CONTENT WARNING: This chapter contains references to self harm, police brutality, gun violence and parental abuse. While not graphic, this content still may be difficult or upsetting to read, so please take breaks or skip sections as needed. Stay safe.
10/12 – Wednesday
After School
Odaiba, Shadow Response Unit Headquarters
Akechi was seated at the table when Ren entered. And he wasn't wearing his suit. His outfit was light, simple fabric, loose on his already scrawny frame, making him seem even more gaunt. A plain long-sleeved black shirt and white-and-black striped pants. Socks, but no shoes.
"Stop gawking," the detective snapped, glaring at Ren over the top of the paperback held in one hand.
"Right," Ren said, slipping inside, unable to keep the slight smile off his lips. "You look better." The young man probably still hadn't slept, considering the dark around his eyes were even more pronounced than yesterday. Or maybe it was just that any lingering makeup had been washed off completely. Akechi's hair was less frizzy too, clearly he'd taken a shower sometime since they'd seen each other last.
Akechi merely sighed, and nodded to the chair across the table from him. "Sit. We have...things to discuss."
"Sure," Ren agreed. He plopped down across from the boy, putting his bag on the table. Morgana immediately popped his head out to observe the conversation. "Uh, first things first though. I talked to my therapist about, like..." The words caught in his throat. Devoid of euphemism, he tapped the inside of his own forearm with a horizontal finger. "My own stuff, not yours."
"I'm following," Akechi said, coldly.
Ren pursed his lips. "He told me about some tricks to curb those feelings. Like, using ice cubes–"
"I'm well aware of the tactic," he snapped. "I've spent quite a while managing such feelings on my own. And in case you weren't aware, there's this wonderful thing called an internet search engine." Dry bitterness soaked through every word.
"Right." Ren bit back a sigh. "Still. Maybe I could get, like, a minifridge or a cooler or something. Cold drinks, ice on hand." He shrugged. "Might help."
Akechi rolled his eyes. "You seem quite fixated digging your fingers into my ideations, Amamiya."
"You're my friend," Ren snapped. "And even if you don't listen, even if nothing works, at least there's something there. Some other option, even if it's just a placebo or something." He let out a long breath, reaching up to spin a strand of hair around his finger. "He also recommended using a red marker, drawing on skin. Like mimicking the–"
Akechi interrupted him with a groan, teeth grit. "Can we please move on to the task at hand? Unless you wish to just keep tinkering with my self-destructive impulses."
"Fine." Ren sighed, fingers tense, almost tearing the lock out at the root.
Akechi hesitated. A brief flicker of what might have been guilt. "A cooler...would be nice, actually. Ice on hand. You..." He rubbed his right arm through his sleeve. "You never know."
Back and forth yet again. The detective's personality was a fucking pendulum at this point. Ren took a breath, forced himself to relax. Akechi was lashing out. He was tired, and angry at Ren for any number of possibly stupid, possibly valid reasons. It wasn't personal. "I'll talk with Mitsuru on my way out." He gave himself a second to breathe, just a moment. "Okay. Let's talk."
The boy nodded, placing his book down on the table. Ren raised an eyebrow at the cover, which showed a man in a tan coat and fedora wielding a pistol towards a dark alleyway, the title in English. Some sort of American detective novel? "Mitsuru has taken the time to remind me of my options. The SRU has still not decided what to do with me," Akechi spoke with empty bitterness, frustration more than spite, "but they nevertheless wish for me to evaluate how I desire to proceed."
Ren nodded. "Joining the Thieves, going witness-protection or staying here as a consultant, right?"
"Those were the options presented to me," Akechi confirmed. Hm. It seemed sort of...evasive? "But before I make my decision, I need further information on the Thieves themselves." A little smirk twitched at the edge of his lips. "We've had this conversation before, of course. The detective and the felon." Ren couldn't help but flinch slightly at the title. "But I am not asking you for hypotheticals. As a Thief, I need you to be direct with me. What are the tenants of the Phantoms? For what purposes have you changed hearts?"
"Everyone's got their own reasons," Morgana cut in. "The Thieves aren't a monolith."
"I recognize that," Akechi said. "But as the leader, if anyone should have a grasp of your collective motivations, it would be Ren, would it not?" He didn't so much as glance towards the cat as he spoke, every ounce of focus towards Ren.
"Sure," he said, shrugging off the tension that had spiraled its way around his spine. "Besides for me, Mona and Futaba, everyone's joined the Thieves in a pretty similar way. Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Kasumi and Haru all had someone whose heart they wanted changed, and they became a Phantom for that sake. Futaba's about the same, but she only joined after that Palace – her Palace – fell. But even after that, every one of them decided to stick around, decided to change more hearts, help more people." He leaned back in his chair, gaze up towards the ceiling, tracing the borders of those neon lights until the bulbs burned themselves into the corners of his eyes.
"How do you expect to change the world without having to fight for it!?"
"You still want to be a Phantom Thief? Steal hearts, change the rotten adults?"
"But, you're the leader. So, uh, what happens now?"
"I'm free, I don't have to be just a Thief, just an artist, just a student. I'm...I'm me."
"I can't take back what happened, as much as I wish I could. And I would like to do everything in my power to make things right, as much as I possibly can."
"I don't know if I belong here, or if you want me, but I want to be here. I want to be a Phantom Thief."
"A heroine of justice who saves only herself is hardly a heroine at all."
"I feel like I bel-belong with you all."
"We've all got debts to pay," Ren said, the words flowing out of him almost on instinct. His words. His voice. But another's heart behind them, like a dozen masks stacked together, superimposed until no detail remained. "But that's not why we're here. It's not why we do what we do." He smiled. "We all know what it's like to be alone. To fight on our own. So it's twofold: we change hearts to help those who are suffering alone, like we were, and we do so as Thieves because...we're family." The word felt odd across his tongue. Simple, yet sacred.
"I see." At Akechi's response, Ren's gaze returned to the detective. He'd expected a whole lot more bitterness, pessimism. But the boy just seemed...Ren didn't have a word for it. There was something like embarrassment there, deferment. A very uncharacteristic respect. But it didn't last. "And could you then speak to the reasons behind the pacifism of your methods?" He shifted, lifting a hand in a near-shrug. The motion seemed rehearsed, artificial. "As Kasumi said yesterday, changing hearts does not solve every issue."
"We're not..." Ren bit back his protest. "It's not a simple thing. There's a lot of reasons why." He let out a long sigh. "We haven't caused a mental shutdown yet. But it's never been off the table, never something we can't do." A name unspoken, burning across his tongue, souring his gut. "There are some people it'd be easier to silence, I'm not denying that. Taking the easy way out isn't always a bad thing. But there's consequences to that. And none of us want to make the rest of the Thieves deal with those consequences. When push comes to shove, it's harder to hurt a friend than spare an abuser."
"And of leaving the fate of those abusers to the very systems who ignored their abuse in the first place?" Akechi asked, quick and articulate. "For those who have such strong opinions on Japan's legal system, it seems quite contradictory to leave justice in their hands. Why rely on them to punish those who cause harm?"
"It's not about punishment," Ren replied. "We're not cops. Changing hearts is about stopping abuse, not just hurting the bad people. Yeah, it feels great to see someone publically get taken to task for the shit they've pulled, but incarceration isn't our goal. Prison isn't a fucking solution."
Akechi rolled his eyes, gesturing to the room around him with a dry smirk. "In case you haven't noticed, despite all your moralizing, you still seem to be content to allow your allies to keep me in solitary confinement for the foreseeable future."
Ren felt it. Like a flathead driven into the base of his spine. An electric anxiety, flickering through him. The panic of cold walls, cold floors, of sunless rooms and bloodstained bandages. And then it was gone. And he was back. His right fingers were latched around his left hand, like a desperate anchor. "I would prefer," he said, slowly, tension straining at his voice, "for you not to make that comparison. It's...sort of a sensitive topic for me, in case you weren't aware."
Morgana slipped out of his bag in an instant, hopping down off the table and onto Ren's lap. And he pressed his entire weight against the young man's stomach, purring intently.
"I..." Akechi said, blinking a few times. "Yes. I should have...right." He shook his head. "My apologies. Consider it dropped."
"Thanks," Ren mumbled, running his fingers along the feline's fur. "I guess...maybe I should feel good about the fact that we put some bastards behind bars. But like, what's even the fucking point? It's not like a life sentence is gonna bring back all the shit they took from my friends. And hell, maybe..." Ren laughed, and shrugged. "I don't know where I stand, I guess. I have a whole bunch of contradictory opinions all at once. Prison was a fucking nightmare for me, so I guess that makes sense." He gestured noncommittally to his left wrist. "But you already know that. You've seen my file."
Akechi half-flinched. "How did you–" And an instant later, regained his composure. "Oh. That would be more future knowledge, is that it?"
"Uh," Ren said. "Yeah. Sorry, yeah. Anachronism memory."
Akechi grumbled out a sigh. And then he paused, an odd hesitation weaving across his expression. "Tell me something. In that letter you gave, it said that the Akechi of that timeline considered you his only real friend." Despite his reserved attitude, his eyes flashed momentarily cold. "In this world, I would ascribe that very same title to Kasumi. Do you have any explanation for that discrepancy?"
He felt a wince bubble up in him, and he bit it back down. "Not a full one," Ren admitted. "But...okay, so, Anachronism's memories stretch from about May of this year to December of next year. And Kasumi is only a Thief in the last, like, quarter."
"After the world had already been doomed," Akechi finished.
Ren nodded. "Maybe...all the shit you went through? Getting shot, working alongside the Thieves, failing to save the world. Maybe that put a strain on things."
"No doubt it would," Akechi said, almost a mumble. He pursed his lips. "Ren. At this moment, I'm not quite sure how I feel about you."
He couldn't help but smile. "Hey, that's...honestly, I'll take it."
"It's an improvement," Morgana chirped.
Akechi gave them both a glare before continuing. "I've listed my reasons for loathing you quite extensively, I think, so I'll spare us both the reminder." He interlocked his fingers, hands on the table. "Out of...respect to your persistent – asinine – attempts to do good by me, I will admit that I have more to gain than lose by working with you. That being said..." He crossed one leg over the other. "None of Mitsuru's options particularly appeal to me."
Ren raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"
"I'm getting there," the detective snapped. "All three are predicated on extensive SRU supervision; irritating, but understandable. It makes perfect sense that someone in her position would prioritize such. But all three also fail to address one particular factor. Shido."
A tension flickered across him, and the boy paused for a moment, steadying. "The tracker he placed on my phone no doubt alerted him the moment I left Okumura's Palace. That would have been the last time he, a man with exceptional control issues, knew my location. And when Okumura doesn't suffer a mental shutdown, he will be left with one of three potential assumptions. Either I defected, I was killed or captured, or - after my first and only failure - I fled out of fear."
He placed first one, then two, then three fingers on the table to emphasize his point. "The rumor spread by you and Takamaki should be an effective stopgap, turning his attention towards that third potentiality. But after enough time passes and he finds no traces to my whereabouts, and no other explanations arise, his focus will inevitably turn to the Thieves. And if the Thieves happen to start taking actions that he perceives as threatening to his priorities..."
Ren's throat was dry, and he cleared it. "He knows where I live, I'm guessing." A shudder tiptoed its way down his spine. "He could probably throw out an anonymous tip to the police or something. Get them to arrest me, search Leblanc."
"Potentially," Akechi agreed. "Shido has refrained from such tactics so far because he believes the Thieves to be both too useful and gullible to dispose of. He sees you as a weapon he can turn on his enemies, or potentially even as another crop of Metaversal assassins." A twitch of a smile, a perhaps-involuntary chuckle. "Both of which are encouraged by the very specific reports I gave him regarding you all."
"Why did you want him to think that way?" Morgana asked, abruptly.
Akechi hesitated. "For a time...I considered that I could potentially make use of you all, appeal to your sensibilities and ask you to help me change Shido's heart. I would manipulate you into doing the hard work for me while I reaped the rewards of his death." He said it simply, but he didn't look particularly thrilled to admit as much. "I abandoned that plan, roughly..." He adjusted his shirt at the collar.
"Let me guess," Ren said, and the words left him drier than he intended them to. "After Kasumi joined us?"
Akechi gave him a quick, sharp glare. "Around then, yes."
Ren nodded, leaning back in his chair and sighing. "So if we play our cards wrong, or just take too long to play them, he'll start targeting us."
"Not you," Akechi said. "Not at first. He's more a fan of subtler methods, ones that he sees as leaving fewer loose ends. Striking not at a target, but around them, cutting off their support and isolating them."
Their support. Ren felt cold. "Who does he know about?"
"Seven of the eight human members of the Phantom Thieves," he replied. "Excepting Kasumi, of course. Sojiro Sakura. Yuuki Mishima. Ichiko Ohya. Sadayo Kawakami. Tae Takemi. Munehisa Iwai. Chihaya Mifune. Toranosuke Yoshida. Takuto Maruki. Daisuke and Shinya Oda. Hifumi Togo."
Ren gawked at the young man. The only of his allies not on that list were Kasumi, Morgana, the SRU, Lavenza and Shiho. "Fuck," he muttered, letting out a long breath.
"And even if you managed to hide every single one of them," Akechi continued. "Shido would no doubt have little qualms of harming those close to them. I doubt the SRU has enough space for every Thief's family, let alone–"
"We get it!" Morgana said, resting his chin on the table to glare at Akechi. "What's your point?"
Akechi scowled momentarily at the cat, before turning his frigid attention back towards Ren. "My point is that unless Shido has someone standing by to advise him against murdering your friends and family, that our chances of keeping him distracted long enough to infiltrate his Palace are slim to none."
Someone standing by...Ren couldn't stop his scoff fast enough. "You're asking to play double agent to your fucking dad!?"
"Unless you have a better idea," Akechi said, quick and quiet.
"Yes?" Ren replied, throwing his arms up in a shrug. "How about we don't send you back to pretend to work for the guy who abused you and left you for dead? How about we just...I don't know, come up with some sort of distraction? We've got three amazing hackers: Fuuka from the SRU, Futaba – you know her – and Bis from the old Medjed. Maybe they could collaborate on some sort of cyber attack, threaten to expose An-So's secrets or something."
Akechi let out a breath through his nose. "Do you know how easy it is for Shido to call for an assassination? Even in my absence, there is no shortage of men willing to put a bullet in your head at his command."
"Can you stop saying stuff like that!?" Morgana growled.
"Fine," Akechi snapped. "But my point stands. Without someone there to personally ensure that Shido won't act against the Thieves, or at the very least warn you when he does, then your plan would need to capture Shido's complete attention until we can change his heart." He adjusted his collar. "How long until you feel the Thieves would be ready to act directly against him?"
"Uh," Ren said. "It...might be a while. We could rush the guy, but so far as we've planned things out, it makes the most sense to wait at least a month. Maybe two." He reached up to twist a lock of hair between two fingers. "Fuck. Hate to admit it, but you've got a point."
"Joy," Akechi said, deadpan. "Lovely to hear that you're finally starting to see things my way." He reached up, adjusting his hair, smoothing out a bit of frizz. "Two months. That should work perfectly." The smallest of smirks settling on his lips.
"You're really confident you can keep him occupied that long?" Ren asked, colder than he'd intended to. "I mean, you said yourself, we need to come up with a way to divert all of his attention away from the Thieves and SRU."
"Shido is an exceptionally paranoid traditionalist politician," Akechi replied. "Which is to say he possesses an unparalleled xenophobia. If he feels his conspiracy is threatened by 'foreign interlopers,' he would have no reason to concern himself with the actions of a group of idealistic high schoolers. Especially not if he had a particularly motivated assassin dedicated to eliminating them." For emphasis, the boy gestured to himself.
"I'm following," Ren said. It all made sense so far. He didn't like it, but the logic was sound.
"My plan is as follows." Akechi adjusted his sleeve idly as he talked, reaching up to fiddle with his collar again. "I return to Shido, telling him that the Thieves ambushed me in Okumura's Palace, equipped with both knowledge of my actions and weaponry beyond what I have observed from them previously. They pursued me out of the Palace and I, under threat of my identity being revealed, retreated into Mementos, where I found myself ambushed by experienced Persona-users, who proceeded to bark orders to each other in...let's say German. I escaped by fleeing further into the depths of Mementos, and found my return to reality blocked off by both those same Persona-users, who decided to stake the exits."
A little involuntary laugh slipped out of the detective. "As far as his tracker is concerned, I am still in the Metaverse. And I have taken days-long leaves of absence before, for the unspoken sake of getting a few days reprieve from his observations, resting on the platforms and scavenging for necessities. It shouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for me to survive there for a week or more."
Ren nodded, slowly. "So Shido would waste his time looking for a bunch of German soldiers instead of a Japanese businesswoman." He reached up to twist a strand of hair between his fingers. "We still need some way to distract him from the Thieves. Or...if he thinks that we have intel on the Persona-users that attacked you, then he'd...could we get him to just put you on the case? Revenge for being outwitted or something."
"My thoughts exactly," Akechi said, giving Ren what seemed to be...an honest smile. As if the enjoyment of their collaboration somehow counteracted the stress of its context. "As far as he knows, you have no reason to suspect Goro Akechi and Black Mask are one and the same, and you have both treated me as a friend and invited me to spend time with the Phantom Thieves; no doubt, an offer that would inevitably end in recruitment. Therefore, all I would need to do is emphasize to him that I wish to tear the Thieves apart from the inside, after they placed enough trust in me to educate me as to the identity of their associates. I could reference my second Metaverse outfit and Robin Hood as a disguise; he's already somewhat familiar with both."
Ren chose not to note aloud that Akechi had read his intentions with flawless accuracy. "And what happens if he tells you to commit another mental shutdown?"
The detective tensed, somewhat. "If I'm unable to change his mind, I will send you a warning and flee into Mementos." He crossed one leg over the other, and his arms over his chest. "This plan is not without risk, I will admit as much. But I still consider it the greatest chance we have to gain control over a dangerous situation."
"That sounds like something Ren would like," Morgana noted. "I like it too, cause it's scary not knowing what Shido's up to. But what's your reason for liking that plan?"
Huh. Yeah, now that the cat mentioned it... "All of that sounds like stuff that's meant to convince me," Ren said. "And don't get me wrong, even if I hate the idea, I'm still pretty convinced. But that doesn't address what you get out of pretending to work for Shido."
Akechi let out a long breath, almost a sigh. "In all honesty, placing myself in danger is quite the effective bargaining chip." He flicked the smallest of glances towards Ren, then away, eyes fixating on the nearest wall instead. "In exchange for granting both Thieves and SRU that aforementioned control, I would like to issue a demand." A demand? Not even a request, a demand? After everything he'd done...no, that line of thinking didn't help anyone. "You said the Thieves would prefer to wait up to two months before changing Shido's heart. Very well. Let's stick with that."
Akechi placed a hand on the table, finally meeting Ren's gaze again. "I will work alongside the Thieves, lending both my information and experience to whatever it is you decide to focus on – so long as Shido's Palace remains standing. I will additionally provide a bulwark between the Thieves and Shido, and divert his focus away from the SRU. In exchange, on December the 1st, I will be granted full autonomy to choose both Shido's fate and mine."
"Choosing his fate," Ren said, barely able to keep himself from spitting the words. "As in, you want the right to spare him?"
"Hardly!" Akechi snapped, the sudden intensity knocking a flinch into Ren's anger. "Don't misunderstand me, Shido will fall. I can promise you that." An involuntary, almost nervous giggle slipped out of him. "But I demand to choose how it happens, where it happens, and what information is released to the public regarding the mental shutdowns. If I choose to have him suffer a mental shutdown, you will allow it. If I choose to have his crimes publicized while obscuring all connection to myself, you will allow it." And the mania vanished from him. As if his passion, that television charisma, had been exhausted. "And if I choose to confess alongside him, and turn myself in as culpable for the mental shutdowns. You will allow it."
Ren didn't know what to say. "You haven't decided yet." The words slipped out of him on automatic, as if they weren't his words at all. "You don't know what you want to do about him."
Akechi nodded, slowly. "I loathe being that man's assassin. The biggest mistake of my life so far was accepting his offer in the first place." He let out a shuddering breath. "You and Kasumi both have assured me that there is another option. Another life waiting for me, should I renounce my position at his side." He crossed his arms again, almost hugging himself. "I would be an idiot not to at least give you a chance to prove why your methods are correct. And if you convince me it's truly better to let him confess his sins, if your modus operandi serves me more than my own...then I will have no reason to kill him."
"Got it." Ren took a deep breath in, and let a deep breath out. "I can't agree to anything right off the bat. The Thieves don't make big decisions like this unless we're unanimous, and the SRU works on majority rule. Might take some time before we can come to a consensus."
"Naturally," the detective said, quietly.
"But if it were just me?" Ren stood, scooping Morgana up and depositing the cat gently into his bag, before slipping the handle over his shoulder. "The people Shido hurt the most have the most right to decide what happens to him. But so long as you hear me and Futaba out, I guess..." He shrugged. "I'd be willing to trust you. Cause no matter what you decide, Shido's still going to get what's coming to him. And that's what matters the most to me."
10/13 – Thursday
After School
Odaiba, Shadow Response Unit Headquarters
Naoto paused to take a long sip of water and catch his breath, skimming over the notebook on the table in front of him. "I believe that's all the intel of immediate importance that he told me. But of course, you're all welcome to ask whatever questions you might have. I'll do my best to answer them." And with that, he threw a glance across the entire meeting room.
The room itself was hastily arranged, an oval-shaped chamber with a quintet of tables arranged in a vaguely pentagonal shape, clearly a messy attempt to make extra room for the Thieves. That being said, it felt a little more barren than it most likely would at full capacity, given that only four Thieves had actually showed up – and one of those Thieves didn't need an extra chair, though he seemed to enjoy having one, resting his paws up on the table and peering around with a very serious look on his little kitty face.
Besides Ren and Morgana, both Haru and Yusuke had taken the time to join as well, the latter of whom had accepted the responsibility of dictating the meeting's major points into a document they could later share with the rest of the Thieves. As well, Ren noticed a few particular absences from the SRU, as Kikuno, Junpei, Ken, Koromaru Junior, Labyrs, Teddie and Yosuke were nowhere to be seen.
"I have a question," Haru said, raising her hand slightly. She seemed a lot more comfortable in such a crowded space than Ren himself, but she looked tenser too, as if slipping into a role that didn't quite fit her. "I admit it's rather personal, but it may be important to more than just me."
"Ask away," Naoto said, giving her a tired smile from across the room.
"Did Akechi tell you how Shido knew the Thieves would target my father?" Her voice was momentarily cold, and empty.
Naoto glanced back down at his notes, seemingly unaffected by the tense wince that had slipped across a few others in the room. "Your father being...Kunikazu Okumura, yes?" Haru silently nodded, and the detective continued. "Apparently, Shido considered the man a patsy for quite a long time. He was one of the only public investors to An-So, and the most sizable one at that."
"Shido had bragged to Akechi how little he valued Okumura's money, considering the funding he was receiving through other means. Therefore, it cost him nothing to place the man in front of himself, as a public figure to blame for the mental shutdowns if An-So were ever at risk of exposure. According to Shido himself, he was confident in his ability to paint Okumura as the mastermind behind the shutdowns, a power-hungry CEO funneling money into an operation to eliminate whoever he saw fit." Naoto paused. "To be clear, neither I nor Akechi believe these things to be true. It's simply what Shido expressed to him."
"I understand," Haru said, simply. "Continue, please."
Ren silently reached out, placing his hand against hers. Not holding her, not unless she initiated, but he wanted her to know he was there. And judging by the way her shoulders seemed to lower ever so slightly, it probably helped a bit, at least.
"Shido had more recently considered using Okumura's Palace as a trap for the Thieves in order to blame them for the mental shutdowns," Naoto said, flipping a page in his notebook. "He had told Akechi to scout out the Palace while he used An-So's puppet-Medjed to meddle with the Phantom Aficionado website, thereby driving the Thieves towards Okumura."
"But when Akechi entered the Palace, he found an infiltration route already completed, with signs that the Thieves had made it halfway to the Treasure chamber before retreating. At that point, he was instructed to observe the Thieves and wait for them to send the calling card, at which point he would assassinate Okumura and pin the blame on the Thieves."
Chie let out a long whistle. "That's kind of a crazy coincidence, huh? I mean, that the Thieves would try and change the heart of the guy he wanted them to try changing the heart of."
"Less of one than you'd think," Yusuke corrected, not even looking up from his phone as his fingers typed at dizzying speeds. "We targeted Haru's father in the first place – before we'd met her, of course – because of the man's apparent connection to An-So. In that way, he acted as exactly the distraction it seemed Shido wanted him to be."
"The guy really doesn't give a shit about human life, does he?" Akihiko asked, his voice low and careful. "The bastard. No wonder Akechi was scared out of his mind."
"I don't disagree," Yu said, rubbing the back of his neck. "But do we have any insight on the guy's motivation outside like...I don't know, world domination?" A little chuckle. "Shido's been a politician for ages, and he's already well on the way to being prime minister. He doesn't sound like someone at risk of becoming any less powerful than he already is, so I guess I don't see he'd wanna spend all that time and money to turn a random high schooler into his personal assassin."
Aigis cleared her throat. "Masayoshi Shido's political platform has had an emphasis on the safety and comfort of the Japanese people while decrying the cowardice of his opponents, and also highlighting a great number of unknown dangers, such as foreign interference or – more recently – the mental shutdowns. Those running against him have commonly identified him as a fear-monger." A momentary pause, a hiss of steam escaping her lips. "His fascist rhetoric is subject to similarly harsh criticism. It is entirely possible he would be far less popular if there were not such seemingly random and indiscriminate deaths occurring under current jurisdiction."
"Creating a problem just to solve it later," Yu finished. "Gotcha." He shrugged. "That's all I got."
After a few moments of silence, Mitsuru placed a hand on her table and stood up. "Thank you, Naoto. I hope you'll continue speaking with Akechi; he seems to value your company."
"You couldn't keep me away," the man said with a little wry smile. Kanji, sitting next to him, nodded with an odd, almost protective firmness.
Mitsuru chuckled softly. "Without any further questions, I think we should move onto our next matter of business." She nodded towards Ren, giving a slight smile. "Whenever you're ready."
All eyes turned towards him, and he felt his stomach drop. "Right," he said, the words leaving him quiet, almost breathless. He cleared his throat, trying not to stare back at the dozens of gazes now fixated on him. Fuck. He hated this. He hated freezing up like this. He was half tempted to bolt, to leave this to someone better equipped, someone like Naoto or even Akechi himself, someone who wasn't–
"Ren." Haru's voice sent a calmness into him, like a soft blanket thrown over his panic. Her fingers brushed against his palm, and he took her hand, squeezing it tight. "I'm here." And Morgana, on his other side, leaned over to shove his head into Ren's shoulder, purring so loud the whole room could probably hear it. It was...kind of embarrassing, to need them. But it was really, really nice they were there.
He nodded, swallowing hard, taking a deep breath in. "Thanks," he whispered. "Okay." His voice raised, so the whole room could hear him. "I talked to Akechi yesterday, and he made a request for how he'd like to proceed. I've already told the Thieves, and we're still trying to figure out where we stand, but you all need to know as well." Another careful breath. The Thieves had, however, come to the consensus that they shouldn't tell the SRU about Akechi wanting to reserve the option to kill Shido. Not yet, at least.
And as much as lying to his allies stung, Ren agreed it was the right choice. "He's suggested something similar to one of the ideas we posed originally, with him working alongside the Thieves at least until we successfully change Shido's heart. But with two alterations: that Akechi be allowed to choose to what degree his own connection to the mental shutdowns is publicized, and..." Ren braced himself. "That he be released from the SRU's direct supervision, with the aim of returning to Shido's employ while spying on him, and misdirecting his attention–"
"No," Yukari said, throwing a hesitation into Ren's speech. "Not a chance. We can't just..." She gestured sharply at nothing. "I'm not about to sign off on sending a suicidal minor to go play double agent to his abuser. Absolutely fucking not."
"I'm right there with you, Takeba," Sho said, spinning a coin idly on the table. "But shouldn't we let the guy finish talking before we start making decisions?" The words were almost accusatory, but his tone was utterly neutral, as if he didn't care much either way.
Yukari blinked, and nodded, brow furrowed as if she was wincing at her own behavior. "Right. Sorry Ren, that just kinda...hit a sore spot for me. That's on me though, you didn't do anything wrong." A little apologetic nod his way. "Please, go ahead."
He nodded back, trying to keep from squeezing Haru's hand too hard; she was stronger than him, but he still didn't wanna risk cutting off her circulation or anything. "As far as I can tell, his plan seems solid. It's a risk, but it's got a good chance of working. None of the other Thieves have had any dissension when it comes to logistics."
"And what are those logistics?" Mitsuru asked.
"That he goes back to Shido, and tells him that the Thieves are working alongside a bunch of foreign Persona-users," Ren continued. "He suggested German. And those Persona-users ambushed him in Mementos, chasing him into the depths and staking out the entrance. So, that would explain why he was AWOL. And that would give Shido, who he says is really xenophobic and stuff, some sort of believable threat to chase after, while Akechi asks to be assigned to infiltrate the Phantom Thieves to learn what we know about the nonexistent foreigners."
"Xenophobia certainly fits his public image," Aigis added. "He has shown no apparent qualms with implying during multiple speeches that different elections had been meddled with by foreign powers, such as America or Korea. As well, he has a high approval rating within traditionalist voter groups often criticized for their nationalist and archaic views."
"Damn," Rise said, grinning across the room. "What sort of research did you do on the guy?"
"I simply read as many articles as I could get my hands on," Aigis said. "I'm quite a fast reader."
Mitsuru crossed her arms, brow furrowed. "Fuuka, would it be possible to reverse the tracker placed on Akechi's phone, so that we could monitor his movements as well?"
Fuuka nodded. "It might take me a few days, but yes. I could also make it so we could record his calls and texts, if you'd prefer." She said it so simply, as if bugging the boy presented no moral conundrum to her.
"Potentially," Mitsuru said, and left it at that. "Ren, Yusuke, Haru, Morgana. I recognize the Thieves have not reached a consensus at this time, but do any of you have any particular moral objections to this plan, or reasons you feel it is necessary?"
"It's more dangerous for Akechi, but safer for everyone else," Morgana said, slowly. "I wanna make sure Ren, and everyone we've worked with, is gonna be safe, and that Shido won't hurt any of them. But I also don't want Akechi to have to be stuck somewhere that hurts him as badly as working for Shido does."
Yusuke finally looked up from his phone, his eyes calm, steady, and yet somewhat morose. "I believe both I and Haru could...no, I think it more appropriate to speak only for myself." He strained up slightly, facing the room with an unshakable confidence. "I know firsthand the difficulty of remaining with a father who has no qualms of harming me, at the same time as I act to expose his abuse. It's a situation I am intimately familiar with, and one I would not wish upon anyone else. But that being said..."
His voice caught, and he paused for a moment to gather himself. "The support provided to me by the Phantom Thieves, by my friends, got me through that situation in one piece. Furthermore, it enabled me to strive past limits I had previously considered insurmountable, even within such a dire circumstance." He glanced towards Ren, smiling full and honest, before returning his attention to the room.
"When I was still living with Madarame, if anyone had asked me to leave his home, I most likely would have refused. I don't know if I could have articulated why at the time, but it stands that I...it wasn't enough to simply know that I had changed him. I needed to see him change. Otherwise I may never have moved on. Once that path was offered to me, I don't believe anyone could have shaken me from it."
"I can't say that I feel exactly the same," Haru added. "But I don't disagree with Yusuke. I know that Akechi hasn't seemed the most open to the support we often extend to each other, but I think he'll accept some of it. Especially from Ren and Kasumi. And I know he'll feel better if he's in control of a situation like that, rather than just waiting on other people to fix it for him."
She hummed for a moment, like a thought had gotten stuck in her throat. "My feelings towards my own father are complicated, and I recognize that some of this may come from the fact that I still live with him at this moment. And that his heart has not yet finished changing." A flash of tension through her fingers, a bitter chill settling across her eyes. "Yet I recognize that he has a control over me that I cannot counteract. His presence alone is enough to make me doubt my own sense of reality, and question those who I would otherwise have complete faith in."
Ren couldn't find a single word, so he squeezed Haru's hand tight and hoped the message would travel. She closed her eyes for a moment, relaxing slightly, and then opened them again. "I trust Akechi, while he is here. And I will trust him if he works alongside the Thieves. But as I cannot trust myself when I am with my own father, I do not know that I could trust him while he is with his."
And once more, focus turned towards Ren. This time, for whatever reason, it didn't feel quite as unwelcome. "I'm kinda divided," he began, slowly. "I think Akechi should have the right to his own autonomy, even if he's making a decision I don't like, but it's hard to draw the line where..." An odd tension flickered through him. "I'm not going to stay by and let him make a decision I know is gonna get him killed, or traumatized, or anything like that. The problem is, I don't know how Shido's going to react."
"I need you to promise that you won't martyr yourself. That you won't leverage your own life just to kill him. Not for me, or you, or anyone. Just...please, promise me that."
"I'm not going to let him die." The words weren't his, but he believed them completely. "If he wants to face Shido again, if he feels that's the best way for him to move on from this, then I'll support him through that. But I am not going to let anything happen to him. Even if he's the one making that decision." He took a breath in, and felt it burn his lungs, flickering like so much azure fire. "He's my friend. And I'm gonna get him out of this. That's my promise."
A hundred thousand thank-yous to Jane for her patience, brainstorming assistance and of course beta-reading.
