This is a pretty short chapter and I contemplated with combining this chapter to chapter 15, but then it would be wayyyy too long. Maybe, in the future, I might go back and edit all the chapters to have a consistent number.

(◕‿◕✿)

Time: 1930 hours

Location: Robin's and Raven's Room - Amagi Inn

Date: April 30, 2011

"So are you gonna explain?" Robin questions, crossing his arms over his chest as he sits cross-legged in front of Raven. She stifles a sigh, resisting the urge to palm her face as well.

"It was barely half a year." Robin implores her to explain. "You and Starfire were barely together for half a year before you ended it."

"What does that have any-?"

"Which implies that something didn't work out between you two. I want to know what happened."

"It's simple. After the honeymoon phase, the feelings just left. Is that wrong?"

"What's wrong is avoiding the rest of us. We were lucky there weren't any major crimes after you broke up. It took her, surprisingly, only these last two months to get over you," Raven explains. She does not mention the fact that she was forced to stay up for weeks, listening to the Tamaranean's weeping. Robin had shut himself in his room, only coming out when absolutely necessary. As a result, the rest of the team was left to comfort Starfire, specifically Raven.

"I know I messed up." Raven raises an eyebrow. "Okay, I fucked up. It's just...my past relationships didn't help. I realized I wasn't ready for a relationship with Star. I knew that from my past, but I still dived into it. So it's entirely my fault." Raven has to admit, she's impressed that he's being so honest about his past. Although, she shouldn't be so surprised that he's been in previous relationships before coming to Jump City. "How's she doing with Garth?"

"How'd you-?"

"Oh, uh...I have my ways...?" Raven is silent for only a heartbeat, preferring to not try and figure out how Robin found out.

"She said it's been great with him. He's been helping her ever since the break-up." She puts it lightly, but Robin still winces.

"He deserves her. She doesn't deserve someone like me."

"You just need some more experience with relationships. And maybe a break from this hero stuff."

"Remember what I told Beast Boy: we're heroes...we don't take vacations."

"You didn't seem to think that the last time we came to Japan."

"Th-that's-"

"That excuse doesn't work anymore, Robin. Besides, you have nothing to prove. We know what's going on; we just don't know who's the culprit. All we have to do is wait until the kidnapper makes a mistake."

"What if they don't?" Robin jumps up and paces around the room, his arms flying around frantically. "Don't you realize how horribly all of this can go? If we don't rescue the victims in time, they're dead! We'd never be trusted ever again. The Teen Titans would lose all of its credibility because we weren't able to rescue anyone!"

Raven stands up as well, walking over to the panicked teen. She slaps him across the face and grabs his shoulders as he recovers. "Stop thinking about the worst-case scenario."

"Raven?"

"Remember when I asked you how'd you manage to hope it'd all work out? Even in that situation where the world literally ended? Don't you dare tell me you forgot. Like I said, we'll wait and see what happens next. The kidnapper is bound to make a mistake at some point. For now, we'll stay at the inn and wait." She releases her grip on the male Titan. "I understand why you're worried, but don't forget that we're a team. You're not alone in this."

Robin stands there, letting the words sink in. "Thanks, Raven."

Thou art I...And I am thou…

Thou hast established a new bond…

It brings thee closer to the truth…

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hierophant Arcana…

The blue card appears once more, revealing an arrow at the center with three lines running horizontal along its body. Two keys are on the top corners and two figures are on the bottom corners of the card. It disappears, just like the previous tarot cards and melds into Raven's heart. She can feel herself becoming slightly stronger as well. After a few moments of silence, Robin asks, "So, what exactly made you throw us up in the air?"

A pillow meets his face as Raven takes her book back. "You guys started it. I could sense the hormonal imbalance between you and Beast Boy," she answers, turning her back to Robin. She doesn't mention the fact that Robin's imbalance had strongly affected her.

Damn, she's going to have to meditate again soon. And check something out with her emoticlones...

Time: 1530 hours

Location: Junes

Date: May 01, 2011

"Tomorrow? ...No, we can do it. There's nothing going on tomorrow...Hmm, we can all meet at Junes. Same table. Wait...it might be weird. Is it possible to meet somewhere in your inn? All right, I'll let Yosuke know. Thanks, Yukiko."

Yu hangs up, putting his phone back into his pocket. He had invited Marie out for the day and she was curious about Junes. "Hey, what happened just now? 'Time sale'?"

"Sorry, I didn't hear. What happened?"

"Everyone was rushing to grab something called 'sallah drezzing'? Whatever it is, it must be worth fighting for."

"Oh, hey, Yu-kun!" Chie's voice grabs both of their attentions. "What a coincidence! What are you doin' here?" She notices Marie. "Who's this girl? She's so cute."

"This is Marie."

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" she reacts to Yu's introduction.

"Marie-chan, huh? Ooh, that's a nice name…Oh, I'm Chie Satonaka. Nice to meet you!"

"Okay…" Marie mumbles, unsure of what to do in the situation. She glances around, her eyes locked onto the flat-screen TV. "I know what this is. It shows a lot of stuff."

"Oh, you came to look at the TVs, too? Yeah, I want one, too. We still haven't replaced our old one."

"I-I don't want one! I don't, but...Maybe...Can you turn it to 'StarScandalz'?"

"What kind of show is that…?" Yu asks.

Marie explains it vaguely. "Everybody watches it. Margaret told me that. So how do you use it?"

"Huh?! Are you one of those people who doesn't watch TV?" Chie asks, shocked.

"There isn't one in the room," Marie explains.

Chie, not knowing the truth about Marie, realizes, "Really? Wow...You must have super-strict parents. Girl, I don't think I could stand it. Life without kung fu movies...Brr!"

"Oh...But there's no 'eclectic loutwits' in that room," Marie explains. "I'll tell The Nose to install one of those 'eclectic loutwits'. There's nothing to do in there!"

Marie walks away without a warning. "Hey, wait, Marie-chan?" Chie calls after her. "You don't even have electricity in your room?!"

A while later…

Chie leans back against the plastic chair. "Whew, that was the good stuff. Satisfaction! I haven't had the steak here in a while, but it really isn't all that bad." Yu doesn't bother reminding her that she had just gone yesterday after what he and Yosuke did. "Marie-chan, you haven't eaten at all. You too, Yu-kun. You've gotta eat if you want to grow up big and strong. Just kidding, haha!"

"You eat too fast. You're gonna be fat one day," Marie bluntly comments.

"I didn't need to hear that! Uh...I'll go get us some drinks! O-oolong tea sounds good." Chie excuses herself and walks away.

"There's a lot of people at this 'Joo-nes' place. Why? Don't they have anything else to do? If they have TVs, they should be watching them instead of wasting time here."

Behind them, a young child runs ahead of his mother. "Mommy, I'm thirsty! I wanna soda!"

"No. You just had one. You'll have to wait," the mother sternly declines. The kid starts throwing a small tantrum. "I said no. You'll rot your teeth."

Marie watches the mother and son, thinking about something. "Hey...Do you think I was ever like that?"

"You don't remember?"

"Yeah...There's a lot I don't remember. Everything...I don't remember anything. I was just walking...I had nowhere to go, and I just ended up in that car. Then Margaret told me to stay there. She also gave me the name 'Marie'. It'd be hard to get around without a name."

"You can't remember anything?"

"I don't need to." Despite her casual words, Yu can see a concerned expression on her face. "But I don't know why, but this town is familiar to me."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"I don't know. The only thing I remember - or more like 'know' - is that this is mine." She stands up, pulling a bamboo comb out of her bag. "I had this from the start. This is definitely mine. But so what? This doesn't help anything…" Yu can feel his bond with the Velvet Room resident grow stronger now that she had confided with him over her memories. "You're searching for the 'truth', right? You should stop. There's no such thing." Yu is surprised, noticing how adamant she is about stopping. "...This conversation's boring. Let's talk about something else."

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Chie apologizes as she walks back to their table. "The shop was busy, so I just ordered and came back here. They'll bring it to us when it's ready." She senses the tension. "Uhh...Is it me, or is the mood a bit heavy around here? D-don't worry, you two ! I ordered for all of us! Oolong tea for everybody!" Chie attempts to remove the tension, completely misreading the situation.

Once they've had their tea, Yu decides it's time for Marie to head back to the Velvet Room. Before they part, Yu notifies Chie. "We're meeting at the inn tomorrow after school to discuss a few things with the Titans."

"Okay! See ya tomorrow, Yu-kun!"

Time: 1515 hours

Location: Amagi Inn

Date: May 02, 2011

"Why do we gotta meet them here? Why not somewhere else?" The streets are relatively empty due to the rain, allowing the four teens to head to the inn without any interference.

"Think about it, Yosuke. If a bunch of teenagers met with the freaking Teen Titans, we'd be swarmed. Who knows what could happen to us?" Chie explains. Yu and Yosuke are walking side by side, behind Chie and Yukiko, who are leading the way to the inn.

"We're here," Yukiko announces once they are at the top of the hill. The entrance to the inn is only a few feet away. "I'll let the Titans know we're all here."

"Got it," Yosuke replies. Once Yukiko opens the door, one of the workers is instantly in front of her.

"Welcome home, Yukiko-san. Are these your friends?"

"Yes, they offered to help me catch up on what I missed. Are there any rooms available for us to work in?"

"I can go and check."

"Thank you. I have to go and do something really quick. I'll meet them in the room." Yukiko parts ways with them there, heading up to the second floor. She knocks on the door to Raven's and Robin's room, waiting patiently. It opens within ten seconds to Raven.

"Everyone's here?"

"Yes."

"All right. I'll let the others know." Yukiko's phone starts ringing and she flips it open.

"Oh, Chie and the others got a room close by here. Can we meet there? I don't want anyone giving you guys a hard time if they come in here."

"You're right. I'll teleport all five of us to the room in a few minutes. I'll see you then."

Yukiko passes on the room information to Raven and leaves, heading straight to the designated room. "So who is the leader of their little team?" Robin asks as Raven knocks on the wall separating their room from the other Titans.

"Yu Narukami, the silver-haired boy. His picture was in the folder that Dojima gave us."

"He must be pretty strong to be able to lead them, especially since they were all put together in the last minute."

"Robin...are you jealous?" Raven asks in mock shock.

Robin chuckles in response. "Nah, just wondering." Raven opens the door for the other three Titans before they can knock. "Which room are they in?"

"Third floor, first room," Raven recites as she envelops them all in her powers.

Time: 1530 hours

Location: Amagi Inn

Date: May 02, 2011

A large black dome appears in the middle of the room, surprising Yosuke. He lets out a scream of shock, leaping all the way to the wall. "Wh-what the hell-!" The dome disappears, revealing the Titans.

"Great, another Beast Boy," Raven mutters.

"He wasn't like that when we went into the TV, though," Cyborg comments as the Titans spread out. Yu is sitting at the center of the room, just in front of them. Yosuke is still glued to the wall with Chie glaring at him, her back against the door, and Yukiko is by the door to the balcony.

"Oh! Chie!" Starfire exclaims, flying over to the martial artist. She grabs her hands in joy.

"Kory?! You're...Starfire!" The realization smacks Chie so hard her legs give out.

"Chie?" Yukiko and Starfire ask her at the same time. Starfire helps her up. "Are you harmed in some way? Are your bones broken?"

"I...No, I'm fine. I just...didn't realize that you were…" She is blushing profusely in embarrassment. "I must have been so embarrassing when I ran into you…"

"No! You were not embarrassing at all!" Starfire reassures her.

"I think Chie's a little starstruck…" Yosuke whispers loudly to Yu.

"Now we know who's her favorite Titan," Yu adds.

"S-shut it! E-everyone's here now, s-so, let's start!" Chie begs them, her face still red. Starfire backs away from the flustered teen, sitting down a yard away from her. Cyborg sits next to the TV, Beast Boy moves near the balcony, and Raven and Robin sit at the center, facing Yu.

"Have you guys found anything out?" Robin asks, getting down to business.

"Just a few minor things," Yu replies. "Based on what we know, we're assuming that the kidnapper is targeting women."

"And they all seem to have a connection with the first victim," Yosuke adds on, finally having calmed down.

"But the problem is that there's a lot of people that live in Inaba that are involved with the first victim now," Yukiko begins.

"If we're talking about connections, anyone that was in the inn from the moment Ms. Yamano was here to Yukiko's kidnapping could become the next victim," Robin realizes.

"Yeah, but that's a lot of people. There's no way we'd be able to protect them all, especially if they've left Inaba by now," Cyborg brings up.

"He has a point," Raven agrees. "But it's possible that those people don't have anything to do with it anymore." Everyone in the room implores Raven to continue. "If the kidnapper is someone who lives in Inaba, there's no point for him or her to chase after people who have already left Inaba. So right now, anyone who is still currently in this town is at risk."

"Including us," Starfire comes to the realization.

"I doubt he'd try to go after us, Starfire. It's also unlikely he'd try to come back for Yukiko either," Raven reassures them.

"We were thinking that Saki...senpai…" Raven doesn't fail to notice the slight pause in Yosuke's voice. "...might have seen something from Ms. Yamano's death. That might have caused her to…"

"But then how would Yukiko play into this? Did you see anything?" Cyborg asks.

Yukiko shakes her head, frowning. "I only greeted Ms. Yamano when she first arrived. Everyone else interacted with her. I didn't talk to Konishi-san other than greeting her as well. We weren't in the same class either so there was never a reason for me to talk to her before…"

"Maybe the dude's super paranoid and going after all the girls that could have been involved in some way?" Beast Boy suggests.

"The kidnapper would have gone after Konishi's friends first before going for Yukiko. They'd probably even go after Yamano's friends if we're going with that idea," Raven reasons.

"It sucks because we don't know anything about the next victim until they show up on the Midnight Channel," Chie complains.

"Unless we set up a bait," Beast Boy offers. Everyone in the room wheel their heads toward him in surprise. He receives an almost unanimous veto.

"No way!" Yosuke firmly replies.

"Hell no!" Chie agrees.

"Are you crazy?" Cyborg is close to examining his own teammate.

"It's too dangerous, Beast Boy!" Robin adds.

"But who?" Yukiko wonders.

"A bait?" Starfire asks.

Beast Boy visibly sweats in reaction to the attention he's getting as Raven and Yu silently mull over his suggestion. "Raven?" Robin asks, noting her silence.

"What's up, partner?" Yosuke also questions his partner.

"It's possible," Yu begins. "He might be onto something."

"Yu's right. For once, Beast Boy might have a valid idea," Raven comments, giving the shapeshifter a backhanded compliment. "If it's Cyborg or me, even if we get thrown into the TV, we won't be attacked by Shadows."

"But would the kidnapper fall for it that easily?" Yukiko asks. "I mean, you guys are pretty famous here in Japan after the whole Daizo scandal. I'd be surprised if no one's heard of you, actually."

"Yukiko-san's right," Yosuke agrees. "I doubt the guy'd go after her again too. We don't have a lot of options."

"What about me?" Chie offers.

"Chie…" Yukiko whispers, shocked at the offer.

"Are you sure that's what you wanna do?" Yosuke asks.

"Yeah, it should be easy! I mean, if we're going with our theory, I'm close friends to Yukiko so he might fall for it. If we make it seem like Yukiko told me something, then he's bound to go after me!"

"It's risky," Yu comments.

"I know! But I don't want to wait until the next victim if I can help it. Look, I'll have myself isolated so all you guys will have to do is jump whoever the kidnapper is!"

"Even without us, I'm pretty sure Chie can handle whoever this guy is," Yosuke mutters.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing…"

"We'll have to spread this rumor throughout the whole town. I'll meet up with Dojima tomorrow to tell him the plan. If everything works out, we can hold a press conference and mention how we found news about another witness."

"After that, it's gonna be a free-for-all," Cyborg warns. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Definitely!"

"We can take turns keeping an eye on Chie," Beast Boy offers.

"This kidnapper will slip and fall," Starfire vows, her strange speech inflection coming back. Raven nods, feeling another Social Link, the Fool, become stronger. Having reached a consensus, the Titans prepare to leave since Yu and the others still do intend on helping Yukiko catch up on the assignments she had missed.

Yu's Social Links [Update]

Aeon [Marie] Rank 2

Raven's Social Links [Update]

Fool [Investigation Team] Rank 3

Hierophant [Robin/Richard "Dick" Grayson] Rank 1

I was very conflicted between giving Robin either Hierophant or Emperor. After a discussion with my brother and a friend, we decided Robin would have Hierophant and a certain villain(?) will get Emperor. There are some of the Arcanas that still don't have a character yet so any suggestions for these Arcanas would be very helpful:

Priestess

Justice

Fortune

The Hanged Man

Death

Temperance

Star

Sun

Devil

If you guys noticed, Raven also has a Fool Social Link. It increases at a different pace from Yu's Fool Social Link. Since the Titans were already together at the beginning of the story, the Social Link technically already started. It increased when they arrived and established a base at the Amagi Inn. As you can see, it's now at #3 because of their new plan.

**SPECIAL NOTE** I have been in an emotional rut the past two months so I haven't been able to write much. I'm doing my best, but the next chapter may or may not have to be postponed until I've written more. I'm really sorry to the readers, but I'll try to write more asap.

Thanks for reading! Please review! (◕‿◕✿)