Finding the real you and facing your inner self, easier said than done. You may tell yourself that you will be able to do it without problem, or that you have nothing to hide. Hell I thought I had everything out in the open and that everyone knew who I was, but yet it still appeared and it scared the hell out of me.

Year 2011 July 14

"And in Local news, a high school student saved a young child from getting hit by a speeding car today. Our own Shizune Yamato was on the scene." I turned the television off, I did the interview once, I didn't need to listen to it again. I glanced around my one room apartment, it wasn't much and the power wasn't always reliable but it had a bed, food and a television, that's about it and yet it was home enough for me.

I was in my second year of high school and living alone, every teenagers dream but yet I hated it. With my parents moving around so often for work it made school hard so I finally put my foot down telling them I wanted a proper education. So what happened? I got kicked out. I had made myself I nice amount of money by then so I bought an apartment in the town where we just so happened to be at the moment, sure there was a murder on the loose but I wasn't too bothered by that.

I lived in a small town in Japan called Inaba, it was a quaint little town, complete with a local shopping district and shrine. It wasn't an overly big, well known or have anything of note, except for the fact that some idol was from here. Hell, the towns signature dish was grilled steak, not that there is anything wrong with steak that is.

It gets lonely though, sometimes. It's a small town with not a whole lot of anything to do expecially because of the fact that I had lived in bigger cities up until this point and not to mentioned the fact that everybody grew up with each other and with a psychotic murderer on the loose, not very many people were willing to make friends with the new kid. Because, well, you know, potential murderer.

These murders began a couple of months ago, a day or two after a new kid transfered into class actually, which was a week after I did so I didn't have to be the new kid for very long. He had a natural charisma that didn't give him the same issues that I had making new friends. It was quite enviable actually.

Just before each murder was an oddly heavy unnatural fog that wasn't common for the area, the morning that the fog clears the body would appear, almost like the murderer was a meterologist so he knew when fog would clear and the body would be found.

I let out a sigh. I had done absolutly nothing all day and I loved it. However my stomache had been grumbling for a couple of hours. Getting off my bed and I turned to the mock kitchen I had created seeing as the apartment did not possess a kitchen. "Hmm no food" I said to nobody in particular, well in that case I might as well go to Junes, seeing as it was right around the corner it was a much better prospect then having to try and cook something out of, let's see, barbeque sauce, salami and a cucumber that was very nearly a pickle. Picking up my wallet from the singular table I made my way out down the stairs and into the street.

Junes Food Court

The sweet aroma of cheap food filled my nose as I made my way to the grill, the wondrous food that I didn't have to cook. Well wonderous was going a little too far. With another teenager, my age, maybe younger, manning the grille, I wasn't expecting too much. Taking a glance around at the tables I saw that it was pretty empty for this time of day except for a group of people sitting at one of the tables talking louder than they should have. I took a seat that was a modest distance away, close enough to hear yet far enough to not be suspicious I sat with my back to them and ate my food. It wasn't that I was a snoop but I liked to know what people were saying.

"Hey did you catch the news this morning? Some kid saved this little girl from getting hit" I groaned inwardly they had to be talking about that, that fact almost made me get up and leave, I did not want to hear about it. "You don't think he will be next do you?" Next? What the hell was she talking about.

"Well he does fit our criteria that we have so far, he has been featured on television and has become the talk of the town. Hell this morning even Dojima was talking about him. It was kind of weird."

"There's no way" this was another voice, male this time "The killer just failed with Rise here, I doubt he would try so soon . He is not that insane, after the failed attempt the police are more riled up than ever."

Oh they were talking about those serial murder cases that the town was making a big fuss over, the police had zero leads and could not figure out a motive so why would they think that because I saved that little girl that I would become the next target? Naw I was thinking into that sentence way too much.

"Well let's just be sure to watch the midnight channel once it rains again, just to be sure" Midnight channel? That old myth? Well people have been talking about it but I always liked my sleep too much to ever watch it. I never believed it, staring into a turned off television at midnight on a rainy night and your "soul mate" will appear? It always sounded like a load of crap to me. A local supersition or myth pops up in nearly every highschool on the planet. It gives people something to think about as they go about their daily lives. Part of me hoped that they would explain more about this and why they thought that it would be me, but they had moved on already, they were talking about math or something, nothing that warrented an evesdropping.

Finishing up my food I started to make my way to the grocery department just as one of the people got up in a hurry yelling something about needing to be back on shift. Making it to the elevator I was glad to see that it was empty. It's not that I don't like people but when I have a choice of spending any amount of time in a cramped elevator with people or taking the stairs, stairs wins eleven times out of ten.

"Hey! Hold the elevator!" I sighed to myself and looked up. Oh it was one of those teenagers talking about the murder cases. I stuck my hand out to Hold the elevator, I wasn't a complete ass while I would have very much liked to be, seeing as they were talking about me behind my back and all.

"Whew, thanks man, I didn't want to have to take the stairs to the grocery department." Great he was going there too. "You look familiar, do I know you?" You should, you were just talking about me five minutes ago.

"No, probably not, I have a tendency to stick around by myself, however I've seen you in class, King morons right?" I told him just to make conversation. I could handle a classmate for a few min. Hopefully.

Ah yes, there was the spark of recognition in his eyes. "Oh yeah I remember now, you sit in the back corner lucky you." A slight silence filled the air, with nothing but the sound of gears whirring in the background. "Man that school camp out was brutal hey?" He was obviously fishing for something to talk about judging by the wavering of his voice.

"Yeah I heard some guys went swimming and didn't know that King Moron was hungover vomiting up stream." You could almost see the sweat drop appear on the back of his head. "I heard that pictures were circulating of King moron kissing the river, but I never got my hands on one."

"Man, does everyone know about that?" he muttered to himself just as the doors opened. "Anyways I'm Yosuke, I'll see you around"

"Indeed" I said as we parted ways. I checked my watch and decided to just grab a few things as I had homework to do.

July 15

Man why was school so long? I understand the need for an education but did it really need to take up so much time in the day? Lifting my head from the desk I stared at the clock willing it to be at least lunchtime. However it was a lecture and lectures never went fast. Contemplating the pros and cons of falling asleep when Moron was my homeroom teacher no matter what class it was was never a good idea. Reaching into my bag I was about to actually start writing them down when my name was called upon.

"Kura-san stand up" Oh crap math, It was math already, we were just in history. "What is the sum of these numbers?" I stared at the math equation, squiggly lines, sideways numbers, letters, yep could have been a rocket formulae for all I knew.

"Six" I said hoping that my confidence would win this out for me, but I wasn't hoping for any miracles.

"I'm sorry but he answer is seven." Ha I was close, Now, back to those pros and cons.

Afterschool.

Hell yeah. School was done, Suprisingly there was no homework and I had a couple of extra yen in my pocket. Life was good.

"Hey Kura-san" Aw crap that sounded like Yosuke, I turned around and sure enough, there he was, flanked by two other guys one sporting a short bleached blond biker look and another with grey hair. "Hey Kura-san I was won-"

"First either drop the honorific or don't speak. I can't stand it when it's attached to my name." I snapped rather quickly cutting him off before he could finish. Honoriffics connected me to days that I would rather forget.

"Um right, sorry." He seemed taken aback, damn I was maybe a little harsh there "Anyways we were headed to Junes and were wondering if you wanted to come"

It was actually a tempting offer, However I was expecting a delivery that had to be signed for and it was supposed to show up today, so I had to refuse. I told them that and said maybe another day, just to be a little more polite.

"Alright Kura, I'll catch you another time I suppose." With that parting statement they left. I looked at my watch and figured I had time to make a pit stop along the way back.

Chinese diner Aiya

"Hey Kura-kun you look exhausted. Spicy tofu?" Aiya said as I entered the shop.

"Math class is all I have to say, and come on, you have known me for for the on and off for the better part of a decade. You should know by now that I don't like tofu. However if you could put some spice in a garlic rib I would appreciate it dearly."

"You always did have the weirdest tastes Kura." He replied with a smile on his face.

"And you always know that you will make me just about everything I ask for." I said as I slid into a corner booth.

"Just about. I'll send Aika over when it's ready."

And that was that, there was nothing to do now but wait and contemplate the mysteries of the mysteries of the universe.

"Here you go Kura-kun." A feminine voice said from behind me. More like contemplate the mysteries of Aiya's speed cooking. "He figured you would order this and started before you got here.

"How did he even know I was coming?" I simply shook my head. "Thanks Aika, do you have a moment?"

"Always."

"It's a rather weird question, as in really weird." She just gave me a look, a look that told me to go on. She never really had a way with words. "Well I heard this weird thing from this group of people yesterday. They believed, or well thought that I would be the next murder victim. Do you think that that could be true? They never met me and didn't even know that I was around. They were speaking like they were so sure. It has me a little worried actually. What if they are right?"

She just looked at me again. I swear, those eyes could pierce my soul.

I let out a huge sigh. That was a look that said 'Kura, your over thinking this, they probably saw you while you were doing whatever it is you were doing and decided to punish you for eavesdropping on their conversation and you bought into it.' Well that's what I gathered from the look anyways.

"Yeah you're right, I'm over reacting. Good talk" I only received another look. I finished my food and started making my way to the door.

"Kura." Turning around I found Aika standing behind me. "Be careful."

To that I simply smiled and handed her the cash for dinner. "I always am darling, always am." With that I left the building.

I made my way the distance to my house, apartment, room whatever you think that you could call it. I opened the door and flopped down onto my bed. If I wasn't waiting for a package I would have slept right then and there. What did Aika mean be careful? That was weighing heavily on my mind. Could she really be concerned? It wasn't like her. Nah again I'm thinking about it way too much.

My thoughts were interrupted by the intercom going off. "Hello? We have a delivery for you can you come down? We are not supposed to enter this complex, company policy." Fair enough, many companies have that policy. I told him I would be right down.

Front of Apartment Complex

I opened the door to the outside expecting to be greeted by the deliveryman. Instead I was greeted by the elderly lady who lived on the second floor.

"Oh Kura. How are you doing? It's been a while. Have you been eating properly? I'll bring you up some of that wonderful nimono I made for Adachi; he's a detective you know. Very important job." She looked as though she was going to prattle on for a while so I quickly made an excuse to escape, just in time, I didn't know how much of her chatter I could take.

I walked over to the delivery truck. "Hey! Mr. Delivery dude? Where are you?" I hoped that I wasn't hallucinating from dinner when I heard the intercom. Curious as to where he went, I looked in the back of the Truck to find him, only to see a T.V. "Hey there are no packages in here..." I made to turn around when suddenly I was being shoved into the back. Was I being kidnapped? What the hell?

I grasped the edge of the truck, there was no way in hell I was going without a fight.

"No, no I must save you!" I looked up only to see a fist descending towards my face. Instinctively I let go of the truck to protect my face and I was shoved the rest of the way in, right towards the television...