A/N: Couldn't help myself, could I? But it had to happen sometime, right? And if the manga is going to jump ahead too fast, well, by golly, I'm here to fill in gaps.
Disclaimer: Just a fan, not one making profit.
The peace of lunch up on the roof of the school never lasted beyond the brief moment of isolation. As soon as Satoshi returned to the hallway outside of his classroom, a first-year student planted himself in the way and looked unmistakably determined to make a nuisance of himself.
"Hiwatari-senpai, I—" he began, shuffling a step to the side to prevent Satoshi from slipping past him, then he swallowed hard. "I... need your advice."
The boy looked intimidated already, so Satoshi kept his eyebrows from rising any further as he asked, flat, "What is it?"
"It's... well, it's Harada-san," the student admitted, then hunched his shoulders up to his ears, smiling bashfully. "I want to give her a gift, but, I'm not sure what she'd want. Everyone says you two are always around each other, so I thought—"
"She does not want one," Satoshi cut in, then locked his jaw to keep himself from saying more until he knew he would continue in a neutral voice. "She is only interested in the Phantom Thief. She rejects everyone else."
"Oh," the boy said, slowly deflating with the reality revealed to him.
"Excuse me," Satoshi said, then stepped around him to continue at a stride to his classroom, refusing to give himself time to think about where his advice had stemmed from.
