A tingly feeling comes over my body as I sink farther into the strange, white vortex. By instinct, my eyes snap shut, preparing myself for whatever we may find at the end of this mess. Surrounded by the sound of my two new friends, I for some reason do not find myself screaming at all. Instead I just stiffen up and hope the end will come soon.
After what felt like hours but was most likely less than thirty seconds, a new, somewhat stranger air floated around me. I open my eyes only to close them right away as I feel the impact of the solid ground on my back. Two painful outburst from the others later, I reopen my eyes to see nothing but yellow and fog. Allowing my eyes to adjust, I stand up hoping to see more. While Chie and Yosuke both exchange confuses banter, I realize that this place looks similar to the likes of the TV studio. There are multiple sets of stairs and even more stage lights. What is this place?
"So… uh… we're still alive… Right?" Chie asks the two of us.
"I would guess so." I say while glancing around. My gaze returns to them "Are you both okay?"
"I think my butt's cracked now…" Yosuke responds, making me hope he's kidding.
"Of course it is!" Chie exclaims.
"I do believe that it is meant to be that way." I add. Yosuke ignores us and looks around.
"Whoa, what is this place," he says in amazement by his surroundings.
"Is this… a studio?" Chie asks.
"That was my first thought as well, but I doubt there is any place like this anywhere near the perimeter of Inaba." Is this supposed to be some kind of new world inside the television? That would be the only possible explanation as to why we are all here.
"Man, this place his huge!" Yosuke scans the area again.
"What are we gonna do..?" Chie asks the one question that never popped into my head but probable should have sooner. What can we do? Is there even an exit? If we fell from the sky…
"We need to look around." I order.
"Huh? B-But…" Chie sounds confused.
"I don't think there are any more options."
"No, we need to get home and—!" Chie and Yosuke look around once more. "Wait a minute… Where's the exit?"
"I don't think there is one. At least, not around here. We need to investigate."
"Yeah, you're right. We just need to find an exit," Yosuke agrees calmer now. "Let's calm down and think about this."
"Well put." I encourage. I'm not one to be the leader, so I'm fine with him being in charge.
"Is there really a way out of here?" Chie questioned.
"We got in, so we must be able to get out somehow," Yosuke reassures.
"That's true, but…"
"If there's no exit, we're trapped, so let's cross our fingers and look around."
"Agreed," I say as a signal that we should start moving. We all nod.
No more than 15 minutes later, we find ourselves on a catwalk leading to a red, spiral vortex. "What is that!?" Chie yells quite loudly, but not to the point of screaming.
"Do you guys think it might be an exit?" Yosuke asks excitedly.
"I don't think so?" I answer honestly. "Red is a tell-tale sign of bad." I think for a moment. "Even so, it's the only lead we have."
"Wait, you want us to go in THERE?" Chie's voice has grown louder.
"I don't think we've got much of a choice." Yosuke sounds defeated, but we continue onward. Seeing the others hesitate, I am the first to walk through the portal. The feeling that comes over me as I enter is surprisingly tense. Before I can even get a good look at the room I enter, the other two come in as well. I note instantly that the room reminds me of a room at some kind of fancy inn. Interesting.
"Hey, is it me or is the fog lighter here?" Yosuke points out. He certainly isn't wrong. It's quite a relief on my eyes.
"Can't you guys slow down? It's hard enough to see where you're going," Chie calls from behind. Turning around for the first time since entering, I see that this is most certainly not a normal inn room. The walls are covered in blood and some weird yellow paint. They are also covered in posters of some woman with the head cut out. "It's a dead end! There's no exit!" That's what you point out first?
"It's okay, I'm sure there's one somewhere." I reassure her. "Right now, my main concern is the large amount of dry blood covering the walls."
"Wow, it keeps getting creepier and creepier the further we go…" Yosuke adds while saying nothing useful. Suddenly, he makes a very unhuman sound. "Aargh! I can't hold it any longer! My bladder's gonna explode!" Oh, right, he still has to pee. Before neither Chie nor I could react, he runs to the other side of the room with his hands over his Crotch.
"Yosuke! What're you doing!?" Chie yells.
"I gotta let it out before I piss my pants!"
"Fine, just do it quickly," I respond.
"What!? No! He can't go here!" Chie's yells are now directed at me.
"I don't think he has a choice. It's fine."
"Turn around! I can't go if everyone's watching!" As I oblige his request, Chie refuses. Yosuke makes a defeated noise. "I can't do it! It's your fault if my bladder bursts!"
"Like I care…" Chie says with no sympathy whatsoever. This girl can be mean sometimes. I should make note of that.
"Now that that's over," I try to get things back on topic, "do either of you know anything about this room?"
"Nothing," Yosuke turns his attention to the one thing I hadn't noticed yet. A chair and noose. "Dude, this kind of arrangement is never good…"
"Interesting," I mumble. "Was someone planning to commit suicide here? If the noose is still tied securely and there's no body to be seen, I can assume it was never used. Based on all the blood, I don't think they made it that far."
"Wow, you sure are calm about this," Chie points out. "Well, you are a detective after all."
"Is the noose tied with a scarf?" Yosuke notes.
"It seems that way, yes."
"C'mon.. Let's look somewhere else for an exit. I don't think we should be in here." The green-clad girl makes a good point.
"Yes, we should go. I apologize, my curiosity got to the better of me." On our way out, Yosuke stops us all after getting a better look at one of the posters.
"Hey," He says. "I think I've seen that poster before." Thinking back, it does look kind of familiar.
"Who CARES!? Let's go!? I am sick of this place!" Her voice gets lower. "And I'm not felling so good…" Now that she mentions it, I am feeling slightly faint. I share this with them.
"Me too," the boy agrees. "Alright, let's go back." We all agree and continue forward back to where we started.
"Phew, we're back," Chie says out of breath. Looking off in one direction, I see her senses activate. "Wait… What's that?" I follow her gaze to a shadowy figure in the distance.
"There's something over there!" Yosuke screams. The mysterious creature starts moving towards us with a strange squeaking sound. Coming into full view, I identify it as, a strange bear costume? What is that!?
"What is this thing?" Chie asks surprisingly calmly.
"What in the world?" Yosuke is less calm.
"Th- That's what I wanna know! Who are you guys?" The mysterious bear ask in an unbearably high voice.
"It talked!" Chie screams with a gasp. "What are you!? You wanna fight!?"
"Chie-sempai, calm down. We don't need to fight." I say. We don't know what this bear thing can do.
"Wh-what she said. D-Don't yell at me." The creature cowers over in fear.
"We aren't going to hurt you, okay?" I speak in as calm of a tone as possible. "Now, please tell me. What is this place?"
"This place is what it is. It doesn't have a name. It's where I live."
"You… live here?" My male friend sounds surprised.
"If I was you guys, I'd hurry back to the other side. Some's been throwing people in here. It's a big headache." Throwing people in here!? Before I can ask him to elaborate, Yosuke beats me to it.
"Throwing people in? What're you talking about?"
"I don't know who's doing it, I just want them to stop." The bear stomps his feet.
"Hey, what's your problem? What gives YOU the right to yell at us like that!?"
"Chie-senpai, please!" Before I know it, the bear runs over to me, using me as a barrier between him and Chie. I don't really blame him.
"I already told you… Anyways, you should hurry back."
"What it comes down to is, you want us outta here, right?" Yosuke adds. "Well so do we! We just don't know how, dammit!"
"Yosuke-senpai, stop yelling!" This bear is already scared and we might need his cooperation. I turn my body to face the bear. "Can you find us a way to get out?"
"Of course!" The bear taps his foot on the ground three times. Subsequently, three small TV's appear in front of us.
"What the hell!?" I hear a Yosuke yell. We all move in front of the screens.
"Can we leave from here?" I ask.
"Yes, now go, go, get outta here! I'm a busy bear!" Before I can thank him, I feel him begin pushing us through the screens.
"Whoa!" I hear Chie yells as we reenter the white vortex. With a trip that feels somewhat shorter than the previous one, the air around me finally feels normal again as the Junes music fills my ears. Finally "Huh… Is this…" Chie mumbles
"Did we… make it back?" Yosuke follows up, sounding as if he's in shock.
"It would appear so," I answer. "It seems that bear transported us back to the television we used to enter."
"Well, I guess it's good we didn't end up in some person's home," he agrees.
As we all stand in unison, the overhead speakers turn on. "Attention shoppers. Our daily limited-time sale will now begin at the side dish area on the first floor. Why not try the delicious, fresh produce Junes picked for you this morning as your side dish for dinner tonight?" a female voice says.
"Crap, it's already that late!?" Yosuke commentates.
"Looks like we were in there for a while…" Chie agrees. Yosuke looks off to the side, causing his eyes to enlarge.
"Now I remember where I saw that poster before," he says. I follow his gaze.
"You're right, that is the same poster from in the room," I concur. "I don't recognize her by name, though."
"You don't!?" Chie sounds astonished. "That's Misuru Hiiragi, the famous enka ballad singer." She sounded as if it should have been common knowledge.
"Oh, right, the wife from that scandal. I apologize, but singers are not a topic I'm very knowledgeable on."
"Oh yeah, wasn't her husband having an affair with the announcer who died?" She seems to be making a connection.
"Does that mean that weird room we saw could be related to her death?" Yosuke points put.
"One could call it a possibility, but I wouldn't say for certain." I answer. I'll need to try to find out more about that world.
"Now that I think about it," he adds, "there was the creepy noose hanging from the ceiling…"
"True, but as I pointed out earlier, the noose couldn't have been used. If she really did die in there, it wasn't suicide."
"Uhrg, can you two stop talking about this!? It's starting to freak me out!" Chie interrupts. I turn to her.
"Right, my apologies. Anyway, we should all go to our homes. I am still feeling the effects of that world so I suspect you both do as well."
"Right, l-let's do that," Chie agrees. All of us in mutual agreement, we travel back to our houses to rest. Once I enter mine, I spot both Dojimas siting at the table with two things of ramen in front of them.
"Hey, welcome home," Dojima says after notice my presence. Despite not having a bowl for myself, I decide that it would be rude not to join them in sitting down. "Uh- Hmm… well, I doubt you'd know…" He seems flustered. "Have you heard anything about a student named Saki Konishi?" The sudden interrogation surprises me, but I answer calmly nevertheless.
"Yes, a new comrade of mine knows her. There are also rumors going around school that she is the student who discovered the body." The man in front of me sighs at my response.
"Yeah, that's true…" His voice trails off. "To be honest… we got a call from her family. She's disappeared." My eyes grow larger.
"She did!?" That would explain why she wasn't at school today. "Do you know anything else?"
"No, we haven't found any clues as to where she might be." His tone suddenly becomes rougher. "And why do you sound like you care so much?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude," I quickly defend myself. "I suppose it's just my detective instincts."
"No, I'm sorry. Guess I'm just a bit on edge to day."
"That's understandable." We both turn our attention to the news. It's still talking about the murder case. Nothing catches my interest until in mentions the Amagi Inn. Apparently Yamano had been staying their prior to her death.
"She had apparently been staying there alone. Perhaps she was taking a vacation to recover from her ordeal…?"
The reporter who interviewed Saki interrupts him. "Oh yes, the Amagi Inn! Their hot springs are first-rate." Just as off topic as before. "The manager's teenage daughter also works there, and it is rumored that she'll take over in the spring." Really? Well, that would explain why she hasn't been around Chie as that much. "If that happens, she'll be the youngest manager on record! I should book another trip there!"
"Uhh… I-I see... Moving along." The announcer continues his normal report.
"Is the ramen ready now?" Nanako's sudden voice makes me jump slightly. I almost forgot she was there.
"Give it some more time," Dojima responds. A sudden, completely unexpected sneeze escapes my mouth. "Are you sick? You're probably still adjusting to the environment." Or trying to get over a completely different one.
"You're probably right. I should be fine, though." He turns to Nanako.
"Could you get her some cold medicine?" Without a word, she gets up and rushes to the cabinet. "You should get to bed after you take it. With a simple nod in agreement, I follow Nanako, take the medicine, and go to my bed falling asleep the second my head touches the pillow.
Early the next morning, I wake up to the loud sound of many police cars roaring past the house. I race to the window and find three cars traveling quickly in the left direction. What's going on here? This type of arrangement in a quiet town such as this could never be a good thing. Dojima's probably either out there already or will be soon. If that's the case, he most likely wouldn't notice me leaving the house to investigate. With a mix of both my detective instincts and childish curiosity, I quietly leave my room and go out the front door.
Running down the street in the direction the police cars went, I notice the air get thicker and thicker around me. The more I run the harder it is for me to calm the tightening going on in my stomach. Something's certainly wrong here. Once the sound of sirens sounds as if they could burst my eardrum, I stop and hide myself in a place where I can see their activities. I couldn't see very much, but what I did see is complete chaos. What could have possibly happened to of caused this.
Once my eyes focus on what was above the sight, I see a small body hanging from above. I immediately look away on instinct. Even though I had done a good job of keeping quiet so far, I couldn't help but let a small gasp escape my mouth. The knot in my stomach got tighter. My eyes have trouble completely understanding what's going on. I shake my head violently. Come on, I'm a detective. I can't be thrown off by such things. I look a back in an attempt to discover who the victim is. With me only being in this town for a short time so far, I expected to have no idea who it was. Sadly, I was mistaken. I recognized her instantly.
Saki Konishi.
I don't know how or why, but the second my mind makes that connection, I'm out of the bush and running back to the house. Konishi. Why Konishi. Why did it have to be someone I know? Reaching the house again, I run back up to my room to think.
The thinking doesn't stop. It continues on my way to school. It continues during class. It continues when the principle announces her death to the school. It doesn't stop until I hear a depressed sigh from Yosuke. After that, I snap myself back into focus. He has it worse than me. I'm just in shock. His friend just died.
"Found dead?" Chie mumbles beside me. I didn't even know she was there. "How could this happen?" The principle continues to talk while I continue to ignore him. After, the assembly, Chie and I begin to walk out by ourselves, Yosuke not seeming to even notice us trying to get him to come along. In the hallway, both of us over hear two girls gossiping about Saki's death. I ignore it at first, but one line catches my attention.
"Oh, by the way, did you hear? Someone saw a girl that looked like Saki on that Midnight Channel thingy. They said she totally looked like she was in pain. Isn't that scary?" one of the girls says. OH, OF COURSE! She must have been who we all saw. Hmm, I wonder if there's a connection somewhere.
The girl's friend just laughs. "Sounds like someone had a nightmare," she teases. "The media's been broadcasting their interviews with her nonstop, so maybe they just had Saki on the brain."
As the two of them walk away, Chie turns to me. "Sheesh, it's easy to toss around theories if you're not personally involved."
"Very true," I agree. Footsteps soon come from behind me.
"Hey… Did you guys check out the TV last might?" Turning around, I see Yosuke looking incredibly depressed.
"Yosuke! Not you too!" Chie yells at him.
"Just listen for a sec, okay. Something felt off last night, so I watched it again. This time I'm certain it was Saki-senpai. There's no mistaking it…"
"What…?" Chie seems in shock.
"Now that all this started happening, I've started thinking. Saki-senpai died in a similar way to that announcer, right? We found a room in that other world that looked that it could have been linked to the announcer's death, so…" I decide to fill in the rest.
"You think that world and the murders are related, right?"
"Yeah," he mumbles. Even though it might not seem like it, I can tell Yosuke's hurting a lot inside. Maybe trying to find out why she was killed would help him recover.
"You guys know what, I just remembered something," Chie cuts in. "A few days ago, I overheard some guy being like 'My soulmate is Yamano, the announcer.'" Suddenly everything clicked into place.
"So in other words, if a person appears on the Midnight Channel, they will be the next victim," I share my theory.
"We can't say for sure, but something tells me I just can't dismiss it as coincidence." Yosuke seems to agree.
"Also, if we remember what that bear said, someone has apparently been throwing people into that world."
"So… the killer's using that place as a weapon?" Chie tries to conform where I'm going with this.
"Exactly." Still, what does this mean for us? If that world is a murder weapon, it obviously isn't safe.
"I was thinking," Yosuke takes over the conversation again. "If we look around in that place, we might find something that links to Senpai's death."
"Yosuke, don't tell me..." Chie seems to not like what is being said.
"Yeah, we need to go in again."
"No, we can't. We should just let the police handle this and-"
"You think we can rely on them!? The murder weapon is a TV, they can't solve that!" He has a good point. "Listen, I just need to know why she had to die like this."
"Yosuke…" Chie's voice suddenly turns understanding.
"Okay, I'm in," I say. If this will help solve the case and but Yosuke's mind at rest, I see no reason why not. "But if we are serious about doing this, we will need some sort of plan."
"I've already got that covered." I notice that Yosuke is a lot less tense now. "Meet me at Junes in thirty minutes." I next thing I know, he's out the door.
"YOSUKE, WAIT!" Chie runs after him. Leaving me all along, I decide to go back to the Dojima residence in order to prepare myself.
Author's note
Hey dudes. I know I said that I would include the beginnings of Yosuke's Shadow battle in this chapter, but I now realize that the Chapter would need to be FAR too long. It will most defiantly be in the next one, though. Until then, auf wiedersehen.