Later on in the same day, I decided to go over the case once again in my head. Of course, I thought frequently about this particular case every day… It was my duty as a detective to always be thinking about it. That way, I might be able to come up with new theories and deductions every now and then depending on what point of view I analyzed it from. Therefore, as I did almost every day, I reclined in my desk chair, going through the countless papers in numerous folders which I had laid out across my desk.

So far, there had been three victims that were murdered: Mayumi Yamano, Saki Konishi and Kinshiro Morooka… Though Morooka's murder was simply a copycat killing by Mitsuo Kubo, and was therefore irrelevant to the original serial murder case. Along with the murders, there had been four kidnappings-attempted murders that Yu-senpai and the others had managed to stop-Yukiko Amagi, Kanji Tatsumi, Rise Kujikawa, and now, myself, Naoto Shirogane. I had discovered that the killer was using a supernatural world located inside of television sets, where a mirror image of one's self composed of suppressed thoughts and emotions existed, as a means of his victims' murder. Far-fetched as it may have seemed, I experienced it for myself, and I now knew for sure that this TV world existed. The kidnappings all happened after the victim was shown on television, and the surefire sign that they would be targeted was when their images would appear on the Midnight Channel. When I was kidnapped, it happened quickly, and I did not see my captor's face before I was stuffed into a bag. He tried to use some sort of chemical to incapacitate me, but I had managed to avert myself to it enough as to remember being thrown into the TV, which was not long at all after I was captured. The culprit must have had a TV nearby, somehow… But how could that have been…?

I was so lost in thought that I jumped when my phone suddenly began to ring. Hastily, I answered before even looking at the number on the screen. "Detective Naoto Shirogane speaking," I said in the case that I was being called for work-related issues.

"Hey, Naoto-kun!" It was Yosuke's voice. "I was wondering if you had any plans for today."

"Plans…?" I realized that I did not have anything in particular planned for this afternoon. "No, I do not. Why do you ask?"

I began to hear another voice from Yosuke's line. "Yosuke, let me talk! I wanna talk to Nao-chan! Gimme the phone! Please!"

"Well," Yosuke-kun said, ignoring him, "Do you wanna go hang out at the shopping district for a little while?"

The request took me by surprise, and I was confused as to why he would want to go with me. Still, I thought it might be nice to spend some time outside for a bit. Through Teddie's desperate pleas, I accepted the offer. "I suppose I could stop by for a few minutes."

"Great!" said Yosuke, "I'll head down now! See you there!" He hung up in a hurry. Something about his tone made me curious. It was probably just due to the fact that Teddie-san was annoying him. Shrugging it off, I organized my documents on the case and began to head out.

I was waiting for a few minutes in front of Souzai Daigaku before I saw Yosuke-san hurrying over, followed by Teddie, in his human form. When he approached me, he scratched the back of his head in an apologetic manner. "Uh… Sorry for calling you out here on such short notice…"

"Nao-chan!" Teddie suddenly lunged forward and wrapped his arms around me before I could pull away. I tensed up, not sure how to react to the hug. It felt extremely awkward.

"Er… Hello, Teddie-san," I said.

Yosuke kept looking around in a paranoid fashion before whispering to me in a hushed tone: "You see, this one here sort of broke my mom's favorite china display." He was speaking in a somewhat harsh, reproachful tone as he nudged Teddie sharply in the side with his elbow. "So… We sort of decided to get out of the house before she found out. Heheh… Maybe if we're lucky, she'll think my dad did it…" He wore a look of pain on his face. "Yu, Chie and Rise-san were all busy, so I decided to ask you. We haven't really gotten a chance to hang out yet, anyway. So I thought it might be good to try it now. Whaddaya say?"

"Yes, w-well…" I was still being crushed by Teddie's arms. "Th-that may prove to be enjoyable…"

Yosuke-san seemed to sense my discomfort, and quickly began to pull Teddie off me. "Alright, that's enough, Ted. You don't wanna strangle her."

Teddie finally let go. "So, what are we gonna do?"

"Well," said Yosuke, "Since we're already here at Souzai Daigaku, how 'bout we order some steak skewers?"

"Whooo!" Teddie cheered, throwing his hands into the air, "I love steak!"

"You love anything you can eat, dude," Yosuke chuckled, "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we took an X-ray and found stuff like coins and game pieces in your stomach. Well, if X-rays would even work on you. How about you, Naoto-kun? You want anything?"

"A coffee would be plenty," I said.

Yosuke looked perplexed. "You sure? I can get you a few steak skewers or something if you want."

"I'm fine with just a coffee," I said shyly. "Really, you don't have to get me anything else. Oh, and I usually drink it black."

"Suit yourself, then," Yosuke shrugged. "I'll be right back, then."

While Yosuke-san went off to order, Teddie sat in the chair across from me. "So, Nao-chan, what has a lovely lady like you been doing lately?"

"W-well," I said, blushing at his comment, "I have been going over the case quite frequently. We haven't been getting much rain or fog as of late, but we still should not let our guard down…"

"Ooh, that sounds nice," said Teddie, "I've been having fun with Yosuke, and Sensei, and Chie-chan and Rise-chan and Yuki-chan…" he was counting off the names on his fingers. "I'm having a lot of fun in this world! Especially with such beautiful girls!"

I chuckled nervously. "I-I'm glad you're having fun…"

Yosuke returned not much later with a plate full of steak skewers, two melon sodas and a small coffee. "Yo, I'm back." He placed the plate on the table, handed one of the sodas to Teddie and placed my coffee in front of me on the table. Teddie immediately began to ravenously devour the steak as if he had not eaten in days.

I thanked Yosuke-san before picking up the small styrofoam cup and taking a hearty swig of the hot, bitter liquid.

Yosuke was watching me with a concerned expression. "Are you sure you don't want any cream or sugar or anything…?"

"Hm?" I said before swallowing another mouthful of coffee, "Oh, no, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Dude," Yosuke-san said, beginning to gnaw on one of the steak skewers, "You look totally disgusted."

I didn't notice that I had been grimacing yet again at the bitter taste. I sighed. "I assure you, I am fine… Oh." I reached into one of my pockets and pulled out my wallet, taking out a few hundred yen. "I should pay you back, by the way." I handed him the money, but he refused to take it.

"Nah, it's fine," Yosuke said, "It was just a few hundred yen. Don't worry about it."

"I insist," I said, beginning to blush again, "Please, I don't want you to have to pay for me."

Yosuke pushed my hand back. "Dude, you really have a tin ear for other people's feelings, don't you?"

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "A tin ear, you say? I have never heard the expression used in that way before."

"Yeah," Yosuke-san said, "Uh… How do I put it? It's like you can't distinguish other people's feelings from your own sometimes."

I smiled. "Perhaps you are right about that."

He continued to push back my hand. "But seriously, you don't need to pay me back. I've got you covered. It's what friends do for each other."

After hesitating, I nodded once. "I-if you insist…"

"So," Yosuke-san said in a sly voice, "If I can change the subject, are you thinking of entering the beauty pageant at the Culture Festival?"

"B-beauty pageant!?" I stuttered, "N-no, I apologize, but, that is one thing I would never think of doing."

"Awww," said a disappointed-looking Teddie, "But Yosuke's been telling me all about it, and I was looking forward to seeing you all pretty on the stage!"

"Shut up, bear!" Yosuke nudged Teddie sharply again before turning back to me. "Come on, Naoto-kun, you gotta loosen up a little! It'd be nice to see you up on stage, wearing some cute clothes… Maybe a sexy little mini-dress..." He was grinning excitedly.

I tightened up immensely. "I should warn you, I do have a gun license!"

The two of them seized up. "Okay," Yosuke said, "Alright, I'll drop it!"

"Good," I said, "I would feel much better if you did."

"Yosuke!" A harsh, feminine voice suddenly made Yosuke-san jump. It didn't take long before I realized what it was.

"Y-yes, mom?" Yosuke said in a panicked tone as his mother approached us. She was a portly woman with long, caramel-colored hair about the same shade as that of her son, and she was fuming. I lowered the brim of my hat and brought the coffee cup close to my mouth.

"Hi, Mrs. Hanamura!" Teddie said jovially.

"Yosuke, what is this!?" She showed him a small white fragment of what I assumed to be china.

"It's… Um…"

"Come home with me now," said Hanamura-san, "NOW."

"Yes, ma'am," Yosuke-san said, defeated, as his mother began to walk away. "I-I'm sorry, Naoto-kun. I'll see you tomorrow at school!"

"YOSUKE!"

"C-coming!"

"Bye, Nao-chan!" Teddie waved as he followed after the other two.

"Huh," I said to myself as they all walked away, "So, that is Yosuke-san's mother. She seems like a sensible woman." I continued drinking the coffee, a small twinge of nausea stinging at the base of my throat.

The next day was October 22nd, and when I attended homeroom, for some reason, an excited murmur was reverberating around the room. Instead of my homeroom teacher standing at the head of the classroom, two students were conversing quietly to each other as they stood. These students were well known in this classroom as the class representatives.

The female class rep spoke up first. "Alright, everyone, quiet down." The students gradually became quieter and listened to what she had to say. "As you all know, the Culture Festival is coming up in a few days. We've gotten a few ideas about what kind of exhibit our class should do, but we still have yet to officially choose something."

"So far," said the male class rep, "The decision seems to be between School Store, Dance Club and Art Gallery. Before we decide between those two, does anyone have any other last-minute suggestions as to what we should do?"

"Yes, you?" the female class rep pointed to a girl a few desks behind and to the left of me who had her hand raised.

"I think that we should do something about detectives," the girl said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. I froze stiff in my seat.

"...Detectives?" the male class rep repeated.

"Yeah," the girl confirmed. I could feel her staring at me, and when I looked back at her, my senses proved to be correct. "We do have the Detective Prince in our class, don't we? Maybe we could use that to our advantage. You know, have Naoto-kun sign autographs or something?"

My face went bright red, and I pulled down the brim of my hat. "P-please stop. If I may have any input, I would prefer not to put myself on the spot like that. B-besides, I am only a normal student at this school…"

"Normal student?" the girl practically laughed, "You're kidding, right? Everyone loves you! If we based our exhibit on you, we could be the most popular class at the festival! Well… Unless of course Risette did the same thing in her class."

I nervously shook my head. "I-I apologize, but… I am going to have to refuse."

"Well," said the female class rep, "If Naoto-kun refuses, we won't demand anything of her. Plus, I think everyone's already pumped to do a Dance Club, right?"

The class responded with an excited cheer, except for the girl, who crossed her arms and pouted.

"I guess that's that, then," said the male class rep with a grin, "Looks like everyone wants to do a Dance Club." He marked it up in huge letters on the chalkboard.

I sank back in my chair in relief.

Thoughts about the events that transpired in homeroom lingered in my mind throughout the school day, even until after the dismissal bell rang. It really was pitiful how so many students claimed to admire me, and even to "love" me, when they barely even knew a thing about me. I thought long and hard about this as I stood in the first-year hallway, seeming to lose all sense of time. I simply stared into space with a hand on my hip, thinking about how all anyone really seemed to care about was my place as a detective. I realized that no one had ever really bothered to try and get to know me personally. No one ever asked me about my life, or my thoughts on things, or anything of the like. I thought about the Investigation Team. What if I was not a detective? What if the only reason for their wanting me around was the fact that I could be of use to them? Part of me did not want to think this way about them, but part of me could not stop thinking this. A heavy feeling filled my chest, and I wished in a brief moment that someone could see me as more than just a detective. I wished, almost subconsciously, that someone, anyone, would put in the effort to get to know me personally.

"Naoto."

I nearly jumped when a deep, androgynous voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Yu-senpai's silvery eyes looking down at me.

"Oh, Yu-san…" I was not particularly in the mood to talk to him, but I felt I at least owed him some gratitude for saving my life. "Um… Th-thank you for saving me. Er… I apologize, but I have something I want to think about…"

He quickly reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small, white, business-size card. "Here."

"What's this…?" I took the card from him and looked it over. It was completely blank.

Yu shrugged. "There was a man in the shopping district a few days ago who gave it to me. He told me to give it to you. He said you'd understand."

"He said I'd understand? What's that supposed to mean…?" I looked down at the small card, trying to find some sort of text or anything at all, but there was nothing at all to decorate it. I became very confused. I wished to discuss this with Yu-senpai, but at the same time, I did not want to pull him out of his way for something he had no reason to become involved in. Also-please forgive me, but-I felt rather shy, especially after what I had been thinking about. Still… I smelled a case behind this mysterious card, and I could not take it lightly until I knew more about it. It may have even been work-related. "Excuse me…" I said, "But could you please accompany me for a brief period…? I'd like to hear more about what transpired when you were given this card. Please, it won't take long."

Yu nodded. "Okay."

It was raining outside, but we walked together to Samegawa to discuss the situation. We sat across from each other at the picnic table in the rest area, and I studied the strange card closely after placing it between us on the table. "I apologize," I said to him, "I wanted to talk someplace quiet… What sort of person gave this to you?"

"A man who knew I knew you," Yu said.

This information made me tense up slightly. "Which means… it's possible that he's been snooping around, gathering information on you or me… Or even the case. The man must also know you as well. He wouldn't have entrusted the delivery to anyone he didn't know…

But this is a small town… He could easily have looked up my address. Why go to the trouble of giving the letter to you…? Intriguing." I thought to myself. There were so many questions I wished to know the answers to. "Is he involved with this case? Or another case altogether…? If it's me he's after, he could be anyone." I saw him look down uneasily at the card, seeming to be almost as curious as I was. However, I did not want him to go out of his way like this, and even more importantly, I could not risk pulling him into potential danger. "Oh, I'll keep the card. The man is most likely still here in Inaba. I cannot drag you further into this."

"I can't back out now," he insisted, sounding concerned.

"Huh…?" I was very surprised by his reaction. I honestly did not expect him to be willing to help. "Err, well… It's good to know you're worried about me, but…" Even so, I did not want to drag him into this. He must have had enough to look after lately anyway. I remembered the conversation I had had with Yosuke the previous day. "I'm sorry, I seem to have a tin ear for other people's feelings. Yosuke-san told me so before. I'll look into this card and report my findings to you. So… Don't worry about me. As our leader, I know that you have a lot on your shoulders, so…"

Yu-senpai seemed as if he understood. Although he seemed slightly distracted by thoughts in his own mind, he nodded in agreement.

"While we are here, why don't we chat a little?" I said, feeling slightly more relaxed about what I had been thinking about earlier, "Ah yes, there was something I wanted to ask you… What do you know about the Midnight Channel?"

"Well," said Yu, "You already know that when people show up on the Midnight Channel, that means that they're going to be kidnapped. We don't exactly know how it works, but we've learned from Teddie that it's caused by the feelings of the victims. They resonate from that side, and are somehow picked up by the TV's over here."

"I see…" I thought deeply about it, and then began to feel nervous about one aspect. "I-in that case, may I ask what appeared when I was on it…?"

Yu-senpai thought to himself, and then awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Well, it definitely wasn't as bad as the others'."

"...What do you mean?"

"Well," he said, "The first night you were on the Midnight Channel, it was just a fuzzy image. That's before you got kidnapped. But then, after you got thrown in, the image was clearer. It showed your shadow, who was talking about surgery and some kind of 'genome project.' She said that she wanted to create a new life for herself… Er… For you."

"By changing me into a male, correct…?" I said.

Yu hesitated before nodding. "Yeah. But as I said, it wasn't as bad as some of the others'..."

I chuckled jokingly. "Well, none of it could have been that bad, right? I'm not going to assume that any of it was, per se, borderline por-"

He began to feverishly nod his head, eyes wide.

"...Oh." I decided not to bring up that subject anymore. Somehow, though, I found myself chuckling.

He also began to laugh. "So, yeah, yours wasn't that bad compared to some."

I nodded. "Okay. That is good to hear, I suppose." I took out my phone and looked at the time. "Oh," I said, "I should probably be heading home about now. My grandfather will be getting worried."

"Okay," Yu nodded.

We both stood up, and I took the small white card, placing it in my pocket. "I will see you Monday, then," I said while tipping my hat to him.

"See you," Yu-senpai said before turning and setting off toward his uncle's house. As I set off toward my own house, I remembered what I had been thinking about earlier. Somehow, I wasn't worrying about it as much as I had been.