Hey guys! I'm back! So so so sorry, I'm late, but Thanksgiving break and all that. Also my birthday is coming up so yeah...

This chapter doesn't have any case action, but there's some action nonetheless! There will be case action beginning from the next chapter, I promise.

Also, I don't own Ghost Hunt, unfortunately, or there would be a season 2, 3, 4, etc... anime out already! Alright, enjoy!

Masako almost screamed. She was one step away from dying of frustration! Still, pulling her hair out and leaving wasn't going to do any good. Doing it to Mai on the other hand…

Ugh! That stupid monk! Of course he had ulterior motives for bringing Mai to sit with him. Couldn't he see that she was going to sit there? It's not like she could even argue- that would mar her prim and proper image. And she finally had a plan! A plan that would totally work!

The medium just couldn't help noticing how attractive this Tomoyuki was. If she could try to flirt with him, then Naru would recognize his love for her! He may not be able to see it, but she could see it just fine. Naru would be hers in no time at all.

Masako couldn't help smiling. She hadn't sensed the spirit, so it seemed as if this case would be a long one. There would be other, better chances to implement her genius scheme.

And then… Then Mai would see who the better one is. She may have won the round today, but there is always tomorrow. And tomorrow, who knows what will happen…

Natsumi was beaming underneath her carefully neutral face. She was sitting in front of Shibuya-san! Finally she could ask him something about himself. Just looking at how calm and composed he was made the beauty believe that the case would be solved in no time. And by then, Kazuya-san- no Kazuya-kun- would be hers.

For a second, all of her careful training left her, and she went from secretly glancing at her new crush to outright staring at him when he turned his head away from her. Where was he looking? At that other girl? The one with those random mood swings? When Natsumi was at SPR's office, the girl had never looked up and just seemed depressed. And now she was so…bubbly. Well, honestly, Natsumi hadn't seen the girl depressed ever since she got here. Hmmm… Well she seems OK- but why is her crush staring secretly at her? Oh God!

It never occurred to Natsumi that the boss may have a thing for his assistant. Instead, she realized that she was supposed to play matchmaker for her brother! She remembered feeling ecstatic when she saw Masako sitting in front of Tomo, but she quickly forgot about that when she looked over at the young CEO. Now that other girl was sitting in the spot meant for the medium. Why did they switch?

She glanced over at Tomo; he was secretly staring at the girl in front of him. Um, what?

Natsumi started to wonder what that meant, but was distracted when she saw Shibuya-san's gaze move from the girl. Yes! He was going to look at her. Little did the auburn-haired girl know that the raven-haired man was following Mai's gaze to Tomo.

No one noticed when the young boss's hands clenched under the table and his teeth ground together a little bit harder.

Mai had been in awe when she came in the room. It was enormous- gorgeous- absolutely breathtaking! It took her a minute to tear her eyes away from the room and focus on the seating arrangements. She definitely didn't want to sit with Naru- not after his "explosion" today. Yet her stupid feet didn't listen to her and moved her to sit in front of her boss. But wait- of course…

Of course Naru would want Natsumi to sit in front of him. And of course Masako would next to him. That left Mai to sit all alone.

But Bou-san came to her rescue. He always did! And now Mai was sitting in probably the best spot she could- even though she was still miffed at her boss.

The petite girl could finally stop secretly staring at her client and talk to him! But not about work, of course. Mai wanted to know what he was like!

As the brunette was trying to think of some questions she could ask Tomo (Mai was never like this! She was always impulsive and spoke whatever was on her mind, so why was her mind giving her a blank right now?), she noticed that Natsumi had started flirting with Naru!

The auburn-haired beauty was smiling at him from across the table twirling a long strand of hair on her finger. She had one eyebrow raised and her lips slightly parted. Could she be any more obvious? Apparently, yes, she could be more obvious because Naru hadn't noticed a thing. Mai tried to cover her smile (but failed) and looked over at Bou-san who couldn't hold his laugh in and bellowed out a large guffaw. They both knew that wasn't going to get anywhere with Naru. Takigawa tried to quickly cover it up by loudly talking.

"Good one, Jou-chan!" Ayako gave Bou-san an especially nasty glare as she returned to talking with Yasu and John with Masako and Lin looking on.

Mai noticed that both Naru and Tomo were giving the monk weird glances as they both knew Mai hadn't said a word. Natsumi was still busy gawking at Naru. The monk shrugged sheepishly.

The brunette decided to dissipate the awkwardness in the air by initiating a conversation with Tomo, but as soon as her gaze shifted from Bou-san to Tomo and she opened her mouth, she felt another shoe press hardly onto hers. A small squeak came out of her still open mouth as she tried to process what just happened.

She glanced over at Naru, but he continued concentrating on his food like nothing had just occurred. What? Mai suddenly narrowed her eyes. Two could play at this game…

Mai gently eased her foot out from under Naru's and moved it away; Naru didn't even react. As soon as Mai was sure her boss had moved his foot away, she put her foot back down and started to talk to Tomo. As soon as her mouth opened, his foot came down on hers again!

Mai smirked. She yanked her small shoe out from underneath the larger one and pressed it down hard on Naru. She put all of her weight and twisted her shoe on top of his- intent on crushing the taller man's foot. Naru didn't even blink.

While Mai thought she was the upper hand (or foot) on Naru, she decided to at least introduce herself to the clients. But nope. Naru had different plans. He smoothly slid his foot out from under hers, and put his on top of his assistant's. The young CEO then yanked on her shoe so that Mai's entire leg was crushed underneath his! NARU!

Mai almost screamed in frustration after she saw a small smirk playing on her boss's lips. So that was how it was going to be, huh?

Mai squirmed and writhed trying to get out from under Naru's grip, but to no avail. The petite girl just didn't have enough strength to go against the larger man's. Mai was getting seriously frustrated at this point in time and she didn't even care if anyone saw her now.

"Naru…" she snarled under her breath, stretching his name out menacingly.

"Mai." Her boss replied, seemingly innocently. UGH! He didn't even look at her; his smirk just got a little bit wider.

Mai had no idea why Naru was doing this, but decided he was just teasing her. Resigned to her fate, Mai sighed quietly.

The awkward dinner just got awkward-er. (It's a word now…)

Tomo was overjoyed! Finally, he could talk to the girl! But what was her name? The older man who was always next to her just called her 'Jou-chan,' but… Oh yes! He had heard her boss call her 'Mai.' What a beautiful name. ...Huh?

What the heck? Tomo was not like this. How many times did he have to remind himself? It was like every time he saw Mai, or talked to Mai (not that he had done that yet), or thought about Mai, all his common sense just disappeared. He was left babbling like an idiot- whether it was out loud, or in his head. So this was what happened to all the girls who crushed on him. It was high time, then, that Tomo found a girl he liked.

Well then, the boy decided, introductions were called for. But just as he was about to talk to Mai, he saw her open her mouth, intent on talking to him! Yes! Tomo smiled and waited… And waited…And waited…But nothing ever came. What? Why?

He stared at the cute girl and watched as her expressions went from very surprised, to confusion, to sly and devilish (nice), back to surprise, anger, frustration, and finally…resignation? What had just happened? Hmmm…

Tomo looked around the table and saw everybody else deep in conversation. Bou-san was talking to the grey-haired boy and the loud, annoying, red-haired woman. Both the guys were teasing her about her age and how much makeup she wore to cover it. It seemed the topic was a familiar one, because the boy noticed that everyone else- the medium on TV- that Masako Hara- a tall man, and a blond (Australian?) boy all groaned in their own proper, silent, and polite ways, respectively. Natsumi, meanwhile, was staring intently at Shibuya-san, and- so was…Mai?

Nobody on their side of the table was saying anything, so Tomo decided it was time to act.

"So…" Wow Tomo, nice start. He cleared his throat. He noticed that all eyes- minus Natsumi's- were on him.

"I- uh- well I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Tomo as you all probably know, and this is my sister Natsumi. I figured since we hadn't been properly introduced yet, because you guys have been busy and all that, that we should get that out of the way." Stop babbling you idiot! Tomo groaned. Thankfully, his sister saved him.

Natsumi, taken out of her trance, straightened up and said:

"Nice to meet you- all of you." Thanks sis. Tomo saw Mai smile. So cute! The girl then glared at her boss (hmmm?) before smiling back at the siblings.

"Hi! I'm Mai. The assistant. I make tea for Nar- well, everyone, I guess- and help aid in the investigation through my instincts, psychic dreams, and astral projection." The monk went next.

"Hey, guys. I'm Houshou Takigawa and I'm a monk! Hence the name Bou-san. I'm also in a band and play bass. I'm a Buddhist exorcist and I'm awesome!" Naru refused to look up, so Mai went ahead and introduced him.

"So…This is Naru. Uh, I mean he's Kazuya Shibuya, but everyone calls him Naru. Because he's a narcissist." Here, 'Naru' glared at Mai and she quickly started rattling off other slightly better qualities about her boss.

"And he's my boss… And he's very powerful and smart… And is a CEO of his company… And has amazing PK powers." Bou-san decided to add a few things as well.

"Naru also loves tea- but only Mai's tea-" Here Tomo saw Natsumi stiffen slightly. "And he's always rude and doesn't like talking to people. He likes to get in and get out of a job fast and he only takes cases that interest him."

Tomo noticed that Naru continued eating throughout his introduction even though it clearly showed that he disapproved of what was being said about him. Tomo concluded that even though Naru disapproved, what they said was true enough to not comment on it. The auburn-haired boy decided to talk to Mai further.

"So…Mai, right?" Mai nodded. Obviously Tomo knew her name, but he needed to act like he wasn't totally obsessed over her and paying attention to everything she said.

"How did you become an assistant for Nar- umm… Shibuya-san" Tomo quickly changed his words when he saw the boss glare at him when the boy had started calling him by his nickname. So everyone can call him 'Naru' but me? Yup, he really hates me…

Mai, noticing her boss's glare elbowed him and started her story.

"So Tomo, it all started with me and my friends telling ghost stories in my high school..."

Yasu was sitting close enough to both groups that he could hear what was being said at the whole table. When Ayako started talking about something boring, he tuned her out and leaned in to listen to what Big Boss's side was talking about.

Mai had just finished her story.

"Afterwards I got a call in school from Naru about my check for working the case. Naru here, had an opening in his job after one of the workers had quit and asked me if I wanted the job. And that's how I started working for SPR. Best decision of my life, I do believe!" Yasu grinned; he had his doubts about there really being an opening in SPR, but Naru would never admit it.

Throughout the story, Yasu had noticed Mai flinch at random intervals and shift a lot in her seat. He wondered if anyone else noticed this, but no one seemed to. The Yasu noticed something very, very peculiar. Why were Mai and Naru sitting so close together? It wasn't very obvious from the top, but from the bottom… Jackpot!

The bespectacled boy had looked under the table and was surprised to see Naru and Mai playing footsie! Except that Boss had Mai's entire leg trapped under his! This was a very fast advancement! Yasu grinned. This Tomo was doing wonders to their plans…

Bou-san smiled. Dinner had turned out to be very not-awkward thanks to Tomo initiating some conversation. Still, it was unsettling to see Mai not doing the uncomfortable intros first.

He wondered what was going on with Mai as he had seen her try to start talking two times and had seen her move in her seat a lot- occasionally giving withering stares to Naru while trying to act her sweet self in front of Tomo.

Yasu finally solved the mystery for him. The grey-haired boy had given the monk a long meaningful stare from across the table. At first, Takigawa had thought Yasu was being creepy again and trying to flirt with him, but then the boy had reached over and knocked Bou-san's spoon to the ground.

"Oops, my bad." That little brat!

But when the monk had bent over to get the spoon, he suddenly understood Yasu's meaningful glare. Takigawa bumped his head on the table in his haste to get up. Yasu was waiting for him and with a knowing smirk playing on his lips. Wonderful! Wonderful! This was absolutely wonderful!

Bou-san looked over at Yasu and tipped his head over to Ayako.

'Should we tell her?' Bou-san conveyed in his gestures. Yasu's playful smirk was enough:

'Absolutely!'

And so Ayako was shown how successful their plan was- without them even having to do anything. The old lady almost had a heart attack, then wouldn't stop laughing. This was attracting the attention of people who really didn't need to know what was happening, like- Mai and Naru, Masako, Tomo, and Natsumi. Yasu interfered,

"Ayako! I know I make great jokes, but it wasn't that funny."

Unfortunately, this captured the attention of one silent, Chinese Onmyouji who accidentally dropped his knife to see what all the fuss what about. Oh he saw it alright. And Takigawa saw Lin smirk and LAUGH (albeit a short one) for the first time ever.

The chain reaction finally ended with John deciding to look under the table and see what exactly was there that made Yasu and Bou-san grin like idiots and rub their hands together, make Lin-san LAUGH, and make Matsuzaki-san roll around on the floor giggling. And he saw it, alright.

As SPR made its way back to base after dinner, Bou-san, Yasu, and Ayako had to hold each other to keep from almost stumbling in to the walls as all three of them were deep in thought. When they arrived, all three plopped down in a circle and began brainstorming through whispers. The young priest was left opening and closing his mouth for the remainder of dinner. Poor guy, Bou-san thought. Such a shame, though, that he's not a part of our threesome. No one would suspect John would be part of the matchmaking giving us the upper hand and bringing Mai and Naru together even faster!

The monk smirked. Who would've thought that Naru would play right into their hands? If Mai staring at Tomo and just wanting to talk to him was enough reason for the boss to act this way, what would happen next! Bou-san couldn't wait to find out.

Naru never took cases for no reason. They had to be interesting enough for him and this one certainly was. Healing? He knew ghosts could do that. It was proven, but he had never encountered a case where a ghost could or would do that. In order to heal, a ghost's spirit had to be completely pure. That didn't make sense, as this was the same ghost who destroyed the house and injured the very people it healed. Even if it felt sorry afterward, there was no way its heart was pure enough to heal. That said, very few spirits retained their personalities from their life. Being dead corrupted even the most pure-hearted of them all, as the bitterness and unjustness of what occurred with them caught up to them. This was most certainly imposs-

The young man's thought were interrupted by petite girl entering his field of view. She timidly approached him, until Naru realized that she was moving towards the couch behind him. What was she doing? He didn't turn to look at her or even act as if he knew she was in the room. Perhaps she thought she was quiet enough to sneak past him? The thought amused him much more than it should have. Naru wondered if she was trying to go to sleep. Possibly. But was it to gather important information on this case, or to see Gene? Mai knew that it was never too early in the case to be getting dreams, but, if there was any necessary information, Gene would make sure to give it to Mai. So she did want to see Gene, Naru concluded. The thoughts brought up a burning sensation. Hmm…

"Mai, tea."

He didn't even look at her. Naru smirked at his screens. He watched Mai's reflection huff and stick her tongue out at him on his dark computer screen. So that's what she did behind his back. He knew, of course, but it was amusing to actually see her do it when she thought he wasn't looking. The petite girl stomped out the door and Naru belatedly realized what the burning sensation he had felt earlier was.

It was anger.

And… something else?

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