Chapter Text
It's an early Saturday morning when Akira's parents make the decision.
His parents burst into his room at 2am with a bag and the instruction to start packing. His dad throws the backpack onto his bed. "You have 15 minutes do it quick." Before Akira can ask why he needs to pack, both his parents have left the room. Heeding his father's instructions and get up. He gets dressed first, figuring that they're going somewhere if he needs to pack now. Sighing, he opens up his draws and throws in some clean clothes. Once he's done that, he throws his phone and charger in his bag, followed by his 2 favourite books. He hasn't been told where he's going but based on the urgency he figures he'll be there for a while. Once he's packed he zips the bag up and sits on his bed waiting for one of his parents to tell him when they're leaving.
While he waits he pulls out his phone, pulling up the contact for his only friend. Oracle. Before he sends the text though, he remembers how early it is, and while she is almost definitely up, he doesn't want to be the reason she wakes up so early on the off chance that she's actually sleeping. A few minutes later, his dad calls him from the stairs. Putting his phone away, he heads for his door. Making sure to grab his earphones on the way out. When he makes it to the door he notices that neither of his parents have bags on them. He figures their bags might be in the car already, so decides not to ask. Instead he silently follows his parents out into the car. Dropping into the seat he puts his earphones in and clicks on a random playlist. Smiling at the song that comes on he leans into the back of the seat, waiting for his dad to start driving.
Akira checks his phone a little while later and sees that they've already been driving for a little over 2 hours. He turns to his dad to ask where they're going, but when he looks at him, the look on his face tells Akira that he wouldn't tell him. Instead he puts his earphones back in and thinks of where they could be going at this time in the morning. Deciding to get a little more sleep in, he leans back into his seat, closing his eyes.
It's roughly another 2 hours until Akira's parents stop the car. Akira's mother gets out of the passenger seat without a word, his father does the same but gives Akira a glare which tells him to get out of the car now. Picking up his bag he follows his parents out of the car, to be met with building, a sign on the roof which reads 'Mementos'. Seeing his parents heading inside, he follows. Neither of his parents say anything as they walk inside, so neither does Akira. Once they walk inside they are met with a woman with bright ginger hair. "Hello there. You must be Mr and Ms Kurusu." His parents nod in response, reaching out to shake the woman's hand. She turns her head to look at Akira over their shoulders. "Then you must be Akira." The teen nods his head, confused as to what's happening. "Very well. Let's head into my office to talk more." His dad nods and the two walk through the building to a room Akira can only assume is the woman's office. Taking the seats offered, Akira and his parents sit down in front of her desk. "So you want us to take Akira in and heal him, correct?" His dad nods his head. "Correct." Nodding the woman takes out some papers. "Okay, so. How long will he be staying with us?" Akira's father turns to look at his son for only a second before answering. "We don't want him back until he's fixed." The woman nods her head slowly. "Very well. He will stay with us until he is healed." She presses a button on her desk phone and a voice comes from the other side of the line. "How can I help you Olivia?" The woman, Olivia, as Akira just learnt, holds out some papers to his parents before she answers.
"I need you to come collect a new addition from my office and take him to his room."
"Alright. I'll be right there."
A few seconds later and a man walks in, probably around 25, who also has red hair. Akira figures he's probably her son, but he does find it strange that he calls her by her name if that's the case. "Edward, I need you to take Akira, to his room. Explain everything to him while you do." Edward nods and gestures for Akira to get up and follow him. Before he can get to the door, his father speaks up.
"Akira. You're not welcome home until you're fixed. Am I making myself clear?"
"Crystal."
Akira still has little idea as what's going on, but if that's how his own parents are going to treat him, he doesn't want to go back anyway.
He follows Edward out of the office and starts walking through the building. "Welcome to Mementos. I assume you know why you're here right?" Akira shakes his head firmly. "No! No one's told me a damn thing." Edward turns his head a little in order to look at the raven. "Oh. Well this is a conversion camp. Parents send their children here and we fix them. So that they can go back into society." Akira clenches his first tightly. "You mean you condition people into being straight." Edward waves a finger in front of him and clicks his teeth. "Tsk tsk. We don't condition anyone. We fix them. We'll fix you too." Akira rolls his eyes once Edward turns his back. 'Good luck with that.' "Now that I've explained what this place is, I'll explain the rules. Everyone shares a room. However, as we have one more boy with you being here, you'll be rooming on your own for a while. Whenever we get a new girl she'll be sharing with you." Akira nods his head forcefully when the man turns around to see if he's listening. "Everyone wears a uniform here except on Sundays. You can wear your own clothes then. Speaking of, every other Sunday is visiting day. Your family can visit you to see how you're progressing." He opens a door to an empty, and cold room. "So,this is your room. There's a timetable posted on the back of the door so you know where you need to be and when." He closes the door slightly to make his point. "Now, while I'm here. I need to take your phone. They're only allowed to be used on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. From 12am, till 4pm in the evening. I'll
warn you now. If you misbehave or miss a session then the privilege will be taken from you for that week." Akira reluctantly hands his phone over, making sure to turn it off before doing so. "You'll find your uniform in the top draw by your bed." Akira looks into the room and rolls his eyes again. "I assume it's the blue one?" Edward nods his head. "Exactly. Now get changed!" With that he leaves the room, slamming the door behind him. "Well. This is fucking great." Dropping his bag onto the designated bed Akira looks into the top drawer to see the uniform he'll have to wear. It luckily isn't too hideous, but it definitely isn't his taste. A white button-up shirt, blue tie with blue pants. There isn't any shoes in the room, nor was he told anything about them. So he assumes he's allowed to wear his own shoes which he's thankful for at least.
The first thing Akira does after forcing himself to put the uniform on, is look at the timetable on the back of the door. It has every activity of the day detailed on the laminated
paper. But some things seem to be the same. Breakfast is always at 8am, lunch is always at 1pm, and dinner is always at 6pm. It also tells him that he came on the wrong day, as there is an activity today listed as 'group therapy' which does not sound good to Akira. He sighs and drops back onto his bed before putting his few items of clothing in the other draws in the bedside table. He quickly realises that he now has no way to tell the time as he doesn't have a watch so starts looking for a clock. After only a few minutes of searching, he finds two. One on his own side of the room, and one on is future roommates side. Both are digital clocks that seem to function as alarm clocks as well. He puts his bag under his bed, not taking his books out as he doesn't want them to get confiscated as well. Akira finally drops down onto his bed, noting that the beds aren't very comfortable. He lay there for an hour before the alarm clock rings. Checking the time, he sees it's 7 O'Clock and he can hear other people start shuffling about in the room beside his. Sighing to himself he pulls himself up to wait for the first people to leave their room. Doors start opening quickly so he heads for his own door, pushing up his glasses as he goes.
Opening the door he sighs internally when a few start noticing him. Some look at him with pitying eyes, while others barely even spare a glance. He follows the crowd to, he assumes, the dining room. He notices immediately that there are two tables in the dining room. One with a blue cloth and one with a pink cloth. He follows the other boys towards the blue table. When the others start grabbing food from the counters he moves to sit down, choosing a seat away from the counter, hoping that no one will sit next to him. He gets what he's hoping for as all of the boys stick with the people they already know. He zones out as the others start eating. When it gets to 7:45 everyone starts finishing their food and clearing up, so he quickly makes a note that breakfast is an hour long. Once everyone has cleared up, Olivia enters the kitchen and leads the group down the hallway into a big room with a large amount of chairs set up in a circle. Sighing he takes the last seat available and waits for Olivia to start talking.
Before Akira was aware of it, a whole month has passed. He's fallen into a routine of only speaking when he's spoken to. Which consequently means he hasn't made any friends in the camp. The first Tuesday after Akira's first month, another boy is brought to the camp. He is given the room next to Akira, also on his own, as he's the first arrival since Akira. But for the first time in a while, someone goes out of their way to talk to Akira. And it's the new arrival.