Okay... I'm sorry for the long delay in updating this but unfortunately, this chapter fought me quite a lot due to how I am unsatisfied with how closely it sticks to canon... unfortunately, there simply aren't enough changes yet to make the story its own but it shouldn't be long before things start to diverge and become easier to write.
Anyway, because of how long it's been... I'm just going to skip answering reviews and let you get one with the story...
But like I said, it sticks very close to canon so don't expect anything more than the internal thoughts to give character to the nearly Blank Slate named Narukami Yu.
Yū couldn't stop himself from thinking back on the previous night as he walked along the Samegawa floodplain.
He had done as he had promised with Chie and Yosuke and waited for the Midnight Channel, fully expecting a flop and nothing to happen.
However, when he had just turned from the TV, he found it turning on just as it was supposed to.
What happened next was what truly forced him to pay attention to what was happening, the sight looked like a girl dancing, though the picture was constantly breaking up and his head started to feel like it was going to split open while an echo started to force its way forward.
When that was over, he had touched the TV out of curiosity… only to find his hand pass through the screen like it was made of water.
He had decided to talk to the others about it but the more he thought on it, the less sane it sounded.
"Perfect timing! Sorry, move over!" a familiar voice called out behind him as Chie shoved herself under his umbrella and out of the heavy rain, causing him to stop in place, "I did have my own, but I saw this kung fu movie where they used an umbrella to pull of some sweet moves… and… I accidentally broke mine trying to mimic the movie."
He found himself sweatdropping at that admission, or rather, the fact that he had already seen where she was going despite only having really met her a couple of days ago.
"By the way… did you see it?" she suddenly asked him and his mind was forced back to the events of the previous night.
"I did," he admitted uncertainly… even now, he knew it was supposed to be his soulmate but beyond the strange familiarity of the girl on the screen and the splitting headache he suffered watching it, he didn't really know what else to say.
"Aha, do tell," Chie sounded very enthusiastic, "but the person it showed…"
The fact that she trailed off with an embarrassed glance at the ground told him it wasn't what she was expecting.
"Never mind," she quickly cut in, "I'll save it for when the others are around, we're going to be late for school."
And with that, the duo started to walk once again.
"Oh… U-uhh…" she sounded uncomfortable as she walked next to him, "i-it's kinda awkward to only bring this up now, but… we're pretty close here…"
He had noticed that but given the rain it wasn't that big an issue as far as he was concerned.
"U-um, I'm gonna just go ahead and run the rest of the way!" she said clearly embarrassed at the situation.
"You'll catch a cold," he decided to point out bluntly.
"Oh… R-right, good point," she admitted nervously, "if I catch a cold, it could spread… and that'd suck for everyone! Yeah, I think I'll keep going with you, hahahahah…"
She was soon back under his umbrella, "alright, let's go."
He couldn't stop a smile from gracing his lips at the girl, he had been in many schools before but he had never met a girl as genuinely quirky as the one standing next to him… sure he'd met others that had put on facades of quirkiness, but they had always done so to try and stand out from the crowd.
This girl was just being who she was and it was honestly refreshing as far as he was concerned.
And so the walk to school wasn't as dull as he was used to.
XXX Mysteries Beyond The Fog XXX
Shirou found himself stretching his muscles to get the stiffness out of them after a combination of being used as target practice by Rin and his morning workout.
Honestly, why did Rin have to use sickness curses against him? They would've been much easier to deal with if they didn't give him a case of the flu with each hit.
Of course, since it was an unnatural flu, his magic circuits worked to heal him of it a bit quicker than a natural one but it was still annoying when he was trying to train.
It also made him Rin's defenceless victim overnight… though that wasn't as bad as it sounded.
"Do you really need to do that?" Rin asked from beside him and he found himself looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"After what you did to me last night… yes," he stated bluntly, causing a few people near them to start whispering quietly and Rin to suddenly turn beet red.
"E-mi-ya-kun…" he suddenly found his survival senses tingling as he looked upon the rather unhappy form of the last Tohsaka.
"Uh…" he noted the fact that she was definitely embarrassed by the whispers going around now and given some of things he now noticed were being said, he definitely understood why.
Even if some of those things actually were true.
"S-sorry Rin," he said with a grimace, knowing that his nights weren't going to get any easier in the immediate future if he kept opening his mouth like he usually did.
The way she looked away from him with her arms crossed made it clear that she wasn't satisfied with that apology... he guessed he would just have to make it up to her later.
He just hoped it wouldn't hurt too much.
XXX Mysteries Beyond The Fog XXX
School passed by quickly as far as Yū was concerned, honestly the only highlight of the day so far was being called out by the History teacher and asked to answer a question.
Thankfully he didn't make a fool of himself and managed to answer correctly.
He was just packing up for the day when a conversation caught his ear over the pattering of rain on the window.
"What's up with the body being hung upside-down? That's so freaky," he didn't know who said that but the voice was clearly of a girl.
"Is it supposed to be like, mimicking an execution? It's messed up…" another female voice cut in and Yū found himself wondering just what sort of person would do something like that.
"My senpai told me it was a third-year named Saki that found the body," the first girl said and now Yū looked and noted that outside of being a bit short, the girl that had just spoken was pretty non-descript.
His mind wandered back on the night before, of meeting Konishi Saki and hearing Rin identify the girl on the TV as the very same girl.
"Y-yo… Um…" he was brought out of his musings as Yosuke showed up next to his desk and gave a nervous greeting, confusing the white haired boy at the sudden hesitance to speak, "it's, uh, it's not really that important but… well, yesterday on TV, I…"
He really didn't know what to think of the boy's strange demeanour right now but eventually the boy seemed to just give up.
"Oh, uhh… never mind," the brown haired boy said easily, "look, I'll tell you later, ahaha…"
The sound of footsteps heading their way drew their attention towards a familiar green jacket as Chie made her way towards the pair.
"Yosuke, did you hear the rumour?" the Tomboyish girl asked him, "Saki-senpai's supposedly the one who discovered that body."
"I wonder if that's why she looked so down… she doesn't seem to be at school today either," the boy with headphones around his neck didn't sound surprised, then again, Rin had managed to identify the girl on TV and she had only been at school for a couple of days, so someone that actually knew the girl would definitely be capable of identifying her on TV.
A movement in front of them indicated that Yukiko had just gotten up from her seat and was preparing herself to leave.
"Huh? Hey Yukiko, are you helping out at the inn today too?" Chie asked her in her usual loud voice.
"Things are really out of hand right now… I'm sorry," the dark haired girl said after turning to face them and Yū found himself wondering if she always looked so gloomy or if there was just something happening that was getting at her right now.
Without saying another word, the girl in red turned back and left the room quietly.
"Is it just me, or does Yukiko-san seem way stressed out today?" the other boy in the group asked in a tone that sounded a bit more caring than he was used to hearing from the brown haired boy.
"I guess they're running her ragged," the girl in green responded with a hint of sadness in her tone, "by the way, did you see… it… last night?"
"Huh?" Yosuke sounded surprised by that question but Yū found his mind drifting back to the static screen and the splitting headache that had plagued his thoughts earlier on, "uh… well… what about you?"
"I did! I seriously saw a girl!" wait… she saw a girl? "But… my soulmate's a girl? What's that supposed to mean?"
Yū decided against voicing his thoughts about it explaining why she was such a tomboy, he was pretty sure it wouldn't end well for him if he did.
"I couldn't quite tell who it was, but it was a girl for sure…" she definitely sounded confused by the situation, "her hair was brown, about shoulder length, she was wearing our school uniform, and…"
"Hey… I think that's the same person I saw," Yosuke cut in and Yū found himself frowning as he noted that it also sounded like the same person he saw, "I couldn't make out that much detail though, the image I saw was much blurrier."
"Wait, so you saw it too?!" the girl in green sounded surprised at that revelation, "and we saw the same girl? Does that mean… we have the same soulmate?"
"How should I know?" Yosuke didn't sound particularly enthusiastic about the situation but turned to Yū, "how 'bout you? Did you see it?"
"Yeah," Yū stated with a nod of his head, "I saw a girl with brown, shoulder length hair and wearing our school uniform… but then…"
He hesitated before deciding that since they were talking about the same unnatural phenomena he should probably tell them about everything related to the situation.
"Well, I heard a weird voice, got a headache and nearly got sucked into my TV when I put my hand on it… I was only saved because the TV was too small for me to fit all the way through," he stated as simply as he could.
"It sounds like we all saw the same person…" the brown haired boy stated with a frown, "but weird voices aside, what was that about getting sucked into your TV? Were you that tired last night? You must've just fallen asleep in front of your TV."
"That'd be one interesting dream though," Chie sounded amused by the story, "I like the part where you got stuck 'cause your TV was too small, that's pretty realistic… if it had been bigger…"
She froze at that before her expression brightened.
"Ohhh, that reminds me," she started, "our family's been talking about buying a bigger TV."
"Oh yeah? Well, flatscreen TV's are definitely in these days," the other male of the group said easily, "wanna go check 'em out on the way back? We're beefing up our electronics department this month."
"Oh, definitely! My parents don't know anything about electronics, and I've just gotta see my kung-fu movies on the big screen! Hwa-taaa!" and with that, the girl made a kung-fu type stance while making pretty stereotypical noises from those types of movies… which earned a sweatdrop from the boy with the orange headphones.
"We've got some pretty big ones in stock," Yosuke stated before looking towards the grey haired boy, "I bet they'd be big enough for you to fit into hehe."
He felt himself frowning at their complete dismissal of what he said, clearly they didn't consider the fact that their televisions had suddenly turned on in the middle of the night without any reason.
He had thought they would've at least considered it due to the unnatural occurrences surrounding everything that they had already experienced.
"So, are you coming?" the brown haired boy asked with a playful smile and Yū found himself nodding… he wanted to see if there would be a repeat performance of the previous night if he touched one of the bigger TV's… and if so, what was on the other side of the screen.
XXX Mysteries Beyond The Fog XXX
Shirou couldn't stop himself from thinking about the murder, or rather, the lack of evidence and the fact that they were going to have to wait until another person turned up dead before they could do anything about it.
The simple fact that he couldn't do anything to prevent any further action from happening was probably the single most frustrating part of the situation… how was he supposed to save people if he didn't even know who needed saving and where?
Sure, he understood that that would always be an issue, however at least if he had some clue about what was going on, then he would be capable of working towards preventing another case happening.
That another person could die and there was nothing he could do to stop it was truly infuriating for the boy that wanted to save everyone he could.
"Shirou… what are you thinking about?" he was brought out of his musings as Rin asked him a question he was more than willing to answer.
"The announcer's case," he stated bluntly, earning a frown off the girl he was living with.
"Don't worry about it, everything will be fine," she stated clearly as they made their way out of the classroom and through the hallway towards the main staircase… she couldn't say it outright since there were other students there, but she was confident they could catch the culprit… he just didn't know if they'd be fast enough to prevent another death.
And Rin knew that was what was getting to him, that he was once again powerless to save people, that despite all his training and all the effort he put into learning more about his reality marble, it meant nothing when he didn't know who to fight.
"Yo! Senpai!"
Honestly, there were times when he just wanted omniscience, because at least then he would know what to do and how to save as many people as possible.
"Shirou, you're getting distracted," Rin stated with a blank expression, causing him to snap out of his thoughts and look at her in confusion.
"Uh… are we interrupting something?" a voice asked from behind and he found him turning to face Hanamura, Satonaka and Narukami.
"Just Emiya-kun sulking again," Rin stated easily, causing him to give her a light glare.
"Uh… I'm not sure I want to know," Yosuke stated nervously, while looking around uncomfortably.
"Suit yourself," Rin answered easily, causing the younger boy to let out a sigh of relief at clearly avoiding talking about whatever he misunderstood Rin to mean.
"Well I want to know," Yū said with a far more thoughtful look.
"Dude!" the brown haired boy practically shouted in embarrassment.
"…Shirou was orphaned in a massive fire and was the only person from ground zero that survived," Rin sounded sombre at that explanation, "because of that, he has issues with being unable to help people and with a killer on the loose and with no way for him to help… it's getting to him."
The silence that descended on the group was deafening as Shirou found himself remembering that despite everything that happened, he still hadn't forgiven himself for surviving when everyone else had died.
"T-that's not what I was expecting," the city-boy admitted with a downcast expression.
"I know what you were expecting," the girl with twin-tails stated bluntly, "you are a boy after all, and that species is so easy to predict."
"H-hey! I resent that!" the part time worker barked out in clear embarrassment.
"Of course you do, you're a boy after all," the magus responded without any hesitation, causing the city boy to splutter in indignation again.
"Hanamura-san, don't try to beat Rin in this sort of thing… it never works," Shirou decided to inform the boy who simply proceeded to look at him in shock.
"… How can you just let her win like that?" the younger of the males asked disbelievingly.
"Because it's easier and saves a lot of time considering how often she wins… and stops me from ever winning an argument with her," he stated in a matter of fact tone.
"Huh? What?" Chie started to splutter herself, "why're ya saying that like it's a good thing?"
"Ah, Rin can get a bit violent when she loses," his answer was blunt and to the point.
"Violent?" the brown haired boy asked in confusion before noting the glare that Rin was currently sending the redhead's way, "o-oh…"
It seemed that Yosuke managed to realize exactly what he meant as he suddenly shut up and stopped trying to pry any more information out of the sword magus.
"So, where are you three going anyway?" he asked casually in an attempt at changing the subject, something that the others seemed to latch onto pretty quickly.
"Ah, well, my parents are thinking of buying a new TV, so we were going to have a look at Junes and see what they have," the brown haired girl stated with a smile, clearly excited at the prospect of getting a new TV.
"Hey, you should join us," the part time worker piped in.
"No thanks, we're fine," his answer was quick and clear. Honestly he and Rin had already looked at the store's selection and it was all too expensive as far as they were concerned.
Plus, they had Dojima's TV if they needed to watch the news.
"Huh? You serious?" the brown haired boy asked in surprise, "well, suit yourself."
"Sorry, but we've got to get Saber and buy everything for dinner," he let the younger boy know exactly what they were doing, hopefully he'd understand the reasoning behind it all, "maybe we'll meet up later."
"Sure, we'll just be hanging around Junes anyway, so we'll meet up with you there," Chie said with a fist pump.
"All right then, we'll see you later," Shirou acknowledged easily as Rin gave her own farewell and the two groups split up at the river once more.
XXX Mysteries Beyond The Fog XXX
"Wow! This is huge! And… holy crap, it's expensive! Who buys something like this?" Chie exclaimed as they stood in the Junes electronics department looking at the many LCD TV's that were on display.
"I dunno… Rich folks?" Yosuke responded pretty easily and Yū found himself letting out an internal sigh at the tone he used, "honestly, not many people shop for TV's here, that's why we don't have clerks around."
"Huh… not worth trying then, I guess," the brown haired girl responded easily, "well, at least looking's free… though I guess this explains why Shirou-san and Rin-san didn't bother coming with us."
"I don't know," Yū stated cautiously, "my uncle said that they're actually pretty rich despite Rin-san losing most of her family's fortune due to her previous guardian."
"Wait, those two are rich?" Yosuke didn't sound particularly believing of that statement, "I mean, seriously, those two only ever shop in the discount section."
"I'm just saying what my uncle told me," Yū felt himself wonder why they would be so cautious with their money if they were actually rich but decided that it actually seemed perfectly understandable from what he'd seen of the two.
"Well, I bet he's lying, there's no other reason they'd be so focused on saving money," Yosuke stated with a grin, "now…"
The brown haired boy proceeded to put his hand on the TV screen and let out a laugh at the result.
"Heh, nope, can't get in," the statement was said with humour clear in his voice, "figured as much."
"Haha, this proves it. It was all just a dream," Chie pointed out with just as much humour in her voice as Yū found himself looking away.
Seriously, he was never going to live that down was he?
"Besides, these flatscreen TV's are so thin, you'd just end up on the other side…" Yosuke stated calmly before freezing in disbelief, "argh, what am I saying?!"
It was clear that the other boy was unhappy at even contemplating such a ridiculous possibility and quickly changed the subject.
"So, Chie, what kind of TV are you guys in the market for?" the son of the manager asked easily.
"They said they were in the market for something cheap, you got any suggestions?" it was obvious that Chie wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for, especially given how she was simply stating 'cheap' as if it actually meant something.
After all, cheap in relation to a TV was very different to cheap in relation to chocolate.
"Well, Miss, might I suggest this one over here? It's the newest model, just released this spring," Yosuke asked in a clearly exaggerated salesman tone.
"WHA! That's not cheap at all! There's way too many zeroes!" the girl in green seemed scandalous about the price of the TV she was shown.
"I should've asked what you meant by 'cheap' right off the bat," the brown haired boy sounded exasperated by her reaction and he found himself smiling slightly at their interactios.
"You've got connections right? C'mon, hook me up!" the only girl in the group said in a manner that made him think she was talking to a member of the Yakuza.
"You know I can't do that…" Yosuke sounded unhappy about having to say that and Yū found himself wondering just how wrong Shirou and Rin were concerning the relationship between the two, "hey, how about this one over here? It's a display unit, it's a little old but..."
Yū found himself losing interest in the duo's browsing as he once again focused on the TV they had started at… it was just so big that if he really could go into TV's, this one would definitely not cause him to get stuck due to how small it was.
So it was with a clear sense of trepidation that he moved over to the massive screen and with a moment's hesitation, placed his hand on it.
Instantly he felt a near liquid like texture envelop his hand as it slipped through the screen and hit air once again… he found himself wondering just what was on the other side.
"Oh yeah, Yū, what kind of TV do you…" he heard Yosuke ask before trailing off.
"Huh? Something wrong Yosuke?" Chie asked before turning to face him once again and taking an alarmed expression at his current predicament.
"I-is his arm… in the TV?" the cyclist asked in clear shock.
"Whoa…" Chie seemed just as amazed though in a slightly better way if he was to guess, "Uhhh… is that some kinda… new model? L-like with a new function?"
"Hell no!" the brown haired boy answered firmly and without hesitation as the duo finally decided to make their way over to see things up close.
"You gotta be kidding me… did you really stick your hand through the screen?" the brown haired girl asked in disbelief.
"Oh man… this is for real… that's some magic trick man!" the boy with the headphones said clearly both impressed and wishing he wasn't actually seeing something as impossible as what he was currently seeing, "so how's it work, huh? What's the magician's secret?!"
Yū found himself wondering himself… he could definitely feel air on the other side… so he should be able to breathe…
So he pulled his hand back out and decided to see if he could stick his head through.
The first thing he saw when he looked through were clouds… or was it fog? He couldn't tell but he had the strangest sense of De Ja Vu at the sight before him.
"Oh my god!" he heard Chie call from behind him as he tried to see what was beyond the mist… eventually coming to the conclusion that there was nothing except for the fog there.
"There's just fog inside," he called out, hoping they would hear him like he still heard them.
"W-what do you mean, 'inside'?!" Yosuke was clearly panicking while he found himself wondering just what this place was.
Honestly all he could tell was that there was a lot of space in there…
"It seems very spacious," he stated as he continued to look around with no idea where he was or why this place was even there in the first place.
"Wh-what do you mean, 'spacious'?!" and once again the boy with a disposition towards orange asked in panic.
"I mean, what's going on?!" Chie didn't sound any less panicked herself as he spent even more time breathing in the heavy air and trying to figure out as much as he could about the place he had discovered inside the TV.
"Holy crap… I-I think this is all too much for my bladder…" he found himself blinking at what he heard of Yosuke from behind him.
"What the? Are you gonna pee your pants?!" and all of a sudden, Chie sounded more shocked at the other boys actions than his own and he wondered just what was going through her mind to allow for her focus to shift so easily.
"I've been holding it in all day! I-I haven't had a chance to go!" the brown haired boy was clearly making excuses but quickly followed up on his previous statement, "aarrgghh! Can't… hold it… anymore!"
And with that he heard rapid footsteps moving away before returning almost immediately.
"Shit! Customers! They're coming!" Yū found himself caught off guard at that statement.
"What?! But we've got a guy half stuck in the TV here!" Chie answered quickly and Yū prepared himself to pull his head out, "Wh-what're we going to do?!"
And just as he was preparing himself to pull out, he found himself being knocked in by a pair of thuds and without any preparation… he was falling.
He didn't know if he was thankful when he landed, on one hand it hurt but on the other it at least meant he survived the landing in the first place.
"Ow… landed right on my wallet," Yosuke's voice called out through the fog and he looked to barely see the other boy sitting not far from him.
"Man… where the heck are we?" the voice of the tomboy called out as she looked around, seeing barely anything for the fog, though some metal structures managed to be seen through the near yellow clouds, "what is this place? Is it some place inside Junes?"
"Hell no it isn't," the brown haired boy responded immediately, "I mean we fell through a TV! Er… actually, what is going on here?"
"So… uh… we're still alive… right?" Chie sounded scared right now and Yū found himself understanding exactly why she would be… first though was the part that needed to be made clear.
"Are you guys okay?" he asked, they had all fallen from a decent height so it wouldn't be a surprise if someone had been injured during the landing.
"I think my butt's cracked now…" he felt himself sweatdrop at the other boys answer.
"Of course it is," Chie stated in a way that said he shouldn't be surprised and honestly, he wondered how the other city-boy hadn't realized just how stupid his comment really was.
"Whoa!" and almost immediately the boy with the headphones looked around and gasped in surprise.
"Wh-what now?! Did you wet your pants?!" the tomboy was clearly not going to let him forget about that point from earlier.
"No stupid! Look around!" Yosuke pointed out causing everyone to look around once again… apparently the fog seemed to be getting thinner around them… well, either that or they were somehow growing adjusted to its presence.
"Is this… a studio?" Satonaka sounded surprised and Yū really couldn't blame her, "all this fog… or is it smoke? There's no place like this in Inaba, is there?"
"Hell no," Hanamura responded quickly, "but man… this place is huge…"
"What're we gonna do?" that was the billion yen question right there… and in the end, there was only one answer he could give.
"Let's look around," the silver haired teen stated firmly.
"Huh? B-but…" Chie was definitely not enthusiastic about his suggestion, "look, we need to get home and…"
It was then that she seemed to realize the point that had made the choice clear.
"H-huh?" her voice was nervous as she asked the question he couldn't answer, "wait a minute… which way did we come in from? I don't see a way in… or out!"
"What? That can't be right! H-how can that be?!" the brown haired boy was just as shocked and clearly scared as the girl in green now.
"I don't know! Don't ask me!" and once again, the two started up an argument that wouldn't be out of place in an old married couple, "I can't take this anymore! I wanna go home!"
"Okay, so how?!" the son of the Junes manager asked angrily.
"Let's calm down," Yū found himself interjecting, after all, there was no point in panicking when you could be thinking or searching.
"Y-you're right," the other male agreed, "okay… okay… let's calm down and think about this. All right, so we need to find a way out."
"Is there really a way outta here?" Chie didn't sound too convinced.
"We got in, so we must be able to get out somehow," the boy with the headphones stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"That's true, but…" Chie's hesitation was something he understood perfectly, the fact was that they had arrived here and there was no exit visible to any of them in the surrounding area.
"If there's no exit, we're trapped, so let's cross our fingers and look around," Yosuke pointed out in a tone that indicated it was obvious what the current course of action was.
And honestly, it was clear that that was the only thing they could do and so, they started to walk.
Time passed and Yū found himself growing concerned by the way the local area seemed to change, what with how it no longer looked like a studio but an apartment walkway, however the fog that shrouded the area was still as thick as ever.
"What is this place? It feels different from where we were before," Chie pointed out nervously as they continued their way forward.
"It looks like we're in some kinda building, but damn, this fog's so thick, I can hardly see," the boy that worked part time at Junes stated uncertainly.
"Are you sure we're not wandering farther away?" the girl in green asked and the grey haired boy found himself wondering the same thing.
"I can't be positive, but we've gotta trust our instinct a little," the response from the other boy in the group made him internally sigh as he wondered… what would Shirou, Rin and Saber do here?
Honestly he found the thought of them doing anything stupid slim, they always seemed to understand things he took a few seconds to and on top of that, he doubted they'd wander around aimlessly like they were right now.
They'd probably figure out some way of contacting the outside world and be saved.
"I know, but…" however that didn't change the fact that he wasn't here with Shirou, Rin or Saber, but his classmates and they were clearly not coping as well as he imagined his 'relatives' would.
In the end, they just continued onward in hopes of finding something that could help them.
At the end of the walkway, they found a small room that they entered, only to find a single bed lying in the corner.
"Hey, is it just me or is the fog lighter here?" the brown haired boy asked before pulling out his phone and checking it, "no service, what a surprise."
"Can't you guys slow down a little?" the only girl of the group said as she caught up to them, "it's hard enough to see where you're going."
Facing her he found his attention drawn to the scene behind her, a scene he didn't remember seeing when he entered.
The looks on his and Yosuke's faces must have caused her some concern given how she turned around and immediately spoke out at the sight.
"Huh? What the?!" he couldn't blame her for being alarmed.
The rest of the room was pretty standard… except for the numerous posters with their faces cut out, what looked to be bloodstains splattered across the walls, the single lone wooden chair with a red cushion and a piece of rope with some fabric tied to the end hanging above it.
"It's a dead end! There no exit!" seriously… of all the things Chie could focus on it was the fact that there was only the one door and not the apparent noose?
"This just keeps getting creepier and creepier the further we go," Yosuke admitted as he took in the scene himself… before jerking as his hands shot towards his groin and he started to hop on the spot, "Argh! I can't hold it any longer! My bladders gonna explode!"
Yū found himself perturbed by the other boy's focus… of all the times for such a thing to happen…
And with that, the boy rushed towards one of the walls and clearly unzipped his trousers.
"Yosuke?! What are you doing?!" Chie was clearly not happy with his sudden decision.
"I gotta let it out before I piss my pants!" his response was clearly made in desperation.
"You're going here?!" the brown haired girl asked in disbelief, "oh, you have gotta be kidding…"
Idly, the grey haired boy wondered how Shirou and Rin were doing right now.
XXX Mysteries Beyond The Fog XXX
Shirou looked at the frying steaks and the yellow label that indicated that they would be removed from sale later that day.
Honestly it wasn't anywhere near the best ingredient you could get however it was cheap, the quality wasn't too bad and he was planning on slicing it into strips anyway so it didn't have to be perfect.
"It would appear that Yū-san and his friends are not here," the voice of Saber stated next to him as his attention was once again drawn away from the meal he was going to prepare when they got to the Dojima household.
"Well, it's too early to say anything bad has happened," he pointed out, "maybe they just left to look around town?"
Academically, he knew that it was a distinct possibility that they had been targeted by whoever killed the announcer woman, but he also knew that it was unlikely, especially given how they were teenagers and therefore inclined to do their own thing.
Sure there was the fact that he was a teenager and had been involved in a war between super powered legendary figures but that was to be expected given the fact that he was a user of a magecraft and not some random kid.
"Maybe," Saber seemed uncertain and that was in itself not a good sign, especially given the fact she had an A rank in Instinct… sure it was only supposed to apply to battle but that didn't mean it was impossible for it to apply to other matters.
"How about this, if they're not back by eight then we'll go and search for them," he decided to offer, honestly it seemed like the most reasonable course of action in the current situation… despite knowing how risky things could be he didn't think anything would happen during daylight and didn't want to cause a fuss if it turned out to be something mundane.
"Shirou is right," Rin's voice came from the other side as she clearly walked up to him with a shopping basket full of fresh veg, "there is no reason to start worrying pre-emptively… besides, if they've been taken then it will already be too late to do anything to save them."
Shirou felt his chest contract at that statement, the thought that the other teens could be dead and there was nothing he could do to stop it made him feel sick.
"Rin…" he found himself saying in the hopes of her saying something to make him feel better about the situation.
"Shirou, the chances of whatever it is kidnapping a person during sunlight are slim at worst," she pointed out and he felt himself relax at that, "so it is far more likely that they just left without thinking about us."
"Yeah," he accepted that logic, understanding that his initial thoughts on the matter were most likely correct, "so… that'll be everything."
Everything was there in their baskets and he found himself once again focusing on the meal he was going to be making later that day.
XXX Mysteries Beyond The Fog XXX
"Whew… we finally made it back here," Chie let out a sigh of relief as they returned to the place they had first appeared in this strange place.
Despite apparently having a bursting bladder, Yosuke had failed to actually release anything and they had ended up leaving due to the rope, chair and faceless posters that decorated the room.
"Wait… what's that?" she spoke up once again and Yū found himself focusing on the direction she was looking along with Yosuke.
That was when he noticed a silhouette that was barely noticeable through the thick fog.
"Th-there's something over there!" the brown haired boy stated with clear shock as whatever it was moved closer to them.
What they were greeted by when it finally came into view was a strange, round, mascot like suit that looked a bit like a blue teddy bear in a red and white one piece.
"What is this thing? A monkey? A bear?" the only girl in the group asked in clear confusion.
"What in the world?" Yosuke sounded just as confused as the other member of the group and Yū found himself relaxing slightly at the fact they had finally come across someone else.
"Th-that's what I wanna know! Who are you guys?" the person asked in an uncertain tone.
"It talked!" Chie responded with a gasp of surprise, "w-what are you?! Y-you wanna fight?!"
Seriously? Did Chie just threaten the only person they had met since arriving here?
"D-don't yell at me like that…" the person was definitely meek and started to cower at her outburst.
"What is this place?" he asked as unthreateningly as he could, causing the mascot to perk up a little.
"This place is what it is, it doesn't have a name," well… that was decidedly unhelpful, "it's where I live."
"You… live here?" Yosuke seemed just as confused by that statement as he was, this certainly didn't seem like the sort of place a person would live.
"If I was you guys, I'd hurry back to the other side," the stranger claimed and Yū found himself wonder what they meant by 'the other side', "someone's been throwing people in here. It's a big headache."
"Huh? Throwing people in? What are you talking about?" Yosuke was asking the obvious question.
"I dunno who's doing it! I just want them to think before doing things like that!" the stranger stated angrily.
"Hey, what's your problem?!" Chie snapped at the stranger, "what gives you the right to yell at us like that?! What are you?! Where are we?! What the heck is going on here?!"
And with that the stranger in the mascot suit proceeded to waddle over and hide behind Yū as he found himself sweatdropping at the cowardice of the person that was now behind him.
"I already told you…" they stated nervously, "a-anyways, you should hurry back."
"What it comes down to is, you want us to get outta here, right?" Yosuke stated bluntly, "well, so do we! We just don't know how dammit!"
"Urrrgh! That's why I'm saying I'll let you out!" the stranger responded and Yū felt a sense of relief flood his body.
"Like I keep saying, we don't know where the frickin' exit…" the brown haired boy started before stopping upon processing what the stranger had said, "wait… what?"
The stranger in the mascot suit then proceeded to tap his foot on the floor three times and a stack of old fashioned TV's appeared in the middle of the room in a puff of smoke.
"What the hell?!" Yū had to agree with the other boys reaction, for something to just appear out of nowhere was impossible… wasn't it?
"W-where did those TV's come from?!" Chie's reaction was to ask a question he couldn't answer… he was pretty sure there wasn't any way to have gotten them there without anyone noticing so how…?
"Okay, now go, go, get outta here! I'm a busy bear!" and with that the stranger proceeded to push them through the TV's.
"What's going on now?!" the only girl in the group was clearly not happy with being manhandled by the stranger, "whoa! Hey, what're you doing?!"
"S-stop pushing!" Yosuke demanded as Yū found himself suffering some sort of psychedelic seizure before appearing once again inside Junes and just in front of the very TV they had gone through before.
"Huh? Is this…?" the girl in green started.
"Did we… make it back?" the brown haired boy asked as they looked around after getting up.
They were soon greeted by an announcement about their daily limited time sale starting.
"Crap, it's alrady that late?!" Yosuke was clearly shocked.
"Looks like we were in there for quite a while," Chie pointed out.
"That's right! Now I remember where I saw that poster before," the boy with the headphones stated, "look over there! That's the poster we saw!"
"What's up now?" the kung fu enthusiast asked before looking where the other boy was facing, "hey, you're right, they're the same. I couldn't tell before without the face but it was Hiiragi Misuzu… she's been all over the news lately… something about her husband having an affair with that announcer lady who died the other day."
"Hey, so does that mean…?" Yosuke was clearly thinking of the implications, "that weird room we saw… could it be related to that Yamano lady's death? Now that I think about it, there was that creepy noose hanging from the ceiling… Yaargh, stop! No more! We gotta stop talking about this."
And with a shake of his head, the other boy proceeded to continue talking, "I'm gonna wipe what happened today from my brain, I don't think my poor heart can take anymore."
"I'm feeling a chill too," Chie admitted, "let's go home… I wanna lie down and rest."
Yū couldn't stop himself from agreeing and wondering if Shirou, Rin and Saber would ask any questions about where he had been… he really didn't want to answer anything about what had just happened.
XXX Mysteries Beyond The Fog XXX
Entering the Dojima residence, he found himself facing a table surrounded by not just Nanako, Shirou, Rin and Saber, but Dojima himself.
That alone just proved how late he was.
"You're late," Rin stated firmly, causing him to rub the back of his neck nervously.
"S-sorry, I was just hanging out with Chie and Yosuke," it wasn't really a lie, though it wasn't the whole truth either.
"You were beginning to make us worry," Shirou stated calmly and Yū found himself happy that he wouldn't have to tell them about what actually happened.
"Sorry, you know what it's like," he stated as he took a seat at the table and found himself tasting all the different parts of a meal that was probably good enough for a restaurant.
"I know, we've never been like that ourselves but we know about it," Yū found himself staring at the two and remembering that despite only being about a year older than him, they were far more focused and mature than most of the people he knew, let alone people his own age.
"Sorry," he apologized again, earning a soft smile off the red head.
"It's fine, just let us know before you go wandering off again," Shirou's statement made him give a wry grin at the fact that they weren't angry and just wanted to make sure he didn't disappear for good.
In the back of his mind, he was reminded of just how close he was to never coming back… if that stranger hadn't appeared then they would probably have never managed to escape that strange place.
And just thinking about that place was making him tired.
His attention was drawn to the news as another report on the murder took centre stage, this time moving on to mentioning that the announcer had been staying at the Amagi Inn before she was discovered.
He found himself sneezing as a chill went through his body, clearly he hadn't recovered from the oppressive atmosphere of that place connected to the TV… honestly, the more he thought about it the less sense it made.
"Are you sick?" Dojima asked him, "you're probably still adjusting to the new environment, Nanako, could you get him some cold medicine?"
With that the little girl got up and rushed to the kitchen.
"You should get to bed after you take it," Yū nodded at that claim as he finished his meal and took the medicine.
After that, he proceed to head upstairs and almost immediately fell onto his futon and fell asleep.
XXX Mysteries Beyond The Fog XXX
"Thanks for looking after Nanako," Dojima found himself thankful for the trio that seemed to come around every day and cook proper meals for his daughter.
Honestly he hated how he was always having to get take out or microwave meals due to both lack of time and skill when it came to cooking.
"It's all right Dojima-san," Shirou stated with a soft smile, "I feel better knowing she has someone looking over her when there's a killer about."
He would've asked why they thought there was a killer about but honestly, given how everyone thought that he wasn't really surprised.
The problem with the investigation was that there were no signs about how the announcer died, according to the coroner there was literally nothing wrong with her corpse.
There were no stab wounds, no bruises, no poisons, her insulin levels were normal, she had no heart or lung defects, there was nothing clogging up her lungs, no liver damage, her spleen was intact and undamaged and the list went on and on.
Honestly it was like she had literally just dropped dead and someone had decided to hang her body on an antennae for no reason.
"Anyway, thanks for looking after her anyway," he thanked the trio yet again as they said their goodbyes and the teens that acted more like adults made their way along the street and back home.
Honestly he wasn't happy with the thought of them walking the streets at night, not when there is potentially a killer on the loose, but they seemed to understand the dangers and given that those dangers were the very reason they had gone over, he wasn't going to argue with them about it.
None of that stopped him from thinking about the most recent issue he was having though.
Konishi Saki had vanished and no one knew where she was.
He had asked Rin if she knew anything given how they were in the same class but that have proved fruitless as she revealed that all she knew was that the girl hadn't come to school.
His gut feeling was that something was going to happen and he prayed he was wrong… but he just couldn't stop thinking of the worst case scenario.
In the end, he would just have to wait and hope that his gut feeling was wrong.
And there it is.
Hopefully getting past this hurdle of dissatisfaction will allow things to progress so until next time.
Shadow out.
