A/N IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Opening a chapter with an A/N. Not often I do that but this is important.
So you folks may have noticed that it's been a long time since... Five months?! Again?! Fuck! Alright, it's been a long time since the last chapter. So here's the deal. I hit some pretty damn serious burnout on writing this story. I couldn't bring myself to do it anymore. But I committed to it and didn't want to just give up on it. Well I was this close II (that gap just there, that close) to just packing it in completely when a concerned reader contacted me hoping the story wasn't dead. Well we got to talking and long story short this is what we worked out for the story for the foreseeable future.
1: This wondrous fellow who goes by the moniker 'The Name's The Same', will do the lion's share of doing the actual writing for the story. Meanwhile, I'll be directing the plot and characters in a general sense. So he'd be lead writer while I'm writer/director kind of deal.
2: If for whatever reason this doesn't work out (TNTS gets bored, impatient, pissed at me for being too overbearing, what have you) then we'll stop and I'll activate Plan B. Cutting out 'the faff' as I call it and finishing the whole damn thing in about ten chapters or so.
3: If for whatever reason THAT doesn't work (I have ten days to live or something ridiculous like that), I'll post the outline for the plot as I have it, saying in simple terms what would've happened if I managed to finish it.
That being said, I'd like you all to welcome The Name's The Same as co-author on this project. When pressed (a lot), he had this to say:
"Well...if I had to say anything, it might be that I'm a little nervous about taking the torch for one of the most reviewed fics on this site. And that I'll be sure to stay faithful to your directions while also adding my own little twists here and there. And I also plan to update at least every other week, but we'll see how it goes from here.
So let's raise our glass in honor of revival! Hurrah!" - TNTS (C/Ped from my PM log)
Most reviewed on the site is overstating it a bit but I did look it up and it turns out this is the sixth most reviewed fic in the Persona section. I just want to say thank you, all of you for your support. Even if, in the end, I couldn't live up to it, it means a lot to me.
That done, let's get this thing going!
-(-)-
Turning around to face her felt like it took over half a year. Not necessarily because I was afraid but more because I felt it would look more dramatic.
"Clever g-... Clever." I congratulated Naoto. "Managing to find us like this. I'd expect no less of the Detective Prince. So how did you find us? FBI Satellite? Stakeout? Did you plant something on me when I wasn't looking?"
"No, I-"
"I'M THE ONE WHO'LL ASK THE QUESTIONS HERE." I interrupted. Damn I owe Dojima an apology, doing that is satisfying.
"…Finished?" Naoto asked, clearly not appreciating my sense of humour. Her loss.
"Yeah. I just always wanted to do that."
"If you want me to be honest, I just asked that guy over there in the bear costume." She said, pointing behind and to the left of me.
Oh. Wait. OH.
I whipped my head around to where she was pointing to find Teddie handing balloons out to kids like there was nothing wrong with the fact that he was a freaking bear that could take off his own head, armed to the teeth with terrible puns.
I quickly excused myself with an eloquent: "UuuaghI'llberightback!" and nearly slammed into Teddie as I ran.
"Sensei, hi! Want a balloon?"
"You're in our world." I said, trying in vain to get past that thick, fuzzy skull of his "Why? Why the hell are you in our world?!"
Teddie shrugged, or at least gave his best imitation of one due to lack of a neck and shoulders. It came out as an odd little bounce. "I dunno, I got bored."
I'd say it was a weak excuse but... Well, it's Teddie. He does things like this. And now I have to clean up any mess he caused.
"Fair enough." I conceded, "Did anyone see you come in?"
"No, I just started walking around until someone yelled at me then handed me these and told me to stand outside like this." At this he took a few steps back and started waving and turning to the other patrons at Junes. I don't know whether it was the fact that he was just that good at it or what, but hell, I almost bought the whole bunch off him.
After a few seconds of demonstrating, he looked back at me and said: "Am I doing something wrong? I mean, am I forbearden from here?"
Not gonna lie. That one almost made me want to tear off his head and throw it in the river. But, he seemed to be enjoying himself, at least until I came along.
=Can't imagine why…=
-Remind me to laugh at that when I use you against a fire shadow.-
Well, it's not like he was causing trouble or anything.
"…Alright, you can stay-But! Only if one of us agrees to take you home." This is gonna be a problem for so many reasons, I can just tell.
I asked him if he wanted to talk with us but he declined. He said he was having fun with these smaller usses (apparently what he calls children, I'm gonna have to talk to him about that). Which was a bit of a relief because if there was one thing I didn't need, it was another thread in the web of accusations for Naoto to trap me in.
Which brought me back to square one.
I gestured for her to sit as I walked back but she declined. Oh well, at least she can't call me uncivilized.
"So, what did you find out from your thrilling interrogation with a man in a bear suit?" She glanced back over, "And a bad one at that."
"Well for one I found out that the store's having this great sale on socks and gauze. Isn't that something you'd be interested in Naoto?" Did she think I'd forgotten or something? She might've caught me with my pants down but there's no way I'm making this easy for her.
While Naoto was flustered, I managed to sneak a quick smack behind Yosuke's head, informing him that the best thing to do is not gawk at Teddie and the children. A) It would be dealt with later and B) he was getting odd stares from the customers.
Naoto cleared her throat "I'd like to speak with Seta alone if you don't mind."
Yosuke stood and crossed his arms. His attempt at looking imitating unfortunately leaning more towards the look of one of those middle-aged people in constipation commercials.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to join you two."
"Hanamura, it would be much better if Seta and I walked by ourselves."
"Alright, I'll just walk along with you too."
Naoto met his gaze.
I sighed. "Yosuke, it's fine. He's a detective, not an assassin. Besides, when did Junes hire a giant Teddie bear mascot?" I asked, putting extra stress on the name to make it clear what they needed to deal with first, while I went off to distract Prince of Darkness here for a while.
He stood there for a full minute before groaning in defeat and turning back to the others who were arguing in hushed whispers. I caught words like 'house-broken' and 'allergic to pan-dimensional fur' so apparently they'd caught on to the fact that 'Hey, that mascot that Yosuke has never mentioned being implemented before sure looks familiar.'
And now I have to walk alone with Naoto and somehow get out of explaining what I know about her and why. Granted, she managed to impress me with the fact that she could talk to me and not get irritated, which is a Herculean feat in its own right. And she is my alternate timeline jailbreak buddy. But she's also my blackmailing buddy. You'd think I'd hate her but, she's got something to her.
=Considering how much of her I've seen up here, in more ways than one, I'd say it's pretty-=
"No one asked you."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. Let's take a walk, shall we?"
-(-)-
We managed to get to the river before she finally said something.
"How'd you find out?"
"Hmm?"
She turned, behind the ice in her eyes lay a heated paranoia that was about to thaw.
"My secret, how did you do it?"
"I'm the most questioned person by practically everyone who knows me. You finally get me alone and all you want to know is how I figured out you're a girl?" I asked, feigning incredulity. She works with cops all the time and yet I'm the one who called her out, it makes sense she'd be suspicious.
"Not entirely."
"Alright I'll tell you…Have you ever heard of the movie: Some Like It Hot?"
"No. And you're evading my question." she accused, before adding "Poorly."
"Of course you haven't. Well, worth a shot."
"Famous last words, Seta."
I know it sounds like I'm stalling, which would be an excellent observation. Because what else was I going to tell her? 'Hey Naoto, I found out you were a fragment of your brother's broken psyche told me so in an alternate timeline that I traveled back from last week'? Actually, I'm filing that one away, might make a good story after all this blows-OH MY GOD MY LIFE'S TURNED INTO BACK TO THE FUTURE. SWEET!
"Seta!"
Yosuke came running down the incline waving the papers Kanji had taken, just what I needed, another reason for Naoto to be on my back.
"You're not gonna believe this, man!" he shouted gleefully.
"You're not betting on that are you?"
"Listen now, snark later! You remember that kid Kanji was interrogating." he said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I muttered, pointing in the direction that Naoto would have been had she not disappeared somehow. Great, now I have a reason to be paranoid about someone.
"You know, the one who managed to connect the murders to their appearance on TV. Kanji tracked him down again and he managed to find practically everything the kid put to paper, you gotta see it!"
As we were scrambling back up the grass, a noise ripped through the afternoon haze. Behind a tree came Naoto gunning for it on-
"A SCOOTER?! HE'S GOT A SCOOTER?!" At least, that's what I'm sure Yosuke was trying to say, had I not gripped him by the waist with Izanagi's claws and hung him from my back like a baby koala. Funny analogy, actually, because as we speed through the countryside, Yosuke complained as much as an actual baby koala might.
"FUCK ME, MAN! HE HAD AN ESCAPE PLAN AND EVERYTHING. HE SET YOU UP! I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE TAGGED ALONG, BUT NO! AND NOW LOOK WHERE WE ARE!"
"Hey Yosuke, did you hear the one about the high school student of a rural town who inexplicably fell out of the sky one day?"
-(-)-
We were coming up on the town now, which isn't the greatest place to hide the fact that you're secretly chasing a scooter on foot at the same speed as the scooter. A note to those who haven't been paying attention: Sukukaja is still awesome.
"Why aren't you worried that someone might spot us?" Yosuke asked as I ran.
"A) This town has at max: four people on the same street at once. B) ¾ of those people are children. And C) Would you believe me if I told you?"
His head bobbed from side to side as he thought about it. "If it was you, yeah, actually."
"Yeah, but you know me. Do you see her?"
I stopped briefly so Yosuke could get his bearings. "No, I think we lost her."
I shook my head. "Whatever, it doesn't matter if we see her or not, I think I know where he's going."
After a few more minutes of leaping, near misses and an all in all teaser trailer worthy experience. We reached the police station and dropped down behind it. We ran out to the parking lot just in time to see Naoto pull in.
"Naoto, we don't mind it if you bring this information to Dojima and everyone else at the police station."
"We don't?" Yosuke asked, surprised.
"Of course we don't. We want this whole mess done with too, remember?" I tried matting down my wind torn hair as I said: "We just don't want you to use our names, okay? Say you got it directly from the kid and bring him in or something like that. Everybody wins."
"You owe me answers, Souji-san." She said, hiding her shock at our presence very well.
"And... I can give you some of them. Some secrets aren't mine to disclose. But what I can tell you, I will."
"Hey, Seta? You gonna let go of me anytime soon?" Yosuke asked from my back. In answer I unceremoniously dropped him and cancelled the graft on my hands while hiding them behind my back.
"So, can we shake on it?" Naoto looked at my outstretched hand and back at me.
"I don't know why," she said, palming my hand in a dainty yet firm handshake. "But I feel I'm going to regret this."
I smirked "Welcome to life with Souji."
-(-)-
=Hey, woman, you got the blues/Cause you ain't got no one else to use/There's an open road that leads nowhere/So just make some miles between here and there.=
-Obnoxious Little Demon! Obnoxious Little Demon!-
"How can you possibly be humming to yourself at a time like this?" Chie asked.
We'd all piled into Yosuke's bedroom after regrouping at Junes. I sat on the bed (as was my right as leader). And everyone else sat in front of it in a semi-circle. The atmosphere was somber. We'd just lost our first big lead since…Dammit! We've never had anything this good! I can't ask Dojima about it because he'd be curious as to how I knew the kid was being questioned by the cops. The best I could hope for was him to casually bring it up somehow. And while I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony.
"Sorry." I mumbled to her, pointing to my head in a motion that had become universal language in our group for: 'Seta's being batshit crazy right now, please leave a message after the tone.'
It was one of those moments in any good mystery where it was best to savor the misery and hope for some better news another time.
"Hey, wait a minute… "Kanji piped up, his eyebrows furrowed as he searched the room.
"Where's that…bear, person, thing from the store today?
…
What.
Then the room exploded.
"I THOUGHT YOU TOOK HIM!"
"YOU MEAN HE'S ALL ALONE OUT THERE?"
"HE COULD BE LOST! OR WORSE…"
Metaphorically, it metaphorically exploded.
-(-)-
Somewhere, amidst the looming shapes of the closed stores, a lone wail could be heard as it begged for its agony to be pierced and deflated by the sweet relief of death.
"Don't come any closer!"
Teddie was lost; he knew that because this was the first time he'd ever been to where his sensei always left to. He didn't understand why this strange plane was rejecting him; he just wanted a place where he could stay with his friends.
"I mean it; I've got teeth you know!"
But no said this eldritch land: with the lashing of its winds, and the pain of its scorching sun. You were not meant to enjoy the fruitfulness that I bear. It is meant only for the select few who deserve it. They are not you, you are but a guest, one who must be tolerated for a time before you are crumpled up and thrown back to where you belong.
"I don't see why you have to leave so soon."
The young girl was confused, she knew this because the toy bear she had her parents purchase for her had suddenly leapt from its spot at her tea party and began groggily talking about how this wasn't where it had sat down to nap.
Now he was ineffectively swiping at the other guests that crowded the table. Who didn't seem to appreciate the odd disruption from what had seemed at the time, another friendly face at their tea party. Or they would be, if they weren't stuffed.
Plastic cups clattered at the floor as his paws blindly wind-milled around the room until they found purchase on a window.
With a mad cackle, the bear leapt up to the window and jumped through to the outside. The only evidence he was ever there was little Haru becoming extremely paranoid about which toys she asked for in the future. And the dogs on her street started to huddle more closely if they were found on the prowl during the night.
-(-)-
A/N: You might've noticed a change in that last section that it isn't Seta's first person perspective. Neither of us wanted to lose the scene but we couldn't figure out how to use it while staying in Seta's perspective. So that might happen from time to time.
Thanks for reading.