Chapter2
Mai's first day at SPR

Wednesday, 9 pm

Mai had returned home from school a few hours ago, and after cooking, eating, and doing her homework, called Michiru and Keiko in a conference call. Currently, all three were at their respective homes, sitting in front of their laptops while researching Oliver Davis. Well, Mai was using the laptop of her next-door neighbor, Shisui, which she borrowed in exchange for cooking him dinner.

"I don't know, Mai. This bio says that Oliver Davis is already a renowned professor, who worked with the British Society for Psychical Research, BSPR for short, since he's fourteen. Before that, he solved cases together with another medium under the supervision of his father on his own. Nothing mentions him going abroad or stopping working there."

"Michi-chan is right. Also, apparently his father is one of the leaders of BSPR – why would he come overseas? To Japan, no less? It's no secret that Japan is far behind other countries when it comes to psychic research or even to acknowledging psychic powers." Keiko sounded doubtful, her voice was hesitant.

"Yeah, the government even allowed the media to research and document what happened during that spoon bending episode."

"Psychic craze," Mai corrected absentmindedly.

"Yeah, whatever. The fact that Japan allowed the media to document and research the psychic craze hasn't put us in a favorable light. It was a heavy detriment to Japan that that occurrence wasn't treated appropriately, and many children suffered as a result of that 'investigation'. The fact that we still don't have any respectable research centers, and none that are backed by the government, just adds more reasons for Oliver Davis not to be here."

"Also, didn't you say that he came under an alias?"

"Yeah, Shibuya Kazuya."

"That just makes it even weirder. Why would the famous Oliver Davis come from the most high-end research facility where he has many bonuses to a psychic-research backwater country under an alias? That doesn't make any sense."

"Kei-chan, maybe he's here on personal business, or a vacation or something?"

"And he promptly decides to take on a case and hire you as an assistant and research topic? Mai, that makes even less sense."

"Plus, where is his brother?" Michiru's question threw the other two for a loop.

"His brother? Michi, what are you going on about? His bio doesn't have anything about that."

"I also can't find anything about that on the paranormal gossip sites – where did you find that information?"

"Gossip sites? Why are you on gossip sites, Keiko?" Mai's annoyance was clearly audible to her friends. Keiko gulped.

"Ehh… I thought it might have more information?" Mai groaned.

"Keiko… What am I supposed to do with you?"

"Anyway," Michiru quickly interjected, "he supposedly has a twin brother, Eugene Davis, who excels in anything ESP related. He has been dubbed as the 'perfect medium' due to the strength of his powers. My aunt told me about him once, and my training methods for control and making it dormant are orientated on his. Not much is known about him, apart from the fact that he's known as the nicer twin and more laid back. Hey, do you think he is the medium he used to work with when he was younger?"

"I think that's likely… If he is Oliver Davis' twin, then Eugene's ESP abilities are most likely equal to Oliver's PK powers," Mai interjected before Michiru asked Keiko a question.

"But really, what a strange thing to say about someone… Why would you describe somebody as the 'nicer twin'? And what is up with the 'laid back' comment?"

"Well, apparently, Oliver Davis was always known as being a genius and aiming high – there are tons of complaints about him always having his nose in a book and brushing everybody off. He gained his doctor title with fourteen years – that's very impressive. Also, he apparently has really bad manners." Surprisingly, Keiko's gossip sites came in handy – Mai was really astonished. "If Eugene was even a tad more polite, I can see how he would be called the 'nicer twin'. Ah, can you imagine? Such a handsome face combined with a nice attitude – truly a match made in heaven! Mai, are you sure that we met with Oliver and not Eugene?" Once again, Mai groaned.

"Keiko… Yes, I'm sure. Now could you stop swooning about him for a second? We have an important decision to make!"

"Hey, I stopped talking about him for at least five minutes!"

"Keiko… Not the point!" Now, Keiko was pouting.

"Hmpf!"

"But Mai… You have to admit that this is all really strange."

"It is, but… I don't know, I feel like I can trust him. No, it's more like I should trust him. And you know my instincts, they are never wrong."

Michiru sighed. Why did we even do research? That girl is always going to do what she wants to… She shook her head fondly.

"Alright, do what you think is right. But please, Mai… Promise me that the moment – and I mean, the moment – you feel like something isn't right or that you are uncomfortable you will quit right away. Understand?"

"Yes, yes, I promise."

"Good." Michiru sounded satisfied.

"But still," Keiko used that moment to interject her thoughts, "it's really strange that the contract has already arrived. It's been, what? Four hours since you talked to him? Five? During that time frame, he must somehow have gotten your address, written the contract, and delivered it to your apartment. Not to mention that we are talking since about an hour, and you did your homework and cooked… The timeframe he had to deliver it unnoticed is maybe half an hour. That's really creepy."

"He probably had the contract already drawn up, and he must have gotten my address in advance. Then he had the talk with me, and delivered it afterwards – it's not that complicated, if you think about it."

"Maybe, but that is still fast – that man sure doesn't cut any corners, does he?" Michiru voiced her opinion.

"He must have really wanted Mai to work for him – lucky you!"

"Haha… Yeah." I'm just not sure if that is such a good thing… "So, the two of you agree that I should sign the contract?"

"Well, I had it checked by Takashi – you know, that senpai that went on to study law – and he asked his professor who said that the contract is legitimate and doesn't have any hidden paragraphs or a hidden agenda."

"Seems like your hoarding of contact numbers and constant flirting is finally coming in handy, huh Keiko?" Michiru teased.

"Meanie!"

"Anyway, you can sign it without worrying, Mai."

"Alright. Then I'm going to return Shisui his laptop now. Bye ladies!"

"Bye! See you guys tomorrow."

"Have a good night!"

Wednesday, 9.53 pm

"Thank you for lending me the laptop, Shisui."

"Anytime, Mai-chan. Dinner was truly a feast – seems like your cooking skills improved again, huh?" A gentle smile played on Shisui's lips, before it turned into a slightly mischievous one. "So how about it, Mai-chan? I know a fairly high-class restaurant that would do anything to have you working there…"

"Hah, you only say that because you could then eat my food every day for free, Mr. My-parents-own-said-restaurant." A playful twinkle appeared in Mai's eyes.

"Haha, you are right of course. Can't blame a man for trying though, no?"

"Nope, I can't. Which is why it's good that I'll have a different job, starting tomorrow," Mai said with a smile on her lips. Shisui, however, immediately got serious.

"A new job? Where? With whom? As what? Since when? Seriously Mai, if you accepted the job from that shady –"

"I didn't, I didn't, stop worrying. It's with a ghost hunting company." Shisui's eyebrows furrowed.

"A ghost hunting company? Mai, I don't think – "

"Don't worry. The guy's pretty famous, and he's the real deal. Kei-chan and Mi-chan have already researched him and the contract in detail, and gave their blessing. You worry too much. My instincts say he's fine, anyway." The crease between Shisui's eyebrows smoothed out the tiniest bit, and instead of worried turned deadly serious.

"Okay then. But I want to meet him." His voice brooked no argument. Mai pressed on, anyway.

"To do what?"

"Talk."

"Oh, really? I thought you would just stand there and stare at him…" The sarcasm in her voice was painfully obvious.

"Mai…" Now Shisui sounded annoyed.

"No, Shisui. We aren't a couple anymore, and you aren't my boyfriend. What I do or don't do is my business, not yours." Shisui sighed.

"I know that. But I am still your best friend. That's got to count for something." His slightly whiny tone successfully evaporated the tense mood, and the mischievous glint entered Mai's eyes again.

"Best friend? But I'm closer with Michi and Kei than with you…" Shisui rolled his eyes and pouted.

"But I'm definitely your best male friend." Mai laughed.

"True."

"Therefore I have the duty to ensure that you only hang out with appropriate friends."

"'Hang out'? Shi, he's my boss…"

"Oh no! The dreadful nickname reappears! What do I do?" Shisui called out dramatically, causing Mai to giggle. The, he turned serious. "Boss or not, it's the same thing." Shisui was adamant.

"Fine, I'll ask him if he wants to talk to you. If he doesn't, then you won't say anything and shut up, alright?"

"Yep. But I can't help but think that you didn't bring up your new job just to get out of the restaurant job offer…"

"Sharp as always, Shi-chan. You see, it's a ghost hunting company. Naturally, we will solve cases – and according to my contract, that usually means living on the premise for three to five days."

"Meaning, you want me to look after your flat, and do stuff like accepting your mail and watering your flowers, correct?"

"Yep."

"Fine, I'll do it. Under one condition."

"Which is?"

"Promise to call me if you need someone to talk to. Don't bottle everything up."

"Alright, I promise."

"I mean it, Mai."

"I do too." Shisui nodded, and Mai drew him into a quick hug.

"Good night, Shi-chan. And thanks for lending me the laptop. I'll bring the key over tomorrow."

"Good night, Mai-chan. Sleep well."

As soon as Shisui closed the door behind him, he sighed. Troublesome girl… Can you for once not rush to get yourself in trouble?

He gazed at a photograph hanging on the wall next to the door. It was his favorite picture of Mai.

It showed two kids, around ten years old, playing on the beach. The girl had brown hair and brown eyes, both reminiscent of chocolate, and was a full head smaller than the boy. The boy had black hair and grey eyes, and was gazing adoringly at the girl, who in turn was throwing the boy a dazzling smile.

Shisui's gaze softened as he remembered just why this photo was so important to him. It was the first time he saw Mai smile this brightly since her father died… and since that happened. Back then, he had sworn to protect this girl with everything he had.

He snorted. If only the girl in question wouldn't make it this complicated to take care of her… Seriously, she does know that other people worry about her with all the crazy stunts she pulls, right?

He stared a few more minutes at the photo, before walking away with a determined glint in his eyes. How much would it cost to hire himself a medium? He wanted to make sure that if she did die on one of her cases, she would know what he thought of that. Namely, that she needed to stop being so careless. Maybe it would help her in her next life.

Obviously, he hadn't said it often enough in this life.

Thursday, 5 pm

Mai was currently standing in front of a fairly upscale office located in the Shibuya district. The words 'SPR – Shibuya Psychic Research' was emblazoned on the door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked and entered.

She let her eyes ghost over the room and took in the layout of the office. Right next to the entrance was a coat rack, obviously meant as a place for the clients to deposit of their coats and umbrellas on rainy days. It opened up into a fairly large room with a couple of couches, a coffee table, large book cases, and a desk – presumably hers, considering that Naru mentioned her 'working as an assistant'.

To the right side of the room, a door frame led into what looked like a kitchen from what she could see, and on the left another door – this one closed – led into what she assumed to be the bathroom. Further back, two doors led into what she assumed to be the offices of Naru and Tall – or Lin, as she thought Naru had called his other assistant.

Of course, she could be wrong and Lin worked on this receptionist desk and the other room led into the archives or something, but considering the layout her first idea simply made more sense.

Mai deliberated using her abilities to figure it out, when suddenly both doors opened simultaneously. Whoa, they definitely practiced that.

Naru exited from the left door, and Tall – Lin, she had to start remembering his name – exited from the right.

From what she could glimpse of the rooms, they were definitely offices, and Mai allowed herself a moment of triumph before focusing on the two males before her.

"Good evening Mai. Please take a seat. I assume you are here to talk about my job offer?" Naru's cold and professional tone caused her to raise her right eyebrow a bit, before she followed suit and took a seat on the sofa across from Naru.

Tall – Lin, goddamnit – took a seat to Naru's left, and didn't say a word. Rude. Has he no manners? She frowned when she noticed that he had a laptop under his arm, briefly wondering if he was an addict that couldn't stand to part with his precious device. Then she returned her attention to Naru and answered his question.

"I am."

"Good. I assume you are here to accept it?" God, his arrogant and self-confident behavior made her want to smack him. But of course, this job was a good opportunity (and money was always welcome for an orphan like her), and so she couldn't. Bummer.

"I am," she repeated once again.

"Good. In that case, which hours can you work?" absentmindedly, she noticed that Tall – Lin, Lin, Lin! – begun typing. Is he documenting this conversation?

"It differs from week to week and day to day due to the subjects I chose, but I can always be here at six. If you want me to come over directly after school, I will on some days be here at three, on some at six, but mostly it will be around five."

"Very well. Then we will set your official working hours from six to nine in the evening. When you arrive earlier due to a shorter school day, it will be counted as working overtime and paid accordingly. On Saturdays, you will work from ten in the morning to six in the evening, and Sunday will be your day off – unless, of course, we are on a case. Is that alright with you?"

Mai nodded.

"Then I assume you have brought the contract?"

"Yes, I have it here," Mai said and began to look through her bag, before pulling out a folder with a triumphant sound. "Here."

Naru looked it over, checking if everything was in place, before narrowing his eyes and handing the document over to Lin, who mirrored his actions.

"Mai." Naru's voice was frosty, and it sent a shiver down Mai's spine.

"Y-Yes?" She gulped.

"Where is the signature of your parents? You are fifteen years old, and therefore incapable of signing any kind of contract. Their missing signature is not acceptable."

"It's… impossible for them to sign this." Mai winced at the small pause – she thought she was over their deaths already.

She understood the cycle of life and death, probably better than anybody else. After all, she saw how every single thing on this earth constantly exchanged energy with everything else – whether that was a living being or an object – on a day to day basis. She understood the necessity of it, and that it was what guaranteed the continuation and evolution of life on earth.

At the same time, Mai understood that healers were privileged – they, and they alone, had the ability to interfere in this precious cycle without any negative consequences. Therefore, it was only logical that it came with limitations, which grew with the maturity of the gifted, to ensure that it was used adequately. And naturally, she understood that these limitations meant that not everybody could be saved – that there were some injuries and illnesses that were too severe to heal. Sometimes, the period somebody was supposed to spent on earth was simply already over, or they had spent too much energy and weren't able to recover.

Mai understood that no matter what she did, for these people there was no turning back time, no happy ending.

But still, the fact that even though she tried her best to heal them, the fact that she failed… Failed them, of everybody else on this planet…

"Explain." Naru's sharp voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she quickly shook off the melancholy and longing that was trying to cling to her. Mai put on her happy mask, the one she developed over the years for moments like this, when she had to talk about them, and went to answer Naru. She could feel the impatience already building up within him, as well as the slight curiosity Lin's aura emitted, and noticed absentmindedly that her second sight slipped on unbidden. With a little concentration she turned it off again.

"My parents are dead. My father died when I was five, and my mother died when I was in middle school – I am an emancipated orphan, and I live on my own. That contract is legally acceptable."

"… I see. In that case, I have no problems. Lin?" Did I imagine that, or did Naru actually pause?

"Everything's in order."

"Very well. Taniyama Mai, I hereby welcome you as an employee of SPR, Shibuya Psychic Research, and JSPR, the Japanese Society of Psychic Research. Your paycheck will be paid by the main branch, the British Society of Psychic Research, so don't worry when you see their initials. Any questions so far?"

Mai quickly shook her head no.

"Alright. I think it was obvious, but please refrain from calling me Oliver Davis here in Japan and address me as 'Shibuya Kazuya'. While we aren't on a case, you will do normal secretary work here – filing, receiving the post, sending emails, planning appointments, answering the phone, receiving clients, and providing refreshments from the kitchen when asked for it.

"Should you receive emails, phone calls or post from the BSPR, please redirect them to me or Lin immediately. By the way, how is your English?"

"Acceptable, I guess."

"Meaning?"

"I can hold a normal everyday conservation without much difficulty." Now, Naru smiled a deprecating smile.

"Is that so? In that case, feel free to show me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her brows furrowed at the barely concealed insult Naru threw at her.

"Ah, I apologize. I should have known that I shouldn't expect much from the Japanese standards in foreign languages." He stated with a smirk. Mai begrudgingly noticed that it was accent-free – well, that was to be expected considering that he was born and raised there, but still… She gave an icy smile herself.

"I find that comment very offensive. Please stop insulting Japan. That is not nice. I am able to understand you. You are a jerk. Also, thinking everybody is the same is bad." It certainly wasn't the best English, and there was definitely an accent, but Mai's clumsy sentences proved her earlier statement – she was able to hold an everyday conversation without much difficulty.

"Oh, it seems like you can at least hold a decent conversation – that is more than I expected. We will have to work on your vocabulary, your accent, and – most importantly – the flow of your sentences though, before we can have you taking over the duty of the BSPR-JSPR communication. Very well, it seems adequate enough to have you answering and relaying the calls, at least." Seeing Mai's slightly lost look, he translated it into Japanese.

"You still need to work on your English, but it is good enough that you should be able to receive and redirect calls from Britain, for now. Do you have any problems with the work you are asked to do?"

"No, that seems to be a very fair workload considering that amount of money you are willing to pay."

"Good. By the way, Mai, are you free this weekend?"

"Uhm, I should be. Why?"

"No homework that you won't get finished in time, no other duties?" Naru pressed on as if he hadn't heard Mai's answer.

"No, I don't. I'll be able to finish the homework I got today later, and every homework I receive Friday will be due Tuesday or Wednesday. Why do you ask?"

"Perfect. I want to work you into your work as my assistant. The office stuff is easy enough once it was explained, but for the on-site stuff we need an actual case – and I have already received the perfect one. It is a very easy case, which I have already solved, and doesn't involve an overly harmful spirit.

"We will use this case to show you what to do, since it is relatively harm-free. Today will be used to get down the basics of your office job, including a call to the client in order to make an appointment for Friday. During the appointment, you will witness how an interrogation usually works and make your own notes. We will spend the weekend on site, where you will learn the procedures there – setting up base, safety protocols, general rules, the progression of an investigation, dealing with clients, how to integrate yourself into the team, solving cases and the conclusion, as well as writing up a report afterwards." Mai gulped – that sounded like a lot of work!

"I will give you a packing list, considering that this is your first job, which you can use as a reference for the next cases. Any questions or objections?"

"None." Naru gave a satisfied smirk at that.

"Good. This is the information the client has sent us," he handed her two sheets of paper, "and I want you to copy them into a client profile on your laptop. That will be standard procedure for future cases. Use that time to study the case information, and ask if any questions come up – your vocabulary for paranormal occurrences is obviously still lacking. I will be in my office. Also, please prepare a cup of tea. Bring it to me when it is finished." With this, both Naru and Lin stood up at the same time and entered their respective office.

A slightly stunned Mai looked after them, still sitting on a couch. They are definitely practicing that beforehand.

Thursday, 5.45 pm

Mai grumbled as she typed the information of the client into a special program SPR used. Earlier, maybe five minutes after Naru and Lin reentered their offices, Lin came out again with a silver laptop under his arm. Mai had noticed that as weird, considering that the one he previously carried was black – did he have multiple ones? If yes, what did he need them for?

Her questions were answered quickly afterwards when Lin placed the laptop on her desk silently.

Thursday, 5.15 pm

"Lin-san? What is that?" He didn't answer her, but the look he threw her definitely said 'Are you stupid? This is a laptop.' He then proceeded to log into it – to her surprise, the account was named 'Taniyama Mai' – and started to drone on in his monotonous voice.

"For the sake of uniformity, you will do everything in a certain format and with certain programs. Watch."

He then proceeded to show her where she should type in client information, how to fill out the calendar, which standard template her emails had to follow, which protocols the calls should be done with, how she should sort the post, the way she should file different things – and the apparently most important aspect for Lin – how to do her reports.

He actually spoke during that aspect of his 'lecture', and threw a few glares in as well – and she received a threat.

"If you do your report improperly, leave out important information, conceal knowledge you gained in any way, or use a wrong template, I WILL have you redo the entire thing and make sure to give you enough things for filing that you will regret having ignored my warning. Are we clear?" His dark, monotonous voice, coupled with his imposing stature and his terrifying glare, was enough to intimidate Mai. She didn't even dare to check his aura, afraid of what she would find there.

"Y-yes!"

Thursday, 5.45 pm

Mai looked at the statement the client had sent Naru per mail.

'Hello, my name is Amisako Maiko, and I am a 36-year-old mother of twins.
Lately, my husband and I have been witnessing strange occurrences in our house. We have lived in this house for twelve years already, and it belonged to my parents before they gifted it to me when I married my husband. We cannot explain the things we have been witnessing, especially since they didn't happen before.
The first occurrence was probably about a year ago. We returned from the enrollment ceremony of the middle school the twins started to attend. Upon entering the house, we noticed that the foyer was really cold – we could see our breaths – but the rest of the house was at a normal temperature. We didn't think much about it, however.
That evening, Emi – the older of the twins – said she dreamed of a strange man in her bedroom who was whispering things to her. Eri, on the other hand, claimed to dream of an old woman who told her not to go to school.
After that, there was nothing for a few weeks. Then one night Emi woke up and told my husband that she dreamed of the man holding her hand and taking her somewhere. Eri said she dreamed of Emi disappearing. The two refused to go to school that day, and never brought it up again.
The next time anything happened was probably about half a year later. We didn't keep track of the dates, unfortunately. Eri woke up screaming in the middle of the night and said nobody should ever enter the Miller's house, that it was dangerous. The Miller's house is an old house that once belonged to a married couple, Anna and Max Miller. They were an American couple, which is why I wrote their name the other way around. Anyway, they died a couple of years ago, and a young family moved in recently.
We were planning on going to visit them that evening, as a 'welcome in the neighborhood' kinda thing. Eri made such a fuss that we didn't go. When Emi heard was Eri was screaming, she told her 'don't worry, they will be gone soon'. Two months later the young family moved out. This has happened twice again now, and the house is currently empty.
The reason I am writing to you now is that Eri woke up yesterday, on Monday, screaming "Stay out, stay out, stay gone! Nobody wants you here, nobody needs you here, just stay away! You disgrace of humanity!" at the top of her lungs. Emi once again told her "don't worry, they'll be gone soon. I'll make sure of it' in a soothing voice. Today we received the news that a couple has bought the property and will be moving in a weeks' time.
Please, Mr. Shibuya, you have to help us! We are really creeped out by all of this!
Amisaki Maiko'

Mai sighed as she continued filling out Naru's tedious template while thinking about the case.

Naru said that he has already solved the case and that it was very easy and harmless one. I must admit that this case is nothing like the ones Kei, Michi and I have been solving. The only sign of a ghostly presence is the extreme cold the family noticed about a year ago. The dreams could be signs of either a failed – or a minor – possession, or of a budding psychic. The first dream especially points to a failed possession, where the ghost instead went on to influence the mind of the victim.

The reaction of the girls' points towards that too – they changed their behavior and refused to attend school. The problem is that there is nothing pointing towards that afterwards. The dream where one of the girls is taking away could be the aftermaths of a possession – seeing the ghosts' memories – but that doesn't make sense either… It is more likely for that to have been a pre-cognitive dream. Shared psychic abilities between twins isn't unusual. Then again, it is more likely to have simply been a normal nightmare. The fact that they shared the same dream from different viewpoints is easily explained by the fact that they are twins…

The problem is the Miller's house. That definitely points towards a possession, but… There are no other signs. The things she keeps repeating and the sentence her sister always says… Those are the only things I can definitely pin on a possession.

But that doesn't make sense, again! A year ago, the two ghosts were only able to do a minor or a failed possession, and half a year later it has escalated into a full-blown possession? What the hell?!

Mai sighed and redirected her focus on her task again. She considered calling Michiru and Keiko, but what was the point? When they solved a case, it was always a straight out haunting or a possession that was solved with Michiru channeling the spirit. Besides, Naru said that he has already solved the case.

If this is a 'simple' case, then I don't want to know what a 'complicated' case would be…

Suddenly, a shout echoed through the office.

"Mai! Where's the tea I asked for?"

Oops…

"Coming right up!" She tried to inject as much cheer as she could into her voice, hoping to mollify her boss, and hastily went into the kitchen to prepare the tea.

Once there, she leafed through the cabinets trying to find some kind of variety. In the end, she only found a few tea bags – tea bags! – of chamomile tea, and a can of loose leaves with the inscription Earl Grey. Sighing, she resigned herself to making the Earl Grey – it's not like there was any real alternative. After a bit more looking around, she located the tea kettle, a spoon, and the cups.

She set the tea kettle on the herd and went towards Lin's office, knocking twice.

"Lin-san? I'm making Earl Grey for Naru, do you want a cup too?"

"No," came the short answer through the closed door.

Oh well, at least I tried.

Then she went over to Naru's door, knocked, and asked: "Do you drink your tea with milk, Naru?"

"No, just prepare it normally."

"Alright," came her cheery reply to his icy tone.

He's British, that means 'prepare it normally' means the typical British way - lemon and sugar.

Back in the kitchen, she tried to locate a tray, when she noticed that the water was about to boil and quickly took it off. Mai took out two cups, added the tea leaves, and filled them with the heated water, before letting everything steep for exactly three minutes.

Then she went to search the fridge. Ideally, she would serve the Earl Grey with madeleines, but they didn't seem to have any. They also didn't seem to have lemons… But she did find sugar in the cabinet over the fridge.

Slightly annoyed, she put the sugar jar on the tray – she didn't know how much Naru wanted – grabbed two extra spoons, and made her way out of the kitchen after removing the tea leaves.

Stopping by her desk she put her cup on the table and added a few spoons of sugar which she quickly stirred with a spoon, before making her way towards Naru's office.

Thursday, 6 pm

Entering Naru's office with a tray in her hands required some delicate shifting of said tray while making sure that she didn't spill any tea, but she managed to arrive safely at Naru's desk.

"Here's your tea, Naru," she said with a smile, gently placing the cup on his desk. "Do you want some sugar?"

"No. You didn't knock." He stared at her accusingly.

"Well excuse me!" Mai exclaimed with narrowed eyes, one hand placed on her hip. "Unfortunately, I only have two hands. If I want to balance the tray – which the tea is placed on – without spilling anything, delicate handling is required. Knocking – which would undoubtedly shake my arm and thus the tray – is definitely not possible." Naru raised an eyebrow at her biting tone.

"Lin is able to," he replied calmly, amused at how easily she was riled up.

"Well, I am not Lin."

"Obviously." Mai narrowed her eyes even further.

"Well then, why don't you have Lin prepare your tea if he does it so much better?" Naru took in a breath, wanting to reply, but Mai cut him short.

"While we are on the topic of preparing tea – why the hell is there bagged tea in the cabinets? Also, why is there only some kind of no-name brand of Earl Grey there? And – judging from the fact that there is only loose-leaved Earl Grey – where in God's name is the lemon?" Mai's breathing was slightly labored from her outburst, while Naru's second eyebrow shot up to accompany the first.

"Why are you looking for lemons?" Now it was Mai's turn to stare at Naru incredulous.

"Why do you think, Mr. Genius? For the tea, of course!"

"For the tea?" Mai just groaned in exasperation.

"Yes, the tea, Mr. Supposed-Genius! The typical British way of drinking Earl Grey: lemon and sugar! The Americans take milk and sugar, but I find that it dampens the taste. Also, there were no madeleines, and where the hell is the variety?! Bagged Chamomile and Earl Grey? Where the hell are the other integral tea sorts?"

"Earl Grey is drunken with lemon and sugar?"

"Of course it is, you narcissistic idiot! And you didn't thank me for the tea! More like, you haven't even tasted it yet!"

Choosing to ignore her outburst, Naru calmly asked: "Is there something you still need, Mai?"

"Yes, a thanks!"

"Well," he stated with a smirk, "have fun waiting." With that, he returned to his documents, occasionally taking a sip of his tea, and watching Mai out of the corners of his eyes.

After a full ten minutes, Mai finally exploded.

"You uncorrectable, narcissistic, conceited jerk! At least have the decency to say 'thank you'!" With that, she stalked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Amused, Naru noticed that she made sure not to slam it even in her anger. Hmm, she is interesting. But seriously, he took another sip from the cup, her tea is delicious. Lemon, sugar and Madeleines, huh… Maybe I should send Lin shopping. But more importantly… I wonder how often I can get her to bring me tea before she completely explodes? Such an interesting girl…

Thursday, 8.55 pm

It was now exactly five minutes before Mai could leave, and she was really looking forward to it. Don't get her wrong, she actually quite liked her new job, but the amount of filing, typing and documenting she had to do today was no joke. Not to mention the amount of tea she had to brew for her uncorrectable boss.

She didn't even know that it was possible for one man to drink that much tea. During the last three hours, she had heard the phrase "Mai, tea." Exactly eight times. Eight! That meant around every twenty minutes, give or take a few. Considering that it took her about seven to eight minutes to prepare his cup, that was impressive.

Not to mention that he hadn't thanked her once.

He did say that she made a good cup, though, which mollified her.

Anyway, another five minutes and then she was free. All she wanted to do was to sit here and do nothing before she could pack up, bid a cheerful goodbye to Lin and Naru, and leave.

Of course, we are talking about narcissistic Naru-chan here – Mai was naïve to think that he would let her go just like that.

"Mai," she almost expected 'tea' to follow afterwards, "come into my office, please."

Great, if that wasn't ominous, then I don't know what is.

Maybe he's firing me on my first day? That would be horrible… Maybe I shouldn't have exploded on him as I did with the tea earlier… Oh my god, getting fired on my first day would be so embarrassing…

Thursday, 8.57 pm

"Mai, sit down." Naru motioned at the seat situated in front of his imposing desk. "What do you think?"

"What… Do I think?" Mai looked at Naru questioningly, hesitancy and confusion obvious in her tone.

"About the case, Mai," Naru replied annoyed.

"Oh. Eh…" She took a breath and focused. "I think it is either a minor possession or budding psychics. The problem is that there isn't enough proof for either – and neither one fits on all the different dreams. Ehm, the occurrence with the cold floor is highly relevant, since it is the only definite proof of any ghostly influence. Yet again, that only happened once. The only thing that can definitely be pinned on a possession is the Miller's house… But then again, neither twin showed any other typical signs of possessions, apart from the dreams of course. Then there is the problem of the sudden increase in the strength of the ghosts… That's really atypical.

"All in all, this is a very confusing case."

"… I see."

A long pause stretched between the two of them, before Mai couldn't stand it anymore.

"Well?" Naru simply raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what?" He replied calmly.

"Are you going to let me know whether I'm right, or are you just keeping it to yourself?!" Mai felt her patience stretching thin, and she desperately tried to stop it from snapping.

"And why should I do that?" Came the cold reply. "For someone with your amount of experience with paranormal happenstances it should be easily ascertainable." At this moment, Mai swore that she actually heard the 'snap' of her patience stretching too thin. When thinking back to this event later, she will blame her anger for missing the fact that Oliver Davis knew things about her that she hadn't told him.

"Excuse you, you unbearable, arrogant, narcissistic jerk of a scientist! Not all of us have an unmeasurable high IQ coupled with vast experience in the field as well as more time to figure this case out!" Mai was positively seething at this point. Naru looked at her unimpressed and threw her a cold smile.

"Are you saying that if you had more time you could figure this out?"

"That… I… That's not the point! Why don't you just tell me, stupid scientist?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Naru began in a condescending tone. "Your brain needs more exercise. We wouldn't want it to atrophy from lack of usage, would we?"

"Just tell me!"

"Fine." Naru sighed, acting as if this was the most tedious task he ever had to do. Mai's eyes started twitching in rage, but she was mollified when Naru started his explanation.

"To start, we have to take a look at when everything started to happen for the first time. According to Amisaki-san, that was when they returned from enrolling their children at the local middle school, Goko Middle School. If you take a look at the occurrence, namely the extreme cold centered in one place that didn't affect the rest of the house nor happened ever again, you quickly get the picture of a spiritual awakening – in this case, of two ghosts that have been asleep for around a hundred years.

"The dreams of the twins are what proves it to be two ghosts – most likely an old married couple. This couple apparently has something against the Miller's house and didn't want the twins to attend school.

"This leaves two possibilities – harmful spirits or protecting spirits. Normally, if you have a dream where somebody was taken away, you'd think about a harmful spirit. On the other hand, the act of 'taking someone away from something' can be protective and helpful for someone, possibly preventing harm.

"Due to those dreams, the two refused to go to school that day – and nothing happened. The client even wrote that it 'wasn't brought up again', which leads me to the conclusion that the interference of the ghosts most likely was an act of prevention, not harm. It starts getting strange when one of the children dreams about the Miller's house and starts screaming that it's dangerous. That behavior isn't explainable with dreams or reliving memories – it was most likely a short possession.

"The behavior of the other twin – saying, 'don't worry, they will be gone soon' supports that hypothesis. It was most likely a double possession, with the man taking the other twin. However, they didn't do anything – merely prevented the family from going to the house. What the man said could be taken as a threat or something comparable, but it is more likely that he was only trying to reassure the woman, and that something else caused the family to move away.

"The problem is what happened on Monday." Here Naru paused, and Mai briefly recollected what the letter stated. 'Stay out, stay out, stay gone! Nobody wants you here, nobody needs you here, just stay away! You disgrace of humanity!' 'don't worry, they'll be gone soon. I'll make sure of it.' That sure sounds sinister…

"That doesn't work with my hypothesis. Therefore, I did a bit of research. In 1886, both the Amisaki's house and the Miller's house were already standing. Amisaki Hana was a fourteen-year-old child living there at the time, who had two younger sisters. Amisaki Nana, her third sister – who, by the way, is Amisaki Maiko-san's great-grandmother – wasn't born yet.

"Amisaki Hana attended Goko Middle School and had a boyfriend, Chikae Yoshitoshi, who attended a different Middle school due to the separation between males and females. A bit of digging caused me to stumble upon a certain… accident. I won't go into detail, but apparently, Hana was bullied – almost to the point of suicide. When Yoshitoshi found out, he set a scheme into play. I don't know what he did exactly, but the ringleader - Oyama Shiho, who lived in what is now known as the 'Miller's house' – was arrested by the police, and never seen again. Her followers were punished severely. Can you connect the missing dots?" Mai thought about it a bit and nodded.

"The ghostly couple is Yoshitoshi and Hana. When the twins enrolled in Goko middle school, something most likely happened – maybe someone tried to bully them or something. That caused the awakening of our ghostly couple, who tried to protect their great-grand-nieces. But they most likely aren't very powerful, considering that they were resting and don't have a grudge or something, and are therefore only echoes – they are stuck reliving their trauma that almost made Hana commit suicide. The phrases they say probably come from there – the 'I'll make sure of it' is from Yoshitoshi's scheme, the 'stay out, you disgrace of humanity' is most likely Hana trying to get away from Shiho, and the dream where one of the twins is taken away… Eh… "

"…Is probably something Yoshitoshi did to protect Hana at some point. You are correct, I'm impressed. The Miller's house is where it all happened, and every time someone new moves in, the echoes relive their trauma."

"Then, what do we do?" Mai wouldn't admit it, but she was really impressed by Naru. It really sounded like he had already solved the entire case. From her own investigations, she knew how much work that could be – and he made it seem so effortlessly!

"There isn't much to do. Echoes are harmless and easy to handle. Usually, we wouldn't even bring our equipment for a case like this, much less actually accept it, but seeing how it is the perfect practice case for you, we will do everything we'd do for a large-scale investigation. As for making the echoes move on… All you have to do is remind them that they are already dead. In our case, we managed to find a family portrait from 1934. The couple was 62 years old at that point, and it will surely help to get them to move on. If not, Lin will attempt to call the spirit of Hana's mother, but that has only a fifty-fifty chance of working. Should all of that not work, we will speak with them – when we remind them of the ending, they should pass on peacefully." Mai smiled.

"I'm glad. Thank you for telling me, Naru." Naru turned around in his chair, redirecting his gaze to some documents on his table.

"Don't get used to it. I do not like to talk about what I presume is the solution to the case unless I can prove it. That would be unscientific. Next time when I tell you 'No', don't bother trying to persuade me – the answer will remain the same."

"Alright. Thank you for telling me even though you didn't want to, Naru-chan."

"I just thought it might be helpful if you weren't running around like the hopeless idiot you are on your first case, Mai." Naru smirked.

"Hmpf!" Mai turned around, nose high up in the air. "Say what you want, Naru-chan… It doesn't change that I'm grateful, Oliver." With that, she made to leave the office. When she was around to close the door, she heard Naru's voice stopping her.

"Don't forget to take the laptop with you – I need my employees available at all times, and seeing how you do not have a mobile phone, contacting you is highly inconvenient and inefficient right now."

Mai smiled, closed the door, and threw a 'Yes' over her shoulder. Then she went to pack up, and left for home, all the while smiling.

Say what you want, Oliver Davis, and try to hide behind your icy demeanor all you want… in the end, you do care.

Of course, on Friday she would take all of that back – the amount of work Naru had her do reminded her too much of a sadistic slave driver.

"Damn you Naru!"

AN:

Word count: 7896 words

I apologize for any mistakes, this chapter is unedited.

And done! That took way longer than I expected. Anyway, here's the next chapter! Not much action, but I hope that it was enjoyable anyway.

Next chapter the actual 'Investigation' will take place, and Mai will meet the SPR irregulars with the first 'proper' case: File 2: The Dollhouse. Basically, next chapter will be Mai's introduction into proper ghost hunting à la SPR-style.

I apologize for the long wait for this chapter, and I won't promise anything about when the next will be done.

Poll:
I'll leave it open for a few more chapters, until maybe chapter four or so, because it won't have any relevance until then. Right now MaRu is in the lead, though MaLi isn't that much behind.

For Akahana Mai readers:
So, I have finally begun rewriting the lost chapter. I honestly don't know how long it will take, but I expect it to be up in a week. Thank you, everyone, for the kind reviews.

I would like to thank everybody who reviewed, followed or favorited this story! Reviews feed my inspiration and motivation - I'm always very thankful when you take your time to review!

Honestly guys... 39 reviews, 59 Favourites, and 94 Followers on the first chapter... This is amazing.

Shoutout to: Nagisa Maeda, Guest, kimaw31, sleonard, NxM, CaitHawke4Ever, Joys, Celline The Sleeping Beauty, chocoholic202, Mythelfa, ChoralMusic, Umiron, Guest, Rukia-Chan, RichkeyZero, Guest, Guest, Guest, Lady Angel Sanada Doji Date, blue hummming bird, Guest, DarkNekoGreece, Damaged Forest Spirit, Guest, ForeverTwistedLove8814, calmpiano, Guest, 2017, xSapphirexRosesxFanx, LittleBunnyFufu13, jcastle1, LukaLover, darklovelysecrets, DragonQueenFire, yukina140292, pastelcoralamethyst, Kallen21, DALucifer13, Umiron

QUESTION CORNER:
Guest: I'm pretty sure they will play an interesting role in this story ^^

Joys: That I can promise - the Japanese issue will be done away with soon :)

Guest: I'll do my best, but unfortunately I'm not a very experienced writer and I changed a few things in her past, so I'm not sure that there won't be OOC-ness, but I'll do my best! Considering that I changed how much experience she has with the paranormal, at least that will change. For the Mary-Sue-ness... I agree there is a bit of that, but there are actually quite a few limitations about Mai and her powers that I haven't touched on yet.

Umiron: Ehmm... Maybe? If it would be both, it'd most likely be little moments/advances/attraction with both, but neither becoming official... I think.

Until next time,
One Autumn Leaf

Edited: 19.09.2018