Chapter 9: Questions and Answers
April 17, 2011
Dojima Residence
Yu woke up and looked around his room. His phone hadn't rung when he was asleep and so he'd assumed that Dylan had gotten some sleep and that Chie and Yosuke probably didn't know that Yukiko had been kidnapped yet.
What he did know was that he had a limited window of time to rescue Yukiko otherwise it'd be too late. The same thing applied to the rest of the team and that went for present and future members of it, well present and future members at this instance anyway.
Yu got dressed, putting on boxers, black corduroy slacks, a grey t-shirt and white shoes before going downstairs.
Nanako was in the garden, which meant that Yu could talk to Yosuke about what was going on without unduly worrying her.
Yu could hear a series of short, loud knocks on the door before he heard Yosuke say anything. "Hey, are you going to let me in?"
He got up and made quick strides over to the door, letting Yosuke in. The latter sat down on the sofa almost as soon as Yu had offered, but this was because they were in a race against the clock.
"I don't know what's stranger, seeing Yukiko like that or Dylan wearing a suit. I mean, it WAS them but I don't know if that's really them or their Shadows." Yosuke observed.
Yu knew exactly what it was but he'd kept quiet before responding. "We've seen this before, and we know that Yukiko and Dylan have definitely had sex at least once.
"Lucky bastard. Then again, she's been kidnapped or gone missing so he's going to be the first person that people are going to blame even if he was attacked by whoever's behind all this." Yosuke surmised, leaving Yu surprised at how much Yosuke had actually known without his having said very much.
"People like a good story." Yu said.
There was a brief pause as they watched the footage of the Midnight Channel again.
Yu and Yosuke looked at the TV as a familiar blonde in a suit flickered on the screen. Said blonde was holding a bottle of scotch in one hand and had a small mountain of white powder in front of him with a razor blade and a stack of $100 bills.
Yosuke leaned in towards Yu, "I remember my dad saying something about seeing an interview with Dylan's dad on the news in relation to some scandal years ago. And he said that he'd never want to meet the man, although I can see why he wouldn't. Swimming in a shark-tank would be a lot safer."
"I know what you mean. Heard this story about what he did to CEOs of companies he'd taken over. They'd leave a meeting or go to a hotel, and the next day they'd be found with their throats slit or shot in the head or poisoned or worse. One of them even committed suicide." Yu spoke in a hushed tone of voice almost as if he didn't want whatever was on TV to appear in front of them.
"Hello Ladies and Gentlemen! My name's Dylan Blake and I could buy and sell you just like THAT. If my old man can do it, then I can. But seriously, I met a girl and we really connected. Several times. Which leaves me with a dilemma: I could be falling for her but I don't want to feel that way about someone after, according to some people, I kind of killed my girlfriend and unborn son last year." Before "Dylan" could say anymore, Yu promptly turned the TV off.
"You didn't know about the accident did you?" Yosuke asked, looking worriedly at Yu.
Yu imperceptibly shook his head as a response. "I did. But it was proven to be an accident. And that's good enough for me. I don't care what he might have done a year ago because that's not him anymore."
"That makes sense. I mean, he's had to live with that guilt for a year and this is only going to make it worse." Yosuke sounded perturbed.
"Do you think that he's going to go and rescue Yukiko without any backup?" Yu asked.
Yosuke thought about it, and he knew that Dylan going to the Midnight Channel would be nothing short of a suicide mission. "Yeah. Which is why we should kind of go and help him. Seeing as we have Personas and he doesn't."
"Of course we'd need weapons or stuff that looks like weapons. The police are going to be on high alert after the kidnapping." Yu thought aloud.
Yosuke's face brightened as he made a pose that essentially suggested that he had a bright idea. "Hey! I've got a plastic sword and plastic knives at my place. We'd have to be quick though. Or just distract people long enough for Dylan to find out where Yukiko is and come back."
"That's assuming that he'd want to come back. But, let's just put that to one side for the moment. Anyway, I'll tell Nanako where we're going, and she'll tell Uncle. But I'm not going to tell her everything." Yu felt guilty about not being honest with his uncle and cousin but they'd just ask him more questions.
"I understand. I'll go to my house, get everything and then we'll meet at Junes." Yosuke suggested.
Yu agreed, and Yosuke promptly exited the house and got on his bicycle and rode away.
Amagi Inn
Dylan woke up extremely tired, unable to get any sleep whatsoever as worry over Yukiko's disappearance, or more accurately kidnapping had set in more fully than it did yesterday evening.
He got dressed, putting on the clothes that he'd worn yesterday. As hard as he might have tried, he couldn't help but feel that his past was catching up with him. Unfortunately, the grief that he hadn't allowed himself to feel when Roz and their unborn son died had made its presence felt.
Don't fucking cry. There's no point in trying to change things now, all I can do is try and get her back. Besides, if I don't then I might regret it.
With a heavy heart, Dylan exited his room at the inn, taking his key with him and heading towards the lobby where Stephen was waiting for him.
"You okay?" Stephen asked.
Dylan hesitated a little before saying anything, "I'm fine. It's just been a long night that's all."
"Look, you need to stop blaming yourself. Yukiko getting kidnapped wasn't your fault, alright? We'll find her, don't you worry." Stephen was trying to be reassuring and this seemed to be the best way.
They paused for thought as to what they were going to do.
Eventually, Dylan had thought of a plan. "Okay, why don't we go to Junes and I'll go to the Midnight Channel myself and ask Teddie where Yukiko is? It's not as if I'll be going to look for her myself."
"We're not. Besides, the people who took her are still in Inaba, same as whoever killed Yamano and Saki. So she can't have gotten far. Or maybe she's in the Midnight Channel and we've got to go rescue her. In which case, I don't want to go in without Yu or Yosuke. Or Chie." Stephen added.
"I wouldn't worry about it." Dylan responded tersely.
Stephen lifted his hands to the sky in frustration before continuing. "That's why I should. You're probably bottling everything up like you always do and you admit it because you're too stubborn."
"You're playing the stubborn card? Gee that's helpful." Dylan responded sarcastically.
"You know what I mean." Stephen sighed.
Dylan nodded. "I'm sorry if I'm being difficult or anything."
"It's alright. I'm used to it." Stephen remarked, and he was right. They'd been friends since they were kids and had stuck by each other since.
Dylan checked his cell phone and could see that Yu had texted him earlier.
Yu: Yosuke and I are going to meet you and Stephen in Junes later. And Chie's going to be there as well.
Dylan: Okay.
Yu: Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm worried that you'll try and rescue Yukiko by yourself.
Dylan: Stephen's already convinced me not to.
Yu: So what will you be doing then?
Dylan: Asking Teddie if he can smell her. Where she is, I mean. I should have been clearer.
Yu: Of course.
Dylan: Anything else?
Yu: Don't draw any unnecessary attention to yourself, I know what some people here might think of your presence here.
Dylan: That I'm the antichrist because my dad's tried to kill local businesses here right? Like I haven't got enough to worry about now anyway.
Yu: Precisely. Glad we could have this little chat.
Dylan: Yeah. See you later.
"Well, I really hope this works." Dylan stated.
Stephen simply nodded in agreement.
As they knew that they didn't have much time, they decided to just go to Junes. It did have a food court and the quickest entry point to Mayonaka after all.
Entrance, Mayonaka
Teddie had been alone for as long as he could remember before Sensei appeared. However, he had seen the Shadows before and they were bear-y upset about something.
There had been an increase in Shadows that not only fed off peoples' emotions but took on the shapes of the people that they were feeding off of. Naturally, these Shadows would align themselves with the entity that could give them the most to feed on.
The being called Nyarlathotep had attempted to bring about the end and replace the old order with something else on two occasions but he had failed on both attempts and things had carried on as normal. Nyx, however, had convinced a large amount of Shadows to side with her, causing the world of Tartarus to rapidly collapse in on itself after she was sealed.
Out of the two Arisato siblings, Minato was the one who had sacrificed himself to seal Nyx away. Minako, as far as Teddie knew, was still in the waking world and was in a relationship with one Chase Blake. This brought Teddie's thoughts neatly to the newest Wild Cards, Yu Narukami and Dylan Blake.
Yu or Sensei was a natural leader but Dylan had buried those traits deep within himself in favour of living a life without any responsibility. But his future self was willing to embrace the responsibilities that came with being a Wild Card.
That being said, Teddie had no idea he was empty or full but he couldn't remember his former life before becoming what he was. All he remembered was that he was a great man once. And that used to be enough.
Teddie could hear Dylan's voice before he saw the blonde appear before him. "Hey Teddie, have you seen a girl around here? Or smelled her even?"
"Why? Did something bad happen?" Teddie asked.
"Yeah, she got kidnapped and I should've been there to protect her. I know that you can smell me because you've smelled my future self before and we sort of smell similar. But I need you to do this for me okay." Dylan implored.
Teddie had thought long and hard before answering. "Oh, she's the girl who smelled like strawberries! Her name was Yukiko wasn't it?"
"Fucking hell. I couldn't protect her. Just like I couldn't protect Roz or my unborn kid either. I don't know why one mistake can cost so much." Dylan almost slumped down to the floor.
In an attempt to comfort Dylan, Teddie told him where Yukiko was. "She's in a big, scary castle but I didn't want to go in by myself! There are a lot of grizzlies there after all!"
Dylan nodded slowly before standing up again.
"Thanks. You know, you're all right, Teddie. Hey, I'll come back later with Yu, Yosuke, Steve and Chie. Chie's pretty much Yukiko's best friend so she's going to go looking for her too." Dylan looked around for the exit TV and finally found it after a few minutes of searching for it.
"So, I'll be seeing you soon then." Teddie gave Dylan a hopeful smile.
Dylan stepped through the exit TV and gave Teddie a salute before doing so.
Junes Electronics Department
Dylan had managed not to fall on his ass out of the TV this time, much to his relief.
"Did you find out where Yukiko was?" Stephen asked.
Dylan looked at Stephen and nodded before answering. "I did. She's in some castle but I couldn't go in without the others. That being said, I'm fucked anyway because there's people here who hate my guts because my dad invested so much money in Junes. So there's a good chance I could be arrested and thrown in jail as part of some witch-hunt."
Almost as soon as Dylan had finished speaking, Adachi had decided to make his presence felt.
"Freeze scumbag! Drop to your knees and put your hands where I can see them!" Adachi levelled a gun at Dylan's forehead, making the blonde drop down in front of him.
Dylan got down on his knees and held his hands up before sticking up his middle finger to the detective.
"I know my rights asshole! You can't just arrest me on some bullshit charge. Besides I got knocked unconscious so I couldn't have kidnapped Yukiko even if I wanted to!" Dylan shouted, the anger and outrage becoming increasingly more apparent in his voice.
Adachi just gave the blonde a wicked grin before squeezing back the trigger. "It's not my fault if people here hate your guts kid. I'd be doing a favour if I arrested you or decided to blow your brains out."
"Come on and do it then bitch." Dylan replied.
"I would but that'd be illegal then wouldn't it?" Adachi snarked.
Dylan hated to admit it but he knew that Adachi was right. He also doubted that people would believe him even if his suspicions were confirmed.
Adachi took triumphant strides towards Dylan and handcuffed his hands behind his back before forcing him back to his feet.
Stephen had wisely elected to just say nothing and follow Adachi and Dylan out of Junes at a distance. He wasn't under arrest but he didn't want Dylan to get hurt or for Adachi to harm him and claim that he was attacked or something like that.
Inaba Police Department
"Lucky they just took away our weapons even though they were fakes. Plus they decided to let us go." Yosuke couldn't have sounded more relieved if he'd tried.
Yu on the other hand was feeling more apprehensive. "They only let us go because they found a better lead.
"Wait, you don't think that Dylan is behind Yukiko's kidnapping?" Yosuke asked.
"He's not, but some people in Inaba are biased against him because of his family so they'd be trying to pin the kidnapping and the murders on him." Yu explained.
Yosuke looked worriedly as Chie strode in, no doubt looking for Dylan. "Alright, where's that son of a bitch?!"
"Uh, Chie, we don't know if he did or not! You've got to calm down." Yosuke hissed.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Chie shouted.
Yu decided that it was better to just diffuse the situation before it got out of hand. "He didn't do it. I think it's just a huge misunderstanding that's all."
"I wonder if Dylan might be hiding something from us." Yosuke was giving voice to the possibility that they mightn't be able to trust Dylan.
"He could be." Yu mused.
Chie nodded in agreement, wondering if Yukiko was alright wherever she was.
The trio looked and could see a blonde who looked sort of like Dylan but with shorter hair and a familiar looking red-headed girl accompanied by a boy and a dog. And there was something strangely familiar about the quartet.
Yu walked over to the quartet, wondering just what they were doing in Inaba.
"Oh hello. My name's Chase and this is my girlfriend Minako, but everyone calls her Mina. And this is Ken and Koromaru, in case I forgot to introduce them." Chase smiled kindly at Yu.
Yu shook Chase's hand before introducing him to the rest of his group. "Well, their names are Yosuke and Chie and I guess you could say that we're friends of Dylan's."
The conversation was interrupted by a particularly peeved looking Stephen walking in.
"Dylan's been arrested and I don't think that they've started interrogating him yet." Stephen grumbled, annoyed at how Dylan was being treated.
Chase's eyes narrowed as he looked around for anyone who could explain what was going on, but couldn't seem to find anyone who was willing to do so. Which was unfortunate.
Chie and Yosuke were rightfully concerned over what was going to happen to Yukiko and they voiced that concern to Yu. "So, what if she's hurt or worse? We've got to go and rescue her because there might still be time."
"Wait, isn't there a blacksmith's that makes weapons and stuff to order?" Yosuke asked.
"Oh you mean Daidara-san? Yeah, I mean we'd probably need weapons and stuff right? So, we'll wait for Dylan and see what weapons Daidara has." Chie suggested.
They looked as Chase, Mina, Ken and Koromaru went outside either to wait or to go somewhere else.
Meanwhile, Dylan was sitting in an interview but he didn't have the handcuffs on anymore. Despite having been interviewed by a few of the officers working the case and having been found innocent, he still had to be interviewed by one of the detectives who was working on the case.
He looked up as two officers had come to escort him to another room, and Dylan had assumed that he was going to be put into a holding cell. Dylan was familiar enough with holding cells back home to know what was going on.
However, he could see a medical cross on the door and a familiar looking woman in the room as well.
"Holy shit! I really didn't expect to see Steve's aunt here!" Dylan explained.
The woman gave him a look of recognition. "I was going to say that I'm Dr Katherine Nomura née McAllen but I think you already knew that one. So, how's Steve anyway?"
"Oh, he's good." Dylan looked at the two officers who were almost motioning for them to hurry the examination along before closing the door fully.
Katherine smiled pleasantly and had decided to begin the examination in earnest. "Well, that's good. My husband is a close friend of Dojima's and of Yukiko's parents so that's kind of why I'm the medical examiner at the moment. You wouldn't mind removing your clothing would you? It's just so I can get an accurate examination."
She examined him and took photographs, including a photograph of the wound on the back of his head from when Hiroki had hit him with the crowbar. Among the questions that Katherine had asked was whether Dylan was sexually active or not and he answered that with a yes with his encounter with Yukiko being the most recent time that he'd had sex.
"Ah. My husband Takeshi knew Ryotaro and Hikaru since they were kids and they're the only ones in Inaba besides myself who knows that Hikaru was in the CIA from approximately 1984 to 1993 so I'm surprised that Hikaru hasn't gone all Jack Bauer on you yet. There are some people in Inaba and in this police department who would consider you the prime suspect for both the murders and the kidnapping because of your father's investment in Junes. Of course, practically every officer and detective here is only interested in my opinions as a medical examiner so I can't pass any judgment on the matter until you've been interviewed again." Katherine explained, trying to make this as clear as she possibly could.
Dylan nodded and looked as she placed his clothes in a bag and handed him what appeared to be grey sweats which he promptly put on.
The two officers who were waiting for him escorted him to another interview room where a detective was standing beside a TV with a DVD player that faced a table with chairs around it.
The detective made a move to introduce himself, extending out a hand to Dylan who shook it reluctantly. "Hello Mr Blake, my name is Dojima Ryotaro and I've got some more questions for you. But, if it were up to me I would let you go because the only reason you've been arrested is to satisfy some of the people in the department who just wanted a witch-hunt to happen. Of course, it isn't up to me, so that's why you're here."
"Okay. I've only been here about a week, and I did hook-up with Yukiko before I stopped the interview." Dylan looked at Dojima apprehensively.
Dojima wrote something down before asking him a question. "How familiar would you be with the Midnight Channel?"
"Well, I saw the Konishi girl on it, and while I didn't see Yukiko or myself on it, there were other people who did." Dylan tried to answer that one as best he could.
Wordlessly, Dojima took a DVD and placed into the DVD player. They watched as a picture began to form and a girl who was in an ornate ball gown holding a tiara similar to ones seen at beauty pageants was standing in front of a castle.
"Good evening Inaba! Tonight I'm gonna score myself a hot stud! And I bet you all know who I'm referring to don't you? MMMM, that's right, I'm referring to the one and only Dylan Blake. I've got my lacy unmentionables on for you my prince, and I'm just waiting for you to RIP them off of me! And you're SO well endowed!" She held out her hands in a wildly extravagant gesture that caused Dylan to blush profusely and cough with embarrassment.
"Well, let me know if you see him! Oh and Dylan, I just want you to take me with the whole world watching! Here I go!" The girl retreated into the castle with a huge smile on her face.
Dylan stared at the screen with an expression of vague surprise before attempting to make light of the situation. "I know that some girls I've been with HAVE compared my manhood to Tommy Lee's but I don't really like to brag about it."
"You are aware of how serious this situation is aren't you?" Dojima asked. It wasn't a particularly unreasonable question either.
Dylan just gave Dojima a terse nod before the detective had pressed play again.
"Good evening all you sexy ladies and fine upstanding, or not, gentlemen! Hey, I'm Dylan Blake and I'd like to welcome you to our scheduled programme. But first, there's something I have to tell you all. I've developed feelings for this girl and I think I know how to go about telling her or showing her how I feel." The blonde took a large snort of white powder, which Dylan knew to be cocaine followed by drinking the contents of an entire bottle of scotch.
Dojima's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm just going to assume that the charges you picked up for the possession of narcotics are in fact common knowledge so I want you to answer this truthfully, is that you?"
"First of all, I got off those charges and that's not me. For one thing I fucking hate wearing suits and I don't drink scotch all that much." Dylan responded in an angry manner.
Dojima signalled for Dylan to calm down before continuing the interview. "Alright. One theory that I have heard would be that you arranged the kidnapping and that you got knocked out as a way of drawing attention away from this particular action. The possibility that you potentially slept with Yukiko to gain her trust and stopped the interview also served to draw suspicion away from you."
"Fuck you. I'm not answering anymore goddamn questions!" Dylan exploded.
Dojima grimaced at how angry Dylan was getting by his line of questioning. "I'm going to just ignore that little outburst but you need to be completely honest with me on this one."
"I apologize. So you want me to be honest? I think I might be falling for her and I've only been here for six days! I hooked up with her and I don't know how to tell her how I feel, okay?! She isn't like that but all you care about is hustling me into a fucking jail cell so you can keep up appearances. I'm not stupid enough to ignore what some people in Inaba think about my presence here." Dylan snapped.
"You would be happy to know that I don't possess those same prejudices. Even after your inference that I only care about condemning you based on who your family is." Dojima had managed to get Dylan to calm down again.
Dylan looked at Dojima. "So does this mean that I'm free to go?"
"Yes. I have found nothing that connects you to the kidnapping or to the murders for that matter. You're free to go, Dylan." Dojima exited the room, followed by Dylan.
After Dylan had gotten his clothes back, and got fully dressed, he walked outside and found Yu, Yosuke, Chie and Stephen standing there along with Chase and Mina along with a boy and a dog.
At Chase's urging, the boy and the dog had left, leaving Chase and Mina to talk to Dylan themselves first.
"Well, it's a relief that you're innocent." Chase gently patted Dylan on the shoulder.
Mina echoed the sentiment, but did so with a slight tinge of hostility. "Of course, she's still missing, so you'd better find her."
"He will. I think we'd better go and get settled. It's been a long few days. I'll see you around Dylan." Chase waved before walking away and placing his left arm gently around Mina's waist.
Chie practically sprinted up to Dylan before punching him in the face. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! You knew how she felt about you and she knew how you felt about her and you didn't even try and rescue her?! I know that you rescued her from the interview, but c'mon you could have tried to save her from being kidnapped too."
"For your information, CHIE, I did try and got knocked out for my trouble!" Dylan yelled.
Almost instinctively, Stephen moved to pull Dylan back and Yosuke wrapped his arms around Chie in order to calm the situation down.
Chie was about to say something but thought better of it, and allowed Dylan to speak again. "Look, I tried but the guy who attacked me had a crowbar and I couldn't get to her in time. I know it's not good enough okay. And it's brought back memories of things I'd rather forget."
"So, you've fallen for her then?" Chie asked. All the blonde could do was nod.
Yu cleared his throat before speaking. "We need to get weapons, and Chie knows where we can get them."
Daidara Metal and Fireworks
After looking around the Shopping District, they found a smithy owned by a man by the name of Daidara who primarily made weapons to order by collectors or re-enactors or as museum or auction pieces which was why it was kept open. That being said, every weapon that Daidara forged was of very high quality.
"So I'm assuming that you need weapons?" Daidara asked.
Chie inclined her head slightly and gave Daidara a smile. "Yes. We'd need a lot of them, but Yu's probably already got one."
There were weapons everywhere, including guns which Daidara had made to a variety of different specs and calibres.
Dylan took a Western axe and Stephen took a hammer whilst Yosuke took two knives and Chie took a pair of greaves. Dylan also took a fan that was reinforced with steel for Yukiko.
After having paid for everything, they went outside to mull over a game plan.
"Well, we can't just walk in with weapons so we need to be more discreet. Plus I've left my katana at Uncle's so I'd need to go and get it. Why don't we get things that can hide them and meet up at Junes?" Yu suggested.
Yosuke's eyes lit up. "That'd work. The Electronics Department does have a sale on, so we could go in when the sale ends so we can just meet up in the food court."
As this was a good plan, they went their separate ways, but knew that they were going to reconvene in Junes later and then hopefully, go and rescue Yukiko today rather than tomorrow or the day after that.
Note: Thanks to my beta reader afterados for all the support and critiques. Haven't really decided upon a specific chapter length yet so there will be some scope for variation.
