Chapter Text
It’s been a day since Madarame’s heart was changed and he made his public confession. Yusuke’s life is upside down, and he has no idea what his future will look like without Madarame to guide him.
For now, it is simply… freeing. Like a pressure he didn’t even realize was there, is gone.
Social workers, teachers and various lawmen have been figuring out what will happen to him next. Because of his talent in art, his teachers are keen to keep him in Kosei High, so it looks like they’ll be moving him to the dorms.
It will be nice to live with others again, he assumes.
For now, he is supposed to continue with normal life. Of course, with Goemon now comfortably nestled in a corner of his mind, normal life is not something he can return to. Or perhaps, the concept of normality will need to be redefined to include the metaverse and personas and Goemon.
He reaches Shibuya station and goes to a nearby back alley, following the instructions Akechi sent him. She’s waiting for him there, leaning against a motorbike. She’s on her phone.
“Hello, Akechi-san,” Yusuke calls to her and she looks up, phone slipping into her coat pocket.
“Kitagawa-kun,” Akechi greets. “Thank you for meeting with me. I hope you managed to have a good day at school today, despite everything that has happened.”
“I did have a good day, actually. Everyone has been understanding and very kind to me,” Yusuke answers. Akechi smiles and it looks warm enough.
“I see,” is all she says.
“Is that your motorbike?” he asks. She nods and seems to take pride in it, the way she straightens her back just a little more and her smile becomes just a little wider.
“I acquired my license a few months ago,” she tells him. “It’ll be a few more months until I’m allowed to have a passenger… But that doesn’t matter for today.”
“It doesn’t?” he asks, uncertain of what she means.
“Today I thought we’d go into Mementos,” she elaborates, standing up. “I want to see your persona. I’ve never had a chance to see someone else’s, at least, not without them trying to kill me first.” She says it in a manner-of-fact tone and Kitagawa easily accepts this as normal, nodding along understandingly, not even questioning the murder part. She pauses. “I know it’s only been a day, but have you thought about what you will do with your persona yet?”
“Not yet. I know so little of the metaverse and of my own abilities…” He pauses. “But I would like to help people, I think. Help free others like me, who were abused and oppressed.”
“It’s a good start,” Akechi says approvingly. “I won’t push you towards anything, either way,” she solemnly promises.
“I appreciate that, Akechi-san.”
She gets on her bike and whips out her phone. “Check that no one is around, Kitagawa-kun,” she tells him. He nods and keeps an eye out. The world transforms in blacks and reds, and they’re standing in a dark parody of Shibuya Station.
“Welcome to Mementos,” she tells him. Her motorbike helmet and leather jacket are gone, replaced by her metaverse appearance (which, if he’s honest, still throws him off a little with how girly it is on the otherwise rather professionally dressed Akechi).
Yusuke looks around the station. It’s as Akechi described it. Twisted, dark, bloody. Dripping with the disturbing thoughts and desires of the collective. And yet, this place is also the origins of beauties such as the Sayuri. Truly a marvel.
“What a mysterious place. So grotesque and magnificent at the same time,” Yusuke muses.
“Shall we explore?” she asks. He realizes she is still sitting on her motorbike. It has transformed somewhat, not entirely what it is in reality, but still strongly resembling a motorbike.
“Are we not walking?” he asks.
“No. That takes too long. I used to cycle down the paths of Mementos, but now I have a motorbike and overall, it is much more efficient,” Akechi tells him. “Go on, hop on the back.”
“I thought you said you are not allowed to have passengers?” Yusuke asks.
She tilts her head, then shakes it. “Kitagawa-kun, that’s in Japan. We’re not in Japan. We’re in the metaverse.”
“But…”
“But what?” she cuts in, rather impatiently. “There is no law here. Just the two of us. And the shadows.”
“And the other two persona-users.”
“Yes… Them as well.”
“And the phantom thieves.”
“Kitagawa-kun.”
“Are you saying anything goes here?” Yusuke finally asks, making his discomfort clear. That, and there is something about Akechi’s mood that seems to have changed too. It’s not noticeable, but… It’s definitely causing Goemon to become wary.
“Of course not. Certain things are still unquestionably wrong,” Akechi tells him, but her expression is unreadable as she speaks. “But I think in the metaverse, we need to conduct ourselves according to ethics, rather than law. After all, laws can differ between nations. I hear some European countries permit passengers from the moment a license is acquired. That means, in some European countries, people your age can have passengers on their motorbike, despite having only just acquired the license. Does this somehow make foreign laws less ethical than ours? Are ours automatically more ethical, just because they’re ours?”
Yusuke considers this, becoming pensive.
“I think I see what you mean… Then is it ethical to wilfully ignore what is legal in our country, once we are outside it?”
Akechi just gives him a very flat, unimpressed look. He genuinely does not know, so he’s hoping for an answer. He does not receive one.
“Do you want to spend a whole afternoon walking into the depths, without reaching the bottom?” Akechi asks. It doesn’t sound practical when put that way, so he slowly shakes his head, then reluctantly gets on the back.
“Neither of us have helmets,” Yusuke observes.
“We’re in Mementos,” Akechi reassures with a smile. “We don’t need helmets.”
Yusuke is not reassured but doesn’t get to voice his disapproval as Akechi accelerates and launches them into the depths at speeds definitely not legal on the streets of Tokyo. He holds onto her for dear life.
This is terrifying.
~
Akechi stares at the newly reopened Chemdah gateway. It was closed a few days ago, but it seems now that the phantom thieves have stolen Madarame’s heart, it has reopened. It’s not the first time the doors in Mementos have reopened. But it’s the first time she has noticed a clear correlation between changes in Mementos and the phantom thieves’ actions.
How is their existence having an effect on Mementos? Is it because they’re gaining prominence in the public eye? But why would knowledge of their existence have an impact on Mementos?
She’s missing something…
“Akechi-san?” Kitagawa prompts. Akechi turns to look at him. He’s still sitting on the back of her motorbike. He has gotten used to her driving at this point, no longer clinging to her like she’s his only lifeline.
“Yes?” she asks.
“Is something wrong?”
She looks back at the door. “In a way,” she answers honestly. “These doors were not open a few days ago.” She pauses. “Never mind that though. You’ve held up well so far,” she tells him, and she is not referring to being a passenger on her bike. “Are you willing to go deeper into Mementos?”
Honestly, she thinks Kitagawa will hold up very well, even at greater depth. His persona is much stronger than Marion or Loki were, when she first awakened them. Additionally, he has a brute force and strength that she herself – admittedly – lacks. It’s kind of surprising, considering how wiry he is. She thought a wind blowing the wrong way could push him over, but that is apparently not the case.
Maybe he’s strong from standing and wielding a paintbrush all day. Who knows.
Who cares.
“I am fine to go on,” Kitagawa tells her. She nods.
“Then let’s go. Allerleirauh estimates there are about eight floors on the next path,” Akechi lies. She does not know Chemdah has eight floors because of Allerleirauh’s ‘incredible’ navigational abilities (which are decent, but nothing mind-blowing). She knows Chemdah has eight floors, because she has descended them before. “It’d be good if we can get to the bottom…” to see if the next path is also open. “… but it’s your first time properly using your persona. You shouldn’t push yourself.”
Kitagawa nods.
With that, she gets back on her motorbike, and they drive down the Chemdah path. As they descend, they fight shadows. It’s tricky picking fights, because Akechi is so experienced, she can handle herself alone on the path of Sheriruth. In other words, she is severely overpowered on the upper levels of Mementos. It’s hard to tell which shadows will be tough for Kitagawa and which ones will be of acceptable difficulty.
Granted, to resolve this issue, she could simply pick up weaker personas that are at a similar level to Kitagawa’s current abilities, but she’s not willing to let go of a single one of her stronger personas. Especially when she doesn’t know when she’ll be able to pick up ones of similar strength again.
Wearing Allerleirauh is the best she can do for now, as Allerleirauh restricts her to a supporting role. She certainly can’t accidentally obliterate her enemies in one hit…
But deliberately sitting out fights is grating. She already has to suppress her fighting instincts in the real world, always having to stay cool and collected in the face of blatant ignorance, aggression and mockery, so having to do so in the metaverse – a place she is usually free to be herself – is restrictive and frustrating.
They ambush one of the monstrous shadows. It reveals itself to be a Nue and four Koppa Tengus.
“They’re weak to ice attacks! Take advantage of that weakness!” Akechi shouts to Kitagawa.
“Goemon, strike!” Kitagawa calls, a wave of ice hitting all the creatures. The Koppa Tengus fall to the ground, but the Nue resists, taking little damage. It retaliates, hitting them with a light curse attack. Kitagawa is unaffected, but Allerleirauh is, of course, weak to all magical abilities, because of course she is, and Akechi falls to her hands and knees.
“Shit.”
“Akechi-san!”
She wants to tell him she’s fine, she’s taken the absolute minimum of imaginable damage, but Allerleirauh’s too shocked to let her speak. With her temporarily incapacitated, Kitagawa attacks the Nue with ice again, which of course, does little damage. She recovers and gets back to her feet.
“Nue is weak to fire,” she tells him. “Resistant to ice.” She feels her personas wanting to fight, Marion, Loki and Baphomet in particular rearing their heads, but she silences them. It’s Kitagawa that needs to grow. So she keeps telling herself.
However, then the Koppa Tengus get to their feet, their weakness to bless attacks comes to the forefront of her mind, her anger and resentment spikes, and she can’t resist. “Kill them, Marion!” she screams, as she uses her bless attack and… wipes all of them out. Including the Nue. In one go.
“That… takes care of that,” she says, feeling flustered. “Let’s keep moving.”
Kitagawa stops her from getting on her bike. “Why do you hold back?” he asks. Demands, really.
“The point of being here is to give you the chance to improve. You can’t do that if I keep handling the fights,” she tells him.
“I feel I learn, even when you are doing most of the work, Akechi-san.”
Akechi has several questions she wants to ask at that, mostly about his reasoning skills, but instead decides to see how much truth is in Kitagawa’s claims. She calls Allerleirauh to the front of her mind and assesses him.
As idiotic and stupid as Kitagawa sounds, he is – it seems – right. Even when Akechi handles the fights, he grows stronger. He has grown stronger in this fight too. And the difference is non-existent.
Strange. Is it because of their bond?
She becomes pensive. She has always assumed her bonds are one-way, but… Is it an exchange after all? As she grows, her confidants grow too? With her?
… Together?
The thought somehow makes her feel queasy and she quickly dismisses it.
“I’ll bear that in mind,” she tells him. “And it doesn’t bother you, if I fight to my utmost ability?” she asks. Most men she has met in the real world resent her for outperforming them in skill, talent and ability.
But Kitagawa shakes his head.
“I think it’s better we learn how to work together. We cannot do that, if you’re not giving your all.”
“You… wish to work together? In the metaverse?” Like a reoccurring, commonplace thing?
“Is that so strange?”
Akechi doesn’t know how to answer. “Don’t you think you are trusting me too easily?” she asks warily.
Now it’s Kitagawa who falls silent.
“I thought you said you would be honest with me,” Kitagawa says after a long pause. “What reason would I have not to trust you then? Unless… you are once again lying and there is something you’re not telling me.”
Right. She did say that, didn’t she?
To think he’d be so naïve as to believe she hadn’t lied.
“I’m sorry. Habits are hard to kill,” Akechi tells him. “I… I’ve been alone for a long time. It will take me time adjust. To learn.”
Kitagawa doesn’t seem pleased but nods regardless.
“Please give it your all, Akechi-san,” Kitagawa tells her, and Akechi is unsure if he is referring to fights or honesty.
“I will,” Akechi lies anyway, since she will do neither. Loki’s special skill will remain a closely guarded secret and she has no intention of being more honest from this point onwards.
She looks at where the slain shadows had once stood and notices a blank card. She picks it up and sighs. “Not another one of these…”
“What’s that?” Kitagawa asks. She shows it to him.
“Blank cards. Shadows drop them sometimes. I’ve got hundreds piled up at home. I never was able to figure out what they’re for.”
Kitagawa takes it from her and turns it over, pensively.
“This… is a canvas,” Kitagawa says.
“I’ve already tried drawing and writing on them before. The card becomes blank again within seconds. Nothing sticks.”
“May I?”
“If you wish,” Akechi simply replies, since she has so much of the useless item back at home. Kitagawa looks it over, then takes out a paintbrush. “Kitagawa-kun, weren’t you listening? I just said, I’ve tried…”
She hears the chains before Allerleirauh can warn her.
“What’s that sound?” Kitagawa asks, sensing the approaching danger as well.
“The Reaper. Damn it, we’ve been here too long,” she hisses. She quickly goes for her Goho-Ms but ends up fumbling them instead, dropping them on the ground. She only brought two and they’re rolling down the slope. “Shit,” she hisses. She’s already used Allerleirauh’s thousandfurs skill; she can’t use that again until she leaves the metaverse. “Shit, shit, shit-” She cuts herself off and focuses on Kitagawa. “Kitagawa-kun, we’re going to fight a very powerful shadow, more powerful than anything else we’ve faced. Are you ready?”
“I’ll follow your lead.”
“Good. I’m going to use a variety of masks, ones you have never seen before. Don’t freak out.”
Kitagawa gives her a funny look, but that’s the end of their conversation. The Reaper comes around the corner. Akechi can feel Attack Master activating, and she drops into a fighting stance.
The fight is a blur.
Kitagawa has held up extremely well, considering how severely underpowered he is. At one point, he was even fighting alone, holding his ground after Akechi was insta-killed. It’s amazing, really (though she won’t tell him that).
Kitagawa has now learnt that Akechi does withhold information from him. He has met several of her personas now, including her most powerful, Loki. (Loki’s special skill is still unknown to Kitagawa).
“Your clothes… have changed,” Kitagawa points out, after the fight.
“It’s because I awoke two personas at the same time,” Akechi answers. “… Hence, my appearance can change, depending on which of the two personas is at the forefront of my mind. It’s just those two, though.”
Kitagawa seems to accept this. “Do you think I can have as many personas as you?” he then asks. Akechi suppresses the pride she feels, knowing that he will not be able to, because for whatever reason, she’s the only one. She’s special.
“I don’t… I don’t think so. I think it’s an ability unique to me,” Akechi tells him. At the very least, she has yet to meet a persona-user that can use multiple personas…
She limps her way over to where she dropped the Goho-Ms. They’re both too exhausted to continue exploring Mementos. In this state, fighting is out of the question and travelling further down is reckless. They need to go back.
As she picks up the precious items, she hears Kitagawa call for her. She looks and he’s holding up a skill card. “This looks a lot like a blank card,” he tells her.
Akechi quickly snatches it out of his hands. She can’t believe it. She looks it over and it is. It’s a repel curse skill card. A repel curse skill card. She knows some personas have the ability to repel certain skills, but she didn’t know repelling could be dropped as a skill card.
If she uses it on Allerleirauh, then that’s one magical skill that won’t instantly down her persona. If she uses it on Marion, Marion will have no weaknesses.
She’s buzzing with excitement. This is an exceptionally rare find. Does Goemon have a high luck stat or why is this happening? The Reaper has never dropped skill cards before. She’s practically drooling over it.
“What is it?” Kitagawa asks.
“It’s an extremely rare skill card,” Akechi tells him giddily, unable to hide her excitement. “Skill cards can be used on personas, to replace existing skills. I’ve used them before, but they’re rare.”
He comes closer and looks it over.
“… It’s beautiful,” Kitagawa says, eyes lighting up. He then whips out the blank card and starts furiously painting and drawing away. Akechi watches, surprised that the etches and strokes stick. It’s a flurry of movement, not dissimilar from the battle against the Reaper. He stops, when the blank card is indistinguishable from the skill card.
“What do you think?” he asks, showing Akechi the formerly blank card.
“It… it’s not coming off,” she says. She closes her eyes and thinks of Marion, infusing it into her persona. The blank card disappears in her hands and Marion now repels curse attacks.
She chokes.
“You-” she says, eyes wide. “You can- the blank cards…”
Kitagawa can turn the blank cards into skill cards.
Akechi’s mind goes blank in absolute wonder.
“Did my picture turn into a real skill card?” Kitagawa asks for her. He looks at her forlornly, but Akechi’s mind is still completely devoid of any coherent thought.
Never. Ever. Has a bond with someone else ever been this beneficial. Always somewhat useful, but never…
She shakes herself out of her thoughts.
“Let’s go and… talk about this some more, somewhere else,” she decides.
She still has the original repel curse skill card in her hands.
She can feel her bond with Kitagawa has grown some more. What else will happen, if she gets closer yet? Growing closer to others comes at a heavy price, but…
… This is too useful to just let go over something as small as gaining one minor weakness.
She can stomach one little connection with someone else again.
She will have to.
She can’t afford to let something so precious and valuable slip through her fingers.
“Come on, Kitagawa-kun,” she prompts. “I’ll buy you sushi.”