13 April 2011
Dojima Residence
Evening

Yu was unconcerned when it seemed like his erstwhile cousin didn't show up for supper. He still had the resolution to talk to Yosuke tomorrow to try and figure out what the whole deal was, but for now, he sat with his Uncle and his daughter at the kitchen table while the news played in the background, the talking heads all nattering about the Politician, the Enka Singer and the other Newscaster and the torrid relationship that seems to have led to murder.

"How was your day?" Ryotaro asked politely as he passed the rice around. Yu wasn't ready to properly cook yet, given that he was still a visitor in the house and the position of cook was taken up by Midori-san.

"Not bad," Yu said. "Aside from a certain topic of discussion." He had no need to elaborate given that Nanako was still unaware of what had happened that caused her Daddy to have to work triply hard.

"Good. People who know you live here?" Ryotaro pointed at him with his chopsticks, "they may try to get information out of you regarding the investigation. You can tell them that I'm not telling you anything, and then tell me who it was so I can get someone to straighten them out."

"That's a problem?" Yu served himself some of the store-bought curry, then moved to ladle a bit onto Nanako's plate.

"I hope not," the detective admitted, "But I want you to know where you stand in that regard, for your own protection."

"Must be very stressful..." Yu replied as he finished.

"It is," Ryotaro admitted. "And once again, I'm sorry you have to go through this."

"That's alright. As long as you calm down when the going gets rough, I think you'll be fine." He tried to be supportive of his uncle, but could only offer the most vague of assurances given their distance.

"Thanks. I will." He turned to his daughter. "And how was your day at school, Nanako?"

"The teachers were sad," she replied as she worked her spoon into the food in front of her. "I thought school was supposed to be fun."

The looks shared between Yu and Ryotaro at that was something that didn't need a familial relationship to understand.

The Foggy Central Shopping District

Midori fell back from Adachi's body, trying to process and ignore what had happened at the same time. Her mind scrambling for purchase even as her feet found it, she knew that Saki had seen it all. Saki needed her help. She could still save her.

"Saki?" She turned away from Adachi, hands still on her weapon and Frosty's card. "Saki? It's alright. You're safe."

Saki was curled up in a ball in the far corner of the room. Midori stumbled her way over there, legs refusing to work properly. She could hear Saki sobbing, wanting to go home. "Saki?"

"Leave me alone!" Her classmate cried out. "Stay away from me!"

"I can't," Midori said far more calmly than she felt. She had to project an aura of total confidence and everything that came with that for her sake. "Come on, we have to go." She reached out a hand for her, but it still held Frosty. Withdrawing it to put the card away in a pocket, she offered it again. "Come on. Please?"

"What did you do?"

There were so many answers to that question, Midori didn't know which one to answer first. So she went with the most obvious to her, or so she hoped. "I beat him up so we can escape," she lied about his condition. She had seen enough dead people to recognize them. "Come on."

Saki raised her head to look at Midori's open face. She saw nothing but kindness, which was in total opposition to the moments she dared peak into the fight. She wanted to reject her, to curl up and hope the nightmare went away, but she couldn't. In desperation, she had called for help, and Midori came for her, where no one and nothing else could. She reached out and took her hand.

Midori hauled her friend up with a strong pull, then started to lead her out of the room they were in, back toward the front of the store and away from Adachi. "Don't look," she said. "It isn't pretty."

"Is he going to be alright?"

No, Midori knew. But she couldn't say that. "Eventually. But not now. We need to go."

"Go where?" Saki didn't quite stumble as Midori led her with conviction. "I... what is this place? What were those... those... things you... you!"

They reached the front door and Midori pulled it open, revealing the fog-covered District. "It's a long story," she said to delay the explanation. "We got in through a television, right?"

"Tell me!" Saki pleaded even as she refused to let go of the strong hand that led her through this place. "Please! You have to!"

Midori stopped in the middle of the street. "No... I." She deflated. "I want to say that I don't, but that's wrong." She looked around. "Television, television... There should be one in the Textile shop," She started pulling again, keeping an eye out for movement in the fog. Saki also mentioned a thing with her face, and Midori wasn't about to drop her guard.

"Midori... what's going on?"

She had to say something. There was no getting out of that. "Alright. Alright. You deserve something." She rehashed in her head what she told Nanako months ago in order to keep her story staright. "I'm a Magical Girl."

"Those aren't real!" Saki replied, not without fear. Out of confusion. Midori understood that. There were some things that were just too impossible to understand at first.

They reached the other side of the street, and angled for Tatsumi Textiles. "I would take offense to that one, but the shows on television are like daytime dramas. Not exactly connected to reality." She felt her hand shake, and couldn't tell if it was her or Saki doing it. It was best then, to keep talking.

"I'm a Magical Girl for almost two years now," She pushed open the front door to the textile shop, then swore. It was empty. But they still had to look further back. Maybe there was something in a back room?

"You see, there are things called Shadows that exist in dark corners of the world, places like where dust just accumulates? Hidden corners? And there are people with a power called Persona who can fight them when they become a danger."

"That doesn't make sense!" Saki let herself be led further into the empty shop. "How can that be real?"

"I don't know all the details myself," Midori said, "but normally Shadows are just passive things, like spiders or snakes. You don't hurt them, they don't hurt you. Something has to get them riled up to do anything."

She tried to open the door leading back into the small living room she knew was right there, but the door refused to budge. She hit it with her wrench, but it just bounced off. "Damn," she muttered. "No luck. Whatever made this place is missing a lot of stuff."

It was like a set, she decided. A television set. Which made a perverse amount of sense given how she remembered getting in and out. "So, let's see, Personas... they're a power humans can use to fight Shadows. Frosty is my Persona."

"Was that that thing...?" Saki followed Midori out of the store, where they stopped. She saw Midori look around, trying to see through the fog. "That thing? It was scary..."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Midori still held Saki's hand for comfort as she turned around. "I'm told he's scary, but I've never seen it. Felt it. I guess because he's part of me, I can't be afraid of myself."

"Are there others?" She thought about the fight. "The thing the police officer tried to use..."

"Was a Persona, yes." Midori admitted. "Sometimes people get it into their head that their power makes them special and above the reproach of society." She couldn't remember who described Jin and Takaya like that, but it seemed right.

"What is this place?" Saki asked, feeling that as long as Midori was supplying the answers, she wouldn't have to think too hard about what was going on.

"It's a closed space with variant physics," Midori recited. "That's the technical description. It's like in those shows where the bad guys summon up a dark world, or something like that? Well, this is one of them."

Saki didn't say anything as Midori led them at a slow pace down the hill, staying on their side of the road.

"Saki?"

"Yes?"

"You mentioned that 'she had your face'. If there's someone or something else in here, I need to know."

Saki responded by pulling herself closer to Midori, seeking a strength she did not have. "I saw it. It looks like me," she said in a hushed whisper. "It was before you came, and it seemed like it was...w waiting..."

Midori had a horrific thought. If it looked like Saki, was it possible that the girl holding her wasn't Saki? "Are you sure it wasn't just your imagination?" She asked as she comforted her friend. "I mean, this place is confusing enough as it is."

"No, she's real," Saki admitted. "She's coming for me."

Dojima Residence, Yu's Room
Late Night

It was raining, and the fog was rolling in, a weather pattern that Yu had seen before, and as such, it held nothing for him.

"The Midnight Channel, huh?" He asked to no one in the room. "What harm could it do?"

He closed the curtains and turned off the lights, waiting for the stroke of midnight to come. He didn't expect anything from an Urban Legend (Rural Legend? It was a small town...), but it felt nice just doing something like that for once.

Then the television turned itself on.

"Leave her alone!" a familiar voice said. The camera, such as it was, moved around as though it were dodging, "She's not for you!"

A second figure appeared behind the first, and she was screaming.

Yu reached out and touched the television screen, an impulse that he found no source for. And when he did, his arm started to be pulled in! Before he had a chance to recover, he was pulled in up to his shoulder, where he stopped, his body far too large for the small screen. With an effort, he pulled himself free against the force trying to drag him in when it all stopped, and he fell back.

"What the hell!"

The Foggy Central Shopping District

"I'm tired," Saki said as they finished searching everywhere for a television they could use. "Midori...?"

She felt it too, but Midori refused to back down, to bend before this effort. "Come on, we'll sleep in the shrine." She had no idea how long they were here, but it felt like hours.

"But!"

"No!" Midori stopped her friend from confronting her over this. "The shrine is a safe place! And you need to rest, and so should I." They quickly crossed over into the small protected area where the ever present fog seemed a little less thick and oppressive. "See?"

Saki sagged, the strength leaving her, and forcing Midori to hold her up. "Sure, let's just sleep."

Midori half-carried her friend to the shrine itself, and set her down in the area behind the fake donation box. Even as Saki collapsed from an exhaustion more mental than physical, Midoi looked up and whispered a plea. "Hey Fox? If you can hear me, I could really use some help right now."

There was no answer, and Midori accepted that. She took off her jacket, and laid it over the snoozing Saki, even as her own body wanted to kneel over and rest. It was like the Dark Hour all over again, but this time she had spent far more than a mere hour in it so far.

Instead of giving in and joining Saki in the hidden privacy of the shrine, she patrolled the outer edge of the shrine, paying careful attention to the single entrance at the front. There was nothing, and certainly no sign of any Shadows or Saki's mysterious other-her.

She returned to the shrine and sat on the donation box, letting the uncomfortable feeling keep her focused.

But even that wasn't enough, and she fell asleep between one yawn and the next.

14 April 2011
Yasogami High-School, Class 2-2
Morning

"Hey, Yosuke!" Yu greeted his classmate as they both sat down..

"Dude! Did you see the Midnight Channel?" The brown-haired boy leaned in to whisper. "What was up with that?"

"Are you talking about the Channel?" Chie spoke up from where she sat with Yukiko. "Freaky is what it was."

"I thought it was supposed to reveal your destined soulmate," Yosuke said, ignoring her, "And I'm pretty sure I'm a one-girl kinda guy."

"Yeah, that was weird," Chie interrupted again. "I mean, what?"

Yu nodded, although this was not the conversation he wanted to have with Yosuke, it was what he was getting. "I see," he said. "Look, I saw it too. Two girls, one fighting to protect the other."

Yosuke agreed. "Wasn't romantic at all."

"Well, whatever. It was probably a pirate broadcast or something," Chie said as she bit into her meal. "It couldn't be real."

"My television was unplugged," Yu said. "And something else happened that we weird."

"What do you mean, 'weird'?" Yosuke replied.

Yu explained what happened the night previous, and Yosuke was the first to respond. "You sure, dude? I mean, poor signal is one thing, but sticking your arm into the television? That's just... You sure you weren't dreaming?"

Yu shook his head and was about to reply when the door to the class opened. In walked the Student Council President. "Narukami Yu?"

"Here!" Yu stood up, and the President came over.

"I apologize for interrupting," Dan said with a slight bow to smooth over the imposition, "but I must ask – have you, being her cousin, heard from Midori today? She is not in class."

"No," Yu said. "She wasn't at our uncle's place last night, and I haven't been to her place."

Dan took this in without a reaction. "Thank you," he said finally and left.

"What was that about?" Yukiko said for the first time. "Did something happen?"

"I don't know," Yu wondered aloud. He remembered his uncle's warning, but could not see how the two were connected.

Somewhere Foggy

Midori woke to a pain in her elbow. She looked around, confused at the fog before her memories kicked in. Then before she could do anything more than remember that she shouldn't be here, her elbow spoke up again, this time reminding her that she had hurt it yesterday and now it was time to recuperate.

With a gasp, she cradled her arm with her other one, and checked the injured part. It was a bit swollen, and definitely bruised. "Oh great," she muttered. "Another week without practice." With that bit of frivolity out of the way, she looked around, still not seeing much through the fog.

Which, if anything, was worse, because she was absolutely certain that the fog wasn't this thick yesterday. She couldn't even see the edge of the fake-shrine they were in.

Behind her, she could see Saki sleeping still, curled up in a ball against the donation box. Midori made a mental note to thank the Fox and Amane for this after they got out.

Deciding to let her friend sleep as long as she wanted, Midori stood up to stretch her legs and move around a bit, including flexing her elbow to check its range of motion.

It wasn't great, and she could really use an icepack for it right now. But that wasn't an option, so instead she walked around a bit, careful to keep the shrine in sight. There was still nothing. No sounds save the ones she made on this false stage, and no signs of anything else.

Returning to the shrine, she knelt down and gently poked Saki. "Wakey-wakey!" she sang out like she was talking to a child, not to her equal in age. "Come on, it's time to get up and find a television to get out."

Saki moaned before swatting away Midori's finger. But the younger of the two would have none of that and poked Saki in the cheek again. "Wake up!"

Doing just that, Midori kept herself smiling and the first thing that Saki saw as she opened her eyes. She wasn't about to risk her friend panicking more than she would naturally and doing something stupid like running off. Midori wasn't in the mood to go chasing after her.

And if she got lost in the fog, she had no idea if they could find each other again.

"Midori? Where?"

"Still in the other place, I'm afraid. I went looking for a television earlier," she lied gently, "but couldn't find one. I think we need to step outside what this place is."

"Huh?" Saki apparently didn't get any rest last night. "I thought..."

"Sorry," Midori let her friend down gently. "Not a dream. Which I suppose also makes it not a nightmare either." She reached down to lift Saki up into a standing position. "Stay near me, and watch behind us." Midori offered a hand to hold, knowing full well how physical contact could keep people from bolting.

"Are you sure you can get us home?"

"Well," Midori ran the scenario through her head. "Worst case is we are stuck here until Saturday, I miss my weekly call to a friend. She finds out I've gone missing for a couple days, comes here on Sunday and finds us then."

"How would she find us?" Saki took Midori's hand and held tightly, squeezing tensely.

"She will have her ways," Midori said with a smile. "Besides, Aigis isn't the kind of girl to give up so easy." She didn't feel bad name-dropping her friend, but it gave her hope that rescue was coming, they just had to make it. And Midori would make sure that they did reach that point, no matter what.

"I hope you're right," Saki said, pulling close.

Yasoinaba Police Station
Afternoon

"Has anyone seen Adachi?" Ryotaro asked out loud as he slammed the old phone on his desk back into its cradle. "He isn't answering."

There was a round of negative responses before the Chief Detective came over to his desk. "Detective Dojima?"

"Yes, sir?" Ryotaro stood at attention before his boss. "How may I help you?"

"Locate your partner," the aged mad said. "It reflects poorly on you and the department as a whole with his absence while this case is still open."

Dojima nodded, not letting the implications get to him. "I will head over to his place now," he said. "And I will deal with him and his lapse in professionalism when I find him."

"Good," the chief replied. "I am told that he was last seen here in the station yesterday evening interviewing the witness who found the body. Your niece came by to pick her up, and they went home."

Ryotaro nodded. "Of course. I'll contact Midori after school to have her confirm that."

"Of course," the chief replied. "Now go, and find your junior partner and remind him to take his duties seriously."

"I will," Ryotaro growled.

Somewhere Foggy

It was just the street, and none of the buildings on it had backs to them either. Outside of the false shopping district was a flat plain filled with an impenetrable wall of fog. Midori cursed and glared at it. She wanted to send Frosty out to explore, but had no idea how to get him to relay that information back to her. Sure, he could follow instructions, but she had no idea how to phrase them properly.

And there was still the possibility of being attacked while here. She and Saki needed the protection he provided.

"There's nothing," Saki worried out loud. "No way out!"

Midori responded by looking up at the indistinct light coming through the fog. It must have been her imagination, but the stage metaphor came back when she thought she saw grids in the sky that held lights.

She shook her head of those musings, and returned to the real world. Well, as real as possible.

"No, we got in. We may have just missed it." Midori tried to be reassuring, but didn't feel it. "Come on, we should check again."

After School

"Hey, Yosuke!" Yu called out to his classmate as they headed for the front door. "You got a minute?"

"Sure, man!" The lanky youth stopped to change his shoes. "Can't stay long though, got to head to work. Someone skipped their shift, and I gotta cover." He did well to hide his annoyance at this turn of events, but Yu was perceptive enough to see it.

"Eh, you know what? It's not that important." Yu delayed the conversation again. "I'll see about talking to you tomorrow."

"Sure, man." Yosuke finished tying up his shoes, and headed for the door, his bicycle and another few hours of work.

Yu switched his shoes, then decided to head back to Dojima's place as well. Maybe his cousin simply caught the flu or something? He knew there was a spare key to her place in the front hall, so he could borrow that and check up on her.