Chapter 6: Better Than Expected
(Ok, so I got a request from a comment to bring back my extremely descriptive writing, ask and you shall receive. Other than that, this is the Date chapter so OOC-ness my happen, don't blame me, I'll try my best to write Naoto like the romance social link in P4, but bear with me.)
Kanji finally woke up Friday around noon, "Oh, crap, how long did I sleep?" he said out loud, he then looked down at his beat up hands, "Oh, that's right, I finally finished the sweater and scarf last night" he yawned loudly and grabbed his phone, he saw a text from Yosuke, "Dude, how long do you sleep? Anyway, if you are awake by one, meet me at Junes" Kanji texted back that he just woke up and would meet him at the secret headquarters at one. Naoto was back home for the first time in a while and went straight up to her room, "Why am I getting so damn nervous about tomorrow night, it's just Kanji-kun, it will be fine, hehehehehe, why am I laughing."
She fell face first onto her bed, then shot up, "I just need a distraction, I should go read some mystery novels, she walked down the hallway and noticed something out of the ordinary, he granpa's study was wide open. Naoto couldn't take the curiosity and went in for a peek. She approached the desk where her granpa always spent time going over cases, for some reason a bead of sweat ran down from her silky hair, "Damn, it's too hot in here, no wonder granpa is always so irritated."
The room itself was creepy, the only light was from a single lamp hanging over the desk, the rest of the room was completely pitch black, and the desk was unusually messy, Naoto shuffled through the files on the desk and stood white as a ghost, "No, this can't possibly be correct" she dropped the file on the cold floor and took a step backwards, "I-I can't believe it, Mitsuo was released from prison?!" Naoto took a deep breath and took a step towards the desk, she leaned down to pick up the case file, "I wonder why granpa didn't mention this" she read the report,
"According to several sources, the young boy convicted on one count on murder was released on posted bail earlier this week. The bail money was paid off by the boy's father, business tycoon Kubo Tomoya. The citizens of Inaba were concerned when the report broke but Mr. Kubo clearly stated that his son would not bring harm to innocent people ever again." Naoto sighed, possibly in relief, she didn't know, "I'm sure the first thing on that twisted boy's mind is revenge, good thing his father has him now." She found something she would do that day; she would look up and research this Tomoya Kubo, Mitsuo's father, and gather intel on him for her granpa.
Hours past and Naoto finally discovered something; she was in the large living room of the estate wearing blue sweatpants and a tank top, starring at a computer screen. "So, Tomoya Kubo was nearly arrested five times for assisting gang members with drug pushing, leading me to suspect he has involvement with them." She paused, "Did he release his son to have him run his gang outlets so he wouldn't be traced?" she shook her head and forgot about that explanation, Mitsuo was insane after all.
Kanji finally arrived at Junes and greeted his senpai, "Good to see you finally woke up, Kanji" Kanji noddd lazily, he stayed up way too long last night, "So, Yosuke, I wanted to ask you advice on what to do tomorrow night" Yosuke nodded, "Ok, listen up then. The main thing I discovered with Chie is that you have to be yourself, don't try to act cool, or serious, just be you, ya know?" Kanji nodded as if he was taking notes in a class, in fact his focus was creeping Yosuke out a bit, "Anyway, that's the main thing, Kanji, just don't try too hard, this is Naoto we are talking about, for all we know this is her first date too." Kanji nodded again,
"Do ya really think this is her first date?" Yosuke nodded, "Think about it, you idiot, how could she date anyone, when everyone thought she was a dude?" Kanji realized his question was stupid and hung his head, trying to think of a change in subject, and then it came to him, "Hey, do you think I should, um, give her a gift tomorrow?" Yosuke went wide eyed, "Kanji, that's new from you, actually that was the smartest suggestion that you've ever made." Kanji twitched, not sure how to take the comment, "You calling my other suggestions stupid?"
He stood up and rolled up his sleeves blushing slightly, Yosuke put his hands up, "Calm down man, jeez, that was meant to be a compliment " Kanji sat down and sighed, "Sorry, I guess I'm really nervous for tomorrow" Yosuke nodded, "I understand, but have a little confidence, you can do this" Kanji nodded, "Yeah, you're right, I'll blow her away tomorrow night, what am I so worried for?" he got up and saluted at Yosuke before leaving him with the table, and the bill. "Wait, dammit, Kanji" he said holding the check.
It was Saturday, the day of reckoning for Kanji Tatsumi, he spent the whole day picking out clothes to wear and of course deciding how to give Naoto her present. He decided to only give her the scarf because he didn't want to overwhelm her. "Ok, I think everything is ready" he went to his room and took a nice black sweater out of his closet, and put on some nice jeans and a solid belt with a gold buckle, he looked in the mirror and did his signature fist in the air while holding his arm move. Naoto was pacing back and forth, "Is it too late to back out of this?" she said, she was currently looking at her signature hat,
"Should I still wear the hat or will Kanji-kun be offended by it?" she picked it up, and then back down as she went into the bathroom to brush her hair, it was as silky and flawless as ever, Naoto never knew why her hair was so perfect, she never once used any type of product on it, or kept it well for that matter. She emerged from the bathroom with better looking hair than before, "I think I will skip the hat tonight, not as for the bindings" she paused her thoughts,
"No, no, stop being embarrassed, change is good, I don't need them to be secure in public, besides" she looked down at her chest, "They aren't that big." She decided to wear a light blue shirt, her dark blue jacket and her blue plaid pants like she always did, in fact the only difference between this and her regular outfit was the breasts were slightly noticeable. "This should do nicely, now, I need to get going or I am going to be late."
Yosuke was leaning against a wall on top of the building across the way from Aiya, Chie came up to him, "So, are they there yet?" Yosuke just smiled, "I knew you were diabolical but this is crazy, we really aren't even showing up?" Chie nodded, "Yep! I can't wait to see this" Yosuke nodded and got up and strolled past Chie kissing her on the cheek, "I'm getting a soda, want anything?" Chie turned blushing a little, "Yeah, water bottle please" Yosuke nodded, "Of course."
Kanji was now waiting outside the restaurant checking is watch periodically, "Damn, they are already five minutes late" he sighed and continued to wait, when a figure appeared from the direction of the bus stop, it was Naoto, not wearing a hat! Kanji was shocked that she left her home without it, he was already shaky in the knees,
"Calm down you wuss, this is all you!" he sallowed hard and turned to face her directly, she was now right in front of him, "Ah, you're quick!" he almost yelled, Naoto raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?" she asked, Kanji covered his mouth and blushed, "Damn, I'm an idiot" he cursed himself inside his mind. "So, uh, Yosuke isn't here yet, so, you wanna get a t-table?" Naoto was captivated on Kanji's nervous expression, "Am I really causing him to act like this?" she thought,
"Uh, yeah, let's go, Kanji-kun" she walked past him, that's when he noticed her chest stuck out more than usual, Kanji shook his thoughts away and went into the restaurant with her. Chie put down her binoculars, "They went in together, I think we did it!" Yosuke gave an unenthusiastic "Hooray" and went back to his phone.
Inside the restaurant, Kanji and Naoto were conversing for a long while; Kanji couldn't believe how much they actually had in common, "So I find it really interesting that both our shadows were essentially about trying to hide ourselves from others." Kanji nodded, "It's crazy when you put it that way" Naoto nodded, "I guess it's something we can work out together" Kanji froze and turned red,
Naoto realized what she said and looked down, "Crap, I don't have my hat on" looked up to see Kanji grabbing the back of his head, "T-t-that sounds good, Naoto" he said nervously. Naoto was taken aback, "R-really?" she sighed in relief, rather glad Kanji said that, "I'll take your word for it then" she was blushing rather heavily, Kanji thought she looked freakin adorable, so he looked away, "So, uh, how is the food?" Naoto helped him change the subject, "It's good, as always" Kanji looked back to see Naoto's blush fading away, "Yeah, they are always great here" Kanji felt the time was right for the present. He reached under his chair and pulled out a box with a red bow on top of it, "Um, I know it's like our first um date, but I made you something" Naoto was frozen, she never received a handmade gift from a boy before, for once, she had no idea what to do with herself.
Kanji snapped his fingers, "Naoto, are you alright?" she shook her head and blushed slightly, "Y-y-yeah, I'm alright" her voice was higher than normal, she was clearly flustered, Kanji put the box on the table and scratched the back of his head, "If you don't want it, it's cool, I'll take it back" Naoto cut him off, "No!" she almost yelled, she thanked God there were only a few old couples in the restaurant, "I-I, want the gift, thank you Kanji-kun" she grabbed the present and started to open it, Kanji had never seen her so nervous before.
She held up the well-made blue scarf and made a sound that she regrets making, "Kanji-kun, it looks great, are you telling me you made this yourself?" Kanji held the back of his neck, "Yeah, it was all me, it's not weird is it?" Naoto shook her head no, "It's amazing, thank you for this Kanji-kun, it was really, er, sweet of you." Kanji blushed extremely dark red, "N-no problem, just ask if you ever want anything else to match." Naoto nodded.
The night continued like that for a while, Kanji kept making small talk, and Naoto was honestly having the time of her life. It wasn't until 8:00 PM that they both left the restaurant, they ended up on the riverbank with their feet in the water, and they sat next to each other. Kanji decided to break the silence, "Naoto, I really had a great time tonight, thank you for agreeing to come along"
Naoto was tossing her feet in and out of the water like a little kid, "I had a great time, Kanji-kun, we should do this again." Kanji turned red at the last part, "Y-yeah, defiantly" Naoto looked up at him wearing the scarf around her neck, "Um, Kanji, do you want to, er, start trying to date?"
Kanji was so shocked that he fell into the shallow water, soaking his nice clothes, "Kanji-kun!" Naoto said getting up, Kanji was sitting in the water gathering his thoughts, "She wants to freakin date! And I pull this stupid shit?" he got up and stepped back onto the dock, Naoto was still standing as he sat back down, "N-n-naoto, to answer your question, I think we should, i-I mean why the hell not" Naoto rolled her eyes at the typical Kanji response, she nodded, "Alright, are you free tomorrow, I want to go on a walk with you" Kanji nodded slowly, still blushing, "Um, yeah, sounds like a plan to me" Naoto checked her watch,
"Well it's gotten late, I should return home now" she saw that Kanji was to shell shocked to stand, so she decided to take a bold move that would shatter her hard boiled character, she leaned down and kissed his cheek, making Kanji even more red, but he didn't say anything. "Good night Kanji-kun" she left his sight and Kanji laid back on the dock, "H-holy crap, I freakin did it, I gotta call Yosuke and senpai about this!"
A/N: Well that went better than expected. So who is curious about the Kubo story that Naoto was "investigating"? More on that later. I really feel like there wasn't too much OOC ness but I could be wrong, so let me know, as always thanks for reading a please take the time to review, they really do help