Author's Note:

A Perspective Switch of the second half of P4 from Teddie's view, which elaborates on him gaining his human body, his relationships to his friends, his wants and ever-present fears and his life in the human world as a seemingly normal boy staying with the Hanamura family.

This was written on a whim and will probably end up being sort of a One-Shot collection starting Chapter 3, telling random stories out of Teddie's new daily life.

((Oh, and for anyone disappointed I haven't updated 'Complete Turnabout' lately; I am sorry. Responsibilities and Impulses are getting in the way. I promise, I will get back to it soon.))

That said, I hope you'll all enjoy this little tribute to my favorite P4 Character! Bear-Hug~!


The first signs that it was happening came pretty soon. It was right after the others had left again.

He was watching them, when they headed for the screens of the Exit TVs that he had set up for them with the bit of power he had been able to muster. Kanji, Chie, and Yukiko turned for him before leaving, exchanging worried glances, and even Yosuke gave him a "Take care," before he left. Rise left him with the promise she would come to visit. However, the one who stayed longest to bid him a "See ya soon," was the one he called "Sensei." He ruffled the charred fur of the bear with a smile before he got up on his way to join the others. And the bear smiled back. As if everything was alright. As if he didn't mind that he'd been quite literally flattened, burned and maybe even crushed. He could heal. He knew he could. Even though he didn't know how he knew.

He had been thinking so much lately, ever since Sensei and Yosuke had first come here, through the TV at that place they always call "Junes." And the more he had been thinking, the more he had come to realize how little he knew and understood, or how much he knew without knowing why. It was strange. The more he learned, the dumber he felt. But sometimes… sometimes he really didn't mind that. Because this wasn't all he felt. There were so many good things he had felt too, ever since people had come to this side. Like what it was like to laugh with others. Or what it was like to have someone care for you. Those were the moments when he really felt fulfilled, as if that, somehow was the only way he had always wanted to be. A wish he just hadn't thought about before, maybe? Possibly. It didn't matter. In the end he had to admit, regardless of what he had said to Sensei and Yosuke in the beginning… the truth was, he was only really happy when he was with them. And that was why he was happy right now as well. Regardless of the burns and the dents.

But then, Sensei turned and he couldn't see his face and smile anymore. He left, just like the others, for the place they called "real". And with that, silence came back and Teddie was alone again. And the fog was dense. And it was cold, because his fur was all burnt off. And the floor was hard. He stared at the exit TV for a while. Longingly. Maybe even with a bit of wonder. Exit TV… Right, he had a Persona now. That's what Sensei had said, right? That they could enter here because they had Personas. Did the Persona allow you to move between the sides? If so, maybe…

(I can't,) he caught himself thinking.

(Why?) he thought back.

(I can't.) The thought came back.

(But why?) He thought again. (Why can't I?)

(I mustn't.) The thought he couldn't control changed. (Because I'm not allowed to.)

(But they're allowed to. Why not me?) he thought back. But no answer was to be found in his mind.

(Why?) He thought again. Nothing. He got angry. He thought harder. (Why? Why, why, why?)

But nothing came to him. Nothing new. All he knew was that whenever he gazed at this screen, whenever he even dared to entertain the thought of touching it or just taking a peak outside, it would ring in his mind again. 'I can't'. He couldn't fight it, but asking 'why' didn't bring answers either. Finally, he shook. The anger was still there.

"Stupid head!" he shouted out. "Stop being so unbearably empty!"

And as if to punish his head for not doing what he wanted it to do, he started pounding it with his fists a few times. Once, twice, trice, four times… It didn't change anything, of course. An empty head would remain hollow. Hitting it wouldn't change that. There was nothing to put inside. He stopped. At the end, it was just him and the silence again. And in the short distance, the screen he wasn't allowed to touch. And beneath him the hard floor. And around him the cold fog. He sighed.

"Oh well," he tried to find a bit of resolve, "Whining hasn't helped any bear yet. It's not gonna change a thing. I-I mean! I told Chie-chan and Yuki-chan I was going to get fit and much, much stronger soon! Rise-chan too… What am I doing sitting around here? I got work to do!"

And that said Teddie immediately let his flattened body bounce back onto the floor. It was sit-up time. Sit-up time wouldn't end until he was the strongest bear in the universe. He would show them all his iron will!

"I am… huff… not about…huff… to let waiting ladies… huff… down…!"

Inside, Teddie knew he was mostly kidding. He knew Yukiko or Chie wouldn't want anything from him that way. Probably not Rise either. It was a nice thought, but nothing else. He was cute, yeah. But he was also different. He wasn't like Sensei, or even Yosuke. They were all different from him. That's why he'd never really belong with them… Maybe it was also the reason he couldn't leave here.

(But… if I was like them…) he thought. (Just a little bit more like them… Maybe I'd belong then.)

It was a surprisingly nice thought. He kept thinking.

(Yosuke wouldn't call me empty anymore. The girls would see me differently too. I wonder what Sensei would say…?)

He kept thinking about it while doing sit-ups. It was a nice dream. But, in the end, just a dream, right? He couldn't change who he was. Then again… who was he? He didn't even really know. He thought like Sensei and the others and he now knew for sure he felt things like them too. So why was it so difficult to be like Sensei and the others? Maybe it wasn't… No, he knew it was. He just knew. Like he just knew that he couldn't leave this place. If he tried he'd just not be able to bring himself to go. If he tried to be like Sensei and the others… It would likely be the same.

And yet, part of him didn't want to give up on it.


Yukiko came to visit. That was rare. Yukiko seemed always so busy. She said she was working at a place called an "Inn." Apparently, it was hard work. Teddie was impressed and honored such a hard-working beauty like Yuki-chan had come all the far, far way to see him. Of course, Junes was only 3 bus stops from the Inn, but Teddie didn't know that. And even if he had known, he'd still have thought the same about it. He tried to make himself as presentable as possible when Yukiko wasn't looking at the moment. Thankfully, most of his fur had grown back by now. She still caught him brushing it. When she looked at him in a puzzled way, he winked as if to send her a heart of admiration. That was when she got what it was all about and sighed. Teddie didn't let such a minor set-back bring him down. After all, Yuki-chan had come to see him. That meant she cared, right? She had brought presents too, things from the other side, their world, some of which Teddie knew from his side as well, but had never understood the purpose of, others which he had never seen before. Yukiko actually took the time to explain some of it to him.

"Oh… These magazines are from Rise." Yukiko turned around a magazine she found he had been holding the wrong way around. "She thought you might like them, they have some of her pictures… Oh, now that I think about it, can you also read them?"

"Uhm… Bearly… No, wait, I can!" Teddie himself seemed surprised. This was the first time he had even heard that word, "reading", and yet, he instantly knew what it meant and how to do it.

"Oh, so you can read! That's amazing, Teddie! Where did you learn?"

"Well…" Come to think of it, he had "read" things before… small bits of text, like signs or snippets of paper. He had never given it much thought. But now that Yukiko asked, he realized that it was a bit strange. Where did he learn it?

"I… don't know," he finally gave in. He just couldn't remember.

"I see…"

Yukiko sounded a bit disappointed by this answer. Well, he was disappointed too. Why didn't he know why he knew things? This was frustrating! Beary frustrating! What he needed right now were some nice pictures of Rise-chan in a bikini to cheer himself up, yes! Unfortunately, as he kept scrolling he had to realize that there was not a single bikini-clad Rise in this book. was about to quit when one particular picture attracted his attraction.

"Huh?" He took a closer look. "Who's the cub with Rise?"

"Cub… Oh, that's not a child! That's Kichiro Kusaba."

Yukiko was explaining to Teddie the picture he was currently looking at, which was showing Rise, dressed in casual summer clothing smiling like an angel, walking down an unnaturally beautiful meadow hand in hand with a boy. Said boy was shorter than her and had golden, slightly curly hair that reached down to his shoulders. He looked frail, but in a strangely endearing way. Teddie curiously kept eyeing the picture.

"He's an actor… I think he's been in a few movies with Rise. He's quite popular for… uhm, how to say it… his "childlike charms" I guess. Well, he looks that way even though he's a high school senior, so there might be truth to it."

"Childlike charms… So that's a form of "being hot" too?" Teddie asked Yukiko eagerly.

"Well, for some people it is, I guess," she replied hesitantly. Where was Chie when she needed her? This was so awkward to explain without her. Teddie , however, grew more and more enthusiastic.

"So, so, does this mean this Kusa-Bear gets to score with a lot of hot studs?!"

And now, he had hit Yukiko's limits.

"S-Stop it with the scoring already!" her face turned as red as her blouse. With a quick movement, she ripped the magazine out of Teddie's hands and closed it.

"H-Hey!" He tried to get it back, but due to her superior height and arm-length, she could easily get it out of his reach. Curses!

"That was beary important study material!" he whined.

"Sorry Teddie, but I don't know if you should really study… that…" Yukiko was so very flustered. Further, she wondered whatever Rise had been thinking when she told her to bring him that. Then again, it was Rise. "I-I mean… shouldn't you be getting back to your training? I thought it was important to you."

"I-It still is!" Teddie quickly insisted. "And I'll get back to it soon enough! I am just taking a bear-eak!"

"A break? Well, I guess you're probably exhausted…" Yukiko looked sorry for him when she said that. "We all were, after all."

"Actually it's more that I've been kind of 'stiff' lately…" Teddie admitted.

"Stiff…?" Yukiko asked. "In what way? Maybe I could help you with that."

Of course, she couldn't exactly let Teddie bathe in the hot springs back at home, but there might have been one or two things she knew from her mother that she could try… She just wondered if they would work on Teddie the same way as on other people. He wasn't human after all. And he was empty inside too… She often had to remind herself of that fact. It was easy to forget, given how lively he acted.

"Well, I've been feeling sort of heavy. My arms and legs don't move as smoothly as they usually do either. And sometimes I feel really weird sensations in really weird places, but I can't tell where…"

"Huh… That sounds strange. Maybe you are sick?" Yukiko quickly placed her hand on what she believed to be Teddie's forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever, though… But maybe it doesn't work that way for you?"

Yukiko pondered about it for a few moments before sighing,

"I'm sorry, Teddie. I don't think I can help you there…"

"It's alright, Yuki-chan, don't be sad. You tried, and I really appreciate it," he smiled at her, hiding that he actually was a bit disappointed that Yuki-chan didn't know what was wrong with him either. So he was too different for Yuki-chan to even tell if he was sick. Still, he joked, "And even if I was sick, with such a beeeautiful lady like you around, how could I stay sick for long? That would be a bear of a waste!"

"H-Huh…!"

Yukiko wasn't really paying attention to what she did next, she only knew that she didn't like the tone in his voice or the way he looked at her and that she really, really was still rather unhappy about the whole "scoring" thing. Before she knew it, she had suddenly grabbed Teddie's arm. She didn't know what she was planning to do with it. She never got to find out, because the next moment, a sudden wave of wrongness overcame her. Something felt "off," very, very off. It was like a moment of shock and she ended up letting go of the bear's arm. She stumbled back a bit. Processing what had just happened took her a short while.

"T-Teddie…" she stuttered.

"Eh… Yuki…chan?" Teddie himself seemed shocked as well, but that was solely due to Yukiko's own reaction. "What's wrong…?"

Yukiko shook her head a bit, looked at the floor for a moment, apparently in deep confusion, before she spoke up again,

"Teddie… After… what happened in the strip-club…Did you, ehm… put something inside you to inflate yourself again…?"

"…Inside me?" Teddie seemed puzzled. "You mean, like stuffing…?"

"N-No… It was too hard for that…" Yukiko seemed to still be thinking. "I mean, I know you are supposed to have nothing inside. But, when I took your arm just now… For a moment, it felt like something was in there. It felt almost like touching a normal arm… I could feel the bone… I think there was even a pulse…"

"Yuki-chan…"

What was she saying? Something inside him? A "normal" arm? He put nothing inside. But if there was nothing, what had Yuki-chan felt then…? Teddie could really understand why Yukiko was getting worried about this. In fact, he was getting worried now too. However, when Yukiko came walking up to him and took his arm again, as if to confirm it would feel the same again… she just looked puzzled.

"Huh…"

"Huh?" Teddie asked nervously. "Huh, what? What do you feel, Yuki-chan?"

"…Nothing," she said. "It feels like before again… There's nothing inside. Hm… Maybe I did just imagine it…"

Teddie just stared at her. Imagine it? But why would she imagine something like that? Maybe there had really been something! Or maybe he was just being too hopeful… What was he hoping for anyway? Yuki-chan probably really just imagined it. Yeah, that had to be it.

"Nevermind…" she said. "In any case, we should pack these things up again. I'll put them where you want them, so you can use them any time, alright?"

And when Yukiko smiled at him, he had all but forgotten about the strange incident with his arm and proceeded to pack up his presents again.


"Go, Kintoki-Douji!"

With a quick swing of his fist, Teddie smashed the Arcana that had emerged from within him and caused his Persona to appear. He was getting better at this. The first few times around, he had tried to crush the card in his fist, like Sensei did, but he always missed the timing and had ended up falling over in an embarrassing manner instead, from trying to touch the card when it was still way out of his reach. Good thing the others hadn't seen. Yosuke especially would have had a field day with it. By now, however, Teddie was pretty sure he had found a battle style that fit him.

He wasn't very fast, but he could hit, and he hit hard. Just attach some claws or spikes to a glove and he could show the enemy why bears were dangerous. The instincts were all there… It seemed like he had known how to fight all along, somewhere inside. He had just forgotten. Now that he could make good use of it, though, he wasn't going to forget again so quickly! Not in this bear's lifetime.

Still… the stiffness that had overcome him a while ago was still there and had actually grown even worse. By now, it was getting annoying. He occasionally felt an itch on his inside that he wouldn't even have been able to scratch if he tried and the sudden heaviness and change in balance would overcome him every so often. It was tempting to abandon physical training in this condition and just train his Magic skills, but he knew that he couldn't be that lazy. He had to grow strong to be useful to his friends, after all. Especially with how weak his nose had been lately.

After three hours of target practice, however, Teddie finally couldn't go on anymore. He sunk down to the floor and sighed, as Kintoki-Douji returned to his Arcana.

"…I'm one beat bear," he sighed. "I guess I'll call it a day…"

With that, he laid down where he had sat and just stared into the air, gazing into the endless, endless fog…

"…Noone has come to visit in a while now," Teddie muttered to himself. "I wonder how everyone is doing?"

The thick masses of fog above him kept floating by, shape changing over and over. It was familiar to him and sort of calming, but also a strangely sad , fog, strange places where people from the other world got thrown in to die, more fog. That was all he ever saw anymore. He distantly remembered that there was less fog once and more to see. The scenery of this world had been so different, back then. He wondered…Did the world on the other side look very different too? The way the others spoke about it, it probably did.

"If I could go…"

(I can't,) it rang again in the back of his mind again. But, surprisingly… it was more silent than before. Much more silent.

"Hm… Tomorrow, I'll try," he thought aloud. And when nothing in his mind objected, his face brightened. "Exactly! If no one comes to see Teddie, then Teddie will just go to see everyone! I'll teach them to just leave me all by my lonely, lonely lonesome self here for such an unbearably long time! That will show them!"

He laughed. At first, he thought, he was just joking with himself again. Right, like he'd ever manage. Like he'd ever dare. But then… The voice in his mind didn't come. The thought telling him what he 'couldn't' do, what he 'mustn't' try… It didn't come. It was just not there. And then, stopping to laugh, Teddie, eyes wide open, wondered to himself if maybe, just maybe, he could really do it tomorrow. Just stand up, walk over to the screen… touch it… go through… Be with them. With his friends. As one of them. That easily.

Suddenly… it all seemed so easy. Right… It was easy. He just had to go through. Just go through…

(…I'm gonna do it,) he thought to himself (Really and actually! No backing down now! I'm going! Whether or not they want me to!)

And the more he realized that he was actually serious with his resolve, the more his smile brightened. It was going to happen. He was going to do it! He was!

…That's when the pain came.

It came suddenly, out of nowhere, and all the more did it hurt and cause him to cringe. A strong, ripping feeling from within. …Within? Wait, what, how could this be? There was nothing in there that could make him hurt like that! Was there…?

He couldn't think about it. In fact, he couldn't think much of anything. He was too busy trying to not scream loudly. He had never felt like this before. His entire body hurt and was horribly heavy. His fabric and fur were being torn long… It felt like something was trying to break free through him, ripping right through his body. He didn't know what was happening and it frightened him. He had never felt anything even remotely like this. While he had a concept of pain, it was actually quite simple. This was much more complex than anything he had ever experienced before. And much more agonizing too.

Was that it? Was he going to die now? Just like this? That wasn't right! He had only just gotten his Persona! He was supposed to help Sensei and the others now. He was supposed to fight with them! And he had just decided that he was going to see their world too. He was supposed to… be with them…

Teddie struggled. He tried to hold himself together, but… His strength was starting to fail him. His senses were getting confused, his vision randomly shrouded in darkness before returning to normal almost instantly, the feeling in his arms, body, legs, all shifted around between pain, somewhat normal sensation and a strange feeling like something was covering them all around. He had absolutely no orientation anymore. Finally, it all grew too much for him. He let out a short, tortured yell – one that no one would hear. Nobody was here, except for him. He knew that all too well. Nobody would hear him, nobody would come and search for him, nobody would find him. He was going to pass out here, he couldn't do anything against it and he didn't know what would happen to him while he was out. He was scared.

Just as his consciousness finally faded away from the strain, he swore, the last thing he could hear was the sound of his zipper violently opening.


And then, it was cold.

When he opened his eyes, that was the first thing he noticed. That it was cold, cold, cold so horribly cold! He'd never felt so frozen in his life before. Stupid fur, was supposed to keep him warm, but what was it doing now? Nothing, that's what!

The floor had never before felt so hard either… And then, when his vision came back, the fog had never looked so dense either… This was all strange.

…The pain was gone. He took a while to realize that, because he hadn't remembered right away what had actually happened before he had lost consciousness. But now, it all came back to him. It was clear as crystal what kind of torture he had gone through last night. And it was just as clear that this torture was over now. It was over. And he was alive.

Now, that was something!

Relief overcame him… Now if only it hadn't suddenly become so cold, cold, cold!

Grrr. Like being frozen alive. That had to be that stupid fog's doing. No wonder, with how dense it was today. He couldn't see through it at all, even though he had his special lenses!

He ended up sneezing… Was this what Yosuke had once called "catching a goshdarn cold"? No, please not, he didn't want to catch the cold. All that cold could go elsewhere, just not inside him! …Even if there was plenty of space…

As he was still thinking this, he was trying to sit up – and surprised when he found that his balance was way off. He almost fell over again the same moment he had sat up straight. Only with effort did he manage to stabilize himself. Something was strange… He wasn't dizzy or feeling light headed, so what was wrong with his balance? Actually, it wasn't just his balance. Something generally felt odd. Could the cold be to blame? No, that sounded unlikely… Still, it wasunBEARably cold! (Yes, that emphasis was necessary!)

He rubbed his arms with his hands in order to warm up a bit – Wait.

Something was wrong here.

Something… with his arms. It took him a bit to notice but… They shouldn't have felt like that. He shouldn't be able to reach all the way to the opposite shoulders with them… right? He never had been able to reach up so far the opposite also…

-Wait. "Shoulders"?

Teddie shook. He didn't know if was because of the cold or because of how horribly wrong everything felt right now. But for a moment there, he felt frozen for a reason that definitely was not the fog's fault. He should look down at himself. He had to look down at himself, at his body. He knew that. But he didn't dare. It took him half a minute, until he finally managed to swallow heavily, take a deep breath, close his eyes a moment… And then turn his gaze downwards, towards his body, his arms and his legs, which were still resting on the floor. But what he found there… Wasn't anything he'd have expected …

Smooth, pinkish (could you call that color that?) skin. Long, thin limbs separated into two halves, each with probably some kind of joints connecting them inside. The torso was slim and he could see the chest move as he breathed in and out. The hands branched out into not two, but five segments each, forming nice, thin fingers. He tried to move them. And move they did, with no trouble whatsoever. No doubt about it… This was a human. He was looking at a human body. Probably just like Yosuke's or Sensei's or maybe even Kanji's- No wait, this suddenly became very awkward. He stopped thinking among those lines.

"I…I'm…"

He didn't really know what to say. He just stuttered out sounds. They came out in his voice. His own voice. At least this was still the same. But as for the rest…Was that really him? Even though the limbs he saw obeyed his thoughts, it was so hard to believe. What was going on…?

Mirror. He needed a mirror and quickly. But where in this fog could he find a mirror? He couldn't even see much further than his nose reached…

In the short distance, he spied the silhouette of something. Right, the exit… That should show his reflection just fine!

In excitement, Teddie tried to get on his feet, but just like before, gravity had decided that it was now his enemy and he had to deal with some failed attempts before he managed to somehow balance his new weight semi-correctly on the two, thin limbs. He managed to stumble his way over to the TV. In this short distance, the fog was thankfully not enough to obscure his entire vision. He could see the screen well enough. And when he saw his reflection… at first he didn't know if the eyes he saw were naturally this big, or if it was just the way he was feeling that did that.

A pair of blue eyes. Golden blonde hair, swept to one side, framing one of the prettiest faces he had yet seen… definitely in an entirely different league from Yosuke or especially Kanji. Hm, maybe even better-looking than Sensei? That was quite a claim to make, but he felt it was a valid one. A smile spread across his face… The pretty boy reflecting in the screen smiled back.

"Heeello there, handsome!" he laughed. And the boy in the TV moved his mouth synchronic to Teddie's voice.

He couldn't believe it. Was that really him? The same bear? He had to make really absolutely sure. He tried making a few expressions at first. Happy, tilting his head, bouncing around, upset, pouting, frowning… The image on the screen did everything like him. There was no other way. It was him.

That human boy was him.

So… he had turned into a human, one just like Sensei and the others? He didn't know what to think about that. On the one hand, this was a look better than in his wildest dreams. Kusabear? Hah, who was that inferior Kusabear you speak of? This is the face that should star in the movies next to Rise-chan! (Whatever exactly "the movies" might actually be…) All the scoring he could do like this! Scoring… scoring… High Score!

But, on the other hand, this was also somewhat upsetting. Just when he had managed to grow back all his beautiful fur! And his buttons had finally all been shiny again. And really, no matter how cuddly a human person became, nothing was as cuddly as Teddie! The Teddie up till now, at least.

Also, it was still cold. Very, very cold. He sighed, rubbing his hands against his arms again.

"Grrrr… This is grizzly. And I can't see a thing either! I don't think I can make myself a pair of glasses like that…"

Suddenly, the benefits of being a living box of wonders, hollow or not, came to him and he frowned. Right. He had just finished a pair of glasses for Rise-chantoo! He wondered where those had gone now… Hey, maybe if he searched them, he'd be able to use them to see a bit better again. Surely, Rise-chan wouldn't mind if he borrowed them for a while. But first he had to find them…

Carefully, Teddie made his way back to the spot where he had woken up. It was still stupidly difficult to move on his own two feet, but slowly, he was finding the right balance. After a few minutes of walking around, he was no longer swaying with every step and seemed to have finally found the right balance. Unfortunately this didn't do a thing against the fog and, unable to see much, he ended up walking in circles for a few minutes through the cold, trying to spot the distinct, pink pair of fog-dispelling glasses he had prepared for Rise. He wasn't very successful, though. A sneeze. A running nose. A sigh. Teddie was just about to give up and search for something to warm his half frozen, naked body (So THAT'S why Sensei and the others always wore so many unnecessary clothes when they came here!), when in a short moment of not looking at the floor, his foot hit something.

"W-Whoa!"

He almost tripped, but just in the last moment, Teddie managed to regain his balance. That had been a shock! Just what had he run against? It couldn't have been anything big, like a wall, or he'd have hit it head-on, but there shouldn't have been any short objects just lying on the floor around here. And also, the mystery-obstacle hadn't felt very hard either when his foot hit it. In fact, it had been rather soft and strangely fluffy…

…Soft and fluffy?

This time, he had no problem to just look down in order to confirm his suspicion. In fact, he did so almost immediately after having recovered from the sudden impact. And if the fog wasn't playing tricks on his eyes… Yeah, definitely.

It might sound ungodly creepy, but what he saw lying there to his feet, just slightly blurred by the fog… well, it was his own head.

Yes, for a normal person who knew what Teddie was like – or rather, wassupposed to be like – this might have sounded less unsettling than it seemed out of context. But actually, for Teddie himself, context didn't matter. It wasunsettling. Beary, beary unsettling, in fact. So much, that for a few seconds, he just plain forgot how cold he was and took the time to just stare down at it. Down, at his once so adorable, cuddly former face, which now donned two so empty and dead eyes, he wasn't even surprised anymore that Yosuke had freaked out like he did when he first removed his head. This wasn't cute. This wasn't pretty either. Like this, it looked just horrifying! Yikes!

Sure enough, after a while of staring, his eyes had gotten adjusted enough to the fog to allow him to see that his poor, discarded head wasn't lying there all byit's lonely self… The rest of the body was right behind it. The zipper was wide open, revealing it to be as empty as it had always been, but a whole lot less lively.

And Teddie just stood there, speechless, and looked at it, for a whole while without saying a single word. He didn't even know anything to say about it. That was him, lying down there on the floor, beheaded, for crying out loud! No matter what kind of hot, dashing looks he had gotten in return, that didn't change that this just was wrong, wrong, wrong! H-He wasn't supposed to be able to look at it like that! He was supposed to be in there. No, even strange, he was supposed to be it.

Finally, he found his words again.

"I-I don't understand!" he blurted out very suddenly, wildly flailing his arms without even realizing it. "I-I am up here, but…I'm also down there! How did I get up here when I am down there?! Does that make sense? I don't think it does! Or am I just too dumb?!"

He thought about yelling for his Sensei and the others to come and help him, but he knew they wouldn't hear him over here, so instead he just let out a strange sound that sounded like a cross of a subdued roar, a childish shriek and a simple "Ack!".

The "him" down there… He remembered, when they first arrived here, Yosuke had called him a "suit" once. So the "suit" down there was him. But, on the other hand "he" was also up here. He was that pretty human boy he had seen in the screen earlier. There was no doubt about it. So if that "suit" was still there, how could he also be that boy then, if the suit was him too?

(Uhm… Hmmm… Come to think… I was always empty,) he thought to himself, still on the verge to panicking. (But I'm up here now, and the zipper is open, so… was I actually inside all along?)

He wasn't sure if that explanation made sense, but he tried to make it make sense.

(So, if there was nothing inside first, but I must have been inside and now I am out and like this… Where did 'this' come from then? Was 'it' inside too, with me?)

He kept pondering on. He felt he was halfway to making sense of his thoughts, even though really, he wasn't sure if he even understood what he was thinking here.

(…Ah! I see! That must be where all these strange sensations I had lately had come from. "This"… I had this growing inside me! That's why it had to come out yesterday! Ha, ha, I get it! …I think.)

Teddie had a victorious grin on his face. So, that's where he got these sweet looks from! They were all self-grown! Finest Teddie handiwork! …Well, sort of. Hah, he had known all along the training would pay off! Again, score! Fist pump and small jump in the air.

…And slipping on the moist ground, losing his hard earned balance and falling to the floor. Painfully. Ouch. Teddie's enthusiasm was curbed a bit now. But well, at least he wasn't about to panic anymore. Even though he still found this all pretty strange. And you know what else he still "found?" That this fog was way, way, way too cold!

"Uhhh…" Trying to lift his upper body again from the floor, Teddie gazed at the "him" opposite ofhim and moaned. "My beautiful, warm, soft fur. How I miss you…"

…Right. His fur. His, uhm… "suit," for lack of a better word. He kept looking at it. It was still empty. Empty… That meant stuff could go inside. He wondered just how much…

"Hm…Yeah, how much… That is a beary important question, I'd say…"

Teddie was rubbing his chin and closed his eyes. He had only ever stored small objects in there before. Never anything much bigger than the glasses he made for everyone. He had never before thought about how much could actually fit inside. He recalled one instance where Yosuke had been very exhausted in battle and been hit by a strange attack that made him all nervous and panicky. He had suddenly run from the front lines and demanded that Teddie hide him "inside". Of course, Teddie had refused. A bear had his pride, as he had said himself back then. (And a bear apparently should also always have a camera for such events, as Sensei had dryly remarked after the battle. He didn't entirely understand why, but if Sensei said so, it had to be true.) But if Yosuke would have actually fit inside? He really didn't know. And then there was still the fact of how much it had hurt last night, when he had "come out". He shivered even just thinking about it. Or maybe that was just from the cold…?

"Hm… I can always try…" he thought aloud. Right. If he didn't fit in, he'd realize soon enough. And having his fur cover just half of him was still better than having it cover nothing at all. He didn't want to know how much worse this strange sneezing spree he was on now would get if he didn't get a bit warmer soon. Without any more hesitation, Teddie took the open end of the "suit," stretched out his legs and slipped inside. He was extra careful not to accidentally damage anything. "Him" or not, this was still his beloved fur. He wasn't going to ruin all the hard work caring for it. So, he kept being mindful of everything he did. Left leg into left leg, right leg into right leg. Left arm into left arm, right arm into right arm… And then…

…By the time Teddie was done fitting his arms into the "suit," he realized how surprisingly easy it was. Everything seemed to fit perfectly… That was strange. He was sure that the human he had woken up as was quite a bit taller than he normally was. He couldn't tell how tall exactly, but he was certain about it. And yet, it didn't seem to make a difference. The legs and arms fit in where they belonged perfectly and the part with the zipper went up all the way to his neck. Immediately, the cold got weaker and he started to warm up. Still, he wasn't done yet. In the end, he finally picked up the head. He was careful to fit it onto the body just like it belonged. Then, he closed the zipper…

…His vision was dark for only a short moment. Before he knew it, he unexpectedly could see again. And not just that. He saw much better than before too. The fog seemed to be all gone. Just like he'd always been able to see through it. That wasn't all. Teddie didn't take long to realize, that the moment he had closed the zipper, something had changed. His "senses" had shifted, and albeit it wasn't as violent as it had happened last night, it was still noticeable. His paws, his feet… He had feeling in them, just like he had always had. It didn't feel like anything was covering them, it felt just "natural."

He took a few testing steps around. Then, he ran over to the screens of the Exit TV, just to make sure again. His arms, his legs, even his good, old, adorable face… All moved smoothly and normally. He was completely back to "normal."To the normal Teddie.

And all it had taken to do this was putting the "suit" on again. How very, very interesting…

"Hm… Does that mean…"

His research in the great field of Bear-ology was not over yet! Experiment Numéro Trois! 'Does it work the other way around too?'

Eagerly, Teddie fumbled around with his hands behind his back until he got ahold of his zipper. Once more, he opened it. Immediately, the "shift" in his senses occurred again. It was a strange feeling… but he could get used to it. When his vision was back, he was still facing the TV screens. He saw the blonde, blue eyed boy-Teddie again, holding bear-Teddie's head just bearly above his own. And he smiled.

…This was going to be so much fun, heh heh. He couldn't wait to see what the others would say once he showed this to them! Sensei, Yosuke, Kanji, and… oh… of course… especially Chie-chan and Yuki-chan and Rise-chan!

How very good he had made sure to learn as much as possible about how to treat beautiful ladies like them from the very important study materials Rise-chan had left to him! A perfect coincidence. He felt that he was more than prepared to present this little "surprise" to his friends. He could already see it. They wouldn't be able to take their eyes off him!

"Oh, my, Teddie-san, you are such a charming prince." "Mr. Bear, please be the action in my life!" "No, stop, Teddie-kun, don't look at me with those crystal eyes, my heart, my heart, it beats too fast, aaahhh!"

Yes, it was going to be glorious.

…But first, he had to meet them, of course.

Teddie's demeanor turned a whole lot more serious. Of course, he could just wait for them to come visit, but… That's when he remembered what he had decided the day before. Yeah… he was going to see the other side. He was going to try. He had decided that for sure. And well, was there any better time to do that than now? This was a sign! It had to be for sure! Yes, he was destined to go over there! Right now!

…He still felt a bit anxious about it.

The other world… What could it be like…? Were all humans nice like his friends? If so, then it would sure be great to go right now…

The zipper still wide open and the suit's head still detached, Teddie hesitantly reached out his hand – his human hand – for the screen before him and touched it. He pulled back a bit very quickly. The surface under his fingers moved. Like turning to water, waves formed where he had touched and drew growing circles around the spot. He gazed at it in fascination for a bit, before he led his hand to the screen again. And the same spectacle repeated. This time, he didn't pull back. Instead, he led his fingers along the screen. Made use of the fact how thin they were to draw patterns on the screen with them. Just watched the waves follow his motions. He fooled around a bit this way. Then he laughed.

So it was true… He could really go through…

…Nothing objected in his mind. Not even distantly. Where had the voice in his head gone that had always kept him from leaving? Right now, he couldn't hear it anymore. And that meant there was no reason to care about what it had always said anymore, right?

Right… He was Sensei's friend. And a Persona User. And now, he had a body like Sensei and the others too! There was no way he shouldn't be allowed to go!

Renewing his resolve from the night before this way, Teddie gave a short nod to himself in the reflection shown on the screen. He quickly reattached the head to his suit and closed the zipper. And then, being just a little bit nervous, Teddie charged, took a big leap…

…And jumped right through the screen of the Exit TV.

"Sensei! Everyone! Here I coooome!"