Work Text:
It was a normal day, the phantom thieves having found enough time on their hands to deal with mementos requests while waiting for the right moment to send Sae the calling card.
Emphasis on was a normal day.
"Stay the fuck away from me!" Akechi screams, swinging his lightsaber around and looking at them frantically.
"Holy shit," Ryuji says, which yeah. Holy shit. He's completely shifted from the princely attitude, acting like a cornered wild animal instead.
"We're not going to hurt you!" Haru cries out to him.
"Bullshit!"
"That was a peculiar shadow. I've never seen one who could make someone lose all your memories, even outside of battle," Yusuke says, standing on high alert and making sure to not do any sudden movements.
"Yeah!" Futaba says. "Though it kinda makes sense, that person has a lot of skeletons in his closet and his shadow was all: 'everything is better if you just forget… '. It’s some strong shit though, none of our cures are working!"
"Who are you!?" Akechi screeches. "What is this place!?"
"We're- uh-" Ann looks around frantically, screaming for help with her wide blue eyes. "We're your friends!”
Everyone turns to look at her.
“It’s true! My name is Ann, but you can call me Panther while we’re here! We all have codenames: that’s Skull, Joker, Noir, Queen, Fox, Oracle, and Mona! Your codename is Crow!”
Akechi must be chalking up Ann’s nervousness to the tense situation as he doesn’t seem to care about the bewildered looks the others are giving her. He also seems to buy it from the way he lowers his sword. “Friends… “
“The place we’re in is Mementos, the collective unconsciousness. You could see it as a parallel reality to the real world. We, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, steal selfish desires and help suffering people!” Morgana adds on. Akechi raises his sword again. “Whoa! I’m telling the truth!”
“What the fuck are you, you demonic creature?”
**
It went on like that for a while. Fortunately, Akechi’s hostility did wane eventually, leaving room for curiosity. A lot of curiosity. So much curiosity that Akira thinks most of them got sick of him, having to suffer through his non-stop questions in the Monavan, but Morgana and Makoto seemed more than happy to flaunt their superior knowledge the whole ride to the entrance so no one else needed to bother answering him.
(Akira fell asleep during the car ride, finding the chatter soothing until Makoto stopped the car and Ryuji exclaimed “WE’RE HERE!” at the top of his lungs right by Akira’s ear. It perfectly encapsulates how it feels to do Mementos runs.)
Now they’re in Shibuya train station, stretching their legs and getting ready to go home for the day.
“Yo Akechi,” Futaba says with a yawn. “Think you're normal now?”
Akechi winces before he chuckles lightly. "Yes, I think I’m fine now. I'm sorry for my behavior, I don't know what came over me."
"Are you sure?" Makoto says. "It did affect you pretty badly."
"You could say that again," Ryuji huffs.
"I'm sure, don't worry about me." Akechi hesitates a bit before he backtracks just slightly. "Although, just to be safe, does anyone want to walk me home? We are after all friends, so I hope it’s not too much of a bother.”
The group quietens.
The awkward tension could be cut with a knife, the way the others are glancing at each other and trying not to move a single facial muscle. Is Akechi fucking with the team by playing along with Ann's blurted-out explanation of their camaraderie or does he genuinely see them as friends?
“Sure, I can take you there.”
Eight sets of eyes snap towards him as Akira takes a step forward. Seven of them scream "are you out of your fucking mind?" or "I swear to God if you just so happened to know Akechi's address the same way you just so happened to have his number."
"Thank you," Akechi replies. When Akira thinks about it, his princely facade seems sloppier than usual. He must be thrown off-kilter, somehow. Akira thinks he knows why but he needs to confirm his suspicion.
The group of phantom thieves scatters, leaving Akira and Akechi to linger at the station. Even Morgana has left them alone, having been part of the people with sentiment number two and probably assuming Akira has been tangoing with the devil and will continue to do so like an irresponsible thrill-seeker.
Which? Fair enough, but Morgana overestimates how much game Akira has when it comes to guys. If he could he would.
His phone beeps.
Sakura Futaba: hey!!! u dead yet??
Kurusu Akira: not yet
Kurusu Akira: do you mind giving me akechi's address? I know you can find it easily
Sakura Futaba: y? so he won't trick u into a nondescript alley and stab you in the face?
Kurusu Akira: yes
Kurusu Akira: now cough over the address
She does end up doing so, and Akira beckons Akechi to follow his lead as he navigates through the crowd.
It doesn't take long before they reach Akechi's apartment complex. It's huge and luxurious, nothing a normal teenager can afford. Either Akechi really earns that much due to his celebrity status or his mysterious boss must be paying him handsomely.
Akira turns to said celebrity at the same time he turns to him. There is suppressed giddiness in Akechi's expression along with glowing pride.
“I never thought I’d be the kind of person to invite others home, but I suppose it goes to show how much I trust you,” Akechi says cheerily, and Akira knows Akechi's a smooth-talking Gemini liar but it sounds so genuine Akira wants to stab himself in the chest out of guilt.
He must think that his uncomplicated friendship with Akira is true, probably because Akira knew his address enough to lead him home without knowing it was with the help of a hacker and online maps. Akechi has never invited him here. Akechi thinks he trusts Akira enough to give him his address. Akechi-
"What're you waiting for? Let's go inside."
Akechi is inviting his future murder victim to his apartment.
They sneak through the entrance door someone else opened (Akechi must’ve forgotten the code) and take their sweet time in finding the right apartment (Akira has never stepped foot in an apartment complex before and neither has Akechi post-forget ailment). At last, they find the right door, bless Futaba’s soul, and Akechi fumbles just a bit before finding the right keycard.
“Here we are,” Akechi says.
Akira steps inside. It’s clean. Sterile. Not a lot going on. Akechi seems to agree, confusedly looking around and scanning the place with his eyes.
“Well, thank you for taking me home. It was truly kind of you, but I really need to go to bed and-”
“You’re still affected by the forget ailment.”
Akechi stills. He looks conflicted, sheepish and angry and scared. “I had hoped it wasn’t that obvious.”
He sounds different both from the hostile screaming and the friendly sing-song. It sounds flat, bordering the dead tone he had during the phone call with his boss, and bitter.
“Why were you trying to hide it?”
“I don’t know any of you,” Akechi spits out. “When I realized it didn’t go away after we left that dark place, I wanted to solve it on my own. You don’t really want me around, I can tell. That blonde girl is an atrocious liar and so was everyone else.”
“That’s-”
“Tell me the truth of our situation,” Akechi says, hostile and unfamiliar but somehow so fitting. “Who are you to me, really?”
Akira thinks about lying. He could reassure him that they are friends, maybe best friends, he could even say they’re boyfriends (although that’s kind of very morally wrong to trick someone into). Hell, he could finally convince Akechi to be on their side, tell him that they’re a united front and are going to defeat whoever Akechi’s boss is together. This cat and mouse game could end now when Akechi has forgotten whatever motives led him to his wretched path.
He looks at Akechi, apprehensive with reckless bravado, and feels sick. Could he really take advantage of Akechi like this? To manipulate him and tell himself he did it for the greater good? It feels wrong, disrespectful to Akechi’s person. As nonsensical as it sounds, Akira doesn’t think he can be a good rival if he were to cheat him like that.
So he will tell him the truth.
"You're going to kill me in a couple of days.”
Okay, that’s a little too much truth.
“What,” Akechi says, concern written all across his face. He looks a mix of disturbed and horrified, and Akira believes this further proves that Akechi doesn’t really want to murder him. “Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know, honestly.”
Akechi frowns, doing his iconic thinking pose (must be muscle memory) in the meanwhile. “You must’ve done something to deserve it,” he concludes.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” Akira says, defensive.
“There has to be a reason behind such drastic actions,” Akechi argues. Akira doesn’t know how he feels about Akechi getting over the fact that he’s going to murder him this quickly. Is Akira really that believable or does Akechi not feel the need to question that he got accused of plotting murder? “Maybe you’re a serial killer and I’m trying to stop you in the only way possible."
"You're the serial killer here, not me!"
"I'm not a serial killer."
"You are!"
"What's your proof?"
Akira opens his mouth, closes it. Now when he thinks about it, he doesn't actually have proof. He has evidence that he's going to murder him, sure, but nothing solid when it comes to anyone else. Hell, he doesn't even have a black mask so it could be some other maniac in the Metaverse killing people. What if he isn't the one they suspect him to be?
"See? No proof."
"What's your proof that I'm a serial killer then!?"
"Easy," Akechi says. "You and your band of thieves are traveling around in what you claim to be the subconscious of the public. You also claim to have the power to 'change hearts'. On our way here I overheard people talking about mental shutdowns, a mysterious ailment that could be likened to a heart attack. I'm sorry for the reach, but can you blame me when I can draw parallels between 'heart changing' and heart attacks? If you can do one thing, you must be able to do the other with similar methods."
He's so smart, Akira can't believe he got all that information in a couple of hours, forget ailment and everything. His detective instinct along with this change of attitude would be a greatly enjoyable change of pace if Akira wasn't getting increasingly done with everything.
"But you're part of our team," Akira says, just to be contrarian.
"That's true." Akechi's eyes widen. "So we're both serial killers."
Oh my god.
"But I don't understand why I would try to kill you if we're on the same side," Akechi continues. "Am I betraying you or something? Are you aware that I’m going to betray you? Is that why the other people didn’t like me?"
Akira's going insane. "Can we just stop talking for a minute? Or can you at least shut up and let me explain?"
Akechi frowns. He clearly wants to protest, but after a long moment he says, “Explain then.”
Akira supposes he's now obligated to tell him everything after his detrimental blunder, but maybe he can turn this around and get some insight into Akechi's thinking process. If Akira understands him enough then maybe he could finally convince Akechi to not go through with his plan, or at least work out some sort of deal that leaves them both unscathed.
(Or work out a better plan, because he's alarmingly aware of the current one's flaws. However, it's not as if they have anything better going for them so Akira has simply not worded any complaints in fear of causing mass panic.)
While Akira goes over everything he makes sure to avoid mentioning the counter plan so that he at least has a slight chance of survival if nothing else. He also lies and says that he's the only one who knows this among the phantom thieves, to make sure that they will be left alone as Akechi originally planned.
Akechi's silent as he speaks, eyes fixed on him and listening intently. When he finishes, Akechi appears deep in thought.
“So, what do you think?” Akira says. Akechi’s frown only deepens at that.
At last, he says, "Why would you tell me everything? Aren’t you putting yourself at a disadvantage? What if I start remembering and now have the upper hand on you?" He looks deeply upset as if Akira personally wronged him by laying all cards on the table. “Do you want to die so badly that you’re spilling your guts out about everything you know to your future murderer?”
“It’s not that I want to die,” Akira objects, feeling his blood pressure rise. “I don’t think that you want to kill me, and I want to know why you’re doing this. I-” He pauses. Takes a deep breath. “I want to trust you. I want to work something out.”
The large apartment is quiet save for their breathing.
“Akira,” Akechi sighs at last. He’s pinching the bridge of his nose, refusing to look at him. He seems just as tired as Akira feels. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
His heart drops as if it expected something different. Akira takes off his glasses with his own sigh, rubbing the glass lenses with his shirt. This was pointless in hindsight, what a waste of energy trying to go through with a half-assed plan. “Yeah.”
He goes for the door, already reaching for the door handle when a hand on his shoulder stops him and turns him around. “What is it now-”
Akechi’s impossibly close. Their foreheads almost touch and it’s electrifying the way he can feel warmth radiate off of him, the way he’s gripping his shoulder as if his life depended on it.
“If it helps,” Akechi whispers, like a secret only they can know, “I don’t think that I want to kill you, either. I would grieve for you, no matter what reasoning lay behind my choices.”
Akira squeezes his eyes shut. It’s very hard to breathe, all of a sudden. “You can’t just say that.”
He pulls away. Akira cracks open his eyes to see the way Akechi stares off to the side. He seems timid, all of a sudden.
“I’ll text you if my condition changes,” he says before retreating to his room.
Akira stays by the front door, feeling everything all at once. It takes a bit, but then he leaves, too.
**
Akechi Goro: Good morning, Kurusu.
Akechi Goro: I believe the mysterious forget ailment has finally worn off. Who'd think that all that was needed was a good night's sleep?
Kurusu Akira: Glad to hear
Kurusu Akira is typing…
Kurusu Akira: Do you remember anything from when you were under the spell?
Akechi Goro: If I remember anything? I can't say I do, everything after our Mementos trip is a blank space in my head.
Akechi Goro: Frankly, the only reason I'm texting you about my status is because of the post-it note on my fridge telling me to.
Akechi Goro: Why? Did something happen?
Kurusu Akira is typing…
Kurusu Akira: Nah, just curious