So, this is a filler chapter, but it does have importance. The next chapter will start the case. I originally thought of doing my own case here, but each time I tried to think through the cases it ended up revealing more of Mai's powers and such, which they don't know much about. So, after much debate and reading through a lot of ghost stories (Japanese or otherwise), I decided on this.

Thank you Ariana Taniyama for correcting my spelling! Much appreciated.

Um, enjoy, and sorry this one is sorta short-this is actually my shortest chapter yet…

I don't own Ghost Hunt.

HAPPY READING!

BLIND

September

Thursday

Day 1

I was tired. I had had the weirdest dream last night. Something about dogs… or was it students? A school…. I didn't know, it was really weird, and I remember crying when I woke up, but I don't know what made me cry. I didn't remember the dream in the slightest.

Regardless, I dragged myself out of bed, went to school, and went to work, taking my homework with me on the off chance that I finished early and could work on it. Hardly seemed possible, but just in case, right?

I was working on filing (which is about all I do) when I heard an irritating order from behind the CEO office door. It was a simple phrase, a simple order, but somehow… It has come to piss me off on my worst days.

"Mai, tea."

Damn him and his obsession with tea. The order had come from one Kazuya Shibuya, or in other words, Naru the Narcissist. He's my boss. I groaned and got up to go to the kitchen to make his tea. I seriously have never heard of anyone who drank as much tea as he did. Keep in mind I helped out at a tea shop with my mother when I was younger. The only time I got this many tea orders in one day from a single person (not from a whole shop-THAT is ten times worse, believe it or not) was when some English guy came by.

Ah, yes, The English Guy.

He had only stayed about a week, but stayed in the tea shop almost the whole time, apparently working on some paper or something on his laptop, and conducted interviews from where he sat. The only reason the owner didn't complain or make him pay for using the shop as his impromptu work place was because he ordered, drank, and paid for so much tea in a single day that the owner didn't even care. I never did figure out his name (which is why he was deemed The English Guy by me), what he was writing, or what he interviewed about the whole week he was there because he always stopped what he was doing whenever I came by with his tea.

Oh, yeah, somehow it had turned out that I made most-if not all-of his tea that week. I didn't officially work there, but the owner did pay my mother more when I worked, so I learned how to make Japanese and English teas so that I could be of use no matter the order. That week happened to be during summer vacation, so while I was there all day, the two others who could make English tea really well left for a vacation. So, it became me who made his tea and delivered it to him. When we found out he only ordered English teas, I just went ahead and went out there to get his order. He found it adorable when I came out with his tea, so I ended up occasionally talking to him about Japan, and in turn he told me about England. I never saw him after that week, but he did give little eleven-year-old me English currency-one euro to be exact-before he left. I've kept that euro in my 'treasure box' that I had at the time, and still have somewhere in my apartment.

Hmp, it couldn't be Naru was somehow English, right? Yeah, right, he doesn't seem English-his eye shape gave that away. Maybe he studied abroad there and picked up the habit? He was certainly smart enough… Ah, but I shouldn't ask. I just felt like that might be bad. He was school aged. If he had been studying abroad in England for whatever reason, something bad might have happened to make him come here. Eh, so shouldn't he be in school then?

I came out of my thoughts when the water was finished heating with a shriek. Soon enough, the tea was ready to be brought out to my narcissistic boss.

I put the teacup on the server tray and walked out of the kitchen. Knocking twice on Naru's door, I waited for a response.

"Come in, Mai," I heard Naru reply. He only knows it's me because I wait for a response unlike the others, who either only knock once and come in anyway or don't knock at all. I came in and put the tea on his desk. Naturally, he was reading a file. We actually got a lot of cases, but Naru only takes cases he's interested in. The fact that the cases are usually nothing more than some bad pipes or something doesn't help. That's why I have so much filing-I have to file each complaint in their folders, or reorganize the bookshelves (how they get messed up anyway still confuses me, but once I ended up reorganizing an entire shelf of books that somehow got into the kitchen- it didn't help that they were all in English), or my most recently added task of serving tea to Naru.

"Is there something you need?" Naru asked, making me realize I was just standing there spacing out.

"OH, uh, nothing! Sorry." And with that, I left his office.

BLIND

Friday

Day 2

I walked into the sitting room just to find another stack of books on the floor. How did it even-? You know what, never mind.

I set my things down and I walked over to the pile. Something was off… well, more than the stack of books coming off the shelf, that is. Then I noticed something. These were the same books from the time I found a shelf-full in the kitchen! They're in the same order as last time too… Grabbing a notebook off my desk, I decided to just take note of the order they were in, in case it happened again and I was right. I copied down the English letters the best I could before calling Naru in to help me.

He took one look at me, then at the books before sighing. This actually happens a lot, although usually it's more than one shelf and it's a lot more hectic, and we can't figure out why. Or at least, I can't and if Naru knows something he won't tell me. Naru has had to help me, seeing as my English skills are less than par.

Speaking of Naru… "Mai, tea." Yep, there it is. Resigning to my fate, I went to the kitchen. Time to go get Master Narcissist his tea... "Mai, you're thinking out loud again."

Damn!

"No use in cussing."

I grumbled, and this time made sure my mouth was shut before thinking obscene thoughts in my head.

BLIND

Saturday

Day 3

This time when I came in, Monk was in the sitting area with John. I greeted them and got them something to drink as I went to get Naru his tea. For whatever reason, the two of them met up here every Saturday. This started after Monk found out my little secret.

Ah, yes, my secret. I've been blind since I was little, but I don't act like a typical blind person might. So for the most part, I can keep this a secret. In my work portfolios, I just put down to check through my medical records if need be. Therefore, I avoid breaking the law AND directly telling that I'm blind to my employers. Usually, they check within a month and I get fired, but either Naru hasn't done so or just doesn't care. Although, I'd think he'd have at least mentioned it if he knew…

Ah, well, back to my secret, John knew almost immediately when the principal of my school accidentally told him during our first case together. Monk, on the other hand, is a completely different story…

Monk had a very serious expression on his face. Ayako was nowhere to be seen-I guess he already dropped her off. In Monk's hand held my diary, and it was opened to the page that introduced John, the one where I said I was blind. "Mai," he said calmly, obviously holding back quite a bit, "we need to talk."

"Uh…" I was trying to think of a response, but it wasn't working. Then I realized… "Hey, YOU READ MY DIARY!"

"No, I didn't," Monk said, still very serious. "It dropped to the ground when I opened the door. It just so happened to open to this page." He took a deep breath. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Ah, well…" Well, no use in lying. "I never said I could see, you came with that assumption yourself,' I defended.

"Mai."

"Right, anyway, I haven't been able to actually 'see' since I was really little. I got into a bit of an accident-"

"A BIT of an accident? A bit of an accident doesn't blind people, Mai."

"Ah, right, sorry. Anyway, I became blind because of it. But, I've never really had trouble with it, really." Monk only stared, so I kept talking. "I can sorta… um… sense… the things around me. I think it's just, you know, adaption, or something. I can tell where you are, and stuff, but as to what you're wearing…" I trailed off.

Monk seemed to soften a bit, not by much, but a bit. "So, what, shouldn't you tell Naru? Your BOSS?'

I cringed. This is what I hated about being lectured; the guilty and gut-wrenching feelings you get from the other party involved. "I never intended to," I said honestly. "Usually on applications, I just say to look through my medical history for any problems. My mom actually taught me that not because I was blind, but because she did the same thing. You never know what will be written off as 'major' or 'minor' in a business, ya know? And when Naru first made me work for him, I thought I was only temporary."

"Temporary? Why?" Monk was softening up a bit more. Now he was still upset, but a bit more understanding.

"Ah, well, remember how Lin came in with a crutch?" Monk nodded. "That was sorta my fault. He pushed me out of the way of a falling shoe-shelf locker thing. A camera got broken in the process, so Naru basically hunted me down and made me work for him." I paused to think for a moment. "Although, it probably wasn't that hard to find me," I admitted.

"Eh? Why?" was the curious response.

"Well," I grinned, "he met my friends and me the day before. We were telling ghost stories and he came by and scared us to death and back! With only the word four, too…"*

"Four?"

"Yeah, long story, anyway, he was smiling. He had his Prince Narcissistic Charming façade on, and it totally worked on my friends."

"What about you?"

"I wasn't impressed. Now that I think about it, I practically kicked him out of the room. Only, naturally, he didn't leave, and when he DID it wasn't before leaving with Keiko and Michiru's contact information and arranging to come by the next day to tell ghost stories."

"Wow. Really?"

"Yep. However, he got out of the whole ghost stories mess when Kuroda came into the classroom. I tried to leave early since I had definitely had a bad day, Keiko and Michiru tried to convince me stay for 'that cure senior'-AKA Naru-, Kuroda blamed us for giving her a headache by calling in a bunch of ghosts to the old schoolhouse, and then Naru found me and somehow got me working as his assistant."

"Hmp. What did he do with your friends' contact info?"

"Well, I think he kept it, at least for a little while, because he called them to ask about the old schoolhouse and Kuroda."

"Eh? So they have his contact info?" Monk asked incredulously

I laughed. Yeah, right. And I was a twenty-year-old man. Ha. "No, Naru was sneaky-he either used the office phone or a payphone because when Michiru tried to redial him it just went to a busy signal."*

"What about your other friend, um, Keiko was it?"

"Hm, she had someone call her immediately afterwards, so she couldn't."

Monk whistled. For a moment, we were both silent. "So, you really are blind?" he said, bringing us back to the original topic.

I nodded. "Yep, I am."

"I see…" he muttered. I glared at him slightly. "Oh, sorry, my bad." I nodded slightly before realizing-Monk still had my diary!

I quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into my bag. Monk blinked a bit, processing what just happened, then laughed as I glared at him again.

"So," a playful smile came onto his face, "what color is my hair?"

I smirked, recalling from the vision I had at the monitors his hair and eye color, as well as the rest of his face. "Light brown."

"WHA-" He huffed. "Okay then, my eye color!" To add emphasis, he put his eye to my face and pointed at it.

I giggled now, closing my eyes as I answered, "Brown."

"Wha-, okay, how'd ya know?" Monk pouted.

"Well," crap, I didn't think this through! "I had a vision when your exorcism was going on. I could see you in the living room, ya know, on the monitor screen," I confessed. "I've had a few visions like that… I don't like them much. It's just too… weird, I guess."

"Hm," Monk seemed to be in thought. "Maybe you're a psychic?"

I just stared at him with unblinking-not to mention unseeing-eyes.

"I'm serious!" he defended. More staring. "Ugh, have it your way. I won't tell Naru about the visions. It would mean me telling him you're blind."

I smiled. "You really won't tell?"

"Nope," Monk smirked. Uh oh. "You're going to tell him."

I wilted. There's no way I could-! Just-! NO!

Monk looked at me for a second before sighing. "Look, I won't make you, it's your choice as to when, but you HAVE to promise to tell him," he said.

I held out my pinkie childishly, like Ayumi had done only hours earlier. "If you promise not to tell ANYONE, I promise to tell Naru someday, deal?"

He smiled and shook my pinkie with his. "You are such a child."

"I'm young, what's your excuse?"

"HEY NOW!"

And with that, two people on the SPR team knew.

Also from that day came Monk's favorite game- the 'Hey Mai, what's this?' game. It can be anything from the color of the object to what the scene in a picture is. Monk, for whatever reason, finds it to be the most amusing game ever.

I didn't quite share the same sentiments.

"Hey Mai, what's this?" Monk held up a picture. John just sighed-he understood what it meant when Monk does this, and he gave up trying to stop him long ago.

"Um," I tried to guess by using the texture of the inks and the thickness as a guide. No luck. "I… give up."

"It's a picture of everyone!" Monk said happily. I looked to John for verification. Monk liked to try to fool me, so John verified for me. John nodded in confirmation. "Here," Monk smiled as he handed me the picture. "You can put in your diary, if you want."

"Monk," I replied as I grabbed the picture, "you realize I have practically zero use for this, right?"

"Well, you never know. Maybe your friends or family will want to see your coworkers someday," Monk argued. John just nodded along, silently agreeing.

"They might get worried about you hanging out with people they don't know much about," John pointed out.

I just sighed-no use when they both double-teamed me like this. I just put the picture in a safe place in my bag until I went home.

"Mai, tea," came Naru's order from behind his door. I groaned. Seriously, how has he not died of tea overdose?!

BLIND

Sunday

Day 4

No school for the day should equal no worries, right? Psht, I wish!

You see, one of my classes has a huge test coming up. Like I've said before, I'm pretty smart (at least I think so), but I'm no genius like Naru. So, although I'm pretty confident, I'm trying to study when I can.

It so happened that I got my work done early. Heck, I even went Naru AND Lin to see if there was a fluke in the system. Alas, there wasn't, and Naru, funnily enough, told me to go study so I could 'at least try to shape up my school record'. So, study I did.

I was halfway through one of the study worksheets and some of my notes when Naru called for tea. I got up to get him some when I saw Ayako and Monk walk in. Huh, what are they doing here? I offered them something before going back to kitchen. It's three now, isn't it? Where' s the tea- Ah, Earl Grey, here you are!

I delivered Naru his tea (and once again got no thank you-honestly, I know it's my job but he can at least pretend he has manners of some sort) before heading back to the sitting room with iced coffees.

The sight before me was pretty laughable. Some of my worksheets had fallen on the ground, apparently, and Ayako and Monk stood there, noses scrunched up as they tried to go through it. "Having trouble, you two?" I asked in a sweet voice-an obviously fake one, but that was sorta the point.

"What on earth are they teaching you?" Ayako gaped, looking up from the paper. I walked up to them, putting the drinks on the coffee table on the way over, before walking behind her to check which worksheet she had. I giggled when I saw it.

"Ayako, that was one of my review worksheets from the beginning of the year," I said 'innocently'.

"The beginning of the year?!" Ayako yelled. "What about the one Monk has?"

I checked Monk's. "I'm pretty sure that was the first assignment I had," I scoffed. Ayako looked over at the paper in Monk's hand. I sighed before grabbing the most recent worksheet I had, the one I had been going through before Naru had called for his tea. "Here, this is what my next test is on," I said as I held out the paper to them. Monk grabbed it while Ayako looked over his shoulder.

"What the-" Monk said, his expression confused.

"How do you even answer that?" Ayako questioned out loud.

I grabbed the sheet again. "Which one?" I asked. I had no idea which one they had been looking at.

"The third one," Ayako exclaimed.

I looked it over. Oh. "That one's easy. You take the squares and, using the property of-"

"Don't actually answer it, Mai!" Monk groaned. "You'll make my head hurt."

At some point in time, Naru had slinked his way into the room. "You know, they say that what one generation learns in their freshman year of high school could have once let someone graduate from college," he said.

"Are you implying that I'm old?" Ayako said in a threatening way. Yes, because that TOTALLY works on Naru…

"I'm not sure if he is," Monk said deviously, "but I'll say it outright, old hag."

"What did you say?!" Ayako yelled.

"Should I spell it out? Okay, grannie, I'll go slow for you. Y-O-U, you, A-R-E, are, O-L-D, ol-"

"I wasn't actually asking, you old apostate monk!"

"Then why'd you say anything?"

I just gathered my school stuff and headed to my safe haven whenever this two got at it-the kitchen. Oh, the death of feminism. Whatever, I needed silence. "You know where to find me," I said as I passed Naru. He smirked before slinking back into his office, just as silent as when he came in.

He did manage to yell, "Stop using my office as a café!" before going completely into his office.

For once, I couldn't agree more.

"Tea."

Nevermind, the moment's gone.

BLIND

Monday

Day 5

No one likes Mondays. No one. Not me, not my classmates, not Naru, and definitely not Lin.

You only try to talk to him Monday once before learning there is at least a six-foot boundary around him at all times at the beginning of the work week. It doesn't matter that the office is open every day (and therefore, there's really no difference between the days if you're not in school like me), it must be inbred into everyone's brain from their school days, and no one has the 'Mondays should just burn into ashes' inbred and carried to a T like Lin does. On cases, he's fine. Office hours? Don't even joke about it.

So, when Lin decided to make tea in the kitchen, Naru was forced to wait another few minutes than usual for his own tea. It didn't even look like Lin noticed me as he left the kitchen and mumbled his way into his office. When I did get Naru his tea, he didn't even look up from his papers as he took a sip, not even a condescending glance at my lateness.

"Lin?" he said knowingly.

"Lin," I nodded with a sigh.

BLIND

Tuesday

Day 6

Tuesday was, for whatever reason, usually our busiest day. Sundays were our least busy, seeing as you either were desperate, lived a while away, or came from a school if you came to Shibuya on a Sunday. It was more than a little nuts going through there. Tuesdays, on the other hand, were our busiest, and also the day we got our wackiest requests.

For instance, I'm giving tea to a woman who claims -and I kid you not- that her left foot is the cause of a poltergeist in her house. Yes, you read that right. Her left foot. And based on her description of the 'poltergeist', it's just some loose wires and some regular house maintenance that needs to be done.

I don't know how he did it, exactly, but Naru somehow got her out. If I had to say, it was him calling Lin in and asking about how you would go about amputating a psychic foot-with a saw, a scalpel, or a butcher knife?

Sometimes, I think Naru is secretly a sadist towards the clients we don't take. Then I realize if I put the first three words plus the word 'secretly' out of that sentence out I have my answer.

BLIND

Wednesday

Day 7

Ah, today. Such a good day.

See, most people judge weeks by Sunday through Saturday, and that's usually how I do it. However, since I started (officially) working at the SPR office on a Thursday, it came to be that I based my workweeks Thursday through Wednesday.* It seems weird, but that's how my brain decided to go about it, and trying to break the habit doesn't work.

So instead of it feeling like the middle of the workweek, it feels like the end to me. As such, I am unnaturally happy on these days. Secretly, I think it sorta makes the guys of the office-meaning Lin and Naru-go out of balance a bit.

"Mai, tea."

"Okay, boss!" I said cheerfully, practically skipping to make his tea.

I quickly made and delivered his tea and left without a word to return to my filing.

Huh, maybe this is why I hate making tea on Thursdays-it's my version of a Monday.

Later that day, I realized I get the most tea orders on Wednesdays. No small wonder on that-Naru's going to take advantage of a good mood if he can. Yet I'll still be happy today, grouchy tomorrow, Monk and John will still pop in once a week, and Lin should always be avoided on Mondays.

Then, as I came out of Naru's office, it happened again. The damn books were everywhere! Not in a neat pile like the last time, no, I'm pretty sure on of the books is in our official fake office plant. "Naru!" I yelled to get his attention. He came out, saw the room, and sighed.

Well, time for work!

BLIND

*I'd like to point out that, in Japanese, the word for 'four' and the word for 'die' (or was it death?) are exactly the same. Many-a-pun and many-a-legend are born from this, BUT it sometimes doesn't quite translate well…

*I actually have no idea what happens if you call a payphone, but an office phone usually has lots of calls or has a filter for the calls (or redials), so usually you get a busy signal if you call at the wrong time. For the sake of simplicity, we'll act as if calling a payphone gets a busy signal and Naru (or more likely Lin) put a filter against redials.

*Let it be known I have no freaking clue what day of the week Mai started working for SPR. I just decided on a random work day, and started from there. Originally it was only going to be a day, but that obviously didn't work out. I then considered changing it to Sunday through Saturday, but I liked the structure of this chapter as it was, plus then the conversation between Monk and Mai would get pushed to the end, and I liked where I put it. So, it stayed like this.

I can't even fathom how many times I typed 'Mai, tea." Sorry if it gradually got on your nerves, but it was to show that Naru drinks a lot of tea-and makes Mai irritated at times. Which is why she bothers him for a thank you. Plus her duties are filing (which is mundane and automatic, which is why it's not mentioned that much) and then tea orders come sporadically throughout.

So, anyway, tell me your thoughts so far if you want. And I will always look at your requests-this is for you guys, not just myself ya know! So I will listen. No pressure if you don't have anything-I just want to know what you guys might put in yourselves.

Hey, here we go again! Fanfic suggestions!

Here's the first one-

Rumor has it by Annie Sparklecakes

And the second-

Haunting life by mytruthaboutlife

I don't own either, got it? Like I said, I don't suggest my own fics. However, if you want to, don't be shy about suggesting one to me (and if possible, in a PM instead of a review). The only requirement is that it's a Ghost Hunt fanfic.

Remember that there about 2,318 or so fanfics out there, and I have a literal list of fanfics, so if you don't see yours immediately, do not fret! In the next few chapters I should have it out there.