Epilogue

'You turned down the contract?' Bou-san shook his head with exasperation. 'He offered you a full-time position with a great salary and a huge benefits package—and you turned Naru down?'

Mai fidgeted with the packets of sugars and sweeteners that the waitress had heaped upon their coffee shop table. It was her first official day discharged from the hospital, and Ayako and Bou-san had insisted they take her out for lunch.

Forcing a breezy tone into her voice, Mai said with a smile, 'I'm just not ready to jump right into another case. If you hadn't noticed, I've had more than my fair share of ghostly going-ons over the past few months.'

'But Naru,' Ayako persisted, her voice echoing Bou-san's bafflement. 'He's reopening SPR for you.'

Mai hiccupped a doubtful laugh, and her injured ribs ached with the movement. 'He is reopening SPR because that is what he loves to do. And he's working in Japan because it allows him freedoms and a sense of anonymity that he does not enjoy in England.'

Ayako's teacup clattered against her saucer. 'That boy is in love with you.'

'Don't be silly,' Mai said, flushing terribly and played with her new mobile phone—a gift from John.

'I have to agree with the old lady this time,' Bou-san said, earning himself a smack from Ayako. 'You don't know what he was like when he realised you were missing last month.'

'I don't want to talk about this anymore.'

'Mai—'

'I don't want to see him. Not right now. Not yet. It is just too much.'

'Because he looks like Gene?' Ayako asked, taking Mai's hand in hers.

'No!' Mai said, pulling away. 'Naru doesn't look anything like that… that….'

'Bastard?' Bou-san supplied.

'That person,' Mai said evenly, fixing her full attention back on the pile of sweeteners. It had been rather rude of the waitress to just dump the packets in the middle of the table—like she were leaving a tiny pile of trash for them to pick through.

'You can't keep avoiding the subject,' Bou-san said. 'You need to talk about it. And if you don't feel comfortable speaking to us about it, we can make an appointment for you to see a professional.'

'I'm not talking to a shrink. Can you image? I'd mention my psychic gifts and they'd cart me away to a loony bin.'

'What about talking to Luella Davis? Her PhD is in psychology.'

Naru's parents plus Madoka had arrived in Japan on the day after they had closed the case.

'I don't think it is appropriate to say the kind of things I want to say about… that person… to his mother.' Plus Mai doubted Luella Davis knew anything about Pitt's death. Mai wasn't about to tell the woman that her son had killed someone and lied about it for nearly his entire life. Naru hadn't even been completely honest with Lin when he'd asked the onmyouji to make the hitogata. No, the story of Pitt would forever remain the secret that bound Naru, Mai, Gene and Etienne Phillipe. 'I'll be fine. I just need a break.'

Bou-san and Ayako exchanged meaningful glances, which could only mean that they were about to tackle another touchy subject.

'Have you considered my offer regarding the flat?' Ayako asked.

A few days before Ayako had suggested that Mai might like to move into Ayako's flat in central Tokyo. Flattered, but also aware that this was an offer born of guilt and misplaced duty, Mai had begged for time. Apparently her time was now up.

'I have thought about it,' Mai said cautiously. 'I've thought a lot about it, but….' Her mouth went dry. The truth was, she honestly wanted to jump at any chance to not have to go back to her own flat and face memories of… that person. But she couldn't. She just couldn't do that to Ayako.

'You will be more of a burden to me if I have to drag my butt out to suburbia five times a week to check on you,' Ayako warned.

Mai chewed on her lip. 'I….'

'Or you could come live with me?' Bou-san offered, giving her a wink.

'Aren't you guys going to move in together soon?' Mai asked.

'No,' Ayako said, and Bou-san laughed nervously.

'I thought that's what you said, Bou-san? You know, about making things official between you and Ayako.'

Bou-san flushed and put his hand over Mai's mouth. It was a friendly gesture, but she flinched nonetheless.

Both Ayako and Bou-san noticed, and the monk eased away from her with great care not to touch her.

Mai lifted her teacup to her mouth, and before taking a sip, she murmured, 'Sorry.'

'Seriously, I'd feel much better if you weren't in that flat,' Bou-san said, again exchanging a look with the miko. 'SPR has just taken a new case, and it is located in the house attached to your flat. The owner has just returned from abroad, and he claims to have a rather loud and angry ghost in residence.'

'The gaki,' Mai whispered, cringing.

'What?' Ayako and Bou-san asked.

'Um… I might know… I don't know anything about how the ghost actually came to be… but I might know how it got to be in that house.'

Ayako took out her wallet and dropped some cash on the table. 'You know what this means, right, Mai?'

'Well, crap.' Mai gripped her teacup, and it juddered against the saucer. She'd just turned Naru's job offer down, and she was already going to crawl back to the Shibuya office—but what could she honestly do? If there was a gaki in her neighbour's home, it was most likely the one she'd forced out of her own. Karma was a bitch.

Eight Months Later

'Mr. I'm-too-handsome-for-my-own-good is back,' Aoi shouted from the front of the shop.

Mai added one more scoop of cornflower petals to the blended tea and placed the cover back on the large apothecary jar. Taking off her apron, she hung it on the little rack in the doorway between the kitchen and the front counter.

Aoi and Naru glared at each other across the register. At some point during the past months, Aoi'd gone from thinking of Naru as 'Mai's prince' to thinking of him as 'the most annoying customer from that weird office on the second floor'.

With the financial backing of Captain-san—who'd sold his share in Gin Knockers—and the managerial know-how of Aoi, and sheer exuberance of Mignon, the four of them had opened a small teashop on the ground floor of the office building that housed SPR.

Naru, of course, was not satisfied with this, but the rest of the team supported the endeavour. She did, however, participate in the occasional case. Lin and Mai managed to work together silently and civilly, but an awkwardness permeated their relationship—one born of Lin's guilt rather than his prejudices.

When Mai wasn't wrapped up in an SPR case, she still somehow managed to be Naru's tea slave by making tea-deliveries to the SPR office twice, even three times a day depending on her schedule. She tried to be stealthy in her deliveries as to not upset Lin, but Yasuhara never made that easy. He'd taken Mai's former job as Naru's assistant—and he chose to exacerbate the tension between Mai and Lin. In fact the only time Mai felt comfortable in the SPR office or during cases was when Madoka showed up with the baby. One couldn't help but smile at the pretty wee bairn.

But that day it wasn't Lin's awkwardness that had kept Mai from delivering Naru's tea. She'd simply not had a free moment. The scowl affixed to Naru's face certainly attested to it. Mai placed a calming hand on Aoi's arm. 'I'll take care of this. Why don't you go on your break?'

'Perhaps we should put mirrors on the front doors, that way every time he tries to come in here, he'll be distracted by his own reflection,' Aoi sneered.

'I hadn't realised my good looks bothered you so much,' Naru said.

Mai pushed Aoi toward the kitchen before pointing at Naru. 'You have been spending too much time with Yasu,' she said, causing Naru's mouth to twitch. Six more months of having Yasuhara as a personal assistant, and Mai hoped Naru would be able to manage a lopsided smile. 'Just go take a seat. I'll bring your tea over.'

He stood watching her for two slow breaths before ambling to the small table at the far back corner of the shop—the one that Mai always kept a reserved sign on, just in case.

Mai watched him walk away with a sad smile. They rarely spoke unless it revolved around tea or a current case. They never talked about Gene, Pitt or the events that had begun almost a year ago. They never talked about how she'd hinted again and again that she still loved him. And they never mentioned the two times that they kissed.

Their relationship was careful, quiet, generally respectful—certainly not soured, but also nothing like it had been before or even during the Kennel Boy case.

Naru pulled out his chair, and Mai turned away to examine the jars of tea before he realised that she'd been watching him with sorrowful, lonely eyes. She reached for the jar of Sencha Earl Grey and hesitated as she had for the past month.

Sencha Earl Grey was failing her. It was failing both of them. It had trapped them in a place of desolation. She had a jar of something new. Something special that she'd blended with Naru in mind. It sat on the middle shelf at the easiest height for her to grab. And yet cold fear ached in her fingers, and the metal bolts and plate in her right forearm seemed to make it impossible to grasp the jar.

Her heart stuttered and her throat clenched tight—like Kennel Boy still had his grubby little hands squeezing the life out of her. It was a familiar feeling—one that she experienced awake as well as in her dreams. Generally her dreams weren't as bad now that she lived with Ayako, who had plastered the flat with charms, but during these waking moments she knew that Kennel Boy was getting what he wanted.

Mai and Naru were separated by a gulf of silence.

Trembling, she forced her hands to grip the new blend. She'd be damned if she let Kennel Boy win after all that he'd put them through. She had to at least try.

The routine of tea preparation steadied her nerves a little, but when it came to delivering the teapot and teacup, she nearly dropped everything. Naru grabbed the teapot from her before it spilled, and the pot clinked indelicately on the table.

'Sorry,' Mai whispered, and the teacup rattled in the saucer.

She reached for the teapot to perform the usual service, but Naru placed a hand on her right forearm. 'Does the rain bother the injury?' he asked.

Mai glanced out the shop windows at the pelting rain. She hadn't even noticed the weather before. 'It's okay,' she said, reaching for the teapot again.

'I'll pour,' he said.

'That's not right,' Mai insisted. A guest simply did not pour his own tea.

'Sit down, Mai.'

She obliged without thinking.

Naru calmly served himself tea. Lifting the cup, he inhaled the scent and frowned. 'This is not your Earl Grey.'

Mai wet her lips. 'It… it's new. I blended it because… I mean, I think you'll like it. It's okay if you don't. I really don't mind.' Her face warmed with humiliation. What had she been thinking? She shot out of her chair and reached to take the cup away from him. 'You know what, never mind. I'll just go make you the regular tea—'

Naru placed his hand on her forearm again, and she froze. He breathed in the scent again before taking a tentative sip. His eyebrow furled and he sipped again. Frowning, he breathed in the scent for a third time.

'I'm sorry,' Mai whispered, and she reached for the cup. 'It tastes bad, right? I'm sorry.'

Naru refused to relinquish the cup. 'I know this flavour. I've tasted it before, but….'

Crouching down slightly, Mai attempted to prise his fingers off the cup. 'You don't have to drink it if you don't like it,' she whispered and tried desperately to keep tears from welling in her eyes.

Naru set the teacup down on the table. 'Look at me, Mai.'

Again she obliged without thinking.

Coiling a hand at her nape, he pressed his mouth to hers—tasting her with unhurried brushes of his tongue, performing a thorough study of her lips.

When he pulled away, he slipped his hand from her neck to her back so that she didn't fall over.

'I… um… I… you….'

Naru lifted his teacup, sniffed and then sipped it, and then nodded. 'I knew I'd tasted that flavour before,' he said, almost to himself as he gazed at her mouth.

He relinquished his hold on her, and she stood on wobbling legs. She didn't know what to say. Naru had kissed her. He'd kissed her a lot. Yes, she'd hoped the change in tea would bring about a change in their relationship, but she hadn't expected….

'For future reference,' he said, lifting the teapot to refill his cup, 'I prefer to enjoy my tea in private. Coming down to your shop is disruptive and a waste of time and money.'

Mai started to flinch but then narrowed her eyes. 'You don't pay for your tea.'

'I refer to the money I am losing by not being in my office.' He finished off his beverage and stood. 'I trust you'll try for punctuality next time.'

'You mean in three hours,' Mai muttered.

'Precisely.'

Mai crossed her arms and tried to draw in a calming breath. 'I lose money every time I pause to deliver your tea. You could at least give me a little incentive.'

'I am not a prostitute, Mai.'

'What?'

'I'll see you in three hours.' He tapped on the teapot. 'Bring more of the same,' he said before he sauntered out of the shop without a backward glance.

Mai collapsed into his chair and filled his cup from the teapot, breathing in the scent. Did she really taste like sunflower petals and vanilla? Maybe she should ask him to double check. Mai sipped the tea. He definitely needed to double check.