rereading these is giving me such flashbacks
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
'Oi Kazuha! Where d'ya run off this morning!' It was clearly too early to be shouting, but this was basically every morning when it came to Heiji Hattori and his 'not' girlfriend Kazuha Toyama.
'Heiji! Didn't I say I was going to school early today,' she turned to face the boy who just entered the classroom.
'So, my mum still gave me an earful,' He walked over to his seat and put his bag down.
'I don't think that has anything to do with me.'
'It does when she was shouting at me for not walking to school with you.'
'Well I can't help that can I? One of my friends said something weird was sticking out of my locker, so I came early to check it out.'
'So what?' She looked away from him, waving at one of friends in a different class as they walked by.
'Did you find the weird thing?'
'Oh yeah, it was a letter,' she quickly turned back to him, taking the letter out. 'Someone must've slipped it in after school,' the small envelope she took out of her bag seemed nice, it was that pastel orange colour Kazuha thought was cute.
'I haven't checked yet, I promised I'd open it with my friends,' Heiji seemed slightly confused at how the two things were related. 'They think it's a love letter, so they want to see too.'
'A love letter? For you?'
'And what's the problem with that?' Kazuha was definitely glaring at him now, but somehow he couldn't help it, teasing her was fun.
'Just saying there are nicer girls than you, you know one's with quieter voices.' Oh, he was so going to die.
'Well there's clearly someone who thinks otherwise!' She had somehow opened the letter in the few seconds he looked away to greet a classmate. 'See!' She was holding the letter and a movie ticket, a movie date?
'Maybe they're blind,' he shrugged before taking the letter from her. It was clear whoever had written the letter did care about her, in some way, their handwriting was very neat and they had clearly thought it through. However the obvious part was the movie ticket, a clear invitation to a date, maybe he was wrong. He wasn't going to admit it though. However, before he could say anything, he was pushed out of the way.
'Kazuha-chan! Is that a ticket for that new movie?' Kazuha's friends were crowding round her one by one.
'I heard that they're so hard to get!' Another one.
'Woah, who do you think it's from?' And another.
'Someone obviously hot!' How many friends does she have anyway?
'Well if he's going to settle for you,' he chuckled, 'you might as well marry him.'
'Heiji!' She looked like she might throw a chair at him but was saved by their teacher telling them to get to their own seats.
When it got to their morning break, Kazuha had left the classroom as fast as humanly possible, with her friends rushing out behind her. He thought that was a good thing, after all that meant she wasn't going to murder him. Yet. The one thing he had forgotten about, was the rest of his class. His friends were practically attacking him with questions.
'Does that mean you don't like Toyama?' As a sister.
'She's definitely single?' Probably.
'Do you know who it is? You're a detective right?' That's a waste of my time.
'Do you think it's one of our seniors?' A waste of my time.
'It might be, after all Toyama is pretty popular with the boys.' She is?
'Yeah I heard one of the third years was interested in her.' Really?
'Well she's pretty and has a great body, who wouldn't like her?' It would seem he underestimated her popularity.
Well he couldn't keep quiet while they discussed *his* childhood friend, 'yeah right, that's an immature reason to like someone.'
'Oh Hattori do you think she'll accept?'
'If she does, good for them,' this was really starting to annoy him.
'So you are jealous,' one of his friends chuckled, and the others seemed to agree.
'You so are, you like Toyama.' He felt like he was back in elementary school when everyone thought they liked each other. Honestly so annoying.
'I do not like her!' And as per his luck, Kazuha just happened to walk in. She glanced towards him, catching his eyes momentarily, before resuming her conversation with her friend. Ah the silent treatment, guess he made a mistake.
The rest of the day seemed to move as slowly possible, with lunch seeming like an eternity away. Except when it came, it wasn't peaceful at all, somehow everyone seems to have gotten wind of the situation. 'Second year hottie Toyama got asked out' (not his words). It would seem everyone had something to gain out of this situation but him, apparently he was now very single and lonely. (Kazuha was not his only friend, he had others), and he wasn't sad at all and definitely did not need one of the third year girls comforting him. Though he was sure that's not what she really meant.
So when the day was finally over, he was relieved that he was finally alone, but now he had to deal with Kazuha. Plus he had something to confirm with her. Obviously having avoided him, she was halfway home before he found her.
'Kazuha!' He started to jog to catch up to her, she was still ignoring her. He grabbed her arm forcing her to look at him, 'look Kazuha, I'm sorry okay?'
'It doesn't matter Heiji.'
'Okay but that's not what I wanted to say,' she shot him an annoyed look, 'isn't the day of the movie one of the days that kid and nee-chan are coming to visit?'
He let go of her arm so she could check, waiting for her to confirm she couldn't go.
'Yup, it is. Wait,' Heiji celebrated secretly to himself, now she can't go, 'that's perfect!'
'Now Ran-chan can help me,' before Heiji could ask any further she had pulled out her phone to talk to Ran about their visit. She really was excited about this date. The question was why did that bother him so much?
Since it was a Tuesday, he had until Sunday to convince her otherwise about this date. That should be easy.
Chapter 2: Saturday? Already?!
(This bit happened on Tuesday (break))
Kazuha knew practically sprinting out of the classroom wasn't her best idea, but she really didn't want to face Heiji, after all she didn't really care if no one else liked her. She just wanted him to. She could barely hear her friends calling her name until one of them had physically stopped her.
'Kazuha-chan are you okay?'
'Kazuha you shouldn't have run away,' she bent over trying to catch her breath, 'man I forgot you did Aikido.'
'Yeah, really Kazuha-chan you should have let us catch up.'
She smiled, she might be sad, but it felt better to have someone around her. She let them catch their breath, before walking with them.
'Say are you going to go, I mean don't you like Hattori-kun.'
'Yeah, you've always liked him right?'
She looked down, it was true, she had liked Heiji for a long time. However it was getting more obvious that he didn't share the same sentiment, so she was going to forget about him and date someone else. 'Well that idiot clearly doesn't like me back so I am moving on,' she declared. 'I mean whoever sent this letter might be way better than Heiji, right?'
'Kazuha-chan,' her friend put her hand on her shoulder, momentarily she regretted everything she just said, 'we're rooting for you!' She blinked in confusion before hugging her friends, okay she was going to do it, she was going to forget Heiji!
Well maybe not forget, they have been friends forever and their parents were close and she knows his house inside out. BUT! That wasn't going to stop her from moving on either. So when he heard Heiji shout as she walked in, she ignored him, after all she was meant to be forgetting him.
She nearly gave up when he grabbed her arm to apologise, he practically never apologised, but gave that up when he immediately changed his tone. However, he did bring up a good point that Ran and Conan were visiting that weekend.
She really needed to talk to Ran, she really needed her help now.
Heiji's unsure how it was already a Saturday, he had no time at all to convince Kazuha otherwise about that date of hers. After all he barely saw her all week, at breaks she was surrounded by her friends, at lunch she left the classroom before he could stop her and she did something after school to avoid walking home with him. So here he was standing near the entrance of the train station, waiting for both Kazuha, Kudo and nee-chan to arrive.
'Oh the both of you are here,' he sighed before turning to look around the station quickly. 'What is that girl even doing, the both of you are already here.'
'Kazuha-chan didn't come with you Hattori-kun?'
'We, uh, had a disagreement of sorts,' he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, 'I think she's avoiding me.'
'Heiji nii-chan did you say something mean to Kazuha nee-chan?' He could hear the teasing tone of the brat's voice.
'That's not it!' However, he couldn't finish defending himself because Kazuha had practically materialised out of nowhere next to him.
'Sorry, I'm late I was trying to pick out an outfit,' she smiled at Conan and Ran, but even to them it was obvious she was avoiding looking at Heiji. 'Ran-chan, come on lets go!'
'Ran nee-chan, where are you going?' Conan hadn't heard anything about being left with Heiji, not that it bothered him. He was just curious.
'Oh Conan-kun, we're just going shopping, I thought it might bore you, plus if we took you, Hattori-kun would have to come too. I didn't think either of you wanted to spend all day shopping with us. That's all,' she smiled kindly at him and he had to agree, he didn't want to spend all day shopping.
'Then we're off, Heiji we're having dinner at your place tonight. Don't forget 'kay?' Kazuha gave them a small smile and with that the both of them walked away.
'You want to follow them, right Hattori?'
'You think they're hiding something too?'
'Ran doesn't usually give such long excuses unless she really wants someone to leave her alone. I'm guessing it's for Toyama's sake though.'
'You said you fought, right?'
'I told you it wasn't a fight, just a small disagreement.'
'Uhuh. I heard them talking on Tuesday, I mostly heard them talking about shops to visit, but I did hear the words 'going on a date',' Heiji slightly flinching gave it away that Conan had heard those words correctly. 'If it was Ran who had the date, Sonoko wouldn't have let me hear the end of it and I'm pretty sure she would have told me. So that means it's Toyama who has a date, at first I thought it might have been with you, but that couldn't be possible.' He saw Heiji slightly glare at him, 'firstly, you knew we were coming, as stupid as you may be you wouldn't schedule a date then and I heard Ran ask Kazuha why she wasn't talking to you, so I guessed you were fighting again and she had a date with someone else.'
'Kudo, you're completely correct,' the detective looked slightly defeated, 'she got some letter from someone at school and I've never seen her so excited for something before. But the problem is I don't know why it's bothering me so much.'
'That's because you're immature,' he moved out-of-the-way before Heiji could attack him, he continued 'but you want to follow them right? Ran probably wanted to spend time with Toyama alone to cheer her up though.'
'She sounded kind of upset over the phone, plus Sonoko and Ran always go shopping to cheer either one of them up.' He watched Heiji furrow his brows in confusion, 'but I think they're most likely shopping for her date tomorrow, she was kinda dressed up today.'
'You noticed that, she doesn't usually dress like that,' it looked like he was thinking really hard, but failing to understand.
'You know we're going to lose them if we continue to stand here.'
'Kazuha-chan you look really pretty today!' She beamed at her friend.
'Really? I tried putting on make-up today, I haven't really dressed up like this, not since my birthday anyway.'
'Kazuha-chan did you really mean what you said about giving up on Hattori-kun?'
Kazuha was slightly taken aback by her straightforward question, but she had expected it. Unlike her, Ran was much stronger, despite not seeing Kudo Shinichi for months, she wasn't going to ever give up on him. 'I'm not like you Ran-chan, Heiji doesn't like me in that way. It's not like you and Kudo-kun, he clearly loves you,' she chuckled, her smile sort of sad, slightly at the girl blushing. 'Don't worry about me Ran-chan, this is my choice, I'll be okay.' The other girl nodded, not entirely convinced, but instead she smiled and let her lead them to another shop.
Kazuha-chan I'm not strong at all, I do miss him and I'm sure Hattori-kun cares for you in his own way. One day he'll realise it, so I hope you hold on a little longer.
Heiji and Conan were sitting on bench, completely exhausted.
'We've been absolutely everywhere they would've gone! How could we not have found them, Kudo where could they have disappeared too?'
'Lunch probably, I'll ask Ran if we can join them, hopefully she'll tell us. That is of course if Toyama doesn't mind.' He cast an accusatory glance at Heiji, she was technically avoiding him and him only.
Ran had picked up on the third ring 'Conan-kun?'
'Ran nee-chan, we were wondering if you lunch yet? We could have lunch together.'
'Ah Conan-kun, I'm sorry we just got lunch,' she sighed before continuing, 'don't tell Hattori-kun, but Kazuha-chan doesn't really want to see him, okay Conan-kun? Could you keep him busy for me? Please? Kazuha-chan looks happier now.'
'I'll try Ran nee-chan,' with that she cut the phone, leaving Conan to deal with boy standing next to him.
'Are you sure it was just a small disagreement?'
'Um,' the Osakan looked away.
'She told us to stay away for now, maybe you should work out how to apologise to her.'
'She said she didn't care when I did that, man, women are confusing.'
'I've got to agree with you there.'
He sighed before getting up 'come on let's at least get lunch, you can tell me about your cases this month.'
Fortunately they didn't come across any cases that day and made it back to the Hattori residence on time. Ran and Kazuha had already come back and were helping Heiji's mum with dinner.
'Heiji-kun! Come across any cases today?' Kazuha's parents were also here, hopefully they hadn't heard about their fight, he didn't particularly want her dad to press him about it. He could definitely be very scary.
'Not today, any interesting cases pop up recently?'
'Not that we need your help with and Conan-kun, we haven't seen each other since that once case right?'
'Yes, have you seen Ran nee-chan?'
'Ah Kazuha and her friend were helping out in the kitchen, but I think they went to get changed.'
'Kazuha wanted to show Shizuka-san and her mum the dress she bought for tomorrow.'
Heiji's dad interrupted, 'is tomorrow important?'
'I think she said something about a date? You wouldn't know anything about that would you Heiji-kun?' The question was polite enough, but Heiji still felt slightly threatened.
'Ah yes, she'd going on a date with someone from school tomorrow.'
'Not you?' Heiji felt his face heat up at the question, but before he could answer he could hear Kazuha and Ran's voices from down the corridor.
He only caught a glimpse of Kazuha's outfit as they passed by the door. He now knew one thing: he was very much screwed for tomorrow.
'Heiji-kun? Are you okay?' Heiji's brain had stopped being able to function properly. What was he even supposed to say? He could only hope his face wasn't as red as it felt.
'I think Heiji nii-chan is tired, we walked a lot today. I'll take him to his room.'
'Ah okay, don't push yourself too hard.'
After finally getting to his room, Heiji fell into his bed. He sighed and turned towards the boy sitting on the chair, 'Kudo what on earth is wrong with me?'
'Hattori, how many times are you going to ask that? You kinda need to figure that out for yourself.'
'Say Kudo, how long have you liked that nee-chan of yours?'
The other boy blushed, looking at something outside the window, 'how is that important? That doesn't really matter now.'
'Oh so it was practically love at first sight, huh?'
'Oi Hattori, don't you have other issues to deal with right now?'
Heiji started to say something, only for Kazuha to burst into his room, 'ah, the both of you are here. Dinner's ready, we're going to eat.'
'We'll be there Kazuha nee-chan,' he smiled at the girl as she closed the door, 'come on Hattori, we can deal with your problem tomorrow, let's eat.'
After dinner Ran had decided to stay the night at Kazuha's house, leaving Conan with Heiji. His mum made them go to sleep as soon as possible, on the count of Heiji looked drained. Which was true in some part, he looked exhausted despite not having done much that day but going to bed early didn't help whatsoever. Instead he spent most of the night tossing and turning, for some reason he didn't want tomorrow to come.
He was woken up by Conan, who had been struggling to wake him up for a while. It was about 10 in the morning, Kazuha's movie date was at 4, giving him very little time to stop her.
After they'd got changed and had some breakfast, the girls had come over to pick them up. The both of them were quite dressed up, well more so than usual.
'Ran nee-chan? Are you going somewhere special?' He looked up at her, trying and failing not to blush.
'Oh Conan-kun, not really, Kazuha-chan was embarrassed to dress up by herself so I offered to do so as well.' Ran had chosen a pink summer dress, it was off the shoulder and a mix of baggy and fitting that definitely flattered her.
Kazuha on the other hand had chosen a light orange halter neck dress, it was backless, and had a belt that gave it some shape. The dress itself fell mid-thigh, paired with a cute pair of deep green block heels. Luckily for him, Heiji had chosen that precise moment to go look for his hat. She had hair up in its usual ponytail, with a matching green ribbon. She was wearing little makeup, scared she'd overdo it, either way she looked beautiful, which was precisely what Heiji was scared of.
'What's taking Hattori-kun so long? Conan-kun could you check on him?'
'Sure Ran nee-chan.' However, he couldn't find the Osakan detective anywhere, that was until he walked into one of the back rooms. Heiji was sitting there talking or arguing with his mum, it took him a while to realise that Conan was standing in the doorway.
'Ah Kudo, I can explain. But could you tell the girls to go on without me, just make something up.'
He didn't bother questioning it, when he made it back to the girls he told them that he couldn't find Heiji nii-chan and that they should go ahead. He then had to promise Ran that they would join them for lunch at least.
Heiji on the other hand was facing some sort of crisis, he couldn't possibly face Kazuha now, when he caught a glimpse of her this morning his heart definitely did a flip, which was not good. His mum hadn't helped either, he fished out a bunch of pictures of the both of them when they were younger and it didn't help that they looked very close. Whatever feeling he was feeling, it was making him very uncomfortable, he couldn't possibly be in love with her, they were best friends. That's it, anyone would be annoyed to see their best friend be close to someone else. That's all, he didn't want to lose a good friend like Kazuha.
'You owe me one Hattori.'
'Ah thanks Kudo, what did they say?'
'They want us to at least join them for lunch, some cafe, 12:30.'
'We have an hour and a half Kudo, what d'ya want to do til then?'
'I still haven't seen the Osaka Police HQ'
He grinned at the request, 'you've come to the right person.'
After a tour that could only interest police officers and keen detectives, they had made it just in time for lunch with the girls. When they got there, Kazuha and Ran were deep in conversation, but had stopped by the time the boys had gotten to the table.
'Glad you were able to make it Hattori-kun.'
'Ah yeah, no problem.' Kazuha shot him a small glare, suggesting that, that was not the best possible reply. However, in a way it showed that things were becoming normal between them.
'Say Ran-chan, what time are you guys leaving today?'
'Our train is at 7:30, you don't have to worry about seeing us off, just enjoy your date.'
'Say Kazuha, how are you getting back home?'
'I haven't really thought about that, he'll probably walk me back, right?'
'He?' Heiji blinked at her, slightly confused, before realising who she was on about. 'Oh, you're boyfriend~' he chuckled, just a little teasingly.
'Kidding, kidding,' but he was still laughing, ignoring the slight twist in his stomach.
Heiji, Ran, and Conan hid behind a random pillar as they watched Kazuha meet up with her date. It turned out to be one of the third years, he was good-looking and probably popular. Ran slightly gasped as they linked arms and walked into the cinema.
'Don't you want to spy on them too?'
'Uh, I don't think that's a good idea Ran nee-chan,' he tried tugging on the hem of her dress gently, but she wouldn't be swayed.
'The both of you can go somewhere else if you want, but I'm staying.'
'Do you even know what movie they're watching? Or what seat they're in?'
'Well, I wouldn't be suggesting this if I didn't, they're watching the new Okino Yoko movie and their seats are in the middle. If we get seats at the back, they won't know.'
'You know that sounds like a very risky plan Ran nee-chan, I think it would be better if we didn't.'
'Yeah, we have time 'til your train, how about we do something else.'
She glanced between the both of them, realising there would be no way to convince them she sighed, 'fine, got anything in mind?'
Heiji was talking to Conan and Ran as they waited for their train, they'd sent the last couple of hours walking around many different shops. Conan had managed to stay away from buying more versions of Sherlock Holmes from a book shop they had found. Ran had bought herself a cute purse. Heiji on the other hand was slightly preoccupied, as much as he did not want to admit it, he cared about Kazuha and her date.
He couldn't tell whether it was a good or bad thing he had turned down Ran's offer to follow them, after all was it so bad to be curious about his best friend?
Just as the train was arriving, they heard a shout, 'Ran-chan!'
'Kazuha-chan? What are you doing here?'
'To see you off,' seeing her friend's slight confusion, she added, 'I'll tell you about it later, kay?'
'Oh okay,' she turned to face them both, 'thanks for having us, come visit us soon.'
'No problem, we'll see each other soon.'
'Make sure to check your phone later on, 'kay Ran-chan?'
'Sure, we'll see you guys next time.'
The teenagers watched as their friends got on the train, waving at them as they walked to their seats. They waited for a little bit before heading back.
'Say Kazuha, I thought your boyfriend was taking you home today.'
'As if, he was so annoying,' she glanced at Heiji before continuing, 'he would not shut up at all, worse all he did was talk about himself.'
Heiji chuckled earning a small glare from her, 'sorry, carry on.'
'After the movie, he wanted to take a walk somewhere, and guess what. He tried to give me a necklace with our initials on it.'
'Yeah, it was a leaf, or something, but we aren't even dating, isn't initials going a bit too far?' She watched as Heiji nodded albeit a bit confused, 'so I told him I'd think about it.'
'But you're going to say no?'
'Obviously, I don't know how though. He's just not my type.'
'Wow, so what's your type, guys who fall asleep during movies?'
She smiled at his attempt at a joke, 'of course not, ones who talk about the movie at the right points, oh wait a second Heiji.' She stopped and using him for balance took off her heels, 'that feels so much better, I don't know people walk in these all day.'
She laughed at his offer, 'as if you could carry me all the way back home, no offence Heiji but I doubt you're that strong.'
'Yeah right, get on I'll prove it to you,' he bent down slightly to let her get on his back.
'Sure, what should we bet on this.'
'Loser pays for okonomiyaki next week.'
Needless to say Heiji had lost, not because he was weak, more like Kazuha had leaned in front to say something and Heiji who had turned to ask her something was surprised at how close their faces had gotten, and dropped her.
Kazuha chuckled as she brushed her clothes lightly, 'guess you owe me lunch.'
'That doesn't count, you scared me.'
'Your excuses won't work now Heiji,' she shot him an innocent smile before continuing to walk back.
'It's not an excuse!' He jogged to catch up with her, for now their relationship had gone back to what it normally was. How long that would last was unclear, but for now, walking back together felt perfect.
Just as best friends. For now.
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