Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 4 Golden. I make no monetary gain from this story.

A Fool's Gamble

Chapter 1: Five Minutes

Dangerous. Naoto Shirogane was dangerous. Souji Seta could readily admit that as he watched the Detective Prince walking away. The comment about their game coming to an end had stung, certainly, but Rise's words had also been strong. But it was Naoto's words afterwards that caused some concern. How a detective was not supposed to form emotional attachment, moving from case to case. It sounded like a lonely experience, one that Souji was more than familiar with.

But Souji tapped a finger on the wooden Junes table as he thought, his mind churning out an idea. "The nerve of him." Rise said with a huff. "This isn't a game to us." She crossed her arms, with a slight scowl on her face that definitely didn't fit the idol.

Souji agreed to an extent. It wasn't a game. But from an outsider looking in, it could certainly be seen as such. They weren't sharing their information with the police after all. Not that if they would, they would be listened to. Shadows, Persona, a world inside the TV? It was asinine, and not everyone was likely to give them the time of day to try and prove it.

He decided on his course of action after just a little bit longer. "Guys, meet me in the TV in ten minutes." He said. "Yosuke, let me borrow your glasses. Teddie, we're going to need a new pair as well."

Yosuke pulled out his orange rimmed glasses. "Partner?" He asked a bit curiously as he held them out. He looked as though he was about to say something else.

Souji took the glasses. "Just trust me, yeah?" He asked. He tucked the glasses into his pocket beside his own pair. He stood up and moved away from the table, after Naoto Shirogane. "Shirogane-San, a moment please." He said as he caught up to the other male of shorter stature. Not that Souji was about to use his own height to intimidate or bully the detective.

The Detective turned to look at him, glancing at Souji with those grey eyes. "Seta-San, I thought our conversation was over." He said a little cooly.

Souji supposed he deserved that. "I am not the law, but I am Justice so far as my feeble powers may go." He quoted. He figured the detective would appreciate crime literature, including some of the most famous.

Those eyes widened a moment as recognition hit. "Sherlock Holmes." The other boy said after a moment.

Souji took a moment to think. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

Now those eyes narrowed dangerously. "Is there a reason you are quoting a fictional detective, Seta-san?" Souji wondered if the Detective thought he was patronizing him.

"Five minutes." Souji said. "Give me five minutes of your time. Five minutes and I will tell you everything that we know. No more guesswork on your end. It's going to sound inconceivable, impossible, even complete and utter nonsense. But if you give me five minutes, I will give you irrefutable proof. All I ask is for five minutes of your time and you don't interrupt me with questions while I'm talking. Give me the full five minutes, don't try to distract me, don't try to stall me. Just give me five minutes to tell you this improbable story."

Naoto looked at Souji with narrowed eyes. He wished he could read minds to know what was going through the Detective's brain. An arm came up and the sleeve was pushed back slightly to reveal a watch. Naoto held up a single finger, watching the watch for several moments. 'Probably waiting for the next minute' Souji thought.

"Five minutes." Naoto said after a moment, his tone still cool. It seemed, for now, Souji had his attention.

Souji nodded his head. "Walk and talk." He said and began to head for the electronics section of Junes. "I arrived shortly before the first victim, Yamano-san, was killed. In fact, my first day of school was the day she was found." He knew what he was saying was sounding damming. "Detective Dojima has already questioned me about it, he has to look at the facts available to him. And I keep popping up near his investigation. I know how it looks." Souji shook his head. "Literally the next day, I met with Saki Konishi as well. But that is where the story gets stranger, so hold that Holmes quote close to chest."

Souji went to the elevators and held the door for Naoto who was following with a pronounced frown on his face. No doubt he was thinking along similar lines as Dojima. "Chie brought up a silly rumor, one you'd find in every small town like Inaba. The Midnight Channel. It goes that if you look at an unplugged TV at midnight on a night it rains, you see your soulmate. Silly sounding, asinine, yet Chie said we, meaning Chie, Yosuke, and myself, should try it."

Souji noticed the arched eyebrow Naoto was giving him. He deserved that. "I know how stupid it sounds. But I wanted to be a normal kid when I got here to Inaba, I thought it might be neat to try and then have a laugh with Yosuke and Chie about is being dumb. So imagine my surprise when at midnight, my TV turned on and I saw a hazy female figure on the screen. I could hardly believe it and reached out to touch it. My hand sank into my TV." Now Naoto had a disbelieving look. "Again, crazy sounding, but there is a reason we're going to the Junes Electronics department. And I still have approximately three minutes left."

Souji inhaled a bit, he generally didn't talk much and given how much he was talking, he needed a moment. Even drama didn't have him speaking so much. He got to have quieter roles.

Speaking of, he really needed to continue. "The next day, Yosuke, Chie, and myself all agreed upon seeing a female form on TV. They thought I must have been dreaming when I mentioned putting my hand in my screen. Don't blame them. We came to Junes and they even made a show out of putting their hands against a TV screen. They cracked a few jokes, and for just an instance, I believed that I had to be dreaming. Until I did it again. This time, I actually started to crawl through to see what I could see, I was curious and my little TV definitely is not conducive for going through. We eventually ended up going through and finding some disturbing imagery. A hotel room with posters and the faces cut from them of the Enka Singer that Namatame is married to, a single chair in the corner with a red scarf tied over it like a noose."

Souji watched the look on Naoto's face go from incredulous, even a touch amused to serious in an instance. A scarf with a chair under it like that was a typical suicide method. He could see the questions in Naoto's eyes, but he was keeping to what Souji said about not interrupting.

Souji glanced at his own watch. "I'm going to have to condense this more. We encountered Teddie on our way back, Teddie being an inhabitant from that world. He mentioned someone throwing people inside that other world, and that the inhabitants of that world were the reasons for their deaths. Generally when the fog lifts on the other side, and the fog descends on this side. Surely you've noticed how we've had an unusual amount of rain."

Souji adjusted his bag that he generally brought any time he left, just in case they had to make an emergency trip into the TV. "We eventually determined that it was Saki Konishi that appeared. Yosuke and I went back in a second time for answers, and got more than we bargained for. The next one to be thrown in was Yukiko Amagi, but we got her out before she was killed. Same with Kanji Tatsumi, same with Rise Kujikawa. We're working on determining the victim profiles, and our only explanation is that the victims have each been shown on TV."

Naoto frowned a bit more, thinking about what he said. But they made their way to the Electronics department. Souji went directly to the TV they used to crawl through and stood back. "I have about a minute left to convince you, so take a couple seconds and examine the TV, figure out it's a normal TV." He said.

Naoto looked to Souji before stepping towards the TV. The sleuth simply reached out and laid his hand flat on the screen. He even pushed slightly to make it rock. A few button presses on the side to change the volume, enter the settings, and turn it off, and the Detective stepped back.

Souji stepped forward and wordlessly put his hand through the TV. Up to the elbow even. "Now, do you want to give me more than five minutes where I can explain more in detail and show you the absurdity of the other side? Or do you want to walk away and try playing catch up?" Souji asked.

Naoto looked at the screen before looking up at Souji's eyes. He looked confused, but determined. "You have my attention now Seta-san." Naoto said as professionally as could be.

"We'll go through under two conditions." Souji said. He was slipping into what Yosuke liked to call Leadership mode. "If you start feeling ill, tell me. Don't try to act tough about it, we don't know what the weather on the other side does, but just a short time in there had Yosuke, Chie, and myself exhausted like I ran a marathon and we didn't do anything more strenuous than walking. I was ready to throw up even. Second, you stay behind me and do as I tell you."

Naoto frowned and even glared at Souji. "Are you saying that I am helpless?" he asked. His tone could have frozen the sun.

"No, I'm saying that you do not have the tools necessary to combat the forces over there. It's more than just being capable physically." Souji said. He touched Naoto's shoulder and moved the other boy closer to him and the TV screen. "I apologize about touching you, but it's a bit of a drop so I'm going to brace you." Souji then began to move them forward to the TV.

It was still a disorienting experience, but Souji landed with Naoto in a crouch on the stage like entrance. He stood up and pulled out both pairs of glasses from his pocket. "Put these on." he told Naoto while he put his own on. He was glad to see the fog clear up.

Naoto looked to the glasses a moment before he put them on his head. "What!?' He asked, no doubt reacting to being able to see. Souji watched the sleuth remove them before putting them back on. "That is…"

"We'll get you a pair of your own properly." Souji said. He put the bag at his feet and unzipped it. From it, he pulled out his armor that he got from Daidara's shop. "Here. Put this on." he said. He'd be less protected without wearing it, but he'd rather Naoto not get hurt as much as he could help it.

He watched Naoto hold it out in his hands a moment. "Is this real?" he asked, running his fingers over it.

"As real as it needs to be." Souji said as he pulled out the replica katana from the bag and stood up. He watched the defensive way that Naoto took a step back. "Relax, it's to defend us." he explained. "We, the Investigation Team as we've taken to calling ourselves, have managed to figure out that we're able to bring realistic looking replicas into this strange world and have them manifest as being real. This katana, outside, couldn't cut rice paper." A bit of an exaggeration, but it would serve the purpose of explaining how useless it was outside. "In here though…" Souji sighed and unsheathed it a bit before running his thumb along the edge, holding up the bleeding digit. "The armor is the same way. It's designed to look as realistic as possible."

Naoto frowned a moment before he slipped it on over his head. Souji would have worn it under the shirt, but then again, it was big enough that it looked oversized on Naoto's more slender frame. "I believe I have a model revolver that could fit that bill." He said. "It even came with several speed loaders."

Souji nodded his head. "Right, but don't come in through any TV but that particular one in Junes. We don't know where the others deposit us, and this world is dangerous enough that we can't really afford to explore like that." He put the sheath in his bag before he tossed it onto some stairs on the set. Balancing the katana on his shoulder, he looked at Naoto. "Now, ready to go see the inhabitants? Yosuke and the others will be along shortly, but I know the path well enough to one of the first areas. It won't be too dangerous by myself if we're careful."

Naoto gave him a nod so Souji began to lead the way to Yukiko's castle. Given the number of times he had gone there versus the number of times he had gone to the other places, it wasn't difficult to remember the path.

Naoto Shirogane followed along behind Souji Seta, her eyes watching his back carefully. He led her to some grandiose castle, though the plaque near the front read it as Amagi Inn. She frowned slightly, glancing behind her at the distance they had travelled. It was a stereotypical castle that tended to populate all manner of fiction, making it hardly an actual military fortress as it was intended.

She followed him inside her boots silenced by the plush red carpet they moved along. But he came to a corner and motioned her to take cover against it in front of him. She did so, glancing around the corner at a black ooze like thing that just moved along the floor, shambling with no real direction intended. "That is a Shadow. Most are mindless." Souji told her. He then stepped out from behind her and she cut him a look. "Just watch. You'll see what I mean about the tools needed to fight in this world." He began to head towards the Shadow. At the last moment, he dashed forward and cut into it. It popped like a balloon filled with ink.

From that ink rose a hideous orb like creature that seemed to be just a mouth with an over exaggerated tongue. Naoto felt herself shiver just slightly. This place couldn't be right. But instead of being concerned, Souji shifted his stance to a better ready stance with his sword down towards his side. He raised his left hand up.

"Izanagi!" He declared. Naoto could see some sort of spinning blue and white card come to life before he crushed it in his hand. It shattered, for lack of a better term, and from behind him a massive figure wearing black clothing and holding a blade in one hand formed up. It had a silver metaled helm on its head, but Naoto could make out the glowing golden eyes. "Mazionga!" Improbably, bolts of lightning came down, striking the mouth creatures and making them fade like ash in the wind.

"What in the world was that?" Naoto asked, coming up as she watched Souji relax.

"A Persona." He said, giving her a name for it. "It is… a representation of yourself, capable of fighting. It is similar to a Shadow, but more tame in nature." He explained.

"And anyone can have one of these things?" Naoto asked, mind already working the facts over.

"I don't know." he answered honestly. "My entire group has one, each of us, but it generally comes after dealing with their Shadows, their repressed feelings and desires. Mine is named Izanagi."

"And they are all capable of summoning bolts of lightning?"

"No, some are able to use wind, others ice, and another set use Fire. We're only supposed to have one Persona, but something about me makes me special. I can use many. Izanagi was just my first. Come on, we need to head back to the entrance. Rise might be able to sense us, or Teddie smell us, but I'd rather not linger here too long." And with that, they began to head back. But when they came to the studio-esque setup of the entrance, things took a turn.

Naoto was at a loss for words, a not wholly new experience for her, but one that was becoming increasingly common around Souji Seta. It was not a pleasant experience that she enjoyed either, but she was willing to give him some leeway. For the past half hour, he had answered more questions than she had been able to get answered in months of investigating in Inaba on her own. He certainly raised more, but given how quickly he had argued his side in the span of five minutes to get her at least willing to listen, she couldn't exactly be upset by it.

However, seeing her own Shadow greet them at the set was... More surprising than she had given credence to. Souji's visceral swear matched the one she said in her head. It was dressed in the same teal blue dress shirt with yellow tie hanging haphazardly low because of the growing heat. The same pair of dark navy blue slacks, the same dark brown hard soled boots that gave her just a slight bit more height. The same dark blue cap. Only she wore an oversized white lab coat, with the sleeves practically falling over her hands and instead of her dark grey eyes, her Shadow had eerie yellow eyes.

Souji took two steps forward, putting himself between her and her Shadow. She wanted to frown at him, but having seen the power of Persona, she could hardly argue that he was better equipped to handle the task if her Shadow went berserk. Even still, she wore his armor over her chest, he was without a better defense.

Her Shadow cut her eyes at Souji and set her lips into a slight frown that grew more pronounced at the sight of the bare sword. She knew that look. It was not a look that meant pleasant things.

"Shiroga-" Souji cut himself off as he saw the look her Shadow gave. It turned to one of anger. "Naoto" He amended to the relaxed look of the Shadow. He had to be quite good at reading people if he was able to pick up on her tells. There had only been a slight narrowing of the eyes followed by an ever so slight tilt of the lips. "-San?" He questioned before amending it at the sight of her Shadow's narrowed eyes again. "-kun. Naoto-kun." Her Shadow seemed pleased at the familiar way he spoke to her. "I know you want to be accepted by Shirogane-San," he motioned back to her. At least he could keep his manners towards the real her. "I know you want him to admit to his innermost desires. I know you represent his suppressed side. Naoto-kun, please, whatever you say, give me five minutes once your done to help Shirogane-San work through it. Please. Just five minutes."

Her Shadow tilted its head a moment. "He's so similar to Sam." Her Shadow said in a softer manner, her voice almost a match for the pitch of her natural octave. But bringing up a fictional character? Naoto supposed she could see some similarities between Souji and Sam. "Strong, confidence, masculine..." Naoto felt a lead pit forming in her stomach. "Mature. Things you long for." Her Shadow said. That lead pit grew more. "Maybe if you were a little more masculine, a little more mature, they'd welcome you longer than how long it takes to solve a case. Already, you see it happening. You're being brushed aside, left out of the loop. It's so lonely, I'm tired of being alone." The words were like a knife twisting in Naoto's stomach. Her Shadow took two steps forward towards Souji. "They don't care for us. All they want is the gray matter locked upstairs. Once they have what they want from us, it is back to the playpen. When they need us, we are an ace detective, when they are finished, we are but a child. No matter how many cases we spend hours cogitating over, no matter how many cases we solve. We are a child in their eyes." She said, looking up at the disparaging height difference between herself and Souji.

"Always alone, no one ever wants us around. We haven't the means to handle society's two faced nature. And so we try to emulate those detectives. Smart, masculine... Just to stop the words. 'You're only a child.' 'Keep out of our business kid.'" She actually put her hand on Souji's stomach. "But it never changes the irrefutable fact that we will never be that. 'I want to be a grown up, I want to be a big boy right now.' At our core, we admire the sort of 'strong' and 'cool' men that populate detective fiction. But in truth, we're nothing of the sort. Naoto Shirogane... Such a strong, manly name. But it changes nothing of the fact we were never born a male at all."

"Stop it. No." Naoto spoke. Her voice was a bit shaky but she got it under control. "You're wrong." She ignored the harsh look her Shadow was giving her. "I won't throw a tantrum, it accomplishes nothing."

"Shirogane-San, do shut up." Souji actually scolded her. He then looked at her Shadow. "Naoto-kun, look at me." He said. But her Shadow refused. "Naoto-kun! I know you want accepted!" Finally her Shadow looked up at him. Was he really so naive that he thought that? She wanted to solve the damned case. "I know you want to be angry, I do." He said softer. Did he think her that weak? "Five minutes... Please. Before you call for more Shadows."

Her Shadow smiled ever so slightly. "So kind... And compassionate. I would like you quite a lot." She watched her Shadow lean up and actually kiss Souji on the lips. He clearly had not expected that, as he recoiled slightly. "Don't throw a tantrum. How many times have we heard that? 'Don't throw a tantrum Naoto-kun, it accomplishes nothing' and other such bilge. Everything we do is so maddeningly spectacular at failing to change the way things are. I quite understand the feeling, I am you."

"That's not true!" Souji then turned to her and Naoto widened her stance. "I don't know what game you are playing at Seta-san." She said. She was vehemently denying that thing as her Shadow.

"Shirogane-San, please, would you stop?" Souji asked almost snarling the words at her. "I haven't done anything but bring you here. I didn't bring you here to make you look like a fool. But if your Shadow attacks, we're dead. Both of us. And then the truth will be lost to the fog. Yosuke? Chie? Kanji? Rise? Yukiko? Teddie? None of them think like you do. None of them have your expertise. We have made great headway so far, but Morooka's death has us going in circles. It throws everything we thought for a loop."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Seta-San. That impudent child's words are-"

"Are the damned truth!" Souji said, cutting her off. "I've seen it, over and over and over again. Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, and now you. You're so busy vehemently denying what she's saying, you're not even thinking about the dangers. Damn it, if she summons the Shadows to her because you are denying her, then we will die."

"Only she will." Naoto's Shadow said.

Souji grimaced. "I can't stand back and do nothing Naoto-kun. If you attack, I will try to defend Shirogane-san."

"I am not a weak child." Naoto said angrily. What was it that lost her the modicum of respect he had given her?

"No, you're not!" Souji's angry shout startled her. "I know it, but I know how dangerous this World is. I've been doing this for a while and I'm starting to pick up how powerful Shadows are. And just standing this close to your Shadow tells me I'm nowhere near ready for it by myself." He took two steps towards her. Whether to intimidate or bully her, Naoto didn't know but she refused to back down.

"Whatever your hang ups are, I don't care." Souji said strongly. "I don't. Girl, boy, special Investigator or amateur sleuth or lonely child, I don't care. Shirogane-san, I'm asking you, begging you, stop lying to yourself. I asked you to come with, to give me five minutes of your time because at any given moment, you are the most dangerous person in a room. You knew Kanji was going to be a target. You knew we had something to do with Rise's safe return. You knew we had something to do with the case and came to tell us about the police's suspect. I respect the fact you are the most dangerous person in a room because you see things that others can't or won't. I'm willing to even bet you came to the same conclusion that I did, that Morooka's death doesn't match up with the first two deaths." Souji stared at her intently.

Dangerous. Souji Seta thought she was dangerous? He had to have thirty centimeters and a good twenty kilos on her, and she was apparently dangerous. She looked past him to her Shadow. Morooka's death did bother her. Souji had been nothing but respectful. He didn't treat her like a child. The precautions he took were not because he thought she was helpless, but because she did not have the tools to defend herself. But to admit... Those things.

"I have heard everyone"s Shadow." Souji said carefully. "Every secret laid to bare and worse even. I didn't have a Shadow. But I think I know what it would say. What my deepest desires are."

Naoto looked up to the silverette. She didn't understand why he was telling her this.

"That I just want to be accepted. That I just want the loneliness to go away." Souji told her. She didn't expect the knife like pain of familiarity. "I moved around, city to city, every six months to a year. A year and a half at longest. I'm sick of it. I want to be able to make lasting friendships. I want someone to ask me to stick around. Please, Shirogane-san, be honest with yourself. I know what it's like to be crushed under that loneliness."

Damn it. Naoto looked from Souji towards her Shadow. Damn it. She grabbed the cap from her head and wrung it between her hands. Damn it. "Damn you Souji Seta. Damn you, Damn her and Damn me." She said. She took two steps towards her Shadow and place a hand on her hip, mirroring its stance out of habit. "You're right. I do just want to be accepted. My parents died when I was young, and my grandpa took me in. I was inept at making friends, so I buried myself in detective literature."

"When I grow up, I'm going to be an awesome, hard-boiled detective." Naoto's shadow chimed in.

"I was glad to follow in the footsteps of my mother, my father, my grandpa. I welcomed it. I yearned for the day I could be a detective." She inhaled. "Not everyone welcomes my collaborations when I join a Prefecture though. Were it just my age, it would eventually not be an issue. But the police department is a male oriented workspace, having a girl do what grown men cannot would slight more and I would be incapable of helping." Naoto closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "I'm sorry. You've been inside me this whole time, and I have blatantly ignored you. What I should yearn for ian't to be an adult or to be male, what I should strive for is to accept myself for who I am. All I have been doing is running away."

Naoto's Shadow gave a bright smile and a nod of her head. She then cut her eyes towards Souji. "And?" The Shadow asked.

Naoto blushed a moment. She could feel her face heating up. "And... Seta-san is... Easy on the eyes." She admitted. "If I had time for such frivolities, I might have even been pursuant of him."

Naoto's Shadow smile brightly before moving over to Souji. "Ta Ta, Senpai~!" She said brightly before she changed. Naoto watched as she faded, turning into a small, darkly dressed insect like creature with a sword much longer than it. It then vanished and a tarot card appeared, drifting down to show the Wheel of Fortune.

"Sukuna-hikona." Naoto said lightly, putting a hand to her chest.

"Look out below!" The rest of the Team came spilling down, most of them landing gracefully., Naoto taking a step back a bit. Rise Kujikawa hadn't yet figured out the best way to land it seemed, nor the blonde boy… Teddie was it?

Souji cut a look over to his team and grabbed his bag. He put his sword in its sheath and tucked it back into his bag. "You're late Yosuke." he said.

"Ah.. Sorry Partner, I tried to tell you but you left quickly. We were having a sale in the Electronics section for an hour." Yosuke said. "Got crowded pretty quickly, everything okay?" She could see various members of the group cutting their eyes towards her.

Souji moved to stand by her a moment and he glanced down. "How much do you want me to say?" he asked.

She was a bit surprised at that and closed her eyes. "Minimal." She said, letting her higher pitched and more natural voice come out to the surprise of the group.

"Wait… Naoto-kun is a…" Yukiko Amagi spoke from the side, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Yes, I am a girl about Kujikawa-san and Tatsumi-san's age." She said, closing her eyes. No use in denying it, not when she felt Sukuna-Hikona within.

"And Naoto-kun," He cut his eyes at her and she gave a nod at the familiar name. "Managed to accept her Shadow, granting her a Persona." Souji said. Minimal, nothing about what was discussed. He turned to face her. "I'd like your help, please. King Moron's death threw everything we knew out the window, but I have a few theories to that."

Naoto inclined her head. "I would be more than happy to help if I can." she said. She didn't know where this would lead her, but she was willing to lay her cards on the table. After all, if she was represented by the Wheel of Fortune, she should take a gamble.

It was the least she could do. Souji Seta had taken one on her.

Chapter End

A/N: So… something I just threw together in my spare time. It won't take the place of my other Persona story, this thing will probably be updated one every two weeks to once a month. I've mostly wrote it on my phone, so please excuse any errors I didn't find that are from transitioning from a quick memo on my phone to an actual document on my Chromebook.

Regarding the name of the protaganist. I hold no preferential treatment towards either Yu Narukami or Souji Seta. I hold no bias towards them either. They're just names to me representing the main character. In my first story, Yu Narukami won the coin flip. This one's going to be Souji Seta.

And yes, I wrote Yu several times in the process of writing this.

I just wanted to throw out the idea of introducing Naoto to the party a full two dungeons ahead of time. Should make for an interesting time, especially with Naoto's gender already being out in the open. What with there being a beach trip and the trip to Port Island.

And yes, I blatantly wrote it as there being an initial, albeit superficial physical attraction between Naoto and Souji. Should make the King's game interesting.