Beneath the Lilac Tree

by archangelBBQ

"Been there, done that." It's been many years, but Mai and Naru finally meet again. Or has it? Moving forward this time, Naru is determined to change the past, even if he cannot predict how it will shape their future. Together the twins, Mai, and Lin will create SPR from scratch, though things are certain to be much different this time around.

20. Part XX

Hello everyone! I may have fallen off the edge of the world into oblivion, but I've clawed my way back up from the abyss. Eternal apologies for the wait – and an endless thank you for sticking with me. I present you with an extra long chapter in return.

Thanks especially to Meepyonnee for helping me get this chapter into a presentable form. I couldn't have done it without your insight – and my best ideas were born from your feedback. I am so very grateful for your support!

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Part XX

It was unusual for Oliver to have difficulty concentrating on his schoolwork, but here he was: books pushed aside and a page of scribbles in front of him as he mulled over the interview notes for the new case instead. He assumed this odd request from Judith Pullman hadn't happened before, in the other time when Gene had died—which could only mean there was a correlation to the fact Gene had not died in the Nagano countryside, indirect as it may be. Perhaps because Martin had gone to Japan to visit his sons and the new branch office.. He frowned and shook his head. No, it was too much of a stretch. He could not assume that to be the case. He could not assume anything, for how could he verify his claim?

His frown deepened and he tapped his pencil against the desk. Because Gene lived, his own life would be different. Mai's life would be different. Martin and Luella's, Lin, Sarah and Madoka—in fact everyone at BSPR would be affected. Their lives would be different. And things could certainly not be the same in the SPR Tokyo office. He was prepared for that. But he was not prepared for some country pub owner's life to be different because Gene lived.

The 'butterfly effect' as Gene had taken to calling it—he had only thought of the effects going outwards. Not coming in.

Gene lived and there was a disturbance on the spiritual plane.

Gene lived and the pub owner came to BSPR.

There was a disturbance on the spiritual plane and a djinn in the desert disappeared.

A djinn in the desert disappeared and a pub owner came to BSPR.

It didn't seem possible that all the events of this timeline could be related, but in a way they were—they all stemmed from Gene's butterfly effect. The problem was there were too many variables, too many figures in play to truly search for a constant.

They meet their grandmother in Nagano. There's a fire at Mai's apartment block. Lin has been in Japan all this time. Martin, Luella and Sarah go to Tokyo. Now Lin's grandmother is going to Tokyo as well. The woman who had refused to leave her home for her grandson's wedding now finds it necessary to visit him in another country.

Oliver rested his head in his hands. So which events were interwoven together? Which events were simply effects and which were actual causes to affect the others? In other words, which events only moved outward, rippling across the pond, and which events hit obstacles to bounce back?

He sighed again, running his fingers through his hair, tugging at the strands in frustration. He might not even be approaching the matter in the right way. He'd been wrong before, had been blind to the most obvious of answers in the past. Perhaps that was the key. After all, sometimes the answer was the most simplistic one and sometimes the most obvious solution was the quickest to be discounted. The question was—what was the simplest answer? What had he already talked himself out of? What had he not even considered?

There was a knock at the door and the thought flitted away, disappearing as the door creaked as it was pushed open and a voice sang out his name. "Noll," she called out again in a sing-song tone, accompanied by the light sound of someone tiptoe-ing into the room.

It was Madoka, which didn't surprise him. Either Luella had come home and she'd let the other woman inside for tea and a chat or Madoka had let herself in with the spare key hidden in Martin's roses—more likely the latter as it was still early, Luella wouldn't be home before the five o'clock train and Madoka had always taken to her own schedule.

He did not turn to acknowledge her, keeping his gaze steady on the papers before him, pencil tapping absently at his temple. Realizing she was not going to be dismissed, he sighed. "What do you want, Madoka."

She sat down on the bed, watching him with a curious gaze. "Martin said you weren't coming in to BSPR for a few days, so I was getting worried. I thought I'd better check on you." She raised an eyebrow. "I almost thought maybe I was wrong and it wasGene afterall, but no. You're definitely Noll, sitting here with your forehead creased like that over those papers."

His gazed flicked toward her in annoyance before returning to his papers. "I'd rather you said you're here to discuss the Pullman case and you wanted to do it in person."

"Well, that would be a lie. I'm only here because I missed your brooding face." Madoka laughed and rested her chin on her hand. Her gaze drifted to the papers he had been hunched over and then to the rest of his desk, falling on the cherry-blossom pencil case which sat against the lamp base.

"Souvenir from Japan?" She rose to her feet and reached over him, plucking the item from the desk and examining it.

He turned away from her, trying to ignore her. Sometimes the most simple explanation... But what was the most simple explanation?

"You're not yourself, Noll."

A wry smile twitched at his lips. "More likely I'm too much of myself instead."

"Noll the philosopher?" She grinned sardonically. "Now this is new. Did you finally take to reading Plato and Zhuangzi, like Lin's been pestering you to? Or does this revelation stem from something else?"

"Hn." Her perception annoyed him and he chose not to answer. How Gene thought they might keep all of this a secret from her was ridiculous. Madoka was too persistent to be left in the dark about anything.

Her next question seemed to come out of nowhere. "What happened in Japan, anyway?"

Careful not to show any change of expression, he evaded her question. "Didn't Luella already tell you about it?"

"That's not what I mean. Did something happen while they were there, something that started Martin off on this idea that precognition could be considered a form of time travel and vice versa?"

"Give Martin a little bit of time to let his mind wander and he'll come up with all sorts of ideas."

"I'm serious." Madoka turned the pencil case over in her hands, fiddling as she spoke. "Something must have happened. I know Martin is brilliant and all, but it's strange for him to have such a strong idea but not be able to articulate it, which is why I think he saw or heard something—"

"Nothing happened while Martin and Luella were in Japan," he interrupted.

Madoka scoffed. "I know you better than to think you'd be the one to tell me. If nothing else you must understand how frustrating it is to try to take instructions from Martin when even he has trouble describing what it is he's interested in, let alone why. If I just knew what had prompted all of this, maybe I would understand."

Oliver folded his arms across his chest. "Tell me, if I witness two events which occur one directly after the other—say, I go to the grocer only to find they're out of asparagus and when I leave the bus is late—" He raised an eyebrow at her "—I couldn't very well assume the bus was late because the shop was out of asparagus, could I?"

"Of course not, that's absurd. You can't simply draw a correlation between two unrelated events." Madoka frowned. "While of course there could be some plausible reason to link the two events together, it's ridiculous to first think a bus could be late because of an asparagus shortage." She laughed then, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Really, Noll? Asparagus?"

Oliver scowled and plucked the pencil case from her hands. He didn't trust her not to take a liking to it and ferret it out of his room, hoping to get a rise out of him so he'd have to ask her to give it back. "It was just an example."

"I know what you're trying to say, that just because Martin came back with this idea doesn't mean it has anything to do with his trip to Japan." Her gaze followed his hands, watching as he placed the pencil case back on the desk underneath the lamp. She could tell it had been empty and knew Noll wasn't the type to use a pencil case in the first place, but its prominent place on his desk puzzled and intrigued her.

"But I think more likely your preoccupation with not getting that asparagus you were so set on is distracting you from the reason the bus was late in the first place," she continued. "Maybe there's roadworks behind the delay, which would be evident if you noticed the dust underneath the carriage. Or maybe it's not the bus you think it is and it's not late at all. Or maybe it was a different driver."

Oliver's hand stilled as she spoke. Maybe it's not the bus you think it is. Maybe it's a different driver.

Was it possible none of this stemmed from saving Gene's life? He'd always assumed—they'd all assumed. What if it didn't matter what actually happened, and only the act of turning time around—

He wished more than ever Madoka would leave and this time he would get what he wanted. Madoka looked very pleased with herself and if she noticed the change that had come over him, she didn't show it. The woman rose swiftly to her feet instead. "Well. Luella should be on her way home soon, I might make myself at home and put together some tea."

She expected him to say something and he reasoned it would get her out of his room and back to his privacy if he did. "When haven't you made yourself at home?" He retorted, and Madoka laughed merrily as she closed the door behind her.

Once again alone in the quiet room, Oliver pressed his fingers together thoughtfully. He had a feeling Madoka had left with the answer she'd been seeking, even if it was different than the one she was anticipating. Gene wouldn't be pleased that she was one step closer to figuring out the truth he wanted to hide from her, but Oliver didn't mind. In return, Madoka had given him an idea as well.

...

It was the third day Mai had stayed overnight in the guest room; her third morning of waking up in Lin and Gene's apartment. Opening bleary eyes, she wasn't entirely surprised to see the graceful blue of Lin's spirit familiar near the foot of the bed. It was also the third day she'd been able to see Nasida—although see seemed a little generous. Its figure was indistinct as if she were seeing the spirit through running water. And if today was anything like the two days prior, it would disappear from her gaze before she'd even gotten dressed. When she'd asked Gene, he'd said something about her being more spiritually receptive when she wasn't completely awake. Lin seemed to agree, stating her state of mind when waking from slumber was similar to that of meditation. Evidently she was better at meditating when she was asleep than when she actually tried, as she could not see Lin's shiki this way when they did their morning sessions. She couldn't help but wonder what the other spirits looked like. Were they serpentine and dragon-like as well?

The elemental spirit had been moving back and forth across the room—pacing, for lack of a better word. "Good morning," Mai said aloud. It paused mid-stride, even though she was certain the spirit did not possess human legs. The shiki turned its glance toward her but did not reply. Was that the gleam of teeth from a sneer? Mai sighed and closed her eyes, throwing her arm across her face to block the light. "You're not the only one unhappy with this arrangement," she muttered aloud.

The shiki did stop, then. She felt the change in its movement and she opened her eyes, lifting her head toward it. It was glaring at her fiercely with furious green eyes. Mai watched, bemused, as it turned away and resumed its pacing.

She slid out of bed and reached for her slippers. By the time she'd risen to her feet, the shiki was gone. Or was it? Lin had Nasida following her everywhere, even to school, but it was only these few short moments in the morning she could see it. There were other times she could sense the spirit's presence, but she only ever saw it upon waking.

Slipping out of the room, she wasn't surprised to see the glow of a lamp in the living room. Lin would be pushing the coffee table toward the side of the room, preparing for their morning ritual of qigong and meditation. The past two days she'd slept overnight he'd been waiting for her, ready to begin.

"Morning," Mai said stifling a yawn. He nodded in response and she slipped into the first warm-up posture in front of him, following him as he led her in the exercise.

They moved in tandem for several minutes before Mai finally spoke again. "I don't think Nasida likes me," she said as she mirrored Lin's movements. She frowned slightly, wondering how Lin's arms looked so incredibly graceful. Naru had been graceful, too, when she saw him using qigong at the school. She, on the other hand, felt ridiculous. Did her elbows just not bend the same way? Maybe her arms were too short—

Lin raised his eyebrows but did not pause in the forms. "Why do you say that?"

"She seemed pretty upset when I saw her this morning. I don't think she likes that you're making her watch me."

He shook his head. "It's not you. My grandmother's coming visit has all my shiki on edge. Push left, Mai."

Mai stepped forward with her left foot, biting her lip. After what felt like ages of waiting, today was the day Lin's grandmother would finally arrive. At first she'd thought that certainly Lin would ask her and Gene to see her with him. But then she'd realized how presumptuous she'd been to assume that. Lin hadn't said anything to indicate either way and she didn't feel comfortable asking.

"Concentrate on what you're doing, Mai. I can see your mind is wandering. It shows in your hands."

"How many shiki does your grandmother have?" Mai asked instead, ignoring his reprimand and focusing on the energy she imagined flowing out and into her palms.

He must have been satisfied with her improvement as he answered her question instead of further correcting her posture. "To be honest, I don't know. As the head of the family, all the shiki employed by myself and my father are also held by her. I don't even know exactly how many spirits my father controls. He has no reason to tell me and it wouldn't be polite to ask."

Mai frowned as they shifted and pivoted in the form. "I don't understand. Why would your grandmother control all the shiki in your family?"

"It's been the tradition of my family for generations. I don't believe it is that uncommon in China. Both palms downward, Mai," he instructed, and they raised their hands in an upwards arc. "It's a safeguard, of sorts, to have the shiki bound to multiple members of a family. If I were to die my shiki would return to my grandmother, unless someone was able to capture them first. My grandmother's shiki also hold allegiance to the family as a whole—if she were to die the shiki would go to the next in line—my father."

"So the shiki are always passed down, generation to generation like that?"

He tipped his head, considering. "Often. There are always exceptions."

"Does anyone else in your family have shiki?"

He shook his head again. "No. Only the spiritualists."

"Does that mean she could call them to her, order them to do things if she wanted?"

"If the circumstances required it, yes. And now we step back. Roll onto your foot. Keep your weight even—that's right."

They completed the rest of the exercises in silence. When they sat down to meditate, Lin spoke again. "You asked me about healing qigong the other day," he began. "I'd like to teach you. As such, our practice will start building up to that. As long as you have no objections to this focus."

"Really?" Mai asked eagerly, then hesitated. She couldn't even meditate properly yet so how could he expect her to learn something new? "Do you really think I can learn? Am I even ready?"

"Certainly no other way to find out than to try." Lin smiled warmly. "You've made great progress, Mai. It will take time for any of this to come naturally. Healing qigong is even more complicated, but I have no doubt with time and effort you could master it."

He took the small onyx stone from his pocket and placed it on the floor between them, both of them rising to their feet. "Let's practice channelling your own energy into the stone again. Use the Forms. Remember what I said last time about visualizing your energy to manipulate it?" She nodded and he gave a curt nod in response, motioning for her to begin. "Deep breaths. Close your eyes."

She did as he instructed, letting her eyes flutter closed and inhaling deeply, filling her lungs as slowly as she could stand before exhaling. As he'd taught her, she visualized her psychic energy as a physical extension of herself: flowing easily around her, wrapped around her body. Lin had told her in one of their previous sessions to imagine her energy like dandelion seeds, swept up by a breeze—the same way Aahil had described her aura when she'd asked him. For whatever reason, the analogy worked. It was easy to imagine she was standing in the middle of a sunny meadow, a sudden gust of wind blowing seeds from the tall stalks of dandelions up and into her vision, and so she'd used this every time since. She'd asked Lin what he'd said to Naru, when he was his pupil, but Lin had only smiled and shook his head in return. The confidential secrets of qigong training, she supposed, though she wasn't sure Lin would be so tight-lipped if Naru had asked about her own training.

Her body moved of its own accord as she slid into the first Form, her mind still caught in its own private maelstrom. The first time she'd channelled energy into Lin's stone she'd used the Forms without thinking, but now that she'd learned all of the postures Lin had taught her which of the Forms she should use to transfer energy outside herself. For once her body felt fluid as she moved through the Forms, but she was concentrating so hard on her psychic energy she didn't even notice the movements.

She thought of the stone on the floor in front of her, hot with all the energy stored within it. She imagined a shift in the wind, first blowing the seeds of energy around her body and then away from her, beyond her self and toward the stone.

But nothing seemed to happen. It was as if her energy wasn't strong enough, or going in the wrong direction—out of her and into the room but without any focus. Biting her lip, closing her eyes tighter, she tried again.

After what seemed like countless times of failure, she slumped and Lin picked up the stone, slipping it back into his pocket. "Much better today," he told her, although Mai didn't feel as though she'd made any progress at all. "We'll finish here." He looked over her shoulder to the kitchen. "Sounds like Gene has put the kettle on."

Gene was waiting for them in the kitchen, grinning brightly when they entered the room. "Good morning! Toast? Here, have some tea."

"You're cheerful this morning." Mai said as she slid into a chair, accepting his gifts gratefully. She had to admit, however, it was a relief to see him that way. He hadn't quite seemed like himself since the interview with Kanegae a few days ago, though she hadn't seen very much of him since then so it was hard to tell. When she'd awoken each morning he'd already left the apartment and had holed himself up in his office such that she barely saw him even after school. It had been a quiet few days at the office with no visitors; even Yasuhara's proposed visit the day before had been postponed.

"Really? Not particularly." But she thought his eyes were twinkling. He turned to fill Lin's teacup, his tone mocking. "So, your grandmother's coming today. Will we have the pleasure of meeting her or will this be a family-only event?"

"While there's no real need for either of you to meet my grandmother, I'd like you both to come with me this morning. If you don't have any objections, of course."

"Pass up on a chance to meet your grandmother?" Gene exclaimed, all joking gone. "Of course not! Why do you think I asked?"

Lin's lips twitched in a smile. "Mai, you'll have to miss school—at least a half day, I imagine. Will that be okay?"

"Of course! School doesn't matter." At Lin's expression she laughed sheepishly. "Well, not... not today. I've done this all before, remember? Can you call in and excuse me for the day?"

"I should be able to work something out."

Mai and Gene exchanged grins, but her smile faded as a horrible realization struck her. "Lin-san.. your grandmother isn't going to test me, will she?"

At that Lin laughed out loud. "No. Of course not, Mai." He finished the last of his tea and nodded his thanks to Gene as he stood. "Thank you for the tea. I have some preparations to do before we go."

"When do we leave?"

"Let's aim for an hour. We'll be a little early, but I'd rather be early than late."

Mai watched Lin leave the room and ate her toast slowly, thoughtfully. "He's not lying, right? His grandmother isn't really going to test me?"

Gene laughed. "Why would she?"

She flushed and gazed at her tea. "He's teaching me qigong! Surely she'll want to know if I'm worthy of him—"

"I really don't think you have to worry about that. Do you think she ever decided if Noll was worthy or not?" Gene paused, tapping his chin. "Actually, now that you mention it, I do remember Lin saying once his grandmother had asked about him..."

"Why did you have to bring Naru up?" She groaned, covering her face in her hands. "There's no way I'd ever compare to him."

"Why are you so nervous?" Gene asked, nudging her in the ribs.

"Why aren't you?" Mai retorted, picking up her tea and quickly drinking the rest of the cup in two swallows. Standing, she took her dishes to the sink. "I'm going to go back to my apartment. If I'm not back in an hour will you and Lin pick me up on the way?"

"Shouldn't be a problem," Gene said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Do you want me to call you?"

"No, that's okay." She washed her cup and plate quickly, waving to him as she hurried out of the room, hoping it wasn't a look of disappointment on his face. "I'll see you soon!"

It wasn't that she particularly needed to go back to her own apartment, but she wanted to call Naru and didn't want to disturb Lin or Gene by talking on the phone around them. And, with a pang of guilt, she didn't really want them there, either. It wasn't that there was anything she didn't want them to hear but she didn't want to be overheard all the same. As soon as she closed the door behind her the mobile was dialling in her hands and she waited breathlessly for the answer.

"Pick up pick up pick up—" she implored, slipping off her shoes and crossing into the main room of her dim apartment, sinking to a cushion by the kotatsu. To her relief, on what must have been the last possible ring the line connected.

"Mai." He greeted simply. To others it would have sounded a flat statement, but she could hear a softness in his voice. "Skipping school again?"

"Hello to you too. I'm not skipping," she protested with a laugh. "I'll have you know I never once skipped before I met you."

"As if this is somehow my fault."

"Of course it's not your fault. Just stating the facts."

"Facts stated in such a way to as insinuate."

"This isn't why I called you." Mai groaned, dropping her head into her arms, clutching the phone to her ear.

"I'm listening."

She let out a heavy sigh. "Actually, it is why I called you. I just wanted to hear your voice." She waited for him to speak but he remained silent. "We're going to meet Lin's grandmother in a few hours. I'm a little nervous," she admitted.

"I don't see why you should be."

"Are you kidding me? It's taken me years not to feel nervous around Lin. The rest of his family are just as intimidating as he is."

He laughed then, a quiet chuckle. "You've never met any of them, so how could you know?"

"You're telling me you wouldn't be nervous if it was you?"

"No. Just be yourself, Mai, and don't worry. It's not like you need her approval anyway, unless you have plans to marry into the Lin family I wasn't aware of.."

"Naru!" She exclaimed, a blush rising to her cheeks. "You know that's not—"

"Then why are you worried?"

"I don't know." Mai nibbled on her lower lip, absently tracing her fingers against the smooth surface of the table. "I guess you're right."

"Always," he reminded her.

"It's good to know some things never change. You go back to England but you act as you always do."

"I try not to disappoint."

She looked at her fingers and listened to the quiet on the other end of the phone, trying to imagine him. She had missed him and so desperately wanted to speak with him, but now that he was on the other end of the line she couldn't think of anything to say. And Naru wasn't one to make conversation—

"It's strange, isn't it? This distance between us."

She swallowed, smiling weakly. Knowing he couldn't see her, she forced herself to laugh. The sound was hollow, echoing in the empty room. "Yeah. It's strange."

The line was silent again and she closed her eyes. "I'm sorry. I wanted to speak with you but there's nothing to say."

"You don't have to force yourself. Tell me about your morning."

"It's nothing interesting, I've only gotten up and done my qigong lesson with Lin and eaten breakfast—"

"It doesn't matter if it's interesting."

"Naru—"

"I would like to hear your voice, so you don't have to worry about it being interesting or not."

The mental block which had told her there was nothing to talk about suddenly disappeared. Of course there were things to talk about: how she could see Nasida's form when she woke up in the morning; Lin had decided she would start learning healing qigong as the next step in her training; Gene had been acting strangely, had he said anything to him? And then there was the new case: Gene and Lin had been working on it but so far she hadn't had time to even think about it, what with exams coming up and next week being the end of the term. But somehow, even now that she'd thought of all these topics she didn't want to make them their conversation. She didn't want to burden him with any of it.

"This morning," she began slowly instead, "I dreamed of that time we went to Tsuruga. Or not exactly—but the train ride back to Tokyo afterwards. And when I woke up for some reason I remembered how you told me that day how you and Lin went to Estonia. What was that spirit called again?"

"Liekkio." He paused and she could almost see the knit of his brow as he thought. "That hadn't happened, the second time. It must have been late 2009 or sometime in 2010 ."

"We hadn't gotten there yet, huh.." she mused. "How did you end up taking a case in Estonia anyway?"

He chuckled lightly and she closed her eyes, holding onto the soft sound and trying to picture the curve of his lips. "Madoka, who else? Though I suppose it's not fair to say it was completely her fault. Stevens refused the case but Madoka desperately wanted to send someone."

"Tell me about it again. Please?"

She'd deprived him of the one thing he'd asked for but he complied without hesitation. He could have been reading the case notes the way he described with such clarity the barn at the edge of the marsh, the glowing lights through the reeds at night. The road that snaked through the dark forest and the stillness of the trees. It gave her chills hearing about it, but it captivated her the same way hearing ghost stories from her friends once had.

"When we first heard the rumor of the child who had been murdered in town, Lin and I both suspected there was more to it than that. It took some time to find the records, though, and identify the child. I suspect if we took the case again, it would unfold in nearly the exact same way as it did the first time. It was getting the villagers to trust us that took the most time. Once we had their trust we had their resources, and it was only a matter of time—" He stopped abruptly and was silent. Mai checked her phone, thinking she'd lost the connection, but the seconds ticked by on the screen.

"Naru?" She finally asked tentatively.

"Sorry. Gene was calling." He sighed. "I should let you go. They'll be there to pick you up soon and I don't want to make you late for this important meeting."

"I thought you said it wasn't important!" Mai protested.

"I never said that." She could hear him smile. "I just said you shouldn't be nervous."

She nodded, first slowly and again emphatically. "Yeah. Okay."

"Call me again tomorrow or the day after that." She heard him stifle a yawn and she suddenly remembered the time difference between them. It would be around midnight; she'd probably woken him. "Gene'll probably tell me about your meeting today before I speak with you again, but I want to hear about it from you." As if sensing what she was about to say, he continued. "It's only because he's so persistent."

"Sounds like the entire Davis family," Mai teased.

"That's about right," he conceded. "I'll speak to you soon."

"Good night Naru," she whispered, and lowered the phone into her lap, gazing at the dark screen. Sighing, she rose to her feet and hurried to her bedroom to find something nicer to wear.

She'd only just changed when she heard Gene knock at the door. "Mai?" He called. "Ready?"

"Coming!"

An hour's drive later found her standing in the noisy airport lobby, frowning and twisting her fingers anxiously together. The flight had been slightly delayed and Mai was sick of waiting, but now that their meeting was due any moment she was incredibly nervous again. Even Gene had taken to pacing back and forth before standing still, arms crossed over his chest and then deep in his pockets as he began to pace again. She glanced up at Lin, the man as stoic and silent as ever and yet somehow even more reserved than usual. "Um, Lin-san," she began, hesitant to break his concentration. "How do we address your grandmother?"

Lin glanced down at her, an eyebrow raised. "Unless she says otherwise, I would ask you call her Grandmother. Everyone except the elders in her village call her that, and even some of them call her Mother."

"How old is she?" Gene asked distractedly, stopping in his pacing.

Lin paused to consider. "She turned eighty-four this year." He lifted his chin as he looked over the crowd, straightening ever so slightly. "There she is."

It took Mai a moment to pick the woman out of the crowd even as Lin strode forward to meet her. She hadn't had any expectations for what Lin's grandmother would be and yet the woman defied them anyway. She was taller than herself and just shorter than Gene, with snowy-white hair pulled away from her face and wrapped in a knob just above her neck. Her face was lined with age and walked somewhat slowly, but otherwise did not move like an old woman. She held herself straight and tall, and though she wore a simple, old-fashioned looking dress, Mai thought the woman appeared regal. As his grandmother lifted her hand to take Lin's arm, Mai saw the flash of metal on her hands. She wore several rings on her fingers but no other jewellery.

"Sūnzi," she said, a kind smile twitching at her lips. "So good of you to meet me."

"Of course," Lin said. She turned toward Mai and Gene, an eyebrow raised as she considered them.

"Who are your charges? Or," she corrected herself with a dip of her head, "your companions, I suppose I should say? For the appearance of years, they deceive."

"Grandmother, I'd like to introduce you to Mai Taniyama and Eugene Davis." Both Mai and Gene bowed politely as she approached them.

"I am Lin Hua." She touched Mai's head gently and Mai couldn't stop the slight shiver as she felt a breath of cool air around her body. One of her shiki, no doubt, even though it was unseen to her eyes. The elderly woman moved to Gene next, pausing as she placed her hand on his head. "Where is your brother?" She asked softly.

"In England with our parents," Gene answered politely.

"I see," Hua nodded. She turned back to Lin, smiling slightly when she saw the man had picked up her travel case when she'd set it down. "The airport is not a conducive place for conversation. Let us go. I've a hotel room for the night."

"You're welcome to stay with us—" Lin began to offer but she cut him off with a shake of her head.

"I depart again tomorrow morning," Hua said briskly. "I'll take a taxi to the airport. You needn't be my chauffeur." She turned and smiled tightly at Gene and Mai. "I hope you'll forgive me if I speak to my grandson in Cantonese. We have some catching up to do on family matters. He hasn't been home to see his cousins in so very long."

Hua didn't wait for a reply from either of them but immediately turned to Lin, speaking rapidly. Lin's face blanched but he nodded, answering her questions with short affirmations.

"Why do I feel like we've met the Queen?" Gene whispered in Mai's ear, who pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.

...

It was a short drive to the hotel and Lin Hua talked without stopping the entire way. Mai and Gene waited in the lobby as she checked into the hotel and had her luggage sent to her room. Lin had told them he would offer his grandmother some time to rest after they arrived, but the woman must have refused as the four went straight to the hotel restaurant instead.

"Must you leave so soon?" Lin asked as they sat down, reverting to English for Mai and Gene's benefit. The young waitress in a pressed white uniform who had followed them to their table poured water from a carafe. "Surely, even twenty-four hours before you leave again, Grandmother.."

"No, I return to Hong Kong first thing tomorrow. Yifan and I have a flight to Paris." She glanced over the menu before setting it down. "Order us a pot of tea for the table, won't you?" She instructed her grandson. "Zhū chá or whatever's closest. And perhaps some cakes or pastries. Something sweet to nibble upon and raise my blood sugar."

Lin nodded and repeated the request to the waitress in Japanese. "I'd like a cup of coffee as well, thanks," he added.

"Me too," Gene added. "Decaf please."

"Paris?" Lin repeated after the waitress left, the conversation returning to English. "Whatever are you and father going to France for?"

Mai and Gene exchanged glances and Hua began to speak again. "I must find whatever it was that consumed that djinn in Morocco. I asked Xing to perform some divinations." She paused, looking between Mai and Gene with narrowed, contemplative eyes. "Your mother is quite certain it has left the desert for France. She thinks we should start looking in Montignac."

Lin inhaled sharply. "No," he managed, his visible eye very wide. "Is that a coincidence?"

"Montignac?" Gene demanded.

"The town outside of Lascaux." Lin muttered. "Where I met Thibault Bertin."

Mai and Gene sat in stunned silence. "It's not a coincidence." Hua said softly. "Your mother's fortune telling may not always be entirely accurate or completely reliable, but when it comes to her child she has never been wrong. Of course we don't know if it is following your path or Bertin's. But we do know for certain it has gone to another place from your travels, nearly ten years ago."

Hua let that sink in as she gazed at her grandson for a moment before turning her head back to Mai and Gene. "Now," she began, giving the waitress a curt nod as she returned with their drinks and desserts. "I won't pretend to know the specifics, nor do I especially care to hear them. But I do know somehow you—" she picked up her teacup and gestured toward them ambiguously with it, "and Eugene, this includes your brother of course—have somehow altered the normal course of time. It would seem that one of you is living a second chance."

At this, Lin joined Mai and Gene in their stupefied expressions. "Grandmother," Lin whispered. "Why didn't you tell me you knew?"

Hua gave a sidelong glance to Lin and smiled thinly. "And you've brought my Sūnzi with you into this mess. You're lucky," she finished, her tone turning sharp as she levelled it back on Mai and Gene. "Having him by your side is more valuable than you could ever possibly know."

"We know," Mai whispered, eyes downcast. "Grandmother Lin, we know."

Hua studied Mai with narrowed eyes, then relaxed and nodded. "Perhaps you do," she conceded, sipping her tea.

"How did you know?" Lin asked impatiently.

"Tell me, Sūnzi," Hua began, setting down her teacup and sliding one of the desserts toward herself, "did not your own spirit familiar acknowledge the rift in time?" She gave him a long, level stare. "I myself was not aware, but my servants were."

"But only Aahil knew," Mai began, and faltered.

"Yes," Hua nodded gravely. "Of Sūnzi's bound spirits, only one was aware of the lapse. And yet of mine there were four."

Mai's stomach dropped, and in the blankness that filled her mind she wondered vaguely how many shiki Lin's grandmother possessed.

"Bloody hell," Gene muttered under his breath.

"I don't know why I didn't think of that," Lin managed, his jaw tight.

"It took several weeks for me to piece together what had happened, however," Hua said, her tone gentler as she gazed at her grandson. "And I can't say how long it would have taken me to trace it to these three," she nodded toward Mai and Gene. "Had I not sent Sumya to you, it might have been months longer, who knows—perhaps even years."

"But it's possible to trace it back to them?" Lin asked.

"Not easy. But possible, yes. Sumya could tell when she went to your office. The trace was there."

Lin rubbed at his forehead with his hand, staring at his coffee, untouched on the table.

"I don't need to remind you that our family is not the only one with a tradition of binding spirits," Hua said, sipping her tea.

Lin nodded. "Therefore others might be aware not only of the shift in time but that it was Naru's—Oliver's—doing. And the disturbance on the spiritual plane?"

"Who can say how many people around the world felt that tremor?" Hua pressed her fingertips together and Mai found herself admiring the elderly woman's rings. Something about Hua's hands made the pieces of metal seem even more beautiful. "And it was certainly whatever consumed that djinn that caused it. This I can say with certainty." Hua looked at Lin severely. "There were other djinns there, Sūnzi, who saw what happened. Three of its children saw the entity which came to devour the other."

Mai felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck, meeting Gene's gaze nervously.

"What was it?" Lin asked.

Hua shook her head. "That remains the puzzle. The djinn said it was an ordinary man. But appearances deceive, for no ordinary man could have defeated that djinn so easily. It may have been sleeping, but it was still powerful."

Lin frowned, puzzled. "A wizard or sorcerer, then?"

"Possibly, but my shiki could detect no trace of a human spiritual presence."

"Er, sorry to interrupt," Gene began. "But the other djinn saw the man who came—who eventually consumed the sleeping djinn, right? Why didn't they stop him? Or at least go after him once they realized what had happened?"

"The djinn did not want to get involved," Hua said sharply. "And that should tell us the most important piece of this puzzle. The djinn did not want to get involved." She shook her head and selected another piece of cake. "Which is why Yifan and I must go to France. I need to see with my own eyes that whatever consumed that djinn poses no threat to my family."

Mai glanced between Gene and Lin, both of them silent, wondering if they felt as unnerved as she did.

"I don't imagine you'd allow me to come with you." Lin finally said, breaking the stillness. "If this is related to my past with Bertin, I should go—"

"You're needed here. What would I tell Luella Davis if something happened after you left her underage son on his own in a foreign country?"

Lin rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Yes. I'm sorry."

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm here with Mai—" Gene started, but one look from Hua and he quieted.

"No." She smiled thinly between them as she shook her head. "Yifan and I will take care of it. There's no reason for Sūnzi to accompany us. I will, however, take your shiki Aahil with me if you don't object. Having been with you to all these places before, I imagine he could be of great assistance."

"Of course."

"Good." She signalled the waitress with a lift of her hand. "One more pot of tea, my dears, and then I'd like to spend some time with my grandson."

...

Mai had no desire to return to school after Lin Hua dismissed them and thankfully Lin didn't press the issue. He dropped Mai and Gene off in Shibuya and left again to take Lin Hua to visit a garden or shrine, Mai wasn't entirely sure which. The office was cool and quiet when they entered, having been closed the entire morning.

"It seems kind of stupid now, doesn't it." Gene muttered as he turned on the heater.

"What does?"

He shrugged and gestured vaguely around him. "This. SPR. Taking cases. Going to Etajima next week."

"Don't say that." But she could see his point. A heaviness had settled over them, an anxious cloud of the unknown. "Besides, what can we do besides keep taking cases and moving forward? Besides, nothing's really changed." Seeing his eyes narrow incredulously she continued hurriedly. "We don't know if whatever happened to that djinn will affect us—"

He snorted in disbelief and she couldn't bring herself to continue.

"Don't lie to me, Mai. I know you better than that." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "But you're right. Nothing's changed, not really. We don't know any more about the djinn or the disturbance in the spiritual plane or what Thibault Bertin's death ten years ago has to do with any of this. And we're not any closer to knowing what's set this chain of events off. All we know is that we might not be the only ones aware of it." He pulled the window shade, gazing to the street below. "We have to be careful."

Mai bit her lip as she considered him, then nodded briskly as she made her decision. "Might as well turn the heat off again," she said, slipping her coat back on. Gene hadn't even taken his off and she gestured for him to follow her. "I'm going to get a cup of tea downstairs and I don't want to go by myself. Come with me?"

They locked the door behind them and took the stairs down to the café on the lower level. The bells jingled merrily on the door as they entered and Mai breathed in the warmth deeply, smiling at the comforting aromas of coffee and tea and the variety of baked goods the café specialized in. "Smells good, doesn't it?" She asked, offering Gene a grin.

"Yeah." He exhaled and smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks. Good call on coming down here. I guess we didn't eat lunch, just all those cakes."

"Lin Hua ate so much cake. And Lin didn't have any!" Mai giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "How many do you think?"

"I think she had a piece of everything," he laughed. "Must have been at least four."

They were still laughing as they sat down at a table and the waitress came quickly from behind the counter with menus. "Ah, Shibuya-san!" She greeted with a short bow. "Your usual lunch?"

Gene ran his eyes over the menu. "Let me guess. If it was just morning tea it'd be Assam tea and a plain scone. For lunch, I bet it would be the pumpkin pasta."

The woman cocked her head, confused. "I'm sorry? Is that your order, then..?"

"I'd like a cup of decaf coffee, toasted ham sandwich." Gene smiled at her warmly. "And sorry but I'll have to pass on dessert."

"The same, only green tea." Mai requested.

The waitress nodded as she wrote down Mai's order and gave Gene another confused stare before turning and heading back to the kitchen. As she left Mai pressed her lips together to keep from giggling. "I guess Naru comes here often, then? He must get the same thing every time. She looked completely mystified!"

"Noll is entirely too predictable." Gene snorted. "I could steal his identity, it'd be easy enough."

"I'd be able to tell though." Mai said quickly.

"Yeah. You and Luella. Probably Lin too if he cared to notice, which he might not." Gene agreed. "I guess if it came down to it though, the only thing I can't mimic is his PK. But that'd be the only thing to give me away." He grinned mischievously. "Do you think I should meet Yasuhara as Shibuya Kazuya or Shibuya Ichirou? He's still never met me, he'd never know."

"You just said it yourself, though. Why would you want to pretend to be Naru?"

He looked at her with a bemused look on his face, an eyebrow raised quizzically. The waitress came with their hot drinks and left again before he spoke. "You can't think of any reason?"

He was looking at her expectantly. There was something half concealed in his gaze as he spoke but she decided to ignore it. Mai raised her chin as she met his gaze. "No. I wouldn't want you to be anyone other than Gene."

He tilted his head as he considered her. Slowly the smile twitching at his lips transformed into weak laughter and he dropped his face into his hands. "If it was anyone else I don't think I would believe you. But it's you, so I know you mean it."

"Of course I mean it." Mai picked up her tea and frowned at him over it. "Is that why you've been acting so strange lately? You think I wish Naru was here instead of you?"

Gene ran his hands through his hair. "Well, it'd be better for everyone if it was Noll, right? Even Lin's grandmother asked after him—"

"She was only asking. You're reading too much into that."

"But if I wasn't here, Lin could go with his family to France." He said stubbornly and let out a frustrated growl. "That's not true, though. There's more I need to do here. I can't go back yet."

"Go back to England, you mean?" He nodded and she pursed her lips. "The Etajima case?"

"Maybe." He picked up his coffee and considered it, tilting the cup in his hand. "I wish we told Martin and Luella about all of this." he muttered. "We told them everything else. It seems silly now that we didn't. And Martin will find out eventually. He'll be angry again we tried to keep it from them."

"It's not too late."

"No, I can't just ring up and try to explain it to them. It's something Noll and I should have told them together. But if we'd told them before they would have made me go back to England with them—there's no way they'd let me stay here with you and run SPR." He rubbed the space between his eyes with his fingers and Mai realized he looked exhausted. "I shouldn't be the one here running SPR though. The upcoming case is already too much for me. I've been through the interview notes again and again and I still feel like I'm missing something."

"Even Naru doesn't solve cases before getting to them." Mai reprimanded. "You're being too hard on yourself, Gene."

"Noll would be able to figure it out."

"Don't say that."

He snorted in reply. "Why not? It's true. I can't do this by myself."

"Well, you aren't anyway, are you? Lin and I and Yasuhara and John and even Takigawa and Masako—" She stopped herself, about to say another name before realising her mistake. "And besides, Naru never did it by himself, either."

Gene didn't answer, eyes averted as he picked up his coffee. "Will you keep staying at our apartment? At least until we hear from Lin's grandmother again, once she figures out what consumed that djinn."

"We don't even know when that will be." Mai's voice trailed off as their waitress returned, bringing their sandwiches. "If I stay any longer I might as well move in. It doesn't make sense for me to be going back and forth indefinitely."

"Then move in." Gene picked up his knife and met her gaze. "I know you don't want to feel like you're intruding, but you wouldn't be. There's no reason not to." Seeing her hesitation, he turned his gaze away, cutting the sandwich in half so he could pick it up easily in his hand. "Sorry. You only just moved into your new apartment and here I'm asking you to move out again."

"It's okay. I forgot what it's like, living alone," she admitted, averting her gaze. "It's kind of lonely. And maybe it makes more sense for me to be with you and Lin, doesn't it? So we can eat dinner together. And I practice my qigong with Lin in the morning." Even as she justified it, however, she couldn't shake her reservations. She loved Gene and Lin like members of her own family, but she wasn't sure she wanted to let go of her own private space. From a monetary standpoint, of course it made sense to save money by taking the spare room in their apartment, but she treasured her own independence as well.

"Forget I said anything," Gene said, shaking his head and picking up his halved sandwich. "The room's there whenever you want it. That's all. I didn't mean to pressure you."

Mai bit her lip. Maybe she was being stupid. After all, hadn't she had nightmares that hinted something was out there? Didn't Gene say something was coming, even if it was months away? The question was what exactly it was. What was she preparing for by practicing qigong with Lin every morning?

"But something out there," she finally blurted. "It may be in France but—"

"Then it's in France and not here," Gene said stubbornly between mouthfuls.

Mai looked at her sandwich but still made no move to eat. "If something happened to me while Naru's away, he'd hold Lin responsible. I don't want Lin to have to worry about me. I don't want to do that to him."

"I don't think that's true," Gene frowned. "If Noll holds anyone accountable it'll be me, but it's beside the fact. The only reason you should move in with us is if you want to, Mai. That's all there is to it." She was about to protest and he held up his hand to stop her. "Just listen to me for a second. Tell me you don't feel the same way. We're safe here in Japan, aren't we?" He gazed at her levelly, finishing the last of his sandwich and pointing toward hers. "You haven't eaten anything yet, Mai. Eat."

She picked up her knife and fork obediently, digesting what he had said. We're safe here in Japan. "Yeah," she whispered. Just like Gene, something told her this had to be true.

"It's all gonna be okay." Meeting his clear gaze it was hard not to believe him. Deep down where she wouldn't admit it, she was afraid. It was more than the anxiety brought on by uncertainty, but she would not voice this fear. Not to Naru and not to Gene—even though something told her Gene had the exact same fear. But knowing she didn't have to go forward alone was enough. It would be enough to get through it.

And with that they finished their lunch. Watching Gene tease the waitress as he paid the cheque was more than enough to lift her spirits, even if Mai felt a little sorry for her. The woman had been thrown into a state of confusion by one of her regular customers behaving opposite of what she expected and Mai couldn't help but empathize.

They'd only just returned upstairs to the office when Gene's mobile rang. "Wonder if that'll be Lin?" He mused, pulling it from his pocket.

Seeing him blanch, Mai peered over his shoulder. "Who is it?"

"Luella. I haven't called her since they left so I'd better take it." He gave her an apologetic smile. "I know I'm not supposed to ask you to do my job for me, but you don't mind keeping an eye on things here, right?"

"Of course not."

Thanks, he mouthed as he lifted the phone to his ear. "Hi Mum. Yeah, sorry, we've been flat out busy here.. Yeah, really good! How are you?"

Mai sat down at her desk and watched him cross the room, disappearing into the second office. She could hear the forced cheerfulness in his voice again and wondered if Gene really thought he could fool his mother or if he was just hoping with a little effort he might. Luella was more perceptive than those around her gave her credit for, and even without being there Mai thought the woman would see through it. Luella had always seen through Naru, even though when Mai had known her the woman hardly ever said anything to contradict him. Not that Naru thought he was fooling her anyway. Both had been happy enough to go along with the pretences.

"Yeah, we've got a new case, a client came in the other day. I've told Noll about it and I think Lin sent something to Martin already—oh, yeah? ...Well, that's no surprise. You know how he doesn't really like talking about his work."

Mai listened to the quiet cadence of Gene's voice, drifting in from the other room as opened her schoolbag and took out her books. In hindsight it probably hadn't been a good idea to skip the entire school day, but as long as she passed her exams next week she couldn't imagine anything going any differently than it had the last time around. And with that determination she began her studies.

...

Gene lifted his head when he heard the office door close. After his conversation with Luella and answering all her questions—how are you, are you eating well, how's the office going, how's Mai?—he'd picked up their notes for the upcoming case and he'd been so preoccupied, looking for that something he knew he was missing that he hadn't even heard the door open. Pushing the papers aside he rose to his feet and hurried toward the main office.

Lin was standing by the coat rack when he entered, methodically removing his gloves and hanging up his scarf. Catching Gene's eye, he raised a finger to his lips even as Gene opened his mouth to speak. A half-smile twitched at Lin's lips and he tilted his head, directing Gene's gaze across the room. Mai was asleep at her desk, head resting on folded arms on top of an open textbook.

Gene followed Lin into his office. "You surprise me," he teased after he'd shut the door quietly behind him. "You must have a soft spot for Mai or you wouldn't care if we woke her up or not. If it was me or Noll you certainly wouldn't."

Lin shook his head and reached over to start his computer. "I'm a little wiser than I used to be, Gene. Besides, Nasida said she hasn't been sleeping well."

Gene frowned, slouching into the chair next to Lin's desk and drumming his fingers against the armrest, a suspicion already beginning to grow in his mind. "What do you mean?"

Lin raised his eyebrows at him. "Bad dreams, it would appear. Nasida also noticed you seem to be restless at night. Haven't you been sleeping well either?"

Gene scratched at his head, averting his gaze from Lin's and looking around the room. "Not.. particularly." he admitted.

Lin leaned back in his chair, hands folded together. "Dreams?"

Gene shook his head. "Nothing I can remember." He pulled his hands together in his lap, sliding his fingers together and twiddling his thumbs. "Just a feeling. You know.. an uneasy feeling."

Lin continued to stare at him and Gene squirmed under the man's even gaze, unnerved. Now he understood why Mai had been so nervous to meet his grandmother, if she had to sit under Lin's stare every morning during their daily training. "Your grandmother enjoy her visit? Did you end up taking her to the Shinjuku National Garden?"

"Yes." Lin answered tersely. He was silent for some time and finally sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "I'm sorry, Gene. It's been a long day. My grandmother asked me many questions about the future. My future."

Thinking of Lin Hua's shrewd eyes and sharp tongue, Gene suddenly felt sorry for him. "You don't act like it was a good conversation."

"It wasn't." Lin turned to his computer, keying in the password and tapping his fingers on the desk, waiting as the computer logged on. "I am not like my father and my grandmother has never understood this. We see the world differently. Distance has been good for us—for our family."

Gene swallowed, having a good idea what one point of contention between them had been. "It's not just that your grandmother doesn't like to travel, is it? I mean, she came here with little warning—and if she's going to Paris tomorrow with your father—does that mean—?"

He didn't know how to articulate his question but Lin seemed to understand him anyway, his lips twisting in a bitter smile. "Yes." He turned back to his computer. "But it's just as well to have this conversation now. Perhaps—with a few years for her to mull it over—she'll come to my wedding this time."

Gene looked at his hands again. It was strange to think Lin would speak to him about something that didn't concern him at all—a testament to how much things had changed in the eight years he had missed. A pang of discontent rippled through him, that he'd remained stagnant while everyone around him had been able to move forward.

"I do have a good idea of why four of my grandmother's shiki might have noticed the rift in time, however," Lin changed the subject. "My grandmother's never been very forthcoming about them but I was able to ascertain which shiki were aware of the rift. To be honest I don't entirely understand the links between her shiki and mine, but to be bound to our family they share a connection—albeit a loose one—such that she can easily find me through my shiki."

"Like when she sent her shiki to you the other day."

"Yes. My father as well, and I could send any of my shiki back with a message to them in return. And the four shiki of hers who acknowledged the rift in time were the shiki with closest ties to mine—the shiki she would use to find me."

Gene scratched at his head again. "You think it's a matter of proximity. And you think those shiki somehow knew from your shiki? Afterall, all your shiki were with you at the hospital that day." He mimicked Lin's nod, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "It makes sense. Were there any other common threads between those four shiki?"

Lin shook his head. "Not between the four. However three were spirits like Aahil—spirits that had once been human."

"Then that could be the reason," Gene suggested. "And it could be the fourth felt the rift for a different reason."

"Perhaps," Lin acknowledged, though his expression remained dubious.

"Does your grandmother have any shiki that used to be human that didn'tacknowledge the shift in time?"

"No," Lin said slowly, folding his arms across his chest as he thought. "But I know my father has one. She didn't say anything about my father's."

Gene frowned. "Why—of all of your grandmother's shiki—do those four have the closest ties to your own? Why does your grandmother use those particular shiki to send messages to you?"

"Compatibility. Similar spirits communicate more easily with each other."

"Your grandmother wouldn't have sent any of her shiki to you on that day—would she? To send a message?"

Lin shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't receive one. Why?"

Gene drummed his fingers against the chair, staring out the window. "Just thinking about proximity," he mused. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead with his hand. "It doesn't really make sense that your grandmother would send all four to you, unless there was some sort of crisis. But she didn't know about what had happened at the hospital, right? And you didn't receive a message from her. But if the three shiki either somehow felt the shift in time because of the fact they used to be human or because of their connection to you—and to Aahil, I presume—" Lin nodded "—it isn't too much of a stretch to think she might have sent one shiki—the fourth one—to you as a messenger on that day. It just hadn't reached you yet."

Lin shook his head. "A coincidence like that is a bit far-fetched, Gene."

"But it is a possible explanation. That means there could be a reason why any of her shiki are aware of the time shift—isn't that what you're saying?"

Lin nodded. "It may be there's no way to know for certain, but it seems there's a definite cause to why any spirit can acknowledge the rift in time. It's not random by any means."

"Which is why you suggest proximity."

Lin frowned, his fingers beginning to tap the table thoughtfully. "The first time Naru did this, he did it alone." He mused. "There was no one in the same room or in his general vicinity. Except for yourself, it's likely you would have been there with him. As far as we know, only Naru and Mai remembered, and they remembered at different points in time. Naru has suggested you were the one to somehow trigger Mai's memories—borrowing his psychometry, perhaps."

Gene nodded slowly but didn't answer.

"The second time Naru, myself and Mai remembered immediately. Sarah has some memories as well, though not of the same severity and Aahil takes responsibility for them. The three of us were all together in the same room—my hand on Naru and Naru's hand on Mai." Lin shook his head and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. Gene thought the man looked tired. "The fact of the matter is we can speculate but there will always be too much uncertainty. We may like to think we're the only ones who remember but it may very well not be the case. If my grandmother's spirit familiars recognize the time shift, why not anyone else? It could very well be everyone at the hospital has memories, no matter how slight. And those are people who could bear Naru ill because he turned time around."

"But your grandmother said it could have taken months or years for her to connect it back to Noll—" Gene began, then fell silent. A niggling feeling was beginning to grow at the back of his mind. If it was true that Noll had turned time with his PK and if it was because of his psychometry that Lin and Mai remembered the alternate future, then no one outside of them should remember. Obviously, spirits did—Aahil and four of Lin's grandmother's shiki. But he'd been a spirit at the time and he hadn't remembered, not without getting Mai to jump-start his memories and then seeing into that future through his brother's eyes. He closed his eyes. Apart from Noll, the first time around, he'd been the only one there. And even if he didn't remember he'd definitely been there the second time, too. "If only I could remember," he ground out in frustration. "I was there, wasn't I? I remember seeing the accident. But nothing more."

Lin shook his head. "You can't hold yourself responsible for not remembering, Gene. Even Naru doesn't remember. There must have been some conscious thought on his part to place us here at this specific time, but he doesn't remember either."

Gene rubbed his face with his hands. "Neither Mai or I remember anything after the accident, though. I was dead, and she..." He swallowed, imagining his brother's pain. Looking down on her face, knowing she wasn't going to wake up. It wasn't something Noll had shared with him through psychometry but he didn't need to. He understood. Looking up in a panic, he sought Lin's eyes. "Wait, Mai doesn't actually remember the accident, does she?"

Lin's expression was as still as if set in stone. "I don't think she remembers entirely. If you're asking if she remembers getting hit by the car. But it would seem she had an out-of-body experience before she was taken to the hospital. She brought the memory up when we first started meditating together."

Gene grimaced at Lin's words. "Oh," he managed, his chest suddenly tight. He remembered his own last memories of that day, shouting Mai's name to try to escape the inevitable. The sound of his brother's sobs at the scene.

Somehow, Lin seemed to understand. "It's not your fault, Gene."

Gene couldn't bring himself to answer. When did the ends justify the means? They'd brought him back, but at what cost? But to utter these thoughts aloud would be ungrateful and diminish the sacrifice they had made for him. There were no takebacks.

He then felt, rather than heard—his ears pricking to an inaudible calling and he lifted his head to listen. Lin looked up as well and gazed over him at the blank wall in recognition—one of his shiki, Gene surmised. "Is it—"

Gene didn't need to ask. He knew, and even as Lin nodded he was on his feet, hurrying to the door and pulling it open to look out into the main office.

Mai was still hunched over her desk, her head cradled in her arms, but she wasn't asleep. Her body at first seemed unnaturally rigid and still, but upon closer inspection he could see she was trembling. She was crying. And there was a faint blue shape hovering over her, moving back and forth nervously. Gene didn't need to be able to see the spirit entirely to know it was Nasida.

Gene stood still in indecision for only a moment before crossing the room to her side, placing his hand on her head gently. "Mai," he whispered. He hesitated again and she pressed her face deeper into her arms, trying to hide herself even as the trembling increased.

"Mai," he began again, his other hand reaching for her shoulder.

She lifted her head and wiped at her eyes, refusing to look at him. "I'm sorry."

He meant to tell her she had nothing to be sorry for, that there was no reason for her to apologize. But instead he asked, "Can I hug you?"

The offer must have surprised her because a second passed before she nodded and rose to her feet. Gene wrapped his arms around her gently, pulling her into his embrace, awkwardly because of the chair she had risen from. Her body quaked in his arms and he loosened his grip, thinking she was trying to pull away, but her hands clutched at his shirt and she pressed her face into her shoulder. Then he realized she was crying again.

He did not know how long they stood like this, him holding her while she wept quietly into his shoulder. It could have been thirty seconds or five minutes that she clung to him, he could not tell.

Mai finally released her grip on him so he dropped his arms, but she didn't back away. "I'm sorry for crying all the time." She whispered, sniffing and wiping her eyes again.

Gene had a distinct memory of saying the exact same thing to Noll when they were little. And how Noll had responded, scoffing and saying Why should you apologize for something like that? Gene had always thought Noll didn't understand his feelings. Noll didn't cry. But now, posed with the question, he understood. Because what else could he say?

"You don't have to be sorry."

"Still." She sniffed.

"Did you have a dream?"

She shook her head—a lie. Realizing he would see through her fib, she closed her eyes tight, pressing the fingertips of her index and middle fingers to each eyelid. "It was that man again. The man—without a face." She shuddered. "I'm running to reach him, but when he turns toward me—it's like a black hole where his face should be." Gene stiffened and Mai dropped her hands to her sides. "I—I don't know how to explain it. That's just what it is."

"How many times have you had this dream?" He asked her quietly. He'd been in that dream with her—was it only a week ago?—watching Mai with her son at what seemed to be an idyllic gathering, but the dream had collapsed and he'd had trouble following her into the next. He'd seen just enough of the following nightmare to see the empty-faced man and to feel her terror, but Noll had told him Mai didn't remember the dream. And she hadn't been lying when she'd told him that.

"Last night. No—two nights ago. Right? I think." She turned away from him then and he stepped away, realizing how close they'd been standing. "It was the same. Running toward him. I'm trying to help him. But when I see him I'm so.. so—" She couldn't finish.

"Afraid." He whispered, remembering her terror.

She nodded and looked at her hands. "I didn't think anything of it before. Just a scary dream. You get those all the time." She tried to laugh nervously, but the sound was broken and unnatural. "But I don't like recurring dreams."

Gene nodded, trying to quell the uneasiness that was building in his core. Who was the man without a face? What were his instincts trying to tell him? And what were Mai's instincts telling her? For it wasn't the second time she'd has this dream, but at the very least the third. How many other times had she dreamed of the empty-faced man and hadn't remembered upon waking? And why hadn't he dreamed any of this with her? He wanted to reassure her and tell her it was nothing but a bad dream, but he couldn't honestly say that. He believed what he'd said before, that they were safe in Japan. But what about England?

What about Noll?

The thought sent a shiver of dread through his body, an icy grip on his heart.

Had he been wrong to ask him to trade places, knowing Noll would refuse? He should have just gone ahead without him, locked him in the closet until he could get on the plane with Martin and Luella. Then Noll could be here, with Mai, safe in Japan while Lin went with his grandmother to France and saw whatever it was that caused the tremor in the spiritual plane, and then they would just know—

But Mai had straightened herself, shaking her head. "It's was just a bad dream," she said firmly, wiping the last of her tears with the back of her hand. "Just a dream. Sorry for worrying you. I've just.. been stressed out about school. Studying too hard."

Gene couldn't bring himself to contradict her. Instead he cracked a smile, hoping she wouldn't see through its falseness. "You can't just absorb the book by sleeping on top of it, you know."

"It was worth a shot." she giggled weakly. She followed him into his office, sitting down in one of the chairs. She tucked her legs beneath her, watching him shuffle papers together in an attempt to tidy his desk.

"Were you working on Naru's translation project again?" She asked, but he was already shaking his head.

"Nah, I just thought I'd go over the notes from our meeting with Kanagae again."

"You're still not thinking—" Mai began, but he interrupted with another shake of his head.

"No. I realised this case in particular, we have to go to the site to see it. Sometimes there are clues in the interviews, sometimes there's information you can gather from afar. But this one, we won't be able to solve until we go. You know what I mean, right?" He looked up at her and smiled.

Mai's insides lurched. He looked so much like Naru, just then—

—or was it that Naru had sometimes looked so much like Gene?

He cocked his head, a bemused expression flitting across his face and Mai had the feeling she'd been found out. As if he knew what she'd been thinking. It was a terrible thing to think that she couldn't tell the two of them apart, that she might confuse one for the other.

But an easy smile was twitching as his lips and the feeling Mai had only a moment before had slipped away, forgotten. He was looking at his watch, running a hand through his hair. "It's already after five o'clock. I think we should close up the office a bit early tonight and head home."

Mai watched him but still did not move from her chair as he crossed the room and drew the blinds, turning down the setting on the heater and picking up his jacket which had been draped over the back of his chair. Then he was at the door, patiently waiting.

"Let's go, yeah?"

"Yeah." With that she rose to her feet to follow him from the room, turning off the light and closing the door behind her.

...

The next day went by in a blur. Time had a tendency to slow almost to a halt during school hours, but for once the day passed quickly and before Mai knew it classes were over and she was heading toward the office. Her friends' had clearly been disappointed when she'd turned down their requests to spend the afternoon with them under the pretence of continuing to study for their exams, but her excuse 'I have to work at my part-time' was strong enough not to garner any vocal complaints.

The room was quiet and still when she entered, both doors to the private offices closed.

"Hello," she called, slipping her schoolbag from her shoulders and hanging her jacket on the coat stand. The front door had been unlocked so despite the empty room either Lin or Gene had to be in, but neither appeared as she went to the kitchenette. She had just turned on the kettle and was opening the cupboard above her when a sudden sound behind her made her jump.

"Mai," Lin greeted shortly. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Lin-san," Mai exclaimed, fumbling the tea in her surprise before catching it again and began to laugh. "You startled me. Would you like some tea?"

"No, but thank you. You're early today, aren't you?"

"A little. Has Yasuhara come by yet?"

His lips lifted in a wry smile. "Not yet. It's been a quiet day. A few phone enquiries, nothing more."

Mai glanced behind him to the closed door behind him, biting her lip as she pulled off the lid of the tea canister. If he hadn't come out yet into the main room he probably wasn't even in the office. "Where's Gene?"

Lin's face twitched in what she thought might be irritation. "He went out shortly after lunch. He said he'd be back soon but that was several hours ago already."

"The library, maybe?" She asked.

"I doubt it." Lin shook his head and sighed. "I'm sure he'll be back shortly, especially now that you're here."

Maid didn't have a chance to ask what he meant as the front door opened behind them. Expecting Gene, Mai had a friendly smile on her face as she turned, but the smile spread wider as she saw their visitor. "Yasuhara-san, good afternoon!" she greeted, dipping in a short bow.

"Taniyama-san," Yasuhara replied, equally cheerful. "It's been a while, hasn't it? So good to see you again."

"Oh, this is—" Mai turned quickly, motioning to the tall man behind her when she realized Lin and Yasuhara hadn't yet met. "This is Lin, the acting manager of the office." It still felt strange to introduce Lin that way, but at least she hadn't fumbled the same way she had with the client the other day.

"Pleased to meet you. Lin Koujo," Lin greeted with a short bow.

"Yasuhara Osamu, at your service," Yasuhara returned, bowing politely. He then turned as the door opened behind him yet again, a wide smile covering his features. "Good afternoon, Shibuya-san."

Gene stared at the other boy, his eyes blank for only a moment before widening in recognition. A smirk tugged on his lips. "You must be Yasuhara-san."

Yasuhara grinned amicably in return. "And you must be Shibuya Ichirou."

...

It was weird, Mai thought, to see Gene and Yasuhara meet for the first time. If she'd thought it was strange the first time she'd seen the brothers together, identical likenesses standing side-by-side, then to see Yasuhara meet the twin he'd never met before was surreal. She wasn't even sure what exactly about it was so bizarre: was it because this had never happened before, or simply that the two were so much alike, as Naru said? The instant rapport that formed between them was obvious. Yasuhara seemed positively jovial to discover the twin he'd suspected but had so easily discounted, and Gene—it was impossible to decipher might be going through Gene's mind, but he looked like the proverbial cat who'd gotten into the cream.

"I'll go over the notes with you," Gene said, leading Yasuhara to the sitting area. "Mai, could I trouble you to make us some coffee?" He called.

"Of course—Yasuhara-san, would you like coffee or tea?"

"Coffee's fine, thank you. With a bit of milk and sugar if it's no trouble."

Mai watched them out of the corner of her eye as she refilled the kettle and set it to boil. Gene had taken out the interview notes, still jumbled from the day before and was setting them out on the table, gesticulating with his hands as he explained. Yasuhara was listening attentively, nodding and interjecting questions every so often.

Lin had retreated into his office again and neither Gene nor Yasuhara seemed to notice his departure. Even though Mai had introduced Lin as the manager, Yasuhara seemed to understand the office hierarchy without any prompts. The absent Shibuya Kazuya was clearly in charge and while Lin may be the so-called manager of the office, it was evident Gene would be heading up any investigations while his twin was away. Mai frowned as she made the coffee, feeling slighted as she realized Yasuhara would put her at the bottom of the pecking order. After all, all she'd done so far was make tea and coffee and inadvertently given away the secret of Naru using an assumed name. But if she wasn't at the bottom, who was?

She shook the thoughts away as she poured the coffee into cups. It really didn't matter, she reminded herself and picked up the tray. She may look like an office lady to anyone else but on a case her presence was just as important as everyone else's. Besides, if Naru were here, he'd scoff and say it didn't matter what anyone else thought anyway.

"Here you are." She had just set the cups on the table when the phone rang and she hurried back toward her desk. She picked up the phone in one hand, the other arm holding the tray close to her chest. "Good afternoon, Shibuya Psychic Research—" She answered. Hearing the voice on the other end, her eyes lit up and her lips curved in an open smile. "Hello. How are you?"

Yasuhara's gaze had followed Mai as she hurried to the phone. With her answer he gave Gene a quizzical look who simply shrugged in response. "Must be my brother," Gene explained.

"Ah," Yasuhara said knowingly, glancing back toward her. "That explains it."

Yasuhara watched as the joy which had come so easily to Mai's face when she answered the phone began to slip; her radiance dimming at whatever the caller was saying. "Yes, Lin-san's here," she said, the light tone of her voice unable to betray the clear disappointment on her features. "I'll let him know you're calling, just a moment." She sighed as she reached toward the phone, hitting the buttons with more force than necessary. The three could hear another phone rang, muffled behind a closed door. After a pause, she spoke again. "Lin-san, Naru for you." She said brusquely, and hung up.

Mai looked up to see both Gene and Yasuhara watching her. "What did he want?" Gene asked, perplexed.

Mai shrugged, suddenly self-conscious that the two boys were watching her. "Something about a case." Mai shrugged and returned to the kitchenette, frowning when she found her teacup. She'd left the tea leaves in the cup, the over-steeped liquid dark and bitter.

Gene snorted. "I bet he wanted to take care of business first," he muttered. Raising his voice, he called, "did he say he'd call back later?"

"No," she replied as she dumped the tea out in the sink and filled the cup with fresh water. She shrugged again as she returned to the main office, crossing the room to hover over the table where they were working. "You're starting some preliminary research on the Kanegae case?" She asked, eager to move the topic along. Yasuhara was beginning to glance between them with a thoughtful look on his face and something about his expression seemed too knowing, too calculating for her liking.

"Yes, I've just explained to Yasuhara-san the situation." Thankfully, Gene didn't press the matter and let her change the subject. "Because this is Hiroshima Prefecture it might be difficult to find anything from here, but it's worth a shot. Our first order of business is to determine what was there before Kanegae's family owned the land. Of course, anything we can find out about the property will be helpful, but if we can confirm if there was another residence or a farm or even a shrine there that will give us a stronger footing to work off of."

Yasuhara rubbed his chin. "I'll check the library for anything they might have first, but I doubt they'll have any records. Especially here in Tokyo. And I doubt they'll have any paper copies of regional news sources, so anything pre-digital is out of the question. How long has the Kanegae family lived there?"

"Three generations. Kanegae's grandfather—his mother's father—built the house and started the orchard, but Kanegae didn't know if there was anything there before. His mother was born after the house was built and her parents are both long deceased. But she still lives there with him."

Yasuhara nodded thoughtfully. "I can call the local Etajima government office but they might not be willing to help over the phone." He grinned, the usual cheerful smile that Mai remembered so well lighting up his face. "These sorts of things are much easier to ask for in person, you know?"

Mai had only a moment to contemplate why Yasuhara spoke from experience when the office door opened suddenly. On the other side was Takigawa Houshou. Mai, Yasuhara and Gene could only stare at him in surprise.

"Please come in. How can I help you?" Gene recovered first and spoke politely.

"Shibuya-san," he said breathlessly, and Mai had a notion he'd run up the stairs. "That man—the foreigner that was here a week ago last Saturday—"

"Ah, you must be Takigawa Houshou," Gene said brightly. "My little brother told me he met you the other day."

"Little.. brother..." Takigawa repeated, staring. Mai could see the gears working in his head.

"What can I do for you?"

"I..." Takigawa blinked and rubbed his head with his hand, steadying himself. "There was an Englishman here last weekend. Was that—Professor Davis? Professor Oliver Davis?"

"Oliver Davis?" Mai repeated, her voice unnaturally high. "Why would he—" she faltered as Gene shot her a look to quiet her.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, that was actually Professor Martin Davis," Gene said. "A professor of law at Cambridge. He was in Tokyo for a visit and just happened to come by our office.."

"Is he—is he of any relation to Professor Oliver Davis?"

"I couldn't say. Davis is a common English name, isn't it?"

"Very common," Yasuhara affirmed, unprompted.

Gene shrugged and smiled apologetically at the older man. "I'm sorry, Takigawa-san."

Takigawa's shoulders slumped, his entire body deflating at the news. "Unbelievable. I ran all the way over here from Shimbashi for this? You've gotta be kidding me. After I read Oliver Davis was in Japan with his family, I thought..."

"Ran?" Yasuhara teased. "From Shimbashi? No wonder you're out of breath, old man."

"Hey hey, now, kid," Takigawa shot back. "Who are you calling old? You better watch your mouth, one day you're going to get in trouble."

Yasuhara grinned congenially. "Thanks for the advice, mister, but I'm pretty sure I can handle myself around my elders."

Takigawa rolled his eyes. "If I weren't such a laid-back guy I might try to give you a talking to—"

"Or are you just so exhausted from running all the way from Shimbashi you need to take a lie down?" Yasuhara chortled.

"Hey, you little—"

This was not the way things were supposed to go, Mai thought desperately. Even if the banter between Takigawa and Yasuhara was still moderately friendly—in fact quite benign considering what she'd heard Yasuhara say in the past—Takigawa's body language spoke volumes. Crossed arms, arched eyebrows. After he'd made the effort to come here, it might very well be the last time unless they could convince him it was worth it. What if Takigawa left here today and decided to never come back? Decided to have nothing to do with them ever again?

A sinking feeling formed in the pit of her stomach. What had Naru said last time to win Takigawa over? He hadn't said anything at all, the circumstances had been so different he hadn't needed to. After the case at her school Takigawa and Ayako both had come back for curiosity's sake; it was only over time that they had come to trust Naru and respect him. And Gene wasn't Naru. Would Gene be able to make Takigawa respect him the way Naru had?

Mai almost shuddered at the thought, ashamed of thinking such a thing and even more so for already knowing the answer. Thinking it doesn't mean I think any less of Gene. He's just... different from Naru. That's all.

Just as she'd ever just known anything instinctually, she knew they only had this afternoon to make a good impression on Takigawa before he walked out the door for the last time. She knew Gene wouldn't be able to command the same respect as Naru, if only because he was quick to smile and easy to forgive. His temperament wasn't suited to be the president of SPR like Naru's was. It was something he could grow into—and surely he would, someday he would run an office just like this—but now was not the time.

"Settle down, the both of you," Gene cut in quickly, seeing the look of panic on Mai's face. "I'd run from Shimbashi if I thought Oliver Davis was in my office, too."

Takigawa looked at Gene suspiciously. "You're familiar with him, then? You've read his book?"

"Of course, we're very familiar with the works of Oliver Davis," Gene said, glancing toward Mai. "This is a psychic research office, after all."

"When I came to your office last week and spoke with Shibuya Kazuya, I was under the impression his older brother would be the main point of contact for the office. Don't tell me you're that brother?" Takigawa said bluntly, all tact gone. "Shibuya Kazuya spoke as if this were his office. Does that mean you're just filling in for him while he's away?" His gaze moved between the three of them in turn until one of his eyebrows arched dubiously. "What are a couple kids like you running an office for psychic research? It's a dangerous business."

Gene and Yasuhara both had opened their mouths to reply but it was Mai who spoke first, bristling at his insinuation. "And why not? Why wouldn't he be? Just because he's a teenager?"

"Now, Mai, there's no reason for you to get worked up. It's strange for teenagers to be running any kind of office, right?" Gene said placatingly, but Mai ignored him.

"A person's capabilities aren't dependent on age," she said, trying to keep her voice level even as her desperation rose. "Or even experience. You can do something for years and years and still be doing it wrong! Or if you have a good teacher you can learn how to do something well with hardly any time at all! It doesn't matter how old we are. And I know we haven't had a chance to prove ourselves to you yet but please don't just discount us because of our age!"

Takigawa stared at her, dumbstruck, before his face softened into a warm smile. This smile was all too familiar and Mai stopped, wondering if somehow he'd remembered her and everything else from before. Was it even possible—? Then his mouth split into a huge grin and he laughed loudly.

"I've got no choice but to agree with you, young lady," he chuckled. "It's true age and maturity don't always go hand-in-hand. I'd be telling off anyone who tried to tell me otherwise too, when I was your age. If nothing else, you've clearly got the guts and the passion for this work." He shook his head, still laughing. "Maybe that's all you need. You certainly can't do it without guts."

At that moment Lin opened the door to his office. "Takigawa-san," he said brusquely. Before the monk could ask how he knew his name, Lin continued to explain himself. "I am Lin Koujo, the acting manager of the branch while our President's away. He said you'd likely be coming by."

As Takigawa and Lin exchanged polite greetings, Mai couldn't stop the dubious expression from reaching her face, wondering if Lin was telling the truth or if that was a lie. Had Naru really told him to expect the monk to return? He certainly hadn't told her, and she would have appreciated some warning. Not that it would have made any difference, really.

To her surprise, Lin then invited Takigawa into his office. "May I have a word with you? I'd like to ask your professional opinion on a new matter we've recently accepted." He motioned toward her. "Taniyama, if you please."

"As I said, we've accepted a new matter," Lin said as he closed the door to his office behind him, gesturing for their visitor to sit down. "The client came to our office the other day to explain his request. We'll go to his property to investigate next week."

Takigawa crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair. "What sort of supernatural activity has your client reported?"

Lin sat down behind his desk, folding his hands together in front of him. "Our client's family owns a substantial block of land which is primarily agricultural. He runs a guesthouse which caters mostly to tourists in the peak season and working boarders the rest of the year. Both members of the family and guests as well have seen an apparition outside, wandering the property." He leaned back to take a sheet of paper from his printer, setting it on the table between them. Craning her neck to get a better view, Mai could see it appeared to be some kind of map of the property.

"I've drawn up a rough plan based on what our client's told us. The house lies at the eastern side of the property, facing the terraced orchard which is bordered by a long drive to the access road. All of the reported sightings have been along the drive nearest the house, or here—" he drew a line with his fingertips "—along the front yard toward the out buildings, warehouse and machinery shed. Simply put, it may be that the supposed spirit in question is confined to this area, or, as all sightings have been at dusk or early evening, that all our witnesses have simply been in the same area and therefore have not observed anything else. Unfortunately, we will not have a pool of witnesses to interview. The last boarder left two weeks ago and the family decided to close that aspect of their business until this is sorted out."

Takigawa nodded thoughtfully, stroking the stubble around his chin. "How many in the family?"

"Three. A mother and her two adult children, a daughter and a son. It was the son who approached us."

"So you might have three eyewitnesses at best," Takigawa mused. "And depending on the ages, you might have to factor the power of suggestion into their reliability. Ultimately you have a large outdoor area which a supposed spirit may or may not be confined to. I suppose you could just try exorcisms at random, but in that large of an area—"

"An area of at least two thousand square meters," Lin supplied. "Perhaps more."

"Then that would be a waste of time. What you really need to do is confirm whether or not anything's there." Takigawa nodded slowly. Mai could see he was intrigued by the case but still skeptical—perhaps he didn't believe their client actually had a spirit, or maybe he still didn't trust them or their office.

"What would you usually do in a situation like this? If you don't mind me asking." Takigawa continued, his tone sharp enough that Mai winced. Definitely the latter—he still didn't trust them.

Lin tipped his head, unperturbed. "It's a fair question. I'm not sure how much President Shibuya told you about our operation here when you spoke with him last week. SPR is devoted primarily to research and we focus on gathering data. We'll first monitor and record the grounds to see what we can observe before we make any plan of action."

"Record—you mean with video cameras and so on. I see," Takigawa leaned forward, resting his elbows against his knees. "Then you attempt to confirm the claims first."

"It's more than confirming claims," Lin corrected. "The purpose of this office is to gather data. With enough data to study, the paranormal may someday be considered within the boundaries of accepted sciences."

Takigawa nodded, tapping his fingers thoughtfully. "Then would I be right to assume you're very much influenced by Dr Davis' work? That sounds like a line straight out of Supernatural Systems."

Lin tipped his head in acknowledgement, a small smile lifting his lips. Mai could see the mirth in his eyes as he spoke. "Indubitably."

"It's a methodical approach," Takigawa admitted grudgingly, "But there are hazards to collecting data in that way. What if someone's in danger? If you obviously have an angry spirit on your hands? Surely you wouldn't bide your time with data collection then."

"No," Lin agreed. "If the circumstances call for it, of course the safety of the client and our staff comes before any data recovery. In this particular matter however, it doesn't seem to be the case. From what our client's told us there is no imminent danger. The family just wants to make sure there isn't a spirit haunting their grounds—such a thing could harm their business if prolonged."

Takigawa nodded and chuckled. "That is true. Though to be fair, I'm sure some would be drawn to such a thing. Just a different type of attraction..." he held up his hands at Lin's stoic expression. "Of course, I understand that's not what your client wants."

"If there is a spirit we can identify, our next course of action will be to cleanse. In the event we're unable to remove it by a cleansing, then exorcism. In the event that the cause is not of a supernatural nature, we'll take reasonable steps to assist our client. While myself, Taniyama and Shibuya are all capable of performing exorcisms or cleansings to a degree, we often try to have assistance in that regard. The larger the team the more angles we can take in our approach. In the past we've worked with a local Catholic priest and we've been in contact with Hara Masako for future assistance."

"Hara Masako?" Takigawa repeated incredulously, whistling under his breath. "How've you managed that? And she was game to help you out?"

"And of course since you've approached us we've been hopeful to call upon your assistance in the future as well," Lin continued, ignoring the interruption. "A Buddhist monk with your experience would no doubt be an invaluable asset to our team."

Takigawa looked visibly pleased at that. "Well I must admit, you've caught my interest. If your workings were any less methodical I'm not sure I would be convinced. I've also been influenced by Dr Davis' writing and hold him in high regard. I'd like to see you in action—you said you're going to visit your client next week?"

"Next Friday." Lin confirmed. "You're welcome to join us. Lodging and meals will be provided until the completion of the case and we would be more than happy to share transportation. We'll leave Tokyo in the afternoon or early evening."

"Friday, huh." Takigawa looked disappointed. "As it happens I've got a couple gigs next weekend."

"I see. Perhaps next time." Lin accepted the declination smoothly. At Takigawa's refusal Mai's face fell, disappointment sinking in her stomach. She had a feeling Lin was just as disappointed—after all, at one time the two had become close friends—but Lin was better at hiding his feelings than she was, perhaps infinitely so.

"Well," Takigawa mused, scratching his stubbly chin, "I suppose if it wasn't too far I might be able to drive out on Sunday—"

Lin shook his head. "The client lives in Hiroshima Prefecture. It's a bit far for that."

Takigawa shook his head in disbelief. "You're going all the way down to Hiroshima? On what is basically a hunch? There might not be anything there. Rumors spread, people trick themselves into believing they've seen things that aren't there, and once you've convinced yourself there's no going back. That's what, a ten hour drive—for nothing, right?"

"That may be true," Lin tipped his head, conceding his point. "There is always a risk the client has lied—knowingly or unknowingly—and it will be, as you say, a waste of time. But the client approached us and asked we investigate, and that is what we will do." He glanced toward Mai, a smile twitching his lips. "Our office happens to be pretty good at hunches, and we've got a good feeling about this one."

Takigawa barked out a laugh. "Hunches, huh." He shook his head again. "You guys are really something. Do you mind if I ask what your credentials are and how you ended up here, Lin-san?"

"I come from a family of spiritualists," Lin replied without hesitation. "When Kazuya and Ichirou decided to open this office, their father asked if I might be willing to assist. They are, as you may have noticed, still minors, and there can be situations when adults refuse to accept them."

Mai wondered if this was supposed to be a barb directed toward Takigawa, but the monk was unfazed. "And what about this young lady?" The question was more addressed at Lin than at Mai.

"Mai is my pupil." Lin answered, and a touch of pride rushed through Mai to be acknowledged this way. "Not to mention close friends with Kazuya and Ichirou. It was only natural she would join their team of investigators."

Takigawa considered them for a moment longer before nodding again. "Well, perhaps we can work together in the future. Best of luck to you on your case in Hiroshima."

Lin tipped his head. "Thank you. We'll certainly be in touch."

After Takigawa gave them his contact information, Mai and Lin saw him out of the office. In the other room, Mai saw Gene's gaze flit toward them before turning back to his conversation with Yasuhara.

"Is it okay to just let him leave like that? I mean—what if he decides not to come back?" Mai asked Lin, following him back into his office.

"Maybe now's not the time." Lin let out a long exhale. "Besides, Takigawa and SPR will certainly cross paths again in the future. There's no reason to think your principal won't call everyone again for the case at your school."

Mai looked at her hands, clenched tightly into fists and she forced herself to relax. "Right. You're right," she agreed, praying it was true.

...

In the other office, Yasuhara and Gene paused in their conversation, watching Lin and Mai bid Takigawa good bye. "Do you know that guy?" Yasuhara asked, twiddling with the pencil in his hand.

"The first time we've met," Gene replied honestly. "Though my brother's acquainted with him to a degree. He's a Buddhist monk. I think we were hoping he'd help out on investigations."

"A monk, huh? I didn't see that coming." Yasuhara's look of surprised faded and he smiled ruefully. "I hope he doesn't turn you down because of me. Sorry. Somehow I just couldn't stop myself from joking around with him. I didn't think he'd take it seriously."

"Nah. Don't be sorry." Gene laughed. "I can tell we're going to get along. You're just what this office needs. Good thing you've got a head for research on your shoulders because I'll be honest, if it were up to me I'd hire you for your attitude alone—"

"But it's not up to you." Yasuhara supplied.

"No. Not really." Gene shrugged. "I guess I'm technically the head of the office while my brother's away, but I can't pretend to have his job. I thought I could but I can't."

Yasuhara regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "So... which one are you?"

"Pardon?" Gene asked, genuinely puzzled.

Yasuhara rested his head on his hands, gazing at the other boy. "Oliver Davis? Or Eugene?"

"Eugene." Gene snorted. "It's not too often I get mistaken for my brother, the intellectual."

"As I thought."

"I hope half of Tokyo isn't as clever as you. My father'll make us close the office if people know Oliver Davis' brother has a psychic research office. And Noll will be furious with me for letting that happen."

Yasuhara shook his head with a smile. "I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're worried about."

"Can I ask how you figured it out?"

Yasuhara shrugged. "I had my suspicions. I heard from Murata about the Shibuya twins who helped her out and I saw the photo in the paper. After that I read up on you guys a little bit. And—well, Mai gave you away again today. Why else would she freak out when some random guy showed up and asked about Oliver Davis?"

Gene half-laughed, half-groaned. "I'm going to have to get her to stop doing that. She's too easy to figure out."

Yasuhara tipped his head back and forth, his eyes narrowing as he contemplated. "What I can't figure out, though, is why she was so afraid that Takigawa fellow was going to walk out of here and never come back. Why did she want to make such a good impression on him?"

"Why Mai does anything is beyond me."

"I'm sure that's not true. It's obvious you two are kindred spirits, two peas in a pod. If you didn't look so different I'd assume you were brother and sister." Yasuhara's laughter faded and he studied him thoughtfully, tapping the end of the pencil against his cheek. "So what brought the renowned Davis brothers to Tokyo? How did you end up here?"

Gene shrugged in response. "Why do any of us end up anywhere?"

Yasuharu hummed, neither in agreement nor disagreement. "And your brother went back to England, is that right?"

"How do you figure?"

It was Yasuhara's turn to shrug. "That's just what it seemed like to me." The afternoon sunlight, streaming through the window caught on the frames of his glasses, glinting gold as he turned his head. "I guess the real question is—why are you still here?"

...