Burns Without Cue
"Have you heard of a dog called Hachikō?" Teddie asked.
"Shut it," Kanji told him.
Fine, the Hachikō story was really sweet and sad, especially because it'd actually happened - but Naoto wasn't some dead professor guy, Kanji sure as hell wasn't a dog, and the only reason he was waiting for her to arrive at Yokohama station was in case she couldn't find the hotel.
...Shit, who was he kidding. Naoto probably had GPS built-in.
What made it all worse was that they'd both graduated three weeks back. The senpai had gone last year: Chie signing up for cop school, Souji and Yukiko heading off to their respective universities, and Yosuke left behind to work crazy hours at Junes so he and Ted could one day afford to live with Souji here in Yokohama. Rise had already gone back to being Risette and, as she'd happily told Kanji, now had a tutor who gave her A's just for showing up. Not counting Ted – who still wasn't bored of randomly appearing in Yasogami classrooms - Kanji and Naoto had been the only two still in school. This meant they'd been hanging out with each other pretty much by default since the start of third year, him having only one friend outside the team and her still having precisely zero. And soon all that was gonna be over. Hell, he hadn't even seen her since just before graduation.
Graduating wouldn't change much for Kanji. He'd keep helping Ma at the shop, maybe take it over if Junes didn't send it under. But Naoto...Naoto was smart. She'd go to university, or start full-time casework, or something else that'd take her away from Inaba. She'd be more of a Souji than a Yukiko: almost never finding the time to visit, except she wouldn't even IM or text the way Souji did – because, unlike Souji, she probably wouldn't get why everyone—
"I bet they'll make a statue of you one day, Kanji-chan," Ted said, as a train horn sounded further down the track.
The train rolled in a few moments later and ground to a halt against the rails. The doors opened, and a short distance along the platform Naoto stepped off the train. Same dark navy coat as usual, teamed with a deep burgundy shirt and silver tie. Kanji had always had an eye for what she wore. Well put-together, y'know?
He strode toward her, Teddie waving enthusiastically behind him. "Yo, Naoto!"
Naoto quirked an eyebrow, first at Ted and then up at Kanji. "Why are you still here?"
He blinked back at her. "Uh?"
"Your own train was scheduled to arrive an hour ago. The others have presumably already left for the hotel."
Nice to see you too, Kanji nearly muttered. Ted got there first.
"Kanji-chan missed you so badly, he wanted to stay and wait for you." He gave her what was probably supposed to be a knowing wink, but came out like a bug had flown in his eye. "So I kept him company!"
Kanji elbowed him aside. "Belt up, Ted."
Naoto didn't say anything at first. Then she shook her head. "Your logic remains questionable, Kanji-kun." She picked up her suitcase again, and started walking toward the stairs that led up from the platform.
Contrary to popular belief among the team, Kanji had never actually left a letter in Naoto's shoe locker.
It wasn't a matter of not having the guts, though maybe that would've been an issue if he'd ever managed to actually wrench out his feelings and get them down on paper. Something kept stopping him up, like the cap on a shaken soda bottle: little signs seeped out here and there, but everything else stayed tossed around inside. If he could write one, though, if he somehow managed to spill out all his thoughts, he had no idea what it would say beyond hey I really like you and maybe just give me a chance. What else did you put in those things? Kanji had never written one in his life, had never wanted to write one until he'd met Naoto.
Part of the problem was that he couldn't remember the reason he'd fallen for her. He knew when – pretty much the first day they'd met – but why? To be honest, Naoto Shirogane had been kind of a jerk before she'd joined the team and still could be two and a half years on. Kanji strongly doubted it was deliberate or anything, and since he wasn't a shining example of princely charm either, he'd generally let it slide. Didn't explain why he had a thing for her. He'd used to think it was because Naoto was everything he'd never be: smart, good-looking, together, the best at what she did. Then he'd figured out that one of those things wasn't totally true and that another was half the reason for her occasional asshole-ishness.
Maybe he'd never understand it. Maybe that didn't matter, either.
The hotel's coffee shop was kind of bland – something Yukiko had quickly pointed out, along with half-a-dozen things the owners could do to improve it – and Kanji hoped it wouldn't take Yosuke and Chie long to fetch Souji from his apartment. Naoto was already on her second cup of black coffee. Teddie had wanted the same till Yukiko talked him into a strawberry milkshake instead; caffeine and Ted formed a scary combination.
Yukiko smiled at Naoto across the table. "So, how was your trip to your grandfather's?"
"Enjoyable."
"Is he well?"
"Yes, he's fine."
There was silence for a moment. Then, Yukiko said, brightly, "It must be very exciting for you both. Graduation, I mean. Are you going to university, Naoto-kun?"
"I have no plans at this stage." Naoto looked like she wanted to say something else, but whatever it was never made it out.
Yukiko shot Kanji a slightly desperate glance. He coughed, loudly. "I – I ain't going. No surprise there. You like it at Kanazawa so far, Yukiko-senpai?"
"Oh, very much! Literature's an interesting subject. It does make a nice change to work at the inn during holidays, though. Chie keeps offering to help, but she had enough trouble getting vacation just to come here." Yukiko frowned. "I think they're working her too hard. It'd be nice if we could hang out in the evenings and..."
Yukiko, Kanji reflected, talked about Chie a lot.
They were all supposed to head off to Rise's concert in two hours. Maybe Souji was already there. Wasn't often he got to see his girlfriend. But Senpai was a thoughtful guy, he'd have let them know if—
"We should go help find Sensei!" Ted exclaimed over Yukiko, bolting upright with one finger pointed at the ceiling – and knocked over his milkshake. Most of it went on his trousers – shit, strawberry on black, that was a nightmare – while Naoto's cap on the table took splash damage.
Ted looked down. "Oops." Across the table, Naoto looked slightly murderous. Yukiko unhelpfully cracked up.
Kanji grabbed Ted's arm. "C'mon, dumbass. We gotta get you cleaned up," he said, dragging him off to the men's bathroom with a muttering Naoto in tow and a giggling Yukiko left at the table.
Inside, he grabbed as many paper towels as he could and shoved half of them into Ted's hands. "Clean what you can reach and I'll get your shins."
Unsurprisingly, Naoto wasn't much help. "Look at this," she kept saying between frantic swipes at her cap.
Ted cringed, trying to wipe down his thighs. "I'm bear-y sorry."
"I'll clean it for you," Kanji told her. "Just gimme a sec."
He was concentrating on helping Ted, but he swore he could feel Naoto's eyes on him. "That won't be necessary," she eventually said.
"C'mon." He straightened up. "It won't take long."
She hesitated, then handed over the hat. It hadn't been all that badly hit and he started blotting it with a wet paper towel.
"I really am sorry," Ted said again. "Yosuke and Chie-chan left forever ago and I just want to see Sensei."
Kanji patted Ted's shoulder with his free hand. "Yeah, man, we all do. Right, Naoto?"
"I didn't throw a milkshake at anyone," Naoto pointed out, slightly petulantly.
"You got our room key, yeah?" Kanji asked, and Ted nodded. "Go upstairs an' get changed before the concert."
Just as Ted bounded out the door, two middle-aged men walked in, one of who spotted Naoto and shot her a glare. She grabbed the cap from Kanji, pulled the brim down to hide her eyes, and quickly left the bathroom.
It wasn't right, Kanji thought. But it was how stuff worked, even when it shouldn't.
He dumped the paper towels in the trashcan, walked to the doorway – making sure to shove past the older guy on the way – and went after her.
Outside, Naoto was staring across the café at Yukiko, who was about to fall out of her seat. "You're sharing a room with Teddie?"
He shrugged. "Somebody has to." A pause. "You alright?"
Naoto gave a quick nod - like he'd expected anything different - and weaved through the tables back toward their seats.