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“Thank you for lending your assistance to me, Kanji-kun.”
Naoto said, as he handed over her hat to Kanji, with a few holes of many sizes.
“Tis’ no problem,” he replied. “I’d get it fixed up in no time…”
“I’d?” Naoto says in confusion. “Is there something you didn’t tell me, Kanji-kun?”
“Well, I decided it would be a good opportunity to teach ya how to sew!” Kanji said with a smile as he whipped out two sewing kits and shoved one in the detective’s hand. “You said you were free, ‘fter all.”
“O-oh!” Naoto stepped back in surprise, clutching the sewing kit filled with needles, thread, buttons, etc. “I couldn’t….”
“You’re just saying that! Come on, you’ll never know unless ya try!” Kanji said, trying to pump up Naoto for this sudden, impromptu lesson. “You’ll be able to fix your own hats!”
“Hmm.. I suppose.” Naoto replied. “Let’s do it.”
Kanji ushered the tiny detective into the Tatsumi household. After a greeting from Ms. Tatsumi, he led Naoto to his room, and told her to sit by the table. She put down the sewing kit and opened it up, inspecting the needles and their differing thicknesses.
“Hmm..”
“Oh, the needles?” Kanji says, trying to read Naoto. “Just get any one of them, they’re all good for this one. Except for the smallest one.”
“Why so?”
“It’ll be really hard to thread for you.” Kanji hands her a roll of dark blue thread.
“Hmm..” Naoto picks up a random needle from the pack and grabs the end of the thread roll.
“Alright, so whatcha need to do is thread the.. thread through the hole of the needle and tie it nicely. It shouldn’t be that hard.” Kanji says as he threads his.. thread through the needle and ties it easily, showing it to Naoto with a smile. “See?”
“I comprehend.”
…
It turns out, Naoto did not comprehend.
Naoto spent five minutes, in front of Kanji, trying to thread her.. thread through the needle, only to fail. The pint-sized detective was growing frustrated, trying different needles only to fail.
“This is impossible, Kanji-kun,” Naoto said in annoyance. “I do not believe I can do it.”
Kanji, who had been patiently watching on the other end of the table sighed and got up. “Tis’ not that hard, it just needs practice.” He walked over to the other side and crouched behind Naoto, holding her small hands in his and guiding her thread through. Despite their comparable forms, Kanji was actually very gentle, holding the detective’s hands softly but firmly. Eventually, they got the needle through together and Kanji helped her tie it up.
“See?”
“Oh. Thank you, Kanji-kun…” She blushed a little in embarrassment as Kanji let go of her and went back to his side of the table.
“Alright,” Kanji said after sitting back down. “I’ll cover this big hole, and you can take the smaller ones afterwards.” He ushers Naoto beside him, as he demonstrates how to do a basic stitch using the big hole in her hat.
Despite her efforts to understand, she couldn’t seem to grasp the concept of basic stitching patterns, despite how slowly Kanji was doing it. She looked at each individual stitch he did to get it, but to no avail.
“There. Did you get that?”
Naoto didn’t focus on the demonstration. What is wrong with her today!?
“I-.. I didn’t, sorry..” Naoto replied, flustered from embarrassment. First the needle, now this!? She needs to get herself together eventually, or her hat will never be fixed!
“Oh, I’ll just show you again. So, this is how you do a….”
This time, she really went the extra mile to get it, watching him weave has he stitched up another big hole. She could piece together half of it… But still had some issues. She could solve cases all over Japan, but not this!?
“There, all done.” Kanji said, finishing up his other stitch with a tie. “You think you can do that?”
“Hm… I suppose so…” Naoto trusted herself, she’s a detective for a reason! She could overcome anything that came to mind. Even this. The detective picked up the needle she and Kanji had tied earlier, and looked for a smaller hole off the side of the hat. She used everything Kanji had shown her to get a few stitches in, but soon enough….
“Ow!”
“Did ya’ prick yourself on the needle, Naoto?”
“I suppose, but it looks fine to me, I can do this.”
…
“Ow!”
“Ya sure?”
“Yes, Kanji-kun. I’m very capable.”
…
Despite the multiple needle pricks Naoto had gone through, she was able to fix up the hole in her hat. It was nowhere near as impressive as Kanji’s, the stitches seemed to stick out like a sore thumb (HER sore thumb, I might add), but it felt oddly good.
“Nice job! Although, ya’ might need a bandaid…” Kanji said, pointing out her finger was bleeding ever so slightly. “I have a lot of them, this happens a ton.”
“Ah.. I didn’t notice. Thank you, Kanji-kun.” Kanji could feel himself blush as he heard her say that.
He handed Naoto the bandaid as she used it to patch up her finger, before the two of them got back to work together, patching up the holes one by one.
They put the hat down and look at their creation. Some of the holes seemed to have just vanished, while others, clearly look fixed up.
“You can really tell I’m not that good at this…”
“Nah, it’s cool. It just feels really good to see you fixed it, right?”
“Well, I suppose so.. Thank you for helping me today, Kanji-kun.” Naoto said as she grabbed her hat and stood up. She donned her hat as she looked out the window, the sun was already setting and she needed to get back to her house before dark.
“Oh, I must be going. Kanji-kun?”
Kanji stiffed at her, and looked back at her from where he was looking.
“Do you mind.. Teaching me again sometime?” Naoto could feel her face heat up a little as she covered her face with her hat.
“Oh.. Uh. Sure..! Whenever you’re available.”
“Good. I’ll be on my way then.” Naoto said as she walked out of his room and left the Tatsumi Household. Kanji could swear he felt butterflies fluttering in his chest as he watched Naoto walking out of his house.
“Mkay. Bye.”