Chapter Text
Goro was unsure what his life had come to. Not only was he running late, he was currently carrying a dog in his bag. Not just any dog, a talking dog that introduced herself as Columbo. Unsure if she named herself or was named that, but he had to admit, he liked the name.
Now if that was because he also took the name of a famous detective is neither here nor there.
Eitherway, he found her in his apartment when he woke up and spent a good half an hour trying to find out how she got there and how she could speak. After a quick introduction, she then refused to give any sort of information about herself, unless he agreed to take her to school with him. According to her, this was important to change some sort of fate.
Now if anyone was to ask Goro Akechi if he believed in fate, he would laugh in their face and call them an idiot. She seemed too convinced about it, so he simply didn’t fight her and took her with him in the stress of already being late.
As he biked to school, it started raining and he took refuge under an overhang. He stayed there until the rain would lighten up.
Goro stood there with his bike and Columbo kept moving inside his bag. He was lucky that she was only the size of a puppy. Even with the training he has done, Goro is unsure if he could carry a fully grown dog in his bag all day, let alone fit inside one.
“Hey, open the bag! I want to talk about stuff before it happens.” Goro could hear the child-like voice of the dog coming out of his bag and zipped it open. The puppy stuck her head out of the bag, barely being tall enough to do so.
Before she could speak, Goro looked at her sceptically and asked “What do you mean ‘before the thing happens?’”
Columbo just looked at him sheepishly, before simply choosing to ignore his question. “I know that you know what the thing looks like and will probably just leave, but please don’t! You need to help someone there.”
Goro just looked at her with a neutral stare. He had no idea what the dog was on about or whom she wanted him to save. The only thing to save currently was saving himself from his teacher's death stare at being late.
“I know I asked at home, but now that I have you with me on the way to school… I wanted to ask about something. Who the hell is this chief, and why did he only tell you half the things you seemingly need to know?” Goro questioned, or more accurately, interrogated Columbo.
Columbo continued to look sheepish and started to even look embarrassed before weakly responding. “It’s less that he didn’t tell me and more that…” A beat past as she looked down into the bag. “I kinda forgot.”
Goro could only groan in response.
Before he could ask any more questions, Goro suddenly saw someone approaching them and quickly told Columbo to be quiet, before shoving her head back into the bag and zipping it shut.
The person approaching him wore the uniform of his school, even if it was slightly modified, wearing a hoodie that covers up the students face. Upon closer inspection, Goro recognized the hooded figure as one of his underclassmen.
As they reached the overhand, the student lowered the hood. Goro could immediately identify the student by her long natural blonde hair as Ann Takamaki.
A part of Goro wanted to just wait in silence, but he also regrettably had a reputation to uphold. With the best smile he could muster, he greeted her anyways.
“Ah, good morning Takamaki-san!” Goro greeted, trying to find a middle ground between ‘happy to see you’ and ‘sucks that we’re stuck here.’ He was sure it would sound just fine.
Takamaki glanced at him in surprise, seemingly not having recognized Goro, and greeted him. “Good morning Akechi-senpai. I assume you also didn’t see today's weather forecast?”
Goro nodded. He could do this fine; idle chat was something he perfected in his time as the detective prince. “I did indeed. Even though I pride myself on being prepared for such occasions, it seems today it must have slipped my mind. No one’s perfect after all.” He added that last part as an attempt at a small joke and snorted. The look on Takamaki's face told him otherwise.
The conversation was going nowhere and the conversation seemed a tad bit awkward after Goro’s last comment, but the silence was not much better, so both parties decided to continue the conversation. “Uh, well we all have stressful days! And I’m sure that those detective prince duties didn’t help!” Takamaki said, unsure how to speak to the detective prince.
They both laughed forced laughs as Goro thought about the reason he actually was late, which was Columbo appearing in his room and the myriad of questions about her existence.
As the laughter stopped, silence took its place. And so they stayed for a while, until a convertible stopped in front of them and pulled down one of its windows.
Out of the car came a man Goro was heavily familiar with. One Suguru Kamoshida. The biggest scumbag this side of Tokyo. Mostly because Shido’s office was at the other end of Tokyo, to Goro’s dismay.
The ‘teacher’ was about to speak, before he glanced over at Goro and promptly stopped whatever he was about to say. He just told them not to wait in the rain too much, before driving off.
Goro could hear Takamaki quietly say, “That was weird,” but didn’t say anything more about it.
Not long after this small incident however, another person joined them under the overhang. A flash of bold yellow sprinted towards the two as he tried to get some cover under the unrelenting rain.
This was another one of Goro’s under classmates, Ryuji Sakamoto. The former star of the track team and a notorious punk, at least to the Shujin staff. He had bleached hair and was wearing the uniform about as correctly as Takamaki was.
“Wasn’t that Kamoshida’s car?” Sakamoto asked, still panting and cursing his leg under his breath.
“Ah, Sakamoto, good day, and yes, it was.” Goro responds, donning the fake smile he shows in public before continuing. “Is there something you need from Kamoshida-san?”
Saying the name was surprisingly hard to say without any sense of disgust towards the teacher. Goro thought that he would have mastered such a thing; speaking with Shido as often as he does and all. It seems that he would have to try harder on this front.
“No.” Sakamoto responds, as blunt as always. “I just don’t trust a thing that bastard does. I don’t get why he’s still that popular with so many people.” Sakamoto continued. His disdain for Kamoshida is about equal with the detective prince, only for it to be more upfront than usual.
Goro tried his best not to cringe at Sakamoto’s bluntness and responded “Well, Suguru Kamoshida is quite the famous name in sports and all. I am sure that a lot of people put their trust in him, despite the few rumours there are.”
Sakamoto simply rolled his eyes and grumbled, “Bastard thinks he is the king of some castle.”
Takamaki was silent during this discussion, seemingly alarmed by something else. As she checked the time, they realised that they all were dangerously close to being very late for school.
Yet the rain was still pouring, and no one in the group had brought an umbrella with them.
Before Goro could attempt a comment about their situation, Sakamoto’s face lit up and proclaimed, “Don’t worry, I know a shortcut that’ll get us to Shujin Academy before we’re late!”
Sakamoto proceeded to lead them down a nearby alley towards Shujin. On the way there, Takamaki and Sakamoto seemed to both get some sort of headache at the same time. Very little happened on the way, other than Goro slowly feeling his bag getting heavier for some reason.
After a short walk, they arrived at what should by all accounts be Shujin Academy. And yet it wasn't.
Instead of the school’s entrance gates, there was a high wall that surrounded what should have been the school building, now shaped like a castle.
Goro immediately knew what was going on and where they were. Quickly checking his phone to confirm what he already knew. They had, by some stroke of misfortune, entered Kamoshida’s palace.
Goro calmed himself. This would be fine. He would just have to lead the two other students out and come up with a convincing lie. Easy.
Except it seems that the two underclassmen already went inside the palace. Great.
Ann had a bad feeling. Shujin looking like this was bound to be bad news. Ryuji barging in without much thought was going to make things worse. At least Akechi seemed to have a more cautious reaction, hopefully anything helpful.
Goro Akechi, the detective prince, is a very secluded person in school, which Ann can’t really blame him for, you can only really see him when he is in his class or on his way to a different school classroom.
The school was filled with fans of him. Some people in her class even joined Shujin just to go to the same school as him.
But none of that mattered for now. She and Ryuji haven’t really hung out with each other in a while, but she had a bad feeling about this place and didn’t want him to get hurt.
As she walked into the castle, not far behind Ryuji, they both looked around in wonder. It really looked like a proper castle. Ann had visited a real castle before as a child, but this was undoubtedly the first time Ryuji had seen one.
“Hey Ann, you hear anything about Shujin renovating?” Ryuji asked, looking around the big open foyer with wonder.
Ann shook her head. “Nope, and I am pretty sure that would take longer than a day to make it look like this!” She added.
Ryuji hummed and looked around, before turning back to Ann. “I mean, yea I know that, but I know for a fact that this is where Shujin should be!” Ryuji responded in slight confusion.
Before the conversation could continue, a large imposing figure clad in armour approached the duo.
Ryuji calmly approached one of them going “Hey, what’s up with the armour?”
Goro and Columbo stared at the castle, both still unsure on what to do.
Columbo had come out of Goro’s bag by now and they both noticed that she had taken on a much bigger form. She was no longer looking like a puppy, but more like a proper guard dog.
“So, I guess you are a creature of the metaverse. ‘Normal dog’ my ass.” Goro commented as he stood with his arms crossed. His Metaverse outfit already manifested, as Kamoshida seemed to see Goro as a threat.
‘Good.’ is all Goro could comment about in his head. Kamoshida fearing him is something he already knew, but having it confirmed like this made him feel smug.
Columbo was trying to wrack her brain about possibly not being a normal dog like she said. “I promise, I am just a normal dog!”
Goro bought this even less. Talking dogs were impossible, he knew that much, but her changing forms is what confirmed it. “You could have maybe said that you were experimented on,and you gained the ability to talk like a person. Changing forms are a separate thing altogether.”
Columbo looked down and gave Goro puppy eyes as best as she could as a now grown looking dog. Goro just glared at her. Columbo shook her head and looked at the castle. “Are you not going to save them?” She asked earnestly.
Goro gave a quick hum, before responding with a quick ”Nope.” He turned around and was about to walk away from the whole ordeal.
Columbo seemingly did not like this answer as she quickly thought of something to say. “Uh, if you don’t help them, I’ll tell them about your job myself!” She quickly threatened.
This made Goro stop dead in his tracks.
Columbo had known a few things about him when he found her in his room. This seemed to be another one of those things.
Goro turned around and stared into Columbo's eyes as he tried to figure out any how's and any doubts. Only to find nothing.
Goro sighed and decided to simply come up with a lie to tell the two students he was going to save on how he gained these powers. “Very well, but not a word about my more questionable powers.”
Columbo quickly nodded before following him into the castle.
Chapter 2: Blue Monday
Summary:
Akechi plays rescue and explains stuff.
Notes:
Which version of Blue Monday is this? Pick your favourite :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The castle didn’t look very impressive, all things considered. Everywhere Goro looked, the very punchable face of Kamoshida greets him. He had little time to dwell on how to get the perverted 'teacher' killed as Columbo tried to sniff out the missing students.
She looked around, seemingly contemplating something.
“I think I can smell the blond boy. Ryuji, right?” She looked back at Goro as she asked.
Goro nodded. His opinions on the punk student were quite similar to the opinions of the student body, which is to say quite negative.
“We should save him first, the palace’s shadow seems to be with him!” Columbo urged.
That didn’t bode well, so Goro decided to pick up the pace a bit.
Only to be stopped by Columbo again. She stood in place, locking her eyes on the ground and trying her best to remember something seemingly important.
Goro stood by her side, already questioning what she was doing. She soon interrupted his thought process when she remembered what she was tasked with. “I think Chief said that we shouldn’t use our real names in these places. But I can’t remember why.” Columbo said, still thinking hard.
The moment Goro heard this, his mind made the connection. A palace is the subconscious of a person. Them being in here and talking could influence the real person, especially if they were to talk to their shadow.
“Alright, does that mean that we should use codenames or somesuch?” Goro asked. Columbo seemed shocked that he seemingly already agreed to it.
“Yeah!” Columbo responded, sounding particularly happy about it. “Got any ideas?”
Goro scoffed, “Of course I do.” he said, pausing for dramatic effect before continuing, “Call me Qrow.”
“Crow?” Columbo repeated, trying to feel out the codename and remember it. “Alright Crow!” Columbo simply responded.
“No, no. Qrow with a ‘Q’.” Goro scolded, sounding quite displeased.
“Oh, ok. But how can you tell?” Columbo couldn’t help but ask.
“Well I can’t, but you were thinking about it with a ‘C’ right?” Goro answered, speaking as if this discussion wasn’t entirely useless and wasting time.
“I guess that’s fair…” Columbo felt like it didn’t matter, but decided to go along with it anyway. “What about my codename?”
This stumped Goro a bit. He didn't have anything prepared for her, so he came up with the first thing that came to mind. “Colin. That sound good?”
Columbo, now with a new code name and nickname she liked, nodded and started sprinting down to the catacombs, with Qrow in hot pursuit.
Ryuji really thought this day couldn’t have gone worse. Not only had it started raining cats and dogs the moment he stepped out of his house, he then met the second biggest asshole in a 10 Kilometer radius.
And now, he was stuck in some weird dream where Ann and he got jailed and he’s about to be executed by this perverted wanna be teacher in a speedo and his minions.
Kamoshida glared at him with disgust clear in his eyes. Trying to provoke any kind of reaction from Ryuji, but he had none left to give. “Any last words? Maybe for that lone mother of yours. I am sure she’ll be happy to have one less annoyance in her life to deal with.”
Ryuji could only stare as the guards continued choking him by pressing him against the wall by pressing him against the wall by the throat.
He could almost feel his mind slipping until he was suddenly dropped.
When he looked up, he saw a big dog and someone in a very silly looking white costume standing in the entrance of the cell.
“Halt villain, you shall terrorise this poor student no longer.” the costumed figure said in a very posh voice.
The shadows stopped everything they were doing by the sudden voice. The shadow that got Ryuji on a chokehold just dropped him by the sound. Soon, every shadow within the cell, including Kamoshida's, only had one thing going for them.
They would not survive a fight against this person, not even not even counting the dog that was beside him.
Ryuji, still out of breath and gasping for air as best he could, angled his head up slightly to look at the figure and could only ask “Akechi?” in a puzzled tone.
“Quite right, now let’s get Takamaki and get out of here.” Goro got to the point quickly as he waited for the bleached blond to stand up. He led the confused blond out of the catacombs to save Ann.
As they walked, Ryuji posed a few questions, which Goro ignored and Colin answered despite hím telling her not to tell Ryuji too much.
Goro was already not happy about them learning about palaces. The best course of action now would be to get them out of here and make sure they would not want to come here again willingly. Lest they end up gaining personas and getting in the way of Goro's plans.
They found Ann imprisoned in one of the rooms on the first floor. After scaring the shadows away, Goro got them out of the palace and near to where the school was.
After safely arriving back from there, the blonds shot questions about what they experienced. Goro simply stopped them with a simple hand motion and requested them to meet him on the roof after class. “We are all late to class as is, we should talk. Later.” he states with no room to argue.
And so they arrived at school at last.
After school, Goro was sitting on one of the seats stored on the roof in peace and quiet while Colin was calmly sleeping on the ground near Goro. He already poked and prodded some questions to her with little success, so he did the next best thing. He started doing his homework while waiting for his underclassmen to arrive.
After a short while Goro could hear voices, two of these voices were particularly prominent.
The louder of them being the distinctly abrasively loud tone of one of the blonds, ‘If I had to guess, Sakamoto’, and the other voice trying its best not to sound utterly annoyed and tired, ‘and that is Niijima’, Goro thought as he started putting his homework away.
As the two blonds finally emerged from the door to the roof, Goro found that they both looked fairly miffed at the interaction with Niijima. “Ah, I should have told you two about that.” Goro apologised as he put his bag onto the floor and turned his full attention to the duo.
“Niijima-san has been assigned many important tasks by our principal. One of these being that only select personnel have access to the roof.” He explained while Ryuji and Ann found a place to sit.
Ryuji seated himself near the no longer napping Columbo. She had raised her head to see what the commotion was about. The pup was smelling Ryuji’s hand before deeming him trustworthy and letting him pet her head.
Ann took in the sights from up high as she got close to the edge. She often heard about the rumors about the roof being restricted towards the rich and the famous students. She wasn’t very surprised by Goro being here, although she did wonder about one other thing.
“Say, Akechi-senpai, how many students are allowed access? Miss class-” She quickly cut herself off, not wanting to seem rude. “Uhh, Niijima-senpai was rather strict with us and told us not to cause any trouble or disturbed others here.” Ann finished before quickly glancing over the almost empty roof. “But how many others have access to this roof?”
Goro nodded. This was a rather obvious question to ask, especially considering the gardening equipment on the other side of the roof from them. “There used to be quite a few people in my first year here. 6 people, including myself, had access back then. They were either famous, rich, or both at the same time.” Goro kept a neutral expression as he thought back to it.
Back then, he hoped that he could forge some connections with the other members that had access to the roof. He found this rather exclusive impromptu club just as isolating as his other interactions with most people his age. Even more so by how they often compare their lavish lifestyles.
“But since then there haven’t been any new students that this concept included, and so there are only 2 people with free access to the roof left. Yours truly and a certain 'Haru-san.'” Goro explained further.
Ann blinked. Goro had just referred to someone with their given name instead of their family name. It was practically unheard of and the natural blond gave an idea she could use against Goro. He quickly caught onto her line of thinking and shut that idea down before it led to the rumor mill running wild.
“Ah, she only introduced herself with her given name. While I do know her family name, she wishes not to be introduced as such.” Goro answered the unasked question.
Ann nodded before Goro coughed into his hand to get the attention of a distracted blond and dog. He kept petting her carefully as he could be with her being a puppy. At least outside the metaverse, it seems.
“I believe we have something important to discuss, do we not?” Goro stated what needed to be addressed as he primed himself for the flood of questions. Of course, not much different from the interviews he gave to the public, albeit more related to his metaverse ventures.
“Yea, like you seemed way too used to any of that crap!” Ryuji almost shouted.
“Ryuji, inside voice please.” Ann scolded the blond as she cringed back from his rather loud question.
Ryuji just looked a bit annoyed at that. “But we’re outside.”
Goro held the strong urge to facepalm himself, but only a desperate sigh escaped out of his mouth. This was going to be a long day. “You are quite right, Sakamoto. And I can explain that, under one condition.” He darken his eyes to set the mood of what comes next from him. “I need both of you to keep this a secret from everyone. Under no circumstances can this be revealed to anyone.”
Ann and Ryuji could only gulp heavily and nod their heads.
“Good.” Goro took a deep breath to show off his theatrics as the Detective Prince that he is. Not as much to be just like his public persona but more dramatized than usual in order to sell off the stories he had in mind.
“I am sure both of you have heard of the constant talk of something the media refers to as ‘The Mental Shutdown’ incidents.” Goro explained as he placed one of his hands on his chest. “And as you may also know, I am part of a team that investigates these cases, although we have not found many leads.” Goro did his best to sound sullen.
“Or well, officially we have no leads.” Goro puts a bit of determination in his voice. It helps sell the ‘hero doing his best in a helpless situation’ bit he’s playing at.
Goro struck a pose, stretching out both his hands on either side. “For I have found a possible lead. You see, the place we were in is something called the Metaverse.” Goro paused for dramatic effect. “And I believe that this is the place where the perpetrator of these mental shutdowns commits his crimes.” Goro said.
He explained a bit about Shadows and made up some stupid lie about how he awakened to Robin Hood (Ryuji had rolled his eyes visibly at hearing the name of his persona) and of course told them a bit about personas too.
Throughout all of this the duo listened in mostly silence as he explained what could easily be his life's story, at least for the last 4 years or so. (The best kind of lies he often used were half-truths. He was pointing in the right direction but making up something to give himself more credit.)
“All this to say, I cannot allow you to go there again. It is too dangerous without a persona.” Goro told them at the end of his explanation. “Not to mention, a murderer could be running around in there.”
After a few questions, they turned quiet and looked at each other before nodding. They knew that that was a dangerous place, and beyond that they both needed time to digest all that they had just heard. So, they moved to leave the roof, unsure what to do now that they knew about this ‘Metaverse’.
Notes:
Shout out to the biggest help this chapter: my adhd and pain meds. Could not have done it without them (Quite literally, this chapter took so long cause I didn’t have ‘em :skull:)
Anyhow shout out to the real MVP of this chapter: my bf, aka my bestie, aka my beta Gamging. Now added as co-author just cause it feels approriate.
Chapter 3: Molotov Music
Summary:
After Goro's explanation, the blonds try to figure out their next move.
Notes:
I am changing that phones don’t work inside the metaverse. They don’t have signals to phones that aren’t also in the metaverse. But can do everything else a phone normally can do. This chapter had me contestign my beta on soem stuf actually. Hope it doesn't read weird or anything.
Chapter title: “Molotov Music” by 2 Mello
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
They were staggered, to say the least.
Other worlds?
Magic?
Evil monsters?
Relaying what they had just been informed about, Ann took her sweet time to internalize what she could comprehend. At least to some effect. Part of Ann was wondering just how much of Goro’s story was a well practiced mask.
After all, she saw the way he fought. There was desperation in the way he moves, even when his enemies are astronomically weaker than him. After exiting the castle, she paid more attention towards how Goro conducted himself, in posture and attitude.
She felt more pity for the detective than she ever had before.
Once they stepped inside the school, Ann could hear Ryuji grumbling to himself. Something was obviously bothering him so she decided to simply ask him.
“Do you have doubts about what Akechi said or what has got you so concerned?” Ann asked. Ryuji is a simple soul and would no doubt share whatever is on his mind. He usually does so, even unprompted.
Ryuji stopped staring holes into the ground and looked at Ann with a sense of seriousness that the former trackstar very rarely held. Last time she saw him be this focused, it was when he was ready for a track race.
“I know Akechi said something about there being these ‘cognito’ things or whatever he called them, and saying that they look like normal humans.” Ryuji paused to find the right words, or to convince himself to actually say what he wanted to. “But when he got me out of that prison, yeah?I heard some screaming somewhere else. When I found where those were coming from, I saw that it was some of the students in the volleyball club getting tortured.” He finished grimly.
Ann had paid a bit more attention to what Goro had explained about Cognitions. If she was remembering this right, they weren't the actual volleyball club members. They were just a visual metaphor of how Kamoshida views them. ‘Considering that he seems to think that he can freely torture them with ease, I don’t want to imagine what he would do to her.’ Ann thought to herself.
After a short lull in the conversation,she reminded Ryuji about how they were cognitions, according to Goro, before responding back. “That still sounds awful, but what can we even do about it?” Ann lamented. “Neither of us is in the volleyball team, nor have any sort of say about what Kamoshida does.”
“Maybe we do,” is all that Ryuji quietly answered back.
Ann was confused at first before she caught onto what Ryuji had planned. She already felt part of her dreading what is about to come next. If only to look if there is a cognition of Shiho.
“Alright, what is your plan?” She asked with a defeated sigh.
“Simple.” Ryuji was now wearing his trademark toothy grin that made him almost look like an excited dog. “We take pictures of them, and then post them. Maybe someone will finally investigate that dirtbag.” He finished, sounding really proud of his plan.
‘Unlikely, but not impossible.’ Is what Ann thought. “But that also means we have to go back there and how would we even do that?” She reasoned.
“Oh that’s simple. I have this weird app on my phone. I saw that I suddenly had it during class and tried deleting it. It just kept coming back after that.” Ryuji complained. Ann didn't appreciate that he didn't pay attention in class, but she'll give him a pass for figuring out how to come back to that castle. Anything after that was her problem to deal with.
“And when I opened it, it showed some location called ‘The castle of Lust’ or some shit.”
Every fiber in her body is screaming at herself to not follow through. The plan consists of them throwing themselves into harm's way just for the chance of Kamoshida being investigated. That small chance actually succeeding compared to being dismissed deterred her for a moment before remembering seeing Shiho bruised after volleyball practice. From that point on, she gave into Ryuji's idea as they made plans for tomorrow with a burning desire to save her."
Columbo had heard their discussion. They weren’t being exactly quiet about it, to be fair. Goro was already paying more attention to his homework than what the blonds were planning for tomorrow. He needs to keep up with his appearances after all
She considered telling him, but then she remembered her orders.
“He needs more than just you.” Chief had told her. “The plan is to force him to get close to them. Otherwise, he will never achieve his full potential.”
Letting them go was the right way for Goro's development, the pup reasoned. She could tell that their spirits were strong enough to defend themselves if it comes to that.
The blond girl, as Columbo failed to remember her name, was getting close to summoning her own persona for the first time.
And even then, she’ll tell Goro about the blonds tomorrow. Columbo trotted back to the concentrated persona user to lie down some more. Going to the Metaverse made her really tired it seems.
Before she could lie down however, Goro turned his head to her and called out to her.
“Colin.”
Columbo, surprised to hear her codename being used outside of the Metaverse, turned to Goro as he asked. “How come you don’t speak when those two are around? Most other people I get, but they have seen you look different in the palace.”
He explained his query, before becoming intrigued by a different matter altogether. “Although, that reminds me, you never summoned your persona in the castle, but I can tell that you have one. Is there a reason for that?”
Columbo looked up to the human, she had a few reasons. "You got rid of the shadows faster than I can summon my persona, although I was also kinda eepy.” She intentionally ignored the first question as she curls up and continues her restful sleep. Not noticing when they had gotten to Goro’s apartment and made herself more familiar with it.
Ann was right from the start. It has been a terrible idea. They somehow managed to successfully sneak into the castle and take the pictures but on their way back they had gotten caught by a pair of armoured shadows, so they started running.
After being cornered, Ryuji had awakened his persona while defending her from an attack. The attack looked fierce, but thankfully his new attire cushioned the blow. Especially with a shield by his left arm. He was drained and could barely walk after the fight was over.
Ryuji slumped over as Ann caught him. She put him on her shoulders as he passed out. The added weight made it even harder for her to sneak past the shadows. As much as she would like to have things go her way for once, she was quickly cornered again when they spotted Ryuji's boots for a second.
She felt helpless, her thoughts quickly turning to imagine how the world will continue without her. The thought of Kamoshida spinning the narrative about himself drove her into the deep end. As to add salt into the wound, Kamoshida, or at least his shadow, made an appearance. He was spouting bullshit like how women should fall to their knees whenever he is around.
The mere thought made her revolt.
And then the last dam broke. Kamoshida's cognition of herself and Shiho, appearing almost only to show off his unrivaled lust. She was in a hot pink bikini while Shiho was wearing a bunny suit that barely covered her private parts. This was how Kamoshida thought about her and her best friend.
The idea of being reduced to such an extent as just being a pretty face with a ‘nice body’ made her blood boil.
And then she heard an ethereal voice.
Goro isn’t sure how he could have been so stupid as to expect them not to go back into the palace. But he had no time to complain. He was responsible for a lot of deaths, most of which were completely innocent.
And it would be a cold day in hell before he would let more people die when he could, finally, have the chance to do the opposite for once in his godforsaken life. To not be the villain, but at least play at being a hero.
Goro entered the castle with a bang. Quite literally, as he blew up the front gate with a Megidolaon using Loki, his costume changing with the persona momentarily. Goro looked at his handy work with satisfaction and stilled for a second to quickly switch back to Robin Hood before yelling in a commanding presence. “Find them, Colin!”
It was phrased and spoken like a command one would give a hunting dog. But Columbo knew better than to argue. It had gone much worse then she had expected it to, and now they needed to find them before something bad happened to them.
Finding them was easy, the smell of sweat and fear she smelled would have been enough to lead them, but the power and presence of two freshly awakened persona users would have been able to guide anyone to them. Goro only commanded her to take over the duty as he focused on trashing the shadow population of the castle.
Goro pulled out his sword, not even bothering to put his saradet blade away and using his lightsaber instead, throwing appearances and caution to the wind. He used it to violently slash through an armoured guard shadow, killing it before it could even transform. As soon as he finished that motion, more guards appeared and were equally violently torn to shreds.
As he does so, Goro yells “Out of my way you pathetic weaklings!” Before slashing at more shadows, cackling and continuing his push forward to the quite frankly ridiculous amount of shadows.
It seemed to Colombo that the awakenings and the explosion of the front gate had caused the shadows of the entire castle to gather. And even the shadows quickly realised that they were no match for the metaverse assassin. “Running away?” Goro asked in a mocking voice. “It won’t save you from my wrath. You’ll all be crushed under my heel like bugs!”
Hopefully Goro will have calmed down by the time they find the blond duo.
A lot of dead shadows and a lot of blood rage fueled yelling later, the combo of Boy and dog found the blonds. Just as they arrived, Ann was rapidly swallowed up by a pillar of blue flames, and out of that pillar two flaming objects pierced its vail and hit the cognitions of Ann and Shiho. Shortly after that, the pillar dissipated and in its center stood Ann, now wearing her metaverse apparel.
She was wearing a white dress shirt with suspenders on each side, alongside a beige-grey suit jacket draped on her shoulders, seemingly attached there, as it didn’t seem to be slipping at all as Ann moved her arms.
She was also wearing black dress pants and shoes, on her face there was a mask that neatly covered her eyes, having holes for her eyes to look through. Although they looked dark from the outside. Lastly, her hair was now loose, no longer restrained by her usual hairstyle of twintails.
Behind her was what seemed to be her Persona. Goro could tell that it wasn’t as strong as Robin Hood, or anywhere near the power of Loki, but it had potential.
Deciding that he observed enough, Ann looked like she was about to collapse and Ryuji had done so already. So Goro intervened and scared Kamoshida's shadow off, alongside any other stragglers that were around. Giving the group a free path to leave the castle in relative safety.
Notes:
I am going insane, huh, what the hell is this pace? Anyhow I will actually show off Colin more in the next chapter. Also all of the chapter titles (and the fic title too, actually) are song titles.
Hi chat, it’s the beta reader. I might have taken at least four vitamin gummies for this one. lmao. Google doc is fucking me up rn but i am partially responsible for making changes my bestie will implment and some of the wording to be more dynamic.
Next chapter: “Waiting Room” by Fugazi
Edit 22/05/2025: some slight typos got fixed :)
I commissioned art of Ann's new Thiefe outfit. Like, a logn time ago by now but I haven't changed it since.
The art was done by @sealstickers on twitter Go follow them.
Chapter 4: Waiting Room
Summary:
I have, for honestly no reason, put off showing what Colin can do. Let’s change that shall we.
Notes:
*Kept you waiting, huh?*
Hello, I have been busy. Enjoy the chapter.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
To say that Goro hadn’t expected this week to pan out as it had so far would be an understatement. He hoped that, even though it was only Thursday, the rest of the week would at least be relatively quieter.
But before even the idea of a quieter week could be further considered, the group was stopped by more shadows. To say that Goro was annoyed would have been an understatement. When he picked up the two blonds and started carrying them, he hadn’t considered that any shadow would be left standing in the castle grounds. Or be so foolish as to try and oppose him.
No matter, he would just have to put down the blonds and eradicate it. That was his plan, but he could barely put it into action before Colin ran in front of him and all but yelled, “Let me!” As she summoned her persona.
Her persona looked canine in nature, it’s body looked metallic at first, shining in a gunmetal grey hue. After looking at it more, Goro realised that the body was overgrown with green vines alongside hedgehog-like spikes of earth on its back and a few glowing lights. The metallic parts seem to have burn marks as well as dents all over it. Undoubtedly the weirdest thing about it was its belly, where a round shape and 3 metallic beams were protruding.
Goro wasn’t sure what to make of the dog’s persona, up until he heard Colin call it’s name. “Come forth, Laika! ”
That gave him the final clue, in what Goro could only call ironic. Colin’s persona took its name from the first living thing to enter space and its form being derived from the very craft that took it there.
With her Persona summoned, Colin and Laika both howled as they felt the earth shake a bit. A spike of earth and dirt caught the shadow off-guard as it stabbed into the underside of it. This was something Goro had never seen before. The ability to summon earth to fight one's enemies seemed much too strong to be put into the hands of a persona user.
Either way, the spell dealt with the shadow quite well. He would have to ask Colin about this later. Her giving a direct answer is another obstacle of its own.
On their way out, a few more shadows were similarly foolish, but once again Colin has taken it upon to deal with them, letting Goro focus on carrying the two new persona users.
This time she is using a greatsword, the handle of which she put in her mouth and swung wildly with it. On the question of where she stored such an item, much less gained it, she refused to budge.
Next she pulled out a backpack bounded turret gun, which Goro gave up entirely on questioning. Figuring how it works would be counterproductive when escorting two knocked out persona users out the palace should be his top priority.
Finally they were outside, and once again Goro could only wish for things to quiet down. A part of him suspected that that was not going to happen for a long time to come. Either way, he contemplated dragging the duo up the stairs to the rooftop before immediately discarding the idea.
Instead, Goro led them to a place he knew he could discuss such matters without being interrupted.
The Jazz Jin was by no means mainstream, but neither was it all that unknown. It had a steady stream of patrons that frequented the place. Iit made it the perfect place to go to be undisturbed, even for a relatively famous person such as Goro.
It was also one of the only places he could focus on himself. Without having to contend with his constant workflow, although that also made it so that he couldn’t visit as often as he wanted to.
Everyone settled down in their seats. Ann took in the atmosphere as is while Ryuji was seemingly starstruck with the establishment
“I believe the two of you have quite a lot of things to explain to me.” Goro started as he took a sip of his drink. “I believe I was quite clear on not going back to that place, did I not?” Somehow, he sounded more disappointed than angry. This made both of the blonds look away in different directions in shame.
Ann knew that for all intents and purposes, he was right. Going back there was a idiotic idea and would have almost cost both of them their lives, but now especially, Ann wasn’t gonna just sit back and do nothing. There must be a way, there just had to be.
Ryuji seemed to mirror these opinions as he was the first to speak up, looking at Goro defiantly. “What else were we supposed to do? That asshole’s not gonna just disappear on his own for all the crap he’s done.” Goro just glared at Ryuji in response, before asking “And what, pray tell, did you two hope to achieve with all of this?”
This, in turn, made Ryuji smile smugly as he pulled out his phone to show Goro the pictures he and Ann had taken. Goro looked at the pictures on Ryuji’s phone and knew that these would only do more harm and be dismissed as complete fakes.
“A good attempt this may be, it won’t get rid of that parasite I’m afraid.” Goro informed them, letting his perfectly maintained prince mask slip further. There were a few reasons for this partly due to them knowing about the metaverse, but the atmosphere of the club always made him more relaxed.
And if the past 4 years had taught him anything, relaxing and letting down your guard were going to get you killed. And fast.
In Goro's head, he knew this as a fact. He screamed at himself for taking things so nonchalantly and being more direct with them. They did not know what they were walking into, neither in terms of the metaverse or his dealings with Shido.
Goro simply shook his head, he would figure out a way to diffuse the situation later. For now he is simply going to play along and be their guide.
The blonds looked at him sceptically, Ryuji almost immediately speaking up. “Oh yea? And why’s that?” He asked, sounding almost like an accusation. As if Goro was gonna discourage their plan to, for whatever reason, protect that pedophilic asshole.
“It would never work. Even pictures of his abuse outside of the metaverse wouldn’t be enough.” Goro says. The disdain in his voice becomes clearer by the second. “He has too many people backing him. No matter what wrong he does. He will get away with it.” He stated matter of factly.
The reaction of the duo were worlds apart and yet all the same.
Ann looked regretful. She wasn't particularly surprised by this revelation, no doubt she had hoped this plan would work. Having it shot down hurts but she still had the look of determination on her face. Her fury blazin within her eyes making it clear that she wasn’t about to just give up.
Ryuji, on the other hand, looked angrier than Goro had ever seen him. Coming surprisingly close to the original ill-fated confrontation of Kamoshida. He looked almost like the aggressive dog that most people had always seen him as. Similarly to Ann, he had a spark of determination in his eyes that screams of defiance and rebellion.
Eventually, after their orders arrived and they all had calmed from Goro’s revelation, Ann spoke up. “What can we do then? There must be some way to stop him.”
And not incorrectly, to boot. Despite her not knowing it, the metaverse was a place of cognition. A place where Goro had oftentimes managed to intimate people with his sheer presence, thanks to his constant raids of their mind palaces.
Hearing Ann’s words, Goro thought about the logistics of using the metaverse. Outside of the few cases of intimidation, Goro had never really thought to use the cognitive abilities of the metaverse in a manner to affect other emotions or desires.
Not long after, Colin spoke up. Goro quickly told her not to be loud, as he didn’t know if animals were allowed inside the club. “I think I know of a way to stop Kamoshida.” This made everyone look at Colin, who was sitting there inside of Goro’s bag with a face that looked incredibly absentminded.
“Yea, we just need to steal Kamoshida’s heart.” Columbo explained, entirely unhelpfully.
“Steal his heart?” Ryuji exclaimed, while Goro who, through his years of being used to metaverse bullshit, simply asked her to elaborate.
And so she does. She explains how exactly palaces are formed, what the Metanav is, and how to actually steal someone's heart. Goro already knew one aspect of her explanation, thanks to a piece of info from Wakaba Isshiki's research; but the aspect of stealing hearts is a new concept he wasn't aware of.
“And once you found the treasure, you just need to send a calling card to the palace ruler and inform him that you’re stealing it!” She cheerfully concluded her explanation. Leaving the blonds shocked and Goro with more questions than when she began explaining.
For example, why in the ever living hell is announcing your theft the only way to steal someone's heart? And how was he ever supposed to learn of it? Was there some sort of manual that came with the metanav that he simply didn’t get?
But he stopped himself. He knew him asking more would derail the conversation. For now, the most important part is that there was, finally, a way to deal with Kamoshida. And that without making Shido immediately think that he was behind it. Well, whatever happened after a so-called “change of heart”.
He simply relaxed himself and leaned back as he silently listened to the tune of the club band's song. The blonds were bewildered over the information dumped onto them. Ann tried her best to formulate any follow up questions, only to come up with nothing; while Ryuji just stammered over it all.
🎵Yet, I know I won't change anything
Because I can only be me, so 🎵
Goro liked this song. And the one singing it, the club owner's daughter, had quite the beautiful voice. They play it every now and then, among other songs.
🎵How can I be so sure?
At a crossroads, I'm afraid too
But I can't let fear get the best of me
Someone once said, ‘Burn my dread, baby’.🎵
As Goro listened to those lyrics of the club's most beloved signature song, a thought occurred to him. A thought he never had bothered with entertaining each time it popped up in his head.
Could he truly not change?
The trio of students agree to talk again the next day on the roof. Both 2nd years clearly needed more time to digest all of the information they had just received.
So Goro headed home, carrying Colin in his bag all the way there.
Once they got to what Goro called his sorry excuse of a home, Goro let Colin out of his bag. Once she was free, she started running laps around him and the slew of things strewn about on the floor.
The apartment Goro lives in was a basic one. It was not particularly big and quite messy, due to him not having the time nor energy to clean after himself. The smell of yesterday's takeout is still in the air.
Goro hated living like this, but he simply allowed himself to continue living in this state. He could barely keep up with everything on his plate as is.
Having to take care of Colin (who, for all the supernatural things she does, is still fundamentally a dog) did not help his situation.
As he thought about what to order for dinner, he went to get a can of dog food for Colin. After putting some of it into her food bowl and giving her fresh water, he ordered some takeout.
A small bubble of silence formed around them. Other than the sound of Colin eagerly eating her food, there was next to nothing.
Not the sound of loud neighbors, complaining about the useless youth. Not the sound of young children, experiencing what Goro never had. Not the sound of other students his age, experiencing the calming feeling of a loving home.
His apartment was one of the few places where he could simply sit in silence and rest. Sit in there in silence, without having the constant feeling of what kind of deadly abyss he has knowingly and willingly placed himself over. No reminder of how he has thrown away what little remained of his life after his mother’s death.
One would think Colin’s presence hurt this, but she did little to make the experience much worse than it already was.
Goro, uncertain when else to ask, unceremoniously crouches down next to the still eating Colin and looks at her sceptically. “So, how do you know that the change of heart will work? Have you done it before, or is this one of your instincts you possess as a talking dog?” He sounded almost like he was joking, but Colin had been around Goro long enough to know that he simply didn’t believe her.
Colin decided to simply agree with him. Not like he was ever going to believe her, and even then she had no doubt that her master was going to tell Goro more than she could.
Goro scoffed, clearly dissatisfied with her answer. But Goro knew that he wouldn't get any more out of her, so he simply waited for the delivery man to come with his food.
Goro soon went to bed. Sleep somehow found him far sooner than it usually took.
Only to find himself in a room that looked very traditional.
Notes:
Hi, so uh. My life's been busy as hell. I was kidna failing school. And now I *am* failign school. So that's neat.
I'll be lookign for some new path come september but for now, I thank you for reading.
Next chapter: Stepping In A Slide Zone
Chapter 5: Stepping In A Slide Zone
Chapter by KaitoGlue
Summary:
Goro gets sent to a weird place.
A place between mind and matter.
A place where he meets a familiar man to some, but not to him.
Notes:
This fic is now in a series!
The other fic in the series will be a fic focused on the not plot important Social Links that Goro will have.
The start of the SL's will all be shown here. But the Contents of most Social Links will be shown there for pacing reasons.
This excludes any SL's I deem plot relevant. Whcih those are is for you all to find out later.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
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.
Notes:
This chapter has quite a lot in it. And honestly I am unsure if everyone will get what I'm putting down. So all I will be saying is that Cephas is a already existing persona character. he is simply given a new name.
I am also so happy about doing the reveal of Goro's family early. It’ll be *real* fun once I get to expand on this. But all in due time.
Cephas is a name in Aramaic and translates to Peter. Aramaic is the language Jesus spoke. Shout out to my friend Jam who is gonna be helping me put interesting christianity symbolism in here. Since there is already a bit with Cuppy. Although he’s from Gnosticism. So yea.
Uh, bye!
Chapter 6
Notes:
A lot of things have happened in life. I quit school (just my current one, I will go to a different one) . I was working my first job (a summer job) and uh, yea. That’s it.
Anyhow, I have a slight change of plans on my side, so this is now.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
A young teen was sitting on a train, its destination was Tokyo. Tokyo had always been a goal of sorts for him. After spending all his life in the sleepy town of Inaba, he had always dreamed of going there and living his life to the fullest instead of wasting away.
Going to Tokyo almost felt magical. It was as if the world was calling him to action. His mother had seen him off at the train station not 10 minutes ago and already the teen had thought of nothing but his possible exploits there.
He would have to contend with his cousins, since he’ll be living with them. Thankfully the court ruling was rather light. But he presumed that having a police officer as a mom had its perks.
The teen was clothed in casual clothes. A loosely fitting black blazer on top of a white shirt with a v-cutout. The boy also wore his black hair in a frizzy style.
His two differently colored eyes, one a steely grey and the other a deep red, stared at a pair of fake glasses he was currently playing around with, contemplating whether or not to wear them.
He had been given these fake glasses by an older friend of his who had become an artisan of sorts.
He quickly decided against it. They work well enough for a quick and done disguise, but he could never get them to look the way he wants them to be seen. He'll settle with having them and not needing it than needing it and not have them.
The train sped past the soothing countryside as it made its way towards the bustling sea of houses and apartments.
Soon, Akira Kurusu would arrive in Tokyo and start his pursuit of two things there; Thievery in the name of justice and searching for his father.
Akira had always heard stories from his father on how enormous Tokyo was, but as he arrived in Shinjuku station, the sheer scale of it all slowly set in. This train station alone was about as big as the Junes he always loitered around with everyone else from Inaba.
This also reminded him how difficult finding his father would be, but Akira was determined. There was bound to be some kind of trail he left behind for him. Surely.
First he should probably find his cousin. His mother had told him that his cousin had been gracious enough to come pick him up. This would be a fun car trip, that was for sure.
After a bit of wandering, Akira found his way to the parking lot and quickly identified his cousin. He hadn’t seen her in close to a decade, but she was almost impossible to miss with her.
The young adult looked around in annoyance. She was wearing her silver hair long and wearing a steel gray suit and a pair of high heels that made her look important, no doubt she felt that way too. After all, she is the infamous prosecutor Sae Niijima.
Akira had always thanked his genes for not giving him the same silver hair his cousin had. It was known that some people just had silver hair, after all his Sensei had them too, but they were quite rare, and as such stand out a lot.
“You’re late, Akira.” She chided.
“Well you can’t blame too much! This is the first time I’m in Tokyo, Sae!” Akira countered, rightfully so in his mind. How was he supposed to know where to go?
She rolled her eyes and motioned for Akira to follow her to her car. The car was rather high quality. Sae hadn’t seen her cousin in close to a decade and her opinions of him were quickly plummeting. His disheveled black hair worn without a care in the world, and his eyes cat-like. He was the archetypical delinquent to her.
Well, she would simply have to establish that there was no leeway for such behaviour while she was to house him.
“So, how’s Mako-chan?” Akira asked earnestly, but to Sae it was all just an act.
“She’s doing good. Don’t bother her, she will be very busy with studies this year.” Sae chided Akira, clearly not wanting his influence on Makoto. “You won’t see her much in general. After all, you will be going to a different school than her.”
Akira rolled his eyes at that. He knew that Sae had changed after the death of her father, but it seems he underestimated how much. Then again. “Never knew you became so protective. It would have been nice if that extended to the rest of your family.” Akira snaps at her.
Sae simply scoffed. “If this is about not appearing as a character witness, it wouldn’t have helped you anyways. I have no intention of lying in court for you.”
At that, Akira felt anger rise in him. But he knew better than to lash out, and so the car ride simply dwindled into silence.
The apartment hadn’t changed much since Akira's last visit. The whole place looked modern, the kind of modern that meant nearly everything was some form of grey. Akira wasn’t a fan for sure. All the sleek and neatly greys strongly contrast the vibrant colors of Inaba's rustic aesthetic that he grew up in.
“You know where the guest bedroom is.” Sae stated matter of factly. “You’ll be living there for the year, so please put your suitcase there.”
The apartment was also fairly big. It makes sense since it’s the same apartment Sae and Makoto lived in back when their parents were alive.
And so Akira decided to settle in. They would go meet his school principal tomorrow. Surely Sae would once again complain about her time being wasted on him. She didn’t have time often when he was younger, but it seems that only became worse.
Later in the evening, Makoto came home from studying in the library. At least she seemed to be happy to see Akira again. Even though she was a bit critical of him hitting that politician.
Akira couldn’t help but sigh. It seems like no one outside of Inaba will believe him. At least most people back home believe him. Or say that the guy deserved to get punched. Which in all honesty, that politician did.
They had a quiet dinner and all of them went to bed.
Kosei was a Christian school, which is also why they accepted Akira in the first place. His grandfather had been a Christian as an immigrant from France, and his father decided to also become Christian, so Akira decided to adopt the same religious beliefs as his ancestors. Or well, adopt them as well as a thief could. One of the commandments was to not steal after all, which was the one teaching Akira fully went against.
The school felt familiar, the school wasn’t outdated equipment wise, not like his school in Inaba, but it had something to it and Akria was sure he knew what that was.
This place felt more genuine. Various art projects underway in the designated rooms. Kosei also had many scholarships. Even of those who aren’t Christian. Which Akira felt like was in the spirit of the religion. Love thy neighbor and all that jazz, Akira thought.
The principal was nice. Akira made sure to look into him beforehand, to be cautious. He really seemed to be a bleeding heart for his students. A rarity, especially in a big city such as Tokyo.
Akira wonders if the man had any skeletons in his closet that were well hidden. But that was a thought for later, if ever. For now, Akira was happy just getting into the school with his record staying secret from the school populace.
Sae hadn’t said much throughout the whole thing. Thankfully, Akira was quite adept at handling this alone.
The principal asked him if he had any interest in the arts. Akira nodded happily. He had always thought getting into acting would help him with his heists. It also helped that Akira found the act of playing a role that wasn’t entirely him quite fun.
As such he has acquired a myriad of different masks of sorts to use.
The talks didn’t last much longer after that. Akira was told what class he will be in, made sure to reassure him again that his record was something the faculty would never expose, and then given his uniform.
As the cousins left the principal’s office, Sae stood still for a second and spoke up. “I hope you know that you won’t be so lucky as to have your record hidden the next time something like this occurs.” She said in a strict tone. “So do us all a favour and at least not get caught the next time, alright?”
Akira could barely even start at forming a retort before she walked past him, leaving him in the dust. “But I didn’t even do it.” He quietly said to no one but himself.
The first day of school started without any real problems. After Sae had driven him back home the day before, Akira decided to look around Tokyo a bit. He tried to invite Makoto along, but she was seemingly too busy studying. So Akira explored some of the train stations and where they could lead.
No doubt, he would have to learn these by heart if he wished to use them as a getaway tool from any undesirable attention. Disappearing into the mass of people on the crowded trains of Tokyo.
One of the things Akira made sure to check out was his way to his school and how long it would take. Mostly so he could calculate just how long he could feasibly sleep in.
His class was filled with a colourful cast of students of different professions, but none of them really struck out to Akira. As he walked in alongside with his homeroom teacher, he spotted someone that got his full attention. A boy with blue hair and a rather lanky posture.
Even when sitting at the desk, Akira could tell that the student was rather tall, but that wasn’t what called out to him. No, now that Akira thought about it, he could hardly put into words why he felt different. Akira presumed he simply possessed a certain je ne sais quoi.
As Akira stood in front of his new class, it once again hit him that he was in Tokyo and was to stay here in this class for a whole year. He wondered how he would grow and what would happen, but first introductions were in order.
“Hello everyone, my name is Akira Kurusu. It is a pleasure to meet you all.” He said in a gentle polite voice before blowing.
Akira was then seated next to the blue haired boy. If he was to be stuck with him for the rest of the school year, it would be best to keep a close eye on him. Maybe he'll find out what aspect of him that caught his fancy
And so, his first day at school passed without any incident.
Notes:
[Kaito’s thoughts]: Man, monthly uploads are uhhh, something I strive for but idk how much that’ll happen. Mostly cause life is a mess at all times ig. Not a *bad* mess just, chaotic. Anyhow, Akira introduction cause I was stuck on Goro’s part so we’ll get back to that later.
[Beta and Co-Author’s notes and thoughts: bf told me that he would do it monthly and god damn he made me forget about the monthly part. At least y’all got something a month afterwards. My fic that i keep forgetting to write about for (checking notes) A YEAR AND POTENTIALLY A HALF is still a work in progress, but i do promise that i will get back into it. In other news, i got myself a job and am planning on commissioning some of my artist friends for both fics. (mostly mine but bestie had me as a third-party)
Edit: I forgot to put a thing in and also updated the tags.
Gamging on Chapter 1 Thu 31 Oct 2024 06:36PM UTC
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KaitoGlue on Chapter 1 Thu 31 Oct 2024 06:39PM UTC
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FatYeet420 on Chapter 1 Tue 25 Feb 2025 11:53AM UTC
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KaitoGlue on Chapter 1 Tue 25 Feb 2025 12:12PM UTC
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Gamging on Chapter 2 Tue 25 Feb 2025 06:05PM UTC
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Gamging on Chapter 2 Wed 26 Feb 2025 12:08AM UTC
Last Edited Wed 26 Feb 2025 03:07AM UTC
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KaitoGlue on Chapter 2 Wed 26 Feb 2025 10:58AM UTC
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FatYeet420 on Chapter 2 Tue 25 Feb 2025 07:32PM UTC
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KaitoGlue on Chapter 2 Tue 25 Feb 2025 08:10PM UTC
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Sleepy_koko on Chapter 2 Fri 28 Feb 2025 04:12PM UTC
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KaitoGlue on Chapter 2 Fri 28 Feb 2025 04:58PM UTC
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FatYeet420 on Chapter 3 Fri 07 Mar 2025 11:36AM UTC
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Gamging on Chapter 4 Fri 23 May 2025 02:24PM UTC
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WoodAutumnDoll on Chapter 5 Tue 29 Jul 2025 07:14AM UTC
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KaitoGlue on Chapter 5 Tue 29 Jul 2025 12:44PM UTC
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