"Holy crap, Teddie! What the hell are you doing here?" Kanji looked like he was about to have a conniption with the way he was pulling at his hair.

Teddie was sitting in a massage chair, eyes closed and a smile on his face.

Mogura raised an eyebrow. "It's obvious, isn't it? He just exited the same way we do... Through the TVs."

"We know that, you idiot!" Yosuke muttered. "But how are supposed to explain a living costume walking around our side? If he loses his head our whole Investigation Team is gonna go to hell over what happens next."

"That is a problem." Yukiko looked up, thinking. " Oh! Maybe we could get someone to walk around inside the costume while he's on our side, just for safekeeping."

"I think Hisao would be short enough." Yui nodded.

"What? No way! Teddie's like two heads shorter than everyone else here!"

"Yeah!" Teddie looked up. "And no guy is cute enough to get inside me!"

There was nothing but dead silence from every member of the Investigation Team for a full three seconds. Ignoring the tension, the cartoonish bear leaned back in the chair that he was sitting in and purred. "There's nothing like this on my side of the TV!"

"Teddie, you... We need to talk." Yui bit her lip.

-Persona 4-

Episode 15: One Last Chance

Courage- Daring

Knowledge- Expert

Expression- Touching

Understanding- Motherly

Diligence- Thorough

-Persona 4-

-...-

Chie patted the bear on the head. "Okay, first things first. Teddie, why did you come over to this side of the television?"

"I was bored. My side is so empty, and it seems like you have cool things to do over here. That chair is super nice, by the way! It made me feel all relaxed!"

Yui sighed and nodded."Yeah, that's kinda what it's designed to do."

"Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! I'm no longer a hollow bear! Mwah-ha-ha!"

"No... longer... hollow?" Kanji's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I remembered how my Shadow said I was hollow, but I thought really hard about what it meant by that. So I did situps and focused really hard on being able to score with Sensei-chan, Yuki-chan, and Chie-chan!"

"THAT was why you made a human body?" Mogura slumped in disbelief. "So you could 'score' with girls?"

"Can we please drop the whole 'scoring' thing already?" Yukiko growled.

Yui sighed and let her head drop into her hands. "I'm glad you think so highly of me, Teddie," she muttered dryly.

"Of course, Sensei-chan! You're the best!"

His mouth gaping for a second, Yosuke smirked before gesturing toward empty space."Teddie, I'd like to introduce you to someone. Sarcasm, meet Teddie. Teddie, meet Sarcasm."

Teddie looked around. "Where is she? I don't see her anywhere! Is she cute?"

"I don't see her either, Teddie." Mogura laughed.

"Wait... Oh, yeah! I'm not hollow anymore."

"So what exactly does that mean?" The auburn slacker looked around

"I told you! It means that I'm not hollow!"

"No, you stupid bear! I'm asking what the difference between being 'hollow' and not is."

"Gaah... it's so hot out here."

"Stay on subject, dammit!" Yosuke hissed. "What happened to you?"

"I'm taking this off." Teddie begn to unzip his head, but Yosuke pushed down on him. "Not here! There are kids! If they see an empty costume walking around, it'll scar them for life!"

"But I already told you! I'm no longer hollow!" Teddie shoved Hanamura off of him and finished unzipping his head. When he pulled it off, a lean, pale-skinned boy with blonde hair and blue eyes was sitting inside where there once was nothing. reaching out for a soda, he held it up to his lips and drank from it deeply before sitting back. "Ahhh... that really hit the spot."

Yui's face blossomed into scarlet when she realized something.

"Teddie... Are you wearing any clothes?" She couldn't help but notice the disturbingly bare chest the bear had.

Looking up, Teddie proclaimed in a needlessly loud voice, "Nope! I'm as naked as a newborn babe!"

Mogura put his face in his hands. "If I had any dignity left before, this is where it died."

"What the hell, Ted?" Chie grabbed the bear and dragged it toward the clothes department of Junes, Yukiko assisting her.

"Remind me again why the only people helping Teddie are girls?"

-...-

"I can't believe it. That's really Teddie?"

"The one and only! Can't you tell simply by my immaculate cuteness?"

He was wearing a white dress shirt with a carnation on it, along with a pair of black dress pants.

"You certainly look the part." Yui nodded.

"Aww, you're so kind, Sensei-chan!" Jumping up, he embraced Yui shamelessly. "I'll score with you first, then." he whispered seductively.

"Seriously, stop bringing that up." Yukiko grumbled.

"Get offa her!" Kanji roared, wrenching the Shadow-turned-human off of Yui.

Yosuke cleared his throat. "Now, um, Teddie. When are you planning on going back to the TV World?"

Teddie waved his arms in distress and excitement. "Going back? This place is awesome! There's no way I'm going back there! Not unless there's somebody that needs Teddie to rescue them, of course."

"That's kinda what I thought." Yosuke groaned. "And here comes the real problem. Where are you gonna stay?"

"Well, the team has four guys in it-Not including Teddie, of course- and so he could stay with either Hiro, Kanji, Yosuke, or Mogura."

"Aw, hell no! My mom has enough shit to deal with before counting in an extra guy, too!"

"Well, um, I... I haven't talked to my parents about it yet, but it's not likely to happen with me."

"Hiro lives with his grandma, and asking someone who just joined the Team to take on an extra mouth seems like a bad idea."

"So that leaves Mogura." Everyone turned toward the blind man to gauge his reaction. He merely held two fingers to his temple in concentration.

"I think I'll be able to convince my family to let another person enter the Inn if you two stay in he same room." Yukiko bowed slightly. "We'd be honored to have you, Teddie."

Drawing in a deep breath, the blind man took off his sunglasses. "If he pays for his own rent or we split, fine."

"What? How is poor little Teddie supposed to pay something like that?"

"I'll hook you up with a job at Junes, okay? You can be our mascot or something."

Mogura raised his hand. "Speaking of which, can I join up? I need a source of income that's not my dad."

"Sorry, but... Can you stack boxes?"

"Well, is it a move-stuff thing or a restocking thing?"

"Just moving from shipping vans to storage areas."

"I can do that."

"We can talk about that later."

"Yeah." Yui nodded. "Until then, Teddie, you're gonna have to stay in the TV World."

Yukiko smiled. "I'll tell you when I've made the arrangements."

"If it's you, Yuki-chan, I could wait forever!"

"Why don't you, then..." Mogura growled. "...I'm perfectly fine without a roommate."

"Eep! Wait! I'll wait... um... As long as it takes! But not too long! I want to stay here!"

-...-

July 11, 2011

Amagi Inn

-...-

The Investigation Team had gathered at the Amagi Inn in order to watch the trial of Adachi, which was being recorded live for Inaba due to its association with the small town. It was a rarity to see such things aired in Inaba, but this time, they made an exception.

Additionally, Hiro had returned to full strength soon after the Team had recovered him. His grandmother had been doting on him that day, but released him to go with the Investigation Team 'for a little while'.

"Now, Mr. Adachi. If you could tell us more about why, in fact, you told this young boy about a so-called 'TV World'."

"Well, Mr. Prosecutor... I was told, by an anonymous hint that there was something going on with televisions at midnight. Apparently, the people that died were shown on television before they actually ended up dying. I think that's where the rumor of the 'Midnight Channel' got started."

"And what is this 'Midnight Channel'?"

"Well, it's supposed to show your soulmate on television if you watch it at exactly 12:00 AM on a rainy night. But, apparently, the guy who talked to me said that he saw someone dying on it."

The prosecutor stared hard at Adachi. "Well, what exactly did he say?"

"The guy said that he saw Ms. Yamano dying, and he wanted to put a tip out to the police. I told him the police wouldn't go after such stories without evidence. When Ms. Yamano did turn up dead, I ended up watching the Midnight Channel myself, seeing if he was telling the truth."

"And what happened?"

Adachi shrugged. "Nothing showed up."

"Fucking liar." Kanji growled.

Chie frowned and rocked back and forth."Maybe he really didn't see anything."

"He's trying to stay consistent." Mogura leaned back. "Why wouldn't he have reported something if he really did see people show up?"

"So who was it that talked to you?" The prosecutor looked up. "The anonymous tip, I mean?"

Adachi's pupils widened visibly before he continued to speak. "Well, um, I don't know. He... He never told me his name... I, um... didn't write down the number... I thought he was crazy."

"So the speaker was male?"

"Um, yeah. I think he was."

"So, back to the original topic. Why did you tell Mr. Kubo that he had been 'throwing people into' the TV World? Surely that would require knowledge of the mechanic of killing?"

Sweat began to bead on Adachi's face. "Well, um, I thought, if, well, someone was gonna use a TV to kill someone, you'd, like, throw them through the screen or something, right?"

"But why would someone throw another person at the television? Could the Midnight Channel not be a way for the criminal to tell the public whom his next criminal would be?" The prosecutor stepped forward, confident he had Adachi cornered. "And why would there be a world inside the television?"

Mogura clapped his hands. "Good job on show of the prosecution. Adachi has a chess fork ahead of him."

"Like what?" Yukiko turned to him.

"Either he confesses to know about the TV World, or he confesses to being a murderer." A grim smile showed up on the Hermit's face. "Maybe this case will finally be closed."

Onscreen, Adachi looked deeply distressed. Obviously, he was on the hot seat in front of all of Inaba and possibly the entirety of Japan.

"Even if he delays with the TV World route, the fact that he knows how this stuff is done makes it impossible for him to explain himself out of this." Yui muttered.

"I demand that you answer my question, sir. Why did you speak to Mr. Kubo in such a way?"

"I... I don't know..." Adachi began to breathe quickly and drum his fingers on the witness stand. "I... May I please step down?"

"Mr. Adachi. You have neither explained why exactly you attempted to frame Kubo, nor why exactly you continue to bring an urban legend into all of these explanations of yours."

"Your Honor, the prosecution is badgering the witness. Please, give me some time to gather the evidence."

The judge sighed and pounded his gavel. "This session is closed. Adachi will stay in police custody. You have two days to gather evidence, as I believe this trial is little more than due process. Are we understood?"

The defense attorney swallowed and bowed. "Yes, your Honor."

Dropping the gave, the judge motioned for the bailiff to secure Adachi.

"Shit. I thought this would end it." Yosuke grumbled before turning off the livefeed.

"I know, man! Tsk. But I guess you need to give everyone a chance, right?" He looked at Yui, who blinked and tilted her head at him.

"Um, yeah... I guess. It's just..." She looked down. "When he shot Dojima, Nanako looked like she was gonna die." Her eyes turned steely cold.

"Really?" Hiro asked. "Man... She's just a little kid."

Chie gave her grey-haired friend a thumbs up. "Don't worry. That guy's gonna get what's coming to him."

Yui's eyes glossed over. "I hope so."

-...-

Ryotaro coughed as he lit up another cigarette. I need to kick this shit. He thought. It's really not healthy, and I don't wanna give Nanako the wrong idea. Or Yui, for that matter.

He looked out into the night outside the courtroom, and his shoulders sagged. Goddamit! This case has screwed over so much of my damn time. I should be at my home, in bed instead of this shit. He kicked a nearby rock angrily, sending it scuttling along the pavement. I'm supposed to be Nanako's father, and instead I'm here, leaving Yui stuck taking care of her and herself and dealing with school to boot.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned around. "What is it?"

-...-

"Now listen up!" howled Morooka. "Despite all of this stuff about the murders, you're not getting off on anything, so don't you even THINK about slacking off." He picked up a piece of chalk. "Now, can any of you lazy bastards tell me what the name of the anima of desire is called?"

There was a bit of shuffling and mumbling before Yukiko raised her hand.

"Sir, the name for the first Anima is desire- I mean, Eve." Then something occurred to her. "What are the names for the four Animi- the male ones? You never talked about that."

Mooroka rolled his eyes and sighed. "It's bad enough teaching you brats the four female ones when you can hardly remember them, but, whatever." He turned to write on the board. "I better hear you taking notes, you hear me?" After he was sure they had pulled out their notebooks, he turned back to the board. "Well, Jung, though he did come up with all of this Persona and Anima shit, was too lazy to come up with the names for the male versions, because he claimed they were more 'random' or some crap. So I have my own names for the four levels of Animus.

"The first one is Adam, which is, duh, the counterpart to Eve in the Bible. Adam represents physical power- Basically, the fact that men do things. This explains your lack of appreciation for my teaching, because you think I just talk to hear myself talk."

"...Except that you do..." grumbled Yosuke.

"I heard that, ya brat! Do you wanna come up here and teach some psychology? Huh?"

"No, sir! I'm sorry, sir!"

"That's right! Now shaddup!" He cleared his throat. "The second level of Animus is the perception of a man's capacity for planning- when she finally gets off of her high horse and realizes that men have brains, too. I would normally call this the Bushi, or Samurai, but since all of those damn movies and video games show samurai as idiots with katanas, I call it Alexander, after the famous Greek general who wound up dead after drinking too much. Apparently his regular planning wasn't that good.

"Now, the third is more along the lines of someone who teaches, like me, except that it's more like speaking- An orator, if you will. When I was in school, the guy they associated this one with was 'Lloyd George', some politician or something. The fact that I can't name anybody like him in politics nowadays is just more proof as to how this country is going down the drain.

"The fourth and final one is the Sage, which represents wisdom, like Sophia of the Animia. Technically, I guess we could call this one Socrates, after that Greek guy who everyone calls really smart."

Yui wrote, and wondered where she herself was at in the level of Animus.

-...-

"Your Honor, It is almost certain we are dealing with a quite insane child here. It would not be beyond reasonable suspicion to consider Mitsuo Kubo responsible for the two deaths, rather than the defendant."

"And what evidence do you have to oppose this theory, Prosecutor?"

"Well, Your Honor," the state attorney smiled grimly, "On the death of Saki Konishi, I found out where she was last seen before she died." He held up a file.

Yosuke visibly tensed up, and his eyes widened. Hiro looked at him and then signaled to Yui his confusion. Yui simply mouthed that he should forget about it, but Hiro remained confused.

Pulling out a piece of paper, the prosecuting lawyer cleared his throat and began to dictate. 'Saki Konishi was last seen at the Inaba Police Station, at which she was being interviewed by Tohru Adachi about her witness to the body of Mayumi Yamano."

Everyone on the Inaba side of the TV went dead silent.

"No way..." Chie muttered.

"That son of a bitch...So he did do it!" Hanamura roared, standing up. "Reasonable suspicion my ass... I..." Hanging his head in his hands, he sat down with his face to the ground. The rest of the Team was too stunned to speak.

"The defense objects. This fact is simply a correlation, not a causation. In fact, Mrs. Konishi had plenty of time to speak on the body before her death."

"The prosecution would like to remind the defense that there may have been a particular fact about the state of the deceased that any murderer would have wished to prevent from being revealed."

Adachi's face twisted into a strange smirk. "Funny you should say that. I remember telling my superior Dojima that I thought that was why the killer attacked Sak- Ms. Konishi, as well."

"Regardless whether or not you said that, you still had the motive and the opportunity to attack Saki. Also, something that I seem to have forgotten." The prosecution went back to his bench and shuffled through a file to reveal another slip of paper. "This record holds that you were on guard at the Amagi Inn the day Mayumi Yamano died."

He handed it to the judge, who nodded. "I will accept this as evidence. Now, Mr. Adachi. You have been associated quite closely with the death of the two victims, in a way no other person has. I believe I will now hand down my verdict, unless the defense has any objections."

The defense attorney stood up and wiped his brow."Your Honor, Mitsuo Kubo could still be a possible suspect. You can't sentence a man to prison in another's place! Please, the defense would like proof that my client did, in fact, commit the murders."

"The prosecution maintains that Adachi was the last person in the presence of Saki Konishi, as proved by video recording of the door. The paper I showed you earlier records and confirms this fact, as I did not wish to waste this court's time by watching five hours of video unnecessarily."

With this, the judge brought down his gavel. "Enough. I believe the total of evidence has been presented, and I will now lay down my verdict. On two counts of murder, this court declares Tohru Adachi to be guilty of these actions, and he will be charged with the mandatory 55 years of imprisonment total in conjunction with the charge of assault on a fellow officer of the law through use of firearms. Baliff, take Mr. Tohru into custody." The judge sighed. "Court is dismissed."

"Thank God." Yukiko's shoulders slumped in relief. "That's finally over."

"Indeed. I think we can all sleep well from this point forward. Speaking of which..." Mogura stood up. "I'm gonna go take a nap."

Kanji nodded. "Yeah. I'm going home. I've gotta think about some stuff." He bowed and left.

"Why's everyone leaving so quickly?" Chie asked.

Yui looked around. The only ones left were her, Chie, and Yukiko. "Where's Yosuke?"

"Huh?" Chie asked. "I think he walked off or something. Why?"

"He didn't say anything. That's not like him."

"I guess it was a bit awkward." Yukiko muttered. "It must be like with Mogura and Kanji."

"I'm going to find him." Yui jogged out the door, leaving her two friends to wonder.

"Do you think she..." Chie turned to Yukiko before grimacing.

Yukiko sighed and nodded solemnly.

"What's going on?" Hiro asked.

"Yosuke lost a close friend of his during the murders."

"You mean Saki Konishi?"

Yukiko nodded. "I don't think he would stop investigating unless Saki-san's death was put to rest."

-...-

"You-!" Adachi lunged at Mitsuo before getting pulled away fiercely by the baliff and another police officer. "How come brats like you get to walk around free, huh? Huh? You did it, you little bastard! I'll get you if it's the last thing I do!" He grabbed at the unmoving boy, managing to grip onto his arm before the baliff dragged him out and away from court.

-...-

"Yo." Yosuke threw a rock across the Samegawa before turning back to his friend. "What's up?"

"You walked off." Yui stood beside him. "Why?"

The auburn slacker chewed on his lip. "I had to think." he muttered.

"About what?" Yui put her hand on his shoulder.

"You know damn well what!" Hanamura burst out, jerking away from her grip. Seeing how alarmed Yui was, he sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just..." He swallowed, picked up, and chucked another rock into the river.

"It's about Saki, isn't it?"

Yosuke stopped mid-throw, letting the rock he was carrying fall to the ground. "Yeah. It is." He sat down, putting his arms around his knees. "I just..." He looked down. "I got to Inaba six months before you did. And... Everyone in the shopping district hated me. Because of Junes. They were losing money. Badly. But... Saki didn't hate me. Or, at least, that's what I thought."

Yui sat down beside him. "Did something happen between you two?"

Yosuke nodded. "Remember when I faced my Shadow?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"It turns out she always loathed me, for letting Junes destroy her parents' business." He looked into the sky. "She... she said I was always bothering her, that I was trying too hard to be nice."

"She said that? When?"
Yosuke looked back down. "Right before my Shadow came out, I... I heard her speak. I think... the place I faced my Shadow... Was the same place she died."

Yui was stunned. To have a friend say that after smiling to your face for months must have been brutal for him. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say."

"You don't need to say anything." Yosuke muttered.

'What?" Yui blinked.

"I think that, if there's anything wrong with you, it's that you talk too much." Yosuek picked up a stone and chucked it at the river. "You always need to say something, and, well, sometimes, you just have to listen." he smirked. "I guess you could say the same thing about me, too."

"Your big mouth does seem to land you in some tight spots."

"Hey! That's exactly what I mean, though. I'm always coming up with some witty-ass comeback, and so are you. I think, both of us... Just need to let some things be." He sighed. "Still, I wonder what would have happened if she were still alive."

Yui opened her mouth, but stopped herself and just laid on her back.

The two of them were silent, listening to the river run by them. There seemed to be a tension between them, though, and Yui found it necessary to speak.

"Well, what should we do now? Should we go back?"

"Yeah, I guess." Yosuke sighed.

-...-

Mitsuo stared at his television, blank and dark. His video game console had been removed, leaving an empty space below the box television. Staring with hollow eyes at the colorless screen, Kubo listened to the clock tick off. The whole room was empty save for scattered clothes, a bed, and the television.

Suddenly, static hissed into existence. As Mitsuo stared at the screen, he saw a familiar figure appear. Glowing red eyes stared into his soul, and fire blazed in the background.

I art thou... Thou art I... Existence is meaningless... Don't you agree?

"What are you?" Kubo mouthed just loud enough to be audible. Suddenly, his head was wracked with pain.

Your pathetic realm is filled with nothing but pain. But here, you can have whatever you want. You can do whatever you want. You can be whomever you want.

Hissing laughter echoed through the teenager's room.

A smile creeping onto his face, Mitsuo nodded and stepped forward.

"Really?"

Those video games you play? Here they are real. You are the hero, and the princess is yours for the taking.

"The princess..." He looked at his feet, but his grin simply grew wider.

Doesn't that sound nice? But those fools... They would steal it away from you.

The grimy boy looked up in surprise. "You mean those... people? The ones that kept me from saving Yukiko?"

Yes. Even now, they wish to end the Midnight Channel. You can make your dreams reality here... And they would destroy that.

Because they are jealous of you. They know that if you come here, you'll have all you ever wanted. They act SO superior, going on about the 'truth'. What garbage. The truth is whatever you make it. So what do you want, Mitsuo Kubo? Will you join me?

Mitsuo reached out, touched the television screen... And found that his hand passed right through.

Join me... Forget this dismal life you lead, and take your future into your own hands. In the Midnight Channel, no-one can tell you what to do.

END CHAPTER

NEXT SCENT: A BIT OF REST?

"How about a party to celebrate?"

"I feel like there's still something wrong."

"Despite the evidence, this case is not yet over."

"I don't sense anything in the TV World."