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If Saki had thought that the day before was bad, this day was just showing itself to get much worse. She hadn't actually thought it possible, given that she had discovered a murder victim, of all things, but it was.

It started with the fact that everyone was talking about it, although given that Inaba didn't often have something as interesting as a murder case going on, and it had happened the day before, it was just fine. Mostly.

Later, there was the interview. She had quickly come to realize exactly why nobody liked the local reporters. She was sure that somewhere out there, people could be interviewed for television without it turning unpleasant. Not in Inaba.

The fact that she recognized some of them as having just barely passed high school in previous years certainly didn't help, that was for sure. Simply put, it didn't seem like any of them had ever heard of the concept of professionalism.

And to top it all off, today she shared her shift with Mochizuki. Whatever she had done in a past life to deserve this, she felt she better have enjoyed It at the time.

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Souji was beginning to realize something about his classmates. First of all, that Chie, at least, was completely insane and probably not safe to be around. He wondered how he could have noticed before Yosuke, but decided that Yosuke just didn't know when to stop talking.

A lot of people he knew seemed to suffer from that, actually. That was probably something to concern himself with, but he just couldn't be bothered to care.

"Oh, it's Saki-senpai!" Souji turned, and yes, there was Saki Konishi, with Ryoji Mochizuki right behind her. He could already feel the headache.

"Hey, Hana-chan..." Saki didn't actually seem to be looking at Yosuke. In fact, she seemed like she wanted to be just about anywhere else. He knew the feeling. "Satonaka, Seta-san. Hana-chan didn't drag the two of you out here, did he?"

"He offered me food. Chie demanded he treat her as well," Souji explained. He poked at his decidedly unappetizing meal. Well, at least he wouldn't have to pay for it.

"...That does sound like Chie-chan," Ryoji admitted.

"What did you just say?"

"He's not exactly wrong," Yosuke pointed out. Souji got the feeling that, if this kind of thing continued, Yosuke was never going to have kids. Ryoji, he noted, was backing away slowly.

"I'd better get back to work," Saki decided, most likely seeing just how delicate the situation was. "Mochizuki, at least try to do the same at some point today." Yosuke watched her walk off, almost in a trance. Souji decided not to ask.

"It's like she has no confidence in my work ethic."

"What work ethic?" Yosuke asked. "The thing that keeps you employed is the fact that you aren't the worst we have."

"I'm afraid to ask."

"He means that I actually show up for work. There's supposed to be others here, but I think they're still at school." No, Souji had definitely not wanted to know. He also made a note that, as soon as the year was over, his sanity would best be preserved by never returning to Inaba.

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"Midnight Channel?" Metis asked. "Where did you hear about that?"

"I didn't realize it, but Chie-chan actually seems to know how to gossip. She was telling Hanamura and the newest transfer student." Metis sighed and reminded herself to see about finding Ryoji an actual hobby. Or, at least, a properly functioning work ethic.

"I believe you have homework. Wouldn't that be a better use of time? Especially as it is three hours until midnight?" Ryoji sighed and opened his textbook, muttering something about cruel teachers who assign long reading assignments on the second day.

"Say, where's Teddie?"

"He left to make sure that the world rearranging itself hasn't stirred up any more new Shadows. He's the only one of us they won't attack, after all." It was logic she was sure he wouldn't argue with, because he knew that doing so meant volunteering himself. They didn't want a repeat of that swarm of hands that went unnoticed for over a month, after all.

The only good thing about that incident had been the sheer amount of money those ridiculously powerful Shadows had dropped, and even a lot of that went into bandages and spare parts. So they weren't eager for another experience like that one.

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Saki wondered, again, just what she had done to deserve three horrible days in a row. Well, at least, she thought it was three. It depended on how long she'd been unconscious. She didn't even remember how she'd gotten there.

Well, she knew a few things. She'd left work on schedule, she remembered checking out well enough. She might even have made it to the shopping distict, although she was just a bit less sure about that. She thought she might have stopped to talk to someone, but that part was a blur.

Now? Fog. Fog as far as the eye could see. And she was still tired, or maybe it was a headache. She couldn't tell. She pushed herself up, tried to see if there was any place she recognized. There was a ripple, and things shifted, and she found herself just outside some strange fascimile of the shoppind district.

Well, she supposed that was as good as anything.

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"My TV tried to eat me last night." Souji didn't expect anyone to believe him. A few desks over, Metis began packing her things more quickly, though he didn't think anything of it.

"So, you fell asleep in front of the television?"

"I have a bruise on my shoulder. I can show it to you."

"Why would you have a bruise?" Yosuke asked.

"Because my television is about the size of a backpack?" He suggested. Not that it helped them believe him, of course.

The fact that they fell into another television set at Junes probably helped, though.

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Daichi: Next time, we see Teddie's first encounter with actual humans. And why fighting a boss with only a dedicated Mudo user is a bad idea.