phonetasmal | Calling the Old Man Out

Calling the Old Man Out

[Goro has barely been seen since getting back from the Fissure, only leaving his room briefly to eat a couple times a day, coffee in hand and looking half asleep. Now, though, he seems to finally be properly awake...at approximately 8PM.]

Good...erm, evening, I suppose. I’m sorry I’ve been so absent lately, that Fissure must have taken more out of me than I thought.

But, now that I’m recovered, there’s something important I need to tell everyone. The last batch of new arrivals included a man named Masayoshi Shido. He’s my father, and a truly despicable man, who has had numerous people killed for his own convenience or benefit. He even had my mother killed to cover up the scandal of my birth.

[Here he holds up a phone, showing a picture of Shido...with what looks like avocado and cheese smeared on his face and a shrimp up his nose, wearing the most tiredly Done expression as he reaches for the offending crustacean.]

I injured him in the forest in retaliation for the things he’s done to me, one of my boyfriends, and countless others, but don’t mistake him for someone who deserves your pity. He’s physically not much of a threat, but he is a skilled schemer and manipulator, and-

[ Which is the moment that the video will shake, and a very brief flash of a familiar face (spoiler: Akira’s) can be seen. Off-screen, he’s gently pressing a kiss to Goro’s cheek, whispering that he loves him. Don’t mind the view of a ceiling for a moment, guys - it’s a nice ceiling, at least?

… He’ll properly make it up to Goro, later, if he can? For now, though, he gently brushes the fingers of one hand through his boyfriend’s hair. Akira’s face can properly be seen, after he takes a quiet breath. He looks… well, how most would remember? Only with a bit more of a tiredness to it, maybe.

Though, that’s not taking away from how serious he looks as he speaks. ]

... and, while Goro is right about all of that, there is one more detail I feel should be taken into account. Shido isn’t a good person, but he’s well-aware of that now. He’s done unforgivable things, but his eyes were opened to all of it after his ass was kicked.

[ JUST SAYING… ]

Anyway, nobody has to worry about him. Besides, he knows if he tried anything, he’d have to answer to all of us from his world, and then some.

[ JUST SAYING... ]

[This is the point where Goro takes his tablet back, looking a bit huffy.]

It’s true, he isn’t likely to be a threat now. But he absolutely doesn’t deserve anyone’s kindness or sympathy.

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Akechi. The brunt of the sins you think you carry are mine. Do not confuse my crimes for yours when you were threatened with your life to participate.

My life?

[He covers his face, letting out an unsteady chuckle.]

My life was never in question. I knew from your first demand that I wasn't getting out of things with my life. The only question was if I died then and there, or survived to take you down before your flunkies retaliated.

[...fucking hell, child...]

You were without parental figures for most of your life to teach you the value of your own life. To teach you the value of many things. To make your childhood a happy one.

You are not responsible for how things turned out. The failure is mine.

Plenty of people impressed on me the value of my life. Some orphan bastard who doesn't even have the good sense to keep his head down and unquestioningly obey authority...it's the mask I wear that people consider valuable. The perfect Detective Prince, polite and respectful...

[More broken laughter.]

Gold plated shit is still shit, you just have to look past the outer layer to see it. And that was only a matter of time...so really, the only value I had was my ability to ruin you!

You're such a sharp young man, and yet you let the words of others who barely knew you determine your worth?

What of the people here, who actually know who you are? Is that what they think of you?

The people I'm close to now are...exceptional. Most of the ones who know the full truth about me aren't here. The ones who do...heh. They're why I'm here right now.

[He's not even really exaggerating. If not for them, he can't be sure he would have taken the job of Composer.]

They're the reason I'm not hiding behind that mask as much, anymore. Because you're right, it is stupid to give such a damn about people I don't even know. But before Akira, nobody gave a damn about me! And even him...hahaha...what's it matter if someone cares when you're supposed to kill him, anyway? And living a life where you're nothing to everybody is torturous. Even if the public's adoration was shallow, it was something! It was the closest I came back then to feeling like I was somehow important, after everyone who should have cared abandoned me!

[...hearing Goro's pain is far worse than any admonishment the boy could muster up. He briefly closes his eyes before opening them back up.]

And yet now you're clearly cared for. Are you going to keep letting your past define you?

What does it matter to you? It's not like you ever knew me, either.

[Somewhere, under the anger, a hint of honest pain shows through in his voice.]

[. . . ah.

His grip tightens on the device a bit.]

I know. But it does matter. I don't have an answer for why, exactly. There's many things I'm still trying to figure out.

But you are my son. The responsibility falls to me to guide you on the right path. I may not yet be certain what path that is or how to do it. But you have my word that I will keep trying until I succeed or until my dying breath.

Hah...and why should I listen to any of your advice, when you're the one who forced me onto such a horrific path to begin with?

Because this time I have your best interests in mind.

[Logically, he knows it's true. With the change of heart, Shido should regret everything he's done and at least want to fix what he broke. Unfortunately, emotions don't always listen to logic.]

A little late for that, isn't it? You've already ruined my future. I could be charged of either participating in or abetting any of your crimes. And you're well-informed when it comes to ways to discredit and remove nuisances...I'm sure you know what the conviction rate is for defendants in our country.

[...he probably should have done this ages ago, but he's switching to private.]

Then if there ever comes a time where you are tried in court and I am present for it, I will make the case that you were coerced and threatened, and unable to make sound judgment due to your trauma. There is... little I can do for your reputation, but I can keep you out of jail at the very least.

[Honestly, he should've thought to do this ages ago. But he wasn't exactly running stable enough to think to keep his admissions private.]

My reputation and job were lost causes, anyway. The person the public adored never really existed, and I'm sick of living a lie for shallow approval...and I faked my way past the mental evaluation to join the police force. Even the most lenient outcome would involve me being declared unfit to serve.

[A short pause.]

What you're offering is only likely to work if you also tell them that you would have had my targets killed even if I'd refused. The coercion defense doesn't accept multiple lives sacrificed to save one.

As I did. And that is what I will tell them.

And I will fight with everything I have to see that it works out in your favor.

Well then, I hope these promises also apply to the version of you in my timeline. Unless you remember me disappearing for a month around when I was supposed to kill Akira, I'm a different Akechi.

And if you do, I'll be sending you the bill for cleaning my ransacked apartment and the missing gun.

[His breath catches a little in his throat, face paling a bit. He draws in a breath, closing his eyes.]

You are... no longer with us, in my world... If what the Metaverse being told me was true.

That's what Akira said about his timeline. The version of me there tried to stop your change of heart, so he could take revenge personally...and your Cognitive version repaid the favor by killing him when he lost to the Phantom Thieves.

It sounds like you had quite the interesting mental image of me.

[He states it so bluntly that Shido can't help but wince at the words. He killed him, he killed his own son.

It tears through him all over again. Because of his carelessness, because of his callousness, because of everything, he killed the only son he ever knew.]

I did, I... I had no concept of the value of a human life. Not even my own son's.

Right now I am a pathetic and broken man with an ugly heart. But if nothing else... I want to make up to you all those lost and painful years. But perhaps there is some merit to what the others are saying. I don't want to make things worse for you anymore than I already am.

[He'd expected this to be satisfying, but...it's just pathetic. The apology felt good, but this...it's just going over what he already knows. What they both already know.]

...If you really want to make it up to me...start with working to counter those years I spent fending for myself. Those years she spent working herself to the bone for the child whose mere existence ruined her life.

All this time, I've wanted you to feel the despair she felt because you inflicted a child on her. Even with the truth about her death, I still want you to know how it feels to push yourself to exhaustion just to get by in the world.

[Because you inflicted a child on her. Those are the words that cut the deepest. That Akechi sees himself as an infliction.]

... then I will work myself to the bone. But Akechi... your mother did love you.

[He's done enough damage here. He won't be responding after this.]

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Calling the Old Man Out

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