Author thingy : uhhhhhhhhhhhhh... yeah... xD for a reviewer 'Guest' : really? well thank you, that idea has been stucked on my head for a few months, so now it's time to let it out! it's screaming inside my head! =)) i'll try to make this story a bit worthy to your expectation... *thumbs*

City Street | Evening | Year 2024

The night sky is starting to conceal its blinking stars. Even the moon is now half-covered by the cloud.

"Oh man, it's going to rain."a brown-haired man leaning against a large glass window mumbles to observes the cloud moves covering all stars on its way. He takes out his cell phone from his pocket, pressing some buttons causing the screen to light up and reveal the main screen wallpaper. The picture is a close-up of two people, the man himself and a light brown-haired woman. Both grinning wide and their fingers forming a 'V'. He looks at the numbers indicating time. It says 20:36. "He sure took his time. I hope he gets here before it starts raining."he puts his cell phone back to his pocket. He rests his head on the window, exhaling. A black sedan is veering left and slowing down its speed to the side of the road right in front of where the man is standing. The car despite not very large in size, its slimness and accent on every edge of the car simply shows how much it costs and it is definitely far above average. The car is not unfamiliar to him. He had seen and ridden it a few times. Seeing the car stops, he stands and picks up his bag from the ground. As he approaches the car, the doorglass facing the man slides down revealing a grey-haired driver.

"Took you some time. I almost thought you were lost."the man says laughing a little. The driver, Yu, chuckles.

"Even if I were you, I will most unlikely to get lost, Yosuke."Yu says while the brown-haired man whose name is Yosuke opens the door and takes the front seat beside Yu.

"Really? In a long-no-visit city where everything's practically different from the last time you remembered?"Yosuke closes the door and sets himself comfortable. "I don't even recognize the roads!". Yu clicks a small button on the inside door handle beside him to slides the glass back up.

"In any city."

"Yeah right."

"I transferred a lot. Did you forget? I adapt and fit myself in easily."

"Oh, right, transfer student."Yosuke puts on the seatbelt. "You did move very often, huh?". Yu steps on the gas pedal and drive forward.

"By the way, Yosuke,"

"Hm?"

"That wasn't the bus stop sign.". The sentence doesn't get right directly to Yosuke's mind. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Then he realizes, Yu's swag. Strange, sarcastic, upfront, and sometimes 'mean' swag. He quickly analyzes the currently said swag, identifying which element is included in the sentence. A few seconds thinking, it is 'sarcastic', Yosuke thinks. He sighs in desperation.

"Your words mean so much, partner...". Yu chuckles lightly.

"Oh,"Yosuke changes his expression to seriousness, forgetting the 'jokes' they conversed. "Yu, there's...something,"he says hesitating.

"What is it?"asked Yu while keep driving carefully.

"I heard...a voice."

"Voice? A ghost?"

"Oh come on, I'm being serious here!"

"What, you're scared of ghosts?"

"That's Chie!"

"Then you don't have to get hysterical like that."Yu grins.

"I'm not hysterical."

"But you just-"

"Alright cut it! Look, I heard something while I was waiting for you."

"You were waiting for me?"Yu asks in a...'seductive' tone.

"This is no time for joke."

"Okay."Yu smiles.

Yosuke sighs, composing himself. "First, how long will it take to arrive at your house?"

"About 10 to 15 minutes."

"Then we have 10 minutes to talk about this."

"...Why? We can't talk about it in the house?"

"It's not that-"Yosuke halts his sentence. "Wait a minute. Now that I think about it, I was in front of an electronic store."he says practically to himself.

"So...?"

"Then that'd make sense! The voice! I heard it before!"

"Yosuke-"

"Remember when we went into the TV and met this robot girl?"

"The P-1 Grand Prix?"

"Yeah. There were few people with her, saying they were going to 'retrieve' the girl back."

"What about them?"

"It's not them I'm worried about, it's the strange voice. It was right before we got out at the entrance, she suddenly stops moving, and-"

"Someone took over her."

"-that's it! And the voice, sounds exactly the same to what I heard just now."

"...And you were standing near a TV, right?"

"Yeah...yeah! I was looking all around for the source, which I thought it came from a speaker or something but no speaker present. And, it seemed like I was the only one who heard it, and it kinda...responds to my thoughts."

"...Respond? You mean talking to you?"

"I was just thinking how tired I was, and it said 'It won't do you any good' or something like that."

"..."Yu takes a moment in taking the conversation into his head for further processing, a special trait of him, and he is proud of it.

"So what do you think? I thought I should tell you."

"Well...there are rumours about that store for some time now."

"Rumours?"

"A very common rumours though. One, they say, someone who worked there part-time saw the TV she just turned off suddenly shows random static bars and the screen was like it was splitted into two. She got frightened and then quit."

"Huh..."

"Other, some people who walked past the store and stare at the TV felt lilke it's calling them."

"Wait, well, it's not how it was supposed to work, but, seem like-"

"The midnight channel."Yu adds knowing where this topic is going on. "But, those rumours don't sound like they happen at midnight. The store closes at around 10, so they won't be able to look at the TV."

"It's been years ago, things have been fine and normal now. I don't want to admit, but, this..."

"How about Inaba? Is something strange happening?"

"Nope. Peaceful as ever. The only difference is there are more shops opening or returning at the shopping district.". Yu shifts his head backward to rest on the neck-pillow attached on both front seats to provide more comfort.

"Since you just witnessed it tonight, maybe we should check up on things starting now. We'll keep in touch with Uncle, Chie, and Naoto there."

"Yeah, sounds better. I'll contact Chie for now."Yosuke puts out his cell phone.

"Don't stress her out too much. She's 5 months, right?"

"Wha- how'd you know that? I haven't told you- oh...right... Yukiko."

"Took you time, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean? I just got married two years ago, partner. So it's understandable."

"I didn't take years to have Yuki though."

"You were just lucky. Beside, Yukiko's not that busy, so she has lots of time to be at home."

"Actually she spends most of her work time at home."he says with a slight chuckle. "And I'm planning to have another soon."

"What? Wait for me, partner...". Yu laughs at Yosuke's pleading tone.

Narukami Residence

"Acchoo!"Yukiko pinched her nose as she sneezes. "Hmm? Did I catch a cold?"she mumbles.

"Are you okay, mom?"asks a child who is now sitting on one of the dining chairs just beside the kitchen. Yukiko is currently doing a daily routine of cleaning the kitchen.

"I'm fine."she says smiling. "Did you sleep well, Yuki?". The child nods.

"Mom,"

"Hm?"Yukiko responds while cleaning the counter.

"I had a weird dream."

"Oh? Did you have a bad dream?"

"In the dream, there's a...pinocchio old man..."

"Snrk...pinocchio?"Yukiko says amused.

"Yeah. He has a long nose, and...creepy eyes..."Yuki says replaying the dream he just had in his mind. He pictures the 'pinocchio old man' very clearly. An overly-sized nose, big round eyes as if it is looking through your very body and soul, hair growing only at the back side of the head. "He was telling me something...but, I don't remember."he furrows his eyebrows.

"Did you read a storybook before you went to bed?"

"...I read the story of pinocchio.". Yukiko smiles softly. She puts the towel used for cleaning on the shelves above the counter. She walks toward the fridge and open it.

"Do you want to drink orange juice?"

"Oh, can I? Is there an apple juice?"Yuki steps down from the chair and go to Yukiko's side, popping his head below her hand peeking the inside of the fridge as well.

"There's some. Why don't we prepare some juice? Uncle JUNES is coming."

"Uncle JUNES!?"he says cheerfully. "Really? With Nanako-nee, too?"

"No, Nanako-nee isn't coming along. It'll only be Uncle JUNES."

"Ohh..."he pouts in disappointment. Yukiko pats his head.

"Mom and Dad are going to take holiday soon. Would you like to go to Inaba again?"

"Really? Yes, Mom! I want to play with Nanako-nee again...and Teddie, too!"Yuki is now full with excitement.

"Alright. So, can you please take out the glass from the cupboard below? Take it out one by one, and place them on the table."

"Okay!"Yuki then opens the cupboard below the counter and takes the glasses one by one, while Yukiko puts out a bottle of orange and apple juice and pour them into two different pitchers. Few minutes later, a vehicle sound is heard entering the house yard.

"Is it Dad?"Yuki asks.

"Seems so. Go say hi to Uncle JUNES."

"Okay!"Yuki runs pass the dining room towards the front terrace. He opens the door and find Yu's car is slowly entering the outdoor garage while Yosuke pulling the gates to close them. He waves his hands.

"Uncle JUNESSSS!"he shouts. Yosuke looks at the direction where the shout is coming from.

"Oh, hi, Yuki-kun!"he shouts a bit also waving his hand.

Author thingy : uh huh... yeah... My Mind Is On Fire~