Chapter 4
Naoto was happy that the school trip was over with. The morning after the club excursion had been awkward at best. It would seem she had also been behaving a bit like a drunk, which made absolutely no sense. There were rumors within Seta's group about her behavior, and it was not flattering. She was certain the rumors were Hanamura's doing, and it was likely he had made it all up as a way of teasing her. The part that made her stomach hurt was the fact that Kanji had been avoiding her ever since the train had arrived back in Inaba. It shouldn't bother me this much. And yet it did. It was incredibly distracting and drained much of her energy to watch him ignore her in class every day. He had also stopped walking home through the flood plains. Naoto wasn't sure if he even knew that she looked for him there after school. For whatever reason, he had found another route home, or somewhere else to be when the bell rang each day.
Between this "little distraction" that was consuming half of her time, and frustration over the murder case that took up the rest of it, Naoto felt completely miserable. The police had pretty much written her off when she insisted that Kubo was not the real killer. Her grandpa was overseas working on his own case. And the teens she thought she had bonded with at least a little at school seemed uninterested in spending any time with her. She was on the verge of a breakdown when Kujikawa invited her to eat lunch together, just the two of them. She wasn't sure if she felt relieved to be asked, or even more frustrated, but she didn't hesitate, accepting right away. "So, Naoto-kun, how have you been? We really haven't gotten a chance to talk lately," Rise said.
"I.. am fine, Rise-san. How about yourself? You have seemed… busy, lately. All of you have for that matter."
Rise tilted her head, thinking it through. "Huh. I suppose you're right about that. Although you have seen us at school every day. Well, at least, me and Kanji-kun."
"Hmm. Yes, that's true," Naoto said with a frown. Rise grinned like the cat that got the cream. "What is that look for? Stop that, please," Naoto insisted.
Rise giggled. "I was just thinking that you seemed rather bothered that Kanji-kun has seemed… busy lately. Hey, is it true what Yosuke-senpai said? About what happened in Port Island?"
"Nothing happened in Port Island," Naoto said with irritation. "Hanamura-senpai is just spreading rumors because he thinks it will get to me."
"Aww, Naoto-kun. Is it really that big of a deal? I mean, you like Kanji-kun, don't you? So what if you held his hand?"
"I - That is irrelevant, Rise-san. I did not hold anyone's hand in Port Island."
"Alright, then. I wonder what you did to make him avoid you like this, though."
Naoto looked down at her barely touched lunch. "He… He will not even look at me. I don't know what I did to offend him."
"Well, cheer up, Naoto-kun! He's not the type to stay mad forever! And he has actually been kind of busy lately. We've been training with Souji-senpai."
"Training?" Naoto asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Oh, umm, like studying… so we'll do better on our finals! That kind of training," Rise corrected. Naoto still found her wording to be suspicious, but she let it go. "You know," Rise commented, "you look really tired. Is everything alright?"
"Yes, Rise-san. It's just… the case. Things are at a standstill right now and I have been keeping late nights trying to figure out what it is that I'm missing." She didn't intend to say that much. It was unfathomably hard to hold things back when speaking with Rise Kujikawa.
"But… didn't they already catch the killer?" Rise asked hesitantly.
"No. I do not believe Kubo is the real killer. At least, not of all the victims." At this, the bell rang, and they gathered their things and headed back to class.
After another afternoon of watching Kanji Tatsumi ignore her, Naoto was exhausted. She took her time at her locker, clearing out all of the love notes and placing them in the trash. She arrived at the school gates just in time to see Rise and Kanji approaching the others, heading off with Seta in the lead. Perhaps it's time to see where they have been going every day. She had followed suspects countless times before, so staying hidden was no problem. She found it disappointing to find out that they were only going to Junes. They gathered around a table in the food court, surrounded by snacks. None of them pulled out a textbook, so the studying excuse Kujikawa had come up with was clearly not the truth.
After observing for a while, Naoto had enough. She was too frustrated to not do something. She approached the teens and confronted them, practically begging them to tell her how they were involved in the case. Naturally, they all denied it, and of course, they were extremely defensive about the topic. She left feeling even more miserable, frustrated nearly to the point of tears. And he still wouldn't look at me, not even a glance. She began to wonder about some of the bizarre things that Amagi had spouted while drunk. Was she really just making fun of her, or was there something to that personas and tv's rubbish? As it was the only lead Naoto had left, it deserved a bit more thought.