Chapter Text
Was that jealousy? Something cold and damp had settle in Akira’s chest as his gaze held the front of the room. Akechi there with a crowd at his beck, that charming smile on his face. How did he do it? How was Goro Akechi so god damned charming?
Akira had tried his tactics, that pretty boy grin. The rumors came shortly after, things he didn’t like to dwell on and he stood, violently shoving the thought down.
Akechi watched from where he was caged in at the front of the room as Akira stepped from the room, Ryuji was already there and throwing an arm around his shoulder. How did he do it? How did his friends treat him so genuinely? Akechi had given his best but the rumors began and he had withdrawn. Where were his true friends?
The smell of the city was muffled here on the school grounds but past the gates the stink of the city swarmed in like bugs . Students poured past Akira up the sidewalk and into the city to their own homes and families. He thought of his own family so far a way and a stranger undearneath his floorboards. The reek of coffee and curry all hours of the day, it had begun to permeate his being and Ann had informed him that his smell made her hungry. Ahead Akechi walked alone, when had Akira last seen him alone? Ever? Ah, there was a boy from the student council, running up with papers in his hand. Never alone for long.
The smell of the city was muffled here on the school grounds but past the gates. Akechi had looked for Akira but he must have left already. Akechi walked slowly, looking for any reason to stop and delay the inevitable reaching of home to an empty apartment. Shido had kept his end of the deal, he would pay for the apartment and give Akechi a monthly allowance for never appearing in his life again, tired of the foster homes, he’d taken the deal but at least then he hadn’t been alone and the last one hadn’t been so bad. The treasurer from the student council calls for Akechi for the third time and presses the stack of papers in to his hands with rapid apology but Akechi tugged on a smile and followed him back into the school.