Ghost Hunt Chapter 6
Hey guys! Sorry it's been awhile but to make up for it this chapter is really long and I've already started writing the next one, yay! So, er, admittedly this is one of those chapters where the background is set and the ghosts have yet to wreak havoc but Naru and Mai finally see each other again. Cue awkwardness :/ Anyway enjoy and I'll see you soon, Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
P.S please review lovelies your comments always put me in a good mood
SPR Office, Sunday, The day after, 3pm
Masako was nervous.
Which was absolutely ridiculous because she didn't even care about Naru anymore. Besides she had moved on and had the most charming boyfriend who adored her, who cares about Naru and his lack of social skill and his abruptness and how he would stare at you, with his disapproving look, and his smouldering indigo eyes . . . Ah! This was stupid! She definitely did not care.
She reached out to grab the handle but hesitated and pulled her compact back out, checking to see if her face was still perfect. Of course it was. She was Masako Hara, the prettiest, most unbelievably talented medium in Japan, and probably in the world. Anybody would be lucky to have a meeting with her. Yes, why was she nervous?! It was ridiculous! HAHAAHAHA . . .
John, Monk and Ayako stood behind Masako, watching with amusement, as she dithered between opening the door and checking herself in the mirror, and then . . . laughing?
"Er Masako?" Monk started causing Masako to jump. "If you wouldn't mind, we'd like to go in now. Getting a bit chilly out here."
"Of course I was just . . . looking . . . for my-"
"Okay well whilst you find your dignity we'll head in" Ayako said as she moved past to the door.
Masako flamed red and stuck her chin out in defiance. Monk followed, smirking and John smiled sympathetically as he walked past her. Masako scowled at the floor and proceeded through the door into the office. She stopped shortly after she had entered to stared at the dust ridden office. It's amazing what three years of neglect can do to a place Masako marvelled. Ayako wrinkled her nose in disgust, it smelt incredibly musty and she could see signs of damp on the walls in the kitchenette. Monk stepped further into the office and saw Lin, typing away on his laptop in his old chair, if he hadn't been looking as neat and tidy as ever Monk would have thought he'd stayed in the office as part of the furniture.
"Lin!" Monk called as he walked over with a goofy smile, "Long time no see! How've you been?"
Lin rose from his chair to greet Takigawa, a faint smile present on his face.
"Takigawa, Father Brown, Miss Hara and Miss Matsuzaki, it has been far too long." He shook Monk's hand before turning to do the same with John and the girls. After initial greetings were over and the other chairs had been dusted off, Masako noticed that a certain narcissist wasn't in the room.
"Excuse me Lin but where's Nar- I mean Mr Davis? And why have we been called here?"
"Naru," Lin said pointedly, " Has agreed to reopen SPR at the request of the professors and a couple of days ago, we received a request from a client in London who owns a small chain of hotels. He has informed us that the manager of one of his hotels in Japan claims it is being haunted by something. He has asked us to investigate and, if need be, cleanse or exorcise the entity depending on the situation. Naru called you here to see if you'd be interested in returning to SPR and helping out on this case."
Monk, John, Ayako and Masako exchanged uneasy looks.
"I'm sorry Lin but, well, since you guys left, times have gotten harder for us, financially, so we've had to take up other jobs, most of which are full time so it might be hard to try and get time off to chase ghosts all over the country again. Sorry." Monk looked apologetically at Lin.
John shifted uneasily in his chair.
"I'll still be able to help out now and again but . . ." He trailed off.
"And I'm filming a new series right now so I'm quite busy . . ." Masako said uncomfortably.
Lin felt his heart fumble slightly as disappointment filled him. Of course they would have gotten new jobs. The group watched Lin's face flicker with unregistered emotions and felt a horrible sense of guilt gnaw at them.
"When is this client expecting you? Maybe we can work something out?" John enquired. Silently Lin tapped away at his laptop until the relevant information popped up.
"This Friday at six." The sudden voice startled the occupants of the room. Naru casually walked over to where Lin was seated. He was dressed in his usual black attire except his top two shirt buttons were undone. His hair was roughly the same length and slightly dishevelled looking, his face had changed slightly, his cheekbones more pronounced, and he had grown a couple more inches. He was definitely Naru, just more grown up.
Masako felt her heart jolt a little.
Naru surveyed his old colleagues with mild curiosity.
"I must admit I'm disappointed to hear you won't be able to make it this Friday but it is perfectly understandable. Of course I would like to talk to you all individually about possible contracts, besides, times are financially hard right now so a little cash won't go amiss."
The familiar feeling of having their egos abused returned to the group and they smiled inwardly, however much they might deny it, they really had missed Naru and his digs at their personal choices.
"Well we'll be able to come this Friday, right Monk?" Ayako said, nudging Takigawa with her elbow.
"Yeah, definitely. And Mai of course."
Lin felt Naru stiffen slightly at the mention of Mai's name, he cleared his throat a little.
"Yes, do you know if Mai will be coming today? Only we haven't received word from her."
John, Monk and Ayako looked at each other in confusion. Masako looked straight at Naru, her cheeks reddening.
"She may not becoming." Lin and Naru looked at her. She sat up a little more. "After all, you did, er, you know, hurt her, last time you saw each other. She might still be upset, we were her new family but your departure was really hard for her, she must have felt like she was being left all alone again." Masako shifted her gaze down to the floor, embarrassed at her brashness about her friends internal conflict.
An awkward silence fell over the group as the events of the last time they were all together renewed themselves in their minds. Lin already knew how Naru felt about the situation and silently willed the narcissist to keep his cool.
"Or she might just be ill," Ayako piped up, "You know it is that time of year and she is still recovering from her seizure so it's not a surprise that she might still be feeling run down."
Naru clenched his fists and the mention of Mai's seizure. A sickening mix of anger and guilt rose in his stomach, he should have come back sooner.
"Yeah, yeah, that's probably it. I'll go phone her now and see if she's alright." Monk rose from his seat and slipped his phone out his pocket. As he left the room, Naru sat down heavily. His usual hard stare imprinted itself on his features and a deep uneasy feeling replaced his guilt and took root in his gut. He had a horrible feeling about Mai but maybe Masako was right, maybe it was best that she might not want to see him again. His heart tightened at the thought.
Mai's Apartment, Sunday, The day after, 8pm
After fumbling with the key in the lock for a few minutes, the door swung open and Mai practically fell through her apartment door. Her head buzzed and her feet were cold and she knew for a fact her nose was red. Today had been one of those days and everything had gone wrong. On her way out of her apartment complex, she had managed to fall down the stairs, at the bus stop, some car had driven through a particularly large and freezing puddle, drenching her so thoroughly that her shoes and socks were still wet. Then when she had actually managed to get to her place of work (she also worked part time at a bookshop downtown, but even with two jobs it was nothing compared to her previous salary) she had forgotten her keys, purse and phone which meant she had no money for lunch and no way of getting into the building to open the shop. In the end she had to go all the way back to her apartment to grab the keys and purse but still managed to forget her phone. She sighed heavily as she chucked her keys onto the 'hall' table before flipping off her shoes. Grumbling to herself about PJ's and ramen, she proceeded to her bedroom where she changed, bundling herself up into as many layers as possible. She picked up her phone from her bedside table and clicked it on. Nothing happened. Mai closed her eyes and exhaled very slowly and deliberately, and decided she did not have enough energy to even care that her phone was dead. Instead she to rammed her phone into its charger and stormed out the room, fuming. By the time she got to the kitchen however, she really didn't have enough energy to make anything at all. She just about managed to fill the kettle and switch it on. Mai had lived by herself for a good many years now and she knew exactly when she was about to get a cold. Already her nose felt a little sniffly. With this in mind she thought an early night might be best and so after eating roughly half of her instant ramen in bed, she was soon fast asleep. As Mai slept, her phone flickered into life emitting a soft glow. The screen beamed into the room as it relayed information to a vacant room:
7 missed calls
12 new messages
Monday, 8:13, Mai's Apartment
Monday morning dawned through the curtains. The sky was a delicate overcast grey, the air held an icy chill. Mai slowly opened her eyes. A terrible pounding was working its way through her head and her throat was incredibly sore. She groped around her bedside table for her clock and checked the time, 8:13. Sinking back into her pillows, Mai contemplated whether she should make an effort to get up. She begrudgingly rolled out of bed to try and get to the bathroom. She stood up. Immediately her head began to swim and her vision started going black around the edges, a familiar heat began to work its way up her neck. She promptly sat back down exhausted. Maybe I should stay home today Mai thought as she started drifting off . . .
KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCK
Mai jolted awake. Ugh, go away I'm ill she told her bedroom door. She started snuggling back down into her duvet when a voice called out.
"Mai?! Mai! It's Ayako –"
"And Monk!"
"I was just about to say that Monk, geez let me finish. Anyway, could you let us in please Mai?! We need to talk!"
Mai smiled weakly to herself and proceeded to drag herself out of bed. Her vision swam before her eyes but she gritted her teeth and held tight to her bedroom wall. Eventually she managed to shuffle out her bedroom and across her flat to the door. She opened the door and admitted them in.
"Hey guys, I'm really sick-"
"Naru's back." Monk blurted out. "He wants to see you, he's reopened SPR and he's got a case so . . . yeah."
Mai felt her heart wrench in her chest. SHIT. This couldn't be happening. Oh god. No. No. NO. her muscles seized up and her smile suddenly transfixed itself onto her face. Adrenaline started to shoot through her causing her to shake slightly as her pulse escalated. How could Naru be back? He was supposed to stay in England? Mai felt sick.
Ayako glared at Monk as she saw Mai take in what had been said. She nervously rubbed her thumb along her jaw bone.
"But he's not supposed to come back- he's – he's supposed to be in England with his parents and work over there and live over there and STAY over there! I don't want him to come back! I just got over him! I don't want to see him he's horrible to me! I LIKE me and I don't want to put myself back through that! WHY would he come BACK? WHY? Is he a freaking idiot? Oh wait I bet he thinks we're all gonna go crawling back to him and work together again because our lives revolve around HIM! Well I'm not gonna! I'm not gonna go back to him he is a total narcissistic JERK! ERGHHHHHHHH!" Mai screamed in frustration and slammed her way to her bedroom. Muffled shouting and cursing could be heard through the door.
Monk and Ayako stood in an awed silence.
"Well, that went better than I thought." Monk remarked.
"Really?"
"Of course not really, that was terrible! Were you there when she started yelling?"
"Oh my god this is awful, what are we gonna do?"
Once safely in her bedroom, Mai collapsed heavily onto her bed, exhausted from her outburst. Oh my god . . . what am I going to do? If I don't see him it'll look like I'm still really upset about his leaving and is kinda rude but if I see him it'll look like I'm really desperate and still care about him. UGH.
A timid knock was heard at the door.
"Come in."
Monk opened the door and sat down on Mai's bed.
"You okay kiddo?"
"I'll be fine, I just need some paracetamol or something."
"No I meant about Naru."
"Yeah I know."
"So, what are you gonna do Mai? We all had a meeting with him yesterday, we called Lin called but you didn't answer."
"Sorry, my phone died on me and I was working all day, plus I felt like crap when I got home so I just went to bed. I haven't checked my phone since Saturday."
"Ah."
"Yeah."
Mai sighed and closed her eyes. She really didn't feel good, she just wanted to sleep and make the whole situation disappear. She opened her eyes and turned to Monk.
"Alright. I'll see him."
Wednesday, SPR Office, 17:00
Mai stood outside the door. She still felt really ill but she'd let herself be encouraged by Monk and Ayako, even Masako, that this was a good idea. She scowled at her shoes, why did she say she'd come? This was stupid. She was stupid. HE was definitely stupid. And why was she so nervous?! They had been friends once so why couldn't they be friends again? Because you confessed your undying love to him and he shot you down answered a little voice in her head. Her scowl deepened. She smoothed her hair. She was fine. Butterflies danced around her tummy. This was ridiculous, if anyone should be nervous it should be Naru, after all he did just suddenly abandon his friends with little warning. But he did just find his dead brother so he had good reason . . . But he could have told us! It's not like we wouldn't have supported him! But it was an extremely personal and delicate issue, and she knew what it was like to have people butt in after loss of a loved one . . . But he should have at least told us he really was! But he was the famous Oliver Davis so again he did have good reason . . . ARGH!
Mai's head slumped, she'd spent the last five minutes procrastinating over opening a door. With renewed determination she grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. The office looked exactly as she had remembered it, with the exception of a few cobwebs. Since the groups last visit, the place had been cleaned and the dustsheets removed but the smell of damp still remained mixed with air freshener resulting in a slightly sickening floral scent. In the centre of the room sat Naru.
Mai felt her breath catch in her throat as she laid her eyes upon Naru for the first time in nearly three years. To her dismay he looked even more gorgeous than ever.
Naru stared at Mai, taking in her changed appearance, not quite able to believe it was really her, she looked . . . wow. He locked his indigo eyes onto her amber ones and felt a little thrill run up his spine.
"Hello Mai." Naru said smoothly.
" . . . Hello." Mai's voice suddenly sounded very small.
Silence quickly filled the room. Mai avoided Naru's gaze and stared fixatedly at his left hand. He shifted uncomfortably.
"We have a case this Friday so I was wondering if you would be interested in re-joining SPR."
Mai stared in disbelief at Naru with fire in her eyes. Seriously!? After all this time the first thing he says to me is do I want to work for him again!? She clenched her fists and tried to smile pleasantly.
"I'm fine, thank you Dr Davis, how are you?"
Naru's expression hardened, he was starting to resent his name.
"Mai-"
"No, no. Naru, just shut up. Just . . . how could you – eugh- do you know what I'm really mad about?" Mai spat as she crossed her arms and stepped menacingly towards Naru. He glared at her but he could feel his heart beat quicken. "Is that you didn't even care enough to stay in touch and tell us that you were okay! I have been so worried about you, you might have been dead or hospitalised again for all I knew! And after all this time, after nothing, you just waltz back into our lives out of the blue and expect us to all to drop what we're doing and work, for you, again."
Mai glowered at Naru, her cheeks slightly flushed from her outburst, she hadn't actually meant to say anything at all, she was just going to decline the offer and put him out of her mind once and for all. Instead she had unloaded on him and was now feeling rather embarrassed and awkward about it all. Naru narrowed his eyes even further at her.
"Not that you're in any position to know, as you seem to have made your feelings clear so I presume you won't be re-joining SPR, but I had extremely personal business to take care of Mai, and would appreciate it if you would drop it." Mai flinched slightly at the harshness in his voice.
"Naru I didn't-"
"It's fine. It was a pleasure to know you Mai Taniyama." He walked away from her towards his office door. Mai could feel a lump begin to form in her throat, this wasn't how things were supposed to happen. Naru paused with his hand on the door handle.
"Mai." He said softly. Mai felt her heart skip a beat, she really had missed him and it was killing her to say no but it was probably for the best after all, right? Naru let his guard down momentarily and gave her a sad look.
"I, I really am sorry that I left you like that."
Mai blushed a deep red as embarrassment and anger and disappointment and sadness all flooded through her at once. She opened her mouth to speak but her words jammed in her throat. Instead she gave Naru one of her looks and turned on her heels, striding towards the exit. Naru winced slightly as she let the door slam behind her.