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It started a week ago. April 12th, the day Yu Narukami started school at Yasogami High. His first few days were a breeze, and by Friday he had already backtalked a teacher, gotten a love note in his shoe locker, and was already being requested to join clubs that hadn’t even opened registration yet. It was to be expected after all, someone from a huge city like Tokyo suddenly moving to such a small town where everyone was so close? He acted like he belonged there, like he had lived in Inaba all his life, and everyone seemed to gravitate towards him.

Well, everyone except for Yosuke Hanamura. He sits bitterly behind Yu throughout the day, wondering why

he

gets all of the attention. They both came from the same kind of place, so why didn’t anyone like him nearly as much? Is it his oddly colored hair? Or how calm he is around all of these strangers? It wouldn’t hurt to try and find out why… So, regardless of how he feels, Yosuke decides to talk to Yu and, possibly, become his friend.
 
However, Friday had been a bit too much for Yosuke. Faking smiles for the people who smiled at him, trying to talk to Yu only for him to be swept into a conversation with someone else, the immense amount of work that Kashiwagi assigned last minute (he wasn’t even sure it went with the topic they were studying), and a sudden graveyard shift at Junes overwhelmed him to no end.

So, it was no surprise that when he went to sleep that night he dreamed of a rather… strange room.
 
This was… The inside of a limousine? Yosuke had never been in one, which seemed to be reflected in the way the room appeared. In a sense, there was

too

much blue. So much that it nearly hurt his eyes. To his left, there was a drink bar below a set of windows that he oddly couldn’t see out of, and to his right sat a row of seats, a door, and another set of windows he couldn’t see through. Directly ahead of him sat two people; a man who sat hunched over with his head resting on his hands, and a woman next to him who wore too much of the blue that matched the rest of the room.

The man lifts his head, and Yosuke nearly flinches when he sees the size of his nose.
 
“Welcome to the Velvet Room,” the man says, “somewhere that does not exist in a specific place or time, and only those who have been invited are able to enter this room.. My name is Igor, and this is Margaret, my assistant.” Igor motions to the woman sitting next to him.
 
The woman - Margaret, nods and gives Yosuke a small smile.
 
What was this? A fever dream? Yosuke didn’t think he was sick before he went to bed, but this dream was probably just caused by stress.

Probably.

Igor continues. “You are here tonight because it has become your time to face your darkest truths. Are you aware of what this means?”
 
Yosuke looks at him blankly for a moment. “I don’t think so.”
 
“Then perhaps you’ll better understand when it’s put into terms that people from your side use. Soon you will be facing your

Shadow.

”
 
Yosuke vaguely recalls hearing something about “Shadows” on TV once, but doesn’t know much more than that. “I thought that people my age weren’t able to meet theirs yet.”
 
“Yes, but because most Shadows manifest when a person suppresses too much at one time, yours seems to have appeared early. They must be overcome for a person to continue to grow.”
 
“So I bottled up my emotions and now I have to talk to something that was made from them? Sounds simple enough, how do I do it?”
 
Igor shakes his head. “Your enthusiasm is welcomed, but it is not simply a matter of talking and going back to normal life afterwards. Were that the case, there would be no need for a Velvet room, and coincidentally, people would have no warning before meeting their Shadows.” After seeing the confused look on Yosuke’s face, Igor continues. “Allow me to explain. Some Shadows can become hostile, and others can drain their counterparts mentally, physically, and emotionally. Because of this, we allow each person to select one other to accompany them during this difficult time.”
 
Yosuke reflects on people he would be willing to take along with him before shaking his head. “Can I choose not to take anybody with me?”
 
“It is possible, but not recommended. I myself have personally seen other guests of the Velvet Room lose themselves to insanity shortly after selecting to go alone.”
 
“But this is a dream. I should be fine. If my Shadow tries to hurt me I can just wake up.” Yosuke’s more than less only telling himself that.
 
“That’s where you’re wrong, I’m afraid. Trying to wake yourself up while in the presence of your Shadow will only cause you harm. To wake up from one of these “dreams”, you will need to first accept part of what your Shadow has to say. And before you protest, it is never easy to accept truths that you have hidden from the world. Once again, I will offer you an opportunity to bring someone else with you.”
 
Yosuke sighs. “Okay. What kind of person should I choose?”
 
Igor turns to Margaret. “Would you care to explain?”
 
Margaret nods and pulls a thick book off of the table in front of her to set on her lap. “You must choose someone who you know personally. It is always recommended that you choose someone that you are close to, like a family member or best friend, because you’ll want to be able to trust them with your secrets. When they see your Shadow, it will affect them as well, so plan accordingly. Choosing the wrong person could result in disaster for both of you.”
 
“Someone that I’m close to.” That was an easy elimination. Yosuke could count the number of people he felt close to on one hand. Hell, even half of a hand. “What if nobody comes to mind?”
 
“Then choose someone else who you wouldn’t mind seeing the different sides of you.”
 
Yosuke can’t easily think of anyone else. A coworker… Maybe Saki? No, she had just started to treat him better. He didn’t want to mess that up so soon.

Home… School…

Wait.

There was still one more person who he could pick. After all, to him this

was

a dream, and it’s not like he has anything to lose with this relationship, right?

“Yu Narukami.” The name comes out before Yosuke gets a chance to think about it, and Igor stares at him with a gaze so piercing that Yosuke feels that he’s looking directly into his mind. He instinctively flinches.
 
“Hmm? It seems that the two of you don’t share a very strong bond. Are you sure you would be comfortable allowing this person to see those sides of you?”
 
He shrugs. “You said yourself that this was a dream, so what could go wrong? Besides, there aren’t many people that I’d want to pick in the first place.”
 
“It is better to have a stranger than nobody, I suppose. Margaret?”
 
Margaret opens the book in her lap and begins flipping through the pages. “This is the Soul Compendium. It contains information and ways to contact every currently living soul in existence. Are you certain about who you want to request for support?”
 
Yosuke nods.

“Very well. I will contact them and allow them the option of helping you in your endeavor. Please note that they

will

have the option to decline, as some people simply don’t have the capacity to deal with someone else’s struggles as well as their own. If I do not return with them, please don’t wish ill upon them.”

She stops at a page in the Compendium, stands up, and walks past Yosuke to the exit. It’s only now that he notices how tall she is compared to him.

“I shall return as quickly as possible.” She says before opening the door to a space that has nothing but a purple haze, and steps out.
  
A small white kitten pokes its head out from around one side of the Dojima residence, and Yu can’t help but smile. It must have smelled the food he set out for it. It wouldn’t be the first time in the week since he’s come to Inaba that he’s tried befriending a stray cat. The first two times were busts, apparently those cats hadn’t quite taken a liking to people yet, and they ran away.

This cat was nice, though. It walked past the food and straight to Yu’s outstretched hand, nuzzling up to it immediately. Maybe it started off as someone’s pet? No cat Yu had met so far had been

this

friendly.
 
Yu had gotten so caught up in petting the cat that he didn’t notice that the front door to his uncle’s house had changed completely, and he certainly didn’t notice the woman that stepped out of it.
 
“Excuse me.” Her voice startled both Yu

and

the cat.
 
He quickly stood up and turned around to face her. She looked elegant, certainly not anyone that Yu would have met during his stay here, wearing a dress in what could only be called the deepest shade of blue Yu had ever seen. The designs were intricate, and it left him wondering just

who

she was. The large book she was carrying only added to his curiosity.
 
“I have come to inform you of another soul’s request.”
 
“What?” He only just now noticed that the front door changed. “Who are you?”
 
The woman places a hand on her chest. “Ah, I neglected to introduce myself. I apologize. My name is Margaret, and I aid my master in a place called the Velvet Room. Do not worry, I have come to you within your dreams.”
 
Of course this is a dream. That kitten was too good to be true. But there’s something else on his mind now. “What is the “Velvet Room?””
 
“You may see for yourself soon enough. Now, as for my purpose for being here. A soul that you are acquainted with has requested your aid in what standard people would call, “facing themselves.”

Facing themselves?

Yu’s heard a great deal of this before, but at the time he brushed it off as a silly rumor.

“Wait, isn’t that when people have to meet their “Shadows?””
 
Margaret nods. “That is correct. Would you like an explanation?”
 
“Yes, please.”
 
“A person’s Shadow is a manifestation of their innermost thoughts and often contain truths that a person does not wish to come to terms with. Shadows may become hostile and can drain a person mentally, emotionally, and physically. We understand that this may be extremely difficult for someone to take on by themselves, so we grant them the ability to take one other person with them to help keep them calm. Normally we recommend that they request someone they trust and are close to, but today one of our guests chose someone who is nearly a stranger to them. You.”
 
Someone to keep them calm? A stranger? Who would pick someone like that to see their secrets? And most importantly, who would pick

him?

He can’t think of anyone he’s met in the past few months who would, much less anyone that he would pick for himself.

“Who is it?”
 
Margaret opens the book and quickly flips to a page, turning it so that Yu can see lists of names and small portraits beside each one.. “Yosuke Hanamura.”
 
Oh, him. “He sits behind me in class and we talk occasionally, but… You weren’t joking when you said he was a stranger.”
 
“We don’t like to joke with matters such as these.” Margaret closes the book and holds it to her chest. “Now, you have a decision to make. You may either agree to assist him, or you can continue your dream unbothered. Don’t worry, the kitten will come back when I leave.” She smiles warmly.
 
The cat is tempting, but Yu can’t help but wonder why Yosuke would have chosen him. Maybe he didn’t understand the gravity of the situation? Or maybe…

“You said that you recommend that people choose someone they are close to, right?”
 
“That’s correct.”
 
Well

that

opens up a new idea. Maybe he just didn’t have anyone he was that close to.

Ugh.

Then Yu would only look like a jerk if he said no, and from what he’s seen so far, Yosuke wasn’t

that

bad of a guy.

“Well, I barely know him, but… Sure.” Yu prays that this isn’t about to be a mistake.
 
“You’re going to accept?”
 
He nods. “What do I have to do?”
 
“Simply offer him support. You are very kind for doing this, you know.”
 
Yu doesn’t get to respond, because with a wave of Margaret’s hand, there’s a flash of white light and suddenly he’s in a completely different place.
  
The door behind Yosuke opens again, and after seeing a familiar face step into the room, he breathes a sigh of relief. He had been starting to stress out about meeting his Shadow, and as what

felt

like minutes passed, he began worrying that maybe Yu wasn’t going to show up. It’s not like he could get upset about it, they barely knew each other and it was only a dream. It didn’t mean that the real Yu hated him.
 
Dream Yu, however, stood awkwardly near the door like he was ready to bolt at any second.
 
“Welcome to the Velvet Room, where only those who have been invited may enter. You have selected to accompany this boy in facing the truth, yes?”
 
Yu nods.
 
“Very well. I’m sure you have been made aware of the capabilities of Shadows already. Now, to return to consciousness of your own will, a bit of the Shadow will need to be accepted first. Of course, you will have to listen to what it will say first, and accept what it says as truth, because it

is

your own truth

.

Do not think this will be an easy feat. It will be difficult not to deny what it says, but you must prove to be stronger. Do you understand?”
 
Both of them nod.
 
“Good. Now step out and begin the first step in facing yourself.” The door opens by itself, still showing a purple haze outside of it.
 
Yosuke is the first one to walk through, and Yu forces himself to follow him out.
  
After walking through the haze of the Velvet Room, they stand in what seems to be the lobby of a superstore, only heavily distorted. Wallpaper is peeling off of the walls, carts in cart returns are stacked on top of each other and broken, one of two elevators has a sign on it that reads, “Broken! Please never enter again!”, and the area has an oddly red haze in it as well.
 
“Of course we ended up here.” Yosuke stares off at the elevators. “Sorry for dragging you into this.”
 
“It’s alright. Let’s go find your Shadow and get this part over with.” Yu walks forward but then stops. “Actually, do you want to lead? I’ve never been here.”
 
“You’ve never been to Junes?”
 
He shakes his head.
 
“Huh. I’ll lead then.”
 
The next few minutes are filled with an awkward silence as they make their way through each department. No words through the food sections, housewares, or even while walking through the women’s clothes department. Neither one of them really want to talk, the dream is far too outlandish. In Yu’s case, he mostly knows what to expect from it and knows that eventually he’s probably going to have to calm down someone he knows nothing about. Why did he even agree to go?
 
Neither one of them says anything until they get to the food court, when Yu’s curiosity gets the better of him.
 
“What made you pick me?” He asks. “I don’t really know you that well.”
 
Yosuke shrugs. “I don’t know. But this is just a dream, and it’s not like I really had any other options.”
 
“You’re not close to anyone?”
 
“I guess not.”
 
“So you’re willing to let someone who’s virtually a stranger see your “innermost thoughts”?” Yu quotes what Margaret said to him.
 
“Well.” Yosuke finally turns to look at Yu, and he smiles. “Better than no one, right?”

Yu only manages a nod before there’s a crash not far ahead of them. Yosuke runs ahead to see what it was, and comes face to face with someone who looks almost exactly like him. When Yu gets there, he’s more shocked than anything. They almost look identical, except one has eyes that are much more golden than they should be and an unsettling dark aura around them.
 
Yosuke backs away quickly and puts two tables of distance between him and his Shadow, while Yu stands a table away from the real Yosuke.
 
Yosuke’s Shadow starts talking in a voice that

could

sound like the real one, only much lower and distorted. “Well, look who finally decided to show up. What happened, did you get lost? You really kept me waiting here.” The Shadow stretches upwards, in a way similar to how Yosuke does when school is over.
 
“I didn’t know where you would be.”
 
“That’s a lie. You always knew I would be here. You know, the place you sometimes come to help out at just to watch other people live fulfilling lives with their

friends

? How you sit by bitterly watching people laugh and talk to each other while wishing that you could have that too? Well guess what? You can't have it. You'll never have anything in this town.”
 
“You don't know that. I could find something.” Yosuke starts to look unnerved.
 
“And what? Stay here with it? You and I both know you hate this town and everyone in it.”
 
“I don't hate everyone.”
 
“Yeah, you only don't hate the people that act like they care about you. Until they ditch you, like everyone else. Then you hate them because they strung you along and suddenly stopped caring when you thought they still did.”
 
There's silence.
 
The aura around his Shadow gets darker. “What about all of the unnecessary stress you keep adding onto yourself? Taking a ridiculous amount of shifts at your good old Junes so you can afford….. What? Lunch with friends? You need friends to be able to do that first.”
 
“Getting the money is nice.”
 
“Yes, the money you waste on people the second they ask you for something. You think you can buy people's friendship so you work and work and work and then give people whatever they want from your measly paycheck. I bet-”
 
“Stop it.” Yosuke’s voice is strained, and he's leaning against a table for support.
 
Yu knows he should say something, because he

was

supposed to come with him for support, but the words don't come to him and he stays silent. Maybe if he had understood him better…
 
At this rate Yosuke’s shadow is very quickly wearing him out. It won't be long until it gets worse and he hasn't even been able to accept anything yet.
 
The Shadow’s insults don't stop and the aura around it continues to grow darker. “You're so desperate for people to like you that you'll gladly take even the smallest grain of kindness and transform it into thinking that they actually care about you.”
 
Yosuke starts regretting bringing Yu along in the first place. He could’ve gone alone if he wanted to, right? Now Yu probably thinks that he shouldn’t accepted because now Yosuke’s going to blow his act of kindness out of proportion and weird him out forever. He didn’t know what to expect and didn’t even want to know what his Shadow had to say. Now a stranger knows something that he’s tried to hide, something he didn’t want to have acknowledged.
 
And then, almost as if it was reading his mind, his Shadow laughs and nods towards Yu. “And what about him?”
 
Yu stays silent, but looks at the Shadow curiously.
 
“Do you think he wanted to come here? You dragged him along. A complete stranger. Are you

really

that desperate? You’d burden someone you don’t even know just so you can have an easier time? Pathetic.”
 
Those thoughts had been bothering Yosuke since they came to this distorted Junes and hearing his Shadow voice them out loud breaks his composure even further. He didn’t want Yu to hear that.

Defeated, he sinks into one of the chairs with his head down, staring at the ground instead of trying to fight. “Why would you-”
 
“Say it out loud? He deserves to know why his peace got disturbed.” The Shadow laughs and stares Yu down, who gives him a glare back.

“You’re here all because some self-important jerk wanted to stay calm. He didn’t even think about how you would feel about it.”
 
Yu almost feels insulted for a minute, but he remembers from a friend that Shadows often over-exaggerate what they say, making things sound more serious than they actually are. He knows that Yosuke’s Shadow is hurting him so he feels like he has to say

something

, and to be frank, he wants to go back to the dream he was having before.

“He’s not pathetic.”
 
Both Yosukes look at him, but Yu only looks at the real one.
 
“He’s not the only person who needed to bring someone else along. It’s only human nature to not want to go through possibly traumatic experiences alone.” Yu says the first things that come to his mind, hoping that

something

he says will work.
 
Yosuke looks back down. “But- maybe it’s right.”
 
Unknown to either of them, the Shadow takes a seat after hearing that. For a first encounter, all that was needed was for one simple thing to be accepted for the Shadow to become docile and quiet again.
 
Yosuke shakes his head. "I shouldn't have bothered you with this and-"
 
"Hey."
 
"-now I'm probably ruining your night and wasting your time or s-"
 
Yu sighs and walks towards him.
 
"-omething and now I'm weirding you out and giving you a bad impression of me and I honestly should have ju-"
 
"Yosuke."
 
He goes quiet and looks up to see Yu standing in front of him. "What-"
 
"I'm sorry for this, but everything you're saying is ridiculous." Yu takes one more step forward and punches Yosuke in the face with such surprising force that he falls out of his chair and hits the ground.
 
"What the- WHAT?!" Yosuke clutches the left side of his face as the pain catches up to him. "What was that for?!"
 
Yu looks as stoic as ever. "You needed some sense knocked into you."
 
"Wha-"
 
"You wouldn't listen to me. It was trying to get a rise out of you and you let it."
 
"But it was all true..." Yosuke looks back down and rubs his cheek.
 
"So? That was what your Shadow was supposed to do. What are you so worried about? As you kept saying, this is just a dream." Yu looks down at him.
 
"And you probably think less of me."
 
"My opinion of you shouldn't mean anything. And to be fair I didn't think much of you in the first place."
 
Yosuke snaps his head up and Yu realizes that saying that may have been a mistake.
 
"But that doesn't matter. You do know everyone has a Shadow, right?"
 
He nods.
 
"So everyone gets their "pathetic" side exposed. It's no big deal."
 
"It is when a stranger has to see it."
 
Yu almost gets the urge to punch him again. "You chose me!"
 
"You didn't have to accept!"
 
"And what? Be an ass to someone who would probably hate me if I declined?"
 
Yosuke doesn't respond, noticing the mention of what his Shadow was talking about.
 
Yu tries to soften his gaze. "Besides, after seeing all of this you look like you need somebody."
 
He smiles weakly. "I guess I do."
 
"See?" Yu holds his hand out. "Now you know what to expect next time."
 
Yosuke is about to take his hand when he suddenly freezes. "Wait- there's a next time?"
 
"You thought you only had to see your Shadow once to accept it?"
 
"Kind of?"
 
Yu laughs. "It'll be a few more times until that's possible."
 
"Damn..."
 
Eventually, Yosuke takes Yu's hand, and when he's pulled up, everything goes blue for both of them.
  
Yu wakes up suddenly, quickly sitting up when the sun breaking through the curtains blinds him. What kind of dream was that?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Yu rolls out of his futon, assuming his alarm clock is what woke him up, and starts getting ready for school while thinking about what he had just seen during his dream. So. He was petting what was probably the cutest kitten he had ever seen in his life when a woman appeared and the cat ran away. She was pretty so he didn’t mind her much, but she scared a kitten away, and that was unforgivable. But back to the dream. She told him that some random guy from class wanted his help with “Facing himself.” Why did he accept again? So he wouldn’t hurt someone’s feelings?He facepalms. Nobody’s feelings would have been hurt. It was his own dream! And what would it have mattered anyways? The real life Yosuke wouldn’t know, he probably wouldn’t even care. Anyways, it would sound weird if Yu tried telling him that he met two of him in a dream and one started telling him his secrets. They probably weren’t even accurate, but how would he know? “Yeah, your “Shadow” told me that you don’t have friends and hate everyone. Oh, and then I punched you.” He almost laughs at the thought.But the dream felt too invasive. He had to give the guy a weird comforting pep talk, and then when he pulled him up he woke up? Yeah, that sounded about right. But he shouldn’t be able to remember it in such vivid detail… Usually when he has dreams he’s forgotten about them either when he wakes up or a few hours after. Maybe it was the food he ate from the back of the fridge last night? He remembers not feeling well afterwards… Nevertheless, he decides to search online to see if anyone else has had dreams about other people’s Shadows. However, when he boots up his laptop and sees the time, he suddenly can’t get out of the house quickly enough. He’s already 20 minutes late for school.Before running out the front door, he sees a small plate of food on the table with a folded piece of paper beside it. Was this for his uncle…? He was too curious to not go to the table and see what the paper had to say. Written in shaky handwriting, it reads; “Cousin Yu,I made you breakfast today too but when I tried to wake you up you looked like you were sleeping well and I left you alone. It should still be good when you do wake up so please make sure you eat -Nanako” Of course it was from her. Nanako hadn’t yet warmed up to Yu much, but she was still very kind to him and tried her best regardless. He silently thanked her before wrapping foil around the plate and putting it in the fridge for now. He told himself that he would eat it when he came back, or at most, tomorrow. By now he had added 4 more minutes to his lateness, and he finally left. Yu ran most of the way there until he got to the floodplain. He figured that he was already late enough and the few extra minutes wouldn’t kill him. It’s too bad he didn’t realize that before running and tiring himself out. Suddenly, someone on a bicycle whizzes past Yu. He can’t tell who it is, but judging by the uniform they’re wearing he’s not the only person that’s late coming to school today. He keeps walking until there’s an obscenely loud crash and he speeds up to see what happened. He doesn’t run because frankly, he’s already too tired for that, but he gets himself there. Ah. There’s the bike that went by, on the ground with a tire spinning. Beside it are two knocked down trash cans, one of which has someone’s legs sticking out, flailing as they try to pull themselves out of it. “Help! Someone! Help me!” Their voice is barely audible, but their fear is easily heard. Yu holds in his laughter and almost walks by, but there’s no one else around who might be inclined to help them. He’d rather not come to school on Monday and hear that some kid suffocated in a trash can. So, he sighs and tries to help.“Hold on.” The person stops thrashing long enough for Yu to prop a foot on the trash can to keep it steady, before dragging them out by their hips. Plastic bags and wrappers come out with them. Yu lets go immediately after safely getting them out and realizing that, the person he just dragged out of a trash can, is the one and only Yosuke Hanamura. He takes a step back in surprise.Yosuke pulls himself into a sitting position, with trash in his hair, to look at his savior, but ends up with the same shocked expression as Yu.“Um…” There’s an awkward silence between them and neither one says anything for the exact same reason. How do you tell someone you barely know that you dreamt about them and suddenly here they are, right in front of you? Yosuke breaks the silence. “Thanks! I guess.” “You’re welcome.” Yu remembers that he should at least act like he has manners and extends his hand to help Yosuke up. Again. Wait, crap-  Yosuke looks more stunned by the gesture than anything. It’s just something friendly, but didn’t he just dream about something like this? He decides to get up on his own and immediately goes to pick up his bike. Pretend it didn’t happen. “Stupid thing. I really need to get it fixed.” He kicks at the tire that was spinning before, and the chain falls off. He audibly groans. Yu forces himself to let out a chuckle, still very weirded out by suddenly running into Yosuke, of all people. He tries to convince himself that it was going to happen at some point, after all, Inaba is small and they are in the same class for the entire day. Just act normal. You’re not that far from the school. “So why ride it to school?” “I woke up really late. Thought it would help get me here faster, but here I am, falling into a trash can and taking even more time.” “Painfully ironic.” “I know.” Yosuke smiles and tries to start walking his bike up to school. Yu only sees it right to walk with him. “So what about you?”“Huh?” He blinks, surprised by the sudden question. “What makes you so late?” Yosuke’s trying to make some kind of conversation so he doesn’t have to walk with Yu in complete silence and make it worse. “Oh. I woke up late too.” “Well lucky me then! If you hadn’t woken up late I probably would’ve ended up dying in there. Thanks man, I owe you one!” Yu waves a hand at him. “No, that’s fine. Just think of it as a favor.” Yosuke completely ignores that statement. “I’ll treat you to something! How about that?” Yu almost politely declines, but he’s oddly reminded of what Yosuke’s Shadow said in his dream.
“Taking a ridiculous amount of shifts at your good old Junes so you can afford….. What? Lunch with friends? You need friends to be able to do that first.

“Yes, the money you waste on people the second they ask you for something. You think you can buy people's friendship...”
 How was he able to remember that? Whatever it was, now Yu can’t find it in him to decline, even though it’s probably only true for the dream Yosuke.“.... Alright.” “Great! If you’re free after school today we can go somewhere.” Today? “Um… Okay. That’ll work.” Yu was going to go after school and get something for Nanako, but getting this over with today sounded more appealing. He’d be inclined to back out if he had enough time to think about it. They stop at the school’s front gate. Yosuke finds somewhere to put his bike for now, and comes back laughing quietly.“We’re so late.” He says before heading for the doors. Yu nods, but suddenly stops him with a tap on his shoulder. “Ah, Yosuke?” He turns around. “There’s… trash in your hair.” Yu motions towards his head at the end of that sentence. “What?! And you let me walk the whole way here like this?” “I didn’t notice until now.” Yosuke groans and shakes his head while combing his fingers through his hair. A few candy and gum wrappers fall to the ground before he readjusts himself.“Did I get it?” Yu steps around him to look, and nods. “Thanks. I owe you again.” “You really don’t.”  After school, Yosuke catches Yu by his shoe locker. Yu’s putting something from it into his bag when Yosuke greets him. “Hey!” He says. “Are you ready to go?” “I guess so.” Yu says while slinging his bag back over his shoulder. “Where are we going?’ “Souzai Daigaku. You’ve heard of it, right? It’s in the shopping district.” “Oh, yeah, I think I’ve heard of it.” “Good. Have you been there yet? I’m sure Chie would love to drag you there if she heard you hadn’t gone yet.” He shakes his head. “We haven’t been yet, but she has mentioned it a few times.” “Huh. Then I’ll be the first person to take you!”   A half an hour later, and they’re both sitting at the small wobbly table in front of Souzai Daigaku, making small talk while they eat steak croquettes. Their chatter is mundane, but at least it fills the time. “Have you lived here your whole life?” Yu asks. “No, I moved here about six months ago, when my dad got offered to manage the new Junes further downtown. Sadly I had to get a part time job there too.”  Working at Junes, huh? Yu was pretty sure that Yosuke had never mentioned it before, so how could he have known? Must have been a coincidence.“How are you liking it here?” “It’s alright, I guess? There’s not much to do, but it’s mostly quiet here. Sometimes I’m glad for that.” Yosuke takes another bite of a croquette. Yu doesn’t know what else to make conversation of, but luckily he doesn’t need to think about it. “You know, this is the most we’ve talked in… Ever. Even though you’ve only been here for a few days.” Yu nods. “Kind of weird, isn’t it?” “Weird? How?” “I saved you from the depths of the trash just a few hours ago and now we’re eating together.” “Hey, it’s just a “thank-you-for-pulling-me-out” thing. Don’t make it weirder than it already is.” “How would I have made it weird?” Yosuke gestures in the air around him. “By saying weird things!” “Like what?” “Like that!” Yu feigns innocence. “Wait, so is saying”like that” or “like what” what makes it weird?” To be honest, he’s getting a kick out of this. “What? You know that’s not what I meant!” Trying to hide the fact that he’s smiling, Yu shoves a croquette into his mouth. Suddenly, Yosuke stands up. “Hold on- you think this is funny! You like pissing me off!” Yu can’t hold it in anymore, and he laughs. Hard. He laughs hard enough that he doesn’t notice that a piece of the croquette is lodged in his throat and he can’t breathe. He stops laughing and tries to cough, but he can’t.He doesn’t know what to do. He can’t breathe or speak, so he puts a hand on his throat and hopes somebody understands what he’s trying to say. Yosuke does, right before breaking into a panic. He comes around the table to see if he can help, but he doesn’t know. He never learned how to do a heimlich maneuver on someone else!“S**t!” In a last ditch effort, he whacks Yu in the middle of his back with the palm of his hand as hard as he can. To the surprise of both of them, Yu coughs. One… Two.... Three times, and he’s breathing again. He coughs a few more times before he can talk again, with his voice close to a rasp.“Thank… you.” He coughs again. “But you didn’t have to hit me that hard! I think it’s going to bruise…” Yosuke, who had been standing there worriedly, sighs. “Think of it as payback for that p-” He stops himself suddenly. He didn’t actually punch you, stupid! That was a dream!  “Um, for what?” Yu figures he knows what he was going to say, but he tries not to think much of it. “Uh… Payback! For saving me earlier. You save me, I save you, haha…” Yosuke moves back to his side of the table and quickly sits back down. After that, it’s quiet again. Neither one of them says much until Yu checks the time on his phone. 5:18. Realizing that Nanako might be wondering where he is, he decides to thank Yosuke for the food before saying goodbye. Before Yosuke gets a chance to say anything else, he adds, “We should do this again sometime.” “Oh. Yeah, okay! That’d be nice.” “Yeah.” Yu nods before turning to leave, and he stops. That probably just sounded like he was trying to mooch food off of him, but that’s not what he meant. He tries to correct himself. “Ah, but next time, I’ll pay.”  When Yu returns home, he finds Nanako waiting for him, but Dojima isn’t there. “You’re back.” She says when he walks in. ‘I didn’t know when you were coming back so I put dinner in the fridge.” “Thank you, Nanako.” He says while taking his shoes off. “Oh, yeah, thank you for breakfast this morning. I’m sorry I didn’t have time to eat it.” “You’re welcome.” Yu opens the fridge to see two plates wrapped in foil, one from his breakfast and one from his dinner. He shrugs before taking the dinner plate out and deciding where he was going to eat. Nanako was watching something on TV, but she looked pretty absorbed in it. Yu decides it would be better not to bother her again and eat in his room. At least in there he could finally search what he meant to this morning.Sitting down at his desk and setting the plate down, he finally boots his laptop back up. While waiting for it to start up, he peeks at what’s on the plate in front of him. A stir fry? Certainly Nanako hadn’t cooked it, she must have ordered it from somewhere. Was she supposed to do that on nights Dojima had to work late?Eventually, his laptop boots and he opens the browser. What was he even supposed to search for? He goes with shadows and, of course, gets results that are meant to teach young children about why they have shadows that appear on the ground during the day. Not helpful in this situation.So he tries again with people’s internal shadows and gets results that he can actually use. He scrolls through pages of results that include people’s blogs and question forums on the subject, until he finds a forum that goes deeper into the subject, where people talk about their experiences with their own Shadows. Most of them commented on how hostile they were, but Yu already knows the one in his dream looked like it wanted to hurt someone, so he keeps scrolling until he finds a link. It’s embedded in an answer to a question, titled, “ woman and friend meet shadow. ” He figures there’s no harm in clicking it.It brings him to a page that looks similar to a blog post, but it’s simply a long article about a woman that met her Shadow, told from her point of view. It wasn’t written very eloquently, but it’s the best thing Yu’s found so far, so he reads it. “I was 27 when I first met my Shadow, and it was ridiculous. Right when I went to sleep I showed up in a completely blue room. There were two people that talked to me, and one of them told me that I was about to meet my “Shadow.” I knew that I would have to meet it eventually, because my parents and some of my friends told me about it, and how they met theirs. At the time I was both worried and ecstatic, but I still felt like it was only a vivid dream. “They asked if I wanted to bring someone along with me to help with meeting it and I asked if I could take my best friend. I’ll call her Nadine for this. Nadine already “accepted” her Shadow long before she met me, and I guessed that if anything at least the dream version of her might know what to do when I met mine. The woman in the room left for a few minutes to ask Nadine if she wanted to help me, and- Yu pauses, remembering that Margaret gave him the option of going to help Yosuke or not. Was the woman who wrote this talking about Margaret? “-she came back a few minutes later with Nadine behind her. After that, we left and found my Shadow waiting for me (I'm not going to go heavy on the details). It got into my head. I wanted to leave immediately, I wanted to wake up and never go back, all because of what it said to me."And all Nadine did was listen and give me quiet advice on what she did when she met her Shadow, even though I couldn't remember her telling me any of this in real life. So when I talked to her the next morning and told her about my crazy dream, she looked at me like I was crazy. When I asked why she gave me that look, she told me that she had the exact same dream! "... Every dream where I met my Shadow after that, I brought Nadine with me, and every time we talked about what happened in them, we had seen the exact same things." Yu sits back and wonders. Is the same thing happening to me? Am I the "Nadine" in this situation? He can't think of any ways he could possibly bring it up to Yosuke and ask if he had a similar dream recently without sounding ridiculous. He decides to wait until they've talked more, or at least until he has another one of those dreams. He manages to find another article before he goes to bed, written by a psychologist/therapist who has dealt with Shadows in the past and published studies on them. They're surely more credible than the woman's post that Yu had just read. They wrote about their behaviors and possible causes for encountering them. However, this article was much longer, and Yu had to take notes just to keep up with it. About halfway through the article he grows tired, so he highlights today's notes that he feels are most important and scans over them before laying down for the night, leaving his dinner untouched.             "-no way to prove people can share dreams      *** -people selected as support tend to report seeing the same things as the person facing their shadow + suspect that they may be actually sharing a dream with the other person ***            -people normally meet shadows in dreams around their early 20s           -shadows normally manifest when the stress of adulthood and having to make a life for yourself kicks in                    -(maybe he's just stressed out?)           -can also manifest when a person tries to deny very strong feelings to put them on the right path       ** -(theoretically) shadows can cause semi-permanent mental deterioration and must be accepted within a specific amount of time that varies from person to person  **"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

In the eight days since their trip to Souzai Daigaku (and Yu's choking episode), Yu and Yosuke managed to talk a bit more. The two of them ate lunch together on the 22nd, Yosuke was given answers to a handful of questions in class that he was too spaced-out to answer properly, and on the 25th, Yu invited him to spend the day after school with him, Chie, and Yukiko. Yosuke gladly accepted the offer in the hopes that he would be able to get closer to the three of them. By now he could almost consider Chie and Yukiko friends of his, he had asked them for help with schoolwork a handful of times before, and after hanging out with Chie after school a few times, he felt that it was safe to assume they didn't hate him. But had he known Yu well enough to call him a friend yet? He didn't know.
 
The four of them spent the rest of the day's light by the Samegawa Riverbank, employing the help of a rather friendly elderly man to try and teach them to fish. Surprisingly, that part of their evening went well. In fact, the only one of them that didn't catch any fish was Yukiko. Sadly, in her embarrassment, she chose to leave early to, "help out at the inn." Everyone saw through that.

After saying goodbye to Yukiko and the elderly man for the day, Chie, Yu, and Yosuke were left to their own devices in what little daylight they had left.
 
"Hey!" Chie starts. "So the other day I was watching this movie, and it had some really good moves in it that I want to practice on you guys, if you don't mind."

"What movie?" Yu raises an eyebrow, a bit skeptical. He knows that Chie likes action movies, but not the extent that she would go to to learn something she saw in them.
 
"Um, Onigiri Baku 3? It was about spirits that looked just like rice balls that appeared in kids' dreams and would eat their nightmares." All Chie gets from the other two are confused looks, so she continues. "But that's not the point. There was a scene where one of the kids was older and started practicing some really cool moves to use against a guy he would meet in his next nightmares, and I want to learn them too!"
 
"Can't you practice them on someone else?" Yosuke already has a grimace on his face as if he already knows what's going to happen next.
 
"Nope! Nobody else that I asked would let me practice on them, so you guys are all I have left."
 
"Don't you start guilttripping us! It's not our fault everyone else knows better than to let you try to hurt them." Yosuke crosses his arms.
 
"Please? I'll only try it once. You'll let me try it, right? Yu?" Chie gives Yu a pleading look, and he sighs in response.
 
"One time can't hurt, right?"
 
"Yes it can!" Yosuke interrupts. "She's just tricking you into being used as her punching bag."
 
"No I'm not!"

Yu shrugs in response. "I guess I'll just have to see for myself, won't I?"
 
Of course, it ended in disaster. Chie was so excited over being able to practice on someone that she didn't give Yu any time to move somewhere more spacious, and suddenly spun around and tried the move with absolutely no warning. Yu jumped back in sudden surprise and Chie stumbled, completely missing her target. Instead of kicking Yu's shoulder, she missed -- and ended up kicking Yosuke directly in the face.
 
"Agh! What the hell?!" The sudden blow to his face causes Yosuke to drop to his knees and clutch his cheek.

"Oh my god! Yosuke, I'm so sorry!" Chie drops to kneel beside Yosuke and see the damage, but he pushes her away and stands up before she gets the chance.

"I didn't say you could hit me! What the hell did you think you were doing?!"
 
"I wasn't trying to hit you! I promise, I was aiming for Yu but I tripped! I really wasn't-"
 
"Save it." Yosuke spits, before bolting away from Chie and Yu.
 
There's a stunned silence between the two, until Chie decides it would be best if she spoke up.

"Oh, oh no... I think he's pretty mad at me..."
 
Yu debates on what to say next, knowing that Chie probably didn't mean to kick Yosuke, while also knowing that she really could have aimed better...

"Yeah, he looked pretty angry... But don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll get over it eventually."
 
"You think so?" Chie gives him a hopeful smile. "Do you think you could, maybe, apologize to him for me? I'm really sorry but I don't think he'll want to listen to me at this point."
 
"Don't worry. I'll tell him."
 
"Thank you!"
 
After that, the two of them quickly said their goodbyes and went home, Yu deciding to lay down early tonight. Thinking back on it, it really should have been no surprise to Yu that when after he finally went to sleep he came face to face with Margaret.
 
"A fellow soul has requested your aid once more."
 
Yosuke stands anxiously in the Velvet Room, silently hoping that Dream Yu will agree to help him one more time. It wasn’t like he was suddenly close to someone else in the past week, and having Yu with him the last time kept him calmer for the most part. Even though he got punched, he still felt like thanking Yu for convincing him that he wasn’t as pathetic as he thought.

Just wait until he sees the rest

, he thinks to himself with a feeling he can’t quite describe. Was it resent? Worry that Yu would ditch him after finding out everything? He couldn’t tell, and seeing that he was still irritated from Chie kicking him in the face earlier, he pins the feeling on that.
 
The small door of the Velvet Room swings open, interrupting Yosuke’s thoughts. Margaret steps elegantly inside, with Yu trailing not far behind her. This time he seems a bit more comfortable
 
“I apologize for the wait.” Margaret begins. “Your support took a longer amount of time than you did to reach a state of unconsciousness, and I was unable to carry your request until he did.”

Oh, thank God.

Yosuke gives Yu a smile of relief, and to his surprise, Yu returns it. Even though this was just a dream, Yosuke had feared that he had subconsciously scared Yu away.
 
“Are you ready to face yourself yet again?” Igor asks as Margaret takes her seat next to him.
 
“I think I am.” Yosuke says, with a hint of resolve to his voice.
 
Seeming to take that as enough confirmation, Igor waves a hand to the still-open door, and the two boys step out, back into the distorted Junes lobby that they appeared in the last time.
 
Breathing in what tastes like stale, unfiltered air, Yu clears his throat. “Hey.”
 
Yosuke takes a step back, laughing at himself.

I forgot to even say hello!

“Hey… Sorry for dragging you into this again.”
 
“It’s alright. She gave me the options again, so I chose to get dragged back into this.” Yu claims while looking through the lobby’s windows at the overturned cars in the parking lot.
 
“Options…?”
 
Yu runs a hand across the bottom of the windowframe as he talks. “I could either continue what I was doing in my dream before she appeared, or I could leave it and come here to help you.”
 
Yosuke tries to brush off the feeling of guilt that wells up. “Oh, don’t say it like that! You make it seem like my problems took you out of something important...” He pauses. “Was it?”
 
The grimace that appears on Yu’s face that breaks his normally stoic demeanor and the way his fist suddenly clenches is enough to startle Yosuke.
 
“It wasn’t.” he says darkly. Turning back to Yosuke and seeing the shocked look on his face, Yu instantly drops the topic and tries to start again with something else. “Where do you think he’ll be this time?”
 
“Um… Might be at the food court again.” Yosuke walks off, ready to get this over as quickly as possible. The look that was just on Yu’s face only irritates him more. Yu has problems of his own, why did he have to drag him away from them to deal with his stupid problems instead?
 
Yu follows silently while they take a shortcut to the food court, cutting through each department with the ease of someone that’s worked here for years. Quickly going straight through housewares and clothes, they don’t speak again until they make it halfway through electronics, when Yu tries to lighten the mood again.
 
“Oh yeah, before I wake up, remind me to apologize to the real you tomorrow morning for Chie.”
 
Yosuke stops and hesitates before replying.

Before

you

wake up? The real me? I am the real me!

“Okay…? But why can’t Chie do it?”
 
Yu shrugs. “She doesn’t think you’ll be willing to listen to her after storming off like that.”
 
“Oh.”
  
The two of them eventually find Yosuke’s Shadow, calmly sitting at one of the tables in the dimly lit food court. It looks up at them when they come near with a piercing golden gaze.

“You’re almost on time today.” It says with a fake calm.
 
“Good for me.” Yosuke keeps a table of distance between himself and his Shadow. “Can we get this over with quickly today?”
 
“What are you in a rush for? Isn’t it better to spend more time with a friend in a dream than sleeping completely alone?”
 
Yosuke sighs.

At least his insults are starting early.

“Can we not talk about my failing social life right now?”
 
His Shadow smiles. “Sure. We all know you’ve got plenty more shitty qualities for me to talk about.”
 
“Alright. What is it today?” Yosuke takes a seat and motions for Yu to sit as well, and lowers his voice to a whisper. “This’ll be over before we know it.”
 
Yu nods after sitting down. “Hopefully.”
 
“Hmmm,,, How about what I didn’t get to finish last time?” Yosuke’s Shadow stands and stretches. “And don’t think I’m about to sit that far away.”

It walks to where Yosuke and Yu are sitting, and takes a seat directly in front of them, waiting for a reaction.
 
Yu looks at it curiously, but Yosuke noticeably tenses up by the sudden addition of his Shadow to the table.
 
It picks up on it, but saves that for later.
 
“So, Inaba, huh? Don’t you just

hate

this town? Wouldn’t you just give

anything

to leave?”
 
“Hmm?”
 
“How about running away? Haven’t you considered that before? Haven’t

we

considered that before?”
 
“No.”
 
“Oh, alright.” The Shadow focuses on Yu. “He can deny it, but he knows he’s thought about it. Even went so far as to pack his shit. But you know why he hasn’t done it yet?”

When it gets no response from either of them, it continues. “Because he’s so pathetic he wouldn’t be able to make it two days on his own, and he

knows

. That’s the problem with you…” It looks back at Yosuke, and clicks its tongue to get his attention. When he looks up and they make eye contact, it murmurs the words, slicked with venom. “You’re too dependent on others.”
 
Yosuke’s momentarily unable to breathe and suddenly feels lightheaded. “What… Are you talking about?”
 
It grins, knowing that it won’t be much longer until he won’t be able to respond. It was a pity, honestly. It never took long at all to break his will, and this time, because the real Yosuke was irritated before he came here, his Shadow is feeding on it.

“Have you not noticed? You’re sixteen years old and you

still

rely on other people to do everything for you. There’s no reason for you to still be relying entirely on your parents for everything you need or want. You spend too much time hoping that others will be willing to help you instead of fixing your problems yourself!”
 
“Okay…” After being snapped at so suddenly, Yosuke finds it more even more difficult to breathe, almost as if his Shadow’s words are suffocating him…
 
Yu shoots him a concerned glance and he nods in response, mouthing an “I’m okay.”
 
“You know, it

would

actually be better if you ditched this town.” His Shadow attempts to turn the attention on it again, trying to keep the aura around it from growing darker and alerting the other two.
 
“What?”
 
“You always try to force your problems onto others as if they give a damn about you. Everyone thinks you’re pathetic and your problems that you can’t shut up about only make people want to leave you sooner. So what if you turned it on them and left first? Pack your bags and ditch town. Show everyone that you’re better than them, show them that you don’t need them anymore.” Towards the end of its spiel it starts sounding more like a plea rather than an attempt to convince Yosuke to leave by his own will.
 
He doesn’t pick up on it, and his throat starts to feel like it’s closing. At this point he’ll say anything if it means he can wake up and breathe freely again. Not to mention the sick feeling creeping through him that he’s trying to ignore.

“I could… Do that?” He wheezes out.
 
Yu hears the change in his voice, and places a hand on Yosuke’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
 
Before any more words can be said, Yosuke’s Shadow interrupts, ignoring Yu. “Of course you could. Nobody would miss you, and anywhere is better than here, right? Go find somewhere with hundreds of thousands of people and just disappear into the crowd. Appealing, right?”
 
Yu realizes what’s going on, and silently plans his move. He has to be able to time it correctly, or at least before Yosuke falls out.
 
“It does sound good…” Yosuke says, making a strangled sound at the end.
 
“See? How about it? When you and I say goodbye and you wake up, just pack your things, tell your parents you’re visiting a friend’s house after school, and leave before school even starts. You can be out of town soon with none the wiser.”
 
He’ll leave before school starts? Yu debates to himself. He doesn’t know where Yosuke lives, much less his phone number, and if he agreed to leaving, Yu wouldn’t be able to get to him in time to stop him after he woke up… It’s now or never, and he interrupts Yosuke right in the middle of squeaking out an

“Okay.”

“Actually, no.”
 
“What?” Yosuke and his Shadow say in unison.
 
“You’re not doing that.” Yu glares at Yosuke, but his Shadow is the one to get angry.
 
“Why the hell not?” It spits.
 
“You want to get lost in the people somewhere? Then stay here. You’re already lost.”
 
“Wha-” Yosuke starts, only to get interrupted again.
 
“And why leave now? Wasn’t your Shadow complaining the last time about not having friends?”
 
“Yeah?”
 
“You’ve already got three, and that’s just from the people I know.”
 
Yosuke finds it suddenly easier to breathe, but the sick feeling remains. “Three?”
 
Yu nods, silently proud of himself for shutting the Shadow up. “Me, Chie, and Yukiko. I know you’ve known them longer than me, so by now you know then well enough to be friends, right?”
 
“We’re friends?” Yosuke disregards the rest of what Yu said, hung up on the fact that someone he just met the other week suddenly claimed that they’re friends.
 
Yu speaks in a soft tone. “Of course. What else would we be?”
 
“I don’t know, strangers?”
 
Yu shakes his head. “Yosuke, we were strangers two weeks ago. As someone who moves around a lot, I make friends pretty quickly wherever I end up. Unless you don’t want to be friends…?”
 
“I-I do! I just didn’t expect it to be so soon, that’s all.” Yosuke waves his hands and his Shadow opens its mouth to speak, but closes it in submission after a glare from its owner.
 
“Good.” Yu waits a moment before continuing, “So how about this? You

don’t

ditch your town, your family, and your friends, and we see what happens while you stay.”
 
“Huh?”
 
“You’re starting to make friends now, right? And quickly too. If you went somewhere else you would have to do this all over again.”
 
“I guess I would, but…”
 
“Why not stay for now? Just stay and see what’ll happen.”
 
Yosuke considers saying no, but then again, sticking around to see what’ll happen won’t kill him. It

probably

wouldn’t, anyway. But what did he have to lose?

“Okay.”
 
His Shadow sits patiently, waiting. “So what are you going to do?” It asks. “Leave and go somewhere better, or stay in this podunk town until you die?”
 
“I’m… going to stay.” Was this really the better option? If it wasn’t, it’s not like he promised to stay. He could still leave if he wanted to.
 
“Hmm.” His Shadow still looks calm, but it’s not quite there yet…
 
Yu leans over and whispers, “That’s not enough.”
 
“Oh, sorry.” Yosuke sits up straighter and is pleasantly surprised to be able to take a deep breath before looking at his Shadow. “You’re right… about me wanting to leave. I tried to ignore it, and I was really about to just leave tomorrow, but Yu convinced me that it wouldn’t hurt if I stayed just a little bit longer. I mean, this town hasn’t killed me yet, right?”

He quickly glances at Yu before looking back at his Shadow. “Is that good enough for now?”
 
It nods, and after saying, “That’s good for tonight”, it gets up silently and walks through the food court, going inside Junes.
 
Yosuke lets out a long exhale and reclines into his chair. “You know, I think I’m getting pretty good at this. And you’re doing pretty good at helping me!” He winks and smiles at Yu, who’s now smiling softly.
 
“I’m glad to be of assistance.”
 
“Oh, come on. You don’t have to be so formal!”
 
Yu blinks. “I guess I’ll try to tone it down, then?”
 
“That sounds good. So, anyway, there’s something that’s been bothering me these past few minutes.”
 
“Hmm?”
 
Yosuke watches as some of the color drains from Yu’s face, and he can’t help but laugh. “I don’t think standard friends help each other with

facing themselves

.”
 
And then, without missing a beat, “I don’t think strangers do either.”
 
“Hey!” Yosuke punches Yu’s shoulder. “Then, “

how about this?””

He says, quoting what Yu said earlier. “We’re basically partners in this thing, and we do it pretty well, so… how about that,

Partner

?”
 
“...Partner, huh?” Yu thoughtfully puts a hand to his chin. “Yeah, I like that.”
 
Yosuke’s eyes light up. “Really?”
 
“It has a nice ring to it.”
 
“Alright then! You’ll help me next time, right?”
 
“Of course,

Partner.

”

After that exchange, both of their visions go white, and they wake up.
 
At the exact same time.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Luckily, both Yu and Yosuke manage to wake up on time, but barely. After he drags himself out of bed, gets ready for school, and leaves his house, Yosuke doesn’t feel the need to ride his bike to school today, he’d rather not be late or end up having another trash can incident. If Yu saw him again this time, he’d probably straight up laugh at him before dragging him out. Yosuke hoped the situation was laughable by now.

And -- speak of the devil. Yosuke spots Yu walking a bit of a ways ahead of him, surprisingly not walking with anyone right now. Yosuke jumps at the opportunity, and jogs to catch up to Yu and fall into step beside him.
 
“Good morning!” he says with a smile.
 
“You’re in a good mood today.” Yu seems slightly startled for Yosuke to show up so suddenly, but he still speaks warmly nonetheless.
 
“I am. But I would be happier if I didn’t have to work after school.”
 
“Oh? What have they got you doing today?”
 
“Another ridiculously long graveyard shift.” Yosuke furrows his brow. “Looks like I won’t be eating dinner or getting much sleep tonight.”
 
Yu looks at him in confusion. “I thought you were the manager’s son? I think they can at least let you eat…”
 
“Well, I can, but --” Yosuke tries to dispel the confusion with humor -- “we’re so busy right now that if I even take a break to go to the food court to get something,

I’ll

probably be the next thing to end up on the grill.”
 
Yu snickers. “Nice image there.”
 
“Yeah. Junes’ new special; The Hanamura. Cheapest thing on the menu, but there's too much gristle." That comment earns a laugh from both of them.
 
"What time do you get off tonight?"
 
"Two in the morning, haha." Yosuke laughs it off, knowing that the only reason he takes all of these long shifts is because he doesn't have anything better to do after school.
 
Yu looks at him thoughtfully for a moment, before reaching around and grabbing his phone out of his bag and opening it. "What's your number?"
 
"Huh? What for?"
 
Yu shrugs. "I just realized that I had all of my other friends' numbers, but not yours." That was a lie. The only person whose number he wasn't too afraid to ask for was Chie, who happily gave it to him in exchange for that day's homework answers.
 
"Alright..." Yosuke takes Yu's phone, fumbling with it until he finds the contacts app. He almost makes a joke about it matching the whole grey color scheme that Yu has going on.

Did your phone come in a set with your hair and eye color or something?

That sounded odd, even in Yosuke's head, so he doesn't say anything. Instead, he puts his number into Yu's phone, along with a heart next to his name just to see what Yu's reaction would be when he sees it.

He hands the phone back with a smirk. "Just don't send me anything weird, okay?"
 
“You got it.” Yu simply puts the phone back in his bag, and they go to class.
  
The rest of the day turned out to be pretty uneventful, which was something that Yosuke was secretly glad for. During lunch he ate with Yu, Chie, and Yukiko on the roof, which in hindsight was a lot nicer than he thought. Yukiko was thrown into a laughing fit by a joke Chie had made, and the slight breeze on the roof made lunch a rather soothing thirty minutes.

Now at work in the grocery department, Yosuke wishes that he was at school or even at home, where he could at least sleep or talk to people that he actually liked. At this rate he was willing to seek out his father and see what he was up to. But then again, his father would likely only get angry at him for not putting his nose to the grindstone for the first day in weeks. He would say something like,

“Why aren’t you working? You’re going to ruin Junes’ image if you keep slacking off!”

Yosuke knew that much was ridiculous. Who pays enough attention to

him

of all people to say that they’re ruining the store that they work for? Most people that came through shopping knew some of the employees, but they didn’t care about their image. As long as they could get their groceries or random useless junk, they’d only see Yosuke as some bored kid. So why did his father’s hypothetical rebuke bother him so much?

He sighs as time moves agonizingly slow, boredly cleaning messes and spills, stocking a few shelves here and there, and helping customers find what they were looking for. He still hadn’t been able to use the registers since last month’s mistake (he was dead tired and tried to give someone a few bills in change. That was allowed, but he accidentally handed them two ¥10,000 bills instead of two ¥1,000 bills. He almost lost his job, but thanks to being

The Manager’s Son,

he was let off with a warning and two months of not being able to run registers), but that didn’t bother him. It meant less interaction with people he didn’t care about.
 
So when eight o’clock rolls around and Yosuke’s phone suddenly buzzes in his apron pocket, he eagerly checks it, hoping for something to alleviate his boredom, even if just for a few minutes.
 
It’s a new message from an unknown number reading,

“Come outside. I’m waiting in the lobby.”

Yosuke completely blanks on the idea of anyone having his number (at least not the people already in his contacts), and he responds with “who is this?” But instead of waiting for a reply like any rational person would, his curiosity gets the best of him. He quickly finds his supervisor, and after getting her approval to go on his break, he goes straight to the lobby.

He slowly walks in, just in case the person there is a creep and he needs to run. However there’s no need to because he almost trips over his own feet when he sees Yu standing over by one of the windows, with a bag in his hand, the only other person in the lobby. Yosuke instantly tunes out of the infinitely repetitive song playing over the speakers, and is oddly reminded of how Dream Yu looked out through the distorted Junes window in his dream last night.

Shaking his head, still surprised, he walks up to Yu slowly. “Yu?”
 
He turns around. “Hey!”
 
“What are you doing here?”

Yeah, because you don’t suddenly show up to where someone works with no warning.

“You said you couldn’t go to the food court, right? So why not bring the food court to you?”
 
Yosuke loses any anger about the situation and looks directly at the bag Yu’s holding with sudden understanding. “Dude! That’s for me?”
 
“Who else would it be for?” Yu smiles.
 
Yosuke smiles back to show his gratitude.
 
“Well, where do you want to eat?”
 
“I can’t really go all the way to the food court or go back to my station until my break is over, so…”
 
Yu looks lost in thought for a minute before saying, “Then how about we just go outside on the sidewalk?”
 
“You would want to do that? It’s late and cold out.” Yosuke rubs at the back of his neck awkwardly.
 
“I didn’t go through all the effort of finding my way here for nothing, so I don’t mind.”
 
He gives Yu a bewildered look. “You didn’t know where Junes is?”
 
“Nope. I had to ask Chie for directions, and then I had to convince her that she wouldn’t want any of this.” Yu lightly shakes his bag.
 
“Her, huh? What’d you tell her? If I even mention food around her she forces me to buy her some, even if I wasn’t getting any in the first place.”
 
Yu speaks in a deadpan voice when he says, “I told her I had a date.”
 
Yosuke’s face immediately flushes, and he prays that Yu doesn’t notice it. “Wh-what? This isn’t a-!”
 
“I know. It’s a joke.” Yu says with a laugh. “She

did

get off of my case about the food, though.”
 
Yosuke laughs nervously, suddenly feeling stifled by the atmosphere, and walks out. “Let’s go outside.”

After they both sit down on the concrete walkway outside, Yu sets the bag down between them. “I hope you’re hungry.”
 
“I am!” Yosuke dismisses their previous conversation and looks into the bag, taking out one of the two styrofoam containers inside. “Ah, I hope this isn’t tofu.”
 
Yu looks at him curiously. “It isn’t, but why? You don’t like it?”
 
He shakes his head. “Nah, I just can’t eat it. I’m allergic to it or something like that.”
 
“Oh. I’ll make sure not to get any next time, then.”
 
“You plan on doing this again?” Yosuke becomes preoccupied with opening the container to a huge amount of… modanyaki? The smell and steam hits him in the face instantly and he nearly drools. “I know this didn’t come from the food court. How much did you pay for this?”
 
“Well, I saw that you didn’t eat much during lunch, and I figured you’d need

something

to get you through your shift. The price doesn’t matter.” Yu dismisses it with a wave of his hand.
 
“But, this is…” Yosuke ignores the sudden mass of thoughts invading his brain, and simply gives Yu a wide grin. This time, it’s genuine. “Please tell me that the other box is for you.”
 
“It is, don’t worry about it.” Yu pulls the other box out of the bag along with two utensil packets. After giving one to Yosuke, he opens his box and they start eating.
 
They both eat quickly, realizing that they wasted a few minutes of Yosuke’s break talking. It isn’t very long afterwards, and neither one gets even halfway done, before Yosuke checks his phone for the time.
 
“Oh, crap! My break ends in a few minutes…” He sighs and puts his phone back in his pocket, defeated.
 
Yu doesn’t look up from his food. “Really? How long do you get?”
 
“Twenty minutes, if I’m lucky and nobody comes to bring me back before my time is up. Today seems like one of those lucky days, though.” He winks at Yu, who doesn’t see it.
 
“Better make it thirty then.”
 
“What? They’re gonna kill me if I do that!”
 
Yu finally looks up. “Yosuke, it’s eight thirty. Most people are at home right now, not coming up here to do their daily shopping. That’s been done already.”
 
“Fine. You pulled my leg, if I get in trouble it’s your fault.” He winks again, and Yu sees it this time.
 
“I said one thing?”
 
“It’s enough convincing for me.”

After that, they spend the next ten minutes idly talking while they try to eat as much as they can before Yosuke goes back to work. They still aren’t able to finish, but that doesn’t really matter.
 
“You mind if I take the rest home with me later?” Yosuke says while closing his box and standing up.
 
“Go ahead, I’m going to have to do that too.” Yu puts his container back in the bag before standing up.
 
Yosuke waits a minute for Yu to collect himself and stretch before talking. “Thank you, you didn’t have to do that for me.”
 
“You’re welcome, it honestly wasn’t any trouble.”
 
“Well, I appreciate it!” He starts to turn back, but stops. “Uh, I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”
 
“Of course. Unless you want me to wait for you?”
 
Yosuke stares at him, dumbfounded. After thinking about the question, something in him makes his legs shake. “Dude, hello? I get off at two! You should go home!”
 
Yu chuckles at that. “I didn’t mean it that way. I could go home, get some sleep, and come back to make sure you get home safe.”
 
“You don’t need to…” After getting a stern look from Yu, he backs down. “...Okay, yeah. That’d be nice, I’ll probably be too tired to walk home on my own by then anyways.”
 
“Good. I’ll see you at two, then.”
 
Yosuke nods, and right before he walks away, Yu says something else.
 
“Oh, yeah, what’s the heart in your contact name for?”
 
“Huh?”
 
Yu takes his phone out of his pocket and clicks through until he gets to Yosuke’s contact information, then turns it so he can see.
 
“Oh, that. I just did that to mess with you. You can delete that if you want.”
 
“Hmm. I think I’ll keep it there.” Yu looks down at his phone before closing it and putting it back in his pocket
 
“What? You d-”
 
“See you later, Yosuke.” Yu doesn’t respond to anything else Yosuke has to say before he walks away, leaving Yosuke even more dumbfounded than before.

He’s too weird.

He thinks to himself before going back to work.

And, just like they agreed, when two o’clock rolls around, Yu is standing outside waiting for Yosuke, who somehow managed to remember his leftovers from earlier. They’re both yawning when they meet up, one yawning from having just woken up, and the other from working seven hours after school with no sleep. Because of that, they don’t say much during the walk to Yosuke’s house, simply just enjoying the company.

When they get there, it’s already close to three in the morning.
 
“Are you okay going home by yourself?” Yosuke asks at his doorstep. “Do you want to spend the night just in case?” Only after he says it does he realize how weird that sounded.
 
Yu politely declines. “No, I had to sneak out, and if I’m not there in the morning when my uncle wakes up I’ll never hear the end of it. Thank you, though.” He yawns, and before he leaves, he hesitates. “I can’t believe I kept forgetting about it, but Chie wanted me to apologize to you for her.”
 
“For what?” Yosuke’s too tired to be able to remember anything that he might be mad at Chie about.
 
“For kicking you in the face the other day?”
 
“Oh, that. She’s forgiven.”
 
“She’s- What? But you were so angry when it happened?” Yu blinks in tired confusion.
 
By now Yosuke’s leaning on his front door. “Everybody makes mistakes. And I’m in a forgiving mood for some reason.”
 
“Are you okay? You weren’t accidentally poisoned by the modanyaki?”
 
“No, I’m good. Maybe just a little sleep deprived…”
 
“Hopefully it’s just that.”

After saying their goodbyes, Yu leaves, and Yosuke watches after him until he disappears around the street corner for good measure. When he’s certain he can’t see Yu anymore, and he’s not suddenly coming back (

why would he?

), Yosuke goes inside, puts his leftovers in the fridge for lunch tomorrow, and falls asleep almost as soon as he lays down.
  
The next day is expectedly, uneventful, for everyone except Chie. She had been prepared come up to him after school to ‘grill’ Yu about his so-called date yesterday, but she fell silent during lunch after seeing what Yu and Yosuke had brought individually. Same food, same containers, they were sitting together (but then again so were her and Yukiko), and all of this

today.

She made her assumption, but stayed silent about it and smiled smugly to herself instead.
 
Of course, she would tell Yukiko all about it later.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

May 14th, 2011, a few days after exams:     Yu doesn’t show up for school with no warning to his friends, something that hadn't yet happened. However, it only led to his friends assuming that he was only tired and wanted a day off. It was understandable, exams had just been finished and the others knew that he was studying a bit too diligently during the week prior. After all, he had recently joined the soccer team, and wanted to get to know two of the people he met the day he joined the team. And he had spent a lot of time with Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko lately, so none of them were worried, although Yu suddenly missing a day seemed odd to Yosuke.  
May 15th
     Yu didn't talk to any of his friends today, either, and while it bothered them, the only one who said anything about it was Yosuke. He decided not to ask what was going on as to not bother Yu, and after Yukiko assuring him that everything was fine, he was able to relax.  
May 16th
     However, it was now day three, and Yu hadn't come to school today either. He still hadn't contacted anyone yet, so during lunch Yosuke worriedly types out an r u ok? and sends it to him with the intention of at least hearing something back.     He's in class when his phone buzzes with a new message, and he quickly opens it under his desk to read, "I'm alright, there were suddenly some family issues and I had to leave immediately. I'm sorry I didn't tell anyone, but I was told I was only going to be gone for a week, and then I'd be back."     Family problems, huh? Yosuke had his fair share of those. Tapping Chie on the shoulder and getting a whispered "That's good!" in response after showing her the message from Yu, Yosuke leans back in his chair. Everything was fine, and Yu was probably going to be coming back soon.  
May 17th
     Yu wasn't back today, and even though he had gotten clarification that he would be coming back soon, Yosuke's thoughts start getting the better of him.     He's not coming back. 
    You scared him away.
     The thoughts scare him, and regardless of how hard he tries to ignore them, they don't go away and he starts to worry. Not even blaring music with his headphones manages to help, and it isn't until he's riding his bike home that he thinks of something worse than what he had to listen to all day.     He lied to you.     Suddenly feeling almost as alone as he had at the beginning of the year, Yosuke considers asking Yukiko or Chie if they wanted to hang out today. But he hadn't spoken much to them the past few days, and they would probably take it the wrong way and slap him for asking. If only Yu were here, he could ask if he wanted to hang out and nobody would think of it the wrong way...  
May 18th
     Yosuke hoped the lonely feeling in the pit of his stomach would be resolved by the morning, but it somehow managed to get worse. When he tried to talk to Yukiko before classes, she suddenly got swept up into a conversation with a few other girls that Yosuke didn't know, so he left her alone. Like Yu, Chie wasn't at school today either. That bothered Yosuke even more, and after not talking to Yu for nearly twenty-four hours, something in him was screaming that Yu simply ditched him. Like all of his other friends. Yu must have moved back a few days ago and he only lied about it being "family troubles" to spare his feelings, right? Yosuke doesn't bother ignoring that thought. You deserve it. You deserve to be left behind.     So, by the time he has to go to work that day, Yosuke's so desperate to simply talk to someone that he would be willing to go deal with the people complaining in the customer service department. But, he does have some common sense, so he doesn't do that and instead goes to take his shift in the grocery department.    After realizing that Saki (the girl he had been crushing on since he moved here) was working in the same department as him today, and figuring that trying to talk to her again couldn't hurt, Yosuke gathers all of his courage and decides to try asking her out during her break. Based on their previous conversations, it seemed like she didn't hate him, so it was worth a shot.     That, as expected, ended terribly. Yosuke wasn't able to tell that Saki had other things on her mind, and that seeing him only irritated her to the point of snapping at him. She was cruel in her choice of words, and by the end she was almost yelling at him.    "Why would I ever go out with you? You're the biggest pain in the ass! I only talk to you because you’re the stupid manager’s son and you could help me get a promotion. And even worse! I have to work at this stupid place just so my family won’t go bankrupt! Do you know what kind of looks I get from my neighbors from working here? How much worse do you think it’d get if they saw me with you? I tried to be nice to you long enough so things wouldn’t get awkward, but honestly, after dealing with you for four months I’m tired of it.”    Yosuke didn’t think the situation could get any worse, until Saki took off her apron and threw it at him saying, “I quit.” He didn’t know how to respond to this, how was he going to explain to his dad that an employee just quit because of him? What were you supposed to say after getting your heart stomped on and knowing that it was all your fault? He can’t help but feel winded and have to go to the break room for a few minutes just to breathe and try to stop his chest from collapsing on itself. He had really liked Saki, but he wasn’t brave enough to ask her out until today. And now she definitely hates him.    At least he had been too embarrassed about his crush to say anything to his friends (were they still his friends?) about it. He didn’t want to hear the jokes that Chie would make when he told them about how badly he got rejected. That wasn’t even the end of his terrible day. After he finished calming himself down, he went back to work and tried to get his shift over as soon as possible. But, like most things, he couldn’t even do that. He slipped and fell while mopping up a spill by the grocery aisle that kept pasta sauce. He could feel that it was going to give him a bruise later. He tried his luck with stocking in the produce section, until he tried fixing an apple pyramid and only managed to make nearly every single apple fall to the floor. After earning a few laughs from shoppers, he redid the entire thing and threw away the three apples that got smashed in the whole ordeal. He left that section to stock some of the non-perishable aisles, figuring that at least here he couldn’t smash anything open, right? Wrong. He stumbled and ran into one of the shelves on an end cap, knocking the shelf completely out of place and causing every can on it to fall and hit him before crashing to the floor. He almost felt like he deserved that too and left, but in the end he chose to put them all back and clean up the mess that one can made after getting smashed open. Of course they were diced tomatoes, that was just the kind of luck that Yosuke had. By the end of his shift he’s feeling like a complete fuck-up. It didn’t help that at one point one of the girls running a register laughed at him and asked, “Can you even do anything right?” He knew she meant it jokingly, but that’s not how he took it.All day long he had to listen to shoppers and coworkers laughing at him, and when he saw his dad all he got from him was a disappointed sigh. He already knew by now that nothing he ever did was good enough for him, but why did he have to be so public about it? He would have preferred his dad telling him how much of a failure he is during his break or something. So, on the walk home, Yosuke’s mind is swimming until he suddenly thinks of something that hits him like a train. What if he saw his Shadow again when he went to sleep tonight? He had been in a terrible mood the last two times it happened, and it has been a while. Right now he’s feeling worse than ever, and hearing what it might have to say tonight might make him lose it. He doesn’t want his thoughts from these past few days voiced out loud.Even though he would probably see Yu in his dream again, it wasn’t the same as talking to the real one. In his dream, Yu would only say what he wanted to hear. Nothing he would hear would be anything the real one would say to him. After all, the real Yu probably hated him right now. But he doesn’t care at this point. He just wants to talk to someone that can keep him awake, even if only for a little while. Why was he so afraid of a dream? It didn’t make any sense to him, but by the time he gets to his room, phone in hand, he’s already made up his mind.      It’s 9:42 when Yu looks at his clock, yawning. He had been out with his mother from the time he woke up to the time he got home -- twenty minutes ago. It was odd for his mother to suddenly want to go somewhere, but because of their outing he didn’t have to listen to his parents fighting today, and he was okay with that. Until they got home, and their fighting instantly started. But by now Yu has been doing more research on Shadows to try and ignore them. He’s contemplating asking one of his friends how their day has been when his phone rings. His eyes widen in surprise at the Caller ID, and he picks up, confused. “Yosuke? This is the first time you’ve called me.” The voice on the other line is shaky, and so is his breathing. “Yeah, yeah, I know, but that’s not why I called.” Yu sits up straighter in his chair. “Why then? Is everything alright?” “Do you hate me?” “What?” “Do you?” Yu tries to hold back his surprise. “No? Why this all of a sudden?” “I was worried.” Yu doesn’t say anything. “Anyway… I’m sorry for bothering you and I’m sorry this is going to sound weird but…” “What is it?” “Do you mind talking to me for a while so I don’t fall asleep?” Yu gets an idea of why he asked that, but he doesn’t have much of a way to confirm it. “Why?” “I’m worried about something and if I go to sleep it’ll make it worse. If you’re busy you don’t have to talk to me.”     “No, I’m free. What’s wrong?” He asks, concern in his voice. At least talking to Yosuke is drowning out the sound of his parents arguing in the other room.     “I can’t really explain it but… I think I just need to calm down a bit before I try to sleep.”     “Okay. Um, do you want to talk about something else? Like how your day went, maybe?”     There’s a sigh before he speaks. “It was horrible. These past few days have been pretty bad, honestly.”     “Why?”     “I’ve been thinking way too much.”     Oh no. “... About what?”     “Hey, that’s kind of personal.”     Yu feels stupid for asking. “Sorry.”     “Nah, it’s fine. Some of it was about you, though…”     His mind instantly whirls. What on Earth has he been thinking about? “It was?”     “Yeah.” Yu can tell he’s trying to avoid the topic. “Um, you’re coming back, right?”     “I should be on the 20th. Why…?”     Was that a sigh of relief he just heard? “No reason… I just didn’t know if you were moving back home because of that ‘emergency’.”     “The emergency wasn’t important.” Yu says defensively. He’s a bit concerned about why Yosuke was nervous over him not coming back, but he decides to ignore that and talk about his issues instead. “Can I be honest with you for a second?”     “I guess so?”     “I didn’t want to come back here for that emergency in the first place. I wanted to stay in Inaba and completely forget about everything at home for the year, and I was having a good time too, until this.”     “What happened?”     “Something with my parents. But I’m getting tired of listening to them so I won’t be here for longer than I need to be.”     “Why? You don’t like them?”     Yu’s tone suddenly turns bitter, even though he doesn’t mean for it to. “I don’t want to talk about that.”     “Oh, okay…” Yosuke laughs lightly, and Yu can’t tell if he’s laughing at him or just laughing nervously.     “What?”     “It’s nice to know that even someone like you has problems too.”     “What’s that supposed to mean?”     “You know…” He hesitates before talking again like he’s thinking about it, but then talks in a blur. “You never look like anything’s wrong and you’re always so good at everything and everyone you meet likes you… but you still have problems like everyone else.”     He doesn’t know how to respond to that. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”     “No, but it makes me feel better about my problems.”     “Well, if it helps you sleep at night, then…”     “Did you mean to do that?”     Yu blanks. “Do wh- oh. No, just a funny coincidence.” He smiles into the phone.     Yosuke laughs, sounding much more comfortable than he was when he called.     “Are you feeling any better?”     “A little bit, yeah. Thank you.”     “You’re welcome. But are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”     “Nah, not today. I think talking to you was enough for now. I might be able to sleep soon, actually.”     Yu wonders why talking to him of all people was enough, and he really can’t contain his curiosity. “I’m glad. But before you go, do you mind if I ask about something? If you don’t want to answer, you can hang up. I won’t mind.”     There’s a silence that lasts for a few seconds, and then he hears a sudden deep breath. “What is it?”     Yu has to re-compose himself in the same way before asking. “Why did you ask if I was coming back? Were you worried that I was… leaving you behind…?”     The phone goes so quiet that Yu almost thinks he hung up. Nearly a minute passes with him sitting in worried silence, until he hears a barely audible “...yes.” before the line clicks.     Suddenly feeling like he shouldn’t have said that, Yu thinks that he has to apologize. Why did he have to go that far? Yosuke said he felt better, why did he have to bring the bad mood back just to get rid of his curiosity? That was the worst thing to say to his friend that just called for a little bit of help.    He stressfully thinks for a minute about what he should say, how he should word it, before he opens the messaging app on his phone.     “New Message to Yosuke <3: 
    I’m sorry if I crossed the line with asking that. But I want you to know that I wouldn’t do that to you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
     He quickly puts his phone away and tries to go to sleep quickly. By now he’s mostly certain that he’s actually talking to the real Yosuke in the dreams with his Shadow (but is too afraid to suggest it because if he’s wrong he’s just scared away someone that he cared about), so if he happens to have to meet it again, he can be there.     Luckily, he doesn’t that night.  
May 19th
     However, things are different today. Yu and Yosuke don’t talk at all. They aren’t ignoring each other, but neither one of them knows what to do in this situation.     Yosuke doesn’t reply to Yu’s message after he wakes up because he sent it hours ago. It would be weird if he replied now, when he’s feeling a bit better, (and what was he even supposed to respond to that with?) so he waits and hopes that Yu sends something else during the day so they can talk more.    But he doesn’t. When Yosuke hasn’t gotten another message and it’s five in the afternoon, he starts worrying. Of course Yu wouldn’t send anything else after Yosuke just hung up on him and then didn’t text him at all afterwards, but now it was way too late for Yosuke to respond without seeming like an asshole. After that, he’s sure that Yu probably definitely hates him now, and Yosuke hates that feeling more than he thinks he should.     On the other hand, because he never got a response to his last message, Yu figures that he must have really overstepped a boundary and wouldn’t be surprised if Yosuke was angry at him for it. He would understand if he did, you don’t ask your friend something like that while they’re upset. He figures that Yosuke probably thinks he only cares about himself now, and he sighs. He didn’t mean for that to happen, but there weren’t many ways that he could explain himself easily right now. He decides not to pester Yosuke and instead wait on a response from him first in case he really was upset about it, and isn’t surprised when he goes to bed and still hasn’t heard anything from him. But why was it bothering him so much…?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next morning, Yu decides to leave at dawn so he can meet his friends by the time they get out of school. He would have rather been in Inaba than Tokyo anyway. He was ready to be back at the Dojima's, where it was usually always calm. Nanako was a kind kid, and Dojima tried his best with her and Yu even though it didn't seem to come easily to him. Not to mention that he had missed his friends in the mere week that he was gone, and he wanted to apologize to Yosuke face to face and see if he really was angry at him.

He half-heartedly says goodbye to his parents and gets on the train to Inaba, and settles down for the next few hours. It was funny, almost. Just a month ago he was dreading leaving once again and moving somewhere new. But so far he had started to like Inaba. The people there were nice enough, he already had friends, and the town had a type of charm that made him want to stay.

By the time he starts thinking about it, he begins to feel drowsy and fall asleep.
 
Yu gets to Inaba around lunchtime, and cheerfully walks to the Dojima residence to surprise his uncle and cousin. Luckily, they're both there (with Dojima taking a long lunch and Nanako having the day off from school) and more than willing to eat lunch with Yu. They talk until Dojima's lunch break is over and he has to go back to his office, and Yu helps Nanako with an art project for school.

He's not that great at it, and glue ends up all over the table, but they get it done before Yasogami lets out for the day. By now he's got a bit of a plan, so he promises Nanako that he'll be back soon, and sets out on his way.

When he gets there, the dismissal bell rings, and Yu takes cover behind the school gates. He stands there for a few minutes, occasionally peeking through at the other students leaving (and waving at a few that he knows), and secretly hopes everyone is going straight home today.

He suddenly ducks down when he sees Chie, Yukiko, and Yosuke leaving the building together. Yosuke doesn't seem like he's in a bad mood, but something seems off. Regardless, he keeps hiding behind the gate so he can jump out at everyone.

While listening to other people talk, he hears Yukiko and Chie say goodbye to Yosuke, and, while slightly disappointed, he patiently waits for them to walk by.

Until Yukiko spots him before he gets the chance to do anything.
 
"Yu! What are you doing here?" She looks at him curiously while Chie stands by her side.
 
"I was going to surprise all of you, but you saw me first."
 
"Oh, I'm sorry."
 
"You're just perceptive, no need to apologize." Chie waves a hand. "Besides, there's still Yosuke for you to scare."
 
Yu nods and gives them a half smile. "He'll be next."
 
Yukiko looks back at him and asks, "Do you want us to go get him for you?"
 
"Yukiko, he's got to walk through the gate eventually." Chie gives her an exasperated look.
 
"Oh, yeah..."
 
"And if he shows up now he'll see us talking to you and know, so...!" Chie grabs Yukiko's shoulders and starts to steer her away while whispering, "Good luck!" to Yu before they leave.
 
Yu shrugs. What would I need luck for?
 
After he crouches back into place, he sees Yosuke walking with his bike, looking wistfully at the ground. When he gets to the gate, Yu takes the opportunity to jump out at him, saying, "Hey!"
 
And Yosuke screams. Loudly. He jumps backwards so far that he lets go of his bike and it clatters to the ground.
 
Yu instantly starts laughing, and Yosuke has to put a hand to his chest to calm himself down.

"Wh-- wha-- wh--?! What are y-you doing here?!" Yosuke can barely breathe after being scared so badly.
 
"I got back a little earlier than I thought I would." Yu plays it off with a laugh.
 
"And your first thought was to come terrify me?"
 
"Kind of?"
 
"You-- okay."
 
They stand there quietly for a moment while Yosuke picks his bike back up, and he blurts out, "Isn't there anyone else you want to go scare?"
 
Yu takes it as a hit to the gut and steps back, remembering that he didn't even ask if Yosuke wanted to talk to him in the first place. "Do you want me to leave...?"
 
"No-- that's not what I meant, I just figured you would have other people to talk to on your first day back."
 
"Well, I already spent some time with Nanako, I talked to Chie and Yukiko a minute ago, and I don't think I know any other people well enough to randomly appear and scare them senseless."
 
Yosuke cringes. "So that left me, huh?"
 
"Yeah, but considering we haven't spoken in a day, I felt like meeting you last so I could talk to you the most."
 
"Oh. Listen, I'm sorry for not responding yesterday, it was so late after you sent that message that I thought it would be weird if I responded that long after."
 
"That's all that was?" Yu starts laughing at himself.
 
"Huh?"
 
"After what I said, I was sure that you were upset with me so I left you alone for the day."
 
Yosuke gives him a shocked look. "You thought I was mad at you? I thought you were mad at me!"
 
"Seriously?"
 
"Yeah." He suddenly looks nervous. "Uh, can we talk about that?"
 
"Right now? I would think you would want to do something else first, but..."
 
"It's weird, but there's something weird going on that I want to talk to somebody about."
 
"And I'm the best person to talk to?" Of course you are, asshole.
 
"Kind of. I mean, it involves you."
 
"It does?" Yu looks at him, worried.
 
"Yeah, but-- can we go now?"
  
Not long after that, they're at the flood plain, sitting on opposite sides of the bench in the gazebo.
 
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Yu asks.
 
"You remember how I didn't really want to talk about what happened the other day?"
 
"Yeah?"
 
"You should've been there." Yosuke sighs.
 
"Really?"
 
"Yeah, it was horrible, man. First of all, I was worried that you weren't coming back, and I had barely even spoken to anyone since I texted you that day."
 
"That was Monday..." It was Friday now.
 
"I know. But anyways, on Wednesday, I finally tried to ask the girl I liked out on a date."
 
"Oh? Who was it? Chie?" Yu says with a smirk.
 
"No! Not in a million years! It was a girl I work -- worked -- with. She goes to our school and I really liked her, but I guess she only tolerated me as long as she had to."
 
"What happened?"
 
His face turns into a grimace. "She kind of screamed at me. Told me that she was only using me and that I'm just a pain in the ass. And then she quit. All because of me."
 
Yu doesn't know what else to say other than, "I'm sorry."
 
"It's okay, I... kind of knew it would never work out. And my day just kept getting worse. I slipped in something and bruised the shit out of my back, I knocked down a few shelves of cans and almost slipped and fell in that, and I completely ruined an apple pyramid all in the same shift. The entire time I was getting laughed at... At one point even my dad joined in."
 
"He didn't try to help you?"
 
"No, but he doesn't do that anyway. On a regular day the most he ever says to me is a disappointed sigh."
 
"I'm sorry." Why is this the only thing I know how to say?
 
"It's fine, there's nothing I can do about it now."
 
"But y-"
 
"That wasn't even the main ting I wanted to talk about, so let's ignore it for now, okay?" He winks, obviously trying to avoid the topic again.
 
"Okay... What is it?"
 
Yosuke looks around like he doesn't know what to say for a minute before he finally speaks. "You ever have any weird dreams...?"
 
Yu's eyes widen. "I guess so?"
 
"Okay. Lately I've been having this recurring one and it kind of freaks me out."
 
"What happens?" Yu's certain he's talking about his Shadow, but what was he supposed to say about it?
 
"I start out in this weird blue room with these two weird people and they ask me to pick someone to go with me to "face myself" or something like that."
 
"And...?"
 
"And I chose you every time so far." Yosuke shrinks in on himself and looks at the table, avoiding eye contact. "Please don't think I'm weird or anything but I didn't have any other options and I-"
 
Yu interrupts him before he can embarrass himself any further. "It's okay. I don't mind."
 
"You don't?" He looks up slightly.
 
"Of course not. You said it was a dream, right? I won't judge you for what you do in them." Yu doesn't have the heart to tell Yosuke that he's actually being brought into his dreams when Yosuke picks him. He's sure that if he tells him now he'll probably die of embarrassment or run away and never talk to him again. And he really doesn't mind being asked to help him, so for now he'll just have to pretend that he doesn't know anything. "What did you mean when you said 'facing yourself'?"
 
"Oh, that... It's pretty much talking face to face with another me. Only instead of being just like me it talks about everything I don't want to hear or admit... And at one point I think it was trying to kill me."
 
"What?!" Yu blurts out, a bit louder than he meant to. I didn't know that happened! "What do you mean?"
 
Yosuke looks a little set back from Yu's sudden volume, but he still talks anyway. "It's like... the more it talked the less I could breathe. It felt terrible."
 
"Oh..." Was this what was happening the last time when he was asking Yosuke if he was okay?
 
"Yeah, and that's not even all it does. Whenever it talks things start feeling wrong and I start hoping I can just wake up."
 
"Can't your alarm clock wake you up?"
 
"Maybe, but so far I've only woken up before it was supposed to go off. Except for the first time..." Yosuke finaly looks up and makes eye contact with Yu. "Which was the morning you pulled me out of that trash can..."
 
"That's why you were late to school?" Yu asks, still trying to act like he doesn't know anything.
 
"Yep. But anyway, meeting that thing was the reason I called you the other day. So far I've met it when I had really shitty days, and because that day was so bad I was kind of terrified of meeting it."
 
"That's why you needed to calm down..."
 
"I hope that wasn't too weird, you know, having to call someone because you're afraid of a dumb dream." Yosuke laughs nervously.
 
Yu eyes him suspiciously. "But it wasn't only because of the dream."
 
Yosuke suddenly snaps at him. "I was worried, okay? You don't have to keep bringing it up."
 
Yu reels back, realizing that he struck a nerve. "...Okay, I won't bring it up anymore. But you do know I wouldn't just straight up leave so suddenly, right?"
 
Yosuke doesn't respond.
 
"I'm sorry."
 
"It's fine." Yosuke rubs at his face. "Ugh, I feel like I'm ruining your first day back." He crosses his arms and sits back in his seat.
 
"You're not. I'm glad you told me all of that."
 
"What are you, a guidance counselor?"
 
"No, but now I might be able to help you out a bit." Yu stands up and stretches.
 
"How?"
 
"You've got some family issues, right?"
 
Yosuke looks down sadly. "Yeah, b-"
 
"So do I. And now that I'm here, I have a much less irritating family to be around."
 
"So? Don't brag about your fortune." He says bitterly
 
"That's not what I'm saying."
 
"Then what?"
 
"Would you like to meet them?" He says suddenly.
 
"What?!"
 
"It's just my uncle and cousin, but I barely remember my uncle from before and I just met my cousin when I got here. They're not bad people, and they're a lot less to put up with than when I'm at home."
 
"What happens at home?"
 
"My parents fight almost constantly. The house is always noisy and hostile even though they're almost always working."
 
"Oh, I'm sorry."
 
"It's alright. But anyway, you don't look like you want to go home yet, so why not?"
 
Yosuke blinks. "You're serious?"
 
"Yes? Why wouldn't I be?"
 
"It just sounded like a joke."
 
"It wasn't. Do you want to go?"
 
Yosuke stands up from his seat and dusts himself off. "I guess so... Do you think they'll mind if I show up?"
 
"I don't think so. My uncle probably won't even be home yet, so it might end up just being us and my cousin."
 
"I don't know... I-"
 
"Do you want me to call and ask if she'll mind?"
 
Yosuke nods quickly. "Yes. Please."
 
"Okay." Yu takes a few steps away and takes out his phone, dialing number two on speed dial.
 
Nanako picks up. "Hello, Dojima residence."
 
"Hey, Nanako, it's me. Is your dad there?"
 
"No, he's still at work." She sounds sad...
 
"Oh. Would you mind if I brought a friend over today?"
 
"Really?" She seems to cheer up almost instantly. "You haven't brought anyone over yet!"
 
"That's why I'm asking."
 
"Okay, umm... Are they a girl or a boy?"
 
"Boy." Yu's almost confused by the question.
 
"Aww, I thought you were bringing your girlfriend over! Dad says it's okay as long as he gets to meet her."
 
"Ah, I don't have one yet, so that'll have to wait."
 
"But you'll bring her over someday, right?"
 
"Sure."
 
"Okay! As long as she can come over eventually, I don't mind if you bring your friend home!"
 
"Okay. Oh, do you want us to pick something up for dinner on our way there?" Yu asks before hanging up.
 
"Sure! That way I won't have to order takeout again."
 
"...It would have to be takeout though." He says disappointedly.
 
"That's okay. Surprise me!"
 
"Alright. We'll be there soon."
 
"Okay!"
 
Yu hangs up and walks back over to Yosuke.
 
"What did she say?"
 
"She's okay with it. But, thanks to you, I have to bring my girlfriend over if I ever get one."
 
Yosuke laughs. "You'll have one before you know it."
 
"I'm not sure about that..."
 
"Come on! You've practically got girls begging to date you. I wish I had that."
 
"So do I. It's getting annoying."
 
"Yu!" Yosuke punches his shoulder.
 
"Sorry, none of them have really gained my interest, that's all." Yu shrugs.
 
"Alright. Saving some of them for the rest of us, huh?" Yosuke winks.
 
"I guess so." Yu laughs nervously. "Are you ready to go?"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Soon after the phone call, Yu and Yosuke arrive at the Dojima residence, and Nanako greets them happily when they walk through the door.
 
“Welcome back! Ooh, is that Aiya’s?” She completely ignores Yosuke, and tries to focuses on the bag that Yu’s holding.

“It is.” Yu says with a smile as he sets the bag on the kitchen table. He then gestures to Yosuke, who’s standing awkwardly by the door. “Nanako, this is Yosuke. He’s the friend I was telling you about.”
 
Nanako instantly goes to being shy, like she had forgotten about someone new coming over. “Um, hello…”
 
Yu notices Yosuke standing there visibly uncomfortable, but he’s trying to keep himself cheerful despite that. “Hey! You know, your cousin didn’t tell me how old you were.”
 
“You didn’t?” Nanako looks up at Yu, who shrugs.
 
“I didn’t think it was that important… And it never came up.”
 
“How old

are

you?”
 
“Six…”
 
“I must seem like an old man to you!” Yosuke smiles at her, and she smiles back just slightly.
 
Yu starts taking containers out of the bag and while setting things down, says, “You can come in, you know.”
 
“O-okay…” Yosuke tenses up, but takes a few steps forwards.
 
Nanako and Yu each grab a few things from the table to take to the one in the living room and are about to sit down when Nanako calls back to Yosuke, “Can you get the rest?”

He nods and quietly grabs the rest to help bring everything over.
 
After everything is set up, the three of them eat quietly while watching TV, not making much conversation the whole time. The atmosphere feels off to Yu, but he ignores it.
 
Until after they’ve finished cleaning up and are talking in the kitchen, when a Junes commercial comes on. Nanako happily sings along to it like usual. At least now she was comfortable enough to sing around people she didn’t know much about yet. After it’s over, Yu smiles at her, and Yosuke looks up long enough to speak.

“You sing well!”
 
She beams proudly. “I’m the best in my class!”
 
“She sings along every time the commercial comes on.” Yu mentions.
 
“Really?”
 
“Yeah! I really want to go there, but Dad doesn’t ever have the time to…” Nanako looks down sadly.
 
“You know… I happen to work there.” Yosuke says with a wink.
 
Nanako perks up instantly. “You do?!”
 
“His dad’s the manager.” If Yu was being honest, he liked that the two of them were talking so easily already.
 
“Really?!”
 
Yosuke nods.
 
“Can we go?”
 
The two boys are quickly taken aback by Nanako’s question.
 
“Right now? I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” Yosuke starts.
 
“Why?”
 
“I- um…”
 
Yu interrupts him yet again. “He messed up some things the last time he worked so he’s laying low for a while.” He tries to put a shady spin on it, but Nanako doesn’t seem to get it.
 
“What did you do?” Nanako asks.
 
Yosuke frowns. “A couple of dumb things. But maybe we can go some other time.”
 
“Really? Will you guys take me then?”
 
“If Dojima’s okay with it.” Yu smiles softly at her, and she beams.
 
“Do you think we can go tomorrow?”
 
“I’m pretty sure I’m free. What about you?” Yu nods to Yosuke, who promptly shakes his head.
 
“Ah, no. I have to work after school.”
 
Nanako’s shoulders sink, and Yu immediately tries to keep her in a good mood. “Then Nanako and I can come visit.”
 
Yosuke almost jumps back. “What for?”
 
“We need some groceries…? Nanako, do you think that us going tomorrow should count as that trip?”
 
She shakes her head, and her small pigtails bounce slightly. “It’s only one of you going with me, and I want both of you to go with me! So no.”
 
Yu chuckles. “We’ll all go eventually.”
 
There’s suddenly a light clattering at the front door before it opens, and Nanako gasps before running over to it. “Welcome home! How was work?”
 
There’s a gruff voice at the door. “It was alright. Yu, what’s-...” Dojima walks in and stops mid-sentence when he sees Yu and Yosuke standing in the kitchen. “Ah, who’s this?”
 
Yu starts to explain, but Yosuke does it quicker, even bowing before he speaks. “I’m Yosuke Hanamura. I’m a friend of Yu’s.”
 
“Okay.” Dojima doesn’t

look

angry, but he still looks tired and displeased. Maybe today wasn’t the best day for Yu to bring a friend over. “I assume that’s your bike outside?”
 
“Yes, sir.”
 
“Hmm.” He puts his coat up and walks through the room to put a handful of papers on the kitchen table. “I would have preferred to have had some warning before we had a guest. Did you at least as Nanako first?”
 
“They did, Dad! They brought dinner too, and they’re going to take me to Junes later!” Nanako seems to have realized the tense atmosphere.
 
Dojima’s gaze softens after Nanako speaks. “Hopefully not today,

right?”

Yu tenses up, wondering if he really shouldn’t have brought Yosuke here in the first place. “No, not today.”
 
“Good.” Dojima takes his usual spot on the couch and leans back, closing his eyes.
 
Nobody else says a word until Yosuke lightly taps Yu on the shoulder. “I think I should leave…”
 
Yu nods. “That’d probably be best. Do you want me to go with you?”
 
“You don’t have t-”
 
“You can go!” Nanako whispers to them. “I’ll take care of Dad while you’re gone.”
 
“Are you sure?”
 
She nods. “It’s still a little early so if you want to do something else I won’t mind.”
 
“Thank you, Nanako.” Yu says before heading towards the door.
 
The two of them walk outside, Yosuke stops to get his bike, and they start making their way to Yosuke’s house.
  
When they get there, they stand by the front door for a few minutes.
 
“I think I made your uncle mad at me…” Yosuke rubs at his arm awkwardly.
 
Yu tries to reassure him. “Don’t worry about it. I think he just had a bad day, but at least Nanako seemed to like you.”
 
“Yeah, she was nice.”
 
“And you’ll be seeing her again tomorrow.” Yu smiles.
 
“You’re really bringing her there while I’m working?” Yosuke takes a step back.
 
“Why not?”
 
“What if I make more stupid mistakes while you’re there?”
 
“Then we’ll help you.”
 
“But you already help me so much…” Yosuke looks down at the steps.”
 
“So? That’s what friends do.”
 
“I guess so…”
 
“You’ll do fine. Everyone’s probably forgotten about it by now anyway.”
 
“I hope so.”
 
Yu checks his watch. “Oh, I should probably be going back now…”
 
Yosuke nods. “Okay. Uh, thanks… for today.”
 
“It’s no problem. And if you need to call me again I’ll be there.” Yu tries to smile as comfortingly as he can, and it seems to work.
 
“You don’t think it’s weird?”
 
“Not at all. You’re not the only person that has to go through that.”
 
“Really?” His head snaps up. “Have you…?”
 
Yu shakes his head. “Not yet. You know, when the time comes, I might end up picking you to go with me.”
 
Yosuke looks surprised for a second before his face softens. “I’d like that.”

That was weird.

Yu chuckles before walking down the steps. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
 
“Yeah, see you.” Yosuke flashes Yu a grin before he unlocks the door and walks in.
    
When Yu gets home, he’s greeted by an empty living room. Dojima and Nanako were probably in bed right now, and he probably should be too. But when he gets to his room and takes out his phone, he makes different plans.

He had his phone on silent the whole day, and there are a few messages that he never noticed until now. Most of them are from Chie.

“tell me how it goes!”

At 4:10pm,

“WE HEARD HIM SCREAM FROM DOWN THE ROAD! GOOD JOB!”

At 4:16pm,

“help yukiko’s having a laughing fit from it”

At 4:18pm,
 
and,

“how’d it go?”

At 6:32pm.
 
A quick look at the clock on his phone shows Yu that it’s already nearly eight, and he almost contemplates waiting until tomorrow to just tell her at school. But she probably wanted to know

now

, so he sits on his bed and tells her anyway, not expecting a reply tonight.

“It went well.”

7:49pm

“ooh! took you a while, what’d you guys do?”

7:52pm
 
Yu tries to paraphrase what happened for Chie’s short attention span.

“We just talked at the riverbank for a while and got something to eat, not much.”

7:56pm

“pretty boring thing to do on your first day back”

7:58pm

It wasn’t boring!

Yu thinks to himself. Then he gets an idea and wonders what kind of reaction he’ll get when he sends,

“Oh, and I brought him home with me.”

Almost instantly,

“WHAT”

“TELL ME EVERYTHING”

He laughs to himself before responding,

“It’s not what you think. I just brought him to meet my uncle and cousin, and after that I walked him home.”

“how romantic!”

Yu has no idea if she’s joking or not.

“What?”

“first you went on a date with him and now you’re bringing him around to meet your family ;)”

What?

Yu realizes that even though the date part was a lie to get her off of his back, Chie didn’t know and thought it was true. But how did she guess that he was with Yosuke that night…?

“How did you know it was him?”

Even though it wasn’t true, his face flushes regardless.

“you both brought the exact same takeout containers for lunch the next day. when it comes to food i see things.”

Of course she does. But Yu still has to correct her.

“We didn’t really go on a date.”

“then what did you do?”

“I brought him something to eat while he was working late.”

“but did you eat with him?”

“Yes?”

“sounds like a date to me”

“It wasn’t!”

If Yu knew how to yell in a text message, he would.

“yes it was! you just don’t want to admit it”

Yu spends a few minutes trying to word a response when he gets another response from Chie.

“think of it this way then: if you did the same thing with yukiko, would it still not be a date?”

Yu starts thinking about it.

“Oh.”

“so you agree with me”

“Only if Yosuke agrees with that too.” Wait- why did I say that?!

“let me ask him!”

Yu almost sends something in protest, but knowing Chie, she’s already sent it. Besides, it wouldn’t kill him to find out what Yosuke thought about the whole thing…

He sits there for a few minutes in silence holding his phone. He shouldn’t be nervous about it, and yet he was. It was just a dumb question!
 
After a few minutes of waiting, Chie texts him back with,

“he agrees! i told you it was a date!”

Wait, what?

Yosuke thought it was a date too? Why would he think that? You don’t consider that kind of thing a date! Who randomly goes out with their friend and doesn’t say anything? Why didn’t he say anything if that’s what he thought?

It doesn’t matter,

Yu tries to tell himself.

Chie probably forced him to agree or is just lying about it.

Yeah, he’d go with that.

“Is this a joke?”

“nope! i’ll show you tomorrow if you want me to”

“Please do.”

When a few minutes pass and Yu doesn’t get a reply, he decides to lay down and try not to think about it. Whatever was going to happen, he could just ask about it tomorrow. Those were tomorrow’s Yu’s problems..

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

To everyone’s dismay at the time, Chie instantly started badgering Yu and Yosuke on their so-called date the very instant they’re both in class. She promised Yukiko earlier that morning that she wouldn’t make “that big of a scene” and, luckily, the only people that hear about it are the few other students that sit in their area.

Of course, now that they were in public, they denied all of Chie’s claims of “You both agreed to it! and “You two

would

look cute together.” Maybe if she had chosen a better place and a better time to tease them, they would’ve been less defensive…

After thoroughly embarrassing everyone involved (and getting dozens of confused looks from other classmates), it seemed like Chie had only put an unnecessary strain on Yu and Yosuke’s friendship. So much so that Yosuke avoided the others for the rest of the day, and relished in having to work after school. It meant that he wouldn’t have to agree to go anywhere with anyone, and he could push away all other thoughts by listening to the complaints of people that he didn’t care about until he had to leave.

He had forgotten about the plans he made yesterday, though.
 
Stuck in the grocery department yet again, he’s sweeping when he spots them. Yu and Nanako, just an aisle away. Yosuke nearly drops his broom and crouches behind a shelf to prevent the two of them from spotting him, and it works, but only for a minute.
 
“Yosuke?”
 
He curses to himself. Why did Yu always have to be everywhere? “Hey…”
 
“Why are you hiding?” Yu asks him, like he doesn’t know why.
 
“We were looking everywhere for you.” Nanako admits, and Yosuke instantly feels guilty.
 
“Ah, I just thought I saw my boss.”
 
“You mean your dad?” Nanako asks, looking proud of herself for remembering.
 
Yosuke nods.
 
“Why would you hide? If I worked with my dad I would talk to him all the time!”
 
At this height, Yosuke’s shorter than Nanako. The irony of the situation makes him laugh at himself before speaking. “Well, when we’re at work I’m not really supposed to be his son until we get home.”
 
“That’s not fair.” Nanako pouts.
 
“I know, but sometimes there’s just nothing you can do.” He looks up at Yu, who sees right through him.
 
“You’re the only employee over here. This wasn’t just about him, was it?”

Damn!

“No…”
 
Yu kneels down beside Yosuke, and Nanako mirrors him. “Is this because of what Chie said earlier? I know she was way out of line-”
 
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Yosuke interrupts him while whispering. “Especially not

here

where everyone can see!” He stands up suddenly, earning a concerned look from Yu.
 
“Why not?”
 
“Because I’m at work? And this whole thing is weird?”
 
Meanwhile, Nanako has no idea what they’re talking about, but she listens quietly.
 
Yu stands up, getting in Yosuke’s way. “At least let me explain.”
 
“No. Save it.” It’s only now that Yosuke notices that Yu is taller than him, but the look on his face tells him that he picked the wrong thing to say.

Yu didn’t do anything wrong...

“I’ll… I’ll call you later, okay? You can explain then. I just don’t want to talk about it here.”
 
“Are you sure?”
 
“Yeah.” He looks at Nanako, who’s probably about to ask what’s going on, and tries to give her a smile. “I’ll come up here with you guys some other time, alright?”
 
“You’re not fighting, are you?” She asks suspiciously while standing back up.
 
“No.”
 
Yosuke can see the relief that appears on Yu’s face.
 
“When can we go then?” Nanako asks, with hope in her voice.
 
“Maybe tomorrow if everything works out fine. Okay?”
 
“Okay!”
 
Yosuke smiles at her, and without letting there be any more weird conversations, he walks away and heads for the break room.
  
Later that night, Yu’s watching TV with Nanako when Yosuke finally calls him. He had started to wonder if he wasn’t going to.

“Sorry, I have to take this.” He murmurs while picking up his phone and quickly walking across the living room.
 
“Is that Yosuke?” Nanako asks tiredly.
 
Yu nods before he goes up to his room and answers. “He-”
 
He’s interrupted by Yosuke talking in a blur. “Hey, listen, I want to get this weird conversation over with already so if you don’t mind-”
 
“I don’t.” He’s just as ready to hurry it along but he notices that Yosuke must really

hate

weird situations with how much he tries to rush things.
 
“Good. So you remember what Chie said?” Yosuke takes a deep breath. “You told me it wasn’t a date! Why did she suddenly text me yesterday telling me that you said it was?”
 
“It wasn’t. She just didn’t know it was a lie.”
 
“Did you tell her?”
 
“Yes, but she said I was denying it and tried to convince me that it really was a date.” Yu pauses to see if Yosuke has anything else to say before saying,  “And you’re one to talk! She said you agreed with it too!”
 
“That was because I thought that’s what you thought it was!”

That’s confusing.

“You didn’t have to agree just because I did!”
 
“What was I supposed to say then? ‘

Oh two of my friends think I went on a date with one of them but I think it was just a friendly gesture.’”

A pause. “Yes!” At this point they’re both practically yelling at each other and Yu has to wonder if he’s bothering Nanako.
 
“How was I supposed to know that?”
 
“I don’t know!”
 
Neither one of them speaks for a minute until Yosuke starts laughing. “So then what was it, actually?”
 
Yu doesn’t know what to call it, so he pushes that responsibility onto Yosuke. “Whatever you want it to be.”
 
“What?”
 
“If you want it to be a date, then it was a date. If not, it was just me getting you something to eat late at night.”
 
“When you put it that way it makes it sound like a date!”
 
Yu laughs. “Was it?”
 
“No! I mean, it’s weird! Guys don’t normally go on dates with other guys.”
 
“That’s not a weird thing.”
 
“You think?”

Is this really all it takes to sway his opinion?

“Not at all. But if you think it is, then it’s up to you on what you want to call it. It doesn’t matter to me what you pick.”
 
“I don’t know… It was just you being nice, but…” Yosuke’s voice fades out.
 
Yu’s about to say something else when Yosuke suddenly blurts something out.
 
“It was a platonic date, alright?”
 
“A what?”

Is that even a thing?

“You know… It was a date like everyone thinks it is but there’s nothing romantic about it at all.”
 
Yu has to admit, it sounds like a good idea, but there’s no such thing. “Yosuke… That’s exactly what a date is. Something romantic.”
 
“It’s not if you add the word ‘platonic’ to it!”
 
Yu sighs in spite of himself. He can’t argue with his distorted logic. “Alright. It was a

platonic date.

Just don’t get upset when Chie tells you it’s not a real thing.”
 
“You think I’m going to tell her about it?”
 
“Yes?”
 
“No! Some things need to be kept secret! And with how nosy she is, she probably already knows without one of us needing to tell her.”
 
“Yeah, probably.” Yu knows Chie will find out eventually, even if he’s the one that has to tell her about it in the end.
 
“So, are we still going to Junes with Nanako tomorrow?”

Changing the topic already?

“Sure, unless you want to consider it another platonic date?”
 
“Yu!” He can hear the embarrassment in his voice.
 
“It was a joke, don’t freak out about it.”
 
Yosuke mumbles something that Yu can’t really hear.
 
“What?”
 
“Oh, um, we couldn’t do that anyway with Nanako there, haha.”
 
Yu swears he heard something different, but he drops it. “I guess not. What time do you want to meet us there?”
 
“I don’t know, is one okay? I don’t have a lot to do tomorrow in the first place.”
 
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
 
“Great! Uh, I’ll see you then, bye!” Yosuke quickly hangs up before Yu gets the chance to say anything else, and he takes that as his signal to go see if Nanako would be willing to be there a little later than they had originally planned.
  
At 1:13, Yosuke’s still walking through town to get to Junes. He had forgotten how much longer it took to walk there instead of using his bike. Now Yu was going to think even less of him for showing up late for the time that

he

suggested.

Until he sees Yu and Nanako not far ahead of him, with Nanako happily skipping along. Breathing a sigh of relief, he takes his phone out and calls Yu.
 
He watches Yu answer almost immediately. “What’s wrong? Are you not able to come today?”
 
“No? Turn around.”
 
Yu does as he’s told, turning with the phone still up to his ear. He instantly brightens up when he sees Yosuke. “Hey!”
 
Nanako turns around as well and waves at him, and Yosuke can hear her say something to Yu through the phone. “See? You didn’t have to worry! He’s late too!”
 
Yosuke chuckles to himself before putting his phone back away and jogging over to meet them. “I didn’t think I’d run into you guys on the way here!” He grins.
 
Nanako looks down at the pavement. “I couldn’t figure out everywhere that I wanted to go in time…”
 
“I I thought we were just going to Junes?”
 
Yu speaks for her. “We are, but she wanted to plan out where she would go in the store. Yesterday we only went through to get groceries so she wasn’t able to look everywhere else.”
 
“Oh. Well, we have the rest of the day to look around, don’t we? I’m sure we can go everywhere Nanako wants to, as long as you have the money to pay for it.” Yosuke winks at Yu, who gives an exasperated huff in response.
 
“I’m not made of money, you know!”
 
“I know, but I have an employee discount to go with it.”
 
Nanako laughs at their exchange, and the three of them resume their walk to Junes.
 
For the next few hours, Nanako looks for ways to see

everything.

She tries out every chair she sees, starts to play house in kitchenwares until an employee finds out they’re not going to buy anything, presses buttons on everything (except for the noisy toys that could scare someone), spends a good twenty minutes in the electronics section marveling at the price tags and wondering how people can have so much money, and consistently asks Yosuke questions that he barely knows the answer to.

It comes as a relief to the boys when they run into Yukiko. She seems surprised to see them together at first, but she’s too busy to get caught up in her thoughts.

“What are you all doing here?” She asks.
 
“She really wanted to go.” Yu gestures towards Nanako, who, in her shyness, stands behind him.
 
“Well what about Yosuke?”
 
“We both promised to take her.”
 
“Ah. I hope you’re enjoying your trip more than I am. It’s difficult to shop for the inn and for your cooking practice at the same time.” The food in the baskets she’s carrying don’t really… look like they’re supposed to go together. Hopefully someone would tell her.
 
“I remember you telling me about that. How’s it going so far?” Yu asks politely.
 
“Not that great, honestly. Just the other day, I…”
 
Yosuke tunes out of their conversation. He liked Yukiko, but after Nanako nearly talking his ear off, it wouldn’t hurt him to take a little break from listening.

When his mind starts drifting off to something else, Yukiko leaves and Nanako’s questions start up again.
 
Luckily, Yu is the victim this time. “Was that your girlfriend?”
 
“No, she’s just a good friend of mine.” Yu smiles softly at her. “I don’t like her in that way.”
 
“Oh… Then is she your girlfriend?” Nanako asks Yosuke.
 
“I wish. We’re just friends.”
 
Nanako focuses her attention back on Yu. “I’ve already met two of your friends! Do you have any more?”
 
“You know he does.”
 
“It’s only really about three more…” Yu admits.
 
“Oh! Do you think I can meet them too?”
 
“Maybe someday.”
 
“Yay!”

After that, they take a longer break at the food court. Nanako seemed to be having a good time even now, humming along to the Junes jingle while eating her food. Yosuke’s about to crack another joke that might make Yu choke on his food again when his father, wearing a familiar apron, approaches them.
 
“Can I speak to you for a minute?” He speaks calmly, but his eyes radiate anger.
 
“Is this your dad?” Nanako sets her drink down to ask, and Yosuke nods.
 
“I’ll be right back.” He says before standing up and following his father to a part of the food court that’s just out of earshot of Yu and Nanako.

Here it comes.

“You knew we were understaffed today and you just came to waste your time here? Are you trying to mock me?” His father towers over him, clearly trying to make him admit to it.
 
“What? No? I promised a friend that I’d come here with him and his cousin today.”
 
His father looks around before speaking again. “You mean that boy with the grey hair over there?”
 
Yosuke nods.
 
“I think they would be fine if you decided to work today.”
 
“What?” He looks back to see Yu and Nanako laughing over something. They both looked happier than when he was sitting with them…
 
“You can work today.”
 
“I heard you the first time.” He says bitterly.
 
“That’s no reason to snap at me. I’m only looking out for what’s best for you.”
 
Yosuke can hear the fake caring in his voice, and he glances back at him.

You call that snapping at you? You’re about to hate me.

“What’s best for me? When did you start doing that? You only want me to work today so there’s less work for you to do. I’m sorry, but I’m not coming in today. It’s my day off and I have plans.” His father’s words quickly stirred up a great amount of anger in him and there’s so much more he wanted to say, but he doesn’t want to make a scene here. Instead, he leaves it at that and walks back to his table without giving his father a minute to process what he said.
 
After he sits down, seething, Nanako looks up at him. “Is everything okay?”
 
“Yeah. It’s fine.” When he catches Yu looking back to where he came from, he turns to see his father giving him a disappointed headshake before walking away.
 
“What did he say?” Yu asks.
 
Yosuke looks back at Yu, not bothering to keep up the happy act. “Just some things that he shouldn’t have. It’s no big deal.”
 
Based off of the look he gets from Yu, he knows he doesn’t believe him in the slightest. But that doesn’t matter, he’s just glad he doesn’t respond.
 
The other two quickly finish their food before going back to their shopping trip. Something feels off to everyone after that, and the happy mood from before is gone. It almost seemed like it was for the best when Yosuke decided to leave and go home early.
 
He doesn’t get any protest, Yu and Nanako had to go get something for Dojima before they went home, and it gave them extra time to get it. Yosuke tries to ignore the thoughts in the back of his head that told him that they were happy to leave.
 
Yosuke doesn’t say a word to his father when he gets home. He doesn’t even want to get near him, so he avoids him and stays in his room for the rest of the night. He knows his father doesn’t care about how he feels in the first place, and what he said back at the food court has been weighing heavily on his mind since then.
 
It should’ve been expected for Yosuke to go to sleep and appear in the Velvet Room, but he wasn’t prepared for the reasons he would be seeing his Shadow tonight.
  
Yu’s not at all surprised when he’s brought to the Velvet Room in a hurry. If anything, he’s surprised it’s taken this long. Although, he

is

surprised to see that Yosuke’s cheery personality is back when he walks in.
 
“Hey, Partner!”
 
Yu barely gets to mumble a “Hey” before Margaret quickly pulls Yosuke over by the arm and pushes them through the door.
 
This time, they don’t appear in the distorted Junes. They end up in what Yu can only assume is Yosuke’s living room. Picture frames that should be on the wall are knocked down, most of them in pieces. The faces in them are hard to make out with the glass in the frames smashed the way it is, but Yu notices that some of them have Yosuke’s face torn out.

Looking around, Yu sees that mostly everything else is knocked down or in pieces on the floor. One of the room’s windows is broken, the couch has thorns growing out of it, and the TV is playing one of the Junes commercials on repeat. The odd red haze from there is here as well.

“Is this your house?” He asks.
 
“Yep. But I swear it doesn’t really look like this.” Yosuke kicks a rock across the floor.

How did that get here?

“I would hope it doesn’t…” Yu looks at a framed family picture on the floor with half of the glass so cracked and smashed that he almost can’t tell what it is. It’s a picture of Yosuke and his parents, and oddly enough, the side of the picture that has his mother on it doesn’t have any cracks in it at all. The side with his dad is almost smashed beyond recognition, and Yosuke’s face is expressionless.

Is this how you see things...?

“Why do you think we’re here?”
 
Yosuke grimaces. “I have an idea. But the house isn’t that big, so we’ll find out soon.”
 
“Okay…” Yu follows him quietly while taking in what he sees in each room. The kitchen looks relatively normal, but when they get to the hallway the house suddenly gets much darker.
 
“I knew it.” Yosuke mumbles before starting up the stairs. He stops quickly when they get to a room with a sealed and bolted metal door. It doesn’t fit the theme of the house at all.
 
Yu doesn’t know whether or not to believe that this door is actually like that in Yosuke’s house or not, so he steps back.
 
Yosuke seems to notice his uneasy feeling. “Relax. This is just my room, it doesn’t normally look like this.”
 
“Then why does it…”
 
He runs a hand along the side of the door. “It’s just something I used to think about when I was a kid, I guess. I wasn’t expecting it to be like this in the new house, though.”
 
“Is it in there?” Yu asks.
 
“I don’t think so…” Yosuke turns and sighs. “I didn’t want to do this today.”
 
Yu gives him a puzzled look before following Yosuke to another room with its door open. When they walk in, it looks like a normal office or study. Shelves of books line the walls, and there’s a large desk in the middle of the room covered in papers, with Yosuke sitting on top of it.

Wait, what?

“Surprised to see me, huh? Especially on such a great day?” He asks with a familiar sharpness to his voice.
 
The real Yosuke, however, doesn’t look at all surprised. “What are we in my father’s study for?”

Ah.

“You noticed already? Good job, Captain Obvious. We’re here because someone has some parental issues.” The Shadow frowns at the end of its sentence.
 
“Of course we are.” Yosuke scoffs.
 
“So.” The Shadow turns to Yu. “You didn’t believe this poor kid when he told you it wasn’t a “big deal” earlier, right? You wanna know what happened?”
 
Yu blinks in surprise to suddenly be put on the spot. “...I guess?”
 
“His dad tried to drag him away from you.”
 
“What? That wasn’t it!” Yosuke snaps.
 
Yu listens instead of speaking, he’s too confused to add anything right now.
 
The Shadow nearly leans off of the desk to speak. “It’s better than telling him that you’re a disappointment to your parents and that you quietly resent your dad, isn’t it?” It suddenly sits back and laughs. “Whoops, that just slipped out, didn’t it?”
 
“I don’t hate him.” Yosuke protests.
 
“Oh no? Then what was your little outburst for? Don’t you remember what you

thought

? What you said? You could have hurt the poor man’s feelings! And all for what, being able to let out some emotions and go waste even more time with people that wouldn’t care if you weren’t there? You really are selfish.”
 
“What does it matter to anyone how I spend my time? It doesn’t mean anything if people don’t care about me.”
 
Yu’s still painfully confused, but at least he understands that they’re talking about him and Nanako. If he can at least clear that part up, then maybe the rest of this won’t be so bad. “How would you know how I feel?” He challenges.
 
“What?” Both Yosukes say in unison.
 
It’s eerie how similar the two of them sounded, but Yu continues. “You were just talking about Nanako and I, right? How would you know if I care or not? You’re not me.”
 
Surprisingly, the real Yosuke responds. “It’s kind of obvious…” He says sadly.
 
“How?”
 
The Shadow lets Yosuke talk, which in itself is surprising, but it makes sense to Yu. If Shadows tell the truth about a person, it would be logical for it to let the person talk if they decided to tell the truth.
 
“My dad even pointed it out. You two looked perfectly happy without me, just laughing like nothing was going on and that it didn’t matter that I had to leave.”
 
Now Yu was starting to understand a bit why Yosuke’s Shadow called him selfish. But, it doesn’t bother him. “We were laughing…?

Oh.

We were laughing because Nanako pointed out a wrinkle on your dad’s face that looked like a character in a show she likes. She was going to tell you when you got back, but you didn’t look very happy.”
 
“...Really?” Yosuke doesn’t seem to believe him.
 
Yu nods and sighs. “You have to stop assuming the worst. There’s no way to know how someone feels unless they show you or tell you, so you have to quit relying on your insecurities to tell you everything.”
 
Yosuke gives him a look of hurt. “But--”
 
Yu refuses to let him go on another one of his self-deprecating rants. “No “but”s. I care about you, okay? You need to stop doubting it when there are more important things for you to think about.”
 
“Are you sure…?”
 
“Of course I am.” The answer seems to be enough for Yosuke, and Yu is glad…
 
Until his Shadow starts talking again.
 
“Bullshit.”
 
Yu glares at it, quickly getting irritated.
 
“Boo hoo, how am I supposed to believe that when it’s not even the real you I’m talking to?” The Shadow rubs at its eyes and smirks at Yosuke, clearly getting a kick out of this. “

You’re just saying what I want to hear!”

Yosuke puts a hand to his head and yells. “Be quiet!”
 
“Why should I? You’re thinking it, why not say it out loud?”
 
“Because he’s standing right there, stupid!”
 
Yu suddenly becomes aware of how small the room is while listening to them go back and forth.
 
“Why should it matter? He’s not real.” The Shadow tries to provoke him further.
 
“It’s the suggestion of it! You could just talk about that when I’m alone!”
 
“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? An opportunity to have your secrets exposed in private? You wouldn’t be able to handle it if he wasn’t here.” It spits.
 
“Yes I could!” Yosuke lowers his voice. “I really am by myself… He’s just a figment of my imagination.”
 
Yu takes personal offense to that comment, but how would Yosuke know any different? Yu had never said anything when Yosuke told him about his dreams… And at this point the other two seem to have forgotten about Yu in their shouting match.
 
“Now you’re insulting other people? Where are your manners?” The Shadow’s dark aura grows. Definitely not a good sign.
 
“I’m not insulting anyone! You’re exaggerating everything!” Yosuke shouts.
 
“Are you sure

you’re

not the one exaggerating? I’m merely a vessel for the truth.”
 
“Then what does your stupid truth have to say?”
 
“I’m glad you asked.” The Shadow pushes itself off of the desk and stalks towards Yosuke, who flinches. “You’re delusional. Thinking that someone is really willing to come help you whenever you call for them like a damsel in distress. Nobody wants to do that for you! What do you plan on saying to the real Yu when he finds out you’ve been dreaming about him like this? None of this is even possible! You

know

he’s going to think you’re pathetic and it’s going to ruin what little friendship you have.”
 
Yosuke looks like he’s about to collapse. He should have known that would be too much for him in this state! On the other hand, his Shadow is feeding off of it, towering over him. Yu doesn’t want to stand idly by while they fight over something that he can prove wrong. He steps forwards, clearing his throat.
 
Both Yosukes jump and look at him. Apparently they

did

forget he existed for a moment.
 
“Actually…” He shouldn’t be so nervous about this simple thing. “I’m… not a figment of your imagination.”
 
The Shadow laughs while Yosuke stays silent. “Yeah, right!”

It’s like I’m talking to a brick wall.

“It’s true! You think you’re just dreaming me up, but you’re not. It’s… really me.”
 
“What a load of shit!”
 
“You be quiet!” Yu angrily snaps at the Shadow.
 
To Yu’s surprise, it backs down, and Yosuke gets a chance to speak. “...Is this a joke? You’re joking, right?” He asks.
 
“I’m not.” Yu tries to be as honest as he can, he doesn’t want the Shadow trying to poke more holes into what he says. “I didn’t want to tell you earlier because I wasn’t certain I was really talking to you in these dreams. And to be honest, I’m still not completely sure that it’s really you.”
 
“Are you kidding?” Yosuke huffs, irritated. “Of course I’m really me! This is

my

dream for crying out loud.”
 
“But it’s my dream too.” Yu blurts out.
 
“Huh?”
 
“I’ll explain it tomorrow if you’re willing to listen.”
 
The Shadow speaks again, but to Yosuke. “Don’t listen to him! He’s trying to convince you to say something to him about this so you’ll make a fool of yourself and the real one will ditch you.”
 
Yosuke’s face twists into a grimace. “You do have a point…”
 
How the hell is Yu supposed to make him believe him now? With everything the Shadow says and with the idea of sharing dreams as ridiculous as it is? He still has to try…

“What? No, it doesn’t. Yosuke, it’s really me.”
 
He responds in a deadpan tone. “Then prove it.”
 
“How would I…”
 
Suddenly, Yosuke seems to have all of the answers. “If it’s really you, text me something when you wake up.”

How would that work?

“I already do that every morning, though.”
 
“I’m not talking about a “good morning” or a “how did you sleep?” I mean something that only this version of you would know.”
 
Yu still has his doubts, and he realizes he’s going to look like an idiot if he’s not really talking to Yosuke and sends him something strange in the morning. “How do I know that it’s you I’m talking to right now, though? What if you think what I send is weird?”
 
Yosuke starts to say something, but his Shadow interrupts him. “Are you serious? This dope gets so happy when you text him in the morning that he doesn’t give a shit what you send.”
 
Yu stands there dumbfounded for a minute before he sighs. “Fine. I’ll do it.” He silently wishes that they had already been friends before this whole ordeal started. At least then they could’ve talked about it in real life without anything being weird and Yu wouldn’t have to rely solely on Yosuke’s reaction to a text message to know if this was really happening.
 
When there’s nothing else to be said, the Shadow makes its way back to the desk, looking as impatient as ever. “Now that that’s out of the way, how about the main event?”
 
“Wait, we weren’t done?” Yosuke asks.
 
“Not even close. It was you two idiots that started that whole thing, not me.”
 
“But you--”
 
“So I’m an instigator. Sue me.” It shrugs. “You think we would be in your house if this was about Yu? We wouldn’t be, and you know it.”
 
“But I’m so tired…”
 
“That doesn’t matter to me. You know, I’m really starting to like this. We should bring up unimportant things more often.”
 
When it gets no response, it takes it as an invitation to keep talking. “Now, back to what I was saying before I was so

rudely

interrupted.” It clears its throat before diving straight into it. “Have you ever seen a worse parent? Dragging his perfect family from their perfect life to some shitty town in the middle of nowhere where his ungrateful son has to feel sorry for himself for not being good enough.”
 
Yu notices Yosuke silently glance at him, but he doesn’t say anything.
 
“Oh, come on. You had plenty to say a moment ago. What’s wrong? Feeling too tired to argue?”
 
“No… I don’t-- How would you know if I’m good enough?” Yosuke asks, and then cringes as if he realized he made a mistake.
 
“Because

you

know. Surely you’ve noticed. The way your friends talk about you when you’re not there, the way the neighbors talk about you, the snide comments you hear from your coworkers, and maybe, worst of all, the way your dad talks to you all hours of the day. You know, he’s supposed to be your

dad

, a support figure, and you don’t have that, so you hate it.”
 
“He’s not always like that.”

Why is he defending him?

Yu could already tell that the relationship between Yosuke and his dad was strained, so why was he going along with what his Shadow said?
 
“And that’s the problem! He’s not

always

condescending towards you and telling you how bad of a son you are, so you don’t think you have a right to hate him. He doesn’t physically hurt you anymore, and

sometimes

he’s a good person and

sometimes

he helps you out or gets you something you asked for, so you think things are improving and you don’t have it as bad as some people, right?” The Shadow looks at Yosuke expectantly.
 
“Right.”
 
Its face distorts. “You’re an idiot. You know deep down that you have the right to hate him, so why not? Just because he’s your father you don’t have to pretend to like him. You don’t need to spare the feelings of someone who wouldn’t spare yours.”
 
Yu stares at the Shadow, shocked. It’s right, and it’s almost like its trying to help him for a change.
 
“But he cares about me…” Yosuke sounds tormented, and Yu can’t help but feel sorry for him.
 
“No he doesn’t. He only cares if you’re healthy enough to go to work and bring home a paycheck.”
 
Yosuke’s head suddenly snaps up. “Wait. You were just… making me feel bad for having an outburst earlier… why are you suddenly trying to encourage it…?”
 
In all honesty, that had slipped by Yu too.
 
“Because your feelings changed.”
 
“What?”
 
“Your feelings of guilt are gone, aren’t they?” The Shadow asks.
 
“I… guess so?”
 
“You can hate him.” It says calmly.
 
“I can’t…” Yosuke looks to the floor, but his Shadow’s expression doesn’t change.
 
Yu feels the need to butt in one more time. “Hey… It’s right.”
 
Yosuke looks up at him miserably. “Not you too, Partner…”
 
“No, it’s the truth. I don’t know what happened, but you don’t have to pretend to like him just because he provides for you. If he’s truly so bad, then he doesn’t deserve your respect.”
 
Yosuke doesn’t look away from the floor and looks almost too torn to talk. “I guess you’re right…”
 
“Good.” The Shadow says suddenly before standing up straight. “You haven’t completed this part yet, but you’ve gotten far enough. I’m letting you off for now.”
 
“For now…? We haven’t finished?”
 
It shakes its head. “No, but next time we will.” It stretches before walking past Yu and Yosuke, and leaves the room quietly.
 
Neither one of the boys say anything for a few moments, until Yosuke sighs and walks over to a wall, leaning on it for support. “Man, I’m so tired. I’m gonna hate waking up.”
 
Yu stares at him, a little surprised he changed the topic so suddenly, like it didn’t bother him. “Yeah… This took longer than it normally does. I wouldn’t be surprised if you stayed home from school to rest.”
 
“I might… Or I might just bolt straight to school if I find out I’m really talking to you.”
 
“Why would you do that?” Yu asks confusedly.
 
“I’ll want to talk to you about it! Especially because this has been going on for so long, I’ll want to know what you think.”
 
“What if we aren’t really talking to each other, though?”
 
“Then we’ll just have to take the chance.” Yosuke grins. “As much as I’ve heard that it’s not possible, I’m kind of hoping that it’s true.”
 
“Me, too.” Yu smiles, and before they know it, the two wake up.
  
Of course he had to wake up late. Yosuke looks around his room, fatigued, trying to think of a decent reason to get out of bed this morning.

But then he suddenly remembers, and all but launches himself out of bed, lunging for his phone.

Please tell me that Yu texted me--!

His excitement quickly fades when he realizes he forgot to charge his phone, and it died overnight.

He runs across the room to grab his charger and plug his phone up. Of course this was going to happen! He cuts his phone on as quickly as he can, in the hopes that when it boots up he’ll have

something

from Yu. Something tells him that he shouldn’t be so nervous about it; if Yu didn’t send anything he would know that he hasn’t been spilling dark personal secrets to him over the past month. But, he had already gotten his hopes up and started thinking that if he really

had

been talking to Yu and he hadn’t ditched him yet after hearing about his problems… Maybe he finally had some kind of a support system.
 
When his phone finally does manage to boot up, the few seconds with no notifications are enough to make Yosuke want to go back to sleep.

Until one pops up on the screen, reading,

“2 new messages. From: Yu”

Yosuke’s hands shake as he opens it, trying to will something that would confirm his hopes into existence. However, he doesn’t need to, when the words on the screen read,

“Good morning, Partner.”

“I hope I used that right.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

This was insane. The message wasn't too obvious, but it was enough to make Yosuke's heart and breathing temporarily stop. Had he really just read that? He had to make sense of it. Had Yu ever called him Partner when they were awake before? No, this wasn't some western, they weren't cowboys. Yosuke's certain that he probably hasn't said that to the real Yu before either. Maybe it was a friendly joke?

Of course it's not, stupid!

The interaction forces Yosuke to put his phone down and get dressed for school because now he has a reason to go rather than staying home for the day and sleeping off his fatigue. He darts out the door before he can give it a second thought, and only when he's halfway down the street does he realize that the "second thought" would've been remembering to text Yu back. He doesn't see a point in going back home to get it, so he tries to remember the way to Yu's house instead (or at least the general area).

Think backwards! He's walked you back here from there!

He quickly finds that he can't remember the way. When he got walked back home he hadn't thought to memorize the path they took. Instead, he had been more focused on Yu and trying to keep the conversation going.

Shrugging, he runs again in the direction of the school, praying that Yu decided to go as well.
 
He stops when he gets to the floodplain and leans against a tree, panting and ready for his legs to give out. A part of him regrets running the entire way when every limb in his body told him not to, but it was necessary.

Looking around, he

thinks

he can see Yu walking his way.

Oh, thank God.

Instead of suffering through their inevitable awkward conversation, he forces himself to run back and hurriedly get it over with.

"Yu!" He shouts, and the person in question suddenly jumps and stops walking.
 
"Hey..." He talks like he's embarrassed, but what reason would he have for that?
 
"I got your message!"
 
Yu looks at him expectantly. "You did?"
 
"Yeah! And we need to talk about it."
 
Yu shifts around in his place, seeming nervous. "Right now? We're supposed to be at school."
 
"Yeah, but I don't really feel like going today." To prove his point, Yosuke starts walking towards the gazebo, but is stopped by Yu's voice.
 
"You want to talk here? Someone will catch us skipping."
 
"Well, it's not like we can go to my house to talk." He says in a bitter tone.
 
Seeming to understand, Yu sighs. "What if we went to mine then?"
 
Yosuke blinks in surprise. "What?"
 
"It's better than sitting here out in the open where we'll get dragged to school. And nobody's home right now either, it would be quiet."
 
Yosuke briefly considers objecting to the idea, but going to Yu's house would be his best bet. It's not like it could be weird, right? He already knows what they're going to be talking about.

"Okay, that'll work."
  
The two luckily get to Yu's house without incident, and go to the small deck at the back of the house.
 
"Do you want anything?" Yu asks. "We might be here for a while."
 
Yosuke politely declines. It was bad enough that he was practically forcing Yu to have him as a guest; asking for something to eat or drink was taking it too far.
 
When Yu takes a seat on the deck beside Yosuke, his shoulders sink. "So... You understood the message, right?"
 
Yosuke nods and speaks in a rush. "I really didn't think you would send anything, honestly. I thought it wasn't real when I saw it."
 
"You told me to say something I would only know from the dreams... I figured that was good enough."
 
Yosuke doesn't know what to say. It was too crazy. Yu shouldn't be able to see his dreams in the first place. There's no such thing as sharing them! And yet, here they were. He's still at a loss when he manages to speak. "Have you really seen everything?"
 
Yu nods in understanding, which only makes Yosuke curse at himself. He had been complaining and being upset over all of his insecurities (especially over his and Yu's friendship), and here the real Yu was, actually being the one to calm him down. He instantly feels pathetic, knowing that Yu had to see all of that. To make matters worse, it had started when they barely knew each other. "I'm sorry."
 
The confusion on Yu's face is obvious. "What?"
 
Yosuke wants to thank him, at least for deciding to stick with him this far, but the words don't come. "For having to put up with me all the time. You must think I'm pathetic after hearing everything my Shadow had to say."
 
"I don't. I mean, I haven't gone anywhere, have I?"

Yet

. But he's right, Yu

hasn't

straight up ditched him, even after everything that he's heard. Maybe Yu didn't think he was that bad of a person yet?

He'll still leave when he finds out more about me. All it needs is time.

He mentally slaps himself in an effort to stop that train of thought, until another one hits him. "Wait. When was the first time you got dragged into my problems like that?"
 
Yu doesn't catch on. "The first time...?"
 
"Yeah. Do you remember what that thing said the first time you were there?"
 
"A little bit? I remember punching you though... And then pulling you out of a trash can the next morning."
 
Yosuke hangs his head. "So you really were there from the beginning. I'm sorry I burdened you like that, barely knowing you and then forcing you to help me with something that big."
 
Yu groans. "Don't make me punch you again."
 
"Hm?"
 
"I've told you before. I didn't mind helping you that first time, and I still don't mind. I'm kind of honored, actually."
 
It's Yosuke's turn now to have confusion plastered across his face. "W-what?"
 
"I'm honored that you trust me with that."
 
He doesn't have the heart to tell Yu that he only picked him in the first place out of spite, or that he doesn't have anyone else to bring along so he continues to choose him.
 
He takes too long to reply, though, and Yu sees through part of it. "Hm...? Do you not want me to come with you anymore?"
 
Yosuke instantly feels terrible. "No! No, it's not that. I... I like when you help me. But it's all too weird right now."
 
"What part of it?"
 
"Well, you've seen everything so far."
 
Yu leans back against the sliding door to the house. "I think we've already established that."
 
"I know we have. But... You know about almost all of my problems. How I'm stupid and desperate, how I want to run away, you even know about the problems with my dad. I don't even tell that to people I've known for years."
 
"Does that make you uncomfortable?"
 
"No... But why didn't you tell me you were there when you had a chance? Instead of..." Yosuke suddenly remembers telling Yu about his Shadow encounters and getting nothing in response, and anger swells up inside him. "Instead of pretending that you didn't know anything and making me look like an idiot when I told you what was going on?"
 
"I didn't know when to tell you." Yu moves forward, concerned. "I wasn't sure--"
 
"You weren't sure of what?" Yosuke stands up abruptly and puts more distance between him and Yu. "That I wasn't really having these dreams when you

saw

them? I told you about it! How can you be more certain than that? You asking those stupid questions made me lose hope that you were actually there. Why did you do that instead of telling me outright?"
 
Finally looking down at Yu, Yosuke can see the alarm on his face as he reaches out and grabs his wrist, preventing him from going further.
 
"Yosuke, calm down."
 
If he were being honest, the contact brought Yosuke slightly back down to Earth. But why would he admit that when he was still

this

angry? "Calm down? You'd like me to do that, so you can go brag about how you just calmed down the token charity case once again, huh?"

Noticing the sudden hurt in the other's eyes, Yosuke backs down.
 
"Where did that come from?" Yu asks, sounding angry himself but still not letting go of Yosuke. "Why would I do that? Why would I ever brag about it when someone I care about is hurting and I'm only able to help them for only a little while at a time?"

How could somebody like you ever care about me?

"You'll find a way."
 
"You're not making any sense."
 
Yosuke almost tries to say something in protest to back up his statement, but he can't think of anything.
 
"Sit down." Yu suddenly pulls Yosuke back down by his wrist and makes him sit next to him again.
 
When he lets go, Yosuke huffs.
 
"Let's try this again." All of the anger vanishes from Yu's voice. "So, you've been meeting your Shadow periodically, and I've actually been going with you every time. It's as simple as that."
 
"I understand that... But that's not the problem."
 
"Then what is?"
 
At this point, Yosuke can't help repeating himself. "You've seen everything, whether I wanted you to or not."
 
"That's the point of bringing someone with you. And it was all your decision, you can't blame me for knowing everything. It's your fault for choosing me in the first place!"
 
"...I guess." Hearing Yu's irritated tone, Yosuke realizes he may have struck a nerve and tries to laugh at his stupidity to lighten the mood. "Haha... I'm kind of glad I picked you."
 
"Hm? What for?"
 
"You help me out a lot in real life and in the dreams. And I'm thinking that if it had never happened we probably wouldn't be friends right now."
 
"You don't know that." Yu forces a laugh.
 
"I think I do. I kind of... hated you at first." Yosuke cringes now that he's said it out loud.
 
Yu tilts his head. "What?"
 
"Please don't take that the wrong way. I don't hate you anymore. I actually really like you now, but I hated how well you were doing before." He looks up, expecting to see something along the lines of anger or hurt... but he gets something else

. Is he blushing?

He stares at Yu waiting on a response, but when he doesn't get one, he's confused. "Are you okay?"
 
Yu nods lightly. "Yeah. But, why did you hate me?"
 
"I don't know, I was jealous, I guess?" Yosuke pauses, worrying that he might be oversharing for a minute. But, with everything else this guy has had to hear from him, he doesn't feel so uncomfortable with telling him all of this. "I was here for months, and all I managed to get was a job and a handful of friends that all ended up ditching me after a few weeks. But then you showed up, a transfer from the city, just like me, and you got the polar opposite response. Everybody liked you and you made more progress in your first week than I ever did."
 
"Huh." Yu looks away, as if thinking about what to say next. "Well, I didn't get a job in my first week."
 
"You're missing the point." Yosuke laughs. "I never planned on speaking to you unless I had to, even though you seemed really nice. Honestly, when I first picked you, it--" Realizing that Yu would definitely take what he said next to heart, he decides against saying it. "Nevermind."
 
"What? Tell me."
 
"You're not gonna like what I say."
 
"So? I want to know."
 
"Fine. I originally picked you as a joke." He sees something close to hurt flash across Yu's face, and he knows

. That's why I didn't want to say it.

"A joke?"
 
"It isn't one now, I promise."
 
Yu ignores him. "Wait, is that what all of this is? A joke?"
 
“No! Only in the beginning.”
 
"How far back is that? The first time we went to Souzai Daigaku?"
 
He had

really

struck a nerve this time. And still, he hangs his head when he responds. "Yes. But I promise it stopped the next day. I realized you weren't so bad and being your friend might help me."
 
"Why? So you could just use me for help?"
 
“No! Dude, I’m sorry. But I swear it’s not a joke or anything like that anymore.”
 
“I’m not sure I believe you…” Yu still sounds irritated.
 
“You should, I’ll even get my Shadow to tell you if I have to.”
 
“Why? Because it tells the truth?”
 
“Exactly.” At this point Yosuke is only trying to make Yu stay where he is so they can talk this out. After all, he hasn’t had a friend like this since he lived in the city.
 
Yu closes his eyes and sighs, and Yosuke decides it’s best to not bother him.
 
Maybe he should leave him alone instead…? Yosuke stands up quietly and holds his arm by his side awkwardly. “Do you want me to go? It wouldn’t bother me at all, I could go home and get that rest I know I need and let you think.”
 
“No.” With his eyes still closed, Yu pats the space beside him, motioning for the other to sit back down. “I’m just bothered by that, that’s all.”

Since when do you ever get bothered by anything?

Yosuke sits again, suddenly embarrassed that he’s gotten up twice and sat back down both times. “I’m sorry.”
 
“It’s not your fault. I’m sorry I overreacted.” Yu finally opens his eyes to look at him and, whoa, were they always that shiny? Yosuke almost dares to compare them to the mercury thermometer he broke a few years back, but saying that out loud would probably make Yu uncomfortable.
 
“You don’t have to apologize for anything.”
 
“Neither do you.”
 
The two sit in silence after that for a while until Yu finally sighs and speaks up. “So, where do we stand now?”
 
“What?” The question in itself was confusing, but in what world would Yu be the one to ask that?
 
“What do you want to do today?”

Oh.

“I don’t know, I kind of want to go to school.”
 
“That’s new.” Yu laughs softly.
 
“Yeah, but I guess after hearing all of this weird stuff I want something normal?”
 
“And you choose school?”
 
“Yeah? I have a shift today too so if my dad finds out I’m not going to school he’ll want me to come in now.” Yosuke stands again, hopefully for the last time, and brushes himself off.
 
“Have fun.” Yu yawns.
 
“You’re not going?”
 
“I will eventually. Plus, it’ll be suspicious if we both show up late at the same time.”
 
“You have a point.”
 
Yu turns to look up at him. “Do you want to tell Chie and Yukiko about this?”
 
“Hell no! I don’t think they’ll even believe us. But you’d better not tell any of your other friends about it either.”
 
“I won’t, don’t worry.”
 
“Good. See you later then!” Yosuke leaves by going through the house, and starts running nearly the second he gets outside. Somehow he had managed to avoid a crisis, and it gives him more than enough energy to get to school soon.
    
When Yosuke leaves, Yu exhales everything he had been holding in this whole time and lays down on the deck. He was right this whole time! He was so worried, and for what? That wasn’t necessary, everything was solved and they could go back to living regular lives.

Earlier he figured Yosuke would have flipped out, so seeing him so cheery at first really threw him off. At least now Yosuke had seemed to be just as relieved as he was.
 
But what was the reason for that

“I really like you now”?

Had Yosuke wanted to give him a heart attack? Because that’s what he did. Why couldn’t he have just said,

“I like you now”?

There was no need for that

“really”!

Oh well. There was no reason to worry about that. At least now Yu knew that he wasn’t just making things up. Now if only he could think of better ways to help him out when things go wrong...

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

May 23rd
 
After their long conversation this morning (and then spending the rest of the school day in painful awkwardness because

this is really happening

), Yu is pleasantly surprised to get a call from Yosuke later that night.
 
“Hey Partner!” He hears as soon as he picks up.
 
“Hey, what’s this about?” He asks, still a bit surprised from the sudden call.
 
“Nothing, I know it’s late but I’m walking home right now and it gets boring when there’s nobody else outside.”
 
“It sounds more like you’re afraid of walking alone in the dark.”
 
“Hey! Be glad I called

you,

if something happens to me you get the joy of calling for help.”
 
“That doesn’t sound like fun…” Yu mentally facepalms after saying that. He didn’t catch on like he was supposed to.
 
“I don’t think you understand sarcasm, dude. Anyway, that was a joke. I’m almost home.”
 
“That’s good.” Yu mumbles, reeling from embarrassment.
 
“Yeah. So, you’re not gonna believe who I saw today! You remember that girl I liked that suddenly quit because of me?”
 
“Mmhmm.”
 
“Well, her name’s Saki, and I just saw her at work again today. Luckily she wasn’t trying to get her job back.”
 
Yu instantly grows concerned. “What happened? Did she try to yell at you again?”
 
“Nah.” Yosuke says nonchalantly. “She was calm this time, but I know she hates my guts now.”
 
“But you didn’t do anything wrong?”
 
“I did. You might not think so, but I annoyed her the entire time I knew her and she had to pretend to like me just to put up with me. That’s bad enough, I guess, not even caring to notice that she didn’t even care about me in the first place.”
 
Yu picks up on his self-deprecating tone, but what was he supposed to say? It wasn’t as if he had met the girl before or known what kind of a person Yosuke was before they met, but maybe he could still help a bit. “You didn’t have a way of knowing that. Remember when I told you that you couldn’t tell how a person really feels unless they say something about it?”
 
“Yeah? I remember something like that.”
 
“You finally found out because she told you. At least you got that over with early before you liked her even more, right?”
 
“I guess.” There’s a clinking sound and a thud over the phone before Yosuke speaks again. “Oh, yeah, I never told you about the new guy that got hired in Saki’s place.”
 
“Is he an improvement?”

At least he’s changing the topic.

“I can’t tell yet. He doesn’t do well with registers and all so my dad suggested making a mascot for the store and letting him wear the costume, so…”

So that’s who’s in that…

“Are you serious? What’s his name?”
 
“He said to call him Teddie…?” Another thud and silence for a moment, then a sigh. “I guess it’s short for Theodore or something.”
 
“Or maybe he’s just staying in character because you put him in a bear suit.”
 
“Maybe.” Yosuke laughs. “Wait, how did you know it’s a bear costume?”
 
“He’s in the new Junes commercial.” Yu admits. “Nanako’s already started begging my uncle if he’ll take her there to see him.”
 
“Ohhh. Well, I know we went literally just the other day, but we could take her again.”
 
“Would you want to? It didn’t end very well last time.”
 
“It’ll be fine. Besides, it’ll be for Nanako, right? If something else happens and I have to go see

that

again later I know you’ll be able to help me.” Yu swears he can hear the wink in his voice.
 
“Of course. Do you want me to suggest it to her?”
 
“Maybe tomorrow, or closer to the weekend so she doesn’t freak out over it all week.”
 
“Okay. I think she’ll be really happy to know you suggested it.” Yu smiles into his phone.
 
“You’re gonna tell her it was

my

idea?”
 
“Well it is, right? You have to make a good impression somehow.”
 
“Does that mean I made a bad impression on her before?”
 
“Nope, but I don’t think my uncle really liked having someone over so suddenly.”
 
Yosuke’s tone changes again. “Sorry… But thanks for letting me stay over for a while then.”
 
“I practically dragged you there.”
 
“I’m glad you did.”
 
“You know what this means, right?” Yu asks.
 
“Hm? What?”
 
“You have to drag me over to your house sometime.”
 
Yosuke sounds surprised. “Didn’t I do that already, though? You’ve already seen most of the house...”
 
“Not in real life. I only see things how you see them, remember?”
 
“It was pretty close to the real thing though.”

Seriously?

“What? I don’t think your couch really has thorns coming out of it.”
 
“Oh, yeah, it’s like that so guests leave early.”

Is this sarcasm again?

“I hope that’s not true.”
 
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I wouldn’t make you sit on the thorn couch, though.”
 
The comment flatters Yu. “You’d better not make any promises, I can get pretty annoying sometimes.”
 
“Nah. You can’t possibly be more annoying than me.”
 
“Do you want to bet on it?”
 
“Uh…”
 
“Well?”
 
“Let me think about it. I’m so tired right now that if I bet on something I might end up losing something important.”
 
“Ah, that’s right. You did have a pretty hectic day.”
 
“No shit. I just hope I get to sleep tonight…”

May 24th
 
The two attempt to think of ideas for their bet, but when lunchtime comes around and they still can’t think of anything, they go up to the rooftop to meet with Chie and Yukiko to ask for their help.
 
“We’re trying to figure out who can be the most annoying.” Yosuke announces when they approach the girls.
 
They look taken aback at first, but Chie still laughs. “That won’t take long to find out.”
 
Apparently noticing that Chie didn’t pick a good thing to say, Yukiko speaks. “What are you trying to do that for?”
 
“See, that’s much more helpful. We’re setting up a bet and the most annoying person wins, but we don’t know what to bet.”
 
“Bet something you wouldn’t mind losing.” Yukiko tries to advise them, but Chie gives her

The Look

and she goes silent.
 
“That’ll take all of the fun out of it! You know how people say “go big or go home?” Why don’t you guys try that?” After the other two look around for a minute, unable to think of something, Chie speaks again. “Then… Something you would hate to lose. That would give you the motivation to win.”
 
Neither boy is able to come up with something yet again, until Yosuke suddenly speaks. “I would bet my bike… But I don’t really think I would trust Yu with it if he won.”
 
“You think I would break it even more?”
 
Yukiko snorts.
 
“Nah, it’s already broken enough, I’d be afraid you’d crash it into something and it’d be my fault you got hurt.”
 
“That’s so sappy.” Chie whispers to Yukiko, but loudly enough that the other two can hear.
 
Yu is quick to dismiss it. “It’d be your fault that you weren’t annoying enough.”
 
Yosuke nids. “Yeah, but I’m not gonna bet it anyway.”
 
Suddenly, the other three all stare at Yosuke like they have the same idea.
 
He tenses up. “What’s with that look?”
 
“The headphones.” The others say in unison.
 
“What?! No!” He grabs at them defensively and backs away.
 
“They

are

something you’d hate to lose, right?” Yu asks.
 
“Yeah, but they’re important to me!”
 
“That’s exactly the point!” Chie says.
 
“No.”
 
“Fine then. Do you want me and Yukiko to think of something for you both?”
 
“Am I gonna regret saying yes?” Yosuke asks suspiciously.
 
“Maybe for a minute, but when the bet is over you won’t.”
 
“That’s terrifying.” Yu declares. “I’m in.”
 
“Yu!”
 
“What? It’s better than having to think of something myself.”
 
“You’re so lazy.”
 
“So, Yosuke? Yes or no?” Chie starts growing impatient.
 
“Uh, yes? I guess? It won’t kill me, right?”
 
“Nope!” Chie moves from her spot and Yukiko follows her to the other side of the roof where Yu and Yosuke can’t hear them. In their case, they watch the girls cautiously for anything suspicious.

They giggle and nod about something, scaring the other two. “Yu! Come here!” Yukiko waves at him, and he obediently stands and sulks over to them.
 
“So, we have yours, but you can’t tell Yosuke what it is until one of you wins, okay?” Chie asks.
 
“Why?”
 
“Because one of you might end up trying to sabotage it.”
 
“Okay…?” That

totally

doesn’t make him nervous at all.
 
Chie steps closer to whisper it in his ear, and as soon as she’s done he instantly steps back.
 
“Seriously?!”
 
“You don’t

have

to do it! It’s just our idea.” Yukiko assures him.
 
“I might…”
 
Chie’s eyes light up. “Really? Good! Now go sit down and tell Yosuke to come here.”
 
“His isn’t the same, is it?’
 
“We can’t tell you that.”
 
He sighs and starts walking back. “Fine.”
 
“So? Is it terrible?” Yosuke asks when he comes back.
 
“I’m not allowed to say. It’s your turn to hear yours now, though.”
 
“They want me to go over there?”
 
Yu nods.
 
“Alright…” Yosuke gets up to see what they have to say, and Yu carefully watches in case he might be able to tell what it is.

They tell him something and he nods, then Chie takes a step forward, probably to whisper it to him.

Moment of truth!

“Huh?!” Yosuke nearly shouts, leaving Yu wondering if anyone in the building heard him. He wishes Yosuke wasn’t facing away from him so he could actually

see

his reaction.

Chie and Yukiko start laughing and say something else to Yosuke before he instantly runs back into the building.

Yu sits up straighter, concerned, but the girls are still laughing when they walk back over to him. “Is he o--”
 
“He’s fine, don’t worry.” Yukiko says at the end of a laugh.
 
“We just told him he needed to fix his face. He’ll be back after lunch, probably.” Chie shrugs.
 
“Was your suggestion really that bad?”
 
“Apparently it wasn’t, he agreed to it.”
  
Yosuke eventually shows up to class again, albeit a bit fidgety but pretending like nothing is wrong. Instead of talking to Yu, he texts him.

“do u have the deets 4 the bet?”
 
Yu reads the message and nods, then his phone vibrates a minute later.
 
“how r we gonna keep score?”
 
He couldn’t nod to this, and he doesn’t want to get caught, so he prays Yosuke gets the gist of it when he sends back “Tallies. For a month”
 
Then gets back an excited “annoying points!”
 
He chuckles but doesn’t respond. His phone buzzes again.
 
“how will we keep track?”
 
He has to think about that too. By now, he’s not even listening to the teacher anymore and replies with “Does your phone have a notepad? We can use them.”
 
“how will u kno im not cheating? ;)”
 
“I’ll be keeping track too.”
 
“:o”
 
Yu smiles down at his phone and suddenly he’s caught.
 
“Narukami!” Luckily it was only Kashiwagi. “You know we’re not supposed to have our phones out in class, correct?”
 
He nods.
 
“As your punishment I’m putting you on cleaning duty today.”
 
He groans, and notices Yosuke trying to cover up a snort behind him. Figuring that he’s already in trouble, he sends something else to him. “I’m going to k/// you.”
 
He gets another laugh in response. “sorry!”
  
Yu shows up after school along with the other poor soul in his class for

cleaning duty.

Of course, Yosuke comes by, only after waiting for him outside and remembering Yu wasn’t actually supposed to leave yet.

“Hey.” He says standing at the door.
 
“Hey.” Yu continues wiping down the chalkboard with a rag.
 
Yosuke cautiously walks over to him. “I hope you’re not mad at me. I’m sorry I got you stuck here.”
 
Yu doesn’t even look away from the board to respond. “That’s annoying point number one for you.”
 
“What? Already?” He asks in disbelief.
 
“Yeah, stupid.” Yu gently whacks Yosuke in the face with the chalk-covered rag, making the other boy cough and earning a laugh from the other student on cleaning duty. “Was that too much?” He chuckles.
 
“You look like you just powdered your face.” The other student calls to Yosuke.
 
“You--!” He snatches the rag out of Yu’s hand faster than he can realize what’s happening, and hits him back with it.
 
“Hey!” Yu waves the chalk cloud away. “I didn’t hit you that hard!”
 
“It just felt right to do.” Yosuke admits.
 
Yu squints at him for a moment before taking out his phone and opening the notes app. “Point number two.”
 
“At this rate you know I’m going to win, right?”
 
“Eh. We’ve got until the twenty-third next month.”
 
Yosuke hands the rag back. “Why then?”
 
“It gives us plenty of time to get points.”

“I guess it does. You know, that’s the day after my birthday.”
 
“Really?” Yu opens the calendar app to make a note of it.
 
“Yeah-- wait, did you just write it down?” Yosuke taps on the top of Yu’s phone so he can see it as well.
 
“Why not?”
 
“It’s kind of weird?”
 
“Not to me.” Yu notices the time on his phone and jumps. “Ah, I should hurry up.”
 
“What for?”
 
“You’re distracting me. And--” he lowers his voice to a whisper. “--they’re doing all of the work and I’m just standing here talking to you.”
 
“I guess that means you get an annoying point too.” Yosuke whispers back. “But I should probably be going home now anyway. See you tomorrow!” He waves before cheerfully walking out.
 
Once he leaves, Yu goes back to cleaning, secretly glad that Yosuke hadn’t commented on the event description he put on the 22nd.

May 25th
 
Yu wakes up to a message from Yosuke, asking, “wat did they say for ur bet?”
 
He figures that since he was asleep when he sent that, it’d still be okay to respond to it now. “I can’t tell you.”
 
Then a couple of minutes later, “y not?”
 
“They said one of us might try to sabotage it.”
 
“ya ik that they told me too”

“but they dnt say we couldnt talk abt it”
 
“No thanks.”
 
“dude”

“We’ll know in a month. Go to school.”
 
“who are u, my mom? jkjk”
  
After getting to school, Chie and Yukiko want to know how the bet is going, so Yu explains the system to them in the simplest way possible.
 
“So whenever one of you is annoying the other gets to give you an annoying point? That’s kind of rigged…” Yukiko murmurs.
 
“How? Yosuke wonders.
 
“If one of you wants to win you could just stop giving points to the other when yours are higher.”
 
“And it’s exactly why we’re going to help you guys out.” Chie announces. “We’re going to start giving you some annoying points too.”
 
Yukiko smiles. “We can keep track of how many we’ve given you if that’ll help.”
 
“Couldn’t you two just rig it too?”
 
Chie glares at Yosuke. “No, duh. It’ll be interesting no matter who wins and who loses.”
 
“This is just reality TV to you, isn’t it?”
 
“Kinda.”
 
“Y--!”
 
“Annoying point. Yukiko, write it down.” She taps her shoulder.
 
“That’s three already.” Yu smirks.
 
“How many do you have?” Chie asks.
 
“Just one.”
 
“You need to start being more annoying then or this won’t be much fun!”

May 26th
 
“So, did you ask Nanako about Junes yet?” Yosuke asks after catching up to Yu on the way to school.
 
Yu doesn’t understand at first, having not slept well at all the night before. “Did I- oh. No, sorry. I keep forgetting to.”
 
“You serious? That’s not like you.”
 
“It’s fine. I’ll make sure to ask her when I get home today, though.”
 
“Okay!” Yosuke changes his attitude. “I got my schedule for the next few days and luckily I don’t have any midday shifts this weekend.”
 
Yu tilts his head inquisitively. “Do you normally work the entire weekend?”
 
“Yeah, pretty much. My dad knows I don’t really have many friends so he tries to get me to work instead of staying home and feeling sorry for my pathetic self.”
 
Yu groans and shifts his bookbag on his shoulder. “Stop doing that.”
 
“Stop doing what?”
 
“That. Taking something normal and turning it against you into something self-deprecating.”
 
“Can’t stop it if it’s always true.” He responds plainly.
 
“I don’t care. That habit is harmful.”
 
“Okay… I’ll tone it down some.”
 
“Thank you.”
 
Yosuke suddenly stops in the street. “Hold on, did I just annoy you by saying that?”
 
“A little bit?”
 
“Another point for me!”
 
Yu smiles softly. “Okay, you earned that one.”
  
By the end of the day, Yosuke was up to five points, while Yu was up to two.

Yu got his in the middle of the day, after coming back to class looking embarrassed and admitting that he had just accidentally insulted Kou, a friend from the basketball team. Chie laughed at him and felt that it was only fair to give him a point for it.

May 27th
 
Yosuke unexpectedly doesn’t show up to school with no explanation, slightly worrying the others. Chie and Yukiko insist that

“maybe he’s just sick”,

but Yu knows he would have already been complaining about it if that were the case. Yu sends him a message asking if he’s alright, and tries to shrug it off.

This was probably how he felt,

he thinks, remembering his own sudden trip back home.

He doesn’t get a response from Yosuke until hours after school.
 
“hey! im on break rn nd im fine, my dad just needed me to come in early”
 
Wondering how on

Earth

that would justify skipping school, Yu responds with, “During school hours?”
 
“ya ive been working all day”
 
“That’s not right.”

It wasn’t.

“not like i can do anythin abt it”

“at least i dnt have to work a full day this weekend”

This job is taking over your life.

“But you missed a day of school.”
 
“u kno that dsnt matter to anyone. i dont matter”

Again?

“Yosuke.”
 
“sorry”
 
“It’s too much. You need to say something, you’re being overworked.”
 
“u and i both kno i cant”
 
“Why not?”
 
“nothings gonna change, dad might fire me”

Maybe that would be best for your health.

“What if I said something?”
 
“not in a million years”

“breaks almost over ttyl (talk to yu later haha)”
 
Yu sits back, unable to think of something to say at the moment. What was the point of working like that? He was certain that high school jobs were supposed to be part-time only, and they weren’t allowed to conflict with school. Whatever was going on likely wasn’t ethical, and if nobody plans on telling him about it he’ll find it out himself.
 
So, he goes to Nanako’s room and knocks on the door.
 
“...yes?” She asks from the other side.
 
“Do you want to go with me to Junes?”
 
He hears a sudden scrambling before the door swings open and Nanako appears, bright eyed and excited. “Really?!”
 
He can’t help but smile. “Yeah, I just realized I need something for my lunch tomorrow so I figured why not go there?”
 
“Okay! Are we going now?”
 
“Yep. But it’s late, so remember to be careful, okay?”
 
“Okay!”
  
By the time they get there, it’s apparently still rush hour judging by how many people are bustling both inside and outside. The store is much more busy than Yu expected. Maybe it was because of the new guy Yosuke was talking about… This many people might warrant

some

overtime.
 
Nanako gasps. “There’s so many people…”
 
“Are you worried?”
 
She nods meekly.
 
“You can hold my hand if you get nervous.”
 
Right after he finishes saying it, she latches onto his hand and they start walking through the crowds of people.
 
“Do you think we’ll see the bear today?”
 
“We might…” Yu trails off, trying to look around rather than speak.
 
“I don’t see it anywhere…”
 
“Me neither. Let’s try to find what I need and get out of here before we get trampled.”
  
In the end, Yu didn’t actually

need

anything. Instead of looking for something he might have wanted, he let Nanako think of something

she

would have wanted and pretended that it was what he was looking for all along.

This is an awfully stressful trip just for a pack of cornets...

When they try to navigate through the crowd to the registers, he’s lucky enough to see the top of a very recognizable head of hair. He nudges Nanako’s shoulder. “Do you want to go through Yosuke’s lane?”
 
“He’s here today? Sure!”
 
They excuse themselves through to the right line, and the wait to get to the front of it feels like an eternity.
 
When they finally get there, Yosuke still hasn’t seemed to realize it’s them. He simply scans the small container without giving them a second glance, and in a practiced customer-service tone, asks, “Did you find everything okay?”
 
“We did, thank you.”
 
Apparently he recognizes Yu’s voice. His head snaps up and his eyes widen. “What are you doing here?”

He doesn’t look well. His face says he hasn’t slept in a week, with large bags under his eyes and looking much paler than usual. Or maybe that part was just from the lighting.
 
“I wanted to check up on you. You look terrible.” Yu states.
 
“I know. But you didn’t have to, I told you I was fine.”
 
Nanako pokes her head up above the counter. “You don’t look like it.”
 
“Ah, hey Nanako.” He stutters. “I don’t mean to rush you two but you’re kind of holding up the line…”
 
“Oh, right.” Yu pulls his wallet out to pay. “You promise you’re alright?”
 
“Yeah. But after this I think you deserve some points.”
 
“How many?”
 
“Three. You’re crazy.” He smiles and hands the bag and receipt to Yu, who murmurs a “thank you” out of habit.
 
“Alright. You’re coming to school tomorrow, right?”
 
“Yeah. Go already.” He nods to the side, and the other two turn to leave. Nanako waves at him and he waves back with a smile before her and Yu try to find their way back out.

May 28th
 
As he said he would, Yosuke shows up for school, albeit looking dead inside. Chie forces him to explain why he wasn’t there the day before.

He happens to mention Yu coming to check on him, irritating Yu and earning himself another point.
 
May 29th
 
Yu assumed Yosuke was doing better the day before, but he was wrong. Yosuke declines his invitation to hang out, under the pretense that he

“has some things to do.”

Unknown to Yu, that would be their only conversation for the day.

He keeps his concern to himself, but what was the worst that could happen? If they had to see his Shadow again he would be able to help.
 
He takes the opportunity to help Ai with her shopping in Okina, and midway through he was starting to regret it. This girl was frivolous! Spending however much she wanted on whatever she wanted? Yu felt that it was too invasive to ask what her parents do.

He had to carry the majority of her bags all day, but at least doing that meant he wasn’t able to spend any of his money on anything. By the time their outing was over, he felt like he had gotten stronger.

Maybe it wasn’t all that bad, he

had

gotten closer to Ai and learned a few things about her in the process.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Thinking back on it, Yu should've noticed the obvious red flags that Yosuke had been throwing the past few days. He didn't speak to the group (or to anyone for that matter) at all today. He only acknowledged Yu's existence once, waving at him before he left after school was over.Yu wondered whether or not he should've asked what was wrong or tried to catch up to Yosuke, but he figured that maybe... showing up to Junes out of the blue on Saturday had struck a nerve. He should've just believed Yosuke when he said things were okay. He probably thought he didn't trust him now.They hadn't had to go see Yosuke's Shadow yet, right? But, now that he thinks about it, Yu realizes they haven't had to go once since they found out they were actually sharing those dreams. That would explain why everything seemed off about him, but Yu hopes that isn't the case.  The very moment Yosuke wakes up in the Velvet Room he nearly shouts. "Dammit!"Igor greets him, sitting calmly in his regular seat with his head resting on his folded hands. "Welcome back to the Velvet Room. To--""Yeah, yeah. I know what happens after this." Yosuke snaps. He didn't mean to sound so harsh, but this was not what he needed today.Igor, however, seems unfazed. "It seems you have been tormented internally as of late. Have you any idea of the reasons behind it?""No." It's a lie, but he doesn't want to start spilling secrets to some guy that has him pushed out of a moving vehicle every now and then.But, with all of his time here, Igor sees through it and chuckles. "We will find out if that is true or not in due time. Do you understand why you have been called here tonight?""I don't." At least that was true.Margaret speaks, in a much softer tone than Igor. "Tonight is a... continuation of sorts. You made good progress the last time you were here, but it wasn't enough. Tonight you will be required to at last come to terms with your feelings on a specific matter. Will you be alright in doing so?"Yosuke shrugs. He may know the topic, and what his Shadow might say to him, but he'd much rather be at home, in his bed, dreaming about literally /anything else. He's got too much going on right now to deal with this too. "I hope so.""Good. Would you like to request the aid of the same soul you've selected each time up to now?"He isn't sure. Yu had been willing to help him whenever he needed it and even said that himself, but who would want to put up with his problems right now? Especially after Yosuke ignored him and constantly tried to avoid him.... He wouldn't be surprised if Yu declined, but he doesn't have anyone better, so he hesitantly nods.Margaret begins flipping through the Soul Compendium in her lap, and after a moment smiles softly at Yosuke after stopping on a page. "Congratulations.""Huh?""On learning the truth. You are both fully aware that these "dreams" truly involve the conscious versions of yourselves." What? We didn't tell anyone else! "Yeah...? How do you know that?" Yosuke asks apprehensively."It's noted in both of your sections in the Compendium. My master and I are quite proud of you."How weird was this going to get? The two people he only sees on occasion for his serious problems were proud of him? “How?”Igor waves a hand as if dismissing all of his confusion. “It takes a great deal of courage to allow someone you have no bond with to see these suppressed thoughts.  It takes even more to continue letting this occur, and as a result, you’ve grown a strong bond with them both inside and outside of this Velvet Room. We commend you for that.”“....Thank you…?” Yosuke isn’t sure how to respond. Normally the pair in front of him only spoke to him for a minute or two before quickly getting Yu and shoving them both through the door. Maybe they had sensed how badly he didn’t want to go back there and were stalling for time.“You are quite welcome.” Margaret stands up and leaves, the same as she always has but as gracefully as ever. Yosuke sits with Igor in an anxious silence for what feels like an eternity. If Yu didn’t want anything to do with him he would understand. I’ve been taking advantage of him. When was the last time I even asked how he was doing? If they were even still friends, he’s sure they won’t talk much. What were you supposed to say to someone you’ve barely spoken to in the past few days that you suddenly asked for help? He knows Yu thinks he’s being toxic. He knows. And then after looking to his left, Yu walks in? The shock by itself is enough to make Yosuke gape at him for a moment. Until Yu gives him a severe look of concern before speaking.“What happened? Is this why you haven’t been available to talk to?”Of course Yu would ask what was going on. “Kind of… if my Shadow doesn’t explain it all, I will, okay?”That seems to be enough for him. “Alright. But I want to know why you’re avoiding me.”Yosuke cringes. “I’ll tell you. Later.” He ignores the concern still present on Yu’s face and tries to hurry things along by getting up and quickly walking through the door. He’s not surprised to be standing with Yu in his living room, only this time it manages to look worse. Wherever he tries to step he’s either walking on a shattered picture frame or a piece of paper with one of his trademark failing grades scribbled on it. He groans. “Let’s just get this over with.”He starts to make a beeline for his father’s study, and Yu silently follows him. He’s grateful that Yu doesn’t have any more questions about this.Surprisingly, his Shadow isn’t anywhere to be found in the study. Or on that floor of the house, for that matter. “What the--”“Do you think it might be in your room?” Yu asks, motioning to the barred door across the hallway.“I didn’t think it would--” Yosuke starts to look around before nearly jumping out of his skin. “Wait. Turn around.”“Hm?” Yu turns around to look, nearly coming face-to-face with the Shadow coming up the stairs in front of him.Yosuke looks the Shadow up and down, wondering why it came to them and why it looked… different. Normally when they had to see his Shadow, it wore the same Yasogami uniform along with Yosuke’s favorite pair of orange headphones that he wore everywhere, but today it wasn’t wearing the uniform jacket quite right. Where was the shirt he normally wore under it? “What do you want this time?”The Shadow speaks in its regular mocking tone that sounded almost exactly like Yosuke, something that still slightly bothered him. “To finish what we started the other day. But I don’t feel like standing around, let’s go back to the living room.”Yosuke audibly groans. “Fine.”Yu looks back at him as if asking if he should follow the Shadow when it starts walking back down the stairs, and Yosuke nods. He follows Yu and his Shadow through the house, with the irony of the situation seeping in every step he takes. Getting to the living room, the Shadow walks easily over the mess and sits comfortably on the couch, cross-legged and seemingly unbothered by the thorns piercing into it from every angle. Yu and Yosuke keep their distance, standing by the windows and a few feet apart from each other. “You realize that I’m a reflection of you, right?” The Shadow starts its questions quickly.“Yes.” Of course Yosuke knew that, it knew everything he thought.“And that what happens to you, also happens to me, right?”“Yes? What is this for?”“Later. You’re also aware that I know everything you keep down inside you, right?”
Duh. You have a lot to say for someone just lounging there.
His Shadow laughs, hearing what he was thinking. “You can say it out loud, you know. But--” it shifts, moving its legs to the ground and leans over to rest its elbows on its knees. The way it sits reminds Yosuke of Igor. “I already know that you have some very… unresolved feelings.” You’re starting this already? “What’s that supposed to mean?”“You had a realization the last time we were here, but in the few days since you’ve started to become conflicted and think you’re wrong for it. Yet at the same time, you feel that you’re justified. Does that sound about right?”“What is he talking about?” Yu finally speaks.“Nothing.”“It’s not nothing! You know exactly what I’m talking about! Your dad is an asshole and we all know it!” The Shadow suddenly snaps, the aura around it growing darker and scaring both of the boys across the room from it. It was a touchy subject, even for it.“He isn’t.” Yosuke defends. What was he doing this for? Of course he already knew his father could be an ass at times, but…“Don’t make us have to have this same conversation over again. Even this guy who’s only seen your dad once and from a distance knows he’s a terrible person. Well, that combined with all the times you’ve complained about him.”“That doesn’t mean anything. That’s just the bad stuff. It doesn’t mean he’s really a bad person.” Even to Yosuke this sounded practiced, but what was he supposed to say? After all, his whole life he’s had to repeat this over and over to people that were paid to pretend to care about him and his problems.The Shadow doesn’t put up with that, and stands. “Really now? What is it that keeps him from being bad? The fact that your life isn’t made into a living hell five percent of the time he’s around? What about the other ninety-five percent where you contemplate  jumping from the roof if it would mean that maybe he’d stop?”Yosuke cringes and does a damage check. He hadn’t wanted to hear that out loud. He looks over to Yu, who doesn’t comment on what his Shadow just said, but he still has a look of wide-eyed concern nonetheless. If Yosuke weren’t a few feet away, he would be able to see the way Yu’s brows tremble when he looks back and forth between him and his Shadow.“Hey, I promise I’ll tell you later.” Yosuke steps closer and whispers, trying to diffuse the situation.“You know you won’t!” His Shadow rises to its feet and swiftly moves to Yosuke (who flinches), getting too close to his face for comfort. In a low voice it murmurs the phrase that Yosuke prayed he would never hear. “He hurts you.”There it is. There’s the line he didn’t want to have said. The line that would make Yu think way less of him and most likely decide to finally leave him behind. And as if right on cue, “What?!” The high pitch of Yu’s voice almost causes Yosuke to panic right then and there. “I swear I can explain.”“No you can’t! You’ve never been able to explain it!” His Shadow grows angrier by the second. “Over the years you’ve constantly justified it with ‘but he still takes care of me, so it’s okay’ and ‘if he really hated me so much I would just be dead already’” “...This has been going on for years…?” Yu asks quietly in disbelief.“Yeah. Surprised he never told you?” The Shadow grins at him.Yu doesn’t respond, and Yosuke starts to wonder if bringing him along was really that good of an idea.The Shadow still talks, regardless. “He’s just too terrified to tell anybody. Do you want to see?”Yosuke feels panic seize at his throat. “No!” He wouldn’t be able to take it if Yu knew about it.“Oh, calm down. I won’t even show him the worst of it.” The Shadow begins undoing the top few buttons on its uniform, and Yosuke freezes in fear. This is just a dream, it’s just a dream. Wake up! Please! He briefly considers trying to tackle his Shadow and stop it, but in his fearful state he can only sit idly by and watch as his Shadow slowly pulls at one side of its jacket, exposing bright purple and darkened skin around its ribs. The injuries exactly mirror Yosuke’s. He could probably hear Yu’s gasp from a mile away. “...Yosuke…?”He cringes at hearing his name said that way. Yu spoke softly, but his voice was full of fear, concern, and something else… “It’s not what you think it is!” Yosuke blurts out.“Then what is it supposed to be?” Yu asks, still using that soft tone.Any answer Yosuke could think of would explain it good enough. He looks at the floor before speaking, he can’t bear to look at his Shadow anymore. “I… um… fell off of my bike again… haha”“Bullshit.”Yosuke snaps his head up. For a second he almost thought his Shadow said that. Not Yu.“Don’t pull that with me. What happened?”He sounds concerned, but to Yosuke it sounds more like he’s ready to bite his head off. “It’s really not as bad as it looks. You know Shadows over-exaggerate everything.” Please drop the topic. “You’re not answering the question.”
I don’t want to!
 “If you don’t tell him, I will.” The Shadow stares Yosuke down, challenging him.“Why does he have to know?”“You have to tell someone about it eventually.”“That doesn’t mean it has to be him!”  Once again, the two were arguing in front of Yu. He was starting to get used to it, but when this was the topic and he wasn’t getting any ideas, he interrupts them. “Why not me?”Yosuke irritatedly huffs. “Because if I tell you you’re going to blab about it to someone or tell your uncle about it.”Well, he had to, didn’t he? “That’s because it’s illegal! You need help!”“No, I don’t. Do you ever think that your method might do me way more harm than good?” Yosuke is breathing heavily at this point, which bothers Yu more than a little bit.“How could my help hurt you?’Yosuke holds his arm nervously. “It’ll only get worse after he finds out I told someone…”Yu is torn between wanting to yell at Yosuke or drag him out of that house himself. He didn’t have a clue that any of this was happening. Why didn’t he bother to ask Yosuke about what was going on the last time they saw his Shadow? Stupid! Stupid! “Then at least tell me what happened.”“I can’t…”He resists the urge to shout and grabs Yosuke by his shoulders instead, hoping to shake some sense into him. However, when Yosuke flinches, he instantly feels horrible for doing it. “Please. I’m not going to tell anyone.”Yosuke looks up at him with a pitiful look on his face. Yu’s pestering must have worked, because he starts speaking just as sadly as he looks. “...He found out that I’m the reason Saki quit right when we started being short on help… and then I was stupid enough to argue over working an entire day.”“And he did this to you because of it…?”Yosuke waits a few seconds before reluctantly nodding.Yu instantly feels sick to his stomach, but he chokes down the bile that rises in his throat. “Does anyone know about this?”“No… Not even my mom…” “You can understand why he hates him now, huh?” The Shadow starts buttoning up its blazer. “You should see how he reacts when someone touches those bruises.”Yu instantly lets go of Yosuke’s shoulders and steps back. “Where else are they…?”Yosuke speaks quickly, still upset but most likely glad for the space. “Just on my back and left leg… but they’re not as bad as the ones he showed you.”“Yeah, you really can’t beat having an entirely purple torso.” The Shadow says sarcastically, obviously instigating.“Really?”Yosuke nods.“I hate him.”“What? But you haven’t even met him.” Why do you keep trying to defend him? “I don’t care. I don’t have to meet him.” “See?” The Shadow starts. “You don’t have to have a reason to hate anyone, but he’s given you plenty of them.”“But he’s given me plenty of reasons to like him too.”“Oh yeah? Like what? The constant fear when he comes home? The pain whenever you do something wrong? Constantly being forced to go work at a place you hate and getting more overtime than you should be allowed? Constantly being blamed for everyone else’s mistakes? Those are perfectly good reasons to like him, apparently.”“When you put it like that you make it sound like he’s entirely bad…”Both Yu and Yosuke’s Shadow speak in unison. “That’s because he is!”Yosuke flinches. “But he’s my dad.”“And the only thing he’s done for you that goes along with that is make sure you stay alive.” The Shadow says.He continues protesting. “If I hate him I have to keep living with him until I can move out.”“So? That’s not that far away.”Yu tries to be calm. “It would be healthier for you to go ahead and admit it instead of staying conflicted forever.”“You don’t understand, Yu. You have a normal family.”He looks away. “I really don’t…”“Dude, he’s living with his uncle and cousin. You call that normal?” The Shadow shifts its deprecating tone to Yu.“At least they’re good to him.” Yosuke insists.“It doesn’t matter.” Yu suddenly snaps. “Quit trying to divert the attention away from the actual reason we had to come here.”“He’s right you know.”“Shut up!”“You shut up. You’re being immature.” Yu doesn’t mean to sound so harsh, but maybe that was what Yosuke needed to hear.And, as if adding on to Yu’s point, the Shadow speaks again. “You’re refusing to dislike someone when they give you virtually no reason to like them. Even I hate him! What do you think that says about you?”Yosuke goes silent.“Here, I’ll answer it for you. You hate him.”“You can’t say that!”“Why not? Because it’s the truth?”“Because I don’t hate him!” Yosuke seems much more affected this time than the last, but Yu watches silently as they argue again .“And yet, you do. I do.”“You hating him doesn’t mean anything.”“It does, actually. Do you want me to spell it out for you?”Yosuke glares at his Shadow, unamused.It speaks anyway. “Because I’m you. I’m the part of you that likes to call yourself pathetic. I’m the part that hates everyone around you. I’m the most honest thing in you.” It chuckles. “I’m the part that secretly hates your dad, and you’re the part that refuses to accept it.”Yosuke’s breathing becomes shallow. “I’m not. I don’t hate him.”“You can keep telling yourself that, but we all know that’s not true. You don’t have to feel guilty about it.”“What would you know?”“That you’re too stubborn to finally go with it. You know you hate him, why would I be here telling you that if you didn’t?”“Because you--”“Shut up. What do you think he’d say if he found out you were so conflicted over this? You think he’d laugh at you? I do. He succeeded in messing you up entirely and doesn’t give a damn about you, and you still can’t find it in you to hate him. Well, here it is. You’ve found it.”“I can’t--”“Think about it. Make up your mind and then come back.” Huh? The Shadow’s suggestion gives both boys a shock.“What? Come back? You think I can control when I have to come talk to you?” Yosuke’s attitude passes through any fear he seemed to have.“When you finally make up your mind we’ll talk again.”“What?”Before Yosuke can get out any more questions, Yu’s vision goes black and he feels a familiar pull on his mind. Wait! I wanted to stay!   Yosuke expected to wake up late for school (per the norm now), but when he opens his eyes his room is just as dark as it was when he went to sleep. The only thing he can hear is his ragged breathing and the sound of light rainfall outside. It’s eerily peaceful.He sits up and fumbles around his bed to find his phone and check the time, and sure enough, the clock reads 2:47AM . He’s surprised by that, but it meant that he could lay down and get some more sleep, right? Sleep. The word resonates in his head and he decides that maybe… going to sleep isn’t such a good idea. What if he saw his Shadow again? He didn’t think about his father at all since he woke up, but the Shadow wouldn’t care. It liked to mess with him, and he hadn’t believed it one bit when it told him to think and come back. What was he supposed to do? Finally say it out loud that he hated him and then go into his next dream and try to call for his Shadow like it was a stray cat Yu liked to talk about? Wait, what? He groans at his own idiocy. Guess he really did hate him.But now the possibility of him going to sleep was ruined even more, and he doubts he’ll even get any sleep tomorrow. He might as well talk to someone, right? As it was, he only had a few contacts in his phone. His parents, Saki’s old number (she changed it the day after giving it to him), the friends he had from back in the city that promised they’d keep in touch--only to forget about him a week later and leave him hurt, yet also hoping that maybe they would change their minds someday--, and the numbers of the three close friends he’s made since the year started. They would all be his best bet, but if he called Chie or Yukiko in the middle of the night they’d probably k/ill him.  That left Yu, and while Yosuke wasn’t against talking to him, he probably had a lot of questions that he didn’t want to answer right now. Besides, this was a ridiculous time of night, and if his parents heard him talking on the phone they’d want to know how he managed to get close enough to someone to get their number, and then ‘is that your girlfriend?’ He can already imagine the look his dad would give him.But, texts were free, and even if Yu hated him right now, he’s probably asleep. He probably wouldn’t even see his message until the morning. So, Yosuke quickly types out an “r u awake?” before flopping back down and staring at the ceiling.He sighs, part of him wishing he didn’t bother asking for Yu this time. After having to see all of that ? Yu probably wouldn’t say anything else either, he was probably angry at Yosuke for ignoring him and then having the audacity to ask for his help. This wasn’t how he imagines a friendship to fall apart. Then his phone vibrates, and he instantly grabs it.  
“Yeah. Are you okay?”
Of course. Yu would still care (or at least pretend to) even if he was treated like trash. Something in Yosuke screams that he’s taking advantage of Yu, but he pushes that aside. At least he responded.  
“im good”
“Are you sure?"
He can almost hear Yu’s condescending tone. ‘Oh, but Yosuke, don’t you know what just happened?’ The thought of Yu talking like a concerned princess is enough to make him chuckle.  
“ya jst dont want 2 sleep evr again”
“I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”
He thinks. Torn between 'he’s asking what he can do for you, tell him off' and ‘he’s only doing this out of pity, say you’re fine’, he does the exact opposite and vents everything that comes to his mind before he can consider the consequences.   
“dont tell any1 abt what u saw”
“im sorry i didnt tell u anything”
“we r still friends right?”
“pls dont ask abt what goes down”
“u dnt wanna kno”
“itll get worse”
“stay awake pls”
“im sorry abt the past few days”
“I didnt meanto ignore u im sorry”
“u dont hate me right?”
“i hope not”
“no wait u do dnt u i desrv it”
“aha im srry”
 That was too much. He cringes in on himself. Too late to take them back. What even was that?! He vented for five minutes uninterrupted. He only asked for what he could do! Not a sob story! He groans and tosses his phone across the bed. He didn’t need to do that.Trapped in his embarrassment, he closes his eyes and listens to the rain. At least it was calm out there… His hears his phone vibrate once, but he wills himself not to check it. No doubt it was from Yu, probably saying not to talk to him anymore.Then it vibrates again. He ignores it. Yu probably just made a typo.A third time. It’s nothing. A fourth time. What? A fifth time, followed by a sixth. Is he calling me? Yosuke sits back up and grabs his phone, trying to find out just what Yu was doing.It vibrates again in his hand, and just by glancing at his message history with Yu, he can tell he’s sending back multiple messages as responses like he did. Probably to make fun of him. He doesn’t bother to read them and turns the screen off. It isn’t until his phone vibrates seven more times that he decides to read everything.  On what planet did Yu have to send him fourteen messages for?  
“That’s a lot. But I’ll try to help.”
“I won’t tell anyone unless you tell me to or you get put in life-threatening danger. But you have to talk to someone else other than your Shadow and I about it.”
“It’s alright, I can understand why you didn’t openly say anything. I’m sorry I never asked how you were doing in that aspect.”
“Of course. A few days doesn’t change anything.”
“I won’t unless you want to tell me.”
“I do want to know, actually. Unless you aren’t comfortable talking about it.”
“You don’t know that. He has no way of finding out about it.”
“Okay. I’ll stay awake for as long as you need me.”
“It’s okay. I didn’t know that was going on.”
“It’s fine. I don’t blame you.”
“Not at all.”
“I don’t.”
“Yosuke, I don’t hate you. I won’t hate you. I’ll tell you this as much as I have to.”
“Don’t apologize.”
  What ? Did Yu just respond to every single one of his messages? The gesture was too kind and reassuring. He didn’t even deserve that much…But… It helped. More than Yosuke would ever be willing to let on. Why would Yu put so much effort into responding to him? It didn’t make any sense, and he doesn’t have the energy to type responses to all of that, because, to be honest, Yu’s kindness felt like a punch to the chest and was nearly enough to make him start crying.  
“can i call?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now.”
He figured. But it was probably for the best, who knows what Yu would think if he heard him trying to choke back sobs the entire time.  
“Is something wrong?”
Oh, yeah. He didn’t say anything yet.  
“no im good”
“jst thought talking would b easier”
“I’m sorry I sent so many replies, I didn’t think I could fit everything into one message.”
“no its ok thanks for saying smth to each one”
“it was helpful”
“might be able to sleep now”
“Really? I’m glad.”
“yeah”
Yosuke looks at the time on his phone-- 3:28AM. He’s been awake for close to an hour. Would a possible Shadow encounter might be avoidable at this point? No, probably not.  
“nvm”
“Not going to sleep?”
 Was it a bad thing to admit that you were afraid of sleeping? Afraid of what you might hear? Afraid of the possibilities?  
“not for 2 days at least”
“Oh.”
He already knew that sounded pathetic, he didn’t need Yu rubbing it in.  
“Do you want to spend the night here tomorrow?”
 An audible “Huh?!” comes out of Yosuke’s mouth. What was that for?!   
“dude we rnt middle school girls”
“That’s not what I meant.”

Then what…?
 
“If you don’t think you’ll be able to sleep tomorrow you can stay here. The company might do you some good and it might help to get out of the house.”

Yeah, so I won’t have to be around my dad. You don’t have to beat around the bush like that. Wait, what am I even saying?
 
“o ya id like that”
He hopes his excitement doesn’t show.  
“Good! If you don’t want to go home before you come over you can bring whatever you’ll need to school and we can go straight to my house afterwards.”
Ah. That was nice, if his father knew he was spending the night somewhere without giving him a week’s notice who knows what would happen to him. 
“u mean liek my uniform n stuff?”
“Yeah. Unless you want to borrow something of mine.”
Borrowing Yu’s things? That was probably crossing a line that wasn’t meant to be crossed. After all of the help Yu was willing to give, he could at least be bothered to bring his own clothes. 
“i think ill b gud. thank u man”
“It’s no problem. I’m glad I can help.”
Yosuke waits before replying, trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill out. 
“it rlly means a lot to me partner”
“im serious”
“I know you are. But I’m starting to get tired again, do you think you’ll be alright if I go to sleep?”
Oh yeah, Yu hadn’t had to worry about seeing his Shadow tonight. 
“ya after talking to u i think i feel better”
“go to sleep man”
Yosuke doesn’t have the heart to ask if he could stay up just a little longer. 
“Okay. Goodnight.”
“night”
“By the way, after everything that happened, I think that warrants you a good five annoying points.”
“i deserve those”
 Needless to say, Yosuke didn’t sleep for even a moment after that. He had been too terrified of seeing his Shadow and too excited that in twenty-four hours he would be in Yu’s house, with nobody to ruin his night except for him. But, his insomnia was mostly caused by Yu.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Hey Partner!” Yosuke nearly yells, swinging around to Yu’s side of the shoe lockers. Someone’s in a good mood. Yu isn’t sure if he’s just happy or really that tired. “Hey.” He says, closing his locker and suddenly noticing the lines on the left side of Yosuke’s face. “You napped hard, didn’t you?”“Hm? How’d you know?”Yu gestures towards his face. “The evidence is all there. I thought you weren’t going to sleep at all…?”“Oh. I figured there wouldn’t be enough time for anything to happen if I just took a nap, so that’s what I did.” Yosuke says, yawning.“Makes sense. Hey, are you fine with waiting here while I go talk to Chie or do you want to come with me?”“Depends. Where is she?”“I think she’s on the roof…?”“Oh. No thanks.” Yosuke starts to walk past Yu, towards the doors. “I am too tired to be walking up and down those stairs again. I’ll just wait outside.”“Alright.” Yu looks up at the stairs and sighs before starting the arduous task of walking back up them. He finds Chie on the roof, in her usual spot waiting for him. “Hey.” He greets while walking her direction.“Hey yourself.” She responds, her hands on her hips. “What took you so long?”“I was talking to Yosuke, I’m sorry.”“Oh.” She instantly looks embarrassed. “No worries. I still think it’s nice you’re letting him stay over so he won’t be alone at home.”Yeah, he had lied about that too.“I thought it’d be good for him.”“You’re right about that.” Chie quickly reaches into her bag and pulls out a thin case, handing it to Yu. “Try not to break my DVD, okay?”“We won’t.” He takes the case gingerly and tucks it away into his bag. “Thank you.”“No problem! I’m just surprised you don’t have many movies at home.”“Well, back in the city, I did, but Nanako and my uncle don’t really buy many. I even found their DVD player buried in one of the boxes that used to be in my room.”“That’s rough. Did it work, at least?”He nods.“Good, good.” Chie shifts awkwardly. “Well, I have to go meet Yukiko. I won’t keep you from your date that’ll probably end with you two cuddling!” She says before happily walking away.Yu looks around nervously, praying that Yosuke didn’t actually decide to follow him. “Chie! That’s not what it is!”“You can say that all you want but any time I see you two hanging out at night that’s what I’m going to naturally assume~!”“Chie!”She’s through the door and down the stairs before Yu can catch her. Why did she have to do that? It wasn’t a date, but it’s not like he could tell her what was actually going on. And if he did, she’d tease them about it even more. When Yu makes it to the first floor and steps outside, Yosuke gives him a look of pure confusion.“Dude, what went so wrong that Chie just ran past me? And you look bright pink, are you okay?”“What?” Yu instinctively brings a hand to his face. “Oh, everything’s fine. I had to get something from her and she suggested something dumb before she realized she had to leave.”“Oh. What did she suggest?”Should he tell him? Yeah, probably. Yosuke was likely too tired to even understand what he was saying. “That this entire thing is a date.”“What?” Yosuke’s face flushes. “Again? How would that make any sense? I thought I was just spending the night?”The sight makes Yu laugh to himself. “You are. She just told me that whenever we do anything outside of school that’s what she’ll think it is.”“So if we just talk that’s a date to her?”The other students that hadn’t left yet were starting to stare.“No, I think it’s more like if we go anywhere together, I guess.”Yosuke quickly grows irritated. “But we do that all the time! Did you tell her it’s only because I don’t have anyone else to hang out with and she’s getting the wrong idea?” Ouch. Those words hit Yu like a truck. “No? What? Do you not want to hang out with me?”“Hmm?” Yosuke stares at him for a moment until realizing what he said, his embarrassed tone disappearing. “Oh! No nononono no that’s not what I meant!”“Alright.” Yu says bitterly before starting to walk ahead, ready to get home.“Wait!” He feels a tug on his sleeve and stops to look at Yosuke, who’s now as pale as a sheet. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say that. I really didn’t mean to. I don’t mean it. Please don’t hate me.”At first, Yu wanted to yank his arm right back. But after hearing that, he only feels hurt for Yosuke instead. Why would he have hated him so quickly? Ah. Maybe I overreacted. All he did was say something stupid like Chie did. “I don’t hate you.”“You… don’t?”He had to fix this. “No. You’re just really tired and slipped up, right?”“Right. Yeah.” Yosuke lets go of his sleeve, and the color starts returning to his face.“So it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”“Oh, good. Thank you.” Yosuke sighs. “Because that wasn’t true anyways. I mean if I had other friends I’d definitely do stuff with them but I’d still rather hang out with you instead.”Yu stares at him, surprised. Why me? “Really?”“Yeah?” Yosuke catches his eye and huffs. “Oh come on, don’t take it the wrong way!” Good to know he’s not worried anymore. “I’m not taking it the wrong way. Maybe you are…?”“Dude!”Yu chuckles, his previous plans suddenly changing. “Let’s go already. I’m going to introduce you to some people, maybe you’ll want to hang out with them instead of me.”“Huh? Please don’t tell me you’re serious.”“Completely.”“I’m meeting someone?”“Two people, actually.”Yosuke backs away, suddenly looking worried again. “I don’t know about that… I thought we were just going to your house?”“We will after. I just want to introduce you to them.”Yosuke keeps backing away, and Yu worries he might run away if he said anything else. “Can we do this tomorrow?”Not taking that for an answer, Yu grabs Yosuke’s wrist and pulls him back. “No, come on. I promise we won’t be there for longer than five minutes, and they’re good friends of mine. They don’t bite.” Yosuke tries to pull away, but Yu drags him along with him. Back through the school, through the halls, past the club rooms, and out to the practice fields, with Yosuke protesting and complaining the whole way.Luckily, the fields were still wet from the rain the night before, so practice for outside sports had been cancelled early on in the day. But, rain or shine, anyone could expect to see Kou or Daisuke to be on the fields. Normally they would be working on their endurance on rainy days. Maybe Yu should tell Chie to train with them… Surely enough, there they were, sitting on one of the benches and talking. Kou notices them first and waves them over.After waiting for Yosuke’s response to his friends (and getting nothing from him), Yu drags him over to the two.“Hey! Did you bring someone with you to help us clean up?” Kou asks goodnaturedly, even though there’s nothing on the field to put away.Yu lets go of Yosuke’s wrist, trusting that he won’t try to run away.He doesn’t, but he stands there looking visibly uncomfortable.“I wanted to introduce you guys to him, if that’s fine.”“What for?” Daisuke asks, looking them up and down. Uh. Yu attempts to think of a lie that wouldn’t embarrass Yosuke or make him mad at him. I don’t have many options… “Um, he bet that he couldn’t hit it off with any of my other friends and I’m trying to prove him wrong.”Yosuke gives Yu a look that he isn’t sure is disappointment or surprise. He might’ve been able to tell if he put him in these kinds of situations more often, though. “Oh. Well we can find that out right now.” Daisuke stands up from his place on the bench and extends a hand to Yosuke. “I’m Daisuke Nagase. You play any sports?”Yosuke shakes his hand, albeit nervously. “Yosuke Hanamura. Uh, I don’t really play any now but I used to in middle school.”“What sport?”“Lacrosse.”“Hmm.” Daisuke steps back in thought, letting Kou move past him.Yosuke shoots Yu a look that says “did I say something wrong?”, and he shakes his head before Kou steps in front of them. “Don’t worry about him, he just wants another person on the soccer team so he can stop covering for someone and have the spotlight again. I’m Kou Ichijo.” He holds out his hand to Yosuke, who shakes it, a bit calmer than before. “Yu talks a lot about you. For a while I wasn’t sure if you were actually around here or if we would ever get to meet you.”“Really? What does he say about me?”
I’m right here, you know.
Kou and Daisuke glance at each other before Daisuke speaks again. “That you’re pretty nice. And loud, but we haven’t seen any of that yet.”“Oh, sorry. To be honest, I didn’t know I was even going to meet you until a few minutes ago...”“No wonder you brought him here unnanounced.” Kou sighs, turning to Yu. “I was hoping you came to practice with us.” “Sorry. I’ve got some plans for later and I can’t be doing it all smelly from practice.” I finally get to speak. “Yu!” Kou laughs. “I don’t blame you. We haven’t done much today either.” He turns his attention back to Yosuke. “You know, the other day at Aiya’s he told us you could use some friends…”“He what ?” Yosuke’s face reads instant betrayal. Yu was hoping neither one of them would bring it up, or remember it for that matter. “It’s not a bad thing. We might even be able to squeeze you into one of our teams and you could make a few.”“I don’t know about that…”Yu can tell he’s starting to close himself off again. No! “Think about it! If you picked soccer you could be on the same team as Yu. He might actually start coming to practice more often.” Kou ends with a grin.“You might make a good replacement.” Daisuke mentions.“I’ll have to think about it.” An awkward silence falls over the four. Kou and Daisuke stand waiting on a response, Yosuke teeters back and forth silently, and Yu stands expectantly, waiting for the other three to talk.Until they don’t, and he clears his throat. “Well, you guys finally formally met.”Daisuke shrugs. “I wouldn’t really call it formal.”“Yeah, more of a ‘hey haven’t seen you in a week here’s my friend.’” Kou teases.“I know, I’m sorry.”“Don’t worry about it, man. We know you’ve got other friends and the team isn’t everyone’s top priority.”Daisuke nods, agreeing.“You sure? I promise I’ll try to come to practice more often.”“Yeah, it’s fine. And you two look busy anyways.”Kou seemed to be trying to dismiss Yu. “Alright. I’ll see you two later if it’s not raining.” He nudges Yosuke’s arm with his elbow. “Let’s go.”  “Finally! I was thinking we’d never get away from there!” Yosuke exclaims when they get off of school grounds.“Hmm? You don’t like them?” Yu feels a bit bad for dragging him over there now…“Oh, no. I liked them, I just wasn’t expecting to meet them so suddenly.”“Ah, I’m sorry. But you kind of brought it upon yourself in a way.”“I guess so. It’s just good that I didn’t freak out when I met them.”“You almost did.”  After Yosuke’s constant complaints of being tired, the two go directly to Yu’s uncle’s house without any extra stops (and frankly, Yu didn’t think he would make it through the rest of the day like that). At least, now that they were here, if he thought Yosuke was starting to fall asleep he could simply try to go to sleep too. Nanako runs up to them the moment they get through the door, ecstatic to see them. “Are you having a slumber party?”“No, nothing like that.” Yu says, dropping his bag to the floor by the couch. “He’s just spending the night, no parties.”“So a sleepover?”“That might be it.” After telling Nanako about his plans earlier in the morning, she seemed to cheer up. Dojima was supposedly going to have to stay at work overnight, which would have left Nanako and Yu alone, but luckily for both of them, they were having a guest over. Nanako seemed to like him so far, at least. “Am I invited to the sleepover?”“Of course you are.” Yosuke smiles brightly at her. “You might end up falling asleep before either of us do, though.”Nanako lights up with excitement. “That’s okay! Are we going anywhere? Are we staying here? What are we going to do?” She gasps. “Should I make popcorn? Are we watching movies?”Yosuke tries to answer her, but his words only come out in stammers. Yu answers for him. “We’re not going anywhere. And I wouldn’t ask him too many questions, he pulled an all nighter yesterday.”“Yeah, which is exactly why I’m making some coffee.” To Yu’s surprise, Yosuke helps himself to the kitchen, starting to look for coffee grounds.That was a good thing. Yu had been almost certain he would stand awkwardly until he was told to move, like last time. He’s starting to get comfortable. “It’s in the top left cabinet.”“Oh, thanks.” Yosuke opens said cabinet and sifts through it for a moment before pulling down a coffee can.“What do you need coffee for?” Nanako asks.Yu glances at Yosuke, wondering if he should answer for him, until he sets the coffe down and does it for himself.“Don’t you know the whole point of a sleepover? You’re not supposed to sleep!”“Really? You’re going to drink that to stay awake?”“Yep!”Nanako hops over to see the process close up. “Can I have some?”Yosuke glances at the clock on the wall before responding. “Would your dad let you before dinner on a school night?”“Not really… But he’s working late…”“You’re not supposed to drink coffee, you know that.” Yu says sternly.Nanako nods and backs away, looking somewhat sad.However, Yosuke picks up on it. “Hey! You might not be able to have coffee but I found some hot cocoa up there! You can still drink it, even though it’s almost June.”“I can?”“Sure.” Yu steps by her to get a few cocoa packets from the cabinet. He knows from past experience that Nanako almost instantly goes to sleep after drinking hot chocolate, which wouldn’t be a bad thing for this occasion. He did think of her as a younger sister, and liked the idea of her hanging out with them, but he wanted to talk to Yosuke about something he didn’t want Nanako hearing.  Nine hours, two movies, four pots of coffee (most of which Yu didn’t drink), a few rounds of a dancing game Yosuke brought over, some time spent playing hide-and-seek with Nanako, a take-out dinner, one call from Dojima, six stories about school events, a jittery Yosuke, and a sleeping Nanako on Yu’s lap on the couch later, it’s almost peaceful enough to talk.Yu and Yosuke sit on opposite sides of the couch, facing each other. Yu’s back is facing the sliding glass doors that lead outside; something that he was uncomfortable with, but because Yosuke felt even worse than he did sitting there, he puts up with it.“You can’t stay awake forever, you know.” He finally says quietly.“I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try.” Claims Yosuke, who had drank so much coffee he made himself sick an hour ago.“That doesn’t mean you’ll last until dawn.”“Yeah, but--” He suddenly jumps. “Did you see that?!”“See what?” Yu turns around quickly to scan the room, instantly worried. “Where is it?”“By the door! Don’t tell me you don’t see it.”He looks around the entire room, but comes up empty. “No?”Yosuke makes an uncomfortable sound, and Yu turns back to him.“I think you’re hallucinating.”“I’m not!”Yu isn’t sure if Yosuke’s shaking because he’s nervous or just jittery from the coffee. He sighs. “Nothing is here. Let me get Nanako to bed and we’ll talk.”“Okay…?” Yu stands, gently shifting Nanako so she’s easier to carry, and slowly carries her to her room. He manages to navigate through to her bed without any light or bumping anything, and gently sets her down on it, careful not to wake her. After making sure she won’t suddenly wake up, he slowly covers her with a pale purple blanket that had been pushed away to the foot of the bed.He starts walking backwards out of the room, in case she woke up and asked for him.However, he’s barely out the door when his back bumps into something that’s not supposed to be there. The thing in question squeaks and freezes, and Yu nearly jumps out of his skin. He would have yelled if Nanako wasn’t sleeping a few feet away.Jumping forwards and whipping around, he realizes it’s not as bad as it could be. “Yosuke! You scared me!” He whispers, his heart beating a mile a minute.“I’m sorry! I got nervous in there by myself.” Yosuke whispers back. I wasn’t even gone for five minutes! Yosuke was lucky he wasn’t currently in his right mind, or he would’ve gotten hit. “Alright. Just try not to scare me next time, okay?”“Okay.” Yu leads back to the living room, taking his spot again on the couch.He thought Yosuke would get the message, but he doesn’t. He instead silently goes to the kitchen and pours himself another cup of coffee.“Put that down.”“What?” He asks, holding the full mug in his hand.“The coffee. Put it down. It’s not good for you.”“It’s keeping me awake though.” That’s not how it works. Yu leans back, resting his head on the back of the couch. “You’ve already got enough coffee in your system to keep you awake for hours. You’re just afraid.”“I’m not. And you don’t know, maybe I do need this last cup.” It’s like I’m taking care of two kids today. “Come here.” Yu motions for Yosuke to sit down.“What for?” Yosuke holds the mug defensively.“I bet your heart is pounding. You don’t need any more coffee to make it worse.”“You don’t know that.”“I can find out.” Yu pulls himself up and walks to Yosuke, quickly snatching the mug from him and holding it out of his reach before he can say anything.“Hey! What was that for?!”“You’ll get it back. Hold still.”He does as he’s told, and Yu sets the mug down on the counter behind them. He pulls up the sleeve on Yosuke’s left arm, and puts two fingers to his wrist to check his pulse. As expected, it’s ridiculously high. High enough that it alarms Yu. He really didn’t need any more coffee.“Come sit down.” Yu doesn’t give him a choice in the matter, instead getting a grip on his wrist and pulling him back to the couch.“If I sit I might fall asleep!” Yosuke protests.“So?” He says bluntly, pushing Yosuke back to where he had been sitting before. He lets go of his wrist after he stops trying to get back up, but continues to stand in front of him just in case. “You need to sleep.”“I don’t!” Then he says the most coherent thing he’s said all evening. “What if I see it again? I don’t want to go back there, Yu.”“It’ll be okay. I’ll be there to help you out just like before.”“I know, but I don’t want to hear what it’ll have to say. Or show.” Yosuke looks down, avoiding Yu’s gaze.“Why is that?” He tries to talk some rationality into him. “You already know what it’s going to say, right? And both of us already know about what it might show, so what’s the problem? It’ll just be like looking into a mirror.”“Because it’s inevitable?”That wasn’t exactly the point Yu was trying to make, but it worked too. “Yeah, it’ll happen eventually, so why not get it over with now? And that’s only if you have to see it. You might just get to sleep without being bothered and you will have been worrying over nothing.”“I’ll still have to see it at some point…” Yosuke yawns, and freezes after realizing it. Yosuke jumps up suddenly, almost headbutting Yu, trying to get back to the mug of coffee that’d make him stop yawning. But, due to his sleep deprivation, he’s slower than normal, and Yu reacts faster. Yu grabs both of his forearms and pushes him back down, effectively restraining him against the couch.Yosuke thrashes, as expected, and Yu nearly lets him go. With how close their faces were, he could tell how bloodshot his eyes were, along with how dark the bags under them were getting. But, he still had to stop him before he made himself have a heart attack at the age of sixteen.“No.” Yu says firmly.“Let me go!” Yosuke nearly shouts, and Yu cringes, hoping he didn’t wake Nanako up with that.“No. Calm down. You’re going to hurt yourself.” If anything, Yu might accidentally end up hurting Yosuke. He was stronger than him, so keeping him held down wouldn’t be so difficult for a while.“I’m perfectly calm! You’re the one being an asshole!” He doesn’t mean it. “You’re not getting that cup.” “You said I’d get it back!”“I lied.”“You--!” Yosuke starts struggling again, getting angry.And, to be honest, Yu was starting to get irritated too. “I’m not letting you up until you calm down.”“Good luck.” Yosuke yanks his arm away, and it slips out of Yu’s grip. He takes the opportunity to escape, trying to bolt from the opening.“No!” Yu swears, immediately throwing all of his body weight onto Yosuke and pinning him down, stopping him halfway onto the floor.Yosuke exhales and groans, angry that his plan was thwarted.Yu notices that he’s started panting.“Get off of me.” He spits.“Only if you promise not to move.” Yu gets a hold of his other arm again and holds it down.“No.”“Guess I won’t then.” They stay like that for a few minutes, the tension in the room so thick it could only be cut by one of the knives in the butcher shop downtown.Until Yosuke gets uncomfortable enough and has trouble breathing. “Fine.” Finally. “Do you want me to get up?”“Yes. You’re crushing me.”Yu tries to sound as calm as he can. “Okay, but when I get up you have to stay right here.”“Why?”“I don’t want you making a run for it.”“Fine.”Yu isn’t sure he should trust him, but he was getting tired of holding him down. “Alright.” He starts to push himself up, slowly, should he have to suddenly tackle Yosuke to the floor.When he gets up, Yosuke doesn’t move or speak, only stares angrily at him.“Don’t move.”“But this way of laying is uncomfortable.”“I don’t care. Stay.” Something about this situation reminds Yu of the way he used to talk to his old dog. It was amusing, in a way. He slinks back towards the kitchen counter, keeping an eye on his friend--not his dog--the whole way. Before Yosuke can get an idea of what he’s doing, he grabs the partly-full coffee pot and mug--and dumps them into the sink.That makes Yosuke sit up. “What the hell?! What are you doing?!”“Getting rid of the coffee so you can’t drink it.”“Why would you do that?!”“Well, for one, we won’t have anything fo fight over and--”Yosuke starts speaking in hysterics. “Of course we have something to fight over! You just poured that out! I need it to stay awake!”“Be quiet!” Yu snaps. “You’re shouting. You’re going to wake Nanako up.”Yosuke’s shoulders sink after realizing what he was doing.“Calm down. You’re not going to die if you sleep, and even if you have to see it you won’t be harmed. You’ll just have to come to terms with some things.”He mulls it over before giving up and laying back down, a bit more comfortably than before. You lost your will to fight fast, didn’t you? “It’ll be alright.” Yu starts to make his way back to Nanako’s room, to check and see if she heard anything from either of them, but he’s stopped by Yosuke talking again. “I can’t sleep.”Yu turns back to him. “You can’t even tell that yet.”“You don’t get it. When I close my eyes I see something.”“Something like what?” Yu decides it would be best for him to stay, and goes back to the couch, sitting on an armrest.Yosuke closes his eyes again, thinking. “My Shadow.”“How?”“I don’t know!” He snaps. “If I knew why he wouldn’t have any reason to be there!” That doesn’t make any sense. “You’re just seeing it because you’re tired. Calm down, it’s not really there.”“Yes it is!” Yosuke starts to panic. When he opens his eyes and they land on Yu, he jumps. “He’s right there!” Just how sleep deprived are you? Yu looks around to check, unsurprised to find nothing but them in the room. “Yosuke, nothing’s here.”Yosuke makes a strangled sound and throws an arm over his eyes, breathing heavily. “Oh God, am I already asleep?! No no no this can’t be happening I’m not ready for this I c--”“Yosuke!” Yu leans forward, putting a hand on Yosuke’s arm and trying to bring him back down in any way he can. “You’re not asleep yet. Do you think you might have a fever? That might explain why you’re hallucinating.”“I’m not hallucinating!” After a moment of silence, he sighs. “Why don’t you believe me?”“Because I don’t see anything here and you’ve only gotten twenty minutes of sleep in the past twenty-four hours.”“So?”“Go to sleep.”“You and I both know I can’t do that.” He admits, pitifully.“Yes you can. Or else…” Yu pulls Yosuke’s arm up, surprising him and causing him to look up at him.“Or else what?”“Or else I’ll knock you out and put you to sleep myself.” He speaks aggressively, but gently sets his arm back down.“You’re going to hurt me if I don’t go to sleep?”“Yes. But you can stop me from having to do that if you just go to sleep now.”“I can’t…”Yu groans, irritated that after all this time they still haven’t gotten anywhere, and at this rate he’ll be passing out way before Yosuke does. This wasn’t a time for rationality, but he comes up with an idea that may or may not be seen through instantly. “Fine. If you’re not going to sleep yet, how about we watch another movie?”Yosuke uncovers one eye. “Don’t tell me it’s another one of those boring murder case documentaries your uncle has.”“Actually, it isn’t. And those are mine, by the way.” Yu gets up, finding his discarded bag on the floor and pulling it up. “You remember when I had to talk to Chie today?”“Yea-- is that one of her movies?”Yu waves the case at him, smiling. “Yeah, the one she was telling us about before she kicked you in the face.”Yosuke groans in response.“Hey, I thought the movie kind of fit the theme for everything you’ve got going on… And I’m still surprised you didn’t have that bad of a bruise.”Yu doesn’t get anything after that, so he quietly puts the movie in and starts it. A quick glance at the time on the DVD menu tells him that it’s a bit past four in the morning. He sighs. Even if he got to sleep right after he sat down he would still have to get up in a few hours, dead tired.After turning the lights off in the living room, Yu goes back to the couch, uncomfortably sitting in the space that Yosuke vacated for him. At least he’s still laying down… although taking up two cushions. “Are you okay?” He asks. “Still hallucinating?”“...Yes.”Yu looks at him, trying to think of something to say. He’s never had to help someone who was hallucinating; he hadn’t even experienced it himself. “Just try to focus on the movie. Remember, it’s not real unless I see it too.” He pats Yosuke’s leg reassuringly, and Yosuke tenses up for a moment before smiling slightly in response.  Over an hour into it, Yu started to wonder if the constant shouts from the children in the movie would ever stop. Maybe he had chosen the wrong one, it was extremely childish, but Yosuke didn’t seem to mind. In fact, it was only towards the end of the movie when a group of children were celebrating with their “assigned spirits” that Yosuke --who had been mostly silent the entire time-- says anything.“Hey… thanks.” He says, yawning.“Hmm?” Yu muses, half asleep with his head resting on the couch’s armrest. He had been almost certain that Yosuke was already asleep by now.“For staying up with me… And inviting me over… I know I don’t deserve it and I know I’ve been a pain in the ass… But thank you… I couldn’t have asked for a better partner…” He trails off, seeming to finally be falling asleep.Yu isn’t sure how to respond, struck with feelings from Yosuke’s sudden honesty. Was he even supposed to respond? Probably not. He smiles and turns the TV volume down instead. He waits until the movie goes to the credits and he’s certain that Yosuke’s sound asleep before getting up and quietly getting blankets from upstairs. When he returns, he half expects Yosuke to be awake again, but he isn’t.Yu unfolds one of the blankets and softly drapes it over Yosuke in the same way he had done for Nanako earlier, only putting much more effort into not waking him up.After that, he quietly lays down on the floor beside the couch, covering himself up with the other blanket he brought. After checking one more time to make sure Yosuke was still asleep, he quickly falls asleep himself.  Waking up not long before his alarm was set to go off, Yu expected the amount of sunlight flooding the room. But, he didn’t expect to find Yosuke’s arm hanging off of the side of the couch, his hand holding onto Yu’s sleeve.Eliciting a slight blush from Yu, he decides against moving it, or even speaking of it as to not make Yosuke uncomfortable. He goes back to sleep, a bit happier than before.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Yosuke had meant to bombard Yu with all of his questions shortly after they had both woken up, as to not let them send him into an overthinking frenzy all day, but the timing had been all wrong. With Yu waking up grumpy and with Nanako around them nearly all morning, he wasn't able to find the time to ask anything. Nanako would've asked what he was talking about and neither of them would've been able to explain anything in a way that she would understand. That would've pissed Yu off even more, and he likely would've shoved Yosuke out of the house on the spot.So, Yosuke manages to catch Yu after school, when he's certainly feeling better, after the last bell rings and before Yu is able to get up to leave. Tapping Yu on the shoulder, Yosuke cringes at the time he takes to turn around, until calm grey eyes meet brown. Inwardly sighing, Yosuke smiles. "Hey, do you have a minute?"Yu shakes his head, instantly causing Yosuke's nerves to start acting up again. "No, not really. I'm supposed to play in the soccer game today, I'm sorry.""Don't apologize! You can't help that." Yosuke attempts to hide his disappointment. "I just had a few questions I wanted to ask.""Oh, well if you want, you can come to the game and we can talk after it's over, maybe?" No . It was a decent option, but he wasn't about to wait even longer to get the answers to questions that had been burning a hole in his stomach since this morning. "Sorry... I can't wait that long. I kinda need to ask you now...""Hmm?" Yu leans forward slightly, concerned. "Is it that serious? Is everything okay?""No, no, nothing like that." Yosuke stands abruptly, already feeling guilty for worrying him. "It's nothing bad, and you said you had a game to go to, right? I could probably ask you while you walk to the field.""Oh, okay. We can do that." Yu grabs his belongings and gets up as well, starting to lead the way. When they get to the hallway (mostly empty from other students leaving to watch the game), he speaks again. "So, what is it?"Yosuke takes a moment just to breathe. He didn't have anything too serious to ask, and the answers he might receive were what really worried him. "Did I... act weird or anything like that last night? I was so tired I don't really remember much, and I'm really sorry if I did something really stupid.""No?" Yu looks taken aback by his question. "I mean, you freaked out at one point because you were terrified of seeing your Shadow and you thought you saw it in the room with us. And you drank so much coffee I had to actually stop you from drinking any more, but I didn't think any of it was you being weird. Just tired.""Oh, good..." Yosuke's worry is only slightly resolved. That's so embarrassing. But is that really everything? "I was just wondering because I woke up with these purple marks on my arms that I know weren't there before..." He pulls up the sleeve on his right arm to show Yu one of the bruises.Yu's eyes widen, but not in surprise or anger...
He knows.
Yu stops walking to take Yosuke's arm and look. "I'm so sorry, this is my fault. I really didn't think I grabbed you that hard...""You grabbed me?! What happened?!""I... had to physically stop you from drinking more coffee." Yu cringes, his face pale. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't trying to hurt you. I would never do that intentionally, please know that.”Yosuke doesn’t know how to react, other than by taking his arm back and putting the sleeve back down. “...What did you do?”“All I did was hold you down by your arms so you couldn’t get up. That was it, I’m sorry… And now you have more bruises because of me...” That’s what you’re so upset about? “They’ll heal. You didn’t mean it, right?”“I didn’t. God, I feel like I’m going to get sick.” Yu turns away, walking again, briskly.Yosuke falls into step beside him. “Why? Is it about the game?”“I don’t give a damn about the game. I hate that I hurt you and I’m just now hearing about it.”The calmness that Yu had just a few minutes ago has disappeared, and Yosuke knows it’s his fault. Luckily, they were almost at the exit to the fields, and they could forget this ever happened after the game. “Hey, if it helps, it doesn’t really hurt to touch. It’s just ugly.” Yosuke chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.“And that ugliness is there because of me.” Yu spits.“You didn’t know this would h--” Yosuke pauses after noticing Daisuke and Kou walking their way. Perfect. He waves at the two, who wave back and come to a stop in front of him and Yu. “I was wondering where you were!” Daisuke addresses Yu. “For a minute I thought you were bailing on the game.”“You know I wouldn’t ditch a game. I just wanted to talk to Yosuke on the way here.” Yu talks as if nothing had happened, as if he wasn’t just fuming over hurting Yosuke by accident.And Yosuke notices, but doesn’t say anything.“You know you can just talk to him after, right? It’s not like he’s gonna disappear in the hour or two you’re on the field.” Kou teases.Yu shrugs. “Yeah, but I got the impression he was going straight home so I felt like talking to him.”“He’s not coming to watch the game?”
I wonder if this is how Yu feels when I’m talking to my Shadow about him. Explains why he gets so irritated. Maybe if I told him to talk more he wouldn’t--
“Hey? Earth to Yosuke?” Kou snaps him out of his thoughts.“What?”“I asked if you were going to watch the game today. You’d get to see how bad Yu is with passing.”“Oh. Nah, maybe next time.” Yosuke waves him off. He’d rather not sit on the bleachers surrounded by people he doesn’t know to watch a game he doesn’t fully understand. And with how noisy it was past the building? There was no way he could find a space to be by himself.“Why not?” Daisuke asks.“I’m not a fan. And don’t you have a game to get ready for? They’re probably waiting for you.” Yosuke makes a feeble attempt to get everyone to go away.“Okay, you’re right. We’ll drag you along to watch next time, though.” Daisuke murmurs a ‘see ya’ before nodding to Yu and walking outside with him. Leaving Yosuke alone… with Kou.“Aren’t you playing?” He asks. He was ready to leave the very moment Yu and Daisuke left.“Nope, I’m on the basketball team. I don’t remember if I told you yesterday or not, though.”“Oh.” Awkward silence… “I’ll uh, I’ll see you later, maybe.” Yosuke makes it a point to turn away at the end of his sentence.“Hey, hold on.”He cringes internally. “What?”“Do you want to come with me and watch? I know you’re not interested but it gets boring up there when they’re not doing anything.” Kou smiles, likely out of pity.Yosuke almost considers it, but he didn’t come to school prepared for this. He was only running off of a few hours of sleep. “Sorry, but I’m not really mentally prepared to go, if that makes any sense.” Of course it doesn’t. Nobody’s ever understood this. “Mentally… prepared? It’s just watching a game..?”Yosuke studies Kou’s face carefully, in case he starts teasing him about that as well. “I don’t know… It’s more like, I didn’t prepare myself to sit somewhere by myself surrounded by other people that’d make jokes about me or think I’m weird for being by myself and without friends? When everyone that watches the games sits with their friends and has fun the entire time?” He admits. “I’d rather go home, honestly.”“Oh, that’s a lot to process…” Kou trails off, lost in thought for a moment. “But I get it. You could’ve sat with me if it would’ve helped, but I’m not going to force you to.” He was an option? But it doesn’t matter. There were too many people there, even if he wasn’t alone. “Yeah… Today isn’t good for me but maybe next time I’ll watch with you?” He asks, hopefully.Kou nods. “Sure! But to be honest, if we won tonight, I was gonna drag Daisuke and Yu out to Aiya’s to celebrate, on me of course.”“That sounds nice.” What are you telling me for? “Yeah, and if you had gone to watch I would’ve dragged you along too. But…” Kou pauses, reaching into his back pocket. “... Since you’re not going I’ll just have to ask you to come meet us there after the game instead.” What? Yosuke is taken aback by Kou’s plan. “What if we don’t win, though?”“Easy.” Kou takes his phone out from his pocket and taps the screen a few times before handing it to Yosuke. “Give me your phone number. I’ll be able to text you and tell you to come or not.”“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Yosuke nervously takes the phone and quickly adds his number to the contacts before giving it back. “I don’t want to make you pay for all of us.”“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I don’t do this all the time so it’s not like you’re gonna ruin my savings or something.”“Are you sure?”‘Yeah man, just make sure you don’t wander too far away, okay? I’ve gotta go, but I’ll let you know later.” Kou bounds away towards the field, leaving Yosuke dumbfounded. Why would Kou do that for him? They had only just properly talked yesterday! In no world should Kou already have his number and be inviting him out with his friends. And pay for his food, no less!Although, thinking about it, that’s pretty much what Yosuke had done with Yu after they met. But that was much different. Kou didn’t even owe him anything. Yosuke barely manages to make it to the shoe lockers before accidentally running into someone.Someone who swears as soon as it happens, followed by a “Watch where you’re goin’, idiot!”Yosuke jumps back instantly, having to look up at the person just to make eye contact and apologize. “Sorry! It was an accident!”The person, however? Scary. He was obviously a student at Yasogami, most likely a third year, who didn’t wear his uniform correctly and had hair so blond it was obvious he dyed it. Of course Yosuke would notice that, he dyed his hair too.“Whatever.” The person grunts, walking past Yosuke and down to the club hall. Oh, thank God. Yosuke sighs, before leaving the building and making his way home.  Luckily, his father wouldn’t be getting home until later in the night, giving Yosuke a bit more time to think of a half-decent excuse for why he didn’t come home the night before. Studying? Helping out with Nanako? He could ask Yu to help him think of something, and he quickly found himself slightly hoping that they would win so he could talk to him in person again today. So, when his phone buzzes not long after that, he reflexively grabs it and prays it’s something good.
Hey its kou. I hope you dont mind but I gave your number to daisuke too just in case
And good news! Were going to aiyas and youre welcome to come too
Yosuke’s nearly already out the door after reading that. But he has to make sure first.
do yu n daisuke mind if i go?
Nah I asked if they wanted you to come and theyre both looking forward to it
It’s not much confirmation that he’s not being a bother, but it’s good enough.
o gud
im omw
 Yosuke makes it to Aiya’s in record time (even in the sudden downpour outside), only to find the other three boys already sitting at the counter having already placed their orders.“Hey…” He begins, walking up to them. “I didn’t know I was late...”“Oh, hey.” Daisuke, the closest person to Yosuke, greets. “You’re not late, we just ordered right after we got here because someone wanted to try the mega beef bowl challenge before it stops raining. And speaking of him, Yu, trade seats with me.” He gets up and swaps seats with Yu, who had initially been sitting in between Kou and Daisuke.“Hop on up! You can probably order something now and get it when the rest of us get ours.” Kou grins at Yosuke, putting him slightly at ease.“Okay…” Yosuke gets up onto the stool to Yu’s right, getting a smile from the other. “Hey.”“Is everything alright?” Yu asks quietly.“Oh, yeah. For now, at least.” Yosuke answers.“Do you know what you want? As long as it’s not ridiculously expensive I don’t really care.” Kou reminds him.“Yeah, ridiculously expensive as in “there’s no way I’m paying for that if Yu can’t finish it”.” Daisuke adds, teasing Kou.“Ah, well, luckily I’m not really that hungry so I’ll just get the standard chicken and rice bowl.”Kou gives Yosuke a knowing side-eye. “You’re not just ordering that because it’s cheap, are you?”Yosuke sits up straighter in surprise. “No? Well, not entirely...”“Are you sure about it?”Yosuke nods.“Alright.” Kou calls someone over from behind the counter to place the order and add it to their queue. While waiting for their food (which doesn’t take very long), the four make idle chatter, talking about tests in the next week while filling Yosuke in on all of the details regarding the soccer game he missed. When the food arrives, they each eat happily, with Daisuke and Yu eating much quicker than normal.It isn’t until everyone but Yu is finished that their chatter starts to die down a bit, Daisuke turning to talk to Kou instead and Yu taking it as an opportunity to talk to Yosuke.“You know,” he begins, continuing to eat from his beef bowl, “Kou told me why you didn’t want to come.”“Yeah?” Yosuke asks disappointedly. He figured Kou would blab about it at some point, but not this soon. “Are you mad at me?”“No? Why would I be? I honestly expected you to want to go home and take a nap or something anyway.”“Oh, good, because that’s what I did.” Yosuke grins, and Yu chuckles in response.“Was everything alright when you got home?”Yosuke stares forward, dropping his grin. “Yeah, it was alright, My father was still at work, but my mom asked where I was.”“What’d you tell her?”“That I just went to a friend’s house for the night. She seemed surprised that I had a friend more than anything.”“She doesn’t know about your friends yet?” Yu was mostly done eating now, he hadn’t been able to finish the mega beef bowl and was already mentally preparing himself for the check.“Not really. It’s hard to bring it up, and I already know my father won’t believe that I spent the night at your house just for the hell of it.”“Oh. You could tell him you came over for a school project and just stayed the night because it was late when we finished.”“Then he’s gonna ask what school project and want to see it.” Yosuke rests his head on the bar, already aware that randomly leaving for the night was a bad idea.“Too bad we turned it in today. Why do you think you had to suddenly come over yesterday? We procrastinated until the last minute and had to get it done. You don’t even have to tell him we’re friends. We were just assigned as partners for the project.”Yosuke turns his head to look up at Yu, smiling. “You really think of everything. Thanks, Partner.”“No problem. And by the way... I know you’re still hungry. I can see it in your face.” Yu shoots him a devilish look, something nobody gets to see very often.“You can what?” Yosuke nearly makes a movement to cover his face, but continues looking up out of confusion.“I can just see it, that’s all. No need to question it. And guess who happens to have a bowl full of food…?”It’s tempting. “Dude, you don’t win the challenge by sharing it with someone else.”“That’s true, but I’ve already accepted having to pay for it.” Yu hangs his head in shame. “There’s no way I’ll finish it, it feels like if I eat any more I’ll get sent to the Meat Dimension.”“Now you’re just being dramatic.” Yosuke deadpans. “Are you sure you can’t finish it?”Yu glances at his bowl, slightly less than half full. “Definitely not. If only there was someone who could do it for me…”“I’m not gonna eat after you!” That was decidedly the wrong thing to say, as Yosuke’s stomach grumbles immediately after saying it.“And waste all of this food? Chie would beat you up on the spot if she heard about this.”“Yeah, but she’s not the one telling me to eat it.”“And it’s different because it was originally mine? ”“A little bit…” Yosuke can’t make eye contact with Yu, who laughs at him.“At least try it.” Yu suggests, gently pushing his bowl towards Yosuke.He would eat, but… “What if somebody sees this? They might get the wrong idea!” Yosuke whispers.Yu, unfazed, simply takes Yosuke’s now empty bowl and sets it in front of him instead. “There. Problem solved.”“But what if someone saw that? I mean, you’ve had this damn beef bowl the whole time!”Yu sighs, looking tired. “Yosuke, no one cares enough to remember who’s bowls are who’s. It’s okay.”“But-- fine.” Yosuke mumbles, picking his set of chopsticks back up. “...Is this okay, though?”Yu props his head up on his elbow on the bar as he talks. “Eat the rest of it for all I care. It’s still going to be three thousand yen gone.”“Okay… And you didn’t, like, lick your chopsticks or something weird like that while you ate?”“No? You might think I’m weird enough to do that but I’m not.”Yosuke nods before hesitantly picking up a piece of beef and trying it. It’s not long before he starts to ignore everyone else and eat, allowing him to think about the situation at hand.This was Yu’s food. Not something he made himself (if it was, Yosuke would’ve died on the spot when asked if he wanted some), but just something he had ordered. That he ate out of. Yosuke never paid that much attention during science classes but he was fairly certain that this wasn’t exactly the gold standard of sanitary. It didn’t help that he was invited here by his closest friend and two of his other friends for probably no reason other than wanting him to gain a few more people to consider friends. Just thinking about that confused him, but it wasn’t the point. What mattered here was that he was helping someone finish their food, even if the action did leave him with a pink tint on his cheeks. Once everyone’s meals were finished (or, barely finished in the mega beef bowl’s case) and the check was paid, the four of them loiter in the restaurant before deciding to brave the rain. Kou and Daisuke had immediately challenged each other to see who could get to their houses the fastest and left, after reminding Yosuke that they didn’t mind him being there, and that they might add him to the tradition of going to Aiya’s after a win. It was luck that the other two left first, because it gave the chance for Yu and Yosuke to have a conversation they had each been dreading. “So.” Yu begins, nudging Yosuke’s shoulder and listening to the rain outside, “are you going to be alright going home?”“I hope so.” Yousuke sighs, but then laughs. “If I need your help I can just ask you to talk to me on the phone or something. But we’d probably have to talk in codes.”“Hmm? Codes like what?”“I don’t know, uh, okay. If I send you the word ‘tofu’ in any context it’ll mean ‘come help me’.”“Tofu?” Yu raises an eyebrow in question. “What if you send it some other day asking me to get some but I get the wrong idea?”“That’s where I put some thought into it!” Yosuke flashes a grin, happy to have thought of something Yu wouldn’t guess. “I think I told you before, but I don’t eat tofu. So you don’t have to worry about that.”“Oh… that’s clever.”Yosuke makes a happy sound, followed by him clearing his throat in the hopes that Yu didn’t hear it.But, he did. Smiling to ignore the pit of worry in his stomach, Yu says his goodbyes after telling Yosuke to text him the result later.  Luckily, Yu doesn’t have to worry for long, after getting a message from Yosuke later that night saying “no prblm here, dad bleved tht project stry n said he ws glad im finally wrking @ scool”It was insulting, but better than what it could’ve been.
”I’m glad. Don’t hesitate to use that excuse again if you sneak out some day ;)”
Did he have to add that emoji? No, but he meant it as a joke and felt obligated to.
”prbly nvr gonna use tht unless im wth u ;)”
”gnite partner”
What?! What had he meant by that?!
”Good night.”
”;)”
For good measure.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Hey, have you heard what people are saying about the new guy?” Yosuke asks over lunch a few days later.

Yu nods. “Kanji Tatsumi? Yeah, everyone’s talking about him.”

“Kinda like how they did with you when you first got here.”

“Did they? I guess I was too busy helping you out in those first few weeks to notice.” Yu nudges Yosuke’s leg playfully, to tell him he didn’t mean any of that seriously.

“I’m still sorry about that…” Yosuke almost curls in on himself remembering all the trouble he’s caused. “But that’s not why I asked about him.”

“Hmm?”

“What if we went to go talk to him ourselves? Maybe see what he’s really like? And this is totally not me trying to make another friend, but it is.” He winks to make his point.

“Did me introducing you to Kou and Daisuke suddenly make you interested in making more friends?” Yu asks hopefully.

“I guess?” Yosuke admits. “But I kind of feel bad for him, you know? He’s like me when I first got here.”

“Then if you want, we can try finding him after school to talk to him.”

“You’re okay with me dragging you along to see him?”

“Yosuke, there’s a lot of things I’m okay with you doing. This happens to be one of them.”

Despite the odd remark, Yosuke smiles anyway. “Okay! After school!”

Surprisingly, Kanji isn’t hard to find. He’s standing by a board near the music club room when Yosuke and Yu approach him.

“Hey, can we talk to you for a minute?” Yosuke asks cautiously. From what he’s heard, Kanji’s either in a random biker gang or part of a yakuza. It’s best not to set him off…

“Aren’t you the kid who ran into me yesterday? What do you want?”

Yosuke feels a flush of embarrassment. “Yes, but I’m just here to talk to you today.”

“About what?”

“Um…” He hadn’t actually thought of what to say past this point.

Kanji seems to get angrier by the second. “Oh, you want me to tell you if I think your friend here is cute or something, don’t you? I’ll tell you what, you can--”

“That’s not it at all!” Yosuke interrupts, more embarrassed than before. “I-I just wanted to ask if any of those rumors are true. Are you really in a gang?”

“Why should I answer to you just so you can make up some new rumor about me the second I answer? Screw you.” Kanji storms off, leaving the other two confused.

“All I did was ask him a question…?”

“You didn’t ask him the right way. People have probably been asking about those things ever since he got here this morning.” Yu tells him.

“Where was this knowledge

before

I came up here? And why didn’t you say anything?” Yosuke can’t help but be a

little

mad.

“I didn’t think I needed to? Besides, maybe we should give him some space for a while. He seemed like he was bothered enough already.”

“Yeah... “ Somehow Yosuke finds himself feeling disappointed.

Over the next week, the two attempt to interact with Kanji whenever they see him. Partly so he’ll hate them less, but also because of Yosuke’s sympathy for him. He swears he’ll be a part of their friend group soon enough.

However, eventually Yu gets busy. It starts with helping Yukiko at the inn after school two days in a row, but then evolves into him constantly running errands for people around town or spending the day with friends individually every afternoon.

Every friend except for Yosuke.

And Yosuke’s okay with this. He tells himself that it’s fine, that it’s okay. Yu just happens to be closer to way more people than he is (and in his opinion, he’s only really close to Yu and maybe Chie and Kou if he was stretching it). Yu’s allowed to have friends. Yosuke doesn’t have to be jealous every time he’s not who Yu wants to talk to.

But he can’t help it. Yu is spending more and more time with other people and declining to hang out with Yosuke any chance he gets. He even stops talking to him during class and ignores him during lunch.
 
It’s weird after this goes on for two weeks straight. What could possibly be so interesting about all these other people that Yu can’t even take a minute to talk to him? Was it something he said? Was it because he was trying to befriend Kanji and someone said something bad to Yu about it?

There’s no way for Yosuke to find out. Yu doesn’t answer his calls and rarely returns his texts.

For all he cares, it starts to feel like things are going back to the way they were all those months ago, with Yosuke only going to school, then work, then home as if he were on autopilot all day long.

He doesn’t talk to Chie or Yukiko as often anymore because they’re always doing something with Yu after school, and he hasn’t necessarily spoken to Kou or Daisuke except for declining their offers to go to Aiya’s after a win. Half the time Yu can’t make it to those either.

At least maybe he has Kanji to talk to? Sure he doesn’t want to talk half of the time, but he’s starting to seem like he doesn’t mind Yosuke all that much.
 
On one of the rare occasions that King Moron is late to school, Chie adresses her main three friends in the room. “You guys remember the yearly nature trip? It’s next week, on the sixteenth.”

“Already?” Yukiko asks. “It feels like we were just there yesterday.”

“What nature trip?” Yosuke butts in.

“Oh, right, you two weren’t there. Every year the school goes to the mountains for three days and helps with volunteer work. A lot of people I know completely skipped though…” Yukiko finishes.

“You forgot the best part, Yukiko! We all camp there for a few nights and all of the cooking is up to us.” Chie eyes Yosuke. “That means you’d better bring some steaks for us to cook or use your employee discount so we can get ingredients for curry this year.’

“Why me? Can’t you just get Yu to make something nice while we’re there?” There’s something off putting about mentioning Yu when they’ve barely spoken.

“We could, but me and Yukiko want to try making a curry that’s way better than the one last year.”

“What happened last year?”

“You don’t want to know. But I promise nobody died!”

Next week, huh?

Yosuke thinks to himself that evening.

Maybe by then Yu will be talking to me again. I hope. It’s not like there’s anyone else I’d be okay sharing a tent with.