Chapter 10: Shadow Kanji
(Amagi Yukiko)
6th May 2011. Friday. After School.
It's a day after Golden Week. Hanamura-kun insisted the four of us to hold a study session in Junes' Food Court since there will be tests from Monday to Thursday next week. Honestly my parents were still worried about my health, but I prove to them that I'm fine by helping out in the Inn all day yesterday, which was quite busy because it's still holiday. Even though my body is fine now, I'm not really confident about this tests because I've been absent from school for about 2 weeks. Fortunately Narukami-kun had been keeping notes from classes for me during my absent. I also heard Hanamura-kun was keeping notes for Chie during the time she had a fever while I was missing. They really were nice people, I'm grateful to have them.
We go to Junes together after school and ordering some drinks before starting our study session on our usual spot. Our usual spot is a long wood table and chair with a roof above it. Chie and Hanamura-kun seems motivated to study while Narukami-kun and I just doing it normally. Thirty minutes hadn't even past, but Hanamura-kun's already putting his head on the table and Chie looks really desperate about her study.
"Hey Yosuke!" Chie yelled at him. "You're the one who insisted this study session, at least show some motivation!"
"Spare me will you?!" He yelled back. "My head is full of things about the case right now."
"Come to think of it, there weren't any incidents during Golden Week, were there?" I asked.
"Now we're talking!" Hanamura-kun suddenly show some motivation while Narukami-kun just focused on his study.
"Now hear me out," he said. "The first victim of this case was Yamano-san, followed by Konishi-senpai, and then Amagi, who we were able to saved. I'm sure these people weren't picked out at random."
"But there's no connection between them," Chie said.
"That's not true," Hanamura-kun said. "Look at this. Konishi-senpai was the one who found Yamano-san's body, and didn't Yamano-san stay at the Amagi Inn?"
"Yes, she was," I said while nodding.
"So, wouldn't this be a fair assumption? 'Women who somehow had connection to Yamano-san are being targeted one after another,'" he suggested.
"Targeting women huh? Oh I'm so gonna kick the culprit in face when we catch him!" Chie furiously said.
"But why?" Narukami-kun asked.
"I don't know about that yet," Hanamura-kun said. "But we'll never get anywhere if we don't piece together few clues we do have."
"U-Um... I'm sorry I couldn't remember who was ringing the doorbell." I still somehow felt guilty about couldn't remember any details about my kidnapping.
"That's okay Yukiko!" Chie said. "What's matter is you're safe!"
"Yes. And we still don't know what the Midnight Channel really is," Narukami-kun added.
"When you think about it, the Midnight Channel might be warning us who's the next target is," I added.
"Yes," Narukami calmly said. "We still have to check the Midnight Channel every night it rains."
"Okay! Now's that settled, let's call it a day!" Hanamura-kun then stand, ready to go. However Chie instantly tweak his ear. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?! You're the one who insisted this study session, so stay here until we're done!"
I feel bad for Hanamura-kun. He just sit there with his head on the table the whole time. We continue our study for about one and a half hours later. When we were done, Chie offerred to take me home. I think she's still worried about me, just like my family. On the way home, I decided to tell Chie something I was always thinking while I was bedridden in the hospital.
"Hey Chie."
"What's up?" Chie asked.
"When I graduate, I'm leaving this town!" I proudly said.
"What?!" Chie stopped for a moment. It looked like she was really surprised about what I said.
"A-Are you sure?" She asked.
"It's not like I don't approve or anything," she added. "I'll support every dicision you'll make."
"But, are you really sure?" She asked once again.
"Yes. After confronting my other self, I'm conviced that I really didn't want to inherit the inn," I said. "It's not like I know what I want to do, but I was thinking something along the lines of an interior decorator."
"What do you think?" I asked.
"Whatever you choose, I'll always support you Yukiko," she said.
"Thank you Chie," I said gratefully. "I feel so relieved to let this out."
"Thank you for telling me," she said. "Now let's get home!"
12th May 2011. Thursday. After School.
The tests finally over. Judging by their looks, Chie and Hanamura-kun didn't seem to do well in the tests while Narukami-kun seems calm so I guess the tests were not troubling him. As for me, I didn't really get the confidence like usual since I absent for about two weeks before the tests. Before we went home, Hanamura-kun reminded us that this Sunday, there supposed to be raining at midnight. So we should check the Midnight Channel then. I went back to home early as usual, but on the way I stopped by Yomenaido Bookstore in Shopping District to look for books about job certifications.
15th May 2011. Sunday. Midnight.
Tonight was supposed to rain at midnight. My time helping the Inn is over tonight so I decided to watch the TV in my room to kill some time until midnight. I see a local news about some delinquent who raised a ruckus in Inaba lately. I'm really surprised when I heard that the name of the delinquent is Tatsumi Kanji. I knew him since I was little, but we weren't exactly close. I just often went to his house to take some textile to sell it in the Inn. I often saw him sewing with his mother. I did hear about him being a delinquent in middle school, but I didn't think he was this bad.
It's one minute until midnight so I turn off my TV and wait. I look carefully at it for a minute, and it's suddenly turned on! This is my first time watching this. Chie insisted me to watch the Midnight Channel a while ago, but I was always very tired and really can't stay up until midnight to check some rumor. It's really blurry, but I think it showed a silhouette of a high school boy student with a quite big figure. It's on for about a minute before it's off again. I think I saw that figure before. When I tried to remember where did I saw that figure, my phone rang. It was Chie.
"Hello," I said.
"Yukiko! You saw it right?" Chie asked. "Who do you think in the Midnight Channel? I got not idea who that is."
"Hmm..." I took a while to think about it.
Ah! I think that was Tatsumi Kanji. The one I saw in the news earlier.
"Hello Chie?" I said. "I think it was Tatsumi Kanji."
"Tatsumi Kanji?!" She seems shocked. "You mean the delinquent that was on the news lately?"
"Yes. I think the one on the Midnight Channel is him," I said.
"Okay! I'll let Yosuke know," Chie said. "Let's gather tommorow after school. You have the time right?"
"Yes," I answered. "I think so."
"Okay then. See you tommorow Yukiko!"
16th May 2011. Monday. After School.
The next day we go to Junes together to discuss about what we watched last night at our usual spot in Junes' Food Court.
"We hereby commence the Special Investigation Team meeting for the Inaba serial murders and kidnappings," Hanamura-kun proudly said.
"That's too long!" Chie protested.
"Ah... So this is our secret headquarters?" I asked.
"That's right Amagi!" I got so carried away by Hanamura-kun's enthusiasm that I began clapping.
"Anyway, about the guy on the Midnight Channel last night," Nakukami-kun said.
"U-Um... I think that was Tatsumi Kanji," I said.
"Yes. I think so too," Narukami-kun said. "I just saw him on the news."
"If so, then we missed our mark about the victim being a women," Hanamura-kun said.
"And I doubt there's any connection between Yamano-san and him as well," Chie added.
"Kanji-kun wasn't like this when he was little though," I explained.
"You knew that creep Yukiko?" Chie asked with a shock.
"Yes. His family runs a textile shop and the Inn has sold their wares for ages so I met him every now and then in his house," I explained. "But I heard he's skipped school a lot since he entered high school."
"And I haven't spoken with Kanji-kun for a some time now," I added.
"I heard from my Uncle that he was probably trying to get rid of those noisy biker gang around his house because they were disturbing his mother's sleep, but he was causing a mess instead," Narukami-kun added.
"We should come to his house," he suggested.
"Yes. There's a chance that Kanji-kun will be kidnapped," Hanamura-kun added.
We then go to Kanji-kun's house. When we arrive, we saw Kanji-kun's mother was having a chat with a short little boy. He is wearing formal blue shirts with ties, and a blue cap. He have short blue hair, gray eyes and slightly tanned skin.
"Excuse me," I said.
"Now then, I'll be taking my leave," the boy said.
"Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't much help," Kanji-kun's mother said.
"Not at all," the boy said. "You gave me something to think about."
"Thank you very much." He left immediately after we entered.
"Ah Yuuki-chan," Kanji-kun's mother said to me. "You're as beautiful as ever."
"You're too kind," I said. "Um... Is Kanji-kun home?"
"I'm afraid he's still not back yet," she answered.
"Is that so?" I asked.
"Excuse me, but is there any chance that scarf belong to Yamano MaYuumi-san?" Narukami-kun suddenly asked Kanji-kun's mother and pointed at a red scarf with beautiful flower pattern on display.
"Ah yes," she answered. "Do you knew Yamano-san?"
"I wouldn't say we knew her exactly," Hanamura-kun answered.
"That was a special order she placed," Kanji-kun's mother said.
Suddenly there's a delivery guys calling. "Excuse me! Package delivery."
"Sorry Yuuki-chan, but I have to step out for a moment," she said.
"It's okay Tatsumi-san," I said. "We were just leaving anyway."
"Thank you very much." We then leave Kanji-kun's house.
We were surprised to see Kanji-kun was talking to the boy we saw earlier. He's pretty tall and has a bleached-blonde sweptback crewcut, gray eyes, with a scar above his left eye. He wears many piercings, metal jewelry, and under his school uniform a black sweater with a skull-and-crossbones design. He really really suits delinquent's image.
"Come on! Let's hide!" We all hide behind a pole near Kanji-kun's house. I don't think this is a good idea, but I just play along anyway. This seems fun. We try to eavesdrop, but they are too far away so we hardly hear anything. After a while, look like they were done talking and Kanji-kun went back to his house. Naturally he spot us.
"What the hell are you pricks looking at?!" He yelled at us.
"Split!" Hanamura-kun screamed and we ran away. We ran passing Marukyu Tofu, which make me remember my parents asked me to buy some tofu for the Inn. After making sure that Kanji-kun was not following us, we stopped at Tatsuhime Shrine to take a break for a moment.
"That was scary," Chie said.
"Anyway Narukami-kun, why did you know that scarf belong to Yamano-san?" I asked.
"I think I saw the same scarf when I, Yosuke, and Satonaka went inside the TV for the first time," he answered.
"Ah you're right!" Hanamura-kun said. Looks like he just remembered.
"For now we should watch over Tatsumi Kanji and his house," Narukami-kun suggested. "If the culprit is really after him, he would either approach him directly or drop by his house."
"Good idea!" Hanamura-kun said. "Okay then, Amagi, can I have your number?"
"Ah! So that's what you were after!" Chie yelled at him.
"Of course not you idiot!" He yelled back. "I'll be needing it for stuff since we were in the same investigation team."
"Is that so? Oh yeah, speaking of which, could stop calling me at night just to tell me dirty jokes?" Chie said. "That's really creepy!"
"Hey now! Don't interrupt!" Hanamura-kun said. "C'mon Amagi. You don't mind, right?"
"I just remembered I need to buy some tofu," I said. "See you tommorow."
And then I ran to Marukyu Tofu to buy some tofu and get home.
17th May 2011. Tuesday. After School.
Today after school, we decide to watch over Kanji-kun and his house. To our surprised, he was actually going to school that day. So we follow him, he is meeting with the short boy we saw yesterday in Kanji-kun's house in front of school's gate. We can heard their conversation in this distance.
"Sorry," the boy said. "Did I make you wait?"
"No, I just got here too," Kanji-kun said.
"Then shall we get going?" And then they walked together.
"Wh-What the...?!" Hanamura-kun looked really surprised. "They just look like a happy couple going on a date!"
"What a minute!" Chie retorted. "They're both boys!"
"We Have to follow them. Let's split," Narukami-kun suggested. "Yosuke and Satonaka will follow Tatsumi. I and Amagi will watch over his house."
"Eh?!" Chie looked disagree with the team.
"Come on Chie!" Hanamura-kun said and then run to chase them. "We'll lose him!"
"Hey wait a sec!" Chie eventually follow him.
Chie and Hanamura-kun ran to followed Kanji-kun while I and Narukami-kun walked to watch Kanji-kun's house from a distance. Nothing suspicious so far, but I'm still afraid. "What if he really did come?" That thought really made me nervous. And with only Narukami-kun beside me, I became really nervous since I've never been alone with a boy around my age.
"Are you scared?" Narukami-kun suddenly asked.
"Well, yes. But my desire to see this through outweights it," I answered. "I'm sure there's something I can do to help."
"Don't be so nervous about it." Woah. Narukami-kun's amazing. It's like he can read my mind.
"Wasn't I that obvious?" I nerveously asked. "Well, it's true that I'm a little nervous."
"You should calm down," he calmly said. "There's still chance the culprit won't come."
"Yes, I'm a little nervous about that. But that's not all," I added. "You see... I'm never been talking with a guy around my age alone like this."
"Of course Chie, thanks to her personality, have no problem talking with guys," I said. "But I think she's had more fun hanging out with Hanamura-kun and you lately."
"Well, I feel the same way," once again I nervously said.
"Ah?!" He looks surprised. Oh no! I made things awkward. I need to do something. Come on, what to do? What to do?
"I wonder how Chie and Hanamura-kun's doing right now," I just blurted out something that come to my mind. "I better call her."
*Tuuuuut*
*Tuuuuut*
*Tuuuuut*
"Looked like the line's busy," I said. "I wonder what she's doing."
"And here I don't know Hanamura-kun's number," I added. "What should I do?"
"I need it too," he said.
"Hanamura-kun's number?" I asked.
"Yours," he calmly said.
"Eh?!" He wanted my phone number. What should I do? I hadn't been asked for my number. Usually Chie came to my rescue before it came down to this.
"Well, I might need it for the investigation," he explained.
"Oh yeah. We need to keep in contact with each other."And so Narukami-kun and I switch phone number and e-mail. After that we silently watch over Kanji-kun's house. I guess things are still a little awkward. After a while, we see Chie and Hanamura-kun run desperately toward us. They seem really tired.
"We regret to inform that our mission failed," Chie said.
"Well, let's wait a little longer," I suggested. "Maybe Kanji-kun will come home."
Suddenly Kanji-kun appeared out of nowhere. "What're you guys doing here?! Hey! You're the stupid couple I just saw!"
"We're not couple!" Chie passionately rejected the idea.
"Why are you assholes followin' me around?!" Kanji-kun's screaming at us. "What the hell's going on?!"
Looks like Kanji-kun is really angry. I need to do something. "Hey Kan-chan, calm down."
"Kan-chan?!" I blurt out what I used to called him when we were little. "I'm Yukiko Amagi."
"Do you remember me?" I asked.
"Yuki-senpai?" Looks like he just recognized me.
"Yes," seems like I managed to calm down Kanji-kun a little. "Could we ask you something?"
"What is it?" He asked.
"Has anything strange happen to you lately?" Hanamura-kun asked.
"Huh? Strange?" Kanji-kun nervously said. "Are you saying I'm strange?!"
"Huh? N-No, I didn't mean..." Hanamura couldn't find a word to responded.
"Please Yuki-senpai, just go."
"But Kan-chan..."
"JUST GO!"
We ran away from Kanji-kun as fast as our legs could moved.
"Let's call it a day," Narukami-kun suggested. "Everyone look really tired."
"Yeah. I think I ran too much today," Chie said.
"What if something happen to Kanji-kun?" I asked.
"He'll be fine on his own," Hanamura-kun said. "I've watched him today, so I know he won't get kidnapped without a fight."
"Okay then. However it supposed to be raining tonight," Narukami-kun said. "Please watch the Midnight Channel tonight."
"Okay. Then see you tommorow." Hanamura-kun then went home, followed by each one of us. I really hope he's right. I hope nothing bad happened to Kanji-kun.
17th May 2011. Tuesday. Midnight.
It's already almost midnight and it's raining outside. The Midnight Channel should back on tonight. Even I'm a bit relieved after hearing what Hanamura-kun said, I'm still a little worried. Finally the clock hit exactly midnight, and it's really on. But this time it was really different than before. The image became so sharp and clear.
"Hello dear viewers! It's time for 'Bad, Bad Bathhouse!'"
"Tonight I'll introduce a superb site for those searching for sublime love that surpasses the separation of the sexes!"
"I'm your host, Kanji Tatsumi, serving you this scandalously special sneak-in report!"
"Here I go~"
And then the show's off. The Midnight Channel showed Kanji-kun wearing nothing but a white loincloths in a very steamy sauna house. If what the other's saying is true, then Kanji-kun must have been inside the TV. I need to make sure. I decided to call Kanji-kun's home phone.
"Hello Tatsumi-san? This is Yukiko Amagi," I said.
"Ah Yuuki-chan," Kanji-kun's mother answered.
"I'm so sorry to call so late, but is Kanji-kun home?" I asked.
"He left the house since this evening and hadn't returned since," she said. "But don't worry, he does this quite often."
"O-Okay then. Thank you very much Tatsumi-san," I said and then hang up.
It looks like Kanji-kun is really missing. What to do? What to do? If only we watched over him a little long earlier this afternoon. Ah! I need to let Narukami-kun know. And so I called him.
"Hello Narukami-kun. This is Amagi," I said. "You watched the Midnight Channel right?"
"Yeah. The image is sharp and clear, just like when you've already thrown into the TV," he explained.
"Yes. U-Um Kanji-kun seems to be missing," I said. "I called his mother earlier so I knew. She did say this happened all the time, but still..."
"What do you think?" I asked.
"This is bad," Narukami-kun said calmly. "We should make sure by asking Kuma later tommorow."
"Yes. I think you're right," I said.
"For now, please just rest and prepare for the worst," he said.
Narukami-kun's right. There's nothing we can do for now. I'll just have to rest right now and discuss this with the others tommorow.
18th May 2011. Wednesday. After School.
We go to Junes together after school to go inside the TV as soons as possible. However when we are inside, Kuma seems to be really down. I wonder why. But still, I'm still amazed by the fact we're really inside the TV.
"Woah! We really is inside the TV!" I said.
"Hey Kumakichi, someone's here right?" Hanamura-kun said.
"Oh, yep," Kuma said with a really low voice. "I think someone's here."
"Do you know where he is?" Narukami-kun asked.
"I dunno," Kuma answered.
"What's wrong?" Chie asked. "Not feeling well?"
"Well, you're leaving me here all this time," Kuma explained.
"Leaving you?" Hanamura-kun retorted. "You live here."
"Oh yeah. I guess you're right," he said.
"Oh come on Kumakichi! Why is this even happening? Why can't you locate someone in here?" Hanamura-kun asked.
"I think it's because I've got so much on my mind," Kuma explained. Who am I? Where did I came from? I can't seem to figure it out."
"What should we do Narukami-kun?" I asked.
"Can't we leave this be for this time?" He said something I didn't expected.
"Of course we can't!" Chie yelled.
"We really can't, can we?" he said impassionately.
What can I do? What can I do?
"Hey Kuma, if we find some kind of hints about Kanji-kun. Could you find him?" I asked.
"U-Um... I think I can," he answered. "Something with his scent on it would help."
"Nice one Yukiko!" Chie hugged me.
"Now then, let's look around the town for hints about Tatsumi Kanji," Narukami-kun suggested.
"Sorry for leaving you alone again Kuma," I said.
We then go to our world to looked for some clue about Kanji-kun. We split like before, with Chie and Hanamura-kun, and me and Narukami-kun. Chie and Hanamura-kun will go to school to ask his classmates about Kanji-kun while I and Narukami-kun will be going back to his house to ask his mother further. We promised to come back to Junes in one hour.
On the way to Kanji-kun house, I asked Narukami-kun a question I've been thinking since I watched the Midnight Channel last night.
"Hey Narukami-kun," I said. "What do you think the Midnight Channel really is?"
"I don't know exactly," he answered. "I only tried it out because Satonaka talked me into it."
"Then if so, other people might be trying it out because someone talked him into it right?" I asked. "Just like you did."
"Yeah. I've thought about that too," he said. "That's why we need to save Tatsumi Kanji as soon as possible so that not many people watching that show about him."
"Do you think the culprit also watching it?" I asked.
"Yes. I'm sure he's enjoying it too," he said. "That's why we need to catch that psycho."
"Yes. I wish I could help," I said.
"You already helped a lot," he said. "Don't worry."
"Thank you." After hearing what he said, for some reason I felt a bit relieved. He seemed to know exactly what to say to made me feel better.
When we reached Kanji-kun's house, we saw a little boy wearing red hat and blue sweater staring at the house. I got curious so I asked him.
"May I help you?" I asked.
"U-Uh... is onii-chan in?" He nerveously asked.
"The one who lives here?" I asked back.
"Yeah. He's so cool!" He cheerfully answered. "He made this for me."
He then showed us a cute little knitted pink bunny doll. It's complete with clothes, a ribbon, and a hat.
"Woah! This is so cute," I said as I looked at the doll.
"Right? When I showed this to my friends, they asked me where I got this," he said. "I came to thank him and my friends also want one. They said they will pay for it."
"Woah. Amazing!" I said.
Ah! We can use this doll as a clue to find Kanji-kun in the TV world. If he made this, it should have his scent on it.
"U-Um, we're his friends. Right now he isn't at home so we could tell him for you later when we saw him," I said.
"Thank you onee-chan," he said.
"But could we borrow this doll?" I asked. "I'll be sure to return it later, with more doll like this that onii-chan made."
"Really? Okay!" He agreed. "I'll come back later!" With that the boy run off. I hope with this doll we can find Kanji-kun. We then enter Kanji-kun's house to asked more about him to his mother. Apparently what Narukami-kun's uncle said is true. Kanji-kun was driving out the noisy biker gang around his house because his mother couldn't sleep in that condition. Narukami-kun decided that we already have what we need, so we decided to return back to Junes, even when we still have about 20 minutes before we supposed to meeting-up with Chie and Hanamura-kun.
When we reach Junes, we surprised to see Chie and Hanamura-kun is already there. I can see Hanamura-kun's bringing a bag with him this time. We take a little break at our usual spot in the food court to discuss what we found.
"So, what do you guys found out?" Narukami-kun asked.
"We went back to school, but only found 3 classmates in his class. They said Kanji-kun's absent most of the time," Hanamura explained. "Once he appeared at class, he'd gone before they notice. So they don't really knew him."
"But we found his boyfr... I mean the short boy he talked to yesterday in the elevator downstairs when we were going here," Chie said. "He said he was just asked about his recent activities, but he was acting strange so he figured Kanji-kun was struggling with some sort of complex."
"Oh, nice job," Narukami-kun said. "Amagi and I found a little boy that told us that Kanji-kun made this for him." Narukami-kun then show the little bunny doll to Chie and Hanamura-kun.
"Woah! Really? By his hand?!" Chie seems shocked as I was earlier. "This doesn't look like handmade at all."
"Well, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover," Narukami-kun said.
"Yeah, we really understand that," I said. And yeah, since we all have a side that we don't want to admit.
"Okay then. Let's go inside the TV," Narukami-kun suggested.
"I hope we can find Kanji-kun with this," I thought.
We then go inside the TV to give Kuma the doll and told him everything we learnt about him. He sniff the doll seriously for a while. It looks like it works.
"I think I've got Kanji-kun's scent down. Now to pick up the trail!" He said. "Follow me!"
We run closely following Kuma for about for a while. I wonder why everyone can run so fast when there's a really dense fog around, I just need to be really careful not to lose them from my sight. When we reached the are where Kuma said Kanji-kun was there, we stopped for a moment to rest.
"Hey Kumakichi, Kanji-kun is really here?" I asked.
"The nose knows!" He confidently answered.
"Is it just me or the fog here is different?" Chie asked.
"Oh yeah everyone. How could you see in this dense fog?" I asked.
"Ah! We forgot to mention to you about the glasses," Chie said
"Glasses?" I don't understand anything about the glasses.
"Hey Kuma, you have a spare of these glasses right?" Chie said.
"I made this one specially for Yuuki-chan!" Kuma then gave me a glasses to wear. But this one seems different than the others wearing.
"Pffft, hahahaha..." I laugh really hard. The glasses I'm wearing have a nose guard.
"W-What are you wearing Yukiko?!" Chie asked.
"Hahahaha... Chie, Chie, look! This even has nose guard."
"That's enough of laughing Yukiko," Chie said then let out a sigh. "Hey Kuma, give her a normal one!"
"Okay, okay," he said.
"I didn't expect to see Amagi laughing like that," Hanamura-kun said.
"Yeah, me too. I thought she only did that in front of me," Chie said.
Kuma then gave me the similar glasses everyone's wearing, with red colored frame. This glasses are amazing. I could see my surrounding clearly. No wonder they can run really fast earlier.
What I see in front of me is some kind of traditional public bath and sauna. It's really steamy that even my glasses are fogging up. It doesn't look like it has many floor like my castle did. I'm not sure why, but it seems like Narukami-kun and Hanamura-kun are reluctant to go inside. I figured that's why we've been staying still here for a while.
"Hey! What're you guys doing?!" Chie asked. "Let's go!"
"U-Um... Are we really have to do this?" Hanamura-kun asked. "If this place is really came from Kanji-kun's suppressed emotion, I seriously got a bad feeling about this."
"What are you saying now?!" Chie yelled. "Of course we do! Now let's go!" Chie then drag Hanamura-kun inside by tweaking his ear. Narukami-kun, Kuma, and I followed closely behind them.
After walking for a while, we encountered 5 shadows. All of them has the form of a giant muscular old man with a mask. They immediately attacked us. I see the other three transform into some kind of giant as well, ready to fight. I must do the same. Chie already told me how to use my power. She said I just need to hear what my other self's saying inside my head, so I do exactly that.
"Konohana Sakuya!"
Ah! I can see myself become a floating pink giant, but all the other's still bigger and taller than me. I need to do something. So I open both of my hand, and heard my otherself saying, "Let's burn them all! Maragion!"
I see a lot of tiny red spark around the shadows. A moment later, those sparks suddenly explode, leaving the shadows knocked down. The other three quickly finish them all. Narukami-kun took two of them while Chie and Hanamura-kun took one each, leaving only one left. So I focused my mind to attack the only one shadow left.
"Burn! Agidyne!"
My attack burn the the shadow to crisp. I'm glad I was able to help. When there's no shadow, they undo the transformation, so I do that as well.
"Nice job Yukiko!" Chie said.
"Yeah. We need to do this until we find Tatsumi Kanji and his shadow," Narukami-kun said.
"This remind me of Yukiko's place," Chie said.
"Mine was like this too?" I was surprised.
"Yeah, kinda," she said. I can't accept that. Mine was nothing like this.
"Okay then, let's go!" With Narukami-kun leading the charge, we run around the place looking for Kanji-kun. This place does seems bigger than I expect when I saw it from the outside, not to mention it kinda like a maze. In those fightings, I learned that my Persona had a big fire-based attack by exploding little red sparks I spread with my wings, had weakness to ice-based attack, had an ability to cure and heal both myself and others, and basically had no physical strength. We run and fighting shadows that came at our way for about an hour before we find a big suspicious door. We can fight those shadows relatively easy because Kuma told us what kind of weakness and ability they have.
"This Kanji-kun should be behind this door," Kuma said.
"I-Is that so?" Narukami-kun once again said impassionately.
We just silently stand there for a while after Hanamura-kun said that. I wonder why. I want to open the door and save Kanji-kun as soon as possible, but it seems like it's not my job to open the door so I just stand there, waiting for someone to open the door.
"Why aren't you opening the door?" Kuma suddenly asked what I've been thinking.
"D-Do we really have to?" Hanamura-kun nervously said. "I seriously got a bad feeling about this."
"But what should we do Narukami-kun?" I asked.
"Let's just leave," once again Narukami-kun said something I didn't expected.
"Not happening!" Chie yelled. "You guys open the door! Now!" Chie push them forward. They finally give in and reluctantly open the door.
I think what we see behind the door is not as bad as the guys expected. We see two Kanji-kun trading blow with each other. One is wearing nothing but a white loincloths, like we saw in the Midnight Channel last night while the other was wearing our school uniform. I think the one with a white loincloths is Kanji-kun's shadow.
Kanji-kun's amazing. He still able to fight his shadow all this time. They must have been fighting for at least one day long. While I was in that castle, when I met the shadow of myself, I really can't stand it and "refused" her immediately. Next thing I know I was in a really dark place. I can hear all the things I can't accept about myself. "I want to escape." "I want to leave this city." "I don't care about the Inn." "I want someone to save me." "I want someone to take me far away from this city." Those thought suddenly burst into my mind. We need to save Kanji-kun before things came down to that.
"Oh we've got guests."
"You guys from yesterday! What are you doing here?!"
"Why don't you just accept it already?" The shadow lands a blow in Kanji-kun's face while he was distracted. He take a few steps back.
"You! Just shut up already!" He yelled at his shadow. "You guys better stay out of this! This is my fight damn it!"
"No! Kanji-kun! Don't listen to it!" Narukami-kun tried to warned Kanji-kun, but it was no use. He charges to return the punch to the shadow, on the same spot he was hit earlier, throwing the shadow a few meters back.
"Why don't we drop this charade?"
"Just admit I'm really what you want, aren't I?"
"You've gotta be f*cking kidding me?!" He yelled at it again. "Why don't you just shut up!" He then charging to the shadow. They trade punchs in the face, both of them are sent flying.
"Hahaha!"
"You're very manly now are you? Always punching your way out of your troubles."
"That's why I love men! They never say those awful things!"
"You're wrong!"
"But it's true. Because you're, and I'm you!"
"Like hell something like you is me!" He kept rejecting it.
"Hahaha!"
Oh no! They were about to trade punchs once again and Kanji-kun seems to rejecting it hardly this time. I can see the shadow have a really dark around behind him.
The moment their punchs made contact, Kanji-kun was absorb by his shadow and transform into a very big and muscular giant, about 6 meter tall with his shadow crossing his hand around his chest acting as its head. It has red rose bouquet on its chest and its torn surrounding both of its arm. It holds two yellow very large male-symbol-shape rod on each hand. It also only white loincloths to cover its black and white body. Beside the big one, there are two smaller shadow similar to it standing on its left and right side, but their heads is bald and has a really creepy mustache. One has red scar on its white side of the body and wearing red loincloths while the other has white scar on its red side of the body and wearing white loincloths. Their body is black on the right side, and white on the left side.
"Ýou're me, and there's no denying it!"
Seeing the shadow has taken over Kanji-kun, we have no option but to beat it. We immediately transform into our persona, ready to fight.
"I want to be honest with myself. And I'll get rid of anyone who gets in my way!"
It then hit the rod its holding to the ground. A moment later, a lightning strike hit each of us. It really hurts. Even though the lightning hit all four of us, Hanamura-kun seems to be the one who most affected by this attack, leaving him lying on the ground while Narukami-kun is the one who least affected. I need to do something to help the others.
"Such bothersome princes! Mediarama!"
A moment later I can see a dim gentle flames surrounding me and my friends. The pain that I felt a moment earlier's gone slowly.
"Thanks Amagi!"
I'm glad I was able to help, but we have no time to rest. We have three shadows to defeat. The two smaller shadows charging into Narukami-kun and Hanamura-kun after they put some pose that a body builder would do. I could see the main shadow have red and blue thin aura around it. Narukami-kun and Hanamura-kun have no time to react to their charge so they were hugged by them, really hard. Chie and I need to save them.
"Not so fast!"
The big one suddenly attacked us with its rod, but fortunately we managed to barely dodge it. I could see Narukami-kun and Hanamura-kun really suffering because of the hug. We need to act fast.
"Chie-chan! Yuuki-chan!" Kuma screamed. "Then one with red scar is weak to fire! And the one with white scar is weak to ice!"
Kuma got out of his hiding shouting. He then immediately struck by lightning. I'm sorry, Kuma. I'll save you later, but first Chie and I have to save Narukami-kun and Hanamura-kun first. I concentrate my mind to attack the shadow that was hugging Hanamura-kun while Chie threw her spear at the one that was hugging Narukami-kun.
"Agidyne!"
A huge spark turned into a big flame on the shadow that was hugging Hamanura, but it won't let go. Suddenly Hanamura's Persona gush out a purple smoke from his mouth. After a while, it seems the shadow got confused and it was finally let go of him. He instantly threw both of his shuriken, aiming at both top and bottom of the shadow. Once the shuriken is in position, they spin so fast they generate a gale that was big enough so it'll make the flames I inflicted earlier on the shadow bigger, but not to extinguish it. After some moment confused and burned, the shadow's finally it's burn to ashes. While the one that was hugging Narukami-kun froze the moment Chie's spear touch it. Narukami-kun easily broke free, breaking both of the shadow's hand in the process. A thunder strike the shadow and then Narukami-kun immediately punch it with his left hand while he's on effect of Chie's red thin aura and then cut it in half with his electrified knife on his right hand.
We finally defeat the two smaller shadow. That leave the big one. But before that, I need to heal Narukami-kun and Hanamura-kun first. I surrounded them with my gentle flames, but because of that I was distracted so I got hit by his right fist. I got thrown a few meters back before I turn back to my original form.
"Yukiko!" Chie screamed.
Chie instantly came to me while Narukami-kun's charging into the shadow and Hanamura-kun gave him a green thin aura. After making sure I'm safe, Chie followed Narukami-kun to charged into the shadow. He attack with his knife from top to bottom, but the shadow can follow his movement so it take a step back. But Narukami-kun didn't stop, he struck his knife to the ground, using it as pedestal to launch a spin kick with his right bladed-foot from top to bottom. The shadow can see his movement but only managed to move slightly to the right, causing it to lost its left arm. Chie, who closely followed Narukami-kun instantly kick the shadow's face when he dodge Narukami-kun's attack, throwing it to the wall of the room. I need to help. I'm desperately trying to transform back into Persona. I only manage to send a few of sparks to the knock-downed shadow, burning it before I'm turning back again. The shadow seems to be in a lot of pain.
"Oh no!"
"Will someone just accept me!"
"Accept me!"
Chie then took his spear and threw it at the shadow's chest, freezing him. Narukami-kun once again charging into the frozen shadow. His body's still cover with red thin aura. He punch the shadow in the face, shattering it into very tiny pitch black pieces. Once it's cleared, we found both Kanji-kun and his shadow lying on the ground. Finally it was defeated. We all return our normal form. I feel really tired, but I'm very relieved we were able to save Kanji-kun. Before we know it, the shadow immediately stood up and running toward Narukami-kun and shouting.
"Accept me!"
"I said to cut the crap!" Kanji-kun roar.
We were surprise to hear Kanji-kun's voice. When I was freed from my shadow, I hardly can speak. He really is amazing. The shadow's stopped running and turn to Kanji-kun. He then struggling to stand up.
"Damn it! The thought about you're inside me is really disgraceful," he said. "But you're being me ain't some kind of big revelation!"
"It ain't about men or women," he added. "I'm just a coward who made everyone hate me just because I was scared shitless of getting rejected."
"I'm sure you already know that, because you're me, and I'm you damn it!"
The shadow then running toward Kanji-kun with a smile on its face, hugging him in the last moment before it was shattered, displaying a big image of Kanji-kun's Persona.
It was pretty manly. It have very big and broad shoulder. It was almost all black with with bones' image correspondence to where it was located, unless its palm which is white and kind of robotic. In its left hand, it was holding a large yellow thunder-shaped rod. A moment later, the Persona disperse, entering Kanji-kun's body. He then suddenly fell on his knee.
"Are you okay Kanji-kun?" I asked.
"It's... It's nothin'." He said that, but he can hardly speak. "Anyway... What are you doing here Yuuki-senpai?"
"We came to save you of course," I said.
"Hey Kanji, Here." Narukami-kun then handed the little buny doll to Kanji-kun.
"Wh-What?! How..." He seems shocked to see the bunny doll he made on Narukami-kun's hand.
"You made this, didn't you?" Narukami-kun's asked.
"Got a problem with that?!" Kanji-kun said.
"No. I think it's cute," Narukami-kun calmly said.
Kanji then take the doll from Narukami-kun.
"There's a little boy waiting for you. And we're explain what's happening later," he added. "For now, let's go home."
"Yeah. Okay," Kanji-kun said. "Thanks for saving me."
Kanji-kun's having trouble standing up, so Narukami-kun and Hanamura-kun are helping him walking by lending their shoulder. We walk slowly to return to our world. Today was really tiring. We said farewell to Kuma for now, and back to our wold, in Junes electronic store.
"Hey Kanji?" Narukami-kun said.
"Y-Yeah."
"We're going to leave you for a moment and have someone to 'find' you okay," he added. "So just rest here for a bit."
We left Kanji-kun there and watch him from a distance. Narukami-kun then call Ichijou Kou-kun, his teammates from basketball club to "find" Kanji-kun in Junes. He explains it was done so that we, the Investigation Team didn't attract the police's attention since we previously have found the "missing" Amagi Yukiko. It was very logical, but I didn't really think about it. No wonder Hanamura-kun point him as our leader.
About twenty minutes later, Ichijou-kun came and take Kanji-kun to his house. After that, we all decided to go home and take a rest. This was a very tiring day, but fortunately we manage to prevent another victim of this serial murder case. Narukami-kun said all we can do now is rest and wait for Kanji-kun to recover. Once he recover, we go and question him about his kidnapping. I hope Kanji-kun could give us some clue about the culprit.
Author's Note:
Persona's ability list:
Izanagi: Mazio, Zionga, Rakukaja, Tarukaja, Rakunda, Raimeizan
Jiraiya: Magarula, Garudyne, Masukukaja, Tentarafoo, Jinpugeki
Tomoe: Mabufu, Bufula, Tarukaja, High Counter, Power Charge
Konohana Sakuya: Maragion, Agidyne, Mediarama, Diarahan, Me Patra
Here I also wanna talk about the connection between Kanji's insecurity and the form of his shadow (the monster).
The only shadow that got 3 forms, the main one, Tough and Nice guy. All three have really muscular body which is Kanji's image of "strong man". I think the reason the devs separate "nice" and "tough" is because Kanji though that those two are different things, that you can't be both of them at the same time. The main one is definitely a gay and really feminine (can be seen with roses around its chest), this portray his sexuality issues and his love for something feminine, such as cute things and such. However I think Kanji himself is bisexual, this can be seen that he's also get "excited" seeing Naoto, Yukiko, and Chie in swim suit, and he fall for Naoto who he thought was a guy.