Chapter 38
“Is he inside?”
“Yes, he seems to be asleep…”
Outside the flower shop, bathed in sunlight, Yosuke and Teddie peeked inside, watching the sleeping Akechi.
They exchanged worried glances.
“Yosuke, should we wait for him to wake up?” Teddie asked.
“Let’s wait,” Yosuke sighed softly. “He probably hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in a while. Being in the other world for so long must have taken a toll on him.”
Yu hadn’t completely abandoned Akechi. Being in Tokyo, he couldn’t visit often, and Margaret had only given him three chances to connect the worlds. So he had asked his friends in Inaba, especially Yosuke and Teddie, to check on Akechi occasionally.
Upon learning it was snowing inside, Yu had been silent for a long moment, then refused his friends’ offer to bring Akechi back.
He said: Bring him back when the snow stops.
Inaba’s other world reflected one’s heart, and the snow was a manifestation of Akechi’s inner turmoil. His heart was frozen, so the snow continued to fall, even if he didn’t welcome it.
After seven days and nights, the snow had finally stopped.
Akechi was a light sleeper. He stirred at the sound of Yosuke and Teddie’s voices, and as the door opened, sunlight streaming onto his face, he woke up, looking towards the source of the noise.
He saw a boy with brown hair and a bear talking.
A human? And a bear?
“Ah! Yosuke! He’s awake!” Teddie noticed Akechi’s open eyes.
Akechi immediately assumed a defensive stance. This was the other world. Anyone who could freely move around here couldn’t be trusted!
“Loki,” he said coldly, preparing to summon his Persona.
“Wait! Calm down!” Yosuke pulled Teddie behind him. “Um… are you alright? I’m not a bad guy. Yu asked me and Teddie to come get you. You know him, right? Yu, Yu Narukami.”
Akechi stared at him impassively for a few seconds, then scoffed, standing up from the bed of golden flowers, Loki vanishing behind him.
“So he remembered he threw someone in here,” Akechi said sarcastically.
Yosuke: …
He chuckled nervously. Although he didn’t know who this person was or why Yu had thrown him into the TV, trusting his friends had become second nature to Yosuke. He unconditionally supported Yu’s decisions and wouldn’t badmouth him, even to placate this stranger.
Yu would never do anything wrong.
Following Yosuke out of the flower shop, Akechi noticed the snow had stopped, the warmth of the sun on his skin a welcome relief. He looked back, the flower shop dissolving into golden dust, vanishing completely.
Yosuke, unconcerned, explained the nature of this other world as they walked.
“The entrances and exits are unstable. It’s easy to get lost if you enter from the wrong place. We always enter and exit from the same spot,” Yosuke explained. “So you wouldn’t have been able to find your way out on your own.”
Akechi, following behind him, wasn’t surprised.
“Narukami never intended for me to leave.”
“But he sent us to get you,” Yosuke shrugged. “Yu might seem like a cold guy, but he’s actually a really kind person. If you two had a falling out, just talk it out. Don’t let him do this kind of thing again.”
“He nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Yu had called him out of the blue, saying he had thrown someone into the TV. Before Yosuke could fully process that, he added, “He’s a Persona-user too.” Just as Yosuke relaxed, assuming it was some kind of training exercise, Yu had said: Don’t let him out.
This unpredictable behavior reminded him of Taro Namatame’s hospital room last year.
Akechi narrowed his eyes, observing the boy who seemed to be around his age, thinking: If he knew what I had done, he’d probably react even more drastically than Narukami.
He didn’t seem as rational and calm as Yu.
Yosuke led him to a high platform stacked with televisions, then stepped through one. After a moment of hesitation, Akechi followed.
He found himself in a familiar, brightly lit space.
Countless lights illuminated the ceiling, creating a cold yet bright environment. Akechi quickly recognized it as a department store, the television section.
“Alright, Teddie and I brought him back,” Yosuke said. “He’s all yours.”
“Yes,” another unfamiliar voice said. “I’ll take it from here.”
Akechi turned to see a girl with short hair, dressed in a light blue shirt and black pants. She nodded at him.
Akechi tilted his head, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“Naoto Shirogane?”
“Yes, that’s me,” Naoto walked towards him. “You’re Goro Akechi, the famous detective from Tokyo. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Of course, Akechi knew Naoto Shirogane, the first Detective Prince. Even as a girl, her detective skills were unmatched, earning her the title. When Akechi first rose to fame, learning of the previous Detective Prince, he had obsessively researched Naoto’s background.
That’s how he recognized her instantly.
“Narukami mentioned you,” Akechi said. “It’s a pleasure.”
Naoto observed him carefully.
Unlike Yosuke, as a detective, even the smallest clue could spark numerous theories. Not only was Akechi a Persona-user whom Yu had thrown into the TV world, but his sudden rise to fame was also suspicious.
But Naoto didn’t say anything, pausing for a moment before saying, “This isn’t a good place to talk. Want to grab something to eat?”
Akechi agreed.
He hadn’t had a proper meal in a week, surviving on healing items and Leblanc’s coffee. He craved real food.
At the family restaurant, Akechi ordered a large bowl of katsudon, clearly starving. Naoto sat across from him quietly.
As Akechi finished his meal, Naoto took out a small piece of paper and placed it before him.
“Narukami-senpai asked me to give this to you. Once you accept it, my mission is complete.”
Akechi picked up the paper. It was a train ticket from Inaba to Tokyo.
No words of encouragement, no questions or accusations. Yu’s friends had simply brought him back and sent him on his way. Yu hadn’t even told them what Akechi had done, just leaving a train ticket.
As if he was certain Akechi had changed, placing his complete trust in him.
There it was again, Yu’s incomprehensible way of doing things.
“…Is Yu Narukami always this… nauseatingly kind?” Akechi asked Naoto.
Naoto considered this for a moment before replying, “Perhaps he’s simply too kind and considerate, and those who aren’t accustomed to such gentleness find it unsettling.”
Akechi offered a polite assessment. “You’re nauseating too.”
Naoto: …
She sighed, paying the bill and escorting Akechi to the station, watching him leave before messaging Yu.
This childishly stubborn second-generation Detective Prince was Yu’s problem now.
After learning from Naoto that Akechi had returned, Yu waited for him to contact him.
Time passed, and finally, after school, Akechi messaged him.
[Goro Akechi: Come to Mementos.]
Yu rarely visited Tokyo’s Metaverse, including Mementos. He didn’t participate in the Phantom Thieves’ activities, only offering occasional assistance. Akechi’s situation was the only one he had directly intervened in.
He didn’t rush, returning home before using the Metaverse Navigator.
Stepping into Mementos, Yu saw Ren, dressed in his black Phantom Thief outfit, facing Akechi, who wore his white knight attire and beaked mask.
Yu knew Akechi would call for Ren. After all, Ren represented the Phantom Thieves, and their fractured friendship, combined with the revealed truth, made it necessary for Akechi to confront him.
Ren nodded at Yu in greeting.
“You’re finally here,” Akechi narrowed his eyes, his tone laced with disdain. “Do you know how late you are?”
“You didn’t specify a time, so I’m not late,” Yu retorted.
Akechi didn’t reply, quickly drawing his gun and firing before they could react. Ren instinctively moved to shield Yu, but Yu didn’t even flinch.
The bullet grazed his hair, hitting the wall of Mementos.
“What are you doing?” Yu asked, as if he had known Akechi was just trying to scare him.
“I’m pissed off!” Akechi kicked a nearby suitcase.
Ren walked over to Yu, and they both watched Akechi’s outburst, like observing a rare, caged parrot.
After venting his frustration, Akechi calmed down, looking at them.
“I’ll turn myself in.”
“But only after I see Shido’s downfall.”
Yu wasn’t surprised by Akechi’s declaration, but he was genuinely puzzled. “Shido? Who’s that?”
Ren, in his second playthrough, knew who Shido was and his connection to Akechi, but he wasn’t supposed to know yet, so he simply explained that Shido was a popular politician, likely to win the upcoming election.
“He’s the one who ordered me to kill those people,” Akechi revealed calmly. “I have evidence against him. If I turn myself in now, he’ll use his connections to have me killed in prison. I doubt you want to see my corpse the day after my confession.”
“So, only after the Phantom Thieves make Masayoshi Shido repent, only after this is all over, can I turn myself in.”
Ren stared at Akechi in silence. After a few seconds, he asked, “Can I trust you, Akechi?”
In his past life, he had genuinely considered Akechi a friend, their Confidant rank maxed out, until he discovered Akechi’s secret, Futaba’s surveillance revealing his true nature and his intent to kill Ren.
Could he trust Akechi’s change of heart in this life?
“It doesn’t matter,” Akechi said coldly. “The only way I can be convicted is if I confess. Your trust, or lack thereof, doesn’t change that.”
“Trust him,” Yu said nonchalantly. “I’ll keep an eye on him. If he doesn’t turn himself in, I won’t hesitate to throw him back in the TV.”
He said such terrifying things so casually.
Akechi: …
“I’d rather die than go back to that hellhole!”
Ren sighed, then nodded. They quickly reached an agreement.
For now, Akechi, having switched sides, would temporarily join their cause, facing his punishment after everything was over.
Akechi scoffed, shifting his gun to his left hand. Yu and Ren both looked at him as he pointed the gun at his right wrist.
Bang.
“Akechi?!”
The bullet pierced his wrist, blood splattering onto his white outfit.
“What are you doing?!”
“Idiots, do you think Shido is that easy to fool? I’ve been missing for seven days. What am I supposed to say when he gives me another order?” Akechi raised his bleeding hand, his voice cold. “This is the only way to avoid his commands.”
“…I wonder if trusting you was a mistake.”
Akechi threw the gun into a nearby suitcase, picking it up and walking away, blood dripping from his hand.
“But you did trust us,” Ren said from behind him.
“Even at the cost of injuring yourself.”
Akechi stopped, not saying a word, then continued walking.
He vanished from Mementos, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Akechi had changed.
The selfish man had become selfless, and the man who called himself Justice had finally turned towards true justice.
