A Shadowy Misdirection
4/17/18
Narukami and Shirogane, Investigators
Office
Naoto Shirogane is tired of drama. Plain and simple. The police, Public Safety; idiots, the lot of them. She wouldn’t go as far as to call everyone in the entire police force and government-sanctioned investigation division a basket of deplorable people; there were a couple of bright stars within the police force and Public Security that had the brain cells to spare to know when their orders are, in Naoto’s own words, complete and utterly designed to salvage the status quo or to fulfill the brass’s own greedy objectives. That said, with the top brass being only worried about their own positions and the accomplishment of their objectives and the rest worrying too much about themselves and their families’ wellbeing dependent on their job to defy the brass’s orders, Tokyo’s police is effectively hamstrung in its attempt to investigate crimes, and even then, with the brass’s objectives in mind, there weren’t that many times where true justice was found for the victims.
Shiho Suzui’s case marked one of those times where she could feel pleased about the results. Takamaki-san had told her that other students had managed to produce a recording of Kamoshida’s intent a day prior to the sexual assault Kamoshida exacted on Shiho-san. Additionally, she mentioned that some other students on the volleyball team have been looking beat up after practice and that there were also rumors about Kamoshida also having sexually harassed other females prior to this. Naoto felt confidant that in a court of law, the judge will take one look at the evidence and sentence Suguru Kamoshida to a prison sentence fit for his transgressions as a sexual assaulter.
She thoroughly enjoyed her work as a Private Detective on liaison to the Police Department. She ran her own detective agency with a partner; the benefit of this arrangement is that this partnership afforded her the authority to go out on official cases and due to her reputation, the police were at best willing to give her the time of day to hear out what she had to say. The downsides of this arrangement were that due to her arrangement, she didn’t hold as much sway with the brass as much as a full-fledged detective would, but considering her past, she won’t let it hold her back.
A voice snapped out of her thoughts. “Naoto… Naoto! I was wondering if you had time to look over some documents for me.”
She looks over. Yu Narukami was poking his head out of his office. She laughs awkwardly. “Sorry, Senpai. I’ll gladly help you; just let me finish writing my thoughts on my case.”
Yu steps out of his office. Yu Narukami was and still is her Senpai around 5 years ago. She had been assigned to the Inaba Police Department at that time to apprehend the suspect behind the serial murders; Yu and his friends Chie and Yosuke were also investigating them as well, though she was unaware. Eventually, she got thrown into the TV world, a supernatural world from which she gained the power of Persona through accepting her Shadow. She joined Yu and his friends in helping uncover the truth, which turned out to be that Tohru Adachi, one of Naoto’s liaison colleagues employed with the Inaba police force, was the mastermind behind the serial murders. In the end, they were able to apprehend Adachi and also determine the origin of the fog and how Adachi was able to throw his victims into the TV, which they had been investigating.
Yu’s silver hair shines in the light as he remarks, “Naoto, we’re both adults now. You shouldn’t call me Senpai now, we’re partners now.”
Naoto looks over at him, unamused at the blatant lie. “And yet still you let Rise call you Senpai. That girl has been head over heels with you since the beginning when she moved to Inaba. Are you two dating or even engaged?”
Yu sheepishly laughs. “Guilty as charged. Anyway, we’re not engaged yet. She’s still promoting her new album even if she always makes time to call me every night. I think she’s hoping that once she finishes promotion, she wants to get engaged quietly. I mean we’re already living together, even if she’s touring across the country most of the time.”
Yu strides over to Naoto’s desk. “You’re in charge of that sexual assault case, Naoto, right?”
Naoto nods. “It should be an open-and-shut case. There’s simply too much evidence stacked against the man. A sensible judge and jury wouldn’t even need to consult all the evidence before coming to a verdict for the man.”
Yu shakes his head. “I know, Naoto. We have to do it right for Suzui-san; the outcome of this case will drastically affect her life moving forward.”
Naoto sighs. “Society has always been a sort of embarrassment when it came to sexual assault victims; they’re victims, and society, through the idea of patriarchy and toxic masculinity, chooses to indemnify them to a life of othering and distancing.”
Yu pats Naoto’s shoulders. “I know you’ll work your hardest for her; you of all people should know the struggles of what being a woman is.”
Naoto laughs. “To think I wouldn’t be able to come to terms with myself if you and the others didn’t step in to save me in the TV World…”
Yu then gets serious. “While we’re on the topic of cases… how’s that favor of ours coming along?”
Naoto groans. “Nothing new that came up. I just recently got called to investigating that train incident and got to sit in and listen to the interrogation of that train conductor, but he had no idea what happened. It was like a blank slate for him.”
Yu half-chuckles. “I’m beginning to wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into. We both thought this favor from Mitsuru was going to be something on the side, but now I’m feeling invested in finding out the truth of this, no matter how many hours I have to put into it.”
Naoto grimaces. Despite her status as a Shirogane and the heir to the Shirogane fortune, Yu and she initially opened a detective agency in Inaba; however, they weren’t particularly the most business-savvy people and failed to realize that after the serial murders, Inaba once again became a quiet town with not much crime happening. Even with Naoto’s fortune, they weren’t able to keep operations longer than a couple of months at that rate with the office rent and being bored, even with Yosuke’s and Rise’s business acumen being called upon for help.
Then she called. Mitsuru Kirijo. It had been several years since they last ran into or even talked with her, even though they kept in contact with Labrys in the meanwhile.
Somehow Mitsuru had gotten this information, most likely through Labrys, and contacted them. She offered them pretty attractive terms. She would sponsor their agency movement, arranged a lease agreement in Shibuya of all places, and offered to put up all the funding for moving and lodging costs in addition to helping them salvage their detective agency. Additionally, the Tokyo Police Department would be most likely delighted to have the original Detective Prince to help consult with them on official police matters, despite having Goro Akechi, her successor to the title, consulting regularly with them on the mental shutdown and psychotic breakdown cases.
Of course, Yu and Naoto both knew that she wanted something out of this arrangement and confronted Mitsuru about it. Mitsuru of course knew that Naoto would obviously suspect something, and laid out the real deal.
10/19/15
5 years later after the two incidents in Inaba with Sho Minazuki, the Shadow Operatives had grown to a more sizable task force under Public Security, but as of a year ago (both Yu and Naoto were finishing university at that time), something strange happened. One of the Kirijo corporation’s leading researchers on the supernatural and Personas died in their sleep; the issue was that he died, in the words of the coroner, by no associated disease or had any family history of deadly genetic conditions. There was blood gushing from his eyes and mouth, and the researcher’s eyes were completely sunken. Mitsuru suspected that someone had murdered the researcher, but while she was preoccupied with investigating what would now be dubbed a “mental shutdown,” the National Diet had made further internal restrictions on the Shadow Operatives, to the point where at that time she called, they were languishing in limbo with no authority to investigate supernatural effects. That said, she authorized clandestine operations in Tokyo, the epicenter of the mental shutdown and psychotic breakdown cases, to determine what had happened to the researcher, given the similarities. The teams returned with nothing beyond tales of people having no recollection of their actions and people with blood streaming from their eyes, symptoms similar to the researcher.
Mitsuru suspected that these cases were tied to a Persona; at first, she suspected Sho Minazuki was related somehow to this new development, so she tasked Aigis to locate Sho. It took a month, but Aigis was able to locate Sho in the outskirts of Osaka, who joined the Yakuza in exchange for food and lodging.
When Aigis approached Sho, he laughed, mocking how the powerful Mitsuru Kirijo had indeed sent her lackey to finish him off in the end after all.
Aigis handed him her phone and Mitsuru spoke on the other end. “Minazuki… Glad to see you’re well.”
Sho spat, “Kirijo… Don’t think you can expect me to ever forgive you for anything. Anything! Your robot here is pissing me off so much I’m inclined to slice and dice it and sell the tech to the highest bidder.”
Mitsuru sighs. “I know, Minazuki. I heard you 5 years again and I still remember now. Though I know what you're going to say, I’d like to make my offer again; will you become---”
Sho cut her off. “I like my freedom. Even if I am in the Yakuza now, the people here treat me like I treat them. I’m one of their front-line fighters, and they treat me like a king. If I accept your offer, I’ll hate every second of it. I know you aren’t here to ask about this; you have three seconds to say what you want to say before I’m disconnecting this.”
Mitsuru spoke. “Mental Shutdowns. Psychotic Breakdowns. Tokyo. Heard anything about it?”
Minazuki guffawed. “Well, yeah… wait, were you suspecting me of doing this shit? I pegged you for a smart one, Kirijo, but I never knew you were this dumb.”
Mitsuru just groans. “Minazuki, dealing with you is exhausting… have you heard anything about it?”
Sho scratches his head on the other side of the line. “Now that you mention it, some bald dude with a couple of bodyguards came by the boss’s house talking about it. I can’t say any more but looked like they were cutting a deal.”
Mitsuru snapped to attention. “Details. What did this bald man look like?”
Sho lazily spouts off, “Tall, has tinted glasses, a goatee.”
Mitsuru is steadily becoming alarmed. If it is who she thinks it is, then things got more complicated. It could be a conspiracy at work. At least she now knew the person most likely responsible for the increased legislative quagmire that trapped the Shadow Operatives in a bureaucratic hell in addition to a primary suspect for enabling the mental shutdown and psychotic breakdown cases…
Mitsuru cuts him off. “Thank you, Sho. Do you want one thing, anything?”
She could imagine in her head Sho’s grin splitting his face. “Now we’re talking, Kirijo… let’s see… I want a Lamborghini and a monstrous refrigerator filled to the brim with expensive A5 wagyu and Kobe beef.”
Mitsuru only waved him off. “Those are two things, but fair enough. Thank you for the intel. Aigis will take care of the arrangements. Can you put her on the phone, please?”
She could hear shuffling from her end before Aigis was back on the line. “Yes, Mitsuru-san?”
Mitsuru clears her throat. “I’ll trust you to take care of what he wants. You have the company card. Once you’re back, I’m convening a emergency Shadow Operatives meeting on this matter. It will be urgent, and thankfully, everyone should be able to make it due to all Shadow Ops being in Japan right now.
After Aigis returned, Mitsuru convened a Shadow Operatives meeting. It took a couple of days, and unfortunately, Yukari wasn’t unable to make it due to a film shooting, but Fuuka Yamagishi had promised she’d fill in Yukari later.
Mitsuru calls the meeting into order. “As you know, the government of Tokyo has implemented new laws and internal directives that have recently placed the Shadow Operatives into a kind of bureaucratic peril and standstill. Additionally, on top of that, one of the Kirijo Foundation’s scientists has died in their sleep.”
Fuuka puts her hand up. “Died in his sleep? But then why mention that? It's not related.”
Mitsuru held up her hand. “The thing is, the coroner examined his body and found no signs of disease nor did he ever indicate he had any family history of any genetical disease. Additionally, given his work, he didn’t contract anything through his personal life, or else the autopsy would have found it. His eyes on the other hand had signs of bursting with blood.”
Akihiko slams the table. “Does that mean…?”
Mitsuru nods. “I’m afraid it is something related to our work. Something similar has been happening in Tokyo recently that I find the two occurrences almost too coincidental to not ignore. I sent clandestine Shadow Operatives to investigate, but they returned with no new findings beyond what we know. I almost thought we hit a dead end until I made the decision to find Sho Minazuki given his Persona's abilities.”
Mitsuru continues. “I sent Aigis to look for him. After a month of turning the country upside down, she found him in Osaka employed to a Yakuza group there, and he had information for us.”
Akihiko stands up. “Who!?”
Mitsuru continues. “Apparently, Masayoshi Shido had visited Sho’s Yakuza boss with talk of the mental shutdowns and offering to make a deal. Given his position in the current government, it is safe to say that he is a suspect in helping to arrange the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns. However, the murder of one of our researchers along with the Diet’s recent laws and internal briefings restricting us leads me to believe that he knows of the Shadow Operatives and views us as a threat; however, he thinks that if he was to try dealing with us through the use of assassination, we would foil his plans. He thus intends to leave us alone, all while consolidating his power in the government, and preventing us from acting with Public Safety’s permission.”
Akihiko snarls, “Bullshit! I’m gonna find him and wring the life out of him.”
Aigis interjects. “Akihiko-san, wait! There’s more. We have reason to believe that Shido is not the assassin himself, but merely that he is aware of the nature of Personas and is most likely a patron, given the fact that these mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns could have only been done by someone who wields a Persona.”
Fuuka tries to calm down Akihiko. “I think everyone here is in agreement that Shido is not going to get away with it. The reason why Aigis spoke up right now is that if you try to approach him right now, you’ll end up dead or maimed. Plus, we currently don’t know who the Persona user is, so you might spook him if you try to confront him directly.”
Akihiko, after some prodding from Fuuka, sits down. “That being said, I don’t intend on letting him get away with this.”
Mitsuru smiles. “I know. I must remind you, Akihiko, that he knows all the members of the Shadow operatives, official or non-official, but he doesn’t know who we’ve partnered up with in the past.”
Akihiko’s jaw slacks. “You mean to ask them?”
Labrys spoke up then. “It would be the perfect solution. The Investigation Team, Yu-kun, Yosuke-kun, and the others aren’t associated with us, and I happen to know two particular members who need a boost that Mitsuru can provide.”
Mitsuru affirms with a clearing of her throat. “To be more specific, we intend to request Yu and Naoto for aid with helping us on this matter. Their task in exchange for me helping them with their own matter is to investigate Masayoshi Shido and the string of these bizarre mental shutdown and psychotic breakdown cases. Along the way, we hope they can narrow down who the culprit of these cases are, the true assassin Shido has in his pockets. Once they confirm his identity, we’ll be moving in to apprehend him, or so I’d like to say.”
Mitsuru leans over. “Once they have managed to determine the identity of his assassin, we intend to sever Shido’s control over him. If we must neutralize this person, it will be done so even if my primary goal is not to kill him; it is to sever the roots of any conspiracy and to loosen our mobilization restrictions, of which Shido is sure to have been one of the loudest voices advocating for. By dealing with him, we are sure to regain some form of mobility and authoritative action.
Mitsuru then stands up to maximize her authoritative presentation. “This is our plan. Shadow Operatives, our objective is to investigate and deal with Shido, in addition to the investigation of the psychotic breakdown and mental shutdown incidents. Our primary goal is to apprehend the culprit. Failure is not an option; the continued existence of the Shadow Operatives depends on it!
12/09/15
Yu and Naoto were surprised at the terms. Mitsuru hadn’t explicitly asked them to get hands-on with what they found out; she promised that once they reported concrete findings about who the culprit, most definitely a Persona user, is, that the Shadow Operatives will be stepping in to take over. They wouldn’t have to get their hands dirty at all; it was a good thing since they were short on manpower in general. Rise was off promoting her new album, Sapphire; Yukiko took over the Amagi Ann officially; Chie was an officer in Inaba; Yosuke got a business degree and got promoted to work for the board of Junes; Teddie was busy looking after the TV world himself. Yu and Naoto didn’t have enough manpower to act on any evidence even if they wanted to.
They agreed to the terms readily. In their eyes, they got the better end of the deal; they managed to salvage their agency, they found more work than they could handle in Tokyo, and all they had to do was investigate these mysterious incidents and determine who the culprit was. At first, they questioned why Mitsuru and the Shadow Operatives couldn’t find evidence themselves considering their vast amount of resources. Mitsuru did say they suspected that Masayoshi Shido possibly had a hand in arranging these incidents, but that the intel came from Sho, who was now in the Yakuza. Therefore, they didn’t have concrete evidence to confirm everything, only speculations.
Naoto had speculated that because they were a well-known private security outfit dedicated to combating Persona-related matters, that the perpetrator had friends in the high reaches of government that could cover for them.
They soon found out just how difficult their task really was. As detective liaisons with Tokyo police, the both of them were able to investigate these crime scenes and sit in on interrogations with these victims and supposed culprits.
The startling thing was that these people had no prior record; in other words, they were completely innocent people before some psychotic breakdown victims became, well, psychotic. Likewise, they found no clear links with the victims of mental shutdown incidents.
They reported to Mitsuru by the 3rd week they moved into their new leased office. They only confirmed what Mitsuru knew; Mitsuru spared no time in saying that she isn’t surprised about what they had gathered so far. Even with Naoto’s detective prowess, the perpetrator was covering his tracks too well and Shido was most certainly involved in helping to cover their tracks. Given Shido’s position, he had meticulously weaved a web of alibis and cover-ups.
Mitsuru asked them to keep investigating, and that she’ll keep upholding her end of the deal. It didn’t hurt that the office they were leasing happened to be owned by the public sector of the Kirijo Corporation, under a shell company.
3 months in, they had gotten no closer to narrowing down the culprit, but one day, they walked into their office to find a small sealed envelope on Naoto’s desk.
They approached it, wary. Naoto opened the envelope and read the letter contained within.
Dear Ms. Shirogane,
I hope this letter finds you well. I have evidence that can help you in investigating the Mental Shutdown and Psychotic Breakdown incidents. I happened across it from a flash drive mailed to me by an anonymous person.
When I opened the contents of the flash drive, it contained definitive, new evidence tying Masayoshi Shido to these incidents. Additionally, it also confirmed that Masayoshi Shido is tied with other people in helping to arrange certain incidents in exchange for political favors.
Now, you may be wondering why I haven’t included the flash drive in this letter. It turned out that flash drive had a virus on board; it wiped all the contents within but not before I managed to save copies of the evidence on an encrypted hard drive and detached it. I suspect that the virus was a precaution to ensure the evidence didn’t fall into the wrong hands as it probably was remotely set off.
It’s too risky to meet with you and your associate out in the open without taking precautions. Despite this knowledge, I have to if I want to stay true to my beliefs of justice, and honestly, the amount of frivolity and corruption I gleaned from these files is shocking.
I’m asking you to meet me in a quiet restaurant in Roppongi, the Skyscraper Highlight, roughly a week from now, March 10th, at 9 PM sharp. I’ll have the hard drive in tow; I need to be hidden away if I’m to expose these people. They would most definitely go after me and anyone I know if I’m to do this.
I hope that you can arrange for friends to help me hide from these people. I have quite the damning evidence that could cause scandals in all reaches of government and society.
Sincerely,
A Law-Abiding Citizen and Government Employee
Naoto and Yu then quickly contacted Mitsuru to inform her of this development; she promised that she’ll send Shadow Operatives helmed by Labrys to ensure this man’s safety.
3/10/16 - Night - Skyscraper Highlight
The fated day arrived. Naoto and Yu quickly got ready for a night out at Skyscraper Highlight; their cover was that they’re a couple dressed out for a night at the town.
They got there a bit later, at 8 PM, so as to mingle with the other customers and not appear suspicious.
They took a seat at a table overlooking the skyscrapers of Roppongi. They ordered food and drinks and waited; Mitsuru had personally shipped them a Platinum company credit card so they didn’t have to exhaust their own coffers while undercover for this meet-up.
Yu took a sip of his cocktail, just a sip though. He remembered the time the Investigation Team and Naoto were at Club Escapade; Yu, Rise, Teddie, and Yukiko had gotten drunk off the atmosphere itself and not the drinks, but it was a fun memory.
He wanted to blend in but also to make sure he didn’t get too logically incapacitated by drinking. He looks over at Naoto.
She had opted for a non-alcoholic cocktail; given her height and her mass, she’d probably be completely buzzed after a single drink and she needed to be completely alert and focused for this mission.
Yu leans over and whispers, “It’s almost about time; you think the person’’ll show up?”
Naoto whispers back, “I hope so. This person seems like someone who has a sense of justice, even if they’re afraid of retaliation.”
Yu then leans back upright. “How’s the quail?”
Naoto grimaces. “Skewered. How’s your Wagyu?”
Yu smiles. “Tender.”
Just then their watches hit 9 PM on the dot. Yu and Naoto observed the patrons and the entrance; he might have come in early just like them or not.
Unfortunately, nobody stood out to them.
They decided to wait a hour longer to see if they missed anyone or if he’ll approach them. They also checked for single patrons; however, nobody had approached them or even recognized Naoto, even if she was decked out in formal clothing.
Disappointed, they left the restaurant and headed back to their own respective lodgings. Yu was driving. “You think that was a test? Or some sort of trap?”
Naoto put a hand to her chin. “We may never know. It could be that he got spooked or he couldn’t make it. Maybe he even got cold feet. I mean, we’re talking about a possible conspiracy here that threatens to kill people who expose them.”
Naoto interfaces a call with Labrys on the car intercom system. “Sorry, he didn’t show.”
Labrys on the ends audibly sighs. “I can’t blame him, considering he’s probably someone who values his own life or probably even has a family. I’ll report to Mitsuru-chan about this; I can guarantee she won’t be happy about this, but it’s not your fault the person didn’t show up.”
Yu smiles. “Thanks, Labrys. Tell me we’re going to keep investigating. Hopefully, we’ll get a break in the case at some point.”
Labrys affirms. “Ten-Four, Yu. I’m out.” She hung up.
Naoto sighs. “A dead-end lead; we’re back to square one. We’re no closer to finding who the culprit is nor any evidence as to how Masayoshi Shido is connected to all of this nor how far this conspiracy extends.”
4/17/16
Kobayakawa’s office
Sometime Earlier
Kamoshida slams his hands on the table. “Principal, what is the meaning of this? Restrain Sakamoto on a leash. He's too nosy and confrontational with me. If this keeps up, my position at the school will be in jeopardy!”
Kobayakawa puts his hands up. “Now, Kobayakawa-san, even I didn’t know about this. He’s been doing this of his own accord. That said, I do understand your frustrations. Shujin has only benefited from your presence coaching the volleyball team; we're as invested as you are in keeping this arrangement.”
Kamoshida growls. “I can’t believe he would accuse me, ME, of sexual assault. All he has is a recording; A RECORDING! How is that proof?”
Kobayakawa extends his hands. “Don’t worry, Kamoshida-san. I’ve already called for a board meeting with the entire board. I plan to bring up the motion to transfer Sakamoto-kun and Mishima-kun to different schools. I have contacts with other high schools in Tokyo so they’ll be more than happy to receive them with the transfers. As for convincing their parents, my contacts have drafted up scholarships for the two of them, scholarships that will more than guarantee their stay at these schools, with privileges and perks no less. Those two would be fools to pass up such opportunities.”
Kamoshida narrows his eyes. “About that girl who Sakamoto has as his secretary… is she really part of the Student Council?”
Kobayakawa shook his head. “Aside from Sakamoto being miss Amamiya's student guide, I don't believe so.” His eyes narrowed. “Have you done anything to her? Her parents quite frankly warned me that no harm should come to her, and I intend to adhere to that warning even if it means firing you if she so happens to catch your fancy.”
Kamoshida scoffs and snarls. “No! Besides, Mishima interrupted me, the pest. Anyway, Sakamoto must have been corrupting her mind with lies, LIES! About me! He needs to go; why did Niijima-san have to take a leave of absence; I swear I haven’t felt this on edge while Niijima was still head of the Student Council!” He looks at Kobayakawa. “You can tell me why, haven’t you?”
Kobayakawa shrugs. “Family matters. I heard that her father died, but to imagine that she would become truant because of her grief even for an entire month…”
Kamoshida then smiles. “I see that you’re invested in this as much as I am. I’m grateful for you taking this seriously, Principal.”
Kobayakawa nods. “You’re our star coach. With your coaching, the Shujin volleyball team will take the gold and Nationals. We can’t afford to lose you. With that in mind, it stands to reason that I’m invested in making sure you stay.”
Kamoshida then bows. “Well then, I’ll take my leave then.” He turns around and leave.
Kobayakawa makes sure Kamoshida really left, before dialing a number on his phone. “Sir, thank you for everything.”
The voice responds. “To think you would seek our assistance over something so minor… I do hope the favor you asked of us is worth all this trouble.”
Kobayakawa vigorously shakes his head. “Of course it is, Sir! As principal of Shujin, it’s my duty to ensure that Shujin attains glory with any method possible!”
The voice chuckles. “Well then, it should be a piece of cake. How’s that other matter going?”
Kobayakawa raises his eyebrow. “It’s going amazingly, sir. But why do you ask?”
The voice then turns hollow. “Remind me what your rank is compared to me. If you screw up in this… well, we’ll be sure to exact a fitting punishment for you.”
Kobayakawa pales. “Y-Y-Yes, sir, you can count on me to do this without any problems.”
The other line clicks as the other person on the line hangs up. Kobayakawa puts down the phone as he sweats. If he screws up in doing what they asked him to, he’s as good as dead. Even with his tenure in the organization, he was still relatively middling in authority and rank.
Kobayakawa clasps his head. Why did I have to be so greedy when accepting that task!? I could have declined and saved my own skin.