What ever possessed me to actually go ahead with this?!

Oh, yes, my wonderful and terrible influence, Ikasury, here at FFN. Shutout time: I've grown to heavily rely on her input on my main fic and I'm sure my stuff is shaping up much better thanks to her involvement.

And thanks to us chatting a lot, more than one fluff-fic has been spun up (and I still have some prompts from her kicking about). As for this one - here's what happened:

She and I had this discussion on Naoto and her personality traits, particularity when it comes to her interactions with Kanji being a bit prickly at times. It lead me to dubbing her "Detective Pineapple." The term stuck immediately and was very lovingly used by both of us for days.

Days after that initial christening - Ikasury: "Ps: Naoto, detective pineapple! spiky on the outside, sweet and juicy on the inside! err... wait... x.X *Kanji dies* XD"br /

Some days later, Ikasury: "... and yes, our 'leafy' pineapple needs to head out and search for things~ like i dunno, a coconut? would that work for Kanji? big, hard, soft on the inside with delicious milk and-GODAMNIT! FRUIT! x.x *Naoto passes out*"br /

So, after making both Kanji and Naoto pass out from severe blood loss, my take on the situation was: "XD Ace Detective Pineapple... and our thick-headed Cokanji... Man, now I HAVE to put the Piña Colada together. You realize that, I hope. "

I think the original intent was to make it crack. Then we pondered straight-up lemon. Aaaaaaand then I started to get my hands on it and the plot just kept creeping in. I guess I am unable to create pwp with these two.

As such, this is now growing to be a proper friendship/fluff fic, which is going to get a nice dose of citrus fruit in the later chapters. Slated are six chapters. Let's see if I can reign in the plot enough to make that happen.


Summer Love.

Ingredients (makes one cocktail)

50ml Martini Bianco

200ml Real Lemonade

1 dash Angostura Bitters

1 Lemon Slice


"I'll go mental if I have to endure much longer of... this." Kazeon whispered an apology into Rise's mind and shimmered into invisibility. "You know full well I didn't mean it like that, Kazeon..." Rise sulked at her Persona. She could be so touchy about things.

Teddie turned away from watching Chie and Yukiko chatting and walked over to Rise, who stood, arms crossed over her chest, frowning deeply. His shoes squeaking impossibly on the grassy ground until he stopped close to his friend and gave her a worried look with those large expressive eyes. "What's wrong, Rise-chan? Do you need that backrub now?"

Her reply was a huff and an open hand pointing at Kanji. "He needs to do something. I cannot stand another few years of him all moon-struck."

The bear turned, his steps making tiny squeaks. "Who? Kanji-chan? But he's been nothing but bear-y helpful recently?"

Rise grumbled. "To others, maybe. Not to himself." She re-crossed her arms, glaring in turn at the cobalt-blue haired petite, who carefully checked the loading mechanism of her revolver, and the lanky blonde, who was on one knee, taking turns giving sideways glances at the girl and frowning at his thick shield.

Teddie turned back to her and his frown deepened. "You are upset. Why? Did Kanji-chan do something bad? I can talk to him, if y-"

Rise rode right over him, as if he hadn't spoken at all. "Why? Why?" Her hand flung barely past Teddie as she now indicated Naoto. "She cannot take a hint and-" the arm arched back "he cannot give one large enough needed for her. They will be totally hopeless on their own!" The idol's hair almost bristled with indignation. "And don't think Kanji's the only problem in all of this. NGH! Will you just look at that?"

The look on the bear's face remained confused. The head popped up and the very ...pretty young blonde boy poked out of the bear suit, turning back to study Kanji and Naoto from a different perspective. "They look the same to me as they always do, Rise-chan... "

Naoto had finished reloading and checking over or cleaning or whatever the heck she was doing with her weapon. And while Rise and Teddie looked on, she half-turned her body, her shoulders barely twisting sideways, allowing her to cast a quick, barely-visible glance at Kanji. Before their eyes would meet, she looked down her side, grabbing the thick cord which connected the butte of her revolver to her hidden holster.

Rise let out a long, painful groan at the display. She gave Teddie a half-hearted punch on the shoulder. "And that's the problem, ya dummy. The same as always. The same as they have been looking like for the past few weeks. Or in his case, since I've known him. They need some help." The idol resumed her sulking, but directed it at the ground now. "Maybe I can think of something..."

Yosuke wandered over to them, while Yuu chatted with the Fox, negotiating a price for some spiritual energy. "Why, what are you two plotting now?" He smiled and gave Rise one of his easy winks.

Teddie was only too happy to reply. "Rise-chan just said she nee-mmmhmHMmmph!"

Rise had immediately thrown herself over the back of Teddie's bear costume, making the handsome beauty of a boy duck back into his suit, the eyes on the head piece coming back to life with indignation; her hands clamped over the face and mouth of his outfit. "I need to think of some fruit cocktails for a party! I think we deserve some time off, don't you, Yosuke-senpai?"

"Heck, yes! If you need help with something, let me know, I'll do what I can to get a party with Risette started!" He punched the air and grinned broadly. "I think we even have some leaflets with cocktail recipes in the back of the storage rooms, from some tropical week we had a few months ago."

"That sounds awesome! I'll ask you about those later!" She gave him a light, sweet smile, pushed Teddie over to one side - prompting a small startled "Kuma!"- and rolled him away from the others.

"Don't bruise him up too badly, he has a night shift coming up still!" When she didn't reply, Yosuke just shrugged and wandered back to Yu.

Rise helped Teddie back up on his feet in another corner of the TVs entrance lot and hugged him. "Sorry, Ted, but you cannot spoil the surprise already!"

He pretended to brush dust off of himself with a hurt expression on his face at first. At her words, however, he turned to eye her from the corner of his big button eyes. "What surprise?"

"Why, the one I am planning for Kanji and Naoto of course! And, well, the rest of the team, I guess. They'll get suspicious if it's only for them..." She laid a light finger to her lips. "Correction: Naoto-kun will get suspicious. I'm not sure Kanji would, really."

Teddie bounced happily. "Sounds like fun! What can I do?"

"You..." Rise smirked. "You will be my partner in crime, Teddie."


"That's cheating, Rise-chan!" The boy folded his arms tightly across his chest and glared across the table, ignoring the girl beside him.

Rise rolled her eyes at Teddie. "No, it's not. And if you want to be technical, it's playing fate. It would only be cheating if we did this for ourselves!"

He eyed the chopsticks wearily. "I think it's cheating if you change the rules for everyone but yourself."

Rise scooted closer to Teddie under the pavilion near the Samegawa. She laid an arm across his shoulders and hugged him close. "We'll be doing this to help Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun. This is not a bad thing, not really. This is a good thing. For both of them." After a moment's hesitation she dropped her arm from his shoulders, dramatically lifted the hand to her forehead and sighed. "It will be a good thing for everyone else, too."

The bear-boy looked from Rise to the chopsticks again. "And this is the best way you can think of?" At her nod he dropped his shoulders. "Okay. For Kanji-chan and Nao-chan."

She clapped her hands in excitement. "Thank you, Teddie! I knew you had my back!"

"Explain to me again how this will be played?" Teddie reached for a bag of snacks and leaned his chin on a fist, ready to listen.

"Okay, so: I marked the ends of the chopsticks very subtly-"

"Subbuttle" Teddie snorted quietly.

Rise giggled, remembering Kanji's moment of glory a few weeks ago. "Yes, Sub-butt-ly. The marks will be hard to see, but still be there for us to find, see?" She picked up three of the marked chopsticks and turned them over in her hands. "We need to just memorize which chopstick is what number and we can pave the way for our two failures-at-romance."

Teddie shot her a frown. "That's mean."

"No, it's the truth!" Rise sulked in return, then heaved a dramatic sigh. "Well, maybe a little mean. Okay, our two future lovebirds!"

The boy nodded. "Better. Want a Pocky?" He offered her the box, nearly empty already.

"Hm? Oh. No, thank you." She didn't even see his sulk or how he sullenly started to eat the Pocky he had balanced between his lips. "So the game is only part of the plan, see? We'll head out to the beach with tents and stuff and camp out there."

"Oh! The beach! Waves crash ashore matching the passion of young love! A midsummer night's dream begins as the sun sets..."

Rise giggled. "Now you're getting it! I'll bring drinks to the beach, but I'll need to be careful. I want to make sure the surprise-drinks only go to the people who need to relax more - that's Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun. Everyone else will just get plain, non-alcoholic fruit cocktails."

"You wanna make them drunk?" Teddie looked shocked, but did not stop munching on his snacks, spraying crumbs as a result.

"No!" Rise dodged some ballistic shrimp cracker bits. "Ick, Teddie!" She shook her head empathically. "No no! Not drunk, just... you know how alcohol works, don't you?"

Chewing, he nodded, but swallowed before answering this time. "It makes people silly and then sick."

"Well, yes, if you have too much," Rise agreed hesitantly. "But I will just spike the drinks, you know, just add a liiiiiittle bit? That way, it'll make them relax and be more honest, see?"

"Alcohol does that?"

"In small enough doses, yes. I am very sure Naoto-kun never drinks, it's not logical or some such nonsense, and Kanji may look like a punk at times, but he is a really good boy. I doubt he ever even snuck a beer. So we won't need much. It'll be easy!"

"And you promise we won't make them sick?"

"Bear-paw promise, Ted."

They placed their open palms against one another for a few seconds, and Teddie nodded seriously. "Paw-mise."

She nodded in return. "Okay. So, remember, no one can know about any of this. If they ask you, tell them to ask me."

"Secrets are mean..."

"But it's for a surprise! You like surprises, don't you?"

"Well..."

She nodded as if his hesitation was full agreement. "There you go then! It's only a secret to make sure we can surprise Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun!"

Teddie sighed and picked up the bundle of chopsticks again. "Yes. For them. But I still don't understand why it's for them? I mean, we'll all be there, right?"

Rise watched him fiddle with the sticks and laid a finger to her lips for a moment. "Okay, look. You know how you get extra samples at Junes sometimes?"

"Oh, that's easy! All I need to do is lean close and sparkle a little!"

"Right! For you. Kanji does not know how to sparkle at Naoto, but he would really, really like to, see?"

"I could teac-"

"No, Teddie, no. Kanji-kun could not sparkle if we doused him in glitter." After a pause she added, "I also think he'd kill us if we tried to teach him how."

After a thoughtful pause, the boy nodded seriously. "It's sad, but I think you're right, Rise-chan. Kanji-chan was not made to sparkle at girls."

"Right! I knew you'd understand." She looked around the table and took the marked chopsticks from him. "Okay. So, the number One has that missing bit that looks like the bamboo splintered in manufacturing, right here, see it?" At his nod she put it aside and showed him the next one. "The two has that dark streak all the way along the side. The three…"


HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY naoto-kuuuuuuuun~~~3 got planz 4 Sat n2wks? (。◕∀ ◕。)

Naoto cocked an eyebrow at the text message. Rise, obviously. None of her other friends were as obsessed with emoji. She hit the reply button and swiftly tapped out a reply.

N RE PLNS

She put the phone back down and resumed pondering over a case file that her grandfather had sent her a week ago. She was so close to a solution. It was that exhilarating moment of trying to find that last puzzle piece; that last string to pull that would unravel the whole assembly of clues and facts. If only-

Her phone buzzed, skipping slightly over the table, and Naoto jumped. With a sigh she flipped it open.

Awsom! ur comin w/us 2 teh BEACH! (*゜∀゜*)ノswim suit req'd!

A trip to the beach? This late in the year? And swimwear? What was this plan Rise had precisely?

AFAIC 2CLD / PSSBL HYPOTHERMIA

She shook her head and was about to put her phone back down, when it buzzed in her hand. She gazed at the message.

ur so cute! :3 bring blankies k?

Ah, yes, this was a typical Kujikawa invite. You could decline and find reasons not to, and the idol would happily ignore each one. By now, Naoto had already learned that simply accepting the planned excursion would be simpler than trying to find a way out.

ILL B THR

With a sigh, Naoto decided that the conversation should be concluded and threw the phone back on the couch, where she could easily ignore it, should Rise wish to chat more.


kaaaaaanjiiiiiiiiiii-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun~ (oo)/ I know you're theeeeeereeeeeeee~~

Kanji grunted and dropped his needlework in disgust. Now he really had lost count. He'll need to redo the entire row!

He should never have answered to her first text, anyhow. He should know better. He never found out how she got his number, but if the girl wanted to chat you up, nothing would stop her. And ignoring her only made her send you more of those damned cute faces and shit she always pulled.

What, Rise? Damnit, this better be important.

Grumbling to himself about friends and hyper idol girls, he started to unravel the last row he had been trying to knit. Working without a pattern was easy for him, sure, but even this required some concentration - which Rise had been poking at for the last half hour with text message after text message.

so grumpy~ ( ಠಠ ) ( o°o) ned u 2 helpw/ partay! plzzzzzzzzzz!

What?

What do you need my help for? What party?

Carefully threading the needle back into the lower row, he ignored the buzzing of his phone for a while. When he finally picked it up in one hand, carefully holding the tips of the needles in the other to prevent losing more work, Rise had spammed him four messages in a row.

i told u! 2wks! sat! beach-camping-last chance 2 swim~

A beach party? This late in the summer? He shuddered at the thought of trying to even get anywhere near the water.

naoto-kun will b ther~~

Wait, what…?

made hr promise! :D

just imagin~ naoto-kuuuuun n a bathin suit~ σ(*ε* ) she promisd kanji-kuuun~ ;P

His shivering hands first fumbled and dropped the tiny skirt he was knitting for the previously knitted fox girl. Then his phone shivered out of his other hand. He pinched his eyes shut and groaned, blindly groping for his tissue box. Damn you, Rise Kujikawa!

It took a few minutes, but he finally wrote back.

Get bent, Rise, stop fooling around. It'll be way too cold for a swim, anyhow.

He picked up the knitting needles, cursed softly at having lost half of his last row and started to re-count the loops. When his phone buzzed, he still quickly glanced at it.

meanie~ ((╬ಠ﹏ಠ)) tnk of teh camping! romantic setn! the stars~ campfire 2 warm u n naoto-kuuuuun~

He held the phone in one hand, drumming his fingers of his other on the desk. Yeah, right.

The rain, the mystery food, and you planning it makes it a really bad idea.

But maybe… He hesitated and send a second message. Is Naoto really coming to this? Doesn't sound like her.

she promised! =3= senpai makin food, i swer... Teddie gtz snacks... c'mon~ we cn figur dis out! ⁽͑˙˚̀བ̇˚́˙⁾̉

Well, if Rise convinced even Naoto... not that her being there really was the deciding point! But if even she came...

Okay, I'll show.

He flipped his phone shut and restarted his knitting work. Each time his text messages buzzed, he started to curse under his breath and he knew this would be a long two weeks coming up.


seeeeeeeeeeennpaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiii~~~ \(- -)/

Yu chuckled as he looked at the text message.

"What is it, big bro?"

"Rise-chan sent me a text message, Nanako. She is being silly."

"Oh, Rise-neesan! Say hello, please! I want to see her again soon!"

"Will do. Now, back to your homework! What's the next subject?" Yu started tapping out a reply, giving his cousin – or little sister, as it were, a fond smile.

Hey Rise. Nanako says Hi.

"Oh, just Nature Science. That's always so easy, I like that subject." Nanako opened her school bag and dug around for her books.

tl nana she my BESTEST-BEST FAN! : ᵔᴥᵔ n i wanna hang out soon! *3* btw SENPAT! nedz 2 bribe u n2 plann' a picnic bento m(_

4 beach prty... if not felln' up 2 it, kk, cn just bring Aiya's or sumtin'... BUT U ALWAYS COOK AWESOM! =3=

Yu read the back-to-back messages and gave his phone a puzzled look. Picnic bento, but she wasn't being all bubbly about it? She must not have thought of this for a date with her. And then he remembered.

"What is the assignment, Nanako?" Taptaptap

For that thing in two weeks? I think I can do that. Sounds like you didn't want fancy anyways

"Teacher said to write about what we learned from growing the tomatoes earlier in the year." She gave him a bright smile. "That tomato salad we made was so yummy!"

"Okay, let's get started on that. She might be happy if you also add what you learned compared to the other veggies we grew. And we should add the recipe of the tomato salad we made, I am sure she would be happy to see you liked growing your own food."

Bzzt

"Oh, yay! But I don't remember the recipe anymore…"

"That's okay, I will help you remember and we will write it down, alright?" He reached to his phone and checked the messages.

UR TEH BEST! ( ღღ ) btw narrwd dwn drinks i wanna mix 2~ i can send a list if u waaaaaaaannnnnnnt~~ :D

"You always have great ideas, big bro! I'll start with the tomatoes now, then I'll think about the daikon!"

Sounds good, Rise. I'll see you at school tomorrow, need to help Nanako with her homework now.

"Oh, and Rise said Hi and asked me to tell you that you are her best fan." He put the phone down and gave the little girl a fond smile as she blushed happily.

A beach party, he mused, looking over Nanako's writing. Well, she had promised to keep it nice and clean, the drinks were all fruit cocktails and she had made plans for them to actually camp out. Putting together some ideas for food should be easy.

Rise had really gotten into planning this thing. She had made sure she would not break any laws in finding the perfect camp site; all the while muttering about Naoto being a killjoy; scouted out where they could have access to showers and other facilities and where camping and camp fires would not be an issue.

If she spent half as much energy on her studies as she had on this thing, she would have beaten Yosuke's butt in ranking on the last exams.


"No, Chie, you didn't add your X into the equation again, that's why your graph does that 'stupid spike'." Yukiko penciled the formula into the margin of her friend's note book once more and underlined the X. Not that it was welcomed much.

Chie drummed her pen on the desk and frowned at the text book. "I really don't get why I would even need this. Ever!"

Yukiko closed her eyes a moment, suppressed a sigh with a slow, controlled breath and smiled at her friend. "Well, for one, you'll need it to pass the exams and be allowed into the police academy. That's a pretty good reason, no?"

Chie slid her gaze sideways and glowered at Yukiko for a moment.

"No?" prompted Yukiko once more, giving her friend an encouraging smile still.

The short-haired girl sighed. "Yes. You're right, Yuki. Thank you for helping me." Chie's easy smile was back at once and she turned her head to look at the formula once more. "Right! I can do this!"

Her determination to tackle that specific mathematic foe got interrupted by a J-Pop jingle from her phone. "Oh, Rise!" She grabbed up her phone before Yukiko could put a word in and flipped it open. She frowned at her phone a moment before tapping out a reply.

"Did Rise-chan need anything, Chie?" Yukiko craned her neck to see the screen.

Her friend turned the phone. "Not really sure. I have a hard time understanding her, as always. Man, I thought Yosuke's texts were bad, then I started getting hers."

The black-haired girl took the phone and read:

ᵔᴥᵔ chiiiiieeeeee~~ rembr teh partay? U sed ud help if I ned u!

"Oh, yes, her beach party! What help did you offer her?"

"Oh god, you can read that?"

"Well, yes? 'Chie, remember the party, you said you would help if I asked' is what she wrote."

Chie looked at the phone, then at her friend. "How did you… generally I need to ask her to slow down to understand what the heck she's saying!" She pointed at her own message below.

omg Rise slow dwn, I don't understand u!

Yukiko chuckled. "Yeah, she can be a bit hard to- Oh!" She giggled as the phone vibrated in her hand. "For you, I think."

"Read it to me, I can't brain right now."

Yukiko's eyes moved over the small screen and she gave Chie a puzzled glance. "Did you promise Rise you'd get Naoto-kun a bathing suit?"

Chie's eyes widened. "Did I- HELL! I never said- Oh that woman!" She grabbed the phone back and started tapping on the key pad. She had to stop when Yukiko took the phone from her. "What are you-?"

"Hey, just think about it for a moment. If this is about that beach party, what do you think really are the chances that Naoto will bring her own swimwear? I'd be surprised if she even owned anything to bring to the beach. Maybe us having something on hand wouldn't be a bad idea?"

For a while, the two just stared at each other, and then a smiled started to grow on both of their faces.

"Bet you I can find a better bathing suit for her than you, Yuki!"

"No way! She'll absolutely want to wear what I pick out for her."

"Okina?"

"You bet!"