shadow | Q: Quest, for ginny

Hrm... I'm not sure about this. It's Lin, but... >.>

Q: Quest - for

ginny_t
Words: 2969
Genre: everyday life?

Naru does something really silly, so you do need to know his abilities. :P Beware of jealous Naru...

Mai frowned slightly as she stared at the sealed white box sitting innocuously on the coffee table in the reception area of the SPR office. Any way she looked at it, it looked like a bakery box. She sidled over to take a closer look and saw written on the top in black lettering was "Moomin Bakery & Cafe". Mai stared at it stunned.

'Moomin... It wouldn't be... that "Moomin"... would it?!' she thought in disbelief. But more importantly to her was the question of who brought the box.

'Right now, there should only be two other people in this office: Naru and Lin-san.' Mai shook her head trying to clear her head before she cast a quick glance at her other co-worker's desk. It was empty and showed no signs that the person who usually sat there had come today. 'Yasuhara-san would be the most likely, but it doesn't seem like he's been here at all today... although I suppose he might've come and gone and dropped it off during that time...?'

Mai stared at the box again for a long moment. 'Moomin. Why Moomin? Or is that why the Moomin bakery...?' She shook her head again unable to get that concept out of her mind.

Off in the hallway, the soft sound of a door opening could be heard, and moments later, Mai's boss stepped out into the reception area. Spotting Mai staring at the coffee table oddly, Naru decided to see what she was looking at before having her make him tea.

He glanced at the table and saw the white bakery box there and frowned when he saw the label: 'Moomin Bakery and Cafe'

"N-Naru, you... didn't bring this today... did you?" Mai asked hesitantly as she glanced at her boss.

Naru frowned slightly. "Why would I bring this?"

"Hmm... I thought not," she said as her gaze wandered to the box again. "But, 'Moomin'. The only 'Moomin' I can think of is that 'Moomin', but who... why...?" Mai's sentence trailed off as she continued to struggle with the concept of 'Moomin'.

Naru sighed softly. "Maybe Lin brought it in," he said finally.

Mai looked at Naru oddly. "Naru, do you know what Moomin is?" she asked finally.

Naru cocked his head to one side before shaking his head.

"I'm not surprised," Mai responded when Naru denied knowledge of Moomin. "It's a comic character, and it's fairly popular in Japan, too."

Naru frowned as he looked at the box again. Just then, the bell attached to the front door rang out merrily announcing the arrival of a person.

Yasuhara walked into the office calling out, "Good afternoon!" when he saw Naru and Mai standing by the coffee table in the reception area.

"Ah, Shochou, Taniyama-san, good afternoon," he said with his patent honours-student smile. He paused as he noticed that both Naru and Mai were standing by the coffee table unmoving. "...Is something the matter?"

"Um, Yasuhara-san," Mai began slowly, "you didn't perhaps drop off a box earlier today, did you?"

Yasuhara looked surprised. While the previous day had been a national holiday, today was a regular weekday and he had classes at university, so this was the first time that day for him to step into the office. He shook his head, but Naru spoke before he could say anything.

"I would've noticed if anyone came in," he said coolly. "No one's come or gone from this office since Lin left early this morning. Apparently, he forgot he had an errand to run and has left for the day."

Mai cocked her head slightly. "Is it me, or have we been getting a lot of things here at the office lately?"

Naru looked at her blankly while Yasuhara frowned slightly.

"They've all been local specialties, haven't they?" he said slowly.

Mai frowned as she ran through the list of this week's odd appearances. Monday: umeboshi from Wakayama, Tuesday: Miyajima's momiji manju (maple leaf shaped sweet bean cakes), Wednesday: Nagasaki castella cakes, Thursday: apples from Nagano, and today we have...... the Moomin bakery...? It didn't fit with the rest of the items. At least everything else was a local specialty, but the Moomin bakery wasn't a local anything let alone a true specialty.

"...I'd agree if this were something like, oh I don't know, zunda mochi from Miyagi or satsuma oranges from Kagoshima or something, but... the Moomin bakery?" Mai shook her head. "It doesn't fit in with everything else. If you take out the umeboshi, everything would essentially be things we could have at tea, but..." Mai's voice trailed off as she stared at the box again.

"I didn't bring it," Yasuhara said slowly.

"And neither did I or Naru," Mai continued.

"...Which would leave Lin." Naru concluded.

Mai tried to imagine Lin at the Moomin bakery and shook her head lightly. '......I can't. It's too scary,' she thought shaking the image from her mind.

"I-in any case, I'll go make us some tea," she said as she fled to the office kitchenette.

Several minutes later, she returned carrying a tray with tea for everyone. After serving Naru and Yasuhara, she took her own cup before sitting at the sofa. She stared at the box on the table again.

"If it's from Lin-san... it should be safe to eat, right?" she asked hesitantly.

"You're right," Yasuhara agreed before he reached out and opened the box. All three of them stared at the box's contents for a long moment with odd expressions on their faces.

"Nyoronyoro (Hattifattener) sweet breads and Moomin sweet breads," Mai said slowly, her eyes fixed on the nyoronyoro breads neatly arranged in the box.

Yasuhara frowned slightly as he stared at the various breads in the box. "Is it just me, or do you feel like you might fall victim to some fatal curse if you ate one of these?"

Mai frowned before glancing at Naru. "Naru... did you do anything recently to Lin-san?" she asked hesitantly.

Naru looked at her oddly. "Why would you think I did anything?" he asked.

Mai laughed self-consciously as she waved her hands in front of her in denial. "Ah, it's nothing really. I just thought that maybe you'd done something to make him really angry or something."

Naru sighed slightly exasperated. "Even if I had, why would Lin put a curse on everyone? Besides, if Lin wanted to harm someone, he could do so quite effectively at a distance without leaving any evidence."

Mai considered Naru's statement for a long moment before nodding slowly. He was probably right. She stared at the breads again before finally reaching out and taking one of the nyoronyoro breads. She stared at the bread in her hand hesitating for a long moment before taking a deep breath and quickly biting off its head.

Chocolate cream instantly filled her mouth as she munched on her victim. Yasuhara watched her for a moment before he too reached out. He took one of the Moomin breads instead.

"Since yours seems to be chocolate, I'm betting this one'll be a custard cream," Yasuhara said. As he expected, when he bit into Moomin, a sweet custard filled his mouth.

Mai paused as she glanced at Naru. "Naru, aren't you going to eat, too?" she asked.

Naru shook his head. "I don't like sweets," he said simply.

Mai frowned. "Naru, Yasuhara-san and I can't eat all of them by ourselves, and considering the time, the Irregulars aren't likely to drop by today. At least eat one," she said.

Naru sighed as he glanced at the breads lined up in the box. Much to Mai's surprise, he slowly reached out and picked up one of the nyoronyoro breads.

"N-naru? That one's chocolate. If you don't like sweet things, you should probably take one of the Moomin breads instead."

Naru ignored her as he bit into the nyoronyoro bread and grimaced slightly. As he'd expected, it was very sweet.

Yasuhara watched Naru for a long moment before a thought suddenly came to his mind. "Aa! You didn't choose a nyoronyoro bread just because Taniyama-san did, did you? Maybe, just in case Lin did do something to these...??" he asked.

A faint smile flickered across Naru's face. "Why would you think something like that?" he asked.

The next day, Yasuhara greeted Mai when she arrived at work. "Ah, good morning, Taniyama-san," he said smiling.

"Good morning, Yasuhara-san," she replied easily. "Are Naru and Lin-san in already?"

Yasuhara nodded. "They arrived before I did," he answered.

Mai put her jacket away before going to her desk to see if Naru had given her any work when she saw a strange purplish object there. Mai stared at the object for a long moment.

"It's so cu~te!" she squealed in delight as she picked up the small northern fox-shaped Hello Kitty plush toy.

A few moments later the door to Naru's office opened and he stalked out. "Mai, be quiet!" he snapped annoyed. Apparently her squealing had reached him inside his own office disturbing him from his work. Naru paused when he saw Mai still ecstatic over the little plushy that had been left on her desk. He glanced at Yasuhara who shrugged in response.

"Mai," Naru said quietly.

Mai completely ignored him as she stared at the cute toy; she was currently fixated on its big fluffy tail.

Naru sighed as he stalked over to stand directly behind her and snatched the toy from her grasp.

"Aa," Mai said. Her gaze followed the fox-Kitty's movement upwards until her head fell back bumping Naru on the chest. Mai straightened up and turned around to face her boss. "Naru, give that back!" she said annoyed.

Naru raised an eyebrow as he gazed at her steadily. "That's quite the attitude for someone who just interrupted my work," he said coldly. "Where did this come from?"

"Hm?" Mai asked surprised. "I don't know. It was on my desk when I arrived."

Naru glanced at Yasuhara.

Yasuhara shook his head denying responsibility. "It was on Taniyama-san's desk when I arrived, too," he said.

Mai jumped up and grabbed the fox from Naru's grasp. "Well, it certainly isn't likely that you'd've bought this for me, so it must be from Lin-san," she said smiling brightly. "He is in today, right, Naru? I'll go tell him thanks then make you your tea."

However, Naru grabbed Mai by the arm, stopping her, before she could go rushing off.

Mai stared in surprise at Naru.

"...Lin's in, but I need to go talk to him for a minute first," he said quietly. "Mai, tea, in my office."

Mai blinked in surprise before nodding slowly. "Okay..." she said as she put the fox on her desk.

Lin considered the squealing noises that could be heard coming from out in the reception area. Given the level of noise where he was, he assumed it was more than enough to disturb Naru in his office as well. He sighed as he considered his past week. While the work load at the office had been no different than usual, he'd been sent on various errands thanks to the head of the Field Work lab – Madoka. At first, he hadn't thought too much of her request, she'd asked that he go down to Wakayama and pick up some sweet plum wine for her and have it shipped out to England ASAP. Unfortunately for him, since his co-workers were all minors, he couldn't just buy a couple of extra bottles for them to enjoy, so he picked up something that seemed relatively innocuous – umeboshi.

However, a new email was waiting for him when he arrived at the office the next morning resulting in his leaving soon thereafter. This time, Madoka had him go down to Hiroshima Prefecture to pick up some momiji manju from Miyajima Island. Unfortunately for him, his running around didn't end there, and he ended up going to Nagasaki, Nagano, and yesterday, he ended up in rural Hokkaido.

Lin sighed exhausted from all the travelling he'd done that week. 'The least Madoka could've done was to consider distances and have the longest ones first,' he thought wearily. He was vaguely thankful she hadn't sent him to Niigata for rice on top of the rest of her shopping list.

Lin checked his email; fortunately, there were no new requests from Madoka. Feeling too exhausted to stay at the office, he decided to take some work home with him and take care of things there. Considering how long it'd been since he'd heard Mai go into raptures out in the reception area, Lin figured she'd gone to make tea for Naru and that it was probably safe for him to make his escape.

Unfortunately, he had in fact misjudged and ended up stepping out into the hallway just as Mai was about to enter the kitchenette. He vaguely noted that Naru was half-way across the room, presumably in the process of returning to his own office or on his way to Lin's.

Mai turned and looked at Lin. “Ah Lin-san! Thank you so much for that plush doll! It's so cute!” she said in delight.

For the briefest instant, Lin was afraid the young girl would hug him as she often did with her self-proclaimed father – Takigawa Houshou, a.k.a. Bou-san – and was greatly relieved when she didn't.

Lin shook his head. “It's really from Madoka,” he said quietly.

“Lin-san, that Hello Kitty fox can only be bought in Hokkaido and even then it's supposed to be hard to find. I don't see how Madoka-san could've sent it for me since she's in England right now,” Mai said laughing. “Anyhow, I was just about to make Naru some tea, would you like some, too?” she asked brightly.

Lin shook his head. “No, thank you. I was thinking about taking the day off today,” he admitted.

Mai looked surprised at Lin's statement but soon smiled at him again. “Okay. Well, take care of yourself. You seem a bit tired today,” she said as she ducked into the kitchenette.

Yasuhara got up from his desk. “I think I'll help Taniyama-san with tea,” he said, quickly making his escape from the reception area.

Lin sighed as he started to make his way towards the entrance to the office only to be stopped by his young superior's cold voice.

“Lin, don't you think you've taken enough days off this week?” Naru asked coolly.

Lin turned to look at Naru. “Madoka asked me to run a few errands for her,” he said calmly.

Naru nodded. “So, you are the one who's been responsible for all the strange items showing up this week,” he said, “including today's... toy.” Naru said the word 'toy' as though it were something vile and obscene.

“Naru, it's not what you think,” Lin said retreating slightly away from the young man.

“Don't you think you're a little old for Mai?” Naru asked with a chilling smile.

"!! You've got the wrong idea, Naru!" Lin said raising his voice slightly.

Naru smiled cynically. "Do I? Thanks to yesterday's gift, Mai suspected me of doing something to make you want to kill everyone here. Both she and Yasuhara-san were afraid you'd cast some sort of curse on those breads."

Lin withdrew another step and shook his head. "You're mistaken. Madoka wanted me to pick up some cutlery and try out the bakery and cafe. That's all," he said.

"And today's things?" Naru asked coldly.

"...Madoka seems to be planning some sort of dinner. She had me ship several kilos of hairy crab and melon jelly desserts from Hokkaido yesterday. She also asked me to pick up that Hello Kitty doll, but she changed her mind today and said she didn't need it after all. That's why I gave it to Taniyama-san." Lin admitted.

Naru glared at Lin. "Tell Madoka that those were the last things you'll go hunting for. I don't care what sort of dinner party she's planning, if she wants something from out here, she should come here and get it herself," he snarled.

Lin stared at Naru. "Naru, if you're that jealous of my giving Taniyama-san that toy, you could run Madoka's errands for her next time. That way, you can be the one to leave things for Taniyama-san and the others," he said quietly.

Naru's lips twitched into his usual cynical smile. "I'm afraid, my time is very precious. I don't want to waste it like that."

Lin sighed silently. "More like the idea would never cross your mind," Lin said coolly.

Naru glared at Lin causing the tall man to withdraw another step when something soft and purple suddenly hit him in the face. He blinked in surprise as the Hello Kitty fox he'd given Mai fell to the floor at his feet. He stared at Naru, but Naru was standing only a few feet from the hallway that led to the rest of the offices and was several feet away from Mai's desk...

“Naru!” Lin yelled angrily.

Naru ignored him as he strode towards his office. He turned and looked at Lin. "Tell Madoka, 'no more'," he said coldly before he disappeared into his office.

Lin sighed as he stooped down to pick up the plush toy. He quickly replaced it on Mai's desk before he too escaped from the office. He remembered the postscript to Madoka's email and wished he'd been a bit more careful.

'Make sure Naru doesn't catch you. I've heard, he's been a bit touchy lately.'

And for those who are wondering what's being mentioned in this story...
Moomin Bakery and Cafe: http://www.benelic.com/moomin_bc/
Nyoronyoro and Moomin breads: http://www.benelic.com/moomin_bc/tokyo/bakery.html

Northern Fox Hello Kitty: http://item.rakuten.co.jp/akanko/10000311/