Getting Along

Chapter 1

"I'm Sorry"

The atmosphere of Leblanc was just as he had always remembered it: the dark but oddly comforting lighting, the chatter of the TV in the background, the intoxicating smell of coffee and curry that enveloped you in warmth even on a rainy day; Akechi readily welcomed this feeling everytime he stepped into Sojiro's shop.

"Welcome to-, oh, it's you Akechi. Go on and take a seat, your usual?"

Speaking of coffee and curry, Akechi never could go a week without coming into Leblanc at least once. The genius himself was always at work behind the counter creating wonders that always topped the last batch; it was something that was not to be missed.

"Yes, I'd appreciate that, boss."

He took a seat at the counter and set his bag down next to him. Sojiro came back with a plate of curry in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other.

"So, how's the quiet life been for you?" he asked.

After taking a sip of his coffee, Akechi smiled and replied.

"A lot better than being a celebrity, I can tell you that much. I'm glad I can walk anywhere I want to without having a crowd following me."

"If I had my way, I'd appreciate it if that was the case; I'd at least be able to get in some more customers."

The two laughed for a while before resuming.

"It's hard to believe that the life I so much desired was so easy to achieve. If only I realized that sooner."

Initially, Akechi had made the decision to die fighting himself on Shido's ship in order to not hinder the Phantom Thieves any longer, but before he went through with the plan, something quite unexpected happened…

Flashback

*PEW*

The flood doors suddenly closed, separating Akechi from the rest of the Phantom Thieves. He turned into the direction of himself in Shido's cognition.

"Please, leave me here; I'll only hold you back. Take his heart for my sake."

There was banging on the other side of the door.

"Akechi! Hold on, we'll get you out of there!"

Akechi chuckled as he trained his crosshairs on the shadow before him.

"It's no use. You won't be able to sneak out of here without a distraction; a distraction I am more than willing to provide."

More banging on the other side. It was as if they actually cared for him. A genuine smile found its way on his face, but there was no time to waste over it now.

"Joker… no, Akira. You were my one true friend. Please, I probably won't make it out of here, so as my last request get out of here as quickly as you can. I'll alert all the guards on my end so you can make it out."

There was no reply from the other side, but Akechi was accustomed to this sort of silence from the raven-haired boy. Without another second to lose, he looked at the Akechi in front of him and pulled the trigger.

Thankfully, he shot first and was able to make the shadow stagger, thus throwing off its aim by several inches.

"Luck must be on my side today," he said to himself as he rushed past them.

He ran up the stairs and into the casino, flipping tables as he rushed past. The more of a mess he caused, the more shadows he attracted. Eventually, he ran into a dead end near the side of the boat. With nowhere to run, the shadows stopped in front of him, as if mocking him in his last moments.

His shadow approached him, this time giving him a square punch into the stomach. He keeled over, propping himself up with his hands. Akechi could hear the sound of his sword and gun being kicked aside.

"You never did think that far into the future," his shadow self said to him.

"That is why you never expected to be betrayed in the first place."

It cocked its pistol and pointed it straight at his head.

"That's where you're wrong… "

"What?"

Akechi stole a glance over to the front of the ship, seeing the rest of the Thieves getting ready to leave.

"Shido was a scumbag to me through and through; that fact has already been made apparent to me since I first met him. That's why I decided to betray him right when he was at the brink of his dreams. But now that I've been found out, I think I might as well go out with a bang."

He pulled out a detonator from his coat and held his thumb on it. His shadow self looked curiously at it.

"Where did you get that?"

"It was a trap I decided to set up for the Phantom Thieves, but they ended up taking a different route. But, I guess it serves its purpose if it can cover them for the time being."

He looked at all of the Thieves, Joker most of all.

"Let's be friends in the next life, alright Akira?"

He closed his eyes and pressed down the button on the detonator. The last thing he heard before hitting the water was the explosion and the screaming voices of his former party members.

Flashback End

"I'm actually surprised I had survived the blast, much less made it out of the Metaverse."

He had woken up in Dr. Takemi's clinic with several burns, multiple bone fractures, a concussion, and a punk doctor yelling at a group of teenagers. It would be a few months later that he would be discharged, so he wasn't able to help them in their final fight against Yaldabaoth, but they seemed to fare well without him.

The day he got out, everyone welcomed him back, but something just didn't seem right, especially with Haru. Futaba, thankfully, wasn't one to hold grudges, so she was peachy keen. Haru, on the other hand, had suffered the most recently, and that was all because of him, so he understood if she wasn't going to be on speaking terms for a while.

Eventually, a whole year had passed without them so much as saying "hi" during reunions with the rest of the party. There weren't a lot of opportunities to say anything to the fluffy-haired gardener in all that time, and when there were, Haru would always excuse herself from the group and leave for the rest of the day.

Akechi sighed at the thought and no longer felt any comfort in his curry. This didn't go unnoticed by Sojiro and he leaned forward.

"Still feeling sorry about what you did before?"

Akechi smiled.

"Sometimes, I wonder how Akira was able to hide the fact of being a phantom Thief from you."

Sojiro chuckled as he poured himself a cup.

"So what's got you so worried? Wakaba suffered, but Futaba's already past that now. Heck, she even considers you as an older brother like she does to Akira."

"I know, but Futaba-chan's not who I'm worried about. It's Haru."

"Ah… Now I understand… ", Sojiro said before taking a sip from his cup.

"Everytime I see her, she always avoids me. It doesn't even matter if I try to be direct, she always seems to change the subject."

Sojiro nods.

"And it's already been an entire year since then. It's been way too long for putting off an apology, I just can't help but feel even worse."

"I think I might know a way that you could talk to her."

Akechi turned around and came face-to-face with the raven-haired boy himself.

"Akira? When did you get back?"

Sojiro chuckled to himself.

"You sure are full of surprises, aren't ya kid?"

Akira laughed and scratched the back of his head. Akechi, however, turned towards him more attentively.

"What plan did you have in mind, Akira?"

Akira took a seat at the bar next to Akechi and set his bag down.

"Apparently, Haru visits her father's grave every day without fail. I heard about it from Makoto just last week and I decided to try and see it for myself."

"I see that you and Makoto-san are still in touch?"

Akira nodded.

"Even after being sent to juvie and being a year apart, we somehow made it work."

"Is Sae-san as compulsive as ever?"

"I guess you could say that; I thought she was going to kill me when she heard that Makoto and I had our first kiss"

Their chatter went on for a little while before the two decided to split.

"Well then, I guess it's time for me to get going," Akira announced.

He stood up and left the money on the table for Sojiro. Annoyed, Sojiro picked it up and went to the tip jar.

"Honestly, I've told him so many times he doesn't need to pay."

Akechi raised an eyebrow.

"Does that mean that you've got better business?"

Sojiro glared at him and put the money into the register.

"Don't you start. It's bad enough that Akira's doting on me, but if another person starts that, Futaba's never gonna let me live it down."

Akechi's phone suddenly vibrated and he picked it off the counter.

"Way ahead of you," the text read.

Sojiro sighed once more and went back into the kitchen, mumbling about getting bugs removed. Akechi, meanwhile, finished the rest of his coffee and checked the time on his phone.

"She visits her father everyday huh?"

He stood up and left some money on the table.

"Thanks Sojiro-san. Until next time."

Sojiro waved him goodbye and went back to his newspaper.

Later…

"So, how's your project going?" Makoto asked.

"I still need to touch it up a bit, but it should be finished by tomorrow," Haru replied to her.

After the events of the previous year, Makoto and Haru were in the process of graduating. Although they were being separated from the rest of the group, they decided that they should make the most of their time and ended up applying to the same university to be together. Despite the dates that Makoto had with Akira, they still set some time aside for some "girl talk" as they called it.

"Hm, I should get going soon," Haru said when she checked her watch.

"Are you going to go see him again?"

Haru nodded. This was her ritual every day. She'd go through the underground mall and buy some flowers, then head to the cemetery for her father. She had to admit, Kunikazu Okumura was never the best father in the world, but she could never shake off the feeling that things could have been different, should he not have suffered from a mental shutdown.

Fifteen minutes later, Haru was in front of the gate for the cemetery, a bouquet of flowers in her hands. While she made her way towards the usual headstone, she spotted a certain someone in front of it holding a bouquet of flowers.

"Hm? Is he one of father's old friends"

She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder only for him to turn to face her.

"Oh, it seems you're here," Akechi said as he looked at her.

Haru just stood there, flabbergasted and silent. She remained this way for several seconds before regaining her composure. Then, she just turned around without another word.

"Wha- Haru-san, please wait!"

But she didn't slow down at all. If anything, she just walked faster, leaving Akechi behind. Sighing, Akechi set down his bouquet in front of Kunikazu's headstone and walked home.

The next day…

Haru walked into the cemetery with a new bouquet in her hands. Her eyes fell towards the young man in front of her father's headstone; this time, he was facing her, as if waiting for her to arrive. Frowning, she left once more.

An hour later…

"Okay, he should be gone by now," Haru said to herself.

She turned the corner and saw Akechi once again at the headstone. Sighing, she approached him. Standing next to him, she placed the bouquet, watered the stone, and clapped her hands together. Akechi did the same and they both stayed silent for several minutes. After praying, Haru turned around and headed towards the gate. However, Akechi followed.

Haru made her way to the subway and awaited the train, Akechi not lagging behind. He slightly coughed in order to get her attention, but she continued to scroll through her phone. Deciding that he wasn't going to get any acknowledgement, Akechi continued.

"Haru-san, I know that I'm probably the last person you would ever want to speak to right now, but this is a really important matter that I wanted to talk about before."

He didn't hear any response, but continued anyway.

"I never was a very sociable person when I was younger; I grew up by myself until I eventually met Shido. At first, I believed that he would be the father that he should have been, but realization dawned on me that it would never happen. I only went through with his orders in order to get close to him and the more horrifying his demands were, the more I knew I had to accomplish them. But that doesn't mean that everything I did was all Shido's fault; I'm more than equal on the blame."

He turned to face her and bowed down.

"Haru-san, I wanted to at least tell you that I am regretful of my actions; I wanted you to know that so you don't see me as a merciless coward. Please, you don't have to forgive me, but at least tell me that you acknowledge my apology."

He stayed in that position for a while until Haru spoke up.

"… Akechi-san, I could never bring myself to hate you…"

Akechi looked up, but he couldn't find Haru anywhere.

"Did I imagine her saying that?" he wondered.

Suddenly, he checked his watch.

"Oh no! The caretaker's really gonna let me have it for being late to curfew!"

He quickly ran to his train and nabbed a spot before the doors closed.

Elsewhere…

Haru unlocked the door to her apartment. She had decided not to live in the upscale house that was her home since childhood ever since she started college, mostly because it was a pain to commute to the university campus, but also because she wanted a place that seemed more down to Earth.

Putting her coat onto the hanger, Haru laid down on her bed and closed her eyes, rethinking the events of the day. For some reason, the scene of Akechi apologizing to her always seemed to replay, the most frequent one being when she said that she didn't hate him.

"Astarte, what should I do?"

A little known thing about Persona: they might not be able to manifest in the real world, but sometimes you can contact them in times of need. Haru believed that this was one of those moments and awaited an answer. Unfortunately, this just didn't appear to be pressing enough, making Haru sigh again and turn on her side. A picture frame on her desk showed multiple smiling faces in front of a white van. It was a picture of the group when they dropped off Akira at his hometown after his probation was lifted. Haru couldn't help but notice that Akechi was a little ways off from the rest of the group; still smiling ecstatically, but not close enough to seem like he belonged. Socializing with him was more or less awkward for the team, but they eventually welcomed him back with open arms. Sure, he had his faults, but they had their reasons for joining the Phantom Thieves. Even Haru herself had rejected them at first, believing that she could handle anything on her own. How wrong she had realized she was later on and now she got along with them all.

Akechi wasn't that different of a case; he was alone in the beginning so he grew up believing that he had to do everything himself. He never got very close to anyone until he joined the Phantom Thieves. He killed her father, but he had already proven his regret time and time again. Honestly, Haru had only avoided him ever since then just because she felt that she would remind him of how he was before and ultimately make himself feel depressed. But knowing now that he had wanted to apologize for something so long in the past, Haru felt as if she was just pushing away her own past, as if she was trying to pretend that Akechi never killed her father.

Haru closed her eyes once again, slowly feeling the fatigue of the day wash over her.

"Akechi… I never blamed you for what happened… "

Aaaaaaaaaaand we are BACK! Yeah, sorry for making this guys, I just felt that this had to be made. I've recently had writers block and midterms are just around the corner for me so I decided to do something about it. College is good so far, and I think that I might have maybe a little too much extra time. Anyways, here is a work that I have been DYING to write for ages. This was inspired by the new theories about P5R; spoilers for anyone who hasn't finished Persona 5 yet. Apparently, there's talk that Akechi might actually survive and become a permanent party member later on. Now, I know there are a lot of plot issues that would make its way into the base story at that point, but I decided to humor it for a little while and pair it with my ship for Haru and Akechi (ironic, I know). Anyways, expect this to be updated every now and then. I'm not putting any other stories on hold, I just felt the muse to write this. In the meantime, seeya!