A/N: Story so far: Naoto joined Yasogami High and proved himself a bundle of social fail. Rise couldn't persuade the Detective Prince to do her homework, while Kanji discovered the importance of dictionaries.
In this part: the team make a visit to Port Island, where Naoto learns to dislike trains, Kanji learns to dislike both hotels and bathrooms, and the whole team learn you don't need alcohol to get drunk. Spoilers through Sept. 9th.
September 7th, 2011
"It's not that big a deal, seriously." Yosuke rolled his eyes again. "We're gonna spend most of the time in school. How's that any different than normal?"
"It ain't in Inaba," Kanji pointed out. He had no idea what the hell was up with Yosuke. Big city boy, too cool to care about what sounded like an awesome school trip. They left tomorrow and he hadn't even started packing.
"They're going to give us lessons, Kanji. Taking us all the way to the city just to sit in a classroom!"
Kanji ignored him. "Hey, how many boxes of animal crackers d'you think I need?" No sense in carrying a massive bag if he could help it, but what if he ran out? Didn't bear thinking about. "I got a case of about a hundred at home. Maybe twenty-five?"
Yosuke just sighed. "You are so lame."
"Hey, s'different for you. I've never really left this place." He'd been to see his aunt a couple of times but that was only two stops down, and on the slow train at that.
"Yeah, I guess." Yosuke's lips curled into a smirk. "Hey, isn't Naoto going too?"
Oh crap.
Kanji hadn't thought about that at all. Too caught up in animal cracker logistics. He'd just about mastered the art of not passing out when talking to Naoto alone, but stick the rest of the team in there - especially Yosuke - and he'd be back to square one. "M-maybe. What, you think I care? You sayin' something?"
"No way, dude. Don't know what you mean," Yosuke said, eyes wide and innocent.
September 8th 2011
So it wasn't the bullet train - Kanji promised himself he'd go on that someday - but it was still damn fast. They'd already zipped through a bunch of stations, including the only one he'd ever stopped at.
The teachers had separated the students out by year, so Souji and the other senpai were a couple of carriages up. Kanji had seen Rise heading towards the back rows, smiling and chatting with a few of the other girls in her usual easy way, leaving him pretty much alone. Unsurprisingly, nobody had seemed eager to take the empty seat next to him.
Fine with him. He was happy enough looking out the window. The train kept passing all these little towns that looked just like Inaba, with the same low buildings and narrow streets. He'd even seen what looked like Junes stores in a couple of them, but that kind of figured.
Naoto had to have seen tons of places. Probably thought Inaba was stupid.
"Kanji Tatsumi?"
And he'd probably have to leave again soon, even though he'd only just started school. Detectives had to go where their cases were, right?
"Tatsumi, I apologize for disturbing you, but..."
...Wait. He knew that voice.
Kanji twisted round with a yelp, putting him in direct eye contact with a vaguely frustrated-looking Naoto Shirogane.
"Forgive the intrusion." He gestured to the space beside Kanji. "This seat is free, correct?"
"Uh," said Kanji.
"May I sit here?" Naoto clarified.
"Uh...y-yeah! 'Course." Kanji sat bolt upright, back pressed against his seat, and willed his nose not to start bleeding.
Naoto nodded, then sat down, tugged open the zipper on his bag and pulled out a yellow folder full of papers. Detective stuff, probably, though bringing work on a school trip seemed pretty weird.
They sat there in silence, which Kanji found seriously awkward even if Naoto didn't seem to care. He racked his brains to think of something to say - what're you working on (like Kanji would understand it), are you excited about the trip (of course he wouldn't be), wanna hang out while we're there (probably the last thing he'd want), do you-
"Naoto-kun!"
Naoto froze, fist clenched tight around a sheet of paper.
Kanji turned to look behind him and spotted three giggling girls, pushing their way along the aisle between the rows of seats. They stopped right next to Naoto, and the tallest one leaned down to tap the brim of his cap. "Naoto-kun, why'd you run away? We just wanted to say hi!"
"Hello." Naoto shoved the paper back in the folder. "I believe that concludes matters."
Kanji heard the two girls behind whisper something about their cute little prince, and couldn't decide whether to laugh or tell them to get lost. Fine, Naoto was...cute. Really cute. Kanji could admit that, nothing wrong with it, other people thought so too. However, the guy was also terse to the point of being frosty and he'd done his best to piss off everyone in their year.
"You wanna hang out with us at Port Island?" The tall girl smiled. "I bet you've been there before, right?"
"As I have stated previously, I have no interest in such activities. Please leave me in peace." Naoto glared at the folder in his lap. "This casework is very pressing."
"Aw, c'mon, Naoto-kun! You could-"
One of the two girls in back - who Kanji thought might be in his class, not that he paid much attention - pushed forward and tugged at the taller girl's sleeve. "Megumi, we don't want to interrupt the Detective Prince, right? Now the killer's been caught, he's probably working on a new big case!"
At that, Naoto bristled.
For a moment, the taller girl looked uncertain - then she shrugged. "I guess. But we'll be back later, Naoto-kun, okay?"
All three girls turned and moved back along the carriage. The one who hadn't spoken waved to Naoto as she left.
Naoto sighed.
Girls were weird. Kanji glanced sideways at him. "They still chasing you?"
"Yes. I have dissuaded most of them but those three are very persistent. I left my previous seat to escape their attentions."
Oh. So that was why he'd come down here.
"They...uh, they don't mean no harm." Sure, they'd been slightly terrifying, but Kanji couldn't fault their reasoning. "They probably just like you."
"You cannot like someone without knowing them," Naoto muttered, and Kanji tried not to wince.
"Man...are all city hotels like this? And what's with the bed?" Kanji shifted backwards, trying to find a position where he wasn't at risk of rolling onto the floor.
"Wish I knew. This place is weird," Yosuke said, eyeing the bed (and Kanji) cautiously. "Wonder where Kashiwagi found it?"
"She said it was cheap." And he could see why, with a bed full of freaking water. The place probably saved money by skimping on mattresses.
"Maybe it's one of those theme hotels. What do you think, Souji?"
Souji coughed loudly into his pillow.
Across the room, Teddie poked his head out of his suit. "The place opposite is bear-y strange too." His brow furrowed. "I met so many odd people when I was climbing to the roof!"
Dammit, this bed was useless. No matter where Kanji moved, the stupid thing moved with him. He sat up with a grunt of disgust. "Screw this. I'm going to the vending machines. Want anything?"
The other three shook their heads.
"Cool. Back in a couple minutes."
The beds weren't the only weird thing about the hotel, of course. The lighting in the corridors was just as strange: dim and purple and enough to give Kanji a headache. Worse, he'd passed three vending machines now and none of them sold food. One had been selling drinks but nothing Kanji wanted, since he wasn't a fan of coffee. And he really couldn't understand why any hotel would need two machines selling rubbers - or for that matter, why someone would want to buy them from a machine to begin with. The thought alone made heat rush to his face. Definitely not something he'd ever seen in Inaba.
...Something was really, really weird about this place. Reminded him of something he'd seen in a film; one that'd shown on television late at night and felt way too creepy for Kanji to watch the whole thing. All about old salarymen who got bored in the evenings and went off to...hotels that looked a lot like this.
Explained the bed, too.
Shit, all he wanted was a soda. He'd even take TaP. As he stomped further down the corridor, getting angrier with each step, he stormed straight into Naoto and almost knocked him to the floor.
Kanji jumped back. "Oh, crap! S-sorry, man."
Naoto flailed for a moment, then caught his balance. His back stiffened. "Kanji Tatsumi."
"You, uh, looking for a vending machine too?"
Naoto shook his head. "I am investigating this hotel. I am...uncertain why Ms. Kashiwagi chose these lodgings."
"I-I just want a soda," Kanji said. "Maybe some junk food. But the vending machines, they're - uh, weird."
Naoto had suddenly become fascinated with the floor. "You...do know what sort of hotel this is?"
Kanji had previously struggled to talk to Naoto about things as mundane as school, the weather, and reading books. A conversation about the finer points of love hotels might just kill them both. "N-no. No way. Wh-why would I?"
It was hard to tell under the lighting, but Naoto's cheeks seemed to change color. "Oh. Of course. Good night, Kanji." With that, he marched quickly down the corridor towards the stairwell.
September 9th, 2011
It was Kanji's first time in a nightclub, and he was already certain he didn't like them.
Flashing lights, bad music, seats that were way too uncomfortable - what was there to like? It didn't help that the three stooges had gotten drunk on thin air. Now Yukiko-senpai was cracking up and clinging all over Chie, Teddie was swaying like a boat, and Rise - hell, Rise practically had her head in Naoto's lap and Kanji couldn't even admit to himself how jealous he was.
Not that Naoto looked happy either - more scared shitless, and as out of place as a librarian at a biker rally. "Ah...Rise-san...I-I think you should-"
"Aw, Naoto-kun, yooouuu're blushing!" Rise threw her arms up, wrapping one round Naoto's shoulders and smacking him in the face with the other. "You are sooo cute!"
"Dude, this isn't fair!" Yosuke hissed. "Why does the pint-size get all the attention?"
Naoto made a very unhappy, very non-Naoto choking noise.
"Look, R-Rise," Kanji stammered out, "leave him alone, 'kay?"
Rise giggled, then threw back an arm and smacked Naoto in the head again. "Aw, Kanji-kun! Are you jealous?"
This set Yukiko off too - "Kanji-kun's jealoush!" - while Chie hissed and elbowed her in the ribs.
"No! No way!" Kanji swung round to Souji, mentally willing him to get up and distract Rise - because the girl had one hell of a thing for him, the whole team knew that - but he just sat rigid in his seat, eyes wide. Sorry, he mouthed.
"Don't worry, Kanji!" Teddie tried to lean towards him but wound up tipping headfirst into his lap. "There's always a place for you in Teddie's heart!"
Kanji nobly responded by shoving Teddie back the other way and into Yukiko's shoulder. Yukiko herself was too busy giggling and wrapping her arms around Chie to notice. Naoto, meanwhile, was now practically moulding himself into his seat in an effort to squirm out of the death grip Rise had on his neck. "Rise-san, please! I'm really not-"
Really not into you, Kanji finished in his head. Not into you at all. Meaning, he decided, that Naoto might be one of those guys who wasn't into girls at all, full stop, and maybe that meant he was into something else instead and-
'Kiiiinnng's Game!"
Rise was suddenly on her feet again and blabbing on about Kings and Queens or whatever, leaving Naoto fussing with the collar of his shirt. When Kanji caught his eye for a second, his cheeks turned just a little red.
...Not into girls, maybe?
By now, Rise had segued into a rant about her staff or something - Kanji really wasn't listening - while Chie was trying to grab her with one arm and hold down Yukiko with the other. "Rise! Sit down!"
Naturally, Rise didn't listen. "They're all moooorooons! They make me act like a ditz, call me Risette and stuff, and then they say I'm a kid..." She grinned, still bobbing gently from side to side. "I'm gonna play the King's Game now and ain't no-one gonna stop me!" She swiveled round to Kanji. "Kanji-kun! Get the chopschticks ready!"
"What? Why me?"
The glare that Rise gave him provided an answer, as did the drinks coaster she hurled at his head. "The King's word is law! Chop-chop!"
Kanji muttered something unrepeatable, then stood up from his seat and went downstairs to the bar.
"C'mon, everyone draw!"
This game still made no sense, even after Yukiko's rambling explanation - and nobody except her and Rise seemed to know what the rules were.
Kanji sighed and pulled a chopstick from the glass on the table. No red mark. Next to him, Souji stared down at his own chopstick - also blank - and let out a breath.
A gasp came from his other side a split-second later, closely followed by Teddie jumping to his feet and almost falling over the table. "Teddie's is red! Red! Is Teddie the King?"
"Oh great," Yosuke muttered. "Doomed from the start."
Teddie grinned, swaying gently and waving a finger at the rest of the group. "I, the King, command thee to smooooch the King without delay!"
Wait, did Naoto have a chopstick? What number was it? Kanji leaned over, trying to see, but he would've had to climb over the table to get close enough. Teddie had better not pick him, that fuzzy little-
"Please God, grant me a girl! Number three!"
Everyone looked at their straw – except Naoto, who apparently hadn't picked one up. Kanji breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he looked down and saw the number on the end of his. Three.
He jumped to his feet. "Gyaah! Wait!"
"Kanji! So you were after my fuzzy fur!"
There was a blur of bright yellow and white, a squeak from Rise, Yukiko's unladylike snort of laughter - and Kanji fell hard to the floor, his head smacking against the edge of a nearby table, with Teddie's arms wrapped tightly round his waist.
It wound up taking both Souji and Chie to pull Teddie off. Yosuke contributed too, by laughing the whole time and making a deeply embarrassing situation even more so.
Things got worse still when Naoto knelt down next to Kanji while he was still sprawled on the floor. "Are you injured?"
Kanji tried to roll over, failed, and ended up scrabbling at the floor tiles. "No! No! I'm fine!" Crap, how much of that had Naoto seen? He was just staring at him, one eyebrow slightly quirked (you'd have had to be looking closely, but Kanji usually was.)
Then he reached out his hand.
No way this tiny guy was gonna be able to pull him up, and even if he could, there was no way Kanji could hold his hand without bleeding all over his shirt. But hey, it was a nice gesture. "Uh, s'okay. I-I'm fine."
And he would've been, completely, if Naoto's fingers hadn't suddenly started running over his forehead and hair. "Whoa, whoa! N-Naoto, what're -"
"I would think that was obvious."
No, no, it really wasn't - because it was one thing to maybe kind of ask a dude out and another thing completely to start stroking his head in the middle of a nightclub. Sure, this was the city, but... "You can't - seriously, man, not here!"
"...You are right." Naoto glanced around the club, then gestured across the dancefloor. "The restroom, then."
"R-R-Restroom?"
With a quick, business-like nod, Naoto tugged at Kanji's sleeve and urged him to his feet. Kanji followed dumbly as Naoto led him around the edge of the dance-floor, desperately trying to ignore the catcall Rise made as they left. Naoto seemed oblivious to everything, Rise's shrieking included, and just kept pulling Kanji behind him until they were through the restroom door. Half-pulling, if Kanji was being honest. Naoto probably couldn't have dragged Souji's kid cousin, never mind him, which meant there was no way to even pretend he was fighting this.
The restroom was quiet, but it sure as hell wasn't clean - setting off all kinds of twitches in Kanji's head, because how could people let stuff get dirty like this? - and it definitely wasn't the place he'd imagined for his first...whatever this was gonna be. Whatever Naoto wanted. Whatever-
"Much better," Naoto said, staring up at the ceiling lights with his hands on his hips. "I'll be able to investigate more closely."
Kanji seriously had no idea what to make of that, so he settled for opening and closing his mouth a few times instead.
Eventually, he managed to speak. "So - uh -wh-what do we -"
Naoto pointed at the floor. "Kneel down, please."
Kanji blinked.
"Y-you want me to go first?" he choked out. "But I've never..."
For a moment, Naoto looked confused, then shook his head. "Tatsumi, there is blood on your forehead. I cannot check the severity of your injury if you do not kneel on the floor." He turned away and glared at the sink. "I am considerably shorter than you."
Oh. Ohhh.
Kanji's hand flew to his forehead. It came away just a little wet. Damn, he must've hit that table hard.
And damn, he very nearly made a total idiot of himself.
Heat was already rushing to his cheeks. He quickly dropped to his knees in front of Naoto and tipped back his head. "Uh. Okay. H-here."
"Thank you. I believe the damage is minor, but all head wounds should be taken seriously." Naoto looked him in the eyes, studying him carefully. "You are flushed. Do you feel sick or dizzy?"
No more than I usually do around you, Kanji thought. "N-no. M'good."
Naoto hummed, then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and began dabbing at the cut. "You should apply antiseptic when we return to the hotel."
Kanji had no answer beyond a nod.
The silence quickly became awkward, at least for him. But maybe this was a good time to...well, figure a few things out - and distract himself from the fact that Naoto Shirogane was actually touching him.
He swallowed. "So, uh - d'you like Yukiko-senpai?"
Naoto stopped. "...What?"
"Yukiko Amagi. Y-y'think she's cute?" If a Yasogami High guy didn't go for Rise, he was probably chasing the Amagi challenge. Stood to reason.
Unless he was into something else completely.
A few moments passed before Naoto responded. "I really wouldn't know. I have no interest in such things."
"Not - even a little bit?"
"My work leaves little time for entanglements." His voice was firmer this time, though there was still an edge Kanji couldn't quite place. "But why did you ask? Are you pursuing Amagi-senpai?"
"N-no! No way! Just, guys go for her, that's all!"
Naoto's hands stopped again. "Oh. I - suppose they must."
Kanji swallowed. "But not me. I don't."
At least, I don't think so. Yukiko had been a friend when he was younger, before they'd drifted apart, and she'd always been pretty and nice. He could see why guys liked her, but...
Naoto didn't respond. Maybe he had nothing to say. Kanji was hoping for something, though - maybe, that's good or even neither do I -
"The cut has stopped bleeding," he said, pulling back. He frowned, hand on hip. "I suggest you show more caution in future."
"Wasn't my fault, man! It's Teddie, he was-"
The restroom door swung open.
Both Kanji and Naoto looked up. Standing at the far end of the room, wearing a smirk that made Kanji want to smack him in the teeth, was Yosuke Hanamura.
"Wow, Naoto-kun. You're eager." Yosuke turned to Kanji, still smirking. "First Teddie, now Naoto - you're a lucky guy, Kanji!"
Naoto looked puzzled. "Well, yes, he appears to have suffered no permanent damage, but..."
"I mean, dragging another guy into the restroom at a nightclub... just, wow, you know?"
Naoto frowned for a moment. Kanji swore he could hear the gears clicking inside his head - as a look of sheer horror slowly crept onto his face. "Oh. Oh."
"It - it ain't like that, okay?" Kanji managed, already realizing it was about the least convincing thing he'd ever said.
Naoto quickly moved away. "No, it really, really - Hanamura-senpai, I was just - Tatsumi might have been injured, and-" He glared at Kanji then Yosuke in turn. "I-I will be outside," he muttered, and marched out the bathroom door.
Great.
Kanji scowled at Yosuke. "Dumbass."
Yosuke just grinned.