Yosuke's whole world was upside-down. Worst of all, he didn't even have time to sit and process it, or let his mind be numbed by work. Instead, he had to quickly get up and go and run through several things. They had to find Nanako. She was a child, and there was no telling what could happen to her in that world as a result. The others were extremely drained afterwards, and that kind of stress on a child was…
The other big thing was his engagement to Chie. No two words about it, he was in fact her betrothed. Jiro and Haruna were excited for it and couldn't stop buzzing over the fact their son made a great match.
"She's so cute! Does she have her mother's old wedding kimono, or can she wear mine? I still kept mine…."
"And I'm happy you took this next step into being a man. You'll quit school at the end of this year, as I said before, and soon you'll be devoting all your time to her! She seems like a good match!"
He wasn't upset or anything. In fact, he liked Chie, and wondered if the feeling was mutual. It had to be on some level, right? He just worried the preparations would keep them from far more important things.
Like rescuing Nanako. That was their biggest at the moment.
Everyone met up at Junes again, wearing their usual clothing. No time to greet each other, they all just nodded in understanding and jumped into the camera, soon finding themselves in a bright paradise filled with rainbows and clouds and a pearly gate.
"Oh my…it looks like Heaven," Rise breathed.
"It does?" Naoto tilted her head.
"That can't be a good sign," Yosuke sighed.
"She truly does miss her mother…." Yu said quietly. "She's so young…"
"We can worry about Namatame later. Right now, we save her!" Yosuke said, and the others nodded.
"Yeah!"
"Why don't Rise-san and I scout ahead? Both of our Personas have wings, and mine has speed," Naoto suggested, posing like she was about to summon it.
"No, because then you have to be in that form until we leave and it sucks your energy." Yukiko shook her head.
"Actually, what's your weapon?" Yu asked. Naoto pulled a silver revolver out of her holster and twirled it around.
"It's just like the gun Father and I practiced my skills with back home. It's a Smith and Wesson."
"Wait, your dad taught you sharpshooting?!" Yosuke asked in disbelief.
"Yes. It's a defense tactic."
"Wow…" Kanji said in admiration.
"If you have a gun, you could probably snipe or shoot from above, and Rise could scout from above too…" Yu thought about it. "Maybe not right now, but if we get into a tight spot, we will."
The group then ran through the pearly gates, feeling as though they were floating through the clouds, which forever remained just out of their reach. They fought whatever Shadows they could, but that wasn't their main goal. Yosuke could almost taste their worry in the air. Nanako was so young, who knew what effect this world would have on her? They ran faster.
Eventually, they climbed a set of pearly stars and threw open golden doors, finding themselves in a silver room covered in statues of angels and white columns. A nondescript man dressed in a white kimono and grey hakama with a bright green happi on his shoulders stood at the end of the room, tightly clutching Nanako.
"Let her go!" Chie cried as everyone ran in.
"You must be Namatame Taro." Naoto said calmly.
"So you're the killer!" Yosuke snapped, pointing at him. "Give us her!"
"You're all the people I saved…I'm trying to save her too!" Namatame shouted.
"So you know what this is?" Yu asked carefully. "The tabloids? What are you trying to do?"
"That's where they'd show up to be saved…and then I did. So don't interfere! I'm saving her too!"
"Why did you kidnap so many people?" Yosuke asked, huffing. "Did you do it!"
"Yes…I was saving them…."
"Did I ask for you to save me?" Rise asked.
"It was helpful to you,"
"We almost died in there!" Yukiko said.
"Yeah, that doesn't change the fact you're killing people!" Yosuke trembled with anger. Namatame trembled too, more nervously.
"Call it what you want…I see them in the news, on rainy days…..they ask me to save them and protect them…I throw them into the canvas I have…"
"None of us asked for this!" Kanji yelled.
"Whatever…!" Namatame suddenly gasped and tightened his grip on Nanako, revealing yellow eyes. "I don't need your judgment! I am a Savior! And I can save all these people! The real world is ugly and terrible, full of horrible people. Here, it's safe and sacred…here, they'll be protected. I'm their Savior!" He gripped Nanako harder, making her face pale as she choked and gasped.
"I-I…can't….breathe…." She wheezed.
Yosuke and Kanji looked at each other, nodding, then charged at Namatame, knocking him back and causing Nanako to fall out of his arms. Yu caught her easily and the girls rushed to her side.
"You can't…I was going to save her! Get out of my way!" He screamed and all the Shadows were pulled towards him, whipping past the others as they engulfed him and surrounded him.
"What's going on?" Rise tried to shield her eyes. His body bent and coiled and twisted into impossible shapes before being surrounded by a bright light that nearly blinded everyone. When they looked again, he had become an indiscernible mass of steel, surrounding eyes and wings and gears, slowly descending onto them. A large bell chimed out several times, making Naoto look around. Raccoon trembled in fear.
"What is that thing?!" Kanji demanded.
"Damnit, we didn't come this far, get your heads back into it!" Yosuke scolded, getting out his weapons.
The gears and circles turned and twisted around, making the eyes unable to focus on any one thing at a time and instead going around in random directions. It floated above them just out of reach.
"Take that!" Chie jumped up and spun, landing a kick on one of the gears and slightly moving it out of place, but otherwise not doing much damage.
"We're going to need to transform for this!" Yukiko worried. "We can't get many hits in otherwise,"
Don't interfere….! The sphere shouted in their heads.
Yosuke transformed into his Persona, feeling the twist of his bones before he jumped up and used his hands to blast a flurry of wind onto the sphere, blowing it back and knocking some gears off. Naoto transformed as well and flew up behind the sphere, aiming her gun right at it and knocking an eye off. Before she could shoot another one, the main one looked directly at her and shone a red light at her, making her tremble and point her gun at the group instead.
"What are you doing, Nao-chan?!" Raccoon cried.
"She's brainwashed!" Chie gasped.
She fired a splash of dark energy instead, which Yukiko sidestepped to dodge. Chie shot a wave of ice onto the sphere, freezing it and forcing it to crash down to the ground. Naoto fell as well, shaking her head to clear it after the influence. The monster quickly morphed back into Namatame.
"We have to get her out of here! This place isn't good for her," Raccoon said. Yu quickly scooped Nanako up and ran with her and the girls out.
"He's coming with us too." Naoto pointed to the unconscious Namatame.
"Yeah, good idea," Yosuke picked up one side, while Kanji picked up the other and they easily lifted him up over their shoulders and walked him out of the room and out of the camera. Despite her exhaustion, Naoto hid it and started talking to the current cashier at Junes in a low voice. Yosuke's whole body felt like lead and his very bones burned, but he tried to keep it together.
"She's not waking up!" Yu worried, holding her close to his chest. Her bun had gotten messed-up and several strands fell out.
"We were too late! She's so small and was in there for so long…!" Kanji swore.
"The police and clinic will be here shortly." Naoto told them. Yosuke kept looking at Nanako, fearful. They had gone in literally the day after she was kidnapped, but what if…they really were still too late somehow?
The police took away Namatame and the group followed the nurses who were sent out back to the clinic, sitting or standing outside of her room. Kanji just looked outside the window, and despite his screaming limbs, Yosuke just barely resisted the urge to pace or even sit down. He had to be strong for them, had to look like the most put-together one.
"If only I had put the pieces together sooner…! Then we wouldn't be in this mess!" Naoto suddenly spoke up, her face the color of gruel. "Or if I hadn't just let him talk in the Other Realm…"
"I should've realized earlier he was suspicious…" Rise mumbled to herself, staring into her lap.
"Oh yeah? Well I was the one who could've actually laid a hand on him, and I didn't! I just stood there and now Nanako-chan might never recover!" Yosuke said.
"It's all our faults…!" Yukiko looked ready to cry.
"I'm so worried about her…!" Raccoon sobbed. "She's so young and went through so much! She didn't even have a Shadow!"
"Stop mopin' around!" Kanji yelled at them all. "That's not going to help anything! It's nobody's fault, and we just have to have faith that she'll recover! Don't feel sorry for yourself, Naoto!"
Her eyes widened in surprise. "R-Right…"
"Hey, when she recovers, let's have a party in Junes!" Yukiko perked up.
"Why there of all places?!" Yosuke demanded. "It's not exactly a party place!"
"Wow, you guys are all still here?" Adachi asked in surprise as he walked in with wide eyes. "It's getting late…Dojima-san is questioning the doctor, but we can't find out anything until they run tests on her. Same with the perp despite being behind bars. I'd suggest you all get home and go to sleep. Long day, and nobody wants to see you collapse!"
"He's right." Rise stood up. "Night, everyone!"
They all said their goodbyes and went different ways after leaving the clinic, Yosuke heading straight home and collapsing to his knees the second he got there.
"Yosuke, ca-are you okay?!" His dad ran over to him the second he saw him, trying to help him up. Yosuke waved him away.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a really long and tiring day at school. I'm going to bed."
"Tomorrow morning, you're going to help me with learning how to pay your employees!"
"Oh, joy."
Yosuke didn't dislike learning how to run a business. It was actually pretty easy for him, all things considered. He just had trouble keeping track of all the numbers. Dad helped him, making him memorize each of the coins they used to pay employees, and the sorts of coins he'd expect to see from customers. "And sometimes, you'll find a much older customer who still uses gold pieces, accept them, but direct them to the bank in the next city to get proper paper money."
"What do we do with the gold?" Yosuke asked, doing fractions.
"Throw it out! It's become worthless now, hasn't it?"
He nodded in understanding.
"Your numbers are a bit mixed-up." Jiro moved in closer, letting Yosuke take in the printed patterns on his jacket. Some form of leopard, he bet. "Still struggling with those?"
Yosuke was silent and just leaned back in his seat.
"You've become a lot less fidgety too,"
He couldn't admit that the Other Realm provided a great outlet for getting all of that out of his system. He wondered if Chie would agree. In class, she seemed slightly less distracted too.
"I know, it's hard to have a stunted brain like yours. As you get older, many will give you a hard time over it, and you just have to ignore them. You're the head of a great idea, and they're not."
He just nodded again and redid the fractions, his dad nodding over them.
"Better."
Yosuke didn't really want to think about his 'stunted' brain as they called it though. As a child, things reacted differently to him, or more like, he reacted differently to various things. His teachers determined he had a stunted and delayed mind and there was nothing they could do for it. He was bright, he just mixed things up sometimes. His parents didn't know where it came from, but they accepted that's the way he was. Yosuke was secretly glad he was getting pulled out of school. It only made his mental status worse. Having to sit and ponder over work he didn't care about. Sure, the stuff with Junes was hard too, but he liked it at least a little bit, and that made all the difference in the world.
"And don't forget to pay your employees! That's how you maintain your business. Pay them well, otherwise they might protest and not come into work!"
Yosuke nodded.
"I usually give them a coin or two, of the 1-yen, usually enough to tide them over for the week."
He made a note of that.
After a few more calculations and instructions, Yosuke was sent to bed, though in reality he could do anything so long as he didn't go outside. Not feeling like a bath, he checked the tabloids and the weather, seeing the thick fog. Nobody was in the news though. That was good. Maybe their troubles were finally and truly over for good.
The next morning, breakfast was strangely cold. He mainly picked at it and headed to school, finding Chie and Yukiko huddled under one of the storefronts, reading. The fog hung thickly in the air.
"Yu-kun!" Chie waved him over when she spotted him. "Look at this! Namatame regained consciousness in the clinic!" She showed him the headline in the newspaper.
"He's recovered and starting to confess." Yu nodded.
"Guess that means it's finally over," Yosuke sighed. It was a long few months, but at least it was. They could return to normal life once more.
"The fog's pretty heavy this morning," Yukiko shivered. "It's rarely so cold this time of year…maybe I should've worn more layers."
"Oh, it's you guys!" Adachi waved to them, suddenly coming out of the shadows. "Guess you saw the news already. He's still mentally unstable, but they're still trying to get him to confess." He leaned in a bit. "And just between us…they were reading that journal you found…he wrote about Yamano and Konishi. Turns out he was trying to put the moves on Konishi,"
Yosuke huffed. "That bastard…" As if he couldn't just be a murderer, he had to be a creep too?!
"Hey, it's not all sad! Nanako-chan is recovering and she can see visitors! I'm on my way there now, to check on Dojima-san. I thought you guys would like to know that," He walked off and the others looked at each other.
"That is wonderful! You all can visit her after school!" Yukiko smiled.
"Yeah, that's sure to get our minds focused on something good," Yosuke smiled back. "We have to tell the girls at school, and you can tell Kanji."
"Deal!"
After school, they made good on their promise, visiting Nanako. She was lying in a bed, wearing a thick gown, while Dojima sat at her bedside in a large chair.
"Look, Big Brother and all his friends are here to see you," He gently coaxed her awake, and her eyes slowly focused on the group.
"Big…Brother…" She smiled weakly.
"Alright, you've had enough free time!" A nurse came in and scolded Dojima. "You still have a bunch of broken bones you need to be sleeping off!"
"She got me," Dojima sighed.
"Here, I'll help you back," Adachi started to help Dojima out of the chair. Nanako fell back asleep and the group went into the hallway, curious about her condition.
"I can't tell what's wrong with her." The doctor told them bluntly.
"Isn't it your job to know?" Yosuke asked.
"Yes, but this is unlike anything I've ever seen before. My guess is just general malaise, that's all I can do. And now we have to deal with all these people suddenly getting sick from the fog…"
"How are people getting sick? That was just a rumor. The fog doesn't make people sick," Yu asked.
"Well, could be the belief it'll make them sick, which actually does make them sick. Personally, I believe this is just another outbreak of tuberculosis. Either way, we're busy because of it,"
The others looked at each other in worry and confusion, leaving the clinic.
"You all get sick when you enter the other world…" Raccoon suggested.
"But nobody in town has been to the Other Realm so they shouldn't be sick," Naoto said. Crows cawed loudly over the wind, and in the distance, a dog barked.
"Look, I'm not one to be freaked-out, but maybe we should stay inside for a while too. Just in case. Not like there's anythin' to do right now anyway," Kanji said.
"Maybe…" Her thought process was already working, the gears in her head were turning.
They split up to take separate ways home, Yosuke walking with Rise and Yu. As expected, the two remained really close, leaving Yosuke to walk ahead.
"This fog is so strange….heavy," One housewife whispered to another.
"I know someone whose son collapsed and got taken to the clinic. Isn't that terrifying?" Another said back.
"Kids are like that. What's really scary is I heard a man in the next city over got into a bad accident. His horse suddenly got spooked and threw him off and ran away,"
"Really?! Well they say animals are smarter than us…"
"Where do you think this fog came from?" She held out her arms. "What if the Westerners brought this with them? Like they did those Black Ships of Death? Maybe they're poisoning us into submission!"
"Yes! This is why it was a mistake to trust them in the first place!"
"And I'm also starting to feel a bit sick.." She coughed.
Rise's grandmother threw open the doors to the tofu shop. "Rise-chan! Get in here!"
"Grandma?! What's wrong?!" Rise asked in surprise, running up the steps.
"Nothing, it's just…talk in the shop. I worry about you," She smiled. "Thank you for walking her home, boys,"
"You're welcome." Yu smiled back and bowed, then walked home, while Yosuke took the other way.
It wasn't a good idea to constantly worry about the fog, and yet that's exactly what Yosuke found himself doing. It wouldn't lift no matter how much time had passed. Dad had to actually work in Junes himself most days alongside Yosuke because all of their employees were falling ill for seemingly no reason. And they didn't have that many to begin with! Only two others! Rise communicated mentally that her grandmother had been keeping her inside most of the time to work in the shop, being spooked by how weird the townspeople were getting and fearing for Rise's safety. She was extremely Westernized and so her grandmother worried what the townspeople would do to her, so she was only allowed out in her school uniform or green work kimono. He wondered if the same would eventually happen to Naoto, seeing as how she was actually Eurasian. Half of their class was out sick. Kanji wasn't allowed out most days either, his mothers fearing him catching tuberculosis. The wind howled restlessly, animals wouldn't stop making noise, it was so cold patches of ice formed in water, and all food suddenly lost its taste.
And don't even get him started on those rumors he heard customers whisper to each other. How they were seeing visions in their pictures and on the tabloids of the town overrun by monsters, or completely laid to waste. It was startling and disturbing and mysterious. What did it all mean?
The fog grew heavier and heavier, stalking through the town in a thick yellow haze. Yosuke could barely see his hand in front of his face.
"It's so chilly…" Chie sighed as they met up that morning to walk to school.
"We have to walk in pairs now!" Rise tried to remain cheerful, grabbing Yu's arm. "He'll protect me!"
"I wonder why this fog won't go away though. It's going to start snowing then, and then what? What if actual weather gets mixed in with this?" Yosuke looked up at the sky, though he wasn't sure why. The fog choked out any natural sunlight, even the clouds were nowhere to be seen.
Yukiko and Kanji hung out in the back, barely visible themselves.
"It's just as thick as the fog in the Other Realm…" Rise sighed.
"Wait! What if…" Kanji reached into his kimono and pulled out his glasses, slipping them on and gasping. "Guys! Do it!"
Everyone pulled theirs on and gasped. Yosuke's stomach dropped completely into the street and he somehow suppressed the urge to scream. Rise did scream, hands on her cheeks.
The fog had cleared fully.
"I think Raccoon was right! This is the fog from the Other Realm and it's spilling into our world!" Chie said. "But why! And how?"
"That's the question, isn't it?" Naoto said.
"After school, let's go to Junes. I promise nobody will be there. We'll discuss this more then," Yosuke said, and the others nodded.
"Understood."
Yukiko and Kanji headed off back home, while the others headed to school, trying to think over possible answers.
Just as they promised, after school, they met up at Junes, which was completely empty. Even the stalls normally selling food and drinks had closed up. Dad said if people were getting sick, the last thing he wanted was them handling consumables. They had a newspaper spread out in front of them and looked at it, studying it.
"Some people are worried about the fog and think there's something about it, that it might even be making people sick," Chie said. "But if it's tuberculosis…"
"Explains why we're alone. Nobody wants to be out right now," Kanji said.
"And at least Namatame is going to be questioned soon. Once he recovers, then he'll be prosecuted," Yosuke nodded. "At last, this'll be over,"
"But would people believe that? If he says stuff about the Other Realm, he might be seen as mentally insane," Rise said.
"Yes, which means he might not get in trouble." Naoto leaned back in her seat.
"What?! They can just let a crazy guy who killed people wander free in the streets?! Just because they have a lack of evidence?! That's not fair!" Yosuke said. "What about people like Saki-senpai?!"
"You're tellin' me. The new government really is useless," Kanji grumbled.
"He's the reason Nanako-chan is even in the hospital in the first place!"
Yu gasped suddenly. "Well, she's starting to feel better, right? Why don't we get her something nice? Like, I don't know, maybe a chair? We don't have chairs."
"Great idea!" Yosuke grinned, happy for the distraction and change in topic. "We have plenty of chairs here, so let's go!"
"Why a chair?" Chie asked.
Yu shrugged. "She doesn't really like toys, and I can't think of much else a kid might like…besides, what could be better than coming home to a fresh new room?"
"We should get a table too!" Yukiko clasped her hands together.
"With flowers on it!" Rise chimed in as they headed to the furniture section.
It was near the very back of Junes and mostly boasted rugs, bed frames, chairs, picture frames, bicycles, and random knickknacks to put around the house. Everyone wandered around, looking at things.
"What a beautiful rug," Yukiko pointed to one hanging up in a deep red.
"How about we get an entire room? Rug, table, chair, a Western oven?" Kanji suggested. "Really make it a surprise!"
"That's way too much dude! Dojima-san will kill us when he comes home and sees we destroyed his floor plan!" Yosuke declined. The girls giggled. "What do you think-you okay?" He looked over at Raccoon and saw him staring ahead into nothingness, blinking. He briefly looked over.
"I just thought…when Nanako-chan is better, I'll have to go, right? You all did that you promised to do, which means I have to leave…" He trailed off, holding his chest. "I wasn't even of much use,"
"Nonsense! You helped us plenty! You helped with Nanako-chan!" Rise tried to cheer him up.
"I'm just…alone. Even you're leaving."
Yosuke felt his heart ice over at that. Sure, Raccoon was annoying a lot, but it was…. kinda endearing. Kinda like a little brother he never had. Oh, shit, it was exactly like that. And he somehow caught wind of the fact that soon he'd be marrying Chie and bringing her into the household and completely changing life for everyone there.
"Why don't you stay with me? I could use the company." Yu suggested with a smile before anyone could question what was meant by Raccoon.
"Right, you're all alone…"
"Besides, you still have plenty of time with Nanako-chan." Yukiko reassured him with a tone of finality.
"We should get her a Christmas present while we're here! I'm sure she'll be fine by then." Rise said.
"What's Christmas?"
"I'll tell you later!"
"Can we use your money?" Chie asked as they wandered the aisles.
"No! You can't keep falling back on that!" Yosuke declined. "I bought Raccoon's clothes for you, but that was it, I'm not made of the stuff!"
"Why not?! You're the richest of us!"
"Not true! Kanji likely has a lot of cash. Though it's probably all outdated, so uh, scratch that. Oh, Naoto-kun, she is an actual princess!"
"Princesses never have access to their own funds."
"So you're smart now?"
"It's not my fault Junes is really expensive." She toyed with her braid.
"Or maybe it's just because you have no experience with money or clothing!" Yosuke teased, his hands on his hips.
"Shut up!" She reached up and yanked his cap down in his eyes, darkening his vision.
"Come on guys, don't fight over me! There's plenty of me to go around!" Raccoon winked cutely.
"Stay out of this!" Both snapped at him and Yosuke readjusted the cap on his head.
"Ignore them. Let's try to think of a good present for Nanako-chan for Christmas." Naoto addressed Yu. "Well, you know her best, what would she like?"
Yu looked around the store. "She doesn't really like toys, but maybe something more decorative would be nice. Maybe a really fancy doll? I don't know a lot about these things. A fashion doll?"
"Like a French one?" Rise asked. "Might be a bit too complex for her."
"What about one of those with the super long hair?" Yukiko suggested.
"Yeah! They're cute! What kid wouldn't like one?!" Kanji nodded in agreement.
One of the employees, who Yosuke recognized as the only other one aside from him who worked the floor and knew how to use the camera, walked over, looking tense. "Is there a Narukami here?"
Yu nodded. "Something wrong?"
"The town clinic needs you,"
Everyone looked at each other in a panic. Yu nodded again. "I understand."
The walk to the clinic was quick from their paces, though that time they left Yukiko in her kimono behind. They hurried into the room Nanako was in, listening to the doctor.
"We don't know what's wrong, but we still keep hoping she'll pull through." He said. "Dojima-san needed more stitches, so he's being kept in his room."
Yosuke leaned against the wall with Yukiko, who had her hands in front of her. They were able to make out a loud argument on the other side, probably of a doctor or nurse and a patient.
"Don't you know anything?! The West is poisoning us with the fog! They're trying to make us subordinate to them!" A woman shrieked. "Can't you do anything?!"
"Miss, there's nothing wrong. Lower your voice." The doctor demanded. "It's an outbreak of tuberculosis."
"No it's not! We're being poisoned by the white demons! We never should've let them in! We should've-they are destroying the country! Diluting our blood! Forcing us to eat the flesh of animals!"
"Please calm down." A nurse tried to soothe.
"Who cares about that? Is it worth screaming about?" Chie rubbed her temples.
The doctor sent them all outside the room and they all sat, minus Kanji who was pacing around. Everything was running together for Yosuke and he couldn't even imagine how Yu was feeling.
"She's just a little girl…this ain't fair! How did it come to this!?" Kanji clenched his fist.
"Can't you do something?" Chie asked Raccoon, her hands running up and down her braid rapidly.
"I don't know…" He looked down in sadness.
Adachi walked out of one of the rooms, awkwardly tipping his hat to them. "Oh, you-"
"Are you questioning Namatame?" Naoto asked, straight to the point.
"Uh?! Oh, right. Uh, that will likely be cut short. He's saying stuff nobody is going to take seriously, about putting people into a camera and stuff, and it doesn't help he has an alibi…"
"So they're just lettin' him go?" Kanji asked.
"More or less."
He stormed over and grabbed his collar, making Adachi choke nervously.
"And you say we can't do anything?! If they want to see a photograph move, we can show up there and show them! We can show you right now!"
"Kanji-kun!" Rise scolded. He let go of Adachi just as a nurse ran in.
"Is Narukami here?! You're needed!"
Yu stood up and ran with her back to the room, and Adachi took his leave, leaving the others to sit or stand in the hall in silence, staring down at the floor. Everything was still until after what felt like forever, a nurse came out and shook her head.
"I'm so sorry, but….Nanako-chan has…passed on." She said softly.
"What?!" Chie cried out before she suddenly started crying, rubbing at her eyes.
"Nana-chan…not her…" Raccoon's face turned stony and he looked away.
"I can't believe it…!" Yukiko started crying too, her hand on her chest, while Rise sobbed directly into her hands, the two girls leaning on each other. Despite hiding it better, Kanji and Naoto were still quite distressed, Naoto having a hand on her chest.
Yosuke felt like his heart iced over and shattered completely. "Damnit!" He clenched his fist until it turned white. They were so close, so close…! A child died! Not just any child…someone they were close to, Yu's cousin and basic little sister, at that, and they all let her down. What did they miss, what could they have done?!
Yu ran back into the hall, flurried. "Guys! I-I think Uncle Ryotaro is going after Namatame!"
"What?! How can you be so sure?!" Kanji asked. The girls sobered up and looked over.
"Because he wasn't in his room when the nurse went to check on him, and when we asked around, they said he went to the other end where patients in less critical condition are kept, where Namatame is!"
"You guys put him in the same clinic?!" Yosuke looked at Adachi, who was trying to walk by.
"D-Don't blame me! This is the only one this town has, and leaving him at home to recover seemed risky!" Adachi held up his hands.
"Where's his room?" Rise asked.
"It's…it's none of your business!"
Kanji stormed over and grabbed his collar again. "Cough it up! There's no tellin' what that man will do!"
"You mean…you think he's going to…?!" Chie asked.
"His only daughter died. Wouldn't put it past him." He tightened his grip.
"Alright, alright!" Adachi gasped. "Go down the other hall next to the desk in the entryway. It's the very last door at the end of that hall! There's a police guard there though!"
He dropped him. "Come on, let's go!"
The group ran down the hall, eventually reaching an empty hall, not seeing anyone, not even Dojima.
"I can't believe…" Rise trailed off.
"I bet he did it because he knew Namatame wasn't going to be in trouble. Bastard killed Saki-senpai and now Nanako-chan…" Yosuke mumbled to himself. "It's not fair that he gets to walk free." Saki-senpai, who he felt like he was almost betraying the memory of. What had they done to keep her memory alive? Even he was proposed….
A loud thud came from inside the room and they pushed the door open and beheld a dark room with several beds and curtains in it, and Namatame in a simple robe, collapsed in front of a window.
"Trying to escape, huh?!" Yosuke snapped out.
"I-I…I just got scared, a-and…" He looked away.
The only decoration in the room was a giant painting on the wall of some bridge in the middle of the forest, which suddenly shimmered to show Namatame's Shadow once more. He was dressed in a deliveryman outfit, a plain brown kimono with a light green happi coat over it and a wrap around his head.
"Is it Midnight?!" Rise asked in surprise. "And isn't that…?!"
"I could've saved her…but you all got in my way." The Shadow huffed.
"But we fought him already!" Yosuke said.
"Yes, but he never faced himself, nor did it become a Persona." Naoto reminded him.
"Doesn't matter. I'm sure you all hate me because of the fact the child died. And you know, the law can't touch me. I'm going to get away with this." He smiled coldly.
"Are these his true thoughts?!" Chie tugged on her braid.
"N-No…this is…please stop…!" Namatame, the real one, grabbed his head.
"We ain't done anything to ya. Unless you think we are, which is what you deserve!" Kanji took a step forward and he flinched.
"I don't care what you do. Life, death, it's all the same. Except you're too good to kill, aren't you? You'd never lay a hand on me. And so, I'll keep saving people. That's my mission!" He laughed and vanished.
"Oh my God…" Naoto swore under her breath.
"Mission!?" Yukiko looked disturbed.
"That settles it. I for one can't walk out of here without doing something." Yosuke set his mouth into a firm line and looked around the room.
"I'm with ya. We'll deal with the creep ourselves!" Kanji nodded.
Naoto ran her hands along the painting, taking care they didn't slip in. "Isn't this painting beautiful? It's really large too. I think even a middle-aged man of a broad size would fit in comfortably. If he wanted to escape, he could use this. Of course, he might not find his way out if he did…"
"You don't mean….isn't that wrong?!" Rise gasped. "Like, a sin?!"
"And you just want to let him get away scot-free? It's an eye for an eye. Justifiable." Kanji said.
"Not you too!"
"You guys are crazy! Don't tell me you're seriously considering this!?" Chie cried.
Yosuke glared at her. "Satonaka!" He put his hands on her shoulders. "We have to, right now. We're never going to get this chance again. Could you live with yourself if you let him walk free and start killing innocents?! You heard what he's thinking! He wants to 'save' more people!" He shook her. "Do you want something like Saki-senpai to happen again?!"
"It's still wrong!" Chie said back, trembling.
"All we have to do is shove him in there! Do that one thing, and it's over." He should've figured a girl wouldn't understand what was happening. "If you really want no part in this, then leave. I'm not going to force you to stay."
"Let's wait a minute." Yu held out his hands.
"Wait?! We can't wait! The police will be in here any minute now!"
"There's something bothering me. We don't know Namatame's true feelings, and we're missing more pieces."
"What pieces?! We have everything!" Yosuke huffed. "You're just trying to stall!"
"Shut up!" Yu yelled back with such bite everyone widened their eyes and silence.
"I don't need to! I want to know what you're getting at!" He still braved a response.
"I think we all just need to calm down. We're upset by what happened. Just take a deep breath." Rise said.
Yosuke did as he was told, sighing.
"What do you mean, we missed something?" Kanji asked.
"We know almost nothing about Namatame's perspective." Naoto pointed out. "He definitely did harm Nanako-chan, even without meaning to, but we don't actually know anything outside of that. We've just made assumptions."
"And do we need to know more?! He made Saki-senpai suffer! He claims to be saving people! How can we understand that?!" Yosuke demanded.
"Listening and understanding are two different things."
He grumbled in response.
"Hey, you guys can't be in here!" Adachi ran in with a doctor, who immediately ran over to tend to Namatame.
"Oh no!" Chie cried.
"We were watching the suspect. The police were busy with Dojima-san, so imagine how much trouble you'd be in if he escaped on your watch." Naoto said quickly to cover them. Adachi smiled slightly.
"Oh yeah, good point. Then in that case, I'll keep secret what I saw, but you need to leave this room, understand?"
"Is Namatame alright? He was extremely agitated earlier." Naoto asked as they left.
"Yes, he needs to rest." The doctor helped him back into bed.
Everyone nodded and headed outside.
"What's bothering you?" Yosuke asked Yu.
"A few things. Like why did he start killing people?"
"He sounds crazy, isn't that reason enough?" Chie sighed.
"But that's the thing. When he was first investigated, the police did all they could to figure out what happened. His alibi for the first murder is very good. He has little interest in Yamano Mayumi and they lived apart from each other, and he was even distraught at her death. Everything they tested him on led the police to believe he was absolutely uninvolved with that." Naoto said.
"Maybe he just started normal and then developed a taste for it!" Yosuke said.
"No, I think that would be hard to hide," Rise stared at him.
"Everyone! Come with me, quick!" A nurse yelled, her hair a mess. Everyone looked at each other and followed her to Nanako's room, finding a doctor in there, checking her heartbeat.
"I have great news. She's recovering. We found her pulse." He nodded.
"Really?!" Yu asked in disbelief.
"Yes. We're still unsure of what's wrong, but it's not uncommon for the heart to just give out and then start beating again. Hearts are fickle like that, you know? We don't really understand them. Especially the hearts of girls. Well that doesn't matter. The point is, she should be making a sound recovery."
"Nanako-chan…I'm so happy!" Rise instantly burst into tears, not hiding it for once.
"I can't believe she's okay!" Yukiko rubbed at her eyes.
"Come on, don't look weak and start crying, otherwise I'll start crying too-!" Chie dissolved into her own set of tears.
"It's a miracle!" Naoto gasped.
"You should all head home, it's getting late. And cold. Don't want to catch tuberculosis." The doctor nudged them. Yosuke looked around the room.
"Wait, Raccoon isn't here."
"Hm? I just assumed he'd be staying with her all night." Chie rubbed her eyes and hiccuped.
"Raccoon-san…where are you?" Yukiko said quietly.
Once they were out of the hospital, Yosuke promised he'd use their mental connection to contact him, then frowned.
Everyone there?
They all answered in the affirmative.
"It's strange, I can't reach him at all. It's like there's a barrier separating us…all I see is fog."
The girls gasped and looked at each other worriedly.
"Maybe he's just gone home on his own…?" Chie tried to ask positively.
"Maybe…" Somehow though, he knew in the deepest parts of his mind that that wasn't true.
"It's snowing…!" Yukiko suddenly announced, holding out her hands to catch the falling flakes. Everyone looked up in surprise, seeing fat white snowflakes falling from the sky.
"It's been so long since I've seen pure white snow!" Rise smiled. "I'm not even dressed for this! But, the fog ruins a lot of the beauty."
"Are we going to the hideout tomorrow?" Naoto questioned, and Yosuke nodded.
"Yeah, definitely."
Once the others were taking their leave, he was hit by a sudden wave of loneliness. He didn't want to go home and see Raccoon no longer there, to see his parents listless. He tugged Chie's kimono top.
"What?" She spun around.
"Do you….want to go home tonight?"
Her eyes softened as she caught his meaning.
"No…"
She followed him to his house, bowing politely for his parents.
"I hope you don't mind her staying here…uh, the snow caught us off-guard."
"Like you need to ask permission to bring your future wife home! Soon this'll be her house too!" Haruna smiled. Yosuke winced. That felt awkward and he didn't know when he'd be used to it.
"Join us for dinner?" Jiro asked, kneeling down already. Haruna served everyone and there was little talking as they ate, Yosuke mainly focusing on the food being flavorless yet again. Every once in a while, Haruna would talk to Chie and make small talk with her, discussing how she was pretty or looked very charming. Chie smiled and nodded, feeling out of her league.
After they ate, Chie snuck into Yosuke's room from the guest room, looking around.
"Wow, it's roomy." She stared out the window and put her hand to it, drawing back at the frost that formed.
"Yeah. One great thing about it." Was she really planning on staying? If they were caught together, it would ruin her reputation, right? Would their engagement be made public? He really didn't want the rest of the group to know just yet.
"I'm sorry I'm not Saki-senpai. I can't replace her in your heart." Chie said bluntly, starting to unbraid her hair.
"What?! You think I'm still in love with her?! That was a crush, nothing more." He responded in shock. "Yeah, she was pretty, and nice, and cared for me when I first arrived here, but…that was all. When I think about her now, it's in the sense of getting justice for her."
Chie pulled her strands apart and ran her fingers through her hair, letting it all fall to her waist.
Yosuke wasn't sure what came over him at that moment. He was sure when he looked back, he'd cringe or be upset with himself. At that second, he stepped closer towards Chie and held her hands, pulling her in.
"What are you doing?" She asked in confusion.
"Is there a way to prove I mean it?" He whispered, then gave a peck on her cheek. She froze, and so did he.
"You…you can't kiss me! What if someone saw?!" She demanded.
"In the West, or so Dad says, men aren't ashamed to kiss their betrotheds." He smirked.
"The suave thing isn't working for you,"
"Well one of us has to be charming!"
She elbowed him in the stomach and took off running for the guest room. He watched her, his face warm.
Okay, scratch that. The next part would make him cringe.
The fact that he was truly starting to fall deeply in love with his future wife, Chie Satonaka.
-Naoto's gun is a Smith and Wesson Model 3, or the 'Russian type', named because America mass-produced them specifically for use in the Russian Empire.
-The ships America used to open up Japan were black and were dubbed as such by the Japanese, especially those who saw the ships as a bad omen.
I apologize so deeply for how long it took me to update this. School destroyed me, then it was the holidays. I'm taking fewer classes this time and I've been doing nothing but writing this, so fingers crossed updates will be weekly again? We're nearing the climax!