Begin!

~Normal POV

It was finally the first day of the ski trip. The team took a train ride up to the mountain lodge early in the morning. Upon arriving, Yu paid for everyone's hotel rooms. Yu and Rise would be sharing a room. Yosuke had to keep an eye on Teddie. Chie and Yukiko were used to sharing a room too. And Kanji and Naoto were also going to get their own room. (Yu had asked ahead of time if they wanted to share, and they said yes.)

"Aww, how come I don't get to share with a girl?!" Teddie whined.

"Because you don't have a girlfriend." Yosuke answered.

"That's required?" Teddie looked very shocked at this information.

Yosuke ignored him. "Alright, the lovebirds can share, but I'm serious when I say I better not hear a single sound from either of your rooms, got it?"

Naoto was embarrassed by the implication, but ignored him. It seemed Kanji didn't hear what he said, since he didn't react at all. The two of them wanted to share a room. What they did with it was their business.

~...

Once everyone was checked in and dropped off their stuff, they went out to try skiing. Naoto was still very nervous about it, but as promised Kanji tried to teach her. It was not going well so far. Sports were not her thing in the slightest. And she was having trouble keeping her balance even an hour later.

Naoto was trembling as she tried to remain standing. "Have I mentioned this is a useless sport?"

Kanji laughed. "It's not that bad once you get the hang of it, babe. You gotta open up your stance a little. Come on, try standing like I am."

She was still shaking though. "It's… easier said than-" She made the mistake of attempting to shift her leg ever so slightly. It completely threw her off balance, and she ended up falling forward with a shriek.

"Ow..." She hissed. But instead of landing face first in the snow, she noticed her fall was cushioned by something warm and comfortable…

"Whoa... damn that hurt..." Kanji said, opening his eyes and looking down. "... Huh?!" He felt his heart rate spike. Naoto was lying on top of him.

Naoto lifted herself up slightly and looked up, locking eyes with him. She'd fallen right into Kanji and knocked him down into the snow. Both their faces turned a matching shade of red. Sure they were a couple, but they were still out in the open. It would be extremely embarrassing if their friends saw them in this position. They'd never hear the end of it! Kanji seemed to feel the same way as he smiled nervously at her.

"Ah-! Um- sorry!" She said, hurriedly trying to get up to avoid further embarrassment.

"I-It's all good!" He replied, trying to sit up on his hands.

In trying to get off of him, Naoto quickly noticed their skis were caught on each other from their positioning, causing her to fall back into his chest. "Oh! So sorry!"

Kanji's face went even redder at the feeling of her being pressed against his chest like this. The two quickly got untangled, and he helped her stand up on her skis.

"U-Um… sorry…" Naoto said, still blushing.

"It's ok, really! I didn't mind." Kanji replied. He smiled at how cute she was like this. It gave him an idea to tease her a little. "Besides, I kinda liked that position…"

" Kanji!" Naoto squeaked loudly, her face turning even redder. "Wh-What if someone heard you?! O-Or saw us?!"

"You're so cute when you blush like that," He said, laughing. "And ya don't need to worry. If anybody did see, they'd be going down the slopes too fast to really notice if it was us. And they're all pretty far from us anyway."

She was still pouting at him. "If I didn't have to keep my balance on these stupid things, I'd throw a snowball at you…"

He happily ignored her little threat. He could tell by her eyes that she enjoyed what happened just now too. She was just embarrassed, and it was adorable.

"Sure you would. Heh, now come on, let's keep practicing."

Naoto reluctantly agreed. She was having fun, really, as long as she was with Kanji and everyone else, she was enjoying herself. Even if it would take a miracle to make her able to ski without falling over…

~...

Once the day was over, the team went back inside for dinner and to warm up. It went well for a while, until Yosuke wanted to tell some weird ghost stories, and Teddie ended up pissing off the girls with his usual stupidity. He was rightfully punished for that, with Naoto teaching him that "he has no human rights," and after Yosuke dragged the bear's unconscious body back to their room, everyone else decided to turn in for the night too. Kanji and Naoto said good night to the others and went into their room.

The room was warm and cozy looking. The two smiled at each other.

"I'm glad we get to stay with each other again…" Naoto said warmly.

"Me too." Kanji wrapped his arms around her waist. "Ya know, ever since Christmas, I've been hoping to spend another night with you…"

Naoto blushed. "I- I have too…" She gave him a kiss.

Kanji pulled her closer to deepen the kiss before picking her up in his arms. She made a soft squeak in surprise but didn't mind it. She loved it when he picked her up. Especially for kisses. After a few moments of bliss, they pulled apart, but Kanji kept holding her up.

"Um… I should probably change before we continue…"

"Huh? Oh right… forgot about that." Kanji said, chuckling.

He gently set her down. She went into the bathroom to change into her pajamas. Kanji took less time to change, because he usually just wore sweatpants to bed anyway, so he finished first. Naoto came back a short time later, now without her hat and wearing a cute blue sweater and matching pajama pants. She took a moment to admire his shirtless body.

"Something wrong?" Kanji asked, smiling.

"Not at all…" Naoto replied, blushing pink.

She scolded herself internally. It wasn't even the first time she saw her boyfriend shirtless; she really needed to get over it. The two got comfortable under the blankets and snuggled up close to each other.

"Mm…"

"Yeah, this is much better…" Kanji said, happily.

"And it makes it easier to do this." Naoto gave him another kiss.

They spent the rest of the night kissing and talking quietly until they finally fell asleep in each other's arms.

~...

The next day was spent much the same way. The team went out for more skiing. Yosuke and Chie preferred snowboards most of the time. Yukiko and Teddie kept racing each other like daredevils. Rise had said she was just a beginner but really, she seemed to be better than that. She likely just said so to get Yu to help her more. Or at least that was Naoto's theory. She was too busy practicing with Kanji to care anyway. Yu and Rise were watching them this time.

"I'm kind of surprised." Rise commented. "I didn't think there was anything you weren't good at, Naoto. How's it going? Do you think you're ready to start going for real?"

"No… not at all…" Naoto replied, still trembling trying to keep her balance.

Kanji gave her some more gentle encouragement. "Open up your legs and point your toes in, or else you're going to speed up. Come on, keep your balance with your knees."

Naoto looked at him worriedly. "B-But if I stand with my feet further apart… I- I'll fall down for sure!"

"Like I keep saying, you'll be fine." Kanji said, smiling. "Even if you do slide down, I'll catch you."

The detective blushed at the memory of yesterday. It looked like Kanji didn't catch what he said at first, but when he thought about it, he turned red too.

"You guys ok?" Rise asked.

"Yeah, ya look a little red," Yu commented.

"We're fine!" Kanji and Naoto said at the same time.

Rise laughed. "Uh huh… I see. You know, senpai? I feel bad that we're in other people's way, why don't we go ski somewhere else?" She gave Yu her usual flirty smile.

Yu didn't mind the idea. "Alright, let's go. You two have fun."

Yu and Rise left to ski away from everyone else. They didn't see where the two were going, but it didn't matter much. For a while, Kanji continued helping Naoto practice until she decided to stop.

"I don't think I'm going to get any better no matter how long I keep this up…" She admitted frowning.

"Aww, it's ok, babe. I know there's other things you're good at…" Kanji said, smirking.

Naoto looked embarrassed by that, but smiled a little. She didn't know what he was referring to specifically, but it made her happy regardless.

Kanji looked around and got an idea. "Hey, if you don't want to ski anymore, do you wanna go back to the lodge? By ourselves?"

She liked that idea. They had been out here most of the day now. It would be nice to get out of the cold and snow. She readily agreed. So the two returned their rented skis and went back to the lodge.

~...

There was a private common area between their hotel rooms with a few couches and a cozy fire going in the fireplace. The couple took off their winter coats, and got comfortable on the couch closest to the fire. Naoto sat close to Kanji, smiling contentedly.

"Ah, this is much nicer."

Kanji held her close to his side. "I figured you'd like it more."

"I do…" Naoto looked up at him. "Um- I'm sure the others won't be back for a while, so…"

"Hm. I think you're right, babe… Come here." He said, softly.

Naoto happily accepted and gave him a kiss. One kiss turned into several more, as they enjoyed the feeling of each other's warmth in their cozy privacy. Naoto carefully climbed onto his lap as they continued their make out. Kanji gently ran his hands along her body as he held her there.

They didn't know how long they stayed like that. It must have been maybe an hour or so of them smooching on and off repeatedly. They weren't paying attention to anything else.

"Yo, Kanji, Naoto, are you guys in- OH MY GOD!" They heard Yosuke scream from the doorway.

The couple quickly broke apart and put some distance between them, both blushing horribly.

"Yosuke?! Wh-What the hell do you want?!" Kanji shouted.

"Well, I was looking for you guys and now I really wish I hadn't found you!"

Naoto had never felt so embarrassed in her life. "You could have tried knocking first!" She didn't even care how high her voice sounded right now.

Yosuke struggled to find an argument against that. "Uh- I- ok, fair! But still! I thought you would have gone to your hotel room if you're gonna do that! God, I hope you brought protection at least-"

"Would you get on with it, and tell us why you were looking for us?!" Naoto demanded, avoiding looking at either of them. Her face felt like it was on fire.

Yosuke was so stunned he almost forgot why he came here. He didn't think these two were the type to get all touchy in a place where they could be found easily. They were normally much better about such things than Yu and Rise were.

"I came because we have a problem: Yu and Rise have been missing for 2 hours!"

This got them to get over their embarrassment almost immediately. Their friends might be in trouble?!

"Wh-What do you mean? You can't find them anywhere?" Kanji asked.

"Nowhere! And they won't answer their phones! The others are out looking now, so we need your help!"

"We haven't seen them for a long time either." Naoto said, "They were skiing with us for a while, but then they went off somewhere else to ski alone together. So we came back here instead."

"They didn't say where they'd be?"

"No, they just ran off."

Yosuke groaned. "Ugh, those two… They probably went off to smooch somewhere too. Anyway, come on and help us look before it gets dark."

Kanji and Naoto grabbed their stuff and left with him to join the search party.

~...

The rest of the Investigation Team had been looking for Yu and Rise for a long time. After asking around, they heard somebody spotted two teens fitting their descriptions going out to an old tool shed that was located right behind the lodge. So they followed, hoping to learn what was going on.

"They'd better be in here, or I'm gonna cry..." Chie whined.

"It's not like them to bail on us like that," Yosuke said, in a vague attempt at being reassuring. He tried the door but it was shut rather tight.

Teddie put an ear to the door and said, "Shush, I hear them." Everyone went quiet and listened.

"Whoa, hey... senpai?!" There was a loud thud. "Senpai... are you serious?!"

"Yes, I'm serious, Rise."

"This is no place to be messing around like that! Hey! You don't want to go too far!"

The team looked at each other rather uncomfortably.

"Oh, please tell me they're not..." Naoto muttered, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Oh, right, like you two are any better." Yosuke said, bluntly, pointing to her and Kanji. He then swiftly kicked the door open and he and Teddie went inside first. "Twice in a row?! Really, twice in a row now?! What are you guys doing?! We can't let a teen idol get caught doing stuff like this!"

"STOP!" Teddie added loudly, "The entire country will turn against you!"

But after saying these words, the rest of the gang looked at the situation properly before them. What they found was not their two friends in a compromising position. Actually, they were simply messing with an old tv that was sitting in one corner of the room. The two looked up upon hearing the door open so suddenly, but didn't seem to be doing anything scandalous at all.

"Oh, there you guys are," Yu said, with relief at seeing everyone again.

"Huh... they're still dressed?" Chie said, quizzically.

Yu and Rise attempted to deny any accusations the team was putting on them, but it seemed to not work. It only led to lots of arguing. The two insisted that there was something strange with this old tv in the cabin. After several minutes of arguing without getting anywhere, Chie finally took control of the situation and tried to touch the tv to see if they were telling the truth.

Turns out they were; because an arm grabbed them and pulled them all inside…

~...

The next day, after the team saved their friend Marie from the tv world, Kanji walked Naoto back to her house that evening. That dungeon was tough on everyone so getting some rest was a priority. Naoto gingerly held onto Kanji's arm as they walked. She was honestly still exhausted from the trials, but wouldn't let him go carrying her through town. That'd be so embarrassing, so she settled for holding onto him to prop herself up. Kanji could tell that was the reason though, so he didn't mind at all. It felt nice to him. Along the way, she was thinking about something else. Something important that she'd been excited for.

"Kanji?" Naoto spoke up after a long silence.

"What's up?"

"Um… do you know what tomorrow is?"

Kanji thought about it. "Isn't it Valentine's Day? Everyone was talking about it at school."

"That's right." Naoto smiled up at him. "And if you're not busy…"

"Of course I'm spending it with you!" Kanji said eagerly. "I already told ma I would be with you that day, so you'll have me all to yourself."

She giggled softly. "Then it's a date. I have a special present for you too."

This only made Kanji more excited for tomorrow. It would be their first Valentine's Day together. He knew it was gonna be special no matter what. They reached her house and Naoto gave him a goodnight kiss before heading inside. Kanji went back to his house, happily wondering how tomorrow would go.

~End of Chapter