A/N: No, I'm not telling you what Kanji's making yet. You just have to keep guessing! Try to think of something that combines yaoi, detectives, and trees.
Despite what Kanji had decided yesterday, he still had some shopping to do. There was an artisan crafts store on the street next to Junes that he and his mother bought thread for their store. This wasn't strictly his own decision, for his mother had told him that she was a bit under the weather and didn't want to leave the house (she requested he get some patterned textiles, plain white thread, and a crocheting hooking, as well as yarn.)
He left the house early that day, the weather cold and rainy. At first, nobody else was out—Kanji figured they were all sleeping. Then, without warning, someone stepped in front of him, knocking them both to the pavement, along with the person's shopping bag.
Looking up, he saw that the person was a girl, only a few months younger; a friend, nonetheless, and a well-known idol. She had bouncy red hair done up in high pigtails and a bright bubbly white smile. It was none other than Rise, the reason Yukiko was at the show. The reason he let it all out in front of Naoto.
"Oh, Kanji, it's just you!" She exclaimed, scrambling her items back into the bag. "I thought you were another stalker of mine."
"Thankfully not," Kanji muttered, "What're you up to?"
"Well, nothing much, I—wait, no I shouldn't be telling you, not like this."
Kanji scowled slightly. "Fine then," Thanks for wasting my time, he thought. "I've got somewhere to be, anyway."
He continued walking in the direction of the craft store until Rise grabbed him by the arm, pulled him back. "No, don't go! I wanna show you something—or someone I should say."
And Kanji went with Rise, without hesitating, for he knew that would do him no good. Soon, the both of them were at the front of the tofu shop, the one owned by Rise's grandmother.
There was a man standing, looking their way. He was almost the same height as Kanji, though from his broad jaw line and greater muscle mass, he seemed older. He had Rise's bright red hair, shaved halfway, the rest swept over. He was dressed in a long khaki trench coat.
"Kanji, this is my older cousin, Rikuto,"
"Just…Riku, I'm not all that formal about names, really." Riku shrugged lightly, smiling. He then shook Kanji's hand, politely.
"He works in the European Theater Industry, no country in particular. His team noticed our stage could use a little work—I mean, the Next To Normal set piece just barely fit on that tiny little stage—so he came over here to help set up a fundraiser to remodel it." She breathed in deeply and sighed.
"Woo, that was a mouthful." Rise said, wiping the stray hairs from her brow.
"What she saying is," Riku said, desperately trying not to laugh, and his curved grin showed it, "My team obvious can't pay for a whole remodeling on our own. And since it's almost Christmas, a party sounds fitting,"
"It'll be in two days, at the theater lobby. The more people we get, the nicer it—and the entire place, of course—will look! I'm trying to invite as many people from school as I can, and of course, that includes my dear friends," said Rise, "Only two more to invite: You and Naoto. Speaking of which, where'd that little detective go; haven't seen her since that intermission?"
"Wait a minute, Rise, did you just say you're friends with a detective?" Riku rolled his eyes to the side, closely zoning in on his cousin.
Rise groaned. "Did you not here me, what, two days ago?"
"Ah yeah, that detective; is she the one who wears drag for attention?"
"It's not that simple, Riku—"
"I'll be sure to invite her, bye." Kanji turned and fled, hoping to avoid getting caught up in the conversation. He went to the craft store, his original destination, leaving Rise and Riku standing in the dust, blankly staring.
As the day came to a close, Kanji only had one more thing left to do—invite Naoto. The only problem is that he had no idea where she was. He only knew she left; not where she was going, not why—wait, he did know why. Kanji just didn't like to mention it. He could call her house, but most likely, her grandfather, or even his secretary Yakushiji, will pick up and tell him she wasn't home. But why bother when he could just go straight to the source. He'd had just enough time spent upstairs, alone, anyway.
He knocked on the door once. No answer.
He knocked twice. He heard footsteps.
After three knocks, someone opened the door. It was Naoto's grandfather.
"Well, if it isn't Mister Tatsumi! What brings you here?" He leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, foot tapping.
Kanji rolled his eyes down at the ground. "Rise wanted me to invite 'er to the party her cousin and his team are havin' in two days."
"Hm, I see," Naoto's grandfather said, slowly and deep, pondering something almost, "She's not home yet. But since you're here, you might as well just come on in."
Setting a hand on his shoulder, Kanji was escorted inside, sat down on a couch in the living room.
"So, what kind of party is this?" Naoto's grandfather asked, picking up the cup of steaming tea sitting on the nightstand at the end of the couch.
"It's charity, sorta. They're tryin' to raise money to fix up the old theater near Junes."
"Good to hear kids of this generation are fixing up their town." There was a hearty smile on Naoto's grandfather's face. "Would you like some tea? It's festive."
Kanji shook his head, got up from the couch. "I really should be goin'."
He made his way to the door, constantly shifting his eyes back to the couch. No, he told himself, you don't need to stay. Everything's done, and you can go home. Kanji didn't know if he should though.
Naoto's grandfather was a very nice man, and Kanji knew he should trust him, being related to a friend, somewhat love interest. But he still dreaded what Naoto's grandfather would say. He was on to Kanji, and he could tell from the casual remark he made way back when. Now he probably knew, thanks to Kanji's own stupidity. Hopefully, his stupidity won't get the best of him this time, and he can just leave. Then again, talking things out seems to always work. But why bother he could already guess the outcome.
He spent so many minutes flip flopping between decisions; he didn't realize he was walking back and forth across the floor.
"Care to tell me what's been keeping you?" Naoto's grandfather asked, though he figured it was a minor mental disorder.
Kanji jumped a little, the stray hairs on his body twitched. "Oh…I guess so." And he got back on the couch with Naoto's grandfather.
"I'm very sorry, Mister Shirogane,"
"Please, just call me Noboru," Naoto's grandfather said, rolling his shoulders back before slowly easing deeper into the couch cushions. "This is a casual conversation."
"Sorry, Noburo," Kanji spoke frantically, as if in a rush, "I've just got way too much on my mind at the moment."
"Is this about what happened at the show the other night? Naoto told me."
"What? No, no way Noburo, Actually, it kinda involves it but—oh what the hell it is! You probably don't even want me near Naoto after what I said."
Nobody said anything for the next few seconds; the only sounds in the room were the low ominous ticking off the clock in the corner. Finally, Noburo stood up, stretched, said, "Let me get something; be right back.", and left.
He came back a moment or so later, holding two little rag dolls Kanji hadn't noticed before. They had small identical black beads for eyes and their hands were sewn together. "She made this to at least attempt to fit in with the other girls."
"As you might've guessed, she's not much of a girly girl, but there was always that image in the back of her mind that lots of girls had. She figured once she made it big as a detective, she'd probably settle down somewhere—along the lines of this town—and meet someone, get together with him, you know what I mean."
Kanji couldn't help but laugh a little inside, imagining Naoto wanting to be in a relationship. He always figured relationships weren't her top priority; nothing compared to her own identity. And now he saw that little doll, who he thought to be Naoto with a guy from Europe she used to know, maybe even right here in Inaba, or somewhere else in Japan.
"You know what, I bet she knew one day some random guy—or even a friend, like you—would accidentally slip up and say that he loved her. She was probably thrilled. It's just…human relations are a complicated thing, which I've come to realize over the many years in my life. We may love somebody; we just don't always wanna admit it right away."
"Yeah, I figured that. Ma mentioned somethin' like that a few days ago. I just wanna know if you're okay with me crushing on your granddaughter." Kanji said, still hearing the words 'how've you been treating Naoto' in his mind.
"Would I tell you this if I wasn't?" Noburo took a sip of his tea.
"Good point," Kanji got up off the couch. "Well, I'll be seein' you 'round."
But, there was just one final thing Kanji needed to ask: it was related to the present he was making.
"D'you think I could borrow that rag doll, just for ideas?"