After Mai's small mishap, the two had settled into base without another word to each other. She cast a quick glance at Naru whenever his back was turned to her, which was most of the time. Her mind replayed the moments after she had tripped, and her cheeks burned slightly. She puffed out her reddened cheeks and shook her head to clear any more scandalous thoughts about her new boss, who she in no way thought was attractive enough to fawn over… Definitely not!

The next thing Mai knew, the pair had gone to the first floor entrance to watch Ayako perform an exorcism. Alongside her was the principal with two other staff members, as well as Takigawa, John, and Masako. While Ayako busied herself by setting up the small shrine, Mai and Naru stood by the left wall next to the others, so as to not be in the way.

Takigawa leaned against the wall and turned his head towards Naru, "I wonder if Ayako will be able to exorcise the spirit. Might as well check out the competition. What do you say?"

Naru held his chin, "I've never seen a shinto style exorcism before, so it's worth staying to watch at least."

On the other hand, Mai watched with curious eyes at the scene before her. She had just listened to Ayako proudly proclaim that she would exorcise the spirit, and the principal looked absolutely captivated by her. It was a strange sight to see, as the fashionable red head was now dressed in traditional white and red priestess robes while carrying an ōnusa. She still had on her makeup, which Mai thought for sure wasn't part of the traditional pure and innocent priestess look. Yet as Ayako turned to begin her exorcism by chanting, the atmosphere turned serious and the school staff members stood behind her in a bowing position to further show respect for the ritual. Although Mai wasn't completely sure she understood what Ayako was saying (and there was no way she was going to ask Naru given how quiet everyone had become), she was grateful for her japanese studies that she could at least remember it was called norito. All too soon, the exorcism was over. Mai looked over her shoulder to look as the staff kept aggressively bowing to Ayako and showering her with praises and other compliments that were sure to inflate her ego. Ahead of Mai it seemed as though the others were heading back to base, with Takigawa obnoxiously yawning in the back.

A loud creak caused everyone to look around the room before finally finding the source of the noise. Just as everyone looked ready to run out of the room the windows shattered, the tinkling small pieces of glass raining over the group mingled in with the sounds of screams.

"The principal!"

Mai was trying to process what had just occurred when she realized that she was being gently held on the ground. Upon slowly opening her eyes it came as a big shock to realize that her boss had taken the time to pull her to the ground and act as a sort of makeshift shield against the glass shards. She was too distracted by his actions to really notice the aftermath of the incident. Naru gave her a quick look over to check that she was unharmed before rushing forward to check on the injured party. Slowly standing up to shake off any remaining glass shards she felt the piercing glare from a certain doll like medium.

"How did you mess up the exorcism that badly?"

"I didn't mess it up! I guess the spirit wasn't too keen on leaving that easily you stupid monk!"

"Who are ya calling stupid? At least I'm not the one who got the principal injured, you old hag!"

John was trying his best (and failing) to keep the peace between the two adults. Mai still kept her eyes on Naru, unsure of what he could possibly be thinking. Next to him stood Masako, a little too close in her opinion. Standing in the midst of strangers who all seemed to have a sense of familiarity due to their paranormal backgrounds, she felt oddly out of place. Here she was among several people who possessed unique abilities and knowledge outside of her own limited scope, and yet she couldn't bring herself to share her own abilities, even if they were unpredictable. Her fingers itched for the pink cellphone in her pocket, suddenly filled with desperation and loneliness to talk to her sensei about her troubles. However she clasped her hand with the other and held it behind her, choosing instead to tune back to the conversation.

"I guess this means it's my turn to exorcise this place, watch and learn kids," Takigawa flashed a large smile and a thumbs up motion at Mai and John, who both nervously laughed as Ayako absolutely seethed behind him.

Masko made a hmph noise and proclaimed, "There are no spirits here, you're just wasting your breath trying to exorcise something that doesn't even exist."

"Let's give everyone's idea a shot, better safe than sorry as they say."

"Hara-san, why don't you take another walk through the building just to be sure, John can go with you." Naru said, his back turned to the group as he sat in front of the monitors.

A light blush appeared on the medium's face, and she nodded her head slightly, her large sleeved hand covering her mouth doing a poor attempt to hide her flustered smile. She walked out with John, but not before throwing one last look over her shoulder in the hopes of catching Naru's eyes. He didn't turn around.

Ayako flipped her hair and stared at her well manicured nails, "I'll go watch the idiot monk perform his exorcism, we'll see who's laughing when it fails." This started another small argument as the pair exited the room, their bickering echoing in the abandoned halls.

This left Mai standing awkwardly next to Naru, who seemed to be ignoring her. She puffed out her cheeks and twiddled her thumbs.

"So…?" No answer. "What did you think of Ayako's performance?" No answer again. "Are you going to try your hand at an exorcism?" Puffing out her cheeks at the slight humiliation of being ignored by her admittedly good looking boss, she took a seat in front of the monitors and resigned herself to watching the exorcism in silence.

There on the left monitor she spotted John and Masko, and towards the center monitor was Takigawa in purple robes with a curious Ayako in the background. She couldn't really understand what Takigawa was doing, nor could she muster up the courage to ask Naru. In all honesty, Mai could only think about the group of young psychics who she would have to research tonight. Nothing made sense. Or maybe it did in this line of work. Or maybe not? Her sensei alway told her to be wary of who she trusted, and at the time Mai had assumed it was general advice. Like "pick and choose your friends wisely", or "look before you leap". Yet given her recent dream after the sudden arrival of numerous psychics made her think otherwise. She hadn't had a dream that vivid or ominous when it concerned her parents, and in actuality, it had been a long time since she had even dreamed of them. Her eyes flickered over to the enigmatic Naru, her eyes taking in his stiff form and his hand cupping his chin. Her eyes met his, and she felt the heat rush to her face as she hastily looked back to the monitors. Stupid boys, stratch that, stupid bosses. But one more glance couldn't hurt… and again her eyes met his. Mai wanted to scream in frustration. Couldn't he just let her look without staring right back at her?!

It looks like she wasn't the only one caught in a staring match. Back on the monitors Mai could see Masako staring down at none other than Kuroda. She shot up from her seat and managed to spit out the words "Get Masako!" to the startled Naru, before racing off to the room Takigawa and Ayako were in. It didn't make sense, none of it did, but that cold sense of urgency and fear had shot down her spine and she knew what was coming next.
"Bou-san! Ayako!"

Too late.