Making Amends (DISCONTINUED)

Prolouge

Mai's POV:

I awoke with tears streaming down my face and my body being racked with tremors. I attempt to control my breathing before moving, eventually I being to feel my fear subside and I moved allowing my feet to dangle off the edge of my bed. Shakily standing I staggered towards my bathroom making it to the toilet just moments before I feel the bile come up. This is now a normal occurrence for me. I can't escape from the dreams I've been having; nothing helps. Three months doesn't feel like it should have changed everything so drastically... Ever since he left I can't seem to find peace no matter where I am. I've been having the same reoccurring nightmare since Gene's body was found and now it's engraved into my mind. Shibuya Psychic Research -SPR for short- was disbanded as soon as Naru recognized the lake that held Gene's body.

For weeks I could get his words out of my head "Me or Gene?" I didn't realize until later that I truly did love Naru, but now he was gone, back to England with Lin and his brother's body. No amount of wishing was ever going to change that. Finally feeling steady enough to stand I pulled myself up from the bathroom floor and moved to the kitchen. Moving on autopilot I grabbed the kettle filled it with water and turned on the stove to begin heating the water. I reached into the cabinet to grab a glass and allowed my thoughts to wander back to Naru and Gene, once Naru found Gene I stopped seeing him appear in my dream world, he no longer lingered on in this world and he more than likely forgot about me just as Naru had. The high pitched screech of the kettle snapped me out of my revere; I measured out the correct amount of tea leaves and allowed them to steep before picking up the warm tea cup and moving to the couch.

The light from the street near my apartment building shined in thru the window falling on my discarded phone. It was blinking red signaling that I had missed some notification, picking it up I unlocked it noticing a text from an unlisted number.

Meet me at SPR tomorrow at noon.

I sighed and thought about having to pass by that building made me shudder from the pain that I experienced whenever I think about all of the times before. I figured it was Monk messaging me to meet him as he was getting back from his band tour tomorrow. I briefly wondered why he hadn't just asked to meet him somewhere else or even saying that he'd drop by but I pushed those thoughts away. I noticed the clock on the wall reading 4:43am. I finished the rest of my tea, placed the cup in the sink and moved back to my room leaving my phone on the table long forgotten.

Beep...Beep...Beep...

Begrudgingly I rolled over towards my alarm clock and peeked at it.

11:45am

Jumping out of bed I rushed to get dressed and rush out the door. I quickly locked the door and started down the street towards SPR. I reached into my bag and groaned as I realized I'd left my cell phone on the table in my rush to be on time. Maybe if I hadn't been in such a rush I would have seen the numerous calls and texts from the rest of SPR telling me not to return to the SPR office today.

I arrived at SPR by about 12:05 but I'm not honestly sure. All I could focus on upon my arrival was the fact that the lights were on and the door no longer showed the sign saying "Closed". I hesitantly reached for the door knob gathering all my courage and praying that this was only a nightmare, that I would awaken soon in my bed and could check my phone for a message from Monk telling me that instead we were going to meet at a Café but alas I wasn't that lucky. I stepped into the office and was instantly greeted by several voices yelling profanities at something... or someone. I hesitated before walking forward into the lobby of the office. I slowly looked around, everyone was here, and even Lin and it wasn't until I looked at his office door that I realized what had happened. My breath caught in my throat; I couldn't move. I was frozen in place looking at the boy who had just emerged from said office only slightly different that then boy I saw every time I closed my eyes. His hair was a bit longer, he'd grow about 3 inches and his chest was broader than I remembered. I felt tears spring into my eyes and I couldn't stop them from spilling over, suddenly everyone became aware that I had entered the room.

"Mai..." Monk said in a calm voice moving towards my frozen body, I couldn't remove my eyes from him until I felt a pair of hands grasp my shoulders. Suddenly the room was fun of motion; Ayako was suddenly moving in front of my line of sight to the two offices situated at the back of the building while the others hurriedly pulled me from the room and out the door. They dragged me into a nearby café and sat down at a table large enough for all of us. They all looked at me while I sat there trying to breath and regain my composure.

"Why... Why is he here?" I mumbled. I couldn't comprehend this, I never thought he'd come back to Japan. Yasu, who was sitting to my right gently rubbed my back in a calm and soothing manner. Masako who was at my left grasped my hand squeezing it and offered me a small sad smile. Since Naru left we'd had nothing to quarrel about and instead became very close as we both made plans to move on from Naru. Looking up I saw Ayako and Monk, my mother and father figures, sitting across from me while John was looking over at me with sad blue eyes from his spot next to Masako.

"Mai... I'm so sorry. W-we tried to warn you but you must not have gotten our messages." Ayako said looking down at the table. In the background I heard the chime of the bell alerting the employees that someone walked in. Lin stopped close enough to the table to alert us to his presence but far enough away that he wasn't intruding on our space.

"Taniyama-san would you and the rest of the group consider returning with me to SPR. Oliver has some business he wishes to discuss with all of you." Lin said. I turned and looked at him trying to read his facial expression like I would with Naru but it wasn't working.

"Why does he need us Lin? Why would he come back here?" I asked locking eyes with Lin.

"I think I should allow Oliver to explain that to you. It's not my place." Lin said looking down in a guilty sort of manner. "Please, just hear him out." I never believed Lin even possessed the word 'please' in his vocabulary. I was shocked and I couldn't deny that I was curious. No, I needed to know why he came back. I needed closer so I could move on. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Alright. I'll go back but I won't speak for everyone else."

"We're going if you're going Mai." Yasu and Monk said in perfect unison. We all stood and walked out of the café. We lagged behind; Lin was about 6 paces ahead of us. Lin entered before us as we walked up the stairs to SPR; no doubt he went to tell Oliver of our arrival. We all stood in front of the door and gathering my courage I stepped back through the door of the place that held the object if my nightmares.