Chapter Text
Mai Taniyama has seen many things in her short career as a Ghost Hunter, be it spirits, hexes, or pranks. She, herself, could be considered paranormal if you put her psychic powers into consideration. This? She had no clue what to even make of it.
“-and of course, your team may come as well. We will give you the finer details if you decide to take this case.”
Mai sat in her usual spot on the couch, frozen and mouth open wide. Yasuhara next to her was in the same state of shock. Even Lin had momentarily stopped typing.
The client, a tall, foreign man named Robert, sat silently, occasionally taking a sip of the tea Mai had brought him. He had a very nervous look to him. His tired brown eyes skipped across the four other occupants of the room. A moment more of shocked silence had the man sighing.
“Of course, I do realize the magnitude of this case, Dr. Davis. I am willing to give you a bit of time to discuss this with your team. “ He gestured to the others, but his eyes did not leave Naru’s. “However, I must receive an answer soon, Doctor. Your client is very troubled, you see.”
That seemed to erase any hesitation. Naru closed his notebook with a quick snap. “Of course. I will discuss it with my team. I will have an answer for you within forty-eight hours.”
Robert nodded and stood. “Well then, I will take my leave.” He gave an awkward bow and turned to the door. Naru stood and followed behind.
“I assume our client will not be present.” Naru stated, looking at Robert with a blank look. Robert looked at the young researcher with disappointed eyes.
“They left long before I arrived in Japan. The family is choosing a different area to stay after this trouble.” He grabbed his coat from the hook and shuffled it on.
Naru casually took the man’s hat off the coat rack and handed it to him. “Has anyone in England gained wind of this?”
“England,” Robert said, turning to open the door while giving Oliver a charming smile, “is none the wiser, Dr. Davis.”
Naru said nothing. He nodded his head in understanding, and shut the door behind his guest. Silence once again surrounded the team as Naru made his way back to his chair. His writing resumed and Lin’s typing was as fast as ever. The normalcy seemed to snap Mai and Yasuhara out of their stupor.
“Hey boss.” Yasu started. “Are we, I mean you, really going to take this case?”
Oliver sighed. “I don’t know. There are too many factors to consider.”
“Such as?” Yasuhara prompted. If the big boss took the case, he desperately wanted to be part of it.
“Such as who the client is.” Naru continued, still only looking at the notebook. He was trying to write in the missing information he had left out due to the shock of the situation.
“Wouldn’t that make you want to take the case more?”
“That bit of information only makes me want to deny it immediately.” He stated dryly. “The only reason I am considering it is because what is happening there seems unusual, to say the least. The investigation would be worth my time, but the client is not.”
At this point, Mai had gotten over her shock and decided to pitch in. “But what about your reputation? Or BSPR’s reputation at that? It would soar!” She said, jumping off the couch in excitement at the thought of going to England for this case. “Besides! It is your duty as an Englishman to accept this case” she said, crossing her arms to solidify her point.
Naru looked at her dryly. “Mai.” He said her name in the tone he normally saved for the stupid. She faltered a bit. “Reputation and my nationality have absolutely nothing to do with this.”
“Not necessarily Naru.” Lin butted in. He stopped typing to look at his young ward. Naru, in turn, looked at Lin with a slight look of exasperation. “I know you don’t care about your own reputation,” Mai and Yasuhara looked shocked at this, “but they technically did hire you out of BSPR. Even if this case is not made public, it will boost the country’s outlook to BSPR and possibly the paranormal as well.”
To his statement, Oliver looked troubled. He had a point. But. “I’m not going to take a case just on that.”
Mai huffed. “You are impossible, Naru. At least think of your country.”
Oliver turned to Mai. “I am aware of how much you and Yasuhara want to go, but here are many factors to this that are a mystery. We only got the basics of what was going on and from what I heard, it will not be easy.” Naru closed his notebook and stood up. “Lin.”
Said man closed his laptop and followed Naru into his office, leaving Mai and Yasuhara alone in the sitting room.
Mai sighed and shook her head. “I understand that this could be dangerous,” she started, turning to Yasuhara, “but so were many of our other cases! Especially the cases with Urado and Kosori. This is a golden opportunity!”
Yasuhara smiled at the girl’s enthusiasm. “But Mia-chan.” He started in a sing-song voice. “How’s your English?” His smirk grew as the girl seemed to pause. “Have you even improved at all in the last two years? Maybe you should get the big boss to teach you.”
Mai’s face flushed. Out of anger, embarrassment, or adoration for Naru, Yasu didn’t know. “I don’t need him to teach me anything.” She huffed and stomped her foot as she said this. Adoration then. “I’ll have you know that I have been improving it!”
“Oh really.” Yasuhara stood up. A mischievous smile formed on his face. “Then how about a little bet, Mai-chan?”
Mai gulped. Yasuhara continued. “You have to speak English for the rest of the day. No Japanese at all.”
Mai’s eyes widened a fraction. She was fluent enough, she knew that. But the moment someone started talking too fast or using complicated English words and idioms, she would get lost. Not to mention a lot of the words had complicated pronunciation! English was such a hard language.
“If I lose?” She spoke softly and cautiously.
“Hmm. Well if you lose, then you have to go an entire day without saying anything against Naru.” He grinned. “And I will even take the liberty to tell Naru so he will be able to order you around and get as many cups of tea as he wants without you saying a word to him.” His grin widened when he saw the look of pure horror on her face. Mai weighed her options. On the one hand, she could prove that she did, in fact, know English. Plus, she would make sure to get something if she won. On the other hand, she could be subjected to Naru bossing her around for an entire day! Well, not that he didn’t do that anyway, but she would not be able to argue! However, not being one to back down from a challenge, she eventually accepted the bet.
“Okay.” She said in English. “But what do I get if I win?” Her voice was heavily accented, but Yasu didn’t say anything about it.
“Hmm.” Yasuhara thought for a moment, tapping his finger on his chin, before snapping his fingers. “How about I buy you that new, expensive futon you were showing me the other day?”
“Deal!” Mai said instantly. She frowned when she realized how he had said that. “You are speaking English too?”
“Sure.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It will be fun.”
A few hours went by without the two speaking much. However, so far, Mai had kept up her part of the bargain. She has not muttered a word of Japanese. She was quite proud of herself. That new futon was getting closer to being hers as the minutes ticked by. The door to Naru’s office opened suddenly to reveal Lin walking out with his computer tucked neatly under his arm. He nodded to Mai and Yasuhara before heading back into his own office. A few seconds later, Naru appeared and looked directly at Mai.
“Mai. I need you to call the others. We will discuss the decision to take the case with all of us present.” Mai nodded and picked up the phone. She was sure she would have to explain to them why she was speaking English. She could feel Yasuhara’s grinning gaze as she stumbled to think of the right words, but Naru’s voice brought her out of her thoughts. “Mai. Tea.”
Said girl looked up annoyed to be interrupted. She was doing what he said wasn’t she. Mai, however, thought of something to deter her ever stoic boss and grinned. “Sure thing, Noll” she said in her heavily accented English. She snickered when Naru froze. “I’ll make your tea and call the others right now.”
Yasuhara put a hand over his mouth to hold back some of his laughter when Naru stood completely still. This was too good. “Oh boss. I wanted to ask you.” Yasu started in much better English than Mai. “If you do take this case, are we going to be using BSPR for the base and resources?”
Mai snickered some more when Yasuhara joined in as well. She would have to make sure that the others got in on this as well. She watched in amusement as Naru turned to glare at the two not-pumpkins before going back to his office without saying a word.
At this point, Mai and Yasu started laughing, not being able to hold it in. Oh, how fun it was to tease Naru for a change.
Mai went over to the little kitchenette to make a now surely grumpy ghost hunter, his favorite tea. She grabbed the phone on her way in and giggled as she dialed the number for Monk as she put on the kettle.
“Hello?” Monk’s voice said through the speaker.
“Hello, Bou-san. Do you have time to come to the office? Nau- I mean Noll wants to talk to all of us for a possible case.” She leaned on the counter after she had set the kettle on the stove. The other end of the phone was silent for a moment before Monk’s hesitant voice sounded through the speaker once again. “Mai-chan?”
“Yes?” Another pause.
“Why are you speaking english?”
“Oh, well. I made a bet with Yasuhara that I could only speak English for the rest of the day.”
“Uh-huh.” Monk said simply. “And-” Monk hesitated for a moment longer before continuing. “Noll?”
Mai smiled. “Well since I am speaking English, I should use his english nickname right?”
At that moment the kettle decided to whistle. Mai walked over to it and continued to make Naru his precious tea. “So will you come?”
“Yeah. You actually caught me at a good time. I’ll be over in a bit, Jou-chan.” Monk said. Mai could hear the grin over the phone as he said this. “Do I need to be speaking English too?”
“That would be a really good idea!” Mai said, clasping her hands together, bouncing on her feet. “Noll’s reaction was priceless! It would be great if we could get everyone to do it!”
She heard Monk chuckle on the other end of the receiver. “I bet. I’ll call Ayako for ya. I’ll explain the situation for you as well.”
“Thank you, Bou-san! That would be a big help.” Mai said, smiling from ear to ear.