awashlogs | who's a special boy

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who's a special boy

Who: Lupin, Akechi, Caramia, Akira, Guren, Minato, maybe others?!
Where: Ruga, Lupin & Akechi's house
When: Backdated to 5/25
What: Akechi said nobody ever celebrated his birthday. It's not actually his birthday, but Lupin is going to celebrate it.
Warnings: embarrassing a teenage boy

[ the idea itself came from the quest posted to the forum not too long ago, although Lupin remains unconvinced that two "reds" can fulfill it; after talking with Akechi, however, it turned from checking off a box to a personal mission. Who could listen to a friend talk about how they'd never had a birthday party before and not immediately want to throw one for him? Not someone as extravagant as Lupin, certainly.

It's a bit of a tight operation. After all, none of them exactly have a fixed schedule, and there's no way of knowing when it will start raining blood or when the bricks will start talking to them or who knows what else. Still, he's something of a pro at making these things work. A few days after he's sent out invitations, he waits for the perfect moment - when he knows Akechi will be out and not come back for some time - and then gathers the troops. All four of them.

So it may not be a big party. But he has a feeling that Akechi would probably prefer it that way. When he returns to his home, he'll find it strangely quiet - at least until he turns into the kitchen, at which point Lupin (and maybe some of the others) jump out quite excitedly. ]

Happy birthday!

[ there aren't any decorations or anything like that - just a few friends with a few presents and a bit of time to share with him. ]

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[ Look, he doesn't really have a dad to do it, so he has to make his own dad jokes!!

Alas, it doesn't seem like Akira is about to relent on the terrible puns, and Akechi's brand of humor isn't exactly based on wordplay like that, but he's a smart boy, he can do this.

He brings the cat puppet closer to eye level again and gives it a long look, followed by an overly theatrical sigh: ]

I believe we may have made a terrible meowstake.

[And yet, he's encouraging Akira to continue by keeping it up himself. Could it be that Akechi is actually having fun with this silliness?

It's a major accomplishment, to be sure. He feels pretty proud of himself.]

Don't get your whiskers in a knot. If you want me to stop I can.

[It's your choice, Akechi.]

[ Ah, ball is in his court, huh? It's not that he doesn't like a little competition and showing off his skills - however silly they might be - but, in all honesty, this is a game with no victors, only losers. ]

Perhaps we should consider dropping it for the moment? [ He suggests, offering a placating chuckle. ] If we keep going, I'm afraid stopping might just not be pawssible.

[ And then he stops, does a bit of a double-take and blinks at himself in surprise. That... snuck up on him. ]

[Did he really... pun on accident?

Akira grins, beyond amused.]

I think you've outpunned me... I bow to your supurriority.

[ Akechi squints at that last pun, only very slightly and the shortest second, before taking his free hand to his mouth and coughing into it, as though trying to regain his composure.

(Is he also trying to hide a chuckle? Maybe. But Akira will never know.) ]

You truly are a terrible influence, did you know? [ Not said maliciously, or even seriously at all. It's amused, more than anything. ] Then again, I did pick up on it faster than I thought, I suppawse.

[He gives half a bow, smiling at that last joke.]

I'm happy to be a bad influence then. [His grin from under his fringe and the glint of his glasses is roguish, much more Joker than Akira. But once he straightens back up, he's right back to mild-mannered, normal student/barista Akira Kurusu.]

And maybe give you some fun on your birthday.

[ He gives a shake of his head in defeat, though he's still smiling. If he's ever felt this ridiculous, he certainly can't remember. But it doesn't trouble him, either, somehow. ]

My fake birthday, you mean. [ It's a correction, but nothing to be taken seriously. What's a fake birthday to a boy who's mostly a fake, anyway? ]

Regardless, I must admit it has been fun-- more so than any actual birthday I can remember. Perhaps this is the day I should celebrate, from now on.

[ Well. At this much isn't a fake. ]

[He shrugs at that. There's a 1/365 chance they could be right, and anyway, the point of a birthday isn't the day it's on, it's celebrating the birthday-haver. It's letting them know they have friends and family who care. Who cares what day it's on?

Especially when one hasn't had fun birthdays, like Akechi says...]

Why not? Celebrate any day you want.

[He almost hesitates, but ends up saying his next words anyway.]

When we get back home, though, maybe we can do something about your actual birthday.

[Maybe it can come true. Maybe.]

[ At that, Akechi offers genuine surprise, though obviously not for the same reasons why Akira hesitated to bring this up at all. Rather, he's taken aback by the invitation itself. Since when did Akira actually care to hang out with him?

Of course, there's one other minor detail, too. One that Akira doesn't know about. ]

As much as I would like that, I'm afraid we might not be in a place where we could meet by then.

[ Would Akira survive past his betrayal? That's hard to tell.

(And yet, Akechi has no idea just how right he really is.) ]

[Akira's gotten good at not flinching whenever this topic is brushed up against. He doesn't change his face at all, other than to look puzzled.]

Why?

[Of course, he knows exactly why, even better than Akechi does. And so, he decides to give Akechi an easy out. It is his birthday, after all.]

Oh... I guess you're going off to college at the end of the year, huh? You won't be around as much.

[And depending on how things shake out with his old school, he won't be in Tokyo, either... though, that's hardly the thing that's weighing on his mind right now.]

[ An easy out? Please, Akechi has had years to practice and perfect deceit. He always has an answer at the ready, regardless of his real personal feelings. ]

My going to college wouldn't be an issue, as I'll hopefully be attending in Tokyo. I do still have to earn my living, haha.

[ And this much is true, too. He doesn't exactly have connections to get him inside, or even anyone to pay for his tuition. Everything requires hard work-- as a detective and otherwise. ]

I was thinking about your stay in Tokyo, though. I assume you will go back home once your probation is over?

[There are crimes to solve everywhere, though; he doesn't have to stay in Tokyo. But there's no real sense in arguing about Akechi's plans when they're all fake, to begin with.

But, ah... of course Akechi would swivel to that. A good save.]

...It depends on if my old high school will re-enroll me. [A shrug.] I was expelled until further notice, to be reviewed on the completion of my probation.

[He's just parroting what they told him after the hearing.]

[ Um, no? Going to college and keeping his job as a detective are very much real plans-- it just so happens that those plans and revenge are not mutually exclusive! ]

Ah, is that so? [ He knew the gist of it, but not details, so he narrows his eyes in thought, hand to his chin. ] I don't suppose your parents are influential enough in your old town to try to overrule that as a technicality, although they must have been at least well known in the community, to be willing to send their own son off to live with a stranger...

[ He doesn't actually mean to be, well, mean. He's just become desensitized to shitty parents, really. ]

...Something like that.

[His parents are... a topic that he would rather avoid. While his family situation is hardly as bad as some of his friends' (Akechi's included), he isn't particularly close to them, and he has to admit, it stings a bit that he was shoved out so unceremoniously.

The part that makes it worse is that his parents know why he intervened. They just think that was the wrong decision.]

Better to distance yourself from a violent son, right? They didn't have much choice.

[They had tons of choices, but being bitter helps no one.]

... I see.

[ Huh, the way Akira tries to act so nonchalant about the whole ordeal, the vague answers and crafty sidestepping that Akechi himself is so familiar with... It makes him think perhaps they aren't that different, after all.

(Except Akira is a much, much worse liar.) ]

My apologies. I got so carried away trying to profile them, I ended up neglecting how sensitive a topic it might be for you.

[ And, if Akira really is anything like him, then he wouldn't any continued sympathy, either. So he drops the subject of his parents altogether, and instead offers something else: ]

If you would like, I could investigate your case once when we're back in Tokyo. If there's any new evidence to be presented, it might be possible to revoke your sentence altogether.

[ In a hypothetical world where they would still meet, where they could celebrate more birthdays together... Surely he could do this much. ]

[It's not a big deal, really; if they hadn't done what they did, he never would have met the other Thieves. In a way, this was a better fate than staying in his boring old town.

Doesn't change that it hurt in the moment, but... no use dwelling on it.

But then Akechi is suggesting that he look into his case, and Akira has to fight his smile to look grateful rather than sad. If things stay as they are, Akechi won't get a chance to review his case... wouldn't abandon his plan of revenge for Akira's sake, anyway.]

That's a big offer. I might have to take you up on it.

[ It's true, he probably wouldn't, not with the way things are right now. But if Akira doesn't end up captured, if Akechi can keep his betrayal hidden from him... maybe this would be possible. Maybe he could repent like this, even if only a little. ]

It would be my pleasure. In a sense, it would merely be extending my offer of doing justice towards a more personal case.

[ And that's honest, too. Phantom Thief or not, Akechi can tell Akira is not the type who would physically assault anyone. ]

Although I must say, even if I do find any new evidence, there's always a chance that will make no difference. I may have not looked at your case yet, but it sounds like your alleged victim must have been someone very influential.

[Ah... Akechi is quick on the uptake.

Akira gives a nonchalant shrug anyway. Yeah, Shido was pretty influential, but for a long time...]

I don't even know who he is. Somehow he was able to keep his name out of the whole case.

[It had been bizarre to him at the time, and the whole incident had shaken his faith in the world a lot. As a child, he'd trusted that things go a certain way: bad guys do bad things and then get punished. Reality is more complicated than that.

That's what he's fighting to change.]

The police definitely knew who he was.

The police...?

[ He brings a hand to his chin in thought, already in full detective mode even though this is supposed to be his birthday party. He can't help it, really; even though he made a name for himself built on fabricated cases, there's a side of him that is genuinely interested in tough cases-- and maybe, a side of him that, albeit small, truly does seek justice for more than himself. ]

What gave you that impression? Did they say any names?

No. [He shakes his head.] But they recognized him instantly. Called him "sir." He told them to keep his name out if it, and they did.

[He folds his arms, but his fingers fiddle with the sleeves of his shirt.]

I'm just a punk teenager. He's a powerful adult. At the time, I didn't stand a chance.

["At the time." But as always, there's a bit of a fire in Akira's eyes, even now. At the time, but not forever. Eventually, he got his revenge, and Shido got his comeuppance.]

[ At the time, huh? ]

If it's someone who could so easily manipulate the police, then it's certainly someone far too influential-- even more so than I had originally believed.

[ And, in the back of his mind, Akechi can't help but wonder if this couldn't be about one of Shido's associates, or perhaps even the man, himself? It had to be someone in that kind of hierarchic position, at least...

But, it's not like Akechi can ask that directly, even if Akira did know his alleged victim's name. So he focuses on a different point instead: ]

Is that what you're hoping to do as a Phantom Thief? To get revenge on this man?

...I'd be lying, if I said the thought never crossed my mind.

[Though in the end, he wasn't changing Shido's heart for himself; he was changing it for Akechi, and for Wakaba and Haru's father and all the victims of his machinations over the years. But yes, it was something of a revenge: a revenge against a corrupt society that gave such a vile man such power.

Too bad it doesn't seem to have changed much... but Akira doesn't allow himself to go there.]

Being a Phantom Thief... is about getting terrible people to repent for the things they've done. It is revenge, in a sense.

[But that's not all, is it?]

But it's also... to give people courage, to know they don't have to take that abuse anymore.

[ That initial admission is... unexpected, to say the least. Ever since joining the Phantom Thieves, they have posed as nothing but self-righteous defenders of the weak and powerless, doing what they did for the sake of helping others, and that was something Akechi could never understand or relate to. It was the reason why he could never truly be one of them.

But this? Hearing Akira confess the thought has crossed his mind, that the change of hearts is a type of revenge? It makes him wonder, if perhaps they are not so different, after all.

Ah, not that he can let it show, of course. He still very much as a mask to maintain. ]

I understand what you're trying to do, though I believe I have made my feelings on that matter very clear. No matter how good your intentions are, I'm afraid I cannot approve of vigilante justice.

[ There, his usual cover up, completely hypocritical as it is in reality. But there's no need for Akira to know about that-- much on the contrary. ]

But, even disregarding the moral aspect of the change of hearts... Have you never considered whether there's real merit in forced repentance or not? While it certainly puts a stop to immediate evil, would it really... set a victim's heart at ease, knowing the perpetrator's guilt is the result of an unnatural process?

[ Akechi has definitely given it some thought, and the only conclusion that he could come to is that, even assuming the Phantom Thieves could change Shido's heart, the following remorse would not be any more real than the pleasant facade Akechi himself puts up in public. It would just be another lie, like the rest of his life.

He would have absolutely no use for that. ]

...I think it depends on the victim, and the situation.

[He puts his hand to his chin as he considers it. It's not that he's never thought about this before, but really, other than Haru, it always seems to work out for those who are victims.]

I don't think most of those we've helped... are really all that interested in apologies. Getting rid of the immediate problem, so they can go on and live their lives without it hanging over them, is more important.

[Did any of them really care about remorse from Kaneshiro as long as he wasn't extorting them anymore? What about Kamoshida, who everyone only wanted gone? Perhaps Yusuke would have more thoughts to give where Madarame is concerned.

But also...]

When we changed Kamoshida's heart, I let Ann choose. Would she kill Kamoshida's shadow, or would she allow him to live?

[He looks up as he remembers; standing back, watching as a fireball careened toward him.]

She told us that... death would be too easy. That she wanted him to live on, and suffer.

[He looks back at Akechi now.] So when you think about it as a sentence, does it really matter if it was artificially gained?

[ ... well, this is brand new information. So the ever self-righteous Phantom Thieves did consider even murder at one point? They may not have carried it out, but even the fact that it did cross their mind as an option is something Akechi could never have suspected before.

Hmm. Something to file away for now, but definitely get back to, at a later point. ]

A sentence is the result of a trial in a court of law. It is meant to serve a purpose-- either to keep a criminal away from the innocent, or to force them into repaying society for what they have taken.

[ He folds his arms, hands on his chin as he carefully considers his next words. ]

From my perspective, forcing someone into remorse and guilt is an exercise in self gratification, one that fails to serve a greater purpose. In other words, it is revenge, pure and unadulterated.

[ And while the Ace Detective could never admit it, the truth is that this line of thought makes the Phantom Thieves a lot more appealing to Akechi. ]

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theshowsover - 2018-08-07 00:30 (UTC) - Expand

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