Chapter 37: The Secret's Out: The Investigation Team

Sunday, July 29, 2012, Early Morning, Yu's POV

Once again, I woke up in my bedroom in the Dojima house. Since I'd brought most of my things home, it was almost as bare as the day I'd come in- there were no models, dolls or other decorations on my shelves or walls. In spite of that, it still felt like home even after months away from it.

After getting dressed, I checked my to-do list. The list was largely bare, like it was a year ago, after we'd caught Mitsuo and assumed that the case was over, and the only item on it was to meet at Junes at 10:00.

I then sent Yukiko a quick text, hoping to reach her before she met up with the rest of us.

Let's get this out of the way and tell the others about us going out when we meet at Junes.

Almost immediately, Yukiko sent a reply.

Yes, let's. We've waited long enough.

I silently agreed. We'd had our reasons to wait, but it should not have taken Sakura confessing to me under the mistaken belief that I was still available, or many boys at Yasogami doing the same thing to Yukiko for the same reasons, for us to reach this conclusion. There was no point in regretting what was already done, though, but we could rectify our mistake and be honest with our friends. Just as many of my friends had moved past their regrets and mistakes to turn over a new leaf and start over, so would Yukiko and I

I walked downstairs into the kitchen to have some breakfast, and noticed my uncle was already heading to work.

"I'm heading out," my uncle said. "I should be back for dinner tonight, though."

"Just wondering, Uncle, but would it be possible for Yukiko to come over tonight?" I said. "We have some thing we want to talk with you and Nanako about."

"Sure thing," my uncle said. "I'll pick up something for dinner. See you later, Nanako, Yu."

My uncle then left, closing the door behind him and leaving Nanako and I to eat breakfast alone.

"I'm heading to Junes," I said. "Nanako, do you want to come?"

Nanako sadly shook her head.

"I've got piano lessons at 10," Nanako said.

"Oh, right," I said, having forgotten when they were. "I'd like to hear you play some time."

Nanako nodded, with a faint smile. While Naoto had convinced her that I'd be happy with anything she made, she clearly didn't seem confident enough in her skills just yet.

"Ok," Nanako said. "Maybe after I get a little better at it."

It was nice to see that Nanako had something to do with her time besides watch TV all day, but it also meant she had less time for us, and that she wouldn't be around for the first announcement. Then again, I had a month off, and there would be time for her, her father and the Amagi family before I went home.

Waving goodbye to Nanako, I stepped out of the house and headed to Junes to meet my friends, this time with an entirely new and different purpose in mind.

Day Time

Yukiko and I met with the others at Junes, including Marie, who had the day off, and sat at one of the large round tables. While most of those present wore their usual clothes, Marie had more of a business casual look to her, with a pale green blouse and black skirt. After I greeted everyone else, I noticed her, and she waved.

"Welcome back, Yu," Marie said. "Sorry I didn't make it yesterday- I had to report on the weather."

I shook my head with a smile.

"It's good to be back, Marie," I said. "You look nice."

Marie blushed with embarrassment.

"It's not like I'm dressing up for you," Marie said. "I only wear a suit on television, and so does Minako, even if she likes dressing up more than I do."

I paused, unsure of who Marie was talking about, then realized that she must be the anchorwoman.

"Oh, her," I said. "You know her well?"

"Yeah," Marie said. "She's a pretty nice person, who doesn't ask too many questions about where I came from and all that. She hasn't been through as much with me as you guys have, but I feel like I can trust and count on her, so I'd say she's a pretty good friend."

Everyone nodded in agreement. While many of us had hardly any friends, we all knew that very few people had bonds as true as the ones we had with one another, and even long-time friends Yukiko and Chie had strengthened their friendship during the course of their investigation. Of course, we couldn't necessarily limit ourselves to only those true friends, which is why I was glad that I was strengthening my ties with my old friends.

"Speaking of which..." Marie said, "Minako says she used to go to your school, and seemed to like it. I didn't want to ask too many questions without revealing that I'd never went to school, so what's it like?"

"It's a pretty nice place," I said. "The school's significantly higher budget than Yasogami, with better-attended and more competitive clubs. The school's also somewhat stricter, but it's mainly that the rules are more stringently enforced. I went there before coming to Yasogami, and while I was there..."

I talked about my life in Minagi for a little while, as a way of easing people into things. I started with talking about my classes and teachers, then talked about the drama club a little, then discussed my old friends, leading to Sakura.

"...but while I didn't quite feel the same way toward Sakura that she hoped I did, she was fairly understanding," I said, "which is the most I could ask for."

"So girls have the hots for you even in the big city," Yosuke said. "I wonder if there's a Narukami Challenge there."

"Not really," I said. "The student council president, despite being probably the most popular girl in the school- at least from how many voted for her0 apparently only got a handful of confessions, probably because people are afraid of being reported if they confess."

"Whether few or many, whether true love or shallow infatuation, rejection must have hurt at least a little in all those cases," Naoto said, looking reproachfully at Yosuke. He winced a little, because, having been rejected by Yukiko and learning that Saki-senpai found him annoying, he knew all too well what she was talking about.

"That's true," I said. "Unlike with Yukiko and with Naoto, most of the people who have confessed to me have been friends of mine, and Sakura's no exception. I value them enough to let them down gently, even if I don't quite feel the same way about them as I do for a certain someone, which brings me to what I most wanted to tell you all."

I turned to Yukiko, who nodded at me. As the others looked at one another, I cleared my throat and spoke.

"I came here today to let you guys know that Yukiko and I are dating," I said.

A moment of silence followed. Junes' food court was usually busy, from kids playing around to workers talking about business or pleasure, but now, it seemed as though time had stopped, as everyone was still struggling to process what they had just heard.

I looked about the table. Chie was not surprised at all, but had a smirk that essentially said "I knew it!" on her face. Naoto's expression was enigmatic as always, but I caught a glimpse of how she acted when she learned something that helped answer many unresolved mysteries at once. Rise was trying to smile, but while it was clearly an act, I couldn't quite tell what emotions she was hiding. Yosuke, Teddie and Kanji were surprised, but only slightly. Marie seemed completely lost, a bit like Nanako would be if I tried to explain calculus to someone who'd barely mastered addition and subtraction.

"Whoa, Yuki-chan!" Teddie said. "When'd you score a hot stud like Sensei?"

"Probably after our up close and personal plan," Yosuke said, "or else Yu wouldn't have bothered with a woman who seemed a little too good to be true."

"Well, that's good," Kanji said, "since it means Senpai ain't interested in-"

"How long have you two been going out, Senpai?" Rise said, cutting Kanji off. "Was it before you-"

Everyone suddenly began talking over each other, with their voices dissolving into an unintelligible din. A part of me regretted bringing everyone together and wondered if we should have gone to each person individually or in pairs. Then again, doing so would be longer and more difficult, and some people might feel left out at being told later than others, perhaps if they didn't find out from either of us. What was done was done, though, and the important part was that we had taken this step- all we had to do was make it work.

Finally, Naoto slammed her hand on the table, stopping everyone short and getting their attention.

"Quiet, please!" Naoto said. "I'm sure everyone has a great deal of things to ask Yukiko-senpai and Yu-senpai, but you'll have to wait your turn and go one at a time."

"Why don't we split up into smaller groups?" Chie said. "The rest of the girls and I will talk with Yukiko, and the guys can talk with Yu-kun."

I looked at Yukiko, not having expected them to make this request, but she nodded in agreement.

"I agree," Yukiko said. "Let's go to Aiya, while leaving the boys here at Junes. We'll meet up after lunch. Is that fine with the boys?"

Yosuke, Kanji, and Teddie nodded. After a moment, I did so as well.

"All right," I said. "Once you're more or less done, you girls can come back over here."

Yukiko nodded, and led the way as Chie, Rise, Naoto and Marie followed her to the elevators. The five girls got in together, and Yukiko pushed the button for the lobby, causing the door to close and the elevator to take them down to the ground floor.

In some ways, this arranagement made sense, since the girls and guys had different mindsets, different perspectives and different questions. Perhaps the girls were interested in me, just as all the guys had asked out Yukiko at one point or another. They all had their various questions, and now, Yukiko and I had to answer them as best as we could.

Of course, none of this would be easy, and things would likely be more difficult because of how long Yukiko and I had waited. In spite of that, both of us were sure that it was the best choice, and so we resolved to handle it as best as we could.

Author's Notes

Thank you for the reviews.

I decided to split the Investigation Team into two in order to cut down the number of people in each scene and make it more manageable. This sort of issue is one reason why it can be difficult to write dialogue scenes with large groups of people (more than five), which is part of the reason why I split them into groups.

This is a fairly short chapter, but it's largely a lead-in to the girls' and guys' halves of the chapter, which are significantly longer. Having finished my NaNoWriMo project, I've decided to get back to more regular updates to regain some momentum.

Edited to correct the date.