Chapter Text
February 2016, Inaba
“Damn brat… I’ll sue!”
Akira Kurusu - 09 April 2016, Shibuya
Akira Kurusu’s life up to now had been… well, maybe not the best so far, but not terrible. Sure, he was orphaned at 12, but he had been happy in quiet Inaba, living with his uncle Ryotaro, Ryotaro’s daughter Nanako, Akira, and (sometimes) their cousin Yu. He had always been close with Yu. They both had been born in Tokyo, and both been sent to Inaba and the Dojimas. Yu spent a year there, forged great friendships, and returned to Tokyo. Barely a month later, Akira came to Inaba, although his stay would be permanent. And then, a year after he had come under his uncle’s wing, Yu had returned, receiving a hero's welcome. Akira had been astonished and mystified by the many people who turned up to see Yu. Over the next three years, Akira grew to know them all. Yu was the golden boy of the family, adored by everyone he met. Naturally, Akira worshipped the ground he walked on.
Eventually, Yu graduated from Inaba’s tiny college and returned to Tokyo to take a new job at a newspaper. Akira was fifteen, and quickly found himself rudderless and drifting in the absence of his adoptive older brother. He coasted toward the end of his first year of high school until it happened. Coming home from a late visit to the shopping district, he happened upon a man forcing a woman into a car. Something within had called out to Akira and pleaded with him to put a stop to this. Akira answered, or at least he tried to. The man drunkenly tripped and sued Akira for assault. The case was incredibly flimsy, but the man had a lot of influence in the government, and the judge was all too happy to side with a powerful politician over some kid from the sticks. Akira was put on probation, and his school expelled him. In doing so, he was banished from his family and home. It was only by sheer dumb luck that he was accepted for transfer to a school in Tokyo, and even more luck that his uncle managed to find an old college friend he could stay with.
So here he was, on a train due to arrive soon in Tokyo. The ride itself had been pretty boring, and Akira had spent most of it sleeping. He had deleted some strange app on his phone, a red eye adorning its app icon, its origins unknown. He debated texting Yu but decided against it. He didn’t think Yu would be angry at him for what had happened (Uncle Ryo, an actual cop, had mostly not cared), but he was not ready to find out. At long last, the train pulled into the station, and his stop was announced.
When the train doors opened, Akira got out and found himself in the largest train station he had seen in years. He wandered around and barely managed to find his way to a poster map for directions. All he knew was the line he was supposed to board and the stop he was supposed to get off at. Unfortunately, there was some sort of delay and his train wasn’t due for thirty minutes, so Akira had some time. Well , he thought, I might as well explore while I wait .
It was… overwhelming. Akira wandered the main strip of Shibuya for a few minutes, quickly realizing that this single street - probably one of hundreds in the city - put Inaba’s shopping district to shame, even with the revival it had experienced in recent years. He decided to turn back after checking out a bookstore and remembering that he was broke. Akira quickly found his way back to the main crossing and train station. While he crossed the main street he glanced down at his phone for a moment to check the time, but instead, his attention was drawn to a strange app on his phone. The red eye from before was back, identical to when it had appeared before, but he was sure he had deleted it. The app icon pulsed for a moment. Puzzled, he looked up - and froze. Time had stopped at the Shibuya crossroads. People mid-step in the middle of the street, talking animatedly, all frozen in place. Akira glanced around. The same everywhere. Everything was still. He turned around, facing back the way he had come. His eyes went wide as he saw a being of blue flame hovering in the walkway. A fiendish smile, staring right at him. A flash of yellow eyes, a figure that looked a lot like him. He blinked, and it was all gone. Shibuya was alive once more.
That was weird. Am I hallucinating?
Akira deleted the app once more, for good measure.
Yongen-Jaya
Yongen-Jaya, Akira quickly discovered, was a dense neighborhood just outside Shibuya with an almost maze-like layout. It wasn’t the nicest area, but Akira could tell it was a pleasant place, with a sort of worn-down, lived-in feel. As Akira wandered through the narrow alleys searching for his new guardian’s house, he was slightly surprised by the familiarity of the atmosphere. It almost felt like… home. It only took a couple of minutes for Akira to find the house, but the door was locked and the house appeared empty. It took a few minutes, but he eventually remembered the instructions Uncle Ryo had told him before he had boarded the train from Inaba earlier that day. “He says to meet him at his café, Leblanc Coffee and Curry.” Armed with this new knowledge, Akira quickly found it, a small and unassuming building with a red-and-white awning.
Well, this doesn’t look too terrible, Akira mused to himself, walking up to the door.
Akira entered a small room, just dusty enough to feel home-like, although the dark walls and simple decor made him wonder if he had ended up in the 1970s. On the left wall, there were three tables, with booth chairs flanking them. On the right, was a counter, behind which there was a small work area and a shelf with many dark glass jars. Akira couldn’t read any of the labels from the doorway, but based on the scent of coffee that permeated the room, he had a pretty good idea of what they contained. Two people sat at the stools in front of the counter, a man with half-moon glasses and a small black goatee, idly reading a newspaper, and a teenager with shoulder-length brown hair, quietly sipping a cup of coffee. The boy looked like Akira might’ve seen him somewhere before, but the man noticed Akira before he could think about it too much.
“Oh, right.” The man put his paper aside. “I forgot that was today,” the man sighed, standing up to face Akira. “So, you’re Kurusu?”
Akira nodded. “That’s me. Are you Sakura-san?”
The man sighed a bit. “Uh-huh, that’s me, and call me Sojiro or Boss. You’ll be here for the next year. You know, you don’t look like a criminal, but you should know that I’m only doing this as a favor to your uncle. Ah, right. this is Goro Akechi,” Sakura - no, Boss said, motioning to the coffee-drinking boy. “He lives with me too.”
“Hello there,” Akechi said, introducing himself with a smile.
“Hey wait, aren’t you that guy on TV? The ‘Second Detective Prince’ or something?” Akira said, recognizing the name from the press conferences Uncle Ryo sometimes watched.
“Indeed, I am, Although I could hardly compare to my predecessor. Even if we occasionally work the same cases, Shirogane-san is much more skilled than I am,” Akechi responded lightly.
“Huh, I guess it would make sense that you know Naoto.”
Akechi lifted an eyebrow quizzically. “I do indeed. As do you, if the use of a given name is any indication.”
“Yeah, Naoto’s kind of a family friend - I can tell you a bit if you’d like.”
Akechi now looked incredibly curious. “I do not mean to pry, but I will admit to some curiosity.”
“Uh-huh,” Sojiro interrupted, rubbing his neck. “Before you two get to know each other, I should show you your room. Follow me, kid.”
Sojiro led Akira up a set of stairs in the back of the café to a dusty, cluttered attic that had a makeshift bed in one corner.
“This is your room… Sorry you can’t stay at the house, I don’t have enough space for another person. I set a bed up, but I didn’t have time to do the rest. I’ll be leaving after I lock up each day. You’ll be alone at night, but don’t do anything stupid. Kid… your uncle told me what happened. It sounds like you got a bad break, but you were able to get a second chance. Don’t mess it up.”
“What about Akechi? Does he live here too?” Akira asked.
“He lives at the house with me. By the way, we’ll be going to Shujin tomorrow to fill out your transfer paperwork and introduce ourselves to the staff. Be ready to leave early.” He paused for a moment. “Ah, what else? Right. Your stuff got here earlier today. I brought it up here for you,” he finished, motioning to a half-dozen cardboard boxes in the middle of the room. Without another word, he left the room.
Akira glanced at his luggage and sighed. Akira took a brief moment to consider his situation before returning to the café. Sojiro seemed like a nice man, albeit curmudgeonly, but if Uncle Ryo trusted him then so did Akira. In addition, Sojiro had made it pretty clear that he didn’t care about what Akira did as long as he didn’t get into trouble. At the very least, Akira was grateful for the large attic space he had, even if it wasn’t in a great state. That could easily be fixed with a few days of cleaning. Akechi, on the other hand, was interesting. For one, he was a semi-famous TV detective. He also knew Naoto, which struck Akira as kind of funny. His contemplation complete, he headed down the stairs back to the café.
When he returned to the café area, it was just as empty as before. Sojiro was cleaning a table, while Akechi had returned to the counter and was reading from a pile of paper. Akira took the seat to his left. “What’re you reading?” he asked the other boy.
“Homework. I am still in high school, after all,” Akechi answered with a wry smile.
“Huh,” Akira responded. He had assumed he was reading a case file.
“I need a break,” Akechi complained, putting his paper down. “Naoto Shirogane? How do you know them?”
“They’re a high school friend of my cousin,” Akira responded. “When I went to live with my uncle, he and all his friends kind of adopted me,” Akira sighed. He’d miss all of them.
“It’s oddly refreshing to know that Shirogane was once a high schooler. How did they meet? From what I know of his early career, he never really took a break from his work.”
“He didn’t. Have you heard of the Inaba foggy day killings a few years ago? He met my cousin while investigating that case. I think my cousin might have even helped out a bit, although I’m not sure about the details.”
“Interesting,” Akechi mused. “Shirogane-san and I have been collaborating on a case recently, perhaps I should mention you.”
“Nah, you don’t have to do that,” Akira mumbled, slightly at a loss for words. “I don’t want to distract him.” Akira decided that it was time to end the conversation. “Well, I suppose I should go clean up that attic now. It was nice to meet you, Detective.”
“Yes, you as well,” Akechi nodded politely. “I should probably be on my way as well,” the teen said, taking his leave.
Akira returned upstairs. Over the next few hours, he did his best to turn the cluttered attic into a decent living space. It would probably require another day or two to look through and organize everything, but at least he had cleared some floor space and removed the thick layer of dust over everything. While he worked, his thoughts returned to Akechi. He had been a perfectly pleasant person, but something seemed slightly off about his demeanor. He was probably hiding something. Makes sense, Akira thought as he placed his boxes on a shelf. He had just met Akechi, and if Rise had taught him anything, it was that celebrities were usually different people in public and in private. When the room was mostly dust-free, Akira laid down on the bed (which was just a mattress on top of some old boxes), and opened up his phone.
Waiting on his phone were texts from Uncle Ryo, Nanako, and Yu, but Akira didn’t want to deal with those right now. He had embarrassed and disappointed all of them. He didn’t deserve them anymore, as wrong as the whole thing had been. But he still knew that they were family, and they believed him. He had to own up to it. Akira shrugged and decided to risk it.
~Direct Messaging: Akira & Yu~
[12:05] Yu: You’re arriving in Tokyo today, right?
[15:30] Yu: Let me know when you get here.
[21:15] Akira: Hi Yu. I’m here and safe. You’re not mad at me, right?
[21:17] Yu: Why would I be mad at you?
[21:20] Akira: About what happened.
[21:21] Yu: Not at all. I haven’t heard most of the specifics, but from what I do know, it doesn’t sound all that convincing. And you’re not the kind of guy to attack someone like that.
[21:23] Akira: Thanks.
Akira is typing…
[21:27] Akira: I needed to hear that.
[21:30] Yu: It’s no problem at all. Have you told Uncle Ryotaro and Nanako that you’re there?
[21:40] Akira: Honestly, I’m exhausted, I’m probably just going to pass out once I’ve filled you in.
[21:41] Yu: Alright, get some rest. I’ll let them know.
[21: 41] Akira: Thanks.
[21:42] Yu: So how’re you settling in?
[21:42] Akira: It’s fine so far. My guardian seems grumpy, but probably not bad.
[21:44] Yu: That’s good to hear. I’m sorry I couldn’t afford to give you a place to stay.
[21:44] Akira: It’s fine.
[21:46] Yu: I know, but I still feel bad. I’ll probably visit the cafe you’re staying in on Monday, Uncle Ryotaro gave me the address.
[21:48] Akira: Okay. I should probably get to bed, Sakura-san and I are driving up tomorrow to meet the school staff.
[21:50] Yu: Good luck, and don’t get into too much trouble. Talk soon.
Tired but grateful that at least his family understood, Akira closed his messages. Then, utterly exhausted, he closed his eyes and almost immediately fell fast asleep.
Akira did not sleep well that night, his sleep plagued by strange dreams of blue prisons, long-nosed men, and aggressive little girls. Their warnings of ruin and threats of rehabilitation unnerved Akira in a way he could not explain, and even though he knew it was just a dream, deep down, a voice in the back of his head warned him that it was very very real.
“Hmmm…”
“Yes?”
“I sense the game will begin shortly. We must begin to enact our plan. Brother, have you discovered the identities of either of the players?”
“No.”
“Very well... Sister, have you learned anything about the condition of your former guests?”
“I think it’s possible to liberate them but I don’t know how. Perhaps another bond could do the trick?”
“Hmmm, then my guest will have to do for now. I shall visit him tonight. Perhaps he can aid us.”