OK, so after a unexpected yet fun day with one of my best friends that involved Persona 4 in-jokes, discussion about my old fanfic Kingdom Hearts: For True Story, Chinese food, and screwing around in video games, I came up with this crap.
Well, maybe to some it won't be crap, but better to be prepared than arrogant. (nervous laugh)
So, just to be safe, I will say this flat out: I do not own Persona or anything related to it or the Shin Megami Tensei series of games. This story is completely fan-made and is not intended for any form of profit; it was only made for fun.
Hopefully that statement conveys that disclaimer appropriately. With that out of the way, let's get started!
Rain fell down heavily on the fog-covered streets of Yasoinaba, a small rural community that fell prey to a serial kidnapping and murder case not too long ago. The townsfolk who walked alongside the foggy streets talked constantly about the case, namely because of some heavy revelations behind recent developments regarding the perpetrator.
As far as the town was concerned, they wanted to hear who the killer-slash-kidnapper was so they could put him behind bars and go back to their calm, peaceful lives. Especially considering the most recent kidnapping involved a young girl in grade school, the public of Inaba found themselves sticking in large groups and invoking an unspoken curfew time at 7:00 PM sharp until the killer could be located.
As he shifted his white umbrella to protect himself from the rain while also avoiding the large groups of people, Yu Narukami walked at a brisk, calm pace alongside the foggy streets of the town. Sure, he couldn't hear any cars coming down the street, but since bicycle travel was common around the area, he felt safer staying off the pavement.
Yu Narukami wiped a hand through his silvery hair, sweating a slight bit as the rain attempted to cool off the heated fog that was stifling the normally temperate air. Shifting his umbrella again, Yu wiped off some raindrops that had fallen onto his dark black suit. Buttoning up his blue winter jacket to protect his suit, Yu walked underneath the awning of one of the many stores making up Inaba's lively – yet sadly dwindling and dying – shopping district. While buttoning his jacket, a figure walked out of the store he was outside of; he was a teenager with bleached blond hair, a scar above his left eye, and a nose piercing. He was obviously muscle bound, although his suit hid most of the muscle from prying eyes. Yu took a quick look towards the man, a slight curl to his lips ensuing as he saw who was approaching him.
"Yo, Senpai. You're here early," the muscle bound teenager stated. "Then again, in this case, early's never too good enough."
"Agreed, Kanji," Yu stated, a wistful undertone appearing in his voice despite his outward smile. "You look well."
"Yeah, well, my mom picked it out for me, and when she makes a decision on something, it's hard to talk her out of it, no matter what it is," the muscle bound Kanji stated, an embarrassed chuckle following his explanation. "You think it looks good?"
"Hell yeah," Yu truthfully answered, a more confident tone in his voice this time around. "Onto more important things, though: you get ahold of anyone?"
"Well, I managed to remind Yukiko-senpai earlier this morning when she made a pickup for some of my mom's tablecloths," Kanji stated matter-of-factly. "I tried calling Yosuke-senpai, but his answering machine picked up, so…"
"I already got Yosuke, Naoto, and Rise," Yu stated after Kanji's side of the conversation dropped off into silence. "I'm guessing Yukiko already told Chie."
"There's also-" Kanji began, before a loud ringing noise interrupted the two of them. Yu swiftly reached into his pocket with his free hand, pulling out his grey flip-open cell phone, revealing a new text message on it.
"It's from Dojima-san," Yu explained, opening the text message and reading through its contents quickly. "We're gonna be late if we dawdle."
"Right. Sorry, Senpai," Kanji apologized, chuckling a bit as he said so. "Mind if I walk with you? I got my own umbrella."
"Sure, go ahead," Yu agreed with a light chuckle. Yu stood outside for a brief moment while Kanji grabbed a black umbrella from a small pot right next to the sliding door that led into his home-slash-family business. The two teenagers walked back into the rain and fog, headed off on the roadside to their next destination…
"I always knew you looked great in red, Yukiko," a brown-haired girl giggled, poking around needlessly at her black-haired friend's outfit.
"Chie, stop poking me," Yukiko pouted. "It took me nearly forever to get this dress right…"
Chie stopped her marveling of Yukiko's dress and placed her slender arms on her hips, leaning to one side lazily as she did so. Chie wasn't one to wear dresses publically, if at all, although she could make an exception at least once. Her dress was mainly white with green fringes and lace placed fashionably on its fringes and seams; the white of the fabric was not gleaming bright, however, but closer to a light gray or steel-like color instead.
Yukiko's dress, while similar in design, had its own captivating quirks that made her stand out easily. Her red dress was laced with black, with a two-inch line of solid black traveling the length of the dress's endpoint at the arms, neck, and waist. Yukiko looked away from Chie with a sad, pouty expression, combined from the situation at hand and her best friend's playful poking at her dress.
"It's still a great dress, Yukiko," Chie admitted, smiling widely as she did so. "You made it yourself?"
Yukiko genuinely smiled at that guess Chie made, even though it was true. "Y-yes, I did. It took me a while, but it turned out great. I'm better at sewing than cooking, I guess," Yukiko admitted, blushing out of embarrassment. Chie faux-scoffed, her infectiously cheerful attitude not leaving her disposition.
"Oh, don't worry about cooking, we'll both get it down-pat one of these days," Chie chuckled, lightening the mood somewhat. Both girls turned their heads, however, when two voices made themselves known.
"Yo, Chie-san, Yukiko-san."
"Chie-senpai! Yukiko-senpai!"
Two teenagers, a male and female, approached Chie and Yukiko, with differing emotions. The male had on a traditional tuxedo, complete with a buttoned white undershirt and a tucked-in red tie, while the girl had on a dress made from pink fabric, laced with both darker pink and a white flowery pattern evenly.
"I've been looking everywhere for you guys!" the girl explained, her expression obviously distressed despite her chipper tone. "I got work Yu-kun and Kanji-kun are almost here, but I haven't heard-!"
"We haven't either, Rise-chan," Chie sadly sighed. "I don't know where Naoto-kun is either. She's probably working on yet another case…"
The red-haired Rise folded her arms in an irritated huff, obviously displeased by that possible answer. "It can't be just that. Naoto would show up even if she had a case to solve…what do you think, Yosuke-senpai?"
Rise turned her head towards the brown-haired male, Yosuke, with pleading eyes. Chie's eyes followed suit, her brown eyes full of confusion and indecision over their current predicament. Yosuke shrugged, putting both hands in the pockets of his suit.
"I honestly can't say," Yosuke started. "But maybe she could be sick. Like, violently sick instead of a common cold or fever or something."
"…she DID tell us she hasn't been feeling well recently," Yukiko mumbled to herself, albeit loud enough for the other three to hear her. Chie turned to Yukiko, surprised.
"Wait, really? I never heard her say that…" Chie questioned, her tone full of surprise. Yukiko turned towards Chie, her facial expression showing hints of exhaustion.
"She's been talking about feeling under the weather when we met up at Junes the last couple of times," Yukiko reminded. "You kept telling her to just head to my inn's hot springs so she could clear her head."
Upon being reminded of that, Chie's face flushed a deep red as she began nervously chuckling. "Y-yeah, you're right, I did say that to her, didn't I…?" Chie mumbled, her tone getting quieter and quieter until an awkward silence was all that was left hanging in the air. A wooden double-door opening behind all four of them broke the silence, as Yu and Kanji walked in, their demeanors more serious than normal.
"…everyone, it's good to see you all here," Yu earnestly stated, a smile showing up on his face. Yosuke quickly responded, a genuine smile of his own forming.
"Same here, partner," Yosuke greeted. "We wouldn't miss this for anything."
"We think Naoto's sick," Rise interjected, obviously worried. "I mean, I haven't been able to get ahold of her and-!"
"No, she's on her way," Yu stated, his tone as cool and collected as ever. "She had to go with Dojima-san to the police station first."
Rise's distress almost instantly evaporated upon hearing that, as her disheveled expression quickly turned into one of relieved happiness. "Oh, that's great to hear, Senpai!" Rise exclaimed, a tiny smile appearing on her face as she said so.
"How are you able to go from sad to happy that quickly…?" Chie quietly mumbled to herself, obviously trying to calm herself down after her conversation with Rise. The doors Yu and Kanji entered from opened yet again, bringing three more individuals into the rather small room Yu and his friends were in. The first of the three was an adult male in a gray suit and black tie, with dark gray hair and a hurting expression. The second was a younger adult male in a simple black suit with his black hair combed and watered down to look more civil.
"Dojima-san, Adachi-san," Yu stated dryly, his tone becoming more serious with each second. "Naoto-kun."
"Hello, Senpai," Naoto addressed. Despite being a woman, Naoto was wearing a rather male-oriented outfit, since it was a gray suit similar to Dojima-san's, sans the tie. Her blue hair was combed back, as her trademark blue detective's cap was missing from her personage. "Forgive me for being late, I had to pick up Dojima-san and Adachi-san from the police station."
"It's no trouble," Yu coolly answered. "Thank you for doing that."
"You're welcome, Senpai," Naoto replied, her tone distant and possibly worried. Adachi looked back and forth between the silent teenagers and his boss, Dojima, until he spoke up.
"I know these are trying times, everyone, but it's no use standing out here," Adachi reminded in his most courteous tone he could muster. "…we have to see her now."
The feeling of the room quickly dipped down to tense levels, as Rise visibly began fighting back tears while Yosuke attempted to comfort her quietly. Everyone else looked down at the floor or at each other, each nervous to say something else to change the topic. Dojima looked up from the floor, before striding towards the stained glass double doors Yu and his friends were standing in front of. Dojima put his hand on the handle, before stopping in his tracks. Five silent seconds passed before Adachi spoke up again.
"Sir…?" Adachi managed to squeak out, worried about how his boss was going to react. Dojima then spoke calmly and clearly, obviously trying to fight back showing any other form of emotion.
"Yu. Chie. Yosuke," Dojima began, catching everyone's attention with his on-point voice. "I…I already got Naoto and Adachi here to help me with this, but…since you guys were the closest…can you…?"
Before Dojima could continue, Yu stepped forward and opened the other stained glass door without breaking a sweat. Upon opening the door, Dojima opened his side of the double door as well so he could see the large room's interior. The room – or, rather, the chapel – contained several brown oak pews, some of them full of several of Inaba's citizens, including a couple people Yu could recognize as people he'd helped on his crusade to find the serial kidnapper and murderer. However, what everyone focused on was the centerpiece of the chapel: a wooden casket draped in a simple white cloth, a picture of a young brown-haired grade school girl wearing a pink shirt and a white undershirt lying atop the cloth. Flowers of all kinds surrounded the casket, and the chapel hall was mostly quiet, only dotted by the sounds of quiet sobs and even quieter mumbling.
"I'd be honored to, Dojima-san," Yu stated calmly.
"I'd be glad to do this, Dojima-sensei," Chie agreed, her tone sullen and more serious than earlier.
"She was a good girl," Yosuke stated, almost as if he was reminding himself. "I'd gladly do it. She'd want this."
"…thank you," Dojima admitted, his tone faltering to the point where everyone could hear how close to tears he truly was. Everyone silently walked forward, heading into the chapel to hear the funeral rites before the pallbearers would take the casket outside to her final resting place.
My name is Yu Narukami. I'm Dojima-san's nephew.
I'm…I was the older cousin of Nanako, Dojima's daughter. She considered me her big bro.
…she passed away. She was killed after she got kidnapped. Despite my friends and I saving her and putting the kidnapper responsible into police custody, she still died.
It shook everyone up. Most of us couldn't look at each other when she died. But we banded together after hearing the killer might have been able to walk free.
We prevented more deaths by doing this. Namatame…that man kidnapped not just my friends, but Nanako as well. He caused Nanako's death because of his scheming. He hurt too many people in his deranged bid to "save us all."
So we killed him.
Not directly. But the results were the same.
…and we avenged her. We solved the case. Namatame was the killer, responsible for the deaths of the TV announcer Mayumi Yamano, a fellow high school student Saki Konishi, and my own little cousin Nanako, not to mention all the shit that happened because of his actions.
Namatame was the killer.
So we killed him.
That's the truth. That is how it should be.
…sleep well, Nanako. We miss you.
…
What? I thought it was obvious this fanfic is taking place after Persona 4's original bad ending.
I mean, I would've done one based off the Accomplice ending of Persona 4: Golden, but I figured this one was more promising.
But yeah. I'm just shaking things up for a change. From here on out, Persona 4: For True Story shall follow the tale of Yu Narukami and his friends as they deal with Nanako's death and the fallout from this serial kidnapping and murder case.
Also, as a bit of trivia, I actually DID write this after a crazy discussion with one of my best friends IRL, known on this site as Blaster man7. And for those who are curious, the video games that led to this fic's creation (that I mentioned at the start) are Persona 4, Persona 4: Arena, Halo: Reach, and Catherine.
(singing voice) One of these things is not like the other…
See you guys next time! Y'know, provided I don't get killed for writing this…! (nervous exit shuffle)