Persona 5 Royal AU The Good Route

Chapter 55 - Akechi's Deal and Revealing the Truth to Sojiro

The next day at school, it was the day of the panel. I stood away with the others so we could hear.

"Well then, we will now begin today's panel. Our guest of honor is Goro Akechi." Makoto said.

"I feel kind of bad, considering how many people have gathered..." Akechi said. "I'm sure you all would've have been happier to have a singer, or a mascot appear, wouldn't you say?"

Everyone in the crowd cheers.

"We'd appreciate it if you could tell us about your experiences with the notorious Phantom Thieves." Makoto said.

We all listened intently, and Ann was worried about how much knew. Makoto continued to ask a few questions. Suddenly, one comment caught our attention, about when he said if the Phantom Thieves were the ones he knew of, that they weren't the ones who would commit murder.

'He knows.' I thought. 'I know he does.'

When he was about to reveal who we were, his phone went off and he said something to her and then we all met up in the PE faculty office.

"What do you want to talk about?" Makoto said.

Akechi took out three photos and set them down. It was proof of us coming out of the metaverse. We all froze seeing he had this evidence.

"No..." Haru said shocked.

"That's gotta be 'shopped!" Ryuji stated in shock.

"I have video footage too." he said. "Please, let's not feign ignorance. All of you can go to that other world too, yes?"

"Us too?" I say acting confused.

"It's not just all of you. I'm aware of that world too..." he said. "I also know that when you traverse over there, your appearance changes as well."

He showed us his phone saying he had gotten the Nav about a month ago. And he believed us when he said we weren't the murderers.

"Ren, might I inquire about those markings on you?" Akechi asked.

"They're burns from a few shadows. I just happened to imagine how they'd look in the Metaverse." I said.

"I heard a loud howl though before seeing the true culprit. Was that you?" he asked.

His curiosity was genuine so he wasn't aware about Shadeon's powers. This was good for me.

"No." I said.

"Hmm, I see." Akechi said seeming to get lost in thought. "Well whatever it was probably died in the explosion."

When he told us about how he awoke to a power as well. Morgana spoke.

"This guy has a persona too?" he said.

"This cat..." Akechi said looking shocked. "I swear it just talked..."

'That is the crappiest acting on that note. Shadeon, you can take a break, I have a feeling he'll ask a request of us.' I thought.

"Of course Ren, I'll be watching from the sidelines. But please remember to eat desire petals for me in secret so he won't notice." Shadeon said in my head.

'Have a good rest Shadeon when the time comes when we make a decision, I'll let you know.' I thought.

"Then I will still respond when you call me for now." he replied.

Akechi asked for our help in exchange for disbanding the Phantom Thieves. The feeling I'm getting that this is a set up is even stronger than ever. He'll await our answer for another day, we all decided the panel will have to end for now. Everyone but Morgana and I left the room.