AN: Happy Saturday, everybody! Let's celebrate with the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Or my favorite book, which I tend to use chapter titles from;)
Chapter 4 – A Long-Expected Party
-0O0-
Mai knew right away that the car situation was going to suck. Nine people in two cars.
"You couldn't have brought the van, Lin-san?" she asked with a groan.
"The van was a lease, Taniyama-san," Lin replied, amusement in his tone. "We didn't drive back to England."
"I could only imagine the torture of sitting in a van with Naru and Lin for a cross-continental journey," Ayako stage-whispered. Mai remembered Ayako's complaints about being stuck in the van with Lin ("For three hours!") during that one case. But still –
"Big words coming from someone who got to ride in Bou-san's car all the time," Mai shot back. "I am the only one of us who ever spent ungodly amounts of time stuck in a car with Lin-san AND Naru."
Behind Mai, Luella and Madoka exchanged amused looks.
"No radio, no talking, no eating, no humming, no signaling to John-kun in the other car, no writing 'Save Me Please' on the window…"
Madoka burst out laughing. Martin chuckled.
"…no playing car-to-car Hangman," Mai continued, "No video games, no talking on the phone… and the most ridiculous one: no playing cell phone games that require a lot of 'noisy button-pushing.'"
There were snorts of laughter all around as Mai heaved Suitcase #1 into one of the cars.
Naru's voice cut smoothly through the laughing. "First of all, that 'Save Me Please' on the window got us pulled over by the police."
The laughter became louder at this; Madoka actually bent double. Mai winced, that cop had not been pleased. And Naru had been livid.
"And there wouldn't have been an activity ban if you weren't so dreadfully noisy when doing anything at all."
Mai whipped around, dropping Suitcase #2 onto the concrete. Naru was right before her, that irritating, narcissistic smirk only six inches away. (His parents couldn't see his face, so Naru could go all out provoking Mai.)
"You are the only person I've ever met who is noisy whilst reading," he continued. Mai's eyes were burning now, fueling something within him. "Sighing constantly, mumbling to yourself, flipping pages so hard that they rip…" Naru almost felt Mai snap.
"Well, you're the only person I've ever met who is narcissistic while reading!" She exploded, fist shaking. "Naru the Narcissist, who can read faster and better than everyone, all the while throwing condescending glances at his assistant's slow progress through her difficult chemistry textbook! But does the overly confident genius volunteer to help his obviously struggling assistant? Noooo."
"Did you reckon your constant mumbles of 'arrogant jerk' and 'reads so fast he must be an alien' would inspire me to offer my aid?" The narcissist in question interrupted.
Mai ignored him. "Instead, he just glares and rolls his eyes at what a simpleton his assistant is and casually flicks another page over… as Naru the Narcissist can of course glare, smirk, roll his eyes and read all at the same time!"
"Of course I can," Naru replied. "My brain works differently than yours."
Mai opened her mouth to yell – but Luella beat her to it.
"Noll!" Luella admonished sharply, "Have you forgotten the meaning and usage of manners?"
It was Martin's comment, however, that actually stopped the argument. "That brain is certainly doing you no favors at the moment, Noll."
Mai stared and Naru blinked, both confused and needing clarification. Martin continued, "Well, Noll, how intelligent is it to doubt Mai-san's intelligence? She had top grades at Tokyo University, is currently a transfer student at the very school from which you received your doctorate, and I think she's a promising researcher. So tell me, how smart is it to infer that my talented new student is stupid?"
Mai's jaw dropped and Naru's cheek twitched.
Naru almost replied that he was obviously smarter than Mai – he had the degrees to prove it. He had a hundred verifiable examples of his comparative genius from their time together at SPR. But something inside him warned him to leave it alone. Maybe it was his long-lost courtesy coming back… maybe it was just too much effort… maybe it was Gene's memory.
Or maybe, it was Mai's face – she seemed to be waiting for a nasty response, and he just couldn't bring himself to insult her again. He just wanted to tease her. His previous comments were designed to bait her into their familiar arguing pattern and break the nervousness she obviously felt in his presence. But to continue insulting her intelligence would dampen her spirits… and for reasons Naru didn't want to look too closely at, he didn't want to hurt Mai.
So instead, he simply sighed and picked up Mai's dropped suitcase. Lifting it into the trunk of the car, Naru turned to his former assistant. "Cambridge students should know when it's time to get into the car," he muttered, gesturing towards the right-hand side of Lin's car.
Mai beamed as she bounced over to the back door. That was almost a compliment!
Luella stared at her son as he opened the door on the car's other side. This was the most emotional day that she had shared with Noll in more than a year. She watched him wait for Mai to slip into the car before sliding in himself (next to her). Luella grinned. She couldn't WAIT until they got back to the house.
"Don't worry," Madoka whispered to her. "I'll tell you if anything else delightful happens in your absence."
-0O0-
Lin drove in his usual silence, but Madoka was chatting away in the front passenger seat. Mai nodded absently, but her mind was elsewhere. She was electrically aware of Naru in the seat beside her. To her, Naru practically glowed in the dark. Her very cells seemed to thrum with anticipation of… something. Maybe this was another sign of their now very close psychic connection? Mai was definitely going to interrogate Gene about this the next time she saw him.
All of a sudden, Madoka turned around in her seat and looked at Mai expectantly – with a start, Mai realized that Madoka must have asked her something. She tore her mind away from the silent and glow-y Naru with a shake of her head.
"Sorry, Madoka-san, what was that?"
"Martin told me that you and Yasu are extra-curricular ghost hunters," Madoka said brightly.
Lin glanced at her in the rearview mirror and Naru shifted in his seat.
"Yeah," Mai replied, "We still work with everybody in Japan. John-kun and Masako-chan are the only ones left for a couple of months, though, so they're only taking emergency cases."
Mai honestly felt nervous about leaving TTMPI for so long. Even though Mai kept reminding everyone that she WASN'T the boss – especially Yasu, who still insisted on calling her Boss on cases – she sorta was. Taniyama Takigawa Matsuzaki Psychic Investigations was her idea. However, it was really Ayako's funding and Masako's equipment that had actually made the business possible.
And now she had left for the better part of three years… Masako had promised that one of her security guards would stop by at least once a day to check on the office, and John and Masako would come in for any emergency client meetings. Ayako and Bou-san would be running it properly once they returned to Japan. Mai would be there herself during summer vacations from Cambridge.
Still, she felt like calling John to ask if everything was alright. Even though it had only been a day. Mai had actually reached into her purse and palmed her phone before she remembered that it was the middle of the night in Japan.
"Any interesting cases lately?" Madoka asked conversationally.
Mai considered. "There were a couple of weird ones a few months ago. There was this house that had a LOT of spiritual activity. For some reason, every time someone was attacked, lots of furniture would end up broken later that day. It turned out to be the ghosts of two suicidal cousins fighting with each other over who could cause the most drama. Whenever one would pull off something really big on the residents, the other one would throw a tantrum and break furniture."
Madoka snorted. "And how did you figure that out?"
"Well, Masako-chan and I could hear female voices arguing. We originally thought that the arguments must have ended in someone's death, and that the victim was trying to tell us how she died. But that theory was discounted on day three."
"How?" Naru asked from beside her. Mai could feel his laser-like stare on her face.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "We figured it out when Masako-chan and I were both possessed by the ghosts, who decided it would be way better to fight in bodies than as spirits."
"What happened?" Madoka asked.
"A bunch of stuff went flying around, we threw things, and according to the video, Masako-chan and I tried to throw each other out the window. It eventually devolved into a fist fight in the base that broke three cameras. Luckily Masako-chan was involved in the fight, so I didn't have to hear it about her equipment later." Mai shot a glance at Naru, remembering how she first started (was blackmailed into) working for him. He raised an eyebrow, amusement in his eyes.
Then Mai grinned. "Bou-san did the exorcism on Masako-chan and John-kun did one on me. When I woke up, I was tied to a chair with electrical wires and had a really lovely black eye."
Madoka burst out laughing, Lin chuckled and Naru smirked widely.
"Now we bring rope." Mai added. More laughing.
There was a bump as the car turned into a driveway. Mai looked out the window to see a western-style mansion looming before her.
"We're here!" Madoka sang, opening her door.
Mai's heart jumped again. Now she was going to Naru's house… to sleep there. But her nervousness took a back seat as Bou-san stumbled by looking disoriented.
Mai jumped out of the car to steady him. "Are you alright?" She noticed a bump on Bou-san's head, and his clothes looked rumpled.
Yasuhara snickered behind her. "He decided to get in one last round of 'I Spy' in the car. The answer was Ayako's "too-big-to-fit-in-the-trunk" suitcase – and of course, he alleged that it's so big because Ayako had to bring all that make-up to hide how old she is."
Mai groaned. "Bou-san, when will you ever learn?" She pulled his arm around her shoulders and proceeded to help her adopted father toward the mansion.
Suddenly Ayako's heels sounded behind her. Mai received a whap on the head as her angry almost-adopted-mother swept by.
"Hey, what did I do?"
Ayako whipped around and glared. "Whose stupid idea was the 'I Spy' game in the first place?"
Oh. "Mine." Mai rubbed her head and continued lugging Bou-san toward the house.
"Why am I marrying her again?" Bou-san muttered.
"I dunno. Love?" Mai tried.
Bou-san snorted. "Love! Love is apparently another word for PAIN!" he shouted the last word at Ayako's back. She ignored him.
"Yeah," Mai said softly. "I guess it is."
Naru heard Mai's declaration as he walked behind her (carrying the suitcase that she had abandoned to help Bou-san). His lips thinned in irritation. Mai sounded so… resigned. He guessed it was only natural, though, as the person she loved was already dead. Gene.
Naru felt the familiar twist in his stomach at the thought of his twin. But oddly, the twisting feeling became worse when Naru imagined Mai and Gene eventually meeting in the afterlife. Wasn't that what should happen? He stared at his former assistant's back and tried very hard to ignore the voice in his head that inexplicably railed against Mai and Gene's happy ending.
Bou-san muttered something else and Mai snorted with laughter. The twisting feeling lessened as Naru watched her giggle.
The Davis' butler held the door open for them, and Naru again felt something strange as he watched Mai enter his house. It was a… warm feeling he couldn't properly identify.
He vowed to give it more thought as he stepped inside and handed off the suitcase. Naru smirked to himself as turned to see Mai standing between an arguing Bou-san and Ayako. Dinner should be entertaining.
-0O0-
Luella stared at her son's plate, awed at the steady rate with which his dinner vanished. Oliver was actually on seconds of the roasted butternut squash. He hadn't eaten like this since Gene died. Mrs. Davis knew that Noll only ate like this when he was distracted from the food. Gene used to spend the entire meal telling stories; Noll whiled away the time (and food) correcting Gene – or informing their adopted parents that his twin was simply making things up.
Right now, Noll was eating because he was too busy listening and conversing with their guests to notice the food. They had been discussing recent cases in Japan for the better part of an hour – and Martin and Luella had both noticed the unmistakable spark in Oliver's eyes any mention of a particularly strange occurrence.
It was also apparent that Noll paid special attention to anything involving Mai Taniyama. Even when he was talking with someone else, Noll always seemed to hear whatever Miss Taniyama said – and commented at the first available opportunity. His tone changed as well; the cold Oliver Davis adopted a decidedly teasing tone when interacting with his former assistant. He also seemed to actually enjoy her angry responses to his baiting. Even stranger, the rest of the party appeared to regard this behavior as normal.
The most shocking moment, however, came with dessert. Oliver glanced indifferently at his orange-blossom dessert tea and set it rudely down on the table. Luella knew that he preferred black tea with dessert, but really. James was serving more people than usual and simply forgot to make Noll's favorite. She sighed at her son's manners and was about to comment – when Miss Taniyama scoffed in frustration.
"Honestly, Naru, you are such a snob. It's still tea! You could use some variety once in a while, anyway."
"I do imbibe a variety of teas, Mai, as I'm sure you remember."
"I meant that you could switch up your daily routine every once in a while, as I'm sure you realized, Narcissist."
"I do not see the need to change an obviously satisfactory routine. Where is the logic in that?"
"It's called 'fun,' Naru. Surely you've heard of it. Be adventurous! Drink orange tea!"
"Interesting that you'd refer to a ghost hunter as unadventurous. Surely the unpredictability of my job reinforces the need for stability elsewhere in life. Ergo, my tea 'routine' serves a very important purpose – an anchor in the chaotic tide of life."
"You don't need a tea routine for that – your narcissism is your 'anchor.' We all know that doesn't take a break."
"The irrationality of others forces my 'narcissism' continuously, Mai. Your own illogical personality is an excellent example – your incomprehensible actions consistently require my contrasting logical responses."
"You unbelievably arrogant – "
"Mai-chan!" Madoka cut in, hoping to distract Mai from launching herself across the table and throttling Naru. "What Noll is really saying is that he missed you."
Mai's face burned a brilliant shade of red and Naru turned angry eyes to his mentor.
"Madoka. Stop talking nonsense."
"Well, we know he missed her tea," Ayako mused. "He'd have drunk it already."
Mai recovered and threw Naru a smirk of her own. "Yeah, probably. And to think, I was going to say that if Naru finished his orange tea, I would make him a cup of Earl Grey as a reward. But no, then he had to get all egotistical on me…"
Without further ado, Oliver Davis picked up his cup and downed the entire cup of tea in one gulp. Catching Mai's shocked gaze, he pushed the empty cup toward her.
"Mai, tea."
The members of Japan's SPR grinned at hearing Naru's favorite phrase. Except Mai, who glared and held Naru's eyes.
"If I don't get this taste out of my mouth, I'll only get more ill-tempered," he cautioned.
"Heaven forbid," Mai replied archly. But the amused sparkle in her eyes gave her away. She picked up Naru's cup and sashayed toward the kitchen. "Can't have you irritating me all night," she said, so he wouldn't think she was giving in. "I wouldn't want your self-centered pouting to damage my opinion of England."
-0O0-
Mai returned with an entire tray of cups. "I convinced James-san to let me do all the tea," she said shyly in response to Luella's questioning look. She quickly passed fresh cups to everyone at the table except for Naru, who glared at being skipped.
Finally, Mai turned to him and grinned. "Here you are, O Discriminating Tea Addict."
Naru tried very hard to look indifferent as she handed him a steaming cup of his favorite Earl Grey. He waited as long as possible (two seconds) to take a sip. Heaven. Two years of yearning washed away as Mai's delicious tea filled his mouth. A silly part of Naru's brain reckoned that he could feel his taste buds celebrating with every mouthful.
He completely ignored the looks of glee (Madoka, Bou-san and Yasuhara) and the expressions of shock (Martin and Luella) that filled the faces of his companions.
"Silence from Big Boss," Yasuhara noted merrily. "Good job, Mai-chan!"
Mai grinned cheekily at her former employer, sipping her own green tea with relish.
Naru raised an eyebrow. "After all that about my special tea, you make green tea for yourself?"
"The one who makes it gets to pick the tea," Mai replied calmly.
-0O0-
Shortly after, the party adjourned to the sitting room. Mai found a lovely squashy chair to curl up in as the fervor of reunion calmed into quiet conversations and English television programs. At some point, Mai wandered back into the kitchen and made more tea. When she returned with a laden tray, the entire room watched Naru watch Mai as she meandered her way across the room and served him another cup of her tea.
His very posture seemed to relax as he gulped it down.
"Mai-chan, can I have the cream?" Luella requested.
As Mai leaned over the end table to hand it to her, an interesting necklace became visible. It was made of three different keys, woven through with thin silver chains and Buddhist prayer beads.
"What a unique piece of jewelry!" Mrs. Davis exclaimed, leaning in for a closer look. "Wherever did you get it?"
"I, er, made it," Mai answered, blushing. "We all spend every Christmas at a church near Tokyo. Our friend John Brown is a priest there, and they have an orphanage on premises. So we always go and celebrate with John-kun and the kids. Anyway, last year the 'craft-of-the-day' was jewelry-making, and I decided to make a necklace for myself. I wanted to do something with my special keys, and Bou-san donated some prayer beads… this is the finished product."
"That's lovely," Martin noted. "Special keys?"
Naru was grateful for his father's inquisitive nature. He didn't have to ask the question himself.
Mai nodded. "The one in the center is the key to the house I lived in when I was a little girl. My mom used it as her good luck charm, and now I use it as mine."
So that was the key that Mai had given to Hara-san in Urado's mansion, Naru concluded. He had always wondered as to its significance.
"This one," Mai continued, holding up the one to the right, "Is the key to the apartment I lived in before I moved in with Bou-san and Ayako. I kept it to remind me that I am independent and can rely on myself." She rolled her eyes. "I know, it's kinda silly."
"No, it's not," Lin replied (shocking everyone in the room). "That independence is an important part of your personality."
Mai blushed harder. "Thank you so much, Lin-san." She bowed her head in gratitude.
"And this last one," Mai held up the left-side key, "Is the key to the SPR office in Japan. That's where all this started for me… it's where I met my SPR family." It was also where she had met Naru, which was why Mai kept that key closest to her heart. She was definitely keeping that to herself, though.
"You have the office key?" Naru asked, befuddled.
"Yes… Lin-san gave it to me before you guys left," Mai replied, equally confused. "You didn't know that?"
Naru turned to his assistant/bodyguard, eyebrow up and arched.
"As Taniyama-san rather poetically just said, SPR meant a lot to her. And we left rather suddenly. I wanted to leave her something to hold on to." Lin replied without looking up from his evening paper. Then he smirked almost imperceptibly. "Didn't you do the same? That photograph Taniyama-san had on the day we left had to have come from you, Noll."
Naru's eyes narrowed, mentally wincing as he heard Madoka and Luella inhale sharply. He didn't know how to get out of this one without giving away that he cared… a little.
Luckily, he was rescued.
"Yeah, you guys were both out of sorts that day. It happens to the best of us." Mai defused the situation quickly and efficiently. Naru stared a moment – Mai loved making him uncomfortable. She spent eons trying to ruffle his feathers at SPR – and now she bails him out?
Mai waited until she was sure that no one else was looking, and then winked at Naru – who she noticed was studying her under his eyelashes. She wasn't going to let Lin poke at Naru for showing some humanity. It had been really sweet of him to give her the photograph. She cherished it – it was packed in her suitcase even now, wrapped carefully in newsprint to protect the silver picture frame she'd bought to hold it.
-0O0-
That night, Mai went to bed full of Western food and the happiness of reunion. Plus, she was finally free to bask in her embarrassing thoughts about how good Naru looked. She hadn't actually seen him in two years, after all. He still moved with the same deliberateness and grace, his eyes still burned hot, cold and condescending all at once. He was nineteen now – twenty in a few months – and the time had siphoned off any last traces of baby fat from his face. He looked more like a man, now.
But for any physical growth he'd had, his aura was almost unchanged. Naru still felt detached and incomplete, and his aura swirled with suppressed pain. Mai had sort of been able to sense his inner state in Japan, but she was better at it now. She could feel his faith in himself, like narcissistic pillars forming the foundation of his soul. Mai giggled at the image.
She also contemplated her more complicated feelings about Naru's narcissism. Though she complained about it, Naru's egotism was part of what made him a very dependable person. On cases, Mai could be sure of their course because he was sure of his. And he always came through. Plus, for all his insisting that he didn't actually need any of them, Naru always took the group along with him.
Well, except for when he left. Mai bit her lip. After everything they'd been through, Naru just picked up and left them whole hog. He had never written, called, or visited. It was like SPR was something he'd carried around in his pocket for a while, and when it got too heavy to carry he'd just tossed it away. Mai had wondered if he ever even thought of them at all.
Then she smiled at the new knowledge that he had thought of them. His memory was quite exact – he'd remembered far too much about their exploits and their personalities to have simply erased everyone from his mind. And when they'd talked about the adoption and stuff, Mai could tell that Naru was listening intently. She knew him well enough to know that listening meant he cared.
And he didn't seem too upset that half of his Japanese acquaintance had followed him to England. That was good, Mai thought sleepily. Not only because it meant that Naru didn't hate her, but also… it was a good sign for the future. Naru didn't know it yet, but he was sorta stuck with her. Mai wondered idly if Naru could sense the increased psychic bond between them like she could. She didn't think so… he definitely would've said something…
Mai's eyes drifted shut. She was calm now, free from the nerve-wracking tension that came from trying to interact with Naru without telling him she loved him and without spilling everything Gene didn't want him to know yet.
She should've known not to think of Gene right before going to sleep…
Hours later, Mai groaned fearfully in her sleep as The Nightmare started.