Author's Note : As usual, I can't thank everyone enough for their supports… All of my friends, reviewers, and those who put this story in the favorite or alert lists… I'm on fire to finish this story! I hope you all enjoyed chapter 2…

Disclaimer : All SMT series along with the characters belonged to Atlus…

~Single Key of Two Hearts~

~His Side, Part II~

It's been five days since the underclassmen make their trip to their senpai's home as a routine after school. And along those days, Souji was feeling both eager and sorry. He always feels bad whenever the detective showed up to see him to ask for his company, he can see that she's looking restless and a bit sad day by day as he turned down her request, even though she always said that it's fine. Sometimes, he felt that she was about to ask him something, but whenever the sleuth was about to open her mouth, she'll just shook her head and cancelled the speech. This triggered him to feel bad and a portion of regret. But he always tells himself that this is won't last any longer. "Just hang in there, it'll be over in a couple of days. It's almost finished…"

Dojima Residence

After School

"Senpai, don't ya think that ya better tell Naoto what you're up to now?"

"Huh? Why did you ask that all of a sudden, Kanji?" The leader narrowed his eyebrows while facing the bleached-haired boy. In front of him, a silver box stood still, and his hands are still busily working on with the materials.

"Uh, no, no reason actually, it's just that when I saw her today, and her face look… uh, how should I put it? Uh… sorrowful? Usually, her face doesn't really show too much of an expression, but lately, she looked all gloomy… Hey! Careful there, senpai!!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" The leader suddenly realized that he has loosened the grip of his hands, causing the silver-colored thing to slip off his hands. Fortunately, he caught the item before it hit the floor and continue on with the task. "I don't think I'll tell her, if I told her, all this effort will be useless…"

"You've got a point there, senpai. But I always feel sorry for Naoto-kun, whenever I saw her like that…" The idol frowned. "Anyways, I'm positive that this'll cheer her up! Too bad she didn't know what's coming to her! In my opinion, this is turning out great! I'm sure she'll love it! And on top of that, it's from senpai!" The pig-tailed girl giggles when she saw her senpai's face blushes a little. "I-I hope so…" was his only reply.

The grey-haired boy has been working on the materials from the silver box for five days. He diligently crafted the materials, with Kanji and Rise's help everyday after school, and on evening, he would continue on with the task. Even though, on one night Nanako ever asked her big brother about his routine night activity in his own room lately. The big bro only said that he's making something for someone special. He still remembers that in response, Nanako giggles and said, "It must be for Naoto-neesan!" The big bro finds himself smiling gently to his little sister as his reply. And at last, tomorrow, the big day will be there.

"Phew… Finished at last!" moaned the grey-haired boy, sitting in front of his work table in his own room. On the work table, stood still a silver box, and beside it, lay a silver-colored item. He took the item from the table and gazes it from various direction on his hand. Smiling gently, he looked pleased with the result of all his efforts. The boy stood and headed to his study desk. From the drawer, he drew a navy colored box, adorned with a silvery-white ribbon on top of it. He opened the box and put the silver colored item inside. Then he thought, "All settled, which left me with only the biggest task of all… Handing this to her… tomorrow…" Feeling the need of energy for tomorrow, our hero rested himself on his futon and once again, entered the realm of the dream world.

Yasogami High School, class 2-2

After School

"The day is finally here…" the transfer student's minds are hovering elsewhere while he packed his belongings into his school bag. He dreamt of something last night, but he couldn't seem to remember anything about it, yet on the other hand, he's pretty sure that he dreamt of something. The only thing about the dream which he could make out is that the dream is not a nightmare, he only had the feeling that it is… a very nice dream, even though he didn't remember anything about it. He kept thinking, until someone called out to him.

"Hey partner! We wouldn't be able make it if you're not pacing up!" The brunette calling out to him while he waited with the other two girls near the class' entrance. The door suddenly slide open, revealing two of his underclassmen behind it.

"C'mon, senpai! We've rushed here right after the class ended! We didn't have much time left!" and while saying so, Kanji tapped his right foot impatiently.

"Oh, okay! Sorry!" The leader have finished packing his belongings, but he take a last peek of the contents of his bag to make sure that the navy-colored box is still in it's place. Then he lifted his left hand and gives his watch a look. It's his favorite watch, which she gave to him as his Christmas present, since then, the watch spent it's time mostly around the leader's wrist. The watch displayed 14:05, and below it, the special function was displayed, Distance: 15 meters. "Good, she's still in her class…" He took his bag and walked towards his friends, "Sorry for the wait, let's go!"

The team walked swiftly along the school hallway and made their way until the school lobby. The leader peeked to his watch, which read, Distance: 5 meters, but the number gradually reduced to 4, and then 3… Realizing the dangerous situation, the leader spoke swiftly. "Quick everyone, she's walking out of her class now!" The looks in the team member's face panicked, but realizing that there isn't any time to waste, the whole team ran as fast as their legs could let them and managed to get out of the school ground.

The team ran until they've reached the shopping district. The grey-haired teen checked his watch again, and informed everyone that they're safe now, since the watch displayed "out of range". They stopped a while to regain their breath, but suddenly, someone chuckled.

"Hey Yosuke, did you feel that all this running is giving you a deja-vu?" Chie said with a grin on her face. Yosuke tilted his head, "Hey, yeah, I think this thing ever happens to us, but, when is it..?" In response, Chie sighed, "What? You didn't remember? My legs are stiff for the next two days, so there's no way that I'll ever forget that!" Yosuke narrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember. Chie shook her head, then throws an obvious glance towards Kanji. Seeing the sign, Yosuke yelled, "Hell yeah! I remembered now! Kanji chased us at Samegawa and caused us to run around and around the gazebo! Man, how could I forget that?!" Kanji, who heard his name being mentioned, joined the discussion. "H-hey! That's because you all kept following me around for days!" The team's leader and the black-haired girl chuckles, reminiscing those days. "Yeah, that's around the time we firstly met… On those days, I never thought we'll end up like…this…" The grey-haired teen shook his head, smiling, thinking that if he even considers their relationship to be like this on those days, then obviously, something inside him is very wrong, since everyone thought that she's a "he". The idol, who didn't fully understood about the topic, asked, "Huh? What're you all talking about?"

"Oh, yeah, Rise hasn't joined the team back then. It's just something that happens when we're trying to save Kanji. And for the reward of trying to do so, he chased us all over at Samegawa" explained the brunette, while throwing a glance to the topic's subject. Kanji, feeling referred, just keep telling them that it's all because they're acting weird, such as stalking him for days. The entire team smiled while reminiscing.

"By the way, Yosuke-kun, have you told Teddie about this?" The raven-haired girl asked.

Hearing the question, the brunette opened his mouth in awe. "Dang it! I totally forgot about that bear! I've told him about today, but I forgot to pick him! I guess I'll head to Junes first to pick that bear. You all can go on without me, I'll come after I picked him up." After saying so, the heir of Junes went off. "We're better off too, or else we wouldn't make it in time." Hearing the leader's words, the rest of the group nodded and continue on to their destination.

After walking for a while, the group finally reached their destination. They're in front of Naoto's home in Inaba. The group looked at the house with amazement on their faces, except for the leader, who often walked the detective home. The leader stepped forward, pressing the doorbell beside the wall of the door. Then, an intercom answered, "Shirogane Residence, may I help you?"

The grey-haired teen answered, "It's me, Souji, Seta Souji."

"Oh, Souji-san and the others isn't it? Fortunately Naoto-sama isn't home yet, I'll open the door for you all." replied the intercom who appears to be Yakushiji-san, Naoto's grandfather's secretary. Just a moment later, the door swung open, revealing the secretary and the elegant interior of the building. "Good afternoon everyone, please come in." greeted the secretary. The group stepped in, and are amazed by the interior of the building, this time, everyone are amazed, even the leader, since this is the first time he entered her house, usually he'll just walk her until the front of the building.

"Wh-whoa… This place is huge!" exclaimed Chie.

"Th-this is like our whole inn…" stammered Yukiko.

"I never thought that Naoto-kun's this rich… She never says or shows anything which indicates all this…" The idol shook her head in disbelieve.

"…" The delinquent teen is lost in amazement. He opened his mouth in awe while looking at the interior of the detective's home.

"W-well, she's not the type of person who likes to brag anyway, Rise-san, and furthermore, her family's been detectives for generations and they've been assigned to many cases until now, they also have strong connections with the police and maybe the government. It's not really surprising if they're this…rich…"

Even though he, himself said that it's not really surprising, the leader couldn't really take all this surprise in that instant. He never thought that his girlfriend would be this… wealthy… from the public's eyes, his family's economical condition is top-notch too, since both of his parents owns their own business and are trying to spread their wings abroad, which results in his transfer to Inaba itself. It's just that he never suspected that she's this rich, just like the idol has said earlier, she never shows any indication that she belongs to a very wealthy family.

"Seeing you all here, I assume that you all have received the invitation, yes?"

The group nodded.

"By the way, where's Hanamura-sa—" Before Yakushiji can finish his sentence, the doorbell rang.

"That's him, it must be Yosuke and Teddie!"

"Oh, Hanamura-san and Teddie-san is it? I'll open the door for them."

Then the secretary walked off and opened the main door, revealing a brunette and a blonde, and just like the others, both of them looked amazed by the interior. Yosuke stammered a "whoa" from his wide-opened mouth, while Teddie, looking both amazed and excited, said, "Nao-chan's house is beary big indeed! Heehee!" Hearing another one of Teddie's bear puns, the others sweatdropped. The young leader ignored it and asked the secretary.

"By the way, how's the preparations going, Yakushiji-san?"

"Everything is going smoothly according to the plan, Naoto-sama wasn't expecting any of this. But, it's a shame that Shirogane-sama wasn't able to be present since he is abroad right now. Everything was so sudden that he couldn't make it here and on top of that, Naoto-sama always refuses to held such a party every year that we never even thought to held any of them until now… Well, if we asked her, I'm sure that she would turn down the plan, but since this is a surprise party…"

"Huh? Then, why did you held this one in the first place?" the leader asked, with a confused expression on his face.

"Well, it's Hanamura-san, Satonaka-san and Kujikawa-san's idea in the first place…"

The grey-haired teen turned his back to look for the mentioned names, only to find that both Chie and Rise are pointing towards Yosuke from both sides. The leader threw his glance towards his best friend. As for Yosuke, sensing his partner's stare, quietly moans "traitors…" and answered the stare awkwardly.

"I-I just thought that it would be fun if we held a surprise party for her! Uh… well, more or less, this is for you, too!"

Hearing the brunette's words, his partner stammered, "Wh-what does this has to do with me?!"

"Of course it has something to do with you! You're her bo—"

"Hey! There's a lot of trays lined up on the table! Will there be a feast tonight? This thing called birthday is pretty cool here! There's a lot of presents, feasts… I can't wait for tonight!" the blonde said with a mixture of amazement and eagerness in his face and voice. Yakushiji glances curiously at him, while the idol awkwardly told the secretary to just ignore the small blonde guy there.

Seeing the awkward situation, Souji raised his left hand slightly and checked on the time. The watch displayed 17:10 PM, distance: out of range. He lowered his hand and placed it on his hips, whilst saying, "I guess we should start to put on some finishing touches now…" Everyone agrees and started to prepare for the party. But, before helping on with the others, the team leader reached his bag and took out a small navy colored box from his school bag and then put it in his own pocket.

Shirogane Residence (Inaba)

Evening

"Preparations complete!"

"Things are ready here!"

"Okay, I suppose we're ready for her by now."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Then, I guess all that's left for us is to turn off the lights and wait for her return?" suggested the girl with a red headband on her head.

"Yeah… Yakushiji-san, if we may ask..?"

"Sure thing, Seta-san." After saying so, the secretary went towards the switch and turned off the lights.

"H-hey, wait! It's so dark in here, and I haven't got into my position!" exclaimed some panicked individuals. Hearing the group's difficulty, the secretary switched on the lights and after everyone's ready, he switched the lights off again.

"Hey, do you think she'll be here soon? I'm getting nervous all of a sudden…" asked a girl with a green jacket.

"Well, it's evening already, she should be here pretty soon—"

"Psst! I heard footsteps, it must be her!" cut the bleach-haired teen.

Sensing the detective's presence from the outside of the door, the grey-haired teen suddenly felt agitated. He has been trying to look for a good way to hand the item to her, but couldn't think of any until now… Then, the front door opened.

"I'm h—Huh? Why is it so dark in here? Are the lights out?" said a familiar voice with a calm demeanor which drifted into the room. But instead of heading towards the switch, the detective moved forward, to the middle of the room. There, stood a cake with a candle on the table, which is the only source of light in the room right now. When she stopped in front of the cake, the lights flashed suddenly, revealing everyone at the other side of the cake, and with her most beloved man in the middle, the group greeted her, "Happy Birthday, Naoto!!!"

Receiving such a surprise, the sleuth's face shows an obvious shocked expression. She stammers, "B-birthday? Oh… Today's… my birthday… I totally forgot about it…" She turned her back, glancing at the decorations, foods and her friends. "It's really no need for you all to do this for me…"

"What do you mean by no need? We're your friends, aren't we?" said Yosuke and Chie.

"Yeah! It's common to do these things for our friends, isn't it?" said Rise.

"Of course!" added Kanji.

"We wanted to celebrate Nao-chan's birthday together!" said Teddie, with a full smile on his face.

"It'll be fun together." said Yukiko, whose lips formed a smile now.

Then, their eyes met. Feeling that he should say something to her, the investigation team's leader opened his mouth, and said the words along with a gentle smile on his face,"…Happy birthday, Naoto…"

Hearing her friends' and her lover's words, the sleuth's expression changed, she smiled softly to her friends and said, "Thank you, everyone…"

After each of them said their happy birthday to the birthday girl, the present-giving session started, everyone brought their own gifts and handed it to her. Started from Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise and even Teddie brought something for her. At the present-giving session, Souji stayed away from them, there's a glitch in his heart that tells him not to give the present right now, so he obeyed his feelings, since it always come true.

A while later, dinner time came. Everyone lined up beside the long buffet table and picked the food on the plates. Until now, he hasn't had a chance to talk to her alone, since there's always someone talking to her, even when she's eating. But her expression look more lively than ever now, she's smiling gently while she speaks to each and every of them. Then she walked away to put her dirty plate on the dirty dishes pile. Seeing this as his chance, Souji stood up and walked into her direction.

"Naoto…"

Hearing a familiar voice calling her name from her back, she turned and blushes a little when she saw his face.

"Uhm… wh-what is it… Souji-san?"

Not sure of the answer to the question, the leader looked confused for a while and finally said, "Would you want to have a walk outside…together?" Hearing the leader's offer, the detective smiled and answered, "But of course…" Smiling to each other, two of them left the mansion quietly through the back door.

Samegawa Riverbed

Evening

After they leave the Shirogane Residence, the couple found themselves having a tour of Inaba and reached Samegawa now. They talked about various things, and he could see from her face that she's enjoying herself. Feeling delighted, Souji smiled to himself.

"Naoto, do you want to go to the riverbed? The river looks beautiful at night. Dojima-san and Nanako really liked that place."

"Really? I'd like to see it then. Let's go."

The couple climbed down the stairs to the riverbed and stood by the river.

"Wow, it really is beautiful here… You could even saw the fishes at night, the water looks so clear…" said Naoto with a mixture of amusement and happiness on her face. "By the way, Souji-san, did you refuse all my company this week because you're preparing this 'surprise party' for me?"

"Nope, I'm not the one who've been helding the surprise party. I only got the invitation."

"Then, who's sending the invitation to you?"

"Hmm? See it for yourself, here." Souji drew an envelope from one of his pocket and handed it to Naoto. The detective opened the envelope and drew a paper inside it. The greyish-blue sphere inside her eyes moved from left to right in a steady rhythm. After she finished reading, she sighed and said, "Well, I've had the inkling that it was him anyway…"

The leader, standing beside his girlfriend, suddenly remembered about the present in his other pocket. Then, he told her, "Hey Naoto, give me your right hand, and close your eyes."

"Huh? What for?" asked the detective.

"…My present for you…" replied the grey-haired boy quietly.

"O-oh! You needn't do that much for me…"

"But I've prepared it for you…"

"*sigh* Okay, you win." said the sleuth. She moved her right hand forward and then closed her eyes. She looks both curious and eager, which formed a small smile on her lips.

The leader took out the box from his pocket, but at the moment when he wanted to place the box on her hand, something struck his mind. The dream he had last night… He suddenly remembered it all, he recall that he felt that it's a nice dream this morning, well, it's… nice indeed, but he can't help himself but to blush when he remembers his dream.

His dream is pretty close to the reality now, it's as if the dream is showing his future for today, although not entirely. In his dream, he's with her, too. They're in Samegawa Riverbed, and it's her birthday, and they're talking to each other, enjoying each other's company. Then he saw her smiled, the sweetest smile he has ever seen in his life, her smile is a bit awkward, but she looked so happy with it. And then, before she opened her eyes with her smile, he… kissed her.

Remembering his dream, his cheeks blushed heavily. And he could feel his heart beats uncontrollably fast. Until he heard his girlfriend asks him, still with her eyes closed, "Souji-san?" Hearing his name being called, he took out the content of the box and put it into his hand. He grabbed her hand gently and put it down. He didn't know what had gotten into his mind, but at the moment he realized what've happened, he found that his lips are already on hers. And on their watch was displayed, distance: 0 meter.

At first, he could feel that her lips are trembling slightly, but when he realizes that and was about to hold back, he suddenly felt her hands on his shoulder and returned the kiss gently.

Both of them blushed heavily, Naoto touches her lips with her fingertips in disbelieve of what have just happened, and when their eyes met, they blushed even more. Then, a voice broke the awkward silence, "I-is th-this what you meant by… p-present??" When she braces herself to ask him the question, her face reddened even more. She wasn't able to look at him in the eye, she stares to the ground, until she saw something was hanging around her neck and sparkling on her breast. She touches the pendant and put it in her hand.

"Nope, that one's the real present." said the grey-haired teen.

She stammered, "A-a silver key… I can't receive such an expensive gift from you!"

"Please don't worry about the price, you wouldn't even expect it's price anyway, more over, I… made it myself…"

"You made this?"

"Yeah, not just myself to be precise, I got Kanji-kun and Rise-san helping me out in the first steps. And I've got a reason of it's shape."

"So that's why… and what's with a key?" The detective's face beamed with curiosity.

The leader tried to explain, but while trying to do so, his face reddened. "I-it's because… You're… the key to my heart… In the past, I also tend to distance myself from others, but when I got transferred here to Inaba, all of you started to open up my heart. But, out of all of them, you are the one who saw the real me, who understood me more than anyone, who cared for me and… the one who I…loved most dearly, the one who've fully unlocked my heart… I know this sounded cliché, but… That's how I really feel for you, Nao—"

Before he could finish his sentence, a pair of hand is wrapped tightly around his neck. He could hear her said, "D-don't be silly, you're- you're the one who have been the key of my heart! You're the one who saw the real me, the one who's always there for me, the only person who gave my every existence a meaning… The one who saw me, as who I really am, not as a tool, not as woman or even a detective, I'm just a Naoto for you… You're the one who taught me to trust others and to… love someone dearly, you're the one who've unlocked my heart… Souji-san…"

"I suppose we're each others' key for our hearts then…"

When she released her hands from his neck, he could see her smile. The sweetest smile he ever saw in his life, and even sweeter than the one he saw in his dreams.

"Oh, and don't forget the box, Naoto." said the leader as he put the small navy box on her hand, giving her the box and a sincere smile.

And of all people, you're the one who gave me the strongest bond which I thought would be absent in my whole life… It's…our love for each other.

Meanwhile…

Shirogane Residence

"Hey, by the way, I can't find Souji-kun and Naoto-kun everywhere!" said Chie.

"Oh, I'm sure they're together somewhere…" answered Yukiko.

"That's why I said this is for him too, right?" said the brunette.

"Beary right!" *munch**munch*

The others let out a soft laugh and continue on to their feast.

Dojima Residence

Souji's Room

On the work table, a silver box sat forgotten… In the label on top of the box was written:

"Making Silver Accessories on Your Own!"

Beginner Kit

While on the price tag was written:

¥15.000 *scratch*

Special price : ¥5.000.

Author's Note :

Wonder why, but I always tend to feel horrified of my own story… and I felt like I've made a whole lot of OOCs in here… I really need your opinions about this story, please tell me what you all think about this story in the reviews! I appreciate all kinds of reviews (but please, no sarcasm or violence in reviewing!) I also have an idea about writing this story in Naoto's point of view in the next chapter, but it all depends on the reviews I get from you all. So please give me your honest opinions. Thank you for reading! And feel free to drop reviews anytime!