A/N: I will not apologize for the level of cheesiness in this story.

Kyouko Kirigiri is sitting at a table analyzing some particularly interesting information she has discovered in a book. It's very quiet, the perfect environment for her to explore her thought processes to the limit of her abilities. Aside from being logical, a detective needs a good imagination, so they can accept any and all possibilities, no matter how absurd. The opportunity to simply sit and focus on how her own mind works is an important thing. An exercise just as necessary to her own occupation as weight lifting is to a body builder.

The silence is nice, but she's not exactly disappointed when it is broken.

The door opens with a creek as Makoto Naegi walks in. Kirigiri doesn't need to look up to know it's him. She recognizes the sound of his footsteps. He walks up to where she's sitting to greet her.

"Hello, Kirigiri."

She looks up at him to see he's smiling at her with one hand raised in greeting. Forgetting her previous activity, his smile reminds her that there was something she'd been meaning to say to him. She supposes now is as good a time as any. In fact, his greeting is a perfect opening for what she wants to say.

With the barest hint of a smile, she says "Naegi, I think we're familiar enough with each other at this point to drop the formalities. You can just call me Kyouko."

For a moment, he stares at her totally confused, as if it had never occurred to him that there would ever come a time when he was permitted to address her by first name. Then a wide grin breaks out across his face. It's of those huge Naegi grins that portrays the full spectrum of his feelings with unparalleled sincerity.

"Okay, Kyouko, then you can just call me Makoto." He then sits across from her, continuing to smile with apparent glee.

Kirigiri smiles slightly as well, his emotions had always proven rather contagious. She let's out a small sigh, suddenly feeling much more at ease than when he'd walked in. She moves to brush her hair behind her ear, and pauses when she notices his expression has changed. He's now looking at her the same way she looks at a newly discovered clue.

"What?" she asks, suddenly feeling cautious.

"I've seen you do that before. After we asked Monobear to let us retry Mukuro Ikusaba's class trial. You said you hadn't been that nervous in a while, then you sighed, and all the tension fell out of your shoulders." Now he's looking her directly in the eyes with an expression of pleased realization. "You were really nervous about saying that to me just now, weren't you, Kyouko?"

Wow, his observational skills have become a little too good. Maybe she shouldn't have been giving him so much advice.

Kirigiri refuses to acknowledge the ridiculous way her heart fluttered when he said her name. She also chooses to ignore the heat rising to her cheeks, and instead focuses on how best to respond. She finally settles on saying, "Since when have you become so perceptive?" as she nervously brushes her hair behind her ear for the second time in as many minutes.

He laughs, and smiles at her again. "Well, it's kind of a secret, but I've been getting a lot of help from this friend of mine lately. She's an extremely smart and talented detective, you see."

She finds it impossible to keep from smiling herself. "Is that so? You'll have to introduce me sometime, Makoto. It sounds like we have similar interests."

"Oh, yes. You'd definitely like her." He nods with a serious look on his face, but it's barely a moment before he starts laughing at his own joke.

He's so unbelievably cute and corny, and utterly sincere in his happiness. But, that's what makes him who he is, and she supposes it's one of the things she likes most about him. After all, no matter how modest he may be, his optimism isn't his only redeeming quality.