April 14th

"Perfect timing!" said Chie. "Move over!"

Chie **** herself under my umbrella.

"I did have my own but I saw this kung fu movie where they used an umbrella to pull off some sweet moves and I accidentally broke mine while trying to mimic the movie," Chie said.

So she LARPs her kung fu moves. I didn't want to spank her in the rain, I decided to let her off this time with a slap to her face.

"Ow! Bye the way, did you see it?"

"I did." I said.

"Aha, do tell! But the person it showed. Nevermind, I'll save it for when the others are around. We're gonna be late for school. Oh, uhh, it's kinda awkward to bring this up now but we're pretty close here. Um, I'm gonna just go ahead and run the rest of the way!"

"Then let's race!"

"Huh!? We're both gonna run through the rain!? What's the point in that? Besides, it's not like I wanted to make a break for it," Chie laughed. "Am I worrying too much? Eh, I'll keep going with you anyway. Alright, let's go."

We walked into class on that rainy morning. At school, we met Sofue-sensei, who was enough of an Egyptophile to the point she wore a pharoah's headdress every darn day.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Kimiko Sofue and I don't know how much you know about world history but I'm an expert. First, a little about me. I love to use my dowser to look for lost items and there's nothing quite like a romance. In fact, world history is a magnificent romance. History is like a river, it was born in the past and flows ever forward. I hope we can all enjoy the profundity of history together, hohoho. And since this is my first lecture, I'll start with an easy question. Our transferee, Mr. Doe, please stand up. The western calendar is based on Anno Domini, the traditionally believed year of Jesus Christ's birth. What is the year before 1 AD called?"

I gave the answer I thought was correct, "1 BC."

"Ah, you seem to understand this well. If you think that history is like math, 0 AD would be the natural assumption but world history is much more complicated. The Gregorian calendar we use today is based on the Julian calendar, which as made while there was no concept of the zero as a number. That's wju when counting backwards, we go from 1 AD straight to 1 BC. Hopefully, that was a nice introduction to world history."

After classes wrapped up for the day.

"What's up with the body being hung upside-down? That's so freaky!"

"Is it supposed to be like, mimicking an execution? It's messed up?"

"I was told it was a third-year named Saki who found the body."

Yosuke came up to me, worried about something.

"Yo, um... It's not really that important but... Well, yesterday on TV, I... Oh, uhh... Never mind. Look, I'll tell you later." Yosuke laughed.

Chie walked over to join us with some embarrassment. Or was it concern? I couldn't tell.

"Yosuke, did you hear the rumour?" she asked.

Yosuke tilted his head a bit.

"Saki's supposedly the one who discovered the body." Chie said, pointedly.

Yosuke voiced his thoughts.

"I wonder if that's why she looked so down. She doesn't seem to be at school today either." Yosuke said with concern seeped into his voice.

The sound of a chair moving was enough to break me out of my thoughts and the three of us saw Yukiko getting up to leave. The inn must have been really busy, making her have a face like that.

Yosuke seemed to think so too.

"Huh? Hey Yukiko, are you helping out at the inn today too?" he asked.

"Things are really out of hand right now," said Yukiko. "I'm sorry."

"Is it just me or does Yukiko-san seem way stressed out today?" asked Yosuke.

"I guess they're running her ragged," Chie said before asking the burning question. "By the way, did you see 'it' last night?"

"Huh? Uh, well... What about you?"

Chie wasted no time in voicing what she saw.

"I did! I seriously saw a girl! But my soulmate's a girl?"

Kung fu was shocked that her apparent soulmate was a girl. I wasn't surprised by this at all. Yosuke chuckled a bit while I just raised an eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean? I couldn't quite feel who it was but it was a girl for sure. Her hair was brown, about shoulder length. She was wearing our school uniform and-"

"Hey, I think that's the same person I saw," Yosuke interrupted her. "I couldn't make out that much detail though. The image I saw was much blurrier."

"Wait, so you saw it too!?" Chie gasped. "And we saw the same girl? Does that mean? We have the same soulmate?"

"How should I know?" Yosuke said before turning to me. "How bout you? Did you see it?"

I looked up at Yosuke to make sure he was talking to me. I told them about what happened last night.

"Yeah, same girl and everything but..."

"But?" Chie asked.

"I touched the screen and it rippled," I quietly answered. "I pushed my hand it, then something grabbed me, pulled me in but my TV's too small, so I got stuck, just my arm and my head, so I pushed back and sent myself flying into a table headfirst."

Yosuke and Chie stared at me in disbelief, then looked at each other and then back to me. They both burst out laughing at my insane story. Yosuke regained his composure first but still giggled in his speech.

"It sounds like we all saw the same person but weird voices aside, what was that about getting sucked into your TV?" said Yosuke. "Were you that tired all last night? You must've just fallen asleep in front of your TV."

Chie kept laughing.

"That'd be one interesting dream, though. I like the part where you got stuck cause your TV was too small. That's pretty realistic." she barely got through the she cracked up again. "If it had been bigger... Ohhh, that reminds me. Our family's been talking about buying a bigger TV."

"Oh yeah? Well, flatscreen TVs are definitely in these days. Wanna go check 'em out on the way back? We're beefing up our electronics department this month." Yosuke said.

Chie jumped up excitedly.

"Oh, definitely! My parents don't know anything about electronics and I've just gotta see my big kung-fu moves on the big screen!"

"We've got some pretty big ones in stock. I bet they'd be big enough for you to fit into." Yosuke laughed.

They didn't believe me at all.

"Sure, let's go." I said.

We got to Junes and went into the electronics department.

"Wow, this is huge and holy crap, it's expensive!" said Chie. "Who buys something like this?"

"I dunno, rich folks?" said Yosuke. "Honestly, not many people shop for TVs here. It's why we don't have clerks around."

"Huh, not worth trying then I guess. Well, at least looking's free."

Chie and Yosuke tried to get inside the TV. Shockingly, nothing happened.

"Nope, can't get in. Figures," Yosuke smirked.

Chie laughed, "This proves it. It was all just a dream."

"Besides these flatscreen TVs are so thin, you'd just end up on the other side. Argh, what am I saying!? So Chie, what of TV are you guys in the market for?"

"They said they wanted one that was cheap. You guys got any suggestions?" Chie asked.

Of course, this was where Yosuke's Prince of Junes status came in.

"Well, Miss, might I suggest this one over here? It's the newest model, just released this spring." Yosuke spoke in the most default clerk impression he could think of.

"Wha... That's not cheap at all! There's way too many zeroes!"

"I should've asked what you meant by cheap right off the bat." Yosuke sighed.

"You've got connections, right? C'mon, hook me up!"

"You know I can't do that. Hey, how about this one over, here? It's a display unit. It's a little old but..."

I looked at the large display model in front of me. With a TV this big, I might be able to go inside. So there I was, awaiting the moment of truth. Was that thing about being sucked into a TV just a delusion on my end or something real? I put my hand on the screen of the large display unit and found myself wide eyed as my hand went into the television with Yosuke and Chie as witnesses.

"Oh yeah, what kind of TV do you-?" asked Yosuke.

"Huh?" said Chie. "Something wrong, Yosuke?"

"Is his arm in the TV?" Yosuke stammered out.

"Whoa... Is that some kinda new model? Like with a new function?"

"Hell no!" Yosuke shouted.

"You gotta be kidding me. Did you really stick your hand through the screen?"

"Oh man, this is for real. That's some magic trick, man! So how's it work, huh!? What's the magician's secret!?"

Both of them were staring at me, astonished. I might be able to put in more than just my arm.

"I think you can go in even farther." I said.

"Go in farther to WHAT!?" Chie yelled in response.

I stuck my head in.

"Hey, don't do that!" said Yosuke. "What're you doing!?"

"Oh my god!!" said Chie.

"There is empty space inside." I told them.

"What do you mean inside!?" asked Yosuke.

"What do you mean empty space!?" asked Chie.

"It seems very spacious in here." I replied.

"What do you mean spacious!?" asked Yosuke.

"I mean, what's doing on!?" asked Chie.

"Holy crap, I think this is all too much for my bladder."

"What the...? Are you gonna pee your pants!?"

"I've been holding it in all day! I haven't had chance to go. Aaarrgh! Can't hold it anymore! Shit! Customers! They're coming!"

"What!? But we've got a guy half stuck in the TV here! What're we gonna do!?"

We all ended up falling inside the TV.

"What the...!?" said Yosuke. "Wai... WHOA!"