The urge to continue bothering her was strong. Monstrously so.
Naoto seemed to be more quiet lately. Which was a weird thing to say, really, because Naoto was always quiet. But Yosuke noticed that whilst the investigation team was gathered, she was letting her gaze wander to her notebook, or to her hands, or to the nearest drink, where she'd space out for a moment or two. She was distracted- a quality very rarely displayed by the brainy detective.
She was good at hiding her feelings. He had to give her that. Yosuke was awfully familiar with the ways of upholding a tough facade, and thus he knew discreet ways in which it fell apart.
"Naoto," he calls softly, cutting into the detective's thoughts.
They were in the middle of a casual gathering at Junes. Yukiko is showing off her latest cooking project, complete with pictures and various recipes extracted from the internet. Chie and Teddie were inputting their thoughts on the potential disaster, which Yosuke notes isn't going too well. Souji and Kanji looked a little nervous about the girls' suggestion for a beach barbecue party.
Yosuke has his focus on Naoto. His voice is barely above a whisper, so she can hear him but the rest of the team can't. His eyes seems to have a gleam that is complimentary to the grin on his face. He sneaks a small tray of sushi to her from under the table.
She holds the object, scanning it for details. The Junes label packaging is bright- obnoxiously so, she observes. It also contains california rolls- a favourite of hers that he shouldn't know about.
She looks back at Yosuke, at the tray, and then once again to Yosuke.
How did he know? Was it just a lucky guess?
He simply winks, then turns back to the discussing group to explain why tartar sauce and mayonnaise are not the same and cannot be used as salad dressing. At the corner of his eye, he can see her smiling.