Learning about the Midnight Channel

April 13: 2011

Yu and I walked to school. All of a sudden the guy from yesterday crashed into a garbage bin. I think his name was Yosuke? Anyways we decided to lend him a hand.

"Whew, you saved me, thanks. Umm, oh yeah you guys are the transfer students! I'm Yosuke Hanamura, nice to meet ya!" He said.

"Are you ok?" I asked him

"Oh yeah, yeah I'm fine. Say did you hear about that incident yesterday? They found that announcer lady hanging from an antenna! You think it was some kind of warning? There's no way something that weird could've been an accident." He said

"The person that I'm talking to which refers to you, may be correct." Yu said

"Dangling a dead body over a roof like that... that's just messed up. Then again, it's pretty messed up to kill someone in the first place. Oh crap we're late! You wanna ride? It's a little squeaky, but it should be fine. Oh, sorry I can only take one." He said

Yu shrugged and hopped on. Great, I'm out of luck.

A car pulled up behind me. The window opened and Naoto was inside.

"Hey, you want a ride?" He asked

"Sure, thanks." I said.

I got in.

"Did you hear about the incident yesterday?" He asked

"Yeah, I saw it on the news yesterday. That's, pretty messed up. Is there any sort of leads, oh, sorry, I forgot that police aren't supposed to discuss ongoing investigations." I said.

"It's alright, I'm, not on the case anyways. They, don't like calling on me, I think it's a pride thing." He said.

"That's gotta suck, I mean from what I've heard at school, you're one of the best they have." I said.

He went red from embarrassment.

"Uh, well, we're here now. I'll uh, see you later then!" He said.

Morning. During class

"Be quiet! You guys ARE in High School aren't you? Can't you shut up during class? Don't you have any common sense? First of all, my job is to waist my precious time teaching you assholes philosophy! And since I'm so nice, I'll straighten up your rotten attitudes while I'm at it! And I'll be especially hard on any of you morons curious about the murder! Got it?! Now get your books out!" King Moron said.

The lecture was rather boring but I listened through it.

After school.

Yosuke walked up to us.

"So, you getting used to this place?" He asked

"Yeah." We said

"Wow, that was fast. There isn't much to do here compared to the big city, but there is that certain, something you can't get anywhere else. The air's clean, the food's great.. oh and you know about the locale delicacy? It's grilled steak man! Like that's anything special huh? I know a place where you can get it cheap. Wanna come? You helped me this morning, so it's on me." Yosuke said

Chie walked up to us.

"What about me huh? No apologies? My "Trial of the Dragon."?" She asked

"Urgh, You always come around when I'm talking about food." Yosuke said

"How about it Yukiko? Don't you think he should treat us too?" She asked

"I'll pass. I don't want to gain anymore weight. I need to help out at the inn today anyway." Yukiko said

"Wow Yukiko, you started training to take over the business?" Yosuke asked

"It's not like that, I'm just helping out when it gets busy." She said. "Well, I should be on my way."

"Oh well, we should get going too." Chie said.

"Huh? Do I seriously have to treat three people?" He asked

The four of us arrived at Junes' food court. Wow, this place is pretty nice. Anyways Yosuke came out from behind the counter.

"THIS is the cheap place you were talking about? They don't have grilled steak here." Chie said

"Yeah well, once you hopped on the freeloader train, I had to change my plans." Yosuke said

"Still, that's no reason to take us to your place." She said.

Wait, we're not getting steak? Oh well, I did want to come see this place.

"Dude, this isn't my place or anything. Oh right, I haven't told you yet. I moved here from another city about six months back. This location just opened up and my dad was assigned to manage it. So our entire family came out here. Here, this is on me to welcome you guys to town." He said as Yu and I grabbed our drinks. "Satonaka yours is on me too."

"Yeah I know." Chie said

We drank a bit, then started talking.

"It's only been half a year since this place opened up, but I haven't been to the locale shopping district much since. A lot of stores there started closing, oh, uh..."

"You can't blame it all on Junes, can you?" Yosuke asked.

A girl walked over to another table.

"Hey it's Saki Senpai. Sorry, be right back." He said

"Is a female human being that I am referring to, Yosuke's girlfriend?" Yu asked

"Haha, he wishes." Chie said. "That's Saki Konishi, her family runs a Liquor store in the shopping district. I think she's working here part time though."

I overheard the conversation between them.

"Hey, how's it going? You look beat." Yosuke said to her.

"Heeeyy, I'm finally on break. What's up Yosuke? Boosting the family business by bringing your friends here?" She said

"Madam, you wound me!" He said. "Kidding aside, you look down. Did something happen?"

"It's nothing, I'm just a little tired." She said

"Hey, if you need to talk I'm always willing to listen, I-"

"*chuckle, I'm ok. Thanks though." She said. "*sigh, why'd I leave school early yesterday? Hey.. are they the kids who transferred here?"

They walked back over to us.

"Are you the transfer students? Oh, did you hear about me already? It must be nice to have someone else from the big city to talk to, huh? I don't see Yosuke hanging out with the other guys much." She said

"Uh- not necessarily." Yosuke said

"He doesn't have too many friends, so I hope you three get along good. Yosuke's a good guy, but he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell him right to his face when he starts to annoy you." She said

"Nah, he's a great guy." I said

"Ahaha, I know, I'm just kidding." Saki said

"C-come on Senpai. There's no need to worry about something like that." Yosuke said.

"Well my break's just about over. Back to work I go. Laters." She said as she walked off.

"Haha, Saki Senpai says I'm annoying, but she's even nosier than me. She has a younger brother, and she pretty much treats me the same way." Yosuke said

"Ooh, you don't want her treating you like a brother huh? Hahaha, I get it. So that's how it is. The daughter of a locale family run liquor store, and the scion of the invading chain, hoho, the flame of forbidden love!" Chie said

"Wha- dude it's not like that!" Yosuke said

"Oh reaallly? Well I know just the thing to cheer up that lovesick heart. You ever hear of the midnight channel? You're supposed to look into a TV that's turned off, alone, and exactly at Midnight on a rainy night. While you're staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen, and they say that person's your soulmate!" Chie explained

"What? For a second, I thought you were actually going to say something useful. How can you get all excited over a childish urban legend like that?" Yosuke asked

"Childish huh? You don't believe it, do you?!" She said

"Of course I don't." Yosuke said

"Well it's raining tonight. Let's all try it out, then you'll see!" Chie said

"Try it out? Wait, you haven't tried it yourself? Wow, I'm trying to remember the last time I heard something this stupid. All that aside, you know that "incident" yesterday? You guys think it was murder? Ooh, what if the culprit behind it was still lurking around? Heehee." Yosuke said

"Sheesh, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that! Now who's the childish one. All I'm saying is, you guys better try it out tonight." Chie said

Well, I'm gonna give it a shot, I'm curious as to who I'm going to see.

Evening.

It was another dinner with just the three of us.

"Did your dad call?" I asked her

"No, he always says he will." She said as the door opened. "Oh! He's home!"

Dojima walked to the table and sat down.

"Oh, what a day. I'm back, did anything happen while I was out?" He asked

"No, you're late again." Nanako said

"I'm sorry, been busy at work. Can you put the news on for me?" He asked

Nanako changed the channel.

"Next, more details on the developing story on the incident in foggy Inaba. Announcer Mayumi Yamano's dead body was found hanging above a house in this isolated rural town. It is confirmed that Ms. Yamano, had been involved in an affair with Toro Namatame, husband of enka singer Misuzu Hiragi."

It's a follow up report of the incident yesterday. She was having an affair with with a councilman's secretary. The man's wife was a famous singer, maybe this incident was related to that lover's quarrel?

"The police plan to investigate this relationship and question any personnel involved with them. In addition, we now bring you an exclusive interview with the local student who found Ms. Yamano's body."

"*sigh, an interview with the kid? Where the hell did they find her?" Dojima asked

"What went through your mind when you saw her? Could you see she was dead? Did you see her face?"

"U- uhm." A female's voice said

The voice and face are filtered out. I swear I've seen her before.

"Do you think it was scared that she was killed on a foggy day?"

"Huh? She was killed?"

"Oh, uh, did you see anyone suspicious around here?"

"N-no, not really."

"We heard that you found it when you left school early. Did you have some personal business to take care of?"

"Huh? That's-"

The reporter's enthusiasm appears to be perplexing the girl. At a closer glance, she reminds me of Saki Konishi, Yosuke's Senpai.

"-a tragedy that occurred near the local shopping district. Many store runners are raising concerns about losing customers as a result."

"Hmph. If they lose customers, it'll be because you're making such a stink about it." Dojima said

"It really is a bizarre case isn't it? I mean someone hanging upside down from an antenna? I have to say it's a warning or a sign from the culprit."

"Yes but so far, no one has come forward to take credit for the crime."

"Loads of prank calls though." Dojima said

"So the cause of death is still unknown, and they don't have a single suspect yet? Taxpayers funds are going towards a police force who can't even figure out if this is an accident or homicide?"

Dojima grunted.

"We'll be right back after these messages."

"At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Every Day's great at your Junes!" They sung

"Every day's great at your Junes!" Nanako sung along with. "Hey dad, can we go to Junes together sometime?"

We heard a grunt like noise.

"No?" Nanako asked

Then he started snoring. Guy's asleep.

"*sigh, Geez." Nanako said.

We headed up to our rooms and waited for midnight.

Later.

It's almost midnight and it's pouring out. Time to see if Chie's rumour is true. I got up and walked towards the TV. At midnight, it turned itself on. A girl that looked similar to Saki showed up on screen. I heard a voice in my head. It gave me a serious migraine.

"I am Thou, Thou Art I. Thou art the one who opens the door." It said

Then the tv turned off. What was that? I went up to that and touched the screen. It caused a ripple on it. I stuck my hand through, and my whole arm came through along with my head. I was able to pull myself out and landed on the floor with a thud. Judging from the sound I heard across the hallway, I'd say that Yu tried the same thing.

Nanako came knocking at the door.

"Are you ok?" She asked

"Did I wake you up?" I asked

"I heard a really loud noise. Well, good night." She said

Nanako returned to her room, and I went to bed. I'll talk about it with the others tomorrow.

Author's Note: no this is not a gay/Yuri(yowie?) Story. The gender of Naoto is a plot point. Also I'm introducing the character WAY earlier then they are in game. I mean come on, what kind of Male Reader Story would it be if I only introduced the love interest halfway through?