Tohru wakes up in the afterlife dressed in a man's white kimono. He's in a dark room lit by one, lone lantern sitting on a kotatsu. The place has tatami floors and is sparsely decorated.
"I'm.. shit, I can't be dead.. I've still got so much more to do, I wasn't done yet..!"
"Doesn't that sound familiar," an eerily calm voice says, and Tohru looks up.
Mayumi Yamano sits across from him in a white yukata. Her gaze is not especially hateful or loving. In the dim light, the shadows paint her face even more starkly.
"It's not like I had nothing else I wanted to do in my life when you shoved me in the television, Adachi."
Tohru's eyes well up.
"Mayumi? … god, I'm so sorry, sweetheart."
Her face softens a little at his "innocent" tone, the tone she knew he'd practiced for hours in a mirror. "Pet names like that never sounded good out of your mouth."
Tohru lets out a hollow chuckle, his voice reverting back to normal. "I was trying to be nice, you wily bitch."
"That's more like it," Mayumi remarks.
She sighs, gripping her yukata.
"I'd like to keep this brief. After all, you're not meant to be truly dead yet. So save your apologies, save your remiscising, save all of it because I don't want to hear it."
Tohru looks her in the eyes. "Yukitaro.."
"Is now safe in your care, yes." Mayumi tilts her face away. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you earlier, though I know you'd understand better than any why I kept him away from you."
"I would've been a horrible father then."
"... not entirely."
Tohru cocks his head.
Mayumi chuckles.
"What, you truly think I wouldn't notice how you doted on Nanako?"
Tohru goes silent.
"I thought so," Mayumi adds, and she pauses once again.
"Is there anything you want me to do for you?"
"Anything to atone, you mean."
"Yes."
Mayumi leans back a bit. She stares blankly.
"I want you to take Yukitaro to my grave. Leave me some sake, pour it on my grave. You know the brand - it's what I always ordered when we went out drinking at the Shiroku Pub together. I want you to remind Yukitaro that, in spite of everything, I loved him, and I still do. And I want you to move on from me."
"What?"
Mayumi sighs again.
"Go be with the man you love, and stop defining yourself by what you were. You're not the man I fell for anymore. That's a good thing. Though, there is one thing of mine I'd like to give."
She twists her favorite ring off of her finger, and hands it to Tohru.
"Adachi.. think of it as my thanks and blessings for all the fun we had, and my curse for you killing me."
The ring shines with a dull glow.
I am thou, thou art I..
Thou hast turned a bond-vow into a true blood-oath.
Thy bond has become the eyes with which the truth may be seen, and the wings of rebellion that break through the hungry, binding chains..
Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret of Death, granting thee infinite power..
You have made amends with the sin that made you who you are.. and the power of these amends has given you the ability to avoid ruin.
You gained the ability Eternal Salvation, Eternal Damnation —
Mayumi smiles.
"I believe someone is here to lead you back home."
Tohru turns around to see Philemon waiting at the doorway.
"Arise, Jester, and follow me." Philemon declares, and Tohru feels himself pulled into Philemon's reach.
Philemon outstretches a hand, and Tohru takes it.
As they walk together, Tohru can't help but ask something.
"What do you look like under the mask?"
Philemon stops.
"Jester, I am the virtues in the heart of every man. If I were to take it off, it may look like a variety of people I wish to pick from, most likely yourself or the person you love the most - the person that is your sanctuary."
He turns to face Tohru and Tohru pulls the mask away.
Philemon chuckles.
"You always act with such unpredictability.." he says.
Surprising nobody except for Tohru, the face that smiles back is Ryotaro Dojima's.
Tohru Adachi pauses. He stumbles back, attempting to give the mask back, but Philemon throws it aside. "This would be the place," Philemon hums.
He snaps his fingers, and in front of them an image opens up.
Dojima's fighting off the thing that killed Tohru Adachi - a cognitive copy of Shido's personal "cleaner," a member of the Yakuza. He looks more unhinged than ever, kicking the creature in the face with no fear. Tears gleam in his eyes, but he wipes them away. He looks very close to killing the thing - as a matter of fact, in the timespan of a single breath, he hacks the cognition's head off entirely.
Yukitaro holds Adachi's corpse close as Akira approaches with a revival item.
Tohru shakes his head. "They look like shit.. I didn't think they'd cry that much over me."
He looks back up at Philemon, who's grinning.
"You hungry, unpredictable Jester.. do not waste this second chance at life. To welcome you into this new chance of salvation, I shall give you my blessing."
"Blessing..?" Tohru begins, but he's cut off by Philemon leaning in and kissing him on the lips.
In that kiss is a court's worth of secrets and unspoken knowledge and the experiences of all the Tohru Adachis that fell and rose and became anew.
Experiences in universes like this one where he found his way to Tokyo and fell for Okumura, fell for Iwai, fell for Dojima, fell for a man named Takuto Maruki that he doesn't recognize but he knows he will, someday.
Experiences where he slid backwards, manipulated Narukami and his little Investigation Team to hell and back, fled to places like Vegas where he only grew hungrier and harder to satiate.
Experiences where he found his way to a home - whether that was the Thieves, or the Dojima family, or the Investigation Team, or the Shadow Operatives or anything, anything at all.
In that kiss, time stops and he feels alive, his heart beating with a strong pulse. These memories are overwhelming, but he feels like he's truly breathing for the first time in his life.
He falls into the image, and he can't help but smile, bright and beaming.
The first face Tohru Adachi sees when he awakens is Ryotaro Dojima running over to him, and it makes him chuckle.
"You're ok.." Ryotaro breathes, kneeling down next to Adachi.
Tohru's hand reaches towards Ryotaro's face, stroking it in an oddly tender action for the man.
"Can't believe.. you're so stubborn.. that you led me back from death," Tohru laughs, eyes twinkling.
Ryotaro's eyebrows shot up in shock. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Damnit, Dad, don't leave like that again," Yukitaro hisses, hugging Tohru close, and Ryotaro hugs Tohru close as well.
The two cling to Tohru tightly as Akira strides forward.
"We need to take a break."
"No," Tohru says, "I'm fine."
Akira pinches his brow. "Ad- Devil, you literally just died, I think we all need time to process what happened!"
"We don't have time. Shido is going to hunt us down and kill us."
"DEVIL! THINK THIS THROUGH! I want to repeat, you literally just died! We need to take a break."
"... No. We aren't taking a break," Adachi snarls, "because we can't afford to."
"Don't make me order it as the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Baron, talk some sense into him." Akira jerks his head towards Dojima, his eyes blazing with intensity.
Dojima sighs, looking down at Tohru. "C'mon, you idiot, let's get going back-"
"As the leader of the Devil's Hand section of the Thieves, I say no. Even if we could.."
A hollow laugh cuts through the air as a figure lands from the ceiling, eyes gleaming in the dark.
"Long time no see."
They turn around and stare into the auburn eyes of Goro Akechi.
Tohru's head pulses violently, and he gasps as he grabs his head. His vision refracts.
"Doji- Baron, Marquis, fight in my place.." he rasps.
Akira calls the other Phantom Thieves to his side.
"You ruined so many of my plans.. I was a few weeks away from ruining Shido's reputation and killing him myself, but you and your little gang sent it all to HELL!" Akechi snarls.
"We know you're behind the shutdowns, Akechi," Akira sighs.
"Akira Kurusu.." He seems to calm at hearing Akira's voice. "We could have been friends, if only we had met earlier." Goro stalks closer. The Phantom Thieves raise their weapons. "If only they weren't in the way." He gestures to the other Thieves.
Akira stands his ground. "You tried to kill Adachi and Okumura and drive them both berserk. You paralyzed Haru. Any friendship we once had is dead."
"Wait," Yukitaro yells, "he tried to drive Dad berserk?"
Akechi smirks. "Oh, so he told Akira and nobody else.. That spineless monster didn't even tell his own son. You know what he left out?" He points at Tohru.
Tohru's curled up in a ball, grabbing his head and groaning with pain. He's writhing in agony. All these memories are hitting him at once and his head aches, his heart pounding. So many emotions and so many painful pasts are bubbling up that it truly feels as if he's drowning.
"I tried to drive him berserk, and found only a hungry, hollow lack where his soul should be!"
Akechi throws his head back and laughs.
"My mother died when she had me, a cursed bastard.. I begged and scraped for every inch of affection I could find, changing myself entirely just so someone could like me.. and soulless trash like him gets love handed to him on a silver platter!"
He continues. "Then I gained this power, the power of Persona, and suddenly things weren't so boring! I had been given a new chance, and I would use it to kill my scum father at any cost!"
Tohru flinches violently at 'things weren't so boring.'
"I've had enough of this," Akira sighs, "let's fight already."
"What?"
"You heard me, Goro Shido. Don't hold back."
Goro Akechi bares his teeth and screams with rage. "Fine! Then let me.. show you.. who I REALLY AM! COME, LOKI…!"
A new Persona appears above him, holding a sword. Striped black and white, it appears almost feral. Goro's attire turns from his old Phantom Thief attire - beautiful white - all the way to a sickening, black and violent outfit the color of bruise.
The Black Mask stands before them in arrogant glory. "I'll slaughter.. all you worthless fools.. in front of your weeping friends!"
And he charges into battle.
The Thieves (save one) all respond in kind, summoning their Personas and leaping into battle.
Their fight against Goro Akechi isn't easy - he truly doesn't hold back. Yet, the Thieves fight on. Dojima fights with desperation while Yukitaro fights with hope.
In the background, Tohru is drowning in his own memories, in all the lives that never were. They're growing more intense, all of these unrestrained emotions swelling in his throat.
He sees himself in a straightjacket, himself as a cheater, himself as a hopeless kid, himself written in triplicate.
Magatsu-Izanagi cackles laughter, howls mourning, clicks out throaty rage, moans with deep disgust.
When Goro Akechi falls to the floor, panting and beaten, Akechi snaps out that "you idiots couldn't understand what I've been through!"
Tohru's pounding head reaches its searing peak, and the emotions finally pour out. The scream of a drowning man rings from Tohru's throat, his wildly shaking frame going eerily still.
The room falls silent.
The scream morphs into a demented peal of chillingly calm laughter.
Tohru Adachi rises from his fetal position, his hands trembling and his eyes glowing gold.
"You think the world sucks because someone didn't treat you right?"
Akechi coughs up blood. "Fuck you."
Tohru shuffles forward. His demeanor is shifting far faster than before, tears in his eyes and razor-cut grin on his face and slightly shaking limbs.
"You could've run away and used your powers for something, anything else! Instead you wasted your life on executing a convoluted plan that would bring you nothing. What a little brat you are!"
Tohru laughs, stumbling back a little as tears run down his face. "It's almost tragic! I bet if I lined up your life in a neat little row, I could see all the times you could've changed for the better, all the times you shunned for your own little plan!"
He grabs Akechi by the throat, his own laughter and tears cutting off halfway. Akechi coughs and writhes under Adachi's grip, but Adachi's grip is unrelenting.
"I just died, and you know what? All of myself, all of these lives I've had, they're all screaming the same thing at you.. You're just a little kid throwing a temper tantrum." His voice is deeply composed, a formality to it that makes all the others freeze up.
He turns away, still holding Akechi by the neck as he snickers. "Gee, you remind me too much of another kid I knew that I had to yell the same thing at.. and I seriously hate you both.."
He throws Akechi down to the ground, knocking the wind out of the boy.
"You think your life is unfair, kid? That the world is shit? Then that's ALL you'll ever get! You'll slave away at your job and shoot a Yakuza boss in the knee and get sent out to the sticks and wallow in your own shit until you snap!"
"And do you know how I know?" He crouches down, grabbing Akechi by the hair and ripping a chunk of it out. "Because I've been THROUGH IT, OVER AND OVER! I've seen the worst I can get, and TRUST ME, IT'S FAR FROM PRETTY! The worst you can get can't even hold a candle to the shit I've seen myself do, the shit I know I can do…!"
He throws the clump aside, tears falling from his eyes as his voice breaks. "And from one piece of shit to another, nothing good can come.. from a brat like you continuing to draw breath.."
"Goro Akechi has to die." He pulls out a new black revolver, Iwai's initials carved into it. It gleams with a wicked shine.
"ADACHI! NO!" Dojima's voice breaks the silence.
Yukitaro tries to push to the front. "Dad, wait-"
"You're better than this, Devil!" Akira's voice cries out.
The figure that had painted his son's nightmares, right in the sights of his revolver. Facing down death, he looks more like a scared and frightened boy than any other time Adachi's seen him.
Akechi stares Adachi right in the eye.
He looks into the Jester's eerily placid, "tear-streaked with a smile" face and sees a man who knows the worst depths of everything he could do, a man who's seen it more vividly than anybody could ever hope to understand.
"You wouldn't do it," Akechi says, his voice wavering with fear at this changed Jester. "You're too dependent on them to go against them."
Adachi's arm lowers and Akechi untenses, letting himself smirk..
BANG. BANG.
Pain blooms in Akechi's knee and foot.
Akechi screams, his voice laced with desperation.
"Go ahead and run. If you even can."
Akechi pulls himself up. He moves to limp out when a figure appears in front of Adachi - a cognitive copy of Goro Akechi that raises a gun at the boy.
Adachi's quicker at the draw.
"AKECHI, YOU BRAT!"
His mind focuses, his revolver aiming, one of his eyes glowing a silvery moon while the other remains the gold of a Velvet Room denizen. The moon reflects off the barrel and a shot fires perfect.
It all seems to happen in slow motion, the bullet draped in a blue tongue of fire.
The Moonshot pierces right through the Cognitive Akechi's head, flying straight as it continues right into the true Akechi's eye.
Two Akechis fall to the ground, True Akechi to his knees and False Akechi to the floor where he vanishes.
Tohru Adachi holsters his gun.
He can't resist the urge to say something, anything to make himself seem a little bit more cool -
"An eye for an eye, huh?"
Akechi looks up with one recently empty eyesocket and one full eye and spits at Tohru.
"... we have to get out of here," Akira sighs.
As they leave, Tohru grabs Akechi by the collar of his shirt.
"You said you would kill me," Akechi hisses.
"I said you had to die.. but I never said it literally."
Tohru drops him and lets him hobble along behind the group. He already knows the feeling inside him too well.
I am thou, thou art I..
Thou hast acquired a new bond-vow.
It shall become the eyes with which the truth may be seen, and the wings of rebellion that break through the hungry chains that bind..
With the birth of the Justice Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that lead to freedom and new power.
When they get out of the Palace, the new announcement from Shido is all over the media.
Shido Reveals Identity Of One Of The Phantom Thieves!
Big Bang Burger Heiress, A Burglar!
Shido: "We Will Root Them Out, Name By Name"
"They'll name one of the Thieves.. for every day we don't turn ourselves in," Dojima says.
Akira stumbles back in shock.
"This can't be happening.."
Author's Note: If something happens to delay a chapter, check out my twitter - penthepoet - which should inform you when the chapter will next be posted.
This chapter has a lot of fun ramifications, but the main one is that Tohru Adachi now technically has the memories of several AU!Adachis, including Adachis from various Persona 4 fics I love like Spectral Redeemers, Wanted It To Be A Game, Rend the Heart, Special Menu, Sympathy Crime and other fun aus I've seen Adachi in.
It also means that Tohru Adachi now has memories of the Cheater we saw in Sae's Palace.
I've been waiting a long time for that Moonshot foreshadowing to pay off, and I'm so happy it did.
How are the Thieves gonna deal with this new roadblock? Well, we'll have to see.
Thank you to all you readers who patiently waited for this chapter! It's a long one, for certain, and I hope you enjoy it.
The next chapter will be posted on Tohru Adachi's birthday, and in honor of the little bastard's birthday, I'll reveal the name and summary in advance:
The Jester's Own Coronation.
Tohru goes on a date with Dojima while Japanese civilization gets shaken to its very core. Akira gains a new understanding of the Hunger Arcana.
Have fun theorizing, speculating and hypothesizing what comes next.