Chase The Truth

Chapter 43: Heart to Heart

Side note: This chapter might be kinda on the "filler" side, after how heavy the previous one was. It's a bit I didn't want to miss out on being able to put in.

Begin!

~Normal POV

9/19 - Monday

Yu was out taking an evening walk in the shopping district tonight. It was much easier to breathe now that they'd saved Naoto. And even more thankfully, it sounded like her family didn't pry too hard to get info on her whereabouts. He'd been worried about that. She came from a family of highly prestigious detectives after all. But the other girls assured them that no such interrogation occurred. Everyone was in high spirits from the recent mission success. Even if it came with the unfortunate fact that the culprit was still out there, at least they were able to ease Naoto's troubled heart. And they had a little time to relax while she recovered.

"Yo, senpai?"

Yu turned and saw Kanji sitting on his porch waving him over. He smiled and went to sit with him. "Hey, Kanji."

Kanji looked a bit troubled. Yu had a feeling he knew what he was going to say. Just a hunch really. But Kanji wasn't exactly hard to read.

"Um... I kinda need your help with something..." He said, avoiding looking at him.

"Ok, what's wrong," Yu asked.

But whatever Kanji wanted to say, he had a tough time getting it out. How do you word such an issue anyway? He didn't know... But he knew Yu could help him. That's what his friend does best- helping people. Half the damn town talked about him like that. Yu was also a bit observant at times, and took a guess on what his apparent problem was.

"Let me guess... is this about Naoto?"

Kanji sighed and nodded. "Yeah..."

"...You like her, don't you?" Being straightforward with Kanji was usually the best approach. At least, he preferred it that way. Plus, he figured his friend would have an easier time admitting this to him than he would to the others. Kanji rather treated Yu like an older brother more than anything.

Kanji grumbled a bit, and turned red, before quietly replying. "Y-Yeah..."

Yu smiled. "You don't have to be embarrassed, buddy. I don't judge another man for his romantic life."

This seemed to ease Kanji a bit as he asked. "So... it's really that obvious?"

"I wouldn't call you subtle." Yu replied, simply, "But again, there's nothing wrong with that. So you like her- what's the problem then?"

"Well..." He paused, trying to get the words out. This wasn't easy for him. "Ya see... the problem is I... I liked her before, too..."

"Ah... I see." Yu said, nodding in understanding.

"So, like... now I don't know what to do because... I don't know if I like her because I thought she was a dude, or is it that I like her because she's actually a girl... I mean, it's kinda all I can think about right now. What do you think?"

Yu contemplated this for a moment. "Well, let me ask you this: how long have you liked her?"

Kanji turned a darker shade of red and answered. "Uh... pretty much since I met her..."

"Damn, that far back... Ok, and you still like her?"

He nodded. This gave Yu all the confirmation he needed to give him a verdict.

"Then there's your answer." Yu said, smiling. "You still like her. That's all you need to know. Now you just have to figure out what you wanna do about it."