Real & the Ideal: A Persona 5R Dark Sun Sequel (Goro Akechi x Amamiya Ren)

20: A Figment of I Do

(Akechi's P.O.V)

I felt my mind click off. Like the flick of a switch - I was asleep. I was at peace...

I was calm.

But within the blink of an eye, I was awake again.

"Your move."

My consciousness slowly adjusted to my awakening. I was in a dimly lit room, sitting in a cushy booth seat with a table infront of me. The smell of strong, dark coffee wafted through the air, and a soft, upbeat jazz song was playing over the facility speakers.

'Dark Sun...whenever you rise...day turns to night....'

I felt a familiar tug in my heart. It sounded like a cover of something I'd heard before...

"Akechi?"

I had barely registered the man infront of me until he spoke for a second time. My eyes looked up to meet his.

It was Ren.

"Ah---huh?"

My head still felt groggy. But slowly, I was beginning to piece together my situation. I was in Cafe Leblanc, Sojiro Sakura's family owned business. In the corner of my eye, I could make out his light pink dress shirt moving about as he completed errands behind the bar.

"It's your move. I just went."

Ren was staring at me with a furrowed brow and a pout. When I finally focused on him once again, the very sight of him made my mouth run dry.

He looked....older..

"I have to leave for work soon. You better not be stalling on purpose."

Amamiya was wearing a black dress shirt and a dark red tie. I could see his knee sticking out from under the booth table - he wore grey, pinstripe pants as well, with black dress shoes.

Work?

...does that mean..I'm in the future?

I gazed down at the items infront of us. A chess board, with black and white carved pieces, stood scattered on the table. The pieces were setup for a match.

My heart leapt in my chest. My favourite game.

Instantly my mindset targeted the game at hand. I scanned the moves that had been made so far, re-adjusting to this new competition.

Ren had moved his white pawn third from the left, up one space. In turn, I had moved my fourth pawn from the left, up one space - which, now that I looked, allowed me to move my Queen diagonal across the board, to two spaces across from Ren's farthest left pawn.

.....that was it.

"We play this game so often, it amazes me that you take so long to get any better..." I was speaking without thinking, as if my unconscious had been trapped in his exact moment for years, and had come to the forefront in my aid. I lazily reached my left arm over and plucked my Queen from her spot, then diagonally shifted her to sit infront of Ren's pawn.

Now, I just had to sit, and wait.

"I've been trying to practice with Yusuke and Ryuji...but they hardly even know how to play, really." Ren muttered quietly with a sigh. I couldn't help it as I belted out a laugh.

They couldn't help him. Not at all.

"That's who your teachers are? Ryuji? Yusuke? Even if they could merge their IQ's together, they still wouldn't manage to win a chess match..."