Chapter 2: White Lies and Hospitals
Souji was not having a good day. That wasn't to say it was a bad day. Wet, both from the rain from the day before and the current downpour expected to last into the night. No, the sole fault of why Souji was not having a good day lay with Souji Seta.
And he was still proud!
He was congested, his throat felt swollen, his sinuses felt like they were going to kill him. His eyes hurt, he was running a fever, and the medicine he had taken for the illness was still in his system, making him look and feel like a zombie that day at school.
But he had done it and that was all that mattered. Victory had been achieved! It had been a tough fight, one that put everything he learned to the test. He had even fallen once, but he had kept his weapon in hand. It had been a long, grueling, merciless battle.
But he had caught the Shichiri Beach Guardian!
So when they were finally released for the day, Souji had never been more grateful. While there always seemed like there was one more project to do, one more person to talk to, one more job to get to, Souji had no desire to do more than go home and sleep. He had been strongly tempted to stay home that day, but as his father had always told him, 'When you make a mistake, you own up to it, regardless of how you feel.'
Souji didn't think catching the beach guardian had been a mistake, but it was his decision to stand in the rain, soaking wet, trying to catch a fish of thirty kilos. It was his decision, he owned up to it, he dug his heels into the ground and grit his teeth to bear with the day.
"Senpai," He was greeted. Souji did not groan. He turned to look at Naoto. The sleuth had decided to stay and while the Police ran after what the Investigation Team felt was the wrong guy, she would be attending Yasogami High as a First Year, though they were almost on summer break. She arched one of those thin eyebrows at him. "You look unwell. Should we reschedule?" She asked.
"No.' Souji said. He rubbed his face. Right, hospital trip. Naoto wanted to confirm that everyone was doing well enough and see what Modern Medicine might see about Teddie. "You went through the trouble of getting a Doctor to look at us all. It's just a minor illness. I'll be back on my feet in a day or two, as I'm sure they will tell me."
Naoto seemed unconvinced but nodded her head anyways. "I suppose illness can strike at anytime."
"It was my own fault." Souji said. "Went fishing in the rain yesterday. Wouldn't have been so bad, but my query managed to pull me in." He said.
She looked incredulous at that. It was a good look, Souji determined, one that was out of place from the usual knowing look she had. "Pull you in? Into the Samegawa?" She asked.
Souji shook his head. "I caught the Samegawa River guardian about two weeks ago. I'm talking about the Shichiri Beach Guardian. Sea fishing. Thing was thirty kilos, but any story I tell from this point forward I'm saying thirty five." He was a fisherman. He loved to fish. While he wasn't usually a braggart, he saw no harm in a little white lie about the size of a fish.
She put a hand on her hip. "Then why tell me the real size?" Naoto asked.
"Because you'll probably see through the embellishment." Souji knew who and what he was dealing with. A sleuth of not so inconsiderable ability. Why else would she be brought on? Why else would Dojima be driven to drink because of it? He pulled his phone out and went to the picture of the Beach Guardian on the stones, the fishing rod he used above it as reference. It had been a big, huge fish.
Naoto looked a bit surprised. "And you said it pulled you in?" She asked.
"Waist deep water." Souji told her. "If you haven't noticed though, I'm sorta tall, so even when I fell backwards, my head managed to stay above the water some."
"You are a fool sometimes Seta-Senpai." Naoto said.
"Yo, Partner." Yosuke came down the steps. "Naoto," he greeted the sleuth as well. "Chie and Yukiko will be down in a second. Teddie is supposed to be meeting us here any seco-"
"Sensei!" Souji turned to see the blonde running in, shaking the umbrella a bit to get the water off before he closed it up.
"Speak of the devil." Yosuke said. "So we ready to do this?" He asked with a slight grimace.
Souji didn't blame him. They were after all going to a hospital. He saw Kanji and Rise walk up, Yukiko and Chie coming down. They certainly made for a fine group. "Alright then, let's go." He said. As they swapped their shoes out, he rested his head against his shoe locker, giving a slight sigh.
"You okay Senpai?" Rise asked.
"Fine. Fine, just not feeling my best." Souji said to the cheerful girl that was worried about him. He saw the frowns he was getting. "Went fishing in the rain yesterday. Hard to struggle with a pole if I'm holding an umbrella."
"After the Samegawa River Guardian, huh?" Yosuke asked. "Good luck. Plenty of people come in with snapped lines, looking to get more fishing lines."
Souji shook his head as he stepped out into the rain, opening the umbrella. "Why does everyone assume I'm catching the River Guardian? I already caught that like two weeks ago."
"Really Senpai?" Kanji asked sounding amazed.
"Sensei is beary amazing." Teddie said, sounding awestruck.
"Yeah, caught the Shichiri Beach Guardian. Thirty five Kilos of fish. The River guardian was only twenty kilos." Souji used his phone to text Naoto discreetly. 'Was only fifteen.' He watched the sleuth as she pulled her phone out. She gave a slight quirk of her lips as she read the truth.
"Something funny Naoto-kun?" Yukiko asked.
"Ah..." A quick glance at Souji before Naoto smiled a bit more. "My grandpa's assistant, Yakushiji, texts me my grandpa's antics from time to time so I'm not caught flat footed." Souji could hardly believe that she wasn't telling the others of his little white lie.
He'd have to do something nice for that.
"What'd he do this time?" Kanji asked a bit curiously.
Naoto tucked her phone away. "Things he really shouldn't be doing at his age. As healthy as he is, a man in his sixties should not be chasing down criminals on foot."
"Woah, your grandpa sounds badass." Yosuke said.
Souji agreed to that. He turned as he walked a bit, taking sight of his friends. They each had their own colored umbrella, and they made for quite the sight.
"Hey, Senpai?" Rise caught his attention from under her yellow umbrella.
"Yeah?" Souji asked.
"You got top grade in your year right?" She asked.
Souji shrugged his shoulders. "Sure." He said. "Don't rightly know if I'm the right person to be asking to help study though."
"That's right." Chie said. "I rarely see you studying, how is it that you have the top grade?" She asked.
Souji shrugged his shoulders. "I do most of my studying at night. Fewer distractions that way. Plus, I have a ridiculous ability to retain information. Usually horrible with names, but information sticks up in the brain to rattle around for a long time." He glanced back at the group, some of them looking a bit incredulous. "What? I still study. I'm just lucky that it sticks better."
Chie shook her head. "Man, you and Yukiko both."
"Huh?" Yukiko asked. "I also tend to study at night. It's especially useful when it rains."
Naoto reached up to lightly tug her hat down slightly. "I too study at night for approximately two hours. I find it easier to do as the last thing of the day versus having something else going on to get in the way."
"Oh man, so I just need to change my study habits?" Yosuke asked. "Jeez. But Teddie lives with me that would be impossible."
"I might have a book I can loan you." Souji said. "Taught me a few techniques I didn't already know to studying. Helps that for English, I take notes in English." That actually got him looks from everyone. "What?"
Kanji shook his head slightly. "Can we not talk about school?" He asked sounding almost depressed. "What's everyone's plans for summer?"
Well, Souji didn't have a lick of fishing to do anymore... He would probably still do it, but given the two biggest fish were already caught, he'd be mostly catching small fry.
"Oh! We talked about everyone getting their scooter license, why not?" Yosuke asked. "We can all get together and go to the beach some time."
"That sounds fun." Rise said. She had a sly look on her face as she increased her pace a bit to walk beside Souji. He was immediately on guard. "Who do you want to see in a bathing suit the most Senpai?" She asked.
"Man, she's really dangerous." Chie said from besides Yukiko.
That question felt like a trap to Souji. There was the off the wall answer of saying Kanji, he could probably get away with it. There was the simple answer of claiming Rise, but that held inherent problems as well.
Namely the three other girls he was walking with.
Souji thought about saying Naoto, but something struck him as her not being the type to so casually wear a bathing suit. Plus there was that whole giant elephant in the room that was the superficial feelings she had towards him based on physical looks. Yeah.. He really didn't want to touch that one.
He did actually. He did think Naoto was cute. Especially in her casual wear for the summer. But still, she said it herself, they didn't exactly have time for such frivolities. He wished he could have time for them, but the case had to come first. And it was a bit of a morose thought that told him he would have never met Naoto if it wasn't for the case.
Yeah...
But Rise was still looking at him expectantly. He was tempted to just say Kanji, just to throw everyone off the ball. "I can't decide." He finally said after stretching the silence as long as he could. The pitter patter of the rain continued to sound off his umbrella.
"Aw, he's trying to think of everyone." Rise said a bit cheerfully.
Sure. He'd go with that. He glanced to Kanji and Teddie. With a sigh, he ran a hand over his face. "Better question, what do we do about those two?" He asked.
"I can keep up on my bike Senpai." Kanji said. "Little 50cc scooter, no problem."
"Kanji," Souji said. "The beach is about an hour away on my scooter, uphill for about five kilometers."
There was a pause at that as everyone turned to look at Kanji and Teddie. Kanji was not yet old enough to get his scooter license, and Teddie had no real documentation to speak of. Making them bike and skate respectively two hours, five kilometers of which was uphill, seemed cruel.
"We definitely can't have them sitting on the back either." Yosuke said with a shudder.
No doubt he was remembering the debacle of when Souji, Kanji, and Yosuke had all gone to Okina city. Souji had a grand ol time, watching them try, and fail, to get numbers from women. Reminded him of the time Kou had set up that group blind date with him and Daisuke.
Both times had been spectacular disasters.
He thought about it a moment. "If we're careful, we can hitch Kanji to the back of my scooter." He said. "Uncle Ryotaro said he had it tweaked back when it was his, it can technically go faster than what it's limited to, so mine probably has more torque than what everyone else can get. Teddie can probably grab the back of Yosuke's scooter for a bit and hold on."
"I have been meaning to get a scooter license." Naoto said thoughtfully. "It would give me more range to operate a little more freely. I will have to check with grandpa as to options."
"You're not against coming?" Kanji asked a bit surprised, and blushing if Souji didn't miss his guess.
He kept the frown off his face. Even as he felt something tighten in his stomach. Just the illness flaring up. Nothing wrong at all.
"Do not lie to thyself." Hearing the rasping, almost grating metallic voice of Izanagi in his head when he had a migraine did nothing for Souji. He grabbed his head as his vision swam a bit.
He heard the cries of his friends, and acquaintance in the form of Naoto. He waved them off a bit. "Nothing. It's nothing. Just... Izanagi likes to speak to me in my head and remind me of things." Like not lying to himself. Jealousy. He had felt jealousy flare up at Kanji's question. And Izanagi wasn't letting him forget it.
"Woah, your Persona talks to you?" Yosuke asked. "That's awesome partner."
"And a bit concerning." Naoto said as she frowned.
Souji glanced up to his friends. "Do yours not?" He was met with seven slow shakes of the head. "Great. I'm even weirder. Multiple Persona and even a talking one.' He sighed but continued walking towards the hospital.
"Senpai, are you certain you are well?" Naoto asked.
Souji wasn't certain, not if everyone else's Persona didn't talk to them. And he had multiple Persona. Too many questions, not enough answers. "I don't know." He said. But he knew of someone that might have an answer. Igor wasn't exactly the most reliable. "Might just be whatever weirdness I have. He doesn't really tell me to do anything. Merely speaks from time to time. He usually remains pretty quiet."
Naoto watched him as they continued walking. Once they all got to the hospital, they all checked in and went through some simple physicals.
Souji, who had been required to get one for Kendo, was used to it. He was actually one of the first ones out, waiting in the hall. Kanji came out a bit later, looking a bit shaken with a slight fluster to his face. Souji chuckled a bit. "First physical huh?"
"Y-yeah. Don't really do sports at school."
Souji smiled a bit. "Relax. Every guy gets to turn his head and cough."
Kanji shook his head but took to leaning beside Souji. "So uh... What'd they say about you?"
"Lay off fishing in the rain." Souji said. "Like I thought though, minor illness. Should clear up in a day or two. Other than that, fine. A bit more fit than most athletes our age, but fine."
Kanji nodded his head. "Yeah. Said the same thing about me."
The others slowly began to come out. They waited a while longer before Teddie came out as well. Naoto eventually came out after having spoken briefly with the doctor. "Well, everyone seems to be in picture health." She said. "But they couldn't find anything about Teddie." She added.
"So nothing's wrong with him?" Chie asked.
"Yes and no." Naoto said. "As far as they can tell, he's in good health. But some of the test results they got were... Less than ideal. Ink smudging, computer crashes, even the x-rays came out blurred. I was recommended to take him to a higher quality hospital. Inaba just does not have the higher quality equipment."
"So many people have seen me bear all." Teddie sounded almost sad.
"No they haven't." Yosuke said. "She just said that they couldn't get a good read on you."
"Well, I have a surprise for everyone! Since everyone got to see me, I have the test results to everyone's exams." Teddie said and produced from behind his back a stack of files. "Let's see what sort of dirt we can dig up. Ooh, I wonder who has the shortest legs."
"Wait, if you're going to do that, why not start with the girls' measurements?" Yosuke said, sounding as though he had come up with a great idea.
"Hell no!" Chie said, about apocalyptic with rage.
"That's fine, mine are public knowledge anyways." Rise said. "Oh, but my bust is two centimeters smaller than that, my agency insisted."
Souji glanced around as Teddie shifted the folders. He saw the look of embarrassment on Yukiko's face, the one of rage on Chie's. But it was Naoto that he focused on. She had turned a paler color. And her eyes were wide. Souji simply moved.
He grabbed the files, all of them, from Teddie and wrenched them free from the blonde's hand. He then held them up over his head. He used his full height of one hundred and eighty centimeters with the additional reach of his arm half cocked over his head.
"S-sensei?" Teddie asked surprised.
Souji stepped back from the blonde boy. "Not everyone is comfortable with people finding out such private information." He said simply. He didn't look at anyone but Teddie's blue eyes, he simply held the files out slowly to Naoto. "I trust you can dispose of these properly Naoto-kun, and that you won't look."
"O-of course Senpai." Naoto said, taking the files.
Naoto walked away from the group, the strange incident being wrote off by the others slowly. She made her way towards where she knew she could dispose of the medical records. Teddie had shifted directly to her file and she hated to think of him announcing her measurements.
"Everything okay?" She jumped slightly and turned to look at Souji who had, apparently, broke from the group to come talk to her.
"Yes." She said. Her tone might have been a bit terse. "No." She said a bit more quietly thinking about who she was talking to. Souji had an impressive ability to read people.
She heard the door close. "What's wrong?" He asked her.
Naoto grit her teeth a moment. Her back was to the silver haired teen so he couldn't see it. "Having my personal information so..." She shook her head. "Just more of a reminder that..." She had to cut off that train of thought.
"A reminder of what?" He asked gently.
Naoto wanted to curse at his perceptiveness. She closed her eyes a bit and she gripped the files in her hand a moment. "That eventually I will have to cease." She said. "My Shadow was quite correct. If it were just a matter of my age, in a year or two that would be of no concern. But given my gender..." She closed her eyes. "No police prefecture will accept a woman detective that has deceived them for so long."
"Why not?" Souji asked her. He finally came into eyesight, leaning against a wall. "You're intelligent, talented, and have experience." He said.
She shook her head. "My grandfather already used his influence to get me the position of an Investigator. It is something I am eternally grateful for. But even his influence won't be enough. I have deceived so many people with the ruse of being a male. I just wanted to help." She sighed, feeling the old and familiar sting of hurt when she thought about it. "I just want to help. Some might overlook my gender, but it was difficult enough to gain some acclaim at my age. To do it all over again... Could I do it?" She asked.
"I'm sure you can." Souji told her. "As many times as it takes. You're a very driven woman." He said.
Naoto shook her head. "Why couldn't I be born a boy?" She muttered. "I built things with my hands, preferred robots to dolls or teddy bears. I had a fort in a tree because I enjoyed high places. I remember hammering the nails into place and getting some of the first calluses on my hands. My hands aren't soft like other girls'" she said.
"Maybe." Souji said. "But I for one am glad you are a girl." He said.
Immediately, like a bolt of lightning Souji summoned Izanagi to command down, embarrassment flooded through her. "Huh?!" She asked so surprised. She blushed, she could feel her face heating up. No one had ever been that direct with her before. "What's so good about being a girl?" She asked. "It doesn't make me a better detective. It's a hindrance. There's nothing good about it."
It wasn't her clashing with her Self again. Sukuna-Hikona made sure of that. She was able to accept the fact she was in fact female. She was able to accept that in some ways she still was a child. She didn't have to like them.
Faintly, she thought she heard the buzzing of wings.
Being a female would be a hindrance. Eventually someone that didn't care for her with power would speak out. Already she could hear the proverbial doors closing. It wouldn't matter how many cases she solved, or the last name she came from. Eventually, Naoto's career would come to an end due to her own lie.
"I didn't have a whole lot of time before, and I'm still not one hundred percent, making it difficult to think as well." Souji said, grabbing her attention. "But I still think you're the most dangerous person in a room at any given time." That surprised her again. But she had heard it before. "You are intelligent in ways others are not. It was your idea to get everyone checked up. You're driven. You were willing to listen to my mad ramblings about a world beyond the TV and take a dive with me in there. And you came out stronger for it. And you were the only one willing to listen to me when I said that King Moron's death didn't line up. You helped me convince the rest of his team that his killing was done by someone else."
Naoto had taken the theory of a copy cat to the Police. But they were so invested in the idea that it was all the same, that the Killer had gotten sloppy. All except Dojima.
But it seemed Souji was not finished. "Yeah, you are a girl. And..." He paused a moment, concerning her. "A beautiful one at that." She immediately looked down as the flush to her cheeks came back. "You're going to have problems because of those two facts. But I'm still glad you're a girl. Call me selfish because I am if you want. But I believe you're better as a girl, because it shows more of the drive that you have. That you refuse to let yourself be burdened by that fact and still strive to be a detective trying to make the world better, one case at a time. But would you be this driven to succeed as a boy?"
Naoto saw him shift away to go to the door and she turned. "Senpai, wait." She said. She inhaled a moment, steeling herself before she shifted through the unshred files. She grabbed her own and Rise's a moment. "Rise-san's." She said, holding it out.
Souji didn't take it, instead looked to her. "The point of this is?"
"I want to share something with you Senpai." Naoto said. Usually she would just brush the comments of being a girl and beautiful off, she had shredded countless love letters. But from Souji, standing there half asleep on his feet from illness and medication, and the way he made it sound, she couldn't so easily brush what he said off. Plus there was what she had admitted to her Shadow.
He accepted the file and opened it. Naoto stepped in and pointed out Rise's measurements with a shaky breath. "As she said, these are public domain because of her agency." Naoto very carefully opened hers and saw the difference between Rise's measurements and her own. She flushed a bit. Even an additional two centimeters didn't help Rise begin to compare. She put the other file on top of Rise's and pointed. "... My... Measurements." Her cheeks felt hot and she couldn't look at Souji. "My mother had been particularly... Gifted physically. And while it seems I have inherited my grandmother's height..." She was so embarrassed. She hated admitting she was short. One hundred and fifty two centimeters did not make a tall woman.
She took them once she was sure he had finished looking them over. She then went and very promptly shredded them, this time pushing everything through as quickly as it would go.
"Why show me?" Souji asked.
Naoto paused a bit. Why indeed. "Maybe... Maybe I want you to have a similar attraction to the one I have for you." She managed to admit. "Neither of us have time for such frivolities but it is still nice to know." She knew he had heard her admit to such a thing with her Shadow. "I assume that you do not have such time for such frivolity." She said.
Souji nodded his head. "Yeah. I suppose so. Murderer comes first. But thank you for the trust. And... Well... Mission accomplished."
Naoto blushed a bright red as Souji left the room. She was glad to be alone with her thoughts, even as they drifted to the silver haired leader of the Investigation Team.
Chapter End
A/N: I can't seem to stop writing. I love it, don't get me wrong, but all my thoughts keep drifting between these two stories. And this one won't be anything big or massive, just something short, succinct. Things might seem out of character, but… I'm past the point of caring too much.
I wrote this wholly on my phone this time, editing a bit on my chromebook once I was done. Took me e-mailing myself three parts of the damned story.
Next up with be a brief bit of the dungeon. The Void Quest dungeon. God I fucking hated that dungeon. I had to turn the music in the game off.