After talking with krisrix I got a headcanon thing in mind, but it totally morphed into something else.  I might try and write the other idea I discussed with her, but this one just came to mind. 

Warnings:  Angst, spoilers to November/December stuffs and parts of the Persona 4 anime.  Since the anime had moments where Naoto and Nanako grew a sort of bond I wondered, how would Naoto take the terrible news that happens in those winter months?

***

“Oh!  I never got to say thank you.”

Naoto looks surprised when Nanako lays next to her, hair out of it’s normal pigtails after their time at the hot springs.  Chie and Rise have both returned to the springs while Yukiko has gone back to work, leaving the detective alone with the young girl.

“Thank you?  For what?”

“For helping me over the summer.  You helped me solve the mystery!”

Naoto smiles and shakes her head, “You solved it on your own, little detective, I simply encouraged you.”

“But if you hadn’t of done that, I wouldn’t have kept trying.  So thank you!”

Naoto’s surprised for a second time when she feels Nanako hugging her.  She smiles again, combing her fingers through Nanako’s hair, “Anytime,” she says, “Us detectives have to stick together, right?”

“Stick together?”  

“Yes, we-” but Naoto stops, watching as Nanako pulls away from her.  The young girl chuckles but it’s not at all sweet, not the happy sound that Naoto has grown use to.  This one is dark, twisted, almost like the mocking laughter of her shadow, “… Nanako?”

“Stick together?  Stick together?!”  Nanako looks up at her, eyes wet with tears as she glares at her, “You let me die!”

“W-what?  I-I did not…”

“Yes, you did!”  And soon Nanako is surrounded by shadows and fog, the toxic combination choking her.  The coughs are loud and childlike, Nanako trying to breathe but it comes out in a messy rasp that forces her to her knees, a hospital beep somewhere in the background, ticking away the seconds of her short life.

Naoto knows that she should reach for her, should pull her out, but her body doesn’t let her move you let me die were the dreadful words spoken to her, so she’s going to sit and let her.  

The scene changes in a heartbeat as Naoto’s surrounded by white.  The air is sterile, a stench like cleaning products and the sickly, a dreadful flat line playing in the background that makes her feel nauseous   She looks over to see Nanako laying next to her, small body pale like ash, hands resting unpeacefully at her sides.  

There’s someone crying in the background and she looks over to see Dojima, limping towards the bed, eyes wide as the tears slide down his face.  Senpai is sitting next to the bed, hands folded in his lap as he mumbles something about playing together and building a snowman.  

“H-how could you?”  Dojima whispers harshly, eyes narrowed in Naoto’s direction.

“I-I…”

“How could you let her die?!”  He snaps, nearly falling, hands shaking against his crutch.

“I-I did not let her die!”

“Yes you did,” Senpai hisses at her, standing up, fists balled at his sides, “We could have gotten her out of there in time but you just had to keep him talking!”

Naoto shakes her head, “You said it was not my fault!  You said-”

“Naoto?”

The detective looks down at her very first victim.  

Nanako’s lips are too dry, tinted with a light shade of dead.  Her eyes slide open and there’s no light to them, looking more like a lifeless pencil sketch in desperate need of color, “… a-at least… you solved the case, right?”  

And the little girl’s smile makes Naoto stumble out of the hospital bed, body landing harshly onto the floor.  She scoots her body away from the bed, curling up in the corner, shaking and crying in a way that reminds her of that side of herself she had sneered at so many months ago.

“There ain’t no way we’re lettin’ you out of here alive.”

Naoto’s eyes widen when she looks up to see Kanji looming over her,  Another bitter scene change, another lump that clogs up her throat.  Kanji’s eyes are much harder than they should be when he looks at her.  There’s no stutter in his words, no blush across his cheeks, and the hard frown makes her heart stop.

“T-Tatsumi-kun?”

The others are talking – arguing, debating – but she can’t hear anything.  She’s too focused on Kanji, the taller boy kneeling down to look her in the eye.  

“I-I… I apologize, I… I never meant-”

“Save it,” he hisses to her.

“I mean it!”  And she clings to his shirt, eyes wild and desperate, “I meant to save her!  I meant-”

“You ain’t do shit!”  He screams, forcing her small hands away from him, looking absolutely disgusted with her touch.  

When she feels senpai grabbing her by her wrist she stumbles up, eyes frightened and voice small, pathetic, as she pleads with him, “No please!  Do not do this!”

The girls are in the background saying something but as she’s brought closer to the television the words become static, a mess of fear and guilt making everything around her a blur of white noise.  

“… et he-… go!”  

“Don’t do-… is!”

“Plea-…!”

“Taro Namatame, I assume?”  

In the mess that is this situation her voice is strong, confident.  On the television screen she sees herself facing the man, Nanako coughing and whimpering for help.

“S-stop talking to him,” she whispers to herself, “Stop talking to him!”  She says louder.

“I have some questions for you.”

“No!”  Naoto shakes her head, the tears slipping down her face, “Shut up!  Shut up!!  Save Nanako!!”

A set of strong hands press against her back Tatsumi-kun she thinks to herself.  She knows the feel of those hands, had felt one on her shoulder once upon a time when he had tried to comfort her.  She hopes to feel them around her, holding her, reassuring her that none of this is her fault despite what the television screen is showing her, “Please,” she whispers, “I… please, K-Kanji,” she uses his name, wants it to mean something to him.

He turns her so that they’re facing one another but the harshness of his eyes never changes.  He leans forward and kisses her but his lips feel like ice cold hatred, something that creates a new mess of tears for her.

All she can do is scream as he presses his hands against her chest and shoves her into the T.V.    

As the empty fog surrounds her she knows it’s a dream, had figured it out a while ago, but the curdled feeling in the pit of her stomach tells her that keeping herself in this dream is the least she can do after failing Nanako.