Chapter Three: Some things don't make sense

Yu Narukami's eyes peered open as he slowly drifted out of sleep and back into consciousness. Warm sunlight flowed from his bedroom window, and he could hear sounds coming from the kitchen. He sat up and stretched, taking in the view from outside. He remembered closing the shades last night, so someone must have opened them while he was still asleep…

"Yuuu~ honey," he heard a voice lilt from downstairs, "You should get ready, otherwise you won't have time to eat before school!"

Yu paused all movement and turned towards the door. That voice he'd just heard sounded very feminine. It was also strangely familiar, though it couldn't be Nanako; it sounded much too… motherly. He decided to get dressed and see what was going on.

On his way downstairs he bumped into Teddie, who happened to be wearing a Yaso uniform… and was for some reason in his house. "Ted…?" Narukami was only slightly confused.

The blonde slapped him on the shoulder as he grinned widely. "Mornin' Big Bro!" he exclaimed, his eyes shining brightly. Yu stared at the shorter kid in bewilderment.

"Where did you get that uniform?"

Teddie gave him a puzzled look. "We've both had our uniforms since school started, Big Bro." He then lifted a hand to Yu's forehead. "You feeling ok? You're probably still just sleepy." He then offered another huge smile. "Don't worry, Mom's making something downstairs, and it smells bear-y nice! It should make you feel better!" He grabbed Yu by the arm to lead him to the kitchen.

"'Mom'?"

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Yu immediately noticed a tall figure hovering over the sink. Clad in a white dress and pink apron, with a pearl necklace and matching earrings, they turned so that Yu could see their fashionably curled hair and red lipstick. "Good morning boys. Hope you've got all your things ready for school."

"Kanji?"

"Mommyyy!" Teddie exclaimed as he launched himself into Kanji's waiting arms. "The food smells amayy-zing, Mom!" He then kissed his "mother" on the cheek.

Yu stood paralyzed, unable to react to this situation at all.

"Thank you, sweety. Now eat up before it cools."

Teddie enthusiastically hopped into his seat at the table, and began scarfing his food as he greeted someone in the chair next to his. "Mornin' Daddy!"

"Quit talkin' with your mouth full, boy."

Narukami squinted over at the table. "Yosuke?"

Hanamura peered at Yu over his newspaper. "Didn't you hear your mother? Come siddown partner, before your food gets cold."

"What's going-"

"Doesn't matter now," Kanji interrupted. "You'll both be late if you don't leave right now. Here," He placed homemade packed lunches into both of their bags, then placed Yu's breakfast in a napkin before handing it to him. "You'll just have to eat it on the way."

"Well, I'm off," Yosuke announced as he grabbed his keys. "Have a good day, everyone." He gave Kanji a kiss on the cheek on his way out.

Narukami began to sweat.

"Be back safe!" Teddie shouted as Hanamura walked out the door. Kanji looked back at them.

"Okay kids, you should be heading out too."

"Alrighty!" Teddie said, hugging his mommy once more before heading to the door.

"You too, mister," Kanji addressed to Yu. "Give mommy a kiss before you leave."

"Ahh…" Yu clutched his bag tightly.

"Hmm?" He watched as Yu backed up slowly. "What's wrong dear? You've been acting strange all morning."

"I need to wake up."

"Now now, honey," Kanji admonished. "There's no time for these shenanigans; you'll be late. Now give your mommy a kiss." Suddenly Yu was unable to move, and he watched in horror as Kanji's puckered lips were mere inches away from his face.

"Mmmmwwaaa~!"

Narukami bolted upright on his futon. He looked around bewilderedly, clutching his chest; then looked over to his window and could see light peeking through the closed shades. He let out a sigh of relief, and nearly jumped into the ceiling when he heard his phone ringing. He grabbed it and opened it shakily.

"Hello?" he answered hoarsely, heart attack having started all over again.

"Narukami?" he heard Chie greet over the phone. "Hey! You probably just woke up, so I'll make this quick. Today's our day off, so I figured we should all head into the TV world."

Yu said nothing, still breathing heavily.

"Just for training though!" she verified. "The killer's still at large, y'know. So we should all be on our guard. We can't give that creep any leeway, right? So whadda you say?"

Gaining control of his breathing, Yu managed a reply. "Yeah. Let's all meet up in an hour."

"Awesome!" Chie exclaimed over the phone. "I'll round up the others. See ya soon!"

Yu hung up and sat in the room in silence. After a while he looked over at his closet, deciding it was best to get dressed and head to the team's meeting place. Once he'd donned his desired clothing, he retrieved his weapon and some money from the back of the closet, and re-locked it before exiting his room.

Though he never wished to have a nightmare like the one he just experienced ever again, he certainly could feel that he'd become closer to each of the guys…

In the electronics section at Junes, the Investigation Team had gathered around their staple television set, preparing to enter. The amount of shoppers in the area was more than usual however, so it was decided that the best course of action would be to spread out a bit until the traffic slowed.

Narukami remained in the electronics section with Chie and Yukiko, keeping a close eye on the TV sets. Teddie had wandered away eagerly, prompting Yosuke to run after and chaperone him. And Naoto was abruptly hauled off by Rise into another section of the store, with Kanji nervously following behind.

As Yu stood behind another isle with the girls, staking out the televisions, Chie began to reflect on their decision to stay in the store; "You guys ever think of how… suspicious it could look with all of us coming here all the time?"

Yu glanced at her before returning his gaze to their TV. "Not at all."

"Well…" Yukiko reasoned, "We're not always here that often, Chie. I'm sure it's not too noticeable."

"Are you kidding? We're here like, twice a week on average. In the same section."

"Oh… Well when you put it that way…" Yukiko looked over at Yu to second Chie's observation, but suddenly noticed something odd. "Narukami-kun, are those… binoculars?"

The silver-haired boy didn't move an inch from watching the TV sets. "No."

Both girls watched him in confusion until he looked back at them. "Field glasses," he explained.

"Uh… isn't that… the same thing?" Chie scratched her head.

Yu shook his head in answer, pulling another pair from his jacket and holding them up. "These are binoculars."

Chie squinted at both instruments. "Why do you even have those?"

Yukiko reached past Chie to remove the field glasses from Yu's hand and looked into them herself. After a few seconds she exclaimed, "Oh Chie, he's right! Much more advanced. And clearer." She pushed them into her friend's hands. "Here, look."

"You have got to be kidding me…" Chie accepted the instrument and put it over her eyes, then waited a few seconds.

"…Well?" Yukiko queried.

"I feel stupid."

"Snrk…"

"Don't you even dare!" Chie thrust the glasses back into Yukiko's hands as her friend tried her best to keep her giggles discreet.

Yu blinked at the girls' antics and returned to observing the television sets. Yukiko joined in the stakeout with the pair that he'd given to her, and they all stood in silence and observed.

After about thirty minutes, not much progress had been made, and Chie was becoming more and more aware of the stares they were receiving from onlookers. "This crowd isn't thinning out at all, you guys. Maybe we should head somewhere else. Or at least go to a different section."

Her friends continued to observe the TV section with their ocular instruments however; extremely determined in their task. "We can't just abandon our post, Chie." Yukiko looked over at her. "Let's stick it out a little longer."

"She's right," seconded Narukami. "We have to stay on guard."

Chie looked between her two friends. "You guys act like you're expecting an attack or something…"

"Possibly," Yu said mysteriously.

"Ugh," Chie huffed exasperatedly. "People are watching us guys." She noticed a sales attendant walking their way. "Uh-oh."

The man approached them cautiously. "Is there ah… anything I can help you kids with?" He glanced suspiciously at each of them. Chie quickly reached over and lowered their binoculars. "No thanks! We're just browsing. Right you guys?"

"That so? You've all been in here for quite a while… Are you sure?"

"Yes," Yu replied seriously. "We have a duty to fulfill."

"Uh… duty?"

"D-don't mind him!" Chie averted nervously. "He's just fooling around. We'll be out of here soon, promise."

"Oh ah… alright then. No rush." The attendant moved away rather quickly, seemingly startled by something. As if on cue Kanji walked up to them, wielding an enormous shield. Chie's eyes widened in utter unbelief. "Kanji… what the hell."

"What." the tall boy replied.

"What do you mean, 'what'? Don't tell me you were walking around with that thing." She pointed to the weapon and he followed her finger with his eyes.

"Oh. Well yeah," Kanji replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Naoto and Rise went into some girl clothing section. It was kinda awkward so… I dunno. Went to the bathroom and polished my shield."

"You've been carrying that around the store with you?"

"Yeah I guess. So?" Kanji glanced around and noticed a group of girls staring their way, muttering loudly amongst themselves. "The hell you lookin' at?!" Kanji shouted, raising his shield. The girls quickly scattered away. "Tch," he scoffed.

"We'll be thrown out at this rate…" said Chie.

"Target's clear," Narukami suddenly stated.

"I'll call it in," Yukiko replied.

Kanji looked over at the other two. "Huh? Call what in?" Yukiko pulled out her cellphone and dialed a number, then said when it picked up, "The gate is clear. Repeat, return to the gate." She hung up and returned her field glasses to Yu.

"Uh… What're you guys even doing?" Kanji asked, looking between each of them. He made eye contact with Yu, who looked away and shuddered slightly for some reason. "What's goin' on?"

"We were keeping an eye on the TVs," Chie answered tiredly. "Guess it's safe to go in now." She looked over at Yukiko, who nodded matter-of-factly. The group soon gathered in front of the TV set, and everyone was nearly accounted for except for Teddie, who was conspicuously absent. There was something that Kanji took note of as they were all waiting.

"Huh. You guys ever wonder if we should just buy this thing?" He set his shield down and peered at the blank screen.

"What," Yosuke responded, "You mean the TV?"

"Yeah, the TV," Kanji iterated. "What'd you think I meant?"

"I dunno, geeze. Why would we need to buy it?"

"Well, we're runnin' up here all the damn time to go through the thing, so why not?"

Yosuke chuckled. "Yeah, I doubt any of us can even afford it dude…"

"You kiddin' me?" Kanji looked at him indignantly. "With the amount of money we pick up from all the Shadow fighting, we could buy a bigger one. Pool somethin' together."

"He… has a point," Naoto said, observing the price tag. "Together, we should be more than able to afford this."

"Where would we even put it though?" Yosuke argued. "Not like we can just dump it in someone's living room. No way our parents wouldn't be suspicious."

"Oh!" Rise exclaimed. "I vote Naoto's place! I'm sure her grandfather wouldn't mind. Plus, it would look perfect in her room."

"Wh-what?" said Naoto.

"Aw, but what about our Special Headquarters?" Chie protested.

"Yeah," seconded Yukiko. "I love meeting up here when we talk about the case."

Yosuke shrugged. "Yeah and honestly, you guys buy something pretty much every time we come here so… it's good for business." He tried to ignore the glare he received from Chie after saying that. "So uh… what do you think, Kanji?"

Kanji's face had already turned red as he gazed off at nothing in particular. "You mean we'd meet up… at N-Naoto's house?"

"Ugh," Rise sighed. Naoto tried to get her attention. "Kujikawa-san—"

The idol gave her a look.

"Ah… Rise. The others are right. Maybe it's best that the television stays here."

"But what if someone else decides to buy it?" the girl argued. "What then?"

Yu crossed his arms. "She has a point. I'm sure Kanji's been wanting to see Naoto's room for a while now, anyway."

"HUH?!" Kanji shouted, horrified.

"My room is not an option, if I must make that clear," the young detective emphasized.

"Do we even have time for this right now?" said Yosuke, throwing his arms up. He looked around, as if remembering something. "And we need to find Teddie before he—"

"Grizzlyyyy Kick!"

Something struck the group violently from behind, which immediately initiated a domino effect, sending them all head-first into the TV. And in a split second the kids had disappeared, with no one the wiser.