Kanji and Naoto found themselves alone on the roof of the school for lunch one afternoon. Naoto had asked Kanji to come, which surprised him. She had never asked him before, but as nervous as he was, he was happy she had asked. They ate and talked about random things, from homework to the murder case. Naoto had a cup of instant noodles, while Kanji had an omelet boxed lunch.

"Did your mother make that for you?" Naoto asked.

"N-no, I-I made it." Kanji replied, blushing. "M-my ma suggested that I try it, so I did. It's OK, I guess..."

"May I try some?"

"O-oh! S-sure..." Naoto reached over and grabbed some. She put it in her mouth and immediately made a face. "What?"

"I am so sorry, but this is awful!" Naoto replied, swallowing and washing it down with her drink.

"Hey! It's not that bad!" Kanji said, clearly offended.

"You are good at a lot of things, Kanji, but, unfortunately, this is not one of them." Naoto said, laughing. "I commend you for trying, though. I don't think I could do much better." Kanji pouted for a minute, but Naoto's cheerful laughter pulled him out of it real quick.

"I wouldn't mind trying your cooking someday." Kanji said before he knew what he was implying. His stomach quickly filled with butterflies as he waited for her response.

"O-oh," Naoto said, her face turning bright red. She starred down a the cup in her lap. "M-maybe...u-um..." The air around them got awkward for a few moments.

"S-so, the reason I asked you up here," Naoto said, changing the subject. "is because I wanted to ask you about your shadow."

"M-my shadow?" Kanji said, nervous. He hadn't told Rise or Naoto about his shadow yet; they were the only two in the group who weren't there to see him in person. He wasn't completely sure he wanted to tell them, not even Naoto. Especially not Naoto.

"Yes. It's not really fair that everyone saw my shadow and yet I know nothing about anyone else's." Naoto explained.

"W-well, I really don't wanna..."

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I have...other ways of finding out."

"O-other ways?"

"Yes. I'll just ask Yosuke-senpai."

"Y-Yosuke-senpai!?" Naoto was ruthless when she wanted information, just like a good detective should be. Yosuke-senpai was still giving Kanji shit about his shadow. Kanji knew he would spill the beans for sure.

"Fine, I'll tell you." Kanji conceded. "Yosuke-senpai would probably just lie and make it worse..." Kanji opened up and told her the story from the very beginning, starting with the others following him around after their meeting. Naoto made a few comments here and there, but she mostly just listened to him talk. Kanji was grateful for her silence. Once he had finished, she stayed silent for a few moments more. Kanji couldn't tell what her reaction was going to be; he couldn't read her at all.

"Thank you for sharing that." Naoto finally said. "I know it couldn't have been easy."

"Um, yeah. No problem," Kanji replied. He didn't know how to take this reaction. She wasn't shocked or amused by it and it didn't seem like she thought any less of him. After she didn't say anything for a while, he questioned it. "Is that it?"

"What? Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, because...because..."

"Because everyone else had something to say about it?" Kanji was surprised. Could she really read him so well? Naoto noticed the look on his face and smiled. "It's OK, Kanji. I wouldn't judge you based on your shadow. And I hope you wouldn't judge me based on mine."

"Of course not." Kanji said. "I guess you have a point...But why did you want to know so bad?"

"Because now I feel like I know you better." Naoto replied, blushing. "You knew the part of me that I hid from everybody. It gave you a leg up on our friendship. Now, I know the part of you that you hide from everyone."

"Wow. I never thought about it that way." Kanji said. The thought of Naoto wanting to know him better made him blush as well. "So...do you feel better now?"

"Yes, yes I do." Naoto said, smiling. Kanji smiled back. Lunchtime ended and they walked back to their respective classrooms together.

Kanji and Naoto feel their relationship has grown yet deeper…