Third Person

It was the way she giggled at his suit.

The Phantom Thieves had stepped up to the challenge of Sae Niijima and her Casino of Envy. The glittering lights and constant sounds of machines pushing poker chips to the floor didn't compare to the view ahead of him, even if she was under the impression the 'true form' of justice was a white suit with a red cape was kind of stupid. 

It was the swirled blouse that caught his attention, among other things. Of course he'd seen her in this outfit before, once or twice, but the change in shoes was better. He'd ran into her once in Mementos by herself, supposedly left because the excuse for a boyfriend she has heard something. Maybe he shouldn't have approached her so fast, scared her shitless and he hated himself for it. 

Akechi told himself it was something that  he would eventually lose interest in. He'd told himself that when he noticed her the first time, then the next, then the next... then he watched her switch from white and black to red and white and black and creme and by whatever gods are out there, how could such a human being exist? And in his universe? Oh, how he wished he wasn't about to do something so terrible it would fuck the relationship over. Their relationship, as some sort of friends who'd kissed one night, two or three or four times. Friends don't share a bed, not of the opposing genders, unless, of course, it was something past that. But no, this was strictly platonic. 

For now...

That was the best part. Y/N and useless Yusuke had broken up 'publicly' at the Shujin school festival. One was tired of the other's shit, which, seemed to be how Akechi felt would happen in any relationships at any given time. 

It seemed suspicious they split suddenly, but it didn't matter. His heart soared when they got up and left, for all the wrong reasons. Now here they were, pacing through the middle level and gambling little by little, taking turns at the slot machines. A few of the more 'stronger' members went in search of some sort of terminal while he was among the few to stay behind and win chips and keep security down. And, of course, not only was he stuck with the model and the Okumura girl, but Y/N was also left here. The stupid cat too.

"So... Crow," the little guy tried. "I know I shouldn't ask, but why the red cape? I know it was in the sense of justice but-"

"I guess it's just how my justice was revealed. To be honest, I like the olive colored coat in reality better, but I assume you don't get to choose your outfits?"

"Raider did, kind of," he says, wiping his left ear with his paw. Akechi's eyes widen, which Mona notices and nods. "She fell in heels. It was in another Palace, ground shook and she went tumbling. Killed her ankle, but she recovered. She walks around in flats now."

As he says that, he watches 'Raider' kick her flat off and toss it in the air, earning a round of applause from the other girls across from him. He doesn't quite understand what the whole thing was, but the smile on her face was wonderful enough. 

"She's marvelous."

"Sorry?"

He catches what he's said and thinks of a way to cover it up. "She, as in the decoration Sae-san has put into the ugliness of her heart. It's marvelous how much effort, with all the small detail and such."

Mona looks at him, a spark of confusion on his face and then he shakes it away. "Oh, of course. You're right. This is definitely elaborate, compared to other Palaces we've seen."

"Mona-chan, come here!" Okumura's daughter calls. Akechi watches the cat's eyes widen and then misses something said, only watching as the strange monster scampers away to the daughter of the dead CEO. The light haired boy wonders how 'Noir' can come to a place like this, a place of distortion, especially since that was what got her father killed in the first place.

Distortion and greed. 

He didn't have to think about that now. He had bigger things to conquer. 

...

Saturday, November 5, 20XX

Of course he's gotten them into the courthouse. It was his duty, he felt, to get them in there so they could proceed with their mission. More so he could proceed with his own, but the bonus of working with people is bending to their will. 

"Y/N? You can sit down, you know," Akira whispers to the girl taking a bit of a further walk to the back of the courtroom. She only shakes her head in passing, saying something Akechi hardly catches, but he could guess her motive. 

Be present, but never where you're expected to be

For a second there, as she leaned against the back wall and brought her foot up behind her, he could see her.  Past the Kosei uniform; he could see her shadow in her Metaverse getup. It was a powerful moment in his mind; the type of strong you always want yourself to be. Akechi wished, for just a second there, that he could be like that. That he could lean against the wall and be feared, just by someone he knows well or not at all. 

"-I'm shocked that Niijima-san can think of somewhere this solemn as a casino," Okumura's daughter seems to be beyond belief, but in truth, it made sense Sae-san would see a place such as the courthouse as a casino. It'd been explained before; he didn't feel the need to explain it again. 

"So Makoto's sis is that lady who's overflowing with the aura of a capable woman."

The smaller Niijima only hums at Wakaba's daughter's comment. Then, the imbecile with blonde hair up front decided to run his mouth off at useless Kitagawa, wanting to know what the trial is about. Akechi feels the need to answer.

"A politician who decided to make personal use of government funds," the words roll out of his mouth so smoothly. Akechi's very aware of the effect he has on people. 

"I read about that in a magazine! He went on a vacation with his mistress to some fancy hot springs!"

Akechi nods at Futaba's comment, then proceeds to spend the rest of the trial wondering how he could, when all is said and done, convince Y/N to join him in some hot spring sometime in the near future. 

...

The Manager's Floor

The High Limit Lobby feeds into a deck outside the main building. The bridge to what seems to be the final fight is the Bridge of Justice; the scale typically held on statues in courtrooms. The fee is 100,000 yen to cross and get to the official manager's office, which should be where the final boss fight is. 

Akechi does some not so serious thinking on the trek back to the High Limit Floor, toward some sign that reads 'The House of Darkness'.

"Welcome to the House of Darkness," a Shadow holding a champagne bottle greets them. In the corner of his eye, Akechi catches a set of black flats moves across the checkered floor and lean against the registration counter, her left hand moving up to swipe away a card threatening to get lost in her hair. "-Our puzzling labyrinth in the dark."

"You better not be lookin for a fight!" The stupid blonde in the skull mask shouts. "We ain't interested!"

The Shadow only laughs, lightly tapping the bottom of the bottle in his hands. "That won't be necessary. You are valuable participants, after all."

"Participants?" Cat eared little thing asks.

"Most certainly. The original intent behind the high limit floor is different from that of others. On this floor, VIPs are encouraged to send substitutes to compete in the games in their places. Consider it be like the horses is horse racing. However..." the Shadow looks them over. "It seems you have no substitutes."

"Of course we don't," smaller Niijima snaps. "That should be obvious."

"Indeed it is! Hence, you will be the vital participants in these games."

Akechi shuts his eyes and rolls his pupils around in his eye sockets as the monster cat makes a comment about the group being their own substitutes. He finishes with it sounding perfect and the Shadow, tapping his champagne bottle again, might as well throw confetti about for the Phantom Thieves agreeing. 

"It's no wonder they call this the high limit floor. I doubt the maze will be as simple as it sounds," Akechi feels the need to continue his role of confused helper with a touch of 'I think I know what's going on, but fuck you guys'.

"There's a safe room here, I think we should stop for a minute," younger Niijima offers. Joker, Kurusu rather, nods and waves his red hand toward the velvet door behind the registration counter. Akechi only counts one pair of paws and seven pairs of shoes. That leaves him and what should be a pair of flats. He bites down on his lip and dares to look back over his shoulder, then he realizes he's counted wrong; the pair of flats is currently placed flat on the ground, the (dominant side) foot sliding into an upward position and is rested against the wall. 

"Does anyone have anything they want to say before we go in?" Joker's voice echoes off the walls in the room. Multiple members shake their heads. A set of gray eyes turn to the red and white blouse in the back; the owner flicking her mask up to the top of her head and leaning her head to one side. 

"No. But I assume you'd like to know where I'm at magic wise?" She questions, readjusting her glove as a raven colored head nods. "About where I need to be for a quick getaway."

"I believe that settles it. I'll give everyone a couple more minutes and we'll begin again."

Akechi places himself on the couch at the far edge of the checkerboard room. The purple fabric sucks him in, and he's slightly uncomfortable with how comfortable he is. 

God he wished he wasn't alone on this couch.

He wished he'd watch that red and white mask come off for him if he got hit, maybe if the flats would get up and walk this way? Maybe this is too much to ask? Then it was over too soon. Everyone is standing by the door, wiping off wrinkles in their suits or kicking the toe of their shoe into the ground. Akira says his bullshit about the show going or whatever he does, then leads the team out of the safe room. 

The annoying blonde in the skeleton outfit goes up to counter, checking with the Shadow about the maze one last time. Akechi deems him a buffoon beneath his breath, because who the hell needs to know? They spent the poker chips anyway!

"You've already paid the fee, you can go ahead," the Shadow replies dismissively, waving his champagne bottle toward a set of velvet stairs and a dark hallway. Akechi watches a handful of backs straighten; maybe for reasons like fear or just accepting the fact this next on the list of things to do. It's a slow movement up thirty stairs to a bright red door and rainbow lights in the frame. The beckoning, Akechi thinks to himself, it's calling him. To swallow him up like his thoughts do. 

The door creaks open, the only source of light is the brightness behind them. With a slow slam, they become officially enveloped in the dark, lost to rot in whatever emotions engulf their brains. For a certain crow, it's of a dream he once had many nights ago. As it does when he thinks of it, it hits him like a bullet to the head.

~~~

At the best of times
Lonely in my mind...
And I can't find something to tell you
If you have got the time...'

The time that he spent in this fucking gym is getting longer and longer and his suit is getting warmer and warmer. He didn't want to be here in the first place, but it took some convincing. Akechi didn't bother listening to it the first time, but as the one time turned into two, turned into three...

"I appreciate you coming. I know you didn't want to, but I really couldn't miss out on this."

Akechi looks down at his date: a girl shorter than him with her (hair color) hair done up and in a floor length (favorite color) dress, sparkling against the spotlights on the floor. She presents him a cup of whatever drink they were serving and takes a drink from her own cup.

'Why would I rely
On the things that I did right?
She said:
I gave you four years
Of my life....'

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," he answers. Akechi isn't so sure if he's telling himself or Y/N, but she seems satisfied enough with the response and dismisses it. She brings a creme colored hand up to her hair and pats it, then her face lights up.

"I know this song! I love this song!" Y/N grabs Akechi's arm and pulls him to the side, finding a place to put the drinks down. 

"Y-Y/N, come on. You just gave this to me, why don't we finish this and then dance?"

He's immediately shut down by a look on his girlfriend's face. It's not quite a sour look, but it's a look that says 'don't try it'.

He doesn't have time to finish his protest before he's forced to spin the sparkly figure, a few strands of hair coming loose and flying free from the tightly packed others. For just a second, he catches the light sparkle against her eyes and his heart melts a little. He couldn't believe he was twirling her. Then the song turned into the slow dance.

'So what about 
These feelings I've got?
We got it wrong
And you said you'd had enough...

But what about

These feelings I've got?

I Couldn't Be More In Love...'

Akechi moves one hand to her hip, the other intertwining with Y/N's hand. She leans her head into his left shoulder, her flats shuffling in time his his dress shoes. The hem of her dress sweeps against the hem of his dress pants, a small movement that should be brushed away but isn't. He hoped it would be practice for some day in the future. 

'I could have been a great line

I could have been a sign

Or overstay my time

Say what's on your mind

Maybe I'll rely on all the things that made it right

Because I'd give you all the years of my life

So

What about
These feelings I've got?
We got it wrong
And you said you'd had enough

But what about these feelings I've got?

I Couldn't Be More In Love...'

As the guitar rift fills the air, he catches the small sound of Y/N humming along, her forehead pressed into the nape of his neck. Her hand slides out of his and she wraps her arms around his neck, folding her hands by his hair. That leaves Akechi with the hand placement on both her hips and gently swaying them to the soft beat of the drum. 

Across the floor, just out of the spotlight, Akechi looks off to the side and catches a glimpse of another couple dancing to his right. A girl, a second year maybe, with slightly dark brown hair in a knee length light blue dress dances with a guy just slightly taller than her, dressed in a dark gray suit and hair slightly darker than hers, swept off to the left of his head. 

He looks to his right and spies another happy couple, though this time, it's a lavender haired girl in an almost floor length lilac dress. He remembers it because Y/N had originally sent him a picture of a dress exactly like that, but a different color. The lavender haired girl dances with a guy just shorter than Akechi, with light brown hair and outfitted with a lime lapel in the left breast pocket. 

'And what about these feelings I've got?
We got it wrong and you said you'd had enough
But what about

these feelings I've got?

I Couldn't Be More In Love...

One final step in time, then Y/N breaks away from Akechi, a determined look on her face. She doesn't say anything to him, but smiles and turns away. She walks off to the side of the gymnasium, pushes open a door and... for a second, Akechi sees it. 

A head of blue hair and a bright smile on another guy's face...

He'd been left, even in his dreams,
for somebody else...

~~~

"-row! Crow! Snap out of it!" 

Much to Akechi's disappointment, it's a set of purple gloves shaking him awake. But the question is why. What was he doing, standing in the dark? Succumbing to his mind yet again and now he's a fool. 

"We're almost there, we're almost done! Come on, get up!"

"I AM up," Akechi snaps, pushing himself up and deciding he won't challenge Okumura's daughter to a fight; he's afraid he'll be diced by her axe. Behind her, a pair of bright yellow eyes appear, an arm lifting with a bottle threatening to break it over a tricorn hat. Weakly lifting his gun from his belt, he aims and is ready to fire before his hand goes numb. 

"Oh," Okumura's daughter giggles as Akechi's vision fills with tarot cards, all of them screaming the word JUSTICE in his face. One of the cards that swallows Haru flips into his vision, marked EMPRESS. Struggling to stand due to the force of the cards, he's sucked into another moment of darkness, surrounded by what would like celestial bodies if they weren't figments of his imagination. 

He lands again, back on his feet towards the edge of the map, which Akira struggles to look through in the dark. While he was in limbo, Akechi grabbed one of the cards he was shown and pocketed it, just to give himself something to look at later. 

...

"That was atrocious," Y/N comments, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. "But we've done the hard part; stumbling in the dark for..."

"We were in there for half an hour and we're nowhere closer to the manager's spot. I think that's some real bullshit," Skull chimes in, placing his hands on his hips and looking over to Panther.

"Well, that doesn't matter," smaller Niijima shakes her head and changes her voice to the condescending tone. "We need to figure out where the next attraction is."

"Next is the Battle Arena," Akechi finds himself saying aloud. "It's across the hall from where we are."

"Then, we should get over there. There's not much time left in the day, you know."

It's a few long moments of silence as the group begins the walk across the High Limit Floor.  The Shadow at the entrance desk says nothing to them as they pass by, only watching them silently as they go. The air grows tenser between the back three people, those being Akechi, Y/N and Yusuke. Sensing the discomfort between them, Y/N steps forward, the heel of her flat skidding a little.

"Crow."

"Fox."

"We've arrived," Akira calls from the back of the room, where he stands at the counter beside smaller Niijima. The stale air between them as the attention turns back to the job and learning that only one person can do it; one person can take on the Battle Arena. Then there's the fee and the idea that you'll get ten times the amount of the ten thousand poker chips. 

"It's one on one, we can't all go in and do it."

"I'll do it."

All eyes turn to the girl in the back, pushing her mask up on her head and pulling her hair back. "I don't mind. I haven't done much this trip yet anyway."

"I'm pretty sure this is a Joker trope though. We appreciate it, Raider, but maybe he should-"

"No," Akira smiles. "If she wants to do it, she should do it. We need to change up the way this book is written anyway."

"Very well," Yusuke says, stepping up to Y/N. He takes her hands in his and grins proudly at her. "I believe in you."

"We'll be watching from the stands! Kick ass!" There are other cheers exchanged from the cat and the rest of the team. Y/N raises her hand at the Shadow behind the counter and twirls her wrist, giving the 'go ahead' signal. 

Akechi is dragged away by the stupid blonde and his rival, with added support from the cat. He isn't pleased, but as he turns away from the gate, he catches the last little bit of a graceful stride into a bright yellow and orange hallway, with a several signs that say the same thing, yet he's moved so he can't see it. He blinks again and finds himself in the stands, tucked in the front of the rows. It isn't ideal when the actual coliseum part is so far away, but he's reassured when the outfit he recognizes steps up and a graceful wave comes from both hands.

"Now then!"  A voice booms from overhead. "Our gripping battle is finally here! One of the members of the adult-defying thieves has come! Odds are 1.1 to the house, 23.0 to the Phantom Thieves!" The announcer seems a little surprised, especially with his next comment: "Wow, the Phantom Thieves are surprisingly popular! It's rare to see odds in the double digits! Now, let us begin our serious one-on-one battle! Bring out the first contestant!"

The lights become incredibly bright, then dim to three spotlights. One is on Y/N, the other two are on two elephants? 

"Uhh, what the hell? There's two of em!"

The platinum model gasps and continues on from the comment made by the former track star. "This isn't one-on-one at all! They're just ignoring the rules right from the beginning!"

"Now then!" The voice rumbles again. "It's time for the trio of hellish battles to begin! Ready... set... go!"

In a fluid movement, Y/N tilts her body to the left, reaches to her hip and latches on to a couple knives. Akechi watches the deflection of two minor attacks from both, then the smirk on a red and white masked face as the knives fly from her hands. It causes damage to both, as both begin to sway a little, but not enough it needs a final blow. The Shadow on the left goes in for another attack, but it's countered by a fast movement that strikes it back. The Shadow on the right does nothing, only waits. 

"It's a trap!" Akechi finds himself yelling. Since when does he yell?

In his moment of looking away, the red fire appears as Mina Harker appears, conjuring up some sort of something to aid in the attack. It's a powerful Bless move, as one elephant disappears. The other continues watching, waiting to see what happens. Then it happens.

She's knocked from her feet....

So yeah, welcome back to frustration. I'm looking forward to the comments about how inconvenient this is and I'll relish them all. Also I changed this up because everyone writes about the canon plot. Why not make it a cliche, but a good cliche?

Also casual thanks to TheSlavicLad for letting me write them in.

Take care!