Chapter Text
In his pocket, Akira’s notebook was a comforting weight. It reminded him that what he knew to be real was real, and what he knew to be the future was only a possibility.
“You’re quitting the program?” his advisor asked. “Takuto, this is a shock. You’ve worked so hard. Your fiance-”
“My research into cognitive psience is still important to me,” Takuto assured. “But something else has become my calling.”
“You've been so focused. But I suppose…”
The meeting was easier than he thought it would be. As it finished, he stood, slipping from the office with a certainty he’d never known could exist. Suddenly, Akira’s sure steps and knowledge made a lot more sense.
He knew what he needed to do- or at least, he knew that what he was needed for was not here, and so there wasn’t a need for him to be here. He would finish off enough of his degree to resume counselor work, the most likely thing to put him in touch with who he needed.
And… well, as long as he had the keys, he would probably restart, though he didn’t like that idea.
Takuto slipped his phone from his pocket, smiling at the text from Rumi.
“Pick up convini dinners on the way home?” Rumi asked. “I want pizza buns.”
God, it was so good to get those messages and hear her voice and know she was there. Her parents were alive and well. No burglary had taken them, and especially nothing she walked in on. Takuto still wasn’t sure how he’d managed that with such smooth intervention.
It hadn’t been Azathoth, which had been his first plan- he had yet to hear from his persona, though he was getting migraines once again. Takuto was getting just a little… concerned, though.
He wasn’t sure how much time he had.
But right now, he had to get pizza buns for Rumi, and that was both easy and worth focusing on. The convenience store closest to their apartment was a small one, but still packed with all the things they liked, and a boon on days like this. It wasn’t a boon for their pocket-books, and Takuto knew he’d purchased too much as he entered his apartment and emptied his bag.
Rumi peaked out from the bedroom, smiling warmly and waving. “Hey! I’m almost done and then we can eat,” she said. “I thought you’d be a bit longer. Did it go okay?”
“As good as quitting a program can go,” Takuto answered. “I didn’t give him much time to respond.”
“Well, now you can focus on finding this kid and saving the world,” Rumi said. “You've got a lot of work ahead on that.”
Takuto reached up to fix his glasses as they nearly fell. “It’s not like that!” he protested.
She giggled, and his heart squeezed in his chest.
When he’d woken years in the past next to her and broke down, when he’d told her everything, the man hadn’t been sure what the reaction might be. But she’d paused, checked his temperature, looked at the notebook and keys- and declared she’d help him figure it all out.
Or visit him daily if he was actually crazy.
That had hit so close to home. He’d lost her for so long, and here she was, so accepting and amazing.
“I don’t know how else you’d name it,” Rumi said, before returning to her laptop. “If he’s going to save the world, and you’re supposed to help him…” she shrugged, but then grinned at him.
“You have such a way of simplifying it,” Takuto said with a soft sigh.
“Someone’s got to,” Rumi answered. She smiled at him again, and he laughed as he slipped back to the main living space. God help him, he wasn’t sure what he was actually going to do to succeed.
When they ate later, the pizza buns were delicious.
As they ate, Rumi dug through public records and Takuto made notes about everything he could remember regarding Goro Akechi.
It wasn’t as much as it might seem. He’d rarely dug into the mental shut down cases, and Akira never spoke of Goro during their meetings during the year. Even when preparing Takuto (that was a joke, honestly) Akira had been tight lipped.
“But why come tell me this?”
“The game is going to begin again.”
“What?” Takuto asked, confusion evident. Akira’s gaze, that light that Takuto had found comfort in, wavered once more. But Akira swallowed and then gave a little grin, like he’d had in the Metaverse while they’d fought.
“Three years before I came to Tokyo, a denizen of the Metaverse, the God of Control, Yaldaboath, started the game. A game for all of humanity. Two sides of a coin would battle it out. One, an agent of chaos, and one, an agent of order. Tricksters, Wildcards.”
Something clicked. “You and Akechi-kun,” Takuto breathed. “That is the connection I felt. You were… you were picked? For this ‘game’?” Anger bubbled up. It was exactly why the world wasn’t fair! To pit people together, just for a ‘game’ and amusement, and-
“Yes,” Akira said. “Yaldaboath stacked the cards. He engineered it- Goro woke to his persona years before I did. He was forced… Shido forced him to awaken. A sick experiment.” Akira’s hands clenched into fists, and he took a deep breath. “But the bastard also accidentally sealed Goro’s potential to be a Wildcard away.”
“Wildcard?” Takuto asked. Part of him wished he could take notes.
“It’s… you may have noticed that I could hold multiple personae,” Akira answered. “That is my power. I can mold my own inner self to match what is needed in that moment. Yaldaboath made it so that Goro could not tap into that. He… he had to feel like there was always something wrong, something missing.”
Takuto frowned after a moment. “You and I talked about this before. The stagnation without change… that’s what happened to me. I couldn’t move on.”
He couldn’t move on because of that missing piece. And now, he needed to find Goro, before the other even lost that piece to begin with.
“I can’t find anything. Guess the kid isn’t famous yet,” Rumi said, leaning back on her hands and sighing. “That makes sense, though. You said he was only really getting fame a year before things went crazy…”
Takuto sighed as well, looking at the list in front of him. He’d actualized Goro into existence for Akira’s happiness, but didn’t know the man at all. “I should have grilled Akira about it. …But…” Would he have even been told, anyway? Probably not.
“We’ll find him, Takuto,” Rumi said with a firm nod. “I’ll stay late at work tomorrow and see if I can find any other records. A rare benefit of not quitting Maiasa, eh?” Her joke made Takuto smile, as much as he didn’t like the way her editor spoke to employees like Rumi. But she loved her job.
“I still think you could find another position somewhere else,” Takuto commented.
“Yeah, but I’m learning a lot from Ichi-san,” Rumi chirped with a wave of her hand. “Let’s put this aside and start fresh tomorrow, okay? You can sleep in for once, too!”
Takuto smiled. “...Okay, Rumi,” he agreed. “Thank you.” She laughed at him, and he wanted to melt again.