There is exactly 1 (one) Akira Kurusu in Akechi's hold, the teen not wanting to move away or asking to be let go ever since waking up after Shido's ship.

Instead, he is looking intensely at Akechi as he speaks, not minding the ever-present distrust hanging in the air. No matter how boring the underside of his rival's jaw is, his gaze never wavers from it, his mind calm.

He seems almost... content, as Akechi sneaks a few glances at him. Content, but at what? At his moral victory?

Just as Akechi is about to look down and prompt his 'passenger' about it, the conversation he thought over begins again.

"Dude, we, like, got the grasp of it, but still, what about- ya' know."

Akechi sighs after a few beats of silence fell over the gang, some questions answered but most still not, and murmurs, "Before i answer, i would like to remind you that it will be quite troublesome if i get spotted with you, AND with him, around here especially" he stalls, "And... Not to mention overheard by anyone who recognizes me, so i suggest-"

"No problem. Here."

All of the sudden he gets interrupted by glasses being pushed on his nose from below (Akira) his hair getting tied into a ponytail (Ann and Yusuke) and a blazer getting hooked around his shoulders (Ryuji).

He is stunned, the surprise clearly showing as most thieves laugh at him quietly. Was that their idea at 'resolving' the tension?

The laugh that echoes through the group is quite strained, as most of the thieves are exhausted, not unlike every other time the palace infiltration got taxing. Goro can tell immediately, himself practicing his own chuckle to perfection for the camera, but the honesty of the thieves feels like the cold refreshment he needed. Many of his companions, again, don't even trust Akechi, and yet they laugh, trying their best to calm down.

They seem to de-stress in this way, when no other is available. It's astonishing.

Akira of course laughs along, weakly, breathily, almost wheezing. His struggling lungs make his entire frame tremble lightly with them, for sure aggravating some of his bruises. How can Joker even laugh, after all that happened?

The chuckle eventually turns into a small cough that he unsuccessfully tries to cover, and Akechi simply throws him a look in response. A questioning "hm?" sounds from Akira, vibrating his throat lightly, while Akechi himself shifts his hold a tiny bit. Trying his best not to look at the ravenette, he whispers, "Don't... Strain yourself. Erm- anymore than you already did, i mean. Alright? Akira?"

The boy just shrugs, shifting his shoulders against him. Crow sighs.

Akechi is fully aware Akira was brought back from the brink of death. Without his glasses to cover his tired eyes, he looks even more deathly, his skin pale, the underside of his eyes dark, small tremors still passing through his frail form. And yet he laughed along everyone else.

Goro would be surprised if Akira took any health advice from him seriously, since he is the reason of the bigger part of the damage, so instead he just tightens his arms again.
There is a questioning look thrown his way from below, but after a moment Joker closes his eyes in a sort-of-agreement. It leaves Goro with more questions that it should.

Akira is either trusting or reasonable. Akechi hopes for the latter.

Joker, along his thieves, has been through a lot, Akechi reasons as the begin their way to LeBlanc.

Ever since getting arrested, getting sent into the new environment, discovering the Metaverse, escaping the investigation, finding targets, juggling school life and social life, the teen's year was really something else. He always saw him everywhere, and people knew him everywhere, and Akechi never understood. Mona can confirm Akira even had a few jobs at some point, and that he sells the Metaverse stuff to get new gear constantly, or that he spends time helping whoever he visits with favors to get some favors back.

It basically shows how needed he is. How he finds a way to fix everything. It's stunning. No wonder people want to follow him and support him. He's not perfect, but just a good person, human enough to not fear him, just powerful enough to keep moving forward. It's scary, how easily he lets his fate be handled by whoever he crosses.
Crow wonders if that's the reason the group didn't immediately attack him in that engine room, if Akira planned some of the 'heel-face-turning-attempt' and everyone followed because of their debts, or if it was his healing spell that convinced the thieves to spare his life and give the hypothesis of teamwork a shot.

He... (couldn't really believe he was getting a second chance. That's all it was.)

Closing his eyes, he lets his back completely fall against the cushion of his seat, (mercifully his in a normally busy full-of-people train), one of the thieves sliding a bit away to give him space. The peace doesn't last.

"Akechi-kun?"

The detective almost jumped, not expecting the sudden calling. "Haru-san. What's-"

"I don't know if i will ever forgive you, Akechi-kun." Haru interrupts. Did she want to talk to him now? Isn't the awkward tension thick enough?

"I...see.", he tries, after a second too long. This day really is getting weirder and weirder by the moment, no one would disagree at this point. Which is why Akechi is almost creeped out by how Haru appeared here, rising above all luke-warm acts he could have expected, and breaks the expectations in a single second.

She continues, however, despite Akechi's previous non-reaction: "I don't know just how much of the blame lays on you... But i understand, on some level, what you felt. I want you to know, in case you didn't, that that's why i'm hoping you will change." She looks down, but it only lasts a second. "I'm speaking for both myself and Futaba. We won't use your own methods against you, that's not how we do things. We noticed your attempt at protecting us while working for your employer, as well."

She smiled, sending Akechi reeling.

"...even though your methods wre terrible. And yes, we are angered, but perhaps there is something to be done to fix that. So, please, do change, for us, and for him, too. Use our honorable restrictions accordingly to their full potential."

At that moment Haru half-smiles again, giving everyone in her proximity goosebumps. Akechi momentarily frowns, however, on top of this primal reaction, simply because he feels an emotion he cannot name. He knows what Haru is trying to say, using many manipulative yet soft arguments that he doesn't deserve, but he can't wrap his head around what this all means. His confusion seems like enough for Haru though, as she leaves, stoic as stone.

She had a determined and stern look all throughout the exchange, but now it becomes an unfazed hopeful mask, almost.

As she took a step, she stopped for a mere moment and said lastly, "I prefer to blame the shooter, not the gun, and sadly, i think you match the description of a gun way better in this case."

Akechi isn't asleep. Akira can tell.

However, he himself is pretending to be asleep, for both of their sakes.

He does it quite well, actually. Fortunately, one of his parents snored, so all he has to do is copy the pattern he remembers falling asleep to as a child, hiding near their tangled legs on the bed. The only downside, he discovers, is that the rule 'fake it 'till you make it' applies here very strongly, so even if he doesn't want to, he gets dizzy and lethargic in no time.

At the moment, Joker can't even be sure this was his original goal. He started this dance back in the diet building courtyard after he got surprised by Akechi and his weird type of concern, but now he's just... waiting.

The sheets shift underneath him now, the rustles louder than anything in the dead-still attic. He moves his hands under his pillow, the soft feathers not biting into his fresher bruises, and exhales ruggedly.

Akira feels like, back in the engine room, he did something right. He got Akechi to see reason, set the terms of agreement, let out pent-up trauma. Akira is sure Akechi knows they are on the same side now, even if he would need a lot of therapy to think of them as real teammates. During the fight they had planned on fighting, he threw his strongest arguments at Akechi, so really, unless he is a better actor than Akira thinks he is, they are fully safe. It's nice knowing his logic wasn't flawed and he took the right path to saving one of his confidants. He's happy. Proud, even, of everyone involved.
Someone else, perhaps, would have been angry instead. Mad, maybe, at giving a second chance to someone like Crow. It may even be self-preservation speaking for them. After all that happened, the interrogation room and what transpired in it was more than enough proof that Akechi is dangerous. That he was blinded to any other solutions and chose to shoot Akira, not knowing it was a cognition. Given his second chance, however, and taking the leap...

Well, Akira is glad at the outcome.

Akira also has his values set different, anyway, so he doesn't care for what others think at the moment. If his priorities and desires were put on a scale, his self-preservation is way below his value of comrades, his need for helping others, and most importantly, his need of exciting challenges.

And, man, turning Akechi around was the biggest challenge yet.

So now he lays still, deposited on his bed by said 'challenge', numb yet in pain and joy, remembering small bits of the fight and the conversations from the train ride, along what happened until now:

Akira knows Haru confronted Akechi on hers and Futaba's behalf, clearly. He felt Crow tense beside him when Haru ultimately showed herself willing to give him a chance, as she is very straight-forward when it comes to getting things in the right order.

Yusuke, at one point, was saying that he "knew how it feels to follow your father blindly" and that he will share all his knowledge on how to deal with it mentally. It was very honorable of him, and kind of cute, in his own eccentric way. Touching, almost.

Back on the train, the council president's unforgettable stern expression and her iron-fists ready, Makoto turned to them both and said, "I'm glad to see you have stopped pretending, Akechi-kun.", which was just as direct as a shot in the head for them both.
And wasn't that just nice of her. She grew a lot during their adventure, as a person and a member of the student council, now really among all types of misfits, adapting lighting fast.

Then they all came upstairs. To talk.

It was a quiet evening, after that.

It's not like Sojiro's attic was a loud place to begin with. Hell, it housed one cat and one silent teen, of course it's quiet most of the time. The vibe of the café helped, too. Everyone knew that.
Yet, when Sojiro let them all inside, suspiciously eyeing Akechi as he passed, the thieves made shushed idle chatter in no time, rising the noise level up to medium.

Akira rememers how everyone sat in their respective places, like on a trial in court, the jury and audience all preparing their thoughts for the battle.

Then Futaba turned from her place by the stairs, addressing the two wildcards straight up: "Both of y-you are dead-men-walking now. I took care of your phone, Akechi, b-but..."

Futaba still stuttered, prompting Morgana to come closer and calm her a little by offering his fur as a stress-reliever. Everyone besides Akechi and Akira looked at each other, plans and tactics on their minds. As much as they were glad no one died that day, they still felt uncertain in making him stay at LeBlanc in hiding, especially since they would have to leave him alone with Akira and Mona. The level of danger just tripled, how many layers of security and trust could they afford? If anything happened, how would they know?

Akira knows now, how difficult it must have been, even if it's through over-late empathy for his most trusted support.

Akechi sighed then, sounding more tired than enything: "I won't try anything. I am fully aware of my situation, it would be stupid of me to try anything now. I don't... want... to harm him or you, anymore than i already have. Should i prove it again?" The hint of fear audibly creeped in.

The statement made some people bristle, but they all shook their heads, eventually. At that moment, Akechi not screaming bloody murder and still carrying Akira was proof enough, so they let it go. Akira remembers cracking one eye open, his gaze staying proud on his teammates before closing again. He really appreciated each and every one of them for trying.

(Were they just good judges of character, or did they think he could handle Akechi just like he handled the interrogation room? He barely remembered about the phone last time, but maybe his luck is limitless in some areas, still?)

The thieves settled, exchanged rules, mild threats, exactly one tease from Futaba in Akechi's direction, and decided to talk over coffee downstairs.

Akechi then proceeded towards Akira's bed, depositing the teen which he was holding, and covered him with a few blankets. There were a few more blankets here since the last time Akechi visited, the detective curiously noted. His guess was that they were added here ever since the interrogation room happened. For the amount of bruises Joker was still nursing, he wondered if even a hundred blankets would be enough, which surely must have been the same question plaguing Sojiro...

Turning back around and frowning, Goro tested the waters of their alliance: "If it would make you all feel better, i promise to leave once Shido is taken care of. I wouldn't dare break this deal."

The thieves just looked at each other again, this time a bit condescending, a few saying something in the nature of "yeah, ok", "yup" and "this guy for real? Seriously..." while slowly talking things over again in quiet murmurs.

And that brought Akira back to the present moment, when he lays in his blankets, his thieves having left reluctantly an hour ago, Akechi on the sofa, probably still staring at the back of his head.

Akira wants, desperately, to talk. And yet, he knows it would be all too soon.