Chapter Seven

"Oh wait, I better take my camera with me."

Junpei jumped off of his bed and began a in-depth search around his room. He had just begun throwing aside piles of magazines when Kartilkeya interjected.

"It doesn't seem likely that you're going to find it," He observed, kicking over a pile of dirty clothes, "You can use mine if you'd like."

"Maybe. I don't have the time to search for it anyway," Junpei yawned, throwing himself back on his bed.

"Why did you wait until the night before the trip?" Kartikeya questioned, "I was done packing the day before yesterday."

"Kart, don't you know by now that Junpei Iori performs his best under pressure?"

Suddenly, the two were interrupted by the sound of catcalls on the floor below them.

"Junpei and Kart have got it going on!" they heard Kenji yell as footstep began pounding up the stairs. The two students jumped, however, when they heard loud banging against their door.

"Junpei, let us in. Hurry!" came the voice of Amaya. Opening the door, both her and Yukari came crashing in.

"You're not going to believe this," she yelped, an aura of excitement exploding around her.

"What is it?" Kartilkeya cried, confusion thick in his voice. Suddenly Junpei understood. They had found something.

"Okay," Yukari began, her face pale, "I talked to Mitsuru-san about the Amanos. When I asked her about Nanako though, it confused her."

"Huh? Why? Is it a different family?" Junpei asked hopefully. Amano was a pretty common name. Maybe Amaya had just made a mistake.

"No, it's the same family," Yukari corrected, "But she said that the head of the Amano's, Tetsuya, talked about his daughter, Nanako, all the time."

"So she really was lying?" Kartilkeya interjected, having apparently caught on, "But why?"

"I'm not sure if she was lying, guys," Yukari whispered, a hint of fear in her eyes, "Nanako Amano died fifteen years ago."

Suddenly, a dead silence filled the room.

"What are you talking about? We see her everyday. We know she's not dead." Junpei whispered. Confusion gnawed at his insides and suddenly he was terrified. This couldn't be right, could it?

"We got on the Amano Group's company website," Amaya reported, "There's an entire dedication to their seventeen-year old daughter that died from influenza fifteen years ago. They even have a picture."

"That doesn't make sense!" Junpei growled, "How could she be dead when we see her everyday? Are you saying that she's actually a ghost instead of an alien?"

"We don't know any more than you do, Junpei," Yukari whispered, "Maybe they're lying to get more sympathy, but we have no evidence to suggest that."

"Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Ken-kun are coming on the trip with us," she continued after a short pause, "She said that she has been detecting something unusual, and she's afraid that it may have something to do with Nanako."

Junpei felt his insides go cold, remembering the dream he had experienced the previous week. Images of Minato, Nanako, and that strange little boy flashed through his head.

"Detecting something?" Kartikeya questioned as both him and Amaya stared at the two persona users in confusion.

"What do we do?" Junpei rasped, ignoring the other students.

"We wait," she answered, shrugging, "We don't have any reason to believe that Nanako is dangerous, ya know?"

"No evidence?" Amaya laughed, "She's dead! How many friendly zombies have you heard of?"

"Yukari has a point though," Kartikeya agreed, "Though I will admit that there's something weird about her. Like she's not quite there."

"Okay, let's do this."