Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Manga volume 12 would be out in English lol
Chapter 6 – Puzzle Pieces
-0O0-
Mai Taniyama stared unseeingly into her cup of green tea and waited for the other shoe to drop.
The Official Inquisition – er, concerned conversation – about her nightmare had gone off without a hitch. Mai had stared guiltily at the floor the entire time to avoid cracking under the soul-piercing stare she was sure Naru was wearing. Thank goodness that Yasuhara had nerves of steel; he'd done most of the talking. Martin and Luella both verbally accepted their trumped-up explanation, Lin and Madoka looked satisfied – and they'd all gone back to having dinner.
But when Mai actually found the courage to look at Naru… she flinched at the suspicion in his deep blue gaze. So he hadn't bought it. Mai felt her stomach tying itself into complicated knots. There was no way this was over – she just knew that Naru would find some way to corner her before long.
The mother of her silent tormentor interrupted Mai's internal panic attack.
"This is excellent green tea, Mai dear," Luella noted. "I don't think it's the brand I have in the house, though. Where did you get it?"
So she'd been upgraded to 'Mai dear.' Relishing the warmth blooming in her chest, Mai remembered to answer. "I raided the secret stash in Ayako's suitcase. She's got a choice blend in there."
"I brought it for you," her almost-adopted-mother mused. "You drink almost as much tea as the narcissist. There are four more boxes my other suitcase."
"But Ayako! That tea is really expensive…"
"It's all right, Mai-chan. Nothing's too good for our lovely adopted child!" Bou-san cooed, reaching to his side and giving Mai a hug.
Mai beamed back, her warm feelings increasing at the show of parental affection. "Aw, Bou-san, I love you!"
"You two are ridiculous," Ayako muttered. "An oya-baka and his ko-baka."
"What are those?" Martin asked interestedly.
"Oya-baka means 'stupid parent,'" Mai replied, giggling as she extricated herself from her adopted father's arms. "In Japan, a parent is not supposed to be overly boastful or admiring of his offspring. A father who spoils his child and tells everyone else how lovely the kid is considered an oya-baka."
"And when Mai tells her oya-baka how wonderful he is and how she loves him sooooo much, she is acting like a ko-baka, a 'stupid child.'" Ayako rolled her eyes.
"Meanwhile, who was the one who bought Mai-chan a brand-new wardrobe as a birthday present?" Bou-san asked teasingly.
"She needed new clothes for England!" Ayako defended. "And since she still insists on wearing those gloves every day, she needed several more pairs. Of decent quality!"
Mai sensed an opening for Naru to interrogate her about the scars and hurried to interrupt. "How about you guys stop this fight before it begins and pass me the sauce?"
"It's called gravy, you mouthy ko-baka," Ayako hissed.
"Whatever, you're the one adopting this ko-baka," Mai hissed back.
From down the table, Madoka looked at her star pupil; Naru was obviously burning with curiosity about the whole adoption thing. He still wouldn't ask outright, though. So Madoka took pity on him. "Adopting?" she asked.
Ayako turned to Madoka, nodding. "When I marry Houshou, I'll finally get to sign adoption papers myself. Takigawa here went and adopted Mai about a year ago. The government suddenly decided that Mai's living without any guardians was unacceptable and were going to unemancipate her after high school and put her in an orphanage. We obviously couldn't have that – and we'd already told her a million times that we would adopt her."
Mai turned pink. "I didn't want you guys to have to deal with adopting me," she replied softly, turning pink again. "Not that I'm not very grateful." Both of Mai's parental figures smiled warmly.
"After senior year?" Luella questioned. "Why would they bother uprooting you if you were turning eighteen in a few months' time?"
"In Japan, one is considered a minor until age twenty," Naru answered smoothly, beating Mai to it. She glared. Naru had to physically stop himself from smirking – his knew that his parents were paying close attention to his interactions with their guests. Yesterday, he had forgotten his decision to remain aloof and taunted Mai quite a bit – and he could already see the gears in his mother's head turning.
Madoka hmmed in thought. "What made them decide to unemancipate you, anyway?"
Mai rolled her eyes. "I attract more spiritual attention than most people." Madoka raised an eyebrow, confused. "I racked up eight big hospital bills in a year," she explained.
Across the table, Naru's eyes widened slightly. Eight hospital trips? A trickle of something cold worked its way through his veins.
"Apparently the government frowns upon that," Yasuhara added. "Meanwhile, they couldn't have cared less that I was in the hospital four times. As long as I went home to my parents' house afterwards… my mom could have been beating me for all they knew."
"Yasu!" Mai remonstrated. "Don't even joke about that! Remember the case we had where the son had been killed by the crazy mom?"
"That's probably why he's bringing it up," Ayako noted. "After all, the third time Yasu was in the hospital was because the ghost of that mother beat the crap out of him."
"Lunatic even broke my glasses," Yasuhara informed the table. "And they weren't covered by health insurance."
Mai huffed. "Those new glasses – brand-name, overly-priced – were paid for by TTMPI as part of your hazard pay. Shut up."
Madoka giggled. "Ha, Mai-chan, you sound like a middle-aged office manager. It's not like it was your money or something."
The teenage psychic suddenly looked very uncomfortable. Most of the British contingent was so caught up in imagining cases that would cause so many hospital visits that they failed to notice Mai's interesting reaction, but Madoka did. She pursed her lips and wondered.
-0O0-
By the time the group retired to the sitting room, Naru thought he had isolated what was bothering him (other than the niggle of care he was forced to acknowledge concerning the EIGHT hospital trips). Why was Mai okay with telling them about cases in Japan, hospital trips and her adoption… but not last night's dream? And if her eventual goal was to do research with Martin, why didn't she want to go to SPR this morning?
His scientific brain ran through her possible motives. Was there a reason to hide the details of this particular psychic dream from him? She'd obviously been more open with Bou-san, Ayako and Yasuhara. Though there was obviously something… off about their explanation. Not to mention that Mai hadn't ever had a repeat dream before.
Naru considered the psychological implications of a repeat dream. It would indicate emotional closeness to the individual dreamed about - but Mai said she'd only met the woman once. Also… if she'd had a dream about a spirit murdered nearby, why hadn't this TTMPI exorcised it? Yasuhara had said that the police dealt with it, which would presumably have satisfied the spirit. But if the spirit was eased, then shouldn't the dream have stopped coming? Objectively, the group's explanation was still possible. But knowing Mai (and her powers) the way Naru did, it didn't make enough sense.
Then Naru considered the shifty looks Ayako had thrown Yasuhara, and the unhappiness in Bou-san's face. He had associated these anomalies with Mai's unwillingness to provide clear details, but what if it was something else? Mai hadn't looked at him the entire time she'd half-heartedly explained the dream. She tended to do that when ashamed of something… Was it possible that they were all lying? Naru narrowed his eyes in consternation.
He kept coming back to Mai's effort to hide the details from the English side – himself, Lin, Madoka, and his family – and the pained look in Mai's eyes while she spoke. Naru couldn't be sure of everyone else's motives for lying … but if Mai were doing so (and with that look in her eyes), it would be because she felt that telling them the truth would be hurtful.
Satisfied with his reasoning, Naru decided to operate using the hypothesis that Mai was lying because she didn't want to hurt them. Since Naru nor his family had any connection to some woman in Mai's neighborhood, she couldn't feel the need to hide such a dream from them. The most logical alternative, then, was that the dream was really about someone else. And the SPR affiliate Mai knew best was Naru, so it was probably really his feelings she was sparing. That would mean the dream was most likely about someone connected to himself. Someone that Mai thought would hurt him to hear about…
Naru's eyes went wide and his teacup stilled halfway to his mouth. The only person that Mai would feel she had to avoid speaking about in such a way was... Gene.
Was it possible? Oliver Davis closed his eyes to avoid giving away his internal disquiet. Mai did have a significant psychic connection to Gene; he'd guided her through SPR's cases back in Japan. She'd also been to the site where his body had been found; maybe the echoes of his demise had connected with her death-vision ability.
Plus, Naru thought, his fingers twitching on the handle of his cup, Mai had romantic feelings for Gene. It was entirely possible that her psychic powers held onto his memory, which unfortunately may have manifested in repeated dreams of his death. Naru certainly still had nightmares about it. It would definitely account for her reticence to talk about her dream – especially in front of his parents. He stared hard at Mai, as if looking at her for long enough would somehow reveal the truth.
A few feet away, Mai sensed Naru's intense focus on her and quickly excused herself to the kitchen for a snack. She needed to come up with a distraction to draw Naru's attention away from the dream.
-0O0-
Only after ten minutes and three cookies did Mai feel up to returning to the group, not sure about what to do. On her way back to her comfy chair, the still-unnerved young woman tripped over the edge of a throw rug. Mai fell into her seat, hitting her knee against the table.
Bou-san sighed beside her, feigning exasperation. "Jou-chan, I don't understand," he began. "How can you take formal meditation lessons and still be so clumsy and… unaware?"
This question drew Naru out of his broody fog. Mai had studied meditation? He exchanged a glance with an equally interested Lin.
Ayako nodded in agreement (miracle of miracles) with her fiancé. "And it's not like you're terrible at it – you're actually very poised and alert when you're in the zone. So how come the instant you're out of 'meditation mode' you're back to faceplanting into floors?"
Mai fake-glared, narrowing her eyes in fake irritation. The argument to come might be exactly what she needed to deflect Naru's watchful suspiciousness! "When I'm meditating, I'm just thinking about meditating," she said, rolling her eyes. "You know I suck at multitasking."
As soon as the words left her mouth, Mai knew it had been a bad thing to say. Yasuhara was going to jump all over this...
Her best friend was on point from the moment Mai finished speaking; his glasses flashed in the light. "Well, you know my theory about Mai-chan and multitasking," he said leadingly.
Bait, Mai thought with an internal growl.
And Ayako took it. "What theory are you talking about?"
Yasuhara gave her a deceptively innocent smile. "Remember when you guys told me about the 'animal intuition' thing?" he started. Here he paused, wanting to clarify it for Naru's confused parents. "You see, Big Boss reckoned that Mai-chan's helpful gut feelings during cases could be likened to animal nature. That, like an animal, she recognizes friend from foe and has a natural instinct for self-defense and the safety of those she feels responsibility for."
Luella took a moment to glare at her son. "You couldn't have found a comparison that was less degrading to a lovely girl and her obviously valuable paranormal abilities?"
Naru shrugged. "It seemed the most effective way to explain my conclusions."
Mai made an irritated noise. Naru looked up, and the two of them locked eyes. Hers were glaringly angry, his were amused and smug. Why had she missed him again?
She was so pissed off at his narcissistic-ness that she didn't realize her distraction plan was working.
Yasuhara continued as if oblivious to this side drama. "So, assuming Big Boss is right about those applications of Mai-chan's 'animal nature,' I figure they could stem to other aspects of life. Namely Mai-chan's confounding suckiness at multitasking, her decidedly short attention span, and of course, her ability to sleep for at least twice the amount of time necessary for most people."
Bou-san burst out laughing. Ayako had been tittering since the second quip about Mai's attention span (something that Ayako herself constantly harped on about). Even Lin's mouth twitched repeatedly.
Naru couldn't help himself. His smirk became full-blown – and Mai's glare turned deadly.
"Naru…" she hissed through gritted teeth.
"I didn't say it, your esteemed research partner did," Naru replied, smirking still.
Mai's eyes narrowed to slits… but Naru had a point. She swung her gaze to Yasuhara, intent on revenge.
"Hmph," she scoffed. "This from the person with the attention span of a bug when it comes to relationships." Mai smirked herself now.
"A bug?" Madoka repeated, eyebrows up.
"Yes. Have you ever seen how Yasu reacts to a hot girl in the immediate vicinity? He immediately drops whatever he's doing or thinking and goes after the girl with a single-minded determination that borders on creepy…"
Yasuhara pouted.
"…And then he drops her like a rock as soon as the next '7 or above' comes along," Mai continued, wanting to make sure she got Yasu as thoroughly as he got her.
Yasuhara, however, was less easily castigated than Mai. He pushed his glasses up his nose and Mai held her breath, preparing for the worst.
But instead of giving it right back, Yasuhara only stuck his tongue out at Mai and sipped his coffee. Then he and Madoka discussed what girl would be considered a '7 or above.' When Yasuhara noticed that Mai was still waiting for his next attack, he winked at her.
She stared, not understanding. Yasuhara cut his eyes to Naru and winked again.
Mai got it. Yasu, in a rare show of humanity, decided to spare her from further humiliation in front of Naru. A.K.A., he let her win. He did tend to cut down the witty remarks when he knew she was really frazzled, and they had all had a pretty nerve-wracking day. And a quick glance at Naru's too-sharp eyes told her that it wasn't over yet. Distraction plan failed.
Naru studied Mai as he leafed through case notes. Yasuhara's sneaky eye-communication with Mai had reminded him that the two had probably colluded to hide Mai's real dream-problem from him. He couldn't let Yasuhara's interesting theory about Mai's animal behaviors distract him from his greater goal.
Mai still smiled gratefully at Yasuhara, despite feeling defeated by Naru's non-sucky multitasking ability. She decided to drink her green tea - the familiar taste soothed her nerves considerably. She tapped her spoon against her teacup and calmly asked Martin about any material she and Yasu should study before term started.
-0O0-
After much yawning, the entire party decided it was time for bed. Madoka and Lin left for the night, heading out the door together. Which of course made Mai wonder whether they were dating – wouldn't that be interesting? She tried to imagine Lin as a boyfriend and ended up with a headache.
Mai stayed behind everyone else to clean up the tea. Luella tried to stop her, but Mai was firm. James had gone home and she had made the mess. Bou-san cooed at 'his jou-chan's housewife instincts,' Ayako smacked him, and Mai ignored them until she was alone.
Then she waited with baited breath for Naru to creep back into the room and start in on her. But he didn't show. With a sigh of relief, she collected all the empty cups and saucers and headed for the kitchen.
About halfway there, Mai stopped dead. The now-empty kitchen was the perfect place for a surprise ambush! Naru would know that everyone else was upstairs and he would be cutting off her access to the back staircase. Mai gulped. Not knowing what else to do, she walked into the lion's den with mounting trepidation.
-0O0-
Sure enough, Naru was waiting for her at the kitchen table. Mai contemplated making a break for the stairs and hiding until he found something else to do.
Then her thoughts of escape were derailed by the cup of tea she saw on the table, waiting at the empty spot across from Naru. Another cup sat steaming before him, untouched. He was staring out the window and fingering the edge of his black casebook.
Upon seeing the book, Mai snorted. Was she a customer now? Unfortunately, her ill-timed response gave her away. Naru's head swiveled to face her and dark blue laser beams of doom speared Mai in place. Damn it.
Naru stared Mai down. She glared back mutinously... until realizing that this was probably the best time to do this. Ayako, Bou-san and Yasu had promised not to tell Naru about Gene's continued visits, but Mai honestly didn't know how long they'd last against a suspicious Dr. Oliver Davis. It was probably better to head this off alone. Mai had the most riding on lasting secrecy, anyway.
Gritting her teeth, she slowly set the tea tray near the sink and dropped into the chair across from Naru. Mai sipped the hot tea and resumed their glaring contest.
Naru actually looked away first, sliding his book open to a fresh page. "Are you feeling better tonight?" he asked softly.
Mai was thrown. First the tea, then asking about her condition? Had he gone nuts? "Ah, yes, I do. Thanks, Naru." Mai smiled over the teacup.
Naru nodded, his blue gaze drawing her in like it always did. Usually he'd make a crack about her obvious attraction to him, but he said nothing. This gave Mai another moment to take him in – she hadn't been alone with him in a while...
"Was the vomiting a reaction to your choking in the dream?" Naru's hypnotic voice asked gently.
"Yes," Mai replied absently. "It's because I –" And here she caught herself. What was she thinking, answering his questions? That sneaky jerk was trying to lull her into a false sense of security! And it worked, her mind noted. "You – you tricked me!" Mai accused, banging a fist on the table.
"I knew you were going to be difficult, so I took advantage of your observed weakness to my face," Naru replied nonchalantly. He scribbled something in his book.
Mai's mouth worked furiously, but nothing came out. She finally recovered enough to insult him. "You narcissistic, underhanded…"
"Because you what?" Naru cut her off.
"Huh?" Mai asked, momentarily derailed.
"You said that you were choking because you…" he waved a hand in encouragement." What is the end of that sentence?"
Mai clammed up immediately, crossing her arms and pressing her lips together for emphasis.
Naru glowered. "I'm not sure why you're being so difficult," he intoned. "Have you developed a macabre enjoyment of death visions in the last two years?"
Mai narrowed her eyes but stayed silent. He was trying to bait her.
Naru broke eye contact and wrote something else down in the book. Mai relaxed infinitesimally before realizing that he was probably trying to throw her off again.
"I didn't think so," Naru noted. Without changing his tone, he said, "The only other explanation for your reticence is that you believe that re-telling this particular dream will upset someone in this house."
Mai's eyes bugged. How had he figured that out?
Naru observed Mai's telling reaction and nodded in satisfaction. "You don't like causing others to worry for you, so I initially figured that you hadn't told anyone about the content of the dream. But then Ayako said that you had told them something more about it last night. I believe she was speaking of the details of your real dream and not the hastily constructed lie the bunch of you told us at dinner. So if you've told them, then you must be reluctant to tell me because you feel that I will be personally affected by it."
Naru stared out the window the entire time he was saying this, but Mai watched his hands clench and unclench around his pen and teacup. She hesitantly stretched out with her senses and felt the pain swirling in Naru's aura. Pain… and sorrow. He already knew, didn't he?
"I…" Mai stopped. She didn't know what to say.
Naru got up suddenly, walking over to the refrigerator. "You don't have to worry about hiding it from me," he said in a frightening monotone. "Although I must thank you for sparing my parents this discussion." He pulled a container of milk out of the fridge. "Last night, I would have immediately suspected that Gene was the subject of your dream – your visions are usually brought on by proximity to a spirit, and Gene's spirit is sometimes… near this house. But I was thrown by the repetitive nature of the dream," he continued calmly, as if talking about the weather. "That doesn't gel with the proximity theory. I was told you'd been having the vision for months."
Mai felt like throwing up again. "I… I have."
Naru turned back to face her then. "Why do you think that is?"
Mai took a cue from her former boss and stared out the window. "I don't know why." I know exactly why. "Sometimes when I think about him before I go to sleep, it happens." True enough, and Mai believed that had been what had caused last night's episode.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naru flinch at her words and felt awful. Awful for having to talk about this, awful for lying, awful since she knew Naru had seen the same vision.
The object of her self-hatred was actually having quite a hard time with this questioning. Naru's realization that Mai was probably dreaming about his twin's death had been shocking, sobering and painful all at once. Hearing her confirm it caused him no relief. And for some reason, Mai's admitting that she sometimes thought about Gene before going to sleep sent a twisting sensation through his gut. Was it because he felt bad that she loved someone who was dead? Naru shook his head and willed himself to focus. They needed to get this done before anyone noticed they hadn't gone to bed.
"I suppose that thinking about a person you are psychically connected to could conceivably trigger your powers," Naru stated thoughtfully. "And considering your current location, it makes sense that you would have such a dream on your first night in this house. This is where Gene lived and is more suffused with his presence than I would imagine any other place is."
Naru could tell that Mai hadn't thought of that possibility. "Since you are apparently attuned to auras now, I figured your heightened sensitivity might have prompted last night's vision."
Mai nodded slowly. It was possible – no, probable.
"And you've provided a good theory as to why you see the dream repeatedly. It is interesting that merely thinking about a lost lov – person can cause death visions," Naru noted, feeling the twisting again. Fist clenched, he tried to posit his next question in a gentler manner. "Does that occur when you think about any other deceased person of your acquaintance?"
He was trying very hard not to directly mention her parents, Mai knew. She smiled at Naru to let him know she appreciated it. "No," she replied. "But I don't actually think it's just thinking about the person that does it." She had to be careful, now. She couldn't tell him that she could still see Gene, but she would give him a little more information. Maybe that would be enough to placate him and end this painful conversation.
Naru was all ears. He was sitting down again, milk poured, tea lightened, pen poised over paper.
"I think it's because of the psychic connection," Mai said slowly. "I mean, I don't see visions of my parents' deaths." Thank goodness, she added mentally. One repeat trauma is enough for me.
Naru considered her words. It matched his own thoughts and would make sense – except that Gene's body was back in England and at rest. Any psychic connection between Gene and Mai should have been severed. Then again, Gene's spirit was not yet at rest, and Naru knew for a fact that all psychic connections did not sever right away. After all, Naru himself saw Gene at times – they communicated via mirrors. It was hard to 'wake up' (as Gene termed it) enough to talk, but his medium twin occasionally managed it. Naru's psychic bond with Gene had not yet disappeared, so why should Mai's have completely terminated?
"Anyway," Mai said, hoping to end this session before she gave anything else away. "The dream's been coming with less and less frequency. I'm pretty sure it will stop on its own." And it would, most likely – once Gene decided to pass on.
Naru eyed her speculatively. She is eager to stop talking about this, he surmised. He was slightly suspicious… but he knew that this was an exceedingly difficult and painful subject for both of them. It was entirely plausible that Mai just didn't want to discuss it anymore. Remembering her motives for lying earlier, it was also possible that Mai simply didn't want to hurt him, Naru, by continuing to talk about Gene. Naru's face softened.
"Alright," he said aloud. "We will monitor these… episodes as long as they continue. If anything changes for the worse, we will have to revisit this."
Visibly relieved, Mai nodded and smiled. She leapt up from her chair and grabbed both of their empty teacups. When she turned on the kettle instead of rushing to bed, Naru threw her a quizzical glance.
"Don't you want more tea, Boss?" she asked brightly.
Naru's lips lifted in a half-smile. "Obviously, Mai."
-0O0-
AN: The chapter title (Puzzle Pieces) is definitely linked to Naru figuring out part of what Mai is hiding. But it also has to do with Mai and Naru adjusting to each other again and coming back together like puzzle pieces;)
Yasuhara's theory concerning Mai's expanded 'animal nature' is inspired by one of my favorite stories, The Dawn Daydreamer, by Jumping Beans of Doom. The author focuses on the effects of Mai's animal instincts on her spiritual powers, which made me wonder how the animal nature thing might affect her everyday life. In chapter one, the author says she hopes her story inspires other writers in the fandom – it inspired me, lol.
Until next week! Please read and review!:)