10/05/XX
"It seems as though you have begun to stray off the course that I have laid out before you." Igor leans forward, his large grin not faltering for a single moment. "Yet, I cannot help but wonder; will it all be worth it? Can the damned truly be saved?"
His grip on the bars of the prison cell tightens, and he stays silent, trying to dissect the strange man's words. Course? Damned? "What do you mean by any of that?" He finally asks, irritated by how vague the other man was.
BANG!
"Don't speak out of turn, inmate!"
"It is not your place to question our master."
He glances at Caroline and Justine with a frown, but doesn't speak again.
"..."
Igor remains silent for a few moments, fingers drumming against his desk in thought. Caroline and Justine shift uncomfortably when Igor pauses, the sound of faint singing the only thing heard in the Velvet Room. Akira lifts his chin to meet his gaze, and Igor's grin almost seems to grow, clearly amused with the Wildcard.
"Your determined expression says it all. Hah, you never cease to entertain me, Trickster." He lifts his hand, extending it out towards Akira. "Very well, I will watch this new development with interest. Let us hope that this will not cause any setbacks towards your rehabilitation."
10/18/XX
"Goro Akechi."
Candidate Found!
"Tokyo."
Result Found!
He pauses, fingers tightening against his phone. The other Thieves look at him expectantly, waiting for their leader of make the final call. He was the closest out of all them to their target after all, so if he did this, he had to push any feelings he had for Goro aside. It's by pure chance that he even has a hint of what the final keyword is, but the word is caught in his throat. It had to be it, it just had to. If it wasn't, he doesn't know what they would be able to do. Time was of the essence.
The keyword comes from a rare, truthful, moment Goro had shared with him. It had been during a quiet conversation between the both of them, discussing literature with a cup of coffee between them, only the two of them in LeBlanc at the time.
Goro's favorite book of all time; a story his mother had read to him when he was young, and one that had clearly impacted his childhood. Akira visibly swallows, and finally, finally, he speaks.
"Wonderland."
The Meta-Nav pings, and all at once, tension drains from his body.
Beginning Navigation!
He slips his phone back into his pocket just as the world around the Phantom Thieves begins to warp, a familiar feeling he couldn't help but welcome, if it meant he could save Goro from his demons.
"Down the rabbit hole we go." Yusuke quips, causing most of them to groan, and Futuba to punch him in his arm.