Kanji sighed; he saw that his friends were drunk, he had refrained from drinking. He was going to be helping out at the store the next day. Though he was the only one; Naoto he noticed was slightly tipsy, she smiled up at him offering him a glass of something. Yukiko and Rise were sat next to each other giggling, Chie was blushing as she listened to them talk. Yosuke was – in Kanji's opinion – Uncharacteristically quiet, and Yu was rambling on and on to an enthralled Teddie.

"Kanji-kun, why don't you drink?" Naoto asked she gave him a puppy eyed stare

Kanji blushed, he wanted to give in to that look, and he'd do anything to make her smile.

"Sorry Nao' no can do I got work tomorrow." Kanji said.

Naoto awed sadly and put on a frown, she looked over the rest of the room and tried to regain a little of her sober demeanour.

"Well at least come and sit with us." She said.

Out of habit he was stood alone on the outskirts of the room, gravitating towards the kitchen, they were celebrating Yosuke's new apartment of was it Rise's main role in a drama? Kanji couldn't remember.

"Hey let's play the kings game." Rise said "Kanji get the chopsticks ready!"

"Why should I do that?" Kanji asked defensively

"Because I said so!" Rise retorted

Yu had given her the prepared chopsticks, Kanji remembered this happened on the school trip they had been on together, and it was strange that the same thing is happening again.

Despite his protests he was dragged into playing; he was holding the number 4, and he looked a little worried of who was the king.

"Ok so who's the king?" Rise asked looking over them all.

Teddie rose his hand and giggled to himself.

"I want numbers 4 and 2 to kiss." Teddie commanded

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naoto read the number on his chopsticks and heard a small giggle. She tapped him on the shoulder and showed him the number written on hers. There were cheers and a couple of wolf whistles; when Naoto kissed him right on the lips and smiled at him.

"Woah go Naoto-Kun." Rise said before she giggled again

Ok so Kanji was having fun being the only sober one, he'd remember that even if Naoto didn't.

They redrew the chopsticks and this time Kanji was the king. He furrowed his brows as he thought up what he wanted them to do.

"Um so I want number 6 to tell us a secret." He said

"Kanji that's so boring." Rise said

Yukiko stood up and showed off her chopsticks with a big smile

"Ok my secret is that." Yukiko started "I really like listening to Jazz."

Rise giggled again; Kanji noticed that she was getting increasingly drunk, more so than anyone else. Naoto was a little drunk, and somehow she was stuck close to him, she'd smile at him when he looked at her.

"I'm glad you didn't pick me for that secret." She whispered quietly to him.

The next king was Naoto; she ordered number 5 to give her a hug, which had turned out to be Chie. When Chie had been king she asked number 3 to give her a shoulder rub, Yosuke had been number three. Yukiko called herself the queen when she received the king chopstick and had asked 2 and 7 to kiss which ended up being Yu and Yosuke, which Kanji would never forget as it worried him how much they both liked it.

Kanji had left the game at one point taking the number 7 chopstick with him; he went outside and stood on the balcony, they were on the third floor of an apartment building in the more modern part of Inaba, being consistent of one road of western style homes. He could see to the shopping district and the river bed; he loved Inaba, as he stared over at the view he barely noticed the small detective that snuck up to him. Her arms wrapped around him and she squeezed, he looked at her and she was smiling, her face was flushed red.

"Kanji come back in ok?" She half asked half commanded.

There was something very cute about a drunk Naoto; Kanji vowed that he would have to take her out drinking one day.

"Don't worry I haven't said anything about us." She said completely out of nowhere.

It was true that they were dating it had only been a week though, but the best week of Kanji's life.

When they went inside Kanji had no idea what to expect, it wasn't what he was seeing. Rise was stood on the table; she was wearing only her skirt and her bra, she was wearing her top as a hat she was singing her favourite song loudly. Yukiko was fast asleep on Yu's lap as he played with her hair; he looked content as he did that. Chie and Yosuke were stood in the kitchen holding each other; Teddie was curled up on the floor holding a bottle of something like a baby would a bottle.

"I think it's time to go home now, shall I walk you home Naoto?" Kanji asked

"Can I have a piggyback ride?" was her response.

They left the unusual party; Naoto was half asleep on his back towards her apartment, when they got there she looked through her pockets for her keys. She looked really sad when he had to leave her to go back to the textiles shop. He couldn't leave her alone when she was so vulnerable, so somehow he had ended up carrying her back to his house. When they were back his mother looked at the two of them

"Did you have fun dear?" She asked

"Ma you didn't need to stay up late." Kanji said "It was entertaining."

Mrs Tatsumi noticed the asleep form of her son's girlfriend clutching on to him; and smiled, she liked how happy he had been with her.

"Naoto-chan is with you then?" she asked

"Yeah she looked like a sad puppy when I took her to her place; I had to bring her home with me. I'll sleep on the sofa." Kanji said as he walked past his mother.

The next day

They all met up at Junes for lunch; Kanji noted that he was the only one who wasn't ashamed or hung over as the others.

"Kanji-kun what happened last night?" Rise asked

She looked at him intent on knowing.

"The return of the king's game, I think I was the winner." He said with a small smile

Naoto looked at him with a look of curiosity and surprise.