Ha! A story I'm sticking with and plan on finishing completely! For everyone who's stuck around so far, thanks a ton, it means a lot to me!

Now to address some things that reviewer blarg7865 has brought to my attention. As previously seen, Yu transforms into looking like Izanagi, but with non-human personas (Limia, Seiryuu, Mara, etc.) and personas that are not Izanagi, they will simply appear beside Yu. In other words, Yu will remain like Izanagi, but his abilities and weapon with Izanagi disappear and the other persona appears somewhere near Yu with all of their abilities in tact.

Now what I really wanted to bring up! Blarg also asked if there were going to be any other social links that are not in P4 that will be present in this fic. I hadn't planned on it, since this was just going to be a game-centric story, but I really like that idea! So, if you have any OCs that have an arcana that isn't present in the game that Yu can have a social link with, then by all means go ahead and message/review me and I'll try to write it in! Of course, I will give credit to the reviewer/messenger for the OC, and who knows, maybe it'll get into the story!

Without further delay, onto Chapter 4!

Thursday, 4-14-11. Weather: Rain throughout the day.

"Perfect timing! Sorry, move over!" Yu nearly lost his hold on the clear umbrella he was carrying as Chie shoved her way underneath. It was currently drizzling, but Yu could visibly see the small girl shivering in her wet jacket. "I did have my own, but I saw this kung fu movie where they used an umbrella to pull of some sweet moves…" She chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head as the two continued walking. "And… I accidentally broke mine trying to mimic the movie."

"I'll try to get you a new one, if you want." Yu offered, moving forward so that the two of them would not be late.

"Nah, it's fine. I can survive without an umbrella. By the way… did you see it!?"

"If you're referring to the Midnight Channel, then yes, I did."

"Aha, do tell! But the person it showed… Never mind. I'll save it for when the others are around. We're gonna be late for school." Yu nodded in understanding, but he couldn't help but feel grateful for the fact that he wasn't going completely insane. Izanagi had hovered over his shoulder for a majority of the day, acting increasingly violent to other people - whether they could harm them or not. When they saw Nanako in the morning, Izanagi had nearly zapped her due to their high-strung nerves. Honestly, I think that anything that Chie saw would be better than what I did. Heck, so long as she isn't hallucinating the eight foot tall man right next to me, I think we'll both be okay.

"Hey, Narukami?" Yu hummed, keeping a close eye on his companion in case they became spontaneously aggressive around Chie. "Have you ever seen your eyes, err, change color?"

Yu froze and nearly dropped the umbrella for a second time. Chie, on the other hand, stared at Yu with wide eyes, not expecting that kind of response. Yu took in a deep breath, calming himself before replying to his friend's question. "Yes, but that can happen with different lighting. For example, your eyes could be lighter or darker with more or less light in the area."

"Yeah, but… I mean turn a completely different color. Like, um… your eyes changing from gray to blue? Has that happened before?" Yu began swearing profusely in his head, unable to think of an excuse or a topic to change too. Thankfully for him, the duo had just arrived at the gates leading to Yasogami High, and Yu ran ahead, leaving Chie in the rain. Yu immediately went to his foot locker and took out his slippers in exchange for his normal shoes, and ran up the stairs to his homeroom class.

The entire day, Chie was giving Yu a death glare. If it weren't for the fact that it was the middle of the school day, and that Yu was still new to the school, she would have decked him the moment their eyes met. Yu was eternally grateful - and probably would only be grateful now - for the fact that Morooka was their homeroom teacher. If Chie had done anything violent to him while class was happening, she would have gotten detention or worse.

Now, however, they had a lesson with Ms. Sofue. Yu didn't exactly know what she would do if Chie kicked him in a certain area, but so far it looked like everyone wanted to stay on this teacher's nice side.

"Since this is my first lecture, I'll start with an easy question." Ms. Sofue's gaze raked through the whole class before settling on a certain silver-haired teen. "Our transferee, Mr. Narukami, please stand up." The entire class was focused on him, and Yu could tell that Chie was wishing he would get it wrong. Simplistic revenge tends to be the best revenge, really.

"The western calendar is based on Anno Domini, the traditionally believed year of Jesus Christ's birth. What is the year before 1 AD called?"

Really? This was the first thing we learned last year. "1 BC."

"Ah, you seem to understand this well." No kidding. "If you think that history is like math, 0 AD would be the natural assumption, but world history is much more complicated. The Gregorian calendar we use today is based on the Julian calendar, which was made while there was no concept of the zero as a number. That's why, when counting backwards, we go from 1 AD straight to 1 BC. Hopefully that was a nice introduction to world history, you may sit down now, Mr. Narukami."

Yu sighed in relief, glancing at Chie, who had puffed out her cheeks and sunk into her seat. Yu, on the other hand, gave her a large grin.

"What's up with the body being hung upside-down? That's so freaky!" Oh god, not more of this. Yu inwardly groaned, vainly trying to block out the two gossiping girls to his right.

"Is it supposed to be like, mimicking an execution? It's messed up…"

"My senpai told me it was a third-year named Saki who found the body." Yu froze from putting his pencils back in his bag, remembering the news report that was on the night before. No wonder I recognized the girl being interviewed.

"Y-Yo." Yosuke stammered out, shuffling his feet as he stood next to Yu. "Um…"

"What's wrong, Hanamura?"

"It's, uh, it's not really that important, but… Well, yesterday on the TV, I…" Yosuke looked at the ground and shook his head, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "Never mind. Look, I'll tell you later."

"Yosuke!" shouted Chie, moving away from the chalkboard - now decorated in a multitude of steaks - to the two second years. "Did you hear the rumor? Saki-senpai's supposedly the one who discovered that body."

"Wonder if that's why she looked so down. She doesn't seem to be at school today either."

"Yeah, that weird reporter was interviewing her yesterday too. I don't blame her for not wanting to come in." Yu interjected, moving his bag off his desk so that Chie could sit down, noticing that Yukiko had left, but not intercepting her. "Regardless, did you guys watch it?"

"Huh…?" Yosuke mumbled before his eyes widened. "Uh, well… what about you, Chie?"

"I did! I seriously saw a girl!" Chie said with a large smile, only for it to fall as she thought about what she just said. "But… my soulmate's a girl? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Are you sure it's a girl?" Yu questioned. "Either way, just because a girl's your 'soulmate' doesn't mean that you're going to get in a romantic relationship with them."

"Huh? What do you…" Chie started, only to stop and get back on track. "Well, I couldn't quite tell who it was, but it was a girl for sure. Her hair was brown, about shoulder length. She was wearing our school uniform, and-"

"Whoa, what?" Yosuke interrupted. "I think that's the same person I saw! I couldn't make out that much detail though. The image I saw was much blurrier."

"Wait, so you saw it too!? And we saw the same girl… does that mean we have the same soulmate?"

"Make room for one more, cause I saw the same girl as well." Yu interjected, looking down at his lap. "But… after that, things got really weird."

"What do you mean, weird?" Chie said, hands on her hips with scathing glare at her friend. "If you make one comment about how this 'relationship' would work out, then I'm out of here."

"No, I…" Yu stopped, glanced at Izanagi, and continued. "After the Midnight Channel ended, I heard some weird voice and had a really bad headache. The power shorted out, and I tapped the TV screen to assure myself that it was real… and I got sucked into my TV. I'm actually lucky I had an old model that was small, because my shoulder got caught on the edge. If it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't be sitting here."

A tense atmosphere hung around the three high schoolers, only to be broken by Yosuke breaking down into chuckles. "Were you that tired last night? You must've just fallen asleep in front of your TV."

"That'd be one interesting dream though. I like the part where you got stuck 'cause your TV was too small. That's pretty realistic."

But I did! I got sucked into the TV! If Izanagi weren't there, I probably wouldn't have been here! Yu wanted to scream at them, did they really not go through the same thing? He hung his head, cheeks glowing red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, as Chie continued to talk to Yosuke.

"That reminds me. Our family's been talking about buying a bigger TV."

"Oh yeah? Well, flat screen TVs are definitely in these days. Wanna go check 'em out on the way back? We're beefing up our electronics department this month."

"Oh, definitely! My parents don't know anything about electronics, and I've just gotta see my kung-fu movies on the big screen!" Lifting her right leg and arms into the air, Chie struck a kung-fu pose and let out a rather loud battle cry. A few students in the back of the classroom glanced their way, only to go back to their gossiping a few moments later.

"We've got some pretty big ones in stock." Yosuke said, smugly smiling at Yu. ""I bet they'd be big enough for you to fit into!" Yu glared at Yosuke, half tempted to take his umbrella and whack Yosuke's head with it. Instead, he simply nodded and stood up, going to the lockers at the bottom of the stairs to get his umbrella and normal shoes to go to Junes.

"Wow, this is huge! And..." Noticing the large amount of zeros on the price tag beneath it, Chie quickly backed away from the large plasma flat screen TV. "Holy crap, it's expensive! Who buys something like this?"

"I dunno, rich folks?" Yosuke said shrugging, looking around with a bored expression. Yu, on the other hand, was looking around at the rest of the TVs in the Junes electronic department. "Honestly, not many people shop for TVs here. That's why we don't have clerks around."

"Huh, not worth trying then, I guess. Well, at least looking's free." Chie turned to her right looked Yosuke in the eyes grinning. The two stepped up to the TV and placed their hands against the screen. They did this for a few seconds before pulling back and giggling, making sure that the third member of their group was watching.

"Nope," Yosuke said, sarcasm in each word. "can't get in. Figures."

"This proves it." Chie said, turning to Yu, who was glowering from where he was stood, trying his best to block out the snide comments the two were throwing his way. "It was all just a dream."

"Alright, I get it." Yu submitted, looking at the floor. "Ha ha, laugh at Yu for being stupid and trying to bring up something that was concerning him. Very funny."

"How was a dream concerning?" Yosuke was chuckling now, thinking that Yu was playing along. Yu, on the other hand, stayed silent. Izanagi, who was on his left, stayed close to their depressed partner and sent a death glare at Yosuke.

Chie shook her head, pulling Yosuke away and asking him if there were any cheap TVs there. Yu, on the other hand, moved toward the TV.

Did I really just… dream all that up? Yu pondered, but then he tapped the back of his head - right where he had hit it on the edge of the coffee table. A sharp pain resonated through his skull, and Izanagi flinched beside him. No, that wouldn't have hurt if it was a dream! But, at the same time… that means I really was sucked into the TV. Raising his hand, he copied Chie and Yosuke's earlier actions, and put it against the TV screen. Maybe it's only the TV in my ro-

With an odd humming sound, the screen rippled and he was sucked into the large screen of the TV. Yu managed to stop before anything more than his wrist was pulled in, and a victorious smile crossed his face. Yosuke, on the other hand, had turned away from Chie to look back at the silver haired teen. "Oh yeah, Yu, what kind of TV do you-"

Understandably, the sight of his friend's hand inside of a television kind of freaked him out. In fact, it freaked him out to the point that he froze in shock and just stared at Yu's now no-longer-existing hand.

"Huh? Something wrong, Yosuke?" Turning her head to see what her friend was seeing, she too froze when she saw what was happening with Yu.

"I-Is his arm… in the TV…?"

"Whoa... uh… is that some kinda… new model? L-Like with a new function?"

"Hell no!" The two rushed over to Yu - who was incredibly thankful for the fact that no one besides him could see Izanagi. They were glowering at the TV that Yu was in front of, random arcs of electricity jumping off of their body. Thankfully, none of them seemed to move towards the three teens, but the sight alone was terrifying.

"So…" Yu began, smiling at his hand. "Do I have the authority to make jokes at you for not believing me, or…?"

"You can do that after we get your hand out of the TV!" Yosuke shouted, then stopped, realizing what he just said. "Oh man, this is for real. That's some magic trick, man! So how's it work, huh? What's the magician's secret!"

"Yosuke, you're panicking."

"Why the hell wouldn't we be panicking!" Chie yelled, stomping her foot on the ground. "Your hand is inside the TV! Believe it or not Yu, that isn't normal!"

Last night I could stick more in than my arm… Well, the TV is big enough. Pulling his hand back, Yu crawled onto the raised platform the flatscreen was on and stuck his entire head in, this time observing the area around him. A phantom presence of a hand was placed on his lower back, and Yu was reassured that Izanagi would pull him out if need be it.

"H-hey, don't do that! What're you doing!?" Yosuke exclaimed, staring at Yu in shock. To the group's collective surprise, Yu could hear them clearly, and vice versa.

"I'm looking around, what do you think?"

"Oh my god…" Chie shouted, backing away from the two boys.

Sweeping his gaze side to side, Yu could only see a thick fog. Granted, said fog was tinted yellow, but there were no large land marks or 'surprise celebrities' inside. "It's nothing but empty space, you could probably put a house here and still have room."

"What do you mean, "inside"?" Yosuke said, starting to tap his foot on the ground.

"What do you mean, "empty space"!?"

"I'm just saying, it's spacious in here. I wouldn't really be opposed to coming in here if I could, uh, see the ground." Yu's eyes widened as he realized that he had to be somewhere above the ground, as the TV was elevated, and he blindly reached for the top edge of the TV. "Okay, nevermind, I want out."

"Holy crap… I-I think this is all too much for my bladder." Yosuke said, hopping from foot to foot while holding his crotch.

"What the- are you gonna pee your pants?!" Chie shouted, now using Yu as a shield so that way she wouldn't be able to see any darker stains on Yosuke's black pants.

"I've been holding it in all day, I haven't had a chance to go! Argh! Can't… hold it… anymore..."

"If you use the TV as your personal porta potty while my head is here, I will not hesitate to push you in and say 'bon voyage.'" Yu threatened, managing to get a grip on the edge of the TV. However, when he tried to pull himself out, he discovered that -for whatever reason- he was stuck. "U-Uh… guys?"

"Shit! Customers! They're coming!" Yosuke exclaimed

"What!? But we've got a guy half stuck in the TV here! What're we gonna do!?"

"Guys!?" Yu heard the sound of sneakers rapidly hitting the linoleum tiles, and Izanagi grabbed the back of his jacket. However, before they could pull Yu out of the TV, Chie and Yosuke tripped over each other and then bumped into Yu as they lost their balance. Izanagi watched in shock as their companion and his friends were all shoved through the TV screen, Yosuke screaming the whole way down.

Yu swore that his shoulder was nearly dislocated when he landed. Soon after, Chie and Yosuke thumped against the ground around him, groaning in pain. Yu took a few seconds to compose himself, breathing in and out as Yosuke complained about falling on his wallet.

"Man, where the heck are we?" Chie asked, looking at the foggy landscape around her. Yu groaned and rolled until he was standing up. Offering his hand to Yosuke, Yu helped the other boy onto his feet. Chie, on the other hand, simply got up on her home and rotated her arms. "What is this place? Some place inside Junes?"

"Hell no it isn't. I mean, we fell through a TV!" Yosuke muttered, trying to see if there was anything besides fog around them. "I...really just said that, did I?"

"So… uh… we're still alive, right?" Chie asked, visibly shaking as she asked the question.

"Are you guys okay?" Yu asked, staying close to the other teens. Chie nodded while Yosuke groaned, rubbing his backside.

"I think my butt's cracked now."

"Of course it is!" Chie muttered, glaring at the brown haired boy. He pointedly ignored her glare and squinted, finally managing to see where they were standing.

"Whoa!"

"What now? Don't tell me that you actually wet your pants!"

"No, stupid. Look around!"

"It looks like a stage of some sort." Yu stated rather calmly. Scaffolding reached high above them holding multiple spotlights that lit up the area rather unsuccessfully. The square-shaped floor beneath them was decorated with a bulls eye, and outlines of limp bodies were drawn onto it. Metallic bridges extended from the four edges, but anything beyond that was lost in the fog. "Is this… a studio?" Chie questioned, moving towards a bunch of active spotlights near one of the edges. "All this fog… or is it smoke? There's no place like this in Inaba, is there?"

"I haven't been here for more than a week and even I can tell that." Yu spoke up, looking around the area apprehensively. With a jolt, he realized that Izanagi was nowhere to be seen, and the connection between the two had altered to the point where he could not access Izanagi's senses.

"Man, this place is huge." Yosuke spun in place with a look of awe on his face.

"What're we gonna do?" Chie wailed, holding her head.

"We need to look around." Yu stated, moving towards one of the many bridges surrounding them. "There isn't an exact exit we can take to get out, so we need to find one."

"Huh?" Chie turned around, finally noticing that there wasn't another TV or glowing white portal in plain sight. "W-Which way did we come in from? Because I can't see a way in or out!"

"What? That can't be right, how could that be?" Yosuke yelled, rushing past Chie and looking around, and then up - which was the direction he had assumed was how they got in. Just like Chie said, there was nothing visible around that would lead back home.

"I don't know, don't ask me!" Chie screamed back, tears welling up in her eyes. "I can't take this anymore! I wanna go home!"

"Okay, so how!?"

"Calm down!" Yu shouted, placing his hand on the two quarrelers chest. "Yelling at each other isn't going to solve anything! We know that there isn't an exit around here, so maybe there's one farther away we could use. Either way, getting angry isn't going to help us now, we need to stick together and stay calm."

"Y-You're right. Okay…" Yosuke took a deep breath in and closed his eyes. "Okay, let's calm down and think about this. All right, we need to find a way out, that much is obvious."

"Is there really a way outta here…?" Chie's voice trembled, sniffling slightly.

"If there's a way in, there's a way out." Yu stated calmly, patting his friend reassuringly on the shoulder.

"That's true, but..."

"If there's no exit, we're trapped," Yosuke stopped beating around the bush and stated the truth, ignoring Chie's flinch. "so let's cross our fingers and look around." Picking a path at random, Yu kept his hand on Chie's shoulder as they crossed the metallic bridge, desperately hoping that they weren't stuck there forever.

"Remind me again how we got into an apartment complex?" Yu questioned, trying his best to ignore the fact that they were very high up. Despite saying that this was an apartment complex, there had been no doors for them to enter, just hallway after hallway.

"You're the one that picked the path, dude." Yosuke mumbled, kicking a loose pebble on the ground.

"What is this place? It feels different from where we were before…" Chie stated, leaning over the metal railing to see if the ground was visible. Yu, on the other hand, grabbed the neck of her jacket and pulled her back before she could lean too far. "Wha-! What was that for!"

"We're high above the ground, in an unfamiliar place, and you were leaning on a railing that we don't even know would support your weight." Yu continued, pulling Chie further away from the edge. "I'm not going to let you die because of faulty building structure."

"Dude, why the hell are you so scared of heights?" Yosuke asked, prying Yu's hand from Chie's jacket. Looking around, Yosuke sighed. "This fog's so thick I can hardly see."

"Are you sure we're not wandering farther away?"

"We can always retrace our steps." Yu replied.

"I know, but…"

"We don't really have much of a choice." Yu stated as he moved ahead with Yosuke. Chie had to move faster to catch up to the two, who had entered the only visible room. Despite everything else around them being strange and altered, this room appeared to be the most normal. A small rug lay by a neat bed, with a wilting plant nearby an open window. A shelf containing a small amount of books and manga hung on the wall, and Yu couldn't help but sigh at the small amount of normality in the condo.

"Hey, is it just me, or is the fog lighter here?" Yosuke chimed in, and Yu hummed in agreement. He was half tempted to lay down on the bed and take a nap, but his priorities came first. Make sure that Chie and Yosuke are okay, find an exit, and then find Izanagi. Then he would take a nap. "No service, what a surprise."

"Can you guys slow down a little?" Yu and Yosuke turned around to talk to Chie, only to freeze when they saw the other walls of the apartment. "It's hard enough to see where you're going…" Chie, noticing their expressions, turned around and covered her mouth.

The rest of the walls were either covered in torn up posters, or splattered with red, white and yellow substances. The ceiling, on the other hand, was covered with words drawn in the red substance. While a majority of them overlapped, Yu could make out 'WHORE', 'SLUT', and 'BITCH' pretty clearly, but god knows what else was written there.

"W-What… the hell?" Chie whispered, backing away from the walls until she bumped into Yu's shoulder.

"It keeps getting creepier and creepier the further we go…" Yosuke muttered before letting out an aggravated scream and hopping from foot to foot. "I can't hold it any longer, my bladder's gonna explode!" Yosuke ran to the wall furthest from Chie and Yu, zipping his pants down as he went.

"Yosuke, what're you doing!?" Chie shouted, covering her eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.

"I gotta let it out before I piss my pants!"

"You're going here!? Oh, you have got to be kidding…" Yu pulled Chie behind him and turned to Yosuke.

"Don't blame us if something comes through the wall and cuts off your-"

"Shut up! You are not helping!" Yosuke shouted, trying to not focus on the stares of Chie and Yu. A few seconds passed before Yosuke stopped, zipping his pants back up and giving Yu a nasty glare. "I can't do it! It's all your fault if my bladder bursts."

"Like I care." Chie said, lowering her arm and coming out from behind Yu. "Anyway's, what's with this room? Check out these posters, their faces are all cut out. Someone must really hate this person."

Yosuke moved away from the wall only to stop when he noticed the lone chair near a wall mirror. Looking up, he saw a rope tied around a red scarf hanging from a visible pipe on the ceiling. "Dude, this chair and rope… That kind of arrangement is never good. It's tied in a noose… Is this a scarf?"

"C'mon, Let's go back to where we came from and look somewhere else for an exit." Chie said, trying to not look at the makeshift noose.

"I agree with Satonaka, this is a dead end and… freaky." Yu stated, and after seeing Yosuke nod, they all moved to the exit - until they were again stopped by Yosuke.

"Hey, I think I've seen that poster before."

"Who cares, let's go! I am sick of this place!" Chie hunched over, holding her stomach. "And… I'm not feeling so good…"

"Now that you mention it, me too…" Yosuke said, hanging his head as the headache that he was dealing with for the past five minutes throbbed in response.

My body does feel heavy… Maybe it's because this place feels so oppressive? Yu thought, moving over to a clean spot near the door frame and leaning on it. God, where the hell is Izanagi. I know that they just appeared randomly, but considering that they've been stuck to my side like glue ever since…

"Alright, let's go back." Yosuke said, lifting his head and standing straight. "I'm seriously starting to feel sick." Chie and Yu nodded, and the three finally left the apartment, not noticing the masked face phasing through the wall behind them.

Chie dropped to the ground the moment they got back to the area they started, cradling her head in her hands. Only a few minutes after they had gotten out of the apartment complex, her stomach ache had been coupled with a migraine, and the other three were not faring much better. Yosuke felt like his head was about to explode, along with his bladder, and Yu was honestly scared that he was going to throw up on someone.

"Whew, we finally made it back here." Chie's voice was muffled, but Yu could still sympathize with the short girl's exhaustion. "Ugh, whoever's making that weird squeaking sound, could you please stop? It isn't helping."

"Squeaking noise?" Yosuke looked around, then jumped as he saw the shadowed figure to his right. "Oh, god, Chie get over here?"

"Huh?" Chie lifted her head and looked in the same direction as Yosuke, noticing the steadily approaching… thing. She scrambled to her feet and crouched down, taking up a kung-fu pose. "What's that?"

Slowly but surely, the figure got close enough to the trio for them to see that it was, for some crazy reason, a stuffed animal. "What is this thing? A mokey? A bear?" Chie muttered, but her voice was nearly lost under Yosuke's exclamation of "What in the world?"

"Th-That's what I wanna know!" Chie gasped besides Yu, who jumped back, shocked that the bear's mouth was moving and a clearly intelligent response came out of it. "Who are you guys?"

"It talked!" Chie said, moving forward to see if there were any wires attached to them. "What are you? You wanna fight?"

The toy cowered, turning its back to Chie. "D-Don't yell at me like that…"

Maybe asking him nicely will work? "What is this place?" The bear stopped cowering, and even gave Yu a friendly smile.

"This place is what it is, it doesn't have a name. It's where I live."

"You live here?" Yosuke questioned, unable to imagine anything being able to live in a place like this.

"If I was you guys," The bear said, ignoring Yosuke's question. "I'd hurry back to the other side. Someone's been throwing people in here. It's a big headache."

"Throwing people in? What're you talking about?"

"I dunno who's doing it! I just want them to think before they go doing things like that!"

"Hey, what's your problem?" Chie began yelling at the bear, ignoring the look of fear on its face. "What gives you the right to yell at us like that! What are you, where are we?! What the heck's going on here?"

The bear bolted, making a large arc around Yosuke to hide behind Yu, who looked down at the bear in embarrassment. "I already told you. A-Anyways, you should hurry back."

"What it comes down to is, you want us to get outta here, right?" Yosuke said, Chie's anger beginning to affect him as well. "Well, so do we! We just don't know how, dammit!"

The bear turned to Yosuke, stamping its foot down on the ground while growling. "That's why I'm saying I'll let you out!"

"Like I keep saying, we don't know where the frickin' exit-" Yosuke paused, what the bear said finally getting through his head. "Wait, what?"

The bear took two steps back, tapped its right paw on the ground, and a plume of smoke rose in the middle of the trio. Three small TVs, each stacked on top of each other, stood where the smoke was, none of them showing a TV program of any kind.

"Wh-Where did those TVs come from? Chie asked as the three of them moved around to face the screens. While they were looking at the TVs, the bear moved behind hem and began to push them toward the TV, Yu entering first.

"Okay, now go, go, get outta here! I'm a busy bear!" They said as Yu's head went through the screen, ignoring the teens protests as they were shoved through the TVs and out of the bear's home.

When Yu's eyes opened, he registered three things at once.

1. Ow, it is really, really bright now.

2. The Junes jingle was playing, and he was in the electronic section of the store.

3. Izanagi was crouching next to him, hand held out to help their companion up.

"Huh? Is this?" Chie whispered, eyes welling up with tears as she realized she was home and alive. Yosuke cheered beside Yu, nearly drowning out the announcement playing over the PA.

"Attention, shoppers. Our daily limited-time sale will now begin at the side dish area on the first floor. Why not try the delicious, fresh produce Junes picked for you this morning as your side dish for dinner tonight? All ages are invited to take advantage of this incredible bargain!"

"Crap, it's already that late?" Yosuke muttered, only to be met with confused gazes by Yu and Chie. "That was scheduled to play near closing, so it's nearly ten o'clock right now."

"Huh? Are you kidding me?" Chie said, wiping her tear-streaked face. "Looks like we were in there for quite a while."

"Isn't that the poster we saw in that weird apartment?" Yu said, pointing to the poster not far away from them on the wall. Chie and Yosuke turned to where their friend was pointing.

"Hey, you're right, they're the same. I couldn't tell before without the face, but it was Misuzu Hiiragi. She's been all over the news lately, something about her husband having an affair with that announcer lady who died the other day."

"Don't remind me, that scandal with the news reporter is everywhere." Yu lamented, trying to forget about the snobby reporters who kept reporting it.

"Hey," Yosuke said, trying to have some input in the conversation. "so does that mean that weird room we saw, could it be related to that Yamano lady's death? Now that I think about it, there was that creepy noose hanging from the ceiling." Yosuke let out a yell, shaking his head. "Stop! No more! We gotta stop talking about this. I'm gonna wipe what happened today from my brain. I don't think my poor heart can take anymore."

"Or your bladder." Yu stated. "Did you have to really go to the bathroom?" Yosuke's eyes widened and his hands flew to his crotch, trying to stave off the urge before running off in the other direction, cursing at Yu the whole run.

"I'm not feeling well." Chie said, holding her arms as she trembled. "Let's go home, I wanna lie down and rest." Yu nodded and bid Chie a good trip before turning to Izanagi, who stared down at him impassively as ever.

Where did you go?

By the time Yu had gotten home, Dojima and Nanako were waiting for their bowls of instant ramen to be prepared. Placing the two bags filled with groceries on the table (damn whatever Yosuke had said, that store was expensive), Yu barely registered Dojima's greeting before sitting at the table with the others. His feet ached, and Izanagi had yet to give him a helpful response on where he was while Yu was wandering through the TV.

That sentence was still odd to him, but for now, he was too tired to care.

"Uh…" Dojima began, catching Yu's attention. "Well, I doubt you'd know, but have you heard anything about a student named Saki Konishi?"

"Hanamura said that she wasn't at school, and there's a rumor going around that she was the one who discovered the body." Yu said, rubbing at his eyes. Izanagi, who normally floated in the air, decided to sit cross-legged next to Yu, sharing his exhaustion.

"Oh, I see." Dojima looked down at his bowl of ramen, fiddling with his tie. "To be honest, we got a call from her family. She's disappeared. We've got people looking for her, but she hasn't been found yet. Work just keeps piling up." The older man let out a sigh, and Yu had a feeling that both of them just wanted to sleep and never wake up.

"And now, more on the cas still casting a shadow over the foggy town of Inaba." Began the announcer on the news. "Not long ago, television announcer Mayumi Yamano was found dead in the small town. Up until now, her whereabouts prior to her death had been unknown, but the police investigation has found that she had been staying in the regions famous Amagi Inn."

That would explain why Yukiko's leaving early, reporters are probably swarming that place. Yu sighed, half tempted to brew himself some green tea. I have to feel bad for her, if I was in her position I think I would be going nuts right about now.

"She had apparently been staying there alone. Perhaps she was taking a vacation to recover from her ordeal?"

Another commentator on screen chimed in enthusiastically. "Oh, yes, the Amagi Inn! Their hot springs are first-rate. The manager's teenage daughter also works there, and it's rumored that she'll take over the inn this spring. If that happens, she'll be one of the youngest managers on record! I should book another trip there!"

And if I see you anywhere near here, I will not hesitate to punch you in the face. Yu seethed, and thankfully, Izanagi held their temper and did not move to strike down the television.

"Uh… I-I see. Moving along, it's time for the weather report. The rain has begun to subside, and from now until morning, heavy fog warnings will be in effect in the Inaba region. Visibility will be severely reduced, so please be careful if you plan on driving in the area."

The news continued, but honestly, Yu couldn't be bothered to listen. His nose twitched, and he sneezed, ignoring the chill that came with it. God, what the hell did that place do to me?

"Are you sick? You're probably still adjusting to the new environment." Dojima asked, getting up from the table and moving to the bathroom near the back door. "I'll get you some cold medicine, and then you can get to bed early, alright?" Yu nodded, even though Dojima couldn't see it, and smiled. Nanako got up and went to the refrigerator, taking the groceries Yu got with her, and then she came back with a glass of orange juice.

"I heard in school that orange juice helps with colds." She said, putting the glass in his hand. "Drink this, okay?" Yu laughed, ruffling the top of Nanako's head as he thanked her. She huffed and crossed her arms, saying that now she would get sick, too, and Yu laughed even harder.