Hey guys! This one was a little later than I expected, i've been working on the new case and wanted to get a couple chapters done before I posted this one. I'm so excited and really hope you guys like this chapter there are a few cute scenes that I'm very proud of and I am going to stop right now and let you guys read. Enjoy!

Post Case 6-Token

March Sunday, 5:45 P.M.

Mai had been a little late getting to Hozumi's office. She was trying to figure out what exactly she would tell him. She had told him about her demon the week before, so she better come clean on the investigation and the cleansing she received from John.

"You were having blackouts?" Hozumi asked as he handed her a cup of tea. "Was this happening before?"

Mai shook her head. "If they were, I didn't notice them, but when I confronted the demon about it he admitted it." She took a sip and put the cup down. "I think he wanted to convince me to not go to my friend John's on Friday. He didn't want me to get rid of him so he decided to take my memories of the case."

"Did you ever get your memories back? And how did things go with the priest?"

"Yeah, I got them back, luckily I didn't do anything crazy while he must have taken control. He even altered one of the conversations that I had," she explained, remembering the argument she had with Masako. "I remembered it getting natsy, but it turns out that the fight never happened. At least, John managed to stop us before it did get that way. And I realized who was behind the hoax at the office we were investigating during one of the blackouts, when I came to I was at the library getting proof."

She continued to explain her case and what happened at the church. She even told him about her nightmare. In doing so, she had to reveal to him what happened on the case before, which she was pretty sure she skimmed over the details on that. But Hozumi's face remained calm as he listened.

"Sounds like you're now being haunted by your memories," he determined, sitting back. "I was hoping that your Reiki session with Izumi would heal that part of your mind but I guess we needed to deal with the demon first, before you could overcome those wounds."

"So what now? Am I going to have to go through Reiki again and then hope that I start sleeping again? Even now that the demon's gone I can't seem to sleep more than a couple hours at a time."

"It'll be a start, you're also stressing over the end of the school year," Hozumi said, making a note in his notebook. "It's only been two days, your sleep has been disturbed for almost six months. You're not going to bounce back that quickly. You have exams coming up so you're going to be a little stressed out, it's okay that you're not back to where you used to be just yet. These things take time."

Mai took a deep breath and held her head in her hands, her elbows rested on her knees. "I know. I know. I just want this to be over and done with. It's just lasted too long and I'm so tired of it all."

Hozumi let out a breath and crossed his arms. "Tell you what, what's your work schedule this week?"

"Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday during the day," she said, lifting her head to rest her chin in her palms. "Why?"

"Tomorrow, I want you to meet me at the spa Izumi works at. I think it will help you balance everything now that you no longer have that entity bothering you." Mai nodded. "This weekend, I'm giving you a little homework."

"Homework?" Mai raised a brow.

"Spend time with your friends outside of school. And if you can, spend time with your coworkers outside of a case. You need to de-stress and reconnect with them. You've gotten rid of two of the causes of your depression and now you need to remind yourself who your family really is. You need to realize just how wrong Shouta was."

Mai cocked an eyebrow at him, but nodded nonetheless. "Okay. I think I can do that. Meet here next Sunday?"

"Actually," he said, uncrossing his arms. "I have a case in Okinawa, so I won't see you until the Sunday after. Unless the case goes longer than we expect, in which case I'll call you to let you know."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow and then it'll be a couple of weeks." She stood up and grabbed her coat and bag. He walked her to the door and Mai stopped and looked back. "It's gonna be weird, normally I'm the one who cancels our meetings-" And then it hit her. "I never apologized to you, did I?"

"Apologize for what?" Hozumi asked with a raised brow.

Her brows knitted as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder. "For skipping out on these sessions. I missed a lot and it wasn't because of work. I'm sorry I let him convince me to skip. That wasn't fair to you." Her eyes finally met his, she was expecting disappointment to be shown through them, but they were smiling.

"I forgive you, Mai," he said with a smile. And Mai could feel something change in her.

She wasn't back to where she used to be, she probably never would be. She had spent the last six months trying to put all the pieces back together, but had no luck. Until now. She wasn't whole again, but she was another step closer. Everything is going to be all right.

March Monday 9:13 P.M.

"And the verdict is?" Hozumi asked as he sat across from his fiancée with his plate of food. She had just gotten back from her shift at the spa and it was his turn to cook dinner.

"She's still got a lot of damage, but I'm not sensing that dark entity anymore. I think her friend managed to get rid of it," Izumi replied, pulling the ribbon out of her hair as she sat down. "I did my best to help balance out her energy, but I can only help her so much."

"And the door for her spirit guide?" he pressed.

"The door is still there and I sense him," she admitted as she dug into her meal. "It's unlocked but her mind is keeping it shut. I can't open it if she won't let me." She looked up from her plate to see her fiancé's thinking face. "You think her spirit guide is the key to her getting better?"

Hozumi nodded. "Think about it, she hasn't seen him in any of her dreams or visions since that entity attached itself to her. And that's when she started going downhill. I wonder how much and what Gramps saw in his vision that made him give her my number." He shook his head.

"I didn't know that she was sent to you by your grandfather," Izumi admitted, cocking her head. "He had a premonition of her?" Hozumi nodded. "Did he tell you anything about it?"

"Nope, the old man doesn't like to reveal what he sees for fear that it'll play out exactly as such or become worse. His premonitions are never usually good." He took a deep breath. "He only hands out my number when he sees an absolute worst case scenario about someone who is involved with the paranormal."

"I'm going to assume, by worst case scenario, you mean he most likely saw Mai's death, right?"

Again the young man nodded. "At least, that's all I can assume as well." He shrugged. "I think we might have avoided it, but I won't know until he calls me."

"He always did have uncanny timing." Izumi smirked as she took another bite. "This is delicious, by the way. Thanks for cooking."

March Saturday, 7:21 P.M.

"Strike!" Mai exclaimed as Ayako dusting off her hands together as she walked back to their table. "Who knew you were good at bowling?"

"I'm good at a lot of things," Ayako smirked taking a sip of her diet iced tea.

"Who would've thought the priestess would be good at something athletic?" Monk teased from across the table. He earned a look from her.

Thunk!

"Yasuhara! What was that for!" Monk rubbed his head as he felt the bump grow.

"She couldn't get to you fast enough," Yasuhara shrugged, earning an appreciative glance from the priestess in front of him. "John, your turn."

The priest smiled and walked up to the lane with his ball. Mai glanced at the chart. John had decided to just use his own name, Monk had settled for just that, Monk. Ayako was on there as Miko, leaving the only somewhat creative names to the youngest of the bunch. Mai once again had Phantom as her name while Yasuhara was dead set on Ghost Buster.

The priest managed to roll a spare earning cheers from his friends at the table. "Thanks for inviting us tonight, Mai," he said once he sat down and Ghost Buster went up to the lane.

"I'm just glad you all came," Mai said with a smile. "It's been a while since we all went somewhere and we weren't on a case. It's nice to be able to hang out with you guys as friends."

"Yeah, I think the last time was probably Hoshiko's play," Ayako commented, crossing her legs. "And that even still had to do with a case, so that really doesn't count so maybe the Christmas party after the case at your church?" She directed her attention over to the priest.

"Well, that was the last time all eight of us got together, including Naru and Lin, but half of us went ice skating back in December," John added.

"That's right, Yasuhara and I went to Michiru's party," Mai remembered.

"And let's not forget our boys' night out a few weeks ago!" Yasuhara called out coming back to the table.

"How did you get a strike?" Monk raised his brows as he looked at the screen. "I'm lucky if I can get five down in the first bowl."

"I was in a bowling league in middle school," the college student shrugged, taking his seat.

"Wait, what was that about a boys' night out?" Mai said with a raised brow as she stood up to take her turn.

"Someone thought they could change the subject," Ayako chimed with a smirk.

"He's not as slick as he thinks he is," Yasuhara said with a shake of his head and tsk sound. "I got these two to go to a karaoke bar."

"With a fake ID?" Ayako asked with a raised brow.

"I'm appalled that you would think so low of me!" He faked disgust only to earn a look from both women. "The owner is a family friend so I can get in just not drink."

Mai shook her head and went to bowl her turn. She recalled the last time she went bowling and Arata had given her some tips. She took a deep breath and rolled the ball. Unfortunately, luck was not on the side of the Phantom, after the second bowl, she only managed to get nine pins down. She came back to the table to find that the conversation had switched.

"Yeah, aside from my uncle getting drunk and somehow managing to catch my sister-in-law's bouquet, the wedding was great," Yasuhara was explaining when Mai came back to sit down.

"Did your brother do a broccoli toss? A friend of mine did that at his wedding last year," Monk asked as he stood up for his turn.

Yasuhara nodded, sipping his soda. "Yes, he did, I had the fortune of catching it and having to pose with my drunk uncle for pictures. Did you catch it at your friend's wedding."

Laughing, the monk shook his head. "No way. That means that I would be next to get married and I'm not ready for that. But it looks like you'll have to pop the question soon."

He walked up to the lane before Yasuhara could respond. Mai couldn't help but laugh. And she understood why Hozumi told her to do this. While she had been wallowing in her own struggles, her friends still moved forward. She knew it was her own fault that she wasn't as close to them anymore. She could blame Shouta, but she allowed him to alienate her. She needed to reconnect with them. More bonds that needed to be fixed, but at least these might be easier to mend.

March Tuesday, 3:01 P.M.

"Wait! Mai!" Michiru called as she ran through the hallway after a certain brunette. "I said, wait up!"

Mai stopped just as she made it to the stairs and turned around with a perplexed look on her face. "What's up, Mich?" she asked, adjusting her schoolbag on her shoulder. "I have to get to the office, before Naru's tea withdrawal kicks in."

Michiru stopped once she reached her friend. She took a couple of breaths before she could spit her words out. "Well, that answers one question." She straightened herself and put her hands on her hips. "You work on Friday?"

Mai shook her head. "No, I'm just scheduled for the day shift on Satuday and Sunday," she replied. So much for getting to the library this weekend, she thought to herself. I guess I'll have to study at home for finals.

"Perfect! You're ours on Friday!" The girl jumped in the air excited at the new development.

"Michiru, I was going to study for finals on Friday, it's my only day to get to the library-"

"Let me finish, silly, that's where we'll be then anyway." She shook her head with a laugh, earning another odd look from her friend.

"We?"

Michiru waved her hand and rolled her eyes. "Me, Keiko, Taiki, and Genji, and now you. Genji's already finished his finals and his graduation ceremony is Saturday morning, but he has a few college entrance exams next week. So we're all going to be helping each other. You're going, right?"

Oh no, not her puppy eyes! Mai internally groaned. You would think after knowing Michiru for so long, Mai would have grown immune to her antics. Nope. "Yeah, I'll be there," she said with a sigh. "What better place to spend a Friday night?"

Michiru smacked her arm playfully. "That's the spirit! See you tomorrow, girlie!" And she ran off to finish her cleaning duties as Mai shook her head.

At least I'm getting to the library this weekend. Hopefully we actually get some studying done.

Wednesday, 6:14 P.M.

Mai had gotten to the office on time and as per usual fixed tea for Naru, Lin, and herself. Just as the last two months, the office was quieter than usual. From behind the closed door, Mai faintly heard Lin typing away. Naru had even hid himself in his office longer than usual, she had to guess when he finished his tea to bring him more.

I wonder if he's working on something for a new case, she thought as she typed away on her own computer.

Fuyumi hadn't just mentioned SPR's help with their spirit problem during the opening of the play. It appeared that she mentioned it every night there was a show. Nothing else would explain the immense amount of crazy cat ladies that came with an appointment.

A possessed cat? Seriously, what was that lady smoking before she came in here? Mai rolled her eyes as she finished the report of the woman from the day before. I'll set that aside and edit it after I write up today's crazy lady's story. A haunted ferret? That's a new one.

The middle-aged woman with said ferret had walked in shortly after Mai had gotten there. Luckily, she was able to make tea for everyone. The woman had never married, had no children, and had purchased the ferret about six months prior, because she was lonely. After the purchase, apparently weird things would happen, involving missing items and destroyed furniture.

"I'll come home to find my poor baby cowering in the corner of his cage with my apartment trashed! Please, help us!" the woman had begged.

Mai didn't even have to look at Naru to know what he would say. "I'm afraid SPR will not be able to help you. I would suggest installing a security camera in the room where your pet sleeps. We don't handle misguided pets."

Misguided pets! I thought the woman was going to throw a fit! Mai tried to keep herself from laughing out loud. The slight squeak of Naru's door should have warned her of what was to come, but she was in her own little world.

Naru's head poked out of his office as he said, "Mai, would you come in here?" the voice itself was enough to startle the brunette.

"Huh?" She perked her head up from her report. "Yeah, sure." She stood up, entering his office and shutting the door behind her.

"You can sit." Mai obeyed and sat in the chair across from her employer's desk.

"Is anything wrong?" For whatever reason, Mai was feeling incredibly uneasy about this meeting. Her stomach churned. What was going on?

"Nothing's wrong, you're just coming up on your second anniversary of working for me, so I thought it was best to go over a few things," Naru replied, opening a file.

"Oh." She should have felt relieved, but why didn't she? "Well, what exactly did you want to go over?"

"You're progress report is essentially what I have in front of me," he answered, looking over the files. "When I first hired you, you were a high school freshman with latent psychic abilities you weren't aware of. You had no knowledge of anything paranormal except a few urban legends and ghost stories. Two years later, I've put you in charge of certain aspects of investigations; you can examine and highlight the important pieces of evidence that we have gathered, and you've learned to research and have been the reason why several of our cases were solved so quickly."

"Naru…" Mai blinked a few times. She had this meeting with him last year, but it was primarily for him to explain that she would be given a small raise and more hours. This time, it was an actual meeting about her progress, what she brought to the table.

"You're abilities also seem to be evolving, especially during the most recent cases. I'm fairly certain that you might be able to progress into an active psychic and be able to control and develop your abilities. For your benefit of course."

"Naru, where are you going with this?" She finally broke her silence. Her face held a confused emotion as she tried to process what her boss was trying to do. He wasn't firing her, obviously. There was no way she was getting a promotion, right? SPR wasn't exactly a place with positions of different levels of authority. It was Naru. Then Lin. Then her. What would she get promoted to?

"I was getting to that," Naru replied, opening his desk drawer. He pulled out a small white box and placed it on the desk. "You are going to get a raise, if you decide to continue working here, but there is one other thing you will be receiving." He pushed the box toward her. "One thing that had proven very helpful, but shortly lived, was our way of communicating. Obviously you no longer have your cell phone anymore, but the use of it had been very convenient. So…"

Mai reached forward, barely realizing that she was holding her breath, and took the box. She opened the slide-off top and gasped. It was a light blue cell phone.

"It's a company phone, but feel free to use it for personal use." She was about to protest. There was no way that she was going to let him pay for a personal phone, even if it was only partly personal. But he held up a hand. "A small percentage of your pay will be taken out to cover part of the bill, but you will still notice a pay increase. I hope you are satisfied with this."

He pushed a slip of paper toward her and she took it, barely able to process what was happening. She almost choked on her own spit when she saw the new check. "Naru, this is-"

"It's been a rough year, especially for you with the frequent cases and getting ready for senior year. This is just a small token of my appreciation for what you've brought to the company."

Business as ever, Mai thought to herself as she mentally rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Naru. I really appreciate what you're doing for me."

"You're welcome, how's the report coming?"

The question caught her off-guard, but she was welcoming the subject change. "Oh, it's coming along. I'm almost finished and I'll have it on your desk before I leave today. Were there any followups you wanted me to do?"

"I have Lin taking care of two today. Why don't you get back to that report?"

"Yeah, sure," she answered standing up and placing the phone in the box and taking it with her.

"Also, Mai." Mai turned back at the doorway. "Once you get that report to me, you're free to leave for the day."

"Thanks, Naru, I'll get that ASAP."

Friday, 5:42 P.M.

"Wow, Mai! A company phone? Pretty snazzy," Michiru said as she looked over the device in the library. "Looks like you're really getting up there in the business world."

"Snazzy? What the hell was that, Mich?" Taiki laughed with a raised brow. She threw her eraser at him. "I'm very glad you went with the blunt object that time."

"So, you accepted the phone, so you're going to still work for him?" Keiko asked.

"Yeah, I'm still gonna work there. I think he's going to start really teaching me to investigate now. I'll no longer be a glorified tea-making secretary," Mai said with a smirk. "I think the phone is more so that we can communicate my work and school schedules better now that senior year is upon us. Otherwise, I think he would have waited until the actual anniversary of my employment to give me my raise."

"I still can't believe it's been two years since he found us telling ghost stories after class," Keiko commented looking up in thought. "He's still just as handsome as he was back then."

"Thanks for the self esteem boost," Taiki teased nudging the girl next to him.

She nudged him back and rolled her eyes. "He's all Mai's and you're all mine," she said with a wink.

"Can the two love birds go find a room if they aren't here to study?" Michiru said with a smug look.

"Says the girl who just wanted to talk about Mai's new phone," Genji scoffed. "Let's get back to studying, at this rate I'm not getting into college and you guys aren't getting into your senior year."

"Someone has to keep this group grounded," Michiru beamed.

"Thanks, Mich-"

"I was talking about me!"

Mai shook her head at her friends' antics and looked over her notes again. Once she finished her finals next week she wasn't sure what she was going to do when she was up in the middle of the night. Maybe I'll borrow some ghost hunting books or something.

March Sunday, 5:08 P.M.

"Okay, why don't we start with your sleep schedule?" Hozumi asked as they settled in their respective seats in the main area of the office. "Since your friend was able to help cleanse you of that demon, have you been sleeping any better?"

Mai just shrugged as she took a sip of her tea. "Better than I have in a while, I guess," she admitted. "I still have dreams of previous cases and just before the scene can fully play out I wake up to find I was asleep for, like, two hours."

"Do you stay up all night after you wake up, like before? Or do you manage to fall back asleep?"

"It varies." She shrugged again and put the cup on the coffee table. "I'll go to sleep at like eleven, wake up at one, fall asleep by three to wake up again at five to go running with my neighbor. But then there are nights where I'll fall asleep at ten and wake up at one, fall back asleep by two only to wake up around four and not be able to sleep anymore. Weird, huh?"

"It may sound strange, but it's actually not an uncommon form of insomnia." He jotted down a note on his notepad. "Maintenance insomnia is when you can fall asleep without too much of a hassle, but then you wake up and have a hard time falling back asleep. In your case, I think that this is just your mind and body's way of catching up on the sleep that you've missed out on over the last six months, without putting you in a coma. Plus you have finals coming up, I'm sure once you're done and have a little break from school you'll be sleeping better."

"Makes sense, but something still feels off," Mai replied, crossing her arms. "I'm out of my relationship, I got rid of the demon in my dreams, I'm starting to sleep a little better, but I still feel like I'm missing something. Like I should be closer to my former self than I am now."

"You're getting along better with your friends?" Hozumi asked.

Mai nodded. "Yeah, I did what you told me to do. I went bowling with my coworkers last week and this weekend was mostly spent at the library prepping for exams with my school friends." She leaned back. "I had a lot of fun, but I still feel like something's still wrong."

"Okay, now that we seemed to have stabilized your living relationships, let's look at your spiritual ones." Hozumi put his pen and notepad down and took a sip of his tea. "How is your spirit guide? Have you seen him recently?"

Mai shook her head. "I haven't seen him in months, I even started to suspect that the demon was my new guide. I should've realized something was wrong then, but I guess I'm a little dense."

"You haven't seen your spirit guide in how long?" he asked, ignoring her other comments. Mai just shrugged in thought.

"Not since the case at the hotel, back in October," she admitted. "I haven't had many visions in my dreams either. Unless you count the demon."

"But that was when you began to really see spirits, right?"

"Yeah, I even had someone say I was a medium. But I'm not a medium, am I?" Mai asked, recalling the nursing home case.

"Who knows? You could be and your spiritual powers began with simple visions of the cases. You have seen glimpses of spirits before and then after the traumatic experience at the hotel, your mind shut itself down and did it's best to protect you from your visions."

"Yeah, we went over this before and then you suggested Reiki treatments with Izumi and they helped with the nightmares, I'm sleeping better now. But I still haven't seen my spirit guide. I've had visions but he wasn't in any of them. And I was awake for most of them." Mai practically rolled her eyes as she spoke. It seemed like they were running in circles.

"It seems that after the case at the hotel, your mind severed your connection, or at least tried to."

"What do you mean tried to?" Now that got her attention. She perked her head up.

"I mean that your guide may still be guiding you even if you can't see him, he could be the one helping your eyes open to the sight of spirits while your awake instead of asleep."

"So my connection to him wasn't severed, just damaged?"

"Yes, unfortunately, I don't know how to fix it. It's something you have to fix on your own."

"That's not exactly very helpful."

"Around October was when your nightmares began, when you last saw your guide, and when your mind began to let you see things while awake that you were used to seeing while you were asleep."

"Yeah?"

"During that time and up until now, you have felt a bit depressed, exhausted, and empty. As though you were missing a piece of yourself."

"I guess you're right, but what?"

"Only you can figure that out, but you subconsciously tried to use Shouta to fill that gap, but he was a piece that would never fit no matter how much you shape it or cut it. When he did what he did to you, your nightmares came back full force and you felt as though you were thrown back into the darkness you were so desperately trying to escape."

"So I need to find the missing piece to my puzzle?"

"Or mend a broken bond that will fit into its place."

"Wasn't that the whole point of going out with my coworkers and friends? I thought I was mending my broken bonds!" She knew she was being over dramatic, but she didn't care as she slumped down deeper into the couch. She kept her eyes low to not meet her friend's face.

"You are correct," Hozumi said with a sigh. "This might be one of those cases where you need to be patient for your recovery." Seeing his defeated client, he managed a chuckle. "It doesn't mean you have to like it, but I think you need to give yourself more time. The more you beat yourself up the harder it's going to be to get through."

Mai simply nodded and bit her lip. He's right about one thing. I don't like it.

March Tuesday, Two Days Before Case, 3:55 P.M.

It was finals week. Finally. Mai just had one more day of exams and then she had a week and a half off to prepare for her senior year. Needless to say, she was a little anxious. Now she really had to start thinking about the future and she was a little mad at herself for wasting six months to deal with a spirit that followed her home, when she should have told one of her friends about it.

Unfortunately, Mai realized that being angry about it wouldn't bring her time lost back, so she just had to make the most out of her time left. Starting with her friends' "After Finals Party" after school. She wasn't quite sure what Michiru had planned for the five of them to do, but she was certain that it required a change of clothes.

Good thing I'm not scheduled to work tomorrow, Mai thought as she headed up the steps to the SPR office. She was glad that her workdays seemed less awkward with the daily silence. Naru was asking for tea more often and she was gladly obliging.

Of course, it was still a little awkward in the back of her mind. After all, she thought she was over her crush on her boss. Oh how wrong she was.

Maybe that was why she had an odd feeling when she opened the door to the office. With a raised brow, she stepped inside and slowly closed the door behind her. "Uh…"

Naru was standing in the middle of the office holding something at arms length. He was staring at it as though it had fallen from the sky and bonked him on the head. The latter was very likely. "Mai, tea," was all he said, but Mai couldn't keep her eyes off of the spectacle as she took off her coat and bag.

"Naru…where did that little girl come from?"

So I'm so happy with this chapter! Back in October I did a writing prompt challenge where you had to write everyday. Some of my little free writes made it into my other fic, The Haunt Continues, and one made it into this chapter. The prompt was titled "Phones" and as soon as I wrote it I just knew I had to use it. For a number of reasons. I've seriously slacked on Naru showing Mai any affection in this fic and we all know he's pretty much head over heels for her, it's obvious to everyone, but them! But Naru's starting to realize he can't be completely coldhearted, especially when he has such a sensitive assistant that can get under his skin like no other.

Anyway, now man has a new goal and it's not getting a date with Naru! Next chapter starts a new case that I just know you are all going to love!

Case 11-Healing-SPR is called in to investigate the haunting at a resort inn, where patrons are terrified. However, things are not what they seem when Madoka is around. And she has a plan!