Yasuhara was extremely glad when Mai finally woke from her nap.

"Can you watch the cameras? I really need to relieve myself."

"Sure," Mai replied with a yawn. She stretched up and wiped her eyes. True to form, a few tears had leaked from her real eyes when she'd cried in the astral plane. Yasuhara noticed nothing as he darted out of the room.

Mai ambled her way to the camera feeds and tried to focus on the screens in front of her. A yawn stole her concentration momentarily.

"Anything yet?"

Mai looked around, too tired to be shocked, to find Noll standing in the doorway.

"No, I don't think so." She looked back around at the screens, not wanting to neglect her duty in front of her boss. "I'll make you tea in a minute if you want."

She glanced back around, knowing Noll was more likely to nod than speak. But he'd gone.

"I'm imagining things," Mai muttered. She tried to wipe her eyes again, expecting more sleepy dust. She then spotted Noll in one of the bedrooms on the cameras.

"Thanks," Yasuhara said as he rejoined Mai. "Did you manage to contact Gene?"

"No," Mai said, distraught. "It was empty. He wasn't there. I tried looking for him but…"

"It isn't looking good, is it?" Yasuhara pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Still no reply from Lin and Madoka either."

Mai swore under her breath as she tracked Noll's progress.

"I keep seeing duplicates," Mai mumbled. "One was here just while you were out."

"Really?"

"Yeah, asked if anything had happened."

"It's odd," Yasuhara said. He rested his head in his hands for a moment while he stared blankly at the screens. "I don't think it's Gene. If he'd turned bad he'd be trying to mess with us more."

"Well that thing with the two of them in the two rooms was pretty creepy!"

"Yeah, but before you said the duplicate Boss asked about food or the case? It's almost like it's trying to fit in with us."

"You think whatever it is, that it's lonely?"

"Perhaps?" Yasuhara replied. "I don't know. It doesn't help that you never know if you're talking to the real Boss or not."

Noll was making his way down the stairs. Mai watched him with a frown.

"You haven't seen it, though?"

"No," Yasuhara admitted. "I don't think so."

"I wonder why…"

Noll entered the base and came to look at the screens.

"Well?"

"Nothing," Yasuhara said. "But I can check the thermal feeds if you want?"

"If you would," Noll said as he took a seat. "Mai, tea."

Mai didn't even bother to scowl as she scooped up the empty cups and headed for the kitchen. She flicked the kettle on and began to wash up the cups, lost in her own thoughts.

Then a strange buzzing caught her notice.

Like a fly, it seemed to hum. Mai swatted around her head, just in case it really was a fly.

Then sounds broke through the buzzing.

"...ai? Mai!"

Mai spun around. Noll was standing in the kitchen with the flask in one hand.

"Have you gone deaf?"

"I didn't hear you," she replied weakly. "Sorry… Must have been caught up in my own thoughts."

Mai expected an insult, but Noll only frowned at her.

"Here, fill this up too."

He passed her the flask and left the kitchen.

"Mai saw the thing again," Yasuhara told Noll when he returned from the kitchen. "I slipped out to go to the loo."

"And it's appearance?"

"She said it looked just like you."

"I see," Noll said. "It's appearances only seem to affect Mai."

"Yeah, we'd noticed that too," Yasuhara said. "There was nothing on the thermal feeds. Except, a slight temperature drop in the corridor outside this room. I presume when it appeared to see Mai?"

Noll nodded and scribbled in his notebook for a moment.

"Have you had a reply from Lin?"

"No." Yasuhara saw no point in lying.

"Good."

"Why are you so against them coming along?"

"I am not," Noll said. "But they are on a scheduled break from work. It would be rude to interrupt them."

Mai returned at that moment with three cups of tea and the flask under one arm.

"Describe the appearance of the being you saw while Yasuhara was indisposed," Noll requested.

Mai took a seat before answering.

"It looked exactly like you," she replied. "Same hair, facial expression, clothing… If you'd been standing next to each other, I could not have told you apart."

"That is nothing to be surprised at. I have a lot of experience in being confused for someone else," Noll muttered.

Mai looked hurt at his words but did not speak. She sat back and drank some of her tea.

"It isn't Gene," she said finally. "I can't even contact him."

"I know," Noll replied. He too had tried to contact his twin though the bathroom mirror but to no avail.

"So what do we do now, Boss?"

"We keep watching, and waiting."

And so they did. The trio took turns at staring at the screens, but nothing happened until after lunch.

"Naru! The camera in the bedroom has fallen over again!"

Noll looked up from where he was sat on the sofa. He deposited his book and stood up.

"I see," he said. "I will go and correct it."

"Sure, Boss? I don't mind going?" Yasuhara offered.

"No, stay here."

Noll scooped up the walkie-talkie and headed out.

"I have the worst sense of deja-vu right now," Mai muttered. "I swear if the thing does it again I'm going to freak out so much."

"Well I'm watching this time," Yasuhara said. "Nothing happens if I'm about so we should be fine."

"Yeah." Mai did not sound convinced.

Nervously, they watched Noll's progression up the stairs. His stature showed no nerves at all, only his usual confidence.

"Arrogant jerk," Mai muttered.

Yasuhara snigged.

The Noll on the screen turned left into the bedroom.

But he appeared on the screen for the bedroom on the right.

"Yasuhara, did you…?"

"What?"

"He…"

But Mai was transfixed as she watched Noll correct the camera and wave at the screen.

"Wait here," she instructed.

Before Yasuhara could say anything, Mai sprinted out of the room and up the stairs. She ran to the end of the corridor and turned left.

But the bedroom was empty.

"Naru…?" she whispered.

For a moment, she thought that fly from earlier had returned. A faint buzzing drifted into the room.

"Mai?"

Mai spun around.

"What are you doing up here?" Noll asked, coming from the other room. "I told you to remain in the base."

"I…" But Mai could not defend herself.

"Come on."

She followed Noll back to the base, aware that the buzzing sound had not entirely disappeared.

"I received a text from Yasuhara," Lin muttered.

It was well past midday, but the couple had only just got up. Madoka was making breakfast in her pyjamas while Lin was sat at the kitchen table in only his boxers.

"Really?" Madoka was surprised. "He knows you're off work, what does he want?"

"Noll took a case," Lin replied. "Yasuhara and Mai are worried. Noll didn't take anyone else."

"What?" If Madoka had been surprised before, that was nothing to now. "That idiot! Not even Takigawa? Or John?"

"Nope," Lin replied. "I think they want our intervention. He gave me the address."

"What's happening there?" Madoka asked, both curious for the care and annoyed they'd interrupted their time off.

"He just said that the spirit is imitating Noll, and it spoke to Mai," Lin said.

"Imitating Noll? Like a doppelganger?"

"Doppelgangers can't speak, though," Lin countered. "But if Noll hasn't realised that…"

"What else could it be?" Madoka mused. "I mean it must be powerful to manifest like that. But if Noll thinks it's a doppelganger, he'd want to investigate it. They are rare. Even the popular stories about them are few…"

"BSPR has no official evidence of their existence either," Lin added. "Wait, I thought that doppelgangers were death omens?"

"Yeah, in a few of the popular stories the copied person died soon after doppelganger was seen," Madoka said. Then she realised exactly what she'd just said. "Why would that idiot take SPR somewhere where there was a chance of death?"

"I imagine he thought it only a superstitious notion," Lin replied. "The evidence of such activity would have been more exciting."

"What an idiot," Madoka spat. "Now we have to break up our holiday to go and rescue his sorry arse."

"I don't think he will be sorry," Lin muttered.

"He will be if Mai or Yasuhara get hurt," Madoka said. "I'll make him sorry."

She stalked out of the room, mumbling about getting a shower.

Lin re-read the text.

If Noll thought this being was a doppelganger, he would be unaware of the potential danger of a creature imitating a doppelganger. Lin smiled a little at the thought - copying a being that copies people…

Sighing, he stood up and abandoned his breakfast. Madoka's suggestion of a shower seemed most welcome. Perhaps he would join her...

Author's note: Well... I don't really know what to say for this one! Other than please keep reviewing! Even one-word reviews are welcome!