Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!

When Mai woke, it was in darkness. She stood up slowly, looking around, feeling very disoriented and confused. "Where am I?" she said out loud, not even realizing she had spoken.

"Where you always end up during cases," said a familiar sounding voice.

It took Mai all of two seconds to understand what was happening, and she spun around quickly, finding Eugene, or rather, his spirit, standing behind her. "Gene!" She wasn't able to stop the grin that crossed her face.

Eugene smiled gently and brought Mai into a tight hug. "How've you been, Mai?"

"Busy," she said as she stepped back. Part of her wondered why Naru never behaved like this around her. She knew Gene's death had affected him greatly, but... Why had he rejected her after she had confessed to him? Why had he told her that she loved Gene and not him? Why did he tell her that she had been mistaking her feelings for him with his twin?

Mai did love Gene, certainly, but it was a very different sort of love. He was a friend, a close friend who had helped and protected her throughout many dangerous cases and situations, and she trusted and loved him for it. But her feelings for Naru were entirely different. They were deeper, more complicated, more intense.

"Anyway," said Mai, forcefully yanking herself out of her thoughts. "Why did you bring me here? We haven't even started the case yet."

"I wanted to give you a warning," said Gene, his smile turning into a concerned frown. "A warning, and some advice."

When Mai only peered up at him curiously, he elaborated. "There will come a time in this case when things will take a turn for the worse. Everything will change, everything will become stressful, and everything will become more than a little dangerous. For that, I am asking you to please try and keep the rest of the team in control and focused on what needs to be done."

Mai blinked slowly. "Okay," she said slowly, not fully understanding.

"There's one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Mai, tell them all the truth. You'll know what I'm talking about when the time comes-maybe you already do, but please Mai, tell them the truth. They deserve to know it. You know that..."

Mai had no chance to say anything at all, because as soon as Eugene fell silent, he began to fade away and the girl knew her time here was up and she was waking. And sure enough-

Mai suddenly woke in bed. Groaning, she sat up and stretched, checking the time before groaning a second time. She was late.

Jumping out of bed, Mai hurried to get ready, deliberately not thinking about what she had been told, but already sure she knew at least a bit of what Eugene had been referring to...

Luckily, Mai was only five minutes late in arriving outside of SPR's office, where their van and Bou-san's car were parked, packed, and waiting.

"You're late, Mai," Naru said in annoyance the second he saw her, his blue eyes narrowed.

"Well sorry," Mai found herself replying sarcastically. "It isn't my fault your dead twin brother likes to come give me cryptic warnings in my dreams whenever he feels like it."

Naru's eyes widened slightly. "Gene?" He took a step forward towards her, and then stopped just as abruptly. "What did he tell you?" he said intently.

Mai recounted the dream, though she left out the part where she had been told to tell the truth. Naru didn't need to know that, she told herself. No one did.

The others listened as she spoke, and then broke out into their own conversations once she had finished, all of them trying to figure out what exactly Gene had been talking about.

Naru, however, didn't participate in the conversation. He didn't even pull out his black notebook to write down what Mai had said. Instead, he kept his eyes on his young assistant. She was speaking to the others in what sounded like a casual tone, but it was obvious to him that she was refusing to make eye contact with anyone for longer than she strictly needed to.

She was hiding something. Hiding something from them. Hiding something from him.

"Mai-" Naru had barely finished saying the girl's name when Bou-san interrupted him inadvertently.

"Naru-bou, shouldn't we get going?"

Naru glanced up at the sun, then cursed under his breath as he made note of the time. They were definitely running late. With a few words, the group split into the two vehicles, Naru, Lin, and Masako heading off ahead of the rest of them, leaving Mai, Ayako, John, and Yasuhara to follow in Bou-san's car.

Having other obligations, Masako was actually only going to be there for the day, leaving in the evening. But that was fine, they would make do.

Though Mai would have preferred to ride with Naru, simply because of who he was, she had to admit that she wouldn't have wanted to miss this car ride for the world.

Yasuhara was sitting in the front next to the monk, who was driving, while poor John was stuck between Mai and Ayako, though even he appeared to be amused by what was taking place before them.

No, nothing at all could beat this ride.

Yasuhara was re-enacting a moment that had apparently taken place between his parents some time ago. He was clutching Bou-san's arm and kissing him on the cheek, while talking to him in an oddly suggestive yet...loving manner. Bou-san was trying to get away from him, but it wasn't like he could do much, seeing as he was driving and had no desire to get them into an accident. And as Yasuhara managed to press his lips to the man's neck, Bou-san jerked the steering wheel so hard he nearly crashed into SPR's van.

Mai couldn't stop laughing. In fact, she was laughing so hard her stomach was hurting, and she couldn't help but absently wonder if she'd cracked a rib or two...

"Do that again and I'll ban you from driving," Naru informed the monk coldly just a few minutes later when they had piled out outside of their client's house.

"That wasn't my fault!"

"Stop wasting time." Naru clearly had no desire to hear anything more, but that was probably to be expected. He was Naru, after all. "Mai, Lin, with me. The rest of you start taking equipment out of the van."

There were some mutters, though they mostly all did as told. Mai however, who had been feeling quite happy up until this point, felt her good mood being drained as she looked up at the large, western style house in front of her. There was something wrong here. Something terribly wrong...

"Mai!" Naru called out to her. "Stop stalling."

Mai nodded and followed after her boss and Lin, and entered the house. They were greeted by a hallway, and had barely taken a handful of steps down it when Mai heard a faint, but clear-

"Mai-chan..."

Mai turned to look behind her, where she had just heard the voice, but there was no one there. She turned back with a frown. "Did one of you just call my name?" she asked Naru and Lin, though she doubted it had been them. Neither of them called her 'Mai-chan', after all.

Both paused and turned around to look at her, shaking their heads in the negative. Neither of them had said a word since they had entered the house, not even to one another. Huh, weird. Mai was positive she had heard it. They continued down the hall.

"Mai-chan..."

Mai stopped and looked around again. What the heck? I'm going crazy, she thought, her frown deepening. There's no way I can be hearing this.

"Mai! Keep up!" Naru called impatiently, realizing his younger assistant had fallen behind again.

"R-right, sorry!" And the sound of Mai's hurried footsteps as she made to catch up to the other two ended up masking the sound of a young girl's voice.

"Mai-nee…"

That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!