Yo! Thank you to all readers so far!
When Mai woke in the morning, she remained where she was in bed, blinking slowly. She couldn't believe she had really spent most of the last two days unconscious. Jeez, that was annoying.
With a heavy sigh, she pulled herself out of bed, deciding to get herself ready first before waking Ayako-she knew the woman would only hog the bathroom otherwise, and then she'd have to wait for ages to get anything done herself.
But once all of that was dealt with, the group gathered for breakfast and as they ate, Mai caught Naru's attention.
"Oh yeah, Naru?"
"Hm?"
"I had a dream last night," said Mai. She recounted what Ryou had said to her, and how Gene had echoed the same sentiments as her brother, though she admitted she didn't understand why they were saying this.
"I see," said Naru, once she had finished. He sighed softly. "He's your brother, so I'll respect his wishes, but you'll have to be told one day."
"R-Ryou-nii said that this case has something to do with my past," said Mai slowly. "But I don't remember anything that would cause that."
"There's...a reason for that," said Naru after a beat of silence.
Mai huffed. "I wish I could know now."
No one said anything to that. They all knew the truth, and while it did pain them that Mai didn't, they also understood where Ryou and Gene were coming from. Mai had locked whatever memories she had about all of this away. Didn't that mean she wasn't ready to remember everything? Didn't that mean it really was better to wait until she was?
Lin finished breakfast first and headed off to the Base so he could begin analyzing the tapes and recordings and so on from the previous night, and the others remained at the table, chatting as they finished up their own food.
Some fifteen minutes later, they gathered up in the Base, only for Naru to glance at Mai from over his shoulder. "Tea."
Mai balked. "You just had tea!" When all she got was a cool look in response, she sighed. "Yeah, yeah, fine. You tea-a-holic."
"I'll go with you, Mai-san," said John.
And so they headed back out and over to the kitchen, and it wasn't until they were there that John spoke again.
"How are you feeling, Mai-san?"
"I'm fine," she said with a smile. After a moment she said, "In my dream, Ryou-nii said he talked to you guys?"
"He did," said John, nodding once.
"I hope he gave you guys some information that could help."
John smiled. "He did. Madoka-san and Yasuhara-san are leaving to do more research as we speak. Your brother told us some interesting things."
"That's good," said Mai, moving around the kitchen. "I hope he wasn't too rude. I...kind of remember Ryou-nii having a bit of an attitude problem."
John nearly choked. He didn't say anything, couldn't bring himself to, but he had seen Madoka recording yesterday's...events, and knew it was only a matter of time before she shared that recording with Mai...
Once they were back in the base, Mai handed Naru his tea, not particularly surprised or bothered when she didn't get more than a muttered thanks. Actually, that was better than usual. Naru seemed very focused too, standing next to Lin by the monitors.
"Anything interesting?" Mai asked a little curiously, noting the way Naru's eyes were fixated on one of the screens.
When Naru nodded towards one of the monitors, Mai looked over at it and saw herself in bed. She was alone in the room and fast asleep, it seemed. Nothing happened at first, but then a strange mist started to form at the foot of the bed. After a few moments of this, a translucent figure was standing there, just staring at the sleeping Mai. The figure, which was that of a young man, turned around and walked towards the camera, clearly knowing what it was.
"Revenge!" he yelled at it, eyes full of fury.
Mai suddenly gave a cry of pain. She fell to her knees, clutching her head, memories flooding her mind.
"Shin-nii…!" she gasped.
That's it for now. Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!