Chapter 2
"What're you doing?" Mai grumbled as she stared deadpan at Yasu as they sat at the table in the Library that they managed to snag before a freshman and her would-be-boyfriend could take to suck faces at.
Yasu turned his head to look behind himself questioningly, before turning to look at Mai, "Who, me?" he said, pointing towards himself with a seemingly innocent look on his face.
Mai's eyes narrowed into slits while she sat silently staring at Yasu, who dropped his innocent act and went back to weaving paper clips into her hair cheerfully while platting some strands together, humming a song under his breath.
Mai sighed before closing her eyes and praying for patience. Mai and Yasuhara's friendship was odd at best and often times bordered on 'best girly friends' to 'brother and sister hatred'. The lengths they would go to irritate each other was great, and even after four years, it didn't look like it would change.
Mai let him continue, doubting he could do much damage, and continued writing notes from her psychology textbook onto her notebook, starting to find it oddly soothing as his fingers combed through his hair.
It was a Friday afternoon and the end of their school week before the break began. Wanting to get her readings out of the way before the break so it could be enjoyed to its fullest, Mai decided to camp it out in the library, with Yasu tagging along claiming to have the same motive.
Lies.
As soon as they sat at the table they managed to pilfer, Yasu pulled out his textbooks before deciding he had had enough.
'And I though I was the lazy one', Mai thought amused.
Reading through the last line and taking note of it, Mai slammed the book shut before swiveling around in her chair to stare directly at Yasu, crossing one leg over the other before relaxing back into her chair, arms crossed.
Yasu pouted, dropping the paper clip in his hand into his pencil case before speaking, "So, you're done?", while leaning back into his chair as well, copying Mai's stance, his lips twitching fractionally.
"Maybe", Mai replied.
Yasu took that as confirmation before springing up while slamming books closed and throwing them into their respective bags, causing other students to turn their heads and glare, which Mai returned with an apologetic look.
Slowly standing up and stretching, Mai grabbed the bag Yasu offered before proceeding to make the trek down to the exit. Once outside, both Mai and Yasu wrapped themselves in their coats and scarves before continuing through the snow onto the footpath leading to the train station.
"So." Yasu said, causing Mai to turn her head and stare in question.
"'So'?" Mai prodded.
"Did you hear?"
"Hear what?" Mai said, looking at him oddly.
Yasu stared seriously at her for a while before looking forward again and smiling brightly, "Nothing! Nevermind!"
Mai stared at him strangely before shrugging and letting it go. She was too tired to care.
"So, do you have work?" Yasu queried with a skip in his step.
"Mmhmm", Mai nodded, lightly hopping over puddles, not wanting to test the durability of her boots.
Though being given a partial scholarship due to her circumstances, Mai still had to take out loans to pay the rest and refused to be burdened with them, so decided to work two part-time jobs. One was working as a secretary for a lawyer on and off, most work being able to be done at home while coming in a few times a week to give him new documents and make sure everything was in working order. Her other job was working at a café in Shibuya, allowing her to study during the day and work at night.
It was a lot of work, but it wasn't overwhelming and helped her cover expenses and to gradually pay off her loan.
"You finish at 8pm, right? Bou-san said there was something he wanted to talk to us about and wants us to meet at his place tonight", Yasu said casually as they approached the train station.
"What for?"
Yasu made an unsure noise as they swiped their cards to get through the barrier onto the platforms.
"Okay, well I guess I'll see you then?" Mai asked more than said as she started heading for her platform while walking backwards.
Yasu saluted her before heading in the opposite direction, hands buried in his pockets and a hop to his step.
Mai continued on her way before boarding her train and on her way to a little café in Shibuya called 'Enigma'.
Mai smiled as her last customer walked out the door before heading over to clean her table, putting the dirty dishes in the kitchen for the busboy to handle and heading over to put her apron away in the back office where the owner was typing away on her computer.
"You done for the day, dearie?" the owner of the café, a sweet old lady by the name of Yuki asked as she turned from her computer.
"Mmhmm", Mai said cheerfully before picking up her coat and bag and waving to Yuki as she left the room.
Heading towards the train station, Mai enjoyed the cool wind passing through the streets and the crunch of the snow that had fallen earlier, straying towards the more populated streets on the way to the station.
Once on the train, Mai closed her eyes tiredly while grabbing the handrail above her head, swaying gently back and forth with the train before opening her eyes as the stop for Bou-san came up.
Finally making it to Bou-sans apartment block, Mai made her way through the door and up the stairs to the 8th floor. Finally at his door, slightly out of breath and grumbling about the lack of elevator, Mai knocked on the door and waited.
Talking could be heard from the other side, which stopped abruptly once she knocked. Leaning on the door jam waiting, the door finally was opened by a rather cheerful Yasu who caught her once her support left her.
"Maaaaai!" Yasu cooed to her as he scooped her up into his arms and squished her to his chest, rubbing his cheek against hers.
"Ugh", Mai grunted as her feet left the ground, feeling precious oxygen leave her lungs. "Ya-su. Ne-ed ai-r", she wheezed.
While chuckling, Yasu deposited her onto the ground before his place was quickly taken by Bou-san who, just like Yasu, picked her up while squishing the oxygen out of her, causing her to squeak. Swaying her back and forth while rubbing his stubbly cheek against hers, he finally let her down once Ayako intervened, who gently wrapped her in her arms, letting her rest her tired head against her shoulder, letting Ayako's soothing scent wrap her in a cocoon on warmth and lavender.
Once Ayako moved on, John gently came forward to give her a brief but tender hug before moving back to his seat. After everyone had given her their welcome, Ayako ushered her over to a couch in the main room where Yasu was waiting.
As soon as she sat down, she once again was wrapped in a Yasu blanket, who knew how tired she was. Mai gently closed her eyes while listening to the rumble of voices in the background. Hearing a clink of china, Mai opened her eyes to see Ayako deposit a cup of tea in front of her. Looking at her in gratitude, Mai scooped it up before taking a long, grateful sip.
Leaning back into the couch, Mai looked expectantly to Bou-san. "So, what's this about?"
Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together, Bou-san looked towards her seriously.
"How do you feel about getting back into Ghost Hunting?"
Mai looked at him confused. "What do you mean?" Mai began. "The business is gone, and I doubt we'd be very successful as an independent group without any equipment or contacts"
Bou-san started to look nervous, rubbing his hands together while looking around the room before his eyes seemed to land on something behind her.
Staring at him before turning to look at what he was staring at, Mai realized it wasn't a 'what' but a 'who'.
And that's when Mai felt her heart sink and the blood drain from her face simultaneously.
Not standing 10 feet away from her leaning casually against the window, his mouth tilted into a smirk, was Naru.