“Now you see, don’t you?! Nobody gives a shit about me, except you.”The shadow spoke. “You make me feel special. You make me forget how much of a DISAPPOINTMENT i am” He continued, watching his other self cling to her.
“But in the end, they’ll never see me as any more than a loser.” he finished, laughing.
Yosuke was mildly conscious, but not enough to register his shadow’s comments. His memories from the last several hours were a blur, completely useless for solving the case. He clung to Rebecca, craving the affection she was giving him in his incoherent state
After around 40 minutes, the rest of the investigation team finally joined them. Shadow Yosuke seemed to have taken great pleasure in their appearance.
“Then they can go fuck themselves! You are special, Yosuke! They just refuse to see it…”
Rebecca couldn’t help but respond, upset and furious at how Yosuke’s friends treated him. She gently brushed stubborn hair out of his face again, just holding onto him for now.
While they waited, she had to readjust her legs a little to keep them from getting numb. Though with how her right foot seemed to have fallen asleep, it was a little pointless. She grumbled a little under her breath about it before the team finally burst into the room.
The fury clearly written on her face likely took them off guard, and she held Yosuke protectively in one arm with her naginata having been retrieved and held in her other hand.
She glared at them in silence, her headset on her ears making it perfectly clear that she heard everything from the monitor not far away.
Yosuke was in no condition to talk, and as such, he didn’t verbally answer her. Instead, his response was to cling to her, shivering and craving contact
Meanwhile, visible on the Tv screen, The investigation team had climbed through a couple floors, but they were stopped by some strange voices.
First, was Yosuke’s voice, he sounded very excited “Hey guys, i finally found the one! i have a girlfriend now!”
Next, was Chie’s, sounding distorted ‘A girlfriend? You? You’re kidding us. nobody would date a disappointment like you!’
Then, Teddie, even more distorted ‘There’s no way Yosuke scored before me!’ Finally, Kanji’s voice, almost unrecognizable ‘Senpai are you okay, you’re talking crazy!’
When the last voice faded, Shadow Yosuke’s voice could be heard “You couldn’t even be happy for me, could you. NONE OF YOU GIVE A SHIT!!!” He exclaimed, the voice fading after that.
Unfortunately for the Lovebirds, the TV had Audio, which meant that they heard every word that the investigation team said, with Yosuke visibly wincing.
Was this how the team reacted when he told them about her? What kind of ‘friends’ were these?!
Rebecca wrapped warm, gentle arms around Yosuke’s head as he laid there, laying small kisses on his forehead in hopes of comforting him. Quietly, she spoke to him, brushing some hair out of his face.
“I’m sorry that they couldn’t accept that you were happy, ‘Suke… You deserve so much better…”
All they could really do was wait until the team made their way up to the top at this point. Though, when she sniffed a little, something smelled off.
“…’Suke? Something smells sweet by your mouth. It’s faded somewhat but I can still smell it.”
Chloroform then…? Drugged at the very least… Fury welled up in Rebecca’s stomach at that thought, and she hugged her boyfriend a little tighter, yet still gently.
Yosuke gripped his Kunai tightly. The only thing keeping him from running off, something that he was incredibly tempted to do, was what she said ‘shitty broken gaijin? the hell did she mean by that?’. Those words put him off, distracting him long enough for the remaining members of the investigation team to catch up.
“Damnit! I should have saved her! Becca…she doesn’t deserve this shit” He said, almost running away from them again. Becca was supposed to be the one person who didn’t know about the tv world, she was his getaway, making this incident very personal to him
“If you’re gonna yell at me to stop running ahead of you guys, why don’t you just hurry your own asses up?!” he shouted, as they ran through the dungeon
The dungeon from then on was almost deathly silent before a small voice, a child’s, spoke up when they neared the stairs.
“Auntie, Auntie, I think she’s broken! She’s not listening to me at all!”“Shut up, I’m not broken!” “What a shameful child, being out in public like she is!” “What the hell is wrong with you people?! I just wanted a snack! I’m only eight, leave me alone!”
The voices cut off after that, leaving the unfamiliar school hallway near silent once more. The implications of what was said weighed heavily in the foggy air.
The only place to go was up the stairs to the next floor.
“Welcome to our world. Where the outsiders go and the gaijin get dumped in the trash.”
Yellow eyes gazed at him from underneath a blonde fringe, strands pulled back tight in a neat bun. The Shadow stood up, her heels clacking on the floor as she approached Yosuke.
“Ah yes. The little hero has come to save us. The little shitty, broken gaijin. We’re so fucking honored.”
The Shadow spat, looking almost pained to even say that. Her outfit was one of a fancy business suit, the skirt abnormally long with shackles around her wrists.
She spun on her heel, walking halfway down the hallway before stopping.
“We’re not some little princess locked up in a tower. But give it your best shot anyway. We’d never be disappointed in you, Hero.”
And then she disappeared, presumably gone further in.
Rebecca watched her television in horror, the first time she had ever watched the Midnight Channel. Guilt pooled in her stomach, she should’ve gone with him, dammit!
The guilt had turned to fury by the time school came and went, and the team jumped into the TV to find Yosuke. Rebecca had nearly smashed open the door in protective fury. Then, she spotted her boyfriend’s shadow, marching right up to it and ignoring what the team yelled at her while she dragged her naginata behind her.
“Alright, let’s hear what you gotta say then. Lay it on us.”
Well, that was a lie… he had a pretty crystal clear idea of what was happening as he maneuvered his way through the twisted and overly exaggerated environment of the TV World, attention honed in on a possible breakthrough of uncharted territories than anything else. Frankly, he assumed there’d be no need to venture through yet another maze of repressed thoughts and conflicted feelings so soon after the team dealt with the latest obstacle (this time in the form of a melee tournament, really?) trying to disrupt their successfully acquired peacefulness, but fate always managed to find a way to bite him in the ass. It isn’t like complaining would do anything to change the predicament at hand, so he did his best to swallow the slight irritation trying to bubble over. This wasn’t about him right now.
He was merely a friend… a spectator… a chess piece that was tossed onto an unfamiliar playing field with only an electric guitar and keen senses at his disposal. Not much that could do in comparison to the far more experienced fighters among them, like Chie, Rise, and Yukiko… and his agility was basically sub-par compared to Haruka and Naoto, but Yosuke had to take a chance.
Rebecca was counting on him.
At least, he hoped she was.
“Defective trash, huh?” The idol spoke to no one in particular, watching the professionally dressed Shadow present herself in a manner that could only be deemed ‘formal’. Eerily enough, seeing her in such a state reminded him of his own, right down to the way she addressed him before vanishing all together. Swallowing heavily, and taking a moment to sweep an uneasy gaze across the ground floor of the dungeon, Yosuke made an attempt to process the situation. Between the scattered dolls whose broken limbs and vacant stares left an unmistakable lump in the pit of his stomach, and whispering winds that crept behind corners of empty hallways awaiting his presence, there was a lot going on here. A lot he needed to talk to Rebecca about after they got out of here. Together.
Fingers gripped tightly around the neck of his dungeon crawling designated guitar, he called out to the unknown before him. “For your information, the only trash I’ll be taking out are whatever shadows you think can actually hold me back from getting to Becca-chan!” A boastful exclamation, one he didn’t have much strength to support, but he’d be damned if he let that stop him!
He was a man with a mission, god damn it!
And with that, he charged forward into the abyss.
The first floor was as silent as a graveyard, the tapping of Hani’s shoes echoing through the hallways. There weren’t many Shadows, and the ones that were there could be passed by without much issue.
As soon as the idol neared the stairs, there was the sound of a young girl crying, a second young voice speaking.
“Auntie, I think she’s broken!”“I’m not broken-”“Auntie, you should get a new one!”“Shut up-! Leave Mama out of this-!”
The voices and the crying abruptly cut off, allowing Hani to ascend the stairs to the next floor. The next floor had a single room this time, a simple blonde-haired, sapphire-eyed barbie doll with a perpetual smile. The ears of the doll seemed to be slashed at and cut up however.
“Aren’t you supposed to be pretty? You’re a foreigner, aren’t you? Foreigner girls shouldn’t have muscles. What, are you just a dumb gaijin delinquent or something?”
Those simple words echoed in the room before going silent, the sound of a thrum, a heartbeat-like sound was the only thing that could be heard. There was the faint urge to pick up the doll once all went quiet.
A steady beat, almost like a heartbeat, thrummed through silver and blue hallways. Various broken dolls and figurines were scattered on the floor, the heads cracked, but the hair very visibly blonde.
A distinct, yellow-eyed figure elegantly sat on a seat in the middle of the very first room, a leg crossed over the other underneath her elaborate yet professional dress. Long, blonde hair was tied up in a tight braided bun, revealing faint scarring by her ears. She stood up, heels clacking on the floor and a grin on her freckled face as her eyes gleamed.
“So you’ve come. Now we can get started. Shall we~?”
All sound rumbling through the hallways abruptly cut off, leaving silence and any noise the team was making.
“Welcome to my reality. Where the defective trash comes and goes, everyone speaks and yet no one hears. Will you climb to the top and collect your obligation? I wonder about that… Have fun taking out the trash~!”
Without another word, the Shadow disappeared with a barking laugh, echoing through the chillingly silent hallways of what seemed to be a twisted amalgamation of a school and a bakery.
Back in the Game 