Chapter 33

7:55 PM

The sun had set and the chill snuck in, which meant that it was time for her to head home before Naru went looking for her. She just needed some time to cool off before she was stuck in the same apartment as her pigheaded boss.

'God, he's so confusing. Sometimes he can be so kind, but more often than not he's ruthless.' Mai thought as she stood up from her place on the park bench and made her way to the train station.

She'd spent the rest of the day walking through the city clearing her thoughts. When it came down to it, she wasn't mad at Naru as her boss.

She was upset that he was unable to understand her situation as a friend.

Perhaps he didn't know what it was like to have a spirit tugging at your subconscious for days. Mai didn't regret what she'd done because it wasn't only for the good of the spirit, but for the sake of her sanity.

'It seems I'll have all the space from Naru that I'll need since I won't be working after school until further notice. What does that mean for the apartment we share? Will he kick me out until I start working again? Man, this is more of a mess than I anticipated.' The train called Mai's stop and she exited out of the station, and into the chilly spring air.

Mai entered the lobby and greeted the receptionist, then headed to the elevator. There was a loud ding indicating that she'd made it to the correct floor, and exited towards the apartment. Mai opened the door and the lights were already on. Indicating the Naru was already home, and it didn't take Mai long to observe him in the kitchen cooking some kind of meat and fried rice. Mai's eyes immediately softened once they reached his own.

'He made my favorite food. He doesn't even eat meat.' Mai realized and looked away hoping he wouldn't catch on to her change in attitude. She immediately rushed into her room to change and drop off her bag from the case. She changed into some more comfortable clothes and freshen up in the bathroom.

Once she had washed and dried her hands, she stared at her reflection long and hard in a silent reassurance that it would all be fine. Once she'd finally worked up the nerve she began to walk into the hallway and over to the kitchen stool. She made sure to drag it just enough so he knew that she was there waiting on whatever else she had to stay to him. He stood facing the stove for seven more maddening minutes before Mai decided that she would be the one to speak first.

"I understand that I will no longer be working, which also means that I won't be helping pay for the apartment. I'm sure I can find somewhere else to stay until my suspension is over. After dinner I'll start packing m-"Mai started to speak with as much practiced tranquility until Naru interrupted her.

"Mai stop being an idiot. I didn't say I was suspending you without pay, did I?" He replied as he turned off the stove and reached for a bowl. Mai was a bit taken aback by his statement and hadn't thought about the possibility he'd say that. He placed her dinner in front of her with chopsticks and noted her surprised expression that she quickly tried to conceal by looking down at her food.

"O-oh." She replied dumbly. She didn't want to discuss the issue anymore just in case he wanted to change his mind. He placed another plate down and he sat and ate with her, which surprised Mai even more.

"Tomorrow you will be meeting with Yasuhara, and he'll be helping you prepare for your entrance exams at your school library." He said next and Mai continued to be confused.

"Why? Did he volunteer to do that?" She inquired silently.

"I'm pretty sure by the scattered college brochures in your bag and on the coffee table that you haven't finished the application process. He will be there tomorrow to check your progress and keep you on track. Am I clear?" Naru more stated than asked.

"Well, that depends. Are you doing this to help me or are you sending Yasu to babysit me?" Mai questioned again secretly knowing the answer.

"I'll leave that one up to your imagination, but if you don't show up it will affect that length of your suspension." He answered clearly enough to dispel all mystery to reveal his usually blunt intentions. Mai nodded understanding and continued her meal in silence.

Mai once again found herself in another mind-numbing lecture that she already read up on prior to the class. It had been nearly two weeks since Keiko passed, and the furious gossip had died down a bit. Although every now and then when she walked the halls she would catch the tail end of a conversation about the baseball team's party, Michiru, Keiko, or if she was really unlucky herself.

Her classmates were at least polite enough to keep their distance from her and Michi.

Now the two would actually spend their lunch periods with Hojo and Sota, the two baseball players from the party, more often so they could all avoid their classmates together. After this class period, they were all going to Hojo and Sota's class to enjoy lunch together. It was different from the roof where they had become accustomed eating, but it was pouring rain today so they relocated.

The bell finally rang ending Mai's torture and she rose and stretched before gathering her books. Before Mai could even put her pencils in her bag, she felt the presence of a couple strangers around her desk. Mai was wearing her necklace and she didn't even need that to sense the uncomfortable environment these people were aiming to create. She grabbed her bag and looked up to meet the eyes of three of her classmates.

One of which turned her stomach.

"Hey Gigi, what's up?" Mai said flatly not even acknowledging the other girls she brought with her.

"You know, I've been noticing you hanging around my ex-boyfriend a lot you little tramp. That ends today." She spoke hotly. Mai scoffed at the audacity of this girl.

"I'm flattered you paid enough attention to my day-to-day life that you noticed this. I regret to inform you that I have not given you that same attention for a single day of my life." Mai replied silently congratulating herself on successfully pulling off a Naru retort.

"What the hell does that mean?" Gigi said crossing her arms and Mai could notice streaks in her spray tan.

"Okay, let me dumb it down for you. I mean, that I don't know enough about you to even know who you dated in the past or present."

Mai replied again rolling her eyes and causing the teen queen to scoff.

"I'm talking about Hojo, you dumbass. We only broke up four weeks ago so you'd better not be thinking about getting with him." Gigi replied her eyes squinting dangerously.

Mai could barely hold back the laugh that bubbled out of her mouth at the sheer pettiness of these girls.

"Oh! So you came here hoping that I'd put your insecurities about your ex to rest, and make you feel better about your chances of getting back together with him. Well Gigi, I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with me hanging out with Hojo, and has everything to do with you. Maybe if you'd come over here with a better attitude, I would have talked to him for you, but since that ship has already sailed I'm going to have to pass. Enjoy your lunch ladies." Mai said and began to walk away before one of the girls behind Gigi grappled her up by the neck of her uniform.

"Listen here you little orphan trash." One of the girls behind Gigi said angrily.

"Ouch, you really hit me where it hurts." Mai said sarcastically not intimidated in the slightest.

"Ha ha very funny. I bet that mouth of yours won't be so smart once I bust your lip." The groupie growled again tightening her grip on her collar.

"You know Gigi, something tells me Hojo wouldn't be too happy to hear about how violent you've become since the two of you have broken up. He does come from a family of devout Buddhists and pacifism is a very strong belief of his." Mai said calmly looking over at

Gigi who grew angrier by the second.

"Let her go Naomi." Gigi said and Mai was pushed to the ground.

"Remember what I said tramp. Just stick to that sugar daddy of yours." She said before the three of them left.

Mai sighed letting out a shaky breath before straightening her uniform.

'I thought the whole Naru being my sugar daddy rumor had passed. How do I get myself into these situations?' Mai questioned herself before heading over to eat lunch with her friends none the less.

Gigi had made a scene in the classroom and yet none of her so-called classmates had even lifted a finger or a voice to help her. That was just fine to her since she could hold her own, but still, the sentiment never hurt.

"Mai, over here!" Michiru beckoned and waved enthusiastically.

"What took you so long? Last Wednesday you couldn't wait to get out of your third-period lecture." Sota asked laughing and Mai smirked.

"I forgot to read up on something, so I had to ask the professor about it." Mai lied and reached into her bag for her lunch.

"Always the bookworm." Hojo teased and bit into his sandwich.

"I thought your college friend was tutoring you after school in the library. You've been there every day after school since last week Monday. Did he forget something?" Michi asked.

"Yasuhara forgets nothing trust me. I probably was daydreaming while he was talking. Besides, in an after-school study session, who wouldn't?" Mai reasoned and they all agreed.

"Ugh! This season is totally going to kill me. Between games, practices, classes, and signing up for college I'm totally exhausted." Sota complained.

"Yeah, just another day in the life. Nobody said you had to do baseball and basketball you know." Hojo agreed. They all talked and laughed until lunch was over and they wrapped up and headed to classes. Lucky for Mai, Michiru and her both had the same class after lunch though she didn't miss a furious looking Gigi outside of the classroom.

"Umm… Mai did you notice Gigi just now?" Michiru asked a bit nervous.

"No, why?" Mai played dumb.

"She looked like she wanted to make you roadkill!" Michi replied.

"Really, I didn't notice. I'm sure she just having a bad day. It is princess Gigi we're talking about." Mai joked and this seemed to relax her friend.

"Yeah, you're right, but you should have seen it." Michiru said and laughed.

"Something tells me I'll have plenty of other chances." Mai half-joked.

The rest of the day went by easily just as the week before had. The only reason it had become so easy was because she was more focused than ever now. Mai had finally made a choice. Everything else in her life had become second to finding evidence that Kasai was responsible for Keiko's death, but for that to happen Mai would have to get close to him.

How? Any way possible.

Currently, she was going to Keiko's grave for an hour every day since she told Naru it was helping her grieve. In reality, she was secretly hoping to run into Kasai and that seemed like that most likely place. So far that little experiment wasn't bearing any fruit so after today, if he wasn't there she would try something more direct.

"See you Mai." Michi and Sota said as Mai watched them leave together. They were going on their first date together, and in different times Keiko and Mai would have totally spied on them. But that was then.

"Hey, Mai!" Hojo called out to her as she was putting on her shoes to head to the library building.

"Hey, what's up Hojo?" Mai asked glancing over at him and then continuing to prepare for her departure.

"D-do you really have a sugar daddy?" He asked blushing madly. Mai looked over at him in surprise and then she rolled her eyes, continued packing.

"I never took you for someone who believed those kinds of rumors." Mai mutter clearly disappointed.

"I'm not! That's why when I heard it, I came to ask you directly." He responded still embarrassed.

'I'd bet anything Gigi put one of her friends up to tell him about that little rumor. Just when it was finally dying down.' Mai thought mentally exhausted.

"Well, then that's good of you Hojo." Mai replied still not pleased, but she couldn't bring herself to be upset since the boy was clearly set up.

"Alright then, is Yasuhara senpai your sadistic tutor who also makes you work as a host to pay for the tutoring?" Hojo asked again in an embarrassed low voice.

"What?! Listen Hojo, what's with all the rumors that are ,once again, untrue!?" Mai said, getting more and more ticked off.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure that you were single." He finally blurted out and Mai blushed at his sudden confession.

"I-I mean, that is….what I meant to ask you was…ugh this isn't going like how I practiced." He said clearly frustrated with himself.

"Listen, Hojo. You are a good friend to me and super sweet, but I just don't see you in that way." Mai said rubbing the back of her neck. Despite her response, Hojo began to laugh and place his hands on his hips confidently.

"Michiru said you'd say those exact words, but I had to give it a try anyway." Hojo explained.

"She did?" Mai asked wondering if she was that predictable.

"Yeah, she said you had a thing for your boss at work. Apparently, that one isn't a rumor." Hojo said and laughed even harder when Mai's blush increased.

"Yeah, whatever. I gotta go." Mai excused as she shut her locker.

"Alright, catch you later Mai." Hojo said but kissed her cheek before he was out of sight. Mai sighed deeply before adjusting her sweater and heading the opposite direction toward the library. Suddenly, she felt someone grab onto her uniform and push her to the ground.

"Ow." Mai said as she picked herself up and was not surprised to see her three classmates again.

"Your hospitality needs some work." Mai said dusting herself off.

"You bitch! You kissed him." Gigi yelled and went forward to punch Mai, but she caught her fist and pushed her back.

"Clearly your vision needs a little work because HE kissed me!" Mai rebutted, but couldn't catch the fist of one of the other girls right to the cheek. Mai was back on the ground again holding onto her face.

"You think I care! I don't want you anywhere near him!" She screamed tears bubbling in her eyes.

"I rejected him you psycho!" Mai yelled back causing her to stop for a moment.

"Wha-" Gigi started again.

"He asked me out and I rejected him. We're just friends. Once again, if you came to talk to me, we could have figured this out, but you decided to draw stupid conclusions on your own." Mai yelled and suddenly remembered how Naru had scolded her in his office the other day.

'I can see your point now, you stupid narcissist." Mai thought very briefly before grabbing her bag off the ground.

"You know, you could have just went straight up to him and asked to make up, but instead you came to me. That's pretty pathetic." Mai lectured as her face was starting to feel hot from the impact.

"HEY!" One of the groupies yelled.

"It's true. This is so desperate and sad I almost feel sorry for you. You need to pull yourself together, and stop blaming strangers for your problems." Mai insulted and continued over to the library. She could hear Gigi crying hysterically behind her and she rolled her eyes.

'I'm such a damn hypocrite. I say that to her, but I'm spending my life obsessing over catching Kasai.' Mai thought as she began to ascend the stairs into the library.

'No. This is different. I'm not blaming him for my problems. I'm holding him accountable for his actions.' Mai's eyes met with Yasuhara's and watched his expression change as he took in her appearance.

"Mai, what happen to your face? It's bruised!" He exclaimed.

"It's a long story, but let's just say gym was a bit rough today. I'm never playing kickball again." Mai groaned and laughed. Yasuhara didn't laugh and stood up to look at her face.

"If Naru picks you up and you look like this you do realize that he's going to skin me alive, right?" He said nervously.

"Oh please! Naru knows you'd never lay a hand on me. Why do you think he put you on babysitting duty?" Mai asked raising her eyebrows.

"Well just to be sure I'll cancel today's session and call Kazuya." He stated and brought out his cellphone.

"Wait no! Please come on Yasu! We haven't even finished the economics portion, and I have a test coming up." Mai said frantically. If Naru picked her up now there would be no going to the cemetery today, and she needed to make sure Kasai wouldn't be there.

"Mai. I gave you the pretest already and you aced it. Besides that, that test isn't until the beginning of next month." Yasu said sensing something else amiss.

"Okay fine. We don't have to study today, but can't we just stay anyway? "Mai begged and Yasu sighed heavily.

"We can stay, but you have to tell me what really happened to your face and your uniform." Yasuhara said adjusting his glasses.

"What do you mean? I just told you!"

"Mai. You said this happened in gym class, but you don't have gym until tomorrow. Not only that, the bruise hasn't been on your face long enough to even cause discoloration yet, so it's clearly fresh. Thirdly, if this did happen "during gym" then why is your uniform dirty? Your story has way too many holes. If it couldn't get past me, there's no way that Naru would even entertain it." He explained, almost feeling guilty about seeing through her lie.

"Fine. These girls roughed me up because one of them thought I was interested in her ex, but I rejected him. See there's no problem except for petty high school girls." Mai said straightening up her uniform.

"See that wasn't so bad." Yasuhara said as he dialed Naru's number and Mai's jaw dropped.

"Hey. Mai had a bad day at school today, would you mind picking her up since she isn't fit to study right now." Yasuhara said as he put his hand out to fuzz her hair, but she swatted his hand away.

"Yes. I'll also send you the documents you asked for the commercial building." Yasu reported, which caught Mai's attention immediately.

'He's probably doing research for a new case.' Mai surmised, her eyes narrowed at her tutor as he hung up the phone.

"Alright, let's get ready. He'll probably be here soon." Yasu said packing all the books he brought.

"Why are you punishing me?" Mai asked feeling betrayed.

"I'm not punishing you." Yasu replied sighing.

"That's funny because it sure feels like it. I tell you what happened to me at school, and not only do you lie to me, but you call Naru anyway!" Mai yelled no longer caring about being in the library.

"Mai. I'm just trying to do the right thing here. We all are just trying to help you. Besides, you're already pretty far ahead in your classes, so you deserve a day off." Yasu said and Mai tried to calm her bubbling anger. This day was working her last nerve. Matter a fact, this entire month was a train wreck, and if Mai was even more frank with herself this life seemed to be rotten.

"It feels a lot more like you're tossing me out for someone else to deal with. Let me make it a bit easier for you. See you Yasu." Mai said grabbing her bag and stepping out of the library. She was a bit surprised to see that Yasuhara hadn't followed her out, but didn't let it bog her down.

'I don't need anyone to chase after me like some child.' Mai thought when she exited the school gates with her umbrella and she was surprised to see that last person she was expecting.

"Ka-Kasai?" Mai stuttered at the sight.

There he was.

Simple as a dandelion in the spring.

Standing by the gate of her school in all of his glory under a navy-blue umbrella. The boy she had been hoping to see. The man who had been the object of some sick design she planned for him. This was God sent, Mai was sure of it. She had to make the best of this chance or who knows when she'd get another one like it. Perhaps things were looking up.

"Hey Mai. I was waiting for you." Kasai said softly. If Mai didn't know any better, she would have thought that he was harmless.

"Really? What's wrong? We haven't really talked much since…everything happened." Mai said struggling to find the right words.

"Yeah. I wanted to give everyone their space to mourn. Then give myself time to find somethings out for myself as well. Umm… would you like to grab some coffee or something? I don't know if I want to talk about this here." Kasai said bashfully looking down at his feet. Mai lifted her hands to her pendant and was tempted to take it off. The way he was acting now was so misleading, but Mai knew better than doubting her intuition.

"Okay. Sure." Mai said with a smile and began to walk with Kasai. Just as Mai started walking with him she heard a loud beeping from behind her, and it was no doubt her hawk of a boss. Kasai stopped to see who it was, but Mai continued walking. Kasai easily got the point and kept walking with her.

Before Mai knew it Naru was behind her and grabbed her arm.

"What! What do you want? Didn't you notice me ignoring you?" Mai asked fed up.

"Yes, I did notice that, but I clearly I don't care. My job is to stop you from acting like some rebellious child who constantly needs attention." Naru retorted swiftly. He quickly noticed exactly what Yasuhara had meant when he said "bad day" from the bruise under her eye.

"I don't need to be watched! You guys are all trying to cage me like some feral animal! You guys don't even trust me to make my own decision anymore. You all are holding council over my entire life without even asking me about it! When I eat, what I do, how I live, and you don't even let me spend time with my friends anymore." Mai said with a hint of desperation in her voice.

"Mai, considering your track record you haven't exactly been doing the best job on your own have you?" Naru said coolly.

"Ha! None of you were there when either of my parents died! You don't even know how I struggled to pay rent on my own! Let alone find a decent meal. I have done plenty for myself before I even knew you. You have the nerve to talk about track record because when I needed you the most you left and told me I didn't love you! As if you could possibly know how I felt about you! I honestly don't even know why you do anything for me because you act like you can't stand me! Let me do you a favor. I'm going to go with Kasai and get away from you because babysitting me all day must be sooooo tiring." Mai said and told Kasai to come along.

Naru just stood there with his blood boiling.

Because she had a point.

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