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Summary- Chapter 10: Awkward Walks and Another Attack
The next morning started out rather uneventful. I got up, got in the shower, got dressed and went down for breakfast. By the time I finished breakfast it was time to go meet up with the others at Junes. Just as I was about to walk out the door the doorbell rang. When I answered it I found Rise on the other side.
"Oh, hi Senpai, I almost forgot you were here! I have a present for Nanako, is she up yet?"
"Hey Rise, and yea she's up. Come on in and I'll call her down for you." I stepped aside to let my hyperactive underclassman in, then turned and walked over to the stairs. "Nanako, there's someone here to see you!" With that I heard Nanako come racing out of her room and down the stairs.
"Really, who is it? I'm not expecting anybody." Then she noticed the idol, now standing in the living room. She smiled brightly as she called out to her. "Rise, you're here! The others told me you were coming back soon, but I didn't expect you to come here. Aren't you here for Big Bro? He said someone was here for me, is there someone else here?" Rise giggled at Nanako's excitement.
"No silly girl, I am here to see you. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see Senpai too, but this time I came just for you. Here I brought you a present." Rise smiled as she handed the small case she was holding to the smaller girl.
"Really? Thank you Rise!"
"It's an advance copy of my new album that's being released this winter. We already finished recording, now all that's left is marketing and all the boring stuff. They were so happy that I decided to come back that they let me have a few copies to give to my friends." Rise and Nanako were both smiling by then. Nanako rushed over to Rise and hugged her.
"Thank you so much Rise, I'm sure I will love it. I already do. You're such a good singer"
"Aww, thank you Nanako, I really hope you do enjoy it." I stood back and watched the two interact, happy that my friend's are so accepting of my little cousin. I can remember what she was like when I first moved to Inaba, so quiet and reserved, now she's like a whole other person. As much as I liked seeing the two get along, if we didn't go soon, Rise and I were going to be late meeting with the others. I was about to say this to Rise when the doorbell rang again.
"I'll get it." I said as I walked over to the door once again. I opened it this time to find my lovely girlfriend waiting for me. "Hey Naoto, what brings you here this early?"
"I…um… was wondering if you would like to walk with me to meet the others." She asked shyly.
"Sure thing, Rise is here too, so I hope you don't mind her coming along." I knew that while Rise and Naoto were close friends, Naoto did not like how much Rise would hang all over me. It got a bit better after we told the other's that we were together, but Rise was not the type to give up so easily.
"W…why is she here… so early?" I could hear the slightest hint of jealousy in her voice.
"How many times do I have to tell you Naoto, I love you, you have nothing to worry about." To give her some extra reassurance I leaned down and kissed her cheek. She blushed deep red and hung her head a bit. "Besides Rise isn't even here to see me, she came to give Nanako a present. Now come on in and say hello, my beautiful, paranoid love."
"I…I never said anything about being worried or anything like that." She looked up at me defiantly.
"I know Love, but you forget that I know you, and like I said there is nothing to worry about." With that I stepped out of the doorway to let her in. Luckily Rise and Nanako were still wrapped up in their discussion of something or other and did not hear Naoto and my conversation. After she got her shoes of I grabbed Naoto's hand and led her into the living room. "Hey guys look who came to join the party."
"Naoto," Rise ran and hugged her. "I'm soo happy to see you, now I don't have to wait to give you your present. Here," Rise then pulled another CD out of her purse and handed it to a very startled Naoto. "It's my new CD that's gonna be released this winter, they gave me some copies to give to my friends."
"Rise, you just saw me yesterday. You are acting like you haven't seen me in months; that being said, thank you for the gift." Naoto smiled warmly. I knew that she was happy to see Rise, despite her uncomfortableness with Rise's personal space issues.
"Big Sis, I'm so happy to see you. How did your case go? Did you solve it? How long are you going to be back?" Naoto laughed at the girl's enthusiasm.
"I'm happy to see you too Nanako. My case went well and yes I did solve it. It was fairly simple. As for how long I will be back, well that depends on when I get my next case, though I do intend to stay at least as long as Souji-senpai is still here." At that Nanako got a determined look on her face that I know she had to have picked up from Naoto.
"Well good. You two need to spend more time together. Dad said that people who love each other should spend lots of time together. And since you guys live in different cities you don't get to spend much time together." I couldn't help but laugh at her innocent summation of how relationships work.
"Well, "I said, "I hate to break up the fun but Naoto, Rise and I have some where we are suppose to be and if we don't leave soon we will be late." Rise and Naoto looked at their watches to see that I was correct. They both then said their goodbyes to Nanako and started to move towards the door to get their shoes. "I'll see you later Nanako, sorry to do this to you two days in a row, but I promise soon we will all go out and have fun, you included." I really did feel guilty about leaving her like that, but when the fate of the world is at stake there really isn't much you can do.
"It's okay Big Bro; I know you have a lot of catching up to do with the others. We can play later." She smiled up at me.
"Right, I'll see you tonight." I ran up stairs to grab the compendium, and then joined the two girls waiting for me and we left the house and headed for Junes.
The walk was uneventful. Naoto and Rise spent most of it catching up and I just fell back a bit and let them. Along the way we met up with Kanji and he stayed back with me. Things had become strained between Kanji and me ever since he found out about Naoto and me, so it was a little awkward. I didn't doubt his reliability and he didn't seem to have any issues with my continued command, in fact he was one of the first to pledge their loyalty just yesterday, so I did not worry about it to much. I knew that it would eventually have to be dealt with, just as Naoto and Rise's issues would, but they did not seem to be interfering with their ability to function within the group, so for now I could hold off on that particular issue. Also I was hoping that Naoto and Rise could work through theirs on their own, I did not want to get in the middle of that.
We were almost at Junes when, just like the previous day, a dense fog surrounded us. This time Naoto and I knew a bit better what to do, se we instantly went for our glasses. Rise and Kanji, noticing what we were doing, quickly followed suite. I then opened the compendium ready to pull whoever would do the best damage, choosing Norn for my default. I saw the other three pull out their persona cards as well. Within seconds four black blobs started to form and then transform into the monsters they truly were.
They were similar to the ones we fought yesterday, except this time they were almost pure white. Rise called out Kanzeon and scanned them for weaknesses.
"Okay, so they are called Ice Morphous. They have 650 health and 200 SP, and it's weak to Zio."
"Okay, that sounds doable. Kanji I want you to hit them with everything you've got. Naoto do you have your gun?" I looked over at her as Kanji was getting ready for go through with his attack.
"Yes, after yesterday's event I thought it might be necessary." She smiled at me, already knowing what she was to do. I was about to summon Odin when I took a hit with a Bufudyne, luckily Norn is strong to ice so I didn't take to much damage. Naoto then shot at the one who attacked me. I was almost glad Yukiko wasn't there because with her weakness to ice she would have been toast. Then battle went on for a few minutes, they were not very strong, but they were fast, so our attacks missed several times. I managed to get out Odin and got out a Maziodyne at the same time as Kanji so all of them were down and dizzy.
"Good job everyone, now let's finish them off!" With that Kanji, Naoto and I each sent out one more attack and they were gone. Just like the previous day the fog dispersed almost immediately once the shadows were gone. I looked around the scene for a minute and found two white claws I could probably sell to Daidara later. I then turned to look at my teammates. I could see that I wasn't the only one who got hit by those things. Naoto's hat looked frozen and her hair had some ice crystals in it, and Kanji's left foot was thawing, and Rise, as usual came out unscathed. "Good work everyone; now let's get going before some more show up. I'm sure the others will be interested to know what happened." No one else said a word so we moved on.
When we got to Junes I pulled Naoto aside and looked over at Kanji and Rise. "You guys go on ahead I want to talk to Naoto for a minute." They both gave me looks of irritation, but went on anyways.
"Senpai, what's the meaning of this? Is there something you need?" Naoto looked at me curiously. I smiled at her.
"Mostly I wanted to make sure you are alright, and I wanted to ask if you have any thoughts on the day's events so far." She thought for a moment before answering.
"First off, I am fine; I did not sustain any serious damage, though I am a bit worried about my hat." She then took off the item in question and examined it. The ice was melting and it looked, to me, like it was going to be fine. After, apparently coming to she same conclusion, she out the hat back on her head. "As far as the attack it's self, I am a bit concerned. Doesn't it seem weird to you that two days in a row now the two of us have been attacked just as we were approaching Junes? Could this Shadow Summoner person be after one of us, or could it be something about this store in particular?" She had a pensive look on her face as she spoke.
"I agree that it does seem strange. At this point we can't rule out anything. I'm not sure if I should say we stick together and help protect one another or split up and see which one gets attacked. I know I don't want you alone if they are after you, but at the same time I don't want to put you in further danger if they are after me. And if it's the store they are after then no one is safe." I grabbed Naoto and pulled her to me, inhaling her sent and she wrapped her arms around me. I was lucky no one else was there, or she would have pulled away instead. "What should I do? I know I am supposed to be the leader here, but this time I really need your help." She looked up at me, kissed my cheek, and then settled back into my embrace before speaking.
"For one thing, I will not leave you. I know you want to keep me safe, but I am just as involved in this as you are. I will not leave you to yourself, should this person be after you. I will help protect you, as you would help protect me. Remember, we are equals in this, even if I am your underclassman." Then she whispered, "I love you Souji." I kissed the top of her head, through her hat.
"I love you too Naoto. So I suppose we are in agreement here. Neither of us is willing to leave the other by them self to face this monster, so I guess our only option is to stay together at all times." She pulled away and gave me a look.
"You know that's not possible. What about at night, I'm sure your uncle won't let me stay over with you, nor will he let you stay at my house, but I do agree that we should try to stay with each other as much as we can." She then grabbed my hand and pulled me to the elevator. "Come on, the others have to be wondering where we are by now."
"Alright, let's go my dear Detective Princess" She gave me another look. She hated it when I called her that, but she looked so cute when she was annoyed that I could never help myself. Once we got into the elevator and it closed I pulled her in to a kiss. Once we broke apart she was no longer annoyed at me about the Detective Princess comment. We waited in silence for the rest of the ride up to the food court.
A/N: So here is another chapter done with. I didn't get near as much as I wanted to in it, but I do like how it turned out. I was really disappointed in the complete lack of reviews for the last chapter, so that might account for why I took so long getting this one out. I am planning on going through all the chapters soon and fixing any mistakes I've made or any inconsistencies in the story so far, so if you have a major issue or have noticed any outrageous mistakes let me know. I already went in and changed a few things in chapter 6, but there will probably be more to come. Until next time, adieu.