It was a warm evening in late April when Kanji decided to take a moment to reflect. "Has it really been over a month since Senpai went home?" he thought to himself, lying down on his couch with his hands behind his head. It seemed like just yesterday that everyone stood at the end of that train platform as their leader went home. Once the train was out of sight it was a good ten minutes before anyone said anything, and another five before they could bring themselves to leave. Kanji had felt awkward ever since then. Sure, he still hung around with the rest of the group, but his Senpai was really his biggest connection to them. Now that he was gone, Kanji tended to not say much when he was with everyone. Souji was like the older brother he never had. Kanji could talk to him about anything, and he would sit there and listen, until he felt it was just the right time to stop him and say something, usually very brief, but powerful nonetheless. But now, he didn't have anyone he could feel comfortable talking to. "Ah, well. It's not like I'm an outcast anymore or anything. Everyone's usually really nice. I wonder if it's because they can tell I miss Senpai…" That thought annoyed Kanji a bit; he didn't like being pitied. But he just let out a sigh and went up to bed.

The next morning was cloudy. The fog had not set in since they finished their mission in the T.V. world, but days like this were kinda nostalgic. Kanji walked slowly to school. He ran into Chie, Yukiko, and Yosuke on the way. He joined them, and he figured it would be the same as always. They would say hi, he would say hi, and then they would continue their conversation and he wouldn't feel right joining it. But today was different. They seemed more enthusiastic than usual.

"Hey, Kanji-kun! Have you heard?" Chie proclaimed excitedly.

"Nah. What?"

"The school is holding a dance this May! We were all gonna go, it's gonna be sweet!"

"A dance, huh?" Kanji thought. He was never really one for dances. His mom forced him to go to the last dance the school had, and he ended up just sitting by the punch bowl for three hours. It would've been four, but somebody made a snarky comment and ended up getting a chair broken over the side of their face. Kanji was quickly escorted out. "Of course, that wouldn't be problem if I had…a date" Kanji thought to himself. "Eh, but who am I kidding? There's no way…" Suddenly, Yosuke interrupted Kanji's thoughts.

"C'mon Kanji, I'm sure Naoto will go with you if you ask her really nice." Kanji punched him in the back of the head.

Kanji went through class that day the same way he went through it every other day; leaning against the wall with his chair, waaaaay in the back, barely ever paying attention to the actual lesson. He figured he probably should be paying more attention, since his Senpai wasn't around to help him study, but he couldn't concentrate. Every time he tried, his thoughts drifted back to that young detective girl. He daydreamed of her, looking up at him with her cool blue gaze, intense, but with a hint of feminine gentleness, and whispering his name. "Kanji…" she would mouth, before finally Kanji snapped out of his daze, every time. But this time, it seemed it was lasting a bit longer.

"Kanji!"

"Huh?!" Kanji snapped to attention, quickly noticing that the classroom was totally empty. Upon looking up, he realized that Naoto was standing over his desk.

"Are you alright? You seem a bit…spaced out."

"Huh? Oh…um…yeah…sorry. I'm fine. What's up?" Kanji asked, fumbling for the right words.

"The others wanted me to come get you. We're all going to Aiya for lunch. Let's go."

Kanji couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Every time Naoto talked to him, he secretly hoped to himself that she would show even the slightest hint of interest in him, but he knew she wouldn't. It wasn't really her style. But that's one thing he liked about her. That strange aura she had…as though she had become a mystery herself in order to understand mysteries. Kanji chuckled to himself at the thought; that was pretty deep, for him.

The entire time they were at the diner, he considered really asking her to the dance. Not right then, of course, but sometime. He wanted to, he really did, but he felt he didn't have enough Courage. Every time he looked at her, Rokuten Maoh went crazy. "C'MON MAN! YOU GOT THIS! YOU FUCKIN' GOT THIS! RAAAAAAAAGH!!!" but…he couldn't ask her. He couldn't even talk to her. He felt like such a wuss.

It started to get dark, and the gang decided to go their separate ways. Kanji walked down the street and went home. His mom told him there was leftover dinner in the fridge, but he just went straight to bed. He laid there for a while, staring at the ceiling. He came to a conclusion. He had to ask Naoto to that dance. If he didn't he would surely go out of his mind. But he didn't know how to approach her. He sighed to himself. "How would Senpai handle this, I wonder? He never seemed to have trouble with girls. I didn't think it was possible to five-time a bunch of girls and have none of them find out…even in his absence…Ugh, I'm getting distracted." Kanji concentrated hard. "Okay, what would Senpai do?" He had a clear picture of the scenario. He would always just walk up to the girl, and smoothly ask her if she wanted to go somewhere. "Then again," Kanji thought "the guy wasn't afraid of anything. He kept his composure through every damn thing that happened to him. Dammit Senpai, how am I supposed to be like you?"

"Don't be like me. Be like yourself."

The answer his friend would've given came to him almost as though he was standing right there. "Ah, I get it. Do it my way, eh Senpai? Well, that takes some pressure off, but…I still don't really know what I'm doing."

"You're overthinking it."

"Heh, I might be." Kanji smiled wryly.