Well, here we go with the third chapter. I appreciate the reviews, favorites and followers that I've received so far, and hope that the story continues to interest you, I know it's still going for me. Next chapter we'll finally be getting into the story proper and there will be a few changes there as well, pretty much exclusively centered around Danny.
Until then, please enjoy this chapter and feel free to offer your views on it, positive and negative. I may or may not agree with them, but I'm still interested to hear them. And who knows? While I'm more or less set on how the course of the story, beyond the obvious story-line that's already set in front of me, your ideas could spark some interest.
Breaking Down The Borders
Danny squinted as he slowly became aware of his surroundings, everything was covered in a blindingly bright white, everything aside from him at least. He could feel his instincts shouting at him that he was in danger once again, just as he had at the gas station, after glancing around one more time and seeing nobody else around Danny transformed before starting to explore the area, barely paying attention to the bricks that began appearing as he walked. 'I don't like this...this is twice now that I've been taken somewhere when I went to sleep. This doesn't seem like the tricks of any ghosts I've ran into before so maybe its something else. It doesn't matter right now though, right now all that matters is getting out of here.'
The half-ghost continued wandering for a few minutes, the fog surrounding him and obscuring everything beyond just a few feet in front of him putting him even more on edge than he already was.
Do you seek the truth?
Danny jumped at the voice, spinning around quickly as he charged an ectoblast in his hand, only to find that there was nobody in sight. He squinted through the fog desperately for a few more seconds before slowly letting the energy disperse from his palm when he couldn't find anything and the voice seemed to go silent. The half-ghost let out a shaky breath and continued on the path, "Wonderful mess you've got yourself into this time, Phantom." He grumbled quietly.
If it's the truth you desire, come and find me...
The voice was obviously coming from ahead of him this time and while it didn't make him feel any better about the situation it at least gave him a clearer destination than he'd had before. He continued on for a few feet before running into a wall...or more like a door that was trying to look like a wall, he couldn't be sure. What he was sure of was that it was extremely out of place in the white fog. Danny cautiously approached it and turned intangible, stepping through the wall, only to watch it shatter away as he passed through it.
The room he found himself standing in after that was even worse than the path he'd been walking before and if he didn't know that he could fly he felt that he might even be a bit panicked at finding himself standing on what seemed to be solidified fog with nothing else in view, not even the door way that he had stepped through. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of a figure in front of him in the fog, it looked like it could be a woman, though with as tall as it was he couldn't be completely sure, particularly knowing all to well the frustrations that androgyny had brought him in the past when others had attempted to identify him from a distance.
So...you are pursuing me... The echoing voice whispered, a darkly amused chuckle accompanying it, Try all you like.
The figure stepped back into the fog, blending in with it as more of it poured into the area. But even having lost sight of it he could still feel the presence...it felt a lot like his ghost sense, though significantly more foreboding. Despite the feeling of dread the half-ghost chased after it. 'I don't know what's going on here or who, or even what, that person is but I'm sure as hell going to find out.'
Danny's frustration was interrupted as he sensed the entity just in front of him. His hands balled into fists and he launched himself into an attack towards the figure, only to find himself pushed back as if it was being protected by some unseen force field, he quickly dodged a counter attack from the figure, backing away slightly as he considered his next attack.
Hmm...it appears you can see a little inside this fog...
The half-ghost's already glowing eyes blazed slightly brighter as an anger that was typically reserved for Vlad's arrogant speeches to him rose at being talked to with such little respect. Danny launched himself in another attack, kicking at the entity's head in anger this time actually connecting, though it seemed to do little damage. Just as quickly as the attack managed to hit it the figure flung him away again, sending the ghost tumbling through the air before righting himself and landing on his feet roughly.
I see...that is very interesting information, indeed...even now you are learning. The echoing voice whispered, seeming slightly surprised at his ability to hit it.
But, you'll not catch me so easily. If the truth is what you seek then your search will be much more difficult.
Danny seethed as he spun around even as the fog thickened, blocking Danny's sight even further, the half-ghost growled in frustration. He felt something odd tugging at the back of his mind as if it wanted to be used but he ignored it as he charged an ectoblast in both of his hands. Danny rushed the figure one more time, letting loose with both blasts towards it while charging more energy in his body as he lashed out physically at the being but all he hit was air as the figure vanished further into the fog, seeming surprised as it finally responded to his attacks.
He was thrown back by whatever force the being had summoned and slammed into an invisible wall, hard. The half-ghost groaned and slumped to the floor as the figure spoke again, its surprise evident in the voice this time.
What kind of power is this? What ARE you?
'That's right...there's a reason the ghosts are afraid of me, Lady...and you're going to get real familiar with it if I find you again.' Danny couldn't help but feel a small sense of bitter amusement at the question he'd been asking himself about it for the entire fight, however before he could respond to it he felt himself slipping away again, and the white world faded into darkness.
Danny let out a small hiss as the morning sun shined on his face through the window while he woke up, only slightly less tired than he was before going to bed. 'Ugh...figures, even without ghosts around I can't get a good night's sleep. Dreams probably didn't help...'
After taking a minute to let his eyes adjust to the light in the room Danny stood up slowly, his knees and back popping and cracking as he done so, and began getting ready for the day. Normally he would have despised the idea of a school uniform but it seemed that this school's was relatively informal compared to what he thought it might be. He pulled the jacket on last, after pinning the second year emblem on the collar, though he left it unbuttoned. 'At least it's better than the one Vlad enforced for a while.'
Just as he was getting ready to leave the room there was a knock at the door. "Breakfast is ready..."
Danny smiled and made his way downstairs, smelling sausage and eggs coming from the kitchen. He was surprised to see only Nanako sitting at the table with two plates, one of them clearly for him. "Good morning." She said happily.
His smile brightened slightly, "Good morning to you too." He replied as he sat down at the table across from her.
"Okay, let's eat!" The girl said excitedly, leading Danny to laugh a little at her enthusiasm as he picked up his own fork and joined her in eating breakfast.
He was slightly surprised at how good the eggs and sausage were, though with a little thought he realized that she probably made breakfast by herself often, seeing as how she didn't seem to be surprised at Dojima already being gone it was probably a normal thing for her. 'I can understand it...he's a detective after all, but I still don't like it.'
"This is really good, Nanako. It's better than anything I could have made when I was your age."
The girl blushed at the praise, letting a proud smile cross her face, "Thanks! Hey, today is your first day at school, right?" She asked, significantly less shy than the night before.
At Danny's nod her smile widened even further, "My school's on the way so...let's go together!" She said happily.
Danny laughed a little at that before nodding again. "Alright, we can do that."
The beaming Nanako let out a happy laugh before turning back to her breakfast, prompting him to do the same. Once breakfast was finished they cleaned their plates before getting their bags and, when they realized it was raining, Nanako ran to grab her umbrella, leaving Danny to realize that he probably needed to buy one at one of the stores in town if he got the chance.
School Zone, Samegawa Flood Plain
Nanako had turned off the road they had been walking on a few minutes back, heading towards the elementary school, leaving Danny to finish the walk to school on his own...in the heavy rain. 'God, I need to get an umbrella as soon as I can. At least I'll be able to just phase the water off me once I get to school though, so it could be worse.'
"Watch out!" A voice cried, tearing Danny from his thoughts as he was forced to jump out of the path of some guy trying to ride his bike and hold an umbrella at the same time. He glared at the idiot for a few seconds until he saw him crash into a pole and get thrown from the seat only to land crotch-first on the handle-bars.
Danny winced at the sight as he passed, wondering if he should help him but ultimately deciding that given the obvious pain he was in it would probably be best to leave the guy alone. He continued on his way to school, letting the water on him phase off after stepping through the door, he went in search of the faculty office and was thankful that, while there were quite a few differences between the US and Japan, it was relatively easy to find.
Danny nervously approached the attendant's desk, trying to ignore the hunched over buck-toothed man complaining loudly to another teacher across the room, "Err...hi, I'm Danny Fenton, my Uncle Dojima said he talked to you about me transferring here?"
The attendant looked at him with a small amount of surprise before smiling, "Of course, let's take a look at where you're supposed to be..." She said, pulling up a list of classes on the computer though when she finally found his name her face fell slightly, "Ah...well here's your schedule, it appears that you're in Mr. Morooka's home room." She told him with a sympathetic look on her face as she gave him his schedule, the buck-toothed man turning at the sound of his name.
"What!? What's going on here?" The man asked loudly, glaring at Danny as he walked over to the desk.
The attendant let out a small sigh, "Mr. Morooka, this is Daniel Fenton, our American transfer student." The lady explained patiently, "It seems he's been placed in your home room class."
The teacher's eyes narrowed slightly at the news, though he nodded his head, "Alright then, let's go!" He announced loudly before turning and leading the way out the door, leaving Danny staring wide-eyed after him for a few seconds. He blinked in surprise and looked at the attendant for a moment, noting the look of pity on her face, before coming back to his senses and following after his new teacher. The two of them made their way to the second floor, Mr. Morooka shouting at any students he saw as they went through the halls until they came to the door to the class room.
As the teacher opened the door both of them were assaulted by the noise from within, all of the students talking to each other uncaring of how loud they were becoming as the two of them made their way to the front of the class room. The room suddenly became quiet as Morooka began speaking loudly, though if he was honest Danny ignored most of it in favor of scanning the room, looking at his new classmates. 'They really don't seem much different from everybody at Casper High...' Danny thought, though he was finally forced to pay attention to the teacher when he heard him start talking about him.
"Now, I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce this transfer student." Morooka started, his voice just as angry as ever, "This sad sack's been thrown all the way from America out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage. And he's just as much of a limp wristed loser here as he was there, if not more! So you girls had better not get any ideas about hitting on him! Tell 'em your name, kid, and make it quick."
Danny's eyes glowed bright green for a second before he turned away from the class to look at the teacher, hoping none of them had seen it, "My name is Danny Fenton, but more importantly, are you calling me a loser?" He asked dangerously, not paying attention to the intake of breath from the entire class, instead focusing clearly on the man in front of him.
Mr. Morooka stared at him with wide eyes, shocked into silence for a moment. Just as the teacher was about to reply he heard one of the students speak up, "Uhh, Mr. Morooka, since all the other seats are taken the new student can sit here!" He heard a girl say loudly, drawing their attention away from the moment.
"Huh? Uhh...sure, go sit down!" Morooka said roughly, clearly dissatisfied that he was interrupted but his chance to respond to the defiance had passed, and Danny smirked as he walked towards the girl in the green jacket who'd spoke up. The teacher glared at him for a few more seconds before turning away and starting his lecture.
"That's all for today. Normal lectures will begin tomorrow."
Danny was already half-way to the door of the classroom when the intercom crackled to life and dashed his hopes of getting away easily, "Attention all teachers. Please report immediately to the faculty office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave until told otherwise."
The half-ghost let out a frustrated sigh at the announcement, making his way to the back of the room to lean against the wall while Morooka shouted at them to stay in the room before leaving for the meeting. Danny was contemplating whether or not he'd be able to turn invisible and phase out of the classroom without being noticed when he realized that he was being watched by a good portion of the class, including the girl that had sat next to him, however before he could think much about it the intercom crackled to life again, "Attention all students. There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the school zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers, head directly home."
As soon as the intercom clicked off the classroom erupted into a jumble of curious conversations, likely about whatever the 'incident' was. Danny shook his head at the gossip and pushed himself off the wall, however before he could start towards the door again the girl in the green jacket made a beeline to him, practically dragging her friend in the red sweater with her.
"Hey, are you walking home by yourself? Why don't you come with us?" She asked quickly, though before he even had the chance to answer she started speaking again, "Oh, I almost forgot! My name is Chie Satonaka, I sit right next to you, remember?"
Danny blinked at her in surprise for a moment before nodding slowly, "I-uh...yes?" He answered hesitantly, unsure how he could have possibly missed the fact that she sat right next to him.
Her smile widened a little, apparently amused by his confusion, "Well, it's nice to meet you. This is Yukiko Amagi." She finished, nodding to the black haired girl next to her.
The girl's eyes widened at her name and she looked at him as if she hadn't been paying much attention, "Oh, nice to meet you...I'm sorry that this is so sudden..." She muttered politely, apparently slightly embarrassed.
The half-ghost cocked his head to the side slightly, his confusion only growing at the apology, "C'mon, don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing...I just wanted to ask some stuff, honest!" Chie said with a slightly playful grin.
Danny opened his mouth to reply but spun around quickly as he heard quiet footsteps, like somebody was trying not to be noticed, from behind him. He had to force himself not to raise his fist when he saw the guy who had crashed his bike that morning coming up on them, fear and apprehension clear on his face. 'Why would he be afraid? It's not like I've done anything aggressive...err, well I guess the way I talked to Morooka this morning was kind of, but still...'
His silent question was answered as the boy began talking, "Uh...Satonaka-san? T-This was really awesome. Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see..." He stuttered, trailing off slightly before bowing down quickly and informally holding out a DVD case in front of him, confusing Danny further, "And...I'm really sorry! It was an accident! Please just have mercy until my next paycheck!"
Chie carefully took the case from his hands, prompting the guy to immediately turn tail and try to run away, "See ya, thanks!"
"Hey! Stop right there, what did you do to my DVD?" She shouted, chasing after him and tackling him, kneeing him in the groin in the process.
Danny winced in sympathy for the student, and then for his ears, as Chie opened the case and let out a high pitch scream, shock and anger filling her face, "It's completely cracked!"
"I-I think mine's cracked too. C-Critical hit to the nads..." The guy managed to squeak out as he slumped on the floor.
Yukiko's face filled with sympathy, much like Danny's, as she looked at the student, "A-Are you okay?" She asked quietly, obviously concerned, though all she received in response was a pained groan.
"He's fine, Yukiko, let's go!" Chie growled, obviously furious about the disc.
Danny lagged behind the two girls as they walked away, looking down at the poor guy before shaking his head sympathetically and jogging to catch up to the girls. 'Probably best to just leave him alone...'
When he finally caught up to them Chie and Yukiko were waiting at the gate in front of the school, the brunette waved at him with a smile and the three of them started to make their way down the road, only to be interrupted as an older student with a completely different uniform rounded the corner and walked straight up to Yukiko, ignoring the others in the group, "H-Hey, you're Yuki, right? Do you want to hang out somewhere?" The boy asked in a monotone as he stared at her.
Danny couldn't help the step back he took from the student, the guy made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up though he wasn't sensing an danger from him...at least not towards him anyways. 'Towards Yukiko is an entirely different story...this guy just screams creepy sex predator.'
Apparently Yukiko agreed with his assessment because she looked slightly afraid of him, "What? Wh- Who are you?" She asked timidly, taking a step back from him.
He could hear whispers as a crowd gathered, watching the scene unfold and gossiping, though Danny immediately shut them out, turning his attention back to the situation, where it appeared the man hadn't noticed them at all.
"Um, s-so are you going or not?" He demanded impatiently.
Yukiko shook her head quickly, "I-I'm not going..." She managed to stutter out quietly, not that he could blame her, the guy was ridiculously creepy, hell he even rivaled several of the ghosts he'd fought.
The strange student cut her off angrily, the first time any emotion entered his voice though his stare was unaffected, "Fine!" He shouted, running away.
Danny shook his head as he watched the guy leave before turning to Yukiko, "Did you know that guy?"
She shook her head, "N-No, I've never seen him before." She replied, still shaken by the encounter.
Chie crossed her arms over her chest, "Well either way he sure was creepy. Especially how he just walked up and called you Yuki!" The girl shivered slightly before, turning to Danny with a small smile, "Still, he should have known better than to ask Yukiko out like that! She's got kind of a reputation for shooting guys down." She explained as the student from earlier walked his bike towards them.
Yukiko shook her head in protest, "No I don't!"
"Haha, did another one strike out then? I remember in first year you got me too, Yukiko." The guy with the bike said, jokingly.
"I...don't recall doing that." The raven-haired girl responded, skeptically.
"R-really? Well, do you think you'd like to go out sometime then?" He asked excitedly.
"I don't think so..." She replied quietly, shaking her head slowly.
The guy sighed in disappointment as he mounted his bike, "That'll teach me to get my hopes up..." He muttered, before pushing off shouting back to the girls not to pick on Danny too much.
"What?! We're just curious, we're just going to ask him some questions!" Chie shouted after him, before realizing the scene she was making, "Uh...let's just go guys."
Danny rolled his eyes in response but followed her lead anyways, rather than deal with the growing crowd. The three of them made a bit of small talk as they walked along the flood plain until the girls began asking him questions about his transfer, or more accurately Chie started asking while Yukiko just listened quietly.
"So why did you come all the way over here from the United States?"
Danny blinked at her abrupt question, "I...uh, I'd rather not talk about it." He started to say, though the disappointed look on the girls' faces brought forth a small sigh from him and he shook his head, "Well...I guess it wouldn't hurt. Can't make things any worse, at least." He finished, muttering the last part to himself.
"I guess my uncle's dad married my grandma when I was little and brought her back here." He started, trying to figure out how to phrase the excuse they were using so that it didn't sound so damned depressing, "And well...my parents got a call recently, they didn't tell me much about it, but they said that they had some important business they needed to take care of and that I had to stay with my uncle for the next two years." He said, trailing off slightly before letting out another sigh, "So here I am in Japan, waiting to finish out school and get a degree here rather than at home, because they have more important things to do, I guess."
'Wow, you don't sound bitter at all, do you?'
Chie's eyebrows rose in surprise as she took in his story, "Wow...well I'm sorry to hear that, I mean who would want to be stuck out here? But I mean, at least it's not more serious, right?" She asked, optimistically, before going off on a tangent about the area's steaks and the Amagi Inn, ran by Yukiko's family.
'Well, I guess that explains why she's so polite...it's probably been pounded into her head since she was a kid.'
"So...you think Yukiko's cute, huh?" Chie suddenly spouted off, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Danny blinked in surprise at the sudden shift in the conversation, before cautiously turning his gaze on Yukiko who blushed lightly as she realized he was checking her out, "Uh...well, I guess that she looks nice. Why do you ask?" He replied carefully, much to Chie's amusement.
The conversation continued humorously for several minutes as Chie teased Yukiko, much to the latter girl's embarrassment, unfortunately the conversation was ended abruptly as Danny noticed police tape blocking off one of the paths on the road ahead. 'Guess we've found the 'incident' the school was talking about.' He thought wryly as they started passing the scene, the half-ghost purposefully trying to ignore most of the conversations.
Unfortunately he wasn't able to tune out the gossip of one of the ladies on the corner, "Well I think it's horrible, to think a dead body showed up here!"
The group froze in shock as Danny's head whipped towards the scene, his attention suddenly caught despite his better instincts telling him to just ignore it and continue on home. The three of them took a few cautious steps towards the scene before grinding back to a surprised halt as a man wearing a blue suit came running from behind the tape, barely making it to the trash can across the street before emptying his stomach's contents. Danny cringed at the sound and looked away in an attempt to ignore it, he was thankful for the distraction when a voice he recognized suddenly shouted at the man.
"Adachi! How long are you going to act like a rookie?! Do you want to be sent back to the Central Office?" Dojima shouted as he marched away from the scene angrily.
"Nngh, sorry..." The man managed to get out before heaving again.
The detective sighed and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, "Ugh, just go get yourself cleaned up. When you get back we're going around to gather information!" He told him, frustration clear on his face until he looked up and saw Danny and the girls. He walked towards them slowly, clearly unhappy to see them there, "What are you doing here?"
Danny shrugged, "We were just passing by." He replied truthfully.
Dojima let out an annoyed sigh at the answer, "Huh, should have figured that would happen. Damned principle, we told him not to let them through here." He muttered quietly to himself.
Chie looked between the two of them curiously before finally asking the question clear on her face, "You know this guy?"
Danny nodded silently, while Dojima realized he wasn't alone and began to explain, "I'm Detective Dojima, his guardian. Uhh...how should I say this? I...hope you get along with him, but you three really aught to stop wandering around and head straight home."
The three students nodded and, sensing their dismissal, started walking past the scene again, the girls talking quietly about the incident for a few minutes before Chie turned to Danny, "Uhh, do you mind if we do Junes another day? I think we should probably just head home."
Danny nodded understandingly, "Yeah...I should probably do the same."
"Alright...we'll see you tomorrow!" Chie replied quickly, before turning and walking with Yukiko down the street that intersected the one they were on.
When Danny got home he found that Nanako was already there watching TV. He waved to her when he came in and took his bag up to his room before joining her on the couch to watch her show with her, ending up staying there for a few hours until the news came on. Unfortunately all that was being reported on was the incident with the dead body, he learned that the victim was found hanging from a TV antenna and that the she was apparently the TV announcer, Mayumi Yamano, that had been featured on the news for having an affair with the city councilman.
While Nanako had seemed initially surprised that Dojima was working the case she calmed down quickly, saying that she was just surprised to hear about him on the TV. The program continued on for a few minutes, mostly talking about how the police didn't have many leads or evidence yet.
Danny shook his head in annoyance as the report ended, though his mood was quickly replaced by amusement as a Junes commercial came on and Nanako mimicked the jingle again. "Every day's great at your Junes!~"
The half-ghost laughed a little as he sang along with her, making her eyes widen in shock, "You know it already?!" She asked, incredulously.
He shrugged, "Sure, but I bet my singing isn't as good as yours is." He replied with a smile, to which the little girl blushed happily and sang again, before they both headed upstairs to get ready for bed. Danny's mind wandered back to the report again once his cousin had left him alone.
'I've been in town for two days and already there's been a murder...I'd like to believe that it's just a coincidence and that I don't have to worry about it but...Well, it's not important right now I guess. I just need to concentrate on dealing with school, and do my best to keep my nose clean, even if I know something bad will happen...why else would Clockwork send me here?' Danny shook his head with a sigh at the thought before discarding the thought and making his way to the shower and then to bed.
The next morning before leaving the house was much the same as the day before, though Danny had opted to wake up in time to make breakfast for Nanako today, and within an hour of waking up the two of them were on their ways to school, sans the rain. Danny was most of the way to school when he was forced, for the second day in a row, to jump out of the way of the student on his bike as he sped by only to crash into a bunch of trash cans on the sidewalk.
The half-ghost shook his head in disbelief as he watched the boy desperately try to pull one of the cans off himself, after a few moments of watching in a sort of detached amusement, he reluctantly made his way over and pulled the container off the student in one quick movement. The brown-haired guy blinked up at him in surprise before smiling happily.
"Oh, thanks man, I appreciate it!" He said, a grateful grin on his face, before remembering his bike and groaning as he turned to see the cycle looking a bit worse for wear, "Aww, man...this thing is falling apart, I can't wait until I save up enough money for my motorcycle."
Danny raised an eyebrow at his classmate's apparently fluid priorities, "No problem, are you alright aside from your bike?"
The student jumped at his voice, spinning around to face him again, "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks again..." He trailed off with an embarrassed smile.
"Like I said, it's no problem...you might want to get your bike fixed before trying to ride it again though. Or walk...walking sounds like a good idea." Danny said in a slightly amused tone.
His classmate laughed a little as he picked up his bike and started walking it on the road, Danny following after him, "Hehe, yeah...I guess I kind of deserve that after almost running you over twice. I probably will be walking after this though, I don't want to spend money fixing it that I could put towards my real bike."
"Do you actually have your license?" He asked, skeptically.
"Well...no. But I'll get it soon enough!"
There was a short silence as Danny just smirked at his classmate before shaking his head, "If you say so."
"I will!" He shot back looking deeply insulted for a second, before breaking into a grin, "Eventually...anyways my name is Yosuke Hanamura. If you're not busy after school we should hang out or something, I owe you for helping me out."
Danny smiled, shaking his hand as it was offered to him, "Danny Fenton, and like I said it was no problem, all I did was pick up the trash can."
Yosuke shrugged, "Still..." He started, glancing at his watch offhandedly before his eyes widened, "Oh crap! If we don't hurry up we're going to be late. If you want you can hop on and I'll give you a ride there." He finished hurriedly mounting his bike.
"Uhh, I think I'll take my chances on foot. Thanks though." Danny replied, eyeing the bike nervously.
'I don't trust that thing not to fall apart with him on it, let alone two people. Besides once he leaves I'll just hop into one of these alleys and transform, it's been too long since I've flown anyways.'
"If you say so, I'll see you later then." He shouted over his shoulder as he sped off.
Danny waited a couple minutes after his classmate had left before glancing around carefully and ducking into the next alley and going ghost. In truth it wasn't that much further to the school, but that didn't mean it wasn't worth it. He'd felt a lot of nervous tension building up inside over the last week and hadn't been able to relieve any of it since getting to Japan, flying wasn't as good as venting his frustrations by beating the crap out of a ghost but it would do.
'I'm going to have to figure something out to help with that soon. Maybe I should join a sports club, even as much as I usually hate sports it's better than nothing. Then again maybe whatever Clockwork sent me over here to do will happen and I'll be able to take it out on that.' The half-ghost sighed and shook his head at the thought, realizing how it would probably sound if he'd said it out loud, 'There you go again, Phantom...you should know by now not to tempt fate like that.'
School that day was decidedly uneventful, aside from being unable to get over the fact that his history teacher thought it was a great fashion statement to cosplay as an ancient Egyptian, and Danny found himself waiting for the dismissal bell with his homeroom classmates much quicker than he'd expected to. 'Aside from the teachers being absolutely insane I think I could probably get used to this school. At least I don't have to deal with trying to come up with excuses to get out of class and hunt down escaped ghosts.' He thought while he leaned back in his chair, a small frown developing on his face as he looked around the room lazily, 'Well...maybe I will if everybody and their mother ever decides to stop staring at me. As loud as Chie and Yosuke are, at least they've actually bothered talking to me rather than just gawking like I'm some animal on display at the zoo.'
Danny took in a deep breath and tried to calm himself down as he felt his mood darkening. Just because he wasn't particularly interested in making friends that he would eventually have to abandon didn't mean he wanted them to be uncomfortable around him either. Which was why when Yosuke had asked him again at lunch if he wanted to hang out after school, he'd eventually relented, deciding that it probably wouldn't hurt to spend some time with his classmates. It wasn't as if his enemies were around to see him hanging out with them and put them in danger, nor was he likely to establish any deep bond with them just by spending time with them after school.
The half-ghost jumped in surprise as the bell sounded off, having lost more time in thought than he'd realized, and wasn't terribly surprised when Yosuke made his way towards him with a smile, "Hey, Danny, you ready to go? I figured we could probably go and get something to eat before I show you around Junes, if you'd like. I know a place that serves really good steak."
Danny looked at the student, slightly surprised, "Did you skip lunch or something?"
Yosuke laughed a little but before he could answer Chie butted herself into the conversation, apparently having overheard them talking, "What? What about me, huh? No apologies? How about my 'Trial of the Dragon', You know, the one you broke?" She interrupted loudly.
"Urgh, you always come around when I talk about food, it never fails."
Chie crossed her arms over her chest defiantly, "You owe me for breaking my disk, Hanamura! I'm coming with you." She growled, before looking to Yukiko questioningly, "What about Yukiko? Do you want to get some steak?"
The quiet girl looked up at her friend, slightly surprised for a moment before looking down a little, shaking her head, "No, thanks, I don't need any more wight." She explained quietly, prompting Danny to look at her in confusion before she continued while shoving her books into her bag and standing up, "Besides, I have to help out at the Inn today."
Chie looked at her with a little disappointment before shrugging and her smile was back, "Okay, maybe next time then. So, are you guys ready to go? I can't wait for steak!"
Yosuke let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head, even as he stood up and grabbed his own bag, "Fine, let's get going."
Danny looked between the two of them, somewhat warily, the similarity to his previous friends' bickering putting him on edge slightly, though he managed to shove the feeling down as he followed them and forced a smile onto his face.
The three of them made a bit of small talk as they walked to Junes, at least they did once Chie and Yosuke stopped sniping at each other, and by the time they managed to get to the food court and receive their food Danny's smile had turned at least slightly more genuine than it'd been when they left the school. Despite Chie's initial discontent with getting food from Yosuke's workplace she'd eventually admitted it was alright, and they managed to enjoy each other's company, though the moment was broken slightly when Yosuke's eyes lit up in recognition when he saw a girl on the other side of the court.
"Saki-senpai? Uhh, excuse me, guys I'll be back in just a sec..." The boy said hurriedly as he pushed himself out from the table and crossed the floor.
Danny raised an eyebrow and glanced at the girl questioningly before looking at Chie, "Is she Yosuke's girlfriend or something?"
A small smirk spread across Chie's face as she let out a short laugh, "Hah, he wishes! That's Saki Konishi, her family owns a liquor store in town, but she works here part time."
The pair's gossip was interrupted as their classmate pulled the girl over to the table with a smile on his face, "Saki-senpai, I'd like you to meet Danny-kun, he's just recently transferred here from America for a couple years." He explained to her happily.
The wavy-haired girl looked at Danny in a small amount of surprise for a moment before offering him a small smile, "Ah, it's nice to meet you, I'm Saki Konishi. It must be nice to talk to someone else from the city, huh? I don't see Hana-chan hanging out with the other guys much." She said in a happy tone that Danny thought sounded almost manufactured, though nobody else seemed to notice it so he ignored it and smiled back despite Yosuke's soft protests.
Saki's smile turned slightly more amused at the protests as she talked over him, "He doesn't have too many friends, so I hope you two get along good. Hana-chan's a good guy, but he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell straight to his face when he starts to annoy you." She said with a slight smirk.
The half-ghost raised an eyebrow at the comment, he glanced at Yosuke and noticed that he looked a little like a kicked puppy after her comment and he shook his head as he turned back to her, "Nah, I think he's a pretty good guy." He replied with a smile, though his eyes were significantly harder, as if asking daring her to dispute the opinion.
He watched her blink quickly in surprise before pasting a smile on her face and laughing, "Oh, I know that! I'm just joking, I'm just saying he's a little bit like a younger brother to me." She back-pedaled with a smile, before her smile dropped slightly as she glanced at her watch, "Well, I think I need to get back to work, my break's just about over."
Danny nodded and watched as Yosuke waved at her as she left the table, feeling a little bad for the guy as he tried to laugh her comments off, even while Chie teased him lightheartedly before turning the conversation to a bit of gossip she'd heard about an urban legend. The half-ghost almost decided to ignore it in favor eating but was pulled into it despite his efforts when she insisted on explaining it.
"Have you guys ever heard of the midnight channel? You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, alone, exactly at midnight on a rainy night. While you're staring at yourself, another person will come on the screen...and they say that person is your soulmate."
He rolled his eyes as Yosuke voiced his thoughts on the matter, "What? For a second, I thought you were actually going to say something useful. How can you get excited over such a childish urban legend like that?"
"Childish, huh? You don't believe it do you!?"
"Of course I don't, it's ridiculous!"
Chie looked almost insulted at his statement, "How would you know if you haven't even tried it!"
"Alright then, who did you see?" Danny asked, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his seat and looked at her, somewhat amused to see her stumbling over herself at the question.
"W-what? I...well, I haven't actually tried it yet..."
"Seriously? You haven't even done it yourself and you're getting on to us for saying it's a hoax?" Yosuke asked incredulously.
Chie looked slightly uncomfortable for a second before staring defiantly at him, "I said I haven't done it yet, not that I wouldn't do it! It's going to rain tonight, let's all look at it and we can talk about it tomorrow at school."
Danny couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him, before he grinned at her slightly hurt look, "You really want to do this, don't you?"
"...Yes."
Yosuke rolled his eyes at her insistence before sighing, "Fine, I guess I'll do it. Not sure why, I mean it's not like we're going to see anything..."
"Then I guess that means there's nothing to lose." Danny replied with a small shrug before smiling at Chie, "I might as well join in too, I've got to unpack tonight so I'll be up late anyways."
Chie's excited grin was more than a little amusing to him as she nodded while Yosuke just shook his head in disbelief, "Anyways, you guys heard about that 'incident' yesterday, right? Well, I think it could have been murder - Danny and I talked about it a little bit at lunch but...Oh man! What if the culprit was still lurking around?!" The boy said, letting out a decidedly hammy evil laugh.
Chie shot Yosuke a glare while Danny shook his head with a small sigh, interrupting Chie as she opened her mouth to yell at their classmate, "Look, man, I know you're just joking around, but this seriously isn't something to make fun of, alright?"
Both brunettes stared at the half-ghost with a slightly surprised look before Chie blinked and nodded her head assertively, "Yeah, what he said, Yosuke!" She leaned forward, a small frown etched on her face, "Anyways, you two had better do it tonight..."
"Wh-why are you only glaring at me? We already said we'd do it, geez. Just drop it already..." The boy muttered, turning his attention back to his food. A few minutes passed and the argument was forgotten as the group changed the subject and finished their steaks.
Danny looked, somewhat worriedly at Nanako across the table from him. He'd only eaten a little of his Sushi, having not been particularly hungry after hanging out with Yosuke and Chie that afternoon, but he hadn't expected that to cause the awkward silence from the first night to return.
Then again, maybe that's not it... He glanced at the empty cushion between the two of them before looking back to Nanako as she poked her food with her chopsticks, Dojima still isn't home...she says it doesn't bother her but obviously she's not happy at having so little contact with her dad.
The half-ghost opened his mouth to ask her if she was okay, but was interrupted as the front door opened, causing his cousin to jump to her feet excitedly, "Oh! He's home! Da...Dad?"
Danny turned, not surprised when he saw that Dojima looked almost dead on his feet. The older man sighed tiredly as he made his way to the couch and collapsed onto it heavily.
"...Uncle Dojima? Are you alright?"
The detective winced slightly as he leaned back on the couch before giving Danny and Nanako a tired smile, "Hey...I'm back. Did anything happen while I was out?"
"No..." Nanako shook her head, pouting slightly, "You're late again!"
"I know, I know...I'm sorry. There was a- well, work was busy today. Would you mind turning the news on for me?"
Nanako opened her mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it and sighed and plopped back down onto her cushion and silently changed the channel before turning her attention back to dinner.
I feel a little sorry for her. I understand Dojima is busy but it isn't easy when your parents don't seem to have time for you... Danny looked at Nanako sadly for a moment before turning to watch the news. They were talking about the murder case again and he was about to ignore them in favor of putting what was left of his dinner away only to be caught up by the report as they announced a special interview.
Dojima sighed in frustration, "An interview with the kid? Where the hell did they find her?"
Danny glanced at his uncle before looking back to the report, surprised as he saw a poorly blurred out image of Saki Konishi, "What went through your mind when you saw it? Could you tell she was dead? Did you see her face?"
"U-umm..." They'd at least done a better job of garbling her voice.
"Don't you think it was scary that someone was killed on a foggy day?"
'What, you mean as opposed to somebody being killed on a sunny day?' The half-ghost thought, shaking his head at the reporter's obvious excitement.
"Huh...? She was killed?!"
The interview continued for a few more minutes, Danny becoming more and more annoyed at the demonstration of stupidity from the reporter, particularly when they made a point to mention the police's supposed incompetence in the case so far.
'Sure, it's easy to criticize somebody else for how they do their job when all you're doing is sitting on the sidelines...' The half-ghost thought bitterly, trying to ignore the pang of anger that he felt swelling up inside him at the reporter's antics, and how much they reminded him of the general public's view of him in Amity Park.
By the time he'd pulled himself out of his darker thoughts the report had cut to commercial and he heard Nanako gasp in excitement as the Junes commercial flashed onto the screen again, "Every day's great at your Junes! Hey Dad...can we go to Junes together sometime?" She asked excitedly, only for her face to fall when she was answered with silence. "...No?"
Danny looked to Dojima in surprise, having not expected Nanako's father to ignore her and was relieved, if you could call it that, to see that the detective had merely fallen asleep. 'Not really much better but...he's got a difficult job, I can only imagine the crap he has to deal with. At least when I was playing hero I didn't have to deal with assholes after the fact unless I really wanted to. I could always get away easily enough.'
There was a heavy silence as the two of them cleaned up the table and what was left of their dinners, most of Danny's going in the fridge, before Nanako sighed and made her way over to the sofa, "Hey, do you need any help Nanako?"
"No...I'm okay, I'm used to it." The girl said quietly, grabbing a blanket and tucking it around her father before turning out the light and heading towards the stairs along with her cousin.
Danny nodded slowly, "Alright then. I...well if you need any help, just say so, I'm going to finish unpacking my stuff tonight, so I'll be up for a while."
Nanako nodded tiredly, seeming to almost not hear him. "Okay...good night."
Danny huffed tiredly as he collapsed to the couch, a small smile tugging at his lips as he glanced around his room somewhat fondly despite the only things really differentiating it from how it was before being his laptop on the coffee table, several model spaceships that he'd brought with him one of which had sadly ended up with a broken wing, and his previously bare bookshelf now filled with the only other possessions he'd brought with him aside from the laptop and models.
While he had once denounced reading as a waste of time he had quickly picked it up as a pastime when he'd turned into a solo act, and while many of his books were along the lines of Louis L'amour and Simon Green's novels a few modern-fantasy and murder mysteries had found their way into his collection, and that didn't even include the psychology book he'd managed to get about half-way through after Jazz bought it for him last year.
The half-ghost glanced at the clock absently and done a double-take as he saw it was already almost midnight. Danny pushed himself up off the couch and pulled the curtain in front of his window back slightly, despite the fact that he could already hear the rain pounding against the roof. He let the curtain drop back against the wall and walked over to where the small TV that Dojima had provided sat on his dresser.
He stared into the set for a few seconds before shaking his head, feeling more than a little stupid, 'God, I could be trying to sleep right now instead of dealing with this if I hadn't encouraged her. I mean sure, I've seen some weird things these last couple years but falling for an urban legend? You're better than that Pha-'
Danny jumped as his TV crackled to life, static dancing across the screen before slowly forming a slightly blurred image of a brunette girl silently thrashing around in pain. The half-ghost felt a terrible sense of foreboding creep into his mind as he stared at the screen for several moments, before an intense pain flared to life in his head, forcing him to clutch at it as he stumbled backwards.
"I am thou..." A voice echoed in his head calmly, though it felt indescribably powerful to him, "...and thou art I..."
"W-who are you? WHERE are you?" Danny hissed through the pain, clutching his his head even tighter in an attempt to force the pain away. He felt himself stumble backwards, his knee cracking into a corner of his coffee table, however even as he dropped to the floor all he could feel was the invasion of his mind. "Cl-Clockwork?! Oh god, what's happening?"
"Thou art the one who opens the door..."
"Door? What? Ju-just make it stop!" Danny groaned, somewhat pathetically, however at the moment he couldn't care less about how he might appear to anybody else, he just knew that if this went on much longer his head was going to split open.
The half-ghost continued to thrash on the floor for several moments before the pain finally stopped, leaving him lying in an almost fetal position as he gasped for air. Danny wasn't sure how much time had passed when a lightning flashed outside his window and the thunder finally brought him back to his senses, but when he looked back up at the TV he found the screen black again, as if the whole event had merely been a figment of his imagination.
His eyes never left the screen as Danny finally began to push himself back up to his feet, stumbling disoriented once or twice. 'What the fuck was that? I...god I want to say that didn't happen but I sure feel like it happened...' He thought, shaking his head slightly as he reached out to touch the surface of the screen, in an effort to ensure himself that what had happened wasn't just an extremely vivid nightmare.
Danny gasped in shock when his touch sent white ripples across the surface of the screen, as if it was some kind of liquid. He slowly, carefully touched the screen again, marveling as new ripples formed from his touch, and found that it had almost no resistance to it as he pushed his hand through it. 'What the hell? This...this isn't right, my hand isn't intangible right now, and I don't feel anything like the inside of a TV in here so...' His eyes widened as he suddenly felt a tug on his hand, pulling both his head and the rest of his arm in up to his shoulder, where his momentum died as the rest of his body failed to fit through the frame.
The half-ghost's free arm flailed about before finally finding purchase on one of the corners of the TV, he pushed away from the TV as hard as he could, unwilling to turn intangible in case he accidently got himself sucked in further. As soon as he pushed he felt the suction stop and he flew backwards out of the TV, he stumbled when he felt his feet connect with the floor again and fell on his ass, the back of his head connecting with the table creating a loud crack throughout his room.
Danny blinked the stars away from his vision, groaning as he felt the familiar pain of being thrown against something in the back of his head. Before he'd managed to completely regain coherence he heard a knock on his door, "Are you okay?" Nanako asked tiredly, her voice muffled by the door.
The half-ghost nodded quietly for a moment, before realizing how stupid that was and speaking up, "Y-yeah...I'm fine."
"I heard a crash..." The little girl asked, her voice sounding concerned, "Did you hurt yourself?"
"N-no...I just tripped over something. I'm sorry if I woke you up, Nanako..." He muttered, distractedly, still unable to tear his thoughts away from what he'd just witnessed.
"Oh...okay. Goodnight..."
"'Night..."
As Nanako's footsteps slowly faded away down the hall Danny stood up, still rubbing the back of his head as he stared at the blank screen, still confused and, if he was honest with himself, slightly frightened by the possibilities of what this could mean. 'Does this have anything to do with what Clockwork sent me here for? He didn't tell my anything about it but...god I hate this. Should I even bother to tell those two what I saw tonight? I don't think it's related to anything ghostly but who knows? Besides, I said I was going to try and avoid building relationships with the people here...' He thought, as he slowly made his way to his futon, stripping his clothes off along the way.
'I...guess, I'll talk to them a little bit. They're going to want to talk to me anyways, so I don't think I can get out of that. But what about after that? If they saw the same thing I did then I maybe I shouldn't shut them out completely...I don't want to let them get too involved, but they might be able to help a little bit.'
The half-ghost shook his head, shrugging as he finally laid down and pulled the covers up to his chest, "Just...wait and see, I guess." He muttered to himself, as he closed his eyes and drifted off into what he hoped would be a dreamless sleep.
