Yo! Apparently when I originally wrote this chapter there was a delay because I had a terrible migraine and a lot of homework to do. The migraine is true enough, but look at poor teenage me, pretending like i ever actually did my homework. Thank you to all readers so far!

Naru was the first one out of the room, Lin and John hot on his heels, the others remaining behind at Naru's curt order. They found Mai in the kitchen, seated on the floor, Bou-san at her side, the monk having gone with her when she'd been sent off to make tea. She was clutching her arm, her face pale. Naru clenched his fists when he realized Mai was bleeding.

"Mai-san!" John quickly dropped down at the girl's side, looking worried. "What happened?" he asked, glancing at a rather furious looking Naru.

"I don't know," said Mai with a shake of her head. "Bou-san and I were just standing here talking, and then this-this knife just came flying out of nowhere! We were just so surprised, we didn't really know what we were looking at, and because of that it ended up cutting me."

"May I?" Lin said, gesturing at Mai's arm.

She nodded, holding it out, letting him examine it, and as he did this, Naru turned his attention to Bou-san, who had an odd expression on his face-an expression Naru wasn't really able to place.

"Is there something you wish to add, Takigawa-san?" he asked, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Bou-san didn't rise to the bait and, keeping his voice calm, said, "Whatever attacked Mai was trying to kill her, but it also seemed like there was something...interfering in what was going on."

"Interfering?"

"Hmm, some other energy, maybe another spirit-I'm not sure," said Bou-san with a half shrug. "But whatever it was stopped that spirit from seriously injuring Mai. The knife was moving fast when it flew towards us, but then it stopped moving as it reached Mai, and fell due to gravity," he explained slowly, almost as if he were carefully thinking out each word. "I don't think her wound is particularly bad. It didn't seem like there was enough force for it to be."

"He is correct," said Lin. "There is a cut, deep enough to bleed, but fairly shallow. It's already stopped bleeding, and doesn't seem to require further medical attention, though I would prefer Matsuzaki-san bandage it to prevent any sort of infection, just in case."

Mai nodded, not minding that, and together the group returned to the Base, where Ayako took care of Mai's wound while what happened in the kitchen was explained to her and Masako.

Suddenly feeling exhausted however, Mai heard little of what was said, and before she knew it, had fallen fast asleep on the couch where she was sitting...

Mai woke in a bedroom belonging to a little girl. The walls were painted a beautiful sky blue, there were many picture books lining a small bookcase against a wall, stuffed animals and dolls strewn about the brightly lit room, the curtains pulled back to fill the room with sunshine.

And sitting there in the centre of this room was a little girl.

She couldn't have been any older than four, her short brown hair tied into pigtails. She was dressed in a little green skirt, with a shirt that matched, and was quite adorable. But she didn't notice Mai, and simply sat there, cheerfully playing with one of her dolls.

Mai could help but stare, horror building within her-a horror that didn't at all dissipate even when Gene materialized beside her. "Gene... Why-what is this? Why am I-why am I seeing this? I don't want to see this, Gene! Why are you making me see this!?"

Gene set a hand on her arm for comfort, but smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Mai, but it's related."

"Oh...no, Gene-"

"Tell Noll about this. He needs to know."

"Gene..."

Mai woke before she could say anything more, and hadn't even been able to gather her thoughts when she realized Naru was watching her. She froze, Gene's words ringing in her ears, but...she couldn't do it. She couldn't say anything. She couldn't tell him. For the first time, Mai was reluctant to tell Naru what Gene had said to her.

Instead, she quickly looked away from him, aware that having done so without saying anything to him at all was only going to make him suspicious, but unable to think of anything convincing to say right now.

Sure enough, the moment she looked away, Naru's eyes narrowed, though he had only just opened his mouth to speak, when he was cut off inadvertently.

"I'm baaaack!"

"Yasu's back," said Mai, her tone bleeding sarcasm.

They waited for Yasuhara to come in and sit down, before Naru promptly asked him whether he had been able to find any further information at the library. Yasuhara nodded in answer, and pulled out his trusty notebook.

"I triple checked everything, boss," he said. "Everything I said earlier appears to be true, but I did find details of two children who seemed to have lived not in this house, but the general area, and passed away at young ages." He paused here, hesitating, eyes flickering over to Mai.

Mai's eyes widened. She knew exactly what Yasuhara had learned, and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted that information to be told to everyone else. But what if she was wrong? What if the dead children Yasuhara had learned about weren't the ones she was thinking of? At the same time though, what if they were?

Before she could process her own thoughts, Mai had jumped to her feet, grabbed Yasuhara by the arm, and dragged him out of the room, ignoring all the sounds of protest and confusion she was hearing. She had to know. Before he told everyone, she had to know.

"What did you find out, Yasu?" Mai asked in a rush. "Those kids! What did you find out about those kids!?"

Yasuhara stared at her, surprised. He had never seen her so agitated before, and she sounded almost hysterical. Then again, if the information he had found truly was correct, then...well, he supposed he couldn't blame her.

"I know what happened, Mai-san."

Mai flinched, then looked away, an expression of pain crossing her face. "That's what I was afraid of," she said softly.

Now that Yasuhara knew, not to mention finally knowing it was definitely related to their case, Mai realized that she had no choice. She had to reveal the secret she'd been keeping from them all for the past handful of years. She had no choice now.

"Mai-san...?"

Mai sighed, then looked up. "I'm sorry you had to do all that research for nothing, seeing as I already know about everything you found, but...if it's alright, I'd like to tell them all about it myself. P-please..."

"Of course," said Yasuhara with a gentle smile, setting a hand down on her shoulder and squeezing. "I'll be right there with you if you need me to take over for you, okay?"

"U-un..."

Together, the two returned to the Base in silence, where they were met with a number of stares and, in one case, an irritated glare.

Mai recognized the expression on Naru's face, and knew he was about to question what she'd just done, so she spoke up quickly, wanting to prevent that from happening.

"I'm somehow related to this case."

Naru's head snapped up. "What do you mean you're related to this?"

"I-I guess I should tell you guys about my family," said Mai, swallowing around the lump that was already forming in her throat.

Ayako frowned. "What do you mean? I thought you said you were an orphan because your parents passed away when you were younger?"

"That wasn't a lie," said Mai. "I just...withheld the details."

"Why?"

"Because there are just...they're just things I don't like thinking about, let alone actually talking about. Part of me kind of just wants to forget any of it happened, but this case-because of this case, I feel like I don't have a choice. You were going to find out sooner or later, sooner in this particular instance, since Yasuhara already learned about it all, and I'd rather you all just hear about it from me instead."

"But...what is it?" said Bou-san, looking very confused. "What happened?"

"My family-" Mai bit her lip, struggling with herself.

"Your family was murdered," said Masako matter of factly.

Mai inhaled sharply, then said, "Yes."

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