"Now, Souji, remember to be good to your uncle Dojima."

"Yes, mother."

"And make sure to help with chores and stay out of trouble."

"Yes, mother-look, mother, I appreciate you taking time off work to send me off, but the train is going to leave if I don't go soon." Souji fingered his bags nervously, his other hand fingering the ticket in his pocket to make sure it's still there. He was being paranoid, he knew, but he couldn't help it. He was excited, and he didn't want anything to go wrong on his trip back to the small rural town of Inaba.

Mrs. Seta smiled tiredly, obviously taking a toll from the long hours at work. She kissed Souji on the cheek and bid him farewell, while his father gave him a one-armed hug and told him to be good. Souji smiled and began to walk away, waving at them as he did. It was nice when he had little family moments like these, so he had to treasure them when he could.

As he passed a pillar, a figure casually fell in to step next to him, his own bag in hand. Souji offered a small smile.

"Got your ticket, Minato?" he asked, earning a nod (or a small headbang, he wasn't sure) in return. Minato had his headphones on, as usual, and wore a pale beige turtleneck with a dark grey coat, also found in his bag. He flashed his train ticket at Souji to reassure him and went back to jamming to his favorite tunes. To be honest, wearing headphones in another's company should be considered rude in other circumstances, but Minato looked far too into his music for Souji to have the heart to interrupt him. His love for music was the only thing Minato could grasp onto as a form of identity, so he replayed the tunes as many times as he could, and Souji believed that that was the least he deserved.

Minato hummed softly as he walked alongside him, the timing in his steps changing occasionally. It didn't take long for Souji to realize that he was timing his steps according to the beat he was listening to, sometimes going off beat when he glanced over at Souji's slightly worn grey sneakers. Souji suppressed a chuckle and continued walking down the busy station, occasionally grabbing hold of Minato's arm when the crowd swept them apart. The last thing he wanted was for the blue-haired boy to get lost and put all his stressing and planning to waste.

Souji had gotten his enrollment papers a few weeks before he departed, but even in all his excitement, he was still concerned as to what to do with Minato. Minato clearly had nowhere else to go other than to follow him, but that meant setting up an identity for him without using his real name, and that was bound to be difficult. Buying an extra ticket was no hassle, excluding the disapproving looks Minato gave him when he didn't let him pay from his own pocket. His 'pocket' being Elizabeth deciding to be generous and sticking Minato with an obese wallet of 500,000 yen, of which was in his bag, wrapped inside his coat. Souji joked about his bag being similar to Doraemon's pocket and received a heavy wallet smacked into his face.

Days passed and Souji still had no idea what to do. Minato would most likely have to attend Yasogami, or at least get a job, but without an identity card or even a birth certificate, there's no way he can. Plus, what's more suspicious than a 16 year old boy who refuses to give his name and has no means of identifying himself?

Just when he was about to abandon all hope and make a ridiculous fake ID out of frustration, he received a letter.

It was a cold morning, a sign that winter was just around the corner. His parents were at work, and Minato was happily lounging in front of his television, a cup of hot tea by his side as he watched yet another music documentary. Souji had a headache and poured himself a cup of tea as well, walking up to the front door to check for the daily newspaper. His sock-covered feet padded the glossy wooden floors, not disturbing Minato's viewing pleasure in the slightest.

As Souji tugged the newspaper free of the mail slot on his apartment door, a blue envelope slipped through as well, landing perfectly on the ground in front of him. Curious, he tucked the newspaper under his arm and picked up the letter, drawn to the familiar blue glow to it. He turned it over to open it, and instead of the usual plain glue to seal it, a perfect, blue wax stamp was in its place, its crest picturing a clock.

Classy.

He opened it carefully on his kitchen counter, flipping open the fancy envelope to reveal the answer to all his problems; an identification card in Minato's name, written in different kanji. The blue-haired boy's picture was already printed onto the card as well. Souji was trembling in excitement, almost scared that he would snap the card in half. He set the card down on the counter and found a sheet of paper inside the envelope. He flipped it open.

'Dear Seta Souji,

It has come to our attention that our guests are to depart for another location in the near future. Therefore we have put it upon ourselves to attach what your world defines as an 'identification card' for our other guest, Arisato Minato. We believe this will aid you in your journey.

We request for one thing, however; under no circumstances should you let our guest Arisato Minato into the Dark Hour. It is in both parties' interests that he does not involve himself, or let himself be involved.

We wish you a safe journey.

The Velvet Room'

Souji sighed, trying to concentrate on walking to the correct platform and keeping Minato close to him. The identification card helped a lot, though Souji had to lie quite a bit to explain why he had the card in the first place, as well as why it was done without Minato actually being present.

"It fell out of your bag when I was packing up the futon; guess it really is like a Doraemon pocket, huh?"

He was sure Minato was still suspicious of the bag that somehow spewed all the things he needed; Minato wasn't stupid. He was grateful that Minato let it slide, though somewhere in the back of his head he was cursing Margaret and Elizabeth for making his life so much harder. Couldn't they have just consulted with him beforehand so that he wouldn't have to make all these excuses? He didn't particularly enjoy lying.

Also, what the heck is the Dark Hour?

"Souji," Minato called, taking off his headphones, "Are you okay? You're spacing out a little. Also," he pointed towards a particularly empty gate, with a bright yellow sign above it, "You walked past our gate. It's over there." Souji flushed slightly, gritting his teeth.

'Screw this' he thought, grabbing Minato's arm as they trudged through the crowd of people, 'Everything is alright for now. I've been waiting for this trip; to see uncle Dojima, Nanako, the investigation team…' he smiled to himself, excitedly clutching onto Minato's hand a little harder as he did so. He walked a little faster towards their gate, unable to hear Minato's complaints about the speed (or the hand-holding, he couldn't tell).

As they reached their gate, number 8, a gust of wind hit them as their train sped towards the platform. Minato held onto his bag, afraid it'd fall off and clutched onto Souji's hand, his hair becoming mussed from the strong pressure of the wind. Souji grinned widely, his excitement from the day he received the news of his transfer returning at full force.

And to Inaba they went.

I'm so, so sorry for the late update!

Chapter 3 is a little filler-ish, but it's going somewhere, I promise. I feel like my writing went in different directions in this chapter, and I apologize if it ruined the chapter for you. Reviews are much appreciated!

Thank you all so, so much for the reviews, favorites and alerts! I'll do my best!

-Cantella, 2011.