Case Two: Souls Like Fireflies -Part Three

A/N: You know in Fairy Tale where Troll-Shima is always sending Lucy and Natsu on dates and doesn't call them dates? Hehehe...Well, kids, this is not a date... A little action here, I don't recognize any real triggers.

This chapter is life for me though. Hope you love it too.

As Always, not my sandbox just my castle!

"Normality is a paved road. It is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it." - Vincent Van Gogh

"There, all done. I can't believe I'm actually wearing a Yukata. I haven't worn one since medical school." Ayako laughed, shaking her head at herself.

"It looks lovely on you, Mai." Masako glided closer, double checking Ayako's bow on the back of Mai's obi. "You did a good job with that, Ayako."

Ayako smiled, please at the praise. "Whoever picked these out did a good job."

Mai had to agree. Masako's pale pink yukata was graced with yellow flowers, a bright combination she seldom wore. The yellow obi emphasized her tiny waist.

Ayako's white yukata seemed more traditional at first, but the deep indigo and violet flowers made her complexion glow, as did the deep scarlet obi.

"The colors certainly look well on you." Masako said, looking Mai over one last time.

"Are you sure? I haven't worn one of these since I was a kid." Mai fidgeted under her stare.

Ayako nodded. "On someone like Masako, with her cool coloring, that combination would be evocative of spring. But on you, it looks like summer."

Mai glanced at herself in the mirror. The yukata was beautiful, of course. A pale green was decorated with darker green leaves and vines. Large flowers in graduated shades of peach and orangish-pink added color. The obi was of a surprising material, color seemed to simmer a little in the light. One way it looked pink, another way, orange.

It was elegant in a way she didn't usually consider herself, but still fresh. She adored it, but at the same time, she felt a little uneasy, like a kid playing dress up.

"Hey, wait. Why do John and I have to wear these things if you and Lin aren't?"

The girls met each other's eyes before rushing out of Naru's office, which they'd been using to change.

Well, rushed might not have been the right word. You didn't exactly rush anywhere in a yukata, unless you wanted to accidentally show everyone around you what kind of underwear you were wearing.

The wraparound style forced the wearer to take tiny, demure steps, giving Mai a whole new appreciation for the work Masako had done for the team previously in a kimono, which was even more elaborate than a yukata.

In the lobby Bou-san was facing off against Naru and Lin, an embarrassed John standing behind him.

"Oh, my." Masako hid her smile behind her sleeve, and Mai had to bite her lip to stifle her own.

Ayako didn't even bother to hide the wicked smile on her face.

"Fan service, ladies." She whispered to the two younger girls, forcing Mai to bite her lip harder.

She was not going to laugh. But oh, Ayako was too evil sometimes...

It wasn't that the guys looked bad. They did not, in fact, look anything of the sort.

But the aggrieved and indignant look on Bou-san's face was almost too much for her. There was literally a tic jumping under one eye.

John was the color of Ayako's obi. "Are you sure there isn't supposed to be more...something." He asked plaintively, pulling the material closer together on his chest.

"And why are you and Lin in street clothes while we're in these get-ups?" Bou-san demanded.

Now that he mentioned it, Mai hadn't seen very many men at the festival wearing a yukata last night. Should she mention that to the others? One look at Naru's face had her narrowing her eyes in speculation.

"As I said earlier, it was a request of the client." Naru's face was impassive, but Mai would bet her next month's rent he was laughing on the inside.

"Then what about you and Lin?" Bou-san accused again.

"Lin will be out of sight in the van." Naru shrugged. "As for myself, I'm afraid there weren't any left in my size. It's unfortunate, but not surprising really, it is the height of festival season after all."

"There's no way-" Bou-san started, but Naru waved him off.

"Really, Houshou, is it any different from your monk's robes?" He said.

Bou-san just glared at him. Then his eyes widened as he caught sight of the girls behind.

John saw them at the same time. "Wow, you girls look great." John said.

"Yeah." Was all Bou-san managed, eyes glued to Ayako, who was studiously ignoring him.

Mai blushed again, before looking Naru and Lin over. Lin was in his normal apparel. Naru, while not in a yukata, had made somewhat of an effort to look less formal. That was, his white shirt was rolled up to his forearms, and his pants were khakis instead of black.

He looked fantastic, and Mai wanted to beat her head into the wall at that thought.

"OK, but, am I supposed to wear this also?" John said a little plaintively, holding up a peach silk flower.

Ayako snorted. "So that's where it went. I wondered why Mai's yukata didn't have a hair ornament in the box like ours."

Indeed, one side of Masako's hair had been clipped back with a yellow flower, and even Ayako's sophisticated french twist had been decorated with a spray of violets.

There hadn't been anything other than the yukata, obi and geta in Mai's box, so Ayako had simply braided Mai's hair and secured it with plain bobby pins.

"I believe that one is meant to go with Mai's costume." Masako's words sounded strained and Mai knew she was trying not to laugh at the beleaguered ex-priest.

John's sigh of relief was less than subtle, and now they were all laughing. Except for Lin and Naru, who probably didn't laugh at anything, so it didn't matter.

"Here Mai, turn around and I'll put it in." Ayako commanded, and Mai turned around obediently. She found herself facing the mirror that decorated one of the office walls. In the reflection, she could see Ayako as she set the ornament, and behind her, Naru watching them. Her eyes met Naru's for a moment and she had to repress a shiver.

She wished he didn't always have such an effect on her, even after all this time.

There was no point in wanting what would never be yours.

"Sorry, Mai, did I pull your hair?" Ayako frowned as she tried again to place the clip. "It's just that the clasp on this is loose. I'm afraid it won't stay, and then Naru will end up paying the rental company for it."

Mai bit her lip. She'd felt kind of left out when they realized her outfit didn't come with a hair adornment, but she didn't want to cost the company extra money…

"Maybe we'd better leave it here then. I don't want to lose it." She said, forcing an easy smile. It was just a flower after all. Was she really going to complain about a silly flower when the company had rented such an obviously high quality yukata for her to wear?

"It's fine. We can always file a complaint if necessary. They're the ones who put it in the wrong box in the first place." Naru said, turning smartly. "Let's go."

John drove the girls in Lin's car while the others rode in the van. Mai found herself checking her hair repeatedly to make sure she hadn't already lost the flower.

"It's fine." Masako scolded gently. "You'll knock it out yourself at this rate."

Mai stuck her tongue out at her friend, but reluctantly refrained from touching the flower again. They parked near the festival, gathering in a group near the gate.

"What now?" Mai asked Naru.

"Does everyone have their phones?" Naru asked.

Masako held up her bag, as did Ayako. Naru looked at Mai and she shrugged. "Mine didn't come with a bag either."

"And these outfits don't exactly have pockets." Bou-san pointed out wryly.

In fact, he and John were holding their phones and wallets, much like Mai was holding her phone. Masako had shown her how to tuck some cash inside her obi, but her phone wouldn't have fit.

Naru nodded. "Well, we needed to pair up anyway. The goal is to attempt to locate the spirit as discreetly as possible. You two-" He gestured towards John and Bou-san, "Pair up with Masako and Ayako. You can put your stuff in their bags. Mai can put her phone in my pocket."

Awkward silence met his announcement before Ayako cried, "You heard him John, let's go."

She swanned off, dragging a bemused John behind her while Bou-san's mouth dropped open.

"That red-headed witch…" He muttered, glowering at Ayako's back.

Masako glided over with a grace Mai envied. "Let's go, Houshou."

He nodded grimly, and Mai was left facing Naru.

Mai flushed again. Why did this suddenly feel so much like a date?

"Shall we?" Naru asked.

Mai swallowed, and turned to walk with him towards the steps leading up into the park entrance. At the first step she paused however.

"Now what?" He asked.

She looked at him archly. "We both know I can barely walk up steps in sneakers. Give me a moment, I'm gathering my courage, OK?"

She might actually die of embarrassment if she fell down in a yukata in front of all these people, and then there would be TWO ghosts haunting the festival.

"It's good you can face up to your shortcomings." Naru smirked, and she amended her earlier thought.

First, she'd kill him for making her do this before dying of embarrassment, and then there would be three ghosts. Or four if Gene stuck around. Hell, it'd be a party…

"Come on, then." Suddenly, Naru was beside her, offering his arm and her mouth went dry.

This is not a date, she reminded herself as she wrapped her arm through his.

Slowly, they ascended the stairs. Mai breathed a sigh of relief at the top, releasing Naru's arm.

But immediately a laughing kid ran into her, knocking her back into Naru. His quick reflexes saved them both from making her internal threat a reality as he navigated them quickly away from the top of the stairs.

"It's a lot more crowded than last night." Mai said, heart hammering in her chest. "I thought after the fire last night, there would be less people, but there's actually more."

"Word of mouth. Look how young the crowd is." Naru said, gesturing with his chin. "It's mostly teens. They're basically ambulance watchers."

"That's awful, people really got hurt last night..." Mai murmured, looking around the crowd with new eyes.

"People often are awful." He absently tucked her arm back around his and Mai sighed, unsure what to do. Her foremost goal in life at the moment was not finding the ghost, but to not embarrass herself in the crowd.

But she wished that didn't mean holding onto Naru, she liked it a little too much.

And this was not a date.

"So, what now?" She asked, leaning forward to pitch her voice into his ear.

"We need to act like a couple. The complaints about the ghost mention that she apparently likes to hassle people who are having a good time." He said without looking at her, scanning the crowd.

Mai gaped at him.

Seriously?

"Where did you see her the first time?" He turned to face her, and she realized how close they were standing. She leaned back instinctively, flushing.

"Uh, um. The goldfish scooping game." She said, looking away from his intense indigo gaze.

She wished Ren's confession last night had made her half as nervous as Naru, saying they needed to pretend to be a couple for a night.

"It's that way." She gestured in the general direction and they started off.

Mai had to admire how well Naru navigated the crowd. And he never sped up his pace to faster than she could keep up in her outfit, which had to be hard with his height.

He probably got in a lot of practice years ago when Masako had been blackmailing him, Mai thought sourly.

Suddenly, the smell of frying food drifted over to her, and her face flamed when her stomach rumbled.

"Hungry?" Naru smirked again and Mai was actually beginning to resign herself to the concept of dying of embarrassment before the night was over. It was obviously just her karma. She hadn't eaten since she'd left her apartment that morning.

"It's nearly time to eat." Naru must have been in a magnanimous mood to throw her a lifeline like that, but Mai just closed her eyes and shook her head.

With the way the night was going, if she tried to fish her money out of her obi, she'd unravel her damn yukata in front of everyone. Many girls wore close fitting tanks and shorts under their yukata's, but her street clothes wouldn't have fit right. It was just her and her underwear inside this beautiful-possibly-evil outfit. She'd never experienced such a love-hate relationship with an article of clothing though...

Whatever Naru read in her expression had him snorting softly. "Come on, I'm not dealing with Ayako finding out I didn't feed you."

His reasoning was sound enough, since Ayako had certainly become more protective of Mai, Masako and even Yasu over the years.

They approached a yakitori stand as Mai watched as Naru ordered two servings.

She took hers with an embarrassed smile. "Thanks. I didn't expect to go from the park to the office, back to the festival again, or I'd have eaten a bigger breakfast."

"If I'd thought about it, I'd have had food brought to the office." He said dismissively.

He looked over at her. "When it comes to running an investigation, I trust my capabilities. But it is entirely possible I'll forget to feed the team, so remind me in the future. Things like that aren't my strong suit."

"Uh, okay." Mai said, shocked. Naru asking for help managing the team? Maybe she had fallen down the steps earlier and hit her head…

"I thought most Japanese festivals took place in or near Shrines." He said, as they paused on the bridge, using the ledge to hold their food.

"Oh, yeah. That is normally how it's done. There actually is a small shrine there, out on that island in the lake. But it's too small to host anything like this, so they hold it around it instead." Mai said. Ren had explained it to her last night.

"Apparently, there is a small spring under the pond, which is how there is a pond here even though it's technically high ground." She said, gesturing back towards the stairs of doom.

"The locals were able to source water here even during times of drought, and they built the shrine to keep the water spirits happy. Do you think that has anything to do with the spirit?"

She studied the shrine out on the water. It was tiny, only a few feet across. The pond itself wasn't even that deep, if she had to guess. Eight or nine feet beneath the bridge probably. And it was a muddy brown. She couldn't imagine drinking that water, but she supposed during a drought, the local villagers would have done a lot to protect any water source.

"It's possible." He mused, "But unlikely, in my opinion. The shrine is here year round, but the spirit only appears during festivals. The festival seems to be the focus, not the shrine."

Mai nodded, a little enraptured despite herself. It was fascinating to hear him think out loud, especially since he was no longer using her ignorance as an excuse to explain things.

She had been a little over his catty comments about "Explaining things for Mai's sake."

This time he was really treating her like a fellow investigator, even if only a junior one.

"Finished?" He didn't wait for her reply, taking her empty dish over to a trash can. He stopped at a cart selling bottled water and returned with two, handing her a bottle.

She forced herself to drink slowly. She could only imagine the amount of trouble she would have trying to go to the restroom in yukata.

They meandered over to the goldfish scooping stand, where they joined the crowd watching.

"What exactly is the goal?" He asked.

She smiled, shaking her head. He fit in so well she often forgot he hadn't actually grown up in Japan.

"The paddle is used to scoop the fish in the bowl. Too quick, and the fish falls off, too slow, the paper of the paddle breaks. If your aim is bad, you miss the bowl and the fish ends up back in the pool anyway." Mai shrugged. Ren had made it look easy, but she had known better.

"And she appeared here last night?" Naru was speaking directly into her ear to avoid being heard by the crowd around them, but she imagined it must look pretty intimate to the people around him. His breath was warm in her ear and she repressed a shiver.

She nodded jerkily. "Yeah, just for a moment. A little boy nearly caught one, but she flicked it off again. No one saw her but me."

Naru nodded, inscrutable. "Alright, keep an eye out. If you see her, see if you can note anything about her appearance to help Yasu narrow down her identity. Birthmarks, jewelry, even the pattern on her yukata. This festival has been going on for a long time. Narrowing down the time period would help immensely."

Then, to Mai's shock, he strolled over to the vendor and after a moment, exchanged some money for three paddles.

Naru knelt down beside the handful of kids circling the pool. "Anyone want to show me how this works?"

His charm smile was on full blast, reminding her of the first time she'd seen him at her high school, when he'd been trying to weasel information out of her and her friends.

She shook her head. It was working on the kids that same way it had on her friends. Kids clustered around him excitedly, giving him tips and demonstrating the correct paddle holding technique.

"I see. You must be pretty good at this." He was saying to one little girl.

"Your boyfriend is great with kids." One of the mother's had drifted over to her.

"Oh, we are not dating." Mai stuttered, a reminder to herself and much as anything. "This is not a date."

"Oh." The woman blinked. "You're so young to be married already, but maybe I'm just getting old.."

Mai's mouth dropped open in shock. "M-married?"

How on earth had the woman gone from "date" to "marriage" in the blink of an eye. Mai was only twenty-one for goodness sake-

And this was not even a date…

"We're working…" She said, not even worried about blowing their 'cover' at this point.

The woman stared at her quizzically but Mai had spun back around to focus on Naru. She really wished that bratty ghost would appear at any time now.

No ghost appeared during Naru's first attempt, but Mai narrowed her eyes. As she watched him deploy his second paddle, again fruitlessly, she nodded to herself. He was purposefully losing.

Well, that made sense. What on earth would he do with a goldfish?

A flash of purple caught her eye, and her head whipped around, scanning the crowd. She didn't see the spirit anywhere though, so perhaps it had been a different girl.

She turned back just in time to see Naru use his third paddle to neatly scoop a flopping fish into his bowl.

Huh.

"You won a fish." Mai said stupidly, holding the bagged fish up to see it closer. It was pretty, a deep orange that reminded her a little of her obi.

"Obviously." Came Naru's reply.

"Okay, but Naru, you won a fish."

"I believe that was the point of the game." He said dryly.

Mai giggled a little. "But, I mean, do you like fish? Where are you keeping it?"

"Well, the hope was that the ghost would intercede on the fish's behalf." Naru's face was impassive again, and she just shook her head.

"You're a fish dad." She declared, giggling again as she held the bag out to him.

"Consider it a gift." A pause, "And please never refer to me in reference to fish and paternity again."

"For me?" She looked at him, wide-eyed. "For the office? An office fish? I can keep it on my desk?"

"Your mind amazes me sometimes." He sounded a little pained now. "Just take it home."

She shook her head. "Who would look after it when I'm in class?"

"Mai, it's a fish. It's not like you have to walk it."

She stuck her tongue out at him before turning back to her new pet. "Pretty sure it does need to eat though. And what about when we're away on cases? If it lives in the office, Hina can help take care of it."

"I'm sure she'll be thrilled." He sounded resigned now. "So no sign of the ghost I take it?"

She shook her head. "I thought I saw something for a moment, but if it was her, I couldn't pin her down.

He looked around the festival again. If it was possible, it seemed even more crowded now than an hour ago. "Alright, we'll keep moving." He glanced at his phone as a text came through. "Lin says none of the cameras or thermometers have picked up anything. And the festival is so crowded Masako isn't having any luck either."

Mai nodded. Masako didn't care for crowds, so it couldn't be easy to try and locate a spirit in this mess.

"Where did you see her next?" Naru was leaning into her ear again, and she couldn't stop the shiver this time. She wished he would stop doing that.

"Um. The girls and I got shaved ice. We were near the other end of the bridge. But I didn't see anything when we were eating earlier." She shrugged. "Sorry."

"It might not be you. It might be the size of the crowd, or she's just getting into mischief elsewhere." He said, ushering her towards the bridge again.

"So, she was toppling over people's ice cream?" He said, having to raise his voice to be heard.

"Shaved ice." Mai corrected him, pointing out the stall. "She seemed to really like picking on the younger kids. Maybe if we just wait and watch for a little bit."

"I'm not sure that will be enough." She heard Naru murmur the words to himself more than her.

"I've never had one of these before. What's a flavor that's not too sweet?" He asked.

"Uh, Lemon, I guess." Mai said. Were they really going to reenact her entire previous night?

"Stay here." Naru ordered. "You don't have your phone on you, so if you get lost you'll never find the others."

"I don't always get lost-" She defended herself but he was already gone, winding his way into the crowd.

"Fine. I'll just wait here. With my new office fish." She grumbled to herself.

While she waited, she scanned the crowd again. Was the ghost suddenly shy? Had Mai interacting with her on the astral plane spooked her? Or maybe it was the presence of the camera equipment? They hadn't been able to put much up, it was too conspicuous and too expensive to leave lying about in a crowd like this.

Suddenly, she had a thought.

She looked up at Naru as he approached, carrying a lemon colored shaved ice with two spoons.

Her cheeks flamed again. Were they going to share? Did he really not have any idea how intimate that looked? Or was it on purpose?

They needed to locate this spirit already.

"Naru, if we follow this path, I think we'll come to the bench she was sitting on last night in my dream." Mai said. "Let's try going over there. Maybe she likes that bench."

"Anything else is better than this crush." Naru said darkly.

Slowly, they inched their way out of the brunt of the crowd. Further from the bridge and the majority of the food stalls, the crowd did thin some.

Mai looked around, trying to find the bench from last night. The festival just looked so different full of people.

"There, I think it's that one. I remember the tree and the light post." She said, pointing a short distance.

Mai sank into the bench gratefully. Though Naru had been an ideal "date", so to speak, she was already exhausted.

Naru sat beside her, seaming "at ease but she knew better. His eyes were continually searching the crowd, even as he absently took a bite of the desert.

"Not bad." He said after a moment, before sticking his spoon in deep enough to stay on it's own. "Here, you better finish it before it melts."

"O-kay…" Mai said. She was still full from earlier, but it was her job tonight to look like a happy couple.

"But don't you want anymore?" She said.

He shook his head, looking down at his phone again, reading a new mail that had come through. "I don't really care for sweets. Though the lemon isn't as bad as I feared."

"Oh." Not sure what else to do, Mai started eating her second shaved ice of the week.

Suddenly, Naru stood. "Masako says she may have found her. Stay here."

"Huh?" Mai cried, "What do you mean?"

"You can't walk fast in that outfit, and we don't know how long she'll stick around this time." Naru said brusquely. He handed her phone back to her. "If you see anything before I get back, text Lin. He'll get whoever's closest over to you. If no one is close enough, he'll come himself. Just stay put."

"Great idea, the whole yukata thing…" She called after him, but he was gone again already.

Jerk.

Glumly she ate some more of the shaved ice. Why was she getting left behind again? This was worse than back when she was in high school and Naru would make her watch the base. Back then, she hadn't had any skills to add to the investigation.

But this was practically her case now. She'd seen the spirit first, after all…

Real mature, Mai….

She placed the ice down on the bench beside her, sticking her spoon in beside Naru's.

She stood, taking a moment to make sure the folds of her yukata were still covering everything they had been when she sat down.

She turned to look over the water. Naru had said he didn't think the shrine was involved, and his reasons made sense, but for some reason she felt like the lake might be….

"Mai?"

Surprised, she turned around quickly, almost too quickly as she nearly stumbled in the unfamiliar footwear.

"Ren?" She said in surprise.

"Wow, you look amazing." He smiled broadly at her, before his face turned quizzical. "But why are you here? I thought you didn't have a yukata…" His voice trailed off as his gaze drifted down to the bench. Following his gaze, she saw the ice, with it's two spoons still sticking out.

Right next to her brand new office goldfish.

"Oh."

"Ren, I'm sorry, I meant to call you today, there's just been so much happening-"

"No, it's cool. I get it." Ren was backing up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude on your date."

"Date?" Oh crap, this was bad. She may not have decided what she wanted to do about Ren, but she didn't want him to think she was stringing him along.

"Ren, please let me explain." She said desperately. She hated the look of hurt in his eyes.

"Really, Mai. That's not necessary." Ren waved her off, looking a little angry now, or perhaps just embarrassed.

"Ren, please stop so I can explain." Mai said, starting to follow him. But she could only take tiny steps in her stupid, tight yukata, so naturally, that was when she tripped over the tree root.

She closed her eyes in anticipation of the fall, but immediately, strong arms were there, righting her.

She opened her eyes, already knowing it would be Naru's indigo gaze that she met.

"Naru-"

"It's okay, Mai."

She looked at him miserably.

"Stay." He ordered again before releasing her and turning to face Ren directly.

"It's rude to make a girl run after you, especially when the girl is dressed in a way that makes it impossible to follow you." He tossed the words out like a kind of challenge, his posture almost..slouching. It was body language that screamed "extreme confidence" and it wasn't surprising when Ren flushed a dull scarlet at his words.

"Well, I figured it was ruder to keep interrupting your date." Ren shot back.

"We're working, actually." Mai said, stepping closer to Naru. She wasn't sure what he was up to, but he was throwing off dominance in a way he didn't usually bother too.

"Yeah, I can clearly see that. Is the goldfish another coworker too?"

Mai flushed. She opened her mouth to explain, but what could she say? She and her boss were faking a date in order to catch a ghost?

"Ren…" She trailed off.

She really didn't want to get into the whole "ghost hunting" thing right now, but clearly, she had no choice.

Squaring her shoulders, she opened mouth to explain-

"That's enough, Mai." Naru put his hand on her shoulder for a moment, squeezing it gently.

"I can do it." She whispered miserably.

"But you don't have too." He said, throwing her his charm smile.

He cut a look at Ren. "Clearly, we're undercover. If you could do your best not to make a scene and expose Mai, as her boss, I would appreciate it."

Ren stared at them in confusion. "What do you mean, 'undercover'? Wait, how are you her boss, you're in college like us, right?"

"Actually, I finished up my masters last year. I'm currently working on my PhD on the side, but that's not really important now. My name is Kazaya Shibuya, and I run the SPR branch here in Tokyo."

Ren gaped at him before turning to look at Mai questioningly.

She nodded. "Ren, meet my boss. Most of us just...call him Naru."

Naru slanted her a look that she swore was amused.

Ren looked between the two of them again. "OK. Sure. You're her boss. What did you mean when you said you were undercover? I thought Mai said you did market research?"

Naru's look of amusement grew as Mai squirmed. "Actually, I said we fixed problems…"

She looked down for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

How to phrase this?

"We were hired by the organizers of the festival to look into some of the problems they've been having." Naru inserted smoothly.

"Wait, like the fireworks last night? You mean that wasn't just an accident? Are they thinking sabotage?" Ren's eyes widened.

Mai opened her mouth to set Ren straight, but Naru was on a roll. 'Sabotage is always a possibility we have to rule out, as is simple human error. We do research, and provide recommendations based on our findings. Our clients make the final decisions regarding how things move forward.

"Wait, are you guys private investigators?" Ren shook his head in confusion. Mai had to admit, Naru was slick. Every word out of his mouth was the exact truth, just...not all of it.

"Please be aware, Mai's contract includes a confidentiality clause."

She blinked. It did? That was news to her…

"And in her defense, she was actually scheduled to be off this week. However, as I'm sure you're aware, she hates to see other people get hurt. After witnessing the accident last night, it was only natural that she offered to help. In fact, we have two other couples walking the festival as we speak in an attempt to catch the culprit. We only took on this client this morning, and Mai has already put in a twelve hour day."

Mai gaped at him. When he lied, he went all out.

"Jeez, Mai. I'm sorry, I feel like an ass right now." Ren was looking at her sheepishly.

She shook her head bemusedly. "It's not your fault Ren. You had no way to know. And I should have called you before this. Things just got so crazy."

"Hey, it's okay. I should have given you a chance to explain." Ren smiled. "I knew you weren't like everyone else. I shouldn't be surprised you're out here fighting crime."

"I...don't know if fighting crime is the right way to put it…" Mai said, feeling guilty, "But I really am trying to help people right now. Well, help people and not fall on my face while I'm at it." She gestured down at her yukata.

Ren laughed, then he surprised her by coming over to hug her. "Call me later, okay?"

The words were whispered in her ear, though Naru was making a show of looking the other way...

"Uh, Ok." She watched as he nodded once to Naru before leaving the two Ghost hunters alone again.

She found herself looking anywhere but at Naru. Her cheeks hurt from blushing so hard. This was somehow even more embarrassing than falling down the steps. She had stood there like a stammering idiot while Naru had basically lied for her.

"I assume that's your boyfriend?" Naru asked.

She blinked at him. "What? Ren? No, that is, I…"

She sat back on the bench suddenly, putting her face in her hands. What was wrong with her?

"That's Ren. We go to school together. We've been friends for a couple of years now. Last night he confessed. Then things started blowing up. And now we're here."

Her words were muffled, since her face was still buried in her hands.

"He doesn't know, then. What you can do." He made the question a statement.

She sighed, relaxing her hands in her lap. "Gods, I'm so sorry you had to lie like that. I don't understand why it was so hard for me to just tell him…"

"Don't apologize." Naru's words were clipped, and she glanced up at him, afraid he was mad.

"When it comes to your abilities, you don't owe anyone an explanation." He was reading the latest mail on his phone.

"I'm pretty sure that's my job." Mai pointed out.

"Not at all. Your job is to help me gather the information SPR needs to resolve cases. How you do that isn't really any of anyone else's business. You aren't required to tell anyone anything about yourself or your abilities that make you uncomfortable. If someone needs to know for SPR's purposes, and you aren't comfortable talking about it, refer them to me. I'll handle your credentials." He said it almost absently.

She shook her head. "Naru, I was hired on as an investigator this time, not just an assistant. I need people to take me seriously."

"Mai, when it comes to psychic powers, the believers believe and the doubters doubt. It has surprisingly little to do with our actual abilities. And as far as I and SPR are concerned, you aren't required to hand out pieces of yourself to strangers if you don't want to." He was typing back as he was talking.

"But Ren wasn't a stranger and I totally just let you cover for me. It was…cowardly."

"Mai, I spent the entire year and a half I was in Japan last time lying about my identity and my purposes. I don't have a problem lying to a man I just met if it makes you feel safe."

He paused. "Though, if you don't feel safe talking about what you can do with him, a relationship with him will always be superficial."

She shook her head. "I didn't feel unsafe, just…embarrassed? Nervous, maybe."

He looked at her for a long moment. "My mistake."

He snapped his phone shut. "It seems Masako saw her for a moment, but she was gone by the time I arrived. Lin says he did notice a few temperature fluctuations back near some of the stalls. Shall we go?"

"Sure." Mai followed him without another word, still trying to process everything that had happened. Not only was that possibly one of the longest conversations she and Naru had ever had outside of work matters, but-

Naru was acting so...considerate.

Helping her with Ren? Reassuring her that she didn't need to talk about her powers unless she was comfortable with doing so? She supposed his viewpoint made sense, his powers were discovered when he was quite young, and it had been a bit of a circus. He even had people pretending to be him. And he'd been adamant in his beliefs that the media should never be allowed to judge psychic powers. He'd been very protective of Kazai years ago.

So perhaps this was just a personal peeve of his.

They walked slowly down the lane of stalls, pausing every few moments to look around for the girl.

"Why do you think no one has seen her, it's starting to get late." Mai said, hoping he'd spill his thoughts again. Naru was a brilliant scientist, when he was willing to teach and not just lord it over her, that was.

"Your dream last night is the biggest influence, if I had to hazard a guess. She's probably not actually interacted with other people since her death, not in a conversational way. It may have surprised her a little." Naru said after a moment's thought.

Mai grinned a little. He never used to speak his mind like this. At least, not to her. Lin maybe. But his words worried her.

"There's only two more nights left of the festival. If we don't figure it out soon, she'll stick around for another year." She could hear the tension in her own voice.

She hoped that wasn't her fault for trying to speak to the spirit.

"If Gene made a point to tell you she was escalating, then you needed to know." Naru said. "Remember, we've seen this before. Spirits are almost always reticent around investigations. The first 24 hours are usually fairly fruitless. But now we'll have a better baseline."

"Baseline?"

"An idea of the status quo, that is, a beginning. As things change, you can compare them to the beginning to see the degree of change." He explained.

"Baseline" She repeated the word after him. She understood the concept well enough, she'd just never put it into context like that.

OK. So, they were establishing a baseline.

"Did a firefly just land in my hair?" She said suddenly. She had seen it drifting closer, but hadn't expected it to land on her. She liked fireflies. At a distance.

Not. in. her. Hair.

"Please-please-please get it off me." She said as calmly as she could. She could already imagine it crawling through her hair and she needed to stop before she freaked out.

"It's just a bug, Mai." Naru's voice held light scorn as she felt him pull something off her.

"And now it's a bug that's flying away free somewhere...oh crap." She put her hand up to her braid.

Sure enough, the damn flower was gone.

"Damn it." She said, looking around them on the ground, hoping it had just been knocked off when Naru rescued the firefly.

"It's been gone for a while now, actually." He informed her.

She looked at him in irritation. "How long is a while? I have to retrace my steps and find it. Did I have it on the bench?"

"I really couldn't say. It wasn't a priority."

"Naru, if I don't find it, the rental company is going to charge the office for it." Boys could be so dense sometimes.

She had a hopeful thought. "The outfits weren't insured, by any chance?" She'd never heard of insuring a rental yukata, but hey….

"I suppose I should have thought of insuring your outfit." Naru replied drolly.

"Okay, let's split up. You go that way, I'll go this way." She gestured towards the bench. "Here, hand me my phone."

He just stared at her impassively.

'Naru, come on!"

"Mai, if I didn't agree to us splitting up to look for the spirit, which is our actual job this evening, why would I agree to it for a stupid flower?"

She wanted to stamp her geta in frustration. "We've been splitting up all night for one reason or another. Maybe we'll see the ghost while we're at it."

"No."

Mai growled. "Okay. Fine. You go check on the temperature fluctuations, and I'll backtrack and look for my flower. The first one of us to see EITHER the flower or the ghost calls the others."

There. A compromise, wasn't she a mature, upstanding adult?

"No." Naru sounded like a broken record. He didn't even have the grace to look mulish or anything. He just seemed bored with the conversation.

She closed her eyes. "Fine. Let's go." Maybe she could come back tonight and look for it. Or the morning. As long as it didn't rain, maybe it would be okay.

She reached up with her eyes still closed. Ayako had rearranged it so the flower was holding her braid in a bun at the back of her head. Without it, the bun was unraveling. She probably had enough pins in her hair to re-work it, but she wasn't good at that kind of thing.

"Turn around, I'll fix it." He ordered.

"Huh?"

"Turn. Around." He repeated, sounding exasperated.

She sighed. Of course Naru would be better at hair than she was.

"I think there are enough pins back there to fix it, I just can't see them." She offered.

"I understand the process, Mai."

She made a face since he couldn't see it. She felt his nimble fingers take her braid and begin to re twist it. It was...surprisingly intimate, considering they were in the middle of a festival. They'd been casually touching all night, mostly to prevent her untimely death, but this felt different.

She felt him work something through her bun. "Is that a pin?"

It felt different, heavier.

"It's a kanzashi." He said. "I bought it earlier at a stall when I noticed the flower was gone. I figured the chances of the night ending without an argument over it were slim."

Her eyes widened. "You bought it?" She reached up, trying to feel it gently without dislodging it.

"Consider it a countermeasure. Can we please focus on the case now?"

"You bought a kanzashi in order to win an argument we weren't even having yet?" She said flatly.

"And yet, here we are." He stepped away.

"That doesn't change the fact that the rental company is going to charge you extra for the missing one." She pointed out.

"Mai. We have three more nights after this to track down this spirit. I don't have time to worry about the rental company."

She watched him as he scanned the crowd again. She wanted to keep arguing but he was beginning to look frustrated. She hugged her goldfish. She wondered what it looked like, but she supposed she'd have to wait until tonight.

"Where did Lin say the temperature fluctuations were again?" She said finally.

"The takoyaki stand." Naru said.

"Did you hear that? Shall we go find you some octopus friends?" Mai held up her fish again.

"You do know that -"

"Yes, yes. I know they're already dead, Naru. It was a joke."

It must be getting late, she thought. The crowd was much thinner now. The air had that heavy, pregnant feeling it got sometimes in the summer when the night began to wane.

Some of the vendors were starting to secure their stands for the night.

One older man was struggling to move a folding table back. He must have had wares on it earlier in the evening.

"Wait here." Naru said, walking over to help him. She couldn't help but admire his helpfulness until she saw him flash his charm smile.

He was buttering him up to ask questions. She supposed it made sense, the man was old enough to have been coming to the festival for years.

A flash of purple had her turning round. The takoyaki stand was closing up as well, the owner cleaning his grill while an assistant put away bottles of sauces.

Her eyes widened. "Look out!"

The flames shot up high, much higher than they had any right to, and she stumbled back from the sudden heat, nearly stepping out of her sandals.

"Itsuki, I thought I told you to shut off the fuel line!" The man yelled, holding his hand.

"I did!" The younger man yelled.

She started forward, intending to help the injured man but Naru was faster.

"Stay back Mai. Keep your eyes open." He ordered.

She stopped where she was, heart pounding as she looked around warily. She could hear Naru talking to the stall owner, but the words were faint under the thundering of her heart.

"Naru…"

She wasn't sure what she wanted to say, but she wanted to warn him. The hairs on her arms were standing on end..

"Mai, look out!" A strong arm circled her waist, pulling her out of the way as the stall's signage fell with a crash.

"Bou-san?" She said in surprise.

"Lin warned us the sensors over here were going nuts. You okay over there Naru?"

Naru nodded where he kneeled over the hurt man.

"The others?" He asked.

"Masako's right there. The other two are coming." Bou-San said, setting Mai back on her feet. "Mai, go over by Masako and help keep watch. I'm going to help Naru before more people get hurt."

She nodded. She wished she could do more, but she knew Bou-San and Naru would have it well in hand.

She walked over to Masako.

"A goldfish?" The medium asked curious.

"No, even better. An office goldfish!" Mai said, smiling even as she turned around to try and watch everywhere at once.

"Does Naru know we have an office goldfish?" Masako inquired.

"I told him. Hey, did you see the spirit earlier?"

"Yes, but only for a moment, I'm afraid. There's actually a multitude of low level spirits floating around here, and it was difficult to pick the girl's out."

"There's a bunch of spirits here?"

"It's not unusual, actually." Masako explained. "Festivals like these often evolved as a way to honor people's ancestors. Spirits and festivals go hand in hand. But usually the spirits just drift along, buoyed up by the festival goers' good intentions. However, this festival evolved as a way to appease the water gods of the local shrine, which may be part of the reason the girl's spirit has lingered."

Mai nodded, digesting her words.

Bou-San and Naru walked over to them. Naru looked slightly worse for the wear, with sooty smudges on his shirt. It was probably a good thing he hadn't rented a yukata for the evening.

"Do either of you see her anywhere?" Naru asked.

Both girls shook their heads. "I don't feel her either." Masako added, and Mai nodded. The feeling of anticipation was gone.

"I think she's gone for now." Mai agreed.

Naru frowned.

"Very well. Let's head back to the office and see what Yasu has found out."

Noll finished up the last of his case notes, leaning back into his chair to stretch out the muscles of his back. It had been a long night, and not enough had come of it. The festival's length was an unfortunate deadline.

He stood, rolling his neck as he walked around the desk.

Pausing as he recalled something, he went back around the desk and unlocked the top drawer. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the peach silk flower and dropped it inside before closing it again and re-locking it.

"You do know that Mai has been looking for that everywhere, right?" Bou-san's voice startled him from where he was now leaning against the door frame.

"The company will handle the fee." Noll replied, walking towards the man.

"But why bother, if you had the flower the whole time?" Bou-san asked.

He wondered when he had begun to mentally refer to him using Mai's nickname.

"A baseline has to be established." He said finally.

"A baseline?" The guitarist asked, looking confused now.

Noll sighed. "My psychometry is not as strong or consistent as it used to be. But somehow I doubt Mai's ability to get lost has lessened over the years."

He must have been more tired than he realized, it really wasn't like his to explain himself. Still, his words seemed to appease the other man. That wasn't surprising, the older team members tended to be protective of Mai.

Bou-san finally shrugged. "Like you said, SPR's handling the fine."

He turned away, pausing for just a moment. "By the way, I'm not sure you handled that guy the best way. But the fish was a nice touch."