"...And this is the playground. We come here right after lunch every day."
"Wow, it's so big! What do you guys do here?"
"We play out here, stupid. What else would you do in a playground?"
"Well, we usually play tag or hide-and-seek, but there aren't a lot of places to hide, and the teachers get mad at us sometimes if we run too fast. We also play on the swings and the slide, but everyone's always fighting over the swings."
"Well, there
are a lot of kids here... Who's that?"
The young boy looked in the direction that the new girl had pointed. "That girl? Oh, that's Naoto. We don't talk to her."
"Why not...?" said the little girl, "She looks lonely..."
"She's weird," said the little boy, "We tried to play with her, but she would always say she was busy reading those big stupid books about detectives. And when she did try to play with us, she'd always want to play detective. She had long hair before, but one day she came to school and it was really short, like a boy. She's also a nerd. She's really smart, but she never talks to anybody."
"Oh," said the new girl, "I guess that is kinda weird."
The two children continued on with their play without a care in the world. The boy showed the girl around the playground, and she met all kinds of new friends on her first day at a new school. Little did they know that the small girl who sat on the steps of the door which lead into the courtyard, whose reddened face was hidden behind a collection of fairly interesting Sherlock Holmes stories, had heard every word of theirs.
Slowly, the vision of my room came into focus. My head was spinning as I gradually awoke. It was the day after the conversation I had with my grandfather, and I felt incredibly woozy. What made it even worse was the panic I experienced with the dream I had just woken up from. My heart was beating rapidly, and my breath came quickly as well. It didn't take much to realize what was imperative to do. I jolted up out of bed and dashed across the hallway into the bathroom, collapsing in front of the toilet and clutching my stomach. A searing pain erupted from inside me and I winced, hastily running my weak fingers through my hair. My brow was soaked in sweat and I was trembling violently. My chest seemed to rivet with every heartbeat.
Suddenly, a bolt of pain struck into my core. Flashes of white seemed to appear in my head, and I arched forward as my abdomen clenched up. I coughed and gagged, spasms of an unknown pain running through me like electricity. Voices echoed in the back of my mind, ringing out in taunting chants.
"You're so stupid. You can't be a detective. You're a girl."
I sputtered, groaning in pain.
"...Now in the local news, we bring you the latest details on the rising child detective, Naoto Shirogane. She played a key role in the solving of the recent break-in case at a local liquor store... However, critics of her ethic are suggesting that she may encounter critical difficulties in her career on account of her age and sex..."
I gagged again, and this time, I got out what I needed to get out. Afterwards, I sunk to the floor and panted heavily, tears forming at my lower eyelids. So much for eating well, I thought to myself, swallowing the repulsive taste in my mouth. An overwhelming wave of relief washed over me, and I sighed, leaning against the wall. I was so dizzy that it felt as if the wall was sucking me into it, and I couldn't be sure exactly where my center of gravity was. I sat there for a while, breathing heavily and letting myself calm down.
After getting a glass of water and gulping it down to wash out the bitter taste in my mouth, I returned to my room and pulled out a favorite crime novel from one of my bookshelves (I tend to be a bit of a book hoarder, since I love to read but hate throwing things away) and sat down at my desk to read in order to clear my head. It was a fairly easy read, and I had read it multiple times before. Ah, yes. The relaxing feel of the book in my hand, the soft sound of its binder cracking open and the feathery touch of its pages flitting through my fingers proved to be a thousand times better than any TV. A warm cup of coffee might have been nice, though I decided against it, seeing as a slight sting of nausea still lingered in my throat and I didn't suppose I could keep it down. It was best to keep my stomach empty for now.
A little more than half an hour later, I delicately closed the book and placed it on my desk after reading the last words. It was always a satisfying ending. I stretched, feeling much better than I had before. Now, after a few days of rest, it was time to analyze some things.
First and foremost, my gut feeling about the culprit still being at large had turned out to be precise. Though I had to pay the price in order to prove this theory, it had been well worth it, and showed results that were quite favorable, yet also quite alarming and disturbing. Whoever was going around and kidnapping these people was still out there, and...
My nose wrinkled and I shook my head. I didn't even want to think about it, but if this culprit was still at large, which proved to be true, they could take yet another victim. Come to think of it, this very fact was one of the reasons I had been watching TV the previous day. Another theory of mine had been proven correct: The victims were indeed kidnapped shortly after being shown on television. Now that this was a viable fact, there could possibly be a way to prevent any further kidnappings. I would need to keep a close eye on the local news from now on.
Secondly was the matter of the strange world that the kidnapper had thrown me into. Now that my head was clear enough to think, I needed to assess exactly what had happened and where I had been. Much of my memory was permanently blurred, but I remembered the confrontation with my Shadow vividly.
The area into which I had been brought resembled a secret military base or laboratory like those that would be found in science fiction movies and manga. My Shadow had told me that my surroundings were created from myself. If it was correct, what could the appearance of the secret laboratory have meant? I thought deeply to myself, and decided to relate it to the Shadow itself. Now that I remembered, it had acted rather childish. The laboratory must have represented child's play; more importantly the settings of my own imagination many years ago. These childish ideas were suppressed thoughts of my own. Is this what my Shadow had meant? It, after all, was the side of myself that I had yet to face until then. Maybe the appearance of the environment in that world were affected by such feelings, as well. I concluded that this must be the case.
Another strange thing that I had noticed about the world I was in was the peculiar and ridiculous amount of fog that filled every square inch of the place. It had been so thick that I could barely see, and thinking back, I had developed a splitting headache and became discombobulated for the past few days. This brought a decent amount of concern to my attention about the strange fog. Could it have had any effect on my condition? If so, I guessed that the other victims must have experienced the effects of the fog, as well. Perhaps I should bring up this subject to them, if they had not thought about it previously.
Yet another thing came to mind, and my chest tightened up when I remembered it. The group of students I had been keeping an eye on now knew that I was female. I swallowed hard. It seemed inevitable that the rest of my school, and even the rest of Inaba, would soon find out as well. This realization made my face pale. That was right... The police were soon to find out, too, considering how quickly rumors seemed to diffuse in this small town. I was worried about what they would say, considering I lied to them about my gender. Never mind about that, though, for the moment; I put it on the back burner for the time being. I was off the case, anyway, no matter how much it pained me to think about it. I continued thinking over the situation.
Finally, I thought to myself, and most importantly for the moment, how would the case continued to be handled? I tapped the end of my pen against my desk, looking down and noticing that I had hardly realized I was taking notes. In front of me was a notepad already neatly opened and scribbled all over with small, hastily-written kanji characters in blue ink. It amazed and perplexed me that sometimes my brain worked independently from my body. I chewed the cap of my pen, staring down at the sentence I had just written.
Perhaps I should join the others...
Join the others? I cracked the pen cap with my teeth. Well, this pen's days were officially numbered as of now. How could I possibly join them...? I hadn't made any friends in years, I was constantly moving... Surely I wasn't going to remain in Inaba for very long, either... How was I to befriend them? They wouldn't have liked to have me around, anyway. I mean, what kind of entertainment could I have possibly provided them with? The only thing I was good at, or would ever be good at, was reading and playing detective, just as it had been many years ago in elementary school.
Wait, I thought, that's just it. Wasn't that what the others had been doing all along, anyway? Playing detective? In that case, maybe I did have a chance of fitting in with them. Maybe-though it was merely wishful thinking-they could have valued my detective skills in some way. I blushed as I thought of this. No, I thought inside my head,They'd never want me around; no one has ever wanted me around, except for the damn police.
I sighed, picked up the notepad on my desk and smacked myself in the face with it. No, stop thinking that way. This is for the good of the case. I tried to convince myself that it was only good for the case, but something in me made me feel like I was deceiving myself yet again. Deep down, I wanted to be with them.
"It's settled," I said out loud, to set the words in stone, "I am going to ask them, no matter what." I would tell them everything that they needed to know, and then I would ask if my skills would be needed at all. I stood up, closed the notepad, and slipped it inside one of the desk drawers.
A quiet, high-pitched beeping sounded from the watch around my wrist. My eyes blinked open, and after hesitating, I rolled over in bed and brought both of my hands up in front of my face to turn off the alarm. I opened my mouth wide and yawned, glancing out my window and noticing that the sun was still hidden beneath the horizon, and that the rain which hadn't let up for the past three days had finally ceased to fall overnight. It was a few days later, October sixth. Over the past few days, I had tried my best to recover from the fatigue of facing my Shadow. I had been eating lightly and drinking large quantities of water, and I now felt much better, despite the slight imbalance in digestion, which was probably just from not eating for several days and then gorging myself.
Finally, I was well enough to return to school. I grinned as I sat up in bed, and then got ready to start the day.
When I reached Yasogami high school, I stopped in my tracks and swallowed, staring forward through the front gates. I exhaled, realizing that there was one thing I had to do before I could really begin a new life. I walked through the front doors, past the lockers, and down the hallway to the faculty office. I hesitated, staring at the door for a long period of time. This would be most comfortably executed now, before many other students arrived and began to roam the halls. I reached out my hand, feeling my heart rate increase, paused, and then placed my hand on the door handle, carefully sliding it open.
On the other side of the door was the person I had hoped to see: The headmaster. He was talking to one of the sophomore teachers, Mrs. Sofue, who looked at me when I walked in, wearing the usual Egyptian burial crown resembling that of King Tut which she always wore. The headmaster looked at me as well.
"Mr. Shirogane," he said in his usual calm voice, "Please come in. Is there something on your mind?"
I closed the door behind me and stared down at the floor. "There is something I'd like to confess to you, actually."
They took the news surprisingly well. Both of them were shocked initially, but as I explained more of my situation and what prompted me to lie about my sex, their understanding of me increased. The headmaster reassured me that there would be no penalty, and allowed me to continue wearing the masculine school uniform. Filled with gratitude, I thanked them as I left the faculty office, and requested that they inform the other teachers as well. Afterwards, I closed the door and promptly let out an enormous sigh of relief, bending over and putting my hands on my knees. That was a lot off my chest, and now, I felt slightly more cheerful. The others must be arriving soon, I assumed, and so I walked back to the front doors to look for them.
I spotted them walking up to the entrance of the school as I walked out of the building. Feeling a twinge of anxiety in my chest, I approached them, keeping myself calm. Questions and "what-if's" ran through my head, but I did my best to dispel them as I came into their view.
It was Yu, Yosuke, and Chie. The others, I suspected, would be arriving later. The three of them grinned when they saw me, seemingly glad that I was back in school. Chie spoke up first. "Are you feeling better now?" she asked.
"Yes, thanks to all of you," I replied, feeling much obliged. "I'd like to thank you once again for what happened."
"Don't mention it," Yosuke said, "But hey, your uniform..."
"Huh?" I looked down at my uniform. He must have been questioning the fact that I continued to wear the boys' uniform and still bound my chest, despite my true gender having been revealed to them. "Ah... Yes. After contemplating the matter, I went with what I've been wearing thus far. There's no need for you to-"
"Hey, it's the Detective Prince." Suddenly, my ear perked at the sound of a conversation I picked up from a group of students walking past us. The topic struck my interest, as they had mentioned my public title, so I decided to listen in.
"That's no Prince. I heard "he's" a she!" My heart dropped when I heard this. So, this is how they reacted. The cat was out of the bag, and I had no chance of stopping it.
"Huh!?" said the first student, "Y-You serious!? If he's a she, then uh... O-Oh crap!"
"Aww..." said a girl with short hair, "I'm kinda disappointed, but then again, there's something neat about it..."
"Yeah..." another girl joined in, "If you look at it in a certain way, doesn't she seem pretty cool?"
Cool? My heart raised a little, but I smirked in disbelief. How could cross dressing make me look any degree "cool?" Still, the fact that they seemed to take an interested liking to my secret made me feel honored, yet also embarrassed. I didn't care what the other students thought of me, but at least they weren't saying anything hurtful. However, even so, I felt a slight sense of depression now that people knew.
"My, my..." I sighed, "Rumors spread so quickly."
"We're on your side," said Yu.
When he spoke, it brought a bit of a blush to my face. Were they really on my side? This was definitely a first. "Th-Thank you..." Ugh, come now, what was that? I tried to shake the nervous feeling out of my core and bring back my usual sophisticated way of dealing with things. "But it doesn't bother me at all. There's no need to worry on my behalf. So please treat me as you did before." It really didn't bother me... There was no sense in worrying what others thought or said. Besides, I was used to being gossiped about behind my back... I decided to change the subject. "That aside, I'd like to discuss the case with you all. We're dealing with a kidnap-and-murder case perpetrated by someone lurking in this very town. And it isn't over yet..." It was almost time for school to begin. If we were going to discuss the case, our best bet was to meet up somewhere afterwards. "Let's go over the finer points after school."
The three of them nodded. "We can tell the others to join us, if you want," Yu said.
I nodded in agreement. "That would be preferable."
"Great," Chie squeaked, "Meet us all at Junes right after school, then."
"Understood," I said before turning around and walking back into the school.
It was fairly easy for me to catch up to the material we were now going over in my classes. I caught on rather quickly, which surprised most of my teachers. However, I still had a lot of work I needed to make up for the time I missed. I could have easily completed it over the next few days, though. One thing I noted, however, was the fact that the teachers seemed a bit uneasy around me. It seemed that they were unsure of how to register the fact that I was female, rather than male as they had previously thought. The male teachers also seemed intent to go easier on me, while the females tended to be a bit more firm with me. The students, on the other hand, seemed to avoid me at all costs, at first. Why was this...? It was as if I had been infected with some kind of contagious disease. Well, at least this was better than being suffocated by crowds of swooning fangirls and constantly being asked out by them. Still... I couldn't help but feel I was being talked about wherever I went, which most definitely was the case.
Soon lunchtime came, and I prepared myself for another lonely lunch break. However, when I left my classroom, Rise-chan approached me with a cheerful smile.
"Hello, Naoto-kun!" she piped up. "Oh, or would you rather have me call you Naoto-chan?"
I looked downward. "Whichever comes most comfortably to you."
"Oh," Rise said, "Alright, then. I'll just stick with '-kun' for now. It's what I'm used to."
I nodded, grinning. "Do you want to come have lunch with us?" Rise asked.
I looked back up at her. "Really? Are you sure?" I was more than surprised.
"Yeah!" Rise beamed. She seemed to be in a cheery mood. "Me, Kanji and Yosuke are meeting in Yu-senpai's homeroom."
"W-Well," I said, looking back down, "I apologize, but I haven't even brought lunch today. I got sick a few days ago and I've had a slight loss of appetite ever since then."
"Aw, that's fine," Rise said, "Kanji brought a huge platter of sushi. You don't have to eat if you don't want, but we're going to have plenty to go around."
I sighed to myself, feeling nervous. I felt like I would have done anything to avoid the awkwardness of dining with them, especially after what happened on Tatsumi Port Island, but I could feel my stomach tightening up with a slight twinge of hunger. I regretted not bringing anything to eat. "Alright," I nodded, "I'll go with you guys."
"Great!" Rise cheered, suddenly taking me by the hand. Before I could say anything, she ran down the hallway, and I stumbled as she dragged me along.
"H-Hey!" I protested, "I apologize for speaking out like this, but isn't this a bit unnecessary!? Rise-san- Rise-san, please let go of my hand!" She stopped abruptly at the top of the stairs on the second floor, and I stumbled forward, nearly falling over. Panting, I looked up at her, wide-eyed and shocked. "Was that... Was that really required...?"
Rise giggled. "No, silly, but where's your sense of fun?"
I wrinkled my nose, my eyes still wide in confusion. "Fun?" Before I could say anything else, she grabbed my hand again and pulled me into classroom 2-2. I looked around, slightly dazed, and then stood upright and fixed my hat when I felt the students' eyes fall upon me. "Uh... Hello, everyone..."
"Naoto-kun!" Yosuke winked from where he sat at his desk. "I'm glad you decided to come."
"Yeah," Kanji said quietly, "Uh... Hey there, Naoto." He quickly looked away, and proceeded to punch Yosuke after he nudged him in the side.
Rise giggled again as she approached the two boys and sat down at one of the desks in front of them. "Don't be shy, Naoto-kun, come sit with us!"
"Right," I said as I sat down at the desk next to her, turning around to face the others. I noticed that two other students were in the room, as well as the teacher. Kou Ichijo and Daisuke Nagase were standing in front of the teacher's desk, talking to a rather busty middle-aged woman with smooth, light brown hair. It was Ms. Kashiwagi. All three of them looked back at me, and as I feared, Kou and Daisuke's faces fell when they saw me.
I felt like I wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there for a month.
"Oh, hey there, miss Naoto," Kashiwagi said suavely, "We were just talking about you."
Scratch that- Make that my entire life. I noticed that I was just barely peering out of the top of the houndstooth-patterned collar on my uniform, and my hat was covering my head just an inch from the collar. My face was bright red.
"H-hey," Daisuke waved, "About the school trip..."
"Just forget about it," Kou said, "We don't blame you for getting grouped with us. It's not a big deal. I mean... At least we didn't change in front of each other or anything-"
"Thank GOD," Daisuke blurted out.
"Shut up!" Kou whispered.
"I'm sorry, man!" Daisuke whispered back, "I'm still in shock... Ow!" Kou had elbowed him sharply in the arm.
"Anyway," Kou said, scratching the back of his head and grinning, "Just wanted you to know that everything's alright! It's not your fault or anything."
"Th-Thank you," I said quietly.
"What's this about?" Yosuke asked.
I sighed. "Do you remember the skanky hotel we stayed at during the school trip? Well... I had to room with those two."
"Seriously?" Rise whispered, "That must've been awkward!"
"It was," I said softly, "Very much so..."
"Detective Prince," Kashiwagi said as she walked over to me, "Very ironic, don't you think? You know... Since you're not even a 'prince' to begin with?"
I lowered the brim of my hat, covering up my face.
"I have to admit," she continued, smirking in the smug way she usually did, "I had a bit of an interest in you, when you first showed up here. Must be exciting, being a prodigy ace detective at such a young age. You sure gave us teachers a thrill, I can tell you that. And do you know what else? A lot of them are actually still very interested in you. They're always talking about how great of a student you are, and how you've given light to Yasogami over the time that you've been here. They. Listen here, Missy, the other teachers are easy to fool, but I've seen your type lots of times before, and I know just how to deal with them. I'm not saying you are, but if you're thinking of schmoozing the other teachers into giving you better grades and better recommendations, it's not going to work."
I looked up at her, dumbfounded. "I apologize... But I can honestly say that I have no idea what you are getting at."
She sneered down at me. "Oh, I think you know exactly what I'm getting at." With that, she turned and left the room.
I watched as she closed the door behind her, and then looked back to the others with a confused expression. "What just happened?"
"You learn to live with her after a while," Yosuke said, sounding bored. "That's Kashiwagi for you."
"Oh my god!" Rise squealed, "I can't believe a teacher would say something like that to a student! I'm still in shock!"
"She does that a lot," Yosuke said, "When I said she's even worse than King Moron, I wasn't kidding."
"You have some very strange teachers at this school," I said, half laughing to myself in disbelief.
Rise giggled. "Yeah, some of them can be pretty weird, but most of them are still lovable. Trust me, though, I've come across even weirder people in my career."
"As have I," I said, smiling, "Though I must admit I've never seen a teacher with such envy for a student."
Rise and Yosuke laughed, but Kanji was silent. Yosuke seemed to have noticed this. "Hey, Kanji, you've been pretty quiet. Something up?
"What?" Kanji said, sounding distracted, "Oh, uh, no. Just tired is all. Man, I couldn't sleep last night."
"You haven't been able to sleep for a week," Yosuke observed. "Dude, you sure nothing's bugging you?"
"I'm sure, damn it," Kanji growled.
"Okay, okay," Yosuke laughed. "Wow, you're pretty irritable when you're tired."
Kanji grunted. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sleep better tonight."
"Why?" Rise asked.
"Oh," Kanji said, seeming flustered, "Uh... Well... I guess just because of something that's reassured me lately..."
"Reassured you?" Yosuke said, suddenly nudging him, "Like what?"
"Just something I've been thinking about lately, now shut the hell up!" Kanji's head was on the desk, running his fingers through his short, bleached hair. "Why do I gotta tell you everything all the time!? Eat your damn sushi."
I had almost forgotten about the sushi platter that was laid out in front of us on Yosuke's desk. I looked down at it, drooling at the sight. I hadn't had a hearty meal since the night before I got sick. There were all kinds of sushi: Salmon, tuna, yellowtail, halibut, shrimp, octopus, crab, egg, fish egg, fatty tuna, eel... UGH! I couldn't decide which one I wanted first! I was starving, and I supposed that perhaps my digestion was finally regulating. After Rise took the first piece of sushi, I took a pair of chopsticks from beside the platter, split them apart, and reached for a piece of tuna to start off simple. The second the sticky rice touched my tongue, shivers were sent down my spine as my mouth filled with flavor. I placed the entire thing in my mouth, chewing slowly to savor the delicate fish. I didn't remember the last time I ate sushi, but it was definitely at least before I was kidnapped. Looking back on it, the time before I was kidnapped seemed like forever ago.
"Aren't you going to have any, senpai?" Rise asked Yosuke.
He looked up at her from his phone, which he had been sending a text with. "Hmm? Oh, no. I hate fish. I can barely look at the stuff." His face contorted in disgust.
Rise looked at him in surprise. "You hate fish!? But how can you not like fish!? You live in Japan, for God's sake!"
"Just look at that stuff!" Yosuke said, motioning to the elegant slices of fish laid out on clumps of sticky white rice, "It's all slimy and sick and just completely repulsive! How can you like that stuff? Ugh, I even hate living fish. They just creep me out so much."
"Well, your loss," Rise said, stuffing another piece of sushi into her mouth. I picked up another as well, and decided to strike up a conversation and discuss some things in the time that we had. I searched for a topic I felt I should know more about.
"If you don't mind me asking," I said, "I wanted to know a little more about... Teddie, was it?"
The others nodded.
"Well, first of all... Why does he always go around wearing that bear costume of his?"
"Well, that's Teddie for you," Yosuke said. "No, I mean literally, that is Teddie. You might thing that the bear is the costume, but it's actually the opposite way around." He leaned in closer to me and spoke quietly. "When Yu, Chie and I first met him in the TV world, that's what he looked like. In fact, he was just a completely empty animated bear suit for the longest time. Then, he faced himself like the rest of us did, and got a Persona. After that, he grew a freaking human inside of him!"
I was about to put another piece of sushi into my mouth, but I paused and looked at him when I heard him say this. "Excuse me?"
"Yeah!" Rise said, "The human version of him that you saw the night of the school trip isn't even the real him! Well, I guess it is the real him, but... You know what I mean!"
"It is just an alternate appearance," I said, "I understand." I placed the sushi in my mouth.
Rise nodded, and then Yosuke continued. "Anyway, Teddie tries to act all cutsie and adorable, but he's really a bear-y huge pain in the ass."
"You're starting to sound like him yourself, senpai," Rise giggled.
"He's from the TV world, but he lives with me for now," Yosuke said. "We're... Not exactly sure just what he is. Neither is he. And that's what he had to face when his shadow confronted him. You see... He doesn't know anything about himself. He doesn't know where he comes from or what his purpose is, or even what he is. For a long time he just felt empty and useless. That's why he stood up to his shadow and tried his best to join us in fighting shadows." He looked down, smiling weakly. "It must really suck for him, you know?"
"Hm?" I said, "What do you mean?"
"Trying to find out who he is," Yosuke said. "Every one of us has to go through it at some point, but he literally has no idea at all, and from the position we're in, we've got no way to find out."
These words rang in my ears. I rested my right hand, which held the chopsticks, on Yosuke's desk, and looked down at the platter of sushi. Sighing, I realized that I could sympathize with this. "In that case, I think I understand him one hundred percent. It's never easy to find out who you are and what role you are destined to play in society. It must be even harder for him, considering that he isn't even from this society."
Yosuke nodded. "I have to admit, I feel bad for that stupid bear."
"You know what, though?" Kanji said, "Ted's a real trooper. He may seem all oblivious and defenseless, but he's got a real strong heart."
"Yeah," Rise said, grinning, "He's always putting up with everything that's thrown at him, and I think he's the most optimistic out of all of us."
"Yeah, he's definitely strong in heart," Yosuke sighed, grinning. "Being able to stay as cheerful as ever while pursuing his true self. It takes a lot to have that much hope."
I stared downward, thinking about these words. They really hit home for me, and made me feel as if I myself were weak. After all, I had been completely dependent on their arrival in that strange world... The "TV world" as they had called it? Now that I thought about it, I almost remembered foggy visions of passing through the screen of an old retro TV after being carried from the secret laboratory... That world was apparently located within a TV. It made sense, seeing as the perpetrator was going after people who had recently been shown on television. Normally, I would have thought this idea absurd, but considering what I had gone through in the past few weeks, I had no reason not to believe it.
Anyway, I had been dependent on the others to rescue me, and neglected to think about what could have happened if they did not come for me. I definitely wouldn't have been able to face my Shadow on my own. It would have killed me before I could say another word. I sunk back in my chair as I thought of this. I wasn't nearly as strong at heart as Teddie was. In fact, I felt rather weak in comparison.