Stalking Horse

Warning: The events of this scenario take place after the events of Persona Arena Ultimax. Readers may find themselves mildly spoiled if they read this chapter before playing that spinoff series.

"You know this is freaking idiotic, right?" A loud voice echoed through the hallways of Amagi Inn.

Normally this would be a cause for concern, considering the rather private nature of the conversation taking place. But these were not normal circumstances. The rooms of the Amagi Inn were entirely deserted save for but a handful of choice exceptions. Usually at least a few tourists and patrons would be in attendance in the summer months. But then again business at the Inn had been anything but usual over the past year. Wagging tongues around town said that the former Innkeeper and matriarch of the Amagi family had gone into a unofficial but apparently permanent retirement after suffering frequent fainting spells and exhaustion attending to the Inn. While the property itself remained legally in Mrs. Amagi's name, the task and title of manager and Innkeeper were now entirely taken up by her young daughter Yukiko Amagi. As is often the case with such situations, the townsfolk took a hypocritical approach to the events, and the one hand hoping the inexperienced girl could juggle the demands of her final year of school and keep the business alive...and on the other secretly relishing the impending melodrama in the likely event she failed.

Of course, those looking for melodrama were disappointed, but like all good rumor mongers and silent onlookers the town quickly pivoting to speculating on the new turn of events. Of all people no one would have expected the corporate CEO Mitsuru Kirijo (multibillionaire and corporate CEO of an enormously powerful corporation) to intervene on the Amagi's behalf. Whatever the particulars might be even outside observers could tell that Kirijo was providing some means of financial support to the younger girl, such that she graduated with no apparent difficulty while the Inn continued to operate at limited capacity without any loss of staff and no signs of revenue difficulties. Apparently part of the arrangement involved Mrs. Kirijo using the Inn as some sort of summer home at her whim, since the arrival of her obnoxious limosine in town heralded the sudden closure of the bathhouse to all but Kirijo personnel and guests. Some worried that some new big department store would soon arrive under Kirijo ownership to again displace the community as Junes had done years before (a tragedy, since the relationship between that franchise and the town had eased significantly and become mutually beneficial in the past two years).

Of course, no outsider would have guess the true intent behind the arrangement was far more personal and born out of one part pragmatism and one part intimacy. Mitsuru Kirijo was a woman well acquainted with the world of Personas and Shadows. Five years earlier she and a select group of students armed with a certain potential defied **** itself at the cost of one of their own. Since then the CEO had formed a exclusive band of an elite taskforce christened the Shadow Operatives, in many way simply a more refined version of the SEES group she had worked with in school. Any sign of further shadow activity was of concern to the group, and Inaba so happened to be the most active nest of shadow activity the group had seen since their 'dark hour' was neutralized. While efforts on a new group of persona users seemed to have pacified the locale the doors into the human **** remained opened and potentially dangerous. The situation required monitoring. While her attention was naturally divided across the whole of her corporate empire, Mitsuru preferred to check on and attend to affairs in Inaba directly as much as her time allowed. The Amagi Inn provided an ideal (albeit somewhat more humble than her usual standards) place to reside and staging ground for any operations taking place in town.

The second reason and perhaps more crucial reason was the cultivation of a certain alliance. The so-called Investigation Team, while much more ragtag and haphazard than her own experience at SEES, had proven to be both passionate and extremely gifted in their power of Persona. The loud, boisterous nature of their dynamics was also rather charming and infectious, inspiring a bittersweet sense of nostalgia the stoic woman was cautiously learning to embrace. As a future asset for the Shadow Operatives cultivating a partnership and alliance made perfect sense.

But that distant, cold reasoning didn't sit well with the Kirijo scion. There was a subdued sort of joy in their company, less intimate than her bonds with SEES but no less compelling. She yearned to draw both groups together, but too often struggled how to accomplish it. Yukiko Amagi was a case in point. Mitsuru had an all too natural affinity for young women pursuing a professional life in their stratified society, especially girls like Yukiko who faced the challenges without apparent fear or complaint. Mitsuru's initial instinct was to simply step in and wipe away all possible financial difficulties the Inn might be facing- an offer that was gently but quite firmly and pointedly refused. They had since come to a more equitable arrangement, the Kirijo Group covering a fraction of the Inn's costs while leaving the rest for Amagi to attend to in exchange for times such as now where the Group might make free and sole use of the facilities as they had need. Privately, Mitsuru hoped to deepen their growing friendship, but approached the idea far more timidly.

Not for the first time, she had wondered what another girl she once knew would do or say in this situation. No doubt by now she would have seamlessly woven the two groups together into a singular whole. Mitsuru suspected somewhere not so far away she was watching Mitsuru's performance and gently laughing at the foolish mistakes being made along the way.

Much like this one.

"My apologies, Tatsumi-san. I'm unsure what you mean." Mitsuru said, biting back an angry retort and struggling to keep a poker face as the young tailor marched towards her.

"I'm saying this is idiotic! You! Here! Sipping tea in the Amagi Inn while some creepy pervert is roaming around just a few miles away hunting for people to abduct. Don't the Kirijos have a million safe houses all over the country you could be hanging out in?" Kanji demanded, slamming his hands down on the heavy wooden table the red headed woman was sitting at.

"Of course we do. However, as I am currently overseeing an investigation of the Shadow Operatives I can't simply-"

"Don't hand me that load of crap! There ain't a damned thing you need to do in person you couldn't just as easily do remotely. You do know your the next target, right?? In case you didn't get the memo, the chick that popped up butt naked on the Midnight Channel last night was you, Kirijo-senpai."

"I was there. I've kept a vigil on the Midnight Channel along with the rest of you. And no, I doubt seeing myself displayed in such a degrading manner all across the town will be something I'll be able to forget for a very long time." Mitsuru blushed.

"And you do know what that MEANS, right? You know your the next target...RIGHT?" Kanji thundered.

"Kanji-kun, please. Be calm and stop shouting. Mitsuru-san knows the implications. But we have no proof this new culprit is following the same patterns as the previous killings." Naoto said from an adjacent seat.

"Now is a hell of a time to start taking chances that he aint! For all we know this is Adachi pulling this shit in the first-"

"Actually, that is something we do know." Mitsuru interjected. "We checked the security footage this morning. Adachi-san was in his prison cell during the entire time frame in which the abduction might have taken place. He is denied access to a television as a matter of course. Namatame has his own alibis for that period, and multiple witnesses agree on that point. This perpetrator is someone new."

"But Kanji does have a point. If the Midnight Channel was just broadcasting whoever was in the public mind like normal, why were you naked? That's not normal." Rise chimed in.

"You mean aside from the broadcasts involving Tatsumi-san and yourself, I assume?" Mitsuru asked pointedly.

"Th-that's different! We were already stuck in the TV when that happened. And Kanji was in a towel. And I only threatened to get naked."

"While wearing something that exposed 90% of your body to public view." Mitsuru noted, sipping her tea.

Risette blushed and squirmed.

"The Channel could still be operating just fine. Poor Marie-chan was all naked when they found her not so long ago. Everyone is expecting another incident soon, so nude is on the public mind. And with Mi-chan going around in the skin tight leather number with a body as-"

"Teddie, finish that sentence and I'll be serving roast bear for dinner tonight." Yukiko said softly.

"I'll be good." Teddie stammered. "But the point is, Kirijo-senpai stands out in a small town like this. It'd be easy to conflate her and what will happen to the next victim in people's minds."

"All of which is irrelevant if the killer is following a different pattern." Mitsuru noted.

"What we're trying to say..." Yu Narukami piped up. "We're concerned. Whatever new methods that person is employing, the other side of the TV can be lethal to normal humans. Even if you'll be immune to manifesting a shadow as a Persona User, the fog is toxic and draining, and you might not emerge near an exit you can locate even with your navigation skills."

"At which point I'll be **** to rely on all of you for my safety. In the end a trifling risk." Mitsuru said.

"A risk none of us want to take." Yu said, nodding to the assembled investigators. "That world can kill."

"And even in the base case scenario...the abduction and facing that other world...those are not experiences we would wish on anyone else." Naoto whispered.

"....And yet most of you faced those risks. And all of you braved that world to save the victims of the two culprits. I have no intention of running away and leaving childr...and leaving others to fight my battles for me." Mitsuru said softly.

"Idiot. Stubborn, idiotic, Kirijo pride." Kanji fumed.

"...Perhaps." Mitsuru admitted. "But the truth is, we have no real leads at the moment. Akihiko, Satanaka-san and my other operatives will be arriving tomorrow. It will give us a perfect opportunity to draw the culprit out. Assuming I am a target, which is likely. With luck we can stop this from escalating beyond a single incident. In the meantime, I am in the heart of a fortress masquerading as a bathhouse. We've ensured the Inn has the highest levels of security possible, and I have an entire team of local Persona users with first hand experience in these sorts of incidents. I could hardly be safer."

"....You know you have nothing to prove to us." Yu said after a pause.

"....Perhaps not. But that still leaves what I need to prove to myself." Mitsuru whispered. "Think of it this way. This will be an opportunity to further unite our two groups. Tomorrow you can both stand firmly united in scolding me for my stubborn foolishness. I...I imagine it will be quite noisy in here at that time. But all should be well...as long as Takeba can control herself."

"Oh?" Rise said, recovered from her earlier embarrassment. "Worried about being slapped again?"

"H-how did...where did you hear about that?" Mitsuru stammered.

"No need to look so surprised. We've both been pestering our studios to do more guest appearances on her show and my concerts as they can manage. And since the Kirijos sponsor both businesses it was easy to set up a little appearance on her crazy sentai show. I got kidnapped by a kaiju!" Risette explained.

"Oh. Yes. That was an especially good episode." Mitsuru nodded, then blushed at the looks she was receiving. "I-it has elements of maturity even for a children's show! Its hardly unusually! I-in any case, why would she share something so personal at such an occasion."

"Oh that's easy. I introduced her to a very important post-production ritual. And Yukari-san gets very talkative after a few drinks. Besides..." Rise said, then continued in a deeper, more domineering voice. "The King's orders are absolute!!"

She continued to smile despite the chorus of groans made by her friends, a look of utter bafflement on Mitsuru's face, and one lone ecstatic giggle. "Oh, the King's Game! We need to teach it to the rest of them when they get here!"

"No!" Naoto said hastily. "Absolutely not."

"Oh I think absolutely yesssssssss." Teddie hissed. "So many cute girls! The chance to score-"

"Did I say roasted bear? I meant charred broiled." Yukiko said.

"I'll be good."

"She...whatever this King's Game is...she didn't say anything else...correct?"

"Hmmm. Nope. Nothing comes to mind!" Risette said. "Definitely not that you kind of liked getting slapped...or spanked..."

"Rise-san!" Naoto stammered in alarm.

"What? We're all adults here!"

"...Perhaps...perhaps I should retire for the evening..." Mitsuru stammered.

"Of course. I'll have something sent up to you." Yukiko said with practiced friendliness.

"Thank you. But please, not bear. Roasted or otherwise."

Mitsuru left the giggling table, blushing all the way back to her room. Her relationship with Yukari Takeba wasn't meant to be a secret...precisely. It was still a shock to hear how at ease the younger girl was around her pop idol counterpart. The relationships within this alliance were clearly more intricate than she had realized...

Mitsuru entered her guest room, tossing her fur coat in a corner. She had been driven away from the group by embarrassment, a sore point for her. So...perhaps a book to occupy her time before sleep? Fuuka had given a few choice recommendations, but...

There was a knock at the door. Mitsuru's stomach growled.

"Ah, excellent." She said as she opened the door. "I'm sorry for losing my composure ea..wait. This isn't room service. I...oh, I see. Hello. What did you...it...its you isn't it? Your the one..."

Gaping in stunned surprise, Mitsuru was unprepared for the sudden rush as she was bodily tackled with unnatural strength. Her trajectory was precisely calculated. Unable to stop herself, she found herself sprawling backwards into the large screen TV of the hotel suite...backwards, and then inwards as a dreadful whirlpool of yellow and white engulfed her.

The Midnight Channel that aired that night was unlike any that had come before. Clear images filled screens across Inaba as always...but Inaba was not alone. Across the planet the mysterious channel appeared on Televisions, jumbotrons, computers, smart phones, and all things to fall under a loose heading of a screen. And what they showed was a yellow eyed red haired young woman in a business suit in some sort of board room.

"Good evening." The strange Mitsuru lookalike said with a distorted voice. "Greetings to you all from the Kirijo Group. I have a very special message. Tonight I wanted to discuss the topics of secrets and legacies. The Kirijo family goes back a very long way. And like any family with substantial history, ours hosts a few black sheep. My grandfather was one such man. He caused great sorrow and suffering. He tainted our legacy. But since then our family has been dedicated to correcting his mistakes. And of course covering up the truth to keep the public ignorant. But today I am happy to announce an end to those lies! My father was dedicated to redeeming our legacy. And I of course have been dedicated to fulfilling his dream. You see, I have no personal ambition or dreams of my own. My whole life is defined by the sins and the desires of a family of dead men. So to that end, and to give back to the community we have wronged, I am happy to announce we will be donating heavily to charity! Starting...with me! Bidding starts now! Based on your votes, I will be stripping and presenting my body in full naked glory one part at a time, to be discussed and examined in detail! Think carefully about what I should show you first! Oh yes, and a certain number of my viewers, I just wanted to let you know...there have been a few changes to the Midnight Channel. Really, the name is no longer accurate. I'll be broadcasting every hour on the hour, everywhere, and the world will be seeing a bit more of me each time we air! So you may want to hurry up if you plan on doing anything about it. Good luck!"