Into the mind of a stir-crazy serial killer.

There will be a Minazuki chapter – I'm not breaking the narrative for it – but here's a little setup in the meantime. Be patient.

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Time didn't pass all that much in the TV World, he knew that.

Which meant he had no idea if he was supposed to be bored as hell or not.

Adachi sat on what used to be the apocalyptic ruins of Inaba's shopping district, watching the "room" around him warp and morph into some weird random shit. He couldn't claim to know how this place worked, but it usually worked to his advantage, so whatever. It had been all sunshine and friendship until he'd gotten here.

Those fucking brats.

He was surprised they'd taken so long to figure out he was here. The Midnight Channel must have been on the fritz. Not that he'd been in a hurry to reveal himself or anything. It was nice not being harassed by Narukami and his Boy Scouts. Those Inoperatives had been sniffing around, too, acting all high-and-mighty. And it was all because of Minazuki.

"You sure don't know when to let shit flush, do you, kid? I told you already – rules are rules. I'm abiding by them. Ain't that big of me? You oughta try it sometime instead of trying to blow shit up and whining about it."

Sho Minazuki leaned forward with a glare that threatened to shatter glass. "Time for a new game," he said, "My game. The only rule is...there are no rules."

Stupid kid.

Hey, I know! Let's do the same thing that didn't work the last time, only bigger and dumber! Nobody will know it's me!

Minazuki might as well have hired a skywriter for all the subtlety he displayed in breaking Adachi out of prison AGAIN. Gee, who else could have done that? Certainly not Dojima! If he dragged those damn crosses out again…

But then Minazuki went and did the most infuriating thing: HE DISAFUCKINGPPEARED. No popping in to see what Adachi was up to. No word on what was going on in reality. Nothing. Adachi had been sitting here watching Shadows ooze around while he waited for someone to come find him, bored as hell...and hungry, too. He hadn't felt like taking a chance and poking his head out to find something to eat. Minazuki didn't tell him how long he was going to be here.

Come to think of it, he didn't tell him much at all.

"Look, brat, I don't want any part of your 'blow up the world because nobody wuvves you!' crap. Can't you see you're going about this all wrong? What good is revenge if there's no one around to witness it?"

He'd have to be blind not to notice the kid wincing and clutching his head every few seconds. "He lied to me," Minazuki gritted out, "He lied to me and now I want to make him pay!" Whoever the hell that was. "You are going to help me."

It wasn't a request. It was a goddamned order. All Adachi ever heard were orders. Do this, go there, clean the floors, turn the TV off, wake up. He'd learned to tolerate orders from people with authority over him. This kid did not have authority over him – or anyone. Not since a god got pissed off at his snot-nosed attitude and kicked him out of the way.

"Oh yeah, I'll help ya real good. Make a little banner out of bed sheets: "GO BRAT! BEAT THEM OTHER BRATS!" He pumped his fist in the air as if he were at a sports game.

Damn kid had no sense of humor. "You are capable of imprisoning someone in that TV World. You are going to do that for me now."

"Well, since you asked so nicely...no."

"I'm not giving you a choice."

"And what's stopping you from chucking people in? You have a Persona, don't you?"

Minazuki went quiet.

"Psst – this is the part where you say, 'Of course I do, Adachi-san! It was so smart of you to remember!' Did you forget your line?"

The kid said nothing, just gripped his head again.

"Well, how about that. You just got your new toy and you broke it already."

"Why? WHY ISN'T IT WORKING!?" Okay, this was new. Kid's Persona didn't seem to want to play. "He promised me he'd make it work!" He'd bust a blood vessel if he didn't stop squeezing his head like a zit.

"Could you try not to off yourself in my presence, buddy? They don't exactly trust me around here." It wasn't that he was concerned for the brat – or the new idea that Personas could just stop working. If someone died while talking to him, there was no way he could claim he didn't do it.

"I want him back!"

"Okay, kid, too many 'hims'. Who are we talking about now?

Minazuki didn't answer, instead, he looked around the room. "Is there a TV around here?"

Adachi sighed. "Why do I keep getting mixed up with you?"

And that was the bulk of the information he'd gotten. Throw someone in a TV for Minazuki because they promised to fix his busted Persona. Except he never found this person. Minazuki went out to presumably look for him, and never came back. It had to have been several days by this point.

Dammit, prison was hell, but at least there was food. And a toilet. No wonder his victims died after about three days or so! They were starving and full of shit!

Before Adachi could develop the human ability to emphasize, an object formed in front of him: a TV set. It looked like something his grandmother would have owned, and appeared to have been dropped down the stairs a few times, but it was a TV big enough for Adachi to get his head and shoulders through.

"We-hell-hell, what've we got here? Happy New Year to me!" He poked his head through and found himself in the back of that stupid-ass store, earwormy jingle and all. No one seemed to be around, so it must have been after closing by now. "I think I'll amuse myself with a little retail therapy! Hide your cabbage, Inaba! I'm back!"

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So there's a little more to the mystery. Remember in Shadowborne, Chapters 24-25? Drugs prescribed for headaches and nausea were found in Minazuki's shack because he was having trouble summoning. He was kidnapping children for Tsukuda in exchange for something. Then Tsukuda left the hospital as part of his plans, screw the kid!

Just because you have a Persona, doesn't mean you can use it. We've seen that before.

No, that's not one of Teddie's TVs. Even he's not that stupid. Adachi has this affinity for the Shadow World, and it's starting to manifest.