Author's notes: Thank you so much for the reviews and follows of this story, it means a lot to me and I hope to not let any of you down!

Chapter Two: A Magician's Fortune

Yosuke tapped at his desk nervously as he stared at the clock, the white noise Mr. Hosoi had become still fell like it slowed down time.

"Five more minutes till I have to meet Naoto-ku-... chan, Naoto-chan."

His inner monologue had been on overdrive since this morning, Naoto inviting him to the roof to discuss something privately, what could it be about? Could it be about the case? No, she would have gathered the whole team for that, right?

He continued to try and piece together reasons in his mind as to why Naoto might need to talk to him, but each thought lead to the answer of the team, until one little theory popped up in his head just as the bell to end the day rang.

"A confession of love?"

Yosuke jumped up from his seat, and to everyone else in the vicinity it must have looked like that he was incredibly glad that school was over for the week; but in reality his own thought had scared him.

"Whoa! If you're that eager to get back to Junes you can take me along and buy me a steak." Chie commented as the whole class began packing up their stuff.

"Any excuse for a free meal." Yosuke replied, sarcastically; grateful that her remark had snapped him back to reality.

"If you want a steak that badly just buy your own." Yosuke remarked tiredly as he stood up and grabbed his bag. He just wanted to get out of the room, and discover what Naoto wanted to discuss with him.

"But free steak tastes better!" Chie said as she lent over her desk, dramatically sighing.

Narukami, having noticed that Yosuke looked like there was somewhere he needed to be, interjected.

"Well, as long as we could bring Nanako with us, I'd treat you."

Chie jumped to her feet, her face aglow with excitement as she grabbed Yukiko's arm.

"You hear that Yukiko!? Narukami's giving us free steak!"

Narukami smiled as he looked over at Yosuke; he appeared happy, but his eyes seemed to scream "save yourself". Yosuke nodded and left the classroom, he'd never forget the day his partner took that bullet.

Yosuke noted that the halls of the school were still pretty empty as he decided which set of stairs he wanted to take to the 3rd floor. It would be awkward to bump into Naoto now, so he decided to rush up the main stairs as it would mean less time spent on the 3rd floor.

A wave of relief came over him as he continued up the stairs and reached the roof, but as he gripped the handle of the door, that same thought crossed his mind again.

"Is Naoto gonna tell me she loves me?"

His throat felt like sandpaper as he gulped from nerves, but he knew he couldn't stand there all day. Although he got out of class as quickly as he could he had no way of knowing if he was the first one to the roof, so he steeled himself and opened the door to find Naoto waiting, looking at her phone.

Yosuke was taken a back, he got out of class as quick as he could and yet there Naoto was, waiting for him. He took a deep breath and walked over to her, closing the door behind him.

Naoto looked up from her phone to notice him, pocketing it as she greeted him.

"Yosuke-Senpai, thank you for coming." She smiled at him as he walked up to her. Yosuke decided to play it cool, after all, he wasn't entirely sure that it WAS a confession of love.

"Hey Naoto-chan... hey I got it right that time, what do you need?" Yosuke uttered, he knew that's as smooth as he would ever get.

"Your assistance in a case I've been hired to look into." Replied Naoto simply, which caused Yosuke's heart to skip a beat, though his relief quickly turned to confusion.

"Okay, why me?"

"Rise informed me that you were the one who would regularly share theories as to who the culprit might be to the murders and kidnappings taking place here in Inaba. I wish for you to accompany me tomorrow as I work this case in the hope that you learn from the experience and grow as an investigator." Naoto explained.

Yosuke took a moment to think about his response; he'd never thought about it like that. He'd always considered it a joint effort between the whole team, not just down to one man.

"Wouldn't it be better if you asked Narukami?" Yosuke wondered, as Naoto smiled again; which made Yosuke nervous. It felt like one of those detective shows, where the detective already knew everything about the case, but felt like toying with the suspect just for the hell of it.

"I believe Narukami-senpai already has enough additional jobs and activities he does when not spending time with any of us or entering the TV world." Naoto retorted, her tone became softer as she continued.

"If it's about spending time with just me I can assure you my intentions fall under two categories, a desire to educate a peer, and a wish to spend time with a friend; while we are more comfortable spending time together in a group I believe we should continue to strengthen our bonds with each other on an individual basis just as Narukami does."

Yosuke let out an audible sigh of relief.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with a detective's logic." He said, his natural care free demeanor returning to him. "When do we get started?"

"Tomorrow." Replied Naoto, "If we meet at the Junes food court tomorrow at 11a.m. I can recap everything I know of the case so far, from there we can decide our next course of action."

"Sounds great." Yosuke replied, and shortly afterwards they both headed down from the roof, and said their goodbyes as they left the school grounds. Yosuke smiled to himself as he walked home.

"I guess I'm owed some good fortune." He thought to himself.