Reunion 7: Looking At A Photograph
Goddamnit all. I had a half-written chapter, when the file corrupted. There was quite a lot, but, being the optimist I am, I decided I'll write it to be different. :D Enjoy!
Day 3, July 17th, 2013
6:30AM
All seemed quiet in the homely neighborhood of Inaba. The birds sang in the early summer haze, combining their song together for the listening pleasure of those who set up shop early. But there was one particular person who enjoyed the song, for it reminded him of how lucky he was to experience such a wonderful place. That certain someone was rolling around, a large, rotund lump in the bedsheets, moaning and groaning as he spun around on the bed.
Eventually, he rolled close enough to the edge, and he yelped in surprise a second before crashing onto the floor below. The bear, whose colorful design clashed with the white bedsheets, popped out from a small opening and looked around. He looked like he was raveled in a cocoon, until he quickly jumped onto his feet and lifted the bedsheet back onto the bed, his eyes glazed and half-open.
"Last time I sleep in my bear suit," he mumbled semi-coherently. Still feeling tired, to shake off the grips of sleep from his psyche, Teddie felt a grumble in the midst of his belly, soon climbing up to his throat. The bear then let out a tremendous yawn, which, in all honesty, sounded more like a bear's roar, loud enough to rattle the windows in the bedroom and shake things up a little. Once he had gotten that out though….
His eyes shot wide open, glowing with his familiar energy that kept him going through the worst of times. Teddie soon jumped out from bed and waddled down to the lounge room, smiling like he always did, and quickly got to work setting out his day. "But all good bears must have their bear-fast first!" he told himself, and soon got to work in the kitchen, even wearing an apron similar to what Yosuke wore at work.
Luckily, one of the first things Yosuke did when the Hanamuras took in Teddie was to teach him how to use the rice cooker, without burning the entire house down. A few minutes later, he had a bowl of hot rice, ready to consume, and consumed he did. Well, it was more like shoveling the white grains into his gaping mouth, pushing and pulling his costume's hands with the chopsticks until he got everything in there.
After finishing his breakfast, Teddie texted Kanji and Naoto with a place to meet, the Junes food court (of course), and sat back to watch some morning TV. Teddie watched the images flicker through the HDTV innocently, from the morning magical girl anime to the drone of the morning news, but soon grew bored and yawned. Even in the far off year of 2013, morning TV was still ever boring, unless you had cable. And it wasn't like he could brag about the HDTV in the lounge room anymore, since now everyone and their mothers had HDTV (except the Dojimas for some reason). Hell, he remembered the first time Yosuke bragged about his HDTV just to push Chie's buttons… to say she used him as her new kicking bag was putting it lightly.
But he had enough of watching TV. He did live in them, and only the incredibly hammy commercials were worth watching most of the time. The childlike bear got up to his feet, switched everything off, and walked up to the door, ready to leave, when a book caught the corner of his eye. He turned around and he spotted the open photo album on the table, a leathery thing with large, glossy pages. Teddie had bought it for himself after Yu had suggested he find a way to 'store all the memories', and to Teddie, it was one of his most prized possessions.
Teddie felt nostalgia wash over him, and he couldn't help but let himself fall to his bottom, and start going through the photos. There was a photo with Rise pulling up Naoto's snow suit with a smirk on her face, ready to stuff a snowball underneath, while Naoto read a book in blissful ignorance. Many laughs were to be had at Naoto's loud (and rather feminine) shouts of surprise, and even now, Teddie chuckled.
He turned the page. There was another photo with Chie and Kanji sparring at the Samegawa during summer last year. The tomboy had a wide grin on her face, throwing a kick towards Kanji with all her strength. A serious Kanji had his arm out to block the kick, holding his own from Chie's kung fu expertise, hell, he can remember what happened next. Kanji had slipped on the riverbank, and he fell back onto the river, causing Chie to fall on top of him. Their reactions were just priceless!
Another page flipped. Then there, he saw a picture that made him stop right where he was, and take in the mixed feelings of nostalgia, joy and yearning that took him, every time he saw this particular picture.
It was taken during the winter of 2012, after Nanako had recovered from her illness, and Adachi had been defeated. The entire Investigation Team had grouped together to take a photo together outside, and it was probably his favorite photograph in the entire album.
There was Yu standing in the center, smiling slightly, his hands on Nanako's shoulders. Nanako was smiling delightfully, while Yosuke was on Yu's left, giving the thumbs up. Chie was also crouched to Yosuke's knee level, chewing on a steak skewer, with that toothy grin on hers. Kanji was standing tall at the back with a slight smirk, with Naoto standing near him, also smiling faintly. The two had a real height difference, indeed.
He giggled, oh, how joyful it would be for those two to get together. But, what made him pause was when he focused on the girl to Yu's right. Her silky, smooth black hair, held back by a red headband. Her tall, slender frame, stood up in an elegant stance, a smooth, cold smile printed on her face, red lips decorated her mouth, with slightly narrow black eyes that, while cold and piercing, portrayed an inner kindness and humor. He loved the way she laughed like a hyena at the smallest things, even if his jokes never managed to amuse her very much, for instance.
She was Yukiko Amagi. The heiress to the Amagi inn, and owner of the Persona Amaterasu. And while Teddie never told anyone, he always preferred Yukiko in terms of appearance, and if he were to mark a chart, then Yukiko would be on top, easily. Chie was quite beautiful when she wanted to be, but she was too sporty for Teddie's liking: even if being a tomboy was rather cute too. Rise was also very cute, and he did like her a lot, but she just wasn't his type. Something about the pigtails and thigh highs reminded him of a character he once saw on TV. Naoto was also a cutie, whenever she showed weakness or vulnerability for instance, but she was a bit too masculine at times (Teddie liked his feminity in his hunnies), and she was Kanji's.
Yosuke had said a few times, "Can Shadows get feelings like love?" out loud. Teddie didn't know much about the love game, but he did watch movies and TV dramas, and he had taken the sagely advice of Yosuke Hanamura (who told him a great deal of ways to treat girls), so he did know some things… but no matter what he tried, it never seemed to work with the girls, except for old hags and ladies who worked in Junes. He always wondered, he had developed his body to appeal to the 'bishonen' feminine boy fetish many Japanese women had, and he thought it was normal to boast about 'scoring'. Was he doing something wrong? He liked to flirt with Chie, Rise, Naoto and others, but it was only recently that Teddie had sorted out his feelings, and decided.
He would never tell a soul, but, he liked Yukiko. The traditional girl would be the one for him.
Teddie's cheeks began to glow red thinking of the heiress, and he flipped the book to a close, letting the lid fall over the pages. He stood up and began to make the short walk to Junes, ready to start another day with Kanji and Naoto. Hopefully something between those two would kick off after that moment in the sunset, if not, well, he would start something with Yuki-chan!
Day 3, 9:00AM
As Teddie arrived at the sacred Junes food court, the Junes melody echoed in his ear, as the P.A. system blasted it out loud. He spotted some housewives gossiping, some people having quick breakfasts, which, by Junes standards, meant cheap, stale and usually nasty (mostly when Yosuke had to cook it). Thinking about breakfast made him think of the absolutely delicious breakfast Kanji had cooked up once, it turned out he knew not only to sew, but to cook. Kanji was not only a man's man, but a woman's man too! He was a man of taste! Literally!
Teddie personally felt his cooking was almost on Sensei's league, but no one could cook like Sensei. But that flicked a light bulb in the bear's head, and his eyes widened with glee while his mind wrote up an idea (which he stored among the fantasy images of scoring). "Maybe that should wait though. Kanji-kun and Nao-chan need to get much closer," he muttered to himself, scratching the side of his round face.
Teddie was snapped out of his stupor from the metallic grind of a chair's foot against pavement. A smile grew larger on his round features when he looked up, to see Naoto in the process of sitting down. "Nao-chan!" he chirped enthusiastically.
Naoto replied with a small nod, not showing much emotion on her face. Teddie put his hand to his mouth, perhaps the events from yesterday were still fresh in her mind. He had loved it, he always wanted to be a wedding singer. Maybe if Kanji and Naoto got married, he could sing! Yosuke could be on guitar, Chie would be bass, Yukiko would be keyboards, and he'd play the drums and sing.
"Are you alright, Nao-chan?" asked Teddie.
"I am fine. I need not to be fretted over," replied Naoto, who crossed her arms and looked out at the entrance. Teddie nodded slowly. Maybe she was waiting for Kanji, like a loyal wife waited for her loved one!
It didn't take too long. Next minute, there was Kanji. He came ripping down to the food court, holding a bottle in his hands, his face red, his body shaking, it looked like he had ran all the way from his house to the food court. He eventually came to the table, and with a tired pull, he took a seat and sat down, gasping for air. The two stared at him, raising eyebrows at Kanji's state.
Kanji glared back. "What? S'pose cheap alarm clocks can screw up," he said, threat written over his voice, then he locked eyes with Naoto.
He stared at her for a few seconds, and she even responded with a small nod, her dark eyes growing larger, the perimeter expanding… then, he pulled his eyes away, and she did so too. Their cheeks seemed to glow a little red, and Kanji even pulled his head up a little, eyes trying to avoid locking back onto the girl's penetrating dark eyes. To Teddie's amusement, the moment Kanji looked away, Naoto snuck another glance at him, her eyebrows visibly knitted together bashfully.
It was there that Teddie decided, if he wasn't going to get things going, then he might as well speak up.
"Kanji-kun, you should speak to Nao-chan! You were never like this last summer with Chie-chan!" the bear said, grinning at Kanji's sudden jaw drop. He then looked over to Naoto, "The two got on rather well~" Teddie winked at Naoto when he said that, eagerly awaited the reaction.
"WHAT!" shouted Kanji at the top of his lungs. If looks could kill, then the bulging, enraged stare that Kanji shot right at Teddie would have extinguished him out of existence. His fingers gripped at the table, and his cheeks were red from both rage and embarrassment, especially when he looked over at Naoto's expression.
The androgynous girl didn't have even the smallest reaction printed on her face. If it was, she skillfully tilted her cap over her face, Kanji knew she was good at masking her facial expressions, which was a departure from how she could be when the mask cracked, and revealed that soft side he loved so much. It was sort of relieving. Maybe she didn't buy it, and….
"Interesting. So Kanji-kun has already been in a relationship, and with Satonaka-senpai at that."
That killed any good mood he could have had right there.
Kanji barely resisted the urge to punch in that smiling bear's face off right there, settling for shaking in his seat from both anger and nerves. He looked down at his drink, then over at the girl in front of him. While he didn't show it, with it being mixed in with a ton of rage, he actually started to feel a little worried about Naoto's reaction. She seemed way too calm about this, and was never the one to go into relationships or mix in with them. Was she not interested in him? Was what happened last night at the beach just one big cocktease? He wanted to bury his face in his hands, to hide himself away from Naoto. Then he'd kill that bear.
"I-I never dated Chie-senpai! Th-That stupid bear's lyin' his ass off!" yelled a flustered Kanji, his thuggish eyes now wide and more like a child caught red-handed, he held in his lower lip, frozen by the stare Naoto was giving him, "I mean, err, yeah, I s'ppose me and Chie-senpai hung out a lot after you lef-"
"You and Chie-chan did get along bear-y well though!" said Teddie, smiling away. He really wasn't helping the discussion, nor Kanji's defense, was this some big joke to him? "I remember it like it was yesterday~ you were the emperor to her chariot~"
He slammed his fist on the table, and gyrated from his seat, ready to pounce on the round teddy bear, "Goddamnit Teddie!" Kanji roared. As his temper flared, chairs started to turn, and while Kanji was indeed getting really pissed, pissed enough to ignore logic so he could throttle Teddie through the wall, it wouldn't suit Naoto's day if he ended up causing a ruckus. Kanji paused.
While he got people to understand him more, there was always the odd cop who was going to give him a glare or two, because they could never see underneath the piercings and see Kanji for who he was. So, the young man lowered his stance, letting his head fall close to his forearms, still shaking in rage. Now he hoped he really didn't screw up in front of Naoto.
"So me and Chie-senpai hung out a lot the summer after Yu-senpai left an' all. And whe' ya left, too," he explained as calmly as possible. Kanji looked up to Naoto, his body language starting to ease up. His voice was rather quiet, but still had his slurred speech patterns.
The girl nodded slightly, acknowledging what he said, "Yes. I left a few weeks after Narukami-senpai, to my new school."
"Uh-huh." Kanji sighed, and then continued, "Chie-senpai, I think she's real fun, she's a cool chick 'n' all, as long as ya ain't Yosuke. We worked, we did stuff, for one we exercised a lot together-"
"In more than one way!" giggled Teddie, causing Kanji to burn red enough to heat up a house. Even Naoto felt pink on her cheeks from his lewd remark.
Kanji immediately slammed both closed fists onto the table, shaking the entire table down to the foundations, causing the drink cups and their eating utensils to jump. "I said SHUT UP!" his testosterone-fueled voice yelled right at Teddie, who even backed off slightly, his pupils shrank back with fear from Kanji's sudden aggressiveness. The young man stared angrily at Teddie, keeping his glare at the bear, who just resorted to smiling away.
"But it ain't what Ted's sayin'! We're just friends! I ain't even interested in her! Nuh-uh!" Kanji looked over at Naoto while he said this, and she responded by raising her eyebrows. Then she tilted her head up at a shadow hovering over the table.
"Oh, so who's not interested in me?"
Kanji's entire face went pale, his muscles stiffened where he sat, and his expression blanked out. 'Oh shit.'
While Kanji sat there on the verge of flipping out, Naoto looked up, and a smile formed on her face, "Oh, hello there, Satonaka-senpai."
"Naoto-kun!"
The shaded figure stepped forward up to Naoto, grinning at the androgynous girl. It was a young woman, her short, yet athletic figure clad in a police uniform, light brown hair cut into a bobcut. Her black shoes clicked against the pavement, and her posture indicated her pride. She was Chie Satonaka, one of the first members of the Investigation Team, police officer-in-training, and kung fu expert/Bruce Lee fangirl.
She put her hand on Naoto's shoulder enthusiastically, "I haven't seen you for a year! How're you doing, your cases going well?"
Naoto nodded softly, and shrugged her shoulders, looking rather glad to see a familiar face. "I have been doing rather well. I hope the same goes for your training?"
"Ah, Dojima-san's doing a great job with me," she then paused, winced, and rolled her arm to get some blood going to the shoulder, "he works me to the bone, but he's really good at what he does. I can't wait to serve!"
"Well, Dojima-san always was one of the brighter bulbs in the Inaba police," Naoto agreed, even though they did have their disagreements. Her expression was getting lighter, which made Kanji pause a little, "have you heard from the others?"
Chie nodded happily, while still revolving her shoulder, "Yeah. Yukiko's been really busy, but the inn is doing great. They're really getting over the stigma, but it'll never be totally whitewashed. That Adachi bastard…"
Luckily, Teddie ducked out of the way, and hid beneath the table, so nobody noticed the red that decorated his cheeks like a light show. To hear Yuki-chan was doing so well really made his heart lift though, maybe this week was the week to give it his all.
Teddie rose up as Chie went on, "Yosuke's gone to Port Island for a few weeks."
"So I heard," replied Naoto. However, Chie's cheeks began to expand, and she closed her mouth, while her eyelids crinkled. Naoto arched an eyebrow in confusion, but then, Chie decided not to hold it in, and she began laughing over something.
"I got a strange text message meant for this person called 'Takeba'. He wrote it really well, it's as if he was asking her for a date! It was all," Chie then put on an impersonation of Yosuke, but while her voice was unable to replicate a male's vocal patterns, she put on a funny accent imitating one of those romantic heroes, while she swayed her arms and posed, "'Hey, Takeba-san. I was wondering if you'd like to go see the fireworks together, and go get something to eat as well. If you don't want to, that's okay, but I think it could be really fun. Yours truly, Hanamura-kun."
That was the joke that broke the once icy mood. The entire table was filled with the sound of laughter, as Kanji, Chie and Teddie exploded into guffaws. Even Naoto chuckled. The sound of their laughter radiated through the table. Kanji grinned, Chie slapped the table, and Teddie put his hands over his mouth, trying to stop himself from laughing too hard.
They ceased their laughter, as the officer-in-training then turned over to Teddie, and grinned menacingly and with malice towards the bear. The bear actually seemed to shrink back in fear over the hot tempered, spiky young woman, and shook his head, his expression just pleading for mercy. "But there's another subject we gotta talk about. So what did I hear about me and Kanji-kun 'dating'?"
"N-n-nothing! But…" to try and level the playing field, he unzipped his bear suit, revealing the cutesy boy underneath, and swept back his hair with a tilt of his head, eyes gleaming brightly and with a perverse energy. Sparkles flew everywhere. "It was to relax the mood, my honey~"
The look of mortification Chie gave the prankster bear could have poisoned the entire food court. She then bit her lip, closed her eyes, let her eyebrows twitch… then suddenly, her head shot forward, "Don't spread lies like that!" the furious roar from Chie caused Teddie to shriek and zip himself back into his suit, as this set Chie off into one of her rants, this time one-sided.
While Chie ripped into Teddie, who cowered away in his suit as if it served as a defense for Chie's high-volume vocal volleys, Naoto turned over to Kanji, staring deep into his black eyes. She put her fingers together and placed her elbows on the table, like she was going to listen to him.
"Kanji-kun," she said in a blank tone.
"Naoto," Kanji couldn't help it, it felt natural for the occasion. Although why he also had the same deadpan tone, he didn't know.
She crossed her fingers further, and lifted herself up, an interested gleam in her eye, "I want to know the whole story between you and Satonaka-senpai. None of Teddie's funny business, just how it was for both of you."
A breath hitched in Kanji's throat, and he almost started choking. His face felt like it was going to melt now, "Oh, er, the story, huh. Me and Chie-senpai, well… it's kinda long story. Um, s'guess I can explain it."
Naoto arched an eyebrow, looking as nonchalant as she could. The serious and unrepentant detective looked over to the tomboy still yelling at the bear, of course, now she was calming down. Chie was like that, she could be easily set off by a single remark or jibe from Yosuke, but when the target wasn't yelling back, sometimes she would just cool off and relax. But, what got the detective was how Chie was around Kanji. The two acted like the friends they were, no other cues indicating a further relationship.
Naoto knew she was never good with her own feelings, which was a barrier she had set up from her past, but while Kanji was open (although his emotions mostly consisted of anger, embarrassment and stammering like an oaf) with his feelings, she herself closed herself off, so she couldn't be hurt. She had never seen Kanji as anything but a friend. His simpleton actions were rather charming, as annoying as they were sometimes, and she ignored when he became a bumbling mess around her. She was never one for romance or love. The last time her heart opened up to someone, well, it wasn't pleasant.
Her focus was still on Kanji, when Chie left Teddie alone and sat down next to Kanji, smiling. The police shirt she wore wrinkled a little at her movements, but she smoothed them out and looked at Naoto, nodding her head. "So, you want to hear what happened that summer or something?" a flush of pink fell on her cheeks, but then she seemed to shake it off, "Okay then, time to tell the story! Trial of the Dragon Part VI: Summer Nights in Inaba!"
Her energetic tone rubbed off on Kanji, who nodded his head, but still looked rather flustered. "Er, yeah, well…."
Wanted to get on the road again, after what happened.