(A/N So sorry this is late! I never intended it to take so long, especially considering it was largely written around the same time of the previous chapter, but real life got in the way. New job and in a new city, a house-move and a vacation all kinda just... happened in the last month. Anyway, onwards!)
Chapter 16
28th October 2011
Exams were over, results day had been and gone. Kanji had been uncharacteristically nervous about it, an unfamiliar feeling considering he usually didn't give a rat's ass about his test scores. It wasn't anything to do with him or his future; he just didn't want to let Naoto down, to make it seem like her time spent tutoring him was wasted. To his surprise, he hadn't failed any of his exams; he'd even scraped a pass in English and Maths. His Ma had been so proud when he'd shown her his report card; she'd made a big fuss about it, going so far as to brag to Mrs Shiroku about his newfound academic success. He didn't mention it to Naoto; it would have seemed so dumb, being pleased with a pass when she came top of the class.
The culture festival was quickly approaching, and the entire school was abuzz with activity. Lessons had been put on hold to make way for various class activities and preparation for school-wide events. It initially struck him as odd how seriously the students at Yasogami were taking it, especially the second and third years, but by the end of the first day he'd found himself swept up in the preparations as well. When he was in middle school, his class always done something low-key for the culture festival; a few carnival-style games, or a few stalls selling cakes or small toys. By contrast, Yasogami seemed to go all out. Loads of things were in the works: Class 2-1 was planning to turn their classroom into a haunted house; Class 2-2 were planning a "group-date café"; and Ms Kashiwagi was organising a school-wide beauty pageant.
The latter was already proving to be very popular; the sign up sheet always had a ton of people surrounding it as people tried to see who would be brave enough - or vain enough - to sign up. After a day or two of constantly walking past a throng of giggling people, curiosity finally won out and he checked it out himself, muscling his way through the crowd to see what the fuss was about. As much as he didn't care much for that sort of thing, he'd been very surprised to see whose names were on the list as participating: Yukiko Amagi, Chie Satonaka, Rise Kujikawa... Kanji paused, and rolled his eyes. Well, ain't that a big surprise. Funny though, that she never mentioned nothin' to him when they walked to school this morning. It was the sort of thing he'd usually never hear the end of, Rise driving him mad with crap he didn't give a damn about.
His eyes were drawn to the last name on the list. Naoto Shirogane. His eyebrows twitched in surprise. He had no idea Naoto would be into all that pageant stuff. Like, yeah, she was cute, and inexplicably popular… but it just didn't seem like her.
Then again, if Naoto was going to perform very much as a girl, maybe it would put to rest one thing which had been on his mind for a while. It didn't matter or nothin', but perhaps seeing Naoto properly would let him make up his mind if he liked girls or not. He snorted; it was Naoto. He'd probably still be into her whatever. But... he couldn't deny that he still held the niggling belief that would be more manly for him to like girls. Yosuke would get off his back, too.
"Hey Kanji-kun," Yosuke said, his voice really close behind him. Kanji quickly turned away from the sign-up sheet, a slight flush to his cheeks. He hadn't noticed that the crowd had dispersed and he was standing in front of the list alone. He pre-emptively scowled, ready for whatever snide comment Yosuke had. None came. Yosuke looked defeated, his face downcast and not making eye contact with him. Huh… what's up with him?
"Uh, hey Senpai. You okay? You look.. weird."
"Chie has summoned everyone to the roof," Yosuke mumbled, his voice glum and his hands deep in his pockets.
"Uh, okay? Why? Did somethin' happen? There ain't been nothin' on midnight channel since we rescued Naoto-"
"No, but…. No. It isn't about the case. You'd better head up there though, I'm gonna see if I can find Yu first." Yosuke said, sighing deeply. He had a strange pained expression on his face. Okay, this was odd.
Kanji made his way to the roof, confused and a little concerned. His stomach rumbled; he was skipping lunch for this. He ignored it- it was probably important; Chie didn't usually call these things. Yosuke had said that it wasn't about the investigation or nothin', but she might have had the heads up about some new rumours. It may even give them a head start on the killer! But, why was it Chie calling them to the roof? Rise was the font of all gossip around class; if she'd heard anything, she woulda told him, right?
He arrived at the roof and immediately knew something was wrong. Chie's face was twisted in fury, her body tense like a coiled spring. Yukiko glared at him, fiery hatred in her eyes overwhelming her usual cool exterior. They both looked ready to kill someone. Naoto was stood slightly away from the group, her back to them as she leant up against the railing, looking out over Inaba's skyline. The only person who didn't look ready to commit murder was Rise, who sat on a low wall, idly swinging her legs. She waved to him as he approached.
Before he could ask her what was up with everyone Yosuke appeared with Yu in tow.
"Right, that's everyone," Yosuke said weakly. Yu looked as confused as Kanji felt.
"You had better have a damn good reason for this!" Chie shouted, her anger unleashed as she rounded on Yosuke. She closed the distance between them in a few long strides and jabbed her finger into his chest. Yosuke flinched away from her, shielding himself with his hands from her onslaught. Kanji raised his eyebrows at the sudden outburst. What the hell was goin' on?
"F-for what?"
"The beauty pageant! You wrote our names down without telling us, didn't you!?" Kanji slowly turned his head to stare at Yosuke. That was low, man.
"N-no! It wasn't me! Why do you always automatically blame me!? I-I mean, if you don't wanna do it, you just say no, right? Like, it was just a joke…" Yosuke stammered, retreating backwards.
"We wouldn't be so pissed if we could do that! With Kashiwagi planning this year's event, even those entered by other people can't back out!" Chie yelled, throwing her hands in the air in frustration.
"Seriously?" Yosuke said, rubbing the back of his head. "Must've been some fine print I overlooked…"
"So it was you!" Chie smacked him round the back of the head.
"Ow! Oh crap…"
"Hey Yu… do you want us to take part in the beauty pageant?" Rise asked coyly, a small smile on her lips and her eyes bright. Kanji saw him nod mutely. Yosuke saw it too.
"See! He agrees! And who wouldn't… I mean, you guys know how popular Yukiko is here, and on top of that, we have an idol and a Detective Prince! What's the point of having a beauty pageant if all these incredible heroines aren't going to take part!?" Yosuke said, trying to sound reasonable. Chie shook her head angrily.
"So why didn't you just ask us instead of going behind our backs like that and… hey! So where do I fit in? You didn't mention me once, asshole!" Chie's voice was seething. Kanji had never seen her so furious; her cheeks were red with anger and her voices was breaking with sheer frustration. Yukiko looked just as angry; she was silently sat on the bench, staring seething, vicious looks at Yosuke. Kanji was kinda glad he wasn't onat the receiving end of her wrath.
Kanji glanced over to Naoto. She was stood stock still, her back straight, facing away. She hadn't said anything.
"Hey! Kanji! You want them to be in it too, don'tcha?" Yosuke said quickly, his voice pleading as he tried to defend himself from the combined fury of Chie and Yukiko.
"Huh…? I ain't interested in that stuff," he said, quickly, though he knew it was a half truth at best. He didn't care for pageants in general, and he definitely didn't want Chie's anger directed at him... but Naoto was gonna be in it so he was kinda curious about this one.
"You must be the only guy in school who doesn't want to see me show off, Kanji-kun," Rise said, winking at him. He shook his head quickly.
"Knock it off, Rise, it ain't like that!"
"Well, so long as people are looking forward to seeing me, I might as well put on a show for them. Of course, there is no need to involve my agency in this," Rise mused, twirling her hair. Kanji briefly thought back to her dungeon; her Shadow really was a part of her, huh.
"Naoto-kun!" Yosuke shouted, his voice desperate. Naoto snapped her head around, suddenly paying attention. Her face was blank, expressionless. Kanji couldn't tell if she was apathetic or angry. "Kanji-kun says that he really wants you to be in it."
"Wha..! I-I didn' say nothin'-" Why was he bringing him into it? He felt his body automatically tense up.
"Well, maybe not, but I know you'd love to-" Kanji didn't let him finish, a sudden jolt going down his spine of how Yosuke was going to finish that sentence.
"You little prick, I'm gonna beat the shit outta ya!" Kanji shouted, lunging forward with his fists balled. Yosuke almost tripped in his haste to get away.
Jerk.
"Woah, you're hot-blooded today!" Yosuke said, narrowly avoiding stumbling as he ducked out of the way of Kanji's fist. Kanji snarled at him, his shoulders square.
"We're in an awkward position," Naoto interrupted, her voice calm and cool as she turned around, looking between him and Yosuke. "If we can't refuse, I suppose there's no sense in arguing the point." She shrugged, tipping her hat down to hide her face. "And judging by Kanji-kun's behaviour it does seem ill-fitting for someone like me to get up on stage. I wonder if there is any way I could take it up with the school authorities."
"I...I don't… I didn't mean it like that, Naoto-kun. I-I mean, if you wanna, j-just do it..."
Rise began to giggle, hiding her mouth behind her manicured hand.
"Silly Kanji, just tell her you wanna see her on stage!" she said with a singsong voice, flicking her curls. Kanji shot her a death-glare. She grinned at him, showing her perfectly white teeth. His scowl deepened. Why did this hafta be about him all of a sudden?
"Wh-what are you saying!? Why would he want to see me on stage…?" Naoto asked Rise, her brow furrowing. Rise didn't elaborate; she just maintained her infuriatingly perfect smile. Kanji sighed.
"Tch, you know what, I'm outta here. You guys can be a real jerks, you know that?" Kanji shot a final glare at Rise before turning on his heel and storming from the roof, slamming the door as he went. He caught some sort of non-verbal communication going on between the others as he left, but he didn't care nor stop to try and analyse the various glances and gestures.
With every forceful step he felt more and more angry. Fucking… idiots. Yosuke and Rise had seriously messed that up for him. Naoto had to have some sort of inkling by now; the others had been so fucking unsubtle. First with Chie outright saying that he and Naoto should date, and now Yosuke and Rise making him say that he wanted to see Naoto in some stupid pageant show-
"Kanji-kun, wait," Naoto was following him. She caught up with him in the third floor corridor, having to resort to jogging to match his stride.
"What?" he snapped, his eyes wide as he spun to face her.
"What did you mean?" she asked, folding her arms in front of her. She was defensive. He sighed, and forced himself to calm down, to relax his shoulders.
"Nothin'. The others are being jerks. Just ignore them, Naoto," he said, deliberately lowering his voice, trying to hide the sheer frustration he felt at his friends right now.
She shook her head.
"No, no there is something more to your friends' behaviour than just trivial teasing for their own amusement, though I suspect that plays some part in what they are doing. No, if it were just childish ridicule you wouldn't react as strongly as you do. Your behaviour is uncharacteristic compared to what I encounter when we are alone, and yet it is something I have observed multiple times when we are in the company of the others."
"It ain't-" Kanji started, but stopped as Naoto held up her hand, silencing him.
"I have enquired to the others as to why that may be, why you shift so readily from...from friendliness to exasperated displeasure in my presence, but they just informed me that if I must know then I need to ask you directly. So, I ask you again, what are you hiding Kanji-kun?" she asked, her voice low as she took a step closer to him, looking up from under her hat.
"It's nothin'-"
Oh god, those eyes. He faltered.
"It is something to do with me, that much is clear." She persisted, her eyes flashing. She looked… upset. "Do you have an issue with me? Are you uneasy about my presence because of my involvement with the police?"
"No! No, Naoto, it ain't like that!" People were staring. He could hear people whispering as they passed.
"Then what?
"You know what, fine." Kanji shook his head, knowing he'd regret it. "Naoto… I know this is dumb but, please be in the pageant? If you do, uh, my doubts will maybe be finally cleared…" his voice trailed off. He couldn't meet her eye.
"Doubts… what on earth are you talking about?" she asked, putting on hand on her hip. She seemed to be thrown, as if this was not the track she expected him to get on to. Kanji tried to ignore their impromptu audience.
"L-look, just do it, dammit! I mean, you're an ace detective ain't ya?" he said with urgency, mustering the courage to look her in the eye. She looked confused, her head tilted to one side, appearing almost birdlike.
"Wha- what does that have anything to do with a beauty pageant? What does that have to do with anything I asked?"
"Ugh, never mind. It ain't important." The bell chimed, signalling the end of lunch. "I gotta get to class."
30th October 2011
"So, what did you think?" Rise asked, her eyes shining as she looked at him over the brim of her cup. She was still wearing her bright orange dress from the beauty pageant, her long hair falling in loose curls.
"Huh? About what?" Kanji said, pausing shovelling food into his mouth for a moment to look at her out of the corner of his eye. She was grinning at him.
"The culture festival, duh! Wasn't it fun?" She giggled, placing her drink down on the lacquered counter of Aiya. The restaurant was quiet; the usual patrons had long since left, and they were the last two remaining. Various small plates were stacked up in front of them, the food largely demolished. Kanji had been hungry.
"It was lame," he grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I ain't ever taking part ever again. Even if they expel me, nothin' was worth that."
"Oh come on Kanji, don't be like that. It wasn't all bad!" She nudged him with her shoulder. "I can't believe you actually went through with getting up on stage, though."
"I didn't have a fucking choice!" He sighed. "Man, I'm never gonna live it down…" he muttered under his breath.
"You have it admit, it was pretty funny," Rise said, biting her lip. Kanji frowned; everyone fucking laughed at him...
"No, it was freakin' embarrassing! You know how much bullshit I gotta put up with now because of that stupid "Miss" Yasogami thing?"
"Oh it won't be that bad. And Yu-senpai and Yosuke-senpai were up there too." She leant forward, tilting her head down and looking up at him with mischievous eyes. "And, saying this as someone who has performed for years… Yosuke was way worse than you on stage. Like, you made people laugh, but he looked such a mess. Honestly, I thought he'd be prettier than that, all made up." She shook her head in mock disappointment. "Just goes to show, you either have it, or you don't, Kanji-kun."
"I still don't get why I had'ta do it. It was all Yosuke's fault in the first place," he grumbled. It made him feel slightly better that Yosuke had been terrible; at least Kanji's outfit had been tailored to fit him, and he had tried to give it his all once he was up there. He was still pissed off about it though.
"Well, Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai were pretty mad, I guess," she laughed, "and I think they thought you were involved 'cause of how eager you were to see Naoto-kun enter."
He grunted and turned back to his meal, stabbing at his beef. His conversation with Naoto had been weighing heavy on his mind. How did he manage to fuck up talkin' to her so badly? He'd almost confessed. And now she was probably mad at him, goin' back to how she was after the entire Port Island thing.
"And don't forget, we all got up on stage too!" Rise continued, trying to catch his eye, breaking him out of his thoughts. He sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah but you're used to it. You're… you. An idol," he pointed out.
"Nuh-uh, not anymore! I'm just a normal girl."
"You were way too eager to show off. I thought you didn't want to do any of that stuff any more?" Kanji asked, taking another bite of his dinner.
"Well, I don't as a career. Though, I gotta admit, I haven't had that much fun in ages. I mean, I know I lost the pageant and everything, but it was a lot of fun to be Risette again." Rise picked up her drink and took a sip. "Hey, I bet you were disappointed Naoto-kun didn't take part in the swimsuit contest!"
Kanji faltered for a moment. It had crossed his mind once Teddie had announced it, but…
"S-shut up!"
"You should have seen what she was wearing for it; it was seriously adorable."
"Quit it, Rise!"
"Aww, you're blushing. Okay… if you're sure. I mean I was gonna describe to you exactly what she looked like in a bikini but…."
He choked on his drink, the soda managing to go up his nose. Rise burst out laughing and ruffled his hair. He snapped his head away from her, scowling and blushing all at once as he mopped the spill with a napkin.
"Aww, you can be so cute, Kanji!"
"I-I ain't cute!"
"Sure you are. Whenever Naoto-kun is involved you completely lose the whole tough guy thing and go all puppy-eyed. You're so totally into her!"
"Rise! I ain't… I don't!" he said, as he unconsciously fixed his hair, sweeping it back into place.
"Okay, okay, whatever. Seriously though, I can't believe she won. I thought Yukiko-senpai was my biggest threat here, but I guess I was wrong." Her smile faltered; she looked pensive for a moment, idly picking at her noodles with her chopsticks. Kanji frowned at the sudden shift in mood.
"Huh, well, I guess you're different people."
"What do you mean?" Rise asked, looking up and meeting his eye. She had an odd expression on her face. Kanji thought for a moment, suddenly out of his depth.
"Naoto… well, she's kinda... mysterious and strong… there gotta be loadsa people who like that," he said, not sure if he'd said the right thing. After a moment, to his relief, Rise's eyes softened and she nodded.
"Yeah, especially girls. I guess I had to share the boy vote, but she had the girl vote all to herself. And yours, of course." She half-heartedly smiled at him.
Naoto was popular with the girls, despite showing no interest and having no inclination to hang out with them. Kanji once saw her after school clearing her locker out of all the love letters she'd received. He'd felt jealous, until she'd confided in him she was just taking them home to feed to the shredder. That surprised him; it was freakin' cold, man. She seemed genuinely annoyed that people would even think to send her notes.
"So, seeing her on stage, did you like what you saw?" Rise asked, her moment of reflection over as she rested her head in her hands, watching him carefully.
"W-what?"
"Seeing her all pretty like that?"
"That ain't it!"
"Well, then, if you weren't just wanting to check her out, why were you so keen to see her up there? You practically begged her to, after all."
Rise was way too perceptive for her own good. He thought a moment to try and deflect the question, or just tell her to quit it, but he'd been asking himself the same thing. Plus, she'd see right through it.
"It… I… uh… I just wanted t' see if I... felt the same," he mumbled, looking away.
"Oh? And you still do, right?"
He grunted, turning away from her. He could feel her eyes piercing into his. Moments passed; he felt uncomfortable. He did feel the same; it didn't matter if Naoto was a guy or a girl. Seeing her on stage, her voice uncharacteristically shy and gentle…
"So, you gonna tell her now, or what?"
"Nah…." he shook his head. He mentally kicked himself for probably making her mad at him. It wasn't even his fault! She asked tough questions.
"Why not? She's totally gonna notice eventually. I mean, you aren't exactly subtle."
"Well, she can work it out, then." he said irritably. "Don't need me tellin' her and ruinin' things."
"Kanji-kun-"
"Look, Rise, I… I just can't. I've been through hell about this. I've had to admit it to myself that… that I… you know. And now I've just told you that I still feel that way about her."
"But, maybe if you tell her-"
"And then what? She already thinks I hate her for bein' on the investigation team. She'll just think I'm makin' fun of her."
Rise sat back in her chair, looking unconvinced but unwilling to push the issue further. Kanji half turned his back to her, stabbing at his food. He heard her sigh and he looked at her from the corner of his eye.
She was smiling.
"What?"
"I think this is the first time you have actually admitted to having a crush on her. Like, you said it in a roundabout way, but you totally did."
"So?"
"I'm kinda proud of you. It's a big thing."
"Sh-shut up!"
"I still think you should tell her. You'll feel better. Stop looking at me like that, I know you don't want to, but I think you should. Hey, I could talk to her first if you like, you know, between us girls-"
"No, Rise!" he was blushing again, he could feel it. He scowled out of habit. Rise shrugged, still smiling.
"Well, if you change your mind, let me know."
