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#or they meet and akira convinces akechi to team up with them to take down kamoshida
edenfire · 1 year
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NG+ au where akira and akechi first meet here when akira is barely starting the first palace
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apostasypromessa · 2 years
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Name: Akira Kurusu Alias: Ren Amamiya, Joker, Mad Joker Race: Human Affiliations: The Phantom Thieves (Previously)                      Tutuoh’s Fourth Empire (current)                      The Velvet Room’s V.I.P. Guests Relationships: Kazuna Masunaga (Lover)                          Shimotsuki twins (Bosses)                          Philemon (Boss)                          Yamantaka (Familiar through contract)                          Yoshino Saeki (Mother)                          Kousei Kurotori (Father)
**Note: My Akira is heavily AU! Thank you for understanding~
Akira was known as the infamous leader of the Phantom Thieves and went under the name of Joker. With the help of his team, they worked to change the hearts of corrupted people and that would eventually lead them to the path of victory and saving humanity.
Forming a pact with a demon
After the “lost” of Goro Akechi, Akira fell into a deep slump. Not wanting to lose anyone close to him ever again, he searched for a solution that could help him save humanity and his friends. This leads to him driving all of his friends away and making sure they would no longer be involved in the situation and avoiding them getting hurt in any possible way.
Upon searching for Philemon with failure, he approached a certain idol known as “The White Demon Lord” (Shun Shimotsuki) on behalf of his odd jobs. Shun tells Akira that the best possible way to secure success against a calamity is becoming good friends with those beyond humanity, aka demons, angels, etc. This is when Akira began to do further research and eventually managed to strike a deal with the great demon, Yamantaka.
With Yamantaka’s help Akira made a deal with Yaldabaoth, managing to fool the holy grail. With humanity under the holy grail’s control, Akira once again searches for Philemon with no success yet again. Yamantaka then suggests to him to search for the ones like him, thinking Yamantaka was talking about the rest of the phantom thieves, he refuses, however Yamantaka explains he meant those who worked for Philemon under Igor’s instructions.
Akira then first meets with Maya Amano, who was actually a close friend of his mother. He explains the situation to her and she quickly agrees to help in gathering the rest. Soon the group was made up of Akira, Maya, Tatsuya Suou, Kazumi Kibsa, Rihito Shimizu, Shin Kanzato, and Yu Narukami. However, it took them quite a while to convince Naoya Toudou due to him feeling guilty for not noticing Philemon’s actions would be the ones to lead them all to witness and stop countless calamities.
Eventually they managed to get Naoya to join the group and they all go on the quest to break the great seal, releasing Minato from it and using a substitute (courtesy of Yamantaka) to seal it again. The group then goes in search for Philemon who appears before them and tells them the story of why all these calamities keep happening and lastly that he cannot interfere with anything.
The group then decides to try their luck and take down the holy grail. However, during the fight, Philemon summons Igor and tells him to help him gather up the power of all their friends and loved ones in order to make the group’s heart stronger, causing them to be able to overpower the holy grail.
Unsolved Mysteries
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After the destruction of the holy grail, the group decide to keep in touch and keep working together for anything else that is to come in the future, along with an oath to welcome whomever maybe the next hero.
Akira then resumes to his normal life, or at least tries to. Although he remains focus on his studies, he is recruited by Shun and his twin to work for them in order to keep a balance in the world and those others that are connected to it.
Akira then starts up working as a phantom thief in secret and could only be requested through a mysterious blog that covered up on super natural events. During a request he comes to witness a small lake with many floating corpses. After reporting the sight, the twins, he flees the scene, only to find out the next morning that the event was called a massive suicide.
The group then gathers up ones again and discusses this unfaithful event to which they think might be another incoming calamity. Akira then tries to get Philemon to speak but he swears that he doesn’t know a thing about the situation, however he tells him that he and the group are allowed to use the velvet room to help them with their investigation whenever they needed.
Akira, fulling knowing his parents worked for the government, goes through his parents computers only to find out that they had been chasing not only his current case of interest but plenty of others that the public isn’t aware of. He is then once again caught and taken to custody for invading and looking into government important and classified information. However, instead of being locked up or placed under probation, he is hired to become a special agent under the orders of the fourth emperor.
Although he was forced to make an oath to not reveal the secrets of the empire, he continues to work as a part time phantom thief and continues his investigation with the others. The only one who knows about these secrets is his roommate.
Family Matters
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Akira’s parents are often busy and seemed to rarely give Akira attention, however this doesn’t mean that they have bad intentions or don’t care. With his father working as chief of the imperial guard police main department and his mother as vice-captain of the second brigade of the special executions police force, they knew their child could be targeted by enemies, thus they decided to register Akira under a different surname and raised him in almost entirely in secret, even from the empire.
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Although Akira doesn’t give them enough credit on their parenting (mostly because he wasn’t fully aware in just what exactly they worked as), he never hated them or blamed them for anything. In fact, Akira really loves his parents, respects them and looks up to them as his own personal heroes. However, little did Akira know that his mother often kept an eye for him and would often call in for leave if Akira was sick or injured. His father, often was the one to attend parent teacher meetings or school events, he was even close to pulling Akira out of Shujin Academy when he heard he was threatened by Kamoshida. All these memories are hazy for Akira due to an accident he had while doing a job for the Shimotsuki twins.
Close to his heart
Although Akira often remained focus on his studies, he wasn’t much to care for romance. That was till he met Goro Akechi, whom he quickly felt a strong bond with and eventually established a secret relationship with him. However even then, Akira was unable to keep secrets from him and was always fully honest with him, except when the phantom thieves decide to expose him.
Loosing Goro was something that struck Akira down and he found himself mourning for a long time, thinking he truly was never going to see him again. However, his heart slowly started to recover and he was able to go on about his life normally again to some extent. This was when he met Kazuna Masunaga, his new love interest, whom he pursued as both himself and as Joker, claiming he would steal his heart.
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Yamantaka, is literally tied with Akira’s soul and heart. The demon is often worried for Akira and will constantly keep at his side by staying under his shadow. Yamantaka is always eager to fight but because he is considered a high-ranking demon, he easily wears out Akira if he summons him to battle, thus he only appears in emergencies. When he isn’t sticking under Akira’s shadow, he will appear in the form or either male or female and will even claim he is Akira’s mother or father, causing the boy to become irritated.
Extra Goodies
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Akira is attending college
His odd jobs consist of modeling, acting, singing and being a backup dancer
He hates Philemon’s constant sass
He works alone most of the time
He is afraid of Ann Takamaki after finding out Kazuna is her cousin
He lives in a fancy apartment with Goro
He still has feelings for Goro
He gave Kazuna a promise ring
He knows one of the Shimotsuki twins isn’t a human
He works at a café named Blue Moon with Narukami, Shin, Kazumi and Rihito
His college teachers are Minato and Naoya
He learned to drive a car and motorcycle thanks to Tatsuya
He constantly fights with a demon cat named Bebe
His family is close to the Kitakado family, thus he calls Tomohisa Kitakado his big brother
He gets called Mad Joker because he goes overboard with his hunts
He says he has an evil twin named Juan
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parchmentedscrolls · 4 years
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For My Sake, Not Yours
My piece for the Shuake Big Bang 2020!
Fandom: Persona 5 Characters: Goro Akechi, Akira Kurusu, Sae Niijima Pairings: Goro Akechi/Akira Kurusu Words: 7,512
Read on AO3
!! Please check the tags for potential triggers!
Check out Aleks’s superb art for it here! 
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Goro’s footsteps are too loud in his ears.
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His shoes clack too hard on the floor.
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His heels slam too forcefully into the ground.
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The balls of his feet press too deep into his shoes.
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His hands are too tired from practicing the motions of the gun.
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Too much, all at once.
Tmp, tmp, tmp . . .
Everything fades away.
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He doesn’t notice Sae until she’s right in front of him. “Akechi-kun?” she asks, startling him into consciousness.
Of course, he doesn’t let his composure fade. He can’t afford to, not with what he’s meant to do.
Momentarily, he’s grateful for his gloves—if it weren’t for the stiff leather, his trigger finger would have twitched.
His jaw is too tight as he forces a smile, hands automatically moving to adjust his tie. “Why do you seem so surprised?”
Sae shakes her head, clearly stunned. “I needed my director to step in to get access, and I was directly responsible for this case. How did you get approval?”
Goro’s movements are jaunty and stiff, but his voice remains calm and even. “For the same reason you did. I am heading up the investigation team, after all.” He quirks an eyebrow, but keeps his head lowered in feigned thought. “It’s only natural that I’d get the right to interrogate our culprit as well, don’t you think?”
“They assigned you command?” Her sheer, unfiltered shock was almost comical, right down to the break in her voice—if it hadn’t been for the situation at hand, maybe he would have laughed.
Then again, Sae Niijima is one of the few people who still has his respect, despite everything. He can’t bring it upon himself to be too cruel to her. “That was a joke, of course,” he replies with forced lightness, finally looking her in the eyes. “I’m merely here to assist with the public security interrogation.” He almost tilts his head to glance around, but he can’t risk allowing his body to shake—not if he’s meant to follow through with complete ease. 
He has to do this.
Instead, he continues without faltering: “I am surprised it’s this far underground, though . . .” Careful, probing. “There aren’t any others incarcerated here, yes?” No one will be able to hear what happens at all? Nobody will ever know if things got a little violent . . .
He realizes a moment too late that he said the last sentence aloud. His throat tightens. Hopefully, hopefully, Sae won’t pay too much attention to it. One more slip up and I may well end up getting caught before I can—
“If I remember correctly,” Sae says, thankfully ignoring his (frankly, quite concerning) statement, “didn’t you say there was another culprit besides the Phantom Thieves?”
Goro dusts the front of his jacket. “That was but a lie I spread to set them up,” he says, praying she’ll miss the slight crack in his voice—that, or that she’d attribute it to him still being in his teens.
He needs to get a hold of himself.
Or preferably, distance himself altogether.
He recalls Sae’s Shadow, twisted with envy; how willing she was to put people’s lives on the line for the sake of being able to prosecute someone for the Phantom Thieves’ case, just for the sake of a promotion. 
It works—he no longer feels as guilty about his lie. He laughs lightly into his fists. “Oh, I’m sorry! I forgot that I had deceived you too, Sae-san.” He can’t shake the venom from his voice.
Goro decides he doesn’t care. “After all, if you wish to trick your enemies, you must first trick your allies.”
Sae frowns, almost disappointed. “So it was you,” she says quietly.
What . . . ? Goro feels his expression harden, but he doesn’t respond.
“You’re the one who sold out the Phantom Thieves.”
Just how much did Kurusu tell her? Goro was under the impression that he would be the last person to reveal the identities of anyone he’d worked with. He was too loyal, he cared too much about his friends to sell them out.
More importantly, why does Sae sound hurt?
His voice comes out like steel: “Is there a problem?”
She reaches into her pocket, pulling out a familiar phone. That’s Kurusu’s. “Akechi-kun,” she says, voice even as she meets his eyes, “does this phone look familiar to you?”
Of course it does. But why are you showing it to me? “Hm? Excuse me?”
The next moment, he feels a sharp pain run through his head, like he’s been shoved underwater for a fraction of a second. Like . . . a distortion, of sorts.
Robin and Loki stir in his mind.
Nice try, Kurusu.
But you can’t fool me that easily. He tilts his head and looks at Sae, all innocent curiosity. “What is this phone?” The Nav app . . . so they knew?
“It belonged to the leader of the Phantom Thieves. I believe you’ll need it for your investigation.”
He shakes his head and forces a smile. He doesn’t like it. He wants to get out of his head again. He’s feeling too many things again. He doesn’t want to touch Kurusu’s phone.
And besides, the logician in him (the only part of his heart that’s truly awake right now, perhaps) murmurs, there’s a chance Futaba Isshiki can have Kurusu’s phone tapped.
“Not personally,” he feels himself saying from far away. “I was acting alongside the Phantom Thieves myself, remember?” It’s echoing in his head and he really needs Sae to be gone and he needs to be gone and if she just leaves he can finally finally finally get back out of his head again—
If he’s shaking, his body tilting forward and back ever so slightly, he doesn’t know, and Sae doesn’t tell him.
“True. This is undoubtedly a great accomplishment,” she says, voice flat. “Good luck in there.” And finally, finally, she leaves, and the second she’s gone, Goro can feel his mind relax, slipping into the comfortable nothingness that accompanies most of the jobs that he orders.
A cursory glance confirms to Goro that he is indeed in a cognitive world; the panels on the wall and the tiles on the floor are more muted, the numbers on the keypads around the doors ever so slightly blurred; the flooring under his feet like air when he steps down on it, like there’s no gravity pulling him down. 
The numbness in his fingertips is already spreading across his arms by the time he reaches the door. The guard posted outside it is standing there, almost unmoving. He knows it’s one of Shido’s men. 
“May I ask that you accompany me? Going in unarmed to interrogate a murderer makes me uncomfortable . . .” he trails off, every syllable rehearsed to sound innocent and concerned. 
The guard just nods as he opens the door and steps inside, and in a practised motion, Goro reaches forward, pulls his gun from his holster, and shoots the guard with it, watching as he collapses beside the table that Kurusu is slumped over, covered in bruises and blood and scratches. 
Something inside him pounds at the stone wall Goro’s built around his heart, shaking the all-encompassing numbness he’s been feeling since Sae’s Shadow fell. 
You knew they would do this. 
Not to this extent.
Liar. You know what the police are like.
And even though Goro knows it’s only a cognitive being, with no autonomous thoughts and superimposed emotions, a sharp pain cuts through the numbness where he bites his lip. You planned this, stop being ridiculous.
Shido planned this.
You are Shido’s lackey, you are his henchman, you are his gun, you are his knife, his armour, his son. You are him.
Do I have to be?
A searing pain manages to break through the wall, and it finally crumbles. Goro’s carefully mimicked smile of confidence drops to reveal a bitter, mournful scowl. 
He’ll know if you don’t kill him. He’ll be able to tell.
Goro doesn’t know if it’s truth or paranoia, but he grits his teeth, raises the gun once more, and shoots the false Kurusu in the head. Blood seeps down slowly, trickling between his eyes over the left side of his face. 
It’s only when Goro tastes copper in his mouth that he realises that he’s biting his lip. 
Can’t say I didn’t kill him now.
He exhales shakily, stuffing the gun into the cold, stiff hand of Sae’s cognition of Kurusu, even as he dematerialises in his hands. Goro can’t help but feel that something about watching Kurusu’s helpless form disintegrate at his touch is sickeningly symbolic. 
You’re doing it for Shido?
What choice do I have?
More than you might think.
Goro stops. If Kurusu did have a plan to get out of here alive, and it involved Goro killing a cognitive copy of him, there has to be some way that he planned on escaping. 
And, from what Sae’s just told him, it involves convincing her. 
Which means he won’t need to kill Kurusu after all. 
You don’t have to do everything Shido says. When you tell him the deed is done, just recall how easy it was to down the cognitive copy—
I don’t have to do everything for him.
I’m tired of being a puppet.
He makes up his mind, his heart set with new resolve, and takes out his phone, finding the Nav app on and activated. If I had taken my phone out, for any reason whatsoever, their entire plan would’ve failed. Besides, did they really think I wouldn’t notice that I was stepping into the Metaverse? Are the Phantom Thieves that stupid, or just that willing to put their leader’s life in danger?
He casts one more glance at the empty interrogation room, and deactivates the MetaNav, watching as Sae’s mild cognitive distortion falls away to show the actual Kurusu, sitting at the interrogation room table, smirking as though he doesn’t realise that the reason Goro Akechi is standing right in front of him is to kill him with no remorse. 
He’s lucky I won’t.
He’d be dead otherwise. 
He may not have the guard’s gun this time, but his own is within the inside of his blazer, next to the silencer, carefully tucked away. 
He sneers at Kurusu. “You thought I wouldn’t notice?”
Kurusu, beaten and bloody as he is, manages to keep the smile up, but his face twitches a little from the pain. “We were hoping.”
His composure irritates Goro more than anything else. “And now that I’ve gotten to the real you, what do you plan on doing?”
Kurusu tilts his head, the insufferable, ever confident leader he is. “Convince you to not shoot me in the head?” he asks, as cocky as ever, lifting his left arm to make a finger gun and point it at Goro. Goro doesn’t miss the exhausted tremble in his arm. “You haven’t gotten to me yet.”
“I could flick you in the forehead and you would be out cold. I could take all the time I like, could enjoy watching your head splatter across the table, and you would be defenseless throughout it.”
“But— you aren’t,” Kurusu chuckles weakly, even though his eyelids are already drooping. 
Shido’s face flashes in Goro’s mind, smug and accomplished. “Just consider yourself lucky that I’m not giving him the victory of getting rid of you.” I’m doing this for my sake, not yours.
Kurusu’s expression briefly switches to confusion as Goro takes off his blazer, steps around the table, and places it over Kurusu’s shoulders, his touch deft and gentle enough to ensure he doesn’t agitate any potential places for injury.
“Akechi—”
“Quiet.” Goro’s voice is cold and flat, leaving no room for argument as he hoists Kurusu up onto his shoulders, looping one of his arms around him, while Kurusu’s other hand grips at the edges of Akechi’s blazer, holding it tightly shut in front of his chest. 
“I’m assuming any cameras here have been disabled if you were planning to get out. That, or Oracle has their feeds hacked.”
Kurusu nods weakly, not specifying which one was correct. Instead, he just drops his head against Goro, his face pressing into Goro’s neck. 
Under any other circumstances, Goro might have appreciated the display of vulnerability and the subconscious trust. 
He has half a mind to tell Kurusu to play dead—with his hands occupied supporting him, he won’t be able to get them out of the room and provide a suitable explanation as to why he’s taking him outside alive. 
“How did you plan on getting out of here?” he asks Kurusu, not wanting to waste time speculating while the other boy looks like he’s halfway off to a drugged dreamland. 
“Sae . . . gonna come back. ’Taba’s . . . tellin’ her evrrthinn . . .”
“Right,” Goro says, shifting his position so Kurusu can lean on him without straining his already injured neck further. Instead, Kurusu just buries his face deeper into Goro’s neck, hiding under a curtain of his hair. 
Briefly relieved that he isn’t ticklish, Goro shifts a little, giving him some leeway to open the door. He figures he can, of course, shoot the guard like he had done with the cognitive one, but it’ll likely be too much of a mess to deal with, especially if Sae is to come back here like Kurusu says she is.
And if he wants to make things work; wants to get through this with minimal impediments, the only reasonable course of action is to make it seem as though he had no real intention of killing Kurusu all along, that it was all a ruse to fool Shido while conveniently taking a small inconvenience out of commission. 
“Kurusu,” he says, “my phone is in the left pocket. Take it out and activate the Nav, to Sae-san’s Palace.”
Kurusu nods, shakily pulls it out—it isn’t locked, much to the Goro’s relief—and opens the MetaNav, mumbling the keywords to Sae’s Palace in it. 
The same sharp flash and following numbness ripple once again, and the interrogation room warps briefly before settling. The cognitive guard and Kurusu had both already dematerialised. 
Goro wonders, briefly, why the cognitive Kurusu had bled. In every Palace he’d been to, cognitives dematerialised the moment they were ‘killed’. Perhaps Sae-san’s cognition is a touch more realistic than most of the other people whose hearts he’s been into?
All aside, it’s for the best that both cognitives are gone now. Kurusu’s state right now is fragile enough as it is. 
Goro’s pleased to note that the door to the interrogation room itself is still wide open. “Come on, Kurusu. One step at a time.” He notes with acute awareness that while he’s no longer softening his tone, it isn’t devoid of concern. 
Eventually, the two manage to make their way to the elevator. Sae-san will probably intercept us before we leave the station . . . then getting Kurusu back to Leblanc is in her hands, he thinks, watching Kurusu slowly disentangle himself and prop himself up against a wall. In the meantime . . .
He pulls out his phone, dialing a number he knew like the back of his hand. “Shido-san,” he says, looking Kurusu directly in the eyes, “my job is complete.”
Kurusu’s eyes widen, and Goro can see him trying to figure out exactly what’s going on, noting the name of the aggravator. Goro puts the phone on speakerphone, unable to fight the smug grin that forms as he thinks of just how weak Masayoshi Shido really is. It’s so easy to put him on speaker in front of the Phantom Thieves’ leader that it’s comical. 
And besides, there’s one more thing he needs to confirm. 
“I’ve told you not to call me by name,” Shido hisses, but Goro isn’t paying attention. 
Instead, he’s looking at Kurusu, whose body has gone completely stiff. Any sense of exhaustion is gone, and Kurusu appears to be completely alert. I was right. Kurusu definitely recognises Shido. His voice, at the very least.
“Regardless,” Shido says, regaining his composure, “all that’s left is to deal with the remnants.”
Kurusu frowns, clearly suspicious, but from the look in his eyes, Goro can tell that his head is clouding again. 
Goro sighs. “The continued deaths of these teenagers would be a bit much, don’t you think?” And would be highly suspicious as well. His paranoia may have been what’s kept him in high regard until now, but it’s astounding that it hasn’t bitten him back yet. 
Still, though, pandering to him is necessary for now . . . “I considered making it appear they had a falling out . . . but that would only amplify public frenzy.” A pause. “They’re still mere teenagers. They’ll barely even be noticed by the public, Phantom Thieves or not.”
“Is there any possibility they’ll want to avenge their leader?” 
“No chance,” Goro says airily. “They’re nothing but cattle anyway; they have no backbone without his guidance.” 
Shido asks him a few more questions, all of which receive glib and pointed responses. At one point, Shido insists that Goro should take care of Morgana as well, to which Goro explains that killing a cat of all things would be ridiculous, as though he’s talking to a petulant child. 
He feels so powerful, so in control of Shido that it’s positively exhilarating. That it’s so easy to expose such a powerful and atrocious man to Kurusu, who, despite everything, is staring at Goro with a ghost of a smile. 
An excuse or two later, followed by a short update on the SIU director’s inevitable fate, Goro ends the call. The moment the rush of power fades, he’s filled with the familiar disgust and nausea he always feels whenever he talks to Shido. 
“What was that?” Kurusu asks, clearly bewildered, but before Goro can even open his mouth to respond, the elevator doors open. 
Kurusu doesn’t press for an answer. Instead, he tries to stand up on his own, and stumbles into the elevator. 
“Kurusu, you’ll injure yourself further.” Goro’s voice is firm as he shuffles closer to Kurusu, offering his shoulder and back as a means for him to rest. 
Kurusu’s mind is addled enough that he doesn’t hesitate, wobbling slightly as he steps toward Goro and almost collapses into him. “Mmm.” 
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A small moment of repositioning later, Kurusu is completely leaning on Goro, his head is once again buried in the crook of Goro’s neck—something that would have earned him a light smack upside the head if it weren’t for the situation. Instead, Goro’s gloved hand finds its way to cup the nape of his neck, before his fingers thread gently through Kurusu’s hair.
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The tenderness of the skin beneath his glove, coupled with the way Kurusu flinches into Goro’s neck is enough to determine that there must have been plenty of head trauma involved with the officers. Disgusting scum. Goro makes a brief note to find out the names of the officers. 
It’s not like he doesn’t know how to change hearts now. 
It’s at this moment that the elevator doors open, revealing Sae Niijima standing impatiently outside it. 
Goro finds her gape and sheer disbelief almost worth it—he’s sure it’s a sight as it is: the half-broken, barely conscious leader of the Phantom Thieves clutching the Detective Prince’s blazer around him as he nuzzles into his neck and hair. 
It must be all the more of a shock to Sae herself, who’s come back in this direction with the expectation that Goro’s there to kill Kurusu, only to find their arms latched around each other. 
“Huh—but—Alibaba said—” She shakes her head, and Goro files away that name for later use. Alibaba is Futaba-chan, huh? “What on Earth are you doing, Akechi-kun?” she asks, eyes narrowed.
Goro doesn’t bother trying to put on the usual act. “Frankly, I'm rather disappointed that you would have such little faith in me, Sae-san.” His eyes harden. “However, the longer we wait here, the less chance Kurusu has of leaving alive.”
Sae, to her credit, seems wary of Goro’s sudden change in both attitude and tone, but she nods. “Alright,” she says, and gently lays a hand on Kurusu’s shoulder. 
He shudders at the touch, gripping Goro’s shoulder tighter and hiding his face completely in Goro’s hair. “Kurusu,” Goro says softly, threading his fingers lightly across the younger boy’s scalp, “Sae-san’s here to help.”
Goro feels Kurusu’s eyelashes flutter briefly against his throat before he relents, shifting his weight so that Sae can support his other arm. Before Goro knows it, the three of them are outside, Sae helping Kurusu into the backseat of a car. 
Feeling more self conscious now that the imminent danger is gone, Goro hesitated, using his ‘nice voice’ again. “I’ll . . . be taking my leave now.”
“Oh no you won’t,” Sae says, a firm hand falling on his shoulder, steering him into the car beside Kurusu. “You, Akechi-kun, owe me a complete explanation.” 
He can feel himself deflate. “Just as I expected of you, Sae-san.”
Sae doesn’t smile. Goro doesn’t blame her, either. 
Looking at Kurusu, Goro’s sure he’s on the verge of falling asleep, and when his head tilts to fall onto Goro’s shoulder, he doesn’t object. 
He directs his attention to Sae instead, who’s seated herself in the driver’s seat. “Will the Phantom Thieves of Hearts be there when we arrive?” He fidgets with his gloves for a moment, then decides to take them off altogether. 
“I’m not sure,” Sae just says, eyes on the road. “But you owe all of those kids an explanation as well.”
“So I take it you’re aware of their identities?”
“I have my suspicions, but Kurusu-kun neither confirmed nor denied them.”
“Is that so?”
Goro sees Sae’s lips purse in the mirror. “From what I’ve gathered, Akechi-kun,” she says, taking a sharp left, “you’re the one perpetrating the psychotic breakdown incidents, and possibly even the mental shutdown ones, too.”
For once, Goro doesn’t know how to respond. 
“So it’s true . . .” she sighs, then meets his eyes in the rear-view mirror. “Knowing you, though, there’s more to this than you’re telling me, isn’t there?”
“Yes.” Goro doesn’t elaborate. 
Kurusu turns a little, angling his head on Goro’s shoulder so he can look him in the eye. “You said . . . sum’n called . . . Shido?”
Sae is alert immediately. “Shido as in . . . ?”
Goro sighs. “Yes, Masayoshi Shido, the current minister of financial affairs and founder of the United Future Party, and a candidate for Japan’s next prime minister.” 
A pause, before he continues: “Also, the one who orchestrates and takes requests for the psychotic breakdown incidents, in exchange for political and financial support, using the Metaverse as per the cognitive psience research he had Wakaba Isshiki undertake several years ago.”
“Those are connected to him as well?”
“He stole the research from a university graduate and had Isshiki work on them herself, and was even able to supply to her the finances and privacy she needed to conduct her experiments. He was even able to silence any concerns regarding the ethical aspects.”
“Ethical aspects . . . ?” Sae echoes, clearly confused.
“But . . .” Kurusu coughs. “But the psychotic breakdowns . . . how did you . . . ? None’v us can . . .”
“Of course you couldn’t figure it out,” Goro says, taking care to lower Kurusu’s head back onto his shoulder. “That’s an ability unique to my Persona.”
“But . . . Rob’n Hood . . .”
“I’ll explain it later. You’re in no state to retain any information like this.”
Kurusu nods, and falls asleep on Goro’s shoulder almost immediately. 
“It’s impressive that he’s comfortable enough to sleep . . .” Sae murmurs, the rest of her sentence going unspoken: Considering he believed you were going to kill him for almost a month. 
“For what it’s worth, Sae-san,” Goro says, steeling himself so the lie slips from his mouth like smooth honey, “I never intended on actually killing Kurusu. The Phantom Thieves seem to make a habit of acting without having all the information they need.” 
He pauses, before continuing, “Well, then again, there would have been no way for them to know my true intentions, but it’s rather irritating to be judged for your actions by someone unaware of what’s going on.”
Sae, at the very least, seems to believe him. “The fact that he’s here in the car is enough for me to believe that there’s some truth to what you’re saying, I suppose,” she says carefully, “if you were lying, he wouldn’t be alive now. But that doesn’t explain what’s been going on with you, Akechi-kun. Were you the one who killed Wakaba Isshiki and Kunikazu Okumura?”
“Yes, I was,” he says plainly. There’s neither any reason nor point to refuting it. 
Sae looks disappointed. “I see.”
“Now that you know this, what are you going to do about it?” Goro asks curtly, not bothering to waste time building up to the question. It’s something of a relief to be able to finally drop the pretenses in front of Sae. 
“Nothing as of yet. I presume that the Phantom Thieves will be more adept with the questions they’d like to ask you. And if Shido is behind this as you say he is, your testimony will be vital in having him behind bars.”
Goro blinks a few times. “You’re— you’re not going to arrest me?”
A shadow of a smile crosses Sae’s face for the first time. “Not until you and I have a long talk about what exactly compelled you to get involved with this in the first place.”
“Al . . . alright,” Goro says, not having expected her to take it so well. After a moment’s pause, he bites his lip, then asks, “Sae-san?”
“Yes?”
“Could we stop by my apartment on the way? There are a few things there that could prove vital to yours and the Thieves’ investigations.”
After a moment of debating it with herself, Sae agrees, on the condition that he stays within her sight at all times. Unnecessary given the circumstances, but she does have good reason to be suspicious. He can’t really blame her. 
When the car stops outside an apartment complex in Kichijoji, Kurusu finally stirs, blinking slowly. “’Course you live in Kichijoji,” he says, seemingly able to string words together properly, at least. 
“Go back to sleep, Joker,” Goro just says. “Sae-san and I just need to pick up a few documents.”
Something shifts within Kurusu’s eyes. “Wanna come too.”
“Kurusu, you’re injured and exhausted. You really should wait in the car until—”
“Come on, Goro,” he mumbles, clutching onto Goro’s arm. “Let me see your house.” Kurusu looks like he’s attempting to bat his eyelashes flirtatiously, but scrunches his eyes too hard for it to work. 
Goro raises an eyebrow at him, and Kurusu’s head falls. “Don’t wanna be alone yet,” he admits quietly, and something—guilt, perhaps?—bubbles in Goro’s gut, popping with an ugly heaviness. 
Which is ridiculous, because he shouldn’t be feeling guilty at all. Kurusu is alive, Shido is none the wiser, and Sae isn’t completely shunning him. 
His fingers trace the lines of Kurusu’s face gently, thumbing a bruise over his cheekbone. Kurusu shudders, but leans into Goro’s touch, trapping his hand between his face and neck. “Please,” Kurusu whispers, and shifts Goro’s hand slightly, and—
Oh.
With the lightness of a feather, Kurusu’s lips place a small kiss on the heel of Goro’s palm. 
And somewhere, in a part of his heart he thought he’d buried under layers and layers of time and determination and numbness—
He inhales sharply.
—stars explode.
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For a few moments, it feels almost like time stops, with Goro’s hand clasped tightly in Kurusu’s, his fingers pressed in the crook of Kurusu’s neck and his palm warmed by the soft heat of Kurusu’s lips.
“Please?” Kurusu finally angles his gaze up to meet Goro’s, and his resolve crumbles. 
“Not to interrupt the two of you, but we’re running low on time and Kurusu-kun will need to rest as soon as possible,” Sae cuts in, already waiting outside the apartment complex. 
“Fine,” Goro grits out, lifting Kurusu into a bridal carry, solely for the sake of convenience, because if he knows one thing about Akira Kurusu, it’s that he’s just too damn stubborn to back down. At the very least, like this,  he can keep Kurusu from doing anything too stupid.
He tries to ignore the heat that flares in his face when Kurusu’s eyes light up and he wraps his arms around Goro. Aren’t you being too careless? You should know that I had every intention of killing you up until less than an hour ago, so why are you so . . . so trusting?
Then again, it’s not like Goro can exactly get away with it in broad daylight, right in front of Sae. 
As though he’s read Goro’s mind through his expression alone, Kurusu mumbles, “F’you were gonna kill me, you’d have done it earlier,” and promptly falls asleep with his head resting on Goro’s chest.
Goro hates him so much. He hates how easily Kurusu can read him, he hates how well Kurusu can handle every little change, and he absolutely despises how tightly Kurusu has him wrapped around his little finger. 
But most of all, he hates that he can never bring himself to really hate Kurusu, because everything would be so, so, so much easier if he did. 
Sae clears her throat, prompting Goro to collect himself. He very carefully ignores her pointed glance and raised eyebrows as he leads her to the elevator. Luckily, Sae doesn’t press him. 
Unluckily, his landlady does. “Ah— Ake-chan!”
He barely withholds a grimace. “Mikoshiba-san.”
Her eyes brighten. “Why, and I see you’ve brought your . . . boyfriend? Not to worry, child, I won’t tell anyone. And who might you be?” she asks, turning her attention to Sae. 
“Mikoshiba-san, I think there’s a misunderstanding here. My friend here is injured, so my coworker and I wanted to bring him here to be safe.”
Kurusu picks exactly this moment to nuzzle closer to Goro in his sleep. 
Goro briefly imagines dropping Kurusu’s overly affectionate self to the ground as unceremoniously as possible. 
Mikoshiba tries to pat his head, which he manages to swiftly dodge. “It’s alright, dearie, I’m not judging you. My son also . . . ah.” She seems to reroute her thoughts as she realises that perhaps outing her son to the celebrity that lives in the building may not, in fact, be the best idea. 
Goro is going to need a long break after this.
Thankfully, Sae manages to occupy Mikoshiba with a completely different conversation as she follows them into the elevator, and up to the twelfth floor. Mikoshiba, thankfully, takes that moment to help unlock the door, and Goro immediately makes for his room so that he can finally put Kurusu down on his bed. 
Kurusu snuggles into the sheets (which, Goro realises belatedly, he’s meant to wash tomorrow, but whatever) the moment his head hits the mattress. “Goroooooo,” he mumbles sleepily, clutching the pillow, “conmfy . . .”
Goro promptly decides to ignore him. Instead, he turns to his cupboard, opens his socks drawer, and removes the false bottom from it. 
This, at least, draws Sae out of her conversation with the landlady about Goro’s abysmal sleeping habits.
“A false bottom?” she asks, having walked over. 
“An obviously placed one, too,” Mikoshiba comments from the doorway. “Isn’t a socks drawer always where the false bottom is in mystery novels?”
“That’s because socks can take up an amount of space that can disguise the actual depth of the drawer,” Goro says, glossing over it. “But the whole point for this is that it’s meant to be obvious.” Not bothering to go too deep into his explanation, he glances over his shoulder. “Mikoshiba-san, with all due respect and my sincerest apologies, we must ask you to leave. This does contain confidential police information.”
“Of course, dearie,” she says, turning around immediately. “I saw nothing at all, no matter who asks.”
“Thank you,” Goro just says, waiting until he hears the sound of the door closing. 
“What do you plan on doing if she does tell someone?” Sae asks, her tone somewhere between patronising and wary. 
“I wouldn’t need to. By then, this”—he pulls out the drawer completely, placing it on the side table—“will already be gone.”
Sae reaches into the drawer, pulling out a single notebook; one that could be bought at any convenience store. “This?” 
Goro doesn’t look at it, instead focusing his attention to the thick slab of wood he’d just removed from the base of the drawer. “You can go through that if you want, Sae-san, but it’s only a dummy.”
Nonetheless, Sae shifts through the pages, frown increasing. She’s about halfway through the book when she closes it. “Why would you even keep this, Akechi-kun? And what do you mean, ‘it’s a dummy’?”
“That’s supposed to be an easy find for if Shido ever has his lackeys ransack my house.” He reserved one page for each of the targets Shido’s ever assigned to him, containing their name, who ordered the hit, what happened to their Shadow, how they were affected in reality, and the consequences they faced. “Aside from what happens in the Metaverse, it only contains things he knows.”
“I see,” Sae says primly. “So then, what is it you really wanted to bring?”
Goro lifts up the wooden slab, places it onto his lap vertically, and tugs at the top edge, which slides off with a click. 
“A box?”
Goro doesn’t respond. Instead, he carefully pulls out a string tie folder from it, along with a clear file and another sheet of paper. 
Sae picks up the clear file first, and Goro’s breath involuntarily hitches. He doesn’t look at her, instead wandering back to his bed where Kurusu is fast asleep, buried deep within the covers. 
He remembers how he’d been asleep for two days straight the first time he’d slept on that bed. After a lifetime of sleeping on floors or thin futons or blankets, sleeping on a proper bed had felt like heaven. For Kurusu, who’s spent the entirety of his probation in Tokyo sleeping on a mattress over fruit crates, it must be a small paradise, being able to sleep on a proper bed. 
After a moment’s hesitation, he sits down next to Kurusu on the bed, and slowly reaches for Kurusu’s free hand. 
“Mmm,” is all the response he gets as Kurusu’s grip on Goro’s hand tightens, but Kurusu’s eyes slowly open, bleary and tired. 
Akira Kurusu smiles at Goro, and as the final nail in the coffin, tugs him closer with all the forcefulness of a spring breeze. 
Something inside his chest—your heart, you fool—shudders.
For the smallest of moments, Goro considers lying down next to Kurusu, letting himself take advantage of the open trust and comfort; considers curling up next to him and letting himself fall asleep; considers opening his heart to Kurusu and being as vulnerable to him as Kurusu is to Goro right now. 
Using his last name feels like an uncomfortable insult to Ku—to Akira’s trust. 
Quietly, in full seriousness, Akira asks, “Can I call you Goro?”
“You’ve already been doing that,” Goro just says. 
“I mean, normally.”
When was the last time he was called Goro willingly by someone he knew? He can’t even remember if he’s been referred to by his given name since his mother died. 
Against his better judgment—or perhaps, because of his better judgment?—he says, “. . . Alright.”
He doesn’t miss the way Akira’s entire body relaxes further, and Goro feels the inexplicable urge to twine his hand in Akira’s, to let their fingers lace together—
“He’s your father?” Sae’s quiet, horrified whisper ends the moment, drawing both boys back to reality. 
“Who’s whose father?” Akira asks, completely lost.
Goro can feel goosebumps forming across his skin. “Did you read everything?”
“I haven’t gone through the finer details, but I have the gist of it. Do you know if he still has Isshiki’s research?” Sae asks, brows furrowed. 
“What’s going on?” Akira demands. 
Goro has half a mind to tell him to go back to sleep, but knowing Akira, it won’t happen now that he’s even slightly rested. 
“On the way here, I mentioned Masayoshi Shido, the one who organises, takes the requests for, and orchestrates the psychotic breakdowns and the mental shutdowns that I carry out in the Metaverse.” Goro’s voice is businesslike, detached. 
“He’s behind numerous political and corporate scandals, thanks to the aid he’s received both in the Metaverse and out of it. In exchange for both public and financial support, he takes requests for the psychotic breakdowns from his co-conspirators.”
“And you . . .” 
“Yes, I’m the one that does it. I don’t want to have to explain this too many times, so if the others are going to want to know exactly how, I’ll explain it then.”
Akira nods. “That’s . . . probably better.”
“In that case, I’ll go into the details about Shido’s actions then as well.”
“So . . . you’re doing this for him because he’s your father?” Sae frowns. “In that case, why do you live alone, Akechi-kun? And why become a detective? How come I’ve never seen him? Why are your surnames—”
“Sae-san.”
Sae falls quiet, but her expression is still troubled. 
Quietly, Akira says, “I thought you said your father was out of the picture.” A pause, before he meets Goro’s eyes and rests his hand—covered in purple and red bruises—on Goro’s. “I understand if you don’t want to tell the others, but . . . can you at least tell me who you are, Goro Akechi?”
He tells them about his mother, who’d been courted by Shido, then dropped like a hot brick the moment he found out she was pregnant with Goro. How he’d ruined her life just by existing. 
He tells them about the foster homes, the orphanages; about how you needed to fight just to make it through to the next day. About finding the MetaNav and subsequently awakening to Robin Hood, then promptly being found by Wakaba Isshiki, who had a connection to Shido. 
About how Isshiki was the one who found out about Goro’s biological connection to Shido, the one who used him as her way of breaking through to the Metaverse, the one who made him awaken to Loki before he was ready, the one who first had him try to use Loki’s special ability, Call of Chaos, to make Shadows go berserk.
Then, about approaching Shido on his own and offering his aid to him, all in the hopes of building him up, and how when he was so sure Shido was at his peak, he’d pull the rug out from under him, make all this information public, and as the cherry on the cake, reveal that Goro Akechi, the son he would never have acknowledged, was the one who did it all, from start to finish.
When he finishes, Akira and Sae both seem to have been left speechless. There’s a distinct look in both of their eyes that Goro has only ever known as—
“I don’t need your pity,” he says, spitting the word out like venom. “I’ve made it this far, and unless you intend on arresting me here and now, I don’t plan on backing out of this.” Goro’s fists are clenched before he’s even realised it. 
He hates pity. All it is and has ever been is a method of self-justification for the fortunate, so they can keep themselves content by feeling bad for those worse off, complacent in their sympathy without ever needing to do anything to change it. 
“This isn’t pity, Akechi-kun,” Sae says quietly, aligning the contents of the folder before putting them aside and leaning forward. 
At the same time, Kurusu shuffles closer, and begins to unclench Goro’s fists, one finger at a time. 
“Aki—?”
Akira still doesn’t look up, but when he’s done, he lifts Goro’s hand up slowly, and presses a gentle kiss to his knuckles. “Let’s destroy this rotten system for good,” he says, then looks Goro in the eye. Akira’s eyes aren’t filled with pity or sympathy, but a raging storm of fury and determination. “And we’ll take down Masayoshi Shido with it.”
Something fiery and unwavering rushes through Goro, and his hands grasp tighter on Akira’s. “Do you plan on changing his heart?”
“We were planning on changing the heart of the person we figured you worked under regardless, but after hearing this, he deserves it,” Akira says, entirely serious about it. “And from what I can tell, you want him to suffer the consequences of his actions just as much.”
He does want Shido to suffer. He wants him to suffer for the woman whom he’d abandoned, for the innocents whose lives he’s treated as stepping stones to his success. 
“Of course.”
There’s a few beats of silence, after which Sae speaks up. “Akechi-kun,” she says quietly.
The dam bursts.
Goro looks up at her, to see her hand descending onto his head. Sae smiles with all the warmth of a mother as she ruffles his hair lightly. “You’re a strong kid; I’ve known that for a while. It’s probably wrong for me to say this, as a prosecutor, but I’m proud of you. Not of your actions, obviously, but of you.”
Goro can feel his eyes burning. “I . . .”
Proud of him.
“When you make Shido confess his crimes, I’ll be there to finish up with the prosecution and arrest. And if it comes to it, Akechi-kun, I’ll do my best to lighten any sentences that come to you as much as possible.”
Any words Goro had prepared don’t leave his throat. Instead, he shudders a little, and Kurusu comes closer, proceeding to wrap his arms around Goro in an embrace. 
“Do you want me to go call Makoto and the others now? I’ll take a while for them to reach, so you’ll have some time for yourselves.” Sae asks. “Or would you rather we go to the cafe?”
“Could we stay here for a bit longer?” Akira asks quietly. 
Goro tries to collect himself. “You can call the others here, Sae-san. Akira needs a comfortable place to rest, and that’s not possible at Leblanc. Plus, if he intends to continue faking his death, it would be ideal if he wasn’t going in and out of his living place.”
Sae nods, then pauses. “Why is it not possible for him to rest there?” 
“It’s fi—” Akira starts, but Goro cuts him off.
“His bed in Leblanc is a thin mattress over fruit crates. He’s sustained multiple violent injuries from the interrogation, and his attic’s environment is not conducive to his recovery.”
Sae nods again slowly, and leaves the bedroom, already on the line with her sister. 
Akira sighs, flopping back onto Goro’s bed. “Shido was the one who had me put on probation,” he says, staring at the ceiling. 
Goro turns to look at him again. “Your record is for assault, right?”
Akira nods. “I barely did anything. He was trying to force a woman into his car, and I tried to pull him away. I’m pretty sure he was drunk; he lost his balance and fell onto the pavement and hit his head. I didn’t really do anything, but then the police came, and they obviously believed his word over mine. He got that lady to lie about the situation, too.” A pause. “I wish I’d punched him, looking back.”
Goro thinks back, recalling Shido summoning him in a foul mood, with a large bandage over his forehead near the end of March. He distinctly remembers finding the sight obscenely amusing. “That was you?” 
“That shiny bald head could do with another crack in it,” Akira grumbles quietly, and Goro can’t help but laugh. It’s so surreal—the person Shido had intended him to kill was here, lying down next to Goro on his bed, talking about how much of an ass Shido is. 
“It could,” he agrees. 
Akira looks at Goro again, something playful in his eyes, and he tugs Goro down towards him, leaving Goro lying down beside him. “I’m glad you didn’t kill me,” he says gently. 
Goro pauses. “I didn’t do it for you. I did it for my sake.”
“That makes me even more glad, then. It means you didn’t want to listen to Shido any longer. That you chose to defy him of your own free will.” Akira takes Goro’s hand again, interlacing their fingers together. 
“I know that,” Goro just says. 
“Good,” Akira mumbles, and before he can say anything else, his eyes close into an easy sleep. 
He must’ve spent all his energy staying awake this long, but at the very least, Goro can tell that Akira is miles more comfortable and relaxed than before. 
Before he can think twice about it, Goro kisses Akira’s forehead, then allows himself to drift off beside him. I’m doing this for me. I’m choosing this. I have my own freedom. It’s for my sake, not yours.
It feels good to finally have a say in making his own fate.
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Hope you enjoyed! You can find my AO3 and Twitter here!
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Again, the absolutely amazing art is Aleks’s, whose Twitter is here! 
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afterreign · 4 years
Text
lovers is plural pairing: implied akeshu/shuake, background ann/shiho & ann/mika beta reader: @jubilantscribbler a/n: no p5r spoilers summary: The Phantom Thieves, an infamous name that empowers the young and instills fear in the corrupt, hold their most important meeting yet. Just who is Takamaki Ann, code name Panther, dating?
Today, Akira is not nervous. There are no battle strategies to discuss, no infiltration route to go over. He is free, not having to relentlessly plan out solutions for all of the potentially bad outcomes that could come to fruition in their next palace escapade.
(Although, he should do that, Morgana’s incessant pleas to sleep be damned.)
No, today is a day he can breathe easy. Today, he is confident.
Akira slides a 100 yen coin.
“Ann is definitely going out with Shiho.”
The response between the Phantom Thieves—sans Ann, of course—is mixed.
“Dude,” Ryuji deadpans, “for real? We’re makin’ bank, yet you’re only gonna bet, like, a coin?”
The weight, or lack thereof, to Akira’s wallet disagrees completely. “It’s fair,” he reasons, internally stomping away at the compulsion to present how truly empty his wallet is to everyone else. “Plus, we’re still high schoolers. College funds and stuff.”
The word “college” attracts the local student body president like a moth to a debt-filled flame. Ugh, third years. “While I would agree that saving up for college is admirable,” Makoto says with a laugh, “I believe we need to backtrack a little.”
Akira sucks in a breath when the brunette places an unwrinkled 1000 yen bill on the table. Makoto’s eyes shine a little. “I am placing my bets on… Mika-san.”
“Thank you!” Futaba, the resident shut-in, erupts, throwing her hands in the air. “I’m glad there’s some common sense here.”
This, of course, ensues verbal chaos. Ryuji, lovely Ryuji with a heart of gold, slams his hands down on the table, protesting all of Futaba’s points. (“Have you seen her look at Shiho?!” the blond exclaims. “Hell, I want someone to look at me like that!”) Futaba spouts something about common media tropes and otome games and other concepts that fly right over top student Akira’s head. Makoto is somehow the mediator and instigator in all of this, proudly showing the group a selfie Ann and Mika took not too long ago. Haru smiles, looking a little too apologetic for wear, before presenting an even more recent photo of Shiho and Ann going on a stroll at the nearby park. And Yusuke, passionate as ever, presents their close-knit group a highly detailed pencil drawing of Ann and Mika looking deep into each other’s sparkling eyes, and okay, this is getting weird. Possibly bordering creepy, and—
Akechi is sitting there with a pained expression masked poorly. He is sipping his coffee cup. It has been empty for the past ten minutes.
“—I feel inspired gazing upon two colleagues enraptured with one another,” Yusuke finishes confessing. Akira, admittedly, hadn’t caught the earlier half. A none the wiser Yusuke nods sagely, eyes closed. “There is no doubt in my mind… Ann and Mika-san must be together.”
“But,” Haru starts, “I can’t help but see Ann and Suzui-san in a relationship. Is that odd? I haven’t had any time to talk to Suzui-san lately, but when she attended Shujin, the two seemed close.” A fond smile crosses the third year’s face. “I can’t help but be a little jealous actually!”
Akechi politely raises his hand. His laugh sounds like it’s being played straight from his TV interviews. “Aha, well. I see everyone is getting along today. But… considering we are not discussing anything Phantom Thieves related, do you mind if I go along my way and head home?”
Everyone rightfully ignores him. Akechi remains stuck in the table booth, likely resenting the fact he came in the first place.
(Akira almost feels bad for him. Almost.)
“Well, that’s that,” determines Akira. He’s not sure what he’s actually determining, though. There is a tone of finality in his voice, and Akira simply goes along with it. He glances at both sides of the booth they’re huddled in and surmises his thoughts aloud. “Me, Ryuji, and Haru think Ann is dating Shiho. Makoto, Yusuke, and Futaba believe she’s dating Mika.”
Ryuji looks pumped. “We need a tie-breaker!”
Makoto frowns. “You… are aware that we’re taking individual bets, correct? It doesn’t matter if one ‘team’ has more people than the other.”
“Matters to me,” grumbles Ryuji, and Akira pats him on the back.
Out of the corner of Akira’s eye, he catches Haru’s glossed lips making a perfect little “o.” If the thieves were in some classic cartoon, Akira has no doubt in his mind that one of those thinking light bulbs would be flickering just above a bed of curly locks, a stubborn screw you to the laws of gravity. “Oh, Akechi-kun!” Haru turns to the detective, a curious look on her face. The light bulb is all aglow. “What are your thoughts on the matter?”
Call it a hunch, but Akira is sure that Akechi is swimming in many thoughts by now. Just… not anything helpful. Instead of voicing out the worst of the worst, the brunet smiles a pleasant smile. It’s strained all the same. “Well,” he begins, “before I give you my answer, mind if I express my own questions?”
Futaba minds, apparently. She groans and dives her head between the safe space of her arms. Some of the others restrain themselves to do the same.
“Is it not strange that all of you are placing bets on Takamaki-san’s love life? Does this not feel all a bit too personal?” inquires Akechi, arms crossed. Despite how light his tone is, his stare bores straight into Makoto’s eyes, judging. “I’m especially surprised that you are participating in this as well.”
Akira always felt that there was some camaraderie between Makoto and Akechi. Hair color and motivations aside, both are at the top of their grades, high marks on all of their exams. The two teens are cunning and have a similar interest in law and speak softly when it matters most. They’re arguably the most mature of their group, but… they slip.
Right now is not one of those times.
Makoto doesn’t flinch. “You… must not know me well then, Akechi-kun,” she states. “I admit that once the rest of the Phantom Thieves proposed—” Makoto quickly waves a hand at everyone. “—this, I thought it was… immature, at first. But I soon came to understand that we do this because we care about Ann.”
“And it’s fun!” adds Ryuji. Yusuke is beside the blond, humming in agreement.
“Ann is always looking out for our feelings,” Haru explains, smoothing out her skirt. “Think of this as if… we’re looking out for hers. Ann is one of my dear friends, so of course, I want to support her in a happy and healthy relationship.” Graciously, she covers a giggle behind her hand. “Although, I do think we get carried away.”
Murmurs of agreement surface between the team. And of course, Akira knows this isn’t about money. This isn’t about who’s right or wrong. It’s about Ann’s infectious laugh, about her overflowing sympathy for other people. It’s about Ann because Akira cares about his friends, and he wants the best for her—
“But are we not certain that Ann is dating Mika?” Yusuke asks, pure confusion in his voice.
—but he can still think his friends are factually wrong.
Before the debate has a chance to start up again, Akechi cuts in with a clean, “First, let’s get that tie-breaker vote in, shall we?”
“Oh, now he cares,” Ryuji scoffs.
Suddenly, Akira hears a small gasp. He turns his head to the not-so-mysterious source and finds a shocked Futaba gaping at no one in particular. “We forgot to ask Mona!” she yelps, startling everyone else from the calm. The shut-in whips her head away from everyone and begins shouting at the staircase. “Hey, Mona! Mona!”
For once, Akira is glad Sojiro decided not to stay and make the gang lunch.
It takes a few moments before Akira hears the creak of Leblanc’s wooden stairs. Slowly, Morgana’s nose peeks out from behind the rails before his head and his furry body follow suit. He moves down each step, one careful paw after the other, before dragging his dark tail across the white tile floor and hopping onto the table.
Oh, the bespectacled boy thinks belatedly.
Morgana is sulking.
Triangular ears are flat against his head. “Yeah, yeah, I’m here,” the feline-but-not-really says with a sigh.
Ryuji makes a low whistle and leans back into his seat. The booth does not bother to budge. “Damn, and I thought you liked talkin’ about your ‘Lady Ann,’ Mona.”
Akira does not miss Morgana’s withering look. In an effort to placate him, the teen reaches over and strokes Morgana’s favorite spot on his head despite the not-cat’s silent protests. Akira then leans over and speaks low into Morgana’s ears. “You don’t need to be here if you don’t want to. I know you wanted to skip out since…”
The silence speaks for itself. Morgana looks at him, and the former appears deep in thought, tail swaying as if searching for answers. Eventually, the tail comes to a halt. “Thanks,” he purrs, and Akira isn’t entirely convinced if it’s intentional or not. “But I got this.”
Akira feels a tug at the corners of his mouth. Satisfied, he leans back, watching Morgana take center stage.
“As someone who knows Lady Ann the best,” Morgana declares, chin held high, “I think it’s important that we consider other options. What if she isn’t dating any of them?”
Leblanc’s resident dyed blond groans. “You’re only saying that ‘cause you like her!”
“Am not!”
“Uh,” Futaba butts in, “are we gonna ignore the fact that none of us updated Mona on what we’re talking about, yet he still responds like he’s been here?”
Morgana seethes out an impatient “I live here,” while Akira says effectively the same thing, only with a switch of the pronouns. Okay, that didn’t work. Clearly, Akira needs a new plan—one that involves less bickering with an animal so they don’t all look insane when an innocent customer decides to walk in and witnesses the incarnate of chaos and more… amicable relations. More bets, perhaps.
Curiously enough, it’s Haru who takes the reins, sending Akira a small smile before speaking up. “Maybe if Mona-chan understands why we think Ann has a significant other, he can decide for himself.”
Akira may be a heathen, but God bless Haru.
As Akira is internally singing his praises, the conversation thankfully segues back to Ann and a hyper analysis of her love life. Futaba mentions how she first found out about Ann’s secret romance after forgetting to debug the café. (Akechi then sends Akira an alarmed look the latter chooses to dutifully ignore.) Haru continues that line of thought, recalling Ann’s inquiries regarding the language of flowers and the like, and Akira makes sure to ignore that tinge of jealousy stirring in his stomach even though he knows that Ann knows his hard work in memorizing a bunch of flower symbolism for his job in the underground mall.
He sighs and mentally sweeps his slight envy under the rug. Priorities, Akira.
It’s not until Makoto clears her throat and poses the daunting question of “So, do you believe us?” to Morgana that all eyes fall back on the not-cat, waiting patiently.
The sway of his tail falters. “... Yes,” he bites out. Morgana’s face contorts like he’s devoured a lemon. “Guess this is what you unrequited love, huh?”
Luckily, Ryuji has the decency to stay quiet as Haru breathes an apologetic “Oh, Mona-chan…” and pets the not-cat’s torso.
The group falls into an almost comfortable silence, save for Morgana’s drooping ears that nearly makes Akira leap forward and shower him with many affectionate head pats. Akira otherwise lets his mind wander. He drifts between the scent of Sojiro’s curry ingrained in the dark walls of Leblanc and his daydream of a flustered Ann grasping the hands of a faceless lover, rotating from Mika to Shiho to a mixture of the two’s features. The arch of the rival model’s groomed eyebrows and the doe eyes of the ex-Shujin student are rolled into one.
Features, Akira absently thinks, and for some reason, his eyes linger on the jaunt of a certain detective’s chin, the curve of his lithe neck, the way he carefully tucks a chestnut-colored lock behind his ear. His eyebrows, not unlike Mika’s, are furrowed. Dark, gloved hands hold a gray smartphone that is definitely not bugged by someone that rhymes with Fakura Sutaba, and hazel eyes—red, if you catch them when the glint of the sunlight hits them just right—are fixated on the screen.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise when Akechi of all people, the same Akechi who never dares to back away from a challenge, continues the conversation, not bothering to look up from his phone.
(But it does come as a surprise, oddly enough. Because Akira, jolted out of his daydream and thrusted into reality, is looking, and he feels like he shouldn’t be.)
“Have we come to a conclusion about our findings then?” Akechi questions, a thoughtful look on his face.
“Pardon me,” Yusuke voices, “but I assumed you held no interest in Ann’s love life like the rest of us.”
Akechi, lo and behold, bears another classic (read: fake) smile of his. “I don’t particularly. However, it seems like you all are stumped, and I do enjoy a good mystery. After all, I am a detective, aren’t I?”
Akira resists the urge to point out how the unknown identity of Ann’s girlfriend is a far cry from a good mystery, much less anything more than petty gossip when not discussed amongst friends. Instead, he motions the brunet to continue with a flick of the wrist.
Finally, Akechi looks up. “Have any of you considered the antithesis to Morgana’s hypothesis?”
Ryuji frowns. “The… what?”
“I believe Akechi-kun is talking about the opposite of what Morgana initially thought,” clarifies Makoto. “Which means…”
The gears in Akira’s head turn by the end of Makoto’s unfinished remark. His mind swims around antithesis and Ann and the underlying yet unknown connection between the two, trying to grasp at a lost thread he’s determined to find. (Anntithesis! his brain unhelpfully supplies a beat later before he dismisses it completely.) He thinks back to what the group assessed before: selfies, flowers, the like. Selfies, flowers, the like.
Selfies.
… Were they selfies?
Akira is backtracking now, attempting to recreate the images Makoto and Haru had shown the rest of the group earlier in his head. He closes his eyes and thinks. Mika and Ann’s picture can be excused as a selfie, sure. The two were pressed close together in the photograph, shoulders bumping and heads tilting inward to stay in frame. A part of Ann’s arm was cut off from where they took the picture. Sly smirks on both of their photogenic faces.
By all means, it’s a regular, old photo. A selfie, likely.
Then, what about Ann and Shiho’s? Akira recalls Inokashira Park as the backdrop of the image, an abundance of green flooding his vision. He’s quite familiar with the area, too; jogging with the former track star there whenever his body can endure the brutality of cardio is one form of torture Akira will never forget.
If he recalls correctly, the photo was awfully similar to its counterpart. Heads inclined towards one another, shared smiles, and⁠—
Ann and Shiho were holding up peace signs, both pairs of arms visible in frame.
It’s a cliché to gasp. Akira knows this and does it anyway because one, he is surprised and two, he loves being dramatic. The act earns a rather bemused look from Akechi that’s immediately disguised as a roll of the eyes.
The rest of the thieves follow suit as realization dawns on them. Makoto nods. Futaba blinks. Ryuji’s jaw drops. Haru, polite as ever, raises a hand to mask the shock evident on her face. Morgana’s eyes go and widen to the size of Kamoshida’s golden medal, round and shimmering and unbelievable.
Yusuke is the last one to come around, and he barely manages to gather his bearings in time to ask, “Can it truly be…?”
A delightful ping rings in the still air.
“See for yourself,” Akechi says, voice breezy, and slides his phone down on the table.
-
“Do you think they’ve seen your Instagram post?”
Shiho asks this while peering over Ann’s shoulder, watching the likes accumulate at a rapid speed. The end of her ponytail brushes against the blonde’s nape. Ann struggles to suppress a giggle.
“Oh, maybe?” It comes out unsure, reluctant. Ann taps her chin. ”But my phone hasn’t blown up with text messages yet. And trust me, I would know when my friends saw it.”
The other model waves it off, nonchalant. “They’ll figure out soon enough anyway." A pause. Then, Mika sighs. “Looks like the entire population of Tokyo will, too. I don’t know why you wanted to do this, but I’m sure our agency is going to love capitalizing on it…”
“Ugh, agency shmagency!” Ann, who has no concept of personal space when it comes to these two, gathers both of the girls in her arms and gives them a tight squeeze. “How can I hide away my two amazing girlfriends from the world?”
Mika rolls her eyes, but the dust of pink coloring her cheeks gives her away. “Is she always this corny?”
Shiho snickers. “Oh, one hundred percent.”
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lokiarsene · 6 years
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Insp by your discussion on Haru as the traitor; scenario where the PTs go through the plan at Sae's palace only, Akira can't quite put his finger down on it, but something feels off with Akechi. But they go through with it, and he goes into hiding. During this time, he feels even more off and finally decides to spy on Akechi in secret. He comes to the realisation that they were wrong and decide to tell the others at Shido's palace, only to find the others turn against him, rallying under Haru.
He's baffled ofc, and Haru puts on a tragic act of how 'Joker's lost his senses, siding with a murder! See everyone, I told you something felt off!' and as they knock him out and abandon him, he sees her smirk. She took his sense of justice, his team.. why else.? Their remaining pride? Who knows... He's struggling to escape until, he's rescued by Akechi, (the part at the TV station is pretty much the same) and they both figure out what wrong together. It becomes a chase to get Shido's treasure.
Before the remaining PTs cause they realise, Haru is fully capable of using the PTs to end the man who had her father under his thumb, and death is one thing Akira won't stand for. He sets his doubts about Akechi aside, and sees him for the broken person that he truly is. For the final mementos arc, he has to convince the PTs to follow him again, and trust in him, even if it's only for this final battle.            
Pheeeeew that got long ^^;            
Boy did it lol. I don’t mind, though! It’s an interesting idea, and it does do a more dramatic/compelling take on the traitor and betrayal concept by splitting the PT up. I guess I’m just wondering how it fits into Haru’s personality, but... I will also concede that she doesn’t seem to have much of one besides being a kind, dutiful, hard-working young woman who wants to have the courage of her convictions. Makoto’s the same way, which is another reason why Haru bores me (sorry, Haru).
Oh wait, I just remembered she seems to have a bit of a hidden sadistic side. So yeah, I can totally see this.
I do, however, really like the decision to play up Ren’s ties with Goro and actually have that mean something. Ren takes a far more active role in this concept, putting the information he has about Goro to use and making good on his consistent character trait of always helping someone in need. It also gives Goro a chance to redeem himself not through sacrifice, but through committing to a goal that meets his own personal aims: he’s going to take down his father by any means necessary, and he’s going to do so with the one person who has acknowledged, accepted, and reached out to him from the start--the one person whose validation and attention Goro has craved above anyone else’s. The one person who also suffered directly from Shido’s greed and cruelty.
And to return to the subject of Haru: I always pictured traitor!Haru as never officially joining the PT and turning them in during Sae’s Palace. She’d wash her hands of them quickly and put as much distance as she could between them. Any time she says things like, “That’s not what the PT stands for!” or like, pretends to understand their underlying goals, it comes off as so forced and farcical. What the hell does she know about them? She just joined up, and the mission went horribly wrong. She only has their word to go on that this wasn’t how it was meant to be, but that’s a huge amount of trust to give, considering she doesn’t have any deep ties to any of them. She wasn’t even friends with them before this, and she doesn’t even have like... any real reason to feel beholden to them. They don’t even save her from her shitty fiance. So I guess I just feel like her never even staying with them for long would make the most sense?
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fxllen-crow · 6 years
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Verse Mess
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‘Kay so uh during my hiatus a lot of stuff happened. And I mean a lot. Allow me to explain under the cut, to save you from me going full Pepe Silvia here.
Alright so, first of all I should mention my multifandom group, Funmond City.  A lot happened there, and I would be here all day if I started listing everything but essentially it is an experience that has led to a lot of character development for Akechi.  The canon point with this is uncertain due to death rules of the group.
Now then, the group itself leads us to the first verse I’ll be introducing here, and that’s..
hated by life itself || post funmond
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After everything that happened in Funmond, Akechi is sent home, he’s sent home and he gets another chance at life, a chance to join the thieves while knowing what awaits otherwise. He is a lot more honest in this verse, but also generally better mentally, as he had the time to work on his trust issues as well as just allowing himself to fall in love with life.
This Akechi realizes he is terrified of dying, because he has lived through at least two deaths in Funmond, and each time has been no less terrifying than the other. Him building healthier bonds within the city as well as participating in the experiments they were all put through led to him developing into a healthier person, a person who doesn’t want to go down the same path he once did..
A person hated by life itself, yet living for every moment of it.
Now, the experiments mentioned above lead us to another fun thing, see.. Due to a small mini event in the group, child versions of a few muses were brought to Funmond instead. That lead to the birth of an alternate timeline.. as well as it’s possible outcomes.
with a thousand lies and a good disguise || accomplice 01
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During his time in Funmond, Akechi becomes aware of his future earlier on in his childhood, during his first year of working for Shido. He learns that he has 4 years left to live..  Unless he does something.
And that he did. See, he wasn’t the only child from his world there. Akira was as well, and Akechi used that to the last bit. Slowly, thanks to the foolishness of the present Phantom Thieves and Akira’s naive nature as a child, he ruined Akira’s trust in them. He crushed every last bit of his wish to become the beloved Joker everyone sang praises to and instead.. 
That wish became the wish to help Akechi, to save him from his cruel fate.
Years later after returning home, the two meet again when Akira arrives to Tokyo, but under widely different circumstances. See, instead of the incident with Shido the reason for Akira’s arrival is both of them convincing Akira’s parents that Shujin was a better choice for their son. And so, he was allowed to move in with Akechi for that purpose alone, because his parents wanted the best for their child. ( How laughable. )
What happens from there on is essentially that Akechi helps Akira awaken to his metaverse abilities but it’s yet again very different compared to the canon because Akira’s goal is no longer changing hearts of others.. It’s making sure those corrupt hearts are no longer spared a day’s chance of spreading their infection.
However, another hero will take Akira’s destinied place..
the crimson musketeers || accomplice 02
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And that hero shall fall as well.
See, Akira’s happiness is a rather big priority to Akechi here, both out of guilt for robbing him of a happier future and for the sake of keeping him under control easier, because he has to. Their dynamic here is wastly different due to Akira being much more impulse and emotion driven than he normally would have been, and so Akechi acts as his restraint, as his anchor. This is why he seems more stable and collected than normally, as well. 
With that out of the way, it’s time to focus on the matter at hand. See, during their time in Funmond, Akira became a close friend with a certain little girl.. A little girl who just so happens to exist in their world. Samantha Burnett.
The girl who was so very conveniently linked to Shido through her family’s life being ruined through the father displeasing his boss. Considering Akechi’s involvement with Shido’s old business partners, he could easily access her contact information. After all.. Akira would be so happy to save his dear childhood friend from being used by the Phantom Thieves, right?
And so he did, he slowly convinced her to join them, and though she was cold to them at first, they were willing to slowly warm up to her with constant care and effort. 
Shall their efforts prove fruitful, they would become a powerful team, a team that could take their destinies into their own hands and crush them to put together a mosiac-like path made of those broken pieces to a future they desire.
gods’ wrath || accomplice 03
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Shall the attempts fail however..
Samatha will attempt to rid herself of Akira and Akechi, leaving them for dead inside the metaverse due to her firm hatred towards the two.. or so it seems. This is what leads to Akechi turning himself psychotic for the first time just to save himself and Akira, and from there on.. There will be hell to pay.
This occasion will give Akechi just what he needed to crush Akira’s remaining bits of faith from long ago, the two would have far less things holding them back on their path of justice. Despite all the guilt and blood, they would be victorious, well.. until they realize all of this goes much, much further than what they thought.
In this scenario, afraid of what awaits and desiring the power to change the world for the better, they accept the false god’s offer together, becoming the rulers of society through fear.. 
And making sure every rotten heart is left to rot for real.
That would be all for today~
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