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Chapter Text

Another draining day was afoot as soon as Akechi Goro opened his eyes (though, when wasn't it? When was drained and done not what he felt all day?). Even on good days, the best he could manage was a barely genuine smile. Though even that faded quickly at the noise of his phone buzzing. Another case. Another command from Shido. Day in and day out.

It was no different that day either. Balancing everything on a plate that was already too full, scale threatening to tip every moment he was in the public eye. It was made no better when his phone buzzed. Another annoyance. Another issue Shido wanted him to solve that interrupted the small lunch break he took. Never once could he truly enjoy those.

A barking order was shouted through the phone, Akechi wincing slightly as his ear was assaulted by the grating voice on the other end telling him to "move it!". To "haul his useless ass down to the office!". There were never polite words exchanged. Only passive aggression or outright harsh orders that Akechi submissively obeyed.

Uneaten food was tossed in the trash soon after. It's not like he ever got a true chance to sit down and thoroughly enjoy a meal without some interruption or another.

Akechi did as his boss asked, hauling his "useless" ass down to see his boss. He could only imagine what idiotic thing he was going to be forced to take care of now. Why couldn't Shido sort all of this out himself? Why couldn't he just enjoy one day without being nagged? His inner thoughts, aching desires he'd never act on for his plot of revenge, were regretfully interrupted by Shido’s booming commands..

"It seems there's a politician who wants to outdo me in ranks, and he's too close to let it continue. I don't care how risky it is. Fix it, Akechi."

"May I ask, who am I eliminating? I need a name for this." he responded, looking away as he spoke. Akechi never liked looking into Shido's eyes. Not because he was scared, but because he was disgusted. Disgusted to even look at the man directly. How could he not be thoroughly revolted to look upon the man who'd so ruined his life from birth? His own father, who had forsaken him before he even left his mother's womb.

"Koda. Koda Ena. And make it quick. I need it done before election month. Can't have it cutting too close now, can I? Now move, I have a meeting to attend that doesn't involve you."

Akechi gave a short, curt nod, digging his hand into his briefcase almost painfully to control his rage before he left. Election month was, if he wasn't mistaken, 5 months away. Such a long time he had. At least that was good.

Later that night, after balancing dreadful school work (he was still a student, after all), and paperwork from cases, he finally managed to check the Nav. A politician should be easy to guess the Palace for. That was, if the politician in question had one.

No matter how many times Akechi entered the name, a match couldn’t be found. Frustration boiled inside of him, a growing flame in his gut that only got bigger the more he was denied the satisfaction of a swift option. How could he take care of this Koda person if he didn't have even a Palace in the Metaverse, or a place in Mementos?

Eventually anger got the best of him and Akechi tossed his phone away in frustration. He could practically feel the screen gaining a crack as he continued to rage. Why couldn't things be easy for him? Why couldn't whatever being controlling his life- controlling the Metaverse, help him?

Pacing and knocking various things over, at that point, wasn't helping. No matter what he did it wasn't calming the anger in him. He couldn't outright kill a man- not without the Metaverse. A mental shutdown couldn't possibly be linked to him of all people. It was something he so privately took care of, something that left no evidence. In person murder? That was another beast. A simple mistake and it was all over for him. For his life. His career. His revenge.

Telling Shido the next day about the...issue, was less than easy. How could he possibly not piss him off? The simple answer? He couldn't.

"What do you mean you can't?" He yelled, banging his fist harshly on his desk. The sound reverberated in the room, making Akechi almost flinch. Almost. He had to keep his composure- he had to. For his own pride, at the least.

"It's impossible- Koda doesn't have a Palace. I can't do this without the Metaverse. I can't take care of him." Akechi tried to explain, careful to conceal how he wanted to yell. To scream his explanation. Condescending words playing like a broken record in his mind.

"His child, then! Take out that child and he'll be forced to resign from the election! No father can take the death of their child. He'll have to call out of the race. Now, do it this time. If you end up in my office with another complaint, it'll be you on my list next, brat."

Akechi's mouth opened, as if he could even possibly speak up. Like even if he did speak up he wouldn't be faced with hellish yelling and screaming and flailing punches. So, he simply sighed instead, and nodded. This order had to be carried out, even if it wasn't possible with the Metaverse. Blood was a possibility to actually stain his hands outside of the Palaces and Mementos.

Akechi didn't even know his new target's name. Though, it wouldn't be hard, he supposed. A simple search online, of which he did as soon as he stepped out of Shido's office. A name, thankfully. Finally. Koda (Y/N), child of Koda Ena, and the same age as him. Such a young person he'd have to take out. It was the first, actually. The first young person, someone who had their whole life ahead of them. It's not like it mattered, though. Their future was ripped from them as soon as Shido decided they were a target.

He prayed to every God possible. If Akechi weren't so prideful, he might even have gone to his knees to pray to anyone looking down at him. To whoever controlled his forsaken life and the other world to allow him an easy target, for once. For them to have a Palace- a place in Mementos. His hands almost shook as he typed their name in, letter by letter. For whatever reason, it seemed the Heavens above had a sick, and twisted humor. How dare an older man, a stupidly hopeful politician with only 20 years left at best, die. No, no, that would be too forgiving. Instead, in his place, a teenager would be the subject. Their fate sealed and locked in as soon as the Nav said their name was a hit.

All he needed was a place, and a distortion. Perhaps something to do with the power being a politician's child gave them? He tried everything. Castle, Kingdom, God, nothing. Nothing was a hit for their distortion. Though, he did strike luck with one part of their Palace discovery. Where. Their distortion site being 'All of the World.' Whatever they saw the world as was likely disgusting. Born into that privilege, he supposed. Born into greatness, unlike him. They had power, money, whatever they wanted. Akechi could only wish to have that.

Akechi could only groan- running his gloved hand through his long, wavy hair. What else could it be? He needed an answer. Dallying about was not (scratch that, never) an option! He needed the distortion- that stupid distortion!

"It's as if my torture entertains him. I feel as if I'm being ridiculed on stage, like a terrible comedian." He groaned to himself. A hit- a God-given hit! The robotic voice confirming their palace's existence. They saw the world as a stage- perhaps they saw themselves as the star. The star of the world everyone wanted to be and adored. How disgusting.

Now all he had to do was investigate.

Chapter Text

A single day would pass before the initial entrance of the palace. Akechi had to spend a lot to prepare. Most times he spent a solid one day at most, grinding and slashing through the Palace. Because it was just him- no back up or help, he had to buy good gear. Healing items, protectors, weapons. Nobody was coming in to help him, after all.

It was hard to believe one could be relieved when entering a Palace. Though, it could be said with Akechi. Palaces, Mementos, any of the sort brought him some kind of odd relief. Especially when he knew it would only be him entering the area. The black mask dawning his face, a crazed, yet precise, look on his face.

When the world swirled and his eyes adjusted to the new scenery would he begin analyzing. Akechi may be a bloodthirsty person in the Metaverse but he never lost his wit there, at least with analysis. He knew where to go to avoid more Shadows, where to hide and crawl to end up to his goal quicker. It helped out in the long run, and allowed him to keep what healing items he did bring safely stored until he truly needed them.

The area was big, lights flashing on a sign that advertised an up and coming show. This Eda (Y/N)'s name plastered in big letters on the lit up sign 100 or so feet from the main area. It almost looked like a theater you'd see for a play in New York for Broadway. Yellow rope helped herd "people" into a crowded line. The large doors are open for people to flood in.

Quickly, Akechi notices that any backway entrance is not available. There is no way to sneak in quietly and avoid the two cognitive versions of people standing at a ticket booth. People were handing in their tickets, one by one, and coming inside. It seemed he would have to do the same, if he didn't want to cause a scene and have shadows surrounding him.

Akechi would skip the long line, of course. Threading in between the line of people with an annoyed huff. This was taking much longer than he liked. Having to go through this long process to even enter the Palace was a waste of valuable (and extremely short) time. It also did nothing for the lingering bloodlust coursing through his veins, which usually was subdued by eliminating the shadows. Like calming a raging fire with a small bucket of water, almost. It never did much for him, no matter how many he slays.

Finally the front of the line was in sight. The ticketbooth only a few feet away. Some cognitive version of a woman in front of him. Oh, how he wanted to shove her out of the way. It's not like it mattered. The woman wasn't real. Manners didn't really apply to a being that wasn't a true person.

"May I see your ticket," the Shadow uttered, looking directly at Akechi's masked face. His voice was a light one, calm and soothing as he spoke. A mimic of a real human's politeness, is all.

"Do I have to have a ticket to get into this place," Akechi said with annoyance lacing his words. Almost having his teeth gritted together as he spoke. Frustration was building up. He just wanted in. He didn't want to go through this stupid, worthless affair.

"Yes, sir. If you have a backstage pass you may see our main performer personally. Though, those are only given in..special cases."

A backstage pass? That would help forgo all of that exploring and wandering about aimlessly until the ruler was found alone. It seemed like a good course of action, at least. Plus, it would probably be one of his only ways of getting a one on one fight. A clear cut way to the route with little interruption. Best to ask though, if that is the only way to meet the Palace ruler. Wasting time gathering the backstage pass might be less of a gift and more of an annoyance in that case.

"Is that the only way to meet this performer one on one? A person would think they would greet their fans outside, wouldn't they," he asked with an almost condescending tone. The cognitive person paid no mind, though.

"Oh, no. This is the only way to meet them unless you stay for the show. Though, I think you will have a hard time beating the crowd."

A crowd? It seems that would be a.. difficulty. Most fans do protect their favorite performers. It would be likely he'd be ganged up on if he attempted to strike a fight during their show. It was only him in this Palace. It would be best to stick to one on one fights to save him from being killed. Akechi was no healer, after all. Someone like him could only rely on the items they brought with them for salvation from death.

"How do I get this pass, then? I need it quickly."

For someone who so brutally took out Shadows, he spoke politely to the Cognitive being in front of him. At least, as politely as he could. By no means did Akechi actually trust it. No, he was doing it for his own gain. He knew that causing a scene would eventually lead something to get in his way and would ruin his chance at gaining intel. A fight would completely crush his chance at gaining this ticket he needed to get.

"Oh, our leading performer gives them out personally. You can't simply buy them. Though, I see no problem if you are a friend of our dear performer, or a frequent of their shows."

A frequent, or a friend? Was all he had to do was watch these...plays? He assumed they were plays, at least. With the setting he assumed that a play or some kind of theatrical performance would be what occurred.

A sigh left his lips, heavy and drawn out. A waste of time, really. It was likely his only way to get close to the Ruler without threat of an ambush by onlookers of the performance. No doubt there would be shadows acting as guards, like a real theater. So, this backstage pass that allowed him special access, practically alone with the Ruler was his easiest bet. Still, the way to get this pass was difficult. Perhaps he could steal it.

"Have they given out any recently," Akechi asked, his foot tapping impatiently on the ground. Letting out a thump, thump, thump that had a slight rhythm to it.

"No, no. I believe not even one has been given out since we've opened the show. They are rather specific on who to give these tickets to..and not one has met their requirements."

So, he couldn't even steal one? He had to sit, wasting time coming back to this Palace, again and again, for a single ticket. He has things to do, paperwork, schoolwork, media appearances, other targets Shido needed and for himself. There were things he needed to do outside of dealing with this single Palace. Dwelling on this did him no good, though. He just had to get through it to end this silly charade.

What was he to do when he couldn't even get close to the Palace Ruler without this special ticket? He needed a moment to think. Not even bothering to excuse himself, Akechi left the line with a wave of his hand to show he was done. He stood at the sidelines pondering- how exactly could he get that ticket? He couldn't steal it, as the Ruler gave them out personally. A Shadow was only the inner thoughts of a person, so to get them to see him as a friend was impossible.. unless. Unless he managed to change the person on the outside's cognition. That would take time, though. Time he desperately clung onto, for everything in his life gobbled it up. Still, he didn't want to go back to Shido saying he, yet again, had failed. He didn't want to admit to himself of his failure yet anyway, for his own pride. The plan had to go on.

Colors swirled and the world slightly melds for a moment before the Metaverse fades away, and the real world appears. He didn't need to go far, really, for this Palace. Since the entire world was their Palace, he could simply stay in his house and allow it all to fade. When he was finally back, he let out a sigh. Cupping his head in his palm for a moment before collecting himself. This Palace would be the most difficult by far. People skills was something he taught himself- something he trained himself to deal with as he acted for his revenge. Still, Palaces allowed him away from that. Palaces were a place his rage could come out, where people didn't matter. Nobody was real there- he could do as he pleased. Kill all Shadows he wished, unleash his inner anger and be that blood thirsty, angry person he knew he was. It was the one thing he could use as an outlet for all of those ugly emotions he felt that others would never understand. Now, because of this person- this cretin who couldn't make his world and life simple, he couldn't do that. No, no, he had to put on that face that only the public eye could see. That handsome and charismatic detective that every person swooned over. It was tiresome to put that face on, but at least it would make this go smoother. After he gained their trust, he could kill their Shadow - leave them for the dust and wait for the mental shutdown that would kill them soon after.

Sleep had never felt more comforting that night. Most nights he tossed and turned- having no real proper rest. Though, after the conclusion he came to, the struggle he knew he would put himself through, made him tired. It made him so, so exhausted. His eyes hung heavy when his head hit the pillow, a yawn barely even forming before the world around him turned black and sleep took over. Dreams were something he barely had. Sleep was a black memory, hazy and just...nothingness. The only dreams he had were those of unsavory thoughts, memories. Things he pushes back in his mind the morning of after he awoke in a cold sweat. It was no different now. Thankfully, though, it was only darkness. He was grateful for those nights when his mind supplied him with nothingness.

Besides, he needed the rest. For what he had ahead of him needed his upmost attention.

Chapter Text

Hey guys! Its been like forever, and sadly, I don't come with good news! I lost my spark for this fic a long time ago. Not only that, but frankly I find my writing in this mildly cringe. Maybe, one day, I will remake it. For now, this thing is dead! I hope ya'll enjoyed what I did put out, though. Everyone who left kudos is very appreciated, and every comment is loved <3