LE MEURTIER; AN ASSASSIN'S TALE (AU)

[covenantal]

Yosuke gets a contract to assassinate Yu.

What happens?

An AU where Yosuke has a much darker secret than just resentment, and what happens as a result.

Comments

INFORMATION + NOTES

[covenantal]

Just to have it all in one place. To be added to if we need it!

Ok so we already know it's canon that Yosuke's preferred weapon is knives, so he can stick with that. He moves to Inaba because his parents get transferred to manage the Junes there. What if there were an ulterior motive? What if his family has yakuza connections, or IS yakuza, and the store is just a front? Yosuke's been brought up in the family business same as in canon, but what if his parents fucked something up with their yakuza connections and got banished to the boonies as a result, and are on their last chance or Bad Shit happens? Plus, if they prove themselves worthy at their enterprise (maybe Junes is a front for money laundering) they get to move back to the city.

So Yosuke is under pressure not just as the Junes kid, but to help his family prove they're worthy of being welcomed back into the fold. Yakuza connections decide to test the family's willingness by giving Yosuke, young as he is, a job to do, to prove the whole family's ruthlessness...

Yu's parents never have a job stated in canon that I know of. So maybe they're Interpol, and the yakuza want their son done away with in order to scare them out of the law enforcement business. They know Yu is getting sent to Inaba for a while and decide to strike when he's most vulnerable.

Everything else is the same... but the year Yu is there also deals with Yosuke grappling with his orders. Things with his shadow would have to go differently, though, unless I rolled with Yu knowing Yosuke's family was yakuza... I could do that. The assassination order could come in AFTER that first shadow fight, so that truth isn't revealed to Yu... and then he, the son of Interpol agents, has to grapple with his best friend being from a criminal family, while Yosuke deals not only with Yu being a law enforcement kid, but Yosuke's assassination target.

So there's a current underneath proceedings the entire year as they all try to solve the serial murders (Yosuke's ulterior motive for helping is that all the press attention on Inaba could lead to autoroutes looking at his family's store too closely) and as things come to a head with the case, Yosuke faces more pressure from his parents to perform and has to make a choice...

if I make it shippy (WHICH I PROBABLY WILL) he also has to deal with developing feelings for his target and oh boy. This got fun.

The rest of the investigation team can get in on it too. Naoto figures Yosuke out and confronts him at some point. Teddie, living with the Hanamuras, realizes all is not right. Chie confides in Yukiko that as the year goes on Yosuke seems increasingly erratic, like something's really wrong...

WELP. This sure did happen to me.

FIRST DUNGEON: Teddie isn't present for the meeting of the Shadow and the subsequent fight, though may turn up for Yosuke's acceptance of the Shadow after the danger of his learning anything too destructive has passed?

[covenantal]

[ Deciding to go into the television with Hanamura hadn't been a hard decision. With everything strange that had been happening, and the look on Hanamura's face after the assembly, where they'd all learned about Konishi... he couldn't help wanting to learn what was really going on here. Maybe it was the last gift his parents had given him before sending him here - instilling in him their need to seek the truth, and through the truth, justice.

Their first trip into the TV, seeing the poster there and in the real world, the girl he saw on the Midnight Channel... plus his memories of that strange man and the cool-voiced woman beside him, his new "fate" as the "Wild Card" ... too many questions needed answering. Even without prompting, Yu would have wanted to go. But with Konishi's death, Hanamura was the one with real reason to go in there. Backing him up was ultimately the only choice he really could make.

Plus, he'd be lying if he said he didn't want to use that power again... Persona.

Once they got inside and worked out a semblance of an agreement with Teddie, they started on their way, looking for answers. On the way, he couldn't help but watch the other boy, wondering at what must be going through his mind. ]

[cpt_ressentiment]

[ What's going through his mind? A whole lot, that's what.

Saki-senpai's death. That's more than enough reason to want to come here, to go digging for answers where no one else can. There are too many questions surrounding it as it is - throw in all the crap that he's not thinking about, the ties to Junes and everything else in between (didn't we say, not thinking about that? We did.) and really, the only logical next step in Yosuke's mind is to turn this place upside down and get to the bottom of it. ... Assuming this place isn't already upside down just by virtue of being what it is. He hasn't made up his mind on that yet. (Walking on ceilings... oh man, if that happens, he might need a moment.)

He's nervous. Of course he is. His idle fidgeting gives him away - tugging at the cuffs of his own sleeves, rubbing at his eyes - but even still, he remains alert. That's... one thing he's picked up on. Show whatever side of yourself you have to, but don't fail to look at even the smallest thing. And that's exactly what he's doing. He thinks. ... His dad might be proud. ... Man, what would his dad think of this?

Yosuke, we are not thinking about all of that right now!

He snaps himself out of it with a shake of his head, that he covers with another scrub at his eyes beneath the glasses that Teddie gave him. He squints through the lenses, almost comically. ]

Man... these things help, but this place is still enough to give you a headache. Really can get to a guy, huh?

[ He looks over to Narukami, the tiniest quirk of a smile that says, "ah well, what can you do?" And he watches for a reaction, wondering just what the other might be thinking, too. What a thing to literally fall into after transferring here, huh? ]

[covenantal]

[ Yu makes a soft, vague sound of assent, looking over at the other boy and nodding. It is a weird place, there's no denying that - and that room with the noose in it the other day had been incredibly creepy. ]

We won't stay long.

[ Any longer than is needed to, of course. His own desires and wishes aside, he still feels this is Hanamura's show.

The air around them is strange and feels heavy with something Yu doesn't recognize. Even breathing in feels different. Not more difficult - just strange, like he has to learn how it works all over again. Maybe that's not so strange in an entirely different world.

Up ahead, the bear calls back to them. "This way, this way!" Yu huffs a sigh and looks at Yosuke with a small shrug. ]

[cpt_ressentiment]

Yeah. Just until we find something. ... Anything.

[ His tone drifts into something a little more gloomy than he wants, thoughts of Saki-senpai fluttering through his mind again. His gaze even turns to the ground for a moment. But he takes a deep breath, looks up just in time to see that bear-thing waving and carrying right on ahead of them, and sighs.

He looks to Yu, almost mirrors his shrug with one of his own, and moves along.

But... maybe his pace slows the smallest bit when things start looking familiar, when the sight of the local shopping district takes over the scenery. ]

Whoa. This is...

[ But he trails off, immediately looking in the direction of where he knows a certain liquor store is supposed to be, if this really is what it looks like. And sure enough, there it is. ]

And that's... the store that senpai's parents own.

[covenantal]

The shopping district.

[ He's only been here a couple of days, but it would be hard not to recognize even in this weird, dark, warped state. Yu will unconsciously slow when Hanamura does, matching his pace, but he actually comes to a halt when something catches his ear. ]

Do you hear that?

[ Voices. Yu will stare up into what passes for a sky here as a barrage of abuse rains down - all of it for the Junes, how it's stealing livelihoods from the other stores, how Junes is making them all go bankrupt, Junes this, Junes that...

And there are a few other comments, too. Ones that make his nerves prick. "If you ask me, there's something dirty going on there." "Where else could all that money have come from?" "They're thieves. Crooks!" "Or worse..."

Without thinking Yu will look back down at Yosuke, apprehensive yet unable to help feeling sympathetic, too. That can't be easy to hear. ]

[cpt_ressentiment]

[ It's not easy to hear at all.

It's like he stiffens more and more with each word that reaches his ears, head bowed and eyes narrowed behind those still-foreign lenses. His fists clench, and he forces himself to fold his arms across his chest just to keep that much from being so obvious.

Worse, huh...? Yeah. They've got no idea.

"And I heard that Konishi-san's daughter is working there..." "How could she? Working for the enemy... what a troublesome child." ]

S-Stop it...

[ It hits a nerve, but it drags him back into some semblance of focus, and he looks back up, to Yu. ]

So, you think this was senpai's reality? When she wandered in here?

[covenantal]

[ His expression doesn't much change despite Hanamura's obvious discomfort, though he still feels a twinge of empathy. He thinks the rumors about Hanamura and his family being crooks are just spurious accusations brought on by (justifiable) bitterness and anger. Of course they'd be bitter, their livelihoods are at risk... but that doesn't make it Hanamura's fault, and he's the one suffering for it right now.

(How little does he know.)

He shakes his head, about to reply, when another call comes from up ahead.

"Hurry uuuuuuuuup!! I can smell something! I think someone's been here!"

Yu will shoot a look the other's way before picking up a jog and heading towards the source of Teddie's voice. ]