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I-I-I'm...I'm fine! I just love...uh...spicy-spicy stuff...Haha...hah...
Given that Goro’s coughing fit continues for the next few minutes, it was obvious that he did not love spicy stuff. To think that one spicy takoyaki could bring an eighteen year old boy to tears.
Despite having a hand on stairs railing (yes, Goro thought going downstairs to the first floor was going help his problem in some way or form) Goro knew he was moments away of falling down onto his knees. His mouth is still on fire, and his legs were still slightly shaking. Goro wishes he could talk, because what he desperately needs is a drink. But all Goro can do is just stare downward, hoping that his coughing fit would subside. He’s embarrassed enough as it is already.
“It looks like you need some water,” calls out a friendly voice.
Not long after that, a man’s hand suddenly enters Goro’s view of vision. True to their words, there’s a water bottle. Goro snatches the bottle, stands up, and chugs the bottle dry and empty like he’s a desperate alcoholic in need of beer.
“Ah!”
Upon finishing the bottle, Goro looks up at the ceiling, taking a few breathes in and out. His mouth is less on fire, being more of a tingling sensation of something hot. Such sensation reminiscence Goro the time Mom overcook several frozen buns in the microwave. Mom laughed at Goro for blindly eating one before it cool down to a more reasonable temperature.
“Are you feeling better, Akechi-kun?”
“I’m feeling much better! Thank you so much —” Goro transforms his mouth into his charming detective prince smile. It would be rude of Goro to not see the kind gentleman’s face. Sure, Goro always put on his most desirable behavior for the adults, but this is something Goro wouldn’t have to half-ass it; this time it would be genuine.
“For the— Huh?”
Other than a gaggle of girls giggling out of control —no doubt from seeing their favorite celebrity in a moment of weakness— and a plain looking woman with glasses frowning at the girls, there was no man in sight. Goro looks down both direction of the hallway, and frowns. While there are few male teachers and the school nurse in proximity, none were even close for Goro to think they would help him out.
As Goro shrugs his shoulders, the teenager decides to continue looking around the Shujin School Festival and avoid any food that seems appetizing. Now, if Goro wasn’t a famous detective with high celebrity status, he would have question why the man knew his name.
“While I’m not a huge fan of chocolate,” says Takuto, ripping the bag of Kit Kats open, “I’ll admit I can eat a full bag non-stop until I get myself a stomach-ache.”
The fifteen year old in front of Takuto didn’t say anything. He didn’t even move from his position of resting his head on his left hand. Despite a neutral face expression, Takuto could see the boy eyes wandering to the bag.
“I used to like Matcha, but now I’m particularly fond of Shinshu Apple. Something about them makes me enjoy them over all the others,” continues Takuto, pouring the candies into a plastic bowl. “Is there a flavor you’re especially fond of?”
“… Not really. I do like the sound they make when I break them apart.”
Aha! Akechi-kun speaks! “Is that so?” Takuto pushes the bowl towards the middle of the table.
“Yes. I find the sound soothing.”
“Well, since you’re impartial to taste, I think you will enjoy the regular Milk Chocolate.”
Akechi widen his eyes, and he quickly straightens up in his seat. He lifts his head from his hand, and blinks at Takuto in confusion. “Are you saying I can have them?”
“If you want to. The decision is ultimately up to you.” Takuto places his hands onto the table.
Akechi quickly grabs the bowl and pulls it close to his chest. He takes a quick look at Takuto, as if he’s waiting for the man to change his mind. When it became obvious to Akechi that Takuto truly meant what he said before, Akechi quickly picks one of the individually wrapped chocolates, and rips off the wrapper. With a shine in his eyes, the boy breaks apart the chocolate wafer — horizontally, then vertically.
That’s right. Instead of breaking them vertically down the center to have two pieces of candy like most of the population, the teenager breaks them into four pieces. Four pieces.
Akechi-kun did say he likes the sound more, thought Takuto, watching the teenager open another individually wrapped candy, repeating his previous actions.
“Are you certain there’s a record of No More What Ifs?”
“That’s correct,” answers Goro. He and Amamiya were talking over their phone, the latter make a nonchalant comment about wanting wishing for a recording of titled song, and Goro just happened to know something.
“As it turns out, No More What Ifs was given a limited released on vinyl. Unfortunately, their last copy was sold out months ago.”
“That sucks. I really would have like a record of it.”
“You have no record player. And they’re rather expensive, even at a bargain price.”
“Even if I can’t listen to it,” replies Amamiya, “I would rather have a physical copy and not listen to it than forgetting the song later down the road.”
Goro gets a nagging feeling of possible regret in the future, but it is possible said feeling may be because he hasn’t eaten anything yet. “Well believe it or not, I have an old record player. If I look online, I could find someone selling their copy, and we can listen together at your place.”
“You do? Will you?”
“Yes, on all accounts. Thinking to what you said, it would be a shame to forget the song as well. It’s extremely catchy, and the lyrics speak out in a way I can’t explain.”
“That’s great. Say Akechi, if you don’t mind me asking, why do you have a record player?”
“The record player was my mother’s,” replies Goro, before mentally telling himself I got to stop opening up to Amamiya too easily. “After she died, I was able to collect a few of her belongings and take them with me. Adults found it annoying I took that so call hunk of junk with me, and kept on begging me to throw it away. But…”
“It holds great sentimental value to you,” finishes Amamiya.
“Indeed. There were times I thought clinging onto something in the past would be pointless, but to think it finally has a purpose other than collecting dust. Now that I think about it, my mother was a bit of a jazz fan. She would play jazz music when cleaning up, or when I needed to sleep at night. Most of the time though, my mother would play jazz music right before asking me to go to the bath house.”
Amamiya is the one who is now silent. Goro can’t help but think about to their conversation at the bathhouse, and if the quietness is related to it. “…Is that so?”
“Huh-uh. I didn’t know why she liked jazz. Now that I’m older, I think I can hypothesize why she would play them. But as I said before, it’s extremely catchy. Maybe she just likes how it sounds.”
“I see. …Akechi?”
“What it is?”
“I am glad you trust me enough to reveal something of your childhood. But the more I think about it…”
“That childhood fact was something I should have talk to someone else, like a therapist?”
“Yes! Like talking to a therapist! I mean, what if you got traumatize by almost walking in on your mother and her clients to where you needed to talk to an adult about it?”
“To be honest, I saw a therapist once, due to my foster parents. They were obsessed on finding something wrong with me. We talked, but nothing about my mother, or my father for that matter. In fact, after getting the clear, my foster parents threw me back into an orphanage before my first year of high school, just as a precaution.” Goro pauses for a bit before continuing.
“In regards to getting traumatize, my mother told me a soften version of the truth that I could accept easy. She also took great precaution when she had to invite clients over. Even if I come home early, I couldn’t let myself in. She never gave me a key to do so.”
Akechi has a total of 48 pieces of broken Kit Kats resting on its wrappers. After breaking the last piece, Akechi decides to eat them, putting two pieces into his mouth nonstop, similar to a squirrel trying to carry as much food it can in its cheeks.
When Akechi swallows the last piece of chocolate, he stops, and plays with the empty wrapper. The sound fills up the room. Takuto shifts in his seat, wondering if Akechi will speak up again.
“You know, when my mom was still alive, she gave me money to go the bathhouse, sometimes at night,” says Akechi. “There was always extra money left over. I usually use them to buy a drink and snack. It was enough to buy some cheap stuff. Kit Kats were sometimes the cheapest stuff stores have on them.”
“In that case, surely you had a flavor you enjoy eating as a child.”
“Like I said before, I like the sound they make when I break them apart.”
Akechi turns his attention back to Takuto. “Mom always cried and yelled at me upon realizing I didn’t buy them for myself, but for her. Said she can take care of herself, but….” Akechi crumples the wrapper in his hand, his hand a tight fist. “But I wanted to help her. I needed to help her. I don’t think she noticed, but she was always tired, grumpy, and hungry after they leave. I figure it was my way to show that I love her.”
“That’s rather admirable. Most boys I know aren’t that dutiful to their mother. And here you are sacrificing what she wanted what was originally for you. If you don’t my prying,” pries Takuto, “can you elaborate who are ‘they’?”
“…Male visitors. Special visitors. That what she calls them.” Akechi unclenches his hand, and throws the wrapper inside the bowl. “Mom was doing her best to shield me from the truth of her career. Maybe ‘sugarcoating’ the truth might be the better word. Ever since I was a child, I knew something was up when she asked me to go the bathhouse for awhile. No kind words then and now could hide the fact she was a prostitute.”
Takuto slowly tilted his head to the right and stares at Akechi. Akechi only stares back, with the former neutral expression back on his face.
Goro couldn’t help but stare at the record player with steeple hands. He has been eyeing the player sitting on the living room table, with the vinyl just begging to be play. While promising Ren they can listen to a copy of No More What Ifs, it’s too late to do such trivial matters.
Ren now knows the truth about Goro. Despite that quack of a doctor’s poor taste in trying to save his false reality, Ren didn’t fall for the man’s emotional appeal. Ren is going to accept the cruel reality as it is, and no one is going to dictate otherwise.
Goro is glad of it. He’s done with being manipulated by others. Goro wants to live his own path, and decides what he wants to do.
Goro sighs, and rubs his hands over his face. Even though Goro knows he should be getting some sleep, he wanted to listen to said particular song, just one last time.
Takuto Maruki’s name has been given to a desperate family from an overwork colleague. The family is a foster family, agreeing to be one out of the grief they couldn’t produce their own child.
The couple agreed to raise Goro Akechi, an orphan who lost his mother at a young age. Before entering their care, Akechi lived with a different foster family who ended up arrested on charges of child neglect, before living most of his childhood in an orphanage.
In the beginning, the foster family had little problems with him. Their decision to put Akechi into therapy came after being no longer to handle a half year worth of worrisome behavior from a fight one day after school. When Takuto asked for details of the fight —after they provide information about Akechi’s past— all what the parents could talk was the aftermath behavior.
“He’s withdrawn, avoids talking to people, and spends little time outside in public.”
“Excluding school, he barely leaves the house unless he asks for our permission.”
“When we force him to eat, he eats very little.”
“He’s an anti-social teen who spends most of his time sleeping or reading things on his phone we gave on his fifteen birthday — a mistake on our part in hindsight.”
“Doctor Maruki, we fear whatever is going on, it’s somehow related to his birth mother!”
How did they come to that conclusion, Takuto isn’t sure. With what Takuto knows about Akechi’s past, he can say in a non-professional, personal opinion, there’s no way to draw up that conclusion either. In regards to a proper professional opinion, Takuto must at least meet the person before deciding anything. Granted, Takuto isn’t sure if he’s the right person for the job. Most of his patients suffered from depression and/or posttraumatic stress disorder.
What Akechi may be going though is an orphan teenager problem that justifies no needs of a therapist. To ease the couple’s mind, a free consultation would be given.
A wonderful thing about convenience store is that they’re…convenient. They have whatever you need at a moment’s notice be it toothbrushes, face wipes, drinks, and food. Unfortunately for Goro, his convenience store became a hot spot for a small group of fangirls always hoping to get a glimpse of him. Even going under disguise, they will eventually catch wind of Goro and chase after him.
Eventually, Goro resorts to riding bike to other convenience stores incognito, hoping that other fangirls won’t be as smart. While annoying, Goro admits he likes the exercise and fresh air, especially at night.
Wearing a red hoodie, black cap, and as much as he dislikes it —scruffy hair — Goro decides to ride his bike to a convenience store tonight. Ever since going to the bathhouse with Amamiya, Goro has been having frequent dreams of his childhood.
Somehow opening up that particular fact of his childhood struck a chord inside Goro. The phone conversation with Amamiya struck another chord.
As Goro walks up and down an aisle, he could only think back to what Amamiya brought up. Goro is certain he answered truthfully. Goro can remember the free consultation. They talked about Goro’s care with his foster parents, asking if they were treating Goro right. Goro remembered dancing around the subject of his mother. They didn’t even get around to the subject of Goro’s father.
“Me and my big mouth,” mutters Goro, as he walks down another aisle. This time was full of sweets and snacks, either in bags or boxes.
If Goro haven’t opened his damn mouth, he wouldn’t in this situation now. To think Goro trusted something so private with Amamiya. Goro has been fine without any support, and Goro plans on doing so. He was fine when discovering it was Shido who dumped his mother and Goro like trash. He was fine when deciding Shido should take ‘responsibility’ for everything he done. He was fine when even getting his powers!
So why do I feel anything but fine right now?
Goro gives out a groan, and looks towards one side of the aisle. They had bags of cheap chocolate. One such example of said chocolate is a bag of Milk Chocolate Kit Kats. Now, Goro is actually impartial to taste. He honestly enjoys the breaking sound they make.
Goro grabs a bag, and—
I think you will enjoy the regular Milk Chocolate.
- - -
Akechi’s neutral expression suddenly morphs into a frown. “Even though I love her, I can’t also help but hate her for putting me in my current situation.”
“Well…hating the only parent you ever known is understandable. She was a single mother before her death, correct? I’m not blaming you, but I can tell you know how stressful the situation was for your family, given her husband –your father- isn’t in the picture.”
“…Yeah. She was stressed out. When she thinks I was asleep, she would cry in the living room, saying how life was unfair, that she shouldn’t be in this position. One night…” Akechi pauses in his sentence, and closes his mouth. Speaking again, Takuto could hear the boy’s voice crack. “One night…I overheard her say she wished she never gave birth to me.”
Takuto doesn’t know how to answer that. So instead, he asks, “Akechi-kun…do you know the reason why you’re here today?”
“My foster parents told you about how oh so worried they are for their troubled son who changed after a terrible fight after school. I should make it clear now that it’s such total bullshit.” Akechi’s voice is no longer soft, but rough and crude.
- - -
Goro couldn’t help but stare at the bag in his hands.
Milk Chocolate. It was Milk Chocolate Kit Kats Goro ate in that free consultation. How could he forget it? It was the first time in months Goro was able to eat something without anyone taking the bowl or plate midway. Goro thought the therapist would have snatched it away, but he didn’t. The therapist from what Goro can recall is a nice man. In a way, he was like Amamiya . If Goro thinks about it hard enough, they almost look alike. The only thing that set them apart was—
Oh no . No, No, No, No, No, No, NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
- - -
“Did they also give you a brief rundown of my previous foster family or my time in the orphanage? About why I was neglected, or how I was treated by the other children?”
Takuto averts his eyes and focuses on a spot on the table.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes. Doctor Maruki, you seem like a genuine nice man. So I’ll ask you something, and do give me your honest answer. If a man and a woman are lovers, and if the man knocks the woman up, is he responsible for the welfare of both mother and child?”
“Yes. Any decent man with a shred of morals would take responsibility for his actions,” answers Takuto quickly, his eyes still on the spot on the table. “I know if I got my lover pregnant, I would do everything to help support the two. A quick marriage is honestly what I would do.”
“Hmph. I didn’t expect you to put yourself into this what if scenario. Guess it’ll make your next choice difficult. Who knows…maybe you and my father will have something in common.”
Takuto quickly lifts his head up, and stares at Akechi. The teenager pushes the plastic bowl towards Takuto’s direction, hitting him right and hard in the chest.
“Say that the woman has an unsavory job, and you two became acquaintances over said job. You and the woman know in her line of work, she would have become close friends with other men as well. If she tells you about the pregnancy, and is insisting that you are father, would you take responsibility?”
- - -
NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO –
Goro quickly shoves the bag of Kit Kats back onto the shelf, and starts running to find the exit. His eyes are blurry, and everything in his body feels sick. Goro honestly feels like he wants to puke right then and there on the floor. Everything in the store like it’s out of place, like someone messed with his life.
No. it wasn’t a feeling. Goro knows that something did in fact, messed with his life. Something help Goro convinced him to accept a sugarcoated truth about his mother….
Feeling the cold air blasting onto his face, Goro stands at the entrance and rubs his wet eyes, before frantically looking around for his bike.
- - -
By not answering fast enough, Takuto knows he fuck up.
“Akechi-kun, please come back to your seat! We can still talk about this!”
Takuto got out of his seat and runs after Akechi, who is dead set on walking out the door. The teenager pulls up his hoodie to cover his face, and stuff his hands into the pocket. It looks like Akechi is completely swallowed up by the darkness.
“What else is there to talk about?” Akechi’s voice is still rough and crude, but there’s an undertone, like he’s trying his best to not cry. “You answered exactly how I thought you would.”
“I didn’t even answer your question! What you asked me…I needed to think things over!”
“You didn’t think things over in my first question,” replies Akechi, pulling out one hand to reach the handle. “But the second I made her a prostitute, you clamped up. Just admit you would do the same thing like my father! Admit it you’ll ditch her out of paranoia she is using the kid to get a comfy life!”
Now, Takuto knows it’s wrong to slap someone’s hand from grabbing a door handle. However, he found it necessary to stop Akechi from leaving his office and doing who knows to himself and others, including his father. A son of a bitch Akechi’s father may be, Takuto doesn’t want to think Akechi may do something absolutely criminal.
“OW!” Akechi quickly withdraws his slap hand back into his pocket. “What was that for?”
“If you can just listen,” answers Takuto —who frankly at this point is going to throw professional manners and integrity out the window— grabs Akechi by his shoulders. “I will explain my hesitation from before. But you have to answer something in return. What makes you think your mother planned on using you to gain this so call comfy life?”
Akechi turns his head to the side. It’s hard to tell if Akechi is averting his eyes or not. “I found the identity of my birth father.”
“And?”
“I’m not giving you his name. There’s no way you can sweet talk him into raising me. You wouldn’t even be able to talk to him.”
Takuto can sense the man must have great prestige that makes him untouchable. Still… “Are you saying you stalked your father?”
Akechi pushes Takuto’s hands off. “Yeah, for about two weeks. He acts like a proper gentleman in public, but he’s the type that doesn’t seem to mind being extra-friendly with the lovely ladies at night. He probably hangs out with them enough to believe they’re not to be trusted.”
The teenager reaches out to grab the handle again, and Takuto slaps Akechi’s hand.
“Now what was that for?”
“You didn’t let me explain my hesitation,” answers Takuto, “and before you say anything else, I would prefer if we sit down at the table. It’ll be more comfortable for you to understand my reasoning there than standing up.”
After calming down a bit on the bike ride back, Goro finds himself resting on his bed, thinking about his repressed memories of the messed up conversation with the therapist.
Goro admits that he doesn’t remember what the two talked about when they made it back to the table. Whatever happened, something must have affected Goro’s memories to erase all of it, as well with many details of the consultation itself.
The fact Goro still doesn’t remember the man’s name is evidence Goro’s memories hasn’t fully return. The only thing Goro is certain of is the voice and looks. But with all what is happening between Goro and Amamiya –and by extensions with the Phantom Thieves– it’s possible the therapist’s resemblance to Amamiya may be Goro’s way of projecting all the anger and jealously to some innocent bystander who.
Goro figures he should probably take it out on Joker one-on-one to be sure of it though.
As Goro turns over onto his side, he now thinks about something more important: Shido, and Goro’s plan of revenge.
One in Goro’s position could in theory, call it quits– or at least tell the truth and hope for a painless death from Shido’s cleaner for recognizing Shido was grossly right to do what he did eighteen years ago. After all, given their society structure, it’s going to be the mother’s fault. She’s the one who got pregnant on the job. She’s the one who was trying to con a politician to give her the life on easy street with a baby that might not even be his.
But Goro isn’t going to quit. Unlike Shido –that good for nothing man– Mom tried to raise him.
Despite remembering everything, Mom didn’t have to keep Goro. She could have dropped him off at an institution the second he was born, forcing him a life where he can never be adopted. She instead raised him for years under the best circumstances given their social standing.
If Mom tried hard enough to raise Goro, Goro should try to take down Shido. Besides, it’s still that man’s fault for everything that happened to the two of them. Nothing will change that.
There was no way to overwrite Akechi’s knowledge of his mother’s profession. Akechi accepted it, and Takuto accepted it as well. What Takuto couldn’t understand was Akechi’s sour viewpoint of his mother. There was no doubt in Takuto’s mind the deceased Ms. Akechi loved her son.
Despite the hardship and stigmatism of raising a bastard on her own, there’s a reason she didn’t dropped off in an orphan institution after giving birth. All what Takuto did is give Akechi a chance to see it properly, free of what society has to say of women with Ms. Akechi’s profession.
Unlike Rumi, Akechi fell unconscious. By unconscious, Takuto meant ‘holy-shit-Akechi-slammed-his-head-onto-the-table-did-I-accidentally-killed-him’ unconscious. Takuto was overfilled with joy when Akechi finally woke up from his deep sleep.
Granted, Akechi’s eyes were barely open when ‘awake’. All Akechi could do in his current condition was muttered out under his breath was how his foster parents wanted to find something wrong with him for his recent behavior.
Just like Rumi, Akechi lost his memories of Takuto. Takuto didn’t felt as hurt or heartbroken over it though. He only knew the boy for a day after all. While finding himself greatly concern over Akechi and what possible harm his foster family will do in the future, Takuto didn’t think of needing to make Akechi a continuous patient that needed continuous care.
Takuto felt a bit upset and angry for not asking the foster family for at least one more session. Akechi’s foster family had apparently thrown Akechi on the streets, when Takuto finally saw Akechi a second time around.
However, Akechi in their second meeting was from a television screen. Akechi in their second ‘meeting’ was now a famous celebrity detective, who is love by everyone. Akechi’s new memories of his mother helped the boy persisted over hardships and ‘expectations’ of bastard children, and wiped away any rage over the sorry excuse of a father.
In a way, Takuto is proud at Akechi for becoming a young mature man, like any real parent should be. And Takuto can’t help but keeping an eye on events, like the following:
Akechi deciding to go after the Phantom Thieves, who Takuto knew at least three of said members’ identities, while suspecting all of the others?
Akechi and the Phantom Thieves –mainly Ren Amamiya- entering a game where one is the cat and mouse, though there’s no clear idea who is the cat and who is mouse, as well as clear winner (yet).
Akechi getting unlucky and eating the spicy takoyaki was a hilarious event.
Of course, if Takuto himself ate the spicy takoyaki and others were watching him choke, he wouldn’t find the whole situation humorous at all.
As such, Takuto found himself helping Goro Akechi again, just one more time.
“It looks like you need some water.”