Inside the TV World, everyone gathered around me as I held out Mitsuo's picture for them to see. Instantly, I heard murmurs of recognition among them.
"This guy came to our shop before..." Rise said quietly, in a fearful tone. "Was he...spying on me?"
Yosuke and Chie were able to recall the day he tried to ask Yukiko on a date (although Yukiko herself took some time to remember this). According to Chie, though, he had been stalking her for quite a while before that. Rise explained that he had come up to her one day and started ranting about the local biker gangs (prompting some glances in Kanji's direction), and how she had just tuned him out. I listened as they went on about the suspicious things they had heard him say.
Regardless of all that, everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion: Mitsuo was the killer we'd been searching for all this time. As much as I hated to admit it, the evidence was right in front of me. Now, our mission was to track him down.
Rise led the way as we traveled through the TV World. The area we ended up in was...rather strange. It reminded me of the games that Mitsuo wouldn't shut up about. Then again, this was his reality, so that was to be expected.
"Man, this is old-school," I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a little.
Yosuke smiled. "Gotta admit, all guys love games."
"And all girls love Teddie!" came Teddie's cheerful response.
And with that, we charged toward the gate.
...
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You don't know where you are.
This place seems to go on forever and ever.
All you can do is walk, walk, and walk some more, and hope that eventually you'll find your way out.
...
But who cares?
What's the point?
It's not like anyone cares that you're gone.
They probably didn't even notice when you disappeared.
And the ones who did probably just shrugged their shoulders and went on with their lives.
That's the way it's always been.
...
I don't want to do this anymore.
I'm tired of it.
I'm tired...of everything.
...
But what's this?
You come to an unusually large door. The kind of door that's usually reserved for boss rooms.
You slowly walk up to it.
You push on it...
...
...Locked.
Of course.
You start to turn around, when suddenly you see something out of the corner of your eye.
Pitch-black darkness is coming from behind you.
The darkness gathers around the door.
And suddenly, the door swings wide open.
You stand there, unable to comprehend what just happened.
But then, you realize.
It could be the way out.
So what are you standing there for?
Regaining a small trace of hope, you rush through the open door...
...and that hope is dashed.
It's a huge dead end.
A giant walled-off sand pit.
There are no other doors, and you're certainly not climbing those walls.
You look around, figuring there must be some way out of here.
Then, you notice something.
A blue aura in the middle of the room.
You run toward it.
Sitting on the ground, you see what looks like another person.
You stare at it for a while before it finally acknowledges your presence.
It slowly stands up.
And when you look into its eyes, you see...
...you.
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The journey through the dungeon was more difficult than I'd expected, but luckily the training we had done in the past few weeks kept us alive.
What disturbed me, though, were the voices I heard as we made progress. Each time we ascended a floor, I would hear these voices describing the victims' deaths in a game-like style. What really had me scared was when I heard Morooka's name.
"Thou hast done well in killing Morooka..."
Then it occurred to me.
That night after Morooka died...when I found Mitsuo in the street, and he kept saying those things...
...Was he actually telling the truth?
The long scream didn't really help things. And at one point, I could swear I heard something that was just a mishmash of random words. Despite my second thoughts, I forced myself to continue forward.
Finally, after hours of dungeon-crawling, we reached a large door. We stopped for a moment in order to prepare for whatever might be waiting for us.
"This is for everyone's sake," I kept reminding myself. "Even his..."
We made our final preparations before we approached the door and pushed it wide open.
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You stare at "you" for a minute, not believing what you're seeing.
Then, you finally get the courage to speak.
*"...Who...are you...?"
The other "you" does not respond, only stares.
That makes you angry.
*"Are you deaf? Answer me!"
The other "you" answers quietly.
*"Why...?"
Why?
Why what?
Why you're here?
Why you killed all those people?
Why you're such a pathetic loser?
...
You don't know.
You don't know much of anything anymore.
You wait for it to continue, but it doesn't.
You grow more agitated with each passing moment of silence.
...
...Why did you kill those people?
You don't really remember too well.
Could have been just for fun.
You don't remember if you had a specific reason.
All you knew was that they had to die.
They were all no good.
You were better than them.
And yet they were loved and respected by so many people.
But not you.
No one loved you.
...
It wants to know why?
You'll tell it why.
...
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"...Everyone gets on my nerves! That's why I did it!"
We found Mitsuo standing there, yelling at what appeared to be his shadow self.
"Nobody even thought of me after the first two people...That's why I went after the third one!"
As he spoke, the shadow just stood there in silence.
"I killed them!"
We stood back and watched his one-sided argument. As he continued ranting and raving, the shadow said nothing at all. Mitsuo kept getting angrier.
"W-What're you all quiet for?"
The Shadow's voice came in a barely audible whisper.
"Because...I feel nothing..."
That seemed to sober Mitsuo up a little.
"What're you talking about?" he said shakily. "Make sense, dammit!"
"I..have nothing..." the shadow continued. "I am nothing..."
It was Mitsuo's turn to be silent.
"And you...are me..."
Mitsuo went pale, and it took him a while to regain himself.
"What...? What's that supposed to mean?"
Again, the shadow said nothing.
"I...I'm not nothing!" Mitsuo yelled. The way he said it suggested that that statement was more to convince himself than the shadow.
Yukiko let out a cry of concern. "No! If this keeps up..."
Mitsuo whirled around, finally aware of our presence.
"W-Who are you guys? How'd you get in here...?"
Strange...he didn't seem to recognize Yukiko or myself.
Then, I remembered the thick fog. It was probably impairing his vision, making us unrecognizable to him.
Suddenly, Kanji interjected.
"Shut the hell up! We came after you!"
Mitsuo got the strangest look on his face...
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...
*"We came after you!"
...
They came...after me...
They came after me...
Could it mean...
...that I succeeded?
...
A female voice speaks.
*"Are you the killer?"
They came after me...
And they found me...
...
You smile.
And you laugh.
You laugh hard.
You try to make it sound as evil as possible.
That's what they want, right?
"Of course I am! I'm the one behind everything!"
See?
You are a killer.
You're the one they've been looking for.
You are not nothing.
And you'll make sure everyone knows it.
"I don't give a damn what this impostor's saying!"
You turn to the other "you".
"You hear that? You have nothing to do with me!"
Everyone is listening to you now. You'll tell this bastard off in front of all of them.
"Get outta my sight!"
He keeps his mouth shut like the little liar that he is. But he doesn't go away.
You turn back to everyone.
"That goes for the rest of you too...Why'd you follow me all the way here?"
You're angry.
They're not showing any fear.
They should be afraid of a killer.
Why aren't they afraid of you?
You'll prove to them that you're a killer.
Then they'll be afraid.
"I'll kill you...I'll kill all of you!"
You shout at them, but they don't react.
"I can do it, you know...I can do anything!"
You can.
You know you can.
You know it...
...
Then, a small voice comes from behind you.
*"So you don't accept me...?"
That goddamn impostor's still here?
Very well, he'll be the first one to go...
...
But suddenly, you feel very tired.
Losing the strength to stand up, you drop to your knees.
"What the...?"
Come on, don't do this now...
You need to get rid of this guy.
But you keep losing your strength...
Soon you're...starting to lose...consciousness...
Then, suddenly...pain...in your entire body...
You...hear yourself...scream...as every...thing...goes...
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