A/N: I still own nothing.

Daffodils
Part seven

Mai did not want to leave her bed. When she opened her eyes, it was already past ten. The golden rays of sun illuminated the beautiful room and it's numerous patterned rugs. It looked warm and comfortable and she smiled, stretching under the blanket. She really didn't want to leave. Even though in her gut, she felt something wonderful was bound to happen.

It was very quiet. She could not hear Ayako and the monk arguing nor Shinji's loud ringing laughter. She was completely alone, but the door to her room was open. There was a camera facing the room and she smiled, facing it. That explained the lack of sounds. If anything was going to happen, they would know that way.

Mai rose quickly and shut the door, hiding herself from the camera. Then, she got dressed and left for the base, already late.

The sight in the base surprised her. Naru was drinking tea and Lin was casually typing on laptop. Her eyes flickered back to Naru and the cup in his hand. He was talking to a blond man, who looked eerily familiar.

"Shinji?" she questioned, not believing her eyes. The man raised a hand and waved at her.

"Good day, Mai-chan," he greeted her with a smile. "I was just telling Shibuya-san how lovely it would be to take you to see the cliff Rosé." There it was again, his long gaze. Mai looked down at her fidgeting fingers, her eyes darting to her boss in a matter of seconds, then back at her hands. No wonder Naru was in a dark mood.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said nervously. "I'm currently working, so..."

"You can go," her boss said through clenched teeth. Mai bit her lip.

"Are you sure?" she asked. Naru sighed irritatedly.

"I just told you, didn't I?" he looked at her in whole seriousness and saw how her face lit up.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" she exclaimed. For a brief moment, she allowed her restrictions to drop and hugged him tightly.

"Be back by dinner," he said. If one was listening carefully, they would have detected the tiny tone of gentleness in his voice. But Mai wasn't.

"Shall we go then?" Shinji offered. "We could get some breakfast along the way," he added, when her stomach grumbled. She blushed beet red.

"I'll come later, Naru!" she called, exiting the door hand-in-hand with the boy, who had dyed his hair just for her.

She didn't notice Naru clutching a small piece of paper in his fist nor Lin's ever-knowing tiny hint of a smile, as he looked at his young boss frowning. Nor did she see him letting the crumpled note fall to the floor nor the way he stepped on it, as if it would erase the words.

"This way," Shinji led Mai through the hallways. Like all the other corridors, there were paintings on the walls. The girl kept turning her head to look at them, hardly paying attention to where they were going or the sweet smile on the blond's face.

She turned to face the boy and grinned widely. He reached forward and pushed a strand of hair from her face. Mai blushed again, her heart thumping inside her chest. She smiled through her embarrassment.

"You're adorable," he commented, ruffling her hair with his free hand. "Come on!" He started moving again. Mai avoided looking at him.

It was not much later that they reached the exit. Mai was excited to see another famous spot of the story she liked and was nearly jumping from the happiness. He tugged her along, almost as sincerely happy to show her around.

The cliff Rosé was flowery like described in the book. There was a small tea house farther from them. It was old and had not been used in years. It had been there before the mansion had been built. It was surrounded by a field of blooming daffodils. Below the cliff, the sea glimmered. The sea Mai had dreamed of.

"Does this place have any legends?" she immediately inquired, taking a notepad and a pen from her jeans' pocket. Shinji looked at her and shrugged.

"Not that I know," he replied. "As far as I know, this place purely belongs to Eugene Striders." Mai sighed and lowered the notepad.

"Are you sure?" she asked for confirmation.

"I would tell you," he was sincere. Mai smiled and looked up into the sun. Its' warmth felt good on her skin. "I can't believe your boss let you out." He admitted. "I thought it would take a forever to convince him."

Mai tried to hide her soft smile at the mention of Naru. She, too, was surprised that he allowed her to slack off so easily. "He is full of wonders," she grinned.

"If you say so," although Shinji tried to sound nonchalant, it came off a bit rudely. Mai looked at him, but he hid behind a mask of calmness. The wind brushed against them, bringing along an idea. She jumped up and grinned.

"I know what we should do!" she declared. Shinji was willing to do whatever she wanted him to.

They returned to the base with two huge bouquets of daffodils. One of them, Mai gave to Masako, the other to Ayako. Under the watchful eye of Naru, they were allowed to keep one of the bouquets at the base and the other in their bedroom. On Mai's bed, as she found out, there was another daffodil. More beautiful than the day before.

She returned to her room without dinner, unsure why she wanted to be alone. However, there was a knock on her door and she opened it.

"Naru," she said surprised and looked down, flustered. He leaned on the door frame and simply looked at her. There was something in his eyes that she could not describe.