[ He's too close not to catch Yusuke when he nearly collapses, and yet it doesn't really feel like ether of them are entirely there. (A bad dream. A dislocated memory.) The pull of fabric against his arms, the strange burden of his friend's skull against his collar, they're all distant impressions as Akira is momentary lost in his own thoughts—conceited thoughts, and futile.
If he had arrived earlier. If he had been there. In the aftermath, none of this is nearly enough; Richie's corpse is abandoned to the Institute staff, and whatever monster had taken him is already eating away at Yusuke as well. There isn't anything more Akira can do but to keep them both steady.
...Yusuke has always been too prideful for pity. In Madarame's palace, he had insisted on standing on his own two feet, and even now he hasn't changed in that regard. But it's as if his stare could haunt Akira, even downturned and under the bandages. (He had sought so earnestly to observe the human soul... and what ugliness has he seen, today?)
(Does Akira really want to know how Richie died?)
His mouth pulls into a rigid line, Joker's mask settling over his own eyes.
The facade of a fearless leader, the immovable pillar of the Phantom Thieves. ]
You need more than that.
[ He needs more help than Akira can give. Arsene's whispers roil somewhere in his hindmind, the persona's borrowed strength more than enough to get Yusuke where he ought to be.
no subject
If he had arrived earlier. If he had been there. In the aftermath, none of this is nearly enough; Richie's corpse is abandoned to the Institute staff, and whatever monster had taken him is already eating away at Yusuke as well. There isn't anything more Akira can do but to keep them both steady.
...Yusuke has always been too prideful for pity. In Madarame's palace, he had insisted on standing on his own two feet, and even now he hasn't changed in that regard. But it's as if his stare could haunt Akira, even downturned and under the bandages. (He had sought so earnestly to observe the human soul... and what ugliness has he seen, today?)
(Does Akira really want to know how Richie died?)
His mouth pulls into a rigid line, Joker's mask settling over his own eyes.
The facade of a fearless leader, the immovable pillar of the Phantom Thieves. ]
You need more than that.
[ He needs more help than Akira can give. Arsene's whispers roil somewhere in his hindmind, the persona's borrowed strength more than enough to get Yusuke where he ought to be.
(If he can't walk, he'll carry him.) ]