You Were The Path I Chose | A Goro Akechi Romance

#RANK 5: Gunplay

... In which Akechi asks me to play a shooter game at an arcade and finally opens up about his past, including a very special childhood wish. Meanwhile, I have to decide how much I genuinely care about seeing him and how far I'd go to be able to keep doing it.

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"So . . . for how long do you guys think Futaba's gonna sleep?" Ann scoots back and forth on the decently uncomfortable-looking bench.

I feel like dropping my head on the table in front of me. We've only just stolen Futaba's treasure yesterday, and my friends are already antsy . . . Honestly, I long to focus on other things now that we've done everything we can. A break from the Metaverse and all its stresses is the only thing I really crave right now. Well, that and some nice, cool ice cream, maybe.

Instead, I close the Phan-site and put my phone down to eye them all—the messy ragtag gang of teens who are somehow also the glorious Phantom Thieves—sprawled out around the improvised table in my attic loft. It's not a bad hideout, but I can't help feeling something is missing—maybe a nice, big poster.

"For how long can you even sleep?" Ryuji on my left exclaims. "Hm . . . maybe that's somethin' worth trying out . . ."

"Um . . . I don't think you should do that." Makoto gives him a side glance. "But I concur that we should not lose our heads. There is nothing else we can do for Futaba at the moment. I suggest we start prioritizing other things again, at least for the time being."

"If you say 'school things' now, I'm gonna jump out of that window." Ryuji groans and gestures behind himself, at the window by my bed, beyond which the seasonal torrential rain is seemingly trying to drown the world.

"You can only be a great Phantom Thief if you don't fail your classes first." Morgana leaps from Ann's bench onto the table.

"We're on break! School doesn't exist right now, as far as I'm concerned," Ryuji exclaims. and I could have sworn Ann rolls her eyes when he's not looking.

Morgana doesn't even bother acknowledging his words. "Either way, Makoto's right. What's done is done. All we can do now is wait."

"Rin, do you happen to know if boss has more of this curry? It is delicious . . ." Yusuke, who's so far been completely engrossed in a takeout box with curry that Sojiro claimed was leftover from yesterday, speaks up where he sits across from me.

I smile and shrug. For how often Sojiro's been giving Yusuke random "leftovers" recently, I have begun to wonder if he really has that much food to spare or if he isn't just trying to compulsively feed everyone who may require it.

"Go ask him, man." Ryuji leans back and plants his feet on the table with a satisfied sigh. Both Makoto and Ann jerk back, and Morgana has to dodge out of the way.

"Watch it!" he hisses, and I giggle.

Ryuji doesn't let the reactions faze him. "Hey, so . . . if we can't do nothin' anymore, does that mean we get to do whatever we want? Like, uh, fun stuff?" He waves his hands around and nearly causes his chair to tip backward.

I automatically stop rocking my own, as I realize I've been doing, and watch Ryuji yelp as he falls forward onto the table.

"What 'fun stuff' did you have in mind?" Yusuke finally puts his now-empty curry box aside. "There are a few places I've been meaning to visit myself . . ." His gaze drifts off into the distance. "Some things you simply cannot draw without genuinely immersing yourself in them."

"Dude, who's talkin' about drawing?" Ryuji's finally stabilized himself and glares at Yusuke, who I think doesn't even notice. "I mean fun stuff, like amusement parks or arcades, that stuff, y'know?"