This came about due to wanting a better written Akechi. I always felt his introduction was terrible, especially since he came off so hostile to the Phantom Thieves then they expected you to want to interact with him and care about him. I've talked with my friend angelrin89 quite a bit about how we'd want Akechi to be written and this is based on our ideas. Like how Akechi's Arcana is the Tower. That was an idea angelrin89 came up with that I really liked since it would really work well with Akechi's arrogance, involvement with police, and eventual fall from grace. It also fits the general omen of doom and disaster. And in this Makoto and Akechi have actually been friends for a long time which obviously changes their dynamic. Thanks to angelrin89 for helping me edit this!

Ren and Ryuji walked through the hallways of the TV studio, both frustrated from having to do work on their school trip.

"I'm so… pissed off!" Ryuji belted as soon as they were out of earshot of any of the employees. "Aren't we supposed to be guests? Why the hell do we hafta be doin' manual labor!? This is bullshit! Goin' to the bathroom didn't even make me feel better!"

"Quiet down, will you?" Ann chastised Ryuji as she approached her fellow Phantom Thieves. "I get how you feel though… That sucked for the both of us."

"We gotta do more of this tomorrow too…?" Ryuji moaned.

Morgana popped out of Ren's bag.

"No flaking out, Ryuji," the talking cat said with an authoritative voice.

"I know, I know. I gotta be a "good boy," right?" Ryuji said, half whining, half sarcastic. "Bein' phantom thieves ain't easy," he complained.

"He really needs to stop publicly mentioning us being the Phantom Thieves," Ren thought to himself.

"That reminds me," Ann perked up with a suggestion, "We get to go home straight from here today. We don't spend much time in this area, so why don't we relax and check out some shops beforehand?"

Hearing "Lady" Ann's idea, Morgana couldn't help but excitedly chime in, "Ooh, I know a place! I wanna go to that huge pancake-looking place we passed on the way here! It looked delicious! What was that?"

"Ohhh… You mean Dome Town?" Ryuji answered, finally showing an improvement in his attitude. "The round part is a baseball stadium, then along the outside they've got an amusement park."

"It's right in the middle of a business area, but they have some pretty hardcore rides there too," Ann said.

"All right… Let's go! I'll show you just how courageous I am!" Morgana heroically pronounced.

"Going on a scary ride doesn't really prove any kind of courage," Ann said.

"Not like cats can get on anyways," Ryuji pointed out.

"Really?" Morgana said, confused.

"Really. You might be able to sneak in if you stay in the bag, but you'd totally puke if you did that," Ryuji said, finding himself amused at the thought of Morgana puking. "But uh… Let's just go to Dome Town! I'm really feelin' it now!"

"Me too! My stomach's ready for roller coasters!" Ann excitedly said.

"Uhhh…" Morgana had lost all enthusiasm for the roller coasters. "I think I'll pass on the puke rides…"

Then another boy with sandy brown hair who looked around their age walked by, dressed in a khaki colored suit jacket and carrying a silver briefcase. He stopped and turned to the group.

"Excuse me," the fellow teenager said in an almost overly pleasant tone. "I couldn't help but notice your uniforms. Are you students of Shujin Academy?"

The group all turned to this stranger in confusion. Ren got a weird vibe from him, but kept quiet. They were supposed to be on their best behavior today after all.

"Yeah, whaddya want?" Ryuji responded in a nonchalant tone.

The stranger approached the group with a smile.

"I happened to be passing by, so it seemed polite to greet you. We'll be filming together, after all." The guy said a little too sincerely.

"He sounds way too earnest," Ren thought. "He's being totally fake."

Ren thought the stranger sounded like he was trying way too hard to be polite and professional. It was kinda grating in a way.

The stranger continued, "Ah, but where are my manners? My name is Goro Akechi."

"Akechi…?" Ann seemed confused by the name, as if she recognized it but couldn't place it.

"Filming? What, you a celebrity?" A baffled Ryuji said, confused at the apparent celebrity before him.

This Akechi fellow chuckled.

"Only to the extent of appearing on TV a couple of times," Akechi humbly responded with a hint of embarrassment.

There was an awkward silence that followed. Then Ann broke it.

"Oh…!" she proclaimed, seemingly remembering something.

Ren was even more confused now. But Akechi pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time on it, suddenly changing his expression to a downtrodden one.

"My apologies, I truly was just passing by. I must be going. There's a briefing for tomorrow's recording that I have to attend," Akechi said holding out his gloved hand for a handshake. Ryuji and Ann blankly stared at him, leaving Ren feeling kind of guilty that he's being left hanging.

"Might as well…" He thought as he forced himself to not let out a sigh in exasperation.

Ren reluctantly stepped forward and shook Akechi's hand, causing Akechi to smile wide at Ren. It was... kind of unnerving. Ren felt a strange shiver down his spine.

Ren broke the handshake and stepped back.

"So, you're going to eat now?" Akechi spoke up, trying to end his interaction with his fellow teenagers as politely as he started it. "I missed lunch today, so I'm quite hungry myself."

The Phantom Thieves all looked at each other in confusion.

"Huh?" Ryuji responded, baffled. "What're you talkin' about?"

Akechi looked taken aback.

"Oh, am I mistaken? I thought I heard something about Dome Town. I hear the food is quite delicious…" Then Akechi suddenly started smiling again. "No matter. Well, see you tomorrow."

With that Akechi turned and left.

"That guy's gotta be some kinda start-up entertainer or something. He's never going to get popular with that kinda hair though," Ryuji mocked with evident disapproval.

Ren had to admit he did look like he was trying too hard to be the pretty boy.

Ann shook her head and sighed, "You don't get it…"

"Eh, it's fine. We'll see him again tomorrow anyways. C'mon, let's go to Dome Town!" Ryuji proclaimed.

They all made their way out of the studio.

"H-Hey, can we skip the vomit machines and get cake instead?" Morgana begged.

No one answered. Ren pat the cat on the head out of sympathy.

Later at the amusement park Ryuji was moaning and complaining.

"I feel like I'm gonna puke… For real, my stomach's churnin…." Ryuji grumbled.

"This is why I spoke against it," Morgana proudly announced.

"Dude… It's not fair… Usin' your cathood as an excuse… only at times like this…" The blond boy whined.

Ren was pretty sure he saw Ryuji start to turn green.

"Anyway, are you guys feeling hungry? How about some pancakes?" Ann asked with a broad smile. An extremely cute smile Ren noted.

"Maybe I should ask Ann out to the park sometime…" Ren mused to himself.

"Let's go home. We have another full day ahead of us tomorrow," Morgana said.

They all went home. Ryuji shook off the queasiness and ran off saying he had to get something for his mom. Ren walked Ann back home before returning to Le Blanc. He was forced to go to sleep by Morgana… far too early in his opinion.

The next day Ren, Ann, Ryuji, and Morgana returned to the TV studio. They were in the audience for some talk show. Ren sat down, followed by Ryuji right next to him, and Ann sitting next to Ryuji. Ren found himself disappointed Ann didn't sit next to him, but before he could think about it a member of the show's crew spoke up.

"Mr. Akechi's coming on!" the assistant director proclaimed. Akechi walked in to the shrieking cheers of the girls in the crowd. Ren couldn't make out what most of them were saying but he caught some girl saying "Ohhh! It's Akechi-kun! He's so cool!"

"I want to die." Ren thought sarcastically.

"Ain't that the guy from yesterday…?" Ryuji asked.

Before either Ren or Ann could answer the assistant director spoke up again.

"Cutting back from commercial! Seven, six, five seconds till start, four, three…"

The cute female announcer started.

"And now, onto the "Hottest Meet-and-Greet" segment of our show…" she said. "After his last appearance was so well-received, we decided to bring back this fine gentleman today. It's the high school detective, Goro Akechi!"

The girls began shrieking again. Ren resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Hello there!" Akechi said, again wearing his annoyingly picture-perfect smile.

"Thank you for taking the time to join us today, Akechi-kun. Your popularity is stunning," the cheerful male host followed up.

"Even I've found it to be quite a surprise. It is a bit embarrassing though…" Akechi admitted.

"Akechi seems awfully natural for someone who has only been on TV a couple times," Ren thought to himself.

"Moving along," the female host continued. "We've been told there's a case on your mind right now. Care to share, detective?"

"Ah, yes. That would be the scandal involving the master artist, Madarame," Akechi said.

The male host got excited, "There it is! All of this Phantom Thief excitement has caught your attention too, Akechi-kun! Allow me to be blunt for just a second. What do you think of these justice-oriented Phantom Thieves?"

"If they truly are heroes of justice, I sincerely hope they exist," Akechi replied.

"Ohhh, so you don't deny the possibility that they're real?" The male host asked.

"Well, considering the actions attributed to the Phantom Thieves regarding Madarame and Kamoshida, I think it would be foolish to immediately deny the possibility that they could exist, no matter how strange these cases may be," Akechi reasoned.

"So, you don't believe the Phantom Thieves are just a myth people invented to explain these odd confessions? That they're not just made up like Santa Claus?" the male host questioned.

"Well if Santa Claus did exist, I'd have to arrest him for breaking and entering," Akechi joked, followed by thunderous laughter from the crowd.

"That… That wasn't funny," Ryuji quietly said.

"His sense of humor is lousy," Ren admitted.

"And even then, everyone laughs…" Ann said with a nod.

"Stupid sheep," Ryuji barked quietly.

"However," Akechi spoke up as the laughter died down, "Even though it is unbelievable it's hard to deny that the Phantom Thieves have done something positive. They are attributed as the reason for Kamoshida, the abusive and predatory volleyball teacher at Shujin Academy, exposing himself. And they were the reason Madarame confessed to faking art he stole from his own students."

"That seems to conflict with some statements made by the police," the male host said.

"I do admit that not everyone in the police shares this viewpoint. It's a rather contentious topic even for us." Akechi admitted, "Many don't believe they exist, and those who do tend to believe that the Phantom Thieves are nothing more than criminals who happen to be fighting other criminals. But I had looked into rumors about Kamoshida before his confession and saw the suffering of multiple students. Him being exposed was a good thing. And Madarame spent years stealing art from his students, including most recently, a fellow teenager named Yusuke Kitagawa."

The mention of Yusuke caught the Phantom Thieves' attention.

"Do… Do you think he's actually concerned about Yusuke?" Morgana popped his head out of the bag and asked. The other three were waiting to see what Akechi said.

"So, do you believe the Phantom Thieves are fighting on the side of good?" The female host asked, genuinely curious to Akechi's view on it.

"I can't give a full conclusion because I don't know enough to cast judgment. I don't have enough puzzle pieces yet to see the full picture. I've talked to several of my colleagues in the police about it and while I don't believe them to be evil, I cannot say right now if the Phantom Thieves are truly good or if they're vigilantes who happen to be targeting bad people. I prefer to wait and continue investigating before making any truly declarative statements." Akechi explained.

Ren, Ryuji, and Ann were shocked. They were so used to seeing negative things said about the Phantom Thieves from the media that seeing someone like Akechi even be neutral was a huge improvement.

"Maybe… I judged this Akechi guy a bit harshly," Ryuji said.

"Incredible!" The male host said, "The genius of Akechi-kun shines bright! I could listen to you for days!"

"I have to say… I'd be disappointed if it turned out that the Phantom Thieves did not exist. I'd like to believe that there are altruistic heroes out there doing things to take down criminals, even if they're acting outside the law. Of course, I can't officially condone these acts even if they are. I am a member of law enforcement after all," Akechi finished with a smile.

"Now then, let's try asking some high school students in our audience about the Phantom Thieves!" The female host suggested. "First, please press your button now if you think the Phantom Thieves exist!"

"Of course they do!" Ryuji blurted out under his breath.

Ren, Ann, and Ryuji all pressed their buttons simultaneously. It may be a bit petty but they are the Phantom Thieves so of course they exist!

The male host waited for the audience to cast their votes before speaking up again.

"About 30% or so? What are your thoughts, Akechi-kun?" He asked.

"To be honest I'm surprised. That's higher than I expected," Akechi responded. "It seems that the younger demographics believe in the Phantom Thieves more frequently than older demographics. I'd love to hear some more detailed opinions on the Phantom Thieves' actions."

The female host immediately got up, picked up a microphone and walked into the audience. She quickly walked over to Ren, who suddenly found himself the center of attention.

"All right, let's try asking this student here," she said as she held out the microphone to Ren. "Hypothetically speaking, what are your thoughts on these Phantom Thieves, if they were real?"

Ren felt himself having to resist rolling his eyes again.

"They're necessary," Ren spoke up, trying to keep his response brief.

"Interesting view, audience member! What do you think about that Akechi-kun?" The male host asked his guest.

Ren found that Akechi was staring right at him.

"I can certainly see why you feel that way. With people like Kamoshida and Madarame managing to avoid justice for so long, it's not hard to understand why people, particularly teenagers, would support the Phantom Thieves for exposing them. Though we in the police are working as hard as we can to fight criminals within the bounds of the law. But… there is one more question I'd like to ask…" Akech pondered. "Can you be completely sure that the Phantom Thieves will only go after criminals? What if they go after someone who's innocent and change their heart?"

"They only target criminals," Ren bluntly stated.

"I see. I'd like to believe that considering who they've targeted so far. Hopefully the Phantom Thieves continue to work for the cause of justice," Akechi said. "Though there's still a question that lingers for me."

"What do you mean?" The male host asked.

"The matter of how they change people's hearts. It's odd that two criminals would have spent years without guilt perpetuating their crimes, yet both suddenly decided to confess relatively close to each other because of the Phantom Thieves. That's too much of a coincidence for me to ignore. I wonder if they have some sort of method for changing the hearts of their targets to cause them to confess? And if so, how in the world do they accomplish it?" Akechi explained.

"You know, you're absolutely right," the male host proclaimed, sounding ignorant to what Akechi was actually saying.

"Oh, please don't misunderstand. This is all purely hypothetical. That's only if people who have that power truly exist. Either way though, this cannot be ignored. The existence of the Phantom Thieves would certainly shake up society quite a bit. To be honest, I'm already working alongside the police to help investigate this matter."

"Well it looks like that's all the time we have for this segment!" The male host announced. "Thank you Akechi-kun for coming by again. It's always a pleasure to have you on our show."

"The pleasure is all mine," Akechi smiled. "Though I admit I'll probably be quite busy with this investigation so my appearances in the future will be limited."

"Such a hard worker! You're a true Detective Prince Ake-" the male host said but was interrupted by Akechi putting his hand up and making an awkward sound. Akechi's smile disappeared and he frowned.

"While I appreciate being compared to Detective Shirogane, I'm still a long ways away from reaching her level. I haven't earned the right to hold such a title. I'd like to ask not to be called as such," Akechi sternly said.

Ren got the impression that Akechi was genuinely upset about being called Detective Prince. He suddenly sounded very serious.

"So humble!" The female host said. "With that we'd like to thank Akechi-kun for being on our show!"

"Thank you for having me," Akechi responded with a smile, but still sounding a bit annoyed.

"Cut!" The assistant director called.

The hosts shook hands with Akechi and he exited from the stage. The three Phantom Thieves were instructed to clear out of the seats so a new audience for another show could come in.

The Phantom Thieves gathered off to the side of the room.

"Did you get a feeling like Akechi wanted to say more?" Ryuji pointed out.

"I mean he's working with the police. He probably has his hands tied. Did you notice how he held back when he was saying something nice about the Phantom Thieves?" Ann questioned.

Morgana poked his head out of Ren's bag.

"He can say whatever he wants. It doesn't affect our operations. Though the fact that he didn't immediately harp on the Phantom Thieves should help public opinion of us," The cat stated.

"That'll sure help traffic for the Phan-Site," Ren said.

"Oh sorry, I gotta go take a leak. Can you guys wait here? I'll be right back," Ryuji suddenly said before running off.

"Oh my god…" Ann sighed in exasperation at what Ryuji bluntly stated. She then turned to Ren and said, "I'm gonna keep going, OK?"

He gave the blond girl a nod.

"I'll wait here for Ryuji and we'll meet up later," Ren told her.

"Sounds good," Ann said before turning to leave.

Ren stood there alone for a few seconds before being approached.

"Oh it's you!" a familiar voice called out.

Morgana immediately hid back in Ren's bag. The dark haired boy noticed Akechi walking up to him.

"I'm glad I found you. I wanted to thank you in person. To quote Joubert, it is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it."

"Huh?" Ren said in confusion.

Akechi just laughed lightly.

"My apologies. What I mean is that our discussion was quite meaningful. Few people around me are so willing to speak their minds as freely as you did earlier. Adults are only interested in using the young, while we simply do as the adults say. Sometimes I feel like I'm either surrounded by yes men… Or people who simply want to use and control me." Akechi explained.

"Yeah adults suck," Ren said bluntly. Akechi chuckled.

"They do. I feel like our discussions could prove quite fruitful. Would you mind talking to me again?"

Ren paused and thought quickly about what to say.

"If the opportunity arises…" Ren responded with a casual shrug, not wanting to commit to anything.

He didn't want to be stuck talking to a member of the police too much, regardless of if he was supportive of the Phantom Thieves.

"Thank you. It makes me glad to hear that. The students from Shujin are truly quite interesting. And you do have my sympathies for the situation regarding Kamoshida. I tried poking around Shujin due to some rumors I heard about him, but the principle made it difficult. Kamoshida was quite protected." Akechi sighed.

"I'm sure you were busy with your normal work," Ren said.

"I was. Being a teenage detective keeps me quite busy. I don't have much time to look into cases I'm not assigned by the police. It's an incredible opportunity but I do wish they'd stop calling me Detective Prince," Akechi said with a small frown.

"You don't like being called Detective Prince?" Ren asked.

"I spent years following the cases of Naoto Shirogane, even before her gender was revealed publicly. She was an incredible inspiration to me when I was younger. It feels wrong to be addressed by her title. I hope I can be half the detective she is," Akechi explained.

Ren had to admit he was surprised by Akechi's reaction. He clearly put up a persona when talking to people publicly, but he seemed to be rather awkward in private. Talking about Naoto Shirogane actually felt like he was speaking honestly.

"I've heard of Naoto Shirogane. I used to live in Inaba when I was a kid. She was involved in solving those murders a few years back," Ren said.

"Yes! I remember those!" Akechi exclaimed excitedly, "I remember scouring the internet looking for updates. I was quite surprised when it was revealed that Naoto had been a girl. I do admit to having a bit of a crush on her after I found out."

Akechi awkwardly scratched his face after admitting that. He then pulled his phone out of his pocket to look at the time if he had to guess. The teenage detective looked disappointed.

"Need to go?" Ren asked, kind of hoping that the conversation was going to end.

"Yes, actually. Well then… I look forward to seeing you again," Akechi awkwardly held a hand out for another handshake.

Ren silently shook his hand then Akechi quickly left. After he was out of earshot Morgana poked his head out the bag.

"Talk about a problematic guy to get involved with. There's probably a lot we can learn from him though."

CONFIDANT - GORO AKECHI

ARCANA - THE TOWER

RANK 1

Ryuji ran up to him.

"Sorry for takin' so long! Wait… was that Akechi? What did he say to you? Did he grill you about the Phantom Thieves?" Ryuji pestered Ren.

"He just chatted a bit with me. Nothing crazy. But he wants to talk to me more… for better or for worse," Ren said.

"Well whatever. Let's go," Ryuji said, patting Ren on the shoulder and heading out of the studio.

Goro walked through the TV studio, sighing now that he had a chance to relax. He was hoping to speak to that student again. He seemed like an interesting fellow.

His stomach growled.

"I need to stop skipping lunch," He lamented to himself.

As Goro exited the studio he saw Makoto Niijima waiting outside.

"Hello Makoto-san." The young detective said. "It's a surprise to see you here."

"Hello Goro-kun," She responded. "Sis wanted me to check on you."

"I was told by Sae-san that she'd be sending someone to meet me but I didn't know it would be you Makoto-san," Akechi said.

"It was kinda last minute but she texted me earlier asking me to do it since everyone in the police is so busy. Plus, I was already here. One of the teachers asked me if I could help them today with the trip for the second years," The brunette explained. "But never mind me, did your appearance go well?"

"Yes, I believe so. I met some students from Shujin actually. They were in the audience for my appearance for the show. One of them in particular was quite interesting… not afraid to speak his mind. I wondered if you knew them." He said with a small nod.

"What are their names?" Makoto inquired.

"They're…" Goro trailed off. He closed his eyes in embarrassment. "Actually… I forgot to ask any of their names."

"Well there are a lot of students at Shujin… and I don't really have many friends," Makoto said, looking down.

"You have me," Goro smiled, attempting to cheer her up.

"Thank you Goro-kun," Makoto thanked him with a slight smile.

There was an awkward pause. Goro cleared his throat before speaking up again.

"If there's one thing that's good about the Phantom Thieves, it's that they could follow up on those rumors you told me about Kamoshida when I couldn't," He abruptly admitted.

"That's true. But Principle Kobayakawa doesn't seem to be too happy about them," Makoto said, somewhat downcast.

"The sad fact for us is that we can't really do much against people like Kobayakawa. Even those of us with connections still have trouble. We are still teenagers," Goro admitted.

"Yeah," Makoto sighed in defeated agreement.

"You know what they say though. Karma moves in two directions," he said.

"Huh?"

"What he did was horrid letting so many students suffer, protecting Kamoshida to preserve the school's reputation," he declared aggressively.

"I'm sure he was… just... trying to help the school…?" Makoto weakly argued.

"People like that deserve justice," Goro said. "He will get what's coming to him."

Makoto started to look concerned.

Goro stopped.

"I shouldn't have said that."

"I apologize for that outburst Makoto-san. What I mean…" he took a breath. "Is that he was clearly in the wrong with Kamoshida."

"I'm not sure if he really knew what was going on. A lot of people didn't know. And I don't know about trying to do anything… I still need to graduate…" Makoto trailed off.

"Makot-"

Their conversation was interrupted when his phone rang. Goro pulled out the device, but not before giving his friend an apologetic smile.

"Forgive me Makoto-san, do you mind if I take this?" He asked her.

"That's alright Goro-kun," She nodded.

The young detective then answered the phone.

"Hello? Yes Director… Did you already see the show? I don't believe it's aired yet… Yes, I understand… I merely expressed the idea that the Phantom Thieves could exist and might not be automatically bad… Yes Director… Yes, I understand… I'll keep that in mind in the future… I'm sure it won't cause a problem for them… I'll make sure to do that… Okay sir, have a nice day," Goro hung up on the phone with a pained expression.

"Is there a problem?" Makoto asked.

"That was the SIU Director. He wasn't too happy about what I said in the show," Goro said awkwardly with a wince.

"Did you say something controversial? You're usually more careful than that," Makoto said.

"I thought I was being measured and careful. I was asked about the Phantom Thieves and I simply said that they might be good but chose to refrain from making a concrete judgment on them. Well, no sense in worrying too much." Goro sighed.

"I hope they don't get too mad at you," Makoto said in concern.

"I'm sure things will be fine. Do you want to grab something to eat? I'm starving," Goro proposed.

"We can meet my sister for dinner at our apartment. I can tell her you're coming," Makoto suggested as she started walking towards the train station

"I'd quite like that. Last time Sae-san only bought me conveyor belt sushi." He said as he followed Makoto.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but we won't be having sushi." Makoto admitted.

Goro pouted slightly.

"Oh man. Well, regardless a homecooked meal is always good. Eating at the Niijima home is always a treat!" Akechi said. "Though… I hope Sae-san doesn't take ire with what I said in the show like the SIU Director did. I know she's been dedicating herself to the mental shutdown cases and isn't quite a fan of the Phantom Thieves."

"I'm sure it will be fine. Sis is… She can be dedicated to her cases but she's smart. She knows the difference between condoning vigilantes and remaining neutral."

"That's quite true," he replied, still hoping she wouldn't get mad at him.