Dissonant Harmony [G. Akechi x Reader]

yonjuuni

2/17: guess who auditioned for music school 🥳 
3/28: guess who got into music school 🥳

"I hate that we can't even accurately answer these questions," I commented to Akechi when we walked into the first room of the test. "Consequences likely just lead us to shadows ready to attack or forced perspective changes."

"You're right about that, but I don't think I care how I'd truthfully answer. A stupid test like this doesn't prove anything." Akechi eyed the shadows around us warily. "It's scarier that so many people are falling for this shit."

Looking away from him, I examined the space. The room had been split in two, representing the two options of an answer we could give in the form of blue or red. At the center, there was a stand with the question.

I tap on the screen curiously, and a voice greets us positively, before continuing on with the scenario: "One day at school, you see that your good friend is being led away by a group of scary people! You want to help your friend, but if you fight them alone and lose, you could easily get hurt. If you go look for a teacher, there would be no danger to you, but if you don't succeed in time, your friend would most likely get hurt."

Neither answer is really wrong. . .

"Well?" Akechi asked. "If I know this man like I think I do, the answer stands out pretty clear."

"Since both situations help the friend, I believe he'd choose option B because it doesn't get him in harm's way. . . Self-beneficial without feeling bad for not helping."

Akechi nodded in return, and we headed to the red elevator. The platform rose and we carefully watched for any malicious creatures up ahead. When we were met with none, I let out a breath of relief in time with the announcement, "No abnormalities detected. Please proceed to the next room."

The next response had three answer choices, which was clearly in place to ebb out even more mentally unfit victims than a 50-50 choice ever would.

Noticing a loose vent above a bookshelf on the back wall, I nudged Akechi. "You think that'll lead to anything?"

"Not I think, I know." Akechi kneeled down after jumping up and offered me a hand. Grabbing hold of his hand, I suppressed a grin at the gentlemanly gesture.

The shelf shouldn't really be holding up two people, as seen by the way it groaned underneath our weight. Swaying slightly, I stepped back to steady myself, but met nothing but air. Panic flooded through both of us, and he quickly reached down to my lower back to pull me up. Mask meeting mask, I'm as close as I can get without being poked by Akechi's.

"I'm really hating your mask right about now," I commented.

Instead of commenting, he shifted my body towards the next shelf over and sat me down on its edge. Gesturing towards the vents, he said "Ladies first."

"You just want to see my ass, don't you?"

"No further questions, please," Akechi smirked.

"Oh, well, when you put it that way-" I paused to smack him on the head. "I get a ten second head start."

He scoffed. Paying him no further mind, I crawled through to the other side, to find a control room. Lining each side were chairs and computer screens, while monitors hung from the rafters.

Pulling myself up to stand, I eyed the red and blue rooms on either side. Neither held a shadow and patients were just chatting with each other before exiting.

"Strange," Akechi began. "Even though I don't detect a shadow, I feel like one could just materialize at any moment."

We made our way back down and towards the question screen. It lit up familiarly, and greeted, "Good to see you again! Here is the second question: You have a personal dream that you really, really want to make come true. You've worked so hard to achieve it, but it's just not coming true." The automated voice paused, giving us time to process. "It's causing you a lot of grief, but if you were to give up now, all of your hard work is sure to be for nothing. What will you do? A: Keep up the hard work. B: Do whatever it takes. C: Give up for a new dream."