(A/N Chapter 8 is up! I had to play with the dates a little bit: the in-game timeline didn't fit my plot so had to be tweaked, and there are some weird time skips as I gloss over things like exams and whatnot. Rise is quickly becoming one of my favourite characters to write; she is basically the antithesis of Kanji and I am thoroughly enjoying their juxtaposition. As usual, a big thanks to Grae for being my beta reader.)

Chapter 8

8th July 2011

Kanji discovered quickly how irritating Rise could be. She had decided at some point since coming back to school that being subdued and sombre wasn't really her, and had bounced back into being the enthusiastic and elaborate person her Shadow had been emulating.

He was sat in the early morning sun outside school, enjoying the relative quiet before classes started. Despite the sheer volume of students passing through the gates, no one bothered him, hell, no one even dared to look his way. It suited him fine. He was letting his mind wander, feeling the sun on on his face.

"Kanji-kun!" a high pitched squeal rang through the courtyard, making him jump. Before he could turn round to the call of his name, slender arms were thrown around his shoulders from behind, and he felt himself being pulled backwards into an awkward hug. It could only be one person. He felt a hot blush rise on his cheeks as his head was pressed against Rise's chest. He pulled away from her, flustered.

"S-Stop callin' me that!" he said, snapping his head around to face her, though not quite able to meet her eyes. "W-who said you could call me by my first name?!"

"Wow, kinda harsh, aren't you." Rise sat down next to him, grinning. She studied his face."Hey, are you blushing?! Your face is all red!"

"S-shut up!" He scowled at her in response, but could feel his face getting hotter regardless of his rising anger. She laughed loudly, tossing her head back. People began to pay attention to them, shooting them odd looks. "What do you want, Rise?" He growled, his hands balling into defensive fists. People staring at him like that was making him uncomfortable, and it was her fault.

"What's with you this morning? What, do you have low blood pressure or something?"

"That ain't it!"

She rolled her eyes at him, before glancing around, searching the crowds of students arriving at the gates. "Has Yu-senpai arrived yet?"

"I ain't seen him," he muttered, looking at the ground.

"Aw, I wanted to see him before school!"

"He might have got here early. I dunno." Kanji shrugged. The bell chimed to signal the start of classes. "I'm headin' in."

"Oh, ok. I'll come with you!" She stood up, brushing out creases in her skirt as she did so, before slinging her backpack over one shoulder. They walked into the building together, Rise still talking incessantly; she could carry on a conversation by herself, needing only minimal input from him. Sometimes even grunting was enough. They stopped briefly at the lockers to change their shoes; Rise's was brightly decorated with stickers. "What are you doing for lunch? Wanna eat together?"

"Uh… sure." Kanji carefully placed his shoes into his locker.

"I'll see you at break!" She slipped on her indoor shoes and waved goodbye, before heading towards classroom 1-2; Kanji watched her disappear along the corridor, greeting a group of girls as she did so. He could still hear her enthusiastic chatter.

People were staring at him.

He tried to block them out. He was relieved he and Rise weren't in the same class; people had already noticed that they were close and had started saying that they were dating. Meeting for lunch didn't help quash these rumours. He'd noticed he had started getting a lot more cold looks from his male classmates, and sniggers from the girls. Some guys were even openly hostile to him about it, jealous that Kanji of all people had won Rise's affections, even though in reality the possibility of it was so unlikely to be laughable. Some of these people were the same pricks who were spreadin' shit about him being gay before, which made the situation even more absurd.

He had noticed even in the brief time that she had been back to school that Rise seemed to enjoy being the centre of attention, which was lucky as attention naturally gravitated towards her. At first he was kinda jealous by the way she could so easily make friends; she had just turned up and everyone knew her name, wanted to talk to her and were seemingly showering her with affection. But as time went on, Kanji became aware of how superficial it all was. It wasn't Rise who was overly fake; it was just that so few people saw past her Risette personality that she ended up giving people what they wanted. From what he had seen, she seemed to genuinely think the best of people and want them to get to know her. He kinda envied her for that; he didn't let people get to know him.

Not all of the attention she garnered was positive, though. Just like with him and the aftermath of his midnight channel, the rumours about her were prevalent. She could have people eating out of her hand in class, eagerly stopping to talk to her in the corridors, but her spell was broken when she wasn't there. People were downright vicious when they spoke about her. There were rumours of her being in a striptease, going on subsidised dates with older men, sleeping with her agent. It didn't matter a damn that there wasn't any proof. The rumours were hurting Rise, just as they had hurt him. She maintained a façade of cheerful obliviousness at school, but he did notice the way she would freeze slightly and look hurt whenever anyone badmouthed her.

He'd stepped in when he heard two girls being particularly nasty, calling her fake, a slut, an attention seeking bitch. He'd loomed above them, asking them to repeat themselves, and smirked in satisfaction when they turned pale and stammered something incoherent. Whatever Kanji thought about her, she was still his friend and part of the investigation team. Kanji wasn't going to have anyone insulting his friends, even if "Risette" really grated on his nerves sometimes.

Lunchtime came around quickly. Rise was outside his classroom on the corridor, casually chatting to another girl. She looked up when he opened the door, and called out to him.

"Hey! Kanji-kun!" He winced at the sound of his name being used so casually. Goddammit Rise. He scowled.

"Uh, hey." He walked over to them, standing awkwardly. The girl she was talking to was looking him up and down with a disapproving look in her eyes. This was stupid and embarrassing. His scowl deepened as he glared at her in return. Rise quickly looked between the two of them, and began to usher him away, hastily saying goodbye to her friend.

"What took you so long? Come on, let's go!" They headed towards the roof. It was very hard to argue with Rise. She wasn't forceful or anything, as if that would be a problem for a guy like him; it was just incredible hard to say no to her without feeling like a bastard. He would have been perfectly happy to spend it alone, and was kinda surprised that she would even want to be seen hanging out with him.

He found out about the individual private lives of his classmates through Rise. Not that he cared for the most part; who had just confessed to who, which longstanding couple had broken up, and who had a secret crush was boring. But sometimes it paid to know about what other people were thinking, what everyone was talking about. Rise was dangerously perceptive as well as popular, and could sense moods and second guess motives behind a lot of what went on at school. Kanji was impressed, though dreaded days when she would turn that perception on him.

"Oh come on Kanji, just let me know who he is!" Today's topic of conversation was one of her favourites and one she revisited whenever it had been a slow news day; the mysterious subject of Kanji's affections.

"Shut it, Rise." He tried to focus on his boxed lunch, but couldn't help watching her carefully out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, don't be like that! Is he cute? Oh, did you get a nosebleed around him, like you did with Yukiko-senpai…?" Rise giggled and winked at him.

"I said shut up, dammit! ...who blabbed about that?" Rise laughed and gently shoved his shoulder, shaking her head. He glared at her, pulling his shoulder away from her touch. She was immune to his scowl; she just tilted her head to one side, looking birdlike.

"Aw, c'mon! Tell me! Yosuke-senpai knows and that's not fair." She was attempting to pout, but her eyes were bright, smiling.

"Yosuke doesn't know anything 'bout it." Kanji muttered.

"Sure he does! He says and that he and Chie-senpai saw you talkin' to someone! And he said that you were all "I wanna see you again..."" She tried to do an impression of his voice. She sounded ridiculous.

"Yeah, well, that was… I…. uh… Shut up!" Kanji's mind was drawing a blank. He had no defense against her, he had no idea what to say. He could feel an angry blush forming on his cheeks.

"So who was he? A mysterious stranger huh?"

"Rise…" He couldn't help the desperate note in his voice. His face was red, he knew it.

"Does he go to our school? Oh, we could set you up…!"

"No, dammit!"

Initially Rise had said that it was "weird" that he liked guys, which had pissed him off, but after he snapped at her, and Yu-senpai had a quiet word, she seemed to come around to the idea. Either that, or the idea of him having a crush was more enticing an idea than her surprise at his supposed preference.

It hadn't taken long for her to find out about it; Yosuke hadn't been quiet that there was someone Kanji liked but had always stopped short in saying exactly who it was. The guy liked to belittle him; he was always cracking jokes at Kanji's expense, asking him if random guys they saw was Kanji's type. He didn't even stop when Kani asked him if he wanted to be beaten up that badly. When Teddie revealed himself as having grown a body for the first time, the first words out of Yosuke's mouth was if Kanji found him cute. He didn't. Teddie was annoying, and, besides, he looked like he belonged in a host club.

"Aww, you're just a meanie Kanji-kun!" She was pouting for real this time, but Kanji ignored her. He was willing the blush to leave his face, for his heartbeat to slow down to a reasonable rate. The last thing he wanted was Rise getting involved.

Naoto… how long had it been now since he first met him? He had to admit that he had been otherwise occupied over the last few weeks and hadn't thought about him that much. It had been time consuming work, fighting to get to Rise out of the club. But now that was over, and they had no further leads to go on and were just waiting until the next midnight channel image, he had allowed himself to relax a little and think about the mysterious young man again.

One recurring thought was what he was going to say if he saw him again. Fill him in on what had happened? Naoto had asked him if he had seen anything suspicious and the events of past however long had certainly qualified, but he obviously couldn't say anything about the TV world. Why did Naoto want to know if he had seen anything anyway?

Rise sighed at his stubborn silence, and picked up her boxed lunch.

"Fine, don't tell me then. You're being unfair." She began to eat, stabbing at her lunch with her chopsticks, casting him a suspicious look out of the corner of her eye. She was probably trying to gauge how to get the information from him. He ate too, trying to ignore her expression. He couldn't give in to her on this. He'd never hear the end of it.

Perhaps he and Naoto could hang out again. Maybe go to Aiya. Would that be... a date? Did he want to go on a date with him? He felt familiar, confusing emotions begin to swell in his chest again. Naoto was just so damn bewildering to him. What happened in the sauna he couldn't really deny. He knew he had a crush. He'd thought about kissing him and… other things, and he wanted to spend time with him too.

It wasn't important anyway. He had this crush with Naoto to deal with, and a persistent Rise to deflect.


10th July 2011

He'd heard the sirens in the small hours of the morning; two police cars tearing past his house, blue and red lights flashing. He awoke suddenly, sitting bolt upright in bed, his heart in his mouth. In that moment of waking he couldn't remember they had saved Rise and he pictured her, body limp, hanging from a telephone pole. It made him feel sick to his stomach. Then, bit by bit, his memory caught up with him. No, they got her out. They fought her Shadow. They saved her. He'd been hanging out with her at school. She was his friend.

He let out a shaky breath, grabbed his glasses from his bedside table and peered at the clock in his room. Something wasn't right. He groaned and swung his legs out of bed. He opened the window and leaned out, gazing over the shopping district; it was foggy outside, though still incredibly warm. He could still hear the sirens in the distance. The hell...?

He got dressed, gelling his hair back and leaving his glasses on the bathroom sink, and headed into the living room. It was 6am on a Sunday morning, yet the house was empty. He heard the shutters of the shop slide open-then-closed, and after a moment his mother appeared, dressed in a rose-pink kimono. She was pale. Kanji strode towards her, a look of worry on his face.

"Ma…?"

"Kanji-kun, there has been an accident…" Her voice was low and she looked visibly shaken. He felt his pulse quicken. No… Rise

"W-what? I mean- who?"

"Morooka-san. A teacher at your school."

She quickly told him what she had heard from Mrs Shiroku; Mr Morooka had been murdered. The police had found his body hanging upside down on a telephone pole, the back of his head caved in. Kanji sat down at the kitchen table. The shock of it made him feel sick. He had no love for teachers, and that one was especially a dick, but Kanji knew him and, for some reason, having the victim being someone you knew made it surreal and painful. This is what Yosuke must be feeling like about Saki-senpai. There were no school today so no one had a reason to be up early, but it didn't take long for him to receive a phone call from Yu. They were meeting at Junes as soon as it opened.

Despite it being foggy there were loads of people out on the street, talking, gossiping about the murder. As he passed Marukyu tofu he ran into Rise. She was pale, and asked in a small voice if he heard what had happened. He said that he had; she burst into tears. He awkwardly put a hand on her shoulder as she cried, hating the looks they were getting. He had no idea what to say, or how to console her. He never knew what you were supposed to do when girls cried. After a moment or two she stopped crying, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

"K...Kanji… what if it were me?"

"Huh?"

"I have only been out of that place a few days! If it had been any longer…" So she'd had the same thoughts as him. He didn't know what to say. Rise gave him an odd look, and let out a half hearted laugh.

"S-sorry. Come on, we have to meet Yu-senpai and the others, right?" She sniffed again, and rubbed under her eyes, correcting her smudged makeup.

They were back at Junes. The fog had lifted and the day was scorching hot; Teddie had forgone his bear-suit and was wearing his newly bought Junes clothes instead. The entire Inaba police department must have been out on patrol that day; there were even cops in the food court.

The killer had moved quickly; he must have known that they had managed to get Rise out of there and located his next victim almost immediately. Why King Moron? He just didn't make sense as a victim. And they had watched the midnight channel and didn't see anything. Chie was talking, trying to recap what they knew and what they could learn from this but Kanji was only partly paying attention, caught in thought. He saw something out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw a figure approaching them. He blinked in surprise.

"Y-You…" It was Naoto. Hell, it was Naoto. And he was looking annoyed, scowling at the party from under the brim of his hat.

"There is no need to examine the case of Mr. Morooka any further." Naoto said, his voice was cool, unimpressed. Kanji caught himself staring; he couldn't help it. He looked away.

Naoto was there to tell them their game was over. The police had found a suspect, a student from another high school in Inaba, though he stopped short of saying what that kid's name was. Kanji was tuning out; as much as he knew this stuff was important and that he should pay attention, he felt unable to concentrate. Too much had happened today, and now Naoto was here. He felt exhausted, and the immense summer heat wasn't helping.

"I'm on this case as a special investigator, by request of the prefectural police." Naoto said. Kanji tuned back in. He was surprised, but couldn't help but feel a slight sinking feeling in his stomach as he thought back to the first time they met. I guess that's why he wanted to meet me. He wasn't interested in me. Figures. He hated self pity; it wasn't something he often indulged in, but sometimes it crept up on you.

"Soon, this case will be solved, and your town will once again be its peaceful, rustic self."

"All right," Yosuke said, annoyed, "so why come tell us? That's confidential info, right? Why run right here and spill it?"

"Your "game" will soon reach its end. I felt I should at least let you know that." No one said anything. Naoto smirked. "You don't deny, then, that you have involved yourselves in the matter? Well, no matter. I have no reason to say anything further."

Rise and Yosuke were visibly upset, both of them flustered at the accusation of them not taking the murders seriously.

"A game…? Aren't you the one who thinks of this as a game?!" Rise said, her voice rising. "I don't care if you're a special investigator or an amateur sleuth! All you're doing is solving mysteries. What could you possibly know about us? You're the one who's playing a game here!" Her voice faltered, ending in a weak choking sound as she fought back tears.

"One of the victims, she meant a lot to me. How could I possibly treat this like a game?" Yosuke said, his expression pained. Kanji could empathise; he, Rise and Yukiko nearly died in the TV world. If it hadn't been for Yu-senpai and the others if would be them hanging from the telephone poles. Yosuke wasn't finished; he rounded on Naoto, his voice hard and sneering. "Oh, I get it. I was wondering why you'd be wandering around like this when the police have a suspect. What, did they get rid of you now that they have their man? Is that why you came here? You were lonely?" Naoto shrugged, not rising to the bait.

"Detectives normally aren't involved with arrests. And we never harbour any special emotions regarding a case, either. Still, it is rather unfortunate that our people are only attentive as long as our services are required. But then, I'm accustomed to it. Much about this case was perplexing, but its solution was surprisingly simple. Well then, I'll be going now." Kanji watched Naoto leave. He wanted to get up and follow him, to talk, but he had no idea what to say. There was a stunned silence in the group, broken only for the sound of the Junes jingle playing in the background.

"What was that about? He just said his piece and left?" Chie asked. "He said they have a suspect, but is this really gonna solve everything?"

Yosuke sighed. "Who knows…" It was painful that they had failed, that they had no idea that Mr Morooka would be next, that they didn't know to go into the TV to save him. Even Teddie was confused; he said that he didn't sense anyone in there, didn't know that there was anyone to rescue. Naoto telling them to give up and not interfere any more... it deflated them. Even Chie who was so usually energetic and self-confident, sounded despondent when she suggested they go home. They were the only ones who could go into the midnight channel and rescue people, yet the police had a suspect and had solved the entire thing.

They parted ways soon after. Kanji headed home; he was exhausted. He was silent throughout dinner; his Ma didn't pester him either. She didn't even talk to him about her day. He decided to have an early night.

Everything had just happened at once. Morooka's murder, Naoto turning up again; he felt numb from it all. Also, Naoto's attitude had confused him. He seemed to different from the attentive young man Kanji had spent an afternoon chatting with; he was focussed and cold. It sent a shiver down his spine. Something that he said was eating away at him as well. Kanji didn't know why, but there was something about that tone, about being used to being cast aside, that made him want to… want to do something. He wanted to tell him it was ok. Or that he understood, dammit. Kanji knew about being lonely, and there is something in Naoto's tone that felt achingly familiar.


26th July 2011

Mr Morooka's killer appeared on the midnight channel. The image had been blurry at first; Kanji could just about make out that it was a boy, a highschooler as Naoto had said. He didn't recognise him though, and he didn't look to be wearing a school uniform. As the days passed the image got clearer and clearer; taunting anyone and everyone to come and get him. Catch him if they could. This sort of shit really pissed Kanji off.

It had taken a bit of work, interrogating anyone they came across in the town to discover the boy's identity. Kanji offered to help out more in their store in order to speak to the regulars.

Mrs Shiroku came in almost daily and so she was a good person to start with; she didn't buy much from the store, but she was a personal friend of Ma's and would come in for tea and a chat. She owned a convenience store in the shopping district; she was a little old lady, chubby and jovial, but with a firm, no-nonsense streak. He'd known her all his life.

She bustled in one afternoon, still wearing her apron and headscarf from working in the shop, carrying a small box of sweets for Ma.

"Oh, hello Kanji-kun! My, I haven't seen you helping in the shop for such a long time. It is so nice to see you being serious about your future at long last! Is your mother around?" Kanji bit his tongue; he'd once tried to talk back to Mrs Shiroku when he was in elementary school and she'd smacked him upside the head before chasing him out of her shop. She wasn't the type to give up this strategy just because he was 6' tall and single handedly took down biker gangs on a semi-regular basis.

"Uh, yeah, I'll go get her. Uh, Mrs Shiroku? Can I ask you somethin'?"

"Of course you can, Kanji-kun! What is it?" She looked at him kindly, smiling.

"Do you know anything about the highschooler the police are after? The one who… uh…"

"Oh! The serial killer?" She sounded far too happy. "Let me tell you! Boys like that are no good. No good at all. Never amount to anything. You had better not end up like that Kanji-kun. And stop bleaching your hair; you look like a thug."

Kanji scowled, running his hand back over his head, sweeping his hair back. "And stop scowling."

"So… um… do you know anything?" he sighed. There really was no point arguing.

"Hm, no. There are a lot of boys in Inaba. But that one, he is no good. The police will get him soon, you mark my words."

Ma appeared before Kanji could question further, and Mrs Shiroku was ushered into the back, still talking. Kanji could hear his mother making diplomatic, non-committal noises; he was very familiar with them. She'd used them often enough when making apologies for him.

The rest of the evening was much of the same; despite questioning everyone who came into the shop, no one knew anything. He was getting frustrated. He wanted to go into the TV world, kick that shithead's ass, and get out of there, not waste time talking to the neighbours.

He went to bed, despondent. An entire evening was wasted and he was no further in helping Yu along. His phone rang, vibrating across the little table next to his bed. Yu's name was on the display. He flicked it open.

"Hello? Hey Senpai. Nah, I got nothin'. I asked everyone who came into the store but… No one knew anything, man." He paused, listening. "Huh?! Souzai Daigaku? You're kidding. Hah, that's enough, right? We can find him with that?" He listened again, grinning.

They were going in to the TV.


? August 2011

Finding and apprehending Mitsuo Kubo had proven slightly harder than they'd anticipated; it had taken a hell of a lot of work to fight their way through his dungeon to get to him, more than what they had had to do to save Rise. The piece of shit didn't want to get rescued and that was reflected in the Void Quest; everything was fighting to keep them out. It seemed to take forever to finally get to the Endgame where he was hiding. Kanji wasn't a massive fan of videogames; the repetitive plink of the music got on his nerves, and the pixilated walls and decor had made his eyes go funny. The entire place had given him a headache. Still, it was better than the sauna, right? And a hell of a lot better than the strip club.

Kanji's first impression of Mitsuo was that he was a freaky-looking piece of shit. His eyes were strangely... lifeless. They were black and empty, without a spark of anything. It was like looking into the eyes of a dead fish. He was about Kanji's age, maybe slightly older, but the way he behaved was ridiculously childish; he was in the middle of throwing a tantrum when they bashed open the pixilated door to his chamber.

"You Mitsuo!? You better be ready to pay, you bastard!" Kanji shouted, cracking his knuckles. Kubo ignored him. He was screaming at his Shadow.

"Everyone gets on my nerves! That's why I did it! What do you think of that?! Say something dammit!" The Shadow was silent, shoulders slumped, staring at the floor. "No one even thought of me after the first two people; that's why I went for the third one. I killed them!" His Shadow still hadn't said a word. Something wasn't right. "Wh...what are you all quiet for?

"Because... I feel nothing."

"Wh-what are you talking about?! Make sense dammit!"

"I have nothing… I am nothing... and you are me."

"What!? What is that supposed to mean? I'm... I'm not nothing." He suddenly seemed to become aware that he had an audience. Mitsuo spun round, eyes wide. "Wh-who are you guys? How did you get in here? Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" His voice was all over the place, rough and unrestrained.

"Shut the hell up!" Kanji shouted back, "we came after you!"

"Yeah! Aren't you the murderer?" Chie asked, hopping from foot to foot. She was as eager to start a fight as he was. Mitsuo looked taken aback. His face broke out into a smile and he started to giggle. The giggle got louder, until it was a full blown laugh, utterly devoid of all humour. It made Kanji's skin crawl.

"Of course I am! I am the one behind everything!" He laughed again. His shadow was silent. Something really wasn't right. Kanji could see the Shadow's lips moving, but he couldn't make out the words over Mitsuo's laughter. Kanji watched him move, slowly walking to stand behind Mitsuo. Mitsuo didn't notice.

"Why'd you chase me in here?! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you! I can do it you know! I can do anything!"

"...so, you don't accept me?" The Shadow said, his voice hollow and empty, engulfing the room in smoke.

Mitsuo, or rather, his Shadow, put up a hell of a fight.

Kanji was exhausted. Even wearing his summer uniform his skin was soaked in sweat, his muscles burning with exertion. He was beginning to regret using such heavy, blunt objects as weapons. Yukiko-senpai didn't look as worn out.

Mitsuo was lying on the ground in a heap, still laughing that eerie, humourless laugh. He refused to accept his Shadow, and answered any questions with an insolent giggle. He was not going to move of his own volition. Kanji sighed. This was such a fucking pain. But they had got him, which was the main thing. Finally caught the bastard who had killed Ms Yamano and Saki-senpai, and Mr Morooka.

He and Yosuke hoisted Mitsuo up by his arms, pinning him between them. Kanji maintained a slightly-too-tight grip on his arms, just enough to bruise. They didn't really need to keep such a tight hold; he wasn't resisting them, but like hell Kanji was giving him any opportunity to run away.

Kanji wanted to feel happy about catching the guy, but there was a niggling feeling in the back of his head he couldn't shake. This is the guy who pushed him in, right? Standing next to him now, holding onto Kubo's arm, Kanji towered above him. He wondered how the hell Mitsuo had managed to overpower and subdue him. Like, the kid wasn't small, he was about Yosuke's height and definitely heavier set, but he didn't know like he looked how to fight properly. Also, didn't the police say that Mr Morooka had his head caved in? Why didn't he try that with him, or Rise or, hell, even Yukiko? Why did he just push them into the TV?

Eh, whatever. They had to have got the right guy this time, right? The kid was admitting to all of the murders, to Ms Yamano, Saki-senpai, Mr Morooka. They had to have got him.

They called the police as soon as they were out of the TV, and let them take it from there. Mitsuo was still laughing.