Hello everyone! That last chapter was a bit wordy, huh? I enjoyed writing it though, so I hope you all enjoyed reading it as well. Unfortunately, here's where the main story will branch off a bit, as I'm going to go through Naoto's Social Link in it's entirety. "Don't worry, I wont be adding Ten chapters with each one being devoted to one part of the chain.. If you've read my profile, you'll understand that I'm doing this because this is my OTP for the Persona world, at least as far as Persona 4 goes. (unfortunately, I never was able to play Persona 3, but that'll change soon. I did, however, enjoy the anime. But that's also overshadowed by the upcoming Persona 5. Ahh, decisions.) Anywho, here's chapter 21. can't believe I've come this far. Enjoy!
Souji sighed. He turned over on the couch to check his phone again. No new messages. He'd already watched Tanaka's, and the rest of the group was busy, excluding Yu, who'd taken the day off from Junes to watch his brother. Yu sat at the desk, fiddling with some homework they'd received. It was already completed, but he was staring at it more as a distraction than anything else.
Souji had already torn through all the models that were available in the past week, and was trying to find something to do. It was Sunday, the day after they'd managed to rescue Naoto. The young sleuth had returned to her apartment with Rise's help, and the idol had banned anyone from going to see her, barring Rise herself. Souji was still worried, and had told Naoto to let him know if she needed anything, be it from the office or anywhere else; the two had exchanged numbers a while back, well before the case had "closed". Yu turned to his brother, eyeing him with some concern. Souji had no real desire to do anything, but seemed restless for something to do.
Yu suddenly remembered what day it was; they had a rare opportunity today. He stood up, throwing on his jacket, wearing it in the fashion Souji normally wore his school uniform, as he no longer wore the same fashion on his days off. "Yo, Souji! Throw something decent on. We're heading to the shopping district."
Souji rolled over to look at his brother. "Why the shopping district?" he asked, getting up nonetheless.
"You'll just have to wait and see, I guess" Yu grinned.
The twins walked up the street towards the shopping district. "What are you up to?" Souji asked, eyeing his brother suspiciously.
"Oh come on, Souji!" his twin grinned. "Don't you remember? We haven't fulfilled our promise to Marie-chan. Today is Sunday, after all!" Souji's eyes widened; in dealing with Naoto's disappearance and subsequent rescue, the silverette had forgotten all about Marie. "She'd kill me if she found that out" Souji thought.
They walked up to The Velvet Room's entrance just as the young girl stepped out. "Good morning, Marie-chan!" said the twins brightly, Souji now forgetting his earlier boredom.
"Huh?" she said, looking up in surprise. "What are you two doing here?" she asked, looking between Yu and Souji.
"We thought we'd come by and see if you wanted to go anywhere today" said Yu, smiling.
Souji nodded. "If the fact that your friends want to hang out doesn't cut it, then I guess you can blame it on the fact that Igor says we haven't finished building our 'Social Link' with you yet." Souji shook his head, obviously displeased with that point of logic. "Honestly, it's as if the man thinks that we only care about gaining something."
Marie laughed. "Yeah, The Nose likes to do that to you two. He says he enjoys teasing you when he can." Marie looked at Souji seriously. "By the way, have you noticed anything different with Morpheus since last time?" Souji shook his head; he'd told the dwellers every time Morpheus had done something abnormal. The fight from yesterday hadn't fallen under that category; Souji had done that through his own power, not Morpheus'.
"Not yet, but I'll let you know if something does come up."
Marie nodded, smiling once again. "So, you wanted to know if there's somewhere I wanted to go, huh?" She looked down in thought, and then looked up, snapping her fingers. "I've got just the place." She grinned mischievously at the twins, who fought back the sudden feeling of uncertainty in their stomachs.
The twins were thankful once they'd escorted Marie back to The Velvet Room. They thoroughly enjoyed Marie's company, but had felt embarrassed when she'd asked to go to the twins' room. Dojima had raised his eyebrows when they'd walked in, but had done nothing other than shake his head, muttering something about "kids these days" after Souji had explained a bit of the situation to their uncle. Nanako had been excited, running up to greet the newcomer warmly. Marie had been taken aback at first, but had quickly fallen into entertaining the twins' cousin, enjoying herself as she did so.
They were headed back when Souji's phone buzzed. He stopped to check it, eyes dilating a bit when he saw a text from Naoto had arrived, asking him to please pick up something from Aiya's for her. Yu nodded, telling Souji to hurry home after he finished, then headed towards the Dojima residence. Souji headed for the Chinese restaurant, thinking about what Naoto would want. He shook his head as he entered, deciding that a standard beef bowl would probably be for the best until he learned what the Ace Detective preferred.
He was walking out of the store, bag of food in hand, when he was stopped by a man wearing a dark suit and sunglasses. His grey-silver hair shone in the afternoon sun. "Do you know about Luminol reactions? What part of the body do you use to test DNA? What's the best way to get someone's email address? What ten things can you learn from footprints?" The man bombarded Souji with questions, and the young teen had to stop and think quickly about the answers.
"Uh…Luminol is used by forensic investigators to detect trace amounts of blood left at crime scenes, as it reacts with iron found in hemoglobin…I believe blood, tissue, or hair tends to be best for determining DNA, though long bones or teeth will work if the body is decomposed…I imagine hacking works very well for finding someone's email, though I'm not sure it's the best…as for the footprints, you can learn a person's weight, approximate height, the way they walk, their preferred shoe type, their foot shape, where they've been recently, their physical health, the persons unique ridge patterns, any deformities in a person's foot, and where that person is headed."
Souji answered the questions to the best of his ability, wondering why he was being asked such questions; these were very obviously related to Forensic Science, and knowledge of these facts was important for any aspiring detective to man nodded as he received the answer to each of his questions. "I see, I see… you are quite an interesting young man. Do you know Naoto-sama…er…You know a detective by the name of Naoto Shirogane, correct?" The man looked a tad apprehensive, and Souji noticed when the man had stumbled over Naoto's name.
"Yes…I know Naoto Shirogane…" Souji said warily, edging away slightly; what was this man looking for?
"Yes, I know that you know him. Deliver this to him. He will understand." The man handed Souji a White Card.
Souji looked it over. For all intents and purposes, it was a blank card, but Souji sensed there was something more, especially if Naoto was involved. "What's this?" he asked, looking up, but the man was gone. Souji looked around, bewildered. How had the man evaded his notice like that? He shook his head, and began walking towards Naoto's apartment, texting Rise to let her know where he was headed. The idol wouldn't stop him if Naoto had asked herself.
He reached the apartment quickly, noticing it wasn't all that far from Dojima's house. It didn't look like a normal apartment, however; it appeared to be more of a small, single story house. Yu shook his head; of course, Naoto would have hidden this fact at first, the sleuth's lack of trust led her to misdirect people from information concerning herself. He knocked on the front door, musing to himself about the relatively quaint look the 'apartment' had, noticing a small flowerbox on the ground in the outer entryway, violets blooming in the early fall weather.
The shuffle of feet alerted him to Naoto's presence, and he turned as the door opened. "Hello? Ah, Senpai, thank you for bringing me some food." The detective looked tired, bags under her eyes alerting Souji to a severe lack of sleep.
"Are you alright, Naoto?" the boy asked, concerned for his friend.
Naoto shook her head "I'm sorry, yesterday's events seem to have worn me out more than I thought. Ah…might I impose on you to help me prepare this?" She held up the bag she'd taken from Souji slightly. "I'm afraid I'm a bit feeble at the moment. Rise-chan's been helping me since we returned yesterday, but she left earlier to run some errands, and forgot her phone here."
Souji nodded, glad to hear that the idol had been looking after the young detective, though he grinned inwardly; sometimes, Rise got distracted by her own compassion and ended up making things harder on those she was caring for.
"Of course, Naoto. May I come in?" Naoto nodded, and turned around to place the bag on a table nearby. Souji walked in, taking in the new surroundings. The house, as he now decided to call the establishment by what it obviously was supposed to be, was a bit spartan; it seemed the only real decorations were the flowers on the porch outside; an addition Souji thought was likely due to Rise's influence. The kitchen was on the left as he walked in, shaped as an open square with a small island in the middle, no wall separating it from the rest of the house, similar to the open concept at the Dojima residence. A couple of stools sat on one side of the island, and the kitchen seemed relatively clean; almost new, even. It appeared that Naoto didn't cook all that often.
A small table sat in the room in front of the kitchen, a couch and a reclining chair had their backs to the entrance, facing the opposite wall. A small T.V stand sat on the wall facing the couch, with a small T.V on it. A couple of Tatami mats sat around the table, and Souji noticed a small pink phone with many straps sat on it; Rise's phone. Next to the reclining chair, against the wall, was a large bookshelf, filled to the brim with many books of varying sizes and bindings, some leather-bound while others were bound in the more recent cloth and paper bindings; Naoto appeared to be a voracious reader. A hallway branched off on the right hand side of the entryway, presumably containing the entrance to Naoto's room and the bathroom. The house also smelled of fresh linen, and seemed very comfortable despite its lack of decorative furnishings.
Souji turned his attention to Naoto herself, who was sitting down in the chair, eyes closed. She was wearing her usual attire, a white collared shirt and dark jeans. The tie she normally wore was missing, and she had removed her shoes by the entrance, as was normal. Her cap was sitting on the table in the entryway, next to the food Naoto had set down. Her hair was a tad messy; she'd probably been falling asleep before Souji'd arrived.
Souji made for the kitchen, looking through the cabinets for utensils and a small bowl to portion the rather large amount of food Aiya's owner had given him into. Finding what he was looking for, he scooped some of the rice and beef into the smaller bowl, grabbing a pair of chopsticks he had found in one of the drawers by the sink. He brought it over to Naoto, who stirred at the smell of the food nearby. "Mmm?" she murmured, opening her eyes as Souji set the bowl down on the table in front of her.
"Do you have anything specific you'd like to drink, Naoto?" Souji asked, seeking to help ease Naoto's discomfort.
"Just some water, if you wouldn't mind" she said quietly, rising a bit to get out of the chair, then walking over to the table to sit down and eat. Souji nodded, heading back to the kitchen to search the fridge for what Naoto had asked for.
He came back over and set the water down next to Naoto, who was eating the food a bit faster than he'd expected, watching as he saw some color and light to the sleuth's grey-blue eyes. Souji sat down, tapping his pockets absent-mindedly when he felt the card in his pocket. He fished it out, looking at it once more before getting Naoto's attention. "Ah…Naoto, I was asked to deliver this to you." said the silverette, handing the card to the young girl, who was wiping her mouth with a napkin Souji had thoughtfully provided. Naoto looked at the card as she took it, flipping it over.
"What sort of person gave this to you?" she asked, looking at Souji inquisitively.
"A man with black sunglasses and a penchant for questions pertaining to forensic analysis." Souji said, smiling a bit as he thought back to a while ago. Naoto raised her eyebrows.
"Sunglasses…? Wearing those in a town like this would only make one stick out…" Naoto mused, looking back at the card, studying it in a new light. "What we can take from this is he wanted to hide his face at any cost." Naoto said, looking back to Souji who was nodding in agreement.
"Yes, but he didn't do horribly well. He hid his eyes more than anything, but his face was mostly uncovered, as was his head."
Naoto thought for a while, scanning the evidence at hand thoroughly in her mind.
"If the man sought you out to give this to me, it's safe to assume he knows you as well…I doubt he'd have entrusted the delivery to anyone he didn't know…" Souji agreed, thinking back to how the man had known Souji's relation with Naoto. Naoto shook her head. "But, in this small town, he could have easily looked up my address. Why go through the trouble of giving you the letter? Intriguing…" Naoto trailed off, a light beginning to shine in her eyes. "Is he involved with the case? Or is it another one altogether? If it's me he's after, he could be anyone." That thought disturbed Souji more than anything; it was highly possible the man could be the killer in their current case.
Naoto looked a bit frustrated, and then turned to Souji. "I'll keep the card. The man is most likely still here in Inaba. I cannot drag you any further into this."
Souji shook his head, and began to speak, cutting Naoto off as she began to insist. "I'm not backing out now. I'm interested in this, for multiple reasons, some of them personal. But mostly, I'm worried about you."
Naoto looked surprised. "Err, well… It's good to know that you're worried about me, but…" She averted her gaze from Souji's. "I'm sorry; I seem to have a tin ear for other people's feelings. Rise told me earlier." She looked back at Souji, a hint of gratitude in her eyes. "I'll look into this, and report my findings to you as I learn of them. So…don't worry about me."
Souji shook his head again, smiling gently. "I'm afraid you're a little late for that, especially after yesterday."
Naoto blushed, remembering the aftermath of the battle with her Shadow. "I…err. Well, yes, I suppose it is…" she shook her head, trying to rid herself of her embarrassment. "As our leader, I know that you have a lot on your shoulders, so…" Naoto fidgeted, worried about Souji as much as Souji was about her, but the silverette didn't notice the movement, and was instead looking at the card.
Suddenly, the teen stood up, checking his watch. "Dammit, is that the time?! Dojima's gonna have my hide if I don't get back."
Naoto looked up, surprised. "Ah, right. I'm sorry to have kept you, Senpai" she said as she rose to walk the teen to the door.
Souji gave her a quick grin. "Don't worry about it, he's probably not going to be home for a while yet anyways.
Naoto shook her head. "Regardless, it was rude of me to have kept you so long." She looked down, a small blush rising to her face; the sleuth was unused to having company, or engaging in social interactions that didn't have to deal with her regular business. "Ahh…thank you for helping me, Senpai" she said, embarrassed.
Souji turned, reaching out to pat her head gently, smiling as he did so; Naoto jumped at the unexpected touch. "It's not a problem, Naoto. Let me know whenever you need anything. I want you to recover well." He smiled as he left Naoto's house, leaving Naoto staring at the door in surprise.