Chase The Truth

Chapter 41: Another Rainy Night

Begin

~Normal POV

9/15 - Thursday

Again, Naoto didn't show up for school. And that image on the Midnight Channel had them on edge now. The gang met up in the second years' classroom to discuss it, minus Teddie who was at work. Rain was still pouring outside today. Yu noticed that Kanji was looking rather pale and had a bit of darkness under his eyes. He must not have gotten much sleep last night...

"About the Midnight Channel last night..." Chie said, worriedly.

"I talked to Teddie, and he says no one's entered the other side." Yosuke said, calmly.

"Well, yeah." Rise said, frowning. "The killer's been caught..."

Yosuke looked at Kanji, raising a confused brow. "Kanji? You ok, man?"

"Huh?" Kanji said, snapping his attention to him. He seemed to have been very distracted by something. "What's up...?"

"You saw the tv, right?" Yosuke asked.

"Yeah..." Kanji looked a little concerned. "It's weird... I mean, the shit Naoto said didn't make any sense either..."

"Huh? Naoto-kun?" Yukiko said, quizzically.

Kanji frowned. "Uh, no, well... how do I put it..."

"What were you out of it cause you were still thinking about what Naoto said?" Yosuke asked, chuckling a little. "You're still hung up on that stuff."

Kanji glared at him. "I ain't hung up on it!"

"It's ok, we all understand." Yosuke replied, smirking. "Just don't go overboard, man. Besides, the killer's been caught. We shouldn't worry about the Midnight Channel anymore. Teddie said it's all good, so it's all good. Right?"

"You little fucking shit-" Kanji said, in a strained voice. "I said that's not it!" He was evidently too fed up with this to even continue explaining, and quickly walked out the door muttering that he had stuff to do.

Chie glared at Yosuke too and said, "Stop bringing that up, Yosuke...! You know he doesn't think it's funny." Unfortunately, Yosuke didn't care to respond.

"What? Did something happen between Kanji and Naoto-kun?" Rise asked, curiously.

"No, Yosuke's just a dick." Yu answered, bluntly, before anyone else could speak up.

"Well, that aside-" Yukiko said, changing the subject. "Is it just me, or does the town seem kind of strange lately? Everyone is in high spirits for some reason... And they all talk about other people, but never themselves."

"Really? I don't think it's anything special." Chie said, "Now that the case is solved, people feel relaxed, that's all."

"That's how society is." Rise said, shrugging. "They all just want to get in on the latest trend. People get excited fast and lose interest faster... It goes round and round. There's no underlying reason for it."

"I don't know..." Yukiko said, frowning. "It still seems a little too weird... It's like... they're all afraid of something... Sorry, I just had this feeling."

Yu could see where she was coming from. It did sound odd. But there wasn't anything they could do about that. The more important issue at hand was the image on the Midnight Channel. He damn near wanted to punch Yosuke for his apparent uncaring attitude. Shouldn't he be at least a little concerned? He sighed quietly. It was supposed to keep raining all night...

Even if it was nothing. Even if Yosuke was right. Yu would never forgive himself if he didn't check it again.

~...