@cinderillxn said: "soooooooo akechi-san," red eyes glance over at the detective, a (not so) innocent smile on the gymnast's face. "remember what you said that one time back when it was just the three of us in dr. maruki's palace? you seemed real concerned when kurusu-senpai almost, y'know. got taken out in that battle. you really do care about him, don't you? or at least, enough to have said those words to him. so, did you really mean it? do you love him or was that a spur of the moment kind of thing?"
he’s an idiot. akechi goro is an idiot who should sew his goddamn mouth shut.
sumire ambles around the topic, downright beaming as she brings it up. her nose crinkles and her eyes close, so proud of herself, like she’s just so smart for remembering, like it’s the funniest joke she’s ever told. akechi can only grimace in response, digging nails into his palms. sumire doesn’t know the half of what really happened, and it’s none of her goddamned business. even so, akechi has to admit that he deserves the ridicule. he was hot-headed and foolish as ever, let himself get too comfortable with his makeshift team. he said something he shouldn’t have, and he suffered the consequences. some people just never learn.
“ yoshizawa-san. with all due respect, what do you think you’re getting at? ”
it all happened too quickly for him to even recount: akira, lying unconscious on the ground. a bolt of lightning headed in his direction, waiting to deal the final blow. a moment of complete stillness. a voice not unlike his own but warped from strain, screaming at yoshizawa to use a healing spell. he can remember every second of it in excruciating detail, he certainly doesn’t need yoshizawa reminding him. he certainly doesn’t need her mockery, either.
truth be told, maybe this is for the best. maybe this is a mistake that he should have made a long time ago-- then again, there are so, so many unchecked desires still clinging to him like leeches, draining him lifeless. his rotting heart is all too full for a dead man walking. there was always way too much fire in his chest, actually, what was once burning him from the inside out now a stubborn, persistent ember in his ribcage. nobody can die like that, not really. nobody can truly rest with the weight of prophecies still unfulfilled weighing heavy in their very souls. if anything, akechi’s death only further fueled the flame that was eating away at him relentlessly: his regrets caught up to him faster than sleipnir, dragged him down like an anchor thrown deep into the ocean with a running start. he deserved to be defeated. it’s one of the few things in his life that he doesn’t regret. he fought tooth and nail all his life so he could have the satisfaction of leaving this world on his own terms, and it still doesn’t feel like dying, it still doesn’t feel like peace. so, maybe this will help. maybe this will help.
“ that’s a can of worms that you really don’t want to open. for your own sake, i suggest that you don’t think too much about it and leave it be. i don’t know what other answer you expected. ”
akechi was always a force of destruction, through and through. he couldn’t be taught how to preserve the things he has if he was given all of eternity to learn. he never cared much about his own safety, let alone the safety of anyone stupid enough to come near him. akechi still wants a lot of things he doesn’t deserve, too: no matter how tired he is, the flame doesn’t seem to give any signs of relenting-- at this pace, he’s afraid he might burn maruki’s palace to the ground. he would never do that to akira, though, not of his own volition. he wants to see akira do it himself.
all at once, he decides that this palace is messing with his head. yes, that must be it: whatever pried him right out of the claws of thanatos isn’t letting him think straight. it’s not an act of rescue, that’s for sure-- it feels like a coup d’état more than anything else. like the natural order of things has been thrown out of balance. it also feels just a bit too much like temptation: figures, since half of it looks like the fucking garden of eden.
he doesn’t like spending time with the others, not here. quite honestly, he can’t look them in the eye. every waking moment feels the same as one of those downright unbearable interviews he used to sit through for hours on end-- he feels watched, recorded. the intent of the surveillance feels much more sinister this time, though. whatever’s doing this, it knows him, it intended on torturing him from the moment it pulled him into this picture-perfect world. the burning in his chest piles up, white-hot and furious: he’ll never, never let anyone have power over him again. what maruki is doing is wrong, and no amount of mercy or second chances will ever change that.
maruki’s weapon is granting wishes. for the longest time, goro had thought he was immune to it: sure enough, that conviction was based solely on his own arrogance. even so, there’s one way to disarm the bastard: he’ll admit it, and he’ll do it proudly. he’ll scream it to the fucking heavens if he needs to: he doesn’t want to die. akechi goro never wanted to die. if maruki thinks he’s smart for finding that out, he has another thing coming.
it doesn’t matter. it won’t stop goro from doing what’s right. his own stupid, selfish needs will never come first to making sure akira doesn’t ruin his own life for good: akira has an actual life to live, a long and promising one that doesn’t have misery as its leitmotif for a change. a long and happy life, far away from goro. this is the last they’ll see of each other, and goro just has to fucking suck it up.
goro has six feet of dirt to look forward to. that’s just how things are.
“ it’s... personal. i hope you understand. ”