Just as they had said, all of his friends (except Kanji) texted him first thing in the morning.
"What are you doing today? Where are we going? Are you looking for a house or a job today? Or both?" Yu sighed; it was too early to make decisions. So, he didn't. Instead he went downstairs for some breakfast and to look at the newspaper. Surely there would be something in there to help him decide. You could see that Dojima had been through the paper first as there were red lines over a lot of the writing. There was, however, one entry covered with highlighter, complete with little stars surrounding it (he guessed that Nanako had put them there). After looking at the entry himself he was sure, it was time to phone the real estate
After the paperwork had been completed and the keys handed over, all that was left to do was to give the place a clean and bring in his stuff. Considering that he didn't have much stuff and the house came with all of the important furniture, he figured he'd clean after getting moved in. the place was for rent, which was ideal as his plans weren't set in stone. It just made things more affordable until he got a steady job.
Dojima and Nanako left him to it, telling him that he was welcome to come over and stay whenever he wanted to. He also got around to texting his friends, telling them that he was busy setting up his new house. He sneakily 'forgot' to tell them the address.
The house was similar to Dojima's though it was slightly smaller in scale and, with a lack of nick knacks and other cluttering furniture, it was actually quite roomy. He now had a home so tomorrow; he would look for a job.
He had just started sorting out the bathroom gear upstairs, when he heard a thunk come from somewhere downstairs. Instantly, he was on edge. He had no spare keys and all of the doors were locked as he was unsure what the neighbourhood was like. He quickly grabbed the nearest 'weapon', which just so happened to be a hairdryer, and quickly made his way towards the top of the stairs. He could hear coughing and the occasional mumble of words and thought it was odd for a burglar to be so noisy. Still, the person was an intruder and should be confronted. Luckily, his courage was high enough to pull this off successfully. He saw a figure in the lounge room and, before asking questions, jumped on them from behind, the intruder letting out a startled yelp. He managed to push the person to the ground and turned them over, brandishing his hairdryer. He squinted his eyes in surprise and suspicion.
"Kanji!?" There was no doubt, it was Kanji, but by the way he was dressed, he started to believe otherwise. 'Kanji ' was wearing a huge police shirt with a hole in the middle, under that he wore what must have been pants, but they were so big they hung off of his lean frame.
"My god, senpai, you surprised me! In fact, I'd say you blew me away." Kanji said in a silkier, more feminine voice than usual, eyeing off the hairdryer before coughing quite violently, a pained look crossing his face. "Honey, not that I don't like being close to you, but you're squishing me." And that he was. It was a surprise the man could breathe at all. Yu got off Kanji slowly, still holding the hairdryer just in case, looking at his intruder quizzically. Then it clicked. The police clothes with the hole in the middle, the feminine voice and attitude and how he got into the house without a key.
"You're Kanji's shadow?" Yu asked to make sure.
"Sure am sweetie. Could you help me up please…" when Yu hesitated he added, "you wanna know why I'm here, right?" Yu nodded. "Well Hun, I'm not going to tell you on the floor." Yu got the point. As he eased shadow Kanji to his feet, he accidentally pulled too hard, expecting more resistance. This Kanji was lighter than he expected. Kanji ended up in Yu's arms panting slightly, leaning heavily on him as his knees seemed unable to hold himself up. He coughed a little before sagging. Yu lifted Kanji into a nearby armchair, feeling a little worried. Shadow Kanji looked about ready to pass out. Maybe it wasn't safe for him to be on this side. Ah...but then Teddie's fine.
"I'm sorry; I'm not what I used to be." He said sadly. "That's why I'm here. I was ever so lucky to have found your TV, god only knows what would have happened if it was Yosuke's!" he pulled a face.
"Do you want a drink?" Yu was more than a bit confused but that didn't mean he couldn't be polite.
"Naw, how sweet." He cooed. "But no, luv. I do need to ask a favour though. It took forever to try and find a way to get here and I kinda need to stay a while. Can I crash with you, pretty please?" he tried to give Yu puppy dog eyes but it didn't look quite right.
"I don't want to sound rude, but I'd kinda like to know what you're doing here before I decide to take up a new roommate." Yu said, sitting in another armchair opposite Kanji. Kanji stared at the ground, looking thoroughly depressed.
"Do you remember when you were in my dungeon, the things I said to your Kanji?" Yu nodded. He could never forget what his friends other sides were like. "Well, I'm afraid Kanji twisted my words somewhat. Ya know 'it's not about men or woman, but being shit scared of getting rejected' kinda thing." Kanji waved his hands about, putting on a mock tough Kanji voice, which again didn't sound right. Yu nodded again. Kanji had said that. "But that is totally not what I meant. Sure, it was a part of the whole thing, but he totally swept under the rug the part about being gay." Kanji crossed his legs effeminately, getting a little caught in his oversized pants before continuing. "At the time I was so tired and he had accepted something in his soul which had been causing him trouble. I kinda figured he'd remember the rest and link things together on his own. That little 'detective' ruined my plans though. It was totally a trap!" Kanji looked insulted. "It just made Kanji even more confused. I know that she may be a good friend, but all other feelings I had for her left as soon as she grew a pair of boobs." Yu was slightly surprised; he'd figured that Kanji was quite open when it came to romance, but apparently not. Shadow Kanji had the facts; this was what Kanji was really like.
"So, what does this have to do with you being here? I know it's a concern but he'll figure it out, as you said…right?"
"I don't think so anymore. Before, he used to take note of his hidden feelings for men and store them in the back of his mind because they were too much for him to deal with." Kanji looked down, his eyes sad. "After he battled with me it changed slightly. Instead he let it, just sort of…go. Like he'd think about it then forget about it, like it wasn't important. Like he was actively saying 'no'." He paused. "Shadows come out because there's a part of ourselves that we hide and refuse to believe in- not because we outright refuse to accept it. A shadow need something to cling to, slowly that side of Kanji will disappear."
"How do you mean disappear?" Yu asked. He was sure that Kanji was okay with who he was. Deciding that he didn't want this to be a part of him, said otherwise.
"It makes it even harder now that Ma is in such bad shape. He doesn't want to let her down and be a bad son. I think that's partly why he's making such a drastic decision. What he is doing is so dangerous though." Kanji was delaying his answer and that made Yu even more worried. "For example, if Naoto decides that she's male, sooner or later she will be, and that can be damaging to both her mental and physical health. She would be forever disappointed, she would lose herself." Kanji was starting to get frantic, his eyes were wide and his hands kept running through his hair. "Kanji…if he denies me, he will never have a good relationship and he will feel forever empty inside. I've seen bad things happen to people who lose their true inner selves, their shadows, their personas." There it was, why he was so distressed.
"What will happen to you?" Kanji sobbed into his hands.
"I will die and he will no longer have the support he needs to get through daily life. He will have nothing and so many people can't stand to live with that." Kanji sobbed some more, his tears dripping down his cheeks and onto the carpet. Yu leaned forward and rubbed his back before starting when kanji choked out from behind his hands,
"The simple fact is, if I die, kanji will follow. It might not be immediate…but he…we… will die."
