“You’re Teddie, right?” Naoto questioned, stopping the bear in the streets during the school trip’s free time. She didn’t really talk to him much the previous night, on account of Teddie being somehow drunk on non-alcoholic drinks.
“Yep, that’s me!” Teddie answered peppily, having no lasting effects like Yukiko and Rise did.
“I apologize that I didn’t ask you for your name last night. Who are you?”
“Teddie.” He responded, tilting his head at the question. Naoto let out a small sigh.
“No, I mean… You don’t attend Yasogami, correct? You aren’t wearing a uniform, and I don’t think I’ve seen you in school.”
“That’s right! I traveled here by myself after saving up enough money from my job at Junes!” Teddie held his arms out, and wore a bright smile. “I’m the mascot!”
“Ah, I see.” Naoto gave a small nod, having seen the blue bear mascot wander about the store before. “But why come? Don’t you have other things to be doing?”
“Nope, not really. Outside of my job and friends, but I took a small leave to come here, where my friends are!”
“You don’t have any other friends?”
“No.”
“Nothing else to do to fill the time?”
Teddie shook his head. Naoto tilted her own. Did he not attend any school?
“Are you new to Inaba?”
“Definitely! I get lost so easily, but usually I’ll sniff out Yosuke’s scent, and it brings me back to his home.”
“You live with Yosuke?” Sniffing? Yosuke's scent shouldn't be strong enough to track.
“Uh huh. I don’t have any home on this side, so Yosuke took me in! It was beary kind of him!” Teddie clasped his paws together.
“...’Beary?’” Naoto blinked, watching Teddie start walking past her, humming to himself. What’d he mean by ‘this side?’ “Where are you going?”
“Oh, sorry. I thought we were done talking!” Teddie held his arms behind his back as he turned around to face Naoto. “Actually... I wanna wear my bearsuit.”
Naoto hesitated for a moment, before walking to follow the other teenager.
“Bearsuit? You mean the Junes mascot suit? What did you bring that here for?”
“It’s not the Junes mascot, it’s my bearsuit. I just use it as the mascot so I can have money for snacks!”
“So you owned the bearsuit before that? Did you have any particular reason, or did you just buy it one day?”
“I’ve had it all my life. It’s my body, after all!” Teddie responded, leaving Naoto more confused than she was beforehand. Then again, this is her first proper conversation she’s having with the bear, maybe this is just how he is.
From behind his back, Teddie somehow pulled out the semi-folded bearsuit, holding it by the zipper so that it falls open. Naoto was left standing in shock as he put it on, pulling the head out from within the costume, and donning it. The head was most certainly not in the suit at first. The confusion only continued as the bearsuit began emoting and talking like it wasn't a costume.
“You never actually answered my question on why you brought this along with you on this trip.” Naoto pointed out after a few moments, trying to not sound so perplexed at what she just witnessed, potentially distracting Teddie.
“I get nervous and awkward without it, so I take it with me wherever I go.” Teddie explained, walking past Naoto. “So when I feel down, I wear Suit and I always feel a lot better!”
“Do you… feel down now?”
“Well, I am in an unfurmiliar place with an unfurmiliar person. I was with you last night, but we didn’t really talk.”
“Ah right. Wait, how do you know that? The others who were acting drunk don’t have any recollection of last night’s events, why do you?” Naoto followed the bear out of the hotel.
“I dunno, why don’t they remembear?”
“Well, they claimed to be drunk, but those drinks were non-alcoholic, so it’s anyone’s guess on how that happened.”
Teddie thought to himself for a moment. He wasn’t human, so he could’ve genuinely been drunk that night. And if people who are tend to forget in the morning… perhaps that was from his inhuman nature as well.
“Maybe it’s bearcause I’m a bear!” Teddie offered an explanation, but Naoto didn’t seem like she was going to accept that answer.
“That’s just a mascot suit, isn’t it? Why would that have any bearing on what happened?” ‘Bearing’ was the normal way to say that word, but Naoto couldn’t help but sigh as she said it.
“I told you, this is my body.” Teddie responded, sounding a bit annoyed as his ear flicked.
While it’s true that the mascot suit was apparently capable of moving in a way a mascot shouldn’t ever be able to do, not to mention wherever the hell it was pulled out of, it still didn’t make any sense. She wanted to ask more questions about Teddie, but was unsure how to do so without just blatantly accusing the other of anything. Naoto wondered if asking Teddie’s friends would net her quicker answers on the bear’s odd behavior, but she didn’t know where any of them were, and only had Teddie here to talk to. She was suspecting there was more than meets the eye with him.
Now, normally, someone off the streets who got into a conversation with Teddie probably wasn't paying too much attention to what he was saying, missing the small details that didn’t quite add up when talking to who one perceived as a fellow human. However, Naoto is a detective, and spent most of the conversation studying Teddie and analyzing his words. Perhaps she should ask about his relevance to the murders. If what Yukiko drunkenly said was true, would Teddie be able to follow up on it? He seemed to lack a filter when it came to these… odd topics.
Teddie was still humming in front of her, looking around like the silence wasn’t boring in the slightest. He looked like he was trying to hold his arms behind him, though the mascot’s short limbs made that hard.
“Teddie, last night, Yukiko-Senpai and Rise-chan said that you guys ‘rescued’ people that were ‘thrown in a TV’ using ‘personas.’ Can you elaborate on that?”
“Well… the others don’t like it when I talk about that stuff outside of our group meetings, but… Yuki-chan already told you, so it should be fine!”
“So what she was saying was true?”
“Oh definitely! People are being thrown into my world, and I don’t like it! It angers the Shadows and everything gets dangerous!”
“When you say ‘your world,’ you mean the TV World Amagi mentioned, correct?”
“That’s right! I came from the TV World, and Sensei promised me that he was going to put a stop to it, and I started getting lonely and questioning my existence. So I created my human body and started living in Inaba!” Teddie rambled off, Naoto nodding along as he spoke. Sure, Teddie seemed to have a lot to say on the topic, and there was really no reason for him to be lying about any of it (especially since it doesn’t remotely sound like he’s making any of this up), but how was she supposed to actually believe anything that he said?
“Teddie, can you take me to this ‘TV World?’” Naoto asked, figuring that this would be the ultimate test on whether or not this was real.
“That depends!” Teddie nodded, which just looked like him moving the entire mascot suit. “Do you know where a large TV is?”
“Most likely in a department store. Is that how you access the TV World?”
“Uh huh! When Sensei, Chie-chan, and Yosuke first came to my world, they used the large TV that’s on display in Junes, and it’s been the way we’ve accessed it since, so that we always end up in the same place.” Teddie explained, his expression looking more worried. “So I must warn you that I’m not going to know where we end up if we go in.”
“That’s alright, I can protect myself. Let’s go.” Teddie wasn’t backing down, so she wouldn’t be either. After a nod, Teddie looked down the stores on the street until he spotted a department store that advertised TVs.
“There!”
Inside the store, the one employee looked minutes from passing out, not even greeting the two as they walked into the building. Teddie had removed his bearsuit and returned it to... wherever he was previously storing it, having been unsure if there was going to be a TV big enough to fit it. The two looked down each aisle until finding a TV large enough for the two rather small teens to enter.
As the employee wasn’t paying any attention and was out of their view, Naoto poked the screen of the TV, which as expected, didn’t do anything. Instead of speaking, Naoto simply turned and looked over to Teddie, who shook his head and kept brightly smiling.
“You can’t enter the TV World on your own without a Persona!” Teddie explained as if this was basic knowledge that everyone knew. “Well, except me. I never left until I had my own Persona, but I’m sure I would’ve been able to get out regardless.”
“You said there were dangerous beings in there. Wouldn’t they also be able to just leave if they wanted to?”
“Nope.” Without giving any further elaboration, Teddie pressed his paw against the screen of the TV. To Naoto’s surprise, it began warbling and glowing, and Teddie’s arm went through the screen. “Go ahead, try again!”
After recollecting herself, Naoto did so, and yeah, her arm also went through the screen.
The two slipped through and into the TV World awaiting them on the other side. The thick fog surrounded them, and they looked around to find that they were on a platform with a few different pathways branching from it. Similar to the Junes’ portal, but not quite the same.
“It’s so foggy here, how do you get anything done?” Naoto commented as she sat up. She was still trying to recover from the fact she had gone through a TV into a completely different world.
“Glasses! I don’t have any prepared for you since you have no Persona, but I can give you one of the pairs I made out of boredom.” Teddie replied, handing her a pair of green glasses. Your average looking glasses, no less, but they did remove the fog to the point where it didn’t look like there was any at all.
“You made these?” Naoto questioned, looking up at Teddie. “Why don’t you need any?”
Teddie was already standing (though currently bent over slightly to hand Naoto the glasses), and despite his cheery speech and expression, did have a look of bother on his face.
“My eyes are lenses! I made sure to keep that aspect of myself when creating this body so I didn’t need to create any glasses for myself. I don’t really like being here without my bearsuit, but it wouldn’t have gotten through any of the screens.” The bear sighed and straightened up as Naoto finally stumbled to her feet.
“I see. You’re from this world, right? So that bearsuit is your original body.”
“It is my body. I have this one, sure, but Suit is still very much me.” Teddie interrupted. Naoto paused and sighed, not really wanting to think about the idea of an empty bear mascot suit creating a human body within it. How accurate was it anyway? She’d have to put a pin on it and take Teddie to a doctor, there was no point in denying that he wasn’t human anymore.
Still, something in Naoto’s mind continued this doubt. She’s in the TV World now, yes, but Teddie hasn’t exactly blatantly proved he was actually a bear outside of the strange things he said and the bearsuit’s ability to emote like that.
“Can you prove that you’re from this world?” Naoto asked, figuring that it’d be a good place to start.
“Uh, I suppose so.” To be honest, he wasn’t quite sure how he was going to prove that, but the first thing that he thought of was creating an exit. Only he could do that, after all.
Teddie stomped his hind paw a few times, causing a stack of three TVs to appear beside where he and Naoto were standing. The detective flinched at the sudden appearance of the TVs, immediately questioning them.
“Oh! This is the exit. Remember how you asked if Shadows could just exit as they please like I can, here you go! There are no natural exits in this place, once you're in, I have to create an exit to let you out. Not even Persona users can do this.” Teddie waved his paw around. “Shadows can't leave this world anyway.”
“I see.” It was a start, but it’s not like she could test the bear’s words by trying it out herself, since she lacked this ‘Persona’ that Teddie kept bringing up. Figuring that those were a rabbit hole all on their own, Naoto would stay focused on the TV World, at least for now.
At Naoto’s short response, Teddie held his arms behind his back, trying to see if there was any other way he could easily prove he wasn’t human, outside of cutting himself open and having Naoto see if he was missing anything. The whole thing was bothersome - he created this body to fit in and be the same as his friends, why did he have to reveal that it wasn’t actually the case?
“It’s beary hard to prove you're not a real human.” Teddie sighed out after a few moments of silence. “But the TV World is real. We should probably leave now, before the Shadows come.”
“What are Shadows?”
“Dangerous! They attack and kill, and it’s super scary! When the fog lifts, the Shadows attack, and that’s why people who get tossed here die! When Sensei and the others came here, I was able to find them before they died and got them out. Now they fight the Shadows to save whoever was thrown into the TV, and they’ve done a great job at it!” Teddie’s expression became frightened again. “Now we really should leave! You got your proof, can we get out?”
“Yes, I believe this is enough.” Naoto responded. Teddie was obviously frightened of these Shadows, but without seeing them herself, it was hard to share the fear. However, Teddie claims to be from this world, so that would mean he’s had many encounters with them. It would be best to leave before he panics any further over Naoto’s safety.
Back in the department store, Teddie leaned against the wall.
“Thank you for showing your world to me.” Naoto commented, giving a small nod, leading him out of the store. “I should be getting back, the school trip should be ending soon. Surely you have enough money to head back home yourself, right?”
“No, I don’t. But… Sensei told his teacher that he made me in class. So if I wear my suit, I should be able to ride the bus with everyone else!” Teddie responded, pulling the the mascot head back out from behind him. Knowing the full context that the bear head is supposedly Teddie’s actual head, Naoto thought it was a little unnerving seeing him casually hold it like that, even if he couldn’t provide much evidence about it being his body.
Then again, the mascot being able to emote only when being worn by Teddie was pretty good evidence that it was. Perhaps she would ask someone else to wear the suit and watch to see if the bearsuit wasn’t just magical on its own somehow, or if it really was just Teddie’s original body. If it was, having someone else within the suit would end up being very uncomfortable for both whoever was in what was basically still Teddie’s body, and Teddie himself.
“Are we going?” Teddie’s voice snapped Naoto out of her thoughts, the bear now wearing his suit.
“Yes, right. Let’s go before we get left behind.”