CHAPTER 17 / Theory

December 5th, 2011 / Evening
Aiya's

All of us had spent the majority of our day running around town and talking to various people. Rise had spent her time with me and ensuring that I was okay. Honestly, other than a bit of mal-nourishment I felt just fine. The only real problem was that it would take me a bit of time to build my stamina back up again. This was a pivotal time for the Investigation Team though. So despite how much I may have wanted to stay in my bed…I forced myself out and to help with the investigation. Rise had obviously known I was probably pushing myself…which is why she refused to leave my side.

It didn't bother me…we had just starting dating after all. It was still something I had a problem believing though. The first time I had heard Rise's voice had been on my mp3 player…and through a song. The feelings I had then…were much like what I had for her now. The difference was how I came to it…and the impact of it was now one I was constantly having every day of my life. That song…'Star Bright' was a song that was never released because the Producer on her first album had felt that it didn't fit well with all the other songs on her first album. Which I actually agreed with, but Star Bright was still my favorite song of hers regardless. Still it was a song that had ultimately been left on the cutting room floor. I didn't like that fact at all. So I had proposed something to my Mom just last night. That we could acquire the rights to that song in the terms of the deal with Rise's agency. The deal had been put on hold while I was in the hospital but now that I was out the negotiations would be moving forward. All of that on top of the murder investigation…yeah life was certainly a lot busier than it had been in the past.

My life before now...had it really been much of a life? I would go to school...never really talk to anyone unless I had no choice. How weird that this change in my life was changed by being kidnapped and shoved inside of a television. Just saying it sounds weird.

Now the entire Investigation Team was huddled in Aiya's as we were about to try and determine if we had learned anything new at all.

Chie let out a loud sigh, "I'm seriously pooped. This stuff is a lot harder when you don't have a badge to flash. I walked around all day and didn't hear anything good."

"It was the same for me," Yukiko sounded just as disheartened as Chie. "There was absolutely no talk about the case, let alone the true culprit."

"Ditto for Kayane and I," Rise and I were sitting in the chairs at one of the tables and I was just relaxing a bit after all the walking we had done through the day. "Actually in our case…we couldn't get them talking on the main subject at all."

"Yeah…I'm also pretty sure I want to smack half the guys in this town…considering how they were all looking at Rise," I grumbled, getting angry just thinking about it. Half of them were just stupidly star struck and the conversations were disjointed and jumped place to place as they kept asking for autographs or pictures. To which I flatly denied them.

"Well dude, she is an idol…" Yosuke said.

"Yeah…but she's mine," the words came out before I realized it. After which I felt my face heat up and I quickly looked away from the others. Jealousy? Me? I had never felt that way before about Rise...but now...I mean people were still going to look at her...there was tons of merchandise and posters and calendars that had her in it. Still the Investigation Team seemed to enjoy my quick reply. "You know what I mean. Not that it is ever going to stop the people from looking at her…I mean that isn't the point."

Rise kissed my cheek, "I have to admit, seeing you get all possessive and jealous is kinda sexy."

"Well its no fun for me," I shook my head and pushed her away from me.

"Oh, come on, don't be mad," Rise pouted.

"Anyway," Yosuke interrupted her loudly. "What should we do?"

"Well…one steak bowl please!" Chie said speaking to the chef.

"That's not what I meant," Yosuke shook his head. "But then again…I guess we might as well take a break. I'll have a crab and egg fried rice."

"I'll have roast pork ramen with extra noodles," Kanji ordered his.

It probably was a good idea. So everyone ordered some food and we took the time to forget about the case for a while. If only for a little bit we could distract ourselves from the case…we were so close to a breakthrough…that it was hard for us to see all the clues in front of us. I finished my ramen petty quickly…I guess I had been pretty hungry. I guess all the walking around and being mad half the time had made me hungry.

"I guess we should have had more than just that steak skewer for lunch," Rise teased me.

"We would have had more if the mayor hadn't been trying to ask you about the movie shoot that is supposedly happening. Which makes no sense, this fog would make it impossible to film anything. Unless it happens to fit the movie…but I doubt a movie you were casted in as the lead at one point would have a set up like this. That would be more of a horror film," I said complaining about just one of the many incidents that had happened in the day.

"I doubt it is going to get much easier you know. With you two dating…I'm sure you're gonna have to deal with the rumor mill on a much larger scale," Yu chuckled a bit.

"Right now, I'm just 'that' guy that sung with Risette. If they had a name attached to it…I'm sure I'd be getting plenty of hate mail," I shook my head. Of course, with the other news that we would be releasing soon…it would become a reality rather quickly. News that we hadn't shared with them all quite yet.

"Today has been long. And we all learned that…there really wasn't any new information on the case. So is that it?" Chie frowned.

"The police had an unusually large number of officers in their initial investigation of the first two incidents. To find facts that even they overlooked would be difficult indeed, now that over half a year has passed. There wasn't a single report of suspicious persons being witnessed to begin with…Ms. Yamano had ardent fans whereas Saki-san didn't, but otherwise the conditions are the same." Naoto sounded like she had expected this outcome. But us asking about it around town had at least confirmed that they had all the information that they could.

I couldn't help but believe that we held all the answers we needed…but we just had to put it all together to deduce who the killer was. The real man behind it…who had manipulated the people involved…

"Y'know, every time I tried to ask about the case, everyone ignored me and kept ranting about the damn fog," Kanji said as he finished up his own food.

"Yeah. That or the Midnight Channel," Rise spoke up.

"Oh yeah, we asked around about Teddie while we were at it but, doesn't seem like anyone has seen him," I added. Considering Teddie was pretty easy to remember considering his usual bear appearance.

"Do you have anything new, Shirogane? Any new, uh…deductions?" Yosuke was trying to keep our thoughts going but we were close to just going in circles at this point.

"Without any new data to work with, there isn't much I can do…But there must be someone in town who meets all the criteria for this case. The killer must have a connection to both Saki-san and Ms. Yamano…As well as be in a position to observe our actions periodically, to some extent…Finally, it must be someone who could approach Senpai's house without arousing suspicion…" Naoto paused for a moment and then got to her feet. "I need some fresh air before I give it any more thought. I'll be outside."

She walked out. And after a moment Yu got to his feet as well and followed Naoto outside. Everyone was thinking about what Naoto had said…they all must have felt the same way. They were all really close to the truth. They must have all the clues…what was it they were missing? Yosuke got up and walked outside as well.

"I think I'm going to go join them outside," I said as I got up.

"Alright, but take your jacket, its cold out there," Rise said nudging my jacket from the back of my chair and into my hands.

I smiled and put it on as I came outside. The three of them were all standing next to each other as I moved to the other side of where Naoto was standing. All three were just looking out into the distance. Until Yu spoke next.

"Tohru Adachi," he said simply looking to all of us.

"Huh…? What about him?" Yosuke asked.

"Detective Adachi…" Naoto's mind was seemingly starting to move again with the name of the Detective. "A member of the police force. That is an interesting approach. It would certainly explain the lack of witness reports. It's the same reason why no one ever reported Namatame's truck."

"I have only seen Adachi a couple times but…Inaba is a small town. Most people recognize who is the local police," I supplied.

"Yeah, and since he is a detective, people definitely wouldn't have thought of him as suspicious," Yosuke added.

"In fact, he could use his position to his advantage and hide crucial information," Naoto shook her head.

"Huh…Well if you think of it that way, I guess it's possible…but we're talking about Adachi here, right? I mean really, Adachi? He's your textbook, lousy detective…are we really on the right track here?" Yosuke made a point, although I hadn't seen much of Adachi to know if he was good or bad either way. But it was obvious that they had.

"Actually, regarding Detective Adachi…I'm not sure how to put it, but there is something that's been bothering me about him for some time now." Naoto said.

"Yeah? Hmm…" Yosuke stretched a bit.

"Perhaps, it's just my imagination, so I shouldn't speak too…" Naoto then sneezed.

"Whew, it's cold. I think we've cooled down enough here…Let's go back in." Yosuke indicated for all of us to head back in.

We all went back in and settled back into our seats. Rise immediately snuggled up to me.

"You're cold," she said trying to get closer to me.

I eyed her, "So you're warming me up, I take it?"

She nodded, "Yep, so I have to be real close." She said as she scooted as close as she could. I just shook my head as Yosuke brought us back to the subject at hand.

Yosuke threw out Adachi's name as a suspect and it immediately started the discussion again.

"Adachi-san?" Yukiko shook her head. "That can't be…I mean, he said he came to escort Ms. Yamano and…"

"What?" Naoto stopped Yukiko. "Was he at the inn when the announcer was staying there?

"When Ms. Yamano was staying at our inn, the media was swarming all over it. That's when Adachi-san arrived, saying he had been assigned to guard her…He told our waitress that fame could be rough…" Yukiko clearly hadn't thought anything of it at the time...but now that Naoto had taken an interest in this fact it had thrown doubt onto it.

"Guard her…? He didn't spend the night there?" Naoto was trying to think about the connection…that much was obvious.

"Huh…I wonder if he knew Ms. Yamano," Chie thought out loud.

"I doubt it. She may have been from Inaba but she only came out here because of that affair business with Namatame, right?" I asked. Naoto nodded to confirm it. "And my understanding is that Adachi hasn't been in Inaba all that long either." I highly doubted there would have been reason for her to run into him before coming to Inaba. So his interactions with her would have been limited to the time she had returned to Inaba.

"I heard he called a girl out in my class. I found that out this afternoon. But I thought, y'know, that's just how cops are so I didn't think it was related to the case," Kanji added.

"Detective Adachi also questioned Saki-san, the one who found the announcers body, on numerous occasions. I heard it was because there was so little known about the case at the time but…It's certainly unusual to question someone with as strong an alibi as hers multiple times…." Naoto said with her focus looking down. It seemed like something she did when she was putting facts together. And there was a number of things putting Adachi into question. There was likely no coincidence to this...nothing ever was. Especially when it came to murder.

"Then you think he had something else on his mind?" Chie asked.

"And that 'something' is what connects those two victims to Adachi-san?" Yosuke seemed to remember something. "You know, come to think of it…We've been running into that guy a lot, in all sorts of places. And every time he'd tell us what the police were doing before saying 'Oops, I said too much' and clamming up. Was all that to throw us off the trail?"

Well I doubt it would be to intentionally throw us off. If that were the case it would have been better to say nothing at all. No...if I had to compare it to something...it was more like he had been...stirring the pot.

"And it wouldn't have been a problem for him to drop that warning letter into Yu-senpai's mailbox either. Not to mention the fact that he can destroy any evidence that can point to him," Rise added. That wouldn't ordinarily be true...but...

"In a bigger city like Tokyo…that would be impossible, but for a small town like Inaba with a police force that is ill equipped to deal with stuff like this…it wouldn't be too crazy for it be possible for him to destroy evidence," I added looking at Naoto. "Even more so when you probably had every regional cop working and have extra help from beyond your region that isn't used to the area. Or differences in protocol if there are any."

"Then…is it really Adachi-san?" Yukiko proposed the question that all of us were coming to. There was certainly a lot of things pointing in that direction.

"We need to confirm this," Yu said simply.

"This is a tentative theory. We should work to confirm this as soon as possible," Naoto pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open and made a quick call. "This is Shirogane Naoto. Something has occurred to me about the case, and I'd like to get Detective Adachi's input on it. Hm…The transport?" Suddenly Naoto jumped to her feet. "Right now!? I see, Thank you"

"What was that about a transport?" Chie quickly asked.

"Detective Adachi is headed to the hospital to prepare for Namatame's relocation. We must head there at once," Naoto was already heading out.

"A Detective huh? I guess if I had been here since the beginning this would make a lot more sense to me," I sighed and placed the money for my meal on the table along with some extra for a tip since the chef had been quite tolerable of our long presence long after we had stopped eating.

"We still don't know for sure if it is him though," Rise pointed out. The only thing was the way Naoto was acting...it seemed to answer a lot of questions if it was true. If the pieces were falling into place...then more than likely we were on the right track.

"That is true…but if it is…I doubt it is going to be that easy as confronting him and having him arrested," I left Aiya alongside Rise. "After all…nothing is more dangerous than a cornered man with nothing to lose. Even more true for the man who had nothing to gain to begin with."


December 5th, 2011 / Evening
Inaba Hospital

I felt like I had been in the hospital far too often as of late. My latest reason didn't have anything to do with injuries or any kind of medical issue. No, it was to confront our number one suspect on the serial murder case, Tohru Adachi. I knew nothing about him personally, as I had only interacted with him a couple times. But the way the others in the Investigation Team talked about it…some seemed to hope that he wasn't responsible. Or that he wasn't seemingly capable of murder.

In my experience…I would hardly be surprised. Anyone…if given the correct circumstances or reasons…was capable of killing another human being. If anything...I believe that the others should be more than aware of that then most. They had already dealt with a murderer before now...with Mitsuo.

As we approached the 3rd floor, where Adachi was…we had blocked the hallway as we walked up to him. There wasn't an easy way past us to get to the stairs that led to the lower level. We had cornered him before the discussion had even begun.

"Huh? What are you guys doing here?" Adachi looked confused as the nurse he had been talking to walked off. He sighed, "I was trying to find Dojima-san but the nurse says he wandered off somewhere again. We finally relocated Namatame, so I was looking forward to going home."

"So…he's been relocated," Naoto nodded more for herself, confirming the information she had received earlier. "I've been wondering…You seem to be in a terrible hurry to get him out of this hospital."

Adachi seemed a little surprised by the thought, "Well yeah, I mean we can't leave him here with Dojima and Ikakure." He looked over at me. "You wouldn't want him here after what he did to you, would you?"

"Well that does make a lot of sense," I shrugged. Obviously after talking to Namatame it didn't really matter to me. "Still why take up the mantle of expediting that process yourself? It isn't like anyone asked you to."

"Well no but…look, should you kids even be here? Shouldn't you all leave before Dojima-san finds you and starts pestering you all again?" Adachi quickly switched subjects. As if that wasn't suspicious. To be fair…we were a bunch of kids that could be seen as bothering him. But there was also another possibility…and that was why we were here.

"Adachi!" Dojima came walking around from the hallway. "Where's Namatame? There's been a lot of noise here today…"

"Dojima-san! What're you doing here!?" Adachi was either just really jumpy today or he was getting more and more nervous. I noticed with this layout and Dojima where he was…Adachi only had one route of escape if he wanted to run. That was towards the room where Namatame had been held "Namatame's already been relocated, I was trying to find you so I could tell you, but you weren't in your room."

"You did what!? Who authorized that? There's still more I need to ask him about," Dojima was obviously irritated. Well...even though he was supposed to be recovering and not working his detective side wasn't letting that happen it seems. Not that I could blame him. We were on the verge of the truth. If we were right...he was right in front of us.

"G-gimme a break, Dojima-san!" Adachi let out a nervous sigh that seemed to be hiding an irritation.

"The first two murders have been bothering me…his motives are shaky, and his alibi is rock solid. We closed a lot of loopholes on the basis of his testimony, but that part's still nagging at me," Dojima shook his head.

I had to be impressed. As much as the rest of the police force was eager to put the whole thing behind them…Dojima was still digging for the truth. And he hardly held all the knowledge he needed in order to put the pieces together. There wasn't a possibility of the police force believing a person capable of putting people into a television. And that certainly was not something that could actually hold up in court.

"This more of your 'detective's intuition'?" Adachi hardly seemed to be impressed but more like Dojima was making more work for him. "He's already been relocated so there isn't any use in hassling me about it." Adachi turned his gaze back to us. "And all of you kids should really get home. You're getting in the way of police business."

"What's gotten into you today…? It's odd to see you taking work so seriously," Dojima gave a curious look to Adachi.

That comment was enough to put me on high alert. If Dojima thought this was out of character, then we had to be putting some amount of pressure on him. Adachi was quick to counter.

"C-C'mon, I'm always giving 110% when it comes to the job," Adachi tried to sound enthusiastic but just came off as defensive. So he quickly changed his tactic. "You should get back to work too, Dojima-san. Your current assignment: Get better as soon as possible!" He was trying to avert attention and Dojima seemed to buy it for the moment.

"What are you all doing here? I thought you were already released from the hospital, Ikakure," Dojima said pointedly at me.

"That's true but that isn't why we came here," I quickly dismissed it and Yosuke was quick to follow up.

"We came here to confirm something, with Adachi-san," Yosuke brought Dojima's attention back to his partner.

"Adachi-san, we just wanted to ask a couple things. We were curious about when Ms. Yamano vanished," Yu stepped forward to lead the questioning.

"The time the announcer went missing? I can't say for sure offhand…It's not like I saw her or anything. That was months and months ago, too. My memory is kinda hazy that far back," Adachi said scratching the back of his head and looking up at the ceiling. Except we already knew he had seen her…after all Yukiko clearly remembered him being there. No doubt other members of the Inn staff could verify him being there as well.

"Alright," Yu shrugged and gave a slight smile. He was clearly leading Adachi on…if you saw this scene you might mistake Yu as an actual police officer and not Adachi. "Do you remember when you were questioning Saki-senpai?"

"Well yeah, I questioned her because she discovered the announcer's body. She didn't know much about it though, so I only talked to her once or twice," Adachi shrugged. "Was that all you wanted? Not sure why you wanted to ask but I hope it helps."

"Yeah that should be it…" Yu then stopped. "Actually, did anything turn up from that warning letter?"

"Warning letter?" Adachi seemed like he didn't remember it.

"The one that was delivered to Narukami-senpai's house. It's in police custody now, correct?" Naoto pushed for confirmation.

Adachi scratched his head once more, "Uhh…I don't really remember."

This immediately brought Dojima back into the conversation, "Whaddya mean you don't remember? I gave it to you to take down to the crime lab for processing. You're telling me that you forgot!?"

"Ha… haha, I'm sorry…your accident was right after that, and what with one thing and another, it sorta slipped my mind…B-Besides, that thing was just a prank, wasn't it? Geez, what're you asking me all this for!? For crying out loud, what's this all supposed to be about!? Dojima-san, you really need to get back to your bed. That's why your wounds aren't healing. And you all need to go home right now! Do you have any idea what time it is!? I'm going back… I need to get to the station and report in," Adachi tried to start past us in a quick attempt to flee.

Naoto held her hand out to stop him, "Just one more thing, please. We know for certain that the first two murders weren't Namatame's doing." She paused briefly to let her words settle on Adachi's mind. "Someone else killed them. Adachi-san," Naoto was giving Adachi a stare, not allowing him to look away. "Do you have any idea who that might be?"

Kanji who was standing next to Naoto stood closer to her and gave no doubts as to the point that Naoto was getting to. "Because we think it mighta been you." And naturally Kanji is as blunt with his words as he is with the folding chairs he uses against Shadows.

I looked over to Dojima for a second. It seemed the Detective was trying to figure out how we had all come to that conclusion. Adachi…seemed to be close to full out panic.

"I have no idea what you are talking about! This is all ridiculous! We already know that Namatame's the one that put them all in!" Adachi clearly irritated…failed to notice the words he had said before it was too late. Then he did and he quickly stumbled back away from us.

"What did you just say?" Chie pointing directly to the words he had chosen.

"Put them all in…? What is this 'putting them in' business?" Dojima took a couple steps forward as Adachi backed away from the rest of us more. "Do you know something about the method behind the murders? Don't tell me all that talk about TV's and whatnot from before was…" He stopped…Dojima was thinking about this. From what Rise said...Yu had tried to explain the truth to his Uncle, but obviously he wouldn't believe him. Sometimes being honest wasn't alway the best option when it involves crazy supernatural things...I mean how do you explain Persona to anyone and not sound like a nut job?

Naoto stepped up to keep up the pressure on Adachi, "I see… Now I finally understand. To tell the truth, Adachi-san, I've been fixated on something you once said. Before, I didn't know why… Only that it sounded a wrong note to me. Do you recall when I read Namatame's diary at the scene of Dojima-san's accident? At the time, I said, 'Even the victims who survived and were never released to the public are written here.' And in response, your words were, 'Wow… Then that settles it.' How, I wonder, would that 'settle' anything? At the time, the police had no idea that there had been other attempted murders related to the case…You had no reason to say such a thing. After all, there are countless examples of people disappearing for a few days…Yet when I read the list of names, you raised no objection. Odd, that. What do you say to that, Detective Adachi?"

"I-I don't know! I-I said I'm busy!" Adachi then darted down the hall. He ran...because he couldn't counter us anymore.

"Wait, you son of a bitch!" Kanji was the first one to give chase. I was right behind him. We watched as he entered the room that Namatame had been in and slam the door behind him. It was only a handful of seconds before we were there and pulled the door open.

When we came in…the room was empty. Only the lone TV and empty hospital bed greeted us.

"What the!? I swear he ran this way," Yosuke came in behind Kanji and I. Not long all of the Investigation Team was in the room.

"Dammit…Where the hell'd he go?" Kanji growled as he kicked the nearby hospital bed.

"Did you find him…?" Dojima entered behind us. "I contacted security but according to them there is no record of anyone leaving this area. So he has to be here somewhere."

"No," I shook my head, looking straight at Adachi's escape route. "He's already gone from here."

"That bastard! Ungh," Dojima clutched his side. We all turned to him but saw a nurse running in behind him.

"Dojima-san! For heaven's sake, what are we going to do with you?" the nurse clearly irritated with Dojima's apparent lack of sense when it came to his injuries he was still recovering from. "Do you even want to get better? If you keep this up there could be lasting damages. Have you forgotten how much trouble it gave you last time?"

"You're right. Sorry…" Dojima looked at Yu. "You've got to find Adachi. I need to square this away with him, please."

"Don't worry about it. Leave it to us, and get some rest," Yu assured his uncle. Then after a moment the Nurse took Dojima out of the room.

I looked back at the large TV that was in this room. The rest of the Investigation Team was next to me all looking at the TV.

"This was his only option," Naoto stated. "If he does indeed turn up on the other side…that can leave little doubt that he is the true culprit."

"Then we'll go tomorrow," Yu announced. "So, everyone be ready and get some rest tonight."

"Yeah, it would be too dangerous to go in from here. There is no telling where this would end us up at either," Rise was quick to remind the others.

"Yeah and I can attest that chasing after someone this way doesn't really work to your advantage. It's possible that wherever he is will take a form of his mind…becoming the reality for the one who enters like Teddie had pointed out before," I added.

"Good point," Yu nodded in agreement. "There are only a few questions left to answer about the murders. I'm sure we'll find out directly from Adachi himself."

We all started to leave the room and I took one last look at the television. What could a man's reasons be for killing anyone? Did he know that it would end in that result? Or did something along the way break inside the man known as Tohru Adachi? I wanted to know the reasons…the motivations behind it. And what about Namatame? Did Adachi somehow have contact and influence on him as well?

Rise gently pulled my arm as we left the room and would be heading back home after a very long day…well it felt long anyway. I mean I was only just released from the hospital. We separated from the others shortly after leaving the Hospital to head back to my place. Rise wanted to stop by Junes real quick to grab some things before we headed to my place, so we ended up walking with Yosuke for a portion of the time.

"Shouldn't you be heading straight home? I mean you probably need your rest more than anyone, Senpai," Yosuke asked.

I gave a shrug, "Well we all but know that Adachi is the killer...but I don't really feel tired. If anything I have energy to spare. After how long I was on a hospital bed I don't really have a desire to go to sleep."

"And he needs to get a good meal, which is why we are coming to Junes first," Rise added walking next to me and holding my hand.

"Hanamura...how well does Yu know Adachi?" I asked as we walked.

"I know Yu spent a lot of time with him. And Adachi actually helped him now and again since Dojima and Nanako was in the hospital. Well Nanako was only there for a few days but it's just been Yu and Nanako at the house since then," Yosuke scratched his head. "I know what you're thinking but Yu is going to do what he has to...to get the truth."

"I know that," I replied looking to Rise for a moment. "Yu isn't the type to let things go unanswered. That doesn't mean he won't hesitate, or find himself...conflicted."

"I get it...you're worried about him," Yosuke grinned as Junes was coming into view. "To be honest, if the murderer is Adachi...I'm not sure how I feel about it. At times when we came to a wall in the investigation he would drop a hint or something that would put us back on track. Why would someone do that if it could potentially link them? Anyway I'm off this way now. So I'll see the two of you tomorrow."

We gave him a goodbye as he walked off but my thoughts had drifted back to what Yosuke had said. Why do you give hints if it could possibly connect you to it? There were answers for that, but they weren't good ones. Adachi's motive...the reason why he did it...I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Either way...I guess we were going to find out.

"Kayane," Rise said as we were walking down an aisle in the grocery section of Junes. "What do you want? I'll cook it for you."

"Something insanely spicy. Seriously that hospital food and even ramen at Aiya's wasn't really that satisfying. I mean...how long has it been since I had something with some actual kick to it?" I hadn't realized how much I had been craving it until she had brought it up though. Also...wouldn't this be the first time she would be cooking for me?

"You got it! Come on, let's hurry up. Your Mom is waiting for us," Rise grinned as she was stuffing items into the basket I was holding.

Adachi...a police officer...a murderer? What happened? Why would somebody that became an officer of the law do that? Maybe that was what was most unsettling about the whole situation to me. Whatever his reason was...it was going to be that much harder for Yu. We would know for sure tomorrow. For tonight I would get as much rest and enjoy time with Rise.


A/N:

A bit of a shorter chapter this week. The way I often go about writing is I usually have a goal or an event that I want to have occur in that chapter. So occasionally it can lead to some incredibly long chapters. To date Chapter 4 is still the longest out of all the chapters I've written so far. It weighs in at about 19k words. But generally my goal for each chapter is a minimum of 4k words. But they often end up between 6 to 10k words...although recently I have consistently hit over 10k. I usually don't care about word count but as a writer I have a tendency to pay attention to it since Fan Fiction tends to work so much differently than a traditional novel.

To put it in perspective a typical novel has between 60k to 90k words. That is an average length. Fan Fiction based on an RPG like Persona 4...which has far above that kind of word count makes it really hard to do. Heck up to this point could technically fill 3 books but we haven't finished the main line story of Persona 4...and I jumped in to the story line towards the end of it! Then again my plan was always to go past it and cover the fighting games and recently added Dancing All Night into my plans...as it actually fits in nicely with Kayane's story. Anyway, chapters that involve the main plot typically end up a lot shorter as I only add a little bit to them and manipulate it a bit to make Kayane fit in better, but other than that things don't change too much. However there is some character development I will be changing as we go. And I'm hoping it will pay off in the end. I guess all of you readers will be the judge of that.

Anyway, let me know what you think. I hope I can make a twist to this that will keep everyone interested. After all we still got a lot of story left to tell. See you all next week with the next chapter.