(06:34) Naoto: MOVIE STARTS AT 4:30 IN OKINA. MEET-UP 4:15 AT THEATER. THAT OK Y/N.

Kanji, who's day had been starting off very slowly, looked tiredly over the words on the screen of his phone. There was zero doubt in his mind that Naoto had been awake for a decent amount of time now. He, however, woke up late and had only been up for fifteen minutes. His bathroom was still steamy and he didn't even have a shirt picked out to wear for today. Yet here she was texting him like it was the middle of the day or something. Grumbling to himself about how it was too early for this, he drowsily tapped his fingers against the glass, putting together a very short and succinct message.

(06:35) Kanji: Yep.

With the message sent, a mysterious creature seemed to begin growling at him. He looked down, expecting perhaps a stray that had somehow managed to work its way into his abode. When he saw nothing, Kanji raised his ever-so tired brows off of their perch. When the sound came once more, it donned on him that he felt a slight aching coming from his stomach. It didn't even register to him that he must have forgotten to eat at all yesterday. To him, yesterday had still been the day that he and Yu had discussed things. However, it occurred to Kanji that today was actually Friday and more than a whole day's time had passed since his senpai came down to Inaba. It wasn't like him to just skip meals—that was more of a Naoto-ism, he decided—especially for more than twenty-four hours. And his body reminded him of this fact as a growing pain spread, begging the young tailor to get something in his system. It didn't care what it was that he fed himself at this point. Kanji's body told him that he needed food in his belly and he needed it now.

Almost stumbling to the kitchen, still no shirt on for the day, he quickly dug out a small frying pan and turned the left front burner on his stove-top to medium. Kanji then sprung towards the fridge, quickly getting out some butter and three eggs from a carton. Finding a knife in a drawer, he cut off a pat of the butter and let it melt on the frying pan. After five long and arduous minutes of waiting for the pan to warm up, he finally cracked the eggs one by one into the pan. Typically Kanji would have a lid on standby, allowing himself to make his preferred fried eggs. Even more typically he would not be starving due to his own stupidity and would have plenty of time to put together whatever breakfast he wanted. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and he simply decided to scramble them together. He didn't worry about shredding any cheese or adding any garnishes. He simply plated the food, added some salt and pepper, and mistakenly went to chow down on the food right away, fanning his mouth between chews.

Kanji, upon finishing his food, cursed himself for not having something easy to make after the last time this happened. Ever since his workload increased, he found himself forgetting such a simple task as eating. Even worse, starting about a week ago, he noticed that his shirts that usually fit so snugly on him were loose. A lack of time meant a lack of workouts, which was leading to an unfortunate loss of muscle mass.

"Ain't been able to hit the gym in almost two weeks now. Ain't been on a run in three." Kanji leaned back in his chair, recoiling forward almost immediately from the sharp cold of the furniture on his back. He sighed, deciding today may just not be his day, and told himself to just make it through work so he could get to his date with Naoto. With a newfound resolve, Kanji got up and went to get a shirt on.

Naoto let out a solemn sigh as she snapped her phone shut. The reply she received from Kanji that morning left something to be desired. She couldn't fault him for the succinct message; he had been working tirelessly on all manners of different projects that were coming across his desk. Yesterday she had tried to reach out to him a couple of times throughout the day but never heard anything back up until the night sky was out over Inaba. Kanji apologized profusely for this, of course, even upon Naoto's insistence that it was alright, she didn't have any important matters to discuss, and that she was just looking for conversation.

That last part struck the young detective as particularly odd. She never hungered for human interaction the same way that others around her seemed to. She certainly wasn't a Rise; at most Naoto would consider herself a Yukiko and even that seemed far-fetched. She kept up appearances for strangers and coworkers, but Naoto wasn't about to try and strike up a conversation on their life's story right there on that spot. Perhaps, she mused, that was a shortcoming of her skills as a detective. While it hadn't proved necessary, there had been a few awkward misunderstandings in the past due to her poor social skills. But then she remembered that that was the way that she had met Kanji Tatsumi. With a small grin, she decided that perhaps awkward didn't necessarily mean bad.

While she found herself in a reminiscing state of mind, Naoto looked back on how she had changed since her and the Investigation Team first came into contact with one another. She was much more open about herself. Sometimes she still had those moments where a person would ask her a question and she deflected it with one of her own—a simple yet effective strategy—but otherwise, Naoto didn't mind answering things about her past. Not everything was an open book, but she was willing to skim the chapters and highlight the important parts. She wouldn't have everyone as inclusive to her life as her friends were. To that point, Naoto still found it weird that people would willingly want to be friends with her. And even weirder was that fact that she accepted them as friends back. And maybe even the weirdest still was her blossoming friendship with Kanji during their schooling. Their time together on the team was fine and they got along well, but they never had socialized all too much one-on-one. Still, they had this unspoken bond, one that showcased itself in how they fought together. Not wanting to leave questions unanswered, she confronted him one day about it on their return from a stint in the TV world. That was the first time that he told her, without any hesitation and with a surprisingly serious tone, that it was because they 'Had each other's backs.' The answer was so simple at the time that Naoto had actually let a chuckle escape her throat in front of the tailor. Looking back, it was always that simple. Everything in life didn't have to have several moving parts or these intricate designs backing them. Life isn't a Rube Goldberg machine that needs maintenance on every piece all the time. It's a dense jungle in which you're equipped with your sense of will and a machete.

Although I do hope that I find a clearing sometime soon then. Naoto stood up from her chair and grabbed her now empty cup that had remnants of coffee in it. With a shake of her head, she decided that she was being much too philosophical for the time of day. A walk at the riverbank will hopefully clear things up.

"I placed this order a week and a half ago! How isn't it finished yet?!"

Kanji breathed in and out slowly, eyes shut as tight as a vault. This was what he assumed to be the second cancellation of the day calling in. At noon, the day was already going as abysmally as he was afraid it'd be. He impatiently listened to the customer rattle off a list of adjectives that Kanji could only guess was being targeted at him. This particular call-in had kept him on the phone for about ten minutes now without any sign of stopping. Instead of wasting any of that valuable time, he opted to make use of it and pick up a pair of needles at about minute three. If he was lucky, then maybe he could finish up one of the random assorted dolls that he had on his backlog. At points, the shrill voice on the other end of the line died off, prompting Kanji to give his best "Mhm" to send them back into their frenzy. Dealing with surly customers wasn't exactly the tailor's forte. He just didn't see the point in treating these people with respect if he wasn't going to receive it in return. That thought in his mind, he wondered if the posting he put up yesterday got any email applications back. If anything, he wouldn't mind someone at least looking for part-time work. Naoto, and by extension Yu, was right as always. He couldn't see him keeping up this same act all the time. It was a grating experience, trying to keep a business like this running. And, upon looking at the clock, Kanji decided that he had enough of the woman's bickering at the fifteen minute mark.

Slamming down the needles on the desk in front of him, he let out a groan. "Listen, Aokiji-san, was it? As much as I'd love to keep on listenin' to yer harpin' all day, I do have other work to be doin'. And lemme tell ya, it ain't a loss to me right now if you decide to cancel your order. That custom pattern ya ordered actually would make somethin' nice for me to put in the storefront. From the beginnin', I was upfront with how much work I had in front of ya. I just started workin' on yours yesterday and, if ya'd let me get off the phone and actually get back to it, I can have it ready for ya by tomorrow afternoon. Hell, I'll even give ya a discount for the wait to make it up to you. But bottom line is that I ain't got time for you to keep yappin'. Now, are ya gonna let me get back to-"

The other end of the line went dead, and Kanji sighed deeply. "Can't say I didn't see that one comin'." His face now wearing a bitter scowl, he tossed the phone somewhere off to the side, he stood up and walked towards the storefront where his mother had usually sat, grabbed a nearby pad and pencil with a list of names on it, and scribbled out the name that read 'Aokiji-san.' When Kanji's vision fell back onto the emptiness of the tatami mats, guilt sneaked up and punched him right in the gut.

"Tch," Kanji looked back over the mats with a frown. If ma was still here, she would've kept that woman happy. With a headache now beginning to form at his scar, Kanji clenched his teeth together tightly. The desire to punch something was once again rearing its ugly head. That all-too familiar sensation was bubbling and stewing deep inside him as he rolled his wrists and cracked his knuckles.

"Um, Kanji-kun?"

Kanji surmised that he failed to hear the door slide open. Before him was the Amagi heiress herself, Yukiko.

"Are you doing okay?" Yukiko's expression deepened with concern as she walked into the storefront.

Kanji straightened himself up and cleared his throat. "Ah, yeah, hey ya Yukiko-senpai. My bad." He took a step down from the elevated platform to put himself on a somewhat more even footing with her. "Yeah, m'fine. Just the shop gettin' to me again is all."

"You're saying that as if it isn't such a big deal. You and I should know as well as anybody that keeping a business afloat is difficult work. I couldn't imagine doing the work that I do without any help."

"Look, between Naoto 'n Yu-senpai, I've talked about hirin' on some help more in the past three days than I'll ever care for doin' again. The fliers are out there and I got some postings up on some job sites, but it ain't like it's gonna happen overnight. So just let it go, yeah?" Kanji tiredly closed his eyes and breathed in. After a long exhale, and when no response came, he continued. "Sorry, ain't meanin' to act so annoyed. 'M sure that yer here to pick up the regular orders?"

"That can be put on hold, Kanji-kun." Yukiko replied curtly. "I refuse to do business with you while you're in this state."

Kanji was quick to respond. "The hell is that-"

"Now come along, we'll get some lunch. I am sure that if we go now, most of the rush will have gone through at Marukyu." Yukiko turned to the door and opened it once again. "Let's hurry along now. I am getting a bit hungry."

With no room to protest, Kanji, although initially put off by Yukiko just assuming that she could just drag him along, grumbled to himself and went to grab the 'Out to Lunch' sign that graced his door only rarely these days. He quickly slipped some shoes on and stepped outside, placing the sign firmly in place, and shoved his hands in his pockets as he looked down at Yukiko. "Alright, c'mon, let's go." They took only a few steps before Kanji looked over to the local shrine. "Uh, actually, hold on."

"I'm not letting you go that easily, Kanji-kun. Obviously something is amiss, so-"

"That ain't it. I just wanna, uh, stop in real quick." Kanji nonchalantly lifted his hand and pointed at the shrine with his thumb. "'M sure that the fox is gonna be lookin' for some cash anyhow."

The heiress nodded. "I suppose it has been a minute since I've donated to the shrine. I can only imagine that the poor thing's hairs must be going gray." She finished with a small snort.

"Alright, nippin' that in the bud real quick. I ain't seen you for all of five minutes and, I dunno if you could tell, but my patience is as thin as a sheet right now." Kanji wore a scowl.

"Fine, fine Kanji-kun." Yukiko cleared her throat. "You're lucky I've managed to learn how to control those fits of mine." Kanji could only roll his eyes away at the matter-of-fact tone. "Now let us go say our prayers, yes?"

After a quick nod of his head, Kanji followed with slow and long strides behind the girl. He looked around and noticed that the shrine was remarkably empty. The time of day did don on him after a few seconds of thought, noting that all the kids and teenagers were probably at school. The only other person that he and Yukiko had seen was the spry older man who was cheerily trimming up the branches on the trees at the entrance. None of that really mattered to Kanji anyways. He couldn't care less if what they were doing was going to be a private affair or not.

Wait a sec, what am I doing? Kanji furrowed his brows and his hands fiddled with the inner fabric of his pants pockets. He wasn't all too sure what possessed him to want to head into the shrine. He just knew that he saw it and a chord of guilt struck him for some reason. Well, it ain't just some reason. Ain't no sense in lyin' to myself about it. Arriving in front of the shrine, he let out a drawn-out sigh as his hands fiddled for some money.

"Pray first, Kanji-kun." Yukiko stated, already clasping both hands together. Kanji simply dropped whatever money he had in hand back into his pockets. Once both of his appendages were free, he followed suit, closing his eyes while doing so.

I dunno what to even say. Gonna be honest with ya God, spirits, or whoever the hell's listenin' to me, most of the time I'm standin' here with someone else just waitin' for them to finish. I usually ain't about all this crap—no offense. Right now though, kinda lost. If ya are out there, I ain't askin' for miracles. Just a kick in the pants to get my ass in gear, yeah? Kanji inhaled and exhaled heavily. And, uh, Ma? Yeah, not sure if I'm buyin' into you hearin' me but I know that if someone is listenin' to all this rambling I'm doin', it's gonna be you. Flashbacks of the day of his mother's death began to play in Kanji's head. Look, just wanted to say I love ya Ma. And I'm sorry. Sorry that I caused ya trouble for all those years. Sorry that my work as a tailor wasn't better before ya left. More than anything, I'm sorry if I ain't the man that you or Dad wanted me to be. But I'm gonna try and do better and be better, Ma. His own screams echoed in his head as he remembered that fateful day clearly. His hands clamped together tighter. Just keep an eye on me Ma, and watch the man I'm gonna be!

"Kanji-kun?"

A gentle hand on his shoulder brought him back into the real world. Kanji's sharp inhale coupled with a sudden turn of his head caused Yukiko to immediately draw her hand back to her side. His eyes were wide, and when he looked down at his hands and saw just how pale they had become, he released them immediately.

"Um," Yukiko began hesitantly. "Kanji-kun." She pointed at her own left eye, making the tailor confused. After just a second, he reached up to his own face and felt just how wet it was.

"Fuck." Kanji stated bluntly as he turned away from his friend, wiping desperately at his eyes. "Didn't mean for ya to see me like this. Sorry senpai."

"Don't apologize, Kanji-kun." Yukiko gingerly reached out and once again her hand found itself on his shoulder. "It's that time of the year, isn't it?" She received a defeated sigh alongside a nod as her answer, Kanji still refusing to face her. "I wish there was something that I could do to help comfort you."

"Don't need any sympathy, senpai. Last thing I need is a pity party comin' along an-"

"It is not pity, Kanji." Yukiko walked around to look the man in his eyes, flames lit behind stern eyes of her own. "You attempted to shut us out when it happened. So I'm telling you as a friend: stop doing this to yourself, please." The fire died out as quickly as it had come to life, her voice returning to its normal state. "The last thing any of us want for each other is to fall back where we were before."

"Ya ain't gotta worry `bout that. It was seven years ago." Kanji looked down with irritation locked into his eyes.

"I will always worry about my friends. As does the rest of the group." Yukiko breathed in deeply before venturing the conversation into different waters. "Even Naoto-kun."

Kanji huffed and looked to the side. "Yeah, I know."

"I remember you mentioning earlier that you and her had recently spoken. Were you able to patch things up?"

Kanji answered with a sharp and immediate "We did."

Although caught off-guard, the heiress recovered quickly with a large and bright smile. "That's wonderful, Kanji-kun!"

"Yeah." Kanji rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually hangin' out with her later on."

"Well that sure makes it sounds that things have settled back into their typical routine. I would love to have all of us be able to get together again. If you two have made up and start getting along again, then the most we would have to worry about is getting the timing right."

"Yeah, well, we'll see." Kanji stated through clenched teeth, choosing not to add anything to the conversation.

"I don't suppose you would mind if I tagged along, would you?" Yukiko posed with the question in full earnest. Much to her confusion, Kanji snapped his head to face her again with wide eyes.

"Uh, `bout that senpai..."

"What is it?"

"It's kind of a private thing, y'know? A one-on-one affair?" Kanji gritted his teeth when a dumb look was still upon the heiress's face. "Three's a crowd, senpai."

"I'm afraid I still don't understand." Yukiko shuffled her feet around with her arms behind her back.

"Oh for cryin' out loud!" Kanji shook his head. "It's a date, senpai. Naoto 'n I are goin' on a date."

"Oh." After a few seconds of silence between the two, she suddenly brightened up. "Well congratulations to the both of you!"

"Um, thanks." Kanji sheepishly stuck his hands back home in his pockets.

Yukiko reached into her purse, quickly slipping her phone in and out of the bag with raised eyebrows. "Well, we must hurry with our lunch now, as I need to return to the inn sooner than expected. So go ahead and make your offering, Kanji-kun."

Kanji nodded and turned around to the golden box in front of him. Knowing the place for years and years, he found it pretty jarring one day when he thought he heard some form of construction noises next door. When he decided to investigate the next morning, he saw that various pieces had been replaced with that of solid gold. At first he thought that Yu had ordered it for the fox, but after reflecting a bit more, he thought that the fox was sly enough that it could manage doing it itself somehow. Still, that was seven years ago at this point, and Kanji didn't have much use looking back on and questioning small things such as that. Instead, he simply reached into his pockets and tossed in generous enough of an offering that the fox would leave him alone. Probably, he decided.

"Kanji-kun." Yukiko began, her voice wavering only for a second.

"What's it now, senpai?" Kanji asked, trying not to sound agitated.

"Seeing as there is no easy way to say this, I'll just do it. Are you actually ever going to discuss what happened during that time when you lost your mother with Naoto?"

"No," was the short and succinct reply that left the man's lips. He turned around, not expressing any emotion in particular. "'N I wanna keep it that way."

"Kanji-kun-"

"No, Yukiko-senpai."

Yukiko ignored him and continued pleading. "She's the only other one who would understand what you're going through. You need to talk about this with someone. You made it very obvious during that week where it happened that you weren't going to speak with any of the rest of us about it."

"What is there to talk about, huh? She's gone! She's dead! That's it!" Kanji realized his outburst and immediately backed down. "Look, bottom line is I'm gonna talk about it when I want to talk about it."

"And when will that be?" Yukiko challenged.

"Tch," Kanji shoved his hands back into his pockets and looked away. "When I'm ready. 'N if I hear any talk from Naoto `bout how she wants to talk about me 'n ma, I'll know one of you guys put her up to it! I ain't dumb enough to fall for that crap anymore! So senpai, all I'm askin': please just drop it. I'm beggin' ya."

When Kanji looked back over at Yukiko, the girl couldn't help but notice the swelling tears in his eyes. With a reluctant sigh, Yukiko conceded. "Very well, Kanji-kun. I will not tell the others of what has transpired here. However, we, as a group, have already informed Naoto of how you dealt with the death of your mother. This was all well before any of the events that took place this past week, so I hope you understand that it would be unfair to expect Naoto not to bring up the topic of her own free will."

Kanji, who was busy once again wiping away any tears in his eyes, placed his glasses squarely back on his head. "Figured that already, the way she was apologizin' for not makin' it when we talked." Kanji shook his head. "Well senpai, I'm gonna head back to the shop. I'm behind on my work. Sorry to ditch ya on yer lunch break." He passed by her. "I'll make sure to drop by the inn and drop off yer order later on before all my plans are happenin'." Ain't like lunch is gonna be lively after all that crap we just talked about anyways.

"Fine, Kanji-kun."

And after each said their good-byes, Kanji quickly made his way back to his shop and took down the sign before going to find which project needed working on first.

So you're gonna notice that the chapters will be getting relatively shorter over time. This is strictly because of the lack of time, I have had to make the decision that if I'm going to be making any progress on this story at a meaningful pace, then I will need to be a bit more precise in what I say and how I say it. Anyways, next chapter is already in the works. Hope you enjoy this one. Again, thanks for reading.