[RL Open to close friends of Naoto | School Rooftop]

[truthinfortune]

Naoto decided to hide out on the school rooftop after that last prank Kaito pulled. She was wearing the boy's gym uniform--powder blue sweatpants and zippered jacket--while her clothes were being laundered. In her hands she held her cabbie hat, still wet, but no longer dyed festive colors. She wouldn't allow anyone to touch that hat, which belonged

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[grey_grief]

[And Haibara is her little shadow when not around Hakuba.

Just sits nearby, there if Naoto needs her at all.]

[truthinfortune]

[And Naoto continues to sit there and mutter to herself while gazing down at the hat held between her hands.]

Why? Why can't I catch him? Am I really not good enough? Am I really no good as Head of the Disciplinary Committee?

Maybe... I should just go ahead and quit now...

[grey_grief]

[And here's where Haibara pops you over the side of the head] Since when did you talk like that, huh? He's just some stupid magician. You're the Detective Prince!

[She leans back and looks up at the sky] You could always consider him the Moriarty to your Holmes? Just without the falls?

[truthinfortune]

Oh, Ai-kun... [Naoto smiles wanly at her Junior Deputy and wipes the tears from her cheeks with one sleeve.] Were you here this whole time?

[She stares down at her knees, frowning.] It's not just Kuroba, you know? No matter what I do, I can't change anything. No matter how many times I send those delinquents to detention, they never learn anything, and they just go right back to doing what they've done before...

So, what's the point of it all?

[grey_grief]

Someone has to look in on you. [What, you didn't know?]

It's not like they're breaking any laws, Naoto-nii. A lot of people see the difference in "school rules" and "actual laws" and while they'll break the first willy nilly they'll respect the second.

No one's getting permanently injured, right?