the story of goro akechi
forewarning
This story is a work of fiction.
Similarities between characters or events to persons living or dead in the game are intended.
However, this is heavily based on characterisation and should not be taken as canon.
There will also be extreme levels of spoilers for Persona 5, it is advised to turn around now if you do not wish to be spoiled.
Only those who have agreed to the above have the privilege of reading these archives.
Chapter 1 : Loss
On June 2nd, 1998, 'Goro Akechi' was born as the bastard child of Masoyoshi Shido and Hitomu Kenmei, in Taito, Tokyo, Japan.
The conditions of his birth were unfortunate, with his father leaving the scene before Akechi was even born. During her time of pregnancy, Shido had continuously attacked his mother, both mentally and physically, threatening to ruin her if she didn't get rid of him. His mother, a stubborn and determined figure, refused to be pushed around by Shido, and told him of her plans to give birth. Soon after this, he left her life, leaving her with an untold amount of stress and grief.
Hitomu Kenmei was a member of a detective agency based in Tokyo, specialised in dealing with the problems that arose in the city. Due to her pregnancy, she was forced to gradually cease activity and abandon her job. She tried her best to provide for her child during his youth, but the weight of the dishonor that came from having a bastard child, as well as the treatment that Shido had given her before he left, became too much for Hitomu to handle.
One night, while her child was sleeping in his bed, Hitomu made sure to leave a little locket on the edge of her child's cot, with a picture of herself inside, and Shido's initials on the back, in the hopes that one day, he may grow up and find his father. The detective snuck out of her house and left him behind, heading over to the Kototoi Bridge. Standing over the water that filled the Sumida River, she threw herself into the water, immediately meeting her end upon impact with the river. Her body was discovered the next morning on the riverbank. The conditions of her death were never made apparent to the child who she had left behind, who was immediately shuffled into the foster care system, the only possession that he retained being the little locket.
Chapter 2 : Lonely Beginnings
The years of his youth were not pleasant ones for Akechi. Growing up without any proper parental figure to guide him in the right direction, he was constantly thrown between different foster homes, where he was ridiculed and bullied for his looks. It was a very hard time for Akechi to endure, given that his life was entirely directionless and showed very little signs of improving. It seemed that no matter the circumstance, it was only a matter of time before he was shifted on to his next foster home, where the pattern would repeat itself.
Despite his age, Akechi was always inquisitive, taking after his mother's sharp eye. While being shuffled around by the foster care system, he had always retained the locket that his mother had left for him, and it wasn't long before the male found out about the initials on the back of the photograph within. While they didn't provide him with the answers that he seeked immediately, it was something that Akechi remembered during his youth; the initials, MS.
Due to his constant moving around, Akechi was never able to participate in any true hobbies or settle down for long periods of time. This led to a lot of time where he would sit inside, reading the books available to him and watching the news whenever he got the chance. Eventually, he would spot an upcoming political figure, his father, beginning to rally the local area to follow his cause. Connecting his name to the initials on the back of the photograph, he believed that he had found his father.
However, due to the fact that he was constantly bullied and treated badly by those who were 'taking care' of him, Akechi's attitude had devolved mainly into that of negativity and a jaded view of the world, although he did well to hide this. Feeling an extreme amount of animosity for his father whenever he saw him on the news, Akechi vowed that he would one day get revenge for Shido ruining his life before it had even properly begun. While he had no idea how he would manage to do this, it remained a motivation for him.
The years of his youth were not pleasant ones for Akechi. Growing up without any proper parental figure to guide him in the right direction, he was constantly thrown between different foster homes, where he was ridiculed and bullied for his looks. It was a very hard time for Akechi to endure, given that his life was entirely directionless and showed very little signs of improving. It seemed that no matter the circumstance, it was only a matter of time before he was shifted on to his next foster home, where the pattern would repeat itself.
Despite his age, Akechi was always inquisitive, taking after his mother's sharp eye. While being shuffled around by the foster care system, he had always retained the locket that his mother had left for him, and it wasn't long before the male found out about the initials on the back of the photograph within. While they didn't provide him with the answers that he seeked immediately, it was something that Akechi remembered during his youth; the initials, MS.
Due to his constant moving around, Akechi was never able to participate in any true hobbies or settle down for long periods of time. This led to a lot of time where he would sit inside, reading the books available to him and watching the news whenever he got the chance. Eventually, he would spot an upcoming political figure, his father, beginning to rally the local area to follow his cause. Connecting his name to the initials on the back of the photograph, he believed that he had found his father.
However, due to the fact that he was constantly bullied and treated badly by those who were 'taking care' of him, Akechi's attitude had devolved mainly into that of negativity and a jaded view of the world, although he did well to hide this. Feeling an extreme amount of animosity for his father whenever he saw him on the news, Akechi vowed that he would one day get revenge for Shido ruining his life before it had even properly begun. While he had no idea how he would manage to do this, it remained a motivation for him.
Chapter 3 : A Rough Start
After discovering about the identity of his father, Akechi was overrun with contempt and animosity towards him due to the events of the past. Because of this, Akechi wished for only one thing; revenge. While he had very little to live for, he knew that he only had one objective in life; to ruin Shido's life, much like how the elder has ruined his own. Because of this, Akechi knew that he would have to attempt to get closer to Shido without raising suspicion, in order to expose himself as Shido's child and bring a great dishonor to his name.
Goro started to push himself in his classes, wanting to do as well for himself as he could, to perhaps shift out of the lifestyle that he had lived throughout his entire life. When asked about what he wanted to do with his life, Akechi became rather interested in the idea of becoming a detective. However, while for most people, this would be for the wish of helping others and bringing justice to a wrongful society, Akechi's reasoning was based around his personal grudge towards Shido, and wishing to expose him. Akechi believed that if he built up a character that would appeal to the public, there was a chance that he would be appreciated and loved by the public for solving cases.
It was a rather rough start for Akechi due to his age, attempting to break into the world of delivering justice proved to be rather difficult due to expectations and the stigma against children. While previous child detectives had proved to be valuable assets to investigations, much like Naoto Shirogane, the corrupt police force wanted little to do with him. It wasn't until Akechi was approached by a female prosecutor, Sae Niijima, that he was provided with a chance to truly make a name for himself. Sae, someone who was also struggling due to gender expectations in her line of work, could see the way that Akechi was being discriminated against due to his age, and wished to act as a mentor for him. An agreement was made, where the two would do their best to help one another. It was Akechi's first true encounter with partnership.
On the recommendation of Sae, Akechi enrolled himself into Tokyo Metropolitan Shinjuku Yamabuki High School. A school that required students to pay for every lesson that they attended, but left the students free to create their own schedules and attend lessons when they wished to do so. This allowed Akechi to take time away from school and focus on his beginning cases as a detective. Akechi's life at school improved vastly, although he found himself rather short for money because of it. Money that had been left over from his mother after her passing was provided to him, although he did his best to sustain a proper life. Throughout his entire time at school, Akechi couldn't forget about his drive and motivation for all of this; the chance of revenge against Shido.
Chapter 4 : Divine Intervention
While Akechi was busy working on his upstart as a detective, unbeknownst to the male, there was a much larger scheme at hand, happening within the confinements of Mementos. Yaldabaoth, a malevolent god made manifest from humanity's distorted desires of sloth, had imprisoned Igor after a bet was made by the God. It was an experiment by Yaldabaoth, who wished to see if humanity should be ruled over by him, or if it would be stable enough to live without his involvement. To test this, Yaldaboth needed to pick someone with twisted desires and a utter disdain for humanity, to act as a representation of his beliefs; that society did need a divine figure to rule over them. Seeing the animosity within Goro's heart, the metaverse navigator was installed onto Akechi's phone without his knowledge, in which the male soon stumbled into Mementos. Being confronted by the godly figure, Akechi was initially intimidated by Yaldabaoth's presence, not knowing what to make of the situation or how to react.
After Akechi had calmed down and been told that he wasn't at risk, Yaldabaoth began to fill his mind with the distorted desires of the public, echoing the hatred that he felt within. Yaldabaoth implanted a wish within Akechi's mind; to destroy the world and rebuild it within his own vision, which would win Yaldabaoth the bet that he had made, and prove that society did need someone to look after them. Because of this, Akechi was doomed to fail from the start, as either path that he took would lead to the God's intervention at some point. However, the complete odium that Akechi felt towards his father and the society that praised him was too strong, and Akechi was eager to listen to more. The idea of being given power and being able to use it for his own gain was very appealing to him, as it meant that he would have a way to take on Shido if need be.
After an agreement was made between the two, Akechi was bestowed with a special power; one of the Wild Card. While he didn't understand much about this due to his inexperience and lack of knowledge concerning the usage of Personas, Yaldabaoth ensured him that he would understand over time. Having embraced the power of the wild card, Akechi was also entrusted with his own Persona, capable of mass destruction; Loki.
Chapter 5 : Formation of a Contract
Gradually, Goro Akechi spent more time looking into the Metaverse and what was found within, using it as a chance to broaden his horizons and become more knowledgeable about society. It was to his understanding that he had an incredible power that nobody else held, something that would be valuable for someone who was looking to become powerful. In this time that he spent in the cognitive world, he understood more about the use of Personas, finding out that he was able to battle the shadows found within the depths of Mementos, using it to train himself.
Eventually, Akechi realised that he would able to approach Shido with his power. While he wasn't sure what benefit this would have for the politician, Akechi knew of the value of his powers, thinking that Shido may be interested enough to take note of it, allowing Akechi to become closer to him. Unknowingly, Shido was already working in accordance with Yaldabaoth himself, although Akechi's identity had remained a secret. Approaching Shido, the elder refused to believe that such a thing could exist, until Akechi pulled him into the cognitive world via the Metaverse Navigator. When inside, Shido was able to see the shadows and the manifestation of distorted desires created by Yaldabaoth.
Akechi and Shido came to an agreement; Akechi would lend his powers for Shido's benefit, while receiving nothing in return. While the deal seemed rather one-sided, Akechi was quick to agree, for it meant that he would be able to get closer to Shido and sneak under the radar, without the fear of being caught.
After the initial entry into the cognitive world, Shido was fascinated by what could be done, sending in a group of researchers to look into the matter. While they were unable to control the shadows that roamed around, they began to do research into the people that could be found in Mementos, believing that affecting them inside of Mementos would be enough to alter them outside. While their hypothesis existed, it had no evidence to back it up, leaving it to be nothing but an assumption. Eventually, they heard rumours of another company looking into the metaverse, being spearheaded by an individual named Wakaba Isshiki.
To prove his loyalty to Shido, and test the hypothesis that the researchers had created, Akechi was assigned a mission; to travel into the cognitive world, into Mementos, and take out Wakaba Isshiki, with the belief that doing so would harm her in the real world, too. Albeit a little reluctant to do so, Akechi worked under the belief that he had to kill Wakaba, for his own plan to continue, so he ventured into Mementos, shooting Wakaba, where the Conspiracy quickly retrieved her body.
Chapter 6 : The Detective Prince
When the Conspiracy started to analyse the data that Wakaba had gathered, they found out lots of information that they had been theorising, saving them lots of time. Most importantly, Wakaba's death had proven that by killing somebody within the cognitive world, the mirrored version of themself in the real world would also be killed. This idea intrigued Akechi. Knowing of what his Persona was capable of due to his training with it on the shadows within the metaverse, Akechi believed that he would be able to use Loki to turn shadows berserk, causing their real-life counterparts to act strangely and lose their train of thought.
Because of this development, Akechi started to use his powers for selfish reasoning; causing people to go berserk and cause accidents, which Akechi would turn into cases and solve before anyone else was provided with a chance. Because of this, his reputation as a detective began to rise significantly. As more and more cases were solved by the young detective, he gradually started to garner a fanbase, led by his charismatic personality and his good looks. Eventually, this would lead to him being labelled as the 'second coming of the Detective Prince' by the media, a nickname that Akechi didn't take too seriously, but did not complain about. He felt more validated when praised by his fanbase for completing the cases, even if they were ones that he had created himself, which led to Akechi continuing to use his powers for his own selfish needs, trying to fill the hole that had been left through his childhood. Thanks to his appearances in media and his high success rate, Akechi was blessed with relatively good fortune, allowing him to continue his classes. He eventually moved into a city apartment by himself.
During this time, Akechi remained close to Sae, choosing to work alongside her when he was given the chance to do so. She often acted as a cornerstone for advice, being heavily influential and helpful in Akechi's time. Even when they spent time away from one another, Akechi was always sure to try and make some time for her.
Eventually, this would lead to Sae requesting for Akechi to help her with some of her investigations, some of them being ones that Akechi had caused himself. Always happy to try and help the elder prosecutor, this led to one incident involving a mental shutdown to a train conductor within Shibuya.
Chapter 7 : The Phantom Thieves
While continuing to solve cases within Shuibuya, Akechi's popularity amongst the masses continues to grow, something which the detective enjoyed immensely. However, he had to keep on reminding himself that he wasn't doing any of this for the fame or admiration; it was all being done so that he could bring down Shido. The Conspiracy group was continuing to grow, with their presence and influence on Japan in general being extremely powerful at this point. Their success came from the financial backers that funded their operations, including one individual named Ichiryusai Madarame. As part of his agreement with the group, Akechi was assigned a task; to visit Madarame's palace and ensure that nothing was happening, after the suspicious downfall of Suguru Kamoshida. While he did not initially find anyone there, Akechi was sure to scout the place out, searching for any threats that might stand against the Conspiracy.
After the public announcement by the Phantom Thieves on their intent to steal the heart of those who did wrong to society, Akechi was asked to come onto a talkshow, to give his thoughts concerning the group. It was through this interview that Akechi ran into the initial members of the Phantom Thieves for the first time; the protagonist, Ryuji Sakamoto, and Ann Takamaki. Suspicions were raised immediately concerning Akechi when he was able to hear Morgana's voice discussing pancakes, something that shouldn't be possible for any non-persona user. When asked about his thoughts concerning the Phantom Thieves, Akechi revealed his true feelings; while he agreed that taking down vile adults and despicable humans was good, Akechi believed that they operated outside of the law, meaning that their actions were in fact, unjust. Because of this, he could not support them, and instead stood against the Thieves, leading to him effectively becoming the spear-head of the Anti-Phantom Thieves movement. Goro was very public when talking about his feelings for the Thieves.
It wasn't until the appearance of Makoto Niijima with the rest of the group that Akechi became suspicious of the identity of the Phantom Thieves, as she was ever so different to the other members within the group. However, his suspicions remained silent for the time being, as Akechi didn't think that he had enough concrete evidence to support this claim. It was not until the takedown of Junya Kaneshiro, another backing member of the Conspiracy, that Akechi began to properly believe that his hypothesis had been correct, concerning the true identity of the Phantom Thieves. He attempted to discuss this with Shido, who refused to acknowledge the Thieves as he did not see them as a threat at the time, but Akechi declined talking to Sae about their identity, despite Sae's interest in the case at hand concerning the Thieves.
Chapter 8 : Greed
After the Thieves defeated their next threat, which came in the form of an information technology company leader posing as the hacker group 'Medjed,' Akechi was certain about the identity of the Phantom Thieves, alerting the Conspiracy to his thoughts. It was during this time that the principal of Shujin Academy, Kobayakawa, suffered from a mental breakdown, caused by Akechi, because the Conspiracy believed that he was planning to betray them and inform the police of their actions, something that the principal had been on the way to do. One member associated with the Conspiracy group, Kunikazu Okumura, was left without this knowledge, as an inner group within The Conspiracy, led by Shido, believed that he was no longer needed. Because of this, the Conspiracy created a request on the official Phantom Thieves Aficiondao Website with Kunikuza being the target, where they used Futaba's distinct computer programs to bump his request higher than the others, meaning that the Thieves would have to read it and act accordingly. Shido ordered for Akechi to wait until the Thieves had intervened with Okumura and defeated him, and then for him to kill Kunikuza, much like he had done with Wakaba Isshiki in the past. Believing that doing so would benefit him and mean that Shido would continue to not be suspicious of his purpose or actions, Akechi agreed to such a plan.
When he received knowledge that the Thieves would be acting, Akechi followed the group around town until they entered the palace. He was sure to be within their vicinity when they made their entrance, being part of his plan to later infiltrate the Thieves. When dragged into the Metaverse alongside them, Akechi traveled deep into Okumura's palace, capturing a second mask for him to use later on; Robin Hood, a Persona that stood for righteousness and justice. This was paramount to his plan. During his time in the palace, Akechi also experimented with the changing of attire, as his true outfit would raise suspicions immediately within the Thieves, especially after they had been informed of the presence of a black-masked Persona user since Madarame's palace.
Akechi was patient in waiting for Okumura to be defeated by the Thieves, preparing himself for his demise. After the Phantom Thieves eventually defeated the business tycoon and turned to leave, Akechi quickly took a picture of them running away from the fallen man on the floor, while also shooting Okumura's remaining shadow self, effectively killing him. It would not be until a few days later during a press conference that Kunikuza Okumura would suffer from a mental breakdown on stage, bringing about his inevitable demise. After the Phantom Thieves had taken responsibility for Okumura's defeat, the blame was pinned upon them, leading to a lot of their fanbase dwindling down, and turning to support Akechi, who continued to act as an Anti-Phantom Thieves movement leader.
Chapter 9 : The Casino
Knowing full-well that the Thieves did not have many options left, due to the bad publicity that they had garnered after the death of Okumura, Akechi continued to chase the Thieves around, often appearing within Cafe Leblanc to further his investigations, or look into more matters relating to the case. This culminated at the Shujin Academy school festival, where Goro Akechi was selected as the guest celebrity to come in and answer questions, due to his recent boost in popularity while opposing the Phantom Thieves. As the topic of the Thieves was so hot at the time, and the fact that their first excursion had taken place at Shujin itself, Akechi was voted for by the masses of students, leading to him making an appearance at the school on the day of the festival. Initially bombared with fans who rushed to try and greet him, he eventually came across the entire group of the Thieves, noting that they were 'all here.'
While on stage and being interviewed by Makoto Niijima, who was attempting to get information out of him concerning the Thieves, Akechi came prepared, always having an answer for Makoto's questions. It was not until they were midway through the conversation that Akechi claimed to know of the identity of the Phantom Thieves, shocking the crowd, and the Thieves in attendence. Excusing himself from the stage, Goro requested to speak to Makoto backstage, which she agreed to do. Confronting them while away from the public eye, Akechi blackmailed them into working alongside him, making further claims that he had awakened during his time in Okumura's palace, where he had fended off the fearsome 'Black Mask' Persona user. While reluctant, the group did not have much more that they could do, as their hands were basically tied by Akechi's evidence of their presence within Okumura's palace, leading to them agreeing to co-operate with him. It was here that he learned about how to change someone's heart, after the Thieves confessed that they were the ones responsible for doing so.
During this time, Akechi and Sae had ceased in communications, due to Sae's eager interest and investment in leading the case against the Phantom Thieves, where she was determined to reach a conclusion on their identities, even if it meant faking evidence and going against the law to do so. Akechi was appalled to see that Sae, a person who he had been taught by, was willing to surpass the law in order to catch the Thieves, disgusting him. It wasn't until a little while later that Akechi contacted the Thieves once again, wishing to meet them and discuss a potential change of heart.
Akechi requested for the Thieves to venture into Sae's palace, hoping that doing so would draw out the real culprit and allow them to deliver a swift justice to whoever it was. Akechi and Makoto both revealed that Sae definitely had a palace, and despite the concern of the Thieves and the reluctance to work alongside Akechi, an agreement was made. The Thieves also agreed that after they had stolen Sae's treasure, they would disband, meaning that their operations would cease. While Akechi was admittedly worried for Sae and wanted to see her operate within the realms of the law, his ulterior motive was present; to bring down the Phantom Thieves, to become closer to Shido, and to bring him down too.
It wasn't until they had ventured into the casino and started to work alongside each other that Akechi grew increasingly bitter towards the protagonist, although his personality never shifted and never displayed this. It was due to the friendships that the leader had managed to gather despite his past, while Akechi had continued to be lonely throughout his life, as not even the fans that supposedly admired him would support him all the time, just waiting for him to slip up and make a mistake so that they could abandon his cause. Seeing the way that the Thieves worked alongside one another was eye-opening to Akechi, but also made him grow to resent the protagonist even more. During his time in the palace, Akechi became more aware of the work of the metaverse, which the researchers of the Conspiracy had no idea about, including the premise of stealing someone's treasure to change their heart.
On the final day of the palace's existence, Akechi and Shido arranged for a massive police force that followed Shido to enter the Metaverse, waiting outside of the casino in order to capture Joker. Once they had stolen Sae's treasure, the Thieves went their separate ways to escape from the casino, leading to the protagonist inevitably being captured.
Chapter 10 : The Last Bullet
Having escaped from the palace, with the protagonist being held for questioning by Sae Niijima, Akechi has received orders from Shido to eliminate the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Due to his disdain for the protagonist and feelings of animosity towards him, Akechi was more than willing to do so. While the primary reason for doing so was as an order from Shido, Akechi was only motivated further by the resentment that he felt towards Akira. Coming down to the interview room where Sae was interrogating the protagonist, Akechi informed her that he had been given the leadership for the case, dismissing her from his presence.
Akechi was unaware that the Thieves knew of his intentions to sell them out and betray them, and so he was none the wiser when handed the phone by Sae, transporting him back into the cognition of Sae Niijima. Akechi struck down the security guard inside of the room, before turning his attention to the protagonist, shooting him, believing that he had ended his life. Planting the gun within Akira's hand to make it look like it had been a suicide for anyone who may've entered the room, Akechi departed to report back to Shido, where a fake death certificate was immediately passed, and the breaking news of the suicide was broadcasted to Japan. While Akechi and Shido agreed that they would leave the rest of the Thieves, as they would have nobody to lead them anymore, he was completely wrong about his assumption of the protagonist's death.
Chapter 11 : Mirror
Following the presumed death of the leader of the Phantom Thieves, Akechi's popularity for leading the case against the Thieves and bringing about their demise was celebrated by the people of Shibuya, who turned back and started following him again. Despite the removal of his main source of opposition in the protagonist, Shido was still not pleased with Akechi's work, continuing to hound him and attempt to force him to do more things to ensure that his status during his run for Prime Minister did not get compromised. While continuing to act under Shido's orders with the belief that Shido trusted him entirely after recent events, Akechi was hopeful that his plan would soon come to fruition.
While the crowds seemingly adored and admired Akechi after the disappearance of the Phantom Thieves, Akechi couldn't help but feel that they wouldn't love him if they knew of his origins, or what he had done to bring about the end of the Thieves. He did not feel proud for what he had done, but knew that it was a vital part of his plan; to become closer to Shido and make it look like he was willing to do anything that was asked of him. It was only when attending an interview one day where he was discussing the Phantom Thieves that he was interrupted by the sound of a mobile phone in the audience, causing him to recall to when Sae had handed him the phone outside of the interrogation room. Believing that he had not brought about the end of the protagonist, Akechi was quickly contacted by Shido, wherein he received orders from the elder to kill anyone who opposed them. When Akechi hesitated and expressed doubt in wanting to do so, Shido threatened to remove Akechi himself, leaving Akechi with no choice but to continue to work under him. Believing that he knew what the Thieves were up to, Akechi made his way into the cognitive world, where he quickly sped through Shido's Cruiser Palace.
Eventually, Akechi encountered the Phantom Thieves within the boiler room, where he expresses his surprise that the protagonist was alive. He reveals his plan to expose his status as Shido's illegitimate son when Shido wins the election and reveal his crimes, there by shattering his father's career and credibility. He battles the Phantom Thieves, revealing his ability to make Shadows berserk and that he can use multiple Personas like the protagonist. After his first defeat, he laments that he could not have met the protagonist sooner and prevented the horrible things he has done. While the Phantom Thieves extend their hands to let him back into their groups, he refuses, stating that he hates the protagonist for being everything he could not be and having all the things he doesn't have. He uses his own berserk ability on himself in a last ditch effort to defeat the Phantom Thieves, but ultimately fails. Upon his second and final defeat, the heavily wounded Akechi surrenders and expresses his envy of the protagonist for being surrounded by such loyal friends and that once they expose Shido, they will be hailed as heroes, while all his achievements will be exposed as fraud which will cost him his recognition. Having lost the will to go on, Akechi laments being unable to become someone special; but to his absolute shock, the protagonist and the others point out how he is already special to them and still allow him rejoin them if he desires it, much to his utter disbelief in their sympathy and acceptance.
Before any moves can be made, attention is quickly shifted to a new figure in the room; the cognitive view of Goro Akechi on behalf of Shido himself, appearing as what Shido believed Akechi to be, an obedient puppet. His cognitive self, also having the power to summon and control Shadows, taunts and mocks Akechi's wish for wanting to be accepted, even declaring him the true puppet. The cognition reveals that Shido was planning to kill Akechi all along as soon as the election was over, as well as planning to pin all the murders and incidents on Akechi, and then tells him to take his death as a punishment. Revolted by this revelation and given the choice to either betray the Phantom Thieves once more or die, Akechi chooses to shoot his cognitive self in the stomach before shooting the locking switch on the wall, sealing himself off from the Phantom Thieves. Knowing that they would die if they tried to save him, he puts his trust in the Phantom Thieves to stop Shido for him. As Akechi faces off against his now equally wounded Cognition, the last sound to be heard are two gunshots followed by complete silence. In actuality, Akechi and his cognitive self shot at the same time, but Akechi's initial Persona, Loki, materialised in front of him, saving him from the bullet, but using up the last of his energy, causing them both to collapse. While the Thieves left, Akechi remained on the floor for quite some time, only waking up when the group faced off against Shido. Facing his cognitive self for a final time, Akechi shot straight through him, eliminating the shadow. Experiencing his true awakening to Robin Hood, the Persona assisted Akechi in escaping the palace before the ship sunk.
Chapter 12 : Rehabiliation
After escaping from Shido's palace, Akechi went into hiding for a few months, believing that rebuilding himself without the concerns of the public would benefit him greatly. While he did his best to remain out of sight of anybody, and covered himself fully when heading outside, he realised that he was more than capable of living without the public's attention, almost enjoying the change that came from just being treated like a regular person. While he did sometimes long for people to notice him, he was unsure as to how they would react.
After a lengthy hiatus, Akechi made his public return after Akira's escape from Juvenile Hall, where he became an anonymous witness that assisted in putting Shido down when the case shifted to talking about the deaths of those who were targetted by the Conspiracy. While he was involved himself, the judge and court were made aware of the mental manipulation and misdeeds that Shido had performed and made Akechi endure throughout the years, realising that he acted as a hitman for Shido. Because of this, along with his willingness to contribute to the case and remove Shido from power, Akechi was granted release and allowed to live a fairly normal life, free from the restraints of Shido.
As part of the agreement for being released from the courts, Akechi was asked to work alongside the police, who were no longer being led by corrupted adults who had previously turned a blind eye to Shido's actions. Akechi was more than happy to attempt to assist in bringing change to the police force, believing that it would help in bringing justice to Shibuya once more. Not long after the trial with Shido finished, Akechi was fortunate enough to reunite with the Thieves, whom he tried his best to distance himself from in the fear of how they would react to him being around, especially given that he had revealed everything about himself to them before his 'death.' Despite knowing that he was played by both Shido and Yaldabaoth, Akechi blamed himself heavily for his misdeeds and actions in the past, wishing that he could find a way to atone for them.
Eventually, the Phantom Thieves reunited and decided to work alongside one another once again, if not just to bring justice once again. While things started out rough and friendships were difficult to make, Akechi began to truly experience the feeling of companionship and joy while working alongside them, patching up broken relationships and past misdeeds through his actions.
Akechi, alongside the other Phantom Thieves, now seeks to continue to uphold justice within Shibuya, while also ensuring that he makes the most of his life and the time that he gets to share with the Thieves. Understanding the true importance of bonds, he aims to seek them out and create more, filling the emptiness in his life that was once filled with disdain for Shido, now spurring him on for a brighter future.
extras
Note: This is for solos that have happened after the events of the game, and that I feel have played an integral part of Akechi's development.
Visiting his mother's grave for Mother's Day
Being excited about his birthday.
Birthday Moment - #1
Birthday Moment - #2