ding ding ding! you've won a neeewww carrr! (jk, but here's a new chapter) ヾ(^∇^)
Monday, November 3 PM
Naru became increasingly aggravated after listening to his brother's cellphone ring for the third time consecutively. The all too peppy ringtone was getting on his last nerve.
"Gene!" He snappily called to his twin who was currently in the shower. The mixing sound of water and Gene singing his heart out seeped through the crack under the door. There was no response.
He would have thrown the device across the room already had it not been for something in his gut telling him not to. It stopped ringing for a second, a moment of respite. But in a moment the ringing began once more. Putting down his book with more force than usual, and gripped the phone and answered it with an oh so (not) friendly, "Can I help you?"
"Hello? Where's Gene?" The voice on the other line sounded destressed. Small sniffles could be heard in between the speaker's words.
"Why could you possibly be calling my brother's phone four times? I'll save you the heart break and let you know he's not interested." The teenage boy rubbed his temples.
"Naru, please, just let me talk to Gene," Naru recognized the voice to be Mai's, except in a very, very distressed state. Naru turned his head over to the hallway and listened to see if his brother was out of the shower. He was not.
"Whatever you need will have to wait, he cannot come to the phone right no- "
"Then can you help me? Please? I don't know what to do, I have no one else to call," she sounded as if she were about to break out into a loud cry. Naru could almost picture the tears welling up in her eyes. There was something about this mental image that frustrated him, almost angered him, but he couldn't figure out why. He didn't care to find out, however.
"What's going on?"
"My whole apartment building was robbed, everything has been ripped apart. The police won't let anyone stay for the night because they need to investigate," the sniffles became more and more apparent, "I don't know what to do, I don't know where to go. I need help, I need Gene's help, he'll- "
"What about your parents?"
"My parents… they're, well, not in town…"
"Are there people around you now?" Naru stood up with urgency and went to grab his keys off the hook by the foyer.
"Uh, yeah there's a few people still here."
"Good, don't move," he was now walking out the door.
"And if you have a problem like this again, don't call Gene. Call me." He ended the call.
Naru pulled up next to her apartment complex and practically bolted out of the car. He found Mai sitting on the curb with her hands over her face. Something panged in his chest. He stood at a distance and watched as the girl who always seemed have her life together was falling apart. Another pang. She looked up and out to the street, old tears left markings on her cheeks where they had previously fallen, and a few new ones rolled down down her face slowly. Pang.
"Oh, Naru," spotting the boy, she wiped her eyes and stood up with the small bag she was carrying. She did her best to smile and make it look as though she was not breaking down just a moment ago.
A car drove by. The sound of the wheels coming and going on the concrete filled the silence between the two. The headlights made Mai's puffy red eyes visible for a split second. For a moment, Naru couldn't remember a time he had seen her cry before.
Pang.
She walked over to him, and he led her to the car. He muttered something about who how anyone's parents could ever leave their child alone to live in such a bad side of Tokyo.
Mai sat with her bag on her lap. Her ankles rested together, and her arms wrapped tightly around the bag, holding it close. She thought that his car looked expensive, so she decided to not touch anything to avoid any damages. And no surprise to her, his car was sleek black with black and deep red interior.
"I thought you had to be 18 to get your license…" Mai spoke softly.
"Loopholes," was all he said. Mai got the vibe he did not want to have a conversation at this moment in time, which she was perfectly okay with. They seemed to get stuck at every single traffic light they came across. She could have sworn she heard a frustrated curse in another language escape the lips of Naru after the fourth stop. She noted how his knuckles were white from how hard he was gripping the steering wheel.
"When will your parents be back home?" Mai fidgeted with the zipper on the bag.
"They aren't exactly… coming home," her voice was soft, almost vulnerable.
"You should tell them to at least get you an apartment in a better part of Tokyo. Not only is it an inconvenience to yourself, but now others." Mai almost flinched at the coldness of his words.
"I-I'm really sorry, I never meant for this to happen," the tears pooled in her eyes again.
Pang. A sigh.
"It's fine. You know if you need anything, Gene will be there to help," a pause that seemed as if it were eternity passed.
"And I will be too."
If Mai wasn't crying before, she definitely was now.
"Thank you," she smiled to him, a sole tear ran down her cheek. It shimmered in the streetlights overhead. It would be a mental image Naru would never forget, whether he wanted to or not. He moved his eyes back to the road. Mai could have sworn that his cheeks were a light pink, but she chalked it up to the flickering streetlights. The last traffic light they passed was green.
The pair made it safely home.
Naru didn't hold the door for Mai. Gene was pacing around in the living room.
"Noll! Where have you been?"
"There's that strange name again…"
"You didn't even leave a note? And you took my phone? What the hell where you thinking-"
Naru stood with his arms crossed across the table from Gene. Mai peaked her head around the corner to watch Gene lecturing Naru. His eyes found her in an instant. He looked confused for a second.
"Mai?" Gene walked over to her and furrowed his brows.
"What are you…" Gene looked over to his brother, then Mai, back to his Naru, then Mai.
"You should put your cellphone on mute when you're in the shower. Common curtesy," he walked coolly out of the room.
"There was an issue…" Mai began, wringing her hands. Gene led her to the couch.
The brunette explained the ordeal to Gene, who sympathetically rubbed her back.
"Oh, Mai. I'm so sorry! I'm even more sorry that you had to deal with my brother during such a time!" He pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She shook her head.
"He wasn't too bad," she laughed a little bit, "but imagine my surprise when I called you and Mr. Friendly picked up!"
"Did they say how long it would be until you can go back?" Mai shook her head no.
"You can stay here for as long as you need to, you're safe here," Gene smiled and pulled her into a side hug. He stood up from the couch and cracked his back. His phone buzzed.
"Oh, the narcissist beckons. I'll be right back. If you think of anything you need, let me know," Gene smiled and walked down the hallway Naru did earlier.
Mai found herself alone in a slightly unfamiliar home. There was no noise of cars, no sound from neighbors, just silence. Mai was alone with her thoughts.
Fear found its way into her mind. The fear she had lost something important to her. The fear that they wouldn't catch the person who did this. The fear they would come back.
Mai became restless sitting down. She needed something to occupy herself in order to stop worrying. She got up and made her way over to the kitchen where she decided to make some tea. Unsure where they kept the tea, Mai started opening all the cabinets. She was surprised to find most of them completely empty. So empty that she found it strange. She decided to peak in the fridge and see if it followed the trend. A few glass bottles of coffee, water, a gallon of milk, and a bowl of rice was all that were in it. Mai almost gasped.
"Are you looking for something?" The voice made Mai jump.
"How could I? There's nothing here!" She motioned to the empty cabinets and fridge as she turned around to see the owner of the voice.
"We have everything we need," Naru walked over to a cabinet and grabbed some tea from it. Mai snatched it up and added it to the boiling water.
"How do you make meals here?"
"Lin normally gets food," he spoke as if there were nothing unusual about eating take out every single day.
"When was the last time you've had a home cooked meal?" Mai placed a hand on her hip. It was silent for a moment.
"Before we moved." Mai almost fell to the floor. She shook her head and she rubbed her temples.
"I don't understand how you two can both be so skinny if you eat take out everyday. Why does God give such a blessing to undeserving men?" she mumbled to herself. Naru smirked a bit.
As if a light bulb went off inside of her head, she stood up straight and snapped her fingers.
"I'll cook to make up for me staying here!"
"Do as you please," Naru turned and walked out of the room.
"It's not healthy to eat take out all the time!" Mai yelled after him. There was no response. She rolled her eyes and glanced the box of tea she held in her hands.
"Maybe this is some kind of special weight loss tea..." she pondered. She went to read the small print to see if there was anything like that, but it was completely in english.
"That must be why he's so good at english. From reading tea boxes."
While pouring the tea, she realized she made a bit too much. She poured an extra cup and decided a certain tea-loving narcissist might enjoy it. She placed the cup on a cute saucer and made her way up the stairs. She tried to retrace her step the first time she wandered into his room. She knocked on the door.
"Come in."
"Definitely the right room."
Mai pushed open the door and stood there for a moment with a steaming cup of tea.
"What is it?" Naru sat at the small table, a book in front of him. She stepped in and set the tea in front of him.
"I made too much, so I thought you might like a cup," she stood there for a bit, waiting for, well, anything.
"Is there something else you need?" She narrowed her eyes. She turned around and stomped out of the room muttering, "I think a 'thank you' would actually kill him."
She slammed the door as she left and stomped down the hall.
"Stupid, narcissistic, jerkish, rude-"
Mai stopped in her tracks when she heard a snicker to her side.
"Oh, seems like I've been caught," Gene was covering his mouth with his hand, "Ah, but I guess while we're up here I should show you your room."
Gene walked back the way Mai had just come from and led her to a room next to the study. She recognized this as she one she had stayed in before.
"There's a bathroom across the hall with a shower and everything if you need it. Please make yourself at home!"
And with that, the door behind her closed with a click. She held her head on her hands for a moment.
"Why is this happening to me?!"
Mai slept soundly. Not once did she awake from a nightmare, or from her neighbors blasting music. The sound of crickets outside her window lulled her in her sleep.
Tuesday, November 4
"We have to wake her up, Noll! We can't just leave her!"
"Why not? It's not our fault she has a terrible sleep schedule."
"Think about what she's going through!"
"That has nothing to do with the ability to set an alarm."
The twins stood bickering outside of Mai's temporary room. If one of them didn't go to wake her up, surely their arguing would. The door creaked open, silencing their conversation. A sleepy Mai stood in the doorway between the two, her hair smushed to one side, her pajama's messy, and her feet adorned in her soft looking bunny slippers. She yawned and leaned back before opening her eyes to see the two boys in front of her. Not expecting the company, she took a step back.
"What you are two doing?" She switched to glance at each twin.
"She's awake. Now let's go," Naru started down the hallway.
"I can stall him for a few more minutes if you want to all walk together," Gene said as he watched Naru go out of view.
"Oh, no. Don't wait for me. I know my way," she spoke with a sleepy smile as she moved passed him and into the bathroom to freshen up for the day. The door closed with a clink. A squeaky knob was turned. Water hit the floor of the shower. A sigh.
Mai bounced down the stairs, as ready as she could be for the day. She hummed as she made her way to the door. A throat cleared behind her. She stopped in her tracks and swung around to see the source of the noise.
"O-oh, Lin! Haha, you scared me!" Mai rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. The tall man sat with his left leg propped up on the table. He spared her a glance.
"I'm so sorry about what happened! Can you walk? Can I get you anything before I go? Maybe tea or something?"
"I believe you have school to attend to."
"Er, well, yeah…" Mai slowly back out of the room. There was a long moment of awkward silence.
"Okaywellbyeseeyoulatermaybe," Mai bolted out of the door and down the block. Her face was red from embarrassment.
"Why does he have to be so… like that!" She shook her head in the brisk air, as if it would take away the rouge tint.
Mai decided to eat lunch with Keiko and Michiru today to escape both Gene and Naru. As soon as she walked into her friends classroom, the questions began to flow.
"Oh, Mai! I heard what happened, I'm so sorry!" Michiru ran up to her.
"If you need anything at all we are here for you," Keiko reassured her.
"What happened?" Yasuhara, who was sitting with the girls, piped up.
"Mai's apartment building got robbed," Keiko said in a hushed tone. Yasuhara gasped dramatically.
"Oh, my sweet Mai! How could you not tell me something like this?" He held his heart and lend back on his chair. Mai giggled.
"How would you not know? It's been all over the news," Masako sat picking at her cuticles, looking rather bored. Michiru and Mai took their seats at the table they made out of desks.
"Only old people watch the news!" Yasuhara cried.
"Are you trying to say something?" Masako said through her teeth.
"Ah-aha, no of course not! You'll always be the image of youthful beauty in my mind!" Masako made a 'humph' then began munching away at her bento.
"Where did you end up staying last night?" Keiko asked before shoving a mini squid shaped hot dog into her mouth.
"I stayed at Gene and Naru's place," Mai replied nonchalantly. Everyone practically choked on their food. Coughing spread like an epidemic around the table.
"W-what!" Mai didn't understand why they were reacting in such a way.
"Mai! You stayed with two boys? Two teenage boys?" Michiru put her bento down on the table and stared directly into her eyes.
"Um, yeah. Is there something strange or-"?
"Did they do anything to you?" Yasuhara looked almost baffled.
"What? No! Of course not! They would never-"
"I can't believe Naru let you stay there!" Keiko said with a mouthful of food.
"I can't believe his parents let her stay there!" Michiru one up'ed her.
"Actually, they don't live with their parents," Mai let out an awkward laugh.
"So this was all unsupervised?!" Yasuhara was not faking clutching his heart anymore, this time it was real.
"This is ridiculous," Masako scoffed and shifted her body away to not face the group.
"Ooooo, someone is jealous," Yasuhara whispered in a not so quiet tone.
"I am not!" She shot him a dirty look.
"When will you be able to go back to your apartment?" Michiru questioned.
"Tonight, hopefully," Mai spoke with a soft smile. Anxiety about which of her possessions were and were not there had plagued her since the moment the she heard about the news.
"You stayed where?!" Monk's voice boomed through the café, causing everyone else to hush to hear the commotion.
"Monk! Don't be so loud," Mai hissed as she cleaned the counter.
"All teenage boys are bad! Evil! With terrible intentions! I should know," his grip tightened around his mug, "so help me God, Mai, if I find out they did something to you I will kill them, you hear me! I'll kill- "
Whack.
"Don't get all dramatic! Think of it as a friendly sleepover. Now stop causing a scene!" Ayako stood with her purse in hand behind the monk who was now rubbing his head. He opened his mouth to retaliate, but he was shushed by Mai.
"Wait, wait be quiet. I think they're saying something about my apartment," the television in the café had been left on all day in hopes to hear if the apartment building was safe to return to.
"As reported last night, an apartment building on the west side of Shibuya was broke into and looted. However, that doesn't seem to be the worst of it. A man, estimated to be around 45, has been found dead inside of one of the rooms. There is no call yet on if it was homicide, but we will keep you updated if we hear anything. For now, residents are being asked to stay elsewhere, and neighborhoods surrounding are to be on high alert," then it cut to interviews of other building residents. The thought of someone murdered in her own building almost made Mai sick.
"Oh, Mai…" Ayako started. Mutters of sorrys and other words of consolation flowed in through her ears, but she didn't hear them. All she could hear was the thump on her heart.
Sometime passed. Mai was now ready to go home, well, whatever home she could find. She was alone in the café. She hated working the last shift and having to lock up alone, but she didn't complain. Money was money, after all. She grabbed her bag off the floor and walked outside. Pulling the keys out of her pocket, she fumbled with them for a second before finding the right one. As she locked the door she heard a loud breath behind her.
"Hey there, sweetheart," a man stumbled around the outside terrace.
"Sorry, sir. We are closed now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Mai tried to keep calm.
"Alright with me," he walked closer, "but how about you come home with me?"
Mai took a step back, taking note that there wasn't much room left before her back were to hit the door. She was practically being corner.
"N-no, you need to leave."
"You have some gorgeous eyes there, haven't I seen them before?" he extended a hand.
"D-don't touch me!" Mai held her arms in front of her as a guard.
"You live in that apartment building that got robbed, right?" Mai's breath almost escaped her. "How does he know..." She recoiled as much as she could, his hand was inches from her arm.
"Don't be like that, honey. We're going to have some fun together," his smile was crooked. His breath reeked of alcohol and cigarettes. Mai made fists, as shaky as her hands were, and squinted her eyes shut. The sound of the man's shuffling feet on the pavement abruptly stopped.
"Do you not listen? She said leave." Mai peaked open her eyes, a hand was wrapped securely around the mans outstretched wrist. Mai's eyes followed the hand up to the black clad arm, and up to unhappy face.
"Naru," Mai breathed out.
"Hey, that hurts! Let go!" The man writhed in his grasp.
"I think you need to leave," Naru seemed unfazed by his sudden movements.
"Who the hell do you think you are!" The moment Naru released the man's wrist, the drunk threw a sloppy punch, but missed and fell face first on the concrete. Naru smirked. He grabbed Mai's wrist and pulled her away from the store front, leaving the man to try to stable himself enough to stand but fail. He yelled something incoherent after the two.
His grasp was tight around her wrist, she questioned if it was his touch or the brisk air that made her cheeks turn a light pink.
"You can let go now…" Mai motioned to her wrist. He released in an instant.
"What were you doing here?" Mai tried to fill the silence with conversation.
"Do you forget I work upstairs?"
"Oh, right. But why are you out so late?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
"I got stuck with the lock up shift," Mai sighed.
"Tell them not to have you work so late alone."
"I can't do that, I don't want to make them stay longer than they need to." Naru practically rolled his eyes at her thoughtfulness.
"Hey, Naru. Where are we going?" Mai realized they were walking in a different direction they had ever before.
"Home."
"My apartment is back that way…" she stopped and pointed the other way.
"Have you not heard the news? You're not going back there," he kept walking the other direction.
"Wait, wait, wait! I can't impose like that!" she ran in front of him and stood there to block his path, "I'm sure they'll let me stay if I just ask-"
"It's unsafe. You would do the same for my brother or I, now let's go before the bars let out." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him as he walked. Her attempted bargains and pleas floated off somewhere into the distant sky.
Mai sat swaddled in a soft, grey blanket on the couch. A steaming mug of tea warmed her hands from the frigid air outside.
"Wait, wait. What happened, again?" Mai was growing tired of recounting the previous events to Gene so many times. She sighed.
"Okay, okay. I won't make you relive it anymore," his hand patted her back. Mai took a sip of her tea.
"Let's watch a movie!" Gene suggested excitedly.
"No," Naru shot him down from the armchair next to the pair on the sofa. He was reading a book. Gene looked slightly defeated.
"Why not?" Mai questioned. She didn't necessarily want to watch a movie, but Naru's quick denial ticked her off in a sort of way. He raised a brow to her. No one questioned him.
"It's late," he answered.
"Well it's a shame I don't care, isn't it?" she crossed her arms at him. There was almost an electricity between the two.
"Must I remind you whose house you are staying in?"
"Must I remind YOU who forced me to stay here?"
"H-hey Mai, it's alright… I didn't want to watch anything that badly," Gene let out a strained laugh.
"No," Mai looked over at him, "set up the movie." Naru shot a glance at her. She fired one of her own back. Gene fumbled hesitantly with the remote.
"Is this one okay?" Gene had selected Kiki's Delivery Service. Mai broke her stare off with Naru to glance at the TV screen. Her eyes immediately lit up.
"I love this movie! My parents used to watch it with me growing up," she mused. And as the play button was pressed, Naru was defeated. He pinched the bridge of his nose, but didn't make a move to leave. Mai smiled deviously, and curled up on the couch. Mai added a tally on her side to the score board she had been keeping against Naru in her head.
Gene let out a yawn about half way through the movie.
"Probably should have picked a shorter movie," he mumbled. When he looked to his left, he was unsurprised to see Mai completely knocked out on the couch beside him. In the quiet, he could hear her shallow breaths and see her chest rise and fall. However, he was surprised to find his other half also asleep on the arm chair next to Mai. His eyelids were closed, his long lashes framed his face nicely. His hand held up his head, and Gene could tell he was rather uncomfortable in his position. He would probably have an ache in his neck when he awakes. Gene couldn't help but laugh lightly.
"I think this might be the closest Noll ever comes to sleeping with a girl," Gene mumbled under his breath. He snapped a picture of the two and sent it, along with the witty comment of course, in the group chat he had with Madoka and Luella. He switched off the light and left the two in darkness, before going upstairs by himself and falling asleep, wondering if anything would ever happen with the two downstairs.
Before falling into slumber, he decided he would need to come up with a plan. He titled it, "Operation: Get Naru to realize he's in love."
Thank you for reading!
I haven't been able to write at all in the past few weeks, my life has been really hectic. But, I might have gotten a job in my dream field so I'm super excited and hopeful for what that will bring!
Next chapter probably won't be up for a bit, I only have about 100 words of it done at the moment oops. It also might be a bit short because I'm having a bit of writer's block with the concept I wanted the chapter to revolve around. But after this week, my school's musical will be over so I should have (somewhat) of my life back :) Break is coming up too so I will make sure to write as much as I can in order to have a few chapters done so I can post them soon!
I hope you all are doing well! Best wishes to whatever you are doing in the future.
I really do hope you have been enjoying my story, I put a lot of effort into each chapter and when I hear such sweet things in the reviews it really warms my heart.
Have a splendid night/morning!
