Rise's concert had been only half the reason for coming to Yokohama. The second, Souji's birthday, happened tomorrow.
Kanji's original plan had been for him and Naoto to piggyback on Rise's present, until Naoto had pointed out that Souji and Rise were together now and any present she'd be giving him probably wouldn't be appropriate as a trio. This meant Going Shopping. Yukiko and Chie had picked out their gift already, but Yosuke and Ted were both cutting it equally fine. Yosuke was the one who'd suggested Takashimaya, on the grounds that if he set foot in a Yokohama Junes he was going to impale himself on a steak skewer. (Chie had told him to let her eat it first.)
Takashimaya was definitely more high-class than Junes, but that wasn't hard. Each of the eight floors seemed enormous; a collection of different departments packed full of more stuff than anyone could want or need. Kanji and Naoto were standing on the second floor – Toys and Games – and, in Kanji's case, frowning at a stuffed red dinosaur.
"Nanako-chan's seven now, right?" he asked Naoto, and she nodded. "What do seven-year olds like?"
Naoto looked uncertain. "...Electronic components and crime novels."
He stifled a grin. "You weren't a typical kid," he said, and she shrugged.
He picked up the dinosaur and studied it carefully. Its t-shirt had a picture of the Cosmo Clock ferris wheel. He could and had made better, but it wasn't bad for mass-produced and it was pretty damn cute. Maybe it'd be more special for being a souvenir. Dojima hadn't been cool with Nanako traveling such a long way, so those of the team still living in Inaba had promised to bring her some stuff back. The dino might work. He tucked it under his arm.
"We're supposed to be selecting a gift for Souji-senpai," Naoto pointed out, while Kanji tried not to dwell on the plural. "Do you have any ideas?"
"N-Not really." Stuffed dinosaurs probably wouldn't be the best choice there. "You?"
"A thesaurus would be useful. I'm certain we could purchase one here."
Independent of Naoto's awful taste in birthday gifts, Kanji couldn't help noticing that 'we' again. Buying a gift together. They'd write both their names on a single present and it'd be awesome and would totally Mean Something. Then he realized he was going soft in the head, and accidentally scowled at a nearby shop assistant.
Naoto frowned up at him. "Is there something wrong with that idea?"
"Let's check the other floors first," Kanji said diplomatically.
At some point on the fifth floor, Naoto had wandered off. Kanji had been busy checking out pots, pans, and various useless kitchen appliances, and hadn't noticed her disappearance till he'd asked who the hell needed a bread machine if they had a damn oven and received no response. He'd debated just picking out a gift for Souji by himself, but she might not like it and maybe then they wouldn't be giving one present together and holy crap he was definitely turning into a soppy idiot.
After searching the current floor, and the one above it, and the one above that, he still hadn't found Naoto. He did, however, see Yosuke trailing through the DVD section with a very worried expression on his face.
"You seen Naoto?" Kanji asked him.
Yosuke shook his head. "Nope. Ted?"
Great. Losing track of Naoto was one thing. A missing Teddie was another. "Damn, we'd better find him."
With the fifth, sixth and seventh floors covered, they headed down to the fourth. It was completely taken up by the clothing department – where, as Kanji really should've guessed, they found Naoto eyeing up clothing in the men's department and frowning at the sizes.
"Nothing here is extra small," she complained as he and Yosuke walked up.
He tipped a thumb back toward the elevators. "They got stuff for boys over that way."
She grimaced at that, and Kanji opted for silence.
Yosuke didn't. "What about the women's section?" he asked, smirking.
"I believe you'll find Teddie there trying on dresses," said Naoto.
Yosuke swore out loud and took off at speed. Naoto went back to studying a pair of pinstripe trousers.
The clothes in Takashimaya were definitely better than the crap at Junes, but some of them still looked a little flimsy. Kanji looked around at various items of clothing, mentally cataloguing things he'd do differently, until he remembered why they were here. "Did you wanna get clothes for Souji-senpai?" he asked.
Guilt flashed over Naoto's features. "I – ah." She clasped her hands behind her back. "Of course. The gift. Clothing is potentially appropriate."
"We don't know his measurements," Kanji pointed out. "I could eyeball 'em, but I wouldn't wanna get it wrong." He nodded toward the accessories area instead. "Maybe there's something over there."
Unfortunately, 'accessories' consisted mainly of racks of discounted scarves and gloves and hats. Naoto examined one scarf carefully, running the pale blue fabric through her slim fingers and letting the tassels drape over them. She had nice hands, but Kanji knew that already; sometimes they were easier to look at than her face.
"This would be a good gift." She sighed and let the scarf drop back on its hanger. "But this is the wrong season. Senpai wouldn't be able to wear it any time soon."
Kanji had made her a scarf last December. He'd seen her tugging up the collar of her coat against the cold, and thought, there's something I know how to fix. Then he'd knitted the scarf and never worked up the courage to give it to her. It was still hanging in his closet.
Maybe next year.
"A watch," Naoto declared. "That would be suitable."
Kanji grinned. "So he can tell if it's midnight?"
She blinked at him – then offered a slight smile back. "Perhaps we can find one with a built-in weather forecast."
They left the accessories section to head toward men's jewelry instead – but on the way, Naoto suddenly stopped. When Kanji glanced back, she was inspecting one of the mannequins. It was wearing a smart-looking charcoal jacket, single-breasted with a funnel collar. Naoto was holding one of the sleeves and tapping the metal buttons.
"Thinking 'bout getting it?" he asked.
"It's not my size."
"You could get a smaller one tailored." Hell, he could do it for her if the idea of being close enough to take measurements didn't send him into a tailspin.
"I usually have to, but this one is far too large." She looked at him, then at the jacket, one hand still rubbing the material of the sleeve. "You should consider purchasing it."
"Me?" Fine, it was a really awesome jacket, but he'd never do it justice. He barely pulled off mock leather.
"Yes, you. It would suit you." She paused. "I'll purchase it for you."
"Hey! You ain't buying stuff for me, alright?" Naoto might have the full weight of the Shirogane fortune behind her, and the jacket was pretty expensive – but damn, Kanji could buy his own clothes.
She looked a little irritated. "Do you like it?"
"Well – yeah. But dude, you've seen how I dress and that ain't it."
Naoto turned back to the jacket. "...You'd look very good."
Which, unfortunately for Kanji's wallet, totally settled it.
Kanji woke up the next morning earlier than he would've liked, mostly because Teddie was jumping up and down on his bed.
"Kanji-chan, wake up! It's Sensei's birthday!"
"Go jump on his bed then," Kanji muttered.
Ted let out a deep, exaggerated sigh. "Can't. He locked the door."
Sharing a room with Ted was a trial of patience, but Kanji figured he still had it better than Souji, who was stuck with Yosuke, and Naoto, who was by herself. She probably liked it better that way but it was still kind of sad. Rise was in a similar situation, except with a bodyguard outside the door and an overprotective manager added to the mix.
"Fine, fine." He sat upright and shoved Ted off the bed. "Lemme get dressed, yeah? Then we'll go see Senpai or whatever."
Ted seemed mollified by that. It wasn't until Kanji was tugging on his shirt that the bear piped up again. "Hey, is that yours?" he asked, pointing to the charcoal jacket hanging on the back of the room's door.
"...Yeah." Kanji would never be able to look at it without thinking of Naoto, which made it either the best or worst purchase ever.
"It's nice! Bear-y dapper. Like my new hat." Ted picked up a neon pink baseball cap from the dresser. 'Yokohama!' was printed on the front, next to a wobbly rectangle that was probably supposed to be the Landmark Tower.
"Great," Kanji said, and tried not to wince. "Didya find a present for Souji-senpai?"
Teddie frowned. "Whoops. Oh well, I bet Yosuke handled it. He thinks about Sensei a lot."
Sucked to have someone stuck on your mind, friend or foe or otherwise. Kanji knew that too well. It would've been great, he thought, if this shit could be easier; if he could just walk up to Naoto one day, look her in the eye and say I like you, I've liked you since we met, and get it out of his damn system. Instead he kept turning himself in circles, finding endless excuses to keep things the same as always. That was easy.
So was doing stupid stuff. Like buying an admittedly awesome jacket because she thought it'd look good on him. Insisting on walking her back to the hotel when she didn't need it, just because he wanted to hang out with her. Generally pining after the world's most oblivious person for three years and not even knowing why it'd all started burning inside him to begin with.
...Damn, that was pathetic. When was he going to let go? He'd tried to get interested in other people, kept his eyes open at school, but it'd been fricking impossible with Naoto still around. It was pretty clear nothing would happen between them, and honestly, he was sick of hanging on every word she said.
There'd be no point confessing now, anyway. Things would get simpler once she left. He needed to move on.
"You think about Nao-chan a lot too, Kanji-chan." Ted had climbed back onto his own bed and put on the pink cap. "Yosuke talks about it sometimes."
Kanji felt his fists tense. "What's he say?"
"Different stuff. That you're lucky. That it's okay because Nao-chan's a girl now."
Of all the Naoto-related crap Kanji was trying to deal with, that was the one thing that didn't bother him. It had twice in the past, and in very big ways: first when he'd spent months tearing himself up over crushing on another guy, and then right after they'd pulled Naoto out of the television and he'd spent days too pissed off to even sleep. Then he'd calmed down, worked some stuff through, and realized that for him, it didn't matter. It mattered to Naoto, he got that. She'd said she was okay with being a girl, that she'd accepted it, but fact was she still did and most likely thought a lot of guy things. Or maybe they were just Naoto things. There probably weren't supposed to be guy and girl things at all - but stuff never worked the way it should.
Shit, it gave Kanji a headache.
"It don't work like that," he told Ted. Then he hesitated. "Well, okay, it kinda does. But only because of what other people tell themselves." He slipped the jacket off its hanger and shrugged it on. "Hanamura's probably figured that out too."
Teddie shook his head. "I don't get it."
"Me neither." Kanji pulled open the door to the room. "C'mon, let's go wake up Souji-senpai."