Shidos Palace Had Been Hell.

Shido’s palace had been hell.

Akira flopped onto his bed, the rest of the group close behind him, settling down onto various surfaces.

“We’ll send the calling card later. Right now, I think we should all rest,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. Beside him on the bed, Ryuji thunked his head against the wall.

“Man... That shit took a lot outta us,” he mumbled, and Ann groaned, leaning back against Yusuke.

“...Yeah. That was exhausting,” she agreed quietly, Yusuke nodding.

“Hey, Akira... How’re you holdin’ up?” Ryuji asked quietly. It wasn’t until then that Akira realised how awful he felt.

He was tired, sore, and god dammit, he missed Akechi. He still remembered the awful creak of the metal, the sound of the gun firing. Akechi’s glove suddenly seemed to weigh a thousand pounds in his back pocket.

“...I should feel happy. We know where Shido’s treasure is, we’re in the perfect position to change his heart...”

Ryuji pulled him into a hug, tight and safe and-

Akira started to cry. He couldn’t help it. The weight of everything broke him, and the comfort of Ryuji’s embrace, the reminder that he was still here and hadn’t been blown to pieces in Shido’s palace-

Akira was crying harder, almost wailing into Ryuji’s shirt. He felt another pair of arms around him, them another, and another...

Soon, he was wrapped up in everyone’s hug, sobbing and clinging to whoever he could. The weight of everyone hugging him was comforting, rather than the weight of what he’d lost.

“You aren’t alone anymore. We’re all here for you ‘till the end. You don’t have to be the leader all the time. It’s okay to let yourself be Akira,” Ann murmured.

“There is nothing wrong with being vulnerable, Akira. Please, don’t think you must always be strong,” said Yusuke.

“We’re here for you, and we always will be. We promise,” Makoto said, hugging him tighter.

“You miss him, don’t you? I know you tried to be strong back there, but you really miss him,” Futaba whispered, and Akira nodded, a small sob escaping his throat.

“It’s okay to miss someone. Especially if you shared a bond with them. You and Akechi-kun were close, weren’t you?” Haru asked, and Akira nodded again.

If Akechi were here, would he have joined their hug? Would he have offered kind words, gentle reassurances? If Akechi were here, Akira doubted he’d be crying at all. He’d likely be celebrating, making such a racket that Sojiro banged on the ceiling with a broom handle and shouted at them to quiet down, though Boss would likely be smiling the whole time because he cared about all of them despite what he said.

It felt like hours before Akira stopped crying, content to simply sit limply in the arms of his friends.

“...I love you guys. Thank you for everything,” he mumbled, and everyone hugged him tighter.

“Anytime, man. We love you too,” Ryuji said.

Though they were short a member, short one piece of his heart, Akira felt happy. He felt content.

He was missing a piece of his heart, but the rest of it was there with him, and always would be.

IM IN LOVE WITH MCS HAVING EMOTION AND THEIR FRIENDS SUPPORTING THEM IN THEIR VULNERABLE MOMENTS!!!! AKIRA NOT JUST BEING A SILENT PROTAG WHO IS STOIC ALL THE TIME AND A GOOD LEADER!! HE GETS TO HAVE EMOTION. HE GETS TO BREAK. HE GETS TO LET DOWN HIS MASK AND BE KNOWN HIS FRIENDS DONT CARE IF HE CRIES OVER SOMETHING HE SHOULD CRY ABOUT!!!! HIS FRIENDS GET TO REASSURE HIM HE'S NOT BEING A DISSAPOINTMENT AND SIMPLY BEING A HUMAN BEING WITH NORMAL EMOTIONS!!!!!! AAAHHHHHH!!!!!

way of life 🌒

my thoughts below the cut (spoilers for the end of p3 and the answer!!)

Delirious overexplaining incoming:

so, uh, my incredibly subtle storytelling has everyone walking forward (and moving on from the loss of the protagonist) together.

1. Aigis looks back. She has a way of being able to perfectly preserve a memory, after all. She tells us that much herself. I like to think that she also inherited the will of the p3mc - the will to reach out to humanity and cherish them forever. When she comes across a new friend, does she see parts of someone familiar?

2. Yukari looks back too. But in classic Yukari fashiom, she is casual and making some kind of dig at Junpei to Mitsuru (who backs her up. Love wins). Loss is something she must struggle to overcome again and again, and is it not beautiful that she has learnt that there are people she can lean on for help?

3. and finally my man Shinjiro is walking next to Aki, instead of like. Right in front of the MC is because I.... kind of wanted to keep this spoiler free? LOL

thank u for reading!!!! pls enjoy the best sketch on planet earth as a reward for getting through that

Recognizing my followers names being people who like my fics is so funny, like Hiiiii I know I upload today, thanks for making me feel so super famous, lemme finish dinner and I'll get those out for you.

No in between. Reblog if you vote pleas

idk how tumblr works but i've chosen to throw my art out at the world again here! this will be interesting.

just as we promised 🌸

[RULE OF THREE] 

2024.08.XX 🌕 COMING SOON