Naoto shirogane's mind was in full throttle.
The latest appearance of the midnight channel had thrown her for a loop, it completely defied all of her hypotesis over what the mastermind behind the P-1 grand prix would do next.
She took a calming breath and sat down to do what she always did in a bind, carefully analyze all the information and clues she had and figure out what she could. She had some general description of what the midnight channel looked like normally, when someone had been thrown in, thanks to her friends when they had explained all the details of their own investigations before she was thrown in herself.
This weird variety show and the red haired bride fit that structure quite well, what it didn't fit was the mastermind profile she had been able to workout, up until this point. The mastermind was a calculating individual, a human apt in manipulation and technology with a perchant for mockery.
Throwing in a random foreigner felt more akin to something Tohru Adachi would do.
She was broken out of her reverie by her phone ringing, Narukami's name showing on the display.
"Senpai, you've seen it too, right?" she asked answering the phone.
" Yeah" said Yu's voice on the other side" Rise and I both did. It's the midnight channel, the more typical version of it." He added confirming her suspicions.
Naoto spoke right after" I figured as much from your accounts from last year. She is definitely not from Inaba so we'd better check Yukiko-senpai's inn first, tomorrow for clues. Do you think this has anything to do with the mastermind?"
She could almost hear his head shaking from the speaker when he answered " No, this is different. From what we gathered, the mastermind wants to humiliate us and mock us and our bonds of friendship. Throwing in a normal person has nothing to do with else is behind this, somebody who threw this person in for some who? Izanami is no longer around, adachi is behind bars and namatame isn't in town from what uncle Dojiima told me."
"We'll have to investigate quickly, who knows when the mastermind's next move is going to get into motion. "She answered " I'll inform everyone to meet at the amagi inn tomorrow morning through the instant messaging app, we'll better involve Mitsuru-san too. Do we at least have any idea of the kidnapped identity?"
"Actually yeah" he said suprising Naoto" Rise told me that she recognized her after the broadcast. Apparently she is an ex-actress from America, a certain ... uh ... Mary Jane Watson " he said tentatively trying to not butcher the pronunciation, and relatively succeding. He continued " she left the scenes some years ago for some reasons and from what Rise remembers she never married so that whole thing about the marriage is the usual shadow unbalance"
Naoto nodded and asked " what do you think about the whole declaration about spider-man, then ? Do you think it's some sort of admiration twisted beyond recognition ?"
"No, it seemed a little too intimate and knowledgable to just be a shadow's crazy ranting."
"You are saying she actually knows who that american superhero, Spider-Man, is under the mask ?"
"Maybe, it wouldn't be the first time a shadow reveals something nobody knows about the person "he answered in a slightly amused tone .
Naoto huffed at the small jest regarding her own shadow, whom had revealed her true gender to her rescuers and future teammates back during her kidnapping. She had been posing as a male up until that point, but had felt more comfortable in her own skin since the incident and since her side investigation with Yu.
But the identity of Spider-man was a mistery that intrigued her, too. As a matter of fact everybody in the world remebered his unmasking, that event had reached every country on the planet during the superhero registration act craze. But misteriously nobody remebered his identity. The tv world existence, a place connected to the collective unconscious, had led her to hypotize that someone had altered the cognition of people over the entire planet somehow to, once again, make his identity a mistery, definitely a disquieting notion.
Shaking herself out of her musings she said to Yu " Anyway see you tomorrow, we'll talk more about the case with the others"
"Yeah, good night Naoto" "Good night, senpai" she then added smiling coyly "and say hi to Rise-chan for me"
Without missing a beat, Yu answered smugly "and you say hi to Kanji for me." At that Naoto blushed until she was red like a tomato a panicked look on her face and stuttering
"uhm...uhm...uhhhhm"
"Good night " he said finally closing the call,not giving her the time to correct him. Naoto quickly hid under the covers and pillows of her bed, still blushing up a storm while unfortunately imagining her tuggish friend in the same bed, thanks to her gray haired friend joke.
"Damn it, Senpai " she said, her words muffled by the pillow she was currently pressing on her face.
**********
Rise Kujikawa had been a bit nervous for the whole morning.
Actually she had been feeling nervous for a while now, ever since after she had been saved from the tournament by her Senpai in shining armor. More specifically, well...
$ Rise was humming to herself as she skipped happily towards her adoptive family owned tofu shop and house. Her adoptive grandmother was waiting for her with a small bag with her pajamas and night toiletries. She smiled thinking of her guardian in Inaba. Granny Kujikawa had been the first family member outside of her adoptive parents to immediately make the young amnesiac 8 year old orphan feel accepted and loved. She was her real granny for all that mattered to her.
Thinking back on her past caused a frown to sprout on her face. It had been 7 years prior when she had been found by the police of tokyo, wandering around dazed in the city, unable to talk and without a single recollection of who she was or where she came from.
The local police commisioner,a serious but kind man named Nijima, had taken pity on the young girl and after having her gain the japanese language with the help of a local minor telepath, that she speaked perfectly after a very quick session, he had gotten her in the adoption system.
She had been lucky, despite her westerner traits, her red hair and big doe brown eyes, her stay in the orphanage was quite short before meeting the Kujikawas. Her parents had been always kind and affectionate making her feel welcome and loved, altough she always used to get sad and closed off to everyone, wondering who her biological parents were and why didn't they ever look for her in the state she had been.
School was unfortunately another reason for her bouts of foul mood. On the academic side she was actually worry free, despite her amnesia, she caught up ( and surpassed) her classmates almost effortlessly, she was surprisingly smart and always understood quickly whatever the teachers explained.
But on the social side, she was really shy and struggled to make friends. Her awkardness lasted up until she was 13 and she had discovered her passion for music and dancing, which in turn, during the talent show at her school festival, led her to be discovered by her current producer, who succesfully launched her into the idol industry.
The fame and attention got her to break out of her shell becoming Risette. But just two years later, her Risette mask had started to feel constricting and fake, apart from herself and she was still plagued by her missing past. So she decided to drop the Idol industry and go to stay in Inaba with her grandmother to escape her notoriety and try to live normally.
Only at this point of her reminiscing did her frown turn back into a smile, facing and accepting her shadow, saving the world, meeting her friends, meeting Yu had completely turned her life around and made her feel able to breath again. She still wondered about her origins but it didn't feel like a burden anymore.
Deep in tought, she had arrived, close to under her grandma's house small balcony, where she didn't notice one of the hanging pots, its latch slowly coming undone under wear from the recent rains. The latch finally gave and the pot fell heading straight for her head.
At that exact moment, Rise felt a weird buzzing in her head coming from above that instinctually compelled her to step quickly to the left.
As soon as she did so, she heard a pretty loud sound of crashing pottery that startled her into letting out a small yelp of surprise.
She then looked to the side, and was surprised to notice the broken pot right on the spot where she was standing an instant prior.
"What the ...? How did I ...?" She asked herself surprised.
" Rise-chan, are you all right ?" Her grandma came quickly out of the backyard from the side of the house having heard the loud noise, asking concernedly.
Still gawking at the broken vase in disbelief, she answers " I'm fine grandma, I wasn't hurt"
Her grandma looks her over, checking for any injury, satisfied she nods then shifts her focus to the vase too.
Puzzled by the girl's reaction, she says "Don't worry, it was just a vase full of dirt, it didn't even have a plant in it right now"
Shaken out of her thoughts, Rise quickly nods and follows her in the house to gather her small backpack.
On the way back to the dojima residence, she once again thought to herself" what was that ? How did I dodge that vase at the last second ? I wasn't even using kunzeon like in the tv world to predict the shadows attacks and movement, how could have I ? I'm in the real world." She wondered if her persona was evolving further, like it did thanks to Yu two times already but it wasn't likely, she hadn't felt any change in her heart like before. Arrived at the door, she put her ponderings to the back of her mind before ringing.
She
wanted to enjoy the time she had with Yu while he was in Inaba $
But even he had been able to tell that she had something else on her mind, even if they had been apart for some months. She sighed ' why did he have to be this good? ' she thought to herself.
"Everything ok, Rise-chan ?" peppered Chie, walking on the path to the amagi inn, beside her.
She and Yu had met chie, yosuke, Teddie, kanji and Naoto in front of Junes, they then proceded to walk the way to the inn where Mitsuru and Yukiko were currently waiting for them.
Turns out Mitsuru had also some knowledge regarding the woman kidnapped, apparently miss watson had an arranged business appointment with her as a representative of the big overseas company, stark industries to work out some deals with the kirijo group.
Yukiko also recognized her, having checked her in last night before the end of her shift.
" I'm all good Chie" Rise answered with a sheepish smile, checking on the others to see if they had noticed her behavior.
Yu and Naoto were currently in the lead, discussing the case as they went, followed by Chie and Rise. A little behind them were Teddie and Yosuke, with Teddie, currently in his human form, singing the praises of how beatiful " bride-chan" looked and Yosuke answering with an annoyed " Dude, could you at least try to stop being creepy for 5 full minutes ? " they then started bickering animately, so much so that Rise wondered if Chie was statrting to get jealous, and by the annoyed look on her face she sure filled the part.
Closing their line was a yawning Kanji, who looked a little sleep deprived and more reserved than usual.
Rise internally let out a sigh of relief, before shaking her head.
'Focus, girl. Someone needs yours and your friends help and you won't leave anyone hanging.'
After this little self chanting, she turned to Chie" How about you Chie-chan ?"
"Fine" the green clad brunette answered, closing her eyes " Its just that right after we save Labrys, someone else is immediately thrown into the TV. Aren't we supposed to be on vacation ? She added whinily.
" Speak for yourself , Chie" Kanji said(shouted) over the bickering duo before giving another huge yawn " ugh, that crazy self-proclaimed milf must have had a bad breakup or something, she loaded us with a lot of tough homework for golden week, I barely caught up to my schedule yesterday night after the tournament . What about you, Rise ?"
The young idol shrugged " eh . It wasn't much, I finished every assignment right the day before the start of golden week. I didn't want them to get between me and my Senpai" she concluded smiling.
" that's my girl." Yu complimented from ahead, making her smile grow even wider.
Meanwhile Kanji was staring slack jawed at his shorter classmate"WHAT THE ...?!" he once again shouted " That's nuts! Some of those questions and excercices are crazy complex and long ."
And so he huffed resignedly " Man, you dance, you sing and you are always top of the class, is there anything you can't do ?
Rise giggled lightly at the praise, just as the group reached the entrance of the historical inn. The atmosphere was cozy and familiar even if the place was relatively empty ( it wasn't exactly high season).
They all relaxed getting in, they had been guest during a sleepover night here before,and outside of a small bathouse misshap they'd all rather forget ( especially the guys), they had thoroughly enjoyed their stay.
Yukiko gretted them in her casual outfit, and after the daily pleasantries, led them to the victim's room where Mitsuru was waiting for them.
"Good morning every one . " the older girl told them mannerly
" Narukami, I'm gonna concede to your leadership for this. We had our puzzles during the tatsumi port island incident but this is clearly more in your group area of expertise."
Yu nodded "All right guys, listen up we need to check the area for clues: Yukiko , Chie, check the hallway and the other empty rooms of the inn, see if anything is out of place" " we got this!" The brunette answered, energized by the chance of training her sleuthing skills .
" kanji, yosuke and teddie, get in the surrounding courtyard and look for tracks and traces of anybody in the precint during the night, it rained but I'd rather look anyway." " got it sensei/partner " the two answered in unison" hey, jinx " once again in unison." Cut it out you dumb bear"
" no way, you cut it out Yosuke, you are getting beary annoying." At this kanji grabbed both by the shirt collar and lifted them out of the room while saying " Come on, you morons ...man Teddie, you're light." "Boys" chie sighed while exiting followed by a snorking Yukiko.
Yu concluded "Finally Mitsuru, Naoto, Rise. You and I are going to scour the room itself for anything of relevance. Let's see what we can find ."
They got to work, after a couple of minutes. Rise opened the room's small sliding wardrobe finding the woman's travelling bag. She looked it over. It was empty so not any real clue to be found. While putting it back, she noticed the small keychain, it was a cute chibi doll of spider-man.
Rise smiled, she had always liked the superhero of new york, even with the weirdness ( and the murder) that happened some times prior.
She never believed the black and red clad spider-man had been the real deal.
Turning back she saw the others still checking for any sign of entry or someone else's presence in the room, without much luck .
Looking towards the center of the room, she noticed the small table near the big tv, it was slightly off center compared to the rest of the room.
"Uh..." she said getting near it , the table position was off, the signs on the tatami giving it away. While looking down her eyes drifted to near the tv. She noticed two almost unnoeticable small parallel bumps, like some one was kneeling right in front of the tv.
"Hey, Naoto have you seen this ?" The young detective prince got closer once called and also noticed the two bumps. "Uhm, good find Rise-chan." She took a step back looking at the whole room, thinking
carefully.
"Maybe we have been looking at this the wrong way" she spoke outloud " what if nobody threw her in ? "
"What do you mean?" Asked Mitsuru "if somebody had come from the outside" naoto explained "we would have found traces of the rain and the only possible other guest which could be a suspect is you, Mitsuru-san, and I don' think thats even possible"
After a small pause, Naoto continued
" what if miss Watson got pulled in the tv ?" "Really! that never happened before" yu exclaimed surprised "although it's the only logical conclusion, the traces in front of the tv make me think she was kneeling there, probably while the midnight channel was airing, and her shadow pulled her inside the tv world, it's plausible with how unstable it is again."
"Wow ! What kind of crazy strong Shadow was this lady hiding?" Rise said looking quite surprised.
" I suppose we will find out firsthand" Mitsuru concluded, her face set in a serious scowl.
After some preparations, they were ready to head into the TV world.
Every member of the IT (plus Mitsuru) were in their uniform ( to hide their armor and weapons) getting in the large television in Junes they always used, one by only Rise and Yu were left.
Rise was feeling a bit unnerved. That buzzing sensation was back and it was stronger the closer she got to the TV.
"You okay?" Her boyfriend asked concerned, noticing her frustrated look.
" Yeah , I'm fine Senpai" she smiled summoning a little Risette to sell it better. She didn't want to burden him with this just yet. " let's go kick some butt ." He wasn't entirely convinced but smiled hoping to give her some of his calm. He then entered the Tv.
Rise, hesitantly, got closer herself. She was about to touch the Tv screen to enter it, when the buzzing sensation spiked into an acute pain going straight trough her brain, followed by ... a vision.
It lasted for a mere second. It showed her... her friends fighting against a multi limbed mechanichal monstrosity.
It was fast and made her recoil in surprise. It scared her but she shook herself out of her fear . They needed her.
With a determined look on her face, she entered the TV facing the pulsing abyss of black, white... and red.
An: Phew, three full playthroughs of P4G really do wonders in reproducing the gang's voice. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the sleuthing chapter, we are going to see the spider-man parts of this crossover again next chapter. I wanted to put some set up and investigation here before we check back on MJ. And if anybody's wondering what's up with Rise, well... I may be cheating a bit in order to do somethimg crazy but it's my story and, unlike Slott, I'm not forcing people to read this because it's the main universe. So, yeah.
Anyway see you next chapter.
R&R