Begin
~Normal POV
12/7 - Wednesday
They returned to the tv world immediately after school. Teddie, with some encouragement and a burst of confidence, managed to locate Adachi through scent as he normally did. They didn't particularly care how he was suddenly able to. It might have been a mental block from his issues stopping him before.
But the place he led them to was... familiar. Or rather, it was only familiar to Yu, Yosuke, and Chie. As it turned out, Adachi's "hideout" was that creepy room they found together on their first trip here. The one with all the ripped up posters and the hanging scarf... A fitting location for a madman to hide in. They opened the door and walked in to find him leaning casually against the window. He hardly looked up upon hearing them enter. Instead he kept his gaze out the window.
"That damn bitch..." Adachi muttered bitterly. "I noticed her first... And she just had to run off and have an affair..."
"Adachi..." Yu spoke up, to get his attention.
Adachi turned to them and smiled rather creepily. "Oh... It's you guys. You're very persistent..."
"And you're the one we've been hunting this whole time," Yu replied, "The real killer."
Adachi shrugged, still smiling. "I don't know what you're talking about..."
"You're not lying your way out of this one, damn it!" Yosuke shouted, "Just being here proves it! Answer us! You're the one who threw Ms. Yamano into the tv, aren't you?!"
"It was an accident. She started struggling... What else was I supposed to do?" Adachi laughed casually. "Since you're so curious, I'll tell ya. Yeah, I came down to the inn that night. I wanted to ask her something about that affair. So I asked her all calm and nice like, 'It's not true, is it?' And what does she do? The worthless bitch started giving me lip! Got all hysterical on me. I figured she needed a little shock to clear her head... One thing led to another, and..."
He paused and gestured to Yukiko. "Well, that's a nice big tv you got in your lobby. She just... fell right in. Good thing for me no one else was around there in the middle of the night."
Yukiko shook a little, completely horrified at his words. "That... happened in our lobby...?!"
Adachi continued on nonchalantly, as if he hadn't been interrupted. "I learned about the Midnight Channel through some rumor. You hear a lot of fishy stories like that on the force. But it was pure coincidence that I touched the screen and discovered my power. I burst out laughing when I found out. I knew right away that this was going to be interesting!"
"So you tested it on Mayumi Yamano..."
"Nah, it was nothing like that." Adachi said, too casually. "I'm a very sincere fellow. I was just trying to punish the stupid bitch a little for betraying me. Yeah, putting them inside the tv was never the plan... But ya know, both Mayumi and that dippy high school girl struggled for no reason..."
"Then you were responsible for Saki-senpai's death!"
"Saki...?" Adachi said, "Oh yeah... Her name was Saki Konishi or something like that. At first, I just called her in cause of work-related stuff. Her being the one who found Mayumi's body and all. And naturally, if there was any chance she'd seen something, I'd need to know, right? I called her down to the interrogation room. And I was all set to be a nice guy to her, and then that bitch... I saw her earlier that day with Namatame."
He grinned creepily again. "I also remembered hearing a rumor that she ran off with a college guy once, too... I figured she must be into older men, right? Why don't I take a shot? Gorgeous thing, wasn't she? I tried being nice, she smacked me, and well, I know how to deal with girls like her. The tv in there is pretty small, but it was a lot easier the second time around. High school girls are thinner, ya know? Lighter."
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Yosuke screamed.
"Come on, give me a break." Adachi replied, nonchalantly. "I didn't know it was dangerous inside the tv. It's not like I was trying to kill them. I mean, I'm sure they hit on Namatame, not the other way around. They were just gold digging. They got exactly what they deserved. I didn't do anything wrong at all."
"You knew damn fucking well this place was dangerous!" Yu argued.
"He's right!" Yosuke said, "So shut the hell up! You knew people died in here because of Mayumi Yamano!"
Adachi sighed boredly. "So what if I knew?"
Yu tried again to put the rest of the pieces together. "You knew about Namatame, didn't you? You knew what he was doing."
"He called the police in the middle of the night, just after they found that Saki girl's body." Adachi answered. "The rest of the force had their hands full with the double homicide, and it happened that I was the one who took the call."
"Namatame said the police refused to take him seriously..." Naoto said, "You were responsible for that then."
"Oh, quite the contrary!" Adachi replied, grinning. "If anyone else had taken the call, sure, but I actually did believe him, ya know? All I did was tell him that if he was really worried about another girl getting killed then... he could just put her somewhere safe. Where no one would find her. Isn't that amazing? Of all the people who could've received Namatame's call, it ended up being me! Talk about luck! All I did was give him a little push... And he completely bought into his vision of this world. The more people you guys saved, the more he'd kidnap... Both sides had the best of intentions, so the game of cat and mouse would never end... It was awesome."
"You gotta be shitting me!" Kanji shouted, completely shocked.
"Why?!" Yukiko screamed, "What reasons could you have for doing that!?"
"Reasons?" Adachi pretended to think for a moment, "None really. I could do it, that's all. And it was fun... I guess that's my reason?"
"YOU MURDERED PEOPLE JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT?!" Chie screamed.
Adachi chuckled, "All I did was put people in here. I didn't murder them. And Namatame did most of it. I had nothing to do with any of you."
"You're just dodging the blame!" Kanji shouted.
"Yeah? Then how would you prove it? 'He put people into tvs?'" Adachi laughed again, "You think the police are that stupid?!"
Teddie growled lowly, "What a jerkwad!"
"I do admit though." Adachi continued, thoughtfully. "I never thought you guys would manage to track me down. I like that. Games like this gotta have surprises or they get boring fast. It's like when I dealt with that Kubo kid. That was fun too."
The gang reacted with shock at the mention. Did that mean Kubo was involved with the rest of the case in some way?
"Then... you mean to say that Mitsuo Kubo's disappearance was your doing, as well?" Naoto asked. But she seemed to have already deduced the answer to her own question and continued. "I did sense something odd in his course of action... If he had special powers and wanted attention, why resort to a regular copycat crime? But that wasn't the case... Kubo had no such powers. In fact, he was thrown in by you... Am I correct?"
"It had been a while since I last put someone inside the tv, so I really got a kick out of that one."
"Why did you do that!?" Chie screamed, "And... how come Mitsuo didn't say anything about you?!"
Adachi smirked, "You think that didn't occur to me before I did it? Come on, I'm a detective. I led him to a room at the station with a tv, switched off the lights, and did it quick while he was still startled. As long as he didn't see me push him, and no one else did either, no one would believe him... even if he survived. Of course, I don't think the Kubo kid ever figured out what happened!"
While this confession did make sense, something about it didn't add up. Didn't Kubo appear on the Midnight Channel before being caught?
"The police station?!" Yosuke asked.
"But we handed him over to the cops," Yu said, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Oh yeah- that part." Adachi said, casually, "After he whacked your teacher: He turned himself in pretty quick, actually. This was back when we didn't even know enough to issue a search warrant! But the other officers decided it was just a prank, so they pawned him off on me. I didn't blame them... I mean, a kid coming in and saying 'I did it all- It was me?' Who'd believe him? But it looked bad... I didn't think anyone would come forward and take the blame for all the incidents. The police were desperate to pin it on anyone... If this kid really did it, they might have announced the case was closed. And if that happened, Namatame would stop saving people. I couldn't let that happen, or the game would be over! That's why I told the others I sent him home. I came up with the idea to put him inside the tv on the spot!"
"The game would be over?!" Yukiko shouted in disgust. "You threw him in just so your fun wouldn't end?!"
"You gotta have some excitement in life, don't you agree? But then you guys put your foot in yet again and ruined my fun. Thanks to you, Kubo was arrested again, and everyone acted like he was the real culprit behind it all." Adachi laughed in an unhinged way. "Couldn't they see how badly he copied the crime scene? It worked out in the end though, because good old Namatame kept saving people! I guess the guy started to develop some kinda messiah complex, huh? What an idiot."
Yosuke was shaking with rage at this point. "This is all a game to you! How dare you murder people... Murder Saki-senpai for such a stupid reason! You bastard... I'll never forgive you!"
Adachi rolled his eyes. "You can keep your forgiveness. Our world will probably become just like this place soon enough anyways. Didn't you notice? The fog's leaking out. Everything on that side's pretty much screwed... The two worlds will merge soon, and then there'll be no difference, no sides anymore."
"What the hell's he talking about," Kanji asked.
"This isn't his real body..." Rise said, conclusively. "The real Adachi is somewhere else."
"But this guy feels different from an ordinary Shadow..." Teddie added. "It doesn't feel like he's going berserk..."
"Wow, you can tell that much?" Adachi replied, smirking evilly. "This me is just around to greet you guys and thank you for wasting your time by chasing me in here. I'd say this world has taken a real shine to me... I feel like it's given me everything I've ever wanted. And the monsters don't attack me at all. Maybe they can tell we have the same goal?"
"The Shadows' goal?" Yukiko said, quizzically.
"By the end of the year, Inaba will disappear completely into the fog." Adachi explained, "Soon, this place will be reality. I'll be in this world, so if you want me... come and get me. This world has a mind of its own. We'll see which of us it favors."
"Keep your bullshit to yourself!" Kanji shouted. "It's about time you shut the hell up! We'll finish this right now!"
He ran up to try to punch Adachi, but the man disappeared in a flash of light. Proving Rise and Teddie's point that this wasn't the real man. It was just a copy set up to taunt them.
"What a chump!" They heard Adachi's voice echo around them. "Didn't I just tell you the real me is somewhere else? I'll be expecting you all... We'll put an end to this."
Kanji returned to the group while they pondered what just happened. They had their confessions from Adachi, down to the letter, but the last part didn't make much sense. How did he know what this side was intending to do? He'd never been here before. And the part about Shadows not attacking him seemed strange too.
"That stuff about the world's mind, and how this place will become our reality... Was he serious?" Yosuke asked.
"The rest of his confessions were consistent." Naoto replied, "We'd best proceed under the assumption that it's no lie."
"It felt like... he's gained some strong power after coming here," Rise said, worriedly.
"Not only that..." Teddie said, "Maybe he got taken over by that power."
"So what he said about the two worlds becoming one... that's really gonna happen?" Yukiko asked.
"And didn't he say that it would happen by the end of the year?!" Chie added. "What happens then?!"
"I think he means... This world will engulf the human world." Teddie said, "The people in town are acting weird. It's like when the Shadows that emerged from people went berserk. If the fog gets even thicker and this town is completely shut off from the outside world... Then... the other side might become full of Shadows, like over here..."
"You mean, everyone's gonna turn into Shadows?!" Rise asked, horrified.
"DAMN IT..." Yosuke shouted, angrily. "DAMN THAT BASTARD! Why?! We went through so much to get here... And now it turns out he was pulling our strings this whole time!?"
"We'll stop him." Yu said, firmly. "It might take a while to properly prepare. But we will end this."
"Yeah..." Yosuke said, calming down a little, "It's about time we finished this. I don't want to feel this way ever again."
Behind them, the wall opened up like a torn piece of paper to reveal a familiar vortex entrance that they'd seen many times before. It must have been the way forward.
"There's a path we can take now." Rise said, "I sense Adachi's presence from that direction... He's taunting us."
"Then let's get prepared!" Chie said, with determination. "Let's get over prepared and leave footprints all over his stupid smug face!"
Yu was staring at the portal with unease. He had... an instinct to go in now. There was a part of him, he didn't know how or why, that wanted to talk to Adachi properly. Was he truly unhinged? Was he beyond saving? Very likely. But Yu wanted to know for himself. That man was his friend, wasn't he? It would only be fair to give him a final chance to talk it out.
"Senpai," Naoto said, getting his attention. "Please don't go on alone. I understand that it must hurt, since you seemed to have a personal relationship with him."
Yu noticed that the others shared her sentiment. They were all looking at him worriedly. They truly did not want him to do it...
"Maybe that's why..." Rise said, frowning, "I feel a presence kinda like yours up ahead. He might be calling to you." She shook her head. "Wait, nevermind! Forget I said that! We're all going in together, ok?!" She turned her pleading gaze up at Yu.
"Promise us." Yosuke said, firmly.
"...I promise..."
~...
That evening, Yu stood in his room staring at his tv. So, Adachi was the true culprit... He still had trouble believing it. Despite hearing a full confession from the man himself. He admitted to everything right to their faces and yet... he still couldn't believe it.
"He might be calling to you..."
With a heavy heart, and a mental note to apologize later, Yu quickly got dressed in his uniform again. He grabbed his keys and his glasses and left the house. Junes should still be open just long enough for him to do this.
He simply had to talk to Adachi alone.
~...
Upon reaching the Junes electronics department, he was relieved to see nobody was there. He climbed back into the tv without a second thought. Nobody was inside the tv world entrance either. Good. Yu steeled his nerves and walked to Adachi's hideout.
When he reached the door, he briefly hesitated with his hand on the knob. This was his last possible chance to back out. Should he? No. He had to do it. He came all this way. He took a breath, and opened the door. He cautiously walked in. The room was silent and empty. He approached the portal, while keeping his ears open for the slightest noise. Before he could attempt to go in the portal, it vanished, replacing the wall with the same window that was there before. He gasped and stepped back.
"This is a problem."
Adachi's voice came from behind him. Yu quickly turned towards the door, but found nothing there. Then, just as suddenly, he felt something metal press against the back of his head. He stiffened in fearful realization that it must be a gun...
Adachi kept his finger on the trigger, smirking in satisfaction at the reaction he wanted. "Why didn't you bring the rest of 'em?" He asked teasingly. "You're such a party pooper."
"Adachi..." Yu said, as calmly as he could muster while not daring to move a muscle, "Put the gun down..."
"Tch." Adachi ignored his request. "You couldn't even bring your wannabe detective friend?"
"Her name is Naoto, and she's twice as good a cop as anyone working on the force. Now please... I just want to talk."
"To... what, change my mind?" Adachi asked, "Don't kid yourself."
But he lowered his gun anyway. Yu tried to face him, but he'd moved again. Now he was sitting leisurely on the chair under the scarf hanging from the ceiling. Adachi smiled sadistically at him while lightly tapping his pistol against his knee. Yu wisely didn't move any closer, staying put right where he was.
"Your whole gang should be here." Adachi said, casually. "You know, work together, beat the bad guy. Friendship, effort, victory... You guys love that stuff."
"Friendship is why I'm here." Yu said, firmly, "I trusted you..."
Adachi's smile faded to a look of boredom. "Oh, really...? Just what was it about me that made you want to believe in me so bad? Well?"
Yu knew better now though. "Everything... even you letting us go after Namatame, it was all to continue your damn game?!"
"Fuck off, ya dumb brat." Adachi scoffed, "I don't have anything to say to you. If crimes could be solved by appealing to morality, we wouldn't need the police! The person you believed in was a version of me who only existed in your head. You decided on your own to believe in me, and that decision betrayed you. Why complain about it to me?"
"Because I thought we were friends, damn it!"
Adachi snickered. "Friends? I don't recall saying anything like that. You're the one who approached me first, remember? Besides, friends are a childish concept. Let me impart a little adult wisdom. There are no friends once you walk outta graduation. Oh, but you, you're gonna say you're different. Huh? Not gonna let anything tear you apart-" He laughed again and kept going. "I can see it now. You'll get outta high school, maybe go to college. You'll settle down and marry that fine ass idol of yours. And then what? She'll dump ya for her career in stardom-"
"Don't talk about Rise like that!" Yu shouted, angrily.
"What? I'm just spouting facts. That's how all those career-driven bitches are. Shame I never got a minute alone with her myself... Nice figure... Ya got good taste."
So Yu was right... Everything was a lie from the start. This man had no respect for anyone, and only cared about himself...
"You're a sad human being, Adachi..."
Adachi scoffed again, giving him another bored look. "You say the dumbest shit. It's people like you who come to me alone, naively thinking you can 'turn me around,' that piss me off the most."
Yu understood everything now. He knew... He knew the reason why he was so vehemently against the idea that Adachi had done it. He knew why it made him so unsettled. So agitated. It was because his thought that Adachi was a suspect was no mere coincidence. He had figured it out inside his head at the time. And the feelings he had as a result from "something bothering him" were actually his heart rejecting it. He knew it was true, especially when Naoto argued with him about it, but he simply didn't want to believe it. He spent all this time dedicating himself to his search for the truth: yet when the truth came, he was ready to reject it.
He had never experienced this feeling before. The feeling of being betrayed by a friend. Strung along and stabbed in the back... It was a feeling he had heard of, but never saw for himself. He never lived anywhere long enough to be as close to friends as he was in Inaba, so it was new to him. New to think there was anyone in town who would break his trust. That a friend would try to harm him or his family... Even the warning letters had been part of the game, he thought. It was just to scare them into further submission to his plans. To keep them playing along.
Adachi stood from his chair and raised his gun to the boy's head once more. Yu stiffened in fear.
"What do you think will happen if I shoot you?"
Yu glared at him and quietly replied. "It'd just be one more crime you committed."
Adachi grinned maliciously. "You're right. That's all it would be."
He fired the gun. Yu didn't realize he was holding his breath until that moment. But the bullet didn't hit him. Instead, Adachi had shot just past his left ear at the window, making a small hole in the glass. He cocked the gun again and stepped a little closer, still keeping it pointed at him to keep him from moving.
"Do you get it now? We're done talking. I won't miss next time."
Yu could see the cold determination in Adachi's eyes. It was like a hunger... Hunger to harm others with no regard for their feelings. This man had no concept of empathy or sympathy. No care for anyone but himself. No moral compass to guide him on the right path. Tohru Adachi was not his friend. He never was...
He was nothing but a cold-blooded murderer all along.
"Want me to let you choose?" Adachi said, with his twisted smile. "You can go back to your friends and bring them all here... or you can die now." But he seemed to second guess himself, and lowered his gun again. "Hm. I guess regular revenge is boring, though. Let me see where your detective work takes you. It's always good for a laugh. You're so persistent! Look at all that youthful vigor you've got. Come on, leader, bring all your friends back here!"
With another evil laugh, the copy of Adachi vanished in a flash, just like before.
"Well, bye bye!" He heard Adachi's voice echo around him before the room fell silent once more.
Yu sighed to himself and walked out the door.
~...
He climbed back out the tv at Junes. Upon being back in reality, he pocketed his glasses and wiped the sweat off his forehead. That encounter must have scared him more than he thought. He hadn't even noticed himself sweating...
"Welcome back."
Yu snapped his gaze forward and saw Yosuke approach him. He didn't look shocked, or upset. He seemed as calm as usual.
"Yosuke?"
"I told you not to go alone." Yosuke said, calmly. "Though, I knew you would anyway..."
"I'm sorry... I just... I had to speak to him."
Yosuke nodded. "It's ok, I understand. I'll keep it a secret from the others, and I won't ask about Adachi for now. But come on... you should trust us more."
Yu had a feeling he didn't know just how much he trusted them all.
"Anyway, I'm glad you're safe." Yosuke continued with a smile. He made a joke-y little announcement that the store would be closing soon as a way to lighten the mood. Yu fell into step beside him as they walked out of the store.
"Are you gonna be ok...?"
"Yeah... I'll be fine..."
Yu would be ok. He knew that for a fact. He wasn't just saying it to make him feel better, it was the truth. He had the team. He had Rise, the girl he loved very dearly and knew would never put her fame over their relationship. He had Yosuke, who had a great many faults but was a good friend when it mattered. He had Teddie, who wasn't very smart, but had a big heart. He had Kanji, who was a bit of a hot-head, but also a very caring and devoted friend. He had Chie and Yukiko, who were the first people to show him a warm welcome at Yasogami. The first people interested in being his friend here; who didn't think twice about bringing him into their lives. He had Naoto, who could be blunt sometimes, but was actually a very kind person at heart.
All these people were different in their own ways, but they had one thing in common that he now realized he valued more than anything: They were loyal.
His teammates were people he trusted. Far more deeply than he previously thought. Yu would take a bullet for any of them. Hell, a few minutes ago, he almost did. This team would not turn their backs on him. He was deeply grateful for it.
One bond he had made may have been broken into being enemies, but as long as he had his team... He would be just fine.
~End of Chapter