Author's Note: Thanks to everyone that reviewed!! I'm trying to respond to everyone who reviewed through PM. Let me know if you don't want to be responded too. And thanks to everyone that also offered their insight on what they think is happening so far. It really helps to let me know if I am getting hints across or not, etc. Also, I usually put up previews of the next chapter in my profile as well as the target date for their posting. Sometimes my target date is a little off and chapters will be posted slightly earlier or later, but they are usually about right.
Also, I usually don't use Japanese words... but I did use one, since it didn't work as well in English. Omiai is an arranged marriage meeting in Japanese.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt, only my original characters and story concept :P hehe
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Chapter Two: Departures
Day One.
7:13 A.M.
"First class, eh?" Bou-sam smirked, eyeing the extra large seats of the priority car of the Shinkansen before slouching comfortably in his cushioned chair next to Ayako.
"If it wasn't First class, I wouldn't even dare to ride on this." Ayako replied smugly, adjusting the wrinkles in her black, high-waisted skirt.
"Yes, yes, Princess. Only the best for you and your vanity." Bou-san rolled his eyes before feeling the familiar pain of being whacked on the head by Ayako. He opened his mouth, readying words of retaliation, but his eye caught the shimmer of the obnoxiously large diamond on the 29 year-old's slender left ring finger. He quickly looked over to Naru to change the topic of conversation before any sign of disappointment over the sight of Ayako's engagement ring could show in his eyes. "Naru-bou, how's the equipment arriving? Kyoto is a pretty long way from Tokyo."
"Yasuhara-san and Lin left before us this morning in the van." Naru responded curtly, burying his nose in the case file. "The equipment is far too expensive to entrust to whimsical individuals such as..."
Mai huffed, overhearing the brief murmurs of her boss taking place in the seat in front of her. Fortunately, for Mai, she could ensure Naru had a bumpy ride if he continued with his holier-than-thou-art banterings. She discreetly kicked the back of his chair rather hard, hearing the shuffle of papers hitting the floor. "Oh, sorry, Naru!" She beamed. "My foot slipped. Did you drop your file? I'm so sorry." She sarcastically rolled her almond eyes.
Across the aisle, she caught a glimpse of Madoka stifling a giggle, diverting her attention to the busy landing outside the window of the parked bullet train at the Tokyo station. Next to her, John had his hands politely folded in his lap, his eyes closed in what seemed like prayer.
"He's still as narcissistic as ever." Mai whispered to Masako, who was seated beside her next to the window.
Masako laughed. "I can't believe I ever used to be fond of such an egomaniac as him."
The sound of the two girls laughing was drowned out by the roar of the Shinkansen's engines pulling them into vast acceleration out of the Tokyo station. The express Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto would have them at their destination around noon, after a trip of slightly longer than three hours.
Naru still had not divulged the actual location of the case yet, other than that it would be taking place in Kyoto; and the client was still unknown to the entire group. For the most part, all of SPR was used to Naru's secretive antics. After all, he had kept his true identity hidden from them for over a year and had even kept the objectives of cases in the dark from the entire group, like when they were investigating that horrible maze of a mansion belonging to the former Prime Minister, Urado's resting place. Masako had nearly lost her life in an investigation that was not even aimed at uncovering the mystery behind the paranormal activities of the antiquated residence, but rather discovering the identity of the fraudulent Oliver Davis. It was around that time that Masako's feelings for Naru had slowly begun to wane ever so slightly. But it would be an abrupt statement much later that had almost led her to hate the man she once was infatuated with.
The early morning and the hum of the train soon lulled most of SPR's employees to sleep, leaving only Naru and Mai awake. Mai flipped through the pages of one of Naru's books, published previous to his initial arrival in Japan. The subject matter didn't interest Mai greatly, but by reading Naru's words, she felt like she understood him a bit more. Glimpsing into the scientific side of Naru's mind was better than nothing in Mai's opinion. Even though they had been working together for so long and in such close proximity, the moments he opened up to her on an emotional level were few and far between. It seemed like Mai constantly made and remade resolutions to give up on her quest for the return of Naru's affections, but every time another man paid her any heed, her mind would wander back to her black-clad mysterious boss. For a 23 year-old graduate of the prestigious Keio University, Mai had very little knowledge in the subject matter of love, unless you count that of unrequited love, in which, she bregrudginly had plenty of experience. As the minutes dragged on, Mai stood from her seat to ease her cramping legs, her eyes drifting to the sapphire blue peaking out from behind the thick black fringe of Naru's hair. She stretched her arms, eyes unmoving.
"Are you going to continue staring at me?" Naru snapped the file closed, his eyes darting to Mai.
Mai felt the familiar flush spread over her face that happened every time she was caught lost in a trance gazing at her unrequited love. It was something she could never quite get used to, and, unlike Naru, she had a very poor poker face. "My eyes are free to wander where they please." She replied, glaring at him intensely.
"Sit."
The abruptness of the word startled Mai, and she slowly sat back down into her own seat racked with confusion.
"Not there. Here."
Mai shot to her feet, seeing Naru motion towards the empty chair beside him. As her legs brushed his as she shuffled in to the window seat, heat rose to her cheeks again.
"Is there anything I can help you with, Naru?" The words were tentative and cautious. Mai bit her bottom lip, a nervous habit she developed during her preparations for University Entrance Exams. Another thing she owed to Naru, without his help and tutoring, she would have been lucky to get into any college, let alone Keio.
"Mai." The deep navy blue of his eyes met her own, her heart fluttering uncontrollably in her chest. There was a sincerity in the glint of his eyes and almost a bit of trepidation.
Although the silence was brief, Mai could bear it no longer. "Yes!" She blurted out, breaking the gaze between them. "I mean, of course, it's something I've been thinking about since I started working for you!"
If Naru was one to show emotions, he would have chuckled. Instead his eyes slightly widened. "You've been wanting to lead a team for that long?" He cocked his head nonchalantly, fully aware of the embarrassing situation his Assistant Director found herself in. Mai always had the habit of digging her own grave, but then again, many people do. However Mai was one of the few people that Naru had ever met that would also pour the dirt and bury herself in it too.
Mai swiftly turned her head to look out the window, her auburn hair wipping Naru's cheeks as quickly as the scenery passed by the train's windows. Another moment of silence passed between them. Mai watched as the cityscape of Tokyo disappeared and Mt. Fuji came into view over the horizon.
Naru picked up his folder and opened it, scanning the contents. "There is a chance that we might need to investigate two distinct locations while we are in Kyoto."
Mai inhaled deeply, choking a little bit on the excess air that was meant to calm her. "We have two requests in Kyoto?"
"No. But my instincts tell me that our client's concerns might be linked with another place with peculiar similarities."
Mai turned to face Naru, remembering the secrecy lingering about this ambiguous client whose identity had not yet been revealed to her nor any other member of the SPR team as far as she knew. "And who is this client anyway?" She demanded.
"I believe that wasn't the subject we were speaking about, Mai." The raven-haired man remained unaffected. "I simply want to know if you feel you are ready to lead a team if it is deemed necessary that we split into different locations."
Mai's primal instincts were urging her to snap a quick 'yes' back to her employer, but she curbed her tongue. If she were to lead part of a team, that would mean being separated from Naru, and it wasn't exactly a little known fact that she often found herself in precarious situations during cases and that Naru was usually the one to fly to her rescue. Yes, her latent psychic abilities had lost their latency over the years, but she had never forgotten the times when Naru had wound up in the hospital for overexerting himself by releasing his Qi and using his own powers. So far, she hadn't experienced any such calamities when using psychokinesis or other skills, but the possibility was always there, wasn't it? In her nervousness, all Mai could stammer out was "But in past circumstances, Bou-san has always stepped in to fill your role if it was needed. Wouldn't he be a better choice than me?"
Naru slightly nodded his head towards the pair of seats where Bou-san and Ayako were sleeping. Mai's directed her vision likewise, only to feel blinded by a ray of light that bounced off the rather gigantic diamond ring securely placed on her finger. Words didn't need to be exchanged between Naru and Mai to understand the situation. Ever since Ayako's choice to proceed with the omiai, Bou-san had not quite been his cheerful self, more of just a shell of his former jovial persona; something, amazingly enough, Ayako seemed completely oblivious to as she was busy making final arrangements for her wedding ceremony.
Mai sighed sympathetically, pondering how Ayako never took notice of the man that was always there protecting her all along, She wanted to get out of her seat then and there and give her beloved friend a hug and let him cry on her shoulder. But not once did he say one word to discourage Ayako. Instead, he buried himself in his music while not working at SPR. He was taking progressively longer breaks from being in the office, claiming he was busy in the studio working on an album or preparing for a show. But one snowy day when Bou-san was supposedly busy in the studio, Mai spotted him in alone in a coffee shop nearby the SPR office with gloom written all over his face.
"If you've paid any attention to my book at all, Mai, you would know that the mood and state of mind of a psychic can greatly affect their powers. In worst case scenarios, their abilities could be rendered completely useless until the cause of the stress is relieved." Naru stated matter-of-factly. "And please remember, you are the Associate Director of Shibuya Psychic Research, and that title comes with responsibilities and not just a nameplate."
Mai cringed at the familiar feeling of being backed into a corner by one, Oliver Davis, also known as Naru the narcissist. "I suppose I have no choice then." She rose to her feet, smoothing out her skirt. "Now if you'll excuse me." She slid by him, but this time, those primal urgers of running her mouth got the best of her. "You should take sometime to examine the window, Naru-chan" She emphasized the dainty little suffix added to his nickname. "With the way the sun is shining in, you can see a perfect reflection of yourself. I'm sure you will find that most pleasing."
"Stupid narcissist." She muttered under her breath, plopping back into her seat beside the slumbering Masako.
A few minutes passed and the lull of sound of the train began to make Mai rather groggy. Her eyelids heavy, she let them slide shut and fell into a world of dreams.
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Author's Note: Two things... the first being, I know this chapter didn't have a lot of action... the case will start at the end of the next chapter. Since my story takes places about seven years after Mai joined SPR, I think the characters sort of need to be re-introduced a bit so you know how they have changed. Most of this will happen over the course of the story, but I didn't want to jump into a "Severn Years Later" case without anyone knowing what kind of situation the characters are in!
Second, I know I haven't updated in an extremely long time. Things have been pretty chaotic, but updates should be regular (weekly) from now on. This chapter is actually much longer, but since I don't know everyone's preferences on how long they like chapters to be, I posted just the first part of it. So please review and let me know this...
What do you prefer...
Shorter chapters posted more frequently (say around 1000 - 2500 words, more than once a week)
OR
Longer chapters posted less frequently (2500+ word posted every week or every other week)
Please let me know, since I'd like to keep the story as enjoyable for the readers as possible!!
