Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Fate or anything in the nasuverse, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/Fate fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please, constructive criticism only.

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[October 11th, Dojima residence, Inaba]

The next day rolled around quicker than Yu had expected. Currently, it was the evening and he was cooking dinner for everyone. As he cut into the prawn to remove the hard shell, he winced.

"What's wrong, Big Bro?" Nanako asked coming from her room.

"Nothing. Just need the first aid," Yu said reassuringly as he rummaged through a drawer for a first aid kit.

He pulled out a metal box, however instead of the first aid supplies within he found several random objects but partly beneath them was a picture of Uncle Dojima, Nanako and another woman. The three were sitting on a blanket for a picnic, Nanako was flashing a peace sign at the camera.

"Oh! That's a picture of Mom from our day of Samegawa! So that's where it went!" Nanako said, taking second.

"Did you lose it?" Yu asked.

"Uh-uh… "It's just… one day, Dad took all her pictures and put them all away."

"Really?" Yu asked.

"It was after the car accident," Nanako said looking down, though she was mostly looking at the picture. "When she died."

Yu gasped.

"It's sad." Then Nanako paused for a moment. "But I don't know much more than that because Daddy never talks about it."

"What do you think?" she asked looking at the picture again. "Can I keep this without him getting mad at me…?"

"Why don't I ask him for you?" Yu offered.

"Thank you!" Nanako said excitedly.

After this short back and forth Nanako found the first aid and put a Band-Aid on Yu's index finger.

"I feel bad," Nanako said as she placed the Band-Aid over the cut. "Dad's been so sad since he lost Mom."

"I know," Yu said in sympathy.

"But I still love him. A lot."

"Yeah. I think that he does!" Nanako said. And then she said, "And I…" Then she paused and blushed.

"What is it?" Yu asked.

"I love you too, Big Bro…" She said, only looking at Yu.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Later that evening, Dojima finally came home.

"I'm back…" he announced his presence as he fell onto the sofa.

"Um…" Yu said.

"Yeah? What's up?" Dojima asked him.

"Well," Yu said showing him the picture. "I came across this. It made Nanako really happy. I thought we could leave it out."

"I think right now you know her better than I do…" Dojima said regretfully "It's up to you."

"Daddy!" Nanako said happily. "You're home now!"

"Hey sweetie," he said trying to be kind. "What have you got there?"

"Well, you see… I have…" Nanako's tone was cautious as she was holding a paper in her hand. "I have this thing at school and…"

"What is it?" Dojima asked.

"My stomach hurts…" Nanako complained, dropping the paper and holding her stomach as her face twisted into discomfort.

"Are you okay?" Yu asked, concerned.

"Did you eat something you shouldn't have?" Dojima asked, concerned and getting down on one knee in front of her.

"My tummy feels stingy! It really hurts!" Nanako said, whimpering.

"Okay," Dojima said calmly. And then he said, slightly calmer as he thought of something. "Wait, haven't we been through this before? Did it feel like it did last time?"

"I'm not sure."

"Damn!" Dojima cursed. "Where did I put that medicine?"

Suddenly his work cell began ringing. "What?! Now of all times?!" He walked on the paper Nanako had been holding which was now on the floor. "Yeah, Dojima here. Adachi, I can't talk!"

Then Dojima paused as Adachi was saying something.

"What?" Dojima became very interested in what he was told. "A handwritten letter? For me? Is it from Ichihara? When did it arrive?!" Adachi clearly gave one of his poor excuses because Dojima quickly became angry "You forgot?! You freaking Moron! I'm on my way!"

"Daddy?!" Nanako said, still in pain and stunned.

"I'm heading out…" Dojima said in hanging up the phone and preparing to leave. "Yu, there…there should be some medicine in the first aid kit. Take care of her."

"But she's-!" Yu was cut off as Dojima left.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

"Are you feeling better?" Yu asked after giving her a glass of water in which he dissolved medicinal tablets.

"Kinda…" Nanako with a saddened tone.

The TV was on and there was a program about a baby penguin.

"And when he arrived, a heart-warming reunion with its father was waiting for him." The narrator said as a baby penguin leapt into its fathers' arms.

"Hey, Big Bro… I have a question," Nanako said. "Do you think Dad is my real father?"

"What?" Yu asked.

"It's weird…But I just have this feeling that sometimes I'm not his real daughter."

'Uh oh, looks like Dojima's behaviour is coming back to bite him in the ass.' Cu Chulainn commented.

'Indeed' Nursery Rhyme agreed 'If this goes on he won't have a relationship with his daughter at all.'

"Why's that?" Yu asked ignoring his Persona's running commentary on the situation, although they weren't wrong.

"Because, the way he acts, Daddy cares about the bad guys more than me. I'm sick and he rushed out and left me."

"Hey what's this?" Yu asked picking up a paper which he had spotted on the floor.

"That's mine. They passed it out at school today, the teacher told us to have our parent sign it." Nanako explained.

Yu looked at the paper. It was asking what time parents could observe their children from the twenty-fourth through the twenty-sixth.

"She said they should put down what time they could make it," Nanako said. "But Daddy won't come to it. When he can choose between me and work, he always picks work."

"Let's ask him when he gets back and see what he says," Yu said trying to cheer Nanako up.

It "Okay, good idea…I'm going to bed now. Good night!" Nanako got to her feet and bowing to Yu before leaving to go to bed.

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[October 12th, Police Station, Inaba]

Yu had gone to the police station immediately after school had ended His Uncle had requested a change of clothes. Apparently, he was going to be pulling another all-nighter. As he went to the office where Dojima was he heard his Uncle's frustrated voice yelling.

"Dumbass! I don't know won't cut it!" he yelled, "It's a detective's job to keep looking until he solves the case."

"Yeah ok sorry!" Adachi's voice replied apologetically as Yu entered.

"Adachi." He called out to the Jester.

"Oh, Yu." He greeted gathered up some papers off a desk.

"Is my uncle here?"

"No, he just stepped out but he should be back any second now, here have a seat." Adachi let out a long-suffering sigh. "Dojima never gives up, it's like he's always on the case, is he like that at home too?"

"What do you mean?" Yu asked curiously as he took a seat and set down the bag he had brought with him.

"He still isn't convinced that gamer kid's a serial murderer, so he's researching it on his own and on top of that he's going totally nutso over this recent hit-and-run case." Suddenly Adachi ran off. "Ohcrap! Backtoworkbacktowork!"

Yu turned around and saw it was his uncle.

"Well, we know why Adachi ran away." Cu Chulainn chuckled.

"Oh. Hey there." His Uncle greeted.

"Here. The change of clothes you asked for." Yu said standing up and handed his uncle the bag.

"Great, thanks a lot," Dojima said gratefully. Nothing was mentioned about the night before. Yu had figured that Dojima felt bad about the night before but didn't want to lose face. At least, that's what Yu hoped.

However, Yu took something out of his pocket.

"Oh, one more thing." It was a folded-up paper. "It's from Nanako."

"What is it?" Dojima asked, curious.

"They're doing a parent-teacher thing where you come to observe the class. They want to schedule you, but they need to know what time."

"Anytime is fine. I'll fill this out later." Dojima said glancing at the paper.

"Are you coming home tonight?" Yu asked.

"I doubt it." Dojima answered, "Is Nanako feeling any better?"

"I think finally recovered but…" Yu paused unsure how to proceed without pushing his Uncle too far.

"But what?" Dojima asked with concern.

"It's nothing, Uncle," Yu said, trying to whitewash his concerns about Dojima.

"Hey, you do have a minute?" Dojima asked.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[October 12th, Aiya's Chinese Resturant, North Shopping District, Inaba]

Yu had accepted the olive branch Dojima had extended and followed him to Aiya's.

"Sorry for the wait…" Aika sighed tonelessly placing a beef bowl, some soup, vegetables and a glass of water in front of Dojima.

"I haven't had a bite since lunch," Dojima commented.

"And here's your seven to-go orders," Aika said to Yu, placing a large bag with seven boxes in it.

"Great. Thanks." Yu said gratefully.

Dojima reached into the bag he brought with him, then he pulled out a binder. "I've been meaning to tell you something for quite some time now. Chisato's car accident."

"What's this?" Yu said, taking the binder that was handed to him by Dojima.

"I got a call last night, it was from my old mentor Mr Ichihara." Dojima began explaining as he separated his chopsticks. "I'd asked him to look into her hit and run again and his results had come in. Check it out."

Yu opened the binder and started reading through it. There were pages of information pm the accident. Witness statements, what little there were. An official Medical examiner report.

"It was a white sedan, probably a large American car. No cars like that are registered here." Yu looked at Dojima. "We checked the records and no one junked or repaired a car like that. Then, last week a similar accident happened again. We're just getting started, but this investigation is critical."

"He believes it to be the same person that struck his wife. I can sense his desire for revenge," Jeanne Alter chuckled as Dojima started eating.

"Nanako doesn't seem to know it was a hit-and-run. Why didn't you tell her that?" Yu Dojima had been reaching for more beef with his chopsticks when he stopped, an intense look in his eyes.

"You weren't there!" Dojima snapped becoming defensive, but after a pause, he softened his tone. "It's hard. She was on her way to pick up Nanako when the guy hit her. It was a cold day. No one saw it happen. No one found her until it was too late. By the time word reached me, Nanako was still stuck at that preschool. Out there all by herself. She was all alone…Waiting for a parent who would never come."

"That explains it." Nursery Rhyme said, "He can't face her because he couldn't even catch her mother's killer."

"I could barely face her, much less tell her the truth." Then Dojima's face and tone hardened. "It's her father's job to catch criminals. But when it comes to this guy, I don't even have a scrap of a clue to go on. I will not rest until I catch this guy."

"But think of what it's doing to Nanako…" Yu said trying to steer him to his daughter.

"What do you mean?" Dojima asked taken aback by what he had said.

"You're so focused on this case, that even when she's sick…"

"She's the reason I'm doing this!" Dojima snapped.

Both males looked at each other, neither giving ground. Then Dojima said in a cold, quiet voice. "Mind your own damn business."

"Does this fool not realise that he won't have a relationship with his daughter if he keeps this up?" Atalante admonished.

"Yes, sir." Yu conceded deciding not to push Dojima any further.

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[October 12th, Dojima residence, Inaba]

Yu finally came home after leaving Aiya's with the dinner for everyone Nanako and Yu from Aiya's.

"Big Bro. Where's that paper? Did Daddy fill out the form for me?" Nanako asked.

"Yeah, he said anytime is fine," Yu said kindly to Nanako.

"You mean it!" Nanako said excitedly. "Daddy's gonna come to school?! Yay! I'm so happy!"

"Yeah…" Nanako said happily, clapping her hands together. "It's our very first Parent-Teacher Conference! My friends said all of their parents are coming too!" Nanako was blushing with excitement.

"Oh! By the way…" Yu pulled out the picture of Nanako and her parents from his bag which he had framed for Nanako and gave to her. "Here."

"I thought you'd like it framed. Now all you need to do is find a place for it."

"Thank you," Nanako said smiling and hugging the picture close. "Hey, Big Bro? When you die and leave this world what happens?"

The question caused a most of his Peronae to fall into a stunned silence, notably, Jackie and Atalante.

"I blame Dojima for her asking that kind of question at this time." Cu Chulainn groused.

"Well, then you go to a place called Heaven," Yu told her, the conversation caused him to remember asking that priest where Alice had gone.

"Good, that's what I thought, so Mom went to Heaven didn't she?" Nanako said asking for confirmation.

"That's exactly where she went," Yu said with a smile. "And I bet she'll be watching your Parent-Teacher conference too."

"Yeah…" Nanako nodded. Then her face fell as she realized something. "When I die do you think that I will go to Heaven? Because if I did, then I could see Mom!"

"….I don't think I care for where this conversation is headed," Atalante said a dark tone as the rest of his Personae remained silent.

Yu was quite taken aback at this statement.

"Well, that's a long way off from now."

"Okay…I really want to see Mom."

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[October 13th, Rooftop, Yasogami High, Inaba]

"There was an accident at Samegawa about a year ago. Could you look into it?" Yu asked Naoto.

"I could probably find a news clip about it right now," Naoto answered as she began searching the internet on her phone for anything. "Here, I think this is it…"

Naoto showed a webpage with a news clip that said: Hit-and-Run near Samegawa - Woman Dies

A woman walking home was struck and killed by a car while crossing the street near the Samegawa Flood Plain.

The driver appears to have fled the scene, and the police are treating the incident as a hit-and-run. She was later identified as local resident Chisato Dojima.

According to a statement from Inaba Station, the accident took place in the evening hours. As few people were

in the area at the time, her body went undiscovered for some time.

No useful eyewitness accounts have yet been received. As the victim was a family member of an officer, the police are committed to conducting a thorough investigation and tracking down the culprit.

"It seems that the victim was a local woman named Chisato Dojima," Naoto stated.

"That woman was Nanako's mother," Yu explained causing the team to make noises of sympathy.

"Oh yeah, I kinda remember that poor Nanako, it was the talk of the town for a while," Yukiko said.

"So did the ever catch the guy?" Rise asked.

"Uh-uh…not that I remember," Yukiko replied shaking her head.

"According to this here, the case is open, they never solved it and apparently they have no clues to go on. This'll be hard for the police to solve."

"I know…"

"Oh man. That's so awful. I just wanna punch that creep."

"Tch. Nothing good ever comes from runnin'. Pussy!" Kanji snorted.

"I feel bad for your uncle," Yosuke said. "I mean the guy's a detective. This is gotta be eatin' him up inside."

"Yeah it is, it doesn't help that Nanako reminds him of his wife. Add to that the fact that he apparently can't face her because feels ashamed at not catching the guy and you've got a recipe for a really bad father-daughter relationship." Yu stated.

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[October 13th, Dojima residence, Inaba]

The front door slid open. "I'm home…" Dojima said tiredly.

Nanako was excited. "Welcome back!" She ran over to the end table and stood in front of the framed picture. "Lookie, Lookie, Daddy. It's Mom's picture! I put it right there!"

"Great…" He sighed clearly unpleased with the picture being in plain view.

"Remember when we took this picture, Daddy? When we went to Samegawa?" Nanako asked clearly excited.

"Let's talk about it later, okay Nanako?" Dojima requested walking over to the sofa and sitting down.

"Okay…" she said quietly before sitting down. "Daddy? Remember my school thing?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Dojima asked closing his eyes to rest them.

"Well, um…where's the paper?" Nanako asked.

"The one I gave to you to sign yesterday," Yu elaborated.

"Oh, this thing." Dojima took the paper out of his pocket.

"You're sure anytime is okay?"

"Yeah, fine." He muttered in a tired voice. "But you should know I probably won't make it."

Nanako clearly looked hurt at this.

"I'm sorry, but I'm so busy I can't afford to take the time off," Dojima said apologetically.

"But you said you would!" Yu protested, feeling a spike of annoyance.

"It's okay," Nanako said quietly, her head down, tears forming in her eyes. All the adults looked at her. "You don't have to come. You have to work on a case. You have to find the bad guy." She was sobbing now. "You care more about those bad guys more than you care about me don't you?! FINE! JUST FORGET IT!" she cried as she ran off to her room.

"Nanako! Wait!" Dojima said. Her door slammed as her response. "Perfect. What's gotten into her lately?" he asked, mostly to himself.

Yu was angry but said in as reasonable a tone as possible, "She was hoping you'd go to this. Now you've gone and disappointed her."

"I can't help it. I have to work," Dojima said with a tone of frustration and tiredness.

'Some mongrels require the direct approach, subtlety has failed, if the fool refuses to see then he must be made to see regardless of what he desires.' It was that voice again, one Yu didn't recognise, nevertheless, it had a point.

"Liar, you're using that as an excuse to run away and you know it!" Yu yelled a spike of anger pushing him forward.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" Dojima yelled punching Yu in the face.

"I KNOW PLENTY!" Yu answered Dojima's point and accuented his point with a punch to Dojima's face in return, fortunately, Medea used magecraft to throttle back his increased strength, as such Dojima merely stumbled back instead of flying through the wall. "NANAKO WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO HAVING HER DAD AROUND TO IMPRESS HIM IN CLASS, AND YOU DISAPPOINTED HER, YOU'VE BROKEN HER HEART!"

"AND JUST WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT HER HEART?!" Dojima demanded as he punched Yu again in the face.

"MORE THAN YOU, SHE THINKS YOU CARE MORE ABOUT CRIMINALS THAN HER!" Yu returned a punch to Dojima on the word her to emphasise it. "YOU NEED TO FACE HER AND START BEING A FATHER."

"HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO FACE HER WHEN I CAN'T EVEN CATCH THE BASTARD WHO RAN OVER HER MOTHER!" Dojima thundered.

There was a great crash and both males were quickly on their backsides holding their foreheads. They both decided to head-butt each other at the exact same time.

It was then before Yu could retort that he saw Dojima looking to the side. He turned and noticed Nanako. She had come downstairs clearly hearing the noise.

"Nanako…" Dojima said, surprised.

"Well shit." Cu Chulainn deadpanned.

"Someone ran over mommy?" Nanako asked, honestly Yu would have been surprised if hadn't heard. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you didn't need to know!" Dojima snapped his feelings still running high.

"Daddy, why are you mad at me? Why me? And how come you never listen to anything I say?! NEVER!" Nanako began to sob, tears streaming down her face, her emotions could no longer be held in. "You're a stupid daddy! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

"Don't you talk to your father like that!" Dojima said, standing up, angry at her disrespect.

"Why shouldn't I?! It's not like you care about what happens to me anyway! I don't know what I did, but it's clear you hate me!" Nanako was far from done with letting her thoughts and feelings out. "You aren't real! It doesn't matter, because you aren't my real Dad!"

Dojima was deeply cut by what Nanako had said, he was so stunned that he was unable to stop Nanako as she ran out the door

"Nanako!" Yu yelled

"Why would you say that?!" Dojima yelled after her hurt and confused.

Yu moved to pursue her but by the time they were outside she had already vanished from sight.

"We'll take the shopping District and see if she went there," Yu said.

"Okay, and I'll see if she went to Junes. Let's hurry." Dojima urged him putting aside the feelings that had just been let out.

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Yu had checked everywhere Moel, Souzai Daigaku, The Shrine and even nearby houses, still, he could find no sign of her.

"Yu!" Dojima called running up to him. "Did you find her?"

"No. Nothing." Yu shook his head.

"Did she mention wanting to go anywhere lately? Anything you can think of?"

"….wait she asked whether she would go to Heaven when she died," Yu remembered.

Something clicked in Dojima's mind. "No…she wouldn't…"

Then a siren rang out. It was an ambulance, It turned left down the street towards….

"It's headed for Samegawa," Yu realised.

Horror crossed Dojima's face as he broke into a sprint, running as fast as he could towards Samegawa. Fear of what might have happened to Nanako spurred him to go faster.

'Nanako!' He thought with panic.

He flashed back to that day in Samegawa.

Chisato and Nanako were enjoying themselves by wading deep in the river, while he sat on the picnic blanket and watched them with a smile.

'Chisato, please! Protect her!' He prayed to the spirit of his wife.

'Protect Nanako! '

His pace got faster as images of Chisato's grave flashed in his mind.

'I'M BEGGING YOU!'

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

Yu eventually arrived at the Flood Plain.

"You found her, thank god." Yu let out a sigh of relief.

"I think you should go to her," Dojima said as Yu arrived.

"Listen, you're the family member she trusts the most right now. Chances are, she's more likely to listen to you than to me."

"No, you're wrong. She needs her father right now" Yu stated intently. "If you run away now you'll be pushing your daughter away for good this time. This your last chance to try and make things right again."

Dojima let out a sigh, before steeling his resolve and approaching his daughter.

"Daddy…" she said, she looked up when she heard someone approaching her.

"So this is where you've been," he said with a relieves tone.

"When Mom was still with us. You and me and Mom would come to this place to pick flowers. It was just the three of us." Nanako reminisced in a small voice, looking away from her father.

"It was…" Dojima said at the memory.

"Why, Mom?!" Nanako said, starting to cry again her tears falling into the river. "Tell me! Why did you have to leave me?! Daddy! I just want to see her so bad!"

Nanako's pain and tears finally penetrated the shell Dojima had created around his heart to protect himself all these years.

"Nanako…"

"I think sometimes you've forgotten about Mom!" Nanako sobbed. "You hid all her pictures and you never, ever talk about her!" Nanako turned to face her father, tears streaming down her face. "Do you hate her now?! "

Dojima walked over to Nanako and knelt down to look at her. "You've got it all wrong."

"What have I done? Do you hate me too, now?!"

"Silly Goose…You know I could never hate you." He said stroking her head. "And I'm sorry I made you feel that way."

"Nanako, please forgive me," he pleaded, tears falling down from his face as he hugged his daughter.

[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]

[October 14th, Dojima residence, Inaba]

The next day Nanako and Yu were cooking together, moulding some Mochi.

"You know what, Big Bro?" Nanako spoke up. "You know how since Mom died, I've been kind of lonely? It got me thinking, maybe Dad's been lonely too."

"She's certainly matured to reach a conclusion like that hasn't she?" Gawain said.

"So I said I won't cry about it anymore. It's my job to cover for Mom now! So I'm gonna work hard so Daddy won't get lonely!" Nanako declared happily.

"That's nice of you, Nanako," Yu said sincerely.

"And you and I can work hard together."

"Great. Sounds like a plan."

"Oh yeah…" Nanako looked as if she had just remembered something and pulled out a picture. "I'm giving this to you." Yu saw that it was the family picture of Nanako, Dojima and Chisato having a picnic at the river.

"Dad made extra copies," Nanako told him. "Your family too so you should have a family picture. Let's a get a picture of you, me and dad all together one day. I love you, big bro."

"I'm home," Dojima called as he came in.

As he entered Yu feigned a wince at the bruises on his cheek and forehead from yesterday. Yu himself wasn't really hurt due to his powers but it would be suspicious if he didn't at least feign some pain after his fight with Dojima.

"Daddy's back." Nanako gasped.

After he came in he had placed down a strawberry cake on the table. Everyone gathered around the table and waited until he made some coffee for himself and sat down.

"You know, I've been thinking. This is a special day for all of us." He said.

"Really?" Nanako asked.

"It is." Dojima nodded "It's the day when the three of us become one big family."

"What about before?" Nanako asked confused.

"Yeah, you've got a point," Dojima said sheepishly before losing his eyes taking a solemn tone. "Well then, today's the day we make it official."

"Okay…" Nanako said turning to Yu. "I'm really not sure what he's trying to say, but look we have cake, Big Bro."

"Yep." Then he noticed the cup in front of him "Uncle, this cup…"

"As of now, it's your cup. Please use it. It would make her happy."

Yu was surprised his Uncle would entrust him with the cup his wife Chisato had once used.

"I'll take good care of it," Yu promised.

"Oh, before I forget…" Dojima reached into his briefcase and pulled out a paper which he then gave to Nanako.

It was then, that Yu felt it, two more souls connected to him from beyond, tarot with the numbers V and VIII, Hierophant and Justice representing Dojima and Nanako respectively.

Upon unfolding it she saw that it was the form she had needed her Dad to sign.

"Any day is…something."

"It means; I'll be there any time they want. I promise."

"Well…dig in."

Everyone clapped and said, "Time to eat!"

"Families…go through a lot together… They laugh. They cry. They bicker. They're meant to share their whole long lives with each other. And well, it's a good thing." Dojima said.

"Uh-hm!" Nanako agreed happily.

"But unfortunately, I was trying to avoid that by chasing someone who had run away. And… you're the one who made me realize it. So, thanks for that," Dojima said to Yu gratefully.

"I did it because we're a family," Yu stated with a smile.

"I'm not gonna give up. I'll find the guy who hit your Mom. I promise," Dojima vowed to Nanako. "But I won't make that an excuse to stay away anymore. It'll just be a part of my job. You see, this isn't just any town. This is my town. It's the place where you and Nanako live. It's special to me and I will keep on protecting this place. As a Detective…and as a father."

"Daddy, you're cool!" Nanako said happily.