Allowing for Rebirth

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Persona 4 Verdict AU (P4/Judgment Fusion)
Chapter Summary: Naoto gets evidence that blows the case open.
Word Count: 915
Rating: Teen
warning: not graphic or in detail but mentions Naoto's observation that Yosuke's been homeless sometime in the recent past.

 

        Hanamura is almost instantly recognizable, particularly from the amount of footage the detective has been staring at over the last few months.  The clothes he’s wearing are the last outfit he was seen in, slightly the worse for wear.  He looks exhausted, yawning even as he waves at the Detective Prince’s approach.  His hair is almost to the natural color—likely due to lack of funds—and the speed with which he stuffs his mouth full of food the instant Naoto sits and the slightly edgy way he keeps looking around suggest he may have spent some time on the streets.  Not the ideal situation, really.  “See?  I’m fine, I’m not kidnapped; you can call off the investigation,” he manages, once his mouth is no longer full.  “I don’t know why this all started, anyway; I thought my note was pretty clear.”
        The detective sits straighter immediately.  “What note?”
        Hanamura pauses when picking the sandwich up again and frowns—he has a very expressive face.  “Wait, what do you mean, ‘what note’?  I left a note saying I was running away.”
        He continues to give more intrigue even as he tries to clear up a mystery.  That’s unusual.  “Neither the Ibukas nor the police found a note.”
        The frown merely deepens.  “Nooo, that’s wrong.”  He draws out the first word in his confusion.  “I watched them pick it up and freak out before I slipped away.  I didn’t want them to catch me.”  He slumps, slightly defeated, in his seat.  “I don’t know why they’d lie about not finding the note.”
        Unfortunately, Naoto has an idea, and says as much.  “They wouldn’t do so because having a nephew run away would be humiliating, and having him kidnapped would not?”
        He stares the detective for a moment and then winces.  “I take it you’ve had to deal with them for a while.  Sorry.  Yeah, that sounds exactly like them.”
        Naoto runs a few calculations and comes to a conclusion.
        “Do you have somewhere to stay and a job?”
        This time, the answer does not come to him as speedily, and the detective sighs and continues, “Your situation is all right, I trust?”
        “Oh, yeah.  The apartment I have is basically a closet, but it’s Kamurocho, you know.  I’m lucky I got that.  And at least the commute and rent aren’t too bad.  I got a job bartending; it’s not too different from retail, apart from the fact that everything’s a hundred times more breakable.”  He pauses, puffing out his chest, and adds, “I’ve even had to act as bouncer a couple of times when a customer’s had too much.  One of ‘em was even a chinpira.”  What he leaves out is almost as noteworthy as what he says—the fact that he must have gotten a fake ID (not too difficult in a place like Kamurocho), the fact that as proud as he is of the results, he’s grateful the yakuza in question wasn’t higher up the ladder, because he’s not sure he could win in such an instance, the fact that he absolutely would try anyway, if he felt he must.
        “Are you still making payments on the fake ID?” Naoto asks, feeling a slight glow as he gapes in response.
        “How—” he begins, stammering, and does not finish the question.
        “Elementary.”  She’s wanted to say that her whole life; it’s about as satisfying as she’d thought.  “You’re underage; hence, you would have needed to lie about your age.  Furthermore, you took no form of identification with you when you left, quite possibly in preparation for this exact situation.  Ergo, you would need false identification, which may put you in harm’s way considering you are a newcomer to such spheres of criminal behavior.”
        He laughs once he gets over his shock, grinning, and it’s his first real smile during the entire duration of their conversation.  “Wow, the Detective Prince really lives up to the name.  Yeah, I only paid about 8000 yen, and they haven’t contacted me since.  I asked around, to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off or scammed.”  Of course, this is no guarantee, which leaves only one conclusion.
        “I think I can manage to end the investigation, and not only my own—provided you stay in touch, Hanamura-san.”  He looks shocked and tries to speak, but Shirogane merely increases the volume.  “This is not negotiable, Hanamura-san.  By leaving you here I am assuming some of the personal responsibility for such a decision; thus, your safety is my concern.  In addition, I may require additional information.  When strategizing the confrontation with your aunt and uncle about wasting the police’s time, for instance.”
        His face really is very expressive, Naoto notes.  He would do terribly at poker.
        “I—okay, fair enough.  Is an email address good enough?”  He fishes the phone out of his jeans—a new phone, which makes sense.  He’d hardly continue to use the old one, as it’d lead directly to his location.
        “I will take whatever contact you are willing to give, as long as it is regular and sustained, at least until you are legally an adult.  If you ever fall out of contact, I will track you down once more.”  Naoto explains, amused when he throws up his hands.
        “Hey, no need for threats!” he exclaims, half-joking.  “I’ll behave!”  They exchange information and he heads off with a cheerful wave.
        Hanamura Yosuke, the Detective Prince’s intuition says, will be a rather interesting acquaintance in the future.