Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 128

“Don’t stick your nose too much into this. How about you focus on doing your job correctly?”

“Don’t think you have the audacity telling me how to handle this case.”

Honestly, when Eli had heard those words from Nijima’s own mouth… They cut deep, very deep. It had been a little while since then yet they had stuck with him ever since. Because there was truth to those words. There always has been yet he hadn’t known until recently.

The day was months ago and it had struck him out of nowhere. Honestly, it was his worst fear which had come true. Ever since Eli had heard that this man had been responsible, he wasn’t someone who could easily believe that. Yet the evidence had been solid at the time. This was all evidence speaking for him being the culprit, Karl Wolf, Anja’s father. His DNA had been found on the bodies, his fingerprints on the weapon and he had known the victims in question. And that was just the bare minimum of the evidence. More came up as time went on. And when the arrest was made… 

Eli had heard from the men at the scene that Karl had not even resisted. Even in the time of being interrogated beyond his limits he showed his priorities. Surprisingly enough it was not self preservation, no. Instead he had prepared his family from the looks of it. The officer could recall one question in his head when having heard the man speak. “ Is my family safe? ” Though at the time he hadn’t understood why the man would ask such a question. Obviously they would be safe, yes. They were not involved in such an ordeal. It was the last thing he said, at least what the officer had heard from the old man’s mouth. Because the day after Karl had been found in his cell, dead, and no one knew who did it at the time. It was ruled as a suicide and no one bothered to look deeper into it. When Eli wanted to he had been shot down right away, told that ‘there are more important cases going on’. And, much to his own dismay, he had to leave it be. Though he still didn’t understand why the old man had prioritized his family’s safety over his own, why he had asked to begin with.

It wasn’t until the revelation in July where Eli had understood, at least somewhat. The one behind the murders was cruel enough to frame Karl. And the evidence he had been handed was… Something else. It had filled all the holes in this case and everything started to make sense. Yet it also caused inner turmoil… How was he supposed to live with himself!?

False convictions were sadly not uncommon. Yet Eli had sworn to himself to never end up like this. He wanted to protect the people, deliver rightful judgment. But in the end he had ended up doing the exact same. An innocent behind bars and ending up dying, without seeing the light of day that his innocence had been proven later. It was frustrating. He was no better. If he had pushed hard enough then maybe this would have been solved differently. He fell for the same trick, did the same thing – Going for a false conviction. 

So, hearing others belittle him for it… They had every right to do so. How often has he heard it in the past few months? 

“If you had done your job correctly, we would not be in this mess.” 

“Thanks for giving us extra work.”

Even rumors started, one even claiming that he had been involved in the cover up. He wasn’t, that was the truth. He wouldn’t step that low… Or so Eli thought. Because what if he was? Just the thought of it made his stomach turn. He tried to not think about it yet this case would haunt him, day after day. 

“If even a little girl can solve it, you’ve only proven yourself useless!” – Words which were hard to listen to but was it wrong? No, not at all. He is useless. He was no better than anyone else in this facility. He was supposed to catch criminals, not get an innocent person killed! But here he had been now and it just kept eating him up. Yeah, maybe he is better off just rotting away. Sometimes one has dreams they are not cut out for after all.

And it was no surprise either that Nijima didn’t want him to be around this case either, the Phantom Thieves case. After all, what if Eli acted hastily? He already fucked up once and caused quite a scandal. Not just for the Ishikawas, they had their own set of problems since it turned out that one of their daughters was a criminal. Not just a petty one but a sadistic murderer on top of that. No, a scandal for everyone else as well. It had put more pressure onto everyone as a result. The justice system could not afford to mess up a case on a national scale after all. And if Eli messed up in such a small case in comparison… Then he would mess up this massive one too.

“Stay out of this! We don't need you slowing us down!”

Yeah, she’s right… He needs to stay out of this… But that’s not to worry about anymore. He will stay out of it. After all, if he leaves no one has to worry about his presence slowing everyone down. He had to leave, there was no other way. It was the only option.

He’ll be gone, just as asked.