Persona 4 Regression ULTIMAX! Part 12 (Patreon)

Chie’s brows furrowed. Nothing about what she’d been experiencing was noticed by anybody else so far. It left Chie questioning how Naoto was coming in acting like she had some idea of what was going on. Rise was a bratty tease, Yukiko had become a huge baby who couldn’t even conceptualize that she had to pull her diaper down before using the potty, and this zealous caretaker—Ms. Nami—watched it all with a superior attitude. That’s why it was too hard to believe, let alone trust, that Naoto had retained enough of her old self to notice everything was wrong. She'd just been acting like a shy toddler!

Even Chie and Yukiko’s mothers didn’t seem bothered by their daughters’ childish activities or need for diapers. “I—” Chie started but stopped when Naoto pressed a finger to her lips, indicating she needed to be quiet for a moment. She dropped down suddenly, squatting to bring her face to Chie’s. “Just act natural,” she whispered, changing her face back to that of a timid baby right before Chie’s eyes.

It was a natural mask, one Chie was shocked to see how easily Naoto fell into. “C’mon Chie-chan, c-come pway wif us…” Her words were quiet but loud enough for Ms. Nami to hear as she had been approaching from behind, cooing at Naoto for trying to include her nursery mate.

“Well aren’t you just the sweetest thing?” she asked, clasping her hands together, “Chie, it looks like Naoto really wants you to go play with her. Are you done sulking in the corner for now? I'm sure it’d improve your mood to play with the other girls.”

The entire display shocked Chie, so much so that she just nodded in agreement. Ms. Nami smiled at her before abruptly turning her attention away as a small crash sounded out from the two other girls across the room. “Risette! Yukiko! Put that down now!” she scolded, leaving Chie and Naoto alone to deal with the incident.

After making sure she was out of earshot Chie turned her attention back to Naoto. Rather than the serious face she expected to see, the detective was grimacing.

Chie couldn’t determine what had caused yet another sudden mood change in her friend. She quickly picked it up when the moisture gathering leak guards of her diaper swelled beyond the constraints of her sailor suit onesie’s leg bands, the outer material straining against the elastic that dug into it. Gentle hissing filled the space between them, with Naoto adding in soft groans as her body emptied itself into the padding around her waist.

What little hope Chie had just moments ago vanished upon seeing Naoto wet herself, especially considering she’d just used the potty less than ten minutes ago. Learning that not even Naoto was spared from this situation made Chie regret getting her hopes up. This was an issue that would chip away at them until she was just as mush-minded as the other two—a fate Chie was headed for as well unless they figured out what caused this mess. She scoffed, disappointed at the display.

Naoto’s cheeks turned red. “I-I know it’s not ideal, but I can’t help it. Sometimes I feel it and sometimes I just… don’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to figure out what’s going on.”

The scowl on Chie’s face melted a little, realizing she wasn’t exactly being fair to Naoto. It wasn’t like she could control her urges any better than her friend. It was almost like something drove that immediate desire to throw a tantrum: she’d been so fed up with everything and somehow her first response was to get mad.

“My bad, Naoto.” she said, “What do we need to do?”

Naoto nodded, acknowledging her apology before returning to her normal self. “I think this has something to do with the Midnight Channel. The way this came over us so suddenly feels like what was happening there, reality is fuzzy and it’s all too strange not to be paranatural.”

It hadn’t occurred to Chie that the T.V. World might be involved up until this moment and it added another little tick of irritation to her list of problems. Of course the Midnight channel was involved. Then that dream from a few nights ago returned to her memory, that fuzzy memory of wandering a fog filled wasteland only to wake up with new babyish tendencies triggered to the forefront of her mind by the mere mention of the T.V. World.

Her eyes went wide, with the story on the tip of her tongue as she returned her attention to Naoto. She was stopped by the mask returning to Naoto’s face once again. Chie tried it herself, pouting dramatically just in time for Ms. Nami to return.

“Pwease, Chie-chan?” begged Naoto

The brunette was impressed with Naoto's improvisation skills, especially since she'd flawlessly done it with her back turned to the nursery’s looming caretaker.

Cautiously Chie let the hope of normalcy creep back into her and decided her best chance was to play along with Naoto’s charade. She huffed and let out an exasperated “Fine.”

Naoto stood, offering a hand to Chie and pulling her up. Together the pair toddled toward Yukiko and Rise, who were building block towers together.

Ms. Nami gave a satisfied nod, watching the girls for a moment from her position in the middle of the room. Chie and Naoto maintained a silent agreement between each other, an understanding that they couldn’t break character, at least, not yet.

The girl’s played for a while, stacking the multicolored blocks in various patterns. Sometimes they toppled naturally, but more than a few times the terror known as Rise knocked them down, giggling to herself and then claiming innocence. To the two who still held enough mental capacity to find this boring the playtime passed at a tortuously slow pace.

Eventually, the perfect moment came and Ms. Nami gave Chie and Naoto the opportunity they were waiting for.

“Girls, be good, I need to go do something. I’ll just be gone for a few minutes.”

Just like that Chie and Naoto were left alone.

“So, what do we do?” Chie asked.