A bit of a tangent from MC x Akechi, but I think it'd be interesting if they put some serious effort into providing an alternate route where Akechi doesn't die. Without the character assassination, please. There's a few ways to go about it. One option would be if the Phantom Thieves actually went through with the idea of changing Akechi's heart before tackling Sae Nijima's palace, making it an optional, albeit difficult route. Hell, make it a NG+ only route so that players still experience the original game before this route. Akechi, rather than betraying you in Nijima's palace, joins you fully in carrying out your faked death charade for the purpose of bringing down Shido and taking the targets off of your backs temporarily for plot continuity. Akechi continues to work with you all the way through up until the end of Shido's palace, and takes your place in jail over Joker after the final boss battle.
Now, to be perfectly clear. This would require good writing to not be utter character assassination. Like, really good writing. Like, I don't trust Atlus to write this good writing. But it'd be amazing if they could pull it off. ESPECIALLY if they provide alternate dialogue for an Akechi x MC route that leaves a bitter and unclear taste in the player's mouth in wondering if they really did the right thing changing his personality so drastically; it being one thing to change someone you don't know or actively hate, it being another thing completely to change someone that, to a certain extent, you considered a friend(or lover).
Now, this is where the idea really jumps the shark and goes full out dream scenario: In order to not jump straight to February, have there be a little bit of fallout due to Tokyo becoming a temporary hellscape. A little bit of fallout, like the Phantom Thieves coming into contact with characters from the past Persona games, who come to investigate exactly what went down. Mitusuru's Shadow Operatives, a random member of the Investigation Team who happens to be around Tokyo like Narukami, Naoto, or Rise, hell, if you REALLY want to go for a mindblown.gif superplot, give us a P1/P2 character like Naoya. My personal bet is on Naoto in such a scenario, as she'd have an in with the police to know the identity of the Phantom Thieves while at the same time having a far better understanding of the cognitive world than most policemen due to her experiences in the TV World. Finally, Naoto'd probably be curious/keep tabs on who the new 'detective prince' is and see alarm bells/similarities to the Inaba incident in that the deaths caused by the perpetrator are unexplainable/tied to the supernatural.
Anyways. Have the Phantom Thieves establish contact with Naoto using Sae as a go-between. Naoto will appear in early January and reveal to the Phantom Thieves that even though the cognitive world/app is gone, it's not necessarily the end of their adventures. Queue Naoto pulling out an evoker and summoning her Persona in the real world. Naoto will (hopefully) not infodump on the Phantom Thieves and will instead feed them crumbs alluding to greater things.
I'm not quite sure where to go from here. My current idea is that Naoto offers to tell them more on the condition that they accept some sort of test from her. Naoto gifts you her Evoker but clarifies that it's a crutch until they learn to summon a Persona without one. She then gives you some sort of challenge that has you actually using your Personas in the real world to...hmmm....break Akechi out of prison? I like this idea. More extrapolation:
Naoto's condition is to break Goro Akechi out of prison and refuses to tell you why or what for. This immediately sets most of the party on edge, and some of them into open hostility. In response, Naoto voices a theory aloud: Are the Phantom Thieves certain that the Change of Heart actually permanent? After all, it seems so convenient; steal somebody's treasure, and their entire personality and psyche changes on a switch with seemingly no consequences or side effects. Who's to say that it isn't only a temporary solution, and that those whose treasures were stolen won't slowly normalize their regret and slide back to some middling point between who they were and what they regret doing? Did they keep tabs on those who they'd changed? Who's to say that their minds won't break later? Won't they require some sort of rehabilitation?
Protagonist: TRIGGERED
Naoto's words bring up doubt among Phantom Thieves, even Morgana. The Phantom Thieves tentatively agree to do it with the voiced understanding that Goro Akechi won't be a free man and that he still has debts to repay to society. With Naoto's guidance/provided floor plan/info on guard shifts, and one dungeon later where Akechi argues (somewhat non-convincingly) that they should have left him to carry out his sentence, Akechi is out of prison(but not his handcuffs) in front of Naoto, who begins to interrogate him as the Phantom Thieves watch on. The Phantom Thieves will quietly start discussing among themselves how odd Akechi is behaving; when he first turned himself in, he was melancholic, felt incredibly guilty, and seemed at peace with his fate. But now, while not quite regretting his choice, a bit of his less guarded 'Real Akechi' demeanor is back; he's a bit more sarcastic, more aloof to his crimes, and unlike when he turned himself in, he's sitting with his head held high.
Naoto ends her interrogation of Akechi(including flashbacks to some of his offscreen behavior as the black-mask thief) and asks their opinion on whether Akechi appears to be regressing. Most of the party agrees that he is. Naoto then proposes the following; rather than having him sit behind bars and return into the monster he'd become, Akechi will work to repay his debts to society with his own two hands, and in turn, will be rehabilitated by the Shadow Operatives. The party is torn, but ultimately agree after Haru points out that if Personas can be materialized in the real world, then there's a legitimate chance Akechi will one day escape prison as the monster he once was. The Protagonist introspects that due to Akechi's Wild Card, that possibility is far more likely than she suspects. Akechi seems torn on the possibility, unwilling to deny that emancipation would be tempting, as even he can acknowledge that his disposition is changing over time and that he'd have vehemently disagreed on the day that he turned himself in.
Akechi leaves with Naoto, still in handcuffs with the understanding that Goro Akechi will forever be a wanted man; normal society will never be able to truly prosecute him to the extent of his crimes as they're unprovable. And so Goro Akechi must disappear from normal society forever in order to repay his debts. Meanwhile the Phantom Thieves get Naoto's number and a promise to be in touch soon.
Fastforward to the ending scene of Persona 5. Joker's cellphone rings, it's from Naoto.
"Are you guys ready?"
END
