"Are you okay?"
Nanako's small voice pierced Yu's skull.
That work table is much harder than I remember it being.
"I'm fine"
"Okay. Well, good night."
Nanako seemed to have returned to her room...
What was that? That voice... And the TV... It was so open on the other side...
Yu decided that there was no sense dwelling on it- He could investigate more tomorrow, when he wasn't exhausted.
Who knows, maybe the others will buy it...
Yeah, right.
04/14 Th
Rain
"AD, short for Anno Domini, began when Jesus was born."
"Ah, you seem to understand this well, Narukami!"
Yu felt a little pleased with himself for giving the correct answer, even if it was a simple question.
Sofue is clearly deranged, but I'll take a pharaoh wannabe over one of King Moron's sermons hands down.
After school ended, Yu was packing his supplies, as he overheard some gossip from two other girls. Apparently, word that Saki was the one who found the body was traveling fast.
Yosuke began to discuss what he saw on the Midnight Channel, but started backing out until Chie interjected with the same rumor about the Konishi girl being the one who found the body.
I take it I'm in the minority when it comes to watching the news...
Yukiko seemed especially stressed out today, even moreso than the few days before.
Chie and Yosuke discussed with Yu about the Midnight Channel- They all agreed to having seen the same person.
"But... My soulmate's a girl? What's that supposed to mean?"
Use your imagination, Satonaka.
When Yu tried to explain about how his TV damn near ate him last night, however, Yosuke and Chie both laughed him off.
"That'd be one interesting dream, though."
All this talk got Chie on the subject of her family's plans to buy a new TV. Yosuke offered to show some to Chie at Junes, and Yu really had nothing better to do.
Might as well stick with the people who'll approach me, at least.
Yu wore a faint smirk.
At the Junes Electronics Section...
Yosuke decided to start off with the glitzy models of TV, the size of a table.
Deciding to prove a point, Chie tap the screen, and, of course, didn't pass through. She and Yosuke had a little back-and-forth about how the mechanics of passing through would work.
Yosuke had good reason to take Chie here first- It must have been to laugh at Chie's reactions to the price tags. Even when he scaled down, she still was stunned by the number of zeroes involved. Her definition of "cheap" was apparently quite cheap indeed.
Yeah, it doesn't work... But then, I haven't tried passing through again, have I?...
Yu put his hand on the screen.
"I-is his arm... In the TV...?"
"Whoa... Uhh... Is that some kinda... New model? L-like a new function?"
"Hell no!... That's one hell of a magic trick, man."
Maybe I should try a little more...
Yu stuck his head and upper body in...
"Huh. It's empty in here..."
People were starting to arrive. Narukami's cohorts were in a panic. Yosuke was apparently losing control of his bladder, Chie was running back and forth in a flurry of motion-
And then they slammed into each other, and the three students all fell inside.
The fall was remarkably long, yet it didn't feel like much distance was covered. After making sure his acquaintances were still in one piece, Yu suggested looking for a way out.
It was like some kind of TV studio...
If it were host to some grisly rampage, given the outlines on the floor.
A thick fog covered the area- None of the three could see beyond a few feet in front of them.
Chie was on the verge of tears, and Yosuke was getting visibly upset by the situation, and they just kept escalating...
"Let's all calm down."
"Y-you're right. Okay... Okay."
The group decided to hunt for an exit.
They wound up coming across an... Ominous Bedroom. A chair and a scarf tied into a noose occupied the center, and several posters of a woman with the face cut out covered the walls...
They all decided it would be best to leave this place.
Upon returning to the Entrance of this world, they found some kinda blue bear thing.
It was rather nervous, but it talked to them, though everyone was a bit on-edge about it. It talked about how someone was "throwing people in," then summoned a pile of retro TVs before shoving them out.
They returned from the same TV they fell into at Junes...
It had gotten rather late, despite how little time seemed to pass in the foggy world they had escaped from.
Then they noticed that the posters from that creepy room matched those in the store of that enka ballad singer, whose husband was having an affair with the dead announcer...
Everyone felt terrible...
"Let's go home... I wanna lay down and rest..."
"I agree, Chie."
And with that, they parted ways.
A dinner of instant noodles with his uncle and cousin did little to banish the sluggish feeling Yu was suffering from.
Then his uncle dropped a bombshell- Saki Konishi had disappeared.
The news came on, saying that the announcer had been staying at the Amagi Inn before she disappeared and turned up dead.
What the hell... What could it all mean?
"Achoo!"
"Are you sick? You must still be adjusting to your new environment. Nanako, get the cold medicine."
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