Kanji and Naoto stood in Kanji's room late one afternoon. Naoto had somehow pushed her way in, despite Kanji's objections. His room was messy, like the room of a boy his age should be, but instead of mounds of laundry and games, there were piles of crafting supplies scattered about. The only piece of clothing on the floor was his Tatsumi Textiles uniform for when he needed to watch the shop. A few cute figurines sat atop his dresser, along with some action figures, and he had a "Dachiko Story" movie poster on one wall.

Kanji did his best to look upset about her showing up and barging in. She didn't call to say she was coming and he was in the middle of a project that he didn't get the chance to clean up. But, try as he might, he couldn't be too mad about it. He was happy to see her, of course; he would spend every moment with her if he could. Kanji was just hoping to impress her and that was hard to do with a messy room.

"Were you working on more dolls for the shop?" Naoto asked, eying the mess.

"Yeah, and some personal projects." Kanji replied. He wished she wouldn't pay so much attention to it. Kanji decided to start straightening up a little while Naoto looked around. She moved from his messy floor to the figures on his dresser and finally she went to sit down his bed. But she stopped half way as something on his desk caught her eye. Kanji watched her walk over to the one thing he probably should have cleaned up first.

"Kanji? What is this?" Naoto asked, picking up one of his knitted dolls from the desk. The doll was almost an exact replica of her persona, Sukuna-Hikona.

"That's your persona." Kanji replied, a little sad that she found it. "I thought about making one for everybody, so I did yours first. I just finished it today, I wanted to give it to you as a present..."

"Wow." Naoto said, admiring the doll. "This is incredibly well made, even by your standards. Did you really do all of this from memory?"

"Yeah, but I do see all of our personas all of the time, so it wasn't too hard." Kanji said, not hiding the pride in his voice at all. "Sukuna-Hikona was especially easy because...well..."

"Let me guess: you think he's cute?" Naoto asked with an impish grin. Kanji didn't say a word, he just nodded and blushed. Naoto laughed at his embarrassment.

"Anyway, y-you can have it now, since you've already seen it. But don't let the others see it until I'm done with theirs. I want it to be a surprise."

"OK, but that's going to be very hard." Naoto told him. "He is far too cute to be hidden away." That comment made Kanji happier than any other complement she could have given him. Naoto opened her bag to put the doll in. "Oh! That reminds me, I have something for you as well." She pulled out something black and knitted from her bag. It sat in a pile in her hands, so Kanji couldn't tell what it was. What he could see was that there were needles still attached to one end.

"Thanks, but...um, what is it?" Kanji asked.

"It's suppose to be a scarf." Naoto said, sounding disappointed. "But I didn't know how much yarn I would need, so I just bought the biggest ball they had. And then I didn't know how to stop because you never taught me and I couldn't figure it out on my own. So I just kept going until I ran out of yarn." Naoto looked incredibly embarrassed, but Kanji couldn't help but smile at her. Seeing Naoto flustered was a rare sight and Kanji thought the faces she made were absolutely adorable.

"Well, I think it's pretty damn awesome! Thank you." Kanji said happily. "Here, let me show you how to finish it off..." They sat on Kanji's bed and he showed her how to finish the scarf. He immediately noticed how different being so close to her felt now than it did a few weeks ago. Instead of being rattled and nervous, he was comfortable and happy. He wanted to lean so his shoulder touched hers and he was happy that Naoto didn't pull away when he tried it.

Once the end was finished, Kanji tried it on. Since he was pretty sure he knew what size skein she used, he estimated that the scarf was about ten feet long. Kanji was decently tall, the tallest in their group, but he still had to wrap the scarf around his neck at least four times before it was off the ground. The end result was Kanji looking like he was being strangled by a long, black, eyeless snake. But he still wore it like it was the height of fashion.

"See? It's perfect!" he announced, showing it off. Naoto laughed at him and he faked confusion for a moment before joining in. They spent the rest of the afternoon together, looking at other dolls Kanji was making and talking about some of Naoto's favorite cases, until Naoto announced that she had to leave before her grandfather started to worry.

"Wait up! It's dark out, I'll walk you home." Kanji told her, putting on his coat.

"You don't have to," Naoto said. "I think I can manage on my own."

"Nope! No way!" Kanji protested. "You shouldn't be out there on your own with a killer on the loose."

"What about you?"

"This is me you're talking about, remember?" Kanji said. "There ain't many people in this town that will mess with Kanji Tatsumi! Besides, if I did go missing, I know that my hard-boiled detective will come and find me." Naoto blushed at being called "his", but she didn't correct him. Kanji told his mother where he was going and the two headed out to Naoto's home. It was an especially cold night and Kanji could see Naoto trying to hide her shivers. He unwound part of his scarf, put his arm over her shoulder, and gently pulled her closer to him. Then, he wrapped the scarf around her neck, leaving some slack between them so they could walk. Kanji wasn't sure where this new found courage came from. Maybe it was from the fact that he wasn't thinking about it as much anymore. He wanted to be close to her, to keep her warm, and he acted accordingly. He was pleasantly surprised when Naoto didn't object to it at all. In fact, she gingerly held on to his arm as they walked.

"Do you remember what you asked me a while ago? About if I thought the same way about you as my shadow did?" Naoto asked and Kanji nodded. "Well, I think I have sufficient enough information to give you an accurate answer now. And that answer is...no. I believe my shadow's, and somewhat my, first impression of you was wrong. First, I don't think of you as 'muscle-bound', mostly because 'muscle-bound' and 'knitter' generally don't fit in the same sentence. You are physically strong, yes, but you are so much more than the muscle of the group. That leads me to my next point; you are not a buffoon. Academics may not be your strong suit, but I believe that you are far smarter than even you realize. And, finally, I do think that you are a bit of a hot-head – "

"Hey!"

"Let me finish!" Naoto told him with a small smile. "You are a hot-head, but in a good way. When you care about something, you really care about it and that emotion comes out loud and strong. You have passion, Kanji. Passion for our friends and passion for your hobbies. I hear it in your voice almost every time you speak. So, if you hope to gain strength from me, then I hope to gain passion from you. I don't loathe you for it at all. Actually, I think that I might...um..." Naoto had been speaking very professionally up until then, like she was discussing the facts of a case. But now, her voice faded as she struggled with the her words. When she was finally able to get them out, they came soft and low and Kanji almost missed them. "I-I think that I might actually...love you for it..."

Kanji's stomach jumped up into his throat and then it dropped back down to his knees.

"Really!?" He had to ask, he hardly believed his ears.

"Yes, really!" Naoto replied, sounding a little confused by the question. Kanji didn't know what to do with this information. While he had always hoped that Naoto liked him and wanted to spend time with him, he never imagined that she would fall in love with him. He also never really considered how he truly felt about her, beyond just liking her a lot. Did he really just like her or was it something more? As Kanji was trying to sort everything out, they turned the corner and were suddenly at Naoto's house. Kanji helped Naoto unwind herself from his scarf and then they both stood there awkwardly at the her door.

"So...um..." Kanji said. This was the first time he'd walked her home since they'd become a couple and he wasn't sure what he was suppose to do. Should he give her a handshake? A hug? A...kiss? No, Kanji was sure he wasn't quite ready for that. While he was busy thinking about it, Naoto surprised him by standing up on her tip-toes and kissing him on the cheek. Kanji blushed as he felt that spot on his cheek tingle and his stomach jumped with excitement.

"T-thank you for walking me home." Naoto said quickly. She started rushing towards the door, whatever courage she had mustered for the kiss had already passed. "I-I'll see you later."

"Naoto, wait!" Kanji called just as she reached the door. Suddenly, all of the answers he had been searching for the last few minutes came to him. He felt stupid for taking so long, since he knew it had been there the entire time. "Naoto, I-I...I love you, too!" Kanji said the words far too loud, as usual, and it echoed through the empty street. Inaba was so small, he was sure that all of their friends somehow heard it. But he didn't care anymore; he wanted to shout it again, but he resisted. For a second Naoto stood on her front steps, eyes wide with surprise. But that surprise was quickly replaced with a large smile. Without saying a word, there was nothing more to be said, Naoto opened the door and went into her house. Kanji stood there for a moment more, looking at the spot where she had been standing, and smiled. He turned towards home, happier than he could remember being in his entire life.

Kanji and Naoto have forged a bond that cannot be broken!