Last time, spent a few hours bashing my head against a stupidly unfair slot machine boss, aced midterms, and made an animal friend. This time, the plot resumes.

On the evening of the 13th we get to see the piece on the biker gang. They report that one of the bikers tried to attack the camera crew.

I immediately recognize him from the opening movie as one of the major characters. How kind of the reporters to only blur the least distinctive part of him while leaving his hair, shirt, and school emblem intact.

DOJIMA: Man, that blur sure is pointless. It’s completely obvious who he is.

Thank you, Dojima! Dojima recognizes him as Kanji Tatsumi, a boy who’s been a delinquent since middle school. Apparently he’s a momma’s boy; he crushed all the other biker gangs because the noise kept his mother up at night.

On the 14th it rains into the night, so I can finally watch the Midnight Channel. I’m not only railroaded into doing this in the evening, it also skips the afternoon, which I find unreasonable.

It’s obviously Kanji. At most, you might be confused about which particular member of the gang it might be if they all have the same hairstyle, but come on.

The next morning:

Pfffffffffff. At least there’s no one directly adjacent to them this time?

YUKIKO: Oh, then does that make this place our special headquarters?
YOSUKE: Yes! Exactly! Nicely put, Yukiko.

How very convenient that this means they’ll also be sponsoring his family’s business whenever they meet up. Embrace the product promotion, kids.

The only thing people find notable about the figure was that he was a high schooler, and not that he looks identical to the guy on the TV program that aired just prior. Did none of them watch that? Yukiko grows a brain cell and notes that this disproves their theory that the targets are all “females”. Based on the pattern of her Midnight Channel appearances Yukiko “think[s] it’s safe to assume” he hasn’t yet been kidnapped. No, that is absolutely not safe to assume, one data point is not a trend. Chie tries to sum up the case, and Yosuke says she’s just repeating what they said. For some reason Yukiko finds this hilarious. Why are you so awful to your friend, Yukiko?

The Midnight Channel plays again tonight. Kanji moves around more, but the image is still blurry. This time we can finally say we recognize him. Afterwards, Yosuke decides a murder investigation is the best time to ask which of our friends I’m into. Mercifully, I can say neither (or both).

The next day, everyone once again discusses their findings in front of the class. Yukiko reveals she knows Kanji because she’s a frequent customer at his mother’s textile shop, and the gang decides to visit the shop to see if they can meet him.

When we arrive, another portraited character is here. He politely says his goodbyes and leaves, which Yosuke considers weird for some reason. Chie notices something odd about the scarf on display, and…

“Yuki-chan, did you bring your friends who are on drugs? Blink twice if they kidnapped you.”

She specifically remembers it from the slasher shrine. Oh dear. Yosuke thinks this means it must be the first victim’s. All the shop owner has to say is, “Are you acquaintances of Ms. Yamano?” because propriety forces her to hold her tongue, I guess. She confirms Yamano bought the scarf as a special order; moreover, though she ordered a pair, she only ended up taking the women’s scarf. Yosuke assumes this means Kanji must be connected to the first victim too, but… it could be a coincidence, guys. If this is a serial killer just throwing people in randomly, well, it’s a small town, connections are going to show up. Are there even any other textile shops in this town?

YOSUKE: But it’s just a scarf. Would the killer target someone just because of that…? Dammit, what’s going on…? C’mon, let’s talk outside.

Yes, only after openly discussing the killer’s motives does he decide that maybe we should take this outside.

On the way out, they see Kanji across the street talking to the young man from earlier. Contrary to his reputation, Kanji acts flustered and soft-spoken, and agrees to meet with the man after school tomorrow.

KANJI: He’s a guy… and I’m a guy… But… he’s interested in me?

So one spoiler I haven’t managed to avoid is that Kanji is explicitly, textually gay. It’ll be interesting to see where they go with this.

Kanji notices the gang eavesdropping and chases them off. Yosuke assumes that Kanji’s mom is the real target on the grounds that she’s a woman (he at least doesn’t say “female” this time), even though she’s not the one who appeared on the Midnight Channel, which seems much more pertinent. Yukiko points out that in her case, her mother was the one who directly interacted with Yamano, which would have made her a more likely target if this was about Yamano… and for some reason this makes her think Yosuke is right instead of barking up the wrong tree. Chie grabs hold of the group’s collective braincell to point out this doesn’t make any sense, and Yosuke finally acknowledges the possibility he might be on the wrong track. Chie proposes they just talk to Kanji directly.

YOSUKE: Alright… let’s try staking out both Kanji and his family’s store.

Or you could just walk back into his store and talk to him, you absolute weirdo.

Yosuke asks Yukiko for her cell and Chie proceeds to get weird about it because this is an anime game. Apparently he’s also been calling Chie at night just to tell her dirty jokes. What is wrong with him? Yukiko pointedly pretends not to hear him and changes the subject.

Dojima isn’t home in the evening but I still can’t go out because I need to “rest early today to get ready for tomorrow.” So much railroading.

On the 17th we perform the most obvious stakeout ever. The gang splits up to watch both Kanji and his shop, and I get to choose who I pair with. I choose Yosuke to spare the girls from his creepiness.

CHIE: I don’t know… What if something happens if we’re the only ones there?

Then kick it to death, kung-fu lady? Jesus, they’re really committed to making the girls wusses. Chie pairs up with Yosuke against my wishes. What was the point of that choice, then?

YOSUKE: Alright! We’ll need to pretend we’re on a date to make it look natural!

This is what I was trying to protect you from, Chie. Next time don’t spurn my gifts. After they leave, Yukiko stands around like an idiot before remembering we need to stake out the shop. Sigh. Yukiko proceeds to be a pathetic waif scared at the possibility of the culprit showing up.

YUKIKO: You all saved my life… I don’t want to be the only one doing nothing. I mean… I’m sure there’s something I can do…

You can shoot fire with your mind.

Then she decides now is the best time to make things awkward between us.

YUKIKO: I’ve never chatted with a boy my age like this before… Chie, of course, has no problem getting along with guys because of her personality…

Citation needed. She seems like she was friends with Yosuke prior to our arrival, but everyone else seems to shun her and her Shadow explicitly said she has a complex about being unfeminine and unattractive.

The conversation grants me Yukiko’s social link (finally): the High Priestess. I’m not sure if that fits her as well as it did Fuuka.

We cut back to our Ace Detectives failing at stealth.

CHIE: Hey, how do you think the others are doing?
YOSUKE: Beats me. For all we know, he’s hitting on Yukiko as we speak.

Are you trying to destroy the group, Yosuke?

CHIE: Yukiko doesn’t seem to be interested in that stuff anyway.

Gay subtext intensifies.

Kanji mercifully shows up to spare us from this. Yosuke proceeds to make a fool of himself coming up with a cover story instead of just telling the guy outright they think his family is in danger. Chie proceeds to make this worse by insinuiating she knows he’s on a date with the other guy. We cut to them rejoining the main group to say their mission failed. Yeah, ’cause you were idiots. Yukiko suggests waiting some more to intercept Kanji when he comes home, because I’m sure he’ll be more amenable to talking after that disaster.

Kanji then shows up right on cue and asks them outright what the hell they think they’re doing. Someone please just be straight with him already.

YOSUKE: Hey, uh… mind if we ask something? Has anything strange happened to you lately?

That was the worst way you could have asked that. Kanji assumes they’re insulting him and threatens everyone.

YOSUKE: Wha–!? Wait, why!?

“Why is the juvenile delinquent threatening me? What an unexepected turn of events!”

In the evening, Yukiko calls to tell me Kanji’s mother says he didn’t return home tonight. For some reason the game gives me the opportunity to be an idiot and say, “He should be fine.” No.

Ooookay. Similarly to Yukiko, he’s hosting a dating show, this time for “love that surpasses the separation of the sexes.” Yosuke immediately calls to sputter incoherently at me.

YOSUKE: But that was completely over the top!

Unlike Yukiko’s panty shot and ranting about harems, which was so normal?

YOSUKE: Dammit… We guessed right, but he still slipped through our fingers.

And whose fault is that, hm?

At school on the 18th, the gang loudly discusses the mechanics of the Midnight Channel and how it sounds so absurd, yet it’s really true! I can only assume they’re deliberately trying to spread the rumor.

YOSUKE: If this rumor spreads and everyone starts watching the Midnight Channel…
CHIE: It could cause a huge panic…

“Let’s talk louder just to make sure.” Also, why? Because people having some clue towards what’s really going on would be so much worse than the current panic people are having over the disappearances?

The gang shouts out a new theory for everyone to hear: The culprit is throwing people in specifically to create more content to watch on the Midnight Channel. Saki didn’t generate a show, though…

CHIE: Oh, that is IT! That killer is dead meat! I’m gonna leave footprints all over his face!

Yes, yell your intent to commit murder a little louder to make sure everyone hears. Chie’s murderous intent boosts the team link to rank 3.

We jump straight to the TV world. Teddie is useless and can’t tell where Kanji is. He thinks he’d do better if I gave him some information about Kanji.

TEDDIE: I just need some sort of hint… Something that tells me what he’s really like.

Why didn’t he need this before? Instead of saying he clearly has a bathhouse fetish, the gang heads out to shake down random townsfolk for info and proceeds to do a terrible job of it.

YUKIKO: I was told to talk to the last person who saw him, but… I’m not sure who that would be.

Obviously the boy he was dating. Or his mom, who will indeed tell me to ask the boy if I talk to her. Why was she not the first person they asked? After asking some NPCs I learn he hangs around Junes, but only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I have to wait until tomorrow. I decide to fulfill one of the fox’s requests instead… but it turns out to be a quest I also can’t complete until tomorrow.

I practice with the boys instead. Daisuke reveals Kou has a super-strict traditionalist family that disapproves of him playing basketball. Instead of offering to murder them I just meekly ask what I could possibly do, and Daisuke says all I have to do is keep showing up to practice because Kou has a crush on me has been “really psyched psyched since you joined” and “You’re all he talks about,” and somehow this moral support will stop his family from coercing him into quitting.

In the evening I spend time with Nanako even though I don’t get a rank up because I am a good brother who spends time with my poor sad baby sister.

On the morning of the 19th Yosuke is quick to inform me that according to the weather report there won’t be fog for a while, so we can afford to let Kanji rot in the other world for a while. The test results are posted and I’m in the top 10. Huh, did I miss a question, or is that the best I can get?

I talk to Kanji’s date, who says Kanji had a strong reaction to being called an “odd person”. Unlike most people? He says he thinks Kanji has a “complex”, and this vague guess is enough for Teddie to go on. When I enter the TV world, Teddie whines at how small a clue it is, but it works.

We hear the voices of two men flirting with each other. Everyone gets uncomfortable and Yukiko asks if they really have to be here, but suddenly Teddie is absolutely certain Kanji is here. (Yet as soon as we enter the dungeon part, he claims his nose is stuffed up by the steam and can’t smell anything.)

TEDDIE: No need to worry! This fog won’t clear for a while. Evidence…? I told you I don’t know what that is. Is it tasty?

The three words he doesn’t know: “Camera”, “filming”, and “evidence”. Very unsuspicious!

YUKIKO: Kanji-kun and a bathhouse… I wonder what that could mean…

You run a hotel with a hot spring. You know exactly what it means.

One of the new enemies is Racial Caricature + Cop. Why.

Okay, woah. Apparently follow-up attacks are now unique named abilities with special effects, and Chie’s is guaranteed instant death. I wonder if all follow-up attacks have the same effect? That seems pretty hard to top.

I retreat after two floors to recover, only to discover the fox charges a fortune. He does, at least, give me a free soul drop for petting him. Also, Teddie knows what a fox is.

On the third floor we encounter Shadow Kanji, who is even more sexual than Shadow Yukiko.

YOSUKE: Crap… This is so wrong in so many ways…

Oh, but it was okay when Yukiko was doing it? Did you especially like the part where even though she was making a harem, she was only going to bang one of you, Yosuke?

CHIE: I remember it being kinda like this on Yukiko’s show, too…

Thank you.

We hear voices, but this time they’re indistinct. Yosuke decides they must be the voices of people watching from outside the TV. So in addition to the standard voices that are intrinsic to the place, there are also other voices that you know are definitely different? Which is especially stupid, because if anyone at all was watching these shows, they would be gossiping about it. The fact the town wasn’t flooded with rumors of Yukiko moonlighting as a porn star is probably the best evidence that no one else is watching this. Also, it’s… not midnight? We enter the TV world in the afternoon and leave in the evening. How could anyone be watching this if it only appears on the Midnight Channel?

Shadow Kanji is annoyed he hasn’t scored a hot date yet and runs deeper into the bathhouse. I have run out of SP, so I return home and leave Kanji to suffer another day. At least he has water?

Dojima gives me $200 for acing exams. Sweet, I really needed that! He’s open for hangouts, but he’s terrible at conversation so I need to get better expression first.

On the 20th I cash in all the pending quests I’ve got now that I’ve had the chance to get the items from the TV world, and I finally find Adachi at Junes. He complains that life in the country is boring compared to the city, but now he can’t relax because of the murder case. I get his social link, which is… the Jester? Strange. Though I guess he has been a comic relief character. Before he leaves, he hides from an old woman who passes by, then tells us not to tell Dojima he was here.

In the evening I hang out with Nanako, who asks if I’m an only child. I can say no, but I don’t think that fits our established backstory: if we had siblings, surely either we could stay with them or they would have to come with us? Nanako is pleased to learn we have this in common.

I immediately head back to the TV world the next day because I’m not a dick. On the 7th floor Shadow Kanji makes me fight one of the overmuscled luchador enemies, which is pretty fitting.

Kanji’s repressed homosexuality manifests as misogyny: he hates girls because they make fun of him for his feminine hobbies and want him to be a manly man. Okay. Then Kanji rejects his Shadow and this time nobody tries to warn him. You disappoint me, Yosuke.

YOSUKE: This isn’t really him! It’s just his emotions going haywire!

That’s not what everyone’s been saying the past three times.

Even less subtle than the last one. His two helpers are “Nice Guy” and “Tough Guy”, each of whom are weak to one of the girls’ elements and immune to the other as well as resistant to Yosuke’s wind attacks. Nice Guy has lots of buff spells he casts on Tough Guy as well as Re Patra, while Tough Guy uses physical attacks. Shadow Kanji himself has no weaknesses, but uses electric attacks, making him effective against Yosuke. His special abilities target my party based on gender: he can poison boys and enrage girls. He and the Guys also appear to take extra damage from the girls’ attacks, but the wiki makes no mention of this so it could just be that Chie is crazy strong.

And I… actually win, even though I’m not at full strength! SP got pretty low, though; Ame-no-Uzume’s Invigoration came in really handy for letting me pull off a few more Medias.

After the fight, Shadow Kanji still keeps resisting because Kanji is still rejecting it. It says the boys would all make wonderful boyfriends, which makes Yosuke very flustered and insist he doesn’t swing that way. Kanji punches his Shadow and insists “It ain’t a matter of guys or chicks… I’m just scared shitless of being rejected,” so is he bi or is this just anime attempting to nohomo this? Afterwards, Yosuke is very quick to offer to take him home.

Kanji’s Persona is Take-Mikazuchi (so we’ve swung back to gods from folk heroes), but it doesn’t look anything like Shadow Kanji or Take-Mizazuchi’s mainline design. He has a similar stat layout to Chie, but trading some speed for tankiness. And his weapon is… a folding chair, for some reason. That would be fitting if he were a wrestler and not a biker.

That evening, Dojima tells me Kanji’s been found, and also tells me he’s heard I’ve been hanging around his shop despite it not being a popular destination for high schoolers. Aw, he’s being a detective! I tell him Yukiko took me there, which he grudgingly accepts. I don’t know why I can’t just spill everything. He is justified in his suspicions; I really am involved, and if someone dies because I won’t accept outside help, I should feel culpable for that. (Farla also points out that he probably has access to guns, which would be really helpful here.)

Unconcerned by these ethical quandaries, John sleeps like a baby, knowing he’ll have plenty of downtime since he rescued Kanji so early.