This is my first fanfiction in a suuuuper long time. For most of the beginning, I plan on this being a high school AU (where Gene is alive), but eventually I plan to bring our favorite ghost hunters back together to solve cases! Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, October 14

"Come on, Mai! Do it again! Again!" Her classmates cheered her on. Looking around, Mai sat comfortably as she leaned back in her chair, feeling satisfied at the crowd she had amassed.

"Alright, alright. Just one last time," Mai said, looking over at the clock to see that there were a few minutes before lunch was over and classes were to continue. She pulled some pink bubble gum out of her bag, ripped off the wrapper dramatically, and shoved a few pieces into her mouth. Small whispers passed between her classmates. Friends and strangers from other classes murmured, some in anticipation and others in disbelief. She started chewing the mass in her mouth, and then carefully, oh so carefully, began to blow a small bubble. Gasps emerged from the crowd as they held their breath, what was about to happen was unprecedented. She slowly blew into her pink bubblegum bubble, inflating it little by little until it grew to almost the size of her face. The gathered students held onto one another wondering how long it was going to take until it burst. Bigger and bigger the bubble grew; the bigger and bigger Mai's ego had grown up until…

POP!

The brunette gazed in disbelief as the once vibrant pink bubble was now deflated, sticking to her chin and hanging down her face. The students stood silent before her, slowly backing away to their desks or out of the room. Small pricks of anger rose in her gut as she instantly knew the culprit.

"Naru!" She shot up out of her chair and met the smirking narcissist face to face, a sharpened pencil still held in his grasp. She sighed in defeat while collecting her gum and heading for the trash can. She sent him a piercing glare muttering, "It was just getting started." Her glare was received by his back as he took a seat in his chair and pulled out a book. Puffing out her cheeks, she threw out her gum, gathered as much of her dignity that was left and headed back to her seat, which coincidentally happened to be next to her favorite narcissist. She continued pouting and tapped rapidly on her desk trying to attract the attention of the cold-hearted jerk sitting next to her.

"Yes, Mai?" He replied coolly to her taps, not missing a beat while reading his book.

"You burst my bubble," She mumbled, using her once tapping hand to hold up her chin.

"This is a classroom, not a playground."

"It's a classroom, not a playground," Mai mocked in her best Naru voice before turning her head over to the doorway where a familiar face had just entered through. Mai's frown turned upside-down as she caught Gene's eyes, one of her allies against Naru.

"You'll never guess what your brother did to me today," Mai exclaimed exuberantly, making a huff sound as she crossed her arms. Gene gasped in fake disbelief, "My brother? Doing something not kind? To you of all people? I'm shocked, Noll," Gene shook his head at his brother, tsking occasionally.

"I had made the biggest, and I mean the BIGGEST bubble of bubblegum EVER, and he just strolls right in and pops it!" Mai threw her arms up in the air dramatically as Gene took a seat at his desk situated directly in front of Mai. He turned around in his chair and gave her a pouty, lip-out frown.

"You two are ridiculous," Naru scoffed from the side. "You have no proof that I was the one who popped it anyways. Maybe it was due to your own negligence."

"Says the one with the sharp pencil poised for the kill of my bubble." She stuck her tongue out at Naru. They probably would have argued longer had it not been for their teacher entering the room, silencing the class immediately, and beginning to teach right on the dot. She was never late or early, always preciously on time.

"Today, we will begin numerical analysis," the teacher spoke monotonically. The class, except Naru, began shuffling for their books and flipping to the pages of importance. Mai slowly found the right page and tried her best to keep with her teacher, but after she fell too far behind in her notes she turned to daydreaming. She doodled aimlessly in her copybook and gazed over at Naru's book from time to time. He didn't even have out a math book. It looked to be written in Latin, but she didn't really know for sure. Something foreign was all she could tell. "Jerk doesn't even pay attention in class because he's just soooo smart. Show off." She rolled her eyes and looked up at the board, quickly trying to copy down all of what the teacher had written, occasionally shifting from side to side to see around Gene. "Why do I always decide to sit in the back? I'm too short to see the board from all the way back here." She decided to ask Michiru for her notes later. Thankfully, her teacher was more of a lecturer, which allowed her to drift off into la la land for as long as she wished.

Mai and Gene had met in middle school when they got paired up to do a project on one of the first days of school. Both Gene and Naru had transferred in 7th grade, for reasons they never explained to her, not that she really minded though. Gene warmed up nicely to her, but Naru continuously held his distance.

"Don't feel bad, he's like this around everyone," Gene would whisper in her ear to try and make her feel better about his stoical brother's actions. She gave him his infamous nickname after months of him judging her, boasting about his own intelligence and glaring at her. Both of the twins seemed to generate a following, their mysterious nature pulled people in and their looks may have also played a part in it. But no one seemed to spark their interest as much as the almost plain looking, ordinary brunette. Eventually, Naru warmed up to her too, but it wasn't as apparent as Gene. He tolerated her, which meant a lot coming from the one and only Oliver Davis. Mai was definitely the closest person to Naru, next to Gene of course. However, Mai didn't associate with the twins too much outside of school. She spent most of her time with Keiko and Michiru, whether having fun around Shibuya or conjuring up ghosts in the school's back rooms. Mai never learned much of Gene and Naru's backstory, she didn't want to pry and risk losing them as friends. Though, they didn't know about hers either. They all lived in a cloud of mystery, and that was fine with them.

Mai had to grow up very quickly after the death of her parents. She took a job at a small café in Shibuya where she made decent money, enough to support herself and live independently. Her employers were named Ayako and Takigawa, a unique pair to say the least. Though they argued like a married couple, they adamantly denied anything close to dating. Supposedly, both of their parents went 50/50 on the café and then just left it to their children. Supposedly. But that didn't concern Mai. She did her work and always knew she could rely on either of the two if she needed anything at all. They were somewhat like her parents, but no one could fill the hole that her parents' death left in her. Thankfully, neither Gene nor Naru nor any of her classmates came to the café. They had a few regulars, one of their most notable being a sweet Australian priest named John. He seemed way too young to be a priest, but Mai found out after questioning him that he was actually a lot older than anyone had thought. He always tipped Mai well and gave her helpful guidance. The café was like a home to her, a place where all her fears and sadness could melt away for just a while.

After work, she would make her way home to a small apartment complex. She lived on the second floor, room 14 to be exact. Her apartment contained nothing special. Her prized possession was a picture of her and her parents all together, smiling without any premonition of what the future would hold for them. She would talk to the picture as if they never had gone. She smiled sweetly as she did so, knowing the truth but not wanting to believe it. She kept a few household plants to keep her company, mainly small cacti though. She didn't want anything that would die easily, for reasons not needed to be explained. At home, Mai almost always left the TV on for background noise. She would sit down and do her homework and then pass out on the couch with her textbooks. She was never the best student, but she tried her hardest with everything. Every Thursday, Mai visited her parents grave and told them about her week. She frequently mentioned Gene and Naru, work, and her worry for her upcoming exams. Sometimes, she almost felt their hands on her back comforting her through the rough times. But that was silly, right? "There's no way that is them…" She would tell herself as she would trek back to her apartment. Despite Keiko, Michiru, and her own experiences with the supernatural, she refused to believe her parents hadn't passed on yet.

"…ai, …ai, …Mai, MAI!"

Naru snapped his fingers in front of the girl's face next to him. Mai shot up straight in her chair, eyes open wide, looking around wildly. No one was around besides two almost identical faces. The only way to tell them apart were their facial expressions.

"Stupid," Naru half muttered, half smirked. He turned to grab his books and place them in his bag. The sky outside was orange and pink, and the clock on the wall read 5:12. Mai rubbed her eyes wondering about how she was able to fall asleep for so long.

"Naru was about to leave you behind," Gene whispered into her ear, "too bad he would never do such a thing." Mai's cheeks turned a light pink. "Surely he's joking." Mai stood up and gathered her things. Naru leaned against the door post, gazing out the windows of the classroom behind her. The light from the windows in the hallway framed him well and gave him a sweet, soft kind of look. The light orange and pink highlighted the left side of him, making him seem less intimidating. For once, he seemed serene, like a perfect photo you would see on magazine covers. His far-off gaze and piecing blue eyes contrasted the light pinks and oranges almost too well.

"Take a picture, it will last longer," Naru's voice pierced the silence and snapped Mai out of her daze. The flustered brunette puffed out her red cheeks that thankfully were semi-hidden from the pink sky seeping in through the windows. Gene let out a small chuckle as he walked up to Mai's side, nudging her towards the door and walked alongside her as they made their way to the door. Naru turned to make his way out of the doorway, his black jacket rested in his right arm and his bag slung over his right shoulder. He kept his hands in his pants pockets and he silently walked down the hall, not caring to look back to see if his counterparts were following behind.

"Narcissistic, self-loving, cold-hearted," Mai started ranting softly as she followed him behind by a few feet. Sadly, she was unable to see how with every word her favorite narcissists smirk grew wider and wider.

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to leave a review and also leave suggestions with any case ideas or ideas in general of what you would like to see!

Also, I plan on including all of the characters eventually, but I have specific times I want to introduce them.

Thanks again! :)