Chapter Text
“Senpai!”
The familiar voice caught up to the young man through the sound of rain. He turned around only to see a small figure holding an umbrella approaching him. The person was getting closer, as the silver-haired boy slowed his pace, until they finally lined up with each other.
“Good morning, senpai.” The voice sounded clearer now, yet the person still had to add more volume due to the rain being much louder than it normally is. “It is a rare occasion meeting you here at this time.”
Narukami just greeted Naoto with a nod and a smile in response. But it’s true. He doesn’t run into him on the flood plain very often.
Her.
He meant her.
It’s been a little while since Naoto became a part of Investigation team, and even longer since they found out that Detective Prince is actually the Princess. But despite this Narukami still wasn’t able to wrap his head around that and get used to calling Naoto a girl. Everyone else switched pretty fast, so it was kind of embarrassing for someone they call a Leader. He could only hope that he won’t call her “he” out loud by mistake.
“Is everything all right, senpai? You look like something is bothering you.” Naoto’s voice brought the boy back from his thoughts about his minor problem. Yet girl looked concerned, since Narukami was unusually silent for past minute with somewhat disturbed look on his face.
“N-no, it’s nothing. I was worrying about the rain.” Narukami said the first thing that came to mind. He couldn’t let Naoto out of all people know about his struggle.
“I understand.” Looks like this was enough for Naoto. “I also thought about this. But apparently this rain will be over in a couple of hours, so we won’t be able to check the Midnight Channel tonight.”
“Is that so?” Of course, Narukami already knew all of that, but now it’s better for him to play along.
“But we have to stay cautious.” Naoto added. “We can barely predict the culprit's actions, and Midnight Channel is one of the few reliable sources of information we’ve got.” While saying that, she had this look on her face, that reminds you, that this small girl is in fact a professional detective and she takes her job very seriously.
This was one of the reasons why watching Naoto working was so fascinating, as she could switch from normal looking teenager to cold blooded professional in a matter of seconds. The fact that her shadow was partially robot actually made sense. Though it would be mean to call Naoto a robot, since she is still a normal girl. At least as normal as a persona-user could be.
They continued to walk down the flood plain, while talking on different subjects. And this entire time Narukami couldn’t help but look at Naoto. Something about her was different. The same ol’ hat, same gakuran she usually wears. Those boots with big soles, that help her to appear taller, were also here. She definitely didn’t look different. She felt different. In a way that Narukami couldn't pinpoint the exact change and it's been eating him from the inside. Boy even started thinking that he is actually hallucinating and in reality nothing about her changed.
"Is there something wrong, senpai?" Naoto finally noticed how Narukami was staring at her.
“Did you change your haircut, Naoto?” He said that almost instantly without thinking.
“Eh?..W-w-why are you asking something like this so suddenly?” Naoto’s face lost all its composure, as she stared at the second-year with her eyes wide open. Narukami hasn’t seen her looking like this since the day of Teddys checkup.
“You’re looking somewhat different today, but I can’t tell what changed.”
“What? Um…” Naoto struggled to answer that for some reason and her cheeks began to blush a little. “Not at all. My hair is in the same condition it was in the last time we talked, senpai.” She managed to calm down and give a clear answer right as these two got to the school entrance. Yu mentally thanked the universe that they got to school, as this dialog was getting too awkward. Naoto on the other hand did the same.
Narukami left his umbrella on the stand and quickly started changing his shoes. As he finished he went around the lockers to the first-years' side to talk to Naoto. But the blue-haired girl was already gone. Narukami had to admit, she was fast.
He couldn’t catch Naoto to talk to her, but there was another familiar face by first-years’ lockers. It was Rise. She was standing by her opened locker holding something, that appeared to be some sheets of paper. Love letters. Seems about right, looking how uninterested Rise looks reading whatever written in it. Yu could only commiserate with a guy, who put it there, as he will never get the answer. But he tried at least.
Narukami turned around and was ready to head off to the classroom, but he suddenly felt that someone grabbed his arm. Yet he didn’t really need to turn his head to know who it was. There’s only one person in that school, who would do that.
“Senpai~...” This voice and this manner of speech cannot be mistaken. “You weren’t expecting to stalk on me from around the corner like that and get away with this, did you?” Rise looked at Narukami with her wide smile no one could resist. He couldn’t help but apologize. “Ha-ha, senpai, you’re such a gentleman. But you don’t need to apologize. Though if you want to, you could take me out somewhere.” She was straightforward as always. This conversation soon could turn into planning an actual date with Rise. Although it would be lovely, but Narukami already had plans for today, so he quickly explained that he was just looking for Naoto.
“Naoto-kun? I saw her like a minute ago, but she looked like she was in a hurry.” She paused, as if thinking about something. “I saw that you two came to school together. Did something happen on your way here?”
“Nothing.” Narukami instinctively looked away.
“Hm?” Rise gave him a piercing look. Like she could read his mind and already knew what happened, and just wanted Narukami to say it himself. But luck again was on his side, as they heard the bell ringing. “Oh, already? I need to hurry!” Rise let go of the boy's hand and went to her classroom. “Think about my suggestion, senpai.” She tossed him the most killing smile possible before disappearing behind the door of class 1-1. For a couple of seconds Yu stood by first-years' lockers before heading off to his classroom as well.
The school day went as normal as it could be in Yasogami High. Narukami tried to concentrate on studying, but the situation of today’s morning occupied his mind. He kept thinking about the way Naoto reacted to his question. If there was really nothing new about her hair or about her in general, why would she react like this? It’s not like asking if a girl changed her haircut is something inappropriate. Right? Maybe he caught her off guard with this question? But again that reaction was too much for simple unreadiness. The more Narukami thought about it, the more he realized that he must be lacking some crucial piece of information so he can’t come to any real conclusion. He may be good at understanding people around him, but the other person’s soul will always be an unknown see, that is hard to comprehend. At the end of the day, Naoto could just be surprised that someone was interested in the way she looks. Narukami decided to apologize to her after school, since he is the one who asked this weird question because of his own speculations. But he had to admit, that her reaction on this was kind of c-
“Looks like Narukami-kun would want to answer the next question, since he clearly was listening to everything I said in this lecture.” The voice of Kashiwagi-sensei brought Narukami out of his thoughts. When he looked at the teacher, she had this expression on her face she usually makes when expecting to embarrass you in front of the rest of the class. Though Narukami wasn’t going to give her that pleasure and easily answered her question. Hard studying in months prior were paying off, and frustration on Kshiwagi’s face was the reward. But he still decided to leave the morning situation until after school.
Time passed and today’s classes were finally over. Narukami went downstairs hoping he could catch Naoto and talk to her. And he was lucky again. Detective girl was standing in a hallway on the first floor seemingly thinking about something.
“Ah, senpai.” Naoto said, when she noticed Yu. “Um… About today’s morning…” Naoto brought this up first, but it was obvious that she hesitated.
“Sorry for that question.” Narukami decided to take initiative and apologized if anything he said in the morning was strange.
“You don’t have to apologize. I understand that you didn’t mean anything wrong by saying this.” She looked away for a couple of seconds. “In case you’re still wondering, I may assure you that I didn’t change anything about my appearance today. So if you were still worrying about this…” For some reason she started blushing in the middle of the sentence.
Narukami chatted with Naoto a little bit before saying her goodbye and getting to the lockers. As he took his shoes out of his locker he saw a small piece of paper with some writings falling from it. It was a letter asking him to come to the school roof after classes. It didn’t seem like a love letter of any kind, and Narukami had no idea who could have some business with him. Besides, on the roof. He looked at the watch on the wall. There was some time before his shift at the daycare, so he might as well figure out what’s this all about. He put his shoes in the locker and went on the roof.
Sky almost cleared after today’s rain, but the cold October wind was still here to remind everyone that summer is gone. There weren't many people on the roof today. Chie went home early with Yukiko, and the shy girl who usually stands by the fence also was nowhere to be seen. The only people who were on the roof at the moment were Narukami himself and the girl who sometimes tells him the weather forecast. Though he always forgets to ask her name. She didn’t react to his appearance, so she probably didn’t write that letter either. Yu decided to wait a bit just in case whoever sent him that letter was late.
Less than two minutes later the door opened, and someone appeared on the rooftop. It was a guy, a second-year, judging by the number on his collar, but not Narukami’s classmate. He looked around as if he was looking for somebody, and when he saw Yu sitting on one of the pipes he immediately headed in his direction.
“So you actually came here. Gotta admit, you have more guts than I was expecting.” He said that with a threatening look on his face, while approaching Narukami. So it was the guy.
“It was your letter in my locker?” Yu said that with his usual composure.
“Straight to the point, huh? What, you’ve got somewhere to be?” Narukami just nodded in response. “All right then.” He looked back at the weather girl for a moment, who was looking in another direction. “I will ask it right away. What’s your deal with Risette? Who the hell are you to her?” Now Narukami saw where this was going and regretted he didn’t go to the bus stop right away.
“We’re friends.” He said calmly.
“Bullcrap!” The guy raised his voice. “What kind of a friendship is this when she basically hangs on to you. What did she even find about you that as soon as she sees you she runs to grab your arm while throwing my letter without even reading it!” And everything came together. This guy is the one who dropped that letter into Rise’s locker. As soon as he realized it, Narukami lost the last bit of interest he had for this situation. “I’m telling you, stop taking chances from others.” He raised his hand with a clenched fist. “Or else I will-”
“Or else you will do what?” A familiar voice sounded from behind the guy. As they looked there they saw Naoto standing by the roof entrance.
“Wh… Hey! How long have you been there?” The guy turned to her with surprise on his face.
“Long enough to witness you threatening Narukami-senpai.” She said while closing the distance between them.
“You better stay out of it. There’s no crime for you to snoop around here.”
“This may be true.” Naoto said, looking him dead in the eyes. “But I am positive that school rules are mandatory for every student without exception. And as far as I’m concerned, starting a fight on school’s territory would be considered a serious violation of said rules. I don’t know who your homeroom teacher is, but they probably won’t be satisfied to hear news about a school fight involving one of their students.” Her voice stayed calm the entire time she was saying it.
“And what are you going to do? Snitch on me?” The guy stepped forward trying to put pressure on Naoto. “You may be Detective Prince, but the whole school already knows that you are a girl. I could easily just-”
“Enough.” Narukami finally stood up from the pipe, since this situation was escalating too quickly. “I think you should leave now.” The height difference wasn’t that big, but it was enough for Yu to menacingly look down on the guy. He looked back and forth at Narukami and Naoto while thinking what to do before pouting something and quickly leaving the roof.
“Such pathetic behavior.” Naoto said, looking at him leave. “Thinking that someone is obligated to be attracted to you and venting your frustration on people around you in the case of failure. Let alone trying to assault someone because of that.” She clearly was irritated by that guy’s actions.
“Thank you, Naoto.” Yu said, when she calmed down a little.
“Oh, it’s nothing.” She said and then looked down. “Although I probably shouldn’t have done that. You clearly were able to settle it down yourself, senpai. My appearance only made the situation worse.” For some reason she looked embarrassed.
“But you were cool.” Narukami wanted to somehow cheer her up.
“Eh? Not at all!” Naoto started to look even more flustered. “Erm… Weren't you in a hurry, senpai?” He was.
Yu said goodbye to Naoto again and ran to the Shopping District, almost missing his bus. When he took his favorite seat and tried to catch his breath he recalled everything that already happened today. Morning talk with Naoto. His thoughts about her acting somewhat strange. The latest situation on the roof. It wasn't parts of some puzzle of something, and it's probably just a bunch of unrelated things. But by putting it all together Narukami was able to come to some conclusion.
Something actually changed about Naoto today. He was sure.
And whatever it was, Yu found it really cute.