Continue onto school

(chapter originally by faith on writing.com)

Yukiko glanced at the clock once again. How had the minute hand progressed so little since class had begun? Kashiwagi was droning on about something, oscillating between her lesson plan and idle gossip of questionable appropriateness for a teacher to discuss. Any other day Yukiko would be attentively writing down the important information in her notebook along with Yu Narukami while her friends Chie and Yosuke zoned out. Now she found her mind wondering along with the slackers in her group.

The day had been entirely uneventful. A few timid questions between her friends had revealed that none of them had stayed up for the midnight channel (the rain storm lst night had not been predicted in the forecast, and no prominent figures had been featured on TV to put the investigators on alert. So none of her close friends had seen her naked. That still left the possibility of random students at her school. No one had said anything, but the smirks and hushed whispers she saw on her way to class made her nervous. In all probability it was just the usual level of gossip, but Yukiko was now hyper sensitive to the issue and paranoid who might be talking about her. The fact that rumors and perhaps even pictures of her were likely already spreading across the small town with or without the Midnight Channel did not help her to relax.

Worse, the headache that had plagued her last night was back. Though perhaps that wasn't the right term. She wasn't in pain, exactly. Just...hazy and restless. It was like being hungry without knowing what food was- a vague and growing sense that her body wanted something from her she wasn't quite certain how to provide it. It was very distracting. Kashiwagi was especially hard to pay attention to. Her mind kept wandering to her large amount of cleavage and curvy body. As unpleasant as she was to deal with Yukiko couldn't help but notice how good she looked for a woman her age. A lot like that Saeko woman from before. Which brought up images of her kiss and the way she had caressed Yukiko's body earlier.

Speaking of her body, Yukiko had been sporting erect nipples and a slightly aroused sex all morning. She was only vaguely aware of that fact, dismissing it as being cold in the well air conditioned classroom. The truth was that she was effectivey marinating in Kanshi's arousing chemical cocktail, her clothes drenched in the stuff and slowly causing it to seep into her skin. Minute by minute they were chipping away at her resolve.

A buzzing sound brought her out of her erotic reverie. Her phone was receiving a text message.

"Yuki-chan! This is your Teddie speaking! I wanted to get back to you about those questions you had this morning. Unfortunately I don't know very much about the other side, even though I'm from there. I do think there's a difference between the 'regular' shadows we encounter and the 'Big Shadows' that come out of people who get put inside the TV. The little shadows are a little like individual thoughts and feeling people ignore or reject every day- little things like whether to buy ice cream or ignore that impulse. The Big Shadows, the ones that become Personas, are more like the deeper core parts of a person- what Nao-chan keeps calling your 'Id'. Hard to explain. As for what happens after they kill their original selves? I dunno. I think they just become very powerful 'normal' Shadows and lose their memories and intelligence over time. If they tried really hard and kept thinking about more complicated things I guess they would end up like yours truly- able to manifest a human form and return to the real world. But I'm pretty exceptional, ya know! Most of them can't stay that focused, and most of the ones who can wouldn't want to. Doing that would eventually turn them into something more than a Shadow, and most Shadows don't want to be anything else. Oh yeah, and you wanted to know if a ghost could have a shadow? Weird question. Anyway, I've never seen one, but if ghosts exists they probably could have a shadow. As far as I know, anything with a mind can create shadows. Even animals or even plants- but humans make the most shadows cause they have the most complicated thoughts. So if those spooky stories about ghosts are true, that they can talk and interact and haunt people and stuff- then yes, it seems like they have a mind of their and can have a shadow in my world. But if it happens, its so rare that I can't think of a single example of it! Hope that helps! Ciao, baby!"

Yukiko read the message, her breathing quickening. No real answers there, only more questions. It sounded like Ms. Yamano's Shadow COULD still exist, but that it was unlikely. And if Ms. Yamano had a ghost wandering around the Inn, that ghost could manifest a shadow. But that was even more unlikely. If either scenario was happening, it sounded like it was a unique phenomena and Yukiko would have to find her own answers with how to deal with it.

Yukiko thought a moment, then began texting the female members of her team.

"Guys, I need some help. Would all of you come to the Inn tonight? Maybe we could have a sleep over? There something I need to talk about. Its about the Investigation. But-uhhh- it involves a few details that I don't want the guys to know about- at least not until we've looked into it more on our own. I'll explain everything tonight! Please come if you can."

She looked over at Chie for confirmation. The look on the blond girl's face was...panicked. Blinking, Yukiko followed her gaze and found her vision suddenly obsctructed by a human body standing rather close to her. With dawning horror Yukiko found herself craning her neck upward to stare into the furious eyes of Kashiwagi looming over her. Her texting had not gone unnoticed, and her spell of zoning out was apparently worse than she realized.