A/N: So Yukiko is finally back from her rest, and life becomes kind of normal for Yui. Oh, but who knows what else can happen? You'll have to see for the next chapter!

Avril Chan (Guest) - Not even sure if you literally were so tired you posted too early, or it's a bit of a prank...? Oh well.

Mr Giraffe (Guest)
- Yukiko is finally going to be part of the story too! Yay! As for Kanji's kidnapping (yeah that sounded wrong lol), it wouldn't be love at first sight - that's too cheesy for our matured Yui and probably too much for Kanji who would be deceived like the others by her boyish appearance, if you get me? But I might just add a thing or two for their first meeting... maybe, heehee. Yui's reaction to Kanji possibly being gay (through how his shadow acted) would probably be as calm as Yu in game too... XD
- In the original game, it's implied that the feelings his shadow shows are just because of his fears towards rejection, but fans of this game either take it that way or take it up a notch by implying that he's either gay or bi, haha. I'll have to go towards the former since this is a Female MC we're reading (and I'm writing) about. Also, I picked the band for the Sun Social Link because I picked that too in my current playthrough, so I hope you don't mind the extra spoilers. As for Yui bonding with Chie, even I'm not sure but I started bonding with her after Kanji was saved, so it'll be a bit longer before that.

With that done, on with the chapter!

The rain continued over to the next day like the weather forecast had predicted. At least Yukiko was already safe at this point, so Yu had nothing to worry about… though it was so miserable out that nobody really wanted to do anything.

While on his way out of class after school ended, he noticed the library at the other end of the hall. Well, he hasn't been able to study on his subjects lately… and he did bring another one of the books his grandfather told him to read up on so he could do so while he had free time.

With a shrug to himself, he entered and decided to study for the time being.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

Yu was a little dazzled at the sight of many books on the shelves and racks inside the library. Although Yasogami High School was smaller than the ones in the city, it does have a nice library compared to the libraries there. He went to sit at one of the study tables in the place, setting down his school bag when he did.

There weren't many students inside as most of them had returned home due to the rain. He kind of enjoyed the peace and quiet of the library alongside the peaceful sound of raindrops pattering against the building. Taking out his books, he began to quietly study… and found that he had forgotten some of the lessons he went through and had to relearn them for this study session due to how busy he was.

Such is the life of a high schooler.

The next day was no different in terms of the rainy weather, but Chie did meet up with him while on the way to school.

"Morning!" Chie smiled at him once she caught up to him. Yu smiled back. "Good morning, Chie."

"Hey hey! Yukiko told me that she'll be able to come to school again in two days! Oh man, I'm glad. I'm so happy!"

"That's great. It's thanks to you, Chie," The silver-haired boy told her. In a way, he and Yosuke wouldn't be able to reach to Yukiko if she weren't there to help them too. Chie shook her head at his words, though. "C'mon, you know it's because all three of us did our best… actually, more like the three of us, and one animal-thingy…?"

"…I guess." Now that Yu thought about it, could Teddie even count as an animal? Or is he actually a shadow since he lived in that world…? "Who knows what he really is…" he muttered, shrugging. All that mattered was that the bear was helping them, at least. "Mm, that bear's pretty weird…" Chie thought about it too.

They continued to talk on their way there…

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

That rainy afternoon, Yu decided to join band practice again as there was no sports practice and Yosuke had already gone back early due to the rain. When he did attend it, he noticed that Ayane wasn't playing today.

When Yu finished practicing, Ayane had just arrived from somewhere. He watched her as she met up with the band captain, smiling. "I'm back! Guess what? We've got our next venue lined up."

"Ooh, where?" The captain asked.

"Two places – Yuryoku-en and Shiozawa Hospital. They want us to come play for them. Um, they said they'll give us an exact date as soon as they can."

"Did they request any specific songs?"

Ayane then realised her mistake. "Oh, I-I'm sorry. I didn't ask…"

"You didn't? Well, make sure you ask next time you talk to them. We kinda need to know."

The small girl blushed shyly before nodding. "O-okay. I'm sorry… er, I'll go right now!"

However, the captain stopped her from doing so. "No no, just remember next time. And don't forget to tell the activities advisor."

"A-all right." Ayane glanced down at the floor quietly. The captain soon noticed Yu standing nearby. "Oh, sorry Yu, but we decided who was gonna go to the next performance before you joined. You can play with us next time."

"Okay then, no problem." Yu nodded, understanding what the captain told him. Then the band captain looked at the other members of the band. "Alright, that's it for today. You guys can take off."

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

So everyone else left, except Yu and Ayane.

The small girl looked around, a troubled expression on her face as she then faced Yu. "Oh… I haven't cleaned up yet. I think I'll stick around and practice. I was out so long, I didn't even touch my trombone…" she murmured.

Yu just shook his head, slightly smiling. "Hey, just forget about it today. You need some rest."

Ayane giggled in response. "I can't. I'm so bad, I need twice as much practice as everyone else!" She looked like she was enjoying herself… her smiling face soon turned into a determined one. "Now that we've got a performance, I need to be tip-top."

It quickly fell. "…Not that I'll be in it, but still…"

"…You don't want to go?" The silver-haired boy asked her softly. Ayane was surprised at the question, stammering as she tried to answer. "Uh, ummmm…" She just looked down at the floor, her expression now gloomy. "W-well, I'm not very good, so it's really no surprise I never get picked. But, I think I make myself useful. If I played along for a performance, I'd only give us a bad reputation…"

Yu frowned slightly. That's no way to think of herself…

Ayane continued on, not seeing the look on the boy's face. "But there are lots of other things I can do for the club. Scheduling, accounting, cleaning up…"

…That's a little better, at least. "That's a great attitude, Ayane." Yu was amazed at how strong she was despite her shortcomings. The small girl smiled brightly at his compliment. "Thanks! A-anyway, I better start practicing! Be careful on your way home, Senpai!"

The fact that Ayane still concerned herself for Yu made their bond grow slightly stronger with the Sun Social Link. Soon, he parted with her and went home.

Two more days before Yukiko would return to school… well, he still had time to kill then.

Yu spent Friday the same way he did for Wednesday by studying in the afternoon and going back home when school was about to close up. The rain was letting up by the time he settled down for a hot drink that night, watching the weather forecast with Nanako and Dojima after changing into his casual clothes.

The forecast predicted that a thick fog was expected to set in that night and remain until tomorrow morning, with the heaviest concentration being in Inaba.

"More fog, huh…? There's been a lot of that lately. Hopefully it's not a sign of more trouble…" Dojima murmured as he watched the news. Nanako, who had glanced at the remote on the table, then pressed a button to change the channel.

"Ah-ah-ah. What did I say about changing the channel without asking?" The man then said to his daughter, who lowered her head. Just then, a Junes commercial played at that moment and spoke about Golden Week, before playing the same tune Nanako liked to sing.

"Every day's great at your Junes!" Nanako sang along happily. Then she looked at her father. "Dad! They're going to be open during Golden Week!"

Dojima slightly laughed. "Haha, I heard. Do you want to go somewhere during the long holiday?"

"We can go somewhere!?" Nanako stood up at that suggestion.

The man looked at his nephew. "How about it? Got any plans yet?"

…A vacation away from this town doesn't sound too bad, especially after learning that the fog in this town pretty much brings murder with it. "Nope, no plans," Yu answered, shaking his head. Nanako's smile grew bigger as she became excited. "Then let's all go somewhere together! Junes! Junes Junes Junes!"

Her father was a little uneasy at that. "You're sure you want to go to Junes? We can go there anytime…" He took a quick glance at the clock. "Come on, girl, time for bed. It's late."

"Alright…" Nanako looked sad for a moment, before singing the same Junes tune again. "Every day's great at your Junes!" She seemed like she was very excited about the family outing… Yu had to admit, he was looking forward to it too.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

Yui soon went up to her room after finishing her drink, having to check the Midnight Channel just in case something went wrong, which she hoped did not. Going over to the windows, she parted the curtains slightly to see that the fog has already set in.

"Hm…" Taking a look at the clock, she saw that it was about to strike midnight.

The silver-haired girl then stood in front of the TV in her room, waiting. Eventually, the TV came to life as the Midnight Channel began to play with a dull static sound. To her relief, there was no one on it. Since Yukiko has already been rescued, the killer - whoever they are, was thwarted this time.

Smiling, she went to her futon to go to sleep as her worries have been quelled. Remembering that Yukiko will be back tomorrow, she wondered if the black-haired girl would have recalled something new from the events that happened to her…

Saturday morning was a clear day, unlike the dark clouds of rain in the last few ones.

Yu was on his way to school when he noticed someone standing by the school gates, who he recognized as Yukiko. Approaching her, the black-haired girl quietly greeted him. "O-oh… good morning."

"Mornin'. Feeling any better?" Yu asked her, just to make sure she was okay. Yukiko nodded in response. "Y-Yeah… I'll be coming to school again, so… that'll be nice. I caused everyone some real trouble. I'm sorry…" She paused for a moment. "No, 'sorry' isn't quite right… what I mean to say is, thank you."

For once, she actually looked more cheerful than she did before she got thrown into the TV world.

"My mother's back to work already. The maids are being really supportive, and I think things are going even smoother than before. I wonder if I was trying too hard… I may have been too caught up in the idea that I had to do everything by myself. Ever since the incident… I feel like I can think about these things more calmly. B-But… it's still kind of embarrassing…" Yukiko blushed as she shyly smiled. "You guys saw everything… even the things I didn't want to admit…"

Yu chuckled at that. "That's only one part of you."

"I'd like to believe that…"

A voice then called out to the black-haired girl from nearby, which belonged to Chie. "Yukiko!"

Yukiko looked over to her best friend and smiled. "Oh, it's Chie." She smiled at the silver-haired boy. "Well, I'll talk to you later." She then left, going over to Chie… she has come back as energetic as ever. It was definitely a great thing that they were able to save her before she succumbed to her possible fate inside that foggy world…

Things were looking up.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

After school ended, they all got together on the roof. Chie and Yukiko had some instant noodles while they were at it – maybe they'd missed lunch. Yu stood around while Yosuke sat near Chie.

Yukiko arrived with two bowls of instant noodles, one for herself and the other for Chie. "Sorry to keep you waiting. The soba is yours, right Chie?" She gave Chie's bowl to her friend before sitting down with her own.

Chie smiled. "Thanks! Oooh, that smells gooood… these instant noodles are just the thing to help me through club… how much longer do I have to wait on this?"

"It still needs a few minutes."

The brunette glanced at the two boys. "So, why're we here…? Oh yeah, we were going to ask Yukiko what happened."

Yosuke started it off. "Yukiko-san, I hate to bring up stuff you'd rather not think about… but I need to ask you again. Do you recall anything about when you got kidnapped?"

Yukiko slowly shook her head. "No… I thought I might remember something if I let it sit for a while, but as time passes it only gets hazier… I think… the doorbell rang at the entrance… and someone called for me… but when I woke up after that, I was already in the castle… I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize," Chie told her friend. However, it did mean one thing… "But does this mean her visitor is the culprit?!"

Yosuke sighed. "I don't know… If it's true, then that's one daring criminal. What kind of killer would ring the doorbell? The police are probably looking for witnesses… but I don't think we can expect much from them. Heh, as if the culprit wore bright yellow clothes at the scene of the crime."

"I wonder why whoever it is would do stuff like this."

"We won't know until we confront 'em ourselves… but we can be sure of one thing. It's no coincidence that people keep ending up in that place. Someone on our side is definitely kidnapping them and throwing them into the TV. It's murder, all right…" Yosuke then remembered something. "Oh yeah, we never told you. This guy and me are gonna catch the culprit ourselves!" He referred to himself and Yu, grinning. "The police are out of their league on this case, but we got Personas."

Yu glanced at Yukiko. If they wanted to catch the culprit, they needed all the help they can get… "If you don't mind, could you lend us a hand?"

"Huh? Um…" Yukiko was surprised at that. Chie didn't hesitate a moment to answer for herself. "I'm helping out too! I can't believe someone would throw people into a place like that. I'm gonna sock whoever's doing this!"

"Chie…" The black-haired girl looked at her best friend for a moment before focusing on Yu. "…Let me help too. I want to know why this is happening… especially if someone hates me so much they want to kill me. I don't want to run away from myself anymore."

Yosuke grinned. So their little team just gained itself another member. "Alright! Then let's all work together and catch this asshole!"

"Agreed." Yukiko nodded. With her on board, it felt like they were now another step closer to solving this mystery despite the lack of a new lead. Yu could hear the whispers in his head as the Fool Social Link grew stronger. By now, he was certain that this Fool Arcana revolved around the Investigation Team's growth.

Once the whispers faded out, he was finally able to focus back on the others.

"Oh, but how're we going to find them? We don't have a single lead yet…" Chie asked. Yukiko looked at her. "I'm the third one to be targeted so far… but I have a feeling this isn't the end of it. If we had an idea who might be targeted next, wouldn't we have an advantage over the killer?"

Yosuke thought about it and smiled. That wasn't a bad idea, actually. "So we'll outsmart them, huh…? Yeah, that might work. Okay, so let's see if we can figure out what ties the victims together. First, there was that announcer, Mayumi Yamano. Second was Saki Konishi… Senpai. Third was Yukiko Amagi. What do they all have in common…?"

"They're all female." Yu stated the common thing among all three. Yosuke nodded, having reached the same conclusion. "Bingo."

Chie got angry when they reached to that conclusion. "How dare he target females! Now that is unforgivable! This culprit's gotta be some kinda pervert…"

"Also, what about this? The second and third victims had some sort of connection to the first one."

"Hey, that's right. Yukiko and Saki-senpai both had connections to that announcer…"

Yukiko began to make sense of it too, looking surprised. "That's true. Then… does that mean females connected in some way to Ms. Yamano's case are being targeted…?"

Yosuke nodded in response to the black-haired girl's guess. "I think that's a safe assumption for now. There's another angle we can take, too. If another person disappears…"

Chie glanced at the brunet. "You think they'd be on that Midnight Channel? That happened right before Yukiko was kidnapped, too."

"Yeah, it's hard to tell who at first, but what's important is, it's happened before the victims disappeared. Kinda like a ransom note. We still don't know why that happens, but we'll have to rely on it for now."

"The next time it rains…" Yukiko looked up at the sky quietly. In the silence that followed, Yosuke broke it to ask about the noodles. He just lost concentration at that point. "By the way, aren't those done by now?"

Chie then remembered about her instant noodles. "Whoa, that's right! Chow time!"

"Hey, could I try just a little bit of that!? Just one tiny bite!"

"Hey! Hands off the soba, pal! Go get your own if you want some." But Chie saw the look on Yosuke's face and hesitated. "Rrrngh… okay, but just one bite, got it?" She gave it to Yosuke. Yu looked at him with much of an amused look.

Yukiko got his attention when she asked him, "Do you want to try some?"

The silver-haired boy scratched his head. "…Just a bite, I guess."

Yukiko then gave Yu her bowl of instant noodles. Yosuke was fawning over Chie's bowl of instant noodles like he hasn't eaten in forever as he took some bites. "It's soooo gooood… the aroma, the flavor, and the texture all combined… this is perfect!"

Yu then decided to take a bite, eyebrows rising at the taste. It is surprisingly good… but before he ended up eating more, he turned his head away from the bowl and quickly gave it back to Yukiko. Thank goodness for his training, even if he hated it sometimes. "H-here, thanks."

Yosuke ended up chowing down Chie's instant noodles, though.

"Aaaack! What the hell are you doing!?" Chie yelled at him, which made the brunet stop when he came to his senses and gave it back to her. Then she realised that the bowl was totally empty, and that made her get up angrily. "You ate everything…" She glared at Yosuke. "I hope you understand what this means."

Now Yosuke panicked at that. "W-Wait wait wait! Stop! I'm sorry! I-I'll buy you steak! It'll be on me! Y-You hear me? The very best!"

"Steak…!?" Now Chie sounded interested. Yukiko couldn't help but giggle – at least Yu had the gentlemanly tact to not end up eating all of her instant noodles, unlike a certain brunet. "Are you going to take up on that, Chie?"

"Of course I am! Now what would be nice… fillet? Ooh, fillet sounds nice and expensive! Filet, filet, filet mignon!"

"Man…" Yosuke sighed quietly. He glanced at Yu who looked like he was trying – and probably failing – at keeping his laughter in. "Hey, how come you got to hold yourself back?!"

"Because while those noodles were delicious, I was able to hold myself back anyway," Yu answered frankly with a shrug and a teasing smile. "Come on, you got a steak obsessed girl to feed," he said quietly, elbowing the brunet's side gently while laughing.

"Agh, come on partner…! Don't leave me deal with this alone!"

"Alright, alright…"

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

Luckily for Yosuke, the food court at Junes had started serving grilled steak that very day.

"Man, talk about great timing. We just started serving grilled steak today. We're doing our part to spread this town's specialty dish. Plus, we've already got an excellent grill," Yosuke commented, grinning. Chie wasn't exactly as excited. "That's just a yakisoba griddle… oh well, steak is steak. It's far from a fillet steak, though…" She shrugged. "So, back on topic. I wonder what kind of person the culprit is."

"If you focus just on the announcer's case, it seems like a revenge thing. Maybe it was her lover's wife."

"But Misuzu Hiiragi had a solid alibi, didn't she? And it seemed like she was already separated from her husband."

"Really? You know an awful lot about this… okay, what about the second case? Saki-senpai… she found the announcer's body. Assuming the same person killed them both, then why target Senpai…?"

"It's possible that they wanted to shut her up," Yu suggested. It was an obvious one, but a possible one nonetheless. The brunet nodded at that. "Yeah, I think so too. Maybe she found a clue or something about the culprit."

"But the killer just threw the announcer into a TV, right? I don't think he would've left evidence the police - much less a high school student - would catch…" Yukiko thought about it too.

"Yeah, exactly…"

To prove their point, someone familiar from the police force had just came to the food court. It was Adachi, the young detective from days earlier. "Man, I thought the countryside would be a snooze, but it's proving to be a lot more exciting that I thought… ooh, they updated the menu!"

Everyone in the group looked at him. "Huh? Isn't he that detective?" Chie realised who the man was.

Adachi turned his head to look at them and recognized Yu. "Hey, you were at Dojima-san's… ahaha… I-I'm not… oh, wait! Hey, this is great timing after all." He approached the group, smiling. "Dojima-san said that he'll be leaving work on schedule tonight. Could you pass that on to Nanako-chan?" he asked the silver-haired boy, who nodded in response. "I will."

"Thanks. Yo! I'm Adachi, Dojima-san's gofer… err, I mean, his partner," Adachi said, introducing himself to the others. "Are you this busy every day?" Yosuke then asked him.

"Huh? Oh, well, the public seems to be getting a charge out of these cases, but we can't leave it at that."

"Sorry to butt in, but could it be that the killer targeted Saki-senpai in order to silence her?" Chie also asked.

"U-Ummm, you sure get to the heart of the matter. Yikes… haha. Of course, we're also thinking along those lines. She was killed right after the announcer's body was found. If the killer was trying to silence her, there might've been something at the scene only she would have understood. Which would mean that the culprit may be someone close to Ms. Konishi. Nothing like that points to Misuzu Hiiragi, so… ooh, I might have stumbled across something here…"

…The Inaba police department is hopeless at solving this case.

Adachi soon realised that he was rambling. "W-Wait, were you listening to that!? Crap! Me and my big mouth… d-don't tell anyone I said any of that, or Dojima-san will flay me alive… relax, kids, the police are on the job. See you!" He quickly left after that.

Chie just sighed. "You were right, Yosuke. The police are totally useless…" She glanced at her food and also realised that she had left her food on the table for a bit too long. "Augh! My steak's getting cold!"

Yosuke groaned. "Could you shut up about the steak for five seconds…?"

They all let the brunette eat her steak first before going to the electronics department to go and talk to Teddie.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

Yukiko looked around in surprise when they were finally at the 'studio' inside the TV world. "Wow… this really is inside the TV…" Her eyes soon fell on a familiar red and blue bear. "It's Teddie… then it wasn't a dream."

Teddie approached the group and smiled. "Are you feeling better, Yuki-chan? I did what you said! I've been a good bear!"

"Oh, I see. Good boy!"

Yosuke stared at the bear with slight detest. Teddie could be annoying when he can… "W-Well, this bear's part of the reason we want to find the culprit."

"I'm one of the group now too. Let's work together, okay?" Yukiko told the bear. Teddie looked pretty happy for the part. "Yep! I was thinking the same thing! That's why I got these ready for you, Yuki-chan!" He took out a pair of glasses which had red coloured frames and gave it to her.

"Oh, so these are what everyone's wearing. Thank you, Teddie." Yukiko put them on, and what she saw in her surroundings astonished her. "You're right… it's just as if the fog doesn't exist…"

Chie was a little curious about something after that. "Hey, tell me something. How come you have so many pairs of glasses?" she asked the bear. Teddie grinned. "Excellent question! Guess what? I'm the one who makes them. I've lived here for a long time. So I came up with some ways to be comfortable here."

"I see… but don't you need a pair?" Yukiko wondered about that. If they all wore glasses, why didn't Teddie?

"Oooh, good point. Another great question! Listen to this! My eyes themselves are lenses! You didn't know?"

Yosuke sighed. "Of course not…"

"…Wh-Why are you being so mean? You act like you're not interested! I'm a really dexterous bear! See how smoothly my fingers move!" Teddie approached the brunet and… did… something with his fingers. He was merely moving them delicately, but it had a strange air to them.

"What am I even looking at!?" Yosuke yelled at him before pushing him away, causing the bear to drop something as he did. The recoil was able to let Teddie remain upright after falling down. "Ow!"

Yukiko saw what the bear dropped. "Hm? You dropped something…"

Teddie looked over at what the black-haired girl saw. "Oh, that's a pair I kinda screwed up on."

"Oooh…" Yukiko smiled cheekily and picked up the glasses on the floor, taking off the ones on her face and putting on that one. Then she turned to face the others. "Oh… umm… Y-Yukiko?" Chie blinked a few times at the sight.

"Ahaha, how do I look?" On Yukiko's face were glasses that had translucent lenses with circles on it, a big nose attached to the frame and a curved moustache attached under the nose. It made her look really ridiculous, and Yu found that he had to cover his mouth to stop himself from cracking up at the sight. "I-it looks natural on you, Yukiko…" He was really trying not to laugh, holding in the urge as hard as he could.

He didn't even know that this was his kind of humour. When was the last time he wanted to laugh like this, or even did laugh as such?

Yukiko just laughed, enjoying herself. "Ahahaha! Awesome!"

"Do you like that one, Yuki-chan?" Teddie asked her.

"I want to wear this one. It's even got a nose guard!"

Chie quickly shook her head. No way is her friend wearing that throughout their whole investigation! "Ohhh no you don't!"

"How bear-y unfortunate… that pair doesn't have the right lenses in. Guess I should've made an actual pair," Teddie informed the black-haired girl. "Aww, too bad." Yukiko took off the glasses and put on the ones the bear gave her earlier. She looked at Chie and smiled cheekily. "Here, Chie. Your turn!"

Chie just sighed. "Man… all right, fine…" So her best friend gave her the weird glasses, taking off the ones she was currently wearing and putting the odd pair on instead. Yukiko began to laugh even harder at the sight. "Snrk… heehee…! Ahaha, ahahahahahaha!"

Another sigh came from the brunette. "…How'd it come to this…?"

Yu nearly lost it when he got a clear view of Chie's face. It looked more ridiculous on her… and he was still desperately trying not to laugh when he was already making a few sounds with his hand covering his mouth. "Pfft… hhhft…!" He's literally no different to Yukiko right now… but at least he wasn't lost in a laughing fit.

"Y-Yukiko-san? Hellooo…?" Yosuke tried to get the black-haired girl out of it but she just kept on laughing and laughing like there was no tomorrow. "There goes one of Yukiko's laughing fits… I never thought she'd do it when someone besides me was around. These stupid glasses are useless for investigating! I mean, what the hell's this nose for, anyway!?" Chie complained to the bear.

Teddie shrugged. "Nice work, huh? That's what happens when you guys leave me here alone and I get bored!"

Yosuke scratched his head. Better a laughing Yukiko than a sad one. "W-Well, I'm glad that she's in high spirits again… I guess…"

"Oh Chie, the look on your face… snrk… hahaha, it was so funny! I-I can't stop… laugh- heehee! Ohhh, my stomach, ahaha…" Yukiko continued to laugh for a while until she was finally tired of it, then they all headed home to the real world.

~*~*~*~*~*~…~*~*~*~*~*~

Evening time was the same calm as yesterday's, with Yu's uncle home since Yukiko has returned safe and sound.

Dojima was on the sofa, checking the newspaper. "The fourth and the fifth… I think I might be able to get the fourth and the fifth off," he told them. Nanako looked at her father with wide eyes, hopeful at the thought of having a family outing with him. "Really!?"

When she got no response, she hesitated. "…Really?"

"What, you don't believe me?" Dojima lowered the newspaper to look at his daughter. Nanako lowered her head. "…It's always cancelled."

"N-Not every year! I know you wanted to go to Junes, but… I wouldn't mind going a little further out of the neighbourhood."

This got Nanako to stand up, now really hopeful. "Really? Can we go on a trip?"

"Uhh… well, it might be okay to go on a trip once in a while. I'm sure it'll be crowded everywhere, though…"

"Yaaay! We're going on a trip!"

"Hm… all right, all right. Then we need to think of someplace to go…" Dojima glanced at his nephew. "How about you…? Wanna come along with us?"

"…It wouldn't hurt to. I'll come along, uncle," Yu answered with a nod. Nanako nodded too, liking the thought of her cousin coming along. "Yeah! Let's all go together!"

Dojima chuckled at that. "Looks like Nanako wants us all to go."

"Let's bring boxed lunches!" Nanako suggested to her dad.

"Hm? Yeah, good idea. We're always eating side dishes for dinner. But I can't cook… and Nanako's not good enough yet to make them by herself… hmm…" Dojima thought about something before he got up, setting down the newspaper on the sofa and going over to Yu. "Well, it'll work out. That's what we've got this guy for, huh Nanako?" he told her, patting the silver-haired boy's shoulder.

Nanako cheered happily. "Yaaay, boxed lunches!"

Yu blinked a few times before somewhat smiling despite being quite surprised at being picked to pack the Dojima family's boxed lunches. "I'll do my best…" He only knew how to cook because he had to teach himself from the maids in the mansion his own family would live in if his parents' work revolved in Tokyo or near that city.

He's not the best, but he can damn make a good one… granted that he has the ingredients. But one thing he hoped was that the family trip would go on as planned, if Nanako's worry was anything to notice from it.