Taniyama Mai, age 19, leads a simple life. Not until one day when she was forced to choose one of these two options: Either accept that her mother committed suicide, or hire that narcissistic yet irresistibly charming investigator to prove otherwise. AU

Chapter 1: Simplicity

"Conversation" / 'Thoughts' / "Past Conversation"

Taniyama Mai's life was simple. Her father passed away early, leaving a small tea shop located at the corner of a busy district for her mother and her to generate income. Even so, money was still tight and they soon moved out from their old house and began living in a small and simple rented apartment. Mai graduated from high school a year ago too, but decided to pursue her studies later when they saved enough money in the future.

"There's no rush." was what she told her mother.

And in that year, the smell of tea leaves, the soft chatters between customers, the gentle smile her mother gave to customers every single day... Mai found happiness in those simple things. She once thought that maybe the money they were saving up could be used to expand the shop instead, her studies didn't matter anymore. Along with her mother, this shop the the biggest point of Mai's life. And that was enough.

Those simplicity, Mai thought, was supposed to last forever. But she remembered how her mother embraced her on the day her father died, telling Mai between her sobs that good things always had to come to an end.

Just like this.

"Hello, are you Taniyama Mai?"

"Yes. I am"

"You've reported that your mother went missing two days ago."

Mai's grip tightened on her telephone. "Yes. I did so."

"I'm sorry, but the police may have found her body. But first, we need you to come down to confirm that it's-"

The phone slipped from her fingers and dropped onto the ground. There wasn't a need to continue.

.o.

The news hit headlines

Missing women found to have committed suicide by jumping off the bridge.

The newspaper crumpled under Mai's hands and she brought it towards her chest. Along with the bold title was a picture of her mother, standing in front of their tea shop and smiling happily. That picture was the same one which Mai had given to the police for their search, but she had no idea how it ended up on the newspaper.

Still, that picture of her smiling mother soothed her. It was better, better than the corpse she distinctly remembered even when she was dying to forget.

"Mom." Mai choked. "This isn't true..."

She cradled the gray papers in her hand and smelled the scent of ink. It was a Sunday morning, the start of the busiest day of the week. Mai should be smelling tea leaves, hearing the chime of the door bell ringing over and over again as the water continued bubbling in its boiling pot. Not this cold silence, not this empty and dark shop that Mai never seen in all of her life.

That was when she heard the sound she thought she would never hear today. The door bell twinkled and on reflex, Mai straightened her posture, almost wanting to shout a "Welcome!" until she realized what situation she was in. But first, she hastily wiped her face with the back of her hand and kept the papers away. She didn't want anyone to see her crying.

"Excuse me, the shop isn't open today." Mai whirled around from behind the counter. "I'm pretty sure the sign outside says so."

A tall, young man clad in black strolled past the seats and tables, clearly ignoring her words.

"Excuse me?" She repeated.

Mai watched him the entire time with a frown as he continued weaving through the spaces in between until he reached to the front of the counter. She scrutinized him, capturing the details of his sharp noes, thin lips, long eyelashes, those deep dark blue eyes that could swallow her whole if she wasn't careful enough.

"Are you the owner of this shop?"

She blinked and suddenly realized he was staring back at her.

This man... Mai had never seen such a handsome man before...

"Y-Yes." It wasn't supposed to be a stutter. She should have emphasized it with her boldness and confidence, but what came out was something like a sheep would say to a wolf.

"I want a box of black tea leaves."

"It's not for sale."

He pointed at the chart behind her. "But it is."

"Sir." Mai gritted her teeth. "This shop is not open today."

"Even if so, I don't see why you should be pushing this business away."

As her hands were begging to land a slap on his face, she held back because she knew it wasn't right. She wasn't scared of getting herself sued or jailed, but it was because she remembered what her mother always told her.

"Be patient with people. They have their bad days and this tea shop should always be the reason to turn their bad days into good days."

Mai wasn't going to go against what her mother said, not at the place where they had spent almost their whole life in. She slammed her hands on the counter before her, feeling the sharp pain on her palms. If she couldn't hurt him, then she could only hurt herself instead.

"Please. Leave." Her voice cracked.

The man continued staring at her.

"Leave!"

In the end, her plan backfired. Before Mai could do anything to stop herself, she felt the hot wet tears hitting against her hands like rain. She couldn't hold back like what she wanted. She wasn't as strong like she hoped, or how her mother always complimented her for.

She was just a scared little girl who was at lost of what to do.

"My mom's gone. And then yesterday, the bank suddenly appear and tell me all those bullshit about this shop being on mortgage and they are going to take it tomorrow. I don't know what's happening..." She blabbered and lifted a hand to bury her face in it. "My mom couldn't have committed suicide... but she's still gone."

It was weird how she just said everything she had been holding back in her for the week. Mai decided that it was the anger that triggered everything, though she did feel better after letting all out and crying in front of someone, even a stranger like this man. She never did that before and after doing so, it felt really good.

And in the midst of her sobbing, she noted that he took out something from his black jacket and handed it towards her. 'Even if he was being an asshole the entire time, at least he has the heart to offer a tissue.' She thought.

"Th-Thank you." Mai reached for the paper and was about to wipe her face when she realized there was something wrong with this so-called tissue in her hand. She blinked, letting the remaining tears to roll down her cheeks so her eyes were cleared to see the thing before her.

It wasn't a tissue. It was a name card.

SPR
Shibuya Kazuya
Private Investigator

"Come to my office when you can." He said. "And bring along a box of black tea leaves too. You'll need it." After he finished what he had to say, he finally listened to her previous pleas and left.

Since this is AU, I really don't know how you guys will react to it so here's just a simple prologue for now.
Well, I hope you guys like it though. This idea had been going on for several months and I planned a little before deciding to type it down.
How is it? Reviews are appreciated!