A/N: Here it is, folks. The very last of Business Better Left Unfinished. This is the longest thing I have ever published.

I want to thank you all so much for reading along with me. It means so much and I'm over the moon that so many of you have enjoyed it.

Favs and reviews are always appreciated. ;)

I hope you will join me in the near future for my next fan fiction, The Importance of Crayons. I have written the prologue (as I mentioned last chapter) but am not uploading it right away because I would like to finish a chapter or two before launching it. Unless you guys realllllllllly want it now... It is of a very different nature than BBLU. It is a romance, drama, and supernatural fic with some heavier topics that may get less suitable for a T rating as it goes along. But if you're anything like me I love to watch my favorite characters suffer and grow through a good shitstorm.

Please, enjoy.

May 8th, 1:01 PM

(Primary Language: Japanese)

"Dear Mai,

I must apologize for my delayed response to your previous letter— if it pleases you to hear, your English has greatly improved since your first letter. Though, you ought to pay closer attention to your use of prepositions. There is a significant difference in meaning between "putting something on you" and "putting something in you," but I will not go into it through the post. Nevertheless, I implore you to remember this in the future when you say such things.

I have not been ignoring you (clearly), but rather my pursuit of employment has demanded a great percentage of my time. I received an offer (which I've since accepted) that required a lot of petitioning and stacks of paper work. I believe that this job will be of great interest to you.

The advisory board that reviewed my doctoral thesis was very pleased with my writings. One of the board members is a friend and colleague of my father at BSPR, and she approached him and I with a proposition. The information I reported on our cases was apparently highly intriguing, and the method in which I collected it was even more so. A Buddhist monk, Catholic priest, Shinto priestess, famous medium, and novice clairvoyant working together may lead to some very interesting discoveries, they think. In sum, she believed with my research and outstanding results, I would be able to receive funding to reopen and manage an SPR branch indefinitely in Japan.

She was correct, of course. I attained a substantial grant and will be returning with Lin to Japan to continue my research and start my career. We will discuss the details in person. If it would appeal to you, I would like to extend an offer to rehire you to work at SPR. I will also extend the offer to Yasuhara and invite the others accordingly to partake in the cases we accept.

Regardless, I will be returning very soon and I thought perhaps you would like to know that.

We will be able to see each other very frequently, which seems very agreeable to me. I do miss your presence. Perhaps you will accompany me out sometime, so long as it is not to the opera.

I hope this letter finds you well. I look forward to my return. Again, I apologize for my delay. I hope you understand and can forgive it this time.

I love you.

Sincerely,

Oliver Davis

Utterly perplexed, Mai stared at the cagy man dressed in black standing on the mat just outside her front door. Her heart vaulted from her chest to pound thunderously in her ears. He was holding a ripped envelope addressed to her in one hand and its corresponding letter in the other. She blinked several times, trying to comprehend what she just witnessed.

"Uh… Hi to you, too?" she sputtered, his hallmark apathetic expression unchanging.

She had just finished preparing herself a bowl of cheap noodles for lunch when she heard a knock at her door. She was not expecting company, so she did not know who would greet her on the other side.

Naru would have been her last guess, but lo and behold, her awkward, judicious boyfriend stood before her. He hadn't even bothered with a hello, instead reading directly from a very professional, very Naru, letter. She had sent her own about a month ago and up until that moment had yet to receive a response. He normally got back to her after three weeks or so (international post permitting), so he was merely a week later than she'd anticipated. She just assumed he was very busy.

Well, she wasn't technically wrong.

"You realize it would have been a lot cheaper to mail that instead of hand deliver it, right?" she teased, putting her hands on her hips and trying to repress a grin.

"A very astute observation," he replied sardonically, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow. "I figured it would be easier for you this way. Your English still needs loads of work and this," he raised the paper in his hand, "Is written in English that is far too advanced for you. I did not want to work your brain too hard."

"I would've figured it out eventually!" she objected with an exaggerated huff. "Besides, I did not know you would just randomly show up at my front door today. Some warning would have been nice."

"I have no idea what that's like," Naru replied with a sly smirk. She rolled her eyes, unable to hide her smile any more.

The dynamic of their relationship was completely unconventional, but she loved it. Loved him.

"I can leave, if you'd like," he offered. "I have an office to unpack."

She rushed forward and crashed into his chest, causing him to stumble backwards. She squeezed him tightly, overwhelmed with sheer delight at his presence. He wrapped his arms around her gently.

She did not know how long they stood in that embrace. The space between them was seamless and it felt too wonderful to disturb. She only snapped out of the enchantment when her stomach grumbled loudly. She pulled back, blushing hard.

He smiled at her and took her hand gently in his.

"Do you want to come in? I was just about to eat lunch," she explained, tugging him towards the interior of her apartment.

"Tea would be nice," he replied brazenly. She gave him an incredulous look.

"I didn't offer you tea," she retorted. He shrugged, stepping inside and removing his shoes.

"That's what I am going to pay you for, isn't it?" She poked him punitively in the chest.

"I'm not on the clock yet, Naru," she countered good-naturedly, closing the door behind them with an exultant, clumsy smile.

The End