The new Investigation Team had made plans to start heading into Sana-chan's part of the TV world the next afternoon. That was why morning found Miusagi skipping school again, and heading to the Textile shop instead. He took a deep breath before he pushed the door open. He walked up to Kanji and peeked over the counter to see what he was working on. "What'cha making?" he asked.
Kanji looked up. His expression was guarded again. He looked about as beaten as Miusagi felt. "It's nothing," he replied, shoving his project into a drawer. "Why aren't you at school?"
"I… need to talk to you," Miusagi started. He wasn't even sure how to have this conversation.
"Something the matter?" Kanji asked. He was being way too calm.
"Look, I guess… the whole shadow thing… I've never actually hated you, that wasn't quite right. But it was hard. I felt… guilty about my dad. He was gone, and you were there for me. No one else was, not even mom. S-So, yeah. And then, Naoto was there for me too, and it was hard to deal with that because I wanted it to be mom so badly. I guess I just want you to know that -"
"Miusagi. It's fine. Alright? Everything's fine. No one's mad at you," Kanji interrupted.
Miusagi finished anyway. "-that I do think of you like a dad."
Kanji blinked. "You do?"
"Y-Yeah. Is that ok?"
"Yeah, yeah it's ok," Kanji answered with a small smile. "I think of you both that way, you and Nanako-chan. Naoto does, too." He seemed far away for a moment before his look turned dreamy and a huge smile came to his face.
Miusagi laughed. "You're being so weird. What's going on?" Kanji pulled his project back out of the drawer. "Baby clothes? Wait, you guys are-"
"Shh," Kanji urged. "No one knows yet."
"No one at all?" Miusagi asked in a whisper.
"Nope. And we're gonna keep it that way for a bit, ok?"
"Why the hell did you tell me, then?" Miusagi asked, feeling alarmed.
"Because you're family. You should know."
"Is Naoto going to kill me if she finds out you told me about it?"
"Only if you tell anyone else," Kanji replied with a sly smile.
"Jerk," Miusagi muttered.
Just then, Naoto opened the door to the shop. Miusagi sighed. It really was his luck to get busted both for skipping and for knowing things he shouldn't know. "It's not Sunday," Naoto commented when she saw him.
Miusagi looked at the floor. "Ahh, no. It's not."
She glanced at Kanji's project. "You told him, then?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said with a smile.
Naoto nodded. Looks like I'm going to get to live, Miusagi thought. "You have a busy afternoon ahead of you. Have you eaten yet?" Naoto asked.
"Umm, no, not really," Miusagi answered.
She nodded again. "Come on, then. Let's get you some breakfast before you head to school." Miusagi followed her into the kitchen.
"You aren't mad then?" he asked as she started to gather food and make tea.
"About what?" Naoto asked.
"That Kanji told me… and about the school thing."
Naoto smiled. "We were going to tell you anyway. And I'd be mad about school if I didn't know where that habit rubbed off on you from," she said, looking back towards the shop with a frown. "You've had a lot to deal with lately. I understand feeling like school is the least of your worries. That's not to say that I don't think you should be going, because you should."
"I know. I'll do better," he said.
Naoto smiled again softly. "Good. Now eat your breakfast, Miu-kun, or you'll be even later."
Not only was school boring, but Miusagi's nerves were making it impossible to concentrate. He felt relieved when the day finally came to an end, and hurried off to the Junes food court to meet up with Nanako and Teddie. He found them waiting with Souji and Yukiko.
"Hey," Miusagi said.
"Oh good, you made it," Nanako said with relief. "It will just be us three going in."
"That's right!" Teddie exclaimed. "Sensei and Yuki-chan will wait here in case something bad happens. My watch is set for one hour. That's when we'll turn around and head back."
The three new teammates headed for the electronics department. "What are they gonna do for an hour in the food court?" Miusagi asked curiously.
"Souji probably brought homework," Nanako said. "I don't know what Yukiko will do. They'll probably just spend most of it talking to Yosuke since he's working."
"Oh, right. So do we have a plan for today?" he asked.
"Yep!" said Teddie. "We're going to work on clearing the lower floors of Sana-chan's area. We'll get stronger from fighting them all, and then we can come back another day and move up."
"Won't that take a long time? I mean, she's already been in there a few days. Didn't you say she would die if it gets foggy on our side?"
"Yes," Nanako answered. "But it will be awhile. And if we just run up to the top without training, we won't be able to handle the shadows there."
Miusagi nodded. He understood on one level, and on another he was completely miserable. If they waited too long, she would die. There was no way he was letting that happen. Still, he wasn't in charge, so he followed quietly. The shadows on the first floor were pretty weak. They had trained enough already to do well. The second floor was another story. Teddie had to spend a lot more time healing the others, which left them with one less fighter. Right when Miusagi felt like they were finally getting the hang of things, they climbed the stairs to the third floor. The shadows here were even harder. As much as he wanted to push forward, he felt relief when Teddie's watch alarm finally beeped. He pulled an item out of his bag that he referred to as a "GoHo-M", threw it to the ground, and they were instantly warped back to the exit. Miusagi shook his head. What the hell was that?!
They climbed back into the real world, sneaking past the few customers in the electronics department, and made their way back down to the food court. Souji looked up from his textbook. "Ahh, good, perfect timing. How did it go?" he asked.
"Pretty well," Nanako replied. She looked pleased. Miusagi wasn't sure whether she was pleased with herself or the team in general.
"We made it through the third floor!" Teddie announced.
"Oh, good," Yukiko said. "You're making good time."
"How many floors are there, anyway?" Miusagi asked.
"Rise stepped in when we were training you guys the other day to do an analysis. She thinks it's 10 floors," Souji answered. Miusagi exhaled loudly.
"Hey, it's fine," Nanako said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "That's only about 2 more trips in, 3 at the most. We'll have her out soon."
"You're right. Thanks, senpai."
Yukiko stifled a giggle. "I'm sorry, it's just so strange hearing your teammates call you senpai, Nanako. We spent so much time listening to the others referring to Souji like that. It brings back memories."
"Didn't they call the rest of you senpai as well?" Nanako asked.
"They did," Yukiko answered." But they used our names with it. Souji for some reason was just 'senpai' to them." She giggled again.
"Sensei was our fearless leader! He's a beary special guy!" Teddie shouted.
"I guess you're special, too, Nanako," Souji said with a wink. "Time to head home, guys, ok? You all look ridiculously tired."
They all nodded and headed their separate ways. Miusagi walked home. He was both relieved and disappointed that his mom wasn't there. She wouldn't see how tired he looked and wonder what was going on, but at the same time, he really didn't feel like spending another evening completely alone. He sighed, then headed back out the door. A short walk brought him to a small, yellow house with twinkle lights. He took a deep breath, then knocked. Kanji answered quickly. "Hey, Miusagi. How did it go today?"
"Good. Tired. Mom isn't home yet, can I hang out here for awhile?"
"Come on in. I'll make dinner."
Kanji ushered him in and shut the door. Miusagi stepped into the cozy living room, and let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.
