30 November
As soon as Eugene Davis emerges from his sleeping state, he senses his brother's unease. He sends a worried question through their hotline.
'Noll. What's wrong?'
Noll glances at Gene before returning his gaze to his computer screen. 'I cannot figure out why Mai's presence here bothers me.'
'Well, why do you think she's here in the first place?'
'To slap me,' Noll says plainly, matter-of-factly.
Pfft.
No. He mustn't laugh. Gene forces his face and consciousness to stay neutral. 'Come on, that can't be it. Your logic must've missed something.' This earns him a glare. When Noll maxes out the annoyance that's transmitted through their link, Gene knows he's wounded his brother's pride.
'To qualify for a scholarship in a foreign university Mai must have had competitively high grades. UCL has one of the highest grade requirements in accepting students from its partner schools, in addition to requiring fluency in English. That means that Mai could have chosen any other partner university that offers a psychology program. So why else would she go here? Why would she even study abroad on her senior year at the risk of being delayed by a semester or two when she returns to her own university?'
Gene, of course, has an inkling as to why Mai would choose to study in England. But he resolves to help his brother reach the same conclusion. 'For parapsychology?'
'She is taking psychology classes, not parapsychology.'
'What about research or future prospects? SPR is here.'
'There are more established parapsychology graduate programs in America. ASPR is there, too.'
'Maybe she wanted to see the royal children? Or the Big Ben?' he supplies rather dumbly. He shrugs when Noll gives him a withering look.
'I hardly think she has the time to sightsee when she has grades and a scholarship to maintain.'
'Then she must've wanted to see you,' he points out at last, since his brother can't seem to follow.
Noll angles the laptop so that Gene can see the screen displaying Mai's emails, clearly reminding him of their content:
Taniyama Mai [taniyamai(a)mail-yahoo-co-jp]
Please greet Gene for me. I won't greet you because I hate you.
Taniyama Mai [taniyamai(a)mail-yahoo-co-jp]
I hate you.
'In case you forgot, she hates me.'
It takes Gene all his might not to roll his eyes. Does his genius brother stupidly believe that? 'First of all, Mai isn't someone who holds grudges—'
'She has called me "Naru the narcissist" for as long as we have known each other.'
'Okay, fine,' he concedes and chooses a different angle of attack. Or defense. He's defending Mai, after all. 'But do you think she could just decide to do something so drastic—?' In combination with Noll's dry expression, he recalls all the times Mai recklessly ran off to do what she felt was right. Maybe another angle. 'But Mai can't have done all of this only to slap you, can she? She couldn't have sacrificed so much of her time and effort and—' He cuts himself off and rebuts his own argument: 'Yeah, she could. Of course she could.' Gene shakes his head, his smile wry. 'She's still the same in that regard.'
'Exactly. Hence my concern.'
A bout of drowsiness causes Gene to yawn, and he knows that his time is up. Noll turns to him, understanding. 'Good night, Noll.' He waits for his brother's nod before letting sleep take over. A thought occurs to him at his last moment of wakefulness.
What if...?
Then everything makes sense.
Oh Noll.
You idiot.
Noll waits for Gene's reflection to fade before readjusting his laptop and staring at its screen. Even his brother's generous defense of Mai cannot refute Noll's reasoning, and he is now sure that his conclusion is sound.
The question remains, however.
He organizes the information at his current disposal.
The feeling of miscalculation first set in upon his reunion with Mai. It recurs whenever they chance upon each other. It is highly probable that this condition is connected, if not attributable, to her.
Mai's communication with him ended with her last email more than a year ago. Seven weeks prior she appeared in his office. Taking his vision into account, it is evident that she spent an entire academic year studying hard in order to qualify to study abroad. She chose UCL; it must have been the only partner university in England accepting foreign students from her degree program.
The Pratt Laboratory is at least an hour and a half away from London. Spending time and money to visit the Laboratory must have been to see Madoka and the building itself. However, choosing to seek him out for the sole purpose of slapping him was an absolute act of pettiness, one that he reckons she recklessly began planning following her final profession of hate. And yet, he can only interpret her body language in their subsequent meetings as either guilty or afraid of his retribution.
And yet, she conscientiously pored over every reference book he sent her and even had the mind to return them, per his orders. And yet, she remained passionate about parapsychology, going so far as to stay updated with the latest advancements in the field long after the Japanese branch has closed. And yet, she blushed at a simple offer to answer the rest of her questions. And yet, she has yet to take up that offer.
Noll reloads his inbox. No emailed questions from her, either. His brows furrow. Mai keeps contradicting herself. Has she always been like this? No; the Mai in his memories was just as reckless, yes, but more straightforward and honest—altogether easier for him to read. The Mai now just confuses him.
He crosses his arms and leans back in his computer chair.
Perhaps this discrepancy is the source of his feeling of miscalculation. His brain must be updating what it knows of Mai, and her contradictory actions are making it difficult to finish recalibrating, thus exacerbating his unease. If this is the case, then the solution is to gather more data on his former part-timer through more interactions.
But her words, motive for studying in England of all places, and commitment to drive her message home prove that she truly hates him. It is just as possible that her unexpected animosity towards him for the reference books he sent her is causing him to regret having sent anything at all. In this case, his unease will resolve spontaneously if he limits the odds of running into Mai so he cannot aggravate her and be aggravated in return.
Which one is it, then?
Noll glares at the laptop screen, somewhat demanding an answer, but it merely glares back with an empty inbox. He sighs in resignation. Acquiring an advanced understanding of the human brain and its processes has done little to help him understand the intricacies of human nature. Still, he cannot help thinking that this is for the best. His analytical mind has no space, time, or interest for concepts capable of escaping the confines of reason. The moment he begins to comprehend those intricacies will be the moment his mind starts decreasing in efficiency. And if this miscalculation threatening his peaceful life of research is related to human nature—Mai's in particular—then Noll sees only one viable way to fix this.
He must eliminate the threat before any damage is done. That means cutting Mai off from his life for good.
Author's Notes: Website links are still prohibited on FFN, so the symbols for the emails remain as in RTS: (a) substitutes the at sign, and - is supposed to be the period.
Again, I'm so sorry for the late update! TTnTT I thought it'd be nice to synchronize the fic's timeline with the real world, so I delayed (writing and) posting this chapter. Add in school, my lowest point this 2018 (not that I'm challenging the universe to beat that record, pls no), and a potent distraction in the form of another GH WIP. Thank you so, so much for your patience and for even giving ROI your time. :) Special thanks to those who reviewed, too! Your words spur me to continue writing whenever my doubts overwhelm me.
To Leanne5582: You hold the record for longest review ever (and of course, the record for making me smile the longest while reading a review)! I feel your energy and feels all the way here. *u* Thank you!
To WildKat25ShadowWolf13, Emina105, Sagecycle, Seth Vincent, and anonymous reviewer anon: Thanks for waiting TTuTT
To CaitHawke4Ever: I agree. It's about time for quite a lot of things to happen between these two~
To Gally619, darkgenius2003, and anonymous reviewer Guest: Thank you for your kind words! :3
To Nollypoo: Yeah, Mai's so cutie! She's so out of steam she wants to have nothing to do with Naru anymore and to just study in peace. But people don't always get what they want, do they?
To MikazukiNika: Wow, thanks for your wonderful review! My heart is full of feels right now, but I couldn't seem to produce a better reply than a 'thank you'. Sorry for that and thank you so much for your support. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or any of its characters.