Take: Four

Word Count: 1,037

Naru, Mai, and Lin were all sitting on the park bench, appropriately placed in the park. Naru was sitting on one side of the bench and had his arms folded and was scowling in general. Lin was sitting on the other side and was furiously scribbling on his beloved notebook, that everybody was beginning not to question.

Mai was sitting in the middle of the two, with her hands clasped in her lap and kicking her feet.

It was chilly outside, and the park was deserted, because it was calling for a chance of rain. Lin said that the weather page said so; everyone had been too scared to ask him what he was doing with a computer.

Naru had his legs folded one over the other. "I'm bored," he said. "And it's dark out here."

Mai was beginning to think that all of his lamps were starting to ruin his vision.

The reason that they were in the park was not because of a picnic, or because they were dealing with a ghost.

Oh no. It was because they had been evicted from the SPR office, because 'the other people' had taken the set away from the producers, who were trying in vain to get it back.

"Can't I go home?" Mai said.

"I'm not paying you if you go home now," Naru said.

"But I'm not doing anything anyway! Besides, you don't actually pay me at all."

"Amuse me, then."

Mai growled under her breath.

The only sound between the two was the noise from Lin's pencil.

"Naru," she said, "I used to think that you acted like Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre. But now that I've finished the book, I've decided that you act more like St. John Rivers."

He narrowed his eyes at her before he spoke. "Why do you think I chase after you? Why? Because you would make a good companion for me. A good asset. That's all you are with your psychic powers and all. I want you to marry me and then come to the North Pole with me, to deal with a ghost up there."

Mai had physically moved away from him to get closer to Lin.

"If I had to," St. Naru continued, "I'm sure that I could 'maybe' fall in love with you. But don't count on it. I'm only doing this because it would do the world a great deed."

"Lin," Mai said, "I hadn't realized that Naru had read Jane Eyre."

"He hasn't," Lin said.

"Oh." Apparently some people's characters were one in the same.

"Mai! Mai!" She heard her name being called from behind them. She twisted around in the bench to see Yasu running up to them, conveniently placed in the forest, waving in greeting.

"Yasu! It's so nice to see you," Mai said.

"Are you Mr. Rochester?" Naru said, looking over at Yasu.

"Not last time I checked," Yasu said.

Naru frowned, turned back around, looking straight in front of him – you could see the SPR office set from here.

"Yasu, I've really been thinking," Mai said.

"Of how to admit your undying love to me?" Yasu asked. "Because that's all that I want to hear."

"Well, no. I was reading on the computer –"

"Don't say that word!" Lin snapped, turning to glare at her with a fiery look in his eye.

Mai shrunk back a bit from him.

"Lin," Yasu said, causing trouble, "Where's your computer?"

Lin stood up abruptly and walked all the way across the park square to the bench on the other side. He started writing on his notebook again.

"What does he write in that notebook, anyway?" Mai questioned. "I think it's a diary or something…"

"No, it's not," Yasu said. "He does scanlations for manga translation sites. You know, the places that translate them for free?"

Mai put her hand to her mouth. "Wow, I didn't know he would do something like that."

"Oh, yes. He translates them to many languages. French, Italian, German, Russian, you name it. But not English, he doesn't do English very well. That's why he doesn't speak much. And he doesn't upload them to the web – somebody else has to do that for him."

"Why do you know this?"

Yasu smiled, "It's things that I must know about people. Call it a pet peeve of mine."

"Ah. Anyway, I was saying earlier that I read on the computer—"

"—Don't say that word!—" Lin shouted from the other side of the park.

"—I read on the web that meganes are normally scheming and sly people." She raised her eyebrows. "You don't really fit that description, you know?"

"Oh, but Mai, you don't know. I can be quite wicked, cunning and sly." Yasu winked, "You have no idea what I'm planning behind this innocent show."

Mai looked over at Naru, "Do you know?"

"I'm not talking to you until you answer me about the marriage thing," St. Naru said.

"What are you planning?" She finally asked Yasu.

Yasu puffed his chest out and pointed to the sky. "The powerful background planning of becoming the Main Male Love Interest!"

"You can have her," St. Naru said. "She's a lousy female partner, anyway."

Yasu blinked, because he knows that somehow his great revelation had been shattered.

Yasu stomped his foot. "Then quit getting in my way already! Whatever I do, you always seem to be there and you always save her before I can! Even after my perfectly concocted rescue plans!"

St. Naru gave him an 'I don't care' look. "Why are you still talking to The Great One?"

Yasu narrowed his eyes. "Don't you think that you can compete with a full-out megane's personality."

St. Naru flicked his hair, giving him a full-blown drop-dead dramatic appearance. He was wearing the look that had all his fangirls swooning. It suddenly started to rain – right over St. Naru. It was like he had his personal storm cloud, raining fat little drops onto him until he was soaked. But he still pulled off the weight-of-the-world-is-on-my-shoulders look.

Yasu looked like he was steaming. Whatever it took, he would become the Main Male Love Interest.

For some reason, Mai felt that she had started a war.