#yoshida helps him develop skills to negotiate with shadows

[decarabias]

shuake’s mutual "hmmm" at first sight vibe is so so good. the core motivation for them getting to know each other is really just "what the hell is this guy's deal?"

akechi's side is pretty obvious — what better way to supplement your monitoring of the phantom thieves than befriending their leader?

but ren's side is almost more interesting to me here, especially because he largely approaches his non-phantom thief confidants from a completely transactional perspective. akechi kind of starts off that way too, because he plays his hand too early by unintentionally revealing that he's seen them in the metaverse, and then follows that up with essentially concern trolling about their methods on national television. so of course that's going to pique ren's interest.

and then somewhere amidst the "you don't know that i know that you know" 4D chess of it all, they genuinely become friends despite both of them knowing that they're on a collision course that won't end well. they’re so much.