Home alone again, Naoto could feel the vibrations of the bass of Kanji's music coming through the wall as she sat on the sofa, her injured leg atop the coffee table. The music playing was loud, very loud. Reading was a bit tough, the detective decided, with that many distractions. She closed the book with a sigh and looked up at the ceiling.
His taste in music wasn't bad, or anything; Naoto just had no preference for things like this. The only music she had ever listened to was either classical music when she was living with her grandfather or Rise's very repetitive pop music whenever the two had a study session and the idol made her listen along.
"WHY IS IT SO FREAKIN' HOT," she heard the delinquent yell in his room. An embarrassed grin came upon Naoto's face as she still stared up at the ceiling. Yes, she thought to herself, this just had to be the boy she had fallen in love with.
She heard his door open and then slam shut. A minute or so later, it opened and slammed shut once more. She assumed he left to do something and then returned. She then assumed she was correct when the detective began to hear the air-conditioning of the house start itself. She felt the air around her cool within a few seconds. Though, even with the AC on and the attire she was wearing, it was still somewhat warm.
She went back to reading her book as the delinquent's music blasted through the walls until her train of reading was interrupted by a violent shaking.
"Fuckin' Christ," she heard the other first-year curse loudly as the rumbling went on. She heard something crash and drop in his room. Was this, Naoto thought under all the panic, an earthquake? She gripped the sofa she was sitting on as the shaking came to a sudden stop, her heart pounding. It was over, she thought, at least for now.
The detective heard a door slam and the sound of footsteps quickly coming up to her door. "Holy shit," Kanji started as he busted open the door to her room, his eyes wide. "That was a fuckin' earthquake!" Naoto stared at him, her hand still gripping the couch. "We gotta get outta the house," he began taking a step towards the still shocked detective. She noticed that he was wet. "There might be, like, aftershocks or whatever that shit is."
She quickly brought her hands up in front of her. "Kanji-kun, wait," she started.
"Huh?" He stopped after taking one more step.
"I'm not wearing any pants."
The delinquent looked down towards Naoto's legs, then suddenly turned red. "S-sorry," he stuttered, quickly turning around. "Shit, uh," he mumbled. The tips of his ears were very pink, she saw. He then bent over, starting to take off his own pair of sweats.
"Wait, what?" the detective started, looking away confusedly.
"You can wear these," he started, now turned back towards the detective and handing her the pair of sweats.
"But, uh," she started as she took the pants, still extremely confused.
"It's fine; I have a pair of shorts underneath." He was still looking away, trying not to catch a glimpse at her thighs.
"Oh," she said, starting to put the oversized pants on. It was a kind gesture, at least, she guessed to herself.
Standing up after she had put the sweats on, she took a step forward with her injured leg and inadvertently banged it on a leg of the coffee table in front of her. Cursing to herself, she quickly bent over to hold her hurt leg, the delinquent coming over to her side.
"Shit," he started, wrapping an arm around her to help keep her balance. "You alright?"
"I'm fine," she said, wrapping her own arm around his shoulders as he helped her back up. She looked back up and began making her way towards the door, the delinquent helping her keep her balance.
Once outside, the two saw the idol waiting outside for them. "There you two are," she started, coming towards the two and looking around the shopping district at the others coming out of the various shops.
"Rise-san," Naoto nodded in acknowledgement. Kanji was looking around the shopping district as well.
"Jeez," Rise started again, "I almost had a heart attack." She then looked up at the two. "Wait a minute," she began with a smile, noticing Kanji's arm around Naoto's waist and Naoto's arm around Kanji's shoulder.
"Please don't start this," said the detective, aware of what the idol was about to say.
"Don't start what?" the taller boy asked, clearly unaware.
"Nothing," the the two other first-years said in unison.
"Uh," he started. "Alright then."
"Well," began the idol. "I gotta get back to the shop," she said as she turned around, winking at Naoto. "See you two later."
The detective gave a sigh as she walked away. She looked around the neighborhood, then back towards the delinquent she was wrapped around. His shirt was still wet.
"Kanji...?"
"Yeah?" he said, looking over at her.
"...Why are you wet?" she began, taking her hand off of the wet fabric. It definitely wasn't water, she knew; water didn't smell like this. "What is this?"
"Uh," he started, looking down embarrassedly. "...bong water..."
Bong water? Now, Naoto really wanted to smack him in the arm. She then wanted to smack herself after realizing this was the boy she was falling for. She thought she could see his cheeks becoming rosy, but it was too dark, she decided, to assume things.
Sighing, she looked away. Her own cheeks became red as well, but she hoped it was dark enough for him as well to not see the color of her face.
Looking across the shopping district, she saw a familiar face coming up to check on the two. "Detective Dojima," Naoto nodded in acknowledgement.
"Shirogane," the older detective nodded back. He then looked towards the taller boy holding the injured first-year up. "Tatsumi." The delinquent just nodded in return.
"Your leg is healing, I hope?" Dojima began, looking back towards Naoto. She nodded in response. "That's good," he shrugged, giving a sigh. "Souji told me that you were staying with the Tatsumis. I hope this guy's not giving you a hard time," he said, pointing towards the delinquent.
"Oh," the younger detective started. "He's no trouble."
Dojima sighed once more. "If you say so." He then looked back towards the delinquent, raising an eyebrow after noticing his wet shirt. "What is that?" he asked.
"Oh," Kanji started, trying to come up with an excuse. "Uh..." Naoto could tell this wasn't going to end well if she didn't step in.
"Water," she interrupted. The older detective looked back at her, eyebrow still raised. "He was, uh," she began, thinking of an excuse. "He was drinking water, when the earthquake happened, I mean." She hoped he wasn't close enough to notice the smell. Dojima narrowed his eyes.
"Uh, yeah," Kanji came back in. "Water, uh... Sorry about that."
"Alright then," the older detective said, giving the two first-years one last once over. He seemed to have noticed Naoto wearing obviously oversized sweats and Kanji wearing nothing at all, save a wet shirt and a pair of boxer-shorts.
"Oh, uh," Kanji started, trying to come up with an excuse for that as well.
"Save it," said the other detective. "Just put some pants on when you get back inside." He then turned around and continued down the street of the shopping district.
The delinquent gave an exhale of relief. "Thanks, dude," he started, looking over at Naoto. "You really saved my ass."
The detective gave a sigh. "It's no problem, Kanji. I wouldn't have wanted you to get in trouble." The delinquent the looked around the shopping district, as did she. Many of the residents began returning to their homes and stores. She then looked back towards the taller boy still supporting her. Her leg wasn't hurting anymore, she knew, and he probably could have guessed that as well.
But still, she had to admit, she didn't exactly want him to remove his hand from her waist. His hand was big and clumsy, but she felt somewhat protected by it.
It was pathetic, she thought, someone like her being so in love with someone like him. It was the first time she had ever fallen for someone, and it just had to be him.
"Hey, uh," the delinquent started, looking back towards Naoto. "I guess we should be going back inside, huh?"
But, she decided, if being pathetic was what came from giving her affections to him, then pathetic was what she would be.
The first-year came forward, her face rather close to the delinquent's. Her lips gently pressed against the taller boy's cheek for only a short instant, and then quickly pulled away. He briskly looked away after her lips left his side, his face clearly becoming red, even in the dark.
"I- uh," he said, flustered and trying to push something else out. He looked back up towards Naoto, and after seeing that she was still looking at him, looked back down.
"Let's go back inside," the shorter first-year said for him. Her cheeks were red as well, but it was too dark for anyone to notice.
"Uh," he started. "Yeah." The two-first-years turned around and came back inside.
If the idol was there to see that, the detective knew, Dojima would have had to come back to arrest somebody, and it wouldn't have been the delinquent.
AN: drugs, hot weather, earthquakes, texting teen idol sensations; i think i may slowly be turning the setting of this fic from Inaba to Southern California...
