[4/15: Friday]

The next morning, Nanako felt much better, but still a little queasy. She wondered how the other two, Chie and Yosuke, were faring with what happened yesterday, and worried a little about facing them in class. What exactly did they think about it all? Did they blame her? Would they believe her when she said she had no answers? Worst of all, what if they wanted to forget about it and pretended like nothing had happened?

She tapped the TV screen in her room, and she could definitely still put her hand through it. It hadn't all been a dream or a drug-induced trip caused by the steak at Junes. Yesterday had indeed happened.

She idly checked her phone and remembered Dad's message from yesterday. Stay out of trouble.

Dad, she thought while she stared at the phone, I don't even know anymore.

Well, Nanako was pretty good at rolling with the punches, so to speak, so she pocketed the phone and headed downstairs to face the day.

Though usually she was the one doing the punching.

Students exchanged rumors on the way to school, but, lost in her own thoughts, Nanako didn't really pay attention. She didn't see Yosuke crash his bike, either, but that could have been because she was running a little late. She tended to move slower when she was in a pensive mood like this.

In fact, Nanako was barely on time for class. Morooka tsk tsk'd at her while she walked to her desk. Chie was already seated and said nothing when Nanako approached. Yosuke, too, was giving her a strange look, one she couldn't identify, as she sat down in front of him.

"You okay?" Nanako whispered to Chie when the teacher was busy with a lecture on Buddhism.

"Y-yeah," the short-haired girl replied. "I think so, anyway. I think I'll stay away from TVs for a while." She smiled, though it looked a little strained. "I'm more worried about Yosuke."

Nanako turned her head, but it was hard to get a good look at the boy behind her. Yosuke's head was down, flat against the desk, though his hand was active and moving as he pretended to write stuff down so as not to attract the teacher's attention.

She'd have to talk to him during a break.

Nanako turned back to Chie. "About that—" she began.

"Dojima!" Morooka called. "Since your mouth is already open, answer me this. What are the three higher trainings of the Eightfold Path?"

"Bluh," Nanako began eloquently before she spied the answer on the board behind him. "W-wisdom, conduct, and concentration!"

"Good, you can read," the teacher replied, rolling his eyes. "And which factor would you say you are violating when you talk in class?"

"Right speech," she murmured, blushing despite herself. "Because talk shouldn't be idle."

"That's right. Words are important, my dear," he said softly. "Eh, that's enough, Dojima. Sit down."

Chie gave her a thumbs up as she took her seat.

When lunch finally came, Nanako turned to Yosuke and asked him how he was holding up. He looked even worse than the previous day, actually—his eyes were bloodshot and there were heavy rings under them.

"Umm, actually, did either of you watch," – he paused and glanced at the other students eating lunch in the classroom, and then lowered his voice just a little – "the, uh, TV last night?"

"I was way too tired after our adventure," Nanako replied. "I went straight to sleep. And I didn't dream of anything, as far as I can remember. Thank god for that, right?" She smiled with more enthusiasm than she felt.

Chie chipped in by saying she also slept like a rock.

"I couldn't sleep," Yosuke said. "It was raining, so I stayed up and watched it at midnight. It was... It was Saki-senpai's little brother, Naoki Konishi. He looked like he was writhing in pain. Then he disappeared from the screen."

"That's... pretty weird," said Nanako, not sure what to make of it.

"I think he's the same person who was on the night before, too. The one we all saw."

"Oh! You might be right," said Chie. "He did have the same kind of look that Naoki-kun has."

"Wavy hair?" That's all Nanako could contribute, since she had never seen Naoki before.

They entertained some ideas as to why he might be on the mysterious Midnight Channel. They decided he probably wasn't their soulmate.

Then the school answered the question for them. An announcement rang out in the middle of their afternoon classes, calling all teachers to bring their students to the auditorium for an unplanned assembly.

After everyone was shuffled into the rather small auditorium—it lacked chairs even for teachers—the principal, a sagely-looking old man with an impressive white beard, announced that Naoki Konishi had passed away early in the morning. He gave no details, only exhorted the students to support the Konishi family and aid the police if they had any information.

The students, however, had a field day with rumors and speculation. Nanako sifted through them for the facts and discovered that Naoki had died in a manner eerily similar to the announcer lady, Mayumi Yamano.

Nanako put her hand on Chie's arm. "We have to go back."

"Huh?" Chie looked up from her phone. "Back where...? Oh, there? Nanako... I don't know..."

"He showed up on TV, and then he died. I can go into TVs. I think there's a connection." Okay, maybe it was tenuous at best, but...

To her relief, Chie agreed. "Y-yeah, actually. I heard someone say they saw the announcer on the Midnight Channel a few days ago, and she's dead now, too."

"And that room we found was related to Ms. Yamano," Yosuke added. "You remember those posters."

"What posters?" Nanako asked, and Yosuke reminded her that the posters in the apartment with the faces cut out were of the enka singer who was Taro Namatame's wife. Ms. Yamano might have resented the woman for being married to her lover.

"Oh, right." Nanako nodded. "Well, then. We're in agreement, right? We're going back in."

"W-whoa, I'm not sure," Chie protested. "I mean... Well, I was going to do something with Yukiko today, but she already texted that she's busy... I guess we could go back, but that place seems like it's dangerous! You remember those... those... whatever they were!"

"And what was with that bear?" Yosuke mused. "It saved us, even though it was chasing us. Honestly, I'm not sure what's going on, but... We can't ignore this, can we? I mean, only Nanako can go in, right?"

"Right. It's like my duty now!" Nanako made a fist and held it up in determination. We're on the case!

They headed straight for Junes, and Nanako split the team to collect supplies from different areas of the store before meeting up at the electronics department. Chie was to find some travel-sized water bottles and snacks, in case the trip took longer than expected, and Yosuke was to find a survival kit and maybe some sort of weapon.

Nanako herself... She went to the electronics section ahead of them to brood in front of the TVs. She touched each and every one, and she found that all of them could be entered. It was quite puzzling that she had this power. She was trying to remember the last time she'd touched a TV screen without her hand going through, and came up blank. Probably back home in Tokyo. She'd dusted the TV screen in the living room whenever her parents asked her to help clean.

She was wondering if she should ask her parents if this ran in the family or something when both Yosuke and Chie showed up together. Apparently they'd met each other at the elevator. Chie had a small duffel bag full of supplies and Yosuke carried a golf club in one hand and a portable first-aid kit in the other.

He also had a rope tied around his waist. Nanako asked him about it.

"Umm, well," he answered, "I thought that someone—well, Chie, actually—could stay behind and hold the other end so that we have a lifeline to get back out of there."

Nanako tilted her head to consider this idea. It took her some time to respond, and Yosuke stuttered and tried to further explain his reasoning, but she cut him short. "No, you're right. We need a way back out. But I'm thinking I want Chie with me."

"Uh, I'm fine with not going in!" Chie said.

Nanako looked at her. Chie had seemed reluctant earlier, that was true. "Yeah, but you know some kung fu. I might need that in there. Yosuke, do you know how to bring a man to his knees with a well-placed kick? No, I didn't think so." Yosuke began to protest, but Nanako headed him off. "Besides, you already have the rope tied around you. It's perfect. You'll be our anchor to the real world."

"I'd rather come with..." he said, looking forlorn.

"You were very brave yesterday," she told him. "But this is an important job, too."

"Y-yeah, I know..."

She took the golf club from him and tested it out as a weapon, very careful not to swing near any TVs, though she saw Yosuke wince reflexively anyway. It didn't feel quite right, but it would do for now. "All right, Chie. Let's go."

Nanako took the first-aid kit and the free end of the rope from Yosuke and guided Chie towards the TV.

The two of them landed right where she had hoped: the same TV stage with the target and human outlines painted on the floor.

And... the rope plan worked! She saw the rope trailing off into the sky, well, at least as far up as she could see in the dense fog. Good, they could climb out if they really needed to. She'd hoped to be able to bring the rope with her, kind of like that one Greek dude had used string to navigate that maze in that one myth, but it wasn't long enough, so she just left it to hang there.

Hmm, maybe she should ask Morooka what myth she was thinking of. He was sure to know. The ancient Greeks were famous for philosophy, after all.

Anyway, her next move was... She took out a compass and checked it. It didn't seem to be able to find north. She sighed. So much for that idea.

"So, we're back here. Now what?" Chie asked with a sigh of her own.

"I'm thinking!"

There was no sign of that talking bear, anyway. She hoped the monsters hadn't, well, killed it...

Nanako lifted her head. "All right! Let's go."

Fortunately, Chie didn't ask and just followed her lead. Nanako headed in the complete opposite direction from where the apartment had been. They weren't all that far from the stage when they found themselves on a paved street.

"This seems kind of familiar," Chie said after they'd walked a little farther down the street. "It's hard to tell with all this fog, though..."

"You've dreamed of this place?" Nanako stopped in her tracks. Was she not alone in this weirdness now?

"N-no, I mean... Here!" Chie stopped by a red wooden pole. When Nanako squinted up and realized it was a gate to a shrine. "This is the shrine in the central shopping district. This whole street. It's part of Inaba!"

"Oh. Uhh, I haven't been to the central shopping district yet." Well, not on foot, anyway. Nanako was aware that she'd driven past it on her first day, but she'd been too sick after the Gas Station Incident to even bother looking out the window.

They walked further down the replica shopping district when suddenly an announcement blared out through the fog. "At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day!"

"Umm," said Chie.

"Yeah, even I know that Junes isn't in the shopping district," said Nanako.

Nanako walked a few more steps when she heard a shudder-inducing squelching sound coming from somewhere in front of her. Something the size of a bean-bag chair flew through the fog towards her.

It was... a zebra-striped ball with a huge black tongue and rows of neat teeth that a dentist would approve of. The ball defied gravity, floating in the air as if hovering on hummingbird wings.

Nanako backed away, but it had seen her somehow even though it had no eyes, and then she noticed there was a second one. "Ch-Chie! Monsters!"

She hefted the golf club—god, this way too bulky to use on a regular basis—and brought it up in a side swing. It connected, and the tongue-ball went flying through the air like a nightmarish golf ball.

She whirled to see the second one bearing down on her. She tried to guard with the golf club, but there was so little time. She hunched her shoulders to endure a lick when suddenly the tongue-ball squealed, knocked away by a furious kick from Chie.

Nanako barely had time to thank her when the squelching sound repeated and several more of the tongue-balls came soaring at them. Chie tried to punch one, but it dodged, and having expected the attack to connect, she was unbalanced. The enemies took advantage of this to lick her with their enormous tongues. She screamed and went down.

Nanako tried to club them off of her friend, but more and more appeared, and one turned its attention to her. The big black tongue came right at her head and she thought no, not the face and then time seemed to stand still.

I am thou...

She cried out as her head began to pound. Wind swept around her, blowing the fog away, but not, unfortunately, the monsters.

Thou art I...

From the sea of thy soul, I cometh...

There was a card in her hand. She crushed it instinctively.

"Persona!"

A female figure in a flowing white gown appeared in front of her. Her arms were bound to her body by white belts, and she was blindfolded by red cloth. A white shawl billowed out behind her, and her mostly featureless gown had a striking line of scarlet running down either side of her body. Black hair whipped around her head like streamers.

"I am Izanami… I learned at Yomotsu Hirasaka the fickleness of the heart."

The goddess seemed to look at Nanako through the blindfold.

"Tell me, am I wrong…?"

Nanako gasped, and then Izanami turned to the monsters and lifted a finger. Geysers of water shot out under the tongue-ball monsters, knocking them high into the foggy air. Nanako squinted, but none of the monsters came back down.

Izanami faded from sight.

Silence broke out over the street to be interrupted by the Junes theme ringing out.

"'At Your Junes,'" Nanako sang under her breath. She shook her head.

Chie squeaked her name behind her.

Nanako turned and smiled. She imagined the card and crushed it again, and Izanami appeared once more for a few moments.

"What is that...? How did you...?"

As Nanako summoned the goddess yet again, she realized this was only one small part of something huge.

The Junes building in the replica shopping district was so large that it extended into the street, effectively blocking the way forward. Nanako looked up as far as the fog would let her, and the building seemed to go on forever, built with far more than the two stories it was supposed to have.

"This is really creepy," Chie whined. "I want to go back."

"Not yet," said Nanako. "Look, I found a path."

It led to Junes's entrance, but the doors were blocked off, so they couldn't enter the megastore. Turning around, though, Nanako found a much smaller building. "Konishi Liquors?"

A disembodied and unfamiliar voice spoke to them. "Saki went to work for 'the enemy.' I didn't care. A job's a job, right? It's not like they wouldn't hire someone else."

"That's Naoki-kun's voice!" Chie gasped.

"But I wished she didn't, only because..."

A man's voice shouted angrily, "Just tell me why you have to work THERE, of all places!"

Naoki's voice continued, "I had to hear them complain about it every damned day."

"W-wow, I knew some people hate Junes," said Chie, "but... I was pretty happy when it opened, to be honest."

"'Every day's great,'" Nanako murmured. "You just can't beat their sales."

"I wish Saki would run away with her college boyfriend already so I can stop hearing it..."

"Oh, damn," said Nanako. "I kind of thought Yosuke didn't have a chance."

"Nanako!" Chie hissed, appalled at her poor taste.

They waited, but Naoki didn't seem to have any more to say.

Nanako crossed her arms and tapped her foot while thinking. "Naoki-kun is dead. Why are we hearing his voice? Is it his memories or something? I wonder... if he died in here."

"Wh-what, to those monsters?" Chie asked, shuddering.

"Yeah."

"But how did he get in here?"

Nanako knew Chie was looking at her. "Hey, I'm abiding by Rule #1, okay? I don't even know what Naoki-kun looked like except that he had wavy hair."

"Y-yeah, I wasn't accusing you."

"Let's go inside."

The liquor store was a wreck. It looked like it might have been looted or vandalized. Broken bottles littered the floor, and their spilled contents made the floor sticky and unpleasant to walk across.

"It reeks in here," Chie commented.

"I could use some brandy," Nanako said absently. "I'm going to investigate. You don't have to come."

"W-well, I don't want to be alone..." Chie protested.

"Just scream if a monster shows up," Nanako told her. "I'm going in the back."

The back room only contained a few big barrels meant to store large quantities of alcohol. A couple of them were smashed open. With so much broken wood splintered over the floor, Nanako had to step carefully. While she was navigating towards a work table, she heard Chie shouting from the front.

"Nanako! S-something's there!"

Ah, finally the bear shows up. She'd expected to see it much earlier, though she couldn't pinpoint why.

But it wasn't the bear. It was... another Chie? It stood there with its hands on its hips. Something was off about it, however—an aura of blue smoke surrounded it, and it had yellow eyes and a cruel smirk on its face.

"I'm pathetic," it said in a distortion of Chie's own voice. "I don't have any sort of power." Its unfriendly grin seemed to grow wider at the admission. "Not like Nanako."

"Uhhh... Chie?" Nanako said cautiously.

The real Chie flinched at the accusation. "Wh-wh-what?"

"Yeah, I'm powerless, aren't I?" the other Chie went on. "I don't even have power over Yukiko anymore."

"Wh-wha... Leave Yukiko out of this!" Chie shouted at it.

It ignored her and waved a hand flippantly. "I used to, you know. Yukiko used to look up to me. Oh, how I loved it! I vowed to protect her from everything—keeping her fragile and keeping her dependent upon me!"

"Th-that's not what I think of Yukiko!" Chie exclaimed.

"Isn't it?" the thing replied. "I should know... I'm you. Yukiko's my friend, because I wouldn't let her go. But now she's trying to get away. What's up with that, huh? It's because I'm pathetic. Maybe she's realized it already. That's why she hasn't been answering my calls."

Chie sniffled. "That's..."

"Yukiko doesn't care about me anymore. She cares about the inn so much more." It paused and then made a dramatic flourish. "Or maybe it's because... I'm not from Tokyo!"

"What does that even have to do with...?" Nanako interrupted. "Oh, wait..."

The thing laughed, and Chie declared, "You're not me!"

The laugh became maniacal, and the aura about it darkened and expanded until it couldn't be seen. When the darkness faded, something else was in its place.

It was a woman wearing a yellow hooded mask and matching knee-high boots perched on a tower of faceless female Yasogami High students. It carried a long red whip that reached all the way to the floor and several lengths of chains, and behind it was a cloak of long, beautiful black hair... that also seemed to be carrying knives.

"Oh, what," said Nanako. She glanced at the real Chie, and the girl was flat on the ground, apparently unconscious. She looked at her golf club and then back at the dominatrix way at the top of the huge tower.

This really wasn't going to work.

She envisioned her card and smashed it. "Izanami!"

The goddess came forward and a powerful jet of water hit the dominatrix, causing the whole tower to lean backwards, but it ultimately stayed upright.

In return, the dominatrix waved its cherry-red whip, and suddenly a bolt of lightning came down from the sky and hit Nanako. I'm dead, she thought, but although it had been painful, she hadn't even been knocked down by it.

If this was the real world, though, she would have been killed by that, no question. This place was very weird...

She didn't have time to think about it. She hefted the golf club and steeled herself, then ran towards the tower's base, but the going was slow due to the stickiness of the floor. The dominatrix didn't move, though, and when she finally made it there, Nanako closed her eyes and whacked the bottommost student as hard as she could with her weapon. It wasn't a real person, she told herself, but the sickening thwack it made on contact caused her to shudder.

"Are you an idiot?" the dominatrix screeched. "Protecting that jealous bitch!" It lifted the whip and, with deadly accuracy, flung Nanako so painfully across the room that she saw stars.

Not like this, she thought, gripping the point of the whip with all her strength even though she was whimpering against the floor. "Izanami?" she called, and the blindfolded goddess answered by singing a bittersweet melody. Its tune soothed Nanako's pain, and also gave her an idea.

"Izanami!" she called again, and from above the goddess doused the entire battlefield in water.

The dominatrix treated her to an amused smile. "That didn't even tickle," it teased, tugging at the whip Nanako was still clutching. "I'm disappointed."

Nanako braced herself. The dominatrix was ready to summon another round of lightning.

"Why don't you try being the bottom for once?" Nanako shouted as the clouds gathered up and roared above. When the lightning bolt struck, she raised the whip and looked at her friend's dark side, its face twisting into an expression she would savor forever as it screamed in bitter agony from the electricity flooding through it.

The singed tower of students toppled backward, and the being dissolved into a mass of black and red smoke, which faded and left behind the yellow-eyed Chie. It lacked the smirk that it previously wore and seemed to be subdued.

After Nanako recovered her breath, she saw that the real Chie was getting up to her feet. "What happened?" the girl asked groggily.

"That happened," Nanako said, pointing with her thumb at the fake Chie. "I don't even know anymore. I think it's related to you somehow. Maybe you can give it a hug or something, I think it needs one."

It was looking pretty sad. Chie slowly approached it. "Are you... How did you know all that about me...? But... You're right. Yukiko's my friend, and maybe I'm a bit overprotective of her, and she's been really busy lately and I'm worried that she doesn't care, but... Yeah."

The other Chie nodded, and in a flash of light, it disappeared. In front of her now was a large yellow-clad warrior woman holding a double-sided naginata. "Tomoe...? My Persona...?"

The figure turned into a card that Chie took in her hand. Then she collapsed to her knees. "Ugh, Nanako... I want to go home..."

"Y-yeah, me too," Nanako said. She moved to her friend's side. "Uh, about Yukiko... I haven't even talked to her since the first day of school. I'm not trying to steal her from you or anything. Really!"

"Y-yeah, I know," Chie replied weakly. She even managed a small smile.

"But, well..." Nanako smiled back at her. "There's always a threesome option, right?"

On the way back to the stage backlot, they discussed their new powers. "Tomoe Gozen was a master swordswoman and an amazing archer," said Chie. "She was kind of one of my heroes growing up, you know!" She summoned the Persona for the sixth time and looked up at it with the same look of awe that she'd had the first time. "What about you? Izanami? Show me again?"

"Yeah..." said Nanako. "I'm actually a bit too tired to bring her out again." She could envision the card, but it wasn't appearing because her mind couldn't seem to focus. "I think I used it all up in fighting that... thing."

"If that thing was related to me," Chie mused, "I wonder if that's what killed Naoki-kun! Not mine, I mean, but maybe he had something come out and attack him like that! If you weren't there, what would've happened to me...?"

"You'd be strung up on a TV antenna tomorrow morning," Nanako predicted, and they both shuddered just thinking about it.

"Then, this world... Who the heck built it?" Chie asked. "I mean, I really doubt Naoki-kun built the central shopping district himself, and that Junes building, too!"

"It was towering over the liquor store," Nanako noted. "I wonder if that's how he saw Junes? Like he and his family were living in the store's shadow?"

"Oh! Could be. But then... who built it? Naoki-kun's mind?"

"Why not?" said Nanako. "I mean our Personas are from our mind! That other Chie came from your mind, I bet."

"Too bad we don't have psychology as our elective this year, huh?" Chie chuckled. "Man, this is so weird."

"Tell me about it."

But the weirdest was yet to come. Right in the center of the stage that bear was waiting for them. "You guys!" it said. "Why did you come back? You saw how dangerous it was! I barely escaped with my fur!"

Upon closer inspection, the creature did not look dangerous at all. It appeared to be someone in a costume, actually. It even had a zipper around its neck. It was very round, with a red and white body with big red buttons on the front, and cartoonish, overlarge eyes. The fur above the zipper was blue and its ears twitched occasionally.

"We had to know more about the nature of this place, Bear-san," said Nanako, "so we came back."

"Bear-san? My name's Teddie! But you can call me... Teddie-san!" It wiggled its ears in delight. "But this place isn't meant for people! You shouldn't be here."

"Are you like, the guardian of this place?" Chie asked. "Is that why you chased us yesterday?"

The bear looked embarrassed. "Oh, w-well, I thought you were the ones throwing people in here! So I was gonna getcha! But then you ran right towards the most dangerous Shadows in here, so I realized you probably weren't the bad guys..."

"Shadows? Is that what you call those monsters?" Chie asked.

"Wait, throwing people in here?" Nanako said, overwriting Chie's question with her own. "So someone else has the same power that I do?"

"You have the power to bring people to this world? Hmm..." The bear seemed to think about it. "But do you have the power to get back out?"

"Well, we have this rope," said Nanako. The escape rope was still hanging there. "I don't fancy climbing it, but it's there."

"I can make an exit for you again," Teddie said. "But... won't you lovely ladies listen to my story?"

"I dunno," said Chie. "I really kind of want to go home now."

Teddie told them how the world was once peaceful, but with someone throwing people into it, everything's been thrown out of whack. "If you can come in here on your own... Won't you try to put a stop to this for me?"

"Uhh," said Nanako.

"For me...?" the bear pleaded, its large eyes sparkling.

"Give me a sec to think about it," Nanako said. She sat cross-legged on the ground. That announcer and Naoki died. This world was definitely involved. The police... would laugh at her if she tried to tell them, unless they had some sort of secret division for paranormal phenomenon (doubtful). She could demonstrate her TV-entering power to them, but that might just turn her into a guinea pig of some sort. She imagined being holed up in a bio research lab somewhere and mentally shuddered. No, she valued her freedom far too much. It might cause trouble for her dad, too, and he had his own cases to worry about in Tokyo and couldn't become involved in this.

But finding a killer? That's what this was now, wasn't it? A murder investigation. Someone had put people into the TV so that they'd die to the monsters. She was only sixteen, but... yeah, she didn't mind matching her wits with a killer.

"I'll solve this mystery or my dad isn't a detective!" she declared, raising her fist into the air.

The bear squealed in delight. "I knew I could count on you. Here, I'll give you an easy way out!"

Teddie did a twirl, and a stack of TVs appeared.

"We'll be back soon," Nanako promised him. "We'll have lots of questions, too, so be ready!"

The exit deposited them in the electronics section at Junes, just as it had the last time. Nanako would have to ask how the bear knew this was their exit, and if he could set it to another exit. She wondered if she could be sent directly to the TV in her room. It would save her a long and tiring walk home...

"Oh, thank god you're back. You've been in there for hours!"

Nanako looked up at Yosuke. The boy's face was ashen with worry. "Sorry for making you wait," she said. She didn't tell him that they didn't need the escape rope... In fact, she took the rope from him—he'd apparently untied it from his waist—and stuffed it into the TV. She could find a use for it the next time they went in.

Wait, that rope... It had been hanging in the sky, but the exit TV hadn't been in the sky, and yet the rope had still been there, and... What would've happened if she'd brought the hanging end of the rope through the exit TV with her?

She shook her head and then proceeded to inform him of their findings. She didn't tell him about their 'Persona' power, either, and Chie didn't call her out on the omission. That was because Chie was on the phone. "Yukiko, can we meet? I really need to talk to you," Nanako overheard.

"A-anyway, Yosuke," said Nanako. "We're exhausted. You look like you need some sleep, too. We'll give you the details tomorrow, all right?"

He looked like he was about to protest, but then he took in both of the girls' appearances, and then he nodded. "Yeah. I'll see you at school."

Nanako saw her friends off, and then bought a notebook at Junes and began to make a shopping list. If they were going to make a habit of entering what she now called 'the TV World,' they'd definitely need to be better-prepared.

The way home led Nanako through the flood plain. There at the picnic table, she saw Chie with Yukiko. By how close they were sitting—it looked like Yukiko's head was resting on Chie's chest—it was obviously a precious moment. Nanako decided to pretend that the river on the opposite side of the road was far more interesting and walk a little more quickly.

A threesome could happen later.

[Next Chapter: Gauze and Lace

Nanako takes a ride down to the police station. It was bound to happen!]