The God Slayer of Inaba 19

The following morning was just like any other at the Dojima household.

By the time he woke up, Nanako was already preparing sunny side up eggs and toast for breakfast and the TV was broadcasting random shows just as it usually did.

"Good morning Nanako-chan," he said easily upon seeing her in the kitchen.

Why was it that right now, he felt like nothing was out of place?

Was it because of the previous year and having been through similar experiences before on a regular basis that allowed him to take this morning so easily despite the situation that was made clear last night?

"Good morning Onii-chan," his little cousin answered happily as she continued to make breakfast.

"Do you want any help?" he asked her, easily earning a shake in the negative from the tiny girl.

"No thanks, I'm fine," her response was pretty normal for her, she was a very self-reliant child due to how often Dojima-san was at work or busy with that case.

"Well Nanako-chan, I have some things to take care of later today," he decided to inform her, causing her to look at him with a slightly hurt expression, "don't worry, after it has all been sorted we'll have the rest of the summer to spend together, deal?"

"Yeah," she definitely looked happier after that claim and he found himself tousling her hair affectionately, earning a pointed glare off the tiny girl, "Onii-chan!"

He gave a small laugh as he finished the action and took a seat at the table.

"Nanako-chan, has Dojima-san gone to work?" he asked, earning a nod of confirmation from the primary schooler.

"Yeah, he said he had something to do with an investigation," she informed him easily and he found himself nodding in understanding.

It wasn't exactly strange for his uncle to already be at work by the time he woke up.

"All right," he responded to her claim easily enough before finding himself with a plate of sunny side up eggs and some toast for a simple and easy breakfast.

Once that was finished, he would once again meet with the investigation team and they would finally make their move on this new midnight channel.

"Thank you Nanako-chan," and with that, he got the food in him just in case things took a turn for the worst.

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Junes.

It was for lack of a better word, the centre of Inaba and just like always, it was busy with people shopping for their groceries and other miscellaneous commodities.

But thankfully, the place wasn't too noisy, which allowed him to meet Yosuke without too much trouble by the elevators leading up to the food court.

"Hey Yū," the brown haired teen called out with an easy smile.

"Hey Yosuke," he responded with a simple nod before they took the elevator up together in a comfortable silence.

It was almost like they have never been apart.

Finally reaching the roof, he immediately looked out to see that Chie and Yukiko were already sitting at a table and waiting for them.

Then again, it wasn't too hard to spot them considering the fact they were waving at them as they left the elevator.

"Good to see you guys again," he called out easily as he reached the same table they were sitting at.

"Welcome back! We missed you!" Chie's response was enthusiastic but also sounded partially rehearsed, "the guest of honour's finally here! You're looking well."

"Welcome back… Um… should we…?" Yukiko sounded uncertain as to whether to continue her question or not.

"Hm…? Oh, he already knows about the Midnight Channel thing," Yosuke's response was quickly and let him know that it was just that and not something else that came up that she was worried about, "he's actually the one who called me up about it."

"Oh, I see, this has turned into a pretty thrown-together reunion, hasn't it?" the girl in red asked with a slightly downcast expression before she chirped up, "but I'm glad you came."

It was clear from the expression on the Amagi heir's face that she wasn't lying in the slightest.

The quartet started to go about chatting idly as Yū and Yosuke took their seats before Yosuke stood up again… honestly it was clear he had just been waiting for the right moment to get the most attention as he cleared his throat.

"Well, it sucks that we can't hang out more before jumping into another mystery, but to celebrate our partner's return…" the city-boy started before getting serious, "I hereby reinstate the Investigation Team in response to the Midnight Channel going back on the air last night!"

"Ah… the team is back!" Yukiko sounded pretty excited but then again, it probably made everything feel even more like last year than it previously did.

"Just hearing that name again gets me all fired up! Yeah! Let's do this!" Chie was also pretty enthusiastic about the situation as well and Yū found himself smiling at how easily they took everything as they started to applaud the reformation of the team.

"Uh… I don't think the applause is necessary," Yosuke didn't sound particularly enthusiastic about the reaction he received.

Yū himself wondered why it wasn't, it had been several months since they had last met so celebrating the reunion was only natural.

The response was a simple shrug, followed by laughter from the two girls before Yosuke started to join in… it made the grey haired boy feel even more at home than anything before.

The problem though was the friends that weren't there with them.

"Well, let's get cracking, I mean, this is no laughing matter," it was only natural that Yosuke would take the lead, it was part of the team dynamic after all… Yū might have been the leader but he was the quiet one that tended to tie things together more than go over them, "no one's heard from Teddie, Kanji or Rise… just those three right?"

"Yeah… oh, I got ahold of Naoto-kun but I didn't tell her about this stuff," Chie stated easily enough, "she told me she couldn't make it because of her job, so I didn't want to worry her… she seemed pretty bummed that she couldn't be here too…"

Yū released a small sigh of relief, at least if she had a reason for not being there and they could all still get in touch with her then that meant she would be fine.

However Teddie, Rise and Kanji were not in the same situation… the thought of any of them not being heard from for an entire day is not normal.

The reappearance of the Midnight Channel only further supported the idea that they were in trouble.

"Um… one thing's been bothering me, the picture on the TV was very clear last night," Yukiko stated with a downcast expression.

Of course, they all knew why that was an issue.

"Yeah, going by the pattern of last year, it wouldn't be that clear unless the 'victim' was already in the TV," Yosuke admitted.

"Hey, isn't this the first time a big group of people were shown together? Plus we're still here," Chie decided to point out and Yū found himself just as confused as everyone else about it.

Normally people only showed up one at a time and needed to be in the TV themselves to appear on the Midnight Channel.

"Why us anyway? And what's up with those insulting descriptions?!" Okay, now Chie was bringing up the titles and he found himself having to keep the smile from his face at her anger.

Then again, unlike him, she lived in Inaba and there was no telling how many people were watching the midnight channel when it came on…

So just how would it affect their standing in the local community?

But there was something more pressing.

"What bothers me most is Teddie, he was acting like the host of that show," he decided to point out, causing everyone to calm down.

"Yeah, and we can't find him…" Yosuke admitted.

"This smells fishy…" Chie's response was filled with an underlying sense of uncertainty, "then again, I doubt he would play a prank like this for no reason…"

"I don't think it's Teddie," Yū spoke up, causing everyone to look at him, "just look at the names."

He could tell that they weren't too happy about him pointing out that point but it had to be made.

"What about them?" Chie sounded angry, clearly still upset about being given such an insulting moniker.

"Do you really think Teddie would call anyone but Yosuke and Kanji something like that?" he asked simply, knowing the answer already.

"Now that you mention it," Yosuke started with a thoughtful expression, "he wouldn't insult his 'precious sensei' or any of the girls… it just isn't like him."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I can't see the womanizer calling us that," the girl in green admitted herself, "but then, who is it on the channel?"

"I don't know, but we don't have much choice do we?" the Eighth Campione stated as he stood from his seat.

"Yeah, all we can really do right now is go into the TV and sort this thing out," the second in command of the group stated firmly.

"Won't we be stuck in there without Teddie to give us an exit?" the "Carnivore who's discarded womanhood" asked in clear concern for what was going to happen.

"Aha, not so, I've had Teddie keep the exit TV out on that side," the city-boy stated with a knowing smirk.

"Look at you, all prepared!" Chie definitely seemed happy at that piece of information.

"It wouldn't matter anyway," Yū stated, "there isn't anything we can do on this side so we have to find Teddie anyway."

"Yeah, you've got a point," the brown haired girl stated with a downcast expression.

"All right then, is everyone ready?" he asked, earning firm nods from everyone gathered.

"We're all good to go, to tell you the truth I had a hunch this was going to happen," Yosuke stated calmly, then again, it wasn't like there was any other way this even could have turned out.

But it was definitely good to see that everyone was taking this seriously.

Honestly, it filled him with pride to know that even now, after so long away from each other, they still trusted him completely.