Part 92: 12/4/11 Part 2

12/4/11 continued

Naoto and I went up to try and get in to speak with Namatame. I guess she'd talked with Dojima and gotten her clearance back at some point.

VIDEO- "Namatame's Story"

Click Here For The Whole Story!

I'm a consultant with the police.
I'd like a few words with Namatame-san. May I go in?
Policeman: This is unit 252 requesting confirmation on an ID…
Name of Naoto Shirogane… Huh?
Ah, understood. I see.
Well, you're on the list…
I can give you a few minutes, but I'll have to record your conversation with him for security purposes.
Not that I expect you'll get anything coherent out of the guy. He's been spouting nothing but gibberish.
I'd like him to accompany me as well.
He has no identification, but this is an emergency situation and he's here in Detective Dojima's stead.
Policeman: Huh…? Detective Dojima sent him? I wasn't informed of this…
I'll vouch for his identity.
Policeman: Well, I guess it's better than dealing with the man himself…
We have our hands full with the transport procedures, so the last thing we need is Detective Dojima running wild…
Detective Adachi is busy somewhere too…

That was when Naoto's plan went into action. Have I said I love her recently? Because damn is she good at this.



Has something happened?
Policeman: Something about a suspicious object out in the lobby…
Ah. Well then, this works out nicely.
You should back up your colleagues downstairs. We'll keep watch over Namatame-san.
A disturbance in a hospital lobby, after all… It sounds serious.
Policeman: If anything happens, hit the nurse call button. I'll leave the rest to you.
Understood. Please be careful.
I knew they were undermanned, but I didn't expect it to go this smoothly…
Wow…
There's nothing much inside that "suspicious object."
So he won't be gone long.
Alright, then now's our chance to talk to Namatame!

We all piled into Namatame's room, but this time just to talk.



……
It's tempting to think that you were the culprit behind this entire case.
And to be honest… there are many in this town who hope you are.
But we are here to learn the truth. So please… answer our questions.
……
> It seems that he understands what you're saying.
> What should you ask him…?

We started with something easy and definitive.



Huh…? Me?
……

That really said it all as far as him being the culprit, but we had a lot more to ask.



They were killed…
I couldn't save them…

That led right into the next thing we had to clear up.



No… If nobody saves them, they'll be killed…
That's why… I put them in there…
Then tell me if my estimation is correct so far.
After discovering the Yamano and Konishi incidents, you realized an appearance on the Midnight Channel meant certain death.
Thus, to "save" her from that fate, you kidnapped Yukiko Amagi…
You couldn't let her be killed, so you threw her into the TV, preventing the killer in this world from reaching her…
And you repeated the process, as more individuals appeared on the Midnight Channel…
It all falls into place.
His body is weak, but his mind is sound. He's trying to tell us the truth…
Yeah, but if the stuff he's saying is true…
There's another killer who murdered the first two victims…?
Indulge us in a few more questions.

I hoped Namatame might have figured out something we hadn't, but no luck.



I have no idea… I wanna know that too…

We'd already figured that he hadn't sent the letters, but I wanted to double-check.



What are you talking about…?

Each question just further proved he wasn't the original killer.



I didn't know…
I never thought… it would be that kind of place…
…As I thought.
You… believe me…?
D-Did they find him!? Did they find the one who did such cruel things!?
M-Mayumi…
Please calm down. Our ability to find the culprit rests on you.
We know about the other world.
In fact, we're the only ones who can fully understand what you have to say.
Only… you…?
We did blame you for everything at first.
But now, I think we can accept whatever you got to tell us… as truth.
Please…
Tell us everything you can… Calmly and slowly.
You're willing to listen… to my story…?
……
All right…

Namatame told us how it all started, from his perspective.



Reminiscing Namatame : I returned to my parent's home, as if to run away from the scandal…
And I started drinking heavily to drown my anxieties…
I hadn't been able to reach Mayumi at all, and that didn't help, either…
Mayumi… Where are you…?
Reminiscing Namatame : She'd been disgraced on all the afternoon shows and forced to resign from the program she was on.
I caused her so much trouble… I wanted to at least apologize to her, but I couldn't even do that…
I lost the will and energy to do anything…
Then one day, the rumor I heard some time ago came back to me.
Since I had nothing better to do, I sat down blankly in front of the TV and watched my own reflection…
And all of a sudden, there was Mayumi.
Mayumi…? Is that you?
Reminiscing Namatame : The Mayumi inside the TV looked as if she was calling to me for help…
Mayumi… Mayumi!

The next part was where I really snapped to attention.



Reminiscing Namatame : My arm disappeared into the TV… as if I had dipped it into a pool of water.
I was so shocked that I lost my balance and nearly fell face-first into the TV.
I was so scared… I couldn't understand what just happened. I thought maybe I'd gone insane.
In the end, I decided to think of it as just a dream, and I went back to the city the next day after finishing work.
The next afternoon, when I got to work… I was fired on the spot, as I expected.
That wasn't what broke me, though…
It was Mayumi being found dead.
And not just that, but it had happened in my hometown.
> Namatame is casting his eyes downward painfully…
I was dumbstruck, but later on… I remembered the image of Mayumi I'd seen that night.
"Was it not a dream…? Could it really have been an SOS from Mayumi…?"
I hadn't touched another TV, because the first time was so terrifying, but I decided to try it again…
And I confirmed that none of it was a dream.
So that image… Was it something Mayumi showed me, calling for help…?
…That's how I felt.
And eventually… you learned of the Midnight Channel.

I'm amazed at how widespread that rumor was even then.



I'd heard about it before, but I thought it was just an urban legend.
But then Mayumi appeared on it, and later turned up dead.
The more I thought about it, the harder it became to believe that the two events were unrelated.
Soon after that, I came back to Inaba to answer the police's questions.
I'd lost my job, and I wanted to know the truth of Mayumi's death for myself.
Then, on another rainy night, someone else appeared on the Midnight Channel… It was a girl.
She looked like she was calling for help, just like Mayumi.
The first thing that came into my mind was, "Maybe this girl will be the next to die…"
And that was Saki-senpai…
I'd been following all the news about Mayumi, so I noticed right away that she was the girl who found Mayumi's body.
And if my hunch was right, she'd be the next victim. I didn't want her to die the way Mayumi did…
So I desperately kept watching… I was consumed with the idea of rescuing her.
Then… little by little, her image on the screen came into sharper focus.
It became sharper…?
……
How did you find out it was her?

That was a pretty easy one.



I met that girl when I delivered a package to the liquor store…

And now we knew why people thought he'd been hitting on Saki.



Reminiscing Namatame : But that same night, on the TV…
She looked as if she was being engulfed by some black shape… She was writhing in pain…
That's why I warned her…! Why won't she pick up the phone!?
Come on! Please…!
The next day, they found her dead.
……
I knew she was gonna be murdered, but I couldn't save her.
I blamed myself, thinking there must have been something I could've done…
There was no one who depended on me. Nobody at work… Not even my wife.
Mayumi was the only one who accepted me for who I was.
But she was murdered, and the same person killed another girl…
I was… I was beside myself… I couldn't forgive myself for doing nothing!
You really did love Ms. Yamano…
Yes, from the bottom of my heart…
Before I was married, my wife made it big in show business. I was happy for her, but it put a strain on our relationship.
…I think I can kinda relate.
It was around that time when I met Mayumi… She was interviewing our candidate for the next election.
She was a big-name announcer, but she only worked with local stations, and her attitude towards work was similar to mine.
We both came from Inaba, so she was easy to talk to… I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't help getting intimate with her.

Poor Namatame…



Soon after Saki-san was found dead, yet another girl appeared on TV…
…That was you.

It all started to fall into place.



I can't let her end up like Mayumi and that other girl… This time, I'm gonna do something…
Reminiscing Namatame : My opponent was a murderer who left no clues to his identity…
I thought hard about what I could do to protect her from someone like that.
I'll never convince her… If she gets suspicious and they arrest me, who'll save her then…?
Reminiscing Namatame : The girl inside the TV looked as if she was smiling at me…
And… that's when it hit me.
I apparently had the power to go through the TV screen to the other side…
Then, what if I put her into the TV and give her shelter there before the killer gets her…?
What are you trying to tell me!? That it's safe over there? Is that it!?
Reminiscing Namatame : The girl inside the TV seemed to smile at me again…
And I thought, no matter what kind of place it might be, it's better than being slaughtered.
Once things calmed down, I could just let her out again…
If she's inside the TV… There's no way they can find her…
Reminiscing Namatame : It felt as if everything was starting to come together in my mind…
Could it be… that Mayumi gave me that power, to prevent any more victims from meeting her fate…?
Was it my mission to save people?
But there was a big problem…
If I explained the situation to the victim, they wouldn't understand. I had already tried that and failed miserably.
It seemed the only thing I could do was take them away. If that was my mission… I'd just have to do it.
…Or so I thought.
Mayumi… Please lend me your strength…

He never could have realized he was putting them in danger.



Mission!? Give me a break! You never stopped and wondered about any of this!?
I thought I was the only one who could help them… I did call the police, but they didn't believe me.
I knew the area well, thanks to my job. I had a large truck, and I could move around without suspicion…
I thought my job as a deliveryman would be the perfect cover for my mission. I thought no one else could do it…
But… are you telling me that I wasn't saving them…?
If a person is still within the TV world when the fog appears here, they will die.
Beginning with Yukiko-san, the people you thought you had been saving were, in fact, in mortal peril…
It was my friends here who really saved us all.
I had a feeling that was it…
When I went after that little girl and entered the TV myself… For the first time, I had some doubts about myself.
You refer to Nanako-chan, correct?
The police were after me, so I had to get away.
But I still felt I needed to do everything I could to save that poor little girl…
That's why I went in after her.
But the TV world was completely different than I imagined… Such an abominable, grotesque place.
I knew that the three of you who I "saved" went back to your normal lives, so I didn't realize how terrible that world was.
I never knew… you couldn't even get out of that place on your own…
I thought I was going insane-I probably did.
And you know the rest. When I came to, I was lying in a hospital bed.

Good intentions can still lead to bad results. We need to be careful about that as well.



But I ended up doing just the opposite… What a fool.
I always wanted to enter the world of politics, and become useful to society…
But after losing my job and the woman I loved… all I had left was this power.
I convinced myself that world was some sort of sanctuary… And I secretly believed myself to be a hero…
……
I never doubted what I saw on TV… and believed everything was as I wanted it to be…
I didn't think for myself at all… That's why I couldn't protect them.
I'm to blame for all of this…

I'm still pissed at what he did to Nanako, but blaming him won't change it.



I suppose so… But the things I've done are too serious to be brushed aside like that…
I have no intentions of running away from my crimes. I'm prepared to face the consequences.
Kidnapping is already a serious crime… And on top of that, I put all those lives in danger.
I'm sorry…
The Midnight Channel and the other world… You can hardly be blamed for failing to understand them properly.
We must apologize to you as well.
Had we let our emotions blind us to the truth, we would have piled all the responsibility on you.
I guess from your point of view… people did stop dying once you started "saving" people.
The more you did it, the more you really believed you were preventing their deaths…
I'm… such a joke…
I'm sorry… I'm getting a little tired…

That was when the cop returned.



My apologies. We'll be leaving now.
Wait…
I beg you… Please find whoever's behind this… You children are the only ones who know about that world…
That's our plan.
It's all clear now. He never committed any murders…
It was another party who threw the first two victims into the TV.
> You've taken another step toward the truth…

Of course that just leads to more questions.



Policeman: Now get out of here!
I told you, he's almost ready to be transported! We can't have anything else happen…
Sheesh… I better not see you rascals here again!

We headed down to see how Nanako was doing and talk things over.



This was the last place we saw Teddie, right? He was so worried about her…
Tch… How can he flake out like this when we have to find the real killer?
The police consider the matter closed. We'll have to do all the investigation from here on out.
Let's revisit Saki-san and Ms. Yamano's incidents and see if we can turn up fresh details.
But it's been over six months… Wouldn't the trail be cold by now?
I know, but we can't give up. We're the only ones who understand what's really going on.
And you never know. People might remember some things now because they've had so much time to think about it.
Let's split up and talk to people all over town tomorrow.
We'll meet up in the evening to discuss our findings.
I hope we can find out something about Teddie, too…
> Tomorrow, you'll all be going out to talk to people in town.
> Will this finally help uncover the information that will lead you to the true culprit…?
> You decide to go home early today and get some rest.

I just hope we can find something, this guy's been on the loose for far too long.

Next Time on Persona 4: On The Trail