Yosuke walked through an aisle at Junes, trying to find that one item that his mom "desperately" needed. It just happened to be the one thing that was very close to going out of stock that week. But his mom had told him to go try to find it anyway, so there he was, wandering around Junes. All of a sudden, he was almost bowled over by someone hugging him so quickly he didn't even see her face.
"Yosuke! I missed you!" she exclaimed. Wha—he didn't remember anyone like this...The figure pulled back and pouted a little. That expression did look familiar...
"You're such a dork! How can you not even remember me? Emiko! Remember Emiko from Tokyo?"
Wait. What?
"Emiko! Why are you here?" Yosuke said, grinning as he pulled her back into a hug.
"My dad decided to move to Inaba because he got a new position in a city close to here; that place had no more homes available, so he decided to come here to commute." Emiko explained. "I, of course, pushed for Inaba because I knew you had moved here and I was concerned that you totally forgot your best friend ever."
"I bet you're regretting it now, considering there's nothing to do in Inaba. And I'm not going to forget you, idiot." Said Yosuke.
"I dunno, you did a pretty good job of forgetting me a couple of minutes ago." Emiko stuck her tongue out at him. "And I've only been in town literally since a couple of days ago. We had to unpack and get me enrolled at school, which I'm starting tomorrow!"
"Then we'll see each other tomorrow? Good luck if you end up being in my class...then you get King Moron." Said Yosuke. Emiko grinned.
"Morooka? I'm not in his class. I'm in Ryuzaki-sensei's class."
"Lucky pig. I get lectured every day about not hitting on girls and getting spit all over my face while you get to be in a nice, normal class." Said Yosuke moodily. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he saw he had a text from his mother. "Gotta go—my mom wants me home. Seeya!"
Yosuke ran off, belatedly realizing that he didn't get what he came for. But he did see his best friend from Tokyo, so...it wasn't all bad compared to the scolding he would get when he got home.
Emiko, meanwhile, was happily getting snacks to eat at home. Because she at least knew she wouldn't be completely alone tomorrow...she had been shy and not been able to open up to anyone in Tokyo until Yosuke brought her out of her shell. With his help, she had become more extraverted. But going to a new school would bring back her old self, so she was glad that Yosuke would be there to help her.
Emiko wandered around the hallway. She had forgotten which class she was in, so she decided to just try all of the classrooms and see which one was right. So she went in one.
That classroom happened to be Yosuke's classroom. He was talking to the girls and Souji, like always, when he noticed a familiar face enter the classroom.
"Emiko? Why're you here? You're not in this class." He said. Emiko looked at him and backtracked to see the sign above the door. She popped her head back in the classroom and laughed awkwardly.
"Apparently not. I forgot which class I was in. So I can cross 2-2 Off my list now." She said.
"You're across the hall with Ichijo—you know what, I'm just going to show you since you suck at directions—"
Emiko's mouth dropped open.
"I resent that! I just have a bad memory!" she said. Yosuke pushed her out of the classroom across the hall to class 2-1.
"This is your class—go make friends." He said. She looked at him with her eyebrows raised.
"You and I both know that's not going to be easy." She said.
"Look, I know I'm the only one you really opened up to. And even if you started talking back in Tokyo, you're still going to be shy. But I'm commanding—commanding—you to talk to people. Start with those guys over there-Kou Ichijo and Daisuke Nagase. They're pretty friendly." Said Yosuke. "Gotta go—King Moron will have my head if I'm late."
Emiko waved goodbye to him as he ran back to his classroom. Before she could put her stuff down, the bell rang and everyone ran to his or her desks. The teacher walked in as soon as everyone had sat down.
"Listen up! As many of you new, a new student has transferred to our school. I know it's in the middle of the first semester, but I hope you'll be friendly and show her around." Said Ryuzaki-sensei. She looked expectantly towards Emiko for a few moments before Emiko realized she was supposed to introduce herself. She faced the class and bowed.
"Hello everyone! I'm Emiko Suzuki. I just moved here from the city, and I hope you'll all take care of me! Thank you!" she said, hoping she sounded friendly.
"I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to talk to everyone during lunch and after school, so you can find a seat now." Said the teacher. A boy with bluish hair in the back raised his hand.
"Ryuzaki-sensei, can Suzuki-san sit here?" he said, indicating the desk next to him. A few desks ahead, a boy with a bandaid looked at him with a you player kind of look. The teacher nodded and Emiko walked over and dropped all her books on the desk.
"I'm Kou Ichijo. Nice to meet you, Suzuki-san." The boy said, sticking his hand out. Emiko smiled.
"Nice to meet you too, Kou-kun. Please, call me Emiko. I always feel weird when people call me by my last name." she said. Kou nodded.
"Since you're starting in the middle, you may have some trouble catching up. You're welcome to borrow my stuff if you want it. And I can help you catch up." He said. Emiko nodded.
"Could I borrow your things during lunch then?"
"Sure. You should have lunch with us too!" said Kou.
"Thanks!"
"Care to tell us how you know her?" Chie asked with an eyebrow raised. Yosuke blinked at her before he realized that she meant Emiko.
"She's my best friend from Tokyo and she just moved here a few days ago." He explained.
"And you haven't tried to make a move on her." Chie said. Wha—
"No! Emiko's not the sort of person I would even try flirting with. And she's just my friend. I swear!" Yosuke spluttered.
"We believe you." Souji interrupted with an amused look on his face. "You don't need to justify yourself."
"Well—anyway, just be friendly and don't growl at her, Chie. ("Hey!") She has trouble opening up to people and especially at a new school, she'll close herself up, even to me." Said Yosuke. "And Chie, don't you dare let anything slip about the Midnight Channel. I don't want her involved."
"Hey! Why me?" Chie exclaimed.
"Cause you blab stuff to people." Yosuke said. Chie kicked him where the sun doesn't shine. "S-shit! Critical hit...!"
-
"Thanks for having lunch with me, guys. Not a lot of people would want to spend free time explaining things to the new kid." Emiko said, eating her lunch. She, Kou, and Daisuke were eating lunch in the classroom.
"Hey, no prob. It was time something exciting happened around here." Kou said, grinning.
"Dude, the midnight thingie doesn't constitute as 'exciting'?" Daisuke said, frowning.
"Uh, no, considering I've never seen the hype in it. It shows you a silhouette of your 'soul mate', big deal. Not like you can actually tell who it is, anyway. And as far as I know, everyone sees the same thing. Which is sort of weird, to tell the truth..." Kou said, rubbing his chin.
"Midnight thingie? What's that?" Emiko asked.
"It's something that comes on your TV at midnight when it's raining...it's called the Midnight Channel? And supposedly, it shows your soul mate. Though I've never believed in it. Some guy a few months ago was telling everyone about how Mayumi Yamano was his soulmate, but that's bullshit." Daisuke explained.
"It's just an old tale in Inaba, though. One exciting thing. Another is the murders..." said Kou. "Well, they're not fun, persay, but they put Inaba on the map, so to speak. You heard Mayumi Yamano died here? Hung upside down? Well, a student from Yasogami High also died, hung upside down on a telephone pole. Same way, no apparent cause of death. No killer yet."
"She...was murdered? What was her name?" asked Emiko.
"Saki Konishi."
"Konishi...Konishi...I feel like I know that name..." muttered Emiko.
"Konishi Liquor?" Daisuke supplied helpfully. "Her parents run a liquor store in the shopping district. Or it could be her brother, whatshisname..."
"Naoki?"
"Naoki, that's it."
Emiko frowned.
"I seem to have come at the wrong time, then." She said.
"Aw, no. The murders have stopped for a while. I mean, a while ago, Yukiko Amagi was gone from school for a while, and we all thought she would die next, but she came back and she's fine now." Said Kou.
"Yukiko?"
"Class 2-2. Wears red. Loved by all male students. Her parents own an inn called the Amagi Inn." Said Daisuke. Oh! The girl who was talking with Yosuke before he showed Emiko to her class.
"I do love mysteries. Ask anyone. Actually no, no one except Yosuke knows me here." Said Emiko.
"How do you know Yosuke?"
"He and I were friends when we were in Tokyo. I was the one who gave him those headphones, actually." Said Emiko, shrugging.
"Yeah, I was wondering about those. He never seems to use them that much during the day. Dunno about later though. But he wears them all the freaking time, to every single freaking event with every single outfit. Figured it was for sentimental reasons." Said Daisuke. "Ooh~it's love~"
"Nice to know he remembered me-hey! No! It is not love. We're just best friends, that's all!" said Emiko, making a face. "He's not my type, anyway."
"What is your type?"
"Not idiotic."
"Ouch."
Emiko peeped into Yosuke's classroom after school.
"Hey, Yosuke? ...Where do I live?" she asked sheepishly. You could just see Yosuke facepalming.
"Yeah. You suck at directions."
"I'm going to stick with my earlier statement that I just have a bad memory. Where's the second street on Sakura?"
"Y'know, that's close to Junes. Hey, wanna come hang out at Junes with us now?" Yosuke looked questioningly at Souji—no one was in the TV, so they wouldn't go into the TV today. Souji nodded. "I'll take you home after that."
"Sure. Are you treating? Think of it as a welcome to Inaba gift, which I will gladly accept." Said Emiko. "I'll wait at the gate."
Emiko disappeared from the classroom, presumably downstairs.
"You are treating though, Yosuke?" asked Chie. Yosuke sighed.
"I guess I am...am I treating all of you?"
"Yes."
"So Suzuki-chan, how's the city?" asked Chie.
"Oh, it's normal. And call me Emiko, people call my dad Suzuki-san. Speaking of, Yosuke, is it okay for me to be here?" said Emiko.
"Well, my dad doesn't come up here often. But he has nothing against you personally, so you're fine. I'm not going to bend over backwards for my dad." Said Yosuke.
"Are your families not close?" asked Yukiko.
"They used to be—at least, our fathers were. Then something went wrong when they were in school and now they're business enemies." Emiko explained. "They never really approved of our friendship."
"We-ell, I'm sure he'll be okay with you eventually. Anyway, we should go eat croquettes or something sometime. They're really good here—Inaba's specialty! That, and grilled steak. And the Amagi Inn. Other than that, we're pretty boring." Said Chie.
"I dunno, it seems interesting. Kou-kun and Daisuke-kun told me about the Midnight Channel. Have you tried it?" asked Emiko. The group looked at each other uneasily.
"Uh—yeah, once. Just a dark figure though. Haven't tried it since." Yosuke lied.
"Forecast says it won't rain for a couple of days...but I should try when it does. Apparently, that's the only interesting thing in town." Said Emiko.
"You don't do much else but hang out with your friends here. Sometimes people go shopping in _, but there's honestly not much." Said Yukiko.
"Are you trying to get me to move back?" Emiko joked. "Not that I would. I pretty much begged-yeah, that's enough information from me."
"Uh-uh, missy. Why'd you have to beg to come here?" said Chie suspiciously.
"I—uh—I'm a shy person and I don't talk to anyone except certain people." Started Emiko. "Or rather, a certain person and people around this certain person. City life was pretty much how it used to be before I met this certain person, but that certain person moved here, and-damn, this is embarrassing." Emiko was blushing now. Yosuke, who had gotten the hint, was also faintly blushing. Souji, picking up on it, raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Chie was, of course, still oblivious.
"I don't get it. Who?" she asked.
"Do I really have to?" Emiko said, retreating in her chair a little. "Because people jump to the wrong conclusion all the time and I never like telling people my story..."
"We won't! I promise! And you don't have to tell us everything...I mean, we did just meet you, we understand." Said Chie.
"See, Chie, this is what I mean by 'growling'." Yosuke hissed. Chie waved a hand at him to tell him to shut up.
"Er...that certain person...wouldbeYosuke." Emiko just about whispered.
"Holy—Yosuke, what the hell did you do to her!? She won't talk to anyone except you and people around you!? Did you like, crush her spirit or something?" exclaimed Chie.
"Hell no!" Yosuke scowled. "According to her," he jerked a finger at Emiko, "I have something that makes it easy for her to talk more. And that's a good thing considering she never talked to anyone. Now can we move on to other topics? And you—you're totally enjoying this!" Yosuke said threateningly to Souji.
"Of course not. Why ever would I enjoy your pain?" he said, his eyes dancing with mirth.
"You—you traitor!"
Chie yelled some more at Yosuke, Yosuke yelled back. It was getting loud—too loud. Those years of isolating herself had taken a toll on Emiko, and she was never comfortable with too many people yelling. This was Junes, and people everywhere were yelling, and this yelling just made Emiko realize that. At school, she could live with it for a few minutes, and she could always run to the bathroom to calm down. Yelling was also what happened in the ER, all the time—the place where her mother died. Her real mother. So yelling was never her favorite thing.
Emiko pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face down in them. She covered her ears with her hands but they did nothing to block out the noise. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to concentrate and calm down, but it didn't work. She raised her face a bit to see the table still in disarray, no one noticing the position she was in. As she reached out a hand, Souji noticed and looked at her with a concerned look on his face. Emiko caught hold of a corner of Yosuke's sleeve and tugged until he looked at her.
"Yosuke...I can't." she whispered. His face instantly relaxed and any frown he might have had from fighting with Chie slid off his face. He kneeled in front of Emiko and pulled her closer to him so they were only a foot away. Chie had stopped yelling by now and was looking worriedly at Emiko.
"Hey—it's okay. I'm sorry, I forgot you hated loud noises." He said. He put his hands over her hands which were covering her ears. "C'mon, it's okay. You're with friends. You're with me, not anyone who might have bullied you. Think good things. Remember?" When Emiko nodded, he continued. "Cake. Meat. Me paying for the meat. (Emiko giggled at that one) Music. These headphones." He indicated the headphones both he and she were wearing. After Yosuke left with her old ones, she bought the same kind to use. "Puppies, cats, rabbits. Ramen. The roof. Cooking together. Burning things while trying to cook together. Getting poison ivy. Kpop. Your family. Books. Ducks. Birds. Animals. Us. Happy things."
Emiko was slowly breathing slower and her heart beat slower. She nodded. "Yeah. I remember. Thanks, Yosuke." He withdrew his hands from her ears and she did too, unfolding her legs. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. "Sorry. Haven't gotten over that yet, probably never will."
"You shouldn't be sorry about it. You hate loud noises. So what? Everyone has fears. At least you have a cure." Said Yosuke.
"What, calming down?"
"No, me, duh." Said Yosuke, rolling his eyes. Emiko laughed.
"People are seriously going to think we're dating." She said. He shrugged.
"So what? Let them. It doesn't matter what others think. I've been trying to teach you that."
"Hey—are you okay? Emiko-chan?" Chie asked, coming closer with Yukiko.
"You want to go somewhere else?" asked Yukiko. Souji looked down from behind the girls.
"She probably needs to go home." He said.
"Yeah—if you don't mind, I think I'm going to go home." Said Emiko, standing up.
"Course not—we'll talk tomorrow, yeah?" asked Chie. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. I just don't like loud noises and it just got to me for a minute there." Said Emiko.
"I'll take you home—you don't even know where you live." Said Yosuke. "Plus, I'm afraid you'll get lost and end up in some other city."
"Psh, no." said Emiko. "Bye, guys."
"Seriously, I was this close to running away back there." Said Emiko. "You do know how to calm me down, don't you?"
"I should." Yosuke said, grinning. "Has that happened when I wasn't there?"
"Course, because nothing distracted me from it. I could deal, though." Said Emiko. "Anyway, thanks for bringing me home."
"No prob. Seeya!" Yosuke exclaimed cheerfully, running home.
"Hey, Kou-kun, Daisuke-kun." Emiko said, sliding into her desk. Kou sat on top of her desk and Daisuke sat next to her.
"Yo. Do anything exciting yesterday?" asked Kou.
Emiko shrugged. "I hung out with Yosuke and his friends at Junes for a while. Not much."
"You could do a club if you really wanted to." Said Kou. "Actually...there aren't many options, and I don't think you would like either."
"What do you two do?" asked Emiko.
"I'm on the basketball team and Daisuke's on the soccer team." Said Kou. "Those teams are only for boys though..."
Emiko's mouth dropped open.
"I'm offended. Not that I think many girls would want to do a sport here, but still! Sports aren't only for guys!" she exclaimed furiously. "I should rebel. Riot! With pitchforks and torches and burn down the school!"
"Never took you for an arsonist, Emiko-chan." Daisuke chuckled. "The school, since it's small, isn't exactly feminist friendly."
"I can see that." Said Emiko. "Behind the times, I guess."
"You got that right. Sometimes I wonder why I even live here." Said Kou gloomily.
"Because your family does." Said Daisuke.
"They wouldn't care if I left. I'm not going to be the head of the family, why should they care?" said Kou sullenly. Daisuke sighed and whispered to Emiko.
"He was adopted because that family wanted an heir to the family, but then they had a daughter, so they don't care what he does anymore. He thinks they don't even care for him as a son anymore." He whispered.
"Well, I don't know the details...and I don't want to overstep my boundaries, but your family would care if you left, I'm sure. They care about you as a son and as a person. Your position in the family doesn't-or shouldn't-matter." Said Emiko softly. As she finished talking, the bell rang, and Kou swung off the desk to sit in his own desk, which Daisuke had abandoned.
"Hey—thanks. Normally when people learn of my situation, they awkwardly switch topics. But not you. So thanks. Really." Kou smiled. Emiko smiled back. Kou and Daisuke were a friendly pair, to be sure-and Emiko quite liked them.
"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Emiko asked, her mouth muffled by her ramen.
"Girl time! We're giving the boys 'boy time' and we wanted to get to know you better." Said Chie, also eating ramen.
"Mmkay. I can live with that." Said Emiko.
"How did you get to be friends with Yosuke? I mean, he's friendly, but sometimes a bit much...and you seem like a quiet person." Asked Yukiko.
"Well, he just started talking to me and he wouldn't stop. He stood up for me too. He made me talk again. I figured it would be better for me to stop running away from him and everyone else and just accept him as a friend. Since I was sorta...unpopular, he lost his other friends though...but then he and I made new friends, because I talked more." Emiko explained.
"So he actually helped you...hm. I was soo gonna lay it on him if he had like, bullied you into only talking around him." Said Chie, mulling it over. Emiko laughed.
"Well, sorry to disappoint. Anyway, how has life been here? Moreso for Yosuke—anything exciting? Any crushes?" Emiko asked mischievously.
"Ha, yes. He made friends with Souji—who's practically a walking enigma—and yes, there is—or was, a crush." Said Chie, her smile dropping.
"He liked Saki Konishi. Maybe you've heard, but..." Yukiko started. Emiko opened her mouth in realization.
"She...was the one who died here." She whispered. "Oh."
Chie nodded. "Apparently, she didn't really like him. I don't think Yosuke's really gotten over her, I mean, she died before anything could happen. He wants to find the murderer and get revenge."
"That...hm. How amazing was Saki-senpai?" asked Emiko curiously.
"I dunno. She was nice to him, I guess. Treated him like a little brother." Said Chie.
"And I guess she was pretty, too."
"Yeah."
"Well. Thanks for updating me. How was your day?"
"Yosuke...what should I do?" Emiko groaned, laying on her back. Yosuke chuckled.
"What, only a couple of days and you're already bored?" he asked. The two of them were spending some time together on the riverbank, and by spending time together, that meant they were just laying on the grass talking. Yosuke was free since no one was in the TV...but he was starting to feel a little uneasy with all the peace.
"Unfortunately, you were right. There really isn't anything to do here...and it hasn't rained yet." Said Emiko. "Do you still ride that broken bike?"
"It's perfectly fine, thank you very much. Yes, I do ride it. And there's nothing wrong with it. It's a little creaky, but it's not going to...spontaneously combust."
"Nah, I'm leaving the spontaneously combusting to you. It's gonna break one day." Said Emiko, examining her nails.
"And then I can get a motorcycle."
Emiko sat up.
"A—you want a motorcycle? You can't even ride a bike without...I dunno, running into a tree or that one time you actually almost ran over someone..." she started.
"Hey, those problems can be fixed with a much stabler motorcycle. C'mon, you can ride it too! And then we could disturb the peace of Inaba and ride it in the night and be assassins!" Yosuke said animatedly.
"Right. Of course. It's not like I'm sure you haven't disturbed the peace already." Emiko said dryly.
"Actually, I've been bringing peace. Really." Said Yosuke vaguely. Which was true-he had helped bring Yukiko back, hadn't he? That was bringing peace, except he couldn't actually tell Emiko that...
"And when you get a motorcycle, you want to assassinate people..."
"Don't tell me you don't want to at least spy on people."
"Count me in!"
Later that night, an interviewer was asking Emiko's dad questions about working under a large company, called Atobe Corp. It was supposed to be broadcasted on the local news, and Emiko had to be in at least a small part of it...Emiko's (step)mother had said that she had always wanted to be on TV, and Emiko just had to share this great opportunity.
"...And now we're talking to a few workers to understand more of Atobe Corp, a very strange and mysterious, but very successful, company. Suzuki-san, how has it been getting a new job under Atobe Corp?" asked the interviewer.
"Oh, well, it..."
Emiko zoned out. Why she had to be here, she didn't really know. She could be doing much more interesting things with her time. Like...like...like reading manga. Or something.
"And now a word from the family...do you have any relation to the Atobe Corp other than your husband working there?"
"I've met some coworkers over business dinners, but not frequently as we live in a different city." Said Emiko's mom, smiling. The microphone was passed to Emiko.
"And you, Emiko-san. Surely you must have some input in this, with your dad working for them and all. After all, you are old enough to have your own opinions about the corporation."
Emiko slowly turned her head to the camera and stared at it blankly. Was she supposed to say something? She'd forgotten what they had asked.
"Right, uh, opinions. Well, they're, um, very elusive, the bosses. Makes one wonder about conspiracies, but," she said hastily, catching a look from her mother, "of course that's not happening. I haven't seen much of them, to be honest."
"Of course, Now, on to the next part..."
"Speak louder." Her mother hissed, nudging Emiko. Of course, that had always been a problem. At least she was speaking now.