Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 133

The memory had taken place several months ago, back in July. It was only a few days after Miyuki Ishikawa had been arrested and Lukanja had met Sato–San in person, the officer who had been in charge of this investigation. They had honestly not thought too much about it, minding their own business actually until they had overheard something from afar.

“You think you have the right to walk up to me and tell me how to handle this case?” They heard someone hiss, making them stop dead in their tracks. It had been just around the corner and that was why they had leaned against the wall of said corner. The voice was familiar yet they wanted to just be sure… And also not walk into some heated argument. Hence why they had decided to stop, even if only for a short moment. They took a peek, spotting the two together – Nijima–San and Sato–San. Though they could only see Nijima’s reaction at the time, she was not exactly pleased. In fact she seemed furious. “Besides, it’s only thanks to you that we’re having our hands more than full!”

“I just—” Sato–San had been trying to defend himself at this time but to no avail. He hadn’t even been given the chance to speak at that moment. 

“We already have enough on our plate with the Phantom Thieves and the Mental Shutdown incidents. And now we even need to take care of this case which should have been dealt with months ago!” She continued, even raising her voice slightly. “Do you have any idea what trouble you’ve caused!?”

There was no response, no verbal one at least. All they had seen was his head slowly going down, facing the ground for a moment. They couldn’t see though if he was just keeping himself together to not snap the prosecutor or if he was just ashamed. Maybe it was a mix of that? It was hard to tell from the angle they had been witnessing this from. 

But it was not as if Nijima–San had shown him any mercy, no. She only continued to speak in this irritating, loud tone of hers. “If you had done your work less sloppy we wouldn’t be in this mess! Now every single piece of evidence has to be reevaluated! Are you aware of that!?”

“Y… Yes…” The first word Sato–San had spoken since that conversation, and even then it was just barely audible, as if he was nearly mumbling under his breath here.

“This is going to take up the time we could use on those other cases!”

“I—”

“Not just that but do you know how we look like for convicting an innocent man!? Not just that but also that we let him die!?”

One could see a slight twitch in the officer’s body, as if he had just been hit by an arrow, right through his chest. He moved as if he was in pain yet he said nothing in response to that. Or at least they hadn’t heard any type of response. After all, it was a bit too quiet for too long and Nijima–San herself only looked more furious by the second.

“You make sure to clean up after this mess by yourself! Don’t expect any help from your errors!” The last thing she said before she had turned away and walked away from the scene. 

The aftermath had just been painful to look at. He had not said a word nor moved, only having had his body tremble in place. Lukanja at the time hadn’t been sure how to react yet it all sounded harsh, perhaps a little too harsh. After all, had it really been his fault? They… Could hardly say. The case file they had been given only had so much to say.

But they wanted to reassure Sato–San, get him to calm down. Yet by the time they had approached him he had gotten himself together, standing up straight again and having turned to them with a slight grin.

“It’s nothing. Go back to work, alright?” They heard him say before he had walked past them, only having left them baffled.

It was sure harsh and the start of many more times where they would hear such a thing. Yet he hadn’t left. He stayed, at least until deciding otherwise. Yet with all of that thrown at him he was still persistent no matter what. 

Or was it because Sato–San had no choice? Maybe he couldn’t escape that easily… But that was just a possibility to consider. Yet the endless cycle of belittling, it reminded them of something…

And it was this memory which had given them the first idea. If it was because he had no other choice until recently… Maybe he was trapped at this place and this incident was going to forever haunt him.