Greetings, and welcome to chapter three, Constant Readers! I've been having a blast with this, and I'm glad to see that you guys have, too. This segment of story, which I have termed the "introductory phase," will be over in a couple of chapters or so – it basically covers what makes up the tutorial for the game – and we'll see a little more original content at some point during the Yukiko Arc. I'm going to try and update this on a semi-regular basis, while occasionally drifting back to my other stories (or even starting up new ones), so, basically, this is my main project.

Before we begin, I would like to give a massive shout-out to Theboblinator for giving me a sub-plot to use later on in this story! We've been talking about this quite a bit (I got him into the series, and now we're discussing potential fanfiction decisions for both this and his eventual story), and there are some decisions I've come to regarding this that I just wouldn't have thought of myself. Thanks a bunch, mate!

All that out of the way, I hope you enjoy!


Friday, 15 April 2011

Friday, 15th of April, 2011

I felt better when I woke up that morning. Not normal, but about as close to it as I'd felt in the last few days. And I wasn't feeling ill any more. All things considered, I actually woke up in a really good mood.

There was nothing that really distinguished that morning from any other until we started the walk to school. It was raining again. As usual, Baiko and I left and immediately encountered Yu-san and Nanako-chan as they left their home. We learned from them that Ryotaro left in a rush this morning, so, given what he does for a living, it was pretty reasonable to assume that something was happening. That left me with a rather ominous feeling; I was getting a lot of those recently.

That feeling only got worse once we had separated from Nanako-chan. Yu-san, Baiko and I were walking along quietly when two girls in front of us began gossiping with one another.

"When I looked, I saw three police cars zooming by," said the girl with the red umbrella.

"You live by the police station, don't you?" asked the one with the white umbrella. "Did you hear anything?"

"I heard some yelling, but nothing more. Total disappointment."

"Jeez, you need to pay more attention to stuff like that. How else are we supposed to get the juicy stories?"

Try watching the news sometime, I thought, rolling my eyes. My head snapped to the side – as did Yu-san's and Baiko's – when the unmistakable sound of sirens began emanating from the distance. That ominous feeling got much worse. Something's happened … I became very sure that something bad was going on. It didn't come as much of a surprise, really, given everything that had happened these last few days.

"Something is going on," said Yu-san with as much surety as I felt.

"Yeah," I said in agreement. I swallowed and some of the dread I was feeling vanished. "We should probably head to school quickly. We don't wanna get in the way if they need to come over here for something."

"I second that motion," Baiko said with a shaky tone of voice. My brother could jump from snarky, sarcastic and aggressive on minute, to nervous and quiet the next. I guess he was just emotionally sensitive compared to other people.

Me? If anything, nervousness made my snarkiness worse.

"Let's go," Yu-san said.

We walked to school at a quick pace, but the dread hanging over our heads made it feel like hours.


This isn't a good sign … I thought as I stood in the auditorium. The principal had called a sudden assembly in the middle of the afternoon, which had never happened before. Every single person in that room knew something was wrong, and I was no different.

I was tense, shuffling back and forth on the balls of my feet. My mind kept flashing back to the distant police sirens from earlier, and found myself preparing for bad news. It seemed like everyone was, come to think of it … except for the denizens of the rumour mill; they were too busy chatting, speculating, and bullshitting with each other.

"Hey, did you see it yesterday?" said a girl standing in front of me.

Speak of the devils … I thought with a slight grimace. I really hated rumour mills; they got so many facts twisted up.

"Of course not," said another girl. "… What, is that rumour for real?"

"I dunno," said the first girl, "but it seems like a lot of people have seen it."

"Yukiko said she'd be here after lunch …" Chie-san said tensely. She turned to face Yu-san, Yosuke-san and I; we were all standing near each other, as was the rest of our class. "I wonder why they're holding a school assembly all of a sudden … Hey, what's wrong, Yosuke-san?"

I turned to face the man in question and found that he did look tenser than the rest of us.

"Oh, it's nothing," said Yosuke-san. Surprisingly, he looked a lot calmer all of a sudden. Maybe Chie-san's sudden question had snapped him out of a particularly stressful train of thought, or something.

"If you say so," I said, shrugging. "You looked like you were in extreme stress mode, though, dude."

"Everyone, please settle down," the history teacher, Ms Sofue, who always wore Egyptian Pharaoh headgear and a dowsing rod, said into the microphone on stage. "The school assembly is about to begin. First, the principal has something to say."

That already didn't bode well. While I would normally make some joke about the principal's Gandalf-like beard, if he was coming on to say something specific this late in the school day, something pretty important must be going on. And judging by recent events, it was something bad.

"I … regret to say that I have a terrible announcement for all of you," said the principal in his slightly droning voice. "One of our third-year pupils, Ms Saki Konishi of Class 3 … has passed away."

What? I immediately, almost on instinct, turned to look at Yosuke-san, and the utterly destroyed look on his face made it feel like a brick had just dropped to the pit of my stomach. I had never seen that expression on another person's face before, and I found myself hoping to God that I would never have to see it again. It was an expression of horror, disbelief, heartbreak, and despair, all rolled up into one terrible package. I found myself looking away from him just so I didn't have to see that look on his face any more …

"Passed away …!?" Chie-san gasped from beside me.

I heard Yosuke-san give a sort of strangled gasp, but I still couldn't bring myself to look at him.

"Good God …" I heard Yu-san mutter. The rest of the room was an uproar of chatter and shocked comments.

"Ms Konishi was found deceased early this morning …" the principal continued, and the auditorium went quiet again. "The reasons behind her passing are currently under investigation by the police. If they ask you for your cooperation, I urge you, as students of this school, to provide only the facts."

The chattering picked up again the second the police investigation was mentioned. Frankly, I was surprised they waited that long. I'm willing to bet the gossips were dying to spew speculative bullshit about this.

"All right, please quiet down …" said the principal, trying to regain some semblance of control. "I have been assured by the faculty that there's been no evidence that bullying was involved in the incident. So mind what you say, not only to the police but to anyone who asks …"

"Found dead …?" said Chie-san. "How could this happen …?"

"I don't know, but it's pretty fucked up …" I said. Mayumi Yamano had very nearly been a celebrity when she died – albeit for the wrong reasons – and somehow celebrity deaths had less of an impact on people. But this … this was someone from our town, our home. And now she was dead … Something about someone in our community dying really made this whole thing hit home. I could only imagine what Yosuke-san must have been feeling …

The assembly continued after that; it was basically talking about seeing a grief councillor if the news hit you particularly hard. After it was finished, Yosuke-san still hadn't moved when I left; I gave him a brief, sympathetic pat on the shoulder as I went past him.

Yu-san, Chie-san and I were walking back to our classroom in solemn silence when we overheard a pair of girls talking in the hallway.

"She died the same way as that announcer, right?" one of them said. "That's so creepy …"

"Well, last time, it was from an antenna," said her friend, "but this time she was hanging from a telephone pole. It's gotta be a serial murder case …"

Not unless he kills another one, I thought. Legally speaking, they would only count as a serial killer if they killed at least three people. I shook my head to rid my mind of that strangely off-topic thought. Not the time, Yasuhide, not the time …

"Someone said the cause of death was some unknown poison," said the first girl.

The second girl scoffed. "Unknown …? C'mon, this isn't some sci-fi drama. Oh, by the way, did you hear? Someone saw a girl that looked like Saki on that Midnight Channel thingie. They said she totally looked like she was in pain. Isn't that scary?"

The first girl laughed. "Sounds like someone had a nightmare. The media's been broadcasting their interviews with her non-stop, so maybe they just had Saki on the brain."

The two of them walked off, still chatting.

Now that they mentioned it, the girl Yu-san, Yosuke-san, Chie-san and I saw on the Midnight Channel two days earlier did share some of Konishi-senpai's most basic features. The long brown hair, the school uniform … yes, the similarities were definitely there. But it couldn't have been her, could it? It had to be some kind of weird coincidence …

The ripped posters of Misuzu Hiiragi flashed through my mind, and the strange connection between Mayumi Yamano's death and that TV World came to mind once again. If she was connected to that place, then maybe—

Stop it! I scolded myself, trying to get rid of that train of thought by shaking my head again. Stop thinking shit like that! You're mad, there's just no way …

"Sheesh," said Chie-san as she watched the two girls walk off. My entire thought process had taken barely a few seconds. "It's easy to toss around theories if you're not personally involved …"

"Tell me about it …" I muttered, more to myself than to her.

"Hey …" came a voice from behind us. It was Yosuke-san. He looked tense, but he had a strange air of certainty about him. "Did you guys check out the TV last night?"

"Not last night, no," I said but was thoroughly overshadowed when Chie-san spoke up in a small yell.

"Yosuke-san! Not you, too!"

"Just listen for a sec!" Yosuke-san yelled back, stunning Chie-san into silence. "Something kept bothering me, so … I watched it again, and … I think the girl on the screen … was Saki-senpai."

Shit … I thought. If I wasn't the only one who'd had this thought process, then maybe I wasn't so crazy after all … I couldn't decide whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"There's no mistaking it …" Yosuke-san continued. "Senpai looked like … she was writhing in pain … and then … she disappeared from the screen.

"What …?" Chie-san asked. She looked shocked and interested now.

"You heard Senpai's body was found in a similar situation as that announcer's, right …?" said Yosuke-san. "Well, remember that guy you told us about? How he was all excited because his soul mate was the announcer?"

"That's news to me," I said. I hadn't meant to say it out loud.

"Then you should pay more attention," Yosuke-san told me quickly, then went back to the topic of discussion. "Maybe … Just maybe, but … Ms Yamano might've been on that Midnight Channel before she died, too."

"What's that supposed to mean …?" Chie-san asked. I thought I already knew. "Hold on … Are you saying …?"

"… The people who show up on the Midnight Channel are going to die?" I finished off her thoughts for her. Saying it out loud felt strange, but it had a slightly relieving effect, too, like it had been bursting to get out all along. I sighed and released a chuckle that contained little actual humour. "A little different than showing your soul mate, isn't it?" My voice came out a little bitterly.

"Very," said Yu-san. His breathing was heavy. He seemed to be having just as much trouble with this as the rest of us. "But it makes odd amounts of sense …"

"I can't say for sure," said Yosuke-san. He sounded like he almost hoped he was wrong. "But something tells me … I just can't dismiss it as coincidence."

Chie-san released a shaky breath. I don't blame her; this was a terrifying possibility to consider.

"Plus, remember what that bear thing said?" Yosuke-san went on. "How that place was dangerous, and we should leave before the fog clears …? It also said that someone's been throwing people in there. And that room with the posters on the wall … it has to have something to do with the announcer's death. I mean … don't you think there's some kind of connection there? Couldn't that world in the TV have something to do with Senpai and the announcer's death!? Well … what do you think?"

"You might be right," Yu-san admitted.

"The posters on that wall practically confirm it," I said. "Why would there be so many posters of that enka singer if it didn't have something to do with the whole scandal?"

Yosuke-san's face turned upward a little. "… So it's not just me, huh? If there is a connection, then it's a good bet that the two of them went inside that world. You're right, Yasuhide-san, that'd explain what the posters were doing in that room. Which means … if we look around, we might find a place that has something to do with Saki-senpai, too."

"Yosuke-san, don't tell me …" Chie-san's voice was nervous and fearful.

Yosuke-san nodded in confirmation to her unasked question. "Yeah … I'm thinking about going in again. I want to find out for myself."

"I'm in," I said without hesitating. The others looked at me in surprise. To be honest, I actually rather surprised myself. "This whole thing is really fucked up. The sooner someone puts a stop to it, the better."

Yosuke-san nodded at me, a grateful look on his face. "Thanks," he said.

Chie-san looked at the two of us like we were insane. "G-guys, don't do this!" she pleaded. "You should just let the police handle this and—"

"You think we can rely on the police!?" Yosuke-san snapped at her. "They haven't made any progress on the announcer's case. Besides, even if we told them about the world inside the TV, there's no way they'd believe us!"

"Yeah, sounds like a really cheerful conversation," I said. " 'Oh, hello officer. I'd just like to tell you that the killer kills people by throwing them into the TV. No, he doesn't throw them into it and crack their head on the screen, he literally throws them into the TV. Oh, and there's an alternate dimension inside the TV, by the way. No, I won't be requiring that straight jacket, thank you very much, I'm perfectly fucking sane!' "

The others looked at me, blinking.

"You went off on quite the tangent there," said Yu-san.

"… Sorry," I said, embarrassed. "Sometimes my mouth gets away from me."

"The point still stands, though," said Yosuke-san. "If I'm completely off-base with this, that's fine … It's just … I need to know why Senpai had to die like this." That forlorn, destroyed look was on his face again, but this time I didn't look away.

"Yosuke-san …" said Chie-san sympathetically.

"After what I've seen and what I've put together, there's no way I can ignore it now …" said Yosuke-san. He looked at Yu-san. "Even with Yasuhide-san with me, we can't do this unless you come, too." He looked between Yu-san and I. "I'm gonna go get ready. I'll be waiting for you two at Junes." We walked off in a hurry.

But school hasn't ended yet … I thought, then found myself stifling laughter. Of all the things I could think about right now, that's what I focus on?

"I can kinda understand how he feels …" said Chie-san. "But we can't be sure we'll be able to get out safely again."

"I'm not exactly looking forward to it, Chie-san," I said. "Hell, going back in there is about the last thing I want to do. But the fact that we can go in, that we can try and find out who's doing this and stop them, pretty much means we have to. As inappropriate as it might be to quote comic books in a serious situation, I think Spider-Man sums up the situation perfectly. 'With great power comes great responsibility.' "

"Y-yeah, but …" Chie-san was hesitant.

"I'm going," Yu-san spoke up. He looked at me. "We'll both go in with Yosuke-san. If there's even a chance we might be able to stop this, we should at least give it a try."

I grinned at him. "I knew there was a reason I liked Yu," I said.

His eyes narrowed at me. "Oh, ha-ha," he said in a deadpan. "You're a comedic genius."

"I try," I said with a shrug. I looked in the direction Yosuke-san had gone in and saw no one there. "Anyway, we should probably get going if we want to be at Junes for the meeting time.

Yu-san nodded at me, and the two of us took off, neither of us caring that school was still technically in session.

"H-Hey, wait!" Chie-san called out, then began to chase after us.


When we arrived at the Junes electronics department a little while later, Yosuke-san was already waiting for us. I knew immediately how seriously he was taking this. He had a long length of rope tied around his waist, he was holding the rest of it circled in his left hand, and he was holding a large golf club in his right. He saw us coming, and his face lit up with a smile.

"You guys came …!" he said happily.

"We came to stop you, idiot!" Chie-san told him.

"No, Chie-san came to stop you," I said, jabbing a thumb in Chie-san's direction. "I'm ready to head on in and get something done."

"C'mon … you guys really shouldn't do this," Chie-san pleaded. "It's too dangerous."

"I know …" said Yosuke-san. "But we were able to come back once, right? If we go in from the same location, maybe we'll meet that bear again."

"We'd better," I said. "As far as we know, that bear is our only way of getting out again."

"And that's exactly why 'maybe' isn't good enough!" said Chie-san.

I cringed slightly as she used my own statement to argue against us.

"Look, I can't just act like everyone else and pretend this has nothing to do with me," Yosuke-san told her.

Chie-san hesitated. "That's true, but …"

"What about you two?" Yosuke-san asked, turning to Yu-san and I. "Could you guys just walk away?"

"You know I can't," I said. "Sitting around and going about my usual business knowing full well that I could've done something to help … I just couldn't do that."

"… I'm worried about Chie-san," said Yu-san. "We can't walk away, but that doesn't mean she can't. I'd feel uncomfortable dragging her into this if she doesn't want anything to do with it. There's no sense in putting more people in danger than we have to."

He definitely brought up a good point. I found myself nodding with what he was saying.

"Yeah," Yosuke-san agreed, "it'll just be the three of us." He looked to Chie-san. "Don't worry, I'm not going in without a plan. Chie-san, I'm leaving you in charge of this." He handed her the end of the rope that wasn't tied around his waist.

"Huh?" said Chie-san. "What's that? A rope …?"

"We'll go in with this tied to me," Yosuke-san explained, "so I want you to hold on to this and wait here."

"Wh-What?" Chie-san stuttered. "Then, this is a lifeline? C'mon, wait a sec …"

"Sounds like a solid plan to me," I said. I didn't voice my concern that Chie-san wouldn't be able to lift all three of us. I was trying my best to be optimistic about our chances of running into that bear-thing again.

"Here, Yu-san, this is for you," Yosuke-san said, handing Yu-san the golf club. "I thought it might be better than going in empty-handed." He looked between us all. "All right … let's go. There's no use wasting any more time." He looked at Chie-san with an expression of utter seriousness. "Chie-san, whatever you do, don't let go of that rope!"

"We'll be fine," I said to her, smiling as best as I could. "There's three of us, Yu-san has a golf club, and you're here in case we get into too much trouble. What could go wrong?"

"Probably everything now that you've said that," said Yu-san.

I glowered at him. "Thanks, Yu-san, I was trying to go out on an optimistic note." I sighed. "What are we waiting for, an engraved invitation? Let's go, already."

The three of us approached the TV despite Chie-san's protests, and Yu-san put his hand in first, allowing Yosuke-san and myself to climb in before him. That strange square vortex and the sensation of falling overcame me, and before I knew it I was once again colliding with the ground of the strange TV studio. Yosuke-san landed at about the same time I did, and Yu-san dropped in barely a moment afterwards.

"Owww …" Yosuke-san groaned.

"You can say that again …" I grunted as I stood up, rubbing my rear from when I'd landed. I looked around to check where we were, as did the other two.

"Is this …?" said Yosuke-san.

"It would appear the theory was right," I said. "We came out in the same place."

"So they are connected from place to place!" Yosuke-san said, grinning.

"Lucky us," said Yu-san. He was smiling, too.

I had a bit of a grin on as well, as it happens. It looked like everything was going about the way we'd planned it.

"Y-you guys …" said that familiar, strangely high-pitched voice. "Why'd you guys come back …?" The bear-thing approached us from out of the fog, a look of curiosity, surprise, and slight anger on his face. He stomped his foot on the ground in apparent rage. "I get it! You're the ones behind all this!"

"You're that thing from last time …!" Yosuke-san realised, then his mind seemed to catch up with what was going on. "Wait, what the hell did you just say!?"

The bear-thing turned its back on us before speaking again. "Lately, I can tell someone's been throwing people in here. It's making this world more and more messed up …" He turned back to us. "This is the second time you guys came here. And I don't think anyone forced you in. That means you're the most suspicious! You guys must be the ones throwing people in here!" He released a noise that I'm vaguely sure was supposed to be a roar, but it wasn't even remotely threatening enough to be recognised as one.

"Don't label us like that," said Yu-san in the closest thing to an angry tone I think he's capable of.

"Yeah, you little shitbag!" I said. I felt hot anger flush my body. How dare this little bastard accuse us of being killers? "I don't know where you think you get the right to accuse us of stuff like that, but you'd better put in a complaint, because you have no fucking idea what you're talking about!"

"Exactly!" Yosuke-san agreed. "What are you talking about, 'throwing people in'!? If someone was thrown in here and they couldn't get out, they might die! Who would do such a—"

The light bulb lit up in my head at around the time Yosuke-san cut himself off. What if that was what was meant to happen? What if someone had thrown people into this place with the intent to kill them? It would basically be the perfect murder; no one would be any the wiser to the things they had done. It made so much damn sense, in fact, that I felt a chill move up and down my spine like some kind of grotesque snake …

"Wait a sec …" Yosuke-san said. "All this talk about someone throwing people in here … does he mean Saki and that announcer? Did that 'someone' throw those two in here?"

"That must be it," said Yu-san. "It makes the most sense."

"And if it wasn't them, then our being here becomes kind of obsolete," I said. "Which would be a good thing, don't get me wrong, but I just don't think we're that lucky."

"Yeah …" Yosuke-san said, sighing. "If only we didn't have to worry about it …" He looked back at the bear-thing. "Let's assume he's telling the truth …"

"Except the whole 'we're the ones behind it' thing," I said.

"Right, apart from that," said Yosuke-san. "Could it be that someone's throwing people in here, intending to kill them …?"

"It's becoming more and more likely the more this conversation continues," I said.

"If that's the case …"

"What're you guys mumbling about?" snapped the bear-thing. "Why'd you come here, anyways!? It's a one-way door! You can't get out once you're in! Remember? How I had to let you guys out?"

"Yeah, whatever," Yosuke-san said dismissively. "We don't need your help this time! See, this time we have a lifeli—" He lifted up the rope that was tied to his waist … and we all saw that the end had been cut off. "What!?"

God fucking DAMMIT! I thought, groaning, as I looked at the cut lifeline. Of course, I just had to say What could go wrong? didn't I? What the hell had been running through my mind to think uttering a forbidden phrase was a good idea? I bet Chie-san was freaking the fuck out right about now …

Yosuke-san turned to the bear-thing with a glare. "H-hey! You better let us out once we're done investigating here!"

"Pretty please," I said, more politely. I thought it better not to antagonise our only means of escape.

The bear-thing growled in frustration. "I'm the one who wants to investigate!" he snapped. "I've lived here for a long time. But it's never been noisy like this till now. Do you have proof!? Prove to me you're not throwing people in here!"

"It doesn't really work that way …" said Yu-san.

"See!" said the bear-thing. "So it is you guys!"

"No," I said, growing very irritable. "It's not. Here's a question for you: How would we go about proving we didn't do it, eh? If you can tell us that, then maybe we can do it, then you can stop spouting absolute bullshit."

"Don't bother, Yasuhide-san," Yosuke-san said before the bear-thing could get a word in. "We've got nothing to prove to him." He looked at the bear-thing. "Hey, you better answer our questions. This isn't like last time, when we came here by accident. We're dead serious! Listen up, 'cause people have died in our world … Every time the fog appears, a dead body shows up with it. It has to be related to this place somehow! If you know something, tell us!"

The bear-thing tilted its head inquisitively. "A dead body?" he asked. "Whenever the fog appears …? I know that if it's foggy on your side, the fog lifts here. It's really dangerous when the fog lifts. That's when the Shadows get violent."

That last part confused me. Shadows …? What the hell is this bear on about? I could barely see my shadow, it was so foggy in this place. Hell, I could barely see my feet.

"Ah … I get it …" said the bear-thing suddenly.

"Huh …?" Yosuke-san said in confusion. "If you get it, then explain it to us, dammit! If it's foggy on our side, it isn't in here …? Shadows get violent …?"

"That's why I said to hurry back!" the bear-thing said. "It's dangerous when that happens! Okay, no more questions. I know you guys did it! You better stop right now!"

"We've told you and told you, we're not the ones doing it!" Yosuke-san yelled.

"We're here to stop it, you stupid little …" I huffed, breathing deeply, trying my best not to lose my temper.

"I've about had it with you …" Yosuke-san said to the bear-thing. "Why the hell won't you listen to what we're saying!?"

"I-I'm just saying … you might be the culprits," said the bear-thing, now looking nervous. "I'm just making sure …"

"What …? Man, this bear's driving me nuts …" Yosuke-san sighed. "What is this place, anyways? It looks like a TV studio … Is something being filmed here …? H-hey, don't tell me … is that weird show being filmed here!?"

"Weird show? Filmed?" asked the bear-thing. "What does that mean?"

"Uh … I'm asking if someone's been filming the people that get thrown in here."

"… I don't get it."

"Okay," I said. "Filming is when someone … saves an event so that it can be watched again. Think of it like … like having a way to watch your memories."

He looked like he understood a little better, but was still confused for the most part. "No one has ever done that filming thing here," he said. "This world has always been like this."

"Run that by me again," said Yu-san.

"Only me and Shadows are here!" the bear-thing snapped at him. "I told you before!"

Yosuke-san groaned. "We don't know what these Shadow things are! Or what you are either, for that matter! You keep telling us to prove our innocence, but you're the most suspicious thing here! Maybe you're the real culprit! And what's with that stupid costume!? I'd say it's time you showed your face!"

"Yosuke-san, I really don't think—" Too late. He was already on the move.

Yosuke-san walked over to the bear-thing, wrapped his arms around his massive head, and began struggling to pull it off his shoulders. For a little while, I didn't think it was going to come off. Then, with a resounding pop!, the bear-things head sprung off … but there was nothing inside. It was like a big, empty mascot costume, there was absolutely nothing inside of this damn bear. No person in the costume, no internal organs to keep him going, no brain (which would actually explain a lot) …

"Whoa!" Yosuke-san exclaimed, dropping the head in shock. He took a fearful step backwards. "Wh-what the hell are you …? I-it's empty inside …"

The headless bear-thing began blindly moving around, his arms stretched out in front of him. It would have been rather comical if it wasn't also incredibly unsettling. As Yosuke-san and I stared blankly, almost fearfully, at the headless creature, Yu-san went over and picked up the head. He then went over to the body and placed the head back on.

The bear-thing shook its head rapidly, then looked at Yu-san. "Thanks, mister!" he said gratefully. Then he froze and a sad expression came over him. "Me …? The culprit …? I wouldn't do such a thing … I just live here …"

He says, acting like nothing just happened, I thought, then had to stop myself from chuckling aloud.

"I just want to live here peacefully …" The bear-thing sounded forlorn. I could see that this situation was really stressing him out. I don't think any of us had the heart to say anything else overly negative to him after that. He looked up at us after a while, and, strangely, he smiled at us. "Okay, I'll believe you guys aren't the culprits. But I want you to find the real guy who did all this. You have to stop him. Promise me, or else … I'm not gonna let you guys outta here."

Yosuke-san began to look angry again. "Y-you little …!" He was seething.

"This can't keep going on!" the bear-thing cried. "My home here will be a complete mess! And then … and then … I …" Then he burst out actually crying, tears streaming down his face despite the fact that I'm pretty sure he doesn't have tear ducts.

"Wh-what are you crying for all of a sudden …?" asked Yosuke-san. "Jeez, this thing's really weirding me out …"

"What's the big deal, though?" I asked Yosuke-san. "He's asking us to find the guy that did all this and stop him. Isn't that literally what we came here to do?"

"Y-yeah," Yosuke-san admitted hesitantly. "But that's not the point! He's blackmailing us!"

"Into doing something we were going to do anyway," I said calmly. "Why fight it when you know we're going to do it anyway?"

"Yasuhide's right," said Yu-san. "It's directly in line with our own desires."

"You're the only ones I can ask," said the bear-thing miserably. "Will you promise me …?"

"I promise," said Yu-san.

"Yeah, let's go stop this guy," I said.

The bear-thing looked between the two of us; I could have sworn his eyes were sparkling. "Th-thank you!" he exclaimed in joy.

"Damn bear …" Yosuke-san glowered. "Practically holding a gun to our heads … But … it's true that we came here to figure things out. So far, we're completely in the dark. Look for the culprit, huh …? Bring it on! You got my word, too. Might as well introduce ourselves … I'm Yosuke-san Hanamura, and these are my buddies Yu-san Narukami and Yasuhide Kusuhara. You got a name?"

"Teddie," said Teddie-san.

Yosuke-san groaned, and I nodded my head. "Appropriate," I said.

"But how are we supposed to find the culprit in the first place?" Yosuke-san asked after he had stopped cringing at Teddie-san's name.

"I dunno," Teddie-san said, shrugging. "Oh, but I know where the last person came in."

"The last person …? You mean Saki-senpai!?" Yosuke-san almost sounded hopeful, and that was actually quite saddening. I didn't know what he was hoping for, but I sincerely doubted he was going to find it in here …

"I mean the person who came in and disappeared last time," said Teddie-san. "I don't know the name. I'll take you there. You might find clues. Oh, one thing first. You three should probably put these on." He handed the three of us a pair of thin-framed glasses. Mine was black and sort of square-shaped.

"What are these glasses for?" Yosuke-san asked.

I put the glasses on, and … the fog just seemed to vanish around me! The landscape looked much the same as we had suspected, the only real difference being the red and blue square tiles that surrounded the circle with the chalk outline-like shapes on it.

"Whoa …" I said with a shaky breath.

"Whoa!" Yosuke-san mirrored my own statement. "The difference is like night and day. With these on, it's like the fog doesn't exist."

"They'll help you walk through the fog," Teddie-san explained.

"I would think so, too," I said as I looked around in wonder. These things were amazing. "I kinda wish they were like spy movie sunglasses so we could look really badass when we're on the move."

"… Well, I've been here for a long time," said Teddie-san. "So you can rely on me!"

"Thank you very much, Teddie-san," I thanked him in earnest. "These things are going to make this much easier."

"You're welcome!" Teddie-san said cheerfully. Then he began to look awkward and nervous. "But, er … I can only show you where the place is. You guys will have to defend yourselves."

Well … that certainly went downhill pretty fast.

"From … what?" I asked. "These 'Shadow' things you keep talking about?" His repeated talk of these "Shadows" was making me slightly nervous. "Shadow" was a pretty ominous name, to begin with, but with the way he kept talking about them, it seemed like they were something to be feared. And that didn't bode well.

"What happened to relying on you!?" Yosuke-san asked him aggressively. "Th-there better not be any monsters! You understand!? We brought weapons, but I mean … they're more for show!"

"A weapon, Yosuke-san," I said. "Singular. And Yu-san has that one. You, me and Teddie-san are pretty much defenceless."

"You're really not helping my confidence in the situation, Yasuhide-san," Yosuke-san said to me with a glare. He then turned this glare to Teddie-san. "We just got here! If it's so dangerous, why don't you do something instead of relying on us!?"

Teddie-san shook his head way too cheerfully. "Uh-uh. No way. I've got no muscles. Oh! Oh! I'll give you guys moral support from a safe distance!"

"Oh, you're so sweet, Teddie-san," I said in false gratitude. "I'm sure that's going to be so useful if we're getting torn apart by monsters!"

Suddenly, Yu-san walked toward Teddie-san. He reached out a hand, extended one finger, and lightly poked Teddie-san … who went tumbling backwards and landed on his back. He began rolling around on the floor, wailing for help. I suddenly lost all remaining confidence I had in the situation. This was our guide? Really? I began to fully resign myself to the possibility of dying in this TV World, and I inwardly cursed whatever deity may have been watching for making this guy our only means of escape.

"I-is this thing for real!?" said Yosuke-san in exasperation.

"Apparently." I released a sigh. "We'd better not fucking die in here, or, I swear to God, I'm gonna haunt his ass in the afterlife."

"We swore to find the culprit, and this is all the backup we get!?" Yosuke-san continued to rage.

"… Oh yeah," said Teddie-san suddenly. He stopped rolling around on the floor, and there was an expression of curiosity on his face. "Can I ask you something? Who's this Saki-senpai person? Someone you know?"

Yosuke-san's face fell and he tensed up a little. Nobody really spoke. I felt sympathetic, so I decided to save Yosuke-san the pain of answering. "Not really a great question to ask, Teddie-san," I said. "For now, all you need to know is that we need to find out what happened to her in here. Okay?"

"… Okay." I'm not sure Teddie-san fully understood why it wasn't a great question to ask, but he didn't talk about it again.

Yosuke-san gave me a nod of gratitude, then spoke again. "At least now we know Senpai might have been thrown in here. Maybe we can find more information, too. Let's get moving, guys." He started walking, and so did Yu-san, apparently forgetting about the fact that our guide was still unable to stand up.

"W-waaaait!" Teddie-san shouted, flailing his arms and legs in the air.

I sighed, walked over to him, and grabbed his arms. One swift tug later and he was on his feet again.

"Thank you," he said.

"No problem," I said. "I thought it would be best to not leave our only means of finding our way around here rolling around on the floor."

We got moving, and it turned out that the other two were waiting for us only a few feet away. Teddie-san took the lead rather enthusiastically, and we began our travels through this TV World in surprisingly good conditions.

Maybe this would go our way, after all.


This shit takes creepy to a whole new level … I thought as I looked upon the area Teddie-san had brought us to. It was a familiar area, but at the same time there was something unnatural about it. The place Teddie-san had brought us to was an exact replica of the shopping district. And the sky … the sky was like a red and black swirling vortex. Jesus Christ … this is like something from Silent Hill.

"What is this place …?" Yosuke-san asked. "It looks just like the shopping district …"

"It feels wrong," I said. I felt a certain revulsion for this hellish imitation of my hometown. "It looks the same, but it's like it's been … twisted, or something. I don't like this …"

"Some weird places have appeared here recently," said Teddie-san sombrely. "Things are getting so tangled, I dunno what to do …"

"You mean this place just appeared?" I asked in disbelief. "That's not possible." But I already knew how stupid saying that was. In a world as strange as the one I was in, of course it was possible. But this place … this place was weird. This place was wrong

"Uh … Teddie-san, why are you standing so far from us?" Yosuke-san asked. I looked, and Teddie-san was, indeed, standing at least ten feet away from us. "You better not be planning to high-tail it if something does come up."

"Of course not!" Teddie-san denied fervently. He began to blush in – I assumed – embarrassment. "I mean. Uh. I can't stand too close, you know. I'd get in your way …"

"Uh huh …" I said, unconvinced, with an eyebrow raised. I sighed. "Whatever. We weren't exactly expecting much defence from him, anyway."

"Man, they really went all out on this …" Yosuke-san said, looking around in awe. "But out of all the places in town, why'd they replicate this one?"

"How should I know?" asked Teddie-san. "This is reality for the one who's here."

Yosuke-san sighed. "As usual, nothing you say makes any sense …" His face lit up in realisation. "But if this is our shopping district, we're not far from Senpai's …" He took off running before finishing whatever he was about to say. Yu-san, Teddie-san and I followed, and we stopped when Yosuke-san did, just outside a store called "Konishi Liquors." "I knew it …!" Yosuke-san said. "This is the liquor store that Senpai's parents run. Does this mean … Senpai disappeared here?"

It certainly looked the part. Like every other part of the area, this looked exactly as it did in our world. But the door was open, and rather than seeing inside, there was a vortex just like the one that made up the sky, red and black and sinister as all hell. Just like the door to that room in the motel place …

"What could've happened …?" Yosuke-san asked.

"I don't know," said Yu-san. "But something about that red portal … It's terrifyingly inviting."

Now that he mentioned it, there was something about that red and black vortex that made me want to walk through it. I don't know if it was just my curiosity about what had happened, or if its difference to the rest of the stores in the street was what had me wanting to see inside, but something about that thing said Walk through me …

Yosuke-san nodded at what Yu-san said, then began to walk toward the building.

"W-wait a second," said Teddie-san frantically. He sounded really scared. "Th-they're here!"

" 'They'?" I asked.

"What?" said Yosuke-san.

"… Shadows," Teddie-san said. "I had a feeling they were going to attack …!"

Just as he finished speaking, a strange blue mask with a frown on its face appeared to come through the vortex. It dropped to the floor, followed by a black mass of ooze that I assumed made up the body of whatever the hell this thing was. A second joined it a moment later, and the black ooze expanded, forming arms on their "bodies."

Yosuke-san stepped backward and fell to the floor. I began to slowly walk back towards Teddie-san. Yu-san stood stone still, like he wasn't bothered by this at all, though the expression on his face told me he was just as freaked out as we were.

The things – which I felt I could safely assume were these "Shadows" – moved forward, and then seemed to jump into the air … where they floated. They rolled into balls of black goo with their masks showing, then began to change colour. They became giant white balls with disorganised black stripes covering them, and a giant red mouth grew on both of them, the massive tongue sticking out and licking the lips; the mask was on the back. They were hideous – hideous and terrifying.

Yu-san tensed up for a moment, then put a hand to his forehead like he was in pain. When he took his hand away from his head, he was holding a … Tarot card? He turned it over in his hand, and it started glowing luminescent blue.

"What the hell …?" I muttered as I looked at it.

Yu-san looked down on it, then started to speak. "Per … so … na!"

The card in his hand exploded into a ball of bright blue flames! He held it out in front of him, closed his hand, and a torrent of the blue fire exploded outward. The Shadows completely ignored Yosuke-san, Teddie-san and I, and went toward Yu-san instead. Yu-san yelled and the blue flames spread to behind him, where they exploded and increased in size once again.

Behind Yu-san, amidst the bright blue fire, there now stood a large figure. It looked very metallic, in a strange metal helmet and wearing a large black coat with dark red insides over what I presumed to be more armour. It wore fingerless gloves on both of its hands. It carried a very large spear in its right hand.

One of the two Shadows licked its lips and charged at this figure once the blue flames had died down. Yu-san raised a hand in front of him, seemingly aiming it at the Shadow, and the figure behind him raised its spear and shoved the sharp end forward, impaling the shadow directly through the mouth. It swung the spear around, and the Shadow went flying off it.

The other Shadow, coming from behind, slammed into the figure's back. Yu-san visibly double over, and then turned with a yell of "Get off me!" The figure swung around with its spear, and the sharp end cleaved right through the Shadow, chopping it in half. The Shadow exploded into some kind of black smoke, which dissipated almost at once.

The other Shadow, the one which had been impaled through the mouth, came flying back toward the figure at a rapid pace. Yu-san looked at it with a glare. "Izanagi!" he yelled, and the figure pointed its free hand at the Shadow, whilst holding the spear back, and shot lightning out of its hand. The lightning struck the Shadow, which then became nought but black smoke just as the first one had.

The figure seemed to flash before dissipating. In its place was that Tarot card from before, which floated down and seemed to … enter Yu-san's chest, emitting a light blue glow.

"Whoa!" Yosuke-san exclaimed. "Wh-what was that!?"

"Whatever it was, it was fucking awesome!" I said. It was weird and scary, but it was absolutely amazing at the same time. Holy shit, I'm pretty sure Yu-san just killed a couple of monsters …!

"Persona," said Yu-san, smiling. He looked down at his hand, the one the card had first appeared in. "This power … it belongs to me." He looked at Yosuke-san, Teddie-san and I, and chuckled.

" 'Persona'?" said Yosuke-san. "What was it— I mean, what did you do!? Hey, you think I can do it, too …?"

"I doubt it," I said. "As cool as that was, and as much as I would love to be able to do that, I can't for the life of me think of how."

"Calm down, you two," Teddie-san scolded us, walking over and standing by Yu-san. "You're troubling Sensei!"

"S-Sensei …?" said Yosuke-san.

"Well, good news, Yu-san," I said, grinning. "Apparently Teddie-san's in love with you all of a sudden."

Teddie-san turned to Yu-san, stars in his eyes. "Gosh almighty!" he gushed. "You're amazing, Sensei! I am one impressed bear! I can't believe you were hiding such an amazing power! No wonder the Shadows were scared of you!"

Were they? I asked in my mind. They didn't look too scared to me …

Teddie-san gasped dramatically. "Are you the one who's able to bring people into this world?"

"I didn't throw them in here, if that's what you're asking," Yu-san said humorously. "But I did bring Yosuke-san and Yasuhide-san with me."

"Hah!" Teddie-san said. "That's what I thought! This is really something. Don't you two think so?" he asked, looking at Yosuke-san and me.

"Oh, most definitely," I said. He wasn't wrong. Yu-san had done some pretty amazing things in the last two days alone.

Yosuke-san approached Teddie-san with a look of irritation about him. He roughly pushed Teddie-san over. "Dude, you call him Sensei and then don't show us any respect!?"

Teddie-san, who had been pushed over so roughly that he bounced back up again, looked sad. "Sorry …" he apologised.

"It's fine, Teddie-san," I said. "Yosuke-san's just being a bit of a sourpuss because Yu-san got magical superpowers and he didn't."

"Sh-shut up!" Yosuke-san yelled at me. He cleared his throat, then looked at Yu-san and said, "Anyway, you keep it up, and I think we'll be fine from here on out. Now let's get back to the investigation!"

The three of us moved to walk through the strange portal, but stopped in our tracks when voices began resounding from all around us.

"I wish Junes would go under," said the voice of a woman.

"It's allI because of that store …" said another.

"Wh-what the …?" said Yosuke-san.

"Aaaand this just got creepy again …" I said under my breath.

"Oh, I heard that Mr Konishi-san's daughter is working there," said yet another woman's voice.

"Oh my …" said another voice. "How could she, with her family's business suffering like it is …?"

"I heard their sales have gone downhill because of Junes."

"S-stop it …" Yosuke-san muttered.

"That poor father … to have his own daughter working for the enemy."

"What a troublesome child …"

"Hey … hey, Ted!" Yosuke-san said. "You said that this place is reality for those that are here, right!? So … does that mean this was Saki-senpai's reality when she wandered in here …?"

That would be awful … I thought to myself. I felt real sympathy for Saki Konishi-senpai in that moment. Had she been hearing these voice just like we were? I couldn't even picture how that must have felt … and Yosuke-san must have been taking it harder than any of us … This place is evil, I decided. This place is just pure fucking evil.

"I … only know about what's over here," said Teddie-san apologetically.

"Fine …" said Yosuke-san. He turned to face the store once again. "Whatever's going on here … we'll find out ourselves!"

And with that, the four of us went into the imitation of the liquor store. Not one of us realised how differently we would see all of this when we came out again.


I know, I'm an asshole for cutting it off there, sue me! I just thought that Yosuke's Shadow should be shown in a separate chapter, that's all. I know it's short compared to the other chapters, and I apologise for that. I hope you guys enjoy this, because I actually worked through a small spat of illness to get this to you.

As always, to answer some reviews before I leave.

pyrojack25: Yeah, shit's gonna get intense. The Persona 3 project is still in its very early stages, but I can tell you that Minato is going to be the version of the protagonist I use, and he's going to be paired up with Aigis – the plan is to pair my OC with Yukari.

DarkLord98: Yeah, but that's the problem, I like pretty much all of them (the game is really good at getting me attached to characters I wouldn't normally like). And it's not like the games haven't done it before; "The World," "The Universe," "The Jester," and "Hunger" aren't even in the Tarot deck.

Theboblinator: It's good to have you here, buddy! Don't worry, you'll pick it up as it goes along (and you'll have a better understanding now since you've been watching SuperJeenius' playthrough and the animé). Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I apologise for giving you ideas … though I am in no way sorry that I may be reading a Persona 4 story of yours in the future.

Jacob Deitz: "The World" Arcana actually is used in Persona 4, but only if you get the "True" ending. And even then, "The World" Arcana is a little too, well … plot specific to be used on an OC character.

SlowpokeIsAGamer: Hey, so I'm not the only one? Sweet! I use it because I don't have a Playstation Vita, but I want to use The Golden for the story. It's certainly good to see that someone appreciates my writing style this much. I don't know it that's a word, but I think it's about as close as we're going to get to an actual term for the people of Inaba. I know that Yasuhide seems to be there too much, and I'm sorry for that, but I want to kick the story into gear before I really start to set him loose. No, it's a card I've just made up; don't worry, I won't be using the plot specific cards. When I say Baiko has become more central, I don't mean he joins the IT; you'll see what I mean when the time comes, but he's certainly more central than I originally planned him to be. I'm probably going to have it set in the same universe – that's the beauty of sequels with different stories and characters; you can do stuff like that.

As always, leave your thoughts in the review section if you would be so kind, and I'll see you all next time!