As SPR's popularity grows, the small company takes on more cases than ever, with one small problem. "...Taniyama Mai. Tea enthusiast, psychic researcher, insomniac." Case after case, Mai deals with vengeful spirits and uncontrollable poltergeists. Compassionate, strong-willed, insightful, and talented - nothing can conquer Mai. Right?

Wrong.

A cool summer breeze filtered through the open windows of the office and I took a deep breath. Negative ions, ahhh~ so refreshing. After days of searing heat, a cold front was all too perfect. The storm boomed while within the confines of SPR, a medly of page-turning and keyboard clacking came from the two offices attatched to the "lounge."

I sighed. Even as the world outside ripped branches from trees and drowned grass, Naru and Lin-san stayed cooped up in their own little world.

One glance out the window showed several poor souls trapped in the downpour, umbrellas out, trying to keep their backpacks, their briefcases, and their shopping bags dry. It reminded me of the last major storm system to hit the office - those days I spent in the office organizing paperwork while Lin-san came and went; while Naru lay in bed at the hospital.

I recalled how the rain would clink hopelessly against the windows: the clink of archaic prison chains. Such a lifeless time, pitiful hours, no cases, and a mostly empty office...

When I'd first got the message from Lin-san that Naru had been released from the hospital, relief couldn't begin to describe my emotions. Through the whole ordeal, I suppose I never realized how scared I was. I'd been so worried Naru would shut everything down after his prolonged hospital stay, but no. All was well. After a few weeks' hiatus, Shibuya Psychic Research was back and ready to take on any and all paranormal phenomena Japan had to offer.

And did they. Though Naru continued to resist any high-profile cases, SPR became well known and popular in the psychic world. We started receiving more legitimate cases and my workload went through the roof.

Even during the most stressful times, I'd exercised regularly, ate three square meals a day, and enjoyed lots of "me" time. I'd been healthier than the average teenager, I assumed, yet... Something had been upsetting my sleep.

It started out innocently enough: a nightmare. I'd come to terms with suffering through the occasional psychic nightmare, having them frequently on the job, but this was an ordinary nightmare and not a psychic dream. It must have been horrifying, I think, since a scream woke me up. My own shriek, though it seemed to seep through the walls of my bedroom instead of being forced from my own lungs.

The most unsettling part of the experience was the fact that after countless perfect recollections of dreams past, my memory of that nightmare was a complete blank. An exposed negative. Waking turned the dream to dust.

As I sat in bed and watched the glaring red lines of my alarm clock twist themselves into new and significant numbers, something about that color red was hypnotic... It reminded me of Naru's poltergeist test, and that calmed me somewhat. That morning, I called in sick.

In the following weeks, my sleeping patterns began to change profoundly. I could no longer doze off on cases, or even at the office, and slept through the night dream-free. As my funk progressed, crashing at night became a difficulty as well. August turned to September, and my sleep deficit grew. Four hours of sleep a night became a luxury, yet I still tackled all my usual work to the best of my abilities and investigated every case SPR accepted...

"Mai," A cold voice broke my musings, "You're free to zone out on your own time." Startled, I looked up to find Naru lounging in his doorway. How long was he standing there? I didn't even hear the door open. Damn, was he sneaky.

"Naru. Don't startle me like that. Are you looking for tea or are you looking to irritate your clearly busy assistant?" I motioned to the files strewn about my corner desk. I'd been copying them into the computer all morning: they were all accounts of my dreams and their relevance to cases, all the accounts that were handwritten before Lin-san had made the suggestion that I be allowed a laptop for business.

It seemed sick torture to work on such a thing after yet another sleepless night, but Naru was not exactly Mr. Sensitivity. I cut everyone some slack, though, it's not like I'd have told them I couldn't sleep. Not even Bou-san, Ayako, or my friends from school. It seemed like one of those things that would be ignored by Naru and Lin-san, yet fussed over by Bou-san and Ayako. The last thing I wanted was to worry my friends, so I kept them ignorant.

"Busy?" Naru's head tilted slightly to the side as he walked over to my desk and grabbed my laptop.

"Naru, I'm working on th-"

"There's nothing typed. Which file are you on?" Busted.

"Well, um, I just finished typing up my notes from the Kusonoki poltergeist, the Funaki poltergeist, and the suicide victim that haunted the Uemura mansion." I remembered clearly how painful it'd been to try and decipher my notes from the Kusonoki case in particular, as my notepad fell in a pond while I tried to console the eight-year-old boy we uncovered as the culprit.

"Yes, Mai, I know you did those ones," Naru gave me a mildly annoyed glare. "you e-mailed them to Lin three hours ago to be put in SPR's database."

"Three hours? I've only been slacking off for ten minutes tops." I checked the time in the bottom corner of my brand new laptop. 6:37 PM. It really had been three hours! I'd completely lost track of time. "Oh- Um- Naru- ...Sorry...?"

Naru said nothing, and just stared into my genuinely confused face. After a moment, he turned to retreat back into his batcave -ahem, office. As he reached the door, inspiration hit and he turned back to face me with his hand on the doorknob.

"Take the rest of the evening off. When you come back tomorrow, you can act your age and pretend to know the concept of an attention span. This isn't school; wasting your time wastes mine too."

Ouch.

Greetings, this is the first chunk of my first ever work of fan fiction. Love it, hate it, let me know! Also, if you spot errors or inconsistencies, you'll have one very grateful little author.