Mai and Masako, eager to put aside their once-beloved rivalry, went down to breakfast about an hour later and sat together. Ayako sent them a curious glance; she alone had witnessed how heated their arguments had gotten, once the guys and girls had gone into their separate room on cases. Mai just shrugged, with a look that cheerfully said she wouldn't tell.

They had barely been seated when Yasuhara stood and walked over. Without giving her a hint of a choice, he took her hand and kissed it, making a deep bow. Everyone except for Mai, who was in the know, stared, flabbergasted, and Masako's eyes widened. Even worse, she couldn't move her kimono sleeve to hide her shock, as the sleeve in question was still Yasuhara's captive.

"Yasuhara-san…?"

"Thank you for your charming conversation, Masako-san," he said with a serene, innocent smile. "It was most enjoyable."

Masako's whole face instantly turned a light shade of pink, and Mai got the feeling that it hadn't always been that charming. Ayako and Bou-san rounded on the girl mercilessly and started asking questions, which she, flustered, couldn't quite find the answers to. However, within two minutes they all hushed as Naru dropped into a chair. Lin, at the head of the table, stood and went over to the buffet-style breakfast.

Naru looked awful. He was paler than usual, with dark smudges under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept at all. Of course, that might be ignored, considering his nose was about the same color.

"Uh, what happened to your face?" Bou-san asked with a raised eyebrow. Naru shot him a withering glare.

"Ask your girlfriend," he sneered.

"To be fair, you did strangle me once," Ayako said calmly, just a little bit smug.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Naru snapped. "I didn't realize you were possessed, that makes everything better."

Lin sat down and placed a steaming plate of food, which Mai thought was not a good idea. Why did he feel it necessary to feed the jerk's ego? But then Naru glared at Lin too, and slowly shoved the plate away.

Lin shoved it back.

Naru shoved it away.

Lin shoved it back.

Naru shoved it away.

Lin shoved it back.

Naru shoved it away.

Lin shoved it back and kept his hand there, with the calm but stony look that said resistance was futile.

Naru shoved it off the table.

"Wow, you're a bit of a jackass this morning, aren't you?" Mai quipped cheerfully. Some of her anger dissipated at the sight of Naru being so aggravated.

Naru snapped something in English that must have been very rude, because John gasped and Lin uttered a sharp word of reproach. Mai made a mental note to look up the Japanese translation for "fk off" as soon as she was near a computer.

(-(-)-)

"Oh girls," Ayako sang, coming up behind Mai and Masako as they were on their way to the convention. She draped an arm around each of their shoulders, looking very, very happy. "Where do you think you're going?"

"The convention, you know, what we're here for?" Mai pointed out.

"Oh no you're not. I just found out that this lovely, lovely hotel has a little itty bitty spa in it, with massages and mud baths and a steam room and a Jacuzzi. Where do you think we're going now?"

"The gym?" Masako offered. Mai stared at her, shocked, and then burst out laughing. In her head, she checked off the third sign of the apocalypse. The first was Lin having a conversation, the second was John being rude, and the third was Masako being funny. The eighth and final sign of the apocalypse was Bou-san becoming the Dali Llama.

Ayako didn't see the humor; she simply glared. "No. Come on!"

Mai scrunched her nose. "Er, Ayako, I love you and all, but I'm not really the spa kind of girl. How 'bout you go and I just sit and hang out?"

"Yeah, I guess that works. Let's go!"

(-(-)-)

It only took five minutes for Bou-san and the rest of the guys to show up, dragging Lin along with them. Ayako insisted they leave, Takigawa refused, they argued, and Mai ended up leaving before the very irritated-looking employee threw them all out. She decided to go back to the room and start packing.

Mai almost had a heart attack when she got into the elevator and Naru got in after her.

"Naru! Er, there's a perfectly good explanation for why I'm not at the convention…"

"Save it."

It was an incredibly awkward elevator ride. Naru didn't say a word, and Mai could only fidget. The doors opened, and she nearly leapt out when Naru finally started talking and she stopped dead.

"Why is your opinion of me so low?" he demanded suddenly.

"What?" Mai asked, startled.

"In your book. You constantly have me ordering you around, yelling at people, cold and distant and snappish. Why?"

"You read it?" Mai was aware that her voice was rising in volume, alarmed. She was frantically trying to remember if there was anything in there that might give her away…

"If you don't want people to read it, don't drop it in the service staircase. I nearly broke my neck stepping on it last night. Why did you write me like that?"

"Look, that's not how I intended it, but that's just how you come off as sometimes. Naru, I have a high opinion of you, just a low opinion of your manners."

"And you haven't even mentioned the flowers yet." There was a long, heavy pause in which Mai swallowed her thoughts and chose her words delicately.

"I … I didn't accept them."

Mai could see that this was the last thing Naru had expected, and she wondered if he had ever been rejected in anything or by anyone before.

"Why not?"

"Naru … do you have any idea why I leave carnations on my parents' graves? They have a meaning. 'I'll never forget you'--that's what they stand for. And that's why I threw yours away, because you're never aware of people, forget remembering them. It didn't fit."

"How does that fit into anything? It's a charming thought, but it's not like my actions mean anything different!" he said, offended.

"It's the principle, Naru! You can't just change your mind any time you feel like it and expect everyone to obey your silliest whim. Life doesn't work that way."

"I understand that perfectly, but whether or not some stupid flowers mean what you think I'm thinking shouldn't matter."

Mai was shaking with anger. Hadn't he learned anything the last time he had insulted her beliefs? She barely even noticed that the whole SPR group had come up behind her, arguing about whose fault it was that they were banned from the spa. She didn't hear their chatter, and thus didn't hear the silence when it stopped just in time to let her next words ring out clearly.

"You are the most idiotic, stubborn, conceited, arrogant, narcissistic, handsome, amazing, WONDERFUL man I have ever had the misfortune to fall in love with!"

Naru's eyes widened, Ayako gave a delighted gasp, and Mai realized what she had just said. Her heart stopped, and her hands snapped over her mouth. There was a moment of complete silence. No one moved or made a sound.

"Ummm … I didn't say that."

"Yes you did," Yasuhara interrupted, smiling serenely. Mai whirled around.

"No, I didn't," she snarled. She turned back around and started babbling to Naru, trying to look unaffected and keep her cool. "Of course I didn't, 'cos that would be thoughtless and embarrassing and I'd be blushing, and I'm not blushing. Hahaha … you know what, I'm not feeling so good, I think I have a fever, you know when people have fevers they say crazy things. In fact, this whole thing might just be a hallucination, because I would never say that. Um, I don't know who I was talking--"

And Naru was kissing her.

That was good, she was only embarrassing herself even more… WAIT, HOLY SHIT, NARU WAS KISSING HER??

But he was, because that was his hand holding her chin and keeping her face firmly anchored to his, and those were his lips molding gently to her mouth, pressed in a simple, innocent kiss that still managed to burn her all over and turn her brain into mush and make her legs feel like Jell-O…

It took Mai a full ten seconds to realize that Naru had broken the kiss, though he was still holding her face close. He was speaking lowly just to her, his breath blowing into her face.

"And you, you stupid, stupid girl, are the most hard-headed, ridiculous, hopelessly naive, adorable, lively woman I have ever been forced to love," he whispered. "Congratulations."

Naru turned and walked away, completely nonchalant, while the whole SPR crowd engulfed Mai, all talking excitedly. She just stood there, completely stunned.

Wait … had he just insulted her again?

PHEW! It is done! I know you are all really, really pissed at me for not updating weeks ago, but I have a perfectly good excuse--I mean explanation.

I have had an hour and a half of homework every night, as well as several important projects worth like half my grade. I have had to work my way up from a C in French, memorize the Grand Old Fucking Flag for band to march in this shitty parade, and I literally have softball six times a week. This chapter literally bit and clawed its way out. I'M SORRY!!

I luv you all, and this really is THE END.

May the llamas be with you.