Author's Notes:
This one-shot has a character from my other fic, Devil's Messiah Ch16. However, it's basically kid Akira in P4.
-.-
"Good evening, everyone. I am the Hero of Inaba, Kurusu Akira, and I welcome you to The Phantom Ball," Akira said. He had black, messy hair, a red undershirt with a thin, black vest, a white truffle tie, and black pants. He dressed formally, fitting for whatever place he was in. Behind him, a gigantic palace sat far from the screen, similar to those from fairy tales. It differed from Yukiko's in that hers was at least grounded in reality. This was something else. It was huge, similar to those made by that one foreign company. There were even fireworks around it, though the show didn't have explosions.
"Come," he waves at the camera, "walk with me."
The camera obliges and follows Akira as he walks into the palace behind him, though only a step behind. All around them are people with masks, both small and large, normal and fantastic.
There was no face that could be seen.
"Tonight, as a reward for my ascension to Hero, the Inaba Palace will hold a masquerade ball. It is certainly grand, what with all the masks going around; I can't even tell who's who now! Still, that's all well and good. Everyone is laughing and having fun; that's all that matters to me!
"So," he turns around and brings himself closer to the camera with a smirk, "come. Join me as I get lost in this sea of masks!"
He throws his head in laughter and the show cuts. The only thing he could see was his own reflection on the TV.
-.-
7/14 - Afternoon - Junes Food Court
"Sorry I'm late," Yosuke said as he took a seat with the rest of the Investigation Team. Everyone was already here: Yu, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie in his new body, Kanji, and the recent addition, Rise. "Had some old lady try to return some produce."
"Uh... Aren't those usually final sale?" Chie asked, and Yosuke nodded with a sigh.
"That's alright, Yosuke," Yu said with a smile before bringing out his serious face. "We all know why we're here, right? You all saw it last night?"
Everyone nodded. There was only one thing significant last night: the Midnight Channel.
"The victim this time is Kurusu Akira," Yukiko said. "His show looked similar to mine."
"Yours was a palace too, senpai?" Kanji asked.
"Castle, so a bit smaller," Yukiko answered before grimacing. "And, I'd rather not talk about it..."
"Back on topic," Yu interjected with a cough. He knew it was embarrassing for the victims to talk about how their world was, and he'd rather cut it before it goes further. "Akira-kun has been a big topic recently."
Yosuke nodded. "Right. He saved King Moron a few days ago, and the town was all over him since then."
"Right," Yu said, "and Dojima-san mentioned that they caught the killer. Everything should have ended with that."
"Do you think the killer escaped the police?" Yukiko asked.
"That would make sense," Rise said. "His plans to kill someone were stopped by some kid, so of course he'd take revenge on him."
Yosuke hummed. "But that doesn't make sense. Why would the killer try to kill King Moron in the real world? I thought that the Shadows in the TV World killed the victim, but they attacked King Moron in the real world."
"Why not throw him into a TV, like all the rest?" Chie asked.
The entire table stayed quiet. It was a good question. If the killer had the power to throw people into the TV, why risk it all for a kill in the real world?
"Maybe," Yu said slowly, "they never intended to."
"They never intended to?" Yosuke repeated. "So, you're saying he wasn't like the other victims to begin with? But why?"
Yukiko's eyes sparkled with an idea. "Maybe the culprit thought he couldn't kill any more people by throwing them into TVs. We did prevent his last three attempts in a row."
"Ahh, I get you... That could be it!" Chie said.
Kanji closed his eyes in thought. "So, they tried to snuff someone on our side this time to make sure it worked," he said with a growl. "Dammit! If that's true, then we have no way of preventing more murders unless we catch the killer!"
"But Akira-kun stopped him," Yu reminded them. "The killer was caught and there has been no news of an escapee recently."
"But they apparently didn't get the killer because Akira-kun is now in the Midnight Channel," Yukiko continued.
"And I went there earlier today!" Teddie said with a huff. "Someone is definitely there."
Yosuke's face scrunched up in confusion before looking at Teddie. "You were working the entire day today. When did you get time to check?" he asked before glaring right at him. "Don't tell me you went to the Electronics section and skipped out on work!"
Teddie looked away quickly and whistled. "It was for the investigation!"
Yu could only sigh at their antics. Teddie was still new to the real world, and that meant being new to things like responsibility. "Anyway, Teddie, can you find where Akira is?"
Teddie shook his head. "Sorry, it's the same as before; I'll need more information about Akira-kun."
"That's fine. Then we'll try to get as much information as we can about the victim," Yu said. "If there's nothing else, today's meeting is adjourned."
Yukiko raised her hand nervously, and Yu nodded at her to continue.
"We have exams next week," she said.
Everyone groaned as two heads banged on the courtyard table.
-.-
On top of trying to gather the information needed to find Akira in the TV World, they also had exams looming over them. It took them until the 26th of July to actually have some free time to go to the Palace Masquerade, something the team nicknamed Akira's dungeon.
What they found out sickened them. Akira was an orphan, dropped off at the front of the orphanage inside a basket. Akira wasn't even his birth name; it was something the caretakers gave him. With no contacts, no blood relatives, he was truly alone in the world.
Yu's stomach churned at the idea of a child without anyone to be with. Childhood memories resurfaced when he listened in on the gossip around the town.
Even Teddie grew somber when he heard that rumor. Yu could only guess that he understood it too, considering that Teddie was all alone in the TV World and Yu and his friends were the first beings that Teddie interacted with.
However, the gossip didn't stop there. According to the hostess in the Shiroku Pub, because of his lack of parents, they considered him a black sheep in the town. The kids bullied him and, because the bullies were kids, the adults all thought of it as just rough play, something all children went through. It didn't help that some of the more traditional adults kept Akira at a distance with sneering and disgusting looks, something the kids eventually picked up.
When they went to Akira's caretaker, the orphanage was nothing more but a small shack, run by only one elderly woman, Ryugasaki Noelle. It broke Yu's heart to see her hope disappear when she saw children gather outside the orphanage, not the police she hoped for. The team learned Akira disappeared on the day the Midnight Channel showed him, which meant the killer kidnapped him on the day of.
Nolle noted Akira's sudden explosion of popularity as the hero of Inaba changed him; he was happier, but he also seemed more on the edge, as if he was a cat in an unfamiliar place. He was more jittery, more likely to be surprised at everyone, and he refused to talk to anyone about it.
Something was wrong with him.
"Whoa..." Chie said in awe as her head kept looking higher and higher, breaking Yu's inner thoughts. "It's got Yukiko's Castle beaten!"
"Do we have anything about the sizes of the dungeons?" Rise asked, glancing at Yu, who shook his head.
"Nothing concrete," he said, "but they have been getting bigger and bigger. It's better to expect this to follow that pattern."
"But, partner, this place is huge..." Yosuke said with a grimace.
"We didn't have to see everything in the other dungeons," Yu countered. "We'll plan accordingly. That said," - he turned to Rise and Teddie - "do you think you'll be able to tell how far he is inside?"
Rise and Teddie nodded.
"I can still sense him inside the palace," Rise said. "He's not very far."
"And I can smell him out, too," Teddie added.
Yu smiled. "That's great to hear," he said before looking at the palace with determination. "Let's do this."
-.-
The palace itself was wrong in its own right, to the point even Kanji caught on.
The Shadows all wore varying masks and outfits, acting as if the masquerade ball was real, not just some dungeon event. They bowed, laughed, and danced in silence, but in such human ways it crept them out. What was even worse was that they never attacked the Investigation Team. The Shadows ignored the humans, often just moving out of the way without paying attention to them. If a Shadow somehow blocked their way, they just asked for it to move and it would even bow and walk away.
"I don't like this..." Kanji said, his eyes glancing at each Shadow, ready to fight if one of them jumped the team.
"Are you sure these are all Shadows?" Yosuke asked from the back of the formation.
Rise nodded. "They are, each one of them. But I don't understand why they won't attack at all."
"What about you, Teddie?" Yu asked. "Any ideas?"
Teddie hummed for a moment before answering, "A little bit. Those masks they've got are doing something to them. I'm not sure what, but it's like... A leash? The thing those moms have on their pets back in Junes."
"A leash?" Yukiko repeated before giggling. "You think that they're pets?"
"Maybe?"
"Should we try to catch one?" Chie asked. "What do you say, leader?"
Yu glanced around him. Shadows littered all over the hallways and rooms but gave enough breathing room for the team without suffocating them. They could probably nab one, but...
"Let's not," he decided. "Whatever is going on means that there's a lot less for us to fight. If we try to harm one of them, it might set off every other Shadow in the dungeon. As we are now, they'd floor us with numbers."
Chie grimaced at the thought. "Right, never mind."
They progress far enough in the dungeon that they finally hear from Akira's Shadow. And it's this time that they fight their first Shadow. Fortunately, the Shadow wasn't hard at all, and the other Shadows didn't mob them like they thought. Instead, they all clapped and cheered, as if the fight was a show to them, never caring if they could get hurt by the ensuing fight.
"What the hell is wrong with these Shadows?" Yosuke asked, breathing deeply after their second fight. "What are we, some sort of entertainment for them?"
"Maybe?" Rise asked, her Persona towering over her. "I can feel they're happy when we were fighting, but it's back to business as soon as the fight ends."
Yu shook his head with a huff. "It doesn't matter. So long as they do nothing, then we'll count that as lucky. We'll keep going for a couple more floors and leave. What do you guys think?"
The team agreed. No matter how off-putting the dungeon was, they needed to get to Akira, and they'll power through it if it meant saving him.
-.-
8/1 - Afternoon - Throne Room of Palace Masquerade
The team sighed in relief as they reached the top of the palace. Sure, they didn't fight Shadows as much as the previous dungeons, but they sure didn't like the place.
They realized halfway through the dungeon that the Shadows weren't really nice; they didn't care about anything around them so long as they played their creepy versions of human dancing. Uncaring about the world around them so long as they had a moment of fun, even if they died for it. It was sickening when they learned about it, only enforcing their wish to get out as soon as possible. On top of that, they ended up traveling through twenty floors, the most they had to do.
At the very least, because they didn't fight any Shadows, it meant they wasted little resources when going through the dungeon. Most of it was just pairing up and looking for the next floor.
So, when they reached the top of the palace, they all thought they would not get surprised anymore. Stop the person from rejecting the Shadow and just get them out as soon as possible.
However, they were wrong and couldn't believe what they saw when they opened the room.
The room itself was grand, complete with a red carpet, multiple glass chandeliers on the ceiling lit with candles, and large windows to let the natural moonlight in. Tall columns rose on the side to hold up the ceiling. At the far end of the room was an empty throne with what seemed like blood.
No, what surprised them wasn't the room itself, but what was happening in the middle of the room.
In the middle of the throne room was Akira with glasses staring at them with wide eyes while another Akira with golden eyes stared at them with amusement. Between them was a table with a pot and what seemed to be tea.
"I didn't expect to see other people here," Akira calmly said. "How did you get here? And what're you doing here?"
"How we got here doesn't matter," Yosuke said.
Chie nodded. "We're here to get you out of here. This place is dangerous."
"But I don't see a problem with this place," Akira said, tilting his head in confusion. "I don't trust any of you and I don't need help. I'm fine alone here, so you guys can leave."
"He's right, you know," Shadow Akira said, stroking the handle of a teacup. "Compared to the outside, the people here are pretty similar: everyone hides behind a mask and then lies about wearing one." He smirked and stared straight at Yu. "At least everyone here is pretty upfront about wearing it."
Yu frowned. "That's not right. There are so many people in the world. I'm sure you can find someone to trust." It's only been a few months since he arrived in Inaba, and in that short amount of time, he made so many friends, friends that had his back. They went through so many situations that skirted close to death, and every time, they had his back, and he had theirs.
"Are you kidding me?" Shadow Akira asked with a smirk. "What's with that sappy bullshit? Of course you can say that; you have friends. We had no one." His face contorted into an angry sneer. "Well, I'm lying about that. Those guys are apparently our friends now."
Those guys? Did he mean his bullies? What did they do?
"We can start new," Yukiko suggested. "We'd like to be your friends."
The deafening silence was pretty loud. No one knew how to react to that. That is, until Akira giggled, his eyes closed, his hand gripping on a teacup, and his shoulders rose up and down, in sync with his giggles.
"Uh..." Rise said, confused by his reaction. "What's so funny?"
Akira's giggles quickly turned to maniacal laughter, only to fade as he glared at the Investigation Team, his hand bleeding from the crushed teacup.
"What the hell?!" Kanji yelled.
Akira's eyes were yellow.
Yu quickly glanced at Shadow Akira, who also had the same yellow eyes. The biggest difference between the two was the smirk on Shadow Akira's face.
What went wrong? Why does Akira have the Shadow's eyes now? Was this some trick by the Shadow?
Akira sighed as his laughter died out. "How funny. You're just like the rest of them."
Shadow Akira's smirk grew impossibly large, splitting his face in half with a white, empty smile. "That's right! Clout chasers, all of them! They don't care about us. All they cared about was entertaining themselves for the hell of it! Well, we say screw them and you! We're fine by ourselves!"
Akira nodded. "I'm done with you. If you won't leave, I'll force you out."
Shadow Akira threw his head back and shrieked as he disappeared into smoke, surrounding Akira and blocking him from sight. Blue flames surged out of the smoke, only to be smothered by it.
"Chie, freeze the area around him!" Yu ordered. If there's fire inside, then Akira was most likely burning up inside. They had to get him quickly or cool him down. With the former option impossible, they'll have to go for the latter.
However, before Chie could summon her Persona, large, shadowy wings erupted from the inside and flapped, blowing away the smoke. The team braced themselves against the gust as it continued to blow away everything, even cutting up the carpet and all the candles in the room, leaving only the moonlight as the only source of light. Finally, the winds died down, and they all saw what Akira looked like.
Yu saw that Akira still wore his Shadow's suit, corset, and pants, but not the tie. The difference between the two was that Akira's was more ripped, giving him a wild edge to him compared to his Shadow, as if they lost the semblance of control that his Shadow showed in the Midnight Channel. On top of that, his costume was now pure black instead of the red his Shadow had. Behind him were wings, black as the moonless and starless night, wide open as if Akira were showing them off with pride.
With all the darkness around him and his black clothes, it was as if he were melding into the night. If it weren't for his shining, yellow eyes, Yu would have had trouble keeping track of him without squinting.
Akira steadily let his breath out as he relaxed on the spot. The Investigation Team readied their weapons, feeling the inevitable fight, unsure of whether they were facing Akira or his Shadow.
Akira stepped back with a smirk, and the shadows devoured him.
-.-
"He disappeared again!" Kanji yelled.
"Huddle!" Yu commanded.
The entire team rushed back to the front of the room, their backs to either a wall or someone else. Yu grimaced as he tried to look for Akira, his eyes jumping from shadow to shadow. Though, considering the entire room was dark except for the moonlight, it meant there were a lot of shadows to keep an eye out.
The fight is a long and cruel one. Compared to the other Shadow fights before, Akira didn't attack in big swings; instead, he quickly attacked from the shadows, often retreating as soon as he got a hit or even a scratch. It was guerilla warfare, and it was something they were losing badly. And while the team did damage Akira, it meant that someone had to take the hit. The many injuries Akira placed on the team almost drained their healers of their energy. It wouldn't be long until they won't have anything left, even the food that energized them.
However, that didn't mean they were out of ideas.
Yukiko saw movement in the corner of her eyes, the shadows shifting ever so slightly.
"He's coming!"
Teddie and Chie grinned.
Akira jumped out, his eyes glaring straight at Yukiko and hands bursting into black flames. He must have realized Yukiko was the reason the fight was taking longer than it should and fully intended to take down Yukiko, their healer, now.
What he didn't realize was this was a mistake. They knew he was coming.
"Mabufula!"
"Mabufu!"
Teddie and Chie froze their surroundings, covering almost half the entire room. Right in front of Yukiko stood Akira, his hands reaching for Yukiko, but didn't get her.
"Everyone," Yu began, "all-out attack!"
When the smoke cleared, the ice had already disappeared, and Akira split away from his Shadow. While Akira gasped for air as he collapsed on his back, Shadow Akira sat on the side and looked at his real self with a serene face and a small, knowing smile.
"You're all so lucky..." Akira said when he got his breath back. "You all have each other's backs..."
"That we are," Yu admitted. If he was alone, even if he had the Wild Card, he would have lost a long time ago. "That doesn't mean we don't know what it means to be lonely."
"He's right, you know," Kanji said, seeing Akira's doubtful glare. "I didn't trust anyone and hated everyone. I ended up becoming the thug everyone thought I was when I'm more than that."
"For me," Yukiko began, "I couldn't tell anyone about my problems until they all came to save me. It's still there, but I'm working on it."
"I was lonely before I met Sensei, too!" Teddie said, rushing forward. "I didn't know anyone and if I got in trouble, I'd just run away!"
Yu smiled. Teddie probably was the loneliest amongst everyone in the group. No one else was stuck in a world all by themselves.
He knelt in front of Akira. "What we're trying to say is that we get it: it's hard to face the next day when there's no one to get help from. I think I speak for everyone here, but everyone here would like to become friends with you. What do you say?"
Akira continued to glare at Yu for a moment before standing up, only to falter on to his knees.
"Shut up! I-"
"Akira," Shadow Akira said, taking everyone's attention. "What do you want? As in, really want?" When Akira kept quiet, he continued, "I am you, you are me. I know what you want, so why don't you be truthful? If not to them, then to me? You can't trust people if you never open up. Remember what he said?"
He? Who was the Shadow talking about? On top of that, it's weird having a Shadow be this...peaceful (?) with their real self. Usually, they fire snarky comments or demeaning words until the person accepts it. This one was coaxing its real self to accept him.
"I..." Akira muttered, sniffling. "I want people to just stop bullying me! It's not my fault I look angry all the time! It's not my fault that I don't have parents! I just want people to understand that! I want to play games, talk to people, to go eat out!" he yelled as he slammed his fists on the ground. "I just want friends! I just want to be normal!"
"Then," Yu said, reaching out to Akira, "why don't we be your first?"
Akira looked up at Yu, his face streaking with tears, before bobbing it up and down and reaching back to Yu. "Please..."
Yu grabbed Akira's hand with a smile. "You got it," he said before slowly pulling Akira, supporting his back so that the boy could stand straight.
"Great," Shadow Akira said as he began to shine. "Don't forget this." He stood up and reached for his pockets, taking out a pair of glasses and putting them on Akira.
Teddie hummed as he sniffed something in the air.
"Thank you," Akira said, bowing to his Shadow. "I'll do my best. I don't think it'll be easy, trusting others, but I will try. I'll find the people I can trust. I can promise you that."
The Shadow nodded with a grin. "Good. The contract has been sealed." The Shadow shone once more, blinding everyone. Strangely, Yu saw it did not affect Akira at all, staring straight at the Shadow.
When the light died down, a menacing figure floated where the Shadow once stood.
The figure laughed with a deep, melodic voice with a hint of mischief.
"I am thou, thou art I. You have begun thy path for the truth, your own truth. Do not let anyone decide who you are."
The Persona disappeared into motes of light, and it left all that was a tarot card.
-.-
Author's Notes:
Welcome to my one-shot of P4 where I tackle the ramifications of Ren's actions in Ch16 of Devil's Messiah. In his time, he didn't save Morooka, leading to P4 and P4G's story. Here, Akira steps up to stop Mitsuo Kubo and saves Morooka. This leads to Inaba turning him into a pariah, the savior of Inaba. Because of that, his bullies decide to be his 'friends'. With such blatant shift, Akira grew distrustful, leading to the Shadows wearing masks. Palace Masquerade is also more a Palace than a P4 dungeon and Teddie also notices something is off, commenting on the masks.
His Shadow is also more different than P4 Shadows. It's more like Akira accepted his Shadow in the worst way possible, becoming something like Maruki getting absorbed by Adam Kadmon. Akira understands his anger and doesn't deny it. He also knows he's lonely and want friends. What he can't accept is that there are people that genuinely wants to be friends with him. This all leads to a Shadow that's more subdued and is more a backup dancer and Akira is the main lead. Akira's so hung up on that anger that he's influencing the Shadow, just like how Futaba could make her Shadow snap unintentionally.
In the end, the IT puts some sense in Akira and the Shadow can finally do what it wants, which is for Akira to accept that there are people that can be friends. Reminding Akira of Ren's words, from someone who helped him before, is the final nail in the coffin.
In the end, Akira is both rebelling and finding the truth. He's rebelling from the town's conception of him and he's realizing that yes, he can find people to care about him, and it starts here.
Thank you for reading!
