#minakeshu

TNT: Interesting take. I didn’t think I’d have much to say about this because the question had me stumped at first, bUT HERE WE GO!

I’m going based on the fact that the au is mainly pegokita, so I can imagine Minato meeting up with Akira every now and again, using food as an excuse to visit the kitchen more often even during his younger years. If Akechi started off as Minato’s retainer, and he saw Minato doing this, I don’t doubt that he’d get jealous if he was excluded. Even if he was included, I feel like he’d still feel inferior if Minato even hinted he might enjoy Akira’s company more. It’d be up to Akechi’s perception. In canon RRAU, he wishes to be useful and special to the point of making Akira obsolete, and in this alternate version, it seems like he’d take issue with being born with the privilege of being special/closest to the king, yet somehow failing even at that if Minato feels the need to seek out someone else instead of remain in his company. 

We could also entirely spin this a different way and go full ham Minake, or go full ham Shuake by making Akira go all doki doki for the cute retainer in a much more innocent “I wanna be there too” way. Since Akira wouldn’t be fueled by spite, I think he’d genuinely try to rise in ranks the slow, grating way, even if it’d take a long while. While Akira keeps getting kicked down in canon, I don’t think he’d go so far as cheat his way to success. The cheating to success stems from Akechi’s overall pettiness as a person for being stepped on and I don’t think Akira would have the same chaotic energy or be petty enough to do the same things Akechi did, even if he’d meet the same end goal.

I think there’s two ways to end this. One, where Akechi becomes the first retainer to turn on his king and the country (since retainers for the Arisatos take over if every Arisato dies) and takes over by betraying Minato in a way he feels Minato betrayed him, or, you know, everyone can have a happy ending and they can all go to the beach and get sunburn with ice cream to the side.

I personally also love the idea of Akira being such a little shit, but he’s so charming that Minato can’t penalize him and it drives Akechi mad because Akechi’s supposed to make sure Minato abides by the laws and reinforces them and yet he can’t say shit bc Minato’s just shrugging off Akira’s misdemeanors in a way that he wouldn’t do for anyone else. Since Akechi is Law and Minato is literally Messiah, I feel like they’d be much more efficient as Retainer/King than Akira/Minato. I do think one key factor that would be similar to Akira is that Akechi would kill all his targets unless Minato told him otherwise. Akira would disobey Minato’s direct orders if he was told not to kill, rebellion and all that, but I wonder if Akechi would actually do as Minato said.

It’s hard to say if Akechi would act the same as Akira if he allowed Minato to get hurt, because they are different people. Akira got overprotective in RRAU canon, and I don’t doubt Akechi would do the same if he allowed Minato to get hurt, but I don’t know if Akechi would feel guilty enough not to take Minato’s affection if Minato showed that he really wanted it. I feel like Akechi wouldn’t mask his affection as “duty to his king” like Akira would. I think he’s too blunt to keep a lie like that one so consistently without contradicting himself or revealing the truth. The only way I see Akechi pushing away affection is if he knew/thought that it was a longshot for said affection to actually be mutual. Given how direct Minato has to be with his wants and needs in this AU, I don’t think he’d give Akechi room to doubt him (much like how Minato is with Akira).

TNT: Anon, I love your spicy hot take. In a world where Akechi earns his position fairly without betrayal or cheating, he meets up with Akira and the two hit it off and Minato figures “idk whats up with this guy but he looks hard working so let’s be fair and promote him because Akira doesn’t need this much stress in his life.” so they end up with two retainers and nobody has to suffer and there’s no angst and everyone is happy. Akira and Akechi can spar during training, Minato and Akechi can have a “let’s see who can eat the most pancakes” contest (Minato wins), and Minato and Akira can strap a swimsuit on Akechi so this pale bitch finally sees sunlight instead of lurk in his room all day doing paperwork.

TNT: It might be the rarest pair that isn’t even canon but THATS NOT GOING TO STOP ME FROM MAKING ALL SORTS OF ART FOR THEM. IF CANON P3 AND P5 CAN’T STOP ME, NOTHING WILL. Minato is alive, he has two boyfriends, and that’s just the tea.

TNT: Original pegokita storyline? I don’t think I’ve outlined my original ending yet? Or even talked about it (Akechi’s end)? I’ve kept quiet because I’m in the process of outlining a huge Akechi-centric post that tells you exactly what steps he took to become retainer, and what led him to betray Minato in the end. 

Straylize’s end and mine aren’t the same (Our Akechis are completely different). I give a lot of thought to alternate routes because I find it entertaining to think of what the outcome would have been if things played out a little differently.So, when you say “it fits into place” I’m happy it does, because that was the intention. 

I wrote the shuake end wanting to explore Akechi more as a morally gray character, because in this particular AU, both Akechi and Akira have killed people. Just not for the same reasons. So, in a way, they can reach a resolution based on their similarities. Akira could argue Akechi forced himself to kill for “no reason”, but Akechi could equally argue that Akira forced himself to kill for “no reason” because it would have been easier to “imprison” the guilty. He points out that Akira just didn’t “want” to because it would leave Minato vulnerable to another attack if those prisoners ever got out. These two arguments follow my canon as well and aren’t exclusive to the shuake bad end.

Though, I love that specific shuake end a lot because of the reasons you listed, anon. I write all my endings based on BIG DICK ENERGY (just based on what is a cool concept and what would make for a good alternative to play with outside of canon established story) and I love when things come full circle. It’s a bittersweet ending, in a way, but noncanon nonetheless. It’s still an alternate universe I’ll probably draw for/play with because of the potential between Akira and Akechi, and the grief that Akira and Akechi will go through because of Minato’s sacrifice.

It’s a bad ending because Akira and Akechi still feel unhappy with the turnout (Really, all endings that aren’t pegokita are kind of bad endings bc this is a pegokita au. Even an ending where Akira gets together with Hifumi and Minato gets together with Aegis would still be considered bad end. I think it’s just a “catch all” tag at this point, even if the endings themselves aren’t necessarily “bad” in turnout). They don’t regret settling their differences but they’d have fought for/preferred a different ending if it were up to them. I love absolutely all bad endings, but this shuake one in particular is one of my favorites because of the way Akira and Akechi are forced into the roles that they thought were “easy to manage” and “if I was in their shoes, I’d do things differently” when it actually isn’t that simple.

The canon story I want to tell with Akechi is focused more on how unhinged and broken he becomes because of the shit he forces himself to do. However, in this universe, he isn’t exactly ‘forced’ to do anything like he is in canon (not that canon forced him, but he made a dumb choice, really. Here, he has time to opt out whenever by his own will because no one will step on him if he quits). It’s something he ‘wants’ to do- a choice. I want to give us what canon didn’t give us: Akechi, but a really cunning and downright terrifying antagonist. Becomes so warped and distorted you can’t help but to want him to succeed because of how motivated he is and how careful he is about achieving his goal. He works on it slowly in steps- breaks Minato down and renders Akira useless so progressively that no one suspects a thing. Also, Minato genuinely fucked up twice with Akechi in canon. Should have penalized him the first time he broke rules, but didn’t. Shouldn’t have made Akechi retainer (Minato broke tradition for selfish reasons- ie: Akira needs help, so to hell with tradition, I’m making Akechi second retainer) and Minato suffers because of his own actions, despite being manipulated into making Akechi second retainer (not that Minato was aware of it- but Akechi managed to persuade Minato to make him retainer). 

However, in this AU’s canon, if Akechi attacks Minato, it’s absolutely game over for him.