Chapter 3: Tragedy at Inaba

Yu Narukami

Sunny - Morning - 04/11/2012 - Train Station, Inaba

"The number you have dialed is not available. Please leave a message."

"Hey Marie. It's me, Yu. I said I promise to call you when I reach Inaba. Just want to tell you that I arrive today. If you're busy, well… I just want to inform you that I'm okay, call me back when you receive this message." Yu closed his phone. 'Where could she be?'Yu think to himself.

He looked at his surrounding to search for his uncle, Ryotaro Dojima, he is Inaba's police detective, who helped in arresting Tohru Adachi(Reverse persona: Magatsu Izanagi), the culprit that caused the series of murder in Inaba last year. He had already called his uncle about his arrival, but he was nowhere to be seen. He began to search his uncle number in his phone until he heard a shout not far from him.

"YU! OVER HEREEE!" He turned to the direction where the voice was. To his surprise, it was his best friend/partner, Yosuke Hanamura(Persona: Susanoo). He can also see his other friends such as Chie Satonaka(Persona: Suzuka Gongen), Yukiko Amagi(Persona: Amaterasu), Kanji Tatsumi(Persona: Rokuten Maoh) and Teddie(Persona: Kamui) there beside Yosuke to welcome him.

"Man, you don't know how happy we are when your uncle told us about your arrival today, senpai! Too bad Rise and Naoto is not here today." Kanji said.

Yosuke continued, "Well, they didn't know you were going to come today. Why didn't you tell us about your arrival? We could have prepared a surprise for you an-"

Chie interrupted, "And then we fail again, like what happened in summer." Yosuke felt slightly embarrassed when he remembered the failure to surprise Yu last summer.

"H-Hey! That was Teddie's fault!"

Teddie replied, "Why me? I'm bear-y sad to hear you said that!"

But in the end, everyone had a good laugh, to have Yu return today made them really happy inside. After the laugh, Yu asked, "By the way, where's my uncle?" He searched his surrounding again before looking at his friend.

"He supposed to be here and welcome you today, but there was something urgent at the police station that he had to attend. So he called us instead, and that's how we know about you today." Chie said, "But then, we have to walk to your house instead of using a car. He told you to meet Nanako first."

"Thank you so much, guys. I appreciate it." Yu said to them, and they began heading towards Dojima Residence.

Sunny – Morning – Dojima Residence

They all went inside to take a drink after a long walk from the station. As Yu went inside, he saw Nanako standing at the front door to greet him. "Big Bro!" Nanako cried in happiness, "Dad told me that you were coming today, so I make something special for you to eat!" Yu smiled to see his cousin greet him.

"Food? Damn I'm hungry. Come on, let's go and eat!" Kanji shouted.

"That's not for you, it's Nanako homemade food for her big bro." Yukiko said, stopping Kanji from going inside. "Not every day you get to see Yu-kun, let him enjoy while he's still here."

"Sorry." Kanji apologized.

"We can go to Junes after this, for now, let's just stay here." commented Yosuke, Nanako jumped with excitement.

"Oh, I wanna go to Junes too! Can I, please?"

"Sure, you can come with us later, Nana-chan." Teddie responded. They then tagged along with Nanako to sit at the front hall.

While they took a drink and watching TV, breaking news suddenly appeared with Marie's picture on it. "The weather reporter, Mariko Kusumi, was found missing from her apartment. She was believed to be missing since yesterday night, her manager had lost contact with her for the last 3 days," Everyone was shocked to hear that. "She was last seen 3 days ago when she return to her apartment, the police are still searching for any traces of her."

Yu looked at her picture carefully, 'No wonder she didn't answered my phone today.' He thought to himself, he then looked at his friend and Nanako.

"Is Mariko-chan going to be okay?" Nanako asked with concern, "She read the report wrong many times already." Everyone kept silent for a while, struggling to find the correct answer to ease her mind.

"She probably had important things to do," Yu broke the silence, "Maybe she didn't want anyone to know what she's doing. Like, going to somewhere far before she comes back, right guys?" Yu glare at Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji and Teddie, wanting their support.

"Y-yeah, you're right. She's probably so busy that she forgot to go home, hahaha…" Yosuke laughed to back up Yu's opinion, apparently no one was laughing.

"R-relax, she's going to be fine. Maybe she really is busy, who knows?" Chie continued, Nanako became more and more confused by their suggestion, but she decided to ignore it to focus more on her time with Yu.

"Well then, let's go to Junes now. I haven't had anything to eat yet for today." Yu stand up, everyone else follow afterward. "After that, I'm going to send you home first. I need to go see your dad at the police station to see how he's been doing. You'll be a good girl and stay at home while I'm gone, okay Nanako?" Yu pat her head.

She nodded, "Okay!" They began to walk to the front door.

Rainy - Afternoon – Police Station

After he sent Nanako home, Yu and his friends went straight to where his uncle worked. However, the police station was crowded with people walking in and out, forcing them to stand waiting for Yu's uncle to come out.

"Mr. Dojima must be busy right now, so I guess we are gonna have to wait a little longer to see him." Yukiko sighed, "By the way, that news this morning, don't you think it's weird? Marie suddenly disappeared after the weird change in weather, there has to be a connection between all this." They all look outside. The day that was supposed to be sunny this morning has started raining heavily.

"Hey guys, before my uncle come here, there's something I want to tell you, about why I come today." Yu turned towards his friend, all eyes were on Yu for the answer, "About 6 days ago, Marie called me in the middle of the night and tell me that she lost her power to control weather. She also told me to come to Inaba to check on you guys, which is why I'm here." They gained a surprised look on their face.

"Now that's suspicious." Yosuke said as he began to think, "There must be something that's been bothering her that she had to tell you to come to Inaba."

Chie started to voice her thought, "You mean, she already knew that she's going to disappear, so she called Yu to come here to investigate her disappearance with us."

Teddie gave his final word, "Maybe she's been kidnapped!"

Everyone at the police station was staring at him, Chie quickly covered his mouth with her hand to silent him and everyone resumed their work. "I'm bear-y sorry, did I say something wrong?" Teddie said.

Yu patted his shoulder, "No, I think you might be right. But we can't let anyone else know about this, not even my uncle."

"What about me?" A voice was heard behind them. They turned to see Dojima holding his jacket and some document.

"Umm… it's nothing, just having some small talk with my friends here." Yu responded, quickly changing the topic, "Anyway, you said you have something urgent to do this morning. I come to see you, what happen?"

Dojima sighed in depression, he replied grimly. "I don't know how to explain it myself," he lowers his head, "But it's about Adachi."

They all were shocked at the mention of the name. "What's wrong with him? What the hell did he do this time?!" Kanji growled while facing Dojima.

"No, he didn't do anything wrong. It's just that…" Dojima explained, "Since this morning, the prison warden told me that Adachi has been screaming and laughing for no reason. He's been disturbing other prisoner and police officer. The police thought he might be sick, so they sent a doctor to his cell to check his condition. But the moment the doctor trying to grab him, he jump and choked the doctor, screaming 'YOU ALL GOING TO DIE! EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE! THE GOD IS COMING TO JUDGES US ALL! HORRAY, HAHAHAHA!' The police managed to free the doctor from him, and he just continues to laugh like crazy."

"The chief call me to solve this problem, so I went to see him but he was so angry to see me that he went to hit me. Luckily there were many officers to stop him before he could do anything. Then he just glare at me and shouted, 'CURSE YOU AND YOUR NEPHEW, AND ALL HIS FRIEND! IF IT WEREN'T FOR THEM, I PROBABLY SAVED BY GOD RIGHT NOW!' It took me an hour to talk to him, only for me to waste my time. I just finish talk to him when I see you here."

They all listened to his word thoughtfully and felt frightened to hear the word god was mentioned. Dojima saw their face and felt guilty as it may scare them to hear the story. "Don't take it too serious, he just angry because you helped in arresting him last year." Dojima tried to convince them, and Yu begin to talk.

"But why now? Why he's suddenly become so aggressive? Did anything happen before he became like that?"

Dojima started to recall back what happen on previous day, and he stopped, "Actually, there-"

3...2…1…

All of the sudden, a huge explosion occurred behind the station. All part of the police station had collapsed to the ground. The impact was so strong that Yu and his friend fell along with the ceiling. All the people started to scream and running outside, ignoring everything inside the police station. Some were injured, some were crying, and some didn't make it out alive.

With his head still dizzy and his legs hurting, Yu began to look for his friend and uncle. All of his friends were conscious but injured, but when he looked for his uncle, a large brick was layered on top of him and he was unconscious. Yu rushed to his side and tried to lift the brick from him.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPEN?!" Kanji screamed in agony, and adjusted his glasses. "WHERE THE HELL DID THAT BOMB CAME FROM?!" All of their pain was ignored when Yu called out for them.

"We can worry about that later, help me remove this brick!" Slowly, the brick was removed and Yu raise Dojima's head to his knee. "Uncle, wake up! Stay with me!" There was no respond, and Yu was about to lose it when a crowded footsteps was heard from the inner side of the station. When he turned to the sound, a number of prisoners ran pass them to the street, Adachi was one of them.

"Is that Adachi?" Yosuke said, "He's trying to get away!" But it was too late, Adachi managed to sneak pass the crowded prisoner and disappeared from their sight.

"We have to catch him, before he's escape further!" Chie looked at Yu.

"But what about my uncle? We can't just leave him here like this." Yu disagreed, "We wait for the ambulance, and then we find him."

Kanji walked to him and grab Yu's shirt collar, "If we don't catch him now, the same thing is going to happen like last year!" Kanji released his grip from his collar, "I'll go get some help, you guys go and find Adachi. Leave your uncle to me, senpai. NOW GO!" Kanji single handedly lifted Dojima and slung him over his shoulder and proceeded to walk to the street with heavy rain pouring down his entire body. Yu thanked him before running with Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko and Teddie to search for Adachi.

Afternoon – Inaba Street

"Where did he go?" Yosuke looked around the street, "I don't think we're going to find him like this." Adachi was out of sight, and they were soaking wet running through the rain.

"Yu, is that you?" Yu turned to the voice, he saw two people holding an umbrella each, looking towards him. It was Kou Ichijo and Daisuke Nagase, his friends in the sport club when he attended Yasogami High last year. "What are you do-"

"Sorry guys, I'm in a hurry, do you see anyone wearing prisoner outfit passing here?" Yu went straight to the point by asking them. They look surprised and scared for some reason.

"They were real prisoner? I thought it was some kind of festival going on, since I heard a firework, or is it? But it was real?" They turned and pointed to the direction of Junes, "There were many prisoners passed through here, but I think I saw one of the prisoners going inside Junes. Better be careful, Yosuke, who knows what he will do once he's inside."

Yu and his friend looked at each other, and they all already knew the answer. "Do you think he would go 'there'?" Yukiko ask.

"Of course, it HAS to be there! Where else he'll be hiding?" Yosuke shouted at his own stupidity, "Yu, I think he may already go inside. What should we do now?"

They all began to sprint towards Junes. "Everyone, listen!" Yu gave his order, "Get all your weapons ready. Yosuke, empty the Junes and do not let everyone enter. Yukiko and Chie, go find Kanji and bring him here. Teddie, you will stick with me. I'm going to call Rise and Naoto. We have to go inside the TV world, NOW!"

Aigis

Evening – 04/11/2012 – Kirijo main Facility, Tatsumi Port Island

She had been sitting there at the main office for about an hour, but she seems to be focusing on something else. Instead, Aigis kept wondering when will Minato be back to see her and all member of SEES. She woke herself from her thinking when Labrys(Persona: Ariadne) patted her shoulder, "Sister, what's wrong?"

Aigis faced her sister. "Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking to myself. " Aigis responded, "Where's Mitsuru?"

"She said she'll be here soon. Fuuka, Junpei and Yukari will come too." Labrys turned to the door when she heard the door opened, "Ah speak of the devil."

On the front door, Mitsuru Kirijo(Persona: Artemisia), Yukari Takeba(Persona: Isis), Junpei Iori(Persona: Trismegistus) and Fuuka Yamagishi(Persona: Juno) were standing there and they moved towards Aigis and Labrys. "It seems that you two arrive earlier than expected." Mitsuru said, "I believe you are ready to hear the news which I brought to you today, everyone please take a seat."

Mitsuru, Yukari, Junpei, Fuuka and Labrys sat on their respective seat, Aigis kept silent when everyone has started to discuss current situation. "Aigis, are you okay?" Aigis turned to Yukari who's looking at her curiously, "You've been spacing out during these past few days." Aigis just kept on saying she's okay every time someone asked for her condition.

She's unsure why, but she choose to keep a secret about what Elizabeth told her 6 days ago, maybe she don't want anyone to think she's crazy or dreaming because she missed Minato. But for some reason, she felt like she just had to show them Minato herself to prove it to the rest of the team.

"I'm okay, let's continue our discussion." Aigis said, Yukari nodded before she faced Mitsuru. Mitsuru revealed a small recorder from her jacket and putted it in the middle of the table. "Today's event is a surprise to all of us," Mitsuru began to explain, "This recorder has record my conversation this afternoon with Naoto Shirogane, an ace detective from Inaba where Labrys was stolen a few month ago."

All of them have a surprised look on their face when Inaba was mentioned, it become more worried some when Naoto Shirogane(Persona: Yamato-Takeru) was the one who called Mitsuru. Mitsuru played the recorder, and a static voice was heard:

"Mitsuru Kirijo's speaking."

"Mitsuru-san, this is Naoto Shirogane from Inaba."

"Naoto? Why's the sudden call?"

"I want to tell you that there's an explosion occur at the police station in Inaba this afternoon!" Everyone in the room panicked, and they leaned closer to hear clearly what she was saying.

"An explosion, this morning?! How did you know? Is anybody alright?"

"There were around 10 casualties, and most of the people there were badly injured. But the thing that made me shocked was that Yu-senpai was the one who call and told me about the explosion. He was inside the police station with some of our friends when that explosion occurred."

"Wait, Yu Narukami was there? Why is he there today? I thought he live in the city? Were they all right?"

"I don't know why was Yu-senpai there, but he was. They only have some small bruises around their body, but apparently, Yu's uncle was critically injured and is treated to the nearest hospital."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I will send detective Kurosawa there to investigate the case."

"Apparently I have to go there now and meet Yu-senpai and regroup right away. From what I heard, Tohru Adachi, the culprit of the murder case that happened last year had escaped into the TV world during the explosion. I need to go there and help them catch Adachi."

"Wait, do not try to do anything reckless! They can't fight shadows if they were injured!"

"I'm really sorry Mitsuru, I can't leave them be. I need your help to find the culprit behind the explosion, while me and my friend will go and catch Adachi. Plus, we are stronger than we look. Please help us."

The recorder stopped playing when Naoto ended the phone call. When Mitsuru looked at the rest member of Shadow Operative, she noticed the look of despair on their face. Aigis lowered her head and tried to think properly. 'What's with everything that is happening lately?' She raised her head to her friend and observed them closely.

"What's going on over there at Inaba?!" Junpei suddenly rose from his chair, "Last time I heard, a red mist was spread all over Inaba, and Tartarus appeared there with this tournament and everything, but now we have an explosion occurred?!"

Yukari was the second to stand up, "Whatever it is, we need to go there and help them!" Yukari faced Mitsuru, "They might be in trouble if we don't do something quickly!"

Mitsuru took the recorder and putted it back inside her jacket and turned her gaze towards Yukari. "Don't worry, I had arranged everything for this case. You have a shooting tomorrow, right Yukari? And you, Junpei, you may go to your match today at the stadium." She then looked towards Labrys and Aigis, "Labrys, Aigis, I will sent you two with detective Kurosawa to Inaba right now. I have prepared a flight for you to go there. Now dismiss."

Mitsuru walked to the exit and closed the door behind her. Everyone left their chair and took all of their stuff.

"Damn it, Mitsuru." Junpei mumbled, "How am I going to focus on my game after I heard about what happen?" Junpei walked towards the door, Yukari followed suit.

"I don't think I'm in the mood for any shooting right now." Yukari complained before she went outside the room with Junpei. Fuuka turned to Labrys and Aigis.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Fuuka said as she packing all her stuff, "That guy named Yu Narukami is strong, stronger than what we think." Fuuka left the room, leaving only Labrys and Aigis left to look at each other.

"Let's go." Labrys said. They both stood up and left.

Maya Amano

Evening – 04/11/2012 – Police Station, Sumaru City

Maya had been waiting for her husband to arrive at his office since half an hour ago. She's desperately waiting to tell him about the information she found regarding one of the person in the list. Calming herself, she turned on the TV for the news for today while waiting for her husband.

"Earlier today's afternoon, a C4 bomb with an impact of 10 meter radius has exploded at the police station at Inaba. Due to the rain, the fire were managed to be put out on time. However, 30 people were badly injured and 10 people are believed to be dead after the explosion. The police are still searching for 8 prisoners that escaped from the prison where the explosion occurred. The cause of the bomb is still being investigated by police."

"My goodness…" Maya gasped, "Those poor people, their family must be grieving right now…" When she realized it, a tear had already fallen on her cheeks."My my, I'm so sensitive these days." If that incident was enough to make her cry, she couldn't imagine what could possibly happen on the day when the prophecy is going to become real. She quickly wiped her tears with her hand when Tatsuya walked in with some paper.

"Maya?" He whispered.

She turn to Tatsuya with a half-smile, "Took you long enough." Tatsuya return the smile before he remembered what he was to say.

"Oh yeah! I got some information about these names…" Tatsuya and Maya said in unison. Awkward silence filled the room, Tatsuya putted the paper on his table and faced Maya, "You first, dear."

"Do you remember Yukki, my assistant photographer?" Maya said, "When I ask her about Naoya Toudou, she said he was actually a persona user that went to the same school with her at St. Hermelin High School in Mikage-Cho 16 years ago, and he leaded the group of persona user to defeat Nyarlathotep. But he's been missing for like 10 years, and apparently no one know where he is."

"Missing for 10 years?! Oh well, at least he's 'missing'. From what I found about the other two, one of them had been dead for two years." Tatsuya stated.

"Huh? Dead? So Igor is asking us to find a corpse? So how do we find them if one of them already died?" Maya replied, Tatsuya sat on his chair and sighed heavily, he was out of idea.

"Maybe we can ask Baofu and Ulala to find this Naoya Toudou." Maya suggested, "Besides, Eriko was a persona user from St. Hermelin as well, maybe she should know something too. As for the dead one, we can worry about that later. Let's focus on the other two first. "

Being the only choice left for him, Tatsuya agreed to Maya's suggestion. "Okay Maya, I leave Naoya Toudou to you. Don't worry about our son, I've call Lisa to help take care of him." Tatsuya made his move towards the door, "Leave the other two to me."

As he left the room, Maya took a deep breath before bringing out her phone and dialed the number of Ulala Serizawa(Persona: Astria), her close friend. "Hello Ulala. It's me, Maya. I need your help to find someone for me."

A/N: When Yosuke mention something about the 'surprise' for Yu, he was actually refer to Persona 4 Golden new epilogue, which happen in summer 2012 when Yu visit them at Inaba. Please note that the Investigation Team has change their appearance( go check 'Persona 4 Golden new epilogue' on Google image). Remember when I said Persona 4 Arena 2 won't took place in this story in the first chapter? I don't mean it literally, Yukari and Junpei still meet the Investigation Team at Inaba(where the red mist and Tartarus appear in Inaba in the game teaser). I said it won't took place because the lack of information about Persona 4 Arena 2 storyline. So I try my best not to mention too much about that sequel.