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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 10, 2009 20:51:31 GMT -5
(OOC: Yet another thread between myself and Mugen, hence why it's Invite Only. If you want to join, a large knowledge of the Shin Megami Series in general is needed, and you need to PM either Mugen or myself for permission.)
At the Radio Shack in El Grande Mall, there was a bit of an incident going on. A store clerk who had been hired only recently had been found dead, hanging from a telephone pole. At the time, he was undergoing autopsy, while what family he had on the island that they could determine was being contacted. Consequentally, the Radio Shack had to be closed that day, due to investigations hoping to find clues on this strange killer who hung his victims from tall objects.
So when a young teenaged boy stepped over the police tape to get a better look at the scene, he was understandably surrounded and told to leave.
"My name is Naoto Shirogane. I'm a detective who has dealt with these kind of cases before, and it's possible that the perpetrator of these crimes is the same as the ones from back in my home dimension. Please allow me to help with the investigation," Naoto said.
Nearby, Souji, K1, Yuugi, Atem, Minato, and Naoya were all approaching the Radio Shack, only to find it blocked off by large amounts of police tape and officers. Adachi was absent, thankfully for him.
"Looks like we can't get in," Minato said. Souji sighed.
"How are we supposed to get any--" Souji stopped as he heard a familiar voice from inside the Radio Shack.
"So the video footage of the attack is missing, just like with the first death?" Naoto asked.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 10, 2009 21:02:04 GMT -5
Atem and Yuugi were both a bit surprised at the display. Atem had pieced together Souji's panic, but Yuugi had only really been able to figure someone was in trouble thanks to Adachi. While both of them were usually better at things than this, they were also both tired. Atem was probably only awake thanks to his rather large stubborn streak. Yuugi could tell he was tired, as could Naoya. However, to the less observant/attached of the group, he just seemed like he was intensely focusing on something.
Naoya remained quiet as he walked with the group. It wasn't that he was scared of Souji's display yesterday, although it was easy to misinterpert it as such. He was just in observation mode. Souji was somewhat hard to read, in a similar fashion to Minato except that Souji seemed to have a larger violent streak.
Atem looked over to Souji as he stopped, noticing the teen looking at something. He seemed mildly surprised, although Atem was willing to admit to at least himself that it could be a misread of the situation. He glanced over at Yuugi to make sure the shorter teen was focused on the situation before rubbing his eyes. Coming out today may have been a bad idea.
"Seta-kun, what's wrong?" Yuugi asked. He was focused on Souji, not the situation itself. Although he did seem to be glancing back and forth. Souji seemed focused on the teenage boy who had made his way past the police tape. He realized that the boy was wearing the same uniform as Souji, "Is he from your world?"
It did seem an awfully large coincidence for the teen to have an identical uniform, after all. Atem looked over and stifled a sigh. He had missed that, which was a painfully large indicator of how tired he was.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 10, 2009 21:31:22 GMT -5
"Yeah." Souji said, and walked over to the police tape. He looked around, and seeing that most of the police officers were distracted, climbed over the tape as well. Obviously, he didn't care about the police officers at the moment.
"Souji! What are you doing!?" K1 yelled.
"Talking to a friend. Give me a second," Souji said, before he was accosted by a few officers. Minato facepalmed. He had expected this to happen. Stupid Souji...
Naoto turned, and saw Souji having tried to get into the Radio Shack the same way he had, and sighed before walking over to the police officers.
"You'll have to excuse my friend," Naoto said. He grabbed Souji's arm and pulled him away from the police officers. "Please let me finish up here, Souji-kun. Then we can talk."
"I-- Right." Souji said. Looking back at the rest of the group, he climbed back over the police tape. An officer smirked at the scene before Naoto went back to asking questions about the scene.
K1 blinked.
"What was that about? And who was that anyways?" K1 asked.
"A friend from back home," Souji said. He waited patiently for Naoto to finish up before the boy came walking out of the Radio Shack, and climbed over the Police Tape.
"It's nice to see you again, Souji," Naoto said. He turned to the rest of the group. "My name is Naoto Shirogane. I'm a friend of Souji's from school."
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 10, 2009 21:41:19 GMT -5
Yuugi bowed, "I'm Mutou Yuugi, I'm from Domino City High School."
Atem nodded his head, having to set his feet to avoid going off balance from even a gesture as simple as that, "My name is Atem," it was basically impossible for Naoto to miss Atem's "ore" as opposed to Yuugi's "boku", even if he had never heard of their parent franchise his entire life.
"Are you a detective...? You seem kind of young..." Yuugi paused. Well, young people in positions of responsibility wasn't exactly unheard of. After all, Kaiba was only a little older than Yuugi thanks to where their birthdays fell. He wasn't even eighteen, let alone the twenty years considered to be adulthood in Japan, "I mean, I'm not trying to be rude!"
The other noticable aspect of Yuugi and Atem were the familiar cards sticking out of their left vest pockets. Well, and the fact that Atem looked like he was fighting falling asleep on his feet and the Pendant.
"I'm Kimura Naoya, and this is my cousin, Kimura Keiichi," Naoya stated flatly. His tone of voice was as unreadable a Naoto's tended to be. He did note that Naoto had a fairly high voice for his apparent age. Naoya was using "ore" as well, actually.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 10, 2009 22:05:02 GMT -5
K1 nodded. "Nice to meet you." He agreed with Yuugi, though. Naoto did seem rather young to be a detective.
"I'm a member of a long running line of detectives," Naoto explained. "I may be young, but I have solved several cases." He looked a little amused, and a little... insulted?
"Naoto helped me and my friends bring Adachi to justice," Souji explained. "Of course, he didn't stay that way."
Naoto raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 10, 2009 22:11:27 GMT -5
Yuugi looked at his feet as Souji made his comment about Adachi, looking pained and slightly upset as Souji finished up. Atem made no attempts to hide his frustration, and it was possible his level of exhaustion made his scowl even harsher than usual. He didn't answer Naoto's question for Souji, though. Souji had just said Naoto said, or at least implied, that Naoto was key to the case in his world. They were probably the ones who needed to catch up.
Naoya, on the other hand, found the conversation rather interesting. Unlike Yuugi or Atem, at least with how tired he was, Naoya had caught the moment of insult. It was the teen's problem if he was sensitive about his age, although Naoya doubted he was the type that would allow the police to screw themselves over at the refusal of his help. There was a level of observation to the teen that Naoya had not seen on the island. Despite a mostly disinterested look towards all but the conversation he was having with Souji, he could tell the boy was observing everything. It seemed straight out of one of those detective shows.
Yuugi glanced at Atem, clearly concerned. He blamed himself for letting the taller teen out of the house today. While he was tired, Atem was obviously more so. If he didn't rest now, what about when something actually came up? How long did a person need to recover from the TV World...?
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 10, 2009 23:04:19 GMT -5
Minato stepped forward. "This Adachi person apparently is a police officer on the island. We had to deal with some of his 'exploits' yesterday. He tossed our friend Atem here into the TV World." He sighed. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Minato Arisato."
Naoto's hand had clenched as Minato had said that. He didn't seem any happier about this than Souji had. "Adachi is supposed to be in jail. What's he doing here?"
"...The same thing we are, I guess," Souji said. "I think he's behind the murders here."
"...I have considered this. However, I don't think so," Naoto said. Now it was Souji's turn to look confused, along with K1. K1 had been sure that Adachi had been behind the weird murders, but now this famous detective was saying that wasn't the case. Seeing their confusion, Naoto continued. "This isn't Adachi's style. There were only two people Adachi actually killed, and the first was on accident. Granted, they were killed as he tried to rape them, but in any case, they were only killed because they would not form a relationship with him. As for Namatame, I am sure he was going to kill Namatame during the early hospital move so that Namatame couldn't reveal anything to get him in trouble. Same with Mitsuo; he pushed Mitsuo into the TV World because if Mitsuo fessed up to the killings, Adachi's game would end. The point is, Adachi doesn't kill for fun. He prefers to have other people kill for him, like what he tried to pull with Namatame. And I doubt a store clerk and an ice cream shop manager were dangerous enough to whatever plans Adachi had here to be killed by him. Besides, they found a cause of death for the manager, something Adachi's victims had missing."
He turned to Atem. "He must have found you enough of a danger to want to kill you, then."
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 10, 2009 23:15:23 GMT -5
Yuugi's eyes widened and he turned to Atem, "Do you think he knew about the Games of Darkness?"
Atem seemed like he hadn't heard Yuugi, but just before Yuugi was about to try to get his attention he nodded, "I think he's more aware of things than most give him credit for... he probably overheard the conversation you were having with Souji the day before he threw the... me into the television. It is also possible he is familiar with this anime people keep saying we're from."
"But... doesn't that mean its someone else?" Yuugi looked extremely worried. Atem held his hand up and massaged his temples. Yuugi was right, and if that was the case the problem was bigger than any of them had realized. Even himself. He'd made the mistake of assuming that since Adachi had thrown the Puzzle in, he was responsible for all the occurrances.
Atem looked up, "You might want to be careful, Naoto. Adachi got here before you, and although he seems to have vanished sometime after throwing me into the television, he still has senority among the police. However small it may be," he glanced at the cops, trying to get some kind of grasp on the situation. He wasn't even aware that he spun a little bit, nearly losing balance. That little speech, however, depicted Atem's distinct lack of honorific usage.
"Atem... are you sure you're going to be alright?" Yuugi was getting more concerned with each passing moment. And wasn't using honorifics for Atem.
Naoya remained silent. He was the type that let people make their own ropes from scratch. It was easier to hear if you weren't blabbering. Although by now Naoto may have noticed the man's distinct lack of input.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 10, 2009 23:43:38 GMT -5
Games of Darkness? Naoto thought to himself. The taller one, Atem, said that people kept saying they were from an anime, so it was possible that was something from their own universe. Naoto smiled. "I am not too worried. Adachi's smarter than to attack me outright, I am sure of this."
He noted the lack of honorific Yuugi used with Atem. Based on their very similar appearances (besides the height difference and the fact that Atem obviously got more sun than Yuugi), he'd have to guess that they were siblings.
"How long have you given yourself to recover after leaving the TV World, Atem-san?" Naoto asked. "If it hasn't even been a day, you will be exausted. You'll worry your brother that way."
Brother? K1 thought. "Um, Naoto-san... they're not brothers."
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 10, 2009 23:56:27 GMT -5
Ah, the joys of exhaustion. Yuugi blinked several times and turned to Naoto. Had the other teen just said...? He jerked his head over to K1, who seemed to be trying to approach the situation carefully without going into a full facepalm over the mistake. Even Naoya smirked a bit at the mistake. Ever so slightly, the kind of thing only Naoto would pick up on. Atem looked wearily over at K1 and shook his head, his eyes glancing over at Yuugi. If this conversation continued down the apparent path, it would fluster his partner more than was really necessary.
He slowly turned his head towards Naoto. He was worrying Yuugi, but he felt that staying behind would have worried the shorter teen more, "If you're wondering about the honorific, we're just good friends."
Yuugi looked immensely grateful at Atem's attempt at a save, and nodded far more than was normal. Sort of a "methinks he do doth protest to much" type of reaction. Atem hoped Naoto would at least drop it if he didn't buy it. It was clear Yuugi was still trying to sort through his feelings about what had happened in his TV World. The shorter teen was always careful around things like that, even with Anzu. And while he had chosen this life over the one in Ancient Egypt... he wasn't sure about things either.
"And I'll be fine," he stated. Not that he was fooling anyone. It was probably extremely clear it had been under a day. After being trapped there for two from what Yuugi said.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 11, 2009 0:14:30 GMT -5
"Ah," Naoto said. Well, that had been an epic mistake. "I'm sorry, I just assumed that because you two looked so alike, you were brothers."
"...it's really complicated," Minato said. It would be really hard to explain to Naoto the two of them's exact relations. As it was, though, Naoto could tell that Atem was obviously not okay, but the taller teen looked like he had the stubbornness of a mule. It didn't seem like it was possible to convince him otherwise. Souji facepalmed.
"We've gotten off track. The whole reason we came here was to check the TV World for any changes, but since the electronics store here is closed thanks to that clerk's death, we can't get into the TV World now," Souji said.
"There's probably another store somewhere in the mall," K1 suggested.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 11, 2009 0:35:05 GMT -5
Yuugi grinned nervously, "You have no idea... but Atem, he's right. You really should go back to the apartments..."
Atem looked like he was about to fight. But he looked away and sighed, "If you're going into the TV World again, you're right. But keep this with you," he was pulling out the deck from his vest pocket when he paused. Yuugi look confused, but realization crossed his face as he thumbed through the deck and pulled out three cards. Those behind Atem would see the cards, although it was only K1 who knew them.
Three cards, the text all in English with all capital letters. The red themed "SAINT DRAGON - THE GOD OF OSIRIS", the blue themed "THE GOD OF OBELISK", and the yellow themed, "THE SUN OF GOD DRAGON". He carefully pocketed the cards back into his vest and handed the deck to Yuugi. The shorter teen looked at the cards when he saw the... wait, Puzzle. He blinked, just now realizing that the scores that had indicated it was in may pieces were missing. In any case, it was hanging in front of his face.
"Huh?"
"Take it," Atem stated.
Yuugi looked extremely confused, "...Why?"
Atem sighed, "If you don't take it I won't go back."
Yuugi looked straight at the eye of the Pendant and back up at Atem. His worry seemed to lighten a bit and he grabbed it with both hands. Atem seemed relieved at not having to push the point but was surprised to see Yuugi pulling something from around his own neck. It was his turn to look surprised as Yuugi held out the silver cartouche. The hierogyphics engraved in it read "Atem" to anyone who could read them, although it as more a phonetic "Ahtimu" spelling than anything else.
"It is yours, after all," Yuugi said before Atem could object. Atem smiled softly and took it, looping it over his own head.
"Thank you," he looked up and realized the group was staring at them. He coughed, "I'll see you back at the apartment."
He turned around and walked off. At least his exhaustion hid any other emotions. He was grateful he wasn't the type to blush. Yuugi put the Pendant around his own head and looked at the group, "Um... what?" he stated, hoping to high heaven he wasn't blushing.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 11, 2009 4:58:24 GMT -5
Yuugi was blushing. Oh. Well that explained a lot. Naoto chuckled. Well, at least it didn't seem like one of those situations with Kanji. Now those had been fairly embarassing once Naoto found out what Kanji's shadow had been. Especially since Naoto hadn't been able to find out about any of it until Souji had told him; Kanji had been particularly evasive about the contents of it, but from what Naoto had been able to figure out about it, it involved guys.
"We should get going," Naoto said. "There should be another store nearby here with a large enough TV for us to enter the TV World through." Souji nodded, and the two of them lead the way, walking side by side.
"...Does anyone else get a kind of 'Yuugi and Atem' kind of vibe from them?" K1 asked.
"Let's just go." Minato said. He followed after Souji and Naoto.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 11, 2009 5:06:54 GMT -5
Yuugi in no way missed Naoto chuckle. Wonderful, just what he needed. He seemed to find something particularly fascinating about his shoelaces in his attempt to avoid looking anyone in the eye. He really really really hoped no one would say anything about it. He didn't even feel this nervous around Anzu. He saw the group walk off and fell into step behind them. He managed to shift his attention to the Pendant.
He was right, it wasn't comprised of "pieces" anymore. There were some grooves and such fitting with the design of the Pendant, but it wasn't a Puzzle. He glanced back towards where Atem had left towards. He wondered if it was somehow connected to Atem becoming his own entity again. Although that really created more questions than it solved. Why had the Puzzle repaired itself?
In any case, his focus behind him meant he wasn't watching where he was going. He was at least grateful for Naoto's gender. All the girls he could think of would have just made the situation awkward. Anzu would have probably suffered a broken brain. She liked Atem... Mai would have probably found it humorous. Far more than Naoto had. And Midori... oh lord. He hoped he didn't run into her again any time soon...
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 11, 2009 5:49:39 GMT -5
As Souji and Naoto led the way, they seemed to be on the lookout for any more large stores with TVs they could slip into. That was the problem with this place not being Junes. They didn't know exactly where to go to find TVs other than that Radio Shack they had before. As Souji thought this to himself, they passed that card shop from before. It still had that gaudy poster from before, but it looked like someone different was working the store today. And plus, they had a large TV set up for some purpose today.
K1 smirked. "Let's use their TV."
Naoto shook his head, though. "We need to enter the TV World secretly. We need somewhere we can enter in without much risk of being caught."
"...You haven't been here very long, have you Naoto-kun?" Minato asked. "They won't mind. Let's use it."
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