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One day, a young man woke up in a hospital room.
He woke up with no memories except for his name, Goro Akechi, and one fact about him.
He often wore gloves, almost every day. The color was black, and they were made out of leather. He didn’t remember why he wore them, but he admitted that he had them in his drawer. He didn’t remember which kind of drawer he put them in, but he could certainly go check it out after he was released from the hospital.
Goro was confused. He didn’t remember anything else except for those gloves, so why was it important?
Perhaps, before he lost his memories, he likes to wear them?
Weeks passed, and Goro was released from hospital. He was in his apartment room now, all white and clean despite being left vacant for two years (according to his landlord). The first thing he did was go to his bedroom and open his wardrobe. When he thought about gloves, the place that made sense for their whereabouts was usually in wardrobes.
When he opened the wardrobe, there were two drawers at the bottom. He crouched down and opened the top one. It was empty. Then he opened the second drawer, and there were his gloves.
Or should he say... ‘a glove?’ He found his left black leather glove but not his right one. That was weird. He wouldn’t dare think of himself as someone who carelessly lost one of his gloves. And he was certainly not the kind of person to wear one glove either.
So… where on earth was his right glove?
.
.
.
‘No. Hold on.’
Why was he so pressed about a missing glove? It was just a glove, for fucks sake! He could just buy another pair, problem solved!
But why… Why does it feel so wrong? Why does he feel like he should remember something important about it? He wishes he could just find out why–
His inner thoughts soon vanished when he felt the harsh wind caressing his skin. He had just remembered the fact that he’d forgotten to close the sliding glass door to his balcony.
He sighed once the wind had stopped, then looked around his room. It was a mess. Papers had been blown across the floor.
He went to pick them up one by one, and after everything was sorted, he then spotted a single flashy magazine right beside the stack of papers. He took a closer look, and he saw a familiar face. It was himself.
‘Detective prince?’ He read the title on the cover.
Suddenly, Goro recalled something. Someone calling him a detective, or was it a celebrity? Was that what he was before he lost his memories? Some famous detective guy who worked with the law?
He had so many questions that needed answers, yet he could feel an urge pushing him to act, to stop thinking and just do something. And that something was...
‘I want my glove back.’
Today, he decided to go outside and visit some locations with the help of gathering some intel about his former self and some documentaries he found of himself around the internet. He decided to pay a visit to the TV Station in Akasaka Mitsuke. A woman who looked to be around her mid-30s at the reception desk recognized him. He didn’t ask for her name, but for the whereabouts of Goro’s missing glove.
"Have you seen my glove?"
The woman shook her head, "No, I don't think I have. Maybe you can ask the staff at the dressing room?"
He went inside the dressing room with the woman's permission. There, he asked the same question to all the staff. All of them bring negative results, much to Goro's dismay.
"Okay, Thank you anyway." Goro replied to everyone at the TV Station and left.
On the next day, he visited a place in Kichijoji called Penguin Sniper . Amongst the people who were busy playing billiards and darts, a man near a counter recognized him and asked for his autograph with his notebook. Goro signed the notebook, and he didn’t ask for his name, but for the whereabouts of Goro’s missing glove.
"Have you seen my glove?"
The man told Goro to wait for a minute and went to check for his glove at the lost and found basket on the counter. He shook his head and said, "Sorry, No gloves around here."
"Okay then, Thank you anyway." Goro replied to the man and left.
On the next day, He paid a visit to the Lost & Found Center at Iidabashi Station. There, a station staff member recognized him and greeted him. Goro greeted back and asked for the whereabouts of his glove.
“Have you seen my glove?”
“A glove, eh? Let me go check in with the others. Wait right here.”
Goro waited for the officer to return. He told Goro, “Sorry, but we don’t have any gloves in the lost items section.”
“Oh? Well thank you anyway,” Goro replied to the man and left.
On the next day, he decided to go to Shinagawa. He was currently at the front gate of an aquarium. When he entered the place, He–
"Akechi!? You're alive?!"
Goro turned around to see a... panther?
‘What the fuck?’
For some reason, the thing in front of him is... a weird looking hand-drawn panther that looks like it can walk on two legs. Something is definitely wrong. And yet...
'Maybe my I'm tired. That's probably it. If she knows who I am, I can ask her.'
He didn't ask for her name, who she is, what she is and why she thinks he's dead. Instead, He asked her this:
"Have you seen my glove?"
"Your glove? Uh... no?" The panther blinked and tilted her head in confusion.
"I see. Thank you anyway." Goro replied, turned around, and left amongst the crowd. While ignoring how that weird panther thing kept shouting for him to come back.
On the next day, He is currently at the central street in Shibuya and–
"Holy shit! Akechi!?!"
He got interrupted this time by a monkey. A vulgar one, to be exact. And for the same reason as the panther he had encountered before, it looked hand-drawn or even cartoonish and very out of place. This monkey even looked like it was wearing a skull mask. Something was definitely wrong going on here, and Goro couldn’t put a finger on it.
"How the hell are you even alive, dude!?"
Goro doesn't feel like he can ask this monkey any questions about his glove, So he decided to ignore this skull masked-monkey and be on his way.
"Wait! Stop!"
To the monkey’s disappointment, Goro was already gone from the area.
On the next day, he was at a café in Kichijoji. While enjoying his snack, he asked the staff if she had seen his glove somewhere in the café. Unfortunately, she doesn't see his glove. Goro thanked her and–
A stomach gurgling sound could be heard nearby. Goro turned to look at the source and saw a blue haired pretty boy fox, who was bewildered to see Goro.
‘I should probably seek medical help if this keeps up.’ Goro mentally noted.
The fox was still staring at Goro, prompting him to ask, "Is something the matter?"
"Ah... Not really, but–" The fox’s stomach interrupted his speech yet again. Goro decided to buy him a cake, which pleased the fox. After doing the fox a favor, Goro asked him not for his name, but for the whereabouts of Goro’s missing glove, "Have you... seen my glove?"
"I saw a glove once. It was red."
Red... for some reason, that looked like a familiar glove. But it was not his glove.
"My glove doesn’t look like that. Thank you anyway," Goro replied, and left his seat, leaving the fox to admire the cake instead of eating it.
On the same day, When Goro checked in with the local clinic at Yongen-Jaya about his ‘Animal Hallucinations’, The female doctor said that there was nothing wrong with him and she suggested that he should take a break.
But unlike anyone else, Goro is stubborn. And he will never stop looking for it.
He thought to himself, he must've gone insane at this point.
On the seventh day at night, Goro searched high and low for his glove. At the cafés, at the aquarium in Shinagawa, the arcades in Shibuya, Akihabara, and so on. And finally...
He arrived in front of a jazz club in Kichijoji. This was the one and only place he had yet to search. All the visits to the previous spots had made him remember little by little. Those memories only gave him the smallest hints, but it was enough for him to find out more locations that his previous self had frequently visited.
‘Jazz Jin.’
A name that Goro felt familiar with, but couldn’t remember clearly. He wasn't old enough to drink, but according to his past memories, this club also served non-alcoholic drinks. When he entered, he was recognized by a man with a hat, who greeted him with a grin.
"Akechi! It's nice to see you again! Where have you been?" the man with the hat asked him.
"Hello... um," Goro trailed off, which made the man give him a questioning look.
"Is something the matter?"
Goro felt comfortable in this place, even though it wasn’t home. He felt like he could share anything with this person...
Slowly, Goro recalled the name behind the back of his mind.
Muhen. That was the name of the jazz club owner. Now he remembered his name.
"Muhen-san. I have a request."
The man blinked. His lips parted in a small, surprised "oh" before curling into a knowing smile. "Yes?"
"Will you lend me an ear? I have something to tell you."
"I see. So you were hospitalized and was in comatose for two years and woke up with amnesia..." Muhen picked up an empty glass and cleaned it with a towel.
"That's right, and for some reason I had this strong urge to search for my glove in the back of my mind. It's weird, isn't it?"
Muhen placed the glass on a shelf and said, "It's not weird." He continued, "If that glove is something important to you to the point you're this desperate to find it. I think you should keep going."
Goro asked, "Really?"
"Yeah. And besides, I think I know someone who might be able to help you. Since you don’t remember, Your past-self used to invite him here and listen to the music while chatting."
"Someone I know?"
"Even though you won’t admit that you’re both close, I do think you’re both friends. Close friends."
Friends... a word that sounded so foreign to Goro himself. For the first time he decided to ask a question of this person’s name.
“Who is this person who I used to invite? What is their name?”
The next day, in the afternoon, Goro felt exhausted and drained. He was tired of searching for his missing glove, and he felt stupid about it. He reconsidered giving up when he finally visited the place that Muhen had recommended yesterday. It was another café like the others, but this one looked smaller compared to the bigger ones in Kichijoji and Akihabara.
He stood in front of the place and looked at the fabric sign above the door that said “Café Leblanc,” and at the door sign that said “Open.” Goro hoped this place would be as promising as what Muhen had described. He had prepared a few things to ask and talk about with this person, back before his memories were gone and before the version of him that now existed.
When Goro opened the door, the bell jingled. His eyes landed on a messy, black-haired man with glasses who stood behind the bar counter. He looked about Goro’s age and was drying a cup with a towel.
Ren Amamiya.
That was the name Muhen had given him last night. And judging by the description, this had to be him.
“Welcome to Leblanc. We just opened, so I hope you don't mind waiting for a moment and–” Ren froze on the spot as his eyes met Goro’s.
The cup in his hand slipped and hit the counter with a loud thud.
“…A-Akechi?”
Goro blinked. The way Ren addressed him by his last name felt off compared to others. Sure, Goro had just preferred being called that, even by friends. But still, something about it left a strange feeling in his chest. He had no idea who Ren was to him in the past. But judging by his tone, it sounded like he was in disbelief at what he was seeing. Even the sound of the cup hitting the counter had not pulled the poor glasses-guy out of it.
Ever since he had encountered those strange individuals, whom his own sight had even mistaken for weird mascot-animal people, Goro had been under the impression that his former self might have been presumed dead two years ago by those who knew him back then. Now, since he was alive in the present, he could only imagine what that must have looked like from the other side.
“Hello,” Goro said, trying to keep his tone neutral. But even a greeting like that didn’t snap the poor guy back to reality.
Ren kept staring at him like he might cry or yell. Goro didn’t know which. His lips parted slightly, but nothing came out. The silence between them stretched on too long.
Goro began to feel more uncomfortable the longer he stared at him. He finally broke the silence by clearing his throat. “Amamiya?”
Thankfully, it snapped Ren back to his senses. “Y-yeah?”
Goro glanced around the café. The seats were all empty, with no customers in sight. All of the tables were tidy and clean. He said, “This place just opened, right? I hope I didn’t bother.”
Ren shook his head. “No, no, you can sit wherever you want.”
Goro glanced at the stool near the bar table. On the table sat a bright yellow telephone with a stack of books beside it. He sat down and watched as Ren quickly grabbed a bag of coffee beans and something else in a container from the shelf.
Goro raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t ordered anything yet.”
Ren paused mid-motion and looked over his shoulder, startled. “Oh. Right. Sorry, force of habit.” He set everything down and turned to face Goro properly.
And then, silence. A long and heavy silence. Goro wonders what is going through Ren’s mind right now. Then, Ren opened his mouth “You… You’re really here. You’re alive. You’re real… right?”
Goro did not answer immediately. He let him continue speaking.
Ren swallowed, his voice shakier now. “When I heard from Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke that they had seen you walking around Tokyo, I believed them. Right away. Even though it sounded impossible after we destroyed Maruki’s reality.”
Those three names that Ren mentioned at the beginning. Were they the same people Goro had seen as those animal people? Regardless, he did not interrupt.
“I.. everyone thought you were dead for two years, Akechi. Two years since that time in the engine room…”
Goro stopped tapping his fingers. “That’s what most people probably thought,” he said, breaking eye contact. “Maybe I did too. I have no recollection of what happened exactly two years ago, or many years before that.”
Ren’s brows knitted together. “…What do you mean you don’t remember?”
Goro glanced back at him with an unreadable expression. “Exactly what I said. I woke up in a hospital room several weeks ago. No memories. Just my name and some… stupid obsession.” About his missing glove. Goro did not dare continue.
Ren stared at him, stunned. The silence that followed felt heavy.
“You’re serious?” he said slowly. “You don’t remember anything? The Phantom Thieves, Personas, and even the Metaverse?”
Goro slowly shook his head, brow furrowed. “No, I– What are you even saying right now? Is this something I should know?”
Ren let out a short breath of disbelief. Almost a laugh. “It’s a long story. I could fill you in if you’re up for some coffee.”
For some reason, Goro’s lips twitched into the hint of a smile. Ren noticed and moved to prepare a cup of coffee without needing a reply.
The silence that followed was heavier than before.
After a moment, Goro spoke with hesitation. “I should have said something earlier. About the memory loss.”
Ren stopped in his tracks. “I’m—” He cut himself off, shook his head, and let out a quiet sigh, brushing the thought aside before moving on.
Goro could tell Ren was about to apologize. For the amnesia, maybe. Or for something Goro no longer remembers. But the way Ren stopped himself said more than an apology would have. It felt like he was holding back, not for his own comfort, but out of respect.
This hypothesis surprised Goro. Perhaps he was indeed a real detective, he is surprised by how analytical he is, it’s almost a blessing.
'But to whom Ren holds himself out of respect? To my former self?'
Goro's thoughts came to a halt when the smell of coffee is in the air, as Ren served a cup in front of Goro and inquired, “Speaking of which, you also mentioned something else. That ‘stupid obsession’ you mentioned earlier. What was it?”
Goro hesitated. He looked away and sheepishly replied, “It’s just a glove. A black leather glove. I’ve been looking for it for a week and it’s driving me restless. At this point… I might think I’m obsessed with it.”
Goro braced for a laugh but instead heard silence. He blinked and glanced at Ren, then he took something out of his pocket and placed it gently on the counter.
A black leather glove. It was his .
“This glove is,” Ren started, hesitating for a moment. “It’s something important. You gave it to me in the past.”
Goro stared at it, his fingers curling slightly on the counter.
Ren looked at him. “Do you want me to explain everything?”
Goro looked up at him. “Sure. Might as well figure out why I’m chasing after a glove like it’s a treasure hunt.”
Ren chuckled before speaking. “You gave this to me. Two years ago. Somewhere around November, if I recall correctly. You gave it to me after a duel.”
“A duel? Like sparring?” Goro repeated, letting out something between a scoff and a laugh.
Ren scratched the back of his neck and continued. “Let’s just say that the circumstances we were in were very complicated. I don't even know where to start.”
Goro raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to go on. He then looked at his cup and took a sip. It looked plain at first, but the taste caught him off guard. Even without his memories, it was surprisingly good.
Ren noticed this and grinned. “Do you like it?”
Goro huffed. “You told me that this was my usual order, no? Well, It should be obvious. Continue.”
He did not know why he replied that way to Ren. He could have just said a simple yes instead. But for some reason, it feels much more familiar than foreign. It felt like something he might have said without thinking.
“It’s hard to believe you say that when you don’t even remember,” Ren commented before starting recalling his events from the past. From personas and palaces, to how they formed into a group called the Phantom Thieves…
“Oh and by the time we were a group of five, Including Morgana. And after we defeated Madarame, he mentioned you. The Black Mask. We didn't know it was you at the time.” Ren’s voice softened.
Goro sat silently through it all, nodding occasionally, with an unreadable expression. But Ren didn’t seem bothered by the lack of response. He just kept talking.
Eventually, Ren drifted to another topic about their hangouts in the past. He mentioned they first met at the TV station. Then they visited Penguin Sniper for a game of billiards. And after that was a date at Kichijoji’s Café–
“Sorry, a date?” Goro cut in with a raised brow.
Ren chuckled, “Well, it looked like the part… Moving on–” He continued; they went to the jazz club, and then went to the arcade to play Gun About. and they both took a bath together at the nearby public bathhouse. And then they played another round of billiards again, until in early November, Ren told him that they both went to Mementos to duel out of Goro’s request.
A duel between the two in mementos… now that sounds familiar.
Goro took another sip and observed Ren's face instead of paying attention to his words. He inhaled slowly, keeping his thoughts to himself.
He noticed that Ren’s glasses (he also had just noticed the lenses were fake too) hid the way his long eyelashes framed his eyes. It was pretty. And Goro admitted it. Not out loud.
Then, Ren's eye color. It was a unique shade of gray that Goro could not tell if it leaned more towards black or slightly brown. Nevertheless, Ren's eyes are sharp. It was almost a shame they were hidden behind those fake glasses.
Goro might ask about them later, but when his eyes drifted to Ren’s lips–
“…kechi. Akechi?” Ren’s voice immediately brought Goro back to reality.
“Yes?” Goro responded quickly.
Ren blinked at him. “You didn’t listen to a word I said.”
Goro drifted his eyes elsewhere. “You caught me.”
Ren fidgeted with his fringe. A habit Goro noticed again. Annoying but it was a little cute. Not that he would admit it.
“Well, If I cut it in short. I won our duel. Then, you gave me that glove with a promise.” Ren continued. “I know it’s complicated, but I do hope you still mean it.”
“…I don’t even remember what I thought back then. It’s quite a shame,” Goro finally muttered.
Ren replied right away. “You don’t have to remember everything right now. I just wanted you to know that it mattered to me.”
Goro finished his cup and set it on the saucer, Ren inquired, “Do you want your glove back?”
The question caught Goro off guard.
Do I want it back?
Goro repeated the question over and over in his own mind, He asked himself that and now for some reason, he didn’t answer Ren immediately. He feels like he doesn’t want his glove back. It’s because–
Something snapped in his mind. A vision of the past. A voice of his own said,
‘Make certain that you never forget: I am the one who will defeat you.’
The words echoed in his head.
Goro’s breath caught. His fingers curled slightly against the counter.
.
.
.
‘Oh. I remember everything now.’
He knows it’s not something worth celebrating. After everything he did.
He glanced back at Ren, this time with a steadier gaze. His eyes felt lighter than they had before, the strained gentleness slowly disappearing into something sharp and monotonous. He remembered. All of it.
And instead of answering Ren’s question. This time, he follows up with a question to confirm,
“So, you’ve been holding onto it all this time?”
Ren blinked and nodded slowly. “I couldn’t throw it away. Not after everything. It felt wrong.”
Goro let out a breath, unsure whether to scoff or laugh. “That sounds like something your stupid sentimental brain would say… and no, keep the glove, our fight’s not over.”
Ren was about to say something in return, but then he realized what Goro had just said. Goro hoped it would be enough to hint him that his memories had finally come back.
A small twitch tugged at the corner of Ren's lips before he let out a genuine laugh. Goro blinked and was caught off guard. The laughter slowly faded into a shaky breath as Ren tried to pull himself together.
“You haven’t changed. Even with your memories gone.”
“Was that supposed to be an insult?”
“Nope.” Ren shook his head, then added, “Welcome back, Akechi.”
“…Goro.”
“Hm?” Ren raised an eyebrow.
“Call me Goro,” he said firmly. “Say it again.”
Ren blinked in surprise. His expression softened, and this time, he didn’t laugh. He just smiled and corrected,
“Welcome back, Goro.”
OMAKE
Ren scratched his cheek and asked, “Can I at least give you a hug?”
“No,” Goro responded automatically.
“Please?”
Goro furrowed his eyebrows and looked at him. “...Fine. Do it before I change my mind in a second.”
Ren dashed out from behind the counter and half-tackled him into a hug, nearly knocking Goro off balance before his body froze as soon as he felt Ren’s arms wrap around him tightly, but not enough to hurt.
He didn’t know how to respond, so he gave awkward pats to Ren’s sides to attempt to soothe him. That made Ren laugh.
“Oh, shut it.” Goro muttered as he looked away from Ren, hiding a smile on his face.