Sorry about the length here. trying to compile a bit, get the next few chapters off the ground. this one's wordy, so I ask for your patience with me. Thank you for reading, and I'll get the next chapter out soon. it should be getting more exciting, with the actual changes to the story happening soon (not just the different wording in conversations like it has been.)

Souji opened his eyes, disturbed by something around him. He started as he woke up, not recognizing the space around him, or what little he could see of it at least. Turning around, he could see Yu lying beside him, tossing around as he too felt the strangeness of their surroundings. A heavy fog lay around them, a floor of misshapen red tiles stretched out as a path before them.

Yu finally woke up, reacting much in the same way as Souji had. "Where are we?" Yu asked, looking at his brother, seeking some kind of answer that might explain their situation.

"Your guess is as good as mine, man." replied Souji, standing as he did so. Helping his brother up, Souji looked around some more, hoping to glean any scrap of information, but to no avail. Furrowing his brow, Souji thought about their predicament, and decided on a course of action. "I guess we gotta go forward, follow this path to wherever it leads." He looked at Yu, who nodded in agreement.

"Better than standing around. Let's go."

As they proceeded forward, a voice resounded in their heads. "Do you seek the truth…?" The two faltered, looking around for the speaker they had heard, but the fog remained as thick as before. Looking at each other again, they moved forward warily, caution in their footsteps. "If it's the truth you desire, come and find me…" Again, the mysterious voice filled their heads, and the twins stopped, feeling the hair on their napes rise. They broke into a run, a feeling of fear beginning to rise in their guts. They reached the end of the path shortly after they began, seeing a blockade of some kind.

"Well, I guess…this is the end of the path then." Souji said, breathing lightly from the combined effect of adrenaline and fear.

Yu nodded in agreement. "What's this then?" he wondered aloud, looking at the wall in front of them.

Souji spoke up, a sixth sense determining the answer for him. "It's a door…. someone's behind it. Maybe the owner of that voice?" Yu looked at his brother, silver eyes questioning silently. "Don't ask" Souji responded, waving away the unspoken words Yu had sent his way.

"Well, if it is a door, I guess we should get through it then, yeah?" Yu's half-statement, half-question made Souji grin. "Great minds think alike, after all." Souji thought.

"Yeah, let's go!"

The door spiraled open, and weapons suddenly appeared in the twins hands. Yu hefted a long katana, finding an easy balance to it. Souji stared at the weapons in his hands, a set of bladed tonfa with wrist attachments that left his hands free. Knowledge on how to utilize these weapons burst forth in their heads, and the twins steeled their nerves to step forward.

Souji woke up with a start, somehow feeling sore. Nanako's voice came from outside the room. "Breakfast ready."

Yu woke up next, always just behind his brother. He rolled his neck, trying to relieve the pain he was feeling. "Was that real? Did we really just…fight some…thing?" he asked.

Souji shook his head. "Dunno….whatever that was, we've been sharing dreams recently, it seems. What the hell is going on?"

The boys got dressed in their uniforms, admiring the stylish look they had despite their concern over their dream. Heading downstairs, they saw Nanako serving eggs and toast. "Good morning" she said, setting down the plates.

"Where's your dad?" asked Souji, sitting down to his meal, uttering a quick thanks.

"He already left for work, so I cooked today." replied Nanako, following Souji in sitting down to eat.

"Wow, Nanako, this looks really good!" exclaimed Yu, smiling warmly at his younger cousin, who smiled sheepishly, hiding her face by looking towards the ground.

"It tastes as good as it looks, bro." said Souji, taking a bite of the sunny-side-up eggs. This served only to deepen Nanako's blush, and she mumbled a quiet "Thank you" and began to eat.

As they finished, Nanako looked up at the twins. "You're starting school today, right? My schools on the way, so let's go together!" She looked at the boys hopefully. Souji nodded, wiping his mouth, and Yu responded after swallowing the last of food.

"That sounds great, Nanako. Let's do it!" Nanako smiled widely, pulling at the boys' heartstrings as she did so.

The rain came down on the trio as they walked across the Samegawa flood plain, hitting their umbrellas lightly. Nanako stopped, pointing down the street." You keep going this way." Turning around, she smiled at her cousins. "My schools this way. Bye!" Nanako walked towards her school, the twins waving goodbye as she did so. As they walked by the intersection in front of school, they heard a squeaking behind them. Turning around, they saw a student wearing orange headphones struggling to maintain control of a yellow bike as he held his umbrella to cover himself. As he went by the boys, he lost control, crashing his bike into a street pole. Bent double, the boy was in obvious pain. Yu winced, and Souji sighed, but neither boy felt that they could do anything to help, so they moved on before the boy could notice them. Arriving at school, the twins looked at the note they had received about the school.

Yasogami High School.

Homeroom Teacher: Kinshiro Morooka

2nd year hall

Please report to the faculty room to introduce yourselves to your homeroom teacher, and then follow him to class for introductions.

Souji and Yu looked around, finding the faculty room on the right hand side of the entrance hall. Walking towards it, they heard an obnoxious voice screaming from inside it. "Great, not only am I stuck with yet another class of imbeciles like Hanamura again, but I'm getting another two transfer students from the city! They better act like goddamn angels if they want to pass my class!" The twins winced; figuring out that the voice behind that door must be their new homeroom teacher.

Souji sighed in defeat as he walked towards the door, figuring this school year was going to be harder than they thought. He knocked loudly, and the voice behind the door grumbled as it got closer to the noise that had interrupted its rant. The door was pulled open sharply, and a man with abnormally large front teeth and a bulging vein on his forehead thrust his face at the twins. "Whaddya want, you ingrates! You should be headed to class right now!" He peered at the twins, looking them over. "Ah, I don't recognize you two. You must be those two city rats transferring to my class this year, eh!?" The silverettes glanced at each other, unsure of what to make of this man.

"Err…yes sir, we just transferred here. Are you Mr. Morooka?" Yu asked hesitantly, feeling palpable hatred emanating off the man.

The man scoffed loudly. "You're damn right I'm Mr. Morooka! I guess you're here to introduce yourselves, try to get on my good side, huh? Too bad! I don't play favorites like those big-city snobs you call teachers! Follow me. I guess I gotta introduce ya to the class." Morooka stormed off, muttering about the consequences of getting on his "shit-list". The two boys looked at each other; Souji bristling at the treatment they had received, Yu attempting to bite his tongue to keep from snapping out at the man ahead of them. They followed after Morooka quickly, deciding it might be better to just shut up and ignore the man's hostility.

The class was chatting idly. Some students complained about their current predicament; being in "King Morons" class, while others were talking excitedly about the "transfer students" coming in from the city. A pale brunette overheard the latter conversation and turned to the boy behind her and to her left. "Transfer students from the city…just like you, huh, Yosuke? Huh? You look dead today."

They boy in question was lying face-down on his desk, arms hanging off the front edge, orange headphones slightly askew. "Yeah, umm…I don't wanna talk about it." he groaned quietly. The brunette turned to the raven-haired girl in front of her, a questioning look in her eyes.

"What's with him?" she asked.

"Who knows" replied the raven-haired girl, looking at the boy with some degree of confusion.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Morooka walked in, two silver-haired boys walking swiftly behind him, looking somewhat peeved. "Awright, shut your traps! I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward. First things first! Just 'cause it's Spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons! Long as I'm around, you students are going to be as pure as the driven snow!" Morooka eyed the room carefully, daring anyone to speak up. "Now I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce these transfer students. These sad sacks have been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage." Souji's eye twitched; Yu's mouth began to form a slight frown. "And they're just as much of a pair of losers here as they were there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on them!"

Souji narrowed his eyes a bit, fighting hard to restrain himself, while Yu stared daggers at the back wall, silver eyes looking like they were ready to kill. It was bad enough that their homeroom teacher was an ass, but why did he have to voice the feelings they had about being out here, and how did he get them so right? "Tell 'em your name, kids, and make it quick!"

Souji couldn't take it anymore. He looked at his brother on the opposite side of Morooka. Yu turned to look at Souji, an unspoken message and agreement made between them. "Sad sacks, huh?" Yu said loudly, looking Morooka dead in the eye.

"You calling us losers, sir?" Souji asked harshly, stressing the sir at the end.

The class gasped collectively; no one had ever gotten on Morooka's bad side so quickly, and they were sure that that was what had just happened. Morooka looked at the two silverettes, glaring death at them. "Hrnh… That's it; you're on my shit list, effective immediately! Now listen up! This town is miles away from your big city of perverts and assholes, in more ways than one! You'd better not even think of getting involved with the girls hear, let alone abusing them! But what do I know. It's not like the old days. Even here, kids grow up so damn fast. Every time I turn my back, you're fooling around on those damn phones, checking your life-journals and your my-places…" Morooka continued on, ranting about "the old days" and how much better they were.

The pale brunette raised her hand, gesturing to the two seats open next to her and the kid with headphones. "Excuse me, is it okay if the transfer students sit here?" she asked, hoping to stop Morooka's droning.

"Huh? Sure. You hear that, your seats are over there. So hurry up and siddown already!"

The twins walked to their seats; Souji sat next to the girl who had spoken up, Yu sat behind her. She turned slightly so that the silverettes could hear her. "Rotten luck for you two to get stuck in this class… Well, we just have to hang in there for a year." She smiled welcomingly, and the twins returned the smile. As they listened to the chatter around them, Morooka called out, telling the students that he was taking roll.

"Finally, it's over" Souji thought to himself as he stretched his arms up, relieving them from the cramping they had due to staying still for so long. Turning around, he noticed Yu had was nodding off, eyes halfway closed. He reached out and shook his brother awake, and the two packed up what little they had taken from their bags that day. As they stood to go, the P.A bell rang out, alerting the students to an announcement.

"Attention all teachers. Please report to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."

Morooka turned around. "Hrnh. You heard the announcement. Don't go anywhere until you hear otherwise." Morooka quickly left, headed towards the faculty office.

The students milled about, hearing police sirens outside. As they questioned one another, a boy ran up to the raven-haired girl in the row in front of Souji, asking her about the announcer from the news, Mayumi Yamano. The girl declined to share whatever information she had, and the boy backed off, only to be replaced by the pale brunette. Souji decided to look away, and sat on the edge of his desk, loathe to start a discussion with the other students around him. Yu had sat back down, and began falling asleep again. Souji couldn't blame him. That dream from last night was still haunting him, and he felt tired himself.

As he was thinking about laying his head down for a while, the P.A came back on. "Attention, all students. There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the school district. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers. Head directly home. I repeat…"

Chaos followed the first announcement, drowning out the repeated statement as the students became abuzz with concern and excitement. "It's like a car crash in here. I guess any incident must be exciting in such a small town" Souji thought, waking up his brother yet again.

As they stood to leave once more, the pale brunette stopped them, walking alongside the raven-haired girl. "Hey, are you going home by yourselves? Why don't you come with us? Oh! I nearly forgot. I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit by you, right?" Chie smiled at the two boys, who nodded.

"Of course. Nice to meet you, Satonaka-san. I'm Souji Seta." Souji smiled, and gestured to his brother, who was still half-asleep. "This would be my brother, Yu Narukami. He's normally the first to introduce himself, but it seems he's a bit slow today."

Yu looked up at that, glaring at his brother, whose eyes glinted mischievously. Clearing his throat, Yu turned to Chie and the other girl. "As my twin brother so…eloquently put, my name is Yu Narukami. It's nice to meet you, Satonaka-san." Yu also smiled, hoping his dignity would recover a bit from Souji's antics.

Chie nodded. "Hey, don't bother with the honorifics. I don't really stand on ceremony. Just call me Chie. Anyways, nice to meet you both." Chie turned to the other girl, who was standing off to the side slightly. "This is Yukiko Amagi" Chie said, nodding for her friend to speak up.

"Oh, nice to meet you… I'm sorry this is so sudden." Yukiko looked bashful, and Chie winced at the apology.

"C'mon, don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing. I just wanted to ask some stuff. Really, that's all."

The four started walking towards the door, when a boy with headphones came up to Chie. The twins recognized him as the boy on the bike from that morning. "Uh, umm, Miss Satonaka…" the boy stammered, pulling a DVD case from his bag, holding it nervously. "This was really awesome. Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see…" the boy bowed quickly, thrusting the case out towards Chie, and spoke quickly. "And… I'm really sorry! It was an accident! Please have mercy until my next paycheck!" Chie took the case from the boy, who started towards the door. "See ya! Thanks!"

Chie ran forward, grabbing the boy from behind and bringing her knee up at the same time. "Stop right there! What did you do to my DVD?"

The boy yelped, and bent over, trying to relieve the pain he felt. Opening the case, Chie's face blanched. "What the…? I can't believe this! It's completely cracked! My Trial of the Dragon!" Chie pouted miserably, and it took all of Souji's willpower not to laugh as he stared at the boy. Yu seemed to be having the same problem, and had to turn his face to allow himself a quick smile.

"I think mines cracked too… C-Critical hit to the nads…" stammered the boy.

"A-Are you all right?" Yukiko asked, looking concernedly at the boy.

"Oh…Yukiko-san…are you worried about me?" asked the boy, his pain somewhat replaced by a hopeful tone.

Chie looked at her friend in disgust. "He's fine, Yukiko! Let's ditch him and go home." Chie and Yukiko walked away. The twin silverettes looked towards the boy, who was still bent double over the floor, trying to breathe normally. Deciding that it might be better for his ego if they didn't try to help him, the pair walked after the girls.

Catching up with them, the group started walking for the gates, but was headed off by a young boy with large black eyes, who seemed intent on talking to Yukiko. His uniform was different from Yasogami's, but the twins didn't know the area well enough to tell which school he was from. "You're Yuki, right? Y-You want to go hang out somewhere?" asked the boy, eyes staring at Yukiko.

"What…? W-Who are you?" Yukiko asked, quite shocked and confused. Students started gathering around, and Souji felt a bad feeling form in his stomach.

The boy started again. "Um, s-so…are you coming or not?" the boy asked impatiently.

Yukiko looked down, and stammered out her reply. "I-I'm not going."

The boy's face contorted in anger. "Fine!" he yelled, and ran off. Yukiko questioned Chie about the event, who explained what the boy wanted.

As Chie finished explaining how creepy the boy was, the bike-boy rolled his bicycle up, commenting one how Yukiko had shot another boy down, just like him last year.

"I don't recall doing that." Yukiko looked shocked, and the boy's face brightened.

"Whoa, you serious? So then, you wanna hang out sometime?!"

Yukiko shook her head "…I'd rather not."

The boy looked downtrodden. "That'll teach me to get my hopes up." The boy smiled, and teased the girls about pestering the twins.

"Well, at least the people here aren't boring" thought Souji.

Yu looked at his brother, a hidden smile playing on his face. "At least his moods improved" he thought, seeing the light in Souji's eyes. The boy got on his bike and headed down the road, and the four students continued on their way home, with Chie questioning the twins about various things.

"I can't believe I've been here one day, and already something weird's happened" Souji thought as he sat in the bath, washing his hair. He thought back to the walk home, remembering how the group had come across a crime scene, and Dojima had questioned them on why they were there. He also remembered seeing his uncles partner puke at whatever was behind the tape.

Shuddering, he quickly rinsed his hair and drained the bath, not preparing another as he was the last to bath that night. The news had said that the crime scene had been about the announcer, Mayumi Yamano, due to a student having found her body hanging on a large T.V. antenna. Whatever had happened, Souji couldn't help but feel a sense of fear and curiosity. Those dreams that he and Yu had been having…and the images from the train…was it possible there was a connection.

He shook his head, and dispelled the thoughts from his head. Whatever it was, it wasn't worth obsessing over. Getting dressed for bed, he found Yu passed out on his futon, with the lights still on. Souji smiled, and quietly turned the lights off and got into bed. Yu had been tired all day. He deserved to rest now, at the very least. Souji thought briefly about the next day before drifting off to sleep.