The sound of rain pounds in my ears as I try to analyze the situation and try to figure out what I just saw. That was defiantly Yukiko. Still, it makes zero sense. Why would Yukiko dress like that and say such things? More importantly, where could she possibly be? There is no place like that anywhere near Inaba, so she must be in the TV world. Even so, there was no such place before. It must have appeared when she entered, like the inn and shopping district.
My thoughts are cut off by my phone ringing. Who could be calling at this hour? I answer without checking caller ID. "Shirogane speaking," I answer trying to sound as calm as possible.
"Naoto-kun? It's me, Yosuke." Oh, right, he did say he would call after we watch the midnight channel. "Anyway, did you just see that!? That was defiantly Yukiko.
"Yes, but the way she was behaving was certainly strange."
"Oh, yeah, totally. All that stuff about 'scoring a hot stud,' she would never say that."
"Even so, this confirms that she was the one you saw on the midnight channel last night. Have you tried to get in contact with her yet?"
"No, I'll do that right-" He cuts himself off. "Crap, I don't have her number! Oh well, I just call Chie."
"Yes, you should. I'll hang up to allow you to do so."
"Okay, let's meet up and Junes tomorrow. I'll tell Chie." Without even bothering to say goodbye, he hangs up. I should rest now. If there's a chance I'll need to fight today I'll need to have a lot of energy. With that in mind, I fall sleep much faster than normal.
In the morning, I practically jump out of bed and change into my normal clothes. It's nice to wear something other than the school uniform, even if it is only for one day. Racing down stairs, notice Nanako watching TV by herself. Oh no, I forgot about her.
"Good morning, Nanako-chan. Has your father already left?"
"Yeah, he said he wouldn't be back for a while." I can't leave her home alone, can I? But I have to. Yukiko's life is at stake. On the other hand, how will Dojima and Nanako view me if I just leave like this? "Do you need to go somewhere?"
"Oh, um." How am I supposed to leave her like this? I wonder if this is how Grandpa always felt leaving me by myself at home.
"It's okay. I'll be fine by myself." Exactly what I would have said. She doesn't mean it; she just doesn't want me to feel bad for leaving. Still, I have to choice but to go.
"Thank you, I'll try to not stay out for too long." I leave as quickly as I can, not allowing my guilt to grow any larger than it already has. Though the walk from the house to Junes isn't very far, today it felt somehow shorter. I arrive at the food court only to see that neither Yosuke nor Chie has shown up yet. I'll just wait here, then.
After approximately 5 minutes of waiting, I spot Yosuke walking over to me with his hands behind his back. "Hey, sorry I took so long. But dude, check out what I found." He moves his arms in front of himself to reveal and Katana in one hand and a nata in the other. My eyes widen in surprise as I instinctually move to disarm him, stealing away his katana. As I go for the other sword, he pulls away. "Hey, whoa, what are you doing!?"
"This is a public area; you can't be waving around swords!" Seriously, what could he have been thinking? He could have at least tried to secretive about it like I have been for my gun.
"Dude, it's fine. And you can have the katana if you want."
"I think I should keep my gun for now." I hand the weapon back to him. "Why do you even have swords, anyway?"
"Oh, I thought we could use them against shadows and stuff."
"What? No, you must have miss understood me. What I meant to ask is where did you get-"
"HEY!" A somewhat familiar voice comes is head from behind me. I quickly turn around to see the detective Dojima was talking with last night, Adachi. "What are you guys doing with swords in a food court?"
"Oh, no no, this isn't what it looks like!" Yosuke defends himself. "We aren't doing anything bad, I promise!"
"It's true, sir. This man meant no harm in bringing these weapons. I can insure you I have the situation under control." I stretch out my hand to him. "My name is Naoto Shirogane, I am a detective. I would show you my badge, but it appears that I left it at my house." At the mention of my name, his eyes widen.
"Oh, you're Naoto Shirogane! I know who you are. I'm your current guardian's partner. He told me about you." He grabs by still stretched out hand and shakes it. "Nice to meet you, I'm Tohru Adachi." We both pull away. "Looks like you didn't spare any time getting into trouble." A laugh escapes his lips.
"Oh, no. It's like I said, we aren't trying to cause trouble." The detective laughs again.
"I know, I know. I was just messing with you. I believe you. And no, before you ask, I won't tell Dojima about this. That is, as long as you don't tell him I was here instead of working. Man, it's been so busy up there lately, especially with that Amagi girl missing." Yosuke and I both give each other a terrified look.
"Wait, did you just say Amagi? As in Yukiko Amagi?"
"Wha- Oh crap! Um, pretend you didn't hear that." He tries to run away.
"Wait, detective Adachi!" I grab his are. "Did you just say Yukiko Amagi is missing?"
"Oh, so you're friends with her, then?" We both nod. "Okay, fine, but don't tell anyone else about this." He gives a quick look around. "Okay, so last night we got a call from her parents saying she was missing. With it being the weekend, everyone was super busy. No one was really keeping an eye on her. Of course, that doesn't mean anything yet. Still, with a murder case going on, we can't be too careful. Of course, with that going around, some of the officers have started to think that maybe Ms. Amagi is trying to lie low for one reason or another."
"Wait, are you saying that-" Yosuke tried to say.
"Anyway, I should get going. See you around!" He takes off running again, and this time I let him.
"Does he think that Yukiko-san is-"
"Hey, who's that guy you were just talking to?" Yosuke once again gets cut off, this time by Chie as she (finally) arrives.
"He's Adachi, a detective. He wanted to know why we brought swords with us to Junes." I answer.
"Anyway, that doesn't matter right now." Yosuke cuts in. "Chie, somethings going on with Yukiko-san!"
"Oh, you guys know already? Yukiko is really missing this time!"
"Adachi-san was just telling us about that." I say in a calm, steady voice. "According to him, she disappeared sometime last night when it was extremely busy. Some of the officers have theorized that she is hiding to 'lay low.'"
"Wait, they think Yukiko is the killer!? What the hell is wrong with them!? She'd never kill a fly let alone a person!"
"Chie-senpai, I'd advise that you calm down. They have absolutely no evidence to support her being the killer besides the fact that she is missing. Right now we should just focus on finding Yukiko-san."
"Naoto-kun's right." Yosuke agrees. "As long as we manage to get her home safely, everything will be fine. And with the police having no idea what's actually going on, it's up to us to do this."
"Yeah!" Chie screams enthusiastically. "Oh, and I'm coming too this time." Yosuke and I share a glance.
"Um, are you sure that's a good idea?" he questions.
"Of course it is! I'm saving Yukiko no matter what!" She isn't leaving either of us any room for argument.
"That should be fine," I say tentatively, "just as long as you remain by one of our sides at all times. As of right now, you have no way of fighting shadows." I turn to Yosuke. "Perhaps you could give her one of your weapons."
The boy reluctantly hands her his nata. Chie laughs in response. "I don't need that. My kung- fu skills should do the trick!" She imitates a crane stance while making a strange sound with her mouth. Perhaps this is an even worse decision than I originally believed. Even so, her determination may prove her to be a magnificent ally.
I am suddenly reminded of something. "Oh yeah, I had forgotten, where exactly did you come across those swords? I can't imagine they were easy to find."
"I bought them at this one place in the shopping district." Chie's face lights up.
"Oh, do you mean Daidara Metalworks? I heard some kids talk about it in class. They sell a bunch of armor and weapons and stuff."
"Really?" I question. "I'm surprised a place such as that could be found in such a small town." I should make note of this. It could be useful on such a dangerous mission.
"Does that really matter!?" My green-clad friend exclaims out of nowhere. "What are we still doing here? We need to go help Yukiko!" She takes off towards the electronics department. Yosuke and I run after her. Once we finally reach her, she is already climbing into the TV.
"Damn it, Chie! Wait for us!" Yosuke jumps in after her, as do I. Reentering the shadow world, we spot Teddie in the corner looking uncharacteristically distressed.
"Oh, hey, it's that bear-thing again!" Chie notices. "What's it doing?"
"Can't you tell, I'm thinking." Teddie answers, though the question was no directed to him.
"Has your thinking told you anything about where Yukiko could be?" She gets straight to the point.
"Yukiko? Who's that?"
"She is a friend of ours. We believe she may have been taken her yesterday. Do you know anything about that?" Chie-senpai must remember to be calm around him. Any yelling freaks him out to the point where we would get a response.
To my disappointment, gentleness didn't seem to work this time as Teddie's eyes never leave Chie. "Oh, you weren't here last time! What's your name!?"
"My name? Um, it's Chie. Anyway, answer Naoto-kun's question!"
"Wha- oh, right! Someone's defiantly in here! I spelt them right after I talked to you guys."
"Thank you, Teddie. Do you know where she is now?" I ask.
"Somewhere in that direction." He gestures to the right. Without any sign of hesitation, Chie takes off.
"Chie-senpai, please stay with us! You don't have a persona!" I yell. We all chase after her until we are met by a huge castle with another red vortex.
"Wha- What's a castle doing her!?" She screams in surprise. "Is this where Yukiko was when she was on the midnight channel?"
"That would be the most plausible explanation." Still, why would Yukiko's presence form a place such as this? How could this be 'her reality'? "Speaking of last night's program, I don't believe we have had a proper discussion on her behavior. You two must have found it odd as well"
"Well, yeah," Yosuke answers. "Who could imagine Yukiko of all people saying stuff like that? But still, it makes me wonder. Is this like that whole thing with my shadow?"
"What, so you think that wasn't Yukiko, but her shadow?" Chie asks, bewildered. "Ugh, I have so many questions I don't even know where to start!"
"I disagree." Everything is starting to piece together. "That would explain her odd behavior. Yukiko may not act that way on the outside, but perhaps she is truly like that on the inside, causing her shadow to form."
"Hey! That's not true! There's no way she's like that!" Chie looks as though she is about to jump me. My headphoned friend notices and jumps between us.
"Whoa, Chie, calm down! We don't have time to sit and argue about this! What happened to you being so eager to save Yukiko?"
His words seem to have snapped her out of it. "You're right! Yukiko's here! We need to save her!" The girl once again runs ahead of us. Just like the previous times, we run after her. Before we can walk through the portal, however, Teddie stops us.
"Wait! Hold on a minute!" He screams out to us.
"What is it, Ted? We're kinda in a hurry." Yosuke sounds irritated.
"I should warn you. I can smell shadows in there, lots of them."
"WHAT!? Why didn't you tell us earlier!?"
"Come on, Yosuke-senpai. We can't leave Chie-senpai all by herself in there." I try to calm him down. It seems both of my newfound friends need to learn how to control their emotions.
"Right, c'mon. Let's go." Without any farther hesitation, we travel forth into the strange, shadow-infested castle.
The inside models a form a castle one could expect to find as a cheesy, video game dungeon. "Alright, partner, let's go find Chie. She won't be able to defend herself on her own." Did he just call me partner? Am I his partner now? His equal? This is a strange feeling. Most people I have met would even hesitate to work by my side, let alone as equals. Is this what it is like to actual talk to people my own age as friends. It is a wonderful feeling. I could get used to this. Then again, I wouldn't want to push myself onto them. I'm sure they wouldn't want me around once the case is over. What could I possibly offer as a friend? I'm so inexperienced.
"Hello? Earth to Naoto-kun." A voice snaps me back to reality. "What are you doing? We need to go find Chie." Oh, I must have zoned out. I'm so stupid. He must think me to be a fool.
"My apologies. Let's go." I run past him down the hall. Where could she have run off to?
Thankfully, I have a fluffy bear-friend to help. "Oh, I can smell her!" He says inside my head. "Run straight and take your first right."
"Whoa! Teddie?" Yosuke sounds confused. Oh, right, Yosuke wasn't able to hear him before. I wonder why he can hear him now. Is it because he has a persona?
"Come along, Senpai. Let's go." I grab his arm to pull him along. Thankfully, Yosuke doesn't question how Teddie is speaking to them very much and carries on. How is he speaking to us, anyway?
Following his instructions, we find ourselves in front of a huge door. "She's in there!" Teddie declares.
"Alright, ready partner?" He called me partner again. So it wasn't a simple slip of the tongue last time.
"Of course." I ready my gun while my 'partner' pulls out his sword. With of a sharp nod, we push open the doors.
This next room slightly resembles a ballroom, just with more carpet. In the middle, Chie stands looking up at where the wall and ceiling meet. Yosuke runs to her. "Chie! Are you alright?
"She said that red looks good on me…" a voice says from above. It that Yukiko-san? "I hated my name… Yukiko… "Snow"… Snow is cold and melts quickly. It's transient, worthless. But it's perfect for me… Apart from inheriting the inn, I'm worthless. Still, Chie said that red looks good on me."
"Are these…" Yosuke mumbles. Yukiko's hidden thoughts? I finish in my head.
"Chie was the only one who gave my life meaning," the empty voice continued. She's bright and strong, and she can do anything. She has everything that I don't. Compared to Chie, I'm… I'm… But still, she protects me. She looks after my worthless life. And I… I don't deserve any of it. Chie is so kind."
"Yukiko?" The word's barely escape my green friend's lips.
"'Chie is so kind,'? Haha, that's funny." A new voice emerges, a much more demonic one. Appearing from a puff of blue flame, a yellow-eyed Chie enters the room. Oh no! This is her shadow. It must have come because of what Yukiko was saying. "Am sorry, but does she really think that I'm her 'savoir' or something like that!? Haha, that's hilarious! And aw, look at that, she thinks she's worthless! Just as she should, right?"
"Wha- No, of course not!"
"What? But of course it is," The shadow continues. "Look at her. Perfect skin, perfect hair, all the guys drooling over her. A girl like at being jealous of ME, man, that is just perfect. It means that she knows her place."
"NO! SHUT UP! STOP SAYING THINGS LIKE THAT ABOUT YUKIKO!"
"I'll stop saying them once you stop thinking about them."
"Stop it! You aren't anything like me!"
"No, Chie, don't say that!" Yosuke warns her.
"Oh wow, would you look at that. It looks like we really are the worthless one. We can't do anything by ourselves. But still, Yukiko depends on us. Haha! Isn't that hilarious? Well, actually, I don't need to ask that. I already know what you're thinking. I am you, after all."
"NO YOU'RE NOT! YOU CAN'T BE! YOU'RE NOT ME!"
"No, Chie!" Yosuke tries to stop her, but to no avail.
At Chie's words, the shadow erupts into demonic laughter. Before we know it, the room is filled with black smoke.
This will not end well.