A/N: My very first attempt for a fanfiction! Because of that, this could be pretty bad, so bear with me! If you have any ideas how I can improve, please leave a review! Any advice will be glady taken! Regrading the update schedule of this fiction, don't expect me to pump these out very fast, as I do have school and other things to juggle, so my updates may be very, very slow.

And lastly, this concept was inspired by a previous fanfic called Persona 4 FES. I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of putting Nanako as the protag, and I was sad that the author never finished it, so here I am, writing this fanfic with Nanako as the protag, though in this chapter, she won't make an appearance just yet!

EDIT: Changed the original date because it was on a Sunday, and changed the date and location format.

Enjoy this chapter!

Prologue: Calm before the storm

Monday, May 3, 2021 Office 904. Tokyo Prosecutor's Office, Tokyo

Rain plattered intensely against the rectangular glass window that displayed the pitch black and cloud covered night sky over the bright and vibrant lights of the bustling city. Below, cars zoomed along the labyrinth of roads squished in between the many towers that populated the city. In the room, artificial light shone from a single, domed light on the ceiling. It was a fairly large and spacious room, with a large oak bookshelf filled with thick law books of various colours on one of the light brown walls of the room. To the right was two large, grey coloured metal file cabinets that were almost the same height as the wooden bookshelf, full of secure files concerning many crimes, solved or unsolved. They had five drawers each, each secured with a lock that could only be opened by a touch keypad on a small square computer display placed on the top right corner of the drawer. Leaning against the cabinets was a tall wooden ladder, used for the convenience reaching the top levels of the bookshelf. In front of the bookshelves was a large, mahogany desk, with a red and white striped rug underneath. Behind the desk was a black leather swivel car, which the owner of the office leaned back on, studying a case file intensely.

He was a tall, slender young man, probably in his mid to late twenties, with a distinctive bow haircut of short, grey hair. His face was pale and smooth, with a sharp, triangular like chin clean of stubble. Over his sharp, grey eyes, he wore black framed rectangular glasses. On his body, he wore a simple black suit, but left his suit jacket unbuttoned, revealing a white dress shirt with a black tie underneath. Pinned to the right lapel of his suit jacket was a prosecutor badge, indicating his role as a prosecutor for the Tokyo Prosecutor's office.

Sighing, the man dropped his focus from the case file describing the crime was assigned to investigate and prosecute and glanced over his desk, feeling tired from reading over all the documents and evidence related to the case. Ever since he passed the bar and joined the prosecutor's office last February, he has been increasingly been getting assigned more and more cases to investigate and prosecute, and has been solving and winning most of them, the few which he lost were ones which he conceded that the defendant was surely not guilty. Almost any time he investigated a crime, he relentlessly pursued the truth, no matter how intricate or complex the crime was, or how little initial evidence there was to incriminate the true culprit. He didn't let the opinions of the media or his superiors influence him in his decisions. This passionate dedication was the reason why, even though he has been a prosecutor for only fourteen months, he was labelled as one of the top rising prosecutors in the prosecutor's office. No one knew where this passion came from, but some would say that it was the result of the guidance and teachings of his mentor, a veteran prosecutor with nine years of experience despite his young age of twenty nine years old. His mentor would claim though that this passion was there ever since he became a prosecutor, and he only refined it into the ruthless, efficient prosecutor by the name of Yu Narukami.

He undoubtedly loved his job with a burning passion, but currently was desperate for a break to rest his mind. His previous case, concluded only a week ago, was an impossibly complex one, taking over two months of careful investigating to implicate the evasive culprit, and another month to break down his stubborn lawyer and get the defendant the guilty verdict he deserved. It was a tiring and stressful experience, and now he had another case to deal with, despite it being a fairly simple one. He couldn't help feeling irritated.

Suddenly, the ringtone of Yu's phone began playing, breaking the thoughts of the young prosecutor. Feeling into his right pocket of his black pants, he pulled out the vibrating smartphone and looked at the screen. He smiled when he saw the face of his best friend, Yosuke. He pressed the green button on the screen and said, "Hey, Yosuke."

"Hey, partner. How's it going, man? You doing good?" replied the voice on the phone.

"Yeah. I'm doing good. How about you? Make any progress with your 'lover', bro? Been ten years and still haven't made your move?" Yu taunted.

"S-s-s-shut up, Yu! Damn it, can't I tell you my deepest feelings and not have you taunt me about it every time?!" Yosuke stuttered, obviously flustered

"Ok, ok" Yu said reassuringly, "But on a serious note, why did you call me? I take it that this isn't a social call."

"Wow, you can tell? Damn, is there nothing you can't figure out? Dude, you're literally a genius!" Yosuke praised, with a hint of jealousy, "But yeah, I did call you for a reason, and it's pretty serious. You see… Marie-chan's…. missing"

"Missing? What do you mean?" Yu said, as thunder boomed in the background.

"Well, we were going to eat together at Aiya's two nights ago, so me and Chie went to her house to pick her up. But when we got there, her lights were off and she didn't answer the door or her phone. We didn't think of it much then, we just thought she went out somewhere and forgot to tell us and put her phone on silent, so we went back to AIya's without her."

"But then yesterday, when I was at my desk at the police station, I got a call from the weather station. Apparently, Marie-chan didn't show up for work that day without calling in sick, so they decided to call me. That made me feel suspicious, so I called up Naoto-kun and decided to investigate."

"We went around the town for the whole day, questioning anyone passing by if they saw anyone like her. No one saw anything. We searched her house, but, damn it, there was no trace of any struggles or break and entry or any damn thing that could point to a kidnapping. All her belongings were still there and her car was still in the garage, so she couldn't have left the town on a trip. It was almost like…she literally vanished in thin air"

"That...sounds concerning", Yu responded to the news, with a hint of worry and panic sneaking behind his usually calm demeanor. Regaining his composure, he said. "Well, we can't make any conclusions yet. Maybe it's not as bad as it seems, I mean, she is a minor goddess, she could just be sick of this world and decided to take a break."

"Maybe you're right", Yosuke sighed with relief, "But that's not the only bad news I have to tell you. I been hearing rumors that the Midnight Channel is back on."

"What?!" Yu exclaimed, losing his composure as he was shocked with the news. The Midnight Channel is back on? How?! We got rid of the cause of that years ago! How could it be back on?

"Well, it's just a rumor I heard from one teenager that was at the station….but…. if it's true…. this could be a serious problem. Plus, Teddie being acting weird when he passes by any TV. He says he senses weird vibes, an old, powerful presence, something very familiar but dangerous."

It can't be…. Yu thought.

"That's why we decided we're going in. We need to figure the root of the problem, and most likely it's connected to the other world. Everything that been happening is can't just be a coincidence. But we're not going in without you. You're our leader, after all"

"I agree, that seems what we need to do, but… I won't be able to come to Inaba for a couple of weeks?"

"Huh? Why not?" Yosuke inquired.

"I got assigned a case today. Should be a quick one but it'll still take me at least two weeks to wrap up. After that, I'll request some time off and head right over. I'll also call Uncle Dojima to let him know." Yu explained. "Sorry about that."

"Ok, got it. No worries, partner, it's your job. We'll be waiting."

"Thanks, Yosuke. I know I can count on you" Yu replied as he ended the call.

With his mind rested, Yu dropped the case file he was studying onto his desk, and stood up from his chair. He walked over to the file cabinets behind his desk and typed in a code on the keypad of one of them, unlocking it in the process. He then opened the cabinet and reached to the very back of the drawer, pulling out a file with the label "JN-2".

Walking back to his desk, he slowly digested the conversation he had with Yosuke minutes ago. The Inaba he fought to protect many years ago in his youth was possibly in danger once again by a threat only he and his friends could fight. And if Inaba was in danger, that meant they were in danger, especially her.

He looked over to a framed picture on the corner of his desk. It was taken a year ago in February, right after he had passed the bar. He had returned to Inaba to celebrate this accomplishment, and took this picture with his "family". He focused on the teenaged girl with long, brown hair and an innocent angelic face, no different from the face that greeted him at home for a year ten years ago.

This time, I won't lose you. You'll be safe this time.