I.
Naoto Shirogane prides herself on always staying levelheaded. She had kept her calm in more than enough dangerous situation to prove it. There were only two people who had ever managed to make her completely lose her cool. The first one, herself. Or at least, her shadow self, which she had come to terms with long ago. The second one was more complicated, and had just entered her office.
"Rise?" Naoto heard her own voice change pitch before she could stop it. Seeing Rise in her office was more than a little surprising, given how disastrous their last interaction had been.
"Hey, Naoto-kun, do you have a moment?" The tone of Rise's voice was nervous but kind, so was her small smile.
"Of course, Ms. Kujikawa, take a seat." Naoto pointed to the empty chair in front of her desk. She hoped the formality would hurt, just a little. Judging by the subtle twitch of Rise's lips, pulling them down for a fraction of a second, it had. Nevertheless, she sat down in the chair while Naoto moved some folders out of the way. Already feeling a pang of guilt, she sat on the edge of the desk next to the girl, instead of the chair at the other side.
"Is everything alright, Rise?"
Rise started suddenly. "I'm sorry, Naoto, I know I should have called first. Or that maybe I shouldn't have come at all. I know that it's unfair. That I shouldn't ask you for anything but I just… didn't know where else to go."
Naoto tried to keep up with Rise's rambling, and tried to sort through her own feelings born from suddenly seeing her again. You were mad, yes, she told herself, but you are still her friend.
"Rise-san, it's okay. What happened was… it's years ago. I didn't meant for us to never talk again. What can I help you with?" She fought the urge to put a comforting hand on Rise's shoulders. How could old impulses return so quickly?
"I… I have a case for you. If you'd want it." Rise had finally slowed down. Naoto nodded for her to continue.
"I assume you've heard about what happened to Seki Haruka?"
"The actress? I've heard she committed suicide," Naoto recalled seeing several headlines about it, "I'm sorry, was she a friend of yours?"
Rise only nodded, tears already glossing over her eyes. Of course, Naoto now pieced together, Rise and Seki had worked together on that series of movies she had refused to see. After working with someone for four years, a bond would be inevitable. She put her hand on Rise's shoulder, who turned her head towards the touch, but didn't lean into it like she used to.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Rise. I heard she had health trouble?" The tabloids had loudly proclaimed that Ms. Seki suffered from leukemia. That she had chosen to end her life before she could see herself losing her beauty. That she had been fearing the sickness so much that she'd rather throw herself off of the balcony of her penthouse.
"That's the official story, but… I don't think it's the truth."
"What do you mean?"
"It's just… I don't know. This feeling I have. It doesn't make sense. Don't laugh, okay?"
"I'm not laughing. Go on."
"I don't think she was sick. We were close, you know. I saw her almost every day, and when I didn't see her, she was always texting me. Sending me videos or pictures of what she was doing, what she was eating, cute guys at the gym… I can't remember her having any doctor's appointment these last months. If she was as sick as they say she was, she should have, right? She should have been at the hospital all the time, but she never told me. And the whole… vanity thing. That she'd kill herself to stay beautiful in everyone's mind? It just doesn't add up. She was high on her own looks, sure, but she also used to joke about… about how life would be when we were old and wrinkly and she wouldn't have to care about any of it anymore."
Naoto took it all in and nodded pensively. She had no reason not to believe Rise's account, but it was hardly enough to base a case on. If Seki Haruka had been as sick as the media claimed, she would have been in a hospital a lot of the time. Naoto could look into the attendance records there, but…
"Maybe the illness is just the spin the tabloids gave to it. There could be other factors causing Ms. Seki to… ." Naoto thought better than to end that sentence with the technical term she had been planning on saying.
"There was a note, in her apartment, where she claimed it was because of the leukemia. The media never saw it but her manager showed it to me. It was definitely written in her handwriting but it seemed off. Like she was… out of it while she wrote it, or something. She used all these big words that I don't think she even understands and the whole thing just doesn't sound like her."
"Do you still have this note?"
"No." Rise softly shook her head.
"Maybe she…," this next part could only be said in a rude way, "maybe she had taken some form of narcotics." She had been an assistant detective on many strange suicide cases where people had downed a bunch of psychedelics and composed pages of absurd poetry before shooting themselves.
"She wouldn't. Besides, they would have found traces of that, right? In the autopsy?" If there had been drugs in her system, there would be a record of it. Rise had a point. Naoto found herself with more and more leads. Maybe she could rule out foul play and set Rise's mind at ease. It wouldn't take her too long, and it still pained her to see the girl this upset.
"Rise," she started, moving her hand away from the girl's shoulder to pick up a notepad and a pen, "I'll look into it. See if she was sick, or under the influence of anything. I'll see if I can track that note down again, too. If you think of anything else, you can text or… call… me." She handed Rise a note with her cellphone number on it.
"Thanks, Naoto." Rise took this as her cue to leave and stood up.
"Just," Naoto stopped Rise in her tracks as she chose her words carefully, "Cases like these. They usually end up… don't get your hopes up, I'm sorry."
Rise went over to the door, holding its handle she stared at the floor for just a few moments.
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye, Rise." Naoto said after her, but the door had already closed.
II.
Naoto was staring at a casefile, rereading the same five sentences every few minutes without any of them registering. She was preoccupied with thoughts of the girl that had just left her office. Her mind once again racing through everything that had happened to have them end up here.
The first year after solving the Investigation Team's big mystery had been good. It had been weird with the senpai gone, but she found herself being closer than ever with Rise and Kanji. Of course, Rise was still together with Souji back then. Furthermore, Naoto still hadn't admitted her attraction to Rise to herself. Social interactions had been harrowing enough, she had had close to zero experience feeling love-struck. Besides, the idol and the detective had plenty to keep themselves occupied with. Rise had started her training, and even gave a few small performances in the neighboring towns. Naoto had taken on a few cases, some taking her further away from Inaba. The butterflies in her stomach would still be there when she returned to a smiling Rise. The year had gone by too fast, Naoto now thought. It had been simpler, then. She could still see that smile without going mad looking for the meaning behind it. Everything changed after graduation, though. Rise had invited Kanji and Naoto over to the shop to celebrate with drinks that were stronger than necessary. Teddie had tagged along, of course, and it hadn't taken him long to say something so inadvertently rude to Kanji that it had sent the duo on a violent chase down the shopping district. Rise had watched them until they made a turn for the flood plain before turning back to Naoto. Naoto remembered how casually Rise had sat just that little bit too close next to her on the ground. How she had taken Naoto's drink out of her hand to force her to make eye contact. How that had sent her heart racing in an unfamiliar way.
"I'm kind of glad they're gone," she said, breaking the eye contact to nestle her head on Naoto's shoulder, "It's like we never get to hang out just the two of us anymore."
Naoto had swallowed hard when she found herself distracted by Rise's scent. "I'm sure we could schedule more frequent activities together, if you'd like that." I used to sound like such an idiot, Naoto scolded herself, rereading the same five sentences once again.
"Hmm, I'd like that," Rise had softly hummed into her shoulder as she turned to play with Naoto's tie before continuing, "But it's not going to get any easier, right? I'll be off with the company, and who even knows where you will be? Star detective, solving cases all over the country. This could be the last time we ever see each other."
"It won't be. I promise. Just call me whenever you have some free time, and I'll make the arrangements to come meet with you if the situation allows it." The hands had stopped playing with her tie, holding it, resting against Naoto's chest.
"You promise?" Rise had sounded so honestly fragile in that moment that Naoto sat up to look in her eyes again.
"I promise." Then the smile on Rise's face had made Naoto lean down impulsively, their lips only a few inches apart, before she caught herself. Don't kiss Souji's girlfriend, don't kiss Souji's girlfriend, she was repeating it as a mantra in her head before Rise made the decision for her. She had crossed over the last few spaces to lock the detective in a soft kiss that only lasted a few moments. Rise had been the first to pull back, looking at Naoto questioningly.
"I… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have… ." Naoto had stammered before Rise suddenly pulled her into a second, more confident kiss that had them both on the ground. With Naoto on top of her, Rise had shown no intention of stopping. Her hands, locked around Naoto's neck for a while, went to loosen the yellow tie. When her hands came to unbuttoning the second button of Naoto's shirt, Naoto grabbed Rise's wrists and sat up, pulling away from the other's lips.
"We shouldn't. Souji." Naoto had only been able to talk in fragments.
"Souji and I broke up yesterday." Rise said softly as Naoto let go of her wrists to sit up more fully.
"You broke up?" She turned away from Rise, trying to sort through her thoughts. Rise sat up next to her.
"It hadn't been working between us for a while. There was too much distance and… ." They sat there quietly for a while. Naoto can't help but smile now as she remembers how sweetly Rise had slid her arm under hers to hold her hand.
"And I've sort of fallen for someone else."
Still sitting at her desk, Naoto groaned as she put away the case files in front of her. All this daydreaming was accomplishing nothing. She might as well start researching Ms. Seki's death. If she could definitively tell Rise the cause of death, they could both go on with their lives. And she wouldn't have to sit here going over everything that had happened the last seven years.