Yu stretched as he got out of bed and went downstairs only to smile when he saw Nanako watching TV. "Good morning Nanako."
"Oh, good morning." Nanako smiled. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm alright." Yu nodded before closing his eyes in thought. "Do you want to go to Junes today?"
Nanako's eyes widened before she frowned. "Is it safe?"
"I don't know, but if we're in a big group we'd be safer and I can call my friends." Yu answered. "Would that make you feel better?"
Nanako nodded. "Yeah."
"Then I'll give them a call." Yu said before taking out his cell phone and dialing.
"Hey Yu, what's on your mind?" Yosuke inquired curiously.
"I was wondering if you and Chie felt like spending some time at Junes with me and Nanako." Yu explained.
"Huh?" Yosuke asked in surprise. "Yeah I can meet you guys there."
"That sounds great, we'll see you soon Yosuke." Yu smiled.
"Alright, I'll see if Chie's free too." Yosuke nodded before hanging up.
"It sounds like Yosuke's willing to meet us there, so are you ready to head out Nanako?" Yu inquired.
"Yeah." Nanako smiled happily before the two of them walked out of the Dojima household.
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"There they are, hey you guys." Chie called waving to Yu and Nanako.
"Hi Chie." Yu smiled. "It's good to see you."
"Yeah, it's great to see you guys too." Chie mentioned before crouching down and smiling to Nanako. "Nice to meet you."
"Hello." Nanako said quietly before looking to Yu who was smiling. "Um… my name's Nanako."
"Well Nanako, do you like Junes?" Chie inquired.
"Yeah, I love Junes." Nanako answered happily before looking down. "We need to be careful though."
Chie nodded in understanding. "Yeah, you're right. Somebody tried to hurt Yukiko but she's ok now and we'll be safe as long as we stick together.'
"Yeah." Nanako nodded in agreement as Yosuke walked up to them.
"Sorry I'm late, so what do you guys want to do? Hang out at the food court and talk?" Yosuke asked.
"That sounds good to me." Yu nodded before taking Nanako's hand as the four of them walked into Junes.
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"Good morning Dojima-san." Naoto stated politely as he walked into the police station.
"Morning Shirogane, I'm guessing you've been looking into the case?' Dojima surmised.
"I have, and actually I made a call to the Amagi Inn earlier today. I have my suspicions as to who the next kidnapping victim may be." Naoto answered. "I'm not certain so I'd like to take a bit more time to look into this theory."
"What theory?" Adachi inquired. "If we can lend a hand we'd be happy to help."
"I appreciate the offer detective Adachi, but I should be able to handle it on my own." Naoto explained. "I just need to look into a few things."
"Well, if you're sure. Just let us know if you need anything." Dojima mentioned.
Naoto nodded politely before walking out of the police station.
"Dojima-san, do you think we should tell him about that? It's our best lead after all." Adachi pointed out.
"Let's wait until we can speak with Yukiko Amagi. If we're lucky she'll be able to tell us something related to what happened to her." Dojima answered. "If not, then we can go back to that Midnight Channel."
"If you say so, I just hope we can solve this case before something else happens." Adachi mentioned.
Dojima closed his eyes. "Yeah, I feel the same way."
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"Really?" Nanako asked excitedly. "Could you teach me how to do that?"
"Huh, well I can try." Chie admitted in embarrassment. "What about you Yu?"
"Why not it might be something to do." Yu smiled before pausing. "Actually, do you have any kung-fu movies we could watch to get started?"
Chie smiled. "Yeah, I have a ton of great suggestions. You want me to run home and grab some?"
"No." Nanako interjected nervously. "You might be hurt."
'That… yeah you might be right." Chie nodded. "We should stick together, so maybe Yosuke can help us find some."
"Well, I don't know how many kung-fu movies we have here but I don't mind taking a look with you guys." Yosuke mentioned. "I know we should have Trial of the Dragon."
"Is that how you learned Chie?" Nanako asked curiously.
"Yeah, I watched the movies a ton of times and then tried what I saw myself." Chie answered with a smile. "Oh, but maybe we should practice together so it's safer."
"That makes sense." Yu nodded. "We can stay in a big group so bad things don't happen right Nanako?"
"Yeah." Nanako nodded happily only to pause. "Where did your friend go?"
Yu and Chie looked and noticed Yosuke wasn't there.
"Huh, wait where'd Yosuke go?" Chie asked. "He better not be playing a stupid joke on us."
"Seriously Chie? I just went to pick up a bottle of water for Nanako." Yosuke mentioned walking up to the table.
"Thank you." Nanako smiled politely taking the bottle just as two girls walked up to them.
"Hanamura what's the deal?" one of the girls questioned. "We told you we needed today off and you said you'd handle it."
Yosuke sighed in frustration. "No, what I said was I'd ask and honestly you shouldn't be surprised you didn't get today off."
"What's that supposed to mean?" the second girl questioned.
"He means that you two barely even come to work as it is and should honestly be fired." Chie answered.
"Chie…" Yosuke started in shock as the girls turned to Chie angrily.
"Why don't you mind your own business." the first girl told her. "This has nothing to do with you."
"Actually it does, when you two didn't come in yesterday Chie offered to help out in your place." Yosuke told them before turning to Yu, Nanako, and Chie. "Sorry you guys but I'll be back in a minute."
"Alright, we'll be here." Yu mentioned before Yosuke walked off as the two girls stared in disbelief before running after Yosuke.
"Is he going to be ok?" Nanako asked nervously.
"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about Yosuke." Chie answered with a smile.
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"Yosuke, is something wrong?" inquired a man in a suit as Yosuke walked up to him.
"I hate to say it, but yeah there is a problem." Yosuke answered as the two girls caught up to him. "Do you remember the part-timers who wanted to take today off?"
"I remember, I told you to tell them we needed them to come in today." the man in the suit answered.
"That's why we came in." the first girl said quickly.
"You came in, half an hour late to complain about having to work." Yosuke mentioned. "Plus my friend Chie offered to help while you two took the day off yesterday."
The man in the suit turned to the girls. "I thought you two were supposed to be working every day this week."
"They didn't come in." Yosuke explained.
The two girls glared at Yosuke before turning to the man in the suit.
"We were here, we just…" the second girl started only for the man in the suit to frown.
"Your track record doesn't inspire the most confidence." the man in the suit told them. "I'm guessing you have a replacement in mind?"
Yosuke frowned. "No, I don't."
"Well then there isn't much we can do but if something comes up let me know alright?" the man in the suit asked.
"Yeah, no problem." Yosuke nodded before sighing and heading back to Chie, Yu, and Nanako.
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"What do you think he meant?" Adachi inquired suddenly. "Looking back over the case I can't really see a clear connection between the victims. I mean if miss Amagi and miss Konishi were swapped maybe but that's the problem."
"You mean it would give us a clear path from one victim to the next but since there's no connec…" Dojima started only for his eyes to widen. 'Wait a second, Saki Konishi was only targeted because she found the body."
"Huh, then you mean the killer didn't originally plan on going after her?" Adachi inquired. "If that's the case the next victim could be anyone at Yasogami."
"That has to be what Shirogane realized. Still, we'd need to talk with Yukiko Amagi to try and figure out who the next victim might be." Dojima mentioned. "Something's telling me we're looking at it the wrong way by focusing on the entirety of the student body."
"You mean it might be someone close to miss Amagi?" Adachi asked before pausing. "Wait a second, didn't you say that she called your nephew to tell him she was starting to feel better?"
"Yeah, more to check up on him though." Dojima answered. "I just… we need to solve this case before anything else happens."
"We will Dojima-san." Adachi said quietly. "The two of us and Shirogane all working together, there's no doubt in my mind that we'll fine the one responsible and keep everyone in Inaba safe."
Dojima nodded at that before looking at the files related to Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi and frowning only to open them again.
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"Oh yeah, did you guys see the weather report?" Chie asked. "It's supposed to rain tonight."
"Rain huh, that's disappointing. Hopefully it doesn't rain too much tomorrow." Yosuke mentioned. "Not much you can do when it's raining."
"People stay inside when it rains, so the bad guy won't be able to hurt them." Nanako mentioned causing the three of them to turn to her.
"Yeah, you have a good point." Chie smiled. "If we're inside with people we love we'll be safe from the bad guy."
Nanako nodded at that.
"Well, it isn't raining now and we're together so is there anything you guys want to do?" Yu asked.
"Just spending some time talking is good in my opinion." Yosuke smiled before pausing and turning to Nanako. "Anything exciting happen to you recently?"
"Exciting? Oh, a detective came to help dad." Nanako answered.
"A detective?" Chie asked. "You mean his partner, right?"
"Oh that's right, another detective came to Inaba recently. His name's Naoto and he's going to try and help catch the bad guy." Yu explained.
"Three detectives all working together, I don't know if that's a good sign or not." Yosuke admitted. "I mean, on the one hand having more detectives means they can work together to figure things out faster but on the other hand… if it takes three detectives that means the bad guy is hard to find."
"He might be hard to find but with three detectives working together they'll definitely catch the bad guy." Chie pointed out.
"She's right, so instead of worrying about scary things why don't we talk about something else." Yosuke suggested only to frown. "Though, things aren't that great here."
"What do you mean Yosuke?" Yu inquired.
"The two part-time workers we hired hardly ever come in to work but unless I can figure out someone to replace them there isn't anything we can do." Yosuke explained. "I mean honestly I seriously owe you for helping out Chie but I'm not going to force you to work here."
"People aren't doing their jobs?" Nanako asked in confusion. "But isn't that a bad thing to do?"
"Yeah, it is. They call out most days and want me to get them even more days off." Yosuke said before sighing. "Still, there's not much I can do about it right now."
"Yeah, and you're right I can't work here but if I get a chance I can try to stop by and lend a hand every now and then." Chie offered.
"Thanks Chie, I really appreciate that." Yosuke smiled.
(Naoto is looking into a possible lead to identify the next victim, Dojima and Adachi are coming to their own conclusions, and the Investigation Team is awaiting Yukiko's recovery. Next chapter the Midnight Channel will air again and Yukiko will reunite with Yu, Yosuke, and Chie. As always any reviews or critique is appreciated.)
