Akihiko leans against the bedpost, eyelids feeling heavy. Chikara is snuggled up against his lap. As he begins to nod off, the television turns on on its own. He squints as it broadcasts a sharp image of Chikara. While staring, he pats the bedding around him while assuming he accidentally turned the TV on. He even lifts his body, careful not to wake his wife, to see if he's sitting on the remote control. He checks the screen again. Broadcasted Chika is wearing a blazer and skirt whose bland color contrasts those of her sundresses. With a tightly bound hair bun and business-like clothing, she's almost unrecognizable.
That is, until the adjustment of her glasses is accompanied by a creepy, toothy grin.
"Hello, class!" she states at the head of an empty Yasogami classroom. She's staring directly at the viewer.
"My name is," she clenches her hand and then unfolds it to reveal a piece of chalk, possibly derived from her sleeve. She whirls around and, through exaggerated movement, writes her name in katakana, "Chi…ka…ra….Sa…na…da," before trailing the edge of the last syllable underneath the rest of the name. Akihiko is dumbfounded. When was one of Chikara's sessions recorded? Was that why she decided to dress that way?
"Hey. Hey, Chika," he says, trying to shake tonight's star awake. She responds with an irritated grumble.
"You mean like the boxer?" he hears the poor imitation of a female student. Aki ceases his attempts and looks back at the screen. With that, Chikara drops the chalk, making it clank against the metal holder.
"Why, yes," she responds, turning back around. "Now can anyone guess how we're related?"
"Are you, like, his little sister?" says another imaginary student.
"I may as well be!" she says without a blink. "Such a smart class…We're married, actually."
Like a cheesy sitcom, the comment signals a recorded 'Dun-dun-duuuun!'.
"I didn't know he was married!" the student gasps.
"I'd be surprised if you did! Hubby never told anyone…" Chikara stares downward and pouts. Akihiko grimaces.
"Then again," her piercing eyes glance at the camera again, "we all have our secrets."
What? Did he hear that right? Chikara cracks if someone so much as glares at her. She can't be hiding something…
"Secrets so chilling, so scandalous, so flat-out heartless that they would even make Akihiko lose his cool!" she squeals while clamping her hands onto her cheeks. "And you, my dear class, will have the opportunity to learn every juicy detail about my love life!"
The reception begins to weaken. Her forefinger points upward next to her winking eye. The finger ticks like a metronome as she says "Just. Stay. Tuned!" The screen blackens, and the weird show is over.
Chikara watches from a car's passenger seat as Akihiko drives over the Samegawa flood plain. Its fish-filled waters are gleaming under the cloudless sky. An elderly man is near the gravel covered shore with a fisherman. Behind them there is a slope accompanied with stone stairs, which lead to a path most students take each morning. After spending most of her life in a city (on an artificial island, of all things), Chika embraced her stay in the rural town. …At least, until yesterday's attack. Now she can't even enjoy sightseeing. She checks her phone for messages like clockwork. Still nothing from Kanji? Where the hell is that kid…
In the TV realm, the Investigation Team waits for Kanji, who's sporting his new shades, to describe Chikara to Teddie and Bunny. The bear gives him an understanding nod before he and his partner go sniffing around. Yosuke watches them while the others chat and joke around. Chie notices that he's distracted.
"Ooh, I see you staring at Bunny, Yosuke!" Chie nudges his arm, making him jump.
"What're you talking about?"
"Come ooon, I know you two get your flirt on when you're alone…" she says. Her nudging becomes relentless so Yosuke shakes her off.
"I-It's not like that! Besides…She's pretty much Teddie's girlfriend."
"Her and Teddie? Ha! Not gonna happen, dude."
"But just…look at them!" Yosuke gestures at the creatures. Bunny is on Teddie's back, as usual. Teddie must have said a dirty joke because his companion promptly smacks him on the head. "Sure, they bicker like an old couple, but they'd do anything for each other."
"You sure don't sound too happy about it."
Yosuke shrugs off the remark and looks away.
"…Wait. Something did happen, didn't it?"
"N-No!"
"You suck at lying. What happened? Did she reject you? What?"
"Why's that your first guess…?" Yosuke's eyes narrow. "And no. …If it'll get you off my back, it was the opposite."
"Wha..."
"Y'know…She…She said that she liked me."
"She likes you?!" Chie doesn't bother to suppress her laughter. It catches their friends' attention.
"Oh, I want to hear the joke! Say it again!" Yukiko says excitedly.
"N-No, you don't. It's not nearly as funny as Chie's making it out to be. Excuse us for a sec," Yosuke says as he grabs the tomboy's arm and pulls her away from the team. The others, including the pouting Yukiko, soon continue talking.
"I'm serious!" Yosuke hisses.
"Well…I guess the only one she can compare you to is Teddie…" Chie nods as if she solved a mystery.
"Shut up," Yosuke rolls his eyes.
"So what happened?"
"I, um…"
Chie takes the silence as Yosuke withholding an unforgivable truth. She leans into the boy's personal space and buries her forefinger into his chest.
"I swear, if you made her cry, I'm gonna-" she begins.
"No, no, wait!" Yosuke distances himself from her with his hands held up between them. "I think it was a spur of the moment thing anyway, so I had to turn her down…"
Bunny's ears begin to droop as she tightens her grip on Teddie's fur.
"What's wrong, Bunny Rabbit?" Teddie stops his searching and looks at her.
"I seem to be popular today…" she growls, nodding toward the source of the voices.
"Hey, guys!" Teddie says, scaring the others. "Cut it out! I can't concentrate."
"…Nice going, Yosuke," says Chie.
"Oh, I'm the bad guy?" Yosuke says disbelievingly as he points at himself.
"You really need a bag," Akihiko tells Chikara when she puts her phone in the pocket of the passenger door.
"It hardly leaves the house. There's no point," she says while adjusting her seat back. "So why are we doing this again?"
"You have to tell the cops what happened."
"What good'll that do? It's not like they can go inside the TV…"
"It's better than going head-first without a plan."
"I have a plan! Get in, beat up some Shadows, and get out. Just like old times."
"…Yeah, but…"
Chika takes note of Aki's pained expression. She knows that rebelling will prove to be difficult now that he's here.
"Fiiine, I'll do it," she says with a weak smile. "Don't have a stroke."
They reach Okina City, home of a café, some clothing stores, the movie theater, and the police station respectively. Akihiko parks in front of the station and drags Chika inside. The former teacher takes her phone in case she gets the call or text she's been waiting for. The building is full of officers and detectives buzzing through the halls or answering the persistent telephones at their desks. Akihiko approaches an older man with stubble and bags under his stern eyes. His dark-colored suit reeks of cigarette smoke. The man next to him is younger, in simpler attire, and less serious about work based on the goofy smile and crooked tie. Their names are Ryotaro Dojima and Tohru Adachi.
While Chikara doesn't give Adachi a second glance, she can feel his eyes on her. It's a little creepy.
Chika and Aki tell the detectives that they may have information about the kidnapper on the loose. They lead the couple to an interrogation room without hesitation. They must not have had any news yet… The room is simple with a metal table and some chairs in the center, a one-way mirror, and a small television in the back. Everyone gets situated. The older gentleman is the interrogator and Chikara the interrogated. Adachi and Akihiko stand next to their partners.
"…Aren't you the girl from that news special?" Dojima immediately aims for the jugular. Chika senses another set of eyes burning holes in her.
"Y-Yeah…" she rubs the back of her neck. "Not really my proudest moment…"
"Hm, 'ts a shame. My nephew really took a shine to you."
"Nephew?"
"Yeah, Yu Narukami, one of your old students. He's a quiet kid but you probably know 'im."
"…Huh…" Chika stares at the table as if she is guilty of something.
"Look," says Dojima, and the girl does just that, "I know that's not what you're here for. All I'm saying is to be a little more careful."
Dojima taps his arm. Chikara soon realizes he's referring to the bandages wrapped around her own arm.
"Oh, um, this isn't from the fight," she explains. "…Let's just say that my life flashed before my eyes twice yesterday…"
"S-Sorry about that," Akihiko says.
"It's okay, honey. There's no way you would've known that a person would fall out of the back of a truck."
"A truck?" Dojima asks. Chika flinches and gives the table another staring contest.
"Um, I…I think it was a truck. It's all kind of a blur, haha."
"Wh…" Akihiko speaks up again. "Of course it was a tr-"
"I said I'm not sure," Chikara's voice has a tone that tells Aki to play along. He bites his lip and lets the questioning presume.
"So you don't remember?" the detective asks.
"The doorbell rang and…" she's quiet for a second, pretending to think. "I ended up on something moving. Maybe a truck. That's all I remember."
"…Alright. Well, if you remember anything else, anything at all, don't hesitate to let us know," Dojima says as he pushes his seat back and stands up.
"I will. Thank you," Chikara follows suit and shakes his hand. She leaves the room and Akihiko begins to follow, but is stopped by Dojima placing his hand on his shoulder.
"This is more common than you think," says the detective. "Kidnap victims tend to protect the identity of the kidnapper due to pity, fear of retaliation, things like that."
"…You don't know my wife," Aki groans. The older man, caught off guard, lets him go and watches him chase after the elusive girl.
"So what was that all about?" Aki says during their drive back home.
"That boy the cop mentioned, Yu? He's one of the kids with the potential. I can't tell him anything!"
"You could've left some information out."
"Yu must've kept their involvement a secret for a reason," Chika mumbles, scratching her chin. "…And what if the guy finds out and escapes to that weird world? What if the kids get in trouble? Our only source of help in this town would be held in custody and we wouldn't have a clue what to do next!"
"Hm, true. Last time we had Mitsuru and the Kirijo Group, the police, and…as much as I hate to say it, Ikutsuki there to help us out. Here, just a bunch of high schoolers who might know the gist of what's going on."
"Man, this is big. Huge. That world…it's, it's dangerous. I could tell just by looking at it. It could cause a panic if it isn't watched constantly."
"Which is why we are going to make sure it doesn't."
'We'? Wait a minute.
"You weren't planning on fighting, were you?" Chikara smiles impishly.
"Heh. You know me well."
"Then what's your deal whenever I wanna fight?"
"Because I worry. I mean, who wouldn't?"
"I get that, but I trained under you. You're pretty much saying that you're not confident in your teachings."
"…Okay, okay. Truth is…I…I wasn't here…when you fought."
"Aw…You didn't want to be left out?" Chika plays with the man's tie. "You're so…incredibly awkward, you know that?"
She rolls her eyes to the right and notices that her phone isn't where she swore she left it.
"Crap, I think I left my cell at the station," she says.
"Want me to turn around?"
"Nah, I don't need it now."
Chika instead directs Akihiko to the Junes department store. She has a pretty good idea of where her friends are. She takes Aki's hand and leads him up the elevator, to the electronics department, explaining on the way. They walk by a row of television displays until they reach the one where Chika witnessed the impossible.
"You sure this is the right one?" the boxer asks.
"Pretty sure. It's the right size and I recognize the poster," Chikara explains, pointing at the sepia picture of the talking bird on the wall.
"And you only saw the ones with the potential in there?"
"…That, I'm not sure. They mentioned Personas but I haven't actually seen them."
"Hm…" Akihiko observes the TV, seeing if there's a false back or a special function listed. He then looks around for any passersby before pressing his hand on the screen. It goes through. "Wow…" he breathes as he pulls back. A grin crosses his face and his eyes begin to flare up. His muscles tense, fists clench…He's ready to fight. The old Akihiko is beginning to surface.
"Cool, right?" Chika says. "Now let's go!"
Wanting to follow Aki, she puts her hand on the television. The knuckle bumps against the impermeable glass.