I'm sorry to say that this a misleading start. This first chapter features a story that's much longer than any other, and to me, feels a tad out of it... BUT OH WELL.

This chapter takes place right before/during the bad ending...

EDIT: Thanks for the corrections, Pectus Noctem :D

Handwriting

He was standing outside Adachi's apartment door, waiting to snap out of it. It wasn't necessarily normal of him to be here, but he had arranged an appointment. It was raining, as it always did in Inaba, with fog seeming to smother everyone trapped in that dismal town, and the gray-haired youth couldn't bring himself to ring the doorbell or knock.

Why was he even here? He clenched his teeth in frustration.

He was here on business. That was all. He raised his knuckle, knocking three times. He could hear clumsy footsteps, and the ruffled young detective opened the door, his jacket and tie somewhere in his apartment. He wasn't startled too much. Souji had, after all, called ahead of time. "Souji-san, come in," was the cheery reply, and the younger man had to smile politely back.

The door was shut quietly behind them as Souji found his way into a messy (and cramped) living room. He could see various beer cans on the stained wood floors and coffee table, as well as some hastily hidden magazines under the couch cushion. A decent-size television took up one side, while a shabby couch was placed adjacently; it was a true bachelor's room.

Adachi motioned him to sit on a clean spot on the floor at the coffee table; he took the spot opposite.

"I was kinda surprised to get your call," the detective said, ruffling his hair, "You're leaving tomorrow, and with Nanako gone… I'd think you'd be busy doing other things." Souji shrugged, trying to calm his increasing heartbeat. It wasn't nervousness; he was feeling uneasy. It was a rather short-notice visit, but he really had to get this thing cleared up.

"Actually," Souji said quietly, thankful his voice didn't waver, "I stumbled across something while packing," The detective leaned forward as Souji brought out a "Get Well Soon" card that he had found amongst Nanako's things. It had been amongst others, but this one had been from the young detective, and had been easy to spot, what with his large, bold handwriting. Adachi's eye seemed to glitter at the memory of the card. Souji was unable to tell if it was genuine.

"I had no idea you had written to her," the youth said, sliding the card across the table. Adachi picked it up carefully and seemed to really relish the card and the memories that came with it. Meanwhile, Souji took out his real reason for being there: the first warning letter. He placed it on the table, making Adachi stop from his trip to memory lane. He picked up this letter, reading the one sentence aloud. "'don't rescue anymore'…? Was this letter prior to the one Dojima-san took from you?" Souji nodded, staring straight into Adachi's face. His goofy grin was unmoving, his eyes betraying nothing.

Souji took the letters from Adachi, juxtaposing them on the table. The detective looked at the papers, and Souji saw it slip; the smile was gone for just a moment as he saw the clench of his jaw. An alarm rang in Souji's head.

"You're handwriting is very surprising, characteristic-wise," Souji said calmly, watching Adachi's mask seemingly crumble by the second, "It's very aggressive, and your strokes kinda go all over the place." Souji interlaced his fingers, placing his hands on the table. "This warning letter was written similarly, with the same amount of force. The writing is rushed and hard." Souji's eyes locked with Adachi's, and he could see a stirring in his face; something was emerging. "Do you see these similarities too?"

The two of them sat in frozen silence as time slowed to a crawl. Adachi made no movements or sound. Had he upset him? Had he been wrong? But then there was a small noise from the detective's throat. "What are you trying to say, Souji-san?" The voice was uncomfortably fake. A chill ran up his spine as Adachi's expression did a complete shift within a millisecond, and the warm smile had disappeared. He was dead serious, his jaw set as they suddenly made eye contact, and Souji felt like he'd been hit with a force of maliciousness so strong he blinked in surprise.

It was his eyes.

He'd never seen that raw emotion from the detective; it felt as if he was laughing menacingly on the inside. There was a deeper, hidden hate in those eyes, so unfeeling and uncaring and sadistic that Souji found himself at his long awaited conclusion: Adachi was guilty. The younger man steeled himself; he could see the truth unraveling.

"Have you told any of your little friends about this theory of yours?" The question was said through Adachi's façade. Souji did not dare give an answer. Adachi sighed dramatically, as if he was wounded, before standing abruptly. Souji did the same on instinct, reflex. They both stood facing each other, both guarded, and both ready to pounce. Adachi's face was morphing into a wide smirk as his eyes lit up in an inhuman way.

"I'm proud of you, Souji," Adachi said loudly, voice now obnoxious and dripping with sarcasm, "You figured it out! None of your idiot chums could, and neither could your jerk-off uncle, but you! You solved the 'case!'" Adachi bowed, mocking him without shame. Souji stepped back, alarmed at this new turn of character.

"Then again," the detective said darkly, "Out of all the hilarious shit that's on my special little TV program, yours is the only one 'unaired', isn't it?" The silver-haired youth narrowed his eyes at the other. "Did you kill Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi?" Adachi shrugged playfully. "I took no part in their death. All I did was throw them into a television. Nothing more."

Souji involuntary clenched his fist at Adachi's sick, proud smile. "Aw, Souji-san, don't be like that," Adachi said, walking slowly to circle him, "You don't seem to understand people the way I do, so here's a free lesson. When you work for shitty people everyday, and deal with shitty attitudes, and you begin to understand how people work. Those friends of yours don't know anything! And all they do is think of themselves, leaning on you like you're some kind of leader as you guys play detective. But all of them were rotten inside and deserved to die. All except you. And everyone who watches you guys on the Midnight Channel is just as bad, if not worse. Out of jealousy and morbid human curiosity, they want to know everything you gotta hide.

"But the truth is, Souji-san, is that you're different. No one can mark you or dig deeper, because you are special. Just like me." Adachi and Souji were circling each other now. The younger man's jaw was clenched and grinding like a cheese grater. "How exactly are we alike?"

"You don't think I've been aware of your unique talents? I'm aware of your little "persona" powers, but somehow I can tell you're special, better than those fools who follow you. But guess what! You and I have been given the same gifts. I've seen it all through the television." He held out his hand, as if to offer a handshake. "We are like lost kin, eh Souji-san?" With a swift step, the gray-haired student wound his fist and let go, bringing it down hard and quick. He missed, and Adachi pulled a gun from behind him, where it had probably been tucked into his pants somewhere. He shot, missed, and moved to the side as Souji made to elbow him in the back. Adachi swiftly made a grab for the younger man's arm and brought him crashing down to the floor, unable to move as the older man pinned his arms and legs down. Adachi laughed wickedly, his cackles echoing in the desolate (and cramped) living room floor as a pair of handcuffs made their way around Souji's wrists. "No need to struggle, Souji-san," He placed the gun's muzzle roughly against the student's temple, cocking it.

"Are you going to listen, now?" It was not a request; Souji tried to wretch his arms free, but froze as Adachi pressed the gun more roughly to his skull with a harsh, "Nuh uh!" He stopped struggling; glare set on the man he thought had been someone he could trust. Boy, had he been mistaken; he could see now, all those shady moments where Adachi had been out of character. He'd suspected nothing. All the little slips in his smiles, the bits and pieces he let slip about the murder cases, the frequent visits, the blank stare that he'd have when looking out the window at the rain in Junes… It all seemed so obvious now. He'd played them all. He wished he'd figured out sooner, before Nanako had to die, before Teddie left, before his time here had run out.

"So now that you know, Souji-san, what are you going to do? Turn me into the police? Tell them I've been throwing people into TVs? Who would believe you and your little gang of teeny-boppers? I'm a detective!"

"You're a liar…"

"A great one, though!" was his arrogant reply. "You've run out of time, Souji-san. Even if you tell your uncle, he's been too depressed to comprehend anything, let alone a betrayal of this magnitude. You might even send him into a heart attack, and wouldn't that be a shame. No, you can't even get your friends to go after me when you leave, because they need you. They can't enter the TV without you or that bear, and since he's gone, there'll be no one to take them through." Adachi stood, leaving the silver-haired boy to lie on the floor. He flopped onto the couch, grabbed a beer can from a cooler hidden behind the couch, and flipped on the television. "I'll give you some time to decide whether or not I'm being realistic or not. Then again, if you decide not, I can just shoot you in the face now and get it over with…" He let out a snicker as he laid his feet onto the youth's back. Souji could do nothing but lie on floor as the killer he'd been searching for turned to a porn channel, as if he wasn't keeping a young man in his living room and using him as a foot stool. The nerve of this guy to just leave him there perplexed Souji almost as much as his sudden need to watch TV. Souji kept his eye on the glowing numbers from the clock, and he waited for several minutes, before muttering darkly under his breath, "Fine," Adachi turned off the television, looking down at Souji from the couch. He kept his gun aimed as he approached him, squatting down to talk to Souji's "level". He placed the gun firmly against Souji's forehead, dead on. "Now that we've come to some sort of agreement, I'll let you go. No need keeping you here when you could be packing your bags for tomorrow, right?"

Adachi undid the handcuffs and held out his hand to help the younger man up. Souji ignored the offer, his face making his bitterness obvious. "How do you know I won't skip out on the train?" Adachi smiled, his smile toothy and forced, before bringing his gun back up to meet Souji between the eyes. The high school student did not falter. Adachi smirked. "I could shoot you in the face right now. Then I'd throw your body through my TV. I could also go back to your house and shoot your uncle, not to mention all your little pals." Souji hated this, being unable to do anything in the face of Nanako's true killer. He had no idea how Adachi and Namatame were connected, or how it came to be that the delivery man did the kidnappings, but Adachi had been the first domino, and that was all that mattered. And he couldn't do anything about it, and it killed him inside. He couldn't protect them from afar, and without Teddie, there'd be no way to get inside the TV World if Adachi were to run.

Souji thrust out his hand, teeth grinding. "Don't you dare hurt my friends or uncle when I'm gone," he said darkly, "Or I will come back to kill you myself." Adachi smiled, his old self back to its original state, as they shook hands. Souji felt he was making a deal with the devil.

Adachi lead him out to the door, his gun placed firmly at the square of Souji's back, his smile still never faltering. Swinging the door open, Souji let himself out as the gun was put away, and once again they were eye to eye.

"You'll 'come back to you me yourself'?" Adachi mimicked, laughing as he said it. The younger man wanted to deck him in the face so badly. "Well, Souji-san, I wouldn't count on it," He slammed the door, leaving Souji to stand there in the rain and fog, the young detective's maniacal laughter still ringing in his ears.