Chapter Text
HOW CURIOUS.
OF ALL THOSE TO REACH OUT TO ME
YOU WERE THE LAST I WOULD EXPECT.
WHAT HAVE YOU COME TO ME SEEKING?
...
I SEE.
YOUR DESIRE IS CLEAR TO ME.
BUT YOU MUST UNDERSTAND
TO SEVER THAT A CONNECTION
AND UNDO SUCH A TRAGEDY
IS NOT A SIMPLE TASK.
...
ANYTHING?
INTERESTING.
VERY, VERY INTERESTING.
SUCH DESPERATION...
...
VERY WELL.
I HAVE HEEDED YOUR RESOLVE.
BUT IN RETURN,
I REQUIRE A TASK OF YOU.
...
THERE IS A WORLD
ON THE BRINK OF DEATH
OF WHICH I AM RATHER
INVESTED IN.
...
YOU GUESS CORRECTLY.
...
WORRY NOT.
YOU SHALL NOT BE ALONE
IN YOUR MISSION
AND WHEN YOU RETURN TO YOUR HOME
YOU WILL HAVE LOST NO TIME.
...
I SHALL TAKE CARE
OF IDENTIFICATION.
...
UNITE WITH YOUR ALLIES
SEEK THE RED-LIT REALM
DEFEAT THE PRISON'S WARDEN
AND SAVE THE BROKEN SOUL.
...
YES, I BELIEVE THAT IS ALL.
I SHALL SEE YOU ONCE MORE
WHEN YOUR MISSION IS COMPLETE.
GOOD LUCK.
...
AH, I NEARLY FORGOT.
ONE LAST DETAIL.
WHEN YOU ENTER THIS OTHER WORLD,
YOUR FRIENDS' BODIES WILL-
[Connection Severed]
Goro often bounced back and forth on whether or not he hated school.
It was tedious, yes, but every time he saw himself on top of that Grade List, it filled him with a perhaps-unreasonable level of pride. But it was taking time away from other things he could be doing, like training in Palaces, or solving crimes he didn't actually cause, or doing all of next week's homework while enjoying the music at Jazz Jin.
Either way, it wasn't like it was something he could just... Drop out of. He had a reputation to uphold, and he'd be cold on the ground before The Second Coming Of The Detective Prince became a high school dropout.
(He wasn't even sure why he bothered trying to keep his grades up, sometimes. It wasn't like he'd ever go to college, since his life would most likely end not long after-)
Thump!
Goro stumbled as he heard the sound of something scattering across the ground. He caught himself, then turned to see Kosei Academy's other local celebrity, Hifumi Togo, desperately trying to pick up the dozens of wooden Shogi pieces he has inadvertedly made her drop.
Goro sighed, then kneeled down to help her.
It didn't take long before the pieces were all gathered and placed back in their box where they belonged. Togo bowed to Goro with a grateful smile, and asked him if he doesn't mind holding the door to the closet open for me, pretty please, my hands are full?
Yes, he absolutely minded.
"No, I don't mind at all!"
So, like the Good Person he pretended to be, he followed her over to the closet, pulled the handle, and froze as the temperature of the room dropped several degrees.
He stepped around the door, and stared into the endless expanse.
"...Y-you're seeing this too, right?" Togo asked, and Goro didn't respond because he was seething inside, because of course he was going to have a mostly-free day for the first time in weeks and it just had to be ruined by Metaverse bullshit.
"...Stay here," Goro said, pretending to act as the brave gentleman in order to keep Togo from stumbling upon something she shouldn't, because it was rare that a celebrity actually gave a shit about what they were a celebrity for, and he respected her for that, and it'd really be a shame to have to kill her.
Goro stepped into the former closet, carefully making his way through the darkness, making sure he didn't accidentally step off a ledge.
He waited for his clothes to transform. They never did. He waited so long, in fact, that when he heard Togo cry out "Akechi!?" from what sounded like far away, he turned around and saw that she was at least a hundred meters away.
"I believe," he shouted back, trying to mask his slowly-rising panic with a pleasant friendly-for-TV-Pleasant-Boy joke, "that this closet may be broken!"
Unfortunately, Togo seemed to take that as an invitation to follow him. He grit his teeth. He needed to get her out of here before she passed a point of no return-!
The door slammed shut behind her. Togo let out a shocked squeak and dropped the box of Shogi pieces. Instead of landing on the flat, unseeable ground she and Goro were standing on, they just... Kept falling, and falling, and falling, until they had been swallowed by the darkness below.
Goro ran as fast as he could back to where the door had been, but when he thought he was about to impact with it, he just kept going, as though the wall had never existed at all.
He stumbled and fell in an embarrassing display. Togo offered to help him up, but Goro waved her off, pushing himself up to his feet...
Before the not-floor began to shake. Goro heard a gasp, and he looked towards Togo, who was bent over and grasping at her chest. Her eyes were wide, and glowing with red light.
Goro moved to do... Something. But it didn't matter. The floor disappeared, and they fell into the abyss.
The last thing Goro saw was a red, heart-shaped object plunge into Togo's chest-
And then Goro
Was consumed
By the darkness.