Wow. I cannot believe it's been almost a year since I updated this! I'm so sorry! It really doesn't feel like it's been that long, but then, life has a tendency of getting in the way, doesn't it? Please enjoy Chapter 9. Yes, Oliver meets some members of his old team in this one.

Chapter 9

She really ought to look more nervous, Yasu thought. Mai strolled into the classroom in front of him like she'd been there a thousand times before. She smiled and greeted their classmates with generous smiles and kind words.

She really had grown, in the past couple of years. There were still traces of the old Mai, but now she'd lost a lot of her more immature habits, and she'd cured a great deal of her ignorance. Not just in the field of parapsychology, but also in many others as well. Oliver Davis wouldn't know what hit him. That thought made Yasu smile.

Madoka was guest lecturing for their first class. He slipped behind Mai and went up to her quietly.

"Well…do you think he knows yet?" He asked. None of the other students nearby seemed to care about their conversation, but Yasu knew to be cautious. Oliver Davis was a household name in this lecture hall.

"Here soon, I imagine." Madoka replied. Yasu didn't miss how her grin widened. His did too.

"Is it too much to ask that someone get his reaction on camera?" He wondered casually.

"Don't worry." She assured him. "I already bribed a couple of the newbies to make sure to have cameras on and recording when the momentous event occurs. I'll send it to you later tonight." She promised. Their professor called the class to order so Yasu winked at the red-headed woman and meandered back toward Mai.

"Madoka says 'hi'" He informed her as he plopped into the cushion auditorium chair beside her.

"Oh. That's nice of her." Mai said. She sounded pleased, but tightly so. Yasu couldn't say he was surprised. Lately anyone who mentioned anything even remotely connected to one narcissistic paranormal researcher got that type of response. She was so on edge about meeting him…Yasu just sighed and turned his concentration to their lecture. He couldn't exactly afford to start failing his classes on his first day.

For all intents and purposes it was a typical day at the British Society of Paranormal Research. Cases came in, were preliminarily reviewed and occasionally assigned an investigation team. Said teams worked in large conference spaces, reviewing every detail of each case again and again, and if the results seemed promising enough, they went to the field team supervisor, and eventually onto a field team for actual investigation.

8:45 am. The new field team was due to arrive in fifteen minutes. Lin made the last-minute decision to join Martin in greeting them. Noll was still no doubt safely ensconced behind walls of paperwork in his office and would not come until ordered.

"Lin." Martin greeted, as the tall Chinese man entered the briefing room.

"Professor." He said, giving a polite nod.

"Ready for the show?" The greying Englishman asked with a conspiratorial wink.

"Soon." Lin assured him.

A couple of the new interns came scurrying in. They were there on Madoka's orders, he knew. He wasn't about to participate in her hare-brained scheme, but that didn't mean he was going to interfere either. They spent several minutes debating over where to place their cameras to get the best picture of everything. He shook his head.

"Set them up over there." He said, gesturing to the small cameras they held. So much for not participating. He nodded toward a nondescript bookshelf on the far side of the room. Wide-eyed, they thanked him and hurried off to place them.

The group from Japan came in moments later. They were polite and subdued, Lin noted with amusement. Lin introduced everyone to Noll's adoptive father.

"Welcome, welcome." Martin said, enthusiastically shaking hands as he greeted each of them. He told Masako he'd seen some of her work and was very impressed. She thanked him politely and replied that she was intrigued by some of his latest research.

"Well then," Martin said with an impish grin, "Shall we call in the guest of honor."

The others' smiles echoed his own. Lin rose to go and get the requisite young man, but Martin waved him back down. "Stay." Martin said.

The professor turned to the two interns. "Will one of you please go and fetch my erstwhile son please? Tell him I need him in the briefing room. Immediately." He paused for a moment. "Oh, and you may wish to drop the word 'case.'" The younger of the two scurried off.

Lin eyed his watch. On an obstinate day, it could take Oliver Davis at least half an hour to answer his father's bidding. It would be interesting to see what today's timing would be.

In the meantime, Martin struck up a conversation with the group about any particularly interesting cases that they'd worked on. This, Lin found, they had in abundance. Despite his attempts to stay aloof and keep an eye on his watch, he found himself as intrigued by some of the cases the group described as the professor obviously was.

John was in the process of describing the details of a case where a spirit kept decapitating people at random, when they heard a familiar set of footsteps down the hall. The tension in the room was like syrup. Thick and sticky, and sweet with anticipation.

The door knob twisted. Oliver Davis entered the room in typical Oliver fashion: with a calm arrogance and pervading hatred of stupidity. Clearly the intern had told him that the new field team had arrived. Thankfully no one had known their identities to spill this most important of secrets. He was still bitter over the last team, so Lin was inclined to believe that this was a direct result of that.

Oh, would he be surprised.

Oliver stopped in the doorway, processing the sight before him. The new team wasn't new at all. And he wasn't crazy. That was a relief.

Four familiar faces that he'd left years ago turned to face him at once. There were smiles and smirks around the room, including on his father's and Lin's faces.

They all looked remarkably unchanged, which he supposed made sense. It hadn't been that long since he'd last seen them. It just felt like it. He'd noticed Mai's absence almost immediately. Like a puzzle missing a piece. The scene was incomplete. He didn't dare comment on it, though.

Takigawa stood. "Hello, Dr. Davis. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Houshou Takigawa. I'll be working with you from now on." He spoke in solid, barely accented English. The long-haired monk stuck his hand out.

Oliver scowled at him. "Very funny, monk."

Takigawa's eyebrow went up, but his smile didn't waver. "I'm sorry, have we met? I think I'd remember meeting such a famous man as yourself." He paused. "Though, now that I think about it, you do remind me of an arrogant little prat I once knew. He was so narcissistic, it became his nickname." Laughter bounced around the room, shared by his father.

"So. You're the new team." He said, ignoring the monk and his outstretched hand.

"Forgive me, Professor Davis, but your son has truly terrible manners." Takigawa exclaimed.

Martin nodded. "Yes. We've tried everything, but he just can't help himself, I'm afraid. My student, Madoka, has made it her life's mission to see him act politely. And I believe my son has made it his mission to thwart her at every turn." More laughter.

Noll scowled, and took an empty seat near the end of the table, next to John. The priest smiled. "Hello again, Dr. Davis."

"John." Noll acknowledged. He turned to his father. "I was told there was a case." He said, pointedly.

Martin sighed. "You know, when one hasn't seen old friends in many years, it's polite to spend some time catching up. Maybe ask them what they've been doing."

Oliver just stared at his father. "You just said I don't have any manners." He pointed out.

Martin shook his head. "We'll have to have you all over for dinner this evening." Martin said, addressing their guests. "So that my son can attempt to make up for his rudeness." He nodded at Lin to begin the briefing.

Lin shook his head at his young charge's rude behavior, and did as the professor asked.

The case was a standard kind of one – minor accidents and the usual signs, but nothing truly macabre or intriguing. In a word: boring. Oliver ground his teeth as Lin went on and on, describing a case that he knew would be worse than the last one. And that was saying something.

It wasn't long before he tuned the Chinese man out entirely. He turned his attention to studying his new – old – team. Physically, they hadn't changed much. Masako Hara was wearing pants, but that was the only significant change that caught his eye. But when he glanced at their eyes, he saw very different people. When he watched Takigawa and Miss Matsuzaki exchange a couple of pointed, understanding looks, heard their polite, considered comments to each other, he realized that the relationships and mental states of these people must have shifted dramatically. He wasn't sure he knew how to deal with a world where the monk and the shrine maiden weren't always at each other's throats.

He tried to avoid thinking about that void in the room, but it kept drawing him back like a gaping wound – he was too intrigued to look away. He wanted to know where she was. If she was here, or still in Japan. Was she…happy? And perhaps most disturbing at all…was she in a seeing someone?

He kept his ears perked in case the words "Mai" or "Taniyama" ever entered the conversation, but they never did. It frightened him, that they never mentioned her. It made him wonder if she was no longer a part of the team. If she'd moved on from it all and had never looked back after he left. He didn't like that thought. Mai belonged here. At this table, with these people. In the field of parapsychology. With him.

When the briefing was concluded, Noll stood abruptly. Six faces stared at him with amused acceptance. "I need to get back to work." He snapped, aiming for the door.

"Don't forget, dinner tonight!" Martin called after him. "If you're not at the house promptly at five, I will make Lin physically drag you home!"

Noll didn't bother to respond to the threat. He wasn't planning on being late anyway. Because, it was possible, dimly so, that his former assistant might just be at this dinner tonight. And he wasn't willing to miss that.

Masako watched the great Oliver Davis storm out of the room like a tired, angry toddler, and saw her amused grin mirrored on the faces of everyone else in the room. Professor Davis seemed relieved by their amusement. She wondered how much the Professor knew about his son's time in Japan.

Lin – to everyone's shock – offered to give them a tour of the facility. They all hopped up to follow and thanked the Professor for his time and for accepting them into SPR. The jovial older man waved off their gratitude and instead asked that they look after his son. He said it in a joking, light manner, but no one was fooled. Oliver Davis needed saving from himself.

She ended up taking the place of honor just behind the Chinese man, and as they strolled and he talked, she found her mind wandering back to his strange confession a few nights ago. Dreams of seeing Oliver's dead twin as a toddler. She'd confirmed that the spirit had moved on. News which had seemed to relieve Lin, but that was as far as her expertise had gone. The rest was just conjecture.

Certainly it was common to have dreams of departed loved ones. Especially right after their demise. But this was years later. There wasn't a solid reason that he should be dreaming of the young man now. She'd wondered if perhaps it was because Lin had had some emotional or physical trauma that had brought that grief back in full force, but as far as Masako could tell, he seemed happier than he'd ever been in Japan. It was a puzzle without any clues.

Reoccurring dreams, particularly ones like his where the subject matter rarely varied, often indicate information that the subconscious is trying to tell the dreamer. Even psychic dreams are done with purpose – to show key information or to explain an event or situation. And while this strange dream of Lin's certainly seemed to be of the informational variety, it was frustratingly devoid of any actual information. Nothing the child said made sense. The whole thing made no sense.

Not even John had been able to offer any insight into the odd situation. He agreed that it was likely something Lin's conscious was trying to tell the man, but he'd been just as lost as she was. Madoka had wondered if perhaps the dream was Oliver's brother's spirit communicating with an old mentor, but Masako doubted that was it. Lin, for all of his unique and powerful talents, had no such psychic or medium abilities, and it was virtually impossible that he would develop them this late in life.

They concluded the tour, and Lin left them to set up their individual offices, telling them that they'd go out for lunch with the professor and a few other key SPR individuals. Masako shook off the onmiyouji's puzzle and focused on settling into her new job. This puzzle would just have to unravel itself in time, she decided.

They'd stopped into a little café not far from the campus for lunch. Yasu was happily munching on a turkey club and Mai was perusing a new book she'd picked up for class. Yasu's phone beeped for the fifteenth time in ten minutes. She looked up to snap at him, but stopped when she saw the evil smile he was wearing.

"What?" She demanded, already dreading the answer.

He held out the phone to her. On the screen was a text from Takigawa – dinner at the Davis' tonight. 5:30 pm.

She leaned back and shrugged nonchalantly, even as her blood thrummed in her ears. "So? It's not unusual that they'd want to meet us." They were still employees of SPR, after all.

"And you know that their famous son, Dr. Oliver Davis will be there too, right?" Yasu asked, grinning.

Mai smiled. "Dr. Oliver Davis a work-a-holic. You know that. I'll bet you 5000 yen that he doesn't even come."

The amused smirk slipped from Yasu's face. Mai cackled at that, and turned back to her book. Or at least pretended to.

"Alright." Yasu said, a minute later.

Mai looked up, confused. "Alright, what?" She asked.

"I'll take that bet. 5000 yen."

"Fine. I want cash. Tonight." She shot back. She wanted Yasu to think she was unaffected, but she knew, deep down, that she really wasn't. Still, she was getting good at putting aside the emotions that didn't help and focusing on the ones that got her through whatever situation she was currently in. Usually it was a vicious haunting, but sometimes the way things had ended with Naru overwhelmed her, and she found the same technique still applied.

Whether or not Dr. Oliver Davis was at dinner tonight, she would put on that mask and pretend that she didn't care for him anymore. That he was just a colleague, a notable intellect, in the same field. And maybe, just maybe, she could even make it true.

Whatever happened tonight, Dr. Oliver Davis wouldn't know what hit him. She'd make sure of that. He may have thought her ignorant, perhaps even idiotic, once upon a time. Now, he would acknowledge her, and she would take that as enough and move on with her life.

Well, it was a beautiful lie, at least.

Truth be told, I haven't even started Chapter 10 yet. Which is odd. I usually at least have the next chapter started by the time I post the previous one, but I felt really bad seeing how long it's been, so I broke my own rules. I'll try to get it out in less than a year this time.

I do know that the next chapter will be picking up with that nerve-wracking dinner I mentioned. Don't know which POV character yet, but more than likely Mai or Noll. Just haven't decided between the two yet.

As always, I greatly appreciate the support and endeavor to correct any criticisms or errors, so please, review, favorite and follow. Until next time!