Chapter 45
“What will you do if Shido isn’t punished?” Ren asked Akechi after they left Shido’s Palace.
Akechi looked at him strangely. “What do you mean?”
“Just curious,” Ren said, putting his hand in his pocket. “You don’t seem like the type to give up easily.”
Akechi stared at Ren for a long moment. “Amamiya,” he finally said, “somehow, I feel like you understand me better than that nauseatingly righteous bastard.”
“You see through me.”
Nauseatingly righteous bastard Yu pointed at himself hesitantly. “Me?”
Akechi ignored him, scoffing and looking at Ren with a hint of malice. “Although I’ve chosen to side with you, with the Phantom Thieves, it doesn’t mean I’m putting all my eggs in one basket. If I don’t get the results I want, I’ll take matters into my own hands.”
He turned to leave, waving at them dismissively.
“I wish you luck.”
Watching Akechi go, Yu tilted his head, puzzled. He looked at Ren. “Does he have a backup plan?”
“He’s the Detective Prince. It would be strange if he didn’t,” Ren said, walking away with Yu.
Morgana poked his head out of the bag. “What? I thought he was going to confess!”
“Confessing and having a backup plan aren’t mutually exclusive,” Yu patted Morgana’s head.
“So I didn’t notice his backup plan, but you did, Ren. What is it?”
“He’s left-handed,” Ren replied as they walked.
Yu’s eyes widened slightly. “Really?”
“Yes,” Ren nodded. “His injured right hand won’t affect his combat abilities. He can fight perfectly well with his left hand. He just never revealed it. It seems even Shido doesn’t know.”
Yu looked at Ren, thinking: That was strange.
He and Akechi were in the same class, even sitting next to each other. Yu considered himself observant, despite his friends’ teasing about his occasional obliviousness. He should have noticed if Akechi was left-handed.
So Akechi had hidden it well, becoming so accustomed to using his right hand that no one suspected his secret.
But how had Ren discovered it? They weren’t that close.
“That guy hasn’t caused any more mental shutdowns since that day,” Morgana said, perched on the edge of Ren’s bag. “So he’s basically repented, right?”
“Not necessarily,” Ren replied.
Yu and Morgana looked at him.
Ren met Yu’s gaze, his tone serious. “Someone who’s become desensitized to life, even after repenting, won’t immediately recognize the value of life. They have their own twisted sense of justice. They might change for someone, stop hurting innocent people.”
“But killing villains won’t necessarily make them feel guilty.”
Yu frowned, understanding Ren’s concern.
Villains should face consequences, but what if they didn’t? Especially if the villain was your sworn enemy, and you had the power to eliminate them, having already killed before…
Morgana hesitated. “So if Shido isn’t punished, Akechi will kill him?”
“Probably,” Ren replied casually. “If I were him, I might do the same.”
Taking down a corrupt politician before turning yourself in. A satisfying act of revenge.
At worst, it would be labeled “a villain taking down another villain.”
“But… but it’ll be over after we change Shido’s heart, right?” Morgana’s ears drooped. “He’ll be punished, and the public will be outraged. He’ll be imprisoned for a long time.”
Ren nodded after a moment. “Maybe.”
“Let’s go. It’s getting late.”
Yu looked at Ren, then followed him.
“Ren, can I stay at your place tonight?”
“Huh?!” Morgana almost jumped out of the bag. “What?! A sleepover?! No! You’re not old enough for sleepovers!”
Yu poked Mona. “Morgana, you have a dirty mind.”
“Huh?! It’s your fault!”
Ren soothed Morgana’s ruffled fur. “Why the sudden sleepover request? There’s no heating upstairs. It’s cold.”
“It’s fine. I’m tough!” Yu flexed his (jacket-covered) muscles.
“My parents aren’t home, and it’s too cold to be alone. I need you for company, Ren.”
Ren pushed his glasses up, nodding. “Then let’s make dinner together. I checked the fridge this morning. We have enough ingredients.”
“Sure.”
Yu looked at Ren, his gaze calm and gentle, until Ren asked, puzzled, “What?”
“Nothing,” Yu smiled.
Sometimes, Yu felt Ren knew too much, from Akechi’s left-handedness to his initial suspicion of him. And he had been right all along.
He trusted Ren and wouldn’t voice his doubts, patiently waiting.
Waiting for the moment their bond reached its peak, sharing their deepest secrets under a starry sky.
Even though he was prepared, Yu wasn’t expecting this.
The live broadcast of Shido’s confession was abruptly cut short. Before the Phantom Thieves could celebrate, the expected public outrage didn’t materialize. The people watching the broadcast stood silently, like lifeless puppets.
After a long moment, someone finally spoke.
“What’s wrong with Mr. Shido? Is he giving up on us?”
“No, he must have a reason! He’s been framed!”
“Framed by the Phantom Thieves! By the culprit behind the mental shutdowns!”
“Shido! Shido! Shido!”
The chants of support for Shido continued, echoing the results of Akechi’s earlier test. The public refused to believe he was a villain.
They convinced themselves he was being framed to justify their unwavering support.
Akechi, his expression hardening at the chants, slipped away before the Phantom Thieves could react. Yu, who had been watching him closely, followed him.
He caught up to Akechi at the entrance to Mementos, dressed in his Phantom Thief outfit, checking the bullets in his gun.
“Akechi!” Yu called out. “Stop! Don’t do this!”
Akechi didn’t stop, even quickening his pace.
Yu summoned his Persona, blocking his path.
“Yu Narukami!” Akechi turned, his eyes cold. “Don’t stop me. This is the last thing I have to do. After this, I’ll turn myself in. I’ll atone for my sins, just like you want.”
“Is it really right to kill him so easily?” Yu asked, his Persona still summoned, his tone firm.
“Akechi, he needs to be alive to prove you were just a pawn, manipulated and controlled. If he dies, you’ll have no evidence, and you might even be blamed for everything.”
“I am!” Akechi’s Phantom Thief outfit began to crumble, the black cloak reforming around him.
“Do you know what I regret the most?” Akechi asked, his voice low. “Not killing him from the very beginning, and all his allies along with him!”
Yu remained silent.
Akechi’s voice softened, almost pleading. “He’s the root of all my problems. I can’t die in peace, I can’t confess, until he’s gone.”
“Just repent and everything will be fine? No consequences? How can there be such a thing?!”
Yu’s heart ached, his gray eyes filled with sadness. He looked at Akechi, reminded of himself last year, in Nanako’s hospital room.
The culprit unpunished, the innocent suffering the consequences.
He had almost thrown Taro Namatame into the TV, seeking revenge.
“Calm down,” Yu said, echoing his words from last year. “There’s something you’re not seeing.”
“You told me yourself: mob justice can’t replace the law. That would lead to chaos.”
But Akechi wasn’t his teammate, not someone he could easily calm down. His new friend was stubborn and consumed by rage, a villain responsible for countless deaths.
“This isn’t the justice I want!”
Akechi shouted, “Unless you kill me, I’m going to do this!”
“Goro Akechi!” Yu grabbed him by the collar. “Calm down! Stop losing your mind every time he’s involved!”
“There’s something wrong here! Don’t you find it strange?!”
Akechi stared at Yu, his breath coming in ragged gasps, his eyes filled with a desperate rage.
“Strange how?”
“I felt it the moment I returned to Tokyo.”
Yu said, “Malice, negativity, discrimination… it’s everywhere. This is Tokyo, a major city, the most tolerant and accepting place in Japan. But everyone seems to be subtly influenced, turning into hateful villains, needing the Phantom Thieves to change their hearts!”
“This isn’t right. This isn’t the Tokyo I left behind.”
Akechi paused, frowning, finally calming down.
“…Now that you mention it, it is strange.”
He had always lived in Tokyo, exposed to a different kind of negativity due to his upbringing, and having awakened his Persona, he hadn’t noticed the subtle shift. But he wasn’t foolish. Yu’s words made him realize something had changed.
And the most obvious indicators of societal change were the crime rate and the corruption within the justice system.
These were precisely the areas Akechi, as a detective, was familiar with.
Besides the mental shutdown incidents, the overall crime rate this year was 30% higher than last year, the case clearance rate lower, and the upper class more discriminatory. It was as if society itself was rotting from the inside out.
This wasn’t the work of a single individual, but a widespread phenomenon.
Akechi was silent for a moment, looking at the dark expanse of Mementos, the red pipelines pulsing with an eerie light, like veins carrying something sinister.
Mementos, the collective Palace of the masses, a vast structure stretching deep beneath the city.
Something had happened here, influencing society in subtle, yet profound ways.
“There’s something else besides Shido?”
Akechi murmured softly. “What could it be?”
“Could it be… a god?”
“A god?” Yu paused. “I think… I forgot something. About a god.”
Hadn’t they driven something out of the Velvet Room during their first visit?
Why couldn’t he remember?
