Chase The Truth

Chapter 60: Questioning Namatame

Begin

~Normal POV

12/4 - Sunday

Last night, Yu had another "dream" about the Velvet Room. Igor gave him some of his usual vague advice about solving the case, but it wasn't anything he didn't already know. The gist of what he said was that now was the time to think it over. Which was exactly what they realized at the hospital yesterday. Unfortunately, Yu didn't get a chance to ask about the fog situation before he woke up from the dream. Oh well, Igor and Margaret wouldn't have told him a straight answer anyway. And the last time he hung out with Marie, she made a mention of hating the fog, saying it bothered her, for some reason. She couldn't give an answer on why, so he just assumed it was the same reason it bothered everyone else.

He awoke to the sound of his doorbell ringing repeatedly in the early morning. He quickly got dressed and answered it. Turns out, it was Yosuke. He looked white as a sheet and was very upset...

"Teddie's missing!" Yosuke said, in a panicky voice.

"Oh, shit-" Yu replied, "Are you sure?"

"I looked all over the neighborhood, but I couldn't find him anywhere! My parents haven't seen him either! I gave him a phone, but he won't answer it at all!" Yosuke seemed very distraught.

"Ok, ok," Yu said, calmly, "Try to breathe, bro. Listen, I'm sure he'll be back soon."

Yosuke took a few calming breaths. "Y-Yeah... I hope so... I hope you don't mind, but I already asked Rise and the others to check inside the tv to see if he's gone back to the other side."

"It's alright, that's a good plan." Yu grabbed his keys and wallet and left with Yosuke to go to Junes.

~...

At the special headquarters, it was still somewhat early in the morning. At least with the fog situation, nobody was around to listen in on their private conversations. Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, and Naoto were all talking over the situation at their usual table. No one had seen Teddie since they left Nanako's room last night. He had stayed behind, and despite asking the doctors yesterday, they never saw him leave the room. After a while of waiting around, Rise and Kanji returned to them from their search in the tv world. Sadly, without Teddie in tow...

"It's no use, man," Kanji said, sadly. "We can't find him..."

"No luck for me either..." Rise whined. "I didn't sense anything over there. The fog's so dense it might be affecting my readings. I wish I could do better... I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Rise," Yu said, comfortingly. "You tried your best..."

"That Ted..." Yosuke grumbled, "Don't tell me he really went back to his world this time... We told him over and over that he could stay here..."

Yu recalled Igor's words from his dream. "This may be a time for contemplation rather than action..." Now he understood what that really meant. They were worried about their friend, but they had to keep working on the case.

"Listen up." Yu said, getting their attention easily, "I know we're all worried about Teddie. But we have bigger problems too. So let's just stay calm, and think about it. He'll come back, I'm sure of it."

"I guess that's all we can do right now..." Yosuke said, frowning but still in agreement. "He plays dumb a lot, but he's attached to us deep down... He wouldn't disappear without saying anything, right?"

"I'm worried for Teddie myself, but let's trust in him and await his return." Naoto said, "Right now, we must concentrate on the case."

"Thank you, Naoto," Yu replied, "That's the best idea. With or without Teddie, we have to keep up our investigation. He wouldn't want us to mope around. So, what's next for us?"