Thank you so much to everyone who submitted prompts!
SPR receives a tea pot from a client that may or may not be haunted. While they are investigating it, Mai accidentally drops and breaks the office tea pot. Naru is faced with a dilemma: Delectable Tea? Or Deadly Haunting? - @csakuras
Parent Trap AU - @whateverisurlife
Reluctant client Naru must sit back while the Irregulars solve his haunting for him. - Anonymous.
Hallucination - Anonymous.
Naru and Mai shares a dream (or multiple dreams), but neither of them know they're actually sharing it. - @seoulsborne123
John and Lin have a night out (I am weak for this friendship) - @frenchcirce
On a case, Mai realizes she forgot to pack the tea… (aka the scariest horror story) - @frenchcirce
Disability -Anonymous
What if SPR was hired to investigate a mysterious painting that is said to give the viewer intense feelings of loneliness (or your choice of emotion) -Anonymous
A Hollywood movie studio decides to make a movie loosely based on Oliver Davis’s life and involvement in missing persons cases. Naru refuses any involvement, but the movie gets made anyway. Hilarity ensues? - @csakuras
penguin sledding -Anonymous
Lucifer/angels & demons AU -Anonymous
What did Naru see when he touched the desk in the very first episode? Or in the Afterschool Hexer classroom? Or in the Forbidden Games? - @eyeliner-vampire
Hanahaki disease AU -Anonymous
Opposites AU -Anonymous
AU-Luella is a high school teacher who teaches psychology and Biology (because often teachers double up subjects in sciences) She decides to do the thing where people are given a flour baby to look after. She asks the students to submit their top choices of partners, including friends. Oliver submits asking to work alone and Gene asks to work with Yasuhara (who he has been admiring from afar). Luella is ready to play cupid for her sons. -Anonymous
Ghosts at sea. Ghost ships/haunted lighthouse -Anonymous
Genie AU - “you can’t wish for more wishes” “okay I wish for more genies” results in one genie being split into the twins. -Anonymous
“My dad locks the monsters in the basement” -Anonymous
neighbors who only meet because “i cannot get this stupid jar open, can you help?” -Anonymous
What to do next?
Fanworks creators, pick a prompt (or a few), start channeling your creative spirit guide, and create!
Submit your finished work here by end of day April 17th so that it can be scheduled for release. Please include which prompt you are doing so we can include that in the post.
What sort of fanworks are accepted?
All sorts, past exchanges have included fanfiction, fanart, photo edits, and more.
Drabbles, oneshots, multi chapter, sketches, line art, color comics, Asethetic boards, or cover creations; all are welcome!
If you have any questions please send us an ask at GHHQ!
Special thanks to @snavej for her help in collecting all of these!
Ghost Hunt Fandom, I am going to write a whole thing about Oliver/Naru and why I think he’s autistic.
If you have specific questions/things you want addressing please message me them!
This includes:
things that make you doubt it
questions about autism
anything else i don’t know
I will be taking all questions and doing my best to answer them all with sources and stuff. I’m aiming to do it for the GHHQ Fanworks weekend, this weekend - SO BE QUICK!
I did it. I submitted a comic and a fic for the Ghost Hunt fanworks weekend. Omg I can’t believe I finished all that in basically a week. I’m tired. Good night.
In which Lin is already so done, and their first case hasn’t even started
By @radiowrites
Prompt by @eyeliner-vampire: What did Naru see when he touched the desk in the very first episode?
It was early, just before dawn. Lin and Oliver had intended on doing a quick glance around the school they had been hired to investigate, but the principal had caught them. Lin envisioned the principal had been watching from his office window for their arrival. They weren’t handling the building currently in use, but rather the old building partially in the demolition process that was just across the way. And now they had not even crossed the threshold thanks to the principal.
Oliver stood with his arms crossed, an occasional nod of his head as the principal rambled on about the horrors of the old school building. Oliver was not actually listening. Lin knew Oliver had already read all the supposed ghost stories the principal was reiterating, and had made his initial judgements about them.
“Sir,” Oliver interrupted, “My associate will take down the rest of your story, if you give him a moment to get ready.”
Lin’s lips thinned as Oliver waved him over. Martin had given the boy far too much power. And it was too late to do anything about it. The changeover from student/teacher to boss/employee was not going smoothly.
And now Oliver was walking through the door to explore, leaving Lin to babysit.
Lin hated babysitting. Unfortunately, it was literally what Martin had hired him to do for this trip.
“We’ll do a preliminary search this morning,” Lin said to the principal. If you ever give me the chance to do my job. “And we’ll leave cameras to officially start tomorrow.”
The principal seemed sated as he made his farewells. Or he just had actual duties to attend to at the school across the way.
Lin’s shiki had not alerted him to any other presences. The building shifted and moaned, but what did they expect when they had already torn down half of it?
Oliver had all but disappeared, with the clear goal of just losing Lin for the time being. The tension between them had no intention of easing. Oliver didn’t like the bodyguard stance Lin had taken, claiming Lin was in his way. The strain had heightened yesterday with a disagreement whether they should hire any outside help. Oliver was vehemently against it. And Lin was vehemently against being the office’s secretary. It was already bad enough.
The stairs creaked as he went up them, and Lin paused at the landing, listening, waiting for any footfalls to echo unnaturally. Once, in a definitely haunted house, the stairs had creaked each step after his own, as someone—or something—had followed him up. Nothing of that sort happened here.
Lin found Oliver in one of the classrooms on the second floor, drifting his fingers over an abandoned desk in the far corner. Oliver’s eyes were closed as he melded with any memories left on the old wood, smoothed down by many hands over the years.
“Anything?” Lin asked him.
Oliver shook his head. “Just normal things. Children talking. Learning. Leaving.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard. There’s clearly nothing here,” Lin said. “And you’re not a medium.”
Oliver leveled a look at him.
Maybe Lin could have phrased that better.
Oliver added, “There’s not a lot left to sift through. Unless I start going for the exterior walls.” He pressed a palm into the wall next to him for emphasis.
The wall yielded under the pressure.
A premonition of having to tell Luella that he had let her remaining son fall out of a two-story building was a bone-chilling concept, even for Lin. He dove for Oliver just as Oliver stumbled back into him.
Oliver pulled away and straightened up, dusting off his clothes. “Just structural failure,” he said. “Insect damage, most likely.”
“Let’s go. We’ll set up the equipment tomorrow.”
“No,” Oliver said. “We need to leave at least one camera.”
“There’s nothing here, you said as much yourself.”
“I want the evidence of such.”
Oliver watched Lin set up the camera in the front entryway. If he had any problems with the location, he didn’t voice it.
“We’ll walk the perimeter,” Oliver said, “Then we can go.”
The boy had no idea how obnoxious he sounded. Or worse, he did.
They rounded the last corner of the building in time to see a girl in a school uniform loitering by the front door. Maybe she was a ghost, but that seemed unlikely as she pulled open the door and slipped inside.
Lin bit back a curse as he hurried past Oliver to the still open door.
“Who’s there?” he said, voice echoing, startling the girl examining the camera. She lurched back, clearly having not anticipated someone showing up so soon.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “I’ll leave now—”
The bookshelf she had bumped swayed and started to tip toward her.
“Help!” she gasped.
Lin found himself diving for the second time today, shoving her aside as he took the brunt of the bookshelf to his shoulder. He fell to the floor, and felt his ankle roll beneath him.
Oliver’s silhouette darkened the doorway. “What’s going on here?”
“I’m so sorry,” the girl started again, “I guess he startled me and it fell, it was an accident—”
“You’re bleeding,” Oliver said to Lin. “Can you stand?”
Lin’s hand touched the cut on his temple. He didn’t even know how that happened. “Yeah.”
“Here, let me help—” the girl started.
Lin cut her off. “No thanks. You’ve done enough.”
Oliver supported Lin—to the best of his shorter stature—and asked the girl where the nearest hospital was. The relaxed tone to Oliver’s voice was natural, not forced, and it only took Lin a moment as to why.
Oliver had successfully gotten Lin out of his way for the time being.
The next day, Lin asked Oliver to repeat what he had said.
“I hired her,” Oliver repeated. “Or blackmailed her, however you want to take it.”
“Why?”
“You wanted a secretary, correct? Isn’t that an acceptable reason?”
Lin could only glare from the bed of the hotel room. “You mean you intend on keeping her on after this case as well?”
Oliver paused. “That would depend on her performance during this case, of course.”
Lin raised an eyebrow. Of course. Whatever the reason that Oliver had decided the girl was an acceptable potential employee—and there was clearly a reason, there always was with Oliver—Lin wasn’t going to argue. He had gotten his way, for once.
A/N: This was written for the 2020 Ghost Hunt Fanworks Weekend. I selected the prompt neighbors who only meet because “I can’t get this stupid jar open, can you help?”
What are men even good for?– Ayako Matsuzaki thought vehemently as her apartment key scratched in the lock and she flung open her front door– besides opening jars, moving furniture, and killing bugs?
Kicking off her heels and dropping her purse, Ayako immediately set to erasing the face of the man who had successfully ruined one of her very few Saturdays off. He had been the son of one of the nurses who worked the night shift with Ayako at The University Of Tokyo Hospital. Ayako had gone into the arrangement with more hope than she probably should have after two other failed dates just that month…
So much for that.
Looking to cool her temper a bit, Ayako began rummaging around her small kitchen. Locating a glass, she closed her cabinet with a bang. Opening the fridge, she closed it with a slam. Ayako stood at her kitchen counter taking angry swallows of cold Brita water. Then with a slight pang of guilt, it occurred to her she might have been a bit too loud for it being midnight.
But the sudden sound of a running shower put her mind at ease.
That’s right. Rocker Monk is always up at this time.
Ayako had never actually crossed paths with Rocker Monk. He had moved into the unit directly next to her about a month ago. What Ayako had learned about her neighbor had all come through the wall. That he was in fact a he was made certain after hearing him sing (loudly) in the shower (which was inconveniently located next to her kitchen), and…the chanting. When Ayako first heard it, frankly it had kind of weirded her out. She had considered calling apartment management…but after week, she (grudgingly) found it somewhat soothing. It wasn’t hurting anyone, so she let it be.
Ayako attributed her passing curiosity in him (after having never given a second though to her previous neighbors in that unit) to them keeping similar schedules. Ayako worked graveyard shifts at the hospital. She assumed she was the only person in her building sleeping until four in the afternoon, whose work day didn’t start until eleven-thirty at night. But then came Rocker Monk. Who was silent as a ghost all day, and only active at night. Between ten and eleven Ayako could always count on the shower kicking on, and then he was out the door…off to whatever his job was. After hearing him regularly practicing bass guitar, Ayako began the amusing idea that he was in a rock band.
He’s late tonight, Ayako thought as Rocker Monk began singing.
He wasn’t half bad and Ayako decided listen in while finishing the dishes left in her sink. Afterward, she found herself going to bed in a relatively good mood.
The next night, Ayako was back to slamming cabinets again. She was in a flustered mood, running behind. She had taken the world’s quickest shower, and with her hair still wet, she was attempting to cobble together a decent breakfast. She was about to work a double and she wanted something decent in her stomach. But the damn jam just wouldn’t open.
Cursing in frustration, Ayako was considering just chucking the thing…when she heard the shower turn on next door. She stared down at the offending jar in her hand.
What are men even good for?
Ayako gave it fifteen minutes. She busied herself blow drying her hair, touching up her makeup, throwing on her scrubs. Then, putting two pieces of bread in the toaster, she grabbed the jar of jam, and left her apartment.
A moment later, Ayako was standing in front of Rocker Monk’s door, knocking firmly. It took a good bit of knocking (clearly he didn’t have guests over often), but then the lock slid over and there stood a tall man in the doorway. Ayako took him in in a blink– his long blonde hair pulled back in a low ponytail, his broad shoulders, the black long sleeve v-neck sweater he was wearing– and then she was thrusting the jar of jam into his hands.
“Can you open this?”
As not to drop it, Rocker Monk accepted the jar, but was looking between it and her with an expression that was partly interested, partly confused.
“Do we…know each other?”
Ayako, arms crossed, impatiently nodded.
“Of course. You’re–” Ayako hesitated here, almost calling him by his nickname, “Bou…Bou-san. And I’m your neighbor who needs help opening this jar.”
Rocker Monk blinked at her, taking in her answer. Something like an impressed spark lit his eyes,
“Bou-san? What makes you call me that?”
“I heard you chanting.”
“Oh?”
“What happened? You run away from the temple?”
The monk was smiling by this time, a bit self consciously he rubbed at the back of his neck.
“Actually…yeah. I couldn’t make music there.”
“Ha, I knew it.”
“You could hear that too?”
“Sorry but, I’m running short on time. Can you open that thing or not?”
His attention returned to the jar in his hands, Bou-san gave the lid a deft twist and with a satisfying pop, it opened. The monk held it out to her.
“There you go.”
Ayako flashed a smile and took back the jam. With a wave she was already backing down the hall, towards her apartment.
“Thanks, neighbor.”
He waved back, and peering out of his door frame, he called back to her, “It’s Takigawa, Houshou.”
“Nice to meet you, Rocker Monk.”
Still smiling, Ayako closed her apartment door and set about making a reasonable breakfast, having just enough time to stuff toast in her mouth.
That’s what men are good for.
Weeks passed by. Ayako worked a blur of twelve and sixteen hours shifts. She listened in on countless songs sung by the monk in the shower. She swore he was even louder than before. On purpose. More often than not, she found herself wanting toast with jam on her days off. Visits next door became a somewhat regular thing.
Ayako learned that Rocker Monk– or as she now called him– Bou-san, was in fact in a band. A small indie one, that played mostly night gigs. He learned she was a nurse at a major hospital. She offered her services if he was ever choking to death. Or had a heart attack. She was well trained in the Heimlich Maneuver and CPR.
That spring Ayako was granted a much deserved vacation. After being lavishly lazy the first two days, she decided spring cleaning was in due order. On a bright Sunday morning she drug herself out of bed, threw open her blinds and windows and decided to rearrange her living room.
An hour later Ayako was sweating and cursing over her stubborn couch that just wouldn’t move. About to give the whole thing up– she had a dawning realization.
Exchanging the sweats she was cleaning in for a pair of jeans and a tank top, Ayako walked the familiar path to her neighbor’s door. Knowing it was hours before he would even be conscious, she hesitated in her plan, but then knocked anyways.
What are men even good for?
It took more pounding than usual, but eventually the monk answered the door. Ayako raised her eyebrows at the sight of the still half asleep man before her.
Hair loose at his shoulders, was wearing boxer shorts…and no shirt.
“Ah, crap. I thought it was an emergency–” he started to explain, attempting to cover his bare chest.
“It is an emergency. I need you to move my couch.”
Bou-san put on a shirt and the couch got moved.
That’s what men are good for.
The next day decided Ayako decided she wanted to move her bed. And then her computer desk. Rocker Monk got very little sleep the whole of Ayako’s vacation. But occasionally she fed him. They had dinner twice. Lunch once. Coffee several times.
After vacation Ayako gained the nickname Miko. Having been in her apartment, Bou-san noticed the number of plants that filled the space. He appreciated her green thumb and told her she reminded him of a shrine maiden. Ayako snorted at that, but the name stuck.
At the start of summer, Ayako was having trouble sleeping. It was incredibly muggy in Tokyo. On her night off, after tossing and turning for hours, Ayako stared at the ceiling in defeat. Sitting up in bed, she decided she would read, hoping that would make her tired enough to fall asleep. Reaching for her lamp, Ayako saw the clock read two in the morning.
Great.
Clicking the light on, Ayako reached for the book she had started six months ago– and then froze.
A spider. Hairy and the size of her hand, was crawling across the foot of her bed.
With a cry, Ayako jumped up– scrambling to stand at the top of her bed. Back pressed against the wall, Ayako’s mind raced, but every solution seemed to involve getting off the bed and facing indeterminate danger. She just couldn’t kill it.
And then, a flash of genius through her blind panic. A question that solved the problem.
What are men even good for?
Heart pounding, Ayako reached down, fumbling for her phone sitting on the nightstand nearest her. Her finger hit speed dial. Three rings later, a gruff voice answered.
“Wha– Ayako, what is–”
“Bou-san you have get over here right now there’s a huge spider it’s going to devour me and then you’ll have nobody to listen to you sing in the shower–”
It felt like a century, but Bou-san was over in an instant. Having exchanged keys a month ago (what if there was a medical emergency?), he came barreling into Ayako’s apartment, a broom in hand.
“Where?” he demanded as he entered the bedroom, waving the broom around.
“On my bed!”
But it wasn’t. In all of Ayako’s commotion, she had kicked her blankets off. The spider was no longer anywhere to be seen.
Ten minutes of turning on all the lights, sorting through all the blankets, doing a sweep of the whole apartment…and there was still, nothing.
“Those are nice,” Bou-san spoke, leaning against Ayako’s door frame where they had taken up post to watch for the spider.
“What’s nice? None of this is nice–”
“Your pajamas.”
Ayako tore her gaze away from the floor to glance down at herself. They were her lacy ones.
Oh well.
“Keep your eyes on the prize, monk. It’s almost three in morning, where the hell is this demon spider?”
“Wait, what’s that brown thing…?”
“What?!”
Ayako launched at Bou-san, and was clinging to him (practically climbing him…), before he could even finish his sentence, hitting him in the arm, demanding that he kill it.
But upon further inspection, there was nothing to kill. The brown thing turned out to be just one of Ayako’s slippers. Exhausted and flustered, Ayako finally released the monk, head in her hands.
“I’m just not going to sleep tonight. I’ll just call the office as soon as they open and have them bomb his place.”
Bou-san chewed at his lip, thoughtful.
“You have to sleep.”
Ayako sent him a sharp look,
“Not with that thing in here.”
“No…I don’t blame you there, but you could sleep…you know– at my place, if you wanted.”
There was a beat as Ayako’s foggy mind processed this offer.
“Sleep. At your apartment?”
“Yeah, like on my couch. I haven’t seen a spider for weeks, I think it’s probably safe.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah?”
“Sure.”
That’s what men are good for.
Trading her apartment for his, Ayako did finally manage to get some sleep that night, comfortably tucked into the monk’s bed, while the monk (somehow) ended up on the couch.
The summer’s humidity brought mosquitoes. And mosquitoes brought Bou-san over several times a week. The monk teased her that her love of nature didn’t seem to embrace all of it and the little spirits of the bugs she was having him squash would haunt her. Ayako balked at this, but that was how they got started on the topic of the paranormal. Apparently they shared a mutual interest in it, and more than one night was spent with them exchanging chilling real life experiences.
Ayako didn’t want to admit it, but the more she got to know Bou-san, the longer her list of what men were even good for seemed to grow.
Cooking.
Like when Bou-san surprised her with a real breakfast after she slogged home from a particularly harsh double shift at the hospital.
That’s what men are good for.
Handy work.
Like when her washing machine broke and apartment maintenance said it was back ordered and would take a month to be installed. One YouTube tutorial later and Bou-san had it fixed.
That’s what men are good for.
Company.
Like when Bou-san stayed up with her all night, taking her mind off the head cold she caught, watching ridiculous horror films, and telling bad jokes.
Standing on her deck, the season’s first snowflakes falling through the dark, Ayako studied the monk beside her, and found she was a bit afraid that she had come to like her list a little too much. Especially the part she just added…
“I can’t believe it’s really snowing.”
“You’re cheeks are red. Pretty cold, huh?”
“Hm.”
“Want me to come a little closer, share some warmth? Oh look at that, it’s really coming down now.”
Prompt: Naru and Mai shares a dream (or multiple dreams), but neither of them know they’re actually sharing it. - @seoulsborne123
------
A week later, a client finally came in with a promising case. Promising, in that at least it didn’t sound totally bogus, but it was still the type of case that Naru normally wouldn’t take interest in. Nonetheless, he accepted the job, to Lin’s visible surprise.
The next issue was whether this case actually had any legit paranormal activity, and if not, would Gene even appear? Naru had Mai contact Masako right away, and while they were setting up the base, she spotted him checking a hand mirror periodically.
They had managed to get through the past week without another spree of nightmares, but Mai could tell he was impatient to get his dreams back to himself. She tried not to take it personally.
Masako arrived on the evening of the first day. So far, they had collected very little data, and their investigation showed that the reported phenomena could be easily explained.
Mai watched anxiously as Masako walked around the house. At last, she came to a stop.
“There is a spirit here,” she said.
They breathed a sigh of relief.
“It is the spirit of an old man,” Masako went on to explain. “I see this kind often. I believe he must have passed away in his sleep and simply hasn’t realized he has died. It would be very easy to purify him.” She turned to Naru. “Shall I?”
“No,” said Naru, a bit too quickly.
Masako blinked.
“I’d like to gather more data first,” he lied. “If you could please come back tomorrow.”
“If you insist,” she smiled.
Mai facepalmed and sent the medium a mental apology. This wasn’t what it looked like!
------
That night, Naru and Mai left Lin to watch the base and went to bed at the same time. This earned them a suspicious look, but they could deal with that later.
They sat in the train compartment and waited. And waited.
Finally, they heard someone walking down the corridor. Gene appeared outside the door, and his face lit up when he saw them inside.
He opened the door and came inside. “It worked!” he said.
Naru stood up. “Like hell it did.”
Oh shit, Mai thought. She could actually see the murderous aura gathering around him. Naru was furious.
As his brother approached, Gene’s smile widened nervously. “N-Noll?”
Naru grabbed his twin by the shirt collar, and Mai decided now would be a good time to intervene.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” She cut in between them, holding Naru back as best she could. “You can’t kill your dead brother!”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Naru seethed.
“I’m sorry?” Gene looked confused. “I didn’t know if it would work! It was just an idea I had...and then I fell asleep before I could fully see it through...why, did something go wrong?”
“Oh, Gene…” Mai groaned.
“What?” he looked at her, now worried.
“It worked,” Naru said through grit teeth. “And it’s been stuck that way for over a week.”
“Oh.” Gene looked between them. “Oh.”
They watched as the news continued to sink in.
Then finally, Gene put on a smile. “Did you guys have fun though?”
Naru smacked him upside the head.
“NARU!”
“I’m sorry!” Gene put up his hands defensively. “I’m sorry, both of you! I just...ow, why does that hurt, I’m not even alive…”
“Give me one good reason not to do it again,” Naru said.
Gene hung his head. “I’m sorry…I only wanted to see if I could meet you face-to-face, instead of just through a mirror. So I thought, maybe this way…”
There was an awkward silence.
Naru lowered his hand and let out a sigh. “If you ever pull something like this again, I swear, I will exorcise you.”
“Naru!”
“I guess that’s fair,” Gene smiled weakly. “It is good seeing you again, though. Despite the violence.”
“And? Can you undo this?” Naru crossed his arms, with an unspoken ‘you’d better.’
“I’ll try my best.” Gene turned to Mai. “I’m really sorry, Mai. I didn’t mean to subject you to my brother’s subconscious for that long.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” she said, blushing a little. “It was, um...interesting.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naru huff and look away. A little bit of regret settled in her heart.
------
Mai and Naru saw Gene out at the doorway to their compartment.
“Just sit still, you two. I’ll go get this figured out.” Gene wandered off down the corridor.
As they watched him go, Mai gripped the door frame for support.
“Hey, Naru?” she asked. “Before we wake up...can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“Do you ever dream about me?”
Naru hesitated.
She already knew the answer. And judging by the look on his face, he knew that she knew.
“Sometimes,” he admitted.
Mai knew that wasn’t necessarily a good thing, as she’d seen before. But judging by how unphased he’d looked seeing her in his dream the first time, she hoped those instances didn’t all become nightmares.
Prompt: Naru and Mai shares a dream (or multiple dreams), but neither of them know they’re actually sharing it. - @seoulsborne123
——
Rolling green fields and pastures streamed by in the window. A quaint countryside the likes of which she’d only ever seen in movies. Mai stared, taking it in. “Is this…England?”
She then looked around, examining her surroundings. She sat in a cozy train compartment. Alone, except for one other person.
Naru sat across from her, clad in his usual black suit. He was shuffling a deck of cards. Over and over, the cards flowed through his hands like water. His eyes focused, but at the same time, lost in thought. It appeared almost meditative.
She watched him for a while, mesmerized. Then finally spoke up.
“Hey. So where are we headed?”
He paused, and his gaze drifted out the window. But then, as if deeming it too much trouble to figure out, he just shrugged.
“Huh? What kind of answer is that?”
But Naru resumed shuffling, paying her no more attention.
Mai sighed. Out of a lack of anything else to do, she looked back out the window. Just in time to catch sight of white puffballs scattered about the scenery.
She gasped. “Wow! Are those sheep?”
Now she was glued to the window.
“Look, Naru!” She waved towards him. “Aww, they’re so cute!”
Naru paused again. He looked up, first at her, and then out the window.
When he spoke, his voice was oddly soft. “Yeah…”
——
“What the hell?”
Mai slumped face down over her desk, clutching her head. Her dream from this morning still hadn’t left her mind.
It wasn’t all that significant of a dream, really. She probably would have forgotten about it if not for one detail.
Why was she dreaming about Naru? Now of all times?
No, no, no. She’d learned her lesson once. She wouldn’t fool herself into thinking this might mean anything. After all, it wasn’t as if he was being especially kind to her in the dream. He was just being his usual aloof self.
But…was it really him?
Since he was playing with cards, she’d immediately assumed it was Naru. But couldn’t it just as well be Gene? And the way he’d responded at the end…that definitely sounded more like a Gene thing to do. If it were Naru, he would have just called her childish for being excited by sheep. He wouldn’t agree with her, let alone waste time watching the scenery with her.
So it must be Gene.
A thrill of excitement ran through her. He’d come to visit her, even outside of a case? But at the same time, she wasn’t convinced, precisely because of the fact they weren’t on a case (in fact, they had just finished one a few days ago). Why would Gene appear to her now? It didn’t make sense.
Still, she hoped it was him. What if Gene had figured out a way to stay awake even off of cases? What could that possibly mean?
The door to Naru’s office opened then, and he stuck his head out. “Mai. Tea.”
“Okaaay…” she sighed, and got up from her seat. Seeing him act as usual made her ideas suddenly seem silly.
It was too soon to get her hopes up. After all, it could have just been a dream.
——
And yet that night, just like clockwork, they were back on the train again.
Mai bounced in her seat. This was it. It was one of those dreams. It had to be.
Gene sat across from her, engrossed in reading through a bundle of papers.
Mai smiled. Leaning forward, she asked gently, “Gene…? That’s you, right?”
He froze. Then looked up with a smile. A deeply cynical smile. “I’m sorry to disappoint.”
“Naru?!” Mai drew back, mortified. Oh god, no. She didn’t mean to confuse them again!
The shock was enough to jolt her awake. The next thing she knew, she was in bed, hiding her burning face beneath her hands.
