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Chapter Text

As Goro Akechi walked into LeBlanc for the last time between trimester break to help around the shop. Sojiro Sakura, his guardian/father figure mentioned that Akechi would be transferring to Shujin Academy for his last year of High School, he had already heard it a few times but it never seemed to be easier to hear.

 It’s not like he liked his current school, it's that he knew who all the teachers were like and would have to learn the personalities of the new teachers and classmates. He has no intention to make any ‘friends’ as he would have to leave them the next year for college. 

“Hurry up and eat, your train should be leaving soon

 “Thank you got the food, Sakura-san” Akechi quickly ate his breakfast curry and ran out the door

“Grab an umbrella!” Sojiro shouted before Akechi left the door, he nearly fell over, turning around to grab an umbrella.

Akechi almost fell over himself several times running to the station, scaring a few cats and old ladies. Halfway through he had to take a second to catch his breath.

He nearly missed the train, only having a few seconds to squeeze in.

On the train he heard a clip from a talk show with some big shot high school detective.

“Kurusu-kun, what do you think of the supposed ‘mental shutdown’ last Saturday?” The host asks.

“I’m not sure I can say anything about that at this moment but we are doing our best to find out what happened to Wanatabe-San.” 

“And that is a snippet of an interview with Ace Detective Akira Kurusu from earlier yesterday, now onto the weather” The host of the news channel said something, Akechi stopped paying attention after the interview segment.

Akechi wanted to become a detective once, maybe he still might deep down. He knows it’s unrealistic to think like that and tries to push the thought of the detective out of his mind. He has seen him on the TV at LeBlanc before. He checked his phone and saw some creepy app with an eye on it he didn’t remember ever downloading. He deleted the app and closed his phone, thinking it was some stupid app Futaba put on it.

Akechi readied himself to get off the train but it kept accelerating. People started looking around, confused that the train didn’t stop, then they started shouting at the conductor to stop the train with no response.

Unbeknownst to almost everyone the conductor was experiencing a mental shutdown and was dying at the spot. He slumped against the accelerator and the train kept speeding up.

Akechi used his bag as a pillow to soften the blow he knew was going to come any second. 

This is it, dying going to a shitty school. Fuck you world.

Chapter Text

The crash was deafening. Goro was thrown to the former wall, now floor and hit his head hard against the window, thankfully not breaking his skull but still giving him the worst headache of his life. He tried to stand up but immediately fell over and threw up from the headache.

Gripping his head, he felt his hair get awfully wet, when he noticed his hand was hurting… a lot. He looked down at his hand and saw a deep gash across his right palm.

He still had his bag over his shoulder and tried again to get up, this time managing to walk a few meters before falling again. Deciding to scoot instead of walk, Goro crawled to the emergency exit on the roof keeping his hand pressed against his stomach. Someone else offered their hand to help him out.

He grabbed the stranger's hand with his good hand and got out of the train onto the tracks. The stranger carried him over his shoulder back around the tracks where only the caboose of the train was visible. No one was near them either.

I suppose emergency services should be here soon. He thought, despite not heating any sirens yet.

He looked at the stranger's face to see if it were anyone he knew, all he could gather was the the stranger had a mask and a set of expensive looking glasses.

“May I get your name, A Mementos for the occasion?” The stranger asked him.

It took a minute for Goro to understand what they were saying, the headache jumbling everything in his head, mixed with the pain from his hand and the strangers' weird wordings didn’t help.

“…Akechi, Goro” he stumbled over his own words trying to speak.

Goro thinks the stranger smiles with how his eyes crinkle behind the glasses.

“Great to see you again, I’ll be off now!” The stranger waved and walked away down the tracks, they burst into blue flames and continued walking, now in completely different clothing.. Goro almost fell over watching the explosion of flames around them.

He leaned against the wall, blood still running from his hand to comprehend what he just saw. He used the strap of his bag and wrapped it around his wrist to lessen the bleeding.

He pushed himself up and walked to where the station was. When he saw the train wreck, or rather the lack thereof he started going down the track.

The track separated into two different areas, one going up and the other going down. Goro felt drawn to the former and stumbled over to a platform going up. He walked up the stairs and saw what looked to be a child in an eggshell hat, sitting in the driver's seat of a buggy.

And I thought this day couldn’t get any worse

“Oh, Hello there. I thought I felt someone new here.” The child jumped out of their seat and went over to Goro.

“Are you hurting mister? The flowers told me that red isn’t good when it’s coming out of people” the kid asked.

“Do you not know what blood is?” Goro questioned, before almost passing out at how dizzy just talking made him.

“Blood, what an interesting word! I need to write that down!” The kid opened a notebook and wrote down the word. “Where are my manners, my name is Jose!”

“Great, Jose, you don’t happen to… have any bandages on you?” Goro said, pausing between words to make a sentence, probably from blood loss. His headache has calmed enough to catch his breath a little bit.

“No, Sorry mister but I have something that the kind man in the mask gave me. He called it ‘Revivadrin’ and to look for someone with brown hair. I think he was talking about you.” Jose handed the bottle of painkillers over to Goro who opened the bottle and took a handful of the pills.

Immediately Goro felt the medication take effect and could feel his skin closing and his headache evaporating, leaving nothing but a faint scar and tight skin in its place.

“Woah! They never told me it would do that!”
Jose gasps and jots down more notes in his little book.

Goro opens and closes his hand several times, wiggling his fingers. Everything works as it did before, only with some pulling on his newly formed scar.

Hands shaking he grabs his phone out of his bag, miraculously not completely ruined from the wreck and tries to turn it on.

Damn it! It must’ve been damaged in the wreck…

“Do you know how to get out of here, Jose?” Goro asked the child. They nodded and patted the spot next to them on their buggy. He tried to converse with Goro but he was too busy taking in the surrounding world when the sound of chains started to rattle from behind him.

“What the hell is that!” He points at the large figure with a bag over its head follow the two in the buggy.

“Uh oh, looks like we need to get out of here” Jose presses the pedal as hard as possible and the buggy goes flying forward throwing Goro back while Jose strangely seems unaffected by the force.

The Reaper falls behind slowly, still a threat but not immediately when Jose takes a sharp turn to a set of stairs.

“Just go up the stairs and you should be safe!” He points at the top of the stairs to emphasize what he said.

“Thank you, Jose” Goro takes a final look at the buggy and Jose.

“I hope we can meet again, Mister!” Jose drives off and the Reaper loses interest in the two for the time being. Goro walks up the stairs to see the man from earlier playing with a tennis ball.

“So it didn’t work, looks like I’ll have to do it myself” the stranger sat up and then ripped off a mask. They were engulfed into blue flames and a horned figure manifested behind them.

“Just listen to yourself” the person shouted as he dashed towards Goro with a knife. He attempted to dodge but was grabbed by the other’s hand and pinned against a wall.

Goro pushed back with all of his strength but was no match for the stranger who continued shouting in his face about ‘listening to your true self’.

Goro’s arms gave out and the stranger placed the pointed end of his knife against his throat.

“So you are giving up just like that? Even though I didn't give up when I had my mouth sewn shut, I tricked them fair, now it is your turn. Call upon my name and we shall fight alongside each other”

Goro could see the stranger’s mouth moving but could not hear the words. The stranger suddenly recoiled and smiled.

He reached up to scratch an itch on his face and was met by a mask, when he tried to remove it it refused to move. He grabbed it to rip it off, feeling his skin ripping and the warm blood streaming down his face

“Loki!”

Goro shouted as loud as possible. He was engulfed in painless flames where he felt his clothes change and saw the stranger laughing hysterically.

“Loki! Eiha!” A dark beam of pure suffering went right at the stranger and they flinched, more surprised than in pain.

“Oh goodie! You finally woke up! See you eventually Goro” The stranger ran away and Goro pursued.

After a while of climbing stairs and sneaking around lumps of almost human things. He found a staircase that said “Shibuya” there was a purple jail cell. He was too tired to investigate so he climbed the final stairway and the world around him warped.

Shibuya

When he got to the top everything was normal
He got some strange looks from passersby but he gave them no mine. He just needed to get back to LeBlanc.

Chapter Text

He stumbled into LeBlanc to the astonishment of Sojiro. It was much later in the day. The train system was temporarily shut down so he had to walk all the way to Sojiro’s. Thankfully it wasn’t absurdly far, only a few kilometers.

“Kid. What the hell are you doing here! You should be at school!” He shouted at Goro. Thankfully no one was inside the shop at the moment.

“I ’ pant’ Apologize.. Something” Goro choked on his tongue between words “Something happened”

“Goro, you look awful. Sit down. Now. “ Sojiro ran from behind the counter of the cafe, flipped the sign to closed and rushed over to where Goro was leaning against a booth. He notices that the boy was soaked with sweat.

“I’m alright. Sakura-san.” Goro sat down harshly and winced in pain from the bruises and inflamed skin on his back. “I swear.” 

“I’ll get you some water. Don’t drink too fast, it’ll just make you feel worse.” Sojiro hurried behind the counter and grabbed the closest clean mug. It was some mug from a stupid kids show Futaba watched. Left over from the days when she was still coming out of the house. He quickly filled it with water from the fridge and handed it to the quivering boy.

“Now tell me. What in the world happened to you?” Sojiro looked Goro in the eyes and saw scars and open wounds he’s never seen before, his uniform was messy and ripped in spots.

“Are you street fighting or something?” And to that Goro shook his head and took a sip of water.

“Please believe me when I tell you this. It’s going to sound odd.” Goro began recanting all of the days events starting with the train wreck and continuing speaking about the strange world and all the strange inhabitants of its lands like Jose and the mysterious creature with the guns who had chased him and Jose. 

He then began to talk about the stranger who somehow knew his name and the magical being that appeared behind the two and how he was so close to dying. Tears roll down the boy's face while he tells his tale to Sojiro who sits and politely listens as Sojiro runs circles into his back.

The day gets darker while Goro just sits and lets his emotions out. Whether it be screaming, ranting or crying, Sojiro sits and listens all the same. 

“Thank you Sakura-San. I needed this. I apologize for making you shut down early.” Goro reaches across the desk and grabs a napkin to clean his face with. 

“Of course kid. If you ever need anything just let me know and I’ll try my damndest to do it.” He looks at Goro with a friendly smile. “And your story. I have no reason not to believe you but I’ll have to take your temperature.” Sojiro stands up and calmly walks to the bathroom to grab a thermometer to use. 

Sojiro puts the device in the boy's ear to some discomfort from Goro but not much else. He removed it at the beep and looked at the temperature. 

‘40.1c’

“Not to try to put down what you said, however I think what happened is you fell asleep on the train and when the wreck happened your brain tried to comprehend what happened and how you got hurt and created that story. Because frankly, I don’t think you were whisked away to another dimension with kids driving buggies and mythological creatures running wild.” Sojiro said calmly to the boy. 

“But what I do know is that you aren’t going anywhere until this fever rescedes.” He said sternly.

“But I must be there tomorrow! I can’t miss multiple days in a row in the first week!” Goro refutes but Sojiro just shakes his head and puts his hand up. “I’ll give Dr. Takemi a call and I'm going to have her watch over you for the next few days.”

Goro tries to argue but Sojiro just stands up and walks over to a quiet corner of LeBlanc to make the phone call.

“Hey Doc, Goro has a fever of 40.1 do you mind if I take him over to yours so the brat doesn’t get himself in more trouble?”

“ ‘sigh’ Alright Boss. Just know you owe me a cup or two next time.” Takemi responded.

“If you keep him alive you can have all the coffee you want.” He said, half joking. He knew the doctor deserved as much coffee as she pleased.

‘You can take him over whenever. If anything happens I’ll give you a call. Or just shout across the street.’ Takemi jokes and Sojiro smirked.

“Thanks Doc.” Sojiro hangs up the phone and walks over to Goro who just stared at Sojiro. “There. You’re not doing anything strenuous until Takemi says so. Now let’s get over there” He reached his hand down to Goro to help him stand and the boy took it. 

“Thank you, Sakura-San I’m sorry for inconveniencing you today.” Goro stood up on shaky legs and used the older man as support as they walked the few dozen meters to the doctors office. They arrived at the office in silence. Tae stood at the entrance in anticipation of Goro visiting. “Please, come in.” She held the door open for the two men and they walked in. “Take a seat in the examination room.”

They walked into the room and Tae followed suit. Goro layed down on the table and suddenly had an intense wave of nausea. “So, what’s the deal here?” Tae asked.

“He went off to school this morning healthy and fine.. I think. And he came back a couple hours or so ago with his clothes ripped and dirtied! He says he was in the train accident and I’m inclined to believe him.” Sojiro spoke and Tae raised her eyebrows and she quickly looked over at Goro. “You were in the accident?! Do you have any injuries?” She nearly shouted and Goro shook his head.

“No… I took some Revivadrin I believe it was called. And everything healed… instantaneously.” He mumbled out, suddenly feeling very ill. Like the symptoms of the fever finally caught up to him. “Let me get this straight. You took some over the counter painkillers and your injuries disappeared? I’m having a hard time believing that. You know, if you weren’t injured you could just say so.” Tae shook her head in disapproval, like she believed he was lying.

“He’s been saying that since he got home. Also some stuff about a kid in a buggy named Jose? And some creature.. thing that tried to kill him.” Sojiro put his face in his hands in exhaustion. The day had already been stressful for him, Futaba had another episode that morning and he debated even opening the store.

“I insist. I am sufficiently healthy.” He fought. But Tae just glared at him. “With a fever of 40? Not a chance. It’s a surprise you were able to walk here. Let alone walk home! It even sounds like you were hallucinating, which isn’t surprising considering your temperature.” She turned around and poured a mixture of some different liquids. “Drink this and call back tomorrow if you still feel like death.” She handed him the concoction and swiftly sank it down his throat.

The initial taste was bitter and tasted vaguely fishy. His face scrunched up and the second wave hit, it tasted like copper. A very metallic taste. It lingered for a minute as he swirled around his tongue to dissolve the flavour. “Thank you, Takemi-San.” He bowed slightly and was overtaken with drowsiness. “Sojiro-San, may we return?” He muttered out. He just chuckled and helped walk Goro back to the Cafe.

Chapter Text

4/10

Akira stood on the platform patiently. He had a watch on his left wrist, counting down the seconds until the crash. He walked across the station to the nearest convenience store. He rummaged through the store to look for some things Goro may need. Namely some painkillers. And he got himself a water bottle.

He walked back out to the platform and checked his watch again. ‘7:43, about a minute left.’ The watch was special in many ways. It had always been with him throughout all the cycles, always sitting on his wrist, ticking away. It was silver in colour with the face being entirely back except for a simplistic blue dial in Roman numerals. It glowed a deep green in the dark. Akira had zero idea how it stayed with him for so long. He initially bought the watch on his first cycle at the jewelry store near the flower shop he used to work at.

He was suddenly broken from his thoughts by a thunderous rumbling becoming louder by the second. He walked a meter or so to hide behind a pillar in case any debris hit him. He put on a pair of headphones and put on some music as the train finally hit a climactic explosion with glass and steel flying everywhere. It came to a grinding halt as sparks flew everywhere the noise was like nails on a chalkboard but intensified by a million. It was easily the loudest thing Akira had heard.

He let the train come to a complete stop before looking around the platform if anyone else was left. Upon noticing no one around, he jumped up on top of the train and began opening the rooftop exit to all of the cars. Adults cried and the children screamed. Akira just jumped from car to car until he reached the final one. He kicked open the rooftop emergency exit of the last car and looked around. There were only a handful of people in the car, most were passed out or trying to get out. The ones trying to escape immediately ran out of the exit the second Akira opened it.

After the crowd cleared he saw the brunette boy on the floor, scooting towards the exit and adjusted his mask. He crouched down and offered his right hand to the boy who uncomfortably grabbed it with his left. He picked up Goro who was still clutching his stomach with a closed, bloody fist and carried him over their shoulder.

The two made their way towards a secluded section of the tunnel before Akira asked him a question. “May I have your name? A mementos for the occasion?” Goro looked up at him with unfocused eyes and stared for several seconds before sharply inhaling and responded “…Akechi, Goro.” And Akira smirked as his phone beeped, confirming the existence of his shadow.

Akira smirked and awkwardly shook his hand. “Great to see you again , I’ll be off now!” He took out his phone and took the two into the Metaverse. As he walked away, he felt Arsené manifest and the heat from his blue flames changing his clothes. 

On his way back up to the top of mementos he ran into José. “Oh! Hello mister!” José honked at Akira and waved. “Hey there kiddo! How’s it been?” He asked.

“Good, but my tummy feels weird. I drank a flower and it told me there’s something new somewhere.” He looked down in confusion and wrote a note in a little booklet. “Oh yeah, if you see him, can you give them this? It’s called Revivadrin.” He tossed the bottle he purchased earlier to José who caught it and nodded. “You got it Mister!”

“See you around!” Akira waved as he walked away from the child. He went up one more set of stairs and sat down on the floor. He reached to his pocket and pulled out a tennis ball to stay occupied while waiting for Goro. 

He looked down and observed his outfit. His gloves were a beautiful red. They were covered partially by the long sleeves of his ripped and torn black tailcoat and he pulled them taught. 

He tapped his heels against the tile floor of the platform as he threw the ball. He looked over to where the velvet room once stood. Many cycles ago it had disappeared without a trace and he gave it no mind. He tossed the ball once more when he saw a limping figure climb up the staircase. “So it didn’t work..” he sighed. ”Guess I’ll have to do it myself. Arsené!” Arsené manifested behind Akira and he charged Goro.

“Just listen to yourself! Hear the voice beckoning to you!” He shouted and pinned Goro to a nearby wall, holding his knife to the older boy's throat. “Awake to your true self!” They continued tussling for several more minutes as Akira kept shouting motivational lines at him. Finally, Akira felt Goro’s strength leave him and Akira broke through his defenses. He put the point of the knife against Goro’s Throat. “You’re pathetic.” He spat at Goro metaphorically and literally. The spot landing next to his face.

Suddenly, Goro’s pupils displayed and he sucked a breath in. His hands went up and grabbed his hair tight enough Akira thought he may rip it out. Finally, a flame engulfed his head and a large helmet appeared over his head. He tried several approaches to remove it until he landed on just ripping off the front. “ LOKI! ” Goro let out a guttural scream upon removing the mask. Akira took a step back and smiled the most he had in a long, long, time. 

“Loki! Eiha!” A wave of red overtook Akira for a quarter of a second before he took a step back and just brushed it off. “Oh goodie! You finally woke up! See you eventually, Goro.” Akira waved at Goro before sprinting off and up some stairs. Goro was in hot pursuit so Akira hid.

“Oh, Crow… how I missed you…” Akira sat, reminiscing of better times.

4/11

Akira sighed and gently placed down the file he was flipping through. He was tasked with looking over the Mental Shutdown cases sweeping through Shibuya the past few weeks, how ironic. He was looking through the sales records of the  stations the train stopped at before the accident to make a public estimate of passengers at the time of the incident. Though he already knew the exact numbers, 719 passengers in the train. Though miraculously, only 120 were injured and 4 died. Although 3 more would die from injuries.

He checked his watch for the time. ‘No harm in going home now.’ He thought. He finished up writing his report and emailed it to the head of the PR Department. As he walked out of the office he ran into none other than Sae Niijima. “Kurusu-Kun, would you like to go out for food? I want to hear your findings on the mental shutdown cases.” She asked.

“I’d love to! How about Sushi?” He said with a grin. He was not very hungry, though this would be a prime opportunity to bait Sae into talking about her home life.

“Only conveyor belt.” She quipped back.

“Of course.” 

He had a small meal and the two conversed for several hours. He gave his goodbyes to the older Niijima. He had some personal work to sort out. He put on a surgical mask and made his way to the train station. 

Once he arrived at his destination, he went around a secluded corner and entered Mementos. He began his slow descent of the labyrinth of souls in search of someone's shadow. “Akira, you must understand, we must change our ways. We are on the same path as Goro was many times before.” A voice on the inside pleaded with the boy but he just scoffed and sneered.

“Arsené, my dear friend. Would you kindly shut the fuck up!” Akira roared at the demon. In a usual situation he would have kept his composure and just ignored the Persona but he was alone. He was in mementos. Where he was alone with no one but himself, the shadows, and his Personas.

“I’ve planned everything! I have spent years planning this all. I have already predicted EVERYTHING that could happen to me. If you keep deciding to speak up against me, then I’ll just let the twins deal with you.” Akira continued shouting at Arsené. “You’re lucky you are so ’ImPoRtAnt’ otherwise I’d have released you cycles ago.” And Arsené had no retort to what Akira was saying. They both knew he would not hesitate to do so.

He continued to search Mementos until he reached the floor he required. He ransacked it for anything of value before going for the target. When he came across the swirling black and red portal, he jumped in and saw the target facing away from him chuckling to themselves. 

“Hey, fucker.” He shouted at the person from 8 or so yards away. “Whaddya want! Yer lookin for a fight?” They turned around and spat at Akira. It didn’t go further than a couple feet and they wiped their face of spittle.

“In fact, yes. Yes, I am.” Akira rushed the person and stabbed them in the gut.

“Ow! You sonuvabitch!  You’re asking for it now!” The person transformed into some random weakling of a demon. Akira just shook his head and shot a whole magazine of ammunition at it. Defeating it almost instantly.

“You’ve.. you really got me this time..” they choked out, coughing up blood. “So tell me.. what is it you want?” They scowled at Akira.

“Simple. Die.” Akira put a bullet through the cognition's head and sat down on some tracks. He grabbed a lighter and a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket. Smoking helped him keep grounded. Though it made him feel like Sojiro. He took a deep drag and started to cry.

It just kept getting just a little easier to kill.

Chapter Text

4/12

Goro popped a few pills into his mouth. A mixture of several Painkillers and Antibiotics given to him by Takemi several days prior. He limped down the stairs of LeBlanc. He’d been living in that room since he was 15 and Sojiro had adopted him.  

7/18, 20XX

Sojiro stood outside the adoption center and gave it a long stare. Almost a year before, Wakaba was diagnosed with Secondary Infertility and was no longer able to have a child. The two have been in conversation about having a child for months before the diagnosis. 

Wakaba walked over and rubbed him on the back. “Are you alright?” She asked him. Always caring for others before herself. “I should really be the one asking you that.” She smiled and wiped a tear. “Maybe…” she paused for a long second. “I think we’ve been standing here too long. Shall we go in?” He nodded and they went in together, hand in hand.

The pushed open the heavy doors of the Adoption center and the cold bite of the air conditioning was a stark contrast to the heat of the summer sun. “Hello, how can we help you today.” The front desk worker asked the couple. “We are looking to adopt.” Wakaba answered before Sojiro had the chance and he just nodded. “Do you have all the proper papers in order?” The worker asked.

“All here.” Wakaba had two folders in a bag dangling from her arm and she reached into it. “I have my ID right here as well.” She passed it, as well as the folders to the woman at the counter. Sojiro fumbled around at his pockets before finding his wallet which he held his ID and passed it to the woman.

“Perfect. We need to verify these papers first though. This may take up to an hour. Please take a seat.” The woman bowed and went behind the counter to an unmarked staff area. 

About 45 minutes passed as the two embraced and conversed about their futures. A different person came around. A red haired woman holding a clipboard. “Hello! My name is Rumi and I will be working as the Social worker for the adoption process.” She bowed and motioned for them to follow her. 

“We have a couple children which you qualify for adoption. Would you like to meet one?” She politely asked. “Of course, lead the way.” Sojiro smiled and followed her down a long hallway to a room. “This is Akechi, Goro. He’s 15 and has been in the system since age 4.” She opened the door for the two and they gladly went in.

The room was very bland. It was a dull grey with a wooden floor. In the middle of the room was a square metal table where a young, brown haired boy sat quietly upright. He had dark circles under his maroon eyes and a small outbreak of acne on his left cheek. He seemed annoyed to be there but kept up the pleasantries to try and appeal to the two. While working with the government, Sojiro had learned a thing or two about human behavior. And the kid sitting in front of him seemed angry.

“Akechi-Kun, this is Sakura-San and Isshiki-San.” Rumi sat at the head of the table. 

“Pleased to meet you. Thank you for giving me a chance.” He stood up and bowed before promptly sitting back down. He passed forward a Manila folder to Sojiro and Wakaba. “Here is my portfolio, please consider me for adoption.” He has said to the two.

“This isn’t a job interview, kid. No need for resumes. We just want to talk to ya.” Sojiro passed back the folder. “How’s life here?” He decided to break the ice with. “It is adequate.” He spoke quickly and precisely. Not giving any more information about the establishment. 

“Do you have any hobbies?” Wakaba asked. Again, trying to make a dent in the ice. “No.” He responded, as quickly as the last time. Rumi took some notes on her clipboard at his reaction. “How about any TV shows? Do you watch any?” She kept trying to push through the impenetrable wall between the three. He looked at Rumi who looked back and nodded. “If you don’t mind, I wish to have a word with him in private.” He nodded and the couple stood up. “Alright, take as much time as you need.” Wakaba bowed and the two stepped out of the room.

Rumi moved her chair to sit down next to Goro and she began to talk to him. “You’re going to need to warm up a little. I think you are scaring them off. Just respond to their questions honestly, for me.” She said to him with a warm smile and she placed her hand on his shoulder. “Okay… for you.” And he smiled back. She stood up to open the door again.

“You may come in again!” She said to the two who took a step away from the door to talk to each other. “Ah! Okay.” They reentered the room and sat down again. 

“Featherman.” Goro said out of the blue to seemingly nothing, To a confused look from Wakaba and Sojiro. “Hm?” Sojiro lifted an eyebrow and Goro just slouched a little. “Isshiki-San asked me about my favorite television show. It is Neo Featherman Rangers.” His ears which barely peeked from under his hair turned a tinge of pink in embarrassment.

“Our daughter loves that show! Who’s your favorite character?” Wakaba smiled greatly at him with the little progress they had made. “Red Hawk. I think his corruption storyline and redemption are really intriguing.” He had lifted his head a little more to talk clearly. “Oh! My daughter is a big Grey Condor fan. She has figurines of him everywhere in her room.” He looked her in the eyes and she smiled, just for him to just hide his face again. Sojiro, feeling as if he hadn’t talked enough, asked him a question. 

“Do you have a favorite food?” 

“Blueberry Pancakes with Cranberry sauce. It reminds me of my Mother. She had made it for me on my birthdays.” He bit his lip to fight back the feeling of oncoming tears. “Good choice, not to toot my own horn, but I make a mean curry.” He smirked and looked over at Wakaba with a knowing glare. She chuckled and responded “He also makes the best coffee around!” 

“I quite enjoy coffee… the creation process is very interesting to me. He sat up even further in his seat. “Well, I run a Cafe and would be happy to teach you.” Sojiro responded with a grin.

“How interesting… I’d be grateful if you were to ever give me that opportunity. If you do not mind me asking, what do you do as a job, Isshiki-San?” Rumi lifted her eyebrows in surprise at Goro asking a question himself. 

“I do not mind at all! I work in a branch of psychology called Cognitive Psience. With a P. But please, drop the pleasantries. Just call me Wakaba.” She nodded. 

“Pardon my intrusion, but you mentioned Cognitive Psience? Funny enough, my fiancée works in the same study! His name is Takuto. Takuto Maruki.” The woman at the side of the table spoke up for the first time in a while. “What a funny coincidence! I don’t know him but what a small world!” Wakaba laughed. “I believe our time is just about up. You guys spent a while talking. It seemed like you three were having a good time.” Rumi checked her phone quickly before putting it away again. “Before we leave, may we talk outside for a moment? With you?” Wakaba asked and Sojiro nodded.  “Of course!”

They said their goodbyes and they left the room for a moment. Letting the door completely shut before talking. “Where do we get the adoption papers?” She bluntly asked. Making even Sojiro jump a little. “W-Well, we need to talk to Goro-Kun first, and you need to fill out paperwork.” Rumi was shocked at the sudden and bold notion of the adoption process.

Sojiro had a strong feeling that Wakaba wanted to adopt this kid from the first minute. He was a block of ice, waiting to be melted and she was a blowtorch. He wasn't opposed either, it’d be nice to have a hand over at LeBlanc… alongside him having another kid.

“When you are ready, make your way to the front desk and ask for the papers. They should give them to you. In the meantime, I have to speak to 

Goro-Kun.” She bowed as the two went their way back down the long hallway, retracing their steps. She mailed and opened the door to the room they were just in.

“Goro-Kun, how did you feel about those two?” She asked him. “They were.. nice. Wakaba-San seemed polite. though, I am curious about her career. A-And Sakura-San seems kind.” He responded, still thinking about the conversation they had moments ago.

“Goro-Kun. They want to adopt you. Would you be comfortable with that?” She asked him and he stopped in place, Everything freezing in place. “T-they want t-to ad-dopt me?” He closed his eyes and took deep breaths trying to calm down. Not wanting to freak out over this. “Yes. Is that something you would want?” She asked again.

“A-Absolutely, should I begin packing?” He asked. “Probably a good idea. Say your final goodbyes as well.” She barely finished her sentence before he darted out of the room to his bed. He needed to pack as fast as humanly possible. To finally get out of that place for good. To be free once again.

Wakaba and Sojiro finished signing their papers and shortly after, Goro came out with a pillowcase full of his stuff, which was not much to begin with as well as Rumi.  “We will be doing Bi-Monthly check ins with you all for two years. If it’s deemed unfit for him, he will have to come back. Do you understand?” She politely asked, no hint of malice in her tone. “Of course. I’d expect nothing less.” Wakaba nodded and Rumi passed her a folder of assorted papers and documentation. “This contains his Birth Certificate, our contact information, and some other papers you will need. Now, Goro-Kun, do you need to do anything else before leaving?” 

She patted him on the shoulder with a large smile and some tears down her cheek. “Thank you… Rumi.” He leaned forward and gave her a huge hug. She gasped and let her tears flow. “I’m so ‘sniffle’ proud of you Goro.” She cried and hugged back. They stayed like that for a few more seconds before breaking the hug. “I know I’ll see you in two months but it’s different!” She continued crying. A desk worker stood up from behind the counter and passed her a tissue box.

“Can I get a picture of you all? I’m sorry for intruding into familiar matters but ‘sniffle’ Goro-Kun means a lot to me. He was my first assigned child. I can take one for you too.” She wiped her tears and blew her nose. “Of course, I understand every second.” Wakaba also had some tears on her face. In fact, everyone in the room had some sort of tears in the corner of their eyes.

“Alright, group up and smile!” She made a squishing motion with both her hand to tell them to get closer together. Wakaba passed Rumi her cellphone and she snapped a photo of the new family before getting out her own phone and taking a picture.

They had that picture printed out by the next day and hung on the wall.