I love Kanji and Naoto.  Always have.  Always will.  You can never deny me this.

However.

I also have a soft spot for Rise, too…

***

Rise Kujikawa has a crush on a boy.

Oh, it’s not senpai, but senpai is pretty cool.

During the school trip she develops a crush on the coolest boy she’s ever met.  A detective.  A detective who’s her age and goes to her school.  How cool is that?!  So she’s been trying to get his attention, a little, encouraging him to join them for drinks and snacks and getting a touch bit too tipsy.

She knows there’s no alcohol in the drinks, she knows what alcohol tastes like, but any excuse to drape herself across Naoto Shirogane is a good excuse, indeed.

Especially since Naoto gets so flustered.

But then… something weird happens.

Naoto gets himself tossed into the T.V.  Kanji Tatsumi is yelling about it every 8.3 seconds, calling him and idiot and wearing his heart on his sleeve.  Rise would yell, too, but what’s the point when Kanji is loud enough for both of them?  So it’s off to rescue Naoto, off to save the day, off to…

… find out that he’s a she.

Oh.

At this point Rise expects the crush to fade away.  Kanji can dive in head first – not that he hasn’t done so already.  Rise can sit back, cling to senpai’s arm, and crush on a cool boy like all good girl’s do.

But then… something weird happens –again.

It all starts at the beauty pageant.  Seeing Naoto stand on stage, hatless, and blushing, and stuttering in that adorable voice?  Rise could see the nosebleed coming from Kanji, but why in the world did her own heart go pitter patter too?  Good girls – especially celebrity ones – get crushes on cool boys.  Then, they can write songs about said boy, draw hearts around their names, and pretend to live happily ever after.

But then, that weirdness?  It comes back.

She finds herself much too disappointed when Naoto doesn’t walk out on stage for the swimsuit portion.  She can see her from the corner of her eye, clinging to the curtain and trying to disappear behind it.  She can make out a baby blue suit, smooth legs and a flat stomach, and her breasts are-

… wait, what is she thinking?!

And it only gets worse at the hot springs.

Naoto’s too scared to come out, of course.  No surprise there.  So Rise decides to be her always and forever helpful self and drag the girl out. 

Only she takes a moment to stare.

Only she takes longer than a moment to stare.

“K-Kujikawa-san?”

Ah yes, right, she’s supposed to be… what was she supposed to be…

“I refuse to go out there,” Naoto says.

Oh.  Yeah, right.  That whole thing.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!"  Rise is, if nothing else, the perfect actress.  Cheerful smile plastered on her face, she grabs onto Naoto’s arm and drags her to the doors that lead to the hot springs. God her skin feels goodand Rise doesn’t bother to tell that voice to shut up, to stop thinking about Naoto and her smooth skin and perfect breasts, to stop-

… oh look, they just bounced a little.

So now Rise has decided to find any excuse to be close to Naoto, especially if that closeness means accidentally intentional touches.  A finger running down her back, hands diving into the water to brush against a leg, a stomach, a- "Don’t touch me there!”

Tee hee.  It’s so easy to make Naoto squeak and blush and…

… yeah, about that weird stuff happening?  Not so weird anymore. 

That is, until, Kanji gets involved.

There’s no denying the boy’s crush.  You’d have to be living under a rock to not notice, or be Naoto Shirogane, ace detective and certified blockhead when it comes to the feelings of the heart.  Rise feels a bit guilty for trying to steal Kanji’s girl – though, technically, it’s not stealing if they aren’t together yet, right?  It’s all terribly confusing.  Perhaps they can come to some sort of gentleman’s agreement?

“W-what the hell, Rise?!”

… or not.

“I… I can’t explain it, o.k.?!”

“I thought you liked senpai!”

“I… well… n-not like that, o.k.?!  I tried to but… Naoto is just…”

“Cool.”

“Totally.”

“And smart.”

“Definitely.”

“And attractive.”

“And has great skin.”

“… wait, when did you-”

“Nevermind that!  What are we going to do?”

“Wait, what do you mean we?”

“I mean… we both like her.”

“Yeah but I liked her first!”

“That’s soooooo mature, Kanji!”

“Hey shut up!”

“Maybe we can flip a coin?”

“Really?  Did you really just-”

“I don’t know, o.k.?!”

This causes quite the rift in the team, both Kanji and Rise taking part in some deadly staring contests when they’re all meeting at Junes.  They both race to try and sit next to Naoto, both offer to treat her to lunch, both smile when she does anything – especially when she sneezes, it’s incredibly adorable.

The rest of the team gets what’s going on.  Somehow, Naoto doesn’t.  Maybe she’s just too focused on the case.  Or maybe she really is dense.  Maybe they should make a sign, Kanji could decorate it in glitter and rainbows and everything. 

“Something has got to give,” Rise says one day, “It’s crazy to keep this up.”

“Yeah… maybe we should tell her and have her pick.”

“Yeah but… you’re going to be really upset when she doesn’t pick you and I don’t want that.  I like you, Kanji.”

“H-hey!  How do you know she isn’t going to pick me?!"  Then he blinks, "Wait… you like me?”

“I… well I mean, you’re fun to hang out with, at least.”

“Yeah… you are, too.  I gotta admit, though, you’re kinda sneaky.  I saw how you paid for her lunch yesterday without any of us noticing.”

“I’m sneaky?  What about how you just so happened to have a sewing kit with you to fix the hole in her coat?”

At this, they both laugh, and decide to call it a draw.  Shaking hands, they both go to face the object of their affections.

“I knew all along,” she says, “I just… was not sure how to approach both of you.  Both of you have very good qualities… except you, Rise-chan, you keep groping me.”

“H-how many times have you-”

“It’s not important, Kanji,” Rise says, bright smile on her face, “Let’s stick with the subject at hand.  You think you can handle both of us?”

“I… suppose there is no harm in trying…”

“Really?”

“Cool!"  Then Rise smirks, "Though… just to clear things up, who would you have picked if you could only have one?”

“Rise-chan, does that really matter?"  Naoto asks.

"She’s right,” Kanji says, “Besides, it totally would’ve been me.”

“Nu uh!  It would’ve been me!”

“Get bent, it would’ve been me!”

“Me!”

“Me!”

Naoto watches them and lets out a long sigh.  Perhaps senpai still has that offer open that she had turned down last week…