Written for RaisedOnRadio

Naru opened the door of his office, causing everyone in the room to look up.

"Taking a break, boss?" Yasuhara asked from his desk where he was working.

Naru nodded, but as he looked over the room, he frowned. Ayako was sitting on the sofa with Mai.

"Matsuzaki-san. What are you doing here?"

"Don't you have a case tomorrow? I'm here to hash out the details," Ayako smiled sweetly.

"And she brought us snacks, look!" Mai held up a beautifully packaged box of manju.

Naru didn't look impressed. "I believe we've already given you the details over the phone this morning," he muttered, as he walked over to his armchair and took a seat.

Ayako waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, well, let's just say I happened to be in the area."

Of course, they all knew she'd only come to hang out as usual. Naru, apparently deciding it wasn't worth it, just sighed. "Tea."

"I'll have iced coffee," Ayako added.

Mai rolled her eyes, and since Yasuhara was busy at the moment, she took it upon herself to prepare the drinks.

In the kitchenette, Mai's hands worked on autopilot, performing the familiar tasks. Her mind couldn't help but wander, thinking back to what happened that afternoon.

Cherry blossom petals carried gently on a light, warm breeze. A boy's flushed cheeks. Stammered words of endearment. So sweet, it was practically cliche.

A small sigh escaped her as Mai loaded the drinks on a tray and brought them to the sitting area.

Once she'd served them, Naru took his tea cup in hand. But he stopped just short of bringing it to his lips, staring at the liquid.

"…Mai."

"What?" she asked, clutching the tray to her chest.

"This is coffee."

"…Huh?"

He set the tea cup down on the coffee table. Sure enough, that was black coffee.

Ayako gave her glass a small shake, ice cubes clinking. "And this is iced tea."

"Huh?!" Mai looked back and forth between them. How did she get this so wrong?!

Yasuhara chuckled. "Have something on your mind, Taniyama-san?"

She flushed. "Sorry, I'll go remake these…" She reached for the tea cup.

"It's fine." Naru picked the cup back up and took a sip. "But whatever is distracting you, get it resolved. Need I remind you, we have a case tomorrow, and I won't tolerate any more stupid mistakes."

Mai frowned at him, but she couldn't really argue.

"Did something happen, Mai?" Ayako asked, raising an eyebrow as she sipped her iced tea.

"Well…" Mai sunk into a chair, biting her lip. She felt awkward talking about this, but she didn't know how she'd get out of it after such an obvious blunder. So she took a deep breath and just let it out.

"A boy asked me out at school today!"

"Ooooh."

Yasuhara stopping working and turned his full attention to the conversation. Ayako leaned forward eagerly. A crease appeared between Naru's eyebrows, already regretting being dragged into this gossip.

"I knew you must be popular, Taniyama-san!"

"What was he like? Is he cute?"

Mai blushed. "I-I guess. I don't really know him. He's from a different class. But he seems nice."

"Does he come from a good family?"

Mai frowned. "Ayako."

"I'll get straight to the point. Is he rich?"

"Ayako!"

"And did you say yes?" Yasuhara asked.

"…No." Mai averted her eyes. "I turned him down."

"What?! Why?!"

Mai wrung her hands. "Well, because like I said, I don't know him!"

"That's why you go on dates, Mai! To get to know the person!" Ayako sat back with a groan. "You should have let him treat you lavishly first, and then dump him!"

"Don't lump me in with you, Ayako!"

"Matsuzaki-san has a point, though," Yasuhara said. "You could have given him a chance, see if you might get along first."

"Maybe, but…"

"Was there something you didn't like about him?"

"No, but…" Mai sighed. "I guess I didn't want to get his hopes up. I mean, it was really flattering, being confessed to like that. But I feel like if I went on a date with him, it would be…dishonest. Because…I already like someone else."

Silence. Her friends' faces fell.

Mai forced a smile. "It's okay, though! Now he can find someone else who can make him happy."

Tactfully, Yasuhara turned back to his computer without another word. A little too tactfully. Mai didn't recall ever telling him about the whole situation with Gene, so his lack of questioning at this point was a bit suspect. She was glad for it though. She really didn't feel like explaining.

"…What a waste," Ayako finally said, quietly exasperated.

"Why? I don't need a boyfriend," Mai huffed.

Ayako sighed. "But still…"

"This is idiotic."

They all turned to stare at Naru, who had just spoken for the first time in minutes.

Mai bristled, immediately on the defensive. "What? What's so idiotic about it, Naru? Just because you don't care about this sort of thing doesn't mean other people—"

"That's not it." He set down his empty tea cup. "It's idiotic that you are holding yourself back over my idiot of a brother."

"I'm— I'm not holding myself back! I don't have to date anyone if I don't feel like it! And don't call him an idiot! He's your brother."

Naru sighed. "You still don't understand. I agree that you don't have to date anyone. It's idiotic that it's my brother, specifically, holding you back."

"Why? Because he's d…dead?"

She could feel Ayako and Yasuhara's eyes on the two of them. Mai gulped, a lump forming in her throat. This would be a painful conversation even in the best of circumstances, but the fact that they had an audience made it so much worse.

"No," Naru deadpanned. "Because I knew him to have regularly dated multiple girls at the same time, regardless of whether he had feelings for them."

Ayako let out a loud snort. Yasuhara, too, turned away, hand covering his chuckle. The heavy atmosphere had been blown away in a second.

Mai blinked a few times. "…No. That's not…true."

"I see," Yasuhara said, mirth in his voice. "So your brother put his looks to good use."

"N-no way." Mai's eyes widened in gradual horror. "I can't picture him doing that at all…"

"It doesn't matter what you can or can't imagine, Mai," Naru said. "Those are the facts."

"So in other words," Ayako snickered. "He was a playboy."

Slander. This was slander!

Mai stood up. "No! I don't believe it!"

Naru smirked. "Shall I tell you of the time he promised dates to five girls in the same afternoon, and came to me begging for help?"

"LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Mai shouted, covering her ears and retreating to the kitchenette, the sound of Ayako's laughter following after her.

Mai stayed there for a while, making herself a cup of tea and fuming. Lies. It was all lies. There was no way sweet, gentle Gene would ever do something like that.

Except…there was no doubt he would be really popular. How could he not be? She could easily see him surrounded by girls, wherever he went. After all, he must have drawn enough attention for both him and Naru…

Her head spun for a moment, just imagining that. A feeling not unlike the one she had in math class, confronted with far too many numbers to process.

Then her thoughts went back to a conversation she'd had with her friend Kazumi, nearly a year ago.

"People who are nice all the time tend to be nice to everyone. You know that, right?"

Mai knew, she couldn't have been the only one Gene was ever kind to. She couldn't have been the only one charmed by his beautiful smile.

The question was, did he reciprocate? And how much? Did he get tempted? Did he get greedy? What would it be like, being that popular?

But…no no no no no. That would still be awful of him. She just couldn't imagine it.

Maybe he was just being polite, and the girls got the wrong idea? And unlike Naru, he didn't shun people. He must have been too nice to turn them down, and got in way over his head. That seemed way more likely.

Having arrived at that conclusion, Mai nodded to herself in satisfaction and finished her tea. Stupid Naru. She should know better than to believe him.

Unfortunately, these thoughts were still nagging at her the next day. As a result, she was still distracted while setting up base, and messed up more than once, causing Naru to harangue her all day.

By the time she'd finished all the measurements and was able to settle down finally, Mai was exhausted. She slumped into a chair at base. She and Lin had the first shift that night, so it was just the two of them at the moment. The room was silent except for the hum of monitors and Lin's typing.

Again, unwittingly, her thoughts turned to the Problem with Gene. For some reason, she just couldn't dismiss it from her mind, no matter how she rationalized it. Maybe because deep down, even she could see the plausibility of it. Because after all, why would Naru lie about it? And he was the person closest to Gene, so he would be in the best position to know any dirty little secrets…

On a level, she knew she was biased. If the accused had been anyone other than Gene, she would probably dismiss him as scum, and that would be the end of it. But how was she supposed to reconcile the gentle boy in her dreams with that? Impossible.

If only there was someone else she could ask. Someone who also knew Gene while he was alive…

Then she had an idea.

"Um, Lin-san?" she asked.

Lin continued typing for a moment more, until he seemed to come to a stopping point. Then he turned to her. "Yes?"

"Can I ask you something…about Gene?"

His stoic face betrayed only a hint of surprise. "Yes, you may."

"Okay." She took a deep breath. "Naru told me something about him. That he used to date a lot of girls? Is there any truth to that?"

Lin thought for a moment. "I apologize, but I'm afraid I don't know. I never paid any attention to his social life."

Mai let out a sigh of relief, as if that had answered anything. "Yeah. Of course. I'm sorry, I don't know why I even asked." She laughed nervously.

"However…" Lin furrowed his eyebrows. "Now, I do recall one incident…"

"An incident?"

"Yes. I was visiting the Davises' home one night, but before I could knock on the door, I noticed Gene was climbing out of an upstairs window."

A feeling of dread began to build in Mai's stomach.

"There was a tree right next to the window, which he used to make his escape. I watched as he climbed down, only taking notice of me once he'd landed on the ground. As I recall, he then put a finger to his lips and said he was on his way to meet with someone, and asked me not to tell his parents. I remember being surprised, because it was quite late at night."

"A-and then…?"

"He left. It was none of my business, so I didn't inquire about it further. However, he seemed quite practiced at climbing that tree."

"Oh," Mai said. "Well. Okay. Thank you for answering my questions, Lin-san."

She turned away, her features calm. But inwardly, a storm was raging.

What. Was Gene. Doing. Sneaking out at night? To meet someone? WHO? TO DO WHAT?!

The next night, Mai finally got her chance to ask the boy ghost personally.

"Hi, Mai," Gene said, smiling down at her as she opened her eyes in the dream. "Long time no see."

"…Yeah, hi," she said, torn between the usual euphoria at seeing him again, and a strong urge to give him major side-eye.

He helped her to her feet, and they got to discussing the details of the case.

But once that was settled, Gene regarded her with a tilt of his head.

"Are you okay, Mai? You seem kind of…stand-offish today."

"Oh, um…" Mai scuffed her shoe on whatever made up the 'ground' in this astral plane. "Well, about that…Naru told me something about you the other day…"

"Oh?" he smiled. "What about?"

Here goes nothing. "Is it true that when you were alive, you went out on dates with girls all the time? Even different girls on the same day?"

Gene blinked, the smile frozen on his face. "…Sorry?"

Mai narrowed her eyes. "Were you a womanizer?"

Gene looked up and away. "Oh, is it that time already?"

"Gene?"

"Looks like I have to go."

"Gene?!"

"See you later, Mai!" He disappeared into the inky darkness.

Mai shouted after him. "Gene! Wait! Get back here! We're not done talking yet! GENE!"

In the end, she never did get a definite answer from him. But if there was one thing Mai did learn, it was this: Maybe she didn't know Gene very well after all.

Author's Note:

This was written for the 2018 Ghost Hunt Exchange. Originally, it was just a small subplot in a larger story I had planned for my gift. But when I was having trouble getting that story to come together, I decided to scrap it and instead try to salvage some of the ideas in it that I really liked.

This story is the result. And it was actually something I'd been wanting to write for a long time. Basically, I think I'd be more okay with Gene/Mai if only Mai would stop idealizing him so much, so my goal was to introduce her to his bad boy side. XD Though technically, it's only canon that he snuck out at night to practice driving with friends, and that he liked to "go eat lunch with girls," him being a womanizer is such a popular fan interpretation of his character that I couldn't resist. Either way, the boy is shadier than he looks.

On that note, this story makes reference to and is best understood if you've read the official short stories— in particular, "Eugene," "Least Visible Side Profile," and "GENKI." The latter is currently untranslated, so the line quoting Kazumi is translated by myself.

Also, for those who've read my AU fanfic The Ghost of Giffords Library, the guy who asked Mai out in this story happens to be her ex-boyfriend from that story. So this is sort of an AU of my AU, only taking place in the canon timeline, lol. One might say that Mai avoided unneeded heartbreak by turning him down!