Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Volume 12 would be out in English.
Chapter 16 – Small Stones Signifying the Start of an Avalanche
-0O0-
Mai barely noticed the food set in front of her… since she was mentally replaying the thank-you kiss for the hundredth time. Mai's only regret was that she hadn't given herself enough time to memorize the feel of Naru's cheek against her lips.
She certainly didn't regret causing Naru's entertaining reaction. Dr. Oliver Davis was obviously off his game. He'd barely said ten words all night, and just looked so… bewildered. Mai finally lost the battle with her better angels and grinned knowingly at her former boss. Naru's eyes narrowed to blue slits, but he still didn't speak. Maybe he'd be this docile for the rest of the night…
Across the table, Naru wrenched himself out of his funk. His thoughts were still in total disarray; he was no closer to unraveling the chaos than he'd been an hour ago. But he'd need time and quiet for that – which he simply wouldn't get tonight. Besides… Mai's wide smile grew wider and smugger by the minute. He couldn't allow that to continue. So Naru forcefully shoved his confusion to the back burner and focused on pulling Mai off her high horse.
He didn't want to outright enrage Mai, though – Naru had gone through the trouble of making this day meaningful for her, after all. If Mai wound up sulking through tonight's lantern-floating, everyone's efforts would have been for nothing. A bit of embarrassment would do, then. And he knew just what to do. Naru glanced down the table. When he was absolutely sure that no one else was watching, Oliver Davis threw a curious Mai his most devastating smile.
Mai raised an eyebrow as Naru left off glaring at her to look down the table. Was he just going to ignore her for the rest of the – wha-what? All of a sudden, Naru was smiling charmingly at her. Her breath caught in her throat, even as she firmly told herself Naru must be screwing with her.
Or… was he? Those dark blue eyes weren't cold like they'd been in the past… Naru blinked slowly, and Mai's heart jumped. Even his eyelashes were beautiful, she thought tenderly. Then she realized he was staring at her. Mai stared back, hopelessly transfixed. In seconds, her entire world had narrowed to Naru's sapphire gaze. His eyes were so deep… she wondered what he could find so fascinating about hers. His lips were moving now… Mai struggled to focus…
"I said, 'Mai, can you pass the bread?'"
She shook her head as if trying to clear her ears. Naru smirked vengefully.
Ugh, he was screwing with her! She'd kissed his cheek, so he was being fake-romantic to get back at her! Mai practically threw the basket of bread at him. "Jerk," she whispered fiercely. Naru merely dipped the bread into his olive oil with poorly masked relish. Mai decided to take her annoyance out on her dinner, pausing every so often to glare at the obviously back-to-normal Naru.
Naru watched a now-pouty Mai stab away at her ravioli. "Still keeping score, Mai? I believe that's another one for me." He watched the teen psychic press her lips together hard, obviously trying to keep from yelling in a fancy restaurant. Oddly, this action brought to mind the warm feel of Mai's lips pressing against his cheek. A strange thrill suddenly swept through Naru, and he looked around. Maybe there was a weak spirit in here or something.
-0O0-
As dessert menus appeared, Naru knew that he needed to bring Angry Mai back around to happy-mode before they left the restaurant. Luella and (astonishingly) Martin were quite excited about tonight, and Mai strangling Naru during the lantern ceremony would probably put a damper on their enthusiasm.
He saw Mai gaze longingly at the after-dinner selection and came up with a solution. Mai didn't usually order dessert; her frugal nature countermanded her love of sweets. This evening was no exception – Mai handed off the dessert menu without requesting anything. Naru rather respected her self-denial.
But however more mature Mai had become, Naru suspected that her reaction to sweet things was as childish as ever. "I'll take a tartufo," Naru told the waiter quietly. He figured Mai would like it – frozen fruit wrapped in ice cream and chocolate, right up her alley. Luckily, his father and Ayako were loudly discussing lantern-floating logistics and no one noticed that he ordered something.
When the plate of gelatinous sugar arrived, Naru immediately pushed it over to Mai. "Here," he said shortly.
Mai looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head. "But I didn't order any –"
"Just eat it, Mai," Naru commanded, sipping tea and staring out into the dining room.
She tilted her head, confused. "Did… you order this?"
"Yes. For you." Realizing that his peace offering could be misconstrued as an affectionate gesture, Naru quickly elaborated. "This whole night is supposed to be for you; I'm sure my mother would be offended if you skipped dessert." There, now Mai would cooperate without making a scene.
Mai stared at Naru for another moment before picking up the dessert spoon. He looked resolutely out the window. A warm feeling spread through her as she dug gingerly into the ice cream. An explosion of flavors hit her tongue and Mai managed an appreciative noise before attacking the fruity-chocolatey-creamy ball of goodness with gusto.
Mission accomplished, Naru thought, watching the obviously delighted Mai out of the corner of his eye.
Down the table, Lin nudged Naru's gawping mentor. "I told you, Madoka... leave him alone and he'll manage quite fine. Noll behaves much better when he thinks no one is paying attention."
Madoka shook her head in awe. "Unbelievable." She watched Noll and Mai take turns covertly observing one another. "Reckon if we all just leave the table for a while, they'll start making out?"
-0O0-
Mai gazed into the darkness, listening to the soft sounds of water splashing against rocks. There was a portable porch lamp just behind her, so Mai could barely make out mini-waves on the pond's choppy surface. She held her lantern tightly in her hands, thinking back to the video. John and Masako and the river, the lantern bearing her parents' names bobbing along in the twilight.
All of a sudden, Professor Davis was at her side. "Alright, Taniyama. I think we're ready."
Mai nodded jerkily and walked to the water's edge. "Everyone over here," she instructed. "We'll put them in on this side, since the wind is blowing the water away from us. The lanterns should be pulled across." As everyone formed a line at the edge of the pond, Mai's eyes watered and her throat tightened. They were doing this for her. She cleared her throat and willed her voice to be steady.
Naru couldn't see Mai's face very well, but he could hear the emotion in her voice. He felt an unnatural compulsion to go to her side and… he didn't know what. He shook his head to clear it, feeling like he was fielding more emotions today than he had in years. This is why I avoid these situations, he mused. Mai was lighting her lantern now. The little candle's flame blazed gold before softening to a flicker, and for a moment Naru could see Mai's face clearly. Her eyes sparkled with tears, but she looked… quietly happy.
He watched Mai give the barbeque lighter to Martin, who lit his and Luella's lanterns before passing it along. Gene's full name was black against the golden paper of Luella's lantern, and Naru's gut tightened. As Takigawa and Matsuzaki entered into a brief struggle over the proffered lighter, Naru sidled over to join his adopted mother, taking a side of the lantern bearing his twin's name. Luella gripped her remaining son's hand tightly.
Mai smiled softly. Naru's going to take part, after all. Then she felt eyes on her and looked up to meet Naru's gaze. Again they stared at one another for what seemed like forever, but she didn't feel like he was teasing her this time. Like that time – weeks ago – in the guest room, Mai felt like there was some kind of force field holding them together. Some deep-seated emotion burned in Naru's gaze, and Mai felt the almost overwhelming urge to cross the distance and take hold of him. She had actually taken a step towards him… when Martin called her. Mai snapped out of her… trance? … and answered. "I'm sorry, Professor Davis, what was that?"
Luella could have hit Martin. Noll and Mai were obviously having a moment! And Luella reckoned that the emotional moment had been on the verge of becoming a physical moment – Mai had been about to do something. And then her idiot husband had to ruin it! Beside her, Noll looked dazed (a rare look for her son) before turning to glare at the water as if it were responsible for his confusion. Luella heard a male groan and looked down the line to find Yasuhara's eyes. He shook his head exasperatedly, sharing her sentiments. Luella grinned back.
"Mother, we're starting," Naru said shortly.
"Sorry, dear." Luella turned to Mai, who was… going into the water?
"Here, like this," Mai said, stepping out of her shoes and into the pond. The rocks were slippery underneath her bare feet and Mai moved very slowly so as not to fall. "Then you just…" She looked up to see everyone staring at her like she was crazy. "What?"
"Why are you in the water?" Martin asked curiously.
"Well, that's how you do it," Mai replied. "You need to be in the water so you can push the lantern out into the river current."
"But we're not at a river, Mai-chan," Madoka noted amusedly.
"Right, but… we still need to be out far enough to push them properly," Mai argued. "If you stand up there and push, they'll just come back to the edge." She gestured to her glowing lantern, which bobbed obstinately against the rocks lining the pond. Then she took stock of Luella's lovely long dress and stockings. "Well… everybody doesn't have to go in. I'm already in, so I can do them all. So just, um, set your lantern in the water and I'll push them out deeper, okay?"
"Roger that, Mai-chan!" Yasuhara was wearing his best slacks; he couldn't get them all muddy. He could just take them off – but he figured Mai might yell, and Ayako would definitely slap him. So Yasuhara set his lantern (with Sakauchi's name written on it) into the water and held it in place, waiting for Mai.
She sloshed over, holding the ends of her dress above her knees with one hand and holding out the other for balance. She made a face as she came to a halt in front of Yasuhara.
"What?" her friend asked, grinning at Mai's look of disgust.
"The rocks are really slimy," she answered. "I usually wear crappy sandals to go in the water."
Yasu and Madoka both laughed. Madoka handed her lantern down as well, and Mai pushed both out towards the middle of the pond. She did the same with Bou-san's, then Ayako's.
Lin pursed his lips and stared down at his lantern, feeling torn. He was wearing nice dress slacks and did not want to get them wet. But he felt sort of honor-bound to help Mai. She shouldn't have to do this all by herself, especially since this whole ceremony was for her.
"Lin-san?" Mai held out her hands. Did he think she would drop it or something?
"It's all right, Koujo," Madoka said loudly. "By the time you could get in the water, Mai will be done. You're just making her stand there longer."
Lin glared at his girlfriend and quickly handed his lantern off to Mai. He tried not to look at her suddenly beaming face.
"Thank you for thinking of me, Lin-san!" He couldn't help but smile a bit at Mai's huge grin. It took so little to make her happy. He wondered if that was because she had lived alone as a teenager. Perhaps she learned to appreciate every bit of kindness, Lin thought as he watched Mai gently push the lantern bearing his grandmother's name into deeper water.
Or maybe, Lin considered, it's because she loves Noll, who only shows open kindness in bits. He saw Oliver's eyes follow Mai's movements back towards his family. Lin could tell that Noll was worried about Mai falling into the water – but anyone who didn't know him very well would just see a man looking dispassionately at a woman. Lin also knew that if Mai did fall, Noll would be in the water in a flash to help her… while looking extremely annoyed and calling her an idiot. Noll could use a few lessons on showing open kindness, at least to Mai, Lin thought. Even he himself smiled overtly at Madoka.
Mai pushed Martin's glimmering lantern out toward the middle and turned to Luella.
"Here you are, Mai dear." Luella and Naru knelt down together and set the lantern on the water. It bobbed gently as Mai waded over.
The teen psychic paused for a moment as she read over the name written in flowing cursive. Eugene Davis. She turned her head to hide teary eyes and very gently pushed the lantern out to join the others.
Her own lantern, with the names of her parents written in kanji, bobbed alone beside her. She had childishly left it for last, not wanting to send it out to sit there by itself. Mai dragged it forward now, ignoring the squish of the algae under her feet. She smiled to herself as she pushed it forward and watched its progress across the pond. It met up with Gene's lantern and the two memorials slid across the sparkling water. Mai watched them until they bumped into Ayako's.
She remembered doing this last year – setting two lanterns into the water. She had pushed one off, then the other, and watched both lanterns float along, two little lights, until they joined up with the throng in the middle of the river. The lanterns bearing the names of Mai's parents and Naru's brother became part of the great light of the Toro Nagashi, and Mai had felt the little relief that she suspected was common amongst the bereaved. At least they are not alone; they are with others in heaven.
She must have said this out loud, because Luella's breath hitched behind her. Mai turned around in a flash. "I'm sorry, that's just what I think when I…" She stopped, belatedly realizing that she was speaking Japanese. She had been talking to herself at first, really, so it was only natural.
"No, dear, you're right," Mrs. Davis said, eyes glistening in the dim light of the lanterns. "That's part of what the festival is about, yes?"
Mai had forgotten that Luella could speak Japanese. "Yes," Mai affirmed, smiling softly. "You're very right." Realizing she was still standing in the water, Mai waded slowly back to the edge of the pond. She turned in place, searching for a good spot to climb out – and her face almost collided with Naru's hand.
Naru couldn't even summon the aplomb to say something like, 'Hurry up, idiot.' Hearing Mai's words about heaven, listening to her speak Japanese, and witnessing her exchange with his adopted mother had overloaded Naru's circuits and he was feeling very… peaceful. No Mai-baiting right now. So Naru was silent as she finally put her hand in his, and he actually sent Mai a grateful look with his eyes as he helped her out of the pond.
Madoka squeezed Lin's hand as they watched.
"Look at that," Lin whispered in amazement. Open kindness.
-0O0-
Ayako broke the moment on purpose, knowing that Naru would probably ruin it himself if he noticed everyone watching him with Mai. She tutted loudly. "Houshou, your lantern keeps bumping into mine!" Everyone turned to her, just as she'd hoped.
Down the line of people, Naru and Mai stood unobserved and still hand-in-hand. Naru felt oddly like holding on to Mai's hand – and so dropped it immediately. He still felt tingles where she'd been touching him. He frowned in confusion – had she gripped his hand so tightly she'd cut off circulation? A voice inside him (which sounded like Gene's) whispered that he was missing something.
"Thank you, Naru," Mai said softly, blushing. She slid her feet in the grass, both to dry them and to give her something else to do besides blush embarrassingly.
Naru gazed at her, feeling quite out of sorts. He was usually amused by Mai's fascination with his good looks, but now he was found it mysteriously distracting and couldn't even smirk. This is why I avoid these situations, he reiterated to himself.
Ayako's shrill voice echoed in the yard, returning both of them to the outside world. "Look, there it goes again!"
"Of course my lantern's bumping yours!" Bou-san responded loudly. "It's pushing yours along! Your lantern moves all slow 'cause it was made by an old maid like you!"
Whack.
"Ow, I guess you still hit pretty hard for an oldie."
"You scruffy (whack) fake (whack) monk (thump)!"
"Guess I'll go break that up," Mai sighed, leaving a strangely quiet Naru to his thoughts. She promptly threw her body between Bou-san and Ayako, narrowly missing being clocked in the head by Ayako's ever-present purse.
"Oh no, Mai!" her almost-adopted mother apologized, wrapping Mai in a hug. Bou-san immediately decided he was jealous and hugged Mai, too. Between the two of them, Mai thought she might suffocate – but she endured it for the sake of maintaining the peace.
"Hey, look!" Madoka called (as a rescue attempt).
The huggers released Mai (who took a deep, grateful breath) and turned to the pond. The lanterns had all met in the middle and were swirling together in the water. Mai smiled softly at the familiar golden lights, and past festivals played out in her head.
She thought about the times she and her mother had done this together, holding hands as they watched the lantern they'd made for Mai's father sail off into the night. She remembered going with her teacher the year her mother had died; Mai had been unable to face the Toro Nagashi alone. The year after that, her teacher had been called away for a family emergency. Mai had moved out on her own by that point, and she decided that if she could live alone, she could handle the festival alone, too. Those had been a lonely couple of years.
Then last year, Bou-san and Ayako had gone with her. Bou-san had been declared Mai's official guardian and Ayako was already his fiancée. They had let Mai make the lantern on her own, but insisted on accompanying her to the river. Mai had also taken them to see the house she'd been raised in, and eventually to the nearby cemetery. Mai had been happy to introduce her parents to her adopted family, privately whispering to her parents' gravestones that Ayako and Bou-san were wonderful and took good care of her.
At sunset, Ayako and Bou-san stood on the shore while Mai waded into the river shallows with her parents' lantern. Bou-san had eventually joined her with his and Ayako's own lanterns (like Masako, Ayako refused to get wet). Bou-san dragged Mai back to shore, and her adopted parents stood on either side of her and held her hands as they watched the golden lights. Mai had cried happy tears – she had a family again.
And this year… all of her SPR family – Japanese and British – were celebrating with her. A lantern for Mai's parents had floated down the river in Japan and now another Taniyama memorial slipped along the water in the Davis' pond. Everyone stood together, friends and family, tied together in a knot by love and care. Mai could practically see the bonds in the air around them, connecting the group by the water.
She watched the lights swirl in the pond for a little longer, smiling and crying simultaneously. Eventually, she felt Ayako shiver next to her. It was kind of chilly out. "Okay," Mai tried to say. Her voice came out thick and deep. Stupid crying. Clearing her throat, she started again. "Okay, guys, it's getting cold. Somebody blow out the lanterns and we'll go inside."
"I'll do it," Yasuhara volunteered. He sprinted around the pond and knelt down to extinguish the lanterns, all of which had finally made it to the other side.
Mai didn't want to see the lights go out, so she turned to the group and spoke again. "I'll make some tea and then it's sleepytime. You guys have a case tomorrow." Yasuhara came back and they all set off for the house.
Naru watched Mai walk inside, Bou-san and Ayako holding her hands. It wasn't something he'd ever want – his parents treating him like a child – but it looked right for Mai. And not because she was childish (although she certainly had her moments), but because he knew she craved that sense of family and closeness.
And here Oliver shook his head at the distressing emotional flavor of his thoughts. Enough,he thought. Thank goodness he had case research to do. It was past time to get his mind off of feelings.
-0O0-
SPR's case was over two days later – far too simple for Naru's tastes. They hadn't even needed help from their Japanese visitors – which meant that Naru couldn't even gather evidence concerning Mai's possible collusion with Gene. His twin had only appeared for a few minutes during the case, and had been mysteriously deaf to any queries Naru made in reference to Mai. Obviously, Naru was going to have crack Mai if he wanted answers. He surreptitiously studied her over his research… and his eyes widened. Mai was twitching noticeably in her chair, drawing the attention of almost everyone in the room.
A twist went through Naru's gut as he took in her alarmingly blank expression. Mai's eyes stared out into space, and her hands shook. She jerked once more... and then life came back into her eyes. Naru watched closely as Mai shook her head like a dog trying to clear water from its ears. Instead of addressing the obvious psychic flare-up, however, Mai curled further into her chair and opened the book she'd borrowed from Martin's SPR office. Naru opened his mouth to say something – but Ayako beat him to it.
"Guess you're sleeping on your own tonight, Houshou," the shrine maiden-slash-doctor noted, concerned eyes on Mai.
"Looks like it," Bou-san agreed. "You want a blanket, jou-chan?"
"No, I'm fine," Mai replied tightly, refusing to look up from her book.
But Naru noticed that her eyes weren't moving over the page. "Your hands are shaking and you aren't actually reading," he accused.
His words did the trick; Mai slammed the book into her lap and glared. "I'm fine, Naru. It's just my vision warning. But since I know you won't shut up until I tell you… it means that I'm going to have my usual death vision tonight. I get... flashes of the dream, and I feel kinda cold. But it's normal."
"Normal, she says," Bou-san muttered. Mai threw him a dirty look.
"Once we figured out that the flashes meant that the vision was imminent, it's been much easier to handle," Ayako told a worried-looking Luella. "When she gets the warning, I sleep with Mai. Since the vision starts with Mai's whole body jerking rather violently, I wake up right away."
It actually started with Mai's frozen and terrified form watching car headlights come barreling towards her, but no one needed to know that. Suddenly, she heard the screech of the wheels in her mind and the world went dark – Mai shook herself and snapped out of it. Thinking about it only made the flashes worse.
Ayako was still talking. "That way, we can wake her up quickly – it's less traumatizing for Mai."
And it was. Gene was still dead, and re-living any part of the scene still rocked Mai to the core, but the less time spent in the vision the less time she spent sobbing. The physical ramifications were also less unpleasant – Ayako almost always managed to wake her up before the choking, so Mai rarely threw up imaginary lake water anymore.
Unexpectedly, something warm was thrown over Mai's legs and a warm hand caressed her face. Luella Davis tucked a quilt around her with one hand and held her cheek with the other. "Well, it still sounds dreadful," Naru's mother commiserated. "Surely there's something we can do – something SPR can do."
Surely there's something we can do. Mai chuckled ironically. She had said the same words to Gene, a long time ago. That was how she'd wound up in this mess in the first place. "It's not necessary," she replied. "It's going away slowly – I just have to ride it out."
This statement intrigued Naru. He knew that the dream was coming less frequently; both Mai and Bou-san had said so. But… why was it coming less frequently? Naru had originally postulated that the hold of the vision was fading because Mai's connection to Gene was fading. But now he strongly suspected that Mai and Gene remained in contact... so wouldn't the period of time between vision recurrences shorten?
Naru's fingers tightened around his pen. Mai's sureness about the vision was yet another signal that Gene was still appearing to her. She sounded like she understood what was happening perfectly – which indicated that she was receiving educated help. Mai's intuition was excellent (not that he'd tell her so), but she often couldn't explain why she felt so strongly about things. And despite her training, she was still rather hesitant about whatever she guessed. But she seemed completely sure about this.
"Hmph," Luella sniffed. "What is the use of parapsychology if it can't help a girl stop her bad dreams? Maybe you and I should have a chat and see if regular psychology can't be of service."
Mai threw a wild look at Naru. She couldn't talk to Luella about visions of Gene's death! Save me, she cried out silently.
Across the room, Yasuhara noted with interest that Mai turned to Naru to help her instead of asking himself (like she usually did).
"They aren't just bad dreams, Mother," Naru interjected calmly. "They are paranormal visions. I highly doubt dream therapy would do anything to help the situation. In fact, I think that talking about them would only lead to an increase in occurrences. Just from observing Mai over the past few minutes, I've noticed that the flashes seem to get stronger and more numerous when she actively thinks about the vision."
Mai stared at Naru, wide-eyed. He was right, of course... and he'd figured all that out by watching her for a few minutes. Damn, but he was good. How was she supposed to keep Gene's secrets from him... or her own? Belatedly, Mai remembered that she should be grateful to Naru for rescuing her and gave him a weak smile.
Luella sighed in defeat and caressed Mai's cheek again. "Well, I most definitely don't want to make it worse. I'll have to let you and Noll figure it out, I suppose." Mai blushed softly at this statement and Luella smiled warmly. "But in the meantime, Mai dear… why not use a mother's cure for such things? I know you're usually a tea girl, but how about some nice hot chocolate? I make mine special, you see."
Mai couldn't help but smile brightly in return. "That does sound nice," she agreed.
"Then you just sit tight and read that book on…" Luella glanced at the cover and groaned. "On whatever paranormal nonsense Martin wants to drill into your head." Mai giggled and snuggled into the soft blanket. Naru's mother exited the room as Martin, Lin and Madoka entered it – and from the look on Martin's face, Luella had thrown her husband a nasty glare on her way out.
Mai snorted with laughter at Luella's attitude towards the paranormal. It had to bother Naru – and anything that bothered Naru, usually delighted Mai. After a moment, she calmed down enough to follow Luella's directive and returned to her book. "Corporeal Transference," she muttered the title to herself. "Definitely the scariest of my abilities."
"And yet considered an extremely enviable skill," Martin said, eyes sharp over the edge of his evening paper. "Most psychics I know would be quite jealous that you are capable of corporeal transference."
"They can freaking have it," Mai replied firmly. "First-person death dreams suck. I've been killed in more ways than I realized were possible."
"Hmm, I can't imagine it's something you get used to," Madoka cut in sympathetically.
Naru's pen paused over his notes, suddenly laden with a vision of his own. He remembered Madoka telling him the same thing, back when they'd first been introduced. Years ago, Martin had brought a young Madoka Mori home for supper one night. He'd been talking about her every day since classes had started at Cambridge – his brand-new, amazing, bubbly, brilliant student. Luella had finally requested that Martin just bring her to dinner so that they could meet this remarkable person. When they'd met Madoka, Martin was still conducting preliminary testing on their psychic gifts… and at that dinner, his adopted father had excitedly told Madoka that he, Oliver, was able to perform psychometry…
"Really?" she squealed. "That's amazing!"
Martin nodded proudly.
Almost affronted by their glee, Noll noted that he didn't particularly enjoy the talent.
"But seeing into someone's life must be very interesting," Madoka insisted.
Noll had stared out the window for a full minute before replying. "Seeing the deaths of others is not something I look forward to," he said quietly.
Suddenly, Madoka's whole manner changed – like she'd never imagined the possibility that psychometry could cause death visions. But of course she knew that, as Martin's student. Her gleeful face became serious and sad. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's one thing to read about such abilities… but it must be entirely another to deal with them in real life, huh?"
Noll didn't know what to make of this sympathetic question. He was used to people telling him he was crazy, or weird, or even something strange to be studied. Luella and Martin (Luella especially) showed him great care and kindness, but Noll categorized that as 'parental affection,' something he'd heard a great deal about at the orphanage. It was to be expected, apparently. But this was a complete stranger, showing him care and understanding.
Finally, Noll nodded. "It can be… distressing," he told Madoka, not used to talking about his feelings. Gene usually picked up on Noll's feelings through their psychic bond and did the talking for him. He could tell that Madoka knew he was deliberately understating the horror and anguish that came with death visions.
"I can't imagine it's something you get used to," she almost whispered.
The present-day Naru identified this moment as the foundation of his reluctant respect and affection for Madoka Mori. She was certainly the only SPR employee who Naru would permit to teach him anything, and the only one (other than Martin) whose orders he'd follow...
"But psychometry is useful," Noll continued. He did not want to come off like a wimp. "I helped Mar – Father on a case a couple of weeks ago."
"Did you?" Madoka asked, a hint of a smile on her face.
"Yes. I touched a diary and figured out where the spirit had hidden the bodies of the people he'd killed."
"Yes, you touched a KILLER'S diary, which you should never have had access to in the first place," Luella seethed, iron in her voice. "One more mishap like that, Martin, and you won't be taking my children anywhere near SPR again."
They'd stopped telling her about 'mishaps' after that.
Mai's voice pulled Naru out of the past. "It's better than it used to be. The first time it happened, I thought I was really being killed. After a while, I learned to pull myself away a little. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know that I'm just seeing someone else's death. That realization gets me through it. It still feels real, and it's still really scary…" she shivered involuntarily. "But I'm better at handling it now. Besides, it's almost always useful for the case."
"But psychometry is useful." The words of Naru's younger self rang in his head.
"Hmm, I remember someone saying something like that once," Madoka noted, grinning slyly. "Who was it again?"
Maybe 'affection' was overstating it. Naru certainly wasn't feeling affection for Madoka right now. He glared savagely at his mentor.
"Oh, right, it was you, Noll," Madoka continued, slapping her forehead as if she'd really forgotten. "We were talking about death visions, and you argued that they were useful... even if they were really scary."
"I believe I said they could be distressing," Naru replied through his teeth. "I don't remember ever saying anything about being sca–"
"Interesting that you both used the same words." His unsurprisingly evil mentor smiled brightly as she cut him off.
Naru opened his mouth to retaliate – and was completely derailed by Mai's sudden huge smile.
"It's nice to know you feel that way, too," she told him sincerely. "Sometimes I feel stupid for thinking the visions feel real."
A pause. "They feel real because they were real to the ghost," Naru said slowly. Mai's obvious delight rendered Naru reluctant to shoot her down the way he normally would.
"Yeah, I know," she chirped. "But if you feel that way, it has to be acceptable, right?"
An annoying warmth filled Naru at these words. Feeling every eye in the room watching him, Naru plucked another file from his stack of research and avoided looking at Mai. "If you think so," he managed to reply (in a decent counterfeit of his normal tone).
Luella reappeared with a tray of hot chocolate, serving Mai first. The girl took a mug eagerly and gulped it down. Naru watched out of the corner of his eye. She liked the hot chocolate, he observed. Mai grinned at him and he raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Sometimes I forget you have a soul, Naru," she said cheerfully, sipping her drink with relish.
Madoka almost snorted her hot chocolate up her nose. Lin and Martin coughed, Yasuhara and Bou-san buried their faces in their arms, Ayako smiled into her cup, and Luella laughed gaily. Naru glared blue lasers into Madoka (whose fault this all was) before turning to lambast Mai.
But as Mai happily snuggled into the blanket, Naru realized that she hadn't had any visible dream-warnings in the last few minutes. Since he most assuredly wanted to avoid Mai having flashes of Gene's death, he decided not to start a fight. "Nice to know you hold my perceived humanity in such high regard, Mai," Naru said finally, a hint of his usual smirk on his face.
Mai clucked her tongue. "Narcissist," she muttered, cheeks flaming.
"Perceived humanity?" Yasuhara repeated. "Is that your way of telling us you were grown in a lab, Big Boss?"
-0O0-
AN: Lol, this chapter took forever. I've been trying to make it make sense since Friday. Thank you to Ariana Taniyama for being awesome.