Chapter 4 - Recurring Dreams

Mai snapped out of her musings of the mansion when she noticed the others were leaving her behind. Not wanting her workaholic boyfriend to make some snarky comment about what she had been doing, she tried to quickly catch up. She was too late as, with that usual business tone he was known for, he says, "Mai, if you keep looking at the house like that, the staff will think you have no brain."

Mai's face began to turn red with anger, "Why you…"

She was interrupted from her explosion when the door is opened ahead of them. The woman who opened it appeared young, she was rather baby-faced, her blonde hair and blue eyes implying she might not be completely Japanese. Mai assumed, based on what she was wearing and that she did not look to be a member of the Koiya family, that she was one of the maids still employed.

"Hello," she greets them, her voice could easily be compared to the angelic pitch of a child. "You must be the SPR team that Madame Koiya told us to expect. Please follow me and I will take you to the room that you have required for your base."

Without any other words being exchanged, the team follow the girl down the long halls. The room they were brought to had everything that they would need. It was large and had many shelves that they could easily stack the monitors on without needing to set up their usual temporary one. The was a large table with many chairs surrounding it, making it a great meeting table. There were even couches for relaxing scattered around the room. The multiple power outlets they had requested were also accounted for.

Once every member of the team were inside the room, the maid who had brought them into it was gone again. Mai found herself getting a bad feeling about the girl, not liking her for some reason.

"Monk and John," Naru's voice cuts through her thoughts. "Bring in the equipment and start setting up. We don't need the shelves since the Koiyas have given us a room with all the shelving we need, but all the other equipment can come in. "Masako and Ayako, start taking temperature readings of all the rooms, and Masako see if you can detect anything as you go. Lin, Madoka and I are going to get started on researching the area because Yasuhara is quite obviously late."

Mai could not help but notice he had yet to give her any instructions. "Naru? What do you want me doing then?" she asks hesitantly.

His eyes soften as he turns to face her, "Mai, I just want you to relax for now, I know you slept on the way here, but you still look exhausted."

She goes to protest, not wanting to be put on the sidelines, but he put up a hand in a stopping motion, "Please Mai, and I don't want you leaving this room alone, in fact, I don't want you out of my sight at all. So please, just get some more rest."

Mai though about protesting further, but even she could admit to herself she was still tired. That being said, she was pregnant, not useless. Yet she ended up releasing a grumbled 'fine' and walks over to one of the couches along the wall. Grabbing a cushion to use as a pillow, she lays down and, as usual, drifts off to sleep in no time.

In yet a familiar fashion to previous cases, when Mai opens her eyes, she is again inside a dream memory. She knew this as before her was Kiseki, the same man from before. Mai was concerned over yet another dream without Gene anywhere in sight, it was unusual to go two dreams in a row without seeing him. She barely had further time to think about her missing spirit guide, because she found herself getting a repeat of her previous dream.

She was moving backwards as Kiseki yelled in her face, the same words of accused betrayal. Rina's same fearful tone denied the accusations he was laying upon her, her pleads to him that she had remained faithful to him.

Yet again, Mai finds herself, or rather Rina, being pressed against the railing of the balcony. And yet again, a terrified scream rips from her throat as he pushes her over the edge. Her world goes black.

Her eyes snap open into the real world to find Naru hovering over her, an unusual amount of concern in his eyes. "Mai, are you okay?" he asks her gently.

She was definitely not okay as she launched herself into his arms, crying up all the tears she had not released the last time she had experienced the memory. The sound of the door opening and the shuffles of the rest of the team entering the room go ignored by the couple as Naru holds her close. "What happened?" he whispers into her hair.

She sniffles, barely having calmed down, as she answers. "It's a memory, or at least I assume it is given the situation. I'm a woman named Rina and standing before me is a man whose name is Kiseki. They're arguing, him accusing her of cheating on him with his brother. She tries to defend herself, saying that she had done no such thing and that he was the only one she loved."

She paused, trying to remain calm when thinking about what happened next. The others allowed her reprieve knowing that sometimes the dreams she had could be traumatizing. After taking a moment to center herself, she continues. "He doesn't believe her and he advances on her menacingly, enough that she keeps moving back away from him. She runs into a railing and I can now see they were on a balcony. He had her leaning against the railing and before she can protect herself, he's pushing her over. I experience her scream, and the feeling of falling is there. Thankfully though, everything goes black before she…before she hits the ground."

Naru gives her a searching look, and she knows what he is asking. With a nod of her head, she tells him that it was indeed the same dream she had had on their drive over. He pulls her closer in comfort before turning to face the others. It was the first time Mai noticed that Yasuhara was in the room, and she wondered how long she had been asleep that he had arrived without her knowing.

"Yasuhara," Naru addresses him. "Look into the names Rina and Kiseki. We need to know who they were and if they lived here. If they did live here, I want to know how long ago it was and anything you can find that pertains to what Mai just saw."

With a playful salute, Yasuhara made his way towards the door and Mai could guess he would be on his way to the nearest public library. Once he was gone from sight, Mai finally notices the looks her and Naru were receiving from the others in the room. Then the realisation comes about her current position, which happened to be in her boyfriend's lap. Her face turns ten shades of red just as the teasing starts. "You two are looking pretty cosy right there," Monk says, wiggling his eyebrows for emphasis. "A pretty suggestive position if I do say so myself."

Without releasing her, Naru sends the older man a withering glare. "How Mai and I sit is none of your concern, perverted old man," he says coldly.

"Hey, no need to get so defensive," Monk replies, raising his hands in surrender. "Just saying it looks cute, that's all."

Coming to the conclusion that now would be an opportune time to fess up, Mai turned to face her boyfriend. "Hey Naru, can we tell them now?" she asks, both because of the opportunity and because the current conversation was getting embarrassing.

He looks into her eyes, trying to see if she was sure about the timing, and when she nodded back at his searching gaze, he sighs. "Mai has something she wants to tell you," he says, speaking loud so as to address the whole room.

Mai glares up at him, not believing that he was passing it on to her. They have a silent exchange that ends up in her scoffing from defeat before turning back to the group. "As Naru says, I have something to tell you, or rather, we have some news," she says.

"Oh? You mean about what you were supposed to tell us before we left the office?" Madoka inquires, getting excited by the prospect.

"Right," Mai agrees, wincing at the previously lost chance. "Well, without beating around the bush. I'm pregnant."

Mai felt herself blush again at her straight forward approach to the news, but knew there was really no other way to say it. The three people in the room who already knew were grinning. Well, Masako and Ayako were grinning, Lin was just looking smug. "WHAT?" Monk shouts when the news finally clicks in his brain.

"Geez Houshou," Ayako sighs. "Do your ears need checking? She said she was pregnant. P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T. Pregnant."

"I heard what she said Ayako," he responds flatly, a little miffed his own wife had talked to him life that. "I'm just a bit concerned. You two are still young, Mai only turned twenty a few months ago. Not to mention you guys aren't even married."

"It's not like it was planned, Monk," Mai defends, crossing her arms. "It just happened."

"I actually though you were going to wait until this case was over, Mai," Masako cuts in, not wanting to humour Monk's conniptions.

"I was," Mai sighs, "but then it appears Lin figured it out and told an already suspicious Naru. So I decided I'd tell everyone before we left rather than after we got back."

"Hang on," Monk pipes up again. "Ayako and Masako knew about this already?"

"Yeah, they were actually the first to know," she answers sheepishly. "I wasn't sure how to tell Naru, so I kind of spilled to them."

Naru squeezes her in comfort, hearing the remorse in her voice that he had not been the first to know, telling her without words that it was okay. She gives him a smile before then giving the rest of the team a smile as well, glad that it was finally off her chest.

"Alright," Madoka suddenly says. "Time for bed."

She does not wait for anyone to counter her words, because she is quick to stand with Sora already sleeping in her arms and walks from the room. His pinky red hair was smashed up against his mother's neck and he was looking absolutely adorable. Just seeing him made Mai think about what her and Naru's baby would look like, making her excited to meet them.

Despite having just woken up from a half day sleep, Mai felt like she could sleep some more. Those nightmarish memories took the energy right out of her. Yet, with the happy thought of her baby on her mind, she follows Naru to their room. She was hoping that she would dream of her unborn child and what they might look like rather than suffer that memory for a third time.