Chapter 2: Explanations

There was an awkward silence in which Mai stared at Lin while Naru looked at the picture in her hand. He then looked back up at Mai and then at Lin. " Who is that, Lin?"

" I believe Taniyama-san is mistaken," Lin began after a sigh. "That is my sister."

" I am not mistaken!" Mai began hotly. Normally, she wouldn't have raised her voice but under the current circumstances, she didn't really care. " I know my mother when I see her and that is my mom!"

"Mai, I would prefer it if you did not shout. We are all standing here, not across the lounge outside." Naru said calmly. Turning to Lin he asked, " Is she alive?"

Lin's eyes hardened as he answered, " She went missing about 20 years ago. I believe she died, under the circumstances in which it had happened."

Naru turned to Mai, "Are you sure you are not-"

Mai was having none of it. She knew her mother, she knew what she looked like and even though she was attacked by memories on this particular day, she was not hallucinating. So she reached into the neckline of her shirt and took out her mother's pendant that she wore all the time; a pendant that looked exactly like the one in the picture, and showed it to Naru, cutting across his sentence.

"Look! This is my mother's pendant and it's the same as the one she's wearing in the picture."

Naru stared at it before looking at Lin who had gone quite pale and unnaturally still. The look in his eyes was unreadable as he stared at the pendant hanging from Mai's hand. When no one said or did anything Naru turned to Mai.

"When did your mother...pass, Mai?"

"She...died eight years ago, on the 25th of October."

Naru crossed his arms across his chest and thought over what he had learnt. His employees had, apparently, lost the ability to think as they stood there in silence, unmoving. After a long pause Naru asked Lin, " What happened to your sister?"

Lin started as if he was snapped out of a trance. He blinked a few times, processing the question before deciding to answer. " We should sit down if we want to continue."

So, they made their way to the sitting lounge, with Naru sitting in his usual place when he met clients and Mai and Lin sitting on either side of the long couch, facing him. There was brief pause before Lin started, eyeing the picture Mai still held in one hand and the pendant tightly clutched in the other.

"My sister, Lin Rinne, was taken from our village, when it was attacked by Japanese soldiers. I was fifteen at that time, she, eighteen. My family fell apart that night. My mother became terminally ill and my father, depressed. My sister was the centre of our family and without her, my parents lost their will to live. After they passed I left the village in search for her but after a year of no answers I presumed the worse and left my country." Here he stopped and turned to Mai, "May I please see that pendant?"

Mai hesitated before handing it over . Lin took it and gently ran his fingers over it. He then turned it over and felt the edges of the pendant. He stopped at one point and his eyes grew wide. He then closed his eyes and took in three deep breaths. When he spoke, his eyes were still closed and his voice was raspy as if he was choking on something, " Taniyama-san, can you tell me about your mother?"

Mai looked to Naru, who nodded to give his go-ahead. She cleared her throat and began, hoping she wouldn't have another memory attack soon.

"My mother's name was Rin, Taniyama Rin. I don't know anything about her family because I never met them. My mother did not like talking about her past so she wouldn't tell me anything but I did know that she was from China. However, after her death I found and read her diary. My mother had amnesia. She couldn't remember who she was and where she was from. She only knew her name."

"Her first entry told me that her first real memory was finding herself in a wagon, in an unfamiliar forest. She had been scared out of her wits and had only one logical thought in her mind; to escape. Once she had, she collapsed in a village where she was found by my father. My father owned an inn that he managed with my grandfather, so he took my mom in and gave her shelter. When she came to, he helped her try to remember who she was, so he could take her back to her family but was unsuccessful."

"After months of trying my mother gave up and asked if she could stay with my father; she didn't know anyone else. He and grandpa agreed and they got married a while after that. My grandfather then fell ill and as a dying wish wanted to move back to Japan; he had stayed in China long enough. So, they came here and I was born. My grandpa died shortly after and my dad was killed in an accident. My mom and I moved to Shibuya so that mom could find work. She became ill and passed away eight years ago, the rest is not very relevant."

There was a deafening silence after Mai finished. The pieces fit perfectly and pointed to one thing, which no one had the courage to acknowledge. Naru was looking from one employee to the other, expecting a reaction. Mai was looking down at her knees amidst glancing at Lin, who still had his eyes closed. It felt like hours before someone finally spoke.

"When my sister turned seventeen, I made this pendant for her. The scratches on the side are an inscription; it's her name in Chinese." It was Lin who spoke but his voice sounded hoarse and broken and was barely above a whisper. He finally opened his eyes and turned to look at Mai and Mai was startled by the amount of emotion in them. " I believed that I was now alone in the world but here I am, looking at my sister's flesh and blood. She had lived. She had lived and married and had a daughter."

He slowly reached out and gently took Mai's hand. Mai could barely keep her tears at bay but when his hand closed around hers, the dam broke. She cried openly, uncaring that Naru was watching her, uncaring that she probably looked like a little girl at that moment. She held on to Lin's hand and let out the loneliness that had built up in her heart. Her tiny frame shook with the force of her emotions and the tears were endless. And in that moment, both men realised that they were not the only ones that wore facades. She did too, but hers was so polite, so cheerful that no one could see through it. But in that instant they saw Mai, openly expressing her hidden emotions, her walls broken, her windows unbarred. They could see the pain she had endured in her life alone, feel it in their bones.

Naru got up and went into the kitchen; the clinking of china could be heard briefly, while Lin placed an arm around the sobbing girl and held her. He couldn't believe that he still had a living family in this world, someone who shared his blood line, his niece. The magnitude of that realisation hit him, that and the fact his sister had lived, and he felt his facade crumble. He hugged Mai and buried his face in her brown hair; he hadn't cried in a very long time. When he was able to reel in his emotions, he let go of Mai, who was sobbing quietly, and patted her head. She looked up at him through puffy, red eyes and managed a small smile, before wiping away her tears.

Naru re-entered the lounge with some tea and placed it on the low table in front of his two employees. He cleared his throat before saying, " I think that it would be best if you had a DNA test done. The evidence all points to you two being related but it will help the both of you in the future if you had more solid proof about your relation. I am giving the both of you this day off to do so and figure out what you will do onwards from this point on. I will see you tomorrow, back at the office." He then looked specifically at Mai and said, " Don't be late." With that he retreated into his office, closing the door behind him.

Mai and Lin sat in silence as they drank their tea. After they were done Lin asked her, " Why were you sitting on the kitchen floor?"

Mai leaned back into the sofa and sighed. "I haven't told this to anyone so it will be a bit hard to explain."

Lin continued to look at her, waiting for an explanation.

"Today is mom's death anniversary. Every year, today, after the year of mom's death I have these...fits...in which I see memories of my time with her. These 'memory attacks' are sort of like visions; they come unexpectedly and are quite hard to pull out from. I think they have something to do with my psychic abilities coupled with my emotional attachment to this day."

Lin thought over what she had said then said, " Why haven't you told anyone?"

Mai looked away. "I didn't want to trouble any one with my problems and I don't want people to pity me. Besides, these visions stop by the next day so it's not like I am ill or anything."

There was a silence in which Mai felt as if Lin was waiting for further explaining; like he knew that she had withheld one of her main reasons. When the silence stretched too long, Mai spilt the beans. " Alright, alright, I will tell you. I didn't have many people to whom I could tell this to and not be called a freak... not everyone has to watch their loved ones die almost every single year."

The silence following this revelation was much more heavy and tense. Mai suddenly got the feeling that she had done something wrong. Lin had bowed his head so that his fringe cast a shadow over his eyes. "I'm sorry, Taniya- Mai."

Mai looked at him, surprised at the use of her first name and confused. " Why are you apologising, Lin-san?"

" I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry that I didn't find you earlier." His voice was once again very quiet, and as he turned to look at her, Mai was once again startled by the amount of emotions in his eyes. " I should have realised you were my niece, Rinne's daughter. If I had researched properly-"

" It's not your fault. It's no one's fault. Don't blame yourself for something that wasn't your fault, Lin-san. Mama used to say that 'We all make mistakes. We all have regrets but we can't change the past. What we can do is to learn from our mistakes and not do them again, to live without regrets and look ahead and walk on, trying to make ourselves better than what we were yesterday.'" Mai reached for Lin's hand and held it in both of hers. " I am okay now and I will try to smile brighter tomorrow, so please, don't blame yourself and smile with me as well."

Lin gazed at Mai with amazement and gratitude. Then his lips broke into a very small smile. Seeing this, Mai's own smile grew; it was a start.

" So do you want to go get that DNA test thingy done?"

Author's Note: Thank you every one for your reviews. Here is another chapter which I hope you enjoy. The cases won't start for a while but rest assured there will be cases and a whole lot of other situations.

Another thing, I want to thank Neo Eodieseo Watneunj for helping with checking over this story for me.