Requirement Met. Route Two selected.

Sequence commencing...

My chest hurts. The feeling is familiar. I felt it almost constantly a long time ago. It would be there for a couple days but then it would randomly stop, and wouldn't happen again for another few days, weeks, or even years. Now, it was happening again as I watched the scene in front of me.

"Don't just stand there, help me!" Chie has her arms wrapped around Rise as she kicks and screams, trying to throw herself at a dumbfounded Kanji.

I run at the girls, tackling them both to the ground a few feet from the staircase. Chie doesn't seem to feel the impact, using the momentum to grab the redhead by the arms and throw her into an arm lock. Rise is still kicking and screaming, but her arms are out of commission. Chie pulls them up, so that she's crouching and Rise is sitting on her knees.

I shake Kanji, bringing him out of his stupor. He turns to look at me, his face pale. I push him towards Rise. He looks at me once more before kneeling down to face her. "Rise... I can ex-"

"YOU LIED TO ME! ALL OF YOU LIED TO ME!" She throws her head violently, the ribbons in her hair coming undone, so wavy red strands are streaming down over her face. She looks like a madwoman.

"We didn't want you to get hurt!" Kanji screams back at her.

"LET ME GO! LET. ME. GO!" She's twisting and turning her body, but it's not use. Chie's grip on her is unbreakable.

"I'll let you go if you calm down! You need to listen... We can explain!" Chie answers her.

"I don't care!" Rise screams, shaking her head. Sobs rack her body. All of a sudden, she stops moving, her body going limp. Chie looks over to Kanji who in turn looks at me. I shake my head. I had no idea what was going to happen next. Kanji moves tentatively to put a hand on her shoulder when the sound of her voice stops us all.

It's quiet and cold. Like that of a machine "I don't care..."

Chie's grip on her loosens, her face shocked. Rise stands up, her body completely listless, and walks away to her room. The four of us watch her go, completely silent. Finally, when she disappears out of sight, Chie runs at Ryuji, pushing him in the chest. "Why did you just stand there?! Why didn't you help?!"

"I..I'm sorry. I just... I didn't know what to do." Ryuji is spluttering, hiding his face behind his hands.

"Something! Anything!" She pushes him again before pointing at me. "You could've done what Akira did! At least he tried to help! And he barely knows us."

Ryuji turns to me, his eyes pleading for me to help him but I say nothing. Would anything I said help? I'd moved on instinct. Fear. I kept hearing a voice in my head to tell me to move. Move or else someone would be hurt, possibly even die. "I didn't really do anything."

Kanji pulls me away from the two of them to whisper into my ear, "Don't say anything. Now's not the time. Chie's mad at him for a lot more than just that fight back there.

I nod, trying my best to blend into the background. I hadn't meant for any of this to happen. "I'm sorry...for this whole thing. I'm so sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything. I have no idea how Rise found out but I'll talk to her again when she's calmed down." He sighs, taking off his glasses to rub his face. Guilt rises in my chest, but I have no desire to confess. I can't. I won't. No good could possibly come of it, and no one was hurt. Confessing now would do more harm than good.

"Thanks for trying to help." He looks over at Chie and Ryuji who are still arguing before turning back to me. "Want to go get some dinner?"

I nod again, and the two of us quietly sneak off to the dinning room.

Dinner is a quiet affair for me. Plenty of people are talking, but Kanji and I are mostly silent. Akihiko, Souji, Minato, and a few other people leave for work. Some don't come to dinner at all. Kanji is frequently looking around for Rise. She never appears, but he makes a second plate for her anyway.

I follow him to her room. The door is bright orange, with a neon green sign on the front that says she's inside. He knocks on the door but there's no response. "I've brought you dinner. Can I come in?"

No response.

Kanji tries the knob, and is surprised to find it unlocked. He looks at me briefly before walking in.

Rise's room is unnaturally simple. Her walls are bare but a mountain of yarn animals sit on wooden shelves. Her floor is covered in thick gray carpet compared to my wood. Throw pillows are sitting around the room at random locations. An orange bed sits under the window against wall directly in front of us. A closet makes up the wall on the left, and a wooden table occupies the right. A cell phone is buzzing incessantly on top. I check the caller ID to see a name I can't read. Kanji turns off the phone before approaching her. "Rise...?"

She's sitting on her bed, her head pressed against the wall. Her window is open and the spring air blows in gently. "Rise?"

"Go away..." She whispers, not turning to look at us.

Kanji puts her dinner on her desk before pulling out her chair so he can sit. "I know you're angry...And I'm sorry for not telling you but..."

"Five years, Kanji. I've loved him for five years. Is that how long you loved her...?" She whispers the words into the open air.

"I don't...that was a long time ago. I don't. Not anymore." Kanji's stuttering, and I can tell he's nervous. There's no way Rise wouldn't notice

"So is it him? Do you love him too? It's hard not to, isn't it?" She's still whispering, and I begin to wonder if she's talking to us or to herself.

"They broke up." She finally turns around, her eyes wide with shock. They're red, rimmed with tears and pain.

"What...?"

"We didn't tell you because they broke up. Naoto... She dumped him last month. They were together for almost a year, but they didn't tell anyone. Yukiko and I found out because we heard them arguing in her room."

"But Yosuke said-"

Kanji groans interrupting her. "That's how you found out?! Goddamnit! I'm going to strangle him!"

I take a step to tell him it wasn't Yosuke, but I stop myself. If I said that, he'd wonder how I knew. He'd ask me questions I wouldn't be able to answer without giving myself away. I take a step back and say nothing.

My movement seems to alert Rise to my presence and she turns to look at me for the first time. "You... You're the new guy... what are you doing here?"

Kanji rushes to defend me. "I asked him to come. He was worried about you. Like the rest of us. We didn't tell you because we didn't want you to be hurt. Souji's not with anyone anymore. That's the truth, okay?"

She's silent, staring at him with a blank expression and I can't help but wonder what she's thinking. "What about Naoto?"

Kanji looks away, clearly uncomfortable. "She's interested in someone else. I think."

My mind immediately skips to Akihiko. I'd seen them together. The admiration on her face had been unmistakable. Was it more than just respect? Possibly. Was it any of my business? No. I would stay out of it. I'd caused enough trouble. This entire mess had been my fault. If I didn't make that trade with Navi, none of this would've happened.

Rise doesn't answer him, and no one says anything for a minute. I try my best to withstand the silence, looking around the room instead. There's a picture sitting in an ornate glass frame on her desk. Rise is standing in front Kanji and Souji, between Yukiko and Chie. Naoto is standing on the far left. An older man I've never seen stands next to Souji, and there's a little girl in front of him between Naoto and Chie.

I'm about to ask Kanji about the picture when Rise speaks again. "I'll be okay, Kanji. Can you guys leave? I want to talk to my manager."

He seems to hesitate for a minute before nodding and pushing me out. She smiles at me before closing the door.

Kanji throws an arm over my shoulders, leaning his head against me. The moment is intimate, almost romantic, and I tense up. "Thanks for being here today. You've been a big help."

He takes a step back before letting me go and walking back to his room. The door is fancy with a glass window covered in vines. For a minute I am alone, and I'm transported to a different scene.

Kanji is sitting against the wall of the third floor landing. There's a small circle of glass in front of him. The frame for his glasses lies a few feet from his large hands. Rise is crying as she kneels in front of him. There's a blaring sound in the back of my mind. His neck is twisted oddly. Clearly broken. Shattered. He's not breathing.

I shake my head, bringing myself back to reality. The fourth floor hallway of the apartments. It's completely empty except for the wall lamps lighting my path. The warmth of it brings me certainty. No one is dead. No one is dead.

"Uncle Sojiro?" The bell rings when I walk in. The coffee shop is empty and dark, uncharacteristic. I check my phone to make sure I'm not too late. 7:52PM. He's normally here until about 15 minutes after 9. Why was the shop closed so early? "Uncle Sojiro...?"

I take several more steps, looking for the light switch. My finger finds it, but despite several flicks the room remains dark. "Uncle Sojiro! It's me, Akira! I'm here to ask you about something!"

No one answers me. Light from the street lamp gives me enough to work with. I see the counter, and a few empty mugs of coffee sitting on it. I prop open the door using the peg outside so more light can stream in. My hand touches one of the mugs, and the porcelain is still warm.

"Uncle So-" The sound dies in my throat. I see him at last. He's lying at the back of the restaurant, away from the light. His green apron is lying a few feet away. His shirt is open, the buttons torn off by brute force. There is a sea of red. It's brown in the dark. His stomach has been cut open, entrails spilling over onto the floor. A man is leaning over him. I don't see his face. All I can do is turn and run.

I jolt awake. Fear is coursing through my veins but it's subdued. The nightmare is familiar, at this point, even normal. I rub my face and grab my phone to record an entry. I play it back and it works well. I can move the recording onto my computer or a flash drive later. I run my hand over my box of journals. There were 24 here. Almost 4 months worth of entries. None of them mattered anymore.

*brrrrng*

The sound makes me jump. I stare at the phone without moving. The last time someone called me, it was Navi and that whole fiasco didn't end well. It rings twice more before it stops completely and my room is quiet. I'm about to crawl back into bed when the phone starts ringing again.

*brrrrng*

*brrrrng*

"What do you want?!" I snarl.

"Come to room 300 at 8PM. We need to talk. My name is on the front." The line goes dead immediately afterward.

300?

Who the hell was in Room 300? How could I even be sure it was the right room? None of the doors had room numbers on them. I check my own door, still slightly unnerved by the design. The iron and glass is cold underneath my hands. Finally, halfway down, I see it. There's a wooden, sliding, place card with an engraving in the middle. Presumably my name.

I contemplate the problem a bit more before pushing the call to the back of my mind, getting ready for the day.

The dinning room is bustling. A few people are sitting down for breakfast, but a majority of the residents are grabbing their breakfast to go. Chie in particular looks exhausted as she packs two plastic containers for herself. I wave when I walk in and she returns the greeting. Dark bags sag underneath her eyes.

Akihiko is sitting with Ken and Junpei. I offer him a smile but decide not to join them. I get a plate for myself and sit alone, watching the scene play out in front of me. Despite all the drama that started with my arrival, the dorm was quite calm for housing this many people. There were at least thirty people in this building, and for all that, arguments seemed low.

As I'm having this thought, Yukiko rushes into the room. She grabs two plastic containers from a high cupboard, filling both with a random assortment of breakfast food. I rush up behind her, tapping her on the shoulder. She turns around, surprised. The moment she sees me, she seems to shrink, hiding her face behind the cover for the container. "A...Akira? What's up? I'm kind of in a rush right now. Do you need something?"

"Are you headed somewhere?"

She nods, turning around to cap both of her boxes. "I'm headed to work. Excuse me." She uses the containers to push me out of the way before practically running out the door.

I don't even think. There isn't any reason whatsoever for my actions, but I run after her. She grabs a large handbag that's sitting at the main doors, stuffing her lunchboxes into it. As she zips up her bag, she turns back to me, clearly surprised. "Are- I really don't have time to talk right now. Why are you following me?!"

She continues running, and I follow her into the overhang where all the smaller vehicles and the bikes are stored. She rolls a red moped into the open path, and puts on her helmet, which is also red. Yukiko starts the engine and I move faster, hoping onto the bike behind her just as she reaches the top of the hill.

"What are you doing?!" I don't answer her. All of my attention is focused on not dying. Yukiko is going faster than safe or appropriate. If the bike tipped over for any reason, there is no chance of survival.

She drives a short distance, not saying a word, or telling me where we're going. The city is busy, but not crowded like Tokyo. Most people are walking, or riding a bicycle. Cars are far and few in between. She drives until she's at the edge of town, in front of a huge glass building. When we finally stop, my face is flushed and painful. More than a few rocks had hit me on the trip.

Yukiko throws her helmet at me, screaming, "Are you crazy?! You could have died! What if we crashed?"

"I had a dream about you." The moment the words leave my mouth, I realize how creepy I sound. "Not like a sexual dream!"

Her face flushes red, and she opens her mouth to yell at me. I immediately talk over her. "I was lost! You were helping me!"

Her mouth hangs slightly open, still a picture of elegance despite the embarrassment written on her. "So you do remember...?"

"No. Not really. I was hoping you could tell me what happened."

She shakes her head, throwing her helmet into her bag. "I really need to work."

I can see my dream again in my mind's eye. It's not clear. The entire thing seems to be covered in fog, but it's the same. I am sure Yukiko is the girl from my dream. She pulls me into the building, and I soon realize it's a small airport. There is only one airline on the display monitors.

"You can wait around if you want, but I don't get off work until 6PM. I can meet you here if you want." I nod, and she runs off, heading for a door marked 'Employees Only."

I take a quick look around the airport, but there isn't much to see. It is remarkably small. The planes are all headed for other small islands in Japan. I take a walk around the neighboring area, checking my phone as I go. Ryuji sends me a message, asking me where I am. I send him a quick reply but don't expect much. The dorms are almost an hour away, even on a bike.

The nearest shop is almost a mile away, and I run. Chie and Akihiko would be proud of me, if nothing else. Maybe I could even impress them at the next training session. Much to my surprise, the police station isn't far. Was this the precinct Naoto mentioned? I'm not sure, and I don't have any reason to go in there and ask for her.

I keep running until I find a large forest. It's fenced in, but the sign reveals that it's open to the public. I check my phone for the time, before I head in. The trail is clean, clearly well maintained despite being frequently used. I walk slowly to soak in the sights and smells. It reminds me of Yoyogi Park in its beauty. However, this is natural compared to the creation of man that I'm used to. Everything here is natural. The trees are clustered together, and the smell of animal manure is abundant.

The trail turns up, and I follow it, seeing less and less human interference until I come to a pond. Large stones litter the area. They are smooth and clean. Clearly, used by visitors. The scene is pristine, perfect in its loneliness.

*snap*

All of my reflexes spur me into action. Maybe it's because I've just trained with Akihiko and Chie the day before, but my first instinct is to fight. When I turn, it's with my elbow. It connects with soft flesh and then teeth. It seems to crack under the pressure and the stranger falls to the ground face first, unmoving.

For a minute, I believe he is dead. My whole body shakes with fear. Did I kill him? That's impossible right? I'm not that strong. It shouldn't be this easy to kill someone. I reach for the pulse on his throat, when his hand suddenly grabs my wrist, pulling me toward him. I hold my body steady against his strength, and he pulls himself up instead.

Finally, I see his face.

"Teddie...?"

I'm transported back to the dorm. He's crouching on the floor, screaming at the ceiling, the sky, possibly even god. His fingers are clawing at his arms, ripping out chunks of skin and flesh. Blood streams down. Endlessly streaming down.

When I blink, I'm back to the present, and he's groaning as he massages his jaw. I can already see the beginnings of a purple bruise under his hand. "What was that for?!" He moans, clearly sore.

"I'm sorry! You snuck up behind me, and I was just... surprised. I didn't mean to hit you. Are you okay?" He tries to move his mouth in a biting motion and winces, shaking his head.

"This is awful! I can't bear this pain!" He's wailing, clinging to my arm. I'm tempted to shake him off, but the guilt about his jaw tells me to do otherwise.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry! Why are you even here?"

"It hurts! It hurts!" He's practically crying, kicking his hands and feet.

I sigh. "Let's go. Yukiko will fix you up."

His whines immediately stop, and his head swivels in every direction as he looks for her. "You're here with Yuki-chan? She had work today, didn't she?"

I don't answer him, dragging him down the path and out onto the street. We walk back to the airport, and it takes me significantly more time getting back than it did, getting to the park. Teddie is talking incessantly behind me, grumbling about his jaw and Yukiko. He only catches my attention when he mentions Kanji. "I saw what you did yesterday. Kanji could've been seriously hurt, so thanks for helping him."

I turn to look at him, searching my memory for his face. He wasn't on the landing, and I didn't see him in the common room, so how had he'd known? Where had he been?

He's silent when we walk up to the manager and ask for Yukiko. She rushes out to the front desk in a flight attendant's uniform. Teddie lets off a stream of compliments, some slightly more lewd than the others and Yukiko immediately slaps him. The moment she makes contact, a loud smack resonates through the airport. I wince. Several people turn to look at us.

Teddie shrivels up into a ball, cradling his jaw. There are tears in his eyes, but they don't fall. "It hurts!"

She's glaring at him, but then her eyes grow wide in shock as she crouches down to check his face. She turns to me, furious, "What happened to him?!"

I go through the story, and she seems to get more frustrated as I continue along. When I finally finish, she looks almost angry. "You're supposed to be at Junes! Yosuke is going to kill you! What were you doing in the forest?!"

"I'm a bear. That's what bears do!" He huffs, crossing his arms like a child.

"You're a mascot!" She slaps him on the shoulder and pulls him up. "Do you have your car?"

He nods, and Yukiko turns to me. "Teddie" She glares at him before she continues, "Will drive you home. We can talk another time." Teddie and I open my mouth to object but she holds a hand up to stop us. "I promise." She turns to Teddie to whisper something in his ear before pushing us out the door.

Teddie turns to look at her before eyeing me closely, his thoughts clearly conflicting. Something about him looks different but I can't quite put my finger on it, nor do I really want to. He's rambling a million miles a minute, not even stopping to breathe. The 20 minute ride feels like an eternity. When we finally reach home, I thank him for the ride, and proceed up to my room.

Once alone, I record another entry on my phone before uploading both onto my computer. It wasn't the same as writing. Hearing my own voice played back to me is strange. The pitch is different somehow. It's odd, but it works. I go through my notebooks. I couldn't read them anymore, but writing did wonders for my memory. I record a few more entries that I'm sure of, before making a copy onto a flash drive.

The work is slow, tedious, but it calms me after my strange encounter with Teddie. Despite never talking to him, I saw him often enough. He was close friends with the people on the fourth floor, and I was getting better acquainted with most of them. By comparison, at least I knew all their names. I couldn't even say that for the residents on my own floor.

After an hour or two, I go back to the dining hall. The attendants are setting out plates and a few people mill around, waiting for dinner. I spot Haru and Makoto and choose to sit with them while we wait. They do most of the talking, rambling about school work and teachers. While the girls are nice, I'm still terrified of Haru and know too much about Makoto's relationship with Akihiko to feel comfortable. I choose to simply listen while I eat.

Only bits and pieces catch my attention. They inform me that Kanji will be my Home EC teacher this year. The information should surprise me, but it doesn't. I already know he will do a good job.

As the minutes drag on, I finish my dinner and walk to the third floor mechanically. I still didn't know which room was 300 or who that room belonged to, but it was time to make my choice. I could leave, and go back to my room or spend the evening somewhere else. Did I want to talk to this person? What would they have to tell me?

Stat Progression in this chapter: Teddie Bond up. Chie Bond up. Rise Bond up. Kanji Bond up. Yukiko Bond up. Agility up. Reputation up.

[Free time] Akira has some free time tomorrow. What should he do with it?

[Flag] Do you go to Room 300? [Required: Name of NPC who this room belongs to. Each person is allowed one answer. The correct NPC must be chosen three times. Any comments that name more than one NPC as an answer will be stricken from the record.]

Your actions have shifted Navi's Sale. Ann's location [Required: Minako's Secret {Not Met}] Price will expire Chapter 8