Naru.
Naru. Here.
Naru. Here. In her shop.
Mai's mind went into overdrive and her thoughts blurred into one big blob of grey, as her brain struggled to process this, her mouth opened and closed several times with no sound.
"Earl Grey tea please," Naru repeated, no hints of any emotion at all on his face or voice.
Locking her jaw, Mai nodded and forced herself to use a falsely sweet voice, "Will that be all?" she asked, tears threatening to run down her face.
"Yes, thank you," he replied.
Mai nodded, turned around and busied herself with the making of the tea. When it was finished she handed the cup to Naru, "That'll be 176 yen please,"
He nodded and gave her the money, leaving to find a table, it was then that Mai noticed Lin, he was standing a little farther away, staring avidly at her, a moment later recognition bloomed on his face. 'Mai?' he mouthed, confusion marring his face.
Mai said nothing and simply turned to help another customer. When she looked back up, Lin had joined Naru at a rather large corner booth. She disapproved of this, both personally and as a businesswoman. She didn't want them there and there was the fact that they had only bought one thing and were taking up a table that could have seated at least ten.
Soon, though, she understood as, one by one, they entered.
First it was Masako, in her quiet beauty, then John in his priest's outfit followed by Yasu, who must've been carrying at least 10 books. Then came in Ayako and Monk, holding hands and looking very happy. Mai carefully kept her back to them and they simply passed her by, heading straight for Naru.
Keeping her face neutral and her emotions in check, Mai carried on with her day, determined not to cry.
She knew that she had changed a lot in the past 4 years, but still, they didn't recognize her at all. Later, she was cleaning the table next to them when she heard Masako's voice, "But, where is Mai?"
"I don't know," replied Naru. "She doesn't have a registered phone number, but apparently she owns and lives above this restaurant."
"I haven't seen her," said Ayako.
"I know." Naru sounded irritated, "I think it's time we ask."
Naru called for Mai's attention, and, ever so slowly, turned to face him, "Yes?" she asked, voice honey sweet.
"Excuse me, but where is the owner of this establishment?"
Mai kept her expression carefully neutral, though her eyes showed her emotions, hurt shined through them, covered by a fair amount a bitter and bleakness.
"Excuse me?" she said, no confusion in her voice at all.
"My name is Kazuya Shibuya, I'm looking for a young woman named Mai Taniyama, can you help me?"
Mai rolled her eyes, "Don't lie to me," she said, barely holding back her tears.
"What?"
"That's not your name,"
"Excuse me," Naru sounded almost lethal now.
"Kazuya Shibuya is not your name and you know it, I would have thought that maybe you could come up with a more clever fake name this time."
Everybody lapsed into silence.
"Who are you?" asked Masako, the rest of them were staring at her face.
"I'm the owner."
Silence.
"What?" Ayako said almost immediately, but Mai didn't look at her, she was looking directly at Naru.
"Hello Mr. Davis," she said quietly, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
And, without another word, Mai turned around and continued on with her day.