Maika Mishima kneeled in front of the shrine, spreading out the variety of beautiful wildflowers she had picked along the way. They were all vibrant colors. Purples, pinks, teals, yellows. Maika felt cheerful just looking at them. She looked up when something landed before her. "Hello, Mr. Fox!" she greeted the animal happily. "How are you today?"

"Yip yip!" the fox answered.

"You like the flowers, too?" Maika asked. "I think they're just beautiful. I thought they would look perfect here at the shrine."

"Yip!" the fox agreed.

Maika loved the fox. She felt like she really understood him when they "spoke". She had been having regular chats with him, as she visited the shrine often. It made her feel happy and complete to spend time there. She remembered when they were little and Nanako told her that the fox had borrowed and returned her umbrella. No one else believed the story, except for Maika. Maika had already been spending time there. Instead of trying to catch bugs with the other children, she would sit by the shrine and share snacks with the fox. The only other person Maika had seen spend time with the fox was Nanako's cousin, Souji. She wondered if he "spoke" fox, too, or if he just liked animals. Nanako's house was always surrounded by cats that her cousin was taking care of, so she supposed that either could be true.

Maika heard someone approaching behind her. What were the odds that Nanako would show up right when she was thinking of her? "Nanako-chan!" she shouted, greeting her friend with a happy smile.

"Hey, Mai-chan! What are you doing here?" Nanako asked as she took in the scene around her. Maika was sitting beside the fox, who was surrounded by a ring of wildflowers.

"Oh, I was just visiting with Mr. Fox! He and I both love the vibrant colors of these flowers I picked today." She blushed slightly, wondering if that was too weird of a thing to say.

"How do you know he likes them?" Nanako asked curiously.

"Oh, because he told me," Maika admitted.

Nanako was surprised. "Like… he said 'I like those flowers, too'?" she asked, feeling very confused.

"No," Maika said, trying to decide how to explain. "He doesn't speak Japanese or anything like that, he just yips. But we understand each other perfectly," she said, beaming.

"Wait, you can understand him? Really?" Nanako asked.

"Yes!" Maika exclaimed. "Is that bad?"

"No, no! It's just… Souji used to 'talk' to him. I don't think he fully understood him, though, it was more about body language. And I sort of thought he was just messing with me."

"Yip yip!" the fox exclaimed.

"What… what's he saying?" Nanako asked.

"He says that your cousin is a good friend of his," Maika said.

Nanako laughed. "I'm not surprised." She glanced at her phone and panicked when she saw the time. "Oh, no! We're going to be late for school if we don't leave now! Come on, Mai-chan!" Nanako exclaimed.

"Oh, oops! Bye, Mr. Fox!" Maika shouted, waving as Nanako pulled her off towards school.

"Yip!" said the fox in return.


Takeyoshi had no idea where he was, even though it looked just like Yasogami High School. It wasn't a break, but there were no other students here, and no teachers. Just a double of himself that kept saying things he didn't want to hear. The same things that had been running through his mind for years. How much Emiko loved him and wanted to be with him, and how chicken he was for not asking her out. And how awful he felt inside at the reasons why. Reasons like the fact that he had been holding out all these years, just in case Nanako showed any interest. Because he liked Nanako as much as he liked Emiko.

So Takeyoshi had spent years being their friend, deflecting as much of Emiko's attention as possible without hurting her feelings. At times, he almost went for it, but there was still a huge piece of him that wondered how Nanako felt, and kept waiting a little bit longer. He was pretty sure that Nanako liked Teddie, which made sense. He thought Ted was a really fun guy to be around, even if he was pretty strange. But he still wished that Nanako would notice him and return his feelings.

And now he was stuck in here with himself, listening to all the details of his insecurities, over and over again. How long had it been? Hours? Days? Weeks? It felt like weeks, but he wasn't sure. The worst part came at the end, when Nanako and Emiko and Teddie - and some kids he didn't know - burst in and heard everything his double had been saying. Takeyoshi couldn't hear anything anymore. It was like the world had become silent. All he could see was the hurt look on Emiko's face. She looked completely crushed, and Nanako look confused and hurt as well. And Ted looked hurt and angry. The looks on their faces were exactly why he had kept this to himself for all these years. He had no idea how he was supposed to fix this.

The double turned into some sort of monster. It was getting harder to see through the fog now, so Takeyoshi wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he thought the others were fighting it? Awhile later, it came back to him, and he stood and spoke. "I know… you're a part of me. It's all a mess right now, but we'll find a way to fix it," he said. The double smiled softly, then started to shimmer and fade. Takeyoshi opened his palm as a card appeared inside it. Justice? Like… my name? "Take Minakata," he said with a frown. Then he hit the floor hard. When he woke the next day, he couldn't remember how he ended up at home.


"I… I don't know what to do," Teddie said sadly. He was sitting on the floor of Yosuke's closet, a.k.a. his bedroom.

"About what?" Yosuke asked.

"About Yoshi-kun liking Nana-chan!" Teddie wailed.

"Why do you have to do anything? I mean… people feel what they feel. You can't really fault him for crushing on Nanako-chan, can you?"

"N-No, but… I don't like this feeling, Yosuke. I like Yoshi-kun, he's my friend! But I don't like him wanting Nana-chan! It feels… bad."

"Nanako-chan doesn't like him that way, right?" Yosuke asked.

"No, she said she loves Teddie! So I don't think she likes Yoshi-kun that way at all."

"Hold on a second, she told you she loves you?!" Yosuke asked in disbelief. "When were you going to tell me that?"

Teddie blushed and looked away. "Some things are personal, Yosuke."

Yosuke burst into laughter. "Did you tell her, then? That you looooove her?"

"Hmph. Of course I did!" Teddie said, feeling irritated. "Nana-chan and I are girlfriend and bearfriend now."

Yosuke sighed in exasperation at the neverending bear puns. "Then I'm pretty sure you don't need to do anything about Takeyoshi-kun."

"I can still be friends with him?" Teddie asked.

"Of course you can."

"And I don't have to stay mad at him forever?"

"No, Ted. You can stop being mad whenever you want to."

"Alright… Thanks, Yosuke."

Teddie flung himself onto Yosuke in a huge bear hug. "Alright, I get it, now get off of me!"