Akechi could still remember how lonely he felt after his mother killed herself. When he attended her wake, he didn't notice how the small amount of people who came to say goodbye to her. It was her neighbors, coworkers, and the elderly couple, the Nakamura's, that watched over him when she went to work. The surprising person who came by was her older brother, Akechi Takashi.

When her family took her off the family registry, all of them avoided her like she was the plague. How her brother even know that she died was a mystery to Akechi, but he didn't questioned it at the time. He took care of everything, from paying the funeral services fees to greeting the guests while Akechi stood beside him in silence.

It was awkward when everyone left and it was only him and his uncle in the room. Akechi avoided speaking to people, afraid that he might start burst out crying even though he was emotionally drained. It didn't feel like he had any tears left to shed, his eyes were still swollen and puffy from crying the previous days. Luckily, Takashi understood his difficulty and only rubbed his back as he drank his beer in silence. Afterwards, he drove Akechi home and told him to get some rest before disappearing off. He was going to stay at a hotel since there was no guest room in Akechi's house and Akechi didn't want to be the one who say that his mother's room was empty now.

It was so weird, sleeping in an empty home. No mother to read him a bedtime story. No more sweet kisses on the forehead before she turned off the lights. No more wishing him a goodnight before she heads back to her room. He changed into his pajamas, turned off the lights, and slipped under his bed covers. It was so quiet. It never used to disturb him before.

He didn't understand. He didn't understand anything at all. Why did his mother died? Was she not happy? Did she think about him at all before taking her own life? Wasn't it supposed to be him and his mom together against the world?

Akechi felt his eyes get watery and hurried to wipe the evidence off his face. There was no one who will hug him and tell him everything will be okay. That person just left him two days ago.

He pulled the covers over his head as he cried into his bed. No one was able to heard his sobs.

The next day was the funeral, it was a quiet bright morning. After the funeral, Nakamura Akane gave him flowers to place by his mother's side. He thanked her as he took them from her old aging hands and looked at them, he saw how pretty they all looked together. Light pink cherry blossoms were his favorite flower with a lone white Camellia which was his mother's favorite. He didn't know the meaning behind her flower until later, increasing his hatred for Shido.

He chose Sakura because his mother always spent one afternoon every year to take him to enjoy the cherry blossom viewing. She always look pretty when the petals landed on her hair and falling all around her. She always looked happier on those days too, the shadows beneath her eyes were a little lighter, her smile just a little bit wider. Akechi treasure those days deeply in his heart.

Now that he looks at them, he doesn't feel his usual happiness. He's just reminded of the fact that his mother won't be there next year to see the new pink flowers on the trees with him anymore.

Akechi quietly placed them right next to her head. He finally let out a tiny smile. She looked paler than normal but still managed to look pretty with the cherry blossoms around her.

His uncle closed the coffin and they brought her to the cremation room.

Akechi started breathing fast as her coffin went inside the cremation chamber. He could feel the tears moving down his face as he tried to slow his breathing.

"Are you alright Goro?" his uncle asked.

"A-ah…" Akechi tried speaking but started stuttering instead. His face scrunched up as he tried (he really did!) to stop himself for embarrassing himself in front of his uncle.

His uncle seemed to understand what was happening and led him out of the room. He rubbed his back when they were outside.

"Focus on taking deep breaths." he said softly as he continued to rub Akechi's back. "Follow my lead." He instructed Akechi to copy his breathing by taking a deep breath, holding for a few seconds, then releasing it. Akechi followed a few times until he deemed it was enough, that Akechi stopped his double breathing after taking in deep breaths.

"Are you good now?" He asked.

Akechi nodded and apologize for inconvenience that he must have caused him.

"It's not a problem. I understand, take your time." He said kindly as he stared at Akechi.

Akechi was finally able to look at his uncle. Before this, he avoided looking at anyone directly in the face. He never saw his uncle before his mom died and saw that he also has light brown hair and kind smile that his mom used to have too. Will...he be living with him now? He seems like a nice person.

Akechi hesitantly started to ask him questions about his life. If he was going to live with him, then he should know more things about him!

Takashi responded to all of his questions as they waited for the cremation to finish. After it was done, one of the staff interrupted them to call them into another room.

On the slab was the ashes and bones of his mother.

Akechi stepped back in horror at seeing his mother's remains.

"Goro, look at me and breathe. We have to do this for your mother." He said as he grabbed and hold Akechi's hand.

"We're going to be doing it together. Don't be afraid." He smiled as he led Akechi to her ashes.

There was a metal tray with an urn sitting in the middle above the ashes. Takashi grabbed a pair of chopsticks and explained what was happening. He handed another pair of long chopsticks to Akechi as he told them that they will grab the bones starting from the feet first and place them into the urn, this is to make sure Akechi's mother is not upside down in the urn.

His uncle told him that this is the only time that people could pass things from chopsticks to chopsticks. Akechi tried not to think too much that he was grabbing his mother's bones with his chopsticks as he waited for his uncle to take it from him. It was a slow affair but his uncle was telling him stories about his mother, making time go by faster.

After they finished collecting every single bone and the ashes were collected into the urn, they went home.

As they were putting her urn onto the table as a temporary spot, the doorbell rang.

Both of them looked at each other before heading towards the door. His uncle opened it and the person turned out to be a lady from the child social welfare services. She said that since Akechi had no family, they were going to placed him in an institutional home.

He was confused. Isn't he going home with his uncle?

His uncle argued that they have to do the 49 days memorial service and that Akechi had to be there for the first 7 days.

Her counter-argument was that he need get use to his new life and the other kids who will be living in the institutional home with him.

Akechi's breathing stuttered. He wasn't staying with his uncle?

He left the room as they continued to argue on what is going to be his future for the next few weeks.

He walked back to the room where his mom's urn was, his feet padded silently through the house.

Akechi sat down, put his arms onto the table, and rested his head on top of them as he stared at the urn.

As long as he could remember, Akechi has always seen his mother stare off into the distance. He asked her what she was thinking about at first and she always responded that she misses his dad and hope that he returns to them.

First his dad, then his mom, now his uncle. No one wants to be around him.

When his uncle returns to the living room to talk to Akechi about his living situation of the next few days, he just responded by nodding numbly and giving very short answers. He didn't bother asking personal questions anymore, what's the point if they weren't going to be around each other? He wouldn't be surprised if they never saw each other after this was all over.

Living in an institutional home was completely different from his old home. It was loud, there were always kids crying in the background, and it was an absolute chaos to be in.

Akechi wasn't particularly close to any of the kids in the home. Everyone seems to be doing their own thing or had their own groups already. No one seems interested in the new kid.

So he kept to himself. He read books, watched television, and played on the swings by himself while watching everyone else interacted with each other. It felt like he was an viewer, watching a show or movie, no one bothered talking to him, all but one that is.

Someone new came to the institutional home. She was a young lady who was one of the caretaker and a wonderful person. Her name was Watanabe Yui. She always took the time to talk to him and keep him company when he was eating and playing.

He wouldn't be surprised if she left though.

Later she announced to everyone that she was leaving to concentrate on getting her college degree which was only after a year that he arrived. He knew it was going to happen eventually, but it still hurts.

She said she was going to keep in touch with everyone as she smiled widely and waved at them before leaving them, leaving him.

She didn't.

Akechi eventually stopped bothering trying to reach out to other people, to make friends, to let anyone get close to him. Everyone will end up leaving anyway, why bother making an effort for just a temporary feeling of happiness. It will just make it hurt more when they finally decide to leave.

Even though he thought that, he couldn't help but to laugh along with the rest of the Phantom Thieves, let his guard down a little, and hang out with them even when it wasn't related to the Phantom Thieves.

It was strange.

He didn't dislike the feeling, but he was afraid when the other shoe was going to drop. When will he be force to see them leave him?

Even though he was dreading the day when that arrive, he still couldn't stop himself from enjoying their presence.

The day when Akechi will take his revenge upon Shido was slowly approaching, he wants to visit his mother at least one more time before that though. He already has the hard evidence of Shido's shady dealings with the Yakuza and other corrupt people. He also has gotten victims to speak up about their experiences to his sexual assaults and his threats to make them keep quiet.

Akechi had accumulated a lot of evidence in the past two years and it helped a lot that he was a young well-known detective. He was able to use the police database when he needs to do research for his cases. While Shido might have a few higher-ups from the police in his pocket, the evidence of his crimes has not been thoroughly deleted as he would have hoped. Akechi was able to put together the little information that were still there and make sense of it all.

But the nail in the coffin will be when he reveals that he was the illegitimate child of Shido's. Akechi doesn't care if this would ruined his own reputation, as long as Shido goes down, he was willing to sacrifice anything and everything for his plans. He wanted, no, he needed to see Shido's face as he reveals his parentage. Would he looked shocked, angry, or something entirely different? Akechi couldn't wait to find out.

He was now waiting until Shido became Prime Minister. The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Shido's reputation will never be able to recover from this. Shido will suffer from the public's hatred and be force to become isolated from everyone, just like his mother. Akechi swore on his life to make Shido's life as miserable as possible that death would be a better choice than living. Akechi couldn't wait to see his face when someone he disregarded as worthless gets the best of him.

He couldn't help but to smirk at the thought of everything going according to plan. He wanted to visit his mother's grave at least once before all of this though so Akechi went to visit the flower shop in the Shibuya underground mall.

"Welcome, what can I help you with today?" A male's voice called out.

Akechi was busy looking at the premade flower bouquets as he responded, "I would like to purchase a small flower bouquet made for a deceased family member. If it's not too much trouble, could you put a white Camellia in there too? It was my mother's favorite flower."

"Sure, just give me a minute to make your order."

Akechi had always debated putting white Camellias in the bouquet, but ends up doing it every time. While he hate the meaning behind that particular flower, she did love it. He always decide to put aside his selfishness when he visits her. It was unfair to her if he made the day about himself.

"I'm done, your total is going to be 980 yen."

Akechi finally turned to look and nearly stepped back in surprise. His eyes blink rapidly a few times, taking in the person he was talking to for the past few minutes.

"Kurusu-kun?"

"Haha, you finally noticed? I was waiting to see when you will finally look up." Akira chuckled.

"Ah, my apologies." He blushed slightly as cursed himself for being too oblivious to his surroundings. He put his briefcase down and pulled out his wallet to pay for the bouquet.

"Stop being so formal, we're friends now." Akira chastised him as he smiled.

As they exchanged money and the bouquet, Akira asked him, "I'm going to get off soon, could I come with you to visit your mom?"

Akechi's eyes widen in surprise. This was the time someone had ever ask to accompany him when he's visiting his mother's grave.

Apparently he took too long to respond that Akira raised his hands in defense and said, "you don't have to accept of course! I don't want to pressure you or force myself into a private matter!"

He slowly lowered his hands and placed one behind his neck. He laughed sheepishly. "It's just...I was curious in meeting her since you mention her before."

It was surprising that he remembered. Akechi only mentioned his mother once and he was still unsure how the conversation started that he began revealing a little bit about his past.

"Oh, it's not that, I was just...surprised that's all. It's the first time someone asked me that question that it caught me off guard. It's fine. I would love to have your company Kurusu-kun."

Akechi let a small smile as he said this. His mother would love to know that he has made friends now and one of them was visiting her too.

Akira blinked quickly a few times before giving his own smile.

"Okay, could you wait a few more minutes then? I'm almost done with my shift. I just need to clean up then we can go."

"Sure."

Akechi picked up his briefcase and walked outside the shop and leaned against the wall besides the shop. He took the time to fully look at the bouquet. It was quite wonderful. There was a few white Camellias, Lilies, Chrysanthemum, pink carnations, and many other types of flowers that Akechi doesn't know the name of, but it looked well put together and the flowers complimented each other nicely. Akira did a wonderful job on it.

"I'm ready."

Akira came out in his normal outfit. It was starting to get chilly outside so he wore a black jacket over his outfit. It was surprising that he didn't see Morgana in his bag. He decided to bring it up as they walked to the train station.

"Hey, I just noticed that Morgana isn't here, where is he?"

"Oh, sometimes he watches me work, other times he likes wandering around the mall. I told him that Ann was going to be here today so he went to go see her. I'll just give her a quick text telling her I'm hanging out with you today so I'll come back later to pick him up."

Akechi chuckled at the thought of Morgana running to Ann and acting all cute and cuddly while everyone else in the mall can only hear him meowing. His crush towards Ann was strange, but adorable at the same time.

"I see. Well we will be going to the Aoyama cemetery." Akechi told him they climbed the steps leading to where the train station platform was.

"Oh, I heard that place looks beautiful during the cherry blossom season."

"Yes, it is." Akechi said with a sad smile. "I always visit her at least once during during that season. It was our tradition to view the flowers together when she was alive too."

"It sounds like a wonderful tradition." Akira said. He wished he was able to hold Akechi or at least his hand and say something comforting. He just kept silent after that as they waited for the train to arrive.

They stepped onto the train and sat on their seats as Akechi said, "Ah I didn't meant to make the topic depressing!"

"No, not at all! I'm glad you were able to share that with me." Akira smiled at him.

Akechi couldn't help but to smile back.

"Oh I forgot to say, the bouquet you made was beautiful, I was wondering how long have you been working at the flower shop?"

"Since the beginning of August, it was originally for a request from Mishima. We heard that people were being assaulted in the mall and wanted to know more details so I worked there. It turned out to be fun so I continued working there when I have free time." Akira shrugged.

He was really nice, well, the Phantom Thieves are too, but Akira was the one who goes the extra mile and talks to people that look like they were being troubled by something. He was willing to work part-time jobs and go undercover to help understand the situation better before tackling the situation. Akira really was a great person, he acts genuine in his actions that Akechi wants to believe in his words. The words that they are friends, that he was interesting in knowing more about Akechi.

But he can't. Too many times he has been betrayed by people he thought he could trust. No more.

"I see. Do you have any interesting stories while working there?" Akechi asked.

"Hmm..." Akira thought about it for a few seconds before he had a smiling and grimacing expression on his face. He started talking about when he started working there, how lost he felt with the various types of flowers that existed. There was a customer who recently received a love letter and he wanted to respond yes with a beautiful flower bouquet. He requested big bright flowers to how much he likes the lady and how their relationship will be colorful and full of adventures so Akira did what he asked for with his best abilities. He put primrose, yellow tulips, and sweet pea in the bouquet. His manager didn't hear the request so she handed the customer the bouquet with no questions and thanked him for his purchase. She later asked him what the customer's request was.

Akira found out that the bouquet he made meant desperate one-sided love and goodbye. Uh, woops.

He had her look closely at his work the next few times he came into work and had to research online the meaning behind flowers to avoid another embarrassing situation in the future.

Akechi couldn't help but to laugh at the story. He tried hiding it by disguising it as a cough but it didn't work as well as he would have wanted.

"Ah, ha ha… sorry, I didn't mean to laugh this hard." His shoulders were still shaking as he tried to repress his chuckles, but when he imagine Akira's horrified face as he found out that he gave the worst kind of bouquet ever known to man to a customer made him start laughing again.

Akira pouted as Akechi started another round of laughter, but he couldn't keep up appearances, seeing Akechi smile with unrepressed joy made him happy. He rarely see Akechi smile genuinely, this is quite a treat for him and he was going to treasure this moment forever. Hmm.

*click*

He snapped a picture of Akechi as he was trying to recover, but the smile remained on his face. Akechi turned to the sound and saw Akira playing on his phone.

"Did you just take a picture of me?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, I just remembered that I don't have a picture of you on my phone. I need to update your contact picture." Akira said as he was doing just that.

"I could've given you one if you had just asked."

"You probably could, but I wanted a candid photo. You can take one of me too if you want." Akira put his phone away and threw a peace sign as he stared at Akechi.

"...you know that's not a candid shot right?"

Akira let out an innocent smile as he tilts his head in "confusion".

The train's speaker announced that they were in Aoyama now. A few people stood up to leave the train and Akechi threw Akira a dirty look as he picked up his briefcase between his legs and followed the crowd.

Akira chuckled as he place his bag on his shoulder again and walked behind Akechi, trying not to lose him in the crowd.

They walked out of the busy train station onto the streets of Aoyama. Akechi peeked behind him, just to make sure Akira was still there, before heading off in the direction of the cemetery.

Akira was curious, he never really walked around Aoyama before He just walks straight to school and the train station. Due to Aoyama being the wealthiest neighborhoods, everything in the area was out of Akira's price range. Now that he has more money coming in from his Shadow negotiations and part-time jobs, maybe he could finally start exploring the area more. Maybe with Akechi as a date one day he hopes.

As they reached the cemetery, Akira was amazed by the sheer size and scenery of the place. It looked really pretty in the fall, he bet that it would also look gorgeous in the spring when the cherry blossom season starts. All the trees still had leaves on them and they were vibrant in color. They ranged from a sunny yellow to a bright orange-red.

They were walking through the cemetery before Akechi suddenly stops in the middle of the pathway.

"What's up?" He stood next to Akechi while peering at his face.

"Ah, would you mind holding the bouquet for a moment? I need to grab a wooden bucket and ladle. I must be more out of it than I thought..." he muttered. Akechi looked quite embarrassed that he forgot such a simple matter as he was slowly handing out his flowers to Akira.

Normally Akira would totally be into the situation, his crush giving him flowers, but he didn't like how upset Akechi currently looked.

So he offered, "Hey I can just do it for you. You can just hold onto the flower bouquet and I'll grab the bucket."

He did see it earlier when they were walking into the cemetery. The walk wasn't too far either.

"No, I couldn't do that to a guest and you would have to carry the water too. That's very impolite to make a guest do that." Akechi argued.

"Well I offered so it's not impolite and besides, we're friends. I know you would do the same for me." He said as he smiled.

"Ah-" Akechi looked like he wanted to continued this topic so Akira sped walked towards the entrance.

"Too late, I'm heading there now."

"!" While Akechi frowned at Akira who was walking while ignoring him, he couldn't be helped but feel warm inside. Someone was willing to do something troublesome for him even when he said it was alright. People usually stop asking and let him continue on with his tasks after he claims that he was fine and didn't need any help.

It was strange. It actually feels like Akira genuinely wants to be his friend.

'Would it be so bad to have one? He is reliable, kind, and always willing to help his friends.'

Akechi's frown faded and he slowly smiled at Akira's back. It wouldn't be so bad. Akechi walked closer towards Akira, not wanting him to run all the way back to Akechi's original spot.

"I'm back." Akira announced with the stuff in his hands.

"I apologize for the inconvenience Kurusu-kun. I'm still willing to switch if you like." Akechi looked concerned about him. It was kind of cute. He wished he could sneakily take a picture right now of Akechi.

"No. I didn't do this for your apologies." Akira pouted.

"?" Akechi looked at him in confusion.

Akira looked at him like he was waiting for something.

Akechi thought about it for a second before a lightbulb appeared. "Ah... then thank you for your help Kurusu-kun."

Akira beamed at him making him blush in return. He quickly hid it by turning around and walking towards to their destination. Akira managed to see it before he turned and Akechi's ears were still red.

"This place divides up the graves and each location has tap water in the front, luckily, her grave isn't far from the tap water so you won't have to carry it for long." Akechi explains as they walked.

"I see. That's pretty smart."

"Yes, they organized this place pretty well."

They walked for a little bit before Akechi said, "this is the location. The tap water is over there." He pointed to the left where it was located. Akira missed it by being too busy watching the leaves falling gracefully from the trees and looking at Akechi's behind. Heh.

"Oh, thanks." he said.

Akechi waited as he filled the bucket and they continued on their way. He stopped in front of a grave.

"Here we are." He said as he unravels the wrapping paper of the bouquet. Akechi places the flowers in the empty built-in holder in front of the tombstone. He then proceeds to open his suitcase to toss the wrapping paper in there before taking out some incense, a cloth, and a brush and putting them on top of his suitcase.

"You can put the bucket down now." He asked as he folded his jacket up to the elbows.

Akira nodded as he did just that.

As Akechi was busying himself with scrubbing the dust and stains on the grave with the tap water, Akira put his bag down also and started pulling the weeds out from around the grave.

He saw Akechi opening his mouth and said quickly, "Two hands are faster than one." Akechi looked like he wanted to argue, but stopped himself last minute before nodding. Heh. A small victory.

After they finished cleaning the grave, Akechi lit some incense and they stood up put their hands together in prayer.

"Thank you mom for helping bringing me into the world. Please continue to watch over me and offer guidance and protection whenever I need it." Akechi hesitated before continuing on.

"...I've brought a friend here today. His name is Kurusu Akira and ...he's everything you would want in a friend. I'm lucky to have him so you don't have to worry so much about me." He said quietly. Akira had to strained his ears to pick up on those words and it made him flush in pride. Akechi always seem surprised whenever Akira use the word friend so hearing him say that made Akira's heart swells in happiness. It feels like he was getting through with him and that he was acknowledging their relationship.

"Goro is such a sweet person." Akira said after Akechi finished talking.

'Goro?!'

Akechi turns to look at him in surprise before he remember that he was suppose to be paying his respects and look forward again. He probably didn't expect him to say anything, but how could he not after the huge compliment he was just given?

"I enjoy being with him. He's hard to resist, especially his cute face. It's super effective. Although on some days when he comes to visits me, he looks sad sometimes, I promise we will make a lot of good memories together that eventually one day, he will only want to smile when he sees me. I promise to take good care of him."

Akechi looked really annoyed and it looked like he was tempted to smack Akira, but wasn't able to at the moment. His eyes showed his vow with how fierce they looked, but he couldn't stop his face from blushing bright red. After the incense finally stopped burning, they cleaned up the area and Akechi put everything back into his suitcase.

"Oh, you are allowed to dump the water over there by the trees." Akechi pointed.

"Thanks! I'll be right back then, don't leave without me." Akira grabbed the bucket and left Akechi's side.

Akechi turned to face his mother's grave.

"Soon. The day when I will reveal all of Shido's crimes will be coming soon. I won't stop until he pays for everything he has to done you, to us, so please just wait a little longer mom." He promised, staring solemnly at the grave before picking up his suitcase along with Akira's bag and started walking towards Akira.

After Akira finished pouring out the water from the wooden bucket, they proceeded to walk to the front of the cemetery and placed the bucket down with the rest of them.

"Thank you for your help and your presence today. I'm sure mom enjoyed seeing you for the first time." Akechi said as he handed back Akira's bag to him.

"It was nice. Maybe we can invite everyone else also to view the flowers next year in March when we come to visit your mom next time. It could be our tradition." He replied as he took his bag and set it comfortably on his shoulder.

"Yeah. I would... like that." If everything went well, Akechi wouldn't mind celebrating his accomplishments with them and telling his mother the good news. Akechi let out a smile as he thought how infectious the energy the group would bring to the place and how his mother would love it.

He remembers something important. "Oh yeah."

Akechi's hand flew so fast and hit the back of Akira's head.

"That's for saying all those things in front of my mother!" Akechi's nose scrunched as he recalled everything Akira said.

"Ouch!" Akira rubbed his head before looking at Akechi. He might have deserved that but still, that hurts!

"But they are all true! I meant all of it! Especially the cute face part!" He grinned as he ran to the train station and he heard Akechi running after him.

"Why you! Get back here!"

Author's Notes: I made an original character because otherwise, I'm not sure how the funeral fees will get paid and whatnot when the family member gets disowned. I tried looking it up, but couldn't find the details. :\ I hope I didn't make Akechi's uncle seem pervy because he seems really nice to Akechi.

This story got more depressing than I thought.

White Camellia represents waiting in Japanese culture. Akechi's mom genuinely loved Shido and was waiting for him to change his mind.