Mai heard the door open and when she faced the door she saw the last two people she would ever expect to walk through that door. Lin and Naru were there standing in the doorway to the office. She couldn't believe that they were actually here and wondered if they were the two people Madoka was referring to. Her eyes were wider than anyone else's in the room, she was so shocked that she dropped her tea cup. Glass shattered on the floor and thankfully there was only a small amount of tea left in the cup.
"Ah…oh my gosh I'm so sorry I'll clean it up right away," Mai immediately kneeled on the floor and started picking up the broken glass.
Everyone stared in her direction, everyone except for Naru. Mai wasn't sure she could handle Naru looking at her she wasn't ready to meet his gaze directly just yet. Naru made his way inside and walked over towards his usual spot which was the chair Madoka was sitting in. Madoka got up and Naru took his rightful place, it was almost like everything was going back to exactly how it was before. Lin walked in and sat to Naru's right and Madoka took her spot sitting on Naru's left.
"I would hope you would clean up after yourself, you don't expect me to do it now do you," Naru stated with his usual emotionless tone.
Mai took the broken glass and threw it away in the trash can in the kitchen.
'Oh yeah it's him alright he's the only person who could sound so cold and manage to anger me in a matter of seconds,' Main thought and grabbed a rag to clean the spilled tea.
All of the emotions and memories from the past were suddenly coming back to her. She hadn't expected to come face to face with him again and wasn't prepared to do so. She wasn't even sure if she would be able to keep herself together but she would have to try. Once the tea was cleaned up Mai left the rag in the sink and took her place next to the monk once again.
"Hey what was that about it was as if you'd seen a ghost," Monk whispered in the girl's ear.
"Oh that I was just shocked that he came back, I was even more surprised that none of us knew yet we were all here when he arrived," she whispered back as she glanced over at her old boss.
Not surprisingly enough he already had his old black notebook back in his hands and let its contents occupy his attention.
'I guess people really don't change ever,' Mai thought to herself.
There was a lot of awkward tension in the room as well as pure silence, boring silence. Everyone was afraid to speak first and nobody knew what the right thing to say was. Mai was beginning to feel fidgety from sitting for so long without doing or saying anything. When the silence became too much for her she decided she would be the first to speak.
"So Naru how was England," Mai asked the first question that popped into her head.
"I don't feel the need to explain the details of my personal life to you," Naru replied not even looking up from his notebook.
"Well sorry for trying to start a conversation with you. In case you haven't noticed its been a while since we have seen you, you workaholic, narcissistic, tea loving jerk," Mai yelled at him crossing her arms.
"Calm down Mai there is no need to make such a fuss over nothing," Monk told her trying to calm her down.
Just as the girl was about to argue back the door to the office opened and a woman walked in.
"Hello my name is Mizore Shindo may I please speak with the person in charge," the woman said.
She was a woman in her late twenties, her black hair cascaded all the down to her mid back, and had tired looking grey eyes. She was wearing a lilac colored short sleeved dress with a white long sleeved cardigan and had on 3 inch white heels. Mai immediately got up from her seat and made her way over to greet this possible client.
"Hello my name is Mai Taniyama please have a seat and my boss will be more than happy to listen to your case".
"Hello Mrs. Shindo my name is Kazuya Shibuya and I run the company please sit so we can discuss your case," Naru stood up from his chair and introduced himself.
It was no surprise to Mai that Naru continued using his former alias. Even though she knew he was still covering who he really was, this fake identity made her chest feel tight.
The client looked at the young man noticeably shocked as she walked over to her seat. Her reaction didn't come as a surprise to anyone, considering every client that they had all showed the same look when they realized that someone as young as Oliver was running his own company. At this point Mai made her way into the kitchen to make some more tea.
"So please Mrs. Shindo explain what's been going on," Naru opened his notebook as Lin opened up a new file for the client on his laptop.
The brunette made her way out of the kitchen with some tea for her boss and the client. She then stood next to Madoka once the cups were handed out and listened to the case.
"Yes it all began a couple months ago," the woman began her story.
Everyone else was focused on the woman and the boss had gone into full work mode.
"A couple months ago we moved to our current home due to my husband's job transfer. Almost immediately after we moved in and got settled that's when we noticed something wasn't right. Once in the middle of the night I had woken up to some knocking sounds. I thought it was someone knocking at the front door but when I checked there was no one there. I even checked all the windows and the back door but there was no sign of anyone out there.
"I even checked both of my daughters' rooms to see if they were playing a trick on me but both of them were asleep. I ended up assuming it was one of the neighborhood kids just playing a prank on us since we were new. However, that wasn't the case because the knocking sounds were heard every day after that at around the same time. Also around the same time the knocking sounds were heard some items around the house began moving on their own.
"One day I had just returned home from running some errands at around noon and decided to prepare some snacks for the girls for when they arrived home from school. I was cutting oranges and when I turned to grab a bowl the knife had disappeared. While I was searching for it I found it over on the counter where I had gotten the bowl from. Later when the kids were eating their snack that same knife fell from the ceiling and landed in the middle of the table.
"I have also heard screaming as well as some wicked kind of laughter throughout the house, the voice sounded feminine. The screaming sounds like someone was being murdered, it would last for a couple of minutes and stop and would soon be followed by the wicked laughter. It seemed to echo throughout the entire house so it's hard to pinpoint the exact location of where it was coming from.
"My eldest daughter, who is 10, has been acting strange as of the last couple of weeks. When she comes home from school she'll lock herself up in her room until dinner. When I go get her she seems to be talking to someone, but when I open the door no one is there and she is sitting all alone. I've checked her room after this happened and there was no one hiding anywhere.
"Whenever I talk to her about it she seems to have no idea what I'm talking about. She's also become very anti-social at school this past week which is unlike her. She won't talk to anyone especially her friends. So please I beg of you help us get rid of whatever this may be," the woman said pleading once she finished her story.
During the entire briefing Naru was listening to each paranormal happening trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for it all, which he couldn't. Everyone else except for him, Lin, and Madoka were all freaked out by everything that was described at this woman's house and were anxiously awaiting their boss's decision. Naru was in thinking mode, while the details of the case had spiked both his curiosity and interest he could feel that something was amiss, he couldn't tell what exactly and that irritated him greatly.
"I will accept you case please have a room prepared for our base with several available outlets and two rooms for us to stay in. Give the directions to my assistant and we shall arrive sometime tomorrow," the raven haired boy finally said breaking the silence.
"Thank you very much," the woman said getting up and bowed slightly.
The brunette assistant walked up to the woman and asked for the location of the home.
"It's just 3 hours north of here, the houses built there are in front of a forest so you'll know when you're there. I also brought a picture of the house if that would help," the woman said digging into her purse and handed Mai the picture with the address written on the back.
"Thank you very much Mrs. Shindo this will be most helpful," Mai said taking the picture.
"You're welcome and please call me Mizore, Ms. Taniyama," she said bowing.
"I will and it's just Mai," the brunette said and walked the woman to the door.
The client nodded her head in acknowledgement and closed the door behind her.
"Well Mai if you are done with your little friendly conversation then if you don't mind mind getting back to work and bringing me some tea," Naru said with his cold demeanor.
Mai instantly became furious and stormed off into the kitchen to prepare her boss his tea he so desperately needed while muttering under her breath "Stupid, workaholic, narcissistic, tea living jerk".
It was later in the evening and everyone had already left for the day. Madoka left to the airport to head back home to England, much to everyone's disappointment. They had all grown accustomed to having her around the office that they all cried when she suddenly announced that she was leaving. Mai was in her office doing more filing and filling out paperwork, while the boss and his male assistant were in their respective offices preparing for the next day.
When Mai had finished with everything she sat back down in her chair trying to think of something to keep her busy. When she could think of nothing to do she couldn't help but start to think about the past. She remembered going on all those cases with everyone after Naru hired her as his assistant. They had their fair share of fun and terror as well. She was happy that they were all there for each other in times of need especially her since danger followed her wherever she went.
She was happy that her and Masako had becomes closer as friends ever since the Urado case even though it was slow at first. It was always hilarious to watch Monk and Ayako fight while John would sheepishly try and get them to stop but to no prevail. John definitely was the one person who could keep everyone in the group sane. Even though Yasu is a bit of a handful at times he can be helpful, funny, and a good person to talk to. She had an extremely rocky start with Lin and now they are on good terms, but Lin is still a man of very few words.
Then there was Naru, the one guy who can manage to tick her off in a second. She always thought that he was a horrible person with no heart. A narcissistic guy with a big ego and a lot of pride, who always demanded and expected things to be done his way. That was until she saw the better side of him, the kind warm-hearted side.
Like in the case with Kasai when they both fell in the manhole together. She knew they would be there for a while and she was terrified of the ghost of the girl or the one who appeared in the base the day before. He was then able to calm her down by showing her the trick with the 500 yen coin. He always went out of his way to make her feel better and save her from any kind of danger.
She had fallen in love with him because of this, this was the Naru that she wanted not her "Dream Naru" who was actually Gene his twin brother. Although Gene was way kinder than Naru would ever be there was something mysterious about Naru that Mai just gravitated towards. But he had made it clear that he didn't have the same feelings towards the brunette. It hurt her deeply especially after he asked her that shocking question "Me or Gene"?
She knew that she wasn't going to stay depressed about it forever and she would have to eventually move on, and she did, she was happy still being the same girl she always was doing the same job that she loved the most. But now he was back which brought up all those painful memories and all those feelings she had shoved away. Suddenly she wasn't able to hold in her feelings anymore and she didn't know what she was supposed to do now.
There was a knock on her door which brought Mai quickly out of her thoughts and back to reality. At some point she had begun to lean back in her chair that when the knock sounded she jolted causing her chair to topple backwards with her still in it. A loud THUD echoed throughout the room and the door swung open. Almost immediately the raven-haired boss thought that his assistant was a clumsy idiot.
"Oh Naru it's you what are you doing here," Mai said getting up quickly and lifted up the chair.
Here he was in front of her just the two of them. Mai could feel her heart pounding in her chest and willed her emotions to stay in control.
"I should really invest in some bubble wrap for you since you find any way possible to injure yourself," Naru said pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I don't need bubble wrap for one and for two there's not a scratch on me," she retorted while examining herself.
"Yes but I don't think we can say the same for your brain," Naru smirked.
"I'm a lot smarter than you take me for," the girl said raising her voice.
"Whatever you say dummy," he said leaning in the doorway.
By now the brunette was fuming but she wasn't going to give her boss the satisfaction of seeing her upset like this so she turned away from him.
"Why are you here anyways," Mai asked as she organized some items on her desk.
"I need your cell phone number for work purposes just so you know," he said not wanting to explain more than he had to.
"Okay sure," Mai wrote her number on a piece of paper and handed it to her boss.
Naru took the paper and left to return back into his lair, Mai followed behind him so she could get ready to leave for the day. She gabbed her bag and her sweater and was about to open the door to leave.
"Mai we are leaving at 7am so don't be late if you know what's good for you," Naru called out from down the hallway.
A vein popped out on the girl's forehead and she stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind her. Naru walked back into his office smirking, he was now satisfied.
A/N: Thank you all again for reading my story. I really appreciate each and every one of you that has been following thus far. Please continue to support me and my story as I do my best to update for you guys. Please like, favorite, and comment as always and I will be here next time. Also I do not own Ghost Hunt or its characters, the only things I own are the plot and ideas in this fanfiction. Byeeeeeeeeeee~