This story takes place after the manga. Naru and Lin head back to England with Gene's body and close down SPR. Mai has graduated highschoool and is in university. She keeps in touch with the rest of the team and they struggle through life and everything it has thrown at them but when Mai disappears they make the call to England for help.
This is not told by Mai's perspective but from Lin's (something different) How has he and the team changed in the last three years?
Read to find out what happens.
Lin stood in the doorway and looked back at his desk. He had turned off the light but there was an odd light emanating from his desk, flashing to get his attention. He squinted, his eyes tired from staring at the laptop screen and placed the light, blinking on his office phone. He almost forgot it existed.
He walked back to the desk and punched the button and a computerized voice told him he had a new message. 'wasn't that what the blinking light was supposed to tell him?' he growled then slid into his chair. He needed some sleep or he would turn into a growling zombie. He took a breath and forced himself to relax. He was acting like Oliver annoyed by the little inconveniences of life. Lin knew he was due for a vacation. Years of training Naru and spending the last 3 years in Japan only to come back and delve beck into research and cases full time. A week of mourning was barely long enough to get settled back in England. Not that Lin had many things to bring back from Japan some cameras from the office were still lost in shipment when he went back to full time work.
Noll growled daily, splitting his attention between research and cases. Not that he personally went on very many. Only the ones he could convince the proffessors he was safe going on and he was vital to do proper research. He had created his own team for those occasions. The elite of their England office and two researchers that were not scared off by his growling.
"Hey Lin-san," A hesitant male voice spoke Japanese, "I hope I am not disturbing you but I was hoping you could help me out. You see Mai disappeared a week ago and we can't find her. I know with your scary skills of research you could probably track her down in a few minutes. Please try. Thank you." There was a long pause and Lin finally placed the voice, Yasuhara. "If you don't have it my number is 987-987-9878"
Lin wrote the number on a pad and looked at his watch. It was a little after 7 with the sun just fading across the horizon. He'd earlier declined Madoka's invitation to supper at 6 so no one expected him and he had no plans for the rest of the night.
He clicked on the desk lamp and booted up his laptop. Yasuhara said finding Mai would only take a few minutes and he was right. She was a good worker but predictable and easily traceable. It was unlikely she would be hard to find and although he did not care for the Japanese she had always proven herself as an asset.
He started tracing her with a basic timeline since they had left Japan around two years ago. They had sent a substantial severance check to keep her from falling behind when she found a new job. He traced the deposit to her account and traced her apartment. She had moved after a couple months. Lower rent side of town, a studio apartment in a high rise. Not the safest area but she made steady payments up until last month. He also found her new work. A small tea shop. She was hired a week after they had left and it seemed she worked there up until a week ago.
She had also registered for college at Tokyo University. Taking full time classes she had completed 3 semesters and registered for the fourth but records had shown she had not been to classes in the last week. She would be dropped if she didn't return before exams in a couple weeks.
Her new apartment was within walking distance of both the tea shop and the college. Her rent had been paid steadily until a week ago then a hiccup. Then two payments, one by Ayako and the other from the monk. He chuckled, he wondered if they knew the other had paid or not.
Lin noted that down. Her disappearance had to be from between those two rent payments. Lin leaned back in his chair and stretched his neck, back and arms as he thought. Yasuhara had said she disappeared a week ago. Is that when she disappeared or when he found out about it. Both he and Mai were in college in separate universities. It was unlikely they would be able to get together very often. It was not uncommon for students to lose track of old friends and create new ones in college but he would have thought that the others would have noticed her disappearance sooner than a week. Wouldn't they?
He leaned forward and checked the café. Her last paycheck was cashed august 25th another was issued but never cashed. He last recorded day of work was august 31st. three hour shift. Nothing after that. He debated on how deep he should delve then jumped in. Her bank showed last activity on the 30th a small withdrawal, he estimated would be enough for modest groceries for a single person. Her last call on her cell was the 29th. Her last text sent was the morning of the 30th. No messages read or sent after that. A few days later her friends started blowing up her phone looking for her. He noted down the contacts and unfamiliar names to research. Nothing put up any red flags. It appeared that she disappeared on the morning of the 30th, her work the last place she was seen.
A feeling of déjà vu washed over him. He wasn't used to hunting down the living, but he had done it once. Sort of, this was eerily similar to when Gene disappeared. Back then he had less to go on. Gene had tried to hide his activity and disappeared without a trace in a foreign country. If only he had known before Gene died he might have prevented his death. He settled his fingers over the keyboard once again, a new vigor in his mission. He would find Mai.
