Ghost Hunters, Lies, & Money (Ghost Hunt Fanfiction)

In Which: Mai Goes Rogue

Day Five

8:15pm

The Koku Inn

Mai's chopsticks scraped the bottom of her plate. She was nearly finished. Her stomach felt wonderfully full...but there was still an emptiness about her. She found she was now hungry for something else entirely: answers.

Trouble was...those answers could only come from Miss Miyuki. In secret. Away from a crowded dinner table that included Naru. Operation Miyuki was looming before her yet again. Mai set her chopsticks down; it was time to regroup.

The events of the last thirty minutes filtered through her mind like a slide show, resulting in a flush to her cheeks. The disastrous first impression at double doors, the table seating fiasco, Ayako and Bou-san's attention stealing antics, the forgotten tea, her rising fever, her bold attempt at a Masako impression, no dinner...

Wait. There was dinner.

Mai stared down at her empty plate, her shoulders tense with the urge to snap her head up and take a proper look at her boss, study his expression- she hadn't managed to since she had realized...

He fixed my order. He bought my dinner.

She recalled Miss Miyuki's strange words (referring to Naru as a gentlemen), and Bou-san's obvious significant looks. They had known what he was doing. And that it was for her. Mai frowned, her gaze still fixed to the table.

But was he really distracted by me...?

Inwardly groaning, she rubbed at her forehead. It was no use. She wasn't going to be able to sort out the situation or her feelings regarding it anytime soon, and certainly not sitting there as sick and foggy headed as she was...but then, as if by divine intervention, a snatch of conversation from the next table over caught her attention:

"...oh, I didn't see that play"

"You must! Mr. Miyuki's original work is so much more than what's been put on during the festival..."

Mr. Miyuki. An image of a saddened man with a finger pressed to his lips surfaced in Mai's mind. She knew what she had to do. Fevered state or not, she had to try.

For the mission, for Mr. Miyuki...

Mai straightened up in her seat, blinking the playwright from her eyes. Discarding the words distracting and chosen, she decided she would focus on one thing only: facts.

The facts were that she had just finished a nice hot meal, courtesy of Naru. Figuring what this meant, in terms of her mission- fiercely blocking out a loud Bou-san sounding voice shouting: it's because he likes you!- she began to concentrate hard, determined to come up with some other conclusion that didn't match Wise Obasan's or her partner's.

If he doesn't like me, if I'm not distracting...what am I to him?

"Mai?"

Mai startled from her thoughts, "Hm?"

It was John, his blue eyes peered uncertainly at her, "Oh, well- you looked a little upset just now, I wondered if anything was the matter?"

Mai touched her lips. She must have been frowning in her deep thought. Quickly, she smiled and picked up her cup of tea,

"Um, nothing really...I think I got sleepy is all. I'm so full and my meal was so good."