Chapter Text
The fourth palace held a special place in Akira's heart. He hated with a passion, because of what poor Futaba had to go through. He knew memories were powerful and painful, but it still pained him.
This was the 26th loop, and knowing that Futaba's mom was killed because of a guy he was pretty much in love with hurt. His taste was awful. To make things more complicated (and for bonus self-hate points) it's not like he was always in love with Akechi, but those stupid feelings just had to change.
Maybe it was because he kept seeking the cute brown-haired detective out, maybe it was because he enjoyed dancing on the line of life and death, or he simply had a type for cute smart brown-haired people with red eyes.
All three things probably applied.
Their infiltration was going smoothly. Honestly, it might have been a little bit too smooth. Where in the hell were all the Anubises? Well, it wasn't bad, after all, he forgot to grab the personas that he nicknamed 'Anubis Destroyers' due to how easily they dealt with the (potentially) one-shotting Egyptian gods.
They mostly blocked that stupid Hamaon and Mudoon. Who's smart idea was it to give it insta kill atta--
"JOKER!"
Fuck.
He wasn't paying attention, a Shadow sneaked up on them.
"Four enemies, Joker be careful, they look strong!" He heard Makoto, and a cold shiver went down his spine.
Four. Stupid. Dogs.
Four. Fucking. Anubises.
The floating dogs all looked at him. There was a smirk on their faces. He didn't have a chance to change his persona, he had Arsène equipped, this wasn't gonna go well...
Floating bright papers flew towards him and started to spin around him. He could do this, it's not guaranteed, it can totally fai--
His body felt light.
His vision was getting blurry.
Well, this was it. Dogs 12, Akira 9. Unlucky run. He needs to start switching his personas properly, or well, withdraw them.
"Joker?! JOKER GET UP!"
And with those last words, his world faded to darkness. Again.
Before each 'reset' there was a place he liked to call 'void.' It was empty and dark. Well, it wasn't completely empty, as sometimes he would meet with a friend and a half.
The void was possibly the only reason why he was still sane from all the restarts.
"You are here kinda early," said a familiar feminine voice.
"Apparently someone had a great time creating dogs that can one slap you so hard that you don't wake up"
"You hate Anubises a lot huh? 12 to 9 for them?"
"Keeping count for me?" He asked with a small smile. The Auburn girl with red eyes giggled.
"You know me"
"So what have you been up to Minako?"
"You know, the usual. Hanged out with me, with ghosts and memories of the past. Tell me more about your run"
Minako was a high school student, she also was a second-year transfer student before she died. They met during his third loop reset and quickly bonded over cute boys.
It was nice to have someone to talk to about everything. He never managed to find the strength to talk to his friends about how he is stuck in a time loop and how he has a big crush on a guy that was behind mental (and psychotic) shutdowns.
"Wasn't anything new. This run, I think I messed up"
"Did you do your barista flirting a bit too early?"
"Aren't you a better detective than the one I know"
"Oh, is that so Kurusu-kun? You flatter me." She had a smug smile on her lips. He told her about Akechi so much, to the point her trying to impersonate him was common.
The annoying part of it was the fact that he could imagine his crush saying it, which sent blood rushing to his face.
"Oh my god, Aki-chan you are cute," she said and laughed. "The Akechi guy has no idea what he's missing on."
"Right?! I'm a weapon of mass destruction, baby. My looks and personality could kill masses."
"Two weapons of mass destruction sound like a power couple"
"Someone gets me," Akira said and sighed. "I would love to introduce you to Akechi. I think you would like him"
"'Minako, this is my beloved assassin slash boyfriend, Akechi who also tried to shoot my brain out. Anyway Akechi, this is a ghost that has been haunting me in a void after like, every time I died because I often fucked up and decided to speedrun via suicide."
"Rude. But yeah"
"Akira, in all honesty, I would judge you here, for your taste, but as someone who had two and a half boyfriends, I don't think I can"
"Oh yeah that reminds me, I still need to ask about them in my world..."
"Take your time, it's not like I will go anywhere, you know. I'm still stuck here."
"Does it make you feel better knowing I get to be stuck here occasionally as well?"
"It's nice to have company, can't lie. Minato talks only so little."
"Speaking of him, where is he?"
"Too busy for us," Minako said as she rolled her eyes. Minato was her twin brother, who also died. They both died in a similar accident but never shared too much about it. Minato barely spoke to him so there was little to no information. He just knew the names of some people that Minako used to date with before she passed away and he tasked himself with finding anything about them.
He was deeply curious about their past, he craved to know more but Minako was rather secretive and well... Minato seemed to be dead inside. Well, sometimes he would look alive when he talked but... That was about it.
"Sad, I would love to talk to hi--"
"Please stop trying to seduce my brother..."
"But he's pretty cute..."
"Akira."
"Alright alright, I understand, stay loyal to my assassin."
"You are smart after all!" Minako said as she laughed together with him.
Akira's head started to hurt, a frown appeared on his lips.
"Well, it's my time. I will catch you later Minako."
"Don't rush it. I don't wanna see you that soon." She said to him with a sad smile. She was going to be alone, once again.
"No promises, I love spending time with my platonic soulmate" he winked at her and closed his eyes. He couldn't hear her response, as he heard the familiar sound of the train on rails.
'Run 27, here we go.'
He was ready. Maybe. Actually not at all. Death sucked, and he hated the pain. He was even considering writing a book: 'How does Death feel in XX scenarios.'
Actually, no, that sounded awful to him. That was more of a Minato thing to do...
"Oh wait, Minako..." he pulled out his phone, opening his internet tab to look for a guy she once mentioned she dated with.
He typed the first three letters of the name before he heard a loud screeching of breaks. He didn't know what was happening until he started hearing explosions and screams...
And then he got embraced by familiar darkness.
Minako was a strong girl, who was used to spending time in the Void (as she and her platonic soulmate called it) completely alone.
Then Akira happened to appear and her days in the void became absolutely awful.
She missed him, a lot. She had no idea when he would come back, or even if he would. She was hoping for the best - that he managed to survive through December, and that he got together with his crush, but sometimes she felt selfish and wanted to see him again.
She never knew how long it was before he vanished and before he came back. She had no track of time, just... very good gut feeling.
She always knew when he was arriving.
And she was absolutely shocked he was already back when he left... probably not so long ago.
"Welcome home," she said, as Akira groaned. He looked pale, paler than normal. "Are you okay?"
"Train crash didn't even get a chance to get off. Holy macarons, what happened..." he held his head, clearly in pain. She walked towards him and gently patted his head as a mother would do to a child.
"Probably unlucky."
"Yeah, god that was awful. Well, death by an explosion can now be checked as well..." the two of them awkwardly laughed.
It didn't take long for Akira to vanish. The earlier he dies, the faster he 'respawns.' They decided to use game language for his situation, as it was rather easy to explain what was happening, and as well, they both loved playing games.
"Good luck Aki. Please, break the loop... I don't want you to die again..." she said to herself, and the empty space.
It was her only wish. She didn't care about getting back with her boyfriends she adored with all of her heart, she didn't care about coming back to life.
She just wanted Akira to be happy, he deserved it. She died once, he died 27 times.
She had a feeling it wasn't the end of it. Her mind started to feel foggy. She closed her eyes, and let her consciousness blend with the void.
Little did she know, that the closer Akira was getting to triple-digit resets, the closer she was to... visiting the living world.