Chapter Text
Goro woke up, and he did so standing in the middle of a room he had never seen.
He looked around and it looked expensive . To his left, he could only see Shoji doors. They were clearly leading him towards somewhere else, maybe a garden of some kind. These types of places always had one. But behind him was more of the building. Curiosity overtook any sense of danger Goro may have had, as he decided to take a look around the place.
Despite it all, Goro didn’t feel like he was an intruder in this place. Like he could rest. The idea of letting dropping his guard fully danced across his mind, but Goro’s mind immediately vetoed such a notion.
Despite the fact that Goro had never been in this place, he would almost venture to call it home. The fact that he felt these feelings pissed Goro off to no end and yet these they persist.
Quickly he found that there was a living room and kitchen in this place. They were combined together, the only thing separating them being a large table with space for at least 8 people, and that wasn’t even including the food bar the kitchen installation had. All of it looking quite clean and tidy, a far cry from his own home.
On a whim, Goro decided to check them out a bit more, first turning on the TV. It was a flat screen tv mounted onto the wall. It looked modern enough but couldn’t have been much newer than 4 years.
The TV played seemingly normal programming. Looking closer into the programming, he realized that it aired random segments for what he had seen the past week. He flipped every channel to find another familiar segment. Each of the morning shows shows a different time and date than the other segments.
So Goro quickly abandoned that line of inquiry, as he moved onto the kitchen. It has everything Goro would assume a normal person would have in a kitchen, albeit with a bit more quality. The design overall is modern, which he appreciates slightly. The fridge was filled to the brim with fresh food, but something told him that it was better to leave it alone, for now at least.
The last thing Goro found inside the building was the entryway. There was a genkan with 2 pairs of shoes already there, alongside a creepy looking door at the end of it. He examined it a bit more to find that it would be hard to count it as a 'door.' He noted it down as a 'gateway' instead.
His 4 years of experience in the supernatural had screamed something into his head after examining it closer. It told him to stay away from that thing until he knew what it was and what the hell it did.
And so, Goro decided to check on the last place he hadn’t checked up on.
The garden.
It was connected mainly through the dojo part of the building, although there were a few entrances in the living room and kitchen as well.
The moment he opened the door, he could feel the presence of something. Goro could not even attempt to place what kind of presence it was. All he knew was that it came from the man on the other side of the garden.
The man was sitting in a fine leather chair in front of a grand wooden executive desk. He was wearing a black suit and white gloves, his deep dark blue hair was tied back neatly into a ponytail, the hue almost reminiscent of the dark depths of the ocean.
Goro intently stared down at the man while he was given an unassuming look from the man in return. Showing not a single inkling of distrust at what anyone else would have clearly seen as some unknown person intruding in their home.
But then again, no normal person puts their expensive looking wooden desk into the garden to be rained on.
That one loose thought thread broke though Goro's one-sided staring contest as he started appreciating the garden itself, now almost ignoring the mysterious man.
The garden looked very well taken care of. The garden walls were almost fully covered up by bamboo with a collection of various flowers blooming all around the pathway. The whole place was book-ended by a small river flowing through the garden.
All this wouldn’t have been all too weird. If only it were not for the sky being a permanent red-orange hue, as if the sun was setting. Except Goro could not find the sun anywhere he looked. Or the water of the river being a bright neon blue. Its source of origin seemingly being a waterfall that flowed down behind the man and his wooden desk.
There was no doubt in Goro’s mind that Haru would have a field day in this place.
The last thing Goro took note of was Colin's appearance in the garden. She was. inexplicably, here and playing with a child. He assumed the kid's age being slightly older than 7 or 8.
The child's hair, alongside all of his clothing, is a light gray colour. Once he noticed Goro, he looked at him with surprise in his eyes and gave him a friendly wave. During that small moment where their eyes met, Goro saw that his eye colour was a bright yellow.
The same eye colour of the shadows of humans. This place just kept getting weirder and weirder, and Goro desperately wanted answers.
As if the man had heard his silent pleas, he started talking. “Welcome, my child. You are in the Cathedral of Shadow, where the shadows of man gather.” The man stopped for a split second, clearly and openly gauging Goro’s reaction before continuing. “A place between mind and matter, dreams and reality, time and space.”
It answered where he was currently at. The only problem now is that it gave him a couple more questions to throw at the man.
“My name is now Cephas, and I am the proprietor of this realm.” The man, now introduced as Cephas, bows his head as a greeting. Goro, almost mechanically, copies the gesture. Proper etiquette was habitual with his years of being interviewed by the media and superiors alike. It was drilled into his role as the 'Detective Prince' and he despised having to play pretend.
“Well, you know my name, and now I know who you are.” Goro surmised. “So now would you kindly mind telling me what the hell is going on here and why I am here?” He said intensely. Goro knew that whoever stood in front of him was powerful.
But not in the same way as other powerful people. People who could command the ruination of hundreds of lives by a single uncaring whim. No, this man was powerful in a manner that made Goro even more scared of him.
Cephas could end his life with a mere motion of his hand.
“I have called you here, to make you an offer.” The blue haired man said, calmly stretching his arm out towards him. Clearly, he was not willing to give a valid explanation over anything he threw at him. Even then, he suspects that he would go about it in a roundabout way.
Goro was curious. He had made deals with the figurative devil before. This felt like he was about to make one with a much more literal one.
“And what exactly would this offer entail?” Goro cautiously asked. He wasn’t going to lose anything from asking. The worst he could ask for was a couple more atrocities.
“Oh, it’s quite simple.” Cephas said, before a bunch of small blue flames started appearing above his outstretched hand. The flames formed what looked like an old-timey looking scroll of paper and a writing quill.
The objects gently float towards Goro, stopping in front of him. Just in perfect reach to grab both items. There wasn’t much on the scroll. Other than a place to sign his name, there was only one sentence written on it.
“I will take full responsibility for my actions.”
To Goro, this almost felt like a slap in the face, almost. After the last 4 years, to be actually asked to take accountability for all the wrong he had done felt surreal. Not even Shido had asked that of him. Fully planning to have Goro killed the moment he reached his goal of taking office as prime minister.
Goro stood there for a few seconds. Fully taking in the eight simple words written on the parchment. He couldn’t help but laugh at it all.
“ This? ” is all he could ask once he had calmed. Goro could live with getting his just due. Hell, part of him had hoped that, if he could ever get rid of Shido, that he could pay for it all somehow. Withering away as an old resentful man was not in the cards for him.
But this was also far too early. He would not accept whatever fate had in store for him until he managed to do good on his promise. The promise to avenge his mother. He had sworn it twice. Once at his mother's grave. And once with another, someone on the path of vengeance like him.
The room had been steeped in silence for a while as Goro solemnly examined the contract. He decided to finally look Cephas in the eyes. “So, if I were to accept this.” He held up the piece of paper briefly.
“What would I get in return? Or is this some kind of ghost of christmas future type thing, where I simply get told to throw away all I have done for the past 4 fucking years? ” Goro asked. His voice raised itself without his input bit by bit, before he almost started screaming.
Now Goro was angry, what could he even do at this point? Truly for Goro it all looked like a deadend.
“I would assist you in attaining a future.” Cephas said. Goro could only look at him in confusion.
“Attaining a future? And how the hell would you help me get something impossible?” Goro asked, the sarcasm in his voice dripping from each word.
“It is only impossible because you view it as such. From my point of view, it is a far cry from impossible.” Cephas explained. “And to facilitate this, I wish to offer you my services, along with a path to enough power to fell your long held enemy.” He furthered. “If only you accepted the contract.” Cephas ended.
This was all a fever dream. Goro was almost sure of it. It all seemed too good to be true. “You swear by it? You swear Shido will pay for all he has caused?”
The blue haired man simply nodded.
And with that Goro gave the paper a last look, and a small chuckle. Before signing his name.
>Goro Amada
Not with the name he held for the last 4 years. If he was to take back his own future, he would do it under the name of his mother.
“Ah, how curious.” Cephas says. “I’ve heard of a boy with a similar name before.”
Goro decided not to speak on the topic. What family he may or may not have is not for him to know. After all, he no longer carried that name publicly. To them, he probably may as well be dead.
And they were better off for it.
“So, what power would I be given with this?” Goro asked. He knew that he should have asked beforehand, but with the single condition of the contract already not affecting his plans in any major way. He couldn’t care less.
All he needed was to stop Shido. By any means necessary.