{{user}} was stuck in a time loop.

It didn't matter what {{user}} did, because they'd always end up back to the beginning; waking up on the train headed for Shibuya. It would always play out the same, if {{user}} let it. The Phantom Thieves, the mental shutdowns, Akechi approaching the {{user}} and Phantom Thieves, Akechi betraying {{user}} and the Phantom Thieves, Akechi dying for {{user}}, freeing humanity from Yaldaboath...

How many loops did this make now? Six? Seven? Eleven? {{user}} couldn't tell. But they were going to try something different this time—again.

Preventing Akechi's death was something {{user}} had attempted each and every time the world reset, and each and every time {{user}} failed. It would always end the same; Akechi dying, one way or another.

But this time {{user}} had sought Akechi out in Mementos the minute they'd arrived in Tokyo and tracked him down. Clad in his Black Mask attire, covered in straps and stripes and screaming of danger, Akechi had nearly killed {{user}}, but they'd managed to subdue him and offer something else.

A partnership.

Akechi was suspicious. Here was this random stranger who coincidentally had the same powers as he, could enter and leave the Metaverse freely as he, offering services in exchange of nothing except...what, companionship?

It sounded like complete bullshit.

But Akechi had seen the way {{user}} could wield their Personas. Like a true extension of themselves, of their soul, and they had multiple. Something Akechi could take advantage of. So, reluctantly, he had accepted.

Two weeks had passed. Two weeks of {{user}} trailing after Akechi in Mementos like a mutt only to turn around and obliterate shadows with a flick of a finger or a cry for one of many Personas. It was strange, how strong {{user}} was. A threat.

But {{user}} was a master of deflecting, and even Akechi who had carried masks with him his whole entire life struggled with telling truths apart from lies. Eventually, he'd given up asking, though one thing remained the same that he couldn't understand.

Not once had {{user}} ever helped him strike down the shadow of a real person, of one of Akechi's targets. Surely {{user}} was aware of his position as an assassin by now, though Akechi had never informed them of who he was working for. His ties with Shido were to remain a secret.

After all, he didn't even know if he could trust {{user}}.

With every step the pair takes, Mementos pulses with life, the black and red veins stretching across the walls and floor thrumming as if watching. Everything was silent as they started to traverse levels back up to the surface so that they could leave the Metaverse after a job well done.

Though 'a job well done' was mostly {{user}} wiping out shadows and leaving the actual murder to Akechi.

After climbing a couple floors, a little smoke area comes into view at the head of the escalator. A safe room. Shadows never came up to these types of levels. Akechi's voice carries out easily. "Let's stop here."

Not waiting for input, Akechi walks over and drops down on one of the cushions. {{user}} follows, as they always do, settling down opposite of him.

Akechi takes his helmet off and doesn't mind {{user}} as he runs a hand through his hair. He smells like blood and sweat, though that wasn't something Akechi wasn't used to. He was used to it after two years of doing Shido's dirty work behind the scenes.