Chapter #5Something, Something, Meat Dimension by: Silverhammer   (Spoilers for the true final dungeon.)
It had been raining for the second day in a row, and showed no signs of stopping. Fog was imminent.
In spite of this, the Investigation Team was fairly relaxed. They had rescued Naoto Shirogane from her shadow with time to spare, and now had nothing to do with their time but wait until the standoffish detective recovered from her ordeal enough to come back to school.
Yosuke Hanamura, the second in command of the team, had the day off from his work at Junes. Between the rain and his best friend Yu being busy, however, he was unable to do any of the things he usually did on such an occasion. As such, he currently found himself at Aiya's, in the company of someone he would not normally spend time with alone voluntarily.
"So let me get this straight," Chie said from the seat across from him. "You're letting me take the Rainy Day Beef Bowl Challenge, and are offering to pay the bill if I fail."
"Yeah," Yosuke sighed. "That's what's happening now. But you have to actually try! If you take two bites and get a to-go box or something, the deal's off."
"Sure, sure. And if I win, you'll buy me steak wherever I want later," Chie continued, visibly wondering who this wonderful person was and what they had done with her annoying friend Yosuke.
"Yes," Yosuke agreed, giving a mock bow. "And in return, all you have to do is stop riding my ass about your Trial of the Dragon DVD. It's been months. And I've replaced it already!"
"But your replacement wasn't signed by Bruce Lee himself," Chie pointed out.
"Neither was yours!" Yosuke argued. "I keep telling you, the real Bruce Lee died before DVD's were..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and the real Bruce Lee is on the moon with Dracula and Paul McCartney," Chie interrupted, waving Yosuke off. "Keep your conspiracy theories out of this! But seriously, this is nice of you. I've always wanted to try this, but my parents would flip out if I blew three thousand yen on one meal. We're even, Yosuke."
Yosuke nodded, and sat patiently as Chie placed her order. Not feeling particularly hungry himself, and knowing he'd be out three thousand yen if Chie's eyes proved bigger than her stomach, Yosuke stuck with water.
Chie suddenly rose from her seat. "Oh, I just remembered, the greaves Daidara was working on for me should be ready today! I'm gonna run next door and get them real quick. Watch our seat, Yosuke."
"Sure thing," Yosuke said. "Oh, and if I'm not here when you get back, it's because I came to my senses and didn't want to spend the afternoon watching you eat an entire cow."
Chie made a rude gesture (smiling as she did so, as she recognized her friend was kidding), then left for Daidara's. A minute later, a long haired gas station attendant came in, suspiciously dry despite standing out in the rain.
"Give me my usual, please," she told the chef. She then noticed Yosuke. "Hey there! You're the Junes kid, right? I want to talk to you."
"Oh, um," Yosuke tensed up. He knew that a lot of people in the shopping district had it in for him because Junes was running them out of business, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with it today. "Look, if this is about us installing a gas station in the parking lot, I have no control over that, and neither does my dad. Corporate said..."
"No, no, nothing like that," the attendant said with a smile as she walked up to him. "I just take it as a point of pride that I know everyone in this little town, and I realized we never actually met. So..."
She held out her hand to Yosuke.
"I know it's like a year late, but welcome to Inaba!"
Yosuke blinked, then smiled and returned the handshake. "Thanks."
The attendant nodded, paid for her take out order, and left. Yosuke did not see the malevolent smirk on her face as she turned away from him.
"Well, that was nice," Yosuke said. "Weird, but nice."
He promptly blacked out.
---
Yosuke came too in a dark, alien landscape. Hills of brown surrounded him on all sides, and the ground seemed to be made of white, human-sized pellets. The smell of beef permeated the air.
"Ugh... where am I?" Yosuke asked himself. "What happened?"
"That JERK!" a familiar but impossibly loud voice echoed around him.
"Wait... Chie? Is that you?" Yosuke called out.
"I thought he was joking! I can't believe he really ditched me here!"
"Chie, what are you talking about? Where's 'here?' Where are you?" Yosuke shouted, looking for his friend.
"Crap, I don't think I even have three thousand yen on me," Chie's voice said nervously. "I'd better finish this then."
With that, the world around Yosuke suddenly shook, and he lost his footing and fell into a puddle of strange liquid. Some got into his mouth and he winced at the familiar taste.
It was the sauce from Aiya's.
Yosuke's blood ran cold as he finally realized where he was and what happened to him.
He had to get the hell out of here.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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