Burn My Regret Chapter 12 - Culture Day
Apr. 16th, 2015 12:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angevonOver the next few days, Keiko Tomochika-san recovered, and by the latter half of the week, she was almost her old self again. The students hadn't much time to notice anything different about her, though—Culture Day was this weekend, and everyone was excitedly talking about their plans. Several students—including Taishi and Natsumi—were planning trips to colleges all over the prefecture, and some even beyond that, to see what the college's atmosphere was like. Others, like Haruka, were simply going to enjoy the holiday and go shopping with friends.
When asked what he planned, Yu said he was going home.
"Home?" Haruka asked. "Oh! I bet you'll be glad to see your parents again."
"...Yeah," he said. Parents... right. No, he was going straight to Inaba once the dismissal bell rang. He'd even brought a duffel bag to school that contained everything he wanted to bring, since he'd already given Ken Amada the keys to his dorm. The boy was more than willing to watch Koromaru for him.
Yu was very grateful that Gekkoukan's Culture Festival had taken place back in September, before he'd really integrated himself with the student body, and not on the holiday itself. Otherwise he'd be obligated to stay in Tatsumi Port Island for the weekend and help with the Kendo Club's demonstration. His little vacation was, however, going to be interrupted by Yasogami's Culture Festival. Yasogami was a rather traditional school, and Yosuke had already told him that the school was having its festival tomorrow, exactly on Culture Day. Yu didn't mind too much, though—he'd be able to visit all his school friends at once, and in a familiar setting, at that. It would make for a memorable trip, and he could bring Nanako-chan, too!
He probably had a grin plastered on his face when the dismissal bell rang. He bid his fellow students goodbye, including Keiko-san, and headed right to the train station.
The elation faded with every train stop on the way to Inaba. He was returning. Every time he returned, something bad happened. The murders last year, the P-1 Grand Prix, more murders over summer... Worry began to knot his stomach. It was just a short weekend—nothing could happen, right? No one would die just because he was visiting... He assured himself it would be okay, but he wasn't very convinced. He hoped the weather stayed sunny like it was supposed to. The last thing he needed was the Midnight Channel to return again...
He somehow managed to force a smile onto his face as he stepped off the train at Yasoinaba Station later that evening.
"BIG BRO!"
And then it grew into a genuine grin of pleasure at the sight of his little cousin.
He set his duffel bag down and took Nanako-chan in his arms, picking her up and twirling her around. "Oh, how I missed you," he whispered into her ear before putting her back down.
"Mmm!" the little girl said, smiling. "I missed you too, big bro!"
His uncle stepped forward, still dressed for work in a gray shirt, black pants, and red tie. "Go on, Nanako. Show him what you were so excited about yesterday."
Nanako-chan's big brown eyes lit up. "Big bro! Big bro!" She opened her mouth and pointed. "I los' a toof!" she said with her mouth still open.
Yu laughed and patted her head. "You're growing up!"
Dojima led them to his police car. He opened the trunk and Yu put his bag in the back. "Hop in," he said after slamming the trunk closed, "and we'll head home."
Yu paused with his hand on the handle to the passenger side door. "Please tell me you don't need gas."
"Filled her up before we came," Dojima told him. Yu relaxed and took his seat. Nanako-chan sat in the back behind her father.
"I was planning to pick up some takeout at Aiya for dinner, if that's fine with you," Dojima said conversationally on the drive home. "Can't really make you cook and all." He laughed, and then grew serious. "Well, you can invite your friends over tonight if you want, but..." Dojima looked in the rear-view mirror at Nanako-chan significantly.
Yu understood. "I'd rather it be a family night," he said. Dojima took a hand off the steering wheel and put it on Yu's arm in silent thanks for just a few seconds.
When Yu entered the Dojima residence, nostalgia flooded through him. His uncle hadn't changed the house at all since he'd left—not that he'd really expected him to—but it felt almost like a time capsule. There was a box of stale cheese-flavored crackers on the table, sitting alongside his uncle's blue coffee thermos. The same brown couch was in the living room, the same pink and purple sitting cushions, the same TV. The only obvious difference he noticed was that Nanako's drawings posted on the refrigerator had changed to more recent works. Oh... the surviving half of that macaroni collage was still there, to his private shame.
Oh, and the kotatsu was out already. Dojima saw him notice it. "I know it's not cold yet, but... don't want Nanako getting sick," he said in a low voice. Yu nodded.
The smell of coffee made him think of the mug his uncle had given him last year, and sure enough, there it was on the counter. As if reading his mind, Dojima picked it up and handed it to him. "Guess you can use this again! Want me to make a cup?"
"Sure, uncle."
Dojima smiled, obviously happy. "You know, Yu," he said, turning his back to him while setting up the coffee maker. "My sister doesn't know what a gem she has."
Yu held his tongue.
"I admit, I miss having you around. You're a good kid," he continued. "Almost an adult. God, makes me feel old."
"Big bro, big bro!"
Yu turned to find Nanako-chan holding almost a dozen stuffed animals in her arms. He hadn't seen her go into her room at all, but she must have brought them from there.
"Look at all my new toys!" she said. "I got a donkey and a frog and an elephant and..." She named off several other animals.
Yu blinked when he realized the animals were hand-knitted. "Are these... from Tatsumi Textiles?"
She nodded.
Dojima scratched his head sheepishly. "She might be their best customer. Spends all her allowance there."
"Well, I have something for you," Yu told her. Her eyes gleamed with excitement as he rummaged around in his duffel bag. He held out a new plush to her, a teal cartoonish bird with overlarge eyes. It was wearing orange overalls.
"Wild-Duck Burger...? This is really funny, big bro! Thank you!" She hugged it to her chest.
By now Dojima had set out their takeout meal on the table. "Coffee's ready, and so's the food. Go wash your hands, Nanako."
"Okay, Dad!"
The meal itself didn't trigger much nostalgia aside from it being from Aiya; his uncle was always working late and rarely ate with him and Nanako-chan. He hoped that had changed now that the murder investigation was over. It might have—Nanako-chan seemed really happy, but it could just be because he was there. He'd have to ask Yosuke later, since he was supposed to be keeping an eye on her for him.
After dinner, he spent the rest of the evening listening to Nanako-chan chatter about school and her friends and her teachers. It was really wonderful to be back...
When Nanako-chan mentioned that her class had a pet rabbit, Yu was reminded to show her some pictures on his cell phone. "Look, I have a dog. His name is Koromaru."
Nanako-chan looked on with delight. "Oh! His fur looks really soft!"
"It is. He loves to be pet right behind his ears. Like this." Yu tickled the girl behind her ears until she cried out for him to stop, giggling the whole while.
"A dog?" Dojima said. "Huh, my sister was never one for pets. Well, you can't do better than a dog."
Yu blinked at him. Dojima didn't know that he wasn't staying with his parents. Yu had figured his mom would've spoken with him at some point... But then he remembered that even last year when he was staying with uncle Dojima, his parents had never checked up on him. The thought made him sigh with aggravation.
He really needed to get over it. He had family: uncle Dojima and little cousin Nanako. He wrapped his arms around Nanako-chan and showed her other pictures of Koromaru while Dojima reminisced about a time when he was a kid and had tried to bring a dog home as a pet.
Nanako-chan made breakfast for him the next morning: toast and eggs. Not long after he'd eaten, there was a knock on the door. It was, of course, the first of his friends wanting to see him.
"Yeah! You're really here! It's great to see you, partner," Yosuke said. The floppy-haired boy punched Yu lightly on the arm. "You ready? Everyone's at the Culture Festival. I was sent to pick you up."
"Sent, or did you volunteer?" Yu asked with amusement.
Yosuke tugged on his arm. "Come on, partner!"
While they walked, Yosuke animatedly told him about various things that had happened since summer. The old man tending the Tatsuhime Shrine had a heart attack, but had made a full recovery. Chie's dog had fathered puppies. The guy in glasses who had been in their class last year had become the Student Council President after the last one stepped down, despite claiming that he did not want the position.
Most importantly, the Midnight Channel had not been airing. "But rainy days still give me the jitters," Yosuke admitted. Yu nodded. He still hadn't touched the TV in his dorm...
They turned down the road into Inaba's shopping district, which consisted of only one street since the town was so small. As they passed by Konishi Liquors, Yu couldn't help but notice the store's windows and entrance were boarded up. Yosuke placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "Yeah... The Konishis closed up the store and moved away," Yosuke told him quietly. "Can't really blame them..."
A Shadow had killed Naoki Konishi over summer in an attempt to get Yu's attention. He'd defeated the Shadow in the end, but the victory was a hollow one.
"Ah, on a brighter note," Yosuke said, "how about Dojima's new partner in the force?"
Yu paused in mid-step. "He has a new partner...? He didn't say anything."
"Oh... Maybe he didn't want you worried about another Adachi. Or maybe," – Yosuke was winking at him – "he didn't want you knowing it's a lady."
"Huh." There was really nothing more Yu had to say about that.
They neared the end of the street, and Yu's eyes were drawn to the wall between Daidara's and the bookstore. The door to the Velvet Room was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps his journey really was supposed to be over... It was strange to think he might never enter the Velvet Room again, but even now he carried the Velvet Key in his pocket. Its presence always reassured him, somehow.
At the end of the street, Yu stopped and looked his friend over. Yosuke squirmed at the sudden, unexpected attention. "What's wrong? Did I grow a second nose?"
"There's something different about you." Yu mulled it over, peering at Yosuke like he was a specimen in science class. "It's been bothering me since we left the house."
"Well, I'm still me, partner," Yosuke said. He scratched his arm. "It's only been two months. Maybe I'm a little taller? Or my hair's just a little different? I haven't cut it in a bit. It's driving my mom nuts, heh."
"Hair..." Yu muttered. "Ah! That's it!"
"What's it?—Hey!"
Yu had closed the distance between them to tug at the headphones draped around Yosuke's neck. "You got new headphones!"
Yosuke pushed him away to give himself some space. "Well, yeah! A new model comes out every year..." He fiddled with the cord. "I'll let you play with them later, okay? We're almost at the school."
Yasogami's gates were decorated with a large red and orange arch welcoming all visitors to the Culture Festival. Students and parents and others were gathered around a greeting table right by the arch. By the number of people already present, it was obviously going to be a busy day for the school.
Yosuke led him right inside, but they didn't get very far before a student stopped to say hello. "Yu-senpai! What are you doing here?" asked a girl he recognized from drama club last year.
"Just visiting, just visiting!" he repeated as other students soon stepped in line to greet him. Even some teachers joined in. Ms. Sofue told him about something she'd found with the dowsing rods he had made for her last year, and Mr. Kondo asked what sports club he'd joined at his new school.
"Man, partner, we're never gonna get to the third floor at this rate," Yosuke complained, but he was smiling at seeing Yu's embarrassment at all the attention he was receiving.
"You didn't tell me what your class is doing this year," Yu noted when they were finally free. "Not a group date cafe, I hope?"
Yosuke shook his head. "Nah, we went with something really tame this year. Just a break room with coffee and donuts."
"Good," Yu said emphatically.
He didn't want to ask if there was a beauty pageant this year.
Classroom 3-1's project seemed to be a karaoke lounge; someone was singing rather poorly and people were laughing. Thankfully Yu wouldn't have to try his luck with that; Yosuke led him past it to 3-2. "Aaaaand here we are!"
"Yu-kun!" shouted two feminine voices at once. Chie dropped the pink-frosted donut she had been holding and rushed towards him, and Yukiko followed closely behind.
Yu hugged them both, since it seemed like they were expecting it.
While he caught up with the two girls, Yosuke poured him a cup of coffee from the thermos the students had set up at the front table and offered him a donut, which he declined because he was still full enough from Nanako-chan's hearty breakfast.
Soon Kanji and Teddie showed up, making it almost a full Investigation Team reunion. He discovered that Naoto was out of town for the weekend, and he suspected it wasn't to avoid him but to avoid the Culture Festival. Yu didn't blame her after last year. He also learned that the ever-popular Rise was still away on a big concert tour.
"It's been beary lonely without you, Sensei!" Teddie cried into the front of Yu's shirt. Yu patted the blond boy-shaped bear on the head until he finally calmed down.
"How's the other side been?" he asked cautiously.
"Nothing to report, Sensei! Teddie is always on the lookout!" The bear saluted him in mock military-style.
"Yeah," said Yosuke, "he's been living there, now. Seems like it's mostly peaceful. Your dungeon even disappeared. Oh, and we found out there are fish in the lake there! Maybe one day we can go fishing or—"
"Come on, Yu-kun!" Chie interrupted. "We've got to show you around the festival. Oh! Who gets dibs on being with him?"
To avoid argument, Yu immediately suggested they all go together, and the group agreed. The girls led the way, and they passed many different stalls. The drama club's play this year was Othello vs. Macbeth—apparently they hadn't learned from last year.
The basketball team was hosting a mini contest: anyone who could successfully make a shot from a certain distance in one attempt won a prize. They all gave it a try. Chie's attempt hit the hoop's outer rim and bounced off. Yukiko missed completely and the ball almost bounded into a girl on the sidelines. Yosuke's was close; his ball hit the backboard and then seemed to balance on the hoop's edge, but the ball ended up rolling down outside of it. Teddie ended up getting too distracted by dribbling the ball to make an attempt, and Kanji had to chase after him to get the ball back. After it was retrieved, Yu, of course, made it look easy.
"Damn, partner!" Yosuke congratulated him on his perfect shot.
"Well, I used to be in the basketball club," Yu replied modestly. "I guess I still have some skill."
"Of course you do, Yu-kun," Chie assured him, and Yukiko readily agreed.
The prize was a packet of meat gum. Yu handed it off to the group's meat lover, Chie.
On the way to the next display, he saw Kanji draw back and gesture at him, so Yu slowed down to walk with him, worried that something was on the tattooed youth's mind.
"Senpai..." Kanji said. "Could you ask Nanako-chan what animal she wants next? I'm runnin' outta ideas."
Yu relaxed. "Sure."
Sometimes there really wasn't a problem to be fixed.
Their next destination was the second years' haunted house. Yosuke wanted to skip it and go straight to the classroom next door since it was doing a maid cafe, but Chie kicked his shin and he ended up going in the haunted house with her to avoid further pain. Yu went in with Yukiko and was surprised at how unfazed she was by the sporadic creepy noises and the darkness surrounding them.
Yu decided to skip the maid cafe, to Yosuke's disappointment. "Come on, partnerrrrrr," Yosuke complained. "You'll never get another chance to see Ayane-san in a maid dress!"
Yu mulled it over for a moment before shrugging and following Chie and Yukiko down the hall. He noticed that Teddie joined Yosuke at the cafe, and Yu couldn't imagine Yosuke having too much fun when he was obviously going to have to do damage control when the bear inevitably offended—or perhaps charmed—a girl there.
Yu and the two girls ran into Dojima and Nanako-chan at the first years' photography display. Dojima was pointing to a photograph of a close-up of a steel grate. "This one's down-to-earth. I like it."
"I like this one!" Nanako-chan exclaimed, facing a picture of a basket of kittens. Yu heartily agreed. "Oh, big bro, you're here!" She smiled at him and he patted her on the head.
They browsed the photography displays until Yosuke, Teddie, and Kanji finally rejoined them. Yosuke looked a little annoyed, but that was probably to be expected. Yu didn't ask how the maid cafe went.
The festival was starting to wind down for the day. Yukiko did not invite them to the hot springs like she had last year. Dojima kindly told them they all could come over to his house. "I'm sure you've all got a lot to tell Yu... You might as well make a night of it."
"Oh, we couldn't impose on you, Dojima-san," Chie protested.
"We've already got the kotatsu out," Dojima said amiably with his hands in his pockets. "Might be fun to watch a movie around it, right Nanako?"
"Yeah!" the girl said brightly. At that, no one could protest.
Dojima apologized to Yu for ordering takeout at Aiya again, but it was the easiest thing he could get to feed the handful of hungry teenagers currently at his house. Yu told him he didn't mind: Aiya was just that good.
Since everyone's tastes in movies were different, they'd had a hard time deciding on what to watch, so they'd turned to Yu to make the final decision. He chose a PG-rated action movie since Nanako-chan was going to watch it too.
Nanako-chan sat next to Yu at the kotatsu, but it wasn't long before she'd crawled into his lap. Yu welcomed her, although his legs soon began to fall asleep from her weight. She was eight years old already... A few more years and she wouldn't be able to do this. A few more years and she might not want to.
He hoped no one would bring up his embarrassing—and disturbing—title from the P-1 Grand Prix at the sight of her in his lap, but no one commented. Everyone was enjoying the atmosphere of camaraderie. Sure, Naoto and Rise were missing from the equation, but somehow it made the remaining Investigation Team members that much closer. Throughout the night they snacked out on taiyaki cakes and Pocky that Yosuke had bought at Junes.
About half-way through the movie, Yu's phone buzzed in his pocket, but since he didn't want to bother any of his friends—or Nanako-chan in his lap—by checking it, he ignored it.
Less than a minute later, it started buzzing again, and Yosuke glanced at his pocket. "Not going to answer?"
Yu shrugged and adjusted Nanako-chan slightly so that he could take out his phone. She sighed against his chest; she'd been falling asleep from the day's excitement. He flipped the phone's screen up. "I don't recognize the number."
Yosuke nodded. "Probably spam. Or a wrong number. One time I kept getting called by this guy asking for a 'Jiro.' I kept telling him, 'Dude I don't even like sushi' … They can always leave a voice mail if it's important."
"Shut up, Yosuke!" Chie shouted at him with a hiss. "Some of us are trying to watch a movie here!"
When the phone buzzed again while it was still in his hand, Yu turned a puzzled look on it. "Same number..."
"Huh. Knowing you, it might actually be important."
Yu agreed. He extricated himself from Nanako-chan, who yawned hugely at him, and climbed the stairs, intending to go to his room. "Hello? It's Yu."
"Narukami-san? It's... Tomo. Err, that is, Keiko." Her voice was almost too quiet to hear over the noise from the movie. "You said I could call, ehh."
"Keiko-san?" he said. "Is everything all right?"
"No."
"Umm, a moment please," he told her. Yosuke was giving him a funny look, and he realized he'd been talking too loudly into the phone because of the movie. He rushed the rest of the way up the stairs and closed the door to his room. "I'm sorry... Tell me now."
"Are you... busy?" She sounded hesitant, and quite unlike herself.
"No, it's fine. I was just watching a movie. What's happening? Is... Is Kenji all right?"
"Yes. Well, no, he's the same. His condition is stable, I suppose. We've brought him home, anyway... I wish we could have kept him in the hospital, to be honest. But..."
"Oh..."
"We're taking turns caring for him. But that's not why I called. Do you remember Kazushi Miyamoto? Kenji's friend? His roommate at the college."
"I do."
"He now has Apathy Syndrome, too. It's not supposed to be contagious, but... If you think about it, that old couple, Bunkichi and Mitsuko, both have it... One could have caught it from the other. Maybe... Kenji caught it from Ms. Toriumi, and then Kaz caught it from him. Maybe Ms. Toriumi caught it from the old couple. Since she's our Composition teacher, it's not too great a step to assume that she likes to read."
"It's possible," Yu conceded. "But we don't have any actual proof that there's a link between them." He paused. Somehow the word 'link' bothered him... "Besides, where did it come from in the first place?"
"Maybe one of the old couple was a carrier, and the strain mutated... or something. I'm sorry. I'm not much for biology," Keiko admitted. "I don't know how likely that scenario is. It's supposed to be just a mental condition, but I find that hard to believe right now…"
"If it's contagious," – Yu frowned into the phone – "doesn't that mean..."
"Yes," Keiko said. "We could be carrying it. We've been in contact with two different people who have it."
"That's... actually not what I was going to say, but that is troubling. I was thinking the government might want to quarantine the affected people."
"It might be too late, now. Who knows how many people we've spread it to ourselves?"
A tightness grew in Yu's stomach. If it was contagious... he'd just spread it to all of his friends and his most important family.
After calming himself down, he returned downstairs to find Yosuke standing nonchalantly at the bottom of the stairs, as if waiting for him. No, not 'as if' – he was definitely waiting. "So, uh, Keiko-san, huh? ... Who is she?"
"Yosuke." Yu wasn't in the mood for this. He gave his friend the flattest expression he could manage, and hoped Yosuke wouldn't be as oblivious to it as he normally was.
For once, it worked. "Dude... Did something happen?"
"I'm not sure yet. She's a classmate and her brother was in the hospital recently." Yu wiped his brow, and his hand came away slick with sweat—and he hadn't been near the kotatsu for quite some time.
Yosuke winced. "It's Yumi Ozawa-san all over again, huh? That sucks."
Yu nodded. "Yosuke, do you really care about the movie?"
Yosuke glanced guiltily at their friends still around the kotatsu. "Ah, ah – I wasn't really watching it..."
It almost made Yu smile in amusement. Yosuke'd probably stopped caring as soon as Yu had left to take that call, his curiosity about his partner's business taking priority.
"Let's go in the kitch—no," he amended as a series of explosions went off in the movie, drowning out his ability to think, "my room, and talk."
"Sure, partner."
His room was essentially the same as it had been when he'd left back in March, stripped bare after he'd packed all his belongings. The empty shelf that had once contained his model kits, and the empty desk with the chair that had one leg that was shorter than the others, were still present, along with the couch and short work table. The futon in the corner was the same one he'd used throughout the previous year. Apparently Dojima kept it as a spare, or for when Yu returned to visit.
Yosuke took the couch and Yu took the desk chair. "So, partner. What's up?" Yosuke asked. "You holding up okay? It's been pretty... well... rough, without you."
Yu's mouth turned down. "Yosuke. I'm sorry, I'd like to get down to business. Did you find anything about Tatsumi Port Island?"
"Oh, you want to talk about that...? Yeah, partner. There were a few weird things. Let's see, uhh," Yosuke's brow furrowed as he tried to remember. "My notes about it all are by the computer at home."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Nah, partner, it's cool. There was something strange with a train. The train had suddenly moved way down the line from where it was. Now, out here... No one would even notice because there's so much distance between stops, but in a big city, it's a pretty big deal, you know?"
"Yeah. Iwatodai to the Port Island is about 20 minutes by train."
"Yeahhh..." Yosuke gave him another funny look. "Oh, and there was a power outage at that mall back then, too. Remember how Rise had said that club we went to owed her? That was the incident."
"Mmm. Anything else?"
"A student at the high school died in October. That's 2009. He was found shot in a pretty bad neighborhood. No witnesses, apparently, and no one was ever arrested or anything. His name was… Shinjiro Aragaki?"
That was new. "Gekkoukan High school?"
Yosuke nodded. "Yep. The same one we visited. Place seems pretty messed up. There were two deaths that school year, that Aragaki guy and a boy who died on the school roof. And there was some talk on a message board about disappearances, but it was hard to figure out what was going on. It was a pretty primitive board, you know, the kind that you have to click on every individual reply to read it... A big mess."
"Not that different from Yasogami, really," Yu murmured.
"When you put it like that..."Yosuke said, biting his lip. "Hey, uh, I know you specifically said three years ago, but two years ago had some even stranger stuff going on around there. Hold on, I have it on my phone." Yosuke flipped open his phone, scrolled through his pictures, and handed it to Yu. "Have a look at that."
It was a picture of the Paulownia Mall, but there were a bunch of discarded fliers all over the floor. Someone had drawn graffiti in red paint over the walls and the tiled floor. The mall had always looked pristine to him, the floor tiles positively gleaming, so it was strange to see.
"Apparently there was a cult that was really popular around then. They thought the end of the world was going to come on the 31st of January, 2010. Something about Nyx," – Yosuke spelled out the word for him – "Some of the websites about it are still around. I guess when it didn't happen, people lost interest. But doesn't it remind you of the fog last year?"
Yu agreed—the similarity was eerie. Inaba had been engulfed in fog for weeks, a persistent fog that didn't burn off in sunlight. The phenomenon had frightened everyone. People boarded themselves up in their houses, and students refused to go to school, and at some point even the trains had stopped running. He remembered the hair-raising spectacle of people in gas masks, fearing the fog was poisonous. Some had claimed that the fog signaled the end of the world, especially when the Midnight Channel had shown Inaba in ruins...
He suspected Apathy Syndrome had played a part in the Paulownia Mall's decay in that picture...
"Did that help you at all?" Yosuke asked. "I wonder if the Kirijo Group had anything to do about it."
"Maybe," Yu said. "By the way, Gekkoukan High School is run by the Kirijo Group."
"I wonder how Labrys is doing." Yosuke sighed. "I haven't heard from her in a while."
Yu almost slipped and told him that he'd ask Aigis. Instead, he stood up. "We should get back downstairs. The movie's probably over by now."
In fact, they made it back downstairs just in time for the credits.
"Geez, you two!" Chie complained. "You missed half the movie."
"It's over?" said Yukiko. "But I thought there should be more..."
"The plot was kind of hard to follow in the end," Chie admitted. "So maybe you missed nothing."
"Well, it's still early, partner," Yosuke said, looking at Yu. "What are we gonna do now? Another movie?"
"Do you have any board games, Dojima-san?" Chie asked.
"Hmm..." Dojima mused from the couch while scratching the stubble on his chin. "I'm sure I have a deck of cards somewhere."
"I know!" Yukiko shouted.
Everyone looked at her, surprised at the demure girl's sudden outburst.
"We could could play the King's Game!" Yukiko giggled, delighted with the idea, and gripped the kotatsu's blanket in excitement.
Everyone looked away. An uncomfortable silence ensued.
"So, uh," Chie began. "About that deck of cards..."
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