Inevitability:

Chapter 9

Maaya stretched her arms as she stared at the night sky which was full of stars, illuminated by the full moon. A rustling sound behind her reminded her that she was sharing a room so it wouldn't be appreciated if she left the curtains open all night. One of the people she was sharing with looked like she was the type of person that would complain.

The amnesiac closed the curtains and adjusted her pyjamas self consciously. The girl in the futon next to her looked flawless, like a doll, even when she was about to go to sleep.

"I am Masako Hara, we never had the chance to introduce ourselves earlier," the girl said, surprisingly politely.

"I've seen you on television so I knew who you were. I'm Maaya Kudou by the way."

"I knew that," Masako answered with a faint trace of a smile.

The moment was interrupted by Ayako coming out of the ensuite bathroom and announcing:

"It's time for some girl talk."

"Matsuzaki-san, I don't think now is the appropriate time-" the physic started and was cut off by a glance from the priestess. "Actually I think now is perfect."

From what she understood of the priestess' personality she was going to interrogate Mai under the pretext of girl talk in order to gain more information about her and her amnesia.

"I don't mind talking, but I don't have a lot to say. I don't have any memories of high school," Maaya said with a smile.

"That's fine. So, what do you think of SPR?" Ayako asked to start off on a light note.

"I have no idea how you can all stand to work for someone that narcissistic..." Maaya said darkly.

"Tell me about it. He has his moments, but it is possible to keep him in line," Ayako replied, before remembering that Mai had been the one to do it, normally by arguing.

"He can be a gentleman, with the appropriate stimuli," Masako added thoughtfully, neglecting to mention that the aforementioned stimuli was really just plain blackmail.

The amnesiac snorted. "I'll believe that when I see it."

"Your son seems to like him," the priestess commented in what she hoped was a casual manner.

This caused Maaya to pause and consider it. "I did think that it was strange, I thought that he would choose Takigawa-san as he gives off more of a fatherly demeanour."

"Masako-chan, don't you think that there is some resemblance between Yakumo-kun and Naru?"

The physic threw a glance in the priestess' direction as if to say, don't drag me into this.

"I suppose there is some; the hair and face are similar," she answered hesitantly. "But the eyes are yours, Kudou-san."

The medium then noticed that Maaya wasn't paying any attention and was staring into space. Her eyes were still focused, indicating that she wasn't in a trance or being possessed. For the sake of safety, Masako waved her hand in front of Maaya's face.

"Kudou-san. Kudou-san," Masako said.

"That's not my name," the amnesiac said, returning to her normal personality with a blink of her eyes.

Masako and Ayako exchanged looks, both wondering the same thing. Had Mai recovered her memories?

"What is your real name?" Ayako enquired nonchalantly, unwilling to hope that she had regained them this easily.

"I don't know, I just know that it isn't Maaya Kudou. I took on Hana's surname when she adopted me and the name Maaya felt like it fitted, but after hearing you all say it, it doesn't sound right anymore," the girl answered and balled her hands into fists.

Was that the effect of hearing "Maaya, tea" and not "Mai, tea"? Ayako mused.

"Should we try to come up with other names?" she suggested.

Upon hearing this Masako reached out to tug Ayako's sleeve. "We don't have permission from Naru to do this," she hissed as quietly as she could.

Ayako twitched. She had forgotten that Naru probably had his own plans involving Mai and it would not be a good idea to mess with those.

"It's all right. I gave up on finding my memories a long time ago," Maaya said sadly. "Yakumo could have been conceived when I was drunk for all I know..."

Unable to help it, Ayako pulled Maaya into a hug and patted her head comfortingly.

"There probably were people that tried to search for you, by became stuck by the fact that you had lost your memories and didn't give your real name to the hospital. Yakumo-kun's father is probably still looking for you."

"I suppose so..." Maaya conceded doubtfully. "In any case I have an adoptive parent and a son so I'm not lonely anymore."

Masako glanced at the clock that she had placed next to her futon.

"It's getting late. Naru likes us to get up early so we should go to bed," she informed them.

Maaya yawned sleepily. "He really is a workaholic."

She settled into her futon comfortably. It had been a long day for her and she was looking forward to some sleep. Ayako switched off the lights and got into her own futon whilst Masako did the name.

"Ah, Maaya-chan?" Ayako asked as Maaya was drifting off to sleep.

"Mmm...," she groaned in reply.

"Let us know if you have any dreams."

"I don't have dreams," Maaya murmured as she lost herself to sleep.

In Naru and Lin's room, the narcissist was trying to get his son to go to bed. Instead of behaving all Yakumo wanted to do was stay attached to Naru. The omnouji found this to be amusing whereas unsurprisingly the narcissist did not.

"Lin, stop smirking at me and get him off me," he ordered irritably. "And put your phone away. You are not to take photos."

Reluctantly Lin put his phone away. The sight of a mini Oliver Davis doppelganger attached to the genuine article had been too much of a photo opportunity to miss.

"Naru, he obviously has good instincts and has picked up that you are his father," he hinted with a smile.

This comment threw Naru for a second. "Just get him off me."

"Have you admitted that he is your son yet?"

The scientist sighed. "Yes, it can't be anyone else. Now, get him off me."

"I personally think that you should take this opportunity to create a good impression. Children are very impressionable. He might hate you when he is older for this and Taniyama-san would be unhappy with you."

"Stop getting ahead of yourself, Lin. We have a case to solve," Naru said. "Could you deign to remove my son from my leg."

"So you aren't denying that you want to stay close to Taniyama-san...?"

He knew he had gone too far when Naru gave him one of his best glares.

"Lin. Get. Him. Off. Me."

The omnouji bent down so he was eye level with Naru's son.

"Yakumo-kun, if you let go of Naru, you can share a futon with him."

Instantly Yakumo stopped doing an impression of a limpet and looked up at his father. Naru glanced at him suspiciously.

"Lin, you haven't been spending too much time with Madoka, have you?"

"Just go to bed, Naru. Children need a lot of sleep and we are keeping him up."

"Fine," Naru answered sulkily. "Yakumo-kun, if you try clinging on to me when I am asleep, you will be banned from sharing with me."

Lin rolled his eyes. Was Naru really saying that to a one year old that probably didn't understand most of what he had said?

Yakumo had just settled down next to the narcissist when there was a knock at the door. Lin got up and opened it to find Masako Hara outside, dressed in her night clothes.

"Hara-san, is there something wrong?" he questioned as he remembered that she was sharing a room with Mai, the ghost magnet.

"It's Mai..."

"What!?" Naru barked and came out. "What happened?"

"She is talking in her sleep. She said your name..."

This chapter is a day early as I am going to a University Open day tomorrow.