Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 130

It had already been late at the time, past any hour of commotion. Goro had intended to just head home for the day. After all, the most he could do at this point was wait everything out. The exploration of the Palace went without a hitch. Or at least he wasn’t aware of any obstacles anyways. So it was mainly up to playing the waiting game now with plenty of time to spare. It gave him time at least to go through the plan one more time in his mind, just in case, and tweak it. He had just had a conversation about the approach and there were no protests whatsoever. There were only a few preparations ahead in advance he had to clear up. But even then inconveniences would show themselves, whether he liked it or not. Said inconvenience had not been related to the thieves at least… And it had all started with him spotting them out in the open.

This ‘them’ in question was none other than Lukanja. He had expected them to have left the facilities already, given how he had seen them storming out. At that time he had decided to not follow as they had looked rather heated, a state where it would be impossible to reason with them or squeeze any answer out. They probably needed some time to cool off from whatever this was. He was only mildly curious, no big deal. Though he was curious alone what had been on their mind… That was already enough to stir some inner turmoil. But he also had been reminding himself of their shared deal. 

“It’s simple, really. All you have to do is play along and pretend in front of everyone and stay close. Just in case you might slip up. I don’t need another inconvenience.”

“Alright… Fine. I won’t say a word and you won’t either. You better keep it.”

“I wouldn’t even think about it.”

Right, he was safe. They gave him their word. And he was also giving them his word. Though to be honest he had no intention to dispose of them to begin with. Not after having learned the harsh truth that he couldn’t get himself to do it, even when given the perfect chance. The reasons why are not important, at least not at the moment. He just knew that he couldn’t and honestly wouldn’t do it, not to them anyways. After all, there was a reason why he promised to ‘keep a close eye on them’. 

In any case, he was not going to look past this either, not when seeing them sit on a bench out in the cold. By this time it had gotten dark outside, even if it wasn’t that late. At that point it was early evening at most. And yet they just sat there in one of the benches in the dark, staring up at the sky, as if lost in thought. Though moments later they were tilting their head downwards, facing the ground. Something wasn’t right here. Then again anyone could tell. 

They hadn’t noticed him so Goro was technically having no obligation to help them out. Right, no obligation… That didn’t mean that he didn’t want to. It was still a weird feeling deep down, he had to admit. Or better put, it was a little unusual to him. It was a new experience in some shape or form. He didn’t quite understand it himself but there was no time to think too much about it either.

In the end he walked over to them and tried getting their attention with the following question: “You haven’t gone home yet?”

This made their head lift itself up in one swoop, their gazes meeting. Though it would not stay this quiet for long as they soon found themself nearly flinching in their position, as if caught off guard. “Huh!? Akechi–Kun!? When did you—” They were about to ask yet he admittedly cut them off shortly.

“I just happened to see you here.” He responded as he had walked up to them by now, standing in front of them. “Something’s on your mind, isn’t it?”