Reversing Arcana, Chapter 4
Oct. 9th, 2011 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinnatiousPrevious chapter
Reversing Arcana
Chapter 4
_____________________
In the end, they couldn’t make it to Namatame’s house that day. It was getting dark by the time they made it to the right neighbourhood, and then Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai both received calls ordering them home. It was damn annoying to delay even another hour, but it wasn’t like the rest of the world knew what they were trying to do. Naoto said that it was better to delay a day than to stay out all hours of night and wind up grounded and unable to help at all. Naoto’s pretty smart like that – Kanji would have stayed out as long as it took. But then, Kanji would have just busted out of a grounding immediately anyway.
Either way, after another whole day at school – friggin’ waste of time, but he really can’t lose any more attendance – they finally gather outside of a small, dumpy-looking apartment complex. Kanji cracks his knuckles – the familiar motion helps him release some of the tension he’s been storing up for the past day. “So, we doing this?”
“Hell yes!” Yosuke-senpai looks just as geared up as he is, which is kind of reassuring.
Naoto merely knocks on the door – Kanji would have preferred to kick it down. “Namatame! Are you in there? We need to talk.”
Silence.
She knocks again. “Namatame!” When there’s no response, she folds her arms and frowns.
“He must be in there!” Rise complains.
“If he’s a shut-in, maybe he doesn’t answer the door?” Yukiko-senpai suggests.
“Kanji-kun,” Naoto says, standing to the side.
Alright! “Just leave it to me!”
“Wait, isn’t that-” Chie-senpai starts to protest, but Kanji’s foot has already slammed into the door.
It only takes two or three hard kicks before it crashes open – his Ma is always telling him these apartment complexes are cheaply made. “Oi, Namatame you bastard! We’ve got a bone to pick with you!”
“I’ll take it from here, Kanji.” Naoto smoothly interrupts him with a soft hand on his arm, and the small gesture, for some weird reason, totally freezes him up and gives her to chance to enter the dark apartment first. And then the rest of his friends after her. Kanji is left to take up the rear with a scowl.
Namatame is crouched in front of a small TV, the curtains drawn and blanket drawn over his shoulders, even though it’s not that cold. He looks a nervous wreck. “Who is it? Who?”
Kanji doesn’t have any sympathy for the guy. “Who the hell do you think?! Did you think you could get away with it?!”
“Kanji,” Naoto says sternly, and with a scowl, he retreats and lets her deal with it. There’s probably some sort of procedure to this or something, but if Namatame even thinks about denying it or pulling any stupid shit…
“Namatame-san, do you remember us? We’re here to talk to you about the TV.”
At those words, the pale face slowly turns towards them. Within the depths of those dark eyes, there’s recognition, and then Namatame lurches to feet. “You-!”
Kanji is ready to sock the guy one, and he sees Yosuke-senpai tensing out the corner of his eyes too, but he just stretches out a hand towards them piteously. “You- You have to save him!”
The hell-?
“I couldn’t save them. Couldn’t save any of them. But he did. But who’ll… when I saw him appear on there…”
“You’ve been watching the Midnight Channel?” Naoto asks.
“I never stopped. Every time it rains. My therapist said I should stop, but what if something else happens?” He chews on his nails, though they’re already bitten down to the quick. “There wasn’t any warning… Just static, for so long…”
“What the hell are you talking about, wasn’t it you who-” Kanji starts, but Naoto holds out a hand and silences him again. She’s got that look in her eyes – the same look Senpai used to get whenever he was figuring something out.
“Why did you keep watching the TV though? You know that you can’t hide people in there now, right?” Yukiko asks. A good question, too. The Midnight Channel phenomenon had stopped once people were no longer getting thrown in.
“Yes… but I thought maybe… I could still save them. Keep them somewhere away from any TVs. It would be harder, but if it saved their lives…” He starts rocking back and forth, and it’s damn creepy. “But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go out there, again. I couldn’t do anything. It was already too late. Too late…”
Naoto begins talking in what Kanji calls her ‘detective voice’ – all low, cool and professional. “Namatame-san, please answer me truthfully – have you been inside the TV world at all since last year?”
“Inside? No, never. That place, it’s a death trap. I never imagined… that poor girl… she’s okay now, isn’t she? They told me she was, but-”
“Have you been to the city at all?” Naoto interrupts.
“The city?” Namatame is confused. “I’m not allowed to travel without an escort. And outside is…”
“And Souji Seta. Have you had any contact with him whatsoever?”
“The boy on the TV! Please, you must save him! You were the ones who did it in the past, weren’t you? Please, where I fail…”
Naoto sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “We’ll rescue him, Namatame-san, don’t worry. I have just one more question for you – while you were in the TV, did you ever find a way to make an exit?”
He shudders. “An exit? There’s no way out of that place. It’s hell on earth. If you hadn’t come along…”
“Thank you, that’s all I wanted to know. Sorry to have intruded like this. We’ll send money to replace the door.” Turning to the rest of them, she gestures outside. “Let’s go.”
Everyone else is too confused to protest. Only once they are outside in the street does Kanji gather his wits. “What the hell was that?! Why are we leaving?!”
“Namatame isn’t the culprit,” Naoto replies. She sounds tired.
“What makes you so sure?” Yukiko asks.
“If he were the guilty party, he wouldn’t draw our attention to the TV. And he still referred to that world as ‘hell on Earth’, without any mention of how it has changed. Furthermore, didn’t you see the TV? A grown man like Namatame couldn’t fit through it. I doubt even I could. He’s completely cut off.”
“He could be lying!” Kanji protests. “If it ain’t him, who could it be?!”
No one has an answer for him.
It starts to rain.
………………………..
With a sigh, she changes into her nurse’s uniform. It’s nearly midnight, and it’s raining. It’s going to be miserable, doing the graveyard shift in this weather.
Of course, that’s not the only source of her melancholy. She wanders through the apartment, turning off the lights, and picking up her bag and car keys.
Her eyes fall on the TV.
She heard something from one of the patients. Midnight, on a rainy day, if you watch the TV alone in a dark room, your true love will appear on the screen. It’s already old news, as far as urban legends go, officially disproven but still dozens of people willing to swear by it.
She checks her watch. Two minutes to midnight.
It’s a whim, but she settles herself on the couch. It can’t hurt, right? She’ll still be there in plenty of time – it’s not like there’s any traffic at this time of night. Or any traffic in Inaba ever.
When midnight rolls around, and the screen flickers to life, she wishes she hadn’t stayed.
Her breath catches in her throat and she half-rises from the couch, hand stretching out to the TV. That grey hair, those serious eyes… Souji was such a cutie. She’d forgotten.
In a way, she thinks it’s a mercy that he died. The burn victims unit is one of the worst. The ones who survive are marred beyond recognition. A lot of them wind up on suicide watch.
Souji isn’t burned, as she might expect, but he doesn’t look very well either. He looks tired - more tired than he ever did at the end of a late shift at the hospital. It’s an expression she’s seen before – on patients who’ve been told they have terminal illnesses, who aren’t sure if they’re going to survive. Not an expression she thought she could even imagine on Souji’s face.
Then again, it’s just a ghost. Maybe it’s just reflecting her exhaustion. She’s been pushing herself again, ever since she came back from her volunteer stint in Africa. He’s not around to remind her to keep things in perspective anymore. Her grief, playing tricks on her eyes. She should be used to it. How many patients has she seen shuffle off their mortal coil?
It’s worse, the little voice in the back of her mind whispers, because it’s someone you knew. You were fond of him. He worked hard. And it was so sudden. When a patient comes in to hospital, you can normally tell which ones will survive and which ones won’t. You’re prepared for it, so even though it’s sad, you’re able to move on quickly. You have a chance to say goodbye.
Maybe this is a sign; that she needs to say goodbye. That Souji. Looking out for her even beyond death?
“Goodbye, Souji-kun,” she whispers.
The image fades from the screen. Strangely, she doesn’t feel any sense of closure.
Your true love, is it? How unlucky.
………………………..
“Man, what do you think is up with them?” Daisuke asks.
“Up with who?” Kou replies listlessly.
“You know, them. Souji’s old buddies.”
The name makes his gut twist, but Kou focuses his attention on Chie, Amagi and Hanamura, huddled in a corner of the hall in a private conversation. It’s a turnaround from last week – they all looked like they might burst into tears at the slightest provocation. Kou can empathise – he thinks he still might, if it weren’t for tough-guy Daisuke hanging around to make him feel like a wuss for even wanting to.
“Looks like they’re up to something.”
“When aren’t they up to something?”
“Think it has to do with Souji?”
“Probably.” Kou returns his attention to his shoes. It makes him a bit envious – they seem to have found some way of dealing with it. He can’t even retreat into basketball – the entire team is bummed, and it’s showing in practice.
It’s backwards that they should recover first. They were great friends, sure, but Kou knows Souji was much closer to that group. He’s not jealous, really. It’s just that… well, he feels guilty. Because as sad as he was when Souji left, there was a tiny part of him that was relieved. Because with Souji gone, he didn’t need to worry about competing with him over Chie.
Then the moron had to go break his promise, and now Kou feels rotten that he ever felt happy about Souji leaving.
“Don’t fret about it, man,” Daisuke offers awkwardly.
He manages a watery smile. “I must look like a real basket case if a block head like you is noticing.”
“Hey, I notice things!”
“Sure, sure.” With a sigh, Kou kicks off the wall. Maybe he should just give up on Chie. Even if she agreed to go out with him, he feels guilty every time he so much as looks at her.
……………………
Nighttime. It’s cloudy, but rain is forecast again. Another day has passed without any progress – half of their number entrapped in other commitments they can’t shake off without suspicion. Souji will likely keep for another day, but how many days they have, they don’t know. It’s frustrating. If only they could explain, to anyone…
Naoto thumbs the keypad on her phone.
She has contacts in all sorts of places. It was reasonable to check, after the case had been settled – after all, she is not so vain as to believe they were the only people in the world to be exposed to the peculiar phenomenon that is Persona.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t talk earlier,” she says as soon as the phone is answered. “I was with the others.”
“I understand. Has there been any progress?”
“It wasn’t Namatame. I’m going to suggest we do a general check on any acquaintances next. Someone who might have formed an obsession, an old crush, along those lines.”
“It’s a good idea. Wildcards tend to draw people towards them.”
“You’ve never answered – what happened to him?” It’s a touchy subject – one she knows she should steer clear of, but there’s little wisdom in being sensitive when one of their own might be at stake.
“It was different. After the phenomenon - we didn’t realise it was related straight away, and…” Silence falls on the other end of the line, but Naoto remains patient.
Abruptly, the topic changes; the tone of voice turns cold and steely, all business again. “You’re absolutely sure you haven’t found anything more?”
There’s something she isn’t telling her. Naoto has performed enough interviews – interrogations – to know when someone is hiding something. She doesn’t know what exactly happened, but suspects it was bad. “I’ve already sent you all of the information I have.” It’s a subtle jab – she has been more than forthcoming in sharing information over the past few months, and despite the promises, it seems to have turned into a one-way exchange.
“I see. If it’s not resolved soon…” There is hesitation in her voice now. “…Never mind. Just inform me immediately if there starts to be any spill-over, and we’ll…”
Naoto is expecting promises of backup, but when the sentence is left hanging, she frowns. Inwardly, she prickles – they can’t possibly think of taking this case from her, they’re not that much older! And whatever experience they might have, none of them knew Souji, and wouldn’t be nearly as driven to save him!
“Of course. I’ll be in contact,” she agrees crisply, and hopes her bitterness isn’t audible in her tone. Still just a child, a voice taunts in the back of her mind, still can’t be trusted with adult’s business.
They exchange farewells and hang up. Naoto stares at the phone in silence for a long while, before scoffing and placing it on the dresser next to her.
The Kirijo Group. As an organisation, there had always been something a little shady about them. But they’re powerful. Far more powerful than a lone high-school detective and her friends.
Bringing their attention to Inaba may very well have been a mistake. But it is a mistake Naoto has to live with, now. And they may be the last hope they have in rescuing Souji.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 02:19 am (UTC)AND MITSURU ♥
no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 09:10 am (UTC)Also, I have received a copy of this game in the mail yesterday (cue angelic music), and I am going to understand what is going on! *fist pump*!
This is exciting for a fanfic whore and everlasting fan.
Don't judge.no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 09:14 am (UTC)\o/ Good news indeed. When you're finished, I'll have to link you to the best fics hiding on LJ - the fandom's has been a little quiet the past year or so, but there were some fantastic ones back when it was in full swing.