﻿<strong>Takeo Satoshi<br/>Time: June 5th, 2018. Monday, Midevening.<br/>Location: Central Shopping District, following to Mirrored World.<br/>Tagged: The Original Investigation Team, Miki, Ayane, Anyone Else.</strong><br/><br/>"What...the...hell...?!"<br/><br/>Satoshi stood well back, leaning against a building across the street from the others as they crowded together on the sidewalk, in front of the local pharmacy window. He was still too far away to hear everything, but what he was picking up made little to no sense. It was an even more surreal scene that what he'd witnessed at the Flood Plain after he'd doubled back and followed that man from the library to his little meeting. Satoshi hadn't really known what he was expecting, but the motley crew he'd seen wasn't it. What the hell kind of gang was this? A couple of young women, the store manager of the local Junes shopping mart,<em>two female police officers,</em>and...some dude in a freaky bear costume?<em>This</em>was what he'd trekked all the way into the middle of freaking nowhere to spy on? What bullshit!<br/><br/>But the little gathering quickly turned from what seemed some sort of syrupy reunion to something much more alarming. One of the officers' phones rang, and whatever news she received from the other end must not have been good. Satoshi was too far from the group to hear what was going on, but from the sudden looks on everyone's faces, it must have been serious. He'd followed as closely as he could behind them as they'd taken off, leading him here to Inaba's shopping district, where they'd...suddenly developed a collective urge to window shop for cold medicine? Satoshi was about to walk away and consider the entire event a wash, when he noticed the police presence that was slowly but surely fading from the area. So, something<em>was</em>going on. But how were these people connected?<br/><br/>He crept forward and ducked behind a small parked car, listening closely for more information. Satoshi poked his head up just enough to watch through the car's windows and saw the group still milling about in front of the store window, but what they were saying didn't make any sense. Where were they going? What was unknown territory? And how --<em>'Whoa! What the...!'</em>Satoshi thought, his questions decisively interrupted by the sight of the bastard from earlier simply shoving his hand<em>through</em>the shop glass as if it were a puddle of water! The glass and its reflection rippled and shuddered, and the man pulled his hand back none the worse for wear.<br/><br/>Satoshi watched, stunned, as pair by pair the group passed through the mirror into...whatever waited on the other side. As their number dwindled, he felt his heart race until it felt like it would pound out of his chest and tear down the street as the excitement overtook him. Anything, absolutely anything could be on the other side of that glass! A whole new world for Satoshi to examine and study! Before his last ounce of common sense and self-preservation abandoned him he reached into his pocket and checked that his little 'toy' was still safely tucked away; after all, it wouldn't do to visit a whole new world and not bring something to...play with.<br/><br/>The others had all gone through; no one was left now but the man from the library. Satoshi's whole body tensed, every muscle preparing to fire as he watched the man exchange words with the last remaining police officer before he passed through the 'window' himself. At once, Satoshi jumped out from behind the car and sprinted at full speed across the street on a direct course with the still-rippling plate glass, laughing madly with every step. The policeman was too surprised to react in time, and Satoshi made a flying leap through the portal behind the others in the instant before the portal sealed shut.<br/><br/><em>'Look out, Wonderland -- here I come!'</em>