Yomi – Inaba

NAOTO'S POV
(I know that the titles of my chapters are songs)

Chapter One: Who wants flowers when you're dead?

Certainly not Grandpa, he always said to me:

"When my time comes, don't dwell on it. I don't want you moping around after me. I want no ceremony, no flowers, just a place for me to rest. That will make me happy."

But I'd feel ungrateful if I didn't do anything. Grandpa gave me love and somewhere to live. He was more like my father than my Grandfather. After my parents died he took me in- no ifs, no buts. I miss him so much. The worst thing about it is that I'm still in high school and I have no family left. The closest thing I have to family is Yakushiji-san, my Grandfather's secretary. It gets so lonely in the big empty house, with only housekeepers and such to keep me company. I need to get over his death and get on with my life. I want to just sort everything out. I have to get over my grudge against Izzy and focus on my studies. I need to stop looking into everything like it's going to lead to some kind of mystery and just live.

"Good Morning, 3rd Years. I'd like to introduce a new student to you all. This is Hitomi Iwata, she just moved here from Tatsumi Port Island." said Miss Kanoh, in her nervous little voice.

I must've been daydreaming, that's what happens when I get too deep in my thought, and that happens just too often. When I finally bothered to look up; there was a tall skinny girl at the front of the class. She had bleached her hair a very pale blonde. Her mouth was smiling at me but her eyes seemed to stare coldly through me, like if she was blind. But, she could clearly see perfectly well.

"Could you sit at the front next to Izzy please?" Miss Kanoh continued, looking at the new girl and pointing at an empty seat.

She sat down quite a few rows in front of me; I was right at the back.

She didn't seem to talk much. Just by looking I could tell that Izzy was trying to make conversation with her. But Izzy had the worst people skills ever. I felt a bit sorry for Hitomi, having to sit next to her, she wasn't a very nice girl. She was two-faced and her family was a bit on the dodgy side too. Just 2 years ago her uncle was convicted of murder! Murder! And I'm the one who caught him too! People used to frown on the fact that I was a detective at such a young age, but I'm the one who arrested the serial killer that was scaring them half to death. And the other officers that I worked with always called me a 'brat' and doubted me because I was female. I did the job that none of them could do!

"Naoto Shirogane!" I jumped and realised I was still at school, I was daydreaming again.

"Yes sensei?" I said, looking up at Miss Kanoh who was staring at me with a frown on her face.

"You always have your head in the clouds! No one would think you're a detective!"She said briskly.

I scowled right back at her. How dare she say things like that to me, especially in front of the whole class!

"Anyway, as I was saying, do you know the answer to this?" She pointed at the blackboard, looking straight at me.

"Of course," I said, looking up at the board myself.

I didn't know the answer. I guess listening really does pay off. I could feel my face heating up. I looked around and everyone was staring. Miss Kanoh still looked at me expectantly. She seemed to be enjoying this seeing as it was usually the students who humiliated her, not the other way around. I kept thinking and thinking but no matter how hard I thought, the answer wasn't there. It was like as it someone had ripped it out of my mind. Just a blank space left. I couldn't even think of one that would come close.

"Ha! That was so funny in English when you didn't know the answer and everyone was staring at you." Izzy said smiling away.

This annoyed me immensely. She always did things like that to annoy me.

"Yeah, rub it in, Izzy." I snapped, elbowing her in the ribs.

She just laughed. The funny thing about it was, we hated each other, we both knew that, but for some strange reason, we were still best friends. Kanji walked over from his classroom.

"Hey, how was your holiday?" He asked it like he hadn't seen me in weeks, when actually I spent most of my time with him.

"Ugh, it was terrible, I went to America with my family, and it was our first time abroad, big mistake..." Izzy carried on rambling like that in the background while I watched Hitomi on the other side of the hall.

She was just standing there, not looking at anyone, lifeless. It was like as if someone had switched her off.

"Hey, what's wrong with Hitomi?" I asked the other two, completely butting into Izzy's rambling about Disneyworld.

"I bet it's not as good as the one here." said Kanji with a smirk on his face.

They continued their conversation as if I hadn't even spoken. That was odd. I walked towards Hitomi, and she was still staring ahead.

"H-hello?" I said, waving my hand in front of her face. She blinked and shook her head.

"Oh! I didn't see you there." She smiled and scratched the back of her head.

"You've been standing there staring into space for a while now."

"It was just a daydream."

"Right, okay." I said.

I'd never seen a 'daydream' like that before, she looked dead while she was standing there, eyes glazed. I looked around.

"So, made any friends yet?" I asked politely, she seemed alone and I felt sorry for her.

"Not yet. I haven't really been trying. I've got a lot going on at the moment."

"Oh okay. So err... how about you come and sit with us?" Whether she had been trying or not, she needed company.

"Sure! That'll be cool!" I was startled at the sudden outburst, and a little freaked out. I'm sure Grandpa heard her she was that loud.

"He he, okay, let's go up to the roof." I looked around for Izzy and Kanji; they were nowhere to be seen. They must've gone up to the roof to wait for me.

"Where did you go?" Asked Kanji as me and Hitomi walked towards them.

"I went to see if Hitomi was alright. Anyway, I did tell you, but you were too busy comparing theme parks with Izzy." Kanji frowned. Izzy looked up from her bento box and glared at Hitomi.

"So, what was wrong with her?" She snapped. I raised an eyebrow. Earlier in class Izzy was trying to make friends with her, and now she was pushing her away.

"Nothing, but I said she can hang out with us. Is that all right with you?" I snapped back.

Izzy rolled her eyes and then nodded. She's so moody. We chatted and ate our lunch until it was class again. Me, Izzy and Hitomi went said bye to Kanji and went to class. We had history next, my best subject.

I sat down at my desk and got my books out of my bag. I had extra space because the guy who sat next to me was off sick. Ms. Sofue walked in with her Elizabethan wig balanced on the top of her head. She looked so stupid. She wore something new every year to do with history. It was her obsession. Last year it was a tin helmet and the year before that it was an Egyptian headdress. I could hear giggling coming from the front of the room, it was Hitomi; she wasn't used to it so of course she'd laugh. I did when I first transferred to Yasogami High. Ms. Sofue looked confused she obviously still hadn't caught on that whenever someone new came to the school, they'd laugh. I couldn't actually believe that she walked around like that. Eventually everyone quietened down eventually and Ms. Sofue wrote 'IZANAGI & IZANAMI' in big letters on the board. I rolled my eyes, I already knew about these two alright. We learnt about them when we had a trip to Gekkoukan High 2 years ago. And with the whole murder case too, Izanami was the one who started it all, in a way.

Although this was my favourite subject, I couldn't help but let my mind wander. I thought about all the good times we had before the others left and went to college. I missed them so much. Even Yukiko left in the end. Her family decided that they had a few years left in them to take care of the inn themselves, and maybe the job would be passed onto her little sister. She went to Tokyo with Souji to study. Chie didn't like that so they didn't really talk to each other anymore. And she was probably jealous because while Yukiko was happy, she had a long distance relationship with Kou, who went to England to study. Yosuke was doing pretty good, and he was studying in Okina so he came back to Inaba to visit me, Kanji and Izzy sometimes. Rise and Teddy went touring around the world after Rise returned to her career in showbiz. They never stopped travelling I'd only see them once a month, if that. But I was glad that they were happy, even if I was stuck in that god-forsaken place.

Class ended, and everyone poured out of the classrooms. Izzy needed to go to her locker to get her guitar because music club was off due to most people forgetting their instruments, so Hitomi and I went with her seeing as me and Izzy always walked home together. Kanji came over to us.

"Hey, are we doing anything today?" He asked happily.

"As long as it doesn't involve sitting around the food court like rag dolls, that's so boring." She was right; it was never the same since the others left.

"We can all come to my house if you like; I mean I don't have to ask for permission anymore." I said. Ouch. I'd reminded myself of how lonely my time at home was now. Nice move Naoto.

"Sure." Izzy said happily. Wow, she had some emotion. I looked at Hitomi, I suppose she didn't know what to do, or if she was invited or not.

"You can come too if you like. We can get to know each other a bit better." I said smiling at her. She smiled back and nodded.