The huge window at one side of the hotel room led out to a balcony that overlooked the plaza that stood at the center of the Shibuya district. Here and there the domed tops of umbrellas moved over the plaza area, but the bouts of rain and the fact that it was Sunday meant there would be relative quiet.
And with the streets clear and school being out, it was the perfect time to investigate the matter of the missing memories. Ann perched in a chair, her feet pulled up under her and her thighs at her chest, as she spoke into her cell with her hand cupped around the bottom to block out any extraneous noise. "I know…it's just that Haru, Makoto, and I don't get to…I promise you there are no boys…you know we're not like that…Yes. Never…I love you too."
Rise sat on the bed with a cup of coffee the size of a small bowl clutched between her hands. Her eyes were still half closed and slightly puffy and she hadn't bothered to put on her makeup yet. "I'm guessing that you're in the clear?"
Ann nodded. "Mmhm, Sae and Makoto have gotten too used to covering for us. It really helps to have someone like Sae on our side."
Rise smiled a soft, sleepy smile. "You guys have it all figured out. When we did this we just bumbled through things. We were extremely lucky."
Nanako yawned. "I was pronounced dead."
"Oh, that sounds…eventful," Ann says with a laugh. It was too early in the morning for her hair to be up in her signature pigtails. She hadn't brought anything to sleep in, Rise loaned her an oversized orange sweater with picture of a cat's head stretched across the front. "You sound pretty alright with all the stuff that's happening."
"We've been at this for a long time," Rise said. "Still don't get how the 'stealing hearts' thing works…"
The door to the room opened and Naoto walked in with Mitsuru behind her. Mitsuru was already dressed for the day and had elected to carry her saber inside of an umbrella bag. Naoto was dressed in a long, dark blue coat that was dotted with dots of rain.
"Look at you Naoto-kun," Rise said, the smile could be heard in her tone. "You kept the hair." Naoto, who had kept notoriously short hair throughout high school was growing it out now. Every time Rise saw her it was longer. Rise rose from her spot on the bed and sat the coffee cup on the nightstand. She went to reach for Naoto's hair, but stopped just before making contact. "Can I touch?"
"Go ahead."
Rise ran her fingers through the sides and back. "Why would hide this? This is gorgeous. First the figure and now this, I'm jealous."
Naoto's face reddened. "Thank you." She said. "There was some question about the nature of what's going on here in town and from what's been reported by the local media, one would think that there's been no more mental shutdowns. Perhaps I am catching the beginning of a trend, but yesterday we police found a woman in dead in an alley, a reporter. The cause of death was unclear, but the state of the bottom looked like the crime scene photos I've seen from the mental shutdown cases."
"Everything is piling up against us," Mitsuru said. "There's just so many different angles where this going wrong."
Ann grimaced. "You're not in this alone, once we figure out what's going on with our memories, I'm sure you'll have the PeeTee support. One hundred percent."
"It means a lot, really," Nanako said with a smile.
Rise was standing in front of Naoto. "What about you? Interested in lending a hand. I know you said that S.I.S. really wasn't your thing…"
"There are matters here that it might help to have some assistance with. There's a woman who works in the crime lab. I had considered going to visit her, but perhaps Mitsuru would accompany me on that venture?" Naoto said.
Mitsuru nodded. "Everyone stay armed and at the ready. We don't know how Akechi does it, but he seems able to draw us into the Mirror World at his own whim. Nanako, until I get back Rise is in charge."
"Yes, ma'am," Nanako said.
"Get a heads up to Yukari and Chie. Then try and track down any lead you can on Ann's memories," Mitsuru added.
Rise shrugged. "I pretty much know my marching orders, just contact me if you find anything out."
The red closed sign hung against the door with the smaller clock sign below it with the arms turned to an hour from the current time. We'll be back soon read the print below the clock, but there wasn't much in the way of shopping going on. Dark clouds filled the horizon threatening rain which turned out to be enough reason for Inaba to call it a lazy Sunday. Hanamura Butchers wouldn't miss any business.
Through the front of the store there was a small waiting area with a large glass window where you could watch your meat be cut. The sales counter was opposite the door and behind that was a walk-in freezer to the left and to the right the spacious office area. A butcher didn't particularly need an office of this type and for the most part once the workday started there tended to be mess that you didn't want to risk spreading to unnecessary areas—it just meant more to clean.
Youske had the talent for the work, he was the only butcher shop in the city and he was constantly being called on for large events at Amagi Inn or just special occasions of any kind. He'd been so busy that he had very little time to organize anything outside of the parts of the store that he needed kept straight. The counter in the front and the meat cooler were immaculate, the prefecture health inspectors spent more time chatting with him than actually having to address issues, and word of mouth brought even travelers into his shop.
In all of that rushing around the office area was an unfinished project. In the first few months that he was there Youske had elected to leave it vacant with nothing more than a few boxes stacked in the corner for storage. He later bought a desk and office chair and a small computer—though he wasn't sure why, it's just what a business had right?
The little bit of work that he had put in seemed to be enough for the officers use today. The closed door muffled the noises from anyone passing by outside the store front, but if they stopped and bothered to really listen they might catch wind of what was going on behind that closed office door.
The desk was cold against her bare skin, instead of warming due to her body, it seemed to by siphoning the warmth out of her. It was an odd thought to have at this moment, but it wasn't distracting Chie from what Youske was doing against her thigh with his teeth. She rocked her body slightly to the side and a new part of her body came in contact with the cold desk, but it seemed to be worth it as Youske got the message.
He pressed his face full against her, until he was sucking at the skin right where she wanted him to. Chie thrust her hips toward him, forcing his face deeper into the folds of skin as her head dropped back and she let out a short moan.
And then a yelp. Chie set up straight and hit Youske with the butt of her palm on the top of his head. "What do you think you're doing biting me there?" She said between attempts to catch her breath.
Youske lifted his head to speak. "But you like biting. You love my biting."
"Not there though," Chie pouted. "There's more blood rushing around down there and things are swollen and sensitive-"
Youske half-tackled her back to the desk, pinning her wrists to her sides and forcing his weight against her. She could feel the pressure of his cock through the boxer-briefs and, as he assaulted her neck with kisses, she could smell herself on his breath and skin.
"Why do you do this to me?" She muttered not expecting any kind of answer. It had been this way for over a year with them. Chie would come to town to visit Yukiko and family and then she would visit Youske and this would happen. Worse, this time wasn't an accident. He came to town knowing what it would meant. Seeing Yukiko was only an excuse.
Youske brought his lips right up next to her ear. "Do you still want to?" He whispered.
"Of course, I wanna. Jeeze, what kind of question is that?"
He edged himself inside of her until she bucked against him, trying to rush things. Chie had decided sometime ago she didn't need a boyfriend and that her job and S.I.S. were more than enough for her, but then she kept coming here for this with Youske. And despite him being annoying and a dick, she enjoyed the parts before and after the (very good) sex.
She could feel him quickening and his breath becoming frantic. Through the haze of pleasure she managed to speak. "Please…pull out before…" Youske grunted and she felt something warm and wet against her inner thigh and then pooling beneath her leg.
"You okay?" he asked cupping her chin in one hand.
Chie giggled uncontrollably. Who was she turning into, Yukiko? "Yeah," she managed before bringing up her hand to stifle her laughter. The air around her cooled the sweat on her skin as the spasms stopped. In the spots that she and Youske were touching, though, there was still a warmth.
This was gross, right? They were gross. The thought flooded over her, not really of shame that she felt, but of what she thought that she should be feeling. She was suddenly very aware of her body and other things. Her cheeks warmed with embarrassment. "You've got a store to open back up, right?" Chie asked in a soft, slow voice.
Youske chuckled. "It's so sexy when you do that thing with your voice."
"Hey? What thing? That's just my voice."
"That voice you use when you're not trying to be tough."
"I don't know what voice you're talking about," Chie said in a little voice.
"That one, right there."
"Stop it," she could feel the heat beneath her cheeks intensifying, but there was something satisfying about this embarrassment.
Chie was slipping back into her clothes while Youske cleaned up. He wiped the desk top down with wood polish and washed his face in the sink in the small bathroom. "Are you going home?" he asked as he was drying his face off with a wad of paper towels.
"To clean up? Hell no, I'm going to borrow a room from Yukiko. Last time I went home it felt like my parents could just smell the sex on me…" Chie said.
There was a long silence and Youske stepped back into the room. His shirt was off Chie couldn't help but check out the fine definition of his muscles. "So, do you ever talk to Yu?" He asked.
"When Rise is on the phone I say hi, why?" Chie asked.
"Do you mention any of this to him or Rise?"
"You do not want to talk sex around Rise Kujikawa. She once very vigorously described and then offered to demonstrate a technique for me…unprovoked." Chie said. "Besides, this is weird for me. You used to go on and on about how beautiful she is and how nice her legs were. When I'm like this it's not something I want to think about."
"Are you saying that you think I want Rise?" Youske said. Chie didn't reply. He begin to slip into his shirt and then put on a button-up over it. "I don't want to sound shallow," he said quietly.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Youske sighed as if steadying himself to say something. "You've just grown up well. There are…things about your body that I find really hot. Like your butt and how your legs feel wrapped around me. Sorry that I…said anything. It's probably the wrong thing."
Chie kissed him. "No need to apologize. In my mind it feels like you have to be lying, but I don't know. You're just not. I know it. Her cell phone rang and she broke away to look for it. Usually it could wait, but that specific ringtone was a S.I.S. thing. "He-hello?" She said. This better be an emergency, she thought.
"Chie," came Rise's voice. Speak of the Devil. "Someone tried to kill us and Nanako got injured. She's fine now, but we're worried that they might come after you. Even then we need you close."
"Sounds like it's been a crazy few days out there." Chie said. "I hope Yukari is doing okay."
Rise didn't speak for a long time. "Not sure. I'm going to try and check on her before things get to hectic. How fast can you get back from Inaba?"
"Maybe three hours at the most. I could get the first train back into Tokyo."
"Good," Rise said. "If you get a chance before you go say hi to Youske and Yukiko."
"Hehe, yeah. There probably won't be time to see Youske. I've got to pack and all," Chie said with a nervous laugh.
Rise's voice was muffled as if she had tried to cover the microphone up and speak to Nanako off to her side. "You're going to have to leave the spear here, Nana. This isn't Final Fantasy, you can't just carry a spear down the street like you're Cid Highwind." There were thumps and other sounds as Rise moved the phone to speak to Chie again. "Sorry, we're in crisis mode over here. I'll seen you soon."
Youske's hand crept in around her waist and came to a stop below her stomach. "Is everything okay?" He asked.
"No, something happened with Nanako and there is just a lot going on," Chie said.
"If you need help I'm sure that we could call the gang out of retirement for one last show," Youske asked.
Chie slipped her hand under his. "No, you've got all of this here and a real life where you're doing something great that makes you happy. We've got this. Mitsuru has a pretty good head for these things. She wouldn't get us into anything that we weren't ready for."
"You're all so close now," Youske said. He rubbed the back of his head. "I kind of miss the feeling. Like, I know that there were people dying and there was danger and all, but I don't think I'll ever be as close to a group of people as I was to all of you for that year when we chased Adachi."
"It doesn't feel the same, but yeah. It's good, just different." Chie turned and kissed him on the cheek. "I've got to go."
Light was scarce after they took the stairs into the lower level where the morgue was. This underground passageway below the police station snaked around through past several doors where various things were stored. Everything was hard, and tile, and cold. Mitsuru's boots clicked against the floor as she walked behind Naoto, the sound of their feet against the floor had been the only sound between them for most of this trip.
Mitsuru broke the silence. "I would think that this kind of thing being underground would be frowned upon—in case there was Earthquakes."
"Tokyo tends to treat that sort of thing like it's both a threat, but something that they can only prepare so much for. Proper precautions are taken, but every decision isn't made out of fear," she said.
"Someone seems to know her way around down here," Mitsuru said. "I'm going to chance a guess that you've had to work with this station before."
Naoto sighed. "When the first of the mental shutdown cases started I came into town, though I kept my presence quiet. We didn't know the exact method of delivery and I wanted to have some kind of clue before I went announcing myself." Naoto felt the next question coming. "I left because there was a complicated situation between myself and the investigators looking into things. They didn't appreciate my methods, though I had an inside woman to keep an eye on the case for me."
As they neared an unmarked door Naoto slowed her pace. "It's me, Kurenai," Naoto said stepping through the door.
Kurenai smiled back over her shoulder from the microscope she was working over. "Hey, you—I thought maybe I frightened you off last night with how you kept leaving—oh," she stopped as she noticed Mitsuru coming through the door.
"There was some business that I had to attend to," Naoto said taken aback.
Mitsuru wasn't concerned with the insinuated personal matters between Naoto and this woman, though when she spotted the woman there was something familiar about her. She was sure that she had seen this person under different circumstances and in a different place.
"I'd like to introduce Kurenai to you," Naoto said. "She's a brilliant investigator for the police department forensics team. Kurenai, this is Mitsuru Kirijo."
"Oh, from the Kirijo group?" Kurenai said. "We've met before, though you might not remember me."
Mitsuru stared at her, trying to place where they had met, but vindicated in at least knowing she wasn't imagining things. "I knew I had seen you before, but I couldn't place the location."
"May second, 2015. I was laying a wreath on the the Moonlight Bridge in Tatsumi Port Island. And then I saw you standing there just staring out toward the water. I went to you and we talked for a long while, you told me that you'd lost a friend and that this was the closest place to their memory that you could find. I don't think I'd ever told you my name though," Kurenai said in a cheerful tone.
Mitsuru folded her arms. "I try not to think of that place," she said.
Kurenai nodded. "I'm very sorry to go dredging up old memories. Perhaps it's different for me since the people I lost were too long ago for me to really remember?" She was rummaging through a small box of files that was off to her side in search of something. "There it is," she said finally as she held up a folder of newspaper clippings.
"What is that?" Asked Naoto.
"Toxicology reports, autopsies, background checks - the victims of these mental shutdowns don't have any pathogen or influential narcotic in their system, so there's not any hard evidence on what is going on here. What I did find a connection to some events that have happened over the past few years. Cases of the Apathy Syndrome started to happen after May 1999…which is a little bit too close to home for me not to call it creepy…" she said as an aside. "Now these cases started slowly at first and then there was a boom of them around 2009, but I've heard tell from some that the lab on the Tatsumi Port Island was testing some experimental drug that got out."
"I was a child when that incident happened," Mitsuru said. "But I can assure that it was no drug, that didn't produce pharmaceuticals."
"And even if it did one of the first points we made was to say that the victims of our current illness have no traces of anything in their blood," said Naoto.
"There is some grounds for it to be a mental breakdown thing or something in the brain that we can't detect. Have you ever heard of the Strasbourg, France Dancing Plague of 1518?" Kurenai asked. "Dozens of people dance until their bodies simply gave out. There are records of this everywhere. And some have offered the theory that they simply were under so much stress that it caused a mass hysteria. We live in a stress filled world, so the same could be said here."
"Except that we have a definite time when the mental shutdown cases stopped before. When Shido Masayoshi confessed his crimes there wasn't another case for almost a year," Naoto said. "And the President of Okumura Foods and the SIU Director were mental shutdown victims that had connections to Shido and many of the people who the Phantom Thieves drove to confess had connections to him too."
Kurenai dropped into her office chair. "This is a lot to take in. You think that there's some large connection to all of these people and that they're steering the Mental Shutdowns?"
Shido was an ambitious man. It wasn't too far fetched for them to think that he could have orchestrated the mental shutdowns or that someone close to him had to help his case. Mitsuru could tell by the expression on Naoto's face that she was working through it too. The angle of the otherworld helped as it filled in some of the gaps. It had to be something over there that caused these mental shutdowns.
But something else was suddenly bothering Mitsuru. "What happened in May for you?" She asked Kurenai. "You were laying a wreath on Moonlight Bridge and I'd like to know for what purpose if it's not too much to ask?"
Kurenai swept a tendril of her reddish brown hair away from her cheek, tucking it in behind her ear. My parents died in a car accident on that bridge the night that the lab exploded…" she said. "I guess they must have been distracted by it or something." Kurenai smiled weakly, but slowly faded to a more serious expression as she saw the shock on Mitsuru's face.
Naoto noticed it too and something else. "Somehow, we've been pulled into the other world…"
Mitsuru hefted her umbrella and pulled her saber. "That's been happening lately. Miss Kurenai, you might want to stay behind us."
"What's happening. Hey, why do you have that sword in here?" Kurenai yelled.
The doorway went dark and there were brief flickers of light from the hall. Whatever was coming had made the air around them simply electric. It wasn't Akechi, this felt different. And when the door finally went dark and stayed dark the writhing mass of shadowy tentacles reached in. The tentacles hooked around the inside of the door and the thing pulled itself into view. It was a massive wad of shadows that fluctuated between different sizes as they pressed tight together to squeeze through the door.
A stoic mask like face stared back at them. "Wh-what is that?" Kurenai clambered up out of the chair and wedged herself between Naoto and Mitsuru.
"A sign that we're on the right track," Naoto said.
