A/N: Hey everyone I hope you guys would like this story. This is the first story I have written.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt.

Edited: November 27, 2017

-oOo-

The day starter as normal as it could get for a certain Taniyama Mai but everything would change because of a certain missive. The intercom inside the classroom turned on and an announcement was made, "Taniyama Mai-san, kindly please report to the principal's office after class."

All of Mai's classmates turned and looked at the girl, Mai gulped and started to get anxious with everyone's attention on her. It didn't help her at all that her mind started to imagine different scenarios on why she was being called.

She then shook her head, muttering to herself, "Geez, why am I worrying about this it might only be Naru calling about our next case." She then nodded to herself, "Yeah that must be it, just Naru calling." A pause, "I hope, but why do I feel as if though something bad is going to happen." She didn't know how right she was on that one, the question left is whether the news would bring something good in the end or not.

Mai had a hard time concentrating in her classes, her mind going a mile a minute worrying about the meeting she had with the principal, every scenario she thought and becomes worst and worst as the minutes tick by. "Mai-chan, Mai-chan, Oi Mai-chan!" One of Mai's friends exclaimed trying to get the girl's attention by calling out to Mai and waving her hand in front of Mai's face.

"Wha-what's going on?" a startled Mai asked so lost in her thoughts, she didn't hear the bell ring which signaled the end of their class.

"Mai-chan, class is over you should head to the principal's office", her friend, Keiko, said.

"Oh, yeah, hehe." Mai laughed sheepishly while rubbing the back of her neck. "I'll head to the office now", Mai said nervously and in resignation. Standing up she bid farewell to her friends and that she'll see them the next day. Both girls looked at Mai's back in worry hoping that everything would just be fine.

Mai walked slowly as she could letting the time past hoping beyond hope that an announcement would be made saying that she doesn't need to go to the principal's office and it was just a mistake. She then said to herself, "Yeah right, that only happens in my dream. Come on Mai your stronger than this and anyway it might just be something and your worrying yourself so much." Mai nodded to her self with confidence but as she gets closer to the principals office her confidence level started to drop. Muttering under her breath like a mantra, "Please be Naru, please be Naru."

Standing in front of the principal's office, she took a deep breath and said, "Well, here I go." She then to proceeded to knock on the door. She then heard someone say from the other side, "Come in, its open."

Mai slowly opened the door, "Excuse me, pardon the intrusion." She said in a soft voice.

The principal looked up from the paper work he was reading and said, "Ah, Taniyama-san, good you're finally here we have some important things to talk about. Please take a sit."

Mai went inside the office and sat on the chair in front of the principal's table, playing with the hem of her skirt, "What did you call me for sir?" Mai asked with a nervous tone.

The principal answered with a grim look, "Before I start I want you to understand that I've tried everything I can but my hands have been tied down." He paused and tried to see Mai's reaction, when he saw nothing he continued, "The government is currently handing out scholarships for students in need and as such you were one of the chosen recipients. In order for them to verify your qualifications we had to send them your scholl records."

Stopping to take a sip of water, he then continued, "Because of the requitement, the fact that you are an orphan came in to play and became the reason for our current problem."

"What do you mean, sir?" Mai asked nervously, starting to have an idea where the conversation was headed.

The principal sighed, "Normally a student being an orphan wouldn't have been a problem but due to you not having any guardian of sorts has been a cause of concern. As you are underage and has no adult supervision the scholarship grant cannot be given to you as well as not being able to allow you to continue with your studies unless you have an authorized guardian."

Mai suddenly stood up and shouted out of shock, "WHAT!" She was at a loss for words her world crumbling down before her.

"I'm very sorry Taniyama-san, as you well know that this school is run by the government. You are an exceptional student Taniyama-san, but even so I cannot do anything because we have to follow the rules and guidelines given to us by the government. I'm truly sorry that our intentions for helping you instead caused this problem." the principal told Mai with a sad and pitying look.

The principal then reached inside his desk drawer and pulled out an envelope. He then addressed Mai, "Inside this are the documents you will need to process, normally you will only be given two weeks to finish all of this before the government will take action but I've managed to request for an extension. Giving you a whole month to make arrangement and process things. I hope that this will give you enough time to sort things out and I'm sorry that this is the only thing I could do for you."

He then handed Mai the envelope, Mai took it with her hand shaking, and she then said, "Thank you sir, I would go now." She stood up dejectedly and started walking in a trance like state, before she knew it she was already in front of her apartment door.

She stood there for who knows how long before Mai took notice of her surroundings where she was. She took her keys from her pocket and opened the door, sitting on her sofa not believing what was going on and willing herself to wake up from the nightmare. With nothing changing Mai with shaking hands opened the envelope and started reading the letter. The letter stated:

Dear Taniyama Mai-san,

We have received a notice from our scholarship grantor regarding your case. As much as we want to present you with the scholarship we cannot, due to the reason of you are an underage orphan without guardian supervision. You are also being prohibited from continuing your education without the school breaking any laws with regards to child protection. Included within this letter are documents which must be duly accomplished by you and a guardian of your choice before any and all court actions be retracted. Upon request, we have extended the allotted two weeks period to a month and hope that this will give you enough time to find a suitable guardian who will be subjected to certain procedures by the department to ensure the fitness of the guardian. If none of the requirements have been duly accomplished and no proper notifications has been made to those involved within the allotted time period; this department will be forced to take further actions. This actions will include the department taking custody of you and will be placed in an orphanage where you can either wait for and adoption or remain until you are 18 years of age from then on you would be released and all court actions receded.

Sincerely Yours,

Department of Social Welfare and Development

Mai sat on her sofa staring at the letter without moving an inch, thoughts running through her head on what she would do. She was pulled out of her thoughts by her phone ringing. Looking at the caller ID, she saw Naru's name flashing on it. She then answered the phone, before she could speak a certain narcissist's voice came up, "Mai, where are you? You were supposed to be in the office an hour ago." Naru's tone was harsh but it had a noticeable hint of worry. Though in Mai's current state of mind nothing Naru said had an effect on her. His tone would make any person flinch but Mai could only feel numbness all throughout her body.

"Naru I…" Mai couldn't form words, her mind a jumbled mess.

Naru's voice was heard , "What Mai, I do not pay you to slack off and be late for work. So you either give me an explanation or I'm going to deduct this from your pay."

When Naru said the word work everything else didn't matter , world just shattered there and then. All her thoughts were centered on the fact that she won't be able to see the others. No more Bou-san to tease her, Ayako to berate him and fuss over her, Masako's jibes, John's gentle support, Yasu's jokes, Lin's silent presence but the worst one of all was that she might never see Naru ever again and that became her breaking point. She started to cry her heart out clutching the phone close to her heart.

When Naru was waiting for Mai's answer he already noticed the slight quiver in her voice at but he just let it slide. What he didn't expect was for him to hear Mai's heart wrenching cries, "Mai, Mai, what's wrong?" Naru shouted through the phone, worry evident in his tone and face. This caught Lin's attention and made his way towards his boss, in alarm that something happened to Naru's bubbly assistant.

Mai didn't answer Naru ans instead continued to cry. It was the last straw for Naru he then said, "Mai, stay in your apartment I'll head there as soon as possible." Naru didn't wait for a response, he stood up and saw Lin on the door way. "I'm heading over Mai's apartment, handle things here in the office."

The Chinese man looked at his ward and said, "No." The way he said it means it was final and nothing could change it. Naru was about to shout at Lin but before he could do so Lin cut him of, "Noll, I'm coming with you, I've already have a voice message on the phone while you were talking to Mai." Lin told Naru.

Naru stared at Lin then nodded his head, the both of them rushed towards the van and headed for Mai's apartment. Mai was woken up by the sound of knocking on her front door. She then thought that she must have fallen asleep after crying so much. The knocks on her door snapped her from her thoughts remembering Naru saying on the before he cut it off that he would stop by her apartment and rushed towards the door to open it.

"Mai, what took you so long in opening the door?" Naru immediately asked the girl, while his eyes checked if Mai had any injuries or something.

Mai with her voice rough from crying so much answered, "I'm sorry Naru, I didn't realize that I fell asleep." Her eyes red and puffy from her crying, tear stains still marring her face.

She then moved to the side to let the two men enter her apartment. She showed them to the living room and asked if they wanted tea or anything.

Naru cut through the chase and asked the girl, knowing that prolonging things wouldn't do any good for everyone, "Mai, what happened to make you so distressed? Mai stopped moving and instead of answering she instead gave Naru and Lin the letter. The two began to read the letter. Once they finished the two had shell shocked looks on their faces, if the circumstances were not as grave Mai would have laughed at the two's face and would even have taken a picture to share with the others. Considering the fact that it is rare to see the two stoic men show any form of emotions on their faces.

Mai then started to cry again, and asked in a muffled voice, "Wha-t will I do no-w?" She was starting to become hysterical.

Naru then went over to Mai and said, "Mai, calm down we cannot understand anything from what you said", while Lin gave Mai some tea to calm her down.

After Mai calmed down she said "Arigatou, Lin-san." Shr then looked at Naru and asked, "What am I going to do now? I don't want to go to an orphanage if I go then I might not be able to work with you guys or I won't be able to see you guys again." Mai finished saying, with her eyes glistening with unshed tears while clutching at Naru's arm

Naru was thinking, not even bothering to shrug of Mai's hand. He looked at Mai and said, "The only thing I can think of now is for you to find a guardian within the allotted time.

Before Naru could finish Mai cut in. "How am I going to find a guardian? I don't even know anyone who I can turn to", Mai began to panic.

Naru sighed and said, "Mai, let me finish first before reacting, what I'm trying to say is that one of the older members of the team could go and submit the necessary documentations to get approval for guardianship over you."

Mai then looked at Naru with understanding in her eyes, remembering that her choice of guardians would still need to be approved. "What if none of them would get approved? What am I going to then? ", Mai asked Naru worriedly.

Naru answered, "Mai stop thinking of those things when it has not happened yet; we'll think of a solution when that problem comes, but for now we should talk yo Matsuzaki-san and Bou-san for them to submit their application."

"But what if they don't get approved." Mai asked him with worry in her eyes. Still unsure if this would work or not.

"Mai it still hasn't been a day since you received this information, you were given a month to find a guardian. In the event that none of the members of SPR would be chosen we still have enough time to find a solution before the one month deadline." Naru answered the girl.

"Instead of us just talking here we should contact Matsuzaki-san and Takigawa-san", Lin suggested.

Naru nodded his head and called the two in question and informed them about Mai's case, after speaking with them he turned to Mai and said, "We should head to the Department office, Matsuzaki-san and Bou-san said they would meet us there."

The three of them left Mai's apartment and headed for the Department office to meet up with Ayako and Bou-san. Before Mai could fully step out of the van she was envelopes in a bear hug from someone who can't be other than Bou-san.

"Bou-san, Ayako", Mai said happy to see the two. They returned Mai's smile with one of their own. The five of them went inside the Department office with Ayako and Bou-san submitting their applications. They were asked to wait and after a couple of minutes were called in by a staff for an interview and briefing. The other three waited in the receiving area for the two to come out. "Bou-san, Ayako, what did they say?" Mai asked the two feeling anxious of the results.

"They informed us that we will receive a call tomorrow if our application was approved or not." Bou-san told the three.

"If that's the case then there is nothing we could do but wait for there call. Mai you are free to go for today, we'll regroup tomorrow at the office to find out whether Bou-san or Matsuzaki-san were chosen", Naru said as if though he does not have a care in the world but you could see in his eyes that he was trying to control himself not to do anything rash.

Mai nodded and said, "Arigatou, Naru", she smiled at him though her smile never reached her eyes, unlike the way they normally do.

Before Mai could say goodbye, Bou-san placed his arm around her shoulders, "Alright, kiddo you're coming with us and we would have a whole lot of fun to get your mind of things", Bou-san said knowing that if Mai was left all alone she would just bring stew in her apartment worrying herself.

"Bou-san? eh, what do you mean by we?" Mai asked Bou-san curiously.

Before Bou-san could answer, Ayako spoke, "What he meant is that I'm also coming with you, I cannot leave him unsupervised less he does something to endanger you." She sent Mai a smile and a wink. Earning a giggle from Mai.

Naru and Lin returned back to the office while the three went out. Knowing that Mai was in safe hands. Ayako took Mai to the mall; and made her try on different things. Buying the things that looked good on the girl with Mai trying to protest and refuse saying that Ayako was already doing too much for her. Ayako had none of it and said that Mai needed the things.

"But Ayako were not even sure that you will become my guardian so there's no need for you to spend so much on me."

Ayako cut the girl off, "Nonsense, even if I were not chosen as your guardian I would still buy this for you. I keep all of those dear to me close by my side, and I love to pamper them with things so please do not take this privilege from me." Mai was not able to counter that and concede defeat, allowing Ayako to do as she please and ended up buying a new set of wardrobe for her. Bou-san groaning in the background jokingly that he was only there as a pack mule though a smile was on his face seeing Mai happy.

After feeling Bou-san's car with there shopping bags, the three of them headed to the amusement park. They played quite a lot of games, tried all the rides which included the horror house. Other people looked at them strangely since rather than getting scares they were just laughing at the effects, considering their line of job seeing fake ghosts weren't that scary. The three ate dinner at an Italian restaurant with Bou-san paying for the food. Mai enjoyed the day with the two forgetting about her problems. She was dropped by Bou-san to her apartment complex being a brand new owner of a set of wardrobe care of Ayako. Tired from the days event, Mai fell asleep as soon as her head hit her pillow.

Mai woke up before she even heard her alarm. She started preparing anxious for the day. She reached the office in record time, considering it was one of her rarest day of not being late. Lin and Naru were already waiting at the office by the time she arrived, Naru would have already made a side comment but didn't say anything. Mai went to the kitchen and began making tea, the other two letting her knowing that it was Mai's way to stop her from thinking about things. They then heard the door chimes ring, with Bou-san and Ayako both entering the room. The both of them looked at Mai with serious looks. "Bou-san, Ayako, what did they say? Were you approved?" Mai asked the two anxiously, with Lin and Naru waiting for the two's answer as well.

Bou-san opened his mouth to speak, "Mai I was…"

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A/N: I hoped you liked it.

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