Author's Note- Updated and edited 10-22-19.
Mei sighed softly at the question and thought of her options for a moment but decided to go with the truth. "Yes, it is me." She replied softly but it sounded more like Mai than the way she had been speaking since she saw the team with her true appearance. "You do not seem to be upset with the fact that I hid that from you?" She asked after taking in the reactions of the duo. Naru had nodded slightly but she saw curiosity in his eyes, and Lin made a slight humming sound.
"If you do not mind me asking, why did you hide your identity? I do not believe the curse of the class is that famous." Naru asked raising an eyebrow at his female assistant who sighed softly once again at the question.
"It has nothing to do with the curse Naru. It had to do with my sister... you were a twin as well, and like me had lost him the more open of the duo... By being Mei Misaki I feel as though I am betraying her in some way, even though I know she would be mad at me for thinking like that... I cannot help it, she was the twin who had such a bright future ahead of her, and yet she died because I was in Class Three, and I could not do anything at that point to protect her. However, when I am Mai Taniyama, I never had to worry about that, I was a completely different person who was not being held down by the past..." She blushed lightly as she realized she was ranting slightly. "Besides, while wearing the colored contacts I can keep the eye patch off as it blocks the color out, so I do not need to worry about knowing when someone is about to, you know... die." She finished as they reached and old staircase with a warning sign at the base.
"The contacts block out the color?" Lin asked feeling slightly confused at her confession. "How would the contact stick to the eye?" Mei shrugged in response to his question.
"I am not sure how it works but I am grateful for it. Anyway, we have to go up the stairs so be careful." She warned as she began walking up the staircase and the two stoic males followed her lead. Once they reached the top, she walked a few doors down the hallway until she got to the old classroom which she opened the door and entered. The room was slightly cluttered from all the random objects the faculty has put in the room. She noticed how dusty the place had become since she and Kouichi came up to put their tape in the room which made her eyes widen slightly but she shook her head at the thought and looked back to her boss and co-worker as they looked around.
Mei leaned against the wall next to the door and looked around the classroom with a bored look in her crimson eye. Both Naru and Lin were looking for anything that could signify a clue to the curse and got to a certain cabinet which made her speak up. "Do not remove the tape or paper from there. At least not yet, you want to be open to finding a way to break the curse permanently, not temporarily." She warned as Lin opened the cabinet.
Naru looked back at her and looked her in the eye before he began to speak. "Why would a tape make us think about only temporarily, we are professionals if you can remember that."
Mei's eye twitched once at his comment and thought about how to respond to that. "Professional or not, it would not help with the reason you were brought here, it would help me and my group, but only because it involves us ending the curse for the year, last year. But I suppose you could take it if you are going to be that stubborn about it." She muttered the last part as she saw Lin taking the package from the top of the cabinet. "I assume you two are ready to go to the current classroom then?" She asked getting nods in return from the two stubborn men.
She rolled her eye before she exited the room and waited for the two to come out of the room and felt a chill run down her spine so she looked down the hallway to see if she could see anything, but she saw nothing. The feeling went away as Lin and Naru exited the classroom. She sighed as she turned and began walking towards the stairs knowing the duo were behind her.
"Do you two think you can keep my identity a secret for now from the rest of the team? If they do not figure it out by the time you finish the investigation, then I will tell them when I get back to the office." She asked softly with her tone hopeful as she paused at the top of the stairs and looked back at them.
Both men had been shocked at the request and it showed slightly on both of their faces something not many would notice but Mei is good at reading them, something she is proud of. Naru had slightly furrowed his eyebrows at her request showing his confusion, and Lin's lips were slightly tilted downwards.
"Why would we do that Ma-Mei? Do they not deserve to know who you are now?" Naru asked after a few moments as he studied the young woman in front of him trying to read her, but she kept herself closed off and unreadable which was frustrating him to no end.
"That isn't what I meant... I just do not need them to go attempt to be overprotective over me if I need to do something or get hurt while here. I love the team, they are like family to me, which is weird considering my family has always been so small before. And I have always known you all would find out who I truly am eventually, but this is more for their protection. They are less likely to go running to protect someone if they do not know them, than if they knew it was Mai." She explained with a sigh, but her logic was true, so both men shared a look as if having a silent conversation.
After a few moments they both looked back to her. "We will keep your secret for now, but if they find out we will not try to make them think otherwise. And if you do not tell them when you get back to the office then we will tell them. Is that a deal?" Naru asked raising an eyebrow towards the girl who had a slight smile on her face at the deal.
"Yes, it is a deal." She agreed before she turned back around and began walking down the stairs feeling a bit more relaxed than she had before. Once at the bottom she turned back down the hallway they had walked down to get to the staircase. "So, you two still want to see the current classroom?" She asked looking back at them as she walked the familiar halls.
"Yes, we do, if you do not mind showing us to the classroom." Lin requested politely and the dual eyed girl nodded as she faced forward.
"I do not mind showing you two the classroom. I will warn you however that if there are any students still in the classroom, do not speak to them about the curse, do that and you give those students an immediate death sentence." She said with an extremely serious tone that she had never used around them before.
"Just speaking of this curse will kill them?" Naru asked and his usual cold exterior broke as his tone sounded slightly worried about not being able to speak to the current class about what was happening.
"Yes, speaking about it to outsiders will kill the students you speak to. So, I guess it is a good thing that we are here for you to ask questions to then." She replied with a sigh as they reached the classroom and opened the door entering and saw a few students that she recognized as the current counter-measure committee who seemed to be having a meeting. She looked at the students who had paused as they entered the room and took in who all was in the room and she saw Mira Hana the principals daughter and her visible eye widened slightly as she realized what was going on, they were making her the newest non-existent student.
"My apologies for interrupting, however we have a few things we need to take care of in this room, so I apologize for ending your meeting early Osara-san." Mei spoke up and apologized with a slight bow towards the girl standing at the front of the room who scowled at her words.
" Whatever you say, Misaki-senpai. But if I am speaking the truth, I believe you have much more to apologize for than just ending this important meeting early, after all those who do not exist should stay non-existent." The girl sneered slightly at her as she spoke. "I mean we all learned what happens when they don't." She mocked Mei who clenched her fists to try and hide the sting of the words. "We already went over what was needed anyway and will tell the rest of the class in the morning, for now this meeting of the counter-measure committee is dismissed, oh and if I were you Hana-san, I wouldn't even come to school, that way you do not make the same mistake as they made last year." She had a slightly cruel smile on her face as she picked up her bag, the rest of the actual committee followed suit and soon it was only Naru, Lin, Mei, and Mira Hana left in the classroom.
Mira looked up at the three but looked at Mei her eyes seemed to plead for an answer to the question she was about to ask. "Senpai... How did you do it last year?" The girl asked softly which confused Naru and Lin, especially when a sad smile appeared on Mei's face as she walked closer to the girl and sat at the desk across from her looking her in the eye.
"I am not sure, but take it from one non-existent student to another, you will live through it, and you will be stronger in the future because of it. If you do not believe me, I will get Kouichi in here and he will tell you the same thing." Her words made the younger girl tear up and she got up and hugged the older student momentarily.
"You do not have to do that, I will believe you, thank you Misaki-senpai." Mira said before she pulled away from the older student and grabbed her bag before she left the room.
Mei sighed as she felt the curious gazes of the two at the door and stood up and walking closer to them. "The counter-measure the class takes every year is they make one student 'non-existent' to make up for the extra person in hopes that it will stop the curse and it does work occasionally, if the curse had not start up, they were too slow this year, just like last year..." She trailed off at the end of the sentence but spoke up again. "I was the original one last year, but Kouichi just would not leave me alone so he ended up as the second non-existent student of the class. Anyway, go ahead and look around." She said as she walked over to the wall next to the door and leaned against the wall and neither male moved as they were taking in the information, she had given them.
Just as the two were about to begin searching the room, the temperature in the room suddenly dropped quite a bit and the lights dimmed as a familiar person (to Mei at least) appeared in the front of the room where he had killed himself last year. Mei's eye widened and she muttered a name. "Kubodera-sensei?" She asked in shock of his appearance and was suddenly on alert and she noticed her two co-workers were as well.
The ghost turned towards her and had a crazed look in his eyes and took a few steps towards her and opened his mouth to say something, which she was not sure he could as his injury was still evident on his neck and reminded her strongly of the year before when he had killed himself in front of the class.