Part 90: 12/3/11 Part 2

12/3/11

Dojima stormed off.

VIDEO- "Haste"

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AAAAAGHH!!
……
Nanako-chan…
Dojima-san…? What's with that look…?
Huh? What's wrong, everyone…?
……
Huh…? Wait… I-Is Nanako-chan…?
B-But then… where did Dojima-san go? His room isn't that way-
Wait a sec, that's the way to…!

We ran out when I heard Rise calling for us.



Dojima-san might've gone after Namatame!
Adachi-san said he was admitted to this hospital!
You transported him to the same hospital!? For crying out loud, he's the suspect in the case!
Wh-What are you getting mad at me for? This is the biggest hospital, and he's in no condition to be moved…
Where is his room?
I-I can't tell you that.
Just tell us where he is already!
Dojima-san's on his way, ain't he? You don't know what he's gonna do there if we don't stop him!
Kanji-kun, you don't mean…
H-Hold on… Just what are you guys talking about…?
Cought it up! Where's his room!?
Urgh… T-Top floor in the second surgical ward, furthest room back…
B-But… there's a police guard…

Meanwhile…



I was always watching over Nana-chan… And I still couldn't save her…
It happened in my world…
Even though I was the only Teddie in that place… I…
I still couldn't do anything…
I…
……

Elsewhere…



Policeman: Like we said, without permission…
Permission…?
Who gave him permission to kill Nanako? Tell me that, huh?
The hell with you all…!
Why is he still alive when Nanako's dead!?
Give me back Nanako… Give her back! She's… She's all I have…!
She's… the only one… in the world…
Partner: C-Call a doctor!
Let go of me… I need to…
Holy crap! Dojima-san!
Quick, get him to his room! I'll go alert the doctors!

We saw Dojima, Adachi, and the guards go by as we approached Namatame's room.



……
His only daughter's dead… Nothing woulda surprised me.
Dojima-san probably knew… that there's little to no chance Namatame would be convicted…
Dammit… He killed Senpai, and now Nanako-chan…
And the bastard's gonna walk away without paying for what he did…
That's not right…!
……
Why…? Why is he the one that gets to go on living?

We heard a thump from Namatame's room, and rushed in.

VIDEO- "Reason"

You Should Really Watch This

> The window in the room is wide open…
What are you doing?
I-I was scared… So I… I…
You have your life… and now you want your freedom, too!?
It's your fault that Nanako-chan's…!
I-I, I didn't, I…

That's when the bullshit started. The TV came on, it must have been midnight.



Hey, isn't this…!?
I failed to save her. It's because you got in my way.
Another Namatame…!?
How!? The real one's right here, and we already beat his Shadow…
No… Come to think of it, Namatame never faced his other self.
And we didn't witness his Shadow returning to his body as a Persona, either…
Perhaps that's why we're seeing this now…
What… the…
I failed. But it wasn't my fault.
And the law can't touch me anyway…
Wh-What…!?
Is that what's Namatame's really thinking!?
Then… he wasn't deranged or anything… He knew what he was doing…!
To hell with the law… I won't ever forgive what you did…!
Th-This… Please… Stop…
Huh? Stop what? We ain't even done anything yet…
Or do you want us to do something…? Something fitting for a bastard like you!
K-Kanji…
……

Some things were already starting to bother me, though. Like how the hell we were talking with the goddamn TV, when before we were never able to interact with anything on the Midnight Channel.



I don't care either way. Living or dying makes no difference to me.
But you… You're different. *chuckle * You can't do such a thing. You wouldn't dare, right?
*chuckle * I'll continue "saving" people… It's my mission…!
Mission…!?
My god…
P-Please stop…
He wants us to stop. What should we do?
Wh-What do you mean…?
We can't let this bastard do whatever he pleases.
Still… What are you going to do?
No way I'm going to walk out of here doing nothing…
I-I understand, but…
This must be a luxury suite. Most hospital wards don't have such large televisions…
Why, with something like this in the room, this man could escape at any time…
Although once he enters… he may find there's no way out…
Wait a second! Y-You don't mean…
Are you… serious…?
You just gonna turn your back and walk away?
That's… But…!
Wh-What's gotten into you guys!?

But I was already damned sure of one thing. I wasn't going to let someone get murdered because of what some goddamn TV said. That's not what Nanako would want.



Chie!
Everyone… Listen to me.
If we're gonna do this… now is our only shot. We won't get a second chance.
At this rate, the guy's gonna get off the hook… And he'll go around "saving" people again!
You just heard what this bastard's really thinking!
If that happens, it'll be just like Nanako-chan and Senpai… Who knows how many innocent people will die this time?
I can't let something like that go…
Someone close to me died… Her killer can't be convicted… And now I'm gonna let the same thing happen again?
There's no way I can to that! It's just wrong, isn't it!?
B-But… Yosuke…
All we have to do is push him inside the TV… That's it. We do that one thing, and this is all over.
J-Just… push him inside…?
If any of you want no part in this, just leave the room. I'm not gonna force you to stay.
As for me, nothing could make me forgive this bastard… But before we do this, I want to hear what you think.
What do you want to do… Leader?

Besides, if we don't figure out why this fog is covering Inaba how many people might die? Namatame's our only lead.



We don't have time to wait! If we don't do this now, the cops'll come back!
What're you trying to say!?

And anyway, even if we do listen to that Shadow, it said something that bothered me.



Something we don't know…? What don't we know!?

Because Nanako died, and Namatame knew that.



But we just heard the guy's true feelings on TV!
What didn't you understand!?

So why did he say he failed to save her?



Well, what is it!?
I already told you, there's no time to waste!
Are you even getting at something here, or are you just stalling!?

But Yosuke was really freaking the hell out, and wasn't thinking straight.



Missing…? Like what, exactly?
Dammit… I've heard enough of this bullshit! Give me a straight answer!
Are we doing this or not!? That's all I give a damn about right now!

He just wasn't listening to reason, so I kind of lost my cool.



> You yelled at everyone to calm down.
Nnngh…
H-He's right. L-Let's all calm down for a second.
I'm perfectly calm.
Hey, what did you mean by "we're missing something"…?
What's there to miss with a sick bastard like him!?
Hey, let's all take a deep breath.
After what happened to Nanako-chan, and seeing Dojima-san… we're not thinking straight right now.
Tch… Fine…
> Everyone took a deep breath.
> It seems that everyone has finally regained their composure…
You're right… We should calm down and think rationally about this…
I realize now that we've heard almost nothing from Namatame's perspective…
There's no denying that this man brought great harm to Nanako-chan…
But other than that point, the rest comes from our assumptions based on watching the Midnight Channel a moment ago.
I won't deny that we were blinded by the heat of the moment… trying to impute all responsibility to him rashly.
But…!
Yeah, the guy's not saying anything.

I can understand why Yosuke's so adamant about this, but none of it makes sense. I'm not going to disgrace Nanako's memory by killing a guy when there's still questions to be answered.



It was him who put Senpai through that misery…
How can we possibly understand someone who says killing people is the same as "saving" them!?
Failing to understand and failing to listen are rather different things.
……
Truthfully, not all the hitches that were nagging at me have been answered yet.
We'll have to see what he can tell us about them…
…Though it appears he's in no condition to do so at the moment.
True… Dealing with him right now might not solve all the things that are bothering us…
Dammit…
But you better remember this… I'll do everything I can to stop him from repeating what he's done.
Anytime, anywhere… anything.

If Namatame ever did get away, if he ever did try to throw someone else into the TV world, I can tell you this much: Yosuke wouldn't get a chance to do anything. Even if we're misunderstanding things, what he did was still horrible beyond words.



Geez… How the hell can you stay so calm, man?
Then again, that's why you're our leader…
……
Alright. Let's go ahead and think this through as much as we need.
If we leave any unanswered questions behind, we'll just be lying to ourselves…
Yeah, that ain't gonna cut it… Alright, I'm convinced.
*sigh * Thank you…
I'll think as hard as I can, and try to help!
We all know how you feel, Yosuke!
C'mon, we've accomplished this much together, haven't we?
Right… Together.
Yeah…
Yeah, you're right.
Sorry… and thanks.
> The case has taken a sharp turn and the Investigation Team is now one step closer to the truth…
> It seems that you will go on with your friends to solve another mystery…

One door closes…





But another one always opens…



Hey… you guys!? What're you doing!? You can't be in here!
Oh crap!
W-We were keeping an eye on the suspect.
The police officers outside seemed to have their hands full helping Dojima-san.
If Namatame were to escape, it would be a disaster for the police's reputation… and their trust in you, Adachi-san.
O-Oh… I see.
We'll tighten security from now on, and I'll arrange for him to be transported out as soon as possible.
So… if you guys can keep quiet about being in here, I'd really appreciate it…
How is he, Doctor? He seemed to be extremely agitated a moment ago.
Doctor: He seems fine for now, but he really needs his rest.
Outside, everyone. Doctor's orders.
U-Understood.
We should go too… Let's get back to Nanako-chan's room.

We stopped out in the hall to talk about the case.

VIDEO- "Life and Death"

The Power of Persona Compels You To Watch This

To tell the truth, there's something that's bothering me too…
Why did he start killing people in the first place?
Well he said himself, it was to "save" them, right?
So he killed his lover in order to save her, and kept going?
The police speculated the first murder was related to the affair, so they called in Namatame for questioning…
But everything in his testimony and his bearing… No matter what they looked at, they found nothing suspicious.
If he truly is twisted enough to believe that murder is a means of saving people, I think that would have shone through…
Maybe he faked it real well.
Or maybe he started out with a normal motive, and got a taste for killing after the first time.
No… If that were the case, his motive for killing that announcer would be even more inexplicable.
Namatame and his wife were separated at the time.
Both Misuzu Hiiragi and himself testified that she had discarded him.
Hiiragi also knew about Yamano beforehand, and Namatame was shocked to hear of Yamano's death…
Their relationship was known, and was not strained to the point of murder… There's simply no motive in the affair angle.
The police invested a great deal of effort into investigating this point.
Therefore, we have no convincing motive for Namatame to kill Mayumi Yamano…
Although… her name was written in Namatame's own diary…
His reason for killing her…

In the end, it was the events that started all this that we understood the least.



Uhhh… I don't really get any of this…
Argh, this is so confusing!
Hey, we could hear you in there… This is a hospital. Maybe you should quiet down a little…

That was when the nurse ran in.



Nurse: Please come with me immediately!
Huh? Wh-What's going on…?
What are you waiting for? Hurry, go!

Elsewhere…



Is this… Teddie's world?
This doesn't quite feel like it, though…
I remember being at the hospital…
That's right… Nana-chan…
I…
I couldn't do anything…
Why do I even exist…?
I couldn't keep my promise…
I lost my reason to be there…
Th-That's it…
I remember now…
So… it was true…
Guys…
Sensei…
What should I do…?

All I can say is that miracles do happen, sometimes.



Doctor: Nanako-chan came around!
Huh…? Wh-What did you just say!?
Nanako-chan's… alive!?
Yosuke; A-Are you serious!?
Doctor: It's very rare to be resuscitated after one's heart and lungs fail, but it does happen.
But until I know why she collapsed in the first place, I can't say for sure how well she'll recover from here on…
Still, Nanako-chan's a fighter, and she's trying desperately to stay alive.
S-So this isn't a joke…?
You're actually telling the truth…!?
Nanako-chan…!
Oh my God… I… I…!
Haha… This is amazing…
Miracles do happen… I'm so glad…
I-I didn't know what I was gonna do… *sniff * *sob *
*sob *
C'mon… Stop crying, you two… *sob *
Doctor: You all should go home for the night.
I'll speak with Dojima-san tomorrow about Nanako-chan's treatment.
It's rather chilly outside… If it starts snowing, be careful not to catch a cold.

That was when we noticed we were a man short. We all got so damn heated over Namatame we forgot one of our own.



I noticed he didn't come with us when we went to Namatame's room.
*sniff * You're right… That's weird.
I figured he wouldn't move from Nanako-chan's side…
Teddie… Where did you go…?
Oh yeah, he has a cell with him… Wait, I shouldn't use mine inside the hospital.
I'll try calling him up once we're outside.

Elsewhere…



Why…?
Mayumi… and that girl, too…
I couldn't save them…
Policeman: Mm…? What's the matter, feeling guilty all of a sudden? Sheesh…

We searched everywhere, but Teddie was nowhere to be found.



We took a quick look around the hospital, but there's no sign of him. I wonder where he went…
Oh… It's snow…
Hey, you're right… Wow, it's been a while since I last saw real snow.
It doesn't look that pretty, though, because of this fog…
I guess this makes it the first snow of the year.
Brrr, it's freezing! Let's go home.
Hey Yosuke, if you find Teddie, don't forget to contact us, alright?
I know, I know… Let's meet up at the special headquarters tomorrow.
Man, that Ted… I hope he just went back home by himself.
He's probably fine, but I'll hurry home, just in case.
Well… see ya tomorrow!

Teddie better be okay, because it'd make Nanako sad if her Teddie was gone, dammit. I decided to try calling him as well, and realized I'd had my phone off the whole time.



> For now, you have no way of knowing…
> ……
> You remember that your cell phone has been off this entire time since you were at the hospital.
> There's something new in your inbox.
Hey, it's Kou. I heard what happened to your little cousin.
Is there anything I can do to help? Let me know!
You know I'm there for you, oaky? We're best friends, dude! …Right?
Daisuke here.
I just heard about Nanako-chan. How's she doing?
If there's anything I can do to help you guyz please tell me ASAP!
You've got the guts, man!! You gotta be brave, man!!
It's Yumi. Where are you right now?
If you want to talk about your cousin, please don't think twice about calling me.
I'll be waiting for you. Call me back!
> …You checked all your messages.
> …They're from your friends in town.
> You remember that you have friends who are there to help encourage each other…
> The case is still mired in an impenetrable fog, but you must continue forth toward the truth…
> You should go home before you catch a cold…

Everyone… There's just no way we're going to give up now.