Chase The Truth

Chapter 12: New Midnight Channel Star

Begin!

~Normal POV

5/13 - Friday

Midterm exams ended yesterday. It was a long and stressful week for everybody. Though Yu was confident he'd gotten a good score. Dojima even said it didn't really matter as long as he was passing, so that was good. (Apparently, he never promised to keep his nephew's grades up.)

So far, despite keeping an eye on the news and a little eavesdropping around town, no new information on the case had come up yet. Naturally, Dojima never said anything either. So the case was at a stand still. And it hadn't rained at night in a while. This evening, Yu was spending it yet again with Nanako watching the news. Dojima was here this time too, reading the paper on the couch. The Yamano case hadn't been mentioned again lately. (He did hear a rumor at school that Yukiko's disappearance had been marked as "unrelated" to the Yamano case. Which the gang knew was actually false.) Tonight's top story appeared to be about some biker gang instead.

"Young men recklessly riding their motorcycles, disturbing the peace of a quiet rural town... Our special report took a turn for the violent when one of the apparent leaders attacked the camera crew!"

"The hell are you punks doing here?!"

"Hey- I know that voice..." Dojima said, lowering his newspaper to look at the screen.

"This ain't a show! Get bent!"

Yu stared at the screen with wide eyes. The boy yelling at the camera crew had his face blurred, but the rest of his appearance was very distinct. Mainly in the fact that he was very tall and muscular. And he had a bad temper to go along with those things.

"Sheesh, that guy looks like he'd snap you in half if you looked at him the wrong way," Yu commented, aloud.

"Still up to the same old tricks..." Dojima said, sighing.

"Do you know him, dad?" Nanako asked.

"Sort of- I know him through work," Dojima answered. "His name is Kanji Tatsumi. He's quite a handful. He's been crushing biker gangs in the area since middle school."

"Did you say... crushing them," Yu said, quizzically in disbelief.

"Yep." Dojima said, "You see- those gangs like to ride through town every once in a while. They ride in to pick up dates, or find the nearest bar, or whatever else they might want to get their kicks. They've been a problem for years, because their territory is the highway just outside town. But when Tatsumi was in middle school, he decided enough was enough, and beat the crap out of a whole gang in one night. By himself! Didn't kill any of them, but they did all have to go to the hospital afterwards. I was at the station when he was brought in for questioning."

"Geez... Did he say why he did it?" Yu asked.

"He said it was cause the noise from their engines was keeping his mother up at night. Nice gesture, I suppose, but way too violent."

Yu smirked a little. "Ah- that's usually how it is with the delinquent types. They don't respect authority, but they still respect their mothers... They do say even a thief loves his mother."

"Man that blur sure is pointless." Dojima said, "It's completely obvious who it is! His family runs that textile shop in the shopping district. Hmph. I thought he'd gotten into high school and started attending classes... Well, if you see him- just stay out of his way. He doesn't usually bother anybody unless he's provoked."

"Oh, the weather report's showing on the bottom, it's gonna rain tomorrow. I'll make sure to hang the laundry inside," Nanako interrupted.

Yu continued watching the screen silently. That Kanji guy sure was intimidating. He amused himself a little by wondering if it'd be possible to get him on their side. Someone as strong and tough as him would definitely make their culprit think twice about messing with them. But for now, it's going to rain tomorrow night. It was finally time to check the Midnight Channel again.

Hopefully, nothing would show up... But that hope was bleak at best. As Yukiko had put it already, there was no way the culprit was going to stop now.

~...

5/14 - Saturday

Yu stood alone in his room that night, double checking his window. It was raining, just as promised. He shut the curtain and mentally prepared himself. He approached his tv, right as the clock struck midnight...

And the Midnight Channel sprang to life again: with a figure on the screen.

Yu gasped quietly. He leaned closer for a better look. That was odd. The figure looked... kinda like a man? It had the physical build for one at least. That can't be right. They were under the assumption their culprit was only targeting women! Specifically, the figure looked vaguely like a high schooler. The image was so out of focus it was impossible to tell who it was. And the tv switched back off again before he could examine it more. He quickly pulled out his phone and called Yosuke.

"Oh, hey, I was just about to call you-" Yosuke answered, quietly. "So what do you think? That was a guy, wasn't it? I wish I could tell what he looked like..."

"We'll know soon enough. It's gonna rain again tomorrow night, we'll get to check again." Yu reminded Yosuke to come to Junes as early as possible for their meeting before hanging up.

He looked back at the tv again. Hm. Yu wouldn't have ever classified himself as a detective, amateur or otherwise, but some ideas started to form in his head. There was a possibility they might have looked at the wrong criteria for connecting the victims. After all, they did have more things in common than just being females connected to the Yamano case...

They had also all appeared on regular tv before disappearing. Considering that the Midnight Channel was clearly linked somehow to the tv world... He shook his head and got into his futon. Now wasn't the time for speculation. One shouldn't forgo sleep to think of theories. Plus, as leader, it'd set a bad example.

But there was one thing he was sure of as he went to sleep that night: that mysterious figure looked oddly familiar.

~End of Chapter