Shirogane Naoto was a good kid. A smart kid too. One with his entire life ahead of him. Or rather her, as they had come to find out.
Honestly the idea of dressing and acting like a guy wouldn't ever hold up. Binding her chest? Yeah it could work, and you can make the ruse pass for quite awhile if you're careful.
But what happens when you need to use the bathroom? Do you just, hold it till you're off the clock?
I mean, yeah it could work since technically Naoto's a Private Investigator that's contracted to work with the police. But that's a temp contract. How long would she be working with them for? Would she be hired when she graduated the Police Academy or would there be restrictions on her job when she graduated high school? Would she be hired full time as a detective like Dojima-san? Go through the Police Academy like every other good boy and girl?
Hey. It's me. The Author. Roxas-san.
I don't feel like finishing the intro for Naoto.
Would take too long.
Y'know this is a line break right?
Probably the longest line break you ever seen...
More importantly though...
I want you to use your imagination for something.
Imagine using a bunch of fancy words and hypothetical questions to describe Naoto's situation.
Got it?
No?
That's unfortunate.
Hearing about Personas after getting one was surreal. Like some sort of psychedelic acid trip the likes of which no drug addict could ever fathom.
Of course we don't know what that's like. We're all good boys and girls who don't get arrested doing stupid illegal stuff right?
Right?
Right.
Now Author-san said this was going to be about Naoto but...
We HAVE to summarize what happened last time...
sigh, i hate my job
Kanji got the power of Persona.
Yu broke his social link with Chie (practically impossible in the early game).
Yosuke uses a combination of Mystery Food X and Kanji's Shadow to remind Chie of her horrible (fake) martial arts and (nonexistent) marital arts.
Yukiko bursts into laughter at every reminder of the Shadow Kanji incident.
Chie can't get anyone to focus on the impracticality of using a weapon that requires two hands being slowly swung and dragged around in one hand (Kanji).
Risette was forced to face her Stripp- I mean Shadow after the Investigation Team failed at pacifying the situation.
"Yosuke! Tell him it's not a viable strategy!"
"But Chie it worked so well the first time"
"Stop fuelling the delusion before the 'strategy' fails to work on you."
(Wait this game is more than a few years old... is this still a spoiler?) Teddie has mid-life crisis creating a Shadow of a Shadow.
Teddie gets pacified in Chie's strategy gaining a Persona. Which is convenient since Ted really was the MVP with that Megidolaon that oneshot Shadow Risette.
Becoming MVP is even easier when the party is wiped out due to BS scanning and evasion tactics. Also Megidolaon.
Risette became Rise who finally acknowledged her attention seeking ways. Also gained a Persona.
Risette becomes the worst support character ever with an annoying voice and no Megidolaon from her Shadow. WHICH MAKES NO DAMN SENSE SINCE THAT SHADOW SOLO'D THE WHOLE DAMN LOBBY BARRING THE ONLY OTHER SHADOW IN THE FUCKING ROOM.
i need a lozenge, this is killer on my throat. what else is on the list?
oh yeah.
that moron teacher died, i guess. we mourned him for as long as the moment of silence lasted.
he got replaced easily for a hate sink too. his only memorable role was the hate sink and he even got replaced there too.
The next suspect got into the TV. No, no one even attempted to pacify this guy. Claiming to have killed for enjoyment and excitement to complete strangers doesn't exactly earn you sympathy points, now does it?
Summer Break. School Trip.
Naoto used herself as bait to "Catch a Predator". Gross really.
Got yeet'd
Naoto makes a pathetic attempt at pacifying of Shadow Naoto while the Investigation Team is attempting to reach them both.
Naoto then provokes her Shadow, causing negotiations to fail before they would ever begin.
Fight ensues. Kanji and Chie fail to accomplish much with generally awkward close combat, instead being forced to rely on their Personas like everyone else.
Everyone makes fun of the fact that the two meat shields actually thought walking up to the FLYING robot to attack was a viable strategy.
This isn't supposed to be about Kanji or Chie and somehow their terribleness leaks across chapters. KANJI DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A CHAPTER AND HE DOES THIS.
Anyways that just about covers everything. almost a thousand words in and Naoto hasn't done anything besides declare suicide via serial killer on TV.
And provoke the Inaba Police Force.
And burn potential bridges to understanding her Shadow.
And bet on the chance that a serial killer wouldn't shank her.
And bet on the chance that high school students would save her.
This IS an Ace Detective, right? Wait she was already being treated like a kid on the force for a reason. Maybe for dumb decisions like these...
More importantly the entire reason why you're here.
"How in the WORLD did you miss THAT badly?"
No amount of hand waving, wand waving, fantasies of wish granting could ever explain away the phenomenon.
"How do you miss WITH A GUN? That causes you to fall over?" He's holding his head in his hands, having thrown his sword away lodging it into a dying shadow.
Seeing the volatile situation for what it was Yosuke tries to pacify everything bringing his partner back to a state of relative calm. "Recoil might've-"
Before Yosuke could even finish that statement Teddie supplied some weird Trivia as usual. "That would apply to snipers or shotguns Yosuke."
"Teddie? How would you even know that?"
"I just do, Chie-chan. I just do."
It's a handgun. That caused Naoto to fall over. The one she uses to shoot her Persona Card. The one she uses a 2 handed grip on when firing at things that actually matter.
Like Shadows.
"I mean, it's technically a custom BB gun that I made to take down opponents since guns are a bit restricted in Japan."
Even Kanji was cringing a bit. "Naoto. You ain't exactly helping Senpai's case."
Indeed you can see him grabbing his sword and slashing away at the fleeing small Shadows. A phenomenon unseen since Persona 3, I mean the Dark Hour.
"It's FUCKING BULLSHIT. How? Not even Adachi would look this bad missing a target.
...
y'know that might be a good idea for another time.
If anyone was paying closer attention to Naoto they might have noticed a shimmer of tears in her eyes.
Unfortunately for everyone, Yu forgot to up some of his social stats, especially his [Understanding]. And his [Sanity] isn't zero so that he could ignore the impossibility, the physics breaking, the absolute madness of what caused Naoto to fall.
But to relieve some stress, he and his new Persona gained in Madness: Magatsu Izanagi are slashing through hordes of Shadows in pure rage.
Jester Arcana? Hunger Arcana? What're those?
But yet another social link reversed that day. Though this time he could safely say it wasn't his fault. He wasn't even aware of the Fortune Arcana being unlocked.
For stress related reasons, Naoto would not be seeing her senpai or participate in his training
The Heavy hitters (Yu, Kanji, Chie) were exploring Magatsu Inaba with Rise as a Navigator, while the lighter Persona Users (Yosuke, Yukiko) hung back training Naoto for a possibly dangerous fight, Teddie acting as the Secondary Navigator to the training group, having run Rise through all he could to instate her as Primary Navigator for the exploration force. Adachi had been more than he seemed, and the last thing they needed was a major surprise at the end of the road so the training was necessary, while the strnonger force made headway in Magatsu Inaba.
Yet again, through the powers of stupid (Roxas), Naoto had managed to slip on carpet while standing stationary to shoot a gun this time having prepped before entering the Hidden Lab with ammo, proper stances, and target practice.
No one pulled the carpet. The kickback from the gun did not affect her. The nonexistent breeze did not affect her. Yet still she fell on her ass missing the shot.
No one could even muster up the brain power to even laugh.
Yosuke would have acted just like his partner, finding stress relief in Shadow genocide but feared the consequences of missing a single blow with his kunai. Would this disease of major failure and disappointment affect him too one day? He shuddered at the thought of it and maintained a cool head not giving into the sweet embrace of madness.
Yeah... maybe it would be best to sit back and cast support spells to make sure that attacking would actually mean something in the long run.
From then on, Naoto was forbidden from participating in primary combat situations.
N-not that she minded or anything! She's used to flying solo on most investigations, so she'll stick to leading the charge in the investigation, piecing together the mysterious and foggy puzzle. She TOTALLY WASN'T looking forward to shooting down Shadows with ease and posing dramatically for the camera.
One day she'll get her time to shine. Maybe even get to be the star character in some epic fight for the world.
Little did she know she would. In an alternate timeline.
A/N: Hey.
I noticed some of you didn't like the lack of Chie.
My bad.
Think there are fewer words for this chapter's character.
I hate that the summary makes up the bulk of it.
C'est la vie.
Don't get the wrong idea though.
I-it's not like I like the attention you give me or anything...
I didn't try and put in more words for reviews and follows.
Baka.
I got more important things to do.
NEXT TIME: somebody idk, tell me in the comments i guess?