Naoto Shirogane, just finishing up her talk with one Kanji Tatsumi, walked down the street of the shopping district, not quite sure as to what she was going to do next. Her next actions were the last thing on her mind anyways. Some aura of pure confidence had overtaken her in her final moments of her visit and she had gone and asked the boy out on a date. It was completely unlike her to be interested in anything even slightly romantic. Rise had tried for years and years, and there were even pushes from others within her group of friends. But all it took was one visit with Kanji—after a five year spell of no contact with him—for her to be the one to ask him out. It wasn't even in her plans to do that either! What kind of a free-willed confident spirit just grabbed onto the reigns of her mind and took control like that?
On another note, when in the world would she ever have the time for a relationship? Naoto's job asks that she constantly be on the move going from one crime case to the next. Even if this thing with Kanji did work out, when would she come to see him? Dojima only asks for her assistance every once in a blue moon, and when she would be down here, she would be working almost full-time and then would immediately have to move on to the next case. Naoto let out a small, low-pitched groan as she tugged down on her cap.
It isn't like it'd be a terrible thing to do though, right? The thought entered Naoto's mind, and just as quickly as it had come, she pushed it back out. It wasn't like she didn't know that it wasn't going to be a bad time; as a matter of fact, she considered herself and Kanji very compatible with one another. There was a reason that they had become best friends in high school. He and Naoto were always there for one another, keeping each other's most disturbed and doubtful thoughts in check. At times in the past, they protected each other during their most vulnerable moments. Heck, even while dancing together something clicked instantly even with her smoother style contrasting with Kanji's more rigid stances. And several nights were spent at either her or Kanji's place watching some action movies or having some thought-provoking discussions that she typically initiated, but wanted Kanji's unique views on. Looking back on it, she never put two and two together that most of the activities that they did together were things that she had suggested. On top of the things they did together, she challenged him intellectually, and he challenged her emotionally. He was a perfect foil for her. They always, as Kanji had put it back when they were still fighting Shadows, 'Had each other's backs.'
Except for the one time it had mattered most, apparently. Naoto cringed at the memory of her running away from her friend right after they had just graduated. He even prefaced it by telling her that he didn't want her to beat around the bush. And it wasn't like she couldn't see the question ever popping up. The young detective had known about Kanji's crush from the very beginning. After a long time of waiting for him to ask her on a date during their time in school, Naoto had just kind of assumed that the question was never going to be asked and that her rough, yet fragile, friend was going to settle on staying friends. So when Kanji Tatsumi stopped her that one final day that they would be walking home from school together and pulled her aside, her fight or flight instincts kicked into high gear. Her heart was beating a million kilometers an hour, and she just wasn't prepared to face what she was feeling. She didn't know why, but her legs just started moving, causing her to sprint away. What she hated the most about that day more than anything was that she didn't even turn her head around to see him. Perhaps she would have changed her mind had she seen what she had just done to the young man. There were so many regrets about her actions that she couldn't even begin to pinpoint every single thing that she could have done differently. Other than just simply standing her ground.
Naoto was beyond frustrated with herself at this point in her thinking. She stuck her hands in her pockets and grumbled to herself about how she didn't know what part of her took over that thought the best way to remedy this situation was to ask Kanji out on a date. And she didn't even know where to start with what they would be doing on a date. It wasn't like she was clueless as to what people typically do—couples go to the movies, dinner, sometimes go on walks in the park or something along those lines. Okay, so she wasn't completely sure as to everything that people do, but to be fair to herself, she usually skimmed over the romance parts of her crime novels to get to what she considered to be the good parts. But what was important here is that she knew the basic things.
And then her brain had decided to bring up one more mortifying thought to her. She had heard stories before of what happens when a date goes really well between the couple and one invites the other back to their place. What if our date goes 'really well?' She covered her face with her hands instantly to hide the pink color it had become. Couples don't do that on the first date, do they? No, no, of course not. Naoto quelled the thoughts that seemed to explode out of nowhere and breathed in deeply.
"Okay Shirogane, focus." She told herself. "Get some lunch first, and then..." Naoto let out a sigh as she trailed off and dug out her phone from her pocket. "You're going to need some guidance from someone more well-versed on this subject than you."
Rise closed her eyes and calmly leaned her head backwards, letting herself melt in the seat of her driver's car. While she didn't hate doing fan meet-ups, they tended to be a taxing experience for her, draining her of all want to deal with anyone else for the day. Thankfully, that was the case, as the rest of her schedule was clear minus her workouts in the evening. The idol was preparing to transition purely over to the singing side of the business once her contract was up with her talent agency. She felt her star was big enough to warrant the move, and it would allow her more freedom over how she did things and spent her time. Besides, she was on thin ice with her talent agency once they found out she hadn't broken up with Yu like she said she would some time ago. But she was their lead idol, so she knew she had a safety net and they would practically be begging for her to renew her contract when it was up. Rise couldn't wait to tell them to, as her tough tailor friend used to say, 'get bent.'
A buzzing noise brought her out of her thoughts. Looking down to the seat beside her, she picked up her phone and swiped at the screen. To her surprise, it wasn't Yu or Teddie or anyone that she thought it would be. Instead, the name that popped up was Naoto. She was excited, but she found it odd that Naoto had reached out to text her first.
(13:16) Naoto: ARE YOU FREE RN? Y/N.
Rise grimaced at the text. While smart phones were convenient, she had always hated the fact that they had taken away any personality you could have in your texts, what with auto-correct and such being a feature. Shoving the thought to the recesses of her mind, she put on a smile, happy that the detective prince had still kept up with her all-caps messages over the years.
(13:17) Rise: Oh, you know I'm always free for you! 3
Less than ten seconds after sending the text, Rise's phone began to vibrate again showing a phone call this time. She pressed on the circular green phone symbol and swiped on it before putting it up to her ear. With a smile resting on her face, she answered the phone in her normal idol-tone. "And what pleasure do I have to be speaking with the cutest detective ever?!"
Naoto, who was now sitting at a gazebo in a park with her lunch, felt her neck heat up. She knew that nobody could hear her—at least, she didn't think they could—but her friend's teasing still made her look around and want to shush her. She groaned after her scan was complete. "Ugh, I had a feeling this would prove to be a mistake."
"You don't get to complain, missy! You're the one who called me after all!" Rise pouted.
The realization set in for Naoto. Oh dear heavens, I was the one to call her.
For advice on dating.
Dating Kanji.
Today has been strange.
Naoto shook her head to bring herself back into the conversation and focus. "That aside, I need your instruction on a subject that you may be more familiar with than I."
"Oooo!" Rise's voice raised in pitch. "If you wanted to learn how to sing, you should've just asked me, silly! I would bring you on tour with me in a heartbeat!"
"Rise, you know that isn't my purpose for calling." Naoto didn't even want to give her the satisfaction of entertaining that fantasy.
Rise puffed her cheeks. "You're no fun! At least let me tease you a little!"
"I'm sure it'll happen regardless as we progress with our talk." Naoto admitted. Before Rise could get another word in, Naoto decided to continue with haste. "Nevertheless, I would like to tell you the context of my situation as I see it vital to what I need your assistance with. You see, I arrived in Inaba on business, but due to certain circumstances, I was no longer needed on the case. Had I known this, I wouldn't have shown up, but I had already reached my destination by the time I received the news. In any case, I found myself-"
"Oh, you're back in Inaba?! How long have you been there?!" It appeared that Rise had just connected the dots.
Naoto sighed, knowing that she would have to get through this part first. "I have only been here for about a day's time. To answer any further questions, I will more than likely be located here until approximately the end of this month, giving me around eighteen days of leisure to use as I see fit. That is, unless a case needs my work elsewhere."
"Hmph, can't even let a girl ask questions!" Rise said, a tone of fake-annoyance in her voice. She then took in a sharp gasp, stopping Naoto from beginning her next waterfall of words. "Oh wait! That gives you so much time! You should totally see Yukiko while you're there! Are you staying at the inn?! Try and patch things up with Moronji while you're at it!"
Naoto, still aware of the fact that Rise couldn't see her, gulped and tucked down on her hat hearing the last sentence. "Um, I...did...already." Her words were spoken slowly.
"Did what already? I listed off a lot of things there."
"Talked to, um, Kanji...kun..."At the other end of the line, there was silence. Giving her friend a few moments and not hearing anything, Naoto questioned her. "H-Hello? Rise-sa-"
"You WHAT?!" Rise screamed into her phone, causing her driver to swerve for a second before regaining his composure, and causing her friend to reel back and pull the phone away from her ear. "Oh my GOD, that's GREAT! You actually WENT! I didn't even have to tell you to do it, you went on your own too!"
No, it's okay, I didn't enjoy listening to music, talking to people, or just hearing things in general. Naoto calmed herself before gingerly setting the phone back to her ear. "You're awful presumptuous that the visit went well."
"Well did it?!" Rise asked impatiently.
"...yes. I think."
"You think? You're like the ultimate detective or whatever, aren't you?! What's this guessing game stuff?!" Rise couldn't believe that her friend would operate knowing 'I think' was the best answer she had. "What did you talk about? Are you guys still talking? Does he still have his stupid black hair or did he dye it blonde again?"
Naoto, ignoring that last part, nodded before smacking herself on the forehead. Phone call, you imbecile. What is wrong with you today? "Y-Yes, we are. We managed to talk about what happened all those years ago and what went wrong. Kanji-kun still harbored some ill will towards me, understandably, and was very...passionate about how he presented it."
"He yelled at you?! Oh, he is going to get a piece of my-"
"No no, it is quite alright, Rise-san. It was unexpected, yes, but it was nothing I didn't think I deserved. In the end, we both apologized to each other. From there, we just had a casual conversation."
"Aw man," Rise frowned. "I was kinda hoping that story would end in a happily ever after."
Initially, Naoto was silent, receiving further prodding from her friend. Finally, she was able to muster out the words "Um...well...d-depending on your definition of a 'happily ever after,' th-that's not t-too far off from what happened." She immediately placed her phone away from her ear in preparation for the oncoming tirade of squeaking screams. Fool me once…
But there were no screams, for upon hearing the news, if it meant what Rise thought it did, her eyes widened and her mouth was agape. She leaned forward in her seat and tapped her driver on the shoulder. "Do me a favor and find a lot you can park in then take a smoke break. I have some business to discuss." The driver didn't need much convincing and simply nodded. Rise slid back down into her seat and put her phone back to her ear. "Hey Naoto, you still there?"
Surprised by how quiet it was, Naoto found her phone pressed against her ear again. "Um, yes Rise-san?"
"Gimme a sec, okay? I wanna give this talk a bit of privacy." Rise knew it was just her and her driver in the car, so she technically didn't need to do this. But she knew how important this whole ordeal was to Naoto, and it was equally important to Rise because goddammit she had been sailing this ship for years and she was not gonna let either of them screw it up. So she opted for a way where she could speak more freely.
The driver pulled into a lot where there was an empty space. Rise again lowered her phone, this time digging into her purse to pull out a ten-thousand yen banknote. She leaned forward again and slipped it into his pocket, patting it after and smiling. "Take your time, okay? Don't be afraid to go for a walk, just take the keys and lock the doors." Rise didn't mind if he left the car alone. It didn't stand out, and the windows were blacked out, so nobody could see her inside. The driver just nodded and grinned, getting out of the car and delving into his pockets searching for a pack of cigarettes.
Rise leaned back into her seat again. "Okay Naoto, we're alone now on my end. How about yours?"
"Well, I'm in the park." She confessed, looking around. "But there doesn't seem to be anybody nearby."
"Good." Rise stated. "Now that we're in the clear...OH MY GOD ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!"
Naoto winced in pain again, not able to pull her phone away in time. "You need to start giving me a warning when you intend on screaming."
Rise ignored her. "Oh. My. GOD, Naoto! I was going to joke about 'Oh, how about going on a pity date' or something! Not that you'd ever date someone out of pity, that totally isn't you and you wouldn't hurt Kanji like that, but whatever, that doesn't matter!"
"Rise-san, please calm yourself. You're going to go into hysterics." Naoto adjusted the cap on her head. "And you seem much more excited about this than I am."
"Well duh, of course I am! I've been pushing this for almost eight years! Then there was that first confession and...well..." Rise trailed off, biting her lip and searching for a polite word. Ultimately she settled on "Yikes, but I just knew that Kanji would pull through for me!" Rise was sitting upright at full attention. "So tell me, how'd he ask?"
"H-How'd he ask what?"
"Stop playing dumb already, it doesn't suit you even a teensy bit! Yeesh!" Rise rolled her eyes. "What'd he do, hand you a secret little Naoto doll that he had been working on?! Oh, did he cook you a romantic brunch with your favorite food?! Oh my god, I know, he-"
"Okay you can stop now Rise-san." Naoto rubbed her eyes. "Look, it...it wasn't him who asked me. I.." She let out an exasperated sigh and started making imaginary patterns on the table with her free hand. "I asked him."
Rise didn't know what to say. It was like a cuteness overload to her. She found herself practically drooling at the thought of Naoto asking Kanji out. It was everything that she asked for out of the two of them and much, much more. After years and years of torturing the duo and trying to persuade them into talking to each other about it, the Beauty and the Beast had finally done it themselves. She found herself almost moved to tears, fanning at her face.
"Naoto, I'm..." Rise sniffled. "I'm so proud of you!"
Naoto's eyes were wide again. "Are...are you crying?"
"I'm not crying, you're crying, shut-up." Rise wiped away at a tear. "I'm just so, so happy. I've got a sugar rush from all this sweetness I'm hearing!"
"Can we just advance past this for now? Please? I didn't call to discuss the how, I called to discuss the...how." Naoto fumbled on her words, but was quick to follow-up on her failed explanation. "I am uncertain in my abilities to conduct a proper date that would result in a nice time for myself and Kanji-kun. I put myself into this predicament, so I intend to see it through in its entirety and carry it out to the fullest of my potential."
Rise laid down across the seat she was on. "Oh my god, I can't believe you managed to find a way to make going on a date sound boring. This is something where you two are supposed to have fun, remember? This isn't some life-or-death mission! So the first piece of Risette's Dating Advice would have to be calm down a bit silly! You sound so freaking stiff!"
Naoto fought the urge to grab at her hat. "I apologize. It didn't mean to-"
"See, this is what I mean!" Rise sat up while interrupting her friend. "Don't say you're sorry for being stiff! Just be you a little bit more. I know what you're capable of; I've seen you dance before! And for that matter, so did Moronji and giiiirrrrrrrl, you about made him lose his mind with the way you were moving those hips, I swear! I'm not even gay, but I would totally-"
"Enough, please, for my sanity." Naoto just wanted to curl up in a ball and stop this talk from happening. Why on earth did I think this was a good idea? Good lord Shirogane, have you lost your mind?
"Look, bottom line is this: he's going to be nervous too. Hell, knowing Moronji, he's probably going to be even more nervous than you." Rise had adopted a bit more of a serious tone for her friend's benefit, something that Naoto quietly appreciated. "If you're able to be the usual you around him when you go out on…?"
"Friday." Naoto caught on.
"Oh nice, you gave yourself plenty of time." Rise complimented. "Anywho, just be yourself. If you treat it like it's just the two of you hanging out like you did in high-school, then you'll have a much better time. It sounds cliché and trust me, it totally is, but they're called clichés for a reason."
Huh, that was surprisingly insightful. "Wow, that advice is very-"
"And then once you two are super comfy, you're gonna have a great time, and then Moronji is totally gonna be like 'Hey babe, let's get back to my place,' and then you're gonna get there and start making out, and-"
"This is getting very tiring, Rise-san." Naoto had almost ended the call. Her patience, despite her thinking it to be one of her better attributes, was diminishing very quickly.
"Aw, have an imagination! After Senpai and I went out on our first date, we did it!" Rise told Naoto this rather shamelessly.
"Wh-What?!" Naoto had actually yelled that out. Her mouth was covered right away by her free hand as several people looked over to her. She cleared her throat, lowering her voice. "W-Wait, I thought it wasn't a normal thing to perform sexual acts on the first date?"
"Of course it isn't normal! We didn't actually do it on our first date, dummy! I just wanted to see how you'd react and boy you did not disappoint." Rise looked over her nails, admiring them.
"Oh." Naoto scratched at her neck. Of course she wasn't being serious, why would she be? Nobody would do that. Certainly not Naoto either. She wouldn't want to be brought back to Kanji's place, having finished up a fantastic evening together, and then moving their way over to his couch where they cuddled for a while. Eventually, as some terrible action movie was playing in the background, Kanji would let his hand run astray as Naoto rubbed her own across his chest, and-
"You guys might be different though." Rise added, breaking Naoto out of her nonsensical train of thought. "Not the sex thing, don't do that unless you're one-hundred percent on it. But as far as dating goes, you've got this long and weird past with each other already. Sure, there was that dry spell there for a few years, but you don't really have to go through that weird step of getting to know each other. I really, really think that you'll do fine!"
"Well, thanks for your vote of confidence, Rise-san." Naoto, who had just finished the process of bedamning herself for her preceding daydreams, was preparing herself for having to tell Rise to stop saying whatever she was going to tell her next. There seems to be a pattern here.
"Did you have any ideas in mind where you wanted to take him?" Rise asked rather fairly, shocking Naoto.
"Um, well the most logical line seems to be to go to a movie together and possibly have dinner afterwards. I haven't thought too much else on what other options would be available."
"Can't beat the classics, might as well go for broke on that." Rise rested her head on the back of her seat. She felt herself beginning to get cramped. "Oh, go somewhere you can get booze!"
Naoto heightened her brows. "Kanji enjoys drinking?"
Rise noticed the missing honorific she usually puts on his name, but decided to let her slide on by this time. It'd be perfect ammo for later anyways. "It takes him time to get into it. He can handle his own better than most, but he doesn't like the way he acts when he drinks too much, so he's very defensive about it."
"That is perfectly understandable. I can't say I blame him."
"You're only saying that because of the one time I managed to get you drunk. Drunk Naoto was fun!"
"And you probably will never see 'Drunk Naoto' again for as long as we both live, Rise-san." Naoto said without hesitation. She shuddered at the memories of that evening. Succumbing to peer pressure was not something she did, but she let her guard down that night and had let Rise convince her to get drunk under the guise of 'oh just one more.' Before blacking out and waking up in the morning half-naked and with a splitting headache, she did remember loosening up quite a bit though. And from the videos that she saw that Rise took, it seemed her suspicions were true.
"That was a fun night though! I remember you were just tipsy and started spilling your heart out to me."
"Hold on a minute, I did what?" Naoto stood up from her seat and grabbed her lunch, which she had shortly forgotten about at the start of all this, to walk around, feet hitting a concrete path.
"Oh please, you don't remember going on and on about your emotions, us sitting at the bar..." Rise trailed off, seeking assurance from the detective that never came. "Oh god, you really don't remember that part, huh?"
"I don't remember much from our evening together, Rise-san." Naoto admitted. "You had somehow convinced me into taking on much more than I could handle. You told me and showed me all the things I did while I was...heavily intoxicated. You never said a word to me about 'spilling my heart out to you.'"
Rise shifted in her seat nervously. "W-Well, I don't know! I just thought that you would remember that part and not want me to say anything about it!"
"When has that ever stopped you before?"
"I-!" Rise stopped herself. "You know, you make a good point. You're pretty great at this interrogating thing, maybe you should become a detective or something, I don't know."
"Rise-san, please. What did I tell you?"
"It wasn't like it was anything I didn't already know! The biggest difference was how gushy you were about it. You were acting like me, it was gross."
"Acting like you?" How so?" Naoto was afraid to ask, but knew she had to bite the bullet.
"Well, where do I start?" Rise looked over to see the door of the car opening. The driver was checking in to make sure she was alright, to which Rise responded with a thumbs up. After the confirmation, the driver ducked back outside. "You started off with being all sappy about how you don't get to see anybody anymore. 'I miss everyone sooooo much. I wish I could see everyone together again just for a day.' That was you for like, twenty minutes, and you were only two Pisco Sours in."
Oh boy. Naoto, who had now stepped back into the shopping district, didn't like where this was leading. "Wh-What else did I say?"
"Don't worry, it only gets worse. By the time you had your third drink in," Naoto cringed at Rise's statement, "You were, um, very handsy with me."
Naoto stopped walking, her face now burning. "Oh my god..."
"Yeah, that's what I said too." Rise pursed her lips. "But it gets a tiny bit worse before it gets better."
"Ohmygod." Naoto ducked down an alley to hide herself from any street viewers.
"This is why I didn't want to tell you any of this! I didn't think that you wouldn't be able to handle your liquor!" Rise defended herself.
"Just please put me out of my misery." Naoto begged. "Finish it, please."
"Well, you had gotten kinda loud at that point, and a few people stared at us."
"Even while I, um-"
"Especially while you groped me." Rise suddenly was praising her past self for having the foresight to wear a wig to disguise herself. "You kept on saying stuff about how you 'wished you had a set like these' and-"
"Okay, n-no more! Please!" Naoto just wanted to die. How could I ever say things like that?
"Well, hold on! There's one more thing! Like I said, it did get better! You know, kinda, and before you took and downed your fourth drink." Rise said, trying to soften the blow.
"What could I have possibly said that would salvage me at that point?" Naoto asked, already defeated.
"Well, it didn't save you from being Drunk Naoto. It was, like, a silver lining. After you sat back down from the business you were doing, you ordered another drink and...well, you started to cry a little bit."
Naoto sighed. "How is this better, Rise-san?"
"Just let me finish!" Rise shouted. "Anyways, you just started crying then and there. When I asked you what was wrong, you just said 'If I had a body like that, maybe Kanji-kun would forgive me for being stupid.'"
"O-Oh...I'm still waiting on the part where I'm supposed to feel better."
Rise continued, ignoring her. "I asked why you would ever think that when he had confessed to you back when we all graduated. You said 'I feel so guilty about that. I would say yes every single time he asked me now. I miss him so much, I love him.'"
Naoto swallowed. "I said I loved him?"
"Yep. Then I asked you why you don't just call him or visit. You asked me how you were supposed to mend things back together again after all these years. When I told you that you just had to take a shot at it and hope for the best, you just stuck your tongue out at me." Rise finished with a giggle. "But then you started saying things like 'Maybe I'll go back when I grow up some more,' and 'I just wish I could see him one last time and tell him how sorry I am.' From there, you took another drink and became full-on Drunk Naoto, and I started recording." Rise shrugged. "And now you know everything I know about that night."
Naoto grabbed at her shirt, trying to hold back her emotions and sound strong for her friend over the phone. She thought over the events of the night again in her head, and upon reviewing them again, yes, she did remember all of those things she said. She even remembered the exact moment where she went from tipsy to drunk. Whining about missing her friends, harassing Rise and being jealous of her, and crying about Kanji. As everything settled in her mind, she found herself breathing in and out very swiftly.
"Naoto?" Rise worryingly asked. "Naoto, are you alright?"
"Yes." Naoto said between breaths. "I'm just attempting to put everything together." She closed her eyes, endeavoring to slow her greedy lungs down just a sliver. "It is unclear to me as to what set this shortness of breath off, Rise-san." Again, her breathing was slowing down, this time to an acceptable and normal level.
Rise straightened up her posture. "Please don't think of what you told me that night as a bad thing. This just tells me that you always had plans to come back and visit Moronji again, you just needed the time to work things out, you know?"
"I suppose there's truth in that." Naoto's breaths had finally found themselves at an acceptable and normal level. "I was just biding my time, waiting for the moment that I felt I could approach him again."
"Um, Naoto?" Rise began, getting a grunt of affirmation from her friend. "You don't have to answer this if its too much for you, but..." Her voice seemed to dwindle, a phenomenon of sorts for Rise. "Why didn't you go back to him sooner? You sound like you've been holding this in since-"
"High school. Yes, I am aware of what I had felt at the time. I was younger and dumber when it came to the topic of human emotion, even after all the time that I had spent together with everyone." Naoto, her voice now cleared of any shakiness, leaned her head back up against the building behind her, taking in the blue sky above. "It all still felt foreign. These feelings for Kanji-kun had only begun conjuring themselves during our last few months together of our third year. I felt...resentment, that I was going to be unable to see him as often. Sadness was inevitably there alongside it, somehow sure of the thought that he had already moved on past me at that point." She paused again, letting the thoughts of their graduation day replay anew. "So when he finally professed his affection towards me, I was, for lack of a better word, scared. For as cheap and hollow as it sounds, I was scared and I panicked when his emotions were laid bare for me to fully realize. In those moments as I raced away from him, Kanji-kun had left his feelings unprotected, and I'm sure that whatever passion he had felt regarding me shattered, replacing itself with rage and sorrow." Naoto exhaled, unleashing a hefty breath of air through her mouth. "As simple as it sounds, that is all it was in the end. I was petrified in that moment, and up until today I still was." She laughed sadly, placing her face in her free hand. "It's pathetic, isn't it? An adult, still so scared of the people that share this world with her?"
"Of course it isn't! News flash, Naoto, all adults are scared! None of us know what we're doing! Hell, even our parents or our grandparents didn't know what they were doing!" Rise had had quite enough of listening to her ally rag on herself. "You aren't a bad person just because you were afraid of doing something! What it makes you is human, Naoto! Every time I go up on stage, I fight every feeling telling me that I'm going to screw up and that I need to just quit! Every time Kanji-kun puts out a new doll or pattern for sale, he's fighting the feelings telling him that he did crap work and that what he didn't isn't going to sell! And I guarantee you every other member of the team has been through the same feelings!" Rise paused for a moment, soothing herself. "Look Naoto, I know that you don't think it, but you are human. You're capable of making mistakes as well as you're capable of being better every single day. And you're certainly capable of being scared. I don't get it myself, but there are tons of people like you who are afraid of getting in the face of their feelings for another person." Rise sighed as she chose her last words. "Just like Moronji."
Naoto digested every single word that Rise had said, making sure that it set in. Was it really a normal feeling for her to be scared? "I will need time to assess all of this information you just relayed to me. It was certainly...eye-opening." Naoto was about to end things there, but a nagging feeling wouldn't let her. She knew what questions she wanted to ask. She just needed to move her mouth and make herself say it. "One last thing, Rise-san. If...if things don't work out between myself and Kanji-kun, then-"
"Stop it." Rise cut her off. "You're worrying about the future, just like you worried about the past during those five years without him. Make present Naoto happy for once. You have plenty of time to hate yourself for what you did in the past. And your future is going to be decided by the risks that you take now. So I want you to say it to me."
Naoto was confused. "Say what to you?"
"'I am the most important me.' Go on, say it!"
Naoto, perhaps weary from the conversation, folded to her friend's whims easily. "I am the most important me." She repeated the phrase back to her friend, before taking in another long and drawn-out sigh. Naoto stood up, adjusting herself. "Hey Rise-san?"
"Hm?"
"That sounded ridiculous." Naoto chuckled with a tiny smile.
"But did it make you feel better?!" Rise asked, happy with herself.
"Yes," Naoto picked up her food off the ground. "I suppose it did. And before I forget, thank you for speaking with me about this. I would have liked going to others for additional advice, but this seems that it will suffice."
"You're welcome! Just make sure that you mention me whenever you tell the story of how you two got together, 'kay?"
Naoto, the smile now infectiously creeping its way up her face, shook her head. "You know I will do no such thing."
"Aw, phooey. Make sure to tell me how it all goes then! Oh, and I want all the details! And I mean all of them!" Rise made her voice sound a bit deeper and sultry as she finished the sentence.
"Didn't you advise me not to sleep with someone on the first date?"
"It was more of a suggestion, really."
"I'm going to hang up now, Rise-san." Naoto stated bluntly.
"Alrighty, byyyyyeeeee!" Rise didn't seem to perturbed by the sudden conclusion.
"Goodbye." Naoto pressed on her phone's screen, the text on screen letting her know that the call had ceased. That was taxing.
Naoto walked out of the alley, and her stomach started to growl. She looked down at her food. The thoughts of Kanji would have to wait, she decided, as her stomach was begging to be quelled. Still, as she walked down the street, past Kanji's shop again, and onward to where she was staying, she couldn't help but feel as if weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
And that's chapter 2 in the books! I'm gonna level with you guys, I had been done with a majority of this one for like three days. I just took my time writing out the end of it and taking care of a few edits, although I'm sure I still missed something. Anyways, thanks again for reading. Chapter 3 is in the works, and I'm now starting to get a good idea of how long this is going to be. I'm thinking only about five chapters or so, but that's always subject to change if I feel like there's more info I can shove in there.