A/N: Story so far: Kanji meets Naoto, misinterprets things horribly - then defeats his Shadow, which doesn't help his complex as much as he hoped.

In this part: Rise joins the team, the killer is caught, and Kanji learns Naoto isn't always who he seems. Spoilers through August.

June 2011

June kind of sucked, all told. Not only was Risette - who Kanji was apparently supposed to have heard of - the next to go, but they were all sent to pick litter off a mountainside first. Better yet, he got to sit in a tent while Yosuke Hanamura, raging heterosexual, flapped about worrying that he might get jumped in his sleep.

Kind of suspicious, all told. Maybe the guy had some sort of complex.

Unfortunately, Kanji had never been good at keeping his temper, especially with paranoid assholes who wouldn't shut the hell up, and he wound up running over to the girls' side just to prove a point. What he'd done when he got there was a mystery. Kanji woke up the next morning lying in the mud with the worst headache he'd ever had, and an unusually-concerned Chie Satonaka kneeling at his side. After that, the day had only gotten worse - but Kanji had promised himself he was never going to think about the waterfall again ever, and if Yosuke mentioned it in any way, he had full Souji-senpai-sanctioned permission to break his legs.

Straight after they came back from camp, Risette showed up on the television. The team tried to warn her but it was no use, especially when they got sidetracked by that creepy fan with the camera. By the time they'd caught him, Rise was probably already inside the TV - but it was fine, in the end, because they pulled her out even after Teddie's Shadow crashed the party.

This was the first big battle Kanji had fought, and the hardest. Yosuke hit the deck twice, Yukiko-senpai ran out of steam completely, and it was only with Rise's help that they made it through. Later, the senpai all said it was their toughest fight yet.

Maybe it was wrong - they'd come dangerously close to wiping out - but Kanji kind of liked hearing that.

The pride only lasted up until the fog settled in. King Moron was dead by the next morning, and now nothing made sense. He hadn't shown up in the static and his Shadow hadn't turned up on the Midnight Channel and started talking shit.

Morooka's Shadow, Kanji reflected, would probably have seemed nice in comparison. As it stood, he wasn't going to pretend he was cut up over a teacher who'd hated his guts. Hell, nobody seemed to be. Kind of sad, really - but the guy had been an asshole. What pissed Kanji off was that the team had given it everything they had and still gotten it wrong.

But if June sucked, July was just weird.

July 10th, 2011

It started when they went to see Risette - Rise, they were calling her now - because Naoto was standing outside the tofu shop waiting for them.

Caught by surprise, Kanji's instinctive response was a long list of questions: where the hell had the guy been, weren't they supposed to hang out, had he done something wrong? Fortunately, his next thought was that Naoto probably hadn't meant it anyway - and, more importantly, that any question and answer session would have an audience entirely consisting of his senpai, including Yosuke Hanamura.

Kanji winced, and made a futile attempt to hide at the back of the group. It didn't make a difference; Naoto was looking at Souji.

"Are you here to ingratiate yourselves with Rise Kujikawa now?" he asked, eyes even cooler than his voice.

...He'd been way, way nicer to Kanji. Which probably meant something - it had to, right? - and so put Kanji in a pretty good mood for the three seconds before Yosuke opened his fat mouth.

He glanced at Kanji, then back at Naoto. "Hey! Aren't you that guy we saw with Kanji?"

Kanji said nothing, instead devoting all his effort to making himself as small as possible (which wasn't very) and not turning bright red. The effort didn't have much impact on Naoto, who just nodded and told them all his name - which, stupid as it was, Kanji had really liked being the only one to know.

"I'm in town to investigate the murders," he'd added, and a whole bunch of stuff suddenly made sense. And not in a way Kanji liked.

Outside of family, Naoto had been the first person in what felt like forever to just talk to him, treat him like a person. He'd even been dumb enough to wonder if their meeting at school had counted as some sort of date - when really, Naoto had just been pressing him for answers.

...Whatever. Wasn't like he'd wanted it to be one. Just wanted to talk with the kid, maybe hang out together with someone smart who spoke well and looked good and-

Fortunately, Naoto was too busy going on about the stupid case to notice Kanji wincing and shaking his head. "Morooka never appeared on television," he said. "What are your thoughts on that?"

Chie and Yukiko glanced at each other, Kanji tried to look everywhere except at Naoto, and Souji-senpai just shrugged. With one foot tapping rapid-fire against the ground, Yosuke was the only one to manage an answer. "H-How are we supposed to know?"

"Well, we'll leave it at that." Somehow, Naoto managed to sound even more smug than last time they'd met. "I'll be keeping an eye on you all," he warned, just before he turned and walked away.

Damn. He really was onto them.

"How the hell did he know?" Chie hissed, once he was out of earshot. "It took us forever to notice the TV thing!"

"He has a point." Souji was still staring after Naoto. "I can't believe I didn't realize before, but King Moron broke the pattern. Shirogane's sharp."

"And a jerk," Yosuke said, arms folded.

Yukiko shook her head. "It felt like he completely saw through us!"

Which was frustrating as hell - but maybe not all that bad. It might mean they could work with Naoto on the case, figure it out as a team. It was about as likely as Kanji scoring top of the year in his next set of exams, and he knew it - but he'd never had a problem with dumb hopes.

July 11th, 2011

How the hell was a kid Kanji's age a detective? That was like him calling himself a mob boss just cause he'd been picked up by the cops a couple times, right?

Except he could almost believe it. The way Naoto carried himself, you'd think he was ten years older and thirty centimeters taller. Just like now: standing next to the picnic table in the food court, hand on hip, as if he'd practiced the pose. Given the circumstances, Kanji figured his sudden unkind thought - that the only reason Naoto didn't look ridiculous was that the team were all sitting down - was pretty excusable.

"You don't deny, then, that you have involved yourself with this case?" Nobody answered, but Naoto barely gave them chance. "No matter. I have no need to say anything further." Then he turned to make his big exit, just like always - but stopped short as Rise jumped to her feet and smacked her palms against the table.

"Aren't you the one who thinks of this as a game?" she snapped. "All you're doing is solving mysteries, playing at detective!" She jabbed a finger towards Naoto, teamed with a glare that almost made Kanji shiver. "You're the one who's playing a game here!"

Ouch. Kanji would've wanted to defend Naoto if he hadn't spent the past five minutes being a condescending little shit. It made no difference anyway, because he just stood there. Didn't snap back at Rise, didn't storm off - didn't even look upset.

"Rise's right," Yosuke cut in. "The second victim, Saki Konishi. You know her?"

Naoto nodded. "I've seen her files."

"So? How does that matter? You didn't know her and you don't know any of us - because if you did, you'd know this wasn't a game"

"A game." The cap hid Naoto's eyes, but not the wry smile on his face. "That may be quite true."

"Ah, I get it." In an instant, Yosuke's glare shifted to a smirk. "What, did they get rid of you now they've got their man? Is that why you came here?" He leaned back and stared at Naoto, arms folded. "You were lonely?"

Naoto didn't even blink. How the hell could he be so damn calm all the time? Everybody got pissed off sometimes. Didn't matter how much of an ace detective you were - or how much of a jerk.

"Detectives normally aren't involved with arrests," he said. "And we never harbor any special emotions regarding a case, either."

Or anything else, Kanji thought. And maybe it was kind of cruel to believe that, but it made everything easier - because then that "odd person" crap didn't matter and neither did the fact that he still wanted Naoto to talk to him, acknowledge him, and just-

There wasn't a way to finish the thought. He still didn't know what he wanted and that was half the problem. But if the police had kicked Naoto off the case - believable, given all cops were assholes - then wouldn't he be planning to leave town? "Uh - so they d-dropped you?" Kanji managed to stammer out, staring firmly at the table.

Unable to see Naoto, all he heard was the response. "It is rather unfortunate that people are only attentive so long as our services are required - but I'm accustomed to it." And it was well-phrased, well-delivered, all the crap Naoto did so well, but there was something in his voice that made Kanji stop and think. For a single moment, something slipped in that cool and precise demeanor - and then the wall came right back up again.

"Well, I'll be going now." With that, Naoto walked away. For someone who worked so hard on making a good exit, it probably ranked on the same level as crawling out the food court gate.

Chie grimaced. "You know, just when I think that guy can't get more annoying..."

Souji shook his head. "Don't worry about him. I'm more interested in this new suspect."

Easy for Senpai to say. All Kanji could think was that Naoto needed a serious attitude adjustment, which was pretty damning coming from a bad-tempered not-quite-delinquent. And hadn't he sounded kind of bitter?

Whatever. Kanji pushed the thought out his head, rested his elbows on the table, and tried to look like he was paying attention as the others talked about who this new suspect might be.

July 30th, 2011

The new suspect - Mitsuo Kubo - was the reason July turned out so strange. Kanji had never really been into video games, but now he never wanted to see one again - at least not the blocky crap that Kubo's head had thrown together. By the time the team made it to his Shadow, everyone's eyes were aching, glasses or not, and even Yosuke said he wasn't touching his Playstation for the next month.

The Shadow itself was just plain weird. Maybe even disappointing. Rise's had been prancing around in a bikini, Kanji's in a fundoshi, and Yosuke had dropped a dozen hints about Yukiko and princess gowns - but this one was completely different. Couldn't tell it apart from Kubo, even with them standing toe-to-toe. The team took them both down in a battle Kanji knew would leave him sore for days, then dragged the real Kubo back out into Junes with the asshole snickering the whole damn way. He still hadn't stopped doing it when the cops showed to pick him up - and Naoto arrived with them.

Probably eager to add another case to his tally, Kanji figured. He didn't make the arrest - he probably wasn't allowed - and he didn't say a word the whole time, but the way he looked at the team, each of them in turn, really pissed Kanji off. This weird mix of smug superiority and - he wasn't sure, he'd never been good at reading people. Curiosity, maybe.

It went both ways; none of the team spoke to Naoto either. Souji was talking with the lead cop, spinning some story about where they found Kubo, which left everyone else just staring at each other in silence. It was stupid, awkward and mostly Naoto's fault - but when he left with Kubo and the cops, Kanji was still a little disappointed. He'd have felt it much more if he'd known this was the last time he'd see the kid for almost a month.

August 27th, 2011

The voice got him first. He recognized it instantly, but it sounded different. Strained, higher in pitch and definitely louder than usual. More importantly, it was also coming from right outside the textiles shop.

It was too late in the evening for this - Ma had gone to bed early, dammit - and if it'd been anyone else, Kanji would've been severely pissed. But it was Naoto, and something definitely wasn't right. He jumped out of bed, tugged on his jeans, and ran to the open bedroom window.

A cop was standing in the street below, almost right underneath the window ledge. Same asshole that normally walked the district at night and always gave Kanji grief, and had even hauled him into the station a few times. Nothing unusual about seeing him here - except that Naoto was loudly tearing him a new one.

Damn. Weren't they supposed to be working together? Kanji had figured the police had chosen to call Naoto in to start with; Souji-senpai had suggested it was damage control, after a month with two bodies and no suspects, and a killer still on the loose. But then there was that stuff Naoto had said back in July, something about his services no longer being needed. Maybe the cops really had cold-shouldered him out.

"I'm telling you, he isn't the killer!" Naoto's voice sounded even tighter, almost cracking on the first few words. "Are you people blind?"

...Did he mean Kubo?

No way. Naoto was smarter than that. Everyone knew it was Kubo. The guy had fessed up to anyone and everyone who'd listen.

From Kanji's position, the cop's response wasn't more than a low rumble, but whatever he'd said, Naoto just got more pissed off. "While you're wasting time, the real culprit will-"

The sentence stopped dead. The cop was already striding away in the opposite direction. Didn't look back once at Naoto, whom Kanji could see shaking with anger even from ten feet above. He made a sharp gesture with one arm, stamped his foot hard against the ground - and his shoulders slumped.

Kanji was down the stairs and out the shop door before he had chance to think.

Outside, Naoto was still shivering, his hands balled into fists at his sides. It was hard to see them under the cap, but Kanji swore his eyes were shining. "Uh, y-you okay?"

No answer. Naoto just stood there, breathing hard and staring at the ground.

This wasn't right. This kid never got upset about anything.

"C'mon, don't-" Kanji reached out without thinking, put one hand on Naoto's shoulder - and jerked back just as the other boy jolted away.

Kanji's instant reaction was to try to form an apology - or hell, any sort of response at all - but his mind was blank. Shit, he'd just wanted to help, wasn't like he'd-

"Wh-What are you-" Naoto twisted away, one arm held to his face.

"S-sorry, man, I d-didn't-"

"You - I don't-" Naoto couldn't seem to get a full sentence out either, and he was still shielding his eyes with his hand.

Fists clenching and unclenching, Kanji swallowed hard and forced his voice steady. "I just wanna - look, what was with that cop?"

No answer. Long moments passed in silence, Naoto still breathing hard, until he finally lowered his arm and the mask right back into place.

"It's nothing," he muttered. "Excuse me, I need to go." Head down, he dodged to one side and ran off through the shopping district.

Kanji didn't understand one damn thing about what had just happened. That didn't stop him bitching himself out the rest of the night for not having the guts to follow.