Chapter Text
CHAT – What Team!? WILD RATS
[Akira has sent an audio]
Ann: Omg what, you have to go back to your home town? Why??
Ryuji: You are leaving Tokyo?!
Makoto: You two, listen to the audio again, he is only going home this weekend to spend the summer holidays with his family.
Ann: But….. we are his true family :(
Akira: Aww <3
Ann: <3
Yusuke: Oh, this means I won’t be able to go to Leblanc to keep him company.
Futaba: You only come to Leblanc to steal our air conditioning, Inari.
Yusuke: What!? That’s preposterous! I come for the delicious food as well.
Ryuji: I guess we will have to meet without our leader for a couple of days :/
Ann: Oh, my parents are coming over this weekend too, so I will be unavailable.
Makoto: Same, I’m going to a hot springs with my sister in Kyoto.
[Akira has sent an audio]
Makoto: YOU TOLD YOUR FAMILY WHAT!?
Ryuji: DUDEEEE YOU ARE SO DEAD
Futaba: F
Yusuke: F? F what?
Ann: Ooookay, I’m calling you. Now.
Two seconds after receiving Ann’s text, Akira’s phone buzzed. Luckily, he was on his way to Leblanc, having gotten out of the Underground not even a minute ago. He had spent the afternoon working at Iwai's shop. Now the sky was dark, and the small bars lined around the street were open and full of customers that consisted mostly of tired salarymen, people who lived in the neighbourhood, and the drunk man that could always be seen tumbling around the back street alley -someone should really do something about his alcohol intake-. All in all, Yongen-Jaya looked the same as always.
Akira sighed and picked up the call not without a big amount of shame and defeat.
“Hello-”
“Akira!” cut Ann, her voice stern like a mother scolding her dumb child, “why would you lie to your family like that?”
Akira grimaced and shifted uncomfortably, not knowing how to explain himself. He stared at a street light near the bathhouse, there was a moth flying nearby, getting too close to the light and falling dead on the ground. ‘Mood’ he thought. “I messed up.” He told Ann.
“But I don’t understand. Why would you tell your mom that you would bring a girlfriend home?”
“It’s… complicated.”
“Complicated? Wait! Do you have a girlfriend and haven’t told us!?”
“No, no, I’m not dating anyone,” assured Akira with a laugh, “It’s just that when my mom called to tell me about the holidays, she…um. She just-”
“She what?”
“Akira’s mom was really rude, Lady Ann!” jumped Morgana, perking from Akira’s school bag and getting close to the phone, hitting Akira’s head in the process. “When she called this afternoon, she was nice at first, but then she started talking about Akira being troublesome and a shame to the family.”
“She said that...?” whispered Ann, sounding genuinely surprised.
Akira played with his bangs, “Well, yeah, after my probation things have been a bit tense with my parents. She was going on and on about what a disappointment I was, and how I probably was a loner at school with no friends, that no one would want to be near me… I got angry, and well-”
“So you told her that you had a girlfriend and that you would bring her home, to prove a point.”
“Yeah, basically.”
“And you did it out of spite.”
“It’s the rebel that lives within my soul-” Akira tried to joke, but he still sounded tense.
“That’s so unfair… What are you going to do?”
“Who knows, I have to leave in two days, so it’s not like I have time to get a girlfriend.” He admitted. “I actually asked Hifumi if she would be my fake girlfriend, you know, like in the movies, but she already had important plans this weekend.”
Ann whined, “I would love to help make your family mad but I will be away those days as well, and Makoto too.” she apologized.
“It’s alright, it was my fault for lying about something like that in the first place. I guess I will have to think of something else...”
They talked a bit more, Ann wished him good luck and they ended the phone call with the promise of Akira keeping her updated about whatever happened. Not wanting to go inside Leblanc just yet, Akira continued walking outside in circles, trying to think of a way to fix the mess he had put himself in, but nothing came to mind.
He was starting to consider to call his mom and tell her the whole truth (he could already imagine how the conversation would go ‘ not only is my son a criminal, but a liar as well! You are lucky your grandma wants to see you, because if it was for me and your dad, you might as well stay in Tokyo forever! ’)
Akira furrowed his brows, maybe his mom wouldn’t get that mad and it was just his imagination being overly mean, but lately it was really hard to tell how she would react.
He was so concentrated on his thoughts that he yelped when Morgana suddenly clawed his pawns on his shoulder “Akira, be careful!” the cat cried.
“Wha-” he started, but didn’t have time to react, “OUCH!” He yelped, he had run into something-
Or someone.
“K-Kurusu? Are you alright?” asked a tumbling Goro Akechi, staring at him with surprise. Akira heard Leblanc’s door closing, so Akechi must have probably left the coffee shop just now.
“I’m sorry,” he quickly apologized, fixing his glasses which had almost fallen due to the impact. “Were you going home, now? It’s really late.” he said, trying to change the topic so Akechi wouldn’t ask him why he was running in circles around Leblanc like a lunatic.
“Ah- yeah.” Akechi seemed thrown off by the sudden question. “Leblanc is a really calming place after all, it’s as if time passes differently there.” He rambled. “But I must ask again, are you okay? You seem uncharacteristically agitated.”
Damn. “It’s nothing, I was just excited to get home and started running without thinking.”
“Oh, I wish I could say the same.” blurted out Akechi, and then, noticing his mistake, quickly added, “I mean, it’s not to say I don’t enjoy my own home, but these days have been a little-”
“A little…?”
Akira waited, not knowing where Goro was going with that, when all of a sudden the drunk man that was previously drinking at one of the bars came up to them, reeking of alcohol and tumbling like he could barely stand on two feet.
“Can we help you, sir?” Asked Akechi, with a raised eyebrow.
“Hey, aren’t you the annoying detective kid from TV?” The man said, his face completely red from the alcohol.
Akechi and Akira exchanged glances.
The man continued, “Psse I always change the channel when I see you.” He made the motion of holding a TV control and changing the channel in front of Akechi.
Akira was about to say something, but Akechi was faster, “I think you left your TV control at home, why don’t you go look for it?” he calmly suggested.
The man looked at Goro, then at his empty hand, then at Goro again, “Eh… Did I? Bah! What a brat!” he shouted, too drunk to even rationalize anything. “I’m gonna go fetch it and then you will see!”
“I’m sure I will,” Akechi said as the man left. Then he looked at Akira and gave him an apologetic smile. “Since the Phantom Thieves defeated Medjet people have been mad at me for denouncing them publicly. Of course, it’s nothing that I can’t handle, but that’s why I enjoy Leblanc’s non-judgmental atmosphere. Otherwise being around Tokyo has been a bit harsh.” he joked, half deprecatingly.
Akira nodded quietly, feeling bad for the detective.
After all, he had also been bullied by most of Shujin, so he knew how cruel words could get to you. Akira was sure he wouldn’t have been able to take the hate so well if it wasn’t for his friends having his back. But Akechi didn’t seem to have any friends, did he? Akira wondered if Akechi was even able to go grocery shopping without being insulted by random people, or if he was forced to hear his neighbours talk behind his back every time he left for work.
He thought his family problems were bad, but he guessed that lying to his mom about bringing a girlfriend home wasn’t on the same level of being hated by a whole city. Akechi should really consider leaving Tokyo for a few days, at least until the rage thrown at him calmed down…
Suddenly, a light bulb went off inside Akira’s head, and everything made sense.
“Akechi,” he started, a mischievous glint obscuring his glasses, “would you like to take a break from Tokyo?”
Akechi looked at him without understanding.
***
“I didn’t know what to bring so I hope this set of traditional Tokyo delicacies is enough,” said Akechi brightly, lifting up what seemed to be a comically huge bag with five different boxes inside.
“That’s- That’s a lot.” observed Akira with wide eyes. “but I’m sure they will love it.” he assured nonetheless, internally grinning at how over the top Akechi could be.
They were on the train headed to Inaba, a small rural town a couple of hours away from Tokyo.
Inaba was incredibly quiet and boring –at least for Akira’s standards– every neighbour knew each other and the only place young people like him could hang out was at Junes, a decent sized shopping mall.
“I’m really curious about what kind of people are your parents,” Akechi wondered, he was sitting in front of Akira and wearing unexpectedly trendy summer clothes; a red and white polo with some sort of expensive logo on one side of the chest, beige pants, and white sunglasses that rested on top of his head.
His city boy appearance was really going to stand out in that old and dusty town, thought Akira.
“My parents are very normal, really.” he said, waving his hand lazily.
“With you as their son? Allow me to doubt that.”
“No, really,” he insisted. “My dad works at a car insurance company and my mom is a teacher. When they aren’t at work, my dad watches baseball on TV and my mom gossips with our neighbours.”
Akechi laughed, “Alright, that sounds incredibly stereotypical. But sometimes normal is enough,” he added, looking away and staring at the view from the window instead.
Akira grumbled. “If you say so…”
Honest to God, Akira still couldn’t believe that Akechi had accepted his offer. At first he hadn’t, of course, looking completely confused and saying something like ‘I wouldn’t want to intrude, it’s your family holidays after all. I should take my leave now, have a good day, Kurusu.’
It had been a complete rejection, but Akira was a desperate man, so he just kept insisting by chat which went something like:
***
Akira: are you sure you don’t want to come? My mom’s cooking is really good. I can give you free curry and coffee for a week.
Akechi: Haha that’s not necessary. Nevertheless, yes, I’m sure, I wouldn’t want to be a bother.
Akira: You wouldn’t, that’s why I’m offering.
Akira: Akechi?
Akechi: I just don’t understand, we aren’t even f
Akechi: Oh, excuse me, I hit the send button by mistake.
Akechi: the f was from family. I meant to say that we aren’t related so it would be out of place for me to be there.
Akira: Oh I thought the f was from friends and I almost got sad.
Akechi: haha
Akira: But seriously, think about it. My parents actually hate the Phantom Thieves so I’m sure they will love seeing you there, and you can also take a break from Tokyo for a few days. We can even go fishing.
Akechi: Your parents hate the Phantom Thieves? That’s unexpected.
Akira: They detest them. And we can even go fishing.
Akechi: You already said that, is that the only activity you can do in your hometown?
Akira: come with me and you will know ;)
Akechi: Heavens… Alright, let me think about it. I will let you know tomorrow, okay?
***
Akira sighed. In the end, everything worked for the better, although he had a strong suspicion that Akechi only accepted the offer after hearing that his parents hated the Phantom Thieves. Actually, he was pretty sure that Akechi only accepted because he realized that going to Akira’s home would give him more room to spy on his life and discover whether or not he was a Phantom Thief.
Akira didn’t exactly mind being used like that, Akechi wouldn’t discover anything in his home town and, anyway, wasn’t he also using Akechi in his own way?
And thinking about that… he should really update Ann. Akechi was still staring at the landscape, lost in his thoughts, so Akira quickly snapped a picture of him and sent it to her. The response was immediate.
Ann: AKECHI!?!?! AKIRA, YOU TOLD YOUR MOM YOU WERE GOING TO BRING A GIRLFRIEND
Akira: I know-
Ann: How did you even bribe Goro fucking Akechi to be your fake boyfriend?! Wait, is he going to crossdress!?
Akira: No! I haven’t told him anything about that yet. Look, I’m still marinating this plan
Ann: You are literally on a train ride to your home and you still don’t have a plan? Akechi is so going to murder you.
Akira: don’t be dramatic Ann, he is not a murderer
Ann: Duh, obviously! But still, you must tell him the truth!
Akira: I know! I’m just thinking on how to go about it without him freaking out.
Ann: Well you are on a direct train so at least he can’t escape
Akira: (I was counting on that actually-)
Ann: Akira, I swear… Ah, my parents got home! Talk to you later! Keep me updated!
Akira sent Ann a couple of thumbs up emojis, asked if Mona was doing fine (he left the cat with Ann, to Morgana’s complete joy) and left his phone next to the window with a sigh. He must have exuded a nervous energy because Akechi, who had been checking something on his own phone, looked up at him with curious eyes.
“Is everything alright?” he asked, tilting his head in a way that would have been very attractive if it didn’t make his sunglasses fall from his head to his nose. “ah…”
“Yeah, yeah,” Akira replied half-heartedly, twirling the edge of his hair. Ann was right, he had to tell Akechi what was going on, but that meant he would have to choose his next words carefully.
“Are you sure you are fine? You seem nervous.” Akechi insisted, putting his glasses back on top of his head.
He could do this. Come on, Akira, you have the guts for this. “Well, no.” He started, carefully, “not everything is alright.” he admitted.
The honesty made Akechi raise his eyebrows with both interest and suspicion. He placed his phone back into his pocket and stared at Akira intently. “Did something happen?”
Akira shifted slightly from his seat. He placed his hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it with embarrassment. It was now or never, he guessed.
“Yeah… Actually, I haven’t been completely honest with you about this trip.” he said, looking at Goro with an apologetic smile.
That surprised Akechi, whose eyes widened as he sat a little bit straighter and crossed his arms, “Hmm? How so?” he asked, more calmly than Akira had anticipated, but still with a tint of suspicion.
“It’s nothing serious, I assure you, but if you want to punch me afterwards you are free to do so.”
Akechi rolled his eyes, “Stop with the dramatics and just tell me what’s going on.”
“Okay, okay… Ugh. Remember when I told you I was on probation?”
Akechi nodded, “Yeah, you said it wasn’t your fault.”
“It wasn’t, but you should know that my parents are still very angry about that.” Akira explained. “Actually, they didn’t even want me to come and spend the summer holidays with them, but my grandma and my cousins are also coming over and they still like me, I guess, so they convinced my parents to let me stay for a few days.”
Akechi nodded slowly, “I see, I had no idea that your probation had caused so much distress in your home.”
“It was a low blow, yeah.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Akechi said, and Akira wasn’t really sure if he was being honest or just polite, so he decided not to dwell on it and kept talking.
“Yeah, it sucks.” he agreed. “that’s why I… Um. I kinda got into an argument with my mom the other day, and told her that I would bring a girlfriend home. Just so she could see that I was having a good time in Tokyo.”
Akechi actually laughed at that, “I didn’t take you for such a petty individual, Kurusu.” he said with mirth, clearly interested and having fun with Akira’s miss fortune, “and then what happened?”
Akira looked at the floor and played with the hem of his shirt, “Nothing.”
“Nothing? You are going home and clearly haven’t brought a girlfriend, so what did you tell your mom?”
“...Nothing.”
Akira slowly looked up and stared at Akechi in silence, Akechi stared back at him confusedly, then his smile gradually faded away as he put the puzzle pieces together.
(Akira could tell the moment Akechi realized what was going on because the detective’s face suddenly went bright red.)
“Haha no way, you don’t mean that you-” Akechi tried, his smile faltering. “Did you- I mean, it can’t be. You surely must be joking, right?”
“Um.”
“...Kurusu?”
Akira took a deep breath, clapped his hands together and bowed his head in a clearly exaggerated fashion, “Please, be my fake boyfriend! I will give you free coffee and curry for a whole year. I will even be the Watson to your Sherlock!”
“Kurusu. You told them you would bring a girlfriend.” gasped Akechi with a high pitched voice, still unable to comprehend the whole thing. “I imagined that there was a hidden reason as of why you invited me to your home, since it made little sense, but this is beyond ridiculous!”
“Look, Ann and Makoto already had summer plans, and you were having a bad time in Tokyo, so-”
“I wasn’t, I told you I could deal with the media-” retorted Akechi defensively.
“Alright, alright, but still.” insisted Akira, “You looked like you needed a break. And my parents love you. Like, I’ve barely talked with them on the phone and every single time they kept praising you and saying things like ‘Oh I wish you were more like that young and hardworking detective on TV and not some filthy criminal.’’”
“But you told them you would bring a girlfriend, as in, a girl.”
“Well, I will tell them that I was too embarrassed to confess that I was dating a boy over the phone.”
“But we aren’t dating!”
“We would just need to act for a couple of days!” begged Akira, “My mom is your fan so I bet she wouldn’t even mind that I had a boyfriend if it was such a good influence as you, and even if she disagreed, she wouldn’t dare say anything in front of you because she cares too much about appearances and social etiquette.”
Akechi didn’t look convinced at all. “And what about your dad?” he asked accusingly.
“He just does whatever my mom wants.”
“But still, this is so stupid, just tell your mom the truth. I also have a reputation to uphold, you know?”
“My family will keep the secret If I tell them that we have been dating clandestinely because you are a celebrity.”
Akechi shook his head, “Look, why not just say that we are acquaintances and leave it at that? Tell you mom that your girlfriend couldn’t come and that you decided to bring me instead. Your parents will be happy that we are… friends, and we won’t have to act. Isn’t that plan better?”
Akira looked away petulantly. “That’s too normal…”
“Excuse me?”
Akira crossed his arms against his chest, “My parents have been so unsupportive about my probation… I try to be positive and think that they don’t mean what they say, but it still hurts to see how little they trust me.” he smiled in a way that didn’t reach his eyes. “I also thought that saying that you are my friend would make them happy... but I’m not sure if I want to make them happy anymore.”
“You would rather shock them and let them think you are gay? Why take the risk and make them dislike you even more?”
“Isn’t it more fun like that?” joked Akira, trying to lift the mood, but he only received a serious glare from Akechi. Realizing that the detective could clearly see through him, Akira dropped pretenses. “No, you are right, I guess this is some sort of personal and petty revenge.”
He sank in his seat. It wasn’t in his nature to be like that. He had always been rebellious, never following what society expected of him and doing what he thought was right, but he had felt so betrayed by his parents. He had always been a good son, helped them out and caused no trouble, and yet when the accident happened his parents had had no trouble in getting rid of him.
Sometimes he wished that his parents had a change of heart, that they could care less about what the neighbours thought, and more about what they really wanted. That’s probably why he had wanted to tell them that he was dating Akechi. To shock them, to see if that could somehow trigger something in them. But in the end Akechi was right, it was a ridiculous idea.
“I’m sorry I got you into this mess,” apologized Akira, “I will understand if you prefer to go back to Tokyo.”
He expected Akechi to be angry and leave the second they got out of the train, but instead, Akechi stared at him with pensive eyes and a hand on his chin.
“You and I are more similar than I expected,” he said, “although I don’t agree with your methods, I have to admit that I understand where you are coming from.”
Akechi’s raw honesty threw Akira off for a second, but he nodded silently. “Oh, I see...”
“God…” frowned Akechi, massaging his temples and clearly stressed. “you are really troublesome, you know? Fine.”
“Fine? Wait,” Akira had to do a double take. “will you act as my fake boyfriend, then?”
Akechi rolled his eyes, “Why not, since you have already gotten so far, I might as well play the part and see how it develops.”
“Wow... I didn’t expect you to agree at all.” mumbled Akira, incredulous but with a big smile, “Seriously, Akechi I’m so glad, I owe you. I promise to clean your laundry for the next year!”
Akechi laughed quietly, “A whole year might be too much, but alright. You might not believe it, but I can be a little petty as well, from time to time.”
***
It turned out that Akira was right in thinking that his family was incredibly mad at him. He didn’t expect a warm welcome from them, but when Goro and him arrived to Inaba, he realized that things were worse than he had imagined: his parents hadn’t even dared come and pick them up at the train station.
“Are you sure you told them we were arriving?” asked Goro, holding his luggage with one hand and fanning himself with the other. Inaba’s weather at that time of the year was incredibly hot.
Akira stared at his phone. His ‘we will be at the station in 30 minutes’ text message had been left on read. He frowned.
“Yeah… Sorry, I guess we will have to walk a little.”
Akechi stared at him for a few seconds and sighed, “Lovely.”
“Hey, come on, It’s only a twenty minute walk to my house,” Said Akira as he signaled a street and both of them started moving, “and anyways, I can show you the town along the way. A fancy Inaba tour by your local and hot guide Akira Kurusu.”
Akechi rolled his eyes and put his white sunglasses on, “Actually, we should use this time to prepare some kind of story about how we started dating so your parents don’t catch us on a lie.”
“I thought we already decided that on the train?”
“We can’t just say that we met at a TV station, you fell in love with me, then you asked me out when I happened to come to Leblanc. It’s not credible.” huffed Akechi.
Akira looked at him confused, “Eh? Why not? It sounds plausible to me.”
“It needs more details,” Akechi shook his head and put a hand on his chin, “As in, hypothetically speaking, when did our love declaration happen?”
“Uhh… in July.”
“And how many dates have we had since then?”
“Sixty-nine?”
“In only one month? are you aware we are in August?”
“Alright, seven…”
“When did you discover you were gay?”
“When you talked about Hegel in the TV station I realized that I was madly in love with you and your nerd self.”
“...You definitely need to change that answer, and for the record, I’m not a nerd, Hegel is basic culture.” mumbled Akechi, offended.
“Whatever you say, Honey.”
“...” Akechi threw him a glare to which Akira just grinned. “As I was saying, What are our favourite spots to hang out?”
“Um maybe–”
“Do we take selfies?”
“Ah-”
“What are boss’ thoughts on our relationship? Is he even aware of it or you tell him that you are going out with a girl instead because you are afraid that he will kick you out if he discovers the truth?” continued Akechi matter-of-factly and incredibly fast. “Lies need a lot of worldbuilding for them not to be discovered.”
Akira’s head was spinning with too much information. It was frightening how good Akechi was at that kind of deceiving thing.
“You could be a professional liar, you know?” he praised.
Akechi gave him an inquisitive smile. “Oh, of course not, it’s just something that comes with the job of being a detective.” he dismissed airily. “And anyway, I’m a bit of a perfectionist so if we do this, I want to make it right and not leave any holes in our testimony.”
Akira nodded, “That’s good to hear.” then he smiled teasingly as a thought occurred to him. “Oh, does that mean that you are okay if we kiss?”
“W-What?” Akechi sputtered. “Kiss? Why would we kiss?” he asked, not doing a good job in hiding his shock.
“Isn’t that what couples do?” Akira couldn’t help but tease.
Akechi’s voice wavered, “Isn’t it impolite to show that kind of affection in front of your parents? Those things are usually kept private, we are not in Europe.” he insisted.
Akira waved a hand nonchalantly, “But we want them to get a little bit mad. We should also hold hands, sleep on the same bed, cuddle, hug...” he said as if it was obvious.
It was hard to tell if Akechi’s face was red because of the heat wave or the embarrassment, “Hug?! W-Wait a minute-”
“Oh, hey!” Akira cut him, “Look, to your right is the Inaba shrine, it has a story of 1900 years. Because of its size, it’s a popular spot for hatsumode and-”
“Now it’s not the time to be a tour guide, Kurusu!” Akechi despaired.
The detective was so flustered that Akira couldn’t maintain his deadpan face any second longer and he broke off, laughing openly as Akechi sulked in silence. Akira could swear he heard Goro mumble something that sounded like ‘Teenagers these days…’
For the next few minutes, they kept walking and talking about all the details of their ‘relationship’ as they made way to Akira’s house. Akira made sure to choose the road where the sun hit less since Goro seemed to take hot temperatures badly.
Despite that, Goro was sweating profusely, “Are we there yet?”
“Almost there, darling.”
“Stop with the pet names…” Akechi retorted, then he took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure, “Are you even taking this whole thing seriously?”
“I am, I am, sorry” Akira laughed, feeling just a little bad for messing with him. But it was so much fun… “By the way, you should call me Akira.”
“Hm… That’s true, we should be on a first name basis.” Akechi nodded. “Then feel free to call me Goro for now.”
“Sure, and again, thanks for helping me out with this, Goro, I’m really grateful.” He threw the detective an honest smile.
Akechi looked away, clearly not used to be called by his first name, and nodded. “Just make sure you do my laundry properly when all of this ends.”
Akira grinned. “Of course,“ then he stopped to wait for Akechi, who was a little behind looking completely worn out. After all, his luggage was twice the size of Akira’s and they had been climbing quite a lot of stairs for the last few minutes.
They would only be staying in the town for four days –from Friday to Monday– so Akira wondered why Akechi had brought so many things with him. Was his bag full of hair care and beauty products? It had to be...
Once Akechi caught up with him, Akira offered him a small smile. “Welcome to my house.” he said, and with a bit of flourish, he signaled the house they were in front of.
Akechi stared at him in confusion and then looked to where Akira was pointing at. He let out a small gasp.
“It’s- It’s huge.” he observed, clearly not expecting Akira to live in that sort of place.
Akira nodded, feeling a growing weight on his shoulders. It had been four months since he had seen his home for the last time. His house was a modern, two-floor building located in the middle of a hill, with a long flight of stairs on his right side and a great view that covered most of Inaba. All in all, it was a high-end house.
Akira had expected to be homesick and happy to be back after such a long time, but he only found himself missing his small and dusty attic of Leblanc more than ever.
“It’s time for the truth, are you ready?” he asked Akechi, the thrill of the little stunt they were going to pull making him both equally nervous and excited.
Akechi took a deep breath. “I’m not the one who has something to lose. Are you sure about this?”
“Yeah, it has to be done.” Akira thought he saw his mom’s silhouette in the window, she was probably cooking something in the kitchen, “My parents… they need to change. See it as a shock therapy session.” or a change of heart.
“You aren’t even a professional therapist to be using that kind of term–” Akechi started to complain, but quickly stopped as Akira grabbed his hand and conducted them to the entrance of the house. “What are you doing?!” he whispered.
“Just smile.” Akira whispered back, and rang the doorbell.