wake up call [closed]

[hotstuds]

Characters: Naoto Shirogane and Yukiko Amagi
Setting/Location: Just outside the hotel.
Date & Time: Day 0, dusk (backlog)
Warnings: Spoilers for Persona 4, potentially.
Summary: Yukiko from the past is missing a few crucial details about the investigation team's progress back in Inaba. Naoto is here to fill her in.

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[hotstuds]

Yukiko was more than relieved when Naoto arrived, as though glad to be broken from her thoughts. Regardless, her expression changed little from its careful neutrality--only a flicker of a small smile appeared on her face as she met with her fellow teammate. Even though she knew little about this person, she felt at ease, as though completely invested in the truth that Naoto was, indeed, apart of their close-knit investigation team. She felt something of a trust.

"Ah, yes, Shirogane-san," she assured, the faint smile still in place. "I know what you mean...but I'll try to be as cooperative as I can. I want to find out what's going on as much as you do."
This next inquiry, however, was something more puzzling. After all of this, Yukiko didn't entirely know what she remembered.

"Well, um...I do remember the case being closed. We were celebrating with a cook-off after Mitsuo Kubo was arrested." A pause. "If you know about the investigation team, then you'll know that we had to go into the television to find him." The shadow of a smile had then vanished. The memory of his cackling face, vainglorious in knowing what he had done, still sickened her.

[doesnthavea]

"I understand," she answered, easing into the topic easily as if she could feel that thread of trust between them, too. It was more tangible to Naoto, considering she had already fought alongside Yukiko for a while now. And they both wanted to solve this mystery. Naoto had learned that cooperating, even when she wasn't sure, was sometimes better than trying to work alone.

Hearing her classmate's answer, Naoto straightened in surprise. "Mitsuo Kubo?" She remembered that name, how the murder case had been virtually closed although she herself never fully believed it, how her suspicion led her to pursuing it regardless. She always trusted her instincts. They hadn't failed her.

"Yes. You fought against him when you reached his dungeon." She'd gotten the finer details from everyone on the team firsthand. "However, he was not the real culprit. The case was set to be closed until I, myself, went missing. Luckily," Naoto continued in a wry tone, "you and everyone else were able to rescue me. But Mitsuo Kubo was only a copycat."

[hotstuds]

"A...copycat?" Yukiko parroted, wondering what on Earth she could mean by that. So he wasn't the killer? This concept was baffling to her, after all that he had admitted. She vividly remembered Mitsuo's chilling laughter, declaring to the team that he had, indeed, kidnapped those people and threw them into the TV--including Yukiko herself. The shock of this news, however, was overshadowed by the divulging that Naoto had also been kidnapped.

"So, there was another kidnapping after he was captured, even though he confessed to being the murderer." She was still piecing things together, nearly distraught by the knowledge that they had not, in fact, captured the killer, even though they were now miles and possibly miles away from home.
"And then the same thing happened to you, Shirogane-san." A surge of pity welled inside her; she knew how it felt to be in that situation. "I'm just glad we got to you in time at least."

A pause.

"So then...the killer is still out there?"

[doesnthavea]

"Yes, the second kidnapping occurred although Mitsuo Kubo had been apprehended. I had my suspicions before I was targeted, but this definitely confirmed it." She seemed lost in the information she was providing, remembering back on all of the signs that had pointed to this conclusion. "If you recall, Mr. Morooka was the only one who was killed by separate means than those inside of the other world. He was the only one who did not fit the killer's modus operandi."

Naoto nodded to confirm her gratitude. "I'm grateful, as well." Cutting to the chase upon deciding it was for the best, she added: "We've discovered the killer to be Namatame. We were soon proven correct when Nanako was..kidnapped by him and thrown into the television world."

A faltering pause rose up in Naoto's voice, as if mentioning this was difficult, even now. "Her, as well as Dojima-san, were recovering in the hospital just prior to our arrival here."