(A/N: Entirely from the anime, almost nothing from this is from the game.)

I woke up to the sound of chirping birds, and looked up to see my window was open for some reason. The scent of fresh air relaxed me, and I quietly looked around. My room was utterly empty.

I rubbed my eyes, and suddenly found a note in it. It was crumpled up, but the handwriting was perfectly cursive. I frowned when I realized whose handwriting it was.

—Hey, Kai.

Good morning. If you're reading this, you've probably woken up right about now. And likely wondering where I am. Well, the answer is we're in the TV World.

Yosuke and I are going to try and bring back Amagi for Satonaka. Though, I have a feeling Satonaka is coming with us as well. 

My point is, we left you out on purpose so you wouldn't get so severely injured as you did before. Last night helped me make up my mind; you're not coming.

I know you're going to be angry, so I'll apologize as soon as we return with Amagi. I'll let you come in with us the next time, but for now, you can't because of your injuries.

Your brother,

Yu Narukami—

My fists crumpled the letter further as anger took over me. He thinks he can keep me locked up in here like some dainty little princess!? The nerve of him!

I stood up and stretched out my arms a little to cool off, before I got dressed into a good outfit for daily use and TV use in the winter. A dark grey tank top, a pair of skinny black jeans with rips in the knees, and a black leather jacket with a furry hood was the first thing I thought of. I then scavenged around my room until I finally found some black leather biker gloves, fingerless and all. I pulled them over my hands, and pulled on my plain white socks as Nanako walked in.

"O-oh, hi.......K-Kaida..." she stammered, looking away. Seems as though she's still uncomfortable calling me by my first name without the honorific.

"Nanako," I said, grabbing her attention. "If you want to use the honorific, you can. I won't hold it against you, okay, sweetie?"

The girl gripped the hem of her dress in relief. "Th-thank you, Kaida-san."

I chuckled, and ruffled her hair. "I...is it okay if I leave for the day? Will you be alright on your own, Nanako?"

Nanako nodded proudly. "Uh-huh!" she smiled widely. "I can hold the fort until you get back!"

I laughed, and patted her head as I stood up. I grabbed my bo, and placed the magnetic earrings into their proper places. I even added my ear spike on my right ear—something I got during a rebellious stage. It would at least make the holes in my ear less useless. 

I tucked away the metal-rimmed glasses into my pocket, and placed my headphones over my ears, playing some music. I then knelt to Nanako, who was still in the room watching me prepare, and kissed her on the forehead. Her cheeks were set aflame at the gesture, and I smiled kindly at her. "I'll see you tonight, okay, Nanako?"

She slowly nodded as I left my room after closing the windows. It had suddenly gotten cloudy, unlike the way it was when I'd woken up. I ran a hand through my hair, and realized I hadn't brushed it, so I set to doing so before I left. I snapped an elastic to my wrist as well, just in case I'd need it, and I stretched my hands before going down the stairs. I snatched a first aid kit from the desk as well, for a necessary scenario, and placed it in my pocket.

I sat down and began putting on my knee high boots, lacing them up slowly to make them look and feel perfect. I then stood up, and placed my hand on the knob of the door in front of me.

I took a deep breath, before finally pushing it open to feel cold wind on my face. I adjusted my bo so it fit my back more comfortably, and I frowned, letting my suppressed anger go free. You'll regret ever telling me no.

----Yu's POV----

We led Satonaka out of the station, and explained to her the situation revolving around the TV, Teddie, and the Shadows. But she didn't seem to be listening as she was speed-walking toward Junes. Eventually, Yosuke and I stopped talking altogether.

"Hey, how did Kaida take the news?" Yosuke asked me out of the blue as we followed Satonaka.

I looked away. "I don't know. I left her a note while she was still asleep and headed for Junes right after."

Yosuke widened his eyes. "Dude, you sure she's gonna be okay with that?"

I blinked. "I'm sure she won't be, knowing her. But it's for her own good."

We had entered Junes by this point, and Yosuke ended up restraining Satonaka by gripping her wrist so she wouldn't run like a madman for the electronics department. We calmly walked up there, and turned the bend to look at the Entry TV, when I stopped in my tracks. Yosuke's jaw dropped, and Satonaka stiffened at the greeting sight.

There, sitting in front of the TV, was Kai. She was wearing her normal winter attire. Grey shirt, black jacket, black pants, and faded brown boots. The bo was balanced on her legs, which were crossed together. Her headphones were on, but she still somehow noticed us and removed them, revealing her large ear spike in the process. She slowly opened her eyes, and I gulped quietly. She looked beyond angry.

"Hmm, it's about time you got here," she muttered.

"Kaida!? But, Narukami-kun told me that—" It clicked in her mind, and her mouth formed the shape of an 'o' as she realized what happened.

"That he told me to stay away? That's an understatement, Satonaka," Kai said, standing up. She then walked over to me, and held her bo to my neck. "You seem to be forgetting that I'm Amagi's friend too, Yu."

"Kai, I'm doing this because—"

"You want to protect me?" she scoffed. "You know that won't work. Especially when it's me you're talking to."

Yosuke was shell-shocked. "But, Kaida, remember your injuries from last time!?"

"I remember them just fine," Kai shot at him. "And I went after you guys into a TV with a sprained ankle. Your point?"

"It could get worse," I said darkly. Despite my efforts, Kai was the only one who could get such powerful reactions from me. Yosuke and Satonaka shivered at the tone I had taken with my adoptive sister—though in their eyes, she was my blood sister.

"Again, I don't care," Kai snapped. "I'm going whether you like it or not. I want to help Amagi in any way I can."

"You can't!" I shouted at her, and I mentally thanked my lucky stars that no one was wandering in the electronics department at the time. We were creating quite a scene. "You can't help her, because you keep on doing stupid things like getting yourself hurt and making us worry about you instead of our real objective!"

I stopped myself before I could go any further, realizing I'd said too much. Kai's expression darkened considerably, and those sapphire eyes of hers became hidden by her bangs. I saw her grip on her weapon tighten, and I swallowed. I'd gone too far.

"So I'm a burden, then?" she asked me, so quietly it was hard to hear her from my close distance. Satonaka looked scared, while Yosuke merely looked concerned for Kai.

"N-no, that's not what I—"

Kai looked up, and the shadows hiding her face vanished. Tears were in her eyes, but I could see fires of fury in their blue depths. "That's exactly what you meant," she snarled, her voice even quieter.

The viciousness in her voice scared me to my core, as it likely did with Yosuke and Satonaka, too. 

"Whatever," Kai spat. "My goal for today wasn't to babysit your egotistical ass, anyhow. It was to help Amagi, and that's what I'm going to do. Regardless of how you feel about it." She then stepped to the side, and glared daggers at me. "Go ahead. Work your magic."

I hesitantly obeyed y sticking my hand into the screen, but I felt her sharp, angry gaze on my back the entire time. Satonaka's drive to save Amagi had been shoved down by her fear of Kai, and Yosuke was watching her like she was some rabid animal that would bite him if he neared too close. 

Kai scared them both to quite an extent, and I remembered that this was nothing. She could go much, much farther if she wanted to. But she was clearly restraining herself. 

I wondered how they would treat her if I told them about what she was capable of.

----Kaida's POV----

I tried to calm myself down as we followed Teddie—who was tracking Amagi's scent—but what Yu said stuck with me. 

...you keep doing stupid things...

...making us worry about you...

...getting yourself hurt...

...you can't....

I squeezed my eyes closed and shoved those thoughts out of my mind. He was just trying whatever he could to keep me safe. That wasn't the truth in his eyes. He just wanted me to be okay.

Right?

Puffing out a heavy sigh from between my lips, I moved over to Yu's side, who was watching me with worry. I looked up at him, and studied his blue-grey eyes. "I'm sorry for blowing my top earlier," I apologized. "It's just...lying in that bed with you taking care of me...I felt like I was useless. I wanted to do more, and when you said that stuff, it...felt like all I was thinking was confirmed. It wasn't you, it was me."

Yu looked away. "Still, it was uncalled for. I'm sorry."

I forced my brightest smile, trying to not appear like I was lying through my teeth. "It's fine. You were just trying to protect me, and I respect that. Just...next time, respect my opinions too."

Satonaka and Hanamura both sighed with relief at my newfound calmness, and the fire of determination was back into Satonaka's eyes. "Alright, let's go! Yukiko needs us!"

I nodded with her, and soon, we all broke into a run after Teddie, whose nose was pointed in the air as he continued to run. I adjusted the magnetic glasses over my nose, and I pursued them. I had better not flunk anything up this time!

As I ran with serious intent of keeping up and not causing any more harm towards the others, I didn't pay attention to the sound of metal chains dragging across the floor. Part of me wishes I did.

----------------

We were all out of breath by the time Teddie stopped sniffing out Amagi. Hanamura was leaning heavily on his knees, his chest heaving up and down. Satonaka, despite her lack of glasses, was firmly glaring at the castle's silhouette, her breath labored. Yu didn't seem as affected as everyone else, but I could still watch as he breathed quickly through his mouth. I was roughly the same as Yu.

When I'd regained my composure as well as my breath, I looked up at the form Satonaka was glaring at with pure hatred.

The castle resembled the one from that video game. Three spires, large windows with yellow light glowing from them...It seemed very...generic, for lack of better word. But the large gate still was surrounded by brick pillars. The same ones we'd seen in the Midnight Channel. 

Satonaka clenched her teeth together, and it looked painful as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Wasn't this..." she managed to say. "Wasn't this on the Midnight Channel last night?"

Yu suddenly took the initiative. "Satonaka, you should wait out here," he told her.

Satonaka suddenly turned and glared at Yu. "I'm going. I'm so going," she hissed. "Now I know how Kaida-chan felt."

Yu went red with embarrassment at that statement. 

"There's no changing her mind once it's set..." Hanamura sighed, a hand on his hip. He looked at the bear in front of us. "Teddie, is Yukiko-san in there?"

"No doubt about it!" Teddie confirmed, making Satonaka stiffen with anticipation. "My snout's onto the scent!"

A dark look flashed over Satonaka's face, and she suddenly darted forward, ignoring Hanamura completely. She ripped her wrist from my tight grip, and she had vanished behind the mess of red and black within seconds.

"Hey, don't run off on your own!" Hanamura shouted after her, far too late already. "Damn it!" He looked at me, and we both nodded to each other before running after the worried girl. Yu followed quickly behind, and Teddie squeaked. 

"Don't leave me bearhind!" he made a bad bear pun as he chased after us. I cringed as we entered the portal for her 'dungeon', as I wanted to call it.

----Third Person----

Chie ran wildly through the halls, never keeping count of the number of turns she took as she followed where she believed would take her to her best friend. "Yukiko!" she whispered hauntingly under her breath. "Yukiko!"

However, she was blind to the Shadows appearing from the walls beside her, and the trio behind her sighed with their work cut out for them. A certain blue-haired girl was frowning the whole way, looking grumpier than she normally would.

"She's completely blind without her own pair of glasses!" Kaida snapped as she removed her bo from her back, preparing to fight. She removed the strap and tucked it into her pocket.

Yu turned to look at his friend, flames burning in his normally blank eyes. His face was still straight as ever, though. "Yosuke!" he said firmly.

The student pulled his headphones over his ears, unknowingly mimicking Kaida as she did the same. "Okay!" he smiled at Yu, flashing him a thumbs-up.

"Persona!" Yu shouted, crushing the blue card in front of him, summoning Izanagi.

"Let's rumble," Yosuke smiled eagerly. "Persona!" He punched the card, shattering it before the silhouette of Jiraiya came into view. Kaida puffed a strand of hair out of her face in annoyance due to Yosuke's childish actions. She simply raised her bo, and took a proper stance for fighting.

Yu held out his hand, and Izanagi obeyed the vague command. Dashing forward, he raised his weapon and sliced cleanly through a Shadow on his first try. Kaida followed Yu's lead, and launched her bo like a spear, impaling a Shadow nearby easily. Izanagi had crushed three more Shadows by this point.

"Way to go, Sensei!" Teddie cheered. "You too, Kai-chan!"

Three more Shadows, however, approached Yosuke without warning. "Jiraiya!" he shouted, struggling to direct his Persona to the enemies. But then Jiraiya snapped his fingers, and a whirlwind of green light appeared, taking in quite a few Shadows before dispersing. Kaida had to grip her bo tightly to avoid losing it to the wind currents.

Yosuke, eager and careless due to his sudden burst of power, made to attack a Shadow, but then another monster appeared behind him, attacking viciously. Yosuke flinched in pain, capturing both Yu's and Kaida's attention.

Izanagi quickly covered for Jiraiya, and swiftly killed a majority of them in one blow. Kaida sent herself flying through the air after using her bo to do so, and she furiously brought her heel down and smashed one of them into pieces. Kneeling down, she revealed that she had a hidden blade in her boot heel as she clicked it back into place so she wouldn't walk on it.

"Yosuke, you've got a lot to learn," Teddie tutted.

"No respective title for me still!?" Yosuke shot back at him as Kaida walked over to them with Yu behind her. She pulled her headphones down with one hand, and held her bo over her shoulder with one hand as she glared at Yosuke.

"Let's go, you time-wasting dumbass. Satonaka's still out there looking for Amagi, you know," the sapphire-eyed girl scolded her classmate, smacking him upside the head with her hand. 

"Let's go!" Yu said firmly, and his adoptive sister complied, leaving Yosuke to rub his sore head as he chased after the 'blood-siblings'.

-------------------

Chie kept running, oblivious of the dangers around her. There was only one thought on her mind, and it was repeating itself to constantly remind her of her purpose in the TV Realm.

Yukiko.

She could faintly hear the sounds of the four behind her fighting to protect her, and she certainly appreciated it. But she was so worried about Yukiko that she couldn't care less about herself. The only reason why she'd fight for her life was that she wanted to see the lovely smile on Yukiko's face at least one more time. And another after that. And yet another after that one. 

Seeing a set of heavy, red doors lined with golden curls, Chie boosted her pace. She had to be behind here. She just had to be.

Holding her palms out in front of her, she shoved the doors open forcefully. They slowly obeyed to her will, and suddenly, they vanished behind her as a black and white image greeted her eyes.

"Huh?" Chie blinked, looking at herself. She, too, was completely without color. Multiple shades of grey met her eyes. She looked up as she felt a faint gust of cold wind, and saw that the window was open, revealing a sight of slowly-falling snow. 

"Isn't this Yukiko's room...?" Chie asked, turning around to converse with the people following her, when she realized the heavy red and gold doors had disappeared, keeping her friends from finding her.

"I look good in red."

Chie's eyes widened at the sound of the voice. "Yukiko...?" she whispered, holding a hand to her mouth in shock.

"I hate my name...Yukiko," the voice continued, ignoring Chie's surprise and relief. "'Snow child'....Snow is cold and quick to melt. It's fleeting and completely useless." There was a brief pause. "So it matches me perfectly."

Chie clenched her hands into fists as she looked around for any sight of the raven-haired girl. "Yukiko, where are you!?" she shouted, spinning around once for any sense of resemblance. "Where are you!?"

"Aside from inheriting the inn, I'm completely worthless..." 

"Answer me, Yukiko!" Chie cried. "Yukiko!"

"But..."

Chie froze up at that word. Does she like herself in at least one way?

"Chie was the only one who said 'Yukiko, you look good in red'."

The room suddenly lit up, causing Chie to blink for a bit before she realized that most of her room was in red. The table, the carpet, the dresser, the cushions, and even the empty birdcage that hung in the window.

"Chie was the only one who gave me meaning. Chie is cheerful, strong, and can do anything. She has everything I lack."

Chie whirled around as she saw a small windup toy, also red. It made little click-clack sounds as it walked with its tiny legs. It moved and squeaked until it stopped by her feet, and she covered her mouth to avoid screaming.

"I...Compared to Chie...I'm..." the voice couldn't continue, the sound breaking off for a short moment. "Chie will protect me."

"Yukiko...." Chie couldn't think of anything to say, her mind blank from all thoughts.

"I'm worthless, but my dear, kind Chie will protect me."

"Yukiko, I..." Chie held her face in her hands. Stop. Make it stop.

"'Kind Chie', eh? That's funny," another, much more confident voice sneered. Chie's head snapped up at the sound, and she couldn't keep her jaw from dropping.

Yukiko's room had vanished, leaving a room bathed in red. The flooring, the carpet, the stairs, the rails...Everything was red. Except for one thing.

She had short, light-brown hair, and a green jacket. A short black Yasogami skirt, and even a layering of shirts underneath. Pale skin, slim body...and glowing, monstrous, devilish yellow eyes that tore apart the shell Chie had built around herself in defense. "Wh....what the—? Who are you?"

The figure's eyes moved within her lids, and Chie flinched at the small movement. "I'm...Chie Satonaka," she said, her face nearly as straight as Yu