Author's Note:

Sorry for making you all wait for so long. But here's another chapter. I hope you'll like it. And don't forget to review! :)

FILE 7

"Don't."

Mai glanced at her dark-haired 'guide' who, unlike her, was looking at the horizon with a calm expression on his face. He didn't look at all worried now after they talked about Naru, in fact, there was a distinct feeling deep within her guts that he seemed to be expecting this to happen— like someone who has his plans laid out in front of him in chronological order and everything written there would happen at his will.

Mai glanced away from the beautiful young lady in front of her, her face soft and so heartfelt that it tugged something in her heart. And before she realized it, her hand was reaching out.

"What will happen if I touch her?" She asked, her gaze remaining on the lady with childlike curiosity.

"You'll see, feel, and absorb her memories. You'll see.." Gene let the words remain unfinished. But Mai already knew what he's about to say. And as she turned around, she pierced him with a sad look, her brown eyes filled with sympathy. "He saw," she whispered with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "He saw how you died."

Mai still couldn't comprehend how Naru could stay aloof and so mechanical when they found Gene's body. To hear him say those words— hear him claim that his brother's death was only a part of nature's cycle made her feel mad. "He said that death is a part of life," she muttered, her voice strained with frustration.

"He's right." Gene smiled despite her obvious distress. He probably could imagine his idiotic brother saying such a line. "No one could live forever. Everyone will sooner or later reach the end of their time. It's partly the reason why we live."

"You sound just like him." She grumbled under her breath. But she couldn't refute the fact that he's right. But still… she would prefer Naru's anger than his resigned countenance that day. She almost pitied him for it. "He didn't even shed a tear at your funeral, did he?— that jerk."

Gene looked at her down-bent head and whispered softly. "You, of all people, know him better than that."

Looking up, Mai stared at him in bafflement. "I know nothing about him! He—

"He's more himself when he's with you than anyone else." Gene cut in and let out a chuckle at her reddening cheeks. She shook her head and gathered her composure quickly, but it's clear that his words had her floundered like a teenage girl. "That's absurd. He's hopeless."

To her great surprise, Gene laughed, loud and clear. "He is hopeless. But I'm telling you the truth."

Not knowing what to do, she scowled mightily at him and fidgeted at the same time. "Not even you?" She said, the point of her shoes making random shapes on the ground. Her curiosity couldn't have been more obvious than the blush on her cheeks.

Gene smiled at her. "Not even me."

Mai frowned. Not knowing what he really meant, she finally decided not to take it too seriously. Heck, she was getting her hopes up for no good reason. "Didn't he have no one to bully at England?" She said lightly, her tone teasing but deep inside she was confused as hell.

"He's not the friendly sort— always at home buried in books. He knew no topics aside from psychology and all those theories that would make any girl run at the opposite direction."

Mai smiled in spite of herself. "He did say that.."

There was a long stretch of silence after that. It was the first time they talked about something really personal. Mai felt her resentment at Naru ebb a bit. She could imagine him as a child— so serious and so eager to learn things that she, herself, wouldn't dare try to learn. What pushed him to do so, she had little idea. If only he would express himself more..

But that's more absurd. It's hard to imagine him talking and behaving like Gene. Smiling like him or being someone else. But a long time ago, she did dream and hope that he would look at her with such openness. Now, she didn't know what to expect from him. There were times that he could be reasonably nice and other times he could be such a jerk— so arrogant in his intelligence— so sure that what he was always right and that anyone who contradicts him was stupid-

"You challenge him and threw his faults at his very face." Gene whispered with an absentminded look as if he too was lost in thought.

"He needed it." She said in a childlike and surly tone.

Gene glanced at her. "I daresay he did."

"Your brother's arrogance is legendary."

"No doubt."

Mai watched as he continued to smile. "How come the two of you are so different from each other?"

He looked at her and then shrugged. "I often wondered the same thing. But later on, I realized that it's better that way. Call it complimentary— he was always realistic while I was the idealistic one. Imagine if the two of us are both idealistic or that the two of us are too practical."

Mai wrinkled her nose in distaste. "That's very hard to imagine."

"And so whenever we tried to fool everyone into thinking that we're the same, Mother would scold us and say that we're perfect just the way we are."

Mai smiled thoughtfully. "Your mother's very nice."

Gene smiled too. "Do you want to know more about him?"

"Huh? About who?" She looked back at him, and tried not to blush. Geez, Mai, weren't you just holding hands with him and now blushing at the thought of his brother?

"Well, there's nothing else to do, is there?" He said and resumed walking. How they would find Naru in such a place was still unclear to her. And what about what he said earlier about testing her skills as a psychic?

Mai started to follow him, then shook her head and quickened her steps until they were walking side by side.

Oh, well, Naru's a better topic than her skills, anyway.

TO BE CONTINUED