FeMC Scenarios [Persona 5 Royal]

GORO AKECHI [Romance Route | 1/2 Final Choice]

[Quick A/N] So, first of all, this chapter has a non-canon (for this story's universe) rejection choice in it, even though I said neither Akechi nor Maruki would get the rejection option written for them. But the path it leads to here isn't long and I wanted to explore it for... reasons.

And second, it might have gotten a little more... heated than any of the previous ones, towards the end, and going forward, others may as well.

Don't worry, nothing actually happens and it's still all T-rated. Just... More than would ever happen in any of these games, so I thought I should mention it.

But since I'm already going canon-divergent I kind of just rolled with it and personally, I think it was absolutely worth it.

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"Ooh, does anybody want dessert with their coffee? I'll go pick it up, my treat."

"Oh, how kind. Thank you," Wakaba replies to her daughter with a smile.

"All right!" Futaba stands and gives a big grin. "I shall return!"

"Be careful," Sojiro eyes her and Futaba gives a thumbs up before she skips out the café door.

I'm unable to move. I just clutch the counter and try to sit as still as I can, watching Sojiro, Wakaba, and... Morgana, assembled around one of Leblanc's café tables, looking after Futaba, then laughing and joking around, as though this is all entirely normal.

But... Morgana—I take in the young man with the bluish-black hair—he's supposed to be a cat. And Wakaba... I stare at her profile, trying to be as subtle as I can. She... shouldn't be here with us. And I don't mean that in any derogatory way, not even remotely.

"What's the matter, Rin-san?" asks Wakaba then and I have a hard time not wincing back. Apparently, she did notice me staring.

I don't reply, but... really, everything is the matter. Quite literally. I mean—a day that started with waking up in your bed next to a strange boy who later turned out to be your cat who, via unexplainable means, turned into a human, and then finding your friend's dead mother alive and well, having breakfast downstairs—I'm either having a stroke, or a really strange, layered dream. All that's left is to see just how much stranger this day can get.

Right now, I'm having a hard time not standing and running out the door, here and now. It would be kind of rude, but also, I feel like screaming into a paper bag for a couple minutes, and I can't exactly do that in public.

But before I can indulge in thoughts of the sort any longer, the bell indicating someone's entered the café chimes. I look up out of habit and my heart stops. Then skips, then begins racing as though I've run all the way from here to Shujin on foot.

I think part of me was trying to tell myself he was some kind of fever dream apparition, on Christmas Eve. Akechi stands there, in the doorframe, taking in the scene for a heartbeat longer than normal. Then he leans back and taps his chin with one finger, in an awfully familiar fashion. My heart leaps again.

"Sorry... we haven't opened for the day yet," says Sojiro and my head whips around to him. Whatever is going on... that didn't sound like he recognized Akechi at all. But Akechi himself is...

"My apologies," he smiles and gives Sojiro that inconspicuous smile I know so well. "I merely wished to speak with Amamiya-san for a moment."

My head is spinning and I'm unable to move. Not just because he is here—he, whom I thought I wouldn't ever see again, twice now. I have so many things to say to Akechi I feel as though they're cramming up the inside of my skull and will soon burst out if I don't express them, but also... the way he said that... is he...?