Begin!

~Normal POV

Yesterday was the last day of the year. The Investigation Team had spent the night together to celebrate. Today, Kanji woke up to a text from Naoto asking to go to the shrine together later. It was a tradition to make a wish on the first day of the new year. He happily accepted, and they set a time for them to meet up there. They were still on break from school, so they could go whenever. Naoto seemed to think it'd be better to do it a little later in the day. Something about not wanting to run into any of their friends in the process. That made sense to him. It would be private that way.

Once the meet up time rolled closer, Kanji went out to the shrine. Of course he arrived first. He lived right next to it. It was snowy and peacefully quiet right now. He happened to notice some girls leaving. They were wearing kimonos for the occasion. Hm. That made him think of something. What would Naoto look like in a kimono? He blushed heavily at the idea, and tried to put it out of his mind.

"I apologize for making you wait."

Kanji turned and saw Naoto approach him. She was dressed as usual, warmly with a blue coat, argyle sweater vest, and tan pants. Her new scarf was wrapped around her neck comfortably.

"Nah, I just got here," Kanji replied, smiling at her.

He looked her over again. When she noticed him staring at her, she became a little concerned. Was he disappointed in her appearance?

"Um… Could it be that I don't meet your expectations…?"

"Nope, you look cute. Beautiful, even. Just like you always do," Kanji answered.

Naoto turned bright red. "Oh, stop…!" She pulled her hat down and tried to hide her smile.

"Never, babe." He said, chuckling.

He went to put his arm around her. Naoto leaned into the hug in response. Enjoying how warm he felt against the chilly air.

"I- I must confess I… I did consider wearing a kimono today." She admitted, shyly. "I have a nice purple one that's designed for winter. It's practically brand new- I haven't worn it once. B-But I was too nervous about being seen in it on the way here. And it's quite a walk from my house…"

Kanji smiled in understanding. "Aww, that's alright… You look just as good this way."

He knew it was gonna be a slow process for her to branch out more and try new feminine clothes and stuff. He could be patient and let her do it at her own pace. Whatever made her comfortable and happy. She looked even more red at his gentle encouragement. Naoto was happy to hear it. She was worried her decision might be seen as cowardly. Especially after what she was able to do on Christmas before.

"Th-Thanks… Shall we pay our respects at the shrine now?"

"Oh, right- Heh, almost forgot…"

The two approached the shrine and made their wishes. To be honest, he had a few things he could have wished for. But there was one in particular on his mind. He wished to spend another night with Naoto, like they did on Christmas. Ok, he didn't know if they'd get the chance any time soon, but a guy could dream, right?

Naoto was still blushing a bit as she made her wish. It wasn't much of a secret really. She wondered if he wanted the same thing she did. Knowing Kanji, he likely did. The thought made her happy.

Once they were done, she looked up at him. "What did you wish for?"

"Uh- um- I…" Kanji was getting redder by the second.

Naoto's detective instincts kicked in. "I assume then that you made a wish about us?" She guessed, smirking knowingly.

He got more flustered hearing that she figured it out so easily. He looked away embarrassedly.

She laughed lightly. "I wished for the same thing."

Kanji calmed a little from hearing her say that. "O-Oh… well, then- maybe that means it has double the chance of coming true?"

"Perhaps you're right." Naoto looked past him at the fortune box nearby. "Do you want to draw omikuji? I usually have bad luck when it comes to things like fortunes though…"

"You do? Huh…"

She shrugged, not really knowing how it could happen that way. But Kanji agreed, and the two took some fortunes out of the box, one at a time. He went first and just grabbed the first one he felt. He assumed it was in the middle. Not that he could tell. Then Naoto grabbed her own.

Kanji read his fortune silently. It said, " great blessing!" The romance part read, " Securing a future with the one who brings you happiness may be prudent." A… future with Naoto? The idea made his heart race excitedly. Did that mean they would… He blushed again and hoped she would assume it was from the cold and not from any… ideas.

Sadly, he forgot she might want to see it, because she asked. "What does it say?"

"Uhh…" He held it out for her to read. Maybe she wouldn't assume it meant what he was imagining it meant.

She read it softly under her breath and smiled at him. "The future, huh? To be honest, I haven't given it much thought, aside from my detective work." She felt an idea cross her mind. "Of course… when I do become a real detective, I would like you to be there when it happens."

Kanji looked at her again. He seemed shocked by her sincerity. The idea made him grin. "Y-Yeah, of course I will!"

Naoto read it over a second time and noticed something she didn't see at first. "Wait, this was written for your romance fortune, so it's not talking about work… A future… for the two of us…"

Her face went bright red. She wondered if he thought of the same thing… He probably did, he seemed flustered when he read it before. She tried to push down that nervous feeling in her stomach and focus on the now. She scolded herself internally, that wasn't something to worry about any time soon! Not that it was unpleasant to think of, no- it was actually very pleasant to think of, but still- not right now!

Kanji, seeing that she was all flustered now too, decided to help by changing the subject so they could both calm down. "H-Hey, what does yours say?"

Naoto had forgotten she was even holding the fortune. "Oh, um, let's see…" She held it up and frowned. "Ouch… curse. I told you this might happen. The romance portion says…" To Kanji's surprise, she smiled again and chuckled lightly. "' For things to continue harmoniously, you must discard your secrets.' I see. This is quite accurate."

Kanji smiled at her. "I kinda think I get it, too…" Or at least he had a really good guess.

"But I'm not keeping any secrets from you…" She replied. "B-Besides the ones that are unimportant and embarrassing…"

"I think I know a few of those already." Kanji said, laughing.

He wasn't mocking her for it, he just found the idea to be funny. Naoto seemed to understand and laughed along with him.

"Well, since I got cursed," She said, smiling optimistically, "That means my fortune can't get any worse. On the contrary, it can only go up from here."

"Yeah, that's a good way to look at it!"

They pocketed their fortunes and held hands before starting to walk out of the shrine.

"Anything else you wanna do today?" Kanji asked, happily. "I'm free all day, so we can go somewhere if you want."

Naoto thought about it. "Actually… I had one idea." She looked down nervously. "Um… would you like to come over to my place for a change?"

He felt a jolt in his chest. "Y-Your house?!"

"Yes, I just bought a new kotatsu the other day for my room. I-It's nice and warm…" She couldn't bring herself to explain her reasoning further.

"S-Sure! That sounds awesome!"

He was excited now. He had been curious what her room would look like, it'd be nice to see it. Naoto smiled bashfully. The two started walking to her house.

~...

Kanji's first look at the inside of Naoto's huge house made him rather nervous. When she said "estate," she wasn't kidding. The place was nice and very tastefully decorated. Most of it looked expensive. He didn't trust himself not to break something in a house this nice. But he'd probably get more comfortable being here the more he was able to. That was how it felt when Naoto visited him.

"Um, I told grandpa you might come over today, but he had to work… He didn't mind it, though. And Yakushiji-san is assisting him, so… we're alone. The housekeepers get the holiday off, as well." Naoto explained as they hung up their coats. "I hope that's not a problem…"

It did sound a little intimidating, but he'd been alone with her before. He could manage. "It's all good…" He replied, nervously.

He felt a tiny bit relieved too. He wasn't mentally prepared to face her grandpa yet. How were you even supposed to introduce yourself in that situation? Say, "hi, I'm Kanji Tatsumi, I'm the guy dating your granddaughter?" He cringed at the thought and put it out of his mind. He would simply have to worry about that when the time came. And it wasn't today, so he was in the clear. Naoto would definitely give him a few days' notice to prepare for that moment.

"My room is this way…" Naoto said, shyly. She grabbed his hand and tugged him along behind her as they climbed the stairs.

~...

Kanji didn't know what he expected. But whatever it was, the expectation was shattered when he finally saw it.

Naoto's room was huge. He estimated it was just about the same size as his living room. Maybe slightly bigger. It was clear that she grew up very pampered. She even had her own adjacent bathroom. Various shades of blue and black decorated it. The room was perfectly organized, as a good detective's space should be. She kept her large bed and nightstand in one corner with a lamp. A familiar picture of the two of them was sitting on her nightstand. There was a large window with blue curtains looking out over the yard. Across from her bed was a large tv on a shelf with various things plugged into it. Including some game consoles, much to his pleasant surprise. And on the floor between the two was the table with her new kotatsu, carefully placed so they could use the tv while they used it. (Good thinking ahead, he thought.)

The rest of the room had bookshelves full of her novels lining the walls, and a separate shelf full of what looked like some DVDs and other stuff. She had a desk with a computer, a desk lamp, some blue headphones, and a separate laptop set up in the other corner of the room, along with a dresser and a large door that probably was her closet. Along the bare parts of the walls were a couple small shelves with some Featherman action figures. And a few framed posters of various detective movies. (Though, the Sherlock Holmes one was the only one he recognized.)

"I don't know if it's what you assumed it would be…" Naoto said, sheepishly. She went to hang up her hat on a little hook on her bookshelf. "This is my first time inviting anyone in here, so I'm a little nervous…"

"No, I like it!" Kanji answered quickly. "Wait- you've never had the other girls over either?"

"Not yet," She answered, looking happier to hear that he liked her room. "Perhaps in the future, if any of them would like to visit."

"Well, I kinda like that I got to be the first anyway," He said, smiling. "And hey, I didn't know you liked video games!"

Naoto turned very red. She honestly forgot he would see those when she got the idea to invite him over.

"O-Oh, I- um- I…" She was too embarrassed to speak properly or look at him.

Kanji went over to put his arm around her soothingly. "Hey, I didn't say it was weird or anything. It's cool!"

Naoto was just still a little flustered at the idea of sharing these things about herself she'd never shared with others before. But she trusted Kanji. He had proven many times now that he would never look down on her for anything she enjoyed.

"Wanna play something together?" He asked happily.

"Sure," Naoto replied.

The two picked out a game from her shelf, and got cozy together under the warm kotatsu. Naoto snuggled up close to his side as they played. They spent almost entirely the rest of the day together in her room. Enjoying themselves, eating snacks, talking and teasing each other, playing games, and sometimes taking long breaks for kisses. It was a perfect day to start the new year off together.

~End of Chapter

End note: I couldn't decide what game they should play, so you're welcome to insert your own guess.