Detective Kanji

Chapter 15: Study Date

Begin!

~Normal POV

A lot happened within the following weeks. Exams, fog, and finally catching Adachi as the true culprit behind the murder case. Putting the facts together and getting him to slip up was extremely satisfying. (Though, Yu took the news a little hard, since he had been friends with him for so long now.) But now that the case was solved, Nanako and Dojima were recovering well in the hospital, and the fog was gone for good, the team had settled into enjoying their peaceful lives once more.

Today, Naoto came to visit Kanji's house to work on homework and spend a little time together afterwards. It was going well. She was helping him through his math problems patiently. Since becoming a couple, the two had gotten quite comfortable with each other. Naoto had thought at first that dating might be awkward, and it was a little, but once it became normal, the awkwardness fizzled out. She enjoyed spending time with him no matter the reason. She loved that he knew best how to make her laugh, how they could learn and share each other's interests, and how they always had fun together, even if all they did was cuddle all day. Even just sending text messages made her happy from thinking about him.

When they were with their friends, Naoto had a rule about keeping things subtle. Hand holding, a hug sometimes, and sitting close together were as far as they were willing to go around others. Naoto didn't want to end up like Rise, who had a habit of happily throwing herself at her boyfriend. But when they were alone together, they were very affectionate.

It surprised Kanji at first too. Naoto wasn't usually one for physical contact without permission, with a fair share of reasons for it. But Kanji quickly learned that she loved hugs and touching, along with kisses. She trusted him, so it fit that only he was allowed to do such things. He loved how soft she was to hold in his arms. And with it being December now, it was perfect cuddle weather too. This "having a girlfriend" thing was even better than he heard it to be, once he actually got there. Hell, even just seeing her at school made his day from thinking about her. He learned a lot about her, like how she had a good sense of humor. She loved chocolate and other sweets, but only let herself have a little a day to keep healthy. (Unless it was a special occasion; like a holiday. Or was just having a really bad day and needed a pick-me-up.) Along with liking books and mystery shows, she was also a Featherman nerd, her favorite being Feather Swan. She loved being picked up, though it did fluster her.

His mom liked her too, which was both a bonus and a curse. One time, Naoto stayed over for dinner and Kanji damn near died of embarrassment when his mom kept telling stories about him. Naoto seemed to like them though. On the flip side... Well, Kanji hadn't gotten a chance to meet her grandpa yet, he was still away in America. But Naoto did mention that she told him about them over email. Her grandpa had merely said he was happy for them, and would like to meet Kanji when he came back. Yakushiji seemed to like him, as much as he could tell, so he hoped her grandpa would too. (Kanji had never been invited over to Naoto's house, he only saw Yakushiji in passing when he went to pick her up for their dates.)

"Now, what's the answer to number 12?"

Kanji concentrated and tried to solve the problem on his worksheet. "Is it... 36?"

"No, that's too high. Try again."

He sighed. "Can't we just skip this one?"

"If I let you start skipping questions, you'll never get your work done." Naoto said, playfully.

That was unfortunately a good point. "Fine..." He did the problem over again and this time got a different answer. "Is that it?"

"Hm... yes it is!" She said, proudly. "See, I told you it wasn't so bad once you know how to do it."

He shrugged. "It still sucks though. Maybe if we were in the same class, I'd have an easier time."

"I think if that were the case you'd be even more distracted." Naoto smirked.

Kanji blushed at the implication, but couldn't deny it was true. "Ah- I- I meant-"

She interrupted by laughing. "I know what you meant, Kanji. I was joking."

He couldn't help smiling at that. He loved seeing this side of her. Light joking and teasing; he never thought she'd do stuff like that before, especially not around him. He thought it was cute, even if it flustered him. But then, a lot of things she did flustered him...

"Now- let's move onto the next question."

"Ugh, do we have to?"

"Yes, we do," Naoto replied, simply.

He had an idea and asked. "Are ya sure? I can think of something else we could do instead..." He smiled playfully at her. "It'd be more fun!"

Naoto blushed, understanding what he meant, but held her ground. "Finish your homework first, then we can... do something else." She pulled her hat down and focused on her own sheet.

"Damn. Well, worth a try."

It took them a few extra minutes before they were both done with their respective work. Naoto helped Kanji check his answers, and do the problems the right way. He seemed to understand it better when she was teaching him.

"There, all done." Naoto said, happily. She put her papers and textbook away in her bag. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I guess not..." Kanji said, "So... now do I get my reward?"

She looked at him with fake confusion, and tried not to smile. "Reward? I don't recall mentioning that. I merely said we would do something else once we were done."

"Hey- you know what I meant! Get over here, you."

Kanji gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his lap for a hug. Naoto couldn't keep her façade up very long and started laughing. He hugged her to him, giving her a few kisses and nuzzling her soft hair, making her laugh even more.

"A-Alright, alright-" Naoto said, between giggles. "Sorry for that..."

"You should be," Kanji replied, playfully. He took her hat off and kissed the top of her head. "You have any idea how hard it is to not kiss you when you're right there, babe?"

"No, I guess not..." Naoto was staring at him in surprise for some reason. And her face was red.

"Something wrong?"

Naoto didn't know how to respond. "U-Um... just now, you... You called me... babe?"

Kanji hadn't realized what he just said. It must have slipped out in the moment. Damn, he did not want such a thing to become a habit between them. His face went bright red.

"Oh, sorry! I- um- damn it..." He looked away from her, sheepishly. "I had this idea for a while to c-call you something, but I didn't know if you'd like that stuff! I-It just slipped out. I wasn't planning to ask..."

She thought about it. She recalled that such a thing was commonly known as a "pet name." An affectionate nickname. She never considered the idea of using one for him. But hearing that he wanted to give her one made her a little giddy inside.

"I like it..." Naoto answered.

"You do?!"

"Yes, that's what I said."

Kanji smiled, looking very relieved. He set aside her hat and held her close.

"However, you're the only one allowed to call me that," She added.

"Yeah, I think there's a pretty good list of things now that only I'm allowed to do to ya. Like this."

Kanji kissed her cheek before leaning into her neck and giving her more kisses. Naoto giggled and wrapped her arms around him.

He was right, this was a lot more enjoyable than some stupid homework.

~End of Chapter