Author's Headnote: Thank you guest review for giving me an interesting idea.
Remnant's Very Own Detective: An Unexpected Fortune
Goro Akechi:
Health: 100%
Spirit/Aura: 100%
Personas:
Robin Hood
Loki
Weapons: Crude Beam Sword, No Gun
"Semblance": Call of Chaos
Lien: 340
Social Links:
Fool (Unknown): Rank 0
Magician (Unknown): Rank 0
High Priestess (Unknown): Rank 0
Emperess (Unknown): Rank 0
Emperor (Unknown): Rank 0
Hierophant (Unknown): Rank 0
Lovers (Unknown): Rank 0
Chariot (Unknown): Rank 0
Justice (Unknown): Rank 0
Hermit (Unknown): Rank 0
Wheel of Fortune (Unknown): Rank 0
Strength (Unknown): Rank 0
Hanged Man (Unknown): Rank 0
Death (Unknown): Rank 0
Temperance (Unknown): Rank 0
Devil (Unknown): Rank 0
Tower (Unknown): Rank 0
Star (Unknown): Rank 0
Moon (Unknown): Rank 0
Sun (Unknown): Rank 0
Judgement (Unknown): Rank 0
Trickster (Rival): Rank 9 (He defeated me in the last fight. Weakened, I was surrounded by a cognitive version of myself and the local security of the palace, I sacrificed myself so they could escape. I'd rather die than have Shido win.)
End of Main Character status report
Current Objectives:
Find a way for Mementos to open
Continue to Investigate Neo's Palace
Wednesday, August 9, 2175 - Saturday, August 12, 2175
City of Vale, August 12, Afternoon, Downtown
Akechi did some odd jobs for a local restaurant. It paid surprisingly well. However, it isn't enough to keep him from being broke. He wandered around downtown. He could investigate the palace again. However, if he shows up at a criminal's nesting spot too often, the aforementioned criminals are going to raise some eyebrows. So, he only needs to show up every now and again.
He's been downtown before. He knows his way around the city. What is unexpected is that he sees a table and a woman attending it, sitting down across with an empty chair. From the looks of it, she appears to be fortune telling. Her hair is blonde and straight, wearing a flowery dress. come to think of it... he saw a woman who looked exactly like that back in Shinjuku. However, being the same woman is quite impossible. Regardless, he may as well get a fortune read. He may not believe in fate, but it doesn't hurt to have some sort of minor distraction to pass the time. He approached the woman at the table.
"How much for a fortune reading?" Akechi asked.
"I usually do them for free." the woman said.
"Free? Why?"
"I don't work on weekends."
"Oh. In that case." Akechi said, sitting down. "Give me a tarot reading."
"Hold on, let me get the cards." the woman said, gathering a deck of cards. "I got this deck from a red-headed merchant who claimed they came from the future. It only costed 3000 Lien."
"Those are some expensive tarots."
"Well, if they're from the future, that means they haven't been made yet."
"Riiight."
The deck of cards looked particular in design, as the back of the cards he can clearly see show four colors... red, white, black, and for some reason an odd shade of yellow. The woman then places down the first card.
XII: The Hanged Man, in reverse. The card shows an armored wizard hanging upside down holding is staff behind his back, forming a T-shape.
"The Hanged Man, in reverse. Still trying to go about your old ways, huh?" the woman said.
Another card was placed down. 0: The Fool, upright. The card depicts a girl in a red cloak following a path alongside a black and white corgi.
"The Fool, upright. Looks like you're on the start of a new chapter of your life." the woman stated.
The third card was then placed down. VI: The Lovers, upright. The card depicts a woman with red hair and wearing some sort of greek-themed armor staring at a silhouette of a man. There is a wedding arch covered in maple leaves.
"The lovers upright. It appears your future looks bright." the woman said.
"Thank you." Akechi said, getting up.
"Come back next week. I only give fortunes to people once a week."
"I will do just that."
Before he could walk away, he saw the girl with the black bow again. She was walking toward the fortune teller.
"Didn't expect to run into you again." the girl said.
"Oh, have you two met?" the woman asked.
"Not exactly, but we saw eachother... apparently, I was asleep whilst standing in the middle of the road, having quite a lucid dream. And he was just right there standing right next to me."
"It makes sense in context." Akechi said.
"Yep." the girl added.
"Riight. Do you want your fortune read?" the woman asked.
"Wouldn't hurt." the girl said, sitting down.
The fortune teller then shuffled the deck again, and then placed down the first card again.
VII: The Chariot, in reverse. The card depicts a chariot being carried by two horses, with a man with a monkey tail riding it.
"The chariot, in reverse. Are you having some doubts and regrets?" the woman asked.
"Ya... why?" the girl asked.
"Oh nothing."
The second card was placed down. IX: The Hermit, upright. The card depicts a man in a white jacket with a red cloak, holding a sword in one hand, and a lighter in the other one.
"The Hermit, upright. I have a feeling that you're currently soul-searching whilst keeping to yourself." the woman said.
The third card was then placed: XVII: The Star, upright. A glowing star is depicted along with woman with a white cloak.
"The star, upright. It seems that your soul-searching will bear fruit." the woman said.
"That's fortunate." the girl said. The girl had then gotten up. "Well, you've seen my fortune. It's only fair if I see yours." she spoke to Akechi.
"I already had mine. I got hanged man, fool, and lovers." Akechi responded.
"In that order?"
"Correct." the woman said.
Suddenly, a pair of girls came along. One was tall, blonde, and eating a sub sandwich... a very messy one at that. The other was smaller, had red hair and bore silver eyes. The two girls stopped to notice Akechi and the girl with the bow.
"Oh, you're coming to see Ms. Tomi as well?" the smaller, red girl asked.
"That's her name?" Akechi asked. Analysis: 'Tomi' is japanese for 'Wealth'.
"You never asked." Tomi commented.
"Oh ya, Ms. Tomi is gifted at telling the future." the smaller girl said.
"Sheth quith spoth on wi-" the larger, yellow girl said, with her mouth full of food.
"Swallow before you speak." the girl with the bow said, with disgust.
The larger girl swallowed. "Oh, sorry. Didn't realize I was still eating." the larger girl stated.
"You're literally holding a sandwich." Akechi commented.
The larger girl looked down and then just continued eating the thing. Akechi then just looks at her in a dumbfounded way. She's chewing with her mouth open, and Akechi can just hear the noises she's making whilst chewing her food. He stops focusing on her for the sake of his sanity and to not cause a scene. What he was witnessing was just rude.
"Anyway, my name is Ruby Rose. This is Yang, my sister." Ruby introduced herself. "Who are you two?"
"You seem quite friendly to strangers." Akechi commented.
"A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet." Ruby said.
"I disagree, a stranger is just as likely to be the worst possible person you'd ever meet as much as a friend. Some people are simply just human trash."
"How can you say that? Surely everyone has some sort of good side to them!"
"I can assure you, people simply do not. Some people are simply heartless monsters who care for nothing but themselves."
"That's because you don't know them!"
"Or maybe you don't know your friends?"
"I..."
The larger girl, Yang swallowed her food and began to speak.
"Alright, that's enough." Yang said.
"Are you saying that to protect her or keep her from growing?" Akechi asked.
"SHUT UP!" Yang yelled, eyes turning red.
"Very well, I will concede. I don't exactly wish to cause a scene."
"And besides, Ruby knows the difference between a trustworthy figure and one who isn't."
"Looks can be deceiving."
"You're clear evidence of that. You may look hot, but your heart is very cold." Yang said, eyes turning back purple.
"Did you just call him hot?" the girl with the bow asked.
"So, what if I did?" Yang retorted.
"Just go get your fortunes read and be done with it."
"I'll go first." Ruby said. Sitting down.
Tomi, the fortune teller girl began to shuffle the cards in the deck. After shuffling, she placed the first card on the deck down.
XVIII: The Moon, upright. The card depicts a shattered moon, along with a woman with dark skin and green hair on a crossroad.
"The Moon, upright. It seems you still deluding yourself, Ruby." Tomi stated.
"I don't know what's the problem!" Ruby complained.
"Well, if you figure that out, you'd stop getting the moon."
Tomi drew the second card. VIII: Justice, upright. The card depicts a woman with cat ears, in her right arm is a sword and in the left one is an olive branch.
"Justice, upright. It seems you will be confronting an injustice very soon." Tomi said.
"Ooh." Ruby uttered.
Finally, Tomi drew the third card. 0: The Fool, upright. Same as earlier.
"The Fool, upright. You will experience the beginning of a new chapter of your life."
Ruby's eyes lit up. And then got up immediately and began jumping around like a child.
"Woah, calm down Ruby." Yang said to Ruby.
"Sorry. It's just I think something exciting is gonna happen!" Ruby said.
"She sure is excitable." the girl with the bow said.
"Too much, I say." Akechi said.
"I'm right here!" Ruby retorted.
"And you two haven't even introduced yourselves yet." Yang retorted.
"Well, if that's how you feel, 'Yang Rose'-" Akechi said, before being interrupted.
"Xiao-Long. Yang Xiao-Long." Yang interrupted.
'Sun Little Dragon'. Another way of saying 'Taiyang Xiaolong'. Though, it could be 'Sunny Little Dragon', but the proper term for that is 'Yangguang Xiaolong'.
"My name is Goro Akechi." Akechi said, introducing himself. "Not that it matters, anyway. I doubt we'd see each other again."
"Well, I saw you earlier this week." the girl with the bow said. "Name's Blake, by the way. Blake Belladonna." Blake said, introducing herself.
"Belladonna? As in 'Ghira Belladonna'?" Akechi asked. He asked this because she happens to share the same last name as the monarch of Menagerie.
"I knew I should have gotten a fake name." Blake retorted.
"Who's Ghira Belladonna?" Yang asked.
"My father..."
"And former leader of the White Fang and current Chieftan of Kuo Kuana." Akechi commented.
"Blake, your father used to lead the White Fang?" Yang asked.
"It's a long story, I don't like to talk about it." Blake lamented.
"It's okay. We just met, after all."
"So... are you a faunas?" Ruby asked.
"Errr... no?" Blake said, she's obviously lying.
"So... You're not a faunas? That's a surprise!" Yang exclaimed. "Anyways, I'm gonna go get my fortune read." Yang said, about to sit down.
"Not so fast, Yang. Finish your food first and wipe off your hands." Tomi said.
Yang just took the rest of the sandwich and gobbled it and then grabbed a blue rock and crushed it, forming water. She rubbed her hands and then dryed it off on her clothes. Then Yang had sat down.
"Now we can begin." Tomi said, shuffling the cards.
Tomi had placed down the first card.
III: The Emperess, reversed. The card depicts a ginger haired woman with a hammer standing atop a castle.
"The Empress, reversed. You seem to be a bit too overprotective of Ruby." Tomi said.
"Don't say that again." Yang warned.
The next card is drawn. X: The Wheel of Fortune, reversed. It depicts a military man with a fishing rod behind a wheel.
"The Wheel of Fortune, reversed. It seems you're going to have a string of bad luck."
The third card is then drawn: XVI: The Tower, upright. It shows a floating island about to fall, with a man on his knees in the foreground.
"The Tower, upright. Well, that's bad." Tomi said.
"That does not look like a good fortune." Yang said, in fear.
"The only thing deciding your future is yourself, Yang. Really, this is just telling you to take another route." Tomi re-assured.
"Well, thanks."
"Honestly, I don't know why I stood around." Akechi commented.
"Ya, me neither." Blake commented.
"Anyways, it's been nice knowing you." Akechi said, leaving the area. He then shuddered in disgust. Sure, the girl with the bow, Blake was tolerable. But the other two are just well... the smaller, red girl Ruby has quite a noxiously cheerful personality with the naivety to top it off. The larger, yellow girl Yang is well... how does he put this? He just simply does not like her, she gives off the vibes of someone who is very obnoxious.
Luckily, he hopes he won't hear from them again.
City of Vale, August 12, Afternoon, Commercial District
Akechi arrives at the commercial district. Being this place is littered to the brim with stores, and he doesn't have a lot of money to get by he'll just walk by and explore. While he does that, he thinks about the discussions he had with those three girls. Why does the one with the bow... the Belladonna girl try to hide her faunas heritage when just about anyone who knows politics would just know she's a faunas by looking her up?
As discussed, the smaller girl, Rose is quite naïve. Perhaps too naïve for her own good. It'll be her own fault should she perish around the friends she made. Quite the fool she is. However, it may not be too late to show her how the world works, but that would require actually interacting with the girl. In which he would find hard doing so given her over-cheerfulness.
And then there's Xiao Long. He already described what he thinks of her. But in regard to her appearance and name, something doesn't sit quite right with him. If this were earth, she'd stick out like a sore thumb. She resembles an ethnic european, most likely from central europe too. And her name resembles one that would be given in China... that's quite the odd combination. Supposedly, she's the sister of the Rose girl. Akechi doesn't buy it, though. Resemblance can be seen from half-siblings and even cousins, but those two look nothing alike. However, he could put in the theory that either the Rose girl or Xiao Long was adopted. The adoption theory makes sense.
Though, he does see a red door. There is nothing behind the red door. It's just there... he touches it, and it seems like something is there... but isn't. Come to think of it, Akechi did recall seeing a certain someone standing around in the middle of nowhere for an amount of time. Could he be seeing something similar? Nevertheless, he opens the door and enters.
The Scarlet Chamber, Time does not exist in this realm, Entrance
Entering the Scarlet chamber, he sees the chair and lamp empty. The layout of the room is slightly different. The shape of the room slightly altered and increased in size, and there is an additional door leading elsewhere. Astaphaios is not to be seen, but Airasor is in fact, present. Though, the girl is kind of nervous.
"Hi..." Airasor spoke. She sounded familiar.
"You know who I am." Akechi said.
"Yes... you're... the champion of my master."
"Correct, that is me. But where is Astaphaios?"
"My master is a busy man, being a god and all. And uhm... er... he left me here in case you show up..."
"What's with all of that?"
"Forgive me... but uhm... you're kind of... scary."
"I don't have a reason to hide behind any charms or acts."
"Well... uh... err..."
"Spit it out."
"Sorry!" Airasor cried out in fear. "Mymasterwantedmetoshowyousomething!"
"Slow down."
"Sorry. My master wanted me to show you something."
"And that is?"
"This door." Airasor said, pointing at the new door.
"What's behind the door?"
"Follow me!" Airasor said in fear, quickly walking toward the new door and opening it.
Akechi followed the shy girl in the room.
The Scarlet Chamber, Time does not exist in this realm, Hero Lottery
"This is the Hero Lottery!" Airasor said, at her attempt to sound cheerful.
"Hero lottery?" Akechi asked.
The room had a red borderline around it. The floors were made of grey stone tiles, with the floor made of marble. There is a strange device, like some sort of weird ball machine with a money slot and a couple of card slots. There is also a large glass ball with a bunch of balls in it. Basically, it's a giant gumball machine. He's in a room that would like a recreation of some ancient greek or other mediterranean civilization site, with a giant gumball machine.
"What's with the gumball machine?" Akechi asked.
"That's the main attraction of this room." Airasor said, trying to keep up the act.
"Are you trying to sell me the damn thing?"
"Yes and no?"
"So..."
"Uhm..." Airasor uttered, reverting back to her shy, timid self. "This thing... is... well... you know it's dangerous to go alone... right?"
"So... you're suggesting I recruit allies?"
"You can... or... you could summon them!"
"Go on."
"This machine is a device that contains artificial spirits, replicating the heroes and warriors of your world and this one." Airasor said, going back to the saleswoman pitch.
"Uh huh... that's it?"
"Well, I thought of adding more, but I don't know if that's even allowed."
"What do you mean?"
"There's only two tags... and eh... I'm afraid I might break it if I uhm... add more spirits from other worlds to it." Airasor said, back to her regular timid speech.
"Should I even ask what you're talking about?"
"I don't know either. I had to uhm... read the instructions when building it..."
"YOU BUILT THAT!?" Akechi shouted, shocked.
"Surprised? I'm uh... good with my hands..." Airasor said... sounding embarrassed.
"So... how exactly do I summon these 'spirits'?"
"You have to feed it some Lien."
"I have to pay money?"
"Yep. A thousand Lien for a standard roll, ten thousand for a silver roll, a hundred thousand for a deluxe roll, and a million lien for a supreme roll." Airasor explained with a saleswoman pitch
"And what's the difference?" Akechi asked.
"A standard roll has a chance for any of the spirits to come out. A silver roll filters out the one-star spirits, a deluxe roll filters out the one and two-star spirits, and a supreme roll guarantees either a four or five-star spirit."
"Wait a second! This is a real life gacha system!"
"Err! I'm sorry! I was only told to build this and well... introduce to you it's functions!" Airasor said, jumping back and losing her confident pitch.
Akechi sighed, putting his face upon his palm.
"Y-you don't need to use it... it's there in case if you have trouble making allies in the real world..."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Akechi asked.
"Sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" Airasor said in fear.
"If you ask that I can get allies from the real world, I can. I just won't."
"Why not?"
"The metaverse is a tool best kept secret, the less people know about it, the better."
"That is... fair. So uhm... would you like to try the device?"
"Unfortunately, money is a bit of a tight spot for me."
"That's okay. You can uh... come back when you can afford to use it."
"Perhaps I will. I do plan on visiting a palace again sometime tomorrow. Perhaps I can spare some excess Lien on this device."
"That's great! You won't be disappointed."
Can't believe he stumbled inside some real life gacha mechanic. Honestly, he didn't know what he was expecting.
However, he should head back to the real world. He has nothing here for him yet. Not until he gets some money. Although he may detest the idea of spending money on these things, he is utterly curious to what turns up. But he cannot do that right now, hence he returns to reality.
City of Vale, August 12, Afternoon, Commercial District
Back to where he was, just behind the red door. Looks like not much time has passed since he was there. He should gather up what money he has. Three hundred and forty Lien. Enough to last him for one night and dinner. He did find some money back in Neopolitan's palace, perhaps more would find more when he comes back there tomorrow?
Whilst lost in thought, he didn't pay attention to the figure to his left.
"Oh hey." a familiar voice said.
Akechi looked to his left, it's Belladonna.
"Oh hey, I didn't notice you." Akechi commented.
"You lost in thought?" Blake asked.
"Briefly, I was."
"What about?"
"Oh, it's nothing really."
"Anyways... let's talk elsewhere."
"Oh... why?"
"Some things I don't like to discuss in public."
"I can guess why."
"Follow me." Blake said, leading the way.
Unfortunately, if he ditches her, she's just gonna find another way to pester him. He's left no choice but to follow, and no doubt she's gonna ask about the information he discussed about her father. But he's only going to find out.
City of Vale, August 12, Afternoon, Downtown
The two of them are in a dark and rather small alleyway between buildings with no traffic, meaning no gossip can be overheard. This also means no witnesses. Just in case of an attack, Akechi puts his hand toward his weapon in the event of an unaggravated assault. Akechi and Blake were standing parallel to each other, face to face. They were on the far end of the alleyway, too. Blake bears a serious look with her face.
"So... you managed to dig up some information about my father?" Blake asked.
"Don't give me too much credit, I only browsed the wiki page and old online news articles." Akechi commented.
"Well... that's just embarrassing."
"Your father was a public figure; did you not expect information on him to be public knowledge?"
"No, I did not actually."
"That's on you."
"That is on me, yes. However, there is one thing I'd like to know."
"And that is?"
"This app." Blake said, showing her scroll, revealing the metanav app on her scroll. "This showed up some time after I met you. I tried deleting it, but it kept popping back up. Did you install some sort of malware on my scroll?"
Well... this is unfortunate. This is the exact kind of thing he feared. A native inhabitant getting their hands on the metanav. Not only does this make his life harder trying to keep his secret a... secret. But it also makes things inconvenient, given he's no longer the only one with access with the metaverse. However, he could twist this to his advantage. He could use her to get some information.
"You are attending Beacon Academy, right?" Akechi asked.
"What's with the sudden subject change?" Blake asked.
"You want to know something, as do I."
"Oh? What could be so strange about Beacon Academy?"
"I believe there's a conspiracy going on."
"A conspiracy?"
"A group of folks keeping secrets about the truth of the world."
"And you believe they're in Beacon?"
"That or any of the other three major huntsmen academies."
"You're just jumping in shadows."
"Or am I? You applied to Beacon, yes? Did you go through any sort of test?"
"No, my application was accepted just five minutes after."
"Don't you find that a little odd?"
"Now that I think about it... ya..."
"You want to know more about that application of yours, I want to uncover this conspiracy. We both can help each other out to that."
"So... some sort of deal?"
"In a sense."
"Very well, but you very well hold on to your end of the deal. I'm not touching that app until you tell me what it is."
"As long as you hold to your end, I'll keep onto mine."
"Then I suppose it's a deal." Blake said, nodding her head.
At best, he has delayed spilling the information on the metaverse temporarily, but that's the price to pay for making her a plausible informant. Though, if the seed does not bear fruit, he could simply just kill her and be done with it. Use the metanav, transport him and her to the metaverse, kill her and be done with it. There wouldn't be a body found, no evidence, he could very easily get away with it. But it's best to see if he could get some information from her about the theoretical conspiracy. No need to dispose of something that can be of use, after all.
But he would have to wait and see if she could find something. He could attend, but schoolwork would interfere with his detective work. And besides, if this world is anything like Earth, his upcoming celebrity limelight would clash with his school career, so it's better off if he doesn't go anyway.
"And one more thing." Blake added. "Don't tell anyone I'm a faunas."
"Not sure why you're trying to keep that a secret, but alright." Akechi stated.
"Are you stupid? Faunas are looked down apon."
"I know, it's just with a name like 'Blake Belladonna', anyone with any political knowledge would immediately know you're a faunas just by knowing about your dad."
"Those two girls we met earlier believed me."
"Well, they're idiots."
"Okay, fair point."
"Anything else?"
"No, you can go now."
"Finally." Akechi said, leaving. He has no plans, so he may as well wander the city for the night and then head back to the hotel room.
Author's Footnote: I'm just gonna end the chapter here. I skipped Thursday and Friday because I'm not much on fillers. Volume 1 would chronologically start in the next chapter. Though, the events set up would be quite different.
Akechi isn't telling Blake about what the app is just yet. If things turn out well, one of those 0's is gonna turn into a 1.
The Fortunes from the Tarot readings can either be taken with a grain of salt or as prophecy, I won't tell you what to believe.
And for the designs of the tarot cards.: yes, they're based off of RWBY characters. Which ones? Well, if you know, you know. If you don't, that's fine. Just don't ask where the cards came from.
I know there's only two tags, but is adding characters from a third media even allowed? I know there's the generic X-over tag, but RWBY and Persona are basically the main focus.
Yes, there will be plans for the Hero Lottery to be used, and yes feel free to complain about it.
Let me know what you think may be impacted, see you next chapter.