Naoto stared at the couple ahead of her from behind her manga. The suspect, one Yuu Narukami, somehow ended up with a different girl each day. Many of them, she suspected, would go on to become future suspects. She adjusted her facemask and glasses. The potential victim, one Ai Ebihara, giggled suddenly in a most uncharacteristic way. 'How foolish,' Naoto thought to herself. Could the girl not sense the danger?
"Yes, foolish indeed."
Naoto froze to the sound of Yukiko's voice behind her. How careless. Naoto was so absorbed with the pair up ahead that she hadn't sensed the girl sneak up on her.
"Rise is gonna get really upset if she sees this. Unless you're also in the running... hmm?" Yukiko removed Naoto's mask. "Huh, I didn't even notice before..." she trailed off.
"Hey, Yukiko, wait up!" Yosuke's voice called out
"Quick, this way!" Yukiko cried out, grabbing the smaller blue haired girl by the wrist. Grateful for the chance to escape, Naoto allowed herself to be lead... to a clothing shop?
"What are we doing here?"
"You'll find out," Yukiko grinned evilly at her.
***
Naoto stumbled out of a nearby make-up store an hour later, exhausted. She hated shopping. She critically appraised her skirt. "How do you expect me to apprehend suspects with this?" she asked, holding down the hem. "I can barely move in it."
"You'll see," Yukiko winked.
"Finally, we caught up with you! We've been looking for an hour!" Yosuke cried out, out of breath.
Yukiko grinned. "This is my new friend, Naota. The two of you are going to be going on a date together!"
"WHAT?!"
"Just play along," Yukiko nudged.
Naoto thought to herself. It would be useful to have a pretense to follow Yuu and see what he was up to. But then again, it might be less conspicuous to go it alone. And he didn't look too bright. She sized up her getaway options. She could dart down the side alleyway and scale the fence, but this damn skirt made it difficult. Her brow furrowed. But if I just back up just a bit, I'll have a clear run at the bottom of the fence, where I can just slide under.
She backed up a bit. "What's wrong?" Yosuke asked quizzically, watching the metaphorical steam come from the girl's head as she processed escape routes. "I-I'm just a bit nervous," Naoto said, with an artful stutter.
Yosuke stared. "Hey, wait!" Naoto backed up faster. Just a little further now! She stopped. "My regrets, Yosuke," she said triumphantly, "but I work al-"
A gust of wind swept up from the subway grate below her feet, sending her skirt flying high. "Eh?" Her face quickly became the deepest shade of red as she frantically tried to bring her skirt down against her thighs. Relentlessly, her skirt flew up again and again, despite her best efforts, exposing her white panties to passersby. Teary eyed, Naoto stepped away from the grate. Yukiko burst out laughing. "Hey now," Yousuke said reassuringly. "Do you want me to help you out? You really don't have to."