History

[bearsona4]

[OU] = Game Canon, [+Hints] = Inferences drawn from Game Canon, [Spec] = Mostly Speculation, but not critical to RP gameplay. Animus's P4 cast read over this History section and believed it to not be an AU app, though I'm fine with qualifying him that way if the mods feel it necessary.

[+Hints]
In a place known as "The TV World", there exist beings known as Shadows. They are "splinters of the ego" - the thoughts, dreams, and ambitions of humans that they try to ignore or repress. When the shadows started getting more restless, more aggressive in nature, the goddess Izanami took notice. She interpreted it as a sign that humans desired a world enshrouded by fog, where they could live their lives without tempering their feelings due to fears about how they would be perceived by others.

[Spec]
That was when The Stage appeared - a manifestation of Izanami's connection between the Real World and the TV World. Back then, Teddie was a normal shadow: a Dry Dixie; his abilities were of a supportive nature, so he was often bullied by the bigger, tougher-looking shadows. Unlike them, he looked like a ragged stuffed animal with the stuffing taken out, swaying back and forth in mid-air. One day, in order to escape a battle, he accidentally transported himself away from trouble... and onto The Stage. There were three TVs stacked up and lights with scaffolding, but Teddie didn't know what any of it was. For days he stayed there, watching the TVs - it broadcasted programming from the Real World as well as live events as they progressed in the Real World, as if all of the TVs became cameras.

[+Hints]
The reason for Teddie's original form was because he was actually the shadow tied to a young boy named Narukami Yu / Seta Souji, whose parents often traveled for work. As a result, Yu / Souji spent a lot of time alone with a stuffed bear at his side, sitting in a limousine, waiting for his parents to return. Around age 7, he was told to give up his toys, but he clung to one last teddy bear, trying to resist growing up and facing the same reality as his parents. The next year, after a long discussion with his parents about growing up, Yu / Souji threw away that teddy bear too. He focused instead on school, making friends, and after-school activities to keep him busy. That suppression of childhood playfulness manifested in the TV World as Teddie, and for ten years he lived in the TV World - a beautiful place filled with flowing rivers, waving fields, deep forests, blue skies, and green grass. Over the next 10 years, the whole place became engulfed in a fog.

The one thing Teddie realized after watching the TVs on The Stage so long was that he liked the humans - they were interesting, even if he didn't understand them. He wanted them to see him and like him! But all of the toys &dolls that he saw on the Stage TVs were cute with soft fur, and he didn't have any of that. So, he decided to change his form to something that humans would like! The effort to change to his current Bear Form took so much of his energy that he started to forget things. After awhile, he decided it was a good thing if he forgot - humans didn't like nasty things like shadows anyway. Teddie spent many days just wandering around The Stage area of his world, simply desiring to avoid the other shadows and continue to forget his old self.

Izanami was in favor of just turning everyone into shadows and being done with it, but the god Izanagi protested on behalf of his superior, Philemon. Philemon was willing to give humans the benefit of the doubt, and so charged Izanami herself with finding a groups of humans who would challenge her plans. Izanami chose three men to test the fate of the world, all with different personalities and approaches to pressure, and all of whom she was convinced would fail. It would then be Izanagi's job to support all three of these men with his powers. Whichever side proved stronger would determine humanity's fate.

[Canon]
And so it was that Izanami met Narukami Yu / Seta Souji (Main Character), and Izanagi took root in the boy's psyche to emerge as his persona. Izanami kept watch on the situation in the guise of a gas station attendant while the game's events unfolded in Inaba. Teddie was oblivious to all of this. All he knew was that one day people started getting thrown into the TV. It made the other shadows restless because humans didn't belong there, so the shadows attacked and killed the humans, and Teddie just hid from it all. However, Narukami / Seta and his friends - Satonaka Chie and Hanamura Yousuke - eventually found their way in. Teddie offered to help them solve the mysterious murders because it would bring peace to his world.

The investigation began with stepping beyond The Stage, and that meant that some shadows were going to try to attack the three humans. Narukami / Seta's persona emerged at the start of the first battle; Teddie looked on in awe and then jumped in to advise Narukami / Seta through the battle. He was so impressed by Narukami / Seta's strength to fend off the shadows and by Narukami / Seta's moral character that he took to calling Narukami / Seta "Sensei" henceforth. Any time that Teddie started to worry about anything, it was to his "Sensei" that he would turn to first. Soon afterwards, Narukami / Seta defeated Yousuke's shadow with Teddie's help.

Unfortunately, they weren't any closer to stopping the killer, and Amagi Yukiko was targeted next. Chie wanted to help save Yukiko even though Chie wasn't entirely positive about the whole "world inside of a TV" concept. She ran off, and soon had to deal with a shadow of her own. As a group, Narukami / Seta, Teddie, and Yousuke faced Chie's shadow. All three school friends worked together to defeat Yukiko's shadow-self.

Gradually, Teddie started to get lonely, not to mention utterly bored. There was so much hustle and bustle every time that the group of humans came to the TV World, but in the end it was only to stop the murders and he knew it. There were days at a time Teddie went without seeing the humans, and when the case was solved he knew they'd stop coming entirely. [AU note] He actually tried crying a few times due to his fear of abandonment. He voiced this to the group about a month later (June 24th): "I'm a pretty shabby bear. Soon, I won't be useful at all. Then I'll get thrown away..." He just wants a reason to stay with them and have fun. The group advised him not worry too much about the true nature of his existence, and Narukami / Seta reassured Teddie that he was useful and appreciated. After all, it was Teddie who made the glasses that enabled the humans to walk about in the TV World fog mostly unencumbered, and it was Teddie who was able to locate the kidnapped humans within the TV World.

The same thing happened when Tatsumi Kanji was kidnapped. With a bit of insight into Kanji's life dilemmas, Teddie was able to help them find Kanji's shadow self, then defeat it. It seemed like Teddie had been able to set aside his personal worries, until Kujikawa Rise was kidnapped. Teddie had been enamored by Chie and Yukiko, but Rise commanded Teddie's interest. They hurried into the dungeon. When Rise's shadow-self proved to be too powerful for the team to take down, Teddie stepped forward to defend his friends. The last thing he wanted was to be alone again, so he "went bear-serk", tapping into his long-suppressed Shadow powers to deal the final blow to Rise's shadow.

[Canon+Spec]
In the process, Teddie's suit was squished flat from the recoil energy. He would have been fine, but the specific words that Rise chose to embrace her shadow triggered the exact opposite response in Teddie. "There's no real me" made all of his worries come rushing back. Since Teddie was not human, a slightly different reaction occurred. Rise described it as "I felt a more powerful force intervene". Izanami's sergeant by the name of Ameno-sagiri stepped in, tapping into the "powerful force" of a Shadow contemplating existence to manifest before the team; it was the deepest, darkest concern a human could have. Ameno-sagiri took the form of a giant Teddie with his face cracked and pitch black surrounding his eyes to represent the void within the suit that Teddie felt represented himself. The team was able to defeat the "Shadow Teddie", but they didn't defeat Ameno-sagiri.

The team finally managed to convince Teddie that he didn't have to face his fears alone, but he still wanted to be alone to repair his physical condition. He didn't articulate it well at the time, but he was searching for a purpose in life. He told Narukami / Seta back then was: "There must be something that only I can do... That's how I feel when I'm with Sensei." During the time Teddie stayed apart from them, he actually managed to "grow himself a body", and thus create for himself a third form - the first being his original shadow form, the second being his bear suit.

What actually happened is that Teddie started the process of becoming human. Since he was 'born' a shadow, and thus couldn't exist in the human world even if he wanted to, he had to undergo a process similar to that of when humans awaken their Personas. Shadows are like the uncontrolled id in psychological terms, while the Personas are super-egos, or the by-products of the ego taking control of the id and harnessing its power. Teddie began as simply an id and awakened his super-ego without an ego (identity) to control it, thus Teddie's feelings of incompleteness and continued memory loss. When Teddie decided to make a place for himself in the human world, his ego (humanity) began to emerge. The process would not finish for some time.

[Canon]
When Teddie's human form was complete on the outside (but not the inside), he decided to try it out - by leaving the TV World. Before he could decide if it was a good idea or not, he used the same exit as his human friends always did. Without any way to contact the team, he just hung out at Junes in vibrating arm-chairs until the team showed up. They tried focusing on the the third death in the case: someone killed Professor Morooka and hung him in the same manner as the first two victims, but everyone was frustrated by the fact that all clues had pointed to Rise and other people who were famous on TV. So how did Professor Morooka fit the profile? And Teddie kept telling everyone that he'd been alone on the other side, so why didn't the killer use the same method of throwing people inside TVs?

They all went to Food Court to continue, but in the middle of the discussion Teddie got so hot inside of his suit that he had to remove the headpiece. He revealed his human form: an attractive young male with pale blond hair and bright blue eyes. So that he wouldn't cause a commotion due to being naked inside his suit, Chie and Yukiko took Teddie to get some clothes. The boys left to get topsicles while waiting for the Chie, Yukiko, and Teddie. Unfortunately, Teddie was enamored by all of the new things in the clothing store and so it took a long time to focus his attention on getting some clothes. Still, he was worried his human friends wouldn't like him anymore now that he wasn't in his bear suit. While Chie and Yousuke fought over the expenses for Teddie's clothes, Kanji and Teddie went off to get some topsicles. When they reunited with the group, Rise had enthusiastically offered to help them, and they agreed to discuss the case with Rise in more detail the following day (July 11th). [AU, moved for continuity] Still excited, Teddie declared that he'd start participating in battles as a front-line fighter henceforth, with Rise as the analysis member.

[Canon]
Since Teddie had nowhere else to go, Yousuke offered to let Teddie stay at his house. The next day the group discussed all of the ways that Morooka's death didn't fit the pattern of the rest of the cases. Teddie had to suppress his excitement - he was finally on both sides of the team now! The "mystery solving" part as well as the "fighting shadows" part. They were about to set out looking for clues regarding any ties to the school, but then a "slender young man" named Shirogane Naoto showed up. He told them the police had a suspect and to leave well enough alone, accusing the team of playing a game. Rise and Yousuke retaliated accusing Naoto of playing the game. Naoto admitted that there was a price to pay for being a special police investigator: you fade into obscurity once cases are closed. He seemed confident that the town would "return to its peaceful rustic self" in no time, but the team wasn't so sure. So they had to wait to make another move until they found out who it was that the police planned to apprehend.

[I'm assuming from here on out that Teddie is with the party for all crucial battles, because he's invaluable as the party-buffer/secondary healer in the end fights]

The group decided to go inside the TV once more to see if anything had changed about the TV world with the police looking into their suspect. They struggled through the shadows that had once again amassed in the Marukyu Striptease, but eventually found the new, powerful shadow at the top that Rise could sense from the Stage. It was a "Momentary Child" type shadow weak to ice skills, so Teddie was happy he could be so useful in that fight, just spamming Bufula at the shadow. He was even happier that Narukami / Seta found a weapon up there that Teddie could use to be an even more effective fighter, called the "Bear Claw".

Unfortunately, Teddie wasn't able to hang out with his human friends much afterwards because they had to study for finals. In the meantime, he started to work during the days at Junes in his bear suit as the store's mascot. It was a deal he made with Yosuke in exchange for staying at his house, and it gave Teddie a chance to make a lot of people happy everyday, so he loved it! Plus, he was much more confident in his bear suit when interacting with humans he didn't know. On July 26th, Teddie finally got to see the Midnight Channel with his own eyes, so he knew what Narukami / Seta and the others had been trying to describe to him all along. This time, the person who appeared on the midnight channel wasn't blurry at all like the "advance notice" that the group usually saw, just a high-school aged boy in a zombie-like state. Summer break for the students couldn't have come at a better time.

The next day, Teddie and Rise checked on the TV World again to see if they could locate wherever it was the zombie-boy was hiding out. The rest of the group came to the conclusion that the boy who appeared on the Midnight Channel must be the police's suspect, and that he went into the TV World to dodge the police. Rise went to check in with them while Teddie stayed in the TV World to continue looking. The team had to try to find out more information on the boy, starting with his name.

They came back with "Kubo Mitsuo" and a picture, which was more than Teddie ever had to go on, so it was no surprise to him when Rise found Kubo's hide-out within seconds. At the "Endgame" level, they used the Orb of Darkness they found on the 7th level to open the final door and confront Mitsuo. He started ranting about how he was the killer and took responsibility for the three murders. His shadow started talking about how he was worthless and felt nothing, but Mitsuo rejected him anyway. When the fight was over, Mitsuo kept talking about how he'd done all of it, but wouldn't say how he did it - they discovered all he wanted was the spotlight on him, to have people talking about him.

Everyone thought that was the end of it - including Teddie, who thought he'd just return to his world and it'd peaceful and... that'd be that. No one seemed to think anything different at the time. Rise suggested a celebration at the Amagi Inn, and Teddie was ecstatic! "Gorgeous dinner, hot springs, table tennis, yukata! Geisha, Fujiyama, full wootness!" Unfortunately, the inn was too busy, so they all decided to go over to Narukami / Seta's house for dinner with Nanako. True to his complete knowledge of TV shows, Teddie suggested a Cooking Battle between the girls.

While the girls prepared the meal, Teddie chatted with Nanako. He remarked that he'd be going home soon, but Nanako was sad to hear that. He replied that it was because the guys kept their promise. Nanako then asked if he would make a promise with her, so that he could stay - a promise to play with her. Teddie had been thinking that no one would want him to stick around, but Narukami / Seta came over when he heard the conversation and agreed with Nanako. Even Yousuke agreed, his excuse being that Teddie still had to work as the Junes mascot. At dinner, Teddie was true to his word as a tester of the girls' various dishes: all omelets, as requested by Nanako. Unfortunately, even Rise couldn't cook and Narukami / Seta's was the only dish that was edible. Kanji mentioned something about a festival and all Teddie could think of was yukata, so he decided to learn more before the festival happened!

A special news report ran on the night of August 13th about Mitsuo Kubo. Mitsuo's confession finally went public on the television. Teddie didn't have much time to think about it, because Yosuke warned him that Junes was probably going to be bustling with people all that next week! On top of how busy things got starting on Monday August 15th, they were short on staff at Junes too! Teddie tried as hard as he could to keep up, but he was thrilled to see Narukami / Seta come by to help out since Chie was already there.

August 20th was the Summer Festival, which Teddie got to spend with the guys for a bit while the girls got ready. The girls finally showed up, all dressed in yukata - including Nanako! Narukami / Seta's Uncle Dojima came by to pick up Nanako, but Teddie complimented her before she left. Then Teddie brought up how girls and guys pair off at festival, playing it up dramatically. The girls liked the idea, but said that the boys had to decide how they paired off. Yousuke insulted Teddie by saying that the were only "three guys and three girls", so Teddie retaliated by buttering up Kanji - convincing him that a "true man" wouldn't pair off with a girl - then declaring that he wanted all three girls for his partner, so that "no one would be left out". When Teddie explained this to the girls, they fawned over him. Teddie spent the rest of the festival night with all three of his dates.

[Spec]
Teddie went back to work, but he also started hanging out with Yousuke and his family. On nights that Yousuke worked on his summer homework, Teddie went out to explore Inaba on his own. Some days he ate out at Souzai Daigaku or the Aiya. Occasionally he'd meet another kid from Yasogami High School he didn't recognize, but he'd say a friendly hello and mention he was friends with Narukami Yu / Seta Souji. Teddie would get so happy when he saw the other person's face light up with recognition and recite stories about the time they spent with Narukami / Seta. In this way Teddie came to know many people: Nagase-kun, Ichijo-kun, Matsunaga-chan, Nakajima-kun, Ozawa-chan, Minami-san, Uehara-san, and Kuroda-san. He never hung out with any of them, but he was happy to know that his Sensei's kind heart had touched so many in Inaba.

[Canon]
On August 24th Junes held an event, so Yousuke and Teddie kept a souvenir for Nanako and brought it over later that night. Since Nanako was working on her homework with Narukami / Seta, they decided to help for a bit too. On the 31st, Teddie and all of Narukami / Seta's other friends were invited over to his house by the Dojimas, so that they could eat a watermelon together.

September 1st came too soon for Teddie. His friends went back to school, and his mornings would be dull work again. After school that first day, Teddie found out their school was going on a trip to "Port Island". Having never heard of it before, Teddie asked about it. He knew that he wasn't allowed to go on a trip with the school, but in one day he had already remembered why he hated being left alone. So he learned as much as he could about the trip and the location by reviewing Yousuke's Trip Guide, so that he could sneak off and meet up with friends while they were there. He also swore off Topsicles and saved up his money from working at Junes so that he'd have enough money to take the train. He took the days off from work to vacation with his friends.

September 8th came, and the whole school emptied to go to Gekkoukan High School on Tatsumi Port Island. It took Teddie most of the day to catch up to his friends, but he finally found them outside of their hotel. Rise-chan knew the area and offered to show everyone around the next day. In the evening, Rise took them to Club Escapade, where they unexpectedly met Naoto. Rise took them to a reserved table and had drinks and food ordered, but Teddie, Yukiko, and Rise started getting a little "high on life" - there wasn't not supposed to be any alcohol in the drinks, and Kanji said the smell was off, but the atmosphere loosened everyone up just a tad.

[Canon, far stick choice]
Teddie was absolutely ecstatic because he got to be the King in the first round! So, his command was that someone had to "smooch" the king! He prayed that he called out a girl's number, but no such luck. Number 1 was his very own sensei. He tried to say he meant Number 2, but Yousuke called no take-backs and Teddie was very not-happy with his room-mate at that point. Yukiko egged Teddie on, but he refused to molest the person he respected the most, even while tipsy. Instead, he tackled Kanji. [AU from hint] The group moved on to Round 2 while Kanji huffed off embarrassed, Teddie chasing him. In the men's restroom, Teddie apologized and Kanji told Teddie that he'd better be drunk and forget all about what just happened by morning. [Canon] They were back in time for Round 3, but the group took that time to just chat about embarrassing moments. Yukiko called out Naoto-kun, so Naoto told them a little bit about his family and how they'd been investigators for the police for generations. In return, Naoto asked them about their true involvement in the murder cases. Yukiko and Rise answer honestly, but since they were "drunk" Naoto didn't believe that they really called out "Persona!" and fought Shadows. The next morning, they went to a ramen place before going home. All in all, Teddie was really happy he came along on the school trip - he was finally bonding with the group like he'd always wished for!

Three days later - September 12th - on the evening Niteline Special Report, Teddie found out that a suspect in the murder case had been safely arrested. Naoto appeared in an interview on the same show! He was given most of the credit as a "Detective Prince" for clearing up the case, but Naoto cast doubts on the police department: that the police's suspect only killed Mr. Morooka, and revealed other discrepancies in the case. The news eventually moved on to a segment about Naoto's personal life.

[Canon hint]
Teddie got a few text messages early in the day on September 13th from Yousuke during class. Naoto had confronted Teddie's friends on their way to school, and then didn't show up to school after all that. Naoto had figured out that Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise all "fit the criteria" as victims. At first, Naoto had thought one of the group was the culprit, but said he now believed them to be the only ones capable of stopping the culprit. The last thing he said was "this isn't the game for me either".

[Canon]
The next night, someone new appeared on the Midnight Channel, though the image was hazy. Teddie listened as Yousuke called Yu / Souji. He distinctly heard Yousuke say "Naoto? Why would he appear on the Midnight Channel?" If the killer had been caught, why was the Midnight Channel still working like that? Was it really still an advance notice, like they'd all previously thought?

Yousuke didn't want to take any chances, so he asked Teddie to check in on the TV world early in the morning, then text him afterwords. Teddie went in at Junes like the group always did, but couldn't detect anyone no matter how hard he searched. When he got out again, he let Yosuke know. Everyone was still very suspicious of it, so that same night Teddie and Yousuke watched the Midnight Channel come on, with a very clear image! It was Naoto wearing a white lab coat, hosting a show he called "Experiment of the Century: The Genome Project." He claimed he would experiment on himself in "a forbidden yet wonderful bodily alteration process." [Spec] Teddie was excited to hear about "a new birth" and "walking a completely different path in life", but Yousuke made him stop talking about it so he could watch the rest of the show. No sooner did the show end than Yousuke tried to call Yu / Souji, but the line was busy. Teddie went to sleep thinking about what would make Naoto want to "walk a completely different path in life", and if the "bodily alteration process" was anything like Teddie himself had already gone through.

[Canon]
Just before Teddie's friends got out of school the next day, he went into the TV world to see if anyone was there now. He did smell someone, but couldn't pin it down. He met up with everyone at Junes to tell them. Yousuke was upset that nothing had changed, but Yukiko pointed out that that was probably why Naoto suddenly submitted himself to a television interview when he wasn't really the sort to stir up gossip and share personal information. To prove his theory, Naoto let himself get kidnapped, using himself as bait. Kanji was furious at Naoto. Narukami / Seta remineded them: Mr. Morooka's cause of death had been easily identifiable by the police, something that couldn't be done for the announcer lady and Yousuke's sempai. Naoto knew that Mitsuo wasn't the real culprit.

[Canon+hints]
The gang spent that Friday afternoon searching for clues about Naoto so they could find him in the TV. Not long after school ended the next day, Teddie got a text message from Yousuke saying that Narukami / Seta had figured out enough for Rise to do some more searching. Once inside the TV, Rise took them to where Naoto was. At the start of every level a loud voice said stuff like "INTRUDER ALERT!" They needed two ID cards to get to Naoto. On the 9th Floor, they finally encountered Naoto and his Shadow. The Shadow revealed Naoto's secret: "How could you become an ideal man when you were never male to begin with?"

[Canon+tactics]
The group was stunned by this revelation, especially Kanji, but he still jumped in to save Naoto. Teddie was very surprised! Had Kanji's feelings about Naoto changed? It didn't seem like it from how Kanji spoke of Naoto before they started to fight Naoto's Shadow. As Naoto's Shadow kept talking about an operation with those drill-like guns pointed, Teddie realized he hated the idea of getting injected with a needle, or operated on, or any part of that process that involved going below the surface of his skin. Naoto's Shadow was the smartest one that Teddie had ever seen! It was a long, hard fight, but they did it once again! Naoto woke up, but shewas exhausted. She seemed willing to talk about her kidnapping more, and why the case has perplexed the police for this long, but they needed to get her out of the TV world to recover. Yukiko offered to take Naoto home from Junes.

[Canon]
On October 6th she was well enough to go to school and then hang out afterwards to talk to the group about anything she'd discovered. Teddie was extremely impressed! Naoto had been prepared to get kidnapped, so she had all kinds of clues for them: someone came to the doorbell, she ended up in a sack, was convinced the culprit was a man acting alone, then the feeling of immediately being thrown into the TV - meaning there must have been a TV nearby. They mused that Mitsuo must not have understood the TV World very well, which is why he didn't use the TV for murder like the real culprit.

Naoto suspected that the bodies being hung was because the victims died on the other side, and then the bodies appeared in the real world as a result, not that the culprit moved them. Naoto wanted to help out with the investigation too, so Teddie presented her with her glasses to see better in the TV world, and was actually really taken aback by her kind words about "sympathizing with the drive to find yourself". She even offered to help! Teddie liked her even more already.

Yousuke texted Teddie about going to see a doctor after school the next day, and Teddie was anxious. Naoto explained that she wanted to see if a doctor could tell them anything about who or what really Teddie was, but an X-ray showed that his insides were blurry! What did that mean?! They said from a visual examination that he was completely healthy... Then everyone started talking about Personas and Shadows, saying that in some book they had definitions for those things! How had anyone in this world known about that? And Naoto said that Shadows became Personas... which made sense to Teddie, because that was exactly what happened to the powerful shadows each of his friends faced. As they were leaving, Teddie thanked Narukami / Seta again for trying to help him figure all of this out.

Unfortunately for Teddie it was super-boring for awhile after that since his friends needed to concentrate on studying for their exams, so he spent that time - when not working - doing research: surfing the net, reading manga, watching TV, and going to the "li-bear-y", but he didn't get any more clues to the mystery of his identity. His friends had a study session on the 11th, and Teddie spent most of it talking to Nana-chan, who came by Junes that day. When they took a break, he shared a theory about himself: since the other world was born from the minds of people on this side, and all that was there were shadows, he figured he must have been some sort of "special being". Based on some other stuff he read, he thought maybe the reason he couldn't remember anything was because of "amnesia". Naoto said she agreed, and asked what his earliest memory was. He said he'd always lived there, but then his memory skipped ahead to when the shadows started getting noisy and when he met Youske and Yu / Souji. Naoto pointed out it would be easy for Teddie to lose track of time and have no sense of days passing. They completely forgot about Nanako being there with them, but she suggested that maybe Teddie had been a lonely king. Even though it was a crazy idea, Teddie liked the idea that he might have been a king. Narukami / Seta didn't think so, but was still willing to help him find out the truth.

The evening of October 20th Yousuke told Teddie about his plan to prank the girls. Teddie thought it was a funny idea, so he encouraged it, trying to figure out how he could be present for Yosuke's prank. Yet, he came home with a sick look on his face on the 22nd - when the Group Date Cafe was chosen for his class' event at the Culture Festival - and a slightly bummed look on the 24th - midterm grades had been posted. It was nothing compared to the 28th, though. On the 27th, he entered Chie, Yukiko, Rise, and Naoto into the Beauty Pageant that one of their teachers was hosting for the Culture Festival. That was funny, but the next day the girls returned the favor by signing Yu / Souji, Yosuke, and Kanji up for the "Miss" Yasogami Cross-dressing Pageant.

On October 30th - the second day of the Culture festival - Teddie joined the boys' Pageant as a last-minute entry, claiming it was so that he could "see [his] dream realized". That dream had nothing to do with dressing up like Alice in Wonderland, but it was a means to get there. Teddie wanted to win so that he could request a part of the girls' competition be a swimsuit challenge. In the dressing room, Naoto was assigned as his helper, but she ran out of the room to get a make-up kit, so Teddie followed. [Spec] Naoto made Teddie dress in the hall bathroom across the hall, but because Teddie was so meticulous the other boys went out ahead of him. Teddie and Naoto had the dressing room all to themselves, so she quickly applied his make-up and adjusted his wig. Teddie was fourth in line. He made the MC of the competition introduce him as the "King of the TV World", then he skipped out with sparkles blazing. He won by a landslide, meaning that Teddie got to be an honorary judge in the girls' Pageant. Then he made his declaration about wanting a swimsuit competition for the girls. To ensure his dream came true, Teddie sent a package to the girls' dressing room - swimsuits for the four girls; his request had been approved!

After all of the contestants were present on the stage, Teddie got to come up and ask the girls some questions. Naoto boycotted the swimsuit challenge, yet managed to win the contest anyway. After it was over, Nanako got to hang out with Sensei and the others because Dojima had to make a business trip to the prefectural office. So they decided to make it a celebration at the Amagi Inn that night, with Nanako coming along. Teddie rejoiced, but he didn't realize they'd be in a separate room from the girls. A phone call came from the front desk, saying the springs should be empty now. Teddie was excited to engage in cultural activites with the guys, thanking Sensei for letting him enjoy all of the fun things on this side. Unfortunately, the girls were still in the springs when the guys showed up. They threw buckets at the boys and the boys ran, which wasn't really fair since it was the girls who were there during the guys' time. Back in their room, the guys started getting spooked because they realized their room was where the announcer stayed before she died. There were even talismans to ward off evil spirits hanging from the ceiling.

Teddie decided to sneak into the girls' room rather than stay in that room, and the other boys followed. He changed into his bear suit before they got there, feeling more courageous with it on. The boys all agreed that Nanako shouldn't be part of their revenge for the campout. ... But when the lights turned on, they realized they'd made a terrible mistake, and ended up in Mrs. Kashiwagi's room she was sharing with Hanako. Teddie landed between them, so he got an earful from both sides. They ran from the room screaming, nearly tripping over each other as they did so.

Another Special Report was on the news the next day. A "Mr. Kozai" of the Environmental Concern Society interviewed some students at a local elementary school, to investigate any effects of the fog on the human body. He asked the students questions while they played in the fog, about their health and their anxieties.

[Spec]
Teddie had never been so relieved to get back to work and just stay there, far away from his friends' school. Even when they had the day off on November 3rd and Yosuke came to work that day, Yosuke didn't give Teddie nearly as much grief as he normally did. It was as if going through such a traumatic experience together had strengthened their friendship, and Teddie was glad for it.

[Canon]
The next night, someone appeared on the Midnight Channel! It was blurrier than usual, and the person looked smaller than normal. Yosuke called Yu / Souji, but Teddie was worried... if the image was too blurry again, would they be able to figure it out in time? He was so worried about it he didn't sleep very well, so Teddie accidentally fell asleep on one of the beds in housewares the next day... and got stuck with the midnight shift later that night - the 5th/6th - as punishment. Right after his usual shift on the 5th, Teddie met the group to discuss the situation. Naoto brought up the guy who did the environmental investigation, but that guy left Inaba soon after. Teddie had checked out the TV world during one of his breaks and told them he didn't find anything, but brought up the fact that the person on the Midnight Channel was small. Everyone else was skeptical about that detail, since the image was so blurry.

While Teddie was at work alongside Yosuke, he bestowed Teddie with a gift - his very own cellphone to keep in contact with the group! As an example of how to use his cell, Yosuke tried calling Narukami / Seta, but he didn't answer. The boys realized that if Yu / Souji was out and not answering his phone, then that meant Nanako was probably home alone. Yosuke agreed it was fine if they stopped by to check on her, especially since Yu / Souji still wasn't answering. Yosuke called the home line, and Nanako answered, but then they found out that Narukami / Seta had been taken to the police station by Dojima. Yosuke immediately called the others so that they could all get to the police station as soon as possible.

But Naoto realized that the small silhoutte was actually Nanako! She explained that, regretfully, Nanako didfit the pattern of the victims. Mr. Kozai's numerous environmental statements quoted a young girl often, always the same one. A reporter finally uncovered the child's identity, and published her picture and real name in the evening paper that very day. Naoto also pointed out that as the daughter of a policeman in a small town, Nanako's identity must have been circulating Inaba for some time. Yosuke agreed that Naoto going to check on Nanako while they went to the police station was the best plan of action they could take.

But by the time Yosuke, Teddie, and Kanji arrived at the police station, Naoto had already arrived at the Dojima residence to find Nanako missing. Yosuke handed his phone to Dojima, and Naoto explained that the door was wide open with no one home. Dojima was at first in utter shock, and then angry. He called up some other police officers to get them mobilized, but they didn't fully believe Dojima either. So Dojima did the only thing he could do: go look for her himself. His partner Adachi tried to stop him, but it didn't work. The girls busted into the room while Adachi debated about whether or not to release Narukami / Seta. Kanji tried playing "bad cop" by bullying Adachi, but Naoto stepped in to play "good cop" and diffuse the situation.

Naoto explained that if the door wasn't forced open, then somone must have rung the doorbell and she opened the door herself. But Nanako told the girls at the hot springs: "I always do what my dad tells me, like not opening the door for strangers." That meant that the culprit had to be someone Nanako-chan knew, or at least was familiar with. Naoto also explained that the culprit probably took a large TV with him to each kidnapping point, in a large vehicle that wouldn't be noticed as unusual in the area, like... a delivery truck. Kanji realized that one came to his house on the day that he was kidnapped, and if it's a local service then it was probably the same man each time when Nanako received packages during the day. They asked Adachi if anyone fit this profile, and he didn't believe them at first, but he looked at Dojima's notes from re-opening the case and found a name. He quickly ran off to tell Dojima this information, leaving Teddie and his friends at the station alone.

The suspect was Namatame Taro, the man who had an affair with Yamano Mayumi while married to an enka singer and was employed as a council secretary. When he was fired from his job, he took up the family delivery business in Inaba. Adachi came back and agreed to "not see anything" if something happened while he stepped out, so the group headed out quickly to Namatame's house. Dojima had already crashed his car while chasing after Namatame. Adachi didn't want them to investigate the truck, so Naoto offered to do it, to preserve the evidence. She found Namatame's diary and read portions of it aloud, including the fact that Namatame wanted to "save" people and a complete list of the victims' home addresses, including those who were never released to the public - Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, and herself. She noted that Mr. Morooka's address was absent. Chie wanted to use the TV in Namatame's truck to go save Nanako. Even though Teddie really wanted to save Nanako, he didn't want his friends to be put in danger to the point they couldn't save Nanako, so he reminded them they should go tomorrow and do it the same as always. The group met early since it was a Sunday, and Teddie couldn't be more ready to fight with his friends to save Nanako.

Unfortunately, the fog in the TV world was even thicker now thanks to the commotion in town. The only good thing was that since everyone was friends with Nanako-chan, Rise had no problem finding the area she was taken to. It was so beautiful... with flowers everywhere, and a white castle, all very "heavenly." Inside the dungeon, everywhere Teddie looked gave him a warm, tingly, peaceful feeling... like he'd seen a place like this once before. He was really shocked to see one type of shadow: a Dry Dixie. He stayed focused though, as they made their way through each level. At the top, they decided to wait until the next day so that they could come in at full strength. Teddie didn't like the idea of Nana-chan being stuck with Namatame any longer than neccessary, but if they didn't rest, then no one would save her.

Teddie didn't sleep well that night, but thankfully work wasn't all that busy the next day. When they went back to the TV, they confronted Namatame and he kept talking about how he was trying to save them, how they'd signal to him to save them, denying that he was trying to murder anyone though he did admit to kidnapping them. Teddie didn't understand, but it was around that time that Namatame's shadow appeared, calling himself a savior. To make matters worse, Nanako was having trouble breathing, so Yosuke and Kanji ran up the stairs to the altar where Namatame was holding Nanako and punched him right in the shoulders! He released Nanako and Narukami / Seta ran up to catch her. Teddie had never seen Yosuke be so brave! Then Namatame started drawing the shadows into himself, becoming the full-fledged Shadow they knew they had to defeat.

Teddie started to wonder what tricks it would pull like the other Shadows they'd faced before, and then it laid on its stomach and gestured to Yukiko... and she ran to its side! Thankfully she snapped out of it after a bit, but then the Shadow did it again - to everyone! Teddie tried to resist it, remembering all he'd done to get to this point... his journey to find his identity, his friendship with Sensei, and the promise he made to Nanako. He hesitated despite the manipulation. Thankfully Narukami / Seta was strong enough to withstand such a trick long enough for his three friends to snap out of it and take the Shadow down, but Teddie still couldn't help but feel like he'd let Yu / Souji down in that moment.

Regardless, his joy at seeing Namatame's Shadow go down was immeasurable. They immediately ran to the exit to get Nanako back to the real world, with Kanji and Yosuke carrying Namatame out at Naoto's request. Nanako wasn't waking up though... and they all feared that she'd been in there too long. Teddie felt worse because Nanako was so innocent that her other self didn't even appear. Yu / Souji reassured them that they did all they could. Kanji agreed and said they had to believe in Nanako, believe that she'd recover. Teddie resolved to come see her every day until she got better. Adachi came by and told them they should all go home to rest, and that the doctors hadn't found anything out yet. While everyone else started walking home, Teddie hung back to talk to Yu / Souji, since he didn't trust the skills of doctors to help people the way his friends did.

[Canon+hints]
It was 15 days before the group heard anything about Namatame or Nanako. On November 21st, Namatame regained consciousness, and started responding to police questioning regarding the case. When he said goodbye to Yosuke that morning, Teddie noted how thick the fog was... almost as thick as back home in the other world. Not long after they parted ways, Teddie got a text message from Yosuke saying that they could visit Nanako-chan in the hospital now!

[Canon]
Teddie could tell it was still hard for her to talk, but knew she was happy to see her 'big bro' and the rest of them visiting her. The doctors still weren't sure what the cause of her symptoms were, so they only gave her temporary medicine for her pain. To make matters worse, the police were only allowed a little time each day to interrogate Namatame. It was all a little much for Teddie to handle. He was happy to go with everyone on the 24th to visit her, but things still didn't look much better for her. She smiled weakly at them and it made Teddie's heart hurt. On the 3rd, after exams were over, Yosuke texted Teddie to let him know that the group found out that using their glasses cleared up the fog in Inaba... so somehow the fog from the other world must be leaking into this world. After school, they read the newspaper with a report about Namatame. It made it sound like all loose ends had been tied up, but did the police really have enough evidence against Namatame?

Yu / Souji changed the subject by remembering that a good "get-well" present for Nanako would be a new kotatsu, since theirs stopped working. Teddie was still worried that he wasn't allowed to stay in his friends' world anymore. He kept feeling like he couldn't save Nanako and everyone told him he was being silly, that he could stay at least until Nanako got better. They were just talking about a Christmas present for Nanako when Yu / Souji got a phone call, and Teddie got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Sure enough, Nanako's condition had suddenly worsened. Dojima was in hysterics and everyone was ordered outside. Yosuke demanded that Teddie should be able to do something - if all of the problems came from his world, he should know how to fix this. Teddie was thinking as hard as he could but... for Yosuke to yell at him like that only made him more upset. And then Adachi came to tell them that it would be hard to make a case for Namatame, especially since the reason they took him off the suspect list in the first place: he had an alibi. Then they saw a nurse run out of Nanako's room, only to come back and ask if Nanako's family was around.

Teddie saw Yu / Souji run into Nanako-chan's room and the nurse closed the door, but in his heart Teddie knew... it was very bad. And that Yosuke was right; Teddie should have known something, anything to help Nanako. When Dojima burst in the door to her room, Teddie, Yukiko, Chie, and Yosuke followed. The girls started crying when the doctor said "I'm sorry", Dojima collapsed, Yosuke cursed, and all Teddie could do was whisper her name. Then he saw Dojima walk slowly out the door and heard Kanji scream accompanied by a loud thud from where Kanji had punched the wall. Everyone ran after Dojima, fearing that he might be going after Namatame for revenge, but Teddie didn't go with them. He didn't want to leave Nanako's hospital room. He couldn't believe he broke his promise to her, couldn't save her, and he felt responsible since it was his world. "Even though I was the only Teddie in that place... I... I still couldn't do anything..."

[+Hints - this is one of those key additions to the application, because in canon it jumps from the hospital, to Teddie in the mist on the road, and then to the Canon scene below]
Teddie closed his eyes and continued to mutter to himself, blubbering about how useless he was. He curled in on himself and gasped. When he opened his eyes, he looked around... he was surrounded by swirls of blue and magenta mist, standing in the middle of a road, and dressed in his bear suit. He knew it wasn't his own world, but it felt familiar. Both familiar to his own world, and familiar in that he'd been there before.

He lost his self-confidence, his very reason for existing on the other side - for existing at all: to entertain humans and in particular children. When Teddie lost all of that, his physical form disappeared from the human world entirely. The last tie that Teddie had was to Narukami Yu / Seta Souji. Since Teddie hadn't completed his transition to humanity, he could still enter the part of Yu / Souji's heart where Igor entertained Yu / Souji alongside Margaret: the Velvet Room. The access point to the Velvet Room from the TV World (the 'collective unconscious' in psychological terms) in Yu / Souji's case was the road that the Velvet Room limousine traveled along. The only thing Teddie could do was walk along the road. Teddie wandered aimlessly until he heard the sound of a car, then bumped into the limousine. He was tired from walking so he got inside - thankfully the limousine was stopped when he got in, because Teddie needed time to think about what he was going to tell his friends. About what he really was.

[Canon scene, evidence for most of my AU stuff]
While Teddie was stuck in the Velvet Room feeling sorry for himself, everyone else was getting the story straight from Namatame. Teddie eventually learned that, but not until the night of the 5th. Teddie didn't know he'd been away for so long, or where he was, but when he realized that his Sensei was there, it did put his mind at ease a little. He wasn't sure he'd ever be prepared to tell everyone about it, but he could start with Sensei. He talked about his insecurities being a "no one" - not a King, not even human - that the fact always was: Shadows lived in his world. Teddie was just a Shadow, meaning there was nothing he could do for Nana-chan in the hospital. "Shadows can't stay in the human world... They aren't allowed." He revealed that he now knew he'd awakened to human emotions and suppressed the memories of ever being a shadow, because he wanted humans to like him, so he took a different form. Teddie pleaded with Yu / Souji to apologize to Nana-chan when he met her in heaven, but Yu / Souji told Teddie how Nanako came through, and Teddie was at peace. "My heart feels so much lighter now... I'm starting to feel sleepy... What a strange place... It feels so soothing... It's not like my world... Something just feels so nostalgic about this place... Could this be your dream world, Sensei...?"

[Canon+hints]
Teddie still wasn't sure about himself, but he was deeply thankful for having met Yu / Souji. Their bond of friendship was fully realized, and Teddie's humanity too. In that moment, Teddie knew that he wasn't allowed in the Velvet Room anymore. He'd become someone separate from Narukami Yu / Seta Souji at last, forming a bond that no mere Shadow could make. Series-wide Note: Teddie is the only character aside from the main character, Igor, and Igor's assistant, to ever appear in the Velvet Room. I am taking the Velvet Room to be the "dungeon" (corner of a person's heart) for Narukami Yu / Seta Souji, since Izanagi sought him out and replaced Teddie.

[Canon]
After Teddie faded out of the Velvet Room, the limousine started moving again. When Teddie came to, he was back in his human form in Nanako's hospital room. Nanako woke up and told Teddie how she heard his voice saying "hang in there", and everyone else's voices reached her too. [AU note] This became Teddie's first 'social link' aside from Yu / Souji now that he was human, with Yosuke, Kanji, and Naoto soon following. [Canon] Looking down at Nanako, his resolve strengthened. "If I'm an unknown being, then the way I can change is unknown, too. So all I have to do is make them not-unknown... So what if I'm just a Shadow!? There must be something I can do!" To Teddie's amazement, his persona evolved to Kamui. Game-wide note: Teddie's is the only persona to evolve WITHOUT the main character present; my rational is that Teddie's special bond to Yu / Souji - being his old shadow - is the cause of this, in addition to Teddie feeling the bond between Yu / Souji and Nanako.

Then, he ran to see everyone, stopping to change into his suit on the way. It was the only way he felt strong enough to face them. Rise came up to hug him, scolding him in spite of sobbing because she was worried. Kanji chastised him too. Teddie finally got the chance to explain what he knew about his world and about himself. Teddie apologized again for being useless: "In the end I was just an ordinary shadow, nothing special about me... I'm really sorry. If I really was special, then maybe..." Yosuke said that they'd pretty much figured Teddie was something like a shadow already, especially since he didn't attack Yu / Souji and Yosuke when they first met and all Teddie wanted was peace in his world. Then Naoto said something that made Teddie truly appreciate her:

Naoto: "It's true you may have been born that way. But you now possess the power of Persona. A Shadow is suppressed power... Once controlled by the ego, it becomes a Persona... Doesn't it follow then that you must have developed an ego? Whether the ego masters its Shadow, or the Shadow awakens to its ego... The only difference I see is the order in which the process occurred."
Chie: "Oh! Teddie's practically human, then."
Teddie: "I-I'm... the same as humans...?"
Yosuke: "You keep trying to figure out who you are, just like all of us here. You can't do much on your own... You really aren't that special... See? What's so different between you and us?"

It was one of the happiest moments of Teddie's life. After that, they told Teddie that they now suspected Adachi, so Teddie decided to wait until later to get the full story from Yosuke, about what happened with Namatame and Adachi. The next day they went to the TV world, with Rise supporting Teddie instead of the other way around. Teddie caught the scent and led them to the access to Adachi's hideout: the creepy room where Yosuke nearly wet his pants.

When they got there, Adachi dropped his 'goofball' image. He told them how Mayumi struggled against him in the lobby of the inn, and he accidentally pushed her into the TV. Adachi came onto Saki too, and she struggled and so he pushed her into the TV too. Adachi was also responsible for taking Namatame's call to the police station. Adachi was the one who convinced Namatame that if he wanted anything to happen, then the police couldn't do it, and Namatame had to do it himself. He also planted the idea in Namatame's head to "shelter them... someplace no one will find them." And Adachi's reason for doing all of it? It was fun - it was all a game. The only reason Kubo even knew about his powers was because Adachi pushed him into the TV as well - that's when Kubo appeared on the Midnight Channel.

Unfortunately, they sensed that the 'Adachi' in front of them wasn't Adachi's real body. He also told them that by the end of the year, their world would be enveloped in fog... and then both worlds would become one. Teddie suspected that Adachi's own power took him over, and that if they didn't stop Adachi... the humans in their world would turn into shadows. The group resolved to be fully prepared before facing Adachi, so they left the TV and went home for the night.

[Canon+tactics]
They spent December 8th through December 21st preparing to face Adachi, so that on the 22nd they were a well-oiled machine. Adachi talked big about how it was pointless for a bunch of kids to try to uncover 'truth' and asked if they weren't just doing this to add 'spice' to their lives, saying that nothing will change with humans - they just latch onto one 'truth' and then another - but the group resisted his baiting. They knew that what he'd done was wrong, using the TV world to commit murders without actually dirtying his hands. Regardless of what happened afterwards, he had to be stopped. Adachi also claimed that the only people who truly enjoyed life in the Real World were people born with the 'magic ticket' called talent, and for everyone else life was just despair. Kanji retorted, "You're the only boring thing here! If you wanna disappear, go ahead! Stop dragging us into it!" Adachi said life would be easier this way, but Teddie knew from personal experience now that just figuring out who you were wasn't easy, but to have gained so many friends as a result - especially Yu / Souji and Nanako? He wouldn't have exchanged that for anything. Naoto explained it well: "People can't live alone. If you give in and sever your ties to human society, it will naturally become hard to live in it. Yet you refuse to face life and admit your fault, running from your own humanity like a coward. ... Your twisted logic is that of an immature, egotistical brat!"

Teddie was really surprised when Adachi went down so easily... The weird thing was how Adachi summoned a Persona that looked a lot like his Sensei's first Persona, but they didn't have time to think about that. Adachi was consumed by a much darker power - the same one that had consumed Teddie and Namatame - an entity calling itself Ameno-sagiri, ruler of the fog and soon-to-be ruler of the Real World once it became engulfed in fog. He claimed that the group's part had been to stir the masses into a panic. He explained how the fog was humans' desire to live in blissful ignorance and claimed that he was just doing what humans wanted.

"This is part of the sea of unconsciousness that exists within human hearts. A hollow forest born from bloated desire and false imagery. Humans view things as they see fit. They wish not for truth, but rather prefer the undesirables be hidden in fog... Still, humans fear what they cannot see. That brief yearning for truth becomes a ray of light which breaks the fog and torments the Shadows... Mankind abandoned its pursuit of truth, placing itself in the depth of chaos and falsehood. Thus, my strength has grown, and the fog will not lift."

Teddie's friends told Ameno-sagiri that they didn't want that, so he wasn't doing what they wanted, so leave humans with the right to choose. Eventually Ameno-sagiri challenged them to use their newfound powers - which he bestowed on them - and face him; the winner chose the fate of the Real World. "A new and uncertain facet of mankind... Is it worthy to put my trust in it, or not...?" Ameno-sagiri wondered as he hovered in front of them using a dark form resembling Adachi. "It must be tested." Teddie realized during Ameno-sagiri's explanation that maybe, just maybe, he was the only one to have achieved his powers all on his own, because he wasn't born as a human. Even his own humanity - Teddie got that by his own persistence, with the support of his friends. Of course Teddie joined in to face Ameno-sagiri... even though he was really weirded out by a rainbow-colored eyeball of that size sitting half-submerged in a sea of black liquid.

Still Ameno-sagiri baited them while they attacked him. "How foolish. Your actions will draw many back into suffering and strife. Why will you not understand this!?" But they still beat him. "I see... Power comes from the heart. You have proven to me human potential. Very well. I will life the fog from the place where you will return to. Mankind's desires are my desires. If mankind so wishes, I will return at any time. I am always at your side, watching..." Teddie retorted back, "Well, don't wait up! We'll keep that from happening no matter what!" He was serious, too - he'd protect the barrier between the TV World and the Real World forever if he had to. Ameno-sagiri replied, "Time will show the path humanity takes... Children of the new potential." And then Ameno-sagiri was gone, leaving Adachi in its place. Adachi wanted the group to just leave him there for the shadows to kill, but everyone agreed that they wanted to take him back to the Real World so that justice could be done.

Teddie changed out of his suit and when they left Junes, everyone could see that the fog had lifted. They were genuinely happy - especially since Christmas Eve was the day after tomorrow! [+Hints] Teddie spent Christmas Eve with Yosuke and his parents - it was hard for him to take in everything, as intrigued as he was by everything. His parents enjoyed his company too - saying how nice a guest Teddie had been, since Yosuke didn't have a younger brother to take care of the way he took care of Teddie. [Canon] Christmas Day they all met at the Junes food-court, and Teddie promised to never go back to the TV world without saying so first. They found out Nanako was able to come home for a bit, so they planned a Christmas Party for her. Thanks to being instructed about Christmas traditions the other day, Teddie came prepared with a gift for Nanako: a handmade mini version of Teddie in his bear suit, "made from 100% pure Teddie fur!" They also found out that Adachi confessed to all of the crimes. But then Teddie found out a terrible truth: Yu / Souji didn't actually live in Inaba with the Dojimas, and come Spring he'd be moving home. He resolved to spend as much time with his Sensei as possible before Spring, along with everyone else. New Year's and plenty of other holidays came and went.

March 20th 2011 came too soon, though - the day before Yu / Souji had to leave. He came to Junes to see Teddie and Yosuke before he left, which made Teddie happy, saying that he was using the day to say goodbye to everyone. Yosuke remarked that sometimes best friends have to fight to be best friends, so Teddie demanded a fight right then, but Yosuke told him to leave Yu / Souji alone since he had to travel the next day. Teddie felt so nostalgic, thinking that it was because of Yu / Souji and Yosuke that everything happened to him - Yu / Souji for taking people to the TV World in the first place, and Yosuke for taking care of him in the Real World. He told them both he loved them, much to Yosuke's embarrassment for using such a strong word. Teddie wanted to go with Yu / Souji while he visited everyone else, but Yosuke told him he had to get back to work.

[Canon for True Ending of the game, as a first play-through because I think it's more epic the first time around]
But some things still bothered Narukami / Seta, so when he was done visiting with everyone he came back to the food court. Teddie had just changed since his shift was over and Yosuke was with him, and slowly everyone else gravitated back to the food court too! They decided to have something to eat while they reminisced. Teddie wasn't as sad about Yu / Souji leaving anymore since he knew Yosuke and the others would still be there, and Yosuke understood him at least as well as Yu / Souji did. Teddie said he had fun in this world, and Yosuke replied: "Dude, your whole existence is about fun."

Then they remembered the Midnight Channel, noting how it was really the cause of everything, and wondered how that rumor had started to begin with. Teddie mentioned how the fog hadn't lifted in his world. Then they hit on the realization that Adachi, Namatame, and Yu / Souji could get into the TV before they actually awakened to their Persona abilities. Then Yu / Souji remembered that Nanako gave him a letter this morning... from Adachi in jail. Apparently Adachi had resolved to make amends, but he couldn't do it while he was in jail. He told them that both he and Namatame remembered hearing the Midnight Channel rumor soon after coming to Inaba. Ameno-sagiri had mentioned playing parts in a scheme, so the group eventually came to the conclusion that maybe someone - and not Ameno-sagiri - was the true conductor behind the scenes the whole time.

Everyone split up to search for clues. Retracing his steps, Yu / Souji remembered that the first person he met in town after Dojima and Nanako was a gas station attendant. Trying to puzzle it all out, he visited Igor and Margaret in the Velvet Room, and received an item they claimed would help in the final battle. When he left the Velvet Room, it started to rain, and he found the gas station attendant.

And that was the 'conductor' behind it all: Izanami. She disappeared, but not before challenging Yu / Souji one last time. Ameno-sagiri was a part of her that she'd birthed long ago, but if they wanted to clear the fog from the TV World and stop her from creating any more 'schemes' to bring fog back to the Real World, they'd have to face her with her full strength. Yu / Souji contacted everyone and gathered them back at Junes to confirm the situation before facing her. They remembered something that the teacher at the Port Island school had mentioned, something that Teddie hadn't heard before: Izanami was the name of one of the two gods who created Japan, but how could that be true? They also remembered how the Persona that Adachi summoned looked a lot like Yu / Souji's persona, Izanagi - the name of the other god who supposedly created Japan. Teddie started to wonder, if Izanami had interfered with Yu / Souji getting his 'Persona' power, was that why he didn't have to face his other self like the others, including Teddie? Did Yu / Souji have a 'real' Persona that wasn't Izanagi, and if so what had happened to it? Regardless, she had to be stopped for good, and Teddie so thankful to have friends who would do something like that after all they'd been through together.

There was only one problem... they only had one day to get to her and face her. Rise had no trouble finding her at 'Yomotsu Hirasaka' -- the gateway to the Spirit-World of the Dead, where Izanami had been sealed by Izanagi so long ago. Rise immediately felt a difference - Izanami had no trembling resolve, no uncertainty; she was 100% committed to what she planned to do. Thankfully, so were they.

They found Izanami hovering above a pool of water on the 9th floor, and Naoto read off the 'crimes' that Izanami had committed. Izanami rejected being responsible for the Midnight Channel, saying that while she did create it as a way to draw hearts into this world, "it was always your individual wills that would determine what appeared on it. Humans ache to expose their suppressed sides, while the prying eyes around them are curious to see them laid bare. The want to show, and the want to see... I granted a 'window' that catered to both."

Izanami disappeared into a billow of white haze, emerging as a being as tall as Ameno-sagiri with flowing grey-black hair and wrapped in straps of white cloth. They fought as hard as they could, but it seemed like maybe she was too powerful for them to affect... Then Yu / Souji pulled a glowing white orb out of his pocket. Everything was washed in a white light, and then Izanami's true form - Izanami-no-Okami - was visable... all blood-drenched bone and dirty cloth strips and far, far uglier than anything Teddie had seen yet.

[Canon, assuming that Teddie went down first]
And then she used some ability targeted right at Yu / Souji... but Teddie wouldn't let that happen! He shoved his Sensei out of the way, and then he felt all kinds of little hands grabbing onto him, dragging him down into a sea of red and black... like the kind where the shadows emerged from. Izanami eventually got Yu / Souji too. Meanwhile, Yu / Souji was granted a new power gathered from all of those with whom he shared a permanent bond of friendship. He re-emerged from Izanami's lair safely, and with a new Persona in his control: Izanagi-no-Okami. He threw away his glasses - he didn't need them anymore - and used a skill called Myriad Truths on Izanami, breaking apart her decaying body. Teddie felt his powers supporting Yu / Souji for the powerful attack.

The next thing Teddie knew, he was safely back at his friends' side, staring up at a quaking Izanami-no-Okami, in utter disbelief that she could be defeated. "Power enough to erase my existence... You have already exceeded what I thought humanity to be capable of... Children of man... Well done!" And when her screams faded, so did the fog, leaving a clear view of the world Teddie once knew. Teddie remarked, "I know this place! This scenery... A long, long time ago... everywhere in this world used to look like this!" They all slept peacefully that night.

But the next they had to say goodbye to Yu / Souji. The worst part was when Nanako started crying, begging Yu / Souji not to leave. Teddie told Yu / Souji before he left that he'd make sure to protect that world from abuse from now on, being proud that he can belong there now. Everyone else teased Teddie because they knew he'd come back as soon as he started craving something like ice-cream. The last thing Teddie said to Yu / Souji was "You'll always be my sensei forever!" as his friends - everyone but Dojima and Nanako - ran after the train departing the station. The group of them watched it leave from the edge of the platform, and then Teddie mused: "Doesn't matter how far apart we are. The bonds we've made will remain strong. Everyone's heart is connected to the people they know and trust. It's those bonds that let us all search for our purpose in life. As long as it's a purpose you believe in, there will always be someone who can help you fulfill it. You... Me... And everyone else. There are no barriers. Our hearts are one - right, Sensei?"

Teddie was at peace, and he hoped all of his friends felt the same way. They went back to quiet, peaceful Inaba, but the first time Teddie tried to go back into the TV World from Junes, he didn't quite make it, and wound up heading this way instead.