Prepair yourself for... THE MIDNIGHT CHANNEL.
7th SCENT: MYONAKA T.V.
After school like they planned...
The four of them met up again at the gate after school for the promised study session at Junes. He wasn't working there today, so Yosuke could enjoy a beef stick and soda, and maybe catch sight of Saki Konishi if she was working the late shift. Seeing her always made the day shine brighter, even if it was raining.
Occasionally, the conversation drifted into a zone he was comfortable with, and he'd add his own comments here and there, but mostly he just listened as they walked.
A subtle motion in the trees to the side of the road caught in his peripheral. His pace slowed, though the others continued on, and he sniffed the air. The wind carried a scent he recognized, though was unable to put an identity to it. He exhaled when that short boy from this morning strode into view.
"Dude, you scared me," he chuckled. "That was kinda like a little horror movie thing you did just then with the tree and the sudden appearance out of nowhere."
The boy in the blue hat simply stepped forward, gradually pushing the other back toward a slide-wall. "You slipped up when that third year walked by you in the food court yesterday."
"Wh-what?"
"You'd better pray no one else caught that."
"Now you're creeping me out." He bumped up against the wall. He was trapped.
Naoto stared him down for a moment, looking into his eyes, then leaned back slightly. "You really don't remember, do you."
"Remember what?" He raised his hand defensively to push her back. "Look, just ease up? Don't make me hurt you."
She snorted. "Right. You'd never hurt me. You protected me."
"When have I ever done that? We've never met before!"
"When the shadow attacked me. I was hurt and you tried to fight it off with... wind, I believe, though it's hard to recall. It was right before we were taken."
"Fought what? Taken where? Dude, you're on a train to crazy town, and you're not taking me with you, so screw this."
She slammed her hand against the wall to block him when he tried to walk away. "What do you remember of the Red World?"
He paused. Those were just dreams. How could she possibly know about his one reoccurring nightmare? "The hell are you talking about?"
She stepped forward, further taking away his personal space as her insistence spiked. She didn't have time for games. Her tone of voice changed, and it felt like their conversation became more in depth, more clear, and more natural. "The place where the sky swirled with black and red ink, and a fog consumed everything and everyone."
"You were dropped on your head as a baby, weren't you-"
"There were shadow-like creatures and monsters howling in the distance with piercing yellow eyes-"
"-You're crazy-"
"-and only one sense radiated from them: The desire to eat you."
"You're out of your mi-!"
"Yosuke! What do you remember about the box?!" She was in his face, yelling for the first time.
"What box?!"
"Ugh, you idiot! Stop playing dumb with me! You're a fox demon!"
Yosuke stared at her in disbelief. He licked his lips, taking a risk. "...How do you know about that?"
"Because I was in that box with you. We came here together."
He was speechless.
She smirked. "So," she backed up. "At least you remember that."
A long moment of silence lingered between them. She glanced to her feet, then to his face, reached up, and slipped the hat from her head.
His eyes widened when it revealed two dark blue cat-like ears. "You're...the other one. You're the cat." Memories of that event flashed through his mind like cut film from a silent movie. It was in pieces, but the cat demon that spoke to him in the box while he was fighting severe fatigue was definitely her. There was no mistaking her smell. He smiled. "That was you at school today. Haha!" He bounced in a tight circle. "I knew I wasn't alone. I knew someone else should have been there at the Shrine with me. I could feel it, but I couldn't remember. But... Why are you dressed like a boy?"
"It's a long story. Whatever that man did tried to take my memory, too, but I fought it. I refused to forget. I bet you also didn't notice we haven't been speaking in a normal language for most of this conversation, either."
Yosuke realized she was right. He'd been so riled up, he didn't recognize when they had switched from using the common speech of Inaba to the sounds, emotions, and words of the first language he ever learned.
"You need to work on control." She'd slid into the spoken language easily and put her hat back on.
"That's what my parents said," he switched to match her.
"Have you reverted back to your true form since you changed?"
He exhaled. "No."
"You haven't done it since? How long?"
"About two weeks. I'm not allowed. What about you?"
"My parents encourage me to change at will. Your Bonded should let you be who you are."
"My Bonded? No, that doesn't sound kinky at all."
She rolled her eyes. "It's the title for the one who named you, idiot. Do you know nothing?"
He opened his mouth to answer when another voice cut into the conversation. "Hey," Yu walked up to the two, keeping his tone friendly. "We're going to have to pay for the food if we get there last."
He looked to the other and nodded. "Ah, that's right. We were just talking."
Naoto's sharp eyes flicked from one to the other. The air between the Human and the Fox Demon hummed with a similar comfort she felt between herself and her mother, Mrs. Shirogane, though it was stronger. "I see." She nodded knowingly to the 2nd year. "Excuse me?"
Yu shifted his attention to the short first year student.
"Did you name him?"
"And, look at the time!" Yosuke tried to shove Yu down the sidewalk. "We should go study now before it gets too late." He laughed nervously.
His friend deftly moved out of the way, causing Yosuke to stumble forward. He regarded the student calmly. "If you mean stupid nicknames, I have plenty."
Naoto smiled. "Nevermind. Yosuke. I will talk to you tonight. Your house. Be home." And with that, she turned and walked back down into the shopping district.
Yu arched an eyebrow curiously. Only one other person had asked him that question before, so the fact that another had done the same unnerved him. "Well. That happened."
Yosuke hesitated. He trusted Yu with his life, but wondered if the other demon would want her secret shared. He bit his lip, and hung his head. "Crap, I didn't get a name."
They walked up the road. Yu remained silent the whole time, though he still wanted an answer.
Yosuke rubbed his palms against the inside of his jacket pockets. "Dude, cut it out."
"Cut what out?"
"That thing you're doing. Knock it off."
"I'm not doing anything."
"Exactly! You want me to tell you what that other kid and I talked about, but I can't lie to you." He grumbled.
"You were going to lie to me?"
"Yes. No." He sighed. "I wasn't going to answer your question at all, but you keep doing that thing."
"Again; not doing anything."
"Yeah, so stop it." Yosuke frowned and glared at the grass along the side of the road.
A wicked thought crossed Yu's mind. Apparently his friend could sense when he wanted an answer, though he wasn't going to press the issue. He hadn't bothered with seriously applying any of the knowledge he'd learned about animal demons before now. Why not test it with something simple and harmless? Not that he would ever use his friend in that manner, of course –that would be morally wrong. He just wanted to know if it worked. "I came back to get you because I couldn't shake the sense that something was wrong." Which wasn't a lie. He thought back to one specific page in the book Yukiko had given him, locked eyes with the other, and spoke. "Tell me what happened."
"..." Yosuke sighed in resignation. He couldn't fight the urge to answer him truthfully anymore. "She confronted me about what I am, because..." He grimaced. "She's one, too." He looked to his friend, begging him to keep this a secret.
"She's an animal demon?"
"Yeah. A cat. She was in the box with me."
"I thought she was a boy."
"Nope. Dunno why she's dressing like one."
"But, you were alone at the Shrine."
He nodded. "I knew she'd been there. It made me believe I hadn't always been alone even though I couldn't remember why. Something made me forget her and the Red World until she opened her big cat mouth."
"What's the Red World?"
He fussed with the headphones around his neck. "It's this stupid nightmare I keep having where I'm running away from these solid black...blob-things trying to eat me. It honestly scares the crap out of me, an—Why am I telling you this? Can we stop talking about it now?"
"Ok." So, that's what must have attacked his friend that night nearly two months ago when he was called to the Hanamura residence. He suddenly recalled his uncle mentioning having to deal with a cat-girl at the police station. It wasn't hard to pin together that the one Yosuke spoke of was her. He left it alone for now.
"Another demon," Yosuke chuckled. "I thought I was the only one."
They walked on in silence for a while. He hadn't intended on giving Yu any kind of answer beyond 'I don't know,' and kicked himself for spilling the beans so readily. It was probably because he trusted the other completely, but something nagged at him to ask. "What did you do just now anyway?" Yosuke finally broke the quiet.
"I gave you a direct command. According to the book Yukiko gave me, and what your mom said, the one who names an animal demon has the ability to control that demon. I just wanted to see if it was true. Apparently, it is."
Yosuke jerked to a halt. "What?! Whoa, whoa, back it up. You can freakin' control me?! Dude! What the hell?!"
"Obviously I wouldn't. You are your own person." He stopped. "You were honest with me, so I'm being honest with you."
"No! That's just... No!" He paused. "Have you ever done it before?"
He paused. "Maybe once or twice."
"Once or twice?!
"Calm down."
Yosuke took a few deep breaths. "Like when?"
"Just now. Once when you tried to eat off my plate. When you tried to eat Nanako's science project. When you'd found a sheet of bubble wrap at midnight. When you'd discovered a katana in the Hanamura's hall closet. When-"
"Ok, ok, I get it." Yosuke snapped his hand up. He remembered each of those instances –especially the one about the swords. He'd never heard Yu shout a warning that explosively before, or seen him move that fast to catch the blade when it fell. The little fox felt the powerful will to obey that came with every order, though it had never been malicious or forceful. He'd always just felt like he wanted to. "That's seriously wrong. I don't like that. Don't ever use that..."
"Compulsion."
"...compulsion thing on me again. Ok? It's kinda deh.. ..."
"Demeaning?"
"Yeah, that. I've only been speaking this language for a month, so, sorry if I don't know all the... um..."
"Grammatical minutia?"
"Yeah, that."
"Fair enough."
They entered Junes and took the elevator to the rooftop food court. "...You're tempted, aren't you."
Yu just tilted his head upward slightly to stare at the number over the elevator.
Yosuke slugged him in the shoulder. "You're lucky we're friends. I am one-hundred-percent done with revelations for a while."
The doors slid open, and the two walked out to meet the girls at their table. Yosuke spotted the beautiful wavy hair of Saki Konishi in the distance, and smiled. His day improved exponentially. Tomorrow, he would ask her to share a beef stick with him after school.
"Hey, did you hear they found a body this morning?"
He paused just before sitting down at the table. A group of girls were talking next to a slushie stand behind them. His ears weren't visible, but his hearing was still sharp.
"Yeah, it's all over the news. That reporter, Miss Yamano, right?"
"Wow, I can't believe it. A murder. That never happens. I think she was on that weird channel, too. Did you see that?"
Yosuke refocused on the group at the table as the girls wandered away with their slushies. "Hey," he spoke up. "Did you guys hear about what happened this morning?"
"Besides you making a dork out of yourself on your first day of school?" Chie sipped on her soda.
"You mean Miss Yamano?" Yukiko opened her book for the study session. "She'd been staying at the inn. Reporters and police were all over the place asking questions. They said she was found hanging. Something like that has never happens here."
Chie frowned. "That's freaky. I hope we don't have a serial killer on the loose. How'd you hear about it?"
"It's all over the news," Yosuke repeated what he'd heard. Though he hadn't seen it himself, it was a good cover. "I watch a lot of TV."
Chie tore at a beef stick. "Hey! It's going to rain tonight. Maybe we should try watching for that Midnight Channel thing."
"Is that rumor still going around?" Yu had his own notebook open.
She nodded. "Yeah. I haven't tried it yet, though, because I didn't want to be the only one. Besides, I want to see who my soulmate is." Her grin widened at the thought of someone as muscular as Bruce Lee appearing on the screen. Sure, it was just a wish, but she didn't want to call up her best friend without the other having seen it as well. She wanted another set of eyes to assure her she wouldn't be hallucinating due to fatigue that late at night.
Yukiko tapped the end of her pen against her lips. "It might be a good distraction from the murder."
"Then it's settled!" Chie set the bare stick that once held beef onto the paper plate. "At midnight, we'll all watch it and tell each other what we saw the next day."
Yosuke folded his arms. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I've watched TV at midnight lots of times before and didn't see anything remotely like that except for reruns of "Aibou" and "Star Trek."
"The TV has to be turned off, dumbass," her eyes narrowed.
He continued as if she hadn't said anything. "Although, if Lt. Uhura was my soul mate, I wouldn't mind. That little dress is like that one nurse's from—ow! My shin! Chie!"
"That was me," Yukiko stated calmly.
"I'll do it," Yu spoke up.
The three looked at him curiously.
"Really?" Chie blinked. She didn't think the guys would actually go along with it. "Like, 'really' really?"
"Sure. Why not? Like you said," He slid a side look with a slight smile to Yukiko, "it would be a good distraction."
Yukiko blushed slightly with a smile to her notebook.
Yosuke leaned back in the chair with a heavy exhale. "Fine, I'm in, too."
Chie couldn't smile more broadly if she tried. Other people were actually going along with her suggestion. "Great! Now let's study so we can actually pass that quiz tomorrow, thanks to Captain Loudmouth, here."
He glared at her. "I will find a nickname for you, someday. I'm thinking something with the word 'carnivore' in it."
That evening...
Yosuke tiredly unlocked the front door, turned on the living room light, and slipped off his shoes. "I'm home." No one answered. "Oh yeah." His parents would be out on a business trip to the city all weekend, which meant the house was his for 4 days. At last! He dropped his school bag on the couch, though his thick reddish-brown tail brushed it onto its side, picked up the remote, and flopped down onto the floor. One push of the power button, and the sounds of a local game show filled the room. He stretched, got up, and walked to the kitchen to browse the refrigerator. His white-tipped ears twitched as he perused the selection. The only truly recognizable thing that he could eat beyond making a suicide sandwich was the per-prepared dinners and lunches his parents had left for him inside plastic containers with his name and date written on a piece of masking tape across the top. He grabbed tonight's meal and a melon soda, and popped the food into the microwave.
Being a food lover, he'd learned to use the microwave very quickly. He can't, however, cook on the stove.
He popped the top of the can and chugged the fizzy sweet liquid in a few gulps. If he was going to have the place to himself, he should invite a few people over. He'd been left with specific instructions not to have any parties while they were gone, and he had to either stay at home, or –if he absolutely had to get out of the house—to call Yu. Two or three friends wouldn't constitute a 'party.' Just a friendly gathering of fellow classmates who knew his secret. He sent a text to his best friend. [rents are gone. game night. bored. come over.]
*pi pi pi. pi pi pi.* His phone beeped softly with a response. [Something's up with Nanako. She's sick. I'll text when I can.]
Yosuke sighed and pocketed the phone. He sat down with the reheated food on the floor and watched the game show, occasionally glancing out the window as the fading daylight gave way to late evening. The opened school bag slid off the couch, spilling his homework onto the floor. He let it be. Homework was created by an evil being. As of today, he'd created a personal mandate to boycott any and all forms of homework.
The next hour was spent doing stuff he was forbidden to do. He jumped across the couches and chairs seeing how many times he could hit each cushion without touching the floor, he ran up and down the stairs, had a slinky race down the stairs, pretended to be the world's most amazing fox demon ninja in the back yard, plugged in his mp3 player to the home stereo sound system, danced to some amazing air guitar skills, and shot paperclips across the kitchen via rubber band.
The following hour found him folding paper cranes in front of the TV out of printer paper. He sacrificed an entire reem to the cause. A few hundred paper cranes piled up around the room. Through all of this time-consuming mayhem, the schoolbag and homework remained completely untouched.
Someone rapped their knuckles against the door. He nearly flew over the furniture to open it. Finally! Company! His future hours of boredom had come to an end. Excited, he opened the door expecting to find his best friend, but instead…
"Good. You're home. May I come in?"
He blinked down at the cat-demon girl. "Right. I forgot you said you were coming over." He moved aside to let her in. Even if this so-called 'detective prince' was his only company, it was still better than being in this huge house by himself. She wore a boys uniform from school, which made him believe he and Yu were the only ones who knew she was a girl due to their history –what he could remember of it.
She moved into the living room where the massive mounds of paper cranes greeted her. Her eyes shifted to the abandoned school work on the floor. "Nice to know you're using your time wisely."
"I hate being alone. Besides, all I've done was study since I got here. I need a breather." He closed the door and walked into the kitchen. A small cluster of paper cranes drifted out of his way on a weak breeze, though he hardly noticed. "You want a soda, or something?"
"Please."
He handed one over from the refrigerator and kept one for himself. "So, what's your name?"
She sipped the drink. "Naoto Shirogane. Bound to Chief Shirogane and his wife."
"Is that how we're supposed to introduce ourselves, or... is that just how you do it?"
He gained no response.
Yosuke cleared his throat, and extended his hand. He'd give this a try, because why not? "Nice to meet you again. I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Bound to Yu Narukami-"
"I know." She took the offered greeting.
"Of course you do." He cracked open the soda and chugged. "There really has to be another word for that.' How'd you find me anyway?"
"That's been the title used for over a thousand years. I doubt anyone will change it because you have a gutter-mind. And it was purely by accident." She swiped some paper cranes off of a chair and sat down, still holding the can of soda. Her slim navy blue tail draped over the arm. Only because the other demon was letting his animal features show completely show did she dare to do the same. If this was a safe haven for him, she could find tranquility here, too. "I was investigating a suspicious person to gather intel on a case I'm working on when I saw you at the food court talking to that third year student."
"Saki Konishi?" He smiled, flicking his tail to clear paper cranes out of the way absently, and sat cross-legged on the floor. "She, uh.. she's pretty cool. She ignores me sometimes –most of the time, but she's amazing. There's just something about her. Unlike everyone else here, she doesn't think I'm here to destroy the town."
"I see. Well, you let your ears become visible in public. She must really affect you." Naoto stated smoothly, as if reading the information from a page.
He stared at the can of soda in his hand. "It's that obvious?"
"Very."
He flopped backward, spreading paper cranes out on a tiny breeze.
"I also recognized your smell. Only when you walked by did I fully recall your presence in the box as well."
He sat up. "So what's the real reason you came over, other than to have a Box reunion? You're being all 'secrets' and 'code words.'" Which was how he remembered her. The more time he spent around her, the more clear his memory became. She never could take 'I don't know' for an answer.
"Honestly, I need your help." Naoto set her half-finished can on a side table. She arched her eyebrows slightly when he quickly slipped a coaster under it. This room was filled with paper cranes, and he was concerned about a moisture ring on the table?
"You don't know my mom," was all he said in response to her expression. "So. My help."
"What else do you remember about the box?"
He scratched absently at his ear in thought. "It was cramped and warm—high enough that I could stand up, but I couldn't climb out. It was also dark for a long time. I tried to open the top, but it wouldn't budge. You clawed the crap out of one side, too, but never got through. That thing was surprisingly tough for cardboard. There were towels –a blue one, and a reddish orange one. It bounced around a lot, too, and you kept kicking me, and you bit my ear." He narrowed his eyes at her, though empty of any real anger. His gaze flicked to the ceiling as he fought to recall his past around the sounds of an evening drama series playing on the large television. "I remember feeling tired a lot. You kept waking me up. The food was all right; not great, but tasty. I remember feeling like I was going to barf for a while, though. Dunno why."
"Interesting." He'd repeated everything she'd already known, though from his point of view. "So, you don't recall anyone else?"
"Just the tall guy wearing a baseball hat. I can't remember his face, though, but I know he had silver, wavy hair." He frowned. "He was the one who dumped me at the Shrine."
"Anyone else?"
He shook his head as he folded another crane.
She rested her elbows on her knees. Her tail flicked idly. "There was a third with us. And I need you to help me find him."
Confused, he glanced over at her. "I spent days in that box alone after I woke up and you'd disappeared. I think I'd remember someone else." The crane was quickly tossed to the side.
"You didn't remember me." She finished off the soda and set the can down. "He's a dog demon with one black ear and solid black eyes."
That made him stop as the memory of the creepy kid in Junes returned full strength. He shook it away. "Any leads on how we can find him?"
She nodded. "Just one. He's in town. If you and I are here, then it's a solid bet he's here, too. It's only been little over two months."
One thing he knew about Inaba was that it was a very isolated place away from the rest of civilization –or what he knew of the outside world thanks to media venues. "I guess we can go looking around tomorrow after school. Not sure what to do beyond that."
"Agreed. Get some rest."
"Can't." He turned the television off so the only sound in the room was the rain that had begun to fall. "I got this thing I gotta do at midnight." He noted her eyes were glued to the window, or more accurately, the shiny, wet street outside. It would be completely ironic if she hated water. Way to fall into a stereotype. "Do...you...wanna...stay?"
Her tail flipped in irritation as she frowned at the weather. She wasn't necessarily weak to it, more like she seriously despised getting wet with a severe passion. "Perhaps until the rain lets up. I need to call my parents." Her phone was up to her ear in seconds.
His phone beeped to an incoming text. He thumbed over to the new message. [Nanako's fine now. I should stay and keep an eye on her. Are you ok?]
He typed back quickly. [Yes. The cat demon is here. Her name is Naoto. You still gonna watch the Midnight Channel?]
[Yes. It's intriguing.]
Naoto pocketed her cell phone. "I'm clear to stay here. What's this midnight project of yours?"
"It's stupid," he huffed and set the phone on the floor. "One of my friends said that if you watch a TV turned off at midnight on a rainy night, you'll see your soul mate –or some crap like that. We're all going to report back tomorrow if we saw anything, and I'm bored enough to try."
"I've heard that rumor. There's no basis of fact in it."
He flopped onto his back on the couch with his head upside-down over the edge. "According to the rest of the Inaba, there's no basis in fact for our existence either." He waited a long moment before finally saying, "So, you wanna watch for it, or what?"
She sat in a chair and nodded. "It sounds interesting, and you pose a good point. Why not."
11pm came and went.
Yosuke had popped a bag of microwave popcorn to watch the Midnight Channel. Because what else should you do when watching late night TV? A few dozen more paper cranes covered the floor, and not all of them were made by his hand. He'd had enough time to show Naoto the method Yu had taught to himself and Nanako.
Being one who thrives on knowledge, Naoto accepted this method of passing time. She made a personal vow to look up a book on origami later.
By the time the clocked clicked over to 12:00am, the bowl was empty. Both animal demons had cleaned it out.
The screen flickered to life like it was trying to find a station. The image of a girl running through the street blinked in and out, though it was so fuzzed over with sepia toned interference, that it was hard to get a decent look at her features. She had long hair, and she was wearing a school uniform. Anything beyond that was guess work.
Yosuke leaned forward, squinting to try to clear the image. "Hey, that looks like-"
"Yosuke. Look behind her." Naoto pointed to the scenery beyond. Broken shops lined the street, the cement was cracked, and the sky...
His jaw hit the floor. "No way..." No way could that be real. It was a nightmare, just a horror story that invaded his dreams. It lived in his head alone. How could something like that wind up on a station that wasn't supposed to exist? It was impossible that that place could be-
"The Red World," Naoto's shocked whisper interrupted his train of thought, as if she'd been reading it.
Yosuke looked to her –noting her ears lay flat and her tail was still as the eye of a hurricane—then back to the screen. The clocked changed to 12:01am and the screen went dead. Only their reflections stared back. He rested on his heels with his tail curled around his feet. His nightmare had been transmitted to everyone who thought giving in to the fad of a local rumor would be a good idea. Which meant Chie, Yukiko, and Yu had seen it, too.
His ears drooped. "Oh, balls."
Next Scent: Everyone Is Someone Else
