"Dad, why are they letting us play even though we've already caught the bad guy?" Nanako asked
"If I had to guess the game is far from over, keep in mind Junes Dojima isn't leaving until spring and that's not until March." Dojima said thoughtfully.
"Ok, oh but we're still in the hospital so he has to be all alone now." Nanako said sadly.
"I wouldn't worry, a car crash is bad but they got me to safety in time. Plus we managed to get you out of the TV just like everyone else." Dojima said calmly. "It might take a while but I'm sure we'll both end up safe and sound before the game is over."
"Ok." Nanako said thoughtfully.
"Trust me, everything will be fine." Dojima said reassuringly. "In fact everyone's going to check up on you to make sure you're alright."
"Ok." Nanako said thoughtfully while watching the cutscene.
Still something feels off, we haven't gotten a chance to interrogate Namatame so there must be a reason for that, Dojima thought just before a doctor in the game left the game Nanako's hospital room.
"Is Nanako-chan's family here?" the doctor asked quickly before Junes Dojima nodded and the two of them entered the room.
"Dad, what's going on?" Nanako asked. "Why did the doctor sound scared?"
"I don't know." Dojima said as the game transitioned to Nanako's room.
"Big bro." the game Nanako said weakly.
"The you in the game is coming right dad?" Nanako asked.
"Of course, I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You know that." Dojima said before the game Nanako closed her eyes and stopped moving and the game Dojima limped into the room.
"Dad?" Nanako asked nervously.
"I'll be right back, I… I just need a minute or two." Dojima said quietly as he walked up to the spare room and closed his eyes. It's just a game, there's no way any of this could be real but still. No there's no way this would ever happen, I wouldn't let anyone hurt Nanako there must be a way to save her, even if it is just a game.
"Dad, are you ok?" Nanako asked at the door.
"Nanako, yeah I guess this game is a bit harder than I thought it would be." Dojima said. "What did I miss?"
"Well Kanji got mad and punched the wall and then your friend said the bad guy was at the hospital with me." Nanako said. "Everybody went to go find him and he was trying to run away."
"Run away, did he say why or where he was going?" Dojima asked. "With any luck he panicked and might have said something helpful."
"He just said he was scared, and than his shadow showed up on the TV and started talking about how it wanted to keep saving people." Nanako said. "Now everybody's fighting about throwing him inside again."
"I see, well it would be a lot easier to just throw him in the TV." Dojima said walking downstairs with Nanako. "Then again, if we do then there's no way any of this will make sense. There has to be more to this than we're seeing. The question is, what are we missing?"
"I don't know dad." Nanako said quietly.
"Neither do I Nanako, and the fact that his actions indirectly caused the version of you in this game to die definitely makes throwing Namatame inside the TV sound like the best option." Dojima admitted. "Then again, as a detective I feel like it's vital that we get answers from him directly."
"Then does that mean we shouldn't throw him into the TV dad?" Nanako asked.
"Yeah, and since there isn't an option to say not to throw him in the next best thing is to tell the others to wait." Dojima said selecting the dialogue option and having Yosuke yell that they didn't have time to wait and they had to decide right then and there.
"Did we do something wrong dad?" Nanako asked.
"No, everyone's just emotional after…" Dojima said. "After what just happened, so I understand why they want to decide right away. Still like I said we don't have all the facts."
As he said that, Dojima selected another dialogue option and Yosuke asked what exactly it was they were missing.
"Don't we know all of those dad?" Nanako asked while more dialogue options showed up.
"Not all of them, with all these shadow selves and everything else I'm not sure we do know how Namatame really feels, especially since he keeps saying he's saving people despite putting them in danger." Dojima said thoughtfully selecting the option. "This is just trying to convince the others to think rationally like a detective, until we know all the facts and here everyone's side of the story we can't make a rash judgment."
"Oh, wow you're really smart dad." Nanako said with a smile.
"Well I've had a few years to learn these things." Dojima said with a smile before picking an option that said something was bothering Junes Dojima. Then again with everything that this game has pulled so far I wouldn't be surprised if this was some kind of test, though if it is then what are they testing us for?
"Dad, wasn't that what we said before?" Nanako asked when the next set of dialogue options appeared.
"Yeah, and we are missing something." Dojima said picking the option that said they were missing something a second time before Yosuke shouted that he didn't care about that and just wanted an answer as to if they were going to throw Namatame into the TV or not.
"No, we can't do that because we're the good guys." Nanako said. "We don't hurt people, that's a bad thing to do."
"Yeah, I agree." Dojima said. "Everyone's just overly worked up and needs to calm down."
As he said that Dojima picked the option telling everyone to calm down.
"Do you think that was the right thing to do dad?" Nanako asked.
"I don't know Nanako, but it's what we decided to do." Dojima said. I only hope this wasn't a mistake.
(Dojima and Nanako are approaching the end of the game, and decided to spare Namatame but are unsure if it was the right choice. Next chapter the repercussions of that decision will be revealed to them. As always any reviews or critique is appreciated.)