Paper Armband
July 25, 2011
The last class of the morning had finally ended, and lunchtime was fast approaching. Normally, lunch wasn't exactly anything to be too excited about, but for Yu Narukami, this particular lunch was special. It was finally the day when the exam results would be posted on the bulletin board in the middle of the hall for everyone to see.
He knew that he'd done rather well on the exams, since he knew almost all of the questions, and he did get the feeling that he'd chosen the correct answer on most of them. Of course, as he'd thought this, his best friend Yosuke Hanamura stood up, and he began to talk to the gray-haired boy.
"So... do you think you did well, Yu?"
"I said it to all of you guys, and I'll say it again: just you wait and see."
In the last test, he'd allowed himself to think that he'd done extremely well, perhaps even best in the class, and he'd ended up placing second among the second years, falling just barely short of the top spot to Yukiko Amagi, one of his closest friends. Granted, because he scored so high, he did end up 20,000 yen richer courtesy of his uncle, and he did become much closer to all of his school friends, but he'd thought he'd done well enough to place first among all three second-year classes.
Suddenly, some loud footsteps came running down the hall, and the familiar female voice (who apparently announced everything to the class) began to tell the entire class:
"Hey, everyone! They posted the test results!"
Yosuke knew he didn't do too well on the test, and as such he wasn't too excited that his failure would be posted up for everyone to see. Still, however, he was somewhat curious of how bad he'd done, so he asked Yu if he wanted to check it out with him. With a silent nod, Yu stood up and silently walked with Yosuke to the stairs leading downstairs to the school's bulletin board.
A crowd of students had already gathered at the board, chatting about how they each did on the test and how someone (there was too many people talking at once to distinguish who) had gotten first place, and how it was the first time in a full year that Yukiko Amagi wasn't at the top, barely taking second place. As soon as he'd heard this, Yu's heart began to beat just a little faster, and the two were dying to know the mystery person who'd snatched the top spot from arguably the smartest girl in their class.
The two finally reached the bulletin board, and after getting close enough to actually see the results, both were met with a surprise. Yosuke didn't actually do too bad, being around the middle of the class, but what really caught the pair's attention was the name at the top of the list, a name that both of them knew all too well: Yu Narukami.
The crowd that gathered had thinned out considerably, but all who remained looked at the transfer student admirably, including several of his closest friends, Chie Satonaka, Kou Ichijo, Daisuke Nagase, and even his best friend standing right next to him.
Yosuke was the first to congratulate Yu, saying,"Whoooa! You're a genius, Yu! That's awesome! I'm just as happy as if I'd gotten the highest grade myself!"
Similar praises came from all of his other school friends, and some of the second-year students he didn't even know would stop in the hallways to offer their congratulations. However, none of them compared to what was to come later on. Living in the countryside meant that news spread fast. From the mundane to the exciting, whenever something of note happened, almost everyone in the city would know by the end of the day. While the news was filled with the new "lead" that the police had in the investigation, apparently Yukiko not scoring the highest on an exam was enough to spread throughout Inaba.
While most people didn't particularly care for the information, some people in the town (especially those acquainted with Yu and Yukiko) were talking about it, and because of this, it was heard by Detective Ryotaro Dojima, Yu's uncle, who, at the time, was working on the case. Upon hearing this, however, a sense of pride filled Dojima, who then proceeded to take a break and reward his nephew with some food from the Chinese diner Aiya's.
When Detective Dojima arrived at the house, he noticed that the only person that was home was his daughter Nanako.
"Dad! Welcome home!" He had become accustomed to hearing it every time he would come home, and today was no exception.
"Oh. Good afternoon, Nanako. Say, do you know where Yu is?"
"No, I haven't seen Big Bro since this morning..."
"Huh... Must still be out then. Well, I bought us some food at Aiya's because Yu got the highest scores on his exams."
"Really!? Big Bro's so smart!"
"Well, let's wait for him to come home before we eat the food. I'm sure he wouldn't-"
He was interrupted by his phone ringing. When he checked the caller, he noticed that it was from the police department, probably regarding the lead regarding the Kubo kid.
"Dojima here..."
After a short while, he finally put the phone down and picked up his jacket.
"I'll be late tonight, Nanako. When Yu gets here, eat the food with him. I'll leave it on the table in the living room."
"You're leaving...? Well... goodbye..."
Nanako wasn't really paying attention to her dad leaving the house, because she was preoccupied with something else. She sat where she usually would sit, only this time she had some colorful paper, some safety scissors, and a few glue sticks. She decided that, as a way to congratulate her Big Bro for doing well on his exam, she'd make him a paper armband. She'd made it at school, so she'd gotten to work.
After about four tries, she finally got the proper color and size set, and the armband was pretty much done. As if on cue, the front door to the house opened, and a familiar gray-haired boy came in.
"Oh, welcome home, Big Bro!"
Yu gave a silent nod as confirmation, and because it seemed as though Nanako wanted to see him, he sat down by the table and talked to her.
"What is it, Nanako?"
"Um... Oh, yeah! Dad said you got the best score in the school on your tests. That's incredible! Umm... I made this. H-Here you go," Nanako said, holding out the paper armband she'd made.
Yu accepted the armband, and he put it on his wrist, as Nanako hadn't estimated the size too well, and immediately he felt that he was improved in every way simply by wearing it. He knew that this armband would be a representation of Nanako whenever she wasn't with him physically. Yu thanked Nanako, and ate dinner with her before heading to his room.
July 29, 2011
After three days of asking around, the Investigation Team finally had enough information to chase after Mitsuo Kubo, the boy who claimed to have murdered all three of the victims and escaped from the police only to end up in the TV World. Yu was still wearing the paper armband that Nanako made for him, and the team was ready to chase the killer and finally end the case. After showing Rise the picture of Mitsuo, she somehow was able to locate him in an area not too different from a 90s-era video game.
After nine floors of battles, the team eventually reached the top, the endgame, so to speak, of the Void Quest dungeon that Mitsuo had made. Yu reached into his pocket and pulled out the Orb of Darkness he'd obtained on the 7th floor and used it to unlock the door. Upon opening it, the Team found Mitsuo standing in front of another Mitsuo, only with golden eyes and surrounded by a black aura: in other words, his shadow.
"Look! There he is!" Chie yelled out.
"You Mitsuo? You better be ready to pay, you bastard!" Kanji yelled.
"Wait, Kanji... Something's not right!" Yosuke said.
"Everyone gets on my nerves... That's why I did it! What do you think of that!? Say something, dammit!" Mitsuo said to the shadow in front of him. The shadow continued to stand there, saying nothing, the only noise made being a annoyed sigh with the familiar distortions always accompanying the shadow's speech. "Nobody ever thought of me after the first two people. That's why I went for the third one! I killed them!" The shadow once again said nothing, only letting out a sigh to confirm that it had heard him. "Wh-What're you all quiet for...?"
"Because... I feel nothing..." The shadow finally spoke in response.
"What're you talking about!? Make sense, dammit!" Mitsuo yelled.
"What the...? Which one's the shadow?" Chie finally asked.
"I... have nothing... I am nothing..." The shadow continued. "And you... are me..." At this point, the Investigation Team had grown rather accustomed to this speech; however, just like with the other three prior incidents, the team was too shocked to move and attempt to stop the person from denying their shadow.
"What...? What's that supposed to mean!? I'm... I'm not nothing..." Mitsuo began. The team knew what was coming next.
"No! If this keeps up...!" Yukiko yelled. It seemed that this was enough to finally get Mitsuo to notice them, despite Chie, Kanji, and Yosuke being much louder previously. Apparently, he had been too distracted with the shadow in front of him to notice. Mitsuo turned around and finally noticed the six high school students and bear costume that were pursuing him.
"Wh-Who are you guys!? How'd you get in here...?" Mitsuo finally asked. "Dammit, who the hell are you!? What're you doing here!?"
"Shut the hell up! We came after you!" Kanji threatened.
"Are you the killer?" Chie asked.
Mitsuo began laughing maniacally before finally affirming the accusations being thrown at him. "Of course I am! I'm the one behind everything! I don't give a damn what this impostor's saying! Hahaha, you hear that!? You have nothing to do with me! Get outta my sight!" Once again, the shadow said nothing, only giving an annoyed sigh, before Mitsuo continued. "That goes for the rest of you, too... Why'd you chase me all the way here!? I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you! I can do it, you know... I can do anything!"
"So you don't accept me..." A large mass of shadows began to form around Mitsuo's shadow, just as with Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, and Teddie. Also, just like the six of them, Mitsuo suddenly felt himself grow weaker and finally became unconscious and fell to the floor. The shadow's began to fully surround Mitsuo's shadow, transfiguring it into a floating baby with miscellaneous symbols rotating around its head.
"Dammit, here we go again!" Yosuke yelled.
"Get ready, everyone! Once we beat him, this case is as good as closed!" Rise yelled out. As she said this, the Investigation Team charged toward the baby, and it let out a loud cry. Large cubes began to surround the floating infant, forming a shell in the shape of a pixelated video game character.
"I am... a shadow... Come... I'll end your emptiness." Rise informed them that they had to destroy the outer shell before they could damage the shadow inside, but to the Investigation Team, only one thing was apparent:
This wasn't going to be easy.
After some time, the fight was still going on. Despite Shadow Mitsuo's infantile appearance, the baby was surprisingly strong, especially with its strong elemental spells and lack of elemental weaknesses. Both sides were growing tired, but the Investigation Team was clearly more tired. The shadow had reestablished its shield about three times that point, and with its powerful attacks and ability to cause exhaustion, the team was backed into a corner.
The shadow still had the shield up, however it was clearly showing signs of deterioration, as some of the cubes used to make it were already beginning to crack under the pressure the team was putting on it, but with the team's supply of healing and items being severely limited, it seemed as though the shadow was going to barely pull through. The team was exhausted, both because of Mitsuo the Hero's bombs and the amount of spells they'd been casting. Any one of them looked like they were ready to fall over at any point.
Finally, Mitsuo the Hero used its signature spell, Command. The Investigation Team was praying for a miracle: two misses in a row, anything, as long as they would survive the incoming onslaught. Its first command was to attack. The shell raised its sword hand and swung down repeatedly...
Straight for Yu. Before he knew it, however, he'd been shoved out of the way by Yosuke, who took the full force of the blow and fell to the ground unconscious.
"Yosuke!"
The onslaught wasn't over yet, however, as Mitsuo the Hero had a second attack to use on them. Once again, a video game-style menu opened up, and the team heard the sound of two beeps signifying what it was about to do. They'd endured the fierce attack before, but with their exhaustion and prior damage, they weren't sure if they could endure it. Before they knew it, however, they heard the sound that they'd been dreading, and they knew the one thing it meant:
Mitsuo casts Gigadyne!
Unable to stand any longer, the team collapsed, waiting for their inevitable demise. Yu looked toward the large shadow, but as he'd begun to look up, he noticed something on his arm: the paper armband, still standing despite the shadow's assault. He remembered exactly what it stood for, how much Nanako loved him, and he didn't want to imagine what would happen if he'd ended up dead along with all his friends. Nanako had already gone through the pain of losing one family member, and he didn't want her to be hurt because he'd given up. With this in mind, he fought through the searing pain wracking his body and forced himself to stand, to give one last shot at fighting the shadow.
The others saw this, and they knew that they couldn't simply give up, especially when their leader was adamant on fighting until the bitter end, and so, inspired by Yu's courage to keep on fighting, they all forced themselves to stand. Chie reached into her pocket and used the last revival bead she had on Yosuke. With the entire team giving one last effort, Yu prepared for his last stand, for Nanako, and prepared the Persona he'd use.
Using some of his remaining energy, he summoned the Persona he'd prepared in his mind, fittingly, the Persona Dominion, of the Justice Arcana.
"Dominion! Zionga!"
The lightning produced by Dominion struck Mitsuo the Hero, dealing just enough damage to destroy the shell. As with every other time he'd destroyed the shell, the infant inside fell to the ground, vulnerable to attacks.
"Our enemy is down! We must strike!"
Giving a simple nod as confirmation, Yu gave the order for an All-Out Attack, and all the members of the team charged toward the fallen infant, using each of their respective weapons, swinging wildly toward the shadow. Eventually, Yu gave the order to fall back, but the damage had already been done. The shadow fell, and the familiar black smoke rose out of the shadow before it transformed back into its original shape.
The team barely pulled through, and after taking a moment to regroup, they interrogated Mitsuo. They took him out of the TV, taking him to the familiar Junes electronic section before calling the police to have them take him away. Detective Tohru Adachi responded, most likely because he was already loafing around at Junes, doing whatever it was he did there. With the arrest of Mitsuo Kubo, the team finally had some closure. The case was over.
"At least Adachi-san seemed happy..." Chie said.
"Well, I guess this means our work is done..." Yosuke said.
"He did it all to draw attention... I can't get my head around that. It's just wrong," Chie continued. "I mean, not that it would've been okay if he'd had a better reason..."
"I know... Don't worry," Yosuke assured.
"It's finally over... Let's leave the rest to the police," Rise suggested.
"My world will be peaceful again now," Teddie said.
"Yeah. I'm happy for you," Yukiko said. "We really went through a lot..."
"Like scoring with guys!" Teddie followed.
"Oh, come on...! Will you ever let it go?" Yukiko asked.
"What...? Scoring with guys!?" Kanji wondered.
"Y-You don't need to know the details," Yukiko continued. "I'm sure you'd like us to forget the sauna incident too... right Kanji-kun?"
"Urgh... W-Well..." Kanji grumbled.
"That's not fair... I wanted to see everyone else's too!" Rise said.
"That's right. We three are the only ones who saw everyone's secret," Yosuke said, referring to himself, Yu, and Chie.
"Hey, so what was Yosuke's like? C'mon, it's about time you told us," Chie asked Yu.
"I don't remember much," Yu said, covering up for Yosuke.
"C-C'mon, let's leave it at that!" Yosuke followed. "Speaking of which, nothing really happened in your case, huh?"
"Really... Wait, really? Is there something special about Senpai after all?" Rise asked.
"Sensei is da man!" Teddie exclaimed.
"But now that the case is solved, we won't be calling you "Leader" anymore, will we...?" Kanji asked.
"Oh, yeah... It's kinda sad," Chie said.
Suddenly, Rise had an idea. "Hey, why don't we have a celebration? We always have a wrap party after we're done shooting. It's fun, and it'll help give us some closure."
"Oooh, a party! That sounds great! Let's go all out!" Chie agreed.
"Ooh, ooh! I wanna go to Yuki-chan's house!" Teddie suggested. "Gorgeous dinner, hot springs, table tennis, yukata! Geisha, Fujiyama, full wootness!"
"You're right, Yukiko-senpai's family runs a hot springs inn..." Kanji said. "A-A hot spring that... Yukiko-senpai bathes in too...?"
"Hey, keep it yourself... You're sounding like a creep," Yosuke said.
Unfortunately for them, the inn was already fully booked. It was summer, after all, and Inaba was a somewhat popular destination. The inn wasn't that big either, so there was no way they could fit all seven members of the Investigation Team with the summer rush incoming. "W-Well, it sounds like fun, but I don't think it's possible today..." Yukiko said.
"Yeah, it's summer vacation. All the rooms must be occupied," Chie said.
"We can't do a sleepover...?" Teddie asked, dejectedly.
"Maybe next time. I promise," Yukiko assured.
"Hey, why don't we hit your place instead?" Yosuke asked Yu. "Oh, but will your uncle get suspicious? Like, 'Why are you all celebrating?'"
"All right, let's do this!" Yu said.
"Great! Let's head over right away!" Rise said.
"Oh yeah, if your uncle's a detective, he might not come home tonight..." Chie said, referring to the work he'd probably need to do regarding Mitsuo's arrest. "Nanako-chan might be getting hungry."
Yukiko then had an idea. "Hey, then why don't we make dinner together?"
"Wow... Are you good at cooking, Senpai?" Rise asked.
"W-Well... sort of?" Chie said.
At the thought of the girls cooking, Yu and Yosuke visibly grimaced, remembering the tragedy that was the school campout and going hungry due to the girls' cooking, dubbed Mystery Food X by Yosuke. "What are you saying? Did you already forget the tragedy of the school campout!?" Yosuke asked.
"W-We already told you that was an accident!" Chie defended.
"She's right! We just got a couple of the ingredients wrong!" Yukiko followed.
"Guys, please don't do this, I'm begging you... I don't need another trauma to deal with..." Yosuke begged.
"Hey, I'm a good cook too!" Rise said. "I'll make something for you, Senpai." Yu wasn't sure if he could trust Rise completely, especially after he'd placed so much trust on Yukiko and Chie on the day of the campout, but before he had the chance to vocalize his concerns, Teddie spoke up.
"Tadaaaah! Teddie has a great idea! Let's have a cooking battle! The winner will be crowned Iron Cook Inaba!"
"A cooking battle? Now I'm even more worried..." Yosuke said.
"S-Sure, that sounds like fun," Chie said.
"Aww, but I'll win hands-down. You sure you want to make it that easy?" Rise asked confidently.
"Dude, listen to me. For the sake of our stomachs, you have to cook something too," Yosuke asked Yu. "Help us, Partner! You're our only hope..."
"Then you can represent the guys' team. Nanako-chan will be our judge!" Chie said.
"I can be a taster too!" Kanji offered.
"Teddie can be a taster too!" Teddie also offered. "At the end, you're supposed to say, 'That was delicious!', right?"
"Woo! I'm getting all fired up!" Chie said, standing up. "Alright! Let us advance forth into the grocery station downstairs! Chaaarge!"
After Chie ran down the stairs, with the Investigation Team walking close behind, the team regrouped around the produce section. Yu decided to call Nanako to tell her about the party and to ask her what she wanted. She decided that she wanted an omelet and some fried rice, so the team set out to buy their respective ingredients, for some reason each person heading in completely different directions.
After each person had selected their ingredients, the cart they were using was filled with a variety of ingredients. Yu had decided to go for an Asian-American style omelet, with soy sauce for flavoring, so as such, he asked Yosuke to buy him eggs, soy sauce, butter, and some meat to fill the inside. All the other ingredients were things probably not suited to be in an omelet, such as hot sauce and foie gras.
"Foie gras!?" Yosuke asked.
It was revealed to be Rise who'd bought that as an ingredient, and presumably she'd also bought all the hot sauce. The cart was littered with loads of different meats, vegetables, and seasonings, and surprisingly, Yu was the only one who'd bought eggs. Because of this, the guys were able to conclude that Rise was unable to cook as well.
Kanji came back to the cart with a bottle of liquor in his hand, and, after a scolding by Yukiko, he went back to put the liquor back where he'd gotten it. Meanwhile, Teddie managed to successfully seduce a woman at the Junes sample tray, even though she was married and had a child. After Kanji returned and Yosuke pulled Teddie away from the sample tray, they went to the checkout and purchased each of their respective ingredients.
Unsurprisingly, after the food was prepared, Yu was unanimously crowned the winner of the competition, mainly because each of the girls' cooking was inedible, or tasteless in Yukiko's case. Each person left the Dojima residence, one by one, giving their thanks to Yu and Nanako for allowing them to have the party at their house.
Eventually, everyone left the house and it was finally time to put Nanako to bed and tidy up the kitchen. While Yu was escorting Nanako to her room, however, she noticed the paper armband, still on his arm and suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway. Yu took notice of this and crouched down to ask her why she'd suddenly stopped.
"Big Bro! You're still wearing the armband I gave you?"
"Of course, Nanako. Why wouldn't I?"
"Well, I thought you'd be embarrassed to wear it outside of the house..."
"Of course not; after all, it was a gift from you."
Nanako let out a short giggle and tried to stifle a yawn. All she wanted was to stay with her Big Bro at least a little longer. However, her eyelids were starting to feel heavy because of the excitement of the day, and she was about to fall asleep.
Before she did that, however, she pulled Yu into a hug.
"I love you, Big Bro..."
"And I love you too, Nanako. Good night."