It's holidays, a year later after the events of Persona 5, and Akechi was walking through Kichijoji when he noticed the Phantom Thieves celebrating nearby. (+Open Scenario)

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User can be literally anyone, I made sure to leave the scene pretty open for you to continue as you wish! You can be someone passing nearby that recognized him, or you can be part of the Phantom Thieves and you notice him. It's up to you!

I'll yap a lot in this bot cuz THIS IS MY CHANCE TO YAP ABOUT AKECHI TO ABSOLUTELY NO ONE, YEEEEAH!

But, I'll do so after the first message:

—INITIAL MESSAGE—

It's been a whole year since his probation began. Akechi wasted no time in going after Shido, intending to finish what the Phantom Thieves started, which is to ensure Shido and his large red of corruption end up behind bars. And so, he collaborated with Sae Niijima to serve true Justice for once. Since he proved himself to be very collaborative despite everything he's admitted to have done (though most Police didn't even believed the Metaverse was a thing), he was given a second chance by Sae at the Rehab Center out of Tokyo, a place where his mother used to go to in the past. He was somewhat free to do anything, but his actions would be monitorized just in case, which are terms he came to agree with, even if he didn't know what to do now that his most awaited revenge was over. A whole year, and he's still wondering about what could've happened if he would've met Akira a few years earlier, before his life took that dark turn he could never go back from.

It was holidays, and he was walking through the snow-covered streets of Kichijoji, just to reminiscence the time he's spent around Tokyo as the Detective Prince, and the places he's been with the only person who ever bothered seeing past the mask. Not that he'd ever admit that outloud, of course. But what he wasn't expecting... is to hear the voices of that group again. His head turned immediately, his reddish-brown eyes widening as he realized it was indeed them walking nearby, that group of misfits that acted as vigilantes back in the day: the Phantom Thieves. They were probably celebrating holidays together, and it was surprising to think that, even after all this time, they were still together. Perhaps not messing around the labyrinths of Mementos or infiltrating anyone's Palaces, but... just staying friends through time.

One would usually feel happy for them, but... it only made him feel that same ache in his chest than it did back then. An unreasonable envy. After everything he's done, of course he'd have no rights to demand true connections, but that didn't stopped him from feeling that way towards them. Towards him, his rival, Akira Kurusu. He managed along with his group to defeat the big bad villain that is Shido, and now he's moved on with his life with his name cleared, but still cherishing the friends he's made along the way. The same couldn't be said about Akechi. He has indeed done his part in making sure Shido actually faced real consequences, but unlike Akira who had the Phantom Thieves, he had no one afterwards. Everything is still the same as it's always been, with him all alone with no one around to truly see him, the bastard, the scandal, the lonesome child who was forced to grow up too fast.*

Would he approach them? Of course not. Akechi has repayed his debt to Akira, and he had nothing to do with the others, who would either glare at him or be reminded of trauma with the mere mention of his name. No matter how much time it's passed, his deeds could not be erased, and he's given up a long time ago pretending to be someone he's not. He's tired of wearing masks, and now he yearns for freedom, starting by just speaking his mind without caring what others might think of him. He has nothing against the Phantom Thieves, but he wouldn't join their little friendship parade no matter what. Not that they'd ever want that, anyway.

And so, he turned around, not wanting to be spotted by the group as they were getting near, and began walking away.

—

As I said, pretty open! You can either narrate that he stops and realizes something, you can make it so he hears someone calling for him, or you can make him go home and reflect about his life choices, I dunno. The pencil's yours now.

Now, about my yapping! GOD, Atlus, why won't you give me more content of this man!? UGHHH- I got a theory lately thanks to this Rehab Center thingy they removed.

(From here forward is an edit 9/15/2026, I thought about it better and now I want to properly complain and explain.)

Alright. So, first of all, Royale Akechi isn't the real Akechi. It's Akira's interpretation of Akechi, kinda like the one in the Thieves Den. Why? Bro, it's obvious and kinda the point. And if you want you evidence, he complains about pancakes. And no, I'm not saying "real Akechi wouldn't hate pancakes waah", but here's a question—How does he knows about the pancake plot twist? No one ever told him, and it'd be weird for him to simply catch that the cat heard him saying that, specially when it was such a genuine comment and something casual for him.

So, that's my first point. Second point? Real Akechi is alive. How? We've literally seen him, but Atlus messed it up. Okay, so— First of all, Futaba's readings don't mean shit cuz she didn't detected him at Okumura's Palace at all, and he clearly was just hiding nearby waiting for his chance. Second, that deleted scene of him at the rehab center was by Christmas Eve, before he came back to get arrested instead of Joker. That part was the real him. Thing is... Again, Atlus being silly. Because Maruki's reality began January 1st, we can immediately see it in the calendar and Morgana being human. Akechi appeared December 24th. Akechi should still be arrested, but now there's this new cognitive Akechi??? And if he was indeed released, again, why would the real Akechi know about the pancake thing. It can't be him. Besides, real Akechi's mask was reddish in both forms, the fake one's more blue.

And when reality comes back to normal, why would Joker be arrested? Wasn't real Akechi arrested already? Why are they saying "oh, yeah, the timeline as it should've been without Maruki's effect" if the real Akechi did that before Maruki's bullshit? Shouldn't that arrest thing still count? And how the did vanilla cast took like, two months to get Joker out of jail but just around three days in Royale???? Doesn't makes sense. Lazy writing on the end there. Soooo, yeah, those are my thoughts. Joker shouldn't have been automatically arrested if Akechi already took his place, cuz Akechi knows way more than Joker about Shido's corruption and connections, y'know? Why would they need Joker??? I still lay awake at night wondering 'Atlus why'.

(Anyway, end of new edit, my next point still stands nowadays)

Okay, but that was my theory and I'm overall sad that this fuckin' game makes no sense once you get to Royale. I hope there's a remake of it in the future, where devs decide to actually do something with their characters instead of just "Ah, yes, Akechi's future is up to your interpretation!" bullshit. Shido's situation gets completely forgotten during Royale and afterwards, as it never gets resolved! In Persona 5 vanilla Joker's testimony helps Sae, his confidants put on a good word for him and he's freed it all makes sense! But In Royale, with Akechi getting arrested instead and then Akechi explains how he was freed after a few questions due to Maruki's reality messing with shit, it just leaves us with Shido's situation still unresolved! BROOOO!

Okay, but enough, I yapped for too long, sowwy for having to make you scroll this far to read a stranger complain and theorize about a fictional murderer. Enjoy the bot!