I have no time to think or question. All I can do is watch his body contort and twist backward, then be enveloped by scarlet flames that burst from beneath his feet. From the fire springs a Persona—most certainly not Robin Hood.

"Again—it's that Persona!" cries Yusuke.

Akechi's already lost his mask. He throws his arm back, releasing a frenzied scream. Scarlet fire dances around his form, but as soon as it comes in contact with him it cripples and darkens, burning away the white of his clothes, scorching and painting him black.

"What's going on!?" Haru beside me mutters as she stumbles a few steps back. I would join her if I weren't completely frozen solid in... Shock? Horror? Fear?

"Don't make me laugh!" I wince as Akechi drags clawed fingers over the hardened material of a headpiece like nails on a chalkboard to reveal the jagged edge of an armor-esque helmet. From the gaping hole where his mask would be stares a pair of fuming and utterly desperate eyes.

"Justice? Righteous!?" He spits the words out like venom. "Keep that shit to yourselves!" He cries and bends over, raising both hands to shield the exposed parts of his face. "You and your teammates piss me off!" The way he's crying, vomiting the words out with both unbelievable fury and desperation, like the person he's trying to convince the most is he himself, is hurting something in me that I wasn't aware existed.

His body is violently swaying back and forth, as though he's trying to shake something off, get it out, make it stop. He looks like he's in pain. Though I'm positive it's not the transformation that's causing it.

"He can use two separate powers!?" Morgana beside me cries. "Then everything... even his appearance was a fake!"

The truth of him is standing before me, writhing in boundless agony. "You're going down..." he veers back. "I'll destroy you... Go down with me!"

Panic grips my heart at the words. Before I can comprehend what he is about to do, let alone make an attempt at preventing it, Akechi raises his hands to his face once more, then twists backward. His Persona spawns an enormous glowing sword. I don't have to look at what skill he's using to comprehend. The moment I see the slithering red tendrils and what they're doing—what he is doing—I scream.

The blast is larger this time, it ripples through our rows without doing any actual damage... at least not to us. "No way..." Ann mutters.

"That bastard..." Ryuji's voice is shaking. "He used that chaos-mind-break skill on himself!"

Akechi... laughs. That's what it seems to be, anyway. I've never heard any sound that comes even close to it. Then he tips backward. I remember the shadows he was using earlier and watch the tendrils consume his own form this time, writhing and corrupting what is left of him to corrupt... breaking the final chains on his heart.

Then, so abruptly I almost stumble back, he shoots forward again. His face is concealed behind a horned black mask, but even with it I make out the unnatural red gleam of his eyes. "Now, let's see you drop dead one at a time, in front of your precious friends!"

"Dammit, he's lost it," Morgana cries, and for once, I cannot protest. Not even in my head. "Here comes!"

"Diiiiiiie!!!!!"

A hand adorned with sharp black claws jets forward, toward me—it's the last thing I make out, together with a pair of twisted red eyes, before I'm sucked into battle mode. Something tells me it might actually be to the end this time.

Once more it is many against one—us against him. I feel disgust creeping up in my gut at the thought, even now.

"You are the trash of society...!"

Even after all that just happened. Even after...

"I will kill you... Destroy you... Crush you...!"

Someone needs to stop him. I'm fighting tears. But why does it have to be me...?

"Teammates are nothing but trash!"

"His new Persona's power is unknown," says Futaba, matter-of-factly, and I swallow. "Everyone, stay on guard!"

Whatever the Call of Chaos did to him—it's also restored his health. I want to both thank and curse it for that. He's no longer hurt... but this also means we have to hurt him again.

If we can, that is.

I knew that Akechi is strong. He's proven so many times, not least when we fought him earlier. But I didn't think he'd be this strong.

It has to be due to his Call of Chaos power, at least partially—considering he's also using odd skills now, skills far beyond anything he's used before—but I can't help thinking it's less the Call's effect, and more due to how much longer he's been coming to the Metaverse than we.

He's really been holding back. And now he is holding his ground—against all of us—via desperation, fury, or sheer spite at this point, I can't tell. All I can tell is that it's working.

The barrier skills he's using over and over now are a problem, and all his attacks—especially the physical ones—suddenly more than halve one of our own's health. We've not even been doing battle for a minute and Morgana's already forced to heal.

Oddly, the fact that it's suddenly turned into such an honestly difficult battle is making it... better. I can focus on fighting, on optimizing our tactics, and on keeping us topped up... really, on anything other than who I'm fighting and why.

He's definitely not making it easy for us, but the longer we fight, the clearer it becomes that we will eventually be victorious. He can do many things on his own—but we can heal and support.

"You're just... pieces of shit... who lick each other's wounds...!"

I dare take a look at his health, and he's teetering on half again. An uncomfortable tightness grips my chest.

"Anything goes if you say you're teammates...!"

For some reason, that particular line feels like a slap to the face. Like a sledgehammer against the glass barrier of strategy and familiar battle routines I've erected around my emotions to prevent myself from crying. I'm hit with an image of us—all nine of us—back in Sae's palace, fighting... using healing and support skills... on the four of us that were active... one of which is currently on the wrong side of the battle.

We... did say we were his teammates, then. But did we ever honestly, truly mean it...? Or am I being an incredible hypocrite when I say he ever was part of our team? I did say it to Sae, after all... That he wasn't.

My stomach twists and I suddenly feel like throwing up.

It is only then, as I stare at Akechi's tauntingly raised hand and remember what he said about lies, that I ask myself for the first time how he felt when he found out we had never really intended to accept him as one of us.

I hadn't really considered it before since it was he who had planned to set us up first but now a terrible suspicion forms in my gut that what we did might have actually affected him more than what he did affected us. If anything, his and Shido's plot brought us closer together. But what consequences did our own pretending have on him?

I would have probably gotten lost in my own head again hadn't a heavy multi-targeting fire blast nearly thrown me off my feet. Ryuji is on his last couple health points and the rest of us—save Ann—aren't any better off. Then he goes all out with Desperation, and my heart contorts as Morgana's effortlessly healing us up.

There's no one to do that for him... not anymore.

It is odd... the lower Akechi's health becomes, the stronger it seems to be making him. I can feel his despair and determination in every hit, and we're practically healing every turn now.

We're still winning, of course.

Eventually Makoto, whom I've switched in halfway through, lands a heavy hit that leaves him with only a fraction of health—a single hit's worth?

"Why are you looking at me like that...!?" Akechi spits out, trying to keep himself standing. "I've... I've succeeded until now... all by myself...!" The jagged red blade slips from his hand to clank against the hard metal of the floor. "I don't need... teammates... I don't..."

I take note of the tear only when it makes a wet path down my cheek. I'm right—I suddenly become very aware—whatever his end goal was, the way he was with us—it wasn't all fake.

Images are flooding my head, of the time we spent together, the moments during which I wanted nothing more than to forget our plan, his plan, and just be a team... be friends. Be... more, perhaps even.

It hurts more than anything has so far, to make myself aware he must have had those moments too.

I look up and directly into his glaring eyes, piercing me in a way that sends a chill down my spine, from behind the... black mask.

I don't even try. As soon as I've regained my wit and the battle resumes, I guard.

My teammates attack as best they can but it seems as though he had more health left than we thought.

As soon as Akechi strikes, I'm beyond grateful I chose to play it safe.

'Laevateinn' leaves me with a miniscule fraction of remaining health, despite the decision to guard. I stagger back, trying to ascertain what the hell that was and that I would actually be dead if I hadn't guarded.

An almighty attack of that magnitude... 'Laevateinn'... a true Blade of Rebellion... My mind is clogging with panic. Either my observation from earlier was correct and he's getting more lethal as we go, or, he's... still holding something back. In that case, I don't think I care to know what that might be.

I attack without second thought. In retrospect, I don't think I could have even said what skill it was I used. All I know is that it was the last needed straw.

Akechi drops to his knees as his health hits zero and I have never felt more sickened, watching everyone's levels increase. If I could give the experience back to undo all this pain, I wouldn't hesitate even a moment.

He's down, defeated—but even so, Akechi's pulling himself up. Only a little, only to one knee. I catch sight of a darkened eye that has lost all its previous gleam—staring at me through a large crack in his formerly spotless mask.

"You ready to call it quits?"

I don't hear any animosity in Ryuji's voice, and that is giving me hope. Who knows how justified it will turn out.

The way Akechi laughs now is nothing like the way he did before. I half-expected the usage of his Call of Chaos to have some lasting effect, but as he is now, he seems more sane than he's been since he's gotten here.

"I know... it's enough."

Something in the way he's looking at me is sending spears through my heart. Perhaps because, all of a sudden, his eyes aren't clouded by madness or rage. They're oddly... crystal clear. I'm searching for the appropriate word to define the emotion.

"... You're so lucky."

My heart stops. Then skips... only then do I remember how to breathe.

"Lucky to be surrounded... by teammates who acknowledge and want you around..."

It's resignation, I understand. Empty, hopeless resignation.

"And once Shido confesses his crimes, you'll all be heroes."

For some reason, I'm sensing chills down my spine. This is all wrong... I open my mouth but nothing comes out. How is he suddenly being so... unnervingly, rationally calm about all of this? How is he saying all this, admitting defeat so willingly when he once said that he'd be the one who would defeat me?

In the back of my head, I am aware that it's good we seem to have finally gotten through to him, but... calmly admitting defeat? It's not just that, I think.

I can't help but be reminded of our targets' shadows after our respective victories over them when I look at Akechi now. Something in his tone, the way he speaks... Never, not even when he was yelling that he'd kill us all, did the man before me sound less like the Goro Akechi I... thought I knew.

The only thing I don't know yet is whether that's a good or bad thing.

"As for me," his mouth contorts into a smile, and I find this bittersweet and so utterly crushed one more painful to look at than his twisted, evil grin. "People will find out my past deductions were just charade. My fame and trust will vanish."

No—I grit my teeth. Everything about this is wrong. He's not supposed to give up. Not supposed to admit defeat, not like this, not as though his fate is sealed. Suddenly I understand that the true reason I find his tone now so hard to bear is not primarily due to that he's given up fighting us. No... I have to restrain myself to not step closer. It's because he's given up on more of that. Perhaps... on everything.

This is almost like... I swallow. Akechi isn't a shadow or a palace ruler, and we haven't changed his heart. Then why is it as though the... warped thoughts, the... distorted desires Yusuke pointed out before now left him, as though we had?

Except—I hold his dark and unnervingly lucid gaze—whatever resolve he still had, that drove him to come here, to fight us so effectively... to try at all... I can almost see it seeping out of his armor and into the steel floor beneath, vanishing together with any and all remaining hope. Was his delusion truly all he could ever bring himself to fight and... live for?

"... I see," says Morgana, "So, you were making people run amok, then solving the cases yourself. And you did it by joining forces with Shido."

Akechi laughs, and the way he sounds is breaking my heart. For a moment he pauses and lowers his gaze, averting his eye from me for the first time.

"In the end... I couldn't be special..."

I freeze. On the surface, this particular line seems oddly timed, but the way he said it, almost solemnly, with not so much as a trace of misguided egoism or pride—or any trace of fakeness—it takes me a few heartbeats before the unabridged truth of the line hits me. In the context of what he said—of what I realized before—the words suddenly gain tremendous and terrible sense.

They have nothing to do with any kind of deluded vanity or arrogance—the only meaning I then see is the admittance of defeat... to life itself.

He thinks that his life is over. My mind is racing. That now is the end, and that nothing he ever did amounted to, or gained him anything. That his goals and dreams are forever out of reach, and that it is far too late for any kind of regret or change of course.

Something leaves a wet trail on my cheek, then drips into my collar. Something that tastes of salt and pain.

"Dude, you're more than special..." The almost offended tone, as though what he's saying is beyond obvious, and the emphasis Ryuji puts on his signature 'dude', specifically, nearly makes me burst out laughing.

Akechi's head darts up. I catch sight of shock and disbelief, and almost begin yelling myself. Everything that's been clogging up my head, about how wrong he is when he believes now is the time for giving up. About how Ryuji is right—that I've never met anyone like him, and that he has so many things to be proud of. That, if I so have to, I will personally ensure he will always have something to live for.

That I care, with all of my hammering, traitorous heart, and that I would drop any- and everything if it means I get a shot at saving him after all.

"It pains me to admit," Makoto speaks before I can, "but your wit and strength far exceeds ours. We only defeated you by teaming up..."

She's right. Save Futaba, Akechi's long proven that his insight and intelligence surpasses that of anyone on our team... on our side. Hadn't we had each other, we wouldn't have stood a chance. For a moment I allow myself to picture having him as a true ally—how much he could contribute and enrich our team if only... I look back at him—his distortion would be gone for good.

"I was honestly... envious of your natural abilities," Makoto admits after a pause and I find myself impressed with her openness in this regard.

She's always prided herself on being the brains of our team, and she's doing a fantastic job, but I know very well that Makoto's skills stem from hard work more than natural predisposition. All her life she must have been looking at people more talented than herself with envy. Though, considering everything I've pieced together about his past, I'm inclined to think she and Akechi are more alike in that regard than she probably thinks.

"It was frustrating to see how much my sister trusted you," she adds after another pause, and, to that, I don't think there is an appropriate response. It's the naked truth.

"I have no intention of forgiving you for what you did to my father," Haru speaks slowly, "but... I sympathize with you."

I can't say I'm not surprised, and so are we all. I'm well-aware she's still not over her father's death, despite how awful he was, and I find myself admiring the strength it must have taken to say this, and believe it too.

But Haru speaks with unshakable conviction. "I wholeheartedly understand wanting to get back at the adult who took from you..."

I recall Akechi's own words, shortly before we allowed him to join. That he was bearing a personal grudge against a sickening adult. And that... we weren't so different, after all. Perhaps that wasn't as wrong as we had thought.

Akechi isn't actually looking at us, I note. He's staring down. The tips of his clawed hands are digging into the floor. He's trembling, ever so lightly.

"But when you gained the power to fulfill that desire," Yusuke shakes his head, "you only used it for your own self-benefit."

Suddenly, I wonder just how long ago it was. How old was he when he awakened to his power? For just how long has he been free to use the Metaverse to his will, without limitation or guidance? I think back to our own first dips in and out, and suddenly wonder—if we hadn't met Morgana, would we have ended down a similar path? Or would we have kept each other at check?

At least we, I think bitterly, would have still had each other.

"If you've got more than one Persona," Futaba squeezes in between Morgana and I, holding up a tablet she keeps tapping on, "maybe you actually have the same kinda power as Joker's."

My head whips around to her, and for the first time, Akechi looks up too. His eye meets mine and I suddenly find it hard to hold his unbelieving gaze. I open my mouth to try and somehow explain that it can't be—that, if he were a Wild Card like me, Igor would have known, would have brought him to the Velvet Room—and the number of my own Personas isn't limited to two as well.

"But you trusted no one," she speaks on in an oddly solemn tone, "so you only got two Personas—one for your lies, and one for your hate."

I freeze. Is that it? For the first time, I look at Akechi with doubt—not completely denying the possibility anymore. Nobody else could ever summon two Personas at once, and Igor has been adamant about the importance of social bonds as a means to hone my powers and forward this rehabilitation business he's constantly going on about.

And if Akechi is lacking anything, it is the ability to trust. Is it truly this vital? So much so it has taken a toll on his potential—if he truly is like me. I make a mental note to definitely speak to Igor about this.

For lies and for hate, I repeat in my head, and the fact that, at one point, the two were all he consisted of is painfully twisting my insides. Is it really too late now?

"Still," Futaba shakes her head, "you thought that was enough, right? That part I totally get." Only now I suddenly wonder how she's become so knowledgeable about Personas and my potential. Did she and Morgana talk about this, ever?

"You excelled at everything over us," Yusuke nods, "yet that was the one thing you lacked."

I honestly couldn't have summed it all, that they were saying to him just now, up better. I clench my fist and suddenly feel awful being this hesitant to speak myself. My team is doing it—my team that I mentally accused of not caring before—and yet here I am, ever the hypocrite. Simply because I'm horrible with words. But how can I speak if I could do so much wrong? If I can't even sort through my thoughts to separate the meaningless from the important, the helpful from the detrimental? The moment I open my mouth, my head has a habit of going blank.

More so than for his natural intelligence and talent, I've always admired Akechi for his wit and quick, apt tongue the most. It's a skill I have never truly understood, and never wished to possess quite as much as now.

But right now, his way with words seems to be failing Akechi as well. His exposed, widened eye is darting back and forth between all of us, as though he's attempting to process what is going on. He doesn't speak with his mouth, but his eye is screaming... for help.

"All right," Ryuji finally breaks the deafening silence, "let's go back and get that callin' card ready!" He raises an arm in Akechi's direction. "We're gonna take Shido down. What're you gonna do?"

My heart is leaping at the silent invitation I hear in his voice and, then and there, I promise myself I will personally treat Ryuji to a feast, once all this is over. Don't ever change, I silently scream at him, don't ever loose this part of yourself, that is so unconditional and accepting, so much so you could bring yourself to befriend me, back then. If anyone could do it, make someone like Akechi feel like he belongs, it would be Ryuji.

What would I give to have an ounce of his casual yet unyielding warmth?

"It'd be a problem if you kept getting in our way," says Ann suddenly. "Wanna come along and help us settle things?"

I'm in shock. Have I underestimated my team so much? Confusing emotions swirl in my gut, and I've never felt worse about being unable to express them.

Akechi's gaze darts from her to Ryuji, then quickly scans the others. I peak myself and not a single of my teammates is looking like they disagree with the offer.

"... Are you all idiots?", Akechi finally speaks, and the unbelieving shock in his voice is driving nails into my heart. He can't refuse, I think adamantly, he can't. Not now that we are offering him the chance he thought wouldn't come anymore.

But he's not moving. Only staring. Still with that awful look of resignation. "You should get rid of me... if you don't want me getting in your way."

I want to be offended—that he'd think we'd do something like that—but also I feel like he's not actually believing we would. He's speaking to us as though we were the kind of people he's been around and dealing with all his life. At this point, he seems to have stopped differentiating.

When none of us responds, he breathes out audibly. Then chuckles. "... You all are truly beyond my comprehension."

My gaze is so fixated on him, assembling words to finally say myself, when I sense Ryuji and Morgana beside me turn their heads. All of my teammates do, and when I follow their gazes I freeze in shock. From out of the depths of the machine room and toward the kneeling shape of Akechi walks...

"Akechi?" calls Ryuji. The newcomer who resembles Akechi well enough, down to his school uniform, doesn't react.

"Another one!?" exclaims Yusuke. "Wait, is he..."

"That's... Shido's cognitive version of Akechi!" concludes Morgana and suddenly I take note of the shadowy tendrils that cloud his feet like any shadow. It makes sense, and suddenly, I wonder why we haven't seen him before.

Cognitive Akechi releases a low laugh, then, before any of us can move, he produces a gun, to point it at... Akechi.

I freeze in horror, and so do my teammates around me.

"... I'll deal with the rest of you later," says Cognitive Akechi. His eyes are dull stones, dark and utterly without life.

The real Akechi still hasn't moved from where he is kneeling. He's staring at his doppelganger with an ounce of that former fury. But he doesn't have the strength to get up.

"Captain Shido's orders," Cognitive Akechi looks back down at him. "He has no need for losers."

Losers...? I take in the scene and wonder just how much Shido knows about the happenings in his palace. He has no way of knowing—or did he anticipate this outcome? That Akechi would lose... to us. A tight knot is forming in my gut.

"Well..." Cognitive Akechi tilts his head slightly, without moving the gun, "this just moves the plan up a little. He was going to get rid of you after the election anyway."

I grit my teeth. This shouldn't come as a surprise, but somehow... in a very odd, very naïve way... it still does.

"... What!?" I see the same kind of surprised-but-not-really expression in Akechi's face. Then he breaks into a cold and so empty laugh that sends a chill down my spine.

"Did you truly believe you'd be spared after all the murders you undertook?" Cognitive Akechi speaks on, and I think that somewhere, deep down, he must have known. But it's so much easier to lie to yourself for the sake of hope, isn't it?

"Don't tell me..."

The more Cognitive Akechi speaks, the more I wish to strangle him with my bare hands. But if any of us make a move, I am beyond certain the real Akechi will die.

"... Were you actually feeling good about having someone rely on you for once?"

For some reason, the words feel like a slap to the face. My mind is racing, and I am horrified and disgusted by what it's putting together.

"Oh by the way, the captain says it's time you receive retribution for causing the mental shutdowns."

"What the hell, man!?" snaps Ryuji, "That bastard's the one who put him up to it!"

He's right, of course, but I also see the futility of pointing this out. Of course Shido's the one behind it all. He wouldn't let it stop him from justifying getting rid of... a loose end though. I swallow.

Then, to our all shock, Akechi—the real Akechi—stands. I have no idea where he's still pulling strength from, at this point, but he gets to his feet, then turns to glare at his cognitive doppelganger with so much disgust my own spine begins to tingle.

"I see..." His laugh still sounds awfully empty. "I was wondering how he'd protect himself if I used my power to tear through his Palace. Turns out you're how. So," he shakes his head, "he's making a puppet kill me... Sounds like him, alright."

Cognitive Akechi nods, unfazed. "That's right. I'll do anything. But look at yourself," he cocks the gun slightly, "... you're the true puppet."

I've never been more speechless in my life. Because—as much as I want to disagree, to scream, to fight, to do something that will end this horrifying scene—I cannot find words to disagree.

Even Akechi is silent. He's swaying back and forth ever so slightly, as though keeping himself standing is becoming harder with the second.

"You wanted to be acknowledged, didn't you? To be loved?"

The words, spoken with so much disgusting delight, are burrowing themselves into my eyes and ears, digging their way down towards my heart. Cracking and breaking any and all last walls of doubt that my conclusion from earlier was correct. To be acknowledged. To be loved... The phrase repeats in my head like an echo.

To be loved.

We didn't do it. My vision becomes blurry with tears. We... I couldn't acknowledge... couldn't love him. So, he went back to deluding himself Shido would.

"You've been nothing but a puppet from the very beginning..."

"You little..." Ryuji breaks off without finishing his sentence.

"So this... is how Shido thinks of Goro Akechi?" Makoto's voice is trembling. "It's... it's horrible...!"

"It's still not too late!" Haru interjects, "We can change his heart together! Even if he's your father... No, BECAUSE he's your father!"

She'd know all about how that feels, I think and suddenly feel beyond useless. So far, all the encouragement has come from my teammates, and I... all I can do is stand here, as though I feel nothing. As though I don't care.

I do, I want to scream. Every feeling I've ever had for him is suddenly banging on the gates of my mind. If only I could... could do something other than stand around and watch. Why am I so horribly weak?

"What's all this nagging about?" Cognitive Akechi finally turns to us. His face is, at this point, no more than a distorted grimace. "Want me to take care of you first?"

Before any of us can react, behind and beside him spawns a number of shadows in security uniforms. "No... He's not alone!" calls Ann and my mind reels with panic.

"You know what," Cognitive Akechi speaks on, "I'll let someone volunteer to take his place. Who knows, you might delay his death."

"Damn you..." Ryuji mutters and I'm moments from leaping forward, to agree.

I've already opened my mouth to yell at him to stop, that I'll do anything if he lets him go, when I catch sight of Akechi's face and... freeze. His gaze is burrowing into me, wordlessly imprinting a single word into my brain... 'Don't.'

I'm so shocked that I actually stop moving, despite my better judgment.

"You guys are all about doing things for others, aren't you?" Cognitive Akechi laughs. "Oh, that's just the same as me. I'm going to take all the blame for our captain. I'll die for him too."

A disgusted shiver runs down my spine.

"This is what Shido thinks Akechi-kun is like..." Makoto mutters, "after everything..."

"Here," Cognitive Akechi interrupts, cocking his gun at the real Akechi again. "I'll give you one last chance. Shoot them."

I freeze.

Akechi hesitates, then suddenly stands a little taller. His laugh is oozing resignation again, but also... "I was such a fool." Then, without warning, he produces his own gun to aim it straight at my head.

Oddly enough, I still don't feel any fear. I'm staring at the black mound of his gun and all I can bring myself to feel is certainty that he won't shoot. Not after everything. Not after he wordlessly but oh-so urgently begged me to forget about taking his place.

"Yes..." Cognitive Akechi chuckles triumphantly. "That's the you our captain wishes to see."

"... Don't misunderstand." There's an odd undertone in Akechi's voice that I can't quite place, but it's unsettling me. "You're the one who's going to disappear!"

I comprehend what he'll do heartbeats before Akechi veers around and pulls the trigger. His doppelganger releases a violent shriek and my heart swells with hope. For a brief, sweet moment, all is well.

Then another gunshot tears through my eardrums, accompanied by the shattering of glass. I'm once more looking into the mound of a gun, but it's not aimed at me.

Something's wrong. An alarm flares in the back, and a robotic announcement voice speaks. "The watertight bulkhead door has closed. All personnel within the partition wall, evacuate at once."

Bulkhead? I blink, what bulkhead? I look around for it but I can't see anything. Not until a metal wall shoots up, inches before my face, to seal off any- and everything beyond. There's Cognitive Akechi, his shadows, and...

"Whoa, what is this!?" Futaba calls and my vision goes fuzzy for a moment when I process that on this side, with me, are only seven of my teammates. And then there's...

"Akechi!" Ryuji leaps forward, banging his fists on the iron.

"Hurry up and go," his muffled voice sounds from beyond. I can't move.

"You fool!" cries Yusuke. "Are you trying to get yourself killed!?"

I stare at the wall and recall the gun. The look. The iron determination that flashed in his eye, moments before he pulled the trigger and... I'm hit with the horrific realization that... he might be.

A wave of sickness rolls over me and I extend my hand to place it on the wall. To reach out, beyond it, or keep myself standing, I am not quite sure.

"The real fools... are you guys," Akechi speaks again and I want to yell at him to keep talking. If he dares to shut his mouth for a single second, I... "You should have abandoned me here a long time ago. You..." he pauses and I swear I make out a silent laugh, so full of resignation it is making me sick. "You would have all perished... if you had tried to face these with me weighing you down..."

A burden... I clench the wall tighter... that's all he thinks he is. All he thinks he ever was. To be acknowledged... it rings in my head again... to be loved.

But there wasn't a soul. The ground beneath me sways and, then and there, I drop to my knees. I barely sense the sting of the impact. Now, there wasn't a soul in the world willing to acknowledge or love him. To see him as anything but a tool... as the burden he sees himself as. I wonder if there ever was.

"Akechi-kun..." Makoto mumbles and my thoughts are racing.

It's not true, it repeats over and over. You're not a burden, not a tool, and not a nuisance for anyone on this side of the wall. Not for me.

The thought shatters the last remaining barrier of uncertainty and suddenly, I know that I have to say it. More than ever, now I do.

"Let's make a deal, okay?" Akechi speaks again and I rip off my glove to press my palm into the steel of the wall that separates us. "You won't say no, will you?"

"Why at a time like this!?" Yusuke asks but I can barely hear him.

Anything, I scream silently. Anything at all. If only it means I can see you again.

"Change Shido's heart... in my stead... End his crimes..." His voice breaks. "Please!"

My head is a swirling mess. Behind me are seven of my teammates, all batted and worn-out but... alive. Before me is a wall, and behind it is the eighth. The one. He whom I cannot allow to get away with this. Not now, not when... I picture the glove that is still in my bag, and the promise it holds.

Is this all he thinks he can still do? It suddenly hits me, is this all he thinks he's still good for? To be a hero... I think about what he said, what he wanted to be. For how long did he hold onto that wish before he realized he'd become a... villain?

Is that what you're doing, I silently ask, trying to be a hero in death because you're convinced you can't be one in life anymore? A tear hits the metal floor beneath me, and another follows. They keep streaming now, and I'm not making any attempt to stop them.

You'll always be my hero. I press my fingers into the cold metal. Even though you lost yourself for a while. And heroes don't break promises.

"You can't break your promise either."

> "I'll hold onto your glove."

For a moment it is silent beyond the wall. Then I make out an ever-so-faint laugh. "After all this, that's what you have to say? You..." Akechi breaks off and I fear he won't resume speaking until he does, suddenly sounding closer than ever.

"What the hell is wrong with you...?" His voice is weak, and despite the accusation, I hear only despair. Despair, and so much disbelief it pains me. "What are you saying?" He demands to know, "Are you an idiot? Just get the hell out of here and... do what you promised you'd do, don't you see that is all that matters now? Go and... live!" His voice cracks. I don't move. Not a single inch.

"Why are you...! You...! Why... are you still here...!?"

The words resonate inside me like a gong, forcing me to dig within myself for an answer. Whatever I say now... I scoot closer and tighten my hand that is still resting against the metal to a fist.

I should think my words through carefully.

"I will not leave until you confirm your promise."

> "Because... you're special to me."

For a moment he is quiet. My mouth opens to speak on, to tell him why, and how, and what I really feel. That I don't want to deny it any longer. That he is and has always been dear and important and special to me, in a way unlike anyone else.

"You..." Akechi doesn't say more than the one word, but something in his voice tells me he knows exactly what I just said. "Seriously...?" He sounds like he's accusing me, like he wants to yell and chase me away until I admit that what I'm saying... what I'm feeling is madness. That I'm a fool.

Well. I tip forward against the wall, to press my forehead into the metal. Maybe I am. But since when has that ever stopped me?

"You... Rin."

I've long shut my eyes, and something within me shudders at the sudden and unexpected softness in the way he says my name.

"You really are..."

He doesn't need to finish the sentence. I know... and I am.

I've committed myself to Goro Akechi. To whatever end, our promise will prevail. I sense a solid bond between me and Akechi...

I am thou, thou art I...

Thou hast turned a vow into a blood oath.

Thy bond shall become the wings of rebellion

And break the yoke of thy heart.

Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret

Of Justice, granting thee infinite power...

~

RANK UP!

CONFIDANT: Goro Akechi | JUSTICE ^ RANK 10 [MAX]

~

[Your Justice Confidant has increased to MAX Rank! You will now earn more EXP from Arcana Burst when fusing Personas of the Justice arcana!]

[FUSION UNLOCKED: You can now fuse Metatron, the most powerful Persona of the Justice arcana.]

But... I hold onto the wall tighter, as though I can reach beyond, and reach him—this can't be how it ends. There's still so much I haven't said, so much I need to know and do.

Then, out of the blue, a distorted voice that resembles Akechi's, but also not, yells "You bastard!" My eyes jerk open and I'm hit with panic. Part of me had hoped one bullet would have been enough to finish the Cognitive Akechi off.

"So," the real Akechi speaks, he sounds further away and an awful cold grips my heart. "My final enemy is a puppet version of myself... I...!"

No—! I clench my other fist and press it into the wall as well. Don't say 'final' like you mean it. Not after what I just—

"Akechi-kun!" Haru cries.

"Isn't there some way to get this open, Mona?" Ann yells.

Then there's a gunshot pierces. And another. Then silence.

"His signal is... gone..." I want to leap up and strangle Futaba for saying that. For implying... but I can't. Not when she's... right. "I'm only getting... the weaklings..."

"No..." Mortification and pain are clogging Ann's voice as she steps up to stand right beside me.

I feel Morgana brush past me on the left. He's staring at the wall with... resignation. Oh how much I've come to despise that emotion, lately. "Come on, you guys!" he finally shakes his head.

"Are... are you okay?" Ann suddenly kneels beside me and I instinctively turn my head. I'm not sure if I want the others to see I've been crying.

"Hey, Joker—didn't you make a promise just now?" Morgana nudges my other side. "We can't let a rotten criminal like Shido do what he wants any longer! We can't... no matter what!"

I nod. He's right... But I have no idea how I'm supposed to muster up enough strength to stand.

Then suddenly, I feel a pair of hands hook me under the arms and pull me up. Ryuji's trying really hard to look encouraging but his eyes are as pained as all of ours. I make an attempt at a smile back, just for good measure.

"She's fine... you are, right?" Asks Futaba and after a moment of hesitation, I nod. I have to be fine, even if that gunshot, whatever it's hit—or missed—just killed a part of me.

"Hey, so..." Ann places a hand on my shoulder as they're all slowly starting to retreat from the wall. "What was that last part you said, exactly? We couldn't quite make it out, you were talking so quietly..."

I grit my teeth. On one hand, it feels wrong to lie to my team. On the other... I throw a last glimpse back as I finally follow them away and up the stairs. What's the point in lengthily explaining this to them? It's not like it will ever be...

A sharp thorn pierces my heart at the thought and I'm fighting back tears again. In Ann's direction, I sigh, then shake my head. She doesn't press me, and neither do the others, though I see them exchanging odd glances.

Well, should they. This... I recall my words, can be our secret... mine and his, a second one. A secret he's taken to the grave. And so shall I.

It feels like a lifetime later that I am finally able to collapse into bed, after securing the damned route and somehow making it back to Leblanc without loosing face. But the moment the lights are off and Morgana's snoring peacefully, I'm crying myself to sleep.

The tears won't stop and I'm not stopping them. All I can think about over and over is that gunshot. Futaba said there were no readings left but... There was no screaming. No following commotion. No triumphant sounds either. Just... silence. I don't want to have hope, right now it's eating away at me, preventing me from accepting what is most likely the truth, but... will I really never see him again?

He promised it, after all.

It only takes me two seconds to get out of bed and dart over to where I left my bag. Dig to the bottom until I'm sensing smooth leather. I clutch the glove to my chest and think... believe. He promised... to duel again someday. And the Goro Akechi I know would hate having it end with his defeat.

Still... I curl back into bed, adamantly clutching the glove like a lifeline. I can't do anything now. Except... remember... and hope... and love.