"Mai."

I woke up to shining light and a beautiful face far too close to my own for comfort. It didn't take a genius to recognize my boss. Except...he wasn't usually one for waking me up in the morning so maybe? This was... "A dream?"

The face tightened and looked away. "I'm not Gene, Mai," he said slowly. "You ought to know that by now."

Oh.

Oh, no.

I shook the sleep from my head and pushed myself up from the couch I passed out on the night before. "I knew it was you, jerk." I rubbed my eyes. "I can tell you apart, y'know. I'm not dumb."

Naru opened his mouth but closed it before he said anything. He was probably keeping in some joke about my obvious lack of intelligence. But I was thankful he reigned in the joke. Instead, he walked from the couch and plucked his clipboard from a side table. "I'll take the morning's temps before everybody else wakes up."

He can't do that. I don't know why, but I know he can't. Shouldn't. Couldn't. I jumped up, ignoring my body's disapproval of such a sudden movement. "Nope! I'll do it!"

He arched a brow. "You just woke up." The rest of his sentiment was clear, even if he didn't say it. You're not usually coherent first thing in the morning.

Neither is he, but I couldn't bring myself to argue with him. I had energy for one thing. I wasn't gonna waste that on fighting with Naru first thing in the morning.

"Yeah, well, you probably didn't sleep." I swiped the clipboard from his hands and marched over to the door. "Humor me and pretend while I do this, 'kay? And that's an order."

I left before he could respond. But I did hear Lin snort as I closed the door behind me.

Point for me!~

I skipped with as much energy as I could muster between each room. It's brainless work now that Naru and the boys set everything up the night before. This was all just recording numbers, triple checking, and moving on.

Except...I was forced to stop on barely my second stop. The living room. This wasn't the right camera that was supposed to be here. According to Naru's notes this camera should be sitting in the kitchen right now. So what is it doing in here?

My heart jumped to my throat and I dashed to the kitchen. No. Not possible. I couldn't help but think about the stupid mugs from the night before. Please, no. That was just...a mistake. Except when I jump into the kitchen, it's exactly as I'd dreaded.

That's... That's not right.

"Ne, Naru? The camera for the kitchen is here in the living room. And vice versa."

Static fills my headset for a moment as he considered my statement. "There must have been a mistake in the setup. Mark it in your notes." He said finally. "Move on."

"You got it, boss," I chirped, happy to take back my assistant role for even just a second. It's easy to be boss when nothing was wrong. But something like this? I had no clue how to explain.

Neither of us mentioned that it was Naru that led the camera setup. And Naru never made mistakes.

If Naru didn't think this was an immediate problem, it wouldn't be until I returned to base.

When I returned to base, we didn't discuss the camera mishap. Not directly, at least. Naru, Lin, and I sat at the monitors for at least an hour before the others started trailing into base. And while the camera frames seemed to suggest that nothing moved at all...I distinctly remember the kitchen and living room cameras streams to be in the opposite corners before I went to bed. Lin agreed.

But that didn't make sense.

Even if Naru was the one on night patrol last night and Lin went to sleep...Naru doesn't miss anything. Ever.

Which meant we had a mystery on our hands.

And I definitely didn't want to think about it.

"You didn't come to the room last night." Ayako announced as she plopped onto the couch. She arched her brow, looking for an explanation.

I guess that was obvious considering I was still in my clothes from the day before. I shook my head. "I accidentally fell asleep here."

"Did you dream?"

That's the last question I wanted to hear. It's not that I'm against seeing Gene again. But at the same time, I hope his absence means that last night's mug stunt and this morning's camera incident were simply...coincidences. Nothing paranormal after all.

Just a normal apartment.

"I-" Defeated, I shook my head. "No. Not at all."

Masako rolled her eyes. "Even when you're supposed to be in charge, you're not dreaming when you need to be. What's the point?"

"Masako-chan, you're so mean, lately," I whined. "Is it because Naru put me in charge?"

She sniffed, turning her nose up. I whimpered. Masako deflated and covered her face with her kimono sleeves. "It's not you. It's..." Her eyes trailed off somewhere behind me and she shook her head, stopping. "I'm sorry, Mai."

I attempted a small smile. "And I'm sorry for being useless again."

"If you want to be useful again, you can remind your employees their responsibilities for the day."

Naru's voice disrupted our moment and I had to keep in my frustration. He always interrupted me when I was having a moment! But I suppose he had a point. There was no use to waste any more time dawdling. I sighed, pushing my plate away. "Reminder that Yasu and John are on research duty for today. You're talking to the superintendent, any applicable residents, and locals.

"We reviewed the footage from last night. And just as expected...there's nothing. So I suppose that Ayako, Bou, and Masako will be...double checking the status of any potential spirits. Go through every floor. When you come back, you can figure out what's the next step regarding potential exorcisms or blessings that might be needed. Like perhaps we just need charms to help ward off Wantabe-san's worries."

Now that I thought about it...she told up she was pregnant. Does that mean that perhaps she's just restlessly imagining things? I could hope.

"Naru, Lin, and I will stay at Base. I'll be reading Yasu's reports and picking Naru's brain to actually understand it. My day won't be over until I can get Naru to sigh at me at least a hundred times," I chirped, clapping my hands.

"Mai."

It was his irritated voice, which I ignored. There was no time for his pessimism until later. "So let's make sure we work hard today!" I cheered. Luckily for me, everybody (besides Naru and Lin, of course) joined in.

It was a good start for the day, all things considered.

By the time We made it through almost all of the rooms when I couldn't take it anymore. Masako was right. I needed to know before I went completely mad.

"Why am I doing this, Naru?"

For the briefest moment, I didn't think he would respond to me. Instead, he decided to hyperfocus on taking the room's temperature in a very exacting fashion. I knew he was avoiding the question; it took him twice as long now compared to the rooms we've already checked. He wrote the temperature carefully, to four decimal points. (He normally only went to three.)

I opened my mouth to ask again. But he shook his head, relenting.

His eyes shifted away. "After this, I'm afraid that I'll be making my return to England."

My heart caught in my throat. "E—England?" I squeaked out. "You're going back home?"

He didn't reply. Instead, he focused on the clipboard in his hands and read the temperatures he's been recording. He erased a number and wrote it exactly the same as before.

Procrastinating.

I probably shouldn't have asked; he hated opening up to people.

I hated this. The silence was worse.

"Are you staying there permanently?" I managed, attempting disinterest. I kept my attention trained on the camera we were supposed to be double-checking after this morning's unexplained switch. After all, why should I care if my so-called boss continued to leave us in the dust like we didn't matter?

If Naru didn't care, neither did I.

"I don't know."

Well, there was a non-answer. Not helpful, Naru!

"Why now?" Didn't he just come back from England? Why come back if he was just going to go back to England so soon?

He shook his head and pinched his nose. "I need to finish my thesis. And I need to defend it. I need to finish my doctorate." Naru spoke like he was reminding me of the most obvious thing in the world.

His tone wasn't as cruel as it normally was but it still peeved me.

I scoffed. "Right, Dr. Oliver Davis, how could I forget? You need to lead BSPR, after all. It's probably far better than working here in a tiny country with people you hardly tolerate." I didn't care that he flinched when I called him by his real name (something I never did because, despite all my best efforts, my English remained mediocre).

Instead, I focused on the tightening of my chest. I couldn't believe he was leaving. Again. "Why don't you just leave Madoka-san here like last time you abandoned us?"

"Mai—"

Whatever it was he was going to say, he was interrupted. The lights went out and I heard the distinct screams of my friends in the other room. Ignoring Naru and his stupid excuses, I dropped my clipboard and ran.

Ayako!

I exiled myself from the base as soon as I knew Ayako was OK. She had a semi-serious gash across the right side of her torso (the mysterious part is that while her shirt was stained with blood, it seemed to happen beneath the material). Not deep enough to need stitches. But bad enough that we had to break out her heavy-duty first aid kit. She instructed Bou on the proper method of applying butterfly sutures while the rest of the crew offered sideline support.

My job was simple: figure out if there was a non-paranormal explanation for Ayako's gash. Naru and Lin were already backtracking through the tapes to check what had happened in the entryway for temperature drops or other things that might hint at the paranormal.

Even though I wasn't happy that my friend was hurt, I was grateful for the distraction.

I really shouldn't have started that conversation with Naru earlier.

I searched high and low with no avail. Nothing in the corners and nothing sticking out from the plaster. I triple-checked! I ran my fingers on every available surface and there wasn't anything.

A sharp knock made me jump just as I was about to trudge back to base. Hm? Everybody's already back here. Perhaps it was Wantabe-san? I swung the door open and found myself face-to-face with a staunch man with wrinkles engraved deep in his face.

I immediately stepped back.

Stranger.

His eyes narrowed on my figure. "You're not Watanabe-san."

Thank you for stating the obvious, sir. I tried my best to avoid rolling my eyes. "No, she's with her husband's parents this week." I smiled as professionally as I could. "Is there anything I could help you with?"

The man shifted under my gaze. "I'm her landlord."

Oh! I bowed and put on a real smile. "Nice to meet you..." For the life of me, I couldn't remember what the landlord's name was supposed to be.

"Takahashi. Takahashi Kaito."

"Nice to meet you, Takahashi-san. I'm the lead investigator on this case with Shibuya Psychic Research." I looked him in the eye. "We're investigating reported activity in Watanabe-san's apartment, I'm sure you received my boss's calls?"

His brows furrowed together. "You're only a high school student."

Wow, really? I didn't know that! If he had a problem with my age, I wondered how he would react meeting Naru. A third-year high school student running an investigation is one thing. A university-aged (even though he was already done with uni) student being the owner of a company like SPR is always far more off-putting than a high-school investigator.

My nose scrunched. "Yes, but I assure you I am a professional. I've been doing this for a long time." There was no need to tell him that this was my first solo case.

Takahashi didn't seem to believe me but he didn't protest any farther. "In any case, I'm here regarding the power outage." He pulled his hand over his beard as if he was thinking. "Were any of your...colleagues...hurt?"

"Hurt?" And why did he have to say 'colleagues' like that? Like he didn't believe me? "Well, one of my friends was hurt. But I'm unsure on if it correlated with the power outage. It could have been just a coincidence."

Of course, there typically wasn't such thing as coincidence when we were hunting ghosts.

Takahashi didn't need to know that.

"I see."

"Is there any particular reason you ask?"

He smiled but there was something in his eyes that made me step back. Whatever it was, I didn't like it. "It seems that every time the power goes out in this building, there's some sort of injury. I check with every tenant to ensure their safety. I'll be sure to note that this time, it came from the Watanabe apartment."

Unfortunately for me, I didn't have the experience to react to this in a professional manner. For the first time today, I really wished that Naru was in charge today. "O-Okay?"

There was that look again! He pivoted away. "Tell your friend...they might need stitches. You best call a doctor."

She is a doctor. But I was stunned. Is the injury the same every time? Or...should I be worried about something...bigger? "I'll...let them know."

"Have a great evening."

That's it? I reached out and my stomach clenched. I probably shouldn't be doing this, but I'm already halfway through the motion. Too late to rethink it, Mai. "Uh, actually, Takahashi-san?"

"Hmm?"

"I, uh, I wanted to ask. Is there a reason you never responded to the correspondence from the lead boss at SPR? He said he called—"

He smiled kindly. It didn't meet his eyes. "Have a nice day young lady. If you or your friends are interested in an apartment, we do have rooms available."

Of course, he didn't answer my question. I didn't know why I expected him to.

If there were rooms available, why didn't he allow us to use any of them as our base? I didn't question it openly, though, as he escaped down the hall. I just closed the door and let out a sigh. I'm really not into this whole professional correspondence thing. And I'm a people person! Goodness knew how people-hating Naru went about this nonsense.

Oh, no. If I was to do this full-time, would I turn into an un-personable snob?

(I hoped not.)

A shine caught my attention as I turned back to the hall leading to base. What is that?

I crouched down to eye level. The shine? A nail stuck out from the drywall.

It was at the right height for Ayako's scratch, I think.

Except...didn't I already scour these walls?

Furthermore-if she scratched herself on a nail...wouldn't it have ripped through her shirt?

With the nail tucked inside my skirt pocket, I retreated back to base to find the rest of our team circled around the table. Apparently Yasu and John had gotten the memo and doubled back as soon as they could (picking up our dinner on the day because Ayako's cooking skills were currently out of commission).

This wasn't the easy investigation that I had hoped it was going to be...

I pushed and shoved at my dinner as my friends happily chatted, babying Ayako (even though she insisted she was fine, I think she appreciated the attention). In fact, I waited until everybody was finished before bringing our work back into the conversation. I could already see Naru wanting to interrupt with a sarcastic comment about unnecessary, inane chatter but I beat him to the punch.

"John, Yasu, did you find anything out in your investigations today?"

John scrunched his nose. "The superintendent avoided us all day. And either everybody in the building is on vacation or there are a lot of vacancies here."

"Or they're all avoiding us!" Yasu chirped, raising his hand.

"Or that."

Yasu continued. "But we did manage to talk with some nearby people and start some library work. Unfortunately, that's when Ayako had her incident so that part was cut a bit short." He hummed, rubbing his chin. "That's probably what I'll focus on tomorrow. That or pay some busybodies there to do my work for me."

Shaking my head, I sighed. I really didn't want to give him money to pay others to do research. What was the point of him being a researcher if he wasn't going to...research? "What did the people say?"

"Right! Uh, they actually were very surprised to hear that we were paranormal investigators. Many people say that the charm of the area is that there is little to no paranormal activity ever in this area. That's how the superintendent is able to keep making his dues."

Except, for someone making his dues, he sure has a lot of vacant rooms. I hesitated, tapping my chin. "The explanation doesn't need to be paranormal; it could just be...like..." I remembered the strange interaction I had earlier after Ayako was hurt. "Yasu, is it possible for you to check out the landlord tomorrow?"

He nodded. "He avoided me today but nobody has more persistence than I do! I'll make sure I have his statement by the end of tomorrow!" Yasu winked, attempting to lighten the mood.

But it didn't help. I still remembered Takahashi-san appearing right after Ayako was hurt. Which couldn't have been a coincidence...but perhaps a mistake? He'd forgotten that we were here? Maybe if...maybe if he remembered that we were here...he wouldn't have checked up on the apartment?

What is that man hiding?

"Is there a specific reason that you want to look at the landlord and not the other tenants?"

Biting my lip, I looked down to avoid Bou's inquisitive gaze. "No reason. At least, nothing important." I glanced up to the worried looks of my friends. "I'll be sure to let you guys know if that changes."

Masako rolled her eyes. "By the time you let us know, it'll probably be too late."

Maybe!

Except there were two things: 1) I wasn't sure if it was my so-called clairvoyance telling me that the landlord was dangerous or just plain-old paranoia. 2) Naru was allowed to maintain the element of surprise, so why couldn't I?!

I was the boss, after all!

The night wound down the same exact way it did the night before:

Just the three of us. Naru, Lin, and me.

Thankfully, nobody asked me to make tea because I wasn't about to test the theory that everything was exactly like the night before. Instead, Naru cornered me on the couch with his stupid black notebook and prompted me to recount the day to the best of my ability. A 'daily report,' he called it but I doubted it was procedure considering he didn't ask me this last night.

At first, it was easy. Just the cameras (which we were now keeping a very close eye on) and Ayako, mostly. By the time I had to spew back all the research from Yasu and John's research expedition I was nodding off, unable to help myself.

After all Naru woke me up way too early. Even he didn't wake up that early on cases so either he was still up from the night before or he decided that an early wake up call was enough motivation to torture me.

Considering how tired he looked, I wouldn't doubt that he slept these past two days.

What's keeping him awake?

Certainly not this case. Then...what?

"Mai, I need you to focus." Naru sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Pay attention more to the things you think don't matter. It's all a part of being an efficient investigator.

"Why does this matter, Naru?" I pouted, rubbing the sleepiness from my eyes. I tried to keep myself from yawning. He would be mad at me if I fell asleep mid-report. "You're just gonna close the Japan branch when you leave."

Naru refused to look up from his notes. "It's important you maintain good research ethic."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Cause I'll be ghost hunting without you—I mean, SPR." I kept my eyes down on my notes so he couldn't see the tears that (very stupidly) sprung to my eyes. "I couldn't afford to do this even if I found a job that paid as well as SPR."

The truth hurt a lot more than I expected. I expected the crying part at some point during this case but that's because I always cried at stupid times. Did I have to really start looking for another job when we home?

"Mai—"

There was something in his voice that struck me as oddly familiar. It wasn't a tone I would immediately dub as 'Naru,' except it was awfully familiar.

I pushed the thought from my head and stretched. "Yeah, yeah. It'll serve me right in university." I sighed, refusing to let him get in any jabs at my intelligence. "If uni is even an option, that is."

Really, he didn't need to remind me constantly of my inadequacy in comparison to him. It's not my fault that he decided to hire someone with as much training as he did. No, he chose me. Now he needed to stop complaining about it because I would be out of his hair soon enough. And he knew that.

"Mai—" He tried again.

I waved my hand. I really didn't need to be reprimanded tonight. "Yeah, yeah. I'm off track again. Back to work." Crossing my arms, I leaned back into my seat and sighed. "You don't pay me to babble."

Luckily for me, he didn't point out that he did, in fact, occasionally pay me to babble.

(Babbling is my specialty, next to sleeping and empathizing.)

I finished the report, sitting up straight so I wouldn't sleep and counting off my plans for the next day on my hands. I only hoped that I remembered them tomorrow because Naru was nodding along, which means that they were, at the very least, decent plans.

Then I was free!

Deciding that sleeping in the base again would only lead to another dreadful wakeup call, I pushed myself up off the couch headed for the door. Seems like I would just join the girls tonight (and Masako couldn't even pretend to complain because I knew she would be sleeping).

"Goodnight, Naru-chan," I said when I reached the door.

"Hngh." He continued flipping through his notes as I spoke. Even when I'm supposed to be in charge, he's still completely uptight about his notes.

Yeah, yeah. I should have known better than to expect a goodnight wish from him. But I couldn't help myself. From now until whenever he closed SPR, I will make him act with decency toward me. I didn't care if I died trying.

Naru would be nice to me.

"Goodnight, Lin-san."

He didn't say anything but nodded vaguely in my direction. He's still not entirely personable though this was an improvement. And certainly better than Naru (though I supposed it didn't matter considering his impending departure).

I made my way slowly through the short hall until I dumped myself into the room the girls shared. By Watanabe's story, I would have expected there to be much more activity in this tiny apartment. Heck! I expected there to be more activity in this whole building (if we could ever get ahold of the other tenants)!

I became lost in my thoughts as I stumbled through my night routine and changed into pajamas. Surely by tomorrow, something needed to happen or I would have to call the case an absolute bust.

There was something to be said, though, if my first solo case was a bust, huh? I guess it didn't really matter if it was my only case because SPR would be closing soon.

Therefore, no need to worry about my impending failure...

I closed my eyes and let the sound of Ayako and Masako's breathing lull me to sleep.

Unfortunately, my intentions on sleeping were no good because as I fell asleep, I wound up finding myself standing in front of Watanabe's apartment building. A vision? So early in the case?

I whipped around with an ache in my chest. A vision normally meant... "Gene?" I called softly. But if the Davis twin was there, he didn't show up. I'm almost glad. There's no way I would have been able to give him a proper goodbye (this time for good) if he needed to tell me about the case. Would I have cried for real?

There's no time to ponder my emotional integrity because as I turned, I'm faced with a surprise. Not Gene. Instead, there was a little girl standing in front of me. She couldn't have been any older than the kids at the orphanage at John's church.

Is she my spirit guide for the night?

She smiled, holding her small hand out to me. "I've been waiting for you, Onee-chan."

I smiled back and took her hand.