Narukami-san didn't get to town until after the ball was already rolling, I don't think. Makes it a little difficult to stop at the gas station. [That... might mean next to nothing to people who haven't gotten the whole story, but he's at least confident Rise will get it.]

We didn't end up having a look around until after Sis died. But he was probably right that I needed out of the house, and who else was he going to start with?

[It's really more like 'who else did Kanji have to start with,' which was... pretty much no one at that point. He'd scared off most of the town with the biker gang incident and wasn't willing to let people get close, but Naoki never quite fell for the Crabby Tough Guy act.]