Fate/Reach Out
Inaba Chorus: A Fortunate Encounter
You are Naoto Shirogane, the aspiring young detective with a legacy to follow.
You have solved many cases on your own already, earning a rather dubious epitaph, "The Detective Prince". You care not for rumors or titles, so you barely paid attention to such things. Rather, they helped give you notoriety and establish your foothold as a rising star in detective work, and that is enough.
That said, you are now faced with the reality that magic exists in some form, and that the recent murder case in Inaba has taken a supernatural slant.
In order to get to the bottom of that mystery, you decide to venture to the victim's last known address before moving. All you had to go by was the city name of Misaki Town, so you asked around. Mostly about recent events that might have encouraged the suspect to leave. You were quite surprised to find that Misaki Town, on top of its history of a small mountain town that bloomed in size over the years, had quite its own murder mystery a while ago.
Reports of missing people were one thing, but such records never reached the hundreds in a single night without explanation. A missing person in Inaba showed up later as a cadaver on some power lines. Yet in Misaki, there were no records of such missing people ever reappearing, and the only morbid clue to their disappearance were bloodstains. It was especially worse where a single hotel was cleared out of all guests and staff in a night.
Were vampires truly involved? It might fit the modus operandi, but something didn't feel right. Not quite a copycat, but certainly a different party involved altogether.
Fortunately, they seemed to have stopped after a while. There was no killer caught, but it was probably for the best. Had you not seen Emiya-senpai's "magecraft", Personas, and the wonders of the TV world, you'd be less open-minded to such circumstances. You'll just have to accept that someone with similar powers had resolved the mystery.
Your deduction on Satsuki Kubo –or rather Satsuki Yumizuka— led you to one of the many high schools in the precinct. Misaki Municipal High School. You decided to be tactful for your purposes, as Rise's criticisms held heavy on your mind since.
This is not a game to you, so you shouldn't treat it as such. You shouldn't make others believe you think as little of others either. Arriving at the school after classes were over, you introduced yourself as a detective looking into the missing cases and how they paralleled another back in Inaba.
Police dramas liked to romanticize the process of solving crime murders, but it wasn't as fast or glamorous. Cases like these were hardly resolved within the runtime of an episode or two. One had to be careful how they approached topics like these.
So, you played softball questions. "Do you know Satsuki Yumizuka?" "No? Then do you know someone who might?"
Two names kept coming up: Arihiko Inui and Shiki Tohno.
Tohno-san had already left for his home after school, but Inui-san was hanging back on the roof. It was a convenient spot for a private talk. You found him quickly after getting directions and approached him. "Arihiko Inui, I presume?"
"Hmm?" the red-haired young man in an unbuttoned-uniform turns to you. "You talking to me?"
"I hope to have a moment of your time," you tell him, flashing your badge. "I'm detective Naoto Shirogane."
He seemed to bristle at the sight of your badge. "A cop? Hey, I know I look like a delinquent, but I haven't missed a school day yet!"
You shake your head to diffuse the misunderstanding. "I'm not authorized to delegate how you spend your time at school, Inui-san."
"Well, what else would you want if you knew my name?"
"I want to ask you some questions regarding a friend of yours, Satsuki Yumizuka."
Inui-san blinked. "Sacchin? Haven't seen her in months. I don't think anyone has."
Well, at least it correlates to the idea that the vampire Satsuki might be the same one that lived here. But not enough evidence to go by. "Do you know anyone who has last seen her?" You asked.
"Eh, Shiki is the only one who comes to mind, but he kinda dodged the question when I asked."
That could mean a lot of things. Was Tohno guilty of something pertaining to Satsuki's change? Was he the last one to see her alive? Then why avoid the topic?
"Can you describe to me more about Yumizuka-san then? Her quirks, traits, usual hangouts?"
"Geez, didn't expect a pop quiz like this," Inui grumbled, but thought deeply all the same. "Let's see… for starters, she's got a big crush on Shiki. Only one who seemed to never catch that was Shiki himself, but with him dealing with family drama and his anemia, eh, kinda hard to blame him."
You took mental notes to ask about Shiki Tohno later. "Would you say you were her friend as well?"
"Eh, more so Shiki's friend than hers, but whenever he's around she's bound to show up too." He paused and looked especially thoughtful. "Come to think of it, Shiki has been hanging out with a number of girls the last few months. Ciel-senpai, Aruceid-san… and I think I saw a pair of red-haired twin maids at his new house one time, along with his sister."
As interesting as this was, it was getting off track. You just hope Shiki Tohno had some semblance of decency towards the fairer sex as Emiya-san, else one hypothesis could be his unfaithfulness that caused Satsuki to descend and take out her unrequited feelings on Hanamura-senpai.
"Now where was I?" Inui said to himself, bringing himself back to your question. "Oh yeah. Sacchin was really popular at school. She was part of this non-competitive sports team that I can't remember what it was about, and was a pretty frequent member of their practice sessions. You know, whenever she wasn't trying to talk to Shiki for a moment. Had her share of admirers too. Girls thought she was nice, and guys thought she was cute. She was outgoing and bright and kind of a klutz, but we all laughed with her since she bounces back pretty quickly."
"That definitely sounds like the makings of an upbeat person," you comment.
"For sure," Inui agreed. "I think she felt like she needed to bring that positivity to Shiki's life since… Well, it's not really any of my business to bring it up, but the short version is that Shiki has been through the wringer the last few years."
"I see." You have your suspicions, but you were here to ask him about Satsuki anyway. You have a candidate in mind on who to interview more about Shiki: his sister Akiha Tohno.
Still, this presented a question you had to bring up. "Were you and Yumizuka similarly downtrodden?"
"Eh?" Inui blinked, surprised by the question. "What do you mean?"
"Were any of you severely traumatized that you sought each other for comfort?" If they shared some connection of suffering, that could explain their ties, and maybe the underlying issues within Satsuki's psyche. You may not have the grasp of Freudian psychology for Teddie's world, but you have enough to gauge criminal profiling.
"I mean… I guess? I don't know about him or her, but I lost my parents when our apartment building collapsed, and my grandma died getting me out of there." He shrugged, as if the memory wasn't at all horrifying. "Sure, it's sad, but at least I'm still here thanks to her, so I gotta make the most of this life, yeah?"
"That's a strong way to look at it," you console, unsure what else to say.
"Nah, no it's not. I'm just not that scared of dying after nearly being crushed to death, that's all."
Most kids his age wouldn't be so stoic about nearly dying. You had lost your parents young as well, but at least you still had your grandpa. Having him die to save you was a horrifying thought.
If he's friends with Satsuki, then maybe there's some common ground other than just him. "Then what is Yumizuka's close death encounter?"
"Before I answer that, I want to ask you something in return."
You fought the urge to frown. Inui -san has been helpful thus far. You're not sure how appropriate it would be for him to ask you questions about the case, but you doubt you'd get better answers from anyone else. You nod and allow him to ask his question.
"So, is Sacchin dead?"
You had feared that would be the conclusion he would come to. And yet you are also floored hearing Inui-san's question so impudent, as if discussing the weather. "Pardon?"
"That's the only reason you're here, right? A bit of profiling on who might have killed her leading you to her hometown? I kinda hoped it wasn't the case, but with it being so long and all of the sudden a detective like you shows up asking around? Kinda obvious."
It might be accurate to state so because vampires are undead. She would have to be killed to be turned. Normally you'd avoid addressing the cold truth with civilians, but he didn't seem all that concerned. Sad, yes, but anyone would feel lonely if a friend was away from town. Not dead.
"I'm not at liberty to say," you admit, partly to shy away from addressing the elephant in the room.
He accepts it at face value though, and reads between the lines, as he grunts and scratches his hair. "Yeah, kinda figured you'd say that too." He frowns sadly, likely knowing what a bygone conclusion for most missing person cases was.
Satsuki Yumizuka is gone, and a vampire by the name of Satsuki Kubo is wearing her skin to wreak havoc on Inaba.
Exhaling the displeasure away, Inui looks you eye-to-eye as he speaks. "I'm not sure how important knowing this is to you, but you look serious and came here for a reason. I remember a story she told me once, when she was unsure of herself and pretty miserable. It was how she first met Shiki and wanted to be more than just friends.
"The gist is, her and her fellow sports club girls were locked in a storage shed. Not so bad in itself, but it was a late winter night, and with just their shirts and bloomers on, they'd freeze to death before help came. Shiki happened to be at the right place at the right time to open the door. How he did it, she didn't know and I don't think he ever explained either, but she was mighty grateful that he did.
"Shiki's a nice guy, but also an idiot. Doesn't think too much about helping others when he can. Satsuki wasn't very direct about her feelings, whether it was nerves or something else. But I think it eventually got to her that he probably didn't see her the same way, and that a guy like me would notice she liked a guy before the guy did. She did seem happy when she told me that she got him to promise to rescue her again though."
Inui-san frowned and looked away. "Problem is… that was the last day we ever saw her at school."
That was a lot to unpack. A sign of weakness, yearning, and regrets. A promise made but unfulfilled. You feel you know enough, at least on paper, about who Satsuki Yumizuka was as a person.
"If you want to know more, I say ask Shiki himself," Inui added. "He's been pretty beat up about it so maybe he'll tell you something he won't tell me."
You had considered that, or perhaps asking his sister for her side of things. Especially with the disappearances in this town. That mystery might have impacted Satsuki in some way that convinced her to hide all the down to Yasoinaba.
But would knowing more about Shiki Tohno actually help in knowing about Satsuki Yumizuka? Even if her life revolved around him as a swooned admirer, it is likely that Shiki himself didn't notice her affections, let alone cared. You might get more about what Satsuki saw in him to be infatuated with, but that would just as well distance yourself from her. You had intended to look into a small detail but it seemed like there were deeper secrets lurking within this very town.
Maybe if you had powers of your own, be in Persona, Magecraft, or something else suited for paranormal investigation, you'd investigate. Find all the secrets and bring them to light, to justice. But no knowledge of the paranormal would protect you if you ventured too deep. You also promised that you'd come back to Inaba soon, and your return trip is coming up. You'll make due with just this interview.
"I believe I have everything I need, actually. Thank you for your time, Inui-san," you say to him, bowing.
"Uh, you can cut it out with the 'Inui-san' bit," he tells me. "I'm just Arihiko. Besides, I should be thanking you for coming today."
It would seem the closure of his friend's passing lifted his spirits slightly. So long as he doesn't know the truth of the matter, then all is well.
"Of course… Arihiko-san," you greeted him one last time. Though wincing, he grins brightly and waves as you turn and leave. Back to being a detective for the sleepy town of Inaba.
You do hope one day you'd come to your own awakening. It was cool to pretend until then. "Spirit Detective Naoto Shirogane"… heh, you did enjoy that show, as well as using your own Spirit Gun. (Even if it was just hand-painting runes around your extended index finger for "enhancing". No one needed to know that.)
A/N: Another short interlude as we look on Naoto's little side adventure. And the last chapter before the year 2022 ends. It's kinda amazing it's still ongoing but I do plan to get this done one of these years. Until then, happy new year everyone.