13 August 2010
Central Shopping District, Tatsumi Textiles
Night

Kanji slammed open his window, the small bedroom at the back of the building that was fronted by the store also faced the long street that ran 'behind' the District. "YOU PUNKS!" He yelled at the receding gang of motorcycles. "Ain't you got no respect?"

"It's alright Kanji," his mother said from the doorway, though the hand she held to her forehead indicated otherwise.

"No, ma! It' ain't alright." Kanji closed the window gently to not make this worse for his mother. "Dammit, I can't let them get away with this."

"Kanji," his mother reached out to him, but he wasn't having any of it as he went looking for his jacket. "Kanji?"

"Ma, I can't let them get away with this!" He found his jacket and threw it over his shoulders. "'cuse me, Ma." He gently pushed his way past his mother and toward the back door. "I'm gonna teach them some manners!"

"KANJI!"

14 August 2010
Central Shopping District, Tatsumi Textiles
Evening

Kaido walked down the nearly empty street. He didn't need to intrude on Mari, content to simply watch over her from afar. That distance also allowed him to stay away from that girl, no matter how much he may want to make amends, there was no reaching through to that closed heart.

Climbing up past the shrine, he turned the slight bend in the road. Even though a lot of other people were on the street, he stuck to the sidewalk, a habit from a larger city, not one where the roads had more feet than wheels on them.

Looking down to avoid any unnecessary eye-contact with the locals as he waited for his train to arrive, he almost bumped into someone. "Sorry," he said, looking up. It was the young man who helped him out the first time he was in town. "Oh, hey. Kanjiro, wasn't it?"

The boy frowned at him, not quite a grimace, not a snarl either. "Why the hell are you here? Do I gotta call the cops, or somethin?"

Taken aback, Kaido verbally gave ground. "No, nothing like that. It's a nice town you got here, make for a nice vacation spot every once in a while, you know?" He tried to play up the small town advantages, but for some reason that only made things worse.

"Really? Is that why you brought all your friends with you?" The accusation was a half step away from violence, and Kaido wasn't going to have any of that.

"What do you mean, my friends?" He asked back, honestly worried. If any of his gang followed him here, even though he said he was on a small vacation. And to be honest with himself, it was the once year anniversary of the Lockdown. Too much bad blood there to live with himself. And it would be like his guys to sneak after him to make sure he was alright. He went through a lot for them a year ago, so of course they would reciprocate.

"Yeah. Your motorcycles and loud noises keepin' my Ma awake all night."

Relief flushed through him. "No, those ain't my boys. Someone else I think. What's this about them making a mess of things?"

"What? You sayin' they ain't yours?"

Kaido nodded. "Yes. My boys would know better than that."

"Well, if they ain't with you, who the hell are they?" Kanji almost roared, drawing unwanted attention. Seeing this, he lowered his voice. "Cause my Ma can't keep it up with all them doing their things, you know?"

Kaido nodded, a smile creeping across his face. "Think about asking them?"

Komaki Household
Evening

Midori looked around again, not sure of what she was meaning for herself to do. Nanako was in her own bed, Daddy and Uncle were out drinking like the friends they had become.

She walked to the living room, giving Frosty a look. Her Persona looked back at her. She waved, and it was dismissed, returning to Card form in her pocket. It was so easy to create and return now, though doing more still required effort and practise. But she didn't need a reminder this night.

Resolve flowed into her, and she strode with purpose to a cabinet set into one wall. It wasn't locked as her Daddy trusted her, though what his response would be tomorrow would be anyones guess.

Flicking it open, she pulled out an open bottle of sake, bought from Saki's place, and a cup.

Returning to the table, she set down the two items, sighing deeply. It was a stupid thing she was doing, but it was the right thing too.

She carefully popped the cork on the alcohol, and tipped the bottle to slowly put some of it into the glass. Setting down the bottle, she looked at the drink intently, letting nothing else distract her. Once it was done, there was no going back.

"Keisuke." She said, grabbing the glass and throwing down the vile drink in a single gulp. Midori slammed it back down on the table as the liquid burned down her throat, tears in her eyes from the intensity.

She poured another glass.

"All at once," she said to herself, lifting the glass a second time.

"Shinji." She drank again, the second as horrid as the first.

Again she poured a drink.

"Minato."

She looked at the bottle, still mostly full. Then she picked it up and headed for the door.

Central Shopping District, Tatsuhime Shrine
Night

Midori held the bottle against her chest as she slipped into the shrine. The street was dark this time of night, so it was easy to bypass the few people hitting the stores still open this time of night, including the bar she knew her Daddy was in.

She very carefully avoiding thinking about what her Daddy would think if he saw her.

At the shrine, she looked around, but the Fox hadn't made an appearance due to her intrusion. She knew that if it was here, then she would loose all her courage.

She knelt in front of the shrine, but did not pray. There was no one who would listen to her anyways. "I'm sorry," she said to no one in particular. Holding up the bottle, she uncorked it once last time. She would have to buy a replacement, probably after making some excuse about accidentally cracking it by tripping or something like that.

"I'm sorry that you all suffered. That I couldn't save you." She tilted the bottle, letting it start to pour out. "I'm sorry." Tears started to come down her face, the weight she fought against for so long starting to take its toll. "So sorry..."

She crashed to her knees, her glasses falling partly off her nose. One year later, and how many died? How many could she have saved in the name of love and justice if she wasn't too busy making a mockery of both?

The bottle was picked up by a strange and unfamiliar hand. She couldn't see it clearly either. "Hey," the voice attached to the hand was familiar, but she refused to recognize it. "You don't strike me as the drinking type." There was the sound of the alcohol being sampled. "Wow, this is some pretty strong stuff. I don't think I could handle more than a shot myself."

Midori turned around, but she had no strength in her legs, so it was an awkward motion. She wold up sitting with her knees in the air, hands supporting her weight. "It's for the dead!" The words slipped from her mouth with no resistance.

Kaido looked down at Midori. This was not in any way, shape, or form how he envisioned this happening. "Hells, girl, you sure know how to make a mess of things." He stepped past her and dumped the rest of the bottle onto the ground, an offering for the deceased. Setting it down, he clasped his hands in prayer.

"Why are you here?" Midori tried to say, but strength failed her.

"Me?" Kaido asked back as he looked to the sky. "A guy I know is proving himself a man, defending what he holds dear. I'm just waiting for his return."

"Liar." Midori let herself fall back, looking up past the shrine at the stars. Why was she feeling so weak?

"Call'em as I see 'em." Kaido said. "One year, huh?"

"Shut up, murderer."

The accusation flew straight and true. It impacted on Kaido like nothing else could have, even if the words had come from a different person. "That's me."

"Leave me alone."

"You're drunk. No."

"LEAVE ME!" Midori screamed, hoping someone would hear and investigate, but no one answered her plea.

"I can't. Not like you are now." Kaido said, hands in his pockets as he kneeled down. "I don't think he'd like if if I left you here like this."

"Shut up." More tears. Why wouldn't they stop?

"Will you listen?"

"NO!"

"Please?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Midori?"

"MURDERER!"

Kaido spoke anyways. "I didn't want to, you should know. I want to say that he started it, but I don't think that you'd believe me." He looked up again at the shrine, noting that there was some wild animal lurking about. Well, it couldn't be too wild if it had a scarf tied around its neck. "I didn't want to, but I was left with no choice. I know it hurts you. But I wanted you to know that... I don't mind if you don't forgive me. I don't mind if you hate me, if you hold that in your heart for the rest of your life. But I want you to know that I didn't want to do it."

Midori gave up, and lost consciousness.

Kaido groaned at the now-snoring girl. Drunk and passed out. Couldn't blame her, not with how powerful that stuff she was drinking was. Then he cursed. He could just imagine Mari's response now, and it would probably be easier just to slit his own throat. So no, he couldn't take her there. Nor could he leave her here.

"Hey dude? You around?" Kaido heard Kanji calling from the street. And he had his answer! Oh, this would work out perfectly.

"In the shrine."

"Dude, you were right! Once I laid out the first one, the rest just folded!" Kanji came in with a smile on his face a mile wide, a garbage can lid in one hand, and bruises on his face. "Oh. Dude. Not cool."

Kaido looked down at Midori. "Don't worry. She got herself drunk, and is sleeping it off."

"Seriously? Her? Nah. No way!" Kanji rejected the notion of the elegant high-schooler doing something like that. "Really, what happened?"

He kicked the bottle in response. "Trying to drown her sorrows, and it got the better of her. Say, could you take her back to your place for the night?"

"Huh?" Kanji looked afraid, then confused. "Why?"

"Simple," Kaido said with a smirk, causing Kanji to worry. "Take her back, tuck her into a guest room. And when the police come calling because you just beat up twenty guys and chased them all over town, you point to her and tell them you were protecting her from the gang." He slapped a confused Kanji on the shoulder. "And you go from being a delinquent causing a ruckus to a hero in one fell swoop!"

"That'd be lying!" Kanji objected as he slowly thought his way through the plan. "I can't do that!"

"What harm would the lie be?" Kaido countered. "The only one who could object would be her."

"I think the cops would believe her over me. Her uncle's a cop!"

That made sense to Kaido, why she was living in this town. Moving out to be with family after the events last year. "Don't worry. I trust you to come up with something. Just don't blame me, alright? I got enough on my plate to not have to deal with that."

With that, Kaido stepped out of the shrine, past the wild fox that stared at him with clear eyes and out onto the street. He had missed his train to wait for Kanji to act, and it was time well wasted in that regard. He felt bad for dumping the girl on him, but he knew that Kanji would do the right thing.

And who knows? In a couple years, he may even make for a good Shibuya Demon!

15 August 2010
Central Shopping District, Tatsumi Textiles
Morning

Midori awoke to the inhumanly cheerful chirping birds of august, and an unfamiliar ceiling. "Awake?" she heard her daddy say as she pulled herself up, rubbing her eyes. "And before noon too. I'm surprised."

Her throat was dry, and a headache pounded on the inside of her skull like nothing else. She waved a hand to find her glasses, and once found put them on. "Daddy? Can I have some water?"

"Considering you're slightly hung over... No."

It took a moment for the words to process in Midori's head. "Huh?"

"I don't know what the police are thinking, nor do I know what exactly that boy was doing, but I can tell that you were drinking last night." Mamoru's voice was steady and even in a way that betrayed nothing. "I'm very disappointed in you, even though I completely understand why you did what you did."

Still not thinking straight, Midori finally figured out that she had slept in her shirt and skirt, and that her jacket was rolled up under her as some sort of pillow. "Daddy?"

"I wish you had come to me, Midori," Mamoru said. "You don't need to hide the hurt you feel from me, and I would have been glad to be supporting of my little girl." He almost sounded sad, but years of work as a stuntman and in advertising schooled his face into a stern visage. "Can you at least tell me what happened last night?"

Working her mouth to moisten it, Midori finally began to piece together what her daddy was talking about. And she didn't like it one bit. She was in trouble, and it was all her fault.

Yasoinaba Police Station

Detective Kodai watched through the mirror as the new guy, Adachi, kept up with the interview of one Tatsumi Kanji, with his mother present. He was in an awkward position, given that his partner's niece was almost a victim of the incident last night, though watching as the boy tried to deflect the idea that he was a hero, he got a feeling that Kanji, the poor boy, was simply overwhelmed by the intensity of what he had done last night.

He knew that the boy had a temperament, but was keeping in in check with the help of his mother. Thankfully Ryotaro was busy interviewing the ones from last night who had checked into the hospital. They wouldn't admit to losing so badly to a single person, so they held their peace.

That they were also the ones that were disturbing the peace for the last couple nights also lent credence to the current feeling amongst the station that they would officially give him a warning for getting into a fight, but unofficially give him credit for a good job.

All he had to do was wait for Adachi to finish talking first, then he could send the boy home.

Yasoinaba Hospital

Ryotaro flipped his notebook closed. None of them were talking, even the ones who weren't injured badly. They didn't want to talk to a cop, and that was final.

He really didn't want to have to set an officer or two to protect the Tatsumi boy.

Looking down, he saw his hands were shaking slightly. Not from the presence of so many who needed various degrees of medical attention, but in knowing that Midori was almost a victim in all this. And if she was... no. Don't think about that. And certainly don't think about Nanako.

Thankfully, Mamoru was able to stay at the Tatsumi place to watch over her while the mother and son were at the police station. And Nanako was told she could sleep in, or visit one of her friends for now. He didn't have to worry. Shouldn't have to worry.

But it was only human of him to do so.

Fighting down the urge to find the nearest city-ganger and demand answers, the detective tried to puzzle out what to do. They couldn't just evict them from the town, yet they couldn't be allowed to stay either. They hadn't committed any real crimes yet, but now it was only a matter of time.

His partner, Kodai, would phone him when he was done at the station, but that didn't keep Ryotaro from glancing nervously at his phone every now and again.

"Detective Dojima?" a female voice came from the hall to his right, causing him to look up.

"Ah, Doctor Mochizuki." He relaxed a little at the friendly face and stood up a bit straighter. "I apologize for the mess."

She bowed in acceptance. "That is not a problem," she said. "Although when I heard that he was in town, I feared the worse."

"He?" Ryotaro echoed in confusion before he remembered. "Ah, you meant Tadashi."

She nodded. "Yes, I was worried."

"Well, you don't have to be," Ryotaro smiled to help calm her down. "From what I've heard, he wasn't involved at all. It was actually the Tatsumi boy."

Mari looked thoughtful at that revelation. "What's his name... Kaji?"

"Kanji," the detective corrected her. He was about to explain why, including his non-claims of defending Midori, but held that back. There was no need to worry her, especially given how her room mate was friends with his niece. "I can't tell you all the details as the investigation is still ongoing."

"I'm from the big city," she replied with a bit of snark that was out of place in normal interactions with the police. "This isn't the first time I've had to deal with a police investigation into violence."

Ryotaro let it slide. "I understand. Sorry."

"Forgiven."

"Well, there's not much I can do now," he said as he checked his phone and book one more time. "The patient's aren't a threat from what I've seen."

"No," Mari agreed. "They've been very polite."

Ryotaro sighed. "Well, I still have to stay here until I get the all-clear from the station."

"Well, in that case, why don't you wait in the staff lounge? We have coffee." Mari offered without a smile. "No sense in standing all the time. It's not good for a middle-aged man."

"I'm not that old!" Ryotaro objected. "But coffee sounds nice."

"Well, let me show you where we keep it!"

Central Shopping District
Tatsumi Textiles

Mamoru finished listening in silence as Midori explained her chain of mistakes last night. He waved off the bottle of alcohol as a lost cause, though he knew his daughter would replace it anyways as a means of atoning for it.

"Midori, I forgive you." He said it again, even though his daughter wasn't up to forgiving herself just yet. "What you went through was horrible, yes. But I'm here now. I can help you. Even if it's just listening." He would repeat that as many times as it would take for his daughter to learn it.

"Sorry, daddy."

He leaned over and rubbed the back of her neck affectionately. "There there. You're still my little magical girl."

"Daddy," She said as she looked up him with tear-stained eyes. "I'm 16."

"You think that stops you from being special to me?"

"I suppose not."

"Look," Mamoru said as he stood up. "Why don't we collect your things, and head home? You look – and smell like – you could use a bath and poor Nanako is all by herself with her father out at work from other things that happened last night. Seeing her big sister should make things better."

"What happened?"

"Oh? Well, it seems like Kanji-kun got into a bit of a fight..."

Yasoinaba Municipal Hospital

Kaido waited patiently for the cop and Mari to leave before he could get closer. He knew that this could get real ugly, real quick unless he did something to take care of things. And that meant having some alone time with the leader of this particular band of idiots.

Now that the way was clear, he casually walked down the hall to the room he knew was occupied by the head honcho. Taking one last look around to make sure no one was giving him unwarranted attention, he opened the door and stepped in like he owned the place.

"Who the fuck are you?" The man sitting on a couch said as though the bandages were no problem at all. "You ain't a nurse, or one of my guys."

"No, I ain't." Kaido said. "I'm Kaido, from Tokyo."

The other man stared. "No. You ain't. There's no way he would come out to this hick town."

"I do if it's a nice vacation spot," Kaido replied as he stepped closer, a slight grin on his face as he kept his hands in his pockets. "Now, we have a problem."

The other man finally recognized the Demon of Tokyo, and sweat broke down his face. "Oh. Shit."

Later

Kaido walked out, and quickly checked to make sure none of the local cops were looking at him. Clear, he made his way out of the hospital. He was comfortable with the deal he had hashed out. The other guys wouldn't cause a ruckus in Inaba, and the Demons would give them a warm welcome in Tokyo instead. It wasn't a perfect deal for Kaido, but it did serve to keep the peace in a town not equipped to deal with a motorcycle gang, and instead bringing them into a place where they were the small fry, and could be controlled.

He stopped, a promise coming back to the front. He swore as he changed his plans. He needed to go to that Amagi Inn place and grab some info from them. One of his guys was getting hitched, and was looking for a honeymoon spot, and apparently Kaido's 'tourism' excuse intrigued him.