Who is A Hero?
   
  

 /==================( - Inaba - Central Commercial Dist. - )==================\ 
|                                                                              |
|  Years ago, this was a bustling center of commerce and communal activity, a  |
| bright spot in a small and happy town, with each store telling stories       |
| spanning generations of the highs and lows of Inaba. Many of these stories   |
| are now at an end, as family-owned stores have been closing down left and    |
| right since the Junes department store opened close by.                      |
|  The long street where these stores reside still has a couple shops that are |
| fighting to the bitter end. Daidara Metalworks and the Shiroku grocery store |
| both stand strong before seemingly inevitable disaster, with Chinese Diner   |
| Aiya, Marukyu Tofu, and the Souzai Daigaku beef skewer stand continuing to   |
| attract hungry stomachs. Tatsumi Textiles largely survives on patronage from |
| the Amagi Inn, and sometimes it seems only one young man's obsessive reading |
| hobby is actually keeping Yomenaido Bookstore from falling apart. Konishi    |
| Liquors up at the northern end may be the next to go, following failing      |
| business and family tragedy. A small gas station does service for the few    |
| automobiles to come by here, more often servicing the buses that swing by    |
| the stop at the southern end.                                                |
|  The outlook is grim, the street populated largely by bitter elderly folks   |
| and teenage bullies looking for an easy mark. Even the local, once proud     |
| Tatsuhime Shrine is falling apart, already said to be taken over by wild     |
| animals. The whole district faces a losing battle against Junes for          |
| commerce, but this nostalgic district held dearly by previous generations    |
| will go down fighting.                                                       |
|===============================( - Players - )================================|
| Naoto Shirogane [KDA] <Sukuna-Hikona> Yukiko Amagi [KDA] <Konohana Sakuya>   |
|===============================( - Objects - )================================|
| Fortune Teller's Shop                                                        |
|================================( - Exits - )=================================|
| Metalworks <M>:          CCD - Daidara Metalworks                            |
| Diner <D>:               CCD - Chinese Diner Aiya                            |
| Out <O>:                 Inaba                                               |
 \============================================================================/
Naoto checks the kda boards via his cellphone and gains a rather thoughtful look. He had hoped that they'd be allowed to go a while without having to be concerned with the midnight channel given everything else that was going on, but it seemed like the culprit was on the move again. It was a chance to gain some new piece of information however, even if the risks were perhaps a bit too high.

"Hm..." He walks down the streets of the commercial district and curiously studies everything he can see. It was rare that he had a chance to just walk around the town and truth be told he didn't really know Inaba all that well. Since he had needed to stock up on various supplies, food and medical one's mostly, he'd decided to kill two birds with one stone and get a proper look at the town. Thankfully had a brand new umbrella as well today, since the last one had been lost in the river thanks to Anise, so the rain wasn't much of an issue.

Naoto stops as he recognizes Daidara's shop. How that the store owner managed to bring himself to sell certain items of interest to a certain group, he'd never really understand. One could say it was one of the acceptable mysteries of Inaba.


Rainy days tended to keep most of Inabans inside. Yukiko, however, well... she was inside most days, rain or shine, and any chance she had, she enjoyed going out and about. What's more, Yukiko did enjoy the rain - what she disliked about it was the chill that usually came with it, so she was bundled up against that. A heavier crimson-coloured jacket was worn, buttoned up to her throat, with a dark skirt hanging all the way down past her knees. Rain boots were on her feet, when the swish of her skirt revealed the bright orange colour of them.

She had an excuse to be out here, too - an errand for the inn. No one would complain if the errand took an extra hour or so, no? Regardless, with umbrella balanced neatly on her shoulder, the white umbrella marked with a logo for the local drugstore, Yukiko wanders down the sidewalk, her lips pursing as she nears Daidara's shop. Did she recognize the boy in front of the store...? Yes, she did. Who could forget that hat, after all! Lifting up a hand in quiet greeting, Yukiko calls out, her voice lifted to carry over the pitter-patter of falling rain, "Hello! Shirogane-san!"


The door to Daidara's is suddenly pulled inward. From inside, the faint ding of the bell perched atop the door can be heard, a merry noise that contrasts sharply with the dank, rainy atmosphere outside. An extremely large figure darkens the doorway and given that this is the Metalworks, it could be one of two people. Daidara himself or his gigantic apprentice.

The latter option is clearly the case here. Thora's actually just a little bit shorter than Daidara but what really gives it away is the bottom of her blue longcoat seen peeking out from underneath a green rain poncho. The poncho should actually look slightly familiar to Naoto for Thora was wearing it (or the remnants of one exactly like it) when she was retrieved from the television. This one is completely intact so it's safe to say that Thora purchased a new one since her traumatic experience months ago. She tugs her hood down low over her forehead and slumps her shoulders.

Of course, Naoto and Yukiko do not go unnoticed. "Hey Boss." she rumbles in her low and barely feminine voice. "Hey Amagi-san."


There is a neon green umbrella walking down the commercial district. Naturally it's being held by someone, but all you really need to know is that it's neon. The person holding it is obvious.

Fumiya spots Yukiko from Aiya, and hurries to catch up with her. He sees her chatting with some dood who he probably should remember, but can't quite bring to mind. Probably unimportant.

"Yoooooo, Yukiko-babe!" He slows to a jog, before finally stopping entirely in front of Daidara with the pair. "Man, it's been pouring. I hope this rain lets up..." He complains, obviously making idle chatter as he glances at Naoto again. Now that he's closer he remembers. "Oh hey, you're the detective guy, yeah? I don't think we met yet. S'up, I'm Fumiya."

And then Naoto is immediately forgotten as he turns back to Yukiko. "So what are you up today?"


Naoto turns his head towards the familiar voice that's addressing him and to be honest, he hadn't really expected to run into Yukiko of all people. If there was one impression he had of her, it was that she was usually busy because of the family business, much like he was usually busy with a case or two.

"Greetings Amagi-san. What are you doing here in this weather?" Asks he in his usual serious tone and is about to note how unusual it is to see her wandering around, errands aside of course, when another familiar person arrives at the scene. He remembers her fairly well, partially because of the tv world incident and partially because of a certain reputation that she's managed to attain. "Greetings Kobayashi-san."

When Fumiya suddenly shows up, he isn't greeted at first. Instead he just looks at him, almost giving the impression that the teen is suspected of having done something illegal. A few awkward moments of silence later, he finally says something "Greetings." but doesn't use the teens name.


Yukiko pauses as the sound of Fumiya calls out from behind her, the Amagi heir turning in place to regard the neon-clad dynamo with a few blinks reminiscent of a deer caught in the headlamps of an oncoming train. This, of course, did not last long once her mind made the connection with that weird 'babe' suffix and Fumiya, and the girl relaxes soon enough. "Ah! Watanabe-san... how are you?" she asks, her tone of voice a bit cheery, even if her expression was entirely neutral.

Turning towards Naoto then, Yukiko inclines her head towards the police boy, "Well, Shirogane-san, I am actually on an errand for the inn," Yukiko says, turning to cast a rare wry grin in Fumiya's direction. "An errand that I intend to... um..." that grin falters, "...extend as much as I can." It was Naoto's greeting towards Yukiko that chases the neutrality from her face, Yukiko turning around towards Thora then, and suddenly finding herself unable to make eye contact.

"Kobayashi-san - I really did intend to meet with you earlier," Yukiko says, a fair bit sheepishly. "Are you... um... are you well? Did Sekigawa-san pass on my message?" she asks, glancing tentatively up towards the face of the Oni of Inaba.


Thora's not going to fault Fumiya for going straight for Yukiko there. He is a teenage boy, after all, and Yukiko's pretty hot. It'd be like getting angry at the sky for being blue.

Mentally she does sigh at Naoto's very formal greeting. She did wish he'd call her by a more casual name sometime but...well, he was a professional and she was pretty much a client. Maybe Naoto wasn't comfortable with considering her an underling. Nodding to the Detective Prince, Thora sidesteps, expecting that he's here to go visit the Metalworks.

Now Yukiko's reaction to her presence earns an awkward-sounding noise of surprise. "I guess I'm well..." Thora begins, the thought of exams weighing heavily on her mind. Not much time left before they'd begin and Thora had decided that she really, really hated studying so much. "Message?" Golden eyes peer down at the Amagi heir in confusion and thought. She'd had a lot of chats with Shirou lately but she couldn't recall anything being passed on by proxy from Yukiko. "I dunno, maybe he did but I forgot. Uh...what was it?"

While it may be difficult for people to look Thora in the face, Thora clearly has no trouble looking at people. Her gaze remains steady on Yukiko.


"An errand eh?" Fumiya asks, tilting his head slightly. She doesn't seem all too happy about it, he's able to tell with his AWESOME EMPATHY SKILLS, and it helps that she makes it kind of obvious. "Nothing's wrong, is it?" He asks bluntly, because being subtle is for losers and people with patience.

Fumiya turns in Thora's direction when she exits Daidara, almost immediately after he arrived, and waves. "Oh, Thora-babe, hey." He hasn't seen her since their movie night. That was fun, introducing Shirou to Evil Dead. He frowns, that reminds him. "Oh hey, while the four of us are here, uh..." He quiets for a moment, to make sure no random uninformed citizens are nearby, and continues "Do we have some kind of action plan for Detective Katsuragi?" He asks, changing subjects yet again. "I guess this is my first /real/ time being on this side of the whole killer thing, what do you guys plan to do?"


Aigis has an umbrella and is presently walking by, raising said umbrella above her head. She seems to be taking it relatively easy for today after having spent the prior day (yesterday) engaged in ProgressQuest: The Quest to prove Yoshiro Yoshino innocent of a specific crime. Of course, he probably has committed others--like crimes against good taste--but sometimes reaching out for the truth means not worrying about those details.

She sees the KDA Kid Klub gathering and remembers poor Shion who is probably in a TV by now. It's kind of eerie how blaise this has become. She is certain that an officer as cool as her isn't going to have any issues.

"Hello there." She says, approaching.


"An errand? I had the feeling it might be something like that." Replies he as he turns his attention back towards Yukiko. That it was an errand that had brought her away from the inn wasn't very surprising, but it did make him wonder what it was that she'd been sent to do since she intended to extend it as much as possible, hinting that it was something where her parents would accept such an excuse. Then again he may just be overanalyzing it.

Despite what Thora may have expected, Naoto does not enter the store when she walks aside. The sort of supplies sold at Daidara wasn't on his list of things to buy, not for today at least. He doesn't know what the two are talking about on the other hand and so refrains from commenting on it.

"We'll be keeping our eyes open for anything suspicious. There isn't much we can do beyond that for the time being." Says he when the teen boy starts asking about their plans for the newest victim. As unfortunate a situation as it was, there really wasn't much else they could do for now.

"Greetings Aigis-san." Naoto turns around and looks towards Aigis when he hears her familiar voice. Another person he hadn't expected to see today.


"Well, um..." Yukiko says in response to what Thora was saying, the whole subtleties of why Fumiya may have made a beeline entirely lost on her. In fact, in a roundabout way, most of Yukiko's attention was on Thora - if not directly. The level stare that Thora puts on her causes her to shy away a bit more, glancing down at the ground and bringing up a hand to curl a lock of her dark hair about a finger. "Um... well, he did say that I should have called or texted you directly, instead. Maybe he didn't," Yukiko says, fluttering her gaze up towards Thora a bit, "But I wanted to... er... apologize, and hang out with you a little bit sometime?" she asks. She felt so terrible about the whole thing, so it made confronting Thora all the more awkward.

But the questions happening with the others draw her attention that way, Yukiko a bit inwardly grateful for the chance at something less awkward. "Nothing's wrong, um... Watanabe-san," Yukiko says, her tone of voice still a bit jangled. "Is everything, um... alright with you?" she asks. Towards Naoto, her attention goes next, the girl nodding to her, "You look like you are on errands, too, Shirogane-san?" There is another pause, as the latest newcomer gets her attention, Yukiko doing the deer-in-the-headlights blinking thing there, "...Aigis-san? How are you - thank you again for the book, it is really very interesting."


Even for someone with such low and/or misaimed empathy as Thora, it's easy for her to tell that Yukiko's pretty uncomfortable about something. Times like this it's easy to make Thora wonder what she herself had done wrong. There's very little hint as to what that might be and when Yukiko apologizes to her, Thora's actually thrown for a bit of a loop. "Maybe he wanted you to talk to me directly." Thora concludes when Yukiko stutters on about texting or calling. "So he never told me. He can be sneaky like that." Or downright manipulative! Thora didn't mind, he meant well.

"I uh...wouldn't mind hanging out," she says slowly, confused. "Why are..." She glances at the other two, then notices Aigis approaching. "Explain later." she says hastily, feeling just as awkward about this conversation as Yukiko is.

A more important subject is brought up by Fumiya anyway. "You got me, Fumiya-san." A meaningful glance is sent in Naoto's direction. He was the brains of this. Thora suggestions usually involved large amounts of violence.


Aigis finds studying, at times, to be an exercise in futility. She suspects the killer is not taking into account whether the rescuers need to study for exams or not. Sometimes it seems the pushes are entirely random and pointless! She can't imagine a motive behind the murder attempts/murders either.

"What is the matter, Fumiya-San..?" Aigis asks, bobbing her head to Naoto when--yukiko is thanking her!

For book!

Aigis waves to Thora as she ponders how to react to this unusual circumstance before finally looking back to Yukiko.

"You are welcome. And thank you." She bobbles her head once more.


"That is correct Amagi-san. I was on my way to buy supplies and food when I ran into you." Says in an as of matter of factly tone of voice. "What sort of errand has brought you away from the inn? If you don't mind me asking."

"Exams are nothing to be worried about." Comments Naoto when that particular subject is brought up. After all he'd been preparing himself and studied well in advance of the actual tests. So in his case there was no real reason to be worried. He did wonder why others seemed to be incapable of doing that however...

"I'll be doing that whenever I have the time to be around, but my time is rather limited these days..." He pauses for a few seconds before he turns his attention towards Aigis again. "And what brings you to Inaba Aigis-san?"


A quick nod of Yukiko's head as Thora cuts herself off like that, Yukiko turning her eyes back towards Aigis-san. Yes, Yukiko knew that she was /supposed/ to be a robot, but that was just kinda silly, right? She still couldn't wrap her head around the concept. Like Naoto and perhaps Aigis, Yukiko wasn't terribly worried about her exams. She pretty much studied every night like they were supposed to, so she was bound to get good grades. However, Yukiko also had a certain amount of empathy for the others - she spent a lot of study time with Chie, after all - so she knew the despair and horror that went along with exams for most people, anyways.

"Exams are a pretty stressful time of the year," Yukiko says, her tone of voice carefully controlled. She did not wish to make things worse, after all. "I take it you are not feeling so confident about them this time around, Watanabe-san?" Yukiko says, drawing up a hand to brush the lock of hair that she was playing with earlier, back over her shoulder. Pause. "I... really hope nothing bad happens to Shion-san," Yukiko says, with a little frown. "Do you think keeping an eye on her would help? I mean, it didn't work out with you."

But she looks towards Naoto, then, "What do you think we should do about Katsuragi-san?" she asks. As for the errand, Yukiko gestures towards the bookstore. "There's a new book coming out in the series that mother is following - she preordered it, so I'm just picking it up."


Fumiya just forces a grin and gives Aigis a THUMBS UP. "Nothing, nothing, just a bit bummed when I remembered the abomination of exams." There simply wasn't much of a break between the last set of exams and these, at least it didn't feel like there was. But with a couple of weeks in Mikage-cho his sense of that time is probably a little skewed.

And Fumiya is a crammer. Perhaps someday he'll develop the patience and become responsible enough to study regularly /throughout/ the year, but he's not there yet. So: Panic.

A sharp chuckle escapes him as he shakes his head. "Well, not really Yukiko-babe. Actually I feel a bit better about these than the last ones. Since I was kind of..." He geastures with his thumb in the general direction of Junes. "In the TV last time." His hand slips back into his pocket. "I just... don't like em. And the fact that we have to deal with the killer again just makes it all worse."

The killer... Fumiya falls silent for a moment as he recalls what is time in the TV World was like. On the one hand, if Shion gets a Persona, then that might be a huge help on their end. But, should they /really/ look at it like that? It certainly won't be fun, in fact it'll be downright dangerous, maybe lethal. And Shion was a pretty cool cop, she let them have a movie night and everything! "I'd like to stop it from happening if possible." He finally announces. "But, if it happens we'll just have to save her."


"They are not? Nearly everybody I talk to disagrees." Aigis tells Naoto, simply enough but, of course, answers her question even as she keeps her umbrella over her head. She does not like being drenched in water even if the chances of her getting a cold are zero.

"I want to help Shion-San."

She frowns faintly. She can't protect Shion because she has to stay in Gekkoukan. If she stayed with Shion /forever/ until the timeframe had lapsed, well, she'd have to get permission.

"Yes." she agrees with Fumiya.


"Keeping an eye on her is currently the best option we have Amagi-san. Unfortunately since most of us are busy with high school duties and exams, the chances of that being succesful is rather low." As much as he disliked it, that was pretty much a fact. They couldn't get aid from the police either because of the tv world being involved.

"I wouldn't know why Aigis-san. I've never had any problems with my exams for as long as I can remember." Exams had never been and likely never would be a challenge to him. Good grades were of course essential to his future plans so he made certain to never fall below an A on any test.

"Unless you have the manpower to monitor her 24/7, I'm not entirely sure there is anything you can do Aigis-san. If it wasn't for the exam period, we likely could've managed to do that ourselves, but..." Naoto gains a thoughtful look as he tries to think of a way around this issue. There was of course the option of using surveilance equipment, but there were laws against such things being used without due cause...


A little bit of a smile manages to wriggle its way unto Yukiko's lips as Fumiya states his confidence in the exams. Sure, it wasn't 'I'm gonna get an A without even trying', like /other people/, but it was still better than panick. "You know, Watanabe-san was thrown in at exam-time, and now we have another... do you think that they are timing it this way on purpose?" Yukiko asks, looking between Naoto and the Robot.

"Well, perhaps Aigis-san could keep an eye on her? She is, um... like a robot, right? Or!" Yukiko says, sounding excitable all of a sudden. "Maybe one of us could be her roommate until the danger has passed! This is different from a normal... um... kidnapping. She knows about this stuff, so we could help her that way?"


Fumiya nods back at Aigis's nod. At least Shion has plenty of people wanting to save her. Granted they'd do it even if she was a stranger, but still, hopefully she knows she can count on them. "That's too bad..." He says to Naoto. "A camera at her front door might solve this whole mess for us like that." He snaps his fingers to illustrate.

Huh... He blinks at Yukiko's theory. "Maybe? I wasn't really paying attention all the times they happened before, but maybe this is something the killer is doing now? Maybe he knows the ones interferring with him are all high schoolers?" He taps his chin, that could be it!

"Well, I don't think we have long to decide. Hey, uh, Shirogane, you're involved with the police right? You can't think of anything else to do?" He asks having either not heard or entirely ignored everything else Naoto said up to that point.


Shion is a popular lady! And classy too! And a wondeful police officer. Aigis isn't so sure a camera would catch this dire criminal who seems to be able to slip about with no detection whatsoever. Yosuke posts a question, Aigis ignores it for the time being.

"Ah, me? I would like to, but I have to stay in Port Island. They would not approve a request for an indefinite stay in Inaba during exam period."

'Saving Shion is important but exams are more important Aigis!'

Aigis looks up and towards Yukiko, cups her chin thinking about it, and nods. "It is possible the culprit is trying to make matters more difficult for us intentionally."


"If it is then it's rather worrying." If it was on purpose then it implied that the killer knew who it was that kept interfering with his plans. In which case it was just a question of time before he started targeting them specifically.

"The only other way I can think of would be using what you suggested, a camera, but there's laws against it. So other than making sure someone stays with her 24/7, we're limited to keeping an eye on her." Yukiko's idea wasn't bad, but it wasn't practical because of the timing. Because of the exams, there was still a rather large hole needed to be filled, one the killer could easily take advantage of.


"Well, we've spent so much time saving and investigating the killer and these murders - it would be silly to assume that the murderer wasn't investigating /us/... we've screwed up pretty much every one of his... um... attempts, except for a couple," Yukiko says, frowning as she draws a hand up to scratch at the side of her neck.

"So we've probably already met the killer, unless, um... they've been spying on us. I bet it's someone from that awful castle - Kandori-s... Kandori probably built it to protect the murder, assuming that /he/ isn't the one that did it," Yukiko says, with a bit of a frown. "Well, we couldn't watch her 24/7, but we could watch her some - maybe the killer will make a mistake?"


"Damn, I'm never gonna forgive this guy for intentionally screwing with us like this!" Fumiya states, shaking his fist a little in /righteous fury/. Though, come to think of it, he wouldn't forgive the guy if he mainly kidnapped people during their time off, either, since it would cut into their vacation time! Well, it probably doesn't need to be said that Fumiya wouldn't forgive this clown /regardless/ of when or how he did things.

When Naoto pretty much affirms they have no other options, Fumiya sighs and slumps his shoulders a bit. "Ah well. We'll just have to do what we can, and hope that Detective Katsuragi's job with the cops helps keep her a little safer than the rest of us. Maybe the killer will be caught in the act and this will all be over! I mean, this would be the first time he's actually gone after a cop, right?" He can hope. Though, giving how the killer has eluded the police so far it might not be likely.

Yukiko's comment about having met the killer surprises Fumiya. "Wow, I never really thought of that. I hope this doesn't turn out to be like one of those cheesey horror movies where the killer turns out to be best friends with the main hero the whole time." He pauses. "Huh, I wonder who the 'main hero' IS in all this anyway?"

Grinning, he rubs his chin. "Well I nominate /me/. I know I'm late to the game, but why not?"


"If Shion goes missing." Aigis says. "...Will her job be safe?"

Oh shi realism!? FROM THE ROBOT?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Aigis considers who the main hero is. It's obviously Minato. Or Minako. One of them. they're clearly the most important people in the universe. But disregarding them... Shiki? Wait, no. Why is she thinking like this. It's terribly conceited to consider who are main characters and who are not!

"Motion denied. That is irresponsible." Aigis says, frowning deeply.


"While that certainly is a possibility, I'm not entirely certain that is the case." Given they were dealing with a serial killer that could access the tv world, it wasn't unlikely that it could be someone from an organization which knew of that phenomenon. However that didn't mean that it couldn't be someone who'd stumbled across it by accident. "Serial murderers always makes a mistake at some point so there's a chance that he might yes."

"However given that he's managed to elude the police thus far, it is very likely that whoever we're dealing with is fairly intelligent." Intelligent enough to have developed a way to do his nefarious deed without being caught. The killer also had the access and opportunity required to get ahold of the various victims, which didn't really rule out as many as he'd hoped...

"Stuff like that happens only in the movies Watanabe-san." Naoto doesn't comment on the whole 'main hero' thing. It sounded like some sort of silly thing only children would blab about.


Yukiko snerks rather suddenly - it was kinda a rude snorting sound, caused by her bringing up her hand to her mouth to stifle the sudden laughter that springs to the features of the Amagi heir. What triggered that snerk? Well, it happened not too long after Fumiya nominated himself the main hero. Clearing her throat, and colouring demurely, Yukiko's eyes flicker down towards the ground, before she lifts them back up again. "I think we ~all~ are the heroes of the game," she says, with a note of seriousness to her voice. But she pauses, "By game, I don't mean murders - murder is never a game. I meant like... if this was a video game about murders, I think we all would be the stars," she says.

Turning her eyes towards Naoto, Yukiko then asks, "What do you think about it, Naoto-kun? Who would you consider the main hero? Yourself?" she asks, a note of curiousity in her tone, made more bouyant from her almost-laughter.


"No?" Fumiya says to Aigis, faking a disappointed expression. "Darn. Oh well." Naturally he was kidding about the whole thing. Mostly. He wouldn't mind being the hero for once, instead of needing to be saved, or barely being on the sidelines. Though he tries to stifle this urge before it grows too powerful, he already has it tough keeping his ego in check, at times.

"Well, whoever the killer is, he must be pretty powerful. I don't just mean super Persona power, he must have, like, cash. And connections. And all that stuff, to be able to pull off everything he's doing. He might be involved with Kandori." He suggests, remembering that Kandori was mentioned before. "Though he was brazen enough to pop into my dungeon, I dunno if Kandori himself is the killer. But whoever it is, it's probably someone big."

He tilts his head slightly at Yukiko, startled by her 'snerk'. "You alright?" He asks at first, not quite identifying the sound with amusement right away. Once he does, he blinks, but leaves it at that. "A ...video game? Are there murder mystery video games? I don't really play any that aren't rhythym games. Weird." A game about a murder mystery? Must be boring as hell. Unless you're the murderer.

"Yeah, ok fine. We're all the heroes." He finally agrees on. "We'll all stop this dude and save the day and have pie afterward. It'll be radical."


Aigis wonders what mistake this serial killer will get. He's obviously not too good at actually killing because he's only gotten 3 people... Right? Hmm. "He must get frustrated whenever we save someone. So long as we keep saving people, eventually he may slip." She considers herself an item that when used creates an awesome robot that kills all the enemies for the main characters who are certainly not her.

"Really?" She asks of Fumiya, re: the killer's connections.


"W-what?" Naoto turns his eyes towards Yukiko when she asks if he consider himself the main hero. Why was he being asked such a thing? There was no such thing as a main hero in life, that was only in games and books! Nevermind that he did im- He interrupts his own thoughts and gives Yukiko a reply. "No, I don't."

"Just because the killer is capable, it doesn't mean he's loaded with money. If he's as intelligent as I suspect, he could likely get away with needing relatively little equipment. Since he's managed to elude the police so far, he's someone who's capable of being very low key." Since anything else would likely have been detected already. Granted that didn't rule out a lot of people either. If anything it just made the number of suspects grow exponentially.

"There are Watanabe-san. Just walk by the game store in Junes and you'll see it." He'd seen a few there when wandering by. Games however didn't really catch his attention beyond a glance.


Still a little coloured with embarrassment from her bout of nigh-laughter, Yukiko, expression terribly serious, nods her head in the direction of Fumiya. At least, until he says what he says there. "Rad...radical? Like a square root?" Yukiko asks, looking towards Naoto, then Aigis, as if seeking help there. But it is on Aigis that her gaze lingers, "I think that's a good plan, too - of course, keeping people from being thrown in the TV at all will make him more frustrated, right?" she asks.

But oh, Naoto. Yukiko thought that /she/ was serious before. "Well, then... who would you say is?" she asks, canting her head just a bit to one side.


Fumiya nods enthusiastically to Aigis, as if he just brilliantly figured the whole thing out. He deflates, though, once Naoto shoots down most of his theories. "Oh, really?" He ponders. "I dunno, it's not impossible. He could still be loaded and doing this on the cheap. But I guess you're right. It's still funny that no one has noticed /anything/ every time he's kidnapped someone. If it weren't for the fact I knew there was a vehicle involved I'd say he was some kind of ninja."

Fumiya just gapes at Yukiko for a minute, forgetting everyone's not into that specific period of American pop culture as him. But, radical is just so... obvious! "N-no... Yukiko-babe, it's just an expression. Kind of like 'awesome', just... more radical." He struggles trying to explain it. Radical is radical, that's all!

Finally, he cocks his head to one side as Yukiko tries one last time to figure out who the hero is. "Is this where we say something like 'the hero is inside us all along'? That type of stuff I HAVE seen in video games." Destiny, fate, the heart of the cards, etc.


Aigis considers, "A vehicle. So--" Her eyes narrow, "If we slash the tires of suspicious vehicles that are large enough to hold large TVs-- We may be arrested but could stop the murderer and inhibit his ability to strike." She looks to Naoto. Her suggestion is kind of extreme...

"The Video Games I've played are largely about killing cartoon people in a variety of troubling ways." She says.


"No one." Replies Naoto and starts wishing that Yukiko will stop asking these obviously childish questions. They're a distraction he doesn't need.

"I'm not discounting the possibility, merely pointing out that you should avoid making assumptions when we know so little." The fact that they knew so little stung. Not even he had managed to really get any closer to finding out the truth yet. He wouldn't give up on it however and refused to let some killer best him. Somehow he would find out who it was.

"That's a rather... unrealistic suggestion. It would only end up severely limiting our own capabilities in the end." Since the police would likely arrest them for it and keep an eye on them afterwards. He didn't want a stain like that on his permanent records either.


"It is like awesome, but... more... radical," Yukiko repeats, her tone slowing down a bit as she tries to process what Fumiya says, bringing a hand up to scratch at the side of her neck. "Wouldn't the square root of awesome be significantly less awesome, though?" Yukiko asks, looking back towards Aigis with the sort of face that asked, 'help!'

The suggestion that robochan offers, though, causes Yukiko's expression to look aghast, "Umm... I think we should think that plan through a little more, Aigis-san. It'll be really hard to stop further murders from jail... but, um... hmn. Maybe we should just watch for weird cars pulling up to Katsuragi-san's house," Yukiko asks, then.

"But see, Naoto-san agrees with us, Fumiya-san, we're /all/ heros, and no one is the main hero!" she says, perhaps with a bit more enthusiasm than normal.


"Uh..." Fumiya nearly coughs. "I don't think that'd work Aigis-babe. It'd kind of... land us in jail." Yukiko has the same thought, apparently. "Yeah, we couldn't do a thing then. Besides, who knows if the killer wouldn't try something else? We're just pretty sure he's used a vehicle up till now, he might have a back-up plan in mind if he's smart enough." Fumiya kind of hopes he's not.

Fumiya grins at how Naoto continues to get flustered over this line of thinking. He's protesting this a bit /too/ much. He resists the urge to tease him on the matter further, though. Naoto seems to need to lighten up more.

Fumiya just shakes his head as Yukiko continues to miss the point. "No, see, it has nothing to do with math. It's not that kind of radical. I dunno where it came from, but it's just slang, you know? It means extreme, outrageous stuff." Man, when you explain what a word means in that kind of detail it starts to lose some of its meaning.


"hm." Aigis reflects, undeterred from making terrible suggestions. "Perhaps if we place traffic cones to block traffic on that street. If he has another method, it is likely easier to stop--"

Aigis is determined to figure out something.


Naoto doesn't pay any attention to the discussion going on between Yukiko and Fumiya. While he's well aware that 'radical' was once used as another version of 'awesome', he thinks it's a somewhat silly discussion and see's no point to it.

"Given how long he's been doing this, he likely does have a backup plan." Naoto also had his doubts about the first victim having been taken to a car. Unless whoever it was really did come from an organization which knew about these things. In which case he could've used a car from the start.

"Not doable Aigis-san. We do not have the authority to pull that off. Only the police does and while I can call in favors, they would still want a good reason for it."


Yukiko perhaps was unconciously sensing the very same thing that Fumiya was realizing about Naoto - but conciously, she just seemed confused about it. Regardless, Yukiko nods her head in response to Fumiya, a little smile touching her lips. "Well, I really dislike leaving this conversation as we are getting into it - but I do not think I can linger much longer without drawing suspicion back at ho... the Inn," Yukiko says, dipping forward into a little bow - and regretting it almost instantly. She had almost forgotten that it was raining! Straightening up in a hurry, Yukiko colours again, looking sheepish.

"I wish you all a pleasant evening?" she adds, somewhat curiously.


Hey, Naoto shouldn't immediately disregard the importance of discussing language. Even slang has its uses to a detective, it would be smart of him to know the difference!

No that's not just an excuse to justify it.

As Yukiko brings up having to leave, Fumiya's own responsiblities come back to the forefront of his mind. Dammit. He didn't want to be reminded.

"Yeah, I guess I have to be going too..." He says without the slightest bit of enthusiasm. "You guys all know where to look and where to post if anything does change." Hopefully Detective Katsuragi will be alright...

Giving his umbrella a slight shake to remove some accumulated water from the top, Fumiya turns around and heads back up the way he came. "Guess I'll go hit the books for awhile. Good luck with exams next week you guys..."

Freakin studying, freakin exams... he could be doing important things. Like looking out for Shion. Or partying. Or both. He could make it work!