Disclaimer: Persona 4 is owned by Atlus.
WARNING: There's spoilers ahead. If you are not beyond Naoto's dungeon, read at your own discretion.
Looking Back
Colleagues at the office liked to gossip, much more so than Naoto would have liked. Most of it was just idle chatter about the goings-on around town, and for the first few months upon her arrival as per the prefecture's insistence, it had been about her. If she was being honest, it really didn't bother her that they spoke of her as such; if she really thought about it, it kind of did. But the office's own rumors about her aside, she had been more interested in what they had to say about one Ryotarou Doujima; more specifically, his flip-flop personality when it came to his personal life and his work.
His involvement, and heading, of the Inaba murders had given her all the motivational leverage she needed to research the man in-depth. It did not take long for her to also realize that he was nothing like the usual idiots she had become accustomed to working with; he was a brilliant detective, very quick to catch on and thorough in his investigations, not to mention how much dedication he placed in his work. Naoto decided it was a nice change of pace.
The fact that his nephew, as well as said nephew's ragtag group of friends, was also involved in the murder case seemed like such a convenient added bonus.
However, beyond the man's obvious usefulness in the case, what the office co-workers had to say about his personal life was also something the Detective Prince found interesting. Detective Ryotarou Doujima was a headstrong, determined officer with all of the intelligence and intuition one would expect of a strong asset to his field. Ryotarou Doujima the Father, she discovered, was a completely different story. With a bit of digging, Naoto found that his wife, Chisato Doujima, had died in a hit-and-run accident in which the assailant was still unknown, the case having gone cold long before her arrival. The unfortunate event left the man to care for his only daughter, Nanako Doujima, whom the office liked to refer to as the Kryptonite to his Superman. From what she could gather, the man's daughter was practically the only thing keeping him tied to this world.
Naoto had been surprised just how much of her heart went out to her superior.
She had never met a man so submitted to a mere child, one even younger than herself. It was as if his entire personality just did a one-eighty turn. The rare occasions she would engage in idle conversation with Detective Doujima, he would speak fondly of his daughter, catching a glint in his eye that spoke volumes of his sheer adoration for the little girl. But it didn't dissuade the younger detective from the hauntingly sad smile that would always grace the man's lips as he spoke of her; of her irresistible little pouts that he just couldn't say "no" to, of her adorable smiles—of her resemblance to his wife. By the time it had gotten to that particularly detail, Naoto hadn't been quite sure if he was even aware he was still talking to her. His cover-up would always be a subtly flustered change in topic and an extended period of time with little eye contact, something a person like him was unlikely to do. It utterly intrigued her how someone of his caliber could cover such a wide range of emotions by simply talking about another, and her own insatiable curiosity led her to wonder why someone he spoke so fondly of merited such a forlorn expression (beyond the reminder of his wife, that is).
It wasn't until she had to rescue the little girl in question did she really understand.
Heaven was a dungeon apart from the previous ones the others had encountered (she couldn't quite count herself as partaking in these dungeons as she had joined only recently at that point). Despite short perusals of the previous dungeons, it didn't keep her from noticing just how different, yet similar, this one in particular was to her own.
The first thing to catch Naoto's eye had been the dungeon itself. Compared to anything she might've been able to explore so far, this place was, by far, the most visually appealing. It was, after all, Heaven. It was warm, homey, welcoming. Terribly unlike her dungeon, it seemed. The Secret Base had been underground, so it was only naturally a colder place, but the way it was built had reflected her own self far more than she would have liked. Where Nanako's Heaven was a beautiful and inviting place, Naoto's own Secret Base was cold, steeled, and featured its own security grid.
It had been so much like her, it almost frightened her to think the others knew just how much so.
It was perhaps then that she realized a similar feeling that both dungeons exuded, despite their initial contrasting impressions: loneliness. Her own had been the only location the group claimed to have explored that, from the get-go, tried to expel them from the facility rather than goad them into going further. It was, Naoto believed, quite fitting to her personality. For all of the elaborate security systems and technology within the Base, it was all meant to keep others from digging deeper into her person, from finding out more about her than she wanted anybody to know. It was a testament to her childhood, spent within the confines of her family's estate reading detective novels rather than outside socializing with other children. But Nanako had been different. She was a cheerful, outgoing little girl. And yet, as Naoto stood with the others and prepared to enter Heaven, she could not shake the familiar feeling of being alone, of wanting the companionship of others to fill a seemingly endless void in her heart.
They were, perhaps, more alike than Naoto had first believed.
The dungeon itself had been a manifestation of the young girl's wish for her deceased mother. It was a feeling that, although she had avoided by burying herself in her detective studies and stories, Naoto knew all too well. They shared deceased relatives, namely parents, and even though Naoto knew Nanako's father to be alive, it didn't lessen the pain. The warmth of a mother's love, the gentle caresses and murmurings to soothe and remind a child that they were loved and wanted, were things that would be difficult to ever replace or replicate. The detective had been glad for the other that she still had a father who loved her very dearly, despite his inability to express it properly.
But, she supposed, that led her to their next similarity.
Naoto's own father had been lost along with her mother, but her grandfather served the "father" position well in his place. That is, when he was ever around. She would never admit it, but the Detective Prince's enthusiasm in assisting Detective Doujima did not stem purely from her love of detective work. It was a small deed, so subtle that even the detective father in question hadn't caught onto it, but it put the young investigator at ease when her superior left work just a bit earlier every few days. She knew what it was like to have no one around, to be self-reliant, to hope every night for that glimpse of someone to be there before she went to bed. To be there to greet her when she awoke. And it honestly frightened Naoto to know that another child, one that had wriggled her way into the detective's guarded heart, was experiencing the same things she had. The cold feeling of abandonment, the overwhelming fear that one day, there would be no one left but her.
"It's so lonely…I don't want to be alone!"
Her shadow's own words continued to replay over and over in her mind like a broken record as she scaled Heaven. At some points, it became almost unbearable for her, but she steeled her expression and resolve when the others began to notice. She would bear it. Nanako was more important.
Indeed, Nanako's dungeon had been extremely enlightening for the detective. They were so much alike, so similar. It was, however, her recollection of their fateful encounter at the Summer Festival that really drove the point home for her.
It had been such a pure coincidence that Naoto had been walking around the area when she came upon the downtrodden girl, dressed in a rather elaborate Loveline costume. At first, the detective hadn't been planning on speaking at all, merely observe. From previous observations, the Detective Prince already knew what the young girl was up to. Detective Doujima's nephew was, apparently, very busy that summer, and Nanako had wanted to attempt the mystery of what he had been doing exactly. It seemed she had reached a roadblock.
It was at the moment the girl walked away from her wand that Naoto had decided to interject. She had had no idea what compelled her to do so, but before she could really stop, she found herself calling to the other.
"Loveline!" The little girl had turned to face her, slightly startled by Naoto's sudden appearance. "What's wrong?" The detective had known Nanako was sad from when she had first come upon the girl, but to see the expression up close and personal had been a bit of a shock. The words came out before Naoto had the chance to stop them, compelled by the look on her superior's daughter's face.
"The case will never close if the detective gives up."
"Huh?" The new curiosity in the girl's eyes sent a wave of nostalgia flowing over the blue-haired investigator.
"So don't drop the case until it's over."
"I can't give up?" Something else seemed to light up in those big, chocolate brown eyes. A smile found its way onto Naoto's face before she could realize it.
"I'll let you conduct the investigation." And as a more determined fire blazed within Nanako's doe eyes, the smile on the detective's face remained, keen eyes watching the Loveline look-alike take off into the festival with newfound fervor. It was like watching herself; her grandfather had repeated those same words to her many long years ago, and they had re-ignited the investigative spirit in the young Naoto during her time of need. But as she uttered those nostalgic words, the detective felt something stir within her. It was a strange feeling, though not an uncomfortable one, and as Naoto thought back on that moment now, she came to a sudden realization.
Nanako was not focused on detective work as she had been, but for a short amount of time, the little girl had been an investigator like herself: intrigued by a mystery and compelled to get to the bottom of it. But it was not only the mystery aspect, but the assistance leant to others along the way. To the young brunette, it didn't matter how young she was; if someone was in need of help, she would help them in any way she could. To the young brunette, it didn't matter that she was a girl; she continued to endeavor through thick and thin to get to the bottom of her nephew's absences. And Naoto realized that, deep down, the blue-haired detective believed that none of that mattered either.
They were, indeed, much more similar than she had initially believed.
A/N: Just a little something I thought of after watching episode 13 of P4A. Honestly, I always thought Nanako and Naoto could have been pretty close (besides the fact that, when I read their names, I sometimes get them mixed up) because of how similar their lives are. I have to say, though, that somewhat unexpected scene between the two of them made me really happy. It was short, but I could watch it over and over again and never get sick of it. I think it'd be nice if they had more of every character's interactions with Nanako; it makes her kidnapping that much more sad and infuriating.
On a completely different note, I can't wait until they do Naoto's dungeon. With how they're integrating her right now, I have high hopes that the episode with her dungeon in it will be really awesome.