[Summary: After the field trip, the team is on high alert knowing that Rise Kujikawa is a target.]
"And this is the Moonlight Bridge," Nanako said, handing her aunt the photograph. "Too bad the moon wasn't full last night. It's still very pretty, anyway!"
After a long (and frankly boring) train ride, the DEATH Squad members were finally back in Inaba.
To Nanako and Naoto's surprise, Aunt Seta had been waiting with Souji at the train station to pick them up. Now it was evening, and they were at home and going through the pictures Nanako had taken on the trip. They'd had the film developed at a store in the shopping district while they'd eaten dinner at Aiya.
"That bridge looks a lot bigger than ours," Souji observed.
"It's four lanes across," Nanako informed him, "and you can see that even at midnight there were people driving across it! The city is a whole different place from Inaba."
"In the city," he said, "there are buildings taller than Junes."
"Taller and bigger than a t-rex!"
"Have you ever been to the city, Souji-kun?" Naoto asked.
"No..."
After considering it, Nanako wasn't sure Souji would like the city. It was noisy and busy, and her baby boy, well... That wasn't an environment for him.
"No," Aunt Seta said. "The farthest he's been out of Inaba is the beach we visited."
"That's right!" Nanako said as the thought came to her. "You guys never visited me and my family. Tokyo is far, but not that far."
Aunt Seta shifted in her seat. "We always intended to."
"Yeah, I know how it is."
It wasn't like Nanako's family had visited the Setas, either. Now that she thought about it, it made her upset. She could've known Souji as a baby and a toddler. Though... she would've been younger, too, maybe too young to appreciate how precious the child was.
"When I go back home. I promise to visit you guys as often as I can!" Nanako declared.
"I will hold you to that, young lady!"
As Aunt Seta smiled at her, Nanako considered how even her aunt had changed in the short time she'd known her—though she still wasn't sure why the woman hated having Souji's drawings on her refrigerator.
"Part of me wishes I could move," Aunt Seta confided. "To be closer to the family. Sometimes continuing to live in Inaba is difficult. But it's simply not feasible. My career wouldn't let me, not without consequences. And I do have friends here that I would miss."
"Souji-kun also has friends," Naoto said with a nod. "Yuuta-kun and Takeyoshi-kun."
"You'd surely miss them," Nanako murmured, trying not to think about how much she'd miss him when she returned to Tokyo.
There was a short silence, and then Naoto spoke, somewhat hesitantly. "Since we are on the subject, I feel that I should tell you that the police have relinquished my apartment. I can move back at any time."
"You're leaving us?" Nanako asked, wide-eyed.
"N-no." Naoto turned to Aunt Seta. "That is... if it's not too much trouble, I would very much like to remain here."
"Of course," Aunt Seta said, waving a hand. "Stay as long as you need. We enjoy your company, Shirogane-kun."
"Thank you. You're very kind."
There was companionable silence for a moment, and then Nanako brought forth the next set of pictures she'd taken.
"Ah," Aunt Seta said, an appreciative smile on her face. "This is a wonderful shot."
It was a picture of the city's skyline. Swatches of cottony clouds filled the spaces between the tallest buildings. The angle of the sun had given the buildings a golden sheen.
"The Kirijo Group owns most of Tatsumi Port Island," Aunt Seta said, "although they use subsidiary company names to hide that fact. Never insult a competitor there—they may actually be an ally. I learned that on a business trip."
"I think they own the school we visited," Nanako said. "I have to say, it was a pretty nice school, but with all that company money backing it up, it's pretty obvious why it's so nice."
Aunt Seta nodded. "If we lived there, Souji would be going to Gekkoukan. That is certain."
"Moonlight," Souji murmured. "Sounds... p-pretty."
"I didn't see the elementary school, just the high school," Nanako said. She handed a picture of the persimmon tree to Souji. "Do you like persimmons? Maybe we should plant a tree here in the yard! You'll be in high school when it finally grows some fruit."
But Souji didn't focus on the tree at all; instead he was looking at the two girls holding hands in the picture. "Chie-san and Yukiko-san... Th-they're like you and Saki-san."
"That's right—wait, me and Saki? When did you..."
Now Aunt Seta was chuckling. "You forget that he is part Dojima as well."
And Nanako remembered now that she hadn't been very subtle at all during the beach trip, so of course Souji would have figured out her relationship with Saki. At least he wasn't traumatized like Yuuta had been.
"Y-yeah," Nanako said. "Yukiko and Chie are close. I think they're doing okay."
She thought they were doing okay, but this reminded her that she needed to check up on them soon.
"Come to think of it," she said, "I think the Amagi Inn has a persimmon tree. And like every breed and crossbreed of Japanese pine ever imagined. I think their groundskeeper is a breeder." She paused, but no one really had anything to say about that. "Say, you ever been to a hot springs, Sou-chan?"
"N-no..."
"Do you want to? It's like taking a bath outside. I'm sure we'd have lots of fun."
"I haven't been to a hot springs in a long time either," Aunt Seta remarked, sounding thoughtful.
"We should all go!" Nanako said. "Let's make it another family trip. And you'll come with us, Shirogane-san! You're part of our family now."
"W-well, indeed, I could use some relaxation," Naoto said. "If Seta-san can coordinate a day off, I'm certain I could manage to do it as well."
"Hmm," was the only thing Aunt Seta said, and a moment later she was bringing out her day planner.
[9/12: Monday]
It was back to school on Monday, and the teachers didn't give them any sort of break. Their composition teacher demanded a narrative essay detailing the events of the field trip, Ms. Sofue gave them a quiz over stuff they were supposed to have learned on the tour (the one that Nanako and crew had skipped, of course), and during P.E., Mr. Kondo somehow assumed that since they hadn't been at school, they hadn't gotten any exercise at all and made them run laps to make up for it.
While Nanako was rehydrating at the drinking fountain, Mr. Kondo interrupted to ask her about her participation in the basketball club. Apparently there was practice today and he expected to see her there.
And that was exactly why she hadn't wanted to join a club, she thought with an internal sigh. Before Nanako could even respond, Mr. Kondo had moved on to speak with Chie about the track team.
Though it wasn't like she had any other plans today, so after completing her assigned after-school cleaning tasks, she headed to the gym, where the basketball team was just preparing to play. There were actually enough boys gathered to play a full game rather than simply practice, which surprised Nanako, but if they were gonna get hot and sweaty from a little competition, well, she wasn't going to complain. Heh heh.
She watched the game from the sidelines, although on some level she wanted to join in as well, despite her height being a detriment to this particular sport. The teams had been decided apparently at random, so she didn't have a side to root for and just cheered everyone on fairly equally.
However, one team quickly began to dominate the other until the game churned to a halt, the losing team too dispirited to continue.
The losing team gathered into a circle. "What the hell is wrong with you, Kou?" one of the boys shouted.
"I guess my head isn't in the game today," Kou replied with a shrug.
"You missed every shot, dude. That's not like you."
"And my pass!" another boy added.
"And you kept letting them steal the ball from you. You weren't just out of the game, you were out of the damned country."
"I'm just rusty from summer," Kou said. "I'll do better next time, I promise! I'll make it up to you—I'll take care of the cleanup. You guys head on home."
No one could complain about that. Soon only Nanako and Kou were left in the gym. A basketball had been left by Kou's feet, and he stared somewhat forlornly down at it. He didn't seem about to put it away any time soon.
"If you stand there any longer, I'm going to start questioning your dedication to balls," Nanako remarked. "Shouldn't you be polishing that? Heh heh."
He jumped, apparently not realizing she'd been there. "Oh, y-yeah... I'll get right on it," he said without enthusiasm.
"Look, Kou-kun, if you're not feeling it today, you're not feeling it," she told him. "Everyone's allowed to have a bad day. Don't let it get you down. You'll knock them out next time!"
"Sure..."
His noncommittal response didn't reassure her. Probably there was more going on here than a bad day. There was, of course, no way that he was 'rusty from summer' since a guy who loved basketball so much would have played every day during the break.
"Kou-kun," she said in a warning tone.
He sighed and nudged the basketball with his toe. It began to roll away. He didn't stop it on its new journey. "Is this really all that I am?"
"I don't know," she said. "Is it?"
He glanced at her, and then smiled, though his eyes seemed to be glistening. "Basketball was something I was doing to get back at my family. You know, a sort of rebellion. They disapproved of me investing myself into a sport. And then I found out over summer that I was rebelling for nothing. Now they don't even care."
"You're saying you no longer have an incentive to play basketball?"
"Pretty much," he said with false cheer.
"The camaraderie, the athleticism, the competition isn't enough?" Nanako hummed. "The balls aren't enough?" she added in a more incredulous tone.
"The balls might be enough," he admitted, and this time his smile seemed more genuine. She grinned right back at him. Then he sighed. "I dunno. You know, even my buddy Daisuke hasn't been all that into soccer lately. No one seems to know what's going on with that, either."
"Don't change the subject," she told him. "Look, if you're no longer into basketball, that's fine. You just gotta find something else to take its place. Is there something else you'd rather do after school?"
"I don't know," he said, and she shook her head.
"You don't have to figure it out right this second. Take some time to think about it. And talk to Daisuke. Maybe you have something in common, eh?"
"Yeah," he began slowly, then he nodded. "Yeah!"
"But you still gotta polish the balls today. You did volunteer, after all."
With a rueful shake of his head, Kou jogged after the ball, which had rolled all the way to the other side of the gym. Nanako watched after him, waiting.
But to her confusion, she never heard that mysterious voice telling her that a social link had been established.
[9/13: Tuesday]
After the dismissal bell rang, Nanako packed her bag, and when she turned to leave the classroom, she found Yosuke standing by her desk with his arms crossed. It was obvious by his positioning that he was waiting for her.
"Hey, Nanako..." he said. He sounded hesitant.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Ayane-san and I are going to practice," he said. "You know, with my guitar and her trombone. I was thinking you could practice with us. If you'd like to, that is."
"The band room is free? I thought today was a club day."
"Well, it's supposed to be a club day, but the leader canceled it for today. That means it's free, and... the piano's waiting for you."
His smile was softer than she expected on his face after all they'd been through. Partly shy and partly hopeful.
"Yeah," she said, smiling back at him.
A chance to play the piano again? She wouldn't refuse that.
They walked to the band room together and found Ayane inside straightening the music stands. "O-oh, Senpai!" Ayane said upon seeing them. "I've got the sheet music ready for us! Nanako-senpai, I'm glad you could join us."
Nanako stared at her for a moment. Ayane's hair was much longer than it had been during the spring term. It made her look older than a first-year. She looked genuinely happy, too, and Nanako couldn't help but smile back at her. "Yeah, what are we playing, anyway?"
Nanako was curious because she'd never heard of a trombone-and-guitar duo. After looking at the sheet music, she discovered that they'd modified a jazzy french horn piece to work with a trombone instead. With some skill, it could work.
And to her surprise, they had exactly 'some skill.' All that practicing Yosuke and Ayane had done over summer must have paid off. In fact, Nanako was the one whose playing seemed to be lacking. A whole summer without a piano had taken its toll on her skill, though the piano's condition was also partly to blame.
As Nanako played, she watched the other two. Ayane's expression was one of concentration, and Yosuke's was serene—unguarded, even. She liked it on him. She'd seen something similar only once before... but you couldn't call that serene, exactly...
While they were still playing, the door to the club room opened, and the band club leader walked in, a puzzled expression on his face. Both Ayane and Yosuke's postures stiffened, but the interruption didn't stop either of them from playing. The club leader surveyed the room before taking a seat at one of the many music chairs to watch the performance.
It was fortunate the song was nearly done, because his presence was detrimental to their playing. They made several more mistakes than they'd made before he'd barged into the room. Although he hadn't said anything yet, it was obvious he wasn't here for entertainment.
When the song ended, Nanako sighed. Ayane hugged her trombone to her chest, and Yosuke shifted the guitar in his hands.
The band club leader didn't applaud. Some audience he was. He still looked puzzled behind his glasses. "You don't need to work so hard," he remarked, breaking the awkward silence that had followed their final notes. "Practice was canceled today."
"Can't improve without practice," Yosuke said. "I only just started playing, you know?"
"True," the band leader conceded. "But I thought you were learning the piano."
At that, Nanako could only blink in surprise. Yosuke... learning the piano? He had long enough fingers for it, but...
"And the guitar," Yosuke replied easily. "I'm still looking for a piano instructor. I haven't been able to find one over summer, so I spent more time on my guitar."
The band club leader thought about it for a moment. "Our adviser might be able to help you find one."
"Sure, I'll ask," Yosuke promised. "In the meantime..." He strummed the guitar lightly, making it hum.
"Well, then. Don't let me interrupt you." The band club leader got up and left the room without a backward glance.
What a dick, Nanako thought as he was leaving, but to her surprise her thought seemed to be coming from outside her head. With a very raised eyebrow, she cast a glance at Ayane, who seemed to be pouting. Did she...? "Yeah, how can anyone like that guy?" Nanako said casually.
Ayane suddenly started, thus proving Nanako's suspicion correct. She shook her head vigorously, blushing,
"I joined this club because of the music," Yosuke added, "and definitely not because of him. But unfortunately it's a package deal."
"And that's exactly why I haven't joined. But speaking of music," Nanako said, changing gears. "You... want to learn the piano?"
Yosuke shrugged. "Not really, but I suppose you could always teach me."
She stared at him, and that's when it clicked. Yosuke had lied to the club leader. And the only reason she could come up with is that he'd done it for her—so that the piano wouldn't be removed from the club room.
So surprised by this turn of events, all Nanako could muster was a heartfelt, "Thanks."
He shrugged, the action awkward with the guitar still in his hands. "It's not like I wanted to move the piano back into the storage room. It's not hurting anything being out here. And if the band ever needs a piano player, how hard would it be to, y'know, just ask you?"
"According to that guy, very hard," Nanako said, rolling her eyes and shrugging. "I'm glad he's a third year. He'll be gone next year, and then you guys can have a fun band club."
"W-well, it is pretty fun already," Ayane protested, apparently feeling the need to take back her earlier comment. "When we all get together and play."
"Ayane-chan, he made you practice outside on your own instead of with the group!" Nanako pointed out—though she remembered how she'd agreed with him when he'd made that decision way back in the first term. Hindsight was still a bitch.
"It inspired me to get better," Ayane said.
"You're too nice," Nanako said.
"She is, isn't she?" Yosuke said. "She didn't mind at all when I joined her on the riverbank. I didn't even ask her if it was okay."
"Of course it's okay, Senpai!" Ayane said. "Your advice has helped me out a lot."
"Your advice?" Nanako raised an eyebrow at Yosuke. She was beginning to wonder if there was something more going on here than met the eye.
"Y-yeah, I just..." Yosuke shifted his stance, apparently embarrassed. "I told her she ought to try letting her hair grow long."
"I always cut it short because it gets in my way," Ayane explained, "but having it long like this makes me feel more confident. Even if my mother complains. She thinks I'm cuter with it short."
"Depends on your definition of 'cute,'" Nanako murmured, mostly to herself. "I like what you've done with it, but speaking of hair, have you heard of a place called Uphairval in Okina City? I got mine done there once. I'm about due for another visit. Maybe we can go together sometime, eh?"
"Oh... m-maybe," Ayane said, not displaying much of the confidence she pretended to have. Little steps, Nanako thought. "I'm not the sort to do something like that."
"Yeah? Well, let me know. It feels pretty good to let someone else take care of your hair once in a while."
Ayane promised she'd think about it, and Nanako looked back at Yosuke, who was now putting away his guitar into its case, apparently bored by their girl talk.
"Your roots are starting to show," she told him.
His natural hair color was, of course, typical Japanese black. Yosuke absently ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I know. I haven't decided if I want to use the same color or not."
Nanako tried to imagine him with pink hair. Souji would love that.
"What do you think, Ayane-san?" Yosuke asked.
"M-me?" Ayane squeaked. "Umm..."
Yosuke nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I'm kind of responsible for your hair change, so..."
Ayane frowned for a moment in concentration, her naturally-rosy cheeks getting rosier. "I-I think you should cut it!" she declared.
Yosuke's eyes widened, his nostrils flaring. "Th-that wasn't an option! I meant the color. You want me to cut it?"
"It is starting to get long," Nanako pointed out, mildly amused by his defensive reaction.
He tugged a strand of his hair forward. It was long enough for him to see it from the corner of his eye. "Come on," he said in a pleading tone. "I like my hair the way it is."
"How long do you spend styling it every morning?" Nanako asked. "Think of all the time you'll save!"
"Not that long," he muttered. "I've got it down to an art by now."
"You don't have to cut it, Senpai," Ayane said judiciously. "I know it takes longer for boys to grow it out. I wouldn't want you to hate it for all that time."
"Yeah," he said, mollified—but he continued to play with his hair, as if he was still considering it.
They played a few more songs together, and Nanako came home feeling both chipper and exhausted. Piano playing used more muscles than one might expect, and she found herself looking forward to a long night's sleep.
She was somewhere in dreamland when she heard a front door open and close, but as sleepy as she was, she just shrugged it off. It was possibly the neighbor's house, after all...
The police siren she heard in the distance a short time later made her frown to herself, but she still kept her eyes closed and didn't react. It wasn't too uncommon to hear. Sound traveled fast in this sleepy town. It wasn't like it was right outside the house or anything...
The buzz of her phone made her blink open her eyes with a scowl. Didn't everyone know not to bother her at this time of night? She glared at her phone, watching the screen power down from being idle. It had been a text message.
She grabbed the phone, intending to turn it off to prevent further interruptions, and then...
And then she remembered the last time she'd ignored her friends, and...
She swiped the screen and read the message.
INCIDENT TOFU SHOP!1 WILL TXT DETAILS
Nanako sat up in her bed, almost instantly made fully awake. Incident? Incident? There was no way she'd be able to sleep now.
Quickly she changed into more suitable clothes. After pocketing her phone, she headed downstairs. While she passed by the kitchen on her way out, she paused. She was going out in the middle of the night. She might not be home before morning. She couldn't give Souji any reason to worry about her absence, not after the last time... So despite her hurry, she took the time to write a note and leave it in the kitchen for Souji to find. Big sis is out with big bro, but I'm sure we'll be back soon! :)
And then she was off. She made her way down to the shopping district. At least three police cars were parked right in front of the tofu shop, their lights flashing. Poor Kanji, Nanako thought. Although the sirens weren't sounding, she was sure his ma would be having difficulty sleeping tonight from all the commotion.
Focused on the sight of a couple of officers setting up a plastic barricade, Nanako was almost caught by a patrol. She ducked into an alley in barely enough time to avoid the policeman's flashlight. She breathed as slowly and quietly as she could, employing a technique her dad had taught her. After the man passed by, she sneaked in the direction opposite the way he'd come. She really couldn't be caught; there was no way to explain the thief's knife she now kept strapped to her thigh.
Finally she was where she wanted to be: an alleyway opposite the tofu shop's front entrance. From here she could survey the situation better with a pair of binoculars she'd brought along. With muted excitement, she scanned the area. The only light was from a streetlight and the police cars, making it difficult to make sense of the situation. Most of the police were gathered right in front of the store. Nanako recognized Naoto by his cap. He was writing everything down in his notebook. In fact, he seemed to be interviewing an officer—wait, was that officer Adachi-san!?
Nanako narrowed her eyes. It was. Apparently Adachi was the incident's prime witness. Everyone was gathered around him and hanging onto his every word. Nanako dearly wished she'd learned to read lips, though she knew she'd get Naoto's report later, because she had no idea what he was telling everyone.
Adachi waved one hand wildly as he recounted his story. His other hand was so still that it was quite conspicuous, and Nanako adjusted her binocular's focus until she could see it more clearly. Adachi was holding a cloth to his mouth. It seemed like he'd been in a fight or something. A nurse on the sidelines tried to inspect his injuries, but Adachi waved her off.
Now Nanako was even more curious, and she recognized that while everyone was focused on Adachi's ongoing report, she could take a look at the crime scene, assuming the incident had happened within the tofu shop. Recalling the layout of the store as best she could, she presumed there had to be a side or back entrance that she could use. To cross the street, she walked all the way around the far end of the shopping district. Luckily, no one seemed to have seen her; the cloudy weather was her ally. No wonder Izaya liked it so much.
There was a side door, and luck was again with her as it was totally unlocked. The smell of cigarettes permeated the air in the area—she had a feeling a cop had been here recently, had probably gone out to this alley for a smoke break. Hopefully he wouldn't return anytime soon.
She slipped into the tofu shop. The room was she entered was dimly lit by a small reading lamp in the corner. It was some sort of living area unrelated to the store with a couple of couches and a small TV against the wall.
An elderly woman was reading on the couch. She looked up at Nanako and blinked as her eyes adjusted to the world away from the paperback. "Was there something else?" she asked. "Wait, you're not with the police..."
"Oh, Kujikawa-san!" Nanako said, recognizing the woman as Rise's grandma. "I'm so glad that you're okay. I heard something happened and got worried."
Grandma Kujikawa frowned. "You've never bought tofu from me. I don't know you."
Damn foxy grandma, Nanako grumbled internally.
"R-Rise-chan asked me to check on you while she was out," she tried, hoping the overly familiar honorific would be enough. "I was part of the group that warned her about the kidnapper."
"Rise did...?" the old woman started, but then her eyes lit up. "Oh, so you're friends with Naoto-kun!"
Nanako nodded, scanning the old woman with what she hoped were concerned eyes.
"You don't have to worry. I think only poor Tohru-kun was hurt."
Nanako faked a breath of relief, then pretended to be startled. "Adachi-san?" she said, putting some real concern into it given all they'd been through.
"Yes," the old woman said with a tight, reassuring smile. "I was asleep in my bedroom in the back of the store, you see, when a loud noise woke me up. I heard some sort a scuffle and shouting and headed for them immediately."
"That was dangerous, Kujikawa-san!" Nanako said, though in reality she was thinking the woman had some balls.
"In hindsight, perhaps," she admitted, "but I was worried about my store."
Turned out she never got to see the action, as Adachi was lying flat on the floor when she got there, though to his credit he seemed to be calling the police. Nanako asked her what Adachi was doing in her shop in the first place, and Grandma Kujikawa answered that he'd been assigned to watch the store every night since Rise had left town. "Or perhaps he volunteered," she added slyly. "My tofu is pretty good, after all."
Nanako smiled. Yeah, that grandma was all right. Anyway, the important thing was that apparently the kidnapper hadn't known that Rise was out of town and tried to kidnap her anyway. Adachi got a torn lip—which would probably make for a sexy scar whenever he decided to go rugged—and hopefully some info about the kidnapper that would help identify him once and for all. Things were getting exciting!
As she was preparing some more questions for the old woman, Nanako heard the side door she'd entered from sliding open. "Oh fuck," she mumbled, though maybe a few decibels too loud given the raised eyebrow Grandma Kujikawa was aiming at her. There was nowhere to hide in that room! Would the woman even cover for her if she tried to duck behind the couch? But before she could decide...
"Nanako-san," Naoto said, sighing tiredly. "I should be surprised to see you, but somehow it makes perfect sense."
"Hey, if you didn't want me involved, you shouldn't have texted!"
"I am aware of my mistake."
They stared at each other for a moment before breaking out into smiles, Naoto shaking his head ruefully.
"Well," the old woman said, interrupting their moment, "at least you two do seem to be friends."
"I would never lie to you, Kujikawa-san!" Nanako said with affected outrage, but the old woman merely waved it away, smiling all the while; she really was cool. "Any chance someone else is gonna follow you in here?" she then asked Naoto, deciding to drop pretenses now that the cat was out of the bag. "I'd rather not get caught twice."
"Not if we lock the door," Naoto said.
"Please do," Grandma Kujikawa added. "I, too, would like some peace, and in case it doesn't work, you can always head to the next room and talk there."
"You are very kind, Kujikawa-san," Naoto said, tipping his hat and smiling. Grandma Kujikawa smiled back, then went back to her reading. "To the next room, then."
Once there, Nanako and Naoto got right down to business, taking seats next to each other on a dusty old couch. Naoto reported that Adachi did not recognize his attacker, but that the man had shouted quite desperately that he 'had to save her!' all the while trying to shove a sweet-smelling cloth into Adachi's face. Despite Adachi's somewhat scrawny appearance, he was physically strong enough to resist and was able to prevent the cloth from reaching his nose and mouth. When that strategy failed, the kidnapper apparently socked him in the jaw, and when Adachi defended himself by punching him in return, the man gave up and ran away, but not before tripping him onto the floor. Although Adachi immediately called for backup, the man had gotten clean away, and the police were still scouring the neighborhood for him.
"No sign of a truck?" Nanako asked.
"Not this time. It seems he walked right up to the store and forced his way in through the delivery door entrance."
"Well, at least that part of the story matches up to his MO," Nanako remarked. She paused for a moment, thinking. "Did Adachi-san say any more about the killer? Like... an assessment of his strength, or something about the way he walked? Honestly, I thought you'd still be questioning him for more details."
"His superior officer arrived on scene," Naoto explained, "and Adachi-san was obligated to recount his story from the beginning. It didn't seem necessary for me to remain present. In the meantime, I'd intended to speak with Kujikawa-san about the arrangements for deliveries to the store. But I'll definitely speak with him again soon."
"Tomorrow is an Adachi Wednesday," Nanako mused. "I wonder if he'll come over after all this." He'd need a break from the rounds of questioning he was sure to go through. He wasn't likely to get any sleep today. By the time he was free, he'd be exhausted and probably not in the mood to socialize at all. Nanako wouldn't blame him if he skipped—but if he spun his fight with the killer into a thrilling tale, well, maybe it'd excite Aunt Seta, and...
"What are you thinking about?" Naoto asked. "Nevermind. I don't think I want to know."
"Heh heh," said Nanako. "Uh, anyway, can we take a look at where the fight took place? Well, unless there are officers on the scene or something."
"We can do that," Naoto said. "The site investigation has been wrapped up. Follow me."
Naoto led the way out of the room and down a hallway. Soon they were in the storefront, right behind the counters where the tofu was prepared for customers. Although the ceiling lights were off, the area was illuminated by the fluorescent lights built into the tofu display shelves, providing enough light to see by. It wasn't perfect for investigating, but it would have to do. Turning on other lights might attract unwanted attention—outside the store's windows, Nanako could see flashing red and blue lights. Police were still around, even if none were inside the store at the moment.
Naoto continued on into a side room in the far corner. It was the storage room, housing mostly sealed containers of tofu and a large refrigerator. As it turned out, the delivery door was connected directly to this room.
Naoto took out a flashlight and shined it on the door. The lock did not appear to be broken in any way, shape, or form. The culprit had more finesse in breaking in than Nanako, apparently. Naoto explained that it was likely the door hadn't been locked—a stroke of luck for the culprit—or that he'd jimmied it open with a credit card. It was an older model of lock that wasn't resistant to such a simple technique.
Note to self, Nanako thought. Get a chain bolt.
Although the police had likely combed the area for clues, Nanako took the flashlight from Naoto and checked over every nook and cranny in the storage room. She laid herself down flat on the floor and looked under the bottom shelves. She found only an old candy wrapper so dusty that it stained her fingers gray when she touched it.
"Great," she muttered, wrinkling her nose as she tried to clean her fingers. An idea occurred to her: if the room was this dusty, wouldn't the culprit have left footprints? She was excited for a second before realizing the floor wasn't all that dusty, it was just the area under the shelves that had been neglected in Kujikawa-san's cleaning duties.
Nanako sighed. With her luck, the culprit, with his average height and average build, probably wore an average shoe size, anyway.
They left the storage room. According to Naoto, Adachi had been standing right by the food counter when the culprit surprised him—but Naoto suspected he'd actually been sitting on one of the stools. Nanako didn't disbelieve it. Being a night guard was boring work, and after a week of it with no incidents, he'd probably become complacent and spent his shift trying not to fall asleep.
Regardless of whether or not this was true, at least he'd had the facilities to defend himself. If he'd been knocked out, would the killer have thrown him into a TV? Then they'd have to rescue him, and... Nanako didn't want to think about it. Adachi-san already knew too much!
Naoto informed her that a stool had even been knocked over in the scuffle. The stools were all standing up now, and Nanako thought it was amusing that someone with the police had thought to right it when no one had thought to pick up all these papers that had been scattered from the counter.
With a soft sigh, Nanako began to pick up the papers. They seemed to be the store's financial accounts. This one was an order for 50 boxes of dashi stock from some company in Kyoto, and the next one was an invoice to be sent to the Amagi Inn. Apparently the Amagis had recently entertained a large party with a massive tofu platter.
After she'd gather all the papers, Nanako tapped the stack against the counter so that the papers would line up into an almost-perfect rectangle. One of the papers resisted, however, and when she pulled the offending paper out, it was easy to see why. It was about half the size of the other documents and its left edge was frayed; it had been torn out of a book.
She peered at it in the room's faint light. It seemed to be a page from someone's personal calendar. The page contained about half the month of August on it. On each day's square, someone had meticulously detailed the day's weather report.
Nanako's gut told her that she shouldn't ignore this. It wasn't impossible that Kujikawa-san would pay close attention to the weather since it could affect the store's business, but the pen strokes on this page were far more careful than the chicken scratch on the accounting documents. It wasn't her writing.
Nanako showed it to Naoto, who suggested they bring it to the woman's attention. They returned to the living room, where the elderly woman was still seated at the couch, reading by the soft yellow light of the lamp.
"We're sorry to keep you up," Nanako said, deciding she really should apologize. By now it was only a few hours before she was supposed to get up for school.
"You should be more sorry to interrupt my reading," Grandma Kujikawa countered, holding up her book and tapping it with her index finger. "Why, they've almost solved the mystery. I think I know who did it, and I hope I'm wrong. It's a new author, you see, and I don't want to be smarter than they are."
"Yeah, at that rate, you might as well write the book yourself," Nanako said amiably. "Say, umm, could you take a look at this?"
Kujikawa-san set aside her mystery novel and adjusted her reading glasses on her nose before looking at the paper Nanako handed her. "Yes?" she asked politely after perusing it.
"Is it yours?"
Kujikawa-san shook her head. "Never seen it before in my life."
"We found it mixed in with your financial reports," Naoto explained.
"If you think I'm a suspect..." Grandma Kujikawa began to chuckle.
"I think you'd take better care to dispose of any evidence," Nanako teased. "Seriously, if it's not yours, where did it come from? Can you verify that it's not from a customer?"
"I rarely have a customer leave anything in the store," Kujikawa-san reported, "and if they did, I wouldn't have put it with my paperwork. Since it doesn't look important, I probably would have just thrown it away."
Nanako looked at Naoto. "This needs to be submitted as evidence."
Naoto nodded, took the paper and placed it into a plastic bag, saying he'd head to the station and do that as soon as they were done here.
And they were pretty much done, but Nanako liked Grandma Kujikawa so they continued to chat for a while longer. The woman began to relate the story of a large tofu mold she'd made in the shape of Masamune Date, and Nanako joked that if her history teacher caught wind of that, it might become her next assignment for the class.
"Well, you know where to find me, should that happen." Grandma Kujikawa's eyes were shining. "I might just have to submit that as an idea to the school..."
"Please don't," Nanako protested with a laugh.
They were all still chuckling when suddenly there was the rattle of a key in a lock. Someone was opening the side door.
The fear of discovery must have been obvious on Nanako's face, because before she knew it, Kujikawa was shoving her into the next room and closing the door behind her.
Nanako blinked in the sudden darkness she found herself in, but soon voices had her rapt attention.
"Ah, Kujikawa-san, you're still awake. That's good."
It was Adachi-san. Nanako thanked her lucky stars that Kujikawa had acted so quickly on her behalf.
She couldn't hear Kujikawa's reply; the old lady's voice was just a bit too soft to hear through the door. She put her ear to the crack and strained her hearing as much as she could. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" the grandma was saying.
"I was just going to say that I'm being relieved for the night," Adachi continued. "We doubt that guy's going to come back tonight. Even so, there's going to be a patrol outside until morning. You can invite them inside if you want."
"But will they love my tofu as much as you did? That's the question."
"Ha ha." Adachi's laugh sounded forced. "Well, I'm out. Don't let that Shirogane-kun keep you up all night."
And with that, the cabbage detective was gone. To ensure that the coast was clear, Nanako waited for Kujikawa-san to open the door. The woman soon invited her back into the living room.
"Thanks," Nanako told her. "For covering for me."
"It's not a problem," Kujikawa-san said. "However..."
Nanako sent her a questioning look.
"You could make it up to me by stopping by the store during our business hours and buying some tofu."
The old woman was grinning, and Nanako couldn't help but shake her head in amusement.
[9/14: Wednesday]
The tofu shop incident was big news in the school. At the shoe lockers before school, Nanako overheard some kids talking about it:
"Why would anyone want to break into a tofu shop?"
"I don't know, their ganmodoki is pretty good."
"Not that good, surely."
"I'm just sayin'."
"Well, the police are saying it was the murderer who did it."
"Heh, I could murder some ganmodoki myself."
Nanako shook her head. You could joke about it when it wasn't personal.
The day was rough; three hours of sleep was not enough to survive school on, but Nanako suffered through it, dozing during the classes she felt she could afford to miss. As a result, she didn't hear her name being called to answer a question, but Chie poked her awake with a start. Despite that save, she hadn't heard the question, and while she was scanning the chalkboard with bleary eyes in the hopes of finding some clue, Yosuke whispered, "Attendance logs," behind her.
Her friends could be pretty awesome at times.
"Are you getting enough sleep?" Chie asked her when lunch period began. "You were snoring so much that I'm surprised the class next door didn't hear you."
"I had a busy night," she said. "In fact, go get Kanji-kun, will you? We all need to meet up."
"Naoto-kun, too?"
"Oh, no," Nanako replied. "You won't find him. He's at the station today. I have a feeling we won't be seeing him for a while." In fact, Souji had told her over breakfast that 'big bro' had never returned home last night. A few texts had given her the full story: Naoto was simply hard at work. Nanako shouldn't have expected anything less.
Chie nodded and headed out of the classroom. Nanako grabbed Yosuke and Yukiko and told them they were going to have lunch on the school's roof.
It took longer than expected for Chie to arrive with Kanji, and by the embarrassed look on Chie's face, Nanako easily figured out why. She felt bad for interrupting Kanji's lunch date, but it was a necessary evil. They all needed to know what had transpired last night.
She informed them all as objectively as possible about the tofu shop incident, although afterward there wasn't much to be discussed. Rise was safe, the kidnapper thwarted, but who was to say he wouldn't try again?
"It's supposed to rain tonight," Yosuke informed the group. "Somehow I doubt the Midnight Channel will be any different."
"We have no idea what the killer's connection is to it," Nanako said, "So... yeah, we'll find out tonight, I suppose." It'd be another night with little sleep. She wasn't looking forward to it.
"Is there anything else we can do?" Chie asked, sounding more than a little frustrated.
"We need to decide what to do about the TV World," Yukiko said. "I thought about it the last time we went training. Without... without Teddie, someone's going to have to go in there every so often and check up on things."
Nanako gave it some thought. "Maybe once a week we should get together and go in," she suggested. "Maybe we'll do some training, or maybe we'll just look around and try to find anything that's different. You're right. I hate to leave that place alone, even if no one's been put inside. We never bothered to explore too far from the dungeons. Teddie said it was empty space, but I feel like there has to be something more."
"Red tiled floor," Yosuke murmured, and Nanako gave him a sharp look. He remembered it too, then—that misty place they'd found when they'd run away from Teddie that very first time.
Where was that, and why couldn't Teddie find it again? She wondered if someone had been thrown into the TV even before she'd come to Inaba. Or... maybe it was the killer's dungeon.
"You need to see Kubo's dungeon," Yukiko said, interrupting her thoughts, "and we need to see that secret base."
"I haven't been in there in a while," Yosuke added. "Since, well..."
"Yeah," said Nanako. "We're all a bit rusty, to be completely honest. We learned a few things about how our Persona abilities work, but there's always more to learn. The more we understand what we can and can't do, the greater advantage we'll have. We definitely need to go in there more often. Should we make it like every Saturday, or something?"
"Saturdays aren't always good for me," Yukiko said. "The weekends are our busiest days at the inn."
"Same," Yosuke said. "I'm often scheduled weekend shifts. But if I know in advance, I can make sure to have time off."
Nanako drummed her fingers against her thigh. Saturday was her preferred day since school was only a half-day. It would give them plenty of time to be in the TV World. Wait, fuck. Saturday was her daycare part-time job! She couldn't miss that. She sighed. "Maybe it doesn't have to be the same day every week. We'll figure something out. I just... I want us to be prepared."
"We understand that, Senpai," Kanji said, "but maybe we don't always have to all go in together. We could work in pairs instead. Nanako-senpai, you and me went in once without anyone else, and it was fine."
"That's way too risky!" Chie shook her head vigorously. "Not to mention a little crazy."
"Are you saying you didn't like our 'girls day out' trip to the bathhouse?" Nanako teased, trying to ignore the 'crazy' part of her friend's words.
"We need to take some risks," Yukiko argued, "if we expect to keep saving the victims. Now that Teddie's no longer with us, we haven't much choice." She paused, the ghost of a smile coming to her face, before adding, "And... we could use some crazy."
"Hopefully there won't be any more victims," Nanako said, allowing herself to be optimistic for a moment. "But I'm fine with that plan. As long as any pair that goes into the TV lets a third party outside know what they're doing, I'm okay with it. And I promise... I'll follow that rule, too. I know I haven't been the best example, but it won't happen again."
She felt Yosuke's cool gaze on her as he sized up her sincerity. Finally, he nodded his agreement. "I'd be a good third party," he said, "since it wouldn't be strange for me to be around Junes. It's too bad there isn't a way to communicate from the TV to the outside world in case of emergencies."
"I wonder," Nanako mused, thinking that there might be a few more things that she and Naoto could test. She looked around the group. "Do we all agree?"
Chie had been the only one against it, and she sighed now. "I guess it is hard to get everyone together. But... let's at least make sure that we always report to each other about what we've done in there, all right?"
"No more secrets," Nanako said. "And with that decided... I feel like we haven't really celebrated Rise being saved. It's a huge victory for us, y'know?"
"It is," Yosuke said. "I'm glad you guys were able to manage to convince her to get out of town like that. Imagine if she'd stayed... We'd be camping out at that tofu shop. I can't even eat tofu. It'd be like a nightmare."
"How sad," said Nanako. "I was gonna suggest we should celebrate... with tofu!"
Yukiko chuckled. "The ganmodoki at Marukyu is to die for!"
"So I've heard!"
"Please, no!" Yosuke groaned.
The group snickered for a bit, and then Nanako said, "In all seriousness, if the killer is sneaking into tofu shops and scuffling with cops, then we must really have him on the ropes."
"We've come a long way since we started this," Yukiko agreed. "Despite the losses."
Aunt Seta received a text message early in the evening from Adachi. He was once again canceling his plans to visit for dinner. Nanako didn't blame him. Possibly he was catching up on his sleep (if so, she envied him), but more likely he was still being questioned from every angle imaginable by his fellow officers in an attempt to glean the one clue that would be the key to identifying the killer. Naoto'd had to endure much the same after his kidnapping.
Speaking of Naoto, he still hadn't returned home. Nanako texted him, and he was still at the station. Make sure you eat something, she sent him before putting her phone away.
As a result, it was going to be another quiet family evening. Aunt Seta and Nanako spent the time playing Snakes and Ladders with Souji until everyone won the game at least once.
Aunt Seta put Souji to bed with only a small push from Nanako to read him a bedtime story. While she was away, Nanako hid the remote control under the tea table because they needed to talk.
Nanako didn't want to bring up the tofu shop incident—she'd let Adachi tell that story—although Aunt Seta had probably heard about it already through the grapevine at work. Then again, she worked somewhere past Okina, so maybe it wasn't news at all out there.
Regardless, Nanako had other things weighing on her mind. The discussion with her friends about the TV World reminded her of it, and by now she was due. Very due.
"Aunt Seta...?" Nanako began after the woman had settled herself down on the couch.
"Yes, dear?"
"I need to visit Mr. Morooka!"
Nanako hadn't meant to blurt it out like that—she'd planned to build up to her request slowly by talking about how important the teacher had been to her, but...
But simply thinking about him still hurt. It was why she had to pay her respects to him, and sooner rather than later.
"I don't want to go alone," Nanako continued quietly. "I was hoping that... that you would come with."
"Of course we can," Aunt Seta said. "I know which graveyard he was placed in. I looked it up the last time you asked."
"There's more than one graveyard in Inaba?" Nanako was surprised, but it was just another sign that the small town wasn't quite as small as she'd once believed. "And... thanks." She hesitated. "Aunt Seta... When was his wake?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know."
Nanako nibbled her lower lip, peeling some skin off. What was sadder? That he might not have had a wake, or that he'd had one and no one went to it?
"I'm glad you've come to me about this," Aunt Seta remarked. "There was a time when you wouldn't. That time you skipped school," she added when Nanako said nothing.
"Which time?" Nanako asked meekly. It was all a blur to her now, but she suspected Aunt Seta wasn't talking about the day Mr. Morooka died.
"The first time. I remember it was raining that day. I believe it was the first day of summer. Anyway, I'd been called by the school and told that you'd left class to use the restroom and hadn't returned. I came home to find you here taking a bath."
Now Nanako remembered. The first day of summer—those school uniforms had been too much for her, and she'd left school worried about perving out on all of her friends. And when Aunt Seta had asked if she'd wanted to talk about it, Nanako had declined.
The funny thing was... Nanako probably could have talked to Aunt Seta about it.
"You are full of mysteries, Nanako-chan," Aunt Seta remarked, "and sometimes I can figure them without your father's help. But even when I do, I'm not always sure what to do about them. You didn't come with a manual."
She chuckled lightly, and Nanako realized that last bit was meant to be taken as a joke.
"You know, I thought I knew everything about the kind of person you were," Nanako confessed, "but on that day I saw you with your hair down, and... you're more complex than I'd thought."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Yes," Nanako said emphatically. "I didn't expect you'd leave work just because I'd skipped school."
"Now that isn't a compliment."
"It's definitely not," Nanako agreed. "But by doing that, you took me completely by surprise."
She paused, her fingers toying with the grain of the tea table. There was a nice smooth groove here, hollowed out by years of people idly rubbing it, just like this. She wondered vaguely if Souji contributed to it.
"Auntie," she began without looking up. "That day... I was a bit homesick. But that's only part of it. That's just what I told my friends. The main thing was... Everyone just looked too hot in their summer uniforms. I couldn't handle it!"
Aunt Seta raised her head in surprise, but not as much surprise as, say, Eri Minami would display. She seemed more surprised at her sudden honesty than by the contents of her words, or at least that's how it looked to Nanako.
Then Aunt Seta smiled. "They say only boys have hormones," she said, "but nothing could be farther from the truth."
"Exactly!"
"And you are at that age, after all."
Nanako laughed. "You say that as if it'll change when I grow up. That's not true, is it?"
The woman seemed to be considering her answer. "It's not," she finally admitted.
"'You are what you are,'" Nanako quoted. She paused. It was Izaya who had told her that...
"Yes, but don't use that as an excuse," Aunt Seta warned.
Nanako promised she wouldn't, and they sat in amiable silence for a moment until Nanako broke it to return to an earlier topic. "So, uhh, when can we visit... the graveyard?"
"This weekend?"
"You're free?" Nanako didn't mean to sound so incredulous, but her aunt hadn't even bothered to take out her day planner.
Aunt Seta waved a hand as if it wasn't important. "I'm overdue to visit the graveyard myself."
Another silence followed, one that felt heavier to Nanako than to her aunt.
"Uncle Seta...?" Nanako whispered.
Aunt Seta nodded. "We'll make a family day of it. Is that all right?"
[9/15: Thursday]
"To think a week ago we were in the big city," Yukiko remarked with a long sigh.
"You miss it?" Nanako asked.
The two girls were sitting side-by-side on a bench at the central shopping district. Nanako had seen Yukiko there waiting for the bus and decided to join her. The rain was drizzling steadily down around them—enough so that they needed to keep their umbrellas up, but not so much that they needed to take shelter from it.
Nanako decided she liked the rain. Maybe not as much as Izaya, who she suspected was watching her right now from somewhere behind the gas pumps, but she liked how it seemed to quiet the world around her. It gave her a sense of privacy even though they were in a public place. The only people outside in it were the people who needed to be out.
Though the Midnight Channel aired when it rained, so maybe it wasn't all good. Fortunately, Nanako had awoken this morning to a text from Yosuke that reported Rise wasn't showing up on there anymore. It had been just a blank yellow screen, which meant that maybe they could relax.
"I don't think we were there long enough for me to miss it," Yukiko answered. "But I did enjoy the experience, and I learned a lot."
Nanako recalled the notebook Yukiko had written so much in. "Are you going to turn the Amagi Inn into a love hotel?" she joked.
"And what if I did?" Yukiko challenged, her tone full of sudden fire.
"I'd be okay with that," Nanako said quickly, almost putting up her arms defensively.
Yukiko's shoulders relaxed. "I'm sorry. Chie said the same thing, and when I tried to tell her how love hotels serve an important purpose, well... she began to explain that it was just a joke."
"Are you two still fighting?"
"Oh, no." Yukiko began to shake her head. "We're doing a lot better now, actually! Chie is so careful to get my input on things, it's rather amusing."
"That's good to hear," Nanako said.
"But sometimes I get the feeling that she's afraid I'm going to leave her."
"Have you given more thought to going to college?" Nanako asked. "I'm saying this because it's going to be an important decision for both of you. I don't know what Chie plans to do with her life, like if she'll go to college too."
"I have thought about college," Yukiko said, "but I haven't talked to Chie about it. You see, when we stayed at that refurbished love hotel, I spoke with the manager."
Nanako blinked, because she couldn't recall a time when Yukiko could have done so. Though now that she thought about, there had been some time before they'd left on the very last day. Nanako's memory was a bit fuzzy; the clearest thing she could remember from that day was the massive hangover Igor's brandy had given her!
"She was so normal," Yukiko went on, "she could have been my mother. She had the hotel refurbished because there are so many love hotels on Shirakawa Boulevard already that the competition had become too fierce. There'd also been an incident a few years ago that helped to turn customers away. She wasn't getting enough business as a love hotel, so she had to take a risk. She decided that an ordinary hotel in that area of the city isn't ordinary at all, and she hopes that will be a draw for customers. She told me that since the change, she now mostly gets business agents who book several rooms at once for conferences. Honestly, it's not that different from my family's inn!"
"I'm glad you made a connection," Nanako said, for lack of anything else to say.
"It got me thinking: what if there's actually a demand for a love hotel in Inaba?"
"People right now probably go way past Okina for that."
"Exactly!" Yukiko said. "I've heard over and over again that the walls are too thin at my family's inn."
"The true traditional Japanese inn experience," Nanako said, nodding. "Sex in a floor futon."
Yukiko snorted, nearly dropping her umbrella as giggles overtook her. "M-my mother is always so mortified when people complain about it, too!" Her shoulders heaved, but she was able to keep herself mostly composed. "But it's perfectly natural, isn't it? Couples go on vacation to reconnect with each other, and sex is a part of that. My mother put up some signs around the inn to ask people to consider that there are other guests, but that's not a solution at all, is it?"
"If anything," Nanako said, "they might be excited by the thrill of having someone overhear."
"It's possible!" Yukiko agreed. "People do like to test the limits of what's proper and not."
Nanako and Yukiko stared at each other briefly, then started laughing. Nanako stopped first, noticing that she hadn't heard Yukiko laugh like this before—not her mad giggles, but a raspy, snorty laughter that lasted a much shorter time. She smiled at the sound.
"I don't think I will actually do it," Yukiko eventually said. "Turn the Amagi Inn into a love hotel, that is." Then, after a second, she added: "I may consider opening one elsewhere, however."
Nanako was happy for her. "You go, girl."
Yukiko nodded. "I know you'll be there to help me, if I do it. Chie has improved, but in the end... well, you're the friend I can be myself the most with."
Nanako blinked in surprise. That was an unexpected compliment, and she made sure to smile to show how much it meant to her, but inwardly, she sighed. It was just... all her friends trusted her so much. She didn't think she was worth that trust in the first place, which was one thing, but the real problem was that she could never bring herself to trust them nearly as much, most of the time.
...But maybe that didn't matter. Just look at how happy Yukiko is! she told herself. The least she could do was be there for them, and listen.
[9/16: Friday]
Dragging Saki behind her, Nanako kicked open the door to the music room.
"Nanako, what—" Saki began, but Nanako tugged on her hand, pulling her into the room and then all the way to the piano bench. She sat Saki down on the seat and took the spot right beside her. She wrapped an arm around Saki's back and squeezed her close.
"Senpai," Nanako murmured against her shoulder. "I promised to play for you over summer break, and it's over, so..."
Saki shrugged, and Nanako almost bit her tongue because the motion snapped her jaw up suddenly. "It's not like the school was open during break."
"Oh, we were gonna break in."
"Really?" Saki purred. "That could have been fun."
"Yeah, but you know we wouldn't have gotten any piano playing in," Nanako said, grinning.
"Now I wish we really had broken in!" Saki was grinning back at her. "Though it might've been dangerous."
Nanako shook her head by pivoting it on her girlfriend's shoulder. "C'mon, Senpai, this isn't Gekkoukan with its hundred night guards. The groundskeeper is so old he looks like he could die at any given moment."
"You're right. We'd give him a heart attack. I can't be responsible for that."
Nanako chuckled, but then sighed. "Maybe it's for the best. I played with Yosuke and Ayane-chan just a few days ago, and I'm really rusty."
"Oh, yeah," Saki said, sounding as if she was reminded of something. "I have seen those two practicing by the river. I wonder... are they dating?"
"I wonder, too, Senpai!" If Ayane had changed her hair at Yosuke's suggestion, did that mean something...? "But I don't wanna make any assumptions. Neither of them would appreciate that."
"A nice, girl-next-door type would be good for Hana-chan."
"It's the type he'd go for," Nanako mused. "But a healthy friendship would be good for him, too. And he might try to set a good example for her, since he's her senpai and all."
"I suppose I should set a better example for you," Saki said. "But somehow I don't feel up to it."
"You're still better than Yosuke," Nanako said. She paused, then waved a hand. "What are we even wasting time talking about Yosuke for? That wasn't the point of bringing you here!"
Nanako shifted on the bench and lifted the piano's fall board, exposing the keys. She ran her fingers over the keys lightly, not pressing them.
"Though actually," she muttered, "this was supposed to be his moment."
"Oh?" said Saki.
Nanako nodded. "I'm done messing with the piano. It's as fixed as it's going to be." Without her input, her fingers began to play a light jazzy piece. "Well," she went on, "as fixed as it'll be without me actually joining the club and convincing that asshole of a club captain that it needs professional attention."
While she played, Nanako felt Saki move behind her on the bench. Arms carefully draped themselves around her stomach, trying not to interfere with her playing. She felt a weight at her back as Saki rested her head there. "This is a nice song," Saki murmured.
"Oh," Nanako said, her fingers pausing only for a moment as she stared at the keys. "My mom taught me this one."
"I like it," Saki said, "though I'd probably like anything you played for me."
"Saki-senpai, you know..." Nanako said. "I've changed a lot this year, ever since coming here. I told my mom it was all for the better, but I'm not sure that's true. I have too many regrets to count, even though I told another friend that I took the path with the least of them."
She paused, enjoying the feel of Saki's breath warming a spot on the back of her blouse.
"But," she continued, "one thing I definitely don't regret is becoming friends with you."
"Aww," Saki murmured. The rumble from Saki's chest made Nanako blush, but she kept playing, pretending to ignore how close the girl was.
Nanako continued, "I really don't know how my parents are gonna react to the new me."
Saki didn't reply—she didn't know Nanako's parents enough to offer any opinion. Nanako was all right with that, and it was silent for a while; the only sounds were their breathing, her piano playing, and the patter of the steady rain outside the school.
The piece she was playing trailed off, and she withdrew her hands from the keyboard, finding Saki's around her waist and holding them. "Senpai..." she started, hesitating a moment. "When I go back to Tokyo, to face my family and my old friends, I'd like you to come with."
"Mmm?" Saki vocalized. "Like on a trip?"
"No," Nanako replied.
[Author's notes:
The piano piece Nanako played is "Bar Attacked by Harem Queen" from Revelations: Persona.
Review replies:
foursail - ahhh that is some high praise ;;; thank you very much!
BrackentheInvisible101 - I like that ship too! though I don't know if we'll go in that direction in this fic, it's still fun to hint at hehe
Dusk Clark - I don't always know what Nanako is going to do next, and I'm the writer!
Thanks very much for leaving reviews~ They are always appreciated!
Next Chapter: Cats and Dogs but not Men
You can learn a lot from a 6-year-old.]