You Were The Path I Chose | A Goro Akechi Romance

#1/11-12 Part #1: A Mission Start

... In which Akechi and the Phantom Thieves meet with Lavenza, and begin their joint mission to steal Takuto Maruki's heart. Yet joining forces unearths unresolved feelings that might not be so easy to overcome.

Countdown start . . . T-21 days

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Although we've decided our path, the upcoming days prove to be much more straining than I anticipated. At least the meeting with Lavenza goes surprisingly well. We agreed to not concern Sumire just yet—she told me that she needs time and we can fill her in on the situation once she's come to terms with her own.

For a while, I was concerned that Akechi might not make it, but then he strode in, poised as ever. As long as you maintain an air of confidence, you can fool just about anybody into thinking you belong.

Those words have not left me since he uttered them—in that strangely detached tone that has become almost characteristic of this new facade that he's chosen to wear in public now. I'm aware that, with those words, Akechi meant to and succeeded in breaking the tension, yet all that I could think was that this must have been the story of his life: feigning security and control in a world that has never once genuinely given him either.

At least none of my friends accused him of ulterior motives anymore . . . What I said during my little outbreak must have really stuck. By this, I am somehow both relieved and a little embarrassed.

As shocking as the theory that Lavenza presented to us then is, the flood of information about Dr. Maruki is also incredibly feasible. His taking Yaldabaoth's place in Mementos, the fact that he's likely a fellow Persona user, and how our own wishes gave him power. Even the fact that he means to merge the Metaverse with the real world to make the cognition—the wishes—of the masses into the only existing reality. In the Metaverse, everything that is perceived as real becomes real . . . It is honestly plausible that if something such as altering reality were possible, it would be through those means. And once he'll have achieved it . . . there will no longer be any chance of resisting, Lavenza said. On . . . February 3rd—the deadline that Dr. Maruki gave us. I count silently . . . 22 days remain until the end of the world.

Lavenza told us all that we wanted to know. So, my main concern by the end was how to make it so that she, Akechi, and I could talk after my friends left. Unfortunately, she vanished before I could suggest anything.

If that concludes matters—I shall continue to watch over you, Trickster. Please show me the path that you choose for humanity.

Those words—her last to me before she disappeared—sit like heavy rocks in the pit of my stomach, making me almost gag every time I recall them. There's the unearned, unwanted, almost revolting load of responsibility they hold . . . The reminder that I'm considered and treated as more special than any of my friends, even though we saved the world together and therefore should also carry the burden of this choice together. There are also the admiring and trusting gazes that followed, indicating that—no matter how much I despise it—my friends share this belief. And . . . there's the one pair of eyes that did not fit with the others, reminding me that there is someone who disagrees. Who sees through it all.

Yet . . . I force myself to acknowledge that the look Akechi then gave me didn't just serve as a reminder that he doesn't share in everyone's unwarranted glorification of me. For one moment, there was . . . Whenever you falter, just think that you can't lose as long as I keep doing it. Those are the roles we were assigned . . . If we choose to follow them anyway.

Back when Akechi first uttered them, right after our duel, the words confused me greatly. Yet now, all I can think about is Yaldabaoth's and Igor's bet and whether a part of him sensed it all along. Whether that's the true reason why he could ever look at me with something so closely resembling . . . hatred. Back after our duel, and then again . . . in that nurse's office, following Lavenza's declaration.