"And now, the weather." The perky newscaster tuned into the next item on her agenda. "As a result of this week's rain, a thick fog will come over Inaba."

Minako thought nothing of it as she kept the news on in the background while she, Ken and Koromaru ate dinner. She did think to herself how much rain the countryside's had for the couple of weeks they had been there.

.

The next morning sirens erupted all over town, waking up its citizens and the cicadas. For some of the residents, they knew what it meant.

Someone was murdered.

.

"Shit!" Minako cursed out loud. They had been in Inaba for two weeks, had gotten nowhere on their case, and now there was a third victim? Mitsuru was going to execute them for sure. Ken was no longer young enough to use his cuteness factor and avoid punishment. Koromaru was exempt automatically, of course.

Minako and Ken were currently pacing around their home, Minako more so than Ken. Ken was trying to pacify her.

"Let's just think things through. We need more details on the victim." Ken spoke logically.

"You're right. Thankfully, we live right next door to the detective on the case. Now we just need a plan to squeeze out the details…." Minako thought about it. Dojima-san was a smart man. He was tough. He probably wouldn't spill any details to a couple of teenagers. So who would have loose lips?

Without a clue to start on, Minako left the house in search of ….something. Little did she know waiting outside her that day was the first breakthrough on the case.

"Minako-chan?" A voice startled her out of her skin. Waiting outside the house next door was Adachi. Perfect.

"Ah, Adachi-san!" Time to put up the scared schoolgirl act. "Wh-what's going on? I heard the sirens in the morning and couple of rumors about a d-dead body?" She may have hammed it up with the stutters.

His face turned grim. "I'm afraid the rumors are true."

"R-really?!" Maybe she could squeeze out a couple of tears. Men always succumbed to a crying girl.

"But don't worry, Minako-chan! We're here so you don't need to feel scared." Adachi tried to reassure her.

"Thank you, Adachi-san." She smiled weakly back. "I just… I'm scared to know who it was. I'd hate to lose a friend already." That's right, play the new girl angle.

"Well, to be honest…." Oh no, was it really someone she knew? "…. It was a teacher at your school."

"What?! Really?" Minako certainly wasn't expecting that.

"I don't think he taught your year, so you wouldn't really know him that well. He only taught second years."

And she knew just the second years to talk to.

"Adachi!" Dojima's frightening voice echoed. Adachi's face twisted into a look of absolute horror. "Did I hear correctly? Were you giving details of our vic to a civilian?"

"N-no, sir! Leaking information? I would never do that!" He waved his arms in the air, trying to defend himself. Dojima grabbed him by the shoulder, dragging Adachi to his car. "We'll talk about this at the precinct!"

And they drove off.

Poor Adachi. At least Minako had some kind of clue on what to do next.

She decided to seek out Yu Narukami.

.

Minako had located the targets.

The group of seven was currently relaxing in the Junes food court. She noticed there were two new faces in the group; Rise Kujikawa, who she recognized from the magazines Ken had laying around, and an unfamiliar blond boy.

She only caught a few keywords in the conversation, "TV", "King Moron", and "grudges". None of it made any sense to her.

"He was a capital-A asshole, but that doesn't justify killing him…" Yosuke spoke about his deceased teacher, the so called "King Moron". So that was one word to cross off the list.

"There is no need to investigate the subject any longer." A foreign voice rang out, startling both Minako and her classmates. Minako peeked from her hiding place. The speaker appeared to be a boy not much older than the rest of them, but his presence was that of an adult's.

"The police have found a suspect. It would be best to let them handle the case from here."

Minako gasped. The police found a suspect that quickly? Then why was she in Inaba in the first place? She decided to forgo eavesdropping for now and left home. Mitsuru had to hear this.

.

"A suspect has been apprehended?!" Mitsuru's voice resonated with shock.

"Mitsuru, I have to ask… why are we here? We haven't seen any Shadow activity whatsoever, and the murder is being solved the police. Clearly we're not need here."

"Arisato, I can assure you that there are Shadows behind this. I am faxing over the police reports on the most recent murder. This should clear some doubts up."

"More shadow residue?" Minako asked skeptically. At that moment, her fax machine rang and began to print said documents.

"No. There was no shadow residue on this body whatsoever. Additionally, if you look at the cause of death in the previous murders, you will see that it was undetermined. Now if you turn to the page on Mr. Morooka's death…." Minako flipped the page as Mitsuru requested. She read the lines quickly and the dots began to connect.

"…. It was clear that he was killed by blunt force trauma…! You mean he wasn't killed in the same way?"

"Correct." Mitsuru confirmed. "Whoever killed the teacher was not related to the other two murders. It was a copycat killing."

"So the suspect the police have in custody don't have anything to do with the Shadow activity…"

"Also correct."

The newest murder had nothing to the with the first two or the disappearances of the high school students. But the lack of shadow activity…. That was distressing Minako.

"Arisato?" Mitsuru's voice had a worrying tone to it.

"Ah, yes Mitsuru?"

"Have you been following up any of the town rumors?" Oh. That.

"Well…. Um….."

"Minako…" Ack, that was her execution voice!

"Well, Ken-kun heard a rumor today in school. Something called the Midnight Channel. Apparently, if you stare at a turned off TV at midnight on a rainy day, you'll see your soulmate." Not that Minako thought it had anything to do with the case. Mitsuru, surprisingly enough, begged to differ.

"You will check up on the rumor."

"… Yes Ma'am."

And gee, lucky her. It was raining that night and the clock was ticking. The big hand was nearing 12.

Minako turned off everything. The TV, lights, any little thing so that she wouldn't miss the details. When the clock switched to midnight, she stared at the TV with unwavering concentration.

Nothing.

Well that was to be expected. She turned her head away, ready to leave the living room when she heard something. Static.

The TV turned back on with a mind of its own. The static waves were sounding off in the air. She moved back to the large TV, anxious to catch a glimpse of something. The glare from the TV was bright, but there was no image. Just static. Minako turned the lights back on, then moved to the back of the TV. The cord was unplugged.

Minako found a new mystery.

.