Faith | Akira Kurusu x OC | Persona 5

Faith IX | Yuuen pt. 1

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We believe Greed is the root of all evil. By that logic, the opposite of greed must be the root of all good.

But an unparalleled sense of self-sacrifice is nothing but the other end of the same stick.

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"You know how I know?" He sneered at the petrified girl, "Because not once in the 9 days you were here, did you ever even try to escape."

There was silence after that.

Every fiber in Yuuen's being screamed to deny that, 'She did try to escape! It was just that she was chained up! And there didn't seem to be any exits!' She told herself.

The truth is, she never even looked.

A part of her screamed to find some sort of response, some answer that she could convince herself that is wasn't true.

But deep down she knew there was no denying it.

Because even though she wanted to see Akira and the others again, she was never actually serious about escaping here.

That was the harsh truth.

"Don't look so grim, Princess. You've always been an obedient girl, that's why I didn't have to worry once I unchained you." Taiga smiled sadistically, squatting down in front of the girl. "You'd do whatever people wanted of you, obedient like the little dog you always were."

'He's right...' Yuuen bit her lip, at a loss for words.

She's always done what others wanted, said what they wanted to hear, and done what they'd like to see her do.

She joined the Student Council simply because it would make her father happy, Makoto being there was just an added bonus. She feigned ignorant to Kamoshida's crimes because she didn't want to draw negative attention. She stayed silent against her father's drinking obsession because she didn't want him to get mad at her.

She'd originally thought sucking up to everyone would make people like her and although it boosted her reputation, it left her alone.

People either thought she was too good for them or realized how fake she really was.

People like Ryuji, who noticed immediately her bullshit facade that she'd put up in front of everyone, hating her just like all the other fake students in the school.

But that all changed when someone else walked into her life, someone besides Makoto.

'Akira...' Yuuen glanced at his exhausted form, sprawled out of the ground breathless despite his determined eyes.

For the first time, she didn't have to pretend to be someone she wasn't.

His already terrible reputation wouldn't make a difference if he said anything negative about her, it would just make his reputation plummet further instead.

So she tried to do something more like herself.

But instead of the annoyance and anger, she was expecting from him, she got a completely different response.

He actually seemed to like being around her.

She wouldn't always be the perfect person, kicking him in the shins, dragging him around to blackmail him into buying her coffee, nagging him for when he did stupid things, but he never got upset with her.

Granted at first she just talked to him because she felt bad for his terrible reputation and circumstance, but that quickly changed as they began to talk more and more.