Chapter 53: A musical victim?

It was rather foggy in the corridor Teddie was walking along in his dreams. Everywhere the blond Shadow could see small green and red lights blinking for a short while before they already disappeared again, strange beeping and clattering forming a strange symphony.

"Is someone there?", Teddie asked while continuing to wander through the corridor, being able to just see a hazy figure that seemed rather small and had short hair. "Helloooooo!", he shouted, but the person didn´t turn around, rather bending over something that caused those strange sounds. "Okay, if you don´t come over, I´ll come and get you!", the Shadow grumbled and started to run.

"Burn..."

"My..."

"Dread..."

"Wha...?" Teddie came to halt immediately and looked around, puzzled. "Wh-who´s there? Come out and show yourself!"

"You have forgotten who you are..." An icy cold voice said.

"... what you are..." A chuckling voice.

"... why you are..." A voice full of ire.

"Of course I know who I am! I am Teddie, a Shadow of the TV world!", Teddie protested and continued to walk, wanting to find out who that other person was.

"A Shadow, yes..."

"A Shadow, no..."

"Truth as well as a lie..."

"What do you mean?", Teddie asked. "Don´t talk in riddles! I´m not that good at using my brain, ladies!"

"Remember who you are..."

"... what you are..."

"... why you are..."

"I already told you, I--"

"Burn..."

"My..."

"Dread..."

The next moment the corridor started collapsing and the blond Shadow fell deeper and deeper until he was finally swallowed by the mouth of a giant face that was grinning maliciously. That figure started to grow larger and larger until it had reached gigantic heights, absorbing all the light around it until the door it had been locked behind finally caved. It stormed outside, grabbing the second part of itself and--

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Screaming loudly, Teddie woke up from his dream and noticed with a confused look that he wasn´t the only one screaming. He looked around and spotted Sensei who was sitting bolt upright in his bed screaming.

"Nngh... Shut it, Nikita...", Yosuke mumbled annoyed in his sleep.

Souji stared at him. Nikita? He looked at Teddie who still seemed out of breath. "Bad dream?", he asked the blond Shadow who nodded. Souji´s body was still slightly shaking, still seeing the burning Justice Arcana he had dreamed about before his eyes.

"Sensei, who´s Nikita?"

"Hm... No idea...", Souji answered, walked over to Yosuke and shook him a few times.

"... Whazzup?", the other man mumbled sleepily a few seconds later and wipe the sleep out of his eyes.

"Well, it´s" (Souji shoved the curtains out of the way so that glistening light fell into the room; Yosuke groaned loudly and shoved the blanket over his head) "a beautiful sunny morning! Time to rise and shine and spend a fun seminar with uncle Bagman!"

"You´re an ass!", Yosuke grumbled underneath the blanket, wriggled out of his bed and staggered towards his closet where he took out random pieces of clothes.

"... You sure you want to were that?", the silver-haired asking, looking rather skeptical at the rather dirty shirt.

"Hmm..." Yosuke yawned loudly while examining said shirt and looked around in the closet some more. "Yep. All the other shirts are even dirtier."

Souji rolled his eyes. "There´s a small washing machine in the bathroom, you know..."

"Dunno how to use that.", Yosuke simply said and shrugged, getting into the green dirty shirt.

"I know how you feel, Yosuke!", Teddie announced cheerfully, already dressed. "I don´t know how to use that thing as well! We really are bearmates!"

"Soulmates.", Souji corrected him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever...", Yosuke mumbled, still half asleep, and then suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, one leg already in his trousers while the other dangled in the air. "Wait a minute... How come your clothes still look so fresh?"

"Sensei´s washing them for me!", the blond Shadow explained and left the lounge to go to the cafeteria.

Yosuke´s gaze wandered towards Souji who hurriedly looked away.

"H-hey, Partner...", Yosuke began, voice far too cheerful and friendly. "You wouldn´t really mind adding my clothes to your washing program, would you?"

"Yes, I would.", came the immediate reply from Souji who was still dodging Yosuke´s puppy dog eyes.

"Pleeeeaaaase! We´re supposed to be best friends, aren´t we?", Yosuke begged.

"And as your best friend it´s my duty to make sure you learn how to wash your stuff yourself."

"I´ll even pay you! How much?"

"... You just sounded like a John who wants to pay his whore."

A gagging noise was his only answer.

Souji sighed. "Okay. Tell me who that Nikita is, and I´ll do it."

"N-N-Nikita?", Yosuke repeated, eyes suddenly huge. "I-I don´t know anyone by that name!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, really!", Yosuke replied.

Souji stared at him for a few moments. "Have fun washing your clothes, Yosuke!", he said with a happy smile and left the lounge as well, leaving behind a loudly grumbling Yosuke.

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It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining brightly, the birds were chirping their enchanting melody, the crowd in the cafeteria was bustling with happiness, it was the beginning a wonderful new day -- until a certain young woman by the name of Naoto Shirogane entered the hall, and every last bit of happiness vanished from the group around Souji - except Patty who still hadn´t entered the cafeteria and Kanji who was lying in bed, too injured to stand up. Sweating just a little bit, they followed the detective´s every step with their eyes, feeling the dark aura of malice around her, and their eyes got bigger and bigger the closer she got to their table, realizing Naoto was going to sit together with them.

"... Good morning, Naoto.", Chie started hesitantly when Naoto sat down next to her.

"Good morning, Satonaka-senpai.", the rather civil reply came.

"E-everything alright?", Kou asked.

Naoto looked at him shortly and let her gaze wander through the group, completely ignoring Rise, before she sighed. "I... had been thinking about that incident yesterday before going to bed...", she started slowly. "... and I have come to the conclusion that I had acted rather hastily and unjust towards the rest of the group."

The friends looked rather relieved.

"Yet still!", Naoto continued and the others flinched visibly. "That doesn´t mean that I won´t forgive those two indiduals that had caused that incident so easily. My statement from yesterday still goes for those two."

Rise seemed rather small in her chair now, but still swatted away Teddie´s hand that tried to snatch the ham from her plate.

"So what´s this about the ice running now?", Teddie asked curiously while rubbing his now aching hand. Naoto looked at him.

"Oh, Ri--", Souji began to explain to her, but stopped when he saw Naoto´s look at the mentioning of that name. "W-we´d just been informed that we could go to the ice skating hall in two weeks before you´d entered the cafeteria."

"Ah, I see.", Naoto said and nodded, her gaze following a person that had just entered the room.

"And it´s ice skating, not running, dude!", Kou corrected Teddie, following Naoto´s gaze. "... Is that Patty?"

The others looked up as well and spotted Patty who had just entered the cafeteria, nose wrinkled in a snob-like manner, wearing a pink dress and walking towards her fangroup at the other side of the room, throwing a condescending glare at Ikas who was sitting all alone in a corner eating her cereals.

"What the--?", Yosuke sputtered. "Did she hit her head and forgot what´d happened a few days ago or what?"

"No, she´s merely doing what I had asked of her yesterday before I had returned to my lounge only to find that... that THING in my bed.", Naoto explained, receiving questioning looks from the others. "Sideu has a rather big number of fans and admirers. If she continues playing her part as a spoiled brat, she´ll be able to manipulate those idiots so that they will also be on the lookout for the culprit. The way we could be able to gather much more information around the campus, though there probably will be many false rumours among it as well. Sideu´s cousin has also agreed that it is a good idea." She looked rather annoyed when mentioning Hiro, meaning that she probably had to suffer the same treatment Souji, Yosuke and Rise had yesterday.

"So Patty-chan´s cousin knows about it?", Yukiko asked.

"I had to lie just a little bit in his presence, saying it was `for the good of the police investigations´.", Naoto explained.

"Speaking of investigations!", Teddie suddenly said. "Teddie´s dreamed again!"

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10 minutes later...

"Like a melody...", Naoto mumbled, lost in thought. "You are sure it was a female, Teddie?"

"Yep, 100 bear-cent!", the blond Shadow said and nodded.

Yosuke looked around in the cafeteria. "And once again it could be literally everyone!"

"But the warning said the next victim would be a professor.", Yukiko objected.

"Ah, that´s right!", Chie remembered and nodded. "So if it has something to do with music, it should be one of the female music professors, right?"

"Right.", Souji said.

"Unfortunately, we don´t know any of the professors in that department.", Naoto sighed.

"Well, I could try to casually ask professor Yamagishi if she--"

"Professor Makushita.", Yosuke said.

"Huh?", Kou looked at him. "Who´s that?"

"She´s the only female music professor at this university. And she´s got short hair.", Yosuke answered.

"How do you know her, Yosuke-kun?", Yukiko asked curiously.

"M-me? Uh, well, I...", Yosuke started and looked to the side.

Souji stared at him for a few seconds, and then understood. "I´ve never got around to asking you with all of the stuff that´s been happening, but what else do you study except literature, Yosuke?", he asked.

"A moment of silence, then: "Music..."

"Music and literature? Wooow, Failsuke! Those sure are the right things for the future manager of Junes to study!", Chie taunted.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Chie looked up horrified when Yosuke jumped up angrily.

"Yosuke...?", Teddie asked hesitantly.

"... I´ll be heading towards Bagman´s seminar. See you there, Partner.", Yosuke said, trying to sound calm, and started running to catch up to Ikas who had just now left the room.

"What the... hell was that about?", Chie asked the others, looking after Yosuke.

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The following seminar with Mr. Bagman went on like usually: The old professor proceeded to bully every last of his students - his favourite victim being Ikas - and tortued them with literature of the most boring kind at the same time while adding further annoying the students with his rather small handwriting - which Souji was sure of he did on purpose.

But what Souji did notice during those 90 painful minutes was that the professor refrained from running around the room, jumping at anyone who dared to not pay full attention to the seminar for even a second, like he usually did, but rather sat on his podium for most of the time. He´d also noticed how the professor had been hobbling when he´d entered the amphitheater.

`So did he really fight against the culprit on the day professor Fujibayashi had been killed...?´, Souji wondered while scribbling down quotations of famous novelists.

At the end of the seminar he stayed behind and stared after Yosuke and Ikas who were leaving the room together before he finally turned to the podium where Mr. Bagman was packing away his stuff. The old man looked up in mild interest when he noticed the silver-haired man approaching him.

"Yes, my boy?", the professor said and took off his reading glasses.

"I just wanted to make sure you´re alright, professor.", Souji started. Mr. Bagman raised an eyebrow. "Well, after that attack on you it seems you´re acting a bit differently than usual. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, I get it know, my dear.", the old professor said and continued to pack away his stuff. "Sanada-san had asked me the same thing in Dojima-san´s stead since that man had always arrived at university when I hadn´t been around. This is going to be some sort of interrogation now, right?"

"... Of course not.", Souji replied.

"Ah, ah, ah, don´t lie, my dear. I can´t stand liars. Honesty and virtuousness, those are the traits an old man like me values the most.", Mr. Bagman admonised him, took out a case and deposited his reading glasses inside it. "It´s quite alright to ask me something like that. You are involved in this cas after all, aren´t you?"

"... Professor?", Souji asked, examining the professor´s analyzing gaze. Should he continue to act like they both didn´t know anything about the TV world or should they both come clean?

"Well, with that Shirogane as your friend there really is no helping that.", Mr. Bagman replied. "I can imagine that she´s basically forcing you to help her."

"I wouldn´t say that, no.", Souji answered. `So we´ll continue the charade...´, he thought. "Naoto is a precious friend to me; a very precious friend indeed. If I help her solving the case, then it´s because she´s that precious to me, and I´m doing it out of that friendship."

"How very noble of you!", the professor said. "And since you´re so honest about your feelings, I´ll be honest as well: No, I didn´t see the culprit or heard their voice that day. My leg aches a bit, but other than that I´m fine, thanks."

"That´s good to hear, professor."

"May I be so bold as to ask you a question now myself?", the professor continued.

"Yes, of course."

"Why exactly are you studying literature, my dear?", the old man asked him.

"Professor?"

"Well, don´t get me wrong, my boy.", Mr. Bagman started. "You´re one of the best students I ever had. One just can´t help but being a little curious there. So I had taking a look at what else you´re studying. Informatics..." An analyzing gaze appeared on his old wrinkled face. "Informatics and literature together as a combo don´t really open any doors to a specific job, now do they?"

Souji looked at him for a moment. "... Should I be honest, professor?"

"Yes, you should, my dear. As I have already said, I don´t particularly like liars."

"I want to work in the computer industry.", Souji explained. "I don´t really know yet where exactly in that industry, but that doesn´t really matter. Just building new computers or firewalls or stuff like that, I would take any job in that compartment. So I had chosen literature just for fun. I don´t need it in my future life." The professor just stared at him in silence. "Are you angry now?"

"How so?"

"Because the things you´re teaching me aren´t really of any interest concerning my future life.", Souji answered.

"Sould I be angry?", the professor asked. Souji looked at him, confused. "My dear, if there´s anyone I should be angry at, then it´s those other fools in my seminars who need the stuff I´m teaching them later in their lifes. That they´re losing to someone who doesn´t need literature at all angers me the most. Why should I be angry at you? You´re taking this seminar serious, always hand in perfect assignments and arrive always on time. No, I´m not angry at all, but rather happy about your honesty, my boy."

"Thank you, professor.", the silver-haired thanked him. He believed he was finally starting to understand the old man better and better. He was someone who valued ambition, diligence and virtues like that. People who fulfilled thise virtues didn´t need to fear him at all, but everyone else was just dirt to him.

"Well, you´re actually just like me in that regard, my dear.", the professor suddenly said and suddenly looked much older. "I, too, have to do things I don´t want to do..."

Souji looked at him questioningly, feeling at the same time that Tower Social Link had just leveled up.

Mr. Bagman sighed. "Well, I think it would be better if we hurried now or we´ll be late for the next seminar. Have a nice day, my boy."

And with a nod the professor and Souji left the room.

But while Mr. Bagman turned right and left, Souji turned left and ran into Naoto who had waited for him outside the room, staring at the floor.

"Oh, sorry, Naoto!", Souji apologized and helped her up.

"I-it´s alright.", Naoto said. Souji looked at her, puzzled. Was he just imagining things or was she blushing just a bit. "... Th-thank you, Seta-senpai..."

"Huh?" It was a bit strange to hear Naoto stuttering like that.

"I-I mean thanks for what you told Bagman-sensei about me.", the young detective explained, still avoiding eye contact.

"Oh..." So Naoto had heard him. "And I mean it, Naoto. Really."

She nodded, hands nervously balled to fists. "Senpai...", she started, finally looking him in the eyes. "I..."

"Yes?"

"I... l..." She shook her head miserably. "I... In two weeks... when we return from ice skating, c-could you... come to my room? There is... something very important that I would like to discuss with you.", Naoto spluttered.

"... Of course.", Souji said, still confused about Naoto´s strange behaviour.

She looked to the ground again. "Th-thank you, Set-- Souji-san." And just like that she turned around and hurried to her next seminar.

"Okaaaay...", Souji only said and walked towards his next literature seminar. `Women...´

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Author´s notes: Men......

Also, the spellchecker of this site didn´t want to work so there may be more errors than usual. I may re-upload the chapter once the spellchecker finally works again.