Begin

~Normal POV

When Kanji was approached by Naoto today, he noticed that something was wrong. She seemed kinda down. So when she asked if they could talk, he said yes instantly. He wanted to know what was bothering her, and help her feel better, if he could. He'd never ignore her if she was upset. They went back to their gazebo and sat down together. Naoto seemed to have a new clue from the phantom thief as well. But the progress to catching this culprit didn't seem to help her mood.

At first, she didn't say anything. Like she was lost in thought.

"What's wrong?" Kanji asked, worriedly.

Naoto sighed. "To tell you the truth, I haven't been in contact with grandpa lately… I wanted to confirm the items I assume the Phantom Thief stole, but… Yakushiji-san recently passed along a message saying he had to visit an ailing friend in America."

"He just left without telling ya?"

"Oh, it's normal. It sounded like an emergency, and he sometimes has to stay out for long periods for cases, as well. He left a few days ago, so I haven't been able to talk to him. It's just been me and Yakushiji-san at the house for a while, aside from our housekeepers. And Yakushiji-san says he doesn't know anything…"

"Ya believe him?"

"Yes, I do," Naoto replied, nodding. "I've known him my whole life. He's a very trusted member of our family."

"Well… maybe it's better this way? I mean, your gramps being outta town. So if someone wanted to break in again, then you know he's safe." Kanji said, reassuringly.

She felt a little better hearing that. "Hm. I think you're right… He'll be fine where he is." She pulled out the next card. "Anyway, on to business, I received a new challenge in the mail today."

Kanji perked up curiously as she read it aloud and showed him.

Jury to not rest, or route for fable

Minus 40, Minus 4

Kanji was completely lost on this one. And surprisingly enough, Naoto also looked utterly clueless.

"The sentence as written is gibberish…" She said, bluntly, "Is this part of the riddle…? And this 'Minus 40, Minus 4…' On its own, it means nothing. Perhaps the minus part is important?"

Kanji tried reading it over again. He really wanted to impress her, so he thought about it very hard. Ok, the first part didn't make any sense. But the second part was slightly more coherent. It was a math problem, wasn't it? He wasn't great at math, but this one wasn't hard.

"The minus means to subtract, so maybe it's saying to subtract the numbers," He suggested unsurely.

Naoto looked thoughtful at his suggestion. "Subtract 40…" Her eyes lit up. "Aha! Subtract 40 from the sentence…!"

He smiled fondly at her. "You're so cute when your eyes sparkle like that…"

She read it over again. "From there you subtract 40 and 4…" She said, doing the problem in her head. "Notice the unnatural comma in the phrase… It corresponds to the two numbers. So you subtract the letters in 'forty' from the first part, and the ones in 'four' from the second!"

He loved watching her get excited and happy. It was only moments later that he realized he hadn't listened to a word she said. He was too busy staring. Until-

"...Kanji-kun?"

Kanji blinked and snapped back to reality. "Uh, sorry-! I was-" He quickly looked away to hide his blush. "A-Anyway, what does it mean then?" He hoped she'd just ignore the last few moments.

Naoto gave him a confused look. Why was he just staring at her like that? It made her nervous… or excited… Both, maybe. After all, she did like him, and wanted to be noticed. But they were close to figuring out this case. It was best to focus on that for the moment. Then she could worry about what this meant.

"I said the result reads, ' Junes, table.'" She repeated. "That's it! Let's go!"

She got up and he quickly followed her as they ran off to Junes.

~...

The Junes food court was rather empty right now. Most shoppers were inside the store, since it was a little chilly today. Many tables and chairs lined the area. They didn't know what they were meant to look for exactly about them, so Naoto suggested they simply look under all of them for anything strange to be planted there. They were bound to find the right one eventually. They searched at least a dozen tables before finding the correct one. (Which must have looked very unusual to any nearby staff.) There was something taped under it.

Naoto looked at the object in her hand. "I knew it was here…"

Kanji stared at it with her. It was a large ball-point pen. Just like the others though, he figured there must be more to it than "just a pen."

"This is another of the seven tools I made." Naoto explained, "You can use it as a normal pen, but it also has a penlight and a miniature telescope."

"Whoa, that's awesome," He commented, smiling. He was curious to try it, but didn't trust himself to ask. These were her things, he didn't want to risk breaking them. Especially if they were old and precious.

"I thought I had lost this. I didn't think grandpa still had it…" She chuckled lightly. "Neither my grandpa nor myself can stand to throw things away…"

"Heh, my mom's like that. She's got a chest in her room that's full of old stuff I made before I really got good at sewing."

"I suppose every family has someone like that."

Naoto looked down at the pen and felt a familiar feeling. She squeezed it gently. It brought back those memories again. Memories that were complicated now. Were they happy? Or just blind to the world around her?

"When this pen was still mine… I was just a child, dreaming of becoming a detective. But being a man or a woman… I never thought about it. The lack of peers to compare myself to might have contributed to that. I had no friends… I was quite the outsider then, too." She looked away sadly. "But… why is it that, compared to the time I spent utterly alone… I worry more now that I'm with you and the others? I- I feel that… I'm undergoing a change."

Kanji listened to her quietly. He understood that feeling. Spending so long alone and suddenly it changed. Even when he was properly accepted into the team, it felt strange at first. It had taken him a while to get comfortable with it. Naoto must have felt similarly. But the part he focused most on was "change." He knew that feeling. He talked to Yu plenty of times about it, to try to fix his own mess.

"I get that…" Kanji said, frowning. "It's scary, and it's gonna be rough, but ya can't get past it unless you… don't be afraid. That's what I've learned."

"...I see. I'm afraid, you say…" Naoto smiled, weakly. "The need to change… and the desire to remain the same… They're mixed together… And it scares me."

She looked small… sad, and alone. Kanji wanted to hug her, but he didn't know if she'd be ok with that. All he knew more than anything was that she needed support now more than ever. She opened her heart to him, and he needed to be there for her.

"You've felt like that before, Kanji-kun?"

"Y-Yeah, I have…"

"I- I want to hear about you…"

Kanji was surprised, but smiled warmly at her. "Sure…"

She seemed needy right now. It might help take her mind elsewhere, so she could start feeling better. The two sat together at a table and talked. Just talked, for quite some time. Practically until it got dark, since they weren't paying attention to the time. Kanji shared more about himself. He didn't ask her to share more on her side, she wanted to hear about him. It was peaceful and nice for both of them. Naoto seemed a little more cheerful afterwards too, thankfully. She was grateful for their little talk.

After learning all that Kanji had learned about her so far, he had come to a decision. One that he knew he'd have to make at some point. He wanted to show Naoto that she wasn't alone anymore, that he would never let her feel that way ever again. So, when he was on his way home after dropping her off at her house, he made a promise to himself.

The next chance he had, he was going to confess. He would tell her he loved her, that he wanted to be by her side, and make her happy and protect her, that he would always accept everything about her and more. The thought scared the hell out of him, and if she didn't feel the same… Well, that was a risk he was gonna have to take. He could handle it. He didn't want to force her into anything. He couldn't bear it if he lost her, even just as a friend. He would have to be brave.

But how to do it? Hm… maybe he should ask Yu for help again. This was important, and he wanted to do it right.

~...

What he didn't know was that Naoto was having a similar dilemma. When she was with Kanji, she felt remarkably happier, even if all they were doing was just sitting together. She trusted him with sides of her that she'd never shown anyone else. And that made her wonder if she should take the chance and tell him how she felt. If he didn't accept, that was ok, at least she would know he was honest. And she wouldn't let it ruin their friendship. But the idea was scary. She'd never done this before. She wouldn't know the first thing about what to do…

Sighing to herself, she pulled out her phone and sent a text to Rise asking for another favor.

~End of Chapter