Finally! The long awaited update. I'm sorry I kept you waiting. But I'm back. It took me a while to write this chapter so I hope you like it. Please read and review!

And thank you so much for the reviews. I appreciate it

Enjoy!

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My Other Self

Chapter 3

Currently, Yosuke was working, feeling tired and ready to home. Lately, he had opted at taking more shifts at the Junes store, his dad needing help because the part timers hardly ever showed up, such seriously irked the boy to no end. So he had taken their shifts. It wasn't so bad, Yosuke concluded, at least he was making more money, and, by taking these extra shifts, it took his mind off of things. He didn't have much of a social life anyway, well, not really outside the investigation team.

Yosuke signed.

His mind wandering towards his best friend.

They hadn't seen much of Souji lately, and it worried the head phone wearing boy. Usually they would always hang out, but Souji had become more distant. He wondered what was going on with his friend. Souji hadn't said anything to them, then again, Souji never really talked about what was on his mind. However, things were becoming distinctly more odd.

He left the back area and sent to go clean off the tables. There was a particularly large mess a one of the tables by where the gang usually sat. "Dammit." He wiped it down, mind still wandering. He wished this day would be over with. After this, he should call Souji and try and talk to him. And that's another thing, Souji had made no attempt at calling him either.

All this happened shortly after Kanji's shadow.

Shaking his head, he tried to think of something else for the moment, figuring he'd just call his best friend after work, which he'd be getting off in the next hour or so.

The next hour passed, finally able to call it a night. Clocking out, Yosuke went and grabbed his jacket and walked out of Junes.

As he was walking along the road of the shipping district, a sudden noise startled him. He quickly snatched out his phone from his pocket and blinked, seeing who the caller was.

"Chie?" Yosuke started, confused on why she'd be calling him at this time.

"Hey, Yosuke." Chie sounded strange. "Have you heard from Souji today?"

Yosuke thought. No he hadn't. Souji had been doing a steady job of blowing him off lately, and they'd hardly spoken more than a few words here or there. "No. I was getting ready to call him though."

He heard the thing woman sigh. "I'm worried. No one's heard from him all day."

Now that was weird, Yosuke thought, mind working overtime. His partner worried him. He knew things were a little off with his bed friend, but they didn't know what. Souji tried to do a good job of hiding how he felt, but his friends could see through him, and they all knew something was up.

"Hmm. Have you tried calling him yourself?" What a stupid question. Obviously the girl had tried, or she wouldn't be so worried. And he knew it was a stupid question the moment the words left his mouth.

"Yes, Yosuke. I have!" Chie sounded exasperated. "Or I wouldn't be calling you!" She had a point. Chie never usually calls him like at, he checked his watch, ten thirty at night, not unless it was about the midnight channel.

"Right," Yosuke sighed, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, adjusting his head phones around his shoulder. "He's probably fine."

"I hope so." He heard her let out a long breath. "Just…he's acting odd. And he's got us worried."

In truth, Yosuke hadn't gone a day without worrying for his beloved leader. In fact, he'd like to think he was worried the most. "Well, I'll try and call him. I'm sure he's probably asleep or something." Yosuke tried his best to assure her, or maybe himself?

"Okay, let me know if you talk to him."

"I will," the brunet said to her.

"Okay." She hung up and Yosuke sighed.

He quickly dialed Souji's number, hearing the ringing.

Then, to his surprise, and relief, there was a click and someone answered. "Hello?"

He sighed in relief. "Hey, man."

"Yosuke?" The voice of his friend sounded surprised.

He noted the Souji sounded like he'd just woken up. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"No, it's fine." He heard the other boy let out a sigh.

"We were worried about you." He bit his lip.

Souji blinked. "Why?"

"Well no one's heard from you all day, man."

"Oh…" He trailed off. "I've just been busy." It was a poor excuse and Yosuke knew it.

"Partner, is everything okay?" He decided to just be blunt.

There was silence on Souji's end for a moment before the other boy spoke.

"Yes. I've just had a lot going on." Which was partially true.

"You know you can talk to me, right? I mean we're partners, man." He could almost hear Souji smile.

"I'm fine, Yosuke," he said in a vain attempt to assure him.

Yosuke sighed again. Getting anything out of the boy was hard. He didn't want to pry, but he knew there was more than what Souji was telling him. He knew Souji well enough to know. He'd like to think he was closer to him than the rest of their friends.

Yosuke hesitated, trying to voice some of his thoughts. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Souji said firmly.

Yosuke sighed again, almost at his home, which was coming into view actually. "A—alright," he relented. Souji was stubborn, and he knew he wouldn't be getting anything out of the other boy. He stopped on his door step, fishing out his keys, unlocking the door, and stepping inside.

"I have to go. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

The head phone wearer frowned. "Okay. "I'll talk to you later, man." The line went dead, Yosuke starring at it for a few moments before he finally snapped it shut. He didn't like being shut off like that.

He knew when Souji was lying.

Sighing, he made his way to the bathroom, finding himself in need of a long hot shower, as his mind was still currently on his best friend, who was being quite vague with him lately, and Yosuke hated it. They were partners; best friends, so why wouldn't Souji talk to him?

Yosuke was frustrated.

He wanted Souji to talk to him, tell him what's bothering him. He was obviously hiding something from them, anyone who knew the boy could that things were a little off.

Sighing, he stepped into the hot shower, closing his eyes, letting the water loosen some of the tension in his body. He'd been working so much lately, his whole body ached. But that didn't stop him. He knew he couldn't let this stop him from what he needed to do, so he got passed it. He couldn't let a little pain stop him.

He had a job to do on top of being employed at Junes. Yosuke smiled at the thought of Souji helping him a couple of times, in need of some help because those part timers didn't like to show up

Usually he'd do it by himself, but sometimes it'd get pretty busy.

Then Yosuke frowned, letting the water rain down on his already soaked hair.

Chie had been really worried when she had called, and he didn't blame her. He was just as worried, if not more so.

It was pretty odd for him to not talk to any of his friends, Yosuke thought. Things were becoming more obvious to the music lover the more he continued to think about it.

Finally, he just sighed, turning off the water, resizing that it'd gotten cold, and got dressed for bed. He needed a good night's sleep, it'd help to take his mind off things, if only for a little while.

With that last thought on mind, he drifted off to a much needed sleep.

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"Did you talk to him last night?" was the first thing he heard as he sat down in his seat in class the next day.

Yosuke nodded, frowning in thought. "I did."

Chie looked eager to hear what more he had to say. Leaning in close, she waited.

He pursed his lips, thinking. Sure, he had talked to the other boy last night, but that did nothing to ease his mind, knowing there was something wrong. He hadn't gotten much out of him last night, however, as uneasy as he still was, he couldn't help the relief he felt hearing him last night.

"He said he's just been busy and not to worry," he settled for saying, pausing to gauge her reaction.

"Not to worry?' Chie huffed. "We're his friends! Of course we're going to worry."

"Chie, he's probably just overworking himself." That was Yukiko. "But you're right, we're his friends and we worry about him."

He looked at the raven haired woman. "That's all he pretty much said."

Just then, the topic of their conversation came trotting through the door, but stopped when he noticed eyes on him. Cocking his head, he frowned. Why were they starring at him like that? "What?"

"Nothing." Yosuke watched as their friend took his seat in his usual spot in front of Yosuke. "You okay man?"

Souji just nodded.

"Hey, I got the day off," Yosuke tapped his shoulder to get his attention. "Wanna hang out after school?"

Souji turned in his seat and bit his lip, wanting to say yes, but instead saying, "I can't," which caused Yosuke to frown.

"Why not?" Yosuke asked, regarding his friend with an odd expression on his face.

Souji just shrugged, causing Yosuke to move his hand. "I already have plans," he said by way of explanation. Turning around in his seat, he left the conversion at that.

He saw Chie give him a worried look, along with Yukiko. But he just shook his head.

The whole class Yosuke was too distracted to focus on his work, opting instead to have his mind trail to his best friend. Why was Souji always blowing him off? Weren't they friends? Friends didn't just blow you off like that.

"Mr, Hanamura, what is the answer?"

He looked up at king moron, fidgetting nervously. This would be the time where Souji would whisper the answer to him, but looking at him, he heard nothing from the other.

"I, Uhh…"

"That's what I thought," Moron sneered. "If you'd pay more attention to this class instead of starring at Seta, you might get something right!"

Yosuke could feel his face heat up in utter embarrassment, feeling humiliated. Sinking lower in his seat, Yosuke tried desperately to hide his blushing cheeks. He saw Souji turn in his seat, and that made it even worse.

"Now start paying the fuck attention," he barked out, resuming his lesson.

He hated the bastard.

Finally, after what seemed too long for Yosuke, the bell for lunch rang, and Yosuke sighed in relief. "Wanna eat together?"

Souji hesitated, but slowly nodded. Together they went off to have lunch.

"Hey, guys, mind if I join you?" Kanji asked as he came out, deciding he'd rather eat with his Senpai than those dumbass first years.

Yosuke nodded when Souji didn't say anything, and he saw Kanji frown. "Senpai, you okay?" He sat next to him.

Souji snapped from his inner thoughts. "I'm fine."

Kanji just starred at him for a moment longer, deciding whether to point out the fact that it didn't look like he touched his food. "Are you gonna eat that?"

"Huh?" He blinked. Looking down, he suddenly realized he hadn't touched his food. "Yeah." He looked over at Kanji, who's mouth was watering. "Would you like some?"

Kanji was only to happy to agree. "Yeah!" He took the offered bento box from his Senpai, noting that the boy did make quite a bit.

Yosuke snorted. "Careful man. You're eating like a pig."

"I af nof," Kanji spoke around the food in his mouth, some bits hanging around his lips.

"Right," Yosuke chuckled. "You got some on your face."

Kanji glared, wiping his mouth. "Shut it."

Souji shook his head, letting himself smile for a second. He looked to his best friend and bit his lip. Maybe he shouldn't haven't agreed to this

"—this girl," Yosuke was saying, drawing Souji's attention to him.

"What?"

"I was saying, I don't know about this girl." Yosuke have him a look.

"What girl?" Kanji decided to ask.

"I don't know. I think she likes me or something?" He didn't realize what those words did to Souji, who was looking anywhere but at him.

"You gonna ask her?" Kanji's tone was playful, also unaware of the tension rising in his leader

Yosuke shot a look to his silver haired friend, noticing the sudden change in his demeanor. "I-" Souji cut him off fast.

"I have to go. I'll see you back in class." He got out of there in a hurry, ignoring the calls of Yosuke to bring him back.

"What did I say?" Yosuke questioned, a little alarmed at how fast Souji left.

Kanji looked just as confused, innocently tilting his head back to look in the direction Souji had vanished. "I don't know."

"That was weird, " Yosuke muttered, then louder he said, "I'll talk to him."

Kanji nodded and stood up. "Ugh, I think I wanna skip the rest of the day."

Yosuke shook his head. "You better not."

"I didn't say I was going to," Kanji said, rolling his eyes. "We should head back."

Yosuke nodded and gathered his things, both boys making their ways back to their respective classes

Inside the room he saw his best friend, who didn't even bother looking up from his desk, obviously finding something on it more interesting. He sat down in his seat. He began to open his mouth to once again ask if Souji was alright. But before he could, a loud voice stopped him.

"Alright, you little maggots, shut the hell up and pay attention!"

Everyone went quiet. And the lesson began.

Did he mention how much he hated that asshole?

Souji was doing his best to avoid his friends gaze. He couldn't take it. When Yosuke brought up a girl, it felt as though his heart was being ripped out. He didn't like the thought that Yosuke, his friend, his partner might go out with a girl. It crushed him. That's why he bid a hasty retreat.

He didn't want to think about it. He couldn't handle the thought. He couldn't focus on his work now, mind not letting him. This class couldn't be over fast enough for Souji.

Yosuke glanced at him, unaware of the turmoil going on inside his head. Well, he knew something was up, but as for what, he had no idea. And the way he left them on the roof like that, only strengthened his suspicions.

Tapping his pencil on his desk, Yosuke leaned back, ignoring Chies's questioning look.

Finally, the final Bell rang, and the students couldn't escape fast enough. "Partner?"

Souji stilled, his bag on his shoulder, walking to the door.

"Are you okay? Why'd you leave the roof like that?"

"I just came back to class."

Yosuke looked doubtfully at him.

"Look, I have to go. I will talk to you later, Yosuke," he said, making his exit before Yosuke could voice his protests.

"What was that about?" Yukiko queried.

"I…" he paused. "I don't even know. " Yosuke just frowned at the empty, mind wondering. "Well, I guess I'm gonna head off.

"Okay. Keep an eye on Souji. I don't know what's bothering him, but he needs us."

She was right.

And Yosuke needed his partner. He nodded. "Okay."

"Come on, Yukiko, I'll walk you home."

Yukiko pretty lips smiled. "Okay. I'd like that."

Yosuke nodded to them as they left, also making go way out of the classroom.

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I've been writing this for a few days and I finally finished the long awaited chapter. And I'm sorry it took so long. But I hope you ask still enjoy it. The next chapter won't take as long. And I'm thinking of new stuff to write for this pairing or Souji and Kanji. I've grown to like that pairing a lot lol.