Ah, fuck, this hurts.
Kanji Tatsumi awoke from his deep slumber with a soreness shooting up his spine. He didn't complain about the pain—he did bring it upon himself, after all. Instead he just quietly grumbled to himself about how he must be getting old and losing his step. After it had subsided, he let out a lion's roar of a yawn, sat up, scratched at his ribs a little, and finally convinced himself that he was awake enough to make his way to his bathroom.
The water poured out of the shower-head at a level of heat that some might consider blistering. Kanji would call this lukewarm. Going from one source of heat to the next was basically how he lived his life. It was the same cycle every day: wake up, shower, make coffee, drink said coffee, complain about it not doing a damn thing for him, and then starting work on whatever he needed to do, whether it be making new dolls to fill out the missing ones from the storefront that had been sold the day before, or repairing some shoddy work done by a lesser craftsman. They were always full days, but Kanji made sure never to overwork himself. He still gave himself time in the evenings for whatever he wanted to do with his free time. For the past five years he had been doing this, ever since he graduated.
Fifteen minutes had passed and the water had begun to cool down. Already been that long huh? He was thinking both about the shower and the graduation. As he exited the shower and began to dry himself off, thoughts flooded his head about how the last few years had been treating him. He was now a twenty-three year old man. His mother, bless her soul, had unfortunately passed two years prior due to heart complications, so he was alone in the house now. He actually lessened his work load since the death of his mother, regretting the fact that he dove in too deep to keep himself occupied and not giving her enough time. It was his way of attempting to try and normalize his life and get a stable schedule, but he didn't realize that his mother would be gone so soon. From there, he had taken over the business. Work was still there as his mother's reputation had gotten them far and, when Kanji took over, he was able to keep up the quality of the work she was doing on top of the work he did.
Kanji, after getting done drying himself and combing his black hair just the way he wanted, exited the bathroom and began to get dressed, opting this time for a white button-up shirt and a pair of khakis. Adjusting himself in the mirror, making sure to leave a few buttons on top undone, and grabbing his glasses, he left his room and started brewing his coffee as he messed around on his phone. Pouring himself a cup, he sat down at the table and, after a few minutes, admitted to his aggravation that he was bored by dropping his phone on the table.
Whatta load of crap. It's all so borin' now.
Outside of work, he couldn't say anything was memorable. He graduated alongside his friends and still kept in touch every so often. They all still texted each other frequently and every now and then one of them would come and visit. Rise came more often than any of them, wanting a new wardrobe every so often for whenever she performed. Yukiko stopped by every now and then for lunch, which Kanji skipped otherwise. His Senpai, who told Kanji to call him just Yu now and boy was that a problem on its own, visited a couple of times along with Yosuke and Teddie. The four had been out on the town a few times. Teddie was difficult and still wanted to fuck anything that moved. They also had somewhat of a difficult time getting him served at bars due to his boyish appearance. Yosuke and Yu apparently got tied down since a couple of years after the two graduated. Yosuke went after Chie, who herself came down once or twice along with Yosuke when she had the opportunity. Yu, however, Kanji knew about as he didn't hear the end of it in his third and final year from Rise.
'Look at how in love we are in this picture!' Gimme a freakin' break. Kanji remembered back to those days. How, after all his Senpais were gone, it took some time to adjust. His time as a second and third-year went pretty smoothly overall. He was able to keep up his grades and finished school while maintaining momentum with the family business. He wasn't ever going to be a scholar, but he was okay with that. After graduation, however, it all hit him at once. He couldn't see his friends near as much as he would like, and everyone was doing their own thing. Some left to do other things around the country—even around the world in some cases, Kanji noted. Sure a few stuck around, but that was mostly due to ties that they had here. Kanji, after his mother passed, gave a few thoughts about uprooting the business and moving it somewhere else to make himself think he wasn't as boring as he thought he was. Ultimately he decided against it, but the thought was still there. And on top of all that, there was one thing that still bothered him.
Kanji bitterly took a swig of his coffee. It ain't like I ain't enjoyin' what I do. But I miss everybody, dammit! I miss hangin' out with 'em, I miss bein' able to shoot the shit, I miss her-"
Kanji caught himself at the last thought, immediately slamming the coffee cup down on the table much harder than he meant to. No, you stop that crap. Don't even think about her. We're over that now, remember?
Kanji sighed to himself and closed his eyes, standing up from his seat. Too much thinkin', he resolved. He made his way over to the entrance, scratching his head while looking at the clock. Half-past six, eh? Maybe I'll open early today, who the hell knows? He looked over his display of dolls and patterns available, thinking about switching it for the upcoming Summer weather. Pouring over it all and taking in the details, he did see some work that he did on some of the dolls had been rushed, seeing a few frays there that he must've missed when he had first sewn them together.
"Tch," He let out a sound of disgust. "I'll just put 'em up for a discount." Kanji's body didn't move. He stood there, still staring down at the display, looking at the job he failed to finish properly. He sighed. Dammit. He then proceeded to go to the back, grabbed a small but mobile sewing kit he had put together, and came back up front, laying it on the mats. Ma's probably rollin' in her grave hearin' me say that kind of shit. He snatched the dolls off the shelf, sat down and got to work.
I don't make these kinda mistakes, dammit. Kanji shook his head, frustration pouring out of him. Crappy craftsmen who can't work a freakin' needle right does this kind of work. C'mon, ya know better than this, ya idiot. He made quick work of the first doll's repairs and went on to the next. Maybe I shoulda moved though. There ain't much for me here besides the shop. I ain't old either, I got my whole life to settle down. Another doll down, just one more to go. Ain't like I got family here. Friends are mostly gone too. It don't matter too much anyways. Not like bein' friends stopped them from leavin'. Didn't stop her-"
Kanji, losing focus for a second, stabbed himself in the finger. "Argh, FUCK!" He yelled out, dropping the doll he was working on. He stuck his finger in his mouth in hopes to quell the bleeding. His anger began to fade, a wave of sadness coming along to replace it. The hell is wrong with me today? I get it, I'm lonely, but do I gotta think about this shit when I'm doin' my job?
A light knock on the door knocked him out of his thoughts, and immediately he was angry once again. "Hey jackass, read the sign! Can't ya see we ain't open yet?!" He went back to his thoughts, sticking his finger back in his mouth. A few moments later, he heard a tap once again. He could feel a headache where his scar was begin to come on and got to his feet. Instantly, he was at the door.
Sliding it open, he began to yell. "Look, ain't ya got ears, I said we ain't-"
The door was all the way open, and Kanji's anger was gone. Instead, he gulped, not too sure what to say now. All he could muster was a small and stuttering "N...Naoto?"
The detective, still with her usual get-up, short hair and all, was surprised by the door slamming open. "K-Kanji-kun!" She looked him up and down. "You've gotten even taller since we've last seen each other."
"Uh, y-yeah, I'm up to 196 centimeters." Kanji noted that she hasn't grown anymore since high school though. He wasn't too sure to be excited or to be mortified. The two stood there for a moment until Naoto adjusted her hat and cleared her throat, prompting Kanji to remember his manners. "Oh yeah, shit, come on in!"
Naoto accepted the invitation and walked into the front room. She looked down at the scene before her: three dolls strung around on the floor, one of them still in need of repair but it looked like it was well away from the sewing kit. "Was the outburst just a moment ago a result of...this?" She gestured at everything before her, turn her head ever so slightly to look back at Kanji.
"Oh, yeah, s'pose y-ya woulda heard t-that." Kanji tried to control his stuttering, although it seemed to be a fruitless effort.
"I'd be shocked if the entirety of the neighborhood didn't hear it, Kanji-kun." Naoto said plainly. "Your mannerisms don't exactly allow for aggression that is subtle."
Well, she sure ain't changed any. "Yeah, yeah, I'm a loud-mouthed hard-head, I got that pinned down already." Kanji found himself at a loss for what he should do next. Ain't seen her in awhile. Why the hell's she here now? "Here, gimme a sec and I'll get some tea goin' for the both of us. You got the time, right?"
"Of course. I don't have any arrangements made for the day, so I'm free to do as I please." Naoto nodded at Kanji, noting that the shop owner was particularly on edge.
"A-Alright, if that's the case..." Kanji trailed off and grabbed a wooden sign from behind the entrance to the storefront. He blew the dust that had built up on it off and made his way again to the door where Naoto had entered. Stepping outside for a second, he put up a sign that read Closed for the Day. Sorry for the inconvenience. He stepped back inside and shut the doors once more. "There, shouldn't be a problem now."
Naoto raised her brows. "That isn't going to hurt your business, is it?"
Kanji made his way past her, a smirk on his face. "Nah, it'll be fine. Wasn't s'posed to open for another hour anyways and I don't have a lot of people comin' in on a Monday. `Sides, I need a day off every now and then." Stepping into the kitchen, he grabbed the kettle sitting on his counter and took it over to the sink. No need for nothin' fancy, he convinced himself. Just a friend over is all.
Naoto curiously looked at him as he filled up the pot with water. "You don't take days off?"
Kanji shrugged as he turned on the front burner of his stove-top. "Eh, it ain't often that I do. Work ain't hard and it's somethin' I enjoy doin', so there ain't much of a need to. Don't really take vacations either, now that ya mention it." He placed the kettle, now with water in it, on the burner and turned around, leaning himself against the counter to the side of his stove. "More s'prised about you though. Ain't got anything else goin' on today? Whaddya doin' here so early anyways?" He stuck his hand out towards the table, gesturing for Naoto to take a seat as he did his own.
Naoto obliged, taking a seat of her own, crossing her legs and clasping her hands together in her lap. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I was summoned here by the police force. Dojima-san made the request to me personally, and I wasn't about to turn him down after the work we've done in the past. Unfortunately—or rather, fortunately—the case I was to assist with wrapped up rather abruptly before I was able to be told the news. I had made plans to stay here for a few weeks, but now I'm just waiting for the next case to come across my desk. Until then, I'm just in town, so I've made it a point to visit everyone when I have the time." Naoto paused for a moment, thinking over her next words. Kanji was about to speak up, but she stopped him. "And as for why I'm here this early, I typically begin my day at five in the morning. I remember your old sleep schedule from high school, so I took a guess as to when you were going to awaken. Was I correct in my timing?"
Kanji heard just a bit too much eagerness to prove herself right. "Yeah, ya still got it right on the money. I try to wake up by five-thirty, earlier if I can help it any. Gives me time to wake up all proper and get all the grumpy shit outta my system so I ain't gettin' pissy at customers when they come through the door."
"Because you were so pleasant to me this morning." Naoto beamed at him, causing her friend to blush.
"L-Look, everyone's got off days, alright?" Kanji looked away, gritting his teeth. Damn, can't believe she still has this stupid-ass effect on me.
"I'm just teasing, Kanji-kun. Back to what I was saying, I came by just to catch up."
Course that's the only reason. Don't get hopeful now, ya freakin' idiot. Kanji heard the kettle begin to scream as it released steam and made his way to the stove once again, turning off the burner upon arriving and moving the kettle to another burner that was off. He dug out some tea cups, setting up the tea correctly and pouring the boiling hot water into them. "Well I hate to disappoint ya, but I ain't got anything interestin' goin' on, Naoto. Ain't got any family to worry 'bout, friends come by every now and then but nothin' too crazy happened. I work, I eat, and I sleep. That's it." He turned around and placed one of the cups in front of her and one in front of his seat.
"So nothing has changed at all since we last saw each other?" Naoto questioned, waiting on her tea to cool before trying to drink it.
Kanji shrugged as he took his seat. "S'been, what, four years? Five? Kinda just threw myself into my work, took a you approach."
"I'm uncertain if I'm supposed to take that as a compliment."
"Don't worry 'bout it." Kanji picked up his tea and it almost touched his lips before deciding it just might be a bit too warm to ingest. "After ma passed, started workin' less. Figured it ain't healthy to do what I was doin' for too long and, frankly, I was startin' to feel burnt out."
"I heard about your mother's passing. I'm..." Naoto trailed off, looking away with a pained expression. "I'm sorry to hear that. She was a wonderful woman to me whenever I was over. I regret being unable to come to her funeral."
"Hey, I get it," Kanji said, trying to keep down any sour thoughts. "Ya gotta job that makes ya travel a bunch. Can't be everywhere at once." But would it have killed ya to just show up once?Kanji shook his head, stopping those thoughts from persisting.
"No, I should have made the time to come down to attend. I am truly, truly sorry about being unable to show, Kanji-kun." Naoto still bore a look of sorrow.
"Like I said, don't be." Kanji replied plainly. "No sense in wastin' energy on the past." Yeah, like you got the room to talk, idiot. He racked his brain for a change of subject so he and Naoto wouldn't just be stuck on this loop forever. "Still though, gotta imagine you're doin' pretty well. I keep on seein' headlines with you crackin' case after case wide open."
Naoto, finally going back to her natural state of seriousness, nodded to him. "I have been making good progress in my work. Even as a woman in this field, I have been making great strides. If no other work pops up for me in the coming weeks, I at least have one more job lined up in Osaka."
"And ya aren't gonna tell 'em you can come and help early?"
"Well, I fear they may not be ready for me yet. Aside from that, it has been a long time since I last took a break. I just figured I would take the opportunity to take said break in the town where I hold my most treasured memories." Naoto leaned forward with a grin, grabbing her tea and sipping on it.
"Even workaholics need to reset their clocks, yeah?" Kanji mirrored Naoto, grabbing his own tea, but instead choosing to take a full drink of it. "Makes sense."
"I don't consider myself a workaholic. I am just enthusiastic about the work I do." Naoto looked away with a knowing simper, causing Kanji to chuckle.
"That's such a crock of shit, Shirogane." Kanji shook his head with a huge smirk. "Takin' a wild guess of my own here, but you don't got a whole lotta stories outside of work goin' on either, huh?"
Naoto looked back at him, her smile still there. "Due to the nature of my work, I don't have time to see much of anyone. I've seen everyone at least once since our graduation, but-"
"'Cept me."
Kanji went wide-eyed. What the hell did you just say ya fucking moron? This is not how you go talkin' to a friend! "Uh, um, shit. Look, forget I said that, it just k-kinda slipped outta my mo-"
"Well," Naoto cut him off, her voice dropping a bit. "We didn't exactly leave ourselves on the best of terms, did we?"
"Look, Naoto, forget I said anythin. We ain't seen each other in years, I don't wanna mess it up-"
"No, it's obviously eating you up if you're letting it slip out like that. So we should address this."
Kanji donned a scowl, becoming agitated by her insistence. "Now ya don't run away, huh?"
Naoto matched Kanji's scowl. "What do you mean by that?"
"You had some freakin' balls to just waltz back into here like nothin' ever happened." Kanji stated, his glare still present. "Do ya know how bad you fucked me up?"
"Kanji, it was never my intention to hurt you."
Kanji stood up and slammed his hands on the table, rattling the tea cups. "Then what the hell were your intentions?! Ya don't just run away from your best friend, on graduation day, when he tells you his feelins' for you and then ghost him for five! Fucking! Years!" Kanji felt tears coming to his eyes, but he still felt anger. "Ya couldn't even do me the service of breakin' my heart face-to-face?! Ya had to just run away?! That's why I threw myself into my work! I needed a fuckin' distraction!" Kanji sat back down, trembling now, not too sure if it was anger or if it was every single pent up emotion over the past five years coming out. He lowered his voice. "All you had to do was tell me 'no,' that's it. You runnin' away made me think that was what you really felt about me. Like ya just kept me around in high-school as some big dumb wall of meat to protect ya. Like ya took the first opportunity ya could to get away as far from me as ya could." Kanji took off his glasses and set them down on the table in front of him. He attempted to do his best to wipe the tears from his eyes.
Naoto sat there the whole time, wearing an expression of guilt. "I'm...I'm sorry Kanji-kun. I know it wasn't tactful of me to just abandon you like that. It's just, when you told me your feelings, it was unexpected, and I didn't know how to respond, so I ran. After a few days, when I had finally calmed down, I realized then that it was too late to make any amends. I felt so hollow. I had lost my best friend because I failed to figure out how to react in a way that was appropriate." Naoto gulped, fighting back some tears of her own. "So I moved along with my life. I still have your number saved and every now and then, I had the urge to text you. I just wanted to tell you everything I was sorry for. And here we are now, and I was hoping to at the very least make peace with you." Naoto stood up, catching Kanji off-guard. He saw tears beginning to run down her face. "I apologize, I should have guessed I wouldn't be welcome here. I will take my leave."
As Naoto turned for the door, Kanji quickly got up from his seat and latched onto her shoulder, stopping her. Naoto remained there with her back turned to Kanji. The hell am I doin'? Just let her go man. "W-Wait, Naoto." Your life would be so much easier if ya just let her go. "I ain't sure what I'm doin' right now. Guess I acted on instinct or somethin'. Wasn't s'posed to bring this crap up again." Kanji shook his head. "Crap, sorry, ramblin' again. Look, all that nothin' is to say that I don't want ya to run away again. That's the last thing I want. I ain't ever expected ya to show up here after all that shit years ago. Wasn't prepared for it. Ain't much of an excuse, I know. Bottom line is that I didn't mean to yell at ya like I did."
Naoto wiped away her tears, trying to bring back a calm steady voice. "It sounded as if you had been holding that in for years. I wasn't aware that you hadn't talked to anyone about it."
"Ain't from a lack of tryin' on their part. `Specially Rise. Damn girl kept on tryin' to get me to patch things up with ya." Kanji looked up at the ceiling. "I just figured I'd get the hell over it by myself. Managed to convince myself I did, wasn't really though. Every now and then a thought ya would pop up in my head and I'd get all worked up. Was every emotion rangin' from anger to depressed." Kanji took in a heavy breath. "Today was one of those days before ya came in. Didn't help much I was thinkin' `bout the past five years and how little I did."
Naoto turned around to face him once again. "I'm unsure as to what I need to say Kanji-k...Kanji." Naoto gulped. "At the end of the day, there isn't much more I can say than what I already have. I lament the fact that I should have taken the initiative myself and made some type of effort to apologize sooner. I wish I was there for you when your mother passed, and I wish I was there for you at all these past five years. But no amount of wishing that I do can ever change what I did or what I'm doing. I will respect whatever your decision you make regarding our friendship. The best I can ask for is to be able spend time with my best friend again, but I understand if you don't see me in that same light as you did once upon a time."
Kanji folded his arms and dipped his head down, having his chin meet his chest. Well man, ball's in your court. Nobody would blame ya for tellin' her to get the hell out. Y'know, 'cept maybe Rise, but ya can always patch things up with her pretty quick. He sighed. On the other hand, this is Naoto we're talkin' about. I...I wanna be there for her again. If nothin' else, at least one more time.
"Well, Naoto," Kanji started, bring his eyes back up to face her. "Ya hurt me. I could get over being told no, but these past few years have been hell for me `cause I thought I'd been used." Kanji swallowed his pride. "But even with all that, I know I ain't gonna stay mad at ya forever. And I'm gonna regret it if I don't fix this now rather than later. So," Kanji took a step forward. "Whaddya think about us hangin' out a few more times while you're here? Y'know, outside of today? That is, uh, if that's somethin' you wanna do. If ya don't have time, I'd get that, y'know? Totally would unde-"
"I would like that very much, Kanji." Naoto shot him the most genuine smile he had seen on anyone in such a long time, the tears now drying up on her cheeks.
"U-Uh, y-yeah! Awesome!" Kanji flashed a smile back at her, his face a bit red. He stood around awkwardly for a second, seeking the next thing to do or talk about. He looked back at the table. "Ah, crap, our tea's probably cold by now!"
So the two sat back down, and after that, the conversation flowed smoothly. They talked about the past five years, the places Naoto has been, some horror stories that they both have gone through with their line of work, and what their plans for the future were. It was all so lively, much different than how the residence sounded a majority of the time. It was as if they had still been the friends they were back in high school all over again.
Eventually, Kanji looked at the clock. "Crap, already noon huh?"
Naoto looked at him funny. "Were there other obligations you forgot about?"
Kanji shook his head. "Nah, just can't believe how easily time flew by."
Naoto, leaning back in her seat, looking pleased. "You know, I noticed a while ago, but I never said anything. You have gotten much better at being able to talk to me than you did before."
"Guess I ain't as scared as I was back then." Kanji shrugged. "Don't want ya to get the wrong idea, I'm still nervous talkin' to ya and I gotta focus real hard on us talkin' so I don't start stutterin'."
"From what you told me about your escapades with Yu, Yosuke, and Teddie, you must have gotten some experience speaking to women." Naoto stated.
Kanji laughed. "Nah, those nights were for me and my bros. `Sides, ain't like I had much interest in anyone. Didn't have the time for it either."
"Ah, I see." Naoto curiously grabbed her tea and looked at the floor in the corner of her eye, which Kanji had been generous enough to refill for her, and sipped on it.
"What about you?"
Naoto's eyes darted back towards her friend. "I'm not too sure what you're asking me."
"C'mon, I'm sure Rise or any of the others tried to set ya up on some dates with some people they knew."
Naoto cocked her head to the side and sighed. "Fortunately I have been blessed with not having the time to deal with such things."
"Kinda hard to believe Rise wouldn't force ya to go on a date."
"Well, she did try to force me on one in particular that I didn't mind. She told me she could set it up and all I had to do was show up. I didn't do it, much to her chagrin." Naoto nodded, although she looked a bit nervous from what Kanji could tell.
"Oh yeah, who was the lucky guy that missed out, huh?" Kanji lifted his own tea to his mouth.
"You." Naoto confessed sharply, grabbing her hat and hiding her gaze. Kanji had almost choked, immediately setting down the tea he was holding and clearing up a coughing fit. Naoto lifted up her hat ever so slightly to get a good look at him. "Um, are you going to be okay?"
That's it. I'm just gonna die today. "Y-Yeah..." His forehead was flat on the table. "Yeah, just had a bit of a heart attack is all."
"...should I call an amublance or-"
"Jokin', Naoto." Kanji turned his head up towards her. He was glad that even she still had her airhead moments.
"O-Oh, yes, of course." She looked towards the ground again, this time with embarrassment that she didn't catch on sooner.
Kanji lifted his head up. "How the hell was Rise plannin' on gettin' my ass to go on a date with ya? You and I, we weren't exactly talkin' then, yeah?"
"She claimed she would 'figure something out.' I'm actually not too sure if she had thought any of it through and just hoped that I would take it upon myself to reach out to you." Naoto sat up in her seat, resting her hands on her lap again. "Rise has been like this since high-school, so I have found myself used to it by now, thankfully."
"She bugged your ass about in school too?" Kanji furrowed his brows and leaned back in his chair. "God, I thought she was just givin' me crap, tryin' to get me to ask ya out."
"I see. She must have been very adamant about the two of us and saw something there." Naoto shifted her arms, crossing them and placing chin in her hand.
"Goin' into your thinkin' mode, huh?"
Naoto quickly let go of her chin, startled by what Kanji said. "M-My what?"
"You're thinkin' mode. Y'know, where it kinda looks like you're focusin' way too hard on stuff. Usually you cross your legs too, but ya didn't this time, so probably wasn't thinkin' too hard, now was ya?" Kanji finished the sentence with a toothy grin, but it quickly faltered when he saw Naoto look away once more. "Did I say somethin' wrong?"
"I didn't think that you paid too much mind to it. It's just a habit I developed, I apologize."
"What the hell are ya apologizin' for? It ain't like you were hurtin' nobody doin' that. And I used to pay all my mind to it. I..." Kanji trailed off. "I, uh, used to love seein' ya think that hard. It showed how much ya cared, y'know? I-It didn't, um, matter h-how little whatever the hell you were doin' mattered, ya always thought shit through one-hundred percent of the way." What the hell am I sayin'? Despite that thought, and Naoto's now surprised expression, Kanji's lips kept moving, although he lowered his head so he wasn't eye to eye with her. "I always a-admired that, uh, part of ya, y'know? T-The fact ya always looked so fr-freakin' cute doin' it was just a bonus."
Those last words hung in the air. Despite being around men that were possible more book-smart than Kanji, she was dubious as what to say more times than she could care to count today. She wanted to say something back to him, but the words just evaded her even though they came so easy to her all the times prior. Naoto would admit that the situation she found herself in was unprecedented, as it wasn't her intentions to discuss...this with Kanji today. And cute? Rise would always tell her that she was cute as a means to tease the detective, but she didn't think that she could ever possess that quality, especially back in high-school. In hindsight it was obvious that Kanji had thought her to be this way for a long time, but to hear him actually come out with it was something she never expected. She pleaded with her inner dictionary to find her the right words for the situation. Why did they elude her so?
She didn't get a chance to respond. "Ah, shit, there I go runnin' my mouth again." Kanji stood up. "Sorry Naoto, didn't mean to jabber to ya like that." He sighed, looking over at the doorway to the kitchen. "Look, all this stuff on my mind, I ain't sure if I'm gonna be good for talkin' anymore today. Can we call it a day?"
Naoto stood up, looking up at the man. "Um, yes, of course, if that's what you feel is best. It seems that we're both out of the sorts from trying to recover from our earlier argument. Perhaps it would be best for us to retire for the day."
Good job idiot, she's desperate to get outta her now. "Here, I'll get ya to the door. Least I can do." Kanji led his old friend and crush back to the entrance, where she proceeded to slip her shoes back on, and went to open the front door. As she slid the door open, Kanji, who was biting his tongue to say anything this whole time, couldn't take himself anymore. "Goddammit, w-wait Naoto, I'm so-"
"Would you like to go somewhere with me this Friday Kanji?" Naoto stayed facing out towards the world still. "Or did you have plans already made?"
Kanji stopped dead in his tracks. A million thoughts bounced around in his brain, but only one stuck out to him: Did this fuckin' girl just ask me out on a date? His mouth felt so dry in the moment. So it amazed even him when he could squeak out an "Of course!"
Naoto clutched at her chest, a hidden smile on her face. She turned back around, unveiling her pearly whites. "Then I suppose I will see you on Friday then. Text me, okay?" With that, she turned once again towards the exit and closed the door behind her.
Kanji was speechless. He stood there completely dumbfounded, still processing what happened. He then took out his phone and checked to make sure that he hadn't deleted Naoto's number at any point. With that confirmed and out of the way, he walked back in to his room and laid down on his bed where he determined he would remain the rest of the day. He thought of the conversation from earlier over and over again. Kanji wasn't a mind-reader, so he couldn't tell if the girl had planned to ask him out from the start or not. In the end, it didn't matter to him either way. What mattered was that she was giving him the chance he wanted all this time. Whether it was pity for him or not was the only thing that bugged Kanji a bit, but something that he didn't let linger. He was going to do everything he could not to mess it all up. For now, he chose to rest his brain, as everything today had completely fried his circuits. With a smile resting neatly upon his face, he let one thought permeate.
Huh, today ain't so bad after all.
That would have been his last thought, but as predictable as it was, Kanji could not have foreseen his stomach growling, begging for some form of food to be put in it. He exhaled a dense breath.
Dammit.
Hey all, hope you're doing a-okay. With all this quarantine stuff happening, the ideas start flowing and, due to all the free time I have, I can start working on them. I've wanted to write something to do with P4 and more specifically Naoto and Kanji for a little while now, I just wasn't too sure how to approach it. I'm already working on the next chapter, but I'm trying not to rush as I would like quality over quantity. Hopefully it'll be out soon-ish though.
Thanks for reading!