INT. SPR VAN, EVENING

The silence in the van felt comfortable. It was not a new thing to be driving back with Mai fast asleep in the passenger seat, especially after a tiring case. As she fell into a deeper sleep, she was greeted with the sight of a park. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the light before she noticed someone sitting on a bench, smiling at her.

She ran towards him and hugged him tightly. "Gene! I thought you had passed on!" She pulled back and put a hand up to his cheek, "I'm sorry for how it happened. Nobody deserves such a death. Naru… well he didn't say much, but I could see it in his eyes just how much this affected him."

Gene put his hand to hers and smiled, "Well, at least you've kept me company, so it's not been too bad. I've enjoyed watching you break my idiot scientist brother out of his tight shell. Maybe I'll be able to speak with him someday." He trailed off, and instead brought their hands down as he led her to two swings that appeared near the bench.

"So, what's new since we last spoke?" Gene asked her.

Mai huffed despondently, "What can I say? I tried telling Naru I loved him and he basically rejected me. He thought I meant you..".

Gene let out a bark of laughter, "Ouch! No need to sound so disappointed. What's wrong with loving me?"

She broke out in fits of giggles, "Not that I don't love you! I love you the way I love Hōshō. Your brother didn't seem to understand that. He thinks he's so clever and didn't really give me a chance to reply before walking off."

Gene swung his legs making the swing move ever so slightly and looked at her. "My brother is a bit dense in the love department, in case you hadn't noticed. He's always been 'the scientist' and very fact-based. I was the ladies man." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. He sighed and looked out towards the flower-scattered field. "You need to wait a while longer and give him some time to process what you said to him. I don't think he expected it from you. Masako was, from what I've seen, the one always pushing for his affections. If he had truly wanted to reject you, he would have done so as he's done with her."

Mai lightly nudged him as she slowly swung past, "For all that he's very fact-based, is it really that hard to believe that I'm in love with the man who risked his life multiple times saving mine? The one who I will always make tea for, even if I do complain about it? The one who has comforted me in unique ways? Everyone else seems to know..." She trailed off. "Lin spoke to me as well. Seems like the general advice is to give Naru some time before saying anything more." Mai said, leaning into the swing cable.

She suddenly turned, "Gene, was it your voice I heard telling me to wait?"

He nodded, "Guilty as charged! I'm not always able to see everything, but being in such close proximity, physically and spiritually, to my brother gave me a clearer view for a brief moment. I was going to try and speak with him but I heard what he said and decided to give you a fighting chance."

They sat in comfortable silence feeling the light breeze (how was that possible?) around her.

After what seemed like hours, Gene looked around and noticed that the trees which had stood so prominently were beginning to fade. He stood up and looked down at Mai. "I think you'll be waking up soon. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do this again, or get in touch with Noll. Can you tell him this from me please? Tell him to be happy. To open his mind and not lose sight of what matters."

Mai followed suit and stood up as well. She nodded and hugged him, possibly for the last time. "Be seeing you!" she said, as everything began to fade into darkness.

Meanwhile, in the physical realm as Mai slept :

Once Lin was sure Mai was fully asleep he quietly asked, "How are you?"

Naru glanced over and slightly sagged his shoulders, managing to do so without disturbing Mai. "I'm just tired. I'm glad we found Eugene, glad we'll be able to give him a proper burial. I don't know where to go from here."

Thinking out loud, he said "We'll have to close the office. I'm not sure if just temporarily, or if permanently. Can you get us flights back to Heathrow in 2 days?"

Lin nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. "We can't get everything closed up in the office in a day. Packing up and storing paperwork can be a final job for Mai and Yasuhara, with help from the others. I know Madoka was planning on coming back soon to fix some things at the house so all we need to do is make sure we leave her house in order."

Naru hummed in agreement, unable to nod out of fear of disturbing Mai, "I'm planning to take some time after Eugene's funeral to write a paper on our experiences here, including the development of powers such as Mai's."

He glanced at Naru, "We'll drop Mai off at her apartment on our way home. There isn't any point in going to the office at such a late hour. We still have quite a long way to go. You should try to get some rest."

Naru closed his eyes. He felt a small pang of guilty, but knowing Lin wouldn't say anything, placed his head on Mai's. He gave into the sudden exhaustion as the final wisps of adrenaline wore off.

Lin looked at them briefly while they slowed down with traffic and shook his head, wondering when his charge would understand what was clear as day to everyone, and what was possibly already clear even to him on a (very) subconscious level. His eyes widened slowly as he watched a scene unfold. He had rarely seen his charge with his defences down, and this was one of those rare occasions.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Mai had snuggled closer to him, lightly wrapping her left arm around his, while Naru's hand sought hers out.

Naru began to stir as they began their approach to Shibuya. As he opened his eyes, he realised the position he was in with Mai. He gently extracted his hand from hers, wondering who had sought out who first, and gave Lin a slight glare when he saw his smirk.

Lin smirked for a moment longer, "Comfortable sleep?" He set his features back to neutral before saying, "We'll be at Mai's apartment in a few minutes. You should wake her up."

Naru hesitated briefly, feeling slightly unbalanced in every way possible, and wondered how to wake her up. He opted for gently nudging her shoulder with his still captive arm, until she woke. Mai opened her eyes and realised her head was on Naru's shoulder, as well as having her arm lightly wrapped around his.

This time, she wasn't able to resist the blush that came over her and mumbled, "Thank you.." when she looked up at him. She had been about to apologise but, recalling her conversation with Gene, decided not to as she didn't want to fuel Naru's misconceptions about her feelings towards him. She kept his gaze a moment longer as she removed her arm from his, and briefly wondered why her other hand was so warm.

Mai missed the faint colouring that appeared on his cheekbones as she opted to look straight ahead on their final approach to her apartment.