#specterthief

[ancient-day]

obligatory goro akechi for the blorbo blingus

Can't help being a Gemini! [ x ]

[specterthief]

Ok, see, I only ever played the original release of ddlc, what do you mean that the re-release says that the plot of the first game didn't happen, that's so fucking stupid

yeah the new lore revealed through all the in-game files and stuff is "the girls are part of a virtual sandbox AI simulation to study artificial consciousness, monika had advanced permissions within the simulation to be able to report data, the bishoujo game structure of the original VN is the result of a rogue programmer altering it for his own purposes and either he or monika created the player character, who is not supposed to exist, and it was literally never meant to be an actual galge, the (third person slice of life after school special-esque vignettes about mental health) side stories are the 'control setting' where monika's advance permissions are suppressed and therefore the closest thing to how the characters would be 'normally'", basically. ddlc+ says there was never a "real" romance VN at all, monika is a regular old rogue AI in a setting that only resembles a galge because of some asshole messing with it, not a self-aware visual novel character because in the new story she was never "supposed" to be a visual novel character

and as someone who really liked the original and really likes the actual genre it was referencing i am. not a fan of any of this

[vashtijoy]

Idk if you’ve talked about this before, but in the event where ren and akechi are playing that shooting game together there is a very funny interaction and my fellow shuake fans and I are unsure what it means.

In English, Akechi jokes that he’s practicing gunplay to take ren out. Clearly this could either be a murder joke or a date joke. In Spanish, he apparently uses a phrase that can only mean a date.

What does he say in japanese? Was it ambiguous there too or was it clearly a murder joke or date joke? Again, sorry if you already explained it lol

…also this is kinda awkward but was the usage of the term gunplay intentional or does it have multiple meanings and fanfic has just ruined me orrr…

Hello! I am so happy to be able to go over this with you. Many thanks to @platinumdream, @minkhollow42, @somethingpersonarelated and the r/spanish subreddit for verifying this one for me.

This line stands out because the Japanese and English (and also the Spanish) translations are all radically different—different enough that what we have here is a stellar example of "the Xerox effect".

Let's take a look.

the scene in japanese

Akechi 気付いた? そうだよ、いつか君も懐に忍ばせたこれで⋯ kizuita? sou da yo, itsuka kimi mo futokoro ni shinobaseta kore de... [lit. you noticed? that's right, some day <see below>...]

Let's take a quick look at the grammar of this line, which I think is dual-meaning in Japanese just as it was in English (and if any of this seems like bullshit please get in touch, as it never ends well when I try to produce sentences of my own):

Akechi does not finish this sentence—he's left off the verb. So, as often happens with him, his meaning is ambiguous. Let's take the obvious one first:

いつか君も懐に忍ばせたこれで【ある】 itsuka kimi mo futokoro ni shinobaseta kore de [aru] Some day you, too, will have one of these concealed in your pocket.

Short and sweet: "I carry one of these, concealed, and some day you will too". Note that there's nothing here about practicing, as there is in the English.

But there's another possible meaning here:

いつか君も懐に忍ばせたこれで【撃ってあげる】 itsuka kimi mo futokoro ni shinobaseta kore de [utte ageru] Some day I'll [shoot] you, too, with this thing concealed in my pocket.

WELP. Like I say, I'm not entirely sure, but I do think the strong likelihood is that this dual meaning exists in Japanese.

I should say I don't think there's necessarily a suggestion here that he carries an illegal gun (though since Naoto has one in P4, it's very possible)—I think it's a metaphorical pocket, his inventory in the Metaverse.

Though I don't think this is really what's going on, there are also a startling number of idioms with futokoro that suggest embracing....

but what is the futokoro?

Idiomatically speaking, 懐 futokoro often translates pretty cleanly as "pocket". But something else is going on: your futokoro is explicitly your breast pocket.

Originally, it was the flap in the front of your kimono where you tucked things away. And so it also appears in a lot of idioms relating to the bosom, or the heart. 懐に飛び込む futokoro ni tobikomu is to throw yourself into someone's arms. 懐に入る futokoro ni hairu, for instance, means to worm your way into someone's affections, or to win someone's confidence—sound familiar at all?

But there's something else going on, of course, with Akechi concealing a weapon in his breast pocket:

Yep. Here's the payoff for this line in rank 5. Akechi tucks that silencer away in his breast pocket—just like he told Joker he would. And then he laughs. So did he know at rank 5 that this was going to happen, or did he bring this up for some other reason? Well, you decide.

By the way, here's Joker's question about gunplay:

Joker 撃ち慣れてる? uchi nareteru? Are you used to gunplay?

The Japanese just means "Are you used to shooting guns?"—I'm not sure it has any of the more, er, fanfic connotations of the English "gunplay". @specterthief agrees there doesn't seem to be any innuendo to the Japanese line.

the scene in english

Akechi: Ah, you noticed? Well, I'll need as much practice as I can get if I'm going to take you out.

Let's look at what's happening here, because it happens very often. Like much of Akechi's dialogue, this line in rank 5 was originally a double entendre—it has a very obvious, and relatively innocuous, meaning, but if you squint, you can see Akechi is hinting at something far less innocuous.

Wordplay of this kind takes a lot of time, thought and skill to translate. So what happens in practice is that the translator has to choose one meaning to put front and centre. The English translator has decided, very reasonably, that Akechi's implied "I will kill you" is more important than the joke about the concealed weapon.

To be clear, this was probably the right call. I love the relative subtlety of the Japanese and the 11/20 callback, but it's important that people playing the game understand what's going on—even if, over here in blorboland, it's clear that He Would Not Fucking Say That.

the scene in spanish

Do sit down.

Akechi: ¿Te has dado cuenta? Bueno, tengo que practicar todo lo que pueda si quiero invitarte a salir.

Now, I need to be as up front as I can possibly be about the fact that I do not speak Spanish. But I know a lot of people who do, and they have responded with one voice:

...

"Ask you out"? "ASK YOU OUT"?????

This is what is meant by "the Xerox effect".

We start in Japanese, with the relatively subtle "I have a concealed weapon", which becomes "I'm going to shoot you with a concealed weapon" if you think about it a little more. Then, in English, we become more blatant, with "take you out" having the up front meaning that Akechi will shoot Joker; rather than being subtext, it's now the point of what he's saying. And it's introduced something new—the alternate alternate meaning, of "take you out [on a date]".

It is possible that the Japanese line has a third meaning, very similar to this reading of "take you out"—you would have to torture the context here to get dating from the English, in the same way you'd have to torture the Japanese to get embracing from it.

But there's no torture in the Spanish. Oh, no. Spanish Akechi, as they say, just fucking goes for it. and why the hell not.

but what happened here?

The Spanish localisation is an indirect translation, translated not from the Japanese original, but from the existing English translation. It retains any and all errors in the English script because of this. And when the Spanish translator looked at this line of Akechi's, they saw not the original Japanese dual meaning, the one the English translator saw, but the one the English translator introduced—the dual meanings of the English "take you out".

And the Spanish translator, again, had to choose which of Akechi's seeming dual meanings to keep. Should they keep the line about shooting Joker? Or should they keep the line about taking Joker on a date?

Just like photocopying a photocopy, detail and accuracy are progressively lost, and errors accumulate. Of course, these indirect translations are not without their positives—translating from English allows for a far wider range of translations to be done quicker and more cheaply. Without them, far fewer languages would see official translations at all.

Also, it's really funny and that Spanish translation is a gift.

revision history

click here for the latest version.

v1.1 (2024/01/11)—confirmed no innuendo on uchi nareteru.

v1.0 (2024/01/10)—first posted.

[traitorszine]

CONTRIBUTOR LINEUP 🖤 🐦 

At last, here is our wonderful lineup for BLOOD OF A VILLAIN! Please look forward to seeing their versions of the Black Mask shine in this anthology ♥️

Please view under the cut

Thank you for the boost! 🖤♥️

@zine-scene @zinewatch @fandomzines @zinefeed @welovezines @zinecenter @zinefans @zineforall @zinesunlimited @personacalendar

Cover Artists: strzh88 (@strzh88) ✧ Alex Siple (@alexsiple)

Page Artists:

Vio (@vio-draws) ✧ succulentul (@succulentul) ✧ rienri (@rienri) ✧ franklyshane (@franklyshane) ✧ Nicki (@thiscatisonfire) ✧ Apollo (@apollogies-all) ✧ Alba (@mafuwara) ✧ Sen (@senblades)

Lynn (@shadowmatcha) ✧ TheFunkyLime (@thefunkylime) ✧ Sniper (@snipescythe) ✧ Theo (@draconicdeityarts) ✧ chocoda_jib (Twitter: chocoda_jib) ✧ minkidoodles (@minkidoodles) ✧ Ame (@ameamedraws) ✧ Inu no Ami (@inunoami) ✧ Horrorosa (@la-horrorosa)

Siemingly (Twitter: sieminglyy) ✧ Akittyk (@akittyk) ✧ Alex (@emikumaarts) ✧ okenki (@okenki) ✧ Kas Flowers (@monstroustea) ✧ Roach (Twitter: tsururoach) ✧ AuroraBM (Twitter: Kaysa21) ✧ doulbedo (@juusbox)

Fleur (@onionglitter) ✧ Lode5tars (@hand-painted-5tars) ✧ Ceramic_Avocado (Twitter: Ceramic_Avocado) ✧ SpellStruck  (@spell-struck) ✧ lunemoths (@lunemoths) ✧ Leoninai (@leoninaiart) ✧ KIELLUSTRATIONS (@KIELLUSTRATIONS) ✧ Wooly (@woolydemon) ✧ Nottheeconomy (@Nottheeconomy) ✧ coffeerekohai (@coffeerekohai)

Merch Artists:

Kiipio (Twitter: Kiipio) ✧ ARYLL (@aryll) ✧ Khrisz (@saewokhrisz) ✧ Ore Kitsune (Twitter: ore_kitsune) ✧ Arbor (Twitter: Grumblecorn) ✧ vv (Twitter: yxnki_) ✧ Eve Freaks (Instagram: eve_freaks) ✧ LostKimin (Twitter: LostKimin) ✧ thel0llip0p (@thel0llip0p) ✧ crocrubies (@crocrubies)

Writers:

Zaura (@emanation-aura) ✧ flowersforthemachines (@flowersforthemachines) ✧ pyrotechnicalities (@yikes-its-pyrotechnicalities) ✧ KupoWonders (@KupoWonders) ✧ specterthief (@specterthief) ✧ Nao (@naometry) ✧ Kitty (@glittrcrittr) ✧ Liv (Twitter: rebeiiionblade) ✧ Ned (@hoarderofliterature)

Trouble (@troublewriting) ✧ Rin (@rindomness) ✧ calm (@forceofcalm) ✧ Kip (@joulethieves) ✧ Zoe (mintcookie.bsky.social) ✧ Daxie (@daxieoclock) ✧ Myaami (@myaami) ✧ Rio (AO3: gorokiichi) ✧ Ace Swervey (@swervey-silks) ✧ afterreign (@afterreign)

[doodlesdreaming]

“Silver Currents” by @specterthief

This was a comic project I started on, back towards the end of last year. But unfortunately a combination of c0missi0ns and life’s lemons killed the spark to complete it. Nonetheless the less, I’m a bit impressed with myself to have pumped out this many page back then.

More importantly, I highly recommend giving the fanfiction that inspired this a read. It’s one of my personal favorites ^^

[beyondplusultra]

mango hiii!! do you have any fic recs? my trust in your taste is absolute after you've obliterated me with your 2/2 comic with that war of vaslav nijinsky quote <3

Hello hello!! First of all, I'm glad you liked the comic! It was a joy to make, and an even greater joy to see how people have reacted to it :)

As for fic recs, here are a few of my all time favorites!

2/2 fics that will make you stare at the ceiling for an indeterminate amount of time as you contemplate life:

you've got me seeing through different eyes by futuresoon - this is the First Ever Shuake Fic I ever read and I immediately spiraled into the abyss from which I've never managed to crawl out. It's a very popular fic, so chances are you've read it already, but it's absolute peak 2/2 bad end content and I'm obligated to put it in every rec list

One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy by telekinetics - cries

Last Night on Earth by TzviaAriella - CRIES

Long fics that made me read long fic:

Black Star by HassouToby - This is pre-Royal, and for the longest time was what I accepted as my headcanon for what happened after vanilla's events. Not akeshu, but has some of my favorite characterizations of all the phantom thieves I've ever read, and honestly just a completely wild ride that WILL suck you in.

The Brigverse series by TzviaAriella - Akeshu pirate AU. Do I have to say anything else here. The third installment of the main series is currently ongoing as of this post's writing!

The Liminality series by MistressEast - NG+ with a twist. It's. It's so good you guys.

The Next Time Around by chashmish - No powers AU, this fic is about Akechi and Akira reuniting and rekindling a relationship during the events of Makoto and Ann's destination wedding in Italy. It's a fic I always fall back on when I want a feel-good time!

One-shots that rewired my brain chemistry:

you have to let it breathe, my love by ThirtySixSaveFiles - No powers AU, an akeshu love story that starts when the two of them meet in a wine shop.

hold my hand by relationshipcrimes - Gen fic, Akechi and Futaba bonding time, because Akira left Tokyo, and on this particular day Akechi is her only key item choice.

(don't shoot) the messenger by shouldbeworking - Ryuji is the center of a misunderstanding. This one never fails to make me laugh!

before midnight by specterthief - You guys know how during third sem, Maruki wired Sumi's parents to think she was at gymnastics boot camp or whatever? Yeah what the FUCK was up with that.

anywhere, i would have followed you by shantealeaves - MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH. I've only read this fic once. One time. Ever. It's imprinted into my brain. Mind the tags!

[mikami]

what’s your opinion on 10-hour long “a world without Light dn analysis video”. Have you watched it? Do you agree with everything there? Is it a good analysis?

Honestly, the phrase "10 hour long Death Note analysis video" put the fear of God in me.........

I don't like watching video essays about topics I know a lot about, because if the person is wrong then there is nothing I can really do about it except live with the knowledge that misinformation is being spread. Video essays are just such a 'creator+audience' genre rather than collaborative and communicative like most of fandom... it bothers me, which is why I only watch stuff about topics I am not very familiar with yet.

That said, I have looked up the video and it's.... mostly recap? Like, he is literally just narrating the plot of the manga chapter by chapter for 10 hours? Skimming through, I didn't even find any actual analysis.

My friend @specterthief dug a little further and found ONE nugget of analysis... which was instantly wrong.

The video makes the claim that you cannot control people with shinigami eyes via the notebook, which... We literally see Light control Kal Snyder, who had the eyes, so like. Instantly disproven.

I'm gonna guess the rest of the analysis isn't reliable either, then.

[annaofaza]

🎶✨️when u get this u have to put 5 songs u actually listen to, publish. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool)🎶✨️

"Two Birds on a Wire" - Regina Spektor

"TOMBI" - Kvi Baba

"The Night We Met" - Lord Huron

"Closer to Fine" - Brandi Carlile

"Lovefool" - The Cardigans

Tagging: @bavariansugarcookie, @nebulous-squid, @tomatocages, @revenantghost, @specterthief, @iammistressofmyfate, @cruelisblue, @monstersinthecosmos, @kittywritesfic, and anyone who wants <3

[elmaxlys]

babe wake up new specterthief's paradise chapter dropped

[beserkerjewel]

New in Sk8 the Infinity fandom stupidity: Accusing someone of wanting police to raid a gay club allegory when the OP didn't even say that!

https://www.tumblr.com/cherryblossomsandhydrangeas/725106841137397760/specterthief-rengadyke?source=share

Jesus tap dancing Christ...on a joke post written by a Black trans person...antiblackness and weird shit about S being a metaphor for gay clubs? I mean, make your own interpretations but to bring that to a post where no one said anything about police being good is just ridiculous

[tricksterlatte]

I posted 328 times in 2022

That's 328 more posts than 2021!

45 posts created (14%)

283 posts reblogged (86%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

naometry

specterthief

pickles4nickles

theexistentiallyqueer

beyondplusultra

I tagged 328 of my posts in 2022

#persona 5 - 240 posts

#p5 - 239 posts

#persona - 185 posts

#akeshu - 114 posts

#p5r spoilers - 36 posts

#fave - 34 posts

#my stuff - 31 posts

#goro akechi - 30 posts

#p5r - 28 posts

#persona 5 spoilers - 24 posts

Longest Tag: 120 characters

#or everyone just. staring at zenkichi who is clueless and maruki is sweating like a popsicle left on overheated sidewalk

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I couldn’t stop thinking about Akira trying to explain the Velvet Room to any of his teammates prior to them all meeting Igor...

582 notes - Posted November 14, 2022

#4

It’s still totally them...

791 notes - Posted November 18, 2022

#3

See the full post

851 notes - Posted November 15, 2022

#2

The Phantom Thieves: Akechi is planning on assassinating you. Joker: I know. He also threw his glove at me and said he hated me. Anyways, we’re going to Jazz Jin every night this week. The Phantom Thieves: WHY?! Joker:

1,100 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

The human members of the Phantom Thieves, defined...

1,670 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[haejjoon]

Have you played Synthesis? The VN made by @/specterthief ?

If yes, thoughts? Has it affected your AU in some way?

i HAVE NOT…… IVE BEEN MEANING TO PEOPLE KEEP TELLING ME TO PLAY IT </3

[specterthief]

gimme the joe/tadashi fluff

send me the rarest pair you can think of and I'll tell you if I ship it and how I think it can work

oh hey it's a ship i have actually written before! needless to say i ship this very much and it's probably my favorite ship for both of them

i pretty much reverse engineered this one from all the yume interviews about their dating preferences, particularly starting from "shopping for ingredients and cooking a meal together" being cited as a date that tadashi would enjoy:

and leading to studying all the other answers and how they compare, like both of them liking simple/casual dates, tadashi paying for his date + joe having to save money, tadashi wearing simple fast fashion in his private life and having to dress up for work (because adam would harshly criticize his casual clothes) while the thing joe finds most attractive on someone is casual clothes they don't usually wear because he likes to see people let their guard down, (animedia september 2021) + the summer date Q&A mentioning that a chance to relax and let his guard down where he might "show a different side" is what tadashi would want from a date (animedia august 2021)... the things they'd both like in relationships seem to be surprisingly compatible and like they'd have a nice time together. they also have some really interesting parallels even in the show - they both have very similar conversations with langa and reki respectively about the risks and "stupidity" of skating, but coming from completely opposite places (joe coming from already totally accepting himself and what he loves, tadashi from terrible self-hatred and guilt)

and they're the two people who've stuck by cherry and adam's sides for the last seven years, also in very contrasting way... they both influence reki and langa to resolve things and are the two people who are most integral to langa reaching adam. despite not interacting directly they play really interesting parallel roles in the overarching narrative that make me really like the idea of seeing how they would actually interact, and it's so easy to imagine how they could post-canon if adam starts to rekindle his friendship with joe and cherry. i think pairing a character who's as openly and confidently sexual as joe with someone as repressed as tadashi is also really fun to think about, and that with all tadashi's Issues having someone so attractive and confident be interested in him could be a really good experience for him

i just think they're neat!! i think about them a lot!! it's very much a crack ship but i think they would genuinely work together and you can see that i've thought about this one a lot because i have citations prepared for it

[trouble-writing]

I posted 280 times in 2022

That's 275 more posts than 2021!

19 posts created (7%)

261 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@specterthief

@naometry

@nosmallpotatoes

@itsrapsodia

@skyheaven1231

I tagged 228 of my posts in 2022

Only 19% of my posts had no tags

#art - 146 posts

#fanart - 144 posts

#persona5 - 137 posts

#queuing because i can - 119 posts

#writing - 41 posts

#myfanfics - 16 posts

#akeshu - 16 posts

#fe3h - 12 posts

#shuake - 11 posts

#akeshuake - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 74 characters

#because it captures exactly the vibes goro had in my mind while reading it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Slightly cracky 'he was the gardener all along'-idea.

Let's turn the 'Akira's parents are loaded'-headcanon up to 11. They have a huge elaborate garden. Akira comes back and slots seamlessly back into the family.

His parents ignore him as much as before, but they don't think of him as an absolute criminal, so that's nice. But they are adamant about him not going back to Tokyo, and more or less forcing him to enroll in the college in the next bigger town.

Maybe they could pull some strings despite his (overturned) criminal record. He goes there after protesting, being sure he will transfer at the first opportunity. It's not that bad. Morgana's here, his friends can video call and message, and he mostly has the house to himself.

On one of the rare occasions his parents are there, they inform him that they hired a new gardener from a local firm with good reviews, and he's supposed to keep an eye out if he does a good job, etc. And he does! The flowers look better than ever.

It's a delight to see the garden flourish, especially after he spent working so many hours at the flower shop. He starts doing his homework outside, but he hasn't seen or met the gardener yet, since he always comes around when Akira has classes.

Until one day - classes are canceled - he looks out the window and sees someone working out there. Imagine the general gardener fit, jeans, a t-shirt, if we're daring a straw hat, and Akira's just looking. And keeps looking.

He likes the glimpses of sun-bleached hair he sees and the slight tan, but he's busy, having a call with Ann scheduled, and during it, he carries the laptop over to the window and she approves of what she sees, comparing Akira to a romance heroine lusting after the gardener.

He just laughs. He doesn't laugh when he sees the gardener remove his shirt the next time. And thus begins Akira's journey of lusting after the gardener, but trying not to become a cliché by being inappropriate towards the guy. He hasn't even seen his face!

And well, it's summer soon, and he still misses Goro, and maybe Ann was right that he should distract himself, and flirt a little. And of course, there's a pool in the garden. Because of course. And maybe he should do his homework at different times on one of the beach chairs.

Wearing shorts and t-shirts, maybe even a tank top if he's particularly brave, to see if there might be a little interest. And there is! It's almost as if the gardener can't look away whenever Akira enters the garden and makes his way to his new favorite spot.

The guy keeps working and himself hidden, but it's as if Akira can feel his eyes on him. They keep staring at each other once the other looks away, and it's fun for a while. Definitely distracts him from everything else going on in his life.

At one point he gets bold enough to just approach the gardener. More or less sneaking up on him. And when he finally makes a noise to let him know Akira's approaching, he turns around.

And Akira stares into the face of one Goro Akechi, who found his calling in taking care of plants and nurturing them during their time apart.

*bows* That is all.

6 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

#4

PT.exe has stopped working an akeshuake No Powers AU, in which a Dating Sim appears on the Phansite.

Graphic for this post and the fic has been made by the wonderful @nosmallpotatoes!

Pairing: Goro Akechi/Akira Kurusu - Rating: M

Posted for ShuAke Week 2022 Day Six: Rule 63 - Crossover - Dating Sim

7 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

#3

True Romance is Dead (I shot it in the chest then in the head) 

Pairing: Goro Akechi/Akira Kurusu - Rating: M

A self-indulgent fic I'm actually rather proud of. Maybe one day I'll even write the second part.

Posted for ShuAke Week 2022 Day Two: Body Swap - Heist - Cooking

7 notes - Posted November 19, 2022

#2

Tell a little truth an akeshu one-shot written for the Monster Smash event on Twitter.

My gift for @enlacinglineswrites who wanted shuake/akeshu with a bit of truth serum.

Pairing: Goro Akechi/Akira Kurusu - Rating: E

Summary:

The truth that spilled out of him made Goro's eyes widen once more, but he gave no answer, just kept thinking, hand going up to his chin, already absorbed in whatever he was puzzling over.

“Just a hypothesis, but whatever you did to the potion very obviously made us unable to lie.”

After accidentally brewing a healing potion with another interesting property, Akira and Goro have to navigate the lingering effects of a truth potion.

14 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Claws and Feathers an akeshuake soulmate AU with shapeshifting.

Pairing: Goro Akechi/Akira Kurusu - Rating: M

Posted for ShuAke Week 2022 Day Five: Bad End - Sickfic - Shapeshifting

24 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[specterthief]

For the rare pairs thing idk even know how rare this is, but I'm so curious to hear your take on a goro akechi and yosuke hanamura relationship

send me the rarest pair you can think of and I'll tell you if I ship it and how I think it can work

i... have been defeated, i really can't come up for anything for this one, it has been a hot minute since i played p4 and yosuke was one of the characters i was least invested in out of a cast i mostly did not like very much in the first place 😭 so i have to admit that my understanding of him is really not that deep and i'm drawing a blank on anything in particular that could even get them to meet and form a relationship or anything about yosuke that would bring out anything interesting in akechi, let alone what could then make it shippable to me...

you definitely did succeed at picking a rarepair though! i decided to look at AO3 and see if anyone had written anything to try and spark any thoughts on this and it's not even an existing tag

[specterthief]

rarepair!! :) shiho and akechi? hope you're doing well :)

send me the rarest pair you can think of and I'll tell you if I ship it and how I think it can work

akechi is one of a few characters out there that i so unshakably read as 100% Gay that i just categorically can't see a m/f romance working for them, so unfortunately that is always going to be no on if i could actually ship him with any girl orz

i do think they could have some interesting interactions though! as with all of the fellow teenagers used and abused by adults, i think there would be some pretty complicated sympathy in both directions between them (and post-third semester akechi and shiho even have the weird venn diagram overlap both having been initially a footnote to someone else's wish.) i think given akechi's particular history he'd also a bit of his mother in shiho, with all the emotions of seeing what life looks like for someone who survived, who got help, who has a best friend that loves and supports them and parents who could step in to help them and an abuser who was brought to justice with her still alive to know that it was done, and i think in a situation where shiho knows about what happened to akechi (phantom thief shiho AU, something where she finds out from ann, idk) i think she wouldn't have any trouble understanding why he was as desperate as he was. in the right circumstances, i definitely think they could come to be friends!