IV. Usual Suspects
"Wait, so they dragged you into the Midnight Channel?" Yukiko asks, voice dripping with concern, while she's tending to the cuts on Naoto's arm.
"Hm. I'm not sure. We never went in there through anything other than television screens. And the place felt… different." Naoto searches her mind for the right words to describe the darkness of the place she'd been pulled into.
"That's it. I'm calling the boys." Chie says resolutely, jumping to her feet and slamming her hands on the counter before leaving Naoto and Yukiko alone in the bathroom. Naoto briefly considers protesting but Chie's already too far away.
"Were they alone?" Yukiko's voice calls Naoto's attention again.
"I think so. I only saw one figure."
"Human?"
"It didn't seem like it. They were too fast. And they could change their voice. Sometimes it sounded like there were more than ten people talking at once."
"Strange." Yukiko says in a way that makes it sound more like she wants to say 'scary'. Chie walks back into the bathroom, throwing her phone on the counter. Yukiko finishes applying a bandage and washes her hands.
"The boys are coming over tomorrow. We're having lunch at Aiya."
"Any excuse, right?" Yukiko teases Chie softly. Chie ignores her.
"Figure it's best we crowdsource this thing. And considering we are all basically experts on weird supernatural places… Anyway. You can sleep in our room tonight. And Yukiko and I will take turns to watch the windows in case they come back and-"
"Chie. No. It's fine," Naoto interrupts, "I think whoever killed Nishihara just wanted to scare me off. I doubt they'll come back before they realise I'm still on the case."
Chie is entirely unconvinced and it takes the better part of the rest of the evening to convince her to let Naoto sleep in her own room.
When the trio arrives at Aiya the next day, Yosuke, Kanji and Teddie are already there. As soon as he spots her, Kanji jumps up and pulls Naoto into a tight hug.
"Are you okay. Did those bastards hurt you?"
"I'm fine," Naoto answers muffled through Kanji's jacket, "Please stop choking me." Kanji lets her breathe as he holds her an arms length away and studies every inch of her body. Naoto feels a blush coming on her cheeks under the scrutiny.
"Hey cut it out, Kanji," Yosuke yells from their table, "Why don't we let her sit down before the interrogating?" Kanji concedes and flops back down next to Yosuke.
"You didn't have to close the restaurant to come here, did you?" Naoto asks Kanji. He'd opened a restaurant with his girlfriend just a few years before.
"No, it's cool. Aika's looking after the place. We don't get many people for lunch anyway."
"That's because your hot bartender doesn't start his shifts until seven." Yosuke says confidently, shooting him a smile he must have thought was charming but only results in a loud snort from Chie. The group falls back into their familiar banter while Naoto glances at her phone. Another worried message from Rise. She opens it only half listening to her friends.
"Yeah. That's the only reason we hired you. Not like you know how to make any cocktails."
"Excuse you! I have read two books on mixology. I am practically a master at my craft."
"Oh yeah? Quick: What's in a gin and tonic?"
"It… there's… uh…"
Anything happen?
"You can't seriously be this stupid, Yosuke."
"I'm starting to doubt the man can even read."
Nothing new. At Aiya with everyone. Shouldn't you be sleeping?
"I'll show you reading. Teddie, hand me that menu."
"Yosuke, quick: What's in a vodka cranberry?"
"Will you lay off, Satonaka!"
Say hi for me.
I will. Now sleep.
Fine. Frequent updates please. 3
"Rise says hi." Naoto finally ends the bickering.
"Man. Sucks she is gone right when this stuff's happening again, yeah?" Yosuke says while he's glancing at his phone. No doubt looking up cocktail recipes, Naoto assumes.
"Honestly. I'm kinda glad she's away right now. She's safe in London."
"She'd be safe with you too, Naoto." Teddie says, beaming.
"Yeah. The whole gang together again, kicking Shadow ass in the Midnight Channel." Kanji says a little too loudly raising his fist.
"It's not the Midnight Channel, dummy." Chie says.
"And we're missing Souji as well." Yukiko adds. The table falls silent for a moment.
"Did anyone tell Souji yet?" Yosuke asks.
"I told him about the case, yes." Naoto answers.
"But not about last night?" Yosuke's already starting to compose a message on his phone.
"Souji is halfway across the country. I don't want to worry him needlessly because he'd-"
"Because he'd come. The old Investigation Team together again!" Teddie is almost jittering with excitement.
"We don't know nearly enough about what's going on here yet. I don't want any of you to be put in danger. It's my case. I'll handle it."
"It's not just an average case though, is it?" Yosuke is still tapping away, "Midnight Channel or not, you fought that thing off with your Persona. So if we can use our Personas in the… wherever that was, we can fight it. All of us." He sends the message.
"I agree. Like it or not, Naoto, we're in it as well." Yukiko adds.
"Alright." Naoto can't help but smile. As dangerous as it had been to beat Tohru Adachi, they'd done it. All eight of them together. Maybe they could do it again this time.
Yosuke's phone rings.
"Hey, Souji."
They spent the rest of their lunch going over the few things Naoto had discovered. Their first step was to check out the Midnight Channel.
"To Junes!" Teddy shouted before Yukiko reminded him there was a much smaller chance of them being caught going in through one of the televisions at the inn.
Naoto was proven right. The Midnight Channel was unchanged and nothing like the place she'd been in the day before. Back in Inaba, they'd decided to wait for another break in the case. Or as Yosuke had put it "Let's let Naoto detective it out first." They'd said their goodbyes as the guys got in Yosuke's car to drive back to Okina City.
"Call if anything comes up, yeah?" Kanji had forgone the bearhug for a pat on Naoto's shoulder.
"I will. Thanks Kanji."
Naoto walks into the Inaba police station just a few minutes later. She's greeted almost immediately by Dojima.
"Shirogane. Lab came back with the results for that ema we found with the body." He hands her a beige folder and a plastic bag holding the white plaque. She glances at the first page in the folder.
"Human bone?" She notes out loud.
"And that's not all. It's Nishihara's."
Naoto flips to the next page, a copy of the autopsy report. The plaque was made out of one of Nishihara Asako's ribs, though there were no signs or surgical marks on her body.
"Did this happen before or after she died."
"They can't tell. And there's nothing else to be found on the thing." He points at the ema. Naoto looks closer at it.
"Hmm. Mind if I keep this for a while?"
"Of course."
"Anything else?"
"Nothing yet. I'll keep you posted."
With that, Dojima goes back to his desk and Naoto walks over to her temporary office. She drops off the folder and looks over her notes for a few seconds before her attention goes back to the ema. She can't shake the feeling there's something about it that will help her with the investigation. She puts on a pair of plastic gloves, slides it out of the bag, and studies it for a few moments. There's nothing particularly strange about the item, apart from it's material. The carving of the nine-tailed fox isn't necessarily a standard image to put on an ema, but she has no idea what it might mean. And the word 'wish' can be found on dozens of ema.
Stumped and out of leads, Naoto leaves the station and heads for Inaba's shrine.
There's no one else around as she walks up to the shrine. She'd come here a few times with Rise during their hiatus. Naoto had enjoyed the quiet peacefulness of the place. Rise had enjoyed talking to the people who came to pray or make wishes. Naoto pulls out her phone to type out an update for her girlfriend.
Investigation Team is back together. No stopping them.
To her left, she can spot the board where visitors can hang their ema. There are a few. She types out a second message before putting her phone back in her pocket.
I miss you.
She holds up the bag with the ema made of bone and compares it to the others. They are all made of wood. Some a bit more fancy than others. It appears the locals can buy a specific type of ema nearby that's rather popular. A basic rectangle with a flower painted on one side, and space for writing on the other. Others have pictures of birds, tigers, and one has a detailed portret on it. She stares at the bone ema again, as if the act of scrutiny alone will be enough to change the writing into a clue. It isn't. Naoto sighs and takes her phone back out of her pocket. No message from Rise, but she is probably filming at the moment. Naoto sees something move from the corner of her eye and looks up from the screen. A small red fox has taken place next to the board she was just studying. For a second she assumes it's the same fox that had helped out her friends all those years ago. Closer inspection proves her wrong. This fox is smaller and a brighter shade of orange. It has none of the scars the other fox had. She wonders if they're family.
"Hey buddy." She says. The animal has its eyes focused on Naoto. It doesn't seem too threatened. Naoto drops down on her heels to study the animal more closely.
"Do you live here?" The fox turns its head and looks at her quizzically for a moment. Naoto holds out the ema.
"Do you know what this means?" She asks. The fox looks at the item briefly before resuming its focus on Naoto. "Me neither." Naoto mumbles.
"Cute fox!" A child's voice sounds from behind her back. She turns around to see Okano Shiro, the father of the girl who died in the car crash four months ago, and his daughter Kotone walk up to the shrine.
"Good afternoon, detective." The man says with a kind smile. His daughter runs toward the fox startling it. The animal sets off fast toward the nearby bushes as the girl chases it.
"Good afternoon, mister Okano."
"Lovely day, isn't it?" He tries to make smalltalk as the two of them watch Kotone search through the green for a sign of the fox. Naoto hums in agreement.
"Any luck on your case yet?"
"We're working on it." Naoto hopes he won't push her for any details. That would make him look suspicious.
"Good. Koto, come back honey." He yells at his daughter who walks over a few seconds later, grabbing her father's hand and attempting to hide behind him. "Koto and I come here every week." Naoto sees the girl nod slightly in agreement.
"That's nice." She's not sure why he is telling her this.
"Here, Koto." He hands the little girl an ema and she goes over to the board to hang it up. Naoto tries to study it. Wood painted white, no pictures on it, only writing. She can't quite make it out.
"A wish. For Nishihara's parents," Okano Shiro explains unprompted, "Losing a daughter is a terrible thing. I can only pray that they can find happiness again in their life. It took me a while, you know. After losing Hitomi. But over time you do gain the strength to go on again."
Naoto doesn't know how to respond. She just nods. They stand quietly next to each other for a few moments as they watch the little girl who keeps getting distracted from her task looking at the bushes for a sign of the fox.
"I'm sure Mr and Mrs Nishihara appreciate the support." Naoto finally says. It's not what she wanted to say. She can't offer him any consolidation for the loss of his own daughter, and now the loss of another girl. Shiro looks at her then, and smiles warmly, as if he knew what she wanted to say anyway.
"I'll leave you two to it. Have a nice day, mister Okano."
"You as well, detective." He says as he walks over to help his daughter.