2025-12-21: To Be Understood
- Log: 2025-12-21 To Be Understood
- Cast: Ren Amamiya, Goro Akechi
- Where: Cafe Leblanc, Yongen-Jaya, Tokyo; Akechi Detective Agency, Narumi Sunspot Manor, 22-1B, in Sumaru
- OOC Date: December 21, 2025
- IC Date: Wed, Aug 29, 2012 (late night/early morning)
- Summary: After their fight in Mementos, Ren calls Akechi to talk things out. This conversation takes on a decidedly more tender tone than the one earlier in the night.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
By the time Ren returns to Leblanc for the second time that night, it's very late. They're lucky; they caught the last train to Yongen-Jaya just in time, sparing themself a long, long walk. They grab another change of clothes and head to the bathhouse for their nightly bath; they come back and lock up behind themselves; they settle in for the night with Morgana and fall asleep.
...For a while, anyway. A couple hours later, they wake up after odd dreams and stare out their dark window at the starless night sky.
Then, careful not to wake Morgana, they slip their smartphone off the shelves next to their bed and call Akechi's number, wondering if he'll pick up this late at night.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Fvck the Stars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m859x-LHFRY
An empty apartment.
Certainly, there are decorations- book shelves filled with academic tones and mystery novels, jazz memorabilia, an old record player. A coffee table with several books for 'conversation pieces' for conversations that have never been had, nor likely to come.
But it's all so sterile. Like even dust would not touch the corners of it's shelves, hidden away. A small refrigerator opens, and several konbini items are deposited.
Food for the next few days.
A bar hangs upon the wall, out of view of the front door. He stops there, taking off his jacket to hang on the door, loosening the knot of his tie and putting it over the hook. Then reaches up and grabs ahold.
"Hnf-hnff-hngh-" One, two, three, he might have said, pulling his chin over it each time. "-nnnnf-nngh-fuck!"
His right arm still hurts too much, that on the sixth, he comes down, massaging it.
No visible wounds. Which is why it's always the best judge of whether his capabilities will be affected or not.
Into the restroom he goes, taking off his shirt, and turning on the sink- right as his phone begins to ring. A little startled by that ringtone. He stares at it, like he doesn't dare to hope.
Then, he turns off the faucet, and hits the speaker phone setting.
"Hello? Amamiya-kun?" Picking up his phone, he walks into the other room close to the window, to look outside as he talks.
The light pollution of Sumaru floods the sky so much, that he can only pick up a single star, despite the mountains in the distance.
He doesn't say another word, just the two. Despite usually being so quick to offer more.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren looks around at their own room as they wait and listen to their phone try to connect. They've collected a few memorabilia and souvenirs since they started staying in Tokyo, which hang out either on the shelves or on top of their desk; they got a TV and a retro game console, they continue to take care of the houseplant they inherited when they moved in. It's a room that's developing life over time.
Dust always insists on crowding into its corners, though. It never seems to matter how often Ren cleans it. (Or "Becky," but let's be honest, she spends most of her time when she comes by being absolutely laid out exhausted on the bed. Ren genuinely feels sorry for her.)
They don't really know if Akechi will pick up. It doesn't even have to be because of... well, everything. Maybe he's working. Hell, maybe he's sleeping. It is late. Whether he's home or not is irrelevant when it comes to a smartphone, but...
That thought disconnects the instant the phone connects. Ren sucks in a little breath at the sound of Akechi's voice.
"Hi," they reply quietly, pulling their phone closer to their face. They roll their head to look back out the window. They're not as exhausted now as they were when they got home, but their body remains sore after their fight from earlier. Of course, they aren't trying to do pull-ups either, but a Mudo isn't really the same as a gunshot wound. "Um... I wanted to talk." They pause. "...If that's okay. I know it's late."
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
Turning around from the view, he sits on the window sill, placing his phone down on a nearby end table. "It's no trouble. I only just got home from working late." It's not even him covering with a half-truth. It is the truth.
He only just arrived at his apartment in the Narumi Ward. "What's on your mind?"
His bedroom is devoid of most personal touches now that he's looking away from the window. Not a single picture of his Mother survived. It's as if her presence had simply been erased from the world by her death.
Even the collection of Detective Novels he read - her records. All gone. He replaced them, but they aren't hers.
Part of him doesn't even consider them his.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
It's so different, talking to him like this, Ren reflects. Maybe it's part of a game, the both of them pretending they don't already know who the other really is--that they weren't just beating the shit out of each other a few hours ago. But Akechi even sounds gentle right now.
It's so different. And yet it's still him.
Maybe that's why Ren can't just cut him off. Why they can't ever bring themself to want to.
"About the other day... I'm sorry," they murmur. "For flaking on you. At the planetarium, I mean." As if they really need to specify. "It was a really nice set-up, but I... wasn't in a good headspace that day."
They stop there, wondering if he'll press. Wondering if they want him to.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"..."
Akechi doesn't say anything as Ren apologizes. He's wholly quiet. Just listening to him say that all he wishes to, and only then does he break the silence.
"... It's alright. You obviously weren't in a good state at the time. And while I wondered if it was something that I said at first, I realized- it wasn't. Or if it was that- it wasn't truly because of me, just the words reminding you of... something else."
This would usually be the part where he sounded smug, about his deductions, about reading Ren Amamiya like that.
He doesn't, though. Just a little matter of fact, detailing why he isn't so upset about that.
Even if he... actually was some at the time. Right now though he sounds more relaxed.
"Is it something you want to talk about? There's no problem if you'd prefer to discuss something else. I just... like talking with you."
He admits.
"I always end up talking more than usual, when it's with you."
Despite their argument over him never shutting up earlier. How annoying he can be. That part... it really does sound earnest.
Whether he says the wrong thing, the right thing. Whether it's competition - or in argument - or anything at all...
... he enjoys talking with him.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"...ha. Yeah. I guess you see right through me."
The delivery is gloomy. It's... uncomfortable to be seen, particularly by the detective who opposes their secret heists. Particularly by someone who Ren keeps wondering if he'll lose interest if they're too boring.
But although Akechi may see through them, he... isn't annoying about it. In fact, he's even earnest--admitting that he just likes talking to them.
'I always end up talking more than usual, when it's with you.'
Ren feels their face heat. It sounds suspiciously like a love confession, and they'd be lying if they claimed they were unaffected by it. Their thoughts wander for a moment through their various interactions through the past months... how often Akechi flirts with them, even after knowing he has no chance. Even after establishing they have no chance. About his past, and how he's struggled to achieve the respect he has now. About his family--how he's mentioned his mother, but never his father. How those two girls gossiping about it seemed to upset him.
Maybe telling him is a stupid idea.
"Um..."
Ren slips their fingers up to the edge of the windowsill above their head, debating how much to say. How much would make them annoying instead.
"...how much do you already know about me, Akechi? About... my background. Where I grew up. Where I used to go to school." They pause. "...Who my family is. Stuff like that."
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"Mmm. Well that's not the way I'd put it..." Akechi replies, after a moment's consideration of his words. "... You do try make it difficult sometimes, but- I'd say instead that I try to see you."
He knows what the idiom means of course. It hardly matters. What's worse than being looked down upon by everyone around you?
Being invisible.
But Ren begins, and asks a question. "... I won't insult you by claiming I haven't. I know that you lived in the city of Inaba, an old Mining Town. That your father is the Mayor. That you went to Yasogami High School."
He relates to him, "And that you were rather into figure skating, before you came to Tokyo."
Yes, he knows quite a lot about who Ren Amamiya was in theory. Context without personalization or emotion. "... I wasn't going to bring it up unless you decided to say on your own."
But since he asks, he won't try to lie to him and say he hasn't looked into it.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Ren is quiet for a moment when Akechi claims he tries not to see through them, but to see them.
Being invisible...
Yeah. It is terrible.
They shake their head a little and wait for Akechi's answer. They're not surprised to hear that he knows all that about them--even if the reminder about their figure skating makes them dig their slightly-long nails (painted black again) into the windowsill.
"Better not to let a suspect know you did a background check on him, huh?" they joke half-heartedly. "Well... that saves some time, I guess."
They pause as they stare up at the ceiling. It's robed in shadow--nothing to see. "...So... recently I learned something about my admission to Shujin that has me freaked out." No need to explain it; Akechi was there for it, even if he didn't make his presence known until afterwards. "I tried to ask my dad about it, but he blew me off. My mom too, after. Waste of time. She always takes his side. Basically they said it wasn't important and I should just--" They sigh. "Shut up and behave myself. The same thing they usually tell me, really."
They scrape a nail along the edge of the sill. It doesn't accomplish anything; it's just for the feel of it. "This might be annoying, but... I don't think they want me. I talk back, I don't fall in line. That's why they agreed to have me sent all the way out here. They get to act like they lived up to their duties as my parents while keeping the embarrassment to the family far, far away. If I died out here, they'd probably be relieved. Now they don't have to pretend to care about the disappointment anymore. Just tidy up with a simple funeral and move on.
"And I guess that's fine. I don't really like them either. I only called because this thing I learned was that important to me. I guess... it's just tough to be reminded that I'm not important to them."
Ren falls silent; they let their hand slip back down to the bed. Then:
"Sorry. That must be really annoying to you," they murmur. "Wah, wah, Amamiya's sad his parents don't love him enough. Whatever, right? It's stupid."
At least I have parents, Ren doesn't say, but imagines Akechi might be thinking.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"I don't make a habit of it." In regards to telling suspects about background checks, "I suppose this is an exception." The softest kind of tease in the tone, before it falls off again.
To let him speak...
"Ah." Akechi answers, one syllable. Suddenly all the pieces fit together. He has all the answers here. A shame... that he can't just...
... but he can listen. "I see." He says, to what his parents said. Listening to what he has to say on the matter. The thoughts he has...
... they're all thoughts he has had before, of people at some point in his life.
He steps away from the window sill. "On the contrary... it's not exactly an unfamiliar situation to me." He says while looking around his room. As if he might find some sign of his Mother.
Knowing- knowing he will not. Even the pull-up bar just outside his room looks like it could be the leaky old pipe she hung herself from, if it were just a little more crooked.
"You already know that I lost my Mother. At first- I was passed to relatives in her home prefecture. She grew up in a rural town herself."
A pause.
"After I arrived... they always treated me like an unwelcome guest. They resented her- and me, for the inconvenience. I wouldn't stay quiet when they demanded I be. I wasn't polite enough for their tastes. I didn't 'behave' in my first school. My mother and them had... bad blood, for her not meeting their expectations in the first place."
A pause.
"... Children are meant only to be extensions of their parent in the eyes of adults... exploited through a distorted concept of 'Filial Piety."
Perhaps he's worse off, but he's not treating it as a competition right now at least.
"Eventually they gave me up as well... to foster care. Because they were still alive - their familial rights would prevent any chance for me to ever be adopted."
He sits down on the side of his made bed, with a creak in the springs. His phone still on the end table. "It's always difficult to discover that you're only an inconvenience to those who are supposed to care about you." He concludes, quietly, "It's the most natural thing for someone to find upsetting."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"You sure you should make exceptions like that for me, Detective? If you keep that up, people will think--"
you have a crush on me, Ren stops themself from saying just in time. It's a little too real to land as the joke it was meant to be.
"...Never mind. Who cares what they think," they conclude instead.
Akechi doesn't tell them they're annoying, though. He commiserates instead. "...Yeah?" Ren quietly prompts--though it's hardly needed. They do know he lost his mother--it's not something they've explicitly discussed, per se, but Ren's heard enough to be able to read between the lines. They make a soft noise of acknowledgement, and listen as he describes how he was passed around to family members who resented his presence because of bad blood with his mother--because of his own inability (refusal?) to behave well enough for their tastes. Ren remembers what Akechi's told them before about how strangers assumed he was a thief because he was an orphan, how they'd pick fights with him even though he was just a kid.
Now he's grown up into someone who gets off on fighting. That's true whether he's the Black Mask or not. Go figure.
Ren blinks when Akechi explains about familial rights preventing his adoption. That's something they've never heard of before, and it silently shocks them. His family didn't want him and sent him off to foster care, but even though they actively gave him up, he couldn't (can't) be adopted because they're still around? That's horrible--and deeply unfair.
But Akechi knows that already, of course. Ren listens to the creak of his bedsprings on the other side of the line and briefly imagines him getting into bed. Knowing it's a weird thing to wonder, they wonder what kind of bed clothes he wears. Just for a moment. Then they smile ironically as their eyelashes flutter to half-mast.
It's unsettling to be understood this well. But it's also comforting.
"...Yeah," Ren murmurs. "It wouldn't be so bad if society didn't keep trying to sell a myth of unconditional parental love. Then again, I guess that makes it easier to convince kids they're the ones who're wrong for--what you just said." They gesture emptily into the night air, then sigh. "I just don't understand why people have kids in the first place if they're not prepared to accept them for who they grow up to be."
For a moment, there's silence. It might seem like Ren is leaving it at that. Then they breathe in as if to say something else--pause again--but make up their mind.
"...Hey, Akechi? I feel like I've heard a lot about your mom, but... nothing about your dad. Is it okay if I...?"
They trail off for a moment, then add, "But it's fine if you don't want to."
He's given them that courtesy to refuse to talk about it. It's only fair they give it back.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"I'm quite certain." He replies to Ren in a lighter tone, "A detective always has to trust their gut, you understand."
Not everything has to be based on some logic - or reason. If it were, he would have killed Ren Amamiya long ago.
Akechi commiserates with Ren, because - he wants him to know his complaints are valid. And perhaps because - while it lets Ren know he's not alone, but also because...
... it makes him feel less alone.
It's all deeply unfair, this world. Twisted and distorted.
"... Yes." His eyes look towards the window again, so he doesn't glance at the pull up bar right now. He believes his Mother's love was unconditional, on most nights. She wasn't perfect, but she did try.
"It wouldn't."
But he knows parental love is the furthest thing from unconditional. Shido wouldn't even offer it conditionally. He didn't want Akechi at all.
He was an inconvenience, a nuisance - worse yet, a liability. If Shido found out who he was tomorrow, he'd still consider him that.
But the man doesn't even remember his mother's existence, he's sure of it.
"I suppose it's because it's what's expected of them as well by their own parents. Ready or not- all it takes is one night together, to force the issue. These things just get passed down... generation after generation."
How many horrible generations of toxicity stewing created Goro Akechi? He wish he could definitively say it was many - but he only knows for certain it was two.
And his Mother...
... his Mother wasn't a horrible person. She didn't deserve to be saddled with him.
Ren however, asks a certain question, and Akechi's fingers flex on the side of the bed without thought, a soft creak. A few seconds pass in silence.
"No... it's alright." He says, as he forces his fingers to relax. "I never knew him. He was some low-life that got my mother pregnant with me- then swiftly discarded her when he learned she was carrying his child."
It's hard, to keep so much anger out of his voice. It's the hardest thing in the world. He hates him so much for that.
"That despair eventually led to her death." He says, quietly, without saying the precise circumstances. But enough is implied by that, isn't it?
"... I was so young when she passed, she hadn't seen fit to even tell me his name. And it was kept off my birth certificate because of how he threatened her when he found out."
He has to lie now, he can't dare to do otherwise.
"Everyone likes a good story though... my fandom started the rumor that I was trying to solve that particular mystery... that he was overseas as some diplomat, or the CEO of some company... but the fact of the matter is... there's no trail left to pursue this many years later. No clues whatsoever."
There's this, harsh, sad chuckle.
" ... All I have left of him, are my mother's words. Without even knowing it- he's denied me anything but a nebulous concept of a man to hate."
Even as a lie - the feelings within aren't precisely. These are the feelings he had before he came to his powers. An idea of a man, up in the sky - an untouchable low life.
Someone he could even get near.
Now though? Now he'll rip him down from the sky and let himself dance upon the ashes of all who are consumed in what follows.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"Oh?" Ren chuckles, low and faint but genuine. "I can respect that, then."
Not everything can be explained away with logic. Sometimes you have to let your feelings guide you, even if it might be irrational.
...Besides, Ren's very aware by now that it's Akechi's feelings that are keeping them a free X-gender--and that they might be deeper than they've given him credit for.
It's flattering, honestly.
Or maybe that feeling of not being alone is just as heady for him as it is for them. At least Ren has the friends they've made as part of The Phantoms. Akechi... Who does he have that he lets this close in?
Why them, anyway?
They don't ask that, though. Instead, they murmur, "That's sad. It doesn't have to be that way, but it keeps happening."
Ren may be sheltered in some respects thanks to their own upbringing, but they do at least have a concept of how many orphaned children there are in the world--children who could be taken into warm homes, but aren't. Parents who aren't ready to be parents, but bring children into the world anyway.
If they really didn't want those kids, all it would take is a little bit of thought and willingness to take responsibility for themselves. But no, god forbid a man put on a condom before bedding his lover. Case in point: Akechi's story. He does a good job of keeping the anger out of his voice, but the fact that he describes his father as some low-life tells Ren what his tone does not.
In the same way, Ren understands what Akechi is driving at by that despair eventually led to her death. "Akechi..." they murmur.
It must have been so hard to grow up like that--losing a mother he loved, thrust into the homes of family members who didn't want him, not even knowing the name of the father who abandoned him before he was even born. At least Ren had times during their life where they could trick themself into thinking their parents might love them after all. Akechi... doesn't sound like he's ever had the luxury of that illusion.
If Akechi did hate them for their upbringing, Ren's not sure they could blame him. They've gotten resented for that by those with more.
"That's really rough," they say quietly, turning on their side with care to not disturb Morgana. This explains those gossiping fans of his--and his reaction. "...Thank you for sharing with me. It must be hard to talk about."
For a moment, they fall silent, uncertain of what to say next. Knowing this makes a lot of puzzle pieces click together for them, too. It occurs to them to try to reassure Akechi that he's made enough of himself that who cares about his awful deadbeat dad--but considering all the critique Ren's made of living a false life, it feels wrong to tell him his TV image is what redeems him of his star-crossed childhood.
So they think instead of what this conversation means to them, and murmur, "I'm glad we had this talk. I feel like I understand you a little better now."
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
"It doesn't."
Akechi agrees. It doesn't have to be this way for him either. He could have accepted his powerlessness. Chosen never to rise above the place society allowed him.
Chosen to spend his whole life with his blood dictating who he was. Not getting into the best schools, the best colleges.
Never going into the limelight.
Never being anybody worth knowing, by anyone.
It was his choice to seize what power gave him. It was his choice to accept that he was a cursed Child.
This is all his choice.
Akechi's eyes grow distant, as Ren repeats his name, in the context of his mother. Some nights, he can't sleep for that sight of her burned in the back of his mind.
More an outline - than a person.
More time moves on, and he worries he doesn't even remember her face. Sometimes he tries to recite details, just so he can remember in some manner.
"... It is, but... it was for you too." Akechi replies, quietly, on how difficult it is.
The silence stretches on, but he doesn't... quite feel alone right now. That's nicer than he's likely to admit.
"... I feel the same way." About understanding Ren better, "And well, even guessing at it before... I'm glad to know that I didn't ruin the stars for you."
He would have hated it - if he had. And all the rational deductions in the world, can't do away with an irrational anxiety, once it takes root.
"If you want me to look into the matter with your parents... I will." He offers to Ren. "I'll understand if you don't want to investigate your own parents- or for it to be me that does it."
But he at least makes the offer.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Saying it's all your own choice is a fine way to pretend you had any control over your life, isn't it?
But it is true that it's his choice now--and theirs. The both of them have the power of Persona--a power that lets their choices mean something. And what they each choose is...
...kindness, in this moment. Ren listens to Akechi offer them understanding and compassion, and they smile a little, fondly.
They understand him a little better, but there's still so much more they don't know. Whether Akechi is himself the Black Mask or not, he's definitely connected to him somehow, and that connection is one Ren understands less and less the more Akechi treats them with genuine care.
"You could never," they reassure him of the stars, warmth in their low voice. Wistfulness creeps in as they add, "I just missed the real stars back then, that's all. The projected stars were still beautiful."
Maybe the two of them can try watching them again sometime... Ren refrains from saying that in the moment. It feels a little too tender. Instead, they wonder, "Do you have anything like that? Something that's beautiful to you?"
They pause at Akechi's offer, though. This is precisely something to use a detective contact for, but... if he really is the Black Mask, and the Black Mask is working for the New World Order that their parents might well be connected to... They take a deep breath and let it out.
"No... No, it's something I really should come to terms with for myself. But thank you." An idea sprouts in their mind, and with a breath of a laugh on their voice, they add, "There's someone else out there who'd know anyway. He only beat me half to death last time, so my odds of getting away with asking are pretty good."
...Just to plant that idea in his head too.
<Pose Tracker> Goro Akechi has posed.
It's nice to be reassured of that. It releases a grip of irrational anxiety, just a little, untangles it from around him. "I see... I'm glad that's the case."
He may not understand his passion for things like that. For Stars, for distant flickering enormous balls of gas which reflect how insignificant you truly are in the grand scheme of things.
He doesn't like to contemplate how small he really is. He's spent his whole life feeling small.
Do you have something like that? Something that's beautiful to you?
For a while, Goro Akechi is silent, as he considers the question. An outline of a woman with long hair, a starless hollow where a person once dwelled in his life. White and red petals flutter by, from a memory that's long since lost all context to him.
Just the wind - just flower petals.
But in that... there is something more. The scratch of an old fashioned needle upon a record, the euphonious chaos of improvisation. "Well, if I'd had to say what's beautiful - there is something like that for me." He finally answers, Ren. "Perhaps I'll show you for yourself, if you'd like."
His offer, well he can't say he didn't really expect that answer, "I see. Let me know if you change your mind." He says as he leaves it out there, "Ah. If I don't miss my mark- I'm well acquainted with his kind of violence as well."
It's his form of plausible deniability that Ren is well accustomed to. Ren was beaten up. Akechi was shot. At least in this moment he can see the person he is externalized in that cognition.
"Well, I can't say that it isn't of interest to me to pursue such a lead as well. But out of respect for you- I'll abide by your wish. I have other avenues to follow anyway... such as a certain man's phone records."
Principal Kobayakawa, he means certainly.
"Unfortunately, my coworkers believe such a widespread criminal conspiracy is... delusion." Akechi confides to Ren, spreading what is in fact - true. Sae Niijima dismissed it. "There's more I could say, but it might be wisest to do so in person. ... I'll be in touch."
He promises.
After all, he has to show Ren Amamiya what he thinks is beautiful.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Something so beautiful and dear to you that it could never be defiled in your eyes, no matter what rotten person or horrible event becomes associated with it--that's what Ren means in full, going off what they said about You could never. Given Akechi's off-the-cameras cynicism, they wouldn't be surprised if he said such a thing isn't possible, at least for him. When he says there is something, then, Ren can't help but be immediately curious.
"Oh?" They smile on their side of the line. "I would."
They really want to know what he finds so beautiful that no one could ever ruin it for him.
They chuckle then, dry and ironic. That remark is definitely on-brand for Akechi, but-- "You sure are." --Ren can be plausibly deniable too. If this is the way Akechi insists on playing their game (on playing all his games, perhaps), maybe they just need to lean into it more.
That said, they do wonder for a moment how it would go if they did ask Akechi to pursue the Black Mask with them... but no. They'd probably end up in Kobayakawa's Palace again, and that just won't work. On which note, they'll have to think of where and how they can lure him out... If he isn't Akechi, the odds are against them that they can manage it.
"Mm," Ren murmurs, tone turning a touch gloomy at the talk of delusion. "Well... let's both look into it in our own ways, then. And... we can talk about it in person next time."
They smile again. A topic like this, over whatever it is Akechi holds beautiful... that might be fun in its own way, too.
"'Til then... Let's get some rest. Good night, Akechi." They pause a beat. "And... thank you."
They let him come to his own conclusions for what.