I walked through the doors of Yasogami High with a serious expression on my face and a bag of chocolates in my pocket. It was Valentine's Day and the day I decided I was gonna toughen up and be a man and tell Naoto how I felt. I mean, seriously! That girl is smart but she's so thick sometimes! The rest of the group already knew about my feelings, but she is obviously going to be the last to know. Dammit, she's here. I saw the signature blue hat of the cross dresser before I saw her. Not surprising, really. She's so damn short that she needs the hat on her for anyone to find her. I cleared my throat and walked up to her. She was just opening her shoe locker when she saw me. "Hello, Kanji-kun." She said in that fancy tone of her's.
I gulped before responding. "H-Hey, Naoto." I stammered. God dammit! Gotta get my shit together. I could feel my face heating up. I scratched the back of my head as I pulled the chocolates out of my pocket and handed them to her. "H-Happy Valentine's Day."
Naoto looked at the bag carefully before taking them from me. "What are these?" She asked innocently.
"Chocolate, dammit." I mumbled before walking away. Great. I better talk to her after class.
A glance over my shoulder could reveal the pint-sized detective blushing as she looked in the bag. Somehow, that made me smile. Maybe I have a chance after all.
xxx
Through all my classes I was jittery. I couldn't stop moving. Or blushing. God dammit. "Tatsumi!" The teacher called. I stood, not so happy about being called on. He must've known I wasn't paying attention. "What is the power that united Japan?"
I stammered. "Ah.. I.. dunno."
The teacher sighed. "For your information, it was the Tokugawa Shogunate." He informed me. "Now sit down and pay attention for once." I sat and still felt I couldn't sit still. I was really anxious. I had planned on talking to Naoto during lunch, but I'm just gonna chicken out like I did this morning. God dammit.
She may not know it, but Naoto Shirogane was really gonna be the end of me.
xxx
When the lunch bell rang, I was the first one out the door. I walked to Naoto's classroom and look through the window to see her not moving from her seat. Not that she didn't want to, I guessed, because there were 4 girls crowded around her desk. Either they swing that way or didn't get the memo. I walked into the room and heard their voices. "Naoto-kuuuun~, come eat with us for lunch!" One whined. "We want to show you what we made you for Valentine's Day!"
Naoto looked exasperated. "I must apologize, but I have no desire to eat with you today." She said coolly. Wow, she can really be cold at times. The girls whined a little bit more before leaving, walking passed me without a word. I walked up to Naoto's desk. "Hey, Naoto." I spoke, gathering every last bit of my courage to talk to her.
Naoto looked up, way up, to meet my eyes. "Hello, Kanji-kun." She spoke. "Thank you for the gift, I like them very much."
I sighed. "Yeah, a-about that.." I trailed. I cleared my throat. "I-I know you're probably not, uh, into the whole Valentine's Day scheme but.. eh.." I took a deep breath. "Would you be my valentine?" I could feel my whole face glowing.
Naoto's mouth was open. "K-Kanji-kun.." She started, her voice going higher than normal. Her face was also red. She stood up before saying, "I'd like that.." She mumbled, looked into my eyes.
I smiled at her. That wasn't so bad. "T-Thanks." It wasn't a relationship, but it was definitely a start.