Sorry for taking so long on this, you guys! I've been making a lot of edits to the previous chapters because I am a fickle writer who can't be satisfied with his first draft. I hope you enjoy this one!
Chapter 8: New and Familiar Faces Part 3
Water. There was suddenly water all around her. The little girl's compulsion for air took over quickly as she started to flail her arms in an attempt to swim to the surface. She didn't know how she came to suddenly wake up submerged in water. It didn't matter at that moment. Right now, all that mattered was not drowning.
When she finally broke the surface, she continued to move in the closest direction out of the water. Grabbing on to a smooth rock to her left, she used it to hoist herself against the current, eventually climbing out of the water and crawling on the ground. She looked around herself to see where she was, but nothing looked familiar.
"Huh? This isn't the riverbank..." she uttered to herself. The Samegawa riverbank never got this intense, not even during the rainy season. There was no road going across the way. Only trees and bushes and other plants as far as she could see. Was she out of Inaba? When did this happen? Before she could think about where she was, a scream rang out from behind her.
"HELP!"
Whipping her head around at the sound of the scream, she found another child. A girl barely able to keep her head above the water before sinking again. The black hair of the poor girl was familiar to the other. She got up quickly, her adrenaline kicking in.
"Yukiko!" The girl looked around her for something she could use to pull her friend out of the water. Finding a long stick, she picked it up and started running downstream. She managed to get to a piece of land close enough to where she would be able to hold the stick out.
"Grab on!"
Thankfully, Yukiko was coherent enough to hear her friend and started to reach for the stick. Grabbing onto it firmly, she nearly dragged her friend back into the water. Her friend, however, was able to hold her ground, and began to pull Yukiko out of the river. Once she was close enough, she grabbed Yukiko by the wrist and got her body completely out of the water's reach before collapsing backwards and falling on her back while Yukiko fell on her front. That hurt a bit, but at least they were both safe.
"Thank you, Chie-chan," Yukiko said after finally catching her breath. "You saved me."
"That's what a friend does, Yuki-chan!" Chie panted out. "But, man! I never knew the Samegawa could get so crazy!"
"I know! We must be far away from Inaba," Yukiko surmised. "I don't recognize this forest, do you?"
"Not at all!" Chie got to her feet and looked around, searching for any recognizable landmarks. "When did we fall in the river, anyway?"
"Ah! Chie-chan!" Yukiko cried, getting Chie's attention. "Y-Your clothes! Where are your clothes?!"
"Huh? Whoa! I'm butt naked!" Chie looked down and jumped in shock. She turned to Yukiko, and her eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline. "And so are you, Yuki-chan!"
"Ahh!" Yukiko exclaimed, looking at herself with a bright red face before curling into a ball with her arms wrapped around her shoulders. "What's going on? Why are we naked, Chie-chan?"
"Did we take our clothes off before playing in the river?" Chie guessed. "But I would remember doing that, so that can't be it. Maybe we were pushed in!"
"That has to be it!" Yukiko exclaimed. "I hardly ever go near the river. Mom always warned that the waters get faster the further it goes downstream."
"No kidding! Even our socks and undies came off!" Chie commented, wiggling her toes. "That probably means they're down the river, huh?"
"Then they must be long gone by now…" Yukiko lamented, hanging her head in despair. "Oh, Mom's gonna be so mad at me…"
"Hey, cheer up, Yuki-chan!" Chie walked up to Yukiko and bent down to pat her on the head. "It's just me and you here, so you don't have to feel shy!"
"But…we're out in the open!" Yukiko whimpered, looking behind herself as though someone may have been watching. "I've never been naked outdoors before, Chie-chan!"
"It's not all that different. In fact, it feels great!" Chie stood up and grabbed Yukiko's arms, lifting her up to her feet. "Just feel that air, Yuki-chan!"
"Brr…it's chilly…" Yukiko whimpered. "Like I just stepped out of a hot bath! Even my butt's cold!"
"Ha ha! You said butt!" Chie snorted and collapsed into a fit of giggles.
Yukiko looked at her friend, offering that same toothy smile she did when Yukiko tried to run away with a puppy she found. It was something she knew she could rely on. Even when they're both naked and seemingly lost, Chie kept that smile going, and that was enough to give Yukiko strength. Soon, Chie's laughter infected her, causing Yukiko to start laughing as well.
"Okay, Chie-chan. You win. I'll try not to be scared or shy," Yukiko nodded. "But what can we do?"
"Well, we came down the river, so Inaba is probably upstream," Chie theorized, pointing in the opposite direction the river was flowing. "If we keep going that way wherever the water goes, we'll hit the riverbed in no time!"
"But what about our clothes?" Yukiko asked. "If we lost them downstream, I want to look for them first. I don't want to go back to town naked. Everyone will laugh at me."
"Then I'd kick them into space!" Chie replied, kicking the air in front of her. This didn't seem to give her friend much confidence, as the look of worry remained on her face. "But if you want to find our clothes first, that's fine too! If we can find them before sundown, we can be back in Inaba in time for dinner!"
"Thank you, Chie-chan," Yukiko said, finally smiling. "If we find our clothes at the beach, there's a road there we can walk that will take us back to town!"
"Heheh! That's it! There's the smart Yuki-chan I know!" Chie cheered, making Yukiko's smile bigger. "Clothes first, then home! Let's go!"
Going hand in hand, the two girls walked along the river's path, remaining ever mindful not to get too close. As they went along, they took note that the trees and the bushes seemed to go on endlessly the deeper they looked into the forest they were in. The going theory was that they were in a part of the river that wasn't in the main path. They had no knowledge of the river's path beyond the town, so it made sense to them that perhaps the river split at some point and went into some unpopulated region.
As they got further down, the river became calmer and smaller, until it was nothing more than a stream that came up to the girls' knees. This gave them some hope that they were getting close to somewhere with signs of civilization, like a camping ground or a wildlife park in another town. Finally, Chie spotted something that brought a smile to her face.
"Yuki-chan! Look!" Chie ran up to two items of clothing on the ground near the stream, a large green tank top, and a long white skirt. "Clothes!"
"Those aren't our clothes, Chie-chan," Yukiko commented, looking at the articles and how big they were. "These look like clothes for grown-ups. What if they lost them?"
"But we haven't seen anybody since we got here," Chie pointed out. "These were probably left behind by some camper that forgot about them."
"You think so?"
"Totally! Besides, even if somebody's looking for these, we need them more than they do!" Chie picked up the tank top and wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. It's still soaking wet."
"Why don't we hang them to dry, then?" Yukiko picked up the skirt and shook off the excess water.
"Good idea. I could use a rest, anyway." Chie walked over to a tree with a low hanging branch and laid the top over it, followed by the skirt Yukiko picked up. After making sure the clothes were spread out to dry, the two girls sat at the base of the tree.
While this forest looked typical for an ordinary forest, a few things seemed off once they were able to stop and take notice of it. For one, there was barely any noise of animals, though the forest should be full of them. There wasn't even any wind blowing through the trees. The only sound was that of the stream. Before the thought of being completely lost could overtake them, Chie decided to change the subject.
"Do you really think we were pushed in?" she asked. "I'd remember if something like that happen. Unless I got my head knocked in the water and forgot about it…"
"Then that would have happened to me too," Yukiko added. "I'm starting to think we weren't shoved in.
"Hmm...you got a point. I didn't think about that," Chie replied. "Well, what do you think?"
"Aren't there stories of fox spirits that lure people away to these shacks and leave them without their clothes or any of their stuff?" Yukiko theorized. "Maybe that's what happened to us."
"Really? Man, what did we do to deserve that? A couple of little kids like us?" Chie questioned. "I know the gods can be mean sometimes, but that's outright cruel!"
"It is...I hope we can get home soon," Yukiko sighed, curling up and burying her head into her knees. "My mother must be worried that I ran away again."
"Don't sweat it, Yuki-chan!" Chie patted her friend on the back. "After these things dry, we'll put them on and keep heading down until we hit the ocean. Going by the road sounds better than following the river upstream, anyway."
"Right. We'll have to get there before it gets dark, though," Yukiko stated as she looked to the garments hanging. "Do you think they're dry enough to wear?"
"Let's see..." Chie stood up and grabbed the skirt from the branch. "It's cold, but at least most of the water's dried off. Here." She handed Yukiko the skirt.
"I don't think I can wear this..." Yukiko held the skirt to her waist, only to discover it would drag on the floor if she wore it.
"You're right," Chie thought for a few seconds, then had an idea. "Let's try this!" She unzipped the skirt and let Yukiko step into it. Chie then lifted the skirt up, past Yukiko's waist, until it was just under her armpits. The skirt was just big enough to fit around her chest and zip up perfectly. "Ta-dah!"
"Oh! That's much better!" Yukiko looked down and saw that like this, everything was covered as the skirt came down to the middle of her thighs, just enough.
"Awesome! Let's see if it works for me!" Chie took the top off the branch and slipped it on. The straps hung off her shoulders a little loosely, but at least the hem came down to her thighs like Yukiko's skirt, covering everything important.
"It looks like it might slip off if you're not careful, Chie-chan," Yukiko pointed out. "Are you sure you don't want to trade?"
"Nah, it's fine. If it slips, I'll just put it back on, no big deal," Chie shrugged off her friend's concern. After taking Yukiko's hand again, the two continued their journey down the river.
The girls' concerns about where the river lead changed as they continued. The water was now only coming up to their ankles, and prospects were not looking good. Without any other recourse, however, they kept walking along it.
"I'm starting to think this doesn't lead to the ocean..." Chie said, watching the stream.
"But where else can we go, Chie-chan? This has to lead somewhere..."
"I know, but-" Chie was suddenly cut off when she noticed something float by next to them. Some kind of…umbrella? "What's that?"
"Heeyyy!" the girls heard from behind them. "Grab that thing before it gets away!"
Instinctively, Chie ran over to the strange object, which had slowed down from coming into contact with some rocks, and pulled it away from the water. Just as she got it out, two children ran up to them, panting quite a bit from the running. One was a blue-haired girl wearing nothing but a large black t-shirt with a skull on it and a hat that was too big for her head. The other was a boy with short black hair wearing a pair of large swim trunks being held up by a yellow cloth.
"Thank you so much," the girl said in between breaths. "We've been chasing that thing for a while."
"Uh…no problem," Chie said. "What is this, anyway?"
"We don't know!" the boy replied. "We think it might be a clue to how we got here."
"How we got here?" Chie repeated. "Then that means you two are lost like us, right?"
"That's right!" the girl nodded and cleared her throat. "I am Naoto Shirogane, and this is my partner, Kanji Tatsumi."
"I'm Chie Satonaka, and this here's my best friend, Yukiko Amagi!" Chie responded.
"Wait. Amagi? Like the Amagi Inn?" the boy named Kanji said, approaching Yukiko.
"Yes. Did you say your name was Tatsumi?" Yukiko asked, before clapping her hands as she realized something. "Oh! You must be the son of the sweet old lady who runs the textile shop!"
"Yeah, that's right!" Kanji nodded. "What are you doing here?"
"That's what we'd like to know!" Chie said, fists at her hips.
"So, your case is the same?" Naoto asked. "You just woke up here and you don't remember how?"
"Yeah, we just suddenly found ourselves in the river," Yukiko explained. "After Chie-chan pulled me out, we realized we didn't have clothes on. Thankfully, we found these to wear. Don't know who they belong to, though…"
"Hmm…more large clothes…" Naoto said, looking closely at Chie's top and Yukiko's dress. "We washed up naked ourselves, but found these clothes upstream. What was strange was that this hat has my name on the tag."
"Weird…" Chie said as she and Yukiko looked at the hat. "What does it all mean?"
"I don't know, but things seem to be connected in some way," Naoto replied pensively. "From what I can tell, you two and Kanji-kun come from the same town."
"Sounds like you're on to something, Naoto," Kanji said.
"Hmm…it couldn't happen, but…"
"What's all the racket?" a different voice said sleepily. From behind some nearby bushes, a naked girl with wavy auburn hair slowly got up from the ground. Upon seeing the others, she smiled and gasped. "Yu-kun, Yosuke-kun! Look!"
The little girl bent down and nudged two others that were sleeping. Slowly, two boys got up, both of them as naked as the girl. One had light brown hair, the other had gray hair in a messy bowl cut. After rubbing their eyes, they looked to the small group the girl pointed to and froze like deer in the headlights. Yukiko held her hands to her mouth in surprise, while Naoto gawked at the boys' bodies.
"I'm Rise Kujikawa, six years old!" the girl introduced herself. "That's Yosuke Hanamura, and Yu Narukami! Look, guys! More kids! We're not alone here! Isn't that great?"
"Clothes! Where did we put the clothes?!" the boy named Yosuke shouted once he snapped out of his trance. He quickly looked behind him and found their clothes right where they left him. Frantically, he threw the white shirt to Yu before putting on his t-shirt.
"Who are all of you?" the gray haired boy asked the rest of the group as he put on his shirt. He took quick notice of everyone else's clothes. "Did you all get here like we did?"
"If you mean wet and naked, then yeah," Chie answered.
"Yu-kun…can you help me with this?" Rise asked, handing him her orange dress. On the top were two straps that looked like they needed to be tied together.
"Sure, Rise-chan," Yu replied as he bunched up the dress and let Rise step into it. Moving aside her hair, he tied the straps together at her neck. The opening at the back of the dress exposed her back, but her hair covered most of that. The skirt covered her bottom and traveled down to her ankles, so everything was fine. "How's that?"
"Yay! Thank you, Yu-kun!" Rise cheered.
"Uh…Yu-kun, I have a question," Naoto said, approaching the boy. "Is anyone in your group from the town of Inaba?"
"Inaba?! That's where my grandma lives!" Rise piped up. "Why do you ask?"
"Hmm…that's more connections to Inaba," Naoto stated. "So far, about half of us are from there or have family there. There's something about that town. There's gotta be!"
"What about this thing you had me fish out?" Chie asked, finally bringing attention to the object that allowed for two of the groups to meet. "What is it, anyway?"
Carefully, Chie flipped the dome like object curved side up, revealing…a cartoonish bear face. It was blue and white with humungous eyes, but the ears up top indicated a bear. Everyone in the group gathered around, wearing various expressions about the object.
"It looks creepy," Yosuke said, wrinkling his face.
"I think it looks cute…" Yukiko commented.
"Does it look familiar to anyone?" Naoto asked the group, only to be met with heads shaking. "Darn, a false lead. I thought such a strange object would be a major clue, or even the key to this mystery, but it looks like this is just a dead-!"
Suddenly, a sound came from within the forest. Distant and quiet at first, only to grow louder. And closer. The closer it got, the clearer it became. It sounded like a series of short wails.
"What was that?" Chie asked, frantically looking around.
"It's a spirit! I knew it!" Kanji shouted.
From one end of the river, something lurched towards the children. It seemed to be a body without a head, red and white with blue mittens for hands, held in front of it like a zombie. There was no blood where the head should have been, just a very wide hole with a zipper lining around the top. The short moans and wails were coming from inside.
"It's getting closer!" Yukiko exclaimed. "What do we do?!"
"Stay close, everybody!" Yu instructed. "We just have to prove we're not afraid of it!"
Just then, with another wail, the walking "spirit" fell over. The body seemed to deflate, revealing it to be a kind of…costume? From inside, a boy somewhere around their age with very blonde hair crawled out of it. The costume was much too big for him, and why he wasn't wearing any other clothes was up for anyone to guess. After coughing a bit, he looked at the group with bright blue eyes and gasped.
"Oh no! You guys shrunk, too!" The boy stood up without much care for his state of dress, causing the girls to stare at him. He tilted his head, wondering what they were staring at, and looked down. "What's with the faces? You've seen me naked before!"
"What are you talking about?" Kanji asked. "Who the heck are you?"
"Is that you, Kanji-kun?" The boy looked at Kanji and noticed the bear head. "Hey, you found my head!"
"How do you know my name?" Kanji backed away from the boy.
"Are you serious? I know I look smaller, but I'm still Teddie!" The boy who called himself Teddie said. "But I guess we all shrunk, huh?"
"What do you mean, shrunk?" Yosuke asked.
"Quit fooling around, Yosuke!" Teddie stomped his foot. "Did you hit your head or something? Did all of you hit your heads?"
"Slow down, Teddie-kun," Yu said, trying to calm him down. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't tell me you guys forgot!" Teddie whined. "We were in those big tunnels, and the door closed behind us, and then all that water hit us!"
"I don't remember anything like that," Yukiko said, trying not to look at Teddie. "All I remember was going to bed last night and waking up here." Agreements among the group confirmed everyone else had this happen to them as well.
"Come on, you guys!" Teddie jumped. "If none of you can remember why we're here, then who's gonna save Nanako-chan?!"
Nanako?
A sudden jolt of pain pierced through the mind of each of the children. Immediately, a flurry of memories came through everyone's minds. Meeting for the first time, finding the world inside the television, solving a murder case. The last thing that came to them was the knowledge that Nanako and other children had disappeared from their homes.
Nanako...that was the name of Yu's cousin. She called him, "Big bro." Everyone loved her. That's why they went back into the television. And then...
"Nanako..." Yu uttered out loud.
"Guys?" Teddie blinked.
"I remember!" Yu shouted.
Everyone nodded in response to his statement. They then got a good look at each other. A chorus of screams penetrated the forest at that moment.
Looks like the gang's back together! So, in the next chapter, we can finally get the ball rolling again! Be sure to leave a comment, tell me what you think!
Update 10/20/16: Mostly changed the middle and the end of the chapter to fit events from the previous chapter's changes.
