Persona: Resolution
Disclaimer: I never own Persona (3 or 4)
Chapter 1: Prologue
A man sat leisurely on a bench in a park at Pot Island Station, he enjoyed the beautiful view of the sunset before his thought flying back at his work, he was depressed with his never ending job as a detective. He looked at the reddened sky above, he tried to forget his entire problem and enjoyed the peaceful moment, his eyelids became heavier and he couldn't help but to close it. The wind blew his black hair gently, he felt that all his problem had been blown away along with the wind. Before suddenly a woman voice broke the peaceful moment.
"Hey, Shinji, wake up!!" a brunette woman in pink clothes with a heart choker, yelled to the man.
"Groan…Why you always bother me when I come to enjoy this peaceful evening…" said the man as he stretched his arms.
"You're the one who promised me to accompany me today…"
"Sigh…As you wish, Yukari…" said the man as he lifted his body from the bench lazily and act like a butler, "Well, where should we go, my lady?"
"C'mon…just act normally, okay" said the brunette woman in pink jacket.
"Okay, let's get this over with before I get another call…" said the man as he stuffed his hand on the pocket of his black, long trouser.
"Let's start! It's shopping time!" the brunette woman yelled in excitement.
"But remember, don't buy too many things…" advised the black-haired man.
"Why not? You're the one who volunteered, so don't object, okay,"
The two of them started their shopping spree, starting from clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. They bought many things on their way, and ended up as a pain in the neck for the companion who brought all the goodies. Finally they were taking a break on Chagall Cafe on Paulownia Mall, and had a cup of the famous pheromone coffee.
"Sigh…Finally, a moment to relax…"
"Well, that was fun…we should do it again next time!"
"Hell no…you ended up buying a lot of thing, and forced me to carry all the bags…" said the man as he slumped his head to the chair, and he looked at the shopping bags right beside their chairs. The other customers and the attendants were looking at them, baffled.
"Tehee…I'm sorry…"
"Whatever…just why you bought some clothes that seems too small for you…" asked the black-haired man as he raised his head from the table.
"You still remember Aigis, right? I bought it for her,"
"Oh, so it's for Aigis-san. You seem to care for her a lot,"
"She's like my sister. Since I don't have a sister, maybe I spoiled her too much…" Yukari's facial expression became somewhat melancholic.
"And the rest…?"
"It's for Fuuka and Mitsuru-senpai of course!"
"Sigh…but next time, just don't buy too many things, it's the third time already…"
"Okay!"
"By the way, how's Hamuko-san doing?" asked the man.
"She's doing fine, but she's rather gloomy..."
"Well, after all...It's almost that day..." the man's expression became somewhat melancholic.
"Yeah, the day when HE left us..."
Pipipi…pipipi…Suddenly the man's cell rang and broke the sad moment, he took his cell from his trouser pocket, "This is Yamamoto…Oh, Akihiko-senpai, what's up?…Okay, be right there," the man hung his cell.
"Is that from Akihiko-senpai?" asked the brunette woman.
"Yeah, there have been another case on the Apathy Syndrome lately, it's suddenly appeared out of nowhere after seven years," explained the man.
"Well, it's your call…"
"Are you going to be fine by yourself...?"
"I'll be just fine…"
"What about those bags?" asked the man, as he gestured to the shopping bags.
"I'll work on it somehow, just go. Akihiko-senpai doesn't like to wait, you know that…"
"If you say so…" the man shrugged, "Well then, take care…" the black-haired man with black jacket walked away and left the cafe.
Yukari was left alone on her seat, she stared at her shopping bags and sighed, "Even though I said that I'll work on it, but I cannot handle this much. Maybe this is why he warned me not to buy too much…" the brunette let out another sigh.
A figure appeared behind her, it was a woman with red hair who wore long-sleeved white clothes, with brown trouser and high-heeled boots, "Looks like you need some help, Yukari…"
Yukari turned her head and found a familiar person, "Mitsuru-senpai!"
~Resolve~
A white-haired man waited in front of the police station, he tapped his feet, and looked at his wristwatch once in a few time, his facial expression grew impatient. Beside him a slender young man accompanied him, wearing an officer hat.
"Where's Shinji when we need him…" the man groaned and tapped his feet.
"Just be patient, Sanada-san. He will be right here sometime soon…"
As the slender young man spoke, the man in question showed up, he was rushing towards them, and stopped right in front of them. He panted heavily and tried to catch his breath, there was some beads of sweat on his face.
"Sorry, I'm late…" the man apologized as he wiped the sweat on his forehead
"Just where the hell are you when I called?" asked the white-haired man with a slight angry voice.
"I'm accompanying Yukari on her shopping spree, and ended up carrying her shopping bags,"
"Sigh…She's at it again. Well, it's your fault to volunteer on that,"
"So, what's up now? Are there any new victim regarding the case?"
"There's another victim and he's currently at the hospital, we'll go there to investigate, and Shirogane is here to help us," Akihiko gestured to a man, or a woman, who appears to wear an officer hat.
"Well, I'm just volunteered on the case, it seems that this case is quite interesting to be solved,"
"And it looks like this has become your hobby as well as your profession,"
"Yes, I won't deny that this has become a hobby of mine…"
"Anyway, it's nice to meet you again Shirogane, it's been a while,"
"Nice to meet you too, and please just call me by my first name, Yamamoto-san,"
"The same goes for you…"
"Have you done with the chit-chat? We got a victim to pay a visit to,"
"Being impatient is bad for your health, Akihiko-senpai," the black-haired advised
~Resolve~
After arrived at the hospital, two of them met someone familiar, a female doctor with green hair, waiting in front of the hospital, and she flashed a gentle smile before she greeted them.
"Good evening, Akihiko-senpai, Shinji-san..."
"Good evening, Fuuka..." the black-haired man greeted the green-haired woman back.
"Fuuka, is he still here?" asked Akihiko.
"Yes, follow me..."
The three officers followed the young doctor to a ward, there they found a man slept on the bed. Beside him a device indicated that his heartbeat ran slowly, he was in a comatose state, like the rest of the other previous victim who suffered the same symptoms.
"Sigh...Another comatose victim..." the black-haired man scratched his hair.
"Fuuka, you told me that this one is different..."
"Yes, this one was conscious before we took him to the hospital, and he mumbled about, 'that'..."
"We still don't know anything about it, it's better not to jump on conclusion yet, but there's a possibility since the Apathy Syndrome showed up recently after seven years, it's better to contact Mitsuru, just in case..." Akihiko picked his cell and dialed a number.
While Akihiko and Fuuka discussed the matter, Shinji wandered near the unconscious man, he observed the man closely before his attention distracted by a black substance near the patient, he took out a rubber glove and a plastic bag that was usually used to contain evidence from his jacket. He thought that the substance was some kind of liquid and slightly surprised when he found out that the substance was actually solid, like a gelatin.
"Shinji-san, did you find something?"
"Yeah, I found this near him" the black-haired man showed Naoto the plastic bag contained the substance.
"Is that some kind of liquid?" Naoto said as she examined it curiously.
"Well, it's actually pretty much solid, like a gelatin,"
Akihiko looked at his junior and surprised, then he took the plastic bag, which contained the substance and examined it.
"Akihiko-senpai, that's...!" Fuuka gasped, as she seemed familiar with the substance
"Yes, it seems that Shinji had found some major evidence,"
"Is that something important...?" Shinji tilted his head.
"Yeah, you two, keep it secret until I confirmed this substance..."
"If you say so..." Shinji shrugged.
"Well, it seems that this is out of our hand..." Naoto nodded in agreement.
"Let us call it a day, excuse us Fuuka, and thanks for the report..."
"You're welcome..."
~Resolve~
After a long and tiring day Shinji finally back to his house, a traditional Japanese house, his house is quiet as usual, his father was busy with the case he's now holding and is currently at London, England, where he became the head officer of a detective agency there. As for his mother, she's away because of her job as a woman activist and is currently somewhere in South-East Asia. He lived with his grandfather and a maid on the house.
"I'm home..." said Shinji as he took of his shoe, and found a woman with a dark-blue, long hair, in purple kimono bowed.
"Welcome home, Shinji-sama, would you like to bath? I'll prepare the hot water,"
"Yes, please do..."
Then the maid excused herself, Shinji walked toward the living room only to find his grandfather, a man in a dark-blue kimono with a grayish hair, sat in seiza position and sipped tea from his traditional Japanese cup. Shinji sat and slumped his head on the table and turned on the TV.
"Sitting like that will make your back ache when you grow old," advised the elderly man with a sagely voice, starting the conversation.
"Sigh...I know," the black-haired man raised his head and rested it on his right hand.
"You seemed tired lately, is there something happened during your days...?"
"Nothing, it's just something that I've been thinking lately..."
"Don't push yourself too hard. I know how depressed a detective can be..."
"Yeah, I know it, since you were a detective yourself during that glory days of yours..."
Suddenly the maid opened the sliding door.
"Shinji-sama, the hot water is ready," the maid sat on seiza in front of the door.
"Thanks, Rie-san..." said the man as he stood up and left the room.
"Reiji-sama, is there something happened to Shinji-sama?" asked the maid.
"Chuckle...It seems that cared about my grandson a lot..."
"N-no, i-its just that Shinji-sama have been a little depressed lately..." the maid's face is slightly reddened and she looked to another direction to hid her blush.
"Hahaha...Don't worry, he's thinking too much about his job lately. Perhaps, you could help me to lighten his burden?"
"Yes, I will do my best to help Shinji-sama in any way I could!" answered the maid confidently, oblivious of her master plan.
"Well then, do as I instructed..."
Meanwhile, Shinji who enjoyed the hot water, was oblivious about his grandfather's plans for him. He kept thinking about his close friend who had passed away, and then he sighed. He enjoyed his peaceful bath, washed away his tiredness, before suddenly a woman entered the bathroom with only a towel covered her body, it was Rie, the maid. Shinji was startled seeing the maid.
"W-what are you doing!? You know I'm taking a bath right now, why you entered without checking first!?" said the black-haired man as he took a towel to cover the lower part of his body.
"W-well, Reiji-sama ask me to do this, t-to cheer you up..."
'That old geezer, he's always doing this to entertain himself! Dammit! I'll never forgive him!! I'll kill him!!!' Shinji frowned and clenched his fist.
"This is my first time, so please be gentle..." the maid walked closer, as she tried to remove the towel that covered her body.
"W-wait! What're you doing! D-don't—"
Reiji Yamamoto, sat on the living room, waiting for his grandson leisurely, he sipped his tea from the traditional Japanese cup. Before sounds of running footsteps could be heard from the outside, followed by shouting, then Shinji barged into the room, he wore long-sleeved white clothes with a brown long trouser.
"You old geezer!! Why you always make fun of me!!!" as the black-haired pointed his finger to the elderly man accusingly.
"Chuckle...You seemed depressed, so I thought that Rie-chan would ease your burden. So, how was it?"
"Not in a thousand years! I'm not a pervert like you!!"
"Fuhahaha...It seems that you have regained your usual self"
"Argh!! You should apologize to her because of your indecent plans,"
"Well, she had agreed before. So, it's not entirely my fault..." the elderly man spoke with an innocent voice.
"Groan...Fine..."
Shinji could only grumped, seeing his indecent grandfather makes fun of their innocent maid. Shinji slammed the door and walked towards Rie's room. He stood in front of Rie's room and scratched his head as he tried to find the right words, he ruffled his front hair that covered his forehead. Before suddenly, the door in front of him was opened by the maid who now wear a white kimono.
"Rie, are you okay?" asked the black-haired man as he lowered his gaze.
"Umm...I'm okay..." the maid answered sheepishly, a faint blush could be seen from her beautiful face.
"I'm sorry..." Shinji bowed to the maid.
"No, I'm the one who should apologized..." the dark-blue haired maid bowed, "Please, forgive me for my indecent behavior..."
"But, you're the victim here..."
"Yes, and that is my fault, Shinji-sama..."
"But promise me something..." Shinji's grayish eyes fixated to the maid black eyes.
"W-what is it, if I may know, Shinji-sama..." asked the maid as she tried to look at the other direction, her cheek was reddened further.
Shinji quickly wrapped his arms to Rie, the maid startled by the young master's sudden act. Her face was reddened, she did harbors some feeling to the young master, but she never expected something like this from him.
"S-Shinji-sama, what are you doing...?"
"Thank you, for your concern. And this is my 'gift' for you..." the black-haired man spoke gently to Rie, as he tightened his hug.
Rie couldn't say anything, she could only felt the warm brace of her young master, and then she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms, she enjoyed the peaceful moment to the fullest.
"Rie, from now on I want you to do something for me..."
"Yes?"
"I want you to call me with Shinji-kun, instead of Shinji-sama...Would it be okay?" asked the black-haired man.
"Your wish is my command, Shinji-kun..."
"Umm...Rie, could we stop now...?"
"Oh! I'm sorry Shinji-kun..." the maid startled and giggled a little.
"Well, then...Good night, Rie,"
"Good night,"
~Resolve~
Thanks for DemonRaily for pointing out something from my fic, and thus I decided to remove it and start something new, please enjoy. And please drop some review if you could. And if there's some error on my grammar, please let me know.
Bhanu JH
