Chapter 5 – Dude, My TV tried to EAT ME!

I dunno if it was because I had a crush or something, or I believed what Chie-san said, but I am seriously anxious to watch the Midnight Channel. I was just eating my Rice Bowl out of not being hungry, but it seemed like Nanako was about to cry.

"I wouldn't worry, your dad seems like a great guy." I placed my rice bowl down.

"...Yeah, I know." She replied, but her hope brightened up when she heard the door open. "Oh! He's home!"

He seemed restless when he walked over to us. "What a day... I'm back, though. Did anything happen while I was out?"

"No..." Nanako pouted. "You're late again!"

"I'm sorry..." I really felt sorry for the Dojimas... "I've been busy at work... Could you put the news on for me?"

Nanako reluctantly nodded, and grabbed the remote to change it to the channel.

"Next, more details in the developing story of the incidents in Foggy Inaba." I listened intently this time. "Announcer Mayumi Yamano's dead body was found hanging above a dead house in this isolated rural town.

"It is comfirmed that Ms. Yamano had been involved with the affair of Taro Namatame, the husband of enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi." Are you kidding me? Really, an affair? The rest was just a followup report, though. So, I didn't bother to listen to the rest of it, but I did catch a part on them investigating their personal life. Stalkers.

"In addition, we now bring you an exclusive interview with a local student who found Ms. Yamano's body." Wait, seriously? Let me in on this!

"An interview with a kid?" Uncle Dojima yawned. "Where the hell did they find her..?"

"What went through your mind when you saw it? Could you tell she was dead? How was her face?" A reporter was instantly rushing questions to this kid who I think I've seen before on the TV..

"U-Um..." Okay, what the-never mind, they probably distorted her voice and shit so they wouldn't know who she is. The face was blocked out though, so I couldn't tell who it was...

"Don't you think it was scary for someone to die on a foggy day?"

"Huh..?" The girl was surprised. "She was killed?"

Obviously, the girl didn't realize she died, but still...

H-However, she did seem to look like Yosuke-san's Senpai, Saki Konishi. Wait, crap, since when did I start using honorifics? Though, after that interview, they talked about how stores were losing customers and fast. Uncle Dojima added something about them losing customers because he kept overreacting about it, and I had to laugh at that.

"It really is a bizarre case isn't it?" Two commentators came on. "I mean, hanging someone's body from an antenna... I'd have to say it's a warning or a sign!"

"Yes, but so far, no one has come to take credit for it." The announcer pointed out.

I took my bowl of rice and offered the rest to Nanako, who took it with a worried look on my face.

"You didn't eat much..." She winced. "Are you okay..?"

"Don't worry." I chuckled nervously, ready to half-lie. "I'm... going to go do some homework for tonight. I'll see you later..."

…

However, I was looking outside the window in my room as I heard the thunder booming outside and collaborating with the lightning. The sound of rain always made me calm, and I felt my eyelids close as I listened to it pour down. Just three more minutes til' midnight...

"Your soul mate appears if you look into a TV on a rainy night..." I repeated the words to myself. "Alright, Chie, you better not be lying..."

I was wearing a type of gown that slid down so it wouldn't reveal my... y'know, but it revealed part of my chest and my pale-skinned shoulders. The color of it was purple, since my mother insisted on me picking a "girly" color.

I looked at the clock: One minute left. I had no choice, but to walk over to the TV after pulling the curtains down to wait to see what would happen. As I did so, the screen lit up before my eyes... Holy shit, man, holy shit!

The picture was too staticy, but I could barely see a glimpse of what seemed like a female backing up. Lightning crashed behind me again, and that's when I heard something in my head again...

"I am thou..." The voice called, "Thou art I..."

"K-Kh-!!" I cried out as my head started to hurt badly. It was as if a needle was being stabbed into my skull... Oh my God, what was happening?

"Thou art the one... Who opens the door..."

I grabbed my head with both of my hands and fell onto the floor as I grunted and whined in pain. Tears that came from the stinging pain dropped onto the floor as I tried to get my headache settled down. "S-Stop..."

The rain wasn't helping anymore, and my heart was beating really fast! I got back up onto my feet and wiped the tears with my hands as I walked back to my TV.

"W-What the..." I whispered, "What the hell..?"

I touched it with the tip of my finger, and it created ripples as if it were water. I would've thought it was pretty cool, but right now I was scared for the first time I have been in awhile.

I placed my hand at it now, and it was sucking me in. "Huh?!" I cried out, as I felt myself going into the TV. My eyes were shut tightly as I struggled to get out of there, and when I gave that one final pull, I hit my head on the table and yelled: "OW!!"

I heard footsteps. "Are you okay?!" Nanako.

"K-Kind of..." I whimpered, "I hit my head on the table... Just go back to sleep, okay?"

"..Okay." She replied. "Good night.."

I thought she returned to her room after the footsteps faded. I knew this was something to discuss with my two new friends, so I needed to do that at the moment.

…

Sofue-sensei, our history teacher, was so excited about teaching history. She was even wearing Tut's crown, and was holding an ankh as if she was really into Egypt. She asked me a question about A.D.'s origination, and I actually got that one right... Not that I was religious or anything!

After school, I overheard some chicks talking about the interview. My intuition was correct, it had to be Saki Konishi! I didn't realize Yosuke walked up to me until I found him poking at my shoulder.

"Hm?" I turned around, "Oh, Yosuke-san." There I go again.

"Y-Yo.." He hesitated. "Um..."

"What's up?" I asked him.

"I-It's probably not that important, but..." His eyes averted from mine. "Yesterday on the TV, I..."

He shook his head and chuckled. "N-Never mind, I'll tell you later, aheh."

"Yosuke, did you hear the rumor?" Chie asked. "Saki-senpai's supposedly the one who found the body."

"I wonder if that's why she looked so down..." Yosuke was in thought. "She didn't seem to be at school today, either."

Chie turned to hear Yukiko get up from her seat. "Huh? Hey Yukiko, are you helping out at the inn today as well?"

"Things are really out of hand right now..." Yukiko seemed apologetic. "I'm sorry..."

"Does Yukiko-san seemed stressed out today?" Yosuke asked us, "Or is it just me?"

"Probably running her ragged..." Chie put her hand on her head. Her head perked up when she seemed to remember something, though. "Oh, by the way... Did you see it last night?"

Yosuke panicked. "H-Huh? W-Well, what about you?"

"I did!" Chie's eyes widened. "I seriously saw a girl! But... My soulmate's a girl? What's that supposed to mean?"

So I wasn't the only one who saw it last night. I created a mental sigh of relief. Though, when Chie described her, I realized it was the same girl that I might have saw last night!

"S-So did I!" I freaked out. "That's kind of scary..."

"Does that mean we have the same soul mate..?" Chie concluded her thought.

"How should I know..?" Yosuke retorted. "W-What about you, Remilia-san? What do you think..?"

"Um... You're probably not going to believe me, but..." I told them about what happened last night, about how the TV tried to suck me in and everything. Though, the more I said, the more stupid they thought I was.

"It really does sound like we all saw the same person..." Yosuke blinked. "Weird voices aside, what was that about being sucked into your TV..?" Yosuke continued to taunt me with what I told them all.

"That would be one interesting dream, though." Chie admitted. "I like the part where you got stuck because your TV was too small. That'd be so real! Maybe if it'd been big-Oh! I forgot, my family's looking for a bigger TV!"

"Really?" Yosuke looked at Chie, "Well, flatscreen's are totally in these days. Wanna check them out on the way back home? We've been renewing our stock of them lately!"

"Woo! Yes!" Chie cheered. "My parents don't understand electronics, and I just gotta see my movies on the big screen!"

"Hyah!!" Chie tossed a kick in front of us.

Yosuke rolled his eyes and looked at me. "We got some big ones in stock, I bet they'd be big enough for you to fit in.." Ugh. He's teasing me. Teasing..!

"Yeah... Whatever..." I heaved a great sigh. I wonder if this is how Nanako-chan feels when her father is not at home.

…

We headed toward the Junes Electronics Department. Yosuke was taking Chie on a stroll to examine all the largest and brand new-looking TVs in stock. I was also looking around, but I was still pretty pissed when they didn't believe that I had actually went into the TV.

"Wow! This is huge, and-" Chie's teeth gritted. "It's expensive... Who the hell would buy something like this?"

"I dunno, rich people?" Yosuke implied. "Not many shop for TVs here, and that's why we don't have any clerks here."

"Not worth it, then.." Chie sighed. "At least looking is free!"

She looked at Yosuke, and Yosuke looked at her. In a few seconds, they had placed their hands onto the monitor to mock me. Well, I knew one thing's for sure, I had some messed up power in my hands.

"Nope, can't get in!" Yosuke backed up. "Figures..."

"Then this proves it!" Chie chuckled and backed up as well. "It must've been just a dream, Remi!"

"Besides, these screen's are so thin, you'd probably just end up on the other side." Yosuke cracked another teasing joke on me. It's not funny! He did get serious though to ask Chie something. "So, Chie. What kind of TV are you in the market for?"

"My family's said they wanted something cheap."

With that, they had walked to the other TVs, but I could feel the blood boiling in my veins. My eyes averted to the floor, and then to the TV... I couldn't just let them do this to me! I inched closer to the TV, and placed my palm onto it, feeling it go through again. Oh shit!

"..!!" I yelped, and turned to their direction.

"Oh yeah, Remilia," Yosuke looked at me, "What kind of TV do.. you-What the hell?!"

"Huh? Something wrong, Yosuke?" Chie questioned, but then turned around to face me. She squealed.

"I-Is her arm in the TV..?" Yosuke's brown eyes were widened and staring directly at me.

"W-Whoa..." Chie panicked. "I-Is this some kind of model? With a new function?!"

"No way!" Yosuke ran up to me with Chie.

"Wait, what?! So you really could stick your hand in through the screen?!" Chie blinked. I couldn't face them anymore, I proved them wrong, but this was so embarrassing...

"Oh god.." Yosuke was in a tizzy, "This is for real, that's some magic trick, girl!"

"It's not a magic trick!" I hissed. "Not that I know of, anyway!"

I took a glance at them, nodded, and looked back at the TV. Within a few minutes, I closed my eyes and stuck my head into the screen. I'm surprised the TV didn't fall or anything.

"H-Hey! Don't do that, what the hell?!" Yosuke was yelling.

"Oh my God!!" Chie's screams were getting annoying...

I opened my eyes, and saw nothing but empty space around me. "Hey... It's like there's nothing inside!"

"W-What do you mean there's nothing inside?!" Yosuke asked me.

"Um... Nothing?!" Chie's mouth was probably jaw dropped by now.

"Very... 'spacious.'" I noted.

"Spacious..?" The blonde boy replied.

"I mean, what's going on!?" The kung-fu chick asked.

"Holy crap, I think this is too much for my bladder!" Yosuke ruined the seriousness out of this all.

"What the-?! Are you going to pee your pants?!" Chie screeched at him. He better not...

"I've been holding it all day... I haven't had chance to go!" Yosuke's footsteps were jumping. "Gaah! Can't... hold it... anymore!!"

As soon as I heard his footsteps travel away, they came right back. He told us something about people coming our direction. Now I was panicking! They're going to think I'm some kind of witch if I don't get through!!

"Well, I don't know what's worse..." I put my commentary in here. "People coming, or realizing the fact that Yosuke-san probably has a 85% chance of looking up my skirt! Hanamura, y-you better not!"

"What?! No!!" He yelled back at me, but somehow that didn't sound very convincing.

"What're we gonna do, we have a female stuck in here!" I heard Chie and Yosuke running around in circles until they bumped right into me and sent us into the TV world...

So, Remi & her new friends have learned about the Midnight Channel, and Remi has gained the power to... go through a TV?! What will happen now?!

Persona 4 (C) ATLUS

Remilia Konagi (C) Me