It was supposed to be our home stretch. Five VIPs—five letters—five fights. None of them took us to our limit. Sure, they weren't particularly easy either, but... we have a goal: to take Masayoshi Shido's heart for the crimes he committed against countless innocents... and against us.

Leaving the last save room behind, I climb the stairs with my friends in tow, to make our way through the engine room and put this palace behind us at last. Unlike the casino, we've attempted to rush Shido's cruiser, as there's really no reason not to get this over with as quickly as possible, and it's been grueling. Luckily, at this point, there shouldn't be anything or anyone who could still think to stop us.

Except...

I stop so abruptly I almost trip. I'm not even sure why... An odd feeling, a tingle at the back of my neck. I take in the confused faces of my friends and almost ignore it, just get out of here as we all want more than anything, but then... Something compels me to turn. And when I look up and arctic chill sweeps over me... as I make out the silhouette kneeling high over our heads on top of a long iron rail.

Catching sight of us, he stands and leaps. I can't move... because my brain has recognized him long before the rest of me is ready to accept the truth.

Then again... now that it's happening, I can't say that a subconscious part of me hasn't been waiting for this. Believed, to the end, that, no matter how implausible it was, he would figure our plans out and come... to finish it. If anyone would, it'd be him.

"Long time no see."

Ryuji leaps forward when I find myself unable to speak. "You!?"

"Why's he here!?"

If my head wasn't screaming, and my heart wasn't hammering so violently it almost hurt, I would roll my eyes. Futaba is so smart, but when it comes to figuring out intentions, she's hopeless.

Akechi shifts. Not for a moment does he lose an ounce of his composure. And not for a moment do his eyes leave me. "Hm... I'm impressed that you managed to deceive me. It seems I underestimated your abilities."

And we yours, I add in my head and swallow. The way he is now, it is not hard to tell why he is here... It isn't the reunion I wanted. I'm not even sure what I wanted... other than to turn back time. But I don't want this.

... Not that I can back down, at this point.

I can't look away from him. It almost doesn't feel real... that he is here, that he is the same man he was before the phone recording. His face is so familiar but... an icy shiver runs down my spine from the death in his eyes. It's the same blank expression I remember from our last time in the jazz club but... amplified to a hundred. Not even pretending to be anything other than emptiness.

Akechi stares at me until I have to avert my eyes. But I can feel that he's still looking at me. "You truly are... not like anyone else." He's spoken the words before but they're different now. "Quiet, yet possessing a spirit that refuses to back down, even in the most hopeless situations. You're the one who won't stop believing."

My head shoots up as the familiar words pierce through me.

"... Or was that a lie too?"

He may as well have slapped me in the face. I'm frozen in place, unable to do anything other than stare at him and fight the sudden urge to break into tears.

"What are you—?!" Yusuke interrupts himself, leaving the sentence unfinished.

Akechi looks at me for another heartbeat, then he lowers his head. "... It wasn't all fake, you know?"

The words hit me like a lightning strike; my mind instantly leaps to what I couldn't bring myself to accept, even when it became clear that I wouldn't be seeing Akechi again. Not fake. I didn't have any proof outside of my own conclusion that what once existed between us was far too much to be a mere set-up. But I never had any actual proof. Now... My heart is suddenly leaping out of my chest. Does he mean that—?

I'm assaulted with images: Akechi—drenched, disheveled, and so enchantingly genuine, catching and holding my hand before I could slip in the wet earth... then staring up into a pouring sky. His hand at the small of my back and a corner of his mouth elevated to a gentle... real smile, when we danced in the jazz club. The warnings... every single one of them, tone growing more desperate the longer I refused to listen to them.

I don't care what any of my friends say... I refuse to believe any of those moments were fake. And neither was the honest excitement and joy he couldn't contain during our time of working together. It was not fake, it couldn't have been...

I blink rapidly. But... am I not being a fool again if I believe so much as a word out of his mouth, at this point? Didn't I tell myself that it was too late?

I look up and for a moment, Akechi holds my gaze, then he turns. "You are... Under different circumstances, we could have been..." He breaks off, leaving the wistful sentence unfinished.

Disregarding any potential concerns, my heart skips a beat. The unspoken feelings that weigh on me like heavy fog, poisoning the air and clouding my judgment, are too pungent to ignore. I told myself I would banish them, but these things aren't so easy. Not even when your argument's a loaded gun.

Still. I'm not averting my gaze any longer, and neither is he. His words brought unjustified hope, and it's clinging to me like a pest. Hope. Fake?

I falter.

> "It's not too late."

"Could have been... what?"

"Hah!" Akechi scoffs. "Either you're a better liar than I gave you credit for, or even more foolish than I thought."

The words sting more than I allow myself to admit. Even though I can't exactly fault anyone for calling me a fool for this. It's the fact that he still hasn't ruled out the possibility that I'm lying that insults me more.

Akechi looks at me but past me, as though he's talking to someone else. "Either way... you don't allow yourself to be enslaved by such things as human relations, or past selves... especially if you are telling the truth. But I don't have to tell you that, do I?" He laughs joylessly. "Don't pretend like your heart isn't free. The exact opposite of mine. To be honest, I'm envious..."

His words twist something in my gut. He isn't talking merely about freedom in a larger sense. A free heart? I don't possess such a thing. My heart's not been my own for a long time, and for that, he's only got himself to blame.

"I wonder why we couldn't have met a few years earlier... Rin."

My name from his mouth strikes me like a thunderclap. He's never offered any of us a first name basis, and I've felt a little bad for not doing so myself, at least when he teamed up with us. But this... The sound of it reverberates through my thoughts, flooding me with an exhilarating surge of emotions.

Akechi's still not faltering. He's definitely not here to talk, but the way he's looking at me now says more than he could most likely ever bring himself to. It's not the time, but... Don't pretend like your heart isn't free. The exact opposite of mine.

Only then do the words truly sink in and I'm hit with a swell of dizziness. He couldn't possibly mean that... My mouth opens but the scream doesn't come out. He's never been so unapologetically honest with his feelings, except maybe after our duel. My mind races back to the glove I could never quite bring myself to take out of my bag.

It wasn't fake. And neither is this.

I swallow. The man in front of me has betrayed and attempted to kill me. Yet he has also protected me, encouraged me, impacted, and challenged me in ways nobody ever has. I've long accepted that I have feelings for him that go beyond friendship or rivalry, and no matter whether he could ever reciprocate them, at least he's here now. Maybe that was the real reason I hoped he'd be here somewhere.

At least now, maybe I can tell him after all.

I have to. For my own sake. And even if I don't let myself fully believe in it just yet, his words rekindled an old hope that... maybe he does feel at least something for me.

In my heart, I manage to convince myself that he at least regrets this turn of events. Regardless, I feel as though I understand him better now...

RANK UP!

CONFIDANT: Goro Akechi | JUSTICE ^ RANK 9

~

[You will now earn more EXP from Arcana Burst when fusing Personas of the Justice Arcana!]

I'm so lost in thought I jump when Ann takes a step forward until she stands beside me. "Akechi..."

He ignores her. Shakes his head as though he's meaning to shake off the emotions in the loaded atmosphere. "It's no use talking in hypotheticals," he says. "That didn't happen in reality..." His voice reveals that he wishes it would have... perhaps more than anything, in this moment.

"Akechi!" Makoto speaks next, and she asks a question I would have asked myself, had I been stronger, less... preoccupied with my own stupid feelings. "Why are you cooperating with someone like Shido!? Don't you see what this Palace looks like!? His true nature is—!"

But he interrupts her. "Cooperating...?" I've seldom heard so much contempt in a single word. "What are you talking about? I don't care for Shido, or this country." He crosses his arms and leans back.

I frown. For some reason, this statement both does and does not surprise me. I guess I must have known, deep down, that he couldn't honestly agree with what Shido is doing, but also... in that case, why did he...

"All this," he exhales and his mouth curves into a twisted grin, "is to make Masayoshi Shido... my father... acknowledge me. Then exact revenge on him."

I feel as though I'm hit by a freight train.

"Shido is your father!?" Yusuke blurts out the words I have no voice for.

Akechi scoffs. "Remember I said before, how my mother had been in a relationship with some good-for-nothing man?"

I do. And it all suddenly makes terrible sense.

"So, I'm his bastard child," Akechi speaks on, still unnervingly calm, in a voice that doesn't let through a single inch of regret or weakness. "My very existence is nothing but a scandal... My mother's life turned for the worse after she had me... and died. I was a cursed child for her, too."

It all slips into place far too easily, with what he told me before about his mother. And if Shido is his father... Guilt and sympathy creep up my throat; it must have been beyond tough to get where he is now—from the bastard son of a single mother to an honor student, a national celebrity. All on his own. It's an unkind fate, one that few ever escape, and now...

"That's horrible..." Ann beside me mumbles.

"I resented him," Akechi speaks on without paying her any mind, "but he was already a high-ranking official by then. A kid like me could do nothing. But..."

He uncrosses his arms and suddenly, something in his icy expression shifts, "that's when it happened!" His chuckle sends a shiver down my spine. "That's when I learned about the cognitive world!" He takes a step back and spreads his arms, as though to emphasize the greatness of what surrounds us. What was likely his salvation and his downfall, all in one.

"Someone, be it god or demon, gave me a chance!"

He laughs in a way that twists my gut. I cannot retreat, but he's suddenly scaring me more than he ever has. 'Me'... he spoke the word like he couldn't quite believe it. Like he still thinks him—of all people—receiving a chance had to be the result of some glitch in the system, some mistake, some error... something that wasn't supposed to happen.

"You son of a..."

The only reason I don't turn and tell Ryuji to shut up is that Akechi speaks on. "Who cares?" he spits out. "My targets were all doing the same thing in this eat or be eaten world. All I did was remove their evil from society."

Eat or be eaten... I refuse to believe the world truly works like that but... that is what it must have been for him. I wonder how early he internalized this belief... and how? Whether he ever even tried to chase kindness instead of resentment. Whether he ever had the chance to.

"How is that any different from the Phantom Thieves?" He hesitates and I'm suddenly reminded of the assassin we targeted in Mementos, a while ago. He spoke similarly, yet...

"We're not killers!"

Yet, Ann is correct. It's what we told the assassin, and it's what we have to tell... the true culprit now. But I also can't shake the thought of what would have happened if we hadn't met Morgana and learned about changing hearts. Ann herself, at the time, almost killed Kamoshida.

For the first time I ask myself if we even have the right to judge him for ending down a path that might have also been ours if the circumstances had been different.

"So what!?" Akechi snaps. "Masayoshi Shido is finally within my grasp! Once he reaches the apex of his power and gives me what he thinks I want, I'm going to whisper in his ear... I will tell him the truth of who I really am! And that's when I—an utter disgrace to the world—will rule over him. I will prevail!"

He shifts back and spreads his arms again, as though he's readying himself for attack. And one look into his eyes tells me that's why he's here. Everything within me revolts at the thought of fighting him, but... is there another way, at this point? Even though I hate acknowledging it, I force myself to accept that he might be too far gone for conversation.

"What a warped thought... It's almost pitiable," says Yusuke and I want to both agree and tell him that he's not helping. I don't want to be pitied... The words ring in my ear and I'm filled with the sheer disgust they oozed, all over again. All the statement will do is anger him further, and if we do that, he will definitely attack. If we can only keep him talking, let him get all of this off his chest... maybe he will...?

I hate that I feel naïve for believing... that I feel blind with... whatever feelings are still making me blind, weak... but I cannot stop. I cannot stop having hope.

Even if it kills me.

I stare straight ahead, taking in the frantic expression and the slight tremble of his raised hand... an image of desperation. I cannot actually tell if this conversation is helping, or making things worse. Or both.

"In just a few weeks, my plan would have come to fruition..." Akechi's voice is shaking with anger. "But no, you just had to interfere!"

Let us help you, I silently scream and clench my jaw. Why didn't you come to us with this earlier? Even if we can't offer power or your kind of revenge, we could have stopped him. We could have ended Shido and freed you from the chains that tie you to him long ago if you had just...

It is then that I realize—that I know why. With all his intelligence, all his skills, and all his achievements... The one thing he's never learned was how to trust. Were all my attempts at getting him to trust me doomed from the start?

"I can still take it back though," Akechi sneers. "I'll just need to kill you all."

I open my mouth to tell him to stop. That we're not his enemies, that we don't have to be. Or... do we?

"Hmph," Morgana snorts, "we won't get killed for something like that. You talk big, but you're really nothing more than a little kid throwing a temper tantrum!"

I love Morgana but right now I want to physically hold his mouth shut.

"Don't lecture me, you piece of shit..." Akechi hisses and I wince. It's exactly as I feared. All this is doing is making it worse. And the worst part is, that I don't know whether I can even ask my friends to act any differently. Whether they even care—if we fight—or whether it is just me.

"I," Akechi straightens, evidently trying to ban the shaking from his voice, "am going to thrust Masayoshi Shido into a living hell. So, Joker..." he turns to me and I almost cave under his accusingly pointed finger. "Rest easy and die."

A chill slithers down my spine. Suddenly I'm beyond convinced that there's no way past this fight. I don't avert my gaze, even though all I really want is to cry.

"We don't have to do this..."

> "Is this what you really want...?"

Akechi snorts. "What I want...? What kind of question is that?! I say there is no need to speak any longer." He stands determined, tall—but alone. Against the eight of us. I swallow.

"You sure sound confident, but don't go pressin' your luck," snickers Ryuji. "We already know all your tricks from back when you were workin' with us."

I open my mouth to tell him he's being naïve, but Akechi beats me to it. "Joker... how could you be so successful while having such an idiot as your partner?"

I want to protest... to defend Ryuji... but what am I supposed to say to the truth? The fact that I love Ryuji doesn't change that he does have the tendency to be... an idiot.

"Huh!?" Ryuji shakes his head. "Quit bluffin'!"

"It's no bluff," Makoto cuts in. "If he truly is behind the mental shutdowns, he's likely only shown us a fraction of his strength."

A part of me still refuses to believe that it really is supposed to have been him all this time, even though there's enough tangible evidence. Just no... explanation. At least not... well. If Shido is the mastermind—and his father—maybe that's the explanation. But is having it at last something I can be happy about?

Akechi tilts his head and sways back, then chuckles. "I'll tell you all about my true power... while you die." His voice is dead—like a robot, but worse. "You can take that knowledge with you to the grave."

Before any of us can say a word, behind him appear two Shadows. "Kill them!" Akechi yells and however he is doing it—controlling them—they obey and show their true forms, then initiate the battle.

I don't know how to feel about this—on one hand, I'm relieved for not having to fight Akechi directly. On the other hand... he's definitely scheming something. He would never be so naïve as to assume these Shadows stand even the slightest chance against us. And I'm not sure if I want to know what he's going to do.

I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for battle when Akechi speaks again. "The mental shutdowns aren't the only incidents people are talking about. There are also the breakdowns which cause people to run amok, creating accidents and scandals..."

I listen up. He's right—and though we've always kind of connected the breakdowns to the shutdowns, we have no idea how the former are caused. The breakdown victims don't die—but in that case... I stare at Akechi with widened eyes. Is he about to tell us he's somehow causing that too?

"Those," his mouth distorts to an awful grin, "cannot be explained unless the true culprit has such a power as well. A rampant power that corrupts and twists people's hearts... scrambling their minds until all that is left is chaos..." Akechi snickers and I bite my lip... hard.

"That's right!" His voice cracks. "It's my power—one that you don't have!" He puts so much emphasis on the latter half of the sentence that I almost overhear the former. His... power?

"He's gonna try something...!" Futaba calls, already in her navigator position, and I dig my feet into the metal floor. My mind is racing—with thoughts of him, of what he said back after our duel. Of the seething envy his carefully crafted walls and masks couldn't hide any longer. A power like he is describing... how would that be possible? And more importantly, how are we supposed to deal with it? How am I supposed to deal with all of this...

"Allow me to show you!" Akechi screams, then takes a stand to summon his Persona. But the skill he's using is odd. I expected something new, but... 'Call of Chaos'?

It isn't until the red tendrils appear to consume the Shadows that I comprehend the Persona he's just summoned wasn't Robin Hood. I stand frozen, watching the strange power overwhelm and warp the Shadows... drive them berserk. Just like—

"What was that!?" Futaba exclaims and I blink, taking in the glaring yellow eyes, and darkened, reddish frames of the formerly normal Shadows. "That wasn't Robin Hood... Could it have been a different Persona?"

My mouth opens but I have nothing to respond to Futaba. It can't be... I think and try to swallow the sudden lump of fear in my throat. Wielding multiple Personas is impossible—Igor was adamant about this—unless one has the potential that I have: the... Wild Card. But... I'm the only one who—

Akechi interrupts my stream of confused thoughts. "Even the feeblest existence can gain tremendous power once the chains on its heart are broken." He gives me a long, pensive look that sends an icicle through my very core. "You'd better not underestimate these two."

With that, he retreats, and our way is blocked by the Shadows. They roar and twist, not allowing a single step forward. We have no choice but to battle them first.

Morgana, Ryuji, and Ann leap to my side—I haven't the mind to think about changing tactics or formations now. I'm barely able to hold my ground or watch for whether we need to heal or use items. I have to force my mind into battle mode, and it doesn't work as well as I want it to.

The Shadows are surprisingly tough and utterly relentless. They have odd skills too—skills that don't seem to belong to them—some of which I don't think I've ever seen. 'Desperation' sends a chill down my spine, even more so when it costs one of them its life—having lowered its defense too much for the sake of upping its attack.

Is that what this 'Call of Chaos' does to normal Shadows? Scramble and twist skills—alongside minds? Or is it some kind of insane level-up, granting access to more than one should have? I barely have any time to think it through because Ryuji finishes the second shadow with a swift strike and it evaporates, revealing Akechi—waiting where it once stood—looking not the least bit surprised.

"Well done," he scoffs. I've never heard the phrase sounding less sincere.

Akechi is staring at me, but also past me... through me. His expression is blank... Done. Dead. The live eyes I've once seen and allowed myself to get lost in, are dark and dull like he's a walking corpse. When exactly did he die?

In that moment, I think nothing could phase him anymore. But if that's the case, why is he still here, doing this?

"That power to corrupt others..." Futaba sounds mortified. "He used it on actual people...?"

And we all saw how that ended. I swallow and recall all the reports on the so-called 'psychotic breakdowns'—people running rampant without viable reason. Is that what it does when used on their Shadows...?

"He's out of his mind...!"

I want to disagree with Futaba, express—scream—out all my thoughts on how we could have saved him if we had only tried—but that was then. Is it still true now? I despise my own uncertainty but I cannot help the sinking horrid feeling that, at this point, we might have... missed our chance.

Akechi shrugs, still with that awful blank face. Somehow, it hurts more thinking we might have been able to do something. To save... to prevent this. I grit my teeth.

All the thoughts of what we could have—should have—done burrow back into my mind like a million tiny needles. What if we had talked to him sooner? Confronted him with the phone recording and asked him to explain directly... openly? I will never know whether it would have worked. But I hate myself for not trying anyway.

"Of course, I didn't expect you to be defeated by them," Akechi waves a hand dismissively. "You have deceived me and escaped death, after all." His voice drips with bitterness and the malicious grin is back... though his eyes are still as dead as before.

Then he takes a step forward and points an accusing finger... at me. "You... I wouldn't give up my chance to massacre you with my own two hands...!"

I open my mouth to protest... to say anything. Be it 'sorry'. But I don't get the chance. He's already initiating battle.

"He's coming... Brace yourselves!" Futaba cries and then it's on. To whatever end.

I do what I must, but every second of this feels wrong. Like I'm in some sort of nightmarish fever dream where the only way forward is to attack one of my teammates with lethal intent. But—he isn't a teammate, and this isn't a nightmare. It doesn't matter how much all of this clashes with my wishes... I cannot afford such selfish thoughts at this point. All I can do is attack—over and over—try to not see who I'm attacking—and fight the ever-rising tears.

Akechi is using Robin Hood again, and I'm starting to think I hallucinated the appearance of another Persona altogether. He's targeting me, as though we're alone in this wretched engine room... and part of me wishes we were. At least then I wouldn't have to put up a strong face for my team. If they ever found out how much it hurts me whenever we hurt him, would they understand? Could they?

I'm trying not to watch Akechi's dwindling health, and at first, we do so little damage it is not hard. But Ann can concentrate, and Morgana keeps us healed up. Futaba does her part with strategic advice, buffs, and support.

All that's left for me to do is to use it and attack.

It doesn't take as long as I hoped to diminish his health so much that it teeters on half. Akechi takes a step back, but only to dig his heel into the ground with desperate force. "Damn..."

I wince at his twisted laugh.

"So... neither of us had shown our true strengths, huh...?"

For a moment, I'm confused at the odd timing of the phrase. Sure, he's much stronger now than he was when we worked together, but he's not done anything so out of line it would warrantee being called 'showing true strength'—and neither have we.

I dare take him in properly and suddenly make myself aware—no matter what he does, he doesn't stand an actual chance. Not against all of us. But... that seems to be exactly what he believes. Could he fight if he didn't believe in victory?

"... Don't underestimate me!"

The sheer desperation in the words makes the hairs on my neck stand on end, but despite that, I am not prepared for the Almighty attack that hits afterward. It eats over half my health and most of my teammates are flagging, even worse off.

For the first time, I feel something like genuine concern. That was new... and if he has that... what else is he saving, up his sleeve? Is he... still holding back?

Why is he still holding back? This question takes over my mind for the rest of the battle. I don't look at how much health he has remaining because the sight would break my heart. Even now—even after everything... I still cannot bring myself to resent him. Let alone want him to be hurt, or... dead.

I don't realize it was my attack that shatters the last bit of his health before I watch him fall to his knees, defeated. "Damn it...!"

"So, he's able to make people lose their minds..." Morgana says in an almost casual tone. "I thought it was some special thing like the Nav, but it seems to be his own Persona's power."

"I can't believe that the ability to control and drive others mad was born from within his heart..." Makoto's voice is shaking, as is my whole body.

She is right. It is an utterly inconceivable concept. Whatever it does, this ability of his—he hasn't actually used it again, which is arousing the terrible suspicion that this fight isn't over.

More than ever in my life, I am internally screaming, at Akechi's slumped-over figure, to give up. To end it here. But as I watch him struggle to get up I am also hit with a wave of certainty that he will never give up. Not he who told me that he would be the one who will defeat me.

"I'll kill you... You're all going to die!"

Any done-for target would struggle for a moment or two, before accepting defeat. But Akechi isn't a target. And not one of them has ever spoken in a tone even remotely comparable to what he sounds like now. I would need several hours to mentally pluck apart the chaos of emotions that seep from his words... and I'm not sure how much I would like the result.

Unable to stand, he falls forward and lets out a suppressed scream that stabs my heart like a dagger.

"Will you please stop!?" Ann cries out the words that are swirling in my mind also. "You're fighting the wrong people!"

For the first time since Akechi showed up to confront us, I truly allow my eyes to leave him and turn to Ann. Because for the first time, she gives me hope that I'm not the only one who is displeased with this outcome, this fight. That I wouldn't be the only one who would welcome a truce... perhaps even peace.

"We both hate the same guy," she speaks on, undauntedly. "Why do we have to go against each other!?"

Warmth rushes into me at the sound of those words—from someone who isn't me.

"Killing us won't make you happy."

For some reason, Makoto's blunt yet awfully accurate statement hits even harder. Maybe because it is something none of us others—especially Akechi—has admitted to ourselves, though deep down we're all aware it's true.

"But... I... !"

I swallow the hope I can't allow to creep back in yet when for the first time, I make out something else in Akechi's voice. Something that suddenly makes me certain that, deep down, he wants this fight as little as I... as we do.

"This ain't about what Shido says!" It's Ryuji who speaks next. "You're your own person! You gotta know that!"

He is right, and a terrible wave of guilt hits me when I remember this was the very misconception that led us to treat him as no different from the likes of Shido. We deduced that he wasn't the mastermind, yet we handled Akechi in the same way we would have any of the adults we were going up against. And that lapse in judgment led both him and us... here.

I was right, I understand. Akechi's not like them... like Shido... not yet. But if we keep treating him as such, he might soon be.

"Damn it...!"

"You know..." this time it is Futaba who steps forward. "Sometimes I think about that fake Medjed that you guys made up... That was the worst trap... but if not for that, I don't think I'd be here right now."

She's right, and pride mixes in with the cocktail of swirling emotions I've long stopped trying to name. Obstacles are here to help us grow, and if anyone's grown since then, it is Futaba.

"Uhhh, basically... it doesn't matter where you start over!"

She's right, and the fact that Futaba and all of my teammates are here, saying this, is warming my heart, despite the pain. If they can see his truth now, maybe it isn't too late yet. Maybe it can—

"And... you don't really hate Joker, do you?"

My gaze twitches to Morgana who's looking back and forth between the two of us and I suddenly make myself aware of just how much of the back and forth, the tension, and the sweet moments we shared before... well, before Justice had to end for me, he must have witnessed just by being there.

"That thing you said... About hearts being unfree... Isn't that how you really feel?"

My heart hammers violently, all of a sudden. So I didn't imagine it...?

Akechi's gaze darts up and for a moment he meets my eyes. That single look is enough to crumble any and all rest resolve I had to fight him. For, in it, I see that Morgana is right. Then and there, I shed all doubts about believing his 'it wasn't all fake'. It wasn't... but this here isn't fake either. It's all real.

"Follow your true feelings!" Morgana insists. "Even if you think people hate you or don't want you around, Joker—she is—that's—!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" His fist collides with the metal of the floor, vibrating the very room around us. The sound isn't deafening enough to overrule the emotion in his voice though. Then, Akechi actually pulls himself to his feet. "Teammates!? Friends!?" Slowly yet steadily, fueled by hatred—or desperation? "To hell with that!"

I have a hard time not wincing back from the sheer power in his voice.

"Why am I inferior to you!?" The emotion in the gaze he's once more holding on me has shifted so far that I almost think I could have imagined the honest affection from before. His eyes spew unbridled hatred.

"I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image! So—" Akechi speaks very quickly, as though the final dam has broken at last, "—so that someone would want me around!" His voice cracks and he freezes, as though suddenly aware of what he just said. Enraged, he throws his arm back. "I am an ace detective... A celebrity!"

"Akechi-kun..." Haru speaks for the first time, and even in her tone, I hear nothing but sympathy.

"But you..." Akechi wraps his arms around himself, struggling to keep standing; his eyes never leave me. "You're just some insignificant trash living in an attic! Why did I allow myself to...!" he breaks off and scoffs, then raises his hands to cover his face. "How... how does someone like you have things I don't!? How did someone like you ever get to me like—it was all lies, after all. So how—!?"

I freeze. Something is not right—something about the way he said that. As though he's not talking about his own lies.

"How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me!?"

I swallow. This anger... it's coming from somewhere. Despite his fury, I feel no fear. Discomfort, pain, sadness, regret... but I'm not scared of him now. Not because I doubt he could actually do anything to me—I will never make the mistake to underestimate him again—but because I can't bring myself to see him as someone I should fear.

But what is driving his rage? It is directed at me, and me alone. What is he so envious of? I think over his words and hug myself, mirroring him. They were furious insults, but are they justified? After all, there are so many things he has and I don't either. What part of my life is driving his deep-running envy?

I don't understand, and the frustration is driving tears into my eyes again. I want to end this, to pacify his rage... to walk over and wrap my arms around him—here, in front of everyone else because who gives a shit anymore—so that he doesn't have to keep doing it himself.

I open my mouth to tell him how I feel—every part of it. The quite conceivable frustration and reluctance to fight, to remain enemies, the regret for failing to save him when he would have needed us to... and the inconceivable other feelings I'm still carrying in my heart—the feelings that I still doubt he'll return, or even understand, but suddenly I know for a fact that this time I have to tell him. Before it's too late... again.

The thought that it might soon be is terrifying me more than anything else about this situation. But nothing of the sort comes out of my mouth. How could I ever find the words? I still have to say something though.

> "Is being special that important...?"

"That's not the case."

"Why do you think that?"

Akechi freezes, then looks at me with furious disbelief, as though I've just personally insulted him. My gut twists from the angry pain the look carries and I realize that, to him, it is. And he can't see—I think with painful certainty—how special he already is. For himself... for everything he is and has achieved... and to me, too, even if for a completely different reason. I clench my fists, unable to think of a way to show him.

Akechi looks at me for another heartbeat like he's moments from attempting to strangle me with his bare hands. "You—!" he hisses, then bends forward, releasing a guttural cry. For a second, I am unable to believe my eyes. My teammates around me gasp and I blink, trying to discern whether I saw correctly.

For a moment, a black shade enveloped Akechi's form; it evaporated at once but I'm almost shaking from the air of desperation and terror that still lingers, emanating from where he is keeping himself standing.

"What was that?"

Nobody answers Makoto's question, and I don't think anyone can, until Yusuke suddenly blurts out: "A black mask!"

An icy thorn pierces my heart.

"Then, what Kaneshiro said before..." Morgana doesn't finish his sentence.

I stare at Akechi, remembering the shadows of Kaneshiro, Madarame... everyone who ever spoke of the culprit behind the mental shutdowns, and suddenly make myself aware that we hadn't thought much of the discrepancy between Akechi's metaverse outfit and their talks of a... black mask.

"So... you were behind the mental shutdowns after all..." I don't blame Makoto for repeating something we had seemingly already made our minds up about. I'm in as much disbelief as she apparently is, but—

Akechi laughs... it chills me to the bone. "Oh, this is great..." His hand darts up to his mask. "I'm surprised... This is actually a first for me. I might even have to try my hardest against you."

He was holding back. Against my will, fear slithers down my spine. Still, the most prominent question on my mind remains... why?

"You know..." His hand lowers and he digs his heel into the ground with determined force. "I just came up with a fun little idea... I wonder how far I can go with this..."

The fear eating away at me grows, but it's not primarily fear for us. I'm much more scared of just how much he's willing to risk for himself, as desperate as he is now. There's nothing in his distorted face—his misted, lifeless eyes—that indicates he has any sense of self-preservation left, at this point.

"Fun?"

Makoto sounds mortified, and I feel the same. But Akechi gives us no opportunity to speak. "You're not satisfied with where we left it either, are you?" He's looking at me again and I freeze. "Isn't this what you really wanted? You and I," Akechi raises a finger to point at me, "are going to strike and strike again until one of us is dead!"

No—I scream in my head, but alas. I cannot fathom how he arrived at the conclusion that I have any desire to fight him. This isn't a duel, I grit my teeth. It's an unfair and utterly pointless battle to the... end. One that he's already lost. If we fight again now... I might never get to give him the rematch he demanded back then. For some reason, the thought stabs me in the chest.

"To hell with holding back!"

It is when he utters those words, that I'm finally hit with proper terror.

"Ah..." Akechi seems to have no intention of stopping. "Just picturing it sends chills down my spine..." His voice breaks, finally losing every last bit of familiarity; it is nothing but a withered remnant of what it once was. "What Shido thinks of me? Haha! I don't give a shit... All I care about now is killing you... to prove that I can!"

I resist the urge to stumble back, to give into the flight instinct. I will not falter. No matter how much it breaks my heart... I know that I cannot allow him to win. Not today, at least.

"Here..." Akechi shifts and his face twists into a maniacal grin. "I'll show you who I really am..."

Who he really is? I can't help but suppress laughter. Doesn't he know that I've been trying to figure that out since the day we met? And that, no matter what he's about to reveal, my quest to discover his true self won't be completed today.

Never in a million years will I believe that the way he is now has anything to do with how he really, genuinely, truly is. Because... despite the fact that he's finally stopped pretending, I think I've seldom seen him further from his true self.

Akechi spreads his arms, then leans back. The red tendrils that sprouted when he summoned his Call of Chaos power begin rising again and from his throat escapes a guttural laugh.

"Come—Loki!"