You Were The Path I Chose | A Goro Akechi Romance

#1/2 Part #3: Our Game

... In which Akechi and I, together with Kasumi, explore the strange Palace that has manifested outside the Metaverse, to investigate the new and terrifying threat to the very fabric of our reality . . . and just how far Akechi is willing to go to dissuade me from pursuing him.

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It takes far too long, and not nearly long enough at the same time, to get to Odaiba—not least because Akechi doesn't speak for the entire trip. He doesn't even look at me. If I claimed it didn't hurt, I would be lying.

But I would also be lying if I claimed it surprised me—even now. If you had thought this through better . . . you'd know that there is nothing I can offer you besides more heartache. The words have ingrained themselves in my mind; they sink in slowly like stones, heavy and noticeable in the pit of my stomach.

Nothing besides more heartache. I inadvertently raise a hand to brush it against my still-prickling lips. It is true that he has given me heartache . . . so much heartache. I look ahead at him—walking with the same confidence as always—and, for the first time, wonder if I may have given him equally as much heartache in return. If I hadn't insisted on deepening our bond and pursued him with as much determination as I did—if I hadn't given him reasons to get attached to me—could I have spared the both of us from pain?

I think about the way he looked at me in the laundry. The way he said "believing". Maybe, in that sense, my belief really was the bane of his existence. It is only then that I fully understand that both of us suffered considerably for simply . . . getting attached to each other. Because we weren't meant to, whispers a voice in my head. Because we were meant to be adversaries, pitted against each other in some stupid bet between a couple of self-important gods who didn't seem to have anything better to do. Because we were meant to be . . . each other's ruin.

. . . What exactly would we unleash if we chose to be anything else?

I suddenly regret having skipped over everything that Igor revealed earlier for the sake of brevity. I want to tell Akechi, to ask him about his own pain. So badly that I almost do—catch up and grab his sleeve, pull him to the side, and speak—but I don't want to keep Kasumi waiting much longer.

Someday, I will ask. I stuff my hands into my pockets instead. And when I do, I will also tell him that, while we have given each other heartache, we could . . . we already have given each other so much more. He's given me so much more, I think with conviction, just as I spot the outskirts of the construction site in the distance and smile.

Yet as soon as I look closer, my smile falls, to be replaced by an anxious frown . . . because it's not just the construction site that I see.

"Amamiya-senpai!" A cheerful voice diverts my attention away from the glowing, transparent dome of the palace over our heads. I spin around and see Kasumi running in my direction. "Senpai!" She huffs, coming to a halt in front of me. Then she spots that I'm not alone. "And . . . Akechi-san?"

"We just happened to be together when she got your call," he says, and I swallow. If Kasumi knew what we were actually doing, that took us so long . . .

Akechi is more occupied with the faint structures above us than anything. "First, I end up in that fantasy with a human cat and a dead woman walking," he says. "And now a Palace appears . . . Intriguing." He speaks the word like he actually meant to say something else—far less pleasant.

"Akechi-san . . ." Kasumi tilts her head, and I brace myself for awkward questions regarding human cats and dead women. ". . . You know about Palaces?" she asks instead, and I breathe out in relief.