** Thank you all for your kind comments and support! I am very happy and humbled to have so many wonderful fans of my story. Here is chapter three earlier than anticipated. Also, I live in Massachusetts but love everything about the UK. If any of you are from the United Kingdom please feel free to reach out and give me some pointers about words and phrases I can use to make this sound more authentic! **

Chapter Three

Letting out an exhausted sigh, Mai leaned her head back until it rested on the seat. Why did she have to say that? Worse of all, if he actually found Ethel's body was he going to think she was some sort of accomplice to the murder? She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the thoughts swirled around in her head.

Minutes passed in a daze and she mindlessly hopped buses to get to her flat complex. Once she arrived it took her a moment to realize that her flat was freezing. A chill ran down her spine as a memory from her childhood began to resurface. A memory of ghostly boney hands reaching for her as a spirit gasped for help. Shaking the memory from her mind, Mai hastily made her way into her new home and tried to rationalize the chill in the air. A knock at the door made her jump in fright until a kind voice called from the other side.

"Mai? Are you home, love?" the aged voice rang out.

A smile graced her lips and all previous fear left her body. She made her way to her door and opened it to reveal her elderly landlord. He was a stout little man with balding gray hair and a full moustache adorning his upper lip. The smell of pipe tobacco and peppermint reached Mai's nose and she absentmindedly wondered if her own grandfather would have smelt the same had she the opportunity to ever have known him.

"Good evening, Mr. Hicks," she greeted with a small bow.

"Ah, Mai, how are you? Enjoying England I hope? Goodness girl! Look at you, you're nothing but skin and bones. Have you been eating properly since starting that job of yours?" His words were kind and his crinkled eyes held nothing but warmth. He held his wooden walking cane in support for his hunched back.

Mai laughed lightly. "England has been an adventure to say the least. Everyone has been more than welcoming. I'm actually hoping to finally get to explore the city soon. And yes, sir, I'm making sure to eat. Actually, today I was able to finish the lasagna you made me. Speaking of which, I have your container," She held up a finger, signaling for him to wait as she grabbed the glass container from her kitchenette. She walked back and handed it to the man as he held out a round tin towards her. "What's this?"

"Payment!" The man smiled brightly, his round cheeks raising up so much they nearly closed his eyes completely.

"Payment?" Mai asked, confusion evident on her face.

"Well, you've only been here a few weeks but you have already helped me around the building more times than I can count on one hand," he explained. He motioned towards the tin. "They're biscuits! Made them this morning. My dear Elsie used to bake them all the time so I get the urge to bake from time to time."

Mai hugged the tin to her chest at the sentiment. "Thank you very much, sir, they smell delicious."

"They don't even compare to Elsie's! It's a shame you didnt move in a few years ago, she would have adored you."

Mai nodded softly, wishing she had known the late Mrs. Hicks. A breeze from the hall blew through the open door causing Mai to pull her denim jacket closer to her.

"Oh, goodness me child! It nearly slipped my mind. My main reason for stopping by! The air conditioner started itself up and won't turn off. It was only just installed a few months ago and I am rather old fashioned; only familiar with radiators and whatnot. I find I'm not too sure what to do. Do you think you could take a look for me?" The old man gave her a pleading look and Mai couldn't resist the urge to help.

When she had come calling about the flat for lease, Mr. Hicks had been curious about her story and after hearing it he gave her a great deal. The flat was small but substantially larger than her old one in Japan. Here she had a small living space with a kitchenette, as well as a separate bedroom and bathroom. In Japan everything was in one room.

"I'd be happy to," she piped up. "My old place was quite small but had air conditioning so I might be of some help."

"Oh good," he exclaimed, shaking his cane happily.

Mai spent the next hour identifying the issue with the air conditioning before finally being able to fix it. By the time she was done it was nearly eleven at night. "That should do the trick!"

"I say girl, you're more reliable than my own grandson. Thank goodness for you, otherwise I'd have to reach out to him for help and I'd much rather your company. Phillip can be a good boy, but he can also be rather stubborn, and...well anyhoo thank you for your help," he chucked.

Mai let out a small laugh and bowed slightly in respect. "I'm glad to help. If there is anything else you need please feel free to ask. I should be getting to bed though, I'm afraid the events of the day are catching up with me."

After a quick farewell Mai made her way back to her flat, enjoying the reasonable temperature. Sleep was slowly calling her name, outweighing the need to brush her teeth and put on her pyjamas. She crawled into her bed, pulling the duvet around her.

In mere minutes Mai found herself in the black realm of a dream.

Brown eyes shot open, staring at the ceiling. She could feel her pulse racing under her skin. Bringing up a hand to cover her face, Mai let out a sigh and furrowed her eyes. She was sure she had a dream but for some reason she couldn't remember many of the details. All she could recall was a vague picture of a group of friends sitting in an office laughing away. That, and the smell of tea. Something about that dream felt so familiar, almost as if it were a past life.

A loud ringing disturbed the silence of her room and she turned to look at her mobile. An unknown number stared back at her. It wasn't as if she had many friends here in England, to be honest the only people she talked to so far were her landlord, a certain blue-eyed narcissistic professor, and a few coworkers. She laid back down on the bed and let the ringing fade away. Finally she was surrounded by silence again. It was only seven o'clock, what harm would another hour of sleep do? She pulled her pillow close and smiled to herself at the thought of extra sleep.

Only seconds passed before her mobile rang impatiently again. Groaning, she reached over and answered her phone.

"Miss Taniyama." A familiar deep voice resonated over the line.

"M-Mister Davis? How'd you get my number?" Mai sputtered. Confusion quickly turned into dread as she remembered her parting words to him the previous night.

"How did you know about the cherry tree?" His voice was straight to the point, he had a reason for calling and he wanted answers.

Mai's heart nearly stopped. This was it. He was going to accuse her of poor Ethel's death, she knew it. Well, it was either that or he was going to think she was a freak. Her breath had caught in her throat, keeping her from replying even if she wished to.

"Mai."

Her heart was pounding and her stomach churned. She felt like a chastised child. Mai bit her lip worriedly, trying to get the nerves to confess the truth. "I saw it in a dream," she whispered cautiously.

Silence filled the void and her mind began to wonder what the man on the other line was thinking.

"Meet me in one hour. The lecture hall."

Mai's eyes widened at his curt demand. "What? But it's-" she is cut off by the tone of the phone; he had hung up. "But it's Saturday."

Cambridge University

08:00

She stood before the large wooden door, nervously wringing her hands around the strap of her handbag. She quickly adjusted her cardigan and pushed her hair behind her ears. Taking a deep breath she reached out a hand and knocked on the wooden surface. It was a faint knock but she could only muster up so much courage.

"Come in," came the curt response.

With a turn of the doorknob the door slowly creaked open.

There he was, sitting at his desk and staring intently at his laptop. One hand was balled under his chin whilst the other tapped expertly on the keyboard.

"Sit," he ordered, not taking his eyes off of the screen.

Mai carefully closed the door and made her way over to the chair that was sitting opposite him. She took her seat and waited apprehensively for the man to speak but to her discomfort he remained silent.

She took this time to study his features. His hair looked uncharacteristically unkempt and she could see dark circles forming under those cerulean blue eyes. His normally clean shaven jaw was growing dark with stubble. She noted to herself how the hue of his eyes seemed to change to his surroundings. The grey jumper he donned over a white button down shirt complimented him nicely, as well as the black trousers that showed off the muscles in his leg.

Mai looked down at her hands and waited for him to speak. With each passing minute she could feel her nerves being replaced by frustration at his disregard of her.

She pursed her lips, trying to hold it in but her irritation began to win. The second she opened her mouth to call him out on his disrespect he reached unto his briefcase and pulled out a familiar black box.

Frustration forgotten, Mai tilted her head in confusion. "The light box?"

Blue eyes met brown. "The PAD-01," he corrected as he began to hook the device up to his computer.

"PAD-01?" she queried.

The man let out a short breath. "Psychic Ability Detector."

"Oh," she nodded unimpressed by the name.

He shot her a look. "I was eleven when I created it. The name wasn't important."

"Mhm. And the 01? What does that stand for?" she pried.

"Isn't it obvious? It only took one try to build a successful prototype," he stated matter of factly.

"Of course," she sighed. "How could I forget? You're a genius," she mocked.

He shot her another irritated look. "I am a genius."

They both stared at each other, neither one backing down until finally Oliver sighed in irritation. He waved a hand towards the device, signaling for her to begin.

"You want me to do this?" she questioned cautiously.

Another blank stare.

Mai's eyelid twitched in frustration. "Listen, I'm sorry about...well actually I have no idea what I have to be sorry about. Now will you cut this out? Act like a grown up and talk to me, I'll answer all of your questions if you have any." She had never raised her voice to him before but she refused to be treated less than human. With a broken sigh, her voice began to waver. "I refuse to be some sort of lab rat for your entertainment."

Oliver's eyes widened slightly and he looked over out at the empty lecture hall. After a long pause, he finally spoke. "Forgive me, Miss Taniyama. You're not." He stopped and looked her in the eyes. "I called you here today because I believe you may have some underlying psychic ability. I...apologize if my actions have made you uncomfortable. I haven't had much sleep." He paused again and Mai could have sworn she saw a sliver of frustration in those eyes of his, not because of her but rather frustration of his own actions. "In fact, my brother used to tell me I had the social skills of a tortoise."

Silence followed. He raised his gaze to look at her. She stared at him, with her mouth slightly agape. And suddenly, she couldn't hold back the laughter anymore and it came bubbling out. Now it was his turn to watch in shock.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she choked out through laughter gesturing with her hands. "I just pictured a little tortoise with blue eyes and a little scowl, judging people everywhere it went."

It took her a moment to control her laughter, but Oliver found himself not minding as he normally would have. He had to admit it was a rather pleasing sound. He sat there for a moment, waiting expectantly with his chin propped up on steepled fingers.

Mai took a deep breath and smiled sheepishly over to the man sitting across from her. "Sorry about that," she muttered. "So you want me to start pushing these buttons?"

He nodded. "It will take some time. I will inform you when you are finished."

"Okay," she replied with a determined nod of her own and began to push buttons randomly.

Oliver watched her for a moment before pulling out a notebook and case file. A few minutes passed before he heard the petite brunette let out a huff.

Looking up, he raised a questioning brow. "Yes?"

Her mouth twisted in frustration. "Is this thing even on?"

He glanced over at the monitor of his laptop and read the data. "It is. Continue."

She rolled her eyes and continued to press buttons. Eventually she stopped looking at the lights all together.

"How much longer?"

It was Oliver's turn to roll his eyes at her childlike impatience. "You have a ways to go."

"You said I need to do this one hundred times?" she asked hopefully.

"One thousand," he corrected.

"Yeah that's what I thought," she grumbled to herself.

She continued pressing buttons for the next twenty minutes before the blue-eyed professor informed her she was done. She stretched her arms over her heads and let out a soft tired yawn. She twisted her back and felt relief with every pop of her joints. "So?"

Oliver put his papers away and checked the collected data. After double checking, his brows furrowed slightly. He was expecting she would miss a lot of them but he hadn't expected this. He turned the computer to face the tired brunette and her eyes grew wide.

"None?" she asked incredulously. "I got none of them right?"

"It appears so," he mused, thinking about the possibilities behind this. Long fingers reach up to rub his unshaven chin in thought.

"Zero. Null. Has anyone ever done that before?" she asked suspiciously.

Naru looked at her with his ever calculating gaze and shook his head slowly.

"Well this was a confidence builder," she muttered sarcastically to herself and laid her head on the desk between them. After a moment she shot up, pointing a finger in the air. "That's it! It must be broken."

"Impossible. I built this remember?" he rolled his eyes.

"And I broke it, remember? And even though you fixed it, didn't you even say so yourself that this was a prototype you built when you were young? Maybe the wiring is faulty. Nobody is perfect," she said, trying to convince herself.

Oliver gave her a look. "I beg to differ. And again, it's working perfectly fine, see?" He reached over in front of her and the first button he pushed lit up a bulb.

Mai deflated in her chair. "Fine. So what does a zero mean on your precious little box then?"

"You say it as though it is a bad thing. I don't think you realize the significance of your score," he informed, catching Mai's attention. "You did the complete opposite of what was asked of you. Instead of predicting which bulb would light up, you predicted which wouldn't. Every time. These findings, along with the knowledge of your dream, suggests you have potential psychic ability, Mai."

Her heart skipped a beat.

"Really?" she whispered in awe. "Well I mean, I've always kind of had...an inkling, but to have it confirmed, well, that's pretty amazing." She looked at the man sitting across from her. "So what now?"

"Your dream," he started. "Tell me what you saw."

Mai froze. She had never confided with anyone about her dreams before. She knew how ridiculous it sounded to have dreams about spirits and their deaths. Half of her wanted to ignore his request but the other half was telling her that he of all people would understand. Afterall, he was a professor who specialized in the paranormal. She looked into his eyes once more and knew: he would believe her.

"I was at her house. It was night time. I heard a struggle coming from inside and that's when I saw her. It was only for a moment, but Mrs. Turner made her way outside. She had a gag in her mouth and her hands were tied. She almost made it but…" She trailed off, remembering the sheer terror in the elderly woman's eyes.

"But?" Oliver coaxed.

"Someone pulled her back in. I heard her being stabbed and when I opened my eyes someone was burying her under the cherry tree. That was when the blossoms turned red," she finished with her gaze cast down towards her fidgeting hands.

"Interesting," the man muttered to himself, looking at nothing in particular.

"Do you believe me?" she wondered cautiously.

He turned to her and propped his chin on his fist. "I do."

Mai couldn't help the relieved smile that began to form. The man turned to his briefcase and handed her the file she was shown the night before.

"Ethel Turner. She was ninety-seven years old. About one month ago she went missing. Her nephew, Fredrick, had recently moved in with her due to her failing memory."

Mai nodded along as he related the information from his case.

"Fredrick was the one who reached out to me. He claimed Ethel disappeared one night, which is unfortunately quite common with elderly dementia patients. Two weeks later he began to notice little things such as doors opening on their own and items falling over. Eventually it got to the point where items began being thrown around the room, leaving him with wounds and bruises."

Mai gasped. Could a ghost really do that to someone?

Oliver continued. "The thing is, I couldn't understand why the spirit of this woman would suddenly appear to torment her nephew. Upon revealing my skepticism, Fredrick then informed me that before she went missing Ethel began to show signs of paranoia. While my crew was attempting to locate Ethel's remains, I decided to check in with her remaining family. She had another nephew and niece. They both lived far away and were unable to care for Ethel but they informed me that Fredrick was the black sheep of the family. Apparently he was always conning someone out of something and no one had heard of him in years before he suddenly returned to take care of his aunt in her tender age. After doing some more research, I discovered that Ethel had been meeting with her lawyer to draft a will."

Mai's heart began to sink. She had a feeling she knew where things were going.

"I can tell you are picking up on my suspicions," he added. "The day she died, Ethel had gone to finalize her will. According to her lawyer, she left everything to her other niece and nephew. Fredrick was left with nothing, however, I don't think he knew that. Unfortunately, I didn't have any proof of his involvement in her disappearance. That is, until you came along. We informed the authorities and they excavated underneath the cherry tree last night where they found her remains. She was still gagged and bound and had twelve stab wounds to her chest and back. His DNA was found underneath her nails and the murder weapon that was buried with her had his fingerprints."

Mai let out a gasp. "He murdered his own aunt?"

"Mrs. Turner had a very large inheritance left to her by her late husband. You wouldn't have known it by looking at her and the way she lived, but Ethel was a millionaire. You see, she never really had dementia nor was she paranoid. Fredrick was gaslighting her in her last months, trying to convince her to leave him everything. She figured out what was happening and changed her will just in time."

"What a despicable human!" Mai seethed. "I've had some difficult dreams, but you don't know how scared she was in those final moments...and to have a family member be the one doing it."

Oliver observed her reaction. "This wasn't your first time having one of those dreams?"

She shook her head slowly. "No."

"How many have you had?" he pondered.

"More than I can remember," Mai confessed.

He leaned back in his chair and watched her carefully, lacing his fingers together and crossing an ankle over one knee. "I have a proposition for you." He stared at her momentarily, as if thinking something over.

She tilted her head, wondering what he was thinking.

"Quit your job. Become my assistant." He wasn't asking.

His piercing blue eyes made her breath catch in her throat. "Pardon?" she whispered, unsure if she heard him correctly.

"Become my assistant. As such, you will attend my crew and I in any case we take, and I, with your permission, will help you hone your abilities. As an added bonus, I will teach you about this field. That is, if you are so inclined." He finished and corssed his arms over his chest, watching her intently.

Mai sat there quietly, staring at her score on the screen, barely blinking. Oliver began to wonder if she had heard him and was about to repeat himself but froze when he saw the smile that lit up her face.

"When do I start?"