It was dusk, Yosuke and Yu were walking on the river bank, the former was lost in thought watching the flow of the water, tainted by the orange color of the sun, it was a weird sight as he never saw such a beautiful scenery, he wasn't feeling well. Yu was checking the calendar of his phone making annotations of sorts, he felt uneasy, he noticed Yosuke was more distracted than usual which made him feel worried.
"What's the matter, Yosuke, you seem off."
"Eh, I'm kinda tired. I haven't slept in three days and that along with work is killing me slowly."
"You haven't slept? Why?"
"Who knows, it could be stress, it can also be the pain of being Chie's punching bag." - he rubbed his shoulder.
"Why don't you tell her anything?"
"Why don't you? You know I'm not at my full potential in battle because of it."
"I can't solve your problems, man."
"I know but, Yu-"
"Souji, call me Souji."
"How long do you plan to keep up with that name? You've been using it since you started school, even Naoto thinks your name is Souji Seta."
"I thought it could be a nice joke." - he smiled as he said this. - "Even Igor and Margaret think that's my name." - he thought.
"You really have a weird sense of humor. It's january already, it's ridiculous. I'm gonna call you Yu, so deal with it."
"... Fine. You were saying..."
"Yeah, I mean, I know I'm a jerk at times and make dumb jokes at times but I don't think I deserve a kick in the groin for it... it's frustrating."
"You're faster than her. Why don't you just defend yourself?"
"Stamina."
"Why?"
"I am faster but if I dodge one of her attacks she'll get angry and keep attacking me, I can dodge more but I will get tired and she'll keep going and sooner or later I'll get a kick somewhere."
"Yeah, I can see that."
"So I just need to put up with her shit... even if it annoys me." - he rubbed his eyes in frustration.
"Again, why don't you tell her anything?"
"I already did, she kept doing it anyway... it hurts, man."
"Where?"
"No, not physically, I mean it hurts that your own friend can treat you like shit for no reason."
"Oh, I see."
"Lately it makes me sad and I don't know why. Like, agh this is so cheesy, forget it."
"You know that you can tell me."
"Seriously, it doesn't matter. I just wanna get home and see if I can get some sleep." - he yawned. - "So tired, dude."
"Don't you have work today?"
"... Noooooo, I forgot. Dammit, another four hours of agony."
"Do you want me to help you?"
"Don't YOU have work as a caretaker today too?"
"... Ugh... I forgot."
"Isn't that job only at daytime?"
"Yeah, but today is the birthday of one of the kids... I hate that kid."
"Really? I thought you loved kids."
"I care about Nanako, I can stand the other ones and they're nice but that one..."
"What?"
"He put a ghost pepper in my lunch box."
"Oh... ha... hahahahaha!"
"It's not funny, man. No matter how much milk I drank the heat wasn't going away, I had to go to the hospital."
"Hahaha, that's even more funny."
"I can see why Chie hits you." - Yu punched Yosuke on the shoulder.
"Ow! Hahaha, sorry, man, sorry. Thanks, I needed a good laugh." - both laughed for a bit.
"Heh, yeah, I just hope he doesn't do it again."
"Eh, I don't think so, he'll probably be busy playing with his friends."
"Hmm... maybe. Anyway, see you tomorrow, good luck at Junes."
"Thanks, good luck with the brat."
"Uh-huh..." - both waved at each other and parted ways, Yu took the bus while Yosuke kept walking.
He was on the shopping district, passing by the weapon shop he saw Chie looking at the window of the place with a face that could only be described as disappointed. He didn't want to deal with her now, he had enough bruises as it is but for some reason he couldn't ignore her, after all she was his friend.
"Hey, Chie, what's up...?"
"Hmm? Oh, hi there, Yosuke. What are you doing here?"
"On my way to work, I saw you and wanted to know what's up with you. What are you doing?"
"Just staring at this cool armor here that I wanted to buy, but don't have the money for."
"Then why don't you find a job?"
"..."
"Are you ignoring me?"
"What...?"
"Knock it off and answer me."
"Ugh, fine, I just can't find one. Part-time jobs just don't pay you enough."
"Well, yeah, they're part time, duh."
"Hey, don't make fun of me." - she tried to punch his shoulder but decided not to.
"I'm not making fun of you. I mean, a job it's a job as long as you get an income for something. Chie, you're the only one in our group who doesn't work."
"What are you talking about? Kanji and Yu don't work either."
"Kanji does work, he either helps his mother or makes his plushies to sell them. Yu, believe it or not, has like six different part time jobs."
"Six!? How the hell does he manage to keep track of them!?" - she just sat on the ground feeling defeated as she realized she's the only one of her friends that really doesn't work. - "Aww... I'm useless..."
"Well, those jobs have a very convenient schedule so it's not like Junes where I need to work the whole damn week." - Chie kept sobbing, holding her knees in a fetal position. - "Uh... you're not useless, you do have a lot of energy which is handy in a lot of jobs."
"But what good will it do if I can't find one?" - at her depressed state Yosuke couldn't help but feel sorry for his serial attacker.
"For the love of..." - Chie looked at Yosuke who looked conflicted. - "Uh, do you want to-"
"No!"
"What!? Why!?"
"Who would want to work with you!?"
"I don't like working with a lot of people and ask anyone who has co-workers and they'll tell you the same. Hell, Yu told me he once felt harassed when he was working on the hospital one day. Believe me, you're the last person I wanna work with but no matter who you are you need money to help your family."
"I-I know but... you?"
"Swallow your woman pride for once and just accept it, I'll talk to my dad about it. If he says yes I'll give you a call, okay?" - Yosuke saw that Chie had a hesitant look in her eyes... while looking at him. - "What the the hell is that look for?" - he thought. - "So, what do you say?"
"... Fine, I'll do it." - she got up from the ground and wiped the dirt from her clothes. - "Thanks, Yosuke." - she smiled. When she smiled Yosuke had a weird feeling which made him feel uncomfortable, it wasn't any romantic feeling but something else.
"Huh... déjà vu." - he thought. He didn't know why he felt that just when she smiled, it was a weird timing and a weird reason.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, just tired, haven't slept well for a few days now."
"Wow, no wonder you don't look so hot today, look at those bags under your eyes, you look like a zombie."
"Shut up you... ugh, I don't have the energy to argue with you now and I rather use the little energy I have left for work."
"Oh, right, sorry, I won't bother today, I promise."
"... That's out of character coming from you."
"Huh? Why?"
"She is seriously asking?" - he thought. - "No reason, just saying. Anyway, it's getting late, I better get to Junes before my dad murders me. I'll be sure to talk him about you, I'll call you later."
"Sure, thanks, Yosuke." - she smiled at him again and he felt the same thing as before, he didn't like it. - "See you."
"Yeah, see you soon." - he started walking again for work for another set of four agonizing hours. - "This is gonna suck. I hope I do sleep tonight."
-Meanwhile-
"Kids, please calm down! I know you're having fun but you shouldn't be using me as a piñata!" - Yu was tied to the ceiling by his waist while his co-workers were tied to the chairs. The children's mothers were nowhere to be seen.
-In Junes-
"And while she's not bright she's very commited to her goals. It may take some time show her the ropes but she'll get it eventually."
"How much exactly is that 'eventually', Yosuke?" - his dad was really serious, he didn't had the look of accepting.
"A month..."
"A month!?"
"I know, but I promise she'll be good at it."
"But how am I going to be sure about it?"
"I uh... I'll train her and if she isn't good in a month you can take 15% of my salary."
"30"
"Are you serious!? 20% and for three months!"
"... Fine, she's in, but you are goinv to take care of her. I'll put her on the warehouse, she will need to learn how to order all of our stuff first and Aida will show her how but you will supervise her, got it?"
"Yeah, thanks, dad."
"Now, go back to work, but don't strain yourself... you still look out of shape."
"Yeah, I won't." - went out of his father's office and took out his phone to call Chie, the phone rang and someone answered.
"Yosuke? What did he say?" - she sounded nervous.
"Cool down, you're in. You start tomorrow."
"Really!? Thank you, and tell your dad thanks on my part."
"Tell him yourself since now you work here."
"Yeah, I will. Thank yoh very much, Yosuke."
"It's okay. Anyway, I gotta go but when you get here tomorrow I'll have to talk to you about how stuff works around here, okay?"
"Yeah, thanks again. See you tomorrow." - she hung up.
"I never heard her that happy before, that's nice I guess... that will prevent her from hitting me for a few weeks at least." - he was regretting offering a job to Chie but in the end he felt it was okay.
-Meanwhile-
Food was flying all over the place, a food war started five miutes ago and it didn't look like it would stop soon.
"Kids, we shouldn't throw food, we spent hours preparing everything so please sto-" - a portion of the party cake went to Yu's face along with a mixture of ketchup, potato chips, soda... and a bug, he was disgusted, his co-workers felt the same since they were in the same situation. The mothers of the children were nowhere to be seen still. - "Where are they...?"
-In Junes-
Yosuke was out of it, he was way too tired but there are still two hours to go.
"Move, Yosuke, move!"
"I'm trying for crying out loud!"
"You don't seem like it! Keep working!"
"But you told me not to strain myself." - his father ignored his plea and continued working feeling like his eyes were about to pop out. He tripped with a toy that was on the floor and fell face first, his nose is bleeding and almost fell asleep but his father made sure he didn't by slapping the back of his head. - "The old bastard is everywhere." - he tried to get up and held himself grabbing something, as he pulled himself up a closet tumbled and fell on top of him.
It was done, he finished working for today. His father already left the store which made Yosuke feel forgotten and even more tired.
"Ugh... why me...?" - he left Junes, it was 10:30 PM, he had to walk all the way home which was really far away from the store but he was used to it since he did the same when he was on school and running around on the TV world during the murder case last year which ended in december when they caught Adachi.
He walked and walked and got to the shopping district, everything was closed except one place.
"Was there always a bar down here?" - he didn't gave it much thought and continued. He kept walking until he decided to rest on a bench on a park, before he could do so he saw Yu, his arms were hanging as if with no strength, Yosuke related to him since he was in the same pose as him. Yu got closer and saw Yosuke, both exchanged stares and they noticed how the other felt.
"You're bleeding, man."
"You stink, dude." - both sighed and sat down on the bench. - "Food fight?"
"Yeah... all those hours cooking for them and didn't eat at all, they threw everything at each other and later complained they were hungry."
"Heh, sounds like a pain. Where were the mothers?"
"Those... women weren't there for the entirety of the party. I think they went to drink something, one of them was passed out on the car of one of the kids's mother."
"Wow... I dunno what to say."
"I rather forget about it. What about you? Did something fall on top of you or what?"
"I tripped because of a toy and my face went straight to the ground and when I tried to get up a closet fell top of me."
"Oh, really? I was just kidding on the falling on top thing."
"Well, it happened, no way around it."
"... I hate my job..." - both said at the same time. They had their head down feeling tired and frustrated but they felt way too tired to feel any sort of frustration.
"We better leave, man, it's getting late." - Yosuke stood up.
"Uh, can we sit for other five minutes? My back is killing me."
"Your back? Why?"
"... They... uh... used me as a piñata."
"... How?" - Yosuke couldn't even make fun of that, he was actually perplexed at Yu's response.
"The moment I sat down I felt a preasure in my arms and chest and when I saw what happened my co-workers and I were already tied up. After they got tired of hitting me they started the food fight." - Yu looked as if he was a rag doll, no matter how diligent he was he was out of energy. Yosuke remained silent and sat down again. - "Thanks."
"Yeah... why do you keep working there if those brats treat you like shit?"
"One thing is money but... well, I guess I want to be good with kids, if I'm good with them then I'm better for Nanako."
"You really like each other, I think you're already perfect as a brother, dude."
"Thanks but either way I want to be better because I actually think of her as my sister, she's nice, she's fun to play with... everything is great. When she died back last year... I felt as if I was alone, I felt that nothing mattered anymore... like my happiness faded away."
"... Yeah, I felt bad too, not like you but still felt bad. I was surprised when the doctors said she was okay."
"Everyone was."
"Heh, but you think I didn't noticed?" - Yosuke smiled at you playfully.
"What?"
"Your face... when you heard she was okay your face turned into something I never saw in you before, you looked like a completely different person."
"Did I?" - Yu tried to play it cool but he recognized how he looked back then. - "I guess you were the only one to notice."
"Seems that way... after that when we both were alone you cried like for 15 minutes. Hahahahaha..."
"You said you wouldn't bring that up again, jackass."
"How can I not? My entire uniform was filled with your tears and mucus."
"Knock it off." - he tapped Yosuke's shoulder with his fist. - "... Thanks for that, I never showed my feelings to anyone before."
"Considering you hugged me when I cried I guess it's natural for us both."
"It was instict, I didn't realize it would be that weird."
"Not even in the rooftop of the school with Yukiko?"
"... You saw that?"
"And Rise too."
"Uh..."
"Chie, Naoto, Kanji will be pissed by the way, that girl Matsunaga... yeah, Ebihara got away from your clutches since she already likes Kou."
"I uh... I'm not really good at rejecting girls, man, less when they are my friends."
"How did you manage to that, though?"
"I really don't know, I just thought of what could be a good answer for whatever they asked and well... they suddenly said I love you and I didn't know what to do."
"Haha. Yeah, in Valentine's Day you were sweating and nervous."
"Ugh... that was embarassing." - Yu leaned his head back remembering this, he felt bad about that moment.
"Eh, I guess everything went well in the end, aside from the red eyes all of them, except Naoto, had."
"Are you trying to make me feel bad?"
"Yup."
"You suck."
"You just need to know how to reject them, if not then that thing happens."
"As if you would know about that."
"Ouch, that was a low blow, dude. But believe it or not two girls actually fought for me once... Heh." - his mouth twitched a little.
"... Really? I somehow find that hard to believe."
"Hahaha, fine yeah, it happened but it was on kindergarten and they were fighting over for a cookie that I had." - he lied down on the ground. - "I just tried to sound cool for a moment there."
"Yosuke..."
"Yeah, buddy?"
"Don't lie to me."
"Lie about what?"
"About the kindergarten thing."
"Dude, you couldn't let me have a little bit of pride could you?"
"I'm not talking about that... I mean that it didn't happen on kindergarten."
"Dude, please, I can't score with a girl no matter how easy she may be." - Yu stared at him with a piercing glare. - "Dude, you already know that look doesn't work on me. Why are you being so annoying about this?"
"You're a bad liar Yosuke but I know you're lying right now, no matter how good you're hiding it right now."
"... Why...?"
"Your face made a twitch when you mentioned the girl fight almost as if you made a mistake saying it. I can't lie to you and you can't lie to me, you know we read each other well."
"Your obsession with the truth is really getting in personal territory."
"You know, you can tell me anything."
"Fine... yeah, it was before I came to Inaba. Two girls actually fought over me but I only fell for one, so yeah... I had a girlfriend, I know it's a shocker."
"That's cool, I guess even you can get a girl."
"Uh-huh... she was amazing and very smart, we spent very good times." - Yosuke didn't smile at all but Yu noticed he was talking about happy memories.
"What happened?"
"She left me, it wasn't pretty. After she did I started being weary of girls until I met Saki-senpai." - he again didn't smile, every time he talked about Saki Konishi his face changes to a complete 180 of his usual happy face.
"Sorry to hear that, well at least we know you do have some charm with girls."
"Yeah, I kinda lost it now."
"What was the name of the lucky lady?"
"Hm? ... Satsuki Onimiri..." - Yu noticed that Yosuke's face looked weird, it looked depressed, even if he was talking about Saki Konishi he immidiately came back to high spirits, he was telling the truth to him, maybe it was a really bad break up but Yu couldn't help but feel a slight tug in the back of his mind. Yosuke smiled as if reminiscing the time he spent with that girl, he then yawned. - "Whatever, I just want to get to my bed and see if I can sleep today, I have a feeling I will. Just forget about it, okay? I rather not think about it."
"Right, I feel better now, thanks for keeping me company, Yosuke." - both of them stood up from the bench.
"Yeah, don't mention it. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah. See you." - both parted ways still with some pain in their bodies.
When Yu arrived to his house he didn't took long to lay down on his futon and sleep, he was exhausted and felt pain all over his body but for some reason he couldn't sleep, something was bothering him... it was Yosuke's ex-girlfriend, something didn't sit right with him.
"He looked way too depressed when he talked about it, not even Daisuke was that depressed about his previous break up. Something isn't right." - he kept thinking and thinking but a second feeling came in... this wasn't right, he was getting too much into Yosuke's issues but he wanted to know, not due to curiosity but to help him getting over it. He reached his cellphone and started to search in social media about this girl called Satsuki Onimiri. He found over a thousand results. - "I should have used the filter." - he searched again but instead of social media he searched the school Yosuke last attended to, he inputed the name of the girl. - "Seven results? Dammit... he did say she was pretty smart, maybe she was in a club." - he searched for student council members... nothing, music club... there is one, he searched on the other clubs but there wasn't anyone else. - "Huh... lucky. She doesn't attend that school anymore, go figure. Around the time Yosuke came to Inaba, he said she left him... maybe she moved. Maybe that's why he's looked depressed, he had no choice but do what she asked I guess." - he closed his phone and went to sleep, he now felt better now that he knew how to help Yosuke out. As he tried to sleep a noise bothered him, it was his cellphone, someone was calling him. - "Naoto? What does she want?" - he flipped the phone open and answered. "Hello?"
"Souji-senpai?"
"... Yeah, what is it Naoto? Do you know what time it is?"
"11:00 PM."
"That early?" - he thought. - "Sorry, what is it?"
"Souji-senpai, I have something to ask you."
"What?"
"... Is it true that your name isn't Souji Seta?"
"God damn you, Yosuke." - he thought. - "Why do you ask?"
"Yosuke-senpai told me you lied about your name this entire year and the rest of your friends played along with it... with nobody telling me about it. Is it true?"
"... Yes, it's true."
"Why would you do that!? You completely humiliated me with the rest of the group!"
"Don't get angry, I just wanted to make joke and it went well beyond my control."
"You should have told me!"
"I forgot... I'm sorry."
"... Very well, I bet you had your mind on the case that you didn't have time to clear things up."
"That worked?" - he thought. - "Yeah, sorry."
"It's okay. You sound different, senpai, are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's work, it was a rough day."
"I saw you with Yosuke-senpai half an hour ago, I wanted to talk to you about the false name but it seemed that you were busy talking."
"Yeah, we were talking about our jobs, how tired we were and that Yosuke had a girlfriend once."
"Is that so? I thought he was the type of man to never get anything... as rude as that may sound."
"He actually had two girls fighting for him, one of them was his girlfriend."
"That sounds weird knowing we're talking about Yosuke-senpai."
"I know, but apparently he was happy with that Satsuki girl."
"Satsuki?"
"Yeah, Satsuki Onimiri, that was her name." - there was a little bit of silence on the other line. - "Naoto?"
"It's nothing, I was using the microwave, my food is done. I'll see you tomorrow with the others senpai."
"It's Yu Narukami."
"... Yes, Yu-senpai." - she hung up.
"Finally... I can go to sleep." - he closed his eyes and slept.
The next day, Yu had plans to gather with everyone else, they were going to eat in Yu's house but everyone was going to bring their own food... except Yukiko, Chie and Rise, that is unless someone else made the meals. He made his own as well with the help of Nanako, as usual uncle Dojima was working.
Someone knocked on the door.
"I'll go." - Nanako said. - "Who is it?"
"It's me Naoto." - Nanako opened and let Naoto in. - "Hi there, Nanako, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing great! I'm helping big bro with the food." - she smiled in a very innocent manner that made Naoto smile as well.
"That sounds amazing! Say, could you call your big bro for a moment? I need to talk to him."
"Sure! Big bro, Naoto wants to talk to you."
"Coming!" - Yu went to the entrance while Nanako went back to the kitchen. - "Be careful with the knife, Nanako!"
"I will!"
"What is it Naoto? You still angry about the whole fake name thing?" - he smiled mockingly trying to tease her but for some reason Naoto didn't have the mood for it. - "What's the matter?"
"It's about Yosuke-senpai, I need to tell you something about him before the others get here. Please come outside." - both of them went outside and started to talk.
"Why do we need to be so secretive about it?"
"After you told me the name of Satsuki Onimiri I felt that I heard that name before and so I started to do research."
"Me too, I found out she went with Yosuke to the same high school and afterwards she broke up with him."
"He told you that?"
"Yeah, he told me it she left him and it wasn't a nice experience." - after hearing this Naoto sighed.
"I see... I did some research, since that name was bothering me the moment I heard it, and discovered that Satsuki Onimiri, Yosuke-senpai's girlfriend..." - she looked away. - "...is dead." - Yu froze, he couldn't blink, he was shocked on what he just heard, he felt completely paralyzed.
"... Why? What happened... what do you mean dead?" - he needed to know but didn't want to, was it really the same girl Yosuke met? He always so upbeat, he could never have such a dark past... was he really hiding it? Questions were swirling in his head like a spiral, appearing over and over again with no clear answer. - "Are you sure it's the same girl?"
"I'm afraid so. The file involving the case involved the boyfriend of the victim."
"Victim? What do you mean by victim? Did she...?" - when Yu asked the only thing Naoto did was look away. "Victim of what?"
"Victim of murder." - he grew pale as he kept hearing Naoto's words. - "They once sent me a file because they wanted me to work with them but I had other cases in hand so a local detective in Tokyo took care of the investigation instead but I managed to keep the file."
"He was telling me truth." - he thought. - "She did left him, he used different words so I wouldn't keep asking." - he felt guilty of looking to much into Yosuke's life.
"That's not all."
"What do you mean?"
"The body was found in a gruesome manner. Her body was... in a horrible state that sickens me to just think about."
"Why are you telling me that?"
"Because... the body was found by none other than her boyfriend, Yosuke Hanamura."
"Wha...!" - the words couldn't leave his mouth, he felt sick, his eyes were open as if he saw a ghost. - "Yosu...ke, what?"
"The body of Satsuki Onimiri was in Yosuke-senpai's room, his parents were on a trip that week so the culprit took the opportunity to kidnap the victim, kill her and place her in his house."
"His house? But... wasn't he accused then?"
"He was but a neighbour reasured the police it wasn't him since they saw someone they didn't know enter the Hanamura residence."
"My god... what happened to Yosuke?"
"He entered in a state of shock and panic, the police found him crying and trembling. Due to the state of the body his shock caused him to forget how the body looked but he remembered she was dead."
"... And the killer?"
"It was one of his classmates, Riko Kawahara."
"Classmate? Wait, she means the other girl that fought over Yosuke?" - he couldn't believe what Naoto was saying to him, he never thought Yosuke went through such a horrifying experience. - "What happened to that girl?"
"She was prosecuted as an adult and thus a life sentence." - she adjusted her hat. - "The prosecutor in charge, Sae Niijima, was one fierce woman according to what I heard."
"Is that why Yosuke's family moved here?"
"I don't know, the case file ends after Kawahara was found guilty, maybe his father asked to work someplace else and moved so Yosuke-senpai could forget or at least keep his mind busy with something else, but that's just speculation."
"That's why Saki-senpai's death got to him, his fondness of her and her death afterwards triggered the events of Onimiri."
"It seems that way..."
"I can't believe it... Yosuke..." - he leaned his back on the wall putting his hand on his mouth, he was horrified, he felt a knot in his throat and a crushing sadness in his chest. When he looked at Naoto he noticed that... her eyes were red... did she cry? It seems after finding out about Yosuke's past that case was no longer any random murder case, it invloved one of her friends, reading all the things Yosuke and Satsuki went through she may have felt the same.
"I only had the forensic files about the murder, the rest was in a pdf file in the website of a Tokyo university. The case was used for students of law school to analyse and study. I... felt sick just reading that Yosuke-senpai was involved." - both were in silence for a minute, Yu was trying regain his composure, he was too shocked after hearing that. Before he could they heard a voice calling out to them.
"Hey, guys! We finally got here in time!" - it was Yosuke, he was with Chie, Yukiko, Rise and Kanji. Yu looked at Yosuke with wide eyes.
"We could have gotten sooner if you hadn't gone to the bathroom, Yosuke."
"Shut up, from now on I'm your boss, you work for me."
"No, I work for you father."
"Yes, but if I don't train you well... he'll kick you out."
"You...!" - Chie tried to punch Yosuke but he dodged. - "I told you not to do that! Dammit!" - she stopped doing it since she wants to keep her job at Junes.
"He got you there, senpai." - said Kanji while Rise and Yukiko laughed with him.
"Hey, Yu, what's up? Oh, Naoto you got here early." - he looked that Yu looked rather weird.
"Yo, senpai. What's going on? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I, no, Kanji... it's nothing." - Yu and Naoto tried to not look at Yosuke's way. Yu and Naoto were good at keeping their cool but when it was about their friend it was another matter all together. Yu noticed that Yosuke started to act weird. - "So, let's get inside." - everyone agreed except Yosuke.
"Yu..."
"Yeah?" - he didn't look at Yosuke's way.
"You too Naoto, both of you... look at me."
"Senpai, the food is getting cold so we-"
"Shut up, Naoto and both of you look at me!" - everyone was taken aback. - "Why are you two avoiding me?"
"Yosuke, what's the matter with you!?"
"Shut up, Chie. It's weird, he looks like he's seen a ghost and he's avoiding eye contact, he never did that with me. Both of you look at me..." - both Naoto and Yu turned around and he saw their faces, Naoto's red eyes and Yu's pale face. - "Yu..."
"You happy? Let's get inside."
"Do you think I'm stupid!? I can see it in your face." - Yu looked down at his feet.
"Yosuke-kun, please calm down." - said Yukiko.
"Yu... why was Naoto here? What were you talking about before?"
"Yosuke, I..." - he couldn't look at Yosuke in the eye.
"Did you... try to look for her...?" - Yu didn't answer, Yosuke clenched his fists. The rest of the group was looking at them both, confused on what they were talking about. - "... Naoto told you about it?"
"... Yeah..." - Yu looked at Yosuke and saw his anger.
"How dare you...? I told you to forget about it!" - his face was filled with rage.
"I know but I looked into it because I wanted to help you, you looked depressed yester-"
"You had no fucking right!" - he punched Yu in the face hard enough to throw him off the ground. Everyone called out to Yu.
"Yosuke, what the hell is your problem!?" - as Chie said this Yosuke looked at her with those eyes full of anger, it scared her, she never felt scared of Yosuke before. The rest felt the same with Rise being the most terrified. - "Yosuke..."
"You asshole, that was none of your fucking business!" - he grabbed Yu by his shirt and punched him again.
"God, Kanji do something!" - Rise cried out to Kanji with tears.
"Senpai, calm down! Stop it, that's enough!" as Kanji leaned closer to stop the fight Yosuke moved...
"Stay out of it!" - ... and kicked Kanji in the stomach, fell to his knees wheezing.
"Kanji!" - Naoto and Rise yelled and ran to his side.
Yosuke punched Yu again and again but stopped when he saw a tiny figure at the door of the house, it was Nanako.
"What are you doing to my big bro!?" - Nanako was crying and looked scared. - "Stop it!"
"Yosuke..." - Yosuke looked at Yu who called to him and saw tears on him along with blood coming out of his mouth and nose with a bruise on his left cheek. - "I'm sorry, I know I didn't have to... I'm so sorry, Yosuke." - he was crying out of sadness for his friend and the guilt of betraying his trust.
"I..." - Yosuke's body eased up, his grip on Yu's shirt loosened and his arm dropped to the ground. He stood up and walked away a few steps. - "Chie..."
"Y-yes?"
"... You have a shift tonight, don't be late." - he left with his head down, leaving a bloody Yu on the ground, a pained Kanji and five scared girls behind.
"Yosukeeeee!" - it was Teddie without his suit running at full speed. - "How heartless of you to leave me alone like that, I was talking to that nice lady and... Yosuke?" - he noticed that Yosuke was leaving. He saw Yu on the ground with blood along with Kanji, he realized what happened. - "Yosuke! What did you do to sensei!?" - Yosuke stopped and slowly turned around looked at Teddie with hateful eyes. - "Yosuke...?"
"You also have work to do, Teddie... don't be late." - he started walking and turned around the corner disappearing from everyone's sight.
They got inside, Nanako was sleeping on the couch with tears on her eyes, Yukiko was cleaning Yu's face. The food that everyone brought had already grown cold, nobody had the appetite to eat. Kanji was holding his stomach and Rise was supporting him with her hand on his shoulder.
"Senpai..." - Kanji said. - "What the hell happened?" - Yu was silent. - "Senpai, answer me. What the hell happened to Yosuke-senpai? Why did he attack you?"
"Shh, Kanji, Nanako is sleeping." - said Rise trying to keep Kanji calm.
"... Sorry."
"It's nothing... forget it." - Yu said.
"Forget? Yosuke punched you until you were bleeding and he had that... scary face with him. How can we forget?"
"Chie's right, Yu." - Yukiko poured alcohol on cotton and gently tapped the wounds on his face, Yu flinched a little. - "Yosuke isn't the kind of person to attack you that way, you're both best friends."
"Yeah..."
"It's as he said, it's none of our business."
"Naoto, we are his friends as well... we need to know so we can help him."
"I know that, Kanji... those were the intentions of senpai as well and you know how that ended up."
"Yeah... I made that mistake, I shouldn't have put my nose in someone else's problems."
"Even so, we-!"
"Kanji!" - Kanji stopped talking. - "There's a reason Yosuke didn't want me to know, I want to respect his wish and all of you should do the same. You should know something as well, don't hold it against him, it was my fault and I'm being serious here, not humble. It was a reasonable response, believe me."
"It was my fault as well, I shouldn't have said anything... I don't know why I did." - Naoto held her head down.
"... It doesn't matter now, it happened."
"Yosuke..." - Chie was a bit shaken up about Yosuke's behaviour. - "What do I do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Chie works at Junes now, she has a shift in three hours."
"Oh, then don't worry, I know he'll be more calm at that time... or just not show up at all." - there was an awkward silence in the room.
"Everyone should go home, no one's in the mood to have a good time." - everyone held their head down but agreed anyway, one by one left. "I'm sorry, guys."
Yosuke was on the shopping district walking with a sour face, thinking. His hand hurt, he was full of regret for what he did, his instict drove him to do it.
"... What have I done?" - he stopped for a moment trying to think back. - "Satsuki..." - his hand was on his face trying not to cry. For a moment he saw a strange light on his left, what he saw was a weird, oddly shaped blue door floating in the air. When he saw the door he had a strange feeling in him. - "Déjà vu..." - it was that feeling again, that feeling when he saw Chie smile the day before, that weird sensation of déjà vu. - "What is that?" - he blinked various moments not believing what he's seeing but after the fourth blink the door wasn't there anymore. - "Huh?" - he ran to the other side of the street to see where the door went. Nothing was there, nothing at all. - "I must be losing it already... I need to go to work but... I'll skip today, I'll find an excuse later." - he walked home.
It was nightime, Yosuke was on his bed with Teddie sleeping in a futon on the floor.
"Your dad was really angry."
"I know... I don't blame him."
"Did you explain why you skipped work?"
"I told him I had a headache."
"Huh..." - there was only silence. - "Really quiet isn't it?"
"Teddie..."
"Sorry, I'm not gonna bother you anymore."
"No..." - Yosuke looked at Teddie in the eye, the latter noticed his eyes were full of regret. - "I'm sorry you had to see that... I'm really sorry." - he turned around.
"It's okay, sensei said what you did was reasonable. He didn't told us why you got that way but asked us not to be angry at you... and I'm not angry."
"I see... thank you, Ted."
"You're welcome." - Teddie said happily. He heard a slight snore. - "Ooh, he's finally sleeping. I'm glad." - Teddie followed up on to sleep.
Yosuke was dreaming, this didn't happen often. Looking around he felt that sensation of déjà vu again, it felt like a memory... he was dreaming of what looked like a grand, blue labyrinth.