Nanako Explains It All

by Angevon

Nanako Dojima is a sixteen-year-old transfer student to Inaba. She awakens to the mysterious power of 'Persona' and then rocks everyone's world. Character Swap AU: Nanako is the protagonist, and Souji is her little cousin. Other changes have occurred as well! [Both 'Souji' and 'Yu' versions are available!]

48. Chapter 48 - Like, Comment and Subscribe

[Author's notes: Angevon here. I am sorry to say that updates will be irregular from here on out. You've probably already noticed that, haha. Basically, I finally landed a full-time job, and because of it, I only have energy to write on the weekends, if that! Rest assured that I will keep writing, even if it's at a snail's pace.

Oh, and here's a content warning for this chapter: this one has some disturbing imagery!]

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[Summary: Fun times with family and friends.]

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[9/26: Monday]

Using the mirror built into the standing closet in her room, Nanako brushed her hair with the softest brush she owned. It was messier than she liked, and she considered washing it under the faucet in the bathroom, but in the end she settled on tying it back under its headband. She tilted her head to the side. It was still messy, really, but it would do.

There was the tiniest of knocks on her bedroom door. "Yes, Sou-chan?" she called.

"Breakfast," Souji's little voice answered.

She smiled to herself and opened the door. She took Souji's hand and helped him down the stairs to the kitchen, where Naoto was making some toast. It wasn't much of a breakfast, but Nanako was starving so she didn't complain at all. Besides, bread was probably the best thing for her at the moment.

"Good morning, Nanako-san. Did you have fun last night?" Naoto asked, cutting right to the chase. His tone was just a little too neutral.

"Yep," Nanako answered, "and I called you before I got on the train home, just like I said I would. There was nothing to worry about. It's not like I went to Kabukicho."

"I know that, and I know you needed that escape as well." Naoto sighed. "But I have to disapprove on principle. You are not yet 18, so you should not be drinking. Perhaps more importantly, however: is Hanamura-san's dignity still intact?"

"Yosuke's fiiiine," Nanako drawled. "Really, he had a good time. He even made a hot new friend."

Souji squeaked at that, perking up at mention of his 'partner.' "I-I'm glad!" he said. His eyes were closed as he grinned up at her.

"You're not even jealous, are you?" Nanako remarked. "That's good."

"I'm glad," Souji repeated, blinking now. "I'm glad that you went somewhere with partner, and had fun. I want..."

He trailed off, apparently flustered by his own train of thought. "Yes, honey?" she prompted.

"Can we hang out with him sometime? Big sis, I want to be there!"

So he was a little jealous. Nanako readily promised that soon they'd go out somewhere, either to Junes or to the flood plain to have a picnic with Yosuke. "And I'll tell you a secret, Sou-chan. Do you know what it is?"

"N-no, big sis!" His eyes were almost as big as the 'O' his mouth was making. "What is it?"

"Yosuke wants to hang out with you, too!"

---

"Fuck everything," Yosuke moaned. The heel of his palm continuously rubbed circles on his forehead, and his face was contorted in a grimace.

He and Nanako were walking to school, though it was more like trudging than walking simply due to Yosuke's pace. It had been a surprise when he'd sidled up beside her, but as it turned out, he was in no condition to ride a bike. He must've left it behind at home.

"I feel like shit," he finished.

"Drama queen," Nanako teased. "You should have joined the theater club."

"Please don't talk." He sighed and rubbed his forehead harder.

While they walked on in silence, Nanako observed that clouds were gathering in the sky. The weather report had said it would rain today. All day, in fact, so it should be raining right now, but it was probably lucky that it wasn't. Otherwise, she suspected, Yosuke wouldn't have even gotten up out of bed this morning.

Yosuke suddenly looked at her with one eye, because his other eye was hidden behind his palm. "Nanako."

"Yeah?"

"That was a gay bar, wasn't it? Last night."

"Sure was."

Yosuke didn't visibly react, just continued to stare at her while they walked on.

Finally, he frowned. "Doesn't that mean everybody in there was gay? That bartender didn't look gay."

"Not everyone wears their heart on their sleeve, Yosuke."

"Heart, huh..." he muttered.

He let his gaze fall. A boy in glasses rushed ahead of them so fast that Nanako couldn't tell if it was her classmate or not, and that caught their attention for a moment.

"I thought you'd be making noise to annoy me," Yosuke said once the boy was out of sight.

"Honey," she said, "I'm hungover too."

"You did get those two double tequilas at the end there."

"Tequila squared," she joked weakly. She regretted that, really she did.

They turned down the road that led to the school. It was a long road, and Nanako hated it. It seemed like it was long just to increase your dread for the day to come (and boy, were she and Yosuke going to dread it today).

"Did you have a good time?" she asked him casually, since it seemed like it was okay for her to talk now.

Yosuke lowered his hand from his face to smile at her. "Yeah, I did. Thanks for taking me there, Nanako."

Nanako smiled back. Yosuke did have a nice smile, she would grant him that much.

"Be honest, though, is my hair gay?"

Nanako spent the rest of the walk to school assuring Yosuke that his magenta streak was not, in fact, a beacon to dudes who liked dudes. Before she knew it, they were already at Classroom 2-2.

Inside, several students were gathered around one desk, all straining to look at something on the female class rep's cell phone. By the various murmurs of 'aww' and 'how cute', it was probably a cat video or something. It reminded Nanako that she needed to get the newest pictures on Aunt Seta's camera developed so she could show it off to everyone she met. The photo album would surely be filled in no time.

Before they knew it, Ms. Kashiwagi arrived to start class. She told them to put everything away. They were going to have a pop quiz.

"Fuck everything," Yosuke moaned.

---

[9/29: Thursday]

When Yosuke had rejoined the team, he'd informed everyone that he'd never stopped watching the Midnight Channel, but seeing as he'd reportedly crashed harder than a lame donkey the moment he got home Monday night, he missed it this once. To be fair, Nanako did too; hopefully the murderer hadn't been given an advantage over them or anything. What was this town even talking about, anyway? Nothing of interest had been shown on the news at all.

It didn't rain on Tuesday. It didn't rain on Wednesday. And it certainly didn't seem like it was going to rain on Thursday. If she could, Nanako would be glaring at the sun right now, but then she'd burn out her retinas. It was one staring contest she'd lose.

On the plus side, the overwhelming heat left even the guy in glasses with his back drenched in sweat, leading Nanako to discover a new kink.

Anyway, in the attempt to beat the heat after school, Nanako had originally planned to go out with her girlfriend to a cafe, but as it turned out, Saki had to work. Good for her, at least she could enjoy Junes's air conditioning.

Nanako had a backup plan, though: the Velvet Room. It was always nice and cool; maybe Margaret's demeanor kept it that way.

Surprisingly, Marie seemed eager to see her. She was gripping the strap to her handbag tightly, and her eyes were brighter than Nanako remembered seeing before. "You're back!" she said. "Can we go out again? Take me out again!"

"Let me cool off a little first," Nanako requested, fanning herself with a hand. "Did you write anything while I was away? Why don't you show me?"

Marie's excitement flagged a little, but soon enough she was looking through her notebook. "Just... let me find a good one."

"Any will do, honey."

Marie carefully tore a page out along its perforated edge, then handed it to Nanako. Nanako rolled the page up and then began to fan herself with it. When Marie made an indignant sound, she unrolled it with a little 'sorry that was a joke!' laugh.

Sometimes it's a struggle to get out of the nest

Sometimes my feathers are all in disarray

Sometimes my cries are totally ignored

...

Someday it'll be different

Someday I'll fly to a distant land

Someday I'll be free

As poetry went, it was a little too short, though that wasn't exactly its main issue. The ending lines held some promise, however: who wouldn't empathize with a desire to be free? Marie had the right idea. Putting it eloquently into words was something she would have to work on.

More importantly, Nanako noticed some doodles at the edge of the paper. The likeness of Igor's bulging eyes and overlong nose was eerily exact.

"What's this?" Nanako asked, pointing at the doodle.

"Oh, that?" Marie's tone was dismissive. "When I'm thinking, sometimes my hand works on its own."

"You did this without thinking about it?" Nanako put a finger to her cheek. "Next time I'm at Junes, I'll pick you up a sketchbook and a better pencil."

"Junes! You said we'd go—take me there!"

Marie's exuberance over Junes reminded Nanako of a certain little boy with a bowl-cut, amusing her entirely too much... and also giving her an idea. With a nod, she held out her hand, intending to grab Marie's, but she found that Marie had beat her to the punch and had grabbed her first! Hand in hand, they exited the Velvet Room.

Outside, the heat wave hit Nanako full force and she immediately regretted not staying in the Velvet Room just a little longer. If she was being dramatic, she'd compare it to a Shadow's Agilao. Maybe that comparison could be used in a poem.

For her part, Marie was blinking her eyes at the sudden brightness, but the heat didn't seem to bother her too much. She shaded her eyes and scanned the horizon. "Where are those balloons?"

"We'll go there soon," Nanako promised, "but first I gotta head home. Do you want to know where I live?"

"Home..." Marie murmured to herself, and for a moment Nanako thought she might trigger another sudden headache, but then she nodded. "Show me where the magic happens!"

Nanako suppressed a laugh. What magic? The only trick she knew was sticking her hand into the TV. Unless she meant... Nanako allowed herself a grin. It was going to be a fun day.

A short while later, Nanako opened the front door to the Seta Residence. Sadly, Souji was still at cram school, but Naoto was sitting at the tea table with the laptop set out in front of him. An electric fan was set on the floor, blowing right at him. When he saw Marie, he smiled to himself. "Ah, I was wondering when we would be introduced."

"What are you talking about, Shirogane-san?" Nanako asked.

"I'd heard some time ago that you were seen with an oddly-dressed individual, but I couldn't narrow down the identity of this individual as someone in our group of compatriots." Naoto stood up and took a short bow. "I am Naoto Shirogane. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Love the hat," Marie said, touching her own. It was a lighter shade of blue than Naoto's and had a longer bill. The golden metal button on it was engraved with the letter V, and Nanako once jokingly thought it stood for 'virgin,' but more likely it meant 'Velvet.' Or maybe it was supposed to be a Roman numeral 5. "I'm Marie. Nice to meet you."

"She's from the Velvet Room!" Nanako said excitedly. "It's real. If you can see her, it's real!"

She'd told Naoto about its existence before, and though Naoto seemed to believe her, he'd also been humorously sarcastic: 'You mean you are serviced by an elderly man with bulging eyes and a long nose alongside a youthful, well-dressed companion...? And this limo, you say the windows are covered? Nanako-san, you need an intervention.'

"Marie, go and pinch him!" Nanako requested. "That way he'll know for sure you're real."

"That won't be necessary," Naoto said. "Marie-san, please tell me more about this Velvet Room."

"Why are you both so interested in that?" Marie crossed her arms much like Yosuke would in the same situation. Well, any situation made Yosuke do that, to be honest. "It's boring and it smells."

"It smells?" Nanako repeated. She'd never noticed a smell before.

"Yeah. I don't know, like, moldy or something."

"Huh." Maybe it was Igor's body odor. He was so otherworldly, like he was older than time itself.

"Nothing happens in that place," Marie continued. "It only gets exciting when you come along. It was annoying, how they suddenly got all animated just for you. But I guess your journey is important to them, or something."

"Sometimes I feel like I'm just a chess piece," Nanako muttered. She'd be the queen, of course. Yukiko would be a bishop, and Chie a knight, and... Kanji maybe a rook? Okay, that analogy was getting a little silly.

But the big question was: who controlled the board?

...On second thought, she didn't want to know.

"I wonder if it's more like a Go board," Naoto remarked. "You think you're ahead, but with one simple move, suddenly you're very much cornered."

Nanako shuddered. That was enough speculation, she decided. She shook her head and then led Marie upstairs to her room.

She'd never had much time to decorate her room. She kinda still lived out of her moving boxes. As such, there wasn't much for Marie to look at. She basically scanned the room with a glance and didn't say anything, poetic or otherwise.

Then suddenly she was moving towards Nanako's open standing closet. She tugged at one of the dresses. "I like this one. You should wear it."

Nanako tilted her head. "No... I think you should!"

"Me?" Marie nearly backed away from the closet in her surprise. When she recovered, she took the dress down from the hanger and held it in front of her body as if to imagine herself wearing it. It was the black and white striped dress that Nanako had worn to Love is Blue with Yosuke.

"Though I would recommend not wearing those striped stockings with it," Nanako said. "That's a bit too much."

"I like my stockings," Marie mumbled, but when Nanako brought out a pair of black ones that she'd been saving for a special occasion, she seemed quite pleased.

Nanako helped her put it all on, and when she was through, Marie looked great! With her thin frame, the horizontal stripes were flattering, and they worked well with the red-and-black striped arm warmers she wore. The splash of color from the blue of the messenger bag she carried completed the ensemble, and the black boots combined with her black stockings were simply icing on the cake.

Working on automatic, Nanako took out her phone to take a picture, then shook her head and put it away. "Let's use the good camera."

"Good camera?" Marie repeated, but Nanako was already pulling her downstairs to the kitchen. She took Aunt Seta's old camera from atop the table and told Marie to smile. The smile she produced was way more awkward and shy than expected, and when the picture was taken, Marie demanded to see the camera and asked how it worked. Nanako was just glad Marie even showed up on the picture preview screen, what with her being from the Velvet Room and all.

While Nanako was showing it off, the front door opened and Souji entered the house. Standing on the threshold, his backpack strapped to his back, he stared openly at Marie, who stared openly back.

Introductions were in order, Nanako supposed. "Marie, this is Souji-kun, my cousin. Sou-chan, this is Marie."

"This is your little cousin?" Marie's stare turned critical. "Why isn't there a bra on his head?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nanako claimed. "There's no way my cute little cousin could really be THE Lieutenant Briefs, hero of ages, wielder of the Wand of Justice. Simply no way."

"I'm not a hero," Souji said quietly, sheepish at the attention he was receiving.

He was blushing big-time, and Nanako wondered why he'd deny that when he hustled to the corner of the room and picked up the kitty headband and put it on.

He then dropped down to all fours and meowed.

"The noble tiger," Marie said appreciatively. "King of the jungle."

"Tiger?" Souji repeated, lifting his head up to look at them. "Big sis, do tigers... meow?"

"Sou-chan, they roar!"

"R-roar..."

His roar sounded so plaintive that Nanako had to hold in her laughter. "I think there can be tigers that meow instead of roar."

"You have stripes," Souji noted while looking at Marie. "Are you... a white tiger?"

"Rare tiger," Nanako said.

"I can roar," Marie said. "Watch me."

When Marie took a deep breath, Nanako rushed forward and covered Souji's ears, wishing she had another pair of hands to cover her own. Marie's roar was powerful enough to wake the dead.

"I... I like meows more," Souji admitted.

"I-I can meow too," Marie defended. She cleared her throat and emitted a very tame meow, after which everyone giggled.

"As amusing as this is," Naoto said from his place at the laptop in the living room, "tigers and other large felines do meow. There does not, in fact, need to be a tiger that can meow, as much as all tigers do meow."

"Is that legit?" Nanako asked. "Huh... I bet Takeyoshi-kun could have told us that."

"He could!" Souji agreed.

While Nanako adjusted the headband on Souji's head since it had fallen down, she came up with a haiku:
"Tiger prowls softly
Through the shadowy jungle
Seeking his next meal."

"I gotta write that down!" Marie said. She began to rummage through her messenger bag. She became increasingly more frustrated as she couldn't find what she wanted. "There's always paper in here. Where'd it all go?"

"You probably used it all," Nanako said.

"No, you don't understand. There's always paper, and pens too. I never run out. Never!"

"Maybe it's because you're in the real world now," Nanako suggested. "If you're going to live in our world, you'll have to live by our rules, y'know? Anyway, since you need to pick up some paper, I think it's the perfect excuse for a trip to Junes! Sou-chan, are you ready to go?"

"Junes?" he repeated. "Y-yeah!"

Nanako took the headband from his head, intending to put it away, but Souji stopped her. With a shy smile, he asked if he could keep wearing it. There was no way she'd deny him that, but she couldn't let it keep falling off his head. With some rubber bands, she adjusted it so that it stayed more securely in place.

"I've found a video of a tiger meowing," Naoto announced. "Would you like to see?"

What a silly question! Moments later they'd all gathered around to watch it. Marie was the most fascinated of them all. "It really does meow. Say, what's that on the side?"

"What, those? More videos," Nanako explained. "When you watch one, the site will recommend others." When Naoto selected one at random, Nanako added, "You can lose hours of your life clicking through them like this."

"L-look, baby tigers!" Souji said excitedly. "Watch that one, please!"

"They're called cubs," Naoto informed him as they watched the tiger cubs playing with their zookeeper.

"Are you a cub or a full-grown tiger?" Nanako asked him.

"I'm... I'm full-grown," he announced without too much hesitation.

Nanako didn't laugh, knowing how important it was to treat a kid with respect, though she dearly wanted to. "Okay, my big tough tiger. I'm ready to go to Junes if you are."

It took some effort to pull Marie and Souji away from the laptop, Marie especially since the technology seemed to speak to her. Nanako wondered if Aunt Seta had another old cell phone she could pass on to Marie. She'd definitely have fun with it. Naoto stayed behind to watch the house (or perhaps more videos).

They weren't even at Junes and Marie could hardly contain her excitement. "Look at those huge balloons! They're like..." - she paused to grope for the words she wanted to use – "giant flying peaches!"

Well, the balloons were orange and yellow, so Nanako gave her that. "You know in some places, people go flying with balloons. It's called hot-air ballooning."

"Can we do that sometime? I want to soar as high as a seagull."

"Maybe when we find an elephant," Nanako promised, knowing that would never happen.

Once inside the store, it was a shopping adventure in every sense of the word. Marie was so easily distracted by every sales sign in the store that it was difficult to keep up with her.

"Buy one, get one boxer shorts!" she squealed in delight. "Wait, I don't need those."

"Go briefs or go home," Nanako agreed. "Here, you should try this on!"

Together they picked out so many outfits to try on that the changing room attendant soon gave up trying to keep track of it all. Little Souji was their judge; he sat on the bench just outside the changing rooms that was reserved for henpecked husbands.

Marie came out of the changing room wearing a flower-patterned blouse and a purple tiered skirt. "This doesn't seem like my style at all."

"M-maybe if the flowers were purple too," Souji suggested meekly.

"Is there a black skirt like this?" Marie asked the attendant. "Black goes with everything."

"You really like black, huh?" Nanako remarked, coming out of her changing room with a red t-shirt and orange short-shorts. Wearing them she felt like she was advertising condiments.

"It has a lot of meaning," Marie said. "In poetry and otherwise."

"The empty space between stars," Nanako said, "the pupil of an eye, the depths of the ocean..."

"It also just looks good on me." Marie grinned while toying with one of her arm warmers. "Doesn't it?"

"I think..." Souji said, and trailed off like he often did when voicing an opinion.

"Yes, oh King of the Jungle?" Nanako prompted.

"Wh-what about... gray?"

Marie considered it. "It's worth a try."

They tried on several more sets of clothes, and Marie conceded that gray was a good color, too, as long as it was a fairly dark shade. Nanako found a nice low-cut top that she knew Saki would love.

After about the tenth skirt, Souji began to get restless, so Nanako decided it was time to find something more interesting for him. It also helped that some middle-aged women came by to use the changing rooms. Souji was obviously relieved when Nanako took his hand and led him away to Junes's small crafts section.

But his happiness was only temporary. Nanako was looking through some notebooks when she felt him clench her skirt in a fist. "What's the matter, honey?" she murmured.

"C-can I... t-take it off?"

She blinked and looked down to find him tugging on his headband. Since she'd rubber-banded it, he couldn't do it himself. Was it irritating him...? She helped him take it off, but it hadn't visibly rubbed his skin raw or anything.

Even with it off, he was suddenly overcome with shyness and buried his face in her skirt. Nanako noticed some ladies gathered together down the aisle. That wasn't odd in Junes, what was odd was that they were whispering to each other and pointing at Souji.

The cute kitty band was attracting attention, apparently. No wonder he wanted it off.

Of course, his hiding from them was even cuter. The women whispered louder, not realizing or not caring that their attention was stressing the boy out.

Nanako set her mouth in determination and intended to go over there and say something, but...

"FLOCK OFF!"

...Marie beat her to it.

The women were so startled by the volume she employed that they left the aisle without a fight.

"Thanks," Nanako said.

"What was their problem, anyway?" Marie said. "He's not a real tiger, or they'd be eaten!"

Souji made a small sound, and Nanako gave him a hug. "How about we go to the food court and have a snack," she suggested. They could all use a breath of fresh air after that.

It wasn't all that busy at the food court, which was probably to be expected this late on a Thursday afternoon. What was unexpected was that Saki and Yosuke were sitting across from each other at the bench table and chatting. Saki was laughing at some joke or something he'd told her. She said something in return, and then he was laughing, too.

Whatever they were talking about, Nanako was happy to see them getting along.

And so was Souji. "P-partner!" he cried, a big fat grin coming to his face.

Yosuke turned on his seat and his smile grew. It was too bad he was wearing a hair net, since it hid his hair's pink streak. Souji's reaction to that would be priceless. "Hey, Souji! It's been a while, huh?"

Unprompted, Souji climbed onto the bench to sit right next to him. Saki's expression was about as bemused as Yosuke's own. "Hello Sou-chan," she said. She noticed Marie following Nanako. "Oh? Who's this?"

Nanako pushed Marie forward. "Guys, meet Marie. She's not from around here."

"I'll say." Yosuke took in Marie's appearance. "Isn't that your dress?"

"That's right," Nanako said. "She's from my closet. Kidding, but yeah, I let her have it."

"Hello," Marie said rather blandly after Nanako introduced her friends to her. She paused, apparently unsure what else to say. Then she blinked and narrowed her eyes. "Are you a baker or something?" she asked Yosuke.

Saki giggled, and Yosuke looked puzzled for an instant before he understood. "Ah, no, this apron is because I work here. I'm on break right now."

"And my break ends in another minute," Saki said with a regretful sigh. "They're way too short. It was nice meeting you, Marie-chan."

"Aww," Nanako said. When Saki headed back to the store, she stopped to give Nanako a quick hug and a peck of a kiss.

"I want to work at Junes," Souji murmured.

"The pay isn't good enough, Souji," Yosuke said. "Trust me."

"But... you work here," he pointed out.

Yosuke scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. It's a long story."

"You think I could get a job?" Marie asked. She held up the notebook she'd picked out earlier. It had rainbow-colored dolphins on it. "Gotta pay for this somehow."

"It's on me today, Marie," Nanako said, but she wondered what sort of job would be right for Marie. None of her part-time jobs seemed to fit the bill. One of the Velvet Room doors was right at the shopping district, so maybe she could work for Grandma Kujikawa. Nanako was sure they'd get along swimmingly. "We'll think about that later."

Yosuke turned around in his seat to better face Marie, since she was standing a distance away from the bench. "So, where are you from?"

"It's a long story," Nanako evaded, not wanting to explain the Velvet Room to him at that moment. "Anyway, we're here because I promised Sou-chan a snack."

"Yeah? What are you getting?" Yosuke asked. "A root beer float?"

"No," Souji answered. "We're going to have ice cream..."

"A root beer float has ice cream in it," Yosuke pointed out, "but I get you. What flavor?"

"Neo... puh..."

"Featherman flavored ice cream?"

"N-no..."

"It's Neapolitan," Nanako explained.

"I know," Yosuke said. "I'm just teasing. So, vanilla, strawberry, AND chocolate... Which one's your favorite?"

"I like... the strawberry and the vanilla."

"Yeah, when they mix together, it's cool, but with Neapolitan, everything always end up brown and tasting like chocolate, doesn't it?"

"You should eat the chocolate first," Souji advised.

Yosuke patted him on the shoulder and declared that he was very smart.

"I'll take the chocolate," Marie volunteered, and that settled that.

Yosuke had to excuse himself right when the ice cream arrived; his own break had ended. Souji gave him a hug before he left, mimicking what he'd seen Saki do with Nanako. Yosuke didn't really know what to do about a kid wrapped around his legs. Over Souji's head, Nanako gave him the okay, and Yosuke ruffled his fingers through the boy's hair before saying goodbye and extricating himself from his grip.

"Hey, Marie," Nanako said after Yosuke was gone. "Don't look now, but there's an elephant."

"What? Where?!"

Marie stopped prodding her ice cream to face the direction Nanako indicated, and then snorted at the sight. It was the elephant slide in the kids' play area.

"You really had me going there," she said, shaking her head.

"They say elephants never forget," Nanako said. "I bet it remembers you, Sou-chan. Maybe you should say hello?"

"I don't... want to go down it..." Souji murmured.

"That's fine, I won't make—Marie?"

Marie had stood up and was now walking towards the elephant slide. When she reached it, she climbed up the ladder and sat at the top. A minute passed. Was she too scared to slide down? Nanako suspected not. Marie seemed to be lost in thought.

Then Marie climbed down. "You can feel the wind up there," she reported, "and the breeze is nice, but the sun is just too hot."

"The plastic burned you through the dress?"

Marie nodded. "It's no wonder no kids are around. Maybe they should add a pool."

"The ice cream," Souji piped up from the table. "It's melting..."

After finishing their tasty snack, Nanako was reminded of one of the other reasons she'd wanted to come to Junes: to get prints of the pictures she'd taken of Souji and his classmates in the gym at Yasogami High. She planned to send them to his teacher as an adorable memento.

They went to Junes' self-service printing area to get it done. As the pictures came out of the printer, Marie commented, "That looks like it was a lot of fun."

Nanako held up the picture of a trio of grinning first graders hugging the rubber balls they'd used in the presentation. "It was, wasn't it, Sou-chan?"

Marie picked up the next picture, a group photo of Nanako surrounded by what might have been the entire class. "The kids are flocking to you like you're their mom or something."

"My little ducklings," Nanako murmured. She was too young to be a mom, of course, but she did feel protective of every child she met. Yuuta was a case-in-point. How could she not love them when they were just so young and innocent? Well, maybe not completely innocent, she amended, thinking of Ta-kun's worldliness. He was going to be trouble later, she could tell. His mom would have her hands full.

"I wonder," Marie said, "if kids would like me...?"

"Well," Nanako said, "there's only one way to find out! I'm going to the daycare this Saturday. Maybe you can come along?"

"That'd be awesome," Marie said.

"Then I'll pick you up before I go!"

It was a plan. Nanako hummed to herself, quite satisfied with the day, and as the last picture printed out, she felt her bond with Marie grow stronger. It gave her pause; she hadn't felt any of her other social links do this in quite some time.

She shrugged the feeling away. It had never been that important to her in the first place.

---

[9/30: Friday]

The rain arrived just as the weather report had predicted. Nanako went to the gas station, expecting to see Izaya enjoying it as he always did, but he wasn't in sight.

Under the awning she found a car with all of its doors wide open. Its trunk was popped open, too. Since there was no one at all around, the sight was odd. It was almost like someone had abandoned it here after a bank robbery or something.

Nanako approached the vehicle warily, unsure if she should even be getting near it. It wasn't a new model, maybe a decade old or so. Aunt Seta would turn up her nose at it.

She was eyeing the driver's seat when she heard a muffled curse coming from the direction of the convenience store. She turned and saw Izaya struggling to pull a wet/dry vacuum behind him. Its wheels were sticking, making him tug so hard on the hose that the whole thing ran over his foot.

"Do you need some help?" Nanako asked mildly.

Izaya saw her, then flashed teeth in something that was half-grin and half-snarl. "Find an outlet for this," he requested, handing her the plug to the vacuum. It was attached to an extension cord.

She found an outlet inside the convenience store behind a shelf and plugged it in, nearly jumping at the electricity that zapped across the plug and the socket before she'd got it all the way in. It was going to be one of those days, wasn't it?

She returned to the parked car to find Izaya wiping sweat from his brow. With a sigh he began to exchange the vacuum's hose attachment to one that had a larger nozzle.

"I didn't know we did auto detailing," she remarked.

"They say that the customer is always right." He glared at the car, making his thoughts on that phrase crystal clear.

"Your sales pitch still needs some work. Don't worry, I'll help."

She took over vacuuming the car's interior while Izaya cleaned the windows. He didn't do a great job cleaning the outer side of the windows, and Nanako didn't call him out for it. It was raining anyway, so the windows would just get ruined again as soon as the customer took the car back.

The work was more intense than she'd expected, and by the time she was done using the vacuum, she understood why Izaya hadn't been enthusiastic about the job. Her arms were sore from manipulating the hose into the car's every little crevice and her back had a kink in it from bending over so much. By the time they were through, she needed the can of green tea Izaya offered her as refreshment.

She fell onto the bench by the garage. "If I never clean out a car again, it'll be too soon," she told him. The rain falling on her was refreshing and helped cool her off more than the green tea did.

"When you live in a big city, you have no need for a car," Izaya said, taking the spot next to her.

"One of my friends has a scooter. Maybe I should invest in one."

"It might be nice to feel the wind in your hair."

"Yeah," she said, "but I'm the type to always wear a helmet." She let her hair down now; she'd had to tie it back since it'd kept getting in her face during the vacuuming.

"Safety first?" he asked, one eyebrow upraised.

She nodded.

"So you're no longer going to rush headlong into things?" He sounded skeptical. "I wonder if you've changed that much."

"Look," she said with feeling, "when it comes to something simple like wearing a seatbelt or a helmet, there's absolutely no reason not to. It's a well-known fact that scooters and motorcycles get into accidents more often than other vehicles, and that helmets substantially reduce the injuries that result. I mean, they're not always the difference between life and death, but in some cases, they totally are."

When she was done with her spiel, she realized that Izaya was giving her a funny look. He didn't say anything or even seem to be ready to say anything until she sent him an annoyed look.

"That's not what I was talking about," he finally admitted.

"What did you—" she began, but stopped because he was chuckling.

"You're so interesting, Nanako," he said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Am I one of the people you people-watch?"

He leaned his head back in mild surprise. "Ah, well, I watch many people in this town," he defended all too feebly.

"I hope you get some entertainment value out of it." She sighed.

"Don't worry, Nanako. Out of all the humans I have observed, you are the one with the most mileage."

"Well I am all the way from Tokyo, after all," Nanako responded on automatic. When Izaya began to chuckle, she grinned slowly, recognizing in that moment that it was a double-entendre. She punched him playfully in the arm and giggled herself.

"Speaking of Tokyo," she murmured. "I'm suddenly reminded of my trip here. When I was waiting for the train, I'd seen some people watching an ad for Quelorie Magic. You know all those ads Risette does that are just this side of risque."

"Ah, what's the tagline? All of the flavor, none of the weight... something like that."

"What I'm getting at is that, from those ads, no one would imagine that Risette is actually a smart and kind person in real life."

"Are you really one to talk about judging books by their cover?" Izaya said, hiding a grin behind his spindly fingers.

Nanako shook her head. "That's not what I meant, and I think you know that."

Izaya didn't say anything, though he radiated curiosity. He watched her not like a hawk and its prey, but closely all the same.

"You," she said. "You get me. You got me first out of all my friends. I think that says something. I'm not sure what exactly, but something."

Izaya stopped hiding his smile, allowing it to grow into a full-on grin. "I must confess something," he said. "You recall how you said that you feel calm around me?"

"Yes?"

"...I feel the same around you."

---

[10/1: Saturday]

The weather report hadn't been mistaken. It was pouring buckets when Nanako arrived at the central shopping district. She was happy to enter the Velvet Room and get out of the rain. It wasn't all that different from how she'd escaped the heat the other day, come to think of it.

"Marie~" Nanako sang. "I'm going to the daycare, wanna come along?"

Marie shook her head slowly.

Nanako frowned, then noticed that Marie was definitely not looking very good. She was paler than usual, like she might have a fever. "Are you all right? Maybe we should go to the doctor instead."

"I'll... be all right..." Marie said quietly. "Today is just not a good day. I have to stay here."

"Your existence is wavering?" Nanako remembered that Marie had used that phrase once before. The last time it happened, though, Marie had seemed to be in perfect health.

"Yeah," Marie said.

"Margaret?" Nanako asked.

Margaret had a troubled frown on her face. "I do not know the cause, but I believe it has to do with the fact that she is not from your world."

Nanako considered it. Marie had been out for longer than ever before when they'd gone to Junes. Maybe after that adventure, she needed to recharge for a while. Wasn't there a ghost story that went like that?

"What about you, Margaret?" Nanako asked. "Are you able to leave the Velvet Room?"

Margaret blinked, and a playful grin came to her face. "That should remain a secret."

Nanako grinned back at her. She and Margaret had come to an understanding after she'd fused that Soma. Margaret was a strong personality, for sure, but she was all right.

"But as for Marie..." Margaret's expression turned serious. "It's a mystery we are hoping you might solve."

"The next time she can leave here, I'll look into it," Nanako promised. "For now, Marie, just try to relax? If you need more paper or pens, let me know now."

Marie managed the ghost of a smile. "I'm all right, thanks. Have fun with the kids for me."

Nanako left the Velvet Room. In the far distance, thunder rumbled, mirroring her troubled mood. The number of mysteries she had to solve just kept piling up, and this one in particular made her uneasy. Marie's problems had to stem from her forgotten past. The only other being Nanako knew who'd wanted to know more about his past... Well, his mysteries would never be solved.

For better or for worse, the downpour calmed into a steady drizzle by the time she reached the daycare. She forced a smile onto her face and entered the building, but soon enough the sight of the children playing turned it into something far more genuine. She hadn't seen them in so long!

"Nana-chan! Nana-chan!" several kids chanted, running circles around her.

"It's a good thing you're well enough to work," the caretaker remarked. "We could really use the help."

That fact was obvious by the way the kids tugged on her from all directions while she was trying to get her work apron on. She bent forward slightly in a vague attempt to reach their height. She swept her arms forward, catching several of them in a big hug. "I've missed you all too, don't you doubt it!"

With that, the caretaker left Nanako in charge, presumably to take a really long break. Nanako didn't mind. She had things under control. Maybe. A little boy and a little girl were already fighting over an action figure, and Yuuta kept spinning around in circles apparently just to see how long it would take to make himself get dizzy and fall over. Souji's role was apparently to steady him when he began to fall.

Normally the rain meant it was an indoors day, but the kids were full of such boundless energy that a movie wouldn't be enough to keep their attention, no matter how new or exciting it was.

"Miss, Miss!" A little boy missing his front teeth began to tug on her apron. "I wan'... I wan'... I wan'..."

"What do you want?" Nanako asked him with the patience of a stone.

"I wan'... anover cubber..."

"Another what?"

Though the kid repeated it several times, Nanako just couldn't decipher his words. She was lucky that Souji spoke so clearly! It was only until another child told her that 'it' was on the table that she figured out what 'it' was: a cupcake. As it turned out, one of the mothers had left a whole box of chocolate cupcakes for the kids. And that was the answer to the mystery of why the kids were so hyper today—they were all on a sugar high.

With all that energy, the kids needed to be let loose, but of course they couldn't be let outside in the rain unprotected. Nanako improvised a solution. She found the supply closet and a box of trash bags. With a pair of scissors, she began to cut the bags to create ponchos for the kids to wear. When putting them over the kids' heads, she made sure their entire head went through the hole she'd made for it. Safety above all! The suffocation hazard warnings could not be ignored.

"I can fly!" one of the kids said, waving his poncho'd arms around like they were big wings.

"I bet I can fly faster than you!" a girl challenged him, and soon it was a race across the room. Boundless energy—they weren't even outside yet!

"Sou-chan, come on," Nanako said, motioning him forward. Souji had held back earlier, letting Yuuta get suited up first, but now it was his turn. With a shy little grin, he stepped forward and held his arms out while Nanako covered him up with the plastic bag. She couldn't resist giving him a hug.

When Nanako opened the door after suiting up the last kid, they all raced outside like a herd of beasts. They were just so excited to be allowed to play in the rain. Souji jogged along after his playmates, but he slowed and turned back to Nanako. "Big sis... what about you?" he asked.

"Huh? What about me?"

"You're getting all wet."

She'd completely forgotten to put a bag over herself. The idea hadn't even occurred to her. Izaya was totally rubbing off on her. If only he was here, though he'd probably be arrested if he so much as thought about getting this close to kids. He'd have loved to see her getting soaked like this.

In fact, there wasn't anything particularly special to do outside except get wet. There wasn't any mud; even the grass in Inaba was boring! There were, however, worms coming up through the dirt near the sidewalk. One little girl picked up one the of these wriggling things, and two other girls went 'Eww!' at her and made disgusted sounds. Nanako determinedly strode over there and picked up a snail wandering across the sidewalk.

"There's nothing bad about slimy things!" she declared. "They won't make you sick or anything. You can play with them if you want to!" She held up the snail. "This little guy is my assistant, and we'll see how long it takes him to get to the other side. Make sure no one steps on him!"

That preoccupied some of the kids, at least until they got bored of it. She gave a group of boys a rubber ball to play with, warning them to be careful not to slip on the wet grass when they chased after it. It was harder for the kids to pick up and hold onto the rubber ball when it was so slippery from being wet. She used this as a learning lesson by asking them why they thought this happened.

"Because it's wet," Yuuta said. It was an answer worthy of Takeyoshi-kun, and Nanako couldn't help but laugh.

Checking up on the worm-loving girl and her friends, Nanako saw that someone had found a second snail and apparently the two were racing. Or they would be if the snails weren't going in completely opposite directions. She told the kids not to encourage the snails too much and left them to it.

On the side of the daycare building, a group of kids discovered the drainpipe that let out the rain collected from the roof. They were having fun trying to stop the flow of water from it with their hands. Nanako had them throw some leaves into the stream and watch how far the leaves went.

Returning to the main yard, Nanako found that Yuuta and the ball-playing kids were now reenacting some scenes from the Featherman TV show. "You watch Featherman now, Yuu-kun?" she asked in surprise.

"Y-yeah," he answered. "I watch it every Saturday in my room!"

Nanako fist-pumped into the air. Finally Minami-san was making progress at being a good mom.

"I watch it... with big sis!" Souji declared, grinning up at Nanako and then impulsively giving her a hug.

"No fair," a girl declared. "I want her to be my big sis!"

Nanako held out her arm and waved her forward. "Come on, you can have a hug too. I think Sou-chan can share."

Souji paused before declaring, "Y-yeah...!"

Nanako patted both kids on the head and then told them to try and catch the rain on their tongues. While she watched them play, she contemplated how much Souji had changed in the time she'd known him. He wouldn't even play dress-up with the other kids just a few months ago, and here he was playing ball and make-believe with them now. He didn't mind that she was here, crashing his daycare, and in fact wanted her there.

It stopped raining. Nanako looked up when she noticed that, and saw a rainbow arcing across the sky. "Look, look!" she said, pointing at it.

"Woooooowwwwww," the kids cried.

"Can you name all the colors in the rainbow?" Nanako asked to make it a learning moment.

She began to sing a song about the colors of the rainbow, remembering how she'd sung the very same song to Souji so long ago. If only he'd brought the Loveline umbrella today! The sun began to peek through the clouds, though, rendering it unnecessary anyway.

"Mommy's here!"

Nanako blinked and looked around. Sure enough, the daycare manager was coming out of the building, bringing along the first set of parents coming to pick up their children. Playtime was over, though the remaining children continued to run around in the yard, and Nanako continued to keep them company. The kids would recognize their family when they arrived, anyway.

Some time later, there were only a few kids left. Yuuta, Nanako knew, would be one of the last to leave since his stepmom was always late. Not unlike Aunt Seta, really, though Nanako could take Souji home now at any time if she wanted.

"Big sis!" a boy shouted, and for a moment Nanako thought he meant her, but in fact he was directing his attention to a girl about Nanako's age. Some of these kids had to have siblings, she realized. This 'big sis' was playing with her phone while the daycare manager double-checked her name against the list.

I suppose I can't be the ONLY big sister in this town... but clearly I'm the best one, Nanako thought, smiling smugly to herself.

The girl glanced at her over the phone as if to ask, 'What's your problem?'

Of course, Nanako had too many problems to name, and in fact began to mentally list them in her head when the other girl gasped, looking past her. Nanako turned around just in time to see Yuuta trip over his untied shoe. His arms flailed as he tried to keep his balance, but he was unable to stop himself from landing headfirst on the ground.

Nanako hissed in sympathy, and when Yuuta began to wail, she began to move forward, but the boy was several feet away. So far, in fact, that someone else beat her to it.

Souji.

Souji patted Yuuta's shoulder until the boy looked up at him. Then he cupped Yuuta's head in his hands, leaned forward, and kissed him on his forehead, right on the spot he'd hurt. He was kissing it better.

Yuuta's wails subsided into sniffles. When he wiped his eyes a moment later, he stopped crying altogether and sent his friend a grateful smile.

Too. Precious. It took all of Nanako's self-control not to squeal. She did, however, have to make sure Yuuta was okay so she went over there and fussed over him herself. He had a nice bump growing on his head, but it wasn't bleeding or anything, so he was probably okay.

"Big sis, can Yuu-kun come home with us?" Souji asked while she was still rubbing Yuuta's head. "And... and stay the night?"

Nanako almost replied automatically with a 'sure,' but it wasn't entirely up to her. "Only if Yuu-chan's mom says it's okay. And Yuu-chan has to ask her himself!"

"Awwwww," Yuuta whined, pulling away from her. "Do I gotta?"

"You gotta," Nanako said, nodding her head.

Yuuta sighed in an exaggerated way, and then said, "Okay."

Of course that would only happen when Minami finally arrived to pick him up. While waiting for her, Nanako asked Souji and Yuuta to help clean up by collecting all the discarded makeshift ponchos and putting them in the trash.

But to Nanako's surprise, instead of being dead last, there were still a few other kids waiting for their guardians when Minami showed up. "Yuu-kun," Minami called. "Are you ready to go?"

"Actually, Mom!" he said. Then he realized what he'd just said and his cheeks turned all red. "I-I mean, Minami-san... I wanna go home with Sou-chan!"

"What else do you need to say, Yuu-chan?" Nanako prompted.

He blinked. "P-please?"

Minami mulled it over. "I guess it's all right." She addressed Nanako. "When do you want me to pick him up?"

Nanako hashed out the details with her, and soon enough she was taking both of the boys home to the Seta Residence. Naoto had not been expecting company, but he wasn't exactly surprised to see Yuuta, and at least they'd met before after the beach trip. And now that Yuuta was better-versed in Featherman lore, they had so much to talk about! In fact, Souji took out one of several volumes of the manga Naoto had purchased and all three ended up sitting on the floor in Souji's room to read it together.

Aunt Seta came home while they were still reading, bringing takeout she'd picked up for dinner. Nanako had texted her about Yuuta's presence so he wasn't left out. While they ate, though, somehow the conversation turned to dessert, and Nanako lamented the fact they had none.

"You still have some cookie mix," Naoto pointed out. "But I suppose it's getting late to bake."

"It's never too late for cookies!" Nanako declared. "Err... if it's okay with you, Aunt Seta."

"Please," Aunt Seta said. "Just save some for me."

"We have the best cookie-cutters," Souji told Yuuta.

"I wanna see!" Yuuta requested, and then Nanako was getting out all the ingredients and telling the boys how they could best help her make a batch of cookies.

In the process, however, the bag of flour fell off the counter and onto Yuuta, caking him with a fine layer and ruining his clothes.

Yuuta looked like he might cry again, this time out of embarrassment. The poor boy kept looking between Nanako and Aunt Seta, expecting to be punished or reprimanded somehow, so Nanako went and screamed:

"Aunt Seta, we got a ghost in the house!"

Now the ball was in her court. Nanako had no idea how her aunt might react; she was certainly cool, but she only ever joked when Adachi was in the room, which in hindsight was a pretty obvious—

"That won't do," Aunt Seta said suddenly. "Ghosts are not allowed in the house. Sou-chan, you must catch it."

Now smiling from ear to ear, Souji pounced on his friend like a ferocious, 2 foot tall werecat, covering himself in flour.

Long story short, the boys needed a bath.

But not before they baked ghost cookies. Aunt Seta volunteered to watch the oven. Maybe she was in a good mood? Whatever the case, they started having fun the moment Yuuta lost his shirt. Nanako hauled them out of the kitchen and into the bathroom stat, but once there, they were surprised by a wild Naoto in the bathtub.

"Oh!" Nanako exclaimed. "Cover your eyes, kids!"

"It is quite alright," Naoto said, smiling softly. No, more than that, his smile was... peaceful. Nanako hadn't seen him wear that expression before, and silence filled the room as she admired it.

"Um... big sis... can we look now?" Souji's tiny voice asked, hands still covering his eyes. Yuuta too. Not what Nanako would have done at their age, that's for sure.

Nanako looked at the detective once more, and he simply nodded. "Yeah, you can look now."

Nanako watched carefully for Yuuta's reaction. Wide eyes scanning back and forth, a slight shifting of weight from one leg to the other—but his mouth was set in a grim line, like he was determined not to say anything stupid.

"I thought you only had one big sis," he said, after a few seconds.

"I do," Souji answered firmly, a rare thing for him.

"I suspect this must be quite complicated for you, Yuuta-kun," Naoto said, looking at him kindly.

"But I thought this was your big bro?"

"I am," Naoto answered, sharing a look with Souji, then a smile.

"You remember when I said some girls liked both boys and girls?" Nanako asked. "Well, some girls don't like being girls. Some girls feel wrong. These girls might not know what they should be or how they should feel, not for a good while."

"I don't like being a boy sometimes," Yuuta said, fidgeting a little bit. Nanako raised her eyebrows, surprised, but decided not to confuse the boy further by getting into it.

"Naoto here decided that until he figures it out, he'd rather be a boy," she continued, "and to us, he is."

"I guess that makes sense," the boy said as the fidgeting passed.

"Big bro is big bro," Souji offered, shrugging slightly, and Yuuta seemed to accept that.

"Now," said the detective prince, "I believe we have a mystery on our hands. These two innocent boys seem to have been turned into ghosts."

Yuuta giggled.

It was a nice bath.

When it came to be time for bed, the rain outside meant it was cold like it was supposed to be, which meant Yuuta couldn't just sleep in his underwear like last time. On the upside, Souji had this set of adorable footie PJs that fit his friend like a glove, and as always, big bro and sis both took a copious amount of pictures. Subtly, of course.

Since they were exhausted from their exciting day playing outside, it was easy to put them to sleep. Really, Nanako thought, all the parents should thank her for tiring the kids out so much. Anyway, like last time, Yuuta shared Souji's futon. It was cute to see them side-by-side like that. Yuuta was on his back with his mouth wide open. Souji was cuddling Foxy next to him, and his breath kept hitting Yuuta's hair, making it blow this way and that.

"Are you going to head to bed now, too?" Nanako whispered to Naoto as they watched the children sleep.

"It's only a little longer before the Midnight Channel," Naoto said. "We should both watch it."

Nanako tried to tune out Yuuta's snoring to hear the rain and determined that it was steady. Steady enough to last until midnight, hopefully—especially since they'd set up a VCR in Nanako's room to record what appeared on the TV. No longer would they rely solely on Yosuke's shaky hand to record it on his phone, nor would they have only a single snapshot of the TV screen to go on. Nanako only wished she'd thought of this before, especially when Yukiko's Shadow had been on so long ago. Lacy unmentionables, heh heh...

"Rise-san is having a good time," Naoto remarked while they waited for midnight in Nanako's room. "She's still far from Inaba. I suspect the Midnight Channel will have given up on her by now."

"She's definitely not been on the news at all," Nanako agreed. "But neither has anyone else. The town's been so quiet." Too quiet, Nanako wanted to add, but that was too dramatic even to her sensibilities.

"Everyone's already forgotten the Tofu Shop Incident," Naoto said. "But I can't blame them. Nothing came of it, after all."

"It was news for a week." Nanako sighed. Adachi-san had refused to be interviewed on TV regarding the incident, so he was probably safe, though his statement had been circulated in the newspaper. Nanako began to snicker. If the whole situation revolved around newspapers instead of TV, would it be called the Midnight Edition?

Naoto ignored her snickering, correctly identifying that it wasn't about anything important, to focus on turning on the VCR. They'd decided to start it recording early so that there wasn't any chance of fumbling it and missing the show.

"On the one hand," Nanako said, "I hope nothing's on so we don't have anything to worry about, but on the other hand..."

"This waiting game is starting to become tedious, yes," Naoto agreed. "Every day that passes with the murderer free increases the likelihood that he will never be caught."

Nanako opened her phone to check the clock. She wondered idly if Yosuke was sitting in his room, ready to watch it as well.

The next few minutes passed painfully slowly, and during them Nanako kept one ear on the rain. It remained steady.

The TV clicked on with the sound of static. Nanako held her breath, aware that Naoto next to her was doing the same.

A silhouette appeared on the screen, but it was so blurry and indistinct that she couldn't tell the person's age or even their gender. Who is it? she wondered. If only the static could clear up for just a second...!

She blinked. For a moment, she thought she'd seen something familiar through the static, but it was so small and distant that she couldn't name it.

And then the silhouette was gone, and the TV turned off.

Nanako and Naoto looked at each other. Naoto spoke first. "That was rather fruitless."

"We can only hope the killer hasn't a damn clue who it is either," Nanako said. "Still, I thought I saw something... Well, we recorded it, so we can watch it as many times as we want."

Naoto nodded. "Yes. In fact, I'd like to take the recording to the police station in the morning. They have special programs to deal with security camera footage and make them clearer. I can try it on this, and convert it to a digital version in the process."

It sounded good to Nanako. With that, she bid Naoto a good night and went to bed.

---

[10/2: Sunday]

Yuuta didn't have anything to wear the next day, so Nanako just let him keep wearing the footie PJs. He could borrow some of Souji's play clothes, but where was the fun in that?

As befitting of a lazy Sunday morning, they spent it watching cartoons and eating gummi snacks. Both Souji and Yuuta sang the Featherman theme song, alternating the lines like it was a duet. During the show, Nanako texted Chie that training was out for the day since she was babysitting.

After the shows, they went to Nanako's room and played dress-up with her clothes so that Yuuta could have a costume for Colonel Carnation. She made sure it contained as much pink as she could possibly manage, including some of her own lacy unmentionables. He wore these on his arms, making them resemble Marie's arm warmers.

Nanako introduced Yuuta to all of her stuffed animals, including, of course, Princess Chan-chan, the big purple bunny. When Yuuta hugged the plushie, it lasted a long time, and he stroked the soft fabric over and over again, probably without even realizing he was doing it. She could tell the kid needed it. She'd have to convince Minami to buy him a giant plushie of his own sometime!

They continued to play with the stuffed animals until late in the afternoon. Foxie was the rapscallion that she always was, this time stealing one of Chan-chan's ribbons and then being teleported to a whole other world as punishment by the Wand of Justice.

At some point, a knock on the door interrupted their play. It was Yuuta's stepmom come to take him home. It was actually a little later in the day than Nanako had planned, but she didn't mind; they'd been having so fun that she hadn't realized the time anyway. Yuuta was still wearing his Colonel Carnation costume, and when Minami saw him in it, she couldn't help but smile (though she tried to hide it behind her hand).

"I see that you had fun, Yuu-kun," she remarked.

"No I didn't!" Yuuta replied vehemently.

"No?" Minami asked. "You had no fun at all?"

Yuuta crossed his arms, accidentally pulling off a pair of underwear in the process. He nodded. "No fun."

Yuuta maintained his stance for a good ten seconds before both he and his stepmom began laughing. Apparently they were sharing a private joke of some sort. Though she didn't get it, Nanako was glad to see them getting along so well.

"Ah, I'll get him changed," Nanako said when they'd both calmed down. A few minutes later Yuuta was back in his old clothes and on the threshold, holding his stepmom's hand.

"All right, Yuu-kun, are you ready to go?" Minami asked.

"Yeah..."

"Did you thank them for having you over?"

"'Course I did," he said, but then he followed it up with, "Thanks, Souji! And big sis!"

"Silly goose," Nanako thought out loud. "Oh, don't forget to give your mom some of those cookies!"

His eyes widening, Yuuta rushed to the kitchen to grab a plastic bag full of cookies they'd prepared earlier for him to bring home. Minami took the bag from him, held it up to the light, and remarked that they looked delicious.

And then they were off... leaving Nanako and Souji with a messy house to clean! Souji was low-maintenance, but Yuuta was a bit more energetic. When playing with Nanako's plushies, he often picked them up and then left them at random places all over the room based on his whim or whether something else had distracted him. Not only that, he'd gotten into her Loveline manga so she also had to reorder the books on her shelf.

The sheets to Souji's futon had to be resettled since the boys had shifted them during their sleep. While she was putting the pillow back in the pillowcase, Souji held up something pink. "Yuu-kun left these!" he said.

They were a pair of briefs. Nanako hadn't noticed at all during bath time, but they were definitely pink. Was Minami also shopping at Junes? And when had she discovered the boy's favorite color? Nanako shook her head with a smile and put the underwear in the laundry bin. They'd sort it out to return to him later.

By the time they were finished cleaning up both rooms, it was evening. Aunt Seta was still away, having been called in to do something for work—Nanako hadn't asked for details—even though it was a Sunday. Since there hadn't been any word from her, Nanako and Souji simply ate some leftovers in the fridge for dinner.

While she was cleaning up the dishes, she noticed that although they'd swept up the flour disaster yesterday, there were specks of white here and there on the floor; obviously they'd missed some. She took the broom out of the closet and began to sweep the dust into a pile, and Souji, darling boy that he was, volunteered to help. She gave him a brush and a dustpan and told him to get to work while she finished up the dishes.

They were still cleaning when there was a knock on the door. Souji perked up from where he was bent over the floor. "Mama?"

Nanako patted him on the head on the way to the front door. It was Saki! Nanako looked her girlfriend up and down—she was wearing a red dress and matching flats. "Well, well, well," Nanako said with a purr, "this is exactly what I'd ordered."

Except that the worried look on Saki's face meant this wasn't a sugoi booty call. "Nanako," Saki said, stepping forward, "there's something you need to know about."

"What's up?" Nanako asked, turning serious in an instant.

Saki removed her shoes and followed Nanako into the kitchen, where she paused at the sight of Souji on the floor. She stared at him for a moment, then looked at Nanako, who wondered if it was something too serious for the boy to overhear. Then Saki shook her head slightly and spoke in a whisper. "Souji-kun, he..." she began, then stopped, as if finding the words she wanted to say was difficult.

In the end, she gave up entirely, instead taking out her phone and showing its screen to Nanako. She navigated a few menus before arriving at a video. Nanako's eyes narrowed as she focused on it.

She recognized the auditorium: it was Yasogami High's gym. And on the stage was... Oh! It was Souji's elementary class! Apparently someone had taken a video of the presentation and uploaded it to the Internet.

She looked at Saki, who continued to look worried. "Yeah?" she queried.

"Look at the comments," Saki said.

'inaba's best and brightest'

'raining cats and dogs lol'

'I had to do this when I was in elementary too'

'Who is the boy with gray hair? He's adorable'
→ 'you think he's cute here? Look at this!'

From the timestamp, the last comment was from only 20 or so hours ago. Frowning, Nanako followed the link and another video played. Souji and Yuuta were in a grassy field. Yuuta was crying and then Souji kissed his head.

"Oh, this happened yesterday," she said. "At the daycare. But why is there a video of it?"

She remembered that other girl with a cellphone who'd come to pick up her little brother.

"That's rude," Nanako thought out loud. "I mean, a video of their school presentation, sure, but Sou-chan and Yuu-chan were just playing. She didn't even know them."

"Only yesterday?" Saki's voice was a disbelieving hush. "But look how many views it has!"

There were thousands of views. Nanako stared. A silly video of her little cousin had gone viral overnight. It seemed like everyone in Inaba had seen it, and then some.

There was a knock on the door. Souji lifted his head once again. "I'll get it," he volunteered. "Mama should be home."

Nanako nodded at him and went back to the previous video to re-read the comments.

Cats and dogs, huh... The timestamp on that comment was a few days ago, and she recognized the commenter's name as a student in her own class. Those kids she'd heard laughing before school that day hadn't been watching a cat video—they'd been watching this.

And those women at Junes who'd been pointing at Souji when he'd been wearing his cat ears. They must have recognized him from the video.

When she heard the lock from the front door click open, the gears clicked into place in her head. A wave of apprehension came over her.

"No," Nanako whispered, moving into a sprint towards the door, but it was too late.

The masked deliveryman grabbed Souji, who let out only a squeak before his mouth was covered by a gloved hand.

Nanako screamed. The kidnapper turned and ran. "D-don't follow me!" he shouted behind him, rushing down the front walkway towards a parked moving van.

Nanako chased him as fast as she could. The van's back door was wide open. There was a massive TV inside. Without pausing, the kidnapper pushed Souji towards it.

"No!" Nanako cried, launching herself desperately at the man, but he scrambled forward at the same time so she only got ahold of his pants leg. He kicked her hard in the face with the heel of his boot. Blood welled in her mouth as her teeth cut on her lip. Heedless of the pain, she held on for dear life. Not her life, but Souji's.

"I'll save him," the kidnapper growled. "You won't stop me." He kicked again, trying to pry her off his leg.

She hissed in pain. "Give him back, you bastard!"

But Nanako's weight on his legs was not enough to keep him from reaching the TV. Souji's body disappeared through the screen. The killer kicked her one last time before he pulled himself up and over the edge of the TV's screen, escaping into it.

"Senpai!" Nanako shouted, brushing away the blood on her face. "Get the others!"

The last thing she heard was her name.

Falling into the TV World was different this time, possibly because it wasn't the Junes TV she'd entered and possibly because a dungeon of some sort was forming around her as she descended. Not that Nanako could see her surroundings very well through her rage and tears.

She landed hard on her back, hardly noticing the pain.

"Souji!" she cried out. Maybe she had landed close to him, or maybe he would wake up, or something, anything.

Nothing. No response, she couldn't see or hear a thing. Souji was all alone in this darkness, and so was she.

Nanako was crying. There was nothing she could do about this. No glasses, and she realized when she pulled herself to her feet, no shoes either. Maybe her eyes would adjust once she stopped crying, but her thoughts kept darting back to Souji, her baby boy, her darling child, he didn't deserve any of this. This shouldn't be happening, not to him, not to anyone, but especially not to him.

Souji... why...

It took her some time to calm down enough. It shouldn't be happening, but it was happening. She wiped her eyes and bloody lip on her blouse. There was something she could do. Only she could rescue Souji now, and first she'd have to find him.

Nanako took a step forward and the wooden floor creaked under her feet. Though she paused, hoping she hadn't alerted any Shadows to her presence, it was actually a relief to hear a sound other than her sobs. Listening carefully, she could also hear a howling in the distance; she hoped it was only the wind.

Anyway, there was a floor, which meant there were walls too. Nanako found one and kept her hand on it as an anchor while she walked along. Rounding the corner, she found a room illuminated by a faint blue light, a dining room of some sort. There was something familiar about it, but she didn't have the time to contemplate. Everything in it was much bigger than it should be, she noticed that much. The table was as tall as she was, she had to step on the tips of her toes just to peer over it. There was a shoebox on it, too far for her to reach.

All of a sudden, the shadows in the room moved. Nanako's heart pounded. Instinctively, her hand moved to the strap on her leg, where she kept that combat knife. Maybe she wasn't completely unprepared. However, she soon found the shadows weren't moving on their own, but rather it was the light source... not that that was any less frightening.

As she focused on the light source, she discovered that it was a bright blue butterfly. "What are you doing here?" she whispered.

The butterfly danced in the air as if answering her, and then flew towards the door at the far end of the room. She followed it, not wanting to be left in darkness. The next area was a winding corridor. The butterfly flew aimlessly through it, but Nanako didn't mind so much. Its presence was calming in this dark place. Perhaps sensing this, it fluttered around her head, reminding her of the one that had alighted on Souji's nose by the river during Golden Week, and before she knew it, she was smiling at its attention.

It doubled back, flying behind her, and she turned around to follow. Soon it alighted on a windowsill that she didn't remember being there before. It flexed its wings open and shut, relaxing. It really was very pretty. She thought she could see a pattern on its wings.

She was still watching it when the window shattered into thousands of fragments, some grazing her in their flight. The glass was followed by a massive, scaly arm—the Shadow that had destroyed the window was now after her.

Nanako jumped back to avoid being snatched, slamming herself hard into the wall behind her. She called on Izanami to defend her, but as the Persona appeared, bathing the area in blue light, there was suddenly nothing for it to attack. There was no sign of the Shadow she was sure she'd seen, and when she blinked her eyes, the window was no longer broken.

The butterfly winked out of existence. In the ensuing darkness, Nanako slid down against the wall, gasping for her breath, her heart pounding in her ears. She shouldn't have gone into the TV World without her friends for backup. She hoped so hard that Saki was gathering them, because at this rate, she would need to be rescued as much as Souji.

Thinking of her cousin brought back some strength. She gathered her energy and stood up on shaky legs. A scraping sound to her right caught her attention, but without any light, she couldn't see anything, and the sound soon stopped. She glared into the darkness, feeling helpless. She couldn't rely only on her hearing like this—she needed to see. She remembered the light from Izanami, but none of her Personas could remain summoned for very long. She would exhaust herself if she continuously brought them out just to use them for light.

The card itself, though, also produced light. She wondered if it was possible to keep the card out without actually bringing forth the Persona. She thought of Soma, the Persona that Margaret had asked her to create, and its card, but try as she might, she couldn't manage to produce just the card. It began to give her a headache before long, and her hand cramped up from her palm remaining open for so long.

But it had to be possible, she reasoned, because once in a while an enemy would interrupt her right in the middle of summoning with the Persona's card still out, essentially canceling the summon. This meant that finishing the summon wasn't a requirement for the card to exist.

She pictured a card floating over the palm of her hand. It was a tarot card, of course, with that expressionless mask on the back. The face side... it was Izanami's card. This was the Persona she defaulted to the most, after all.

The card appeared in her hand. She smiled wryly to herself at its sight, but the urge to break it and bring out Izanami was almost overwhelming, like trying to stop an oncoming sneeze. She resisted it as best she could, but when she took a step forward, she stumbled and the card blinked out of sight, leaving her with a burning afterimage before her eyes and an uneasy feeling akin to regret.

She knew she could do this. She tried again, picturing the card until it manifested. As soon as it was there, she grabbed it with her left hand. As she closed her fingers around it, a pain shot through her head and she almost let go, but she was too fiercely determined to give up. Though her head pounded in protest, the card didn't break despite the iron grip she held it in. Carefully she lifted it up like a torch. There was enough light to see by. It wasn't nearly as vibrant as the butterfly had been, but it would do.

She smiled to herself. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. She could find Souji. The smile dropped. She had to find him, and fast. He must feel so scared and alone...

She was in a short hallway with a few doors. She set her hand on the nearest door handle, but before she could turn it, she heard the creak of another door opening behind her. She whirled around, but despite her light, there was nothing she could see. Her new problem was the fog.

She couldn't let it get to her. Moving forward, she found an open door to her right. She peered inside, but the darkness within it was so pronounced that even her Persona card's light could not penetrate it, even after shining it from several different angles. It was almost as if the darkness itself had body to it.

A muffled voice came from the other side, too indistinct to identify. "Souji?" she whispered. Her voice echoed after her, magnified somehow.

There was no answer. Nanako took a step towards the impenetrable darkness, but the hairs rose on her neck, and she decided that maybe that wasn't the direction she wanted to go. Instead, she chose another door in the hall at random and entered it.

It was a bathroom, though the tub was too large for her to climb in. The wash faucets were high on the wall, well out of reach. She could barely make out the shape of a shelf above her, but it was too obscured by fog for her to see if there was anything on it. She stood on her tiptoes to get a closer look, and a sense of deja vu came over her, disorienting her for a moment until she shook her head and cleared it away. She felt like she'd been here before, and recently, too.

With a sad sigh, she went back into the hallway. None of the other doors would open, so she had little choice. She steeled her nerves and entered through the wall of darkness. The air felt cool around her, and her Persona card winked out of existence despite her every effort to keep it out.

She could still see, though, because on the other side there was a lamp on a nightstand shining faintly through the fog. The room was an unfamiliar bedroom. The futon had been rolled up and neatly put away. Walking around the room, Nanako found it was mostly featureless, with no pictures or decorations on the walls. Most importantly, there was no sign of a little boy, and the room appeared to be a dead end. The only door was the one she'd entered from.

There was, however, an open closet. Nanako approached it slowly, unable to trust anything in this place. She peered into it, allowing her eyes to adjust to the lamp's light in this far corner of the room, and found that the closet was packed to the brim with binders. The text on the binding was illegible.

Curiosity won out over caution, and Nanako pried one of the binders out from the stack, careful not to upset the balance and end up buried by them. It turned out to be a photo album. Working on automatic, she flipped it open to a random page.

The people in every picture were just black silhouettes. The eeriness was magnified by the fact that the backgrounds were completely intact, it was just the people that were turned into these misshapen blobs.

As she watched, the silhouettes began to move and dance in their photos. Though it might've just been a trick of the dim light, she slammed the book closed and shoved it back into the closet before she could find out for sure.

Souji definitely wasn't in this room, so she left it behind, trying to put the whole experience out of her mind. It wasn't until after she was quite a bit away that she realized the binders had been normal-sized, when everything else was larger than they should be.

She walked down the hallway briskly, knowing she'd wasted too much time already and hadn't seen even one small sign of Souji. She wondered if calling his name would help, but it seemed too dangerous to alert her presence to any Shadows in the area.

In her haste, she stumbled over something, barely managing to catch herself against the wall. Upon closer inspection, the 'something' turned out to be a pair of shoes. Thinking nothing of it, Nanako slipped them on.

They fit perfectly.

A chill went through her, and then she spied another pair of shoes nearby. These were smaller and black... like they belonged to a child.

There'd been something familiar about this place, and it came to her then—this was the Seta Residence. The shoes fit so well because they were actually hers.

But the entryway's dimensions were completely off. The walls weren't supposed to be so far apart, and the front door was too large. This was the Seta Residence, yes, but it was warped and twisted by the TV World, like Naoki's Junes. There was even a hallway here to her left that did not exist in the real house. Thinking nothing of it except that she hadn't explored it yet, she headed towards it.

'Wrong way,' a voice cut through the silence. Nanako whirled, instinctively bringing her knife up, ready to stab it through the Shadow's chest, but there was nothing.

She shook her head, sure that this place was messing with her mind, and took another step forward.

'You're going the wrong way,' the same voice said.

Nanako looked around, scouring the darkness around her, but she knew she wouldn't see anything. This feeling, the way the voice spoke to her, it was familiar.

"Teddie?" she whispered.

Her breath stopped for a moment as she remembered that Teddie was dead. It wasn't him. It couldn't be.

'You want to save him? The kid?'

"Yes!" she shouted. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

'He's upstairs. You need to hurry.'

Upstairs. Nanako nodded. All right. If this was the Seta Residence, and she was in the entryway, that meant the stairs were... this way. After resummoning her Persona card for light, she headed on her way.

'Stop!'

Nanako stopped in her tracks. "What?"

'Back up! Get out of that hallway, now!'

Confused, she took a step back, and was just in time to witness a massive shapeless Shadow charging right through the place she'd been standing. Her Persona card blinked out as she jumped away in surprise. If she hadn't moved, the Shadow would have tackled her, possibly crushed her into a wall.

Her mouth opened and close several times. She couldn't find words to react to this near-death experience. "So there are Shadows in here," she finally managed to remark.

'You're lucky I'm here.'

"Yeah," she said simply.

There was a short pause, and then, 'Turn to your left. A little more. Perfect. Go that way.'

Nanako nodded to herself and strode into the darkness. If she could rely on her newfound friend, she wouldn't need light. She followed the voice's directions through several turns in the house, bumping into the walls a few times until she got more used to it. Every time it told her to stop and wait, she held her breath, knowing that she was waiting for a Shadow to move out of her path. She could hear them sometimes, and it made the wait nearly unbearable.

In fact, she'd been standing at this corner for a while now, awaiting the all-clear. It was making her impatient. "Is there a problem?"

'This one's not moving, and there's no way around it.'

She peered around the corner, carefully summoning her card and angling it both to provide light but also not attract attention. It was a black blob Shadow, not as large as the one that had nearly crashed into her earlier, but still intimidating.

The voice began to speak rather skeptically of another path she could take, but Nanako had already rounded the corner and was now making a mad dash towards the Shadow. She sunk the combat knife deep into the amorphous flesh. As she twisted it deeper, the blob began to shift under her, desperately trying to transform into something more monstrous. She punched at the face beginning to take shape—a lion's head—and pulled out the knife and stabbed again and again until the Shadow gave up and dissolved into dust under her.

'Nice,' the voice said as she panted for her breath. 'That saves us time.'

Nanako was just glad it hadn't been immune to physical, or worse, reflect it. Her friend didn't waste any time, instructing her then to take a left.

While going down the empty hall, she suddenly felt a presence ghost past her. She shivered and closed her eyes, willing it to be her imagination. It wasn't a Shadow; her friend would have warned her if it was.

'Ah, that's...' the voice began, trailing off.

The voice didn't continue, and Nanako had the feeling that maybe it didn't know. She opened her eyes and peered through the fog. She saw nothing, but then a movement caught her eyes. She strained her eyes further, but still couldn't see anything. Right when she was about to give up, a door creaked open, bringing in light from outside the house. In the doorway she could see...

"Sou-chan?" she whispered.

The ghostly form of the child standing there didn't respond. There was little substance to him; she could see right through him to the street beyond. She wasn't sure if he was really there or it was just another trick of her mind.

The child stepped outside. Nanako headed outside too, intending to follow, but the voice came loud and clear: 'Don't! That's not what you think it is!'

"It looks like Sou-chan," she whimpered. "But it's not... it's not..."

'It's not,' the voice agreed. 'Haven't you looked outside? You don't want to go out there.'

"But... Sou-chan..."

On automatic, Nanako began to follow the ghost child outside and down the street. Everything here had an odd orange hue, but at least she could see without her Persona's help. It was a welcome change from the darkness within the house.

As she hustled after the child, an inhuman cry broke her out of her reverie. A trio of ravens carrying lanterns were bearing down on her, and their calls brought the attention of both a nearby minotaur and a giant arm carrying a sword. At a glance, several other Shadows were behind them. A fight could only escalate the amount of enemies she would have to defeat, assuming she even could. She scrambled back to the house, the Shadows hot on her tail. She slammed the door behind her barely in time. Several heavy thuds rained on it, making the wood shudder and bend.

Fortunately, the door managed to hold out longer than the Shadows' attention spans. The thuds ended as the Shadows apparently wandered away. Out of sight, out of mind, perhaps.

Nanako relaxed, heaving a soft sigh and letting her weight fall from the door.

'I told you.'

Though the voice's tone was chiding, there was an undercurrent of worry to it. "I'm sorry," Nanako said.

'Don't make this all for nothing, okay? You can save him. There's still time.'

"All right. Thanks. Where do I need to go now?"

'Follow the wall to your right. Oh, hold on...'

The door behind Nanako unlocked, and it was wide open before she could stop it. She drew her knife, expecting a Shadow, but it was just the ghost child, returned from its errand. There was no denying it now—despite the transparency, she could clearly see the boy's yellow eyes. Staring at them, it took a moment for Nanako to process the fact that the child was now carrying several boxes of takeout.

The Shadow child moved past her, and Nanako followed it without really thinking. It returned to the kitchen, where it settled the boxes onto the table. It climbed into a chair too large for it and sat at the table.

Several moments passed with the Shadow just sitting there, staring at its takeout. Every so often it would glance out the kitchen window, then return its attention to the box.

Finally it released a resigned sigh and opened the box and began to eat.

Nanako blinked away the tears forming in her eyes and turned away from the scene.

'Not to hurry you or anything,' the voice said, 'but they're starting to get restless.'

She wiped her nose on her sleeve, wondering what the voice meant until it dawned on her that it had to be the Shadows. She could hear it now, arrhythmic thumping against the kitchen window and the front door. The Shadows outside were trying to get into the house with unusual focus.

'I'm not sure what's got them riled up,' the voice admitted, 'but I get the feeling there isn't much time.'

"I think…" Nanako began, and paused because she then realized she could see all the way to the front door from the kitchen, despite the distance. The fog was beginning to clear up.

She needed to get moving. She made to head for the stairs, but a new sound caught her ear. She'd recognize that crisp tone anywhere: Aunt Seta's voice. Though Nanako couldn't make out the words, Aunt Seta sounded like she was on the phone. The sound drifted through the air, sourceless, towards the living room. Souji's Shadow watched it move. When the TV turned on in the living room, the child sighed and turned its attention to the homework it was working on.

Nanako remained there for a while longer, surprised on some level that the voice wasn't goading her into action despite the fact that the Shadows outside were getting louder. She just didn't want to leave the Shadow boy here, but she also didn't want to know what would happen when the fog lifted. She remembered what Teddie had said about that.

She shook her head and headed for the stairs, finding them easily enough, though the way they twisted made them unrecognizable from any set of stairs she'd seen before. She blinked up at the darkness at the top. "Are you sure he's up there?"

'Positive. Or at least, there are two things that aren't Shadows up there.'

Two? The kidnapper had to be up there with him. "He's..." Nanako began, then swallowed the question she'd almost asked. "He's okay, right?" she tried again, a more palatable question.

'For now,' was the answer, and that was enough to move her up the foreboding staircase.

To her surprise, she only had to round one twist before she ran into a big door. Orange light bled out under it. She stared at this light for a long moment because the brilliance of color in this house of darkness was notable all on its own.

She put her ear to the door, but couldn't hear anything past it. The door wouldn't budge when she pushed on it. There was an overlarge keyhole by the handle. She didn't have the key—wait. She knew what room this was, and she did have the key on her, even if she never locked the door herself.

She unlocked the door, and with a click, it opened. Though she'd tried to prepare for it, she was blinded by the brilliant orange light that suddenly bathed her. The light originated from a massive cartoon sun far in the distance.

When her eyes adjusted, she found herself in a large room open to the sky. She didn't care to take in the room's details, though, because a little boy's form was lying on a pile of stuffed animals right in the center.

Nanako jogged towards the boy, slowing as she drew close. Souji was breathing, apparently asleep. Despite being here in the TV World, he seemed at peace. She knelt by his side, wondering if she should wake him first or just carry him out of here. She knelt down by his side and cradled his head in her hands, cooing softly at him.

She picked him up, and he stirred but didn't awaken. She took a few steps towards the door and stopped. The little ghost boy had apparently followed her up the stairs and was standing in the way.

It stared at her. Then its eyes moved from her to Souji, then back again. Not once did it blink.

Finally, it spoke. "I'm... alone..." it said, sounding almost as if it was asking a question.

"I'm here," Nanako told it. "And Sou-chan will be okay."

"I'm all alone." It said these words with more strength, and more than a little sadness. "Papa left me..."

Nanako's heart fell. It really was Souji's Shadow, then, and her baby boy was hurting. He missed his dad probably more than she ever suspected.

"Papa left me... If he loved me... then why did he go?"

In her arms, Souji made an unpleasant sound, though he didn't awaken. She tried to hold him closer to her chest.

"I miss him," the Shadow said, "but he didn't love me."

"He loved you," Nanako said, spying the sudden frown on her sleeping baby's face. She knew she couldn't keep quiet. "I know he did. He bought you Rainbow Fish, and..."

The Shadow just shook its head. The furrows of Souji's frown grew tighter until it seemed more like a painful grimace.

"A-and he took baths with you," Nanako rallied on. "He'd pet your head, just like this, Sou-chan!" Though she couldn't pet him, carrying him as she was, she lifted him up to her chin and rubbed his hair with it. His expression remained disturbed.

"Papa left me," the Shadow said, "and Mama's no different. She loves work more than she loves me."

That was more difficult to argue against, but Nanako tried anyway. "No, no, she's doing her best, Sou-chan! That's why she lets you go to cram school. You love cram school, you told me so yourself!"

Souji was biting his lip in his sleep.

"Someday," the Shadow said, "Mama won't even come home from work, and I'll be completely alone."

"She won't do that," Nanako said. "She might stay late, but she always comes home for you!"

Souji whimpered several times but still remained asleep. He shivered, as if he needed a blanket.

"And Mama said..."

The Shadow paused.

"W-what?" Nanako asked.

"Big sis will leave me, too."

Amid several more whimpers, Souji's body twitched, like he was having a nightmare.

"Sou-chan!" Nanako said, stricken. She hugged him ever tighter, but the nightmare didn't end. Souji didn't awaken, and his body wouldn't stop shaking. "It's okay, I'm here. I won't leave you, not now..."

"I'm always alone..." the Shadow said. "Because I'm a big boy..."

Enough, Nanako decided. She had to get Souji out of here. She maneuvered around the Shadow, stepping past it and towards the doorway.

Only to find a man in a green jumpsuit rushing into the room. He didn't notice Nanako and threw the door shut behind him, screaming "No!" and slamming all his weight behind it. Someone's hand was crushed in the gap.

"Fucking hell!" shouted a familiar voice on the other side of the door. It was Kanji! Kanji pulled his injured hand out of the gap and the man slammed the door shut, keeping his weight against it.

"Open the door, jackass!" That was Yosuke. Was the whole squad here? Nanako felt immensely relieved.

"Guys! I'm here, and I got Souji!" she shouted.

The man nearly jumped away from the door, startled at hearing her. He cast a baleful eye on her. "You again?"

He must have lost his mask somewhere along the way. In the fading sunlight, Nanako could recognize him. It was Taro Namatame.

"Let the boy go," Namatame said. "He'll be safe here. This is the only safe place."

"Safe?" Nanako repeated. "You think this place is safe? You've been killing people!"

"N-no… this place is safe!" Namatame said. "I've been saving everyone. The innkeeper, the punk boy, th-the detective! But I couldn't save the idol..." He shook his head, and then his mad eyes were even more determined. "I won't let this boy die!"

He reached out for Souji, and Nanako stepped back. Namatame didn't follow, not willing to take his weight from the door. The whole team was there now, Nanako could hear them, all trying to break it down. It wouldn't last much longer under their assault.

"Just look around you!" Nanako said. "You think this fog is safe to breathe?" Namatame looked around, but there wasn't actually much fog anymore. The room's features were clear now: the unrolled futon in the corner, the TV she rarely used, the desk she never once studied at, the moving boxes she had yet to unpack…

The door was suddenly blown off its hinges, nearly crushing Namatame, who was then thrown to the floor. Nanako hardly noticed because she was looking out of the window. The fog was dissipating before her very eyes, revealing an ordinary-looking street, the view she saw nearly every day out of her own window. Except the street never crawled like it was covered in ants before. These weren't ants, though, they were hundreds and hundreds of Shadows writhing together.

"You think those aren't going to slaughter anyone they see?" Nanako cried.

Namatame pulled himself to his knees. He blinked owlishly at her, then looked where she was pointing. "W-what are…"

"When the fog is gone," she said. "We won't want to be here."

"No," he said, and she couldn't tell if he was agreeing with her or not. After a moment, he turned his head from the window and stretched out both arms towards her. "Give me… the boy!"

The sun was beginning to set. In its odd lighting, Namatame's skin looked like it was crawling. She recoiled by stepping back.

"I have to save him," he pleaded. He stumbled towards her, shuffling on his knees with his hands outstretched and making grabbing motions. Nanako couldn't tell if their claw-like appearance was just her imagination or not.

"Give it up," Yosuke said, disgusted.

The DEATH Squad had fanned into the room. Nanako might never have been more happy to see them, though she noted how bruised and battered they were. Kanji was rubbing the hand that had been caught in the door, Chie had lost one of her killer boots somewhere along the way, and Naoto was carrying Nanako's naginata as if it he'd been using it.

"Is Souji all right?" Kanji asked.

Nanako began to answer, but suddenly Namatame had closed the distance and was pawing at her skirt. "Give me…!" he growled. In a flash, Nanako held Souji higher in the air and kicked Namatame in the face, like he'd done to her before. Namatame coughed and spluttered against the floor. "No…" he moaned.

Nanako shivered. He'd touched her! "Souji's fine," she said. "But we have to get him out of here as soon as we can. Do you guys know the way out?"

"He can't leave," Namatame gasped from the floor. "He can't… he can't!"

Discordant wails came from outside the window. The last vestiges of fog were fading away, and with that, the Shadows were going crazy. They massed together and began to hiss, screech, and claw their way up the wall, taking huge gouges out of it as they tried to climb up to the very room Nanako and the rest were in.

Namatame writhed with a squeal, and before anyone could do anything, a sourceless wind whipped through the room. The Shadows outside were yanked through the window, together forming a black fog thicker than soup that coagulated around Namatame's body. The sudden pressure in the room caused all the walls to collapse outward like they were made of cardboard.

Seconds later, Namatame was floating into the air, his body twitching this way and that like a puppet on the strings of a twisted puppeteer. His anguished cries drowned out the sounds of the Shadows as his body swelled like a balloon, growing, bloating, more and more until… Nanako closed her eyes, more out of politeness than disgust. "Nobody deserves this," she muttered, even as her thoughts rushed to blame him for everything wrong. But closed eyes could not hide the disgusting sound that came afterwards, a gruesome squelching not unlike crushing a blister filled with pus. When Nanako opened her eyes, Namatame and the Shadows were both gone, replaced by a black-skinned creature vested in a white robe. It flew with tiny red wings and had a massive head. Red gears sprouted from the head, whirling around like some unearthly halo.

"I'll save him…" it sighed.

Nanako swallowed hard, but somehow her heart was calm. We can do this, she thought, as the squad wordlessly lifted their weapons. They can do this.

Kanji charged right ahead, while Chie and Yukiko exchanged a glance. Nanako couldn't pay too much attention—her eyes kept darting back to the boy in her arms, wishing he wasn't there, wishing she could save him—but she did notice Naoto lining up a shot, right before a massive spear of ice summoned hit him.

The fight was on. Nanako decided her best bet was to get Souji as far away from the front line as she could, but when she turned around, she found herself face-to-face with Souji's Shadow.

The Shadow wasn't doing anything. It was just standing there, staring at her as Souji was wont to do. At least it had stopped speaking, but the real Souji in her arms was not about to wake up anytime soon. There was no way he could confront it in his condition, even if she wanted him to.

And then she noticed that there was something off about the ghost child now that the fog had lifted. For one, it seemed to be drooling something as it stared at her. No, not just drooling, but…

A second later, the black substance, slick like oil but much thicker, began to pour from its mouth, eyes and ears, covering its body until there was no more child, only an amorphous blob, not unlike those wandering the corridors of every dungeon. During what seemed to be an eternity, there was silence; even the monster that was once Namatame had one beady eye peering at the creature yet to form. More than ever, Nanako dreaded what was to come.

Soon, a multitude of spindly arms and legs began to pour out of the Shadow. Just as soon, they retreated back into the misshapen mass, as though there was something keeping them there; it wasn't until a face poured from it, coming dangerously close to her, that Nanako realized that maybe there was. Unconsciously, she reached out—that was her baby cousin, her baby brother—but the face bared teeth at her. The teeth became fangs as the face forced itself out, nostrils flared and canines enlarged. From the corner of her eyes, Nanako saw that two of the arms had also escaped, scrabbling at the ground, crawling towards her with their fingers curling into claws. She took a step back, suddenly overcome by fear as she watched the head grow larger, and, after a sickening crunch sound, emerge from the Shadow, covered in chains and black fur.

The... dog... growled at her, its enormous tongue drooling the same substance it had come out from. Nanako noted it had only one eye, the left, misshapen and colored a muted yellow; she found herself unable to match its gaze, in a way that very much reminded her of Margaret. Instead, she trailed the chains. Most of them were hooked to flesh and led to darkness, but one of them was bent, leading back towards the creature itself. Nanako squinted, and saw a tiny hand clutching at it. The hand was soon joined by another, and using the chain as an anchor, they pulled themselves out of the beast, revealing a humanoid figure wearing a silver faceplate. There were belt buckles around its neck, and two white streamers flowed from its head like some sort of oversized headband. Like the dog-beast it was joined to, this humanoid being had only one eye.

"I am a Shadow," said the creature. Nanako wasn't sure whether it was the dog or the human part speaking. "The true self."

There was a squelching sound; something was coming out of the dog's drool. The human half of the Shadow reached out towards it.

Nanako felt the hairs stand up at the nape of her neck. She clutched Souji tighter and jumped to the side, narrowly evading... something, something that hit like a blade. When she looked back, she realized it was a blade, only not the kind she was familiar with, half sword, half spear, half fucking meat cleaver.

The spot where she stood a second earlier was now debris.

With that, she snapped into battle mode.

"Yosuke!" she called.

In response, Yosuke tossed her her naginata, which Naoto had dropped at some point and which she now almost failed to catch. With a nod, she thanked him, then laid out the battle plan. The one part of it she had actually thought about, anyway.

"I need you to protect Souji," she said while gently laying the boy on the ground. Shadow selves usually didn't attack their host while engaged in battle, but she wasn't gonna leave it to chance. Yosuke grunted something and summoned Jiraiya to deflect an attack from the Namatame monster. That would have to do. The beast was approaching.

Nanako saw that the humanoid half was carrying the gigantic blade with ease in one hand, while clutching the chains with the other like they were reins. It ran towards her, blade pointed straight ahead. She'd seen this before on TV. Jousting? Whatever. Nanako raised her naginata and deflected the blade at the last second, but then the dog half lunged at her, its neck seemingly growing in size until its horrifying fangs were grazing her skin, stopped short only by the humanoid half, who had raised the chains. It was taunting her. Nanako ignored the rancid stench coming from the dog's mouth and jumped back, aware that she wasn't fast enough to attack it while it was on so short a leash. Instinctively, she knew that the Shadow would not be doing any more taunting. The real fight started now.

Compared to the mostly whimsical Shadows she'd faced so far, this one stood out as nauseatingly real, in that she could perceive every part of it in horrible detail, from the mangy fur to the blood leaking out of the wounds caused by the chains, or more accurately, the rusted hooks they were attached to. Every now and then, the dog half would flinch and try to shake the chains off, only for the human half to pull them, causing the dog to whimper. They were the same creature, and yet…

The humanoid half was no less disconcerting. Its one eye stared unblinking at Nanako, glowing intensely yellow and locked into a frown due to the faceplate. It seemed to be wearing a waistcoat of some sort, but the creature had no actual legs, so the coat just hung over the dog, slowly but surely being torn apart by the hooks and chains. Nanako couldn't bear to look at it... at them... for too long. That thing was Souji, just like the many-eyed abomination in Kubo's dungeon had been Teddie. No longer a hermit child? Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Nanako took a deep breath. No use in dwelling on it now. She'd help him through it, just like she'd been doing all year. She'd never let him be lonely ever again. This, she swore.

With a Persona card in hand, Nanako charged towards the beast. "Izanami!" she cried, spraying high pressure water at it. When it was over, both halves were drenched, but had barely moved an inch. Damn it, she cursed in her head. Gotta find out his weakness.

Next up was electricity.

Nanako had to keep it to close quarters because her friends were fighting in the same room. None of them had the skill to fight two battles at once, herself included, so she blocked it out, focusing only on the beast in front of her. On the other hand, she had to be careful not to step on the water she herself had conjured, or she'd be victim to her own combo. That being the case, she decided that some crazy was in order and ran head first towards the creature, sticking her naginata in the floor the moment it prepared to attack and using the momentum to vault over it. Nanako lost the naginata, because it wasn't a real pole, but her Persona card was already prepared, and with a desperate yell, she crushed it in midair. Lightning erupted from above her and into the beast, shocking it to hell and back. Nanako landed clumsily against some wall, already smiling over her success, except…

The human half had its weapon pointed at her. The blade crackled with so much energy that some of it zapped towards the floor and the ceiling, leaving minor burn marks. Without a word, the Shadow released the energy it had absorbed from her attack right back at her; all she could do was raise her arms in futile defense, and hope that the Persona she'd used for the attack was resistant.

It wasn't.

Nanako felt as though her body was burning from the inside as she took the brunt of her own Ziodyne and let out a piercing scream, falling to the ground afterwards, legs shaking, fingers twitching wildly, arms still crackling with electricity; but a second later it was over, and she was on her feet again, reaching for her naginata, only to find that it was still where she'd left it: behind the beast.

"Jiraiya!"

A tremendously strong gust of wind swept over the room, knocking every box flat into the wall. Nanako had to cover her ears as the beast howled, taken by surprise. Inch by inch it was pushed back, away from her, until it fell to its knees as the humanoid half momentarily released its grip on weapon and chains both. It was weak to wind! Nanako looked over at the source, a ragged-looking Yosuke breathing hard.

"The heck was that?" she asked, giving him a slightly twitchy thumbs up.

"Been saving it up," he answered, coughing heavily afterwards. Whatever it was, it'd taken a lot out of him.

Nanako glanced to where her other friends were fighting the hippie monster thing. Kanji was beating it raw with his huge shield while Yukiko took care of an unconscious Chie. Naoto seemed to be charging something in the background. Good. They were doing good. She didn't need to worry. Actually, they were doing better than her. That had been a fairly stupid move. Setanta had Zionga and blocked electricity, but she'd decided to use Seiryu instead, because it had Ziodyne. Whatever, she wouldn't make that mistake again, not during this fight anyway.

Though hurt, Nanako ran for her naginata as soon as she realized the monster was down for the moment, then summoned Izanami to heal. Wind. Okay. I can do wind. The problem was she barely ever did. Yosuke was almost always on wind duty, and though she'd specifically fused a wind Persona after he'd left the team, she'd made a point to fuse it into something else when he came back. Maybe it was still there somewhere though. She closed her eyes, envisioning the different arcana in her mind. Izanami, Soma, Setanta, Queen Mab, Seiryu, Black Frost, Samael and... Oh! Fortuna. Fortuna had Garula, though she was fairly weak. Whatever, she'd won battles with Omoikane, she could do this.

Just as she switched to Fortuna, the beast got up and charged at her. This time the humanoid half wasn't pointing his sword, so it was probably the dog half attacking. Nanako decided to charge at them too, ready for a ferocious face off…

...Not. She slid under the beast, raising her naginata as best she could. Predictably, it got stuck in one of the chains, leaving her stuck too. Fuck me and my stupid plans, she thought, trying not to pay too much attention to the disturbingly human paws the dog half had. The good news was it didn't seem to be able to get at her there, but she figured this wouldn't last long.

Okay, new plan.

"Fortuna!" she called, and a moderately strong gust of wind came in response, raising the beast just enough that she could free her naginata and roll away. It really was weak to wind, too, because afterwards it stumbled back, growling furiously at her. No reaction from the humanoid half.

Nanako prepared to summon Fortuna again, but before she could, the beast charged at her again. Shit shit shit. Nanako raised her naginata to deflect its blade, but it attacked with such strength that it knocked her back a few inches.

Unfortunately, it wasn't done.

"Big sis," it said, and now she knew it was the human half speaking. Something told her to dodge, an instinct of some sort that forced her to jump to the side, and as result she narrowly avoided getting hit by an electric blast. The humanoid half looked curiously at this. Just like Souji when he tries to understand something, she thought, seeing it clear as day in her head.

That moment of hesitation was all it took. The beast leaped at her, biting down hard on her right shoulder. Nanako gritted her teeth in an effort not to scream, not to distract Yosuke again. She couldn't use her naginata anymore, not with her right hand, it hurt enough trying to keep a hold on it.

"Go away, big sis," the Shadow said, dropping the distorted voice for once and letting Souji shine through, "the more you stay, the more it hurts."

Nanako couldn't say anything without screaming, she was in too much pain, but the fact that the Shadow was trying to get at her like this was just too much. With her left hand, she pulled one of the hooks from the dog's back. Blood, not fresh and red but very old, almost dry blood, oozed from it. The dog howled, releasing its grip on her. It was still lying on top of her though, too heavy, so she closed her eyes and stuck the hook back in. The weight immediately left her body as the beast leaped back, apparently against the wishes of the humanoid half, who was desperately pulling on the chains.

Again with the left hand, she picked up her naginata and pointed it at the creature, trying to ignore the blood pouring from her own wound.

The humanoid half pointed its blade in response.

For the third time, Nanako charged at it, but she wasn't going to vault or slide. Instead, she switched Personas.

The dog half was still in considerable pain and took a moment to move. When it did, it was slower. Unconcerned, the humanoid half swung at her with all its strength. She dodged, dropping right under the swing and swinging back strong with her own naginata.

"Setanta!" she called. The black haired boy with the bowl cut joined his blade with hers, and together they aimed at the weighty hilt of the Shadow's weapon.

The sound of a blade hitting the ground told her it worked, and so she twirled, grabbed the naginata with both hands, let out the scream she'd been suppressing and stabbed the humanoid half in the throat, breaking part of its faceplate.

Underneath, gurgling blood, the mouth and jaw of a child no older than six.

The image seared into her mind before the Shadow fell apart, extremities dissolving like any other Shadow until it left behind just the yellow-eyed boy again, the mirror of the one still slumbering by Yosuke's feet. At this point, Nanako wanted to hug both of them. Or, in her relief and exhaustion, maybe just cry.

A squeal from the Namatame monster nabbed her attention. Its big black hands were covering its face. It was cowering where it floated in the air. Her friends had defeated it. A moment later its skin began to melt. All the Shadows that it had been made from were now pouring out of it, streaming down and over the edge of the room to where they'd come from outside. When they were gone, only Namatame's body was left. He fell limply to the ground after that and didn't get up. Kanji wasted no time in securing him to ensure he would no longer be a threat.

Nanako moved to Souji's side, kneeling down and cradling him in her arms. To her surprise, he finally stirred into wakefulness. "Big… sis…?" his soft voice whispered.

"Everything's going to be okay, honey," Nanako told him. "I'm here."

Souji smiled faintly. "Yeah…"

"What about his Shadow?" Yosuke asked in a hushed tone.

Nanako looked up. Her friends were now gathered around her. The child Shadow was among them, standing very close to her. It was still staring, and she wasn't sure what to do about it.

"He has to accept it, right?" Chie asked. "If he denies it, we might have to fight it again."

"How can we expect a child to face his Shadow?" Nanako wondered aloud. Though Souji could be mature for his age, he was just a child, and he felt so small and weak in her arms.

"We can't just leave it there," Chie said. "But…"

"There is the chance that it will simply disappear," Naoto said. "What that might do to him, however, is unknowable."

"That's what happened to Kubo," Yukiko said, and they all shuddered at the memory.

"Big sis…" Souji repeated. He grasped the front of Nanako's blouse. "I… I had a nightmare…"

Though worried about his Shadow, Nanako turned her attention to Souji, who needed it now more than anything. "You dreamed of sad things, didn't you?" she murmured, brushing fingers through his hair. "Of your dad and your mom."

He nodded, closing his eyes. "Papa's gone… and Mama works so much…" He shifted in her arms. "B-but I… I know…"

Without moving her head, Nanako strained her eyes to glance sidelong at the child Shadow, but it remained silent. "Go on, honey," she murmured.

Souji took a breath too heavy for him. "I know Mama likes to work, a-and she has to work, because Papa…"

"But you get lonely at home, right?" Nanako asked. "You wish she wouldn't always be on the phone. I know I sure as heck wish that!"

Souji giggled, but the sweet sound turned into a coughing fit. "Y-yeah," he managed. "I miss Papa a lot, big sis, but he worked a lot, too. Maybe I don't miss him… but I miss Mama being happy…"

"She's your mama," Nanako said. "Of course you would."

"Big sis…" Souji's eyes fluttered open. "It almost feels normal again at home, because you're here."

"It doesn't feel so lonely, huh?" She tugged him up in her arms to rub her cheek against his.

"I don't w-want you to go home, big sis!"

The boy's cry had been just a whisper, but it filled the room. "I know, Sou-chan," Nanako said. "I…" She faltered, unable to promise him things that weren't true.

Souji sighed, but to her surprise, it wasn't heavy or sad. "I know," he said. "Your mama and papa miss you, so… you have to go home. Me and my mama will be okay."

"Sou-chan," she whispered.

Then, his eyes widened, if only slightly. He raised his hand as his frown turned into a smile. He was pointing at something above them.

Nanako looked up to find the shimmering image of a wolf cub at play. It had beautiful white fur with red patterns seemingly painted onto it. It soon faded into a card, which twirled in the air as it moved downward towards Souji.

"Sou-chan?" she whispered again, but the boy was now fast asleep.

---

[Coauthor herrdoktorat says: This year hasn't been easy for either of us. Thank you for sticking around with us so long. I tried to address the criticism towards the Shadow Teddie battle, which really was a bit confusing, and the end result was this. I hope you all liked it! Stay tuned for more updates. :]