[Summary: At Naoto's request, Nanako and Kanji get a check-up at the hospital. Saki has a bit of a falling out with her family.]

[6/27: Monday]

"And the results are..."

Nanako waited with bated breath. Kanji, seated next to her in the hospital waiting room, was equally nervous. His fingers curled under his hands when Naoto had started speaking. Nanako, too, was worrying her lower lip while the detective took his damn sweet time consulting his clipboard.

"You're both perfectly normal," Naoto finished. "But thank you for indulging my curiosity, at any rate."

"Dammit, man," Kanji said, "you almost gave me a heart attack!"

Naoto had asked Nanako and Kanji to get a check-up at the hospital. 'Purely precautionary,' he'd said. Who knew what effects the fog in the TV World had on the body? Nanako had been afraid to find out; by now she'd breathed in so much of it that if it was dangerous, it was probably too late.

But apparently there was nothing to worry about.

"Aren't medical records supposed to be confidential?" Nanako pointed out. "What the heck are you doing with them? I was expecting a doctor to come out and see us."

Naoto blinked, not understanding the issue. "Of course I had to see the results myself to confirm them. The doctors found nothing unusual with either of you. Although..." He looked from his clipboard to Kanji.

"Wh-what?" Kanji asked. "Just tell me, dammit!"

"The X-ray scans discovered that some years ago your left distal finger was broken and had not been set properly."

Kanji stared down at his left hand in confusion.

"Your pinky," Nanako said helpfully.

"It is a little crooked," he admitted, holding it up for display. "But I don't remember ever breaking it."

"You may not have realized it was broken at the time," Naoto said.

"Huh," said Kanji. "I did slam it in the sewing box once..."

Nanako asked the detective to hand over the records and spent some time perusing them. Several types of blood tests had been done, as well as urinalysis. Their heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and other physical aspects had been tested too. Naoto had been rather thorough in his requests, but that was just par for the course.

...Wait, were those her bust and hip measurements!? She gasped, immediately switching to Kanji's file. Unfortunately, they hadn't measured what was most important.

"Would be funny if we could do an X-ray on Teddie," Kanji remarked, completely ignorant of the fact that she was checking out his records. He was looking at a printout of the X-ray of his left hand that Naoto had given him. "Wonder what that costume would show. He calls it his body, you know."

"Teddie is another aspect of the TV World that fascinates me," Naoto said. He took a seat at one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs and faced Nanako. "Who and what is he? Is he even a 'he'?"

"His voice is masculine enough," Nanako reported. "If childish. He doesn't seem to know anything about himself. I'll be honest, I haven't really bothered to ask him too many questions. After the fifth 'I dunno' you kind of lose hope."

"He said he 'grew' his body. Could you... obtain a sample of his... fur for analysis?" Naoto's eyes glimmered with barely-subdued eagerness.

"I dunno," said Kanji. "He doesn't like bein' touched. Or maybe it was just me. He backed away when I asked to pet him, man..."

"Yeah," said Nanako. "I don't know what was up with that. He was pretty fast to trust the rest of us—I've already pet him a few times—and he then he got all scared of you for no reason."

"Even strange people like him have a hard time accepting me..." Kanji couldn't hide the bitterness in his voice.

"Maybe he sensed that you work with fabric and thought you might want to skin him. Or maybe he was just being a jerk," she conceded. "Like I said, he's a bit childish, and also kind of useless when it comes to information about his world, but at the same time... He reminds me of my little cousin, Souji-kun. He has that air of innocence about him. I feel like he isn't hiding anything. He really doesn't know what he is."

"Senpai, speaking of Souji-kun," Kanji said. "Why's the little dude afraid of the police station? You were so pissed at Yosuke-senpai yesterday, even I was scared for him!"

Nanako explained that Souji's father had been a police officer. "His name was Sachio Seta, and he, well..."

"Oh, shit!" Kanji exclaimed. "I knew that guy! He wasn't a bad dude, for a cop. He even let me go when they brought me in for no reason once or twice." He bowed his head. "Terrible, what happened to him. That poor kid... Did Yosuke-senpai know?"

"Yeah, but he probably wasn't thinking." Nanako shrugged. "He is Yosuke, after all. And it's easy to forget about when you don't know Souji-kun that well."

"The officers at the station," Naoto added, "seem to hold that name in some reverence. I've heard Seta-san mentioned on more than one occasion while I was there."

"Yeah, I never met the man," Nanako said, "but his influence reaches pretty far, it seems."

There was a reflective silence for a time.

"To return to a lighter topic," said the detective, pulling his anti-fog glasses out of his pocket, "this Teddie is quite the craftsman. I almost wish I needed glasses so that I would have more use for these."

"I might have him make a pair for Souji-kun to play with," she agreed. "Last time we were there, I told him to make stuff. Uh, I gave him kind of free reign—didn't tell him what to make. Maybe we'll learn a lot about him when we go check up on him again just from what he's come up with. It's been since last week, so he's had a lot of time."

"What if he can only make glasses?" Kanji submitted. "We go in there and the stage is littered with glasses."

"I wonder if he can make correctional glasses, or glasses with abilities beyond clearing the fog," Naoto suggested. "Shadow-sensing glasses, perhaps. It could be worth looking into."

"I kind of doubt he'll be that useful," Nanako said. "He's kind of... well, actually, he is full of surprises. Kanji-kun, I never told you about my first trip into the TV World. Shirogane-san, you too. It was just the three of us: me, Chie, and Yosuke. When we first saw Teddie in there, we thought he was a monster, and we ran like hell away from him."

"You thought that cheerful-looking dude was a monster?" Kanji said questioningly.

"In my defense, I only saw his silhouette. He looked like a real bear. He even rawred at us! And then he started chasing us because he thought we were the ones messing up his world. And then we ran into trouble, a huge bunch of Shadows. And... Teddie jumped in front of us and made an exit TV and saved us." She paused significantly. "You know, I don't think I thanked him properly for that. We'd have totally died without him. It was before we had earned our Personas. Yeah, without him, it's really possible that we would've been hanging on a utility pole somewhere."

"It was rather brave of him to intervene as he did," Naoto noted, "considering he has no fighting abilities."

"Yeah, you poke him and he just falls over. I wonder if I should bring him some honey or something."

"Bring him a Topsicle," Kanji suggested. "He's like a kid, so... Kids love Topsicles. Hell, I love Topsicles, heh."

Nanako looked at him slyly. "Oh? I'll remember that."

"I would like to meet him," Naoto remarked. "And question him myself."

"Oh! You can talk to him through the Junes TV!" Nanako said excitedly. "As long as one of us opens the door. If you really want to, we can even go there now—"

Naoto's eyes narrowed at her shrewdly. "...You simply won't rest until I enter a television, will you, Nanako-san?"

She looked back in affected alarm. "What, no! I don't throw people in there... anymore... Rule #1, right, Kanji-kun?"

"Right, Senpai," said Kanji, oblivious to the madness.

The detective shook his head with a smile. "I might have to mark you as incorrigible, Nanako-san."

"You don't know the half of it, Shirogane-san!" she declared, glowing with shameless pride.

[6/28: Tuesday]

Yosuke asked Nanako out to lunch. Not as a date or anything—why was he always so quick to add that he never meant anything by it? It wasn't that funny.

They went to the school roof, where they both had bento for lunch. Yeah, neither of them cooked. At least Yosuke's bento was lovingly packaged by his mom. Nanako's was packaged by, well, whatever company stocked the school's vending machines.

On the bright side, Yosuke had bought her a Cielo Mist without her even asking. He was really taken with his role as team drink-buyer, heh.

But it was unnaturally quiet while they ate. Yosuke was just kind of playing with his food, pushing a piece of kinpira around with a chopstick. She stopped eating herself and waited until he spoke, because something was obviously on his mind. "Nanako," he finally said with his eyes downcast, "I'm really sorry about Sunday."

She had been sort of ignored him in class yesterday, but after thinking about it last night, she'd forgiven him.

"It's okay, Yosuke," she told him. "I was pissed, but... It's not like I haven't made the same mistake. Yeah," she went on when his expression changed, "my first day here, when Yamano died, I watched the news with Souji-kun right there, not thinking about how it might affect him."

"Ouch," he said. "That poor kid... He's too young to have it so rough."

"Tell me about it."

Feeling more relaxed now, Yosuke began to eat, so there was a comfortable silence for a bit. "It's pretty funny how we're all only kids," he noted, chewing on a bamboo shoot. "I mean, I don't have any siblings. Neither does Chie, or Yukiko-san, or Kanji."

"Yeah, that is pretty weird," she agreed. "I don't have any either. Just Souji-kun. And I've never really had to deal with kids before, so I'm kind of winging it with him. I love that little boy, though..."

"I can tell. He talked about you, you know. On Sunday. He doesn't talk very much, but he had a few things to say." He had a teasing smile on his face. "I think you're very important to him, too, 'big sis.'"

Nanako blushed despite herself. "I'm just trying to give him the attention he needs," she muttered.

Yosuke's smile faded. "By the way, I wanted to tell you... Saki-senpai has been calling out a lot at work. I don't see her very much anymore... but you're her friend, right? I was wondering if you knew, well, how she's doing?"

He still cared about Saki, and that was both kind of sad and sweet at the same time. "I haven't seen her in a while, that's true," Nanako mused. "I'll check up on her after school, how's that?"

Yosuke had informed her that Saki wasn't scheduled to work at Junes today (although he was, he'd added while making a face), so Nanako headed to the central shopping district, hoping she'd find the girl there somewhere. Saki wasn't in the streets, though, so she decided what the hell and entered the booze store. What was the worst that could happen, they call the cops on her for being underage?

No, as it turned out, the worst that could happen was she'd walk in on Saki and her father having a huge row.

"—why you can't be happy with what you have instead of being so ungrateful—"

"Ungrateful? You're the ones being ungrateful," Saki shouted back. "I've all but quit my job for you and you still bitch about it every chance you get! I'm just sick of it all—"

"Sick of you acting like what happens to the family is not your problem when—"

"Of course it's my problem, but it's your problem too and you just pile it on me as if I'm the cause and—

"If Naoki was here he wouldn't be trying to weasel out of this—"

"Don't you dare bring Naoki into this!"

"He took more responsibility than you ever will—"

Saki whirled, her school uniform skirt flaring out without her notice, and strode towards the door, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw Nanako standing there.

"Uh, Senpai," Nanako said with a nervous smile.

Saki's eyes narrowed, and then she pushed Nanako out of the way and exited the store at a brisk pace.

Nanako glanced askew at the girl's father, who was trembling with emotion. She waited for him to calm, and he collapsed backwards into a chair and wiped his face with a small towel.

She stepped forward. "Look, Konishi-san. I know you've lost your son and he was your world, but pushing away your only daughter isn't going to bring him back."

He blinked, apparently surprised by her presence. "Who are you? ...You don't know anything."

"I know enough—I know Saki-senpai cares about her family very much, but that family has been making it very hard to care. Maybe you could, I dunno, tone it down?"

"Get out," he ordered.

Nanako hurried out of the store, hoping Saki wasn't too far from it. The girl was not in immediate sight, so Nanako walked down the shopping district. The flood plain was kind of where everyone went when they were angry or sad, so she assumed that's where she was. The river's presence was always calming.

She didn't have to go that far, though. Saki was sitting on the bench at the bus stop at the southern end of the shopping district, her face buried in her hands. She wasn't crying, just... not wanting to look at the world around her. She didn't even notice when Nanako took a seat next to her, but she did jump when Nanako put an arm around her. "It's just me, Senpai," Nanako reassured her.

Saki sighed and moved her hands away from her face to reveal a bitter smile. "It's always like that," she croaked. "I hate going home, because they bitch at me for not being home more often. Just the most vicious cycle..."

"I told your dad he was being a dick." Nanako paused after that proud statement, calculating. "Uh, I hope that doesn't make things worse for you."

Saki snorted. "Nothing could make it worse. Don't worry." She leaned back against the wall behind them and sighed. "They don't approve of anything I do. Dating a boy in college. Getting my hair straightened. Working at Junes. They even bothered me for doing my homework the other night."

"What? Why?"

"I have no idea. You know, I've stopped trying to figure them out. It was probably another excuse to get into an argument. I just turned off the light in my room and told them I was going to bed and ended up calling my boyfriend instead. You know, whispering into the phone using my covers as a tent."

"That is a really cute visual, you know!"

The wavy-haired girl gave Nanako a wary look, and then relaxed. "Yeah. It's too bad my boyfriend wasn't that supportive. He doesn't live with his parents anymore, so he can't sympathize too much. And it's like he doesn't know how to interact with me anymore ever since my brother died. I just want him to treat me like he used to and he doesn't get that... Parents don't get it either. Every time we talk, it always ends up being about Naoki. Like he was everything I should aspire to be, or something. Dammit, he was younger than me! But he was a boy, so he could do no wrong. But he wasn't p-perfect, either, a-and he didn't like helping out at the store any more than I did..." She trailed off with a sniffle.

"I never had a chance to meet him," Nanako said quietly.

"God, I miss him every damned day." Saki wiped her eyes on her uniform scarf. "He wasn't the most popular kid in school, but he was friendly and liked to tell funny stories, and he loved cream puffs. We used to get into fights over the cream puffs all the time because I'd eat the ones he bought for himself. Those damned cream puffs..."

Her eyes glimmered with more tears, and she blinked them away. Nanako squeezed her close in support.

Saki sighed deeply. "It just makes no sense. Why would anybody want to kill him like that? Who would do such a thing?" she asked, staring down at the scarf clutched in her hands. "W-well, it's not like you have the answers. The police haven't even found anything..."

"I don't," Nanako admitted, "but..."

"If you have something to say, Nanako, just say it. Don't hold back." Saki seemed tormented by her hesitation to speak. "I don't want anyone holding back because they're afraid to deal with me."

Nanako pulled Saki's head to her shoulder. "You know I'm not like that," she murmured. She stroked her friend's hair. "It's just... Senpai. I have some knowledge about the case. I'll tell you if you want to know, but you have to promise to keep it a secret."

Saki's dark gray eyes blinked up at her. "You know something...? Did you hear something at school?"

"Senpai, I... I've been working on the case with Naoto Shirogane. It might seem like it's at a standstill, but we're making progress. We believe the killer was a kidnapper, too. In fact, do you remember that weekend Yukiko Amagi went missing? And when Kanji-kun went missing for a few days? It's because they were kidnapped. They were recovered, but we're sure they were intended targets."

"Wha..." said Saki. "It's not over? I want the killer caught, but I don't want anyone else to go through what my family is going through!"

"We've foiled him so far—Kanji-kun and Yukiko are safe—and every time, we get that much closer to finding his identity. We're narrowing it down. I just... I don't want you to lose heart, okay?" Nanako squeezed her again.

Saki murmured her thanks.

"You can help, too, Senpai," Nanako added. "We think Naoki-kun was also kidnapped before he was killed. We think he was kidnapped in the area south of Junes. We only know the general area, not the specifics. Do you have any idea where exactly he might have been?"

Saki shook her head. "I can't think of anything. And that's weird. If he was planning on going somewhere around there after school, you'd think he would have walked with me at least as far as Junes. Maybe it hadn't been planned?"

"Or maybe he didn't want you to know about it?" Nanako suggested.

"It's possible," Saki conceded, "but not like him. I... I can't really think right now, but I'll try, Nanako. I might be able to think of something."

Nanako patted the girl's back and then stood up to stretch her legs. Saki now had on a very thoughtful look. Knowing the girl was better now, Nanako bid her farewell and left her to think.

[AN: Thanks once again kuroXIII and emelian65 for reviewing~

I have no particular comments this time, though...

Next Chapter: Precious Things

Will Nanako bite the bullet and join a school club to protect what's important to her?]