Mitsuru was outside Naoto's hospital room taking a business call while Souji was talking to Naoto. Elizabeth and the best doctors Mitsuru could get at short notice were looking into Yamagishi's status. Mitsuru let out a sigh; it did feel weird to her that she was closer to the new Shadow Operatives than she was to large portions of SEES. Aigis, Akihiko, Yukari and Minato were the only ones on SEES she could claim to be truly close to, and even Aigis didn't really become a personal friend until after the Shadow Operatives were formed and Mitsuru felt obligated to show them around and occasionally act as an interpreter.

The business on the other end was mostly chatter and largely good news on the growth of the company, and Mitsuru's presence, even literally phoning it in, was almost ceremonial. Mitsuru knew and acknowledged that this sort of thing would probably be more efficient through purely electronic media, but business was still about social capital and connections. So this was a tradition she intended to keep and almost hated missing if only to see the people that were doing their jobs for her. However, a recovering friend was something she learned she couldn't ignore either.

Mitsuru finished her call and walked into the hospital room Naoto was in. Misturu adjusted her business jacket and looked at Naoto, "How long are you going to be undergoing therapy?"

Naoto flexed the fingers on her hand, "I just need the doctors to give the okay, and I should be out today. The recovery went remarkably well, though I suspect having several demons come by and work on the fingers beyond what mortal science can do made that possible."

Mitsuru smiled, "I did some asking around, and found a few of the Megami clan willing to help. They were actually impressed with medical science was capable of doing. In fact, the reason they didn't replace your hand with something supernaturally created was because of the doctors here."

Naoto let out a small laugh, "I imagine you're seeing a business opportunity in this."

Mitsuru nodded, "I wouldn't make a very good businesswoman if I didn't. It is good that you were able to benefit from it."

Naoto kept a smile on her face, "I imagine that is not the only reason you are here."

Mitsuru shrugged, "If you are feeling up to it, I'd like to hear about what happened with Yamagishi. If not, I can try to decipher Elizabeth's description."

Naoto looked at Mitsuru seriously, "I can't tell if you are trying to guilt me into telling you about it. However, the story is simple and short, we approached Fuuka Yamagishi, and she summoned shadows to fight us. In the surprise I lost three of my fingers and between the light attacks of my persona and the almighty attacks Elizabeth seems to prefer, the shadows were quickly wiped out, which caused enough strain on Yamagishi's mind to cause her to pass out. It was actually more difficult and time consuming to simply find her."

Mitsuru suppressed the urge to twist her face, "So she was 'upgraded' at the cost of years of her life as well. I hate to give this to you while you are still here but when you get out, could you make finding the person responsible for the Hanged Man, Frost Maiden, and the abduction of SEES your top priority when you can get back to investigating?"

Naoto nodded, "I knew that would be the case before you even asked. Souji is already working it; he also contacted our old Investigation team on the matter. It seems that something happening within the TV world seems to be linked to it. Moreover, a friend of ours has found a shortcut between this corner of our world with the area our own friends live in."

Mitsuru nodded, "I'll get in contact with HR to ensure they are properly compensated for their efforts. It would be good to have more allies."

Mitsuru turned to leave and then felt a slight nagging sensation of guilt and turned back to Naoto, "I am also glad to hear your friends have not been victimized by events here."

Naoto laughed again, "You needn't worry about them. They are perhaps more accustomed to dealing with people that aren't quite themselves than your team was."

Mitsuru sighed, "I wish that we didn't have to deal with it at all. Perhaps this personal quest of mine is causing more harm than it's worth."

Souji shook his head, "No, I've gathered some information already, and the Hanged Man and all related incidents would have happened even if you had done nothing. Apparently, your father and you had, in the process of cleaning up your grandfather's mess, shut down unethical projects that resulted in some very unstable people fixating on the Kirijo Group and you in particular."

Mitsuru looked at Souji, "So me trying to be ethical in my business affairs and take responsibility for my family's legacy is what's causing this?"

Naoto smirked, "A saying I've heard while here: No good deed goes unpunished."

Mitsuru visibly frowned, "I also don't believe there were unstable scientists in my employ."

Souji scratched his nose, "It wasn't a scientist; it was an executive, who had some influence amongst the staff. Said executive knew which of Kirijo's scientist employees had… flexible ethics."

Mitsuru scratched her head, "Very well, do we have a name on this administrator?"

Souji looked dejected for a moment, "Yuri Tachibana is the only name we have."

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow, "Why do you sound like there is a problem with that."

Souji pulled out a newspaper article, "His body was found in a river 8 months ago."

Mitsuru put her hand on her chin in a contemplative moment, "We are looking for someone who is supposed to be dead."

Naoto gave half-giggle, "Consider we've been dealing with gods and demons lately, I wouldn't be surprised if this was his ghost causing all of his trouble."

Mitsuru opened her eyes, "No, this one is simpler than that. The Kirijo Group has an agricultural subdivision that was developing cultured meat technologies, specifically, how to grow the meat faster than it would take to grow actual livestock. One of the road bumps they keep running into is that the accelerated growth causes cells to die before they reach the desired level of growth and could not be preserved for very long. A nuisance, but not a project killer when developing meat that is supposed to be served as food, but if one were to use it to clone a human, then the body would be dead right around when it hit adulthood."

Souji's eyes went wide, "So we could be dealing with someone who faked his death?"

Mitsuru's face remained stern, "I'll gather the reports I saw on the subject, if you know anyone that can look over the data from autopsy and the data from the reports we may be able to confirm the death."

Souji looked back at one of his other articles, "Would rapid decomposition after death, part of the defects of that process?"

Mitsuru nodded, "I believe it was, but I would need to check the reports again. I didn't pay that much attention to the details as I barely understood half of the science that filled most of the report."

Souji smiled, "Well, I say we have a pretty good idea that is what happened. More importantly I think we know where to find the late Yuri Tachibana."

It was a short hop by private jet to New York, where the traffic made what should have been a 15 minute trip to an industrial complex into an hour long wait through traffic. Aigis had been right, they should have taken a taxi to the nearest subway station, that had to have been faster, though Mitsuru had worried about being mugged. The facility was a clean concrete building with white paint. Aigis and Mitsuru moved to the roof. They were fairly certain Mitsuru would be identified, by Naoto, Souji and Elizabeth had a chance of not being identified, especially with a change from their usual attire.

Aigis found a sky light and the two moved to watch form the top. The other three had no trouble getting through the door, and were being taken to a room that made Mitsuru's stomach sink in terror. There, on the other side of the door was a group of shadows that was being agitated and from the looks of things was being made to attack humans. Moreover, the entire area gave off the same feeling as the Dark Hour.

Mitsuru looked to Aigis, "We need to get in there NOW."

Aigis nodded her head and blasted out the skylight and then grabbed Mitsuru and jumped down. Landing they both prepared for an immediate fight but instead they found that no one reacted with hostility and two beings instead just smiled and slowly clapped. One of the beings had the same yellow eyes she saw the night she lost two of her team to Beelzebub. That same being spoke, "Took you long enough. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever make it here. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Nyarlathotep, and I will be relieving you of your persona before the police arrive to arrest you for breaking and entering. So, thank you for falling for my trap."