The Aeon Arcana

Three Million Yen

Tuesday, June 14th. After School.

On top of feeling like garbage from three nights of lack of sleep and your pulled leg muscle making you try your hardest not to limp, you now felt a horrendous paranoia when just walking through your school hallways. Everyone saw your outburst. Everyone knows you're dating Akechi. And everyone knows you have "competition". The drama was the talk of the school. 

Yusuke took you aside. "Did you see the group chat? We were going to meet today. Would you like to come?"

"Um…" Akechi was at the back of your mind. However, meeting with the others wouldn't hurt, and he was at work, so…

"Sure," you agreed. "Let's head on over together. Er…where are we going?"

"We meet in the Tiekyu Building Accessway," explained Yusuke.

"In a public Accessway?!" You cried. Yusuke's legs were even longer than Akechi's and keeping up with his stride was a nightmare.

Yusuke slowed down a bit. "...I suppose it isn't wise to meet in public…"

"You need to convince Goro to join you," you said. "He'd keep all of you out of trouble."

"Yes, well, he also would throw one of those passive aggressive or just plain aggressive fits of his if we tried to do anything unlawful," Yusuke sighed. 

"I'm…sorry about him," you apologized.

"Don't apologize on your lover's behalf," said Yusuke. 

"He's so horrible to all of you and you don't deserve it," you said.

"I have been meaning to ask, outside his physical appearance, what attracts you to him? You cannot keep overlooking his flaws just because of his pretty face. You don't strike me as that shallow." Yusuke's face was serious.

You thought for a bit, trying to find the right words. "He respects me and my boundaries. Sometimes it might seem like he's being pushy, but he normally backs off if I have a conversation with him about it. He also cares about my well-being and he doesn't constantly tell me I'm a horrible person."

"This is incredibly bare minimum," Yusuke said with a sour expression. 

"He protects me. I feel safest with him," you continued. "He's funny too. Just, a lot of his humor is lost when he…" You didn't finish. There was a lot about Akechi you weren't sure if he wanted you to share it with others.

"When he what?" Yusuke wasn't going to let it go.

"When he's faking his personality," you said, relenting and just wanting to get it off your chest. "The Goro you see on TV, that's not real. Like, at all. He lives this double life desperately trying to pretend to be someone he's not to preserve his image at school, work, and TV. He's a very sad, sullen, and lonely kind of person. He also swears a lot." You refused to betray Akechi's Featherman habit.

"Why bother with the image?" Yusuke asked. "Faking your image for fame is only going to hurt those around you." You could tell this struck a nerve with Yusuke, and you knew why.

"He…he does it for a reason," you said. You sighed. "Anyway…did I answer your question better?"

Yusuke's brow furrowed. "It seems like something's missing from this picture…like an unfinished painting."

"Now that you mention it…" It did feel like something was missing from you and Akechi's relationship. Even when you were as close as you could possibly be with another human being to Akechi in bed, you still felt like there was something missing. Maybe it was because Akechi hadn't told you he loved you yet? But his actions and other words really didn't make you feel like you needed to hear them.