A.N.- The end. Sorry, I've been busy with finals coming up, graduation, and it took a while before I was actually satisfied with Finale.

I happy to see people liked this silly little idea to the point where it became 100 words, even if I haven't been that great with uploading it. I'll still probably do occasional fanfics in the future if I find the time.

But in all seriousness, thank you all for enjoying and waiting, I hope Fortune favors you.

-CrookedMouse

Love

"I love you," the words lit up the phone.

"I love you too," another phone buzzed.

An idol smiles happily as she rides off to her next shoot.

A detective hums and lets a smile show before she gets up from her desk to get more coffee.

The red string of Fate never once let go.

Finale

They met under some of the worse conditions if not the worst.

Many romance movies call an argument or a misunderstanding a bad first encounter. Noir movies had the "dame" strut into the detective's office with the news of a disappearance or a murder.

But they officially met when the detective strutted into the tofu store, intent on seeing the ex-idol. They did not stop and stare at each other, falling in love with each others looks before they even finished a sentence. The detective's words were brief and professional just as the ex-idol's words were tired and annoyed.

After prodding and keeping a straight face throughout Rise's blatant stubbornness, Naoto left with only her own conclusions and barely any information. The ex-idol's testimony was flimsy but the detective had not much else to go on. She tried again and again to get any sort of information out of the ex-idol, but the results were stagnant. Rise had begun to notice Naoto hounding her and tried her best to come up with a believable explanation, but soon grew tired of the short detective.

Their paths crossed more and more as time went on. Team meetings being interrupted, their classes being next to one another, the field trip…

Neither of them seemed particularly keen on getting attached. Rise viewing Naoto as just a stubborn (but interesting) young detective and Naoto viewing Rise as just one particular cog in the machine that was her case.

But eventually Rise got more involved (it wasn't a game anymore) and she wanted to tell Naoto. Too bad that in their (non-alcoholic) stupor, Yukiko blurted out the truth, leaving the ex-idol to shout out:

"Persona!"

Of course Naoto didn't believe them, they both were acting drunk when they clearly weren't and the ex-idol fell asleep on the detective's shoulder.

She didn't forget that, and Rise didn't forget how fidgety the normally-calm detective was when Naoto told her what had happened that day.

That was when Rise realized something. Naoto was the same age as her, the same grade, the same homework (excluding any detective paperwork she probably had to do).

Naoto was just a boy. Or a girl (Rise added when the shadow laughed). She wasn't "The Detective Prince" who never felt the need to be on television, who they gossiped about, who they took pictures of even if Naoto herself wasn't comfortable with it. Not exactly. She still worked hard to be a detective, she was still intelligent, still handsome, just not exactly what people expected.

Just like Risette.

So, as Rise, she befriended Naoto.

And that made Naoto realize something. Rise wasn't always "Risette". She was cheery to her friends, she was stubborn when she stood up for people, she was tired of constant smiling, of photo-shoots, of press. Not exactly. She still wanted to entertain people, she still smiled, she was still beautiful, just not exactly what people expected.

Similar, but near opposite.

So it didn't surprise Rise when she realized that she had a crush on the shorter girl. Her main concern was how to approach Kanji, who she had grown close to, about it. When she did however, he gave her some words about how it was alright and that they wouldn't become rivals over it. It eventually became a laughing fest as one of them made the comment about how Naoto alone made them realize the beauty of the other sex and how the short girl seemed completely oblivious to it.

Which she was, because she was busy with her own feelings.

It didn't strike Naoto as a crush at first, she saw it as "acknowledging Kujikawa's beauty". When it finally did hit her, she tried to tug her cap over her blush. She felt that she was too busy (with the Phantom Thief, the case, normal work, etc.) to get involved in such a manner. It wasn't until Souji asked her why she had spaced out for the third time that she admitted it, to herself and him.

As most romances go, their time of "awkwardly trying to hide from/tell my crush" was rather short. Rise got sick of Naoto's oblivious answers (when really the shorter girl was trying not to get her hopes up) and eventually came forward.

Surprising to only her (she could tell as the rest of the investigation team cheered her on), Naoto returned her feelings.

Building from near death, mystery, sorrow, their relationship continued. It was strained at times (both professions needing travel made it so) but they still held each other close.

As cliché as it is, they earned a "happily ever after".