Chapter 1: Eyes of Fortune
It's early in the morning and it's a weekend. Naturally of course there is no school for today but why is our hero Seta Souji all worked up panicking inside his own room. His hair is in a mess because he just woke up like he just had a nightmare.
"Gah! Any minute now and she's going to arrive here!" Seta grabbed a huge empty box from his closet and began filling it with all his collection. He was very careful in how he crammed all those inside. He didn't want his posters folded nor his pillow covers torn, but on the other hand he was in a race against time as his soon to be live in partner for only God know until when is about to arrive.
Today is the day they will celebrate Naoto's triumph in passing the entrance exam. Souji knew that Naoto is more than intelligent enough to pass the tests without needing to read a single book. Just like him, Naoto also always got the top marks in her level in Inaba. Souji planned a simple celebration for her but he was too excited that he forgot to keep all his belongings last night. Also the thought of living with Naoto for an entire year or more lingers around his brain preventing him from sleeping. Every time he closed his eyes he would see Naoto in his imagination smiling at him. All these distractions piled up and led to oversleeping and now he's not a tad prepared for Naoto's arrival.
"There all packed but where should I keep all these?" Souji finished wrapping the last crammed box with duck tape and took an overview look of the packages. "These are too many to hide under my bed." He wanted to keep the items somewhere Naoto wouldn't think about looking but he didn't want to have a hard time recovering them when he's able to take them out again. "Well I guess I have no choice but to put these inside the closet in the basement." He says grimly as he picked up a box and walked with it down the stairs.
*Ding dong* The doorbell rung.
"Oh, it must be today's newspaper." Souji put down the box on a table and rushed to open the door.
*Ding dong*
"Coming!" He yelled to signal and hurried to turn the knob.
"Ohayou sempai!" Naoto greeted cheerfully while removing her hat to show respect for her sempai.
"Hwoah!" Souji gasped, it wasn't the paper boy at all.
"What's wrong sempai? Did I perhaps come at an improper time?" Naoto looked at the surprised and flustered face of her previous leader.
"N-no," Souji tried his best to sound calm and gather his composure. "But aren't you a little early? I haven't even bathed yet."
"My deepest apologies sempai but I wanted to inform you early about my transfer here. My luggage will be arriving in a few hours." At that note she innocently smiled Seta unknowingly pressuring the boy more.
"I- I see, erhem" Seta turned away to hide his blush and coughed as a way to bring himself back to senses. "Have you hired some sort of moving agency?"
"Yes and all my belongings from Inaba are currently being loaded into their truck as we speak." She explained. "May I come in sempai?" Naoto asked rather reluctantly but asked anyway.
"Actually I..." Souji looked back at the box he was about to hide inside the basement closet.
"Hmm?" Naoto stood on her toe to look behind Souji. "Is that a baggage sempai? If you're moving stuff for my arrival please do allow me to help." She offered her help and then entered the house without Seta's permission.
"H-hey wait y-you don't have to!" Seta chased after Naoto. "Oh geez please no" He thought to himself terrified as Naoto picked up the box.
"Sempai this thing is heavy what's inside?" Naoto groaned as she lifted the box at the level of her waist.
"I-it's some old junk stored in the room you're going to use so I wanted to store them." Seta lied, flashing his poker face to deceive Naoto.
"Junk? Well I have to say I'm impressed you don't throw them. You do remember that I hate throwing away stuff too." Naoto giggled, it was a rare sight to see. "Oh maybe I can recycle these and turn them into gadgets." She attempted to open the box.
"W-wait no!" Seta hurried to stop Naoto. "I- I'm sorry but some of those are my father's stuff and some are kind of unsightly to see." He lied again while scratching the back of his head to look innocent.
"Unsightly?" Naoto blinked innocently.
"Yes, you know... porn..." Souji said hoping that would drive off the detective from her will to open the boxes.
"O-oh!" The detective blushed and moved her hands away from the boxes. "Well I guess your father is a man after all."
"Yes..." Seta paused for a moment to process what Naoto just said. "Hey wait you sounded like you think all of us men keep porn in our rooms..."
"I- I don't mean like that." Naoto waved her head to disagree. "But if sempai does have some it's okay since he's a man after all."
"I do not!" Seta moved to the defensive.
"Okay if you say so sempai. So where shall I take these?" Naoto agreed then asked.
"There's a closet in the basement." Seta replied and pointed the way.
"Okay then please leave this one to me." Naoto proceeded to the basement with the box she was holding while Seta followed her. "Umm... sempai... why are you following me? You can take the other boxes while I'm on the way there you know."
"W-well the stairs to the basement is rather steep and it's dark I just want to make sure you don't fall." Seta lied. The truth was that he was unsure if Naoto wouldn't open the box so he had to follow her to appease his peace.
"Geez sempai I think I am capable enough I am a detective after all..." Naoto felt as if Seta was treating her like a child which was of course something that she could not stand.
"Better be careful than sorry," Seta firmly stood by his decision to follow Naoto.
"Sempai's always like this..." Naoto gave a little frown at Seta who smiled at her in return. "Treating me like a weak princess."
"You know that's not true." Soji sounded compassionate. "I'd help and accompany you whether you like it or not even if you were a boy."
"I know," Naoto giggled flashing back to their early times together in Inaba.
"We're here," Seta opened the door to the basement and went ahead to open the lights for Naoto.
"There you go," said Naoto after gently putting the box down inside the closet. "Are there others?" She asked after immediately looking at Seta.
"Yes but I can take it from here." Seta rejected Naoto's offer to help.
"Non-sense let's get them together." It's obvious that Naoto's eager to help Seta and the boy cannot do anything about it.
"Well I guess it's fine if we go together" Soji said to himself.
After a few trips they finally managed to store all the boxes inside the closet. Naoto looked tired and perspiring but she denied this fact and even told Seta she could work more if there were more things to do. Seta found this cute and couldn't help to smile and blush at his kouhai who's acting tough in front of him.
"Thank you for your help Naoto." Souji thanked his partner before escorting her back to the living room.
"It's not a problem. In fact it's the least I can do to thank you for allowing me to stay here." The detective returned thanks and bowed. "I will be back later with all my stuff so please do expect me to come in an hour.
"Sure, congratulations on your exam again!" Souji shouted a compliment as he waved goodbye at the detective who was fetched by a limousine.
Meanwhile inside the limousine:
"So how was it young mistress?" The butler/driver asked politely.
"Please do not call me using such misleading term. I prefer to be called Naoto as all my friends close friends refer to me." Naoto requested. "If you cannot help but to be formal then please just add kun to my name."
"Well if that is you desire Naoto-kun." The butler was glad to accept her request.
"Anyway, I'm pretty much certain that I'll enjoy my stay there." Naoto said with a smile. She felt excited, no more than that she was giddy.
"You usually give me such a serious tone when I ask you something like this, almost like a report, but now you seem more lose and light hearted. Is that man really that special?" The butler asked with serious yet teasing tone.
"J-just drive," Naoto refused to answer the question and hid the light shade of red that appeared on her cheeks.
"Yes Naoto-kun," the butler stepped on the gas as if exaggerating on his response to Naoto's command.
"I'm really looking forward to this." Naoto whispered to herself before flashing a rather mischievous grin.
An hour later at Seta's house:
"Everything's ready. I just hope Naoto's fine with such a simple celebration." Souji managed to prepare a small feast for Naoto and already had it set up on the dining table. There was nothing fancy just some setsubun sushi roll, some fried omelette, yakisoba noodles and some red rice all served in an elegant way.
*Ding dong*
"Coming!" Seta eagerly opened the door expecting it to be Naoto. "Welcome, right on time as usual." Seta was not disappointed by his expectation.
"A detective must never be late." Naoto jokingly said then smiled.
"Hey now, do not treat me like some kind of mystery to solve." Seta jokingly sent her a frown as a teasing reply.
"But sempai is mysterious." Naoto played along emphasizing and putting a stress on 'is'.
"How so?" Seta asked confused.
"Well for one I have no idea why you were so careful with me about the boxes awhile ago." Naoto replied glancing back an hour ago.
"T-that's nothing let's just eat. We have to celebrate your first night here!" Seta made a diversion.
"Oh yes speaking of moving the truck is already here and the men hired to move my stuff are ready. Where is my room?" Naoto asked while letting buffed over muscular men inside the house.
"It's the first room located east upstairs." Seta replied and gave an easy to follow direction. "Let me help."
"Non-sense sir . Please enjoy your meal. This is our job and I assure you we can do everything perfectly." The movers confidently declined Seta's offer.
"I see, then please don't mind if we dig in." Seta agreed and offered Naoto a sit on the dining table.
"Wow sempai you shouldn't have." Naoto was surprised looking at the feast in front of her.
"Sorry if there's nothing fancy in it. I bet you're used to luxurious meals." Seta apologized.
"Uh-uhn," Naoto waved her head to disagree. "As a child I always found fancy things unreasonable and impractical. I'm happy that you spent effort to make these for me. With all assurance I tell you I'm more than satisfied."
"You don't have to sound formal you know." Seta attempted to make her feel more at home.
"Sorry but I got used to this kind of speech." She apologized and continue on her way of talking.
"Fine but only in one condition. Please limit calling me sempai I would appreciate it if you call me by my first name from time to time." Seta requested.
"O-okay Seta-kun." The detective nodded blushing gently. "By the way I bought something for you as well!" Naoto took out a box of chocolate from her pocket and reached it to Seta.
"C-chocolates did you make these?" Seta asked eagerly as he accepted the gift.
"Nope I bought them. I had no time to make one." Naoto said densely.
"Oh..." Seta felt disappointed. "Darn it would have been so much more romantic if these were handmade." He thought to himself.
"What's wrong Souji-kun? Don't you like it?" Naoto asked with a frown.
"N-no I love chocolates!" Seta waved his head. "In fact I'd love to try it now." He unwrapped the cover and opened the box.
"But won't that ruin your appetite?" Naoto worriedly ask. Normally eating food meant for dessert first before the main course would ruin once appetite.
"Non-sense I'm used to eating like this thanks to our explorations in Inaba." Seta explained.
"I see." Naoto flashbacked for a minute. Indeed it was true that during their adventures they had to eat in weird conditions.
"Let's eat then?" Seta invited Naoto that they start the feast.
"Haii thank you again for this feast." Naoto replied as she nodded and thanked Souji.
An hour later the movers finished moving all Naoto's stuff to her new room and the two were finished eating.
"That was great I didn't know you could cook so well Souji-kun!" Naoto complimented Souji for his culinary abilities.
"Not really," Seta humbly declined the praise. "For some reason I'm kind of sleepy maybe I'm just tired because I couldn't sleep well last night and that I was moving stuff earlier." Seta's vision became blurry.
"Souji-kun are you okay?" Naoto asked as she went close to Seta to check his condition.
"I feel f..." Seta couldn't finish his last sentence before he fell asleep on the table. He was out cold.
"The medicine I placed inside the chocolate was designed to make you fall asleep instantaneously." Naoto said to herself after making sure that Seta was already asleep. "I guess you really do get nervous when I'm around Souji-kun. You think I didn't notice? What are in those boxes? The hat you secretly stole from me? I know about them all. I've been waiting for all this time for you to confess but why are you so slow?" She frowned gently at the sleeping boy while playing on his hair making a knot using some of the strands. "It was my family's doing why your parents had to leave you alone once again so you can come back to me in Inaba. But you decided to stay here and I can't take the risk that you might find someone else. That's why I decided stay with you. I will be here by your side until you find the courage to tell me your true feelings sempai." All these she told the sleeping boy. "Sorry for putting you to sleep like this but this is the only way I will be able to do this without you noticing." She apologized in a whisper before taking out a screwdriver.
Four Hours Later Noon:
"Guh, I fell asleep..." Seta yawned and stretched his arms. He was still sitting on the dining table. "Where's Naoto?" He looked around for the detective but she was nowhere in sight. Instead he found a note sticking on the fridge. It was from Naoto.
The note said: "Souji-kun I have to buy some stuff that I forgot when I came here. I hope you don't mind but I used your bathroom and took a bath. I'll be back later before dinner."
"I see..." Seta yawned again after reading the letter. "I think I'm going to wash my face too..." He walked lazily to the bathroom.
Upon entering the bathroom he saw something that made his eyes sparkle. It was Naoto's undies: her bra and panties sitting on the sink. It seemed that the detective dropped it before going out of the bathroom.
"S-scoreeee!" Seta cheered in triumph as he hugged the items he grabbed tightly. "Oh Naoto why am I so attracted to you? Only the thought of adding these to my collection makes me tingle! I hope she doesn't see me like this or else I'm sure her nice picture of a good sempai in me will get torn."
Meanwhile at the same time in a shop a few minutes of travel from Souji's house:
"I see you enjoyed my thank you gift that I left on the sink for you Souji-sempai." Naoto said with a smile on her face while looking at her mobile phone that showed Souji's every action in it. She installed hidden cameras all over the house that could be monitored by her special mobile phone and now she's viewing Seta hug her undies. "You're so cute." She whispered as she blushed and hugged her phone.
End of Chapter
Both loves the other secretly. One of them knows everything about the other's feelings and secret while the other has no idea. What will happen between to these two in this strange situation? Find out as everything unfolds in the next chapters of this fanfiction series.