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"You actually weigh more than I thought," Kanji says, his voice soft. "Not a lot more or anything, but I guess I forget sometimes that you've got some muscle to you, too."
Rise doesn't reply, choosing to snuggle into her bed and wait for Kanji to finish digging himself into a hole.
"When Senpai made us double back in there to find that key today instead of going back tomorrow? I was ready to punch him! We were all tired and, yeah, he was pushing Tap on us like nothing else so we managed, but I don't think he thought about you at all. I don't get that tired if I'm just hittin' things, but I do from usin' my Persona, so you've gotta be exhausted every time we do this." Kanji pauses and Rise feels the way he pushes a lock of hair back from her cheek. "You're used to it though, ain't cha?"
She can't dignify it with a response since she's still pretending to be asleep, but he's not wrong. She'd gotten so used to the pace of being an idol that anything else feels boring.
Kanji lets out a groan and scratches his head. "I don't know if you even realized that you fell asleep there when we got back to Junes. You weren't the only one. So, Yosuke had to carry Teddie home, and Senpai got Naoto, and Yukiko and Chie kind of woke up and leaned on each other... and I got you. I mean, they woulda pushed you on me anyway 'cause it's just down the street, but... I probably would have offered."
Rise fought to keep her face still, wanting to open her eyes to check if he'd left because the silence suddenly hung so thick in the room, but he spoke again. "Somehow we always end up together and I'm startin' to think its for a reason. Like, there's that psychological thing where you learn about something and then it's like its all you see. Is it the Batter Up phenomemo? I don't know. But, ever since we saved Teddie, it's like I can't help but see you all the time. Except, it feels like you're never lookin' at me. Always Senpai. And I can't hate it because it's Senpai and I get that he's probably the kind of guy someone like you would want."
Shutting her eyes even harder, Rise tried to calm the way her heart was suddenly beating. Was Kanji saying what she thought he was? She forced herself to listen more, not wanting to miss a word. "You're somethin' special, Rise. I know you think it's because you're an idol, but that's probably the least special part. You're a crybaby who loves her grandma, can't cook for shit, and never lets things get her down on top of being cute as hell. Honestly, I knew I liked cute shit. I shoulda caught on sooner that I liked you."
Rise couldn't stop herself any more. She suddenly sat up, looking Kanji directly in his eyes as he sputtered in surprise. "Every time I was looking at you, you were looking at Naoto. Clearly we should have communicated better and we could've been looking at each other more."
"The hell, Rise?" Kanji pressed his hand to his heart. "D'ya wanna give me a heart attack? I'm too young to die!" He suddenly looked taken aback. "Wait, at each other? Does that mean you-"
Pushing through the blanket Kanji had draped over her before, Rise threw herself at Kanji and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I like you, Kanji."
He lifted his hand to his nose, anticipating a bleed, but nothing came. He reached up to scratch his head. "If I didn't actually say it, I like you, too. But, it's too late to start talking about all this feelings shit so I'm gonna come back after breakfast and we can figure this out."
Rise nodded, giving him a smile that stopped him in his tracks. "Thank you for carrying me home. I wouldn't trust anyone else to keep me safe during it."
Kanji blushed a little as he backed up to the door. "Yeah, well, my muscles have to be good for something. I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well." He turned and almost ran off, leaving Rise to snuggle back down in the covers, anticipating the chaos that was sure to ensue in the morning because nothing with Kanji was ever the easiest it could be, but it was also never boring.