Idol 17

Part XVII

10/06

Naoto was good at keeping her cool, but her first day back was a challenge for even the great detective. She walked almost briskly through the courtyard, fighting the urge to break out into a run. The stares, the whispers, and the pointing… It was unbecoming of Japanese high school students to be so juvenile. It was nothing short of harassment. Sighing, Naoto continued into the school, coming to her shoe locker.

It was even worse inside the building, with the majority of students still loitering around the entrance, chatting. They all stopped when they caught sight of the detective and the whispering buzzed almost instantly. The voices were so loud collectively that entire conversations could be heard.

"Hey, it's the Detective Prince."

"That's no Prince. I heard that 'he's' a 'she'!"

"Huh!? Y-you serious?! If he's a she, then uh…o-oh crap!"

Naoto shuddered. It felt like they were all undressing her with their eyes. She suddenly blushed, thinking about how Rise undressed her just a few weeks ago.

"Awww…I'm kinda disappointed, but then again…there's something hot about a woman in men's clothes…"

"Yeah…if you look at her, doesn't she seem pretty cool?"

"My, my…Rumours sure travel quickly." The blue haired girl was annoyed beyond belief, barely able to concentrate on changing her shoes. It was one thing to be self-conscious, but another to actually have her every move scrutinized by a crowd. It was a hundred times worse than when she transferred in. Sighing again, Naoto slipped out of her loafers and raised a hand to open her shoebox.

As Naoto opened her locker, she instinctively jumped back. She watched as a cascade of letters fell onto the floor in front of her. The detective paled, swallowing hard as she deduced that these letters were of the love letter persuasion. Heart stickers and pink stationery were good enough indicators.

"Good morning, Naoto-kun! I see you're popular as ever."

The tired detective looked up, a smile on her lips as she came face to face with her favorite idol. "Rise, I don't think popular is the right word for it..."

Shaking her head, Naoto picked up a few of the letters strewn on the ground, haphazardly opening them and scanning the contents. A light blush colored her cheeks and what she suspected was indeed true. The letters she found piled into her locker were a very confused mix of love letters from boys, from girls, and some letters that outright challenged her to a duel. It was strange to say the least, but there was nothing stranger than Inaba apparently.

Rise bent down as well, helping Naoto pick up the misguided confessions. "I know how it is when you become the centre of attention. It's exhausting, isn't it?" The redhead peered over at Naoto, locking eyes with the other girl as she flashed a wink.

Naoto coughed to hide her embarrassment, switching her indoor shoes out before shoving the armful of letters back into her tiny shoebox. Rise put her stack in the box as well, closing the cubby.

"Thanks, Rise." Naoto straightened her hat and picked up her bag, walking with the redhead towards their homeroom class. It was nice to have a friend who actually understood how being in the spotlight wasn't a blessing, but more of a curse.

"Ne, Naoto-kun. Aren't you curious what they say about us? There were some pretty racy tabloid blogs." Rise dropped her voice a decibel lower, making sure the crowds around them wouldn't be able to hear. "Leaked sex tapes, midnight rendezvous, yakuza drug lords ..." Rise listed the words off, like counting sheep. She paused for a second, wondering if she was getting a rile out of the detective.

"Rise…" Naoto chastised the other girl, her tone semi-serious.

"Hehe…sorry about that. I just haven't talked with you in a while. I wanted to get your attention." Rise grinned from ear to ear as the two reached their classroom, Naoto taking a seat by the window.

The idol followed suit, but sat herself down on Naoto's desk instead. "Do I have your attention yet?" She crossed her legs, flipping her hair dramatically as she teased the blue haired girl.

Naoto tried to suppress her grin, ignoring the question as she continued on with her morning routine. Rise's black tights were enticing, but the detective had more restraint than she knew. She took her books out one by one, setting them on the desk next to where Rise sat.

The redhead leaned over to Naoto, her lips touching Naoto's ear as she whispered. "You're so cold, Naoto-kun." Rise cracked a grin, enjoying their little game a bit. She slid off the desk, making her way over to her own chair as she watched her classmates gossip about Naoto, about her, and about the both of them.

It was business as usual, with Naoto and Rise having lunch on the roof together. Despite all the rumors, the blogs, and the retweeting of a picture someone took of Naoto and her locker full of love letters, everything seemed to be back to normal.

"Do you think they're still dating?" Yousuke asked the rest of the group as they sat a distance away from the pair. He had a pair of chopsticks in his mouth, chewing on them absently as he stared at Naoto and Rise laugh at a joke one of them said. "That would mean it'd be fair game for me to try for Rise, right? Rebound or not, dating Kujikawa Rise would be pretty awesome." Yousuke buzzed in his seat, almost salivating at the thought.

"You…." Chie growled as she whacked Yousuke on the back of the head, effectively making him spit out the chopsticks onto the ground.

"H-Hey! What was that for!?" The jealous brunette jumped up, rubbing his quickly swelling head. "It was just a question…Geez!"

"Well, it was a dumb question. You really don't think with your head, do you? Even if they're not, it doesn't mean Rise is up for grabs, ya know?" Chie shook her head in disappointment, taking in another spoonful of Yukiko's homemade bento.

"Yeah, you are being insensitive, Yosuke-sempai… I mean, Rise's probably pretty broken up about it, but what about Naoto?" Kanji chimed in, feeling his cheeks redden as he continued. "I'm sure Naoto's probably free now…maybe I could ask her to have a drink or grab a bite to-Ow!"

Chie felt a headache coming on as she relaxed her hand after karate chopping Kanji. "Both of you are such…guys!"

Beside Chie, Yukiko nodded in agreement, feeling slightly uncomfortable with how quickly the vultures circled their prey.

"It's not like we don't care about them. They're both our friends and Naoto has some really great ideas. All this shadow fighting business is going to go well, but if they're not dating anymore, then there's no reason for me to tiptoe around asking Rise out." Yosuke reasoned with himself verbally, grinning smugly as he finished. He could just see it now. Heartbroken Rise would comforted by her compassionate Yousuke-sempai and when the time was right, he would swoop in and steal her away.

"You're completely delusional." Chie said matter-of-factly as she abruptly stood up, one hand on her lunch box and another hand outstretched to Yukiko.

Wordlessly, the black haired beauty stood up with her own lunch and took Chie's hand.

"C'mon, Yukiko. All this bad company is going to spoil our appetite." With that, Chie dragged Yukiko with her, heading towards Naoto and Rise who looked up as the two girls approached them.

"Chie-sempai! Yukiko-sempai!" Rise looked up with a beaming grin, happy to see her friends abandon that idiot, Yousuke.

Naoto stayed quiet, but nodded her head in acknowledgement of her upperclassmen, accompanied by a polite smile.

"I hope the day's being going well for you two. I heard all the rumors circulating the school and some of them are quite…farfetched." Yukiko laughed sheepishly, remembering the one about how their group of friends was supposedly a protective detail for Naoto, who was a yakuza gang leader's daughter. It was far from the truth, but the truth was much stranger than fiction.

"Class is calming down now. Though people still stop what they're doing and stare at me once I walk into a room. I try to pay them no mind, but it is fairly disturbing at times…especially when I use the restroom…" Naoto looked down, dejected, trying to numb her feelings with a yakisoba bun. She succeeded in doing so.

"Haha…yeah it is kind of awkward. People are staring at me again too. I can't say I've missed it, but keeps life interesting I guess. All those people wondering out loud if I'm a lesbian…haha…" Rise laughed half-heartedly, digging into her tofu lunchbox.

Chie smiled sheepishly, feeling sorry for the two school celebrities.

"It was nice of Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai not to ask us." Rise commented as she and Naoto walked side by side, the only people at the Samegawa Riverbed. They both decided to skip their afternoon classes, despite knowing that their absences would just add fuel to the flames. "I know they wanted to. I could see it in their eyes, but they were both really careful."

"Mhmm." Naoto let out a non-committal agreement as she continued walking, getting lost in her thoughts. She wondered how familiar yet different it felt to have Rise by her side, to have Rise know her true self.

"I know that all of them wanted to know. I could practically hear Yousuke-sempai screaming it." The idol continued on, ignoring the detective's unresponsiveness.

"Mhmm." Again, the blue haired girl agreed with Rise, but her mind was on the future. She didn't know what they were doing anymore. They were both crime fighters now, but was that the extent of their personal relationship? Naoto expected more yelling, more crying, and more disappointment after Rise found out that she was a girl.

None of that happened.

To be honest, the whole affair was anti-climactic overall. After that night in Naoto's room where Rise practically stripped her down for observation, they hadn't talked for a whole two weeks. Was that really what Naoto expected from the usually childish and clingy Risette?

No, it wasn't.

Rise was acting strangely these days, less like her old self. She was still animated, but there was a reserved air about the girl, like she was treading on thin ice.

Suddenly, Naoto felt panic seep into the depths of her mind. What did this mean? Was Rise put-off by what happened despite their little encounter that night? The idol hadn't been the same since that day and the detective was worried that Rise was pushing herself to act normally around Naoto.

"…and that's when it hit me, ya know? It's not about the cheese. It's about the ketchup!" Rise exclaimed in utter stupefaction, overjoyed at her revelation.

Blinking, Naoto paled, picking the most horrible place to tune back into their conversation. Either Rise was talking about cheeseburgers or one of them just had a minor stroke.

Rise looked at Naoto, expecting some sort of reaction, but there was just a blank stare and a good amount of confusion. She scowled, "Were you listening to a word I just said, Naoto-kun?"

Shamefully, Naoto looked down, shaking her head. "Sorry…I was just caught up in my own thoughts. I must have spaced out there."

Rise stopped in her tracks, stepping right in front of the blue haired girl as they locked eyes. "Is something wrong? You seem kinda out of it right now."

Naoto couldn't help but crack a small smile. "Was I being that obvious?" She sighed. "Rise, I just want to know-"

"Are we still dating?" Rise cut in abruptly, her head tilted slight to one side, her eyes quizzical.

"W-what?" Naoto stuttered, wondering where that question came from. It was something she wanted to ask herself, along with the rest of the school, but it seemed awkward to ask.

"I'm still attracted to you, ya know? I think I was being pretty obvious about it the last time we saw each other…" Rise pursed her lips together, resuming her walking as she jumped a few steps ahead of the detective.

Naoto almost scrambled over to Rise, her head a jumble of emotions. "But we didn't do anything that night." The detective furrowed her brows, wondering why Rise was so reserved and less driven by her hormones than the first time they spent the night together. "We just…slept..."

The redhead arched an eyebrow, confused and frankly, quite irked. "Did you want me to make a move on you? You seemed exhausted…and I did tell you I wouldn't do anything you didn't feel comfortable with."

"U-uh. It's not that I wanted you to do something…but rather…you seemed more…uhm…sexually attracted to me when you thought I was male…?" Naoto ran a hand through her hair as she struggled for to find the right words to use.

There was a slight pause in their conversation as Rise doubled back, bouncing along slowly with her gaze averted towards the ground. Once she reached the detective, the redhead leaned into Naoto, closing her eyes before she pressed their lips together. It lasted just a few seconds before Rise pulled away, licking her lips after the fact.

Naoto blinked, wondering if Rise had ever kissed her like that. It was light, gentle, and frankly, a bit lewd.

"Does that answer your question, Naoto?" Rise grinned mischievously, flashing the girl a wink.

"Mmmhm…" Naoto gave a non-committal answer once again as she turned away, heading back up the hill to the gravel path. Her face was beet red and her mind was a little less confused than it was five minutes ago.

"Ne, Naoto-kun…?"

"Hmm?" Naoto turned around, wondering what Rise wanted. It was getting late and dinner time was drawing close.

"Are you going to keep wearing the boy's uniform? It must be…tight, isn't it?" Rise smiled innocently, raising her eyebrows as she gestured to Naoto's bound chest.

"I-It just wouldn't feel right. I'm pretty used to wearing this after all…It would just draw attention to me, wouldn't it?" Naoto stuttered, feeling's the redhead's eye bore into her.

"Well, that's true. And it would just be a side of Naoto-kun that only I know." Rise giggled as she said this, flushing red with giddy delight.

The idol missed the sigh of relief the detective let out, finally feeling at ease as she saw a glimpse of the happy-go-lucky Rise. Not that this more mature side of Rise wasn't appealing, but Naoto realized that all aspects of a person made up who they really were.

A/N: Gearing up to finish this thingggg. Uaghhh. I dunno if you guys have noticed, but I totally messed up my chapter naming 'part XXXXX'. I had a massive bout of brain fog and just did whatever with the numbers. Forgive me!

Stay tuned please :) Review if you would like to do so!