Veritas #1: Nightmares can affect your waking life too

Chapter 2: Eavesdrop

It was three hours after that second cup before Naru decided he'd left Mai alone long enough. He opened his mouth to call out, but at that moment he heard the office door open and the unmistakable tones of the monk and miko assaulted his ears. He sighed and massaged his temples, wishing that Lin hadn't chosen this week to go to England. Supposedly, he was giving a progress report to Naru's parents, but the boy was well aware of the Chinese man's continued fling with Madoka. It was hard not to be when Lin occasionally talked in his sleep, leaving Naru wishing that he wasn't quite so fluent in Mandarin.

The two so called 'adults' may not quiet down when Naru asked them to, but one glance from Lin could make them all but silent for the remainder of their visit. Naru far preferred when they were mute, as that way Mai was the only one whose productivity was affected by their presence, and even then it didn't make a huge difference. She could be very efficient when she wanted to be.

Naru sighed and closed his mouth, resigned to at least an hour of the two distracting both Mai and himself from their work. He would not however, go that long without another drink. He needed the caffeine to even think about putting up with the inane chatter in the main office. He pushed to his feet, hearing Mai laugh in response to something the monk said to her, and opened his office door, glaring at the three who now stood staring at him dumbly. Mai was the first to recover.

"Naru, look who came by!"

He sighed. "Yes Mai, I can see that. I would appreciate it if you could keep the volume down during this visit."

She nodded. "Of course, sorry Naru."

Monk had a different approach. He grinned broadly, striding towards Naru with his arms open. If that man hugged him, Naru was going to throw him out of the window. The thought must have shown on his face, because Monk stopped dead and dropped his arms to his sides. It didn't stop his enthusiastic beam, however. "Naru-chan! Give Mai a break, huh? The girl's been working hard all day."

"She's had rather a break from duty already today," Naru retorted, looking around the monk's bulk and raising an eyebrow at Mai, who flushed as she got his meaning and nodded, turning to the kitchen.

"Sorry Naru! I'll do it now!"

Nodding his approval, Naru acknowledged the miko's presence with a smirk before returning to his office. Mai came in a minute later to give him tea, and once again looked to him for some kind of thanks. He ignored her until she huffed and stomped out, shutting the door rather forcefully behind her. He smirked after her. That was more like his Mai.

Much to Naru's surprise, the three in the outer office actually respected his requests to be quiet for longer than ten minutes. When almost twenty minutes had passed, and he still hadn't had to shout at them to shut up, he grew suspicious. He didn't trust the silence. Once again getting to his feet, he moved to the doorway and was about to pull it open when he realised he could hear them talking. They were quiet, voices just above a whisper, which was why he hadn't heard anything sitting at his desk, but this close to the door he could make out the words. They weren't usually so careful; whatever they were saying, they didn't want him to overhear. That thought was quite enough to make him pause this side of the door and eavesdrop.

"…ruined it?" Matsuzaki was asking. Mai sighed.

"I was a bitch to him this morning," she said, her voice muffled. Her face was likely buried in her hands.

Monk laughed. "PMSing, Mai?"

There was a brief silence, then two smacking sounds and a pained yelp from the monk. Naru smirked. Even he knew better than to tease women about that. The monk muttered to himself, self-pitying nonsense by the tone, and Naru ignored him to listen to the girls' conversation. Before Monk acted like an idiot, it sounded very much like they were discussing him.

"What did he do this time?" asked Matsuzaki, bringing them back on topic. Mai sighed again, this time with a hint of a wail in there.

"Nothing! That's the point! I was mad already when I got here, and he behaved like he normally does, and I just blew up at him! I can't believe I did that…"

Matsuzaki and the monk both spoke at the same time; through the door Naru couldn't make out what either of them was saying. Apparently, neither could Mai, because she shushed them and asked the miko what she'd said. Naru would have bet money that the monk was sulking because Matsuzaki got to go first.

"I asked what you said to him. Maybe it wasn't as bad as you think? I mean, he didn't seem any different than normal when we got here."

There was a pause, then Mai started talking haltingly, obviously thinking it through as she went along.

"He asked for tea when I came in, like usual…"

"So he said 'Mai, Tea' in that demanding tone he reserves for when he's caffeine-deprived. That's not asking, Jou-chan. Naru doesn't do asking."

"Whatever," Mai dismissed. "He was normal. You know, for Naru."

Naru frowned at the door. Was that really what they thought of him? He did ask, on occasion. Generally, it was more productive to assume that people would do as directed. Certainly, Mai was the only one who'd ever chewed him out about it.

Mai was still talking. Naru leaned against the wall and started listening again.

"I made some royalty comments, took him the tea, he told me he didn't need anything else, and I snapped at him. He told me, basically, to calm down or get out. I came out here and collapsed onto the sofa."

That wasn't quite the response he recalled making; apparently she knew as well as he did that he had no intention of going through with his threat to fire her. Still, it was accurate enough he supposed.

"What happened then? So far it doesn't sound much different from your usual arguments, bar Naru not provoking it."

Again, Naru frowned at the door. He and Mai had their spats, certainly, but they were not always his doing. Admittedly, he did provoke certain of them, but by no means all. It had taken him a few cases to learn what Mai deemed acceptable and what would make her shout at him in front of the others. He made a point to tell her enough to keep her placated from then on, unless he was getting bored. It was rare on cases, but it did happen. Still, he felt that the miko's assessment was unfair. Not that he could call her on it, because that would mean admitting that he'd been listening in, and he wasn't about to tell them that. He'd never hear the end of it.

Mai was speaking again, quieter than before. Naru leaned closer to the door.

"He… he followed me out here. He asked if he could help. Then he put his hand on my arm. He said he was trying to comfort me."

There was silence for a minute, then the monk whooped rather loudly and, from the mild choking sounds that followed, gathered Mai into a bear hug that was almost guaranteed to leave her gasping for air. He laughed as Matsuzaki told him to let go of Mai, and again the sound was rather loud. That was provocation enough, Naru felt, for ending this ridiculous conversation between the three. Quite why they were so interested in his reactions to Mai's minor emotional breakdown, he wasn't sure, but there was no reason they should be. He opened his office door with a snap, and Monk dropped Mai instantly, jumping away and trying to look innocent. The women looked at him apprehensively, probably wondering how much he'd heard. He wasn't about to tell them.

"Bou-san, if you must demonstrate your python impression, kindly do it elsewhere. Mai has work to do, and cannot do it if she is oxygen-deprived."

The monk sighed and nodded, rubbing at the back of his neck. So that was where Mai had picked that quirk up from. Naru looked over to the girl. She was red-faced and avoiding his eye. Even if he hadn't overheard the conversation, he would know something was up. This was too good an opportunity to pass over.

"Something I should know, Mai?"

She blushed harder and shook her head. He smirked at her. "You're a terrible liar, Mai."

3... 2… 1…

"Oh, leave her alone Naru!" Matsuzaki snapped, coming to Mai's aid right on cue. Naru raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"Then perhaps you would like to tell me what has Bou-san so wound up that he tried to smother my assistant."

"You…"

"Nothing, Naru," Mai chimed in, cutting the miko off before she could finish whatever insult she wanted to hurl Naru's direction. "He just got over-excited because… I got the lead in a class play. That's all. I'll get you some more tea, and we'll keep the noise down. Sorry."

Naru watched her as she hurried into the kitchen to put the kettle on. Mai was a terrible liar, but that statement, while ringing of distraction, didn't sound like a lie. He turned to Monk and Matsuzaki, who both tried to look as if this wasn't news to them. He smirked. Mai wasn't the only bad liar in the room.

"So, what is the play?" he asked the room at large, expecting two different answers and then some blustering. Instead, Mai's voice immediately rang out from the kitchen, giving the other two no time to trip up. Naru was silently impressed.

"My Fair Lady. The top-scoring English students are putting it on; our sensei thinks it'll improve our knowledge of the culture, as well as the language and the different accents."

Naru nodded. That was actually a good idea. He did, however, have two problems with her reasoning.

"You're one of the top English-speaking students?"

Mai stuck her head around the doorframe, looking annoyed at the insinuation.

"Yeah, well, ever since I found out my boss is actually some famous English doctor, I thought it might be a good idea to learn the language. That way, I can eavesdrop when you and Lin whisper to each other and actually understand what you're saying."

That logic, he could well believe. Deciding not to pursue that topic any further, he turned to the second problem he had with this play.

"My Fair Lady is, traditionally, a musical. Can you sing?"

At that, Mai smirked at him and withdrew into the kitchen. Naru was a little shocked by the expression; he'd never seen the girl look so… well… mischievous. She was actually teasing him. He blinked and returned his attention to the monk and miko, who were exchanging pleased looks and titters. He glowered at them a little. Mai emerged with a fresh cup of tea for him before he could say anything, however. Pushing it into his hands, she grinned at him and gave him a small shove in the direction of his office.

"We'll try to keep it down now, Naru. We won't disturb you again!"

He was half tempted to ignore her blatant effort to remove him from their gathering and join them on the sofa, but decided to concede this one to her. It would be easier to get the information from the girl once the monk and miko had left and he could prod at her without it being pointed out.

"Don't slack off for too long," he said, allowing her to push him into the office. "Those files all need sorting before five o'clock."

"I promise," she nodded, saluting and making Monk laugh. Naru rolled his eyes and shut the door to his office. Let them have their little conspiracy. He'd crack Mai sooner or later.

Yasu's case notes

Ah, I wish I'd been there for this. Can you imagine Naru's face if Monk had actually hugged him?

I saw the look he gave Bou-san here; I'd have backed away too. Slowly, and far.

No you wouldn't. I've seen you hug Naru-chan. He gets this strange look; like he's not sure what to do so he just does nothing and hopes it will stop soon.

Hey! Naru likes when I hug him!

That's what you think. Although, you are the only person he willingly lets touch him, so maybe you're onto something.

Of course I am!

You're also the only person other than Lin and Madoka that can boss him around and get away with it. It's rare, but beautiful when it happens. Ah...

Er, Yasu? Is there a point to this appendix?

Hmm? Oh. Right. So, he found out about the play - which I can't wait to tell you all about, dear readers, 'cus it was so much fun...

For you. Naru didn't enjoy it so much. Because of you, actually.

Yes, that was a rather brilliant day... but it'll take us a while to get there. So, for now...

Next time: Mai ropes Naru into taking her to lunch, and he finds out just what has been bothering her all week.