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Persona 4 is owned by Atlus
Bloodborne is owned by FromSoftware
"Guest... Destiny... fortune telling..."
"Tower... Catastrophe... Moon... Mystery..."
"Destiny... Disaster... Survive..."
Myre took a deep breath as he woke up, eyes nearly shooting open. He was breathing heavily and he looked around. Still... still in Dojima's home. He sighed, laying in bed for a moment before getting ready for school. He'd hoped last night was the last, but the universe seemed to want to toss a few more oddities his way. On his way towards the school he saw a boy pass by him on a bicycle... and almost immediately crash into a trash bin.
The boy rolled about with his upper half in the bin, giving a pathetic call for help, and Myre sighed as he went up to them, "Hold on..." He tugged the boy out of the bin, setting both him and the bin upright. He helped the boy brush off some trash still stuck on him, and he smiled at Myre.
"Thanks man, you saved my life!"
"I wouldn't go that far. Is your bike okay?"
"Oh crap!" The boy picked up the bike, looking it over before sighing in relief, "Thank God. Don't think I could afford a new one. Thanks... uh, Mayuri, right?"
"Yes, and you... seem to be the universe's punching bag." The boy awkwardly chuckled.
"Look, that doesn't usually happen. The name's Yosuke Hanamura." Yosuke held his hand out and Myre shook it, doing his best to ignore the odd black mask that briefly appeared over Yosuke's face . The two started walking towards school, "So, did you hear about that dead body they found?"
Myre made a face, especially with how casually the boy addressed it, "I did."
"What a messed up way to kill someone, and hanging them upside down, too. Well, I guess it's pretty messed up to kill people in the first place... You think it was a message?" Myre didn't answer for a while, and Yosuke spoke up, "Hey, dude, I'm sorry if-"
"Yes."
"Eh?"
"I think it was a message, and I hope to whatever powers exist she was dead before she was hung up."
"Dude, that's messed up!" Yosuke reeled back, and Myre looked at him.
"I am not saying this to be morbid. Being hung upside down used to be an execution method. It was a horrible, horrible way to die. Hours and hours as your head slowly filled with blood to the point-"
"Don't... don't finish that sentence." Yosuke looked woozy, "So... So you think someone executed her like that?"
"I didn't say that. I didn't smell blood when-" Myre stopped, swearing in his head. Why in the hell did he let that slip!?
"Smell? Wait, did you see something!?"
...Well that cat has ran from the bag to another country at this point, so he might as well tell Yosuke. He started to explain what he, Chie, and Yukiko stumbled upon yesterday, "Whoa... wait, how did you smell at that stuff?"
"I have a sharp sense of smell. Hence the scarf." Myre held up said scarf, but before the two could keep talking Yosuke checked his phone, realizing they were late. He offered Myre a ride on his bike (Yosuke got to learn Myre hadn't really ever touched a bike before), and with a bit of awkwardness and desperation the two were able to make it to class, if just. They were subjected to another of Mr. Morooka's lectures, but the day did seem to pass quickly. When school was wrapping Yosuke came up to the bluentte, "So, you used to this place yet?"
Myre thought for a moment, "...Well I've been here for all of two days and the most significant event has been a murder, so." Myre shrugged, and Yosuke winced.
"Sheesh, one hell of a welcoming party, huh? Oh, I know: how about I treat you to some steak at my place? Least I could do for you helping me out." Mayuri was about to respond when he felt a chill up his spine, and suddenly Chie was looming behind Yosuke like a spectre of death.
"Oh? You have enough to treat him but not to replace my DVD?"
Yosuke groaned as he looked behind himself, "Why do you come around whenever I'm talking about food? Do you have some sort of meat-sense?" She glared harder at him and he raised his hands, "Alright, alright, sheesh..."
She 'hmph'ed, crossing her arms as she looked over to Yukiko, "You want to join in Yukiko?"
"Hm? Oh, no thank you. I'm needed at the inn today." Yukiko quickly packed up her things and heading out of the class. Chie looked to Yosuke who sighed, and the trio started out of the class. His two classmates argued with one another, though Myre noticed it didn't seem like either was truly angry. Eventually they came to-
"Oh, this place." Myre looked up to the sign in English declaring 'Junes.'
"Aw man, your place? Seriously?" Chie griped to Yosuke.
"What the- did you only hear the part about "steak!?" And don't expect any either! Can't afford it for three people." Chie crossed her arms and pouted as Yosuke led them inside.
"You work here?" Myre looked to Yosuke.
"Yeah. My dad is actually the manager here." Myre hummed, looking around the store in... not awe, but it was definitely interesting. Chie seemed to notice him because she piped up.
"Something wrong?"
"What? Oh, no, just never been inside a supermarket before." Both of them looked to him in shock.
"What!? How's that possible!?" Yosuke seemed to realized how loud he'd spoken since some people turned to look at them, and he winced before leading them towards an open area filled with tables, chairs, and a few kitchen-like areas, "Sorry about that. But seriously, you've never been in a supermarket before?"
"Well... no." Myre shuffled a bit, now feeling awkward, "I was... in the hospital a lot and we didn't have anything like that where I grew up." Another wince from Yosuke and Chie, the girl punching him in the arm.
"Yosuke!" She hissed.
"Sorry, sorry!" Yosuke held up his hands defensively, "I'm just... gonna get our food now." As Yosuke left Myre and Chie took their seats.
"Sorry about that. He doesn't mean to sound like a jerk, but he doesn't always think things through." Chie shook her head while Myre waved her off.
"It's alright, neither of you could really have known." From there they made awkward small talk and ate, though he noticed Yosuke seemed to get distracted at some point, looking towards someone. He followed their gaze to a girl with light hair, and Yosuke quickly excused himself to go speak with her. "Who's that?"
"Hm?" Chie looked up from her food, "Oh, Saki-senpai? Yosuke has a huuuuuuge crush on her, though I don't think she's into him. Still, it doesn't stop him from trying."
"Crush?" Myre questioned, but before he could get an explanation the two had come back over, Saki speaking up.
"Hey there, you're the new transfer student, right?" Myre nodded, "It's good to see Hana-chan getting some more friends. I hardly see him talking to the other guys."
"H-Hey, I talk to them plenty." Yosuke awkwardly defended himself, and Saki continued on like she hadn't heard the boy.
"He's a great guy, but if he gets too nosy you gotta tell him right away. Or, you can come to me and I'll set him straight." She playfully warned Myre, and seeing Yosuke awkwardly laugh he decided to throw the boy a bone.
"He's not so bad. True, he could learn to be a bit more gentler with things, but he doesn't seem like he does it on purpose." Saki giggled.
"Hana-chan does like to rush head on into things, one time he- oh shoot." She quickly checked her watch, "My break's almost up. Laters!" She directed the last word to Yosuke and took off before he could say anything else, Yosuke reaching out to her retreating back before deflating and taking his seat with a groan.
"Dude, you couldn't play me up a bit better?"
"My first sighting of you was you injuring your crotch, breaking Chie's dragon... thing, getting injured in the crotch again, and then crashing again. I highly doubt she would've bought into it." Yosuke groaned again, leaning forward and propping his elbows on the table, now red face in his hands.
"Please don't mention any of that to her."
"I won't, but I think it wouldn't matter. You two seem to get along well enough." Chie snickered.
"That's one way to put it." Yosuke lifted his head up to glare and hiss at her.
"Shut it!"
"Is this that "crush" thing Chie mention earlier?" Myre inquired, and Chie quickly nodded.
"Ever since Saki started working here, Yosuke's tried to work up the courage to ask her on a date, buuuut..."
"A "date?" Myre really wish he had more control over the Japanese Lexicon, these words just passed over his head. Chie made a face as she wracked her brain.
"Oh, uh... shoot, Yosuke, you're good at English, right? Do you know what sort of word would work here?"
"Don't look at me, I only passed because Yukiko tutored me last time."
"Well, uh, a date is when a guy and a girl go out, have fun and stuff." Myre made a noise and nodded, thinking he understood the gist.
"I think I understand. I'm surprised though, you and Yosuke seem to play off each other well." The two immediately exploded into denial and the problems of the other to such a point he thought it was almost a case of protesting too much before Chie snapped her fingers.
"I got it! The Midnight Channel!" The two boys looked at her in confusion, "They say if you look at a TV on a rainy day at midnight and shut it off, the TV turns back on and shows you your soulmate! That way we can see if Yosuke and Saki-senpai are actually meant to be together." Yosuke stared at Chie with slightly wide eyes, tone slightly awed.
"Wow... that may be the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. What, I'm supposed to ask my TV if I should ask Saki-senpai out?"
"Well you could keep trying to ask her out and getting nowhere. If we check it out tonight, we can see for certain if it works!"
"...Wait, you're going on about this and you haven't even tried it yet?" Yosuke groaned. "Chie..."
"Do it and we'll see!" Chie crossed her arms, supreme confidence radiating off her as Yosuke looked to Mayuri, trying to steer the conversation away.
"So, tell us about where you grew up? Said you never seen a supermarket before." Chie sent Yosuke a warning look but Myre intervened before another argument could break out.
"Right... w-well, the place I grew up was fairly rural, I think it was... twenty families, maybe? I can't really say anything interesting happened until I got sick, went to a city called Yharnam for a while, and eventually I got sent here to rest since it was supposed to be quieter, but..."
"...Man, you might be even unluckier than me." Yosuke rubbed the back of his head and Myre gave a hollow chuckle before the brunette boy snapped his fingers, "I got it! Gimme your phone for a second."
"...My phone?"
"Yeah, your cell, we can..." Yosuke trailed off as he saw the look on Myre's face, "Wait, you don't even have a cellphone? Geez, how rural was your hometown? Well, maybe you can ask your parents for one? Or-"
"I can probably ask Dojima for one?" Yosuke gave a confused look, "Ah, my "uncle." I'm staying with him... actually, Yukiko and Chie met him yesterday."
"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask about that!" Chie leaned in, "So your uncle works with the police? What do your parents do?" That... was actually a very good question. Myre hadn't talked much to his "parents" outside a few brief meetings and all he knew was that they were some sort of medical professionals.
"I'm... not sure. It's complicated." Myre sighed, "That is all I'd like to say on that, please." Chie was quick to nod.
"It's about time we head home anyways. Want me to walk you to your place?" Myre shook his head.
"Better to not make any detours, but thank you regardless. Thank you again for the food, Yosuke." Myre stood, lightly stretching before he waved to the two and departed. However, once he was gone Yosuke noticed Chie staring in the blunette's direction.
"Something up?"
"Hm? Oh, it's nothing." Yosuke started to grin.
"Geez, the new guy's already got an admirer, I need to catch up- ow!" Yosuke started to rub the spot on his arm Chie slugged.
"Don't be a creep! I just... I'm worried, you know?" Yosuke's tone became a bit more caring and his face more understanding.
"Hey, I'm sure he's fine. It's not like he's laid up in a hospital anymore. Besides, you heard him earlier; he's here to relax. Sure there was that murder, but it's not like that's gonna be a regular thing..."
Myre stared at the cup of colorful pills and he quickly decided he needed to invest in some sort of lockbox. It's not like he kept his cases out on display, but he really did not want to risk Nanako assuming they were some form of candy. Something to bring up when Dojima got home, though it was quickly becoming clear that was going to be a rare event given the current murder case. Myre took the cup and downed the contents before lying down and shutting his eyes, intending to relax for a time, but he couldn't quite get into the mood. It wasn't so much his usual discomfort but what Chie had mentioned earlier, and he rolled onto his side to stare at the bulky if small television in his room. He continued to stare at the device for a good number of minutes before he stood and draped one of his shirts over it.
Childish? Yes, but he had no want to get involved with this "Midnight Channel" nonsense, hoax or no. Myre turned his back to the television and tried to rest, but it almost felt like the machine was a cyclopean eye, dark but still glaring into his back. It was a relief when Nanako called him for dinner, nearly rushing out of his room to sit with her. It was halfway through the meal that he heard the door slide open, and Dojima's tired voice echoed out from the entrance, "I'm back..." Nanako immediately perked up and stood as Dojima came into the living room, the older man's back stooped from weariness. "Did anything happen while I was gone?"
"No... you're late again." Nanako couldn't quite keep the frustation out of her voice and in an almost practiced way Dojima apologized.
"Sorry, sorry. It's just been so busy at work..." The man nearly collapsed onto the couch, "Could you turn on the news for me?" Nanako was more obviously frustrated as she sat down, turning the T.V. to the news station, and Myre turned his head to his meal. He wanted to avoid this case as much as humanly possible, trying to drown out the voices on the T.V. before he heard a familiar one and looked up. Despite the blurring of her face there was no mistake in who the girl being interviewed was.
"Saki?" The interviewer was badgering the girl for details of how she found the body, but more of the questions he asked were simply rude. Dojima finally spoke up.
"Hm? You know that girl?"
"Yes, she's friends with Yosuke... ah, that's someone from my school. He's friends with those two girls I was walking with." Dojima made a noise of affirmation as the two of them watched the news, and Mayuri felt his mouth morph further and further into a frown as the newscasters complained about the apparent uselessness of the police. "...What a joke. It's barely been two, three days? What do they expect?" He heard something could've been a snort from Dojima and glancing over he could see the man smiling faintly before he seemingly deflated... and then started to snore. Nanako looked over to her father at the noise and made a face like she was upset, but any foul mood was forgotten as a commercial for Junes came on, and Mayuri stayed with her talking about the supermarket to help distract her. Admiitedly, it was also to help put off sleep for as long as he could, but too soon he found himself having to head up to his own room, shirt still draped over the T.V..
He had planned to leave it there for the night, but it seemed the universe had other plans when it tried to split his head in twain.
Myre hissed and held his head tightly, curling up on the floor as what felt like lances of pure fire shit through his brain. It didn't feel unlike something trying to break though his skull and tears flowed freely from his face, the lone minute it took for the headache to pass feeling like hours before he could open his eyes again. It took the world a moment to focus back in and he shakily pushed himself up into a sitting position... and then the T.V. turned on. The shirt draped over it fell to the ground as the screen filled with static before turning yellow, flashing images Myre couldn't quite make out passing through rapidly along with faint voices. He scrambled to get up and grab the T.V., and he was about to toss it aside when he finally heard two words clearly.
"...Help... me...!"
The boy froze at the words and stared at the screen, scenes of a figure thrashing about clear now that he was focusing. He could almost make out who it was and he leaned in closer, hoping to see who it was... before he was suddenly pulled forward. He tried to pull away but his arm and head were sucked into the T.V., and he thrashed about as fog swallowed his head. Everything was muffled for a moment as a thick fog covered his face before suddenly coming in sharp, and he was half hanging out of a T.V. in some sort of shop. However, that was a secondary detail to what was going in front of him; there was Saki, sweat dripping from every pore and bloody gashes dotting her body as she stared up at something that fit every definition of a monster. It resembled a demented caricature of the brunette girl, incredibly tall with grey skin but a flush nose and cheks.
Thick bindings covered its eyes and ears and a long tongue draped out of its mouth. In its hands were bottles, one whole and one shattered, the latter dripping with blood and alcohol. As it raised the unbroken bottle Myre's mouth moved before the rest of him could, "MOVE!"
Saki's eyes went wide and she dove aside as the bottle crashed down where she was standing, somehow not shattering. She immediately whipped around to see Myre and she reached for him, Myre doing the same, and when their hands caught the blunette pulled Saki towards him with all his strength. The fog engulfed him once more, obscuring Saki from his vision but he kept his grip as tight as he could as he pulled, and pulled, but suddenly it felt like his whole body was crashing and the feel of her hand slipped from his. Myre stumbled back as the fog pulled away and he hit the low table in his room, falling back and slamming his back across it. He couldn't stop his shout as he rolled off, and he knew beyond anything he was going to have a bruise. There were rapid steps before the door flew open, revealing Dojima with an almost angry look on his face, but it turned to worry once he saw Myre's position and he crouched at their side, "Mayuri, what happened!?"
"T.V... fell." Mayuri grit his teeth as he tried to prop himself up, trying to force his still rattled brain to process thought. "...Saki."
"What-" Myre cut off Dojima by grabbing the collar of his shirt.
"Have to... call Saki. It..." Myre hissed as his head was filled with sharp pain again... oh no, wait, that was just his forehead. Touching it made his hand come away with blood. distracting him from the fact Dojima had rushed down the stairs already. In short order an ambulance was called and he was taken to the hospital, but not before he got Dojima's promise to check up on Saki, and an hour or so later Myre was sitting on a hospital cot with a bandage on his forehead as he waited for Dojima. He should've been thinking about what he felt and saw inside the T.V., but his mind was nearly completely blank. Some part of him understood the non-thought was protecting his sanity but counting the tiles of the room was quickly getting tiring after the 28th time. He was thankfully saved by the door opening and Dojima walking in, looking even more haggard than earlier in the night, Adachi trailing behind him.
"Is Saki alright?" Myre was kind of surprised the words immediately flew from his mouth considering how empty his thoughts were just a moment ago, but he wished he could take them back as as Dojima gave him a look he couldn't quite place but was definitely uncomfortable to be on the end of. He was saved(?) by Adachi speaking up.
"An ambulance brought her here a little while ago but she's totally unresponsive." Dojima glared at his coworker but he sighed and focused again on Mayuri.
"Adachi's right. She's stable but..." Dojima sighed, dragging a hand down his face, "...Mayuri, I need you to tell me honestly: how did you know Saki Konishi was in danger?" That... was going to be a complicated answer, if Mayuri could even give one. What the hell was he supposed to tell Dojima, that he got sucked into a T.V. and tried to save her? Was that even what happened? Myre sighed and ran a hand back through his hair... wait, did it get longer? Was- "Mayuri?"
The blunette's eyes focused back on Dojima, "Sorry, just... trying to think." What was damn certain was that he would be sent right to an asylum if he told Dojima the truth. After a beat Myre started crafting up a lie, "I... saw it. While I was sleeping." He started to quickly explain when he saw their looks. "I was sleeping and I just... had the image of Saki being hurt in my mind, I think I was nervous. I tried to get up to go ask Dojima to check on her, but it was too dark and well... I tripped. Didn't help that I got up and didn't have my feet under me quite yet."
There was a moment of silence where Myre's anxiety started to spike before Adachi started to laugh loudly and Dojima chastized him, "Adachi!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" It didn't stop Adachi from snickering and Dojima shook his head as he looked back to Myre.
"Well, we got lucky then. There's a good chance you saved her life tonight, even if she's unresponsive." Myre nodded.
"I'm... sorry, I know I shouldn't have gone to wake you in the middle of the night, but-"
"It's alright. I'll get one of the other officers to take you home, I still have a lot to do." Mayuri nodded and the two officers left the room, leaving the blunette to push himself off the cot. True to Dojima's word an officer came to his room and escorted him all the way back home. Myre quietly padded his way upstairs to make sure Nanako didn't have to wake up twice tonight, slipping into his bed, and in a rare turn of events fell asleep with no issue...
"So, think the kid is psychic?"
"What are you on about?" Dojima set the coffee in front of his junior as he sat at his own computer, taking a long sip of his own cup.
"What Mayuri-san said about Ms. Konishi, do you think he had a psychic vision or something while he was dreaming?"
"I think you watch too many late night shows." Dojima yawned as he got back to filling out reports. Truth be told he still found it somewhat suspicious that Mayuri just happened to dream about the Konishi girl being in danger and they found her injured out in the street, but... well the kid was a walking corpse, as bad as he felt about saying it. One stiff breeze could probably take him out. There was some worry when the girl had some unknown toxin in her blood, but nothing matched any of the medications Mayuri had. Dojima sighed, rubbing his eyes. He missed being able to sleep and not having some paranoid worry stray into his head every five minutes.
"...Do you think she'll wake up?" Dojima looked to Adachi as the rookie spoke up, and he buried his worry for Adachi. He did feel bad that one of the first big crimes Adachi had to deal with was such a brutal murder, but he had to get used to it if he wanted to be an officer.
"I don't know. They said she was unresponsive but stable, so we'll have to wait and see." Adachi nodded, and Dojima sighed in his head as Adachi silently got back to work. He had decided early on that he'd tell Adachi things on a need-to-know basis or let him learn on his own considering Adachi was a plain blabbermouth, and they wanted to keep this under wraps as long as possible... which probably wouldn't be long, but still. For now, all they could do was wait and pray Saki Konishi woke up...