arm and grabbed his briefcase. His mobile beeped. "Lin's here, Mai. You may want to leave off your fit of unreasonableness for later."

Mai opened her mouth to retort, but there was a beep from outside. She stomped upstairs to retrieve her school robe. "Narcissists should be rounded up and shipped into space!"

Yasuhara grinned as he inhaled his last few bites of oatmeal, imagining Big Boss on a spacewalk. No, that wasn't right – by the time they reached outer space, Dr. Oliver Davis would have assumed control of the spaceship. His minions would be spacewalking while Naru barked orders from inside… while consuming zero-gravity tea tablets specially prepared by Mai.

Lin honked again. Martin rose from the table and felt a few vertebrae pop. "Come along now, Yasuhara. Two crabby people are all I can handle this morning, we don't need to add Lin to the list."

Mai careened down the stairs, robe flying around her.

Yasuhara sensed the approaching danger and held out an arm. As expected, Mai tripped and pitched toward the floor. Yasuhara caught her easily around the waist and set her upright in one fluid movement. "Mind the step, Mai-chan."

"That was really smooth, Yasu." Mai beamed. "Ten out of ten for execution."

Yasuhara laughed, one hand still on Mai's arm. Suddenly, the arm disappeared from beneath his fingers as Naru forced his way between them on his way to the door. The researcher sniggered and followed them out.

Martin sighed gustily and attempted to draw comfort from his new mantra.

"Paranormal grandchildren, paranormal grandchildren, paranormal grandchildren."

-0O0-

A/N: Sooooooooo yeah. I'm so sorry. I got a new job that took over my life, and I attempted to be a real adult and live at my post. It sucked, so I bought a house, had an adorable baby, and finally threw off my chains and quit. My new job is thankfully much less consuming (as here I am updating my story at work).

On the bright side, I overcame my years of writer's block through a combination of determination, therapy and needing to do something with my brain that isn't singing along to the Wiggles. I wrote the whole rest of the story, except for some connecting bits I'll be adding. I will finish this story this year unless I'm dead, so I'm here and I hope the chapter reads okay and I can't wait to hit the post button and I'll shut up now.