This story was inspired by the concept behind Trusting Intuition by whitephoenix18 which is totally amazing and you should definitely check it out! I'll be posting these every two weeks on Saturdays because these chapters are longer so I need longer to write them up. Without further ado, I hope you guys enjoy and make sure to leave a review for me telling me what you thought!

Nefelibata:

(n.) lit. "Cloud-walker"; One who lives in the clouds of their own imagination or dreams, or one who does not obey the conventions of society, literature or art.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt

Chapter Key:

"English Speaking"

"Japanese Speaking"

'Thinking'

Chapter One

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Mai smiled widely as she looked around the foreign hotel with curiosity. English filling her ears from all directions as people chattered away around her.

Pulling her beret down further on her head, she made her way through the crowds; careful to avoid contact with people as she scanned the area for direction as to where to go. Spotting the reception desk, she made her way over, suitcase towed beside her.

Coming to a stop in front of the desk, she waited for the lady to finish on the phone before she turned to Mai with a bright smile.

"Hello, welcome to The Athenaeum*. How can I be of assistance?" She asked, voice professionally chipper in a way Mai couldn't help but relate to given her own experience as a receptionist and assistant.

"I have a reservation under Mai Taniyama?" Mai informed her, smiling back.

There was the sound of the receptionist's nails clicking against the keys before she smiled back up at Mai.

"Do you have some ID on you for confirmation?" She inquired.

Pulling out her passport, Mai passed it to her without complaint, waiting as the lady confirmed her identity.

Seemingly satisfied with her documents, the receptionist grabbed a key card from on the desk, before turning to her and handing it over with her passport.

"I have you down for a fourteen day stay Miss Taniyama. Is that correct?" She inquired. At Mai's nod, she continued easily. "We hold a breakfast buffet every morning for ten pounds that you are more than welcome to join. Reception is open twenty-four hours so if you have any problems or questions, please don't be afraid to use the phone provided in your room to call; or feel free to ask any of the staff and we will do our best to help you."

Smiling brightly at her, Mai thanked her, careful not to bow since it would be out place as she took a hold of her suitcase and began her trek to the elevator that would take her to her room.

Glancing down at her card, she took note of the number.

'Room 209, huh?' She thought, committing it to memory.

Pressing the button for her floor, she waited silently in the empty elevator, humming lightly to herself and it wasn't long before it stopped; the brunette stepping out just as someone else stepped in.

Paying them no mind she continued down the hallway, coming to a stop in front of her door.

Swiping her card, she pushed the door open and her eyes widened at the size of her room before she grinned. They had outdone themselves this time.

Even after years of working for the same publishing company, she still couldn't wrap her head around having her expenses paid for whenever she was doing something work related – or the lengths they would go to make sure that she was comfortable while doing them.

She wanted to complain at all the unnecessary space, but the truth was, she was going to be here for two weeks and she'd probably need every nook and cranny for when she was working on her writing and decided to move around for a change of pace.

Wheeling her suitcase behind herself, she slipped her coat off as she went and came to a stop in front of the bed. She dropped the coat on the end and let out a childish shout of excitement at the soft looking mattress.

Letting go of her suitcase, she couldn't resist jumping onto the bed and letting out a content sigh as she fell backwards onto it.

It had been a long flight and now that she was down, she couldn't help the yawn.

Looking down at her phone, that had automatically set itself to London's time, she groaned when she saw that it was only six thirty here**. Jetlag was the worst.

Pushing herself up off the mattress before she could fall asleep, she moved to go and set up her laptop on the desk that her suite provided.

If she went to sleep this early there was no way she would not sleep through things. She would just sit down and do some work before showering and then heading down to the dining room to grab a bite to eat.

Starting up her laptop, she waited patiently as things loaded in before opening her emails first. Scrolling through, but not seeing anything super urgent, she turned her attention to the word document that she had open.

Cracking her knuckles, she settled in to write for a little bit.

-0-0-0-0-0-

It was nearly two hours later when she surfaced from her typing. Glancing at the time on her phone, she blinked in surprise. "Has it really been that long?" She mumbled to herself.

Pressing save on her work, she pushed herself up. There was no time left to shower now if she was hoping to catch the restaurant downstairs before they shut up for the night.

'Phone? Check. Key card? Check. Purse? Check. Coat? Check.' Satisfied that she had everything, she made her way down to the restaurant for dinner.

Her solo meal flew by and before she knew it, Mai was back upstairs, ready to shower and get ready for bed. Taking note of the time, she did some quick math and decided that once she'd showered it would be around seven. Ayako and Bou-san would be awake enough for her to call them and let them know that she'd arrived safely, outside of the text she'd sent off to them all earlier.

Grabbing her pyjamas she placed them inside her ensuite before stripping her clothes and stepping under the heated water, letting it sooth the aches of her body from being on a plane for so long before she began to scrub herself down; humming along to the music that was playing quietly from her phone.

It was twenty minutes later when she sat on her bed, phone in hand as she waited for it to dial out.

It rang out twice before she heard her adoptive mother's voice on the other end. "Hello?"

Mai couldn't help her smile at the slightly grumpy tone Ayako's voice had because of the early hour, despite having definitely been up almost an hour ago.

"Morning Ayako."

There was a small paused before- "Mai! Good morning. Or night for you, I guess? How are you? How did your flight go? How's the hotel?" She demanded, suddenly much more awake.

The brunette laughed at her excitement. "Yeah it's night time. I won't be able to talk for too long, but I thought I should call since I don't know when my next chance will be with how busy my first week here is likely to be. But I'm good. Tired, but otherwise in good condition. The flight was long and boring, but business class definitely has enough perks to keep me working through most of it. And the hotel is amazing. The room is so big, I could fit all us in here and still have space!"

Ayako laughed at her daughter. "Good. Nothing but the best for my girl." She proclaimed.

There was the sound of something thudding against the floorboards of Ayako's house before she heard a muffled shout of her name.

"Oi, stop being so noisy you idiot." She heard Ayako hiss, making her giggle.

"Mai! I miss you so much already. Please come back. Don't you dare find a nice boy over there and abandon me with this hag for too long." She heard him whine, not close enough to be against the phone but close enough that she could hear him.

Her heart swelled as his word.

Fighting a yawn, she took a moment to reply. "Hello Bou-san. Morning. I promise that you will be the first to know if I meet a cute boy who can keep my attention for more than a minute." She promised.

There was a noise of pain as Ayako presumably took the phone back from him.

"Thanks for checking in even though it's late for you, but I think it's time you got to bed. I can feel the exhaustion through the phone." The doctor advised.

Mai made a noise of agreement. "I'll call you guys again when I have the chance. G'night. Love you." She murmured; voice being slowly overtaken by the need to rest.

There was a chuckle before she heard a reply of the same sentiment from them and then the line cut.

Forcing herself up from the bed, Mai moved to her suitcase to pull out her phone charger and the adapter she had for the power outlets here.

Plugging it in next to the bedside table, she put her phone on charge before setting her alarm for seven the next morning and double checking that her phone was on London time.

Satisfied, she finally crawled under the blankets and allowed herself to drift off, surrounded by warmth and eager for what the next day would bring.

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Mai couldn't keep the grin from her face as she stepped out of the taxi, thanking the driver and paying him before moving towards the entrance doors of the conference hall.

It was like stepping into a whole new world as she looked around at the large number of people in small groups, talking about various subjects. There were banners up around the place.

Spotting an events planner sitting on the desk where she signed in, she picked it up and flipped it open, scanning through the different lectures they were offering.

Day One:

9:00-10:00 Introduction to Parapsychology by Steven Richardson

10:15-11:30 Myths and Legends – How to Tell What's Real and What's Fake by Maria Sinclair

13:00-15:00 Ghost Hunting: The Field Practice of Parapsychology by Madoka Mori

Day Two:

9:00-11:00 Parapsychology as A Science by Oliver Davis

13:00-15:00 Curses, Hexes and Everything In between by Sonya Miller

Day Three:

9:00-10:00 Mediums, Psychics, and ESPers by Daniel Williams

10:15-11:15 Ghosts and Poltergeists; Characteristics and Classification by Charles Cunningham

11:20-12:00 Planes of Existence by Mikaela Campbell

13:00-15:00 Q&A with Martin Davis

18:00-23:00 Fund-raising Ball

Of course, outside of the various lectures that were lined up there were the lecturers themselves and other members of the parapsychology and ghost hunting community to speak with and learn from. As well as a few stalls set up here and there selling books and other items such as crystals or sutras.

Scanning the room, Mai tried to see if she could spot anyone that she knew.

There were a few faces she recognised though couldn't place, but no-one that jumped straight out at her.

Glancing down at her phone, she sighed when she saw that there was still another thirty minutes before the first lecture would begin.

Resigning herself to her fate, the brunette began to wander around, taking note of some of the books she saw that she hadn't had a chance to read, keeping an eye out to stop someone worth speaking to.

It was then that she noticed familiar pink hair out of the corner of her eye.

Swing around, she couldn't help the smile that spread over her face as she saw Madoka standing a little further down the room talking to an older looking blonde woman.

If you had told Mai four years ago that the sight of Madoka and the possibility of seeing Naru and Lin were opportunities that she would run towards, she would have called you a liar. Even though at the time it had been a year, she still hadn't quite accepted the way that they had left. It had taken a long time for her to get over Naru's blatant disregard of her feelings and the fact that all three of them had lied to her for years.

Now though, she could safely say that she had matured and gotten over the past. So, seeing her old friend brought her nothing but joy.

Making her way over, pushing through the crowd easily, she approached the woman from behind her, moving as quietly as possible.

The older blonde lady took note of her but didn't seem inclined to say anything her as Mai snuck up behind.

Grinning at the help she readied herself before reaching out to grab her shoulder and whisper "boo" in her ear quietly.

Jumping slightly, Madoka swung around, hand on her chest while her friend giggled behind her.

"What the- Mai?" Her voice cut off, going from loud to confused faster than Mai had ever seen.

Grinning at her, Mai gave her a small bow, more mocking than an actual greeting.

"Hello Madoka-san."

It was a moment before the pink-haired woman basically flung herself at Mai.

"Mai, it is you! It's been so long! How are you? What are you doing here? Oh! We have to tell Koujo. And Noll! They'll be so glad to see you." She chattered away quickly leaving Mai laugh at her friend's enthusiastic response.

There was a small cough to catch Madoka's attention and the woman seemed to remember herself.

"Oh, of course. Luella, this is Mai Taniyama. She used to work for Oliver back in Japan." She introduced. "And Mai, this is Luella Davis, Oliver's mother."

Mai blinked for a moment before an image of the crying woman came to mind. "Ah, of course. I apologise, we have met before, if only briefly. It's wonderful to see you Mrs. Davis."

There was a pause before Luella seemed to catch up. "One of the people who used to work with my son, huh? I had wondered whether or not to let you approach Madoka like that, but I figured that it couldn't do any harm. I must thank you for such a good laugh."

Madoka pouted at her friend's words. "You knew what she was doing? Damn it, Luella, I nearly had a heart attack!" She exclaimed.

Mai laughed at them. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. Considering how many times you have terrified me, I think I can be forgiven."

The other woman conceded to her point, grin still in place.

Before they could continue their talk however, Mai noticed everyone beginning to file into the lecture room. A quick look at the clock on the wall she spotted revealed that there was only five minutes before the first lecture would begin.

"It would seem that it's time for the first lecture. Are you coming in to watch as well?" Mai inquired, looking over at the two women.

Madoka shook her head. "The first lecture is by one of our top students here. I was the one that proof read his notes and helped him prepare. If I have to listen to that lecture one more time, I might actually go insane." She implored.

"And I'm afraid I'm only here as a friend, there's not much in this field that interests me." Luella admitted sheepishly.

Mai smiled kindly at her. "In that case, I'll be leaving you two for the moment. I'll be hanging around for the next two lectures." She admitted, a little sad to be leaving them so soon.

Smiling brightly, Madoka wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "That's fine. You can join us for the lunchtime break. That way you can see Oliver and Koujo as well." She suggested.

This made Mai perk up a little more.

"That sounds great, if you don't think I'll be interrupting?" She agreed, biting her lip at the thought that she might be intruding.

Luella waved off her worries with an easy laugh. "It's fine dear. I'd love to get to know more about you. It would seem that everyone else knows you pretty well. But you had better get going for the moment or you'll miss the lecture." She warned.

Blanching at the thought, she bowed quickly without thinking to show her gratitude before racing off to the room, barely making it to a seat before it began.

Pulling out her notebook and a pen, she settled in to take some notes. It was going to be a productive few hours.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was just gone eleven thirty when Mai stepped out into the main room of the convention once more, stretching her arm out and sighing at the relief it gave her.

Looking around, she took a moment to locate Madoka, hoping to spot the pink-haired woman without going on a huge journey to find her.

She needn't have worried though as the woman was already on her way over, ignoring people as they tried to grab her attention and ask her questions.

Laughing at her friend's attitude, Mai made her way over to her, grinning when she reached the other woman, who hadn't quite managed to shake off one of the people who wanted to ask her some questions.

Seeing Mai approach them, Madoka gave the younger man an apologetic look.

"My apologies, but I'll have to cut this short. I have some lunch plans that I really must attend to. However, if you still have questions after this afternoons lecture, you can approach me then and I would be happy to answer any questions that you have." Madoka promised, smiling at the man before turning heel to walk away, grabbing Mai's arm on the way past before she could be stopped again.

Mai giggled at the irritated look on Madoka's face.

"Honestly, I had hoped that people would be smart enough to leave the lecturers alone until after they'd spoken. You wouldn't believe the amount of times people have stopped to ask me questions on things that I'll be covering when I speak later on this afternoon." The pink-haired woman complained; frustration clear in her tone.

Humming in understanding, Mai couldn't help but compare her irritation to how Naru would likely feel in that situation.

"That does sound horrible. I guess I had better wait until after your lecture to bombard you with questions as well." She couldn't help but tease the older woman, drawing a laugh from her.

Shooting Mai a fake glare, Madoka rolled her eyes. "You know that you don't count. You're a friend and I hardly think you need to ask me about what the definition of a dowsing rod is or why the temperature drops when there's a spirit in the room. Or better yet, the sceptics I deal with on the regular that ask how I can be sure that it wasn't just a draft." She ranted.

The brunette shrugged slightly, neither confirming nor denying her claims. "You never know, it's been a long time since I worked for Naru. I could have forgotten everything." She pointed out.

Madoka looked at her for a moment before shaking her head. "Nah. You're at a paranormal convention after all. There's no way." She declared.

Mai raised an eyebrow. "So was the guy who just stopped you to ask the correct method for using a dowsing rod."

A pout quickly formed on friend's face. "Sure, but they didn't spend two years under the tutelage of the great Oliver Davis." She teased, "Nor did they have the help of the fantastic Madoka Mori. I'd throw Koujo in too, but I have no idea how much he would have actually helped as opposed to have been a silent statue."

She lowered her voice to a whisper at the last words, glancing around with a mischievous look on her face like Lin would appear out of no-where and catch them.

Laughing, Mai had to admit Madoka had a point. Lin and her had gotten along fairly well towards the second half of their time together, but they – or rather Lin - spent the time up until the Urado case glaring at her and over all ignoring her presence ninety percent of the time.

Before Mai even realised, they had made their way across the entire building into a different section that most likely wasn't open to everyone. Glancing around, she spotted a few of the other bigger names that had been mentioned as lecturers sitting at some of the tables that were set up.

Noticing her look, Madoka winked at her. "We figured it would be easier for everyone if there was a separate area for those of us who are a little more well-known to eat." She admitted.

Mai grinned at her admission. "By which you mean, Lin and Naru didn't want to put up with real people asking stupid questions and demanded somewhere a little quieter." She theorised, her voice mimicking the whisper that Madoka had used earlier and causing the woman to laugh loudly.

"Got it in one."

Spotting Luella sitting at one of the tables, she waved to the woman, smiling widely.

It wasn't long before she was taking a seat between the two women.

"Oliver and Lin are running a little behind, but they should be here towards the end of lunch, so why don't we go ahead and grab ourselves something first?" Luella suggested after ten minutes passed and she'd checked her phone to see where the others were.

Part of Mai was relieved by the delay. Even though she wasn't worried about seeing them again after so long, she was still nervous about seeing how they'd changed.

Nodding in agreement to Luella's plan, they got up and made their way over to the buffet style spread of food across a few tables that were pushed off to the side.

Grabbing a plate, they each piled food onto their plates before grabbing a drink – Mai grabbing a bottle of water for herself – and retaking their seats from earlier.

It didn't take long for conversation to pick back up and Mai found herself laughing more than she ever thought possible as they chatted, Luella revealing things Naru did when he was younger and Madoka recounting her engagement to Lin.

"He was so nervous; I've never seen him like that before." The pink-haired woman gossiped, a sigh of happiness leaving her mouth as she leaned back, her own plate finished and a smile on her face.

Mai who had long since finished, having spent to majority of the time listening, couldn't help but smile softly at her friend. "I'm glad. I better be getting an invitation." She threatened jokingly.

Madoka grinned back at her. "Of course. Although it's quite a distance for you to go for a wedding. Will you need any financial help? And what about work, will you be able to take time off? What do you do these days anyways?"

Across from Madoka, Luella covered her mouth with a small gasp before giving Mai an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry. I got so caught up in story telling that I haven't even asked anything about yourself." She apologised.

The youngest woman shook her worries away, arms waving in front of her to try and placate the blonde.

"It's fine. I love listening to stories like this and I would have asked for them anyway. There's plenty of time for us to catch up and get to know each other since I'm assuming you'll be here every day for the convention, right?"

Luella looked unsure but nodded her head to tell Mai that she was right, and Mai grinned brightly. "See? No harm done. But more importantly, no, I don't need any financial help in coming to your wedding and I doubt my boss will have any complaints either. So don't worry about such unimportant details." She scolded Madoka, turning to face her with a stern look on her face.

Madoka smiled back at her. "If you say so, I just thought I'd check."

Before their conversation could pick back up again though, Mai felt the presence of someone walking up behind them.

"Hello Madoka, Mother." A deep voice spoke in a familiar timber.

A second presence appeared beside Naru, moving towards Madoka to stand next to her.

"Good afternoon Luella, Madoka." Another familiar voice spoke.

There was a small flutter of excitement in Mai's stomach and she fought to keep a giant grin from spreading over her face.

Madoka grinned. "Good afternoon you two. Are you not going to greet our other companion?" She asked, a slight reprimand in her tone.

Mai could almost feel the annoyance radiate off of Naru at her words and she fought hard not to giggle.

Twisting slightly in her seat so that she had a better view of Lin and Naru, she smiled sweetly.

"Good afternoon Lin-san,Davis-san. Ahh, although I guess it should be Mr. Lin and Dr. Davis now, right?" She thought, making a show of muttering to herself while tilting her head.

Okay, so she wasn't completely over the whole "Oliver Davis" thing. But could you blame her? Two years she worked for Naru and neither of them had said a thing!

There was a long pause of silence before Oliver spoke finally.

"Taniyama-san." He said finally.

Mai couldn't help but choke out a laugh at how wrong it sounded to hear her family name from his lips.

"Who are you imitating? Lin?" She scoffed.

There was a tug at his lips. "You started it." He pointed out, simply.

Pouting, Mai crossed her arms. "Uh, no, you started it. I wasn't the one who lied about who they were for two years."

There was a flash of something – regret maybe? - in his eyes for a moment before he tilted his head in concession.

"And perhaps I feel like it's no longer proper to call you by your first name given those circumstances." He argued back.

The brunette rolled her eyes at him. "Please, since when have you ever cared for propriety?"

From nearby, Madoka giggled at Mai's response. "She has a point Oliver, but I can't take either of you seriously when you speak so formally to each other." She admitted.

From her seat at the table Luella continued to watch on, curious. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting from the young girl when she'd interacted with her son, but this was definitely not it, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of things. But there was a distinct lack of surprise from Lin and Madoka so she could only assume that this was how those two had been from the start. The thought made her curious to hear more and made her lament the fact that until now, she hadn't asked anything about what Noll was like while in Japan.

Mai's laugh of agreement snapped Luella out of her thoughts.

"I suppose you're right. I can't even take myself seriously."

From beside her, Oliver scoffed. "Is that a new low for you?" He asked, voice cold with the slightest bit of a tease in it.

It took a moment for Mai to stop herself from wanting to kill him for that comment, her face flushed slightly in abated anger before she did the most mature thing she could think of... and stuck her tongue out at him in retaliation.

"Thanks for reminding me that you earned that nickname." She huffed out.

Oliver smirked. "And what nickname would that be?"

Madoka's eyes widened slightly and she glanced to her fiancé before looking back over at them and then back at him.

Was Oliver... flirting?! While she had expected a lot from him after seeing Mai for the first time in five years this was a little more than even she dreamed of. He was practically asking Mai to call him by the nickname that she'd given him.

Mai quirked an eyebrow at his attitude. "Surely your memory is good enough that you can recall such a simple word, Mr. Narcissist?"

Standing in front of her, Oliver couldn't help the smirk on his face at the familiar words. It wasn't his nickname, but it was close enough for now.

He wasn't sure why he wanted to hear her say the name that he'd been dubbed years ago so badly, but he didn't really want to dwell on the thought. It had been five years and the emotions that Mai had somehow always managed to stir up in him still alluded his understanding. And if he was being honest with himself – for once – it didn't bother him all that much.

"As interesting as it is to watch the two of you argue, I'm afraid I need to go and get organised for my lecture since it's starting in twenty. I'll see you in the room Mai!" Madoka called to her, pushing up from her seat. "You're coming with me, right Koujo?"

The silent man could almost feel the not-so-subtle plot forming as his arm was tugged on.

Turning to Mai, he gave her a half smile. "It's good to see you, Taniyama-san." He stated before turning to leave.

Mai giggled, warmth spreading through her at his words. "You too, Lin-san." She agreed, watching as he let himself be pulled along by Madoka.

Luella laughed a little at them. "They really were made for each other." She sighed.

Rolling his eyes, Oliver took over the seat that Madoka had been in. "They've been together for years at this point mother, surely that's enough time to stop gushing over their cuteness?"

The blonde pouted at her son. "Well, maybe I would, if my son would get into a relationship so that I can gush over you instead." She countered.

The cold look she got in response made her burst into giggles again. She never thought she'd say that she'd missed his cold attitude but, in this moment, there was nothing else she could have wanted more.

After all, it meant that Naru hadn't changed all that much over the past few years.

"It would seem like time has flown by, my dear. I had hoped to chat some more and get to know you." Luella sighed, turning to Mai with a pout before something seemed to occur to her and she brightened up.

"Are you doing anything in particular tonight?" She inquired.

Mai blinked a little at the sudden question.

"Um, nothing important. Why?"

"How would you feel about going to dinner with us? It would be a perfect opportunity to meet Martin too since he got caught up today."

The brunette bit her lip, unsure. Interrupting their lunch wasn't a huge issue but cutting in on their dinner seemed a little rude and she didn't want to intrude on family time.

As if sensing her dilemma, Naru fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Just say yes. Mother wouldn't have offered if she didn't want you there, idiot." He pointed out.

Mai turned to him, intending to reply with something witty but clamped her mouth shut when she realised that she didn't have a real response to that.

"Jerk." She muttered at the knowing smirk she got in return to her silence. "If you're sure I won't be intruding then I would love to Luella."

Smiling widely, Luella looked down at her watch and gasped. "I'm afraid you're almost out of time if you want to catch Madoka's lecture this afternoon. Noll, you're going as well right? Would you mind escorting Mai back to the room?"

Mai wanted to argue but, before she could even think of something to say, Naru was getting up from his seat.

"Don't bother. We're both going to the same place anyway, stupid." He teased.

Once again, he had a good point and Mai didn't really have anything to say.

"I didn't say anything!" She exclaimed indignantly as she pushed up from her seat to follow after him.

"But you were thinking of arguing. You still show all your thoughts on your face."

Mai frowned at that. "Now you're just being rude." She huffed.

Glancing over, Oliver sighed. "Am I ever anything but rude?" He shot back, somewhat bitter at his own attitude.

The comment shocked Mai for a moment before she frowned further. "That's not true." She muttered back after a moment of silence.

Naru glanced over at her, an inquisitive eyebrow raised at her response.

Crossing her arms, Mai looked ahead and decidedly focused on putting one foot in front of the other; determined not to look at him as thoughts of the one time he'd smiled kindly at her flashed through her mind.

'It's been years, you idiot. Stop it.' She scolded herself, hating the way that the memory still made her heartbeat faster and her cheeks flush slightly.

She was over him damn it, there was no reason to make this awkward.

Seeing the lecture room approaching, she did her best not to break out into a run to escape Naru's gaze that she could feel on her.

Stepping through the door, she glanced around before spotting a couple seats on the right-hand side of the room.

Walking over she sat down, not even surprised when Naru took a seat on her left-hand side without a second thought.

Ignoring him, she pulled out her notebook ready to make notes, reaching for a pen and keeping her eyes trained in front of her.

Oliver didn't know whether to be amused or irritated at the fact that Mai insisted on ignoring him all of sudden; but he didn't have time to really consider his feelings further because Madoka started talking and he found himself pulling out his own notebook to take any notes that might be useful for later on; although he doubted there would be anything that he didn't already know.

He noted that Mai had done the same thing.

Which triggered a more important question. Why was Mai even here? This was a parapsychology convention so he could only assume that she was still involved in ghost hunting in some form – not a surprise considering the people that she'd surrounded herself with – but if she was focused on that, did that mean she worked for a different company now?

The thought caused a twinge of annoyance that he couldn't quite place. Of course she had worked for other people over the years – he left her – them all really – without much warning at all. She would've had to make money somehow. He was being ridiculous.

It wouldn't do him any good to dwell on the subject anyway. He could only speculate for the moment but there was no doubt in his mind that between Madoka and his mother at dinner he would have answers soon enough.

With that thought in mind, he redirected his attention back to Madoka's lecture, a little shocked to find that it was almost over.

Had he really been distracted for so long?

Glancing over, he spotted a collection of neat kanji and hiragana mixed with some English, as opposed to traditional katakana,*** written on the pages of Mai's book.

As Madoka finished up her lecture, Naru tore his eyes away from Mai's work and flipped his own notebook closed, tucking it away in his pocket once more.

Pushing himself up from his seat, he turned to Mai to see her jotting down a final note before closing her own book.

"Hurry up. I want to beat the crowd." He informed her impatiently.

Mai rolled her eyes as she put her notebook into her bag and slung it over her shoulder as she stood up. "No-one said you had to wait for me." She pointed out.

Noll didn't deign that with a response, instead moving towards the doors to leave. Luckily for them, most people were hanging around in order to ask questions since that was the last lecture of the day.

Stepping out of the room, Mai sighed, stretching slightly and fighting back a yawn.

Her companion smirked. "Did you find Madoka's lecture that boring?" He teased.

Shooting him a glare, Mai pouted. "That's not it at all, you jerk. I only arrived in England yesterday evening. My time zones are all mixed up." She grumbled.

Naru didn't respond, walking towards the same back area that they'd been in earlier to eat.

"I'm assuming that Mother didn't give you any details for when dinner would be, or where. If you'd prefer, we can grab you on our way." He offered after a moment of silence. "That way I can be sure that you'll be on time for once in your life."

Mai shook her head quickly, intentionally ignoring the bait (take that Naru, she has matured!). "You don't need to bother with all that, I can just grab a taxi if you let me know where you're going." She denied quickly. It was bad enough that she was intruding on their dinner, let alone riding with them for kami's sake.

It took everything Oliver had not to roll his eyes at the predictable response. "Where are you staying at the moment?"

Mai blinked at the sudden change. "The Athenaeum. Why?"

As always, she was such an easy target. Naru smirked. "Because I'll be picking you up at six o'clock sharp so make sure you're ready." He informed her.

Mai's eyes widened before she glared. "I told you, I can get there just fine on my own." She argued.

"How? You don't know what it's called, and I don't intend to tell you."

The brunette eyed him silently in an attempt to figure out whether or not he was being serious; before concluding that he was, in fact, being extremely serious.

"You're such a jerk." She groused, giving in.

The look she got in response was entirely unapologetic.

Glancing down at the time on her phone, Mai sighed. "I'm going to have to be on my way if I intend to be ready in time for tonight. Here's my current number if you need to reach me before then." She informed him, pulling out a piece of paper and scribbling on it quickly before handing it to him.

Noll nodded in understanding, taking the paper and tucking it inside his jacket with his notebook. He'd put it into his phone later on.

"In that case, I'll walk you outside."

Just like most things out of Naru's mouth, it was more of an indisputable fact then a legitimate offer.

Recalling how her attempt to disagree with such offers went only minutes ago she opted to just go with it instead of arguing further.

"Are you pretending to be a gentleman with real manners for some reason? You know I'm already aware of how lacking you are in that department, right?" Mai couldn't help but tease as she followed after him, laughing when he made it a point to open the door and wave her through politely first, instead of responding anything verbal.

Walking next to him towards the exit, she could feel eyes on her from a variety of people, many of them glaring, but a few of them more shocked and confused then anything. She tried not to pay any attention to it.

Stepping outside, Mai smiled at Naru. "I'll be okay from here. Go find your mother and Madoka before they decide to take over the world or something." She joked, keeping an eye on the streets.

Oliver rolled his eyes at her. "If my Mother and Madoka decided to take over the world then my being there wouldn't do anything more than encourage them." He responded, stepping further out onto the pavement to wave down a taxi that he spotted for Mai.****

Mai's smile was softer for a moment while Naru was distracted. He really was being a gentleman today.

As the taxi came to a stop on the corner, Mai stepped up to it and opened the door. Turning to Naru, she grinned. "I'll see you in a couple hours." She promised.

"Six o'clock sharp. Don't get distracted." He reminded mildly, smirking as she huffed at him making a jab at her for the second time in less than half an hour.

"I got it already." She grumbled, shutting the door before he could say anything else and turning to the driver, listing off her hotel and waving to Naru as the driver pulled back onto the road.

It was a pretty quiet ride, Mai handing over the money and thanking her driver before stepping out and heading back up to her room.

It wasn't until she got to her room and stepped inside that she had to stop and think.

"Crap, what am I going to wear?"

Her voice rang out loudly in the otherwise empty room as she made a sudden dash for her bag. She knew that there were a few nicer things in there for if she had to do some networking that Ayako and Yasu both insisted on (that she was going to be so thankful for in a few minutes), plus the dress she planned to wear to the fund-raising ball later in the week.

But this wasn't just some dinner – this was a dinner with Naru and his family.

Nerves were suddenly eating at her like nothing else as she tried to figure out what would be the best thing for tonight.

Biting her lip, she eyed her phone that she'd thrown to the side haphazardly in an attempt to make it to her bag faster.

She shouldn't. It was gone one in the morning for them in Japan.

'But if it's Yasu then he'll probably still be up' She reminded herself, trying not to feel guilty as she pressed on his number before she could think too much further on the subject.

Part of her hoped that he wouldn't pick up, but as the call rang out and she heard someone pick up on the other end, she sucked in a nervous breath.

Now, if only she could make it through this call without him being annoying.

'That'll be the day.' She thought, moving to lay on the bed.

It was going to be a long night.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

*This is a real location but I don't know anything about it as a place. I literally just went through google to find somewhere fancy for Mai to stay.

**There is a nine hour time difference so even though it's only 6.30pm in London, it would feel like 3.30am for her since that's the time it would be in Japan in that moment.

***In Japan they use three alphabets or scripts to write. The first is hiragana which is traditional Japanese script, the second is Katakana which is the script they use whenever writing a word that was not originally Japanese such as western names or places. The last is kanji which are characters that originated in China but made their way into Japanese script and are now an integral part of their writing system. It is also important to note if you aren't already aware that Naru's understanding of kanji is limited – and yes this is canonical.

****Okay so I'm reasonably sure that in England it's a "hail" system but here in Australia and I'm pretty sure in Japan as well (or at least what I saw while I was there), we call for our taxi services so I'm sorry if this is incorrect or written weirdly – it's just not something we do. The only thing we hail are buses (something I have next to no experience with) and for Mai, she grew up in Tokyo which means her primary source of transport would have been the train which you definitely don't have to hail so I feel like this would be something she'd be unused to. Hopefully I conveyed Naru understanding that and helping her out in his own way well enough?