Kazunobu Chiba and Naeko Miike

The romantic relationship between Kazunobu Chiba and Naeko Miike.

Relationship analysis

Chiba being reminded of the younger Miike.

Kazunobu Chiba and Naeko Miike were childhood friends and attended Teitan Elementary together (until around 13 years ago); they were both in the school broadcasting committee (Chiba joined because he had a strong interest in Tokusatsu, and Naeko only joined because Chiba did). After Naeko told Chiba "don't make me say the reason why I joined the committee!", Chiba wrote down his feelings to her in a love letter. Naeko wrote back, but that letter did not contain the answer to the pressing question; instead, the answer was written down the side of a VHS in the committee storage room. Naeko's hope was that Chiba could find the VHS and that his sweating habit would cause the message "I like you, too" to show up on his hands after grabbing the tape. Unfortunately, Chiba could not find the right tape, and he could not ask Naeko because she moved away and transferred to another school right after their exchange. This would remain true for another 13 years.

In the present, after receiving a call from Naeko asking him whether he has found the VHS (the answer is clearly no), Chiba decides to return to Teitan Elementary to search for the tape again, as his feelings towards Naeko remain unchanged. With the help of Conan and the Detective Boys, he finally finds the message; he thus decides to head to the class reunion held that night, hoping that Naeko will show up. She does not, however, and Chiba learns from a former classmate that Naeko is "now with the one she loves". Chiba, believing that this means that Naeko is getting married with someone else, becomes dispirited. What he does not know is that "the one she loves" refers to him, and that "with" refers to the fact that Naeko has just been transferred to work in the police headquarters in Tokyo and looks forward to working with him.

They meet in several other cases after; Chiba does not manage to recognize her until the fourth: in that case, Naeko is injured, forcing Chiba to carry her to the hospital. On the way, Chiba comes across a red light with no one around. Worried about Naeko's injury, Chiba tries to cross, but Naeko orders him to stop and wait by using the same words that Chiba used 13 years ago when she tried to cross a road with no one around, but the light was red. After recognizing each other, their relationship develops quickly, and currently they are living together.

Chiba and Miike moments

Volume 71: Files 741-742 / Episode 624: A Video Letter of First Love

The first time Naeko Miike introduces herself.

• See above for Chiba and Naeko's recollections of what happened between them 13 years ago.
• After leaving the class reunion dispirited, Chiba finds a lady traffic cop giving him a ticket; it turns out that he is parking illegally. When the officer offers to go easy on him, Chiba scolds her, telling her that she should enforce the law. The officer turns out to be Naeko, who has just been transferred to the police headquarters in Tokyo (working alongside Yumi) and looks forward to working with Chiba.
• Naeko, seeing that Chiba is still so strict with traffic rules, thinks to herself that he has not changed.
• Chiba really believes that Naeko is married, and thus tells the Detective Boys that he has been dumped. Naeko overhears this accidentally, and thus believes that she has a chance.

Volume 75: Files 790-792 / Episode 659-660: The Joint Investigation with First Love

• Naeko makes her second appearence alongside Yumi during a case involving threats that were placed in cars. One of the victims happens to be Chiba himself, so the Detective Boys try to convince them to investigate the case together, without interference from others.
• Naeko, before being encouraged by the Detective Boys, was hiding behind Yumi and not daring to go face-to-face with Chiba.
• However, Chiba remains oblivious to the fact that she is his childhood first love.
• When Yumi learns about the special relationship between Chiba and Naeko, she tries to separate the two as much as possible, as their successful pairing would mean that she would become the only single person among her best friends in the police headquarters.
• Chiba comes close to finding out who Naeko is when a gust of wind blows her hat off, but his attention quickly shifts to something else. Naeko feels like he does not remember her at all and calls him a dummy.
• At the end of the case, Chiba finally recalls having seen Naeko before. Unfortunately, he is thinking about the time when she gave him a parking ticket. This is not to say that Chiba's memory only went this deep into the past; he did consider the possibility that the officer in front of him is Naeko. But he considers it to be so unlikely that he does not even confirm with her, thus squandering the chance.

Volume 80: Files 847-849 / Episode 731-732: The Ex-Boyfriend Living Next to a Crime Scene

• Naeko's childhood best friend, Sakurako Yonehara, finds a corpse in the house where she works as a housemaid. She calls Naeko, who is on patrol with Yumi at that time; they head to the house while waiting for division 1 officers to come.
• Chiba, among others, is summoned to the crime scene, and, while investigating the the case, Chiba manages to recognize Sakurako but still not Naeko, to her disappointment.
• To be fair to Chiba, he even mentions Naeko to Sakurako, but before she has a chance to give him any information, Chiba is ordered to investigate something.

Volume 89: Files 942-944 / Episode 847-848: Chiba's Difficult UFO Case

• Naeko sends Chiba a package containing reports about the consequences of obesity, and this is followed up by a tape with steps to follow an 8-hour diet. Although Chiba is unaware of the person sending that package, he finds the package extremely helpful, and he loses a lot of weight in a short period of time (and changes so much that even Kogoro cannot recognize him).
• Naeko's motivation is that she heard a few fellow female officers laugh at Chiba's build.
• After Chiba becomes a lot skinnier, her colleagues change their attitude completely, and start showing interest in Chiba. Realizing that her efforts are being counterproductive, Naeko sends Chiba a huge package full of chocolate to make him gain weight again. This plan works out fine, and Naeko feels relieved when her colleagues' opinion about Chiba reverts back to the original one.

Volume 95: Files 1013-1014 & Volume 96: Files 1015-1017 / Episode 971-974: The Target is the Metropolitan Police Traffic Department

• After learning that Chiba is looking for a suitable partner for his next stakeout, Yumi suggests Naeko. The latter still does not recognize Naeko and tells her, to her embarrassment (as they are of the same age), that it would look like an inspector with a middle school girl.
• After getting kidnapped by the culprit, Naeko tries to contact Chiba so he could come to her rescue. Unfortunately, her suspicious actions are noticed by the culprit, and he takes her phone away.
• Chiba manages to rescue Naeko and arrest the culprit. However, Naeko is injured in her right leg while protecting Chiba from a bowgun arrow (which is a trap that the culprit set up for the officer coming to rescue her), forcing Chiba to carry her to the hospital on his back.
• While on their way to the hospital, Chiba comes across a red light with no one around. Worried about Naeko's injury, Chiba tries to cross, but Naeko orders him to stop and wait by using the same words that Chiba used 13 years ago.
• Chiba finally manages to recognize Naeko after hearing those words. Naeko responds simply by giving him a hug and telling him that it took him way too long. The two then continue towards the hospital, both blushing.

Volume 98: Files 1043-1046 / Episode 1033-1035: Taiko Meijin's Shogi Board

• When Yumi teases Chiba and Naeko of them being buddy buddy, Chiba says that he and Naeko just had a big fight over some trifle differences. Naeko contends, annoyed, that Chiba should not have laughed and made fun of her when she put cream stew on top of rice. Chiba says that nobody does that to rice, to which Naeko responds that there is no difference when it is in Chiba's stomach. Yumi watches on, and is annoyed by their love dovey act.

Movie 25: The Bride of Halloween

• After Chiba is kidnapped and rescued from the Russian mercenaries, Naeko is visibly upset and relieved while blushing. She quickly runs up to him and hugs him while crying relieved that he is unharmed, Chiba embarrassed by this display, blushes and quickly exits the room with Naeko.

Trivia

• The Chiba-Naeko couple is one of the many couples that met in childhood, but different from the "main" childhood couples such as Shinichi-Ran, they were separated for 13 years before meeting again and formalizing their relationship.
• Naeko prepare Bento for Chiba according to the LOVE PLUS Super Digest Book.

Gallery

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  Chiba is reminded of the younger Miike.

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  Chiba and Miike, in the 52th OP of the series.

See also

• Kazunobu Chiba
• Naeko Miike
• Ninzaburo Shiratori and Sumiko Kobayashi
• Wataru Takagi and Miwako Sato
• Shukichi Haneda and Yumi Miyamoto