### PREVIOUSLY DURING THE INVESTIGATION ###
=No. Stop that. We're not doing that.=
-You're no fun... Well I'm still doing this bit again.-
### PROFILING START ###
Heheh! Okay. Kanji Tatsumi.
High schooler. Bleached hair, bullet necklace, skull t-shirt, short temper. Basically your stereotypical badass. But then his shadow was...
=Whoa! That's...=
-You got that right, Zach... I mean Jack.-
=Hate. You.=
-What? It was an accident. Slip of the tongue, I swear!-
=YOU'RE NOT USING YOUR TONGUE.=
-Heheh! Yeahhh.- Okay. So shadows tend to go for the over-the-top metaphor. So while I bet there's a grain of truth in there – what we observed while following him indicated as much – I bet there's more to it. Either way I'd say Kanji is overcompensating with his attitude.
=Why?=
-It's what people do. If they don't like something about themselves, they'll try and disguise the problem. Bad hair? Wear a hat. Overweight? Dark and/or baggy clothing. Gay? Act super macho.-
=Feh. You all this insecure, then?=
-I figure it's an evolutionary thing. Ever since we figured out bashing predators with a club was more effective than bare hands. I guess we're just hard-wired that way now. But we're getting off-topic.- So possible sources of information include Kanji's mom, the school, nearby shop owners, maybe.
=How 'bout that boy you fancy?=
-... That's kind of a mean thing to say about Chie.- Hey! Maybe that guy in the hat Kanji was hanging out with might know something!
=... Wow. You weren't joking about the overcompensating, then.=
-I don't know what you're talking about. Also, shut up.-
Okay, let's start with the school while there's still students around.
Male student: "Tatsumi... Oh, that biker guy? Sorry. Don't know much about him."
False. Conflicts with Uncle's statement.
Male student: "Oh, yeah. I remember him from middle school. He was really weird. He's supposed to be some kinda psycho badass now, yeah? Can't say I'm surprised. He was always kind of an outsider."
Potentially true. No conflicts.
Female student: "Oh, that weirdo? Yeah. Did you know he sews? Creepy, right? I hear even when he's in school he hangs around the Home Ec room in the Practice Building. I bet he's a real perv."
Potentially true. Merits further investigation.
Female student: "P-p-perv? No way! He's not like that! He's... nice. Hmhm! He even gave me tips on cross-stitch! And I bet this biker stuff is all a lie, too. I just know he wouldn't go around hurting people!"
Confirms previous statement.
Kondo-sensei: "Tatsumi? … Bullet necklace? Hangs his jacket on his shoulders? Yeah, I know him. Kind of a loner from what I understand. Think it was the thing with those out-of-town kids that set off that violent streak though. Kept screaming 'shut the hell up' and beating on anyone who came close enough. Must've taken down half a dozen of them on his own. Hey! Maybe we could get him on the football team!"
Well he believes it well enough.
Current profile: loner, tends towards feminine pursuits, supposedly pleasant company when not indulging violent tendencies.
… Also, has earned himself a crush from a female student.
On to the shopping district.
Konishi liquor store: "Buy something or get out."
… Maybe try somewhere else.
Daidara: "Tatsumi? Tch. Angry little bastard, that's for sure. Came in here once askin' why the hell I don't do somethin' about those bikers who show up sometimes. Much as I'd like to, I don't plan on killin' any of 'em any time soon. Still, I see where he's comin' from. Them assholes are noisy. His Ma's an old lady. She don't need that interruptin' her sleep."
Confirms Uncle's statement. Violent tendencies have justification.
Shiroku: Oh, hello young man! Tatsumi? Oh, he's such a misguided boy. Thinks himself a strong man by beating the 'bad guys' to protect his mother. Doesn't seem to realise he is just making her worry.
New insight. Believes he needs to be manly.
Tatsumi Textiles: "I'm sorry, young man. We are closed for the day. I need to find my son. Have you seen him? He really is a nice boy. He just doesn't realise he gets... carried away sometimes."
… No new information.
Updated profile: Outsider. Possibly avoided by students originally for feminine pursuits and now for violent tendencies(?). Supposedly pleasant company. Determined to prove himself manly (perhaps causing violent tendencies?). Fiercely protective of family.
… Jack, I feel like we're still missing a vital piece of the puzzle.
=Hahhhh. You're gonna stop doing that soon, right?=
-... Yes.-
=Good. And I don't see what else you could do. You could look for the guy with the hat but he could be anywhere. Might as well go now and hope what you have is enough.=
Well that's... surprisingly convenient.
As soon as I got inside Junes, who do I find? Hat guy. Standing by the elevators.
Well, since he's here... "Excuse me..."
"Yes?" He turns and looks up at me. I'd swear his eyes widened as he did but if it really happened he recovered before I could blink.
"You... probably don't remember me. I saw you inside the textile shop a few days ago."
"I remember." Yes! He remembers me! Err, I mean yes. This will be beneficial for the investigation. "I also remember your friends following Tatsumi and I on the riverbank. And doing a terrible job, too."
… Ah. "Y-yeah they're weird like that."
"I believe you were also watching as we left the school grounds that day." A hint of a smirk showed on his face as he folded his arms. "Through a make up mirror, in fact."
… Ahhhh.
=AHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA! Oh, he is so far out of your league, cutter!=
-Shut up.-
=And you thought you were such hot shit with that trick!=
"No need to look so insulted. The idea was sound. A bright red make-up case was a poor choice of mirror, however." He allowed himself to fully smirk as he said this, apparently proud of catching me, before going back to looking impassive. "Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Naoto Shirogane."
"Seta Souji. Nice to meet you, Shirogane-san." Eh? The hell? Since when do I use last names?
"Souji? Surely not that Seta Souji?"
Annnd there goes my good mood. And it looks like he noticed. "There is no that Seta Souji. There is only a that Serph Souji who happens to have a son named Seta."
"... Of course. My apologies. What can I do for you Souji-san?"
Shake it off... Okay. Go. "Well you might've heard that Kanji Tatsumi has gone missing. My friends and I are trying to help find him."
Naoto raised an eyebrow. "I see. That sounds like a task more suited for the police."
"They have a double homicide to solve. And they're not doing a great job of that either." Uncle would probably hit me for saying that but I need the cover right now. "Besides, the last time someone vanished the police tried to pin the murders on them."
"You have little faith in the police then. That sentiment seems common in this town."
"This is a small town. Most of the time I doubt they have to deal with more than vandalism and the occasional robbery. They're not prepared for stuff like this." Why the hell am I talking about...? "We're getting off topic. Anything you could tell me about Kanji could be useful. Even if it's just general stuff. No one seems to know him that well."
He sighed. "Well I didn't spend a great deal of time with Tatsumi-san but he seemed oddly nervous most of the time. Shifty, stammering, etcetera. He also seemed quick to take offense to any passerby who so much as glanced his way. In conversation, he was guarded, thinking carefully about everything he said. I could not guess what he was trying to avoid saying, however. Beyond that, there's not much I can tell you. I don't even know anything about his pastimes. When I asked, he immediately changed the subject. Whatever they are, I would wager they are embarrassing for him."
… And there it is. Clear as a crisp spring morning!
=You promised you'd stop!=
Quit whining. I'm almost done. He just gave us everything we needed to get an almost perfect profile. Can't let on though. "Well, thank you anyway. Something he's ashamed of... It gives us something to look into, at least."
Naoto nodded. "No problem. Would you mind if I ask you something before you go?"
"Not at all. Go ahead."
"Why were you following him before he went missing?"
…
…
… Shit.
… Shit! I can't think of anything! -Help!-
=... Tell a half-truth. Tell him about the midnight channel.=
-And look like a crazy person?-
=That rumour is going through this town. It won't be too long before everyone knows about it. Then your story will prove itself, right?=
-This is risky.-
=I have no idea who you're dealing with here but he's good. He's given you no better options, cutter.=
… "This is going to sound crazy but bear with me." … Dammit! Anytime I hear or think that word I think of Teddie. It's like losing The Game.
… Fuck!
Shake it off. Go. "You ever hear of the midnight channel?"
"In passing, yes. Something about seeing one's soulmate in a TV screen."
"That part isn't true. Whoever is on screen is the same for everyone. Two of the people who appeared on it are dead, the other two disappeared. Kanji Tatsumi was the most recent disappearance."
He stared at me. "You expect me to believe this?"
"No. But it's the truth. You can see for yourself. Midnight on a rainy night on a turned off TV. If Kanji's still missing, he'll appear on it."
"Either you're an exceptionally good liar or you really believe that."
I couldn't help but laugh a little. "Ask any of my friends and they'll tell you how bad a liar I am."
"They are your friends and could be covering for you." he pointed out.
"If they were covering for me they'd be lying too. If I were lying, why would I suggest you ask them and give you another method to expose me?"
With that, I stepped into the elevator that had a perfect sense of dramatic timing.
=You could've told him without sounding so much like a schemer.=
-If that's true then I guess 'schemer' is my default setting.-
"Okay guys. If the guy with the hat asks any of you if I'm a good liar, tell the truth. Also, don't tell him about anything more than the midnight channel."
"O... kay? Why are we telling him about that?" Yosuke asked as I sat down at our usual table.
"Because he... Look, I got the information about Kanji. The cost was telling him why we were following him. I challenge you to think of a decent cover for why four teenagers were following a fifth around and doing a bad job hiding it."
…
"Wanted to see if the rumours were true." Chie suggested.
"Friend of ours has a crush on him and we were seeing if he had a girlfriend." Yukiko offered.
"We were bored." Yosuke offered.
"Well fine! Next time one of you guys can talk to him instead." I grumbled, slumping in my chair.
"Doesn't matter now. We've got what Teddie wanted. We should get g-"
"Aah! Something's there!" Chie squealed as she pointed to something to my right. At the fox.
Oh, man. I really don't need this today.
"Okay, short version. Met this fox at the shrine, he gave me a magic leaf and an old man took it to heal his busted legs. Fox basically says it wants to help by fixing us up. But not for free. That about cover it?"
"Yip!"
"Good. Let's roll."
Damned batshit insane universe with its weird crap showing up whenever I least expect it and creeping me the fuck out never making any sense and-
… Huh. No little me or evil me. Lucky lucky.
"Okay, Teddie. There's two ways we could do this. Either I could tell you straight out what Kanji is like or I could use the information to make a basic imitation of his personality. What'll it be?"
"So we're really not gonna talk about the-"
"NO." I said, interrupting Yukiko before she could ask about that... thing again.
Damn fox.
"Hmmm. Let's do the talking thing first. But that's quite a talent you have, sensei! I didn't know you could do that!" Teddie squeaked, impressed.
"Neither did we." Yosuke added with a quirked eyebrow.
I shrugged. "Since I got to Inaba I haven't wanted or needed to. It's not a particularly useful skill. Well, except once when I was trying to cheer Nanako up. Though I was still being 'me'... We're getting off topic. Here's his basic profile:"
And so I went over the basics and the not-so-basics of Kanji Tatsumi. From his interest in sewing to the fact that his interest in sewing makes him feel ashamed because it's 'un-manly' to his violent tendencies being a way for him to prove himself a manly man.
"Hmmmm... Hmmmmm... Hmmmm..." Teddie hummed as he tried to 'sniff' for Kanji. "Hmmmm... Oh! I think I've found something! It feels like our target! Is this it?" He looked around before nodding to himself, shouting "Follow me!" and wandering off.
"Well... You guys heard the bear. Follow him."
I sighed to myself. "Yeah. This looks familiar."
Standing in front of us was the same sauna shown on the Midnight Channel. The 'Bad Bad Bathhouse', as Kanji's shadow had named it.
We weren't even inside yet and my glasses were already fogging up. Kind of defeats the purpose of having them.
"Is it just me, or is the fog kind of different around here?" Chie asked.
"It's a bathhouse. This isn't just the fog. It's also steam. Visibility is going to be a problem." I answered as I cleaned my glasses on my jacket.
"C'mere, pussycat." a disembodied... husky male voice spoke in a teasing tone.
And suddenly Yosuke looks like he's gonna piss himself. Not surprised, really.
"Oh... Such well-defined pecs..."
"There's no need to be scared..."
There was an uncomfortable silence when the voices faded. Yosuke was the one to break it. "Fuck that! Good luck with saving Kanji, guys. Try not to get raped, partner!"
I grabbed hold of his shoulder as he turned to run. "I remember a certain someone swearing to save people, catch a murderer, this ringing any bells?"
"But... But this is like way above and beyond, man! I never signed on for this!" he squeaked.
"Neither did Kanji."
That stopped him cold. "... Damn it. Fine! But I'm not going in first!"
"Fine by me. Chie, take point. Yosuke, you can watch our backs. Make sure nothing... takes us from behind."
He groaned. "I should've thought this through more!"
As we headed towards the entrance, Chie leaned towards me with a conspiratorial whisper of "Are we sure this isn't Yosuke's shadow we're dealing with?"
I snickered and replied with an uncertain shrug. This one seemed to be bothering him more than his actual shadow did.
Our first foray into the bathhouse was short-lived, not even leaving the first floor. We faced off against a couple of shadows that looked kind of like Cupid. They were kind of creepy and didn't look like much of a threat but they were actually stronger than the vast majority of the shadows in the castle. If only by virtue of them not fleeing from us on sight.
I had vague hopes of the castle being the best this world had to offer. What was that idiom? 'Hope for the best, plan for the worst'?
{05/19/11: Friday}
It was lunchtime and more or less the entire school were crowded around the bulletin board where the results of the recent exams were posted. Yosuke and I waited for the crowd to thin a little before checking for our scores.
As we got to the board I looked at the scores for our year starting from the bottom. I found Yosuke's score first. 36th place. Individual grades were kind of all over the place. The 95% in English was something of a surprise, though.
Chie was 29th. Just inside the top half of our year. Hmmm. Maybe I could suggest some private study sessions together... Heheheh... Heheh...
Huh.
5th.
I'm 5th.
And Yukiko is 3rd.
I chewed the inside of my cheek as I processed this. Accidentally drawing blood in doing so.
"Damn, Seta. You managed a score like that while doing the Principal's training from Hell?"
… Yeah. Yeah, that must be it. It wasn't that I wasn't good enough. It was that old man's fault! I could've got number 1 easy!
… But I didn't.
"Seta Souji?" spoke a voice from behind us, successfully distracting me from a depressing train of thought. I turned to see the speaker; a man who looked to be in his late 30s with white hair and glasses, wearing a brown jacket, camo pants and boots. He had an odd marking on his left hand that I didn't recognise.
"Hm. The resemblance. It really is uncanny. Oh, sorry. I forgot my manners for a second. My name is Roland. I believe there are some things you wished to discuss with a friend of mine."
I looked at Yosuke, muttered a "See you tomorrow", and followed after Roland.
Finally, I can get some real answers.
A/N: Sorry. Updates happen when they happen. That's all I got to say about that.
So Seta proves he's not infallible in this chapter. Honestly? I couldn't think of an excuse myself when writing the Naoto conversation so that's where I took it. Then as soon as Seta told the others I thought of three in quick succession. Who'da thunk, eh?
In the game of REVIEWS you REVIEW or you die. (disclaimer: No one will die for not reviewing, this is just a quote joke. Though I may scowl at you over the internet.)
Eminarukiax: Seta is a bit of a Risette fanboy. His reaction to the harsh reality behind the showbiz razzle-dazzle... Did I really just use the phrase 'razzle-dazzle'? Huh. Anyway, he's not gonna be ready for the real Rise.
Lord of Murder: … Just to check, are you going to perish and in so doing spawn a score of mortal progeny, chaos being sewn in their footsteps? I heard that once. From some dude named Alaundo, I think.
… Wow. Is that really all I had to say to reviews? Hm. Well a lot of stuff was answered with the chapter itself and the rest was kind of spoilery. So nevermind. Keep the reviews coming though. I love reading them.
Thanks for reading!
The Beta, Have a Little Feith, says "Hi" and hopes you are enjoying this story as much as he is.