Yo! Apparently this chapter was originally delayed because my laptop broke and I was stuck using either the family desktop or my mum's laptop. But my brother was playing Dark Souls and wanted us to keep the comp off due to lag, and my mum spent all day watching random shows and doing whatever people used to do on Facebook back then. Damn, this was written so long ago. Dark Souls 2 and 3 came out since then, along with Bloodborne and Sekiro. Shit. Thank you to all readers so far!
Mai let out a sudden cry of pain as something roughly grabbed her arm. She knew it wasn't Naru either, and it wasn't even Gene.
It looked like the dark entity, whatever it was, had decided to take advantage of their lapse in attention and make its move. The grip on Mai's arm tightened and she cried out in startled pain.
The door banged open and someone ran in, chanting in a familiar sounding mantra in an even more familiar sounding voice.
The pressure on Mai's arm lifted and the lights flickered a few times before staying on.
"Bou-san…" Mai sighed in relief at the sight of the monk, who was quickly approaching the bed.
"What happened to Naru-bou?"
Mai gasped and whipped around. "Naru! Naru! Wake up, you moron!"
Surprisingly, or maybe not, Mai's insult actually seemed to work, and Naru began to stir. He half sat up before letting out a groan and stopping himself in place.
"Naru!" Mai exclaimed in relief.
She hugged him tightly, despite the fact that he was in pain and propped up on an elbow. Naru brought an arm around her, probably without thought.
It took both Naru and Mai a few minutes to get their bearings, and once they had, they returned to the Base, Bou-san keeping close behind them, probably more on guard than they were.
Once they had made it back and settled down, the rest of the group was informed of what happened in the room. They listened in silence, Lin noting it all down as always, and though John was the first one to speak, his attention was fixed on Mai.
"Mai-san, what happened to your arm?"
Mai looked down and blinked. The same arm that had been cut earlier, now had a large, dark, and very clearly handprint shaped bruise around it.
"Oh yeah, I forgot it grabbed me." said Mai, prodding at the bruise curiously.
"Were you that worried about Naru?" said Ayako rather slyly as she carefully examined Naru.
Mai blushed and Naru scowled.
"Well, you don't need to worry," said Ayako, sitting back. "Naru's fine. He's got a small bump on the head, but that's it. Nothing to worry about."
Mai looked up and caught sight of Masako's expression. Normally, when a joke about Naru and Mai was made, Masako would get angry, but right now, her face didn't show anger, but something quite different. If Mai was seeing it right, she looked kind of sick.
"Hey, Masako? Are you okay?"
Sleeve raised to cover her face slightly, Masako, slowly, said, "When the lights went out, the dark spirit's presence became overwhelming. Ryou-san and May-san's presences vanished."
"W-what?"
"Don't worry, I can feel them again. Their presences returned when the lights came back on."
"Oh, good. That's-that's good," said Mai in relief, knowing that the bad spirit hadn't devoured the spirits of her siblings.
"You can confirm that these two spirits are Mai's brother and sister, Hara-san?" said Naru.
Masako nodded. "Yes, they are definitely them. I don't doubt it at all."
There was a moment of silence.
"Yasuhara-san, did you find any information on who this dark spirit may be?" Naru asked a minute later.
Not looking particularly pleased about it himself, Yasuhara shook his head. "Sorry, boss. I haven't been able to find anything yet at all."
Naru sighed and Mai blinked in surprise, half because of Naru's unusual show of agitation, and half because she had suddenly realized something.
"What if this dark spirit is something Hideki-san picked up somewhere else?" she said.
Taking that into consideration immediately, Naru said, "Lin, call Madoka. Tell her to meet Yasuhara-san at the library."
"Boss! You're sending me out in this horrid weather, again!?" Yasuhara exclaimed in a scandalized tone.
Mai laughed. "But it's warm and sunny out, Yasu." She pulled the curtain back.
"No! My eyes!" Yasuhara cried, shielding his face.
Naru seemed entirely unfazed by Yasuhara's antics. "Yasuhara-san, you have a couple of hours before the library closes. I expect you and Madoka to return with some information."
"Yes sir!" Yasuhara saluted before he marched out of the room dutifully.
Thoroughly amused, Mai quickly turned to muffle her laugh in Bou-san's shirt, even though he looked like he was trying not to laugh too.
"Mai, tea."
Mai sighed. "Yeah, okay. C'mon Bou-san."
The monk pouted like a child. "I don't wanna go."
"…What?"
"Mai. I need tea. You don't get paid to stand around," said Naru.
"But no one wants to come with me," Mai whined. "And you're the one who said no one can go off alone. And you're the one who wants tea!"
Naru sighed and got up. "I'll go with you."
"Oh, okay…"
They left the Base, heading towards the kitchen in awkward silence. But once they were there, they seemed to quickly gravitate towards one another and just like earlier in the bedroom, they suddenly found their lips inches apart.
Mai was the one to close the distance this time, and Naru responded just as eagerly, his hands beginning to wander, one of them finding their way to Mai's leg, just under the hem of that torturously short skirt. Mai tensed slightly at the touch, but all Naru did was stroke the skin of her thigh gently, and she started to relax, already getting used to it.
Of course, Naru wasn't the only one who had wandering hands. Mai's were moving too, though hers were on Naru's chest, working on the buttons on his shirt. Two of them were already undone, and just as she started on the third-
The kettle began to scream, causing them both to jump apart, startled by the sudden loud sound.
Embarrassed, they avoided one another's gaze and Mai turned to the stove so she could turn it off and grab the kettle. But just as she reached forward, she felt someone shove her roughly from behind.
She just barely managed to catch herself from hitting the hot stove, and her head snapped up when the lights above her started flickering. Naru's hand came to her shoulder, gripping it tightly as he stood at her back, though he was also looking up at the lights.
Catching a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye, Mai looked over and saw a dark figure. She could have swore it pointed at her, but drowsiness hit her like a ton of bricks and she started to drop. As her eyes started to fall shut, she heard a voice somewhere in her mind-
"I will have my revenge!"
That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!