Covert Operations
By: Ominae
Rating: T
Chapter 4: Lurking at the back
April 16, 2011
Enroute to Yasoinaba High, Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
Yu walked towards Yasoinaba High on what was a normal day without any rain, unlike last night. He clutched his school bag from the handle and walked past other YH students going there (or some had walked/ran pass him).
I just hope nothing stupid or dumb happens.
Yu turned his head to the left when he heard what sounded like a bicycle bell.
Is that... Yosuke?
Yu paused, turning just in time to see the teenager stop his bicycle near him.
"Yo!" Yosuke smiled and greeted Yu when the former got off.
"I see that you didn't crash again." Yu nodded after he spoke up. "Reminds me of the first time we met."
"Don't diss me like that." Yosuke groaned after he heard Yu mocking him for traveling towards Yasoinaba without crashing.
"But you're okay, so that's what matters."
Yosuke nodded. He began to walk towards the school, bringing his bicycle with him by gripping the handlebars. Yu walked next to him.
"You saw what was on last night, right?" Yosuke questioned his classmate.
"Yeah. Although I can't shake the feeling that I'm used to it now." Yu replied as he walked close to him. I can't just tell him that I've fought against the supernatural forces for how many years now...
"I couldn't tell who it was, but if someone's shown on TV, we can't ignore it." Yosuke nodded a bit as he waved to greet a fellow student who ran past him. "Let's go check it out after school. Maybe Teddie can tell us something."
"Good idea. He could give us a clue."
"Right. If it turns out someone was thrown in again, there really might be a culprit behind all this."
"Well..." Yu sighed. "Even if it is something about that place that's killing the victims…"
"Yeah..." Yosuke gritted his teeth. "If someone's using that world as a weapon, that's unforgivable. We need to find the culprit before it's too late."
"I agree."
"There's no way the police can do it… Who'd believe that the murderer kills people by throwing them into the TV?"
"They'll probably just turn us away and think that we watch too much anime."
"Yeah." Yosuke stopped moving and got the bicycle's kickstand down. "You know, I tried sticking my head in the TV last night, the way you did, and it actually worked."
"It didn't freak you out." Yu asked him.
Yosuke shook his head. " I think I can do that now because I have the same power... Persona, wasn't it? Could be that we got this gift from someone specifically so we could solve the case? Then again, you managed to go inside the TV and get your Persona first..."
Yu didn't say anything.
Yosuke smirked and reached out to Yu by stretching out his right arm to shake hands with him. "As long as you're with me, I can find the culprit and crack this case. Well, let's do our best!"
"Same here."
Yu felt something happened after he shook hands with Yosuke. He heard a voice in his head telling him... something.
Thou art I and I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... It brings thee closer to the truth... Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Magician Arcana.
The two continued their trek towards the school.
"You alright?" Yosuke noticed that Yu seemed to be thinking. "You seem to be... thinking."
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
April 15, 2011
Briefing Room, The Center, Unknown Location
MOM had informed Billy to summon the agents assigned for the Yasoinaba case for a briefing session. Even if it means waking them up in case they're still sleeping at night in some different time zone.
David, Jang, Mark and Raido got into the briefing room before MOM was due to arrive. Out of the four, Jang yawned when she got in. She told Billy that she was in Vancouver in Canada in order to work out papers to enter university in the province. She was also about to change and prepare to turn in for the night in the hotel where she was booked for her stay when she got the alert notice from the Center.
["Agents..."] MOM greeted the four SHADOW agents. ["My apologies for calling in a meeting on such short notice."]
["No problem, MOM."] Mark replied when he and the others took their seats. ["Is this about the op we're about to do in Okina?"]
["I'm afraid so."]
The widescreen projector screen, which went down automatically from the wall mount, later showed surveillance photos of several places in Okina City. In some of them, they showed a few Caucasian men, around at least three to four, with blond or brown hair in jackets and jeans walking around.
["One of the SID's units stationed in the city was able to photograph these men walking aroud the downtown area of Okina."] MOM began to debrief them as she handed some folders to the team.
["What the..."] David murmured when he browsed through the folder's contents and looked at the info regarding the men. ["These guys are SVR."]
["Not only that..."] MOM explained their situation. ["These guys are rumored to be from the Zaslon unit."]
["No Bordurians?"] Mark raised his hand to get his question out there.
["SID's still tracking confirmation that the Bordurians are in the city. For now, we'll continue to keep an eye on them."]
["Orders?"]
["Continue with surveillance. See if they'll make contact with a KG scientist willing to trade secrets about their research into Shadows."]
April 15, 2011
2-2 Classroom, 2nd Floor, Classroom Building, Yasoinaba High, Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
The second year students inside the 2-2 classroom were now inside, either getting their things ready or just chatting away with their seatmates or classmates.
There was just only one thing wrong here.
Chie and Yukiko are not present.
The door slammed open, making some of the students look and see who got in. Yu and Yosuke were also alarmed by the loud door that slid open.
Chie was seen, with her green and yellow stripe tracksuit jacket worn over her Yasoinaba High female uniform blouse.
Didn't expect Chie Satonaka to be here later on... Yu was thinking on whether Chie knows something...
Yosuke saw Chie stand in front of him, which made him blabber out. " Um, about yesterday-we're sorry we worried you..."
Chie frowned. "Never mind that. Is Yukiko still not here?"
Yosuke shook his head when he heard the question.
"I don't think she's here yet." Yu answered Chie's question, stretching his legs from his seat.
The brown-haired tomboy sighed when Yu and Yosuke had no answer for her regarding the Amagi inn heiress. "Oh man...What should I do?"
She then raised another question to the boys. "Hey, is that stuff you were talking about for real? You know, all that about how people showing up on the Mayonaka TV Channel is related to that other world."
"Oh, we were just talking about that." Yosuke sighed in relief when he realized that Chie wasn't going to do something like to deck him in the face. "We're thinking of checking it out later-"
Chie took an empty chair and sat down next to Yu's desk. "The person on TV yesterday...I think it was Yukiko. That kimono looked like the one she wears at the inn, and she wore it during that interview a few days ago too."
She took her mobile phone and flipped the cover open. "I got worried, so I emailed here last night, but she hasn't responded. I called her earlier in the evening though, and she said she'd be at school today. I-I..."
"Calm down. We get the picture. And you still haven't heard from her?" Yosuke tried hard to reassure his classmate to not rush into things.
Chie shook her head.
I think I better intervene... Yu felt that Chie was getting desperate to get news that would confirm Yukiko's safety.
"I have a theory. A working theory for now."
"And what about it?"
Now that Yu has Chie's full and undivided attention, he decides to raise the issue right away. "It seems that the TV at midnight tries to project the next potential victim to anyone who stays up late."
Chie, understandably, became even more nervous. "What's that supposed to mean…? Wait, are you saying… Yukiko was thrown in there!?"
Some of the other students looked at Chie and wondered if she got enough sleep or something.
Yosuke can't help, but sigh and put a hand on his face, showing his disappointment at her for not being at least discreet.
"We don't know." Yu was now trying his best to tell Chie that it's not the end of the world yet. "Can you give her a call at least?"
Chie got her mobile out. After she called for Yukiko's mobile number, Chie mumbled that it's just going for the automated voicemail announcement.
"Is... is Yukiko-san..." Yosuke didn't like how this was turning out.
All of a sudden, Chie was now putting her foot down. "Jus-S-Stop it! Something must've come up, like an errand or something… Oh, or she might be helping at the inn…"
Now I'm thinking that I'm turning to the straight man here.
"Give the inn a call. That's the other way we can confirm if she's fine." Yu told Chie.
"Dude..." Yosuke was amazed to see Yu so calm while Chie was making a call to the Amagi Inn. "You're pretty calm even if we don't know if she's fine."
"Oh trust me. I'm worried too, but it's important to not show it." Yu said while he stretched his legs on his chair. "Don't want people to see me as an easy pick."
Chie ended her call with the inn. "Guys. She was over at the inn. She said they had a big group reservation and she had to help out."
"That's a relief..." Yosuke said before he mentioned. "But wait a second... Doesn't the inn usually do that at least once every year?"
"Yeah… Now that I think about it, this has happened before, too. At least once a year. Yukiko said she'll be at the inn tomorrow, too."
Yu suddenly noticed that Chie was now glaring at her. "Uh..."
"Geez... she was totally fine, you know."
"Look, all I had is a working theory. It can be changed at any time..."
Yosuke added his thoughts to the discussion. " I mean, it makes sense, right? People show up on the TV because they're inside the TV… But Yukiko-san's still here, in our world. We might want to see what this is about."
"Hey guys! Incoming!" A student went inside the classroom. This prompted the others to make their way to their respective seats.
"Ah geez..." Yosuke was about to move to his seat. But before he left, he told the others. "Alright, let's meet up at Junes after school."
"Got it." Chie replied.
"Okay." Yu gave the thumbs up as Kinshiro Morooka, Class 2-2 homeroom teacher, entered the classroom to signal the start of the day in YH.
Electronics Section, Junes Yasoinaba Store, Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
The trio arrived at the section after they were dismissed from school. The only difference was that today was a special sale event in Junes. Which meant that a lot of people were going around the department store.
This meant that they can't do anything to use their special powers without having some cover.
For the meantime, Yu informed them that he spotted the silhoutte that looked like Yukiko on his TV screen after 12 midnight.
"Okay..." Yosuke felt a bit unnerved after he heard specific details about the mysterious event that happened. "I think that's more than enough about my sorry escapades."
" If I hadn't seen the place first hand… I'd never have believed a story like that." Chie agreed with Yosuke as well, also having the same feeling.
"No kidding..."
Yu casually walked up to the HD TV screen on display, pretending to just look at it like a normal shopper would do. He didn't see that Yosuke and Chie were briefly talking before the former called for his attention.
"Hey... Are you going to talk to Teddie?" Yosuke asked him.
Yu nodded. "Afraid so. He's the only one who's in that realm and he may know something."
"Okay." Yosuke looked around and saw some people looking around with an employee helping them with their purchases. "I forgot that the sale event was today. I thought it was suppose to be tomorrow."
"So what do we do?" Chie turned to Yosuke, not wanting Yu to get busted for doing something weird inside the department store.
Yu didn't say anything. He placed his right hand on the HD TV screen and his hand was engulfed.
"Chie. Cover for him."
"Right."
Yosuke and Chie positioned themselves so that no one can easily see Yu's hand inside the screen.
"Egh..." Yu gritted his teeth after he felt a set of teeth sink into his flesh. It was a good thing that they're not sharp.
"You okay..." Chie saw what appear to be bite marks on his hand.
"I... I think I'm gonna cry." Yu sighed when he examined his hand to see if he's okay.
Chie raised an eyebrow. "Uh. No you're not."
"Hey bear..." Yosuke called for Teddie. "We know that you're there."
"Oh, oh..." Teddie felt excited when he heard Yosuke's voice. "Is this a game?"
Yosuke wanted to grab Teddie and shout, but he's not at Mayonaka TV. So for now, he's just settling for sarcasm instead. "No it's not. We're just figuring out if someone else is there with you."
"No, there's no one here." Teddie replied. "I'm a lonely little bear like always. This land feels so bear-ren…"
"So there's no one inside…? You're sure?" Chie ran the questions to Teddie.
"I-I'm not lying! My nose is running as good as ever!"
The resonance between Yasoinba and Mayonaka TV ended. The ripples the trio saw on the screen was now gone.
"I'm going to go ahead." Chie told Yu and Yosuke. "I need to tell Yukiko to be careful."
Chie ran towards the nearest escalator.
"I'm sure Chie will keep an eye out for her." Yosuke said while he got his mobile phone out. "As far as I know, the two go way back."
"I guess it's a good idea to check on the TV later just in case." Yu nodded.
"Damn. I know I should've done this before, but I'll need to get your mobile number."
"Sure."
"Hopefully this won't be anything serious."
The two exchanged numbers before they left the store's electronics section.
But as Yosuke went down the escalator, Yu received an incoming SMS message that was in English.
Incoming investigation done by Jang. Will look at your report on Mayonaka TV. Proceed to investigate the realm.
About time. Hopefully MOM would be able to understand the basics about the realm.
Streets of Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
It was already evening when the rain started in Yasoinaba. The streets were almost empty of people walking around, considering what had happened recently.
In the town's major streets, there was a heavy police presence. Several squad cars were seen parked with the red emergency lightbars and lights in front of the engine grille turned on.
A couple of plainclothes officers, mostly just Ryotaro and Adachi for the time being, were reported to be seen on the side, talking while they were using umbrellas to cover their heads since it was now starting to rain very hard.
A uniformed officer came by to inform them that they were receiving a visitor to the scene any minute now.
Other officers nearby saw the headlights of a sedan that now making the approach towards their position. Those with access to comms from the station were told that the incoming sedan is authorized to be there thanks to standing orders from Yamanashi Prefectural Police Headquarters, based on orders passed by the Kanto Regional Police Bureau.
The two plainclothes officers saw that it was a black 2011 Proton Perdana V6 sedan with red LED emergency lights mounted behind the front grille, dashboard and rear deck.
The Perdana V6 has Japanese license plates with the following designation:
山梨 500
た 49-46
"What the?" Adachi was a bit surprised to see an unmarked car on the scene. With a Malaysian-made sedan of all things. "That's not a Japanese-made car..."
"It's not, Adachi." Ryotaro told his young partner. "Looks like the bureau wants us to work with some foreign investigators on this case."
"Foreign investigators?" Adachi repeated. "I dunno..."
"Well you're not the only one's who confused on the orders we received from prefectural HQ."
The Perdana V6 was directed by a uniformed officer to park next to the sidewalk curb in front of a parked 2010 Toyota Crown S200 squad car, which had its red emergency lightbars on.
Adachi and Ryotaro kept an eye on the Perdana V6 as it parked on its designated spot. With the lights left on after the sedan was able to park, Jang and David came out of the vehicle in black windbreakers and neck scarfs used to cover their noses and mouths. Both of them took out their umbrellas and opened them the moment the car doors were open.
"Let me do the talking, Adachi." Ryotaro spoke to Adachi.
Adachi nodded.
"Inspector Ryotaro Dojima." Jang spoke to the veteran officer.
"Yes?" Ryotaro nodded when the South Korean SHADOW agent mentioned his name and police rank. He noticed that she spoke fluent Japanese.
"I'm agent Jang and this is my partner David from the Center." Jang showed him and Adachi her Center ID badge. David also did the same. "We're told by Yamanashi Prefectural Police that you're the officer in charge of the murders going on."
"Yes, that's right." Ryotaro replied before he introduced Adachi. "Allow me to introduce to you two my partner, Assistant Inspector Tohru Adachi. He moved into Yasoinaba a few months ago."
"Pleasure." Adachi shook hands with Jang and David after the two exchanged introductions.
"We're here to do our own investigation into the murders that are taking place in Yasoinaba." Jang was now explaining to the officers the presence of the SHADOW agents in the sleepy town.
Adachi and Ryotaro were not at ease on whether this so-called Center would take jurisdiction away from them, especially when Jang mentioned that they're conducting their own investigation.
"But not to worry, we'll share any relevant information that we'll come across regarding the case and anything else that we may find."
"We appreciate that."
Ryotaro and Adachi then handed Jang their Yamanashi Prefectural Police-issued business cards for their contact info.
As the two SHADOW agents spoke to the other officers on the deserted street, Adachi asked Ryotaro on whether they'll see them again.
"Hey... You think we'll see them again in the town?"
"Likely so... If they are who HQ says they are, then we'll probably run into them in many other ways in the next few days."
Ryotaro looked at the deserted street as the rain continued.
April 16, 2011
Yu Narukami's Temp Room
Dojima Residence, Residential District, Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
Yu had already finished taking a bath after having dinner with Nanako without the uncle around, owning to the murder investigations going on.
For now, he had already changed to his sleeping clothes and was about to turn it when he decided to wait and see if anything will come up after it's 12 AM.
The TV in the room turned on by itself.
The SHADOW agent didn't believe that he was seeing Yukiko on TV. He noted that she was wearing a pink gown and gloves that befitted a princess. Behind her was a medieval castle with the entrance flanked by statues of horses on both sides.
"Is that... a pink microphone?"
Putting the thought of why the microphone had to be pink, this Yukiko on TV mentioned that she was looking for a... stud muffin.
Okay... Yu couldn't help, but cringe at it.
And she also mentioned that she's looking for a prince charming on her show PRINCESS YUKIKO'S HUNT FOR HER PRINCE ON A WHITE HORSE.
The logo had a pink background and the kanji and hiragana used are sparkling gold.
"So... how do I put that on the report without sounding so perverted?"
When Yu heard that Yukiko prepared her unmentionables, he saw that her gloved hand went straight for her crotch. And the camera zoomed in just to show her cleavage.
And the speech ended with plans to capture a whole harem. That was before she ran into the castle.
The camera zoomed out to get a view of the castle before the TV's power was turned off.
Yu immediately answered a call when he saw that caller ID showed Yosuke's name.
"H... hey! Did you see that?" Yu could hear Yosuke slightly panic.
"I did." He replied.
"That was Yukiko-san for sure! It looked like her, and I mean, she even said her name!"
"I know..."
"And she looked like she was on some low-budget TV show… Was it like this before, too?"
"I don't think so."
"What the hell's going on..."
Yu knows that he and Yosuke need to make a move now sooner than later if they want to confirm her whereabouts.
"Do you know her mobile number?"
"Uh... no. Unfortunately not. I'll... just get in contact with Chie about that."
"All right. Thanks."
"Okay. We can meet tomorrow on Sunday. At the Junes food court. Not a lot of people will show up anyway even when they open after 10 AM."
"Right. Gotcha."
The call ended.
Yu just stared at the darkness in his room before he left a SMS message using his Iphone 4 to his superior back at the Center.
Another Mayonaka TV incident occurred in Yasoinaba. Will explain in detail in report.
After the message was sent out, he plugged the charger into the wall socket nearby before the smartphone was plugged to the charger. Afterwards, Yu went to sleep in his futon.
Guess I'll have to take this one step at a time.
?
A mysterious encrypted channel was being broadcasted on a secure frequency between two parties. This allowed a conversation between them without being worried about being eavesdropped by electronic means.
["Looks like something is happening in Yasoinaba."]
["What do you mean?"]
["Our agents planted in Okina have picked up some paranormal signals from the small town."]
["Anything concrete?"]
["Not that I can tell. We were able to recruit one of the Kirijo scientists laid off back in '10. I'll see if he knows anything about this."]
["Understood".]
["Until we can get more information, we don't move in. If we do that, we'll stand out. Even local law enforcement will be able to tell that something's wrong aside from the paranormal shenanigans happening in their backyard."]
["Yes, sir."]
["May the father of understanding guide us."]
["May the father of understanding guide us."]
April 17, 2011
Living Area/Dining Area
Dojima Residence, Residential District, Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
Yu came down the steps leading to the living/dining area to see if anyone was around. Especially his uncle.
For the day, he wore a black tracksuit-type jacket, a gray turtleneck shirt, brown pants and black loafer shoes.
He only saw Nanako was downstairs.
She's here. Where is he?
"Hey..." Yu greeted his younger cousin.
"Hi, onii-chan." Nanako smiled at him. Yu sat down on the tatami mat while he was preparing to wear his white socks.
"So..." Yu spoke to her while concentrating on wearing his socks. "where's your dad?"
"Oh." Nanako said, watching the TV to check the latest news. "He just left. He said that he'll try to get back home early."
"Oh. Okay."
If I leave... Yu pondered on whether now is a good time to just leave Nanako in the house for most of the day. She'll be alone and uncle's not here.
"Um..." Nanako spoke up, breaking his thoughts. "Do you need to be somewhere right now?"
Yu couldn't answer. He wanted to stay, even just for the morning at least to make her feel better.
"Don't worry about me." Nanako tried to reassure her older cousin. "I'll just be fine."
"All right. I'll be back."
The TV screen showed that NHK's Kofu channel was now about to report the weather for the next few days. Nanako saw Yu off and closed the sliding doors leading outside before she returned back and looked at the garden to see some sunlight.
"Oh, the sun's already out. I should do some laundry."
Food Court, Junes Yasoinaba Store, Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
Yu arrived and settled down on an empty chair after the court was opened by employees after 10 AM.
He looked at the Casio digital watch on his left wrist and saw that it was going to be 10:01 soon.
Where the heck is Yosuke?
The transfer student turned his head around when he heard a familiar teenage voice calling for him.
"Yosuke?"
For Sunday, Yosuke wore a white jacket with brown hair on the collar, an orange shirt with long sleeves, dark green pants and brown boots. His black and orange headphones were placed on the jacket collar.
"Sorry for the wait, I had to pick up some things."
Yu wondered what things he picked up since they were in a very big shopping bag.
"Ta da..." Yosuke showed what appears to be a katana on his right hand and a tanto on his left hand.
Oh... fuck... Yu mentally groaned when he saw that Yosuke had the balls to bring out sharp weapons. He's going to violate the Swords and Firearms Possession Control Law...
"We got Personas, but I don't think the use of sporting equipment was a good idea to use in the Mayonaka TV realm."
"You don't say?" Yu felt very embarrassed that his first friend was still brandishing the sharp weapons in front of him. He looked around and saw that someone was very nervous about what Yosuke's doing.
"Here. The blades are fake, but let me show ya how realistic they look."
Yosuke began to practice a few swings with the katana and tanto. At one point, he stopped just to lick the fake tanto's blade.
A couple of uniformed officers had just arrived at the food court after an anonymous 110 call was made. When they saw what Yosuke was doing, one of them made the approach while the others made contact with the station via radio and told them about what was happening.
"Oh hey officer." Yosuke tried to put the weapons behind his back. The officer just glared at him when this happened.
"Oh crap..." The teen was now panicking. "No! No no no no, this isn't what it looks like. We didn't steal it!"
Yu's hands were now on his face.
"Uh, I guess that's not what matters...A-Anyways, we're not doing anything bad! We're just two ordinary kids who like weapons and...Ugh, that doesn't sound right either."
"Put the weapons down now! We'll listen to your story at the station." The officer's right hand was seen over the holster on his duty belt. "Hands where I can see them, too!"
"But wait a second..." Yosuke was waving his hands.
The bad news was that the katana and tanto were in his hands.
"Are you resisting an officer of the law!? Y-You're under arrest!" The officer was now really reaching for his duty holster to take out the Nambu Model 60.
"We got the delinquents!" Another officer shouted when three of them ran towards the delinquents in question.
Yu gritted his teeth. He was tempted to use his SHADOW credentials when the Center directed him to keep his cover and use the resources they're going to provide him to investigate the Mayonaka TV realm.
In the meantime...
Dammit. Can't break cover. I'll have to play around with this stupid charade.
Yu and Yosuke were immediately brought downstairs, escorted by officers towards a waiting marked Toyota Crown S200 squad car.
Chie was just around the area, wearing her white top, high collar lighter green jacket with purple crystal necklaces, navy jean skirt, and light green boots, when she caught sight of Yu being told to get inside the squad car.
"What the hell guys?" Chie murmured when the squad car drove off.
The tomboy of Class 2-2 immediately made a run for it towards the direction of the town's only police station.
Corridor near Lobby, Yasoinaba Police Station, Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
A couple of uniformed officers were seen standing next to the teenagers when Ryotaro was talking to them.
After what seemed to be a few minutes of talk followed by some serious warnings, the detective dismissed the officers while he warned Yu and Yosuke that he was around to get them out of a bad situation before Yosuke would have a record for violating the provisions of the SFPCL while Yu could have been charged for being an accessory or have a similar charge placed on his record since he was last seen talking to Yosuke.
Ryotaro informed Yosuke that the fake weapons were seized and placed in police custody. A decision would be made soon on what would happen to them.
"Sorry, sir." Yosuke sighed.
A couple of officers were talking to each other as they passed. They were speaking about the recent updates about a missing person's case that was now developing.
"Are you sure the Amagi girl is the one in the center of the case?"
"Yeah. From what I heard, she may have bolted from the inn one day. You know..."
"Did he just say... Amagi?" Yosuke watched the officers pass by.
Ryotaro raised an eyebrow. "Hm? Who's what now?"
"N-nothing!" Yosuke shook his head.
The veteran officer sighed in frustration. "I'm sure you've seen on the news that there's an investigation in progress. We're sensitive about certain things. You're free to go. But this better not happen again."
"Y-yes sir..."
The two were allowed to leave. As they walked towards the station's main entrance, Yu looked around to see that his previous stunt in infiltrating it previously did not affect their operation.
Adachi showed up out of nowhere when he appeared from the direction of the cafeteria.
"Whoops..." Adachi was so close to bumping them and spill the decaf coffee he made.
"Wait a sec..." The younger detective eyed Yu. " Aren't you the kid staying at Dojima-san's place?"
"Yeah. And you are?"
"My manners... where are they?" Adachi chuckled. "I don't we met formally, but I'm Assistant Inspector Tohru Adachi. Based from the Criminal Investigation Section."
"Oh right."
"Excuse me, sir." Yosuke spoke up. "But can we ask you something? It's about Yukiko-san...I mean, Yukiko Amagi of the Amagi Inn. Did something happen to her?"
Adachi began to look around to see if Ryotaro was around. He then replied. "Am I allowed to say? Well, if you're friends with Ms. Amagi...Keep this between us, okay? We got a call from Ms. Amagi's parents yesterday evening saying they couldn't find her anywhere."
The two were alarmed on getting confirmation that Yukiko somehow vanished.
"Since it was the weekend, the employees at the inn were extremely busy, and no one saw Ms. Amagi around that time."
"Aw man..." Yosuke didn't like what he just heard.
"But that doesn't necessarily mean this is a case just yet!"
Yu just looked at Adachi and his body language.
"People've been turning up dead on foggy days, so we're really sensitive to stuff like this." Adachi went to look again to make sure he wasn't around. "By the way, did she say anything to you guys about maybe going through some hard times?"
"What kind of hard times?" Yu raised the question.
"Well, that announcer, Ms. Yamano, was staying at the Amagi Inn before the first murder." He coughed before he explained the details. "Seems Ms. Yamano had some harsh words for the manager about the staff's attitude towards guests."
Yu and Yosuke wondered if this was important to her disappearance.
Adachi scratched the back of his neck. "The stress of it caused the manager to collapse. And with Ms. Amagi being the manager's daughter...She must've felt pretty strongly about the incident, y'know."
This can really be helpful. As much as Yu wanted to make Adachi stop talking, lest he get into trouble for speaking, he decided to let him roll with it instead.
"Did she ever hint that she might be leaving the house?"
The teens shook their heads.
"'Cause if not, there's been some theories floating around that she's laying low for some reason or another..."
Ryotaro's voice was heard from a distance. "Adachi, what the hell are you chatting with civvies for!? And where's my coffee!?"
Adachi whispered to the teens. "Crap, I think I've gone too far. You didn't hear that, okay?" He then looked at the distance to see the older detective. "S-Sorry! I got it right here!"
He waved the coffee cup to show that he has it.
"You two... Forget I said anything! Please!"
"Uh, sure." Yu nodded.
"No problem from me."
Lobby, Yasoinaba Police Station, Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
"Hey, Yu..."
"Yeah, Yosuke?"
"Does that detective think that Amagi-san is..."
Yosuke's question was interrupted when Chie showed up.
"There you are." Chie was now very upset... again. "What are you two doing? I've been looking everywhere!"
Yosuke sighed and raised his hand up. "There's... been a misunderstanding with the police. We'll explain that some other time."
"We got some information that concerns Yukiko..." Yu broke the news to her.
Chie was stunned to hear about it. "You know already!? I kept calling her cell, but she didn't pick up...So I went to her house, and it turns out Yukiko really did disappear."
The trio walked towards the main entrance to get out of the station.
"I guess we've got no choice but to go now." Yosuke explained the rest of the details to Chie. "But that aside, the cops are saying some weird stuff. They think Yukiko-san's hiding to "lay low"..."
Chie was taken aback. "They think Yukiko did it!? What the hell is wrong with them!?"
"Apparently Yukiko-san's mom collapsed because that announcer lady bitched her out. They think that gives her a motive, and the fact that the announcer died right after makes her even more suspicious..."
"What the... fuck..."
Yu noticed that Chie was visibly upset about the information Yosuke was able to tell her. He could tell that two of them are good friends.
"Look you guys..." Once they were outside, Yu encouraged them to think positive. "there's still a chance that we can still save her."
"R-right." Chie was encouraged by his words.
"With the police going on the wrong trail, we need to do something about it."
Yu added. "But the detectives confiscated Yosuke's things from Junes."
Chie glared at Yosuke for doing something stupid.
"Don't forget..." Chie pointed her finger at them. "I'm going too! And that's final! I'm going to save Yukiko no matter what!"
"Yeah..." Yosuke nodded. "But the things is if we get weapons again, the police'll really charge us for violating the Swords and Firearms Possession Control Law in case we get picked up again."
"Plus, it's not like we can just use our Personas. We can get tired in the long run if we just rely on them and run without having something to defend ourselves with at least."
Chie smirked and snapped her fingers. "I think I just know a place."
"Where?"
"Just follow me."
Chie ran towards the Shopping District. Yu and Yosuke shrugged their shoulders and ran after her.
Somewhere in South Shopping District, Yasoinaba, Nakakoma, Yamanashi, Japan
The trio ran down the street in the South Shopping District, passing by the MOEL gas station after using the nearest bus stop to get there.
Chie explained to them that they can get some weapon via the Daidara Metalworks Shop in the area.
"A metalworks shop?" Yu was confused as to why Chie would bring him and Yosuke there.
"Just come in and I'll explain." Chie opened the door to the shop.
"Uh...okay?" Yosuke said before he made up his mind and followed Chie inside. He motioned to Yu to follow him too.
Chapter 4 END
PS - Been lagging behind in this chapter. Been too busy with finding more jobs to get out since I'm volunteering with a local NGO in the Philippines.
I placed some reactions from the other students when Chie began to... well speak too much. I wish they do something like this in future Persona games/anime shows/manga to show reality in that sense. I guess I should mention that at this point, Chie already went into the realm of Mayonaka TV.
For writing up on the appearance of Yukiko on the Mayonaka TV channel, I combined aspects of the anime and the game (Golden). Was too lazy to do her speech and stuff. Sorry. Plus I needed to get through with the rest of the stuff. XD
As for Chie using the F-word, I really wanted to highlight the frustration of someone you know getting accused of something you know he or she didn't know. Trust me, I've been there.
Also, my apologies if you see "Raido" or "Raidou" in later chapters, I sincerely apologize for this since both are acceptable when his name is romanized as such from Japanese. But I'll try to keep it consistent by using the former.