Detective Kanji

Chapter 2: Thief in the House

Begin!

~Normal POV

After school today, Naoto approached Kanji outside his classroom. She said she looked into the card, and wanted to tell him what she found, in private, of course. So the two went back to their spot at the gazebo to talk about it. Honestly, he didn't know what to expect out of this situation. He hadn't seen any sign of that guy around since the other day. But if she wanted to talk, he was happy to talk. He liked the fact that he was able to get a little closer to her because of this. He even mentioned it to Yu, who said it would be good for both of them.

"So what did you find?"

Naoto frowned disappointedly. "I'm afraid there wasn't anything to find." She showed him the card. "As you can see, nothing is written on it. It's just a plain white card. But it does feel a bit stiff, given its thinness... Without any indication of its contents, however, I have no idea who sent it."

"Oh... well, what does that mean then?" Kanji asked.

"I'd chalk it up as a prank," Naoto answered, putting the card back in her pocket.

"Huh. Well, that's no fun, I thought it'd be something important," Kanji said, bluntly.

To his surprise, Naoto laughed. "One would expect there to be more."

He felt his face get uncomfortably warm as he stared at her. He'd never heard her laugh before. She had a really cute laugh, and she was smiling. It was good to see her happy. All of a sudden, Naoto's phone rang.

"Ah, excuse me." She answered her phone. "Yes, it's me... Ah, Yakushiji-san, what's the matter?" She frowned. "A thief...? In the Shirogane estate?!"

Kanji perked up on hearing this. It didn't sound good. He kinda wished he could hear the rest of the conversation.

"Yes... Yes, I see..." Naoto calmed down a little, "Well, I don't keep anything in that room that I'd miss terribly. You have already reported this to the police, I assume? Then I'll leave the rest to you... As long as grandpa is safe, it doesn't matter. I can't take my eyes off this case yet." She hung up and pocketed her phone.

For a moment, she was quiet like she was thinking about something.

"What the hell's a thief doing in a detective's house?" Kanji asked.

Naoto looked up at him. "Oh, I suppose it does sound strange, yes." She looked a little uncomfortable. "That was Yakushiji, he's my grandpa's secretary. And it appears someone has broken into the Shirogane estate. My room was targeted, and he wanted to know if I could think of any particular item the thief might have been after. Several items pertaining to me were also stolen from my grandpa's inventory."

"Is your gramps ok?"

"He's fine, nothing happened to him. As for the items, I don't know about those, but my belongings aren't of any particular value, so..."

Kanji didn't really like how calm she was about this. "You should still be careful though."

"You're right, this may have something to do with the card. Umm... thank you for your consideration." She smiled sheepishly. "Regardless, you don't have to worry about me. We both have more pressing matters to attend to."

Kanji stared at her in confusion. "What do ya mean?"

Naoto looked down and fidgeted with her hands in her lap. "I'm not sure how to react to you... er... worrying about me..."

The fact was, Naoto wasn't used to people being concerned over her. Besides her family. Her grandpa was doting and cared for her a lot, but he also didn't fuss over her all the time. He knew she needed boundaries to grow. But after finding her new friends, she found that new feeling of having many people care for your well being. Especially Kanji.

She guessed that he might never get over the fact that she got herself kidnapped on purpose. Ok, it was dangerous, but she was prepared to face danger for the sake of the case. The life of a detective isn't always going to be easy, one must be willing to take risks. In the short time since becoming his friend, she's noticed he can be a little protective. Of course, it was because he cared, but she rather felt that she could take perfectly good care of herself, if given the chance.

"Well, you're gonna have to get used to it."

"Huh?"

"You got us now, yeah?" Kanji said, simply. "You ain't alone anymore. We ain't gonna let anything happen to you."

"I won't let anything happen to you." He added, in his head.

"I'll be fine." Naoto said, firmly. "In any case, I'll let you know if anything else happens. I have to go home now."

Kanji had an idea. "Want me to walk you?" He felt he should have been embarrassed to ask this question, but he was focused on the situation right now.

Naoto stood up. "That won't be necessary." She grabbed her bag and started walking away.

"I wanna make sure you're ok." Kanji urged. "I mean, you said this asshole broke into your room, right? What if they were looking for you?"

She stopped. That... was a very good point... Perhaps the thief was looking for someone rather than something. It did raise some concern in her mind. Kanji got up and ran to her side. She looked up at him unsurely. He was being rather persistent about this.

"...Alright..."

"Really?" Kanji asked.

"Just to show you that I'm fine," She added.

Kanji smiled in satisfaction. The two started walking down the path.

It was quiet between them as they walked. Neither of them really knew what to say. Kanji always had trouble speaking first around Naoto. Hm. It felt nice walking with her. If only he could do it more often. They didn't live near each other so they couldn't really walk to school together. He wondered if he could get the nerve to ask her to hang out with him at the school festival coming up soon. It'd be nice to take their minds off the case with that.

Every now and then Naoto glanced at Kanji curiously. She didn't want to say it aloud, for some reason, but Kanji did intrigue her. Upon first meeting him, she was given a very wrong impression of what he was like. All she knew at the time was that he had a police record for fighting biker gangs. She was later informed that he did it to help his mother. When she heard that, she shamed herself for even thinking he might be just a delinquent. The gesture was sweet, albeit extreme. She was so very wrong about him, and it made her sad to think such a thing about someone who had become one of her first real friends... Actually, that made her think of something else too.

"Kanji-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"I forgot to tell you... I'm sorry about what happened in the tv."

Kanji looked down at her, "What do ya mean?"

"Well- before I blacked out, my Shadow called you a 'lizard-brained imbecile...'" Naoto frowned. "I wanted to apologize for that... I assure you, that's not how I see you."

"Oh that-" Kanji scratched his head. "Eh, I've been called worse. And it wasn't really you saying it. Just like how my Shadow wasn't entirely me saying that stuff..." Not that he was going to tell her about that, if he could help it.

"Then you're not mad at me?"

"Of course not! I forgive ya!"

Naoto smiled again, "That's good to hear..."

She had an idea to ask him about his Shadow, but quickly dashed it. If he wanted to tell her, he could do it himself. Shadows were a personal issue. To share it with someone willingly would require deep trust, she doubted she'd have ever had the courage to share her own with anyone, if she hadn't been forced to. It must have been the same for everyone else. The rest of their walk was a little more comfortable now too. Naoto changed the subject to talking about the team's upcoming festival plans as they walked.

Now that she had tried it... it felt rather nice walking home with someone for a change. Or... a thought crossed her mind, was it actually nice because of who she was with?

~End of Chapter