Work Text:
Begin!
~Normal POV
Whenever Naoto was confronted with a mystery, even a small one, she found herself wanting to know the answer. She'd spent her life training to become a detective, so it came naturally for her. This was one such case.
The last couple days had been a mix of fun and annoying. The week of the school festival had felt longer than it was. With the whole pageant thing going on. But at least there were some fun moments after the shows were over. Getting to spend time with everyone made it better. Especially since this was her first school festival. And afterwards, Yukiko had invited them to spend the night at the Amagi Inn as a treat. While hanging out with the others, Naoto happened to overhear a conversation that caught her interest. And she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it.
She heard Yosuke claim that Kanji voted for her in the beauty pageant. To which, Kanji had quickly shut him up. She didn't think either of them knew she heard though.
It made her very curious and a bit hopeful... The truth was, she had feelings for Kanji Tatsumi. He was sweet and strong, and she had become quite close to him since joining the team. It made her feelings stronger. Really the only thing that made her decide to do the pageant was the idea that he would be there to see it. (Even if she couldn't bring herself to stay for the whole thing. She had her limits.) And the idea that he could have actually voted for her made her happy. She really wanted to know if it was true...
So she decided to see Kanji alone to talk about it. She texted him asking to meet up at the garden entrance. The inn was pretty quiet at this hour, and she figured the others must be asleep in their rooms by now, so they wouldn't be interrupted. When she arrived at the garden steps, she found Kanji was there first. He was messing with some knitting needles and yarn in his lap and hadn't noticed her walk up to him yet.
"Hi, Kanji-kun."
Kanji looked up at her. "Oh- hey!"
Naoto sat down beside him. "What are you making?"
He blushed and set it aside so she couldn't see. "N-Nothing..."
"Kanji-kun, you don't have to hide your knitting from me. I like seeing your creations." Naoto said, smiling.
This made him smile a little. "Well- yeah, but... it's a surprise."
"Ah, alright then."
"So, why did you wanna see me?"
Now it was her turn to blush. She hadn't quite prepared for how she wanted to do this. A rather impulsive decision on her part. But now that she was here, she couldn't very well back out without raising suspicion.
She'd just have to be brave.
"Um- I was hoping to ask you something. And I didn't want anyone else around..."
Kanji got a little nervous hearing that. But he didn't want to waste this rare moment alone with Naoto, so he tried to keep his cool.
"O-Ok, what's up?"
Naoto started fidgeting with her fingers in her lap and avoided looking at him.
"I hope you aren't offended by this, but... I happened to overhear your conversation with Yosuke-senpai earlier."
Kanji froze in shock, but kept listening.
"I heard him say that you voted for me in the beauty pageant..." Naoto said, shyly. "I wanted to ask... is that true?"
She looked up at him again. His face was bright red.
"Y-You heard-?! I mean-"
As he tried to stammer out a reply, he realized he didn't have any excuse to lie to her. He'd been sitting on his feelings for months now, and it wasn't getting him anywhere. This was Naoto... She was special to him. And she deserved to hear the truth. Looks like fate decided tonight would be the night.
He took a shaky breath and tried to look her in the eyes.
"Y-Yeah, it's true. I voted for ya."
Naoto's eyes lit up with joy. "You did?!"
"Yeah..." He repeated. "Y-You're not like weirded out by that, are you?"
"Why would I be bothered by it?"
He scratched his head nervously. "Well- cause I know ya didn't wanna be in the show. And I do feel bad about that. I didn't know if it might make things worse somehow."
"Ohh. Well, it is true that I wasn't too comfortable with the idea of it. But..." She blushed. "I'm actually quite happy you picked me... thank you."
Kanji smiled again, relieved to hear that.
"Of course I did! I've always thought you were pretty." He then decided to take a chance and added. "Naoto, I- I love you..."
She stared at him in disbelief, processing his words carefully. He felt the same way about her? All this time? And she never even considered it.
"Kanji..." She smiled widely. "I love you too."
"Really?!"
"Yes..." She moved a little closer to him. "I have for a while now. But I didn't know when would be a good time to say it. I've never felt this way about anyone before. How long have you...?"
"...I started liking you when I met ya. And it just got deeper over time until I finally realized I was in love with you." He answered, sheepishly.
"I see." She laughed a little. "That explains a lot about how you acted around me." She reached over and grabbed his hand.
"You know, I only did the pageant because I thought it might impress you..."
Kanji laughed too. "Well, you didn't need to, but it worked... especially this."
He carefully removed her hat with his free hand and set it in her lap. Naoto turned very red at the gesture. Normally, she didn't like people touching her hat, but she didn't mind making an exception for Kanji.
He stared at her in awe, admiring how pretty she looked.
"Kanji...?"
"Yeah...?"
"Come here..."
She pulled him closer and pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss. Kanji was stunned at first, but quickly got over it and kissed her back. They stayed like that for a moment, enjoying the feeling of their first kiss before pulling apart for air. Kanji let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her. Naoto smiled and leaned into his side comfortably.
"So... are we-?" Kanji started to ask.
"Yes, we are..." Naoto interrupted, giggling.
"Awesome..." He then sighed a little. "Now we just gotta deal with everyone teasing us about taking so long to get together."
"That's true, but-" Naoto replied, happily. "We don't have to tell them until morning at least."
Kanji smiled again. "You're right. We don't."
For now, they could just enjoy the peace and quiet of their first moment alone together as a couple.
~The End!