Me: Here's the next chapter!
Mai: Shellsan doesn't own ghost hunt or the referenced book
Mai stared blankly at the door after Naru left before letting a huge smile take over her face while her heart fluttered. 'Naru just smiled. He looks so nice when it reaches his eyes' Mai thought while moving around her room to get changed into something more comfortable and then falling asleep, replay that moment over and over in her head
~TiMe SkIpY To NeXt NiGhT~
Mai was sitting down reading a book called 'Emotions Links' while she ate dinner when her phone rang. Reaching over to the table, placing her salad down, and hitting the answer button she spoke.
"Hello?"
"Hello Mai" Naru's voice spoke through the receiver.
"Oh hey Naru! Whats up?" she asked curious as to why he would be calling her at this time of the night.
"There was a change of plans. Are you able to leave tomorrow?"
Mai eyebrows furrowed in thought, "I'll have to check but it should be alright. What did the others say?"
"They said it was fine and that they didn't have anything to do anyway."
Mai laughed, "Sounds about right. I'll talk to my friend to see if she can cover for me sooner than expected. When do we leave?"
There was a slight pause as Naru checked over something, "The plane leaves at 11 in the morning but you need to be there at 10" he answered.
Mai nodded before realising he couldn't see her and replying, "Ok, I'll see you then. Bye Naru"
"Bye"
There was a short beeping sound as Naru hung up and Mai sighed before hitting a few buttons on her phone.
"Hello?" Came the voice from the other side of the phone.
"Hey Michelle, do you think you could do me a favour?"
There was a short pause as the girl on the other side seemed to contemplate the thought. "Alright what is it?"
Mai sighed, "Apparently my plane is leaving tomorrow at 11 and I need to be there at 10. Can you take over the shop a little earlier than planned?"
"As long as I'm being paid, I have no issues."
Mai grinned, "Thanks so much!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah now go back to reading your book or something and then get some rest. Plane rides are tiring"
Mai groaned, "Fine, talk to you in a few days"
"Bye" was the response before there was the beeping sound of another ended call.
Mai smiled at the thought of leaving early. She couldn't wait to go to London. She would also be meeting her soon-to-be professor early and getting to work with Naru again! She could hardly sit still. But then there was also the factor that she may screw up on the case and do something stupid and embarrass herself. Or she might make a bad impression on Martin Davis.
Mai sat there attempting to calm the nerves that suddenly plagued her at the thought of going to England. Getting up she made herself some tea. Taking a long sip she sighed, releasing her nerves and settling to finish her salad and book.
About three hours later Mai finished her book and began to quickly clean up the dishes from her dinner before making her way to the bathroom and taking a quick, five minute shower, and changing into a some sweats and a loose shirt.
She double checked she had everything for her trip before climbing into bed and allowing herself to fall into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Mai woke up and looked at her clock. 9:30the colours blinked in neon red. Groaning, she pulled herself out of bed and took a quick shower before changing and checking the time again. 9:39 it read. Silently cursing herself, Mai grabbed her suitcase, purse, phone (which was now fully charger), stuffed the charger into her purse and grabbed a couple biscuits before heading out the door.
Mai preferred walking whenever she could and since it was only a fifteen minute walk to the airport from her apartment she figured it couldn't hurt. Taking the first few steps she absentmindedly nibbled on her biscuits as she made her way to her destination carrying her luggage. Normally someone carting stuff around would look weird but because Mai was a fairly light packer she didn't look too odd as she walked around.
As expected, after fifteen minutes Mai had arrived. Checking her watch she noticed it said 9:59. Grinning to herself she looked around and quickly spotted Naru and the others, them having already arrived.
"Hey guys" she greeted waving.
Bou-san grinned, dropping his stuff and moving to hug Mai.
"Good morning Jou-chan!" he exclaimed hugging her tightly. Mai chocked slightly over his shoulder as she was lifted off the ground trying to signal at Ayako to help her.
Thankfully she took the hint and moved towards them landing a hard hit on the monks head. Said man shouted in pain, his hands loosening and placing her down as he rubbed his now sore head.
"What was that for you old hag!"
Ayako gave him an angered look before landing another hit on poor Bou-sans head.
"That was for trying to choke my Mai!"
Bou-san huffed, "She's not your Mai" he grumbled.
Mai groaned, moving over to the others. She smiled at John and Masako.
"Morning John, Masako, Yasu"
Masako covered her mouth but Mai could tell she had a small smile on her doll like face and accepted it as a greeting.
"Good morning Mai" John answered smiling sweetly.
Yasu grinned, slinging an arm over Mai's shoulder. "Oh and what a good morning it is Mai!" he stated dramatically. Mai sighed before smiling mischievously and leaning over to Yasu's ear and whispered something. Yasu smirked when she pulled away.
"Oh how sneaky you are Mai!"
Mai rolled her eyes, "Only to get you off my back. We're even now" she replied with a shrug. Yasu grinned at the obvious enjoyment in her eyes. He pushed up his glasses, "Yes we are even now but I highly doubt that's why you told me that."
Giving him an innocent look over her shoulder, Mai just walked over to the only sane people of the group.
"Morning Naru, Lin" she acknowledged smiling.
Lin gave her a slightly smile and a nod.
Naru just regarded her with a bored look. Or at least he attempted to. "What did you tell Yasuhara?" he inquired, trying not to sound interested in the slightest.
Mai blinked, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I was just saying good morning like I did to everyone else" she answered innocently, glancing at Yasu from the corner of her eye.
Naru scoffed, "You're a bad liar. You said something other than good morning to him. What was it?"
Mai grinned, "Is it so bad to have a conversation with a friend of mine?"
"It is if the result is Yasuhara wreaking havoc" Naru quipped.
Mai laughed, "How do you know that he will be "wreaking havoc" so to speak?" she inquired
Naru gave her a disbelieving look, "It would be almost impossible to miss the on his face right now," he stated before adding, "Or the one you had moments ago".
"Since I can't lie I guess I'll just do this."
Mai looked at a confused Naru before moving her finger from side to side as she said, "It's. A. Se-cret"
Naru scowled at the girl, slightly annoyed that she wouldn't tell him what she had told Yasu.
From the side Lin watched the two teenagers argue in silent amusement. The fact that Naru would get jealous over some scheme Mai was a part of and wouldn't tell him about was funny on its own. If you added Mai into the equation acting innocent it made for the perfect entertainment. Checking his watch he sighed walking closer to the pair.
"Noll, Mai. We have to start boarding now" he stated.
Mai nodded, quickly moving to tell the others before Naru managed to get her to talk. That could ruin her plans.
"Guys we're leaving" Mai informed them.
Nodding they picked up their bags and moved to get on the place.
The seating plan ended up with Mai sitting next to Lin, Bou-san and Ayako behind them, Masako and John beside and finally Yasu and Naru (A/N This is the exact order from the window making Mai window seat etc.)
Mai grinned looking out the window.
"We won't take off for at least five minutes Mai-chan" Lin informed the excited girl.
Mai pouted before turning to the Chinese man and smiling. "You called me Mai-chan " she exclaimed happily.
Lin sighed, "If you continue to be so excited over it I'll revert to using your last name again" he warned half-heartedly. He highly doubted he would do that but she didn't need to know that minor fact. It would ruin the threat.
Lin looked at her in time to see her nod her head childishly. That was when the plane began to get ready to take off. Mai quickly buckled her seatbelt along with the others and prepared for the plane to take off.
~OvEr WiTh NaRuU~
Naru looked over at Mai from his seat ignoring the knowing look Yasu gave him. She looked like a child on Christmas and he suddenly wished that he was the one sitting next to her and watching her excited expressions as they took off.
Yasu pushed his glasses up making them glare slightly, "You should stop looking before she realises" he stated.
Naru quickly looked away to glare at Yasu. "I have no idea what you're talking about" he lied, pulling out a case file.
Yasu looked at it with faint interest. "Is that the case file for the one we're working on?" he inquired curiously.
Naru looked up briefly and nodded. "I figured I would use this time to go over the information and make sure we haven't missed anything that could be of even the slightest significance."
Yasu leaned over slightly to take a look.
~BaCk WiTh MaI~
The plane was in the air and she had settled down slightly, much to the amusement of the couple behind them and Lin.
Deciding there was nothing more exciting going on, she reached into her bag and pulled out her book and opened it, making herself comfortable.
For a while it was quiet except for the chatter of the passengers. Eventually Lin got curious about the book that had managed to hold Mai's attention for so long without her falling asleep while reading it.
"What are you reading?" he asked glancing up from the case file he had, identical to Naru's.
Mai didn't even look up from her novel as she replied, "Dragon Keeper".
Lin blinked, that sounded vaguely familiar. "Is it good? What's it about?"
This time Mai did look up and she had a bright smile on her face. "It's really good. I've read it and the rest of the books from the series at least twelve times. It's based in ancient China, Han dynasty about a slave girl who saves the life of a dragon and then escapes from the slavery she had been kept in for years along with an odd stone that has to be protected."
Lin raised an eyebrow, "It's based in China?" he asked slightly intrigued and surprised that something like that would attract her attention.
Mai grinned, "Yeah. You shouldn't be so surprised. I've read a lot of things Chinese based".
"Why? I didn't think you were the type to enjoy reading history…"
Rolling her eyes she smiled, "I'm no huge history fanatic. I just like a good myth or legend. Chinese folklore has some amazing history regardless. That and Greek mythology. That's about the only thing I read other than books on parapsychology."
Lin nodded at the new information. "Interesting, I never thought you'd be the type for that sort of thing" he mused.
Mai pouted, "Not you too. Ayako, Bou-san, Masako, John and Yasu said the same thing when they found out too" she huffed, slightly annoyed at their lack of belief in her hobbies.
The older man sighed, "You just never showed much enthusiasm towards anything that involved learning before."
Scoffing, she crossed her arms, "have you seen me at school or outside work for that matter? Yasu has, ask him what I'm like. I'm going back to my book".
Turning back to her book, Lin could tell that he wouldn't get any more information out of her so he decided to go back to his case file. Perhaps he would ask Yasuhara about what she's like outside work later.
~TiMe SkIpY~
An announcement sounded over the speakers.
"We are now arriving in England. Please make sure all seatbelts are fastened"
Mai jolted awake and quickly packed her stuff away, preparing for them to land. She couldn't wait for them to get off so she could look around. As they stepped off the plane Mai looked around taking things in.
"Stop standing there like an idiot" Naru said, smirking at her.
Mai huffed, "I can't help but look around though"
Sighing, Naru grabbed her arm and began dragging her causing Mai to move quicker and push his hand away. He let go when he felt her hand touch his seeing as she seemed to be keeping up. It was a good thing she didn't pack heavy.
The whole group made their way through the crowds of people until Bou-san noticed a woman they hadn't seen in ages.
"Mai, have you noticed?" he asked grinning.
Mai blinked up at him before looking where he was pointing and gasping excitedly.
Me: And then it ends
Mai:OK then..
Me: Yay another update! And it's long then the others too
Naru: But they want to read a case…
Me: *pouts* I knoooww but we had to make it to England first!
Naru: …
Me: Thank-you. Please read and review. They give me reason to write :)