A/N: Hi! Sorry there haven't been any art updates lately. A week after the last chapter went up, I had to say goodbye to my little old man bunny. I had him for almost 12 years, so I didn't really feel up to a lot. Not to mention work's been crazy with people leaving and the holidays.
I'm back now and feeling much better! Thank you for your comments and encouragement. You guys really helped me get back into it.
Anywho, please enjoy!
Mini Case—Part 1
Mai's eyes darted back and forth awkwardly as she walked between the two boys. Ever since they left the SPR office, she couldn't help but feel like the air was a touch off.
Well, at least only on one side.
While Takata led the way, he walked closely beside her on the left, whistling in his carefree way with his hands in his pockets. Meanwhile, she was nearly shivering from the cold air coming from Naru's side on her right. Was there a breeze blowing from between the buildings or something? It was late fall but the temperatures were nowhere this freezing.
Seeing her shiver, Takata stopped walking to unwrap his scarf. "You should bundle up more if you get cold easily," he said, winding it around her neck before she could decline it.
Mai's cheeks warmed up, her mouth opening and closing unsure of what to say. Ultimately, she settled on a small "thank you."
Unbeknownst to them, Naru watched the whole interaction with repugnance. There really wasn't anything wrong with the scene, but he found it rather unappealing to witness. Then again, he had always reacted similarly to other related actions, including those from Luella's soap operas.
It wasn't his business anyway.
The group hopped onto the train before stopping at a more residential area. Takata showed them around, pointing out to certain restaurants and other landmarks.
"Have you lived here your whole life?" asked Mai, scanning the area. It reminded her of the area she grew up in with her parents.
"Yeah," he said, before pointing at a tea shop. "This is my parents' shop."
Mai's eyes lit up, practically glimmering. She pranced over to take a closer look, noticing the more traditional interior. "I didn't know they ran a tea shop. I'll have to come by sometime!"
"You're always welcome," Takata said, smiling warmly. A cold breeze sent a chill up his back and he remembered Mai's boss. "You should come by too, Boss-san! Mai-chan says you're also a tea enthusiast."
Naru grunted in reply, unamused as always. Takata smiled good-naturedly and shrugged before directing them to continue on. They had only took a mere step before someone called out to them.
"Satoru! Take this with you to Yamada-san's." A middle-aged lady, with the same warm dark brown hair as Takata, called out from the door of the shop. Her eyes wandered until they landed on Mai and Naru, lighting up instantly.
"Ah, hello," Mai said in greeting.
Takata's mom practically skipped over to them. "You two must be my Satoru's friends! I apologize for his rudeness. I thought I taught him better," she said, glaring at her son. "Please, come in for tea!"
Surprisingly, it was Naru who replied to her. "Thank you for the offer. We are actually the team that will be investigating your neighbor's home. We should inspect the home before it gets too dark."
Rather than take offense, she brushed him off with a hand. "Nonsense! Ghosts are more active at night, anyway. One cup, I insist!" She grabbed Naru's arm and pulled him into the shop.
Mai couldn't see his face, but she could imagine the unamused scowl. She felt the corner of her mouth twitch as she held in a giggle.
After Takata's mom sat them down, she sent her son a look as she prepped their cups. "You didn't tell me you had such a handsome friend!"
Takata rubbed his face, embarassed. "He's Mai-chan's boss."
As if her face couldn't get any brighter. She quickly bossed her husband in the back to make some tea for their guests before setting herself a chair next to her son to observe Mai.
"So, this is the famous 'Mai-chan,'" she said, resting her head in her hands.
Mai shrunk back at her intense stare, looking around the room awkwardly. "Uh, nice to meet you, Takata-san."
"Please, call me Akemi," Takata's mom introduced herself. "Satoru speaks very highly of you. You are psychic, right?"
Mai nodded, feeling awkward. "I guess you could say I am," she said. If she noticed Naru's lifted brow, she didn't make any indication of it. Doing what she did best when awkward, she quickly switched into work mode. "I heard there have been a bunch of weird occurrences in this 'Yamada-san's' house?"
Akemi made a face at the mention of the house. "I've been friends with Yamada-san for years and I've always thought something was off about that house. One time, I came over to deliver tea to her great aunt, and I swear that I saw a black figure standing in one of the windows upstairs."
"Was anyone else at home?"
"No, at that point, the great aunt lived there by herself." Akemi frowned as she recalled other instances. "I always felt bad for her. Everytime I saw her, she looked more and more ill. I tried delivering food every week to make sure she ate, but she continued to get more frail. She didn't seem to sleep well either."
Akemi's husband came at that moment to serve them their tea and crackers, taking care not to disturb their discussion.
"Could that not have been the work of an underlying illness or simply a case of adult failure to thrive?" asked Naru, his eyes subconsciously watching as a cup was placed before him.
Akemi tapped her chin in thought. "That could be since she was quite elderly living on her own. However, I don't believe she had any chronic illness. You see, I took her to a doctor's appointment once and there wasn't any medical explanation for her frailty."
"Have you ever spent long periods of time inside the house?" asked Mai, sipping her tea before reaching for a rice cracker.
"Maybe twice. Nothing interesting happened, but I did notice that the house was always very dark for some reason. No matter how many lights you turned on, there was a dark cast."
Mai nodded, thinking as she nibbled on her cracker.
Naru tapped his finger on the table quietly before asking, "Have you been to the house after Yamada-san moved in?"
"I went to deliver something, but I never went inside."
The group sat in silence after that, drinking the rest of their tea as Naru and Mai processed the information separately.
"Wow, so that's what you're like in your element, Mai-chan," said Takata, scratching the back of his head. "It was kind of intense, between you and your boss shooting out questions."
Mai smiled bashfully, shrugging. "I guess I'm not that much of a lost cause, huh?" she asked Naru. He gave her a quizzical brow.
The group finished up their drinks before making their exit.
"Thank you so much! It was delicious," Mai said, bowing in appreciation.
"Please stop by anytime! You too, handsome fellow," Akemi said, grinning at Naru who merely blinked at her until finally nodding his head faintly in greeting.
And so, the three continued on their way. Takata apologized profusely for his mom's pushiness.
It didn't take long to reach their destination—an externally unassuming two-story home with a stone fence surrounding it with a gate.
It was bigger than most houses and looked fairly old, perhaps having been around since the second World War.
Without realizing it, Mai had clenched her jaw tightly as she looked over the home. Remembering Akemi's story about the shadow in the window, her head bent back as she looked up apprehensively.
"Come on in. We should still have a lot of time before the family comes home," Takata said as he opened the door and welcomed them in.
Naru entered first, turning back to her when she didn't make any effort to move. Mai stood frozen in the same spot, still looking into the second story windows, specifically on the left side of the house. "Mai," he called out, noting her trance-like behavior.
This alerted Takata to also note her odd behavior. He frowned, immediately heading back outside to see what was wrong. "Mai-chan," he said, shaking her shoulder a bit until life returned to her eyes and she blinked.
"Huh?"
"You just totally checked out for a minute there." His face contorted with worry, his brows scrunching. "Did… you see something?"
She tilted her head in thought, pondering on the question. She didn't see anything—it was more so that she had been spiritually drawn to that area. Was there anything there? She didn't know yet, but something rubbed her off the wrong way. Usa-sama thought the same as he popped his head out of her school bag.
After leaving their shoes at the genkan, Takata proceeded to give the two a general tour of the home taking into account Naru's quiet instructions to leave out any history of the home to train Mai's senses.
Mai took a quick scan of the house as Takata talked. She noted that while it was an older house with tatami mat rooms, there were some other areas, like the living room and kitchen, that were renovated with hardwood floors.
The layout of the home was uncomplicated—the stairs to the second floor were located on the left side, the hallway to the kitchen sat straight ahead of them, and then an open living room was situated to the right.
Mai admired the family photos and array of antiques strewn around. There were a few porcelain dolls that would've chased Ayako out of Japan, but they were nowhere near as threatening as Minnie had been. They were actually kind of charming.
The hallway where Yamada-san had seen something following her in the mirror wasn't very long. In fact, the mirror took up a good third of the entire length. It was as long as Naru's arms outstretched—why she visually measured it that way, don't ask her.
When Takata was about to cross the mirror, he crouched down so that he was out of view before popping himself back up once he was on the other side. Mai raised her brow at him and he looked away embarrassed.
"Isn't this the mirror?" He scratched his cheek.
"You should have stayed outside if you were going to be scared," said Naru offhandedly, studying the mirror at different angles.
Takata straightened up, clearing his throat. "I'm not scared. I just don't like being surprised."
Mai could've sworn she heard Naru scoff, but she wasn't about to point it out. She needed things to stay as cordial as they had been.
Ignoring the two, her curiosity brought her to the second floor in search of the room she'd been staring at from outside. She had to do two rounds before realizing that the room wasn't even accessible.
"What's wrong?" Naru approached her from behind, noting her befuddlement.
"The room I was looking for isn't here."
"It must be in a separate part of the house."
She nodded, tilting her head in confusion.
When she asked Takata about it, he seemed just a puzzled as she was. The three of them went back outside to study the front of the house. Takata pointed out the windows of the rooms on the left side of the home that he could identify. Two of which were occupied by the kids of the house. The third room, flush to the left side wasn't one he recognized.
Mai was reluctant to ask, but now she really wanted to find the room. "Maybe we missed something?"
Takata crossed his arms in thought. "Yamada-san didn't tell me to steer clear of any other rooms. I guess it wouldn't hurt to look around some more."
In agreeance, they re-entered to scope the house again. Her companions let her take the lead as she sniffed around for dubious intent like a K-9 unit would drugs. Unlike last time, she decided to take a closer look at the back of the house since she had merely skimmed it earlier.
Something she hadn't noticed before was a tatami mat room in the back with a kotatsu*. It seemed to function as more of a family room versus the formal setup of their living room. She resisted the urge to crawl under the kotatsu because it looked so cozy. A few mandarins sat stacked in the middle with either bills or magazines sprawled around them. A TV with various cartoon stickers along the edge sat in the corner in front of the kotatsu.
Mai couldn't help but smile. You can tell a family lives here.
When she eventually left the family room, she came face to face with the kitchen. While before she had seen the kitchen from the hallway, now she was facing it from a different direction and noticed a doorway that was obscured by the fridge.
Peering around the fridge, her eyes widened when she found another staircase. It was cramped in a small dark space with steep old-fashioned steps. Suddenly, her chest became heavier, each breath requiring a deeper inhale. She gulped.
You and I both know this is how people get killed in horror movies, just sayin'.
Normal people, Gene. Not ghost-obsessed weirdos. Besides, I have that guy with me.
"That guy" being the one whose brow twitched as he stepped beside her. Naru looked over the area with indifference, crossing his arms.
Meanwhile, Takata was noticeably more reluctant to follow. Mai had an inkling the paranormal made him a bit squeamish.
When no one made any inclination to move, Takata gulped. "I-I'll go."
Despite his offer, he was practically shaking as he took each step. To help him out, Mai followed him closely, placing a hand on his arm. "You got this," she encouraged.
Naru stood unamused at the bottom the stairs leaning against the wall, his eyes subconsciously watching the hand on Takata's arm.
Their brave martyr finally faced the dreaded door head on, swallowing loudly before giving the knob a wiggle. Takata sighed in relief when it wouldn't budge no matter how much he twisted and turned it.
"Too bad."
Mai sighed. "That's lame. I guess my vibes were off."
Takata shook his head. "I'm sure you were on to something, Mai-chan! Maybe Yamada-san didn't mention this room because they never had access to it and there's actually something in there?"
Naru noted Mai's frown as her brows furrowed. He closed his eyes and exhaled. "For now, there doesn't seem to be anything indicating paranormal activity. We should leave."
As soon as the three were off the stairs, they heard the door knob jiggle. The slow creak of the door opening ajar alerted everyone to whip their heads at the source. Between the crack slivered only a small beam of light from the window.
Takata's eyes widened as he took a step back, extending his arm out to cover Mai in case something jumped out at them like in a horror movie. Naru, instead, took a step closer to get a better look, unintentionally pressing himself into Mai's back.
Mai ignored how claustrophobic she was suddenly feeling and kept her eyes firmly on the door.
When nothing happened after a few minutes, Takata was about to let the tension in his shoulders drop when a misty shadow obscured their light of the window. Despite being mist-like, the shadow's form was nearly opaque.
Telling by the silhouette, Mai wondered if it was a person. Maybe a squatter? In an occupied house, though?
"Hello?" Mai called out, ignoring the look Takata shot her way, practically screaming, "Why would you do that?"
The shadow figure, as if noticing their presence for the first time turned around before dropping to the floor like a drawstring puppet.
Nobody moved nor said anything in the seconds following.
The puppet-like figure contorted itself until it crawled over to the door, a single pale eye visible through the crack as it reflected the kitchen lighting.
And then the door shut before locking.
Takata made a noise akin to a dead animal's last squeal. His face drained of all color, looking suspiciously similar to "The Scream" painting as he fought the urge to jump out the window.
Eying his surprisingly calm companions, he barely managed to screech out, "…I think it's getting late. We should head home."
Naru ignored him and proceeded to climb a few steps to listen closely for movement behind the door. "Are you sure the house is vacated? Yamada-san isn't renting the space out to anyone else?"
Takata was already inching himself away. "Only the family lives here. I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm gonna wait outside!" His dialogue ended with a series of hurried footsteps and stumbling as he practically threw himself down the hall and out the front door.
Mai glanced at Naru, noting his judgmental deadpan expression. "Be nice."
"He's not suited for this."
"I wouldn't think most people are," she said, raising her brow. "You seem to forget that we're the weird ones because we're so used to this crap!"
"You are weird, whereas I am seasoned," he said with a smirk, watching her fume from the corner of his eye as he ascended the stairs.
He shook the doorknob, frowning. It was locked again.
"What's your verdict?" he asked.
Mai's previous pout dropped as she adopted a more serious expression. Normally, they would investigate more to determine if something was a true haunting. However, Naru had been having her scout out possible cases and taking small ones by herself recently to hone her senses. One of her problems was second-guessing herself so often. Naru being Naru had very little patience for her vacillant tendencies.
As much as she would've loved to not be an indecisive blubbering fool, this was simply not a skill she was born with. To compensate, she simply kept her mouth shut until she (somewhat) made up her mind.
"According to my senses," she said while eying Naru as if prematurely reacting to his potential criticism, "there's a high chance this is paranormal. But I can take this case myself if you're not interested."
He didn't respond, putting his hand on his chin.
While she should be able to handle this on her own…
Mai scrunched her brows and blinked. Was Gene talking to himself? It didn't exactly sound like he was talking to her. He had been talking to himself out loud a lot more frequently nowadays.
Maybe he was finally losing it.
"As I don't anticipate this will require the entire team, I will act as support."
Mai blinked again. "What do you mean support?!"
He crossed his arm and extended his head to the side. "You took on this case, so that makes you the lead investigator," he said, watching as she looked about ready to vomit. "I look forward to working with you, Taniyama-sensei."
She couldn't tell whether to grimace, gag, cringe, or shiver. Normally, any girl would be excited to be with him all alone on a case, yet why was she dreading it? Just the image of him nitpicking her methods, quizzing her on the spot… saving her from certain death, catching her, carrying her, holding her, or letting her latch on to him while she cried like in the last case—
All of that had her wanting to lock herself in with the ghost instead.
Since Naru approved of the case, they would be meeting Yamada-san formally tomorrow. She was originally going to greet them today, but she ended up being held back at work.
When Mai and Naru left the house finally, Takata looked about ready to collapse from relief.
"You guys made it out alive!"
Mai blinked at him before bursting out laughing. "That was nothing compared to the other things we've been through!"
"You're lying! I couldn't believe something like that happened outside of a movie."
It's not like this world runs by any sort of rules, Gene grumbled in her head.
Mai ignored him, opting to pat Takata on the shoulder instead. "For your first time, you handled that pretty well… for someone who said he wasn't scared," she said, not being able to help herself from teasing.
He looked down at the hand on his arm and blushed, looking away bashfully.
Naru cleared his throat. "We will schedule a meeting time with Yamada-san tomorrow. For now, we should leave."
"You don't have to tell me twice." Takata laughed nervously before glancing at Mai. "In that case, I'll take you home, Mai-chan."
The girl herself suddenly felt embarrassed for some reason, acutely aware of Naru watching them. "It doesn't make sense to make you go out of your way since you're basically home."
She wasn't wrong, but he didn't look like he was going to budge that easily.
Naru exhaled in annoyance. "I will take Mai home."
Mai's eyes widened. "Uh, it's okay, Naru. You don't have to feel obligated. I've been traveling all over on my own for years now." She was taken-aback by the side-eye she got in response.
What? She was ruining his chance to demonstrate that he was a good and considerate boss? Pssh. He never cared before, so why now?
"I'll feel better knowing you're not alone, Mai-chan," Takata said, smiling. She couldn't very well refuse him when he sounded like that. "Here, I'll show you guys to the station."
As he led them off the property, Mai couldn't help but suddenly feel eyes on their backs. Before she crossed the gate, she took a quick glance over her shoulder. She gasped when she saw the distorted face of a deathly pale woman staring out of the farthest left window. Her eyes were black holes while her mouth stretched unnaturally wide.
Unlike with the staircase incident, goose bumps ran up her spine as her body went rigid.
"Mai?"
"Can you see it, Naru?"
Naru followed her gaze, squinting his eyes slightly. I need my glasses.
Mai tensed up in front of him. "It looks like a woman with a slit mouth and holes for eyes," she said quietly, not taking her eyes off it.
"What are you two looking at?" Takata approached them.
Telling by his reaction earlier, Mai broke out of her daze and hastily jumped to grab his shoulders and turn him around. "If you see it, you'll pee your pants guaranteed," she warned.
His face flushed. "Do you have to say it like that, Mai-chan?"
She laughed, giving him a little friendly shove. "Am I wrong?"
Naru watched their interaction, noting that they had seemed very comfortable around each other throughout the night. Even their personalities were similar.
And something about that irritated him.
As they finally walked toward the station, Mai explained what she had seen in the window with as gentle of language as she could. Even so, Takata's complexion still blanched.
"At least you won't have to come back until we figure out what it is."
"Um, actually, Yamada-san asked if I could come by here and there… since I know you better," Takata said, his ears pink while facing away from them.
Naru's eyes narrowed.
Mai didn't think much of it, opting to answer some texts from Keiko instead, completely unaware of the two differing energies surrounding her.
Once they reached the station, Takata waved goodbye before heading back to his parents' shop.
Which left her and Naru.
Alone.
Just the two of them.
It was at this point that Mai realized this was their first time traveling together without any of the others. In fact, she wasn't sure Naru had ever taken the train. He seemed like the bougie type who would take a taxi every where.
Rush hour in Tokyo was actually several hours between students heading home from afterschool activities and workers staying late. She would be lying if she said she wasn't concerned on how Naru would handle dealing with the woes of the common folk.
Gene, do you guys use trains in the UK?
We sure do, but people use the bus more, in my opinion.
She was taken out of her thoughts when it came time to board the train as it pulled up. Despite being a station at a residential area, all the seats were taken so they had to stand. Mai wasn't sure which direction to stand—facing him, the window, or away? In the end, she faced him, getting a good view of his chest and adam's apple.
"You don't have to bring me all the way," she said, trying to distract herself.
Naru looked down at her, noting the way her eyes looked up at him before awkwardly averting her gaze every which way.
He smirked. "You should realize by now that I don't do things half-way."
"You don't have to bring me home at all," she countered, puffing up one cheek. Suddenly, she remembered something. "Hey, why did you come along anyway? I thought you were just going to have me check it out by myself."
"I changed my mind."
"Why?"
At that moment, someone bumped into Mai, jutting her forward into Naru. Reflexively, she grabbed for his coat as he brought an arm out to steady her. Her forehead bumped into his chin, making her wince.
"Ow. Is your chin made out of steel or something?" she said, rubbing the pink spot on her forehead.
He brought his face down to hers, startling her. Her eyes widened as her breath caught in her throat at his close proximity.
"Is your forehead made of cardboard? It shouldn't dent that easily," he said only loud enough for her to hear. He brushed her bangs away before poking her sore spot.
She flinched back and smacked his hand away, her face steaming for a myriad of reasons. Thankfully, the rest of their train ride was quiet as Mai tried to calm her racing heart. He was doing things that made her want to melt into the floor again!
After what felt like an eternity on the train, her stop finally came and the two got off. They walked in silence down the street with Mai glancing at him here and there, debating whether to ask her question.
"Do you have dinner?"
"Hm."
She took that as a "no." He and Lin had been surviving solely on take-out and convenience foods, so dinner was simply a matter of picking it up. Today was a vegetarian day for both of them and she probably had more than enough to share… but would it be weird to ask him to come over?
Didn't that usually imply things?!
Her inner conflict must have stirred Gene's senses because he piped up. Is this a new development I smell?
Go back to sleep.
"Is there a reason you asked?" Naru's question made her gulp.
Gathering the courage, she sunk her face into the scarf Takata lent her. "You're going to be home late because you took me back. Today is vegetarian day and I have enough to share… if you wanted to have dinner with me? Only if you want to! As a thanks for walking me home!"
She really needed a pothole to just swallow her whole.
As usual, Naru didn't reply immediately. She was convinced he always did that on purpose to make her squirm.
"It's okay if you don't want to! Don't feel pressured or anything," she added, sulking a bit.
"Do you need any other ingredients?"
Mai's eyes widened.
"Huh?" She came to a full stop, watching his back with her mouth agape.
He turned around once he realized her footsteps had stopped. "I don't like repeating myself." And that ruined the magic of the moment.
She rolled her eyes. "Guess I should be happy you're replying to me at all," she grumbled. "If you don't mind, I want to grab some more mushrooms and tofu."
And that's how they ended up at the grocery store with Mai's nosy neighbors questioning her about the handsome guy with her.
"Mai-chan, since when did you get such a hot boyfriend?" asked the 22-year-old woman from two doors down who wore too much makeup.
"Friend, not boyfriend."
"Oh dear. Is he going home with you?" asked the auntie next door, a hand covering her mouth.
"Just for dinner."
"You be careful, little miss. Let Oji-san know if you need help." The uncle, who lived on her other side, glared at Naru as he rolled away with his cart.
"We're just having dinner!"
By the time they made it out of there, she had the sneaking suspicion this would be the next neighborhood scandal. Rubbing her nose bridge with her face scrunched in pain due to her bruised pride, she pulled out her keys as her apartment came into view. Before getting closer, she stopped abruptly. She then rummaged into her grocery bag and pulled out a can of tuna. She opened the top and left it under a nearby bush.
"There's a stray and a ghost cat that come by," she answered Naru's silent question.
Without further delay, she led him to her apartment and unlocked the door. She placed her school bag down for Usa-sama to hop out.
"Please make yourself at home!"
Oliver sat down at her kotatsu, choosing to sit on the Doraemon-themed cushion—all of her cushions were mismatched. Usa-sama sprawled out beside him, halfway under the comforter. It was odd how clearly he could see the deity. The researcher in him wondered what it would feel like to touch him. Mai seemed to be able to pet him as if he were corporeal.
As Oliver's hand almost grazed Usa-sama's head, he heard Mai giggle as she came from the open kitchen. When he sent her a questioning look, her smile widened. "It's funny, seeing you sitting at a kotatsu."
Sitting at my kotatsu, he heard her add silently.
She set down the tea and turned on the TV. As expected, she'd been watching one of the paranormal channels previously.
"You are aware most of this is fake?"
Mai rolled her eyes. "What do you take me for? A greenhorn?" She paused before adding, "Nevermind. Don't answer that."
She returned to the kitchen thereafter, leaving him to begrudgingly watch the brainrot on the TV. A few show hosts screamed after seeing an obviously edited CCTV recording. Without realizing it, his eyes trailed over to the kitchen where he subconsciously followed Mai as she went about cooking. She wore a rabbit-themed apron and a headband to keep her hair out of her face.
Her apartment was small, but with only Mai in it, it almost looked too big. The atmosphere was calm, lacking the loud bustle and noise of the main city. Coupled with the warmth of her kotatsu, Oliver could feel his body relax as his eyelids began to droop.
"Naru." He felt someone shake his shoulder. His eyes opened up to Mai crouched beside him, a tender smile gracing her face. "Food's ready," she said quietly.
Oliver straightened himself out, blinking his eyes awake as she finished setting up the table. Something soft at his side shifted. Usa-sama, who had moved closer to him for warmth, sat up when Mai gave him a plate of vegetables.
"How is he corporeal?" he muttered to himself, testing it by poking at the deity. It was like there was an actual rabbit here.
"You can touch him?" Mai asked in disbelief as she sat down.
"Apparently."
Usa-sama got annoyed at Oliver's prodding and threw his plate to Mai's side and migrated over.
Mai shook her head, serving Naru his rice. "I'm not that great of a cook, but it's probably better than convenience food. I packed some for Lin-san too!"
Before they ate, she took a picture and sent it to the SPR group chat. That was something new they were doing for whatever reason. Bou-san was surprisingly fast to ask who the other serving was for. Insert an eyebrow raised emoji.
When Mai answered that it was Naru's, the group chat immediately blew up so much that they both had to silence their phones.
"You would think these people have something better to do," Mai grumbled as she shoved a mushroom into her mouth aggressively. "Oh, and how's the food?"
"Better than Lin's."
She grinned. "I'll take it! What does Lin cook anyway?"
"The only things he's remotely adequate at is congee and stir-fried vegetables."
"What do you eat during vegetarian days?"
"Stir-fries."
"Anything else?"
"Congee."
Mai nearly spit out her tea. "You weren't kidding when you said he doesn't cook much," she said, restrained laughter laced with her words. "Do you cook?"
Oliver pretended to not hear her and continued eating, picking up a slice of pickled daikon.
"I recall you mentioning a ghost cat earlier," he redirected.
Her faced brightened up immediately. "Yeah, there's a black spirit cat that Gene said followed me home. I leave food and treats for him and the stray cat all the time. I don't know if he can actually eat it, but I hope it makes him happy at least."
He couldn't help but find it peculiar how the paranormal had fully interwoven itself into her life. Yet, when looking at her externally, she appeared no different than any other high school girl.
They ate in comfortable silence after that, watching the TV. Occasionally, one of them would speak up to criticize the show. It was when Masako's program came on that they began to clean up their dishes. While Oliver was useless with cooking, he could at least assist with clean-up.
Mai cut up some fruit for him to take home and packed it with Lin's food. "Make sure you eat the fruit." She gave him a stern look as she pushed the wrapped food into his chest.
She had to choose the pinkest cloth to tie the containers together.
"Safe trip home," she said from her door as he headed out.
Before he got too far, she called out to him again.
"Oh, and um, thank you for taking me home," she said, fidgeting with her skirt. "And thanks for eating dinner with me. It was nice. So, um, see you tomorrow!" With that, she quickly retreated and slammed the door shut.
Oliver blinked before feeling the corners of his mouth twitch. He shook his head as he walked away.
When he returned to his hotel suite, he placed the food on the counter for Lin and headed to his room. For an unexplainable reason, he couldn't help but notice the missing warmth from Mai's apartment. The image of her waking him up in her apron from earlier flashed back into his mind.
He sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. He needed to get back to work.
After a cool shower.
Genkan*: Area to place shoes at the door
Kotatsu*: Low-table with a built in heater and a heavy blanket. Mai loves these. And I want one too!
A/N: Ahhh, NaruMai development! At the expense of the two in question. Mai's neighbors are really out here thinking they're shacking up :3
The change in rating is still being pondered on. A lot. We'll just have to wait till the time-skip and see what happens ;)
If you enjoyed your read, please consider leaving a comment or kudos if you haven't already! Thank you so much to everyone who comments, kudos, bookmarks WIP fics like this one. You really keep writers going!
Anyways, happy holidays!