I'd like to apologize for my absence! Things have been piling up, but I thank everyone who's been waiting on this! ^^

It wasn't far from the shopping district to Uncle Dojima's home. He lived in a relatively quiet residential area, with fences surrounding most of the houses. His own home was relatively small to what I was used to. While it had a bedroom downstairs and two upstairs, the living area itself seemed like one combined area between the kitchen and front room.

Dojima took my suitcase upstairs as Nanako set out dinner. It seemed the kitchen table was a catch-all for things in the house, so dinner was set out on the chabudai*. It looked storebought. Glancing back to the kitchen, I wondered how much Dojima knew how to cook.

(*A chabudai is the low asian style table that usually has people sitting on the ground with or without cushions, as opposed to the western-style table in the kitchen area of Dojima's house)

As we sat down, Dojima looked over and smiled. "Alright, let's have a toast." We each raised our canned drinks up, and took a sip. Then we started to eat.

Uncle Dojima once again wrestled to bring up a topic. "So, parents are overseas this time, huh? That's rough. I'm sure the year will go by faster than you think."

"Oh, it's alright, I'm pretty adaptable.." I nodded.

"Well, it's just me and Nanako here, so it'll be nice for her to have another girl around. So long as you're here, you're part of the family. So make yourself at home."

"Thank you very much for your kindness." I gave a slight bow. While he was my uncle, he still felt a bit like a stranger to me. Afterall, I hadn't seen him in so long.

He seemed taken aback, shaking his head. "C'mon, there's no need to be so formal. You're making Nanako all tense," he motioned over. Nanako was straightening up, I supposed trying to fit into the more grown up crowd. Before we could get back to eating though, a shrill beeping cut into the air. "Ugh, who's calling at this hour?"

Dojima pulled out his cell from his pocket, a seriousness coming over his face. "Dojima speaking," he immediately responded. As he listened to the other end, he got up from the table. I wasn't sure what to make of it, looking to Nanako for some sort of explaination. She looked a bit anxious as she seemed to wait for him to finish.

"Yeah, I see... where is it?" he continued. "... Alright, I'm on my way."

He hung up, mumbling something about thankfully skipping the booze, turning back to us. "Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me." He came over to where Nanako was sitting, kneeling by her. "I don't know how late I'll be. You'll help her out, right Nanako?"

"...Okay," there was an obvious disappointment to her voice, as he got up, grabbing his coat to head out.

I hadn't even realized it started raining until Dojima opened the door, the water pelting the ground densely. He quickly checked with Nanako if the laundry had been brought in, before heading out into the rain.

Nanako picked up the remote, turning on the television. It was expected to rain for the rest of the night and tomorrow. I grimaced. The first day at a new school was always the hardest, being wet on top of that wouldn't be fun. Hopefully there'd be an extra umbrella I could borrow.

It started to grow uncomfortable as we ate. Nanako was obviously still rather shy around me, so the table was quiet, with the exception of the news anchors buzzing in the background. It seems I would have to make the first move. "So, what does your dad do?" I asked. Frankly, I was surprised I hadn't asked sooner.

She appeared surprised when I asked, pausing to put her thoughts together. "He... investigates stuff. Like crime scenes. My dad's a detective."

"Wow.. that's.. got to be tough," my brows furrowed. I mean, it's one thing to have parents that are constantly away working on this or that. It's another thing to have a single parent, doing such a dangerous job.

Nanako shrugged, looking back to the televison.

"Now for the local news. City council secretary, Taro Namatame, is under fire for an alleged relationship with a female reporter."

I sighed heavily. This was the same scandal I heard them reporting while transferring trains earlier in the day. That's to be expected of the news, of course. In a small town like this, it's probably one of the more eventful news stories they have going on.

"His wife, enka ballad sensation, Misuzu Miiragi, revealed to this station that she will likely pursue damages. In response, Eye Television has decided to cancel all of announcer Mayumi Yamano's televised appearances."-

Figures. A high-powered man has an affair, and the woman has to suffer for it. Before I can voice my opinion, I'm reminded there's a child sitting near me. Does she normally sit and watch the news?

"Until allegations of an affair with Mr. Namatame are resolved, she'll remain off the air and out of the public eye."-

Just as I was about to ask her if she even understood what this was going on about, Nanako gave a heavy sigh. "This is boring.." she started flipping channels. I chuckled. I didn't blame her for it. She suddenly stopped at a brightly colored commercial.

"At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products!" -

" Every day's great at your Junes! " -

" Every day's great at your Junes !" Nanako sung along with the commerical, a cheerful beam having suddenly overtaken her face. She had a sweet little smile, and suddenly the tenseness from before seemed to disappear.

It was getting late, and there was no sign of Dojima. Nanako showed me up to my room. A few of my boxes had arrived before me, and my suitcase was tucked neatly into the corner. A futon had been set up for me. I decided to go ahead and sleep. Unpacking can be done tomorrow. I was still worn out from traveling. Kicking off my shoes, I didn't even want to unpack pajamas.

I wondered what the new school was going to be like. Will I make friends? Will there be as big of cliques in the country as there were in the city?

I didn't wonder these things long, falling asleep quickly.

I must have started dreaming again. A thick fog once again appeared around me. This time there was no vehicle, no mysterious Igor or Margaret. It was just myself as far as I could tell.

It was a strain for my eyes to try and see more than a foot ahead of me. Underfoot, I could barely make out a red bricked path. I thought of just staying there, but there seemed to be some feeling, urging me forward. I slowly walked up the path,

~"Do you seek the truth?"~

I gasped, looking around. "Who's there?" I called, but saw no one. The voice seemed to be somewhere in front of me. I started to pick up the pace, running after the voice.

~"If it's truth you desire, come and find me…"~

"That's- That's not fair!" I still could barely make out the path. How could I be expected to find someone in this? As I rushed forward, I nearly rushed into something solid in front of me. Thankfully I caught myself with my hands first. As I pushed away from the object, I realized it was a door. Hardly a conventional door though. It seemed to have been made of several interlocking squares that were twisted shut.

Intuition told me whoever was talking to me was on the other side of this door. As I touched it again, the pieces started to contract back, opening before me. I could only see more fog, but went through it anyway. I wanted to know what this was all about. What was up with these weird dreams.

As I continued, I suddenly saw a figure ahead of me.

~"So you are the one pursuing me. Hmhmhm… Try all you like… "~

The figure moved ahead of me in the fog. I couldn't tell who, or even what it was. It appeared human, but the fog kept all other details somewhat hard to determine. I picked up the pace again, chasing the form. "Hey! Come back here!"

Still it moved ahead of me. ~"Hmmm... It seems that you can see a little, despite the fog... I see... Indeed, you possess an interesting quality... But… you will not catch me so easily…"~

Between this and the dream from before, I just couldn't figure out what all the vagueness was about. "I just...! Tell me what this is... And what quality are you talking about?"

~"If what you seek is "truth," then your search will be even harder… Everyone sees what they want to…. And the fog only deepens…Will we meet again…? At a place other than here…? Hmhm… I look forward to it…"~

"Wait... Just... tell me..." as I tried to catch up, the fog only became denser around me. I lost sight of the figure. I grew weary, as the fog darkened around me, and I fell back into slumber.