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braxien12 · 2 years

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YuRise - Aristocrat AU

After all the sophisticated dancing, stuffy suits and fancy finger foods, Yu Narukami’s overall conclusion is that the only good thing about this princess ball was the food.

And the drinks of course. He absently remembers that this was his third flute.

Rise turns eighteen today. The Kujikawas and Inoue decided to throw her a birthday ball, celebrating her grand entry into womanhood and society.

Or as Yosuke worded it: “an auction to sell their daughter off to the highest bidder. (He’s always been the bravest of their little team, or maybe the most clueless.) Yu couldn’t say he disagreed, but he wouldn’t have worded it like that or said it at all.

“Yo, Yu!”

Kanji was walking towards him with Yosuke in tow, the latter trailing behind him like he wished the ground would just swallow him whole because of the scadelized looks being sent their way by the other guests; the former appearing not to be fazed by it in the least. Both looked spectacular in their suits.

When they had first got the invitations to the ball, Kanji and Yosuke didn’t have a suit to wear and they definitely didn’t have enough money to buy themselves one. Yu had offered to buy one for the both of them, but they both declined. Yosuke didn’t want to burden him, which was absolutely ridiculous to think, and Kanji decided to make his own. He had offered to make Yosuke a suit too but the brunette said that he’d borrow one from his dad. The suit was a tad big on him, but it suited him well, and Kanji’s suit turned out pretty well.

“Would you quiet down,” Yosuke whispered, his head ducked in embarrassment as he discreetly looked over his shoulder at all the leering eyeballs. “Everyone’s staring at us.”

“Who cares. They’re going to talk anyway.” Kanji ignored the looks, even turning to glare at one of the onlookers, who shamefully turned away and started nibbling on their hor d'oeuvres. “Why are ya standing over here, Senpai?”

“I got tired from all the dancing.”

“Wait, dancing? Girls actually asked you to dance? What the hell, dude! I couldn’t even get a girl to accept a drink!”

“Wow, Yosuke-senpai. That’s pretty pathetic,” Kanji said.

“Shut up! Maybe I would’ve had better luck if I wasn’t babysitting Teddie all night.”

Yu looked around for the blonde. He remembered coming in with Teddie. The blonde had come wearing his same white tux with the red rose pin. He had split off with Yosuke earlier when Teddie saw the sparkly champagne glasses. “Where is Teddie?”

“Probably off trying to score with one of the ladies here. He was so adamant about it and when the orchestra started playing the Waltz he was gone. I swear that bear is becoming more trouble than he’s worth.” Yosuke said, rubbing the back of his head in exasperation. “Anyway, where’s Yukiko and Chie?”

Yu nodded towards one of the banquet tables. The two brunettes were standing beside each other at one of the many tables filled with food. Although the ball offered many tables crowded with sandwiches, soups, and sweets, true to Chie’s nature she was stuffing her plate full of every selection of meat she could fit on her plate and more. Yukiko as the heir of the Amagi Inn took every chance she could to better the inn and it’s menu, hence why she was admiring the various meats and paying close attention to the ingredients and their presentation.

“Seriously! We’re at a party surrounded by all different kinds of food and she just wants to stuff her plate with meat!”

“Is it really surprising that Chie-san would go straight for the meat table?” A new voice spoke up. Naoto walked up beside them. She had dressed up, forgoing her uniform and platforms for a strapless cobalt blue dress that ended just below her knees and low heels. From the corner of his eye Yu could see Kanji blush and avert his eyes in another direction.

“Yeah, well. I guess you’re right.” Yosuke sighed.

“You look good, Naoto.” Yu complimented.

“Ah. T-thank you, Senpai,” she bashfully thanked him, her face glowing a light pink. “Rise helped me pick it out.”

“Didn’t she help all the girls pick out their dresses?” Kanji asked.

“Yep,” Chie and Yukiko walked over to them. Chie’s plate was stacked with meat and she was already eating from her plate while Yukiko was snacking on an assortment of different food from different tables.

“After we got the invitation, Rise took us all out shopping. We must’ve gone to at least five different stores,” Yukiko said.

“I swear I’ve never seen that many dresses in my life!” Chie huffed then the brunette looked around.

“Speaking of, where is that girl? It’s not like her to skip out on a party.” Yukiko blinked, her eyes looking up and pressed her fork to her lips as she thought.

“Now that I think about it, no one’s seen her since her parents made that big announcement.”

When the last guest had arrived, the Kujikawas called everyone’s attention. They wished their daughter a wonderful birthday but the words after seemed more for the bachelors of the audience than for the praise of their daughter. Rise all but ran away after the speech was over.

“She looked so sad up there. Inoue-san was the only one up there who actually noticed or even cared.”

“It’s so weird though. She had looked so excited for the party when she first gave us the invites,” Yosuke pondered.

“Yeah, until you opened your big mouth and compared it to an auction.” Chie yelled and jabbed him in his side.

“Ow! Hey, I said I was sorry.” Yosuke yelped, rubbing his sore ribs. “And how was I supposed to know she’d heard me?”

“It still shouldn’t have been said, partner.” Yu interjected. He knew Rise was sensitive about her parents. She barely spoke about them until one day she broke down and spilled it all. It gave him a new perspective and even made him a little grateful for his parents. They’re barely around but at least they don’t try to sell him every chance they get.

“Yeah, I know. I already feel bad.” They all fell quiet thinking of how their friend was feeling now.

“Hey! I know! What if we all just have a party at Junes? That’ll be sure to cheer her up!” Chie suggested.

“That’s a great idea, Chie.” Yu said.

“Yeah! We still haven’t given her our presents yet so we can just give them to her at the party!”

“And Chie and I can make the cake,” Yukiko said.

“No! Uh, I mean. We have plenty of cakes at Junes already. I’m sure we can find one that’s big enough for all of us.” Yosuke hurried to say.

“Sensei! This party is bear-tastic!” Teddie ran in out of nowhere, a plate in his hand compiled of what looked like something from every table and somehow balancing the mountain of food in one hand with a fork dangling from his mouth.

“Teddie! Where were you?” Yosuke asked, his anger clear as he stepped in front of the bear with his hands on his hips.

“The second floor bathroom. They had this fancy fountain that shoots out water! I must’ve drunk at least a gallon ton.”

“Fountain in the bathroom?” Kanji asked.

“Uh, Teddie. You weren’t supposed to drink from that.” Naoto said.

“Huh? Why? If it shoots out water you’re supposed to drink it. That’s the number one rule of drinking water!”

“That’s the most dangerous rule about water I’ve ever heard!” Yosuke yelled.

“Are there any rules about drinking water? I mean, I’ve been drinking water the normal way, but is there really a correct way to drink water?” Yukiko pondered.

“Teddie, have you seen Rise?” Yu asked. He needed to nip this conversation in the bud before it got too out of hand.

“Rise-chan? Last I saw she was on the second floor. She looked sad, too. Did something happen to Rise-chan?”

“Nothing bad. I think she just needs a change of space. We’re throwing a party for her at Junes.”

“Really. Ooh, how fun. I’ll go get Rise-chan.”

“No, I’ll go get Rise.” Yu stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “You go help Yosuke and the others set up.”

“We’ll leave her to you, partner.”

The second floor was quieter than the floor below. While the first floor was for the guests to eat and drink and chat merrily, the second floor was more for the honored guests or the stragglers who wandered off from the busy scene to look around.

Among the dark mahogany, red paisley, and cream he was looking for a flash of blue. He had already searched around the great hall, the dining room, the lounge, the library, her parents’ office, the music room, the indoor movie theater…

Just how many rooms can a house have anyway? Don’t they run out of purposes and names at some point?

Yu was about to walk back downstairs when he heard a different sound besides the guests talking.

“Humming?” It sounds like it’s coming from the balcony.

The light melody led him back down the hall to a small balcony above the inground pool. Leaning on the wrought iron and twirling the petals of the pink peonies braided along it was Rise.

Her hair was loose from the tight bun it was first done up in and now tumbled down her back in a wild array of curls. Her stiff posture from on stage was gone and now all that was left was a tired girl trying to hold on for a bit longer.

“You certainly found a good hiding spot. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Rise jolted by the new voice as Yu walked up to join her on the balcony.

“Oh, Senpai!” Her posture immediately straightened and she started to brush off her dress even though there wasn’t a spec of dust or dirt on it. “I thought you and the others were downstairs.”

“We were, but it was getting boring without the main star in attendance. Good food and drink can only do so much for so long.”

“Haha. Inoue will be glad. He was so worried over the menu choices.” Rise covered her giggle behind her hand. Yu frowned at the white sparkling glove that covered it, remembering just where they were and as beautiful as the dress was, how stuffy it must have felt to wear it.

“Rise, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she answered immediately, but then faltered. “Well, maybe.”

“Rise.”

She sighed. “I’m just overreacting. I’m used to this by now.”

“You shouldn’t be used to it.” His voice caught a firmer tone before he caught himself. He calmed himself down before he started to speak again. “If it’s what Yosuke said-”

“No, it wasn’t that. I mean, yeah it stung, but it wasn’t something I didn’t already know.” Her fingers dropped from the braided stems of the peonies and moved to clutched the side of the wide railing, leaning her body even more over the edge. “It’s just hard to keep trying to meet their expectations. I know they want the best for me, but they never take my feelings into consideration. It’s always: “This will better our family” or “Listen to us and you’ll be set by the time you're thirty”. They never listen to what I want.”

“And what do you want, Rise?”

“I want y-” she turned around to look at him only to find him looking back at her, that small smile on his face that radiated so much comfort and patience. She could feel her cheeks pink a little at the sight. She quickly turned her head away, a small pout on her lips. “I want…freedom.”

What’s wrong with you, Rise? You’re over blushing by now. She gasped as fingers pulled hers away from the railing and intertwined with hers. She looked back up to find Yu smiling.

“We’re throwing a party for you at Junes. Wanna ditch this place?”

A smile slowly grew on the young woman’s face. She started pulling Yu back into the mansion. “Let’s go, Senpai!”

Yu let her pull him along, glad that his Rise was back.

#persona 4 #persona fanfic #persona 4 golden #yurise #yu narukami and rise kujikawa #fanfic #yu narukami #souji seta #writing #fluff #fanfiction #persona series

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i-just-wanna-be-called-sparkle · 3 years

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Okay. Killer Teddie AU time. Full spoiler warning ahead for P4 and even a bit of P5. Full timeline of all events in order up ahead. Smaller details and ideas at the very end of it. Some of this might not make sense or have an explanation because, at the time, I hadn’t finished base game Persona 4 and had no idea of stuff like Izanami, Sagiris, and so on and so forth. Even now, I haven’t yet finished P4G. The next time I work on this AU will be after I’ve finished P4G and have a good grasp on everything to change what doesn’t make sense and add stuff that does. For now take what I’ve worked on thus far. Sorry if some of my explanations are a little wonky. Extremely fucking long post ahead, I’m seriously not joking around this time.

And, before I start, I’m not the only one who worked on the AU! This is a team project between me and my gf! I know it’s not much to say, but I want to give half of the credit to her rather than taking all of it for myself, cuz while a lot of these ideas came from me, a lot came from her, too.

So, let me explain why Teddie’s a killer in the first place. It starts when he’s still just a mindless Shadow, and he comes face to face with a group of Persona users that existed long before the investigation team, consisting of Tohru Adachi, Mayumi Yamano, and a lot of miscellaneous unnamed characters who may or may not be made into proper characters in the futures. Why this first group existed and consists of those characters is one of those things that hasn’t been fully thought through yet. But, one thing’s for sure, they love going into the TV world and just beating up Shadows for fun every once in a while. At this point in the story, Shadows aren’t necessarily hostile yet, so basically, Teddie witnesses a bunch of his own kind get slaughtered for no reason and, probably because he’s starting to grow some kind of consciousness at this point, goes buck wild and kills the whole group save for Tohru Adachi, who manages to escape. This is how Mayumi Yamano meets her demise and also, how Teddie grows a proper body - it isn’t that bear suit of his though, it’s a human body, most likely the result of humans being the only thing he was exposed to aside from Shadows in that world. From that point forward, a fiery hatred for humans begins to develop within him.

Y’know how Teddie’s real crafty, making those glasses for the Investigation Team to use to see better in the TV world? Well, after a while, he decides he’s tired of walking around bear naked and makes himself some clothes to wear. Those fingers aren’t dexterous for nothing. Not too long after he makes these clothes, Saki ends up in the TV world - for another reason that wasn’t thought through well enough yet, but it’s something like she has a Persona too. This AU is very generous with who gets Personas, I know, please bear with it for now. She ends up bumping into Teddie, the two interact, and because Saki’s a little bitch she finds Teddie to be quite strange, what with the way he talks and how he apparently “comes from the TV world,” and is very verbal about it - very rude about it, too. This first impression with a new human + Teddie’s already intensifying hatred for humans = Saki’s gruesome demise. “Are all humans like this?” Is what Teddie thinks. “Are they all cruel? Are they all mean?” Teddie now has a stronger hate for Humanity that only grows stronger and stronger the more he’s forced to sit in that quiet TV world and think and think and think and think about it.

And along with that hate for humanity, comes a hate for his current human form. So he crafts himself that bear suit of his, and wears it all the time - I believe he also makes it so whatever he bumps into next doesn’t think he’s weird sounding or weird speaking or weird… looking, which, I’ll describe now rather than at the end of the post. Teddie doesn’t look all that different, but the main changes are that his eye colour is now a duller, greyer shade of blue, he is overall even paler, and he is also a lot skinnier. No real reason for these design choices aside from self indulgence without going too overboard. Moving on from that, not too long after he makes the suit is when Chie and Yu and Yosuke go in for the first time. Teddie keeps on a facade of innocence and happiness for a “good first impression,” and nothing changes from then up until the appearance of Yosuke’s Shadow. Since a Shadow is the side of oneself that they don’t want to acknowledge or see, it’s chock full of bad traits and negative emotions - further solidifying Teddie’s belief that all humans are just awful, sinful, nasty creatures.

One thing that Isn’t well thought out at all, and something that I have no clue where to put on the timeline, is this whole deal between Teddie and Namatame. Basically, Teddie communicates with Namatame through the TV (can’t remember if he just talks through it, or sticks his head through), and convinces Namatame to start pushing people in not to save them, but for something along the lines of how he “secretly wants them to die.” Maybe it was because Namatame shares Teddie’s beliefs of humanity being repulsing, but it’s too vague a memory to make heads or tails of it. Don’t know how things would work out without it, though, so it’s sticking around as is for now.

Also, as of right now in the AU, the IT is completely unaware of Teddie’s human form hiding right under his bear form/bear suit. Good lord, I am already tired of typing this all out, this post is so long. Still got a long way to go, kind of.

Here’s another loose idea that hasn’t been fully thought about, and it’s when Teddie encounters his Shadow in Rise’s dungeon. My memories are a bit foggy on this one, but I’ll try my best to remember. So, his encounter with his Shadow stays largely the same, with maybe a couple of his Shadow’s lines being changed to represent how not only is he hiding originally being a Shadow from his teammates, but also how he’s hiding the fact that he’s the killer they’re trying to find - all of it is too vague for the IT to piece together, though. But also a thing that’s changed is his reaction to his Shadow is a LOT more aggressive, a slip up to show a small glance of his true personality - but again, the IT doesn’t think anything of it because, Teddie’s facing his Shadow here, of COURSE he’s going to act different when he’s coming face to face with a part of himself he wants to ignore. Eventually, he manages to accept his Shadow, but for one way or another, a second Shadow starts to develop within him. Maybe it’s because he only partially accepted his Shadow, maybe it’s because of something else - like he didn’t accept his Shadow for the right reason, I can’t remember. But it starts to develop. I remember wanting to give him a second persona akin to what Akechi has in p5 - one for lies, and one for truths, but this is one of those things that will either need to be completely cut out or heavily modified in my opinion.

Teddie kills more frequently in this AU. In between when he’s helping the IT rescue people from the TV world, he’s throwing in people on the night that it fogs up so the IT doesn’t have time to see people appear on the TV/doesn’t have time to go in and save them, resulting in their deaths. Teddie so far has only thrown in people who have been assholes or scum in his eyes, and these are the only people that end up dying in the TV world even with the advent of the IT. Teddie gets away with this by sneaking out at night sometimes and either witnessing these people do disgusting things, or overhearing about it. Two candidates/victims are the two girls from Yosuke’s social link (hopefully you know who I mean) and the bully/bullies from Chie’s social link. Though, for the two girls, I like the idea of it being AFTER Teddie comes to the real world for real and shows off his human form, and starts working at Junes. He’s “working overtime,” late at night, calls up those two girls and asks them to come to Junes to “help him stock shelves” - “I’ll make sure you and your friend get payed extra for it. I’ll take it out of Yosuke’s paycheck.” Next thing you know, they’ve been knocked out and thrown into the TV because they’re heartless assholes in his eyes.

Only way Teddie would get away with a killing like that, though, is through having an outfit to disguise himself from Junes’ security cameras - so, at some point in the timeline, that’s what he does. Repurposes his old clothes from the TV world into an outfit to disguise his identity, to let him keep killing, and he keeps it tucked away either somewhere in the real world or in the TV world. He probably does this before he “becomes human,” so that his clothes are kept secret from the IT team, and that whole “I’m like a newborn in here” scene can happen.

Also, just for clarification, that hate Teddie felt for Yosuke’s Shadow? And how it solidified his hatred for humanity yet further, and his belief that they are all scummy beings? This keeps happening for every single Shadow he sees. Chie’s, Yukiko’s, Kanji’s, etc.

Mitsuo Kubo is the only one thrown in by Teddie who doesn’t die, so that the plot can progress normally, but also because it probably went something like this. Teddie sneaks out late at night to find more disgusting humans to kill, to “purge the earth of such horrendous beings,” and comes across Mitsuo killing Morooka. A human? Committing murder? A human being slaughtering another human being? How sinful. How disgusting. How treacherous. Teddie has to deal with this immediately. So he throws Mitsuo into the TV world without waiting for the fog to settle first (it’s too dire of a situation to ignore, after all). He’s kind of hypocritical, thinking Mitsuo is a terrible person for committing murder (he is, though) and then going right ahead and throwing him in the TV, aiming to kill. He’s just cleansing the world, though - that’s how he sees it.

Also, I believe for most nights when he decides to sneak out, he’s wearing his disguise outfit, so that he doesn’t get caught if he’s in a situation like that where he kills someone on a whim - or just to avoid being caught when he’s out so late snooping around for more victims. Random fun fact by the way: the idea for this whole AU started from the fact that Teddie could use his knowledge of the TV world and how it works to easily get away with using it to commit crimes. Moving on now.

Another thing that doesn’t yet have a place in the timeline is this small thing. I like to think Teddie has a tendency to stay up later into the night because of his occasional nightly outings, and he doesn’t really have enough time to fix his sleep schedule - or he actually just CAN’T. But anyways, he’s keeping himself busy at night while he can’t sleep, maybe playing on an old console in Yosuke’s room, when Yosuke wakes up and starts talking to him until he also gets tired enough to fall back asleep. He says to Teddie that he’s worried about him. “You’ve got bags under your eyes, and you’re basically made of flesh and bone.” He says. Maybe Teddie’s skinny enough his ribs show a little. “This isn’t the first time you’ve stayed up this late, either. Like you’re restless about something.” Sometimes Teddie just paces around the room until he gets tired enough to pass out. “And, what time is it, like, 2:00 AM? I’m really worried about you, Ted.” And that really gets to Teddie. He starts to cry. Here he is, devoting his time to hating humanity, to killing humans, to putting on a happy go lucky, innocent facade around his “friends” to hide his true nature and keep himself emotionally distant from them - and poor Yosuke over here is oblivious to it all, worrying for his dear friend and roommate like this is all unnatural when it’s what he truly is on the inside. And for just a moment, Teddie feels truly bad, and he just keeps crying and crying and crying, probably while Yosuke holds him and tries to comfort him, until he exhausts himself, goes to sleep, and pushes it all out of his head the next morning. But on that night, he had let his guard drop, and he had let himself be vulnerable, and he had allowed himself to get a little closer to Yosuke - a little more attached to him than before. It was only a little, but it was enough to be concerning… it was “just a little” too much for comfort. He can’t let himself get close to that thing.

Oh no, I’m starting to lose focus. We’re nearing the end now. So, you know how Teddie makes that promise to Nanako, right? That he’ll stay in their world to play with her and such? He probably makes the same promise in this AU.

I say probably, because depending on wether he did or not leads to two separate endings, and I can’t decide on which I like more.

So, if he DOES make the promise, HE’S the one who pushes Nanako in. The reason? He’s getting too attached. He’s letting his guard down around a human, and that scares him. He’s getting emotionally attached and invested, and that scares him. He’s starting to care about something that he hates with all of his heart, and that scares him. So he pushes her into the TV, because he’s not allowed to do that, because all humans are evil - no exceptions. This results in Teddie being outed because, when Nanako dies in the hospital (don’t know how that happens yet without Namatame, plothole), he can’t handle the guilt anymore. It’s overwhelming him, suffocating him, drowning him. He falls to the floor, completely breaking down, screaming and sobbing about how it’s all his fault. Then, he either runs out of the room and throws himself into a TV after realizing he’d outed himself, or Yosuke throws him into a TV in a fit of rage and because he feels like Teddie betrayed his trust by pretending to act all innocent when he was the killer.

If he DOESN’T make the promise, or at least, doesn’t get attached, Namatame throws her into the TV and things play out the exact same until they get to the top of Heaven, where Teddie completely loses his shit at Namatame. Maybe he goes to beat the fuck out of him, maybe he’s screaming and shouting at him, in any case, he’s showing his raw personality now. That isn’t what outs him, though - it’s Namatame. “I recognize you.” He says, either through his voice or his appearance. “Why are you so mad at me? I’m doing what you told me to. I’m doing what you want.” Something along those lines. “What?” The IT reacts. “Teddie, is this true? Have you been lying to us?” And the only thing Teddie can do is freeze up, and run away, out of the dungeon - probably not without beating up Namatame a little more for outing him. “Fuck you.” It’s like an endless stream of insults and vulgar language pour from his mouth. “You’ve gone ahead and exposed me, you bitch. You little shit. I hate you. It’s all your fault.”

Now on to Teddie’s dungeon. This part is, uh… Pretty dark. General content warning for death ahead.

So, to contrast Nanako’s dungeon Heaven, Teddie’s dungeon is Hell. There are two concepts for this dungeon though - one is that it’s just conventional catholic/christian Hell, and the other was that it’s based off of/is the frozen over Hel in norse mythology. Because, Teddie has ice attacks, you know? But they’re both largely the same, if not visually. In the earlier floors, there are some objects strewn around like burnt and torn up images of Teddie and the IT, Teddie and Nanako, his bear suit, and maybe one or two other objects of some importance to him. The voices that are heard at the beginning of all the early floors consist of Teddie sobbing and dealing with his inner turmoil of hating humans but getting attached to the likes of Yosuke, Nanako, the IT overall, and the like. “They’re humans.” He thinks. “They’re humans, and all humans are awful. I hate all of them. But I love them. They’re different… They’re nice to me. I don’t deserve it.” “Maybe humanity isn’t so bad after all…” “*sobbing* I’m sorry, Nana-Chan…”

You know how earlier dungeons like Yukiko’s and Kanji’s have that floor in the middle of the dungeon where you encounter the Shadows and that weird title card thing appears? That exists in Teddie’s dungeon, and on the floor right before it, the voice at the beginning of the floor is just Teddie screaming hysterically, maybe even crying. Why? Well, when you go to that next floor…

There’s Teddie. Standing in front of the hanging corpses of Nanako and Yosuke, hesitantly reaching out to them like he can’t process what he’s looking at. And when the IT calls out to him from behind him, the way he looks at them is estranging. He looks terrified, he has to do a double take because one second he was staring at Yosuke’s corpse, then the next moment, he was looking at him, perfectly alive, with the IT. They try and reach out to him, but he’s like a spooked wild animal, and he runs away to the next floor.

The later floors are now decorated with Nanako and Yosuke’s corpses, possibly even the rest of the IT, and the voices now are just Teddie arguing with himself and screaming hysterically, like he’s going insane being in such a horrible place, like he’s becoming more and more deranged with every passing moment. “This is how it should be! All those heartless monsters DESERVE to die! They deserve to hang lifelessly this! But they don’t! I don’t want them to die! I don’t think like that! But I do! But I don’t! These guys are horrendous- no, they’re my friends! THEY’RE SCUM OF THE EARTH! NO, I DON’T THINK LIKE THAT!” And so on and so forth.

When they finally reach the last floor, the deepest floor, the final circle of Hell, they find Teddie there, deranged to the point of practically being a different person. That second Shadow that was developing within him now is toying with him, messing with his head, whispering things to him that make him clutch his head and beg for it all to stop. The IT can’t get through to him now, and he either snaps, gets hostile at them for being “heartless, monstrous, evil humans,” and forces them into a fight, or that Shadow ends up possessing him (either fully, or to a certain extent), and they have no choice but to fight him and knock some sense into him. In either case, he gains his second Persona - something that will most likely be similar to Magatsu-Izanagi, not sure yet - and also, for the sake of self indulgence, it’s like he can control wether or not he is more or less like a Shadow. AKA, goopy black forearms fitted with deadly sharp claws instead of fingers.

I can’t actually remember what EXACTLY happens after the battle, aside from Teddie Goes To Prison, but here’s another battle outcome I almost forgot about that I am DETERMINED to add into the final product. Remember at the beginning, when I specified that Adachi was the only member of the first group of Persona users to survive Teddie’s slaughter? Well, at some point, he overhears the IT talking about Teddie being the killer and the TV world’s existence and decides to butt in. “Can I come along too?” He asks. “I’m a Persona user, just like all of you. You’re talking about catching the culprit here, right? The same culprit who killed Mayumi in the beginning? The same culprit who probably almost got me, then?” Something along those lines. So, he goes in with them, and would you look at that - Teddie still hasn’t forgotten his face. So, in the case of “Teddie snapping and going all hostile on them,” it’s most likely because he sees Adachi mixed in with the IT and alllll of those emotions from so long ago come flooding back… combine that with his hysteria, and boom, you’ve got a raging Teddie hell bound on taking his revenge and getting some closure before he either goes to prison or dies trying not to.

And… I think that’s it. Only thing left to mention is that at some point, right before my hyperfixation ended, me and my gf were trying to figure out a way to implement an accomplice ending and a Teddie Arcana Change, but the end of my obsession came too early in the development of both of those, so there’s not much to say. Also, in this AU, I’m thinking of making Shadows hostile because of the first group of Persona users, like how Teddie hates all of humanity almost purely because of that group. Also, small detail, he’s wearing that disguise of his during the fight - dunno how he got it, but I do wanna add it in somehow, though. This post is also already long enough, so I should stop myself here.

Speaking of that, holy fuck, thanks to anyone who’s read this entire long ass messy post. Like that is just so awesome, I commend you for it. Seriously this post took actual hours just to write down, it’s way too long for any NORMAL person to read all the way through, heavy emphasis on normal (affectionate). Asks about this AU are welcomed and appreciated, if there are any. If not, seriously literally just the fact that anyone might be reading this message at all is enough to sustain me.

#persona 4 #p4 teddie #how am i supposed to tag this as a persona alternate universe when arena ultimax exists ;-;#persona 4 au #let’s hope that tag works #p4 spoilers #yeesh almost forgot to add that

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thermopylod · 5 years

Link

That’s the story complete, except for epilogue~ Souyo, T-rated

On New Year’s, Yu was surprised to receive an invitation to return to the shrine. The team had gone as a group the previous evening, but he’d been expecting his second visit to be spent alone, as Nanako and Dojima, though they were home for the week, were in no shape to spend the morning in the cold yet, and he hardly had a date to accompany him.

YOSUKE lets go 2 the shrine 2gethr if ur free

Yu agreed immediately, of course. Their rekindled friendship was still too new for him to take it for granted, and in any case it wasn’t as though there was anyone Yu would rather have gone with. He quickly pulled together a warm outfit and hurried out the door. Spending time with Yosuke sounded like the perfect way to start the year.

Yu arrived at the shrine to find Yosuke had beaten him there and was jumping from foot to foot while rubbing his face into his gloves to warm them up. As usual, he hadn’t covered up his neck, and his coat seemed much too light for the weather. Yu’s coat buttoned up high, so he slid his scarf off and draped it over Yosuke’s shoulders as a greeting.

“Happy New Year, Yosuke.”

“Yu! Happy New Year, bro!” He pulled at the scarf. “Don’t you need that?”

“You seemed cold,” Yu said by way of explanation, and headed into the shrine. Yosuke followed, wrapping the scarf around his neck with no further objections as he hurried up the stairs.

“So, no kimono for you?” Yosuke asked.

“Not this year. Do guys dress up much here? Where I was from in the city, it was pretty rare.”

Yosuke shrugged. “Not most, but I saw a few this morning. I bet Kanji will be wearing some sorta formal wear when he comes by with his mom. And Teddie begged my mom until she got him a cheap kimono at Junes.”

“Oh! Where is Teddie, actually?”

“He’ll be coming later with my parents. Figured it’d be nice having some quiet time just the two of us…”

Teddie could be quite… rambunctious. As much as Yu loved him, he had to admit he appreciated the quiet peace of the snowy shrine right now. Yu laughed softly, figuring Yosuke must have had to endure a lot of loud excitement from the bear over the holidays.

“You’re probably right. What about you, Teddie didn’t convince you to buy a kimono too?”

“Eh, you know me. Not a big traditional kinda guy. Wouldn’t suit me.”

“I dunno, I think it’d look really good on you,” Yu replied absentmindedly. Yosuke’s awkward cough, and the redness of his cheeks that seemed to be more than the weather warranted, made him aware of what he’d just said. That was definitely past the friendly boundary. “I mean, um, just, if you wanted to, I’m sure you wouldn’t look any weirder than Kanji or anyone else! But if you don’t want to then that’s fine too. Um. You know.”

“If you say so,” Yosuke replied, still blushing. “Anyway, same as you, I didn’t grow up wearing one back in the city.”

“I never said I didn’t wear one,” Yu replied, trying to forget the mental image of Yosuke all dressed up. “My parents made me. But mine’s back in Tokyo, and I’m pretty sure I outgrew it this past year. I was going to buy a matching set for me and Nanako for Christmas, but…”

“Oh… Well, there’s always next year, right!” Yosuke replied with a bit more cheer than was necessary, the way he always did when Nanako’s time in the hospital was brought up. “Now let’s go make our wishes, yeah?”

There was no line at the offertory box—in fact, there was only one other couple wandering around the shrine. It was quite early and cold, so perhaps that wasn’t so surprising, but to Yu, who was used to big city festivals with dozens of people lined up, it was beautifully calm. Yu and Yosuke tossed their offerings in before bowing and clapping their hands.

“So, what’d you wish for?” Yosuke asked as they stepped back.

Yu’s wish had been very easy to choose. “For my friends and family to stay safe and healthy all year.”

Yosuke gave him a lopsided smile. “Heh, so did I, basically.” He looked down, kicking at some snow. “You know, last year I would have thought that was a really lame wish. I think I wished to be popular at my new school back then, to get a cute girlfriend, maybe for my dad to pay me better at work too… but those things really don’t matter at all, do they? I’d trade everything good that happened this year if it meant Saki could have lived. Even if she really did hate me as much as her Shadow said.”

“I know what you mean,” Yu replied, subdued as he remembered a flatlining monitor in a hospital room.

After a contemplative moment, Yosuke patted his shoulder enthusiastically. “Ok, that’s enough moping around! Let’s go draw our first fortunes of the year!”

Yu followed. He thought about Nanako and his uncle as he drew, hoping to pull out a good fortune for them, but he couldn’t stop a thought about Yosuke from worming its way in, too. It wasn’t that he had any hope or expectation that things would change between them, but shrine fortunes had never hurt anybody, right?

“Medium Luck,” he read out. “Well, that’s not so bad. What did you get?”

Yosuke startled from where he’d been staring at his paper. “Um, Great Luck! Well, I guess it’s about time my luck started turning around, isn’t it?” he laughed.

“What were you thinking about when you drew it?”

“Mm, nothing in particular,” Yosuke replied, but he looked shifty in that way Yu knew meant he was lying.

Yu was tempted to press him—it was customary to draw fortunes with specific people in mind, and he was quite curious who had Yosuke looking like that—but he remembered quickly why Yosuke might not have wanted to discuss that with him. Ignoring the slight pain he felt at that, Yu decided to change the subject.

“Were you going to meet your parents after this?”

“Nah, they just want me home for dinner, so we can hang out until then. Oh, that reminds me, actually—are you busy tomorrow night?”

“No…?”

“Do you wanna come have dinner with my family? You don’t have to if you don’t wanna! I know family dinners are like, so awkward. It’s just, my mom insisted I invite you, since Dojima-san and Nanako will be back in the hospital by then, right? I dunno how she found that out, the gossip network here is ridiculous. Anyway, she said it’s not right for anyone to be alone on the holidays…”

“I’d love that,” Yu replied, cutting off Yosuke’s rambling with a smile.

[the rest here]

#persona 4 #souyo #fanfic #souji seta #yu narukami #yosuke hanamura #the to lovers part of friends to lovers :D

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shadowtarot · 6 years

Note

(Thieves In Inaba) If the Persona users have their own group, then the Reaper can’t exactly work alone either. Does the Reaper have their own accomplices? >:D

Thieves in Inaba Part 45

The scattered party all seem to be making varying degrees of progress within their hallways. Ann, first and for most has found herself in a room filed with mirrors. Holding herself a bit given she’s in her thief suit she lets out an uncomfortable sigh.

“Mirrors…right where I can see every inch. This combined with the theme. I’m getting total Kamoshida palace vibes..” She looks to the placard in the center of the room which has something written in Latin.

“Hmm…this has to be a hint of some sort…key in corde mendacium. Uh…okay the word key is there so that must be like a key to a door? Maybe? But…” She starts thinking. “If only Makoto or Ren were here, they’d be able to solve this riddle.”

Not but a handful of rooms down, Ryuji finds himself in what seems like a dead end room. Letting out a long sigh, the blonde looks around. “I could turn back, but who know where that’d take me. Might even land me in a trap door like Akechi if I’m not careful. But damn…is this the worst dungeon we coulda picked to go into next…” He leans up against the southern wall. “Boxed in, with only one choice to choose. One that goes against what was told to me. …tch, shit’s probably that way because that ghost asshole wants to mess with us.”

With that, Ryuji leaves the room, not wanting to dwell on the past any more. But what of Akechi? Where did that trap door lead him?

Splashes of water echo though out a tunneled area. Akechi had been dropped into what could only be described as the sewer system. The area was much darker then that of the main hallways before so with only the light of his sword as his guide, the false detective prince searches for any sort of ladder to the surface.

“Of all of us in that whole group, why did it have to be me who was tripped up by a trap door?” He grumbles to himself. “No ladder in sight, and I’ve been in here for a while…does this place even have an ending?”

But in the distance, a rattling his heard followed by the click of a gun being cocked. Akechi freezes in place. “A Reaper….and someone new….either they’re here to guide me…or I’ll have to force the information out from them.” He turns to face the duo stalking him.

Minato has found himself in a room with fairly simple puzzles. Rolling his eyes as he pushes a block into place and unlocks a door he looks up. “…chains. I sense Death.” Readying his Evoker, Minato prepares for combat. “So that Akechi guy was right…he is using the hive at his whim….”

And with Joker? He’s found himself in the midst of an onslaught of Shadows. Fending them off as much as he can solo, he seems to be keeping his rhythm going. Wiping his brow of sweat, he twirls his knife in a taunting manner.

“Is that…the best you got?” He smirks. “I’ve fought Slimes stronger than you!”

Despite his cockiness however, he’s starting to wear out. It’s the fight with Yu all over again…

Yosuke, back in the sacrifice room, stares at the door. Worry spreads all over his face as he still hasn’t seen one teammate step into the door after Teddie. “Where…are they Ted? Shouldn’t they be here by now?”

Teddie lowers his head. Having left his bear suit to better comfort his friend, he sighs. “It depends on how long their hallways are, Yosuke. We all…had to separate to give us better odds of reaching you two.”

“So what you’re saying is…we’re all trapped here right now. Damnit. And we don’t know how long Yu’s got before he-” He shakes his head. “No. Minato and Ren will come. They’ll fix it right?”

Teddie shrugs. “I don’t know…I want to hope so, but…”

They both go silent, looking at Yu once more. Yosuke then laughs with a sad tone in his voice. “Of course. They’re the only one’s who can fix it. They’re the ones who got that power, that Velvet Room, that fate. They’re the heroes. And…even though I try my best to move on from my jealousy…I only get reminded of it every time a new crisis happens. I can’t be the one to save someone, it’s always someone else…”

Teddie gives the Magician a hard look, his blue eyes glowing with determination. “That’s quitters talk! If you want to save Sensei, you need to try instead of moap.”

“But how? What can I do that Ren and Minato can’t?”

The bear fidgets as he speaks. “Well…why were you the one captured to begin with? Why you and not one of the others?”

#thieves in inaba #persona 3 #persona 4 #persona 5 #ann takamaki #Ryuji Sakamoto #goro akechi #minato artisto #ren amamiya #yosuke hanamura #teddie #compendium

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obeysword · 3 years

Text

@arcanalight yosuke ♥

From when Nanako had woken him up that morning, the day had dragged on. Kanji and him had snuck through the hole in the fence, and then it was the beginning of the school festival. There had been moments of true enjoyment: flirting with Yosuke in the GROUP DATE CAFE followed by actually seeing him in a miniskirt. Cherished memories Yu would hold onto forever. Teddie had blown them both out of the water during the drag contest, however. Next year, Yu would break his legs if he tried that again. If Yu was going to tie with anyone, it was going to be Yosuke. Teddie wasn’t even THAT cute, and he’d bested them both.

There was a gap in Yu’s memories, like he’d missed something as the day wound to a close. Yosuke’s face had become dotted with stickers, arms covered in cute band-aids and more scratch and sniffs. He’d been wearing Yu’s shirt, rolled up his arms and far too big for his skinny frame, while Yu only had his blazer. Finally, there was a flower in a flowerpot in Yosuke’s possession. Maybe there was a gardening club Yu hadn’t heard about?

Yukiko had a doll, the kind that looked like she’d been painstakingly crafted by hand. Every time Yu glanced at Kanji he was filled with a desire to gouge his eyes out when he looked over at Yosuke. Chie was out of food, not that anyone would be willing to eat her meat pudding and meat gum. The mystery of her stolen goods would remain unsolved. There were things even Yu wouldn’t touch... But perhaps the strange events and forgotten moments had something to do with that burnt omelet he’d had for breakfast.

At the end of the day, Yukiko had requested for Yu and Nanako to spend the night with her at the inn -- and Yosuke had immediately spoken up, inviting himself and the others who followed suit. It was a good way to end the long day, and just as Yu had arrived home and checked the mail the one thing to ruin it all had been waiting for him. The torn envelope was held in his hand now as he stared at the turned off TV in the inn’s lobby.

DON’T SAVE ANYMORE.

Yu had never seen the handwriting. But the shock had felt like he’d been dosed with a bucket of cold water. He’d glued a mask in place, tucking the letter into his pocket, and by the time Yosuke and Teddie had arrived to walk him and Nanako to the bus stop, it’d been firmly sealed. He wasn’t going to ruin their night. A night free of worries about the case, about the murders, any of it. The foreboding knowledge would rest on his shoulders until he could find a time to bring it up. They deserved a reprieve. Yu couldn’t ruin their night by filling them with the same dread he felt. He’d bear the burden himself. Letting it eat him alive.

He’d only came out to the lobby for some breathing room. Unable to sleep, and not just because he thought the inn was haunted. He’d run into Yukiko, and she hadn’t noticed. No one ever saw how much force threatened to pull him beneath the tide. But now that he was here, thinking on the letter, the case, Yamano... The giant TV, big enough for a person to fall into, stared back at him. It hit him that he was standing in the EXACT location Yamano Mayumi had been murdered. Someone could have easily called her down and shoved her in. Someone she might have known, and someone who knew she was staying here. That limited the suspects, however. Namatame had to have known. He had a SOLID alibi for that night, but still--

Yu was dragged from his thoughts by the loud clatter from the hallway. His eyes went wide, back erect. He calmed down almost at once as he looked into the shadows. He was really out of it if he hadn’t noticed he’d been followed.

❝Yosuke... what are you doing?❞

#arcanalight #▼ VERSE P4 △ ( to seek ; to find ; to know thy truth )#kay i'm so sorry #this just... grew

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angevon · 7 years

Link

Links:

AO3 - Souji

ffnet - Souji

DW - Yu

(or read it below!)

For the @personasecretsanta2k17! My giftee was @booked-a-nook / @booking-a-nook.

Established relationship souyo + lots of Teddie fluff

"Seriously?!" Yosuke jumped out of his desk chair in excitement, nearly dropping his phone. He caught it with fumbling fingers then shoved it back to his ear. "You're visiting Inaba this weekend?"

"Yeah," said Souji on the other end. "Will you be able to pick me up at the station tomorrow evening?"

"Heck yeah! Not even a shift at Junes can stop me from being there. When will it be?"

Yosuke's ear burned from how close he held the phone to it as he listened intently to his boyfriend's travel plans. When Souji ended the call with a "See you soon," Yosuke stammered out, "M-miss you."

Even after the call ended, Yosuke held the phone to his ear, as if wishful thinking could bring Souji's voice back on the line. The call had been so short. Usually they'd talk for hours. But he knew his boyfriend had to start packing now if he was going to be here tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

Teddie's blond head peeked around the corner of the room's doorframe. "Yosukeeee," he said, charging into the room a half-second later. "Was that Sensei? Your face is all red, it has to be Sensei!"

"Wh-what of it, bear?" Yosuke mumbled, blushing harder.

Teddie snatched the phone out of his hands before he could do anything about it. "Senseiiii," Teddie cried into it. He held it to his ear, then looked at the phone, shook it, and tried again. "Huh, he's not there. Yosuke, call him back! I want to hear his manly voice! The manly voice that makes your heart pound oh-so-much!"

"We don't need to call him back," Yosuke said, grabbing the phone and holding it over his head, just out of Teddie's reach. "He's going to be here tomorrow."

Teddie gasped and stars began to shine in his eyes. "Sensei will be here tomorrow?"

"Y-yeah," Yosuke said. "Just for the weekend, but..."

Teddie's big smile leveled up to 'huge.' "Oh, Yosuke, it's been ever so long since you've seen your hunny-bear."

"I told you not to call him that!"

Wait, that wasn't a smile on Teddie's face anymore—that was a smirk!

"Yosuke," Teddie said matter-of-factly. "It's vital that you impress him when he arrives!" He made a grand gesture, throwing his arms wide open. "I know just what to do to get your bearomones going!"

"I-I don't need your help," Yosuke protested. "Souji... he already likes me."

Though, the distance made it hard, and he always had his doubts...

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't look your beary best! Here," Teddie said. "Stand tall!"

He nudged a confused Yosuke into standing straighter.

"Now," Teddie went on, "puff out your chest, just like this!"

Teddie took a deep breath and was puffing his chest out in an exaggerated way.

"Like this," he wheezed, trying not to breathe out much air. "Stand tall and proud, like a man's man!"

"I don't think that's—"

"Oh!" Teddie suddenly let out all his breath as he distracted himself with another idea. "You should wear a suit."

"A suit?" Yosuke repeated. "I don't even have one. And even if I did I wouldn't..."

As high energy as always, Teddie was already ruffling through the closet. Or at least, what little of the closet he hadn't claimed as his own and was still used for clothing storage. "Ta~daaaaa~"

He emerged from the closet with one of the butler suits Souji had once given all the boys on the Investigation Team to wear for... fun? To fill some secret servant fetish? Yosuke never did figure that out. "I am not wearing that," he said flatly.

"With this you can sweep Sensei off his feet. Literally!"

"No," Yosuke said, shaking his head. "This is what I'm going to wear."

He strode to the closet and picked out his favorite shirt.

"But Yosuke," Teddie whined, "you wear that all the time!"

"And that's exactly why I should wear it," Yosuke said. "Souji needs to know that I'm still me, you know? "

"You can't be anyone else, Yosuke. So why not dress up nice? At least pin a romantic rose to your breast!" Teddie toyed with the cloth rose attached to his fancy shirt, pulling it up towards his nose as if it had a smell. After a year of wearing it almost every day, it was honestly a surprise the rose hadn't torn off by now—especially considering all the trauma Teddie had put it through.

"I'll be fine," Yosuke said. "Besides, if I did anything different from normal, Souji would think something was up."

"But something is up," Teddie said.

He paused dramatically, waiting for Yosuke to ask what. Yosuke sighed and gave in. "What's up, Ted?"

"Your heart rate whenever you think of Sensei!"

He followed it up with a 'badum tish.' Yosuke just rolled his eyes. He wanted to be annoyed, but in a way it was a relief that Teddie was so supportive of their relationship, even if he was so... Teddie about it.

"All right, all right, Teddie, that's enough," he said, pushing the boy towards his closet. "We have a busy day tomorrow. Let's get ready for bed, okay?"

Teddie glanced back at him while being pushed. "I'm sure you'll have the sweetest, Sensei-est dreams tonight~~"

"You too," Yosuke said, and for once, Teddie didn't have a counter.

The next day, Yosuke waited with Teddie at the train station platform for Souji to arrive. Every other minute, Teddie would squint down the tracks and ask Yosuke if he could see the train.

"Calm down," Yosuke said. "It's not supposed to arrive for another half hour. We might as well sit down."

"What if it comes early?" Teddie asked.

Yosuke took a seat on a bench. "Nah, the trains run like clockwork. It can't get here early or else it'd be bad or people who need to get on."

Teddie glanced around the empty train station. "We aren't getting on."

"No, but like, someone could miss the train." Yosuke sighed. "Ah, nevermind! It makes more sense in a busier place."

"I just want Sensei to get here faster," Teddie said. He sat down next to Yosuke. "We haven't seen him in years!"

Yosuke couldn't help but smile at his exaggeration. It was only a month and three days, but it sure felt like years. Yosuke put his arm around Teddie comfortingly. "He'll be here soon. You just need to be patient."

"But Yosuke, you weren't patient! You made us leave the house so fast I didn't get to bring a Topsicle like I wanted!"

"You can have two when we get back home."

"Yay!" Teddie leaned into Yosuke happily. "One for me and one for Sensei! But none for you." He frowned for a second before nodding to himself. "You can share with Sensei."

"I sure can, Ted."

Teddie yawned and snuggled into Yosuke's side. "How much longer now?"

"I don't know," Yosuke said. "Twenty minutes?"

"Unbearably long," Teddie whined. He yawned again.

Yosuke yawned too and blinked the sleep out of his eyes. He felt Teddie's grip on his t-shirt slacken, and watched as his breathing became slower and steadier. He was falling asleep.

Yosuke looked down the tracks, wishing idly that he'd brought his headphones to listen to something while he waited. He could bring out his phone, but he didn't want to disturb Teddie. Instead he watched a trio of birds hopping along the tracks. Their happy chirps were almost musical, and the way they hopped it was like they were trying to avoid walking for some reason. He knew they could walk, he'd seen the same kind of birds at the Junes food court hauling ass like their little lives depended on it with stolen chips in their beaks. They had to be just playing around.

Then the birds suddenly flew away, clearing the tracks as the train pulled up.

Before Yosuke knew it, Souji was getting off the train. He was wearing a white dress shirt with the characteristic high collar and some dark gray pants. Yosuke smiled to himself, happy that he'd made the right choice in wearing the same as always, since Souji hadn't changed things up either.

Souji carried a small duffel bag over his shoulder, probably with a couple days' worth of clothes to wear for the weekend. He spied Yosuke immediately and headed his way.

Yosuke waved at him with his free hand as he approached. "Sorry," he said quietly. "I'd hug you but..."

Souji observed the way Teddie was using Yosuke's shoulder as a pillow. "I think I'm jealous," he said.

"Of Teddie?" Yosuke asked in an incredulous tone. "Well... he does have a better hairstyle than you."

"Well, now I'm just sad," Souji said, setting a hand on his hip. "We haven't seen each other in forever and the first thing you do is insult me."

"No, the first thing I said was that I was sorry I couldn't hug you! Weren't you listening?"

"We can still hug," Souji said.

Yosuke shook his head. "Nuh-uh, I am not doing a sitting hug. They're way too awkward."

Souji gauged the bench Yosuke and Teddie were on. "I wonder if I could hug both of you at once."

"You'd wake him up. Though I guess we'll have to wake him soon anyway." Yosuke looked down at the boy sleeping against him. "You know," he said in a whisper, "he probably didn't sleep much last night. Too excited to see you."

"What about you?" Souji asked in a teasing tone.

Yosuke didn't answer, but he felt his cheeks warm up anyway.

A moment later Teddie stirred from his dozing. He blinked a few times before registering that Souji was there, then leaped to his feet and tackled him in a hug that knocked him back a few steps.

"Oh Sensei I missed you so much you'll be so proud of me I can count to a hundred and there was a party and I made balloons and Nana-chan was there and—"

Souji laughed, patting him on the back and smiling fondly. "I missed you too, Teddie."

Teddie stepped back and beamed at Souji. Then he glanced at Yosuke and motioned at him.

"What?" said Yosuke.

"Your turn! Hug your honey-bear!"

Yosuke rubbed the back of his neck. "G-geez..."

"Don't be shy~"

Souji opened his arms and gave Yosuke an irresistible lost puppy look. Yosuke didn't throw himself into Souji's arms like Teddie had. He didn't have to. As soon as he was within hug distance Souji pulled him into a tight embrace.

And didn't let go for a good long moment. "Missed you," Souji murmured into his shoulder.

"Y-yeah... me too," Yosuke murmured back.

They drew back, only to be interrupted by Teddie:

"Now kiss!" he cried.

"Teddie!" Yosuke scolded.

Teddie stomped his feet on the train platform. "Kiss kiss kiss!"

"Oh my god." Yosuke rolled his eyes, but Souji was looking at him expectantly. Feeling a little lightheaded, all he could really do was go with it.

He planned to leave Souji a chaste kiss on the cheek but his partner had other ideas, redirecting his lips to his own and slotting their mouths together for a more lingering kiss. Though startled, Yosuke relaxed and let it happen. Souji needed this, and to be honest, so did he. Any insecurities he had regarding the long distance faded away. Souji really had missed him.

When they parted, Yosuke felt giddy and breathless and almost tried to kiss him again, but then he remembered they had an audience. They had to preserve what little innocence Teddie had left.

"A-ahem," Yosuke said, readjusting his collar. "Anyway, let's go home."

"Homeward bound!" Teddie lifted a fist into the air and led the way.

"Home?" Souji asked Yosuke while they were walking out of the station. "Teddie lives with you? I thought the TV World was his home now that it's safe."

"He gets too lonely there," Yosuke replied. "And he'll be the first to tell you: there aren't any Topsicles there. So, yeah, he still lives in my closet, for the most part."

"That's so nice of you, Yosuke," Souji said. "And your family too."

"He's charmed my mom, let me tell you. She's always bringing snacks home for him. And Dad, well, he's just happy to have another hard worker. Believe it or not, Teddie's reliable."

"I'm right here, Yosuke!" Teddie piped up. "I can hear every word."

"I'm giving you a compliment."

"A backhanded compliment," Souji said, "but still a compliment."

"I want a compliment from Sensei!" Teddie said, bouncing as he walked.

"You have beautiful eyes," Souji said.

"Uhh," said Yosuke. "Try something a little less superficial, partner."

"My eyes!" Teddie stopped in his tracks. He pointed up at the cloudless blue sky. "I grew them this way. Your world's sky was my inspiration!"

"If you could grow eyes," Souji said, rubbing his chin in thought, "why stop at two? You could've had a third eye, right in the middle of your forehead."

"D-don't give him ideas!" Yosuke protested.

"Oh, Sensei," Teddie said wistfully. "You know I just didn't think of that."

"Wait," Yosuke said. "If you grew your body, why do you have a belly button?"

"If he didn't have one," Souji said, "that'd be pretty weird."

"You kidding? That'd be the least weird thing about him. He already stands out like a sore thumb. He had a couple of foreigners speaking English at him last week, thinking he was one of them."

"I told them 'no comprende' ten times and they still wouldn't listen," Teddie said with a sigh.

"Maybe because that's not English."

"Arrivederci," Teddie said as they walked up to the Hanamura residence. "It means 'we're here.'"

"It does not!" Yosuke, long-suffering, shook his head in aggravation while he unlocked the door. "And that's not English either."

"C'est la vie," Teddie said with another sigh. "Yosuke just doesn't understand. It doesn't matter what you say, as long as it sounds cool and mysterious and foreign. That's the trick to capturing a maiden's heart! Though," he said, nudging Souji, "I suppose our Yosuke doesn't need any tricks when he has you."

"Wait," said Souji, "are you saying Yosuke isn't cool and mysterious and foreign?"

Yosuke turned a flat stare on his partner, who was feigning disappointment.

Souji added, "I want my heart back."

Yosuke ignored him by pushing the door open and going inside.

While they were changing their shoes at the entryway, Souji asked if Yosuke's parents were home.

Yosuke shook his head. "You couldn't have timed this trip any better, partner. Mom and Dad are out of town for some Junes corporate meeting. We have the house to ourselves tonight!" He paused. "Why do you look so disappointed?"

"I was hoping for some of your mom's cooking," Souji said.

"We have some!" Teddie said, dancing his way towards the kitchen. "In the fridgerator. Mama-mura's homemade recipes, made with motherly love and entirely too much cumin."

"Leftovers probably aren't the same, huh? I didn't really think about what you'd want to eat tonight." Yosuke considered the problem. "Aiya delivery? Though you probably have plenty of ramen shops in the city to go to."

"None of them can access the meat dimension," Souji said. "Aiya is fine."

"You got it," said Yosuke. He took out his phone and began to dial a number. "Anything in particular you want?"

"Whatever you get will be fine."

"Oh! Oh!" said Teddie, jumping up and down. "I want a pan-seared filet mignon with garlic and herb butter!"

"Where did that even come from?" Yosuke asked. "Have you been watching cooking shows with my mom?"

"I think Sensei could be an Iron Chef," Teddie said. "He can make a meal out of anything!"

"He might eat just about anything," Yosuke mused, "but he didn't come all this way to cook for us. Ted, could you quiet down for a sec while I order? Thanks."

"But I also want foie gras and truffles and caviar and—"

Souji gently tugged Teddie into another room to give Yosuke some peace. Yosuke sent him a grateful smile. He ordered enough food for the three of them plus some extra. From experience he knew Teddie would sometimes eat more than a normal person his size would eat, so it never hurt to have more. Worst case scenario, there'd be more leftovers in the fridge.

After placing the order, Yosuke joined the others in the living room. Teddie was in an armchair and Souji was leaning against the back of it, listening as the bear told some wild tale of his last shift at Junes. Souji laughed when Teddie got to the punchline, though Yosuke couldn't tell if it was actually funny or if he was just being polite.

"So, what do you want to do?" Yosuke asked, sauntering over. "Got some time before the food arrives."

"What do you normally do about now?" Souji asked.

"Oh, you know." Yosuke shrugged. "On a normal day, Teddie would be watching foreign dramas with my mom. That's probably where he learned all those foreign words. And I'd be in my room, relaxing a bit before doing some studying."

Yosuke waited, expecting a sarcastic joke about him actually studying—Chie had totally made fun of him for suddenly applying himself this year when he'd been so lax last year—but Souji looked proud to hear it.

And then Souji was smiling. "And by relax you mean listening to music," he said. He pulled something square and flat out of his duffel bag and handed it to Yosuke. "Here, this is for you."

"What is—oh my god, you didn't!" Yosuke held up the CD case to the light, drawing his fingers lovingly over the cover. "How did you know, they don't sell this out here, where did you find it?"

"A little bear told me you were looking for this. There are plenty of record stores in the city. It only took three for me to find it."

"You went to all that effort just for me..." Without even realizing it, Yosuke sent Souji the most smoldering look he could manage.

"That's amore," said Teddie.

"It sure is," said Souji.

Yosuke shook his head to clear it. "C-come on," he complained. "I'm not... not ready to use words like that."

"But you'll tell him every other way," Teddie said. "Dressing up nice, or the same as always—I tried, Sensei, believe me I tried—setting a love song as his ringtone, calling him every night, sighing every time you think of him... It can be no other thing."

"An open and shut case," Souji said, nodding.

"Whose side are you on?" Yosuke crossed his arms.

"The side of love, clearly," Teddie said. He sighed dramatically. "If only I could find love as true."

"The problem is you're trying too hard, Ted," said Yosuke. "I mean, Souji and I, we kinda fell into it naturally."

"Best friends turned lovers, eh?" Teddie said. "A popular trope."

"I guess that's how it was," Yosuke said.

"That's exactly how it was," Souji said. He gave Yosuke a peck on the cheek. Yosuke found himself at a loss for words.

Fortunately a knock on the door meant he didn't need any. The food had arrived! After paying for the delivery, Yosuke took the food into the kitchen, and Souji and Teddie followed him there.

Teddie took a long sniff of the takeout beef bowls that Yosuke had set on the counter. "Ahhh, you ordered the good stuff! That's our Yosuke."

Yosuke pulled the croquettes out of the big paper bag and handed one to Souji, who looked confused. "Wait, these aren't from Aiya..."

"When I ordered from Aiya I asked Aika-chan to stop by Souzai Daigaku on the way over," Yosuke explained. "She's cool like that. For repeat customers, anyway. But don't worry about the details, just eat! You gotta be hungry after that long train ride, partner."

The croquettes were as tough as always, but that was part of their charm. When they moved onto the beef bowls, it became a little messy. Yosuke had long ago given up on telling Teddie not to slurp his noodles. Fortunately Souji took the broth stains on his dress shirt in good stride.

"I bet you really miss this delicious food, Sensei," Teddie said.

Souji, wearing a kind of pained smile, shook his head. "I do, but what I miss more is... this." He waved his hand indicating the three of them.

"Eating with all of us?" Yosuke guessed. "We'll have to get everyone together tomorrow, just like old times! Besides, you'll need to see Nanako-chan."

"Tomorrow," Souji agreed. "Today... it's you." He paused. "And Teddie, of course."

"Sensei..." Teddie said. "I feel so loved."

"Friendship is a type of amore too," Souji told him.

With a soft cry, Teddie gave him a big bear hug right around his waist. Souji patted his head and looked over at Yosuke. Their eyes caught, and Yosuke found his heart racing. Souji looked so happy...

After the meal and subsequent kitchen cleaning, they returned to the living room.

"Now what?" Yosuke asked.

"I'm as stuffed as a toy bear," Teddie said, "and ready to hibearnate! We should get wrapped up under the blankets and watch a movie."

"Sounds good to me," said Souji. "Who'll sit where?"

"Sensei in the center," Teddie demanded.

Smiling, Souji sat in the middle of the couch. Teddie immediately usurped his left side and cuddled close. After getting the DVD player set up, Yosuke sat at Souji's right. Not a second later Souji put an arm around him and pulled him close. Teddie grabbed a blanket from the floor and put it over the three of them, making it quite cozy. Yosuke found it a little confining, though—his leg kept bouncing under the blanket.

The movie had hardly started and Teddie was already snoring. "Just like this at the train station," Souji said, smiling fondly down at him. "He really was tired, huh..."

"Too much excitement," Yosuke said. "Though we barely did anything today. Or, bearly. It might be a food coma, that was a lot of food."

"Say, Yosuke..."

"Yeah, partner?"

"When we leave for college, what will happen to him?"

Yosuke blinked at him and took a moment to answer. "He can still live here, I guess. My family probably won't mind. He can keep my mom company while I'm gone."

"Well..." Souji said. By the hesitant way he said it, he had another idea in mind. "I know we haven't talked about it much, but... I was hoping we'd go to the same college. Or at least, go to college in the same city."

Yosuke froze. It was noticeable because his bouncing leg stilled under the blanket.

"So we could live together," Souji finished.

"You... are you serious?" Yosuke asked slowly.

"I'm always serious."

"You are not." There was a pause. "But... I believe you're serious now."

"I'm serious about you," Souji said. "So..." Under the blanket, he found Yosuke's hand and squeezed it. "If you're willing to try living with me..."

"Hell yes," Yosuke said, entwining their fingers and pressing hard into his side. "Damn," he mumbled into the cloth of Souji's shirt. "That'd be like a dream come true."

"You said you've been studying. I think you can make it to college."

"Yeah... I'm doing my best."

"I believe in you," Souji said firmly. "And even if college doesn't happen, we can still live together. I want to. This distance thing... it's so hard."

"Yeah," Yosuke admitted quietly. "It is."

Souji shifted a little, careful not to disturb Teddie, to get more comfortable and pull Yosuke even closer. Yosuke soon found the loving expression on his face a little too much to bear and looked away, pretending to focus on the movie that neither of them were watching.

He was happy, though... cuddling with his best friend, his partner, his... lover... and knowing he was happy too. If they lived together, this could be his everyday. Of course, they'd have bills to pay, and college classes to study for, and all that, so it wouldn't be easy, but...

"It's amore," he mumbled, hiding his face under the blanket.

He felt Souji kiss his hair, and he wanted to melt. Souji didn't stop there, kissing him again on his forehead, his temple, his nose, and then pushing the blanket down from his face to reach his lips.

Yosuke smiled into the kiss, his knees feeling weak even though he wasn't standing.

And when they parted, Souji was smiling in that way that made it seem like everything was all right in the world.

It faded a moment later. "Oh," said Souji. "You made me lose my train of thought there."

"It can wait," Yosuke said, running his tongue over his lips in anticipation of more smooching.

Souji shook his head. "It's about Teddie."

Hearing his name, Teddie stirred against his side. They watched him carefully, but he remained asleep.

"Yeah?" Yosuke asked, matching his quiet voice.

"I was thinking... he could live with us too."

Yosuke chuckled. "He'd love that. Seeing his sensei everyday."

"I'm serious," said Souji. "They say three's a crowd, but... spending this evening here with both of you. It feels... like we're a family."

Yosuke felt him shift again on the couch, this time resettling Teddie at his side.

"The little brother I never had," Yosuke said.

"You still let him live with you, even though you don't have to," Souji said. "I can tell you care about him."

"He is family," Yosuke said simply.

"So... we'll be family."

"Yeah."

This time, Souji leaned into him.

#persona 4 #souyo #personasecretsanta17 #booked a nook #booking a nook #my fic #what a funny coincidence that you were also my secret santa #*sideeyes dojimmy*#i think it worked out for the best though i still love my gift hahah #and this #well #it went through a lot of revisions because i had trouble figuring out what i wanted to do #at first it was going to be christmas themed #but then i was like no i have to include all the team for that #and i dont have time for that sadly #and there was some trouble organizing it but i'm pretty happy with it now #i wish teddie and yosuke had more brotherly interactions in the game like this #i have more appreciation for teddie now after writing this :)

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lunaragk · 4 years

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The Fog Murders of Inaba, Ch: 5, Ugly Truths and Broken Detectives Pt 2

((Quick AN: Going to be using some skills from older/newer Persona games to better fit Shinichi/Conan’s Shadow and Persona. Also, writing fight scenes is HARD.))

4/20, Wednesday, Cloudy.

-Yukiko’s Castle, 5th Floor-

The tar and blood-stained shadow made a sweeping motion with its hands, “Move, the only one I want is the Lair, stay, and die.” It moved back, gripping broken glass and hard metal. It’s yellow gaze cold and impassive.

Yu stood at the forefront of the group, his katana’s edge glinting. “Sorry, but that’s not going to happen.” Chie and Yosuke moving into position behind him.

Stained claws grasped the edge of the mirror tighter, mouth twisted in a sharp scowl. “Then you get to die with him.” The Shadow released its grip on the broken edge and waved its hand. “Swift Strike!” was called out, the claw tipped arms of tar balled into fists as they lashed out at the teens.

“Move!” Left Yu’s mouth as his legs were already pumping to get him away from the flurry of strikes. Yosuke began weaving around the dark limbs, Chie hopping back, lashing out with a kick when one got too close.

Steel sings through the air, biting into the dark tar from both Yosuke and Yu. The limbs jerk as Shadow Shinichi all but hisses, letting the damaged tar fall to the ground, new clawed hands bubbling from the stumps. “Teddie! Any weaknesses?”

The blue furred mascot was hovering nervously by the shrunken teen, “I don’t know, Sensei!” Teddie grabbed the top of his head, worried, “It doesn’t seem to be strong or weak to physical strikes. Try elemental attacks!”

Yu glared at the Shadow, elemental hits could be very effective, but always ran the risk of burning them out faster. And it would be a guessing game until they got lucky.

Shadow Shinichi took their moment of hesitation to lash out again. It had moved up to Chie, raising itself up before trying to slam the back of the mirror on top of her. The brunette noticed and just barely got out from under it, the shock-wave of the slam sending her skidding.

"Chie!" the pair called out, worried.

"I'm okay, that was close though." She panted, sending the Shadow a glare as it floated back. She got back into her ready stance. A blue card floated down before her, a sharp kick shattering it with a fierce call from the girl. "Tomoe, Bufu!"

A female figure in a yellow and black jumpsuit manifested behind her, twirling a double headed naginata in arcing paths as ice crashed into the Shadow. It flinched slightly from the impact, but otherwise didn't seem too harmed.

"Ice doesn't seem very effective, try something else!" Teddie shouted in a panic.

This was very bad, they weren't mentally prepared to fight someone else's Shadow right now, it was going to cut into their time-frame for rescuing Yukiko. They'd need to end this fast. Yu held his hand out as a blue tarot card formed, crushing it. "Izanagi, Zio!"

A black and silver figure stood behind Yu, yellow eyes glaring out from behind a steel mask. Hand outstretched as the figure's blade was swept back, lightning arcing towards their foe.

The bolts struck true, and the Shadow roared as the electricity lanced through it. The floating mirror holding it crashed to the ground, the shadow slumped in a daze.

"You did it, electricity seems to really do the trick!" The blue bear cheered from the sidelines.

The trio on the battlefield surrounded the stunned Shadow. Yosuke turned to Yu. "What do you think, Partner? Time for an 'All Out Attack'?" He clenched his hands tighter around his kunia.

Yu swung his katana around, pointing to their foe before charging forward. "Go for it!" The group piled on top of Shadow Shinichi, blades biting and kicks flying in a frenzy to get strikes in while it was still downed.

Conan, still being propped up by Teddie, looked over at the fight going on. A part of him couldn't believe this was actually happening. That his new neighbor, Yu, and the young man's friends were fighting a monster wearing his face. All on the other side of the T.V. He was half convinced this was all a hallucination from one too many smoke bombs at KID's heists.

But, no, the carpet under his fingers and softness of the bear costume holding him up were all too real. "Why," he choked out, "why is this happening?"

Any chance for a reply was cut short when the Shadow got back up with a roar, the trio forced to disengage. It’s singular yellow eye glared at them. “Why won’t you just stay out of my way?!” The eye of the shark on the mirror frame began to glow blue, and the Shadow pointed a single, bloodied claw at Yosuke. “Aqua!”

“Wha- Shit!” He quickly dove out of the way of the mass of water that had nearly enveloped him. “That’s new. Teddie?” Yosuke scrambled back to his feet, kunia at the ready. Everyone was more on edge now that the Shadow had pulled out something new.

The bear was in a near panic. “I-I don’t know, maybe some subtype spell from the ice skills?”

“Everyone just be careful, we don’t know what else this thing can do.” Yu ordered, a wary eye kept on the detective’s Shadow.

Yosuke spun one of his kunai around, “Okay, let’s see what it thinks of this!” He let the quick becoming all too familiar tarot card form in front of him. A spin and a call as he shattered it. “Jiraiya, Garu!”

What he summoned could be described as a ninja-like figure in a white disco suit with themes of camo and a vaguely frog-like mask. The being threw its hands forward, giant gold throwing stars on its palms spinning rapidly as winds buffeted the Shadow.

A hiss of anger let them know the attack had done its damage. Tar arms lashed out at the trio, anger seemed to coil around the Shadow as the group managed to get away with glancing blows. Seething, it bellowed out a spell. “MAEIHA!”

Yu, Yosuke, and Chie braced themselves as black and red energy erupted beneath them. The energy was dark, so dark, and so cold it seemed to burn, like the chill of having someone walk over your grave.

The trio got up, slightly shaky from the attack. Yosuke, panting, “Wha- what was that?” Teddie was sobbing from the sidelines. “I was so beary worried! That looked like a Curse skill! I thought you all were done for!”

Yu took a moment to check over himself and his friends, “It doesn’t seem to be a one-shot like Hama or Mudo, but that did hurt.” He made a quick mental note to not switch to Angel during this fight.

Silver-grey eyes narrowed at the Shadow, tarot card floating back down into his hand. “Zio!” was called out as lightning arced out at his target. “As soon as it goes down, hit it!”

Shadow Shinichi howled as the electricity tore through it, falling prone, limbs jerking slightly. The teens fell onto it, tearing into it with renewed fury.

“Why?” the Shadow whispered, shaking, “Why are you protecting a liar like him?” It shrieked as it threw the group off of itself. It tried to right itself, but seemed to lose balance if it tried to float too high from the ground.

Panting, it narrowed its singular eye at them, “Why? After his lies have caused so much pain?”

Shinichi had to wonder that himself. Why were these people, who barely knew him, fighting so hard to protect him. His nails bit into his palm as he clenched his fist, hating that was just stuck there, helpless, again.

The trio gave the Shadow a hard look. “Because we made a promise, to save anyone who wound up here, and to find the truth behind this case.” Yu stated with a weight behind it.

Chie piped up, “You really think we’re so heartless at to leave someone behind and just let them die? Are you crazy?”

Yosuke quickly added, “Yeah, you’d have to be mental if you think we’re just going to let you do that.”

Tarry limbs coiled against the frame of the mirror. “Even if I told you there was blood on our hands?” The Shadow held up its own blood stained ones as to drive home the point.

The teens froze at that, shock and confusion painting their features.

Clawed hands lashed out at them, Shadow Shinichi taking advantage of their shock, shouting as it did so. “People we could have stopped, people we could have saved! IF WE HAD JUST PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER A LITTLE FASTER! IF WE WERE MORE FOCUSED ON SECURING THE SUSPECT INSTEAD OF SHOW-BOATING!”

That got them all moving again, trying to get out of the way of the blows, a few hits glancing, a few more solid ones.

Yu found his footing first, and stared down the ranting Shadow. “Regardless, we’re still going to stop you.” His silvery eyes seemed to glow blue for a moment as the card floated down to his hand. “Izanagi, we’re ending this, now. ZIO!”

The card shattered, as the black and silver specter formed behind him, planting its blade in the ground, both hands aimed at the shadow as it unleashed their largest blast of lightning yet.

Electricity seemed to boil the tar making up the extra limbs of the shadow, sending it crashing to the ground. Black and red smoke shrouded its form, before clearing and revealing it to once more resemble a golden eyed Shinichi.

Yu planted the blade of his katana in the ground, leaning his weight against it. It seems that he’d worn himself out with that last blast.

Conan shakily got to his feet, anger on his face as he walked slowly to the Shadow, watching it’s blank, impassive golden-yellow stare. “You-” He tried to start once he was in front of it before he was cut off.

“Don’t.” It was Chie that spoke. “Don’t reject it again. It’ll just go berserk.” She walked over, before kneeling down next to him. “Everyone has a side to themselves they don’t want to admit to, but denouncing it now will only start the fight again.”

Yosuke walked over next. “Look, I can’t even begin to imagine what happened to cause…” He trailed off, waving at Conan’s appearance and then at Shadow Shinichi, “this, but you’re not alone with this Shadow business, at least.”

The sound of metal scraping stone caused Conan to turn his head and look at Yu. The silver haired teen was slowly making his way over. “Con-” he stopped, shook his head, and started again. “Kudo-kun. No matter what has happened, or will happen, you’re still you.”

Far too old eyes looked back at all of them from a far too young looking face. Conan, no, Shinichi sighed, letting any and all pretenses fall away as he took off his glasses, folding them away as he spoke.

“You’re right, all of you.” He turned to the face he used to see in the mirror, the face he lost due to his delusion of invincibility that so many teens his age tend to have. “You more so than any other.”

The shrunken detective looked down, “You’re right, even though I know, objectively, it’s not my fault those people died, I still can’t help but blame myself.”

Kudo turned to the other teens, regret on his small, childish face. “And yes, I have lied, a great deal, but that’s because the truth would only end with more deaths.”

He turned back to his Shadow. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t eating me up inside.” Shinichi ran his small hand through his hair. “I’m just, so… tired. But I can’t stop, and I won’t until I’ve put the ones who’ve done this to me away.” He looked up at the form he used to have. “But you already knew that, didn’t you, Me?”

The Shadow looked back at him, it’s blank expression morphing into a small, sad smile as blue particles of light engulfed it.

When light cleared, floating where the Shadow had stood was male figure, clad in black yukata, a shark’s tail in place of legs, a mirror hanging around its neck, black veil covering its face. It held one hand up, an orb of water floating above it.

Shinichi’s new Persona vanished as quickly as it came, the detective started to sag as he let out a low chuckle, “Shinigami, huh? Someone thinks they're funny.”

Teddie’s squeaking footsteps quickly approached as he helped the team catch the shrunken teen nearly collapsed. “Easy there Conan, we’ve got you.”

He turned his head to the group, “Why am I so tired all of a sudden?”

“This world just does that to you, the fog is draining.” Yu said, picking up Shinichi.

Yosuke gave a rueful chuckle, “And the mental drain from dealing with one's Shadow doesn’t help.”

Shinchi gave a half-hearted glare at him, “Do you really need to do this?”

“Yes, you look about ready to collapse.” Yu gave back as a short reply. Shinichi only gave a resigned huff in return.

Chie looked at the group, a little dejected. “We’re going to need to stop for the day, aren’t we?”

Yu and Yosuke shared a look, “Unfortunately. We need to get…” They both looked at the teen turned grade-schooler in Yu’s arms, “Would you prefer we call you Conan or Kudo?”

The not-child gave a short sigh, “While we’re in here. Kudo or Shinichi is fine, but in public? It’s going to need to be Conan. I already have one person who knows that slips up far too much as it is.”

They nodded in understanding. Yu resumed, “I feel like there’s a story there. Regardless, we need to get Shinichi out of here for now.” He turned to look at Chie, “We’ll resume tomorrow, don’t worry, we will rescue Yukiko before the fog clears.”

Shinichi gave all of them a look. “I’m coming with you all tomorrow. I’m not going to drop this case.” He gave a jaw-cracking yawn. “And I want an explanation when I don’t feel like I’m about to fall on my face.”

“So long as you help us with this case? Deal.” Yu returned. “But for now, let’s get you back to the Mouris before they panic.” He dug around in his pocket, pulling out something. “Gather up everyone.”

Once everyone was clustered around them, Yu tossed it up into the air. There was a bright light, and once it cleared, they were standing back in front of the castle.

-Yukiko’s Castle, Entrance-

Shinichi looked around confused. “But how did- We were just-” He whipped his head around to stare at Yu. “What. Just. Happened?”

The silver-haired teen shrugged one shoulder, “It’s something called a Goho-M. Toss it up, and you’re back outside the dungeon. I try not to think about it too hard, enough about this place doesn’t make sense as is.”

There was a frustrated noise from the not-child before Shinichi let his head thump against Yu’s shoulder. “You know what, my head hurts enough as it is.”

“Smart move, now let’s head back.” Yosuke said, before turning to Teddie. “Mind leading the way Ted?”

“No problem!” Teddie exclaimed, turning around sharply before marching off into the fog, “Just follow me folks!”

Late Afternoon

The group emerged back into the normal world, Yu waving at his friends before heading off. “I’m going to go get Conan home.”

“Alright later you two.” Yosuke gave them a quick wave before wandering off, muttering under his breath. “Well, this was a wild day.”

“Isn’t that the truth. Later.” Chie said while wandering for the exit, slightly morose that saving Yukiko had been delayed again, but at least they got some good help out of it.

Evening

The odd pair of Yu and Conan made their way closer to their homes. A small hand tapped on the taller of the two’s shoulder. “You can put me down now, Narukami-san.” Conan said softly.

Yu obliged, stopping to let the shrunken teen down. “You know, you can call me Yu, Conan-kun.”

“Oka-” Conan tried to start before he was cut off by a yell.

“CONAN-KUN! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!” Mouri Ran came rushing up to them, plastic bags bouncing in her grip as she approached.

He gave Yu a slightly panicked look before turning to Ran. “I was out exploring Inaba, Ran-neechan!” He quickly turned back to the taller teen and mouthed ‘play along’ at him. “But I guess I exhausted myself, and then Yu-niichan found me and offered to bring me home.”

Ran turned and gave Yu a grateful look. “Narukami-kun, right?” At his nod, she continued. “Thank you so much for bringing Conan-kun home. You would not believe the amount of trouble he seems to find.” She added with some level of exasperation.

Yu gave her a small smile, and Conan a slightly larger smirk, “Somehow, I think I just might.”

Conan gave him a flat look before turning to Ran. “Yu-niichan is so cool, Ran-neechan! Maybe even cooler than Heiji-niichan!”

That caused her a small bit of surprise, “Really now?” A small smile crossed her face. “Well then, thank you again, Narukami-kun.” She took Conan’s hand with her free one after shuffling some of her bags around. “Good night, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

The small boy turned and waved to Yu as they entered the house, “Bye Yu-niichan, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He waved back to the pair before entering the Dojima household. They may not have made as much progress as he would have liked, but they had gained an interesting new ally in this odd case.

#The Fog Murders of Inaba #Persona 4 #detective conan #Crossover fanfiction #fan fiction #the dragon mun is writing fan fiction again #after years of stalling on chapter 5 #writing fight scenes is HARD #tFMoI #brought to you by #Persona 4 the Golden #now on Steam #I can write again because I can play through while I write to keep events in order #not actually sponsered

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individuationfic · 6 years

Text

Seeking to Seize Chapter 15

AO3

“I,” Yosuke says, glaring at the floor, “am sick of these teleportation tile things.” The team has split up for this particular floor of Void Quest because of the frustrating gimmick so Rise can make a more comprehensive map. Of course he got stuck with Teddie, too, so he’s had to deal with his annoying chatter all afternoon. If he hears one more bear pun, he’s going to lose it. “How’s that map coming along, Rise?”

“You guys can come on back,” comes her reply over whatever mental link they all have in the TV world. “Chie-senpai and Yu-senpai are back, too, and Yukiko-senpai and Kanji-kun are almost done.”

Yosuke has no idea why Yu split the teams up this way, but he doesn’t feel like complaining about it. He just lets Teddie shoot back an affirmative and fishes the GoHo-M Yu gave him out of his bag. This is all they’re doing today; splitting up means they’re all tired, and Yu’s not going to let them continue now.

“Hey, Yosuke?”

He freezes in his motions. Teddie doesn’t usually sound that serious. “What’s up?”

Teddie still wears his bear suit in the TV world, so it’s a little hard to read his expression, but Yosuke knows he’s feeling insecure when he says, “Do you think Sensei likes me?”

Yosuke holds back a snort because honestly. “Yu likes everyone on the team, Ted.”

“He just started being able to understand me, though! How can he like me if we barely talk?”

Yosuke chooses to ignore the fact that “barely” was probably “bear-ly.” “You guys communicating through me or Yukiko is still communicating. You’re friends.”

And now Teddie looks like he might cry, and Yosuke really does not want to deal with that, so he chucks the GoHo-M to the ground to warp them back to the entrance. He’s having a hard enough time dealing with his own feelings, let alone dealing with those of a Shadow-bear-turned-kind-of-human.

This, he tells Jiraya, is not how I wanted to spend my summer.

And Jiraya laughs, because he’s just a jerk like that.

Rise thinks they’re almost to where Kubo is so after everyone heads home from Junes Yu returns to the store to stock up on healing items. He has to be a little conservative with his shopping; sure, Shadows drop money and items he can sell for money, but making sure everyone has good armor and weapons is a top priority, and an expensive priority at that. By the time that particular errand is done, Yu has scraps to deal with. He’d hopes to fold envelopes over the summer to save up some cash, but Void Quest has officially dashed those dreams.

He’s leaving the store with his usual haul (Mr. Salts, Mad Bulls, an inordinate amount of granola bars, etc.) when he passes the door to the Velvet Room and realizes how long it’s been since he dropped in for a visit. Margaret is one of his bonds, after all; maybe he should say hello.

The transition, as always, is more than a little jarring. It gets a little easier every time but, again, it’s been a while. He has to blink rapidly to make his vision stop swimming.

Igor is absent when he’s lucid again. Margaret is sitting in her normal place, the compendium sitting next to her, but, this time, that black and white cat is in her lap, luxuriating in her pets. ‘Hello, Yu,’ she signs.

He signs, ‘I’m sorry I haven’t visited for a while.’

‘You never have to apologize to me. My purpose is to aid you on your journey. You have no obligation to visit me for a social call.’

‘Doesn’t it get lonely with just you and Igor?’ Yu asks.

‘There is more to the Velvet Room than what you can see,’ Margaret signs, a wry smirk pulling at her lips. ‘Time and space function differently here. Though my earliest memory is of the Velvet Room, Igor was not the only one who had a hand in raising me.’ Her eyes flutter shut and she takes a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Her eyes drift back open and she continues, ‘A piano player and an opera singer provide a near-constant soundtrack for us. A human artist has made a home for himself here, painting portraits of those who visit us no longer. My siblings—’ Her fingers stutter. ‘My younger sister, Lavenza, is preparing for the arrival of her guest in a few years’ time. It is not as lonely here as it may seem.’

“Do you ever wish you could leave?’

Margaret isn’t an overly-expressive person, but Yu can tell what he’s asked has triggered some intense emotion. ‘In my experience,’ she signs, face carefully blank, ‘people who experience your world tend to not return. My family cannot take another one of us leaving.’

Yu winces and signs, ‘I’m sorry for upsetting you,’ because he doesn’t have anything else to say.

By the time Kubo’s Shadow falls, Chie is too annoyed to feel relief.

Because honestly, how unfair did Kubo want to be? Dumb baby in a dumb lego suit who attacks twice a turn/ Seriously, what the hell? And, sure, she wasn’t expecting a potential serial killer to go down easy, but this was just excessive.

Yosuke and Kanji drag Kubo to his feet after he falls and, after a curt nod of approval from Yu, Kanji knocks him out with a quick, controlled punch. Kubo didn’t awaken to a Persona after his Shadow was defeated, so he doesn’t need to know how the group operates. Yosuke and Kanji each sling one of his arms over their shoulders to carry him out.

Chie looks over at Yukiko, who smiles at her through her exhaustion. These big fights are always hard on her; she’s the group’s primary healer and, even with all the magical energy she has, it drains her fast. “Do you need help walking?” she asks, voice soft.

Yukiko’s answering nod is quick and grateful. “Please.”

Chie is at her side in an instant, wrapping one arm around Yukiko’s waist and letting one of Yukiko’s arms fall over her shoulders. Yukiko is taller than Chie, but Chie is stronger, and she actually likes how Yukiko’s weight feels leaning against her, so she doesn’t mind.

Her tired girlfriend secure, Chie turns to Yu and says, “What do we do with Kubo?”

Everyone looks at Yu, seeking guidance. After a moment, he signs something Chie can mostly understand, and Yosuke translates, “One of us needs to take him to the police station before he wakes up.” Then, Yu winces and continues. “It shouldn’t be me,” Yosuke translates. “My uncle doesn’t like it when he thinks I’m poking around the investigation.”

“I’ll do it, Senpai,” Kanji says. “I’m the one they’ll believe knocked him out.”

Rise says, “Say you found him at Junes. The security cameras can back you up.”

Yu nods in approval and starts signing again. Yosuke translates, “Good idea, Rise. Kanji will leave first and the rest of us will wait for a few minutes.”

Yukiko makes a disappointed noise near Chie’s cheek. Chie tries to ignore the shiver that runs down her spine at how close Yukiko’s lips are to her ear and tries to placate her by rubbing little circles on her side.

Plan made, they move out.

Yu is helping Nanako with her summer homework when his phone buzzes. He flashes his young cousin an apologetic smile and flips it open.

New Chat

[Kujikawa Rise]→[Narukami Yu]

[Kujikawa Rise]: Hi, Yu-senpai! ヽ(｡･ω･｡)ﾉ Chie-senpai gave me your number! I hope you don’t mind!

[Narukami Yu]: I don’t mind. I’m sorry I forgot to give you my number myself.

[Kujikawa Rise]: It’s fiiine~ I was just wondering what you were planning on wearing to the summer festival. Now that we don’t have to worry about Kubo, it’s all I can think about!

[Narukami Yu]: Just what I normally wear, I think.

[Kujikawa Rise]: Σ(･口･)

[Kujikawa Rise]: Yu-senpai, festivals are special! You can’t just wear street clothes!

[Narukami Yu]: I didn’t exactly bring my entire wardrobe to Inaba, Rise.

[Kujikawa Rise]: Well, it just so happens that I’m at Kanji-kun’s house to work on summer homework, and Mama Tatsumi says she can lend you a yukata! (　＾∇＾)

[Narukami Yu]: What?

[Narukami Yu]: Textiles are her livelihood. I can’t let her lend me her merchandise.

[Kujikawa Rise]: “I haven’t seen Kanji this happy in ages! If Narukami-kun helped him get real friends, lending him a yukata for the night is the least I can do!”

[Kujikawa Rise]: That’s what Mama Tatsumi says.

[Kujikawa Rise]: Aw! (´ω｀*) Kanji-kun’s blushing! Look, Yu-senpai!

[Kujikawa Rise] sent an image

[Narukami Yu]: If Tatsumi-san insists…

[Kujikawa Rise]: She does!

[Narukami Yu]: When does she want me to come to the shop?

Yosuke thinks he’s handling his newly discovered bisexuality pretty well until Yu shows up at the shrine in a yukata.

It looks great on him, because everything looks great on him, the jerk. The dark blue fabric contrasts nicely with his pale skin, and the yellow obi makes him noticeable, even from a distance. It’s not completely done up at the top, probably because of the heat, and Yosuke can see the uppermost part of Yu’s slender chest, already glistening a little with sweat, and, wow, Yosuke is suddenly very, very thirsty.

Chie notices his plight and, sympathetic (he saw the similar reaction she had when Yukiko arrived), passes him her bottle of green tea. In the middle of one of his greedy gulps, Yu sees them and smiles, and Yosuke choked. Fuck, he thinks, this is going to be a long night.

“Looks like your little plan worked.”

Kanji-kun is speaking in a soft, low tone, lower than Rise thought he was capable of. They’re trailing behind their senpai and Teddie as they explore the festival. She’s taking in the details: how Yosuke-senpai and Yu-senpai angle their bodies towards each other in a less-than-platonic way, how Yukiko-senpai catches Chie-senpai’s shirt with her fingers when it gets particularly crowded so they don’t get separated. It’s the little things like that Rise really loves. What can she say? She’s a romantic. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replies, just as soft.

Kanji-kun barks out a laugh. “Bullshit, you don’t. Hanamura-senpai almost popped a boner back there and you know it.”

Rise giggles. “I will neither confirm nor deny my hand in that.”

The corners of Kanji’s mouth quirk up and he turns to face ahead again. The sun is starting to set, and maybe it’s the way shadows are falling across his face, rarely so soft as it is now, but…

Kanji-kun looks beautiful.

Not beautiful like her, or like Yu-senpai or Yukiko-senpai—he’s been too reckless with his body to be traditionally beautiful anymore. But he looks at their friends and he looks kind and soft and good.

Something in her gut tightens and she thinks, Oh, no.

#individuation #ao3fic #persona series #persona 4

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calystegiaidol · 7 years

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[[I said a while back that Kanami had some 260 voice lines. Well... I had time in the car so I, uh, wrote them all down. Under the cut.

Note: They’re not really formatted to match her inflections and what not.]]

Atlus

P Studio

Persona 4 Dancing All Night

How’s that? Good? Bad?

I’m gonna do my best.

Here goes!

What?! Me?!

Uhhh… I-I’ll try my best.

All righty! I just have to do this!

Okay! Go me!

I’m supposed to wear this, right?

Sure! I’ll give it a try!

Whoa! You think it’ll look good on me?

Uhhhhhh… this is embarrassing! But I’ll try it!

Yay! What a fantastic costume!

Yes! I love costumes like these!

Whoa! N-now this is… new.

Uh… Is this okay to wear?

Hahaha! Leave this to me!

Okay. Time to show what I’m made of. Woohoo!

Yes! M-my heart’s pounding but I’ll give it a try!

I’ll be sure to make the most of this opportunity.

All right! One must seek out new challenges!

Ahh! You think I’m really up to this?

Whooooa! Y-y-you really think I can do this?

I’ll go out and dance with a smile!

1 and 2 and 1 and 2! Dance to the rhythm!

Woo! I’m looking forward to this very much!

Yay! Bring you’re A-game!

I’ll cheer you on until I’m hoarse! You can do it!

Ooo! This is what I was waiting for! Good luck!

Go do your best Yu-san! You’re so cool!

Oooooo! A dancing hunk! In other words, a dunk! How cool!

This is totally unfair! Rise-senpai’s friends are all so cool or so cute!

W-whoa! That’s amazing! She’s a kung-fu master! Huwa-ta! (you know, the chie sound)

That looks so fun! Just watching this is making me all excited! Wheeeeeeee!

Wow! What a beautiful lady! She’s going to be dancing right? Yay!

Oooo! She’s so stylish and cool!

Woohoo! Rise-senpai’s dancing! This is so exciting! I-I’m… so hopeless.

Just having her on stage changes the atmosphere! I wish I could be like her!

Whoa! H-He’s gonna dance in costume?! Doesn’t it get hot in there?

So adorable!~ I’m a little round and pudgy too, but he’s definitely cuter!

Whoa! He looks intense! But I feel like he might be good.

Uhhhh.. your brows all scrunched! Loosen up!

Uh! Are you nervous?! Y-You need to relax!

I like the vibe you’ve got going! Show us a fun dance!

Ooo! So cute! You’re the best Nanako-san!

Nanako-san! If you’re ever in trouble I’ll come help in an instant! Go! Fight! Win!

Margaret. You’re so beautiful.

Go, go! You’re the best!

Hurrah!

There!

Here goes!

Good!

1, 2, 3!

This is going well!

I’m joining in too!

Excuse me for butting in!

Let’s get fired up and do this!

Ohhh.. I can’t hold back anymore! I’m coming in!

Let me join!

Excuse me for joining in!

Let’s dance Nanako-san!

Nanako-san and I make Kanakokko!

Whoa! You’re so good Yu-san! Awesome!

Oooo! Pretty amazing Yu-san!

Oh my gosh that made me dizzy! But it was fun anyway!

Ooo! Yosuke-san’s on fire! Go! Go!

That was great Chie-san! Very good!

Such awesome legs! I admire them!

Whoa! Yukiko-san! Are you really an amateur?

You’re really elegant! So light and sparkly!

The invincible Rise-senpai’s dance is so cute! Ahhh~

Woo! Rise-senpai are you really making a comeback?! That’s the best!

Mr. Bear Suit’s dance is so exciting and fun!

That was a lot of fun Mr. Bear Suit! Loved it!

So intense! Like a huge explosion of power!

Your kick ass dance was intense Kanji-san! Totes amazing!

You’re on fire Naoto-san! 100%!

I think you could be an idol Naoto-san! You’re so cute and cool!

Wow! Nanako-san you’re so good!

Kanakokko is on fire! Hehehe!

Margaret, you’re beyond perfect!

I’ll strive to become a mature lady like Margaret!

Woohoo! Wow this is amzaing!

So cool! So cute! So impressive!

Very nice! Good job!

Whoa you’re glowing! So sparkly!

It’s okay! Don’t let it bother you.

No worries! You’re doing totally fine!

You can do this! Go! Fight! Win!

Don’t let it bother you!

Ooo how fantastic!

You might be better than me!

Impressive! I super admire you!

What was that just now?! Can I do that to?

Looking great Yu-san! Way too cool!

You’re so cool! Like completely and utterly rad!

Whoa! Yosuke-san’s dancing puts the pros to shame!

Yosuke-san’s living up to his name! ...No?

Whoa! You’re very cool Chie-san!

Wow! I wanna be able to dance like that too!

Wow! How beautiful! I’m so jealous!

Whoa! Are you really an amateur Yukiko-san?

Whoa! Rise-senpai is always so impressive! I admire you a lot!

Yes! You’re lovely and unbeatable Rise-senpai!

Damn. Even in costume he dances so well!

He’s starting to look cool! What should I do?

Whoooa! You’re so intense! That’s really cool~

You’re super amazing! And a blond to boot!

Whoooa! Incredible! You’ve got skills Naoto-san!

So nice! So cool! So jealous!

Oooo! Absolutely adorable!~

Uh~ Nooo~ I’m gonna die of cute!

*sing-song voice* The charms of a mature woman!~ *exasperated* I’ve got none of that.

So smooth! What do I need to do to dance like that?!

You’re tensing up a little bit! Try to stay relaxed!

You have to put your mistakes behind you! Dance like you mean it!

All that practice wasn’t for nothing! Keep on going!

You can still make it! Turn those tables around!

You have to believe in yourself! Let’s do this Yu-san!

Y-You have to stay calm Yu-san!

Huh?! What’s wrong?! I know you can go for it!

Nooo! Hang in there Yosuke-san!

Show me your guts! Your passion! Fight on!

Dancing is a martial art too! It’s a battle with yourself!

You have to recover! I know you can Yukiko-san!

No! Yukiko-san’s in danger! Hang in there and go for it!

It’s at times like these that you can’t worry!

Now that’s our Rise-senpai for staying calm! She’s electrifying, so amazing!

Time to make a huge comeback Mr. Bear Suit!

It’s not over yet! Let’s go all out from here on!

It’s the moment of truth Kanji-san! I’ll be cheering you on!

Waah! Time to get serious! Don’t give up yet!

Naoto-san! You can still come back from this!

Forget everything else, and dance with an empty mind! Like me!

Nanako-san, keep going and don’t let it bother you!

Tada! Your charm can still win them over Nanako-san!

Margaret isn’t doing so hot! Nooo! Don’t lose!

She’s not affected at all! *gasp* This is amazing to see!

Yeah! Let’s get this show on the road!

Entering Fever Time! Here goes!

Time to use every ounce of strength we have! Let’s all get fired up!

Whee! This is the highlight of the show!

I can’t stop anymore! This is so much fun!

All righty! Let’s nail this Nanako-san!

Wow!~ Yu-san really can do anything!~

You could be a star with that level of skill! I guarantee it!

Woohoo! Yosuke-san and I had a totally rocking time together!

We blasted right through that! Totally on fire, ahhh so much fun!

Super great moves Chie-san!

Whoa! The Fever Time Kung-fu dance! Wow! Hwuah-ta!

How fantastic! You’re a proper Japanese lady!

Hehehe! The two of us totally lit up the stage!

We’re an invincible duo! We exploded with energy on stage!

Oh gosh! That was seriously the best thing ever!

Fever Time! Fever Time! Go go go!

Dancing with you is such fun Mr. Bear Suit! How will I top it?

Whoa! Kanji-san’s moves are so powerful!

Your sense of rhythm is amzing! You’re no ordinary guy!

Forget all the complicated stuff… and just dance!

Naoto-san is cool through and through! She’s the raddest!

Awwwww~ What a precious little angel!

Thank you! That was our special double-act: Kanakokko!

Adult sexiness vs idol cuteness! What did you think?

Haha! We’re sexy and young!

Ohh I’m out of practice! This ain’t good…

Nooo!

Noo-! Oh dear…

Oooo nice moves!

Bravo!

What a charming duo!

Now then! Go! Fight! Win!

Looks like they’re both on fire!

Whoa! They’re great at livening things up!

Eee! A full blast of girl power!

Whoa! They’re both so cute I could die~

They’re so in sync I could watch them all day!

Oh my! These two are perfect for each other!

Wow!~ Men’s dances are pretty strong stuff!

Ohhhh myyy!~ *gasp* The girls will coming running to see this!

My excitement level went… Bam! Through the roof!

So beautiful! I just have to learn from this!

Oh gosh! Those two are pretty bold!

That was so cool! I just have to keep my eyes on these two!

Woohoo!

You’re looking great!

*quiet panting* I’m sorry..! Please, let me rest for a bit. It won’t be long!

Yay! 120 points out of 100! …Huh?

Yes! Yes! I did it! I can’t believe I actually got a perfect score!

Wooo! A perfect score! I did it! I did it!

Ohoho! That went totally awesome for me! Yup!

How was that? Have I gotten better?

Dancing is so much fun! I’m in such a good mood!

All right! I can’t be satisfied with this! I’ll try even harder!

Well, I knew I could do that much. I gotta practice more to get better!

I gotta try even harder! All right! Go! Fight! Win!

Uhoh… Tomomin might yell at me for this.

I need to take on more and lessons! I just have to practice harder!

Whuuuh… that was close. Too many mistakes.

Awwwnh… the path of an idol is harsh as ever.

I’m no good! It’s to the point that I mistake when the trash day is!

What am I doing?! Stupid me! Useless slowpoke Kanami!

That was so intense that I’m all dizzy! It was great!

Oh what fun! Hehe! …Oops. Sorry. I… couldn’t help it. Ehehe! Hee hee hee!

That was amazing! I’d definitely like to request an encore!

Thank you so much! That was extremely well done!

What the heck?! How are you that perfect?! *gasp* I don’t understaaand!

That was too amazing Yu-san! I don’t feel like I could ever top that…!

Whoa! That’s amazing! You didn’t make a single goof!

You’re a god of dance Yosuke-san! People from Inaba are scaaary!

Nooo! If you show off like that my confidence will melt like a candle!

That was sweet~ I’m head over heels for you Chie-san!

I’m so jealous… I wish I could pull off moves that awesome!

Amazing! Yukiko-san was like a celestial maiden! So cool!

Ahh! Rise-senpaiiiii! You were so marvelous that I could die!

Nooo! It’s no use! I haven’t gotten closer to your level at all!

So amazing! That was tons of fun! You’re the best Mr. Bear Suit!

I see that long legs aren’t that important when it comes to dancing!

Wow! That was flawless! So perfect it’s… scary!

Amazing! Kanji-san looks scary but he’s a great dancer!

Wow so smooth! You were on another level Naoto-san!

That’s it! I’m done! Geniuses really do exist! I can’t dance that good!

Woo! You’re the best Nanako-san! Totes adorable!

Nanako-san, you’re a prodigy! No… a genius! This girl’s got skills!

Wow! Your dance is top-notch pretty lady! It’s out of this world!

Whoa… whaaaaat?! That was perfect! Too perfect lady… (she almost sounds suspicious xD)

Whoooooa… I admire you so much!

So perfect! I guess she has more life experience to draw on… Ahhhhhnnn…

Wonderful Yu-san! You were in spitting distance of perfection!

Ahhhhn… Are you really an amateur? You’ve been training your whole life, right?!

These skills… *gasp* Is a Junes job the secret? Let me work there too!

So cool! You’re the dancing shop employee Yosuke-san!

Whoooa! Can I be like Chie-san if I learn Kung-fun too?

Whoa! You have an amazing sense of rhythm Chie-san! Woohoo!

Amazing Yukiko-san! I was moved by your hospitality!

Oooohhhh! She’s prettyyyy, has a great body, AND a stunning dancer! Life isn’t fair!

She’s got moves like that after a long break? Rise-senpai is incredible!

I knew it Rise-senpai! I gotta step up my game too! I’ll try even harder!

*gasp* Is there a secret to the suit that gives you intense dance powers?

Wha? How?! How can you dance so much with that costume on!

That was powerful dance! Hmmmmm… maybe I should put on some muscle!

He can dance, knit, and even cook! You’ll make a great wife Kanji-san!

Wow! It’s so cool that you’re smart AND you can dance!

So it’s possible to be both smart and a good performer! Very neat!

That was too wonderful! When I was little I wasn’t… that… good… Huh… Oh dear…

How is a little girl so good?! Inaba folks are pretty scary.

Those sharp moves! That much be the secret to your sexy bod!

That was soooooo close! You can get a perfect next time!

The most important part comes next! Try to get even better!

Ohhh! You really nailed that part! You’re on a roll!

You still have stamina to spare? Wow! I better work hard too!

It’s not good to hold back! Release your inner spirit!

That was so good Nanako-san! Keep taking lessons and you’ll hit the big time!

1, 2, 3… *gasp* Oh gosh! Isn’t this a new record?

Babam! This is amazing!

I’ve never seen anything like this! It’s a new record!

That’s Nanako-san for you! What a scary little girl…!

Tada! Level up! Ba da bing!

Whoooa! Your moves are getting better! You’re really improving!

Your dancing is looking up Nanako-san!

#;just P4D things (game)

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harperlace-blog · 8 years

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Persona: The Nightmare Witch Chapter 1

When Nanako Dojima returns to Inaba after a year away, she learns that nightmares have been plaguing the town. Eventually, she finds herself thrown into an investigation to not only save the town, but her father as well. Set 10 years later. A story of bonds, the past and facing your fear.

Monday, April 10, 2021

Samaru City, train station.

It was the brink of dusk but the city showed no signs of rest. Pedestrians and cars buzzed left and right, either on their way home or venturing out for night life. Shielding her eyes from the intense orange glow of sun, Nanako Dojima shouldered her way through a busy sidewalk. A bit behind schedule but the teenage girl managed to catch a spot at the railway platform to wait for the next train.

"Did you hear about that big drug ring?"

"It's all over the damn news, how wouldn't I?"

Nanako lifted her gaze from her cellphone to overhear a conversation between two men in business suits.

"Imagine the loads of cash those guys are making..."

"H-hey, you're not trying to imply something, are you?"

"No. But honestly, money can solve a lot of your problems."

"Seriously, man? Is that what you really think?"

Right on queue, her awaited train slowly pulled up to the platform and the doors slid open. Nanako turned back to her phone and typed in a quick text message:

Dad-

Train just came. See you in a few!

Picking up her suitcase, Nanako joined the crowd to board the train and found a somewhat cramped spot in the corner. She turned her head to the window to gaze at the skyscrapers one last time before the doors closed shut. It only took several minutes before Nanako slowly dosed off.

When Nanako came to, she was standing to what appeared to be the interior of a limousine. The color blue literally emitted itself from the cushions of the seats to the lights on the ceiling.

Am I...dreaming?

Nanako turned her attention to the two figures that sat inside. A woman with elegant blond hair and in blue uniform, much similar to a flight attendant, sat cross legged. She gestured Nanako to have a seat across from them.

As she hesitantly sat down, Nanako couldn't keep her eyes off of the sharply contrasted figure next to the woman. His elbows sat on the table before him, chin rested on his folded hands and a nose that easily reached a foot long. His pointed ears reached to his bald head. The only thing that was normal about him was his black suit, similar to a butler.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," the mysterious gentleman greeted, which jolted Nanako a bit. He paused, as if analyzing Nanako's thoughts.

"Why, we've been expecting you. For quite some time, I must say."

He paused again, studying Nanako thoroughly. He suddenly let out a chuckle. "My, you have a most unique destiny lying ahead of you."

Unique destiny? What's that supposed to mean? Actually, the better question is...who are these people?

"Let me introduce myself." The man looked up with unblinking eyes that fixated on her. "I'm Igor. I'm quite pleased to make your acquaintance."

He then gestured his hand to the woman next to him, "This is Margaret, my assistant. She is a resident of this place, like myself."

"Yes, welcome." Margaret smiled warmly.

"You see, this place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter," Igor continued. "Generally speaking, only those who have forged a contract can visit this room."

In a blink of an eye, a contract appeared before Igor.

"However, what I am speaking about is not a physical contract such as this." The contract vanished with a wave of his hand. "In actuality, you have a formed a promise in the past. To fulfill the promise, you will acquire my help to hone your unique ability."

Promise? Ability?

For some reason, Nanako found it hard to speak.

Suddenly, Igor swiped his hand over the table to reveal a set of tarot cards. Nanako leaned forward to get a better look. 21 cards laid before him, each with a symbol of what appeared to be double-sided mask.

"That's enough about the past. Let's take a look into your future, shall we?"

Igor flipped over one card to reveal its hidden side and analyzed it closely.

"Interesting. A star, in the upright position. I see renewed hope and fulfillment in the future but only if you endure the trials and tribulations that lie ahead of you." Igor proceeded to flip another card.

"A moon, also in the upright position. This card represents hesitation and mystery in the immediate future. Hmm…"

Nanako sat back in her seat, clinging onto his every word. Even if this was a dream, her subconscious must be telling her something, right? She read something about it in a book once. Although, Nanako couldn't possibly fathom why she would dream up this odd duo.

"In the upcoming days, you will encounter a great mystery, one that is deeply rooted to your past. You will then awaken a great power within you, after which you will return here."

Igor gestured around him, indicating the Velvet Room.

"There will be a great turning point in your destiny. Should the mystery go unsolved, you will have to face the consequences of a broken promise," He continued. "My duty is to provide assistance to ensure that does not happen."

Igor didn't falter his smile and Nanako felt a little uncomfortable under his stare. She felt like her mind was being analyzed and picked apart.

"We shall attend to the details another time. Until then, farewell…"

Then all went to black.

"Thank you for riding with us. In just a few moments, we'll reach our final stop at Yasogami station."

Nanako jolted awake at the sound of the intercom above her.

"Please prepare to exit," the conductor instructed over the intercom.

Nanako tried to re-collect herself, still shaken from her dream. It...was a dream right? For some reason, she was doubting herself. It was just so weird.

Nanako shook her head and reached over to the compartment above her for her bags. The view from the window was nothing but long, green hills illuminated by the moonlight.

"It's so beautiful," Nanako said to herself, feeling her heart clench at the sight of her home town once again. The city may be colorful and exciting, but nothing can take her breath away than the gentle quietness of Inaba. The image of her father suddenly flashed in her mind. She missed him so much.

The train had reached a full stop and she hurried toward the exit. Upon stepping onto the platform, Nanako looked behind her, curious to see anyone else exiting with her until she remembered that she was the only one heading for Inaba. Not that it surprised her, she knew very well that her hometown was desolate but had garnered quite a reputation in the last few years.

The urban legend of the 'Midnight Channel' and the creepy, unsettling fog that covered the town captured the attention of many paranormal enthusiasts. However, because she was at such a young age during that time, she couldn't quite understand the details of it all. All she knew was that the Midnight Channel disappeared one day and everything went back to normal. She figured the flood of visitors died down by now.

Shrugging, Nanako started to walk past the station. Now, where could her father be?

"Nanako!"

Nanako instantly smiled at the sight of her father standing under a streetlight and waving. She hurried to her father's arms and the two held together in a tight hug.

Ryotaro Dojima, Nanako's beloved father. Now that she noticed, he was still wearing his usual dark gray shirt with pulled up sleeves and red necktie, an outfit that she continuously told him to get rid of by now. Of course, when your father is a 24/7 working police detective, attire is the least thing that's on his mind.

"Can you do me a favor and stop growing so much," Dojima joked and loosened his grip to see her face clearly. Nanako didn't want to cry in front of him but she couldn't help feel her eyes water a bit. She felt that she had forgotten what her father's embrace was like.

"I've missed you so much, Daddy," Nanako said and pulled him into a hug once more, ignoring the fact that she hadn't called her father 'Daddy' in a long time. She let go of him and saw that someone was missing.

"Where's Yu?" Nanako asked.

"Back at the house, everyone's waiting for you." Dojima replied as he picked up Nanako's belongings. Suddenly, he stopped short and scratched behind his head. "Ah...I think I just ruined the surprise."

Nanako laughed. "You're bad at keeping secrets."

"Oh well," Dojima shrugged. "Let's get going. You can tell me all about your trip while we get there."

"Oh yeah! Can you believe there's not a single Junes in the city?" Nanako said as she followed her father to the car. Dojima chuckled, and replied, "It's probably because big city folks don't go to department stores for fun like we do here."

Inaba, Dojima Residence.

"Welcome back, Nanako-chan!"

Upon entering her home, Nanako was immediately greeted by all of her friends. Well, they were mostly friends of Yu, but she grew to consider them her friends too.

Chie, Yosuke, Yukiko, Kanji, and Teddie. Out of his costume of course.

"Nana-chan!" Teddie screamed in joy and ran up to her to give her a tight embrace.

"Hey, Teddie!" Nanako laughed and returned the hug.

"We've missed you bear-y much." His cheeks flushed red when he added, "And you're so beaut-"

"Hands off my daughter, bear," Dojima suddenly cut him off and gave him a cold stare.

"H-huh? But I'm not in my bear costume," Teddie protested which earned him an even colder stare from her father. Everyone in the room laughed at the ordeal and Nanako smiled warmly. She had no idea how good it was going to feel coming back.

"It's so nice to see you all again," Nanako said as she walked to the center of the room where everyone was sitting around the table. While her father took her bags to her room, Nanako surveyed her home. It was like nothing has even changed. Blue curtains draped over the backdoor and the retro-style TV still sat in the corner of their tiny home.

Suddenly, she felt a tug at the end of her dress and when she looked down, she met the hazel eyes of a four-year-old boy. The toddler was dressed in blue overalls with a green-striped shirt underneath. His other hand clenched tightly to a stuffed fox.

Nanako's eyes widened. He. Was. Adorable.

"Oh hey, you two haven't met, right?" Chie spoke up and went over to her son to ruffle his silver hair. "Koji, this is Nanako. She's your-uh, what would it be? Second-cousin?"

Nanako bent down to match Koji's line of sight and said, "I can be your Big Sis. Nice to meet you, Koji."

She held out her hand for a shake and after a blank stare from the boy, he reluctantly reached out to touch her hand.

"Aw, how cute!" Teddie squealed followed by a giggle from Yukiko. Chie smiled warmly and picked up her son in her arms to settle back near the table. Nanako straightened up, finding it hard to keep her eyes off the new member of her family. She found it endearing how he shared the same features as his father.

"You have one damn cute kid," Kanji commented as he watched Koji play with his stuffed fox on his mother's lap. Nanako's attention immediately shifted to Yosuke's laugh.

"Already wondering if you and Naoto's kid is gonna be just as cute, huh Kanji?" Yosuke teased while Teddie made smooching noises.

"What the hell man!" Kanji yelled, failing to mask the heat that scorched his cheeks in embarrassment. "Can't a guy just give a compliment without meaning anything behind it?"

"Oh, but it has so much meaning!" Teddie declared dramatically, "The meaning of love!"

Kanji only responded with clenched fists and threatened to throw Teddie out but it only resulted in more laughter.

"You guys better quit yelling, at least not when Koji is around," Chie huffed. Yukiko nodded in approval and said, "Chie is right. We should all take responsibility like her."

"Thanks, Yukiko!" Chie smiled brightly, narrowly missing Yosuke's snide remark, "You call that taking responsibility?"

Nanako simply smiled as she watched the group continue their endless teasing. She then noticed that someone was still missing.

Right then, the room stiffened at sound of the front door opening. It was none other but Yu Narukami. He stood at the doorway with grocery bags in his hands.

"Oh, you're back," Yu smiled.

"Big Bro!" Nanako rushed over to him to give him a hug, which happened so quickly that she might have knocked air out of him.

Yu chuckled, "That's odd. I don't remember you that tall." He returned the hug and Nanako felt slightly embarrassed for clinging onto him like a small child but at the same time, she didn't care. She was so happy to see him again.

Yu Narukami. Nanako's older cousin but she prefers to call him Big Bro. Aside from his black, framed glasses and white collar work shirt, Yu didn't look that much different than from his high school days. Alongside his same old appearance was his same old personality; cool and collected as Nanako always described him.

"Senpai! Glad to have ya back!" Kanji smiled, as if the previous situation hadn't happened. Once Yu was greeted by everyone, Nanako followed her cousin to the kitchen to help out with dinner.

"Man, I can't believe Yu actually tied the knot with Chie of all people," Yosuke said out loud which earned him a stern look from Chie.

Everyone was sitting around the table, eating dinner specially prepared by Yu. Nanako took another sip of her miso soup and took a moment to appreciate the herbal flavors on her taste buds. Without a doubt, it was delicious.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Chie pointed a finger at him. "At least I'm not the one who's been in a relationship with some nurse for five years and have yet to get married."

"Hey! She's just…y'know taking her time," Yosuke defended himself. Yu quickly interjected, "She has a point, Yosuke. What if something else is going on?"

"W-what do you mean?" Yosuke stuttered. "Whatever, it's personal. Besides, Kanji isn't married either and he's been with Naoto for as long as we can remember."

"Actually, we are married," Kanji said bluntly. Everyone responded with a resounded "WHAT".

"Married!" Chie said in surprise.

"Since when?" Yosuke asked, now standing up.

"Last month, actually," Kanji answered confidently and crossed his arms.

"Congratulations, Kanji-kun," Yukiko smiled, followed by Chie's remark, "How come you didn't invite us?"

"Eh, well," Kanji rubbed behind his head to ponder his next words carefully. "We didn't have a wedding. We're just married legally, y'know, making it official and all."

"I don't see a ring," Yu noted which instantly resulted in Kanji bolting straight up with a fisted fist.

"H-hey! It's none of your business!" Kanji said defensively.

"How is Naoto, anyway?" Yukiko asked.

"Busy," Kanji answered, "That's what'd you expect from being the head detective." Nanako sensed a bit of sadness in his voice. She hoped things were alright between the two. If there was anything that made Nanako instantly sad, it would be the bad ending of a relationship.

"She's in the middle of a big case right now. Heard of that international smuggling ring?"

"Oh yeah. I heard the drug can be dangerous," Chie said.

"Isn't that stuff illegal in Japan?" Yosuke sighed, "I've been so busy at work that I can't keep up with news lately."

"Well, you're right about that" Kanji confirmed. "There are smugglers trying to bring it here. And Naoto is after the bastards."

He sighed. "I don't see her much but if that's what she loves doing best, then I'm fine with it."

"Well, that's good to hear," Yu nodded. "That takes a lot of strength."

"Yeah," Chie agreed. "Just don't let her work herself too hard, okay?"

Kanji nodded and Yosuke gave him a pat on the back.

"I heard Rise-chan is working hard too," Yukiko piped in. Everyone agreed with a nod.

"She's still bear-rific on TV!" Teddie exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Good thing her comeback went well. She should be off tour soon so she'll get a chance to visit us sometime," Yosuke said and added with a mischievous grin, "Maybe I should get her to play at Junes again?"

"And put together another performance from our lame-ass band? Not a chance, you won't catch me playing another instrument again," Kanji declared, which resulted in laughs all around the table.

"Youth these days…" Dojima muttered and took another sip of his drink.

Once Nanako finished her dinner, she decided to take a breather. The exhaustion from the train ride home had finally gotten to her. She excused herself and headed outside.

She settled down on the porch and glanced around her tiny backyard. Moonlight casted a glow on the grass and bushes that hugged around the fence. Her father's long sleeved shirts were fluttering in the breeze as they clung onto the clothes line.

I wonder how long he left those out to dry, she wondered. He probably forgot as usual. I'll bring them in before I head back inside.

She chuckled at the thought of her father washing his clothes, a mundane task she had been doing for so long. She brought her knees up to her chest, thinking about her father more.

Even now, she wasn't sure if leaving to the city was a good idea. The thought of leaving her father alone for a single year had held her back from even considering. Ever since her mother passed away, she had promised to her father that she'll take her place and never leave him.

Nanako sighed. Maybe this was a pointless dilemma to be worried about. After all, she's back now and she can attend the house as usual. As she was thinking this, she heard the glass door slide behind her.

"Hey, how's it going?"

Nanako looked up at Yu as he sat down next to her. The two looked up at the stars and felt the spring breeze pass.

"A lot," Nanako admitted, breaking the silence between them. She felt Yu turn to her with a concerned look and asked, "What's on your mind?"

Nanako didn't feel comfortable talking about her feelings about her trip and her father, at least not until it's all sorted out in her head. So she decided to bring up another topic that's been bugging her.

"It's kind of silly but…I'm kind of nervous about tomorrow," she explained. "I know it's only my second year of high school and I should be happy that I'm back in town…"

She paused for a moment before continuing. "…but I feel like I don't know how to start again. By now, everybody probably has their own group of friends to hang out with. I'm not sure if there's any room for me…" Nanako trailed off, avoiding Yu's eye contact.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Yu responded and looked behind him at the glass doors. Nanako also looked behind her to see everyone laughing around the table as Chie lifted Koji's arms to make kung fu gestures.

"You'll be surprised at how the closest of friends come to you when you least expect it," Yu continued and turned his attention back to Nanako. "You have a heart for people, Nanako. That alone is enough to make bonds with people that you'll trust."

Nanako smiled at his words and looked down at her hands resting on her lap. She knew she could count on her cousin to comfort her. "Thanks, Big Bro."

Yu nodded and stood up. "And besides. Marie said she'll make sure it won't rain tomorrow."

Nanako's eyes instantly lit up at the mention of the mystical weather woman on TV. "Wow, she must be a goddess right, Yu? To control the weather like that?"

Nanako was always amazed by the local celebrity, seemingly changing the weather by her will. She liked how positive she was on television every morning, motivating the residents of Inaba to push through their challenges and work towards their wishes every day.

Yu simply chuckled and held out his hand to help her up. Nanako was confused by his vague answer but reluctantly took his hand anyway. Suddenly, she felt a raindrop plop on her nose.

"Oh! The clothes!" Nanako rushed to the clothesline and plucked the pins from her father's shirts. She turned to her left to see Yu doing the same thing and she smiled.

The two hurried inside with laundry in their hands as rain began to pour.

It was the peak of midnight when Nanako twisted and turned in her bed sheets.

She was dreaming, she was sure of it.

Nanako had woken up in a strange place of nothing but surrounding fog. Even with not a single thing in sight, she could tell she was in Inaba by the outline of the buildings. She had been walking forward for what felt like several hours. She shivered and she rubbed her arms for any warmth. It was unnaturally cold.

Suddenly, a figure began to appear amidst the fog. Nanako could barely make out its form, but she knew it was human.

"Hello?" Nanako said in hesitation, reaching out to the figure. In that moment, the dark form turned and disappeared again.

"H-hey! Wait!" Nanako yelled and began to run. She charged through the fog, searching for anything. The figure reappeared again but this time, it was crouched with its back turned away from her.

Upon closer inspection, Nanako could see the crouching figure of a girl clad in Yasogami uniform and her hair, tied into a long braid, drooped along her back. The girl was shivering, possibly due to the cold. Eyebrows furrowed, Nanako reached her hand out when suddenly, the girl bolted up.

"Get away from me!" She yelled, facing Nanako. Her eyes looked glassy, as if she had been crying for a long time. The girl then ran off, despite Nanako's protests.

Who is she? What's going on? Nanako thought, feeling very confused.

Suddenly, an unknown voice whispered, "how curious. How did you manage to escape?"

"Huh?" Nanako spoke to the voice, unsure who she was speaking to exactly. "Are you keeping her trapped here?"

"A soul cannot trap another soul. Only the soul traps itself," the voice responded in an almost mocking manner. Nanako frowned. A silhouette appeared with crossed arms and had the form of a human, but it seemed to be wearing a white, robe garment.

"Hm, it seems that you are different from other humans. I wonder...have you been here before?" the unknown voice continued.

"Who are you?" Nanako asked in frustration. Is it so hard to ask for straight answers? The unknown voice only laughed and the fog seemed to grow thicker and thicker.

"I am the ruler of this domain." The voice then snickered, "humans can be so vulnerable. They become entrapped by their own fear." The voice said barely above a whisper, "Let's see you if you are any different, my special human."

That's when Nanako began to weave back and forth until she dropped onto her knees. She glanced up at the form, still disfigured by the fog, and whispered weakly, "W-what are you?"

The form stayed silent and without an answer, Nanako lost consciousness.

A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter! Initially, I did not have the intention to publish this story. I've been writing this as a means of practicing my writing skills and character development.

With that said, this story will have Yu x Chie, Kanji x Naoto and Yosuke x OC character (although not majorly important and will be very little). In fact, because this story focuses on Nanako, there will be a lot of OCs, but please keep in mind that I took great care in imagining them and implementing them in this world. So, if none of these aspects appeal to you, then this fic may not be your cup of tea. Also, Persona Arena, Ultimax, Dancing All Night and Q will not be canon in this story. If you do choose to read this story, welcome aboard the journey!

~HarperLace

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randochris · 8 years

Text

Persona 4 Bonds of Reality Prologue

“Dammit, what’s taking so long?!”

Yosuke Hanamura flopped onto his futon, staring daggers into the clock that hung on his bedroom wall. The time read 10:14 a.m. but for Yosuke, every minute that passed was complete agony. He had been awake since six in the morning, counting down each minute that passed.

“Aww, turn your frown upside down, Yosuke! I know Sensei is just dying to get here as soon as he can!”

The would-be picker upper happened to be Teddie, out of his bear suit. Teddie slept longer than Yosuke but his blonde hair was already perfectly styled and he was trying on different winter-friendly outfits to wear to meet “Sensei.” The chill of December could be felt even with the heater going on in Yosuke’s room.

Yosuke himself was still in the sweatpants he wore to bed but had changed into a long-sleeved tee with the emblem of Yasogami High School on the right chest. Yosuke didn’t really dress properly until it was time for him to leave the house for school or hanging out with his friends.

“Do you think Sensei is going to bring anybody along with him? He said he had a surprise for all of us. Ooh! Maybe it’s some of the beauties of the city!” Teddie swooned at the mental images running through his mind of countless girls, each more bustier than the last.

“Dude, I doubt he’s bringing girls along with him. There would be a bloodbath all over Inaba, courtesy of a certain idol,” Yosuke mumbled, feeling his body shiver.

“Aww, but they don’t have to be girls who are into Sensei! Maybe he’s bringing us some hot dates to melt all this snow!”

Would they really? Yosuke rested his head on his arms, memories of failed attempts to pick up girls bombarding him rapidly, ending with the most heartbreaking sound he ever heard in his life. A sound that would never fade…

“My motorcycle…”

Before Yosuke started to openly weep about how, even with the repairs, his scooter was never the same, the muffled chirps of a cell phone came from his pocket. He answered the phone in a low mumble without checking who was calling.

“Hello? Wassup?”

The responding voice was very loud and frenzied, belonging to a certain girl.

“Yosuke, Yu’s train got stopped! There was a snowstorm out where he was and the train can’t go any further!” Chie Satonaka sounded like she was almost out of breath like she had been running.

Yosuke sat up, his body now tense. “What?! Is he okay?”

“He said he’s fine but…but…I can’t stand around doing nothing! I’m meeting everybody at the train station right now to see if-!”

Teddie suddenly elbowed Yosuke’s ribs to butt into the phone call, cutting off Chie.

“Did something happen to Sensei?” Teddie panicked, his voice already breaking.

Chie explained the situation again. Once she was done, Teddie grabbed Yosuke by the arm and hoisted him to his feet.

“Come on, Yosuke! Sensei needs us!” Teddie heroically declared, zipping up the jacket he now put on and ending the call.

“G-Gimme a sec, you dummy, I need to get dressed!”

Damn it! I hope he’s okay! Yosuke’s mind was racing with thoughts on anything he could possibly do to help his friend, the one he calls his “partner.” The snow on the road was way too slippery for his scooter so he and Teddie hurried on foot, trying to keep from sliding and falling. It didn’t take too long before the two reached Yasoinaba Station, where most of the gang were waiting.

Everyone were all together, talking to one another in hurried voices. Rise looked visibly worried with Naoto trying to calm her down. Yukiko was trying to summon her Persona, even as Chie kept insisting that it wasn’t like the events in May. Kanji was distracted, playing with his black hair until he noticed Yosuke and Teddie approaching.

“Hey! What took you guys so long?!” Kanji said.

“Yosuke was reading his dirty magazines before you called, Chie. I was beary disappointed in him,” Teddie scolded.

“What?! I wasn’t doing anything! I’ve been waiting for Yu all morning!” Yosuke snapped.

“I just want to look good for Sensei! You weren’t dressed, Yosuke!”

“N-No, I didn’t mean YOU, I meant…” Yosuke sighed and grimaced, choosing to stay mum for his own sake.

Naoto muttered under her own breath, “I’m surprised it’s not until now that Senpai’s name caused an exchange like that.”

Rise, still flustered, pouted with her cheeks puffed outward. “I can’t believe that now, of all times, before Christmas, Senpai’s stuck out in the middle of nowhere!”

Yosuke folded his arms and looked at the others. “Have any of you heard again from him since you called me, Chie?”

Chie shook her head, digging her hands into her coat pockets. “All that he said is that the train isn’t going to be back for a while.”

Yosuke closed his eyes and sighed to himself. He wondered if Yu had already contacted Ryotaro Dojima or Nanako. Or if he wasn’t able to…

“Naoto, you have Dojima-san’s number, right? Have you contacted him?” Yosuke asked.

The detective nodded. “Dojima-san has already been notified of the situation.”

“Yosuke, I’m sure Yu-kun is fine. Just imagine that he’s right behind you,” Yukiko chirped, almost looking unfazed by their leader’s predicament.

Yosuke raised a brow at Yukiko, confused. She sometimes says odd things but Yu’s “right behind him?”

That’s when Yosuke felt a sudden rush of cold.

THUMP!!

A huge snowball hit Yosuke on the back of his head, the snow falling inside his jacket and shirt, making him shake from the water running down his body.

“Wh-Who the hell-?!” Yosuke began, turning on his foot angrily. But Yosuke’s anger didn’t last long. He was greeted by the warm smile of Yu Narukami, holding another snowball in his hand.

“Hey there, Yosuke. You look surprised to see me so early,” Yu joked.

Yosuke glanced at the rest of his friends, who all burst out in laughter, even Teddie.

“What? Why are you all laughing?” Yosuke said, scratching the back of his head to try and get some of the loose snow out.

“We’ve been trying to get a hold of you all morning, Yosuke-senpai! Did you have your phone turned off?” said Rise.

“Wait, you were calling me? I didn’t get any phone calls! …Wait…”

Yosuke dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Immediately, he noticed what was wrong. He wasn’t holding his orange-colored cell phone, rather, a small white one made for children.

“Teddie, did you take my phone to play your mobile games again?!” Yosuke seethed, taking his phone back.

“I can’t manage the crops in Teddieland on my phone, Yosuke! My phone isn’t as fast as yours…”

Ignoring Teddie, Yosuke turned back to Yu. “So, when did you get here?”

Yu joined everybody else, fixing his bowl-shaped hair. “About two hours ago. There really is a snowstorm going on out in the country so I took an earlier train just to be safe. It was the last one that would go before they began the delay.”

Rise wasted no time wrapping herself around Yu’s arm, rubbing her cheek on his bicep. “And not a moment too soon! The wait was un-BEAR-able!”

The pun only drew a laugh from Teddie and Yukiko while the others groaned quietly, though Yu only smiled for his own sake.

“I think it’s about time we let a certain someone know Big Bro’s home for the holidays,” Yosuke said, his usual smile returning to his face.

The group all headed off to Dojima’s house, catching up with Yu on what he had been doing in the city. The sound of snow crunching underneath their footsteps was the perfect ambience. For Yu, it felt good to be back in Inaba again. As he went through the downtown area with his friends, he noticed there was something different about it this time around. There were more decorations stretching across the street sidewalks, everything shining around the town. The local vendors were still selling their handmade goods, the most popular stand selling scarves, gloves, and knitted hats. Kanji had a huge grin on his face as they walked past…

As everyone approached the Dojima household, there were two figures out front, busy building a snowman. Ryotaro Dojima, now sporting a slightly thick beard, was adding black rocks to form the snowman’s smile while Nanako made sure the stick arms would stay up. Upon a closer look, the snowman’s head was styled to resemble Yu, complete with hardened eyes and bowl-cut.

“Wow, I didn’t know another me was staying here,” Yu chuckled. Nanako’s head turned in an instant, eyes widened in complete joy.

“BIG BRO!” Nanako hurried over and jumped to Yu, hugging him tightly. He petted her hair, still as long as it was the last time he was there. She had even grown a little bit taller too.

Dojima gave a hearty laugh. “It’s about time you got here. She’s been non-stop all day, keeping an eye out for you.” Dojima gave Yu a firm pat on the shoulder. “Everything been all right back in the city? School going fine?”

Yu nodded and added, “Top of my class, as always, Dojima-san. Though I’ve had some intense study sessions just before the break.”

Yosuke grimaced. “Ugh, if it wasn’t for the new laptop, I swear…”

Dojima’s brows furrowed. “’New laptop?’”

“Oh, yeah. Junes has been getting a lot more sales in our electronics, thanks to all of the Hashiba laptops that are out now. I managed to save enough to get a decent model. It’s easier to help Yu study,” Yosuke explained.

With what seemed like an understanding nod, Dojima added, “Right, because those…instant message chatroom something or other. I haven’t had much use for a computer outside of work.”

Naoto couldn’t help but suppress a laugh, though no one seemed to notice.

“How about you, Nanako? How’s school?” asked Yu.

“It’s been a bit tough but I’m working hard!” Nanako cheerfully pumped her fists. “Dad’s been helping me study all the time!”

Dojima scratched the back of his head, smirking. “Usually after a few cups of coffee.”

Everyone now laughed together and headed inside. Everything was still the same as Yu remembered from before. Hot chocolate was already prepared, with bags of marshmallows on the kitchen table. Yu and Nanako sat next to one another at the kotatsu, with Yu’s friends scattered about the living room, watching television while Kanji and Teddie were arguing how many marshmallows are acceptable.

Naoto was off to the side, talking with Dojima.

“…Yeah, right now he’s just been reading in his cell. He made some kind of personal challenge to read as much books as possible before his trial date,” muttered Dojima.

“As long as it keeps him occupied.” Naoto’s eyes looked downward for a moment.

The hours quickly passed into the early moments of night before Dojima received a phone call. There was an emergency at a home at the other side of Inaba, where vandals were throwing rocks at someone’s windows and scattered after the police appeared.

“Now, remember what we discussed, Nanako. Stick close to Yu, okay?” Dojima hurried to get his coat on.

“Mmhmm. Stay with Big Bro!” Nanako gave her father an encouraging smile. Dojima nodded and promptly left.

The TV channel was changed to the premiere of a Christmas themed special, a few minutes away from starting.

“I can’t believe it, my first true acting gig!” Rise was gushing with excitement, kicking her legs.

“So, uh, what the heck is this supposed to be about anyway?” Kanji sipped at his hot chocolate, Rise already looking annoyed at him.

“It’s a beautiful romantic story where a young girl, alone on Christmas, gets to spend it with the man of her dreams! It’s not a hard story to understand!”

Kanji frowned. “I can get THAT. You just never told us because it was supposed to be a big secret. Besides, I prefer stuff like Rudolph.”

Chie looked over at Rise from the other side of the couch. “How much creative input did you have with this movie?”

Rise shrugged. “Not that much as far as the story goes. Why?”

“I’m just preparing myself for ‘Rise Kujikawa Presents: Christmas With Senpai.’”

“What’s wrong with that? Wouldn’t you try to model the perfect boyfriend after Yu-Senpai?”

The heavy silence that came over the living room just then was something Yu had never experienced before. It was no secret Rise was into him but Chie usually had a comment afterwards. The girls all looked at each other, back to Yu, and then back to each other.

Naoto was the first to speak up, in her usual calm tone. “I think it’s a bit unfair to use Senpai as the highest standard possible to a significant other, as well as that person having to be ‘perfect.’ While we would like a perfect relationship, especially when it comes to romance, that’s just not possible. And…to be honest, perfection leads to stasis within the relationship.”

Yukiko nodded in agreement. “I know what you mean. Every day when I’m with Chie, it either feels like a new adventure or a learning experience. Even if it’s something mundane. Although…” Yukiko rested her chin on her hand, closing her eyes, lost in thought.

Yosuke, Kanji, and Teddie looked visibly confused, mostly from the fact that this was a conversation actually happening. Yu’s face was actually a little bit red.

Chie leaned over to Yukiko. “So, wait, are you saying everything about me, good and bad, makes every day fun…?” She said in a hushed whisper.

“Big Bro’s really nice so I can understand why you’d want boys to be like him, Rise-chan,” interjected Nanako, still having her big smile.

Rise fiddled with a strand of her hair. “It’s other things too but…you are right.” She turned to Yu. “I’m sorry, Senpai. I didn’t mean to embarrass you like this.”

“It’s no problem at all, Rise, really.” Yu waved his hand dismissively, though his expression told a different story. His eyes quickly glanced at Nanako.

Teddie was the first of the guys to finally speak up. “No need to be so modest, Sensei!”

Kanji folded his arms, with a teasing smirk. “Unless you already found a girlfriend and didn’t tell any of us.”

Yosuke shook his head, quickly cutting off Kanji to prevent the topic from stemming off into something undesirable… “Nah, Yu’s not the kind of guy to hide stuff like that.” Though none of the girls didn’t look put off by the idea.

“I really care about Senpai, but I want him to follow his heart,” said Rise softly.

“Ack!!” Chie suddenly yelled out loud, startling everyone. “THE SPECIAL’S ALREADY STARTED!”

Everyone looked at the TV, which thankfully was only in the opening credits. The special was following Rise’s character around the snowy city streets of Tokyo, admiring the decorations much like Yu did earlier. The golden lights shined in her eyes and everything around her was grand.

But suddenly, the broadcast went to static. No weather warning or anything indicating a technical error appeared on screen. Yu pressed buttons on the TV remote but no other channels appeared. Out of instinct, he checked the time and it was nowhere close to midnight…

Suddenly, a very faint image started to appear, silhouettes walking around. Crackling voices could be barely made out but none of them said anything coherent.

“…stop them…interfering with…shape…the world…” said a cold voice.

“Big Bro, this isn’t the special, is it…?” Nanako asked, though she looked like she already knew the answer.

The lights in the Dojima residence went out, while the glow of the TV screen became brighter. The living room started to shake with a faint wind pushing towards the TV, pushing the kotatsu.

“E-Everyone! Outside!” Yu yelled, helping Nanako up and hurrying towards the front door. However, the front door suddenly flew away from the pair. Looking around for anything to hold onto as the wind started to pick up speed, Yu clasped onto the edge of the kitchen sink, Nanako wrapping her arms around his chest.

“What the hell’s going on?!” Yosuke grabbed the other side of the sink, Chie hanging off his shoulders. Yukiko then jumped onto Chie, while Kanji held onto the fully stocked refrigerator with his long arms. Naoto and Rise hung off both his biceps and Teddie clutched onto Kanji’s hips, almost making him fall over.

“T-TED, THAT TICKLES!!” Kanji tried not to laugh, keeping his grip on the refrigerator.

The wind started to violently knock things over and pick everybody up from off the ground, pulling them towards the television. Something about the wind made it feel like the small TV was going to accommodate everyone if this was heading where Yu believed it was. Everyone still held on with all their might, but the refrigerator door opened, violently jerking Kanji to one side. Desperate, he grabbed Yu’s legs by the ankles.

“S-SORRY, SENPAI!” Kanji bellowed.

“D-DON’T LET GO, KANJI-KUN!” Naoto yelled.

Right besides Yu, Yosuke yelped. His side of the sink deteriorated away and found himself hurling towards the TV. Chie and Yukiko screamed in fear, digging their fingers into his shoulder blades. Just like a knee-jerk response, Yosuke managed to grab Teddie by the back of his jacket, though it was too loose to keep steady.

With a loud yell, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko flung towards the television, disappearing into the light. Nanako cried out in fear, while Kanji’s fingers were slipping.

“S-SENPAI, I CAN’T HOLD ON!” Kanji’s fingers brushed against Yu’s feet and now he, Naoto, Teddie, and Rise found themselves pulled into the light.

“Big Bro! I don’t want to die!!” Nanako held on as much as she could. But everything near Yu’s hands had disappeared as well. All he could do now was hold Nanako close to him.

“Whatever happens Nanako…I’ll protect you!!”

Everything around Yu’s eyes was enveloped in light.

He felt weightless. He could feel Nanako’s face still pressed against his chest.

This was not the sensation of death. It was similar as to when Yu and his friends entered the TV world.

But wherever Yu and Nanako were going, along with the rest of their friends, there was no guessing in what awaited them.

Yu was blinded by a very bright light before everything around him turned a vibrant blue. He realized he was once again within the Velvet Room. His heart was at ease as he sat across the inhabitants of the Velvet Room, or at least two of them. The bizarre looking old man with a very long nose known as Igor and his assistant Margaret, whose elegance continued to radiate as strongly as ever, gazed straight at Yu.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter…as I am sure you remember,” said Igor, in the same tone and rhythm as Yu had heard before.

“It is a pleasure to see you once again.” Margaret bowed her head.

“As an esteemed guest, you are always welcome here. It has been quite some time since your last visit. The strength of your bonds were tested heavily, and you were able to display unwavering determination at preserving them. You are most likely wondering what brings you here once again.” Igor maintained his usual smile, with his hands crossed together.

“Your destiny extends far greater than the boundaries that your world possesses. That also includes the threats that may come upon your world. The wind that whisked you and your comrades away from your world was not of anything you have come to know in your previous quests. A strong power, elsewhere, has become drawn to you. You will soon be entering a new reality that is both closely similar and radically different to what you’re used to. What you do once you arrive is entirely up to you. Your choices from hereon will determine what comes of the multiple planes of existence that you may or may not have thought about.” Margaret finished her explanation with a small chuckle. “It will be interesting, to say the very least. While the new world you will arrive in is not closely tied to the Velvet Room, you will be able to return, if you require assistance.”

Yu, who had not been able to feel any words forming in his throat, could only watch as Igor and Margaret become enveloped in the same light, once again…

So, I’m trying to get back into writing once again. Forewarning, this story will feature my OCs. Not OCs specifically built for Persona so I’m not going to be destroying any ships. But this is just to help motivate me to do something. Please give me feedback and share if you like it!

#Persona 4 #fanfiction #Persona 4 Bonds of Reality

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lunaragk · 7 years

Text

FMoI Ch 4: Ugly Truths and Broken Detectives pt 1

4/20, Wednesday, Cloudy.

-?-

The three high-schoolers balked slightly at the elementary student’s introduction, coupled with the facts Yu himself had stated. Yosuke started loudly as usual. “Wait, are you telling me the ‘Kid Killer’ is your neighbour?! AND he followed us into the T.V.?!” The young man seemed to be panicking, badly.

Yu sighed, trying to stay calm for his team as he gripped his friend’s shoulders, squeezing them slightly to get him to focus. “Yosuke, focus.”

He froze up for just a moment, before looking at Yu. Yosuke took a deep breath before letting it out. “Okay, okay, I’m good.”

Chie on the other hand looked between the young boy and her classmates, confusion on her face. “I get the kid introducing himself as a detective is surprising, but why are the two of you freaking out so much? And what’s with this ‘Kid Killer’ business?”

Conan snorted, “The news papers coined the ‘Kid Killer’ nickname because when I attend his heists, the Kaitou Kid never gets away with his target.” He looked up to the young woman in green, rolling his shoulders in a shrug.

“As for them freaking out, well, elementary student regularly stopping a famous jewel thief from getting away with his targets, and in the papers for helping solve other crimes…” He lets himself trail off, before adopting the kiddy nature, realizing the oddity of the situation had caused him to slip. “They’re being silly, aren’t they, Nee-chan?”

She stared at child before her, turning to her two teammates that were watching the boy carefully, a shaky hand pointed at him. “He’s joking, you’re both joking about what this kid has done, right?” Her voice had gone slightly high at the end of it.

Both Yu and Yosuke shook their heads. Their de-facto turned to Chie, “He has been in the papers numerous times, more for solving crimes more than stopping the Kaitou Kid.”

Yu pushed his glasses up to massage his head, this situation was beginning to give him a headache. “Mostly murders, shockingly enough, either by himself or with a group of other children called the Detective Boys.”

The fact that Yu knew this about Conan’s exploits had the young detective on edge. He kept himself outwardly calm, keeping his childish mask at the forefront. “I’ve learned alot from Mouri-ojiisan and Shinichi-niichan.”

Chie was confused by this, “Mouri-san and Shinichi-san, who are they?” New apparently did not travel far out into Inaba.

Yosuke was starting to get worn by her cluelessness. “Really, Chei, have you never picked up a paper or checked online before?” He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, “They’re two of the biggest names in the media for solving crimes.”

That left her confused, and slightly impressed, “Wait, if the kid’s that smart, then let’s take him with us!” Chie was becoming excited. “If he’s had that sort of training, then he could be a huge help with us finding out who did this!”

Yu started to shake his head, before he stopped, and thought about this a little more. “That might not be a bad idea, so long as he sticks close to Teddie.” Yosuke looked at them both like they’d gone nuts.

Conan chose that moment to speak up, “You may as well accept you’re not getting rid of me, and I can be a lot of help!” The shrunken detective put his hands behind his head, “Besides, a fresh perspective might help.”

“Alright I give up, the kid can come, IF he wants to.” Yosuke threw his hands up and turned around, “Now let’s find that dumb bear and get going.”

That left Conan confused, “Bear?” He quickly got his answer in the squeeking footsteps coming up behind him. “Oh, this is bear-y unexpected, a new face?” That got him to turn around, and come face to face with the oddest mascot costume he’d ever seen.

He held up one finger, ready to say something, before dropping his hand and letting his mouth click shut, “You know what, I don’t want to know.” He turned to leave, only for a fuzzy paw to grasp his shoulder.

“Hey there kiddo, what’re you doing in here?” The blue bear, whom could only be Teddie, turned the him around, looking up at the trio, “Is he coming with us, Sensei? Or should we send him back?”

The grey-haired teen walked over and lightly removed Teddie’s hands from the young detective. “He’s coming with us for right now Teddie, but I want him to stick by you once we get to the castle.”

The blue bear fired off his best salute, “Got it, Sensei!” Conan wasn’t sure how much of the cheery bear he could take.

“Alright, let’s head to the castle.” Yu directed the group, letting Teddie take the lead so his sharp nose would keep them from getting lost.

Conan couldn’t help but wonder at the fact there was suppose to be a castle near by.

-Yukiko’s Castle, Entrance-

...Though it was a bit hard to make out through the fog, there did indeed appear to be a European style medieval castle sitting in the middle of where-ever the hell they were.

The not-child turned to the teens and the mascot. “So, Amagi-san is in here somewhere?” He tilted his head to one side, “Why hasn’t she just left on her own?”

The group shared a look, “You’ll see when we get in there.” They all has various levels of unease on their features. “It’s something that has to be seen to be believed.”

Conan had an expression on his face that said he would be the judge of that.

-Yukiko’s Castle, 5th Floor-

Conan did admit that the masked blobs that resolved into strange, and in some cases terrifying monsters, Shadows, did have to be seen to be believed. As did the three teens summoning giant figures with names from mythology to fight them. Persona, huh, what an odd power.

He almost collided with the back of one of the boy’s legs, the whole of the group seems to have frozen in the doorway to a large room. Confused and worried chatter passing between them.

“What’s going on, why is there someone else in here?” Chie was concerned, even though she didn’t recognize the figure in the blue suit, in here, it was hard to tell if it was human, or someone’s Shadow. The brown hair was vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t quite place where.

“But it can’t be, I’m bear-y sure I haven’t smelled anyone else come in here but you guys.” Teddie started wracking his mind to see if he could remember anything else. No, he hadn’t smelt anyone else come in today.

“What do we do, Partner?” Yosuke had his hand gripping Yu’s shoulder, the beginnings of panic starting to thread into his voice.

Yu looked over the figure before them carefully, it did look slightly familiar, but from where? “We take it slow, if we can get past it without instigating a fight, for now, that would be best, since I don’t see the person it belongs to.”

Conan was confused as to what they were concerned about, he managed to get himself out from behind the group spying the figure. Caution turning to quiet rage as the form turned around.

“...What, is this?” Conan’s voice dropping in pitch as steel filled it. He turned to the group, his eyes far harsh, harder, than any grade schooler’s eyes had a right to be. “Who is that?”

The change in tone and stance startled the Investigation Team. Yu glanced between the child and the young man in the blue suit. “Do you know who that is, Conan-kun?”

“Someone pretending to be Kudo Shinichi, again,” he bit out, turning back to face the stranger. He’d been impersonated one too many times.

“The Missing Highschool detective of the East, Kudo?” Yu turned to look at the two of them, “How do you know it’s not really him?”

The figure walked slowly closer to the group, eyes opening to reveal bright Shadow yellow, a harsh, humorless laugh ringing out. “Yes, do tell, Conan, how do you know I’m a fraud?”

Yellow eyes flicker to the rest of the group, “All of you can leave if you like, save for the little liar.”

“Conan-kun? What’s he talking about?” Chie’s eyes darted back and forth between the boy and the Shadow. All eyes fell on the young detective.

The small frame locked up, for just a moment, but all present caught it. He bit out his reply, “I don’t know.”

That caused the Shadow to grin even wider, “Oh really? Maybe I should show them then.” Its gaze dancing up to the teens before locking back onto its target. “We’ve gone against everything we stood for. EVERYTHING!” Shadow Shinichi shouted, its form flickering, being replaced with Conan’s own form. “Remember Kudo, ‘There is only one truth?!’ “

The members of the Investigation Team took a step back at that. Even with everything they’ve seen so far into their brief venture into the TV World, that, if the Shadow was to be believed, the child in front of them was actually a teen their own age sent them reeling.

Conan stood silent, seething at the creature wearing both his faces as it flickered back to his original for. Another humorless bark of laughter, “Not going to say anything for yourself?” Harsh frowns etched across both faces. “Your silence speaks volumes, Lair.”

“So, let’s try something else then.” The Shadow had drawn closer, “Tell me then; which is real, and which is the lie, Shinichi? Or Conan?”

Silence spanned the space between the two. “Of course you can’t answer, because both are the lie!” The Shadow’s form began flickering erratically between Kudo and Edogawa. “Edogawa Conan doesn’t exist, and Kudo Shinichi died that night at Tropical Land!”

It stabilized once more looking like Shinichi, the Shadow now looming over the not-child, “We don’t deserve to exist anymore, not after all the pain we’ve cause, especially to her!”

That last line cause Conan to break his silence. “Shut UP! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” The Shadow’s expression was blank for a moment, before splitting into a rictus grin.

That response seemed to cause the teens to snap out of their daze at what was occuring in front of them. “Don’t say it!”

Their plea fell on deaf ears, rage in every line of his small body. “You’re not ME!”

Hysterical laughter and dark black-red fog started to fill the room. “You’re right! I’m not you, not anymore!” Shadow Shinichi had been completely encased in the fog now, “And soon, I’ll make sure you can’t lie or hurt anyone again.”

The haze burst apart, Conan was blown back, weakened, but aware, as the twisted form his Shadow had take was revealed. A mirror, encircled by a shark floated before them, the team moved in between the two.

“Don’t interfere!” A dark, bloodied claws slammed into the glass from within, joined by more, breaking it and sending shards scattering to the carpet below. Dark, tar-like substance dripped out as the two stained hands grabbed the edge of the shark and broken glass, heaving itself out.

What emerged was a caricature of Kudo Shinichi, wrapped in bandages, tar rolling off it, sharp shark teeth in a manic grin under the single exposed yellow eye. A bloody hole in its chest over its heart, black feathers driven into it. Long clawed limbs snaked out of the tar-like substance, winding around it, holding fast. “I am the Shadow, the TRUE SELF, and I will see that one truth, prevails.”

#The Fog Murders of Inaba #tFMoI #Crossover fanfiction #detective conan #Persona 4 #dragon's writing a crossover

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