There was a knock on the door.
Naoto stood and approached the door of her hotel room with a degree of caution. She was working a case in the city, currently, and the last thing she needed was to get sloppy and risk being attacked by a suspect. It brought to mind the speed and efficiency with which Namatame had abducted her two years prior. If someone that capable, with intent to harm her were to be given that chance, there was no telling what state she might end up in. She was probably just being paranoid, but even knowing that Namatame had intended her no harm, the memory of that event still terrified her now and occasionally featured in her dreams.
She slowly crossed room with her shoes off, readying her service weapon just in case. She peered through the peephole in the door and found herself surprised by the person on the other side.
"Yu-senpai." She quickly holstered her weapon and opened the door to find her friend smiling at her.
"Hey, Naoto," he said cheerfully.
"H-Hello, Senpai. What are you doing here? In fact, how did you know I was here?"
"I called the Shirogane estate and Yakushiji-san told me where you were. After I explained why I wanted to see you, of course."
"You wanted to see me? But why?"
Yu looked at her as if she'd said something strange. Or, perhaps, he was worried he'd made a mistake. "Today is the twenty-seventh, right?"
"Yes, but I don't see-"
Naoto's thought was interrupted when Yu produced a small package from the bag she hadn't noticed he was carrying. The packaging was a dark blue with a turquoise ribbon around it. "Happy Birthday, Naoto."
"Senpai... you didn't have to do this for me."
"No, but I wanted to. You'd already turned sixteen before any of us even met you, and I moved back to the city about a month before you turned seventeen. I wanted to make sure I could properly celebrate your birthday with you at some point."
"But to come all the way here just for that..."
"It's really not as impressive as you're making it sound. This is a lot closer to my house than Inaba is."
"Oh. I did not realise."
"You've never been to my house before, have you? Actually, I don't think any of you have. We should do something about that sometime soon."
"Y-Yes. That would be nice. Oh, may I open this now?"
"Please do."
"Alright. Uh, please, come in."
As Yu entered the room, closing the door behind him and removing his own shoes, Naoto crossed back over to the bed and sat at the foot of it to open her gift. The box was small, but deceptively heavy. Once open, Naoto found a lovely navy blue metal pocket watch. Adorning the face was the design on the back of the cards the group summoned when using their Personas. Pressing the button on the top to open up the face, she found that, in addition to a small compass at the 6 o'clock mark, the inside of the protective cover was adorned with a small version of the photograph the group had taken the last time Yu had been in Inaba.
"So, this was why you had us arrange ourselves in such a bunched-up manner," was the first thing she thought to say, her analytical mind taking over for a moment. "O-Oh, and thank you, of course!"
Yu chuckled at her flustered expression as he sat down next to her. "You're welcome. It's not quite as personal as the plushie Kanji made of Yamato Sumeragi last year, but-"
"N-No, no! I love it, Senpai. This is so thoughtful. But, if I may ask, why a pocket watch? Most people would buy a wristwatch these days."
"A wristwatch doesn't really fit the classic detective aesthetic. But a pocket watch certainly does."
Naoto blushed deeper. "I see. Then, I am to take this as your faith in my continued success in my chosen field?"
"As astute as ever. That's our Detective Prince."
"Senpai, please! You're embarrassing me."
"Heh, sorry about that. But I hope you'll look at that every time you feel down or lonely and remember that we're all here for you whenever you need us. Even Nanako. She told me the other day that you helped her learn a new song on the piano."
"Y-Yes. She is quite the quick learner. Maybe she will one day join Yasogami's music club like her 'Big Bro'."
"I bet that'd make her dad happy."
"Yes. I am sure it would."
"Oh, and before I forget. I also got you this." Yu produced another small box from his bag, this one pure white. He opened the box to reveal a small round birthday cake with her name written on the top in blue icing. "Sorry about everything being blue. I wouldn't gotten the icing in another colour, but they only had blue left."
"N-No, this is fine. I do still like blue very much. Rise has simply been helping me to branch out and try new colours."
"Oh, it's just 'Rise' now, huh? From someone as formal as you, that's a big deal."
"P-Please, Senpai, don't tease me. Rise-san and I have simply become closer friends. Like Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai, or yourself and Yosuke-senpai."
"That's good to hear. I'm happy for you two."
"Thank you..."
"Oh, and don't worry. I bought the cake. The other girls had no part in making it."
"I-I wasn't going to-"
"I know. But you were probably thinking it, and you don't want to worry about that on your birthday. I'm told they are getting better though."
"That is true. Once they stopped denying that part of themselves and started working to improve, their cooking improved surprisingly quickly."
"That's good to know. Hopefully, they'll be able to make something for your nineteenth. As long as they follow your example and follow the recipe, that is."
"Yes, that would be nice to see."
"Hey, you're working on a case right now, right?"
Naoto sighed. "Yes, but I admit, I am having some trouble with it."
"Maybe we can try and make some headway as a team. Like in the old days?"
Naoto couldn't help but chuckle. "I would like that, Senpai. Just like in the old days."
Truly, while the watch was certainly a beautiful and much-appreciated gift, simply being there to remind her that she could always rely on her friends, especially her senpai, was the greatest gift Naoto could have received.
I found out that today is Naoto's birthday, so I had to put my other projects on hold to make something to celebrate. She's 27 now, by the way.