"Happy Halloween, Micheal." The woman known as Laurie to the Shape said as she ignited the flare. She tossed it down, and a fire would begin in the basment. The Shape didn't look to see. It could feel the flames heating up. It just looked up at Laurie and what reminded me of her 'family'. Such a foreign concept to the man who was once known as Michael Myers. The fire grew more intense as the women left the building. It was trapped. Like a caged animal.

This was the end. Or so it would seem as suddenly,an old abandoned house was suddenly lot ablaze,it seeming to have lasted for hours,dipite it only just begun. With a shape in its basement. Staring. The Shape began to walk out of the house. Firemen ignoring it. All too focused on thr task at hand. The Shape didn't kill them. Instead it walked and ignored them.

"Breaking news! An abandoned home in the Residential District has abruptly caught fire tonight, prompting several frantic phone calls from neighboring houses. Sightings report that nobody has lived in the building for months, and no suspicious activity has been reported in the area, despite how suddenly the fire started. Local firefighters recommend that anyone in the vicinity evacuate immediately and that the fire will be kept under control." Yu's fork clinked against the bowl as he set it down to focus on the television. Dojima leaned forward in his seat, watching intently as the camera panned over an image of the burning house.

"That's on the other side of the district, right?" Yu asked, looking back at Dojima.In reality, he knew full well that the house was on the other side. He'd heard plenty a ghost story about it since he got here, even rode past it once or twice. Still, some part of him wanted reassurance that he was thinking of the right building. Dojima sat up a bit straighter. "It is. We should be fine. Still..." Ryotaro trailed off, turning his attention to the staircase, "Go stay with Nanako, be ready to wake her up in case we need to move. I'll keep my eye out for updates."Yu nodded. He stood, climbing up the stairwell and tiptoeing his way into his cousin's room. She was still sleeping like a log. He smiled a little at the sight, then quietly sat down at her desk.

-Bzzt.-

He cringed, hoping the text noise wouldn't wake Nanako. He slipped the phone from his pocket, making sure to put it on silent before he checked his messages.

"Dude, did you see that?' Yosuke could smell the flames from his house and see the light in the distance. He knew for a fact that they were far enough away to be safe, but he couldn't deny the creeping sensation of dread. No house just lit up like that. Not without foul play. His phone buzzed, as Yu responded. "I did. Are you guys okay?'

'Ya man, we're fine. Had 2 talk Ted outta running off to check on the girls. You got texts from anyone else?'

He didn't respond right away, which Yosuke took to mean he was writing to someone else. His focus moved to Teddie, who was still leaning against the window, watching outside.

"Ted, I told you already, nobody you know lives out that way. Don't worry about it," he tried to calm, to which Teddie only hummed nervously.

"Well, what about everyone else? Lots of people live there!" The Shadow replied.

"Nothing we can do about it. We just gotta wait and see."

Finally, his phone buzzed again. He looked down.

'Yeah, I just got an essay from Rise.'

'And you're COMPLAINING about that?'

'Very funny.'

Yosuke chuckled to himself, leaning back in his seat.

'So, what'd Rise have to say?'

'Something like...'

'SENPAI!! u gotta turn on the tv rn!!! (ʘᗩʘ') theres like a fire in the resident district, u kno tht old abandoned place? u dont live near it right?? be safe senpai!!! xoxo'

Quite satisfied, Rise hit send. She didn't set down her phone, immediately moving back to contacts. She'd already managed to send texts to Chie and Yukiko, only one of which had been responded to. It seemed that they were together (thinking back on it, Rise recalled Chie mentioning a date night), and neither of them had seen the broadcast. If they were indeed on a date, then that made sense. Not a lot of places kept televisions running at all times, most instead preferring radios and whatever else.

She still had Yosuke, Naoto, and Kanji to text. Despite her differences with the beefhead, he was still a friend, and she wanted to know that he was alright, just like the others. Teddie didn't have a phone, but he was surely with Yosuke.

At random, she clicked on Naoto's number, and began typing.

Naoto had been aware of the fire from the moment it started. Even in her focused state of mind, she hadn't been able to ignore the smoke wafting through the air. It was so thick, she almost thought that she'd left the stove on, and something had set ablaze.

Rather, an abandoned house a few blocks away had caught fire. She didn't know how she had missed it before. The flames were tall and bright, as if the place had been burning for hours by the time that anybody had noticed.

After closing her windows, and turning on whatever ventilation she could to remove the mist (even if it meant freezing in the AC's wake, it was better than choking to death), she'd set to packing. If she indeed did need to evacuate, she wanted to be ready. She grabbed only essentials, and sentimental items.

She lingered on a photograph of her parents for a moment, realizing exactly how long it had been since she'd looked at it. Something like regret stabbed out from between the suspicion and vigilance. Shaking it off, she placed the frame into her suitcase, and covered it up with a shirt. It was in the middle of this that her phone rang.

She looked back, grabbing it off of the table. Not only had she missed a text from Rise *(*it looked long and rambling, which suited Kujikawa's personality*), but it appeared Kanji of all people was calling. She paused in confusion for a moment, before answering.

"Good evening," she greeted.

"H-Hey, Naoto! Rise couldn't get ahold of you."

He sounded relieved, to say the least. Why Rise had ever chosen to tell Kanji this, though, Naoto had no idea. Perhaps it had just slipped out in a message.

"Yes, I was packing essentials and missed it. I will be certain to respond to her as soon as possible," she replied.

"Yeah, yeah... Good. Good that you're safe."

"And you, Tatsumi-kun?"

"M-Me? Yeah, I'm- I'm good as ever! No stupid fire's gonna scare me that easy.*"

Naoto smiled, amused. She could almost see the look on Kanji's face, belligerent and stubborn, trying to act like he hadn't at all been concerned about the sudden announcements. The look slipped away from her face almost instantly, as she began zipping her bag up.

"Excellent. In that case, I should return to my preparations."

"Yeah, sure... Uh, you can always stop by if you gotta stay someplace, y'know."

"I appreciate the offer, Tatsumi-kun. Are you sure that your mother would be accepting of that arrangement?"

Kanji stumbled over his words, uncertain. Frankly, he hadn't considered any of that when he'd made the offer. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea, and not one that he'd actually run by anyone. He glanced towards his door, debating if he should go ask his mother or not, before deciding that she'd understand.

"Totally, she'd be happy to lend a hand. She's funny like that," he replied.

"Then... If it comes to it, I will take you up on that. Thank you."

"Well, sure, no problem-o. That's what friends are for!"

"I suppose you are correct. I will speak to you again soon, Tatsumi-kun."

Kanji returned the farewell, and hung up. He laid back on the bed, and sighed. He couldn't see or smell the fire from here, and now that he thought about it, Rise very well could have just been trying to get a reaction out of him. But it wouldn't be like Naoto to take part in a prank like that, he thought, so he definitely hadn't been made a fool of.

Just outside, a figure was shuffling down the street, no clear destination in mind. It wasn't a killer's prowl, by any means. Adachi simply didn't have the form for that. If it was a killer's anything, it was a 'Killer's-wife-kicked-him-out-of-the-house' walk. Both fortunately, and unfortunately, he had no wife to do that. But it was the best comparison that he could come up with in a nick of time.

Still, unlike a killer who'd been kicked of out the house, he had a target in mind. The copycat had been eyeing up some old teacher for a while, Adachi knew; and, frankly, he thought getting to the teacher first would show the kid who ran this town.

It was just as he was rounding the corner into the residential district, that his phone would come humming to life. Adachi cursed under his breath, and retrieved the phone from his pocket. Dojima-san. He sighed.

"Really, Dojima-san? I ain't even on the job, and you're still on my case..." he 'greeted', putting on his best tired voice.

"Now's not the time, Adachi. Where are you?"

Serious as ever.

"Home, where every sane person is at this hour. Why?" It was a bold-faced lie, but it wasn't like Dojima would ever learn that.

"Turn on your television. I want your thoughts."

And, almost immediately, Adachi found himself eating his words. He was quiet for a moment, trying to dig up some kind of cover story, before chuckling uncertainly.

"Yeah... About that, Dojima-san, I... I lied. I ain't actually at home, I was... Out at the bar?"

Dojima was silent for a few solid seconds. Adachi stopped in his tracks, bracing himself for the inevitable scolding that he was going to get.

"What did I tell you about drinking on work nights?"

"Hey, leave me alone, I'm off duty!"

Dojima sighed. Adachi rolled his eyes at the noise. He didn't understand why that man tried so hard. It wasn't like anything he accomplished would ever amount to anything, anyways.

"The abandoned Sawao residence is burning. You know the building I'm talking about?"

"Oh, that eyesore? What a shame."

"Cut the sarcasm. The point is, the place looks like it's been burning for hours. Houses don't go up that fast, not without someone else setting it up. Are you following?"

"... I think so. What, you think this killer set an abandoned building on fire?"

"Not necessarily, but I think that somebody did. I was going to ask you to keep an eye on it in case I had to get my family out, but considering that you're probably blackout drunk, I think you should just get home."

Adachi giggled gleefully. "So no work for me?"

"Not for now."

"You're the best, Dojima-san, anyone ever tell you that?"

"Shut up, Adachi. I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Nighty-night, boss."

The phone clicked, as Dojima hung up. Adachi tossed the phone back into his pocket, laughing to himself. He still had to take care of that teacher, but maybe he'd check out the crispy remains of that house, when the firemen were done with it. It sounded like a sight to behold.