#koboldai

Naru's face twists in surprise as he sees her standing there. "Oh... I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

He walks past her, heading towards the kitchenette. He stops suddenly and looks back at her. "I don't suppose you'd like some tea?"

Mai shakes her head. She doesn't really know what to say.

> What happened to Naru? What made him behave in this manner? It was HER job to serve tea, not his! And what's with mistaking for someone else? But what shocked her the most is that he actually said sorry.

Naru returns from the kitchenette holding two cups of tea. He places one cup on a small table next to the sofa and sits down.

"It's just that... well..."

He takes a sip of his tea and then continues, "... I've been feeling tired lately. My physical condition isn't good, and I haven't been getting enough sleep..."

> Mai blinks. It doesn't sound like he was messing around with her. She watches Naru drink his tea again and says: "So you're tired to the point of knocking on your own office door. Are you still reading academic journals? Writing a thesis? You need a break too sometimes, Naru."

Naru nods slowly. "Yes. I guess so."

He seems embarrassed by the subject matter of his research, but Mai doesn't care about it. She just wants to make sure that he's doing alright.

"You should get some rest," she says.

Naru smiles wanly. "Thanks for offering, but I'll be fine.

> Mai felt her cheeks flush. That's just strange. It almost seems as if he was possessed by someone. Naru turn his head to stare at the window, then gets up and presses his eyelids shut.  He opens his eyes again and blinks. 

"Why am I..." Naru looks at Mai again. The cold expression has returned. "Mai, what just happened? I was in my room. How did I get here?"

Mai's eyes widen. "Did something happen to you?"

Naru puts his hands on the sides of his head and rubs them. "No. No, nothing happened. I guess I just got carried away."

Mai frowns. "What do you mean?"

Naru stares at her blankly. "Nothing. It's nothing.

> "Oh come on!" Mai got up from her chair. "You knocked on your own door, offered to make tea for both us and... your personality has changed!"

Naru scowls. "That's not true."

Mai sighs. "Okay. If that's how you feel, then fine. But I think you're going through a rough time right now. So stop being so stubborn and come back to your senses. We're all worried about you."

Naru turns to look at her. "Worried about me?"

> "Yeah, even Lin said you were behaving oddly when I came in at noon."

Naru gives her a tight smile. "Lin is always full of useless advice. He thinks he knows everything."

Mai rolls her eyes. "Fine. Whatever you say."

Naru sighs. "Perhaps I have been neglecting my health. I can't deny that. But that doesn't mean I'm losing my mind."

Mai gulps.

> "I'm pretty sure you are losing your mind in some way. Shall I call Lin?"

"No!" Naru shouts. "Don't call him. Don't drag him into this."

Mai frowns. "But Naru, he's your legal guardian. And he cares about you."

Naru waves her off. "As if that matters anymore. As if anyone cares about me anymore."

Mai raises an eyebrow.

Naru stands up abruptly.

> You're not going anywhere, Mai thought. She ran over to Lin's office and knocked on his door. The tall Chinese man came out and asked what was wrong. She said, "Naru has officially lost it. He's talking nonsense and I don't know what to say to him. Please do something about it!"

Lin sighed. "Alright. I'll see what I can do."

He walked over to Naru, grabbed his shoulders and gave him a good shake.

"Lin! Stop it. I'm fine!"

> "You behaved strangely since this morning," Lin said. "I also overheard your conversation with Mai. I agree with her. Sit back down on the sofa and drink your tea."

Naru looked at him in confusion. "What's going on? Why are you treating me like this? I'm perfectly fine!"

Lin shook his head. "If you want to stay here, you'll listen to me. Now sit down."

Naru rolled his eyes and sat down.

Lin turned to Mai.

> "I believe Gene has possessed Naru," he said. Mai gasps. Naru is possessed by his dead twin brother? Why would Gene posses his brother? Lin continued to speak, "Gene is quite bad at impersonating Naru... That's why I know."

The more he spoke, the more Mai understood.

She knew that Gene had been trying to contact her.

She knew that Naru was acting strangely because of his possession.

And she knew that Naru's words were hollow.

Gene was controlling his body.

She knew that Naru wasn't himself anymore.

> "That's right," Naru's voice said. "I'm Gene. How have you been, Mai, Lin? I'm sorry for possessing Naru, by the way."

Mai stared at Naru in shock.

Naru smiled. "It's okay. I'm glad to see you."

Lin frowned. "I'm afraid you might have taken things a bit too far."

> "Well, I'll leave soon then," Gene said. "It's not fun pretending to be the Chief of Shibuya Psych Research."

"Wait!" Mai cried. "What are you saying? You've possessed Naru?!"

Naru glared at her. "Yes. I'm Gene. And I'm leaving now."

Gene closed his eyes, then opened them again.

"Ah... Mai, Lin."

Mai leaned in closely and asked, "Is it really you, Naru?"

"Are you back, Naru?" Lin said.

"Yes," Naru sighs. "Gene, that idiot."

> Mai let out a breath of relief. It seems like Naru was back to being himself.

"But I'm still not convinced that you're yourself," Lin said.

Naru nodded. "I understand. I'll try to prevent something like this happening next time."

"Next time?" Lin said. "There won't be a next time."

Both Mai and Naru look surprised.

> "Excuse me?" Mai said. "Why did you say that, Lin?"

"Because... well..." Lin hesitated. "I think Naru has been possessed by Gene for a long time."

Mai stares at the man.

"I don't understand."

> "I am merely suggesting that it's time for Gene to move on," Lin said, "In other words, it is for the best to exorcise Gene." 

Naru inclined his head. "So that's what you meant..." 

Mai frowned deeply.

> "You mean... you want to kill Naru?"

Lin nods slowly. "Yes. That is exactly what I mean."

Mai felt sick to her stomach.

Naru stood up suddenly. "I'm not going to let you do such a thing!"

Lin's face darkened. "We will do whatever we feel is necessary."

> "But that's just madness..." Mai's eyes glimmered in defiance. "Naru needs your protection! Didn't you promise his parents?"

Lin's eyes widened. "We promised them nothing. If they wanted me to protect their son, they should have made that clear when they entrusted him to me."

Mai inhaled sharply.

> "Lin, you're the one out of your mind! I can't believe this is even happening," Mai said. Her tears welled up. "This just has to be a dream. It can't be anything else. Someone, anyone, pinch me!"

Naru shook his head. "No, please don't make me go through this again."

Lin sighed. "Very well. But if you ever attempt to harm Naru again, I will kill you myself."

Mai gasped.

> "What?!" She turned to Naru. "Damn it, just pinch me! I want to wake up from this nightmare."

Naru's eyes widened.

"You'd rather die than give up?"

Mai gaped at him.

> "Why are you saying that? I don't wanna die. I want to WAKE up." She grew furious. "Did you forget how to understand Japanese?!"

Naru turned away from her. "Please stop shouting at me. I am trying to tell you that I don't want to die."

"Then why are you so stubborn about, Naru"

Mai couldn't take it anymore.

> "Fine, then I'll wake up by myself," she said, dropping herself onto the sofa and laying down on it. "Don't even think about bothering me."

Naru looked upset. "Mai..."

She didn't bother to turn around.

> Mai closed her eyes and willed herself to wake up from this nightmare.

Mai could hear voices.

"... I heard that someone knocked on her door last night."

"She must have been dreaming or some nonsense..."

> This was it. She was back in her own bed. Covered by her own back. She had returned to reality.

It was just a nightmare.

A nightmare that seemed so real.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Mai? Are you awake?"

"Huh?"

> Next to her was Masako who sat beside her. The girl smiled. 

"It seems you woke up from a terrible nightmare," Masako said. "You were screaming just now."

Mai blushed. "Oh my God..."

Masako chuckled. "Don't worry. I know what it feels like. I also had nightmares once."

"Really?"

"Yes."

> "I see," Mai said. "This one was just terrible. I was in the office and... Naru and Lin had lost their minds. I didn't know what to do."

Masako nodded. "That was a very scary dream. I'm glad you got rid of it."

Mai smiled. "Thanks, Masako-chan. I'm glad it was just a dream."

> "Would you like something to drink? You must be thirsty."

Mai raised an eyebrow. "Um... sure. What would you recommend?"

"How about some tea?"

Mai nodded. "Tea sounds great."

"Good." Masako got up from the bed.

> After Masako left, Mai began to wonder. Why was Masako even in her room?

She knew that no one was supposed to enter without permission.

The only reason that she could come up with was that Masako had been summoned.

Mai frowned.

> She reached for her phone and scrolled through her missed messages. One was from Naru.

"Hey, Mai, I'm sorry to bother you but I need to talk to you. Can you meet me at the office today? I'll be waiting there. Thanks."

Mai stared at the message for a while before replying.

> She typed: "Sorry Naru, but I'm not feeling well. Maybe next week?"

Naru sent back a quick reply.

"Okay, I understand. Tell me if you change your mind."

Mai sighed.

She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried about Naru.

> Normally he didn't send such messages, but she decided to put it out of her mind. Masako returned with two cups of tea.

"Here you go."

"Thank you."

"Are you okay, Mai?"

Mai shrugged. "Just tired."

"Well, I'm going home now. See you tomorrow."

"Bye, Masako."

> In the end, Mai was left alone with two cups of tea to drink.

She sipped at the hot beverage slowly.

She felt numb.

She hadn't experienced something like this since she was a child.

She felt confused.

And yet, she couldn't help but feel grateful.

Because she knew that Naru was still alive.

He wasn't possessed by Gene at all.