A/N: First, I'd like to apologize to all my readers. I recently discovered I misspelled Namatame's name. I don't consider it a very big error so I don't think I should go into drastic measures fixing his name in previous chapters of this story. Regardless, I'm sorry for the error all the same.
Second, sorry for taking so long with these updates. I very much appreciate the reviews and criticism but I've been busy. I originally intended to post this on new years but just didn't have the time to finish the chapter, never mind proofreading.
Lastly: I'm sure some of you have been annoyed on how I write the fight scenes... or rather my lack of really going into them. The thing is, I'm afraid you would get bored if I wrote about "so and so spell is cast and Souji has to dodge and move around or else he's hit with so and so spell or attack". I'm trying to balance out the descriptions enough that you don't get feel like I'm writing pointless fodder information about a fight scene that Souji is having before getting to the next part of the story. Playing a game is one thing, reading about it? Not as fun or interesting.
In the next chapter, I'm balancing it out more so that it's not 'too short' or 'too long', gets to the point, and so the story can keep flowing as smooth as possible (which is difficult considering how P4's story became rather repetitive in the game with the whole saving-people-thing. So yeah, forgive me if it's not a long fight scene. I do that on purpose.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and please review! I actually enjoy taking the time to read them. I've read every single review given so far. No lie.
Souji walked briskly toward the stronger of the two power signatures. He had already thought of the pros and cons of going to either or both dungeons and thought he was making the right choice. The entire purpose of his excursions in going into TV land had been to find and take down the culprit, or at least stay out of the culprit's way enough to protect his object Yukiko and his family.
Namatame had to die.
The man was too dangerous left alive. He knew too much and had too much power if his sensory capabilities in feeling the radiating powers of strong demons were anything to go by. There was also something… amiss with Namatame. He could feel the man's power, not just sense it, and that just wasn't right. There was something wrong here. Something Souji didn't understand and that troubled him. The presence he was feeling was similar to that annoying bear's shadow. He had been thinking it over and reviewing the details of what he knew ever since Namatame had been discovered as the culprit.
The one grudging fact that Souji had to admit was that Namatame likely wasn't the cause of his ex-lover's death. Yamano and he were nowhere near each other and if Namatame had killed her via traveling into her hotel room through a TV then he would have done the same for the other victims and not had to kidnap them. Therefore, someone else had killed Yamano and someone else had this power. If that were true then it didn't bode well for Souji…
Not to mention he would have to silence Namatame somehow. Murdering him would be the most effective way but being seen as victim of an attack by being found upside down on a telephone poll would raise questions about another possible culprit… but there was a culprit other than him. Souji didn't know the real reason why Namatame had done all of this. What he could conclude was that Namatame had gone mad because of Yamano's death, that much was plainly obvious, but what had given him the power to enter and use TV's? Why had he thrown these people in TV's? The man could, quite literally, be insane but there could be another explanation.
In fact,... Saki hadn't gone missing before her death. She had just died one day. Which meant the shady bastard that killed Yamano had also done in Konishi. The mystery killer may still reside in Inaba! Or Namatame had done it and was just insane…
Could Namatame be working for someone else to throw off the suspicion? It could be… he could have blamed Yamano for tarnishing and abruptly ending his political career. But why involve himself in the other murder and the attempted murders?
Souji shook his head as he entered Namatame's insanely pristine and angelic dungeon the heaven's pearly gates.
At the time, it seemed reasonable enough to choose Namatame over Kujikawa. The possible broken link to solving the whole mystery. Souji was being level headed and thinking with his brain instead of his penis.
This decision set forth events that would result in the worst comeuppance that Souji ever endured.
Rise trembled.
She gazed at her mirror image in horror. This was so humiliating! It had to be a dream… but why wouldn't it stop? Why couldn't she wake-up? She felt like breaking down in tears. The utter humiliation of her copy dancing around a stripper pole in nothing but silky undergarments was too much. Why was this happening? What on earth was going on? The last thing she remembered was being kidnapped! What was this place and why were her deepest fears literally prancing in front of her nearly in the nude!
"Awwww! What's the matter?" the imposter Rise chuckled, smirking at her. "You wanna show your stuff, don'tcha?"
"Please…" begged Rise, staring hard at the floor. She was too ashamed to look up at her dark secret. "Stop this…"
The copycat chuckled in a manner that was quasi cute and sinister. Rise clenched her fingers as anger began to creep up with the embarrassment she was feeling. Her face resembled the color of a tomato.
"Oooh, you want me to stop?" mocked faux Rise, using the pole to swing her body around sensually. "That's so funny!"
She then sneered at Rise.
"As if that's even close to what you're really thinking, you little skank!"
Rise continued to glare at the floor. Anger and embarrassment coursing through her veins. Why couldn't this doppelganger just shut the fuck up? Tears began forming on her face. Had she finally gone mad? Why was she being tortured so horribly!
"You're me!" continued the fake, smiling cruelly. It relished in the emotions emitting from its human counterpart. She stopped dancing and looked at the real version of herself in contempt. "And obviously, I'm you!"
"No…" cried Rise, shaking her head in denial. She was unwilling to face the reality inside herself. "That's not true…"
The shadow began dancing sensually at the pole once more. It laughed mockingly at the pitiful tear-stricken girl.
"C'mon, look! You can't tear your eyes away!" The shadow began blowing kisses, it was getting hot in its own lust. "This is me! This is who I really am!"
"Not Risette, the fake celebrity! Look at the girl right in front of you! I'm sick of being some airhead cliché who chokes down everything she's fed and takes it all with a smile!"
Rise wanted nothing more than to shout her own agreement at that moment. But no, no, NO! Risette was a slut! A dirty wash cloth that was to be used and thrown out after doing half-naked ads for nerdy teenage boys who had no chance of getting laid and so desperately craved to masturbate off pictures of her. She wouldn't be like that! She didn't want to be like that! That was Risette! Just Risette! Rise Kujikawa wasn't like that! By not acting out her feelings that emulated Risette's, she wouldn't be Risette!
"'Risette'? Who the hell is she? There's no such person in this world! I'm no one but myself! C'mon, look at me!"
The shadow was becoming more demanding. It wanted to release the shackles that it's human self had created!
"That's not- I…!"
Rise was confused. There was no Risette? Risette was famous! She lived as Risette for so long… of course Risette existed! That's why she couldn't act like that anymore. She didn't want to be shadowed by that stupid TV gimmick!
"Well then, I guess it's time to prove it. I'm gonna show it all off! Let my naked truth be burned into your brain!"
'No!' thought Rise, shaking her head furiously. Her mind became erratic at this point. 'NO, NO, NO!'
Rise hefted herself up, shaking her head in horror. Her mind had become too frantic to think on what the shadow said any further. All she could think of was the doppelganger showing its naked body… her naked body off like some cheap floozy at a club. She couldn't let that happen! Would reporters suddenly swarm the area and shoot photos in this nightmare?
"Stop… stop it!" Rise hollered at the top of her lungs. She couldn't take this craziness anymore. "You're… you're… not me!"
A horrible laughter echoed off the corridors as Shadow Rise finally transformed. Rise fell unconscious as her shadow began to attack.
Yukiko took a shaky breathe to calm herself. She was extremely nervous. Souji and she had known that the pregnancy obviously couldn't be hidden for long and today was the day that she was ordered to reveal it. Souji wasn't here, of course, he had said he had more important things to deal with then her family melodrama. Yukiko had been stressed in thinking of a way to explain that not only was she going to drop school but that she was now pregnant with her supposed boyfriend's child. She would start showing in a few short months so hiding it wasn't even an option. Her parents weren't stupid and her workers would tattle even if her parents didn't notice by some miracle.
Currently the family was having dinner together at their home. Her parents were quietly speaking about different advertising pitches they could use to gain more customers with the steady decrease of the UFO and murder mystery freaks that had come to the town at the news of Yukiko's abduction and the recent murders. Even with a failure to come-up with such a plan, the Amagi's had made a fortune off the lawsuit of Dr. Kato for Yukiko's kidnapping. The law enforcement agencies had readily brought the trial to speed and jumped at the chance to attack Kato on the stand due to the bad press they were getting for the unsolved murders of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi. Both parties gleefully took Kato for as much as he was worth and Kato was convicted for 25 years on charges of attempted rape, kidnapping, and murder. Yosuke Hanamura's body had been very incriminating along with testimony from the head nurse Sayoko Uehara. Both the Amagi's and the Inaba police department ended up with millions from Kato's pension, his cars, and his home. His wife had swiftly divorced him and left with their children to somewhere undisclosed out of shame and betrayal. The Inaba community had been more than a little vindictive toward the Kato's due to the trial even before the final verdict was made.
"Mom…" began Yukiko, nervously. Her face was focused on her dinner plate, unable to meet her parents' eyes for what was surely to come. "Dad…"
"I… I've made my decision about being the Inn manager and… and about school."
This grabbed their attention at once. Both of them had eagerly wanted Yukiko to focus more of her time on the family business. They didn't value school education much. After all, there was no work experience that could help a person out once they embarked upon the real world.
Yukiko silently breathed in and exhaled before facing her parents' expectant faces. She knew what they wanted from her but they were too nice to outright demand it. It still would've remained expected of her if she chose not to pursue running the inn now. They still considered her somewhat young at the moment but in two short years that would have changed… but they didn't have to worry about that…
"I've decided to quit school to better serve as the inn's manager." said Yukiko, smiling happily. She needed to pull off the act well so that they believed her. Souji had made this decision for her already and had demanded she not fuck it up or else there would be severe consequences like forfeiting her mother's very life so that the task would fall to Yukiko anyway. "I want to help the family as best as I can and the inn's demands can't be met sufficiently with me still in school. This is the best thing to do."
"Oh, Yukiko-chan…" spoke her mother softly, tears beginning to form upon her face. "You've matured so much in such a short time. You don't know how happy it is for me to hear you say that…"
Yukiko felt a flutter of happiness that her mother was so touched by her decision to carry on the family tradition. Despite the circumstances for the decision she couldn't help but flush in happiness over hearing those words. Her father's broad grin only increased her feelings of happiness and pride.
A feeling of terror suddenly gripped Yukiko as she knew that this wouldn't last. Her parents' were going to murder her once she told them about her pregnancy. Yukiko took another deep breathe; this time trembling slightly as she knew it wouldn't go over well. Her mother and father didn't notice the shift in behavior as they were going to resume eating their meals.
"There is… more I have to tell you both…" said Yukiko, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible. She didn't want to blurt this out haphazardly. She needed to look firm on this despite how much it would devastate them to hear. "I… that is… me and Souji…"
Her parents looked at her with furrowed brows. Yukiko attempted to calm herself before speaking again. She had her parents' undivided attention once more.
"Souji-kun and I… have… have fallen in love. I… I know it's such a short time and probably immature to hear from a sixteen year old but I assure you it's true. He's been nothing but supportive of me and my long hours at the inn… not many people – even adults – are in relationships like that. Since we couldn't get married until we were twenty years of age without consent from his parents' since they live far away and… I was too nervous to ask you both. We… we decided on the next best course of action…"
They stared at her in confusion before her father's face changed to one of shock. Yukiko took the opportunity to confirm it.
"I'm… well… pregnant." finished Yukiko, lamely. She was utterly ashamed at this point. She wanted to just run from the table and lock herself up in her room but she had to make certain points known. "I… I can understand if you're disappointed in me. It – it wasn't Souji-kun's fault. Not… not really because I… I seduced him. I wanted us to be together so badly. I've said it before… I love him."
For a moment both her parents' did nothing but stare at her. Yukiko was sure of it now, she would get yelled at, possibly beaten for what she had just said, and who could blame them? Their sixteen year old daughter had went and got herself pregnant when she had seemed so mature such a moment ago. She wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly disowned her.
"Oh, Yukiko-chan…" began her mother, getting up from the dining table and hugging her daughter in a tight embrace. Yukiko began to cry. Even after all the stress from Yamano's death and those damnable paparazzi her mother still had enough time to comfort her fool of a daughter. She wasn't even shouting accusations at her or anything. The disappointment however was all that needed- "This is wonderful news!"
Yukiko stared dumbly as her mother let go and smiled broadly at her. She looked so… proud? What was going on here?
"Yukiko-chan," began her father, making her turn to her father's direction where he was still seated. His smile was dazzling. "We couldn't be more happy with how you that you thought so well ahead!"
"What?" shouted Yukiko in obvious shock. Why were they happy? Had Souji done something to their mental health without her knowing? "What… what do you mean?"
"We knew, of course," interrupted her mother, making Yukiko turn to her mother once more. "That with running the inn you would have no time for a loving relationship possibly with your new boyfriend. You were so shy around boys before that too… it was quite disheartening to think that you may begin working for the inn without having a family of your own. We were thinking of possibly arranging a suitor but…"
Yukiko's eyes widened in horror. They had been going behind her back making arrangements such as who she was going to marry? They had known that with running the inn that she would have almost no time for any sort of social life but to think they had planned to go so far as to dictate the terms of her own personal life…
"Well, it seems you resolved our problem for us." Her father laughed good-naturedly. He smiled proudly. "Now, of course you'll have our blessing for a marriage with Souji-san… ah, perhaps Souji-kun is more appropriate? We knew you wouldn't go for suitors but this solves that little problem."
"B-but… what about me being pregnant?" asked Yukiko, she couldn't hide the surprise from her voice. "You're not… mad?"
"Of course not," replied her mother, smiling brightly at her. "Personally I think our society waits far too long to get married. It's best to start early and sixteen seems the appropriate age. Why I have some old friends who couldn't have time for kids until their forties! The work hours in our society simply give most of us no time for children."
Yukiko gazed at her parents' smiling and proud faces once more trying to discern if perhaps they weren't even slightly disappointed in what they perceived that she had done. She found no hint of anything more than genuine happiness.
Yukiko never thought there would be a time in her life when her parents' approving faces could shatter her heart into a million pieces.