A/N: Literally just finished reading the manga like, 8hrs ago and this happened … Yeah. I felt really painfully unfulfilled after I finished it, so I decided to fix it. Or something. I dunno xD Also sorry for all the prologue exposition in this chapter; not a whole lot happens here unfortunately ... Coming chapters should be more event-ful, promise!

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FROM THE END OF THE MANGA. If you don't know the ending, and don't want to know before you finish reading it, then don't read this fic. Please. x3

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Chapter 1, Case 1: Same Old Same Old

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Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! (1)

"SPR, how can I help?" Taniyama Mai murmured under her breath, as if she were practicing actually picking up the phone. Even after everything she had learned before Naru and Lin had returned to England ... Once they'd come back nothing had really changed; the brunette felt that this was a safe assessment even if they had only been back for a week. She still couldn't answer the phone, she still didn't look at the mail unless Lin had sorted through it first … Madoka had even argued on her behalf a bit, but to no avail; they were stuck in their ways. It only bothered her a little; at this point it was more like they didn't trust her to do the job right than it was that they were keeping secrets from her or anything. Not that she had speculated they were keeping secrets from her when they really had been anyway - so really, it was the same as before.

However, since she had learned that Naru was a college student – in fact, now he sometimes had to travel back to England, and she assumed it was to attend classes – she had … Well, for most of the time Naru and Lin had been gone, though she wouldn't admit it to anyone … Mai had been a bit depressed. It wasn't that she felt inferior or anything (though she'd be lying if she said she didn't a tiny bit) but … Well, figuring things out wasn't exactly her strong suit …

At first, without the office to go to constantly after classes, she'd tried to regress to her old patterns. Namely, staying out with her friends for as long as she could before eventually retreating to her apartment.

The only problem was, well … Honestly, she had realized how much time she'd been spending at SPR, but she hadn't realized the effect it had on her friends at school. Mai had basically gone to class, gone to the office, gone home, slept, did homework, rinsed and repeated every day except weekends or times she had needed to be on leave from school to work on a case with Naru and everyone. And unfortunately, that had alienated her from her friends a lot more than she thought it would have; not that she'd had many to begin with but once they had started wanting to spend less and less time with her outside of class ... she had eventually just stopped asking.

Not that she blamed them she supposed; she had sort of been ignoring them in lieu of her part time job for a year now. If they weren't comfortable hanging around her, then that wasn't their fault. It still bothered her a bit when she sat down and thought about it – so she just tried not to do that. Madoka had kept some hours for for the office while Naru and Lin were away, but she had shooed Mai off more than once telling her that she'd still be paid the same; just go outside and enjoy the nice weather before it was gone. Mai knew she was trying to be kind, but honestly the brunet would've preferred having the security blanket the office afforded her day in and day out.

She'd gone to visit Ayako and Bou-san (2) and even Masako a few times but … She felt like she was being selfish and a burden, only going around them because she was lonely ... So instead, Mai decided to do something a little more constructive with her time. When Madako shuffled her out of the office early (which happened more often than not), she had started walking home as slowly as possible; going the long way, she realized one day that she was always passing the public library. And one day, on a whim, she decided to stop and browse around. At first she was looking for something to read, but she quickly realized that honestly, she wasn't interested in fiction at all ... And a few hours later later she realized she had pulled down a few books about supernatural phenomena and was reading them. With a lot of interest, actually.

Originally what drew her attention was a title that talked about Okiku and the Well, which made her think of the case they had taken with Ayami and her doll, Minnie ... And there had been other books nearby on similar topics, so she had taken a few of those too ... Normally Mai didn't really like to read; at all, she was sort of slow at it and it irritated her eyes, and it tended to usually be boring but ... When it was about things that she had experience with or knew a little about, it was interesting to her to find out more about it. And, as fate would have it, for the six months or so that Masako continued to shoo her away from the office, since they had little to no work anyway, (she didn't really take any cases for the entire time Lin and Naru were gone), she regularly stopped at the library, and read up on all sorts of goulies, ghosties, and long legged beasties simply to pass the time.

But that was then, and this was now; once Lin and Naru had come back, she had stopped going to the library because the office was open and there was no way Naru was going to be nice enough to let her leave early and still pay her the same ... Not that he didn't pay her well to begin with of course, but it had gotten to the point that Mai could almost live totally comfortably and save money on top of that, and she didn't want to give that up. It was the first time in a long time that she wasn't too hard pressed financially, and it was always good to have a security net if you could help it.

However, she did sometimes wish she had one of the books she had been reading at the library; it was boring around the office when there was no tea to make and nothing to straighten up ... She didn't get to answer phones or sort mail or do pretty much anything else, so her duties, while few and far between, didn't keep her busy for the entire time. It used to be that she was content enough to twiddle her thumbs or day dream, but, something about spending all of that time reading up on things that actually interested her - it had been oddly exhilarating, to be able to think to herself I ran into one of those once, or you can get rid of one of those if you ... or I wonder if we'll ever meet one of those! ... It was probably the most engagement she'd gotten out of any books in her entire life.

In fact, she had a few of those books that she'd taken out of the library (I know, I know - who is this girl and what has she done with Taniyama Mai?) at her apartment right now. She hadn't finished them last week before Naru and Lin came back, and she'd known that this would be her last chance to get them since she didn't really have time to go to the library when she worked ... So they were sitting in her apartment, for whenever she had a minute to peruse them.

Which was basically now ... because she was pretty bored.

"-ai." Brown eyes opened slowly to a sound. At first she wasn't sure what it was, but blinking and sitting up straighter helped to remedy that. Naru was standing across the desk from her, looking down; blinking a few more times, she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Huh?" Was the most intelligent thing the brunette could manage as she reached up to rub at one of her eyes. Had she fallen asleep ...?

"I said we're not on a case - so there's no excuse for you to be sleeping on the job, Mai." Mai couldn't help pursing her lips, feeling her cheeks puff out indignantly when she heard Naru's voice. Sitting up, she tried to play it off as best she could.

"Well, maybe if you'd give me more things to do, like answering the phone, I wouldn't get so bored I fall asleep!" Not that Mai thought the argument would help her situation any, but she made it all the same. And as predicted, the answer she received didn't make much difference at all.

"The phone's rung three times this afternoon - you didn't even move. If I let you answer them, we'd never get any work." However, it did embarrass her a little bit; how long had she been asleep for? ... ... She hadn't realized she'd been sleeping that heavily - or at all, really. Mai didn't even remember falling asleep, or getting tired ...

"You can go home; we're closing." The second time he spoke, he startled the girl at the desk; the teenager had thought that the older boy had gone back into his office, or ... Gone anywhere rather than stay standing there. But apparently that wasn't the case.

"Oh - uh, righ-." before she could get the response out fully though, the door to the office she still wasn't allowed inside closed in her face, and stopped her mid sentence. Lowering the hand she hadn't realized she'd raised a little, Mai sighed as she looked at the closed door to Naru's office - she hadn't meant to fall asleep ... And what's worse was it was the second time in a week it had happened; and it was the first week Lin and Naru had been back, no less. Last time he'd said he didn't know what Madoka had let her get away with, but she should unlearn any bad habits she picked up. This time he had just seemed irritated ...

Rubbing her temple with two fingers gently, Mai glanced out the window; it was dark out, and after locating a clock to read, she realized that it was actually later than their normal closing time. In fact it was almost nine o'clock at night. Standing and stretching a little, she took her bag out of the desk drawer where it normally stayed while she was in the office and put on her coat.

"Osaki ni," (3) the brunette called as she left, not that anyone would respond, but it was a habit - she always left first because she didn't have a key to the office or anything, so she was never the last to leave, and Lin and Naru ... Suffice to say that where one went, the other seldom didn't follow. So, as the odd one out, she was the one that left before anyone else.

As she strolled down the dark street, she started thinking of the things she had read about, wondering if they were real. I mean, if some of the things she'd run into were in those books, who's to say that all of the other things weren't out there? Clearly just because she hadn't seen them didn't mean they couldn't be real - she'd dealt with enough supernatural stuff before to know that.

I just wish they would trust me enough to let me do ... well ... anything besides make tea and look after customers ... Which usually don't come to the office anyway ... Mai thought to herself at the end of the night when they closed the office and sent her home. It was a dark night, and she wasn't looking forward to the walk home - as she used to when she was at the office, the brunette quickly made her way back to her apartment, traveling the shortest distance possible, key in hand so that she could unlock her door as soon as she got there.

It wasn't that Taniyama Mai was afraid of the dark, it was just ...

Alright, so maybe she was a little, but given her line of work and what she'd dealt with in the past, could you really blame her all that much?

Stepping inside her apartment, she kicked off her shoes and dropped her school bag, closing the door behind herself after she had taken her keyring back from it. Sighing and running her fingers through her hair, she honestly didn't feel like eating anything; she didn't really feel like doing anything at all, honestly. So, rather than fix herself instant noodles or something equally as unappetizing, she changed into her pajamas, washed her face, and got ready for bed.

Fairly collapsing onto the futon once she'd set it up, she pushed her face into her pillow as if she were smothering herself. Honestly, she might as well have; the brunette didn't really like looking around her one room apartment. It was sort of depressing. She had one window, one closet, one book shelf, one dresser, a small fridge, a pantry, the bathroom ... And that was about it really. Small and dark; Mai actually spent as much time away from her apartment as she could because she didn't like it; it was where she lived, but it didn't really feel like a home.

Sighing out a breath, she eventually turned over to spare herself asphyxiation, and instead stared at the ceiling that she could hardly see. For some odd reason, Mai thought she would've been happier once Lin and Naru came back from abroad. When they had left ... It had just felt ... Well, oddly bittersweet; she was glad that the SPR office wasn't closing, of course - and she had thought that the sadness she had felt was just her anticipating missing them and missing working at the office ...

And yet, here they were back, and she really didn't feel any different. Maybe because nothing had changed, but, if it had truly just been her missing the two other people that frequented the office, then it shouldn't matter if things were exactly the same since they left ...

No, she had an idea of why she was still so restless ...

Letting out a breath, Mai closed her eyes, and slowed her breathing. One ... two ... ... three ... ... four ... slowly, she started to count her breaths as she took them. Once the brunette was completely engrossed in her lungs expanding and contracting, she slowly shifted her awareness to her body; she could feel where every part of herself was - from the tips of her fingers and toes to the crown of her head. And then, she moved her mind to focusing on the ends of her fingers. She slowly let the tension out of them, one by one ... After the fingers, she moved to the wrist ... after the wrists were her elbows ... shoulders ... legs ... lower back ... and finally the neck. All of the tension had been released at that point.

She'd started doing this since Naru and Lin had been gone ... Since she had started feeling a little more alone; especially at night in her apartment when she really was by herself. Mai knew it was silly - it was just the technique she had learned from "Dream Naru" - or, more properly, Eugene, but for some reason ... It made her feel like she wasn't so alone. Even though she knew she would never see that Dream Naru again ... Somehow it made her feel like he was with her.

Silly, how something so small and pointless could make her feel so much better.

That was the last thought she had before she let herself drift off completely from her relaxed state ...

Mai's breath came in sharp, short pants as she stopped outside of the door to the SPR office, bracing her hands on her knees for a second. She had been chosen to take care of home room duties after classes that afternoon because of an absence, so she was unexpectedly late. Mai hadn't been expecting to be so long, or she'd have called the office to let Naru or Lin know ... Not that they probably really care anyway ... They can handle making a pot of tea themselves for once. Which seemed to be the only thing Mai was valuable for to them. Just as her heart rate calmed down to a reasonable level (she had sprinted the entire way from school), she reached for the door knob to open it and go into the office for another afternoon of intense boredom. Suppose it was almost the weekend though, so she wouldn't have to sit and stare at a desk or make tea again for a few days at least. Not a particularly comforting thought, since the trade off was that she didn't have anything to do except sit in her apartment, but-

"You're late." the tone wasn't accusatory or anything, but it did surprise Mai both because she had been semi-lost in her thoughts, and because it came from behind her. Whipping around, she was going to yell something because she had recognized it as Naru's voice, but she paused when she saw equipment in his hands before he turned and started walking away from him. No one had mentioned anything about a case to her - were they traveling somewhere? If they were, Mai would be the last one to hear about it ... Which wasn't exactly strange, but usually they gave her some sort of head's up.

"Naru?" she asked, confusion evident in her tone. He brushed her off as per usual, saying something about having a case, so stop being lazy and start doing manual labor. Indignantly, she marched into the office to collect up supplies from the closet where they were kept. Manual labor. That was the other things she was good for; and she supposed that she didn't really earn her keep unless they went on cases ... Sighing in irritation, she picked up a box of equipment and started carrying things out to the van.

"Are you even going to tell me where we're going?" She asked when she ran across Naru's path again; she'dve asked Lin, but she came across her narcissistic boss first - Lin at least would've given her a straight answer. Then again, he probably wouldn't have done much better than Naru did.

"Saitama prefecture." Was the extremely wordy answer she received, which made her sigh. Well, at least she wouldn't have to take off from school most likely - it was a short commute, so unless Naru told her for some reason she had to stay during the day, she could go probably back and forth to school. Assuming this case took any sort of extended period of time; honestly they could get there and solve it in an afternoon. She doubted it highly, as it had never happened, and since Naru only took cases that 'interested' him, they'd probably never get something so easy.

Mai didn't say anything in response to the information she'd gained; she didn't have an opinion on it either way, though she was glad to know. Moving more of the high tech equipment for transport, she noticed that there was already a good deal of the equipment moved; she wasn't that late - were they in some kind of hurry? Normally it didn't matter what they were doing, Lin and Naru would wait for her to get there and start carting stuff for them.

However, as strange as she thought it, she didn't mention it; she'd probably get told to be thankful they were helping or something stupid and frustrating. Which was Naru's MO.

Letting out a breath, Taniyama Mai climbed into the van after all of their standard equipment was loaded and belted herself in. She figured she'd find out more about the case once they got there, so she didn't waste her breath asking about it. It was standard procedure for them to ask the client to re-iterate their problem once they arrived so they could hear it in person. Setting her school bag on her lap, the brunette looked out the window as Lin started the vehicle, and they pulled away from the curb and started towards the suburbs.

They came to a stop outside of a small house. Mai had never really been to Saitama prefecture before - there was a school trip to Chichibu once to see the hotsprings and a temple, but she had opted not to go because of the expense. A penny saved is a penny earned, and when you eat instant ramen for several meals a day, you can stretch a penny pretty far.

But, that wasn't where their destination was anyway; apparently their client lived in Sayama, and when Lin stopped the car, Mai hopped out, full of energy as per usual. Stretching, she was glad to be out of the car - not that they had been traveling for a long time or anything, but she hated being cooped up for too long; she was about to mention how glad she was that this wasn't another case they had to travel a long distance to get to ...

However, she stopped short before she got the sentence out.

"Huh?" Blinking, Mai looked over her shoulder at the house they had stopped in front of ... It felt like someone was looking at her from that direction. But ... She didn't see anyone. Hmmm ... Strange. The brunette went to just shrug it off, but ... For some reason that just made her feel even more uneasy; like there was something in the bottom of her stomach, twisting around – like a snake made of nausea. But, Mai didn't see anything in the windows or near the house ... Not that that made it bother her any less – at this point it was really making her feel sick.

But then ... as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Which for some reason was more concerning to Mai than the initial feeling; it was gone. That feeling of sickness and dread - it had only hit her for a few seconds at most she realized, but it had been so strong ... And now it was gone. Mai tried to catch a glimpse of whatever had given her that sensation – and she was suddenly very sure it had been given to her – but the brunette saw nothing. She was so distracted in her search that she couldn't get it out of her head even when Naru called after her to pay attention; she keept looking even as she started up the walkway to the house so they could meet the clients in person.

For some reason, Taniyama Mai had it in her head that after this case, nothing was going to be the same anymore.

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Tsu zu ku ...

(To Be Continued)

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Footnotes:

1 – Manga sound effect for a ringing telephone x3

2 – "Bou-san" is what they call Houshou in the anime/manga; it means "Monk".

3 – "Osaki ni" is a sort of informal version of what you say in Japan when you leave the office before other people; it sort of means "I'm leaving first"; usually you follow it up with a shitsurei-shimasu, which is like "please excuse me", but she's omitted it here (making it more informal).