Spring Awakenings

True Story

Sunday, 4/19/12, Yomenaido Bookstore, Afternoon

Naoto checked her watch for the third time as she stood outside the Yomenaido bookstore in the Inaba shopping district, not really surprised that Rise wasn't on time. Naoto had already been at the store for almost 15 minutes, a punctuality honed by years of having to meet with busy police officers and jumpy suspects to find the underlying truth of a case. With the extra time, Naoto had spirited her notebook out of her coat, intensely reviewing the notes she had taken about her study session with Rise. Amongst the scattered, negative thoughts such as "FORCED WORK, "AWKWARD INTERACTION," and "LEVITY NEEDED," she honed in on one small sentence, circling it heavily with her pen to emphasize its importance: " ' BE SUPPORTIVE. "

This was what she, after sleeping on it, had determined to be the issue surrounding her relationship with not just Rise, but her other friends as well. Naoto understood that her default mindset of facts and logical, precise language was incongruous with the highly emotional ebb and flow of teenage friendships. If she couldn't project a lighter personality, there was no hope of forging a stronger relationship with any of her friends, let alone the emotion-prone Rise.

Luckily, there was one thing that the detective kept coming back to amidst her dark thoughts: she cared . Hearing Rise, clearly distressed and on the verge of tears, had stoked a fire inside Naoto's belly that she thought had been extinguished. Part of being a great detective was wanting to help people, and Naoto was happy that while she may have struggled with trying to express it, there was an internalized longing to cure Rise of her problems.

For inspiration, she had thought back to her departed senpai, Narukami; he had a special knack for cheering up his friends, even in the most dire of straits. His warm smile and careful phrasing was enough to stir anyone's heart into action, a trait Naoto deeply admired. The thought of him, standing tall above her with a hint of playfulness in his smile and kind words at his lips, lingered a bit, causing the detective to blush and shake her head as she tried to focus on the current matter. She looked back at her book, trying to do some last-minute cramming.

She barely noticed the black car that slid to a stop just in front of her. The slamming of the car door finally got her attention, and she looked up only to see up to see a familiar smile.

"Hellooo, Naoto!" Rise announced, waving goodbye to the invisible driver of her steel chariot. The car sped off, leaving the two teens alone on the sidewalk. Naoto steeled her mind and readied for round two.

"Good afternoon, Rise-san," she stated warmly and confidently, smiling as she pocketed her notebook, "I trust everything went well with your training?"

Rise blinked a bit in apparent surprise. "Oh, good memory! It went great, thanks for asking!" Before she could continue, she had a small coughing fit. "S-sorry," she huffed, "it always takes me awhile to get my voice back to normal from this stuff." She pulled a tiny water bottle out of her leather purse and took a generous gulp. Naoto almost chuckled at how much... poise Rise had in doing even this simple task; her body was arched in a strong pose, eyes closed in ecstacy as she savored the cool drink. The audible rasp of joy that came out of her throat a moment after was incredibly enticing, as if to jog Naoto's mind into also wanting a drink of water. There was little doubt she was born to do what she did.

As she pocketed the bottle, Rise began eyeing the detective up and down. "Did you also have some business to take care of today?" she asked innocently. Naoto was weary of the glance she had been given, but simply told the truth.

"No, not really. I've just been here," she surmised. Rise kind of chuckled, to the surprise of Naoto.

"O-oh, I see. Aren't you, er, hot in that?" Rise asked, pointing at Naoto's outfit