The True Killer
"Damn..."
Seta Souji stood in the fog enshrouded snow. He played back all his memories in Inaba, trying to connect anybody he knew to the culprit of all these crimes. Who the hell could it be? Dojima? Of course not. He wouldn't let his own daughter be thrown in there, as a starter. What about Nanako? Seta slightly chuckled. He had no idea how that could work. How about Adachi? Seta couldn't imagine that either, even less then Dojima or Nanako. So who is it then? It certainly couldn't be one of his team mates...
It couldn't have been any of his friends, because... he trusted them. But that wasn't evidence, was it?
Seta looked to his right, and stared at Naoto for a while.
"Something on your mind, Senpai?" she asked, interrupting his train of thought.
"S-sorry," Seta stuttered. "I'm just reviewing every possibility. Even all of you guys."
Yosuke was startled. "Dude, what the hell? That's... that's not right!"
Naoto shook her head. "No, it's all right. A good detective needs to review every possibility, no matter how unlikely it may be. Think. Is it even posssible to have been one of us?"
Seta thought a little bit more. He decided he had to quickly go over every one of his friends on the Investigation Team.
"All right. Yosuke, go inside the restaurant, get everyone out here. I need to go over this."
Yosuke, still a bit weirded out, obliged. He walked inside. About thirty seconds later, the entire team walked out, looking a bit angry and confused.
Seta looked back and forth at all of his teammates. There was no way it could be any of them. They've been through so much together...
"Okay. Let's go in order of who joined me at which time. Yosuke." Yosuke looked at his Seta, still feeling kind of hurt. "It couldn't have been you, because you couldn't enter the TV back at Junes until I brought you in. Same goes for you, Chie."
Chie pondered this for a moment. "But couldn't you say that for everyone here?"
"I actually saw you touch the TV before you got your Personas. For all I know, the others could have always had the ability to go inside."
Chie nodded her head. "I... guess that makes sense."
"Yukiko." Yukiko looked up, worried. "The police actually did suspect you for a while, with the way your mother broke down after Mayumi started yelling at her, and you going to the same school as Saki."
"Well, yes, I suppose," Yukiko said, surprised. "But-"
"But Nametame himself said that he threw you in first. And although it's possible that the killer could get thrown in by Nametame, I doubt a murderer that's gone undetected for this long could be so careless. Same goes for you, Kanji."
Kanji breathed a sigh of relief. Then, realizing what that implied, started panicking.
"Wait! Just because I'm relieved that you don't think I'm the killer anymore means that I actually-"
"I know, Kanji! Shut up." Seta scolded him. "Rise, you weren't even in town during the first two murders, the media can testify to that, they've been watching you."
"Tell me about it," she muttered. "They probably kept track of when I slept."
"And... Naoto."
"I was also out of town until after the second murder," she said helpfully.
"Not necessarily. You were sent in because the police here in Inaba needed help, and they just so happened to send you. You must have at least been close by for that to happen."
"Fair enough. You have a point there." Naoto conceded.
"As a detective, you would have had the means to get in and out of the inn that Mayumi was staying at without drawing attention."
Rise jumped a bit. "Senpai, you're spending a lot more time on this one. Are you seriously considering this?"
Seta looked at her sadly, then back at Naoto. "I have to. Naoto, even though you're a nationally renowned detective, you didn't even think of the idea of a copycat killer. You knew that we were investigating the murders, and when you joined our team, helpfully led us on the wrong track a lot of the time."
"Senpai. This is not evidence of me being a murderer, it is just evidence that I'm not as good a detective as the media seems to think. Besides, don't you think my shadow would have mentioned something about me being a killer?" Naoto scolded.
"Your shadow? Those provide a lot more questions than answers. And you figured out the pattern, and even knew that King Moron's death broke that pattern. It made sense to us, because we were rescuing everyone that fell in, and it made sense that the killer would try something new that time. But if someone didn't know about the TV world, a copycat killer would be one of the first things to suspect. Dojima thought so, but most of the police just wanted the case to be done with."
"But Senpai. It doesn't make sense. If I was the murderer, why would I want the case to keep going? I would try to get Mitsuo convicted quietly, and be done with it." Naoto said, playing along with his theory.
Seta stopped. She was right. It didn't make sense from that angle. Unless...
"Unless you wanted the case to go on for some reason. You didn't solve that case, Mitsuo turned himself in. The Detective Prince would have been completely unnecessary in finding the culprit. But if the case went on, you could be a hero if you solved the big serial murder."
Naoto shook her head. "This goes back to your theory about me from when we first met: when you all believed that I thought this was a game. But all of this falls apart when you remember that Nametame threw me into the TV when I appeared on the Midnight Channel. As you said when defending Yukiko and Kanji, a killer wouldn't have been careless enough for that to happen."
Naoto, without realizing it, had driven the final nail into her own coffin. The thing that had been bothering Seta ever since Naoto was kidnapped and thrown into the TV... it all made sense.
"Why would Nametame throw you into the TV?" Seta asked.
"The hell kinda question is that, Senpai?" Kanji shouted. "He already told us! He thought he was saving people!"
"But Nametame must have been watching the Midnight Channel every time it came on. Even when Mitsuo appeared."
Chie scratched her head. "But what does Mitsuo have to do... with... oh my God." She seemed to have figured it out.
Yukiko glanced at Chie, surprised. "What is it? Did you just figure something out?"
Yosuke stared at the ground. The realization must have hit him, too. "Nametame didn't throw Mitsuo into the TV. But he saw the bastard on the Midnight Channel, and he ended up fine anyway."
Seta nodded. "Exactly. By that point, he must have figured out that his actions weren't saving people. He wouldn't try to throw anybody else in. So, when you appeared on the Midnight Channel, he didn't throw you in. You had to have went in there yourself."
Everyone was silent for a couple minutes. Of all people, Naoto broke it.
"Well, Senpai, you've come this far. You have to take this to its natural conclusion. When Nanako was kidnapped... Nametame didn't kidnap her. Do you remember who told you that he did, and when?"
Seta felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise as he found out what she meant. "It was you... when you went to my house." He felt under his shirt. His sword was still hidden there. He reached for it.
"That's right, Senpai. You've figured it out. I killed Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi... and I also threw Nanako into the TV."
"Goddamn you!" Seta shouted, as he drew his sword, charging at Naoto. Naoto quickly sidestepped, grabbed his arm, and brought her hand down on his elbow, breaking it. As Seta's sword dropped to the ground, Naoto reached for her gun and held it to his head.
"That was some amazing detective work you did there, Senpai. But that was a disappointingly predictable reaction." Naoto chided him while tightening her grip. She turned her attention to the rest of the team. "Now then, we are both going inside of the TV, to a certain place inside of it. You'll know where it is when you get there." She thought for a second. "In addition, Taro Nametame knows my identity as well. Bring him with you. If you don't find me by the end of the year, your leader will be killed."
As she spoke, something fell out of Seta's pocket. He looked at Yosuke, then pointed towards the object on the ground with his eyes. Yosuke did not react, hoping Naoto didn't notice.
Naoto walked away, moving the gun to Seta's back. The team made a move to go after her, but Seta looked back and shook his head. The team stood down.
The gang all looked at each other. Kanji decided to ask the question that everyone was thinking about.
"So, when do we go in to save him?"
"As soon as possible." Yosuke responded. "But we need to rest first. We can't go in right now. Let's just all go home." And hope that this was all a nightmare, Yosuke added in his mind.
As everyone was leaving, Yosuke noticed the object that Seta had dropped for him, and probably had risked his life to get to him. He picked it up off the street. It looked like... a blue-colored key.
There was a flash of light... and Yosuke saw a glowing blue door next to Daidara. He knew that he had never seen it before. He knew he had to go through that door. He slowly opened the door...
END OF CHAPTER 1
