Chapter 4
I am butchering dialogue, battles, and s-links to get the novel version respectable. I can make characters more cynical, mean, out of character, and amusing. My character is "special" personality-wise. My character is a compilation of all members of my mythology club. The personas are more integrated in battle than in the game. I'm giving up on integrating differences in fonts for thoughts and others, I'll just list thoughts as I see them.

Language is by far the biggest issue in this story because it is the novelization of P4. A lot of the story is close to the same, so expect some to be word for word. That means language won't be the nicest at times. Some Chapters are much better than others.

This is a filler chapter. I have finished this, so I'm posting it.

Souji was very glad to not have to worry about saving Yukiko anymore. The bad news; they still have no clue who threw Yukiko into the TV. Chie was sure to be ecstatic, and Yosuke will be relieved. Rion… Rion will be Rion. Souji was just glad they saved them before the fog set in. He didn't mind eating the same food as usual, and he helped Yosuke with a question on where civilizations develop. It's a question usually Rion would answer, but for some reason Yosuke asked him. "Probably because I'm closer. I do sit next to him after all," he thought. He just told them it was near the riverside, and it worked out all nicely.

He spent time with Yosuke afterwards. Dealing with annoying Junes workers was a lovely pastime. "It must be tough," Souji said, "Dealing with all those jerks."

"What do you mean?" Yosuke asked.

"Can't they just go to work instead of being a pain in the ass?" Souji responded.

"I wish," Yosuke shrugged, "I'm not the person to go to. I have more important stuff to do, ya know?"

Souji nodded. He replied, "Murders are important business."

The next day, he met with Daisuke, Kou, and Yosuke to hang out at Junes. It was amusing to watch Kou and Daisuke comment that someone could fall into the TV, and Yosuke freak out about it. The first day after the day off, Souji noticed that you could join a Culture club. After answering that thieves break in the morning, he went to the Music club, and noticed Rion was there with a saxophone. He suddenly recoiled at the thought of being in a club with Rion, and his thoughts of the club became even worse when he saw a certain trombone player who also seemed to be in the club. "Who the hell is that?" he thought. "She looks so scary!"

Rion was one thing. It wasn't too bad if he was in a club with him. He'd probably be meticulously about things and a perfectionist, but he probably wouldn't be too bad to be around. This other person looked so scary… He was just scared shitless.

"You're part of the Music club, Rion?" Souji asked, walking up to the saxophone player who was sitting in a seat in the front row. He was holding sheet music, and humming to himself. Souji thought he probably memorizing whatever music he was holding.

"Yeah, is that a problem?" he responded.

"Well, no, but who the hell is that?" Souji voiced his earlier thought.

Rion almost laughed, "That's Ayane, and she's a trombonist. She's not very good, but she does a lot of work for us."

"She looks like a human bred with a Pikachu," Souji told him.

Rion shook his head, "Well, that's an opinion." He looked at her, "But I see the resemblance."

"No thanks, I'll check out another club," Souji answered.

"It's probably a good thing I didn't join," Souji thought, as he left. He muttered as he left, "I'd probably be shocked to death.

"Goodbye," Rion said as he walked away.

Souji decided to go into the Drama club, and joined that instead. He noticed that one girl was better than the so-called president as they tried out for parts. The president and the vice-president looked like they were ready to make-out at any moment anyways. She looked like she had emotional issues though. Her name was Yumi Ozawa.

"Hi, you want to help with memorizing this script?" she asked, "You can be the other lead."

"Uhh… sure, whatever," Souji humored the girl.

He wasted some time with Yumi and headed home. He wasn't very good at theatre, Souji decided. He screwed up at memorizing six lines. "I'm not a sorrowful moon," Souji muttered.

He went home after Drama club. After eating Nanako's food for dinner, he found some old white miso in the fridge for a snack. He decided to eat it. Afterwards, he felt rather queasy. He decided to puke his guts out in the bathroom and go to bed.

He did feel like he could score better than Teddie could after eating that though. But, scoring... might be a problem if he was green and couldn't eat anything.

Souji spent time helping Chie with answering what a perfect numbers was only to get kicked in the nads training with her. "Next time, I just watch," he muttered as he left. She seemed really excited to train with him though.

"We need to get stronger!" Chie exclaimed.

"Okay," Souji said.

They started training, but hand-to-hand isn't his forte.

He also ditched class with the trainer of the Basketball club to hold her bags as she shopped. "At least she's easy on the eyes, but she probably won't make it to the next grade," Souji shook his head. "I don't know if I prefer training with Chie, or heavy lifting with Ai," Souji said to himself, "I know the lifting is easier on my lower parts."

The fog was coming, so after eating his ramen and gained the understanding that he can't eat worth shit, his knowledge that he can't eat worth shit, and the courage to try to eat that much shit.

It was April 29th and the fog was coming… The weatherwoman was quite annoying tonight, "After a few days of persistent rain, fog will enter Inaba tonight and last until the morning."

"Thank you Miss Stupid," Souji thought, "We know what happens after it rains consecutively now. At least we saved Yukiko." No more dead bodies.

He went up to his room to watch the Midnight Channel after talking to Nanako and tucking her in. He wasted his time making sure it was raining and the fog was setting in. He watched the yellow screen come on. There was no one the screen suffering, being massacred, or otherwise.

Someone else wasn't very happy though with the results.

In the fog-ridden shopping district

------
Souji went to school the next day, and saw Yukiko waiting for him by the gates. Souji walked over to her. She seemed quite nervous, but she seemed like she wanted to talk to him. This was news to Souji.

"Oh… Good morning, Souji," She said to him.

"Hey, likewise. Feeling better, are you?" he said.

"Y… Yeah. I'll be coming to school again, so, that'll be nice. I caused everyone so much trouble. I'm sorry. No, sorry isn't enough. What I mean to say, is, thank you," Yukiko smiled at Souji.

"Don't worry about it," Souji replied, "I'm glad you're feeling better."

She seems relieved and happy. "My mom's back to work already. The maids are being really supportive, and I think things are going even smoother than before. I wonder if I was trying too hard. I may have been caught in the idea that I had to do everything myself. Ever since the incident… I feel like I can think about these things more calmly. But… It's still kind of embarrassing. You guys saw everything, even the things I didn't want to admit."

"It was hilarious," he thought, but he said as Souji looked at her with a calmly, "It's not a problem, because it's only one part of you."

"I'd like to believe that…," Yukiko told Souji. She was still smiling.

At that point, Chie came up and yelled, "Yukiko!"

"Oh! It's Chie! I'll talk to you later," Yukiko was ditching Souji. Yet, she was still smiling at Souji.

"It's good we were able to save her," Souji thought. Souji seemed oddly happy. He was rather cheerful at talking to Yukiko. He put that thought out of his mind. "If he told Yosuke, he'd laugh at him or plan something crazy with him. If he told Rion… "No, he probably already knows…," Souji was thinking

"Hey, Souji! Are you coming to school?" Rion asked, "If you want to ditch, you should tell us first. Remember, we're meeting Yukiko today."

"I'm coming," Souji responded.

He nodded and headed through the gates and into the school. He answered some stupid question about some stupid question about what's the tallest mountain in the solar system. Souji said, "Mt. Olympus," the teacher said it was correct. Then Souji corrected him since there is a Mt. Olympus in Greece, not just related to mythology, and it's rather small. The Olympus Mons on Mars is much taller, and the teacher looked like a moron. Rion looked at him. He shook his head at the teacher.

Souji managed to get through the rest of his classes by making paper airplanes and flinging them at Yosuke. He had a paper airplane war until Morooka yelled at him.

After school: Rion, Chie, Yosuke, and Souji were waiting on the roof. Yukiko brought soba and fried tofu for her and Chie. Yosuke looked longingly at the food. Souji was a little hungry too. He hadn't made a feasible lunch for himself this morning.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. The soba is yours, right, Chie?" Yukiko asked as she walked up to them.

"Thanks! Ohh… That smells so good. These instant noodles are just the thing to help me through club. How much longer do I have to wait on this?" Chie asked. She looked really hungry.

Yukiko responded, "It still needs a few minutes."

"So why are we here? Oh, yeah. We were going to ask Yukiko what happened," Chie looked at her best friend.

Yosuke looked at her, "I hate to bring this back up since you'd rather not think about it, Yukiko-san, but I need to ask if you remember anything about when you got kidnapped?"

"I thought we covered this already," Souji said. He thought to himself, "Why are we wasting time?"

"This will be pointless," Rion muttered, "We are not going to learn anything new."

"No… I thought I might remember if I sit on it for a while, but as time passes, it only gets hazier. I think the doorbell rang at the entrance, and someone called for me. When I woke up, I was already in the castle. I'm sorry," Yukiko said forlornly.

"Nothing to be sorry about," Souji said. There was a kidnapping. If you were kidnapped and thrown into a TV, did you really expect to remember what happened when you thrown in?

"Don't worry about it," Rion said.

Chie looked at her, "No need to apologize. I thought we went over this a thousand times. Does this mean her visitor is the culprit?"

Yosuke waved his arm, "I don't know. If it is, it's one daring criminal. What kind of killer would ring the doorbell?"

"A crazy one," Souji said, "He's probably someone who thinks ahead about this."

"The police are probably looking for witnesses, but I don't think we can expect much from them. Heh, as if the culprit wore bright yellow clothing at the scene at the crime," Yosuke shrugged.

Chie asked, "I wonder why whoever it is would do stuff like this?"

"It seems that we can not figure that out until we understand our culprit better," Rion sighed, "We probably won't know exactly why until we confront the culprit ourselves."

"We can be sure of one thing. It is no coincidence that people keep disappearing and ending up in that place. Someone here is taking people and throwing them into the TV. It's murder all right," Yosuke said.

"Hmm, you don't know ability the suicidal pact we made with the bear." Souji told Yukiko.

"Oh yeah, we never told you. This crazy guy and I are going to capture the criminal ourselves. The police are out of their league, but we have our Personas," Yosuke told her with a cheery expression.

"Could you lend us a hand, Yukiko? We need more people, cause Chie and Rion kind of suck," Souji asked. His second sentence was with sarcasm.

"Thanks a lot, Souji…," Rion said with fake anger.

"Souji!" Chie yelled.

"Okay…," Yukiko said, but she was nervous.

"I'm helping out, too," Chie said with vigor, "I can't believe someone would throw people into a place like that. I'm going to kick whoever is doing this so hard."

Souji looked at her incredulously. She was really into this.

"Chie…," Yukiko looked at her with happiness.

"If I don't help out, everyone dies, and more people end up on telephone poles," Rion muttered.

"Of course, he's arrogant," Souji thought.

The group started talking back and forth while the girls waited for their instant food to cook. The conversation had shifted back to Yukiko.

"Let me help, too…," Yukiko suddenly said, "I want to know why this is happening. Especially if someone hates me enough they want to kill me. I don't want to run away from myself anymore."

"We won't deny you the chance to beat the shit out of this guy or girl," Rion said.

Souji nodded as he looked at her, "Why wouldn't we let you help? We want your help." Souji had another giddy feeling in his stomach when he said that. "What is going on with me…? What the hell is going on?"

Yosuke got off the rooftop, "Alright, Then let's all work together and catch this asshole."

Yukiko smiled, "Agreed.'

"This is much better than sitting on my ass all year," Souji said.

The group started talking amongst each other again.

Chie looked at them, "How are we going to find them? We don't have any leads yet?"

"I'm the third one to be targeted so far, but I don't feel this is going to be the end of it. If we have an idea of who will be targeted next, wouldn't we have an advantage?" Yukiko replied.

"We'll outsmart them, then?" Souji replied.

"That could work. Let's find out what ties the victims together," Yosuke said.

"Yamano, Konishi, and Yukiko," Rion said, "It's obvious if you want to do it simplistically." Rion shook his head.

"What do they have in common?" Yosuke said, thinking for once.

"They are females…," Souji said.

Chie looked rather pissed off, "How dare he target females. Guy has to be some pervert."

"How about this option? The second and third victim had a connection to the first case…," Yosuke pointed out.

Rion looked down, "That is true," He pushed up his glasses, "Still… what about…? Hmm… if someone else shows up… I don't know," Rion was thinking to himself.

"Hey, that's right. Yukiko and Saki-senpai both had connections to that announcer," Chie said.

"Does that mean females connected in some way to Ms. Yamano's case are being targeted?" Yukiko said.

"That's a safe assumption for now," Yosuke said to the two, "If another person disappears…"

"They'd be on the Midnight Channel," Souji replied.

"You think so? It happened right before Yukiko was kidnapped, too" Chie said.

"It did happen before they disappeared," Souji said.

"It's hard to tell at first though," Yosuke motioned.

"A ransom note, then?" Rion said. Rion's head was still down and thinking.

"We don't know why it happened, but we'll have to rely on it for now.
Yukiko looked down, "The next time it rains…"

Souji looked at them, "Aren't those done by now?"

Yosuke seconded that, "Shouldn't they be?"

Chie looked at them, "Woah! That's right. Chow time!"

The two of them opened their food and prepared to eat. Rion shook his head, adjusted his glasses, and let out a sigh as Yukiko and Chie started eating.

"Hey, could I try just a little bit of that? Just one little tiny bit?" Yosuke asked Chie.

Chie looked at Yosuke, "Hey, hands off the soba, pal! Go get your own if you want some. Uhh… Okay, but just one little tiny bite."

She handed the soba to Yosuke who looked very happy with the food. Yosuke was slurping it down very quickly. Chie wasn't noticing…

Yukiko asked Souji, "Do you want try some?"

"Sure, I'll try a bite," Souji replied. "She's so nice," Souji thought, "To me…"

"Great, I get left out again…," Rion muttered.

Yosuke said as he was eating it, "It's so good. The flavor, the aroma, and the texture all combined. It's perfect."

They ended up eating more and more of it until it was all gone. "Uh oh…," Souji thought.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Chie asked as she confronted Yosuke. She looked rather pissed.

The two of them gave the bowls back to Yukiko and Chie. Souji had a really guilty look on his face.

"You ate everything…," Chie said.

Yukiko muttered sadly, "M... my fried tofu."

Chie went to Yosuke, "I hope you know what this means!"

Souji's hands started to move towards his lower areas of his body. He swear he could see Rion chuckling, but he remembered that Rion didn't laugh.

Yosuke was flustered, "Wait… Stop! I'm sorry! I'll buy you steak. It'll be on me. You hear me? The very best."

Chie suddenly was excited at the prospect of food, "Steak?"

Nothing would cheer up Yukiko however. Not even the prospect of food, meaty food, "My tofu…"

"C'mon, Yukiko. There's steak in it for us now. We can get instant noodles anytime we want. Right?"

Yukiko still looked sad, "Well… As long as it isn't too fatty." Souji looked guilty and shared a look with Yukiko saying in his eyes, "I'm sorry." Her eyes saying, "You ate my food."

Chie turned to Yosuke, "Okay… We've reached a verdict. You're hereby sentenced to buying us steak. What wouldn't be too fatty? Fillet? Ohh, fillet sounds nice and expensive. Filet, Filet, Filet Mignon."

Yosuke looked at Souji and said, "Hey, you got to pony up too. You're just as much as guilty as me."

Souji looked at Rion, "Don't look at me, I didn't eat anything," Rion said. "You're evil, ya know?" he told him.

"Me?" Rion looked him, "What did I do?"

"You're not helping us out," Yosuke responded.

All five of them headed off to Junes. Yosuke came up with two steak platters for Yukiko and Chie. It wasn't filet mignon. Still, he served it up Yukiko and Chie. Chie looked at it somewhat excitedly. Even if it wasn't filet… it's meat. Yukiko… she sees it as fat.

"Man, talk about great timing. We just started serving grilled steak today. We're doing our part to serve our town's specialty dish. Plus, we've already got an excellent grill," Yosuke bragged.

"That's just a Yakisoba griddle. Oh well, steak is steak," Chie said, "It's far from a fillet steak though. Yukiko, are you okay with this? It's not too heavy for you?""

"I'll eat it. I'm still mad though…," she replied.

"I'm sorry, Yukiko…," Souji said.

"I'll forgive you," She told him.

"Back on topic, then. I wonder what kind of killer this culprit is," Chie said.

Yosuke motioned to Chie, "If you just focus on the announcer's case, it would seem like a revenge thing. Maybe it was her lover's wife."

Chie rebuked, "Misuzu Hiragi had a solid alibi though. It seemed that she was already separated from her husband."

"Like she didn't give a shit what her husband did." Souji said.

"I doubt it too," Rion said.

"You know an awful lot about this Chie," Yosuke replied to Chie, "What about the second case? Saki-senpai… She found the announcer's body. Assuming the same person killed them both, then why kill Senpai?"

"It was to keep her quiet… Since she found her body… She may have found something," Souji said.

"We can not rule out that possibility," Rion said, "It isn't a coincidence however, and there is one other similarity."

"But the killer just threw the announcer into a TV, right? I don't think he would have left evidence that a high school student would find. Especially, since the police came up with nothing," Yukiko said.

"Remember, this is the police we're talking about. Sorry, Souji…," Rion replied to Souji.

"No worries," Souji said. "I know Adachi is a loser, but Dojima doesn't suck."

"Yeah, exactly…," Yosuke said.

Just then, Adachi came up with his cabbage patch kids near the group.

"Man, I thought the countryside would be a snooze, but it's proving a lot more exciting than I thought," Adachi said to himself. He seemed to in his own little world.

He walked up to the counter and noticed, "Ohh… They updated the menu."

Chie looked at him, "Huh, isn't he that detective?"

"No, he's a defective!" Rion said.

Everyone laughed at Rion's statement. Souji did wonder how Rion knew of Adachi.

"Hey, you were at Dojima-san's. I'm not… Wait… This is great timing after all. Dojima-san said he'd be leaving work on schedule tonight. Could you tell Nanako-chan?"

"Sure…," Souji replied.

"Yo, I'm Adachi. I'm Dojima's gofer. Ohh, I mean partner."

Yosuke asked Adachi, "You this busy every day?"

"Well, the public seems to get a charge out of these cases, but we can't leave it like that," Adachi replied.

Chie butted in and asked, "Do you think Saki-senpai was targeted by the killer to silence her?"

Adachi looked nervous, "You sure get straight to the point, don't you. We're also thinking around those same lines. She was killed around the same time the announcer's body was found. If the killer was trying to silence her, then there might have been something at the scene that only she would have understood. That would mean that the culprit would have to be someone close to Ms. Konishi. Nothing like that points to Misuzu Hiragi, so… Ooh, I might have stumbled across something here. Wait, you were listening to all that. Damn me and my big ass mouth."

"What a fucking moron," Souji thought, "I can't believe he thought we weren't listening." He said under his breath.

"Don't tell anyone I said that, or Dojima will flay me alive. Relax, kids, the police are on the job."

Adachi then left Junes with the cabbage in hand.

"I told you, a fucking moron!" Souji said.

Chie said to Yosuke, "You were right, the police are totally worthless."

"God help us if we leave it them," Rion said.

Chie suddenly noticed, "Augh… My steak is getting cold!"

Yosuke turned to her and exclaimed, "Could you shut up about the steak for five seconds?"

Rion looked to him, "If you value your life, I would leave her in peace…"

The two finished eating, and then they entered into the TV world. Yosuke had to drag Chie away from her steak. That resulted in a lot of bruises for Yosuke.

Yukiko was bemused, "Wow… This really is inside the TV. It's Teddie. T hen it wasn't a dream."

"Are you feeling better, Yuki-chan?" Teddie asked, as he walked up to her, "I've did what you said. I've been a good bear."

"Oh… I see, good boy," Yukiko responded. She smiled at Teddie.

Yosuke looked at her, "Well, this bear is part of the reason we want to find the culprit."

Yukiko looked at Teddie, "I'm one of the group now, too. Let's work together, okay?"

Teddie replied, "Yep! I was thinking the same thing. That's why I got these ready for you, Yuki-chan."

He pulled out a pair of those glasses, they were red, gave them to Yukiko, and Yukiko put them on.

She responded to the gift, "Oh… so these are what everyone is wearing. Thank you, Teddie," She looked surprised when she put them on, "You're right. I t's as if the fog doesn't exist."

Chie asked Teddie, "Hey, tell me something? How come you have so many pairs of glasses?"

Teddie responded, "Excellent question! I'm the one who makes them."

"I thought you would have figured that out by now, Chie," Rion said.

Souji thought, "Rion really is a smart-ass. That's why he's so useful."

"I've lived here for a long time, so I've found a few ways to make myself comfortable," Teddie said.

Yukiko asked, "I see, but don't you need a pair?"

"Good point, another good question. My eyes themselves are lenses," Teddie explained.

"You got to be kidding me," Souji said, "That would explain some things."

"You didn't know that?" Teddie asked inquisitively.

"Of course we didn't," Yosuke said.

"Why are you being mean? You act like you aren't interested. I'm a really dexterous bear. See how smoothly my fingers move."

Teddie walked up to Yosuke and moved his fingers up and around Yosuke.

"What the hell are we supposed to see?" Yosuke, Souji, and Rion said simultaneously.

Souji told the bear, "You know this looks wrong, right?"

Yosuke pushed him back

"Ow…," Teddie replied as he went down, and came back up.

Yukiko noticed something on the floor, "Hmm… You dropped something."

He looked at her, "Ohh… That's a pair I kind of screwed up on."

Yukiko took her glasses off and put those on, "Ohh…,"

"Oh… Umm… Yukiko?" Chie said as she looked at Yukiko.

Yukiko was chuckling, "Ahaha! How do I look?"

"Brilliant!" Souji was laughing his head off. The pair had a large fake nose, swirly lenses, and a mustache.

"Oh dear…," Rion said. It seemed even Rion was trying to contain a chuckle.

Yukiko was laughing.

Teddie looked at her inquisitively, "Do you like that one, Yuki-chan?"

"I want to wear this one. It's even got a nose guard," Yukiko said.

Chie looked at worriedly, "Oh no, you don't."

Teddie looked sad, "How bear-y unfortunate. That pair doesn't have the right lenses in it. I guess I should have made an actual pair."

"Aww… Too bad," Yukiko looked dismayed.

She took them off and motioned to Chie, "Here, Chie. Your turn!"

She sighed, "Fine, alright." Chie had taken the glasses and put them on.

"Snrk… hehee.. Hahaha." Yukiko was laughing uncontrollably.

"How'd it come to this?" Chie said.

"Yukiko-san? Hello?" Yosuke asked.

"There goes one of Yukiko's laughing fits. I never thought she'd do it when someone other besides me was around. These stupid glasses are useless for investigating. I mean what the hell is this nose for anyways?" Chie said.

Rion looked at Teddie, "I have to agree that they are rather pointless for investigative purposes."

"Nice work, huh? That's what you get when you leave me alone here with nothing to do, and I get bored," Teddie explained.

"At least she's happy again," Souji said.

"Oh, Chie… The look on your face… Snrk, it was so funny. I can't stop laug…laughing. Oh… my stomach. Ahaha," Yukiko was dying with laughter.

After replacing Chie's glasses to her normal pair, and waiting for Yukiko to regain consciousness; they headed back. They promptly headed back to their respective living quarters.

Souji returned to his quaint home, or Dojima's quaint home, and was enjoying a quiet dinner with the three when a conversation broke out.

"The 4th and the 5th…," Dojima said, "I think I might be able to get the 4th and the 5th off."

Nanako looked excited, "Really!" She then didn't look so happy after thinking about something for a second. She seemed to have realized something, "Really…?"

Dojima dropped the newspaper, "What you don't believe me?"

Nanako's face dropped, "It's always canceled…"

Dojima looked worried, "Not every year… I know you wanted to go to Junes, but I wouldn't mind going somewhere farther out of the neighborhood."

"Really? Can we go on a trip?" Nanako asked.

"Well, it might be okay to go on a trip once in a while. I'm sure it will be crowded everywhere though," Doijma replied.

"Yay… We're going on a trip!" Nanako seemed overjoyed.

"Alright… We need to think of somewhere to go," He looked at Souji, "How about you? You want to come along with us?"

"Sure, I'll come along," Souji said, "As long as she doesn't sing the Junes theme all the way there and back," he was thinking.

"Yeah! Let's all go on a trip together!" Nanako said, clearly happy.

"Looks like Nanako wants us all to go," Dojima said.

"Let's bring boxed lunches!" Nanako exclaimed.

"Good idea! We're always eating side dishes for dinner," Dojima told them, "Though I can't cook, and Nanako's not good enough yet to make them by herself," He got up and put his hand on Souji's shoulder, "It'll work out. That's what we've got this guy for."

"Yay! Boxed lunches!" Nanako was very happy.

"At least I can make some food I'll like," Souji said, "It'll taste better than old miso, that's for sure." Souji did wonder if he could cook adequately. He didn't want to make something inedible and poison his uncle.

He headed up to bed the feeling that these few days will be pretty good. Where would we go? What would we do? Would I live through my own box lunches?