The Twin Persona's

The Truth, Part 1

(Daytime, Hospital)

as everyone arrived at the hospital, Yu and Naoto immediately left for Namatame's room as the others set up a distraction in the lobby, as the rest of the group arrived in front of Namatame's room, both Yu and Naoto were still in the hallway, the police guard gone

"it won't be long before they realize it's a set-up", both Amaya and Sakiya stated in unison, "brilliant plan by the way, Naoto",

"alright, then now's our chance to talk to Namatame", Yosuke said as everyone walked in the room, Namatame was in his hospital bed, staring at the wall

"Namatame-san, there's something we'd like to ask you", Naoto asked, Namatame turned his head toward the group, "it's tempting to think that you were the culprit behind the entire case, and to be honest... there are many in this town who hope you are, but we are here to learn the truth, so please... answer our questions",

"did you kill those two girls", Yu asked, but Namatame shook his head

"they were killed... I couldn't save them...", Namatame stated

"is "saving" killing people", Yu asked, Namatame shook his head once again

"no... if nobody saves them, they'll be killed... that's why... I put them in there...", Namatame explained

"then... if you didn't kill Ms. Yamano or Saki... then who did you throw in first", Amaya asked, Namatame rose his hand and pointed directly at Yukiko

"so, after discovering the Yamano and Konishi incidents, you realized an appearance on the Midnight Channel meant certain death", Naoto explained as Namatame nodded his head, "thus, to save her from that fate, you kidnapped Yukiko Amagi... you couldn't let her be killed, so you threw her into the T.V., preventing the killer in this world from reaching her, and you repeated the process, as more individuals appeared on the Midnight Channel... it all falls into place, his body is weak, but his mind is sound, he's trying to tell us the truth",

"yeah, but if the stuff he's saying is true...", Yosuke began

"there's another killer who murdered the first two victims", Rise asked as Naoto nodded her head

"if you weren't the killer, why enter the T.V.", Sakiya asked

"I didn't know... I never thought... it would be that kind of place...", Namatame said

"who killed the first two", Naoto asked

"I have no idea... I wanna know that too...", Namatame said

"as I thought", Naoto muttered

"you... believe me... d-did they find him, did they find the one who did such cruel things, M-Mayumi...", Namatame asked

"please calm down, our ability to find the culprit rests on you, we know about the other world", Naoto explained, "in fact, we're the only ones who can fully understand what you have to say",

"we did blame you for everything at first, but now I think we can accept whatever you got to tell us... as truth", Yosuke stated

"please... tell us everything you can... calmly and slowly", Naoto asked

"you're willing to listen... to my story", Namatame asked as the group nodded their heads, "alright... soon after my affair with Mayumi became common knowledge... I returned to my parents home, as if to run away from the scandal... and I started drinking heavily to drown my anxieties, I hadn't been able to reach Mayumi at all, and that didn't help, either... she'd been disgraced on all the afternoon shows and forced to resign from the program she was on, I caused her so much trouble... I wanted to at least apologize to her, but I couldn't even do that... I lost the will and energy to do anything... then one day, the rumor I heard some time ago came back to me, since I had nothing better to do, I sat down blankly in front of the T.V. and watched my own reflection... and all of a sudden, there was Mayumi, the Mayumi inside the T.V. looked as if she was calling to me for help... when I reached out unthinkingly to touch her... my arm disappeared into the T.V., as if I had dipped it into a pool of water, I was so shocked that I lost balance and nearly fell face-first into the T.V., I was so scared... I couldn't understand what just happened, I thought maybe I'd gone insane, in the end, I decided to think of it as just a dream, and I went back to the city the next day after finishing work, the next afternoon, when I got to work... I was fired on the spot, as I expected, that wasn't what broke me, though... it was Mayumi being found dead, and not just that, but it had happened in my hometown... I was dumbstruck, but later on... I remembered the image of Mayumi I'd seen that night, was it not a dream... could it really have been an SOS from Mayumi... I hadn't touched another T.V., because the first time was so terrifying, but I decided to try it again... and I confirmed that none of it was a dream, so that image... was it something Mayumi showed me, calling for help... that's how I felt",

"and eventually... you learned of the Midnight Channel", Naoto said

"I remembered that when Mayumi was alive", Namatame explained, "she was chasing a rumor about some bizarre T.V. program, I'd heard about it before, but I thought it was just an urban legend, but then Mayumi appeared on it, and later turned up dead, the more I thought about it, the harder it became to believe that the two events were unrelated, soon after that, I came back to Inaba to answer the police's questions, I lost my job, and I wanted to know the truth of Mayumi's death for myself, then, on another rainy night, someone else appeared on the Midnight Channel... it was a girl, she looked like she was calling for help, just like Mayumi, the first thing that came to my mind was, "maybe this girl will be the next to die",

"and that was Saki-Senpai", Yosuke asked

"I'd been following all the news about Mayumi, so I noticed right away that she was the girl who found Mayumi's body", Namatame stated, "and if my hunch was right, she'd be the next victim, I didn't want her to die the way Mayumi did... so I desperately kept watching... I was consumed with the idea of rescuing her, then... little by little, her image on the screen came into sharper focus",

"it became sharper", Chie asked

"how did you find out it was her", Yosuke asked

"after I came back, my father couldn't bear to see me in such low spirits, and gave me a job with the family business", Namatame explained, "I met that girl when I delivered a package to the liquor store... after agonizing over it, I decided to meet her... and told her to be careful, but that same night, on the T.V., she looked as if she was being engulfed by some black shape... she was writhing in pain... the next day, they found her dead, I knew she was gonna be murdered, but I couldn't save her, I blamed myself, thinking there must have been something I could've done... there was no one who depended on me, nobody at work... not even my wife, Mayumi was the only one who accepted me for who I was, but she was murdered, and the same person killed another girl... I was... I was beside myself... I couldn't forgive myself for doing nothing",

"you really did love Ms. Yamano", Chie said

"yes, from the bottom of my heart", Namatame stated, "before I was married, my wife made it big in show business, I was happy for her, but it put a strain on our relationship... it was around that time when I met Mayumi... she was interviewing our candidate for the next election, she was a big-name announcer, but she only worked with local stations, and her attitude towards work was similar to mine, we both came from Inaba, so she was easy to talk to... I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't help getting intimate with her, she... gave meaning to my life, soon after Saki-san was found dead, yet another girl appeared on T.V., that was you... my opponent was a murderer who left no clues to his identity...I thought hard about what I could do to protect her from someone like that, the girl inside the T.V. looked as if she was smiling at me... and... that's when it hit me, I apparently had the power to go through the T.V. screen to the other side... then, what if I put her into the T.V. and give her shelter there before the killer gets her... then once things calmed down, I could just let her out again... I felt as if everything was starting to come together in my mind... could Mayumi have given me that power to prevent anymore victims from meeting her fate... was it my mission to save people... yet, the only thing I could do was take them away... or so I thought",