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“Akechi-kun!” The man’s sickening kind voice breaks through the door. “Breakfast is ready! Will you please make an attempt to join me at the table?”
Goro gives out a groan, and throws a pillow at the door. He then rolls out of the bed, sheets and all. He lands on the soft carpet with a somewhat loud ‘thud!’. Goro chuckles as he hears the doctor’s voice getting slightly higher out of concern.
“Are you okay in there!?”
“I’m fine! And I don’t want to join you for breakfast!” shouts Goro, as he sits up properly, before muttering to himself, “I still won’t eat with the likes of you, quack doctor.”
Goro breaks free from the sheet and stands up. As he walks towards the door, he can only wonder what the man is carrying, if he didn’t bother to knock. Goro unlocks it, and opens it up a crack. He is taken back to see the scruffy-hair doctor standing there, carrying a large tray with two bowls of chicken curry over rice and a few vegetables, with spoons resting on napkins.
“I thought you might say that,” says Maruki, with an annoying smile on his face. “I figure I can join you. It’s only fair I get to see my unexpected guest every so often.”
Goro gives out another groan, and runs a hand through his hair. “Fine. But can please we eat in silence? I don’t like it when you enter therapist mode and try getting me to talk about my childhood. Just because I faintly recall making an alliance with the Phantom Thieves to defeat you, it doesn’t make me a proper Phantom Thief.”
He opens the door wider, and Goro walks back to the bed, picking up the sheet on the floor. Goro makes the bed and fluff the pillows, before sitting down. He lets his legs dangle from the sides. He watches Maruki walk over to the bed, gently setting down the tray over the sheet.
“Besides,” continues Goro, as he takes the bowl and spoon Maruki offers to him, “Whatever mind-altering bullshit you want to do on me, you lost your chance. Granted, I don’t think you would have wanted to waste your powers on me. I don’t like you, and I know you don’t like me. Besides, why would you like the person who tried to shoot you to death?”
Maruki stays quiet as he picks up his bowl and spoon. The bespectacled man digs through the curry, and takes a large spoonful. Goro narrows his eyes, before taking a spoon out of his own bowl. He knows the ‘good’ doctor wouldn’t want to kill him given his ‘benevolent’ character, but Goro still feels the need to be slightly paranoid.
“I see you’re slowly recalling more memories, Akechi-kun,” says Maruki, trying his best to sound cheerful like before. “I never told you how you tried to kill me.”
“Really?” Goro takes a spoon of curry into his mouth. He chews for a bit, and then swallows. “I guess your hypothesis of me recovering my third semester memories is proving to be correct. Here I thought I would only remember our first meeting in your idiotic reality and the conversations at Leblanc with you and the Phantom Thieves’ leader.”
Goro sets the spoon and bowl down carefully on the bedsheet. He watches as Maruki somehow keeps all his anger in, going by the man’s tightening his grip on the spoon. Goro is amaze Maruki has yet thrown out Goro. Maruki is still allowing him to stay at his apartment. The man even gave up his own bedroom, opting to sleep on the sofa!
Maybe such patience is partly why the former doctor wanted to give everyone their ‘happiness’. Maruki cares too much for others well-being to figure out his own bullshit. It’s touching, but pathetic. Goro finds it pathetic enough to be somewhat civil to him in their unofficial agreement.
The unofficial agreement was made three weeks ago, after Goro escaped custody from two men who loyalties are unknown. Be it part of what’s leftover of Shido’s little conspiracy group or a group Goro has no knowledge of, he wants no part of it. Goro may not remember much of the last few months, but he knows he’s sick and tired of being someone’s puppet, getting his strings pulled and manipulated. He wants to live his own path and do it his way.
(He told that perfectly clear to Joker. Goro hopes Joker is doing well. If he’s right, his probation should be over, and he’s back home with the family he never talks about much.)
Maruki is honestly the last person Goro wants to see. But after catching up on the last few months of his coma —he’s eternally thankful for the person who found him and not recognizing him when finding his unconscious, bleeding body back in December—Goro took the risk to see Maruki, as he is no longer employed at Shujin, let alone practicing anymore.
He's now a taxi driver of all things. Goro suspects Maruki is one of those chatty taxi drivers, always striking up conversations with passengers. Still, as Maruki has a source of income, and the only adult that knows what technically happened in Shido’s Palace, Goro thought it kind to pay the man friendly visit. Eventually, it transformed into their unofficial agreement.
Maruki goes out and does his job, while Goro plays housekeeper and takes care of the surprisingly messy and dirty apartment. It was originally going to last a week, but Maruki had no choice but to pull out his phone to show his ‘trump’ card: Goro Akechi is now MIA, with word on the street and on certain websites speculates he’s dead, with no chance of recovering his body.
Goro doesn’t want to risk grabbing attention from anyone at the moment. For the time being, he’s semi-mooching off Maruki by being the housekeeper. Goro admits being a housekeeper is better than what his mother had to go through, even though he knows it’s out of the goodness of her heart to support him to the best of her abilities, especially when it came to meals.
“This is frozen chicken curry,” Goro says quietly, “isn’t it?”
“Yes. I didn’t have enough time to make a proper breakfast for the both of us,” answers Maruki, taking another spoon of the rice and curry, “and we had no leftover curry from last night. I found a few frozen curry packages in my freezer. They haven’t reached their expiration dates.”
Maruki swallows his food, before setting down his spoon. “Why do you ask? You’re not worried about food poisoning, are you? Even though you believe I dislike you, know that even if it is true, I don’t want you dead, intentionally or not.”
“Even if I believe you, what I’m thinking is nothing I doubt you’ll care for. I just happened to recall a childhood memory!” snaps Goro. “And it’s one I don’t like to share to others.”
“A childhood memory, huh…Of you and who?” asks Maruki softly. “I promise to not enter what you call therapist mode. I swear I’ll keep quiet the whole time, without interruptions.”
Goro gives out a sigh. “You better keep your word. The memory is of my mother. She didn’t have time to make proper meals for us. More often than not, she heats up frozen food. She always felt bad, and kept on apologizing to me. And I told her I didn’t mind. I just like spending time with her. I haven’t eaten frozen food in a while due to well…my unexpected coma.”
Goro takes another spoonful of the chicken curry before speaking again. “I don’t want to say you cook like her, given you both are just heating up a pre-made meal. But it feels nice eating a microwave frozen meal again that isn’t heat up by me. Especially eating a microwave frozen meal with someone else.”
Maruki keeps his words, and remains quiet as Goro finish speaking. Goro sees the man smiling, with a small twinkle in his eyes, and resist the urge to roll his eyes. Maruki must be happy there’s finally minor ‘progress’ when it comes to their hostile relationship.
“I see,” replies Maruki, the smile still on his face. “Well, I’m glad you trust me enough to talk about your childhood, and of your mother. I do hope you find the meal fulfilling. I got today off, and I decided it time for you to get proper clothing…disguises for you. As much as I like having you around, I think we start thinking about your future. The first step for that is a new wardrobe.”
“I know. I got to get myself a proper job and stop being a pest intruding in your life,” says Goro. “Do understand I don’t want to leech off you any longer than I want to. Just…please. Don’t make me wear your university clothes again, as well as your old glasses, and messing up my hair. I’m not sure which of the three I hate the most of my so-call disguises.”
Maruki returns to keeping quiet as he quickly tries to finish his bowl. Goro gives out another sigh, before digging back into his chicken curry.