"Speaking"

'Thought'

Flashback

Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 4. And no, I won't create the FES version... That's ATLUS' job! ... Well, if they decided to make it.

Prologue:

A Dreadful Night

Yosuke's Point of View

It's been almost a month since his departure... A month has passed since we defeated the true mastermind behind everything we ever went through...

Even though it's all over... I can't forget everything we went through. All those adventures, all those fights, all those excitements... It all started when he came to Inaba to live with his uncle, Ryoutarou Doujima-san, for a full year, when his parents are working abroad. At first, I thought that he was just someone who is looking for friends, and I thought that I might help him. Then, I realized that he is far more special than that.

Everything all started when we suddenly got inside of the TV World. We were all so confused about everything in there, until this world is somehow connected to the recent murders. The murder of the announcer, Mayumi Yamano, and Saki Konishi-senpai. That's when we decided to prevent the deaths of the victims who are sent into the TV World by someone, by rescuing them from certain doom.

My name is Yosuke Hanamura. I'm sort of an awkward guy with a leader-kind of personality. With Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, Kanji Tatsumi, Rise Kujikawa, Naoto Shirogane, Teddie and... him... we formed together as an investigaton team to prevent the deaths of the victims thrown into the TV and to find the culprit who started all of this. At first, I'm just a guy with a weakness to everything that pains me... Like Saki's hidden hatred towards me... But it was thanks to him that I was able to overcome it. And I moved on towards a new day, to face whatever challenges that awaits me.

But that was when he was around that I was able to handle things. With him gone... My life went upside down, from great to worse...

Flashback

April 10th, on a rainy afternoon, I was working at Junes after school. I was helping my dad to boost the sales up, as usual. Junes is the best place to go shopping for various of stuff we need. However, I noticed that most of the stores opposing Junes are starting to go out of business. If that were to happen, everyone will hate the Hanamura family. And I don't want that to happen. So, I asked my dad about it and my idea...

But everything didn't go according to plan.

On one of the entrance of Junes, I was punched to the face and fell back to the ground by my dad. I looked at him with a slight of fear and confusion. "Wh... What was that for, dad..?!"

It didn't even went into my mind that my dad didn't like the idea of shutting Junes down for the sake of the other shopping stores. "Are you insane, Yosuke...?!" he said. "Junes is our pride and joy. It led us to success! And now, you're telling me that closing Junes down for good will satisfy the family?!"

"Dad, don't you see?! Everyone around the block, everyone from all the other shops are holding a grudge against us! I don't want our family to be hated by everyone! We... We need to ease it up a little and close Junes down until everything is settled down!"

"You don't understand how the family works, do you, Yosuke?! This is how we settle things! This is how we gain wealth! This is how the Hanamura family gained popularity around the twon, around Inaba! Are you trying to break down our pride?!"

My dad focused too much on the success of Junes. Not even once did he ever cared about the others around him. He just couldn't understand.

"And one more thing... You should think more of Junes THAN everything else!"

"What...? What are you talking about, dad? Of course that I thought more of Junes!"

"Yosuke... Have you even noticed that you have been hanging around with your friends more than working at Junes? Our sales are being lowered because you hung out with your "peeps". Didn't you notice it?"

"What...?" At first, I didn't know what he was talking about. But when everything came to mind, I finally figured out why he told me that. "... Are you... Are you saying that I should... leave my friends behind for the sake of Junes...?"

He nodded, which made me surprised of his answer. He was thinking about it all along. Just why? "Yosuke... Our family needs to keep their pride in place. If that pride were to go down, our family will lost its wealth and praise. Our one weakness is your friends. And if you continue to hang around with them, Junes will fall... And I will enevr forgive you for it."

There was something about his words made me wonder, but also got me upset. There were something hidden behind those words that came bit by bit as I revealed to myself something about his feelings towards me. "Dad... Tell me..."

"Hm?"

"What am I to you...? Am I your son...? Or just another one of those employees that you cherished so much that you don't want them to leave your side for one day?!" My dad didn't say anything. I figured that he was thinking about it. So it was true... I'm just another worker to him... Never his son... "Dad... No..." My voice started to break, just by realizing the truth. "Don't tell me... That... I'm just a slave to you... Is that it, dad...?"

He closed his eyes, unable to look at me again. He turned around at the entrance and walked towards it, back inside of Junes and leaving me behind. Before he reached it, he stopped and said one thing... The one thing that I am sure that I was nothing to him.

"Yosuke... From this day onward... You are no longer my son."

End flashback

I never forget about it. It was haunting me for the rest of the day, in that rainy night. I cried as hard as I can, losing my love for my dad... And possibly, my mom as well. I was never a son to them. I was only a mindless worker. And I'm tired of that.

I started to live in the streets, knowing that my parents will never greet me back the same way they did... Come to think of it, it was the first time that I lived in the streets, and I already knew what it was like, living in the cold, hellish day and night. I was weak of hunger and unable to withstand the cold without anything to warm me up. I feel like I was living in hell.

Today is April 11th, of the afternoon. Maybe after school. I'm sitting in between the walls of Daidara Metalworks and the Marukyu Tofu. I'm still wearing my school uniform even after a whole day, maybe less than 24 hours. It was starting to be my new home ever since. But I still couldn't believe it. Yosuke Hanamura, son of the infamous manager of Junes, is now living in the streets. I don't know how awful that sounds like...

"Yosuke?" I heard someone calling my name. I turned my head to see a familiar pair of girls who are my friends. One of them has a brown, bowl haircut with a green jacket with three pins on it and another one has long, black hair and wears a female school uniform. But unlike the normal uniforms, which are black, the top is red and the tie is yellow. I quickly remembered them, of the names of Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi. They both walked towards me out of curiosity and worry. "Is that you, Yosuke?" said Chie.

"... Chie... Yukiko..." I said, rather weakly.

"Damn, where were you lately?! You weren't at school lately and you didn't answer to our calls last night when we wanna talk about the stuff that's been happening recently!"

"Oh... Sorry... I'm just... not feeling good right now..."

"Yosuke..." said Yukiko with a hint of worryness in her voice. "Did you... spent the whole school day between the walls? Or... was it last night?" I don't even want to answer her about it. I feared that they might take the whole blame on my father... Then, Yukiko looked like she remembered something. "Wait... Chie?" She looked at her. "Didn't the other students back in school gossiping about the manager of Junes punching someone who looked a lot like Yosuke?"

"Huh? I didn't really pay attention to those kind of talks, really..." said Chie. Them, she silently gasped when she learned of it. She looked at me with a face full of frustration. "What?! Your dad punched you last night?! Is that why you're sitting in between the walls?!"

I sighed in defeat. It looks like there's no other way to hide that fact anymore. "My dad... only thought of me as another one of his mindless workers... Never once he thought of me as a son..."

"Ooh! That jerk!" Chie groaned in anger. "The nerve of that guy! That's not something a parent should do to his child! How dare he use you as none other than a tool!"

"But..." started Yukiko. "... I do feel sad about it... You have been rejected by your father as a son, and he only accepted you as an employee... I couldn't help, but feel your pain about it, Yosuke..."

"It's alright..." I tried to convince them to not feel sad or angry about it. "After all... My life already went upside down... It's been like this ever since "he" left Inaba..."

""He"?" Chie said, tilting her head in trying to know who he is. "Oh!" she gasped in realization. "You mean "him"! Yeah... Inaba does feel a little empty without him around... It's almost boring around here..."

"Not to mention that we couldn't forget about our moments with him..." Yukiko said, looking at the ground with a sad impression. "I wasn't feeling any better when a month has passed... Working at the Amagi Inn seemed so... empty without speaking with him..."

I slowly nodded. Then, everything went quiet between us. We have no other conversation that we would talk about. Then, the sound of the thunder was heared from the sky. And small drops of water rained down around the town, before increasing its speed and numbers. It was raining right now. "Oh man!" groaned Chie. "Raining again? And here, I thought that I can go train myself down the Samegawa Riverbed! What luck..."

Heh... Same old Chie. When school day is over, she'll go over to the Samegawa Rivebed to train herself like a tough girl she is. But, um... Come to think of it, she wasn't at her best shape lately. Her training got a little sloppy, the way I see it. Maybe it's because he's not here to help her out... Seeing that the rain is getting a little too heavy for us, I spoke. "You two should go on ahead back home. It's gonna be a little heavy for our bodies to hold." My thoughts was to stay here, just like last night and this morning. I didn't really care about my health and my way to live.

But Yukiko didn't look like she accepted what I thought. "And you should stay here, waiting for death to come right next to you? There's no way I'm leaving you behind."

"Yukiko..."

"Yosuke, you're coming with us. I can't stand seeing a friend living in pain because of what happened last night. So you're gonna live in the Amagi Inn, for your sake." She smiled at me.

Chie agreed at the idea, nodding with a fresh smile on her face. "Yeah. And remember. We're friends. And we take care of each other no matter what. So we're not leaving you behind just so you could die in despair, got it?"

Wow... I have such great friends... They really do care about me... I smiled, grateful of their aid. "Thanks... Chie, Yukiko... I appreciate it..." I stood up from the cold ground and turned myself face to them. "Alright, I'm good to go. Let's get going, before we'll be dripping wet from the rain."

"Right. Let's go to the Amagi Inn. We'll take the bus together." said Yukiko. And so, the three of us went out of the walls of Daidara Metalworks and the Marukyu Tofu, and stood there besides the bus stop sign, waiting for the bus to come.

Even though my life went worse... I still have such great friends. They supported me through my time of need... Even though I don't need any help...

Oh yeah. I didn't really tell you about everyone else yet. You see... Um... Well, things already changed in the past month. Chie, Yukiko, Kanji and I are still living in Inaba and you know... Learning in school and all. Rise Kujikawa went back to showbiz. A few weeks after he left, Rise decided to go back to regain her career. But before she goes, she wanted us to think about her latest single. And I tell ya. It's amazing... Well, either that or I'm still a Risette fan. Heh heh... But you know... I still kinda miss her, even though she said that she'll visite us every now and then. But you know how popular and busy the star is.

Then, there's Naoto Shirogane. Since the case is truly closed, she was planning on staying in Inaba for our sake. But she was called in that a new case took place around Japan. Who knows where? Anyways, I can tell that she wasn't happy that she have to leave her friends behind just for that case. She once considered to leave her post as a detective to hang out with us. But you know her. She's a detective for the family. There's no way that will happen one day.

Teddie went back in that other world, as the Shadows have finally rested in peace, without anyone endangering them any further. But we can visite him anytime we want. And when we do, he was all joyful and all. And, uh.. Um... Well, you can say that he still wants to "score a hot stud" with Chie and Yukiko.

Even though they left, like I said before... Distance doesn't matter as long as we're together. We will be friends no matter what... And nothing will break our bonds with one another.

Anyways, back to the present. After we got off the bus, we went over to the Amagi Inn, just as Yukiko led us to. We were greeted by a lot of employees working in the Amagi Inn, most notably Kasai-san, who Yukiko talked about a lot. After they went back to work, I started asking her. "Wow... You really are a princess when it comes to be greeted by all those women in such formal matter."

Yukiko giggled just a little. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Sometimes, it's just a little annoying, but I appreciate their gratitude."

"Yeah, but it's missing a little action, don't you think, Yukiko?" Chie asked, stretching her arms wide enough to make one crack from both of them. "But hey. It's your Inn. You decide things around here whatever you want. Heh heh!"

I... decided to spice things up a bit. I told Chie, "At least Yukiko isn't a scaredy cat who is afraid of small bugs, unlike you, Chie."

And the reaction I received, is a shocking expression and a small hint of blush on her cheek. She looked at me vigorously. "Wh-wh-who told you that?! Who said that I'm afraid of little bugs?!"

I can't tell her that it was "him" who told me about that, when he hung out with her for special training. At first, i didn't wanna talk to everyone about it when she's around, but it was fun to see her reaction like that. "Oh come on, Chie! It's not bear-y bad to be afraid of a little bug. Besides, you did Kanji-O Kanji back in the campout, right?" ... Wow... I can't believe I said that. Maybe Teddie's bad jokes are rubbing off on me...

"... Bear-y bad? Kanji-O?! Yosuke, your puns are even worst than Teddie's!"

As a result, Yukiko snickered just by hearing my puns. "... Bear-y... Bad...! Teehee...! Kanji... -O...! Teeheehahahaha!!!" She ended up laughing hysterically. Well... She has an awful strange taste in humor. And my puns aren't even that good. We wondered how she got that sense of humor... When everything is settled down, Yukiko thought up about one thing. "Oh yeah... Hey, have you heard about somethin recently? About how a guy drove into a wall that night?"

Oh yeah... I remembered that kind of news. "Oh, was it from the news, that a guy was driving drunk at night and accidently ran into a wall? He managed to survive from that crash, from what I heard. It sounds like a miracle that he survived."

"Oh! I remember that!" said Chie, remembering the incident back in that night. "That guy was arrested for drunk driving, right?"

"Yeah." Yukiko said. "But the truth is... There wasn't any sign of him being drunk at all." Hearing that, both Chie and I gasped in surprise and shock. Ok... Who ran into a wall aimlessly and dizzily without getting drunk? "I heard some students gossiping that the man confessed that he wasn't drinking at all. At first, they didn't believe him. But when they were ongoing further inspection, there are no sign of acoholism within him. He was perfectly fine."

"Wait, he wasn't drunk at all?" said Chie. "You mean he crashed onto a wall with full knowledge of what he was doing?!"

"Yeah. But that's not all. He also confessed that he was driving safely on the road. But then, he started to lose control of his body and drove aimlessly around town. Some said that it was a sign of weakness, but they didn't find anything on that man. He was fine, nonetheless."

"Whoa... Talk about strange..." I said. Yeah, it was rather strange. But then, speaking of strange, there was something that got me a little... curious. "Hey, did you guys heard about what happened the other day? About a fisherman?"

"Oh yeah! The others were gossiping about that fisherman doing absolutely nothing while fishing. I thought it was because he didn't catch any fish and all." said Chie.

"Actually, from what I heard, that fisherman is the master of all fishing techniques."

"What?! Really?!"

"Yeah. Never once he failed to catch a fish nor did he missed the spot where fishes are most likely to take a bite on the bait. They also said that while he was fishing for fishes, he was seen standing her, holding his fishing rod just like any normal fishermen can do. But when the rod is pulled by the fish catching the bait, all he did was standing there, doing absolutely nothing. It was mostly like this everytime he came there. When he was asked by someone about it, he said that the only thing he saw is that the fishes aren't taking the bait, nor did he feel that the fishing rod is being tugged.."

"Huh... That's weird... I don't know if he's feeling sick or anything... But who stood still, not trying to catch a fish if he's the best of the best?"

"Who knows... Other than that, it's really strange..." Wow... There's two weird things that happened in less than a month. I wonder what that means... Well, I hope those two things are the only thing that happened this month.

"Oh yeah!" Chie gasped. "Speaking of strange, there is another thing that I heard from the news!" ... Spoke too soon. "Have you guys heard about what happened at the hospital, the other day?"

"Not really. I cared a little less about things at the hospital than anything else." I shrugged. Yukiko nodded in response that she haven't heard about it as well.

"Well, listen to this. There's this one client that asked one nurse for a medicin to cure his fractured stomach. But that nurse didn't know where it was. So she asked another nurse to find that medicin and bring it to that client. But that other nurse didn't know where as well. So she asked that one doctor, who didn't know as well. Then, he asked another one, then again, again, and again. For some reason, almost no one knows where the medicin is, until one doctor found it, after an entire hour of asking and asking and asking. And when he handed it to that client... He said that he didn't ask for it!"

"W... What?! Who asked someone for a medicin when he doesn't need one?! Seriously, that's a bad joke that guy was pulling there!" Yeah, seriously. I was frustrated about that joke.

"Wait..." started Yukiko. "... When he said that he didn't ask for one... Does that mean he doesn't remember asking for it?"

"Well..." said Chie. "He wans't lying, so it might be the case. Other than that, but it's kinda strange that almost every nurse and doctor didn't know where that single medicin was. And it was found inside of an obvious medicin cabin that has almost every kinds of medicin!"

"Ok... I agree, this is too weird for my taste..." Yeah, seriously. A little too weird... Wait a minute... Why is there three weird things that happened in less than a month? It all happened after "he" left Inaba... Wait... Something about it seemed... wrong... And I feel like they were all connected to a single... !! Wait a minute... "Guys... Something about those weird things seemed to have connected to one place..."

"Really?" asked Yukiko. She looked like she didn't understand what I meant. Then, it finally hit her. "Wait... You mean everything that happened all came from...?!"

"Yeah." I nodded. "They all happened in Inaba."

It all made sense now. The car crashing, the fisherman's weird view and feelings, the sudden waste of time around the hospital... They all came from Inaba! It all happened right here, inside of our hometown! This can't be a coincidence, could it?! Damn... I must have imagined things... There's just three incidents that happened in Inaba, right? There's no way there could be more of those incidents happening in Inaba in just one month!

"Wait..." said Yukiko. "Come to think of it... There are numerous news about strange things happening that are somehow connected to those three other incidents." ... Damn it! I spoke too soon AGAIN! "A lot of people were walking and running around aimlessly, just like what happened back in the car accident. There were also people who were standing in one ominous individual place and have absolutely no view and feeling of what happened to them. And there were people who received no memory of what they asked to someone and who never found any objects or people who were found in an obvious place. They all have some sort of connection with those three incidents. And guess what? They all came from Inaba. Every single one of them!"

This... This is getting too weird... How come all those individual incidents happened all in the same place? And how can they be in the same shoes as those three others? I can only wonder... And maybe Chie and Yukiko too... "Well, that's... only a coincidence! I mean, strange stuff happened in Inaba every once in a while. There's no need to be worried about all of that, you know?" said Chie, trying to convince us that there's no danger in that.

I guess she's right. We're thinking a little too much about it. I mean, Inaba did have those kind of incidents in the past. So why worry about it when it was all normal? Then, a ringing sound is heard. It sounds like something a cellphone could ring about. I know that it's not my cellphone, since it doesn't vibrate. And it doesn't look like it came from Yukiko's too. Then, it came down all to Chie, who slid her hand down one of the pockets from her jacket. She pulled out her cellphone and opened it up, answering to the call. "Ah, hello?" she said. "Oh, mom! Sorry about that. Yeah, I know I'm late, but I just went over to Yukiko's place to talk about things with her and another friend. Uh huh... It's already evening? Oh, sorry about that... Yeah... Yeah, I'm heading back home right away! Ok... See ya, mom!" She then closed her cellphone. Looks like she's leaving now. "Sorry, Yukiko, Yosuke. But I gotta go. Mom is getting a little worried right now and if I don't come home soon, I'll... Well, you know the rest."

I nodded. "It's ok, Chie. Go ahead and go home. And watch out for the rain falling on you."

Chie nodded, giving us a determined smile. "Oh, come on! Who do you think I am! I can take care of myself no problem! Just watch me!" she yelled out. With a quick wave of goodbye, she ran out of the Inn and into the heavy rain. To be honest, I'm a little worried that she might get hurt just by running into the rain. But like she said, she's a tough girl.

After she left, Yukiko turned to me. "I guess I better go find a room for you, Yosuke. It must have been hell to lived down the streets in the cold.

"Yeah, you can say that again." I said. Come to think of it, this must be my second time sleeping in the Amagi Inn... Oh crap. Bad memories coming back to me! Bad memories! All those wooden buckets thrown at me...! Sleeping in the room where the announcer, Mayumi Yamano, died...! And the worst of all... Ms. Kashiwagi... And Hanako... Trying to seduce us...! AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!! Ok, ok, ok! Don't panic...! It's all in the past...! Nothing bad is gonna happen in there... right? ... RIGHT?!

"Follow me, Yosuke." said Yukiko, as she turned around and went to one of the hallways. "I'll find a comfortable room for a guy like you can sleep peacefully in." She turned her head back to me and gave me a smile... I sure hope she doesn't give me the announcer's room... But I guess I have no other choice. I followed her.

Whew...! Luckly, she didn't lead me to the announcer's room, but to a normal one. An absolutely normal one! With no tags or talismans! And so, I found myself going into the room and turned around to look at Yukiko one last time. "Thanks for the room, Yukiko. Now I don't have to worry about being cold while sleeping soundly."

She nodded. "Anything for a friend, Yosuke. Now, I have to get going now. My parents needed me to manage the Inn. I heard that there's going to be a lot of customers this week."

"You do that. Good luck, then." I gave her a smile of good luck. With one last smile, she closed the door and went to do her work. And I found myself alone, inside of one of the rooms of the Amagi Inn... Wow, I guess I'm a little stink around the body here. And I know just a way to get it clean off. I went inside of the bathroom and took off all of my clothes before getting in the shower.

It took me at least half an hour before I'm done with it. I changed myself into a gray kimono which was found hanging on one of those hooks and I got out of the bathroom. I feel like that it's getting really late right now. I checked the clock and see that it is 11:58... Wow, it's that late already? Anyways, I decided to turn off the lights, which is found next to the door to the hallway. But before I plung myself onto the futon, I looked outside of the window. Man... It's really raining heavily right now. The rain just doesn't stop falling down with a heavy sound. If this keeps up, I'll have a lot of trouble trying to find my resting sleep. I looked back at the clock and see that it is 11:59. Almost a few seconds away from Midnight.

"So... It looks like I won't be able to go home for a long while..." If I go home now, my dad will just shun me as nothing more than a nobody. And maybe... he won't forgive me. He won't think of me as a son... Never again... Just a few seconds away from midnight...

... Three... Two... One...

Midnight.

However, something didn't feel right. After the clock struck midnight, I felt some sort of small vibration around me. Maybe around the room. Or maybe the Inn. That's not normal... Is it? I looked back to the window and... Wait... Something is not right. The rain... It stopped. I thought it would last for at least the entire night all the way to the morning, but this is so sudden. The rain stopped falling at the moment where the clock struck midnight. Why?

But then again, I might have thinking too much about it. Maybe a good night sleep will help me get over it. I yawned before I went to the futon, resting my body under the covers before closing my eyes, until a small cloud of dream clouded my mind. And I am now in my dream world...

-----

I woke up from a deep slumber and opened my eyes. The sun is shining brightly from the window. Looks like it's another day to start a new day... I sat up from the futon and let the covers sliding off of my body. I rubbed my eyes a little with my right forehand. I checked the clock to see what time is it. But out of the ordinary... The clock stopped at 12, midnight. Maybe the batteries ran out of power. I decided to check my cellphone, which is found next to the futon. I grabbed it and checked the time.

Well, it's six in the morning. A little early than how I normally wake up. And today is... ?!

What...?! Wait, this can't be right...!

April... 11th?!

End of Prologue