Chapter Text
Yosuke wished everything would’ve calmed down after Naoto had been rescued. The battle against her Shadow had been rough on everyone and it would do the Investigation Team some good to have a break to recuperate after. Unfortunately, that dream was crushed the moment he checked the forecast the day after she’d officially joined the team and realized the rain wouldn’t be stopping for the rest of the week. Rain meant the Midnight Channel would be airing constantly and that meant they were about to see another victim already.
Yosuke groaned as he picked at his lunch. He was dreading the Midnight Channel, but part of him wanted the day to just end already so he could see who would be on it. Since Naoto had gone on that show to talk about the murder cases, there hadn’t been anything on TV that would draw people’s attention. He wasn’t sure if the usual dull news reports would be enough to make someone appear on the channel. But if it did, would anyone on the team be able to tell who before they were thrown in?
“Something wrong, Yosuke?” Souji asked him. His partner was always good at noticing when something was bothering him. If he’d been any better at it, it would’ve crossed the line into being creepy.
“Not really. Just thinking about the Midnight Channel. It’s gonna be airing all week, so…” Yosuke trailed off. He was sure everyone else already knew what he was getting at.
“That’s true. There will probably be another victim soon.” Yukiko sighed as she glanced toward the rainy window.
“Yeah, and right after saving Naoto-kun too.” Chie sighed but then smiled. “But it’ll be fine. We haven’t failed at saving anyone yet, so if there’s another victim, I’m sure we’ll have no problems.”
“I agree. We’ll have to stay on our toes, but it’ll turn out alright.” Souji chipped in. Chie shot him an appreciative glance.
Yukiko seemed to relax at the two’s statements. “You’re right. We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves and start worrying so much.”
“Yeah.” Yosuke halfheartedly agreed, just so everyone knew he was still listening. It wasn’t that he disagreed with them, per say, but he just couldn’t quell the uneasy feeling eating at him. “It’ll be fine…”
—
“God, I hate walking in the rain.” Yosuke grumbled. He’d had even less success than usual trying to pay attention in class. At least it was over for the day and he could take a well-deserved nap at home.
“Stop your whining already.” Chie punched him in the shoulder, probably meaning it in a playful way (though Yosuke’s pain response greatly disagreed.) “We’ve got another four days of this, so man up already.”
Souji suddenly stopped in his tracks, attention somewhere besides Yosuke and Chie’s usual bickering, “Hey, guys, look.”
“Huh, what?” Yosuke followed Souji’s gaze to see a news crew filming in front of the school gates. “What’s that about? Nothing’s going on with the school, at least that I’m aware of.”
“I’m not sure. Maybe we could try listening in on them?” Yukiko suggested. Yosuke had long since lost faith in his teammates' stealth abilities, but he shrugged. Maybe this could get them a clue about what would be on the Midnight Channel.
The group approached the news crew while taking caution to avoid the line of sight of any cameras. Surprisingly, they managed to look unsuspicious in the process, simply appearing like curious students catching harmless glimpses.
“As concerns about the abnormal fog spread, we’d like to share some perspectives from the younger generation about these strange occurrences." One newscaster said. So that was it. Yosuke sighed, the people in this town really would put just about anything on TV these days. “Ah, perfect. Here’s a group of local students now.”
Suddenly, cameras and microphones were all being pointed toward Yosuke and his companions. A pit dropped in his stomach and he felt a sudden urge to make a run for it, though his feet stayed planted in place.
“What do you all think about the fog?” The chipper newslady asked, shoving her mic into their faces
“Huh? Uh, well…” Chie stammered, just as caught off guard as Yosuke was.
“It’s sorta creepy.” Yukiko half-mumbled, clearly unsure what was safe to say on TV.
“Really? What’s creepy about it?” The newscaster focused on Yukiko’s half-answer, trying to claw more out of her.
“Well, that’s—”
“I don’t think people should be afraid of the fog.” Souji suddenly interjected. While the confidence his voice radiated was nothing new to Yosuke, it was quite the juxtaposition to the rest of the group’s pathetic answers.
“Oh, wow, that’s quite a bold statement. Tell us more.”
“The fog is strange, yes, but nothing good will come out of starting a panic. I’m sure the only way the cause of the fog could be determined is with a clear mind.” Souji explained.
“For such a young kid, you really are confident!” The reporter praised him. “Thank you very much for your time.”
“It’s no problem, though we should probably be going now.”
“Ah, of course. Have a nice day, kids.”
With that, Yosuke was free to let out a sigh of relief as the news crew finally left them alone. He was quick to carry on walking just to put a safe distance between himself and the school before talking about any sensitive details.
“What the hell was up with that?” He groaned. “Man, that was a total pain.”
“They were rather… enthusiastic.” Yukiko said.
“I think that’s just how the media is.” Chie explained, “Rise-chan’s been telling me about some behind the scenes stuff from some old interviews and it sounded even worse.”
“Jeez, I do not envy her.” Yosuke could barely imagine how pushy the media must be toward celebrities if that’s how that acted toward random people. “By the way, was that interview live or were they recording it?”
“I dunno. I couldn’t really tell. I was too busy trying to think of how to get them to leave us alone.” Chie admitted. Souji and Yukiko quickly agreed, leaving Yosuke feeling like his stomach was twisting. God, that really was embarrassing and he didn’t even say anything!
“Whatever…” He grumbled, quickly dropping the subject. Whatever consequences this had would be Future Yosuke’s problem.
—
Lightning had begun accompanying the rain by the time it’d started approaching midnight. Yosuke laid on his bed, mindlessly messaging Chie while he waited for the Midnight Channel. She was rambling about some new kung-fu flick she’d seen, though he was barely reading whatever she was saying. Teddie was laying beside him, nose deep in some shoujo manga he’d picked up recently. How he was able to read it with no light in the room beside a small lamp was beyond Yosuke, but he’d learned to stop questioning Teddie.
“Hey, Yosuke,” The currently-not-bear suddenly looked up from his book, “Who’s gonna be on the Midnight Channel tonight?”
“Beats me. There hasn’t been anybody of interest on the news lately.”
Teddie pouted and stuck his tongue out like it was somehow Yosuke’s fault, “There’s gotta be some-bear-dy.”
“I can’t control that! And that pun was way too forced.” Yosuke snapped back, though he didn’t want to come off as actually mad. Teddie was surprisingly sensitive at times, after all.
“Whateverrrr,” Teddie drew out his words, huffing at Yosuke. He glanced over at the clock, “Guess we’ll just hafta find out!”
Yosuke looked at the time. It was 11:58 PM. That explained why Chie’s flood of messages had suddenly stopped. He turned his phone off and set it on his drawer before settling down in front of his TV. Teddie ended up flopping down next to him, half hugging onto his arm. It was slightly uncomfortable, but Yosuke didn’t push him away. He felt like a clingy little brother and Yosuke knew he’d feel too guilty if he made him upset.
Time always seemed slower in those few moments before the clock struck midnight, but today seemed extra long. Perhaps it was because of Teddie’s awkward position making Yosuke anxious to get up again, or maybe it was because he had no clue who would appear on the TV, if anyone appeared at all.
With a loud click, the hands of Yosuke’s clock hit midnight and the turned off TV began to flicker to life. The screen was blurry and gray, with only a silhouette standing there. The person on the channel slowly came into focus, and Yosuke's heart suddenly dropped into his stomach. Though the image would be hard for anyone else to make out, Yosuke would never mistake that figure in a thousand years.
Souji was the one on the Midnight Channel.