Welcome To Hashi High: A Persona 3, 4, and 5 Crossover

Goro Akechi

After seeing Narukami stab some older man apparently named Adachi, as well as seeing the Shadow bleed, Akira figured he was ready for what Hokori would throw at them. But seeing Akechi in front of him, not dead, smiling almost sincerely... It set his skin on edge. He instinctively snarled, resentment sparking to life in his chest. The Thieves were shifting behind him, Ryuji even stepping forward to try and attack the brown haired teen. Akira held up his hand though, stopping the blond from advancing. I'll take care of this.

"I'm glad you haven't forgotten me. It'd be a shame if I was gone from your memories." Akira's head rapidly spun with flashes of Akechi, all the times he had seen the detective in the past year. "I can recall when we first met. That day in the studio." Akira's vision opened up to see the white corridors of the TV studio, Ryuji and Ann standing beside him. Akechi was in front of them, chattering about what Akira could only assume to be pancakes. The day he messed up.

"And conquering that palace together?" This time the casino rose in his view, the glaring lights flashing in the golden windows. It felt like so long ago since he had been there, slinking alongside the Shadows and gathering coins to reach the top. And Akechi was right there the entire time.

"The calling card was enjoyable to write with you." Akira's skin prickled. Something wasn't feeling right. It was hard to place his finger on it, but it was right at the tip of his tongue. The calling card? Akechi was there when they sent the calling card to Sae, but... There were memories Akechi was intentionally leaving out. That's right. A smirk found its way to his lips.

"I remember all of those times, Akechi." His voice was soft but controlled. "But there's something else that I remember." Akira blinked hard, the storage room returning to his vision. He could see Akechi's blazing yellow eyes up close now, just a foot away from the detective. Akira's fingers were wrapped around the blade of his dagger, offering the weapon to the Shadow. So close, but nice try. Akira felt pain sink into his hand as he gripped the blade. "I remember you pointing a gun to my head and pulling the trigger without remorse." His eyes were dark with rage and determination. "I remember you trying to kill us with every ounce of power you had. And.... I remember you dying." His voice rose with power. "You aren't real, and you never were!"

With a cry of anger, Akira planted a hard kick into the Shadow's gut, throwing it backwards. He flipped his dagger in his hand, ignoring the pain in his fingers. He pointed it up at Hokori defiantly. Fury blazed through him, but even stronger was his rebellion.

"Take me down now."

"Dammit! I tried to be nice that time and you still broke free!"

Akira turned his attention back to Akechi, who had gotten back to his feet. He pulled a long sword from behind him, and with a snarl, charged towards Akira. Ah hah. Nimbly, Akira flipped to the side, easily avoiding the swipe. Against a much more agile opponent, a long sword like that is almost useless. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he launched forward, sinking his knife into the Shadow's leg. There was a screech, and before Akira could retrieve his knife he had to dodge away. Akechi yanked the knife from his leg and sneered at Akira.

"What are you going to do without your precious knife?"

Akira didn't answer, instead he started focusing on his movements. He'd need his knife eventually, and he had an idea for how to get it back. He started moving backwards, closer and closer to the Phantom Thieves with each slash from Akechi. Despite being careful he winced as he felt a cut land on his arm. Damn! I need to get to Ryuji quicker! He smirked at Akechi, slouching his shoulders back in mock relaxation.

"Can't even kill one, defenseless Phantom Thief. You're even more useless than the real Akechi." Akira knew he was playing a dangerous game, taunting Hokori like this. Akechi yelled in rage and started swinging his sword with wild, imprecise strokes. Akira backpedaled faster, some of the slices getting dangerously close. Once he knew he was close enough to Ryuji he jumped back rather far and held his hand up.

"Ryuji!"

"I got it!"

Ryuji threw his bat to Akira, who caught it, wrapping his fingers firmly around the handle. With a scream of determination he slammed it into Akechi's sword. Akira had to admit that he didn't have the raw strength that Ryuji did, but he poured his body weight into the strike. It was enough to throw Akechi off balance. He left himself wide open. Akira swiftly kicked his knife from Akechi's hand and caught it, dropping Ryuji's weapon and flinging himself towards Akechi. He clenched his fingers tightly around the handle, the blade protruding from his fists and gleaming lethally in flickering lights. With a sharp cry he plunged the dagger deep into Akechi's forehead, right between his eyes. There was a horribly grotesque cracking noise, but Akira didn't stop. When the blade paused only halfway, he let out a furious growl and leaned more into the handle. More disgusting sounds ripped out through the room as he pushed the knife up to the hilt into Akechi's skull.

There was a long silence as Akechi fell to his knees. His sword clattered to the ground and his voice trembled slightly. "How... did you... defeat me?"

Akira yanked the blade from his head, blood splattering violently through the air. He felt some droplets land upon his cheeks. I needed a shower anyway. The blood on his knife dribbled onto the ground, pooling with the crimson that dripped from his fingers and palm. He was panting, chest heaving from the exertion. He turned his dark eyes up, directing his words at Hokori. "Because I don't die easily."

Hokori snarled in frustration. "Damn it all! You won't survive next time, I can promise you that!" He got up and laughed, causing that skull crushing pain to slice through Akira's head again. He struggled against the agony, digging his fingers into his hair. When it finally stopped he peeked through his hands to see another section of the storage room. The Phantom Thieves were gone, and the whole of S.E.E.S. had returned back to their side. Hokori was perched on a shelf, fists clenching on the rail.

"It's time to finally die!" Hokori laughed loudly. The Shadow this time was a young boy with glimmering yellow eyes and slicked back black hair. The other noticeable feature was a long yellow scarf wrapped gracefully around the boy's neck and shoulders. "Your adventure ends here. Presenting my strongest Shadow!"

Akira was unsure how this young boy was going to be the strongest Shadow, but looking at S.E.E.S. showed that this boy was someone they clearly knew. At a sharp wail from Arisato he flinched, looking over in time to see the blue haired boy fall to his knees. He balled his fists, the one gray eye that showed glaring up at Hokori. There was mostly unrivaled rage in his toxic snarl, but the tears that were clearly forming in his eyes said otherwise. What on earth?

"Why." Arisato shook. "Why him." He screamed at Hokori in pure fury. "Why Ryoji?!"