A/N: Sorry guys, I was going to completely switch to Archive, but now I'm not so sure. Anyway, enjoy this fic~

The empty apartment echoed with the silence that came with the territory when Souji Seta stepped into his home. The carpets and furniture were immaculately clean for a teenager on his own. He placed the grocery bags on the small table meant for three and only used by one. All of the food he had bought was put away in its proper place slowly in order to draw out the process and waste time. It was five 'o' clock in the afternoon when he started dinner, his homework all completed in a timely manner before. By six thirty, dinner was made and half eaten. After living on his own for a few weeks, Souji had learned how to make just enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

As he was putting away said food, there was a nudging and then a brush of fur as his cat meowed for her dinner. With a fond smile, Souji picked up the gray tabby in his arms and held her close. "Looking for some milk Mikuru?"

She meowed an affirmation so Souji began to look for the milk in his refrigerator. He pulled the carton out and sniffed the contents. He turned his head away from the foul stench immediately and dumped the rancid milk into the sink. How could I have not checked the expiration date on the milk? I must have been busy getting things ready for school.

"Oh well, looks like I'll be going out again to get you your dinner. I'll buy us some snacks while I'm out." Souji gave Mikuru a grin before setting out into the humid night.

The trip to the convenience store down the block was pretty boring. He bought milk, some cat treats, and an ice cream for the trip home. The background noise of the city had long been ignored by Souji. He much rather preferred the gentle silence of his uncle's town. Although he had only stayed once during golden week to visit with his young cousin, Nanako, Souji had fallen in love with the sleepy town of Inaba.

"Watch out!" A loud cry from a teenager on a bike snapped Souji from his revelry. The brunette teen had lost control of his bike and was heading straight toward the dumpsters not too far from where Souji was standing. Any normal and sane person would have stood back to protect themselves, but in that brief instant, he reached out to grab the guy.

Souji was almost pulled forward himself, but he managed to drop his weight backward which enabled him to save himself from falling forward. The other guy wasn't so lucky. The force of Souji's pull had caused him to fall directly on his tailbone. He rubbed it ruefully while gazing at the bike that had slid in the garbage can along with the groceries he had in the basket.

He looked up at Souji with a wry and bitter smile, "Well, thanks for the save, man. It's about time I got another bike anyway. My mom'll flip when she hears about this."

Souji found himself smiling too as he offered his hand to the other. "I bet. Do you want some help saving your bike and groceries?"

"Sure. I'm Yosuke Hanamura by the way. Just moved here a few days ago from the sticks. Would you believe that the school there would start renovating this year and kick all the students out to other schools? What kind of place does that?" Yosuke chuckled and accepted the hand up gratefully.

Souji gave a polite smile back, "Souji Seta. Where are you from?"

The teens began to pick at the salvageable groceries from the crash and Yosuke picked up his bike with disgust as he explained. "Originally, I'm from this town but my dad became the manager at Junes in Inaba. I lived there for a year and now all of a sudden they decide to redo the school and transfer all of the students to the school in this city."

"That's pretty weird." Souji chuckled. There was something nagging at him to remember, but he couldn't place what it was. It must not be that important then. "And my uncle and cousin live in Inaba. I visited him last year during golden week. Not the quiet rural town type, huh?"

"Not really." Yosuke looked slightly disgusted at the thought. "Well thanks for helping me out man and saving me from a painful crash. We should probably be getting back since it's already late."

Souji nodded, not having more to say. The strange pair walked side by side for a while in silence. Normally, a silence between strangers after the first meeting would be awkward, but Souji and Yosuke felt completely at ease. Souji felt like he could really relate to Yosuke and that he wanted to know the other more. Yosuke was feeling the same way as he glanced at the gray-haired teen. There was something alluring about the self-confidence Souji held that intrigued Yosuke.

As the pair approached the apartment complex, both started walking toward the entrance at the same time. They shared a look and embarrassed smiles. Yosuke spoke first, rubbing the back of his head. "So you live here too? What floor?"

"Fourth. You?" Souji was extremely amused at the way Yosuke acted. He seemed pretty girly to Souji, but he had a feeling that Yosuke wouldn't take that too well.

Yosuke grinned, "I'm just a floor above you. Maybe we'll run into each other in the morning. School starts at eight, when do you leave the house to go-oh, um…"

Souji raised an eyebrow, not knowing why Yosuke had left off in the middle of his sentence.

"Well, you know I'm a student, but you look like you could work or go to school…" Yosuke blushed and stuttered a bit before Souji interrupted him.

"I go to school, yes. Actually I believe we go to the same school. My teachers mentioned that there would be some transfer students coming."

Yosuke turned even redder than before, "W-why didn't you say that before?!"

"I just remembered."

Yosuke sighed, "Man, I got all embarrassed for nothing. Well, I have to go put this thing in the bike racks. Jeez, I shouldn't even lock it up with the shape it's in. I'll see you tomorrow, Souji. What time do you want to meet down here to head to school?"

"Is seven-thirty good for you?" Souji stood by the door to the complex.

Yosuke gave him a wide grin, "Sound good to me, partner!"

Souji chuckled and entered the complex, freezing a few steps in when he heard voices in his head that weren't his own. Thou art I… and I am thou…

There was nothing else, no one else around. I must have heard something. That voice could not have been in my head unless it's my mind telling me I need to sleep.

Souji rode the elevator up, leaving milk out for Mikuru who had disappeared under a piece of the furniture to sleep. Souji himself was exhausted between the unexpected trip and getting ready for school to begin. He sunk into his bed gratefully, hoping for nice dreams and an easy day at school the next day.

Souji stared out from the train window, watching as civilization slowly slipped by. He was heading to his uncle's house to stay for the school year since his parents were travelling abroad for work. But wait, they let him stay in the city. Why was he heading to Doujima's house?

After awkward introductions and a car ride that had made him feel really strange, Souji made it to the bedroom he was to stay in for a year. It was bare of anything except a few essential things Doujima had picked up for him. Souji, tired from the trip fell right asleep after eating a quick dinner with the Doujimas. Strange dreams haunted him. A blue room in a Hurst called the Velvet Room and a figure in the shadows that he couldn't quite touch. Souji resigned to letting this other self of his go through the motions. It was just a dream anyway. What could it hurt?

The next day at school, it was raining pretty hard. Nanako walked Souji part way to school having to run back to her own. Just as Souji was coming up at the school, Yosuke rides by on a bike, veering out of control into a garbage can. The dream-Souji did nothing, but the real Souji, the one that had just met Yosuke, yelled at his other self to help the poor guy out.

The school day wore on as Souji had the pleasant experience to meet Mr. Morooka. He yelled at the class all day and cursed too. He hadn't experienced that at any of the other schools he had been transferred to over the years. His voice grated on him, but eventually the classes changed. The chatter of the students about his arrival was beginning to be annoying. Every year this happened and every year the students would go crazy over the 'new guy' or the 'transfer student'.

After classes ended, two girls, Chie and Yukiko, offered to go to Junes with Souji after classes. They left after the temporary call to the teachers during which some police sirens were heard going past the school. Everyone forgot about the transfer student. Even Chie was busy with Yosuke who had returned her Trial of the Dragon kung-fu movie broken with the promise to replace it when he could. He was promptly kicked in the groin and left to roll around on the ground in pain. All dream-Souji did was stare as his new friend lay in pain and the two Inaba girls toted him wanted nothing more than to offer the guy a hand up and ditch the two curious girls, but this was not under his control.

As they were on their way to Junes, the three teens came across a crime scene. Doujima was heading the investigation and shooed them away so that they couldn't see anything. Souji felt a twinge of curiosity, but kept his questions to himself. His uncle was a no-nonsense kind of guy and there was no way he was getting any information out of him.

At home, Nanako prepared dinner for only two, knowing that her father wouldn't be home till late. Souji helped with the dishes afterward, settling down to watch TV with his cousin with a cup of tea after they finished. Doujima walked in a few minutes into the show, tired, demanding that the channel be changed to the news.

On the news, a local murder was being covered. Souji briefly wondered about his well-being, but wasn't truly concerned about it. His guardian at the moment was a cop after all. The murdered woman was a local television anchor who had an affair with Mayumi Yamano's husband, Taro Namatame. The now divorced couple had alibis and were not top suspects in the murder. The camera switched to a girl in the Inaba school's uniform with her face blurred out and her voice altered. She retold how she found the woman hanging from the antennae of the house. Doujima grumbled about them finding her before falling asleep on the couch.

Souji made sure that Nanako was alright before going to bed himself. The next morning, Yosuke got himself stuck in the garbage can. This time, Souji did help him out and they talked before school started. That was the day that Yosuke treated him at Junes and it was the night that Saki Konishi disappeared and turned up dead a day later. It was also the night that Souji had found out that he could stick his head into the television.Souji was surprised and amused that he had an imagination to come up with something like that in his subconscious.

The whole school was buzzing with gossip of the midnight channel and Saki-senpai's death. Yosuke was horrified but he was also suspicious of the midnight channel itself. With Yukiko working at the inn her family owned, Chie, Yosuke and Souji decided to check out a larger TV in Junes to see if they could actually enter that one as well. They didn't actually believe him until he stuck half his body into the TV. Things went downhill from there. Chie freaked out, Yosuke's bladder was ready to explode, and they all managed to fall into the TV world with no way out.

Souji's blaring alarm clock woke him up at six in the morning. The dream had ended just like that. He briefly wondered about the people in his dream. Normally, the faces were all blurry and not recognizable, but in this dream, he could have described their faces perfectly. It almost seemed real.

He shook his head of the absurd thought. It was just a crazy dream. It was probably just a product of the adrenaline from yesterday's incident with Yosuke. And as interesting as that dream was, everyone would think I was crazy if I told them. I'll just keep this to myself for now.

Souji got ready for school. Bracing himself for the coming week, he remembered that he had already made a new friend. Things in the real world were more positive than the one of his dreams. I'll forget about it in a couple days anyway.