Judgement Upright 2

The investigation team settled down quickly after Naoto left to clean herself up. They put food on their plates and sat down, engaging in more small talk. About twenty minutes later Naoto and Yukiko returned. Naoto now wore a deep blue kimono, though it looked plain next to Yukiko’s embroidered clothes. She looked more relaxed and, to Kanji at least, her still damp hair and lightly flushed skin from her bath had given her an alluring look. Naoto took her seat next to Kanji and Marie; Kanji’s eyes wandered all over as he awkwardly tried not to focus on her.

“Here you go.” Yukiko said, passing Naoto a glass of sake. “I’m sorry we couldn’t find something better fitting.”

“It is simply a little large, but better that than being too small.” Naoto replied. Kanji averted his eyes to make sure he didn’t see how much larger the kimono was on Naoto.

“S-say, Yukiko. Did you pick up that package I had for you?” Kanji began awkwardly. “I-we had been holding something for you to pick up for today.”

“Oh, yeah. Saeko-san brought that in a couple of days ago. I didn’t look inside, but it’s something you made, isn’t it?”

“Ah… y-yeah. I can give them out tomorrow.”

Naoto glanced at Kanji with a small smile. She was glad to hear he was still making things. Yukiko hurried over to her seat by Chie as Yu cleared his throat, calling for everyone’s attention.

“All right, since we’re all here now, I’ll propose a toast.” Yu said, raising his glass. “It’s great to see everyone doing well and here’s to keeping it that way!”

“Cheers!” Was the resounding response with people raising or touching their glasses together, melodic tinkling came from around the room.

The relaxed atmosphere made small talk and eating easy, Yukiko would occasionally get up to serve food and Yosuke placed himself in charge of the **** handing out the occasional bottle.

“No getting drunk off the atmosphere this time.” Yosuke plopped a bottle in front of Rise.

Rise let out a little groan as she curled up, burying her face in her knees.

“Can we… would we not? Like, can we just never speak of that, ever?” Rise whined.

“Oho! What’s this?” Marie grinned maliciously, leaning over at Rise. “The golden idol Risette has some dirt she’s embarrassed about? Hey, Junes boy, spill the deets!”

“Well…”

“Did something happen to Rise, Chie?” Yukiko asked in some confusion.

“Ummm… Well, do you remember when we went to Tatsumi Island when we were in high school?” Chie spoke with light embarrassment.

“Of course. We had lots of fun, didn’t we?” Yukiko was completely oblivious.

“Suuure… yeah, we can go with that.”

“Ugh… I’m too young to be lamenting about the stupidity of my teen years.” rise moaned in an overly dramatic fashion.

She snatched up the bottle and gave it a sniff, then took a small sip of the liquid. She swirled it around in her mouth, testing the taste before swallowing. She pondered it, lightly massaging her throat before knocking back the bottle for another couple of mouthfuls.

“I never would have thought you much for beer, Rise-chan.” Teddie marveled.

“I’m not, not usually. Idols and **** are a serious no-no, so it was always kept at a distance back then. And even though I’m an adult now, I still have an image to maintain and some beers can be harsh on the throat. Every now and again Inoue will permit me to imbibe and he always makes sure it’s the good, expensive stuff. I’ve become something of a connoisseur” Rise took another swig of her drink. “This stuff is as good as any of the more expensive labels too.”

“Say, maybe you could give an endors-” Yosuke began.

“Nope.” Rise quickly and flatly rejected him.

Yu glanced over at Naot who was calmly eating, watching everyone all the while. Yu didn’t really have any smooth lines or good openings for the subject, but it was something he felt he should bring up quickly and get out of the way if it were nothing or start major discussions if it were something. Yu really hoped it was nothing so he and his friends could simply enjoy their time in Inaba.

“So, Naoto, was there much trouble in Kofu?” Yu finally asked.

Naoto stopped for a second and then resumed eating her rice, her hands deftly using the chopsticks.

“What makes you think I was in Kofu or that there would be trouble?” Naoto didn’t even glance in Yu’s direction as she continued eating.

“You said your car broke down. Normally, you’d already be in Inaba or you would take a train. Kofu is the only place you can get to by car in a short amount of time. And I’m guessing it wasn’t for Shirogane clan business because you would have had Shirogane support instead of being out there on your own. So, how’d I do? An accurate deduction?” Yu gave a small grin at Naoto.

“Very astute. I’m glad to see your deductive reasoning skills haven’t dulled.” Naoto smiled as she put down her empty rice bowl and chopsticks. “I wasn’t sure how I would broach the subject, so this simplifies things.”

The group hushed, listening to Naoto.

“After the incident with Labrys was concluded, I was contacted by the Kirjo group.” Naoto started, referring to the last Shadow and Persona incident the group had been entangled in. “Since then I have been working with Mitsuru Kirijo’s organisation to investigate other potential incidents involving supernatural worlds. Did any of you hear about the Phantom Thieves of hearts incidents in Tokyo?”

“Can’t say I’ve heard of any phantom thieves.” Kanji contemplated. “But this is the boonies, we’re not going to hear much out here, unless it directly involves someone or something here.”

“Ooh! I heard of them!” Rise volunteered excitedly. “I heard rumours about this, a group calling themselves Phantom Thieves went around making corrupt business people and politicians confess to their crimes by stealing their hearts or something. I heard that the leader had been caught, but the rumours started up again a year later. Inoue was running around because of that, but I only ever heard rumours.”

“We investigated the incident in Tokyo,” Naoto continued. “Or rather we tried to, but the Tokyo Department of Justice was not helpful. We sorted through rumours and reports and came up with a hypothesis that there had been a world like the TV World that had manifested in Inaba, where an outsider interacting with it could cause tremendous shifts in the psyche of an individual or the public. We believe that a politician, one of the thieves’ targets, was using that world to influence the public in his favour. We also think that world is how the Phantom Thieves were able to alter the minds of individuals.”

“Nothing like that ever happened in the TV World, though.” Yosuke piped up.

“We cannot be sure of that, I think.” Naoto continued. “None of us really knew anything about the nature of the TV World or the effects it could have. Recall that any time one of us rejected our Shadows, it would become berserk and we would fall ****. What would have happened if someone from the outside had manipulated or even killed our Shadows before we had the chance to accept them, there is no telling what could have happened to us.”

“That’s a scary thought. Guess we dodged a bullet.” Chie let out a sigh.

“With that danger in mind, miss Kirijo decided that instead of chasing after the thieves it would be best to actively seek out other potential incidents. That is what brought me to Kofu a month ago. Much like with the TV World in Inaba, Kofu was having its own incident.”

The group collectively shuddered, as hearing of such a dangerous and world-disrupting incident occurring right next door while they knew nothing was disturbing to say the least.

“There were some marked differences between the incidents in Inaba and Tokyo. To start with, in Kofu, people’s inner worlds were made manifest and at times superimposed over reality.”

“Wait, hold up! Are you saying normal people could just walk into one of these mazes filled with monsters? And they didn’t notice?”

“I believe it was due to the strength of mind and personality of the individuals whose inner worlds were manifest, but most often any outsider was made to fit the whims of those dungeon’s rulers. There were times when I found discerning reality and fantasy was an endeavour worthy of the greatest of detectives. A-and then there… umm there was the nature of the individual incidents…”

“Naoto?”

“Ummm… well…” Naoto’s face started to go red as she fumbled her thoughts. “D-do you recall what Rise and Kanji’s inner worlds were like? These incidents were like those… e-except that Kanji’s and Rise’s would seem tame by comparison.”

Naoto had not participated in settling either of the incidents involving Kanji and Rise’s Shadows, but she was aware of what happened and the overtly sexual nature of both incidents.

“Geez… that’s… I don’t even know how to feel about that.” Kanji struggled with the implications.

Teddie pondered the meaning and suddenly clapped his hands together in realisation.

“Oh, this is about sex, isn’t it?” Teddie blurted out, proud of his deduction. “Is it really that surprising? I mean humans seem to focus a lot on sex. Just look at Yosuke-”

“Shut up…” Yosuke begged as he clasped both hands over Teddy’s mouth. “I don’t know what you were going to say, but please just shut up.”

“At any rate, the situation was resolved.” A flustered Naoto quickly interjected. “The day following thresolution, I left for Inaba and the rest is as I’ve told you.”

“Did something happen to you while you were on this case?” Yu asked cautiously.

“I did need to deal with many previously unseen ailments, but I had thought I had cleansed them. If you are suggesting that today’s… bad luck may be a manifestation of those ailments… I had considered the possibility, but there is no way to be sure. And if I did bring something with me, that brings up another disturbing possibility…”

“You think Inaba might also have these fantasy places become reality?”

“It is a possibility.”

“Okay…” Yu started with a sigh. “So, for tomorrow, we can organise a search of Inaba; we’ll split up in pairs and look around, listen to rumours and make sure that everything is quiet. Naoto, you’ll have to tell us what to look out for. Sound good?”

The group agreed and relaxed as they continued their party. Their feelings of anxiety and apprehension, though quieted, never fully left them. Yu never realised that Nanako hadn’t contacted them like she said she would, nor was anyone aware of the fog that blanketed the outside of the inn. They, in their ignorance, went to sleep unable to shake their feelings of disquiet.