Authors Note: well, figured I'd give this a try, never written anything before and suddenly I currently have a 12 chapter plan that is growing all the time. I hope you enjoy it, if even a little.

Chapter One: A New Case in a New(ish) Place

"His name is Kumotta Sukai."

Naoto scribbled down notes, as the man on the other end of the phone continued to explain the assignment he had for her. A man by the name of Kumotta Sukai had gone missing, and was believed to be held up somewhere in Okina City. Finding him seemed to be of the up most importance to the firm voice on the other side of the line, so Naoto pushed for more information.

"An e-mail has been sent to you with the phone number of Mr. Sukai's wife, you should start there."

With each passing second of the call Naoto was growing more suspicious of this man's motive for finding Kumotta. She needed to find out more information regarding the mysterious voice, and the only way of doing so was to ask a question she knew would be answered even if he were to say nothing on the matter.

"Have you not questioned Mr. Sukai's wife yourself already?"

There was a brief interlude of silence, before the voice gave something away.

"We'll be in touch."

Suddenly all that Naoto could hear through the phone was the dial tone, but even that became silence as one word from this man's final sentence ran through her mind.

'We'll...'

Why would one man refer to himself as a group? It didn't seem to add up. She knew that right now she had two choices; the first was not taking the case and informing the authorities of Kumotta Sukai's disappearance and risk this mysterious man hearing wind of this; the second was to find Kumotta first and tell him and his wife to get as far away from here as possible. Then again if they haven't already talked to or threatened his wife then clearly finding him wasn't as important as the voice on the phone made it out to be.

Naoto rubbed her eyes before looking at the time on her laptop, which right now was serving as the only source of light in her room.

11:59 pm...

She hung up her phone, and placed it on the desk next to the laptop before moving herself over to her bed, collapsing onto it. As her eyes closed lazily, the last thought that flashed across her mind was.

At least is wasn't raining...

After what felt like mere minutes, Naoto awoke to find what was once her dark room illuminated by the sunlight piercing though the curtains. She slowly pushed herself off her bed and to her feet, realising she had fallen asleep in her uniform once again. She stretched before rubbing her eyes, turning to her desk and taking a seat. She took a big yawn before opening her e-mails to find one that had yet to be opened.

From: RX848U(a)posthaste•com Subject: Chihiro Sukai's Phone Number.

The lack of a normal e-mail address made Naoto even more suspicious. She opened a web browser and entered 'posthaste•com' to find nothing but a blank web page, exhaling a little in annoyance. There was something not right about all of this. Sighing, she went back to the e-mail and opened it once again.

The body of the e-mail contained only the number, and nothing else. Naoto picked up her phone from the desk, thinking of her plan on how to tackle this situation. If this mysterious man had already tried to contact Kumotta's wife she may simply hang up if Naoto can't give the name of the individual she was hired by. It's more likely that Kumotta's wife had already gone to the police.

Naoto saw this as her best bet, by stating that she works with the police and that they passed this case onto her she was more likely to get the answers she needed. It was the only way.

She began dialing the number from the e-mail, and within two rings there was a softer voice on the end of Naoto's phone.

"H-hello? Who is this?"

"He-..."

Naoto took a moment to clear her throat, realising these would be the first words she'd spoken today.

"Hello Mrs. Sukai? My name is Naoto Shirogane, I'm with the Police, and I'm calling with regards to your Husbands disappearance."

"Oh, oh thank God, it seemed like they weren't taking me seriously when I went to the station yesterday." Mrs Sukai sounded relieved.

"I can assure you Mrs. Sukai, all cases are taken seriously."

Naoto smiled a little to herself, she always got a little buzz when she assessed and took the correct course of action in a case.

"Well, that's good to know, I told the officer at the front desk everything I could think of that might help finding him." Said Mrs. Sukai, she sounded a little tired, she must have been up all night worrying.

Naoto opened up a blank word document and pinned the phone between her head and right shoulder, ready to type.

"Okay, Mrs. Sukai, I'm going to need you tell me everything you told that officer."

Naoto took notes diligently as Mrs. Sukai explained that her husband had gotten back from work and went for a shower; after he had dried himself and changed clothing he went back out, leaving behind his phone and wallet and taking no other clothes with him. She went on to talk about how he couldn't be seeing another woman because they had only recently married. Naoto quickly changed subject.

"What about any friends or relatives that live near by Mrs. Sukai, could he have stayed there the night?"

"I already checked with them." Exclaimed Mrs. Sukai. "The only friends we really have right now are other couples and they would have told me if he was there. The only other person I can think of who might know where he is is his mother but...we're not on the best of terms right now..."

"That's okay." Naoto mused, scanning through the notes she had just taken.

"Just tell me where I can find his Mother and I will talk to her."

"She's in the Okina General Hospital" Mrs. Sukai replied instantly like she was taking pride in it. Was Mrs. Sukai the reason Kumotta's mother was in hospital? Maybe that's why this mysterious man chose not to threaten her...?

"Okay," Naoto finalised, trying to get those thoughts out of her mind. "At my next earliest convenience I will contact Miss...?"

"...Hiyoko." Mrs. Sukai replied, almost as if it pained her to say it.

"Hiyoko." Naoto repeated, as she added it to her notes. "I will talk to her and share with you any progress I make, thank you for your time Mrs. Suka-"

"Please find him..." Mrs. Sukai interrupted, her voice quivering slightly.

"I'll do my best, and please, try to get some rest." Naoto replied sincerely, before hanging up.

Noticing the time on her laptop, Naoto quickly saved all the notes, and e-mailed copies to her own email address, so she can go over them again at a later date. As she grabbed her phone and school bag, she quickly rushed down stairs and put her shoes on before leaving the house.

During the walks to and from school was when Naoto would do the most thinking about the cases, but she couldn't help but think about the investigation team. While they had been successful in preventing a number of murders, they now had no lead suspect after Naoto proved that Mitsuo wasn't the culprit.

She shuddered a little, remembering what she had to face as a result of that. Well maybe she could make it up to the team by helping one of them grow as an investigator. Naoto's mind instantly went to Narukami, he seemed the natural choice, but then she remembered information she had gathered from Rise.

It seemed although Narukami would take the lead in battle and tactics inside the TV world, outside of it there was only one person presenting theories as to who the culprit might be; Yosuke, and it looked like he was quite good at it. He suggested the theory that it was people who appeared on TV who were targeted.

She thought it over a bit more before deciding that she would ask Yosuke for assistance with this missing person case. It was the best idea.

Arriving at the school gates, Naoto noticed Yosuke standing in front of the entrance to the school, deciding that it would be better and less embarrassing to ask him now rather than at lunch when everyone else would be around. She approached him.

"Yosuke-senpai." Yosuke turned around, looking as carefree as always.

"Oh, hey Naoto-ku-..."

Yosuke paused to correct himself, as she stood in front of his line of vision.

"Naoto-chan, man, that's really gonna take some getting used to." She laughed a little in response

"I'm fine with you using 'kun' if that is what you're used to." Yosuke shook his head.

"Noooo way, if Kanji caught me talking to you like you were a dude he'd probably knock seven shades of... everything out of me." They both laughed before Yosuke asked what Naoto needed.

"Actually." Naoto muttered, having almost forgotten why she had started a conversation with him. "I was hoping you'd meet me after school so we'd have more time to discuss what I wish to ask you, would you meet me on the roof once you're done with your final class today?"

"S-sure... do you want me to round up the whole gang?" Yosuke asked, looking a bit flustered by the request.

"No, just you Senpai, I'll see you then, okay?"

"Okay." Yosuke replied, unsure over what had just happened.

[A quick aside, forgive the way the e-mail address looks in the story, I was unaware of this sites policy on censoring website links and possible e-mail addresses.]