Thankful that the rain hadn't continued into the next day, I walk to school with thousands of questions on my mind. Why was Yamano killed? Why did the killer hang her from an antenna? Why did no one catch him/her doing such a thing? What was the lady's cause of death? All these questions weighed me down as I walk with a gait slower than usual. The biggest weight on my mind, however, is how Dojima is refusing to tell me anything. I know that I'm not on the case, but a little bit more information would be quite nice.
A loud sound from up ahead interrupts my thoughts. As I reenter reality, I am met by the bottom end of a man rolling around in a trashcan. "S-Someone…," the voice from speaks with a faint echo. Rushing to the man, I awkwardly help him out. It's the student I met yesterday, the one Chie kicked. He jumps back on his bike. "Whew, you saved me. Thanks! Umm…"
"Are you okay?" I ask as he seems to have lost his words.
"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. The bike is too, thankfully." He glares at me. "Hey, you're that transfer student, right? The one Chie and Yukiko were talking to?" It seems he recognized me.
"Yes, right. I'm Naoto Shirogane."
"Yosuke Hanamura. Nice to meet ya." He gives me a playful grin that, coming from a boy my age, makes me feel uncomfortable. "Anyway, we should probably start walking again or else we'll be late."
"That would likely be for the best." We both walk as he pushes him bike alongside us.
"Say, did you hear about that incident from yesterday? They found that announcer lady hanging from an antenna!" He sounds somewhat too happy to be talking about murder. "You thing it was some kinda warning? There's no way something that weird could've been an accident."
"I've been thinking the exact same thing. Sadly, I am having trouble getting more information."
"Seriously though, dangling a dead body over a roof like that… That's just messed up."
"Also a waste of time. There must be some kind of message that I'm just not seeing in this." Soon after the words leave my mouth, we walk through the front door of the school.
"Well, I've got to get to class. See ya!" Before I can even respond, he runs off. I hurry as well; sure nothing good could come of me being late to Mr. Morooka's class.
After another full day of classes, I'm starving. I spent the entire lunch period asking other students for information about the murder and came up with nothing in return. I decide to quickly return to the Dojima residence to eat something out of the fridge. Once I had finished putting everything away I my bag, I rush to the door that leads to the school yard. On the way, I run into Yosuke. "Oh, hey, dude," is all he says.
"Hello, Yosuke-senpai."
"So, ya headin' home?"
"Yes, actually."
"Yeah, I figured. There really isn't much to do out here. But hey, ya hungry?"
"What do you have in mind?" I question him.
"Grilled steak, man. I know a place where you can get it cheap. Wanna come? You helped me out this morning, so it's on me."
"Oh, there's no need to do-"
"What about me, huh? No apologies?" The sudden voice surprises me as I had no idea Chie was anywhere close to us. "My 'Trial of the Dragon.'" Didn't Yosuke already promise to pay her back?
"Urgh… You always come around when I'm talking about food…" Yosuke doesn't sound very happy.
"Right, Naoto-kun? Don't you think he should treat me too?" Why did she suddenly involve me?
"I don't know. I'm not even entirely sure he needs to treat me." I answer honestly. Even so, she chooses to ignore it.
"Come on. We should get going." Chie has a very demanding voice and yet it still sounds incredibly squeaky.
"Huh? Do I seriously have to treat two people…?" Yosuke sounds distressed.
"No, it's fine. I can pay for myself" He really shouldn't have to pay for her.
"No, it's fine." He sighs. "Let's go."
To my disbelief, the place Yosuke leads us to is not some shop in the shopping district, but Junes, the local department store. "THIS is the cheap place you were talking about!?' Chie exclaims, attracting the attention of everyone around us as we all climb into the elevator. 'They don't have grilled steak here!"
"Yeah, well, once you hopped aboard the freeloader train, I had to change my plans." Yosuke presses the button that should take us to the roof.
"Still, that's no reason to take us to your place." We collectively step out of the elevation, squinting at the sudden light. You're place? What does she mean by that?
"Dude, this isn't my place or anything." I give Yosuke a confused look. 'Oh, right. I haven't told you yet, huh? My dad's the manager of this place."
"Oh, so you get a discount, then?"
"Yep. Anyway, you two can sit down while I get us some food." He takes off while Chie and I take our seats at a round table near the center of the food court. As soon as he is out of hearing range, Chie suddenly starts talking really fast.
'So, have you heard anything about the case from your detective guy?" Her sudden loud voice throws me off, but I answer calmly.
"No, he still refuses to talk about, unlike the rest of the town. Sadly, no one else has useful information."
"Still, I can't believe something like this actually happened!" Like Yosuke this morning, she sounds far too excited.
"Still, even though, I love a good case, I was hoping for things to be less wide for a little bit." I look away from Chie and over to Yosuke, who is waiting patiently for the food.
"Oh, right. You must have stuff like this happen around you all the time." I look back to the girl.
"Yes, but in those times I was investigating, not slaving over news feeds." I sigh. "It feels weird to be on this side of things." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Yosuke pick up a single tray and walk over to us.
Once he sat down and gave us our food, the conversation began to revolve around small talk. Because that is practically speaking a foreign language to me, I remain quite while eating the surprisingly delicious food. In my peripheral vision, I see a girl wearing a Junes apron sit down at a faraway table. Yosuke notices as well. "Hey, it's Saki- senpai! I'll be right back." Yosuke almost runs over to the girl.
"Is that his girlfriend?" I ask Chie. She chuckles.
"Haha, he wishes. That's Saki Konishi. Her family runs a liquor store in the shopping district. I think she's working her part time, though." The two of us stare at the two intensely.
"Hey, how's it going? You look beat." Yosuke asks the girl. He's not wrong. She only looks half awake.
"Heeey! I'm finally on break…" The girl, Saki, says. How hard are they working this girl? "What's up Hana-chan? Boosting the family business by bringing your friends here?"
"Madam, you wound me!" Technically he should have said Mademoiselle. "Kidding aside, you look down. Did something happen?"
"…It's nothing. I'm just a little tired."
"Hey, if you need to talk, I'm always willing to listen. I…" Saki cuts him off.
"No, it's fine. I'm okay." She sighs. "Why'd I leave school early yesterday…?" Wait, she isn't… She randomly looks in my direction. "Hey… is that the new transfer student?" She piped up a bit somehow and walks over to me. "Are you the transfer student? Oh, did you hear about me already?" Is she hitting on me or something? Why did her attitude change so suddenly? "Anyway, it's nice to see that you're making friends with Hana-chan. It's kinda weird though. I don't see him hanging out with many guys." How rude is this girl?
"I don't see anything wrong with that." I defend him.
"I know, I was just joking around." She looks at the clock on the wall. "Well, my breaks almost over. Back to work I go… Laters." Without giving any of us a chance to say goodbye, she walks off. As Yosuke sits back down, the two of them get back to small talk. I tune most of it out until they switch to a topic that peaks my interest.
"You ever hear of the Midnight Channel?" Chie asks, phrasing the question as if she's a TV saleswoman. "You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night. While you're staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen and they say that person's your soulmate."
"What? For a second, I thought you were going to say something useful. How can you get so excited over a childish urban legend like that?" Yosuke teases.
"Childish, huh? You don't believe it, so you!?" Chie defends.
"Of course I don't."
"Well, it's raining tonight! Let's all try it out- then you'll see!" When did I agree to this?
"Wait, you haven't even tried it yourself? Wow, I'm trying to remember the last time I heard something this stupid." He shakes his head. "Anyway, let's talk about something else. Like that incident. DO you guys think it was murder?"
"Oh course. What else could it be?" I speak for the first time in forever.
"Oh no you don't! don't go changing the subject on me like that!" Chie turns the conversation right back around. "All I'm saying is, you guys better try the Midnight Channel tonight."
"Fine, whatever, I'll do it." Yosuke finally agrees.
"I can't think of a reason why not." I also agree.
"Great, let's do it!" Chie yells.
After a good amount of time has passed, we all go our separate ways. On the way back to the house, I pick up a book at Yomenaido Bookstore. A good hour is spent reading before Nanako calls me to diner. She looks even more depressed than yesterday. I sit down across from her and begin eating. "Did your father call and tell you he'd be late?" I ask. She shakes her head.
"No. He always says he will…" The door slams open behind me, making me jump slightly. "Oh! He's home!" Dojima walks through the door and goes straight for the couch.
"what a day…" he mumbles. "I'm back. Did anything happen while I was out?" Nanako answers before I can.
"No. You're late again."
"I'm sorry… Been busy at work."
"That's okay. I understand." I assure him. He doesn't respond.
"Can you put the news on for me?" He asks. Nanako quickly obeys.
"Next, more details in the developing story on the incident in foggy Inaba. Announcer Mayumi Yamano's dead body was found hanging above a house in this isolated rural town. It had been revealed earlier this week that she had been involved in an affair with Taro Namatame." The anchor goes on into details involving the affair. I continue eating until the announcer finally regains my interest. "We now bring you an exclusive interview with the student who found the body." This should be interesting. The screen changed from the announcer to a blurry face.
"What went through your mind when you saw it? Could you tell she was dead? Did you see her face?" says a new voice that sounds more excited than Chie and Yosuke combined. Wait, is that the girl I met before, Saki Konishi? They did not do a good job of hiding the face.
"Umm," the girl on the other side of the screen has no idea how to answer any of the questions.
"Don't you think it's scary that someone was killed on a foggy day?" Why is he asking questions like that? The questions only get weirder and more off topic from there. Even as the regular announces come back, no more interesting topic come up. As Dojima seems to have fallen asleep, I take that as a sign that I should hear back to my room.
One finished book later, it is 11:58 PM. I let out a yawn as I wait of the last two agonizing minutes to finally be over. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. The sound of heavy rain comes in from the window. The clock ticks away until it is thirty seconds to midnight. I stand up to get closer to the TV. Once it finally hits midnight, I get the exact result I expected. Nothing.
As I turn away to my futon, I hear a sudden static. Quickly rushing back to the screen, I'm surprised to see it somehow turned on. Unbelievable. The next thing I know I am show an image of a school girl flailing around on the screen. It is too blurry to make anything out. "What the…" I mumble, having no idea what to think.
"I am thou," a voice says in my head. What is this? "Thou art I" Who are you "Thou art the one who opens the door" The pain in my head is unbearable. I fall down to my knees. Regaining the ability to stand, I feel myself drawn to the television. Without any control of my own body, I raise my hand and push it into the screen. I almost scream as I see my hand enter the screen as if it were just water. Just as quickly as it goes in a strange force attempts to pull in the rest of my body. Soon I find my entire head and neck submerged, the only thing stopping the rest of my body from entering being the tiny size of the television. My only free had struggles to free myself. Once it finally does, the momentum sends the back of my head flying towards the edge of my table. I need to bite my tongue in order to stop myself from screaming.
"Are you okay…?" I hear someone yell from the other side of the door. Nanako? Oh no, I must have woken her up.
"Yes, I'm fine," I yell back as the pain in my head proves the opposite to be true.
"Okay."
"Just go back to bed," I order her.
"Well, goodnight." I can hear her run back to her room. Good, she believed me.
"What just happened?" I mumble sleepily. I should just go to bed. And I do just that.
The next morning, I walk to school once again by myself. I could barely sleep last night of a large number of reasons. Even as I walk I have a hard time focusing on the world around me. Strange thoughts and memories of that voice echo through my head clouding every thought I have. Once I reach class I am still just as out of it as I was previously. After class my mind is a bit clearer knowing that I will have a chance to talk about it soon. The people around me are continuing to gossip about the murder. How many times can they continue to talk about the exact same thing? Before I can leave the room to travel to my senpai's, I am stopped by one of my classmates. Aoto Sugimoto. I only know his name because he is called on so much my the teachers when they catch him zoning out.
"Hey, Shirogane." His voice doesn't sound very inviting, but I deside to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Hello, Sugimoto-san. Is there something you wish to discuss?"
"You're a detective right?" he asks, taking me off guard.
"Yes, but ho-"
"Tell me about the murder thing."
"I- I'm sorry." What makes him think I know anything?
"I'm pretty damn sure you heard me." His voice is putting me on edge, but I respond to his request.
"I apologize, but I am not on this specific case so I know just as much as you do." He balls his hands into fists. This can't be good. The man hushes to grab me as I pull away.
"TELL ME SOMETHING YOU-" He is cut off by another man grabbing his extended arm and pulling to away.
"Leave the girl alone! If she says she doesn't know anything, she doesn't know anything!" Looking at my defender, I remember him as the man on the first day of school in the biker outfit, which he is still wearing now.
"Hey, dude, get off-" My attacker cuts himself after he sees the body connected to the arm grabbing him. "Oh, I'm sorry dude. Please forgive me."
"Huh, whatever, man. Just get out of my sight." Sugimoto proceeds to run out of the classroom. Before I can even thank him, the punk man leaves as well. Once I regain my senses, I do as well.
Entering the second-year classroom, I find it to be almost baron. The only two people still inside are Yosuke and Chie, the two I can to meet. "I apologize for the wait."
"Uh, h-hey Naoto-kun." Yosuke says with an unusual stutter.
"Hey, did you two hear the rumor going around?" Chie cuts in, not even bothering to say hi to me.
"What rumor?" I ask curiously.
"Saki-senpai's supposedly the one who found the body." Wait, isn't that obvious. The news didn't do that great of a job hiding it.
"I wonder if that's why she looked so down…" Yosuke says miserably.
"By the way," Chjie looks around for listeners even though we all know that we're alone. "did you see… it… last night?"
"Huh, well, y-you first."
"I did! I seriously saw a girl! But… does that mean my soulmate's a girl?" Chie proceeds to describe the girl she saw. Wait, the girl she is describing sounds like the same person I saw. From the look On Yosuke's face, I can tell he's thinking the same thing.
"Hey, that sounds like the person I saw."
"Me too," I agree.
"Wait, we all saw the same person!? How does that work?" Chie sits in thought. "Does that mean we have the same soulmate?"
"Most likely not," I correct her. "That would defeat the whole idea of soulmates. The most plausible explanation is that the rumor we heard is slightly off."
"What do you mean?" Yosuke asks.
"The time we can view the channel was correct, but the reason behind who we see if different."
"Have any ideas?" he asks.
"I have yet to figure that out." I think to myself for a moment. Should I tell them about what else happened last night? Would they even believe me if I did? Well, if Chie believed in the original legend, she is more likely to believe that Yosuke. I guess I might as well, they've already seen TV screens turn on and show a bunch of people the exact same image.
After much internal debate, I tell them about what happened. As I say more, their faces show more and more doubt. Once I finish, neither of them had any idea what to say. Yosuke was the first to speak. "are you sure you didn't just fall asleep or something?"
"That'd be one interesting dream, though. I like the part where you got stuck 'cause your TV was too small. That's pretty realistic." That's about the result I expected. Somehow, the topic of televisions reminded Chie of something. "Ohh, that reminds me. Our family's been talking about buying bigger TV. Yosuke, do you think you could hook us up."
"I can try. We've been beefing up our electronics department this month."
"Yes, awesome! Let's go!"
"We've got some pretty big ones in stock." He nudges me in the shoulder. "I bet you'd be able to fit into them, hehe." Now they're making fun of me. How immature can one person be?
After that disaster, we all head over to Junes with me once again being the third wheel. Once we get there, they both completely ignore me. As Chie continues to complain about the prices, I become very tempered to leave. While they talk, I walk over to one of the larger TVs on display. Maybe if I stick my hand in now and prepare myself I won't fall in. It will also prove to them I wasn't seeing things. Without much more thought, I swiftly push my hand through the screen, once again creating ripples.
"Oh yeah, Naoto, what kind of TV do you-" The strange sight steals his words.
'Huh?" Chie has yet to see. "Something wrong, Yosuke?" I hear her gasp as she finally turns around. Now they are both struggling for words. After a few seconds of shock, they both run to my side. "You gotta be kidding me… Did you really stick your hand through the screen?"
"Oh man…" Yosuke sounds like he might start hyperventilating. 'That's some magic trick. Come on, what's the magician's secret!?" It seems he is still in denial. Maybe this will prove the point even further. I now stick my head in. "H-Hey, don't do that! What are you doing!?"
"Oh my god!" Chie screams.
"There's nothing but empty space inside," I tell to them.
"Wh-What do you mean inside!?" It seems he still doesn't understand. They both continue to freak out on the other end. I can barely hear them though. I think Yosuke said something about having to pee. Really, now is not a very appropriate time.
"Oh no, I think I hear costumers!" I hear Chie exclaim, followed more bickering. I try to pull out, but before I can I feel a force from the outside force me in, this time my whole body.
"WHOA!" I think I hear a voice say, but it is drowned out into the void the three of us now find ourselves falling into.
Authors note
Hey, look, I'm posting two days in a row. Yeah, this is what happens when find myself with nothing to do all weekend. This is also my longest chapter yet. Anyway, I don't really have much to talk about right now when it comes to the story. I think next chapter will be Yosuke's shadow battle, so stay tuned for that. Until then, sayōnara!