Fools
[Awkward]
Souji always found it weird that he and Adachi had very similar voices, so when they were forced to sing a duet in karaoke… The atmosphere felt a bit…awkward.
[Bruise]
"Souji-kun, what's that on your neck?"
"Huh?"
"Here, can I look?"
"Huh? Oh… Uh… S-Sure?"
Adachi glared at the mark near the back of Souji's neck, just barely reaching underneath his ear. The detective moved behind Souji and lightly folded his collar so he could see better. Adachi blinked, before turning the teen around, gripping his shoulders tightly.
"There's a damn bruise all the way down your back, Souji." He looked straight into Souji's eyes, before the teen shyly looked away and said nothing. "Who did this to you?"
"N-Nobody… I was just clumsy… And fell down some stairs…"
"That's the excuse everybody gives when they're scared if they say anything. Souji, I promise you that you'll be safer if you tell either Dojima or myself, but since I'm here, who did this to you?"
"Nobody! I swear! Even ask Yosuke! I just fell down the stairs at school…"
"…Really?"
"Really."
"If I find out you're lying…"
"I'm not!"
Adachi glared, before sighing, "…All right, fine. But don't hesitate to talk to me or your uncle if anyone's bullying you, understand?"
Souji nodded. He wished he got the bruise from heroically fighting Shadows like a badass, or indeed from getting bullied, but…he really did just fall down the stairs…
[Charcoal]
Souji always wondered how Adachi's charcoal eyes could shine so brightly with innocent mischief. It was weird seeing something so dark be so…light.
[Deception]
"You… You deceived me! You deceived us!"
Adachi could only laugh, "I didn't deceive anyone. After all, this was just a game, even to you, right, Souji-kun~?"
[Edge]
He was over the edge of his breaking point. The sheen of the gun in his hand reflected the moon's surface as he sat alone at the Riverbed. He lightly tossed it in the air a couple of times, eyeing the revolver as it moved. There was nothing that would stop him from doing this, but he wanted an audience first. He wanted to see their horrified faces to be the last thing he saw, as he started pulling the trigger.
It would probably be the only thing worthwhile in this broken, boring town.
Minutes passed as the pale moon continued to be his only company. Then he heard sirens clash with the sounds of the river. Then footsteps. Lots of them.
He slowly stood up from where was sitting, walking towards the road to initiate the landmark. Dojima was the first to arrive, and almost tripped from the sight of him with a gun to his head, devilish smirk on his face.
"S-Stop this!" the detective yelled, "Don't be an idiot, Souji! If there's something you need to talk about, talk to me, I'll listen!"
Then Adachi appeared, followed by Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto and Teddie. There were other cops, of course, but Souji didn't really care for those he didn't know. Everyone was trying to persuade him to put the gun down, and Adachi was as pale as the moon. The young detective would probably never use the gun again once Souji pulled the trigger. How simple it was though, to steal a gun from a cop.
"Souji... What about Nanako? Do you have any idea what this will do to her?"
The smirk stayed on his face. He didn't care. He was over the edge of his breaking point. He was falling through an abyss nobody could help him out of.
His finger twitched on the trigger, and those horrified faces were probably the best thing he'd ever seen before they faded to nothing.
[Fear]
Adachi grit his teeth, gripping tightly onto Souji's hair, aiming his gun right between the teen's eyes.
"I'm not scared, you know." The teen whispered.
"Yes, you are."
"No—"
"Quit trying to act like a fearless leader; you're scared out of your skin! Admit it!"
Adachi grinned when Souji slowly broke down, tears streaming down his face as he begged and pleaded for the detective to not pull the trigger. Even the most courageous people had to feel fear at some point.
[Gamble]
Souji learned that the origin of the word "wedding" was gamble… So why did he randomly imagine Dojima and Adachi, who were gambling, getting married?
…Souji shivered. His mind would never be clean again…
[Hero]
"Thank you, Adachi-san! You're a true hero!" Souji laughed, grinning ear to ear as Adachi blushed.
"But…"
"See? The game even says you are!"
"Y...Yeah, I guess."
Adachi could only stare at the congratulation screen on the TV. A hero… Yeah, right.
[Incapacitated]
Souji was glad Nanako had gone to bed a couple of hours ago; he didn't want her to be caught up in the fiasco going on. Two drunken detectives fighting over which law show was the best wasn't the prettiest thing to see…or to be stuck in between. He was getting splashed with alcoholic beverages as the grown men leaned forward to glare at each other, waving their arms around. Souji was surprised beer was the only thing hitting him, seeing how wild their arms were flying and how he was sitting in the middle.
"Sooujii! Wh…What do y…you sthink?"
"Y-Yeah! Whaat do you th…think?"
Souji ignored them, even when they started playing tug-of-war with him. If they asked later (if they remembered), he'd just say he was too occupied by the show on TV to notice.
[Judge]
"You're telling me you've come back after two years, and the first person you see is me? The guy you sent to jail for murder."
"Yes."
"And you didn't tell anyone you were coming to Inaba, let alone coming to visit me?"
"Right."
Adachi could only shake his head in amusement, a short smirk on his face. He had no idea what to say. He absolutely detested this kid, but he had always found him intriguing. He rested his chin on his hand, waiting for the other one to speak. Any words Adachi had had, they died on his tongue.
"I never judged you."
"…Hm?" the smirk fell from his face and a questioning eyebrow replaced it.
"Out of everybody I met, you were the only one I never judged."
Adachi leaned back in his chair, eyeing the teen weirdly. What the hell was he smoking?
"I had just wanted to know the truth. And now I understand your reasoning why you did it."
"Do you, now?"
"Yes."
Adachi could have sworn he saw Souji's eyes glow yellow for a split moment, before turning back to normal.
[Kitten]
Adachi looked down at the sleeping form of Souji, curled up tightly in a ball. The detective never thought there'd be a day he'd ever see how the teen looked now, completely pure and innocent, like a kitten.
…It made him sick.
[Liar]
"Adachi-san, you liar!"
"Huh?"
"You could have come with us to the movies! You weren't really on a date yesterday, were you?"
"I-I was!"
"Then how come your ears are twitching?"
"…W-Wha—?"
"Your ears twitch when you lie."
"…I…I see…"
[Masquerade]
Souji noted that hanging around Adachi was like going to a masquerade ball and playing the guessing game. The man was completely unidentifiable; it seemed like the aura around Adachi changed each passing day, and it was dancing circles around Souji.
[Necktie]
The moment Souji met Adachi and saw the man's crooked, deformed tie, the teen wanted to so badly to fix the damn thing. How could a grown man not know how to tie a tie?
[Observe]
Adachi had always been an observer, even when he was young. He liked observing people, whether they be strangers on a bus or people in a mall.
He'd observe them to criticize them in his head.
So why was it that when he observed Souji, he spent more time being intrigued than he did criticizing the boy?
[Parasite]
Friends were like parasites, leeching off of you to get what they want, what they need, what they enjoy. But Adachi was shocked with Souji.
"You really don't have to do this, Souji-kun." He muttered as the boy continued filling the shopping cart with food.
"But I want to!" Souji smiled as he held up what he was holding to Adachi, to see if he nodded to say he liked it. "Besides, I have a lot of money to spare, and Uncle said one of your higher-ups docked your pay… right?"
"Y-Yeah…" Adachi sighed. Damn it, Dojima.
"Besides, we're friends, right?"
Adachi gave a short nod as they strolled through Junes, Souji continuing to get Adachi's confirmation about foods he liked.
Adachi didn't think of him as a friend, not at all, but he wouldn't mind being a parasite once to get food that wasn't the same instant shit over and over again. Besides, Souji offered, so he wasn't really being a parasite, now was he?
[Queen]
"You know, Souji…" the teen turned, looking at the detective as they walked down the street, heading to Junes. "I was wandering through your school at lunch to question a teacher that called something in yesterday… And…I found pictures of the culture festival hanging on a bulletin board…and I saw you and your…guy friends…um…cross…dressing…"
"Oh, Chie signed us up for the cross dressing pageant against our will because Yosuke signed the girls up for the normal beauty pageant."
"I… I see… But isn't signing you up for a cross dressing contest a little extreme for…them getting signed up for just a normal beauty pageant?"
"Eh. I guess."
"So… Uh… who won?"
"Well, Teddie won, but that's only because he's already girly. I know I was the actual Queen of that pageant! Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yea—W-Wait, what?"
[Restart]
Adachi wasn't sure how many years it was until he was released from prison, he hadn't even been paying attention when he got his verdict. He'd known he'd be declared guilty. So when he finally got out, he had no idea what to do with himself, jail had him on a schedule that he got absolutely accustomed to.
Now that he was walking outside, towards the gates to finally actually get off the grounds of prison and be free, the last thing he was expecting was a visitor waiting outside.
"The hell do you want, kid?" he seethed once they were steps apart. It was Souji Seta, no doubt about that. He was obviously older, but nothing about him seemed to change much. He still had the same hairstyle, those same gleaming eyes, and that ever patient smile.
"I thought we could start over." He still sounded the same too. Used the same tone. Other than being older, he was exactly the same.
"Start over?" Adachi sneered, arms crossed as he leaned forward.
Souji's patient smile seemed to grow, "Yes, start over."
Adachi lowered his head, sighing angrily as he started scratching his leg with his other foot. "There's nothin' to start over, kid. Go try and be a saint for somebody else."
"I'm not trying to be a saint." Adachi stiffened when Souji placed a light hand on his shoulder. "I want to start over as acquaintances."
Adachi waved the younger man's hand away and straightened himself, shoving one of his hands in the worn jeans the prison had given him to wear outside. He sighed again and rolled his head before looking down at the other man.
The ex-detective slowly extended his free hand, the grin on Souji's face beaming as he gracefully accepted Adachi's hand.
[Stare]
Souji could only stare.
Adachi could only stare.
"What…is that?"
"I…have no idea."
"It's a rabbit!" Nanako piped up, giggling at the men.
Souji and Adachi slowly looked at each other, then back at the TV, before feeling like all intelligence they had slowly withered away. It was a rabbit on the screen.
[Try]
"Everybody says I'm a lost cause at being a detective…"
"Well, at least you try your best!"
"…That…didn't really help…"
[Up]
Adachi looked up at the teen that stood over him. Adachi couldn't help but laugh.
"Thinkin' you're all high and mighty, ya little—"
"No, I don't. But I think you think you are. Now stand up."
Adachi frowned, but he got to his feet. His hands were tingling at his sides. He could strangle the boy right now and nobody would realize it was him. Souji had come here on his own. He had chased Adachi down to Magatsu Inaba after he confronted the detective by himself. The teen went through all the obstacles the maze had to offer without any help from his friends whatsoever.
His eyes wandered to the boy's sword and his gun that was placed near the ledge, the teen placing them there after the fight was over.
His eyes wandered back to the boy, and he wanted to oh-so-badly raise his arms and start choking the living life out of the little brat, and then the kid would be looking up at him instead of the other way around.
[White]
Adachi looked down at his shirt.
It was stained with blood. Even if he somehow managed to completely remove the blood, Adachi knew the shirt would never truly be white again.
[X]
Souji stared at the caution tape that formed an X. It was warning him not to go through there, it was telling him to go back home. He looked behind his shoulder at his friends, who were staring eagerly at the scene.
Souji ignored the warning and tore down the tape, rushing through the decaying roads.
[Yesterday]
Adachi could only stare. His mind went blank, and Dojima screaming (whether it was at him or not, he wasn't sure) wasn't enough to actually fully catch his attention. All he could do was stare and stare and stare past the yellow tape.
They'd talked yesterday! They'd laughed yesterday! He could have stopped this from happening… He should have walked home with him, to make sure he got home safely…
"It'll be okay, Adachi-san, I'll be fine! You go on home, you look tired."
He should have insisted…
Adachi closed his eyes tightly. He didn't want to stare anymore. But he found his eyes opening against his will anyway, and he found himself staring at the beaten, bloody, bruised and lifeless body of Souji Seta.
Yesterday, he'd been alive.
[Zero]
Souji looked out his window, and stared at the pale moon in the sky. It'd been a month since he left Inaba, but he couldn't get his mind off it. He asked his parents if they could move there, but they only laughed and walked away. Inaba had been the nicest place he'd been too, discounting the murders and mysteries. He met friends that continued to talk to him after he left, instead of texting something once then never said anything ever again.
The teen lifted himself off his couch, and opened the giant windows, before sitting on the ledge. He didn't care that it was cold.
He squinted, trying to see in the distance, and maybe, just maybe, he could see the quiet town of Inaba. He knew that wouldn't happen though. Inaba was thousands of miles away.
He wore his school uniform from that town on his days off. Today was one of those days. He wouldn't let his parents, or the maid, wash it, he washed it himself. Souji slipped his hand in his pocket, before taking that oh-so-familiar card out of it. He raised it against the moonlight, Izanagi shining proudly and majestically as it seemed like he glowed.
Souji could only smile.
…Before it faltered.
It seemed like the sky slowly morphed into stripes of red and black, the city underneath him crumbling. He lowered his card, and everything went to normal.
Souji sighed, and looked over his shoulder, back into his room. Nothing was out of the ordinary. But of course there wouldn't be. His TV wouldn't flicker on at midnight ever again, he wouldn't have to help solve murders again, and he wouldn't have to use his Persona ever again.
He looked back to the moon, the only thing he could see was that woman in white, and he remembered her hovering over him as he lay on the road by the Moel Gas Station in absolute shock. Then he found himself lifting Izanagi's card to block half the moon, and half the city beneath him crumbled back into Magatsu Inaba.
The teen looked down when he heard the engine of a truck roaring beneath his feet. It was a mail-truck.
Souji gave a short laugh, before shaking his head and flicking his Persona's card back into his pocket. He lifted his knees to his chest and held his legs, continuing to stare out to the shining moon.
"Children of Man… Well done…!"
The words echoed in his head and he gave a short smile and he slowly retreated back into his room, closing the window again, pulling the curtains down.
He crawled into bed, not bothering to change into his pajamas. The events of Namatame, Adachi, and Izanami flooding back to him the instant he closed his eyes. He remembered every word, every pause, every raw emotion in all three events, and Souji couldn't help but mentally smirk when he felt Izanagi lightly burn in his pocket.
They had all been Fools.