A Narcissists' Guilt

Set before the last scene of 'The Blood Stained Labyrinth'.

It was late at night and the door to the Shibuya Psychic Research office in Tokyo had just been opened by the owner, Shibuya Kazuya, who had returned with his assistant, Lin Koujo, from their bloodiest case yet. Upon their arrival to Tokyo he'd immediately told the others to go home to rest.

The drive back had been long and quiet and though he, Naru, preferred the quiet, this time it had been different. His team of psychics had been shaken by this case and though he hated to admit it, Mai had been right. He had lied, he had gone a step too far in lying this time, and though they didn't know it yet, he'd acted more selfishly than he could ever remember doing before. He'd brought them to a dangerously haunted house in order to solely disprove the existence of the fake Dr. Oliver Davis, and in so doing, risked all of their lives.

"Welcome back, Noll," Madoka greeted him as Lin closed the door behind them.

The office was lit only by a few of the desk and standing lamps around the seating area where Madoka was sat reading a book. Naru said nothing as he threw off his long, black coat and slumped tiredly in one of the chairs in the dim light. "Your parents want you to call them, I said I'd wait here till you got back and make sure that you do," she said, this time in English.

"I don't feel like it," Naru replied, stubbornly in Japanese.

"Tough luck, kid, they're worried about you," the lady raised an eyebrow.

"I won't do it," he said stubbornly.

"Then, I will," Madoka smiled, reaching for her phone.

"Why did they want me to take that case?" Naru quickly asked her.

"Because they didn't want that phoney you walking around, giving you a bad reputation, you know that," Madoka answered, "I wouldn't have thought you wanted people thinking he was you either."

"It was dangerous," he muttered.

"It's not like you haven't dealt with dangerous cases before," she frowned, dialling a number she knew by heart.

It took only a few seconds for her friend Luella Davis to answer the phone across the other side of the world. "Luella, it's me again, and before you ask me again, Noll's here, so stop worrying," Madoka said, putting the device on loud speaker and resting it on the coffee table.

"Noll? Are you okay?" his mother asked quickly.

"I'm fine," he answered in English.

"If we'd know how dangerous that case was we never would've..."

"It's fine," he repeated.

"And your friends?" he heard his father walk into the room and ask.

"...They know a lot about Oliver Davis, and it won't be long before they actually figure it out," he told them.

"Isn't that a good thing? Aren't they your friends? Friends shouldn't keep secrets, Noll," his mother replied quickly.

"They're...my employees," Naru corrected her.

"Of course."

"So...if they're just employees why were you worried?" Madoka asked with a smile, but he didn't see fit to answer her.

"So..." Luella began again after a minute, "I haven't seen the final log of the case file yet..."

"I haven't written it yet, we left as soon as we could," Naru said quickly.

"I wasn't going to press for it. I was going to ask you what you decided to do," his mother sighed.

"I told them to burn the house; no one could purify Urado, it's impossible."

"I think you're right, kid," Martin agreed, "You did good...and I'm glad you're okay."

"...Yeah...I'll call you in the morning," he said, stifling a yawn.

"Alright, goodnight, Noll," his mother said before all he could hear from Madoka's phone was the dial tone.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Madoka smiled kindly.

"They worry too much," Naru said, mostly to himself.

"That's what parents do, whether you like it or not."

"...If there's any more cases of 'Dr. Davis's' I'll deal with them alone next time," he told Madoka. "I'm going back, I'm tired," he muttered, standing and tugging on his coat, heading for the door.

Lin took that as his not-so-subtle cue as Naru walked out the door, since the older man was the one driving them back to their apartments in a block not far away. He didn't want to risk letting the young CEO walk alone at night; Naru was a big magnet for trouble, and Lin had already had enough of that to last him at least a week.

Madoka shot him a small, sympathetic smile as he turned back before leaving her to lock up with her own key, afforded by her position in the 'British Society for Psychic Research.'