On April 11, 2011, Yu Narukami arrives by train to the rural city of Inaba, where he will be living with his detective uncle and cousin for a year, beginning classes at Yasogami High School the following day. Someone who cuts class soon discovers the corpse of television announcer Mayumi Yamano hanging from a television aerial, and a crime scene of this murder is later investigated. Yu meets and goes out with Yosuke Hanamura and Chie Satonaka to Junes, a department store where Yosuke works and whose father manages after Yosuke offered to treat Yu, and Chie demanded to tag along in compensation for her broken DVD. Chie brings up the Midnight Channel, a strange "television show" that appears on rainy nights. The three later meet Saki Konishi (a girl Yosuke has a crush on) there as well. Back at home, an interview is shown on the news about a girl who had witnessed the murder. As it later rains during the night, Yu feels a strange ambiance as it tries to pull him into the television, but he manages to free himself. Although relaying this event to Chie and Yosuke the next day yet dismissing it as a dream, they head to Junes to see what will happen on a widescreen television. The news shows that Saki was actually the one being interviewed, and as Yu touches the television, he starts to pass through. Yosuke, out of shock, accidentally knocks the three of them into the television, where they enter a world shrouded by fog. They find a room with a noose and encounter an anthropomorphic bear named Teddie, who hands Yu a pair of glasses allowing him to see through the fog. Suddenly, they are attacked by creatures known as Shadows. Just as the group are pinned down, Yu's power awakens as he summons his Persona named Izanagi to defeat the Shadows.

Yu, Yosuke, and Chie return to their world, thanks to Teddie. The next day, Yukiko Amagi rejects a disturbed student's request for a date. Yosuke wants to take Saki to see a movie, but an assembly is called in, where it is learned that she had died. Yosuke proposes a theory that not only people who appear on the Midnight Channel will die, but also the television world is somehow connected to their deaths. Yu and Yosuke return to the television world, having Chie remain behind. Teddie accuses Yu and Yosuke of pushing people in, leading to their deaths. After they discover that his body is hollow, they manage to convince him otherwise and offer to help find the culprit. Teddie leads them to the twisted shopping district, mirroring the Inaba Shopping District, where they find the Konishi family's liquor store. Inside, Yosuke hears Saki's suppressed thoughts about her hatred towards him and his association with Junes. Suddenly, a doppelgänger of Yosuke appears, claiming to be the manifestation of his boredom of the countryside. Yosuke denies these claims, causing the doppelgänger to turn into a Shadow. During the battle, Yu manages to make Yosuke accept the thoughts his Shadow expresses, allowing Izanagi to defeat it, transforming it into Yosuke's Persona named Jiraiya. Yu and Yosuke return to their world, finding a worried Chie waiting for them. As they return home, Yu and Yosuke resolve to find the culprit.

Chie grows concerned after seeing Yukiko on the Midnight Channel, but is assuaged when Yukiko calls her to say she is taking time off from school to help at the Amagi Inn, the inn owned by her family. After confirming with Teddie that no humans are currently inside the TV world, Yu suggests that they watch Midnight Channel at night, which shows Yukiko dressed as a princess proclaiming that she is searching for her "Prince Charming" before running off into a castle.^[11] The next day, Yosuke reveals two fake swords he found believing they will help in the television world, but both he and Yu are arrested when an officer mistakes them for real swords. Tohru Adachi, junior detective partnered with Yu's uncle, manages to release the boys. Chie, meeting them at the police station, reveals that Yukiko has gone missing, prompting Adachi to believe that Yukiko may be involved with the recent murders. Yu, Yosuke, and Chie later go into the television world, meeting up with Teddie, to save Yukiko inside the castle. Chie runs in ahead of the others, entering a room resembling a bedroom where she hears Yukiko's thoughts about being useless without Chie. During this, Chie's other self appears, scoffing at Yukiko and liking how she submits. When Chie rejects these accusations, her other self transforms into a Shadow that the boys fight, with Yu discovering his ability to use other Personas in battle. After the battle, Chie accepts that the only thing she cares about is Yukiko's friendship, causing the Shadow to transform into her Persona named Tomoe Gozen. The group leave the television world, unable to find Yukiko, but vowing to rescue her before the fog returns.

The group returns to the television world to resume their search for Yukiko in the castle, but they instead find her doppelganger who, after summoning Shadows, runs off. Elsewhere, the real Yukiko reminisces about a past incident with Chie followed by the time she nursed an abandoned baby bird back to health and then kept as a pet. When it escaped its cage after she forgot to lock the door, Yukiko became overcome with thoughts that, unlike the bird, she would be unable to escape her fate of running the Amagi Inn. When her friends find her, they see her doppelgänger voicing these thoughts aloud to Yukiko. The doppelganger welcomes the group before attempting to drop a chandelier on top of Chie. However, Yu reveals another ability, allowing him to summon Ara Mitama to protect her. The doppelgänger then begins to rant about how Chie is no longer fit to be her prince and continues attacking them. Eventually, Yukiko rejects her causing the doppelgänger to transform into a Shadow, a bird who sets the area ablaze while trapping the real Yukiko in a birdcage. As the group fights Yukiko's Shadow, Chie reveals her jealousy towards Yukiko, giving Yukiko the strength to break free and allowing the others to defeat her Shadow. After the battle, Yukiko accepts her Shadow which becomes her own Persona named Konohana-Sakuya.

While waiting for Yukiko to recover, Yu is asked by Chie to help out with the basketball club, being formally introduced to his teammate, Kou Ichijo. He later spends time with the team's manager, Ai Ebihara, who eventually confides in him about a crush she has on Kou and asks for help. However, upon learning that Kou has a crush on Chie instead, Ai attempts to jump off of the school roof. Yu manages to console her, which causes Ai to force Yu into dating her until she finds someone else. Believing that Chie might be jealous of Yu, Yosuke sets her up to become a temporary manager for the basketball team. Yu later learns that Kou is quitting the team after the next game because of family pressure and wants to leave on a win. During the game, Ai starts a slap fight with Chie due to her jealousy, and Kou's team end up losing. Later while eating at the Chinese Diner Aiya, Yosuke notices that his classmate Aika Nakamura works there, since her family owns the restaurant. Kou explains the outcome changed his mind about quitting and Ai lets go of Yu, explaining that she wants to work hard and become a good manager. The next day, Yukiko returns fully recovered to school and asks to join their investigation, in which they accept.

When Dojima has to back out of going on a trip for Golden Week, Yu decides to take Nanako to hang out with his friends at Junes, who quickly warm up to her. The next day, Yosuke deduces that all of the victims so far have been women who are somehow linked to Yamano. After a week, on another rainy night, Yu watches the Midnight Channel, and is surprised to see it showing Kanji Tatsumi, a notorious punk who attends his school. Yu, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko discuss that although Kanji doesn't fit the criteria of all-female victims, they discover a link between Kanji and Yamano. Tatsumi Textiles, Kanji's family shop, has a custom-made scarf that was seen as a noose in the first visit to the television world. Upon leaving the shop, the group sees Kanji talk with an unknown young man. The next day after school, Yosuke and Chie attempt to trail Kanji as he meets up with the student from the previous day, while Yu and Yukiko stake out near the shop, in order to catch the culprit. As Yukiko expresses her feelings about what she believes is her destined job at the Amagi Inn, Yosuke and Chie's cover is soon blown. Chie panics and says that it would not be wrong for Kanji to meet up with another boy, but this upsets him to the point that he threatens to beat them. They run away from him, eventually involving Yu and Yukiko in the chase until they manage to lose him. That night, Yu watches the Midnight Channel, only to see Kanji as an overtly flamboyant gay host of a show investigating bathhouses, much to his shock.

When the four enter back into the television world, Kanji is nowhere to be found. It is learned that Kanji made a bunny-shaped phone strap charm for a little boy, after the latter had previously lost one before. Yu borrows the charm to give to Teddie, who is able to track down the scent, ending up finding Kanji at the bathhouse seen on the Midnight Channel, who is struggling with his other self in a compromising position. Kanji rejects the fact of being gay, which then transforms his other self into an overly muscular Shadow, flanked by two equally muscular flamboyant lesser Shadows. As it seems that the group is no match against Kanji's Shadow, Yu fuses two Personas into Yamata-no-Orochi, also accepting the bunny-shaped phonestrap charm that Kanji made as something cute. This encourages Kanji to punch his own Shadow, taking it out of the battle. Kanji retorts to his other self that he is not gay but rather afraid of being rejected by either sex, turning his other self into his Persona named Take-Mikazuchi. Several weeks later, Kanji joins up with the group to find out who pushed him in the television world in the first place. That night, Dojima asks Yu if he has been getting involved in anything, aware that Yu was at Tatsumi Textiles and worried that he is getting in over his head.

Knowing that a school camping trip is coming up, the group will get to cook curry together, so they prepare for the next day with food and supplies. While at the campsite, the curry that the girls prepared had several ingredients to which make it barely edible, much to Yosuke's disgust, yet their classmate Hanako Ohtani loves the curry and eats it all. When Yu and Yosuke go to the first aid tent, they meet Naoki Konishi, Saki's younger brother, who has been feeling left out from activities since Saki's death, as everyone is trying to let him grieve. While the gang is hiding out eating food they have ordered from Aika, Kanji picks up Naoki from his post so the others can talk to him, giving him some peace of mind. That night, when Yu and Yosuke tell Kanji they are wary of sharing a tent with him after seeing his other self, he storms out to break into the girls' tent to prove otherwise, but Chie knocks him out. An unconscious Kanji is left with a snoring Hanako for the remainder of the night. On the last day of camping, Yosuke convinces the girls to go swimming, as he bought swimsuits for them at Junes. But when they are offended by the boys, they throw them into the river. As they head back to camp, Hanako approaches Kanji, revealing that he is not her type, greatly upsetting him.

Popular singer and idol Rise Kujikawa decides to take a break from her career when it starts to wear her out, and she decides to go to Inaba to help out at Marukyu Tofu, her grandmother's tofu shop. While she is shopping at Junes, she meets Yu, who found her cellphone after she dropped it. The following night, Rise appears on the Midnight Channel wearing a swimsuit, and the group decides that they have to go to Marukyu Tofu to warn her of a potential kidnapping. They later manage to catch a stalker after Rise who claims to be just a fanboy, and Adachi arrests him to question him for the kidnappings. The next day, Yu learns that Rise has started classes at Yasogami High School, and he helps her evade paparazzi waiting for her outside the school. Her old agent goes to find her, revealing she has lost a movie role to another idol, which upsets her. When Yu attempts to console her, she believes Yu is no better than anyone else and runs off. That night, the Midnight Channel shows Rise as the host of a strip joint show.

Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko and Kanji go into the television world in order to save Rise, finding her at the strip joint. As Rise is harassed by multiple other selves, she rejects them, turning her main other self into a large Shadow. The gang summons their Personas to battle the Shadow, but she uses her special scanning ability to detect the strengths and weaknesses of their Personas, dodging their attacks and severely harming them. As she prepares a final attack, a fired up Teddie rushes at the Shadow, who cannot detect what Teddie really is and thus, cannot effectively counterattack. Teddie defeats the Shadow, albeit flattening himself in the process, and Rise realizes that she does not have a "real identity", transforming her other self into her Persona named Himiko. However, this causes Teddie to have an existential crisis, bringing forth his other self which also turns into a Shadow, sucking Teddie's deflated body up and threatening to kill the others. As Teddie proclaims to his other self that he does not want the easy answers as to who he really is, Rise uses Himiko to detect the Shadow's weak spot, allowing Izanagi to defeat it, freeing Teddie who accepts his other self and receives his own Persona named Kintoki-Douji.

When their homeroom teacher, Kinshiro Morooka - dubbed by the students as "King Moron" - is found murdered, the group is confused as he had not appeared on the Midnight Channel like the other victims. As they are curious if Morooka was thrown into the television world without their knowledge, they decide to talk to Teddie, amazed to find him in the real world this time and surprised to see that he has grown a human body inside his costume, horrifying the kids that find his head. They give him new clothes and have him blend in as a human. As the gang head to Marukyu Tofu, they are met by the student that Kanji was talking to, who is revealed to be a junior detective named Naoto Shirogane, who confirms the three serial murders that have happened so far. Rise later agrees to join the gang to solve the mystery behind the victims and murders. The next day at school, the class is introduced to their new homeroom teacher, Noriko Kashiwagi, who behaves in a very flirtatious manner. Yukiko is approached by the same disturbed student who has been stalking her, but she turns down his offer to go out with him a second time. While at his house, upset over being rejected, the disturbed student - revealed to be Mitsuo Kubo, decides to take credit for the three murders to an online chatroom. But when he is brushed off as a troll, he storms out of his house and turns himself in to the police. The following day while the group is at Junes, Naoto tells them that the police have closed the case, due to Mitsuo turning himself in. Sometime later on a rainy day, the group decides to check out the Midnight Channel once more, and that night they find Mitsuo taunting the viewer to catch him if they can.

The gang enters the television world to find Mitsuo in a video game simulation. They discuss how they believe Mitsuo is the culprit behind the murders and how Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise have all come into contact with him before they were thrown into the television world. By the time they track down Mitsuo, they see him arguing with his other self over the murders, while his other self claims that he is "empty". Once Mitsuo refuses its statements, it begins to transform into a Shadow. Suddenly, time skips forward to after the battle, when the group is planning a party to celebrate the resolution of the murder case. A month later, the group starts falling apart, but Yu and Yosuke remain as friends, as do Chie and Yukiko. On a rainy night, Yu is unable to watch the Midnight Channel, let alone pass through the television. When he hears the voice of Mitsuo's Shadow inside his room, he is taunted that his bonds are now "empty", since he is cannot summon his Persona anymore. Yu starts to give up hope when the Shadow strangles him, but he hears Yosuke's voice and he is pulled out of the illusion the Shadow created by Yosuke's Persona. Reunited with his friends, Yu confidently retorts to the Shadow that he is "far from empty" and summons several Personas representing all of the bonds he has made since for the past few months to attack the Shadow. When the Shadow is defeated, they confront Mitsuo, who shamelessly admits to being behind the three murders, and they are surprised when his other self disappears instead of turning into a Persona. Yu proposes that the gang have a celebratory party for Mitsuo's arrest. After the party, Nanako and Teddie make a promise that he will come over to play with her, and Yosuke tells Yu about the shopping district's summer festival.

On her way home during a downpour, Nanako passes by the local shrine and gives a fox her umbrella, coming home soaking wet. Nanako starts to worry when Yu starts coming home late day after day. To find out what he is up to, she decides to dress up as her favorite cartoon character, Magical Detective Loveline, and tries to follow him around. She loses track of Yu when Teddie interrupts her for some pastries on her first attempt. The next day, the rest of the group show up and decide to help her out, and after searching for Yu all day, they give up at sunset. As they wait at a bus stop, they see Teddie apparently getting off of the bus, confusing the group. When they interrogate him, they realize he is not acting like himself, but he leaves before they can ask anything else. The following day, after Nanako tracks Yu down, she and the gang surprisingly find him with three women of different ages each at separate times during the day. On the day of the summer festival, Nanako is at the fairgrounds by herself as Dojima has to work late, feeling she will never solve the case. However, Naoto finds her and cheers her up, prompting her to go throughout the festival looking for Yu. Nanako eventually finds him, and they watch the fireworks together, with everyone Yu has met over the past weeks, thanking Yu for his help. Two days later, Dojima brings home watermelons for Nanako, Yu, and the rest of the group to enjoy. Nanako asks Yu what he has been up to for the whole summer break, and he begins to tell her what he has done.

Yu goes out to buy a new umbrella for Nanako, who claims that she lost it the night before, but he is not able to afford one. After passing by the local shrine, of which the fox from before approaches him holding an ema, he is suggested to tutor Shu Nakajima, while at the same time taking up another job at a local daycare. He stops Yuuta and Kaneko from fighting over the latter's toy robot, which breaks during the fight. When Yuuta's stepmother Eri Minami apologizes to Kaneko's mother, Yu takes the blame and offers to replace the expensive toy robot. Yuuta and Kaneko get into another fight a few days later after the former claims to have seen Magical Detective Loveline, unbeknownst it was Nanako dressed in disguise, Yu dresses up in Teddie's costume to stop the fight. When he goes home in the costume, he crosses paths with Nanako and his friends. Later, as he heads to the shrine, he finds an old woman, Hisano Kuroda, unconscious after she had been mugged, and he accompanies her to the hospital where her attending nurse Sayoko Uehara flirts with Yu. Some days later after a tutoring session, Shu reveals that he dislikes going to school and has no friends. During an impromptu date Yu gets dragged into, Sayoko reveals her dismay that as a nurse everyone she meets at work leaves as soon as they get better. Meeting with her, Eri reveals to Yu her stress at the strained relationship she has with Yuuta. Finding her, Kuroda says to Yu that she is tired of being reminded of her deceased husband and throws a decorative comb he gave her into the river. A large carp jumps out of the water with the comb stuck in its fins as soon as she leaves. During the summer festival, after having caught the carp, he returns the comb to Kuroda, saying she should not be throwing away memories. Yu also sees Shu, who stole fireworks from the display after none of his classmates invited him to go see them, but Yu gives him a reversi set as a birthday gift and reminds him that two people are needed to play the game. He then finds Eri, who has been badly hurt after stepping in the way of Yuuta getting hit by a purse during another fight. Yu calls Sayoko who walks him through the steps of getting Eri better. Yu is thanked by those he has helped out over the past few weeks. The next day, the local shrine has gotten an excess of donations, which the Fox lets Yu use to buy a new umbrella for Nanako.

As summer vacation ends and classes begin, the freshmen and sophomores go on a field trip a week later to Tatsumi Port Island. However the hotel they will be staying in has been repurchased from a less-than-reputable organization. Teddie, waiting for the gang there, wants to score a date with Yukiko, which she agrees to do so during free time the following day with the rest of the group. While the girls enjoy the rotating waterbed in their room, the boys have a more turbulent experience with their waterbed. The next day, the group split up while wandering the island. Yu catches up with Chie who is defending a young boy from thugs, later revealing to Yu that she wants to find meaning in her self-worth, of which is something he admires in her. The group reunites at a night club, seeing Naoto there. As they all enjoy free food and drinks, unaware that they were served alcohol - Rise, Yukiko and Yu get drunk and start acting out of character during a drinking game called "The King's Game". Naoto has a family history of being detectives that help the police and then requests that they reveal their involvement in the murders. Although Yukiko blurts out that that they go into the TV to fight Shadows with their Personas, Naoto believes she is mocking the idea. The next day, the gang enjoys lunch together before leaving for Inaba. Back in Inaba, Naoto talks on the phone to someone, requesting some more information on the self-styled gang and the Midnight Channel.

Naoto appears on the news to say that there are incongruities in the murder case and that it is still under investigation. The next day after school, Naoto approaches the gang and interrogates their involvement in the murder case. Naoto tells them that they are not seen as possible suspects, but as pawns in the game. Naoto goes on to reveal that Morooka's murder was the only one that sticks out, as he never appeared on television and never disappeared before his body was discovered, with a blunt force injury to the head as the cause of death. At night, Naoto appears on the Midnight Channel, and announces an experimental operation to be born anew. When the group goes to the television world the next day, they are unable to find Naoto. As they return to the real world, the group splits up in search of Naoto. According to Aika, Naoto had gotten into an argument with Adachi of how to handle the murder case. The group heads back to the television world, bringing them to a secret laboratory. When they enter, they see Naoto chiding a doppelgänger for acting too much like a child. However, the other self reveals that Naoto is insecure about being seen only as a child, rather than an adult detective, aside from the fact that Naoto is really a girl. This causes Naoto to reject her other self, transforming it into a Shadow. Yosuke is attacked, struck by a beam that causes him to age rapidly. As the Shadow starts to attack the others, they retreat while Naoto is left in her Shadow's clutches.

Teddie is hit by the aging beam when he protects the girls from the Shadow, and Yu is also hit after trying to vary his Personas against the Shadow. The Shadow laments on Naoto's difficulty to make friends, being discredited for her age and gender. After freeing himself from the debris from the Shadow's earlier attacks, Kanji charges at the Shadow, telling Naoto that he has grown past his struggle in making friends. Teddie manages to restore their ages using Kintoki-Douji, which allows Yu to summon Beelzebub and defeat the Shadow. Naoto accepts her other self, transforming it into the Persona named Sukuna-Hikona, not long before collapsing from exhaustion. When Yu returns to his house, Dojima and Adachi inform him about Naoto's safe return, yet Dojima surmises that Yu is somehow involved with the case. A month later, a recovered Naoto reveals that her kidnapping happened in quick succession, likely committed by a lone male. The group concludes that Mitsuo was only a copycat killer, given the circumstances of Morooka's death. Naoto asks if she can join the group to help out. After Naoto offers to have the whole group get physicals, Teddie is shown to have nothing in his body according to his X-rays. Kanji admits to Yu that Naoto has inspired him to be himself and help others to see who he really is. The next day, Yu catches up with Naoto, taking to her the Chinese Diner Aiya, in order to solve the "case" behind the actual ingredients in the "rainy day special", a massive gyūdon. Elsewhere, someone types a letter stating "don't save anyone anymore".

Adachi urgently calls Dojima regarding a hit-and-run accident which severely injures a woman that occurred at the Samegawa flood plains. The next day, Yu finds a photo with Dojima and his late wife with Nanako, and Nanako explains to Yu that her mother had died in a car accident of a similar case. At Junes, Yu studies for the midterms with his friends, while Teddie spends time with Nanako. At night, Nanako, holding a school form, suddenly gets a stomachache, while at the same time Dojima receives a call from Adachi about a sealed letter for him from someone named Ichihara. Dojima immediately heads out, leaving Yu to care for Nanako, who explains that the school form was actually to invite parents to a class observation. Yu goes to the police station the next day to give Dojima the school form. They go to the Chinese Diner Aiya, where Dojima explains that his superior, Ichihara, gave him information about the recent hit-and-run. Dojima also reveals that his wife Chisato died in a similar accident while on the way to pick Nanako up from preschool. That night, after Yu gives Nanako her family photo in a frame, Nanako says that she hopes to reunite with her mother in Heaven. The next day, Yu asks Naoto if she can find out anything about Chisato's death, but discovers that the case was left unsolved due to the lack of evidence. When Dojima comes home, Nanako is upset by the fact that he may not be able to come to the class observation, since he is too caught up in his work. Yu tells Dojima that he should spend more time with his daughter instead of constantly trying to solve the hit-and-run. Nanako, overhearing the conversation, runs out of the house when Dojima tells her that the case is none of her concern. Yu and Dojima go out looking for her with no luck, but they realize that she must be at the Samegawa flood plains, being reminded of where Chisato had died. When they find her, Dojima apologizes and promises he will spend more time with her. The following day, the three of them celebrate becoming a family, and Dojima says he will go to her class observation.

The school is holding its annual cultural festival, and Yu's class will be putting together a group-dating café. Yosuke had also signed up all of the girls in their group of friends for the beauty pageant without their consent, with Yu and Kanji later give their support in this. During soccer practice with their classmate Daisuke Nagase, Kou complains that his class is hosting a play, and Yu kicks the soccer ball hard, which ends up hitting Ayane Matsunaga. Yu apologizes to her at the nurse's office, and then asks to listen to her play the trombone. She reveals that she is only filling in for a junior student in the band who got hurt and will not be able to perform at the cultural festival, and that she only plays music because she hopes that one day it will lift someone's spirits. A couple of days later, Chie signs up all of the boys in their group of friends for a drag pageantry without their consent as revenge for what Yosuke did. As the first day of cultural festival begins, the group-dating café proves to be a bust. Yu later goes to the rehearsal room and sees Ayane, who has not improved her part ever since, and she steps down when the junior trombone player is healed in time for the cultural festival. However, after Yu speaks up to defend her, she brings him out of the room, explaining that even though she feels she has lost the chance to reach her dream, she is happy that he defended her and all the practice made her remember her love for music. To make it up to her, Yu takes her around the cultural festival, cheering her up, until they cross paths with Ai, who takes Yu away for herself to see a tarot card reader who sounds suspiciously like Margaret. The drag pageantry happens on the final day of the cultural festival, which Teddie wins in a last-minute entry. Teddie's prize is to judge the beauty pageant, and he suggests that it should be a swimsuit competition for the girls, mortifying the girls in the group. Although Naoto chickens out during the contest, she ends up winning anyways. After the pageant, Rise tells Yu that she is a bit disappointed in losing, but Yu says that it is alright to feel that way. Rise decides that she will return to her career in the following spring, accepting herself as a pop idol once again.

Following the cultural festival, Dojima says that he is going out of town the next morning. Yukiko invites Yu and Nanako over to her family's inn, but the rest of the group insists on coming as well. Teddie is disappointed that the boys and girls are put in separate rooms, yet Kanji wonders why the boys' room looks so expensive. The boys are scared when the telephone suddenly rings, but it is just to inform them that the open-air bath is open, much to their relief. However, they are surprised to find the girls in the open-air bath already, consequently being hit by a barrage of buckets thrown at them before they retreat. It is then that Yukiko realizes that she got the allotted open-air bath times mixed up. Yukiko is later notified that a television crew wants to film a special regarding Yamano's death in the inn, but she refuses and tells them to leave. When the boys later prepare for bed, they hear a distant voice, so they decided to sneak into the girls' room and stay with them. However, the boys are shocked to see Hanako and Kashiwagi instead, running out of the room after the two literally throw themselves at the boys. Later on, Yu finds Yukiko still awake in the lobby. She says she is prepping for her innkeeper's license test, also telling him that after accepting her other self in the past, she realizes that she wants to help run her family's business rather than to leave the inn and live on her own. Late at night, Yu stares at a television set shut off while holding an envelope, which he received a week earlier. Inside the envelope, the letter says "don't save anyone anymore".

Naoto deduces that the sender may already know who Yu is, since the letter was personally delivered to him. When he arrives home, he has dinner with Nanako. The news airs a local politician who has visited Nanako's school, mentioning a student who impressed him. She later feels sick, and Yu puts her to bed, promising that they will make a snowman before he goes back to his parents. The next morning, the two prepare to turn on the kotatsu, but after they discover that it is broken, Yu says that he will pass by Junes to purchase a new one. Dojima comes home, holding another letter for Yu, which states, "If you don't stop, the next one to go in and die will be someone dear to you". Dojima, realizing that Yu has become too involved in the case, takes him to the police station for questioning, leaving Nanako home alone. At the police station, Yu reveals the nature of the television world, but Dojima, not believing this, has him stay in the station overnight. While working at Junes, Yosuke, demonstrating to Teddie on how to use a cellphone, calls Nanako, who relays what has happened to Yu earlier in the evening. The Midnight Channel displays Nanako on television, and Naoto believes this is because the politician was referring to Nanako in the news before. After the boys arrive at the station, Dojima is told by Naoto that Nanako may have been kidnapped by the serial killer, prompting him find the culprit. Adachi locks the boys in the interrogation room not long before the girls arrive. Naoto explains to everyone there that the culprit is hauling around a television set in the back of a delivery truck, which all of them seem to remember happening regarding their prior kidnappings. Adachi says that the suspect might be a retired councilman now working at a delivery company, which Naoto realizes is Taro Namatame, the man who had the affair with Yamano. Adachi releases the boys and tells Dojima who the culprit is, just as Namatame in his delivery truck passes by Dojima on the road. Dojima gives chase until Namatame intentionally causes a car wreck that injures Dojima and flees the scene. As the group catches up to them, Naoto finds an address book detailing the addresses of the victims thus far that Namatame wanted to "save", including Nanako. However, Morooka was not among the names of the victims. Yu sees a red envelope in the back of the truck containing a handmade ring Nanako made to congratulate him on his test scores. Dojima asks Yu to save Nanako, since she is all he has left in his life. As the team makes it to Junes, ready to enter the television world, Nanako is approached by Namatame, who tells her everything will be alright.

The team enters the television world to find a beautiful realm that looks like Heaven. Encountering Nanako in the custody of Namatame, he claims that he wanted them all to face their true selves, but why he did it in such a deadly manner is beyond them. Namatame summons many Shadows that transforms him into the Persona named Kunino-sagiri. Yu, blocking off the first round of attacks, is then possessed, having an antenna over his head; forcing him to attack his friends, repeatedly switching through many of his Personas. After hearing Nanako's voice, he finds the strength to destroy the antenna over his head and catches Nanako after Kunino-sagiri drops her. However, Kunino-sagiri then takes control of the others. Yu suddenly hears Dojima's voice to save Nanako, giving him the resolve to fuse four of his Personas into a power Persona named Kohryu in order to free his friends, who all combine their strengths to destroy Kunino-sagiri. Nanako then helps Yu summon another Persona named Sraosha to purify the area of the surrounding Shadows. Everyone returns to the real world to bring Nanako to the hospital, where she is placed in intensive care. A couple weeks later on a foggy morning, the news reports that Namatame - who is also hospitalized - is being interrogated for his actions. Yu lets the rest of the team know that they will be able to go to the hospital later to see Nanako, who is still recovering. Later, Adachi tells the group that Namatame tried to hit on Saki, which may have led to her death in the first place. When the group leaves the hospital, they hear people talking about how thick the fog has gotten lately. Much to their shock, when they put on their glasses, they are able to see through the fog, which Chie suggests could mean that the fog from the television world may be leaking into the real world. A week later, Teddie is saddened that he might have to return to the television world since the serial killer has finally been caught, but he wants to at least stay until Nanako fully recovers. However, Yu allows him to stay forever. When Chie mentions how cold it has gotten, it reminds Yu that he promised to buy a new kotatsu for Nanako. They all plan to throw a party for Nanako for Christmas when suddenly Yu receives a call from Adachi, saying that Nanako's condition has taken a turn for the worse. He heads to the hospital and sees Nanako just as she appears to die in front of him.

In the Velvet Room, Igor remarks on his long journey and how their guest has acquired many bonds along the way. Margaret reveals that the friendships their guest has gained has formed the Judgement Arcana.^[35] She then expresses her jealousy at the bonds he has made, before realizing a bond has formed between herself and the guest as the Empress Arcana.^[36] She remarks that their limousine will be parked for a while until they can figure out the next direction they will travel.

The next day, at the Chinese Diner Aiya, the team meets to figure out who the real culprit is. Naoto steps out to get some air, and Yu goes to join her, but not before finishing the mega beef bowl for the first time, much to everyone's shock. After Yosuke joins them, the three each contemplate who the real killer could be with the knowledge they have, when Yu seems to have an epiphany as he stares up at the snowy sky.

Before Yu goes to the hospital, Yosuke expresses that he is both proud and jealous of how Yu has made friends, saying the only way he will feel better is if they become equals if they had a fight to let out all of their pent up emotions. Inside the Chinese Diner Aiya, the rest of the group discusses who the suspect might be, since he was seen at the Amagi Inn before and also would have also spoken to Saki in the past. At the hospital, Yu mentions to Yosuke that Mitsuo testified at trial that he blacked out in the police interrogation room right after turning himself in. They are met by Dojima and Adachi, who tells them that Namatame was already transported into holding, much to Dojima's anger. Yu and Yosuke interrogate Adachi concerning the cases regarding Yamano and Saki, but he gives no straight answer, also mentioning that he forgot to send the threat letter to the laboratory as evidence. When the rest of the group shows up, they believe that he must be the suspect, based on how he did not react when Morooka was not among the names of the victims that were written in Namatame's address book. A pressured Adachi runs into Namatame's dark and empty room, as the group are reminded that a television set is in there. Meanwhile, Teddie goes to see Nanako, who has dreamed that he disappeared but she could still hear his voice. In the television world, Adachi is nowhere to be found, and the group is glad to finally see Teddie again, who reveals that he himself is a shadow. Encouraged by the others, Teddie senses that Adachi is inside the room with the noose. Adachi, who is a projection, reveals that the television and real worlds will soon merge, turning all humans into Shadows. They follow him to the shopping district, where he summons some Reapers in different places to attack them. As the group splits up to hold off the Reapers, the real story behind Adachi is unveiled. At the inn, Adachi had thrown Yamano into the television world after she rejected his advances. At the police station, Adachi had thrown Saki into the television world as well for rejecting his advances while he was interrogating her. Adachi says that Mitsuo's "arrest" and Namatame's "salvation" were just distractions for him to utilize in his "game", but it was interrupted when the group started to be involved in the case. He states to Yu that they should have a final showdown to determine who the television world prefers, as each of them summons their Personas, Yu's Izanagi versus Adachi's Magatsu Izanagi.

In the Velvet Room, Igor remarks on the amazing journey their guest has had, and reveals a crystal that has formed from the power he has gained, shining as it shows the way to truth. Margaret remarks on the bonds the guest has made while seeking out the truth, and hopes he will continue in the future.

The next day, Yu prepares to leave Inaba as everyone else sees him off. After he boards the train, everyone begins to jog after him, shouting their goodbyes and pleas for his return someday. Yu, choking back tears, swears that he will never ever forget them. After the credits, Teddie explains his belief that the bonds they have all formed will never disappear, while on the train Yu looks at a photo of himself, his family, and friends all together.