Chapter Text
10/21:
The sun was setting over the streets of Inaba’s Central Shopping District leaving me mellow and light. That was turning out to be an increasingly rare feeling, which I promised not to take for granted as autumn was in full swing. As I was walking home from Yasogami High, munching on an apple, I was wondering how I was going to deal with usual student stuff: final exams, part-time work, checking in with friends and family...
Oh yeah...
...and figuring out the culprit behind a series of serial murders.
Can’t forget that one now, can I?
I’d been living in the small country town of Inaba for about 9 months, though you’d think I’d lived here all my life based on how quickly I’d become some strange mix of self-help guide, resident handyman, and supernaturally powered private detective. My Mom and Dad had broken the by-now familiar news I’d have to pack my bags for the sake of their high-flying careers, and I expected it to play out like every other move I’d made before this one: A couple of months of keeping my head down with some hard studying, and before I'd have the chance to properly settle in knew it, I’d be forced to move again. Rinse and repeat until high-school graduation, and then onto university back in Tokyo.
It was all meant to be so simple...
Knowing in advance I’d have a full year in Inaba with my uncle and cousin, I was hoping I'd just be able to remain unnoticed without standing out from the crowd. I should have figured that wouldn’t be the case after some long-nosed limo driver granted me, of all people, the power to do battle with gods and monsters. It would be hard to explain to anyone without them thinking I needed an extended stay at a psych ward but take it from me: whatever it was I had been gifted in that so-called "velvet room" was no joke.
"In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of sort, after which you will return here."
Not to mention that all of this was just the warm-up for something far more frightening and grounded in the real world. I never imagined I’d turn up in Inaba right at the beginning of a series of killings which would shock this town out of its sleepy bliss. And these weren't any run-of-the-mill murders either: the perpetrator was using some sort of hidden parallel world which lurked inside your TV screen. All they had to do was to trap their victim in this "TV world", and if they waited for long enough, they'd be killed by the monsters which lurked within.
Before being strung up on the nearest telephone pole the next day... grizzly stuff.
I sighed, worn down by how stupid the idea was of me playing as an everyday exchange student from the big city by day and amateur detective for some supernatural murder mystery. But then again, as I looked around at what few open shops remained in what must have been a thriving part of town years back, it dawned on me how protective I felt towards this town, and the lengths I’d gone to try and improve the lives of its people.
Hard to believe how miserable I felt when I first got here now that I think about it...
Maybe it was just the fact I was missing a real sense of “home” for so many years... not to mention a sense of actual family as I'd become closer to my uncle and cousin in several months than I'd even been with my parents in 16 years. But it was enough for me to know that tracking down the murderer wasn’t just some teenage fantasy at playing cops and robbers. It showed how Inaba and its people had taken me in and trusted me with their problems, problems which, I had to admit, felt pretty good for me to help them through.
Chief among these people were, of course, the close friends I’d made since I’d arrived: Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise, the members of our so-called Investigation Team. Each had earned their place by confronting their Shadows inside the TV world: personifications of the most self-loathing and repressed aspects of their psyche. In order to tame your Shadow, you had to acknowledge they were a fundamental part of who you are, with all the good and bad that came with it.
As the weeks turned into months, I’d come to see all of them as trusted confidants, our bonds strengthened by combat in the TV world, our pursuit of the real culprit behind the murders in the real world, and the every day ups and downs of high school life which we somehow fit into the craziness going on around us. I'd arrived in Inaba as a loner from the big city, but the Investigation Team had moulded me into someone with depth: A leader, a fighter, a teacher, and most importantly...
...a friend.
One that you could turn to and rely on whenever you needed them.
*ahem*
“Excuse me…”
I turned around, caught unawares after replaying the last seven months over in my head. A well-kept older man in a suit and sunglasses faced me, his blank expression failing to mask the sense I was being closely studied behind his tinted shades.
“H-Hey, can I... help you…?”
“My apologies; I was wondering if I might ask you a couple of questions?”
I looked up and down both ends of the street, wondering whether this guy had bought company with him, and trying to work out how far I could run for help if things turned sour. It was hard not to feel on edge considering this might be some kind of carefully laid trap by the murderer waiting to bite down on me.
“Sure, go ahead then...”
I’ve gotta say, the last thing I expected after being stopped in the street by a mysterious stranger was an impromptu pop quiz on forensic science and detective work. Still, I’d done some research in my off time as the investigation had progressed. And honestly, if there’s one weakness of mine you can easily exploit, it’s getting me to show off my knowledge on a subject I find interesting.
“Very good, very good!”, the mysterious stranger smiled, as he gave off a sense of quiet approval with each reply I gave. “Do you happen to be acquainted with Naoto-sam- uh, sorry, I mean Detective Naoto Shirogane?”
My guard immediately went back up at both the mention of their name and the stranger's poorly disguised slip of the tongue. Naoto was the most recent member of the Investigation Team, and by far the most qualified for the actual job of, well, investigating. The fifth in a family line of distinguished consulting detectives, her talents were the genuine article: Art forgery, kidnapping, murder, these were just some of the cases she had brought to a resolution before she'd arrived in Inaba to help my Uncle, the local lead detective who was struggling to make headway in solving the murders. With a record like hers, the thought then crossed my mind that this man might be trying to settle a score on behalf of one of the several dangerous criminals she helped to convict.
“Sure do”, I said, readying myself into a combat stance I hoped Chie would be proud of after weeks of martial arts training. Sensing my flight-or-fight instinct (mostly fight), the stranger quickly replied, “I know you know them, p-please, if you could just hand him this for me, they’ll understand.”
A thick white card was quickly shoved into my hand, and with surprising speed for a man his age, he dashed off down a side street before I had a chance to reply.
Ominous much...?
I turned over the card, both sides completely blank but with one bearing a scent of…
...citrus?
Something fruity that was for sure. I took the bold deductive leap that since I wasn’t lying dead in the street with froth coming out of my mouth, the card probably wasn’t poisoned. and then placed it in my satchelbag. Still, the whole experience couldn't be called anything but my weird in my eyes, with various competing theories bouncing around in my head as to what it all meant. The only thing I knew for certain was that I had to pass this on to Naoto, who’d be in a far better position to make sense of it all. I resumed my walk back home, working out in my mind how best to bring it up with her the next day.
10/22 (I):
The sound of rain on windowpanes greeted me as wrapped up lessons for the day, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw Naoto just down the hall from me.
I wouldn’t say she and I were exactly… close by this point. Her being the newest of the team and everything.
Though considering how much of a self-admitted introvert she was, I was glad at the fact she was starting to socialise with the rest of us outside of the case. When we weren’t investigating serial homicides, Naoto had proved willing to flex her piano-playing skills to help out in Yosuke’s little scheme to put on an impromptu show at Junes. I’d even seen her become an unlikely study buddy to Rise, whose education had suffered after years of life as an idol, and Kanji, who was...
...well, more of practical kind of guy.
Considering how Naoto's Shadow had tortured her over the lack of friends she had growing up, I appreciated how these small baby steps towards getting closer to people must have been pretty difficult for her to make.
Maybe that’s why I'm starting to to feel anxious the nearer I get to her…
I was just about to say hi, when I found myself totally caught off-guard by the way Naoto seemed to have a deeply concerned expression on her face, one which I hadn’t seen since we rescued her from the TV world. As I hesitated over whether to say anything, she turned around and let out a cry of surprise.
“Ah, Yu-san! S-sorry, I didn’t see you there. Is everything alright?”
In that moment, I felt totally struck dumb, unable to think of a basic reply at quick notice.
“Oh, yeah, e-everything’s fine; just wanted to see how you were holding up?”
That sure didn’t sound forced at all; nice one Narukami.
Naoto responded with an awkward half-smile. “Well, thank you for that… actually I’m not sure if I ever got the chance to properly thank you for saving me…”
Yet again, I found myself struggling to respond, settling with a slightly strained “Oh, you’re welcome; n-no need to thank me!”
Geez, you’d think I helped her find some lost stationary... why am I so off my game today?
She pulled her statchel bag over her shoulder and began to make for the exit. “I-I’m sorry, I hope you’re not offended by my brushing you off, but I have some things to think over, and…”
Right...
...yeah that makes sense...
...we haven't really spoken one-on-one much since what happened in the TV world...
...and how do you even begin to try and approach a subject like that?
But as Naoto slowly trailed off, the blank card I'd pulled out of my pocket caught her eye.
“What’s that you have there?”
Oh yeah, right, that's what I wanted to talk to her about...
I handed the card over to her, filling her in on the events of the previous day. The more I talked, her expression of concern slowly turned to one of curiosity, the pupils of her eyes expanding as she noticed the pungent scent of citrus.
“Curious… he said I would understand? Understand what…?”
She turned to look directly at me, her steely glare making me feel like I’d been caught with my hand in a till.
“Senpai, would you mind meeting me at the flood plain in about... half an hour? I would like to know more about what happened when you received this card.”
I was taken aback by the suspicious tone in her voice, though I was happy she'd seemed to shook off the weight that had been crushing down on her earlier.
“Yeah sure, I can meet you under the sheltered tables?”
She nodded in agreement. “Yes, that would be ideal. I just need to collect some things of mine, and I’ll head straight there.”
Naoto moved off at a rapid pace, totally re-energised by the riddle I had placed in her hands. It was hard not to feel awed by her confidence, which made me me wonder how exactly she’d left me feeling so… speechless a before. I peeked my head out of a nearby window, winced at the weather outside, and resolved to make my way to the floodplain.
This is what I get for not taking my umbrella...
10/22 (II):
It shouldn’t have surprised me that when Naoto said she’d meet me in half an hour, she literally meant 30 minutes and not a second less. I usually arrived at least five minutes before any scheduled plans, and was leafing through a maths textbook to help pass the time.
“I’m glad to see you could make it Senpai, I hope the weather didn’t give you too much bother?”
I lifted my head from the pages and smiled, “No not really, I actually find it relaxing when not caught in the middle of it.”
She promptly sat down across from me and took out a small notepad and pen. “To business then. In your own time, I want to hear exactly what happened between you and this mysterious man yesterday in the Central Shopping District.”
I went over every single detail I could possibly remember, with Naoto frequently interjecting with questions that seem intended to create a mental and physical portrait of the man in question:
“What was the cut of his suit?”
“Did he have an accent?
“Did he seem like a local?”
“How did he physically carry himself?”
"How quickly did he run away from you?”
It was the kind of interrogation clearly honed through plenty of experience grilling witnesses and suspects, carefully designed to help me recall tiny details which may not have seemed relevant at the time. But what really struck me was Naoto’s expression as I recalled the stranger's pop quiz on forensic science and detective work. As I went back over the questions and answers I gave on everything from footprint detection to blood spatter, I felt I detected not just surprise, but maybe a hint of…
...admiration?
Naoto had been happy for me to continue as leader of the Investigation Team despite what I viewed as the gulf in experience between us as actual detectives. But I felt I'd surprised her with how well-informed I was on her line of work.
Well, for an amateur that is...
After she finished her questioning, Naoto paused for a minute or two as she gathered her thoughts.
“Hmm… the fact that this man seems to know about us being acquainted with each other suggests he has been keeping me under observation for some time. It could very well be that he is trying to glean information on the murders or settle some past score. And yet… it’s interesting that he chose you of all people to give this card to me. After all, if his intentions were pure, it’s not as if Inaba is a big town, or the Shirogane estate is difficult to track down.”
Whilst she was saying all of this, I noticed in the margins of her notepad she was drawing rows of tessellated triangles, wondering if it was some form of mental exercise that helped stimulate thought. She stopped once it seemed she made up her mind on the subject.
“I’ll take the card off your hands if that’s alright. Whoever this man is, he is likely still in Inaba, and I don’t want you to get dragged into whatever this may portend.”
Her words had managed to stoke a fire in me, making bristle at the idea of being pushed away from this brand-new mystery that had been dropped into both our laps, especially if Naoto was going to be in harm's way because of it.
“Hey, I'm not going to back out of this now, not when we don’t know what this stranger has planned for you.”
The edge in my voice made me feel guilty when I saw Naoto revert to that lost expression which had troubled me earlier at Yasogami.
“I… I appreciate your concern for me but…”
As I was about to apologise for my outburst, I noticed a small twinge at the corner of Naoto's face.
“I'm sorry Senpai, I didn’t realise I was dismissing your own feelings on this matter… let me investigate this card in my own time, and I promise I’ll report my findings back to you. Would that be alright? I don’t want to have this take up too much of your mind considering how busy you must be as team leader.”
Oh...
...uh...
I managed to let out a faint “Yeah, sure, take all the time you need…” before gulping down on a bottle of water to try and get my mysteriously absent voice back.
Is Naoto… concerned about the impact the murder investigation is having on me?
I did have a bad habit of bottling my emotions all up inside, and I rarely talked about my own feelings with the Investigation Team, since I was so busy working through their own problems. Not that I minded that, honestly, but even so, the idea that someone was worried about my own wellbeing was…
Nice.
It feels nice.
She smiled. “By the way, while we have the time, I had wanted to take the chance to ask if you’d like to chat? I had a few questions I wanted to ask about the case, given how much longer you and the others have been working on it than I have.”
Now that's a good idea.
I pulled out my own series of extensive notes on the murders from my backpack, as we spent the next few hours going over as many details as possible, from the locations of the bodies to the backgrounds of the victims, helping each other fill in our respective gaps from both sides of the fence. It proved to be quite an education, as I found myself totally absorbed by Naoto's clarity of mind and keen investigatory instincts, return the feeling of respect she'd given me earlier.
“I would say that about answers most of my queries for the present moment… I should really get back to the estate. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me Narukami-san.”
Naoto packed up her things and gave me a small wave goodbye as she bundled up the footpath, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
What the hell was that all about?!
You’re leading the hunt for a diabolical murderer, you’ve fought gods and monsters in parallel worlds...
...you play high-school basketball damnit!
And yet there I was, left adrift when it came to stringing together sentences when alone with this shy blue-haired sleuth, who seemed she like carried the weight of the world on her shoulders.
But she didn’t just leave me speechless either...
...in fact apart from my little cousin Nanako, I hadn’t met anyone who managed to bring out my protective side with so little effort.
Not that “Detective Prince” Naoto Shirogane couldn’t handle herself when push came to shove.
But the more that I thought about it…
Which was it that upset you more Yu?
Being shut out of some brand-new mystery to solve?
Or being shut out of spending more time with your new detective friend?
The rain began to pick up from a light drizzle into heavy sheets. I ran back home, hoping that down the downpour would wash away these strange feelings I had. I trusted that Naoto would get back me to with her findings on the card in good time, and I had plenty to do until then. But as I crashed face-first into my bed, soaking wet, I had to wonder...
Where was this discomfort inside me really coming from?