Work Text:
Something was off. Naoto could tell as much before he opened his eyes. He took a moment to gather as much information as he could from his other senses before pushing upright—
Right. They were in Tokyo, and things were weird because this was a hotel room. There was nothing sinister about any of it. Feeling distinctly silly, they went over the facts of the situation, grounding themself in reality.
The Tokyo PD had asked him there to consult on a case that had stumped them. The case was... right, it was an art theft. No one had been hurt during the break-in, thankfully, but the museum intended to display the piece in its next exhibit, so they needed it back right away.
Really, it was strange that they'd called Naoto at all. It wasn't that they only took homicide cases, but those were where most of their experience lay. (It generally took at least two deaths before most police officers would swallow their pride enough and consider some kid's opinion. Not that Naoto was bitter.) Even if the painting was both valuable and prized, they shouldn't have needed to call in the Detective Prince, not when...
What mattered now was that Naoto had taken the case, and he had a responsibility to see it through. And in order to do that, he needed to get out of bed.
That, and it was too cold to be shirtless. They gathered their blanket around their shoulders and headed for the bathroom. There, they discovered they were more out of it than they thought, spending a solid minute staring at their reflection instead of brushing their teeth like they'd intended.
Clearly the trip had hit him harder than he'd thought. He redirected to the coffee maker to try to wake himself up properly.
While they waited for it to brew, they checked their phone. They had no unread messages, not even in the Investigation Team group chat. Maybe Yosuke-senpai overslept? The thought made them smile—it was nice to think they weren't the only one having a rough morning.
The coffee helped, thankfully, and he was able to get to the train station in good time. By the time he made it to the precinct, he felt more like himself again.
As they walked in, they overheard the police chief talking to his secretary. “I just feel bad for him, traveling all this way,“ the chief was saying. “Their schedule is already so packed, too. I hope he isn't too upset...”
Naoto cleared his throat. “Good morning, sir.”
The chief winced. “Ah, Shirogane-kun! Good morning. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you, though. I got here this morning and found that the thief had already turned himself in! He said the guilt was just too much for him, so he brought the painting back and everything. It looks like we won't need your help after all.”
Naoto frowned. “That seems unlikely. Though I suppose he might have been coerced by the true culprit...”
“That's what we thought, but his are the only prints on the painting, and they match the ones from the crime scene. We found the gear at his apartment, too.” The chief shook his head. “It really is open and shut. We'll still reimburse you for the travel, of course, and your hotel room has been paid for for the week.” He grinned. “Why don't you have some fun exploring the city while you're here? You're too young to spend all your time at work.”
“Are you sure, sir? I'd be happy to take a look at any of your other cases while I'm here,” Naoto tried.
“It's kind of you to offer, but you really don't need to worry about it. This is a quiet time of year for us.” The chief smiled. “I'm sure another case will come along soon enough. For now, you should be jumping at the chance to goof off.”
Naoto narrowed their eyes. Something about the situation still felt wrong. The chief's smile was just a bit too wide, perhaps, or...
No, he was overthinking again. He must be more tired than he thought if he was jumping at shadows like this. A break would probably do him some good.
“If you insist.” They touched the brim of their hat in acknowledgment. “Thank you, then, sir. I hope it stays as calm as you say.”
For lack of any better ideas, Naoto ended up in Jinbocho. He'd been to Tokyo many times on cases, but never had the chance to explore the so-called Book Town. There was a strange sense of nostalgia to it, as if the entire district was filled with instances of Inaba's single well-loved bookstore.
They would have been more than content to spend the afternoon browsing, but tucked away in a forgotten corner, they managed to find a first edition of Ranpo's The Shadow Man. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, even with the ominous title.
His high spirits were only somewhat dampened when he got back to his hotel and couldn't find his notes. He took them on every case before accepting it, and he would have sworn he'd done it this time as well, but even a thorough search of the room turned up nothing.
They must have left them back at the estate. A foolish mistake, but if they were going to forget something, at least it was on a case as trivial as this one.
He settled into a chair to read for the evening. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.
The next day was similarly good, and so it wasn't until Naoto's third day in Tokyo that they realized their friends hadn't said a word since they arrived. Not only had no one messaged them directly, but no one had sent anything in the group chat. No elaborate “good morning”s from Rise, no updates from Kanji about his latest project, no incomprehensible memes from Yukiko, nothing.
Perhaps it shouldn't have seemed like such a big deal, but Naoto couldn't remember ever going so long without hearing from his friends before. Not only that, but the timeline matched up with his missing notes, and with the strangeness of the case itself. It had all started when he got to Tokyo...
There was a sensation like glass cracking, like leaving the TV world, like stepping out of a heated building into a grey January day. Their phone vibrated in their hand, but Naoto paid it no mind. They were overwhelmed by how suddenly wrong their body felt.
He tore through his suitcase until he found his binder. Putting it on calmed him down enough for the horror of the situation to fully hit him. Whatever had happened could rewrite not only reality but his own body and mind, and not only had he been powerless, he hadn't even noticed anything was wrong.
Their phone vibrated again. They caught “thats usually enough 2 get their attention” before the screen went dark. It was enough to jolt them out of their emotional spiral.
He unlocked his phone. “im fine now,” he sent in the group chat. He noticed with a pang of dismay that he'd missed a discussion of Featherman, but now wasn't the time to pick it back up. “hv u noticd nething weird recently?"
The general chorus of excited greetings they got in response warmed their heart. The confusion as to what they were talking about was less reassuring.
The Midnight Channel had been localized to Inaba both times, though. It was possible that this anomaly was restricted to Tokyo.
The case wasn't strong, but Naoto needed to be able to do something. He was on the train back to the Shirogane estate an hour later. As it passed Tokyo city limits, there was a strange tugging sensation. Abruptly, the train was thrice as crowded.
Even with this evidence that they'd made it back to reality, they couldn't fully relax. They ended up calling Souji. He had more experience with inexplicable events than the rest of them, and he would understand their other concerns as well.
Souji picked up right away. “Naoto? Are you alright?”
“Huh?" Naoto shook his head. “Yes, I'm fine, but I'm afraid I have bad news. We'll have to discuss the metaphysical ramifications at some point, but if you have the time, I would like to vent first.”
“Sounds terrifying," Souji said, deadpan. “But yeah, go ahead. What's up?”
Naoto took a deep breath. “There is currently a force in Tokyo that is warping both people's thoughts and physical reality.”
Souji made a thoughtful noise. “I see.”
“It doesn't seem to be malevolent, at least. Everything I saw during my stay was, if anything, eerily pleasant. There were no crimes being committed, the crowds were gone, and everyone was happy.” They remembered how pleased they were by the clear streets of Jinbocho, how easy it was to navigate. They should have known it was too good to be true.
“That's good, I guess?”
Naoto laughed dryly. “Better than the alternative, at least.” He swallowed. “But the thing is... it got to me, too.”
“Ah.”
Naoto began to pace. “I know, it was stupid of me. I should have known better! After everything we went through, all the difficulties we overcame, I turned my back on the truth the minute something nicer was dangled in front of me. How can I even call myself a detective?”
“I'm sure it was more complicated than that,” Souji said. “Didn't you say it could affect your thoughts?”
“It could,” Naoto allowed. “I also suspect it was rewriting reality to remove any method I had of verifying the falseness of what I was experiencing. It erased my notes on the case, for instance. I suppose a murder would have been too violent for its utopia.”
“It makes sense,” Souji agreed. “I would also get rid of murder, given the option. It does sound like you were doing the best you could in extreme circumstances, though.”
“But that's not all.” They'd been avoiding this part, but Souji needed to hear it before he could pass judgement on them. “While I was there, I was... not cis, exactly, but...” They tried again. “I was myself, and everyone could see it. It was like I'd never been anything else. And I hate it, because I like who I am now. I shouldn't feel like I need fixing. But for a few days, it really felt like I had been fixed.”
“Wow.” Souji sounded taken aback. It was a strange sort of comfort. “That sounds incredibly fucked up.”
Naoto snorted. “You know, it really was.”
There was a sound like Souji was readjusting his phone. “For what it's worth, I don't think you did anything wrong. It doesn't sound like you were rejecting who you were, just that you wanted everyone else to acknowledge it. I think everyone wants that.”
“Not enough to sacrifice reality for it.”
“You'd be surprised,” Souji said. There was a strange bitterness in his tone, and Naoto made a note to ask about it later, when he was less of a wreck.
“I just... I feel like I should be better than this by now.” Naoto could hear the whine in their voice. Pull it together, Shirogane.
“It took us a month working as a team to get to Ameno-Sagiri. You pulled yourself out of this in three days,” Souji said, amused. His voice softened as he continued, “You're allowed not to have everything figured out right away.”
It felt like an easy excuse for a grave mistake, but Souji generally knew what he was talking about. Naoto certainly wasn't doing any good beating himself up over it. “Alright,” he said. “I see your point.”
“Good.” Souji hesitated. “So can we go back to the part where something powerful enough to overwrite reality is hitting the most populated part of the country?”
They discussed the problem for another half hour, but without any idea what was causing the anomalies or why, it was hard to know what to do. Naoto volunteered to go back to look for more information, but Souji didn't want to risk it until they had some idea of how the thing worked. “We don't want to lose you to it for good,” he said, which was hard to argue with.
They eventually agreed to gather what information they could from outside of Tokyo. Naoto didn't like it, but they could acknowledge that it was probably the safest course of action, even if they didn't appreciate Souji's tone. They'd gotten themself intentionally kidnapped by a serial killer one time!
Even so, he was smiling by the time he hung up. He didn't need the promise of a fake reality to affirm him. His friends knew who he was, and that was what mattered.
(There was one other thing that mattered, they realized as they were trying to sleep: they were supposed to have taken their T shot the day after they arrived in Tokyo. Did being magically transitioned affect your T levels? As much as they would appreciate getting to avoid a shot, they didn't want to skip it.
Ugh. He was going to have to get bloodwork done to check, wasn't he? Maybe reality wasn't so great after all.)