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Prompt 5: Naoto VS Akechi
🕑 Added 2018-06-13 06:49:30 +0000 UTC Summary: During a relaxing date, Naoto Shirogane and Yu Narukami deal with a very (in)famous pest...---
Naoto Shirogane took a long, deep whiff of the coffee in her hands. It smelled wonderful, warming her nostrils during the cold, winter afternoon. Yu sat across from her, enjoying his own cup of coffee from the local cafe.
The young detective had been hesitant about letting her boyfriend join her for her latest case, but Yu was insistent he accompany her. The city was his hometown, after all, and he knew the area better than even Naoto herself. In the end, she allowed it, and with his help the two solved the appointed case in a matter of days.
A group of museum robbers had been plaguing the country for months, and Naoto was hired to assist in the investigation. With her help, law enforcement was able to predict the criminals’ next move. Then it was simple matter of setting up a trap for them. There were a few bumps along the way, but regardless, the story ended the crooks behind bars and Naoto and Yu able to rest at a local cafe known as Cafe Leblanc.
“This place is lovely. Such a wonderful atmosphere, and the coffee is splendid,” Naoto commented, sipping her drink. “This was an excellent suggestions, Senpai.”
“It was my pleasure,” Yu replied. “Do you know what you want to eat? I heard that the curry is excellent.”
“Hm, perhaps I will have some then, but what type…?” Naoto wondered.
“I’m getting the spicy chicken. Maybe you should try the seafood?”
“Perhaps.” She glanced up from the menu, raising her brow at her boyfriend. “Are you sure about your choice, Senpai?”
“I’m in the mood for something really hot. I want my tongue on fire,” he confessed, grinning at her.
Naoto wasn’t sure what to make of the desire, but she did nothing to dissuade her boyfriend. She just hoped he knew what he was doing. “Just be careful. I’d hate to see a repeat of what happened to poor Yukiko-senpai after she tried Rise’s cooking last Christmas,” she reminded. Yu chuckled at the memory, and Naoto soon joined him.
“Poor Yukiko didn’t know what hit her. I thought for sure she was going to be left with a hole on her tongue.” Yu mixed his coffee with a small spoon, smiling at Naoto. “She couldn’t taste anything on her tongue for two days after she had a bite of that stuff.”
“That’s what happens when Rise invests in purchasing foreign ingredients. The name ‘Carolina Reaper,’ doesn’t exactly sound like a sweet ingredient.”
“Still not as bad as when Yukiko tried using parts of defeated Shadows in her cooking. I don’t know what she was thinking with that move,” Yu recalled.
“I believe she said, and I quote, ‘it would add character.’”
“It certainly added something,” the older man muttered with an amused scoff.
The owner of the small cafe walked towards the two, holding a notepad in his hand as he greeted the two. They smiled at him as he asked, “You two ready to order yet?” He had a nametag on his apron with the word ‘Sojiro’ on it.
“I believe so. Senpai?”
“I’ll have your spiciest chicken curry, please.”
“And I will have a seafood curry. No spice, please.”
“Alright. You want a second serving of your coffees?” The man glanced at the two’s cups, and Yu nodded his head.
“Please. Cream and sugar for me, black for my girlfriend.”
“You got it.”
The older man walked away from the couple, and when Yu’s eyes returned to his navy-haired lover, he saw the slight blush on her cheeks. He smiled at the sight, teasing her as she avoided his eyes.
“Something wrong, Naoto-chan?”
“W-what? N-no!” The red on her face stood out in stark contrast against her fair skin. Yu savored the sight of her, before smiling even wider as she glared at him. “You know I hate it when you call me that.”
“I know. You just look so cute when you’re upset.” She grunted, crossing her arms as she glared into her coffee. Yu reached over and placed his hand on hers, a curious smile on his lips. “What’s on your mind?”
“It’s just... You called me your girlfriend.”
Nother amused grin formed on his face. “We’ve been dating for years, you know.”
“I-I know, I just… never get used to it.”
“Maybe I need to say it a few more times for it to sink in, honey.” She glared at him again, and he smirked in response. Oh, how he loved to see those cheeks turn red.
“Senpai.”
“Yes, Sweetie?”
“Senpai…!”
“Everything okay, Honeybutt?”
Naoto groaned, rolling her eyes. It was at this moment that she wished she had her childhood hat with her. She would often use it to hide her shame. Without it, though, all she had was her hair to hide behind. She did her best with what she had as she tried to counterattack her boyfriend.
“You are impossible.”
“And I love you too.”
Yet again, he had won, and she was left a blushing mess.
---
Goro Akechi walked into Le Blanc with a smile plastered on his face. The small establishment wasn’t the most illustrious spot to dine at, but perhaps that was why Akechi found himself returning to the establishment. It was quaint, if nothing else, and free from the vultures that made up the paparazzi.
“Greetings,” Akechi smiled at the owner of the cafe. Sojiro Sakura. A target of minimal interest in the grand design, but a decent cook. The man was friends with Wakaba Ishiki,a previous target of Akechi’s. The old man had no idea he was serving his friend’s killer.
How ironic.
Sojiro nodded his head at Akechi, before the young man made his order.“I“I’ll have my usual, please.” The old man nodded his head again as Akechi approached his usual seat.
He didn’t sit down, though. He had often memorized many of the patrons of the small cafe. Just in case Shido after sent him after one of them. The store had all the same sheep as usual, but today he saw a wolf in the midst. There was a young woman sitting in the corner of the room, talking with a silver-haired man.
The woman was Naoto Shirogane, the famed Detective Prince. He had heard her legend countless time. How could he not? He was so often compared to her. He was often called his generation’s Detective Prince.
Whether anyone meant it or not, Akechi had garnered a small jealousy of the novice. Naoto was seen so highly by others. So highly, that he was often ignored in favor of her. He had lost count of how many times he’d been told he was ‘almost’ as good as her...
Akechi’s brow wrinkled for a moment, before he tightened the smile on face.
Perhaps it’s time I meet my progenitor face to face.
---
Naoto chuckled at one of Yu’s jokes when a man approached the couple. He cleared his throat, catching their attention. They both looked at the stranger. He was a young man, still in highschool, Naoto deduced, with hazel-colored hair.
“Naoto Shirogane. It’s an honor to finally meet you.”
“Ah. Hello.” Naoto stared at the stranger, before glancing down at their offered hand. The young woman wasn’t sure who this man was, and she was mildly annoyed at having her date with Senpai interrupted, but she did her best to be polite.
She took the man’s hand in her own and shook it. “It’s not every day you meet your predecessor,” he said.
Naoto arched her brow, clearly confused by the statement. “I’m sorry, what do you mean, predecessor?”
The young man chuckled, smiling at her. “Well, predecessor means ‘someone who held a job or office before the current-’”
“I know what it means,” Naoto huffed, her eyes sharpening into a glare. “I just don’t understand how I am yours.” Whoever this young man was, Naoto was already losing patience with them.
“You… don’t recognize me?” The brunette’s eyes widened for a moment, and he stared at Naoto as if she was crazy. The hazel-haired stranger turned his head to Yu, who had the same confused look in his eyes. Naoto caught a twitch in his eye as he explained. “My name is Goro Akechi. I’m a young detective, just like you were.”
Were? Yu thought, his brow wrinkling for a moment..
“Due to both of us being child detectives, I’ve been called the second Detective Prince by the media.”
“Well, the media says a lot of things.” Both Naoto and Akechi turned their heads to Yu, who glanced back at the two. “Sorry. Just thinking aloud.” He didn’t mean to, but his lips just moved on their own. That said, he didn’t really feel too bad about the comment. There was something about this Goro kid that felt offputting to the silver-haired man.
“I apologize.” Akechi held his hand out to Yu, and smiled at the silverette. “Goro Akechi. And you are?”
“Yu Narukami. Naoto’s boyfriend.” Yu didn’t take his hand, watching it fall back to Akechi’s side.
“Ah, I see. I must admit, I haven’t heard of you before,” Akechi confessed. “Are you also a detective?”
“Just a junior detective, I’m afraid,” Yu explained, shrugging at the question. Naoto smiled at the memory, but Akechi was ignorant of the inside joke.
“Junior? That’s… nice.” Akechi’s smile looked almost amused, before returning to the more neutral, unassuming curve it was before. He quickly turned his attention back to Naoto. “Shirogane,I have been a fan of your work since I was a child. Even now, I’ve been following your illustrious career. Your arrest against those museum thieves last week was very impressive”
“Well, thank you,” Naoto nodded her head. She was hesitant to accept the compliment, still uncomfortable around the stranger. Shared occupation or not, Naoto, much like Yu, felt something off about the stranger.
“A shame they escaped your grasp in the first place. You were able to predict their next target, even led the stakeout, only for them to slip through your grasp,” Akechi sighed. “I am sorry to hear that, Miss Shirogane, but still. Considering your age, you did wonderfully.”
That brought another frown to Yu’s face. Akechi made an enemy when he even so much as implied his girlfriend wasn’t fit to be a detective. “The only reason she couldn’t catch them at the museum was because they had a hostage. They would have killed a security guard if she tried anything.”
“A detective’s first duty is punishing the guilty. I understand that Shirogane had to be careful for their sake, but the thieves never should have had a hostage in the first place. I’m not blaming her, but considering she was in charge of the investigation…”
Yu’s jaw clenched and his teeth ground against each other. He opened his mouth to speak, only for Naoto to finally speak up.
Naoto wasn’t deaf, nor was she ignorant. Her patience for Akechi was officially depleted.
“Goro Akechi.” Naoto repeated. Her tone was cold, to the point where Yu was shocked at his lover’s tone. He stared at her with wide eyes as she began to speak. “Apologies. I know of you, but it took me some time to remember from where.”
“That’s quite alright. I understand that you might not be in your prime any longer.” Yu’s eyes widened, and he almost stood up to snap at the child, only for Naoto’s hand to fall on his. She glanced at him, her navy eyes silently asking him to stay where he was.
Naoto glared at Akechi, her eyes narrowing as she interconnected her hands together. Despite her calm posture, there was a noticeable edge to her voice. “I must admit, at first glance, your reputation is impressive, Akechi-kun.”
“Thank you-”
“But if I am to be completely honest, I do question some of your cases.”
“I’m… sorry?” Akechi clearly looked shocked, utterly floored by the small comment. Naoto didn’t miss a beat, and Yu’s eyes widened in amazement as he watched his girlfriend fight back against Akechi.
“Don’t be. I’d just like it if you could explain your thought process. Take the bus crash last week.”
“What about it? It seems like a rather open and shut case, in my opinion. The driver even admitted to killing those people.”
“He admitted to losing control of the vehicle. From what he said during the trial, it sounded more like he had a panic attack while driving the bus. He has no recollection of the event. Something I’ve heard in many of the cases you were involved with. People seemingly losing control and ending up in violent, paranoid, or catatonic states. It all just seems very odd.”
Akechi’s nostril flared, and he glared at Naoto as Yu watched the two go to war. “Odd or not… What of his journal? His apartment was searched, and I found it myself. It was full of ravings about the politician and his family. Notes about where they’d be, what they looked like. The man had clearly been planning this attack for months.”
“And that’s the problem. The journal was the most damning evidence. It was also the sole piece of evidence against him. It just seemed too convenient. Are you sure the handwriting in the journal matched the driver’s?”
“Of course, I am.” Akechi met Naoto’s glare with one of his own. Yu could clearly see the young man felt personally attacked by the critique. “You were not there, Miss Shirogane.”
“You’ve called me that before… Need I remind you that you should be referring to me as Detective Shirogane? Perhaps Shirogane-san.” She crossed her arms, leaning back in her seat. “Perhaps I wasn’t there, but perhaps I should have. This is not the first case you’ve been involved in that I’ve questioned.”
“Excuse me?” Yu noticed Akechi’s hand twitching, as if he was about to make a fist, but gave up halfway. The brunette took a deep breath, and plastered a smile onto his face. Yu could see how fake the smile came off, and if he could see it, he knew Naoto could too. “What do you mean?”
“Just that too many of your cases are closed with one piece of evidence damning the accused party. Almost as if the evidence was planted by a third party to seal the deal, as it were. It just comes off as too easy.”
“Easy?!” Akechi gaped at the comment, but Naoto showed no guilt in her eyes.
“You should learn better composure, Akechi-kun. Your behavior is hardly becoming of a detective.”
“You are one to talk,” he replied back with a sharp glare. “You are the one who hid your gender from the world due to your own securities. Hardly seems becoming of a famed detective.”
Yu ground his teeth together. He felt the same urge to stand up and fight as before, but Naoto motioned for him to calm down. She stood up, and she stared down the young man. The two glared at each other, the difference in height doing nothing to dissuade the atmosphere.
“You’re right. I have made mistakes, but at least I’m not acting like some celebrity in the limelight. I recall that you have made a point of being interviewed after every case you solved. It’s unbecoming of a detective to be so desperate for approval.”
“Desperate?!”
The two’s conversation, argument would probably be a more fitting word for it, soon caught the attention of everyone in the small cafe. Yu glanced at the audience that was forming, before his eyes bounced back and forth between Naoto and Akechi.
“Do not act like you know me. I have been through far worse suffering than you could ever imagine.”
“Your point? Suffering does not take responsibility away from you. Perhaps you should be talking to a therapist, instead of painting yourself as some kind of genius detective on television.” Naoto’s hands had tightened into fists at this point.
Before this conversation, she had only seen Akechi as some upstart youth. Cocky, but ultimately forgettable. She hadn’t even recognized him at first. Needless to say, she would recognize him in the future as an annoying child.
“Perhaps you should be at home creating a successor to your name, instead of embarrassing yourself in the modern world. Your grandfather has certainly understood that, considering his recent retirement.”
Naoto’s jaw clenched at the comment. At this point Akechi was targeting what he knew would bother the young woman. While the first Detective Prince tried her best to keep her life private, everyone in the world knew about her grandfather’s recent retirement.
Yu thought about speaking up again, only for Naoto to sigh and close her eyes for a moment. She opened them again and stared at Akechi, the sharpness in her eyes gone.
“Please refrain from making this discussion personal, Akechi-kun. You embarrass not only yourself, but myself as well.” Naoto glanced around the cafe, and the young boy did the same.
The owner of the cafe, as well as several other patrons, were staring at Akechi as if he was a bratty child talking back to his parents. Throwing a tantrum instead of handling himself like the humble, and mature detective he touted himself as. He turned his stare back at Naoto, a scowl on his face. He tried to curve his lips, but the attempted smile was more offputting than anything else.
“Was this a trap you had planned for me, Shirogane?”
“No, merely one you made for yourself. You should try to be more accepting of criticism, justified or not. A thicker skin would do you some good in this world.” Her eyes fell to his hands. They were shaking. “You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago. A fellow officer.”
Akechi raised his brow in confusion, before Naoto continued. “He was a man who failed to accept the truth when challenged by it, and for that, he suffered greatly. I genuinely hope you realize what he didn’t.”
Naoto looked at her boyfriend, and he silently nodded his head. He took out some money from his pocket and placed it onto the table for the cafe’s owner, before he stood up and took Naoto’s hand in his.
“Sojiro-san, we’ll be taking our curry-” Yu stopped, glancing at Akechi. “We’ll be taking the seafood curry to go. Akechi-kun, as a peace offering, why don’t you have my lunch? I think Naoto and I will be eating at our hotel.” He kissed his girlfriend’s hand, making her blush as Akechi finally dropped the frown.
Neither Yu, Naoto, or Akechi truly accepted the idea of burying the hatchet, but rather Yu was offering Akechi a way to salvage his credibility. After personally insulting one of Japan’s most well-respected detectives, he would need it.
“Of course. Thank you, Junior Detective.” For Akechi’s sake, Yu pretended to chuckle at that.
Yu and Naoto walked out of the cafe, food in hand. As soon as the door closed behind them, Yu held up his hand, motioning Naoto to wait.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yes. Just embarrassed… and annoyed,” she admitted.
“Not as embarrassed as he was, I’m sure.”
“Was I ever that smug?”
“No, no… Well, you were cuter when you did it,” teased Yu.
Naoto rolled her eyes at the comment, deciding to take it in stride. “Very funny. Shall we?”
“Hold on. Don’t want to miss this.”
“Miss what?”
“Remember what I ordered?”
Realization hit Naoto like a truck, and her eyes bounced between her smiling boyfriend and Akechi, sitting inside Leblanc. The two watched the detective take a bite of Yu’s curry through the window. In a single instance, Akechi’s eyes widen and he began to fidget in his seat, gasping for air due to the curry’s spice.
He grabbed Naoto’s mug of coffee and poured it into his mouth, only to drop the mug and begin to cough loudly. Even through the glass, the two could hear him coughing out the word, “Bitter!” He stood up, staring at the other patrons’ confused faces.
Naoto heard her boyfriend snicker as Akechi began to slowly, and forcibly waddle towards the bathroom. He looked like he was shaking.
“Just because you handle a situation maturely doesn’t mean I have to.” Yu kissed his girlfriend’s cheek, before taking her hand. “Shall we, my love?”
“You are incorrigible,” Naoto muttered, before smiling at her silver-haired lover. “Lead the way.”
