[4/18: Monday]

Nanako whimpered in bed the next morning. She felt like she'd been thrown into the washing machine and had tumbled around in it all night. She was aching all over, sure that even her bruises had bruises. But even though it was very difficult—nay, painful!—to get out of bed, she was satisfied. They'd done it. They'd foiled the killer by rescuing his—or her, Nanako was equal-opportunity here—intended victim.

Of course, nothing was stopping the killer from trying again. She wondered how soon the killer would realize he or she had been thwarted. Was the killer familiar with the inner workings of the TV World? Did they know how the Shadows were affected by weather? According to Teddie, it was all about the fog. If someone was in the TV World when it was severely foggy in the real world, the person would die because the Shadows would become violent. Nanako didn't get it—weren't the Shadows already violent?

The killer had acted so quickly. Mayumi Yamano died Tuesday, Naoki Konishi on Friday, and Yukiko had been in the TV World by midnight on Saturday night... Nanako had only just rolled into town a week ago.

It meant that she had to act quickly, too. She glanced at her rows of Loveline manga on the shelf and decided it was time to start investigating.

Except that she had to go to school. On the bright side, it was another sunny day. She didn't know if she could manage to lift an umbrella over her head the entire way to school. Her arms felt like jelly, like she'd been pumping iron and she was even now still carrying the weights. She supposed she sort of had, what with waving that naginata around so much yesterday. Working out was something she'd never really considered, but it was probably a good thing, what with all the takeout she was eating. It was too bad she didn't know how to cook anything but ramen.

She'd have to do that, too: start a training regimen. Hmm, she should start a one for her friends, too, whip them all into shape. Chie was doing great, but she was focusing too much on her lower body. Yukiko looked fragile, like a porcelain doll, but she probably had strength of some sort. They'd have to decide on a weapon that would fit her. Yosuke was rather thin and reedy and probably had a high metabolism. If he worked with knives like he planned, he'd probably focus more on agility than strength, and that would probably suit him.

Ugh, her muscles were too sore to think about training. She needed to buy some muscle rub, that's for sure. She'd planned for many things, but not that.

She was in the middle of changing oh-so-slowly when her phone began to ring, and it wasn't a number in her contact list. Thinking it might be Yukiko—perhaps Chie had given her number to her—Nanako answered with her bra only half-way on. "Heya~" Are you aware that you kind of caught me in a compromising position?

"Hello..." said a mature female voice. "I realize this is sudden, but it's Margaret. We met at the Velvet Room."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure I don't know another Margaret," Nanako said. It was a very Western name, after all. "What's up? And how did you get my number?"

"We residents of the Velvet Room have some insight into the hearts of our guests."

"My phone number is written on my heart? Well, okay." Are you sure it's my heart and not my mind?

"I am calling to remind you that there is more to combat than the physical—"

"Wow, you really did read my mind!" Nanako exclaimed, since physical training was exactly what she'd been thinking of before the call.

Margaret did not answer.

"Uh, I mean, do go on, please. I am listening."

The articulate woman told her that Social Links were just as important to develop as her strength and her Personas.

While Margaret went on, Nanako was reminded of how time seemed to stop for a moment when she acquired a new Social Link. Not long, about ten to fifteen seconds. The next time it happened, she'd have to see if she could move during it. The ability to stop time could be very useful indeed...

But man, she really didn't need to be told to make friends. She was pretty outgoing, anyway. Then she wondered how many different arcana there were and how many links she had to make. This could get complicated. And how would she know when someone was going to be important to her? It would suck if she buttered up some random guy and he turned out to be normal and she'd wasted her time.

Eh, she would just trust her instincts. Maybe her Personas would give her some hints, too. Igor had said something about the 'bonds' of her 'Social Links' giving them strength somehow.

She thanked Margaret for the tip, and after ending the call she tried to put the number into her contact list, but to her surprise, it didn't show up in her call log, as if the woman had never called her at all.

On the way to school, Nanako spied Yukiko being hassled by a group of other students. Chie was at her side, hands on her hips, defending her. What was the big deal? Nanako moved closer and discovered that everyone was curious as to where Yukiko had been over the weekend. Nanako hadn't been aware of it, but Yukiko's parents had apparently reported her disappearance to the police, and now people thought she'd run away from home or something. What a pain.

But better having to deal with dumb rumors than being dead, Nanako decided. Besides, Yukiko had Chie to help her get rid of the more persistent badgers. It seemed like the excuse she was giving them was that she'd been sick. From her time in the TV World, she even looked the part, what with the circles under her eyes. She claimed her parents had missed her because she was asleep and therefore couldn't answer the phone or the door to her room. The story held up until people looked more deeply into it, which fortunately no one seemed to be doing.

Nanako had wanted to have a nice long talk with Yukiko, but by the end of the school day, the girl was looking too harried. It could wait, Nanako decided. Besides, she had other things to do.

Like investigating! She'd been thinking about it all day during class, and the Amagi Inn was probably the best place to start. She was sure she could ask around there for information without getting in Yukiko's way. The sooner she asked, the more likely people would be to remember the circumstances of her disappearance.

And mayyybe she had an ulterior motive. Maybe she could at least see check out the hot springs. Oh, did that sound heavenly... Her muscles were screaming for it!

The Amagi Inn was on the northern outskirts of town, a bus ride away. She supposed it made sense that it was far away. It was a tourist attraction, after all, and its isolation was probably part of its charm. Visitors would feel like they're really getting away from it all.

It was definitely old, she thought when she looked at it. Very... traditional. It probably had the shoji and the fusuma and the tatami mats and floor futons in every room. There probably wasn't a chair to be found—zabuton only. If you're lucky, there'd be zaisu instead...

Nanako was too young to have much respect for tradition, really.

Instead of entering the inn, she walked down the side path which weaved through a garden. There she met a groundskeeper and played her 'I'm from Tokyo, what is all this?' card to get him talking. He was friendly enough and she learned all about different breeds of Japanese pine. From there she segued into more important questions about how the inn worked, and even more importantly did you happen to see the young Amagi girl on Saturday at all...?

She discovered that most of the inn considered Yukiko their little princess. The inn, then, was her castle, and from there it was no wonder her mind had created that place in the TV World... but it didn't explain why it was so hellish. Actually, maybe it wasn't demonic and simply reflected Yukiko's love of the color red. There hadn't been any anarchy symbols or demon summoning circles in there, after all. Not one dribbly candle, although she remembered a few intricate chandeliers.

After she was sure she'd gleaned as much information as she could from this man, she entered the inn from a side door and randomly found the laundry room, where a nice old lady was folding sheets. Nanako offered to 'help out' and the woman accepted, and so the interrogation began once again.

Then she'd sneaked away and found the changing area for the hot springs, but since she was not a patron, she was caught by a not-so-friendly man and asked to leave the premises until she could afford to be there.

But her primary goal had been accomplished. She now had a much clearer picture of what had happened on Saturday. The inn had been crazy busy because of a sudden influx of tourists morbidly interested in the death of Mayumi Yamano and wanting to stay there for the weekend. Nanako recalled that Yukiko had skipped school that Saturday (She remembered because she'd been thinking, 'Damn I shoulda skipped too.') because her parents had seriously needed her help.

Because it was so busy, most employees hadn't kept tabs on the inn's most precious asset. But one particular fellow recalled that he'd last seen Yukiko answering the delivery door in the back of the inn. He'd heard a truck's engine, too, and then he'd been called away, but he hadn't seen her after that, and even more interesting was there had been no delivery that day. In fact, they hadn't even been expecting one...

Still, if the killer had kidnapped Yukiko by pretending to be a delivery man, well, how could he be certain Yukiko would be the one to answer the delivery door? It seemed a precarious plan. And with the inn so busy, wouldn't it have been dangerous? He could easily have been caught in the act.

At the same time, the inn being busy could work to the killer's advantage as people wouldn't notice one more person around. A wolf in sheep's clothing, so to speak. Yukiko had been seen speaking with several different people throughout the day, and none could identify anyone unusual in particular. Nanako hypothesized that the killer had the truck parked in the back and sneaked into the inn to find his prize. Conveniently, his intended victim had answered the door and made his job super easy.

So the only info she'd learned was that the killer probably had a truck. Way to go, Nanako...

Well, it was a start, anyway. And besides, how many people had trucks in this small town? Couldn't be too many. If only someone had seen it.

Her phone rang, yet another number she didn't have in her contact list. "Yo," she answered.

"'Yo,' yourself. It's Yosuke. I asked Chie for your number."

"What, too chicken to ask yourself?" she teased.

"You already left the classroom before I could," the boy explained. "I wanted to talk to you after class, but you can move when you're determined, huh?"

"Heh heh..."

"So, Nanako-san, can we talk?"

"We're talking now, right?" she pointed out. "What's on your mind?"

"I meant in person. Are you busy?"

Nanako looked out at the setting sun. The sky on the horizon was a beautiful creamy pink. A little deeper and it would be the same shade as her Loveline umbrella. "Uh, I kind of need to get home for dinner. Can it wait 'til tomorrow?" Besides, she wasn't even in town. She was still waiting at the bus stop near the inn.

"Do you think you could sneak out of the house after that? I dunno, I just..." He sighed.

This town felt like it probably had a curfew, but she had no qualms about breaking it. "No problem. Where do you wanna meet?"

He asked if she knew how to get to the shopping district on her own, and she agreed to meet him there later.

Dinner was ramen soup from a place called Aiya. Upon tasting it, Nanako sighed in delight because it was so good and then again in resignation because she'd never hope to match it. The beef flavor overwhelmed the senses because it was authentic and not made from bouillon or little flavor packages.

After eating and making sure her cousin was settled in front of the television and watching age-appropriate cartoons, she asked if it was okay if she left the house. "Don't worry, I'll lock the door."

"You're going out...?" he asked, blinking at her. Did Souji look troubled? It was hard to tell.

"Y-yeah..."

After a moment he said, "Okay," and turned back to the TV.

She sighed to herself upon locking the door behind her. Her little hermit of a cousin... She had no qualms about breaking curfew, but leaving him all alone left a poor taste in her mouth.

...This social link had better be worth it!

Inaba was creepy after nightfall. It really was. She wasn't alone on the streets, so it wasn't a ghost town, but it was just so quiet compared to Tokyo. Any noise seemed extra loud in the overwhelming silence. A conversation from a side alley came to her ears crystal clear, and a dog barking to itself in the distance instilled a sense of loneliness.

The streets were also rather dark and not very well lit. It was lucky the moon was almost full, otherwise she might be tempted to use her pocket flashlight.

Fortunately the lighting around the central shopping district was bright enough despite most of the stores being closed. Probably to deter vandals, she decided. Hmm, so this was the shopping district. Honestly, she hadn't a chance to explore it yet. Now would be a good a time as any.

Ah! There was that gas station she'd been to last week. It was closed. It was probably the only gas station in town. There was no sign of that creepy guy who'd wanted to shake her hand. You're supposed to exchange business cards when you do that, she thought. Not that she had any of her own, but still.

She walked briskly past that place, just in case. Next to it was a bookstore and then... Whoa, a very elaborate, impossibly transparent blue door. Why exactly was there a Velvet Room door right here...? Oh, so she could visit without entering the TV, probably. Could Yosuke wait a few more minutes?

Of course he could. She took out the key and strode through the door.

"Hey Igor!" she greeted.

He lifted his fingers in welcome, but Margaret was the one who asked her how they could help.

"Well, lady, I got all these Persona cards and someone told me he could make bigger and better ones...?"

"Ah, you wish to utilize fusion..."

"Yeah! What can you make with bondage angel and upskirt nymph...?"

Nanako spent a long time learning about Fusion Forecast, the Persona Compendium, and skill inheritance rules. She also made some sweet new Personas that she couldn't wait to show off to Chie. Unfortunately it burned through almost all of her allowance because Igor's services weren't free. It's probably how he could afford so much brandy...

When she returned to the shopping district, Yosuke was calling her name. She turned her head and saw him walking towards her. He was still wearing his Yasogami uniform. Well, so was she, to be fair. "What's that key?" he asked.

Hmm? Oh, she was still holding the Velvet Key. It was rather conspicuous and didn't fit that well in her jacket pocket. "It's for this big blue door."

He looked at her politely and waited for her to continue.

"The one that's right here in front of me?"

"That's... a wall," he said slowly.

Yeah, I really am special, she thought, and now even Yosuke knows it.

"A-anyway!" she rallied on. "What was so important that you made me come all the way out here after dark when by all rights I should be nice and safe at home?"

He looked stricken, and Nanako realized Yosuke was a bit sensitive to her chastisement. With Chie he'd have made a silly joke, but maybe he didn't know Nanako well enough. He still called her '-san' after all. "Umm, w-well, I wanted to talk about what happened yesterday..."

"Oh, about your evil dark side?"

"Yeah. What was that...?"

Nanako explained as well she could that apparently in the TV World, a person's suppressed emotions could manifest like that and turn into a monster. Denying its words would trigger the transformation. "It happened to Chie, too. I had to kick its ass, and all by myself, too!"

"What, Chie had one?" he exclaimed. "I thought it was just me!" His shoulders relaxed; he was quite relieved to hear that. She realized he'd probably been carrying that like a burden all day.

"Yeah!" said Nanako. "She didn't tell you? I guess we haven't been all that communicative, have we? I'll be honest, Yosuke-kun. I didn't want to tell you about our Personas, mainly because I was too damned tired after getting mine, but also because I didn't want you to feel left out. So much for that, huh?" She laughed lightly so that he'd know she wasn't upset about it.

"The rope really did break..." he said, his eyes downcast. Then he looked up at her. "Hey, if you had to save Chie, then who saved you when your Shadow came out?"

"Oh, I didn't have a Shadow. Because I'm special." She said it easily, but it troubled her a little. She supposed it was because she was the first to have the power. It had to start somewhere, right? Speaking of the power, she added, "By the way, you can probably enter the TV World on your own now, but I'm going to make it Rule #2 that we never go in there alone. It's too dangerous."

"Yeah, I can see that. Say, what was Chie's Shadow like?"

"A dominatrix," she replied without shame.

Yosuke laughed. "R-really...? Uh... I meant more like what it said."

It was worried I was trying to get into Yukiko's pants. Or kimono, I guess. "You know, I think maybe Chie should be the one to tell you."

"That's not fair, everyone saw mine..."

"Let's just say that Chie and Yukiko are best friends," Nanako said, "and maybe they had some doubts about that which needed to be resolved."

Yosuke seemed to mull that over. "Hey, Nanako-san... Can we go into the TV World tomorrow? I want to... practice, I guess. See what Jiraiya can do. It seems like he has wind skills."

"Good, because I just got rid of bondage angel."

"...what?"

"Never mind!"

Yosuke watched her for a bit, then continued. "Umm, there was something else my Shadow said..."

"About Saki-senpai?" she guessed.

"Y-yeah... I-I'm not using her brother's death to get close to her. I promise. That's just..."

"Feeling sorry for someone isn't really a good basis for a relationship," Nanako said, not intending to preach, but really, he needed to know this. "Besides, she might already have a boyfriend."

When he asked how she knew, she explained how they'd heard Naoki talking about it in the TV World.

Nanako could tell he was trying to hide his dejection, but since he was a sensitive guy, his emotions were pretty easy to read. "She really shouldn't have been leading you on," she added, not unkindly.

Yosuke looked away. "...I'm used to it." When she stared at him, he sighed. "Back in the city, I was used to people being nice to me just to use my store discount at Junes. And here I'm the store manager's son, so... This is just the next level, right?" He sounded like he accepted it, but his eyes were definitely wet.

"Damn! I went shopping and I didn't even think about using your discount!" she declared. He smiled a little at that and murmured that maybe she really was special. She smiled back and assured him that he'd prove himself tomorrow in the TV World. "Come on. Let's go home. We're both gonna need the rest."

[4/19: Tuesday]

Sports teams were recruiting at school, but Nanako didn't have time for that. She was running her own team now, anyway! Yeah, no one had appointed her the leader, but there was no doubt that she was the one in charge. In fact, she'd kind of ordered everyone to meet up at the Junes food court. Yukiko had tried to cut out because she was still tired, but Nanako just stared her down in the same way Adachi had stared down that cop interrogating Yosuke the other day, and she'd given in. You could learn from adults, you really could.

There was a long rectangular wooden table at the food court meant for large parties. It had bench seating—it was probably more at home at a public park. Regardless, Nanako had grabbed an external chair and seated herself at the head of the table. Yosuke was on the bench at her right, and Yukiko and Chie were next to each other to her left.

Nanako ahem'd. "I call to order the first official meeting of Nanako's DEATH Squad. First order of business: Yosuke, go buy me a drink with your discount."

"Wh-what?" Yosuke squawked. "What's with that name?"

"It's the name of our team," she told him. "Nanako's DEATH Squad. The 'DEATH' is in all caps. Very important."

"Why's your name have to be in it?" he further protested, crossing his arms. "Come on..."

"What, you wanna challenge me for leadership? That's how it works in Nanako's DEATH Squad. It's like a wolf pack. If you beat me, then you're the new alpha."

Yosuke tilted his head. "N-no, I think I'm okay. But that name is ridiculous. Come on, you girls have to agree!"

Chie was just sort of laughing, but Yukiko had a dreamy look. "DEATH Squad has a nice ring to it..." she commented.

"Yes! I knew you'd approve!" Nanako said, flashing Yosuke a victorious smirk. "Anyway, why isn't there a drink in front of me yet?"

"I thought you weren't going to abuse my discount..." he muttered.

"I never said that. And you owe me for getting you unarrested, anyway! Adachi-san suggested ice cream, but I'm feeling generous so just get me a Dr. Salt NEO."

A few minutes later Yosuke produced drinks for everyone. Chie complained about the lack of steak in the order, but otherwise everyone sans Yosuke was satisfied.

"Anyway," Nanako went on after taking a long sip of her soda. "We need to lay some ground rules. Rule #1, as everyone knows, is don't throw people into the TV, even as a joke. As an extension, don't show off your TV-entering power because... uh... we don't wanna give anyone a heart attack, or attract attention. None of us want to end up in a science lab somewhere, right?

"Rule #2 is no one goes in alone. As an extension of this rule, I'm gonna say no one goes in alone and without letting everyone else know. So let's all exchange phone numbers, okay? I've already got Chie and Yosuke, so, Yukiko, if you'll be so kind." She opened her phone and looked at the raven-haired girl.

"Oh, I didn't actually program your number in mine," Yosuke told Nanako. "So... what's your number?"

Nanako ordered him to hand over his phone. She programmed it in herself and gave it an awesome ring tone. Heh, she was kind of excited to call him, now, just to make him go 'what' when it rang.

When that was over, Nanako went on to the next order of business. "Yukiko, I know you don't remember much, but maybe I can jog your memory. It's Saturday afternoon. Maybe evening, maybe after dark. I don't know. But anyway, you're at the inn, and suddenly you get a call for a delivery. What. Happens. Next?"

"A delivery?" Yukiko repeated, her voice a murmur. "Well, either I or my parents have to sign it off in the Amagi name."

"So to an outsider, it's a one-third chance that you'd be the one to answer the delivery door, yes?"

"I suppose... but my mother is ill, so that would cut it to half. We weren't expecting a delivery that Saturday. I remember being confused about it when I was told to answer the door."

"Ah! Who told you to answer the door?" Nanako requested. It could be... an accomplice!

"My father, actually. He was busy with our hot springs technician because we had a faulty reading on one of the temperature regulators."

"I doubt it was an inside job," Nanako murmured. "Well, so you answered the door and then you were nabbed? Did you see anything?"

"Oh, yes, I do remember something!" Yukiko's eyes brightened suddenly.

"Yes, yes?" Nanako pressed on eagerly.

"The person shined a light into my face, and since it was dark out, I couldn't see. Then I smelled something sweet, and after that I woke up in the castle."

"Chloroform, probably," Nanako said with a sigh. "Interesting about the light, though. Clever, actually. That would blind you long enough to give the kidnapper time to chloroform you, no problem."

"There's not much you can do to defend against that, either," Yosuke contributed. "Unless you go around with one eye closed all the time. Here's something I don't think we've addressed yet. I think all of the victims, including Yukiko-san, were seen on TV before they were taken in."

"Yes, we know about the Midnight Channel," Chie said, rolling her eyes.

"I mean actual TV. Ms. Yamano was a newscaster, and Naoki was interviewed on the news because he'd discovered her body. And then Yukiko-san was interviewed in a segment shown on Friday."

"Oh, yes..." said Yukiko. "I remember that now. A lot of people have been wanting to film at the inn. It's becoming a problem."

"I wish people would mind their own business!" Chie snapped.

Nanako drummed her fingers on the hard wood of the table. Was the culprit one of the people filming that news segment? They specifically sought out people who'd then be targeted? No, that was looking at it backwards. The killer saw them on the segment and then wanted to kill them? That didn't make any sense either. And what did the Midnight Channel have to do with all this...? The killer saw them on the Midnight Channel and that was his sign to KILL. Ugh, could her hypotheses get any sillier?

She shook her head. "Well, that's interesting, but lots of people get interviewed on the news, so I'm not sure we can identify the next target by watching. It's worth a shot, though, so that'll be your job, okay, Yosuke?"

"Sure, I can do that." He winked at her, which was weird, but he seemed to do that a lot.

"Chie," she continued. "I want you to keep an eye on Yukiko. Maybe the killer will know he—or she—has been stopped and will target her again. I don't want to take that chance."

"Y-yeah," Chie agreed. "I'm fine with that." She exchanged a glance with Yukiko and Nanako suspected they might be holding hands under the table.

Nanako stood up. "Well, that's enough sitting around. Even though I'm still sore as hell from Sunday, I promised Yosuke-kun we'd start training today. Are you all ready?"

As the group agreed, Nanako heard that familiar sound of something shattering, and prepared to move during the time stop.

I am thou...

She moved. Yes, she could move!

Thou art I...

She grabbed Yosuke's half-empty cup of soda and shoved her own straw into it.

Thou hast established a new bond...

She drank down the rest of his soda, which was Orange Smash, and pulled her straw out...

Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Fool Arcana...

And placed the cup back down just in time. She sat back quickly and then time began to flow again.

"All right," she said. "We're going in. I'm excited, actually. We can learn to work as a team! Nanako's DEATH Squad. Hmm, I'll have to come up with a motto."

"Three cheers for Nanako-san?" Yosuke suggested. He seemed to have come to terms with the team name now. Or maybe he was poking fun at her. It was hard to tell.

"Nah, that'll be our victory cry," Nanako told him. "Or at least when I make the finishing blow." Which will be often, she told herself. I'm special, after all. She knew now that by 'special' Igor meant her 'wild card' ability to utilize more than one Persona, unlike her friends... but though she knew the proper terminology, she just wanted to continue calling herself special. Who wouldn't?

Everyone stood up to leave the food court, but before leaving, Nanako noticed Yosuke frown at his empty cup of soda. She had to look away to hide her evil smile. It was for his own good, really. Now he was less likely to need to use the bathroom.

They entered the big TV at Junes without too much ceremony. Nanako had Yosuke enter first so that he could see that he indeed had the power to enter on his own now. Yukiko followed him with Chie right on her tail, and Nanako went in last.

Teddie was right there waiting for them on the stage backlot. "Boss! And Boss's friends!"

"That's right!" Nanako said buoyantly. "Teddie, did you make glasses for Yosuke-kun?"

"I sure did, Boss! Here you go, Yosuke!" Teddie handed out a pair of orange-framed glasses. The bear had taste, that was for sure. They looked good on Yosuke and matched with his ever-present orange headphones.

With the glasses on, Yosuke noted how the fog was gone. Nanako informed him that it would stop them from getting tired so easily. Apparently the way the fog moved affected the eyes and exhausted the body, or something... It was the TV World, so that was as good an explanation as any, really.

"So Teddie... lives here?" Yosuke asked, eyeing the bear critically. "Why? Where did you come from?"

"I don't know," Teddie replied. "All I know is that I've always lived here, just me and the Shadows, and it used to be peaceful and now it's not. You've got to help Boss make it better!"

"'Boss'? You really have an ego, don't you, Nanako-san?" Yosuke said with an amused chuckle.

"It's Nanako's DEATH Squad," she replied. "Not Yosuke's. Nanako's. I'm the boss."

"Y-yeah, okay," he said. "Teddie... Are you sure you aren't a circus clown who fell into the TV? You have a zipper, so I think you're just a guy in a costume."

"Teddie is Teddie," the bear said, as if that answered everything. "But Teddie is not a human."

Nanako watched the bear with narrowed eyes. Yosuke noticed her thoughtful expression. "Nanako-san, you're not going to let him get away with that, are you?"

"At the same time," Nanako said, "what if he's, like, a naked old man who's been in here for decades?"

"Only one way to find out, right?" Yosuke grabbed Teddie by the arm, and the bear flailed to get away.

"No!" Teddie cried as Nanako caught his other arm. "B-Boss! I thought we were friends!"

Nanako nodded at Yosuke over the bear's head and together they unzipped the costume.

And then backed away quickly, because there was nothing inside it.

"Whoa!" Chie exclaimed. "He's really empty!"

Teddie's lower body, somehow standing up on its own, waved its stubby arms and tried to get its head back from Yosuke, who was standing there kind of stunned. "Th-that's not normal..."

"It's the TV World," Nanako said with a sigh. "We should have known. Calm down, Teddie, we'll put your head back on."

Once his head had been reunited with his body, Teddie moved to the far side of the stage and began pouting and whining about how rude they were.

"Sorry, Teddie, but we had to know. We're... very curious people," Nanako said soothingly. "We wanna know all about this world, and all about you, too."

The bear perked up. "You... want to know about me?"

"Sure. Why not? You're part of Nanako's DEATH Squad, too. Support division."

Teddie wiggled his ears. "All right! I'll do my best!"

Nanako ordered her team into a line for a weapons check after picking up her own naginata from where she had left it the other day on the stage floor. She used it as a walking stick as she moved down the line like a general. Chie clanked the toe of one of her boots against the floor in solidarity. Yosuke was tossing a knife up and down—upon closer examination, the knife had a plastic slip over the blade so that he wouldn't cut himself while he practiced. Yukiko was fanning herself with a Japanese paper fan.

Nanako stopped before Yukiko, who smiled coyly at her from behind the fan. "Yes?" the raven-haired girl asked.

"I've been thinking about it," Nanako said, "and I'm not sure what weapon you should use. I wonder if Daidara-san has any hand crossbows or some—what."

Yukiko had thrown her fan and hit Teddie with it. The bear squealed in pain, and Yukiko apologized and summoned her Persona, which bathed the bear in light and mystically fixed the tear in his costume.

"...Works for me," Nanako told her. She continued brightly. "Next up, we'll take stock of what all of our Personas can do." She rummaged in the plastic supply crate and pulled out a clipboard and a pen.

Yukiko's Konohana Sakuya specialized in both fire and recovery. The fire was still way more powerful than anything Nanako could summon, which made her very, very jealous. She'd asked Igor and he'd said that Yukiko's acceptance of her Shadow might have empowered her other self juuust a smidgeon.

Chie's Tomoe specialized in ice and physical strength. The ice wasn't very strong compared to the physical. Nanako suspected that's because Chie would rather have her Persona attack with its double-sided naginata. It was a pretty cool weapon, she had to admit.

Yosuke's Jiraiya specialized in wind. He could also recover, but not to the same extent that Yukiko could. He could only aid one person at a time, whereas she could affect everyone at once. It could serve as an emergency backup, though.

Nanako was pretty satisfied by the diversity of her squad. And what they lacked, she could pick up with her own Personas. "Look what I can do!" she declared. "Persona!"

An armor-clad man with red-orange wings appeared and swung a sword at nothing.

"No more bondage angel! It's now Archangel!" Nanako was very proud that she could summon a male persona.

"That is cool, Nanako-san," Yosuke told her, and she positively glowed. "Umm, Chie said you had others, too?"

Nanako nodded and showed off the next one.

It was a caped warrior woman carrying two swords on a red-maned horse. Valkyrie, she told them. Yes, she was running a theme here...

"Do you still have Izanami?" Chie asked. "You should show him that, since it was your first."

Nanako nodded again. She had actually used Izanami in fusion, but she'd brought the goddess back out via the Compendium. She'd felt empty without her, somehow. Even if it had emptied her wallet!

She also showed them Slime, which looked like green barf puddle with a face, and then a shaggy green dog with huge ears, Cu Sith. She still had Omoikane on hand, too, since it was the only one of them with electricity at the moment.

"How do you get new Personas, anyway?" Chie asked.

"Magic," she said. "Expensive magic." It was easier to explain than the whole Velvet Room thing. "Come on, let's find some Shadows and ruin their day."

They headed to Yukiko's Castle. Their first battle as a team was kind of a mess. Everyone was so excited to use their Personas that there was no coordination, and when Nanako almost got caught in the crossfire between Yukiko's fire and Yosuke's wind, she called a time-out.

"All right! I think we're gonna do this differently. You guys need direction, and since I'm the leader, you're gonna follow my orders, okay?"

They tried again, this time not acting until Nanako told them to. It was still a little shaky—there was some hesitation in response to her commands, which one time led to Yosuke's face getting wrecked by a raven's claws, but she was sure the hesitation would be smoothed out with practice.

I'm gonna be hoarse tomorrow, Nanako thought, from shouting all these orders.

As she watched Chie ice up a demon table (complete with silverware), she decided she was happy with her DEATH Squad. They were a bit rough around the edges, but they'd do. They had potential. And maybe with time she'd add more members to the squad...

"Boss!" Teddie suddenly sounded into their minds. "There's a beary strong Shadow at the top of the castle. It's making my fur stand up!"

"DEATH Squad, assemble!" Nanako shouted. "Let's take that bad boy out!"

However, the top of the castle was far, far away. As it turned out, the TV World had a short-term memory, and the layout of the castle would scramble over time, meaning the string guiding them to the top had been torn to pieces and they had to essentially start all over again.

By the time they fought their way to the top, everyone was too tired to face the dangerous Shadow lurking in the throne room. Another day, perhaps...

That evening Nanako 'took one for the team' by messing about with her flashlight in the darkness of her room. It really wasn't all that possible to prepare against being blinded by it, although Yosuke's comments about having one eye closed were indeed true. The closed eye would still be able to see in darkness while the other eye was blinded. However, it didn't allow for perfect vision as the afterglow from the blinded eye interfered with the darkness-adjusted eye. Besides, nothing was stopping the killer from blinding the other eye once it was finally opened.

As for defending against chloroform, there wasn't much you could do except not breathe it in. And with a rag in front of your face, that wasn't easy to do. Nanako timed how long she could hold her own breath and it wasn't too long, about a minute and a half. She could probably improve it with practice, though. Maybe she could start doing that when class was boring. Worst case scenario, she fainted in class and had to be sent to the nurse's office. And then she'd be out of class. Win-win, right?

[AN: It bothered me in the game that Yukiko couldn't remember anything about being kidnapped, and that you couldn't investigate it any further.

The 'time stop' thing was partially inspired by Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. It won't be used for anything plot-important, so don't worry if you find it silly.

The Yosuke interaction at the shopping district was difficult to write! I have a tendency to either be too nice or too mean to him, hehe. But I think it turned out nice. With this, even though Saki is alive, you can see that his social link won't necessarily be Saki-centric.

Next Chapter: Of Kings and Kids

Nanako's DEATH Squad takes on their biggest foe yet, and Nanako spends quality time with her family.]