?

After a few minutes of looking around, Souji and Hamuko spotted a single path that led away from the area they had landed in.

"Think it's a way out Souji-kun?" asked Hamuko as she squinted through the fog.

Souji shrugged as he started down the path. "Let's hope so, senpai."

Chie and Yosuke quietly followed the other two as they traveled down the path. After about ten minutes of walking, Hamuko noticed their surroundings had begun to change. Instead of the television studio style of environment, the setting seemed to have shifted to an older style type of building, like an old hotel or lodge. It was still hard to make out due to all the fog that permeated throughout the area. As it turned out, she was not the only one to notice the change.

"What is this place?" asked Chie. "It doesn't look like where we were..."

"Maybe some kind of building?" offered Yosuke. "But with all this fog, who can say?"

"What if we're wandering farther away from where we need to be?" asked Chie, looking around with a worried expression.

Souji turned and faced her. "If we are, we are. Still, I have a gut feeling that this way is correct."

"If you say so..." trailed Yosuke as he scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, let's keep going."

The others nodded and they continued down the path, which had become more of a walkway the further they went. Eventually they stopped in front of a doorway that appeared to be a strange red and black vortex.

"Okay, that is not normal," said Yosuke as he stared at it. "We're not seriously going to walk through that are we?"

"Yep," said Souji as he reached out and put his arm through the portal-like doorway. "Hmm, so far so good."

"Wow, you seriously have no fear do you Souji-kun?" asked Hamuko.

Souji turned to her. "No guts, no glory. It's something my dad always told me." He then turned back and walked through the portal.

"Oh wow," gasped Chie. "He really did it!"

After a few tense seconds, Souji's head reappeared through the portal. "It's okay come on in."

If he says it's okay, then I'll trust him, thought Hamuko as she slowly stepped through the portal. Just as Souji said, it was safe on the other side. A moment later, Yosuke and Chie appeared behind her.

"Yeah, that is definitely not normal," said Yosuke as he looked around. "Hmm, is it just me, or is the fog lighter in here?"

Hamuko looked around. Sure enough, it did seem easier to see in the room she was now standing in. It looked like some sort of bedroom.

"What is this?" she asked. "A bedroom?"

"Geez slow down guys," sighed Chie. "It's bad enough just trying to see where you're going without-" Suddenly she gasped as she looked in a different section of the room. "What the? It's a dead end! There's no exit here..."

"Not only that but it just gets creepier the further we go," said Yosuke. Suddenly his expression changed from concern to panic. "Oh crap, oh crap! I can't hold it any longer! I think my bladder's gunna explode!" He quickly ran to the far side wall of the room.

"Yosuke what are you doing?" asked Hamuko as she heard the sound of a zipper unzipping. "Wait, you're not going to do that right there are you?"

"Turn around, I can't go if everyone's looking!" fumed Yosuke.

"Eww, you have got to be kidding!" protested Chie.

Yosuke stood motionless for a moment before zipping his pants back. "Arg I can't do it! I'm blaming you two girls if my bladder bursts!"

"Like I care..." sighed Chie.

"Likewise," nodded Hamuko. She stopped and took a closer look around the room. "What's with this place? All these posters on the wall..."

"Their faces are cut out," said Souji. "Weird..."

"Someone must hate this person," added Chie. She was about to add something else when Yosuke backed into her. "Hey, what gives?"

Yosuke pointed at the ceiling. "Dude, this chair and rope... That arrangement is never a good thing."

Hamuko gasped as she saw what looked like scarf tied onto a rope in a noose-like fashion with a chair sitting underneath. It certainly looked like a suicidal person's setup. "What is this?"

Chie suddenly let out a nervous laugh. "Uh, why don't we just, you know, go back where we started from and see if we can't find another place for an exit..."

Souji nodded. "Yeah, sounds good to me."

Yosuke walked up to one of the cut up posters. "You know, I think I've seen these posters before..."

"Who cares?" fumed Chie. "Let's get out of here! I'm tired of this place! And, um... I'm not feeling so hot..."

Yosuke frowned. "Now that you mention it...me too."

Hamuko also felt like her body had begun to feel heavy. "Same here..."

"Let's just go back," said Souji. "I'm not feeling all that well myself..." The others nodded and walked out of the portal that brought them into the room and quietly made their way back to the area that they had arrived in. After what seemed like an eternity, the four finally found themselves back to the studio-like area they had landed in.

"Whew, we're finally back," sighed Chie as she sat down. "It feels like we walked a marathon or something..."

Hamuko collapsed on the ground, lying on her back with her arms out. "No kidding, Chie. I'm about to pass out..."

"Well, let's take a breather for a bit and then..." trailed Souji.

"Huh? What's up?" asked Chie, as she looked and Souji and then at the direction he was staring at. "W-what is that?"

Hamuko sat up and saw that a weird shadowed figure was approaching the group. Souji and Yosuke quickly stepped in front of the girls, who had quickly gotten to their feet. As the figure came close enough out of the fog to be seen, it was the weirdest thing Hamuko had ever seen. It looked like some kind of bear-like mascot that wore red and white, although the bear's fur itself was blue.

"W-what is this thingy?" she asked. "Some kind of bear?"

"Hey, wait a sec, who are you guys?" asked the bear.

"It talked!" gasped Chie, before going into a defense stance. "Who're you? You wanna fight or..?"

The bear immediately hunched over and covered its head. "Don't yell at me like that!"

"Okay, then what are you?" asked Souji. "And where are we?"

"I'm a bear," said the bear. "Can't you tell? I live here alone. This place doesn't have a name. I would know, because I've always lived here."

"Waitasec, you live here?" asked Yosuke.

"Yep!" said the bear. "But if I was you guys, I'd hurry back to where you all came from. Someone's been tossing people in here..."

"Throwing people in?" asked Hamuko. "I don't get it..."

The bear's face suddenly changed from a worried look at an annoyed one. "I dunno who's doing it, I just want them to stop!"

"Why are you yelling at us like that?" demanded Chie. "What are you? Where are we? What's going on here?"

The bear suddenly hid behind Souji. "Um..."

"Didn't I just tell you?" asked the bear. "Anyways, you four should get going."

Yosuke sighed. "So you want us out of here right? Well so do we; we just don't know how dammit!"

The bear stomped the ground. "Grr... That's why I'll let you out!"

"Huh?" asked Hamuko. "You can do that?"

The bear nodded and then tapped the ground with one of its feet. Suddenly a small tower of TVs appeared in a puff of smoke.

"The hell?" asked Yosuke.

"Where did those come from?" asked Chie.

The bear walked behind the group and began pushing them towards the TVs. "Okay, go go go! I'm a busy bear and all that!"

"Hey cut that out!" fumed Chie. "Stop pushing so hard!"

"Yeah seriousl-" said Yosuke. Before he could finish his sentence, however, the four of them were suddenly shoved into the TVs and through a space similar to the one that they had fallen through upon arrival. Hamuko didn't have much time to ponder this because a moment later she and the others were suddenly deposited out of the big screen TV that they had initially fallen through. Confirming this was the Junes theme that was blasting through the speakers.

"This is Junes isn't it?" she asked.

Yosuke looked around. "We made it back right?" His eyes lit up as he recognized his surroundings. "Yes it's Junes! I never thought I'd be so glad to see this place again! I kiss thy sweet floor!" He then kissed the tile floor.

"Ew?" said Chie. Before she could say anything else, an announcement for an evening sale on produce came on.

"We don't start those sales until at least 6:30 at night," said Yosuke. "Wow, that means it's at least that late now."

"Looks like we were in there for quite awhile,' said Chie as she breathed a sigh of relief.

Hamuko looked at her watch. It was 7 PM. "Wow, you're right. But it didn't feel like it though."

Yosuke was about to answer her but stopped when he spotted something on a nearby wall.

"Hey guys, look!" he said as he pointed at the item he was looking at. "It's that poster we saw earlier!"

"Huh?" Chie looked at the poster that Yosuke had pointed out. "Wow, you're right! It's a poster of Misuzu Hiiragi. This poster doesn't have the face torn off. So does that means all those posters in that one room are of her, too?"

"That name..." trailed Hamuko. "I remember it from somewhere."

"Wasn't she on the news or something?" asked Souji.

Hamuko nodded as she recalled the memory. "Yeah! Iris said that she was part of that whole love triangle deal that was on the news when I first got here. I think that dead announcer lady, Mayumi Yamano was it? And some dude named Na-me-ta-me were also involved."

"Yeah, yeah I remember now too," said Chie. "It's just like you said."

"Wait," interrupted Yosuke. "Does that mean that weird room we saw had something to do with that Yamano lady's death or something?"

Hamuko scratched her head. "Maybe? There were all those ripped posters, and that scarf-noose that we saw..."

"Ugh stop, stop," sighed Yosuke. "No more talking about this! I'm just going to forget everything that happened today! I don't think my heart can take it anymore."

"Or mine," sighed Hamuko. "Literally."

Chie nodded. "Let's just go home. I wanna lie down and rest. And take an hour long bath..."

"Alright then, I'll see you guys tomorrow," said Souji. "Ugh, I'm gunna hate the walk home."

Evening - Matsuda Residence

Hamuko had managed to trudge home from Junes by herself, but not before having the misfortune of getting caught in yet another downpour. By the time she had reached the house, she was glad she had her umbrella.

"Hey kiddo," said Iris from the living room as Hamuko entered the doorway. "Another late evening out?"

"Yeah..." sighed Hamuko as she sat down on the couch next to Iris. "I think I'm going to lay off of those for awhile. Um, is Takao-san not here?"

Iris shook her head. "Nah, Gramps is staying at the Inn tonight. Things must be crazy over there if they need him this badly. Say... You didn't happen to see that Saki girl at school today did you?"

Hamuko shook her head. "Saki Konishi? She wasn't in class today. Maybe she got sick?"

"Or just didn't want to deal with everyone asking her a million questions," said Iris as she watched the news on the TV. "Funny thing is, is that her family reported her missing this afternoon."

Hamuko looked at Iris in surprise. "Huh? They did?"

"Yeah... They said she actually left the house for school this morning," explained Iris. "And when she didn't come home, that's when they reported her missing. Ryo-kun, er Dojima told me all this a little while ago."

"Do you think something happened to her?" asked Haumko, with a worried tone.

Iris shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe she just ran away from home. I hear that she wasn't getting along with her parents lately. I bet she's just hiding out at a friend's house or something."

"...I hope so," said Hamuko.

Iris pulled out her cell phone. "Well, I'm going to tell Dojima what you told me. Since she's in your class, I can at least tell him that she didn't go to school today for sure."

"Okay..." yawned Hamuko as she stood up. "I'm just going to turn in tonight. I don't feel too good..."

Iris nodded. "Hope you feel better Hamuko. See ya in the morning, kay?"

Hamuko nodded and trudged up the stairs to her room. It did not take long for her to fall asleep.