Hello Everyone! Thank you for clicking on my story. This is my first ever Fanfiction story and I hope you like it. I am trying to improve how I handle constructive criticism. I don't respond well to mean comments so please be nice in a constructive "I want to help you" sort of way. This is a very long prologue to my story but I wanted to hit all of the background and establish an emotional tie; it's basically a summary of the manga with embellishments and emotional depictions of Mai. More to come soon!

***The first few chapter are long because I felt like it was the foundation and background how SPR ended and the 4 years progressed. It's long and I hope it doesn't scare you off!

PROLOGUE

My name is Mai Taniyama and I work for Shibuya Psychic Research, SPR for short, and my boss is Kazuya Shibuya. Kazuya Shibuya is only an alias, and he is really the famous Oliver Davis; a powerful PK user and renowned paranormal researcher. By the age of 16 he had an honorary doctorate from a university in London, where he lives with his family. He is incredibly smart, talented, good looking, and has an ego to match. I call him Naru, short for narcissist. He started the branch of SPR in Japan when he was only 17, which is when we first met.

When I was in high school, SPR was investigating an old school house next to my high school. After school, I would stay behind and tell ghost stories with my friends. Naru walked in on us one day and introduced himself as Kazuya Shibuya. When we asked what year he was he only gave us his age. My friends thought he went to our school and that he was our senpai, but I had never seen him before. I thought it was weird how he avoided directly answering the question by saying his age and not his school year. I also noticed how fake his smile was. It never reached his eyes, and I knew that this was a person with secrets and trust issues. But I didn't think much of it because I thought that I would never see him again anyways.

Soon after, curiosity got the best of me and I wandered into the old school house and caused a scene. The shelves fell over and crushed the camera that was filming. I would have been crushed too had it not been for Naru's assistant, Lin. Lin pushed me out of the way and was injured due to the accident. I took his place because I could not afford to pay back Naru for the camera I broke.

I assisted him along with others to solve the haunting of the old school house. There was a monk named Houshou Takigawa who plays bass in a band. His family owns the temple on Mt. Kouya, but his passion laid in music rather than being a full time monk. There was Ayako Matsuzaki who was a priestess and doctor at her family's hospital. She was a red head with a fiery personality to match. We were joined by Masako Hara, a medium who has her own tv show, and John Brown who was a priest from Australia. Later on, a boy around my age named Yasu joined our team as well after we solved a case at his high school.

After solving the school house case, Naru called the school one day and offered me a part time job. I immediately agreed to work for him. He continued to call upon the odd ball group of spiritualists for future cases. Naru was such a slave driver, a jerk, and I swear he had a tea addiction. Sometimes I thought he only hired me to make him tea. He paid me very well and I enjoyed my job, except for his tea demands.

I came to find out later that the camera was insured and I was practically free labor. I was mad about that when I found out, but considering everything that happened because of that day, I was grateful for my constant clumsiness and bad luck. I was blessed with a well paying job and close friends whom I never would have met under normal circumstances.

As we continued working on cases together, these people slowly became my family. I'm an orphan, so I never really had many people who looked out for me. My father died when I was young and my mother passed away when I was in middle school. One of my teachers had taken me in while I finished middle school. When I went to high school, I moved out and found a small apartment. My landlord was very nice and she understood my situation. I recieved aid from the government and my school to be able to provide and support myself. I had been alone and independent for so long that it took me a while to realize how important all of these people had become to me. I never expected to have such a wonderful group of close friends who were like my family.

Monk was like a father figure to me, and Ayako was like a mother. They both continually checked up on me and made sure I was doing okay. Many would swear that they acted like a bickering married couple. Monk would make fun of Ayako, and Ayako would hit him in the head with her purse and act as fiery as her red hair. Masako was like an older sister. It took a long time for us to get along. She knew all along who Naru really was, and she blackmailed him into going on dates and spending time with her. She had a crush on him and she was jealous of me. Naru called me by my first name and would only talk to her formally and always addressed her as Ms. Hara. For the longest time she hated me and we never got along, but somewhere along the way things changed. We weren't fast friends, but there was definitely an improvement.

John became an older brother to me. He was protective and he cared about me. He always had good advice and was a great listener. Yasu was another brother to me, but had the opposite personality of John. John was kind and gentle, but Yasu was a troublemaker. He liked to pull pranks and joke around. He was very intelligent student and talented researcher, don't get me wrong. But sometimes I think he used his smarts for evil rather than good. He especially like to tease Monk about being his lover. He was hilarious and we became best friends. He tutored me and we hung out a lot together when we weren't on cases.

It took a while, but Lin also became part of my family. He was more like the quiet uncle who watched from afar and only contributed to the family when necessary. I always had the feeling that Lin never liked me. I mean I did cause his accident that landed him in the hospital. Later I found out that he was Chinese and he disliked Japanese people. I was hurt by his prejudice and I confronted him. We talked it out and I think that was where our relationship started to change. I think he started to respect me more, and that respect turned into friendship.

And finally, Naru. I do consider Naru to be a part of my family; my SPR family that is. I don't know how to classify him, and here is why. I am in love with Naru. I know, it sounds crazy. I complain and yell at him, I call him a jerk and we constantly fight. He calls me stupid and he belittles my intelligence. He orders me around and demands tea. He never says thank you, never really smiles, and can be the rudest and most intimidating person you've ever met.

But he gave a a well paying job and a family. He trusts my feelings and my dreams. He cares about everyone's safety and although he may not show it, he cares for his friends. He's not as cold hearted as he tries to make everyone believe. At Yasu's school, he reversed the death curse onto the students. Or so I had first thought. He had Lin make a hitogata of every student, direct the curse to the hitogata, and successfully save all of the students. Naru used is PK to destroy an abandoned God, and almost died trying to destroy it. He used his PK before that to find Masako when she was taken by the monster Urado. He's saved me countless times from my own clumsiness and bad luck. He's tutored me in english and other studies even though he makes fun of my grades and intelligence. And would he continue to drink my tea if he didn't like it? I complain about his tea addiction, but my heart lifts every time someone offers to make him tea and he only wants to drink mine. How can i classify him as a brotherly figure when I'm in love with him?

Naru alse helped me discover that I have latent psychic abilities. I have feelings of intuition that Naru called my gut, or my "animal" instinct. I continued to develop my abilities such as dreams, astral projection, and I also had a spirit guide. My spirit guide looked exactly like Naru, but acted slightly different. He was still smart and good looking, but he smiled and was kind. I has always thought that my crush on Naru had projected itself into my dream abilities and caused my spirit guide to take on the form of Naru. I loved when he smiled and I always wished that the real Naru would smile. But I knew that he wouldn't be my Naru if he was any different. I loved him just the way he was, and that my feelings caused my spirit guide to only look like him. But that was not the case unfortunately.

A few weeks after our case with the God, Naru was released from the hospital. He was still weak but he was well enough to go home. He was under strict orders from the doctor not to strain himself, which Lin saw to. Lin forced Naru to close the office by calling his parents and Madoka. Madoka has been Naru's teacher when he was young. I had met Madoka previously and I loved her, but feared her at the same time. Naru barely listened to Lin, but Madoka was a different story. If she told him to shut up he shut up. I knew Naru respected her, but I think he was also secretly afraid of her as well.

Madoka arrived and took over a few cases while Naru was on bed rest. Naru's parents had wanted to come, but the professor was busy with his own work load and Naru's mother had recently has her appendix removed and was not allowed to travel. Regardless, Madoka put him in his place and Naru listened. I worked a few cases with Madoka but because of exams she let me take some time off to study and spend some days working on filing rather than case work. I relayed any dreams I had to her but they were few and far in between.

A week or so after my exams, I was on summer break. There were no current cases and I had a few days off due to no work in the office. It had been a few weeks since I had dreamed, but one night I was pulled into one. I saw Naru walking along the dark streets of Tokyo late a night. He seemed to be walking with no particular place in mind, and in no particular hurry either. He came to a dark intersection with no cars. The crossing light wasn't working and he paused for a moment. He looked both ways before taking a step out into the road. As if on cue, a car came speeding around the corner.

By the time Naru saw it, it was too late to react. I watched as the car ran into Naru and he flew over the hood. I heard the sickening crunch of the car making contact with his body and the impact of bones and glass breaking. I screamed.

I watched as Naru lay lifeless on the dark street. I screamed his name and I was sobbing, I just couldn't believe what I had seen. There was no way that I saw Naru die. He was on bed rest and there is no way Madoka would allow him to walk the streets of Tokyo in his weakened condition.

I continue to scream and cry as I watched the car that had hit Naru back up. A woman got out of the car and looked panicked. She stumbled in her high heels and knelt down to see if Naru was alive. I could tell that she must have been drunk driving and that she was way above the alcohol limit. I knew by her reaction that Naru was dead, and I only sobbed harder. I watched as she staggered and lifted his body into the trunk of her car. She frantically looked around and stumbled back to her drivers seat. The last thing I saw through my tears was the red tail lights of her cars growing smaller as she sped away.

I had felt a presence behind me at the moment and I turned to see Naru standing there looking horrified and devastated. My breath stopped because I had never seen his expression so disheveled and emotional. He pulled me into a fierce hug and let me cry. When I was able to breathe again, he explained what I had just seen. I learned that I had not witnessed Naru's death, but the death of his older twin brother, Eugene Davis. That was also when I discovered that Naru was in fact, Oliver Davis.

Eugene, otherwise known as Gene, had been hit by a car when he was traveling abroad in Japan. Oliver had experienced Eugene's death himself back in London at the same moment it happened. Oliver and Eugene are a complimentary pair of psychic twins. Oliver has an enormous amount of PK and Eugene was a perfect medium. Gene balanced Oliver's PK by absorbing and releasing the extra amount produced, which kept Oliver stable. Without Gene, Oliver's PK is life threatening due to the enormous amounts of energy used with no way to keep and restore balance.

Gene's medium abilities allowed him to communicate with spirits, astral project, and absorb Oliver's excessive PK and communicate telepathically with him. Due to their connection, Oliver felt his death. I was absolutely horrified and heartbroken. I thought it was disturbing to witness, but having experienced and saw his death through Gene's eyes must have been soul crushing. It was that night that Oliver decided to come to Japan to find his brother's body.

He apologized profusely; he never intended for me to see this. He explained that it was the 1 year anniversary of his death and that he and Naru had become incredibly emotional. He was waiting for his idiot scientist of a brother to find him already so he could pass over. He had been with Oliver since his death but he couldn't reach him. He knew how Naru was constantly pouring over any information he could find and how he was constantly searching. Since Gene's death broke the connection that they had, he could no longer telepathically communicate with Naru.

However, when I met Naru, Gene recognized my underlying medium powers. I didn't know they existed but he could sense them under the surface. He was able to break into my dreams and assist me on cases. He was afraid to tell me his true identity for fear that I would quit or tell Naru. He didn't want to miss the opportunity of trying to help Naru and ruining my friendship with Naru by being placing me in the middle of such a situation. At that moment I knew I had to help him. He has helped me realize my powers, solve cases and save lives. I couldn't bear to think that Gene was suffering in limbo and Naru living with survivors guilt and quietly suffering.

Gene agreed to let me help him, but I had to promise not to tell Naru. He couldn't watch his brother use me to find him. I in turn, couldn't allow either to suffer more than they already had. Gene had taken my hand and allowed me to finish the vision. I saw the car pull up to a large lake in the darkness. I watched in horror as she dumped the body in the middle of the lake and piled rocks on top of him to keep him down. I steeled my resolve and promised myself that I would reunite Gene and Naru.

The next few nights after that initial dream, Gene and I met in the astral plane to talk. I learned that he and Naru were once orphans as well. They had been in an orphanage in Japan, but were adopted by the Davis' around the age of 6, and moved to London. Gene had always been the outgoing twin and Naru the subdued twin. Gene was popular in school with the ladies and had lots of friends. Naru had always been the book worm and disliked girls because he felt that they only liked him for his looks. He considered himself undateable. Gene shared a lot of personal information on Naru with me. He knew that I was in love with Naru and my curiosity flamed.

Gene told me all about their childhood, London, cases he and Naru worked on together, and that Naru really is a narcissist when it comes to his brains; I learned so much and I felt closer to Naru. I also realized a lot as well. I realized why Naru couldn't read kanji - because he is Japanese but lived in England. He drank so much tea because he was British, and it was probably a stress coping mechanism. He closed himself in his office to research and find his brother. I realized that everytime Naru looked in the mirror and I made a joke about his good looks, that he was thinking something different entirely. Everytime he looked in the mirror, he didn't see himself, he saw Gene. And without Gene to absorb his PK, he probably felt useless when everyone else used their spiritual abilities, and that Lin was there to protect him from using his abilities.

Fortunately when I returned to the office I had had time to control my emotions, and when I saw Naru, I didn't give anything away. If he noticed anything, he didn't mention it. When he was well enough to continue cases, Gene helped me in my dreams to decipher what I saw. He also started helping me expand my abilities. I still got hurt due to my clumsiness and stroke of bad luck, but I was feeling myself grow spiritually stronger. I learned to block spirits from my mind, and to better control entering and leaving dreams. I practiced astral projecting and I was able to successfully bring solid objects into the astral plane like I did with Masako in the Urado case. I learned from Gene that although I wasn't a perfect medium, I was very close. I was surprised to hear this. He said my empathy and personality did wonders when it came to the spirits; they felt at ease and that they could confide in me. Unfortunately when it came to evil ones, they wanted to possess me, but Gene said I can't have the good without the bad, I can only learn to contain it.

Naru and Lin had both noticed my powers expand and thought that it came with time and use. Well they weren't wrong, but I didn't tell them why they were growing. I didn't tell them anything; until one fateful night.

One night we had been driving back from a case out in the middle of nowhere when a large storm had suddenly appeared. The rain flooded the roads and it was nearly impossible to see anything through the sheets of rain. The lightning blinded us and the thunder deafend our ears. Lin had seen a sign for a camp and he decided to pull off and travel up to the mountain side camp. Monk followed the van and we came to some cabins in the woods. We decided to spend the night in the cabin. If anyone came by and accused us of breaking and entering we would explain the situation. If they had witnessed the storm, they would understand.

Well that night turned into a sleepless one. We had stumbled upon a haunted summer camp. I learned through my dreams that a bus full of children has slipped off the muddy mountainside and a landslide buried their bus alive. No one ever found them, and the childrens' spirits had started to warp into something evil. I was able to convince them to move on, but not without a struggle.

Fortunately the case only lasted one night. By morning the storm had cleared and we decided to leave. As we were about to leave, I felt a pulling sensation. I ran away from the group as they yelled an chased after me. I ran through the woods not knowing where exactly I was going, but that I couldn't stop until I got there. I ran for what felt like an hour until I came across a clearing. I stumbled out of the trees and saw a large lake that I had seen in my dreams; in my nightmares. I knew immediately what I had just found. The rest of SPR stumbled out of the forest after me and demanded to know why I had run off. Naru walked up to me with such a glare. I turned around and he stopped in his tracks when he saw the tears streaming down my face. I could feel my consciousness slipping and I said what I had to, to let him know. "Oliver, he's here." Then the world faded to black.

When I passed out, I immediately went to the astral plane. Gene was there waiting. We looked at eachother and we knew that this was the last time we would see one another. We cried as we laughed and hugged. We talked for what felt like hours. Gene had not been able to reach me due to either the storm interference or the children. He wasn't entirely sure which type of electrical wave had separated his connection to reach me. But he knew that if I was able to help an entire bus on children pass on by myself, that I didn't need him anymore. I didn't want him to leave but I knew that it was time. Naru had found him. He told me to tell Naru everything, and for him to stop mourning and live his life. Gene also told me not to give up, which I assumed that he meant my abilities. We said our final goodbyes and I watched him disappear into the golden light.

When I woke up, I was back in one of the cabins. Ayako told me I had been passed out for almost a day and a half. She also told me that Naru had told them who he was and that Madoka and Naru's parents were here. The police and a forensic diving team were combing the lake for Gene's body. Naru arrived not too long after I woke up, and I told him everything. He sat in stoic silence as I finished imparting Gene's final words to him. He then told me that he was closing SPR and returning to England. I would receive a hefty severance package and that he would provide any references needed to another job if required. He left the cabin without a goodbye, and then it was my turn to sit there in silence.

I don't know how long I sat there, but I suddenly got up and ran outside. Somehow I knew he was at the lake and I ran through the forest once again. How could I have not seen this coming? He only came to Japan to find his brother. His life was in London not Japan. He wouldn't stay. I was so focused on reuniting Naru with gene that I didn't imagine what would happen afterwards.

I burst out of the woods and shouted for Naru. I saw him standing at the end of the water. They had found Gene and had already packed up his body. The police were talking to Lin, Madoka, and Naru's parents but I didn't stop to say my condolences. I ran straight up to Naru. I had to tell him.

"Naru!" I yelled, while trying to breathe from running so hard. He didn't turn around, but he did acknowledge me. "Yes, Mai?" "I felt my desperation increase as I said, "Please! Don't leave! We need you. I need you!" "Mai, I found my brother. You know that was the only reason why I came to Japan. It's time for me to leave. I told you I wouldn't leave you without pay, you will be compensated for my departure and you'll find another job." "Naru this isn't about the money! I could care less about that. Please don't leave! I love you!"

At the last part of my speech, he froze. I could see his shoulders stiffen and he slowly turned around. He looked shocked but quickly went back to his stoic face. "Mai, I have lied to all of you about who I really am. You know nothing about me, and my life is back in England." I didn't know what to say. I knew him better than he thought I did. I knew how diligent and hardworking he was, that he was a kind person behind that facade he had. He cared and behind his shyness was a person who was hurt and covered it up with work and a sharp tongue. He loved tea and research. And as much as he thought he was alone, he wasn't. He had SPR. He had me.

Rather than saying what I thought I panicked and stumbled over my words. "But Naru, I… I love you." He paused once more and then said, "Me? Or Gene?"

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to respond. Gene? I'm not in love with Gene. I'm in love with the man who demands to drink my tea. The man who asks what my instincts are telling me or if I dreamed about a case. I'm in love with the man who hid behind his office door pouring over research to find someone he loved. I'm in love with the man who gave me a job, a purpose, a place to belong.

He must have considered my silence as an answer. He walked past me and quietly said, "Goodbye, Mai." I stood there not knowing what to do. I just poured my heart out to someone who rejected my feelings and who I was never going to see again. I felt like I was losing my family all over again. I don't know how long I stood there. Ayako eventually came to get me, and I vaguely remember walking back to the car and riding back to the city. I vaguely remember Monk dropping me off at my apartment. My mind was in distress. All I truly remember or could even think about was one simple phrase.

"Me? Or Gene?"