Chapter 5 - Target?

Thankfully, Mai woke from an uneventful slumber the following morning, only to be greeted by Naru's still sleeping face. She was unable to help herself, deciding to just lay there and stare at his gorgeous face as she had very few opportunities to do so. He always tended to wake up first, but she had slept a lot the previous day, it made sense she would wake up early. She is surprised when without warning, Naru is pulling her closer and his eyes open for her to stare into those deep blue orbs.

After a few seconds of staring back, he leans forward to press his lips on hers, the usual morning kiss that he granted her every day since they moved in together. Even when he pulls away, he does not loosen his grip on her waist. "Is it that much fun to stare at me while I sleep?" he asks teasingly.

"Y-Yes," she stutters back, thoroughly embarrassed.

He just smirks at her shyness. "That's good to hear, I would have to keep you in bed without letting you up if your answer had been in the negative," he whispers into her ear suggestively, sending a shiver up her spine.

"I'm pregnant Naru," she says in a way of protest.

"You're not even showing," he chuckles. "And I'll be gentle."

Without letting her protest further, he has her pinned to the bed and kisses her passionately. Mai gave in easily enough, but never thought that Naru would be the type to do this on a case.

By no means was she complaining though.

Later on, when they were finally making their way to base, Naru was chuckling softly to himself. The adorable shade of pink dusting Mai's face was both endearing and humourous for him, he loved getting a rise out of her. That being said, as soon as they walked through the doors of the base, everyone was giving them strange looks, including Mrs Koiya. This had Mai's face blushing even darker at the realisation that they had probably been overheard.

"Is there something about your girlfriend being pregnant that makes you horny enough to drop your usual professionalism," Monk asks hesitantly.

"Our room is right next to yours too, Noll," Madoka deadpans.

Mai wanted very much to be swallowed up by the ground in this moment, the mortification was so very high. "Wait," Mrs Koiya cuts in before anyone else could comment on what had happened this morning. "She's pregnant?"

"She is," Naru admits carefully, noticing the woman's tone. "Is that a problem?"

"Well, I can't know for sure, but those two maids that were killed, they were both in various stages of pregnancy," she answers sadly. "While it's a small number, and not really enough to go on, I still feel that there is some concern."

Naru wastes no time with that knowledge, immediately turning to face Mai. "Okay, I want-"

"No," she interrupts, knowing what he was going to say. "I'm not going home, you promised I could stay on the case as long as I didn't leave your sight. I'm not letting you go back on that."

"That was until we knew that pregnant women were being targeted," he glares back, speaking harshly.

"We don't know that," she argues. "We just know that the two maids who have died happened to be pregnant. That doesn't mean it was why they were the ones who were killed."

"You're the only pregnant woman in this house right now Mai, I don't particularly want to risk it. If this hadn't come up, I would let you stay to see the end of the case, but not after hearing that," he counters, his glare not fading. "Plus, it's not just you I'm trying to protect, but our unborn child as well."

"I'm not leaving, Naru," she says, remaining stubborn and refusing to budge, sitting harshly on the couch for emphasis.

Naru lets out an uncharacteristic groan at her insistence, rubbing a hand down his face in frustration. He turns away from her after that, trying to reign in his anger at the situation. Mai knew he was worried, but this changed nothing because in truth, she was used to being a target from ghosts and other specters. While the situation was different now, having a second life inside her to consider, she refused to leave them all behind.

He finally let out a sigh and turned back to face her, taking in the stubborn set of her shoulders and the frown on her face. "Fine," he relents, releasing another sigh. "On one condition. At the first sign that you and our child are in fact in danger, you will be out of here. Even if I have to drag you out of here kicking and screaming, so help me Mai, you won't be staying in this house a second longer. Am I clear?"

She does not appreciate his tone, but she knows it comes from the part of him that is always afraid for her safety. "Fine, but nothing is going to happen," she says resolutely.

This just has him snorting in disbelief, "You literally say that every time you are at risk of danger and look how that turns out. You're always wrong. I don't believe in jinxes, but you certainly are a walking promotion for the concept."

She pokes her tongue out and turns away from him with a childish humph. He rolls his eyes and walks over to the monitors, not acknowledging the suppressed giggles coming from the rest of the team. Nor the look of concern on Mrs Koiya's face as she eyes them all.

Mai had spent a few minutes huffing on the couch. It's not like the ghost was specifically targeting pregnant women, because while the two who were dead were indeed pregnant, the other maids had also been attacked. Mai reasoned in her head that the ghost probably just targeted young women in general and it was just a coincidence that the dead ones were pregnant.

She lets loose a sigh and looks over to her worrywart boyfriend who was not frowning at one of the monitors. She could only think to herself that he was probably still sour because she had won another argument about her and cases. Her eyes then stray to everyone else, who were decidedly not doing anything productive. They were suppressing their laughter because their boss lost another argument to his accident-prone girlfriend. Feeling the need to pick back at them for laughing, she settles her gaze on Monk. "Monk, I don't know why you find this so funny," she says teasingly. "You're no different when Ayako wins an argument, which I believe happens quite frequently."

At a second male member of their team being put in their place, everyone else finally let loose their pent up laughter. Not being able to control herself, Mai also cracked up laughing at her boyfriend and brother-figure's expense. It was just too funny, so she sat there laughing with a hand wrapped around her stomach as her muscles contracted from the heavy laughter.

It seemed being laughed at cut the thin rope that was holding back Naru's patience, him harshly closing his notebook loud enough to bring silence to the room. "Now that you have all finished laughing at our expense," he growls in a cold tone. "I would quite like for us to actually get some work done so that we can finish this case and leave. With that in mind, Yasuhara, what did you find yesterday about Rina and Kiseki?"

Everyone no longer felt like laughing as they waited to hear what Yasu had to say about the two figures haunting Mai's dream.