Scenes from Shibuya
Disclaimer: The characters of Ghost Hunt do not belong to me and are the property of their respective creators.
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4. Nuisance
My name is Taniyama Mai and I've just had a delicious early morning breakfast with my boss, who also happens to be my boyfriend. If you're thinking he is some forty-year old port-bellied hentai, you're quite mistaken. Naru is only nineteen and he doesn't have a spare tyre round his middle. He is also selfish, narcissistic, arrogant, abrasive, nags a lot and extremely intelligent which explains his ego (though that doesn't actually make it right behaviour). Most people are baffled by Naru's seriousness. He never smiles at them you see, and it doesn't help that he's good-looking to boot. Women try to flirt with him all the time until they realise how crusty he gets and men well… so far no one has tried to beat him up, but I keep holding out for the day he says something tart to a yakuza member by mistake. Even now, as we walked down the street towards Harajuku's famous fashion district, he is getting the usual admiring looks and giggles when he happens to look in their direction. The blue shirt he is wearing makes him look softer somehow, but that doesn't fool me one bit. Naru is Naru whether he is in mourning clothes or regular ones.
On reaching, we see that the street is packed and Naru takes hold of my hand. This is harder than it looks because just as he reaches for me, a cosplay group cuts right into us and I find myself holding the hand of a Shinigami who leers at me in surprise. I drop its – his hand with an embarrassed "excuse me!" and squeeze laterally through the group to where Naru is waiting with a look of mingled exasperation and surrounded by our combined grocery. The domesticity is somehow endearing and I chuckle. Catching sight of me, he hooks his arm under mine and wraps his long fingers firmly over my wrist before arching an eyebrow quizzically. "What's so funny?" he asks coolly and I smile secretively.
"No reason." I pull him forward. "Come on. We might as well make use of our morning properly."
"You seem extremely excited by the prospect of squeezing through this crowd."
Aww. Naru really doesn't fancy shopping.
"But it's fun." I give him my most winning smile.
"And I'll even treat you to taiyaki."
"You mean you want the treat," he says. "Besides, I'm the way who signs your pay cheque. Anything you treat me with is with my money."
"Meanie," I pout before hitting on another idea. Standing on tiptoe, I throw caution to the wind and kiss him lightly on his cheek. "There, you can't complain now," I say, slightly embarrassed when passersby look. But even if it has been strange, it's worth the expression on Naru's face. He soon regains his composure though.
"That's it?" he asks with a smirk.
"It's not like I'm asking you to walk through fire," I mutter, feeling my face heat up under his steady gaze. You might ask why someone as gifted as Naru would like a more or less normal person like me but when I asked him about it once, he gave me one of his really rare genuine smiles. I hadn't probed again since then but seeing as he doesn't go into why I like his lousy personality, I suppose I shouldn't enquire so much. Call it fate or coincidence; I'm grateful for whatever force it is that put me down SPR's way.
"Mai," a voice interrupts. Wheeling round, I see that the speaker is a petite girl, another of SPR's regular irregulars. Talk about coincidences. I nod stiffly at her and she returns my greeting with an appraising look. Hara Masako. Love rival, television celebrity and acknowledged by Naru as one of Japan's finest mediums. That sort of status and recognition could really go to a girl's head.
"It's a lovely morning isn't it?" she said sweetly as she manages somehow to squeeze between me and Naru. I give her an irritated look which she ignores. "I hadn't expected you to be back from Hakone so soon," she adds with a charming smile as she latches onto Naru's arm. I shoot Naru an accusatory glare over the top of her head and he shrugs as if to say I didn't ask for this. "Do you mind?" I cough loudly. As if she didn't know when we'd be back; I was the one who had told her using Madoka's phone!
Masako half turns with her nose in the air. "Not now, Mai," she says airily. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of a conversation with Shibuya-san?"
What? "A conversation involves two people!" I growl under my breath.
Masako lifts a russet sleeve delicately to her nose. "I would say it depends more on the quality of the conversation," she retorts.
Of all the nerve! I am about to reply angrily when somebody knocks into me.
"Bou-san?!" In the midst of all the confusion, I spot Naru close his eyes with a long-suffering air. I can understand how he feels. So much for fate and coincidence; our leisurely morning is going up in smoke.
"Mai-chan? Why're you up so early?" Bou-san, our resident monk picks himself off the tar and twitches at having just spotted Naru and Masako. "Oh, hello you two. Didn't see you there for a minute..." He blinks dazedly for a moment and then does a double take.
"Why aren't you in black?"
Naru looks annoyed to be asked that question yet again but Bou-san doesn't seem to be attending, his eyes darting shiftily.
"I suppose you decided to come down to Harajuku on a whim as well?" Naru asks coldly in return. I tap Bou-san on the shoulder.
"Are you alright? You look kind of pale."
Actually, he looks rather nervous but if I point that out it'll only make him worse.
"You won't believe who I met just now."
I roll my eyes. Try me.
"Did you all happen to see Ayako?" Bou-san adds, answering his own question.
I shook my head. "Not for two days. Why?"
"Pray you don't," he replies ominously. There is a hunted look to his eyes. "Are you sure you haven't seen her recently, like say, ten minutes ago?"
We have to reassure him again that we've not seen her before he would relax. Once he is, he grins and wraps an arm around my shoulder. "So. How about we all go and get something to eat? I believe I saw taiyaki being sold round the corner."
Ten minutes, a piping hot taiyaki in hand, I grin up at Naru. "See, didn't I say it'll be fun?"
"Fun?" His expression is disbelieving. "I'll say it was more of a nuisance."