human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The young figure of fifteen year old Nanako Dojima slowly tossed in her bed. "Five more?" she inquired weakly, pulling her pillow over her head to muffle the sounds of her alarm clock going off.
As if to answer her question, the annoying noise ceased, only to be replaced by her father, Dojima, gently shaking her by her shoulders.
"Wake up, Nanako. Did you forget what day it is?"
"... No. Five more, please?"
Ryotaro's head couldn't help but tilt slightly. Usually, his daughter was good with keeping a rather regular sleep - any kind really - of schedule. But with how she was speaking, she either hadn't gotten enough rest or she was just really anxious.
"Two," he compromised, standing up straight as he began to leave Nanako's room. "Naoto will be heading over to pick you up."
"... Huh?!" That definitely made Nanako sit up. "But ... dad! I'm fifteen now! Are you serious?!"
Hearing his daughter's retort didn't make him stop. However, as he turned past the corner of her room, Nanako would see there was no hints on his face or in his eyes that he was kidding.
"Wait ... why?!"
"Just ... a precaution."
"But I'mfifteen!" she repeated, as if trying to cancel the seemingly already decided negotiation.
"Nanako, please. This is nothing against you, really. This ... is just because I care about you. It's my job as a father to you."
A defeated sigh was heard from Nanako's room.
At least it's Naoto-onee I suppose .. she mused. Not to say she wasn't annoyed; oh no. She still was. But it wasn't Naoto's fault, at least she doubted it.
Over the years, Nanako had gotten close to everyone from the investigation team who still lived in Inaba. There were definitely times she missed Yu; but the company of everyone else more than made up for it.
The realization that she would finally get to be with the others more often, in fact, made her smile and temporarily forget her irritation with her father. In a matter of moments, she walked out, clad in her new uniform.
The sight made Ryotaro smile. "It suits you. You look great." His head nodded towards the table where a simple enough meal of scrambled eggs and toast were laid out for her.
No more than a few minutes had passed before a knock was heard on the Dojima's household door.
Meanwhile, Chie had woken up full of energy. She was now eighteen and finally, this year would be the one which would allow her and everyone to graduate. Well, everyone except Yu - who was no longer living in Inaba - and Nanako who was three years younger than the rest of the investigation team.
But that didn't bother her. It wasn't like they couldn't visit or help her out with assignments if she needed assistance. Though honestly, Chie doubted it. Nanako had grown up to be quite the smart, young woman, much like herself and - well - everyone else in their own forms and fashions.
Her mind then went to her closest male friend, Yosuke, and realized just how true it was in his case. Sometimes, it felt like out of everyone, he had grown up the most. She knew his death of Saki had been difficult, if for no other reason because of his feelings he used to have for her.
But two years later, he was doing much better with the grieving process. As far as Chie could tell, it was completely done with or mostly; but enough that it wasn't making him down in the dumps every day of his life.
"Heh, fifty yen says we'll be in the same homeroom again," she mused to herself, finishing getting dressed in her own outfit before darting out of her front door and running towards the local high school, eager and happy to be back in school again.
Summer could be fun at times; others it could be boring. The past several weeks had fallen under the latter and now more than ever, she was happy to be back once again, more so near all of her friends.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
"Youske!" This was the third time Teddie had to practically kick Youske out of the bed, and it was rather annoying. The two had been sharing a smaller apartment ever since Youske moved out of their parents house. The home wasn't exactly what either of them would consider glamorous, and currently had litter, as well clothing on the ground. All in all it looked like a home that two single 18 year old males would share.
"Get your grizzly but out of bed already! Your gonna be late for school!"
Youske shifted on the tatami mattress. and let out a small grown before cracking one eye, only to recoil in horror and shock. "How many times do I have to tell you not to wear that thing in the house!"
Teddie was currently dressed in his work outfit as the full time mascot of Junes it was his responsibility to wear it to work. It also happened to be a lot more then a costume because it was a part of Teddie's original body, though how that actually worked completely went over Youske's head. "Because work for me starts in like twenty minutes. Your gonna make me em-bear-rassingly late!" He said before hurring off out towards the door.
"Another day another adventure." Youske muttered his mind passing over the past three years, slowly catching up to what the date was today. Looking at his clock he couldn't help but feel that he was going to be late for something. "Oh!"
Youske bolted out of bed after stripping quickly and hopping into the shower. Today was Nanako's first day at Inaba highschool, and the start of his and the rest of the investigation team (minus kanji who was a year behind them, and Yu's last year of highschool!) This was it, the year that would set everyones future into stone.
Getting out of the shower he felt refreshed as he dried himself and brushed his teeth at the same time looking at the mirror, wondering if he should call anyone. His mind wondering to Chie. Over the last 3 years they had grown rather close to one another. He decided against it, after all they were bound to have the same home room so it wasn't like they would miss each other for very long.
Slipping into a fresh school uniform he tossed his dirty stuff into another pile along the floor he slipped on his shoes stepping outside he looked at the sky and frowned. It was supposed to rain in the evening. While it was true that the Inaba area often had rain for long periods of time, and thick fog was no stranger to the area Youske could never feel safe in the rain after the investigation so many years ago.
Hopping on his bike he tried to shake the feeling. "New year new adventure." He said trying to put the past behind him as he started to bike towards the school, his breakfast was a package of poky that he kept stored in his pocket.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"Go on and get your backpack and belongings. I have this," Only after sneaking a glance behind him to see that Nanako had begun to pay heed to his words did Ryotaro open the door. Sure enough, behind it had been the eighteen year old DetectivePrincess, Naoto Shirogane. Although they saw each other every now and again in the force, it wasn't as often. Not because they disliked one another, simply because Naoto was focusing much more on her studies than work. Many of the others tried to argue that was enough incentive to fire Naoto.
Thankfully, Ryotaro always backed her up and supported her. Hell, he had to remind a lot of them constantly that if it hadn't been for Naoto, Adachi would still be doing all of the murders he'd committed from a few years ago.
"Thank you for this, Naoto-chan."
"Ah, it's no problem. Really. I .. I do need to work on my socializing a bit more." It wasn't nearly as bad as it had been when she had first met Yu and the others; not anymore, anyway. But it could definitely use quite a bit of improvement.
Behind Ryotaro, Naoto finally saw Nanako. The detective gave her a smile before bowing her head. "You look good, Nanako. You'll do well at Inaba High. Shall we?"
Managing a small nod, Nanako moved out from behind her father, giving him a hug before walking out of the door and ending up at Naoto's side. "So .. how are other people there? Besides you all?"
"Um ... truthfully? Yosuke may be a better person to ask. Or Teddie. But definitely not me. I'm still working on getting to know people. However, I .. well ... they don't seem bad. I'm just horrible at gathering courage to talk to individuals I don't know. That's a good part of the reason I agreed to this. I know you'd probably want to be going alone and .. I can't blame you. I would if I were you."
Nanako blinked, clearly amazed. "Am I that easy to read?"
"Only because I'm a detective, yeah. It's my job to figure these things out."
A teasing smile crossed Nanako's face. "But Naoto-onee, we're going toschool, notwork."
"Hai, hai, I know. Horrible habit of mine ... another I'm working on."
"You've got a long list, don't ya?"
"Ooooh yes. Very much so."
There was a brief pause before both girls chuckled with one another. Over the years, Naoto had also become more .. obvious that she was a woman, mainly in regards to her chest area. She stopped trying to hide them and now had C-cup breasts. Not the biggest, no. But she was more than happy with how they were, honestly. More than that, Naoto was feeling proud she could begin to accept her feminism better.
Chie had been the first to finally notice that despite it being morning, it seemed ... darker than she thought. A quick peek towards the sky hinted it loked as though it may actually rain later today.
"Aww, geez. What a horrible first day. Hopefully Nanako's classes will be more fun than the rain," Chie mused, slowing down in her steps as she heard something quickly approaching. Moving aside and pressing her back against a nearby fence, she soon saw Yosuke riding by.
"Oi! Careful!" she teased, giving him a playful smile before walking beside him. "Seriously though, you didn't oversleep you know? So what's the rush? How've you been?"
Sure the questions were a bit out of order. But Chie knew Yosuke wouldn't care, especially not after all they'd been through.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Youske was startled when Chie teased him, and for a moment he wobbled on his bike narrowly avoiding crashing with the wall. As he slowed down. He blinked when Chie told him he hadn't over slept. Rethinking his morning, he growled slightly. "I'm gonna kill Teddie." He had been mostly asleep when Teddie had tried his best to wake him. He should have realized that his shift would start earlier then Youske's school day.
Still he slowed down and gave Chie a happy smile as he rode his bike along side her. It was always good to see her. "Teddie told me that I was gonna be late to school if I didn't hurry up. Dude nearly made have a heart attack making me think I would be late for today."
As he moved along side Chie he couldn't help but smile a little, it hadn't been a long time since he had last seen her, but at the same time when ever he saw her it was always positive. She was basically his closest friend in this city, aside from maybe Yu, but he didn't really count anymore after how far away he had to move. It was a shame that his visits only came during holidays.
"I've been good, Got some rest over the break and I am ready for anything!" He said a little louder then he should have. "How about you Enjoy your vacation? Meet anyone special? Oh and how is everyone else doing?"
Youske was mostly teasing with his question about if she met anyone special over the break. He hadn't seen her much because he and Teddie had gone away for a small vacation over the break, but that had almost been a complete disaster. Now that he was back in Inaba however he was feeling more refreshed then ever.
A distance away from where Chie and Youske along the road that Nanako and Naoto were walking there was a third young student who was also starting his first day at Yasogami High School. Naoki Konishi was Satako's younger brother, and though it had been 3 years since those murders he was still mostly known by the events of those days.
It didn't bother him anymore. People talked behind his back still, but he was a young and now determined man of 15, and today was his first day as well. He walked maintaining an attitude that was as chipper as possible trying to think up a positive way of going to this school. He walked past Nanako's house at about the same time as she and Naoto were leaving to go, but didn't stop to walk with them. Staying just a little bit ahead of them as he walked along the same path as them. It would be rude to walk with them without being invited first, so he just stayed out of the way.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Were it not for the fact Yosuke was on his bike, Chie would have given him a friendly hug. As it dawned on him that Teddie had lied about him being late, she couldn't help but chuckle. "Well ... sounds like Teddie alright. I'm glad to hear aside from some minor pestering, the arrangement between you two is ... working as well as it can?" she offered, unsure if that was even the correct choice of words. But when she repeated them in her head and decided they hadn't been the worst ones for her to use, she decided - prior to Yosuke's verdict - it had been accurate enough.
Faint hints of crimson danced across her cheeks as Yosuke tried to tease about her having met anyone. "D-don't be silly! I'm not -- " she paused, realizing a new thought came to her. "Now that you mention it though, Yu didn't visit over the break for once. Hm. I wonder if something came up?" It only bothered her because he normally made an effort to come to Inaba, be it for Nanako or everyone else. And he was usually good about keeping to his schedule. So when he had missed a visit .. it honestly kind of bothered Chie.
But Yu never did - or didn't - do things without a damn good reason either. So hopefully he just got too occupied or something. But poor Nanako; she knew it had likely made her upset.
"Anyway, no. That sorta thing .. isn't for me, really. You should know that." Chie retorted, moving her arms out and feigning giving his shoulders a playful shove. She would have but, again, his bike kept her from doing so. "But since you asked ... what about you? Hmm?"
Naoto was the first among the two to recognize Naoki. Due to having been an orphan most of her own life, she also knew Naoki probably wouldn't want the 'pity me' type of speech. Gods knew she hated getting that enough as it was from the police force every time she had to hint she was an orphan.
Still .. it probably bothered him as much as it did the detective to always be alone. And for the time being, he was. No parents, no sister who should have been accompanying him, no one.
Gently resting a hand on Nanako's shoulder, Naoto gave her a slight nod. "Go converse."
"H..huh? But what about you? What do I say?"
"Whatever comes naturally. I doubt he'll bite or anything and if push comes to shove, I'll be close behind." As Naoto finished up, she gave a gentle but firm push to Nanako, helping her stumble forward.
"Agh!" It took a bit of correcting her footing to make sure she hadn't tripped but soon she found herself beside the new boy. "Hello, morning. Um, I'm Nanako Dojima. Nice to meet you. Is ... it your first day also?"
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Youske blinked hearing that Yu didn't visit. That was weird he always made a trip out to at least see Nanako he considered her a little sister of sorts. He let out a long sigh as he wondered about it. "Come to think of it, I haven't heard from Yu since last years golden week." He thought back to the last time Yu had visited, and then shook it off. "I'm sure it's fine dude is in the big city, you can't expect him to come out here to the boonies every time there is a vacation. He probably just took a trip with his parents." He said lightly, in the pit of his stomach he was worried about it, but decided to put on a strong front for Chie.
When she asked him if he met anyone special he passed it off quickly. "No nothing happened! what would have ever give you that kind of idea!" He would have waved his arms defensively but to do that would have meant letting go of his steering wheel. He glanced around lightly checking to make sure that they were still alone.
"Besides I hardly have the time for anything like that between school, and practically running Junes as the new assistant manager. I can't really focus on anything like that." This time he admitted it with a heavy sigh. He wanted romance in his life, and an odd look crossed his eyes as he passed over Chie for a glance, before shaking his head and focusing on the road ahead again. Things between the old shopping district and Junes may have gotten better, but Youske still felt a lot of pressure from those groups every now and then. As much as he tried to not let it bother him it always kind of did, and it was nothing he wanted to bother Chie with. Getting closer to her would just cause her problems.
"How about the rest of the group? Nanako's starting high school with us today right? And how has Yukiko, and Kanji been? I feel like I have been out of touch with everyone even after just two weeks." He said passively as he thought about the rest of the group.
Naoki blinked as he watched Nanako stumble up towards him. He had to wonder what was going on for a moment that was until she spoke with him. He gave her a kind smile and happily waved. "Actually yes it is." He said with a kind smile.
"My name is Naoki Konishi it's nice to meet you Nanako." He recognized the name Dojima having met Ryotaro a few times back during the incedents three years ago, but said nothing on the subject matter, he didn't even know if that was the same Dojima family name, and it would also be insensitive considering who he was related too.
He extended a slight bow in greeting towards her. "I imagine we will likely be in the same class. So I look forward to working with you."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
While the strong front was appreciated, Chie was trying to do the same back. She was about as worried as Yosuke. But now seemed like one of the worst times to fret over such a thing. It was their first day of the senior year. After this, they were done with high school. That alone should have allowed for them to celebrate and not think too heavily on why Yu may not have been able to visit. All the same, that feeling of something being very wrong never truly faded away. Enough for her to focus on the happier questions; but that was about it. Her smile widened as she began to help Yosuke catch up.
"Mhm, Nanako does start. If we get there early, we can probably see about meeting up with her when she arrives. Yukiko's accepted her role with the family business a lot better and, thus, has been very busy with it. Kanji ... well ... " she chuckled softly before giving a light shrug. "He's keeping to his punk-like attitude while working with his own family business. You forgot Rise, although ... "
It hadn't been until Chie had tried to tease Yosuke that she realized even she hadn't heard from the idol. Was she even still one? Chie honestly had no idea. It had been like she'd vanished since they all graduated last year.
"... Weird. Haven't heard from her too though ... if she somehow got back into the idol industry, that would explain it. But I remember she was so adamant on not wanting to go back .. "
Her own head shook as she tried to wave it off. Much like Yosuke, a mix of natural desires in the form of hormones and wanting to better embrace some of her feminine side helped her accept the thought of romance. But as far as she was concerned, it'd be nothing but an image in her mind. She was .. well .. very tomboyish still when all was said and done. And while she didn't have any jealousy issues anymore, Chie knew most of the guys in the school didn't understand her because of her hobbies. Yosuke was one of the few, yes but ... no. He was probably too busy with his own life; no sense making it more complicated.
I suppose this isn't too bad .. Nanako mused, smiling as the introduction actually got returned. If she had telepathic abilities, Nanako would have heard and understand Naoto was trying to help her get a head start.
As much as Naoto respected Nanako's father, it was simple to see how sheltered the poor girl was becoming. And .. well .. she did need to grow up sometime. So, Naoto was trying to help her with that. She had given her childhood up the second her parents passed away. Nanako shouldn't, in her eyes, have to stay a child forever. It was okay to be naive to certain degrees. But not with how Nanako was now. Beside, Naoto was keeping her promise to Ryotaro and watching her. She just wasn't immediately beside her; but at least close enough so that if she needed to, Naoto could run beside the younger girl and help out.
It took a bit of thinking but Nanako did remember the significance of the name. Her head returned the bow as she tried to think of something else. Thankfully, the mentioning of class gave her a more positive idea.
"I do too. Are there any specific classes you're looking forward to more than others by chance?"
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
"ack!" Youske almost panic'd when he realized he had forggoten about Rise, He hadn't heard from her in a very long time. It was no secret that back when she had been an idol he had been a major fan of hers, but after everything that had happened with the investigation he had learned just how much fandom had hurt her, and got a bit of a reality check as well. That said he and Rise had gotten off on the wrong foot and because of that never seen exactly eye to eye. It wasn't that they disliked one another, everyone in the investigation group was close nit, but he hadn't been surprised to not hear from her.
That said hearing that Chie hadn't heard from the Idol either was distressing. "I haven't heard about her entering the idol scene... not that I check up on that kind of thing anymore, i'm totally passed that phase." He said once again becoming defensive. Though if Chie came over to his, and Teddie's apartment she would be able to spot more then a few Idol posters on the walls.
His thoughts quickly turned too Nanako's first day at school. "We should probably hurry up a bit then so we can meet her at the gate." He said as he picked up the pace on his bike though making sure it wasn't anything higher then what Chie could jog along side too. "You know you should really get a bike. You can get anywhere in the city with one of these things."
"More like which classes I am dreading at the moment." Naoki replied as he walked along side Nanako. Enjoying the conversation as he walked along side her.
"I'm not the best student really, and it doesn't help that I didn't take stuff very seriously back in middle school, but this year will be different." This year there were no tragedies to follow him around, this year was the first day of a new life at a new school He was ready to start applying himself and making himself better then he was in the past. It had taken a long time for him to gain some optimism, but now that he had it he wasn't about to let it go. "This year I am going to do my best." He said with a smile towards Nanako. "What about you?"
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Chie couldn't help but grin more as Yosuke realized he had forgotten Rise. It was because of his not-so-discreet secret that she felt in a more teasing mood than usual. As far as Chie could figure, he still liked her despite his words. But when all was said and done .. she didn't exactly blame him. Who wouldn't want someone like Rise, be the idol or not part of her? She was gorgeous and fell into the more ... usual category of girls like Yukiko.
"Hm. Well, that industry is supposed to be one of the more fickle ones. So .. maybe she got an offer to come back real fast or something?" Her hand waved at both the talk of Rise and the suggestion for a bike. "Money doesn't grow on trees, Yosuke. Besides, walking is an equally good way of exercise. Seriously though ... and keep this to yourself or I swear I'll smack the back of your head if not worse but ... "
Her volume lowered as she admitted softly, "I don't know how to ride a bike."
"But um ... yeah. I'll race ya!" With that, she broke into a run, letting her secret sink into his mind.
"Oh? I see." She paused, trying to figure out whether to include that her father refused to let her slack off or not. After a bit, however, she wound up deciding against it and concentrated on the next question. "I .. I guess I am kind of nervous about math. It's supposed to get really hard in high school and my dad's almost always at work. I'm not sure if I'd be able to ask anyone for assistance."
Yu was ... gone, probably with his parents, Yukiko was busy with the inn, Teddie was the mascot for Junes and thus working, Yosuke was a manager at Junes so ... Naoto or Kanji perhaps?
Maybe Naoto. She remembered Kanji hinting he wasn't typically fond of classes. It was something she definitely kept in mind though.
Yosuke and Chie would arrive a few minutes later. About five more would pass before Naoto, Nanako, and Naoki all began to came into view.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Youske blinked at the confession. It seemed so out of place that a tom boy like Chie never actually learned to ride a bike, and yet as soon as he thought about it made perfect sense. However there was still a stunned silence for a moment. He became fixated on the confession that he didn't even hear the second part about a race, and when Chie took of he regained his composure.
"Hey wait a minute I didn't-" Youske stood up on his bike to try and peddle faster, at the same time as his bike hit a curb the result was his body being launched forward up and into the ground. His bike falling on top of him as he hit the curb. Getting back up slowly he dusted himself up and got back on his bike which thankfully wasn't damaged this time.
"Want to race." He muttered the last part as he pulled in behind Chie. She won the race, and he was covered in small scrapes from hitting the concrete. Not that he really cared, over the last few years he had survived way worse with an impact to the floor. He looked at Chie and gave her a small shrug. She may have won, but since she didn't bet anything on it, she couldn't name a prize. So he had that to look forward too. In fact. "You totally owe me lunch now for that." He said teasing her again.
As Nanako pulled into view Youske practically screamed at her as he waved his hands over his head happy to see her. However the person he was walking with on the other hand made him do a small double take. There was never any chance of mistaking Saki's little brother, and the two of them glanced at each other, Naoki giving a silent glare, and Youske simply averting his eyes. "Right."
Naoki quickly shook his head side to side trying to put it out of mind. So he had to put up with Youske for a few minutes it wouldn't kill him. Instead he refocused on the conversation with Nanako. "I'm not great at math, but I am always willing to try and help where I can." Though in truth it was more along the lines of he would probably need her help more often then not.
"Do you know them?" He said pointing ahead to Youske and Chie. One of which represented a very bad memory for him.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Chie playfully smirked as Yosuke arrived, although not on his bike. "... You know, sometimes I wonder if that thing is sentient with how often it tosses you off. Maybe you should try for another?" It was a partial joke; she had kind of meant it. But at the same time, she understood perfectly how costly it would be to actually do so. But that was why it was more of a joke than anything. Chie gave Yosuke's back a firm pat with one of her hands at the mentioning of lunch and nodded. "Deal! Buuuut, not today. I didn't come prepared for that much."
She joined Yosuke in happily greeting Nanako. However, as her friend stopped - and she saw the reason for it - Chie sighed as she looked to Yosuke.
"Come on, not now .. please?" she pleaded. "For Nanako?"
It definitely didn't stay to only Chie noticing the glare. Nanako did and, even from her angle, Naoto did. While neither of the other two understood the reason nearly as well, both did comprehend it didn't mean anything good.
Naoto slowly began to move forward, giving a bow of her head to Naoki and Nanako as she walked past them both and closer towards Yosuke and Chie. Usually, Yosuke could keep his temper pretty well in check. But she had seen his temper give in before and knew that with the right triggers, he could get in an actual, physical fight. And she'd stop it through any means if he tried. It wasn't what Nanako needed to see; not on her first day and definitely not from someone she looked up to so much.
Poor Nanako, meanwhile, felt like an awkward spotlight was on her. It almost seemed wrong to even answer but ... it would be worse, she knew, if she tried to ignore Naoki.
"Mhm, I do." Not realizing he knew at least Yosuke, she began pointing out whom was who, nodding as each name was brought up. "That's Naoto-onee, that's Chie-onee, and that's Yosuke-onii. Not by blood, obviously, but we got close enough to almost be a different family of sort. There are a few others I know but ... hm. I guess they're late? Or on their way? But um .. you can join me in meeting them!"
Offering Naoki a small smile, she began to walk forward, giving them all a smile.
"Hey, everyone!" she greeted, finally adding after a slight pause. "Where's Kanji-onii, Yukiko-onee and Rise-onee?" Teddie, she remembered, was occupied pretty much full-time at Junes; otherwise she would have added him in.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
"Fiiiine tomorrow then." Yosuke Said in reffrence to lunch, but when Chie pleaded with him not too do anything brash with Naoki he gave her a small look that simply said 'tell that to him!' He wasn't the one glaring, if anything he had nothing but sad feelings towards Naoki, they both represented some painful emotions towards one another, and while Yosuke had done his best to move on from Saki, this was her brother... it was difficult to deal with him.
Still Yosuke put on a false smile as he waved hello towards Nanako, and gave a slight bow as he was introduced. "How have you been?" He said trying to be as open and veague as possible hoping that Nanako would be the one to answer the question. He turned to Naoto and waved towards her. "It's been a long time Naoto, I'm glad to see your back!"
He thought about Nanako's question for a moment. "Well considering Kanji he might be..." Immediately the image of Kanji beating the crap out of some random people for one reason or another popped into his head. "He only attends school when he needs too, so you probably won't see much of him on campus. He's probably just hanging out with your dad." He said with a good smile as he scratched his head. "And actually no one's heard from Rise in a while, unless you have Naoto."
Naoki did his best to give a kind face with the others. He was originally going to bow out and say that he would meet Nanako at class, but she roped him in too quickly and now he was stuck meeting the new people. Some of which actually seemed nice, but then there was Yosuke, and the worst part was that Nanako considered him an older brother. It was an odd feeling of hate and jelousy that ran through his body, but he tried his best to not let it show.
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." He said lightly keeping Yosuke out of his vision focusing instead on Nanako, and the other women in the group. "I am Naoki Konishi." He said introducing himself to Chie and also formally introducing himself for Naoto even though she probably over heard him the first time. "Today is my first day at this school."
Part of him was already thinking it was completely ruined because of the prescience of Yosuke.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"Well enough, I suppose. Dad's almost always out at the office .. as usual." Despite the smile on Nanako's face, the very small hints in her tone suggested that part still annoyed her to some degrees. She could now better understand his job was what kept them from being kicked out of the house and forced to live in the streets. But after all these years, why in the hell hadn't he tried to move on? Or adjust his schedule so it didn't take up as much time? Just .. something to make it so she could have a bit more time with her father. It always annoyed Nanako. But with all he did and sacrificed for her, it almost felt wrong to whine about what may seem like such a petty thing to her dad.
"But besides that, well. It's good to see you all." Her head tilted slightly as Yosuke mentioned Kanji possibly being with her dad. "... Odd. I understand why that may be true with Naoto-onee but .. Kanji? Does he work there also? He never told me that."
Naoto had been staying silent to allow for Yosuke and Nanako to catch up. However, as she heard that no one had heard from Rise, her detective senses kicked in. Her head shook from side to side. "No. I never heard from her ... "
"Or saw her once during the summer ... "
But it was obvious enough, even without getting all of the details, that her thoughts wouldn't be good to say aloud. It would have been as wrong for Nanako to see and hear just as much as if Yosuke had gotten into a fight. Thankfully, the boy was behaving decently and controlling himself.
Soft pants and gasps were heard behind the group as Yukiko ran up with a clearly annoyed look on her face. "People ... should not .... be able to make ... reservations .. so ... early .. in the morning ... urgh .... "
As her head lifted and saw the group in front of her, plus a few new people, she felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment. Not only had she nearly been late but everyone had heard that. "Hey guys." As her attention went to Naoki and Nanako, she gave them each a bow. "Nanako, you've grown! You used to be this tall." Her hand lowered beside her own waist as the words 'this tall' left Yukiko's lips.
There was something about Nanako that made her feel ... like a mother, almost. Though to many extents, most of the investigation team seemed to have parental feelings towards Nanako. It was why they'd all worked so hard to protect and rescue her all those years ago. It'd been damn close too ... no! No sense thinking on that. Finally, her head turned to Naoki as she smiled before looking back to Nanako.
"I'd say you've gotten a good start so far. I think the bell's about --- "
Before Yukiko could finish, the first bell did indeed ring, causing all of the women to turn. Yukiko and Chie began to head inside. Naoto, on the other hand, remained behind as she looked to Naoki and Nanako. "Have either of you been inside before? If not, I can show you both around. Just tell me your homeroom number and I can guide you there real fast if you'd like."
Nanako's head shook no. "I haven't been in, at least." She then glanced over to Naoki, curious if he had or not. Depending on his answer would determine if she even needed to take up the offer or not.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi"No- no I just meant that he is probably-" Youske managed to cut himself off from saying 'getting arrested' and felt a small awkward silence fall over him for a moment.
As soon as the bell rang Yosuke moved to excuse himself from the group, leaving quickly with Chie and Yukiko to head to their new home room. He didn't really want to take bets on who there teacher was going to be, but was also glad to be out of the awkward confrontation.
"S-sorry about that." Yosuke scratched the back of his head slightly confused by the entire situation. He knew about Saki's real feelings, and that was certainly a part of his past that he was eager to move on from, but it still hurt, and dealing with Naoki made it all the worse in the pit of his stomach. He didn't want to admit it, but being around him, just felt awkward and clumsy, and not in the usual happy way. It didn't help that Naoki basically hated Yosuke.
"I guess somethings never really change. No matter how much time you give them." He looked over at Chie a little more meloncoly then usual, but then perked up immediately. "Hey Yukiko long time no see right?!"
Naoki smiled as Yosuke and the others finally left. His skin stopped feeling like it was going to boil to the bone and he was able to return to the things at hand. "Right um, actually no I haven't been in the school yet." He said lightly, "And I don't actually know which one is our room so it would be really helpful of you."
Naoki smiled for a moment as he started to walk, but then paused for a moment feeling something wet hit his skin, looking up as the rain started to fall. "Crap, lets get inside!" He said as he hurried up. He didn't bring an umbrella today which on reflection was a dumb mistake.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
".... You did well. Really, Yosuke. But ... I mean ... didn't you kind of know this day would come? There aren't exactly many other schools for him to go to, you know? Well ... " Her head shook as she took a deep breath. "Just ... keep taking it one step at a time, I guess?" Chie offered, smiling softly to Yosuke before going silent. The presence of Yukiko and time; those were the two things that he obviously needed. She could patiently wait. Until then, it seemed right for Chie to do what she could to help him out. And if that meant being silent ... so be it.
"Mhm, it has been. The inn's been getting more attention than ... as far as I can remember. It's a real blessing and curse at the same time," she replied, letting out a long sigh which suggested sleep hadn't been the best for her. "I .. don't really regret taking over, finally. But I didn't think it'd bethistiring, either. Stupid of me, I suppose. That probably should have been a given." A weary smile managed to cross her face as the three walked before Chie gave Yukiko's sleeve a gentle tug.
"You're about to walk by our classroom! We're here. Geez, you two really must be out of it. You especially, Yukiko."
"... Yeah, I guess ... " she murmured, walking inside first with Chie close behind.
"... Damn ... " Naoto murmured, feeling the first drops of rain begin to fall. Making a 'come on' gesture, she ran ahead, sneaking glances every now and again to ensure the freshmen got inside fine.
Sure enough, Nanako arrived through the main doors about a minute after Naoto had with Naoki close by. Moving her backpack in front of her, she opened it up and grabbed a folded up piece of paper which was her roster. "Um ... " After scanning around the piece of paper, her eyes found the homeroom number. "Room 104."
"104? Alright. That's not that far actually from my own."
A few turns later, Naoto led both Naoki and Nanako in front of large, white door with the same numbers labeled on front. "There you two go. Things should go smoother from here on out. Good luck and I hope your first year is good. Excuse me," Giving a quick bow of her head, Naoto turned and half-jogged, half-ran into the same homeroom with Yosuke and the others, quietly taking her seat.
"Well ... I suppose here goes everything and nothing huh?" Taking a long breath, Nanako gripped the handle then turned it, walking inside their own homeroom.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke was caught up in listening too Chie's words, oddly enough they were very helpful for him. Of course he had known that the day would come that Saki's brother would show up at their school, but at the same time he had always assumed he was able to simply avoid it. It was one of those things that he was always hoping he could just put off for another day. Walking along and listening to Yukiko and her life made him smile, and while he was so focused on the two of them, he nearly walked past their classroom.
"Oh right sorry." He said as he turned and walked with Chie. Looking at the layout of the classroom he was a little surprised. "Room 2-2 again?" He said finding it more then a little creepy that they had the old classroom from three years ago. The desks were even laid out in the same fassion. As Chie moved to take her seat, he swallowed and sat down beside her taking up what he guessed was Yu's old seat.
Seeing Naoto walk into the room he smiled and waved, but his focus lingered for a moment on Chie, before turning towards the window. the rain was really starting to come down, and then there was that thick fog... He swallowed lightly it was nothing it was just a wierd cosmic happenstance of deja-vu. Nothing more and nothing less. He swallowed trying to focus on the fact that their newteacherentered the room.
Coughing slightly he set down his book as he cleared his throat. "You shall not pass." He bowed his head before he turned towards the board. "That is all. You are all going to fail this course and that one, and everything you attempt so it's often better to just not even try. Just give up on your dreams like I have and take a dead end job teaching a bunch of failiers to be."
Yosuke let out a sigh turning towards Chie. "Where does this school even find these people?"
Naoki stayed with Nanako waiting in an odd state of limbo for her to open the door. "Were already running late." He said as she walked inside the room, and he quickly followed. Oddly enough the teacher wasn't actually in the room yet, but he could immedately feel every single eye on him and Nanako as they entered the room. He swallowed feeling an odd tension and quickly ran for the nearest set of free seats he could find.
"Here take this one!" He said pointing to the seat next to him that was free. He felt awkward and kind of clumsy about his approach for that, but this was just the way it was going to be. Looking around the room he didn't know anyone else... Which was honestly.... the best possible situation! This really was going to be the year of change for him. Everything was going to brand new and great.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
It was no doubt a bit disheartening for Chie to see Yosuke take Yu's seat. But they had known from the get-go it wouldn't be likely he would return each and every year. In fact, he'd said it himself; his visit was meant to be a one-time thing. Still, he had been an amazing new friend for her and the others to have made and was no doubt the best leader they could have ran into. The memories, and perhaps slightly bold decision to go on and sit beside Yosuke anyway, made her smile. As he turned his head, she noticed him looking out the window.
Needless to say, Chie couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy herself. First the rain and now the fog? It was definitely an eerie feeling of deja vu, no doubt.
Bu-but .. that's all it is!she tried to convince herself, shaking her head both in response to dismiss the thoughts trying to dominate her head and in answer to his next question regarding the teachers. "Fuck if I know," she murmured under her voice; though honestly, with how annoyed it had sounded, it was more akin to a growl. "The faculty just .. ugh! I wish they'd stop not putting enough effort into their job. It's obvious they aren't."
She hadn't even thought about the rare curse word which slipped past her lips. But truthfully, today was supposed to have started off as a new and very promising day. And now that everything seemed to be going wrong, it was getting her really irritable.
"Yes, yes you two are. However, since I'm late, I'll let it slide," the voice from behind Nanako and Naoki had been abrupt and in a very strict tone. "Sit down," Thankfully, they did so swiftly, making a small "Hmph" be heard next.
"They were lucky. The next one of you I find breaking some sort of rule will have much,muchworse than a mere scolding. Trust me." Now that Nanako and Naoki were sitting down, they - plus all the freshman - could see the form of their newsensei. Of course, about half the other guys whistled without thinking.
Then again, the same held true for the woman. She grabbed an object that both Naoki and Nanako may have recognized when they walked by the blackboard as a long ruler. Picking it up, she brought it down and slammed it against the chalkboard.
"Shove it! Now then, my name is Emi Tsuchi. You will use Miss Tsuchi or sensei to address me. This is not up for negotiation."
Nanako cringed, having covered her ears from the loud noise. It was quite tempting to speak back Naoki but ... she didn't wish to get caught and punished for it. Definitely not afterthatdisplay. A soft sigh passed her lips as she began grabbing her stuff as Miss Tsuchi began starting repeating all of her various lectures, rules, whatnot.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
The lecture seemed to drone on and on as their teacher constantly refereed to them as everything from falling stars to having a cripling lack of self esteem. Yosuke could basically figure out that he was basically projecting, and the fact that they got the uber pessimist just drawling on didn't really help Yosuke's confidence in the faculty of this school. In fact it did rather the opposite of any of that. "Never thought I would see the day that I miss King Moron."
Yosuke tried his best not to let the thought linger to long on the past but every time he turned his head towards the window he had to take a deep breath, feeling something clench inside his stomach. He kept hoping against hope that nothing was gonna happen, and as he leaned back into his chair he could already tell that the same kind of feeling was eating away at Chie.
There was something almost poisonous in the air around them, and it worried him. He glanced towards Chie trying to take comfort in the fact that he was sitting next to her, and trying to pay attention to their new teachers droning about the world and how they would never actually find a place to fit in. Biting his lip and trying to make time he fidgeted slightly in his seat.
Naoki blinked, their teacher was a total milf... It was slightly recoiling to see someone as hot as her be a teacher, and for a moment or two he was like many of the other guys around quickly entranced and pulled into the spell of the new teacher, however he quickly shut himself down from it the moment that she hit the chalk bored. He swallowed, thankful that he hadn't been one of the male students to whistle or do anything more then just stare at her for a minute or two. Shaking his head he quickly pulled out a pencil and notebook focusing on the work rather then their teachers body.
Naoki sighed as he looked at Nanako, understanding her cringing and gave her a warming smile. Then he quickly returned to focusing on his work.
As time passed everything seemed normal for both classes that was until however a noise buzzed over the P.A. "Teachers are advised to keep all students in the building, and then report to the office for an emergency meeting."
Yosuke went from annoyed to having the color drain from his face. Looking as their teacher made a hurried exit. "No..." He bit his lip there was a small amount of pan running through him even as he got up from his chair. Off in the distance he could already hear the sirens, and he knew every bad feeling he had ever had was just confirmed in his gut. "It can't be."
He turned towards Chie worry showing on his face. "Were going right? I mean... I have to see. It can't be.." The pit of his stomach made him feel sick, but there was no holding back at the moment... he had to go no other way around it.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"Me neither. At least we began tolearnsomething, even if it was more of a life lesson than an actual one. Urgh ... " Chie sighed as she rested her head in a hand, looking down toward her desk. As much as she tried to pay actual attention to this new professor, she found it more and more difficult as he went on and on. Worse off, it wasn't about anything productive! She was ready, for the first timeever, to stand up and walk out of the classroom. And given that even King Moron hadn't made her want to do such a thing, it truly was a feat in itself.
"This teacher is --- " but as Chie caught Yosuke's glance at the window, she looked over with him. "... That's still bothering you? I mean, I can't blame you but it's been years now. I'm pretty sure that's done and over with." she replied, shooting him a small smile, hoping to calm his nerves.
Everyone continued their work until the PA activated. Emi glanced up, scoffed in annoyance and shot a warning glare to everyone. "I have no idea what this is about but if I come back and eventhinkone of you stepped out for any reason, therewillbe consequences. No one move until I get back!"
And with that, she ran out, almost slamming the door as she left.
After several seconds passed by, Nanako let out a soft but very long sigh. "Of all the teachers ... hmmm. But ... that's kind of a weird announcement. What do you think it means?"
Chie, on the other hand, felt her heart stop, her face beginning to match Yosuke's. "... Impossible .... " she murmured, shaking her head in disbelief. "This can't .. no .. no way. How?!" Her teeth gripped her lower lip as she gave Yosuke an affirmative nod. "This class was getting nowhere anyway so .. all more the reason, yes."
She got quickly up to her feet, never having felt more content or eager to leave a classroom ever before. The same held true to her never having been so impatient as she reached out, helped Yosuke to this feet, and began to run out of the room.
Naoto, meanwhile, had been about five steps ahead of the duo. The second she heard the announcement, she'd already slipped out. Her detective instincts had kicked in and deep down, sheknewsomething was amiss. And it was clearly not a minor 'something', thus this suggested that she needed to check it out for herself. As she arrived, Naoto remained mingled in with the crowd, using her height to her advantage and disadvantage simultaneously. It took a lot of maneuveringbutshe was slowly seeing what this emergency had been.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Naoki looked confused for a moment an emergency meeting? It sounded kind of familiar, but at the same time nothing like that happened in Inaba anymore this was once again a quiet town. Things were different and this was probably nothing to worry about. "Someone was probably just illegally parked or something, I don't know let the cops or what ever handle it." He said taking up a laze-fare stance on the subject.
Yosuke trembled slightly as he moved, feeling Chie's hand on him as they ran out of the schoolroom and down the hallway. He swallowed hard as he walked, wanting everything to just be some sick nightmare, he would wake up any minute to Teddie's obnoxious snoring, but the fact was that wasn't going to happen. Nothing was changing and as much as he wanted to admit it this wasn't a dream. He bit his lip anger and rage swelling up inside him, but as they reached the crime scene and slipped into the crowed everything burned away turning into cold fear.
Yosuke shuddered not wanting to admit what he was seeing, but there was no doubt to his mind. City workers were still trying to take the body down from the telephone wires, and the police and ambulance were all here. This was just like that day, the only difference being that the woman strung up was all too close to home. The red hair, pale skin, and flushed face, he swallowed hard. The victim was rise kujikawa.
Yosuke dropped his school bag, stumbling for a moment as he felt the weight under his legs nearly give out, he gripped onto Chie's hand like it was the end of the world. This couldn't be happening. They dealt with the other world, things were supposed to be better now. There hasn't been a murder like this in three years, and why, why did it have to be Rise-chan?
"I...Crap how did this happen?" There were no words that he could say, Turning to Chie his entire body was shaking, dread, anger, and sadness all covered him, and he honestly would have just fallen over right there if he could have. Looking through the crowed of people Yosuke was able to spot Naoto dispite her smaller size, and his eyes then turned to the detective on hand Ryotaro.
"Damn it I thought we told the school to keep students like you inside." Ryotaro's voice cut through the shade as he walked up rather aggressively towards the group, but spotting out a few faces in the crowed he quickly shirked away. "Come on get out of here... before I have to report you." He said loudly. He didn't want to let them off the hook, but this was punishment enough for all of them.
Yosuke bit his lower lip for a moment his grip still tight on Chie's hand. "We need to go to Junes." His first thought being that if this was the same then they would have to go through the tv right away so they could at least know what happened.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Somehow, Nanako couldn't feel like this had also been familiar. While she had been around with everyone on the investigation team for several years now, Nanako had never known about the TV or the shadows. Rather, she hadn't known until near the very end when she'd been saved by everyone. Still, hadn't someone mentioned it all starting with something like this? Or something really similar? That alone suddenly made her anxious and worried. At the same time, Naoki had the best advice.
"... Yeah, true. It ... probably should just be handled by the police." she decided, sighing softly as she leaned back in her chair. They had barely gotten into the class and hadn't been able to take notes. That being said, she couldn't necessarily start on any form of work. So until the the teacher returned, it seemed like the only thing to do was relax and continue to wait.
As all the familiar sights came into view, Chie's heart sank with each new step she took. Her head shook from side to side. This couldn't be happening, not again. But finally, after making her way through the crowd with Yosuke, she saw Rise's body. Her own body - especially around the hands - began to tremble as she lightly gripped his. "This ... no. This can't ... "
And yet, no matter how many times she blinked or tried to look away, she continued to see Rise's body. ".. I ... I don't know how, let alone who. Yosuke?" Her voice lowered as she swallowed nervously, "... Do you think ... she was randomly chosen? Or ... was this a more direct message against ... us? Against .. the investigation team?" It wasn't exactly a very pleasant thought but all options had to be considered.
As Chie's eyes caught a glimpse of Naoto, however, she wondered if the detective would be able to get any leads. As far as everything was concerned, she was now officially on duty ... wasn't she? Even if she wasn't, the girl was smart. She'd figure ways to get information out, whether Dojima or anyone else liked it or not.
Speaking of Ryotaro, his voice damn well nearly made Chie jump as she merely walked away with Yosuke. "... I agree but ... not now. Maybe ... wait for the others, mainly Teddie, Yukiko, and - if possible - Kanji? But... I don't know about just us."
Sure enough, Naoto had taken advantage of having arrived as the first 'civilian' - one of them anyway - and used her cell phone to take pictures of the body. It wouldn't have as good of a zoom while on her phone. But she had no intention of keeping them only there. No. She'd upload them on her laptop at home and get a much better look. Still, if this was indeed a copycat, she had to know somehow.
Deftly slipping her phone away, Naoto continued to stay nearby the crime scene. Each second she had an opportunity to better study this would get her - slowly but surely - closer and closer to the truth. Not that she'd keep this only to herself, of course. But she had to find out for herself in the beginning so she could relay this to the others as accurately as possible.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke placed a hand on Chie's shoulder as they walked away from the situation. There was still rain and drizzle all around them, which honestly helped. The cold air helped him keep his calm after what they had just seen. Yosuke looked back at Rise for a long moment wondering about what Chie had just said. Could it have been a message against them?
There was a chance that she was right. The thought that Rise had somehow been picked by someone else to stand as some kind of example was scary, but not something he was going to rule out. He trembled for a moment if someone was targeting members of the task force.
"Who would even know about us?" Yosuke's voice trembled for a moment as he spoke. Sure they had helped to put to rest a god like creature, but who really even knew about the investigation group? Nanako had been to young to really be involved she knew them as Yu's and her friends, Ryotaro had thanked them for their assistance, but had never really been sold on the idea of another world connected to a T.V.
The obvious answer that came to mind was Adachi, but he was in jail with a life sentence he wasn't getting out any time soon. Still someone had killed Rise-chan, they were going find out who the hell had done it. They owed it to one of their friends. Walking down the road, the rain was making Yosuke's body damp and cold. "Right lets call the others, and have them meet us." He thought for a moment on a good location.
"Lets have them meet us at Aiya's if nothing else we can get a lunch, before we head over." He grit his teeth, half of him wanted to storm into Junes and shove himself into the T,V, Teddie was already working there so it wasn't that big a problem to grab him and as long as they had him with them then they could get out using the exit. There didn't seem to be a reason to not go to Junes right now, but at the same time Chie was right.
They needed everyone with them if they were going to conduct this investigation properly. Pulling out his cellphone, he dialed a number. Listening to it ring for a moment before the other end picked up. "Hey, Kanji?.. can you meet me and Chie at Aiya's... Also where were you today was the first day of school... What do you mean you overslept? Nanako started today!... You seriously just forgot! Okay come on down and... No this isn't my treat, if you order it you have to finish it or pay!" He hung up for a moment feeling actually a little better then he thought he would though a little angry with Kanji.
"Can you call Yukiko? I don't actually have her number."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"Adachi but .... isn't he still .... dealt with? I mean, I can't see him being let out soon if ever. Not even with a damn good lawyer. All the same, I can't think of anyone else that isn't part of the investigation team." Well, that wasn't true. Dojima kind of knew but even then, it wasn't enough information. He knew that the two of them, Yu, and the others had gotten involved but not the exact details. Moreover, he wouldn't resort to such tactics. It wasn't like him; at least that had been the impression Chie got from all the times she'd been around Nanako's father.
A small smile couldn't help but cross Chie's face as she listened to the conversation between Yosuke and Kanji. He'd handled it pretty well. Years ago, Yosuke used to be .. a lot more uneasy around Kanji. While it was true that he'd just called Kanji as opposed to doing a face-to-face talk, it was still a start. He really had, in so many ways, grown up and become much more mature. She remained silent during the duration of his talk, save for a few chuckles upon hearing that - of all the things - Kanji had overslept.
At least he was safe but .. she couldn't blame Yosuke for scolding Kanji. Of all the the days to forget, this shouldn't have been the one to do so with.
A small sigh passed her lips as Chie hit the speed dial for Yukiko's number. "Yukiko? Hey ... the teacher didn't return back did they? No? Good. Why? Well ... just meet up with me, Yosuke, and the others at Aiya's. Everything will be explained when we're all there. All save Nanako. Why not? Because .. she definitely doesn't need to know this; not yet."
That thought hit her pretty damn hard; they were going to have to break this to Nanako eventually. Or .. should they let the school or news break it to her? Regardless, she was no longer the young preteen girl they'd known before. She was an actual teenager, a high school student; and a smart one at that. She'd put two and two together with time.
The sounds of Yukiko repeating Chie's name over the end of her cell phone snapped her out of her thoughts. "Ah! Sorry! Um ... yeah, Aiya's. Lunch. Great, thanks." A low groan left as she hung her phone up, pocketing it away.
Naoto, on the other hand, had finally been forced to head back to class but not before Dojima said she could - and would be needed - to help with this. Well, at least that was a start. And probably the smarter one, honestly. From the way she had seen Rise, there was no obvious cause of death. But there would be one place that she could get more details at; the morgue.
She'd never dare admit it out loud but the thought honestly made Naoto a tad nervous. She'd never been in such a location before. But ... it would be their best bet to understand what had happened. Until then, she had the same thoughts as Chie; Adachi would be their best lead. Simultaneously, he was locked away.
But ... there's no other current lead ...
It made Naoto wonder whether to visit Adachi first and see if he had tipped anyone off or go right for the morgue. She continued to think it over on the way back towards her classroom.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke was still shivering as he walked towards Aiya's even as they made it into the shopping district he wanted nothing more then to just break down. Even though it wasn't very mature of him he wanted to scream and break something. It was like several conflicting impulses all drove him on at once. He had seen Naoto in the crowed and just assumed that she was following them, but now that they had put some distance between everyone else and the crowed looking around he didn't see the blue haired detective anywhere.
Dialing her number he paused before actually pressing send when he heard Chie's conversation with Yukiko, and came to the same realization as she did. They would have to at least tell Nanako about Rise. He let out a huge sigh as he fell on Chie for a moment his arm once again leaning on her for support as he felt a surge of pain run through him.
They had nearly lost Nanako once, and he still remembered how everyone had been that day, but this was still so very cold and different. They actually lost Rise. "I can't do it." Yosuke trembled for a moment. As he stopped walking and had to just put himself up against a wall, his eyes looking up at the grey sky as he took cover under a canvas.
Thinking back To Nanako his mind went to facing down Minato, how he and the others had reacted. The will to just push him into the T.V. and be done with it. Or even just beat him to death with their own hands. Back then Chie had been the one against it, the one who had dragged him back from committing murder, and now they lost Rise. The same kind of anger was there with him, but this time there was no one to lash out at, no one he could try and hurt. This time he felt much more alone. "Right now, I want nothing more than to find and kill some bastard I don't even know. First... Saki-senpai and now just when everything seemed safe Rise-chan ends up like that. I don't think I can go through another one of these investigations and keep my sanity intact."
He looked at Chie now, not even sure what he was feeling. Last time he had nearly hurt Chie in a fit of rage when he they had faced Minato, not to mention all the crap that had gone down with Adachi, including having to face a god. He had thought that after that everything would just be easier, but if anything a sense of foreboding fear had settled into his heart, and looking back on his actions they became really hard to justify.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"Yosuke ... you have to. We've already gathered everyone else. And .. honestly? Even if you tried to keep her out of this, you know Naoto is going to figure things out regardless of what may or may not happen. That's her job, she's a detective. We ... we have no idea who's behind this yet. We can't just let her risk running into that same person." Chie paused, letting the very possible threat register into Yosuke's head before pulling him into a somewhat shaky embrace.
"I know it's hard. Really, I do even .. even if I'm not sounding much like it. But this can't slide. This can't just .. be ignored. And that's exactly what you're going to do if you don't tell Naoto to meet up here."
Well, it'd be one of the things. Several other darker options tried to haunt Chie's head. She bit on her lower lip and mentally shoved them away, refusing to dwell on any of them. She was smart. If push came to shove, Chie believed Naoto could handle herself. However ... would the killer really be out and about after committing a murder so soon? She wouldn't think so just because of all the risks that came with getting caught.
"Just ... take a few moments, calm down, and call her. Please. I have nothing against your own ideas. But it'd be stupid to go after a random person and - more likely than not - get the wrong individual. Plus .. if they've found Riseandknow of us, there's no guarantee any of us are safe!"
The same fear, anger, and even uncertainty could definitely be seen in Chie's eyes. Yet among the negative feelings, there was a sense of resolve and determination.
Naoto had barely walked back into the school when she bumped into a running Yukiko. "... Something up?"
"Didn't you get called? We need to be at Aiya's."
"... I see. Alright. I'll join you."
It would have been easy to tell Yukiko then and there. But if she was heading over to Aiya's, the rest - save Nanako, hopefully - would also be there. It meant there would be a hell of a long talk and discussion. And for that, she did want to be there. Pivoting on her feet, Naoto broke into a run alongside Yukiko, heading toward Aiya's.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke looked at Chie for a long moment finding the ability to calm down as he did. She was right, now that they were all a potential target things were far more serious. It was too early to say for sure, but if someone really was targeting members of the investigation team then there was no doubt that eventually that person would come after all of them. It was a thought far more threatening then he liked, but at the same time something was bugging him.
He hadn't watched the news in the last few days, so he wasn't about to rule it out, but as far as he knew Rise hadn't been on the television, but there was something more disturbing then that. Also if everyone was a target than didn't that include Chie? He had Teddie living at his house, and if it came down to it they could take shifts watching each other. Naoto was a detective, and carried a gun, she may have been over powered once but it was really unlikely that she would allow that to happen again.
Kanji was Kanji fucking Tatsumi, and Yukiko had the inn staff. "Chie... Do you want to stay with me and Teddie for a while. I'll give you my room." He would find somewhere else to sleep if he had too. He could easily just put himself into Teddie's room for a while, or take up the living room it wasn't much of an idea.
He swallowed and then quickly brought up the Phone dialing the number for Naoto and walking into Aiya. Chie's words helping him to get back his resolve. It seemed so weird that he would be the one to falter like he had, but now that his head was back in the game Yosuke got back his determination.
Shortly after the two of them walked into the place, a third figgur burst through the door, having ran the distance of Tatsumi textiles where he lived, to Aiya, he walked up to Chie and Yosuke and took a seat. "Everyone else still getting here? Figgures they would be slow." He said lightly Honestly he was surprised that the others got here before him, but then he had also still been asleep when Yosuke called.
"So what the hell is the emergency already?... And why do you two look like you've both seen a ghost or something? what did I miss!"
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
While Chie may not have had the highest IQ among the group, she could still easily see Yosuke was obviously contemplating on something. She pulled away from the embrace, watching him carefully with her own eyes. Finally, the offer to stay with Yosuke for a while was brought up.
"...H-huh?! Um .... "
It sounded more like a proposal to move in but ... no. This was for an actual reason. No matter how foolish some ideas Yosuke said may sound, healwayshad a reason for saying them. He was a man of purpose. So .. maybe shock was just keeping her from properly thinking on why this offer was being extended because right then and there, Chie couldn't begin to understand why he would suggest this.
"Explain why later if you don't mind."
And her own reply, let alone moving away from the hug, had seemed to be timed out pretty damn well because in walked - ran - Kanji. Chie had been ready to reply before both Yukiko and Naoto ran in, each panting a bit. The detective had managed to hear Kanji's inquiry, however, and gave him an answer.
"Join .. and ... keep your voice down a bit ... please."
Letting the hint that even Naoto knew about this linger, both herself and the new manager of the inn took a seat, each also taking the time to regain their oxygen. Naoto gave a knowing glance to both Yosuke and Chie, as if trying to silently ask who wanted to break the news.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke blinked hearing Chie ask him to explain it, but he shook his head, he would later, now they had to deal with Kanji and the others. Looking around there was still one, well three people missing. It kind of hurt that they knew Rise wasn't going to show up, and everyone had accepted that Yu was gone which really meant they were down by a leader, but pulling out his cellphone he dialed one last number. "Hey Teddie, take the rest of the day off work and come to Aiya's.... I don't care tell them it's important and that I'm the one who told you to do it... Yes I will get in trouble, but this is a special circumstances! Just get your bear ass down here... Yes that means wear clothing you pervert!"
Yosuke let out a long sigh as he held his nose for a moment leaning back as though he got a nose bleed from it all. Kanji looked at the others, and everyone seemed rather confused by everything.
"Hey... what's going on?" He asked the table his eyes drifting towards Naoto for a moment as he thought about why everyone seemed so serious.
Turning to the counter of Aiya's he held up his hand. "Can I get two mega beef bowls." He said then turning to the rest of the group. "I owe Chie right now, so I will pay for hers if she doesn't finish it... everyone else can buy their own food, i'm not made of money."
With his order placed Yosuke looked at the table, letting out a long sigh. "Did any of you check the T.V. last night just because it was raining?" He looked at the table already knowing the answer was no since no one had called him in the middle of the night. He himself hadn't checked the T.V. in a very long time, so the idea that anyone else had was rather off.
Kanji on the other hand was blinking counting heads for a moment. "Uhm.. is anyone gonna call Rise or is she already on her way?"
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Naoto had been more than ready to fill Kanji in. However, she was reminded there was indeed still one person missing; Teddie. So, she refrained herself from revealing what exactly was wrong. "I'm pretty sure this is going to wait for when Teddie arrives." she said calmly, raising her own hand towards the workers. "One megabeef bowl for me also." She pulled her wallet out and began getting money out, hinting to Yosuke she'd heard about him refusing to pay for anyone else. It seemed fair enough. Honestly, the thought of taking care of everyone's meals did seem a bit ... of a chore to do.
Yukiko had begun to notice the very tense atmosphere, from the way Chie had gone unusually quiet to Yosuke seeming much more serious. She shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable before finally looking to Chie. "Um ... is everything okay?"
"Please, just wait like Naoto asked. She .. she's right. Everyone should be here for this."
"So what about Nanako?"
"... Not yet. Later but .. not yet."
This confused the new inn keeper and yet finally suggested that whatever this was, it must be horrible to purposely keep Nanako out of this. Her eyes glanced to Naoto, as if hoping she'd go on and say something, even a mere hint. Alas, no luck as Yukiko let out a defeated sigh and continued to wait. Her eyes finally went back to Naoto, glancing specifically at her wallet. "Um ... would you ... ??"
"... Hm?" As Naoto noticed where Yukiko was looking at, her head tilted slightly. "With all due respect, Amagi-san, aren't you now the manager of the inn?"
"Well .. yeah but ...."
"So unless you've been needlessly splurging, you don't really have an excuse to not be able to cover yourself." It was selfish, Naoto knew. But she had been an orphan most of her life. Inheritances could only work for so long and most of that was gone. She had to take care of herself and if that meant taking the same route as Yosuke, with being selective and all, so be it.
"... Never mind ... " Yukiko murmured, clearly in an annoyed voice.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke let out a long sigh, normally he would be taken to the cleaners by this group, everyone always came to him when they needed money or didn't in the case of Yukiko, so lately the 'prince of Junes' had been putting his foot down. The truth was he didn't even really owe Chie anything, but after seeing that body and knowing how bummed they all were, a giant bowl of beef was at least going to help his closest friend recover.
Yosuke was a little shocked that Chie was so silent, everyone at the table had a nervous energy to them. It didn't seem like her to be so quiet then again it wasn't like him to actually be afraid. Thinking back to how he had been the first one to want to go back into the T.V. world the first time around and even had that dumb ass plan with the rope, it was very different this time around.
Kanji was fixated on something very different on the other hand. "So did anyone call Rise? do you know if she's on her way yet!" It seemed like such a simple question and yet he wasn't getting an answer yet. He hadn't been at school so he had no idea that she hadn't shown up to class, and now that he thought about it, there had been a long time since the last time he had talked to the idol.
Teddie ran in, clutching his knee's as his white shirt was covered in rain and sweat. He had apparently ran all the way from Junes to the old shopping district, and then some. "This had better... be... beary important!" He said in between heavy pants and gulps of air. Walking up to the table he grabbed Yosuke's water and chugged it slamming it down on to the table as he breathed heavily.
"Hey dude not cool!" He glared at Teddie for a moment as he took his seat. Everyone looked around the table and Yosuke let out a long sigh.
"Listen... At school today there was an incident, and they found Rise-chan... hanging upside down just outside the school. She's not coming today, because she's dead." Yosuke let out a long breath of air as the food arrived at the table for him and Chie. Taking up his chopsticks he shook his head as he let out a short and quick 'itadakimasu' and started to eat, wanting to try and focus his efforts on something other then the death of a friend.
Kanji blinked in disbelief. "No... but."
Teddie's eyes began to water, as he came to the same reasonable assumption as Yosuke. "but we... I never even got to score with Rise-chan."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
".... No .... " It was obvious that if Yukiko had been holding anything, especially a bowl or any fragile object, it would definitely have been dropped and shattered on the floor. She glanced around from face to face, finally stopping on Chie. "This ... he's lying! Right?!"
Chie sadly shook her head, breaking her chopsticks as she began to eat. "He's quite serious. I know Yosuke can make jokes at times, yeah. But .. not about things like this. You should know that." Bowing her head, she began to eat. While she knew fully well Yosuke didn't owe her a damn thing, she appreciated the gesture. If anything, now she owed him two lunches.
Yukiko looked around again before looking desperately at Naoto.
"... They already spoke the truth. I don't know what more you want."
"... Proof!"
"... You sure about that? I mean, I do have some but .... I don't know if it's wise. Moreover, you may wanna have a strong stomach."
"I don't care! What is it?!"
Naoto sighed as she stood up, pulling her phone out and going to her pictures. Making sure only Yukiko could see, she let her eyes linger on the picture of a now dead Rise before sitting back down.
"...W-why do you even have those?!"
"Because Dojima-san has allowed - no, asked - me to help out with this case too. The only real catch is I can't go in and begin helping out until after classes. He wants me to still focus on my education." A small smile crept across her face. "The problem he's failing to remember, unfortunately, is with Rise having been the victim .. this will be a much easier said than done task. But I'm not going to go against him, not when he's still letting me help out."
A few moments later, Naoto's own meal arrived. She handed over the money to the waitress before beginning to eat.
"Why are you so calm about this, Naoto?!" Yukiko exclaimed.
Even when the group had gone in her world, they had never seen the detective glare or do anything to express genuine anger towards anyone before. Now, however, Yukiko would be the first. A mix of venom and ice entered her voice as she began to speak, "Listen up and listen good. I am as upset about this as anyone else. It doesn't seem like it, I realize. But the reason I'm calm is because panicking won't do a goddamn thing. I'mstillworking on my socializing so I'm sorry if I'm coming off as a cold, uncaring bitch. But that's the last thing I am. Now then ... if you're going to say another thing to me, make it more productive why don't you? Besides, I'm trying to eat. That was rude and uncalled for."
".... " That was as far as Yukiko got as her head bowed slowly.
Chie couldn't help but cringe a bit. The lashing was .. not at all expected. But in the end, Naoto did have some pretty good points. Because of that more than anything else, she wouldn't try to say Naoto had been wrong. However, she would comfort Yukiko in the best possible way. "I .. I know it doesn't feel possible, huh? But Naoto kind of has a point. Continuing to pout won't do us any good. If we really want to do something about this .. "
Her voice trailed off as she allowed for everyone else to fill in the blanks. Whether anyone liked it or not, it seemed history was going to repeat.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke finished a bite he was eating and gained back the determination he had lost over the years of inactivity. This wasn't a game for any of them, one of the investigation team was dead, and it seemed damn obvious that they needed a leader now. Yu was gone, and wouldn't be coming back till at least the next vacation time he would get. Which would probably be golden weak.
Clapping his hands together he let out a long sigh, it took too much of everything in order to finish this beef bowl, but after what felt like an hour of trying he had finally gained some understanding into this world, the courage he needed to face it, and the intelligence to see what needed to be done! Placing down his chopsticks he was done with this... portal to a dimension of meat, and slowly he stood up.
Taking a deep breath Yosuke had to pull one of out of Yu's hand book. "Listen everyone Chie is right. I know this is a shock, I know none of us want to deal with this in our lives, we thought we were done for sure, but this proves that at the least we aren't done yet. One of our own members was taken from us, and I don't know about any of you, but I am ready to get serious. So I say that we head down to Junes as a team and we go into the T.V. and we see for certain that the fog is gone from that world, and our world."
Yosuke was back and determined as ever. "We found the truth once, and with all of us together we can do it again!"
Kanji was next to get to his feet, his fist in the air. "Yeah, I say we stop feeling sorry about ourselves, and do what Rise would want us to do! Lets find this asshole and kick some ass!"
Teddie sniffled slightly as he nodded staying in his seat all the same. "I'll do my beary best to sniff out what is going on."
Yosuke was quick to pull out his cellphone and check the weather forcast on the net. "It's going to keep raining into tonight, so at the very least we should all check the T.V. tonight, that will make everything clear once and for all."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Even if it may have been the wrong time, Chie couldn't help but feel a small yet powerful sense of pride surge through her as Yosuke admitted she had been right. She didn't have as good of an IQ like Naoto but Chie was by no means dumb. When logic was obviously needed, she could definitely use it. Now had been one of those moments. The thought of an investigation being done yet again - without Yu though - would be just a tad weird. But .. Yosuke was right. They couldn't just wait for him. No. Actions needed to be taken now, not later.
Naoto gave a quick, affirmative nod. "I'm definitely in." Regardless of whether Dojima had accepted her assistance or not, it was clear that she definitely would have been beside anyone who was as eager and ready to deal with this like herself.
Yukiko still seemed to be in disbelief. "... I can't believe this is happening again ... " she murmured, shaking her head slowly. The words made Chie turn to her best female friend and look at her silently. "But .. " the inn owner continued, "since it has ... yeah. This can't be ignored. I ... didn't think I'd be doing this again but ... I'll do it."
Each female gave a nod of agreement as Yosuke mentioned to check the TV. But it was Yukiko who spoke up yet again.
"So ... who tells Nanako?"
A few seconds passed by before Naoto raised her hand, making Yukiko raise an eyebrow. "You sure, Naoto?"
"I have the obligation to walk her to and from school anyway. It'd be .. easiest in that aspect. Can any of you admit you want to say this?" There hadn't been many others but Naoto had been involved with some deaths and relaying the unfortunate news to the remaining relatives. Granted, none were murders. Most had been car accidents much like her parents, something more natural. This wouldn't just be hard due to the cause but also the very fact that Nanako had known Rise. It wasn't just some random person, no. It had been one of her friends.
gpt
mYosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke frowned as he heard that they would need to tell Nanako, couldn't they just let her be a kid, and hide this from her for a little while? She was still younger then they were when they started the first invistagation. Sure sheltering her wasn't going to help her in the long run but there was an instinct inside of him that wanted to at least try to shield her from the reality of things. Seeing Naoto's hand go up asking to go and break the news to Nanako was already painful, but there was another factor that needed to be looked at.
"Naoto, you should probably go to Nanako then. School will be over soon, and well." He bit the inside of his tongue for a moment but if they were all going to go into the T.V. then chances are they wouldn't be able to check the midnight channel. "Were going to need at least one person on this side who can get all the details of what happened while we are in the other world. Were gonna need you to check the T.V. at midnight, cause we will all probably be too sick and exhausted to do it ourselves."
If this was anything like the last time then the killer was not going to stop at just one person. They are going to put as many people into the other world as they can, which meant it was up to them to stop them. "Also.. don't leave Nanako alone tonight. The news is going to be all over this, and well I'm not putting down the possibility that this was a message against us."
Kanji blinked. "Wait so we all have targets on our backs?" Kanji thought things over for a moment and made a confident 'hmpf' sound "bring them on! this time we will be ready for anything!"
"That could be beary bad. I don't like the idea of being someones target at all!" Teddie said as he shivered. as he got up and got ready to go back to Junes, taking a deep breath he looked at the rest of the group.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
In between the pauses and silence, both Naoto and Chie had been eating their respective meals. When Yosuke spoke to her, however, Naoto nodded. She had almost been done anyway. Thus, the sound of chopsticks being set in an empty bowl would soon be heard. Standing up, she gave Yosuke a small bow of her head. "Deal. Dojima will likely be late getting out of the office anyway. And he can relay details to me over the phone or through e-mail." And with that, she pivoted on her feet and began heading back to the school.
"W-wait ... a message? You think this was more than a crazy fan or something? I mean, shewasan idol. Couldn't it have been simply that?" Yukiko inquired.
"I thought the same," chimed in Chie. "But ... I don't know. I'm no detective like Naoto but ... it kind of felt ... intentional. Like it may have just been more and as if she had very carefully been chosen."
"But ... no one else knows about us as friends, let alone as an investigation team!"
"That ... was Yosuke's concern also." Chie confessed, sighing softly. "And .. yeah. It's true. But it'd be more risky for us not to keep this as a possibility."
A noticeable amount of color seemed to drain from Yukiko's face. Whatever appetite she had seemed to have as shown when trying to ask Naoto to pay for her meal was likely gone by now. "I .. almost feel like going home instead of back to school. This .. is by far the worst first day." Her eyes closed as she sighed softly, thinking carefully on what she'd actually do. After a few moments, her head shook. "No. I should at leasttryto finish ... even if only for appearances. Later."
Pushing herself up to her feet, Yukiko stood and left, no doubt heading in the same direction Naoto was.
Soon, it was just Kanji,Teddie, herself, and Yosuke. "So ... we just watch the TV and see where to go from there?" she mused, still in the midst of finishing up the last bits of her meal.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
The thing that was bugging Yosuke the most was that there hadn't been any T.V. appearances of Rise. It was possible that he had some how missed something, but it wasn't likely in fact he really disliked the possibility. He knew it was one of those things that he didn't need to mention after all Naoto would launch a full investigation into Rise's activities up until she died. but as he walked out of Aiya's into the Rainy day.
Letting out a long sigh he watched as Naoto and Yukiko walked away leaving him with Kanji, Teddie and Chie. Turning to them, he shook his head. "Were going to Junes, and going through the T.V. to the other side." It had been a long time since they had all gone to that world, the last time they did it had changed dramatically, and become something akin to a garden, he wasn't sure why but he was pretty much certain that it wasn't going to be that way anymore.
Waiting for Chie to finish her meal Kanji was the first to stand up. "Come on then lets get going!" A few minutes later he was basically leading the charge towards Junes, there was of course the problem with having Teddie come back with him, but Yosuke was there, and now that he was basically manager of the place it hardly mattered that he had called the bear off work.
Teddie was still shivering even as they arrived at Junes, he looked around clearly still saddened by all that was going on, going into the electronic's department they stopped in front of all the wide screen televisions. He paused for a moment looking at the screens it had been a long time since he had tried to go back to his world, but this was the T.V. they had used back then.
Kanji raised his hand ready to touch the screen, but stopped.. Usually they would have all followed Yu inside the T.V. now they were down a leader, and Yosuke looked around. Everyone seemed nervous, and for some reason even he didn't know what to expect. Swallowing he turned to Chie. "Ladies first?" He said gesturing towards the television.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Chie's thoughts were very similar to Yosuke's. To her knowledge, Rise hadn't been seen on TV. Hell as far as she could recall, Rise had refused to go back into the idol industry. So her chances of even being caught on a television should have been low if not 0% ... shouldn't it? Yet somehow, she had wound up dead. She went back to all she had told Yukiko about Rise being purposely chosen. There .. was definitely always that possibility, yes. But suddenly, she was hoping that more than anything, it had just been some very insane fan of hers.
But ... none of it makes sense! Urgh!
To be fair, this was partly why they were trying to get a head start now. Naoto would no doubt help them out, especially since Dojima himself had requested her aid. Maybe .. she could figure a good lead out, in terms of a person? Anything, honestly, would be a great start.
"... Ready as I'll ever be ... " she murmured to Yosuke, feeling her heart beat wildly as she walked with him, Kanji, and Teddie to Junes. In the back of her head, she had the nagging feeling that they had forgotten something. A frown crossed her face as she looked between all of the guys.
"We're forgetting something ... " she muttered softly, tapping her fingers gently against her hip. What exactly was beyond her. But it was important, hence why she was getting annoyed at forgetting exactly what they supposedly needed.
By the time they finally arrived at Junes, it hit her like a brick. Her head quickly shook no to Yosuke as a frantic look entered her eyes.
"Are you nuts?! We don't have our glasses! We can't!"
Well, they could but there would be a major risk of going in and not being able to see a damn thing.
"Shouldn't we at least get those first? I .. don't have mine on me at least."
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke's and Kanji's mouths both dropped slightly when she brought up the use of the glasses, Oddly neither of them had thought about it, seeing as they were both too caught up in the moment to actually think back to how the other world worked and how the fog had messed with them back when they hadn't had glasses of their own.
Teddie's eyes seemed to light up at the mention that they didn't have the glasses this time around. "Teddie to the rescue!" He said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out not one, but three pairs of joke glasses complete with fake nose and mustache.
Yosuke blinked for a moment looking at Teddie with a look that was both astonishment and annoyance. "... Why do you still have those?" He said taking one pair and checking them over, they seemed like a pair that would work well enough at least until they got home to get their real glasses, but why did they have to look so... stupid?
Yosuke's face shifted to a pale white when he realized exactly why Teddie had been carrying these around on his person. "Don't tell me, that for the past two years... you have been carrying these around just encase you wanted to pull off a joke!"
Kanji blinked as he picked up his pair and put them on. He honestly didn't mind that he looked kinda stupid in them, in fact when he had first joined the team he had been okay with wearing the glasses. "what ever man so long as we can get the job done who cares."
Teddie walked up to Chie and held out the last pair of glasses for her. "Here you go Chie, ladies first after all."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Chie was more than ready to turn around and quickly head back home. She had kept her glasses, thank gods. She just never wore or carried them on her. But before she could even begin to move, Teddie spoke up. She glanced down, very easily remembering those ... those ugly things! She bit down on her lower lip to hide a groan of annoyance. He couldn't be serious ... right? But, as he handed them out to the guys, it was clear that Teddie was very much so. Did he forget these pairs failed? No, no. Chie doubted that, especially when he tricked Kanji into wearing them.
A defeated sigh passed her lips as she accepted the spectacles. "... Alright then. Well ... "
Slowly, Chie placed the fake glasses over her eyes. Luckily, she had been facing the correct television so she just needed to go forward.
Yet as her head connected with the screen, it refused to let her through, causing her to cry out as she bumped her head. "Agh! Ow, ow, ow! It ... it's not working." Was it just because these glasses were blocking her sight? Itshouldn'tmatter, Chie knew.
However, just in case, she took them off and held them tightly in her right hand before trying again. Once more, the guys would see the same result, another attempt that led to a second failure. Chie gave an uncertain shrug as she turned and faced Yosuke and the others, rubbing her head gently.
"I dunno what's wrong but .. it really isn't working. I'm not losing anymore brain cells though so if you all wanna give it a shot, go for it."
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke seemed confused when the T.V. refused to let Chie pass, quickly taking off the glasses that were rather stupid anyway he pressed his hand against the screen expecting a cold sensation as it passed through but instead it just pressed against solid plasma screen T.V. "What the." He blinked for a moment wanting to say something more when he was suddenly and violently pushed out of the way by Kanji.
"Okay what the hell is going on here!" He said as he pressed his arm against the television trying too simply shoulder his way into the other world with violence. As he tried Yosuke had to try and pull him back for a moment worried that he could end up breaking the T.V.
"Stop your gonna."
As he spoke there was a loud crack, and the plasma screen T.V. they had used for so long snapped, the screen shattering under the combined weight of Kanji Teddie, and Yosuke.
All three of them backed away from it and looked at one another, but it was Yosuke who reacted first. "Run!" Moving and grabbing Chie by the hand he dashed out of the electronics department. Running quickly so that hopefully no one would notice the now broken television. If there was one thing in this world he did not want to pay for it was a brand new, extremely expensive T.V.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
As Chie watched Yosuke fail to enter the television, she felt a bit relieved. It meant this wasn't some weird dream, for one. Two, she hadn't been imagining things. It really hadn't worked for whatever rhyme or reason. It baffled her. The damn thing had always worked before. Hell, it practically encouraged them to go through. But ... now? Why was it failing now? She tried to ponder on the thought of it. Before she could even have a bit of a guess, the sound of shattering glass broke the silence.
"Kanji!"
Granted, it hadn't been working, yes. But now, on the off-chance it had just been malfunctioning, their only entrance was gone. At least to Chie's knowledge. She stared at the screen up until Yosuke took a hold of her hand and pulled her away. Her gaze finally moved towards her friend as a confused and simultaneously horrified look was now on her face.
"So ... now where do we go?"
Back at the high school, the final bell rang.
For Nanako, it was a blessing and a curse. She had enjoyed learning -- for the most part. But she definitely hadn't enjoyed her homeroom teacher. After finishing packing her things, she walked towards the door. Her hand rested on the knob as she looked back towards Naoki. "Did you wanna walk back with me?"
While waiting for the answer, she opened the door and turned in time to see Naoto. "Naoto-onee! Um ... " The serious look on the young detective's face was easy to pick up on. "Something wrong?"
"I ... I'm going to stay with you tonight."
"Why?"
"I'll relay that ... in a bit. Preferably when we're alone. At most .... he can only hear about it. But I don't want anyone else knowing." Her head gently nodded towards Naoki as the word 'him' passed her lips. "Naoki-kun ... you may want to tag along, honestly. It ... isn't really safe to walk alone anymore."
Even with that small hint, a very anxious look crossed over Nanako's face. Clearly, something had happened. Naoto - no one at that rate - ever told her such things unless it was a major deal. And for Naoto of all people to be relaying this information ... it really must have been something.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
"Anywhere but here." Yosuke said still pulling Chie away from the rest of the group, and away from the Junes department store. When he they had finally gotten far enough away he grabbed his legs and panted heavily. His chest was heaving up and down as he breathed, feeling like he was on fire. "The last thing I want to do... Is have to pay for a television i can't afford."
He glanced at Chie, and then suddenly came down with every realization that she had already. They couldn't get into the telivision and the one 'safe' tv that they knew about was gone. They had also lost Rise, which meant they only had Teddie's nose. They were blind, and paralyzed. They didn't have Yu, and no one else in this place knew anything about the other world.
Maybe it wasn't the other world, and the location and finding of Rise's body was some how unrelated. It didn't feel like it, but at the same time there was a chance, and that was just scary. Frustrated he punched the wall. "I... don't even know." He said feeling the rain on his skin. He and Chie were alone now, having ditched the other two presumably still arguing over the now shattered T.V.
"We should head home. Check the midnight channel. I mean there's nothing we can do now..." He was honestly doubtful that it would even show up.
Naoki let out a long sigh of relief as the final bell tolled on the school day. Getting up he blinked as the woman from earlier in the day returned to talk to Nanako, but now it seemed something big had come up. He paused for a moement thinking that it sounded rather personal, and he couldn't have for the life of him thought about what could have happened.
"Uh sure." He said as he got up to follow the detective and nanako.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Chie managed a slow nod, figuring that she couldn't blame him, for one. Two, Kanji should have to pay for that, not Yosuke. But it'd be easy to place the blame on Yosuke. She leaned against the nearest wall, panting quickly herself. Usually, she didn't mind running. Simultaneously, it tended to be on her terms and thus doing so when she was mentally and physically ready for them. This one had ... been much more of a surprise. She hadn't really, because of this, prepared herself very well and was breathing about as fast as Yosuke was.
Even without asking, Chie seemed to see most of what Yosuke was worrying about; most of everything she had realized. Her eyes softened. She felt like she should say something, anything. But what? They had no real form of reassurance to check up on things anymore. They had ... next to nothing. This felt so very hopeless.
"I just ... I don't get it. It didn't work ... " she repeated weakly, gripping her lower lip as she slowly began following behind Yosuke. Chie knew she probably should ask, now that they were alone, for why he wanted her to remain with him. But aside from how stupid that sounded in her head, it honestly seemed like she should just trust him. He always did things with the best possible reasons.
"... Yeah. I guess ... yeah. We may as well."
The very fact that it was indeed personal made Naoto even question if she should tell Naoki or not. Naoto finally compromised, deciding she could give him a half-truth. It wouldn't be like he'd care as much as Nanako would. Moreover, he hadn't known Rise. So for her to say the former idol's name in front of him .. she wouldn't likely get much of a reaction.
If push came to shove, however, she'd let them both know anyway.
Regardless, Naoto kept silent until all of them were outside. "They found someone dead near the school." she finally confessed, beginning to help walk the two home.
Nanako blinked then gasped. Hadn't this been how everything had started all those years ago?
But ... Adachi's in jail. How?
Her body shook as she quickened her pace, not wanting to get left behind.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke let out a long sigh. Looking at Chie he was kind of worried about her, but it was getting late, and they just didn't have much to go on at this point. It was going to rain tonight, and so if the other world was involved then at least they could go about making sure that it wasn't involved. He was a little worried about why it didn't work He felt a little annoyed and even a tad angry with the fact that nothing ever seemed to go well for him.
"Damn it. I wish there was more we could do." He said shaking slightly in anger. It made no sense that the T.V. hadn't worked, but at the same time what did they really know about the other world? In the long run only Adachi really understood how to control the other world but he was in jail. Yosuke shook his head as he recovered.
He turned to Chie looking at her for a moment giving her a soft sigh. "Want me to walk you home?" He asked lightly. He didn't want to overstep his boundries but at the same time he also didn't want to be alone right now. Not to mention that He didn't really want to be alone. One thing was for sure though he didn't feel like Inaba was going to be boring again this year, but then he also felt terrible that part of him still had this desire to be entertained at any cost it was selfish yet even after confronting it there was still part of him that knew he was just a city kid dying of boredom in the boonies.
Naoki blinked hearing that something like this had happened. Then his eyes widened for a moment and he realized exactly why this concerned him. A body found outside the school district, he had been a little younger back then but now he knew exactly why he was tagging along with Naoto, and Nanako.
"You can't be serious?" His voice was going between fear, and anger and when it suddenly decided that anger was the best possible reaction he flipped his lid.
"This wasn't just any regular murder was it!" He got in front of Naoto, at this point he didn't even know why he was mad, he just knew that he was fuming. This was supposed to be his chance to start over, but of course it followed him. His sisters legacy was all people ever thought about when they heard the name Konishi, and of course someone just had to go and kill again right while he was at the same school. Once word got out he could already see the press trying to hound him. "Let me guess, a woman was strung upside down outside of the school from a transformer. Of course it's happening again, because the cops in this town don't have any fucking balls."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"I know. I .. I do too." Even now, Chie wasstillconfused on what had just happened and why the television seemed to forbid them from entering. Even with the dumb set of glasses, itshouldhave worked. The very first time she had discovered it, Chie didn't even have any spectacles on in the first place. Her gaze lowered to the ground as she tried to think for a few more moments on ideas as to why they hadn't been able to go in. But each failed attempt caused her to get a bit of a headache. It seemed that for the time being, the best they could do was wait and see if anything would show up tonight.
As Yosuke spoke again, she remembered his offer on spending the night with him. "Actually," she began, trying to word it so it wouldn't soundtooawkward. After thinking it over for a few moments, she nodded before continuing to speak, "Your offer that you mentioned earlier? About staying with you? Is .. that still available? Because ... suddenly the idea of staying alone doesn't really sound good."
"I .. I'm afraid so. I'm sorry to give such bad news."
As Naoki got in front of her, Naoto stopped. Her eyes showed a mix of sympathy, understanding, and - due to the last few sentences - anger. She stepped forward, closing more distance between the two. Her tone suddenly became gentle yet just a tad strict.
"Look.. it's not that they don't - to quote you - don't have balls. The culprit from last time, however, has stayed behind bars. This .. is very likely to be someone else. So more than anything, we're all confused and trying to figure out how exactly this is repeating. Adachi, to my knowledge, was always alone."
And yet, that idea made her think. Was that even true? It seemed she had yet another reason to check up on the police databases tomorrow. Today, however, she had already promised to watch Nanako.
All the same, Naoto's head nodded to answer his question. "But .. yes. She was found as you said."
Nanako had halted the second Naoto had. For a while, she just listened, hardly able to believe it. She was so confused and even more scared. If Adachi was still in jail, howwasthis happening again? Looking between Naoki and Naoto, Nanako finally found her voice.
"... Who? Naoto-onee, who was it?"
The question made Naoto's heart stop and sink simultaneously. A long sigh passed her lips before finally, she said the name.
"Rise Kujikawa."
".... No. Rise-onee? Our Rise?"
As Naoto gave an affirmative nod, a fresh set of tears filled in Nanako's eyes. The sight tempted Naoto to follow suit. But .. someone among the three of them needed to be strong so, for now, she refused to let them show. Gently turning Nanako, the detective pulled her into a hug.
"I'm sorry ... we'll get answers. I will for sure no matter what. I promise." she whispered softly.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke grinned as Chie asked him if she was still allowed to come and spend the night at his place. In truth her being alone is exactly why he had made that offer in the first place. Especially if they were currently a target of someone elses plan. Yosuke gave a quick nod. "Yeah my door will always be open for you Chie, but you know your gonna have to put up with Teddie right?" He said rolling his eyes and knowing exactly how that perverted bear was going to react.
The apartment he had was kinda small even on his and Teddie's salary it was a bit on the side of low end, but there were two bedrooms so it would be easy enough to put Chie up in his room and he would crash in the living room and just use some extra bedding. The more he thought about it the more it seemed like an easy transition. "But if you can put up with a bit of mess, and Teddie's snoring then your welcome to stay with me no problem." He said as he patted Chie hard on the back. "Still do you need to pick up anything from your house?"
Naoki glared at Naoto. The very fact that Adachi was still allowed to live was a problem in his opinion, but rather then say anything out loud he saw how the news of a passing friend was hurting Nanako, and decided to ease off of it. In truth it seemed like this was a bad situation to be caught up with either way, and so he gave a small respectful bow towards Nanako.
Part of him wanted to say something, but he knew from experience that saying anything just rubbed salt in the wound. Everyone around him had always said sorry for his loss, or it must be tragic, it was all vague platitudes that never really seemed to consider what he was actually feeling. Turning he didn't say anything more towards Naoto, as really all he wanted to do was punch her really hard in the face.
'don't kill the messenger' he thought lightly, trying to find somewhere else to put his anger at the situation. Letting out a small sigh he walked off into the fading afternoon after waving his goodbyes.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Chie smiled back. As Teddie got mentioned, she gave an affirmative nod and waved her hand. "Tch, that'll probably be the easiest part, really." Sure, Teddie was .. annoying at times. But if she had to choose between dealing with him or an unknown killer still on the loose, she would gladly take the blonde-haired mascot any other day. Her head glanced up towards the sky as Yosuke inquired if she needed anything from her place.
"Maybe clothes. But first and foremost, shouldn't we grab our stuff from the school? We kinda left everything there. And at least before it closes ... " A slight groan passed her lips. "Hopefully we didn't get any assignments because otherwise, we didn't hear them. At all." Letting the reminder sink in to Yosuke, she then went silent to allow him to ponder on if he wanted to head back even or not. She wouldn't blame him for not wanting to. But it was a habit of hers to get her belongings. Granted, there wasn't anything that she was afraid of being stolen but .. still. Better to take precautions than not.
Despite the brief but still very harsh verbal conflict they had gotten into, Naoto would continue to play the civil card. Unless, of course, he did something rash. There was definitely a look in his eyes which almost suggested he was thinking on it. And if he really wanted to, let alone in front of Nanako, so be it. There were tos of other perks with being in the police task force. While Naoto didn't use them often, she was trained in hand-to-hand combat. And she almost always had her gun on her. She'd been given a legal license to carry it around ever since the last set of incidents two years ago.
Of course, she never used the firearm unless it wasreallyneeded. But all the same, the point was still there. The detective could definitely hold her own when push came to shove.
As Naoki waved farewell, she did the same back, looking back down to Nanako after the boy had left.
"So ... you now know why I'm going to stay with you, correct?"
Nanako managed a small nod before finally looking up towards Naoto. " .. I don't understand. Who? Why?"
The detective sighed as she shook her head. "I'm not sure. But I promise, we'll find those details out. I've already got several ideas going through my head on where to start gathering information. So don't worry about that. For now ... let's get home before it rains too badly."
Sniffling lightly, Nanako began trying to wipe the tears from her eyes as she continued heading home with Naoto. The rest of the walk would be silent. It was obvious the poor girl was still in shock, maybe a bit of denial even. But her mood had gone from content and happy as it'd been this morning to the very opposite, bordering a major depression even.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie. Kanji Tatsumi & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke practically smacked himself in the face when he realized he had forgotten his bike, and his bag on school grounds. Turning around and walking with Chie towards the school he felt a little dumber for jumping ahead and rushing to conclusions. "It's a half day today, and the first day of school. No teacher assigns work that early." Yosuke was rather confident though any look at his grades would tell you that it wouldn't have mattered even if he got the assignments or not.
The walk back to the school was brisk with the rain refusing to let up as it only seemed to go from light showers to worse, and then back to light showers, never really stopping battering the two of them with either cold winds or wet rain. Creating strong april showers that soaked the two of them as they walked. Yosuke himself was left shivering by the time they got to the school and going back up to their classroom.
Their teacher was nowhere to be seen at this point probably running off the moment that School had gotten out considering. Walking back to the classroom he grabbed his bag, and shook himself feeling wet and cold. As he turned to leave he looked around the room. Yosuke let out a long sigh, as he found his stuff. At least none of it had been stolen. Looking around he felt an eerie cold running through the building for a moment but shrugged it off as just the rain on his skin. "I so need to get home and get a change of clothing. He said lightly, turning towards Chie who was probably having the same issue.
Naoto's cellphone gave a ring, and the police stations number scralled across it's caller I.D. when she answered it the voice of Ryotaro on the other side called in. "Naoto, we've been doing a bit of retracing on Rise Fujikawa's doings, and it seems like she went missing about a week ago, apparently the last person she talked too was Naoki Konishi, we got a report they had a bit of a heated argument. It may be nothing, but I'd like to put him in for questioning. I'm getting the warrents printed up pretty much right now."
There was no doubt in Ryotaro's mind that it made sense to him. Naoki kills someone in a fit of passion and anger, and then stashes the body until he can make it seem like the same kind of death as his sister. True there was no real proof on that first bit, the body came back negative for determining the cause of death, but in that thick fog they had earlier it would have been easy for just about anyone to stash the body before even walking to school. It was a theory he wanted to investigate, and it would have answered a lot of questions.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"Some would argue that at least for the seniors, it shouldn't matter. However, given the incident .. you're probably right about nothing being given out."
Needless to say, Chie couldn't help but think about the day - mainly regarding Rise - all the way back to school. Even as she arrived and grabbed her backpack then started the trek towards Yosuke's place, most of her thoughts werestillwith her fallen comrade.
What a crappy time for Yu to be gone ..
Would it even make a difference? Honestly, maybe not. This murder still may have happened, with or without Yu. The mere thought made her spirits sink further. At the rate things were going, Naoto would be their most likely way to get more immediate leads. She would have mentally agreed on Dojima but ... he had always been adamant on the team never getting involved. It hadn't been until Nanako had been dragged into the mess two years ago that Dojima even began to appreciate their efforts.
Chie would never dare say it to his face, but his reactions had seriously annoyed her. It was a good reason she had declined the offer of walking Nanako. Initially, she had been given the opportunity. But ... Chie would have been much more likely to have an outburst with Ryotaro and then ... well .. things would only get worse for her.
Her head eagerly nodded in agreement, only to realize they were going to Yosuke's place. That being said, she didn't have any spare clothes on her. "... Um ... Yosuke? You got any spare robes of any kind that I can change into when we get there?" Her hands gently wrapped around her arms as she held herself, trying desperately to stay as warm as possible.
Naoto had literally just walked through the door with Nanako when her cell phone rang. Pulling it out of her pocket, she blew a few blue bangs away from her eyes as she answered and placed the phone to her ear. Her right hand gave a gesture which silently suggested Nanako should go and work on anything she needed to, or go watch television. Just as long as she didn't hear the talk.
Thankfully, Nanako didn't need to be told twice as she headed into the living room while Naoto stayed near the kitchen, listening and re-thinking on everything Ryotaro was saying.
About a minute would pass before Naoto sighed softly then finally spoke.
"With all due respect, Dojima-san, he walked with me and Nanako on the way to and from school. I ... I don't think this is the right lead. Please, stop the warrants. He wouldn't have been able to easily rendezvous with us andnothave any blood or hints that he did this. If anything .. I've been contemplating tracing things back to ... to Adachi. More specifically, if he stayed alone or not. But ... Naoki-kun is definitely not the right lead."
Even with the brief outburst he gave her, it didn't seem like he would be able to have a temper so bad that it'd cause him to want to actually kill someone.
Her voice lowered a tad in volume, mainly as a precaution to keep it hidden from Nanako. At the same time, it held a slightly firm tone; not in a demanding way but more along the lines of trying to negotiate and insist that this was definitely the wrong path to take.
gpt
Yosuke Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke grabbed his bike walking it along side him as he walked with Chie in the rain. His home wasn't that far from the school, and as the two of them walked down the road his mind drifted lightly back towards the morning and towards having Chie with him. Before all of this insanity had began. His thoughts drifted slightly as they walked down the all too familiar road towards his home.
Then Chie asked a question that he hadn't been prepared for.
For the first time today since seeing the body, Yosuke's face lit up at hearing Chie ask if he had something she could wear. This was like a golden oppertunity to see Chie in just about any clothing he owned, and it showed on his face that his mind was quickly jumping through all the perverted scenarios that he could imagine.
"I'm sure we can find something for you."
Yosuke's tone was devious and a little plotting as he went through his mind and tried to scower his room for something that wouldn't quiet fit Chie, or make her seem a little more feminine or just in general something he would never really see her wear in any other situation. Sadly however his home didn't have much. There was Teddie's pink bathrobe but that was hardly going to hide anything, the Alice costume Teddie used in that cross dressing compitition, but that covered too much.
Shaking his head at this point he was half tempted to just hide all the bathrobes and just hand Chie a towel to wrap around herself. All the while his planning grin was clearly showing on his face as they walked towards the door of his home walking up to his home he put the bike outside and started to walk up the poor condition stairs that lead to the second floor apartment that he and Teddie shared.
"Maybe Teddie would have something that pervert has probably been holding onto something." Yosuke was thinking aloud at this point.
Ryotaro didn't seem as convinced as Naoto about the identity of the killer. especially when she mentioned Adachi. "Adachi has been on good behavior ever since he got locked away. Not to mention he is in a high security prison serving out a life sentence, everyone in his cell block is a lifer so I can't really put it on any of them." He said passively.
"Naoki Konishi was the last person to see or talk to Rise alive. That at the least makes him a person of interest, if not a suspect. actually." He paused for a moment as he thought about something. "Now that you mention it back then Adachi was with me on call when the first two victims were found dead. We even examined the first crime scene together." How did Adachi end up stringing that body up in the telephone wires if he had been down at the station taking calls?
Shaking his head he decided to pass it off. That case had a lot of holes in it. The only theory that really peiced everything together was the crazy one about an alternate world inside a T.V. and no court would have ever been able to convict Adachi if they had kept to that crazy ass story. "Anyway i'm sending out some of my guys, and joining in the hunt, tell Nanako i'm gonna be out late tonight working."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
As Chie began to see the gears turning in Yosuke's head, her cheeks went a bit crimson. "O-oi ... nothing too ... revealing. I still have some modesty in me, ya know?" More like quite a bit, really. While it was true that she had more than enough courage to wear a bikini, unlike Naoto, it didn't mean there hadn't been any anxieties about the act they'd done those few years ago. Yet, the memory couldn't help but make her smile a bit. It had been an .. odd flashback, no doubt. But for the most part, things were far more simple than they were at this very moment. Now, things had gotten complicated - and in a far worse possible manner. Someone was killing. But this time, there were no leads, not with Adachi still locked away. Everyone was scared and confused on what exactly to do.
It really did seem like all they could do was wait -- maybe pray. But nothing much else.
Her own head shook as she gave Yosuke a look which inquired if he was serious on using something Teddie may own. "You better mean he has an actual outfitbesidesthat damn bear costume. Because I'm definitely not wearing that. No. Damn. Way."
Still, she managed to smile at him. "But ... we'll see. Like you said, we'll figure it out when we get there."
Naoto nodded in agreement with at least the point of Naoki being a person of interest. "Fair. But that doesn't need a warrant, not for talking. Warrants are for arresting. And besides the fact that he last spoke with Rise-san, we have nothing else on him." As he began to muse about Adachi, the detective went silent and even smiled. It was good to hear that the more odd things of the last case were coming to Ryotaro's mind; partly because it meant he hadn't forgotten completely what common sense was. But also, the reminders were definitely interesting. And especially when he hinted that Adachi had been with him the first few times.
If that was true, it did make the fact he committed those murders all the more intriguing. She began trying to think of theories until Ryotaro spoke once more.
" ... Yes sir." Naoto replied, hiding a defeated sigh. To say she was annoyed - if not even pissed off - was an understatement. Every bone in her body was screaming that this was a very,verybig mistake. Naoki had a temper, no doubt. But the genuine will and desire to actually kill someone?
Hell no!
Gripping her lower lip, Naoto hung up, sliding the phone into her pocket before finding Nanako in the living room. Before she could even open her mouth, the young girl began to talk.
"He'll be home late, right?"
Naoto blinked then briefly panicked. "Yes. Yes, he will be."
"... Of course. He always is." Her head bowed as she let her own sigh out. "But ... I do know he's just doing his job. Still, it doesn't make these times any less annoying."
Naoto remained quiet, trying to figure out if she had somehow overheard the talk? Maybe if it had been on the land line, yes. But over a cell phone? Naoto highly doubted it. So the detective merely assumed her to have guessed simply because this was something Ryotaro had done for years; too many in fact. Giving Nanako a nod, she sat beside her. "I can imagine. I didn't have my own parents for very long. And they didn't do anything quite like this. So I can't really say I can relate. I can, however, promise I'll do what I can for you."
Turning toward Naoto, Nanako took her turn to become silent. Finally, she gave the sleuth a hug. "You work with dad, right? Help him figure who did this. Please."
The embrace took Naoto aback for a few seconds. But as Nanako explained herself, she nodded once more, returning the sisterly-like gesture. "I will. I promise. And not just because it's the right thing to do. This is a very big and personal thing for all of us. Rise's death willnotbe in vain. None of us are going to let that happen. That much I promise."
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke grinned as the two of them remembered the beauty contest from two years ago. Yosuke had signed all the girls in the group up for it, and he had been able to explain why he had for every single one of them, except for Chie. The truth was he had signed her up first wanting to see how she would react and also wanting a chance to give her the spot light for a change, and then he had signed up everyone else after the fact using them as an excuse to get Chie to go along with it. He had told everyone that he had voted for Rise, but the truth was he had been one of the few who had voted for Chie back then... and in truth he would vote for her any time.
Yosuke almost seemed to pout as Chie asked him to not go overboard with his little plan to put her in something that she would be embarassed by. Yosuke let out a small sigh having to give in to the request as he opened the door and escorted Chie inside his apartment. The main room was a living room, kitchen combination, with three aditional rooms. The room to the immediate left was a fully functioning bathroom with a stand in shower, and two near the back of the room were the bedrooms. One of which had an old poster of Rise from back when she was an Idol.
Yosuke approached the room with the idol poster and opened it. "Hey I'll be back out in a moment." He said going inside and making a quick servay of the room. It was a mess of course, and he quickly gathered up all the dirty laundry and threw it into a pile, and made the bed as nicely as he could. Chie was going to end up staying here and while there wasn't much he could do on short nottice he could at least try to make her not hate him.
Stripping off his soaked shirt, and pants he quickly changed into new pair of underwear and pajama pants, deciding that Chie had waited long enough he would grab a shirt later. Opening the door he gave a small sigh. "This is my room, which i guess means it will be your room for the night but first." The evil grin that he had displayed before returned quickly enough as he ran into teddie's room. His bare walking along the tatami flooring.
Teddie's room was some how worse then yosuke's. He doubted any real human could survive in this place for very long and as he got to the closet he did his best to sort through the clothing that was available. "Come on please still have it!" He muttered under his breath until he let a big "Ah Ha!"
When Yosuke returned. He did so with Teddie's olddressFolded up as nicely as he could he passed it to Chie. He didn't include anything like the stalkings but rather had only searched for and found the main blue part of the dress. "I can't believe he actually kept that thing. Who knew it would come in so handy. It should fit just fine."
At the dojima residence there was another phone call though this one came over the land line. A very familiar voice answered the phone when they got to it. "Hey is Nanako home?"
Yu Narukami had been busy. For the last year he had been working hard at his school, and over winter vacation he had taken a trip with his parents to amarica for the first time. For them it had been another short business trip but for Yu it had been a delightful retreat, and while it would have been nice to spend some time with nanako and the group, Hawaii had been too tempting an offer to turn down.
Now that he was back and getting back into the swing of things, however even out in the big city it was starting up all over the news that Inaba was home to yet another set of murders, and the name of the person that had been released actually made him feel kind of sick, that said his first instinct was to check up on Nanako. After the events that had happened two years ago it seemed the least he could have done.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Chie nodded, figuring it only seemed fair to let Yosuke make any last second arrangements. Itwashis place after all. "Alright. Take your time." While he was rummaging around for new clothes, both for himself and her, she took the opportunity to slip her shoes off. Her backpack was the next thing to leave as it was removed off of her shoulders. Finally, she began checking out the rest of the rooms, making sure to avoid the one Yosuke was occupied in.
All in all, it was actually pretty nice. It made Chie rather proud of her friend. There was a slim chance this place had just been given to him. She was pretty damn sure that he'd had to earn it. It hinted how hard he'd worked at Junes.
It must be difficult. The pay's not exactly anything overly exciting ...
Still, money was money. It was an issue her own parents had warned her repeatedly about during the summer. And now that she was seeing Yosuke's place, it made Chie realize she probablyshouldconsider looking for a job pretty damn fast. But that was definitely an easier said than done task. Inaba wasn't exactly known for it's population. With how few people there were here, it was honestly a miracle there were enough places for people to find jobs.
A small sigh left as Chie dismissed the matter, deciding to avoid worrying on it for now. The timing seemed to be borderline perfect because the sound of Yosuke walking out made her turn around.
The sight of that dress made her cheeks almost instantly go crimson.
".. He ... still has that?" she inquired, hardly able to believe it. "W-well ... alright." Itwasbetter than an array of things he could have tried to give her. "Um .. did you want me to change in the bathroom then? Somewhere else?"
The sounds of the landline ringing made Nanako jump slightly. An annoyed sigh passed her lips as she stood up. "I'll get it." she reassured Naoto before picking up.
"Hello, Dojima res--- "
Her eyes widened in surprise, though the best kind as she heard the familiar voice.
"Yu-onii!"
She knew he was more along the lines of a cousin. But they'd become about as close as if they were siblings.
As Naoto heard Nanako say Yu's name, it made her smile. It was good to know that even with his busy schedule, he had been able to find time to call and check up on Nanako. She would have gladly left. But she wanted to speak to him after Nanako was done. And she signaled this by holding her thumb and pinky at an angle beside her right ear.
Nanako nodded, signaling she'd understood and agreed to it before speaking again. Her voice lowered slightly as she weakly spoke, "I .. I wish you were here. Things have gone ... bad again."
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke got embarassed for a moment as Chie asked him where should change. The question seemed so mundane that he actually rolled his eyes as he replied sarcastically. "Well obviously you should just change right here in front of me. Cause we both know I would just love that kind of show. Of course you should go use the washroom Chie." He said trying to wave it off dismissively and then he thought about what he had just said.
The moment he said it he realized how awkward it sounded coming out of his mouth. He swallowed for a moment at the idea of actually seeing Chie in such a vulnerable fashion. It was actually a really pleasant delusion to have. As the more he thought about it the more it became obvious that he wasn't focusing on the here and now. He quickly swallowed and shook his head. "What I mean is... well... Just go change. Use one of the towels to dry yourself before you get a cold." He said quickly turning around and going to the sofa where he could sit down. They had a lot of time to kill and teddie wasn't even home yet, and some how he felt like he had still managed to just force his foot down his mouth.
a cloud of frustration passed over his head for a moment. Angry at his awkward wording, and once again making a fool of himself. Every time he tried to talk to any one of these girls he seemed to mess up. Chie was usually the one he got along with the easiest, but at the same time even talking to her was still difficult some times. Letting out a small sigh he leaned back against the sofa, and shivered slightly as he realized he still hadn't put a shirt on.
Yu was rather delighted to hear Nanako's voice. as he leaned back in a chair and nodded slightly hearing that things had once again gone south. "Yeah I saw the news, but that's not what i'm calling about." He would talk to Naoto or someone else later. Maybe he could help provide insight or something later on. "I talked to uncle today, and we have arranged it so that I can visit during golden week. It's not much but I hope that makes up for missing winter break with you guys."
He smiled for a moment as he thought about the upcomming trip it was going to be overshadowed by the new case, but at the same time it would be good for the group to have some good news after what was on the news today. "But the real reason I called was because today was your first day of at Yasogami high. Tell me how it went Nanako. Meet anyone interesting?"
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"... Right. Of course. Ignore the temporary stupidity." she replied, chuckling nervously at herself. "A-alright. I'll be out in a bit." And with that, Chie pivoted on her feet, deftly heading into the washroom, closing and almost immediately locking the door as it shut behind her. She set the dress down then damn well nearly leaned against the wall. The only thing that stopped her was remembering her clothes were still drenched. And she figured Yosuke wouldn't want his door - or any part of his residence - being unnecessarily wet. Her head shook as she slowly began getting out of her school uniform and sighed at herself.
"Where do you change? Well ... duh, Chie. That's by far the dumbest question you've asked today if not in a while."
Still, a smile couldn't help but cross her face. Despite the blonde moment she'd had, Chie was otherwise glad to be here with her best friend. Granted, she wasn't sure how the dress would end up looking but ... ah well. It couldn't be that bad, could it? And even if it was, it'd be warm and keep her from getting too sick.
Everything left Chie's flesh eventually, including her panties and bra. After a quick look around, she found a spare towel and wrapped her old clothes in them. Finally, her hands took hold of the dress .. and raised it up to herself. While she had mostly gotten over accepting her more feminine side, she was still unsure about certain things. Dresses were definitely one of them, though why was beyond her.
"Aren't bikinis more ... revealing and stuff? So shouldn't this be easier?" she muttered, taking a long deep breath. "Well ... here goes."
With a simple pull, the dress fell over her body. Chie couldn't help but feel her smile widen a bit more as she looked down at herself. "Well .. not as bad as I thought." Grabbing the towel with her drenched clothes, she slowly walked out from the bathroom. "Um ... Yosuke?" she called out. "Mind if I use your washer and dryer for my clothes?"
Although Naoto did let Nanako do the talking, she remained closeby to be able to hear Yu so she could know ahead of time what to relay to him. Something told the detective the sentence about not calling to check up on Rise's death was a half-lie at worst. He probably had .. but wanted to help Nanako out by shifting to a much happier topic which, to be fair, was probably a smart move. Nanako had already gotten involved as it was just from knowing Rise. There was no sense in her getting deeper into this case.
Naoto merely smiled at Nanako, letting her talk to Yu.
"That'd be great! Um, yeah, I did. Naoki-kun. He's a first year like me also. We're in the same class. Our teacher ... hmmm." Nanako paused, trying to figure out the right words to use which would properly describe Ms. Emi. "She seemed like a soldier from the military; she was really strict to everyone."
The image of Nanako's teacher made Naoto unable to help but chuckle softly.
Poor Nanako. This really has been a rough day, huh?she mused, still keeping quiet for the time being.
"I didn't really get to meet many others. All the teachers left for an emergency meeting and ... we were supposed to concentrate on our work. So I did."
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke blinked as Chie walked out of the bathroom in a dress. His eyes quickly turning to her, and his mind couldn't help but gawk a little. Without any socks or shoes on the dress meant that there was a lot of Chie's legs to see as it was kind of short on her. Chie's athletic frame was actually well supported, and while the dress didn't exactly have anything open about it this was a rare and rather attractive sight for Yosuke to enjoy, and there was also the knowledge that Chie was nude underneath the single layer, part of him almost wished he could access his persona right now, jiraiya's wind magic would have left a lot less to the imagination at the moment.
Yosuke quickly snapped out of it when Chie asked him about the washer and dryer. "Uh yeah, actually let me toss my stuff in with yours." He said getting up and going to gather the wet clothing from his room. Yosuke still wasn't wearing a shirt, but returned from his room any way after a moment showing Chie where the washer was he put his wet school uniform in with Chie's. The winter clothing matched colors regardless of gender so it worked out great as he started the clothing in the washer.
"You know... that looks really sexy on you." Yosuke's words escaped him before he even really knew he was talking. Realizing his mistake he some how managed to seize up even more.
There was a gap that felt like a couple minutes where Yosuke didn't really know what to say and so instead just kind of looked like he was stuck in traffic lights. This was one of the few times he ever really got to see Chie as a woman, or at least in a more feminine situation even if it was just a cross dressers dress. Silently he pulled out his phone after a moment, and there was a soft click as he stole a photo. If he was going to get kicked for his words and actions, he may as well go as far as he can.
Yu nodded as he heard more of what Nanako's day had been like. Oddly enough it sounded almost exactly like his first day at Yasagami High, though back then he hadn't known the victim. If he had things would have been at least a little different. He was glad that Nanako had stayed inside the classroom, and he remembered Naoki from the times that he had talked to him. "Naoki Konishi right? I was a friend of his during the year I was there. I'm happy to hear that you two are getting along."
Yu nodded trying to think of the teachers he had back at Yasogami high, and came across an old memory of the king moron. "Yeah the teachers there can be... different that is for sure. I think you have to remember that no matter how things are going on around you Nanako, it's the people around you that you need to rely on. It's what got me through my school year when I was there." He spoke with a fond voice remembering everyone. "Your job now is to go out and meet new people, and make strong bonds of your own. Also... if you get the top of your class come exams Nanako I'll be sure to get you something."
It was clear he was avoiding the subject of Rise and the emergency meeting trying to keep Nanako's mind on happier events around the school year.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"A-alright. Thanks." Chie's cheeks darkened as she noticed Yosuke staring slightly. "Is ... does it look that good? It feels kinda ... odd. I've never really been in a dress in .. years. I almost forgot how it felt up until now." Another thing that had registered to Chie's mind which was out of place for her was she hadn't snapped at Yosuke for gawking at her. Maybe because it was just Yosuke and she trusted him not to try anything stupid? Possibly. It was a mostly logical thought. Her head shook as she followed beside him and waited for his clothes to enter the washer before hers were soon added in.
".... Really? You .. think so?"
Before she could get an answer confirming her question, the soft clicking noises caught her ears. As Chie turned around, she saw Yosuke holding his phone.
"... Did... did you just?!"
A minute or so had passed before she sighed. There was at least one saving grace, she had decided. It was the fact that she was clothed and not nude.
"Donotshow anyone else that, please. Anyway so .. you're really fine with me borrowing your bed for the night?"
Naoto quietly got up, figuring that since Yu was trying to assist Nanako keeping in a more cheerful mood, she'd do so in her own ways. Her footsteps were soft as she went back into the kitchen, temporarily leaving Nanako alone.
While the younger girl did notice, she didn't worry. Naoto could handle herself ... if such a precaution was even needed. But she doubted it. No one - somewhat amazingly - had ever tried to come in and rob this place. Given all the enemies her father had made, it really was a hell of a blessing. But she wouldn't complain about it either. Her gaze moved away from the direction Naoto had walked off to as she looked towards the floor, focusing once more on Yu's words.
"Mhm, you're right. Oh, you did? That's really cool. Yeah, we are. He seems .. kinda nervous like I am. But otherwise, he's a relatively good person." She paused, wondering about bringing up him snapping at Naoto earlier but decided against it. It was obvious even to her that Yu was trying to avoid the subject of Rise so she'd try to return the favor. It was easier said than done but .. he was making an effort. It only seemed fair she did the same back.
"Alright. I'll try to do my best with grades." A small sigh passed her lips as Nanako's voice lowered a bit more. "I wish Golden Week would hurry up. I'm glad to be with the others but ... I really miss you."
Finally, Naoto revealed where she'd gone off to and why. In both her hands were two glasses of milk. It'd been incredibly tempting to use soda instead but .. it wouldn't be fair to make the caffeine ruin Nanako's sleeping schedule. Gods knew any nightmares that may arrive tonight would be bad enough as it was. She offered the cup towards Nanako, wearing a small smile on her face.
Nanako smiled back as she eagerly took the glass, taking the opportunity to sip some of the milk while the pause between her and Yu lingered.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
When Chie asked Yosuke about the bed however he simply shrugged. "I said you could have the bed so take it already. Though it's a few hours before we should go to sleep, after all weren't we gonna watch for the midnight channel tonight?" His thoughts turned to how they were going to kill the time, and he realized he still had to make dinner. After his experiances with Chie's cooking he wasn't about to let her anywhere near his kitchen.
Yosuke's devious smile didn't really fade as he gave a small childish chuckle and turned his phone around showing Chie the picture he had taken of her in the dress. All in all it was pretty good with a clear shot to easily make out who it was in the photo. It was very clearly Chie Satonaka in a cute short dress. "I don't know I think Yu might pay big dollars for something like this, and you do look pretty sexy." He said jokingly now he was just pushing buttons.
Over the last two years there had been a policy of appeasement between the two friends, and Yosuke had grown slightly arrogant because of it. He wasn't the type who someone could give an inch too, as he tended to take a mile. "Heck I think even Kanji might want in on this, and just imagine what I could get Teddie to pay for something like this. All in all it's pretty tempting to sell them a copy. So I guess it's up to you to make a counter offer."
Yu listened on the phone and got the general impression of what had happened today. Naoki could be a little tense when it came to others around him, and he did have a lot on his shoulders. So it was good to hear that Nanako and him were getting along. hearing that she missed him however he swallowed lightly wondering if there was a way to get a more permanent stay in inaba than just the holidays.
"I know Nanako, I miss you too, and I'll come visit as soon as I can. I may even have an extended stay during the summer break." Though it was two months away he figgured he would start planning ways to visit inaba now since the others would all need his help again. "I have to go Nanako, my phone doesn't have much more air time left. Cya in a bit little sis, I'll call you when i can to check in with you." He waited until Nanako said her goodbyes before hanging up.
Yu sat back in the dark room, his head resting on a velvet cushion as he rubbed his eyes. Looking ahead of him the chair he was in was a rather comfy seat of a Limousine. Igor, and Margaret were looking at him expectantly. "Thank you for letting me use the phone." He said as he hung up. "But are you sure... that this one is up to them?"
Margaret smiled and nodded. "You did well to foster the many bonds you had, but this is not your trial. You passed your tests admirably, and we are in your debt however the status of your contract is full filled. While we encourage you to assist your friends. In the end this these comming trials must fall too two others, the Chariot and Magician."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"W-well I just ... thought I'd make sure. Yeah, true. We are going to."
When the smile - more like smirk in Chie's mind - remained and Yosuke began to go on about the picture, Chie felt an honest to gods surge of anger beginning to build. She had been ready to blow off his words, too. But the mentioning of Teddie finally did it. Without a second thought, her hand raised as she brought it up and let it land on Yosuke's face. A glare could easily be seen in her eyes as she looked right into Yosuke's hazel orbs.
"Look, I know you're probably trying to joke and lighten the mood up. But therereallyare just some things you shouldn't joke around! You know how many horrible things I could have tried to say about you still liking Rise? Even - especially -afterwe found out what happened to her today? Yet, I didn't. Why? Because that's downright wrong, rude, and just disrespectful! Just ... damnit, Yosuke."
She took a long, deep breath, trying her hardest to calm down, even if only a small bit.
"I'm sorry -- for the slap, at least. But not the words. Come .. come get me when it's time. I.. I'm going to just ... think until then."
Without exactly waiting for his approval, Chie stormed away and went into Yosuke's room, closing the door so it was left and kept open ajar. She sat on the bed as she buried her face in her hands, letting out a muffled but very frustrated groan.
"Sometimes, I swear! Urgh!"
Nanako's smile widened as the suggestion of a possible extended stay was brought up. ".. Alright. Sounds good." The smile soon began to fade as she heard he had to leave, let alone so quickly. ".. Alright. Take care, okay? Bye, Yu."
It was obviously reluctant but sure enough, the sound of the phone clicking, thus signaling she had hung up, would echo a few times in Yu's ear.
"... At least he got a hold of you," Naoto replied, trying to help keep her as cheerful as possible. "Hm ... did you wanna watch a movie or something? You still have a few hours to kill before needing to worry about getting ready for bed. I .. can probably figure something out for dinner soonish."
"Hm? Ah, yeah. Sure." Poor Nanako had gotten temporarily lost in thought, thinking of the entire day in both the more positive and negative aspects. But the promise of dinner did indeed sound good, making her smile appear once more as she nodded. Getting up, she walked around and found the remote hidden under a cushion. With a deft click, the television turned on. It took a bit of searching around, but finally Nanako had found an action movie that seemed to catch her attention.
Without saying a word, Naoto joined Nanako. Much like the younger girl beside her, a lot was going through her mind. But the biggest concern was what she'd still kept hidden from Nanako in regards to Naoki. She almost felt obligated to call him up and try to give him a bit of a warning to expect Dojima. But ... that may be interpreted in a very bad way on her behalf.
Would it be much better just to let this happen though?
Not likely. But Ryotaro was still her superior. It was times like this where Naoto was the most annoyed about the chain of command system. Usually, she had no issues following orders. But this one had been pestering her ever since she'd heard it. It was just the very wrong thing to do! And every fiber of her being knew it, including her own soul. Of course, though, Dojima had been too damn stubborn to heed her words on that. And now .. he was going to get visited, likely tonight or soon.
For the time being, you just gotta wait. Your laptop isn't here so you can't really do your research on if Adachi truly was alone or not here. Gotta wait until tomorrow.
Nodding slowly to herself, Naoto allowed her head to fall against the couch as she began to watch the movie with Nanako. For now, the best courses of action involved her taking care of the younger girl and ensuring she stayed safe. It was the best - and most - she could do for the moment.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke dropped the cellphone it's screen cracking on impact as he was slapped. His entire head had snapped slightly to the side resulting in him biting down on his tongue as he had been slapped. He blinked a few times feeling the pain cause tears to build up along the edges of his eyes. He rubbed the side of his face as he leaned down and picked up his cell phone.
He looked at the picture and then over to the posture of Rise. Yes it was no secret that he had been a fan of her music, and was probably a little more then enthusiastic when he was talking about her body back then however it had been just a child crush. Where as the woman he had stronger affections for had just smacked him across the face.
He let out a small sigh as he walked towards the room, and reached out for the handle of the door, but didn't really know what to do. If he went in he was risking another attack from the girl he had been poking with a stick, but at the same time it didn't feel right to just leave things as they are. The obvious answer came in the form of dinner.
It took about 15 minutes to set up but shortly after that the small house was full of the smell of well seasoned beef steak. he had been keeping the cuts for a little while and they had originally been for celebrating an upcoming event, but he sacrificed them for the greater good. He knew this was kind of cruel, of him. It was a cheat code to get Chie to realize that he was sorry. He fanned the smell towards his room. He would pick up something better tomorrow for the actual event. "Dinner's ready!"
~Come on the trap is about as baited as it could get please take it Chie.~ He thought lightly. If she didn't come out of the room now then he would have to come out.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Sure enough, Chie had remained in Yosuke's room and stayed sitting on his bed. Granted if anyone else saw her, they argue that she looked more like - maybe evenwas- pouting. And that was indeed true to some degrees. But hey, in her thoughts, it was all justified. Everything from the slap to the verbal outburst had been, in fact.
Seriously, the fuck was all that about? After two years, has he really not learned?
She didn't want to believe that, gods help her she did not. This especially held true after he seemed to displaysomeleader-like qualities earlier at Aiya's. That wasn't just a fluke ... was it? Her hand covered her forehead as she began to massage it.
"I just .. don't understand him sometimes. I .. I get we're at the right age for hormones and all. But that applied to two years ago also. He wasneverlike this .. "
Her voice stayed low, barely above a whisper as she murmured everything to herself, as if trying to talk to her reflection or even a doppelganger.
As the scent of food tantalized her nostrils, Chie's head lifted. A small but content sigh passed her lips. It definitely did smell good and even after the beef bowl, she had - accidentally but still - skipped breakfast. Needless to say, she was famished.
Yosuke would hear his door open before seeing Chie walk out. Her eyes had a mix of emotions in them; there was obviously some gratefulness for the food. But she was definitely still very annoyed at his recent 'joke' -- whatever he had meant for it to be.
"... Thank you," she replied softly, sitting down across from him.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke would protest that he had always had a bit of a delinquent side if asked. He had signed four of his friends up for a fashion contest, and been the one to suggest the group date idea the class two years ago. Though looking back at it yeah threatening black mail and taking a hidden snap shot of Chie had been a little extreme. Letting out a soft sigh he moved to the table and set down the food in front of Chie.
Yosuke on the other hand wasn't all that hungry and hadn't made one for himself, the other cut of meat was for Teddie however he still sat at the table across from Chie. Clapping his hands together he bowed in a slight stance of appology. "Listen Chie... We need to talk." He said finally. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Your not wrong. I know that in the past I've done some really bad things, and all in the guise of having a laugh. I guess that part of me is still a problem. See, back then you weren't really there for my shadow, but there is a part of me that hates being bored, and resents working out here in a dead end job. Sure Junes is my dads company, and i'm now the manager, but that also comes at a price." He gave a small sigh. "This town... part of me hates it, and back then I really only got involved with the murders because I knew I had the chance to act like some kind of hero. I knew Saki hated me, but I still had a crush on her, and well your right."
This was one of the harder parts to admit. "I was still a fan of Riset. Even after she retired I still tried to find all of her old C.D.s and Then there's the poster... I bought that after i knew her... how creepy is that?" He shook his head. "She was my friend, and even though I knew she disliked being an idol i still put her up on a pedestal, and now she's gone and the only thing I can think of is that I'm not going to be able to get tickets to her return tour that was supposed to be happening in two months. It's this twisted selfish part of me and I hate it. I hate that no matter what I always want to be entertained, but Really the worst thing is what i've done to you."
Yosuke looked away from Chie for a moment. "I..I've been afraid to talk about this kind of stuff with you for a long time, but the main reason I like to keep you close, the hole reason I push your buttons is that when I'm with you I don't feel bored. Back then two years ago when you used to kick me around and keep me in line... I liked it, how messed up is that right?, I'd go out of the way to try and annoy you all because you would push me around then I'd feel better about myself, but then after Yu left and things started to change you stopped, and it was like I lost that part of our relationship that keeps me entertained."
"I guess what I'm trying to say is... thank you for slapping some sense into me Chie."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Chie's hands had finished placing themselves one on top of another. After finishing quietly giving thanks for the meal, she began to cut the steak. Her head lifted as she looked right into Yosuke's eyes when they said they needed to talk.
"Yes. Yes, we do." she agreed, leaving it at that. It was definitely good to hear that he hadn't tried to lie to himself about needing this conversation. That was always a good sign.
As Yosuke began to speak, she stayed silent, listening and letting him vent. It seemed like the right thing to do. She quietly placed her fork down, deciding she would officially begin eating after this was done. Until then, she merely cut her steak but never took a bite yet. Her own small sigh would be heard as he got to the parts about Rise, especially the possibility of never seeing her return tour again.
Well .. that's one way to know this is definitely Yosuke speaking ..
Only someone like her best friend could worry over a seemingly petty thing. Yet, it made her smile. He had been honest and she was definitely grateful for that much.
"Well .. you're welcome I suppose. But if you're afraid of getting bored, there are tons of better ways to go about that then - as you said so yourself - pushing my buttons. Granted, I'm not quite sure how myself. But there are always alternatives to take. That much I do know. This is no doubt the weirdest thing I've been thanked for but .. if you're sure, you're welcome."
After allowing a brief pause to linger between them, Chie added another inquiry.
"Is there anything else you want to add? Ask? Anything? Just keep being honest; that's all I ask."
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
"More like confess." Yosuke let out a small slightly annoyed sigh. While Chie seemed to understand the important parts of what he was trying to get across it seemed like she wasn't understanding the reason for it all. He closed his eyes for a moment trying to think of the best way to try and confess towards his friend about the reason why this was all so important to him.
Still this was also the part where his blood was starting to run a little cold as he had a lot to confess when it comes to Chie. "Well it's like I said when I'm with you I'm not bored." He said lightly opening only one eye so that he could look at Chie, admiring her in the dress and gave a small sigh. The easy reason for that was because he had a crush on her, but there was a little more to it then that. She was one of the forces that kept him in line, and in truth he kind of enjoyed the way she used to step on him every now and then.
When she stopped, and started to be patient with him he felt like he was missing something and now he had the chance to set all of that right, he just didn't know what to say. So he decided to go with the biggest example he could, the fashion show. "Two years ago, when the school did that fashion show, I signed you up first, and then I used the others as an excuse for it cause I figured you wouldn't go alone. See I don't like Yukiko, or even Rise I just liked listening to her singing voice."
Finally he opened both eyes and scratched the back of his head as he leaned back into his chair. "I've only ever really had my eyes on you... See, I've always kind of had a small crush on you, The reason I never feel bored around you is because when I'm with you... you entertain me, and it makes me notice you, and Well... you actually have really nice legs, and your attractive, and well i like you a lot and I'm rambling now because when I get nervous I can't stop talking."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"Oh?"
Chie's head tilted slightly as curiosity took over her. She was definitely curious. It was .. different to hear that Yosuke, of all people, had something to confess. Although with how the talk had been going, part of her expected it to be something else she didn't know about his thoughts for Rise. Thus, when he started to explain himself, it already made her curious that he didn't seem to bring up the former idol. No, the topic appeared to be ... her? If he hadn't gotten her attention before, Yosuke definitely had by this point.
He then seemed to go back to that fashion show. But whereas she had expected him to remain on the subject for quite a while, he actually steered away from it faster than she had thought.
And finally, the point was made. This was one of the few times Chie was glad she hadn't been drinking anything lest she risk spitting it out.
"... Wait, what?"
The question came out in a mixed tone, seeming confused and yet somehow content. The smile that crossed her face helped further prove the latter as tinges of crimson danced across her cheeks.
"Well ... you don't need to be nervous. Because I've kind of ... well .. the feeling's mutual. But I always thought I may be too much of a tomboy for you or anyone honestly."
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
There was a moment where Yosuke considered that he had gone too far with what he had said. When she practically did a spit take on his words he though for sure that she didn't feel the same way or really was just about to yell at him for everything. His eyes averted but then she smiled, and he quickly returned his attention to her. As she blushed he smiled and felt that she was in fact very cute like that.
As she told him that the feeling was mutual he let out a surprised gasp that quickly turned into him letting out a surprised but very happy yell. "That's awesome!" He yelled at the same time as clapping his hands together. This made life at least a little better for the two of them.
Hearing that she thought of herself as too much as tom boy to get romantically involved with anyone he shook his head. "Actually that's one of the things I like about you, your always trying to help people, and like I said it's you help keep me in line. Just if we start dating... you have to promise not to go easy on me." He said still kind of nervous about the situation. Though he was very clearly happy now.
"Anyone who thinks your too much of a tomboy or something like that is full of themselves. Your probably the most attractive woman I know." He said waving it off as he got up from his chair and moved so that instead of sitting across from Chie he was sitting next to her he looked at her for a moment as he placed a hand on hers and gave a small sigh as he leaned over and kissed Chie on the cheek.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
Chie couldn't help but chuckle softly. Of all the words he'd chosen, awesome had come to his mind? Ah well. She'd let it slide. This was probably one of those moments where you just ... said whatever first came to you. Besides, after the day they both had, the two were in dire need of good news. While this had also been .. unexpected, it wasn't horrible. Just something she never would have seen coming. Ever. But maybe that was another thing she liked - and sometimes feared - about Yosuke. He could be very unpredictable. And depending on the situation, this was either a good or bad thing.
Right now, it was definitely a positive scenario.
"Not to?" she repeated, making sure he was positive about his request. A sly smile crossed her lips as she nodded. "Well .. alright. Just remember you asked for it. And ... yeah, I suppose. There aren't enough people who try to assist others out. It's kinda sad, really."
Although with how dark some people could act, as Adachi proved a few years ago, it was almost becoming more typical. Fewer people were doing what society deemed to be 'the right thing'. That had definitely contributed to why Chie aspired to be a cop. There weren't many other occupations that fit her desire to try to help othersplusfreely allowed her to use her martial arts.
Her cheeks flushed more as Yosuke said she should accept her tomboy side as much as she did her more feminine one. "T-thanks. That means a lot. Really." She blinked and curiously observed him getting up from his seat, only to sit beside her. As she felt his hand clasp over hers, she gently rolled her fingers along the top of his hand. The kiss, even though it was merely on her cheek, made her stop and blush even more.
"... You're .... too generous. But .. um ... I was originally called here in the dining room to eat, correct? So .. may I? This smells really good."
Chie had hoped it hadn't been worded rudely yet still was enough to get her point across.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
It was funny that she called him generous because Yosuke was actually feeling oddly selfish with everything he was saying. It didn't help that he thought Chie was rather adorable when she blushed. He smiled as she asked him if she could eat and he nodded. "Actually that reminds me, will you be okay here for a bit I have to run down to JUNES." He said lightly as he stood up.
He had originally been saving those cuts for an important day, that was still fast approaching. He paused actually looking around realizing there was actually only one person he hadn't told about the entire event and he quickly turned to Chie realizing that with all that had happened it had slipped his mind. "Uh actually there is one thing I need to mention before I run off. The steak I coooked up... it was actually for tomorrow, so i need to pick up another one."
Yosuke scratched his head for a moment. "your kinda eating Teddie's cut for tomorrow." He said with a small shrug. Tomorrow was the day that two years ago he Chie and Yu had all first gone into the television and met Teddie for the first time. While they didn't really have a birthday for the guy since he never really regained his memories beyond being a shadow, or who he was past that. They did have the event that marked the first meeting and the start of all the crazyness that had followed in their lives.
Turning around he made to leave. "So yeah... enjoy that and I will be back in a few minutes okay?"
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"Yeah. Yeah, I will be."
The mentioning of Yosuke abruptly needing to go back to Junes made her heard unable to help but tilt. Why? Did it include Tedde somehow? It was true that he wasn't yet back so ... maybe? Nah, he could walk himself. Finally, Yosuke hinted what was at least part of the reason.
"O-oh! Um .. sorry."
She knew it wasn't her fault given she hadn't coerced Yosuke into cooking what was supposed to be Teddie's steak. But it still made her feel a bit guilty. It wasn't, however, enough to keep Chie from eating and within moments, she was eagerly chewing on her dinner.
"Mhm," she replied, giving a reassuring smile as she continued to eat. It'd be odd to be alone -- which was only foreign in itself because she usually stayed by herself at her house. So why was this about to make her uneasy? Was it connected to the murders? Was it simply not wanting to be away from Yosuke now that they had exchanged feelings for one another? Some mix of the two?
Chie attempted to mentally dismiss the matter and instead focus on her food.
Throughout the movie, both Naoto and Nanako had been silent. It was now halfway over and getting close for Nanako to prepare for sleep. Before that, however, they both needed to eat.
Stretching as she stood up, Naoto looked down toward Nanako. "Was there anything in particular you wanted for dinner?"
".. Um ... I dunno."
The words made Naoto inwardly sigh. She figured the earlier events were very likely still pestering and making Nanako a bit depressed even. "Okay. I'll surprise you then. Sound good?"
Her own smile crossed her face as Nanako managed to do the same. "Yes. Thanks, Naoto-onee."
After giving the young girl a small nod, she walked into the kitchen and began rummaging around, seeing what was in the household. She hadn't had it in her to even hint to Nanako on Naoki being paid a visit by the cops. The death of Rise was bad enough already. It wouldn't have been better to add that in.
"It'd be like forcing salt into an already sore wound," she mused, sighing softly as she began pulling out a loaf of bread and some ingredients for a sandwich. Simple, yeah. But thankfully, Nanako wasn't overly picky on these sorts of things.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
As Yosuke opened the door he took one look at the storm that was outside and the fact that he was still in his pajamas, and let out a long annoyed sigh. Closing the door he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. "Hey before you head home can you pick something up for the house." He asked when the bear had finally picked up. "Uh I need at least one more of the delux cuts, I miss counted how many were going to show up." He said lightly. "Hey Teddie... how has your nose been lately?"
"It hasn't acted up at all or caught any strange smells." He had to pull the cellphone away as teddie's voice yelled at him from the other end of the call. "I told you it's been beary normal, my sniffer has never let me down."
"Okay okay. Get home safely." He said waving it off and hanging up. There was no sense in going back into town when he had an errand boy who could do it for him. He walked back to the table and gave a small shrug while at the same time he watched Chie eat. "Does your appetite ever stop?"
It seemed like a kind of rude question but at the same time after the mega beef bowl he still couldn't even look at food. However as she ate the steak some of the sauce landed on her cheek and as she finished the food his eyes were still oddly fixated on it, instead of telling the reason why he moved a little closer, and placed a hand on her chin pulling her towards him so that he could lean forward and lick her cheek.
His tongue swiped across her skin as he tasted both her and the barbeque sauce. He shuddered for a moment as he pulled back from the moment, and smiled. "You taste good when flavored." He said with a small blush and then placed a hand on her back and laughed lightly.
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
As Chie heard the door open but not shut, she turned to see Yosuke standing and seeming to rethink the idea about going back to Junes. Now that she took a better look for herself ... it probably was a smart move. Especially if he wasn't in the mood to change. As amusing as it would have been to see him leave and arrive in pajamas, there was definitely part of Chie that was glad he decided not to leave. She stayed silent while Yosuke conversed with Teddie.
When he asked about her appetite, she gave a low scoff as she looked up to the hazel orbs across from her.
"Well now that isn't nice." she half-teasingly and very half-seriously retorted. "You'd be amazed what certain emotions can do. Plus, I accidentally skipped out on breakfast. So .. does it ever? Yes. Right now? No."
As Yosuke leaned close to her, Chie almost half-expected another kiss to be placed on her cheek. She was ... somewhat correct. It wasn't a kiss but rather ... his tongue which licked up the sauce. Her cheeks flushed once again as she slowly shook her head from side to side.
"... Have I ever told you how strange you can be sometimes, Yosuke?" she inquired, feeling her smile widen despite the odd gesture that had been given to her. It wasn't bad. But .. it definitely was another thing she hadn't expected.
After a few minutes of searching, Naoto had managed to find everything for several types of sandwiches. In the end, however, she began making several grilled cheeses. Within ten minutes, she walked out with two plates, each holding two sandwiches each.
Nanako's smile widened once more as she saw the detective walk out with dinner. "Mmm, looks good. Thank you."
"It's no problem."
".... Hey, Naoto. Is every night going to be like this?"
The question definitely made the young sleuth contemplate. She thought on it while handing Nanako's plate over. "Hm ... maybe sometimes. But your father is going to need me with this case. That being said ... maybe Yukiko or Kanji could stay with you when I need to work. I have definitely promised myself that tomorrow, I'm going to start working on researching a lead regardless if your dad likes it or not."
"... I see."
An inward sigh of relief echoed in Naoto's head. For a few moments, she realized Nanako could easily have asked about what her dad had decided to do instead. But .. she was saved from having to explain that. The truth may be harsh enough as it was. If Ryotaro had his way, there was a good chance that Naoki wouldn't be found in the morning.
"Don't worry about it, Nanako. For now .. just .. enjoy, okay? We'll be here for you; all of us. Think of the more happier thoughts, including the visit Yu promised."
"Alright!"
After the two gave thanks, both women began to eat their dinner.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Yosuke smiled when Chie called him weird. It was an odd thing for her to say and yet it felt like a high complement coming from her. Maybe he was getting ahead of himself but he felt odd considering everything that the two of them had been through and how well he knew Chie. The fact that she had actually let him lick her was oddly exciting to him, and for the first time in a while he felt really strong around her. He gave her a small smile as he chuckled and patted her on the shoulder slightly.
"I know." Yosuke's tone was rather careful as he leaned in and looked at Chie at the same time his hand moved from his shoulder to her neck, as he ran a hand through Chie's short brown hair and moved slowly a second hand brushing against her cheek for a moment as he admired her in the dress. He was honestly focused on her lips at that point wanting nothing more then to lean in and press his lips against hers and take his first real kiss from a girl.
Looking into her eyes he swallowed as he leaned forward killing his cowardice and reading his body for what ever would happen after that.
And then the door exploded, the slam actually made Yosuke trip over the chair he was sitting on and his hand that was placed lovingly on Chie's cheek slapped her hard enough to leave the red imprint of his hand across her face as he fell onto the ground. "Ow what the hell!"
"That day was just Un-bear-able!" The mascot of Junes walked in, with a damp furry body, his 'body' dripping water all over as he walked into the main room of the apartment and undid his head head revealing the fact that the blond haired blue-eyed teddie wasn't wearing a shirt (or much else for that matter) under neath his costume. "All day out in the rain alone all by my bear-some self." He said almost pondering something, Turning around he started to drop the costume before he noticed Chie.
There was a long moment of silence as Teddie realized two things, one he was half naked, with his costume bearly covering himself, and two Chie was in his house, and in a dress. "Well this is bear-y unexpected."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"Y-yosuke?"
Chie's heart began to quickly pound in her chest. The physical contact from her friend was innocent enough at first, beginning merely with his hand upon her shoulder. But when it moved and his fingers began to trail through her hair ... she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Yet it wasn't in the worst possible way which confused her even more. It was filled with anticipation, some form of eagerness, as if she had been waiting for this moment to happen.
Wait, you've wanted this? Since when?!
Who cares?! Just enjoy it!
Her eyes closed as she sighed softly. As her hazel eyes opened once more, she almost swore she saw Yosuke closer towards her face.
Oh .. oh gods! Is he going to kiss me?!
A mix of fear and that same mix of desire and anticipation began to dominate her. Chie felt her heart beat faster as she began to lean forward, ready to accept the kiss. But then ... the new domino effect had happened.
"Ow! The hell indeed?!" Her hand raised as she rubbed her cheek, almost ready to return the favor. But then .. her heart quickly sank as she saw what had caused it all.
"U-um ... Teddie. Hey .... " Chie waved weakly, feeling herself quickly flush as she realized he saw them having tried to kiss and - almost as mortifying - Chie dressed in one of Teddie's outfits.
Why he had the dress still, however, was another issue. But that didn't really matter much. At the moment, Teddie had the upper hand so to speak on the situation.
The sandwiches were quickly devoured and as Naoto glanced over, she noticed it was truly beginning to get close for Nanako to prepare for bed. "You gonna get a shower in?"
"Mhm. Thanks again for dinner. Tell otou-san where I am if he comes back while I'm gone."
A smile crossed Naoto's face. "I will though it'll probably be relatively simple for him to deduce due to the sounds of the water. Before that though ... " Her arms raised as she gently pulled Nanako into another embrace. "I know today was a tough day. Just .. try to keep enjoying yourself. I've already given my childhood up years ago even before the last set of .. incidents. You shouldn't have to; no one should. You only live once, after all."
Nanako remained silent, taking the advice in before nodding. "Thank you, Naoto-onee. I .. I'll try. It's still kinda .. weird knowing Rise's gone. But ... I promise to try to take the advice."
With that, Nanako walked off. Soon, the sounds of running water echoed throughout the Dojima residence. Naoto, on the other hand, remained on the couch as she sighed softly.
The hell's taking Ryotaro so long? If he wants me to remain here every damn night, he could have said so from the beginning ... hm. Hopefully .... oh hell ....
Suddenly, the image of Naoki fighting and resisting the warrant entered Naoto's mind and made her cringe. She wouldn't have blamed him. However, such actions would only make an even stronger case against him and .. things would get much worse before better for him. Her teeth gripped her lower lip as she glanced towards the direction of the shower, feeling her heart sink. Naoto already felt bad enough for keeping that information away from Nanako. But if he really got arrested -- or at least taken to the station for questioning -- she didn't know how to help Nanako.
She could keep staying beside her, yes, much like the others. But how long would that work before poor Nanako finally snapped?
Hopefully that bridge won't even arrive. Or .. not for a long while ...
The thoughts and multiple scenarios made her groan and let out a defeated sigh as her head fell against the couch.
gpt
Youske Hanamura, Teddie & Naoki Konishi
Teddie blinked seeing Chie in his old dress and the way that she and Yosuke had been acting it was pretty easy to tell what was going on here. His mind of course jumping to the most obvious explanation available as he recoiled with realization excitement and horror all at the same time. As he pulled up his maschot suit so that it didn't drop any further he raised an arm at Chie.
"You were trying to score with Yosuke!" He said almost comically as his eyes were wide with child like excitement, as well as the fact that she was still in his dress that raised a few questions of it's own, but considering he still had that thing those were questions he didn't feel comfortable raising for fear of being asked a few questions of their own.
Yosuke got to his feet still kind of impressed that he had gotten as far as he had, or the fact that Chie didn't hit him for accedently hitting her. He closed one eye as he looked at Chie. "Sorry about that... I kinda slipped." Turning to the bear there was a new problem He didn't know about what had happened today, about Rise or anything else. "Hey Chie... mind if I talk to him for a moment?" He said not wanting to drag this out any longer, he grabbed Teddie and pulled him into his own room.
Explaining the situation took a lot longer then he thought it would, and when he and Teddie emerged not only was teddie in new clean clothing but he was also balling his eyes out the emotional bear just kept crying hard even as he ran up to Chie and hugged her needing emotional support. Yosuke on the other hand just went off to flip the laundry feeling a little drained from all that had happened.
When the three of them finally sat down together it was almost time to check the midnight channel Yosuke was sitting in the middle of the sofa next to Chie and Teddie who was still whimpering.
Time was ticking and as it got to midnight nothing could be heard except for the ticking clock and the soft patter of rain outside. Yosuke was about to let out a sigh of relief until the TV turned on.
"Greetings one and all. I am Naoki Konishi." Naoki Konishi stood wearing an odd dark purple robe, that was tied loosely together. his chest was showing and his eyes were yellow narrowed and colder. "Very few of you have ever noticed me, to most I am simply background noise, but no more! Through tonights ritual I will transcend that empty waist of space, and become something you will all remember. If you can not respect or remember me then you will fear me as the grim reaper of Yasogami High."
The shadow turned to face the large building that he was standing in front of, it seemed like a hellish version of the high school they all went too, the windows were blood red, and the building seemed twisted almost a mix between some sort of western cathedral and the school. Text seemed to read out on the show. A ritual of transformation and blood, let the horror story begin!
Turning back to the camera Naoki smiled and waved. "I do hope you can all follow along with me to make this an event to remember."
human
Chie Satonaka, Nanako Dojima, & Naoto Shirogane
"W-what?! N-no! Don't be fucking stupid! That's ... not ... "
Needless to say, when Yosuke offered to explain things to Teddie, she eagerly agreed. "Please do," she murmured, nodding as she allowed the two boys to slip temporarily away from her. While she didn't intend to eavesdrop, her ears caught some of the talk every now and again. While Teddie and Yosuke had their talk, she finished the rest of the steak and washed her plate off. It wasn't necessary, she knew. But Chie was used to doing her own chores. That thus meant dealing with things she had personally made messy or something of the like.
When Teddie came out and hugged her, Chie blinked a few times. It had merely been another thing she hadn't expected. But ... today had been a horrible day. Everyone was on edge or somehow emotional so.. she could understand where he was coming from. She said nothing, merely returned the hug. There wouldn't have been any words she could have used that would have begun to cheer poor Teddie up. Though honestly ... who could blame him? One of their own friends from the group was gone, dead.
Chie was still sad too. She was just .. trying to do any and everything in her power to avoid falling into a deep and unwanted depression.
By the time midnight rolled around, Chie was sitting beside Yosuke, Nanako was very much asleep, and Naoto was keeping herself conscious with some very strong coffee.
Chie blinked as she saw Naoki come on and begin his ... show.
"... Naoki-kun? What the ... ??"
She had damn well nearly forgotten how intimidating and out of character people looked on this damn Channel. However, the fact they were seeing this meant one thing. History truly was repeating. And that alone made Chie unable to help but whimper softly.
".... No!" Naoto hissed, restraining herself from letting out a full-fledged scream and risking waking Nanako up. This couldnotbe true! No! She took a long, deep breath and sipped the coffee, trying to regain her nerves and composure.
This is the Midnight Channel, after all. Nothing here is real. Remember your own show? You don't want any of that anymore. That being said, this side of him can likely be ... dealt with, somehow.
Part of Naoto had at first been annoyed that Ryotaro wasn't back yet. But honestly? This may be a good thing. He hadn't really believed the team last time they tried to explain this story. Moreover, if he had been here when this was on, it would have only made things worse for Naoki.
Then ... he's in the other world, more likely than not. Which means Ryotaro and the others haven't been able to find him, hence why he's taking so long I'm assuming.
Another slow nod left Naoto's head as she realized many more bad things were going to come from him not being in Inaba. Ryotaro would want answers when he did return. But ... Naoto wouldn't be able to be honest with him.
It was a risk, yes. But between feeling an even stronger urge to go through with investigating her own lead plus knowing things would continue to get much worse for Naoki, she would take the chance. If it meant keeping him safe and hidden away long enough to try to make head way, she'd do it.
As much as Naoto respected Ryotaro, she truly hadn't agreed with his original plan from the get-go anyway. Now, she had more reasons to disagree with him.
History was repeating once more. Someone was abducting people and tossing them into the Midnight Channel. Thishadto get under control and as quickly as possible before Nanako or anyone else from the group got targeted again.