10/06
-Early Morning-
I met up with Chie, Yosuke, and Yu on my way to school, so we were talking as we approached the gates, but stopped when Naoto came from the school to greet us.
"Are you feeling better now?" Chie asked.
"Yes, thanks to all of you. I'd like to thank you once again for what happened." Naoto replied.
"Don't mention it. But hey, your uniform..." Yosuke said.
"Huh? Ah...yes." Naoto blushed a little as she acknowledged she was still wearing the guys' uniform. "After contemplating the matter, I went with what I've been wearing thus far. There's no need for you to..."
"Hey, it's the Detective Prince." Some guy said as he walked by with his friend.
"That's no prince. I heard "he's" a she!" His friend responded.
"Huh!? Y-You serious!? If he's a she, then uh...O-Oh crap!"
"Aww...I'm kinda disappointed, but then again, there's something neat about it..." A girl said.
"Yeah...If you look at it a certain way, doesn't she seem pretty cool?" The other girl said and the four continued walking into the school.
"My, my...Rumours spread so quickly." Naoto said, looking uneasy.
"We're on your side." Yu reassured her.
"Th-Thank you..." She blushed a little. "But it doesn't bother me at all. There's no need to worry on my behalf. So please treat me as you did before."
"You're too cool, Naoto-kun. I'm kinda jealous though...My mom would kill me if I asked to wear the boys' uniform..." I muttered.
"That aside, I'd like to discuss the case with you all." Naoto smiled a bit awkwardly. "We're dealing with a kidnap-and-murder case perpetrated by someone lurking in this very town. And it isn't over yet...Let's go over the finer points after school."
We all nodded, then headed inside so we wouldn't be late for class.
-After School-
We gathered at the Junes food court, where Yukiko, Yu, Chie, Yosuke, Naoto, and I were seated around one of the round tables and Kanji, Rise, and Teddie stood behind Chie.
"First, I heard the doorbell ring." Naoto stated. "But when I opened the front door, I saw no one there...Just as alarm bells sounded in my mind, someone grabbed me roughly from behind and covered my mouth with something. Immediately afterward, I was put into something like a sack and most likely carried on the culprit's shoulder."
"Wow, how could you remember all that?" Rise asked.
"The culprit seems to have used a chemical to incapacitate me, but luckily I wasn't completely unconscious. I had been expecting a trick along those lines, so I was somewhat prepared. And of course, I was desperate to gather as much information as I could."
"No wonder you're an ace detective." Teddie sounded impressed.
"That ain't something to be proud of. You are too damn calm about all this..." Kanji grumbled.
"Did you catch anything else?" I asked Naoto, ignoring both of them.
"Judging by their actions and body type, I'd say the culprit is definitely a man. I heard no conversations or voices, so I believe he is acting alone." Naoto responded. "It's after that that things get murky...I felt a single impact, which I assume is when I was thrown inside the TV...But the time from kidnapping to that point seemed too short...It was a matter of minutes."
"So you were immediately thrown inside the TV after being kidnapped..." Chie said. "Oh! Could there have been a TV on the side of the road!?"
"Regrettably, my memory from there on is a blur..." Naoto continued as we decided not to humour Chie's ridiculous suggestion.
"I see...But man...The killer came right up to the door and rang the bell? That's just crazy." Yosuke said.
"I finally understand why you all testified that you couldn't recall much of what happened. Such a bizarre experience, with mental and physical fatigue on top of it...It's only natural to be confused. And going by the surrounding circumstances, my kidnapping and everyone else's were near identical...There is no question that the culprit is the same in each case."
"So...that Mitsuo boy, who said he killed King Moron..." Chie said and Naoto nodded to her.
"Everything makes sense now. I can't say for sure until I gather more concrete evidence...But Mitsuo Kubo's only victim was Mr Morooka. It was a copycat killing that mimicked the true culprit's method."
"No wonder King Moron's death broke the pattern in so many ways..." Yosuke said.
"The question remains, though, as to how Kubo learned of that world."
"That's it! That's what was bothering me!" Chie said suddenly. "Mitsuo could enter the TV, right? Then why didn't he kill King Moron that way?"
"I believe he didn't understand the other world as well as the true culprit. Even though I can enter it myself, it wouldn't occur to me to use it for murder..." Naoto said. "And remember, the previous corpses left no sign that their deaths had anything to do with the other world. After Kubo became wanted, leaving him with nowhere to run, he probably thought for the first time..."What if I put my entire body into the TV?" The bizarre condition of the corpses that caused such a commotion is probably because they died on the other side...It's a simpler explanation than figuring out why the killer would risk disposing of the bodies in such a way. Which means their inexplicable condition of being hung on a foggy day wasn't due to the culprit making a statement...Much of our speculation could be tested if we could ask Kubo in person. However...I've unfortunately been taken off the investigation. And I highly doubt that the police will believe any of this..."
"They wouldn't admit that it wasn't Mitsuo in the first place..." Rise said. "Once you've said something on TV, it's not easy to admit you were wrong."
"I believe the primary cause of my dismissal was because I raised that possibility to them. The police won't readily concede that they made false charges...All the more so if the accused is a juvenile. In fact, the overwhelming sentiment with the police force is to end this case with his arrest."
"Even if it's possible there's another killer!?" Chie asked.
"Those dickheads...I had a feeling that would be the case. Not that I trusted 'em in the first place." Kanji said.
"But uh, Naoto...If you were that calm when it happened to you, couldn't you have, you know..." Yosuke said a bit doubtfully. "I'm not saying you shoulda caught him, but isn't it kinda sad for an ace detective to go down that easily...?"
"U-Um..." Naoto seemed a bit embarrassed. "Um...To tell you the truth, I was really scared...I-I'm sorry..."
"You don't have to apologize." I attempted to reassure her.
"It can't be helped." Yukiko said. "None of us could resist the culprit, either. Don't forget, Naoto-kun is younger than us, and she's a girl."
"Oh, yeah, that's true. I keep forgetting when I see her talking like this." Yosuke responded. "You know, Naoto..."
"What is it?" Naoto asked.
"You got balls, for a girl."
"Pfft...!" I bit down on my lip and put a hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing at that.
"R-Regardless, I have no doubt that the culprit will continue with his attacks." Naoto quickly changed the subject, seeming a bit flustered for a second. "We can only watch and wait for him to make the next move...But this is no longer a mere job, or someone else's affair. I want to know the truth of why we were targeted." Naoto looked around at us and seemed determined as she stopped on Yu. "Please allow me to join your effort."
"Of course." Yu answered.
"Thank you very much. I'll do my best, Leader."
"Since I'm the King of Geniuses, I knew it would work out this way..." Teddie said and presented Naoto with something. "Ta-da! Nao-chan's glasses!"
"Th-Thank you..." Naoto took them a bit hesitantly and looked at Teddie a bit longer. "They told me about you, Teddie. I can sympathize with your drive to find yourself. If I may help in any way, let me know."
"Wow...What a nice girl!" Teddie looked happy.
-Evening-
I helped my mother cook supper today, then went to my room and played games until it was time to sleep.
10/07
-Afternoon-
Yosuke, Yu, Chie, Yukiko and I were talking by our desks when the classroom door suddenly opened and Naoto walked in.
"Excuse me." She walked up to us after calling our attention. "Do you have time after school today?"
"Did something happen?" Chie asked.
"No...Rather, I'd like to have a doctor examine Teddie."
"A doctor?" Yosuke repeated.
"You mean a vet?" Yukiko asked.
"Pfft..." I found that amusing.
"The normal kind, actually." Naoto answered. "If you're free, I've scheduled a checkup for him after school today. A thorough physical examination might be a good first step in figuring out what Teddie is. And I thought it might be a good idea for the rest of us to get checkups as well. We should see if the fog over there or the power we've gained have had any negative effects on our health. Since you all have been active on the other side far longer than I have, you should definitely be examined."
"Negative effects!? D-Don't drop scary stuff on us like it's nothing..." Yosuke exclaimed. "But, yeah...I never even thought about that."
"I've arranged to have Kanji-kun and Rise-san looked at as well."
"Wow, you're on the ball about all this...Are you sure you're not an adult?" Chie asked.
"Her height's a big giveaway, though." Yosuke said and Naoto shot him an unimpressed look.
"Well...I'll see you all after school." Naoto left just as quickly as she had shown up.
"Ah, I guess I should call and tell the manager I'm not gonna make it to work, then..." I sighed, digging out my cellphone.
"Is that really okay? You were already checked on before, right?" Chie asked me.
I shrugged. "That was only for certain things. I haven't had a general checkup since the first time I got back. This'll be the first day I actually miss of work, so it should be fine if it's because of medical reasons. I'll just make up for it later."
-After School-
Everyone went to the hospital to get a physical like Naoto recommended, then we all stood in the hallway waiting for her and Teddie to come by with the results.
"That was just an ordinary checkup..." Yosuke said.
"I was kinda looking forward to getting into some gigantic machine and being spun around." Kanji said.
"You don't spin, the machine spins around you." I told him with a sigh. "At least...I think it's that way...?"
"Was there really a point to this? The doctors looked confused too..." Rise said.
"Oh, they're back." Yukiko noticed first as Naoto and Teddie came walking toward us.
"I'm very sorry for the wait." Naoto said.
"I'm bear-y sorry for the wait." Teddie repeated her in his own way.
"So did they find out anything about Teddie?" Yosuke asked.
"They did indeed...They found out that they can't tell anything about him." Naoto answered. "I even had them take an X-Ray, but nothing came up on it. No matter how many times they tried, it would always be too blurry to read. A visual examination and standard palpations indicated that he seems perfectly normal. Since the machine could be malfunctioning, they told me to try another hospital if we're still worried about him. I felt bad for making them go through all this..."
"Oh, so it's like mine..." I realized.
"Yours?" Naoto repeated, looking at me in surprise.
I nodded. "They've tried to take my x-rays a few times after I got back, but it's too blurry for them to tell anything from it. Everything else told them I was fine, though, so they dismissed it."
"Hm...Well, that's the same for Teddie as well."
"So, both of you are different..." Yukiko said.
"Oh my, what should I do? They took a look at everything inside me and it's the same as Kyo-chan!" Teddie said.
"She just said they couldn't see anything on the X-Ray, you dork. And Kyoka didn't just randomly grow a body, she already had one!" Chie pointed out.
"But at least they didn't find anything wrong with either of them, right?" Kanji asked. "Man, we know about as much about Teddie or Kyoka-senpai's situations as we do those Personas and Shadows..."
"Oh yeah, I tried looking them up at the library and on the net." Yosuke said. "Persona means something like, another personality. And I think they listed "Shadow" under the related terms..."
"Shadows are Shadows...I think they're something that comes out of people..." Teddie said. "Um, I can't really explain..."
"I preformed my own research after the incident. "Persona" and "Shadow" are common psychological terms. Of course, the ones we are familiar with don't quite fit those definitions." Naoto stated. "This is what was written in an unofficial project document that I happened to come across. A Shadow is suppressed power, and when controlled by one's ego, it becomes a Persona..."
"It becomes a Persona...? What does that mean? Th-They're basically the same thing?" Kanji asked, looking confused. "Then again, all those Shadows we beat the shit out of did turn into Personas...Except Kyoka-senpai's, but we weren't there for that one...Ahh, who cares about the details...It doesn't matter what they are. If they get in our way, I'll crush 'em."
"Still, I couldn't find any information on how they're related to the other world." Naoto said.
Rise sighed. "There's so much stuff about us that we don't have a clue about..."
"There's some things we do know, though. Hmhmhm...I got a bunch of awesome data with me. It's kinda embarrassing that I'm the only one who had personal details shown to the world, so..." Teddie said and pulled out a paper. "Tadaaa! Nowadays, information wants to be free! Therefore, I'll break the ice by announcing the results of everyone's physical exams!"
"Wha-!? No you won't! Give 'em to me, NOW!" Chie yelled and chased him as he ran away from her and read at the same time.
"Ooooh...First place in the "shortest legs division" is...Huh, who would've guessed!?"
"I-It's not me, is it!? Hey, what kinda things did they examine, anyway!?" Yosuke asked, then seemed to get an idea. "Look...If you're gonna blab it all...You might as well tell us the girls' measurements!"
"WHAT!? Are you a complete and utter moron!?" Chie shouted at him as Yukiko and Naoto looked surprised and I rolled my eyes as my face felt a bit warm with embarrassment.
"Sure, go ahead. My profile's been public knowledge for ages." Rise seemed undisturbed. "Oh, but my bust size is 2cm smaller than they print. My agency insisted."
"N-No! Don't say mine!" Yukiko protested.
"Aww, I bet guys won't care what size you are, Senpai." Rise said with a smile. "And having modestly sized breasts like yours would definitely make it easier to wear a kimono."
"Wh-What...!?" Yukiko blushed and looked at Rise in surprise.
"Oh yeah, Naoto-kun's is in here too, huh? Umm, let's see...Naoto-kun's is..." Rise looked at the paper in Teddie's hands. "...!? Is this...for real? Wait, isn't this measured wrong?"
Naoto quickly went to snatch the paper away from those two, blushing a bit. "A-Anyways! The important thing is that according to the examination results, nothing's wrong with our health! So we won't be needing these anymore! I'm going to go shred them!" And she ran off with the paper.
"...Now I'm kinda curious." I muttered.
"Uhhh...Well, thank goodness everyone's healthy!" Yosuke said, a bit awkwardly.
"Y-You're right! Let's go home!" Chie agreed and we all left.
Yu and Teddie stayed behind, but it was soon noticed while we were leaving.
"Heeeey! If you don't hurry, we're gonna leave you guys behind!" Yosuke called and they caught up afterward.
10/08
-After School-
I met up with everyone on the rooftop after school today, since Yosuke called us all up there.
"Whoa, it's freezing!" Kanji complained about the wind.
"Why are we getting together on the roof on a day like this?" Yukiko asked.
"Yeah, what's this "urgent business" about, Yosuke-senpai?" Rise asked.
"Seriously! I was busy handing out fliers at Junes." Teddie had even been called.
"Hey, I saw you hitting on girls just outside the school gate." Chie accused him.
"I've gotta work today, so..." I said, hugging myself and trying not to shiver too much.
"Was there some kind of progress in the case?" Naoto asked.
Yosuke suddenly lowered his head and put his hands together in front of him. "I need you guys! You have to help me! You're the only ones I can rely on! Can you please keep this weekend open...!?"
"This weekend...Does this have anything to do with that event at the Inaba Police Station that's been canceled?" Naoto asked.
"Ohhh..." I realized what was going on then.
"What're you talking about?" Chie asked in confusion.
"The idol Kanami Mashita was scheduled to be the honorary Chief this Sunday." Naoto answered.
"Oh my gaaaaawsh! The famous Kanamin is coming all the way out to the boonies!?" Teddie went all fanboy.
"So, she's taking on jobs like that already..." Rise seemed less than enthused with the idol.
"I have been seeing a lot of her on TV lately. I didn't know she belonged to the same agency as you, Rise-chan." Yukiko said and Rise nodded.
"I mean, if she's coming to Inaba now, the agency's obviously trying to use all the fuss about me to their favour..."
"So what's the big deal about that being cancelled, Yosuke-senpai?" Kanji asked.
"There was going to be a big sale at Junes to take advantage of the event, but now it's down the tubes!" Teddie answered.
"It's not a joke!" Yosuke yelled at him. "The police took forever to decide on cancelling the event. My dad's really in a fix now...He worked so hard to put this whole thing together, and I can't stand to see him like this...I can't just let it go."
"I heard that the police couldn't prepare for the event because I had gone missing." Naoto said. "I'm sorry...This is my fault."
"Nah, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself...But yeah, it does seem like that's what happened." Yosuke said.
"Okay, so you called us up here. What do you want us to do about it?" Kanji asked.
"From the way it sounds, I've gotta say, I don't think we can be much help..." Chie said.
"I want everyone to help me with a bunch of different tasks. Um...Rise-san...Well, if you could, y'know, do an event at Junes..." Yosuke said a bit hesitantly.
"You want me to substitute for Kanami?" Rise asked.
"...So there's no way?"
"...Is it really that bad?"
"I don't know. I may be his son, but I'm still only a part-timer...But...My dad's being awfully nice for some reason. I think it's possible that he might get fired if this thing falls through...If that happens, I might have to transfer schools again. Haha...Seriously, what am I gonna do if that happens?"
"...Singing and handshakes only." Rise stated. "No autographs, and nothing that I can't do as a high school student. Otherwise, I'll get in trouble. And I'll only do it if you all get on stage with me."
"...Only if I get to wear a mask." I sighed, reluctant but unwilling to just ignore Yosuke's situation. Rise nodded to me with a smile.
"Wh-What!? Wait, I'm no idol." Chie protested.
"It would be troublesome if people came to try to recruit me to be an idol." Yukiko said.
"Me, too. I already have an exclusive contract with Junes!" Teddie said.
"I don't think you guys are worryin' about the right things here..." Kanji said, then looked to Rise. "But if you're gonna sing, what're we supposed to do on stage?"
"I need a band, of course. I'll make this very clear: I can't use pre-recorded tracks." Rise answered.
"Whoa, whoa...! There's no way we can pull off something like that!" Yosuke objected.
"I have some experience playing the keyboard. My grandfather suggested that I take piano lessons when I was younger." Naoto stated. "I have one that I can bring as well."
"You're up for this!?" Chie asked in surprise.
Naoto nodded. "This incident is a result of my actions, after all. I will do whatever I can to help."
"Naoto...Thanks!" Yosuke smiled, then seemed to get on board. "If it's music you need, I have a guitar! I've never really played it, though. Oh, wait...I accidentally bought a bass once. I think it's in storage."
"How do you "accidentally" buy something like that!? I bet you just thought it was another guitar." Chie said and by the look on his face, he probably did.
"Hmm, I should have some kind of musical instrument at my place. For dinner parties and such." Yukiko said.
""Some kind of instrument"...? Oh, boy." Kanji muttered.
"I've got an accordion and a tambourine at my place..." I threw out, shrugging when they gave me strange looks. "The accordion was a joke gift for my dad's birthday once."
"A joke...? Your family's kinda strange..." Chie muttered.
"Just leave the accordion at home. The tambourine might be useful, though." Rise said, then smiled teasingly at me. "You don't have any finger cymbals?"
"Wh-Why would I!?" I snapped back at her in embarrassment and she laughed a bit as the others looked vaguely confused.
"Then, it's decided!" She seemed satisfied leaving that there. "I'll look for a song I can sing that can use a band arrangement. You guys get instruments and find a place to practice!"
Pretty much everyone else nodded.
"Got it! Try to pick an easy one, okay!?" Chie responded, then smiled as she got excited. "All right! Now that this is happening, I'm getting fired up about it. Let's go ask if we can borrow the music room at school."
"Um...I've still gotta work..." I said, checking the time on my phone a bit nervously.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I got someone to cover your shift today." Yosuke grinned at me and I sighed.
We all went to get whatever instruments we could scrounge up, and met in the music room afterward.
"So, what're we going to do with these?" Chie asked as we stood around the table full of instruments. "I just grabbed whatever I could find that wasn't being used by the symphonic band."
"...What is that?" Kanji pointed out the largest instrument that got brought here by Yukiko.
"It's a gong." Yukiko answered.
"Well, duh...I'm pretty sure he meant to ask "What is that doing here?"" Yosuke clarified for her.
"I thought Chie might want to play that. You know, it sounds kind of Chinese-ish."
"Um, I don't think that's going to really matter in this case..." Chie sighed.
"Yosuke, try holding these." Teddie came waddling over and gave Yosuke some maracas.
"Huh?" Yosuke took them and seemed confused.
"Pfft...!" I grinned, seeing what the bear was going for.
"I see..." Naoto seemed to get it too.
"Yeah, you do look like that when you're fighting. Try summoning your Persona while you're holding those." Chie said.
"All right...Persona!" Yosuke made the gestures he usually made with his weapons to summon his Persona, then got mad at her. "Wait, I can't summon it here!"
"Pfft...Heheheh..." I began snickering to myself about how silly it looked when nothing happened.
"I'll choose this then." Yukiko picked up the tambourine, then started laughing to herself. "Ahaha! Look, look! Isn't this like my fan?"
"I think she's convinced we're playing for a dinner party at the inn..." Chie muttered.
"Come on, we need stuff like guitars instead of little backup instruments like these!" Yosuke said, then turned to Yu. "Hey, I'll play the guitar. Why don't you take the bass? I can at least teach you a little bit."
"Leave it to me!" Yu nodded.
"Wait...Do you already know how to play the bass? Because that would be awesome. Actually, I know next to nothing about it. Way to step up, partner!"
Yu just nodded to him, seeming confident.
"Well then, since you two and Naoto-kun have decided what to play, let's put Kanji on drums." Rise said.
"Hey, hey! Why don't I get to pick!?" Kanji protested.
"If you're up front, it'll look like a metal band." Rise answered.
"I think you'd be good at the drums. You're always hitting and stomping on things, after all." Yosuke encouraged.
"How does that make any sense!?" Kanji got annoyed with him.
"Heh heh...Then I will take over all the charming percussion accoutrements." Teddie said. "Hey, baby! I'll lay down the passionate beats that flow from my soul!"
"Dude, stop." I said flatly in response.
"Uh...So that leaves Yukiko, Kyoka, and me?" Chie changed the subject.
"You three, umm...How about the chorus? There is a part for that." Rise suggested.
"Sorry, I can't really sing. And I'll be wearing a mask, so..." I shook my head.
"Oh, right. You still have that thing with the police about not getting too much attention from the public." Rise acknowledged. "Then, can we leave the singing to you two, Senpais?"
"S-Singing!?" Yukiko repeated.
"N-No can do! We'll hold something! Let's see...What looks easy..." Chie went to look at the instruments.
It ended up that Chie had a trumpet and Yukiko had a saxophone while I was stuck with the tambourine, for lack of any other more fitting instruments. Not that I had any musical talent in the first place, but I had gotten a lot better at beats since Tanabachi started teaching me, so I could probably manage the accent role I had. Anyway, we all got into position with our instruments and the sheet music Rise passed around.
"Ooh! Doesn't this at least look like a band?" Yosuke looked happy with the way we were positioned with our instruments.
Rise nodded at him and turned to face the rest of us behind her. "Yeah, I don't think it looks bad at all."
Chie tried to make any noise with the trumpet, but she couldn't get it to produce anything but the sound of the air rushing through it.
"...It's not doing anything." Yukiko seemed to be having the same problem with her saxophone.
"Is this thing broken? I'm blowing, but the air goes right through." Chie said.
"That's how it is for everyone when they start out. Anyway, we don't have much time, so let's start practicing!" Rise said.
"What's with all the tadpoles on this paper?" Teddie asked.
"Oh yeah, I don't know how to read music...Ahahaha..." Chie pointed out.
"I guess I'm gonna have to transfer schools after all..." Yosuke said, looking down miserably.
"...Okay! Time for a basic lesson in reading music! Wait here!" I decided to take the initiative and went to the staff room to track down the music teacher and convince her to give us only the info we'd need to read the sheet music we had.
That took up pretty much the whole practice session, but once everyone started to get it, we decided to all practice on our own rather than as a group first. Considering my job was probably the easiest in this band and reliant on other cues, I ended up drifting over to where Chie was still failing to get the trumpet to make any noise.
"Chie, how're you blowing into the trumpet?" I sighed after watching her for a little bit.
"Huh? Whaddaya mean? I'm just blowing." She looked confused.
"Ah, that's why..." I nodded, remembering what my brother showed me when I was younger and he was in the band during school. "You need to vibrate to get a sound.
"Wh-What?! V-Vibrate...!?" She was blushing for some reason.
"Your lips. Here, watch." I pointed to my lips and showed her, pursing them and then forcing air through in a way that made them vibrate, like blowing a raspberry.
"Ohhh..." She tried again on the trumpet, but seemed unable to get more than a bit of a squeak out of it. "Agh...I can't do it, Kyoka!"
"Keep trying. You'll get it at some point. You just need to get used to it."
"R-Right...!"
I left her to that and noticed Yukiko also having difficulty and went over to her.
"Hey, Yukiko, lemme see your saxophone real quick."
"Huh? O-Okay..." She didn't protest and handed it over to me. "What're you doing, Kyoka?" She asked as I fiddled with the mouthpiece and adjusted the reed a little.
"Making sure the reed isn't improperly positioned...There. Try now." I handed it back to her once I'd fixed it, but she still couldn't get any sound to come out, despite blowing so hard her face was turning red. "Hm...Yukiko, are you biting it?"
"H-Huh?"
"Your bottom teeth. Are they touching the reed?" I motioned toward the little wooden insert in the bottom of the mouthpiece.
"Oh, yes...Why?"
"Try curling your lip over your bottom teeth, so the reed isn't resting on them."
"Like this?" She mumbled as she followed my instructions, and then I nodded.
"Your top teeth can rest on the top part, but don't really bite it, okay? Keep your jaw dropped as you blow."
She nodded slightly to me and blew, getting the thing to make a faint squeak before she pulled back from the instrument and looked at me with wide eyes and an excited grin. "It make a noise, Kyoka! I did it!"
"Yeah, yeah! Keep practicing." I grinned at her enthusiasm and she nodded and went back to trying to get a noise out of the thing as I walked away from her.
Soon enough, we finished up practice because it was getting dark and decided to meet again tomorrow. I ended up being the one to return the key to the staff room and was a little surprised to find Yosuke had waited for me. So, we started to walk home together.
"Hey, Kyoka...?"
"Yeah?"
"How'd you know that stuff?"
"What stuff?"
"What you were helping Chie and Yukiko with."
"Oh, that. My brother was in the band for school and showed me a thing or two about it. He played a saxophone mainly, I think." I answered with a shrug and then snickered a bit as I remembered something. "In forth grade, I met his band teacher from his middle school and he convinced me to give playing a trombone a try. It was really awkward to play one with the sliding bar like that, and I never actually took up music, but I remembered what they taught me about the correct way to blow into them to make a sound. That's really all, though."
"Huh. So your brother does have some good points." Yosuke smirked a bit as I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, not that many. Anyway, you know this is pretty short notice to take off work for band practice, right?"
"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll get someone to cover for you."
"I really should be the one responsible for that..."
"Hey, this time it's because you're doing something for Junes anyway, and it's for my sake, so I can do that much for you."
"I should still call myself to let them know anyway..." I sighed.
"Haha, you're turning out to be pretty reliable, huh? Thanks for your help, though. I wouldn't've thought of asking the music teacher to help with reading the sheet music..."
"C'mon, if we gave up there, you might've transferred. I couldn't do nothing."
"K-Kyoka...?" He was giving me a strange look as I crossed my arms and felt my face was kind of warm with embarrassment.
"Yosuke, I don't know what I'd do if you left. Sometimes it feels like you're the only person I can actually talk to without holding back. So, uh, I've gotta repay you somehow...Even if I do have limits in what I can do musically and I can't show my face at a public event or anything...I'll do what I can to help. So will the others, so I really hope all our hard work means something here."
"...Yeah. It means a lot to me." He smiled a bit sheepishly and looked straight ahead as we walked. "We've all made some awesome friends, huh?"
"Yup. Nothing like seeing all their deepest, darkest secrets to make you close to someone." I half-joked and he let out a bit of a laugh.
"You're right. If it weren't for the Shadows and everything, none of us would be together now..."
-Evening-
I had to study, since midterms were coming up and I felt like I wouldn't have much time to study with this whole band thing going on.
10/09
-Daytime-
We all gathered in the music room again, this time to hopefully practice as a group. Rise stood in front, facing us and looking around as we had finished a rather poor attempt to preform the song.
"Once more from the top!" Rise instructed. "One, two, three, four!"
Well, it didn't sound great, but I'd say it was pretty decent for a bunch of amateurs that just started. But, then, a freaking gong or something happened in the middle of the song and everyone stopped in confusion.
"That wasn't me! ...I think!" Chie said as we all looked over in her direction, but Teddie happened to be behind her.
"That wasn't me, either. I mean, I can't get any sound at all out of this." Yukiko said.
"A hip and young audience yearns for the element of surprise in music as well!" Teddie spoke up from behind his numerous percussion instruments that I was standing nearby. "A bizarre sound suddenly rings out...An overturning of the expected cliches found in today's sound! You get it? Ow!" Teddie cried out when my tambourine bounced off his stupid bear head with a jingle.
"So annoying!" I hissed.
"...Oh, I get it." Kanji said oddly calmly. "That means, "Teddie did it," doesn't it?"
"Huh...? That reaction overturned my expectations." Teddie seemed surprised as I went to pick up my tambourine and return to my place while everyone yelled at him.
"Why don't we take a break? We've been at this since morning." Naoto suggested.
"Good idea. My fingers are all stiff..." Yosuke agreed.
"Nice follow up, Nao-chan! I think I'm falling for you." Teddie said, annoyingly.
"Let's just ignore this bear..." Chie suggested.
We set down our instruments and split up for a moment to stretch and such. I ended up talking to Yu about my brother playing bass guitar too, and I'm not really sure how that devolved into me rubbing circles into his hand and fingers to help with the stiffness.
"H-Hey, what're you two doing?" Yosuke asked when he came back from presumably a bathroom or drink break.
"Yosuke, you've got to try this." Yu said, waving him over and pulling his hand away from me to grab Yosuke's wrist and place his hand into mine.
I sighed, but decided against saying anything as I just resumed the circular motions.
"H-Hey! Wh-What're you d-doing...Oh man...That feels really good..." Yosuke's flustered protests seemed to die quickly when the massaging began to relieve the stiffness from his fingers as well.
"Kyoka's got magic fingers." Yu nodded and smirked at Yosuke basically melting from the massage.
"I am literally just rubbing circles in your hands. You could do it yourselves." I sighed at him.
"No way. There's no way it'd feel this good if I was the one doing it." Yosuke argued with me, looking quite content.
"Um...What's going on here?" Chie walked into the room then and looked a bit weirded out, presumably because she only registered the fact I was holding Yosuke's hand and he had a stupid look on his face like it was the best thing that's ever happened to him.
"Kyoka-senpai's helping with their stiff fingers. Apparently she's really good at massages." Rise informed her, smiling. "Oh, Kyoka-senpai, I want to know if you're good at shoulder rubs too."
"Ughhh..." I whined pretty exaggeratedly, then dropped Yosuke's hand. "There, now you guys can't complain until another few hours of playing."
"Oh, thanks..." Yosuke seemed a bit disappointed as he looked at his hand and flexed his fingers a bit, as if testing out how well they moved now.
Not too long after that, we had gathered in the back of the music room and Yukiko was still trying to make a sound with the saxophone again.
"Are we really going to manage this? I'm starting to get the feeling that it's impossible no matter what we do..." Yosuke said after we'd all fallen silent for a few moments.
"There's just not enough time..." Chie said and we all fell silent again.
"Show some spirit!" Yu spoke up suddenly, looking determined.
"You really get into that do-or-die spirit sometimes..." Yosuke didn't seem too impressed.
"But that seems fitting for him!" Rise smiled.
"He's also got a point..." I agreed.
"That's right! Everythin' would've been for nothin' if we give up now!" Kanji stood up. "A real brawl doesn't begin until you've got your back to a wall!"
"We're here to start a band, not a fight club!" Yosuke reminded him.
"Doesn't matter, the point's the same. We've gotta do this for Yosuke!" I grinned, fist-bumping Kanji as he grinned back at me.
"I'll do it too." Chie stood up too. "It's not just about Yosuke now. I'll simply feel angry at myself if I give up."
"Don't worry, Yosuke-senpai. I agreed to do this, so I'll do it." Rise stood up as well. "I didn't say anything pathetic like "I'll do what I can." I'm going to get a huge crowd, no matter what, and they will go home satisfied. Please, I just need your help to do it."
"Wow. Now that's how a pro delivers a team-boosting speech." Yosuke seemed impressed.
"Haha...Well then, should we resume our practice?" Naoto smiled.
"All right, let's do this!" Yosuke seemed to get his motivation back.
Then, as we were getting pumped up, an actual saxophone noise came and Yukiko said, "I did it! I did it! So this isn't broken after all."
We practiced by ourselves for a little before we got back to our positions with our instruments and Rise stood in front of us and said, "Okay, let's try putting your music together, and I'll sing along."
"Whoa, w-wait a sec!" Yosuke interrupted nervously. "Can't we get a little more practice before we try doing that stuff? Playing for the real Risette...I mean, I'm all for that."
"Don't think of it like that." Rise told him. "I'm seeing how hard you're trying, and I don't want to just sit and watch you practice without me anymore. Here goes! One, two, three, four!"
It still wasn't great, but it was a lot better than before. Probably in part because Yukiko now had the saxophone part to make it sound more complete. Rise's singing was amazing, though.
"That...! Didn't that sound pretty good!?" Yosuke asked when we finished.
We all nodded.
"That was actual music!" Chie said.
"Yeah, it felt good!" Rise agreed.
"It seems there's hope after all." Naoto said.
"Haha, I can't wait to hear the final version!" I grinned, feeling much more excited about this band thing than before.
"The band has practiced hard and overcome many obstacles that dared face them, but now is their time to truly shine." Teddie began spouting his nonsense again. "All they have to do is discard whatever remaining fear holds them back, and a lifetime of public adoration awaits!"
"Hell no." Yosuke denied.
"Yeah, I'd rather not." I sighed.
"We've...already been on a TV show...A midnight one." Yukiko mumbled, looking down.
"I was discarding my clothes more than I was discarding my fear..." Rise said.
"For me, it was like...discarding my public image anyway." Kanji added.
"C'mon, everyone! Let's cheer up! Okay?" Chie tried.
"Yeah, ignore Teddie like usual!" I added.
"And you!" Yosuke glared at Teddie. "You have a bunch of stuff lined up, but you're still only playing a snare drum!"
"Heh heh...Haven't you heard the phrase, "A clever bear conceals his claws"?" Teddie responded. "I'm going to play a special little bear-formance of my own and charm all the girls!"
"That saying's about a hawk, not a bear! And don't even think about it! We don't have the skills to ad-lib! Do you understand me? We're doing this EXACTLY. LIKE. WE. PRACTICED. Got it!?"
"Whaaaaat." Teddie whined.
"If you don't, then I'll make sure you pay for all the Topsicles you've eaten during breaks at work."
"Just like we practiced! Got it!"
"Hm...Ooh...! I bet Kyoka-senpai could charm everyone with a dance if it was a drum solo!" Rise smiled teasingly at me.
"No way! Not happening!" I shouted, holding up my arms in a large "X" as I glared at her with embarrassment. "Rise, stop talking about that!"
"What...?" Yosuke looked between us in utter confusion as Rise giggled.
"It's nothing!"
"Well, let's take it from the top, one more time. Keep up that energy that we had before!" Rise returned to instructing us and we resumed our practice into the night in preparation for the performance tomorrow.
After we finished, Yu seemed to be fine, but Yosuke was complaining that his fingers were stiff again. I offered to give him another massage, and although he looked to be blushing a bit, he gave me his hand and I started to rub gentle circles into his fingers and hand while the others left ahead of us.
"...How're you so good at this? Did you practice or something?" He asked, flexing his fingers as he switched hands for me to do the other.
"I used to have to do it to my own hands."
"Why? Your fingers got stiff a lot?"
"I played video games a lot since I was like, six, so...Yeah. My hands would cramp up and everything from holding a controller too tightly for too long or whatever."
"Huh...Did you ever do it for someone else before today?"
"Mhm." I nodded.
"Who?"
"My brother a couple times when I owed him for doing me a favour and...My dad once, when he started to have joint pain in his hand after an injury to his wrist. I also remember doing it for friends in elementary school a couple times, but they usually asked me to rub their backs or shoulders...I got so annoyed with their pestering that I stopped doing it altogether. It was also really awkward for me."
"Yeah, I can see that. You seem like a person who values their personal space."
"I am...But I'm making an exception here, since I'm only using a tambourine for the band. I feel like I should be more helpful to you guys..."
I was a bit surprised when he suddenly closed his hand around one of mine, interrupting the massage and making me look up to see him giving me a serious look. I tilted my head slightly at him in question, and he seemed to falter slightly, his eyes drifting off to the side and his face seeming to flush a bit.
"Y-You're, um..." He stuttered, but then broke whatever he was going to say off and sighed, instead quietly saying, "I'm glad you're here, Kyoka."
"O...kay...?" I was still confused, but I felt kind of embarrassed that his grip on my hand tightened when he said that. I felt like he was holding something back, but I also felt like it wasn't a good time to ask about it.
He seemed to suddenly realize he was holding my hand and quickly let go and stood up from his seat, backing away from me and looking nervous as he picked up his bag. "U-Uh, so, we should go now, right? Got the thing tomorrow and all...?" He laughed nervously.
He was acting weird. He was definitely acting weird when we were alone together lately. I didn't want to take a guess as to why, so I decided to ignore it for now and just agree with him, standing up to get my bag and then going with him to return the key to the staff room before we left the school to head home.
10/10
-Daytime-
We were gathered around the "backstage" area at Junes, the sounds of a crowd coming from the other side of the wooden backdrop we were currently standing behind. I noticed a man in a bluish-green outfit that looked to be a delivery man sitting on a bench near where were were standing in a circle in our winter school uniforms, but looking through the eyeholes in my mask made it difficult to tell if he was acting suspiciously. He was probably just a regular customer, but I only noticed him because he was the only one alone over here. The others didn't seem to notice him as we waited for Yosuke to return and were all talking about the upcoming performance.
"Crap...The crowd's a lot bigger than I expected!" Yosuke looked completely nerve-wracked when he returned to our circle.
"D-Don't say stuff like that! You're making me even more nervous!" Chie said to him anxiously.
"A-Are our costumes okay? I mean, they're just our normal school uniforms...Even worse, they're the winter ones." Kanji pointed out.
"What else could we have done? It's not like we have any costumes." Yosuke responded.
"I guess I probably could've asked Tanabachi-sensei..." I muttered.
"Oh, now you tell us!"
"W-Well, I don't know if they would've been ready on such short notice anyway! The school's winter uniforms are fine!" I defended, feeling nervous myself even though I was wearing a fox mask to hide it.
"Y-Yeah. The clothes we've been wearing all summer won't work as costumes, and since we'll be changing wardrobes tomorrow, it works out." Yosuke continued to justify.
"...O-Oh crap. I-I can't stop my legs from shaking." Kanji said.
"Please don't remind me that I'm shaking." I whined, feeling my whole body wracked with a trembling fit.
"You'll be hittin' the skins more than a bear-knuckle boxer!" Teddie said to Kanji, seeming not to understand the meaning of nerves.
"Y-You shut your stupid bear trap! I don't need to hear this!" Kanji snapped at him.
"You've been on TV before, right, Naoto-kun? Aren't you used to this? You haven't said a word, though..." Yukiko looked to Naoto.
"The last time I played for a crowd was a piano recital when I was young..." Naoto responded. "Doing an interview on TV is much easier. Even if I make a mistake, I'm the only one who gets embarrassed by it..."
"You're saying doing interviews is easy? That's crazy, too..." Yosuke pointed out, then looked to Yu. "Ugh, I can't take this much longer...Don't you get nervous too?"
"I'm fine." Yu responded in his usual stoic manner.
"You really are something..."
"Now that's our Sensei. He's got big brass balls!" Teddie gushed. "And when I say "balls," I mean..."
"We get it, we get it, it's a figure of speech. We don't care! Shut up!" Yosuke cut him off.
Then, the sound of someone getting up and walking off caught my ear and I looked to notice the deliveryman wasn't sitting on that bench nearby anymore.
"Huh? Did someone just...?" Yosuke seemed to have noticed it too.
"Everyone, can you gather around for a second?" Rise asked suddenly.
"Y-Yeah, got it." Yosuke quickly forgot about the guy and I did as well.
We all were asked by Rise to put our hands together in the centre of a circle and then she said, "Your hearts are all racing, right? So is mine. But that's the power behind a live performance. Don't think about doing everything exactly right. The crowd's here to have fun, so we need to have fun first."
"Rise-chan..." Chie said.
"When I say, "Who's ready," you say "We are!" Okay!?" We all nodded and Rise nodded and continued. "Be thankful for your fans, your friends, and yourself! This is a full-blown, one-time-only performance! Now who's ready!?"
"We are!"
After that, we got into our positions with our instruments, ready to get on stage. I stood with Rise, Yu, Chie, Yosuke, and Teddie, and Rise lightly slapped her cheeks.
"Fired up and ready to go!" She said.
"Now listen up. We're sticking to how we practiced, okay!?" Yosuke warned Teddie, who was less than willing to listen.
"All right, let's do this!" Chie cheered.
"Here goes!" Rise said.
"Yeah!" The rest of us replied.
The performance went really well, actually. I felt a lot less nervous with my face hidden and standing in the back of the stage, but unfortunately...
"Encore! Encore!" The crowd was demanding more.
"Th-They're askin' for an encore..." Kanji said, like we couldn't all hear it.
"Oh yeah...I didn't think about that..." Rise said.
"Oh great. We were too good..." I muttered.
"We only know one song! What do we do now!?" Chie asked.
"There are only two things we can do: ignore them and leave, or play the same song over again..." Naoto stated.
"I think it'll piss them off if we do either of those things." I pointed out.
"M-Maybe we can have Rise explain our situation, and they'll go easy on us and let us replay that song!" Yosuke suggested.
"Huh...?" I noticed the deliveryman in the audience, but he wasn't one of the ones cheering and I only noticed him when he was leaving, so I couldn't even see his face properly through my mask.
"I saw that guy before..." Yosuke seemed to notice him as well.
"Raaaaaaaar! I'm getting fired up!" Teddie suddenly ran up to the edge of the stage.
"Hey, Teddie!?" Yukiko called at him, but it was too late.
"Hah!" Teddie jumped off the stage and the audience actually bounced him around like a freaking beach ball. "Yeeeeah! Crooooowdsurrrrrrf! This is the best part of being a live performer!"
"What? Does he weigh nothing...?" I muttered in disbelief as we watched the crowd bounce him off somewhere.
"Stupid Teddie...We can't play without him..." Rise shook her head.
"Hey, why don't we all dive into the crowd? They might just carry us out of here and we can escape this awkward situation..." Yosuke suggested.
"Yeah, not doing that." I responded flatly.
"Stage dive...!?" Yukiko seemed to like the idea though.
"Hey! Don't sound so excited!" Chie scolded her.
"Actually, if all eight of us jump in, there'd be trouble..." Rise said as the crowd was still bouncing Teddie around.
"Then, what're we gonna do!? Do we have any other way out!?" Yosuke asked.
"I-If you want to do it that much, then just the guys do it!" Chie said.
"A-All right...! I'll show you what it means to be a man!" Kanji stood up from behind the drum set and the three guys all nodded to each other.
"Hey, wait, you idiot!" Chie shouted, but they all jumped off the stage and the crowd sidestepped them. I mean, not just sidestepped, it was like a perfect parting specifically to avoid all three of them. Of course, the only one to stick the landing was our glorious leader, who now looked like the ringleader of three idiots that the crowd was now silently staring at.
"They just...dodged out of the way...How..." Yosuke said in disbelief, face-down on the ground.
"I...didn't know...it was possible...to stand on your own face..." Kanji somehow managed to say from his very awkward and painful looking landing position.
"Seriously..." I sighed, shaking my head and hopping down off the stage to help Kanji and Yosuke stand up with Yu's help, then assisting them in their walk of shame away from the crowd as Rise apologized and then quickly escaped backstage with the other girls.