Fate/Reach Out

Chapter 10: The Midnight Channel


After dinner and Nanako's show, Shirou had one other thing to do before he called it a night. Shirou took a deep breath and picked up the phone. He only needed to wait a few rings before a tired voice greeted him.

"Hello?"

"Fuji-nee? Is this a bad-"

"SHIIIIIIIIROOOOOOU!" the childish teacher yowled at the top of her lungs. Thankfully, Shirou managed to preserve his hearing by jerking the phone away from his ear. Shirou had to switch ears to hear what she said next; her roar had still left his right ear ringing. "Are you okay? Did anything happen? Are you settling in? Do you want to come home?"

The boy couldn't help but smile at her concern. "I'm doing fine. I had my first day of class today, and I've already met a few people around town. I even managed to get a part-time job-"

"Shirou…" The Tiger of Fuyuki started reproachfully.

"I know, I know. This was about connecting with my blood relatives, not taking up time with work and school. It's only part time, and having some extra cash isn't bad while I'm here, right?"

"That's not as important as spending time with your family." Taiga scolded mildly. "Besides, the news was saying that there was a murder over there. Are you sure you're okay over there?"

Shirou grimaced. He hoped Taiga hadn't heard about that already. She must have been keeping her ear to the ground about Inaba. "Like you told me, Dojima's a detective. If he didn't think it was safe here, he would tell me. I think I'll be fine as long as I follow the curfew and listen to the police."

"Please, Shirou, be careful all the same. If you ever feel unsafe, just come home right away," Taiga pleaded far more seriously than normal. Shirou spent a little while simply talking about his time in this new town so far, occasionally having the reassure Taiga yet again that he was indeed fine and that he wasn't out looking for trouble.

Having said his goodbyes to his guardian, he attempted to call the Matou household, and managed to get a hold of Sakura. "Hello, Sakura. I'm glad I got a hold of you."

"Senpai?" She breathed a mix of relief and her normal quiet warmth in her voice. "How are you doing?"

"I'm settling in. It's only been a day, but I think I'll be alright here."

"That's… that's good senpai. I miss you already," Sakura managed to say, her voice catching.

Shirou frowned at that. The way the girl made it sound, it was like she wasn't expecting him to come home and that she was miserable without him. "Tell you what: give me another week or so to settle in and learn my way around town, and then I'll see if Dojima-san wouldn't mind having you coming over to visit."

"Oh! Ah… I would like that, senpai. I'll need to… talk to grandfather first, though." The soft-spoken girl's words trailed off uncomfortably at that, but she brightened when Shirou began describing the quiet town's scenery. Unlike Taiga, Sakura had obviously not heard about the murder, but Shirou quickly ran out of things to say without touching that topic, so he told her goodnight after hearing that Shinji was out, probably with a girl again.

Once he had hung up, Shirou spent the remainder of the night trying in vain to keep his mind off the murder to no avail.

On the plus side, he didn't have another visit to a strange world the moment he closed his eyes like the last few nights…


April 13th, School Zone - Morning

Shirou walked down the now familiar path to school, trying to forget what happened last night. It wasn't that the show he had watched with Nanako was bad or anything that she feared. The show was well done and definitely entertaining for Nanako, and Shirou was at least able to watch it for her sake. It wasn't even the conversations with Fuji-nee back home.

No, the strange part was the way last night's dream was influenced by everything: running with Nanako and Dojima through a fog-shrouded Inaba with a pony-riding Taiga hot on their heels and swinging her shinai was just bizarre. At least this time he was sure it was a dream and not a vision like the previous night. This one was appropriately surreal and detached. Still, he couldn't afford to relax while he still had Igor's warning and the… other's 'test'.

"RUNAWAY BIKE!"

Jolted from his thoughts, Shirou barely caught the verbal warning and the whirring sound that followed it. He jumped to the side on instinct and watched a black and yellow blur shoot through where he was standing a moment before. The blur kept flying forward without losing speed… right into a trashcan.

Shirou watched in mute shock as the person's upper body was summarily eaten by someone's upright trashcan before it toppled over with its victim still inside. The only saving grace was that the can was empty, the garbage man having already finished this street barely ten minutes before. Unfortunately for the trapped boy, it wasn't long enough to dissipate the lingering smell inside the can.

The sight of the student rolling futilely from side to side reminded the redhead of a turtle flipped onto its back. The student's yellow bike skidded to a rough halt further down the road, the crash jarring a few parts loose and sending others visibly bouncing from the bike.

"S-someone…" the person moaned. "Help me!"

Shirou didn't even need to be asked, his helpful and generous character kicking in instantly. "Hang in there, I'll help." Taking a firm hold of the trashcan and coordinating their actions clumsily, the two managed to finally sit the trapped student upright and pull the can off his head. The student's brown hair was medium-length and slightly shaggy, made worse by the tumble he had taken. He was dressed in the Yasogami uniform, but he was also wearing large headphones hanging around his neck and the large earpieces resting on his shoulders.

"Phew! Thanks man, you saved my-" the student stopped, suddenly recognizing the person before him. "Hey, you're the transfer student!"

Shirou was surprised as well. "And you're… Hanamura, right?"

"Yosuke Hanamura, thank you very much!" the auburn haired extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Shirou Emiya!"

Shirou nodded and took his hand, pulling upright before bowing slightly in greeting. "Likewise. Sorry about your bike though."

"What'd you mean about-" Hanamura stopped and turned to it, paling as he saw the handlebars had come completely off the frame: the welding holding the crossbar to the front of the bike had snapped. If he lifted the bike up, the front wheel could slide right out of the frame. "MY BIKE!"

His earlier good mood was completely destroyed as he cradled the pieces like a fragile toy. "No, no, nononono! Not now! I can't afford to fix you, let alone replace you! I'd been saving for ages to get a motorcycle, and planned to save you until graduation! You can't be totaled now!"

Hanamura continued his frantic denial-induced rant while Shirou couldn't but help feel for him. He had definitely grown a sort of attachment to his bicycle, and seeing it in a sad state was almost unfair. Looking at the damage… it actually doesn't look that bad, honestly.

"I can fix that," he said.

Hanamura stopped, turning to his classmate in surprise and blinking away a few unshed tears. "Wh-what?"

"I can fix your bike," he said again. "It might take a while, but I think I can make it as good as new." Or better if I can find some stronger metal. Structural Analysis isn't useless if you know what you're looking for.

"Dude!" Hanamura leaped to his feet and grabbed Shirou's shoulders fiercely and looked him square in the eyes, beaming with gratitude. "You would seriously do that?! You'd so be my hero if you could!"

Shirou felt his pride swell a bit at being called 'hero'. It was that kind of praise he lived for. "Of course, Hanamura. I'll have it ride-able before tomorrow."

"Sweet! Thanks, man! I seriously owe you one!" he smiled; he wasn't asking questions at all and taking his helpful offer at face value. Shirou had no intention of letting him down in the face of that earnest trust.

Hanamura then glanced at his watch and his eyes widened with horror. "Aw crap, we better get going; class is going to start soon!"

Yosuke, with some regret, took the front wheel and handlebars while Shirou hauled the rest of the bike frame on his shoulder. Both students were fit enough to run with the extra weight, but it would be close.

By some miracle, both students managed to sprint their way to Yasogami High before the gates closed, and even managed to beat King Moron to class. Even hauling the broken bike hadn't been enough to hold them back from making it. In Shirou's mind, it was as if some higher power was favoring him this morning.


Yasogami School - Lunchtime

Shirou Emiya all but bolted from class the moment lunch period started, not that Yosuke could blame him; his ears were still ringing from King Moron's 'philosophy' class. How the spiteful man was still a teacher baffled many students. Some guessed it was because he filled the 'cruelty to students' quota all high schools have by himself, leaving the rest of the faculty to be eccentric in other ways.

Even if he couldn't get the bike up and fixed in a day like he promised, Yosuke owed it to the transfer student, so Yosuke left in search of his classmate. The least he could do was offer to buy him some steak from Souzai Daigaku. Any guy willing to go out of their way to fix his bike was okay in his book.

Case in point… when he found Emiya again, he was wheeling his bike into the schoolyard, checking his handiwork with a satisfied smile. Yosuke couldn't help but drop his jaw at the sight: it was like it never crashed at all! He knew there were some tools and stuff out in the practice building, but so fast! Yosuke had all but given up on using his bike for at least a week, and this guy had slapped it back together like magic!

"Holy crap!" he whooped, rushing over to the bike like it was a new Christmas present. "It looks amazing! I didn't think you would get it done this fast!"

"How long were you standing there?" Emiya asked quickly. He looked slightly tense; probably from the work he just pulled off. Yosuke guessed that he mistook him for a teacher about to scold him back to the classrooms. With King Moron looming, he couldn't blame him.

"Just got here," Yosuke shrugged. "I didn't get to see you work, though. How did you do it?"

Emiya relaxed and grinned. "Trade secret, though it helped I could find everything I needed around here."

"Phooey."

With a little trepidation, Yosuke's hands reached the handle bars and turned it left and right. Staying firm so far; that was a good sign. "So, you just moved into this town, right? Think you're adjusted yet?"

"I'm getting there," Emiya nodded, sighing a bit. "Fuyuki was much bigger than Inaba. The quiet's not too new: the Miyama half of the city was a lot like Inaba, but Shinto was more of a big city. Can't say I was expecting a murder to happen out here, though."

"Yeah, no kidding," Yosuke nodded. "You heard the news, then? Finding the announcer hanging from an antenna… you think it's some kind of warning?"

Emiya's eyes narrowed slightly, bunching up in a slight grimace. "Warning?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, there's no way it could have been an accident. Finding a body up there in the first place is kind of messed up."

"'Kind of'? Of course it's messed up," Emiya bit out, his grimace growing into a full, angry scowl. "It was a murder. Ms. Yamano is dead. How she got up there or why isn't relevant compared to that. It's not something you gossip about over tea! They need to focus on who did it and find them before someone else gets hurt or worse!"

Yosuke blinked owlishly. That was… not where he expected the conversation to go. Honestly, now that he thought about it, no one aside from a few creeps claiming that Yamano was their 'soulmate' seemed upset that she was dead and gone. They were more interested in how she died and how strange it was. Yosuke would admit he did kind of get caught up in the idea that something big was going on… but he was still better than most people around town. He wasn't getting all stir crazy and excited because something new was happening in stupid, boring, and good for nothing Inaba.

"Y-yeah, I guess you're right," he agreed finally. Best for a change of topic… now! "So, you know what our town is best known for?"

Emiya calmed himself and thought for a moment before answering. "The Amagi Inn?"

Yosuke cringed: he had forgotten about that place. "Well, yes, there is that, but I was thinking about something else-"

"Heavy rain, fog, and town gossip?" he humored again.

"Wha-no! I said best known for, not worst!"

"The skinned rabbit?" Okay: that time was definitely sarcastic.

"Grilled steak, man!" Yosuke snapped. "Grilled beef steak!"

"Wait, really?" Emiya tilted his head quizzically. "Isn't that a western dish?"

"Yeah it is! It's also pretty lame to eat around here, but that's part of the reason why it's so popular! Plus, I know where they sell it for cheap! I owe you one for this, so allow me to pay for you! You know, as thanks for the bike!"

"You don't have to, though. I do these things all the time-"

"Then I truly insist!" Yosuke added. "Trust me, it's the least I can do."

A new voice cut in completely out of the blue, and both boys jumped. "Count me in!"

Behind Yosuke was a grinning Chie Satonaka, hands in her track jacket pockets. Yosuke scowled slightly. He sometimes felt that the girl instinctively knew when food was being discussed the same way a wolf could smell fresh meat. "I told you I would pay you back later, Satonaka!"

"And apparently you're paying back Emiya today, when you owed me a new DVD since yesterday." To prove her point, she held out the same DVD case he handed her and waved it in front of his face. "Have you already forgotten about that?"

"It's not the same!" Yosuke snapped. "Food's cheaper than movies!"

"So pay me back with food! You said you're getting steak, anyway!" Chie countered, poking the taller boy in the chest with her DVD case for emphasis.

Yosuke wanted to smack himself for not considering that. That's right; she loves steak… damn it if I had remembered that earlier I would have given her that offer yesterday and saved myself the trouble and the pain!

Suddenly, he glanced over her shoulder to look for her familiar sweater-wearing friend, but only saw students in their matching uniforms eating lunch. He glanced back to Chie. "Hm? Where's Amagi-san?" Yosuke asked. "It's not often you two aren't together."

Satonaka frowned. "Yukiko left school early again; the inn's getting a lot of attention lately so they need all the help they can get."

"Ah, that's right," Yosuke nodded. "The Amagi Inn gets popular this time of year, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Chie sulked briefly before giving her taller classmate a smug grin. "Soooooooo, in the meantime, you can make up your debt early by buying me steak after school!"

The cheerful smile, playful demeanor and jump in her step as she said this did nothing to ease Yosuke's worries… but he knew better than to induce her wrath. His family jewels were still recovering from yesterday… The way Emiya warily looked at her was a nice relief and sign that he wasn't alone in that concern.

"S-sure," Yosuke nodded. "Though there might be a slight change of plans…" The moment he said that, he felt sweat pour down his body in buckets when her expression shifted to a neutral stare. He hoped to all the gods up there she wasn't planning to kick his ass if he failed to appease her…


Junes Department Store – After School

Shirou and Chie were obviously surprised when Yosuke led them to Junes, though it wasn't a pleasant one for the girl. After an elevator ride up to the rooftop food court, Yosuke ordered for them, although it wasn't what he had planned initially. Shirou didn't seem to mind but Chie…

"Hanamura," the kung-fu maniac started calmly. "You said there'd be steak."

"I did say I was going to offer Emiya some, yeah," he explained.

"What I'm seeing is not steak," she stressed, still staring at the plate consisting of marinated tsukune topped with fries. A part of her hoped that if she stared at it long enough, it would spontaneously turn into her beloved dish.

"Well, I could have afforded one steak from Souzai Daigaku, so I had to change plans when you jumped on the freeloader train," Hanamura pointed out with a scowl.

"It's bad enough that you had to take us to your place, but Junes couldn't even add steak to their menu?!" the tomboy snapped.

"First of all, Junes' food court is getting by enough without selling steak," he countered. "And second of all, it's not my place!"

"Do you work here, then?" Shirou interjected, having been snacking on the food in front of him absently.

"Sometimes," the taller teen shrugged. "My family moved here from another city six months ago, like you. Inaba happened to be the new location for Junes to branch out to, and my dad was assigned as manager. Dad has me working part-time a few days a week."

The way his classmate said that made Shirou curious. "That's a good thing, right?"

"For his family, it might be," Chie answered. "Before Junes, Inaba had a very popular shopping district, but all the places have been closing down. I mean, stores like Marukyu Tofu and Tatsumi Textiles are holding out okay, but about half of the others lost business and, well…"

The implication was obvious: ever since Junes had opened, business at the local and family-run stores was dying a slow death. As a regular to Junes, Chie had the decency to feel some shame at her contribution to that. Yosuke on the other hand tried to look disinterested in the matter, as though it wasn't his problem regardless of what people said behind his back. Emiya was probably still ignorant of Yosuke's position in town, but with the way rumors and gossiping run, he'd hear about it within the week.

Hanamura's mood brightened instantly when he noticed a female Junes employee with wavy blond hair walk into the food court and slump into a seat a few tables over. "Ah, Saki-senpai! Be right back guys!"

Without looking back, he sprinted over to the girl and both slipped into light-hearted gossip. Shirou turned to the brunette for an explanation. "Who's that?"

"That's Saki Konishi, a 3rd year student at Yasogami. Her family runs the liquor store at the shopping district… I think she works here part time though."

"Hanamura seems very friendly with her. Are they close?" the redhead asked, glancing back at the conversation.

Chie smirked. "Oh, doesn't he wish…"

Before Shirou could inquire further, Hanamura and Konishi walked over to their table, with the former making introductions. "You've already met Satonaka, but here's my new buddy Shirou Emiya."

"Oh, the transfer student, right?" Saki smiled gently, looking a little tired. "It must be nice to have someone else from the big city to talk to, huh? Hana-chan here doesn't have many friends, nor does he hang out with others."

Hanamura visibly flinched at the implied insult. "Th-that's not really-"

"Hana-chan's a good guy," Saki continued, a touch of mischief coming to her smile. "But he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell him right to his face when he starts to annoy you. Other than that, I hope you get along with him."

"He's not that bad," Emiya replied with a shake of his head. "Hanamura's a good person."

At once, Yosuke visibly relaxed at the compliment while Saki's smile widened a fraction. "Oh, I know, I was just kidding."

"S-senpai, that wasn't really funny you know!" Yosuke groused.

Turning to leave, Saki Konishi either didn't hear what Yosuke said or didn't care, waving back to the table. "Well, break's almost over, so I better get back to work. Later!"

"Oh, uh, senpai!" Yosuke tried calling out to her again, but to no avail. With a slight sigh, he sank back into his seat.

"Is Konishi-san alright?" Emiya asked. "She looked worn out."

Yosuke shrugged. "I tried asking her about that, but she wouldn't tell me aside from saying she was tired. She treats me the same as her little brother, so she wouldn't want to tell me what's up, I guess."

With a catlike smile, Satonaka mock swooned. "Ohhh, you don't want her treating you like a brother, huh? I thought as such; the daughter of a local family-run liquor store and the scion of the invading chain… The flame of forbidden love!"

"Dude, it's not like that!" Hanamura snapped with a hint of a blush.

Satisfied she had embarrassed her classmate enough for now, Satonaka finally cut him a break and changed the subject. "Oh, really? Well, I have just the thing for that troubled heart! Have you guys heard about the Midnight Channel?"

Both of them looked at her with (in her opinion) lackluster reactions; Hanamura was somewhere between bored and annoyed, while Emiya looked startled but not in the same way she expected. While not the same look of confused interest she wanted, they were listening. "You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night. While you're staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen, and they say that person's your soulmate."

"You actually believe that childish garbage?" the shaggy-haired Hanamura frowned.

"What do you mean childish?!" Satonaka snapped. "Don't you believe it too? Or want to?"

"Of course not, but I guess I can see why you would be into it. Ironically, it's your problem of why you can't get a boyfriend," Hanamura needled with a smirk.

"Wh-wh-what was that?!" the girl seethed darkly, glaring at Hanamura as he innocently looked away. Flashes of Satonaka's lightning-fast kick to the groin had Shirou paling, but he said nothing. Hanamura was digging himself a hole; if it set Satonaka off, it was his own fault. Though he was interested in what the headphone teen was implying, since she had said she didn't actively look for a boyfriend…

"I mean, using a rumor to find your soulmate could solve that problem, but your best bet of finding someone would be fresh meat like Emiya-san right here," Hanamura elaborated.

Shirou stiffened at his sudden inclusion. "Wait, what? I think I missed something here."

Chie's expression just grew sinister, grinding her teeth together and clenching her fists. A popped vein at the side of her forehead was starting to beat repeatedly like a drum.

Still not bothering to look at the girl, Yosuke continued with a smug grin, "And he'd have to be an idiot to even conside-OOOOH GOD!"

"Say that again to my face! I dare you!" Chie growled dangerously.

"I-I'm sorry! I said too much! Mercy! Mercy!"

Shirou didn't know what his green-clad classmate was doing exactly, but he wasn't sure he wanted to find out. Considering her ruthless treatment of Hanamura just yesterday, his imagination filled in the blanks. As it was, she was simply grinding her heel into Hanamura's foot after drop-kicking it.

When she was satisfied with Hanamura's pain, Chie relaxed and continued her story. "Anyway, I checked the weather report and it says it's raining tonight, so if you two can, try it out tonight! What have you got to lose?"

"Possibly a good amount of sleep, especially if we're to face another King Moron lecture tomorrow," Yosuke answered blithely. The girl's annoyed glare kept him from saying anything more.

"This isn't the first time I heard of this rumor," Shirou admitted. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it out." It was also his first chance to figure out if this was somehow tied to Igor and whatever fog-shrouded world he had visited.

Chie smiled. "That's the spirit, Emiya-kun!"

"Besides," he added. "It's arguably better than what's been going off in the news lately."

"Speaking of which, what do you two think of the 'incident' yesterday? Was it really murder?" Yosuke's smile started to look sinister. "What if the culprit is under our very noses? Hehehehehe-he…"

His laugh lost effect when seeing how they reacted. Chie sighed to herself and ate what was left of her food. The redhead, on the other hand, twitched and his expression darkened noticeably. Yosuke took that as his cue to drop the subject, and Chie decided not to pry. He probably heard enough about the case from his uncle, the detective.

Inside, Shirou was fuming. He talks down a rumor he's never even proven himself before, yet gets all excited talking about the murders like the news media does. Now who's acting childish?


Dojima Residence – Evening

After finishing his meal with Satonaka and Hanamura and parting ways, Shirou lingered to buy groceries with the spending money Fuji-nee left him as one of her going-away presents. He still had to watch his spending though; the Dojima's weren't broke, but they weren't living the high life, either. There wasn't enough space for him to stock up the same way he could back home, especially since the family had their own snacks and ingredients to store.

In hindsight, it was a good thing that Shirou had gone to Junes; their grocery selection was second to none for a single store. Even if Fuyuki could compare: you couldn't find this much all in one spot. There were certainly perks to having a large department store in a small rural town, and Shirou saw no reason to scorn any of it.

Speaking of space, he still hadn't figured out what to do in the weekend considering a makeshift workshop. The Dojima house didn't have the necessary space or privacy even an amateur required. Shirou's room didn't have a lock, and he lacked the skill in hypnosis and Bounded Fields to prevent someone from finding out if he worked on his magic inside the actual house. There wasn't a convenient storage shed, either. As it was, his training would be extremely limited until he found or built a suitable place away from prying eyes.

Thankfully, he had long grown past the need to scream or thrash when making his Magic Circuit. He could probably get away with that much if he waited for Nanako and Dojima-san to fall asleep.

The need to keep his magic under wraps was one of the main reasons he fixed Hanamura's bike early. He needed to find the best points to make his repairs with Structural Analysis repeatedly, and even that innocuous spell was more magic than normal people should ever see in their lifetimes. Better to do it when everyone was distracted rather than risk someone stumbling on him working later.

When he got home, he took command of the kitchen and got right to work. Dinner tonight would be fried chicken with soy sauce, miso soup and rice. He hadn't asked Nanako what her favorite food was yet, but she seemed receptive enough of his choice. Unfortunately, it was another night without Dojima... it felt disturbingly like looking in a mirror whenever he saw her downcast like that.

I was always upset whenever my old man left home on random occasions. He never even said what it was for or how long he would be gone, but it was always over a month. Nanako at least knows her dad's still in town and that he comes home every day, if only to sleep and leave early the next morning. Not that it makes it any easier for a child… poor Nanako.

"Your dad will be home before you know it. Don't worry." Shirou attempted to comfort the little girl. Nanako simply nodded slowly and continued to eat in silence.

The silence, and Nanako's mood, were both broken by the sound of the front door sliding open. "Oh! He's home!" she chirped.

Ryotaro Dojima waded in to the living room and all but collapsed onto the couch. "Whew… what a day…" he sighed raggedly.

"You were late again," Nanako frowned.

"Are you alright?" Shirou asked.

"Sorry; been busy at work with the new case. Turn on the news for me, will you?" Dojima asked softly, sounding even more exhausted than he looked.

Nanako nodded and clicked the remote just in time for a new story to appear on the newscast. "Next, more details in the developing story on the incident in foggy Inaba. Announcer Mayumi Yamano's dead body was found hanging above a house in this isolated rural town. It is confirmed that Ms. Yamano had been involved in an affair with Taro Namatame, husband of enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi."

"Are they seriously still going over this?" Shirou frowned. "I thought they had explained all that last night."

"Sometimes people just want to know everything," Dojima answered drearily, "even when it's not important. I'm pretty sure you know by now, but this town doesn't have much going for itself, and people love to gossip."

"The police plan to investigate this relationship and question any personnel involved with them. In addition, we now bring you an exclusive interview with the local student who found Ms. Yamano's body."

"An interview with a kid?" Dojima frowned. "Where did they find her?"

The screen changed to a reporter on the scene with a female student with blond hair. Her face was blurred and the camera tilted to show the bottom half of her face and shoulders. The reporter next to her sounded far too excited and did nothing but make his subject even more nervous.

"What went through your mind when you saw it? Could you tell she was dead? Did you see her face?" the reporter fired question after question, barely giving the girl time to breathe between them.

"U-Umm…" Her voice was distorted and face was blurry to keep her identity hidden. At least the news media cared that much for her privacy…

"Don't you think it's scary that someone was killed on a foggy day?"

"Huh…? She was killed?"

"Oh, errr… So did you see anyone suspicious around here?"

"No, not really…"

"We heard that you found it when you left school early. Did you have some personal business to take care of?"

"Huh? That's…"

Nanako looked to where her cousin was sitting, watching Shirou's face war somewhere between realization and anger. "What's wrong?" she asked timidly.

"I… think I recognize that student," Shirou admitted. "I met with her just today while at Junes-"

"You were at Junes?!"

Shirou and Dojima both jumped at Nanako's shrill cry. Even the little girl felt embarrassed of her outburst and forced herself to regain composure. She couldn't help but to pout at the end, though. "No fair…"

Remembering how much she loved the song, Shirou realized she always wanted to go herself. "I can take you sometime if you like," he offered.

Nanako looked back at him with wide eyes. "R-really? I can go?"

"Of course," Shirou nodded. "There's no real age limit to who can or can't go, last I checked. Every day's Customer Appreciation Day over there, after all."

Feeling excited already, she turned to her father for his answer. "Hey dad, can all three of us go?!"

"Hahaha, sure, sure," Dojima laughed tiredly. "When we have time. But keep it down for right now; I'm trying to listen to this."

The interview was fortunately done, moving back to the anchorman in the studio. "-A tragedy that occurred near the shopping district. Many storeowners are raising concerns about losing customers as a result…"

"Perhaps if you didn't constantly talk about the murder that happened it wouldn't affect things there…" Shirou bitterly remarked.

Dojima let out a small chuckle from his head. "Oh, if only…"

"It really is a bizarre case, isn't it?" A commenter added. "I mean, hanging someone upside down from an antenna… I'd have to say it's a warning or a sign from the culprit."

Shirou's frown grew; those were almost the same exact words Hanamura had told him back at school.

"Yes," said the announcer. "But so far, no one has come forward to take credit for the crime."

"So the cause of death is still unknown? And they don't have a single suspect yet? Taxpayers' funds are going to a police force who can't even figure out if this is an accident or a homicide?"

Dojima said nothing to that. Surprised that the badmouthing wasn't even so much as getting a grumble from him, Shirou looked back to find that the hardened detective had nodded off completely. Shirou wanted to trust his uncle in handling the situation, but he was starting to realize that maybe this wasn't such a simple murder case, bystanders' reactions notwithstanding.

He focused on his dinner again, hoping to put this long day behind him. The first two days I'm here and I walked right in the middle of a murder mystery happening practically across the street. I hope they get a suspect soon…

He pushed down the urge to start hunting the villain down right away, knowing that Dojima wouldn't stand for it and he didn't know where to start looking, let alone how to go about catching the killer.


In his dark room, Shirou peeked out through the window curtains. Inaba's rain was rather chilling to watch at night now that he took the time to look. Black clouds loomed overhead, rain falling and pelting the rooftops in a steady drone, the water distorting every light source and giving the night a hazy air… yet it was easy to drown out the sound from within his room. He probably wouldn't even notice had he looked outside.

"Well, it's definitely the right weather for it," the red-haired teen said, letting the curtain close. Turning around, he walked to the front of the TV. The clock on his wall read one minute to midnight. The monochrome clicking of the clock was loud and heart-pounding… almost taunting him with its rhythm.

"Am I really doing this?" he asked himself a touch incredulously. It was one thing to hear a silly urban rumor from Nami-san, a gas attendant. But from Satonaka, a high school student, as well? Was it really that popular? "I never even got to ask them where they got this crazy idea in the first-"

The minute hand clicked into a new position. Midnight.

Turning to the TV, Shirou stared at his reflection, almost ready to laugh it off as a silly concept, when the TV released a blue glow and a warping whine like the reception was poor.

Shirou gasped; he couldn't quite see what was going on, but he could see flashes of images flicker in the pale blue screen. It was too quick to see but… he thought the person being seen in the TV –a young girl– looked familiar.

"I art thou…"

...! Wh-what-?

"Thou art I… Thou art one who opens the door…"

Shirou all but ground his teeth together and tried to breathe deeply. It was impossible to focus: a familiar ringing was going off in his head. The pain alone was enough to force him down to his knees and bite back a scream of agony. The pressure, pain, and ringing wouldn't stop though. If anything, it was reaching a crescendo loud enough to make him want to beat himself unconscious to just shut out the infernal shriek.

And yet it finally faded to nothing after what seemed to be an eternity… or at least a full minute. He stared at the TV in front of him, now blank and off. The clock in his room read 12:01; the time window for the Midnight Channel was quite short indeed.

But… "opens the door"… does it mean… the TV?

It was crazy, but what else could that voice mean? It spoke up just as the channel went on, as if reacting to the weird magecraft that had to be involved. It was magecraft that had happened, right? It had to be…

Against his better judgment, and almost like it was a compulsion, Shirou reached his hand out to touch the TV. Not a moment later, he found it seeping through the surface, leaving the glass rippling like water around his fingers.

"Wh-what the-AAHH!"

Without warning, his hand was forcefully pulled in. His body slammed against the TV stand shoulder-deep, the screen too small to drag him in any deeper, yet he could still feel an immense pull trying to suck him in completely. With a heave and a surge of prana through his Magic Circuit, Shirou kicked himself free with a surge of Reinforced strength …

…hard enough to fly clear of the TV stand, lose his balance and slam the back of his head on the edge of the table behind him. Forcing himself upright, he rubbed his head gingerly, pain blasting through his skull. "O-ow…"

When he had regained control of his breathing, Shirou stared between his hand and the now blank TV screen. His mind was reeling with the impossibility of what had just occurred, but the paranoia all magi shared gave him a sinking feeling that it was all connected to the rumors and the recent death that had happened in Inaba.

"Just what the hell is going on…?" he asked aloud, to no one in particular.

One thing's for sure… no one would ever believe me if I told them that I was almost eaten by my own TV…