Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Shadow in Your Gaze
Akira had asked Ryuji about it once, and only received confusion in return.
“What? Nah, man, Captain Kidd isn’t really around until I get in the Metaverse. I can hear him in my head sometimes, though!” Ryuji had grinned around a mouthful of ramen, and Akira raised his gaze to see Captain Kidd roaring with silent laughter and reaching down as if to ruffle Ryuji’s hair.
After that, Akira had tried to just observe. Carmine never directly interacted with Ann, and neither did Zorro with Morgana. They were present, and they definitely knew Akira could see them, but they never indicated as such to their counterparts. They couldn’t make noise – seemingly just silent spectres – but sometimes they would move from position behind their user and wave at Akira, or smile, or laugh with him at a joke.
He chalked it up to some kind of Wildcard ability – there seemed to be a lot of things he could do that his friends couldn’t after all – and didn’t really talk about it. His friends would probably believe him, but there honestly didn’t seem to be any use in sharing the information.
It gave him an insight into his teammates’ feelings as well. Their Personas tended to emote freely, giving him clues on what to say. He wasn’t sure how he would explain to them that he had a free read into their emotions – although it didn’t really matter since Ann and Ryuji rarely held anything back.
When Yusuke awoke his persona, Goemon, Akira was struck by how much more poised he seemed than Carmine, Zorro, or Captain Kidd. Even outside the Metaverse, Goemon reflected Yusuke’s calm, slightly withdrawn personality. There were times when Akira couldn’t really understand him, and Goemon was equally unreadable. Still, he and Goemon got along well – and it was far easier to stifle his reactions to the less boisterous persona.
Two months of seeing personae around his friends, and Akira was getting remarkably good at masking any indication of his strange ability. At this point it would be incredibly awkward to admit that he hadn’t mentioned it to them for so long, so he just didn’t. He hadn’t seen personae attached to anyone else in Tokyo, and he supposed that made sense.
Until June 9th.
The boy rounded the corner and introduced himself as Goro Akechi. Akira couldn’t even process the conversation because his eyes were glued to the two personae behind Akechi’s shoulders. One was beautifully colored in gold, blue, red, and white, standing straight with broad shoulders and an elaborate bow slung across its back. The other was almost totally obscured. It was layered in shadow so thick, that Akira could only make out flashes of gold, and the glowing red of its fanged smile.
Behind him, Arséne leaned forward over his shoulder, flames flicking upward from his own grin.
“Interesting, now who can that be?” He murmured into Akira’s mind. “Looks dangerous.”
Arséne sounded almost gleeful, and he left Akira’s shoulder to investigate the shadowy figure. Normally, personae didn’t really see each other. Akira hadn’t observed any of them directly interacting, and he once watched Carmine pass through Zorro without flinching or turning her gaze. He had assumed that they were unaware of each other – with the exception of Arséne who could see through Akira’s eyes.
Suffice it to say that when the shadow met Arséne’s advance with a wicked, glowing grin and a casual – but clawed – swipe, Akira nearly gasped in shock. Arséne dodged backwards, but was delighted and closed in again with a laugh.
“Oh, I like you.” He grinned. “Your partner doesn’t seem nearly so aware, dark one.”
Indeed, Akira ripped his eyes away from the shadow to see that the gleaming persona had only reacted to look at its counterpart inquisitively, eyes sliding right through the space where Arséne floated. Dimly, Akira realized that the conversation was drawing to an abrupt close as Akechi said something (what did pancakes have to do with anything?) and left. His personae followed him, but at the last second, the shadow whipped out a clawed arm, and plucked a feather from Arséne’s wing.
Akira watched in shock as the shadow laughed silently and twirled the feather around, before violently biting through it with blood-red teeth.
Arséne sounded absolutely ecstatic. “Oh, is that a challenge? Perhaps we shall meet again then, shadow. Au revoir.”
Oh my god, please don’t flirt with other personae. We don’t even know this guy!
“Hmmm… not yet, mon Charpardeur, but we could. And isn’t he just thrilling?”
Akira definitely couldn’t deny that, and Arséne’s flames burned brightly. Akechi seemed like a puzzle – and a dangerous one. God, this could be so risky, but Akira had always been an adrenaline junkie, and now he was itching to see Akechi again at tomorrow’s filming.
With Arséne cackling in his mind, he followed his friends to Dome Town. He tried, unsuccessfully, to put the incident behind him for now.
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Akira couldn’t seem to unravel Goro Akechi in the months that followed. He was addictive, challenging, and deeply untrustworthy. In short, Akira was absolutely unsurprised to realize he definitely had a crush. Arséne couldn’t even tease him about it, because every time they had an evening together – playing billiards or darts, drinking at Jazz Jin, or even just wandering around Kichijoji – Arséne practically fluffed up in excitement and started cackling madly.
Arséne continued to poke and prod at Akechi’s shadowy persona, delighting in every violent response, or teasing motion. At some point, they seemed to settle on a high-stakes, silent game of tag. Whoever was caught had something stolen from them. Arséne lost several more feathers, and a few wisps of flame (however that worked) to the shadow’s quick claws before he turned the tables and returned to Akira’s side with golden blood slicked on his hand.
“A price well-payed.” He had gloated to an exasperated Akira, closing his hand into a fist around the ichor. “He has something of me, and I of him.”
It was extremely distracting, but luckily Akira had very little trouble focusing back in on Akechi, who effortlessly drew his attention.
The red and white persona seemed content to ignore the shadow’s strange behavior and stuck close to Akechi’s side. Where Akechi was always unfailingly pleasant (except when Akira managed to wriggle behind his mask every so often), the persona simply seemed stoic. Not quite like Yusuke’s in that it wasn’t just reserved, but rather it seemed analytical and restrained. Refusing to emote, and preferring to catalogue every word and action. It was definitely hiding much more behind its helmet, and Akechi was no different.
Akira found himself falling into almost the same routine as Arséne, although far more subtle and less violent. He needled and poked and prodded and flattered and teased and joked and laughed and smiled and gave, until he got even the tiniest crack through Akechi’s near-permanent mask. He felt like he was stealing something precious, just for himself, when he made Akechi downright cackle once. The sound had been cracked and harsh, and Akechi had caught himself after with an apology, but Akira felt starstruck.
He had suddenly understood Arséne’s glee at stealing some of the shadow’s blood, as he replayed the sound over and over in his head. Sure, Akira knew he was constantly giving away parts of himself in return, but anything was worth it to see Goro comfortable enough to laugh freely or – once – nearly snarl in anger before stifling it.
He recognized the enormous risk he was taking, Akechi definitely knew about the Metaverse, and had probably been traversing it for a while. There was every possibility that he was extremely dangerous, and even malicious towards the Thieves, but a large part of Akira didn’t give a single shit.
As the months passed, the Phantom Thieves recruited more members, and their reputations were fluctuating wildly. To Akira’s mixed excitement and dread, Akechi seemed more and more like the most obvious person to be the Black Mask. Akira could barely help himself; he couldn’t stop chasing that adrenaline rush, that need to challenge and provoke someone so intriguing and complicated.
Arséne was in resounding agreement. He chased after Akechi’s shadow with delighted determination, and possibly some amount of cruel glee whenever he won a round. While neither of them could see the shadow’s full form, Arséne had discovered claws, hooves, horns, and braided hair through their games. In exchange, Arséne had lost bits and pieces as well. Both personas always returned to normal eventually, but the stolen… goods… remained in possession of the successful thief. Akira was just glad his pockets could hold all of Arséne’s ill-gotten ‘treasures’.
It wasn’t until President Okumura’s unexpected death that he got a real taste of how truly dangerous his new addiction could be. While he dimly registered horror, regret, and sorrow for Haru, he mostly couldn’t wait to see Akechi again – and possibly chip at his mask enough to make him admit something incriminating.
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With the arrival of November, Akira watched with hidden joy as Akechi began to integrate himself into the Phantom Thieves. Obviously, they were all suspicious of him, and they were developing a plan to avoid the trap he was luring them into, but still, it was so much fun.
Akira finally had a front-row seat to Akechi’s golden persona – Robin Hood – fighting with frightening competence and clearly still holding back. Akechi was ruthless and incredible, and Akira had to catch himself more than once to keep from staring. Even Akechi’s outfit – slightly ridiculous though it was – looked stupidly good on him. It was a good thing Akira generally didn’t use Arséne, because the persona kept ruffling up his feathers and preening himself like a bird trying to impress a mate. It was wildly embarrassing, but at least only Akira and the shadow had to see it (Akira was also studiously avoiding the way the shadow almost seemed charmed by the displays).
Sae’s palace itself was fun too. Gambling, rigging the games, and risking his neck on a whim were all playing right into his adrenaline addiction. He could admit – privately – that maybe he had used the arena fight to show off with a bit of flair specifically so Akechi would give him a guarded smile afterwards.
Oh god, he was just like Arséne.
His only regret was that the shadowed persona had yet to reveal more of itself. There were still fleeting glimpses of features, and games with Arséne, but nothing more was forthcoming. Akira knew his time with Akechi was running out – he wouldn’t be able to see him after the 20th – and he couldn’t bear to leave the mystery of the shadow’s appearance unsolved. He just wasn’t sure what to do about it.
He was just distracted enough by his predicament to be lost in his head while staring at Robin Hood cleanly firing an arrow through an enemy’s skull. So much so, that he didn’t register the danger until he was hit.
The impact knocked him off of his feet and he yelped, hearing some startled shouts before his vision went dark.