Chapter Text
Growing up with Akechi as a roommate was an experience. A mostly pleasant experience, if you ask Akira.
It was good always having someone by your side whenever things went shit, no matter the situation, his dead-best-friend was always there to make a snarky comment or try to cheer him up by roasting whoever made him sad.
When Akira's mom got sick and he had to move in with his aunt, Akechi was there for him. When he got in trouble in school because of his bad grades, Akechi was there for him (giving him the answers, but it's not like anyone will ever know.) When he said his first bad word, you bet your ass it was because of Akechi's terrible influence.
Of course, when he got accused and put on probation, Akechi was there.
And now, when he goes to his new school where everyone stares at him as if they're looking at a murderer, whispering and scooting away when he passes through them, Akechi is there.
"This is bullshit." He grunted. "You don't deserve any of this and you know it!" Akechi floated around the attic while Akira dusted the windows.
"Well, there's nothing I can do about it, it's not like I can just say I didn't do it and everyone will believe me." He sighed. "Let people talk, I don't care about this, I'm just wor-"
"Worried about the volleyball team, yeah I know! Fucking put yourself as a priority for once, will you!? These people did nothing but treat you like shit and you're still worried about them?" If Akechi had a body, he'd be stomping his feet angrily on the ground, but since he didn't have one, he just stomped the air. It was kinda funny to watch.
"I know what you mean but, still, if Kamoshida is abusing those students like that, I... There must be something we can do, right?"
"We who, Akira? You and your 30 IQ friend? Wake up, most shitty people have a lot of privileges for some reason, the best you can do is not get involved with him so you won't end up looking like a pancake when he decides to beat you up too."
"When I said we I meant me, my '30 IQ friend' and you! I know you, ok? You hate to see this happening too, aren't you all about justice? You can't just pretend that you don't care, I know you do! Why are you so worked up about me getting involved?"
"Because I can't help you if you get involved!!" He snapped. "I'm useless like this, ok?! I know that. But I'd rather be useless with you than go back to being useless all alone. I can't help you and it'd be hell for me to just watch you get hurt."
"Akechi..."
"Shut up! Just- yeah do whatever you want, I don't care, it's your life anyway." He crossed his arms angrily.
"You don't need to pretend not to care... I'm scared too..." Akira sat on his sad excuse of a bed. "But I just can't stand this."
"You sentimental fool..." Akechi sighed and sat by his side. It's weird how he can interact with certain things. "Just be careful, I can't save your ass if you get in trouble."
Akira chuckled, messing with some of his curls. "Yeah. Thanks, tho. I don't know what I'd do without you here. You're the best Supernatural-companion ever."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, Kurusu. Go to sleep, it won't help your reputation if you show up to class looking like a zombie."
"But there's still cleaning to do!" He gestured to the room.
"I don't think this place has the capacity of looking clean. It's an attic, get used to it."
Akira answered with an annoyed 'ugh' before changing into his pyjamas and going to bed.
Today had to be one of the most- actually it was the most traumatic day of his life, worse than the day he was atrested. No matter how much he tried to distract himself, the images came back, flooding his mind with 'what ifs' and the worst possible outcomes.
As he laid in bed, staring at the ceiling with the guilt only accumulating on his chest, he thought of what happened to Shiho to make her jump. What happened for her to think death was the best option at that moment. He had a few ideas but just imagining Kamoshida doing anything to Shiho made him sick.
"Akechi..." He said in a whisper, his voice not showing how loud his mind was at the moment. "How did it feel like... When it happened to you?"
"Huh?" The ghost looked up from the sofa he was laying on. "What are you talking about?"
"How does it feel to die?" Akira looked at him. "Do you remember?"
"Oh... That..." Akechi sighed before explaining. "It's all blurry to me, but... It hurt a lot. I think it's because I didn't want to die." He chuckled humorlessly. "I don't remember what happened but I remember what I felt... Kinda."
"Do you remember what you were thinking?"
"Maybe..." He sighed. "I remember this man. Whenever I try to guess who he is I get so... Angry. I was scared and... trying to run, next thing I know, I woke up without any of my memories and no one could see me. It wasn't hard for me to guess what happened."
"Do you think that's what is like for everyone?"
"Oh, no, I'm sure it isn't. If there's one thing I know is that I'm here to look for the son of a bitch who killed me. I don't know who he is but ever since I woke up I just had this instinct that I need to make him pay. If I wasn't moved by this stupid revenge plan of mine, I'm sure I'd be in hell already or something."
Akira sat up, tilting his head in confusion. "Why hell? I don't think you'd be going there..."
"Honestly, Kurusu, I don't believe in heaven or hell, especially considering the situation I'm in." He sighed. "That's all a bunch of stuff the church invented to scare you and make you follow their rules for the sake of not being punished for eternity, I'd call it abusive relationships but religion is a prettier name, don't you agree? What I do believe in, tho, is that I wasn't a good person, or that I just wasn't good enough of a person, at least. I'm sure that if there's a god out there they must hate me."
Akechi sighed, hiding his face in his hands as if the light of the room annoyed him.
"I think you're wrong... You just see yourself as something worse than you actually are." He started pulling his hair. "Maybe there's a reason why you're always crying, have you thought about that?"
"Hum..."
Akira sighed. "Yeah, I know you don't want to talk about it, I'm sorry for asking. It's just, all that happened with Shiho really scared me. What... Did he do that drove her to choose death? I can't... How could someone do such a thing to another person?" He pulled it a little harder.
"Akira."
He felt an electrifying warmth over his hands for a second. When he looked up, Akechi's palm went through his, he was probably trying to stop him from pulling his hair.
God, he wished he could touch him, hug him at least once. Akira knew that if he ever got that chance, he'd never let go.
"Hey, you know what? You've already cleaned this room five times, it's impossible to look shinier than this. Can we go to the arcade? You said that you'd teach me about some games and never did, you liar."
"Huh? No, I was just busy!"
"Busy with what? School? I gave you the answers to all the questions, don't lie to me! You're just afraid I'll be better at video games than you."
"How would you be better at them if you can't even play?"
"We'll find out. Go on, change into something more presentable and I'll destroy you in every game you show me."
"Okay, I'd like to see you try." He got up, looking for a change of clothes in his box.
"Prepare to be owned, Akira Kurusu." Akechi smirked.
"As if."
Leblanc's attic proved to be pretty comfortable once you get used to it. During the nights you could hear some of the noises outside, the room was never too dark because of the window, and it smelled great since Akira cleaned it.
After Akira and Akechi had a blast on the Shibuya arcade -even winning some prizes to decorate their room!- Akira was exhausted, and the fact that he'd have school again tomorrow didn't help, it only made him more tired in advance.
The arcade did distract him from his bad thoughts. He'd be sure to thank Akechi in the morning for being so considerate (even if he thought Akira wouldn't notice).
"There's something I didn't tell you." Akechi said, putting an end to the peaceful silence in the room.
"Wha..?" Akira blinked sleepily, annoyed to be awakened just as he was starting to dream. What time is it?
"When we talked about how I died... I remembered something."
"Hum... Sm'thing good?" He yawned, trying his best not to fall asleep in the middle of the conversation (and almost failing miserably).
"I guess?" He sighed. "I remembered my name. My given name, that is. Someone was calling me, I just don't remember who it was..."
"Hm?" Akira made himself more comfortable under the blankets, fighting the urge to just stop answering and going back to sleep. "So I won't need to call you 'kechi forever? That's great."
Akechi snorted. "You're an idiot. What if you don't like my name, huh? What if my name is weird? Will you call me that even if it doesn't sound good?"
"Mehh, all of you is perfect, c'mon tell me your name so I can go to sleep and tease you 'bout it t'morrow."
"Oh, I forgot about that! Yeah, go to sleep."
"But now I wanna know your name..." He tried to whine. Honestly, he was surprised he was still responding.
"Yeah, I'll keep it a secret for now, to build up expectation." Akechi teased. "You're basically asleep already, I won't bother you anymore. I'm going for a walk."
"Hm, 'kay" Akira yawned again, hiding under his blankets. "Don't stay out too late..."
"Pff- What are you, my mom?"
...
"Goodnight, Akira"
"That's bullshit man!" Ryuji kicked one of the tables. "Expelled!? We didn't do shit! That bastard thinks he's some sort of king 'round here! It's disgusting!"
Akira looked around the rooftop, still uncomfortable whenever he remembered what happened to Shiho. At least there was a cute cat here to keep him company.
"What are we going to do now?! We can't- we can't get expelled, dude!"
"I... Ryuji, I don't know... There must be something that we can use against him, but... We're just students..." Akira sighed, already feeling defeated.
Expelled? Again? Why did these things always happen to him? It's not his fault! It's never his fault but no one believes him, and now they won't believe Ryuji or Mishima too. He felt so lost.
"Agh! I'm so pissed off! That bastard! We still have some days left, let's try to dig some dirt on him, what do you say?"
Akira looked at him. How was he so determined in a situation like this?
"We can try, but... Do you even know where to start?"
"I-... I know someone that may help us, 'kay? Imma try getting more information for us and we can decide our next step together."
"It's just... It seems impossible to get out of this."
"I know... We'll make it work, dude, don't worry." Ryuji tried to reassure him with a smile. "I have your number, so, I'll text you if I have any ideas."
Akira nodded. "Thanks."
"It'll be fine. Anyway, gotta go help my mom, you'll text me if you need anythin', right?"
"Yeah, sure." He shrugged. "Good luck with your mom..."
"Thanks, man! See ya later." After Ryuji left the rooftop, Akira kept on petting the cute black cat that laid lazily on his lap.
Akechi didn't come back since yesterday so the kitten was helping the boy with the loneliness while his ghost-friend was god-knows-where.
"I should go home too... Boss will be pissed if I get back too late." He carefully put the cat down, only to realize it was following him when he started walking out of the rooftop.
"What?" He looked at the cat.
The cat stared back.
"The teachers will be pretty mad if they see you here, you should go home." As soon as he said that, the kitten rubbed itself against his leg and threw its cute body on the ground, begging for his attention.
"I can't, sorry. My caretaker will be worried... You should go home now, kitten." He went to the door.
Akira regretted his decision to look back one last time as soon as he met the cat's begging eyes.
God fucking damnit.
Sojiro was skeptical about Morgana when he jumped out of Akira's bag but who would've thought the man had a soft spot when it came to cats?
That discovery certainly helped with Akira's anxiety. Boss didn't like him to begin with, bringing a cat to his cafe without permission was a terrible idea on paper, but it turned out owning a cat made Sojiro warm up to him a little. You could say his task failed successfully.
"Why is there a cat on my couch?" Said the owner of the voice Akira's been wanting to hear all day, finally he was back. Akira unconsciously smiled.
"Akechi, where have you been? I thought you were gone again!" He looked at the ghost. It didn't matter how worried or angry he was, as soon as he saw the red-ish eyes it all vanished, the negative feelings being immediately replaced by warmth.
"Well, my dear, sweet, sweet Kurusu," he smirked, that perfect, beautiful shit-eating smirk. He's such an asshole... "For your information, I was out all day to help you. I followed that disgusting pervert around to see if I could dig up some dirt." Akechi sighed, floating by Akira.
"You did? Was it worth it? You could have warned me, I was" Lonely. "Worried about you."
"You could say I've found something, yes. First of all, he's trying really hard to hide all his crimes and keep his image of a good teacher, we can use that to our advantage. I may have thought of a way to take the crown from that king."
"What are you scheming, Akechi?"
"I'll explain it to you... After you explain the cat. I go out for a day and when I come back you replace me with a cat!?"
"Honey, it's not what it looks like!" Akira exclaimed. Honestly, he couldn't even imagine how his life would be if Akechi wasn't there with him. Probably boring.
This is insane.
"Dude, this is insane!?" Ryuji helpfully pointed out.
"But... He's right. It might be our only chance." Ann replied. "I saw him with it occasionally, Kamoshida never lets go of that thing, literally brings it with him everywhere."
So, with Akechi and Ann's intel, the three students (and a cat providing moral support) were going to do something, as stated before, insane.
"How did you even find out about that?" Ryuji asked, looking at Akira, Ann did the same.
He felt a bit under the spotlight. He just couldn't say well, funny story, I'm friends with a ghost, he spent the day following Kamoshida and made a plan to take him down! Cool right?
"I have a friend that's good at detectiving, he helped me out a little." That was the best he could come up with and it technically wasn't a lie.
"Good job, dude! Ok, we got everything we need, right?" Ryuji smiled, looking at the table with some tools and clothes they got for the occasion. "All we need now are masks or something just to be sure... And then we steal his treasure tomorrow?"
"Treasure? That's so lame, Ryuji." Ann laughed.
"Aw, c'mon! We're doing a whole operation here, let's use some cool lingo."
"I like it." Akira grinned. "We are going to take Kamoshida's treasure and change his heart."
"You guys are so lame..." Ann said.
"Tell me about it, pigtail girl." Another voice made itself present. Akechi was finally back from... Somewhere.
Akira held in the urge to smile and greet him.
"We can have codenames too! That's a super not-lame thing." Ryuji kept on trying to make them look 'cool', apparently not caring that they were about to commit a crime.
"Oh god, can this guy get any worse?" Akira held his laughter while Akechi bullied Ryuji, It had become some kind of hobby for the ghost. Poor Ryuji will never know that he's a victim.
"What if we had like a super cool name for our group too? Like- Like The Pirates?"
"Nevermind, he has a natural talent. Akira, stop being his friend or you'll be stuck in a group called The Pirates. I wouldn't wish that for my worst enemy let alone my best friend."
Akira chuckled. "We can think of that while we prepare for tomorrow, better use the group chat instead of yelling it on the school's roof, right?"
"You got it, leader!" Ann's enthusiasm was great to see, they were all worried about how she was doing because of the Shiho situation. Maybe bringing Kamoshida to justice was something she could look forward to.
"And I think we shouldn't be named Pirates! It's a terrible name." She added.
"Thank you, the voice of reason!" Akechi exclaimed.
"We should be named something pretty, like, The Diamonds." Ann smiled.
"Akira, forget what I said, they're both idiots, get out of here immediately."
"Who did this!?" Kamoshida stormed through the corridors. "Was it you!?" He walked around accusing every student he came across.
"It was you, wasn't it!? You damn kid!" The teacher pointed at Akira with a crazy look on his -very red- face. It was terrifying, but he didn't let it show.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
Ryuji came closer to him, getting ready to help his friend. "We don't know what you're talking 'bout, man, whatever happened doesn't give you the right to go out screamin' at people."
Ann stayed a little behind the boys but you could feel her intense stare.
"You'll get what you deserve. Fucking brats." He stormed off, almost fuming from all the anger.
Akira let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Oh god..."
"That was close." Ryuji sighed, "At least we know it's working. Time for the next step, right, leader?"
"We'll make him pay." Ann passed through them. "Let's go, guys." They followed her to the practice building. There's no going back now. Oh shit he could really use some of Akechi's ironic comments, where was he now?
Akira's always been an anxious kid, so of course, he was two times as anxious as a teenager, but never in his 16 years of life has he been anxious like right now.
Blankly staring at the shiny medal on his desk as if it was holding his soul hostage, his mind going on overdrive while not thinking of anything at the same time, he felt scared. Guilty too, but mostly scared.
"Earth to Akira! Snap out of it." The ghost snapped his fingers in front of Akira, trying to catch his attention. "Ok, spit it out, what's gotten into you?"
"I'm just... Anxious, I think."
"What's new about that, you're always anxious..." He sighed. "It's about the Kamoshida thing, obviously. What's troubling you, Akira? I'm your best friend, you can talk to me..."
The ghost crossed his legs on the air, as if he was sitting on a couch. Akira always wondered if it was fun to float like that, but now was not the time to think about that.
"I'm worried about being caught. What if they find the medal? Or what if someone finds out we committed a crime? I'm being punished for a crime I didn't commit and it sucks, I don't want Ryuji and Ann being punished for something I came up with... What if this was the wrong choice and we're just being reckless?" He pulled his bangs a little too forcefully.
"Akira... It'll be fine. Look at me." He did as told and Akechi's hands passed through his, trying to stop him from pulling his hair. He felt that electrifying warmth for a second again.
"We have a plan, remember? And it'll work out. It already worked out, you don't have to be worried! We'll sell the medal tomorrow, sell your worries with it, ok?" Akechi chuckled at his own pun.
"Yeah... Maybe." Akira stared at the ghost. "I wish I could hug you." The comment seemed to catch Akechi off guard, if his widened eyes weren't enough of a tell, his face seemed to redden a bit. It was hard to see with all the tears on the way.
"Yeah, I wish I could hug you too. But for your sake, not mine of course, it's just because you're too clingy." He averted his gaze. "Like, I don't even like hugs, it's your fault really, because you've been nagging me about hugs since you were a little brat and all..."
It's amazing, really, how he didn't even try to make Akira laugh but still managed to cheer him up. He always knew that all he needed was Akechi by his side and nothing could bring his mood down. Not unless the ghost permitted it.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I'm too clingy for you, I'll try to be better." He said, not serious at all. The truth is, he loved being clingy like this, because Akechi never gave him any less attention no matter how annoying he was being that day (the fact that no one else could see or hear the ghost was an advantage Akira had, of course). "I'll only be friends with Morgana from now on! You can leave! shoo shoo."
Akechi stared in shock and exaggerated a betrayed expression as Akira picked the cat up and petted it while saying "you're such a good kitten!" And "you're my best friend now, dead people are gross."
"So that's how it is!? This is absurd. First the cat takes my couch and now he's taking you from me? You're breaking my dead heart here..."
"I'm sorry, I just talk to cute kittens that I can hug, not ghosts that hate affection. I'll ignore you for the rest of the year now."
It took him exactly 3 minutes and 18 seconds to go back to talking with Akechi about some video game he wanted.