Something was up with Kirigiri today. She had been acting very suspicious ever since we sat down to eat. As I chewed on my bread I could feel her intense stares, sharp and intense as if she were investigating a crime scene. Normally it would be very hard to figure out what the detective was feeling or thinking just by body language and facial expressions alone. Even though I had gotten better at it over the time I had known her, I wasn't perfect. However, even Kuwata seemed to have picked this up after Kirigiri abruptly grabbed Maizono and dragged her to the hallway without any warning or indication.

"Dude, did something happen with Kirigiri? She seems...off today." Kuwata said with a confused expression plastered on his face.

I tried to rack my brain if there was anything out of the ordinary that I should take note of. Did I do something wrong or offensive? Did something happen in school or at home that I should know about? Perhaps if I could get some time alone with her, I could ask. However, before I could continue my brainstorming session, I was interrupted by the sound of the bell signaling students to return to their seats. I cleaned up my area still deep in thought as I patiently waited for Maizono and Kirigiri. Soon enough, they made their way back into the room and to their seats as well. I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to ask Kirigiri a few questions.

"Kirigiri! What were you talking about with Maizono?"

"Just some girl stuff." She replied not making eye contact

Girl stuff? That doesn't sound like her at all...

"Is something the matter?"

"I-It's nothing."

Stuttering? That's weird...

"Are you sure? I'm here for you if you need-"

"I-I really do appreciate your concern Naegi, but I'm perfectly fine, it's nothing you need to worry about." Kirigiri said a little bit too loudly. She then faced away from me sharply facing forward at our teacher who had entered the room thus ending the conversation. But as I looked at her more closely I could have sworn I saw her blushing.

Veeerry suspicious indeed...

POV Change

The minute classes were over for today, I walked as quickly as I could to the shoe lockers to meet up with Maizono. After that embarrassing little incident with Naegi after lunch, I would greatly prefer it if we could get going before he could catch up to me. Unfortunately he seemed to have sensed that something was odd about my behavior earlier, and Maizono, to my frustration was taking her sweet time getting ready.

"Kirigiri! Wait up!" I sighed quietly knowing that there was no way to avoid this situation, and turned to see a bumbling Naegi waving to me from the top of a nearby stairwell. "Kirigiri! I was just wondering...if you don't have any plans...would you like to grab some ice cream or something? On me of course!" Naegi said as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck at his attempt to asking me out on a date in front of many people. I did my best to try and resist the urge to smile and retained my stoic expression, feeling a sudden urge to tease Naegi for his cute antics. However, I was on a mission. I was about to respond before getting cut off by a very flustered Maizono, who was trying to cover up our current situation.

"S-Sorry Naegi! Kirigiri and I already made plans to go to the...uhm...mall today! Mhm!" I slapped myself mentally. While I appreciated Maizono doing her best to conceal our plans, I think we both knew I would be better suited to handle this conversation. I looked over to Naegi, eyes twitching as Maizono rambled. Something about this being a girls night out and she was sorry that he couldn't tag along.

"Don't feel bad though! It's not like we don't want you there, it's just that you probably wouldn't like going shopping with us! I have a list of a ton of stores we're going to visit! Some clothes, makeup and maybe even if we have time, some lingeri- OW!" I quickly gave Maizono a powerful pinch on the arm and quickly stepped in before we drew any more suspicion and stares.

"Thank you for the offer Naegi, but I'm fairly busy today. Maybe another time?"

"Alright then...Have fun!" Naegi responded. Even though he smiled it was evident he was sad that he got rejected. I walked up to him quickly and grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Promise?" Naegi's cheeks flushed as he smiled back at me.

"Of course!" At this, I proceeded to then grab Maizono and quickly make our way out of the school building, leaving one poor Naegi being bombarded with questions and teasing comments by various students who witnessed the event that went down. Once we were a good distance away from the building, Maizono started to apologize rapidly.

"I really am sorry Kirigiri! I should have just kept quiet!"

"I already told you, it's fine. You were just trying to help that's all, so please stop apologizing. If you haven't already forgotten, I need your help to prepare the meal." I said with a small smirk. Maizono's eyes gleamed.

"Alrighty! let's make a boxed lunch Naegi won't forget!"

As I sat through my last class of the day before lunchtime, I couldn't help but feel nervous and contemplate over the decision I had made. I glanced down at the light green box at the side of my desk containing the lunch I had prepared. It consisted of 6 deep fried pork cutlet pieces on top of white rice, complete with a small salad and various fruits on the side. I sighed quietly to myself. I had tried my best to make the meal delicious, but appealing to the eye as well like Maizono's lunches. I hoped that Naegi would enjoy it. If there was one glaring weakness I had and wished I could improve on it would be my skill level in terms of cooking. Being busy with detective work and my grandfather not coming home until the late hours of the night meant I had become too reliant on cup noodles and other processed foods. I thought back to yesterday recalling my first experience in using a stove and shuddered. I made a hasty promise to myself that I would forget about that and never let anyone else on this planet know about that incident for as long as I lived. I was extremely grateful I went to Maizono for help in the end.

Before long, the sound of students gaining their freedom filled the room as we were all excused for lunch. Maizono quickly made her way over to me and gave me two thumbs up.

"Are ya ready?" Maizono whispered. She looked almost ready to burst from excitement. I looked around the room and spotted Naegi arranging some desks with Kuwata to make a little table in our usual spot.

"How...how should I go about giving it to him? I've never done this sort of thing before..." I stated nervously as I clutched Naegi's lunch to my chest protectively.

"What do you mean? Just...hand it to him! Or something. C'mon Kirigiri you worked hard on this! Don't you want to see his reaction when he finds out about the delicious food you cooked?"

"Once again, this is one of the few times I've actually cooked anything myself, let alone cook for another perso-"

"Alright! Let's go then!" Maizono then pushed me forcefully so I was suddenly face to face with a very startled Naegi and winked. I went to protest but unfortunately, Naegi had already jumped up in surprise at my sudden appearance and whipped around quickly to face me. I would have to get my revenge on Maizono another time.

"Don't scare me like that Kirigiri...You came outta nowhere!" Naegi laughed and greeted me with a wave. I laughed awkwardly and waved back.

"Sorry Naegi, I just lost my balance for a second." I gave Maizono a sharp glare who suddenly found the floor very interesting.

"Even our master detective can be a little clumsy sometimes!" Naegi said and chuckled as he recovered from his initial shock. He must have noticed my silence and looked at the box I had in my arms.

"Huh? Kirigiri what's in the box? Did you buy yourself something new today?" I took a deep breath and presented the lunch to Naegi. I tried to keep eye contact with him, but ultimately proved too difficult as I looked away and blushed.

"I-I...made this for you...you're always eating plain bread everyday and I thought...maybe just this once..." I trailed off not knowing what else to say as I felt my face getting hotter by the second.

God this was embarrassing.

I risked a peek at Naegi who didn't say anything. He just stared upon the box that was in my hands. After a few more seconds of silence his mouth then slowly curled upwards in realization and smiled brightly.

"Kirigiri!"

"Please enjoy it..." I said motioning for him to take it. Naegi grabbed the container delicately with both hands like it were made of glass and carefully set it on his desk. Kuwata, Maizono and I proceeded to then sit down and await his opinion on the meal in complete silence. Naegi grabbed the lid and slowly took it off as carefully as he grabbed it. I cringed and prepared for the worst. To my relief, it never came.

Naegi's eyes widened in amazement as he gazed upon the the contents of the box. despite being somewhat tossed around in my school bag, the arrangement of the meal was still perfectly intact, not even a single grain of rice out of place.

"What the hell Kirigiri! I never knew you could cook!" Kuwata exclaimed and pointed a finger at me. "Explain yourself! That looks really good!"

"I had some help." I flicked my head towards Maizono's direction who was grinning gleefully.

"Hehe...It was nothing really though!"

"It looks too good to eat...are you sure about this Kirigiri?" I giggled slightly at Naegi's remark. The way he said it so seriously was just so...Naegi.

"Please do. Or all my work will be wasted."

"Alright! Let's try the pork!" Naegi slowly picked up a piece of pork and after examining it for a few seconds, put the entire thing in his mouth. After chewing for a little bit he smiled and gave me a thumbs up. "This is amazing!" He grabbed another piece and started to make quick work of the food, which was more than enough of an indication that he was enjoying it. I was on top of the world. Kuwata then smirked confidently.

"You know, Kirigiri's lunch looks great and all, but Maizono's is 10x better! Show them Maizono!"

"About that..." Maizono sheepishly smiled. "Since I was busy helping Kirigiri...I didn't really have time to make you a lunch today."

"...Say what?"

"Sorry! Tomorrow I promise! If it makes you feel better I didn't even make one for myself!"

"Gah! What am I going to eat! Hey Naegi, wanna share a little bit?" Said Kuwata hopefully, earning himself a smack from Maizono.

"No! You're coming with me to get something from the cafeteria! Kirigiri worked hard on that for Naegi!"

"Okay okay! You didn't have to hit me...We'll be back in a bit." After the grumbling from Kuwata subsided, Naegi took this chance to speak.

"Thank you for making this for me. It's delicious, much better than bread!"

"It was long overdue...you're always going out of your way to do things like this for me. It was only natural." I said while taking a bite of my own food.

"Seriously though it's really good! I don't think I would be able to go back to cafeteria food after something like this!" Naegi laughed. As I stared longingly into his gentle and playful eyes I remembered all the reasons why I fell in love with this person. The most caring, honest, and understanding boyfriend a girl could only dream of having. I reached for his hand next to me, lacing my fingers through his, and leaned to the side, resting my head on his shoulder.

"I guess just once more wouldn't hurt."

A/N: Before I say anything I would like to thank all of you people who reviewed and left positive and helpful comments. I didn't expect any reviews especially with me being new and all. But 6 reviews? Wow. I know it seems kinda pathetic but that really is an accomplishment for me. I couldn't not write the conclusion after that lol. I don't know if I'll end up writing anything else, but for me I feel that it's really important to respond to you guys and express my gratitude, so I'm gonna be responding to you guys here. Feel free to skip of this if you don't care lol.

hunterofcomedy: Characterization was one thing I had a lot of trouble with and was one of the main reasons why I thought my story was bad x.x Writing Kirigiri's character is a lot harder than I had anticipated. I didn't know when to write her stoic persona vs her more cutesy and emotionally expressive persona. Also I tried to fix the issue with switching from first person to third person. Really appreciate the constructive criticism! Hope I did a better job with this chapter lol.

Manu259: Thanks for the support. You and others really eased up my nervousness about this being my first story with some nice comments.

Guest 1: Well here you have it! lol

Guest 2: You're gonna have to send me that animation with Hinata and Mikan, that sounds really fun to watch. Thanks for the comments!

Patsi: Hope this chapter meets your expectations!

At that, I hope you enjoyed. Again, I don't know if I'll write anything else, since this was just an experiment sort of thing to share my ideas, but I really like the community and this was really fun. So until next time, I'll see ya around!

-Armamune