Eleven Days Left

Valentine's Day was two weeks away. Even if you were dropped off in Inaba via time machine and didn't know what day it was, you could tell that February 14th was soon to come. Every middle-school girl in town was talking about the traditional chocolate exchange, and how to make it absolutely perfect for that special someone. Whether it was the kind of chocolate they were going to get – dark versus milk was an important decision when showing your affection – or what they could do along with the chocolate-giving – putting a card from "your secret admirer" on the lucky student's desk was a favorite around town – it was something that couldn't be half-assed in the slightest.

So when Nanako Dojima practically skipped into Tatsumi Textiles one afternoon, Kanji couldn't say he was surprised. Two girls about her age had already come into the shop over the past few days.

"Yo, Nanako-chan!" Kanji waved at her from behind the register.

Nanako's eyes lit up. "Kanji-niichan! Just the person I wanted to see!" She walked over to the register, dropping her voice to a whisper. "Could you help me with something?"

"Yeah," Kanji said, "What's up?"

"Could you make a kitten for me?"

"For Valentine's Day, right?"

Nanako nodded enthusiastically, handing him 500 yen. "I want to make the kitten hold the chocolate!"

Kanji put the money into the register. "Who's the lucky guy?"

"I'm not telling you that!"

Kanji laughed. "What color do you want?"

Nanako paused and furrowed her brow in thought. "Blue would be nice!"

"Sure thing, kiddo!" Kanji wrote down "blue kitten" on the list of Valentine's Day requests he already had: a tiger and a pink mouse. "I'll have that done for you by next week!"

"Thank you!" Nanako waved as she turned to walk out of the shop.

"Say hi to your dad for me!"

"I will! Bye!"

Nanako walked out of the shop with a smile on her face and disappeared down the street. A second later, she turned towards what Kanji assumed was someone standing on the other side of the shop and began to talk. After a few seconds of giggling, she waved and turned back down the street.

Kanji looked down at the list of the three animals he had to make. If last year was anything to go by, sometime next week at least twenty girls would come in with requests and he'd be swamped right up until 11:59 PM on February 13th. The descent into hell would be filled with blue kittens holding chocolate bars. After a few seconds, the door opened and someone else walked in.

"I see Nanako's as adorable as ever."

The first thing that Kanji noticed when Naoto walked into the shop was her hair. Over the years, she'd experimented with long, short, and everything in between, and the last time he'd seen her, she'd cut it short again. Now, it was just below her shoulders and was held back by a black barrette. It looked good.

"Yeah," Kanji said, "She's pretty cute".

After roughly five and a half years of awkward, Kanji and Naoto had started dating about a year ago, which was even more awkward at first, but had gotten relatively normal as time went on. "Relatively normal", however, still meant pretty awkward.

"So what's up?" Kanji asked, "You want a blue kitten, too?"

"No," Naoto said, "Although I appreciate the offer. You're busy enough this time of year."

"You got that right!" Kanji sighed in exasperation.

"I have something important to tell you, actually," Naoto said.

"Fire away."

"My grandfather has expressed interest in meeting you sometime in the near future, so I proposed the idea of meeting at the estate next weekend, if that works with your schedule."

"What?" He couldn't simply take a break from the workload that came with Valentine's Day, but he couldn't exactly pass this opportunity up either. That would make him look bad, which was one thing he really didn't want to do at this point.

"I could change the date if it makes things easier for you." Naoto must have seen the concern on his face. Of course she did. She was a detective after all, and she probably had harder faces to read than his.

"Nah," Kanji said, "It's fine. As long as I can bring my supplies over. I'll probably have a ton of requests for Valentine's Day."

"Of course," Naoto said.

"Kanji-chan!" Kanji's mom walked in from the back of the store, her eyes lighting up when she saw Naoto. "Naoto-chan! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Naoto gave a little wave.

"What is it, Ma?" Kanji asked.

"I'm sure it can wait until later," Kanji's mom said with a smile, "I can take over the register if you two want to go out."

"I'm fine here," Kanji said, "You don't need to do that."

"Oh, I do!" Kanji's mom wouldn't stop smiling. It was almost creepy. "You two should go out, have some fun! I insist!"

"Thank you very much, Tatsumi-san," Naoto said, "I think that would be great." She shot Kanji a look that said I know what I'm doing and went outside.

Kanji shrugged and went outside as his mom waved goodbye, laughing as she sat down at the register.

"What the hell was that for?" Kanji asked, stepping outside the door of the shop.

"There's more to what I was telling you earlier," Naoto said, "And there are better places to talk besides inside the textile shop."

"Okay, fine," Kanji said, "What is it?"

"It's not as simple as my grandfather just wanting to meet you," Naoto said, "He expects quite a lot from you."

"Like what?" Kanji asked.

"I'm sure you can guess," Naoto said, "I'm twenty-two years old, and I - "She paused, thinking of the right words to say, before letting out a sigh. "The Shirogane line is expected to continue."

"What the hell?" Kanji's voice almost squeaked. That made things possibly even worse than they already were.

"That sounded more awkward than I intended. I apologize."

"It's not your fault."

"Let's move on and get to the point."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"Thankfully, that's not the only thing he's going to be looking for," Naoto said, "He'll most likely be testing your deductive abilities as well."

"I'm not a frickin' detective, though!" Kanji said, "That's your thing! I suck at that, you know I do!"

"Not necessarily," Naoto said, "You just haven't bothered to try yet. You do posses great attention to detail, which may just be the most important part."

"Ah, really?" Kanji scratched his head and laughed nervously.

"Yes," Naoto said, "Nanako told me about the kitten you were making for her for Valentine's Day and she said you get completely flooded with requests next week so she has to come in early to beat the crowds. You wouldn't be that popular around town if you didn't pay attention to what you were making."

"Guess you're right about that," Kanji said, "But I'm not cut out for that kinda thing. Never have been."

"I'm willing to say you're wrong about that," Naoto said, "You have unused potential. And before next week, it's my duty to bring at least some of that potential to light."

"Um, why?"

"The future of - "She paused. "Well, the future of us somewhat depends on it."

"True."

"This sounded like a very stupid idea at first," Naoto said, "But now, I'm starting to get why I thought of it in the first place."

"What stupid idea?" Kanji asked, "Usually I'm the one who thinks of those."

"I'm going to teach you the most rudimentary of detective skills," Naoto said, "And I'm going to try to do it by next Saturday."

"What?"

"I know how it sounds."

"I -"Kanji laughed. "I'm hopeless! I hope you know that."

"No, you're not," Naoto said, "You're going to do quite well, trust me."

"So I'm forced into detective school," Kanji deadpanned, "Let me be the first one to welcome myself into hell."

"Don't be like that," Naoto said, "I'll make sure to make this as easy as possible to start out."

"I'm going to suck!"

"You only need to learn a few things, and you'll be well on your way," Naoto said, "And don't think you need to be especially good at it. You'll only have to do this until you meet my grandfather next Saturday, and then you can forget everything."

"How strict is he about this?"

"Not very."

"Good."

"We're starting tomorrow," Naoto said, "Meet me at the Samegawa at 10 AM, and don't be late. We have a lot of work to do."

"Sure thing," Kanji said, "I should probably get back to the shop, ask Ma if it's okay for me to go next week and all that."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow," Naoto said.

As he made his way back to the shop, Kanji knew that tomorrow was either going to be the best day of his life, the worst day of his life, or both – with the latter being by far the most likely.