Chapter 12
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.

You know what I own of SMT and Persona, right? Absolutely nothing.

This is a rather short little ditty leading up to Mitsuo's Game… so I may try to post another chapter today or tomorrow. I know my character's intelligence in exams is funky and especially what he's doing now. If you are really itching for a pairing to fully mature I'm sorry… it comes about soon.

"I can't wait to expose that…," Rion was thinking as Naoto Shirogane walked up to the table, "The detective can't hide forever in that shell of…" His thinking would be interrupted by someone else's speech.

"You…," Kanji was shell-shocked by Naoto's appearance.

The detective told them, "There is no need to examine the case of Mr. Morooka any further." Naoto's hands were on the detective's hips.

"Why's that?" Chie asked. She looked confused. Souji thought she was ready to go off on a full out search of the whole town.

Naoto continued, "Apparently, the police have found a suspect. It would be best to let them handle the case from here."

"How do you know?" Yosuke asked.

"Naoto was hired by the prefectural police," Souji said.

"I'm on this case as a special investigator as the bequest of the prefectural police, as your friend said," Naoto looked at Souji.

"What!?" Yosuke was in awe.

"They found a suspect? Who is it?" Chie asked.

"As to his name, I haven't been informed," Naoto told the group.

"So, you aren't a very good detective," Rion thought, "If you haven't figured it out yourself, or they don't bother telling you anything."

"I do know that he is a high schooler," the detective continued, "It isn't public knowledge yet, but he isn't a student of your high school. It seems they are quite confident that this boy is the killer. They have testimonies directly linking him to the incident. I expect it is only a matter of time until he is apprehended. Soon, this case will be solved, and your town will once again be its peaceful, rustic self."

"The suspect… is a high schooler?" Yosuke asked with a little bewilderment. He sat down, "All right… So why come tell us? That's confidential info, right? So why run right here and spill it?"

"Your "game" will soon reach its end," Naoto told them in a condescending voice.

"You little…!" Rion was shouting in his head, "Who's playing the real game?"

"I felt I should at least let you know that," Naoto continued.

"It's anything but a game to us," Souji said, "It's something far beyond that."

Naoto looked at them and asked, "You don't deny, then, that you have involved yourself in the matter? Well, no matter. I have no reason to say anything further."
"A game…?" Rise questioned, "Aren't you the one who thinks of this as a game?" Her voice raised in anger.

Naoto had lost her perfect composure at Rise's anger. It had surprised everyone with her sudden change of personality.

"I don't care if you're a special investigator or an amateur sleuth… All you're doing is solving mysteries. What could you possibly know about us? You're the one who's playing a game here," Rise was near yelling, but at the same time, near tears.

Rion and Souji looked at her sympathetically.

"One of the victims… She meant a lot to me. How could I possibly treat this as a game?" Yosuke asked.

"We made a promise, right Yosuke?" Souji asked.

"Souji…," Teddie looked at him and Yosuke with tears in his eyes.

"There are things that are more complex and go far beyond even a detective's understanding," Rion said. He glared straight at Naoto. Naoto had an urge to take a step back all of a sudden.

"A game…," Naoto looked down and as the detective looked up he reached an understanding, "That may be quite true."

Chie looked nervous, "Why so understanding all of a sudden?"

"Oh, I get it. I was wondering why you'd be wandering around like this when the police have a subject," Yosuke joked, "What, did they get rid of you now that they have your man? Is that why you came here? You were lonely?"

"Detectives normally aren't involved with arrests. And we never harbor any special emotions regarding a case, either," Naoto replied and explained. She showed some regret as she said, "Still… It is rather unfortunate that people are only attentive so long as our services are required. But then, I'm accustomed to it."

"Are you accustomed to being a fraud?" Rion thought to himself.

"….," Kanji couldn't say anything.

"Much about this case was perplexing, but its solution was surprisingly simple," Naoto explained, but quickly said, "Well then, I'll be going now."

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

"Who knows?" Souji wondered.

After dealing with way too much that day… Souji went home to Dojima's. He spent the evening talking with Nanako. They went out to get pickled radish for Dojima at Junes so they could make dinner. They got yelled at by Dojima for going out so late. Nanako yelled at Dojima. It went on, and on, and on. Souji got a headache.

At school the next day, he found out why eels are slimy from Kashiwagi. "Stupid-ass teacher," he thought as she told them to use it on their skin… "And this person wants to be Rise's rival?" He shook his head as he put it on his desk. It was time for Souji to sleep.

Souji decided maybe he should actually study a little for this test. He had not been eating much ramen lately. He was extremely happy when he found out he had a possible study partner. One he would be more than happy to study with. Though, it would be a possible distraction.

"You want to study with me?" Souji asked as he heard Yukiko's request.

"You will? Oh, thank goodness… There are a few things I needed help with," Yukiko said.

"Alright, let's go then…," Souji said.

At the library…

"Since we're here together, why don't I help you with the subjects you need help with, and vice versa?" Yukiko said.

"Okay, sure," Souji responded.

He was thinking, "A few of the things you could help me with can't be done in a library."

"Thanks, Souji," as she left, "I'll study with you whenever you want," She blushed.

"Sure… Anytime," he replied. Souji smiled. It was finally working out for him. He really did not get much studying then. He kept staring at her instead of doing trigonometry equations.

When he got home, he saw that there was food in the fridge. He made some crème caramel. "I didn't even burn the house down," he thought to himself as he put the fire extinguisher back.

Souji ate the food with Kanji and the man with the nose piercing thought it was "freakin' awesome!"

In the afternoon, he learned how to play rugby after being quizzed on what "Rome wasn't built in a day" meant. He had a lot of sore muscles after that. "Rion sure hits hard," Souji thought, "Now I understand why he kills things so easily."

Souji decided he would hang out with Yukiko after school. It sure wasn't a normal day with Yukiko when they met near the Tatsuhime Shrine.

They had met with Kasai before and that was embarrassing. Then the deputy mayor showed up.

"Oh, are your ready for the interview today?" he inquired.

"Oh, that's today!?" Yukiko asked. She turned to Souji, "I'm so sorry..."

"There's an interview for the Inn?" Souji asked Yukiko.

"Yeah…," Yukiko looked down.

Kasai came up all flustered, "Don't go. It's those crazy bastards. That News of the Weird peoples."

"Huh!?" Yukiko said as the three people came and got in Yukiko's face.

"Well… If it isn't the new manager," the lead guy said.

"I'm not inheriting the Inn," Yukiko said softly.

"Good choice. Your Inn sucks. It doesn't have anything special," the guy said, "They don't even offer anything special even if you tip them." The guy winked. "Well… we could still interview you at the Inn and you can do a part at the hot springs…, hmm?"

"Fuck off!" Yukiko yelled. Her face was the epitome of rage.

"What the hell!?" the guy said, "I know people. I can have things happen."

Souji came up and punched the guy in the face, "She said fuck off!"

Yukiko walked up and said, "We'll just complain to your sponsors. So… leave…"

"I think we should go," the cameraman said. He looked scared at both Souji's and Yukiko's faces.

All three of them ran off very quickly and Kasai walked away with a smirk. Souji and Yukiko started laughing at this. They sat down for a while and just sat there in silence. It was peaceful, but Souji had to wipe the guy's blood off his hand.

The next days were a drag except for studying with Yukiko on Thursday. That was exciting, if distracting.

He studied with Rise on Friday, but that just wasn't as fun. Souji also had to do a lot more work. She wasn't in his year anyways. Besides, she kept flirting with him while they were studying. She kept twirling her hair and doing random shit…

Souji got questions like "Do melons grow in the Andes Mountains.?" "Why don't you ask Rion?" he asked back. He got an amusing response back from that.

"What purpose was the ancient eyeliner used by the Egyptians?" he was asked. "Again, that's a Rion type of question," Souji thought.

Saturday, he studied with Kanji. That was even worse than studying with Rise. He was hopeless. "He should stick to making sock puppets," Souji thought.

Monday would be a holiday, so he hung out with Chie, Yukiko, and the sports crew on Sunday. Otherwise, no studying would be done.

On testing day, he met up with Rion, who he knew would have insanely perfect grades. He just wanted to finish around Yukiko. Then, Souji would be happy.

"Feeling good?" Souji asked.

"As good as anyone should, I presume," Rion responded.

Souji chuckled, "So, that means, you're going to blow us all of the water."

"You presume too much. After this semester, I won't even take the same tests as everyone else," Rion told him.

"Why?" Souji asked.

Rion told him, "I feel like the nationalized standards of Japan for 2nd years have not challenged me adequately. I'm taking 3rd years exams after this one. I'll take entrance exams after that."

Souji shook his head, "So, why aren't you in a different class?"

"Who says I want to leave our current class?" Rion inquired, "I have received the books and worksheets for the 3rd year work, and I will continue to as I go along."

Rion's voice never changed, but Souji thought he recognized a touch of caring in his voice. "Maybe, he actually does like us. He doesn't want to leave our class," he thought.

Souji asked Rion as they reached the gates, "Rion… what's your IQ? Do you know?"

"Umm… Not sure…, probably 80," Rion joked.

"Are you joking, are you actually making a joke?" Souji asked in surprise.

"Is it that surprising?" Rion asked.

"For you?" Souji said, "Yes!"

Souji didn't feel too well before he started the five days of testing. It might have been that raw bitter melon he had eaten the night before.

Most of the questions that were really difficult were the ones that he had gone over with Yukiko, or ones that he had needed help from Rion. A few were the ones he had helped Yosuke with before Morooka got the chop. He felt so happy when he was finished. He bet Rion was unhappy when it was, well not really. "Potatoes grow in the Andes, and eyeliner is insect repellent," Souji thought with glee.

"It's all over!" Yosuke said in relief as he stretched out his muscles, "I'm so sleepy!" as he yawned.

"You should have studied earlier," Souji said.

"Yuck!" Chie was disgusted, "Don't yawn in my face like that!" She turned to Yukiko,

"Hey, for the third question on the English test, which phrase did you choose?"
"I went with "used to"," Yukiko said.

Rion nodded in agreement as he slumped in his desk.

Chie looked disappointed, "Wrong again…"

Yosuke threw his hands around, "So much for Chie going abroad. Heck, why leave Inaba? You have so much right here!"
"Ooh… You're so annoying." Chie said as Kanji and Rise walked up.

"Yo…," Kanji said with lackluster in his tone.

Rise was droopy and lackluster, "No more encores… I mean… Hi everyone."

They looked frustrated. Yosuke looked at them, "Whoa, more losers!"

Rise looked angry as she said, "What do I need to know English for? I can always ask for a translator!"

Rion looked at her, "The universal language is necessary for almost everyone. If you every go back into singing, you may have to sing in English."

Rise glared at him and said, "Meanie!"

Rion shrugged, "It is only the truth. In actuality, the most spoken language is variations of Chinese."

Souji rolled his eyes.

Rise looked at Souji, "How did you do, Senpai?"

"Just you wait and see, Rise," Souji told her.

"Whoa, are you that confident?" Rise asked, "Wait… confident about what again?"

Kanji was done, "Enough about the exams already… What's going on with the murder case?"

"Why don't we head to our special headquarters? We haven't been there in a while," Yosuke reminded them.

"Okay, why don't we go over to Junes," Souji said. "Yosuke is being first banana again," Souji thought.

Rise was confused, but they all decided to head over to Junes.

When they got there, Chie was downcast, "I'm kinda bummed. Not just because exams are over, but… The whole thing with the police finding a suspect. I mean, we believed only we could solve this case. And now…"

"They have not made an official arrest yet," Rion said.

"So… We got to sit on our thumbs," Kanji said.

Just then, Adachi came walking by their special headquarters, cabbage in hand…

"For crying out loud… It's nice having a suspect, but where the hell is he?" Adachi complained, "We're at the end of our rope here…" Adachi noticed the group, "You guys! Did you hear what I said?"

"Pretty much…," Souji thought.

"Ahaha… This case is as good as solved!" Adachi proclaimed, "Don't worry, kids. It's only a matter of time before we bring in the suspect. I mean, the guy is kidnapping people at random and slaughtering them! We won't rest until we bring him to justice! I gotta get going!"

"Now, I'm really worried," Yosuke said.

"That makes two of us," Rion said, "He's too much of an idiot," he thought.

"If the police have a search warrant, we should stay out of it," Souji said.

"Actually, I say we find the guy and arrest him ourselves," Rion shook his head, "If he is in high school, it should not be a difficulty."

"Rion!" Chie exclaimed, "Are you crazy!? Leave it the police!"

"Yeah…," Kanji admitted, "Let's leave it to them."

"Oh, uh… I just remembered. There was a question on the exam that I didn't get," Rise looked at all of them when they all were looking down, "I think it was the chemical formula HCHO, used for silver mirror reactions. Its 40% solution is known as formalin. And the question was, what is HCHO?"

"Formaldehyde," Souji said. "I feel smart," Souji thought.

"Oh, I see. I chose acetic acid," Rise said like it was obvious, "Duh… of course it couldn't have been vinegar. Hey, you had that question too, didn't you, Kanji?"

Kanji sulked, "Shut up! And don't call me by my first name!"

"Touchy…," Rion said.

"Wow, kinda harsh, aren't you? I heard you got a nosebleed when you were around our senpai," Rise took a jab at him.

Kanji got flustered, "Hey! Who the hell blabbed about that?"

Chie tried to smooth it out, "Anyways… Rise-chan, why don't you ask Yukiko to help you study?"

"Huh? I guess, but wouldn't you rather ask a senpai of the opposite sex?" Rise wondered.

She looked at Souji, "Senpai? I'm not a nuisance to you, am I?"

"She plays hardball…," Rion was chuckling in his head as he thought; "Three strikes and you're out. Too bad… he's all but taken, little idol." Rion rolled his eyes.

"Damn," Chie said, "This girl's dangerous."

Yukiko was glaring daggers at Rise again. If looks could kill, Rise would be in the TV again.

Souji wasn't quite as excited as helping tutor Rise as Rise would be being tutored by Souji.

"Anyways, let's change the subject," Chie said quickly, "Hey, any idea how Teddie's doing?" She asked Yosuke.

Yosuke looked at her, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it to you." He pointed over to his left, "Check this out."

They looked and it was Teddie holding balloons for the kids at Junes. The children were greedily holding their hands up for the balloons, and Teddie was handing them off to them. All the children looked happy as they received them.

"I let him stay at my place; in return, he's now our official store mascot," Yosuke told them.

Kanji deduced, "Ahh! So, he's hiding in plain sight. Reverse psychology, huh? Man, he looks like one happy bear."

Yosuke told then, "He kept saying he didn't want to go back, so I made him a deal. Now, since I've got nothing better to do… I'm gonna go bug him."

"Oooh, I wanna go too," Chie exclaimed happily.

"Can I feel his soft fur?" Kanji asked with a grin.

"What, so you can knit it?" Rion asked. Rion answered, "I doubt he'll let you touch him, but let's go mess with his head."

Everyone had gone except Rise and Souji to talk or bug Teddie. As Souji had gotten up to go to the bear, Rise looked like she wanted to ask something.

"Hey, Senpai?" she asked, "Now that I'm getting the hang of school, I want to go out more and see the sights. But I tend to get recognized everywhere I go, so I'm a little nervous about going out on my own…"

"Oh great, I see where this is going…," Souji thought.

"You seem like the type of guy who knows all the cool spots in town," Rise said.

"If I have time, I'll show you around," Souji said, but he was thinking, "I'd rather show Yukiko. I don't even know if she'd like me to show you."

"Really! Woohoo!" Rise exclaimed. She was happy…, "If you ever have some time to kill, think of me, okay? Now, c'mon, let's go pester Teddie! Teddie! Hey!" She was speaking in cheerful tones.

They both walked over to bug the bear with everyone else and Teddie suddenly got nervous and released his balloons. Yosuke yelled at him.

He went home and cooked dinner with Nanako. There was a news report on TV again tonight. Thankfully, there was pickled radish so they didn't have to go get any.

The announcer went on a long-winded diatribe, "Tonight, we have a special report. The topic is the bizarre serial murder case in Inaba, where the victims' bodies are found hanging upside down on buildings. Police have yet to announce any progress in the investigation since the discovery of the third victim. Our special report tonight is a summary of the events and the facts of the case thus far."

"They still haven't caught him?" Nanako asked.

"I'll protect you," Souji said. "It's not my fault the police suck," he thought.

"Okay, you promise, right?" Nanako responded.

Nanako sat next to Souji because she seemed to be worried. Souji stayed with Nanako till she got too tired to stay awake.

It ended up that Souji had gotten 3rd on the exams again. That meant no summer school, but it did kind of suck to be behind Yukiko and the smart-ass, no, Rion. He did get a bunch of yen from Dojima by getting 3rd on the exams.

"You did so well, Souji," Yukiko told him.

That was all Souji needed to hear to make him feel good about his results on the tests. All other comments were moot. Most of the comments were Chie lamenting and Yosuke crying about his terrible grades.

"You were great too, Yukiko," He replied.

"Thanks…," Yukiko blushed.

He had some tea, and saw that it was going to rain the next day as well. Looks like it was Midnight Channel time on the 26th for Souji, but he thought to himself, "If they have their suspect, how could someone show up on the TV?"

The last day of school they had to listen about Kashiwagi and summer vacation, something stupid about her getting a swimsuit and other nastiness. He tried to eat some super huge meat bowl for the millionth on the rainy day, but again he failed miserably.

When Souji got home, he knew he'd have to watch the Midnight Channel. So, after dinner with Nanako, he headed up to his room and made sure it was still raining before he checked the TV.

At midnight, someone appeared, but it wasn't a yellow screen. It was a vivid image of a fugly person. A boy around Souji's age was standing against a yellow wall.

The boy was speaking as monotone as Rion, "…." He was unmoving, "You all think you can see me? You all think you know everything about me? …." He chuckled, "Then try and catch me," the boy taunted.

"What the hell was that about?" Souji thought to himself.

There was a phone call. It was Yosuke.

"Hey, did you see that?" Yosuke asked

"I did… Of course, I did," Souji answered

"Who was that guy? I don't know him… Have you ever seen him on the news or on any television special?" Yosuke asked

"I don't think I've seen him either," Souji again, answered.

"He seemed really gloomy, like a zombie," Yosuke deducted.

"He's worse than Rion," Souji added.

Teddie wanted the phone, "Yosuke! Yosuke!"

Yosuke responded to him, "Alright, already, I hear you! Sorry, I'm going to give the phone to Ted."

"Alright, I'll talk to him," Souji nodded from his end.

"Sensei! It's me. Teddie!"

"Nice to talk to you," Souji said.

"I finally got to see the Midnight Channel with my own eyes. Now I know exactly what's happening," Teddie said excitedly.

"What do you think is happening?" Souji asked.

"That guy's suppressed emotions are resonating with the other side, which are picked up by the TVs over here," Teddie concluded.

"That's understandable," Souji said.

"It's clear now that it's not being filmed by anyone! Mystery solved!" Teddie said excitedly.

"I didn't think it was being filmed by anyone before…," Souji said.

"But that kid… He must already be inside the other world," Teddie deduced.

"Yeah…"

"What are we going to do?" Teddie asked.

"We need a plan first before we can do anything," Souji told him.

"Gotcha! I knew I could count on you, Sensei! I think my heart skipped a beat," Teddie said happily.

"Don't get too excited," Souji tried to calm the bear-human down.

Yosuke yelled back for the phone, "That's enough Ted, give me the phone!"

"Okay, Yosuke…," Teddie said.

"Hey, how could he be already inside? What happened to the blurry image we usually see in advance?" Yosuke asked.

"Maybe it's something that is different this time," Souji told him.

"And did you hear what he said? Try and catch me," Yosuke said.

"That's pretty creepy. Rion will know what's going on," Souji gave his opinion.

"Now that I think about it, he looked like a high schooler. Hey, could he be? Nah, I better not jump to conclusions. Let's just meet up at our special headquarters tomorrow. Alright, later!" Yosuke told him.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow," Souji said goodbye.

They hung up, and Souji got another call from Chie right after that.

"Oh, I finally got through. Yosuke's line was busy, too," Chie said.

"I was talking to him," Souji said.

"Oh… I was just talking to Yukiko, was that?" Chie asked.

Souji told Chie what he had said to Yosuke and what he said to him.

"Yeah, we gotta get to the bottom of this. Well, off to bed. G'night."

"Night," Souji said.

Souji went to bed. Summer break started the next day, and he headed off to Junes to meet the group. "Weird," he thought, "That we have a case on the first day on our break of school."

"Teddie and Rise are currently investigating the other side to see if anyone is over there. We will begin by discussing what we know, and what has happened last night," Rion said to those who were there. Souji didn't feel like he lost his control when Rion was there for some reason.

"About last night," Yosuke started, "You guys all saw it, right?"

"As I told you, I did see it," Souji said.

They all nodded, and Kanji said in anger, "Yeah, shit he said made my blood boil. That mumbling of his, and those fish-like eyes made me even more angry. Who the hell is he?"

Souji told them, "I think he's the killer."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Yosuke agreed with Souji.

"You too, Yosuke-kun?" Yukiko asked.

Chie motioned, "It's just a hunch, but it makes sense."

"I'm not sure about it," Rion thought, but he said, "It's possible that he could be." He shrugged.

"We've been told that the suspect is a high schooler," Yosuke said, "The police are after them for the murder of King Moron. So, to see that on TV last night, at a time like this… He even taunted the viewers by saying try and catch me."

"Uhh… So?" Kanji said, obviously confused.

"Alright, let's say there is this high schooler. We'll call him Shin. For some random reason, who knows why, Shin is able to enter the TV world. Then Shin, again for some random reason, starts throwing people into that world, intending to kill them. The police can't prove the other world exists, so it's the perfect crime. He can't possibly be caught. Now imagine you're Shin, but after a while, people stop dying when you throw them into the TV. You don't know why. You want to kill King Moron, but the TV is out, so you have to do it personally. Now the police are onto you. As a result, you, Shin, is a wanted criminal, and there's no where for him to run."

Kanji deducted, "So, you're saying he went into the other world to dodge the cops?"

"That would be the most logical solution," Souji said. "I sound like Rion…," Souji thought. He chuckled on the inside.

"And that would be the safest bet if he wouldn't want to be arrested," Rion told them.

"Ohh… So, that's why he said, catch me if you can… You're smarter than you look, Senpai," Kanji told Yosuke.

"Geez, you can annoy me sometimes," Yosuke glared at him.

"Like you don't piss him off either?" Souji replied.

Yukiko pointed out, "We still don't know why he targeted people who were shown on TV. But, if he had a personal grudge against Mr. Morooka, that explains one thing. With a strong enough motive, wouldn't he forsake the untraceable TV method and try to kill Mr. Morooka on his own?"

"He could. I can see him doing that," Souji responded.

"Well, if you think about it that way, it sort of makes sense why Mr. Morooka died without appearing on the TV," Yukiko continued, "But I wonder what that boy's going to do, now that he's in there. With Teddie on this side, there's no way to get him out."

"You don't think he's gonna get desperate, and try to end it all?" Chie wondered.

"He did look a little suicidal. There were signs of continued depression, and multiple other psychological disorders from what I could tell from the short time I looked at him," Rion deduced, "But, I don't think he would try to end his life."

"He does realize that those who were thrown in have returned to the other side," Souji said.

Yosuke finished, "I can see missing Yukiko or Kanji, but Rise's a celebrity… There's no way the killer wouldn't know she's still alive. So that means he knows there is a way out of the TV world."

"That way is through us though," Souji rolled his eyes.

"We'll just have to ask him face to face when we rescue him," Yosuke said.

Just then, Rise ran up to the group and faced them.

"Hey, great timing!" Chie exclaimed, "How'd it go?"

Rise shook her head, "Not good. There's not enough information to go on."

"Well, we don't know who we're looking for," Souji said.

"But, at least we're positive that someone's in there," Rise continued.

"I see, "Yosuke said. He asked, "Wait, where's Teddie?"

She smiled and explained, "He's still looking."

"I guess our first course of action is finding out the identity of the person we are chasing is," Rion said, "We also need to know if he is the one that the police is looking for."

"Right!" Yosuke said, "If we figure that out! We can do our thing."

Chie exclaimed, "That's right! If he really is the killer and he's escaped in the other world, the police don't have a chance of catching them."

"So, it's all on us!" Kanji exclaimed.

They nodded in agreement that they had to look for clues.

"You ready to look for clues on the killer, Souji?" Rion asked.

Souji nodded. "I really should make Yosuke or Rion do this…," he thought.

"Well, then, let's get digging," Chie said, ready to some of the grunt work.