A/N: Request from BlueBerry TeddyBear. Sorry for the delay! I don't know if this fulfills your idea completely sooo I hope you enjoy regardless :(( Non despair AU, Fem!Naegi x Male!Kirigiri. Only Naegiri and Kirigiri are genderbent in this fic, everyone else remains the same.
Kenzou Kirigiri thought he was being obvious with his advances.
It turns out he wasn't very obvious after all, he realized as his shoulders slumped slightly. The detective's action was not missed by the gambler.
"What were you expecting?" Celes said nonchalantly as she took a sip of tea. "Naegi-san, as brilliant as she admittedly is, still remains surprisingly dense. Though, I suppose you know that by now... What you want is advice, am I right?" The gambler said, crimson eyes peering into lavender. For once, the detective noted, the tone that demanded he give something back before she gave him any information or anything in general was not there.
"Kirigiri-dono asking for advice? Now that's something I've never heard of before! You've always been so smooth with the ladies, like a protagonist in a doujin! You have my utmost respect, Kirigiri-dono!" Yamada suddenly bursted into the room, a wobbly tray being balanced by his right hand as he pushed his glasses towards his face with his left.
"Did I ask you for your opinion?" Celes said sharply, not even sparing a glance at the doujinshi author as he shivered.
"N-no, Celes-dono!" He quickly replied. Shortly after that, he had swiftly set the contents of the tray onto the table and withdrew himself, standing a distance away from the gambler.
"However, I'll admit that this is quite rare, coming to me and asking for advice. Aren't you better off asking Maizono-san or Asahina-san?" Celes inquired, and Kirigiri could sense that she was genuinely curious.
"I wouldn't have come to you if I hadn't done that already. However, Enoshima-san seems to be hanging around Maizono-san quite often recently. I'm sure you can tell how hard that would be to even get a word in with Enoshima-san around her. As for Asahina-san, the moment I told her, she started screaming and ran. I'm afraid I'm left with no option but to consult you." Kirigiri explained, resting his elbows on the table. The detective observed that his actions had caused it to tilt slightly due to its uneven legs. Celes silently offered the detective tea after his explanation, but he had politely declined.
"...How typical of her." The gambler said as she swirled her tea. "By now Asahina-san could've told the whole campus that you like Naegi-san, but I doubt that Naegi-san would believe that you actually harbor feelings for her." Kirigiri let out a sigh, it was clear that they were going back to square one.
"I figured that as well, but what do you think I should do to make her believe it?" The detective inquired in a tone that made Celes feel like she was being interrogated. She knew better, however, this was just Kirigiri being either slightly nervous or a bit too eager to hear the answer.
"Well, it shouldn't be that difficult, since we all know that she clearly has feelings for you-" Before the gambler could even finish her statement, however, Asahina, Oogami, and Naegi entered the classroom. Kirigiri closed his eyes for a brief moment before standing up, the loud creak of the chair making him wince internally.
"I suppose I have to find everything out for myself then." The detective said curtly before continuing, "Thank you for your assistance." Kirigiri then bowed slightly, making their earlier conversation sound like it was about business affairs and not ridiculous teenage love problems that for some reason Kenzou Kirigiri, the super high school level detective, could not fathom.
"You're welcome, Kirigiri-kun. We're overdue for a chess match the next time we meet, by the way." The gambler said, playfulness seeping into her tone.
"Duly noted." Kirigiri answered back briefly as he exited the classroom, not quite in the mood to play one of her mind games. He even considered himself quite lucky that she decided not to do so earlier. The detective then nodded his head slightly, acknowledging the presence of the three girls who had just made their way into the classroom.
"Celes-san, what was that about?" Naegi inquired as she tilted her head, expression akin to a curious puppy. It was a habit that seemed to be ingrained into the lucky student.
"You know Kirigiri-kun, always so curious…" The gambler drawled as her lips curled, a sly smile on her face that she made no move to hide. "He was asking about you, of course. Who knew the detective had such a great interest in you?" She teased, knowing full well that Naegi wouldn't believe her even though she was, for once, saying the truth. The lucky student's face quickly turned into a shade of crimson.
"I-I know you're teasing me Celes!" Naegi said in a hurried and hushed tone, despite knowing the fact that Kirigiri had already left the room. Oogami and Asahina looked at each other, knowing smiles quickly blossoming on their faces.
"You know Naegi-san, despite my title, I am capable of telling the truth." Celes said, with Yamada vigorously shaking his head in agreement.
"E-even if you might be telling the truth, Kirigiri-kun and I are j-just friends!" Naegi defended as her face felt hot at the thought of Kirigiri actually liking her back. Celes sighed as Oogami and Asahina's smiles had only gotten wider.
"Seriously Minako-chan?! Have you seen how Kirigiri-kun looks at you!?" The swimmer said, enthusiasm evident in her tone as the fighter agreed with her.
"...H-how he looks at me? Uhh, he looks at me normally?"
Unbeknownst to the lucky student, Togami and Fukawa entered the room, overhearing most of their previous conversation.
"Oh for the love of- AARGHH!" The writer screamed in frustration. Fukawa's hands immediately reached for her braids and tugged, not minding how disheveled it made her look. Togami groaned in frustration as he pushed his glasses up with a single finger, jealousy bubbling at the back of his mind. Out of frustration, Togami had spoken up without thinking.
"How haven't you realized that Kirigiri likes you? It's as clear as day, and you just keep ignoring it! How dense can you be, Naegi?!" He yelled. "Or... are you doing it on purpose to give Kirigiri false hope? Don't act like we don't see you flirting with everyone here. All of you women are like that anyway, deceiving people right under their noses. " He closed in on the lucky student. Just when Togami was about to continue, a loud pang had resounded in the room, and half of his face felt like it was burning.
Everyone stared at them, shocked into silence. Naegi had slapped Togami.
"I'm not-! I-I didn't mean…" Naegi attepted to muster a reply. Confused, distraught and angry, the lucky student was on the verge of tears. She wrapped her arms around herself as she averted her gaze to the ground. The heir had gone too far with his insults this time, although he simply could not understand why he had done that to begin with. Instead,Togami had simply crossed his arms and huffed, looking away from Naegi. In the silence of the room, the sounds of footsteps could he heard. Someone was coming in at the worst possible time.
"Naegi," A calm voice said, although the lucky student remained unresponsive. Slowly, Naegi's arms were unraveled from her own torso, her hands meeting the soft touch of leather. The lucky student looked up.
"Naegi," Kirigiri repeated, calmly looking into her emerald irises. "Let's go." He continued as he let one of her hands go, turning around to leave the room. The lucky student followed the detective, tears threatening to spill as she tightened her grip on their joined hands. As they walked out of the classroom, icy violet irises glared at the heir.
Kirigiri and Naegi found themselves sitting silently in the park after everything that had happened. Their eyes exploring the view of the place as their hands were still joined together, though none of them had acknowledged it in fear that the other would let go.
"Kirigiri-kun.." Naegi started, unsure how to continue. She could try to meet his gaze, but Naegi also knew that everything she wanted to say would escape her if she did.
"Hm?" The detective responded, waiting for Naegi to continue. After a while of silence, Kirigiri squeezed their joined hands. The gesture alone made her chest feel tight, her tears slowly descending from emerald irises.
"You heard what Togami said, r-right?" The lucky student stuttered. Kirigiri turned to meet Naegi's gaze.
"Yes."
"I-I didn't mean to-"
"I know."
I'm sorry,"
"Don't be."
Naegi couldn't stop herself from crying. He understood her, like he always did. She was always as open as a book to him anyway. Perhaps it was a good thing, the lucky student thought as she looked at him. Kirigiri squeezed her hand and shuffled closer. Before he could think of whether it was appropriate to go any closer to her or not, the lucky student had buried her head in his chest. The detective's ears felt like they were burning. He's sure that she could hear how much his chest was pounding right now.
"T-then… is it true?" She asked, uncertainty seeping in her tone. If this was someone other than Naegi, Kirigiri would've laughed and said something along the lines of 'Isn't it obvious?' But he knew better than that.
Naegi was beautiful, but he couldn't stand seeing her like this anymore. It hurt her as much as it hurt him. Without thinking the detective reached up to cup the side of her face, wiping the tears off of her cheeks. Naegi leaned on his hand, closing her eyes. Her breathing was unsteady. His chest tightened at the realization of how close he had moved towards her; it was becoming harder to speak to her like this. Shuffling closer, he answered her the best way he could.
He kissed her.
The kiss didn't last long, but as soon as their lips had parted, Kirigiri voiced his emotions.
"Yes. I like you, Naegi-san."
Naegi had moved away all of a sudden. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, her hand was covering her mouth and her face was as red as a rose.
Did I do something wrong? The detective mused as he gauged her reaction with widened eyes, the only indicator that he wasn't as calm as he looked.
Suddenly, the lucky student giggled. And then cried. But she was still giggling at the same time. Kirigiri didn't know what to make of it.
"Sorry-"
"S-sorry,"
The two of them had spoken up at the same time. Kirigiri let Naegi speak first. She sniffled before continuing, "I was just.. shocked. I-I didn't know someone like you would have feelings for someone like me…" The lucky student, despite the tear streaks on her face, smiled at him.
"Who wouldn't fall for someone like you?" Kirigiri said honestly, his cheeks turning pink as he looked away from her.
"I-I don't know what you see in me,"
"Likewise.. I don't know what you see in me either."
"So you knew," Naegi said as a statement more than a question, surprising herself with how calm she was. Of course Kirigiri would see through her. That much she knew. Kirigiri quickly turned his head to meet her gaze. His face was, for the first time, showing exactly how he felt.
"I-It was an assumption, sorr-"
Naegi pulled on his necktie so that she could meet his height and kissed him.
"Don't worry, your assumption is right," She smiled. "I like you too, Kenzou-kun."
"I suppose in time, we'll see what we see in each other then, Minako-chan." The detective said as he smiled, wrapping his arms around her.
"I guess we will, Kenzou-kun."
Extra
The two of them, after spending some time in the park, returned to the classroom, surprisingly still on time for their next period. As soon as they arrived, Kirigiri briskly walked towards Togami, his eyes glaring at the heir.
"Well, I guess this is the end for Togami-dono..." Yamada mumbled as the rest of the students had huddled together, watching the spectacle.
"Eh, he's a piece of shit anyway~" Enoshima carelessly said with a few nodding in agreement.
"Seeing Togami be floored by Kirigiri would be fucking doope!" Yasuhiro exclaimed.
"I wouldn't allow Kirigiri-kun to go that far! That would be against the school rules!" Ishimaru countered.
"M-my white knight won't lose to h-him!" Fukawa stuttered.
The whole class continued to chatter and mumble about what Kirigiri would do to Togami after what had happened a while ago. Before Kirigiri could even speak to the heir, however, a hand held onto his. Looking to his side, the detective met Naegi's gaze. She smiled at him and immediately his hardened features had softened. He heard the class collectively gasp, but ignored it. The lucky student had always managed to make him feel better, even before they had become this close. Naegi then faced Togami, letting go of Kirigiri's hand and stepping forward, much to the detective's concern.
"Togami-kun," She started. The whole class turned their attention to them.
"I'm sorry about a while ago. I hit you without thinking." The lucky student bowed slightly. The heir huffed and crossed his arms. Kirigiri had the strongest urge to knock him out, but restrained himself for Naegi.
"But I also want to thank you, Togami-kun. If you hadn't told me anything, I wouldn't have realized that Kenzou-kun felt the same way." Togami's eyes widened as his frown seemed to become more prominent.
"Hmph. I did nothing but state the obvious. But if you want to compensate, I accept gifts sent to me via mail, of course." The heir arrogantly said as he turned around to leave.
"How about I send you to hell?" Kirigiri said in a tone that seemed too calm for the uttered words, somehow already in front of Togami despite having turned around. The detective grabbed the heir by the collar as he glared.
"Ooooh shit!" Oowada howled.
"I must remind you that hitting someone is against the school rules, Kirigiri-kun!" Ishimaru exclaimed, concerned for his classmate.
"And so is cursing!" Ishimaru turned to Oowada, reprimanding him for his actions.
"Kenzou-kun!" Naegi exclaimed as she rushed towards the detective, holding one of his hands. He looked at her calmly and squeezed their hands together, silently telling her that everything will be okay. Letting go of Togami's collar, Kirigiri spoke.
"Apologize."
"Tch. Fine, I'm sorry-"
"Not to me."
"...I'm sorry, Naegi." Togami said as he forced himself to look at Naegi.
"I know you don't mean everything that you say, so it's alright Togami-kun." The lucky student smiled kindly. As luck would have it, the bell rung, indicating that class was to start soon. The students began returning to their seats to prepare for class.
"You're too nice, you know..." Kirigiri whispered to Naegi as they were returning to their seats. Fortunately, they sat beside each other during class, so they were headed the same way.
"Togami's really not all that bad, he probably acts that way for a reason," Naegi explained. The detective nodded at that and settled in his seat. Leaning on his arm and looking out the window, he thought to himself.
Who wouldn't fall for you?
A/N: For the people who read this and also follow my other fic "Distractions" don't worry, I haven't stopped writing for it. It's just that a power outage caused my work for the new chapter to vanish :') The same happened with this fic, but the doc in which I wrote this one was recovered while the other just died I guess :(( Welp what happens, happens I guess. I plan to hopefully release a new chapter for it this week (or month, i swear i wont let another month end without an update for it) So yeah, that ends all my random blabbering and stuff I hope you guys liked this fic! Your feedback is greatly appreciated :))