Persona 3: Whispers

The Edge of the Shadow

"You know who you're talking to, right?"

Sachiko couldn't help but laugh at the way Minato rolled his eyes. "I kid, I kid. But yes, I have heard about the rumours. I've been investigating them on the side myself," she answered him. "Why do you ask?"

It always started with the rumours. "Yukari—" Sachiko nodded as she recognised the name. "—has been a bit twitchy since Junpei told her about the ghost story. He got out a flashlight and turned off the lights." Minato's look deflated the more he remembered the 'show'. "And so she wanted to investigate them."

She smirked, folding her arms. Perhaps it was a detective's pride? "Well, I wouldn't mind telling you about the 'ghost story' if you don't mind hearing a bit more about the Shadow Whisperers that attacked me."

Minato chuckled. "Well, alright."

Three fingers. "I, of course, don't believe this incident is because of a ghost," Sachiko said. "I am, however, ready to concede that some other kind of supernatural force was involved.

"Three victims." She wiggled those fingers. "All found unconscious. When woken up, muttering things unintelligibly. In a vegetative state." Sachiko's grin faded. "They're trying to treat the three victims but it seems there's been no progress. It points to the symptoms of Apathy Syndrome."

He shook his head, groaning, "Of course. Yukari-san was worrying about it for nothing, but I guess we're going to have to get involved anyways." Minato sighed and looked back to her. "Also has anybody told you how incredibly detective-shounen-protagonist you sound like when you're talking about your cases?"

Her cheeks flushed at his words. "U-Uh..." Sachiko shook her head, 'no', covering her mouth. "No, no-one's told me that," she mumbled.

So she watched anime? Or at least Detective Conan? Good to know...? Minato blinked slowly. He had the impression that she'd gotten extremely embarrassed and decided not to press on it. "Well. Anyways... You said you wanted to talk about the Shadow Whisperers?"

"Y-Yeah. But just before that..." Sachiko rubbed the back of her head. "I did hear some suspicious things about the case. The 'student ghost' theory happened for a reason. Apparently a girl from 2-E hasn't been seen for at least a week." She pursed her lips. "Her name is Fuuka Yamagishi and... either she's been sick... or she's really missing."

Minato shuddered to think of her possible state. It could've gone from zero to eleven very quickly. "What do you think?"

She closed her eyes. "I believe she may actually be missing," Sachiko replied. "For one ... I've heard that she may have been bullied at some point. For two..." She gave a wry smile. "It's just a gut feeling that I have. It's all conjecture and circumstantial or even downright baseless, but that's just what I feel."

"I guess it's all the more reason to get to the bottom of this," he murmured.

Sachiko nodded. "Good luck with it." Her chopsticks waded through her noodles, slowly stirring them. "Now, the Shadow Whisperers... I feel they may be connected to another group. I was solicited by another peer, who divulged the existence of a revenge website. Mind you, I've no intention to use it."

Of course. "They have a list of confirmed kills. After a bit of digging, I found that these people matched not only some of the shootings, but some of the apathy killings as well."

"What makes you think they're more separate to each other?"

She smiled slightly. "Heh, well, it's the MO. One group of them is exclusively by gunshot. The other is exclusively by the Shadow attacks, thus the apathy killings," Sachiko explained. "It's actually a clever idea... and despite the difficulties, they've been managing to cover their tracks. The media is treating the shootings and the apathy killings as if they were unrelated, but at their core, I have reason to believe that they may be connected through that list of confirmed kills."