Mai's POV

Jumping up from my bed I woke covered in a cold sweat. I'd just had another nightmare. It was the same one I'd been having every day now for two months now, and it was starting to get on my nerves. I couldn't tell if I was in the dream realm or the realm in between and that terrifies me. When I close my eyes, I'm projected into place that is complete darkness. In this place someone calls to me, pleading for my help, but I don't know how. For some reason while I'm in this place I recognize the voice, but the moment I'm back to the real world I can't recall who it is that's calling me.

Hell, I couldn't tell if the voice was male or female. I couldn't even tell if the voice belonged to a demon, an actual person, or a spirit. This was a cause for concern as I was normally able to tell the difference between the dreams. If it was a ghost there was no way I could help it as I no longer work for a ghost hunter.

It's funny that ever since I worked for Naru I learned more about myself and the powers, or abilities as some prefer, that I possess. I possess ESP, post cognitive dreams, clairvoyance, and astral projection, but I'm not qualified to do anything in the form of exorcisms, not that I want to I have too much on my hands as it is.

Even during my time as an assistant to a ghost hunter I was never allowed to help with the cleansings or the exorcisms, even after my abilities were discovered. Naru was always telling me that I'd probably mess something up if I ever tried. He was probably right, but hey you gotta start somewhere and I've always wanted to learn how to help someone move on.

Sighing I got up gathering clothes to change into once I got out of the shower. Glancing at the calendar on my way to the bathroom, it was June 3rd. I gave a small smile, today marked the third year since SPR closed. Three years since I'd seen Lin, Naru, Madoka, and Gene. At that thought I felt a pang of sadness, but pushed it away.

SPR better known as Shibuya Psychic Research was only supposed to be a cover up for Naru aka Kazuya Shibuya aka Oliver Davis. Naru was searching for his twin brother Eugene, Gene for short, who he'd thought was dead. I remember the day that the four of them left, Naru had told me not to bother trying to get another job as Madoka would be coming back to Japan to reopen SPR and that she wanted me as her assistant. He said that Madoka wanted to train me further so I could help with future cases.

I'd waited for Madoka's return for five months and when I didn't hear from her, Lin, or Naru I gave up and got a job.

To this day I still laugh on how I ended up working for Naru. I'd accidentally broken one of his expensive cameras in addition to injuring Lin. Naru demanded I help him with the rest of the case he was working on at my school. I apparently piqued is interest enough as he'd hired me to work for him as a part time assistant after he was finished with my school's case.

I never told him that during the case I'd had a dream where I thought Naru had visited me. That wasn't the only time that I thought Naru was visiting me through my dreams, it was throughout all the cases we worked. I didn't find out that it was Gene who was visiting me until shortly before he left. Apparently even though Gene was in a coma he was a strong enough medium that he could visit me in the planes of my dreams. To this day I still wish I knew how he could do that.

Thinking back to my dream I knew I wasn't the right person to help if it was indeed a ghost. This was not only due to me being unqualified, but I was also born an onishi demon hunter. It's rare for an onishi demon hunter to deal with ghosts, but when we do it's not to help them move on. Usually when an onishi demon hunter comes face to face with a ghost, that ghost is 99.95 of the time so beyond help that we must destroy it and even that is very rare. An onishi demon hunter's main responsibilities lay with taking care of demons (obviously), demon-ghosts, and those that belong to the death court.

My kind are a very rare breed of demon hunters that are thought not to exist. Obviously, we do exist, we just like to keep on the down low. There's more of us than one would initially think, and though we don't make ourselves known we still get together every now and then to have meetings. I guess it could be considered that we have our own council, but one that the demon hunter's council doesn't know exists, which is how we like it.

The demon hunter's council was established in Scotland and is the only council in the entire world for demon hunters, so they have more power than they need. The fact that no one has ever challenged them, at least not till I came along, is amazing. Most are afraid of challenging the council as they are not afraid of kicking a demon hunter out of the demon hunter's society, and those not a part of the society are considered a rogue. Those who've gone rogue are not respected and are to be killed on sight. By the council's rules I am technically a rogue demon hunter, since I have not been a part of the demon hunter's society for five years now. Funny how everyone is too afraid of challenging me.

I've been told that if I were ever to start my own society for demon hunters here in Japan, 90% of England's demon hunter society would leave to join mine. Apparently, the council pissed everyone off the moment that I not only quit the council, but also the society. I'm not sure what everyone saw in me, but they looked up to me. I do know that I am the strongest demon hunter of the entire society, full of myself I know, but in this line of work you can't doubt your ability or you're as good as dead.

Thinking about the council always gets my blood boiling as I know something that the rest pf the society doesn't know, but as long as the council leaves the demon hunters alone in handling their own guilds I'll keep my mouth shut. Though I have a feeling that the day that I'll have to say something will be coming soon, especially when they finally decide I'm too powerful and send Angeline after me. What the council doesn't know is that I know that Angeline is a demon-ghost and that I am one of the few who are capable of killing her.

Glancing at the clock I realized that I'd spent way too much time thinking about the past that if I didn't leave now I would be late for work and my boss would ream my ass for being late. Running out onto the sidewalk I bumped into someone hard enough that I landed on my rear end. I was slightly dazed wondering what happened when a hand appeared in front of my face. I gasped and jumped up bowing, apologizing like crazy. The person grunted in response which caused me to look up in annoyance.

The man was almost seven-foot-tall with black hair that covered his right eye. The man looked very familiar to me, but I couldn't place from where. He wore all black clothes and his eyes were grey, but when he moved slightly I noticed that his right eye wasn't grey, but blue. I blinked once, twice before it hit me where I knew him from.

"Lin-san!?"

He looked surprised that I knew his name and I don't blame him for not recognizing me. It's been three years and I did grow up quite a bit during that time. It also didn't hurt that I'd changed my style. My hair was no longer short, but long and in a ponytail. I also had blonde highlights put in it. Gone were my skirt wearing days and instead I wore jeans that fit me perfectly and t-shirts that I found comfortable. Oh, and I was no longer five two, I now stand at five, five.

"Do I know you?" he asked giving me a once over.

"Well if that isn't insulting," I said in irritation, "it's only been three years since I last saw you. I haven't changed that much… Have I?"

His eyes widened a fraction before the went back to normal. He finally recognized who I was and that made me grin as I could tell that he was shocked. Though I couldn't tell if he was more shocked that I bumped into him or because of how much I changed. I was happy to see him after all these years, but then my heart sank. If Lin was here that meant Naru was here too and I so did not want to see him right now. I still haven't gotten over his rejection and I was still in love with the asshole. Looking at my phone I noticed that I was officially late for work.

"Shit, I'm late! Sorry for running into you Lin, but I gotta go. Tell Madoka I said hi," I said before running down the sidewalk towards my work.

I'd never been late for work at my current job so this would be interesting. According to the employee handbook I wouldn't be considered late until five minutes after my shift started, but my boss considers one minute after the start of a shift to be late. He was also the type who thought that there was no excuse good enough to be tardy. I wouldn't be surprised if he flipped out over being a second late. Arriving in front of the door I glanced at my phone to see how late I was. Two minutes… I was two freaking minutes late!

Entering the building I noticed my boss was waiting in front of the counter. I bowed apologizing immediately. When I didn't hear anything I looked up, he had a strange look on his face. He looked at me for a long moment before turning away and telling me to get to work.

Bizarre, he's never let any one of us off the hook if we're late. Maybe he wasn't going to say anything because this the first time since I'd been hired that I was late or maybe it's because I am one of his best employees. If that's the case I shouldn't be an exception. No, he doesn't do exceptions he'll probably make me work extra hard or have me stay after so he can lecture me.

Sighing I got ready for a busy day. Looking around the shop I made sure everything was in order before I flipped the closed sign over to open. The teashop itself was weird. Though I do have to say I enjoy it very much, despite the painful memories it brings from time to time. After all it is the same teashop I went to when I needed to buy Naru tea. The shop not only sells tea, but serves tea as well, though I was unaware that it served tea until after I started to work here. The shop portion is located at the front of the building while the "restaurant" portion is located at the back, while the upper floors is where the inventory is kept.

The shop had only been open for an hour and we were already swamped. This place was never this busy when I was working for SPR and I'm positive more guys have started to come buy tea within the last five months. Now ah days it's not unusual for a line to have formed out the door and the phone to be ringing non-stop. When the phone started ringing I left Cathy to fend for herself while I answered it.

"Blossoming Tea Shop. How can I help you?" I said hoping the person would be quick so I could go back to helping Cathy.

"Hello, does this shop serve tea?" the person over the phone asked. The person's voice sounded so familiar, but I couldn't place where I had heard the voice before.

"Yes, we do serve tea. There is a small restaurant in the back that is a part of the shop and they serve this shop's tea. We do get very busy in the afternoon so reservations are highly recommended. We do close at seven tonight," I replied going straight into business mode and stopped trying to remember where I'd heard the voice before.

"Okay thank you. I would like to make a reservation then for two thirty if that is okay?" the person said phrasing it as a question.

"Two thirty is just fine. How many people will be in your party?" I said in response once I checked the availability of a reservation.

"About fifteen people will be there."

"Okay and what name, will the reservation be under?"

"SPR," the person over the phone replied and the name almost made my heart stop beating.

It couldn't be the same SPR could it? No that was impossible SPR was shut down three years ago. Get a grip of yourself Mai, you're just paranoid. After all you ran into Lin earlier.

"Very well I've got you down. All you and your party has to do is come to the counter and say that you have a reservation under SPR and whoever is on duty at the time will get you situated," I said hoping the person would just hang up and I would be on break by the time they get here.

"Thank you very much um…. I'm sorry I never got your name," the person on the phone said shattering any delusional hope I had.

"It's Mai Taniyama," I replied hearing a gasp over the phone.

Yup it's someone I know then. I wonder who it is. It would have to be Madoka, Ayako, or Masako. Though it doesn't sound like any of them, but then again it has been three years. I have grown too, even Lin didn't recognize me.

"Are you the Mai Taniyama who knows my son Oliver?" the woman asked.

That shocked me and confirmed my thoughts on who it was. It wasn't Ayako, Madoka, or Masako, it was Naru's mother. It sort of freaked me out that Naru's mother would know who I was, but then again, she would have to know because I was an employee of her son. And if I remember correctly Lin said he had to make frequent updates to the professors. If they were going to be here I definitely wanted to take my lunch during that time. As horrible as it was to try and avoid them I just wasn't ready to see anyone yet.

"Yes, I am. I'm sorry, but if that is all you need I must get back to work. We are starting to get busy," I replied as professionally as I could.

"Oh of course dearie. I'm sorry to have held you up. Is it okay if I talk to your manager?" she asked just as professionally.

Well shit I wonder what said that required her to speak to the boss.

That worried me. I wonder if I did or said anything to make her mad enough to want to talk to my boss. I said yes and told Cathy that the person on the phone has requested to talk to the manager and that I was going to get him. She nodded her head and I went into the restaurant in search of him. Reezo-san has always loved cooking so he spends most of his time in the kitchen cooking even though there is already a cook there, for once I did not find him the kitchen. Nina-chan told me that he was in his office and she was correct.

Knocking softly, he looked up and nodded his granting my entrance. I came closer to his desk, but did not sit down in one of the two chairs in front of his desk. His office was sparse of any decoration. It had a few things hanging, but it mainly consisted of his desk, and three chairs. There were hardly any papers at all, which has made me wonder occasionally if he hires someone to do his paper work for him.

"Reezo-san there is a customer on the phone that wishes to speak to you," I stated and he just looked up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"I don't know. She never did give her name," I said in reply, this made him raise his other eyebrow.

"All right I will be right there in a minute," he said dismissing me.

I made my way back out into the front of the store. Letting Naru's mother know that Reezo-san would be with her momentarily. Poor Cathy was swamped with customers, and the customers were not happy with how slow she was. I could easily see that they were happy that I came back to help. They knew I was much faster than Cathy and Cathy knew this herself, but would never admit it. I was insanely curious as to what Naru's mother wanted to talk about with my boss. So, I kept an eye on them while helping customers and I would notice him frown every once in a while. He also nodded quite a bit which I thought was funny considering that she wouldn't be able to see him do it. After talking for about ten minutes he hung up and turned to me.

"Taniyama-san from two until five I want you working in the restaurant as a server. I'll have Sato-san come help out Cathy-san. You are also to have your lunch before two," he said before he turned and headed back to his office.

I was shocked and by Cathy's face she was shocked too. He's never replaced one of us with Sato before. Sato was his best server for the restaurant. If he needed someone else as a server he normally would have Enya come out to work the shop. Something was going on and it was very strange. First was the fact that I was let off the hook this morning, second was that Reezo was in his office, now this.

Well shit, this has become very strange.