#This makes the child just a child and it was planned for Mishima to find them at the right time

[shinehalley]

My favorite headcanon/theory about the ending of Light Up the New World is that in fact Mishima is somehow related to Light genetically maybe a distant relationship like their grandmothers being sisters or something and the story of secret child was just a smokescreen to hide that yes, Light Yagami passed on the mantle of Kira to someone genetically linked to him and his DNA still alive, but not with who we expected to be, all "according to plan"

[beanieman]

A Very Specific Scenario That Reminds Me Of YTTD Characters But I Don't Elaborate On Why

Sara Chidouin - You're at the library looking for a book that calls to you. There's no specific genre or title you're looking for, just a sense of wanting something to read. Standing between the shelves, you spot some friends looking for a book. They greet you with a wave before you group up for a joint search. The idea seemed great until you get kicked out of the library for causing a disturbance.

Joe Tazuna - You tell a joke in a crowded room. Everyone laughs and looks at you like you're the funniest person in the vicinity. You'll spend the rest of your life chasing that high.

Gin Ibushi - A stray cat approaches you on the street. It's fluffy body rubs against your leg as it happily purrs in affection. For a moment you think it wants to go home with you, then you recall the leftover sandwich you have in your bag from lunch. You throw a part of the meat to the cat and it runs off with it quickly. You'd be offended if you weren't so amused.

Keiji Shinogi - You people watch as you sit on the park bench. You see a couple walking their dog walking hand in hand. You hear siblings loudly arguing about who will get the front seat. You taste smoke as a woman walks by with a cigarette, her hoodie looking made out of a soft fabric you can imagine the texture of. You smell cheap cologne as a man passes through. He meets your eyes and nods as if he understands what you're doing. It's the most relaxing part of the day.

More Undercut

Alice Yabusame - After seeing a picture of someone attractive online, you decide to cut your hair to mirror their style. The scissors are gripped tightly in your hand as you raise the blade to the strands of hair you no longer want to have. As the first cut removes a chunk of hair, you gasp to yourself, realizing you didn't mean to take off quite so much. Your next step is to quickly Google the names of hairstylists in your area, hoping one of them will have an appointment open for tomorrow.

Reko Yabusame - An energetic song plays over the car radio as you drive toward your road trip destination. Friends sit in the seats beside you sharing inside jokes and telling stories you've all created together. A part of you can't wait to get there and see what adventures await you, another wishes the moment would never end.

Nao Egokoro - You're a child on a summer afternoon who's been playing the pool for hours. The water is pleasantly warm, and your hair reeks of chlorine as the adult present asks if you want a popsicle. A grin races across your face as you enthusiastically request your favorite flavor.

Kazumi Mishima - You find an old journal tucked away in your dresser that you decide to read. You see the words and know they were yours, but they no longer belong to you. The version of you that wrote those logs is long gone as you've changed into a different person through the years. The realization couldn't be more bittersweet.

Q-taro Burgerberg - You struggle to lift the large box from the floor, your arms aching as the weight resists your grasp. You're about to give up and let someone else complete the task when a stranger greets you with a friendly smile and offers help. With their assistance, the box is moved with ease, their presence only lasting a brief moment longer as they wave goodbye and continue with their day. You still think of them from time to time.

Kai Satou - It's your first time cooking a new dish. Ingredients are laid out on the counter along with a recipe you plan to follow step by step. You're excited to try something new and nervous about what could go wrong. Even still, you do your best, and despite a few small mistakes, you're able to make a wonderful meal that makes you proud.

Kanna Kizuchi - The night should be dark, but you see a small light hovering by your face as the humid summer air engulfs you. You hold your hand out and let the small firefly land on your palm. It glows a vibrant light that makes you feel like a small child once more catching fireflies with your brother until your Mother calls you inside. You're torn from the memory when the bug flies off your hand toward the other lights shining vibrantly like a star.

Shin Tsukimi - You take a nap in the late afternoon and don't wake up until the moon is high in the sky. After a brief period of confusion, you walk through your house for a glass of water and realize everyone else went to bed long ago. You're the only one awake and decide to play on your phone until sunrise or sleep greets you. The bright light of your device illuminates your face as you open an app and start to scroll.

Dolls

Ranmaru Kageyama - Your finger hovers over the send button as you look down at the text and read the message you wrote once more. It's a simple line of "Hey. How are you?" meant for a friend that faded from your life with time. A thousand questions and worries race through your mind as you wonder if it's worth sending, before eventually deciding against it.

Naomichi Kurumada - You settle into your seat at the theater for a movie you've looked forward to seeing since it was announced. The lights dim and you look up to the screen in joy as the title card flickers in. You glace at the people around you and they all share the same excited energy.

Anzu Kinashi - Your friend recommends you a new media that seems like it would be your thing. You only have to indulge in this media for a little bit to understand that this is going to be something that sticks with you. A rush of excitement pulses through your brain as you text friend to say how much you enjoyed it before looking for fandom content.

Mai Tsurugi - It's a major holiday and your family hosts. You wake up with the scent of food wafting through the air and the sound of a Hallmark movie is playing in the living room. You jump out of bed to help in the kitchen with a giddy feeling you only have at certain times of the year.

Shunsuke Hayasaka - You cross another item off your to do list as the late afternoon arrives and you aren't done with your chores. There's plenty left to do, and a frustrated sigh leaves your lips at the realization you're getting very little down time today.

Hinako Mishuku - Jack-o-lanterns cover the street as kids excitedly knock on each door looking a trick or treat. You put on your costume to greet them and hand out the candy they desire. Once the last child has left into the night you turn on your tv and flick through the various scary movies playing to decide which one will thrill you with scares tonight.

[livyslabyrinth]

also, following this up but way darker— i was talking w my bf and we realized somehow all 3 of them got groomed in some way. lord, help this mess of a family.

spoilers under the cut: trigger warnings for subjects like abuse, and grooming (the action of attempting to form a relationship with a child or young person, with the intention of sexually assaulting them or inducing them to commit an illegal act such as selling drugs or joining a terrorist organization.)

kanna reveals that kugie was being romanced by a “mature/adult” woman in the original japanese version of your time to shine. sara is still called “underage” by mishima when keiji thinks about drinking with her, so i assume the simulation takes place with everyone at their same ages as in the death game.

shin was groomed by sou, whether you see their relationship as romantic or not. i personally see it with slight “romantic” undertones due to the excess of photos of shin being placed around sou’s house (possibly one sided as shin, at his most affectionate points with sou, states he viewed him as a sibling or an anti-hero) but either way… it was definitely abusive. shin’s ai reveals that sou was not even a student at his school, just a random grown ass man attending.

(side tangent and personal head cannon : i wonder how much coke sou was snorting to be able to balance high school, being a “psychologist”, “prison guard”, cashier at the ice cream shop, shin’s “friend”, a “nurse”, meeting with the yabusames, working for asunaro… like, half of their funding probably goes to his booger sugar because no way you’re doing all that without speed.)

but back to the main point, he specifically picked an emotionally vulnerable teenage boy with no friends, making it easy to groom him with the intention of forcing him into the death game. shin was very uncomfortable throughout the time they shared. during the lantern scene he says they spoke between computer monitors when at his house due to how uncomfortable he felt with him, and became even more disturbed upon seeing sou peek from between them.

when clicking photos of him he claims sara is “making him remember the bad parts”. he shows the most disdain in the chapter when upon inserting the fake id card into the control room several smiling photos of him appear.

i believe one of the most heartbreaking things shin has said is when confesses relief at the sou’s death despite the loneliness of losing his only friend.

i really hate the romanticization of their relationship. it’s sad seeing a complex character have clear grooming overlooked by gooner-fans (chainsaw man fandom is rlly bad with this as well) and the “i love toxic yaoi” crowd. shin is a victim who deserved much better. he was, at best, a kid who was groomed into joining a death game due to the trust he put into his first “friend”. at worst, there’s a possibility he was groomed romantically or sexually as well.

i do like their relationship. i find it incredibly interesting from a psychological perspective— but the romanticization of it genuinely takes away from a well-written character.

upon taking sou’s name, shin also took upon himself the man’s personality. believing that a psychotic, sadistic, and morally dubious demeanor would save him. but upon doing so— he continued the cycle of violence (fortunately ending it out of genuine love for his victim in chapter 2.) he latched onto the weakest of the group, manipulating kanna to his will with the sacrifice card.

i frequently wonder if he did this because he saw some of himself in kanna. that same timid highschool boy that was manipulated by sou hiyori, the man he has “become”.

regardless of his later intentions and affection, he originally sought to groom her into becoming someone he could use, bend to his will, make part of his plans.

but in chapter two, he broke the cycle. he found himself becoming affectionate towards kanna— and her self-sacrifice distressed him to the point that he was willing to die for her.

that’s one of the reasons i find his name reveal so perfect— we learn of shin tsukimi when we first see that true side of himself that he tried to “kill”. sou hiyori would never care for another human being the way shin tsukimi does. sou hioyri would never feel empathy for his playthings and feared death until the end, while shin tsukimi died at peace giving himself up for kanna.

tragically — even if kanna had been the sacrifice, he was prepared to die. he knew she would choose sara to live alongside her as her surrogate sister.

shin tsukimi broke the cycle, and i find it so tragically beautiful.

favorite thing about kugie + greenblings is somehow— despite the biological siblings being separated and kugie not even being related to them… all three of them ended up gay.

shin and kugie are pretty self explanatory, but kanna gives me gay vibes as well. (this is NOT shipping in any way, just general observation) her blushing sprite is only used when sara says she smells nice in 2-2, if i remember correctly. and i don’t even know what to say about the hot springs scene… she’s visually checking her out and nobody knows wtf happens when the screen goes black. kanna in the hot tub cutscene photo always reminds me so much of the feeling of changing in locker rooms in middle school when you first start to question your sexuality— poor girl. also, either intentionally or unintentionally grabbing reko’s ass in the emotion route 😭

like, its not due to influence between them as kanna only recently found out about kugie’s girlfriend pre-death game and neither of them knew shin. it’s not genetics, since kanna and shin aren’t directly related to kugie.

just genuinely blows my mind how ALL OF THEM ended up gay.

…honestly, that could be said for most of the cast though

[niuniente]

I'm so glad you feel like being child free is something that needs to be represented. The pressure of being sexually active and producing children is painfully everywhere (especially with the internet) for those who don't wish to have kids or don't like sexual encounters. It happens as soon as you're an adult and other adults just assume you're like them. People are still baffled that I, an adult in a 8 year relationship, does not like sexual content (like game of thrones despite being a fantasy buff) nor plans to have children because I find creating art more liberating (and less terrifying) than creating a life.

Indeed I do! My personal fandom wank is characters having children but it's a very popular trope and like said, easy way to continue a story if/when needed. In Tekken, which I love, we're already going at great grandchildren by the main Mishima family line!

While I have this fandom wank, by all means, fans of DHD and any series of mine are free to headcanon and create as big families to any character as they wish, if it makes them happy. I know how liberating and fun creating fan content is :3

(I was forced to watch the first episode of GOT and immediately both me and my friend dropped it because sex was there only for a shock value. Anyone can do that but quality sexual content, no matter how horny and kinky? Well that's what we need more. Lucky, Smutember is soon here).

[sillyguyhotline]

i genuinely don’t know which character was the catalyst for this or if it was just a giant trainwreck of all of them happening at the same time, but most of the mess that is 3b’s writing can be attributed to the fact that nankidai couldn’t settle on a chapter villain. i’ve already voiced my complaints with the walking wasted development that was the dolls, and i’m sure that they contributed to this, but nankidai couldn’t find a solid tone or theme for this chapter and that’s because he was trying to do multiple things at once.

throughout the majority of the story, we’ve had roughly two villains/villain figures at the same time: the floormasters who are working outside the group, and shin, who’s been working inside of the group. part of the reason that 2-2 was so great is that it resolved a lot of the mysteries around who shin was and why he was acting the way that he did- it had been an ongoing conflict escalating since chapter 1, and when everything came together it was gorgeous and did wonders to humanize shin as a character. then, if you save kanna, he affirms that he was still a good person after all and that even if he is proving the survival statistics right, he’s going out to save the people he loves.

except there’s an ending where shin is still alive and now you have a character whose arc has been immaculately resolved who you still have to keep alive for another chapter. it’s ok, though, because shin is understandably furious at sara for killing kanna and his plan is to take out his revenge on her. but then you encounter a big problem, which is that you need to stretch out this villain arc (which has already been playing out across the entire game) for another chapter. this isn’t feasible; it’s gonna get repetitive at some point. but don’t worry, you’ve been building the game up to introduce the next floormaster, a character who’s supposedly so terrifying that the mere mention of him sends shin into a panic: midori.

at first, this seems like a good idea: bits and pieces of evidence from the last two chapters have been alluding to midori being a terrible person. however, as scary as the story seems to think it’s making him, midori has no real presence as the villain he’s written to be. by all means, he should have killed keiji- he outlined specific guidelines under which keiji would live or die, they failed to meet those guidelines, and keiji should have died. but instead of killing him, midori gives them the time to find the controls to shut the coffin off (which ends up taking ages for the participants even if you’re a fast player) and assigns no consequences to anything they do. he then spends most of the chapter standing in random places and occasionally being an annoyance before dying at the banquet. even then, by the rules midori logically should have won the banquet, but instead he conceded and allowed the participants to win and got himself killed. when the other floormasters in prior chapters have set out to kill someone, they’ve meant it. as underhanded as it was, the participants in chapter 1 were given a chance to save everyone in the preliminary vote. but they didn’t find the sign, so mishima died. ranger even went out of his way to kill alice despite alice technically doing nothing wrong. the floormasters have not been moderate with their viciousness, and yet midori, the man who’s supposedly been killing and torturing people for fun since he was a child, is lenient with his killings. midori has almost no narrative presence as a villain despite how much he’s been set up to be one.

this is where ranmaru comes in, because he’s the only actual threat to the group. the only one to kill a human member of the group is another fucking group member. and it wasn’t shin, whose character arc had been developing for three chapters, it was a kid who had started out completely fine and snapped after being reminded he wasn’t human and having sara whisper in his ear. ranmaru’s actions were definitely rushed and felt cheap, but they are so much worse when compared to midori and shin, who had more motives and capabilities than ranmaru and still ended up accomplishing less than him.

and then there’s shin, who was barely a presence in this chapter. arguably it’s because he fears midori, but this argument seems weak when the story fails to depict midori as something to be feared. midori is a weird enigma at most but all of his atrocities are too cartoonish to be taken seriously. shin promises that his first goal is to take out midori and then move on to sara, but midori is never actually enough of a threat for shin to confront him. shin never gets a big moment where he stands up to the man who has made his life hell for years, he just sits behind the girl who killed his sister as she deals the death blow that they barely earned.

this was a long rant but i think that the failures of 3b’s villains are inherently intertwined- they were all trying to compensate for each other and ended up undermining each other in the process and generally we ended up with a messy, nonsensical story that lacked impact

[cardsthings]

P5 Pirate AU Part 2

Pirate AU

Sojiro - Runs a tavern/inn(?) (LeBlanc) and adopted Futaba and Akira (unofficially for Akira). Knows about the whole pirate deal, claims not to support it but he 100% does.

Takemi - Non reputable doctor, absolute genius with medicine. Used to be a doctor for a prominent noble family until a medicine she made "failed" to cure their sick child. Somehow another doctor managed to succeed where she couldn't, nobody believed her when she claimed he stole the original medicine she made. Ride or die for Akira but who isn't?

Yoshida - A disgraced noble who knew Akira in his prince days. He knows the injustice of what happened to Akira and helps to hide the crew when they come to him.

Iwai - Former pirate, is their weapons dealer. 100% knows Akira is a pirate but he's too charming and helpful to say no to getting involved. Refuses to let Akira near his son.

Ohya - Runs Crossroads with Lala. Is a classic loud mouth drunk gossip or is she? Often misleads navy officers who are looking for the crew after they helped her with Kayo. (I don't know if they found her alive and brought her back or if they found out she was dead and brought the information back.)

Kawakami - I don't really know how she would fit in?

Shinya - Also no clue how to fit him in here. He’s a child.

Chihaya - Is a fortune teller, does she have legit magical powers? The world will never know. Akira trusts her readings, Goro does not until like the fifth time they are eerily accurate. Not quite sure how or why she met Akira but she 100% knows he's a pirate.

Maruki - Part of the noble family that took Kamoshida's lands after his downfall. Knows about the whole pirate thing and repeatedly offers the crew a way out of that life and a place to stay because of how young they all are and how unfair their circumstances were. Goro is always ready to fight him (he gives off bad vibes but he's probably harmless.)

Sae - A navy officer who thinks the pirates kidnapped her sister. Stops at nothing to find them until she realizes that Makoto is safe and also a pirate. Refuses to arrest her sister (because she'll probably end up getting executed if she does) and goes into hiding (maybe at LeBlanc.)

Lavenza - Was the one who got Akira's sentence lifted from execution to banishment. Did as much within her power to help as possible but couldn't quite manage to make things fair.

Igor - I don't know if he's around.

Shido - King of a major kingdom and Goro's father. Didn't have any heirs so he took his bastard son in and tried to raise him to be an obedient tool. That did not work. Was both pissed and thrilled when pirates kidnapped his son, immediately told the kingdom he was dead and pretended to be a good king while saying he refused to pay the ransom, hoping that the pirates would take care of the disobedient son thing for him. Got drunk in some small kingdom once and convinced the king and queen to execute their brat.

Yaldabaoth - Powerful advisor to Shido probably. Maybe planning to steal his throne?

Okumura - Minor royal who just wanted to use his daughter for political gain. Was only mildly distraught when she was kidnapped. When she leaves to be a pirate, he is more angry than sad that his pawn left. (Maybe dies shortly after and it's framed as the pirates killing him to kidnap Haru again?)

Kaneshiro - Also a pirate but was taken down by Sae in the past. Remnants of his fleet can still be found skulking around sometimes.

Madarame - A noble who likes to flaunt his wealth but neglects his adoptive son. Is also Yusuke's patron. When Yusuke "dies" he is actually sad for a little while (he mourns the loss of his best artist instead of his son but still)

Kamoshida - A noble somewhere, treats all the people under him horribly, uses Mishima as a personal whipping boy until he's robbed and taken down by the Phantom Thieves. Maybe dies, I don't know. He loses everything.

[kaisturntoshine]

Ooo I agree with a lot of this! Personally I like to think Kai is alive for the sake of my mental health.

Some additional stuff that I think will happen (bare in mind, this is lengthy):

We'll learn who is hooked up to the IV in Miley's room; my guess is as good as any, but I'd assume it's either Mishima or Kai (or maybe one of the dummies, but unlikely)

2. The first trials will be explained; We still don't know what the first trials of Gin, Reko and Kai entailed (though Kai's trial does kind of get explained in the manga). Honestly, I can understand Gin's not being mentioned yet, as he is alive and can talk about it himself and we don't even know if Kai got much of a trial (if any at all) in the game. But Reko's strikes me as weird, I don't know! Similarly,

3. The percentage papers will become relevant again; Taking into consideration the inclusion of participants to assist (Nao, Kugie) or to serve as handicaps (Joe) for the candidates, as well as Shin's first trial, it is safe to assume there was a deliberate attempt to even the playing field. Yet, Gin, who besides Shin and Hinako had the lowest survival rate, seemingly hasn't gotten any assistance from Asunaro whatsoever. Of course, he might have been assisted by being given an easy first trial (seeing as though he was awfully calm/not traumatized by it). Yet, when we are introduced to him he appears wary, despite his trusting nature (though this can be attributed to circumstance) and he finds the secret passage. So, I definitely think there something going on there.

(Though, I am starting to think these papers are fabricated at this point)

4. Shin will get the sacrifice or the keymaster; I do plan on explaining this more thoroughly in a separate post on my blog, but this is mainly based on our common belief that shin vs sara will be a vocal point of 3-2, so it'd be interesting for one of them to be in a position of power. I'm leaning more towards Shin. The fact that the only people alive alongside Shin in logic route are those that voted for Kanna, makes me inclined to believe that he will use the cards to enact his revenge. (Keep in mind; it's been foreshadowed that Shin will hack the cards, so it's not definitive that he'll get the same card as Kanna will)

5. Sara will not get the sacrifice (at least in logic route). This time around, the sacrifice is an extremely powerful card; if you manage to secure even a single other vote, you win. Sara has two strong allies (Keiji & Gin), so she'd be getting a great advantage. - Potential hole in this: I don't know if Keiji would be willing to sacrifice Gin's life.

6. We will see more of manipulative Sara in logic route; not much to say on this one. I feel like Sara is going to encapsulate what Keiji said: In the emotion route she'll be their saving grace and in the logic route? Their angel of death.

7. Multiple routes; Now, we already know there are multiple routes, but since this is the final chapter, there is no telling just how much the game will branch out route wise. Similarly,

8. There will be good and bad endings on both routes; I believe this has been confirmed. Whilst Nankidai has admitted that he is not concerned with "balancing out" the routes, there must be some incentive for the player to pick either or.

9. There is a connection between Meister and Sara's dad; They have the same sprites, come on.

10. Keiji's wish will become relevant (especially if it ties into the theory that one of the participants was Mr Policeman's child); I'll explain this in a separate post.

11. The Alice/ Reko choice will become important in the Emotion route; This is mainly due to the fact that the Yabusame sibling choice, whilst heartbreaking, hasn't had excessive impact on the game as of yet. The effect mainly concerns the knowledge Sara gets, which, whilst interesting, is not greatly impactful.

Honorary mention: "Shin is chronically ill" theory

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk! I have more to say, but that's for another time.

yttd chapter 3-2 predictions!

i saw a bingo card going around on twitter... and i completed my own but id really like to dive into my predictions a bit!! under the cut because this is going to be loooong!

1. gin / keiji will die

for starters. i do not want either of them to die dude if gin goes... but whatever! i predict that they'll function similarly to shin and kanna, as in they're looked to a certain route. i'm going back and forth on the idea of the player making a conscious decision on who to kill or if it's based on former decisions.

now i don't necessarily believe in the memorandum theory, but i think it's quite interesting that gin and keiji are still alive despite them being mentioned clearly. (man who's views align with the girl = keiji and boy much younger than her = gin.)

at this point sara has come to care so deeply for these two, with gin and keiji constantly being her rock and both of them risking their lives for her in chapter 3-1.

as for how they'll die, gin is really anyone's guess. keiji will probably die sacrificing himself for the group i feel.

someone else is going to die, i feel like that's inevitable. especially in emotion considering that the cast is stacked with either yabusame sibling still being alive.

2. midoris status

i have a sinking feeling that he's not quite dead. do i know what purpose this would really serve? not really! i just feel like he's obviously so influential and important... so i feel like him dying in the coffin would be. i don't know! either way i think we'll get some backstory and or clarification for him!

3. escape

i think an escape ending will be possible. i have a few ways i think it could go. but for clarification, i dont think emotion and logic are going to balance each other out. i've seen some people saying that emotion will take a dark turn and logic will take a positive tone, but i dont buy it.

if i had to guess, id say an escape will happen in logic (?) while i don't think that the two routes will balance out, i do think that some sort of story incentive will be given to make logic a viable option to play. shin is also still alive, and id say he's the most capable of getting the group out. (not to say i dont think emotion won't have a happy ending..)

an escape might happen after someone "wins". i just think nankidai will pull this to be funny. sort of. idk..

a good ending to the death game doesn't necessarily have to be a concrete escape, maybe there's another way to end it? idk!

4. shin tsukimi goes 10 dollar mode

i think shin just losing it would be! interesting!! it doesn't necessarily have to end with him killing someone or being a villain... but i think it'd be cool to see.

i think he will refill his role of being an antagonist in 3-2, and i have my reasons for understanding why he's taken a back seat thus far.

i think a catalyst for this could be learning about his relation to kanna.

5. joe ai

i have no concrete theory for this, it's just wishful thinking. why is there an ai of joe? is there an ai of kugie or nao? i guess we'll never know!

6. miley

miley has been seen helping the group before, so i think it'd be interesting to see her take on a more. neutral stance. she's in the preview images, so she's going to play some part in the story at the very least.

7. mishimas head

wishful thinking again. WHERE THE HELL IS HIS HEAD!!! WHY!! WHO!! WHERE!! WHAT!! HOW!! WHEN!!

8. learn more about saras family

i feel like this is bound to happen, given that it's been hinted at since the first chapter. while it's obvious that the mr. chidouin we see in game is connected to the games, id like to know about her biological family too.

9. shin / sara conflict

i think them arguing is funny. but also i'd like to see it resolved. he literally had an evil joe locked and loaded, hello?

10. closure for dummies

i hope they aren't forgotten when the story wraps up. maybe there's a way to speak with the ai again? idk. especially for emotion ranmaru, id like to see him again.

11. game overs

i think there will be a few random game overs like there were in chapter two (ex: qtaro betrayal, sara hallucination meter)

12. winner

someone is going to win. whether that be someone wins and the game continues or someone wins and it functions similarly to a sacrifice massacre ending.

if i had to place my bets on anyone id assume it'll be either shin or sara. but i think a yabusame sibling for funnies. idk!! it could be anyone!

13. joe

joe has been a driving force for the narrative since the very beginning, and i don't think he's going to go away just like that.

even if it's cheesy, i'd like for sara and joe to have another ai (or something like that) moment in the emotion route.

i would like to see him in logic though! whether sara remembers him or not, i feel like it hasn't been wrapped up as neatly as it was in emotion.

extra : my opinions on some prevalent theories!

memorandum : BOOOO!!!! TOMATO TOMATO!!!! IDGAF!!!!!

gin / joe mastermind : i honestly don't see this happening... i mean, gin is twelve! and he bleeds so we know he isn't a doll, so i don't see any reason for him being involved.

i feel the same way for joe. "surely her friend will also take part" doesn't really hold any weight with me? he's always with her, obviously he'll end up taking part. i'm assuming asunaro was expecting to pick up collateral damage since participants and candidates are literally written into the rules.

kai isn't dead : ahhh i don't really see it. i don't see a reason why he would be alive. the only person i could see living would be mishima!

ai theory : this only works as a concept for a banger fanfiction. feels lazy and similar to "it was all a dream".

and that's it!! i didn't proofread this at all so. pardon me i was just sort of rambling!! but anyways if there's anything i missed lmk

[strawberryjamsara]

“are you fucking insane” with shin and sara

“He’s going to kill you Sara.”

Sara was only half listening to Keiji while she viewed the footage that Midori had granted her once again. There was an unease in the back of her mind that she was doing her best not to show, as she tried to think of a way around this truth that she wished so much was shocking instead of inevitable. Still, one comment perked her ears up at how much she reviled at it.

“We have to tell the others.”

Sara looked back at Keiji, standing by the door to Midori’s office to guard against anything that could come in and cause the girl harm while they were in the confines of the small room.

“… Why?” She asked almost like the suggestion was foreign to her. She looked back at Keiji and saw his eyes widen for just a moment.

“I wouldn’t expect you to leave the others out of this…”

“I’m just speaking logically here. Alice and Gin can’t keep secrets to save their lives. Qtaro is a maybe, but with that stab wound he has, he might just be a liability.”

Keiji’s features pulled into a frown. But he was being quiet. Sara could sense a harshness to the words she spoke and bit her lip with a feeling of guilt… but the threat on her life was more important at the moment. She looked back to the footage again, running it in her head. Sou was gonna kill her. Deal with that. How did she deal with that?

… There was one way to do so on her mind, but she ignored it with ferocity.

“We could… talk him down?” Sara suggested knowing it was lame once she said it.

“I don’t think he’ll be in a chatty mood if you confront him about this.” Keiji said.

“Then… we could tie him up!” A little less humane, but it’d get the job done.

“That won’t stop him from pulling stunts at the main game. He could get the keymaster card and off all of us.”

“Okay… then… have everyone stay in a group?”

“It’ll be hard to do that if nobody knows why. And if he finds a way to get everyone together for a kil...”

“We’ll try and get more out of Midori!”

“You think he’ll budge?”

“We’ll… I don’t know… pay him not too?”

“Someone’s running out of ideas.”

Keiji’s lighthearted comment was most likely meant to lift her spirits but Sara’s head sank to the desk. Because she did have one idea. And she hated it.

“What if we just… killed him first?”

The thing that shocked her about those words was how natural they sounded to her. Death had become such a normal part of her life. Vote this person to die, push the fake or doom the child, so you chose not to push her, she’ll do the job of murder for you, send a kid who loved you to her death. Everything about the words was so disgustingly natural to her lips, that a cold wave washed over her body, and she herself shivered.

“… Wahahahaha! Good one Sara!” Ah. He thought she was joking. She expected him of all people to know when she was serious. “We can take 5. Tell the others about-“

“Keiji, I meant it.” Sara turned around, and realized she lost her chance to bail out.

“… You’re serious?” Keiji echoed, a look of befuddlement she hadn’t seen from the detective before on his face. “Sara you can’t go around killing people you don’t like.”

“It’s self defense.” Sara defended herself and she saw Keiji noticeably cringe. She kept going. “Look, we ran through the options and they didn’t work. Sou has been a liability more than anything else this whole game. He’s tried to kill me on multiple occasions, and oh yeah, he voted for Mishima, tried to pin Kanna as the sage, tried to steer us towards voting for a sacrifice, and who knows what other damage he might do if we leave him alone?”

Acid. She could feel acid pouring out of her mouth with each word, each justification she gave, every moment she defended the act of murder, but the realization her life was in the balance kept her going. She couldn’t tell the others. Every time she relied on them, it went south. It was up to her and Keiji to fight and survive this twisted death game.

“And what about Kanna? She died so he could live!”

“Well it was a mistake!” She burst out “She also wanted everyone to get along and escape and he hasn’t been doing that now has he?”

This absolutely awful speech sounded so foreign to her tongue. She wanted to stop. She didn’t want these words to come out of her. But that was a fat load of bullshit. They were coming out of her. Words nestled in her subconscious were pouring out for her closest confidant to hear, and the man she herself had thought of as dubious and suspicious looked almost awestruck at her total lack of humanity.

“… Sara. Come on.” Keiji said in a low voice “The last thing you need to do is commit murder.”

“Oh yeah? Sara spat out “I don’t need that from someone who killed two people.

Keiji recoiled and Sara was ready for him to push back against this tirade and tell her ‘No’, he was not a murderer, she was not a murderer, there was a subconscious need in the back of her head to not be called a murderer that her mind lit up with red and clicks when she thought about it.

“... Please Keiji. I don’t want to die.”

“… You’re right.” Keiji said and Sara felt sick relief at the fact Keiji wasn’t about to go blab this to everyone and she’d be able to actually do it. What was wrong with her? “I’m sorry.”

“… It’s fine.” Sara said “Let’s get back to our dummies.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sara dropped the knife, her palms slick with sweat and sticky with blood. She was almost more focused on them than the man in front of her.

“Are you fucking insane?!”

Sara choked back bile in her throat as she saw the man struggling within Keiji’s grip, but also fighting the wound left by the big red spot Sara just made on him. Oh god.

“… Let him go.” She told Keiji “He’s not gonna do anything else.”

Seeing Sou fall in a heap on the floor was way worse. She felt haze cloud her mind, murky mist taking away her sense of thought, refusing to think about what she was seeing.

“… We caught onto your plan Sou.” Sara said biting back the tremble in her voice “You forced our hand.”

“Is that what this is about? I forced your hand?!” Sou’s eyes looked red with rage, as he made efforts to crawl over to Sara. Sara didn’t budge. She knew he posed no more threat. “You killed Kanna Sara! You don’t even care! You have the highest survival rate, but you can easily sacrifice her?!”

“You used her first.” She said in a tone that was disturbingly deadpan. But it was the simple truth. “Your hair brained scheme led to her getting to a point where you put votes on her because of a false assumption she had the sacrifice. You caused her death.”

Sou’s eyes went red. He was screaming. Sara couldn’t make out what. Definitely curses. Something calling her a monster. Scrapes at her feet at last ditch attempts at revenge. Sara didn’t care anymore. She tuned it all out as slowly, the fight left the Shin Tsukimi’s body and she was standing over his corpse.

“… Sara.” She heard Keiji behind her, lowering a hand on her shoulder “Are you okay?”

Sara looked at the corpse. She felt empty. She hated herself, and every little thing she had done that had led her here, she hated herself for not seeing that this was what she had to do, she hated that she even thought that. She hated who she’d become.

“… I’m fine.” She replied, sweeping off his hand and turning away from the corpse “I’m alive aren’t I?”

[sternbilder]

#yttd spoilers

ok so I talked about this briefly with @jageunyeoujari but we were discussing the possibility of either Joe or Sara being the child of the policeman from Keiji’s backstory and this theory has been living rent-free in my head as I’ve been watching this LP so here is an incoherent dump of evidence wild speculation that I’m recording for future me 

evidence that points to Mr. Policeman being Joe’s dad:

they have exactly the same vibe. like, come on.

they look kind of similar to me? they have similar looking eyes at least

assuming Keiji was around 10 when he met Mr. Policeman and he's in his late 20s now, the timeline lines up since Joe is 17 and Mr. Policeman was expecting his first child then

in the manga, one of Joe's classmates mentions that Joe’s family is struggling financially--something that would be likely if he grew up in a single parent household, which could have either happened because of Keiji’s murder of Mr. Policeman, or if Mr. Policeman had left his family after losing his job

speaking of Mr. Policeman being estranged from his family, this could actually apply to both Sara or Joe’s cases, but I actually don’t think this is too wild of a guess. first, it’s likely that Mr. Policeman’s death was only in the last 3 years, i.e., after the last AI personality update, judging from what Sara says when examining Keiji’s AI in the monitor room (he “seems different somehow,” i.e., before his traumatic accidental murder). if not dead, then IMO it’s likely that Mr. Policeman was missing for all this time. we know that Keiji had not had contact with Mr. Policeman before joining the police force from his conversation with Megumi, and he also seemed shocked to see him as the “criminal” in that incident where he ended up shooting him. from what we know of Keiji wouldn’t it make more sense that he couldn’t contact him rather than didn’t? and if this is the case, it doesn’t seem like a wild possibility that the reason he couldn’t reach him is that he had deliberately cut ties with the people he knew and tried to start a life elsewhere--after all, depending on the “official” reasons for his dismissal from the police, this could have carried social stigma, which may have caused a rift with his family, perhaps even so much that he would have had to distance himself from them?

during introductions, Joe brings up the possibility of the death game being tied to organized crime, and suggests that someone among the group could be a traitor. Keiji bursts out laughing, and this is never explained, but what if he was thinking something along the lines of "like father, like son" wrt his amateur detective-ing?

during the first discussion, Joe initially distrusts everyone, including Keiji, but is immediately more friendly to Keiji as soon as he reveals out he's a policeman. this could just be a normal response to being stuck in a hostage situation, but none of the other characters seem to have as strong of a reaction as Joe, one possible explanation for which could be that he has a personal connection to the police?

when searching for the doll parts, Joe decides to pair up with Keiji for seemingly no reason, even if Sara asks him if he wants to pair up. later, as they’re leaving the blue room, Joe stops Keiji again hoping to speak to him--what if he knew something about Keiji and was trying to suss out information? for example, what if he knew that Mr. Policeman/his dad had a connection to someone named Keiji who was hoping to be a policeman and was trying to determine if this Keiji was that same person?

later, when you talk to Joe again in the bar, Joe is suspicious of Keiji again, even wondering if he's a cop at all. he then asks Sara to look more into him. it reads as though he was trying to question Keiji about his past but Keiji wasn't opening up for some reason, which could be because Keiji doesn’t want Joe to find out about his involvement in Mr. Policeman/his dad’s death

when investigating the bar, Gin mentions his drunkard dad at one point and Joe goes uncharacteristically quiet. this might be a stretch but Keiji mentions later that Mr. Policeman had lost his job while investigating corruption inside the police force. what if Mr. Policeman/Joe's dad started drinking after losing his job as a police officer? alternatively, what if Gin’s comment made Joe sad because he also never got to be close to his own father on account of his being dead or missing?

when Keiji is investigating Mishima's body, Joe is the one who first asks Keiji if he has someone he respects. this could just be him making small talk, but it could also be that he has a hunch that he’s trying to confirm and he’s looking for opportunities to connect the dots

there’s a part during chapter 1 when investigating with Keiji where you ask him who he’s got on his mind. Keiji answers that Joe has been on his mind, but then immediately changes the subject. this could just be because Joe is suspicious of Keiji still, but I have to wonder if they have some kind of connection, after all

this isn’t actual evidence but it’s strongly implied that Keiji has been suffering from hallucinations of Mr. Policeman ever since his accidental murder (very similar to Sara’s hallucinations of Joe) and boy wouldn’t it be Sinnoh Matic Parallels if they were father and son

evidence that points to Mr. Policeman being Sara’s (biological) dad:

I mean, if Keiji knew that Mr. Policeman’s daughter was a girl around her age named Sara, then this would explain everything about why Keiji trusts Sara immediately and tries so hard to protect her at all costs,

Sara and Mr. Policeman both have orange hair, though to be fair, so does Sara's mom (who we have no reason to believe isn’t her biological mother)

we know that Mr. Chidouin isn't Sara’s real dad, but she isn’t aware of this, meaning she was either adopted, or her mother remarried when she was very young. the timeline is unclear, but it is theoretically possible that this is around the same time that Mr. Policeman had been laid off by the police, which could have been a factor for divorce, especially if, like mentioned earlier, the police coverup painted his behavior as somehow unsavory or socially unacceptable (which could also explain why her mother never told Sara). for example, say this was around 15 years ago--Keiji would have been around 12, and Sara would only have been 2 (making her very possibly too young to remember). since Megumi is the one who fired him, I can’t see how she could have been any younger than around 25 at this time, so this presumes that she’s around 40 now, but it wouldn’t be the wildest thing to assume she’s older than she looks  

we know that, for whatever reason, 1) Sara is central to the death game, 2) Mr. Chidouin is at least involved if not the mastermind, and 3) Mr. Chidouin was not Sara's biological father. this might also be a reach, but what if Sara's mother’s remarriage and Mr. Policeman’s losing his job (and/or his death) were all part of Mr. Chidouin’s plans to eventually have Sara participate in the death game? this goes along with another theory I had where I have a feeling that for some reason the winner of the Hades Incident/the author of the Memorandum (which I suspect is Mr. Chidouin) is trying to recreate that incident with, if not exact clones of the participants, people who are very close to fitting their profiles. it’s implied that the organization running the game has been at least closely monitoring, if not engineering specific events/circumstances in the lives of the participants, so it’s possible that Sara was being “groomed” for this event, specifically to play the role of leader-girl-who-died-in-the-Hades-incident. if this is the case, then it could also be true that 1) the choice of Sara to fill this role could have been deliberate, and Mr. Chidouin meddled in Mr. Policeman’s life with the intention of getting custody of Sara specifically, or 2) Mr. Chidouin just happened to be looking for a child around Sara’s age to fill the role at the time and Mr. Policeman’s dismissal made her a convenient target due to the timing

if Mr. Chidouin was part of the Hades Incident and was somehow involved in Mr. Policeman’s/Sara’s biological father’s death, this may even explain why Keiji knew about that specific case. after all, it sounds like it was something that happened decades ago, that was likely to be hushed up, or at least not talked about anymore (maybe it was even the thing Mr. Policeman was looking into and got him fired?). it is a bit out of place that Keiji would know so much about it, unless he happened to find a lead while looking into the circumstances around Mr. Policeman’s expulsion/death. maybe he somehow found a connection between Mr. Policeman’s family and the Chidouins/Hades Incident?

evidence that points to Mr. Policeman being both of their dads:

none but hey they could be twins and what Japanese mystery visual novel that has AI clones and shit doesn’t also have a plot point involving twins

[hinatahyugacute]

This is the song recommended by voice actor Nana Mizuki! Pick up 10 songs! This album should be bought first!

Voice actor Nana Mizuki who entered the 20th anniversary of her debut as a singer this year. Mizuki, who is famous as the queen of Anison, often uses the word "voice actor first" to describe her success as a singer.

She is a top runner of the times, with many achievements such as winning the 1st place in the Oricon weekly ranking, performing at the Tokyo Dome, and appearing in the "NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen". He is still one of the leading anison scenes.

It was also a big topic that he announced the holding of his first online live "NANA ACOUSTIC ONLINE" the other day and showing that he would continue to take on new challenges in the current situation. In addition, her 40th single, which includes a serial number for purchasing online live viewing tickets, will be released on October 7th this year, so her activity is drawing attention.

Today we would like to introduce 10 Animate Times recommended songs from Mizuki's songs! I will also introduce the albums you should buy first, so I hope that it will be a reference for those who will touch on Mizuki's songs in the future.

This album is the first to buy! "THE MUSEUM Ⅲ"

Amazing contents such as almost all the recorded songs are tie-up songs!

CD with all 17 songs, MUSIC CLIP of "Iki Koi" which is the first recording of this album, and "Sugafest! ~ Miracle Festival once in 20 years" to commemorate 20th anniversary of Suga Shikao's debut. A 2-disc set of Blu-ray (DVD) with patterns recorded.

This album, which contains single songs, is the third of Mizuki's best album. From 26th single "Synchrogazer" to 36th single "TESTAMENT" are recorded, many songs that are unique to Mizuki are recorded, such as collaboration songs with TMRevolution and reconstruction assistance songs with Koichi Yamadera.

Also included in the video is the live classic "ETERNAL BLAZE". It is exactly the content of Mizuki's singer activity, and you can feel Mizuki as a singer with both your ears and eyes!

Introducing Mizuki's recommended songs!

Here are 10 recommended songs from Mizuki's famous songs! We have selected from classic live songs to nostalgic masterpieces, so if you plan to participate in future live performances, please check!

Deep bass and terrible hard sound ""Let's live at this moment-when-"

◆ Collected works 39th single "METANOIA" Released on July 17, 2019　

◆Music information TV anime "Senki Zessho Symphogear XV" opening theme. A song with a magnificent finish that seems to be the opening of the 5th Symphogear series. It has a different approach from the previous series songs, and you can see different aspects from other series songs such as male chorus and rap. This is a Nana Mizuki song, with a feeling of "singing" to follow the work! A song that gives the impression of.

Recommended second song "STARTING NOW! ]

Nana-san's cheerful support song "I have a dream that only those who know everything can touch it"

◆ Recording work 36th single "STARTING NOW! 』2016.07.13 release 12th album "NEOGENE CREATION" 2016.12.21 release Best album "THE MUSEUM Ⅲ" 2018.01.10 release

◆Music information The cheering song "STARTING NOW!", which has a pleasant running feeling, is the opening theme of the TV anime "There is a problem with this art club!" While it's a refreshing rock tune that will support all your love and dreams, it's also a lively fun song. In the lyrics, there's "Please come!!", but the phrase is very Nana-like, reminiscent of the closing words of the radio "Nana Mizuki Smile Gang."

The song "Dream Coordinates-Zodiac-Gently Write" of the work

◆Recorded works 21st single “PHANTOM MINDS” 2010.01.13 release 8th album “IMPACT EXCITER” 2010.07.07 release Best album “THE MUSEUM II” 2011.11.23 release

◆Song information The single that recorded this song was the first voice actor in history to be “1st place on the Oricon weekly single chart”, and was also shown at the second appearance “61st NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen”. This song, which is the theme song for the movie version "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st", is a companion song to "innocent starter", the opening theme of the first Lyrical Nanoha series.

The emotion expressed in "innocent starter" at that time is drawn in a different way. Of course, it's a lively song, but it's also a song that strongly reflects the work "Lyrical Nanoha".

Recommended 4th song "Shinai"

I'm sure I can't help but tell you "I can't reach you no matter how much I think"

◆Recorded works 19th single “Shinai” 2009.01.21 release 7th album “ULTIMATE DIAMOND” 2009.06.03 release Best album “THE MUSEUM II” 2011.11.23 release

◆Song information This song has achieved various records, including the Oricon single daily chart second place. The ballad, which is also the theme song of the TV animation "WHITE ALBUM", has the image of this work, and the melody reminiscent of a popular song is impressive.

Mizuki's various thoughts, such as the feelings of his father who died just before making the lyrics and the image of "WHITE ALBUM". A quick ballad inspires the lacrimal gland.

Recommended 5th song "Orchestral Fantasia"

This is exactly the "sea of ​​strings" "Wandering in the sea of ​​strings"

◆ 6th album “GREAT ACTIVITY” released on November 14, 2007

◆Song information

This song, which is loved by many fans even though it is an album song, is a work in which so-called strings such as acoustic guitar and violin stand out. It is a song full of Mizuki's taste, with the strings' fantasy melody and painful lyrics in harmony. The guitar quartet presented at "LIVE THEATER 2015" is a must-see.

Recommended 6th song "SUPER GENERATION"

Support song that will not fade even after many years "Let's go find the most important thing"

◆Recorded works 13th single “SUPER GENERATION” released on January 18, 2006 5th album “HYBRID UNIVERSE” released on May 05, 2006 Best album “THE MUSEUM” released on February 07, 2007

◆Song information Mizuki-san was the first song in charge of composition, and if you say Mizuki-san's style, it is the first child (Mr. Mizuki calls herself the song No. ◯◯). Even 14 years after its release, it is a support song that fascinates fans without fading at all. If it is performed live, the cheers of the audience will become louder. Especially, the last big chorus of "LaLaLa" can feel the unity like "Nana Mizuki's live!"

Recommended 7th song "ETERNAL BLAZE"

A sense of words that shines everywhere in the lyrics "Yes, surely it starts here..."

◆Recorded works 12th single “ETERNAL BLAZE” 5th album “HYBRID UNIVERSE” released May 05, 2006 Best album “THE MUSEUM” released February 02, 2007

◆ Music information Even if you are not very familiar with Nana Mizuki's music, there are a lot of people who know this music. This song is the theme song of the TV anime "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's" and is counted as one of Mizuki's successes.

The lyrics are written by Mizuki-san, and the words that have a unique reading, such as "Goddess-Tenshi-" and "Nightmare-Maboroshi-", are scattered everywhere. This song is a classic live song! I think that there are many people. In particular, the shout of "ETERNAL BLAZE!" during the interlude responded to Mizuki-san's agitation, and the excitement of the hot air in the venue explodes at once.

Recommended 8th song "Tears' Night"

Mizuki-san and Uematsu-san The origin of the tag! "Tears' Night Repeated Your Name"

◆ 4th album "ALIVE&KICKING" released on December 08, 2004

◆ Music information This is the first work by Noriyasu Uematsu (Elements Garden) and Mizuki, who work on many popular songs. A lyrical song that seems to be Mr. Uematsu's music, with a fantastic and speedy melody, and Mizuki's passionate singing voice makes you feel comfortable and somehow sad.

It was performed at the first full orchestra concert "NANA MIZUKI LIVE GRACE -ORCHESTRA-", and it is a masterpiece stage, so please check it out!

Recommended 9th song "New Sensation"

Representative presence of Mizuki-san's support song "One-off life should definitely be enjoyed"

◆ 7th single "New Sensation" 2003.04.23 release 3rd album "DREAM SKIPPER" 2003.11.27 release Best album "THE MUSEUM" 2007.02.07 release

◆ Music information Akio Mishima, who is in charge of producing many King Records artists including Mizuki, is also a support song that pushes the drum. It has been sung in many live shows so far, and was also shown at "LIVE EXPRESS 2019" held last year.

The lyrical lyrics and the melody with a deep groove make the listener feel energetic, and "Men energize" makes the song feel like Mizuki. In addition, it is a song that attracts attention to guest artists, such as welcoming Masami Okui to the chorus.

Recommended 10th song "POWER GATE"

The classic song that has been sung every year since its release "We can change the times"

◆ 4th single “POWER GATE” 2002.05.01 release 2nd album “MAGIC ATTRACTION” 2002.11.06 release Best album “THE MUSEUM” 2007.02.07 release

◆Song information Mizuki has sent many popular songs to the world. Of course, there are many songs that are standard songs for live performances, and it seems that it will become one album by itself. Among them, this song, "POWER GATE", is the most sung live and popular with fans.

You can feel the power of the singer "Nana Mizuki" no matter what the energy of the song and the sense of unity at the live performance. Mizuki-san sings in the song, "We can change the times," but a support song that is so compelling is rare.

source: https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1598603646

[it-will-not-last-the-night]

Gossip

Ryuji’s been avoiding Ann at Shujin and she decides she wants to find out why. 

“Ahem?” 

Though not particularly loud the enunciation commanded all of Ryuji’s attention. He had learned, at his own expense, that ignoring that sound never lead to anything good. So he quickly pulled himself up into a sitting position, having been sprawled out on his back over a desk before, gazing idly at his phone.

“Eating up here, again? You could have given me a head’s up you know, was I meant to just figure it out myself?” Ann grumbled, pulling the chair his feet had been resting on sharply out, so she could slid into it. 

“Well I...thought you’d eat in the cafeteria, like usual, ya know?” The look he got let Ryuji know he was already making a mess of this.

“So then why didn’ t you meet me there? We don’t need to hang out in secret on rooftops anymore, and don’t try to say you were up here for Haru’s garden again,” her cheeks puffed out a put, slender arms folding infront of her as she fixed Ryuji with an accusing stare. “Seriously, Ryuji, it feels like you’re trying to avoid me, what the hell is up with that? Did I say something? This can’t be about your roots showing again, I just made one joke, it wasn’t even a big deal-”

“It isn’t...I’m not avoiding you! Honest!” Hands waving before himself, frantically, as he lied. 

“Then what? C’mon, spill it! I get this place is important to you, it’s important to me too, but this is our last year here, didn’t we say we were going to make sure it was a good one? I think after a whole year of skulking about we deserve a bit of a normal school life for a change, don’t you?”

Ann was, of course, correct. When the third year of Shujin had begun the two had spoken at length about how they would make this year infinitely less shitty than the last (hardly difficult). Along with making sure that Futaba acclimated well the two had been lucky enough to land in class together, with Mishima, and had even been trying harder to pick-up their grades. Despite this, increasingly, Ryuji had begun to ‘miss’ lunches with his friend. At first using the excuse that he was tending to Haru’s old garden, to try to keep it around now that the senior had graduated and moved on, but after Ann had caught him a number of times simply laying on his back phone in hand that excuse had dried up.

Part of her had guessed the obvious reason already, so obvious Ryuji didn’t even realize it consciously. Ren leaving had certainly hit everyone but Ryuji was in competition with Futaba for the ones who took it hardest. Still, if it was just about that, then why had he only started becoming so mopey again halfway through the year, as opposed to from the start? Ann’s patience had been put to the test, and she wasn’t a patient person to begin with;

“Then tell me already! You’re always blurting out things I don’t want you too, now you’re dancing around something? You can’t expect me to believe you’re okay,” natural blonde stared at artificial blonde and it was Ryuji who looked away first.

“Ahhh, man, dammit, this is...I was hoping not to make it a big deal...” he groaned, shoulders slouching even lower than usual (she needed to talk to him about his posture), as he tried to look anywhere but at her. 

“It is a big deal already, so you failed at that, now just spit it out already! Did you do something stupid? Is it results?” 

“No! No! Nothing...nothing like that...also just ‘cause I ain’t been talkin’ to ya doesn’t mean it’s cause I did something stupid, ya know?”

“Sure,” Ann said in the least convincing tone of voice ever.

“Hey-”

“Ryuji just say it already! What the hell is wrong?”

He balked, cringing a bit. Whatever it was he was having a tough time getting it out, more of his macho bullshit Ann feared, and her rapidly dwindling patience for him was evident in the way a single finger tapped out a staccato beat on her arm.

“I...” his eyes darted left and right, as if hoping some sort of answer would reveal itself from thin air. For a moment Ann half-expected him to do something as ridiculous as point behind her and say ‘what’s that’ like some cartoon character...before he finally seemed to resign himself with a heavy sigh.

“You probably...you probably don’t know but, uh...hell, this is awkward,” he rubbed the back of his head, a faint pink now tinging his cheeks as his eyes found a decidedly interesting part of the concrete ceiling to focus on.

“There’s been some...gossip going around...about me...and...uh...well...y-you,” his voice got fainter and fainter with every word, like a child admitting to a parent some mistake they’d made. “They’ve been saying we’re...or been gossiping that we...uh...we...we...”

“Oh! The rumour that we’re sleeping together, that one?”

A particular type of stillness descended upon the roof of Shujin Academy. It wasn’t a silence, no, since of course sounds of the Academy proper and the city about them still wafted about, but it was a stillness, a sort of pretenatural lack of activity and motion that made the entire place, for an instance, seem almost static.

Then, it was broken by that most intrusive of sounds: Ryuji’s blaring voice.

“YOU KNEW?!”

Ann could only roll her eyes at the bare-faced shock on her friend’s face. The boy had apparently thought he was harbouring some dark and twisted secret, protecting her from harm. It would have been sweet if it wasn’t, yet agani, more of his macho bullshit.

“Ryuji, duh, I go to this school too, what do you think girl’s don’t gossip? You think I’m deaf? Obviously I know,” it wasn’t surprising either. Since she’d been at Shujin Ann could hardly spend a second with a guy without every second boy and girl whispering that she was clearly handing out favours to them. Hell, there’d been rumours about her and Shiho just from how much they hung out together and, for the record, she was bisexual, not homosexual. 

Knowing that she knew didn’t seem to bring Ryuji anymore closure though, the lanky boy sputtering, hands waving about in the air, as he tried to vocalize something coherent.

“But...but they’re not true-”

“Of course they aren’t, I think we’d know if they were true!”

“Then why...you didn’t...you still hung out...and just...just let it keep going?” He sounded incredulous and Ann returned an equally incredulous look.

“Why would I change anything because of that?”

He shrunk in again, eyes once more looking for anything other than her face, as he mumbled; “W-well...people would think...about me and you...they’d think you were hanging out with...someone like me for...you know...”

Deep breaths, she reminded herself. She unfolded her arms, snapping her fingers in front of his face to make sure he was staring her in the eyes. 

“Ryuji, listen closely, what I’m about to say is very important, okay? I need you to focus on this and actually let it stick in that big empty space between your ears-”

“Hey-”

“Focus!” Ryuji’s jaw clamped shut, though the slight scowl still simmered there. Ann exhaled, closed her eyes, and spoke.

“Fuck what they think,”

“Ann-”

“I’m sorry, I meant; eff what the hell they think, is that better?” Ryuji gawped at her for a moment.

“B-but! But! It’s ain’t right that they think you’d do sumthin’ like-” There was that bit of Ryuji it was so easy to both like and hate. His persistent need for things to be fair, to be right, his indignation when it wasn’t and his tendency to martyr himself to make it so. It was touching in a sort of ‘he’d do anything for you,’ way but, at the same time, infuriating in a sort of ‘he’ll keep you out of your own problems just so he can deal with them,’ way. She hadn’t forgotten he’d never wanted her to enter Kamoshida’s Palace to begin with because he wanted to protect her. What was this but a microcosm of that?

“Ryuji I don’t care what they say, they’ve been saying things behind my back for years! Even after Kamoshida flat out confessed there were still people saying things behind my back! They’re saying things behind your back too, ya know? They never even stopped with you,” his face tightened immediately, jaw clenched.

“That’s different, I can handle that-”

“And I can’t? I haven’t been handling it since day one?” He flinched back at that, realizing he’d once more put his foot in his mouth. They waited for a tense second, his face relaxing, growing morose, her giving a heavy sigh, slouching back into the seat. 

Much as she hated to admit it she didn’t think she’d get through to him. Not because he didn’t respect her, didn’t value her, but because Ryuji was the third most obstinate person she’d ever met (first place being for Ren and second place for Makoto). Even though she didn’t like it (and, honestly, even felt envious at times about it) she knew what the best way to convince him was.

“What was it you told Ren Ryuji? Other people are always going to be looking down on us? So it doesn’t matter what they think?” The words hit the mark immediately. Ryuji straightened out, getting a rare contemplative expression.

Ann didn’t mind (a lie) that he and Ren were so close. It was good, for both of them, she was glad they found each other but...it could hurt sometimes feeling like the only person Ryuji really trusted was Ren. She could say the exact same things he would and Ryuji would just look torn but, if she reminded him Ren had said them, like that he’d believe it.

But that was...that wasn’ t for now. It wasn’t fair to begrudge how close their relationship was either, she knew what it was like having a friend who felt like the only person in the world you could count on. Right now more important was...

“Ryuji...”

“You’re right...you’re...you’re right I was...was bein’ dumb...hehe, as usual, right?” That he could chuckle about it let her know the worst had passed and Ann gave him a small smile;

“We can just enter this into the long list of bone-headed decisions you made, okay? Right next to thinking planning a surprise party for Makoto was a good idea-”

“Hey! C’mon, she enjoyed it!”

“Ryuji she punched you right in the face! Thank goodness you had that mask on or else I think she’d have broken your nose!” The two shared a laugh at the memory before Ann finally got up.

“So, you ready to stop being a baby and just come have lunch with me? Regardless of what some idiots and losers say?” He followed suit, standing up next to her, as they headed for the door.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry about that, I just-”

“I know, you were thinking about me, it’s kinda sweet in a dumb way,” she waved off his apologies, really not wanting the mood to get any heavier. With Ryuji she enjoyed the levity of it all, he had a knack for making even down times seem bright. The flipside was when he did get down it often meant that things were particularly bad, as without him to lift the mood the rest of them struggled.

They were halfway down the stairs from the ceiling when she couldn’t resist getting one last jab in though.

“You know, for the record, a rumour that I’m sleeping with you, is still probably the best rumour there’s ever been about me, you know?”

Thud!

“Ryuji?” Ann twisted around just in time to see the boy trip and hit the stairs. Red-faced, blushing, Ryuji looked up at her in something between astonishment and consternation; 

“W-what? Bwaaahh?” He eloquently asked. Ann simply giggled in response, helping her friend up. 

[justforbooks]

I suppose it’s O.K. to give away the address now. The books are gone, packed up in dozens of cardboard boxes and hauled away. When you ring the buzzer for apartment No. 7, nothing happens any longer, and won’t, probably, until someone else moves in. The old feeling you’d get, that you had sprung a trapdoor, discovered a secret passage, won’t come anymore.

Michael Seidenberg’s one-of-a-kind bookshop, Brazenhead Books, closed last month. For seven years, it operated out of an apartment at 235 East Eighty-fourth Street. Of course no bookstore or other business had any business being there, in that rent-stabilized apartment, so it was, strictly speaking, illegal, and because it was illegal it had to be secret. The secret was known to a small number of discreet patrons and shared strictly by word of mouth. (At first, Michael saw customers by appointment only.) Inside, the windows were blacked out and covered with shelves. On bookcases, in every room, volumes of all sizes in serried ranks rose two deep from floor to ceiling. More were stacked on desks and tables and grew in unsteady columns from the floor. There was a stereo (covered in books), a few chairs, and a large desk in the front room (likewise all but submerged), on which Michael kept a half dozen or so bottles of wine and spirits, a tower of plastic cups, and a bucket of ice.

Walking in, you might find a handful of patrons lounging on chairs with drinks in their hands, or browsing amiably, making conversation, generally about books, but often ranging widely into art, politics, personal life stories, and the history of New York. In the same way that children imagine adults living in perfect freedom, enjoying all the cookies and television they want and staying up till all hours, Michael’s shop was what a bookish child might dream up as a fantasy home for himself, a place far from any responsibilities, where he would never run out of stories.

It was, of course, no more practical than a gingerbread house. There was no bathroom or kitchen. (When nature called, customers had to knock on the next-door neighbor’s apartment and ask to be let in.) The affable if somewhat inscrutable proprietor, potbellied and gray-bearded, in his late fifties, lived elsewhere, and held court in the shop on Saturday nights. At least, that was how things stood in the summer of 2011, when I first started visiting.

The story of Brazenhead goes like this: in the nineteen-seventies, Michael ran a bookstore in Brooklyn. That was the first Brazenhead Books. The novelist Jonathan Lethem, as Patricia Marx reported in Talk of the Town, in 2008, worked there when he was fourteen years old. (He was paid with books.) Michael eventually moved his shop to the Upper East Side, only to lose his lease several years later when the rent quadrupled. Lacking options, he moved the books into his own apartment, but there were too many—so many that he and his wife moved out to make room for them all. After that, he plied his trade occasionally, and more or less thanklessly, at book fairs and on city streets. Otherwise, in the apartment on East Eighty-fourth Street, the books gathered dust. It was not until 2007 that his friend George Bisacca, a longtime conservator of paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, helped Michael turn the apartment into the place I came to know. The Times, writing about Brazenhead in the fall of 2011, was near the mark in calling it a “literary speakeasy.”

In the years after I discovered the shop, I occasionally introduced others to it, bringing them with me one at a time, as if inducting them into a secret society. With time came practical improvements: the addition of a working toilet (but no sink), better-organized collections of Russian, Japanese, and Latin American literature. Michael even hired an assistant. As a result, the contents of the shop, formerly in a state of apparent chaos, began to assume a peculiarly perfect kind of order.

But the unlikeliness of the place never dissipated. On one of my first visits, Michael and I bonded over a shared fascination with the work of Edward Whittemore, an unjustly neglected American writer who, after graduating from Yale, in 1955, served in the Marines and as a C.I.A. operative in the Far East and Jerusalem. The first of his books, “Quin’s Shanghai Circus,” was published by Henry Holt, in 1974, and was described in the Times as “a war novel without the usual furniture of war,” “peopled with circus masters, prostitutes, priests, gangsters, voyeurs, retarded man-boys, pornography collectors, pederasts, dwarfs, fat American giants and sadfaced secret-service agents, who change identities from time to time and drift through landscapes that resemble Tokyo, Shanghai and the Bronx.”

There was a copy of the novel on a low shelf in Brazenhead’s back room, the first-edition room. Beside it were the hardcover volumes of Whittemore's magnum opus, the Jerusalem Quartet, all long out of print, which stand in relation to “Quin’s” much as “The Lord of the Rings” stands to “The Hobbit.” (Paperback reissues of the five novels, published by Old Earth Books, in 2002, are likewise out of print.) Frustratingly, though, Brazenhead had only books two, three, and four of the quartet; the first volume, “Sinai Tapestry,” was missing. I bought “Quin’s,” and asked after “Sinai Tapestry.” Michael indicated that it was in his private collection, and not for sale.

If it seemed strange for a bookseller not to sell a particular book, it was stranger still to let people treat his shop as a hangout without pressuring them to buy anything. His patrons, a mix of bright young things and old eccentrics, were fiercely loyal. The considerate ones bought books, or at least brought a handle of booze once in a while to replenish the bar. The inconsiderate treated Brazenhead like their own parlor—drinking up the whiskey and port, blocking the doorways, rarely buying anything. On any given night you were liable to encounter a poetry reading or a musical performance. For a time, on Thursday nights, the bookshop hosted weekly meetings of the staff of the New Inquiry, the lefty Web magazine, until Michael had what he described as a falling-out with the editors. From then on, Thursday was an open salon night, just like Saturday.

But for me, the books were always the biggest draw. Michael’s collection seemed incomparable in both its idiosyncrasy and its quality. There was a wall of poetry, another of science fiction. A special New York section. General fiction and literature were organized alphabetically, more or less, and stretched across several bookcases. Pulp novels higgledy-piggledy in one corner; art books enshrined in another nook; a few shelves reserved for the collected letters and journals of Edith Wharton, Hart Crane, James Joyce, and their peers. There were trashy paperbacks and American first editions of Yukio Mishima. One night, one of the New Inquiry editors and I gave an impromptu reading of a poem by Suzanne Somers—that Suzanne Somers—from a collection called “Touch Me,” a slim volume I was half-convinced Michael had somehow dreamed into existence. The poem was called “I Want to Be a Little Girl,” and was even more unsettling than it sounds. When I’d looked inside the front flap to see Michael’s asking price, there was no dollar figure, just one word, in pencil: “Priceless.”

When the notice of eviction came down, in the summer of 2014, the whole dynamic changed. All at once, Brazenhead was on borrowed time. No one knew how much. Patrons began to be looser with the address. There was a rumor that someone’s posting of the address online—a big no-no—had attracted crowds finally too large to ignore, and that this was what had occasioned the eviction notice.

As word got around, the crowds swelled. Minor celebrities dropped in. Everywhere you looked, on a Saturday night, you saw people guzzling red wine and Wild Turkey. Pot smoke was general, and it became hard to see the books through the throng. Michael and his shop were featured in the oddball web series “The Impossibilities.” He officiated at least one wedding on the premises.

Each supposed last night gave way to another. Nobody wanted to say goodbye. On July 28th, Michael advertised a final poetry reading—“apocalypse edition”—on Facebook. “See you there or on the other side,” he wrote.

Where will that other side be? Michael does plan to reopen somewhere, somehow. “The future will begin in September,” he told me recently. I don’t know whether he has chosen a location, or whether the store will retain its semi-clandestine nature. When I pressed him, he said only that he was off to the country to relax, and would be “back in September for Brazenhead—whatever that will be.”

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[dualtoned]

sigma’s bio is added to the about page, but it’s also below the cut!!

you’ve always known the comfort of masks — ones used first to conceal the truth of your feelings from those who would seek to change you, and ones used later to hide your intentions from those who would seek to stop you.

( you’re never quite sure where the masks end and your true self begins. )

they’re born hiraoka kimitake, the firstborn of parents with government jobs and an aristocratic history. siblings follow soon after, the the first few years of their life were uneventful. they’re not a spoiled child, but they never want for anything, either. at age seven, their grandmother takes them in for five years.

these years are formative, with her morbid statements and violent tendencies tainting kimitake’s worldview; while she may have been a violent woman, it was never directed at them ( unlike their father, who they’re returned to at age twelve ).

while the years with their grandmother had allowed them a closeness to the girls of the family and an interest in things other than their future, the return home took all of that away rather suddenly. they turned to finance as their interest for a future career, in order to appease their father. ( what they don’t know is the turn their life will take. )

gifted. it’s an accidental discovery in their early teen years — disguising something so as to not upset their authoritarian father and get in trouble. they keep it secret from everyone in their family and begin to test the boundaries of it. they can change their own appearance, and that of objects, and they can taste freedom under their tongue.

literal masks make keeping up the metaphorical ones so much easier, don’t they?

they attend the university of tokyo as a finance major, and it’s here that things begin to take a sharp turn in their life. there’s distance from their family ( not much, but living on-campus has its perks ), and with that distance comes a freedom to explore themself. they keep their true face still, but they change their hair at least weekly. it’s now that they begin to experiment with sexuality and gender, finally accepting the disconnect between what everyone has known them as while growing up and how they feel internally.

it’s here that they meet shibusawa tatsuhiko, and work their way into his life ( for a time ). together they’re a selfish thing, using their combined abilities to toy with other gifted on various whims.

( it’s also at this time that they begin to understand things about the world. humans have failed. the current setup is wrong. maybe things should be burnt to the ground and started over from scratch. )

and, like all things, kimitake wants to run from it — and so they do. they fade quickly and easily from shibusawa’s life just before he graduates. they graduate two years later, at twenty-four.

just after graduation, they kill off who they were — hiraoka kimitake goes missing, and is presumed dead within a year. at the same time, a new persona is born: mishima yukio — beautiful, radical, and fierce. alongside that persona is a plan, and so a second self must be constructed: sigma — elegant, loyal, and determined. they are both follower and leader, and that’s what they need in order to effectively create the decay of angels.

others are recruited into what becomes a small-but-powerful organization, with a reach that would terrify anyone who might find out about it.

( puppet masters, all of them, with undetectable strings attached to everyone any one of them has ever had a connection to. )

[shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl]

Phantom Confidants AU

In an alternate universe, I actually write about a P5 AU where the non-party social links are the phantom thieves of that universe. So Mishima, Hifumi, Shinya, Sojiro, Toranosuke, Iwai, Takemi, Ohya, Chihaya, Kawakami and even Sae. Honestly I would have loved to have an animal in the group but Morgana is the only animal social link and he's an original member. But hey it's still a pretty diverse group considering it's a mix of mostly adults, some teens, and a kid. They've got a pretty badass lineup to be honest so here's how I think it'll go. 

Full plot, codenames, and Mementos chats under the cut: 

(SPOILERS AHEAD) 

Plot Your Heart Out!

So first up, who would be the new protagonist? At first I figured Mishima because he's got that work-in-progress good guy vibes. But then I checked the list and realized that most of the group are adults and not really sure if Mishima can handle the leadership role. So who else? Then it hit me. Best dad Sojiro. Think about it. He had a direct connection with Wakaba who started this whole metaverse discovery. It's the perfect setup! He helped Wakaba with her research from time to time and during one of the experiments, they had discovered the metaverse. Maybe. I'm making this up as I go. Anyways! 

The general premise is that Sojiro was the first Phantom Thief in his youth and became an urban legend later on when he retired. When he took in Futaba, he promised he'd devote himself full time into raising her so he quit the calling card business. Except fast forward many years later, he was forced to wear/rip off his mask again. 

In this AU, Sojiro already changed Futaba's heart early on so Futaba was able to enroll at Shuujin Academy. It's all fine at first until she comes home and brings up Kamoshida and how no one not even adults can lay a hand on him. Her concerns bring out his instinct protect his child from such monster. When conventional methods failed and the rumors of sexual assault is less farfetched from the truth, he didn't hesitate to start stealing hearts again. 

During the infiltration he'll most likely be able to recruit Mishima and Kawakami (both obviously carry good reasons to get back at Kamoshida). Mishima has average stats which makes him a good support member. He gets stronger with baton pass! Someone give this child a confidence booster and he will plow you. Kawakami has the best buffs which makes life so much easier. They succeed and the school becomes safe so he thought his comeback was just a one time thing. Oh he was sorely mistaken. 

At this point, gossip about the Phantom Thieves have spread and such news have even reached our local back alley doctor. During the weeks before Kamoshida's confession, Sojiro had been striking up unethical deals for medicine from her and so she connects the dots. She confronts him at the cafe during a slow night. She doesn't plan on ratting him out however she wants in. She wants him to change the heart of this one doctor and gives him a deadline (she doesn't say at first that it's because of that one girl patient although they find out anyway during the confrontation in the palace). She somehow ends up joining them during infiltration, awakens and joins the team. She is probably the closest friend/acquaintance that Sojiro had among the group before they were phantom thieves. 

Then comes my favorite arc temporary title Guns Ablaze. They're somehow managing in the metaverse but medicine can only go so far. They need good equipment and when they realized that model guns were effective in the metaverse (courtesy of Mishima experimentally bringing one with him once because real guns are illegal), they decide to shop at Untouchable. Only to somehow get roped into his yakuza blackmail drama. 

Sojiro develops a camaraderie with Iwai because they're both single parents trying hard to raise their adopted child. Definitely share the father of the year award. He joins them at the first day of infiltration because this is his fight and he will settle this with them. Hell, he doesn't even hesitate to bring a real gun with him and shoot a shadow even without a persona. Turns out the shadow yakuza is stronger than a few bullets but he faces him head on and awakens. He is Sojiro's best bro and they talk about parenting a lot. 

Halfway through though they get stuck because the shadows are surprisingly agile. Gun attacks are effective but they keep missing their shots. And you guessed it. They're going to have a kid teach them how to shoot a gun. It's embarrassing really at first, especially for the adults, but they respect Shinya for his sharpshooting skills. They hang out with Shinya a couple of times and the kid grew on to them. One time though they decided to head to the palace after training/hanging out with him but they didn't know that Shinya followed them due to some undecided plot device. He wouldn't awaken in the palace tho but he's still in awe. Some time later, the mother issue happens and he asks for their help. He asks to join them when they decide to change her heart and that's how he awakens. He is best boy. They dote on him a lot. 

Meanwhile the Phantom Thieves are gaining popularity, hence a greater demand in media. Ohya being one of those journalists assigned to write about them, accidentally discovers more than just your average article. However, good journalism is confirming facts before publishing half-truths and so she investigates further regarding Sojiro's group. She ends up frequenting either the cafe or the clinic (she tried the airsoft shop but that was too obvious). She ends up being a regular of Sojiro's curry and of Takemi's medicine (altho she just goes there to flirt err fish info). It takes a while, weeks even, but at some point, someone slips. She gets her evidence on them being Phantom Thieves but she has no plans on outing them just yet. She asks them to change the heart of her boss and they do, with her help even. She insists on tagging along and they couldn't shake her off so she comes with them. She awakens when she confronts her boss' shadow. From there on, she's been helping the team with selecting their targets because who better than a journalist? 

Recruiting Hifumi was probably the most obscure accident, mostly because I honestly can't think of a good connection just yet. There's the fact that she goes to church and Wakaba's grave is near there but even that is grasping straws. Maybe Hifumi put in a mementos request? Somehow got dragged by proximity when they went to mementos and she was just on her way to catch the late train home? I don't know. Someone help me. Chihaya too. I was thinking that Chihaya gets involved with Ohya's arc. Maybe they're friends since they both frequent the red light district. Yeah let's go with that. Chihaya is obviously the navigator of the group so she's a must have party member and Hifumi is the strategist also a must have. They work hard okay. 

Moving on! At some point they try to target the politician from Toranosuke's social link. But it becomes their shortest case ever. Tora had somehow figured that his old acquaintance could be targeted by the phantom thieves and he wants to stop the, but he has no way of contacting them. One day he went to visit that guy's place but coincidentally it was his place of distortion. Coincidentally, the phantom thieves were there and unaware of Tora's proximity. He gets pulled in with them. They never did manage to beat the Palace ruler. Instead Tora just talks it put with the shadow and the palace crumbles after negotiations succeed. Everyone's confused as to what just happened but they're not against it. Tora awakens on his own the next time he joins them, probably in Mementos. He refuses to fight but he always steps up to talk with shadows willing to negotiate. 

At this point, the phantom thieves reputation is skyrocketing. The hype is so strong that Sojiro gets a warrant of arrest. Sae hadn't confirmed it yet but she has made enough connections to point Sojiro as a suspect phantom thief. They do their own research to find out the best way to get out of this. During their investigation, they find out that there's been a suspicious pressure to have the phantom thieves arrested, abnormally so. They deduce that although Sae was an immediate threat, she was just being pulled by the strings. 

They needed to see the bigger picture and to so that, perhaps Sae was the key. They need her cooperation and to have that, they need her to have a change of heart except without the excessive guilt to render her incapacitated. They tried talking it out with her but when that failed they had no choice but had her face the facts, or rather face her shadow self. Sae awakens in her own palace, realizing how twisted her desires had become. When they escape, she asks if she could join their cause and they gladly welcome her. 

Shido is the last palace not just because of him being a corrupt prime minister but also considering the motherfucker had Wakaba murdered which makes this personal for Sojiro. After all, not only did Sojiro love Wakaba (romantically or not) but she was also the reason he was able to become a Phantom Thief in the first place. That fucking dildo Shido is long overdue to be brought down by Sojiro so that Wakaba can have some semblance of justice. Oh and Japan gets saved too I guess. (Yaldabaoth who?) 

>>Oh yeah, although Futaba isn't a thief here, it's not because she doesn't know. It's only because Sojiro forbade her and his word is law so she's still mad about that. She still helps as Alibaba though. Honestly best non-party member confidant of Sojiro and that's not just father bias talking. Okay maybe a little father bias but he's a proud dad okay. 

>>Also Morgana is a social link of Sojiro's. Except it's really just Sojiro being a softie with the cat. He has no idea what Morgana's meows mean (does he even talk/transform in this au?) but he is a good landlord and sometimes he feeds the cat better than he does Akira. 

>>Originally I didn't want Sojiro to be a Wild Card but due to Persona Tradition, in order to be a protagonist one must be a special snowflake with lots of facades inside. So I guess his velvet room would look like a cafe only without the coffee because Caroline and Justine (or just Lavenza) are kids and coffee is bad for them. Sojiro feels so uncomfortable with Igor behind the counter because for a barista to not touch them coffee beans at all, that's pretty suspicious. 

—

Codenames 'subject to change' 

Sojiro Sakura - Solo (single shot of espresso) 

Yuuki Mishima - Wolf (talk about wolf in sheep's clothing or is it the other way around?) 

Hifumi Togo - Jade or General (because shogi) 

Shinya Oda - Trigger (guns guns guns)

 Munehisa Iwai - Gecko (his tattoo) 

Tae Takemi - Witchdoctor or Plague (she protec but she also attac) 

Ichiko Ohya - Rebel (fight the power!) 

Sadayo Kawakami - Burnout (teachers have no chill) 

Chihaya Mifune - Tarot (fortune telling duh) 

Toranosuke Yoshida - Tiger (his name) 

Sae Niijima - Empress or Judge (her personality)

—

Mementos Chats: 

Ohya: No matter how much I drink every night, my body still gets hangovers sometimes. Hey, Takemi. You're a doctor, right? Know any good medicine for this? 

Takemi: I can actually prescribe you with the best medicine. Prevention. "Drink moderately" is an effectively proven motto to live by. 

—

Toranosuke: I tried checking this "phansite" and I keep seeing the "pound sign heart stolen", could you explain to me what that means? 

Mishima: ...Did you mean hashtag? I think I'll be explaining to you more than just that. 

—

Shinya: Are all adults like this? Stressed? I've been thinking about how I'm not growing up fast enough but now I think I just want to be a kid forever. 

Iwai: Smart move, kid. But don't let us get to you. Us adults are fun too, heh, when we're not too buried in bills and taxes.

— 

Iwai: Hey, know any good places to bring your kid? 

Sojiro: Depends on what he likes and the occasion. From what I heard, your kid already likes you enough so just go out and have fun with the kid. 

—

Mishima: Between studying and phantom thieving, I think I just might be better with the latter. 

Kawakami: Why? Last time I checked, your grades seem pretty okay. Are you having difficulties with any of your subjects recently? You know you can always ask me to teach you. 

—

Kawakami: I know I signed up for this but this is too exhausting! I don't even have the energy to check papers after. When I get home, I just collapse on my bed! 

Ohya: I know what you mean. I can't even make a pit stop at my favorite bar! 

—

Chihaya: I've seen shadows in my fortune tellings but to think that I'll be using it against literal shadows. The city sure is amazing ain't it. 

Hifumi: I'm not sure if it is exclusive to the city. Nevertheless, it is always fascinating to watch you work, Chihaya-san. 

—

Hifumi: Despite this group being composed mostly of adults, I find myself strangely at ease... 

Sae: Even as an adult, I agree with that sentiment. This is... a wonderful group to belong to.

—

Sae: I've been meaning to ask this but how do you juggle Phantom Thief work with your real world jobs? I honestly didn't think you had any free time to spare. As a case example, I myself only get by with four hours of sleep on slow days.

Takemi: We seriously need to reevaluate your working schedule... That or quit your job. Can't have you dying from exhaustion on us. 

—

Takemi: I may be a doctor but you all need to look after yourselves better. If any of you collapse, I'm not footing your hospital bills. 

Sojiro: What's this? Free medical advice? You've gotten soft. 

—

Sojiro: So you've been hanging out with Akira and Futaba lately? Those two can't be good influences on you. 

Shinya: They're cool, I guess. Heh, so what if they're bad influences? I hang out enough with you guys at night so that should balance it out, right?

—

Some other trivia: 

Since most of the group are adults with full time jobs, they do most of the phantom thief stuff at night 

They also work out a schedule because they have a lot of responsibilities outside phan stuff 

Still, since Sojiro is a veterinarian at this, they usually accomplish a lot in an hour or two so that helps 

Mishima and Hifumi are forbidden to do any phantom thief activities during exams week 

Meanwhile Kawakami excuses herself for the week after finals week (checking papers is exhausting okay) 

Kawakami is at the forefront of "long weekends do not touch" and "holidays touch them and you die" because teachers need those okay 

Kawakami volunteers to clean the dirty armor they find but on the condition that she gets first dibs on good armor 

Mishima still manages the phansite and he's super proud about the work they do 

Mishima visits the cafe a lot and eventually befriends Akira and Futaba 

Hifumi still speaks dramatically when giving orders or planning strategies in the metaverse 

Hifumi is actually very extra but they just let her be 

Toranosuke can't really fight much but damn he's good at them shadow negotiations 

Toranosuke can't join much because he campaigns at night but he makes it a point to be present at least once a week and during important meetings 

Shinya can't stay too late either so they either go in earlier sometimes or make up an excuse in unexpected cases 

You'd think Shinya would get teased a lot but he's actually doted upon 

Gee Shinya, how come you get to have three dads? 

Iwai and Sojiro are best dad friends and you can't tell me otherwise 

Iwai only cancels on them for father-son bonding and he usually gives them prior notice 

Ohya is the type who cancels at the last minute or arrives late 

Ohya is also the one who invites the adults out for drinks after 

Sojiro offers coffee as an alternative for those who want or may need it 

Takemi is the strict mom friend who doesn't let anyone get sick on her watch 

Takemi forbids anyone to do anything further the moment the first signs of exhaustion show 

Takemi has a special skill that makes her immune to status ailments (unlockable with social link rank up) 

Chihaya does their fortunes upon request with or without persona (she still uses her tarot cards either way) 

Chihaya still slips in her accent sometimes especially when they get ambushed 

Sae is super conscious about used to having a palace (and the only one in the team who had one) but the squad is understanding and she feels happy to be accepted even still 

Sae actually gets along pretty well with them despite their previous conflicts, which are all water under the bridge 

Sae is probably the most OP out of all of them, maybe it's because she had to face her own shadow, hmmm 

The women of the group do hang, sometimes even go out for drinks 

Hifumi joins mostly on weekends because those are in the mornings and Takemi forbids alcohol as long as the sun is out so they just window shop mostly or eat out 

More often than not, those hang outs extend into evenings so Hifumi excuses herself and Ohya now drags the rest to Crossroads 

Meanwhile the guys just chill at Cafe Leblanc, sometimes Iwai even brings his son 

They do have outings with the whole squad (sometimes plus Futaba!) 

They are a good squad, and god I love this AU

—

I uhhhh wanted to write down everything, like codename, outfit, persona, awakening scene, skills, mementos chats with each other, and all but I didn't have the time. Maybe I'll do them in another post? Maybe. Just know that I love them confidants and this au stole my heart. 

If anyone wants to add, draw, write for the Phantom Confidants AU then feel free to do so! Have fun with this idea and enjoy!!

[emjenenla]

See Who I Am, Break Through the Silence [a Zankyou no Terror Fanfic]

Title: See Who I Am, Break Through the Silence

Author: Emjen Enla (Fanfiction)/emjen_enla (Wattpad)/emjenenla (Tumblr)

Teaser: Slight AU of Episode 10. Shibazaki speaks to Nine while he’s in police custody.

Rating: PG-13/T

Canon/Timeline: Canon divergence from Episode 10 “Helter Skelter”

Dominant Characters: Nine, Shibazaki Kenjirō, appearances by Hamura and Kurahashi, mentions of Twelve and Mishima Lisa

Pairings: none

Warnings: Nine is a terrorist. He has an atomic bomb. He is also terminally ill.

Notes:

-Special thanks to Nightsmoke from Fanfiction and ao3. Since the show does a pretty poor job of giving us specifics of what’s going on with Five and Nine and why Twelve doesn’t show any symptoms, I used her stories to build my headcanons about all that stuff.

-Also, to those of you reading my Six of Crows fanfic, I hope to get part three out soon. (College is leaves you with so much free time…Not!)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Zankyou no Terror/Terror in Resonance or the song “See Who I Am” by Within Temptation. Special thanks to Nightsmoke!

--

“Remember, I can only give you a couple minutes,” Kurahashi said as Shibazaki and Hamura followed him down the dark hallways of the police station. “You’re not even supposed to be in the building so the sooner you can get in and out the better.”

“Do we know who he is?” Hamura asked, taking a couple jogging steps like a small child until he was walking alongside the older man.

“He was registered in one of the area high schools as Kokonoe Arata,” Kurahashi said. “He hasn’t gone to class since the first bombing. We think Sphinx number 2 might be another new student called Hisami Tōji who has also been chronically absent since the bombing. We did background checks on both of them, but it seems likely both identities are fabricated. We’ve had no luck in getting him to give us a real name.”

Normally that would have been a problem, but Shibazaki was fairly sure that in this situation there wasn’t a name for them to get. “Has there been any sign of Sphinx 2?”

“None,” Kurahashi said. “It’s making me nervous. He could easily be out there setting a bomb to go off if we don’t release his partner.”

“That’s unlikely,” Shibazaki said.

“How do you know?”

“Sphinx 1 turned himself in,” he explained. “No one would have to break him out if he hadn’t marched in here in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe there’s a plan, and it probably involves a bomb, but it won’t be to break him out. Sphinx 1 is right where he wants to be; the trick will be figuring out exactly why this is where he wants to be.”

“That’s encouraging,” Hamura muttered.

They reached the door to the cell block. “We can’t move him to an interrogation room without the Americans getting wind of it,” Kurahashi said as he opened the door. “This will have to be good enough.”

He stepped inside and muttered a few words to the guards who left without glancing at Shibazaki and Hamura. Kurahashi motioned with a hand and they stepped through the door.

The cell block was empty aside from one cell directly opposite the door. Inside it a teenaged boy sat on a cot, his back against the wall and his cuffed hands draped over his drawn-up knees.

One of the most wanted terrorists in Japan watched them silently as they crossed the room. Kurahashi opened the cell door, Shibazaki stepped inside and the door closed behind him. He grabbed the cell’s single chair, spun it around and settled into it, resting his arms on the top of the seat. “Well,” he said. “You said you wanted to talk to me.”

Sphinx 1 just stared. He expression was unnervingly blank. Shibazaki stared back and tried to get a feel for the young man before him. He had slightly long black hair that looked freshly washed, like he’d taken a shower in preparation of turning himself in as a terrorist. His eyes were somewhere between blue and gray, and he was wearing surprisingly normal-looking black framed glasses. The black shirt he had on looked like the same shirt that he’d been wearing during the airport bombing.

That wasn’t what Shibazaki found alarming, though. The boy was almost impossibly thin and there were dark bags under his eyes. He had a pallor akin to snow, aside from the hectic splotches of red on his cheeks like he had a fever. All in all, he looked sick. Shibazaki hoped that someone had at least taken the kid’s temperature and given him some acetaminophen.

Sphinx 1 still hadn’t answered his question. Shibazaki wasn’t going to put himself at the disadvantage by asking the question again. They stared at each other for at least five minutes. Shibazaki heard Kurahashi and Hamura shifting and murmuring behind him, but ignored them and continued staring pleasantly at the terrorist before him.

Finally, Sphinx 1 cleared his throat. “Did you figure out about us?” he asked quietly, his eyes deep, old and watchful. “Do you understand now?”

It was like being struck by lightning, suddenly Shibazaki realized that Sphinx 1 and 2 had wanted someone to look into the Athena Program. They’d wanted someone to look into where they’d come from. He’d acted exactly as they’d hoped. The thought of playing into the hands of a pair of terrorists was more than a little disconcerting.

He swallowed around that massive realization and forced his voice to be level and pleasant when he replied, “Are you number nine or number twelve?”

Sphinx 1’s emotionless masked cracked. A look of childlike relief spread across his face, and he leaned his forehead against his knees for a few moments. When he looked up again his eyes were wet and there was a tiny smile playing around one corner of his mouth. “I’m Nine,” he said.

“Alright,” Shibazaki said trying to regain his metaphorical balance. This conversation was going to be nothing like he’d originally thought it would. “And what would you have me call you?”

The boy’s eyes moved to Kurahashi and Hamura on the other side of the bars. He raised an eyebrow.

“I trust them,” Shibazaki said. “They’re not going anywhere.”

Sphinx 1 sighed. “You can call me Nine,” he said. “That’s what Twelve and Lisa call me.”

Lisa. Shibazaki filed the name away in the back of his mind. They’d calculated that there had to be another person beyond Sphinx 1 and 2 at the airport during the bombing, perhaps that was this Lisa person.

He didn’t mention any of these musings to Nine, however. “And I assume Sphinx 2 is Twelve?” he asked instead. Nine nodded his face still flooded with adolescent hope despite the minor distraction of Kurahashi and Hamura. Shibazaki went on. “Where is he right now?”

Nine’s face fell immediately. “I don’t know exactly,” he said. “We split up, but I do know that wherever he is, he’s not planning any more trouble for you.”

“Why did you split up?” Shibazaki pushed as gently as possible.

“We had…” Nine sighed and fiddled with the handcuffs. “He decided something else was more important than completing our plans.”

Shibazaki couldn’t say he was exactly surprised at that something like that had happened. The stress of what they were attempting had to be immense, especially for a pair of teenage boys. “And what are you plans?” he asked.

Nine looked up and dropped his legs to the floor. The emotionless mask was back. “Sphinx is ready to make a demand.”

Shibazaki felt like he’d been given whiplash from the sudden change in topic. He forced himself to focus. Sphinx had never made a demand before; this was important.

“I want a press conference,” Nine said. Back straight, shoulders back, voice shockingly adult. “As many camera crews as possible from as many countries as possible. I want it broadcast live in Japan, and I want to be allowed to speak freely.”

Shibazaki couldn’t help it; he raised an eyebrow. “That’s all you want?” he said. “You plant multiple bombs and post complicated riddles on the internet and all you want is a press conference?”

“I want people to listen to what I have to say,” Nine said, eyes boring into Shibazaki as if expecting him to understand.

It took a minute, but then Shibazaki did. “You want to tell people about the Athena Project,” he said. “That’s what all these bombings are about.”

“If Twelve and I had just dumped our story on the internet,” Nine said. “Only the nutcases would have believed us. Now we’re one of the biggest stories in the world. People will listen. Important people will listen.”

So that was what this was all about. These kids had gone around threatening the lives of thousands just to get people’s attention. Shibazaki wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or pitying. “And what if you don’t get your press conference?” he asked. “What happens then?”

Nine’s face was cold as ice. “Then I tell you that Twelve and I didn’t steal plutonium from Aomori; we stole an atomic bomb. If I don’t get my press conference, a failsafe will activate and the bomb will go off.”

“What?” Hamura’s body crashed against the cell bars, but Shibazaki didn’t let himself look away from the terrorist in front of him. “You can’t do that!” Hamura roared.

“I won’t tell you where it is no matter what you do to me,” Nine said calmly. “Finding Twelve won’t help you; he doesn’t know where it is either. You can either give me my press conference or the bomb will go off. There are no other options.”

Shibazaki took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. Shouting would do no good. “You do realize,” he said in a tone of voice almost as calm as Nine’s, “that if you set off an atomic bomb in Tokyo while you’re still in Tokyo, you’ll die along with everyone else.”

There was a long pause, then Nine’s right shoulder rose in an almost imperceptible shrug.

“You don’t care?” Shibazaki asked.

“Not particularly,” Nine admitted. “In fact, the bomb might be preferable to the alternative.”

This boy didn’t care if he died during these bombings. He just wanted the story to get out no matter what happened to him. It took a moment for the reasons for that to sink it, for Shibazaki to remember something that Mamiya had said. “You’re dying,” Shibazaki said. “Both of you. That’s why you don’t care what happens to you.”

That look came back. The one of relief. The one of finally being seen. Nine looked like someone had thrown him a life vest in the middle of the ocean. “Degenerative encephalopathy,” he grinned darkly. “They really should have done more testing on those drugs before they pumped us full of them.”

Shibazaki was fairly sure Hamura and Kurahashi weren’t breathing which he understood completely; he wasn’t breathing either. “How long?” he finally got out.

“Hard to say exactly; neither of us have had an MRI since we escaped,” Nine said, gaze floating away evasively. “Twelve might have a year or so; he didn’t have as many treatments before we escaped. I’ve probably got a matter of months. Two, perhaps, maybe less.”

Shibazaki had completely lost his battle at remaining stoic. He gaped. He knew that knowing that he was talking to a terminally ill seventeen-year-old shouldn’t change anything, but somehow it did. “I’m sorry,” he said, and that seemed so inadequate, but he didn’t know what would be better.

“I’ve been dying for a long time,” Nine said looking back up at Shibazaki. “I’m used to it. What I want is for people to know what happened to us so that the people who did this to us don’t get to try again once they come up with a new cocktail of drugs. If I do that anyway other than a live press conference under the protection of the police everything will just be swept under the rug. The story needs to get out in a way they can’t control.”

The kid leaned forward, eyes wide and earnest. “I don’t want to kill anyone,” he said. “If you let me do this; I promise I won’t set the bomb off. The instant the press conference is over, I’ll tell you where it is and how to disable it. I won’t cause any more problems. I’ll plead guilty in court and everything. Just let me do this first. Please.”

Shibazaki stared at him for what the longest minute of his life. He knew he shouldn’t be touched by the boy’s story. He knew that nothing excused the violence Sphinx had wreaked on Tokyo. Still, he wanted to find a way to make something better for this child who obviously had little experience with kindness. He wanted to help.

He took a slow, careful breath. “You’ll get your press conference, kid,” he promised, not carrying how angry Kurahashi got at him for making that decision. “It’s the least I can do.”

--

[crossgartered]

P5R liveblog (8/?)

(Makoto arc end)

[[MORE]]

Oh, hey, Chihaya.

Idk if I'm remembering the timing right, but it looks like they took out Ryuji's interaction with those two entirely. I told him to wait outside bc of his uniform and he said he'd kill some time somewhere until I was done

It really does seem kind of awful of us to volunteer Mishima for this, especially without him knowing.

OH HERE THEY ARE

Oh, hey, they think he's interested in drag bc of how he was looking into Crossroads. They want to help him out. Still sucks that this supposed to be something funny, and that they're dragging him off without his wanting to, but it is better than it was.

UGHHHH MISHIMA IM SORRY

Oh, this translation seems different. A bit more natural, I think. Still really harsh, though. Sae...

Makoto...

FUCKING PRIESTESS LISTEN TO YOUR INNER SELF THIS IS JUST DOING SOMETHING FOR THE SAKE OF DOING ANYTHING PLEASE PULL BACK AND THINK STRATEGICALLY INSTEAD IF GOING ABOUT THIS SO EMOTIONALLY

Honestly her charm stat is in the pits. It's kind of hilarious since you need high (max? Idr) charm to progress past rank 5 with her.

Huh, if she had social stats... High knowledge, low charm, good guts, not totally sure about proficiency & kindness but I'm leaning towards okay-low proficiency and middling-decent kindness.

Now, the others...

Ryuji would have low knowledge, good guts,

Listen, I'm having trouble with quantifying their kindness. Because, they all have differing levels of what I consider personal-kindness and general-kindness

Wait. Do I really want to get on this tangent right now? ...Not really. Hold that thought. Back to the game.

GOD this was so dangerous I am honestly amazed that she got out of this okay.

GOD THAT IS SO DANGEROUS I AM HONESTLY AMAZED THAT HE GOT OUT OF THAT OKAY

Honestly I'm kind of surprised Kaneshiro doesn't have a doorman or anything.

Jeez, Kaneshiro's face looks off compared to everyone else. Like, on its own, it's a decent face, but it looks like it doesn't belong with the rest.

Huh, I wonder how many of them actually have mommies and daddies to beg money from. Let's see... Makoto is being raised by her prosecutor sister. Parents dead. Ryuji is being raised by a single mom. Dad left a long time ago. Canonically poor. Yusuke was being raised by Madarame. Mom dead. Dad out of the picture, idr how. Canonically poor, with poor money sense. Ann has parents. Successful fashion designers that she doesn't see half the year. And the protag has an ambiguous family situation. Of course, I have my headcanons, but that's nothing. Anyway, if we were going about this the way Kaneshiro wanted us to, Ann would probably be able to provide the most, followed by Makoto. (Again, leaving Ren out of this).

Guh, thinking about it like that feels shitty.

...can you even imagine an ATM with Ann's pigtails though? I mean I know the other ATMs don't have any distinguishing features but still

Anyway

Godddd, I really love when people are given reaction shots when something another character is saying is resonating or otherwise meaningful to them

Makoto: "A lot happened after we lost her father three years ago, so it's just us living together... But I'm still a child, so all I am is a burden to her..."

Yusuke: *cut-in* "......"

Me: *chef's kiss*

...it happens at other times in this game (and other stuff), too, but I just wanted to point it out. Especially bc you kind of have to infer a lot of the time when it comes to Yusuke.

OHHHDJDJSJDJJDS HE LOOKED SO SAD WHEN MAKOTO CALLED HIM A CANINE

"IT'S FOX" HE SAYS

Both Makoto and Ann called him specifically a monster cat. I wonder if the Japanese calls him a cat ayakashi or something.

What property damage did any of us cause?

Why is Shadow Kaneshiro purple anyway?

JOHANNA IS SO FUCKING COOL GODDAMN

I love Makoto's awakening ngl

But honestly, is there a /bad/ awakening in the bunch? They really killed it with the game aesthetics, you know?

"No weaknesses. Our only chance is to make them confused" or whatever she just said about confusing them. Idk if I just tune her out or if that's a new thing

Didn't Makoto have Flash Bomb or whatever that multi-phys + chance of Dizzy skill was called? Maybe she gets that at a higher level

*heavy sigh* Okay, Makoto

"I will crush him like a fly" I see what you did there

It really is nice that they're bringing up the advisor thing instead of just her doing it herself. I still feel like there should have been a little more talk about it amongst the 5 of them instead of just the 3 human-shaped guys but w/e

The references to English songs and memes is a little jarring, ngl

Man, Sae's gonna flip her shit when she hears what Makoto did to get here.

Awww Ann & Makoto are bonding

*sigh* listen, I like Makoto, I even dated her in my first playthrough of vanilla p5, but I really dislike how they just keep shilling her around this time. It's a little off-putting. I think it's a thing Atlus likes to do.

Hmm? Is the man getting joint pain on rainy days going to affect his Mementos fight?? Interesting.

Ughhhhhh Queen choosing her name and then the """strategy""" thing is exactly the same. Like her being there even changes anything about how we go about things. And we do think about what we're doing, actually! Well, mostly Morgana bc Phantom thievery is his whole schtick. But like, outside our usual plans, we successfully pulled off the heist in the Madarame Palace, for example. We also opened the locked door and dealt with that. We go about the palaces with intent! Blugh.

"it's my role to be the brain of this team and give out orders" BLUGH

And then Ryuji & Mona are into it... -_-+

I hate this part. It's awkward and dumb. There are better ways to make her their advisor, Atlus

Also someone mention that I am field leader pls. I know you did in vanilla p5 do it now as well

I wonder if they've changed her s.link abilities? They at least have to have given her 1 more thing due to the baton pass thing

I WONDER IF EIKO WILL HAVE A SPRITE NOW?!?!? I hope so ^u^

GUH I love Makoto's Queen outfit.

Oh, whoops, I forgot about that conversation. Maybe I should have put Morgana in my party.

But heck yeah, let's do a finisher! I wonder how to get these for people.

RYUJI WANTS TO DO A SHOWTIME WITH FOX "We could call it Art Run or something" I LOVE HIM

SHIT WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I SAVED

Ugh, it's really frustrating that they're trying to get me to showtime w Ann & Morgana when all the enemies here are weak to Zio & Bufu (with a little bit of Psi & Gun thrown in for good measure).

Okay, have reorganized my party so I don't have to use an Agi-weak persona to go after enemy weaknesses. That was so embarrassing.

Oh, neat! My sleuthing instinct kicked in! ... Makoto's abilities have to have changed.

YOU MEAN SHOWTIME CAN KICK IN EVEN WHEN ONE OF THE MEMBERS IS NOT IN THE PARTY?!?!?! AHHHH

Maybe even both, idk. Morgana seemed like the best choice to heal/lucky punch so he's in my party rn but maybe when he gets swapped out later I'll find the answer to that

...this is being surprisingly easy. But I don't think I'm overleveled... Jeez, I haven't bought weapons since Kamoshida's Palace. And they give you so many clothes in this game... And accessories! Really!

But yeah, I finished that security guy in 3 moves. Morgana - Garu (absorbed), Yusuke - Bufu (inflicting Freeze), Ryuji - Headbutt (Technical) -> All-Out Attack. I remember it being a lot harder in the original. Idk.

Okay, the next one was slightly harder. It took two All-out-attacks to beat it. But hmm.

Maybe I am overleveled, though. Apparently that miniboss (??) Was only level 21, and I am 23.

Oh, I'm getting Sigma feelings. Ann's counting down for opening the vault-like door.

I don't think I've ever noticed before how neat Kaneshiro's palace music is. Well, at least the Laundering Office, anyway. What is this, exactly? It's some version of Price - that's the same melody line, but the instrumentation is all different. That's not to say that Price isn't good; it's just that I'm weak for strings & orchestra instruments in non- orchestral songs. It sounds darker and more intense. I love it

Oho? That gold vault door seems new.

Or maybe I just don't remember it.

Anyway. I really do appreciate that Morgana mentions Shadow personalities in negotiations. Like, I read the tutorial on it, but it's nice to have him like "what's this one so happy about? Well, guess we'll play long for now" or whatever he says for an upbeat shadow. It's pretty neat.

"I wonder what it'd be like if we had Palaces instead of Personas." SAME, RYUJI, SAME 👀👀👀👀👀

Hmm, I know Joker Palace has some fics, and I think I remember seeing a Crow Palace fic, but I wonder about the others...? Hmm 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

I don't want to accidentally spoil myself, though. I'll go through the archive after I finish this.

"Your Palace would definitely be a beef bowl shop." ANN OMG

"Why'd you gotta give a straight answer right off the bat? I can't argue with that!" Ryuji pls ;u;

Why do Will Seeds all look like that? I know there are those death things with the hollow eyes like that, but is that what it is? It just seems so out of place in this technical setting. I'm kind of surprised they don't change appearances to suit their Palace. Tbh, it doesn't really look like anything that comes from Mementos, either. But I suppose it must...

WHOA, why did the Velvet Room door turn red? "I have an uneasy feeling" Same, protag, same

WHY IS THE VELVET ROOM ON HIGH ALERT

A fusion alarm? OH COME ON IT HASNT BEEN THAT LONG SINCE I FUSED ANYONE

Is this because I still have Jack Frost with me? But come onnnn I already had most of this palace's inhabitants alreadyyyy

By /fusing/ them

Could this have come at any time? Or was this scripted for now? Oh, wait, I overreacted, this says that my Personas will be stronger if I do it during a fusion alarm. Kind of incentivizes him to slack off, though, doesn't it? Lol

Oh, interesting. Look at all those accident possibilities. Nvm.

Orpheus... ;-;

Huh, I didn't realize the Picaro versions also were not just dlc

"You would like me to become your mask? Well then, let us search for the answers of life together."

*lie down* *try not to cry* *cry a lot*

Anyway.

I need to go to Mementos and find an Eligor. Gotta get that Flauros.

YES FINALLY MY GUTS INCREASED

Aww, the newspaper club girl is rooting for the phantom thieves. She's so angry at akechi rn

Oh, speaking of! Hello, Akechi!

AHHH RYUJI AND MAKOTO TEAM UP IM SO PSYCHED

Oh man it's bc of the motorcycle ISNT IT, RYUJI : DDDDDD

JDSKSKXNXJKS

The voice acting there was. Wonderful. Omfg

Actually, now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense that Ryuji's tried to suggest team ups twice now, ever as soon as he learned they were a thing. He was on the track team, and the team aspect of that was very important to him. He likes cheering others on and being cheered on by others. Specifically by training and sweating and testing limits together - by fighting together. Of course ryuji is interested. Of course he is.

Man, I wish I had better context for the "you filthy fly on dirty money" line - I mean, obviously he's Beelzebub, who is apparently in charge of gluttony, but like, is that a phrase? Is this just a Beelzebub reference or is there more to it bc it feels like there's more to it and I don't understand bc cultural reasons

Blegh I don't want to give up my expensive items...guess I'll do this the tedious way.

Ah, here we go. Let's see how these hired guns are. Hopefully I can see the Makoto & Ryuji showtime? :3 ?

Wait, Bael? Not Beelzebub? Really? Huh?

YES IT'S SHOWTIME

HOLY SHIT I LOVE IT

I wonder why that briefcase was related to his distorted desires. We really know so little about Kaneshiro, relatively

Yusuke's kinda on the ball today.

...*snerk*

Wow, damn, Akechi was potentially onto us since the Kaneshiro calling card? He gave a list of potential candidates, maybe we were on it...

Makoto, really, it was unfair of everyone to put the burden of resolving the Kaneshiro issue on you. You really can't be blamed. you know that, right?

Oh, hey look, it's 'Gaudy Student' there in the background

Hhhhhhhhhhh there are so many choices I have 5 potential social links to do tonight. I could start Kawakami, Ohya, Chihaya, or Hifumi, or I could level up Yoshida since it's Sunday

AHH KASUMI IS SO CUTE. FUCK!

BWAHAHAHAHA justice rank 3 is. Amazing.

"I've seen everything. A vision of you groveling on the ground..." IS THIS THE THING IN DECEMBER SHES TALKING ABOUT