#WELL NOW HE TEXTS MAKOTO ABOUT EVERYTHING WHILE HE'S AWAY | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

deliscandystore · 1 year ago

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🌒💀HALLOWEEN SELF AWARE AU SNIPPET💀🌒

Hiii!! This'll be the first post of my Persona 5 self aware au, which I have been cooking up for a WHILE now. I hope you enjoy, and mind the warnings for the following:

Near mind breaking, repetitive capitalized text, mentioned kidnapping, and an intense eldritch horror scene.

Anyways, I hope you like it!

UPDATE: Dear god. This is OUTDATED. Like VERY OUTDATED. This is not reflective of the current state of the au, and is being kept up for the sake of posterity.

The first time Zenkichi met Dr. Maruki in the cognitive realm, things were far from pleasant. That bleached, bright white lab, filled with hollow reflections of people and Shadows for doctors, imagery of hearts and brains and sappy wellness. The overly calm piano score playing all around them contrasted with the hurried footsteps of the group. He’d never been in a place like this before, a Palace, the kids called it. Sure, the place was big, but compared to the open city streets in the Jails, the walls began to crawl with claustrophobia. The mission they had called him for didn’t help, either.

“We need your help! Everything was fine until Player stopped showing up. We haven’t seen them since last week, but time’s been moving completely normal! We have two days until we send the calling card!” He heard from Ann over the phone.

Even today, the reality of his situation still seemed to scramble Zenkichi’s brain. Everything, the whole world around him that he had spent his entire life in, was just a video game. And right now, he wasn’t even in the game he was made for! He was just grateful that the games were compatible somehow, being the same series and all. But the player, they were no older than the Phantom Thieves the games were centered around. Just a kid, really. All of them were just kids.

The worry sank to the bottom of his stomach. All the times he had seen Player, he just knew that nothing was alright with them. They were like if you took a very tiny and shaky puppy dog in a cardboard box in the rain, kicked it, took all its little kibbles away, kicked it again, and then turned it into a person, that was about the best he could describe them. Everything his time in Public Security taught him screamed at Zenkichi that Player couldn't possibly be safe at home, but what all could he do? Crawl out of their screen like some horror monster?

Well, someone else might have had that bright idea as well, since the Thieves had triangulated their location inside this very Palace. It was something that made Zenkichi's stomach churn, picturing them trapped in a place like this. This was a laboratory, some weird, twisted vision of a researcher's paradise, not a safe, warm home for an abused teenager. This wasn’t a safe, warm home for any child. Some terrible fate probably awaited them here, devised by this unknowable Doctor Maruki to protect whatever sick experiments he had going on here. He’d seen it a million times, the minds of people whose idle passing thoughts were enough to make any sane man shudder- DEAR GOD WHAT WAS THAT.

Zenkichi repressed a near wail as something big bounded in front of them, giggling like a schoolgirl. Black stockings, pink fur, white, tongue-tipped rabbit tail, it was… Alice?

“Wait!! You can’t see your present yet!” she chimed in, uncharacteristically chipper.

“W-What the…?! Her presence wasn’t on the radar at all!” Futaba cried from her UFO, “What’s happening?!?”

The Mad Rabbit hopped along the hallway without even the slightest hint of trying to attack. Her voice echoed through the halls, calling back “Catch me! Catch me!” as she rounded a corner. Ryuji was about to do just that, with agreeing chatter from the rest of the group, but Makoto held out her hands to stop them. “Wait!” shouted the strategist, causing everyone to pause, “She wasn’t on the radar! Maruki’s reality is basically just one big illusion, so this could easily be a trap. We have to keep moving, for Player’s sake.”

Yusuke nodded sagely, “You��re right. Besides, she didn’t quite seem herself. We must- Madarame?!?”

The whole group turned to stare with wide eyes as the sentient quartet of paintings swirled into their path, the Shadow of Yusuke’s old mentor laughing with an out of place merriment. Madarame’s Shadow disappeared down an adjacent hallway, followed by the echo of his voice, “Follow me!”

Yusuke stared slack-jawed at the entrance to the hallway, and Zenkichi scowled, “It’s all distractions! You see a big Shadow, ignore it!”

The Thieves all nodded, rushing forward and staunchly ignoring the calls of their former foes. It seemed odd how friendly and chipper they all seemed, like the cast of a kid’s cartoon, rather than the living manifestations of criminals’ hearts. Some of them could only stare with wide eyes at the familiar faces smiling and waving at them, trying to lead them astray. Zenkichi himself even had to do a double take once or twice. One question lingered on Zenkichi’s mind. If Maruki knew what all of these people meant to the Phantom Thieves, why use their Shadows? To tempt them into a fight? It seemed to be the only logical answer…

They came to a door labeled “Operating Theater” at the end of the hallway. Zenkichi’s brow furrowed behind his mask, flashes of horror movie hospitals and sharp, unfeeling surgical tools going through his mind, the image of hundreds, no, thousands of creepy doctors all staring down the raised platforms at an unwilling patient with their guts split open under a bright light.

“Do we go in?” one of them asked as they stopped.

“Everybody ready for a potential fight?” Ren asked, adjusting his glove. There was a murmur of agreement, and he nodded, “Alright, then. Let’s go.”

They pushed the door open, and when they entered, they found a wide, open space. It was clean and peaceful like the rest of the Palace, and on the center platform was an operating table. Someone was lying there, and Zenkichi could realize only by stepping closer that it must be Player. They were held down by strange clawed hands, and seemed to be dead asleep. The unconscious teen looked just as small and underfed as Zenkichi remembered, but their bandages seemed fresh, and looked like they were applied with better skill and a gentle hand.

“There they are. Everybody, watch out for traps,” Morgana urged, the little cat-creature stepping forward toward the platform. Zenkichi followed, quickly reaching the bedside. He tried to pry off the blue and black claws that gripped Player’s limbs, which gave way with far too much ease to really be restraints.

"Something's coming! It's REALLY strong!!" Futaba warned, and Zenkichi cursed under his breath. He reached across the table, the claws coming loose with the slightest prod. Hooking one arm under their knees and the other under the small of their back, the PubSec agent held their all too light form protectively close to his chest. He was gentle with their bruises, and his voice was soft and low.

"Whoever this doctor is, he's not gonna hurt you anymore... I promise."

The doors suddenly slammed open, and Zenkichi turned to face the intruder. A tall man about Zenkichi's age with slicked back hair and a suit that once was just as pristine as his surroundings stood in the doorway, hunched over and panting like a panicked animal.

"Phantom Thieves!" he gasped, with tears streaking down his face, "K-Kids, you've- You've got to help me, I-"

The doctor looked up through off-kilter glasses, one gloved hand clutched tightly over his heart and creasing his suit as he leaned against the doorframe for support. He was… shaking?

Zenkichi locked eyes with the man who was quite obviously Maruki from halfway across the room. The other man's breathing steadied as confusion crossed his features. His gaze turned to Sophia, but before he could fully look at her, his frantic gaze snapped back to Player, unconscious in Zenkichi's arms. There was a moment of pause as the doctor seemed to take a breath in. The air went cold. Distantly, the wail of a baby’s cry could be heard, causing some of the Thieves to flinch and look around with wide eyes. Maruki’s voice was thin and strained.

“What. Are. You. Doing…?”

The inspector wasted no time. He turned heel towards the door at the other side of the room, yelling “C’mon!” for the rest of the team to follow. A few looked back with worried eyes as they began their escape, knowing as they watched his expression turned to sheer shock that this was far from how Maruki usually operated. Actually, kidnapping at all seemed way off from his MO to begin with.

Kasumi was the last to turn away from the man who had helped her while she was grieving her sister, but as she did, she turned back once she saw him move from the corner of her vision. Her eyes widened and fear overtook her expression.

“WE NEVER AGREED TO THIS!” he all but roared, falling to his knees with his hands over his glasses. Something in his body seemed to twist horrifically sideways in a motion Kasumi couldn’t even fathom, much less remember being something that was supposed to happen. Maruki’s head twisted to the side with a horrible cracking sound, jutting forward in a way his neck should not have been able to support. His back arched like a cat’s, and two sets of arms tore out through the sides of his suit, a set of sharp, blue-tipped spikes sticking out from each of the vertebrae in his spine. Maruki let out a sound that could only resemble a scream, echoing sharply through the operating theater.

The unseen baby shrieked as if it were dying.

With a mix of fearful cries and curses, the Phantom Thieves scrambled to the exit, only to be stopped by a hand like the claws on the things that had been holding Player slamming it shut. They all looked up, only to see what Maruki had become clinging to the wall, his body curved in an arc above the double doors.

His spine was stretched beyond what could be human proportions, all to support a total of six arms dispersed in pairs along his extended torso. His white dress shoes were gone, replaced by another set of hands, making it eight in total. Two extra pairs of eyes were evenly divided amongst his shoulders and hips, staring down at them with a wrath incomprehensible in comparison to the awkward counselor’s usual doe-eyed disposition. A long tail like the tentacles that were scattered around the laboratory lashed angrily in front of the doors like one of Ann’s whips.

With another bone-chilling roar, Maruki rushed Zenkichi, his front arms extended to try to swipe Player from his protective hold. He dodged, lifting one leg to deliver a swift back-kick to the maw full of sharp, snapping teeth headed toward him, knocking Maruki’s glasses off as he backpedaled. The teens all drew their weapons, each one more than ready than the last for a fight to protect their friend. Maruki’s gaze flitted between all of them, but he only had eyes for Zenkichi.

Jumping off from the wall and neatly clearing everyone else, he landed behind Zenkichi, trying to slash at the other man’s legs to knock him to the floor. Sophia’s yo-yo and Haru’s axe came swiftly to their teammate’s defense, but it was no use. Maruki dodged, and Zenkichi moved in time with him to avoid any chance of being hit. Midway through his attempt to charge, Makoto drifted in front of Zenkichi on Johanna, causing Maruki to skid to a halt and jump back with a growl. Confusion registered on her expression, and Akechi and Ren shared a glance.

Deciding to test his theory, Akechi charged forward with a loud cry. Ann’s whip cracked near Maruki, but he remained focused enough while on the defensive to still whirl around and catch and toss Akechi to the side. The young detective rolled with his landing, ultimately unharmed. His eyes glinted, and he yelled to the rest of the Thieves, “Coward! He’s not attacking!”

The misshapen doctor’s eyes widened, watching all of them ready to attack, knowing he wouldn’t do anything to hurt them. His tail flicked, and all six eyes latched onto Zenkichi as he gave an eye contact signal to Ren before turning towards the door and trying to escape again. He was covered by the rest of them, and Maruki scowled to himself. He turned, and Makoto revved her Persona before giving chase. Maruki, despite his newly inhuman form, was only a bit faster than Johanna, but he was running directly toward the wall. She braced herself, turning at the last second, expecting to clip her adversary with the back tire, only to see him go… up?

Like some unearthly spider, he went directly up the wall, not breaking his momentum for a second. All eyes were on the arching path of the room’s domed ceiling, waiting for Maruki to land and continue trying to attack. Springing off from the door when he finally got close enough, he jumped at Zenkichi, only to be hit with multiple bursts of different magics. Psycho Force, Inferno, Panta Rei, Diamond Dust, Thunder Reign, Atomic Flare, Hamaon, Demonic Decree, Mudoon, and Kougaon, all flying toward him at once.

The ice trapped him in place, melting and boiling at the touch of the flame, fanned by the whipping winds. A swirling flurry of ofuda paper flew around him and stuck to his clothes from the gust, disintegrating instantly from the nuclear blast igniting under him, reaching up and around him toward the blast of lightning striking down from above. Something like a gavel hit him from overhead, destroying a piece of him somewhere as the full force of shimmering light and cackling dark engulfed the perimeter of the targeted explosion while he felt like his brain was suddenly being mashed inside his skull like a mortar and pestle. The game’s flashy graphics circled around him. Red and white words, TECHNICAL, CRITICAL, WEAK, MISS, NULL, BLOCK, numbers and glitching images of a heart filled in with blue coloring. Curling in on himself amidst the pain, something that could not be called a scream left him. It sounded more like a dying star’s last cry, or a falling building, or breaking glass. He looked up, his movements slowed by the torrent of everything around him, and Zenkichi’s gaze caught with his. His eyes were not human, filled with tears, and it felt like being ambushed by static. It wrapped around him, a transfer of a momentary internal death from one to another, and it was a painful one.

Behind his mask, Zenkichi’s eyes widened. It was cold, everything was cold, and there were three people there with him. Two were standing outside, on the other side of the doorway. All he could see of them was their withered old hands reaching out to the one in front of him, facing away. The pair received something. They turned to leave. A cry left him, loud and shredding at the back of his throat, as two figures retreated into the snow, away from the door. Something lit up in his chest, a flaring pain from being shoved backward, as the sound of the last apparition’s yelling nearly deafened him. They had taken something. They wouldn’t give it back. He had to get it back. He had to get him back.

Give him back.

GIVE HIM BACK.

GIVE ME BACK MY BABY.

His arms now empty, he fell back onto the floor, and the baby cry roared through the room. It was so much louder to him now, hearing it twice over. The entire Palace seemed to shake, and when Zenkichi snapped to his senses, he was being pulled backwards by the arms. He no longer had Player, looking around for them with residual panic as his mind still spun. They were all in the hallway now, his boots dragging against the polished floors. The lights shut off behind them as they ran, Zenkichi’s vision illuminated by cracks in the porcelain tiles that only barely gained ground on them as they fled, bursting with bright white light. Faintly glowing blue eyes and the tips of claws seemed to be chasing them, and Zenkichi scrabbled to stand up. He felt his own panic well up inside him. The realization that Player was nowhere to be seen settled into him. No no no- they had come all this way, endured all THAT, and Player was still trapped in the den of that psychotic monster doctor?!

They were all the way back at the entrance now, the doors to the elevator blasting open as if the entire Palace wanted them out. He looked back one last time, seeing Maruki come to a stop, panting and haggard, with his suit ruined and his chest heaving with soft sobs. He turned back as they all crammed into the elevator, and the doors slammed shut. As they were taken back down to the entrance of the Palace, they could see through the glass. The whole place had harsh red searchlights swiveling around the perimeter, and it was snowing like they had landed in the Arctic.

The moment they all settled, Zenkichi nearly collapsed.

"W-What… what WAS that?!?" he cried, "We've gotta go back-"

"With THAT kinda scream? No effin' way!" Ryuji objected, one hand over the aching spot in his leg.

"The way you howled after touching the trauma cell was humorous at best, but… There can be no comparison. That was pure agony of the human heart," added Yusuke.

Akechi crossed his arms, leaning against the clear wall, "Besides, we have no clue what just happened back there. The Palace security must be astronomical right about now."

Zenkichi's mind tried to recall what he had bore witness to in Maruki's eyes. He'd seen less desperation and terror in people who were about to die than there was in that man at that moment. And that weird, painful vision… It seemed to claw the back of his eyes. He remembered touching the door to Konoe’s trauma cell back in Osaka, maybe that was what happened? “Gramps-san,” he heard Haru prod from beside him, “Are you alright? What happened to you?” Zenkichi looked around, just now noticing that the rest of the team was staring at him. He looked at Ren, a sort of dazed confusion on his face, ”Was that some sorta trauma cell?” he asked, “Do these places have that?”

Equal confusion rippled throughout the group, and a few of them glanced at each other. That… can’t be good. His fingertips pressed against his mask, “It wasn’t just words this time… I could see things. Something about snow and a baby?”

They looked around at the blizzard just now starting to calm around them, the sounds of the baby’s cries now making some sort of sense to them. Akechi scoffed and crossed his arms, “Of course, something relating to trauma and we’ve only seen it from Maruki. What tricks doesn’t he have?”

Zenkichi raised a brow, “But you said Palaces aren’t traumagenic like Jails. What happened?”

“Well… not necessarily, at least,” Futaba chimed guiltily from her UFO, “I had one. That was how I joined.”

The others nodded like this was common knowledge, but he was surprised, “So… not everybody with a Palace is bad then?”

“It is only a distortion of perception,” Yusuke chimed, “The distortion itself simply has to be strong enough.”

Zenkichi nodded, letting this new information sink in. He didn’t land a position in Public Security for ignoring potential clues. He opened his mouth to speak, but a loud droning noise encircled them, and the searchlights fizzled out. The elevator came to a stop in its destination, and they all filed out before all of the lights followed suit. The Palace was plunged into sheer darkness, only illuminated by the surrounding illusions of streetlights, which began to dim. Everyone drew their weapons on instinct, and the music itself seemed to stutter before shutting off completely. All of the Phantom Thieves snapped their attention to Futaba, who practically spluttered out a yell. “Powerful reading!! Brace yours-” Futaba’s voice was immediately drowned out by a shockwave that knocked some of them off their feet, accompanied by a sound that seemed to shake their rib cages in unison. It was like the Earth was about to shatter, becoming deafening to the point where all their minds could do to protect themselves was to refuse to acknowledge it. The swirls of stringy golden wires around the Palace coiled and writhed upward as the ground shook violently in its terror.

The huge, glowing orb at the very top of the Palace went from brightness to almost a void, dark enough to put the night sky above to shame as it sucked in what little light the stars had to give. A massive crack suddenly split its shell, and all the glass below it shattered, sending shards flying floor by floor, as the sound became closer and closer. It began to grate as it tapered, like somehow, a human voice had produced it. The elevator was crushed by something slamming its way down the shaft like it was nothing. No one could hear Zenkichi scream as something grabbed hold of him, snatching him back upward faster than his mind could compute. The surroundings were a blur of darkness, broken glass, and shadows collapsing into wisps of dead smoke. Reality bent backwards, and before he knew anything, he was back in the operating theater. Zenkichi tried to see what was in front of him, but when he tried he didn’t register his own voice peaking as it felt like his entire brain was electrocuted on the spot.

DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT DON’T LOOK AT IT

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!?”

Through the sheer mind-killing fear, he managed to hoarsely cry, “STOP! STOP IT! STOP! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING, STOP IT!!!”

He heard a monstrous, screeching growl like metal being mashed together.

“YOU’RE LYING! GIVE THEM BACK TO ME!!”

He tried to hold his arms up to defend against the horror above him, at every side, all around him. His eyes latched onto the operating table, seeing that it was empty. Seeing some sort of normal object was almost nearly enough to restore his mind to order from the scrambling, scrabbling malfunction. Zenkichi gasped for breath as everything seemed to bend again, and he was in what looked to be a surveillance room. He was stood on his feet and shoved into a chair. He stared forward, his brain coming into focus again.

On the screen was that horrible theater again, before anything happened. The room seemed mostly empty, except for Player on the table. The doors slammed shut, but after a few seconds, what looked like Zenkichi walked into the room, completely alone. He looked around, before simply strolling up to the table and scooping Player up with no specific gentleness, all in one efficient motion, before strolling out again with no opposition. One hand out of many grabbed the back of Zenkichi’s head, forcing him forward for emphasis on the point being made. He caught his breath, shuddering from the indescribable feeling of physical contact with this thing. As he readjusted, his voice was weak and shaky from panic, “H-Hey! That wasn’t me!”

His eyes flickered around the camera feeds, half of them reduced to static. His gaze caught on one feed in particular, showing what was frankly just as scary to watch from a camera as it was to experience, the moment when they all were being chased out into the elevator. He looked at the times on both, seeing that they matched. “W-Wait! Wait, let go of me!! Look!” Zenkichi pointed, bringing the attention off of him for just a moment.

For a few seconds, he could feel the creature shift, silent. There was a gasp, a small, human sound. He was released. Slow, uneven footsteps retreated from behind Zenkichi. Eyes became fewer, 58, 25, 12, 8, 6… 2. Limbs began to shrink back into normal lengths and numbers, and what had been looming over him shrank back into the shape of a man. A broken, terrified, defeated man.

Maruki sank to the floor as the lights turned back on. There was a whimper, and a hiccup. His voice no longer shook the earth, or shattered his surroundings, and he could barely manage to say “No… No… Not again, please, god, not again… No…”

Hesitantly, Zenkichi turned around, his mind practically shutting down to recover from what he had just been through. Maruki looked nothing like he had first imagined him. The man was taller than he was, but he was curled in on himself so much, his hands clutching the fabric over his stomach, that it was almost like one would need a microscope to see him properly. Tears, heavy streams of unrelenting tears, were pouring from his eyes. Despite all the horrors he had just witnessed, something in Zenkichi’s heart whispered that this was not a man who would hurt that child, that maybe, this madman was truly more gentle than the horrors implied.

Maruki looked up at him, begging, pleading with his eyes, “If it wasn’t you… who has my baby…?”

Dull surprise registered on Zenkichi’s face. He looked back, seeing the footage again. Who was that?

And why did they look like him?

#persona 5 au #persona 5 maruki #takuto maruki #zenkichi hasegawa #p5 self aware au

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maskedpeach · 5 months ago

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Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Rant

Warning. This article contains spoilers. Alas, this post is an enormous wall of text and consists purely from me complaining. Get the children away from the screen.

Okay, I’ll probably regret this later, but I’ll post this anyway. Years ago I used to be pretty vocal about my opinion, but these days I prefer to keep most of the negative opinions to myself. But I believe if I’d keep everything bottled up on this one particular matter I’ll simply explode.

I’m currently enthusiastically playing Like a Dragon/Yakuza series, which is now one of my favorite game series. Back at high school used to play first two games on PS2, and later there was Kurohyo on PSP, but didn’t get too far in any of them, decided save it for later, and this “later” has finally happened several months ago after listening to one pretty entertaining podcast about JPRGs. One of the hosts has totally sold me Yakuza: Like a Dragon (I’ve literally ran and bought it after listening the podcast). I’ve played it, loved it and almost cried my eyes out on the ending (seriously, if someone asks me how my ideal JRPG should look like, I’d say that’s the one).

After that I’ve beaten Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. I’ve really enjoyed this game in general, but comparing to its predecessor, while most of the gameplay issues were fixed, some story issues did arise. Story itself is far more simple and lacks memorable antagonists (Ebina was okay and Bryce was outright lame). Still, there were a plenty of interesting moments to keep me going, and I really liked the ending, which was extremely moving, the part before the ending credits I mean. And then this stupid love confession scene happened and completely ruined the mood for me. Seriously, it wasn’t funny, it was tasteless like in the worst romcoms.

And, well, here lies the main issue with Infinite Wealth for me - this poorly-written romance subplot between Ichi and Saeko, and how Saeko character is handled in this game in general. So, if you are the fan of her I suggest you to stop reading right here, right now.

First, I would like to point that, when Saeko was just an optional romantic interest in LaD it was perfectly fine, but in IW, where she became the designated love interest, the whole romance plotline became very forced and uncalled-for. In LaD they were simply on friendly terms with no indication of evident romantic interest, and in IW the whole “Ichi falling for Saeko” thing looks extremely out of nowhere. All interactions between them look artificial without real chemistry between characters. Seriously, every time Ichi says, that he loves her or have feelings for her, it sounds hardly believable, like he is trying to convince himself and the players. At moments like this I could almost imagine something like this:

RGG Studio staff: *gives Ichi the script* Start reading.

Ichi: But that’s a bunch of bullshit!

RGG Studio staff: *points a gun on Ichi* Start reading. Now.

To be honest, I’m not the fan of romance genre at all and I mostly view romance sublots in various media as a nuisance. Still I won’t deny that there are some romantic storylines I genuinely enjoyed and was rooting for the characters till the very end (like Alphen and Shionne from Tales of Arise or Oswald and Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere for example), but there are still very few of the quality romantic stories to my liking comparing to those, which are either okay or boring at the best, and unbelievably stupid or outright unhealthy (and stupid) at the worst.

Worst of all, that RGG Studio actually can write a decent romance subplot. And I believe that Yakuza 0 is a good example of this. There we have Goro Majima (who is my second most favorite character in the series, after Ichi) and Makoto Makimura (who belongs to one of my least favorite character archetypes-“damsel-in-distress”, but considering her condition and the fact that everyone is after her, she really does need help and protection). In their story there wouldn’t be a single “I love you” or “I have feelings for you” or any other needless words, they just go through many shit together and slowly develop feeling for each other, which is shown very subtly through finely directed cutscenes. They don’t get together in the end (which is pretty logical, considering everything, that’s happened), but this plotline gets pretty heartwarming conclusion in Kiwami 2. But if they actually did get together I wouldn’t mind at all, even though Makoto isn’t one of my favorites, simply because their story is well-written and makes sense.

Alright, back to Ichi and Saeko. Let’s start with the infamous “proposal-on-the-first-date” scene, I won’t deny that it was awkward as hell (I was like: “Ichi, please, just shut up.”), but Saeko’s reaction wasn’t one of the mature woman either. I would’ve understood her reaction if they’d barely knew each other, in that case it would’ve been perfectly natural. But they know each other pretty well by this point (three years, no less) and she knows that he tends to speak his mind and has zero experience with women. I believe, she could’ve always say something like:”Hold on, let’s not rush things.”, I’m sure he would’ve understand. But no, she just runs away and leaves him hanging. And when, thanks to Adachi and Nanba, Ichi realizes, what he did wrong, he goes and apologizes. Saeko seemingly accepts the apology, says that they are still friends, and that as a friend she will support him no matter what. And what Saeko does next? She ignores Ichi for a whole year. And when he loses his job and becomes pariah thanks to Tatara Channel, only Adachi and Nanba go and check up on him. When she finds out, she doesn’t even bother to send something like: “Are you okay?” or whatever. And that’s after all the crap they’ve went through in LaD. A “true friend”, nuff said.

Oh, and you know what’s rich? In her Drink Link (I did it only for the achievement and to see whether she actually expresses any remorse at all, spoiler-no) it is revealed that, the whole year she was ghosting Ichi, she was dating some obvious bastard, who was manipulating her into marrying him to get her money and business. Funny, how she didn’t see that until he went and said it himself. Another fun fact, that in some random dialogues she actually asks Kiryu and Nanba how Ichi is doing, only to add something like: “Not that I care.”. Seriously, her whole attitude towards Ichi is so fucked up and can easily be described as emotional abuse. If I were him I would’ve dismissed her after that year of ghosting and just forgot about her. And the last, but not the least, everyone either criticizes or mocks Ichi because of this stupid proposal, but no one criticizes Saeko for her craptastic treatment of him.

Also putting romance aside, I believe Saeko has nothing to offer as a character. In LaD she was an okay character, albeit with the little to zero relevance to the main plot. I believe RGG Studio has added her only for the sake of adding at least one playable girl in the party full of dudes to expand the audience, since Eri is an optional character and you can beat the game without even getting her in the team. Speaking of Eri, while she is totally unimportant to the main storyline, she is still much more likeable and fleshed out character than Saeko, and more useful in battles too.

In IW Saeko became much worse. As I see it, her portrayal is something of a strong and independent woman. And it does not withstand any criticism. Even in LaD there were some optional dialogues, were she is mocking other party members in a form of a joke. In IW she is even more immature. For example, remember how in LaD she refused to go with you in cabaret club ( I mean, where you can order a hostesses)? In IW Seonhee tags along with the guys in the same club (because, why not?), and Saeko decides that she is going too, even though she is not interested in the stuff. And there is more instances (all optional dialogues though), where someone does something, she clearly disapproves, but everyone else in party does, and she decides to do it too. I believe, that being strong and independent actually means having an opinion of your own and not caring about what others would think about you. While both Seonhee and Chitose really can be described as strong women, Saeko only seems like one, but in reality she is just pathetic. When it comes to main story in IW-she can be easily removed from all cutscenes, because most of the time she either all bark no bite (strong and independent woman, uh-huh) or just stands there. Looks like RGG Studio simply didn’t know what to do with her after LaD and wrote all this pseudo-romantic crap simply to justify her presence in IW. For me it sure didn’t work, I felt utterly disgusted with her the whole game. I wish they would just wrote her out entirely from the story. While in LaD she was only one non-optional girl in the party, in IW we have two more well-developed female characters, who, unlike Saeko, are actually important to the plot.

I’ve read somewhere that RGG Studio is currently working on the next installment in the series. I have no idea, what it’ll be about, but I really wish that they’d just drop the idea of getting Ichi and Saeko together for the sake of it. It seriously looks like the cupid on drugs is garroting the poor guy with the red string. To be honest, I’m not exactly excited about new installment at all. Saeko stuff aside, for me IW is the fitting conclusion to the series. I seriously don’t see what else could be added to the main story, since all the major storylines got a closure by that point. I only wish for Kiryu to heal his cancer and for Ichi to get his job back (and the same goes for Majima, Saejima and Dojima, since I don’t remember anything said about it in the ending), and for both of them to live in peace for the rest of the days. They’ve had enough shit in their lives already.

#games #video games #personal rant #rant post #long post #yakuza #like a dragon #infinite wealth #ryu ga gotoku #ichiban kasuga #saeko mukoda

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one-way-dream · 2 years ago

Text

A Lack of Essence (One-Shot)

Rating: General

Words: 3100+

Media: Danganronpa, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Pairing: Aoi Asahina/Sakura Ogami, Minor Hajime Hinata/Nagito Komaeda (Mentioned)

Tags: Post-canon, Hurt/Comfort, Depression, Pining, Feelings Realization

Warnings: Descriptions of an anxiety attack.

Chapter: 1/1

Link to the original work

AO3 Summary/Excerpt:

Undoubtedly, it’s one of the best, no— maybe the best she’s ever had in her life. It’s a perfect technique, it’s a perfect balance, it’s… it’s…

…But it’s not the same.

Aoi tries to make donuts like the ones she made in the past, but she feels like there's something missing.

Author's Notes:

i love sakuraoi and i've never written them before so here's a little brain dump before i forget that i ever wrote it and it rots in my computer forever fdjshfksdfsdf asahina aoi my oomfie ❤ as always, this is not beta-read

thank you for reading and i hope you enjoy!

Aoi doesn’t like the taste of the doughnuts being made nowadays.

Sure, the ingredients were much fresher, – at least compared to whatever Junko had arranged for them during their days trapped in the school – but something about the taste was… inadequate.

Whatever it was, it frustrated Aoi to no end.

With every passing year it felt like something was slipping away. That ‘something�� twisted deep in her chest, gnawing away and taking parts and pieces of her until she gave in to tears. Until she felt hollowed out from breaking down time and time again, however far and in between it may happen.

Despite the kind words Makoto shed time and time again, she never really considered herself a strong person. Sometimes Aoi wondered what she would think of her moments of weakness, years after their escape, years after her sacrifice.

A heaviness weighed on her shoulders, bringing her back to the present, where she absentmindedly leaned over a shallow pot of oil gone lukewarm – which subsequently meant that the test batch of doughnuts she’d set to the side had definitely gone cold while she was lost in thought. She blinks, clicking her tongue in irritation as she stares down the pastries, wondering how she was careless enough to even forget setting a timer on her phone.

Well… better off a little cold than burned to a lump of coal.

Aoi takes the plate off the edge of her kitchenette counter and sets it on the breakfast bar. She pulls the curtains apart to let the evening light fill the shadows of her small but tidy studio apartment. A sleepy marmalade sun has yet to rest behind the silhouette of the rebuilt city. Somehow the light begins to fill the shadows in her mind too; not completely, but just enough to pinch her cheeks and huff out a determined breath.

“This is it,” she whispers to herself, furrowing her eyebrows in concentration. “This has to be the one.”

Nimble band-aid covered fingers dart across her phone screen before she even considers taking a bite, sending a text message to Makoto, hoping that he wouldn’t mind Aoi sending her seventh consecutive message of the day.

>[7:08 PM] Heyhey, Naegi! I’m about to try out the new recipe you got from Hanamura-san! Wish me luck. :)

A quick tap on the paperclip icon and then a few more before the image is delivered to him. She smiles down at her phone a little at the picturesque scene of her evening snack neatly plated on her favourite porcelain, the paper towel beneath it splotched with oil and stray bits of cinnamon sugar shimmering in the sunlight. Everything looked perfect.

The arrangement feels awfully nostalgic; memories overtake her of large but gentle hands working side by side with her, the other insisting that ‘food tasted better when presented with care’. It’s nostalgic to the point where familiar feelings begin to rouse in her heart at the memory – but she pushes it down. The grip on her phone gets tighter until her hand starts to tremble.

Not yet.

Not now.

Aoi quickly sets the phone down and swallows thickly, though she finds her mouth drier than usual despite what was supposedly a perfect rendition of her favourite food lying before her. Even during the killing game, her appetite had never dwindled at the sight of doughnuts. She smiled brightly for herself as encouragement, as if practising in front of a mirror like the many times she’d done on her worst days before stepping out for work.

Why… did she feel this nervous? And why did she feel so afraid of disappointment?

Finally, she reaches out and picks up a doughnut by the edges, where the caramel-esque sugar just barely grazed her fingertips. Surprisingly it’s still a little warm, and truthfully, it's unbelievable that it’s this soft even after cooling down.

The numb buzzing still clings to Aoi’s mind, and while it usually wouldn’t be an appetite killer, today nothing really feels right. But as soon as the sweet and spicy aroma reaches her nose, her mouth waters instinctively, eager to partake in old indulgences. With a bit of optimism, she leans forward and takes a small and hesitant bite, careful not to let her thoughts sour the experience.

Even though her mind wasn’t quite swayed by the thought of doughnuts, her tastebuds immediately gave into the familiarity. The first thing that she notices is that it’s just as soft and light as it feels, almost unbelievably so, as it melts in her mouth in an array of flavour ranging from a delicate mellow sweetness to a hint of mild spice. The taste coats her tongue without being overwhelming somehow – without a doubt, the recipe is a decadent masterpiece. Simply pure art.

Aoi reigns herself in and manages to wolf down the last quarter of it without inhaling any topping sugar by accident. Eventually, as she chews, she comes down from the high and her mind wanders again. If she were her younger self, the one before the killing game, she could have died peacefully knowing that this was the best that she’d ever get.

Undoubtedly, it’s one of the best, no— maybe the best she’s ever had in her life. It’s a perfect technique, it’s a perfect balance, it’s… it’s…

…But it’s not the same.

Aoi’s own voice echoes the words she didn’t want to admit in the back of her head, so strongly that it makes her flinch.

It pulls her out of the delight by drowning it in the frustration she’d feared time and time again. It’s disappointment that finally settles in her mind despite everything; as sticky, heavy, and gross as the bitter kuromitsu her mother was so fond of. As she swallows down the last bit of the pastry clean from the side of her cheek, she finds that there is a flaw to it after all: there’s a stale aftertaste.

For something so seemingly perfect, even this had its flaws. It lacked something. Or maybe there was too much of something?

But… just what was it? Aoi’s brows scrunched together as she mulled it over, wiping the grease and crumbs off her fingertips onto the clean parts of the paper towel. No distinct taste from a lack of ingredients? No, probably not, given that it called for cinnamon and the barest hint of clove and spices she’d never even heard of. Maybe there wasn’t enough sugar? Oh, but the cinnamon sugar dusting should’ve covered that base as well.

It just… wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t enough. It’d never be enough.

She just had to accept the facts – nothing she will ever make from here on out could ever be the same as the ones she and Sakura made together.

But the question was: could she live with that?

Aoi sighs deep and forlorn, leaning back against the barstool as her gaze veers out the window overlooking the growing shadow of the cityscape, eventually trailing back to the remaining three doughnuts.

Old feelings come back with a vengeance at the sight, thrashing in her chest like a small bird trapped in a cage. She clenches her knuckles white and then relents, at long last – she doesn’t want to fight the feeling anymore today. At least for today, even if she knows the cost is that it won’t end well.

She takes a deep breath and smiles, genuinely this time, wondering how Sakura would look like bathed in the light of sundown like she is now, sharing a meal together like they used to every day. She never saw her in the sunlight before - and even if she did during their school years, she wouldn't know anymore. She would never get to know.

And that’s all it takes for the seams of her composure to be suddenly torn to shreds; for that weird mixture between swelling affection that made her heart soar only to be shot down by unbearable, crushing grief. It held her at a deadlock, stasis, as sobs wracked her body. It was so unlike her, ‘sooo unlike’ the world-renowned star athlete and Ultimate Swimmer Aoi Asahina, as she’d chastise herself after a thorough cry.

Aoi had always considered herself lucky that her good days and neutral days far outweighed the bad compared to the others, but it was never like she was ever immune to despair in the first place, not even after all that her friends had done for her. Especially not after all that her friends had done for her. The guilt is a snaking hairline fracture in her favourite and otherwise perfect ceramic mug - the one that reminds her of home and of family and loved ones.

The guilt is something she finds hard to douse; it’s a constant reminder against calloused palms and one might even say that, despite her go-getter personality, the fissure is reminiscent of her own being. It’s seemingly harmless, and it won’t shatter to pieces, but it’s there.

Thinking hard on things was never her forte, and neither was sweating the small stuff. Even so, bitterness claws at her throat, constricts her breathing to nothing more than a desperate rhythm.

It was really unlike her.

The muted sound of a ticking wall clock is all that resounds in the living room, in between shaky breaths, in between the unsteady pulses of her heartbeat. Vaguely, she's aware of the pace of it, of how the ticking tries to punctuate all the other sounds, except–

Everything is off. Her heartrate speeds up and it's thrown off even more. it's all lost to a moment's hesitation, and suddenly she's wrenched back into the depths of a swimming pool. Her coach spits out demands; that she needs to pick up the pace. It's off rhythm. It's grating. That she's off rhythm. She's grating. It's all wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

Until she catches the single beat where all three align at once. They blend together into a single startling click, folding into one like flour and sugar and yeast. Her head feels heavy, but clear for a moment; just enough to stop thinking.

A pillow stays close to her chest as she calms down, as she buries her face just enough to muffle the sound. Just enough so that she couldn’t hear her own voice – her own weakness that she so despised. How could she not when the person she cared for was the very definition of the strength she always strove for?

The thing is, Sakura Ogami was never just physically strong.

Sure enough, the others had seen both her physical strength and her strength of character back in those days but… Aoi had seen it all. Sakura is Eden; she’s all the nurturing resilience of sanctum and all the grace of it too, right down to dew-soaked grass blades and tree roots buried in rich soil.

Aoi had seen it with her own eyes; what it means to be in paradise. It was when she lay side by side with her, peeking a single eye open every now and then to see if the other was awake – if she was okay. She’d be met with a small smile, but her gaze always wavered, as if it was the smallest tell that she, too, might’ve been a little afraid. But instead of a confession, what she’d get in return was a promise that the first person she would turn to if she was ever in trouble would be Aoi – no one else but her. It made her heart soar, so much that she was afraid she’d never be able to sleep again from the way her pulse hammered against her chest.

But still, she’d force her eyes shut, hoping, praying for it to be one of the nights where her run-of-the-mill luck favoured her. But eventually she realized that she never had to wish so hard to begin with, because each passing night it got easier; Sakura would stroke a gentle, warm hand down the side of her head whenever she figured Aoi was asleep anyway. She’d hum a gentle melody to her anyway, and each time, she fell a little more. Each time, she woke up a little braver and stronger, just like Sakura – like she was lending Aoi her strength.

She wonders if Sakura ever figured her out.

She wonders if she ever had herself figured out back then.

But she doubts it, she’s never been the perceptive type. If she was then she would’ve known to help Sakura sooner. If she’d known then she could’ve saved her from her fate. Aoi knew well enough that ‘what-ifs’ and dwelling on the past never helped matters, but sometimes it felt easier to let it catch up, let it trip you by the ankles – even if only for a reality check. It’s her only companion within the lonely confines of her house, no matter how well she decorated, no matter how homely she made it; nothing would fill the space quite the same.

The sound of a notification jolts her out of her thoughts, quickly picking up her phone to catch Makoto’s name in the preview. She unlocks the phone, holding her breath as she looks over the three messages.

>[7:39 PM] It looks great, Asahina-san! :) I’ll let Hanamura-kun know the next time I see him. I know you're busy but, if you get the time, maybe we could make some together for everyone?

>[7:40 PM] Sorry, I can’t talk a lot because I’m still working, but Hinata-kun came by and wanted me to pass along that he’d like all of us over for dinner this Saturday.

>[7:40 PM] Is that alright with you?

Her breath escapes through her teeth as she starts to chew on the skin of her bottom lip, clicking the phone off once more. She’d turned off ‘read’ notifications a few months ago when the pressure to respond immediately got too much; stewing in her own thoughts might not have been healthy, but neither were donuts – she could afford to cut loose a little sometimes.

Now the trouble was those last two messages.

Aoi loved her friends, she really did. She was always the first to celebrate them, and always the first to push them forward in the right direction if Makoto didn’t beat her to it first. But unfortunately, she was still every bit as human as she was an airheaded cheerleader.

She still distinctly remembers how she would always smile, shove down the sharp and ugly jealousy she felt when Hajime’s gold engagement band glistened under fluorescent lights before the guilt smothered her in its place.

Aoi once nodded along enthusiastically when Hajime fondly spoke of how he loved the fact that Nagito’s ring matched the silver of his eyes – and she wondered faintly, with her chin resting on her hand, whether he knew that she could relate wholeheartedly.

Nothing in the world could compare to the thought of Sakura wearing a wedding ring as silver and bright as her eyes, except maybe seeing her in a kimono that would undoubtedly look elegant on her. The feeling rocked unsteadily inside her chest, making her fond and unbearably lonely all at once.

The plate of doughnuts lay in front of her on the coffee table by the vase of fresh flowers Komaru and Touko had dropped off in the morning. And with the sun dipping into the horizon, she knew that her food would only get colder, and the room would only grow darker.

Frowning, Aoi reached into the drawer of the table, pulling out a box of matches and striking one against the strip as it flared to life. Her cherry blossom scented candles would do; they would keep her company, keep her surroundings bright, keep her warm despite how little wax was left. Something about that last part made her feel sour.

She leaned forward, tearing off a piece of a doughnut and ignoring the stickiness and grease that clings to her skin in favour of living in the moment. Maybe a little indulgence would be just fine, even if it wasn’t the same.

So maybe Aoi wasn’t the only one to see Sakura in her moments of vulnerability.

And it's a selfish feeling, the hope she felt when Aoi caught a flash of guilt in Sakura’s eyes when she spoke of her boyfriend on the outside, when she caught her staring at her more and more with each passing morning. She wanted it to mean something.

She wanted the gradual transition from ‘my dear Asahina’ to ‘my dearest’ to mean something.

The silence in the room was heavy, but strangely enough, not in an oppressive way.

What was stopping her from remembering her words? What was stopping her from letting Sakura’s life, her sacrifice, mean more than a push forward towards hope?

After all, from the casual touches while they made donuts for the first time to her final heartfelt words, wasn’t it all an act of love from start to finish?

Aoi blinks the mistiness in her eyes away, swallows thickly and leans back on the old couch, tracing the threadbare edges of it with her left hand; a well-loved part of her home that cradles her aching heart after a tiresome day. The remote rests easily in her hand, TV flickering to life with a single button, as the face of her high school swimming idol grins brightly at the camera. It's like she can feel the droplets running down her face, remembering how free she felt doing what she loved. She finally picks up her phone with a small smile, bordering on bittersweet, wondering if there was ever a missing ingredient to begin with.

> [8:34 PM] Tell him that we're on for that group dinner date.

Her fingers pause, hovering over the next few keys. With a sharp exhale, she settles on her words.

> [8:35 PM] And yeah, let's finally make those doughnuts together for everyone. It'll be fun! <3

Aoi lets out another determined huff, trying not to let her wobbly yet courageous smile fade. She’d just have to find a way to make her own secret ingredient.

-x-

That night, Aoi dreamed.

She dreamed of doughnuts and picnics under a cherry blossom tree in full bloom and a world made for two people.

She dreamed of her beloved wearing the summer dresses Aoi always thought she’d look like a goddess in, even though she was always more than enough in her ripped sailor outfit.

She dreamed of a fond smile and husky voice humming, their bodies close enough that she could feel the rumble of her voice in her chest; large, protective, and warm hands enveloping her own, and the steady rhythm of silver bands clicking against each other as they walked hand in hand.

For once, Aoi dreams and ignores the dull ache in her chest in place of something far stronger, far more wonderful.

Love, and love alone, until the end of her days.

#dr #drthh #danganronpa #sakura ogami #aoi asahina #sakuraoi #makoto naegi #komahina #<- mentioned #other minor characters are mentioned #fanfiction #my work #my fanfic #sorry i ran out of steam at some parts orz #danganronpa trigger happy havoc

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vgckwb · 1 year ago

Text

P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 173: The Ties That Bind

Tuesday morning, as Ren was eating breakfast, she got a text. She gave it a glance.

Futaba: Hey.

Futaba: While we’re waiting on how to proceed, I have my uncle’s name on the ready.

Futaba: I think we can go down into Mementos, change his heart, prevent him from making the call to child services, and ease Sojiro’s troubles.

Ren: OK.

Ren: Shouldn’t this be in the group chat though?

Futaba: NO!

Futaba: Sorry…

Futaba: I’d…rather not involve the others if that’s OK with you.

Ren: I mean, they know about him.

Futaba: I know, but…they haven't met him.

Futaba: And I don’t want them to.

Ren: I guess that makes sense.

Ren: Regardless, all of us will be there for you.

Futaba: Yeah…

Futaba: I just wanna keep this in the family, you know.

Ren: Say no more.

Ren: We’ll go.

Ren smiled at being a part of this family. She loved her birth parents and birth sister, but being a part of this family as well felt special.

Later, on her way to school, Ren’s phone went off again. It was the group chat though.

Haru: Um, something strange happened.

Jose: What is it?

Haru: Some investigators came over to my place.

Yusuke: That doesn’t sound strange.

Haru: Yes. However, they told me that the investigation into the mental shutdowns was being put on hold for a little bit.

Ryuji: WHAT?!

Haru: They explained that it’s because the suspect is the SIU director, and he may have tampered with the evidence.

Haru: So they need to look over to make sure everything is alright.

Ann: Well, that makes sense.

Makoto: Sis isn’t going to like that though.

Futaba: It might be a good idea to keep an eye on her.

Futaba: Maybe we’ll figure out when Eris will target someone to target her.

Makoto: Well, I’ll try when I can, but she’s fiercely independent.

Lena: I know she and Akechi work together sometimes. Perhaps he can look into things?

Ren: That might tip our hand though.

Lena: Right…

Sumire: Perhaps you can ask one of her coworkers to assist?

Sumire: I mean, I don’t think it would be strange on that front. They deal with what your sister deals with, so they’ll just think it’s a part of the process.

Makoto: That’s actually a great idea, Sumire.

Sumire: Thanks.

Jose: So, why did those investigators tell you tha Haru?

Haru: Oh, um well, they didn’t want me to leave the country before they got a chance to interview me.

Haru: They even asked that I should stay in the city if possible.

Ryuji: Is…you going someone else a possibility?

Haru: Well, in theory, yes.

Haru: We have a handful of vacation houses.

Haru: Well, I guess I do now.

Haru: I’m just not used to it being just me yet.

Ren: Well, you know we’re always here for you.

Haru: Thank you!

Haru: Oh! And I did ask if I could freely travel the city because I didn’t want to miss your gymnastics performance Sumire.

Sumire: Aww, thank you.

Ren: I’m looking forward to it too.

Sumire: Of course. It’s going to be great!

Ren put her phone away.

Meanwhile, Makoto arrived at school. Before she entered the gate, she gave her sister’s office a call.

Riko had just seen Sae’s files taken away from her, but was professional enough to not let that frustration get to her. She answered “Special Investigations Unit, Sae Niijima’s office, Riko Sakurai speaking.”

“Uh, hi,” Makoto replied back. “This is going to be a little awkward, but I’m her sister.”

“Oh Makoto,” Riko said. “Sae told me so much about you, Riko said.

“She…she did?” Makoto said, worried.

“Mm-hm,” Riko answered. “She’s so proud of you.”

“She is?” Makoto said.

“Of course,” Riko said.

“Well…thanks…” Makoto said.

“Don’t mention it,” Riko replied. “Now, is there a reason you called?”

“Oh right,” Makoto said, jolting back to the reason he called. “I imagine that after last night’s events, she’s not in a great mood.”

“Talk about an understatement,” Riko said.

Makoto giggled slightly. “I’m just a little concerned about her, so if you can keep a close eye on her for me. Just, you know, make sure she doesn’t…”

“Say no more,” Riko said. “I understand.”

Makoto sighed. “Thank you. Oh! And don’t mention that I called. She’d absolutely flip if she knew.”

“I had the feeling,” Riko said. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” Makoto replied. They hung up. "She seems nice." Makoto headed into school.

After school, Ren headed back to Yongen-Jaya. Before even entering Leblanc, she saw Futaba squatting down right beside it. When Futaba saw Ren, she stood up. “Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Ren replied.

“Good enough for me,” Futaba said. “His name is Youji Isshiki. I already messaged him anonymously, using the method I used to message you when I was trying to solicit your help.”

“I see…” Ren said.

“Well, if it’s just you two, I think I’ll wander the streets a bit,” Morgana said. “See what I can find out.”

Ren rolled her eyes. “You’re coming too Morgana.”

“Huh?” Morgana replied.

“You’re also part of the family,” Futaba said.

“Plus, we couldn’t get too far in Mementos without you,” Ren said.

“Heh,” Morgana chuckled. “My expertise is boundless.”

“I meant we’d be without a car,” Ren explained.

“Oh,” Morgana said.

“Plus your expertise as well,” Futaba assured him. “I don’t imagine he’s gonna be easy to take on.”

“We still can call the others, you know,” Morgana suggested.

“Don’t wanna,” Futaba retorted.

Morgana sighed. “Very well. Let’s head out!” The three nodded, and they went down to Mementos.

A little later, they were face to face with Futaba’s uncle. “So YOU’RE the punks that tried scaring me.”

“Uh, no offense, but I think we succeeded,” Morgana said. “You are here after all.”

“SILENCE!” Youji shouted. “Hm. I’ve got a good thing going. I just need more money! But everyone’s so stingy!”

“Perhaps because you intimidate them,” Ren offered.

“Or you’re just not trustworthy,” Futaba added.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?!” Youji snapped. “You don’t get it! You haven’t gone through what I went through!”

Futaba went a little pale. “...Joker, I think we’re done talking,” she said. Ren nodded, and she and Morgana pointed their weapons at him.

“Hm,” Youji grunted. He morphed into Girimekhala. They began engaging in combat. Even with Futaba’s knowledge, it was still a difficult battle with only Ren and Morgana. But still, they managed to win in the end.

Once Youji morphed back, he looked sad. “Sis…why did you die?” The three Phantom Thieves were curious. “She was always the smart one. The good one. I was just the screw-up. And now she’s gone, and I don’t have anything. My parents are perpetually disappointed, my cousins avoid me, hell, even my own niece is afraid of me… I…I try to get my shit together, but I can never seem to do so…”

Futaba looked at him intently. This was the first time she’d seen a human side to him. She walked in front of Ren and Morgana. “Hey!” Youji looked up. “You wanna know how you fix things?! Small steps. You can’t become successful overnight. I’m learning this, and you need to know too. If you come off too strong, you’ll only alienate people. Start small and grow!”

“Hm,” Youji chuckled. “Heh heh. That just might be it. Heh heh. You know, you kind of remind me of her. My sister.” Futaba was stunned. “Well, here goes nothin’.” Youji faded. Ren quickly grabbed the treasure while Futaba was still stunned.

“You alright Oracle?” Morgana asked looking up.

“Huh? Oh yeah…” Futaba answered.

Ren looked at her, and nodded. “Let’s go then.” The others nodded, and they headed out of Mementos.

As they were walking bak, Ren noticed Futaba’s unease. “Is there something you wanna talk about?”

“Huh?” Futaba said, looking up at Ren. “Well, um, hm…”

Ren giggled. “It’s fine, we don’t have to talk now.”

“No, I think I should,” Futaba said. “I mean, I talked to my uncle about changing. How can I run away when we have the same goal?”

“I see,” Ren said.

“I mean…” Futaba said. “I guess he wasn’t always too bad,” Futaba explained. “He…wasn’t great, but…I guess mom’s death affected him too.”

“It’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t,” Ren explained.

“And it’s not that I hate him entirely,” Futaba said. “Entirely... I just don’t think he’s cut out for watching over me.”

“What about your grandparents?” Ren asked.

“They have no interest,” Futaba said. “They kind of look at me with disdain. Probably because I happened without my mom getting married.”

“Oh boy,” Ren said, stunned.

“But Sojiro…Sojiro is different,” Futaba explained. “He takes care of me as easy as breathing. He reminds me a lot of mom in a lot of ways. I guess that’s why they got along so well.” Ren smiled. “But until recently, I’ve been so consumed with my own feelings that…I couldn’t pay him back.”

Ren looked over Futaba. “You know how to pay him back?” Futaba looked at her, curious. “Grow. Change. Become the woman you always want to be. Show Sojiro that you are doing well.”

Futaba grew determined. “You know what? You’re right! I can’t let Sojiro and my uncle do all the work. I have to change too!”

“That’s the spirit!” Ren cheered.

Futaba giggled. “You know, as helpful as Sojiro is, it’s nice having you around.”

Ren nodded. “Likewise.”

Hermit-Futaba Sakura: Rank 3

As they continued walking, they got an alert on their phone.

Lena: Hey!

Lena: Um, I invited Goro to your gymnastics meet tomorrow, Sumire.

Lena: I hope that’s alright.

Sumire: It’s fine. Akechi can come. The more, the merrier, right?

Lena: Right.

Lena; It’s just, with everything the way it is, I think he needs a chance to relax.

Makoto: I can relate.

Lena: I hope you don’t mind.

Ren: We just need to keep some of our Phantom Thief stuff on the downlow. But we don’t really talk about it during this, so I think we should be fine.

Futaba: It’d be nice to get a chance to meet the legend himself.

Lena: He’s just a normal person like you or me.

Futaba: Right…

Yusuke: I hope we can find enough seats.

Haru: I could take you to the balcony.

Haru: It’s roomy enough.

Jose: That’d be neat.

Jose: Thanks Haru.

Haru: You’re welcome.

Sumire: I can’t wait for tomorrow.

Sumire: With all of you cheering for me, I feel like I’m going to do well.

Ren: Of course you will. You’re Sumire Yoshizawa.

Sumire: Oh you.

They put their phones away, and continued onward.

Soon, they got back to Leblanc. They saw Sojiro on the phone. “Uh huh…I see…very well…Thank you.” He hung up.

“Who was that?” Futaba asked.

Sojiro sighed. “That was child services,” Sojiro explained. “Apparently your uncle made good on his threat.”

Futaba whispered. “Oh no. We were too late…” She pouted.

Sojiro smiled. “It’ll be fine.”

Futaba looked at him, confused. “How can you be so sure?”

“It’s like I told your uncle,” Sojiro said, “I have the truth on my side.”

“Right…” Futaba said, still a little unsure.

Sojiro noticed her unease and approached her. “Futaba… I made a promise to your mother to protect you. And I’m going to do just that.”

Futaba started crying. *sniff. “Thank you Sojiro.” She rushed into him. “I promise I’ll make it up to you someday!”

Sojiro was surprised, but gave Futaba a hug. “Trust me, you’ve done more for me than you can even begin to imagine.”

Futaba looked up. “Really?”

Sojiro grinned. “Really really.” Futaba chuckled. Sojiro let go. “Now, as long as you’re here, you want me to make dinner? For the three of us?”

“Hey!” Morgana shouted, jolting out from Ren’s bag.

“Hm hm, sorry, the FOUR of us,” Sojiro said.

“Nyeh heh heh,” Morgana chuckled.

Futaba also chuckled. “I’d like that.”

“Me too,” Ren said. “Mind if I help?”

“Of course,” Sojiro said. “You’re a part of this family too.” Ren’s smile grew, and she and Sojiro cooked up a meal for the four of them. It was a perfect family meal, for a perfect, if unconventional family.

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mak0to · 3 years ago

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#do you remember that haru forgot to text makoto for a week in DttF?#WELL NOW HE TEXTS MAKOTO ABOUT EVERYTHING WHILE HE'S AWAY #haru really said yeah time to be the Bestest Boyfriend #and i love it! and makoto loves haru texting him too! look how happy he is!#but sou :-(#sousuke's like why my boyfriend doesn't text me :-(#and Rin's like... waiting for sousuke to reply to the last sexting he tried #sousuke is not ghosting he's just busy #but still wants rin to text him :-(#anyway asakisu being like we don't need to text we see each other every day so #anyway i love these little scenes of them being friends #I'm oversharing again am I #ok here are the tags #fs spoilers #free! spoilers #free! the final stroke spoilers #free! final stroke spoilers #mak0to

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s-serendipit-y · 4 years ago

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danganronpa boys as your ex

synopsis: what type of ex-boyfriend would they be?

characters: kokichi, nagito, izuru, byakuya, rantaro, shuichi

notes: this could contain angst ;)

byakuya togami

BITTER -

even if it ended on good terms, byakuya wants nothing to do with you. if he sees you in public, he would go the other way, if you two were ever in the same room he’d ignore you and not even look at you. it doesn’t matter to him who broke up with who, he feels as if he opened his heart to someone for it not to work in the end. probably would never get back in a relationship unless it’s to pass on the togami empire. most likely to rant about your relationship to makoto his friends

would he throw away your belongings?: yes unless one of his workers gives it back to you

would he come back for his?: no, one of his workers will though

kokichi ouma

HEARTBROKEN -

kokichi is a great liar and can easily put on a facade that he’s okay. even so, everyone can tell that nothing has been the same since you two split. no matter who broke up with who, he would still crave being with you and would always wonder “what if?” i don’t believe he’d want to be close friends with you, he wouldn’t ignore you like byakuya but seeing you hurts him. most likely to reach out in the middle of the night to fix everything and say he’ll be better to get back with you.

would he throw away your belongings?: no, he’d keep it until he moves on or you two get back together

would he come back for his?: yes, just so he can see you again

rantaro amami

FRIENDS? -

if the relationship ended on a good note, rantaro wouldn’t mind being friends. it might take a while no matter who ended it, you both have to lose romantic feelings for each other first. but after he would still be very friendly and talkative towards you. if the relationship ended bad however, he would still be nice to you if he sees you but would try to avoid you the best he could. most likely to introduce his new lover to you and make it very awkward.

would he throw away your belongings?: no, he’d return it to you.

would he come back for his?: yes

shuichi saihara

ANALYZER -

shuichi looks into every reason why the relationship didn’t work, it seemed to be going pretty well at first, where did everything go wrong? no matter who broke up with who, he would approach you to talk about your relationship, maybe if you two talk it out, you could fix it. he’s hopeful. if you don’t want to talk to him, he’d ask maki, kaede, kaito, even kokichi to talk to you for him. most likely to stalk your socials months after to see if you moved on.

would he throw away your belongings?: he’ll give it to you when you meet up to talk or leave it at your door

would he come back for his?: hopes you bring it when you talk or he will text you to leave it at his door

izuru kamukura

THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY -

probably would never get in another relationship, even getting with you took so much time but now it’s over. despite not understanding it himself, he yearns to be with you still. wouldn’t avoid you but wouldn’t approach you either. he’d treat you like he treats others, only say anything if you talk first. he wouldn’t call you boring, you still hold apart of him he can’t describe, he wants to hold you but he can’t. would only be cold towards you if you got with someone else. most likely to compare everything you did to his new lover and how they fall short.

would he throw away your belongings?: some of it, he’ll keep the thing that reminds him of you the most

would he come back for his?: probably, it gives him a reason to see you again

nagito komaeda

THE AVOIDER -

it’s not that nagito wants to avoid you, but seeing you makes his heart ache. anytime he passes your favorite stores his mind would drift back to when you two were in a relationship and how truly happy he felt to be with you. i don’t believe nagito would break up with you, unless it was to protect you from him bad luck. but no matter how it ended he wishes it didn’t, you were everything he wanted. if he ever saw you in public he would hide so you don’t see the tears on his face and how he refuses to move on. most likely to love you years after your break up.

would he throw away your belongings?: never, he’d give it back but it might be stained with his tears

would he come back for his?: no, seeing you hurts him too much.

#danganronpa imagines #danganronpa x reader #danganronpa headcanons #v3 x reader #dr2 x reader #nagito komeada x reader #kokichi x reader #rantaro x reader #shuichi saihara x reader #kokichi oma x reader #izuru kamukura x reader #izuru x reader #byakuya togami x reader

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caffernnn · 3 years ago

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Hi, I'ved noticed in FS1 that Makoto's vision at the shrine is connected to the semi-finals scene of Haru's vision in the water while swimming against Albert. Baby Mako chases after Haru-chan who is walking further and further away. He is also being blocked by the crowd, so he can't reach Haru-chan. Then in Haru's vision, baby Haru-chan is at the fireworks scene outlook where he is visited by Albert's "ghost", asking him why he swims and all those questions. Both visions seem to serve as foreshadowing for a later scene where Makoto and Haru are talking at the outlook. Haru tells Makoto that swimming against Albert felt cold and lonely, to which Makoto is reminded of the vision he saw while he was at the shrine. Makoto then tries to tell Haru something (comfort him or reassure him, I guess?) but is cut off by the twins' text message (the crowd blocking baby Mako). After Makoto leaves the outlook, this is when Albert starts to "possess" Haru (but I think Haru was able to fight it because he was fully "possessed" after Rin tells him his decision to focus on the butterfly). Then he goes to the sakura tree and then the whole "fight" with Rin ensues. The scene afterwards, where Makoto leaves a voice message to Rin, asking him if he was able to contact Haru since he wasn't responding at all, is a hammer in the nail for that vision. Whatever Makoto wants to give or tell Haru, he cannot reach him at the moment.

The visions of both Makoto and Haru reminded me of the fireworks scene since Haru runs away again from the things he has to face head-on.

Oh, I forgot to mention that in Makoto's vision, baby Mako is holding something in his hands. I'm not sure what it is but I'm guessing it's an omamori or a charm? There is a chime that plays during the shrine scene and the scene where Makoto and Haru are talking at the outlook, so I have a feeling that what baby Mako is holding is a protective charm to ward off bad luck or bad spirits.

Just wanted to tell you this since I'm not the biggest fan of Makoto so I'm not really sure how it plays into his character and how it connects with previous scenes in the series. I'd like to hear your thoughts! Thank you so much!

THE MAKOTO FILES (Part One?)

Before getting to watch Final Stroke, I already knew Makoto’s character was something I was going to pay close attention to (and eventually pick apart), and as the details in your message clearly display (thank you for that!!), Makoto’s vision at the shrine is a goldmine of possible symbols and connections that can open up so many conversations about Makoto’s goals, his worries, and how his character plays into the main narrative of what’s going on with Haru. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to organize everything I’d like to say (this is going to be a longgg one, friends) and as to not keep this sitting in my inbox unanswered for too much longer, we’re just going to roll with how my deep dive into this topic (FS rewatch, connection revisits, etc) unfolded.

Table of Contents (feel free to jump between the bolded headers, although it might make more sense to read it all in order... your choice!!)

Makoto as a Vessel

Makoto's TYM Dream

Makoto's Shrine Vision

Makoto's Support Following the Vision

Does Makoto Succeed?

Looking Forward: What Now?

Makoto as a Vessel

One of the unique ways that Makoto tends to care about the people around him is to convey both his own support of someone as well as the support of others. It’s hard for him to convey his individual strong emotions in words directly (note, for example, him getting flustered in the dedication video for Haru at the beginning of FS), but it’s easier for him to have those conversations when he can anchor it in others’ collective perceptions. There are definitely some select scenes where Makoto is emotionally-charged enough to lean into a feeling that is uniquely his (“I love swimming and Haru,” “it’s meaningless without you”), plus individual reassurances through silent conversations. However, the most common way Makoto seems to deliver his encouragement is by putting whoever he’s talking to/about on center stage and sharing what he’s noticed about their friends’ feelings. He does this when trying to comfort multiple characters throughout the series, but let’s focus on Haru for now. Makoto sees all of the ways that others look up to Haru, and he’s happy to remind Haru of that, whether it’s in a lighthearted manner (saying that Ikuya is likely not the only one who sees him as a hero in DttF) or during a more serious/dire conversation (highlighting all of the people that love him during the fireworks fight).

This pattern comes into play in FS with the lead-up to Makoto’s shrine visit. Right before the visit/prayer scene, we see Makoto having a conversation with Rei over the phone about the nerves they both felt while watching their friends race, imagining the intense pressure and emotions they were all working through. Makoto tells Rei that it was nice for them to keep in touch, and the best thing they can do for their friends at this point is to believe in them. When Makoto arrives at the shrine, he prays with a collective “we” in mind, saying “I hope that everyone’s feelings reach Haru.” I think this particular phrasing is revealing, knowing Makoto, because it sets up his intentions moving forward with supporting Haru: he doesn’t want to just offer his own unwavering belief in his best friend, but yet again be a vessel that reminds Haru just how many people care for him and are in his corner.

Makoto’s TYM Dream

Makoto’s visit to the shrine, his prayer, and the subsequent vision following the prayer on a surface level are about Makoto's hopes and efforts in supporting Haru, but something that stood out to me is how this scene explores the proximity in their relationship. This isn’t a new scenario, by any means – some of the most memorable moments involving Makoto and Haru are ones that show off their distancing from each other (think about their race against each other in ES, the fireworks fight) or growing impossibly closer (“it’s meaningless without you,” “swimming together meant a lot to me too” in S1) and reflecting on how much either of them cherishes their friendship, whether that’s said outright or simply alluded to. This vision specifically explores Makoto’s subconscious feelings and an ongoing worry/fear he has about being able to keep close to Haru, and it immediately reminded me of the dream Makoto has on the train ride to Tokyo at the beginning of Take Your Marks.

If you recall, that dream starts with Makoto making breakfast in a Tokyo apartment and calling Haru over to eat before the food gets cold. Haru only briefly acknowledges him before suddenly stripping and stepping out onto the apartment’s balcony. Makoto panics and follows Haru out onto the balcony, where the scene suddenly changes to Haru positioned on a starting block looking over a vast body of water. Makoto calls out for Haru, but he leaps forward anyway. He tries to reach for him still, but in his efforts, Makoto trips over the edge of the starting line and jolts awake during the sensation of falling. Looking at the details of this dream, you can probably see some of the similarities between this and Makoto’s vision at the shrine. Both address a deep-rooted worry Makoto has about Haru moving forward just beyond his grasp, but the finer details and differences in both scenarios reveal more about how this fear has changed over time, or what is truly being addressed in Makoto’s central conflict/journey in FS.

The TYM dream comes at a transitional point for Makoto and Haru where they’re both starting anew on equal footing (moving to Tokyo and starting university). Keeping that in mind, this dream is in response to the events in ES that led them to this point, and the lingering uncertainty that comes with starting a new journey on separate paths. Although they are still next to each other at the beginning of this new journey, Makoto’s fear starts to manifest in the dream with how Haru steps up to the starting block and leaps forward. There’s intention in it all – Haru knew Makoto was with him, smiling and ready to start their day together, but he verbally dismissed him and chose to step onto the balcony. He knew Makoto was watching him, calling for him, but chose to jump forward anyway. Makoto’s fear here stems from comparing his path to Haru’s: “Will I fall behind before we even get started? Will I lose touch with Haru by being on a different path outside of the pro circuit? Is there a way for us to take on the future and countless changes individually while staying close enough to keep growing together?” These feelings are ones that crop up in ES (arguably even before then, but most specifically in ES) but are gradually addressed and soothed moving forward into TYM and DttF as Haru recognizes/expresses repeatedly how his closest bonds shape and motivate his aspirations.

Makoto’s Shrine Vision

Makoto’s shrine vision comes to him at another transitional impasse in their lives. Although they’re both settling into life in Tokyo, they are now both taking more significant steps into their chosen paths, Makoto learning more about pro training and Haru making his debut on the world stage. Makoto’s prayer at the shrine before the vision directly sets the tone for what is being addressed: his wish is for Haru to receive the emotional support he needs/deserves from his friends, so it’s reasonable to see the vision as a potential sign of how Makoto will fare in delivering on that wish himself (both on his own behalf and as a vessel for others). A detail that stuck out to me after revisiting details in the TYM dream is how in the shrine vision, Haru doesn’t choose to move forward with the same sort of deliberate stride. In the vision, there is no indication that Haru knows Makoto is around or looking for him in the first place, and his slow pace reads to me as if he doesn’t think anyone would be seeking him out at all. Makoto gets separated from Haru not by Haru’s hopefulness in a leap forward, but in his hopelessness of isolated wandering forward in a bustling swarm of festive chaos (faceless adults, sparks, goldfish… don’t even get me started on the goldfish).

So… why does any of this matter? What is established or brought into question during this vision? Throughout the series, Makoto is painted as one of the strongest voices of support and understanding in Haru’s circle. He’s been described as an “inviolable sanctuary,” a hand outstretched, someone who understands him without words and tries to pull him out of the darkness/depths. This vision is calling this ever-present role and ability into question. There are seemingly no doubts about Makoto’s willingness to try – he’s the one who made a prayer on Haru’s behalf in the first place, and he is seen in the vision to be desperately pushing forward to show/give Haru something (which, while the literal object hasn’t yet been revealed, can be connected in this context to the “feelings” he wants to be delivered to Haru). There’s also little room to doubt Haru’s responsiveness to Makoto’s hand outstretched in usual circumstances. In FS alone, he’s shown to take Makoto’s hand, come when he’s called, and smile/breathe easier when Makoto is around. However, what happens if/when Haru starts to get lost in the overwhelm of the world stage and isolates himself (wandering alone like in the vision)? Even though they’ve been able to bounce back and reconnect after rifts like this in the past, learning from their mistakes and growing to be more open with each other… can Makoto make his way to Haru and break through the endless barriers to offer Haru the support he needs, or at the very least, deliver the earnest gift/message he holds in his hands? The way that the vision cuts off with Haru still marching forward while Makoto reaches for him with heartbreaking tears (literally hurts to watch)... is less than reassuring, if we take on the scene as foreshadowing.

Makoto’s Support Following the Vision

The vision leaves Makoto cautious, and I believe that caution influences the different ways Makoto interacts with and watches over Haru. Something that stands out to me with Makoto’s praise is how he seems to center it on Haru’s personal ambition versus just his merits/accomplishments. Notice throughout FS how Makoto makes comments like “when I see you swimming, all I can think is that you’re really Haru;” he’s showing that his pride and belief in Haru isn’t grounded in beautiful technique or impossible speed, but Haru’s ability to make his mark and tackle his goals while visibly staying true to his happiness. When they’re sitting in Makoto’s apartment and Haru expresses that he won’t be able to see Makoto as much for a while because he needs to push his limits and become stronger, Makoto reassures him and supports that decision by saying that Haru should keep pushing forward by doing what he wants to do (again trying to center Haru and encourage him to make decisions based on his own happiness rather than what might be expected of him by others). Maybe it looks like a minute distinction on the surface, but having those comments delivered with those distinctions directly responds to the insecurities that leave Haru the most vulnerable: his desire to be understood (as a person beyond his swimming, beyond a means to an end, beyond something/someone easy to leave behind when he can’t perform) and appreciated.

I think the shrine vision also made Makoto more diligent in watching Haru for signs of him starting to get lost again, hoping to stop the vision from coming to fruition by intervening before the hopelessness takes over. There are multiple visible moments of Makoto looking on in quiet concern, trying to parse through Haru’s expected stress of taking on a high-demand new environment and any signs that it is all becoming too much. One specific instance that stands out to me is how Makoto looks weary after overhearing some of Haru and Rin’s conversation at the restaurant. Rin asks Haru what he plans on doing after racing in Athens, stating that “there’s always more world competitions, forever and ever,” and Haru pushes off the conversation with a short “I don’t care.” Although this scene isn’t nearly as explosive or dejected, it reminds me of Haru and Rin’s confrontation in the locker room during ES, and I think Makoto has a similar notion, if his silent reaction is anything to go by. Makoto can tell that Haru feels stuck at the prospect of planning his future yet again and he is (rightfully) concerned. Haru’s response (lack of a plan, lack of acknowledging the burden of constant goal-setting, lack of desire to ask anyone for help coming up with a plan) isn’t hinting at the exact same helplessness he expressed back in ES of not having dreams, but an offshoot of that: a lack of choices. By this point in FS, we are stuck as viewers watching Haru’s spiral begin and wondering if anyone else is noticing what’s happening (or will freakin DO SOMETHING before it’s too late). It’s not hard to fill in the spiraling thoughts and worries going through Haru’s head during his pensive silences and repeated mantra of “after 20, you’re a normal person.” Will he fall into a cycle of competing until he burns out? Will that be the “normal” he’s been waiting to discover? Does he have much of a say in the matter when his motivations now are so heavily tied to others (inspiring their hopes/dreams, sparking their rivalries, giving them someone successful to care about…)? I don’t think any of his friends are being let in close enough by this point to fully grasp the gnawing discomfort that Haru’s trying to keep tightly under wraps, but there are enough shots of Makoto appearing concerned and checking in with Haru repeatedly that leads me to believe he’s caught onto something.

Does Makoto Succeed (at least in Part One?)

With all of this build-up of Haru and Makoto having heart-to-hearts, Makoto knowing to be wary after the shrine vision, providing constant reassurance and looking like he’s ready to step in at the peak of Haru’s distress… The guy misses his cue (the audio cue of the shrine bell is there and everything) and exits stage left. He leaves with the twin’s phone call riiiiight at a pivotal moment, and it sucks. The missed conversation and whatever gift Makoto was holding wouldn’t have fixed everything, but the choice to leave Haru alone while on the cusp of a spiral (which still doesn’t make narrative sense to me, but I digress) is the shrine vision coming to full fruition: Makoto not breaking through to Haru before he reaches the outlook. Haru being alone at the outlook with the gnawing questions and uncomfortable feelings swimming against Albert has saddled him with (the second half of the vision that you mentioned, little Haru alone while Albert asks him over and over why he races) and cracking. Haru making that lonely trek away from the outlook and now trying to seek out any sign in his rumination that he isn’t alone, that he still has a reason to hold onto his hope/bonds in his pursuit to get stronger. Enter Rin.

What makes the utter chaos of the last 10 minutes of the movie infuriating is how despite us watching Haru slowly fall apart and being given signs of a potential breaking point, there are also signs that make us hopefully hopeful about Haru being saved by his bonds in the end like always. Right before Makoto evaporates into thin air, he and Haru have such a touching scene together with them first relaxing back at the Tachibana house, then having a heart-to-heart at that cursed outlook about Makoto staying true to himself in Tokyo and addressing how Haru doesn’t feel like himself when Albert’s swimming makes him cold and sad. There’s recurring imagery of duos (Haru and Makoto’s keychains hanging together, two flowers together by the outlook) and a too-perfect opening in their conversation that lures us into the thought of “oh, this is it, this is Makoto’s moment to step in before he loses confidence or Haru closes himself off.” Of course, things couldn’t wrap up that nicely when this movie was only “part one,” but it doesn’t make the immediate fall after that build-up sting any less. Flames, flames on the side of my face.

Looking Forward: What Now?

We saw the resolution of the fireworks fight. We saw the different ways the characters have grown since then. They have the tools to communicate more openly. Haru is ignoring Makoto in the aftermath, similar to what happened after the fireworks fight blow-up, so the question now becomes how long until they reach each other again? Will Makoto make up for his inaction or absence in the past by seeking out Haru and being a confrontational straightforward player when it comes to bringing Haru back to the surface and encouraging change? There are signs that he is going to be involved in Haru reconnecting with his friends and the water in some capacity. I believe @makoandharu pointed out the visual parallel between Haru sinking during his race against Albert in FS to the scene where Makoto's hand pulls Haru back up in the s1 opening. I don’t think it’ll be a singular person who helps Haru break out of his current despair (unless it’s himself… corny booooo tomato tomato), but I’m pretty confident in Makoto playing a significant role one way or another. The story starts with the two of them and the series continuously circles back to Makoto being a saving grace and throughline in his life; it only makes sense that it ends with them as well.

Now, as to how Makoto steps back in… it’s hard to say. Just like I said the singular missed conversation at the outlook wouldn’t have fixed a lot of Haru’s mess, it is going to take more than one make-up conversation to bring about any sort of satisfying resolution. The theories about a relay race coming up in FS2 and being one of the pivotal things to help Haru break through his doubts are becoming more and more plausible as time goes on. I don’t think Makoto will be swimming on the team himself (although that’d be fuuuun) but I can see him and Nao stepping in to offer extra training sessions to bring the team together. People have also talked about Makoto taking Ryuuji's place as one of Haru's main coaches, which I'll talk more about in a different post.

A lot of this analysis has focused on Makoto’s goals in reference to Haru specifically, but Makoto’s growth and goals in FS expand beyond just their bond. We get to see firsthand how Makoto is taking his dream of wanting to help others achieve their own goals and applying it to individualized training/coaching sessions, most pointedly by working with Nao, Natsuya, Sousuke, and Hiyori (co-coaching, creating training regimens, offering advice, etc.). I’d love to see that side of Makoto continue, how he approaches training and potential teaching moments with compassionate observations and detailed care.

I don’t have any specific vision for the conclusion of it all, but I’m tentatively hopeful that these characters are done justice with a resolution that doesn’t throw away all of the ways they’ve been able to grow together throughout the series. Makoto has blossomed in my opinion, carving out a path for himself and slowly gaining confidence/conviction in his choices. He broke through his fears by choosing Tokyo, choosing to stay involved with swimming somehow, choosing to redefine his dream by trying out individualized coaching, getting slightly better about opening up about his feelings, and giving himself credit for his growth… I just want him to be happy!!! I want him and his friends to be happy!!!

#makoto tachibana #haruka nanase #free! the final stroke #final stroke spoilers #the makoto files #meta #long post #would you believe me if I said that I cut out some topics for later #I think about Makoto Tachibana a normal human amount #thank you for sending!#(and thank you for your patience as I made a mountain out of a molehill) <3 #anonymous

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welcometotheunknownlosers · 2 years ago

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Well here is my Scara lore dump. I hope you all like it. I know I do :)

Warning: Big chunk of text that does not make the most sense and is theory mixed in with actual lore. Not all of this is canon, and while I think I've made it clear what is headcanon and what isn’t, I’m tired and I can’t catch everything. Read at your own risk. I have opinions and funny jokes here. I also am likely wrong about some of these things as I am just a human (or am I) and I make mistakes. Now that you are properly warned, here is my GIANT wall of text that is likely formatted horribly so you will just skim. Because if I wasn’t fixated on his lore I would as well. Also slight leak warning but its only those obvious ones that every Scara fan has to know at this point.

Nameless Era:

When Scara was made he had been given a name. It was probably a really cool name, but he can’t remember it at all. Ei and Yae might still know it but considering they use the name Scara chose for himself (Kunikuzushi) they probably don't care to use it. Anyway, he wasn’t created to be like the Raiden Shogun, ie, his sole purpose was truly only to be a prototype to hold the Electro Gnosis, which is considered by him to be his heart. According to Yae, he was indeed created as a boy, but I still like to think that he just decided to trans his gender and everyone is supportive. But I digress. Scara also wasn't created to look like Ei at all, which is funny considering he looks like a desaturated version of her. Personally, I think Scara was created to be like Makoto, in personality and all. However, that really has no basis. I just think it's cool.

Anyway, Scara was created for holding the Gnosis, right? So when Ei gave it to him, and he cried in his sleep, he got his Gnosis privileges revoked because he was “too fragile”. Why was he crying? There’s no definite answer, but I believe it is because the Gnosis gave Scara at least a glimpse into Makoto’s memory, more specifically her last moments in the Cataclysm. Which could be a cool Segway into Scara telling the traveler about that event but that's also not the focus here. Another theory is that Celestia is a bully and yelled at him through the Gnosis.

Disregarding that, Ei was like “oh no” and took back the Gnosis and put Scara into an eternal sleep (Spoiler Alert: He wakes up) much to the chargrain of Yae, who thought it would be better to just destroy him. But Ei thought it would be ‘kinder to just let him sleep forever. One possible reason is that (going back to my previous theory) because he was inspired by Makoto, outright destroying him would be kinda like killing her sister again. Which is not fun. Either way, Scara ended up being put to sleep indefinitely or, as it felt like for him, was tossed aside like trash.

Waking up, X years after Creation:

We don’t have a definite time frame for how long Scara was asleep, but we can make an estimate. If we assume he was made within the first year Ei became an archon, that allows us to get the maximum time for him to be asleep. He likely woke up some time after Chiyo (Ei’s Oni Friend) went crazy, I would say that gives a 20-25 year maximum? But I’m not that good with assuming time so take that with a grain of salt.

Now, why exactly Scara woke up is also not confirmed, but our best guess is something to do with the Ley Lines disrupting whatever magic was keeping him asleep. Speaking of magic, Scara at this point has all his magic divine powers sealed away. And along with that, he lacks emotions. Just a complete blank slate. This is because his “heart” was taken away. When he wakes up, he is completely alone in the world. At this point, Scara decides to take up the art of wandering, and wander around he did, exploring the land of Tatarasuna, Kannazuka (Ironically, he was a godly puppet abandoned in the place that means ‘land where no Gods reside’), where his story truly begins.

First Act, Kunikuzushi:

When he was wandering, he was discovered near Nazuchi Beach by the Shogunate working at the Mikage Furnace, led by Mikoshi Nagamasa (The adoptive son of Chiyo) with his yoriki Katsuragi. Found by Katsuragi, he is taken in, and starts working with them, even performing a sword dance for the newly forged Daitatara Nagamasa with Katsuragi, which is commented to be one of the most beautiful ever performed. It was here that Scara witnessed the hearts of others, and began his longing to have one of his own. And speaking of Katsuragi, Scara grew close with him, describing him as a kind, young deputy. At some point, Katsuragi learns of Scara’s true nature, likely through the feather he wore (Plume of Luxury - Husk of Opulent Dreams) that proved as a connection to Ei. He is told to hide that from the others, because there is no knowing of what they would do if they found out.

At this point, Scara had not taken a name, and is known only as a wandering eccentric. But misfortune soon struck. Some disaster occurred, whatever it was, one of the effects was a howling wind, which he can still hear if he covers his ears. Despite this, it was unnatural, and everyone was unprepared for it. Because of this, it seems their only option is to go to the Grand Narukami Shrine. Unfortunately for everyone, they can’t go, likely due to orders from Nagamasa, who wants to prove his worth after his family name was stained from Chiyo, well, going murder mode. Scara, wanting to save them all, attempts to sneak out and go, but is caught by Nagamasa, who there learns of Scaramouche’s nature as well. He instantly does not trust him anymore, since he believes Scara is a spy from the Shogun to make sure he isn’t doing anything wrong like his mother did. However, due to Scara being neither man nor mechanism, the only thing that he can do to punish him is lock him up. So now not only was everyone suffering, Scara was unable to do anything.

However, a stroke of luck came from Katsuragi directly disobeying Nagamasa’s orders and secretly breaking Scara out, who hurriedly rushed to get to the Shrine. On his way to the harbor, he passed an ill child, who asked where he was going. He told the child where, and the kid responded that those people who left to there hadn’t come back yet. Scara could only smile at the kid when he left to save the others (When Scara would come back, he noted that the child was nowhere to be found). He truly believed he could save them, because, well, the feather he had was a proof of identity from Ei herself, surely that meant something? That Ei would surely come to his aid?

However, when he got to the Shrine, he likely learned of how Ei had come to stay in the Plane of Euthymia, and thus would not help him personally. Yae reassured him, though, that Ei wouldn’t abandon him, but Yae herself would do her best to send help as fast as possible. This was good enough for Scara, who made his way back to the island, preparing to face the consequences of escaping, but also to bring the good news of help arriving. However, once he returned, he discovered that two people had died, not from this disaster, but because of Nagamasa himself. The two who died were Nozomu, who died from burn wounds taking the Daitatara Nagamasa out of the furnace where it had been cast, now renamed the Katsuragikira Nagamasa, after it was Katsuragi, Scaramouche’s first and only friend, who had been slain by Nagamasa in a fit of rage after discovering his misconduct.

This sparked something in Scara, who instantly sought out Nagamasa. When he found him, they got into a fight. Nagamasa told Scara to “Not hold it against him”. Despite that, and the fact that we don’t exactly know the outcome, a reasonable inference would be that Scara did, in fact, hold it against him, and killed Nagamasa. This is where I believe Scara took on the name of Kunikuzushi, the country destroyer, as this is also where he pledged to destroy the Raiden Gokaden, the 5 bladesmithing families in Inazuma.

Before I go any further, the game says that the Raiden Gokaden was a plot by the Fatui. However, I do not believe this to be the case. The only one with a motive to actually carry out this plan would be Scara, as what would the Fatui have to gain from this? I believe this is the case of the player having more knowledge than the Traveler at this point, because we knew of the Raiden Gokaden incident and who caused it long before the Irodori Festival, where it was officially revealed. Plus, he introduced himself as Kunikuzushi, not Scaramouche or the Balladeer, which he would have used if he was with the Fatui.

Why did he act like this then? Well, I have a theory that has little basis, but I think it would work. In Kazuha’s story quest, we meet a blade that had been warped by the Tataragami Energy held on Tatarasuna. While Tataragami has numerous horrible effects on people, Scara, being an artificial being, would be affected more like the sword, than a person, only receiving psychological effects, which could be why he swore revenge, as without emotion, why would he care? We know that the Tataragami Energy, when not contained, can affect the environment, so could the disaster that have been brought upon them be a result of that energy? I believe so, but again, not a lot of solid evidence. Just theory. Back to the main point.

After deciding that the best way to avenge his friend is through absolutely destroying people who had no connection to him, and who had no clue who he even was, Scara started killing. It’s not confirmed that the three arts that he completely eradicated were murdered, but considering how the one act we know for sure he did was murder a whole bunch of people and mess up their forging diagrams, we can only assume he did something similar.

Before we move on to the 4th Art, let it be made clear that this was a bad move by Scara, because most of the reason why he even continued to do this plan in the first place was because he found it fun. Why dude??? Moving on, the 4th family that he was going to mess up was the Isshin art. Scara assumed that this would be the same as the last 3. It was not. As he was beating up and killing these people, one man was saved from a killing blow by his hat. When it fell off, the man was revealed to be Kaedehara Yoshinori, more widely known as Kazuha’s great grandfather. Scara stopped there, for some reason, recognizing the man. He asked if he knew Niwa, whom the man said was his father. Scara let him live after that, only stopping to tell his name.

Why did he let him go? My only theory is that he could be a descendant of Katsuragi, as Katsuragi was an adult and could very well have had kids. However that is just theory as well. Most of the survivors there fled to Snezhnaya, where they were taken in by the Fatui (as stated before, I don’t believe Scara was a part of the Fatui now, but this could be a reason why he was). Scara stopped his revenge plan, leaving the last family untouched. While doing this, Scara evolved some sort of God complex, believing he is above all others, and that only he decides his fate, and nobody else dares meddle with it.

Second Act, Scaramouche:

Scara gets approached by the Fatui on his travels. He finds them interesting, and funny to be around. As such, it would only make sense for him to join these mask wearing individuals. And so he did. Quickly, likely because of his status as a divine entity, Scara became the 6th Harbinger. He took a new name, leaving Kunikuzushi behind and becoming Scaramouche, and taking up the title of the Balladeer. But still, he desired a heart of his own. He desired the Gnosis.

And the Fatui had an answer for that. A delusion. It could replace the hollow emptiness of his chest, and allow him to feel, and be whole. But that was a lie. It was like fitting a circle into a square hole. Sure it fit, but it wasn't proper. The only feelings he could feel was bitterness, hatred, annoyance, selfishness, not the good, kind hearts that he had been so jealous of in Tatarasuna. But a heart was a heart. If he took it out, he would be back to feeling nothing again. These feelings made him the least popular harbinger of them all. He could only barely tolerate the others when needed, and they hated him in return. None of the lower ranked Fatui even wanted to work with him. But he could care less.

What he did care about, was his own power. Dottore was allowed to experiment on him, making him stronger, unsealing his powers, and going beyond his original capacity (And if we go with the Scara trans headcanon that is definitely when he got his totally legal top surgery). Now this was a payoff. Even if the matters he had to deal with bored him most of the time.

In time, Scara was sent to Mondstadt to investigate the strange Meteorites that had fallen there. In his trip, he was unsuccessful in both of his attempts to kill the Traveler, who had been there by chance. Yet he did discover in his research the truth of this world. The sky is fake. In game there is no elaboration on this, instead he says his iconic line “so long, suckers” because he has parental controls still enabled and cannot swear. What is so special about the sky being fake? Well Celestia is in the sky, and the sky also reveals your fate if read by an astrologist. Scara could very well have stumbled into a plot by Celestia, which he perhaps was not meant to find.

Either way, he reports back to Pierro, and is later assigned to handle the distribution of delusions on Yashiori Island to help with spreading the Fatui Agenda and just screwing up Inazuma’s fragile balance even more with the Vision Hunt Decree. This is where I believe Scara gets a dream. This dream, he had disregarded as a trick by Dottore, believing that he himself could not dream. But the dream was a vision of his past self, saying how he would finally attain the heart he desired, after the failed attempt with the delusion. Soon after, the Traveler would eventually break into the factory, where Scara was working. Scara was taunting the traveler, and almost killed him with the energy the factory was producing, before a blast from the past appeared.

Yae Miko. The Traveler is passed out at this point, so we don’t know what exactly was said between the two, but what ends up happening is Yae Miko strikes a deal. The Gnosis for The Traveler, which Scara hastily accepts. It was all he ever wanted. He didn’t care for the Traveler at all. Without telling his coworker Signora, he flees Inazuma with the Gnosis, knowing that the Fatui will be on his tail for his desertion and betrayal. He ends up in Sumeru.

Third Act, Wanderer, and my beliefs on what will happen:

Scaramouche is heavily linked to the Kabuki Theatre, in name, and in lore. In the Husk of Opulent Dreams set, it says that his life, like the Theatre, is divided into three acts. Signifying this, he casts aside his old names, Kunikuzushi because it does not suit him anymore, and his Fatui names, because he can no longer call himself one. Instead, he returns to being nameless, and simply calls himself a Wanderer.

Another theory could be that the Gnosis factory reset him- making him how he was, forgetting his actions. But thats stupid. While I wish that playable Scara is electro (for the sake of I NEED TO NOT HAVE A 4 ANEMO TEAM), anemo Scara makes a lot of sense. I have always headcanoned his delusion to be anemo, so I guess I win there.

I hope they have a good reason why he can’t use electro, like maybe his powers will be re-sealed or something. I do fear for Scara, as it seems like Dottore actually knows his every move. If that means that Scara is predictable, or if there is some sort of tracker or some tech that lets Dottore do it, it makes him pretty scary.

If Scara does join the team, I think it will be like Childe, a mutual team up but not allies, you know? I feel like Scara definitely also knows about the Abyss Sibling, and that might make us inclined to help him. Perhaps when we first see him again, it will be the boss fight we all are hoping for, but after we beat him up, we realize what we have to do. I do hope that Scara doesn’t lose the Gnosis, but I feel like he will end up without it.

But maybe he will find out how to be happy without a heart.

To sum this all up, I really enjoy Scara’s lore, and I hope that that was pretty obvious while I was writing this. Who knows? Perhaps in Inazuma, there will be a play inspired by the acts of his life, called the Kunikuzushi Scaramouche Wanderer, as per traditional Inazuman play name standards.

#Scaramouche #genshin #genshin lore #genshin theory #scaramouche genshin #scaramouche lore #lore #theory #im so sorry #i spent hoURS ON THIS #IDK WHY

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redxblueihateloveyou · 3 years ago

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Omg thank you so much for your posts about rinharu!! :"")) I was one of those people who were like "why are rinharu fighting again?? Did kyoani purposely seperate them /again/ just for the sake of drama ?? (And so that they have more oppurtunities to showcase other ships??)" I was really irked at first cuz i thought the first part of TFS is finally going to be a movie about rinharu being a powercouple, but! After reading your posts i realised that haru never really moved on from rin leaving, even in S3 the reason why hiyori's words affected him was because he thought he caused rin to leave (and by extension ikuya, but lbr haru wasn't as frustrated with ikuya nearly as much as he was with rin right) so i'm just here to say.. thank you so much for opening my eyes!!! Now i'm really looking forward to the second part!!

Awww no problem <3 tbh I've always said that free is one of those that has so many nuances left bts that it's sometimes confusing for those who aren't as invested I think. Like there's so many important things that are left out and are in additional materials, that some has no idea what's going on at times. Like back in the days when some interpreted s2 in the opposite way bc of that one thing. My point is that not everyone is even watches stuff like recaps for example (where there are in fact new easter eggs and so many important things like Rin's dad death aftermath etc), and even less read novels and checked side stories and dramas.

For example, in books this Haru's issue about him thinking he's cursed and hurts everyone with his swimming is a huge thing, when Asahi "lost his ability to swim" after seeing Haru's free. But in SD it wasn't adressed at all tbh.

And what Haru feels for Rin is such tornado of emotions, that surprised even me with all the descriptions, bc like it's real bad. Like that part I posted from the chapter when Rin leaves is at least understandable, since he leaves. But the way he reacts to him in general even when he just appears in his sight is always described as if someone tortures him for real lol. And he's always like "pls someone save me, I don't know how to deal with this, bc I've never felt such emotions before".

So basically, like yeah, he's as it is has this thing, when he thinks of himself as some bad omen, so he's very sensitive about it, but since everything Rin-related feels x100000000 for him, its just... well, it hurt for a very long time and sadly was just overlooked by a certain someone, so here we are.

I think we all at first believed that bc Rin's so shocked and in disbelief that Haru could even think that it was his fault in some way:

that maybe they talked about it bts or smth like after the relay. But it seems like Rin either forgot or most likely I think he maybe thought that Haru understood without words? I'm just real sad still that Haru didn't get to hear this speech:

I mean, they made it look by the end of s1 that it was about relay, which partially yeah, but for Rin it was really about Haru. You see what he said.. he said that that 1x02 race with Haru alone.. what made him want to swim again. This whole speech was not only about the fact that Haru wasn't at fault that he quit swimming in the first place, but about the fact that Haru is his lucky charm, that makes everything better. AND WE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO HEAR THAT. So like for Haru it's to this day like "after I messed him up, Rin was saved with the power of friendship and a relay". But he was saved by Haru really. Bc according to s3 info, it was basically just about Haru being on the relay team. I don't try to demean their friendships or anything, but its just what it is.

And as I've said before in one post it's just fascinating that to this day Rin for example thinks that s1 shananigans were just about him and just his problem:

Haru thought it was about them and their problem:

So like my point here is I also up to the end of s2 thought that maybe Rei or Rin told that to him, bc we seemed to move on to another problems, until in Kizuna we were shown that he still dreams about that scene of Rin leaving. s3 Hiyori just exposed the wound really.

But also once again see what he said there, it's not just about that one time he keeps reliving, aka his first come back, its really just about each time Rin was leaving. Like the very first one already was bad, the second was the worst, bc he thought he hurt him and thought that bc of him he quit swimming, others are just painful bc by then it was already another kind of feeling. I mean, I do think that this first Rin's return to Australia thing needs to be cleared up since it's obviously still haunting him. But again it's just part of this. Haru after the Australian trip and "I've always admired you" and "without you I have nothing to aim for" and after TYM goodbye when Rin told him that he doesn't need a surprise party and that just swimming with Haru before leaving is the greastest surprise for him, he knows already about the way Rin feels about swimming with him... I think the reason why everyone is freaking out here is that bc the way it's executed it's just really about him constantly missing him and "why am I always have to longingly watch you leave, while you seem fine." If he was in a free race, but wasn't on a relay team, he'd get the same reaction. Its just all seasons combined that brought us here. We already in 3x01 without Hiyori knew that he wasn't handling Rin being far away again good. So tbh it's logical even without any explanation really. I mean, Rin does indeed leave and come back as he pleases and does what he wants without holding back or sometimes thinking about consequences. There's no lie here.

It's like since the beginning for Rin it was like "I found the gorgeous guy I adore and I want to swim with, I'll transfer schools just to nag him into swimming with me, it's not like he's gonna care if I leave after that." (he literally in the book didn't think it was a big deal)

For Haru it was like "I lived just fine, but this guy stormed into my life, made me want things I didn't think I'd ever want, got me addicted to him and then dropped me like a hot potato".

Rin's just very passionate about life and things he wants, like Haru for example, but he's really also very unobservant and very clueless at times.

But like just bc he doesn't know about Haru's existential crisis and all the pain he's truly in when he's leaving, doesn't change the fact that he at times didn't even treat him as a simple friend (because they can't be just friends I KNOW), but still things like "you could've called" "well sorry, I guess I'm just not good at it" are probably hurtful, considering the fact that you are good at it with everyone else tho, Rin sweetie. Like thanks for avoiding us the most and holding back and visiting us the last each time, we feel real special. Haru is like the opposite, he doesn't call anyone for example, but he can call Rin in the middle of the night if needed, he always does for Rin smth that's completely out of his comfort zone.

It's like some say "Rin didn't know he wanted him to call" or "he didn't know Haru felt guilty". He did know he wanted him to call and he didn't know Haru felt guilty and stopped swimming competitively when he stopped swimming, but then Rei told him and Natsuya in 3x03 reminded him about this too. Its just the fact that he doesn't want to add 1+1 and thinks "well, there's no way I can affect Haru like that right?", "he can't be that upset about Rin Matsuoka, right?". While facts are he IS literally the only one who affects Haru in such huge way. It's like everyone else can just pass him by and it's nothing, but he walks by and it's a whole "asdfghgfdsa why my body is on fire, its just Rin who's just standing there".

And I'm also buffled by this thing that some people really say stuff like "where did this come from, they were perfectly fine" etc, as if they ever had normal "friendship" relationship. I'm like when did they ever behave themselves okay? In 3x03 Rin is dying to call Haru, but can't do it, while he's constantly texting everyone including Nagisa. First thing he says in the airport when he comes back is "I'm home, Haru" to air, but then goes to hang out with Makoto and Sousuke, desperately looking for an excuse to see the one whom he from the beginning, as it was shown wanted to see the most, but in his opinion can’t without a reason. It's only when Makoto tells him that Haru was upset about Albert he quickly rans off out of there bc "hooray, I have an excuse to see my bae”. Like we know from the airport scene that he wanted to see Haru the most. If they're so as people say were doing great, than how do you exlain all of their s2 and s3 behavior for real? It's like as if in TYM Haru didn't lose his shit from some gossip about persimmons. I mean, they never settled anything really. And Haru is constantly scared of Rin leaving again since forever.

So it's complicated, but yes, we're super excited for p2, bc asdfghjhgfds.

#answered #anonymous #rinharu #harurin #free! the final stroke #free!#rin matsuoka #nanase haruka

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orcx-nus · 2 years ago

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[ FIVE TEXTS ]

𝐀 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 ‘𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒’ 𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒

@samezukashark

[ FIVE TEXTS ] send for five unsent texts from the receiver and one sent text.

ONE.

One of the first texts he tried to send when he first got his phone was not long after Rin had left for Australia and they had all entered middle school. He had kept his number this whole time but was unable to make use of it until now, what with not having a cell phone and all.

Honestly, he was unsure of what to even say. All he could do for a while was stare at the screen as he tried to shake off the nerves.

[ TO: RIN ] Hey, Rin! It's Makoto, I finally got a phone. How's Australia?

His hands stop just as he's about to hit send, and he suddenly feels very silly.

It's not like the redhead would be able to receive his message anyway, all the way in Australia. The brunet lets out a little sigh as a sudden emptiness fills his heart.

[ DRAFTED ]

TWO.

The summer heat was practically at its peak now, and it had been a while since him and Haru finally gave in to their middle school swim team.

But everything had not been going smoothly, neither for him nor his dolphin friend.

Everything felt so difficult, heavy and confusing. It was nothing at all like their medley race with Rin in elementary school. He had so many questions, and zero answers.

Did he really like swimming? Was it something he could see himself doing in the longterm?

If only he had more resolve. If only he was like Rin and Haru. They knew what they wanted.

[ TO: RIN ] It's been a while. Haru and I joined our middle school swim team's relay team. ... It's not the same without you or Nagisa though...

Once more, he hesitates. Even if Rin can't receive his messages, he shouldn't dump his problems on him.

[ DRAFTED ]

THREE.

It was now winter break, a few months after their middle school swim relay.

Makoto had just spent hours trying to understand what had happened to Haru, who had returned home extremely distressed. The little dolphin refused to speak to him, however, and he was starting to grow desperate.

So imagine his shock when he finally managed to get his beloved friend to speak, only to find out the redhead had returned.

Not only had he returned from Australia without contacting any of them, but he had challenged Haru to a race and consequently declared his intention to quit swimming.

And thus Haru's emotional declaration to quit as well.

Having been sent away by the dolphin, Makoto just sat on the steps of his home, shaky hands holding his phone once more.

[ TO: RIN ] I heard you came back. Why didn't you say anything to any of us?

A pause.

... Are you really going to quit swimming?

Suddenly, the screen becomes blurry and he realizes he's been fighting back tears.

Why was everything falling apart?

[ DRAFTED ]

FOUR.

Years have gone by since his friends' fallout, and he can't remember the last time he'd been in the water.

To be honest, he kind of missed it. And he hated seeing Haru wallowing in the bathtub every morning. He could tell just how much it was affecting the other to give up something he was so passionate about, leaving behind a dear friendship in the process.

They were about to start their second year, yet everything felt frozen in place.

As he watched the dolphin's back while they parted ways at the foot of his home once more, Makoto couldn't help but feel an ache in his heart at the emptiness he felt from the other.

The next thing he knows, he's staring once more at a number on his phone that he had not dared to open in quite a while.

[ TO: RIN ] It's been a while. I hope you are doing well in Australia. Haru still hasn't continued swimming since last time.

His hands tighten around his phone.

I wish you'd come back and resolve things again.

How ridiculous.

He had no right to be asking anything from the other, especially after such a long time. Haru did say that he could be too meddlesome at times.

[ DRAFTED ]

FIVE.

He still couldn't believe it.

The last thing he expected when Nagisa had convinced him and Haru to go back to their old abandoned swim club to retrieve their old trophy, was to run into their long-lost friend after such a long time.

Rin was actually back. But... something had changed. He was not the same cheery and sentimental Rin that he remembered.

He was different.

Makoto had never seen the redhead so filled with rage, so resentful. And the thing was, he couldn't tell if those feelings were aimed at himself or at them. Either way, he couldn't bear to see his dear friend in such a state after so long. Especially since it was clearly affecting Haru terribly as well.

What had happened in Australia?

But if the shark had come back for the trophy, surely he still cared about their friendship. There should still be some hope... Right?

[ TO: RIN ] Why didn't you say that you had come back to Iwatobi? Does this mean you're going to keep swimming after all? ... I've been so worried.

He'd never felt so helpless before. He just wanted to fix everything between them, to go back to the way things were before.

He just wanted to see Rin and Haru smile again.

But what could he possibly do?

[ DRAFTED ]

SIX.

Makoto let out a sigh as he finally left his last class of the day, taking a moment to enjoy the sunshine as he stepped outside onto the Tokyo streets.

It had taken him some time to finally get used to his busy schedule, with all his classes and his part time job taking quite a bit of his time. But despite it all, he was the happiest he'd been in a long time.

Although he had finally given up swimming competitively, opting instead to focus on coaching, he was more than happy to see his friends succeeding and being able to pursue their own dreams. They didn't get many chances to meet due to their differing lifestyles, unfortunately, but he couldn't complain.

Haru and Rin were working hard to achieve their olympic goals, and he would support them wholeheartedly.

Besides, it's not like they never got to meet anymore. Haru was still a big part of his life in Tokyo and they got to spend time together almost any chance they got.

As for Rin...

Well his visits from Australia were always a joy. It was as if he had never left, really.

And today would be no different.

He felt a surge of excitement as he pulled out his phone, knowing full-well that his fiery friend had arrived in Tokyo just two days ago.

[ TO: RIN ] I have the day free tomorrow! Want to go to the aquarium with me? There's something I'd really like to show you.

The gentle giant smiles as he reads over his message. It felt nice being able to text the other so freely now.

[ SEND ]

#;answers #samezukashark #(( omgggg this took me forever to write ))#(( especially cuz i had to rewrite everything twice lol ))#(( honestly this made me kind of emotional ;w; ))#;headcanon #;saved

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mistresseast · 4 years ago

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Here is my shuake temporary amnesia threadfic I posted to Twitter earlier! Presented to you in screenshots for the full cinematic experience of being spammed with gross fluff on your timeline. The complete text is under the cut in case you don’t want to or can’t wade through all of those images ❤️

The procedure was really simple. Akira’s appendix hadn’t burst or anything, it was just inflamed and the doctor decided to have it removed as a precaution. Nothing to get worked up about, Goro kept telling himself. His husband would be in and out within a day, no hospital stay required.

Akira was all jokes before the surgery, teasing Goro about putting on a nurse’s outfit to take care of him at home, and Goro just said something threatening about suppositories, which earned a cheeky laugh.

It didn’t take long, and the other thieves showed up right as Akira was getting out. He was pretty woozy as the anesthesia wore off, but Goro was just relieved everything had gone perfectly, according to the surgeon.

When Goro comes back, eyes red-rimmed but dry, the thieves are visibly struggling to hold it together. Ryuji is facing the corner, shoulders shaking. Ann and Futaba are clinging to each and Haru has her hand over her mouth. Makoto is holding her head like she has a headache.

Except when Akira is coherent again, he’s...weird. He keeps avoiding Goro’s eyes and he barely responds to the others when they speak to him. Goro tries to take his hand, and he locks up, going pale. The others just watch, looking awkward, and Goro excuses himself, suddenly feeling ill.

Akira is sitting up in bed, beaming.

“What happened?” Goro asks.

Sumi smiles innocently. “Nothing.”

Goro eyes them all with suspicion. “The neurologist will be here soon to clear him for discharge.”

“Great,” Ann squeaks.

“Somehow, I do not think--” Yusuke starts before two of the others shush him.

Well, that’s weird, but when are the thieves not weird? Goro is more interested in Akira, who’s staring at him with a crooked grin.

“Feeling better?” Goro asks, retaking his seat.

“I am now that you’re here,” Akira says, flashing him a wink.

Goro squints at him. “Are you sure? You were pretty out of it earlier. I can go get a doctor—”

“That was nothing,” Akira insists. “I was just surprised to wake up to someone so pretty waiting at my bedside.”

“Oh is that what it was.” Rolling his eyes, Goro sits forward to guide Akira back down against the pillows. “You shouldn’t be sitting up. You’ll pop your stitches.”

“Yes, sir.” Akira lies back obediently and catches Goro’s hand when he tries to pull away. “I can think of some more fun ways to pop them, anyway. Are you free later?”

Goro stares at him while Futaba lets out a hysterical giggle and Makoto mumbles something.

“You think you’re so cute,” Goro says eventually. “The doctor said to hold off on that for at least a week.”

"Oh, right." Akira hitches up his coy smile. "What's your schedule like in a week, then?"

Cheeks warm, Goro cuts his eyes to the others, who are all studiously avoiding looking at the bed. "What's gotten into you?" he scolds. Akira is never this…overt in public.

Akira's smile droops. "I...sorry, I—" He flicks a glance at the others as well, and Goro catches Ann giving an encouraging little hand wave.

"What?" Goro directs at her. "Is something wrong?"

She shakes her head quickly, eyes wide and glittering.

"Everything's fine," Akira insists. "I was just...uh, wondering if, after I'm recovered, you'd like to grab some coffee or something?"

Goro furrows his brows at him. "You realize that's a ridiculous question, right? What are you playing at?"

"But—you—" Frowning, Akira darts a look down at the ring encircling Goro's fourth finger, then over at the rest of his friends. "You guys—"

Futaba bursts out laughing and Ryuji nearly keels over from the force of his own elated wheezing. Makoto pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Sorry," Akira mumbles, releasing Goro's hand, cheeks red. "I guess they thought it'd be funny to play a trick on a sick person."

"A trick?" Goro repeats blankly.

"Of course you're already taken, someone as hot as you—" Akira scrubs a hand through his hair. "I saw your ring but they said it wasn't—you weren't—"

Realization clicks in Goro's head and he angles a glare at the others, which apparently breaks the final seal because the remaining thieves, minus Makoto, dissolve into helpless giggling.

"I'm really sorry," Akira continues, oblivious. "If I knew, I wouldn't have hit on you, but you're just so...and when I woke up and saw you being so nice to me, I thought, you know—" he grimaces.

"Oh my god." Goro rubs his temples.

"When you left, I asked them if you were single and they said yes, but they were just taking me for a ride." Akira scowls at the others. "Not cool, guys."

Futaba snorts. She has her phone out and pointed at them but Goro can't worry about that at the moment. "Akira, how much do you remember right now?"

Akira shrugs. "Everything's pretty hazy. I figured you all had to be my friends since you don't look like family and you were all really happy when I woke up, but I can't remember the specifics. That happens with anesthesia sometimes, right?"

"Yes, it—" Goro breaks off on a sigh.

"Look, I'm really sorry again," Akira says earnestly, "—and I hope this doesn't make things awkward with us, but I just wanna say that I hope whoever you're with knows how lucky they are."

"Oh, they do," Ryuji pipes up. "They never shut up about it!"

The others all snicker and Goro wishes he was close enough to elbow Ryuji in the gut.

"Good." Akira smiles sadly, putting Goro in mind of a kitten left in the rain. "Who is it, anyway? Do I know them?"

Goro makes a strained noise in the back of his throat. "Akira, it's you."

Akira blinks. "What?"

Digging in his pocket, Goro produces a simple silver band and grabs Akira's hand. "You're the person I'm with, we're married—" he slides the ring into Akira's unresisting finger. "And your friends are all assholes."

Akira stares slack-jawed at his ring. "Wait, really?" He glances between Goro and the others. "Really?"

Goro nods with another sigh while the others struggle to compose themselves.

"Sorry," Ann says, at least looking a little contrite. "When we realized he didn't remember you, we just couldn't resist."

"We owe you," Sumi titters. "Please don't be mad! We'll make it up to you!"

"You absolutely will," Goro grumbles, already planning just how he's going to make the thieves pay for this.

"Hang on—" Akira snags Goro's hand again, eyes shining. "We're really married?"

"Yes," Goro answers patiently. "For nearly two years."

"Holy shit," Akira marvels. "How did I manage that?"

"Here we go," Futaba groans.

Goro shoots her a warning look before reaching over and smoothing Akira's fringe off his forehead. "Hopefully you'll remember that on your own soon." He doesn't really want to recount the whole operatic series of events.

Akira leans shamelessly into the touch, a dopey smile growing on his face.

The neurologist assures them that Akira's brain is fine and that this kind of disorientation is common after general anesthesia. Nevertheless, he stays in the hospital until his memories start returning.

"Look at it this way," Ann suggests while Akira hides his face in embarrassment and Goro signs his discharge papers. "Now you both know that Akira's not just into you because you tried to kill him."

Goro still isn't pleased with the thieves, but he's starting to see the humor in the situation. "That's definitely a load off my mind. Though now I'll have to rethink our anniversary plans."

Akira whines something that sounds like "please stop"

"I did quite enjoy hearing about how hot I am, though."

Akira lowers his hands, pouting petulantly. "I tell you that all the time."

"You should remind me more often."

"Oh?" Some familiar impishness sparks in Akira's gaze. "So you like when I praise you?"

"Your memories must still be hazy because that's not a secret."

"Please don't do this," Makoto begs.

Laughing, Akira ignores her and makes grabby hands at Goro. Smirking, Goro sets his clipboard aside and leans forward, allowing Akira to pull him into a kiss.

It's just as sweet as always.

#shuake #akeshu #shuake fic #my fic #isablogging

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queen-ofsunflowers · 3 years ago

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Literal Theatre Kid Ren, Act 3: Autumn of Fate

Please note that, as always, times given in each game have been messed around with a little to make things work out. Especially concerning A3 and the dates for Autumn Troupe and their performances. Also like before, relationships between characters have been messed around for some plot elements to work.

Contains minor spoilers for Persona 5 Royal. I haven’t touched upon it for the most part because these summary posts are meant to cover major plot events. This also ended up being way longer than the other parts, so heads-up about that, too.

Chapter 1: My Portrait, I

This one starts out a little... differently compared to the other acts. It’s time for that time-flashback fuckery from the majority of P5, with a lot of the stuff crammed into this first chapter.

It starts out with Ren handcuffed to a chair in the middle of an interrogation room. It’s the usual song and dance from the beginning of the game, Ren getting the shit kicked out of him by the police despite ya know... still being a minor. He signs a confession to being the leader of the Phantom Thieves and a confession to all their crimes: obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons... and manslaughter.

Eventually, he’s moved to a more secure location. A prosecutor comes to interrogate him about his actions as a Phantom Thief... and this is Makoto’s older sister, Sae. She is understandably pissed off when she sees the state that he’s in, but she has a job to do. She’s the prosecutor in charge of handling the Phantom Thieves’ case after all. She’s going to talk to their leader, search for motives and ask questions about what really happened.

And so, the interrogation begins. Ren recalls the script he had written out for this with some help from a few friends of this -- Tsuzuru, Makoto and a third one that he doesn’t quite name yet. They prepared for everything that he might be asked, and Ren’s able to answer her questions that Sae’s asking him. He tells his story with a certain performance he recently did lingering in the back of his mind as he does so. Though Sae might not fully believe him about the Metaverse and what the Thieves have done there, she’s still willing to hear him out. All the while, Ren is careful to not mention any of the Phantom Thieves true names (if he absolutely has to, he’s been using codenames), to not mention a connection to the Mankai Company... to not give away the names and faces of his accomplices. To him, Sae must think that he’s acted alone.

He gets up to the end of summer and how the Phantom Thieves actually didn’t do anything to Medjed when Sae calls him out on the beginnings of a particular incident that caused him to be in the position he is in now. It was their next target where they made a grave mistake. Ren leans back and thinks about what happened at the end of summer to cause the dominos to fall where they did.

...and it all started with the auditions for Autumn Troupe, right at the end of summer break.

Chapter 2: Autumn Auditions

Time rewinds to the day in question. Ren and Ryuji had to go help Futaba out after she had gotten a bit overwhelmed while she was out. Normally, she would’ve called Kazunari, but she had done so well at the beach and with closing night that she didn’t want to disappoint him. That’s why she texted the group chat for help. Ren reassures her that needing help isn’t something to be ashamed of as the three of them head into the Mankai Theater to meet up with Izumi and the Summer Troupe.

Auditions for Autumn Troupe are today, and initially the troupe thinks that Ryuji’s there to audition after Ren mentions that he reached out to someone, but both boys are quick to blow that notion away. Ryuji wasn’t the one that Ren asked to come.

The first two people to show up are Omi Fushimi -- the photographer who helped out the Summer Troupe -- and a boy with bright red and black hair named Taichi Nanao. Omi is the one that Ren invited to audition after seeing his love of theatre a few months back. Taichi, on the other hand, makes a first impression by trying to flirt with Yuki and Futaba.

The next to show is a boy with slicked back hair named Juza Hyodo. This is one person that Muku apparently seems to recognize, but one word from Juza is enough to stamp that out. Still, it is a bit suspicious. Before anyone could ask what was up with that, there’s a small scuffle from outside.

It’s Ann trying to shove someone through a door. This is the final auditionee that she introduces as her cousin, Banri Settsu. Apparently, she got the idea to convince Banri to audition for Mankai.. okay, she doesn’t convince him, but she did drag his ass down there. This argument lasts the whole way to the theater. Seeing Juza and Ren there is the only thing that gets Banri to shut up and agree. He has beef with both of them, Juza more so than Ren. He still just hasn’t gotten a fight from Ren yet, remember?

Ren thinks this is a bad idea, especially with Juza and Banri nearly start fighting each other. Ann really doesn’t care. They need five troupe members, and he can’t do it because of his stage fright. She claims Banri can do it, but after seeing his attitude... yeah, that’s up in the air for now.

...it looks like Autumn Troupe is already starting to become a handful...

Chapter 3: The Last One

Everyone’s lead towards the stage to audition, with Banri and Juza still looking like they’re about to fight each other at any given moment. Izumi’s prepared to start, although she’s still waiting for the person she invited to show up.

And as if on cue, Sakyo shows up to audition, surprising the rest of the company and the Thieves present outside of Ren since Morgana had already let him know about this. He’s still confused about why Sakyo actually showed up -- even after Izumi explains that despite threatening to shut it down, he still cares about the place, but it’s five people. As long as they pass the audition, it’s all they need.

And so, the auditions begin.

Chapter 4: Serious about Acting

Everything goes... fairly well, actually. It’s apparent that Omi and Juza are new to this, but Taichi seems comfortable on stage and Banri and Sakyo are really good at acting. The latter ends up surprising Ren (and gets an ‘I told you so’ from Ann) since Banri had no stage experience. Although even she has to agree with the others that his attitude could use an overhauling when he makes fun of Juza’s wooden acting.

Possibly because they need all the actors that they can get, all five of the auditionees pass. Though, Ren still thinks that Banri needs to get his head out of his ass. It’s like Tenma was during his audition, but worse since it has no grounds. He’s just trying to start shit for the sake of starting shit.

The troupes and the Thieves split off there, with the former heading back to the dorms. Ann reminds Ren to be careful. Banri still wants a fight. Ren can’t make any clear promises, but if worse comes to worse, he’ll convince Morgana to shred something.

Chapter 5: Room Splitting and More

As Ren expected, the members of the Autumn Troupe agree to move into the dorms tomorrow. And as such, he tells them about his probation to get it out of the way, giving them the abridged version of what he told Summer Troupe. This makes Taichi a bit nervous while surprising Omi and Juza since ya know... Ren really doesn’t look like that kind of person (he’s not, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time). The only ones who show no reaction are Banri and Sakyo.

With Banri, Ren understands. They go to the same school, and Ren’s record was leaked there back in Spring. He already knows. The question is why the hell Sakyo didn’t react. The only conclusions Ren can come to are that he’s just that good an actor that Ren can’t read him, or he already knew ahead of time. Maybe Izumi told him...?

Speaking of which, while Ren isn’t going to say it to his face, he has to agree when Morgana says that Sakyo is crazy for suggesting Banri and Juza room together. Unfortunately though, despite the protests, this is the combination that the go with. Ren thinks it’s crazy, and he’s just waiting for the moment that a fist fight breaks out. It’s not going to take long, but at this rate, Sakyo’s not going to be able to keep them in line forever.

...irony is that Banri and Juza are both older than him, too.

So pretty much at this point, the only ones from Autumn that Ren gets along with are Omi, Juza and Sakyo for the most part. He and Taichi are kind of on the rocks because Taichi takes rumors Banri’s brought up and the thing about Ren’s criminal record too seriously. And Ren thinks Banri’s just an ass. Likewise, Banri is still calling Ren “Brat” rather than his actual name because of a lot of the shit that Ren’s been commenting on. Boy does not hold back.

Chapter 6: Sparks Fly

The next day marks the end of summer vacation, and the students of the groups have to return to school. And Ren didn’t realize how much the whole thing with Medjed over the summer seemed to rock the boat. It seems like all that everyone at school is talking about are the Phantom Thieves. Their popularity has skyrocketed overnight (or over the past few weeks, everyone was mostly too focused on Summer Troupe’s show and helping out Futaba to notice). This is something that Ryuji gets really excited about, even going as far as revealing their identities at the meeting after school. This is immediately shut down.

Right now, with school starting up again and the Autumn Troupe show not until November, the Phantom Thieves are looking for two things: a new possible target (not a problem thanks to the rankings and a poll on the Phan Site) and the mystery culprit behind the mental shutdowns. They conclude that the best way to go about the latter is by getting data from the source... aka Sae Niijima. She’s the one investigating the cases, so she’s bound to have something on her computer. With a little program that Futaba has written, the task of getting said data is left with an apprehensive Makoto.

The Thieves who attend Hanasaki (basically everyone at this point excluding Futaba, Morgana and Yusuke) are also heading out on their class trip next week, so that needs to be done pretty soon. Ren’s still kind of surprised that the location is Hawaii of all places, but he’s really not going to complain about it.

Please take note that Banri can’t go on the school trip due to rehearsals. Yes, he’s pissed off about it. Ren decides it would be best not to bring it up on Saturday when Autumn Troupe moves in. He urges Yusuke to keep his mouth shut about his own class trip to L.A. too, just in case as the pair of them help the new troupe members move into the dorms.

Everyone’s moved in by the time dinner rolls around... but not everyone shows up for dinner. So, Ren is sent to check on the missing two -- Juza and Banri -- with Omi and Taichi tagging along. As Ren expected would happen sooner or later, the two of them are fighting each other... and not just verbally this time, either. Fist involved and everything.

Ren... really doesn’t think before he acts in this case. While Omi manages to restrain Juza and pull him back. Ren’s body kind of moves on its own and Joker takes over. It’s like he’s ambushing a Shadow in the Metaverse when he manages to knock Banri to the floor and keep him there. It takes Ren a second to realize what he did, and with Taichi’s help, they eventually force Banri out of the room.

While Ren hopes that move he pulled off will keep Banri from trying to fight him for some time, it did come with a downside. Taichi is more nervous around him.

Later that night in a video chat with the other Thieves, Ren is reassured by Makoto and Ryuji that Taichi’s not gonna be scared of him forever. Ren’s only terrifying when fighting Shadows. Outside, he’s like a cat. Using Morgana as an example helps, especially since everyone in the troupe seems to love him.

On the plus side, Makoto also managed to snag the data from Sae’s laptop. Over the next week while they’re all on their class trips, Futaba will be going through it all to see what she can find out that will be helpful to them.

Chapter 7: My Portrait, II

Time returns to the interrogation room when Ren’s story is brought to a halt by Sae. Ren’s partially slipped up in terms of telling Sae how they swiped the information that they had. The woman is smarter than she looks, easily figuring out that it was Makoto who did the deed. When questioned further, Ren says nothing.

He’s thinking about his team, his friends, his...

He’ll do anything he has to protect everyone that he cares about -- whether they be from the Phantom Thieves or from the Mankai Company. They trust him, after all. He has to believe in that trust or the show will be ruined before the final act.

He dismisses the notion, remembering what one of his friends told him while they were writing out the script for this little performance. He turns the question back on Sae, wondering why -- if Makoto really was a part of this -- she didn’t notice it at all. They do live together, don’t they? They are sisters. Sae falls quiet. This wasn’t something that Ren wanted to do, but if it’ll help him protect them, then he’ll do it.

Seeing the point his story has come to, Sae asks him about what happened the week of his class trip. Ren begins to recall what lead up to the school trip, and what exactly she’s talking about... and how despite what the police all concluded... the Phantom Thieves had no hand in it at all. How they weren’t responsible for his school’s principal’s death.

Chapter 8: The Economist’s Dictatorship

As Ren and Yusuke are packing for their class trips later that week, they and the rest of the Mankai Company are called down to the common area for an all-troupe meeting. Everyone is confused as to what’s going on, including Izumi. She wasn’t the one who called the meeting.

It was Sakyo, who’s kind of taken the reins from Izumi in terms of being in-charge. The dorms rules are being revamped due to the debt that the company is in. Every little bit counts, and Sakyo has made that very clear with the new rules he’s laid down. They’re even being timed for baths...

...Ren won’t admit this out loud to Yusuke, but there’s the possibility that Sakyo could help him with his own budget... seriously, he spends all his money on art supplies. It’s kind of concerning at this point. ...that would be if the rules he’s put in place weren’t as unreasonable as they were. Cutting the breakers at lights out? That’s pushing it.

Even if he is a part of the troupe now, there’s no way Sakyo is going to forget about their debt. The previous shows had brought it down a little, but it’s still not enough.

A ten million yen debt, changing society one heart at a time and trying to find a mysterious culprit behind the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns. ...this isn’t something for teenagers to worry about, but here Ren and Yusuke are.

It is also during this conversation that it gets brought up what the Autumn Troupe thinks of the Phantom Thieves. Taichi thinks that they’re pretty dang cool. Juza only shrugs (Muku’s a fan of the Phantom Thieves, remember? He doesn’t wanna disagree), and Omi’s just one the fence because while they are helping people, he doesn’t like that no one knows how they’re doing it. Sakyo thinks they’re reckless morons. And finally, because of the stuff that happened at school (and with Kamoshida especially), Banri can’t say much about it. He’s neutral on that matter but refuses to admit that he is grateful for what they did to Kamoshida a few months back.

Say what you will about the Mankai boys in general, but we all know that they chug that Respect Women Juice. Banri included. He took no shit from Kamoshida, especially when it came to Ann and by extension, Shiho.

Chapter 9: Kame Buns

While Autumn Troupe starts their rehearsals, the group of Ren, Masumi, Ann and Ryuji head out on their class trip with Makoto and Sakuya there to supervise. Apparently some third years got roped into the trip this way because of all the drama going on around the school. The remaining members of Spring, Summer and Futaba are doing a pretty good job at keeping the rest updated on what’s going on back at home.

futaba primarily because she has bugged both kazunari’s and tsuzuru’s phones. only tsuzuru knows, but he’s not sure how to get rid of it.

So when they land and Ren gets the text that Banri was chosen for the leader of the Autumn Troupe, he is so glad that he’s currently in Hawaii. Dealing with that argument would’ve been a headache. Ann assures him that he is a decent guy under all the attitude. To her, maybe. Ren’s still only “Brat” in his mind.

He’s just kind of shoved all of that in the back of his mind. This is a trip, they’re supposed to have fun as a lot of people remind him. So. they spend the day on the beach. And even though they’re supposed to not be working, Ren’s mind wanders to the Phan Site when Kazunari sends him some screenshots about the latest rankings. Masumi and Ryuji do not help this at all.

Chapter 10: A Disinterested Man

The next day, a couple of things happen. Ren gets a bit concerned with how focused Ryuji is on the Phantom Thieves’ popularity because apparently that’s followed them here.

The next is that Yusuke shows up. Apparently, there was a storm over Los Angeles that wasn’t clearing up, forcing his class to land there. Which means that just about everyone’s together for this part of the class trip. Sakuya even tries to pull in another third year to join their group when he sees that she’s by herself, but that fails. and yes we’re talking about haru

That night, Masumi and Ryuji -- who is spending the night in Masumi’s and Ren’s room that night after being locked out of his own -- keep talking about the rankings on the Phan Site. The current #1 is a CEO by the name of Okumura who exploits his employees by doing things like underpaying staff.

Ren listens, but he really wishes that they would stop. At least Ann -- who was also locked out of her room and is now bunking with the boys -- seems to be on his side. It’s a trip. It’s a break from everything. They should worry about work when they get back. Thank you, Ann.

The last major thing is that Masumi ends up getting sick after drinking the tap water by accident. Never change, Masumi. Never change.

Chapter 11: A Mismatched Buddy Pair

Third and final day of the trip. I am not sure who Ren is going to spend this day with. At all. In the game, it’s either the guys or one of the girls that he has a confidant with. But I’m still not sure about if I’m gonna do a ship with Ren at this point.

So for fun, I’m just gonna say that he does spend time with someone. Yusuke repeatedly calls it a date that multiple people grill and tease Ren about a little. Ren refuses to say anything about who it was. Because I can’t make up my mind.

And so, the class trip comes to an end and the gang returns back to Japan. And yes, they did bring back souvenirs for just about everyone. Ren has a whole bag of them from Ann that he deposits on Banri’s lap. The only person that Ren can’t find is Tsuzuru, who has begun holing himself up in his room to write the script. Ren’s a bit excited to get a look at it and see what he’s planning since he was out while the discussion for it was going on.

Unfortunately, all that excitement flies out the window the next day when the Thieves return to class and receive some dark news: their school’s principal was killed. The current investigation leads police to believe that it was a suicide, but the circumstances surrounding it have the Thieves on edge. The whole thing played out exactly like a mental shutdown. Needless to say, they call a meeting and meet up at the dorms. They had too, anyway. Futaba has the data from Sae’s computer to show them.

It seems like luck that no one suspects that the Phantom Thieves are behind it, so that’s good at least. But it does seem like a lot of people are rooting for the Phantom Thieves to do something similar, aiming to fix society’s problems when they’re just a bunch of teenagers doing what they can to help people.

Trying to forget the weight of all that for just a moment, the meeting turns to the original topic at hand: the data concerning the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns that Futaba mined from Sae’s computer. Most of the cases are believed to be tied back to the Okumura Foods Company, namely its CEO Kunikazu Okumura. This is the man who’s currently at the top of the poll on the Phan Site. While everyone was away, Futaba had put his name into the MetaNav and ended up getting a hit. He has a Palace.

For Ryuji, that’s good enough, but the rest of the thieves aren’t so sure. Just because the public is calling for it, doesn’t mean that they should follow. Besides, the comments that most people are making online are a bit concerning to most of them. They’re hesitating and nervous about what to do now.

And causes something inside of Morgana that Ren hadn’t noticed was there to snap, a lot of resentment and anger that the cat hasn’t let out before exploding outwards. And the target of it all is Morgana’s usual target for insults -- Ryuji.

Despite everyone -- Ren especially -- trying to calm the pair down, the argument they end up having just gets worse and worse. Morgana hasn’t just been insulting Ryuji, it’s been returned in kind whether Ryuji realizes it or not. And a lot of it has been coming from making Morgana feel like he’s becoming useless every time a new member joins the team.

Basically it’s a lot of shit that has been building up for a while that no one noticed finally getting out in the open in the worst way possible because neither Morgana or Ryuji are listening. Morgana eventually just gets fed up with it and leaves, saying that he’ll take care of the Palace by himself. Despite everyone’s calls, Morgana’s gone.

When Ren wakes up and Morgana is still nowhere to be seen, the first thing that he does is check in with the others and their dorms. He even searches the empty ones to see if the cat has retreated inside of them. No luck. The Spring and Summer Troupes help search for Morgana that afternoon along with most of the Phantom Thieves, but no one can find him anywhere. Ren is absolutely distraught by the whole thing and has stopped speaking to Ryuji altogether because of how upset he is. Ryuji thinks Ren is blowing this out of the water and Morgana will be back in no time.

Ryuji brings this up while he’s out looking for Morgana with the Summer Troupe. It’s not that surprising, as few of them note. Morgana’s almost always by Ren’s side or in his arms when he’s not prowling around the dormitory. He brings him to school for god’s sake. The troupe wonders why Morgana ran off in the first place, since while Ren does let him wonder, he never has left the dorms. Ryuji tries to explain the best he can since Kazunari’s the only one who probably would be able to get the whole truth. Needless to say, it comes down to “you had an argument with a cat”.

Ryuji is also reminded of something he told Tenma just a few weeks ago: yelling isn’t going to do anything. Talking things out will, and Ryuji did the exact opposite of that because of the Phantom Thieves popularity getting to his head... Ryuji’s starting to regret a lot of what he said, and that turns to a lot of regret when no one can find Morgana anywhere.

And yes, he’s gonna face the consequences of his actions here. Morgana will too, but in due time.

Meanwhile, someone breaks into Okumura Foods main office building. It doesn’t take long for the Phantom Thieves to realize that this is Morgana. So, the next day, they go to investigate. Luckily, the building is also Okumura’s Palace and Futaba figured out the keywords while everyone was gone. The thieves dive into the Palace -- a space station this time -- and begin their search for their missing member.

Along the way, they see that maybe the rankings on the Phan Site weren’t unfounded. The Palace is filled with burnt-out robots that are meant to represent how Okumura sees his employees in reality. They are tired and broken but keep on working until they literally fall apart. It’s a shitty situation, but the Thieves have a different mission right now. They need to find Morgana before making any other moves.

It doesn’t take them very long to find Morgana... or rather, for Morgana to find them. The Thieves are barred from going on any further by a door that has a biometric lock to it. Only those registered in the system can get passed it. While they try to figure out what to do, a voice calls out to them. It’s a girl in a Phantom Thief costume like theirs and wearing a black mask.

At first, they suspect that she’s the one who’s been behind the mental shutdowns due to the fact that they only clue they have so far is that they’ve been wearing a black mask. But then Morgana shows up alongside her. Apparently, this is his new partner that he introduces as “Beauty Thief”. Much like the Phantom Thieves, she is a Persona User, too (though Futaba notes that her Persona isn’t very strong compared to theirs).

It’s quickly made apparent that this girl... really has no idea what she’s doing. She’s primarily repeating what Morgana has told her for the most part. The one thing that does surprise the Thieves, however, is that the girl is able to get through the biometric lock blocking their path. There’s no time to ask about that, as the team has to split up when it’s revealed that a horde of Shadows was waiting for them on the other side. Everyone returns home for the day with the promise to talk about what the heck just happened once everyone is at their homes again.

When Ren and Yusuke get back to the dorms, Ren explains their absence as them going out to look for Morgana again after school with the Thieves. It’s not a total lie, since that’s what they were actually doing. But no one needs to know exactly where he was looking.

Unfortunately, while everyone accepts that and understands that, there’s one person who’s confused about what the hell Ren keeps looking for Morgana so much.

“It’s just a cat,” says Banri without thinking about what he’s saying, “I don’t see what the problem--” Bam.

Ren’s finally snapped and has punched Banri in the face. Yeah, he’s not taking any of his shit today. Banri does get the fight he’s been wanting, but at what cost? ...to be honest, it’s mostly just Banri trying to get a hit in and Ren’s Joker instincts taking over. He’s mad enough that at this point, if he could, he would’ve summoned Arsene in the real world.

It takes Omi, Juza and Yusuke prying the two apart for Ren to calm down. He’s pushed out of the dorms by Taichi and Yusuke, who suggest taking another look around to see if Morgana’s wondered home. Ren knows that he hasn’t. He doesn’t know if he ever will. But this is mostly an effort to get Ren to cool off. He’s just so done.

Ironically, two good things come out of this fight. The first is that Banri finally got the fight that he wanted, and realizes “holy shit, what the fuck is this kid?” Banri also gets smacked upside the head and lectured about the whole thing. The company is pissed over Banri’s comment, not just Ren. Morgana’s been at the company since Spring Troupe, so a lot of the members have become used to the cat’s presence and have grown to care about him, too.

The second good thing is that Taichi starts to relax around Ren. As Izumi explains to Banri and how Yusuke & Ren explain to Taichi, Morgana was a stray that Ren had taken in and had been with him since his probation started. Ren loves Morgana, which is why he’s so upset that Morgana is gone and why he’s not talking to Ryuji -- who is responsible for it and is trying to make things better. It’s that story about Ren adopting Morgana that gets Taichi to let his guard down around Ren. Maybe the rumors were wrong after all.

Once everyone has calmed down, Taichi, Ren and Yusuke head back to the dorms. Before the latter two head upstairs to the attic to call and talk to the thieves about what happened in the Palace, though, there's the little matter of Banri's and Ren’s fight to deal with. They're not going to get out of it so easily and there's one other person who has had enough of their crap.

Needless to say, the handcuffs get pulled out slightly earlier than they do in canon, as Sakyo handcuffs Ren and Banri together as punishment for their actions. Banri and Juza are bad, but Banri's ability to get under Ren's skin like he has been is a major issue. Sakyo has the slightest bit of mercy to release them in the mornings for school, but that's it. The moment that both boys are back at the Mankai dorms, the handcuffs are going back on.

So the entire "meeting" has to take place over text because Banri can't know about the Phantom Thieves. Ann drives this point home, saying he would lose his shit if he knew she was involved. The whole situation with Kamoshida made him fairly protective.

Ren is dragged down to Room 104 (Banri’s and Juza’s room) since Banri refuses to sleep in the attic. Over text, there is one thing that they can agree on: most of them have seen Beauty Thief before. Specifically at Hanasaki. They’ll deal with it tomorrow because Ann stop laughing about the handcuffs, it’s not funny. I can’t pick the lock, IT’S NOT FUNNY--

Meanwhile, Hell begins. Ren and Banri are butting heads even more since Ren drags him out of bed that morning for rehearsals against his will. It is not fun, Izumi’s starting to think that this was a mistake because of how different the two are when it comes to acting. Banri lacks a passion for it -- initially auditioning to prove that he was better at something than Juza. Ren, on the other hand, is passionate despite having stage fright.

When Banri finds out about Ren’s stage fright during rehearsal that day, the idea of sticking them together only worsens. Banri doesn’t understand Ren’s fear of criticism and being torn down because of how easy things have been for him. Ren’s ready to call him out on this shit without hesitation. Like I said, he’s lost all fucks when it comes to Banri. They start fighting about it, getting under each other’s skin because Ren has been working on his stage fright with using the Metaverse as a stage and the others Thieves as his audience. But there’s nothing he can say about it. Their argument continues to get worse when Banri calls Ren a coward for getting upset about something that’s so easy to do. They are both freed and sent out the door to school before the fight could get worse.

During lunch that day, Ren, Ryuji, Ann and Makoto search through the student records to find the face that closely matches their Beauty Thief. With the unique hairstyle that she has, it doesn’t take long to find her: one third year named Haru Okumura, Kunikazu Okumura’s daughter.

Ren and Banri both accidentally run into her outside of the school after classes end (Ren was waiting for everyone else so they could walk home together and possibly confront Haru there as well). The two boys avoid talking to each other the whole time, still on thin ice after last night. Ren feels lucky that Banri quickly leaves, having enough of being around Ren at the dorms that he doesn't want to deal with him at school (which confuses Haru a little bit, he’s helped her with her gardening supplies before). Now alone, Ren takes the opportunity to ask Haru about what happened last night. And so, Haru explains.

The night that Morgana had left, Haru had found him out on the street. She followed him towards the office building and accidentally got pulled into the Metaverse with him. He gave her the chance to change her father’s heart and possibly make her relationship with him a little better. When Ren suggests that maybe they could do that together, Haru declines. The Phantom Thieves are too much in the public eye, and to her, they seemed to be focused more on that then helping their own teammate (Morgana).

Ren, though hurt to hear that, steps down. It doesn’t seem like Morgana is going to come home at this point. All he says before leaving is to take care of Morgana for him, and that to let him know that the rest of the troupe misses him, too. Not just the Thieves. Haru is a bit confused by this since right now, she doesn’t know that Ren’s a part of the Mankai Company. She knows about it because of the publicity surrounding Romeo and Julius and say what you will, but I can see Haru going to see plays and the like from time to time. Because Mankai is such a small company, she has to sneak out to see their performances because they’re frowned upon. But she really enjoys seeing them. She just doesn’t know that Ren is a part of it, unlike Makoto who figured it out herself from small context clues.

Anyway, back to the situation at hand. The Phantom Thieves are at a lost as to what to do now, and Ren is notably upset during Autumn Troupe’s rehearsals that afternoon. Banri thinks its girl troubles when it comes up since he saw Ren talking to Haru earlier, but Ren just says that it’s not something that he’d be able to understand, bringing it around back to Morgana. Banri goes quiet. He still doesn’t get why the hell Ren’s so upset about the cat when cats are meant to wander like that. There are a lot of them on the streets, anyway. Ren says nothing. Morgana’s more than just a cat. He's a friend. A friend that Ren is deeply worried about.

The next day is when things take a turn. The Thieves have noticed that someone’s completing Mementos requests on the Phan Site, and quickly deduce that it’s most likely Haru and Morgana. They want a chance to talk with Morgana to make things right (mostly Ryuji, who at this point realizes how much he’s fucked up), as well as to warn Haru to be careful when it comes to dealing with heart changes in Mementos. Taking them all on like this could draw unwanted attention, too.

This actually works when they find them, but Ryuji’s apology... not so much. It leads to a goose chase with the Thieves trying to track down and talk to Morgana, as well as Ren and Ryuji finally talking to each other again and Ryuji admitting that he really did fuck up and apologizing for letting things going to his head. By the time that happens, Haru and Morgana have already left Mementos.

The Phantom Thieves leave shortly after, trying to figure out what to do and if they can still catch up to Haru and Morgana in reality. ...they’re able to, but only when they’re drawn to a side street by the sound of Morgana’s whines. They race over to find Morgana laying against a wall and Haru being accosted by some rich-looking man that introduces himself as Haru’s fiancé when the thieves try to step in. Haru eventually manages to pull herself free and the man leaves. He wasn’t lying about their relationship, but Haru is also shaking and on the verge of tears. Morgana’s also injured, as the man had kicked him into the wall when he tried to defend Haru.

It’s decided that the best course of action is to take both back to the Mankai dorms to regroup, as well as take care of Morgana’s injuries. It’s the least likely place that they’re going to be found, anyway.

When they get there, the Hana High boys are surprised to see Haru, but the switch is swiftly flipped into panic mode when they realize how upset that Haru looks.

Ren goes to pull Izumi to the side to talk to her about something while Sakuya immediately tries to figure out what’s going on and make Haru feel better, but Sakyo gets to him first. Dragging Banri behind him, Sakyo locks the pair together again or at least tries to because right now, it’s a meeting with the Phantom Thieves that needs to happen and Ren’s not doing it over text again. It's Haru's turn to be surprised, but the handcuff thing is explained quickly to her as the more familiar troupe members (i.e. Sakuya and Masumi) and Izumi help her calm down. Morgana, who is hearing all this, now realizes how much Ren actually cares about him. He regrets running away now.

The whole time, Ren is dodging Sakyo like he’s a Shadow in the Metaverse. He has no found a way to pick the lock on the handcuffs, and he is not letting Banri in on the Phantom Thieves’ meeting, so “let me just go this once, come on!”

But the need to take care of Morgana’s injury and talk about what had happened is really, really great right now. And with Ren having not found a way to break the handcuffs or pick the lock (he has tried multiple times and failed to), there’s kind of little to no choice. Ren apologizes before sprinting up to the attic and locking the door behind him, promising that he’ll put them on in an hour if Sakyo just leaves him alone “please this is important, get away from the door!”

It takes a few minutes for Izumi to get Sakyo to leave Ren alone long enough that the Thieves and Haru can get up to the attic. It’s there that they can finally talk about what happened.

Morgana has realized that there’s no way getting around the fact that the deal he made with the Thieves is no longer fair. There’s no guarantee that he’ll get turned back into a human like he believes, so what’s the point? They should split up. It’s then that the Thieves remind him of something: that’s not all they’re fighting for. Everyone’s joined the team for different reasons.

Thanks to Haru’s words about how she really feels towards her fiancé (she hates him with a burning passion to be precise) it comes out that Morgana wanted to be acknowledged by the others so that he could stay. He’s welcome no matter what, though. He’s a part of their little circle. And what happened that week only proved that. It’s here that Ryuji actually apologizes for what happened and vice versa. Morgana wants to stay with everyone if they’ll let him. And they will. Their deal is remade and the team is back together, and this time with one more added to their ranks.

The second that Ren’s back down is when Sakyo slaps the cuffs on him again, much to his dismay. Banri tries to get under Ren’s skin again to find out what the hell the whole escape/acrobatics act was all about, but Ren’s keeping tight lipped on this one, confusing Banri a little. The hell was so important that he needed to slip out like that?

...kid’s got balls, he’ll say that much, but this pretty much is perfect material in Banri’s eyes to keep calling him a brat. Even if he manages to talk Izumi into letting Haru spend the night because she doesn’t want to go home after what happened with her fiancé (he doesn’t say that specifically out of privacy, just that there was some stuff going on).

With Morgana back, he does sleep in the same bed as Ren again. Ren wakes up holding back snickers when he sees Banri sort of curled around Morgana in his sleep, despite his protests about the cat getting anywhere near him last night. He takes a picture of it before waking both up that morning.

The rest of the day goes on as normal, with Haru returning home and the Thieves trying to figure out through text conversation what their next move is: if they should definitely choose Okumura as their next target or not. However, as the day goes on, that choice is quickly made when Haru calls Ren asking if she could come back to the dorm. In the chat, he soon sees why. After last night, Haru’s father has decided to send her to live with her fiancé without regard for what she wants, as well as knowing full well what Haru would be subjected to if that happened. Concerned for Haru’s safety, Okumura becomes their next target. The only issue now is Haru’s Persona -- unlike the others, it is incredibly weak and doesn’t even have a physical form. But she can fight with the weapons that they use. Ren just has to go and get them... as soon as he’s not handcuffed to Banri anymore.

When Haru turns up at the dorms again, so do Ann and Futaba to try and help her get her mind off of what’s going on, and after last night, there’s very little room for the company to argue. But that doesn’t stop Ren from snickering when he overhears Citron, Itaru and Banri getting their asses handed to them by a few players in their game that go by the usernames “Carmen”, “Alibaba” and “Beauty Thief” (coincidentally, Ann and Futaba are snickering every time the boys meet with trouble and Haru’s finally smiling again).

When Taichi enters the room, Ren takes notice that he quickly tries to backtrack when he spots Haru. However, it’s a little too late and Haru has already noticed him. She looks a bit confused and asks Taichi if they've met before, but he stutters over his words and waves it off as a no. Ren is curious, but before he can ask about what that was about, Tsuzuru stumbles into the room with the finished script in hand... and collapses promptly on the floor, making the Phantom Thieves (excluding Yusuke, Ren and Futaba) and Autumn Troupe concerned. They’re relieved to find out he’s just exhausted from non-stop writing for the entire week, and it hits Ren that holy crap. This has all just been one week. But with the script done, they get into The Roman Episode.

Ren’s a little surprised to learn that the play -- an action pact story about two gangsters -- has Banri and Juza as the main leads when neither can get along like their characters do. When this point comes up, it leads to Juza and Banri arguing once more. And once again, Sakyo is left with no choice.

Next thing they know, Sakyo has handcuffed Banri and Juza together in order to make them work together. So now, the situation is like this: Ren is handcuffed to Banri’s left hand and Juza's stuck to him on his right. The situation has gotten worse.

...And Ann finally falls out of her seat in a fit of laughter. Ren wishes he could laugh as well, but seeing as he's stuck here, too... oh boy. This is gonna be harder than he thought.

If they're to tackle Okumura's Palace, Ren’s gonna need to either tell Banri and Juza about the Phantom Thieves or hope that the brief time he has away from them after school will be enough. Either way, he's in trouble.

Chapter 12: Jailhouse Rock

The day is hell. Ren had just gotten his life back together and now it is hell again thanks to two people who shall remain-- it’s Banri Settsu and Juza Hyodo. Ren is trying to plan a heist while getting pulled around by these two. He’s not sure who Banri is worse with -- him or Juza. Either way, this whole thing is a mess and Ren just wants to be done with it. But no matter how hard he (or Morgana) try, they can’t pick the lock. The lock is supposed to be easy to unlock, why isn’t this working?!

Because he’s stuck with them, he sends the others into Mementos to train up a little and help Haru get the hang of Shadows (and maybe find a weapon type that she could possibly use) while he heads out to pick up first aid supplies. That’s the least suspicious thing he can do, anyway. It’s harder than he expects to drag those two out of the house with him, but since he’s the troupe’s gofer most of the time, all it takes is pulling the Izumi Card to convince them to go with him.

Speaking of Izumi, the boys run into her just as they’re prepared to leave as well. So they end up going with her for the most part. Hey, whatever gets things to go easier, Ren’s willing to do at this point. ...or at least, they’ve would’ve gone with her if it weren’t for someone swiping her bag the second that they step out into the street. Both Juza and Ren take off after him, dragging Banri along with them.

It doesn’t take long for Banri to start arguing with Juza, though. Because of the situation, Ren tells Banri and Juza to get their heads out of their asses and move. Instincts have taken over and now Joker's leadership has started to come out. He even calls them codenames that he made up on the spot... which honestly, aren’t really codenames, Ren’s just calling them by their characters’ names. It does work, though.

The three are soon able to work together to head off the thief before he can get too far. When the thief throws a punch at Juza, though... all bets are off. Ren’s not really able to fight back here because of his probation, but he does go with the flow of Banri’s movements to keep him unrestricted, and Banri does actually take into account that Ren can’t take part in this fight too.

By the time Izumi -- as well as Omi and Taichi -- have caught up to them, the thief has already been dealt with. Ren returns to the purse to her, claiming that the thief had wiped out on his own by the time that they caught up to him.

When they get home and tell Sakyo what happened, he finally gives in to the boys’ demands to remove the handcuffs... especially seeing as all three finally worked together. It is a relief to have use of both of his hands again and not have to worry about Banri or Juza looking over his shoulder anymore.

Though... despite the fact that they can work in sync now, Banri and Juza still take to butting heads with each other. However, all it takes to clear that up is another threat of using the handcuffs again. Ren is just happy to be free... and to be able to sleep in his own bed again.

Chapter 13: A Source of Change

Thanks to the trip into Mementos the day before, Haru is hyped and ready to go. And while they haven’t been able to plan out the chance for her to get a better feel for the Metaverse... that and to see if they could awaken her Persona’s full potential. While the former goes off without a hitch, the latter... yeah, they’re going to need to work on that. Luckily, Haru’s found that Ryuji’s weapons seems to handle really well in her hands. For the time being, they’ll be switching off until Ren can take her to Untouchable to get something that suits her best.

That, and Haru wants to fight on the front lines when they get into her father’s Palace. It’s hard to argue with her. Plus, while going through, they finally pick out a codename for her, too. Things go pretty smoothly with their infiltration so far... that is, until the team runs into Okumura’s Shadow, as well as the cognitive version of Haru’s fiancé.

It’s here that Haru is faced with the truth about her father -- what he is really like. How he only thinks about his wins and losses, sees people as tools for his own personal gain... and how he sees her as nothing but a tool, either. He doesn’t care about her feelings at all, willing to leave her to her fiancé to do whatever he wants with.

And as the cognition steps forward, something inside Haru snaps. This was it. This was the push that she needed. Before the cognition can even lay a hand on her, Haru’s Persona awakens to its full potential. Milady comes to her User’s defense, unleashing a massive amount of hellish gunfire on the enemy. Haru manages to take it down by herself, stunning the team. Holy shit, that is a tank.

Despite not being an awakening like a majority of the team’s, it still does take a lot out of Haru because of the massive amount of power she just put out. The Phantom Thieves are forced to retreat for the time being to allow her to recover.

The next morning, before practice, Ren makes plans to go on a supply run with Haru that afternoon, giving her a little more time to take a break and possibly to pick up weapons of her own so she and Ryuji won’t have to bounce back and forth with his anymore. With her Persona now ready to go, things should be smoother for her, and possibly having her own weapons to use would help that.

When rehearsal starts, Banri is a no-show. For the time being, Ren steps in to fill his role. This is partially because there’s no one else to do it, and partially because Ren is determined to show Banri what-for and get over his stage fright. He isn't a coward, he's got this.

Banri only really gets up out of bed just as everyone’s eating breakfast that morning. He needs to pull his act together. He might be the best now, but that’s not going to last long.

Later that night, after a quick supply run and picking up Haru’s weapons (Ren is still stunned that the two she chose were an axe and a grenade launcher, but she was comfortable with them, and he wasn’t going to argue), Ren returns to the dorms just after dinner. He’s not at all surprised to find Juza in the courtyard trying to rehearse his lines, especially since his roommate is... well, Banri.

Juza’s also the one most passionate about acting among Autumn Troupe, even though his skills could use a lot of work. Ren offers to help Juza with his lines. He had done so for the other troupes as well -- Ren bringing up Muku as an example and Juza going suspiciously quiet. Ren gets that passion and drive that Juza has and wants to see it.

Chapter 14: His Name is Kamikizaka

Palace infiltration continues, and Ren thinks that this might be the toughest Palace yet. Seriously, those Shadows are rarely giving them peace and seeing what they do... yeah, Okumura’s mind is a messed up place.

That afternoon, after they finally make it through the Palace and have their route set, Ren and Yusuke walk home with Haru, as both are going the same way and Yusuke wants to discuss the calling card with Haru. It is here that they run into the Autumn Troupe and Izumi out and about doing some streets acts for rehearsal... and Reni Kamikizaka and Haruto from God Troupe. Their last encounter still has a sour taste in Ren’s mouth.

It’s also here that the God Troupe members finally learn Ren’s full name. It is also revealed here that Haru’s family is one of the sponsors for God Troupe -- she’s been to see their shows before. Though the productions are expensive looking and decent, she openly admits to preferring Mankai’s shows better because of how much they put into their storytelling and how much fun they seem to be having.

Ren, Yusuke and Haru walk back with the rest of the company. Unfortunately, though, everyone’s steering clear of Autumn Troupe because of their outward appearances. Omi included, which Ren finds a bit weird because he knows that Omi is one of the sweetest people in the whole company. Not even Haru can make them look better. though that might be because of the axe that she’s trying to conceal. Ren would suggest putting Yusuke at the front, but considering how he MET Yusuke... yeah, that might be a bad move overall.

Chapter 15: On Love, Autumn Edition

With Haru’s help, Yusuke and Ryuji both manage to make the calling card in record time and get it deliver straight to their target’s desk. They dive into the Palace after school. As expected at this point, the Phantom Thieves are confronted by Okumura’s Shadow. While he tries to appeal to and manipulate Haru and Morgana to some extent into betraying the Phantom Thieves, neither are willing to have their minds changed.

Thought the battle is long and difficult as hell, the Phantom Thieves are triumphant by the end of it. As the Shadow breaks down, the Thieves manage to get a little out of him about their mysterious Black Mask: whoever they are, they’re a mercenary that Okumura had been contracting in order to wipe out his competition via mental shutdowns. And that’s all they’re able to get as they swipe the Treasure and the Palace starts to fall. Haru, unlike the others, is worried about her father’s Shadow and is lingering behind, hesitant to leave.

Ren urges Haru not to look back and hurry as the Palace collapses around them. Her father and his Shadow will be fine, but they have to go now, or they won’t be. Though hesitant, Haru nods and the Phantom Thieves rush out of the Palace. Ren, in the coming weeks, will come to greatly regret the decision to do this.

When they return to reality, they give Haru the Treasure’s true form to hold onto for the time being. They also have a bit more information on the mental shutdown culprit, especially since Okumura did reveal that he knew who it was. All they have to wait for now is for him to spill the beans. Things are actually looking up.

So when Ren, Morgana and Yusuke get back to the dorms, they’re in a pretty good mood... until they’re chastised by Sakyo for getting home so late. He’s already in a bad mood for arguing with Yuki about costumes, which the middle schooler refused to budge on the budget and Ren really wished he could’ve seen.

As the boys relax and Ren lets Morgana out of the bag, the topic on conversation turns from the costume budget to their first crushes, as they were talking about how Yuki reminded Taichi of his first crush just before the three Thieves arrived. Ren teases Taichi a little about this until the question gets turned on him.

If Ren is in a relationship or crushing on someone at this point (i have yet to figure out what exactly i’m going to do with that), Yusuke won’t hesitate to say something on the matter. The company takes all the chances they can to tease Ren. Ren is not amused. Morgana calls it karma for him teasing Taichi.

The conversation continues, with Yusuke even getting pulled into the Q&A, though his answer isn’t as pleasing to the group because his is more related to works of art than anything. Ren finds it interesting though, that Sakyo actually does answer the question, albeit partially since he never revealed who it was.

The next morning, the good nature in the air from last night is quickly dissipated when a letter is found outside of Mankai’s mailbox. Someone’s sent them a note saying that if they don’t call off Autumn Troupe’s show, then something bad will happen. Ren briefly wonders if it was the work of someone that he made his enemy as a Phantom Thief. However, he’s quickly reminded that that’s impossible. He made sure to keep those two lives as separate as possible to avoid things like this happening. He wants to protect Mankai, after all. It’s the least he can do after all they’ve done for him.

No one seems to be that worried about the letter, too, which helps put him at ease. With how it was made, it looks like nothing but a prank. When Ren asks if Morgana saw anything, the cat can’t reply. He wasn’t prowling the dorms; he was up in the attic with him all night. Still, if someone tries something, the rest of the company can easily knock them down. Just to be safe, Ren asks Morgana to keep an eye out and report back if he sees anything suspicious.

Chapter 16: One-Man Shows

With the Palace no longer being an issue and all that the Thieves really have left to do is waiting for Okumura to have his change of heart, Ren’s free to attend afternoon rehearsals again.

Yuzo decides to swing by and check out the new Autumn Troupe, much to Sakyo’s annoyance. Seeing as he helped with Spring and Summer, it only makes sense for him to keep doing the same for the rest of the troupes.

And like the troupes that came before them, not even Autumn is free from getting torn apart by Yuzo. The roles were written specifically for these five, but with the way they’re acting, there’s not a trace of them in their characters at all. In order to fix this, Yuzo suggests having them doing portraits -- a short, five-minute biopic on themselves that they write themselves. Once they’re done, they’ll be performing them before an audience at the troupe that Yuzo runs. And the topic? Their biggest regrets. To up the ante, the audience will also be voting on who put on the best show. They have two weeks.

Later that night, Ren gets pulled down from the attic by Juza to help out with his portrait, eventually getting joined by Sakyo and Omi outside in the courtyard. As they discuss the topic that Autumn Troupe was given, Ren is asked what his biggest regret is, or if he even has one. Before, Ren would’ve said that it would be getting put on probation. But looking back on it, that’s what lead him to where he is now. Honestly, though, it comes back to his stage fright.

The fact that he lets other people dictate how he sees one of the two things that he’s most passionate about... that he lets their thoughts take grip like that... if he could change it, he would. If he could let go of the grip that other people’s words have on him, he would, but it’s something that he’s having difficulty getting over. Letting his nerves keep him quiet is the one thing that he regrets the most... for now.

Chapter 17: My Portrait, III

In the interrogation room, Ren takes a pause with his story. His head has begun to hurt, and he’s figured out that it’s not because of the beating that he took. Especially since Sae has figured out that something is up, too.

Ren’s beginning to pause randomly and wince as if in pain, and his words are starting to slur. He had been drugged with something prior to the interrogation, the only thing that Ren can recall it being was something that was to make him tell the truth. Everything was a blur, really... his vision was starting to distort, and he’s having a hard time recalling the script that he had studied for weeks up until this moment.

But after all... as Ren has learned, the show must go on. He has to get through this if everything’s to turn out right... and if he’s to protect those he’s grown to hold close to his heart. And so, he reassures Sae that he is fine and continues his story.

Chapter 18: Progress Report

The next couple of days fly by with rehearsals and Autumn Troupe working on their portraits. Eventually, it’s become October and Ren swears that the last month has felt much longer than it actually seemed to be. Yuzo’s coming around that afternoon to check up on everyone’s portraits, seeing as now they were being performed in almost a week.

However... life likes to screw Ren over, as is obvious by now. He meets with Sumire, the first-year gymnast that Ren had met back in May, outside of the subway station. She seems upset about something and had dropped something earlier, but before Ren can return her belongings, the boys and her are both suddenly pulled into the Metaverse and Mementos

Ren double checks his phone for the MetaNav. His phone never turned it on, leaving on Sumire to be the culprit. Unfortunately, he and Morgana have been separated from her. They dive into Mementos and eventually find Sumire. When they do, there’s a figure standing in front of her. It looks fairly similar to Sumire herself with golden eyes. It’s her Shadow -- one that by the looks of it, is ready to step up and become the ruler of a Palace.

The Shadow taunts Sumire to some extent, calling her a ‘fake’ and how she’s made her whole life up to be a lie just be like ‘her’. Be someone that she could never be, blaming herself for things that were out of her control and trying to fill in a void and only making it grow bigger. Ren watches in horror as Sumire argues saying that it’s better this way. That she should’ve been the one to die instead and not ‘her’. Recalling from previous conversations that he’s had with her, Ren guesses that ‘her’ is Sumire’s sister, Kasumi -- a gymnast like her who shared the same dream but died in a car accident back in the beginning of spring.

Sumire is plagued by her own intrusive thoughts about not being good enough, not being Kasumi and blaming herself for her sister’s death since Kasumi wouldn’t have died if she hadn’t pushed Sumire out of the way. Shadows rise up to attack them, and Ren can recall what happened in the case of Futaba’s Shadow and her Palace as he and Morgana go to fight, Sumire’s Shadow doing the best it can to protect the real Sumire.

Ren’s able to talk to her. He’s willing to argue that if they got another chance to replay the day, Kasumi would still save her. And this is something that the Shadow knows. Kasumi had loved Sumire and was willing to sacrfice herself for her. Pretending to be someone that she’s not is clearly hurting her. This is something that Sumire already knows. She wants to see their dream become a reality, that’s why tried to make herself more like Kasumi.

With the help of her Shadow and Ren’s encouragement, Sumire breaks. She knows that she could never be like Kasumi, and that’s because she’s not. People have been trying to get her to act more like Kasumi from the pressure that’s been put upon her. But she’s not. She’s Sumire Yoshizawa, and that’s who her sister would want her to be. Much to Ren’s surprise, she awakens a Persona of her own upon accepting her Shadow -- Cendrillion.

Together, the three of them manage to take down the Shadows and get out of Mementos quickly -- mostly because Sumire just awakened and is drained. After making sure that she’s okay, Ren makes a mental note to bring this up after Okumura’s change of heart.

Morgana tries to persuade Sumire to join the Phantom Thieves, seeing as her help would be a great asset to them. However, Sumire declines. She wants to focus on her gymnastics for now, and make sure that her dream and Kasumi’s both come true. Ren understands but assures her that the offer still stands if she changes her mind. He walks with her to the station before heading back to the dorms.

Chapter 19: A Distinct Gap

And by the time that Ren gets back to the dorms, it’s... late. Like, rehearsal is almost over, and Ren missed everyone’s portraits but Banri’s and Taichi’s late. He apologizes quickly and admits that he got caught up in a little... something... on his way home from school. He’s only lucky that no one asks any further questions.

He watches Taichi’s and Banri’s performances with Yuzo and Izumi, and after seeing those two, he hopes that the other three have done better. Taichi’s felt like there was something missing, and Banri’s... According to the other two with him, Ren’s right. Banri ranked the lowest out of all three, with Juza’s so far being the best one. The primary reason for that?

It was easy to tell that the story Banri told was fake. It was rushed, and there wasn’t an ounce of truth to it. It honestly made Ren want to smack Banri with the script if he doesn’t get his ass in gear soon. When it comes to performing these, he will lose. Ren just wants him to take this as seriously as the rest of them do. It isn’t a game like he thinks it is. At this point, if Banri can see that, well that would be good enough for him.

Chapter 20: My Portrait, IV

With the point that Ren’s gotten up to in his story, there are still questions that are left unsolved for Sae. Where they responsible for what happened to Okumura? And what about their next target? Why did the Phantom Thieves target that person of all people?

Ren wants to explain, he wants to, but it’s getting harder. Whatever he was shot up with is starting to wear off and fatigue is getting to him. But he’s still pushing onward and answering Sae’s questions. Seeing him push himself like this is worrying the prosecutor. But Ren is determined to finish his story. He needs to do this, after all. And besides... they’re getting the part that Ren needs to tell Sae about the most.

And it all leads up to Ren’s biggest regret... not opening his eyes up sooner to the truth.

Chapter 21: Move-Out Notice

The day starts normally, but things start to look up when Haru tells the Phantom Thieves that her father is planning a press conference that night. It appears that he’s finally had his change of heart, planning on confessing his crimes to the public. In order to celebrate, the Thieves make plans to watch it from an amusement park that Okumura had previously rented out for a cancelled party, as well as to have a more intimate one during their school festival at the end of the month. However, this is als ot he same day as the portrait performances.

Ren manages to talk his way out of this one, since this technically counts as a rehearsal and not a show. The only condition is that he makes a quick prop run to get the model guns that Yuki and the Autumn Troupe need for the show after school. Ren quickly agrees. Sakyo, though, sends Sakoda with him to get them saying that Ren could use the extra help (really this is to get Sakoda out of his hair, but details.) Ren tries to protest since Untouchable is shady and he doesn’t want anyone knowing that he’s been there but arguing with Sakyo is like arguing with a brick wall half of the time.

Ren has no idea about Iwai’s connections to the yakuza at this point, but he gets the hint that something might be up when Untouchable’s manager is on edge around Sakoda.

As expected, Sakoda does rat Ren out to Sakyo about where he had gotten the models. It raises a red flag for Sakyo, who starts to get suspicious about what the fuck Mankai’s resident troublemaker is doing in his spare time. However, that is to be dealt with later. Because right before Sakyo can grill Ren as the boy is getting ready to leave in order to meet up with the rest of the Thieves, Banri announces that he’s leaving the Mankai Company with bags packed and everything.

There’s nothing that the Autumn Troupe can say to change his mind (not like Sakyo is even trying). Ren, frankly, is kind of stunned. Banri seemed so set on beating Juza at this... even though he’s confident that he already won, it seems like he’s just giving up. He doesn’t seem like the type to half-ass anything, and after getting to know him this past month...

That, and when Banri leaves Ren free to take his role, it leaves a sour taste in Ren’s mouth. After all, at this point, he’s pretty sure that Ren knows the lines better than he does. And that’s it for Ren. The roles at Mankai are written specifically for the actors. Switching roles isn’t as easy as it sounds.

And so, Ren follows after Banri as he leaves out of the dorm.

Chapter 22: Rekindling

When Ren catches up to Banri, the latter is confused about why the hell the brat is following him and trying so damn hard to get him to stay. He gets to finally prove that he’s not a coward and stand on stage. Ren refuses to let this get under his skin and tries to direct it back at Banri by asking why he wasn’t seeing things through to the end. After spending a month with the guy and handcuffed to him for a couple of days, Ren can tell he’s not really the type of person to leave things only half-done.

...that, and he had tried for months to get Ren to fight him until he finally accomplished that. When Kamoshida was still a teacher at their school, he stood in his way and never once backed down despite the risks. He was hellbent on beating Juza, and now he’s just decided that he’s won without really trying? It doesn’t sound right.

Ren actually provokes Banri a bit, thinking that the latter is just afraid that Juza might actually beat him again when it comes to this, too. Ann had told him about their fight a while ago when he asked her why they didn’t get along. Banri’s avoiding trying to get beaten in public again. It’s a matter of his pride, his hubris and Icarus is getting closer to the sun by running away rather than staying.

Barni doesn’t even try to argue. He takes it as a challenge. And, seeing as Ren doesn’t really need a ticket to the portrait performance, he gives Banri his. If Banri is going to see this as a challenge, then Ren’s going to play it like one. If after seeing Autumn Troupe’s portraits, he still wants to leave, Ren won’t try to stop him again. Banri takes the deal.

When Ren later tells the Thieves about this while they wait for the press conference to start, some of them finds it amusing that that was what Ren chose to get into Banri’s head and get him to listen. Haru even giggles a little. Ann’s just glad to see her cousin and her friend finally starting to get along. Ren... didn’t realize that they were, but thinking about it in hindsight...

Before Ren can think about it anymore, the press conference starts. Futaba boots up the stream on her laptop and the Thieves gather around to watch. Okumura confesses to his crimes against his employees and his unethical business practices. But when it comes time for the man to confess to contracting mental shutdowns, something... happens.

Okumura doubles over, clutching his chest as his eyes roll into the back of his head. Black goo, much like what made up the Shadows, start to drip from his face. The camera gets knocked over there and the feed is cut off.

Ren feels a pit drop into his stomach. No...!

Chapter 23: An Open Relationship

The Phantom Thieves stare at the now static-filled screen, absolutely stunned by what they just witnessed. This... This wasn’t right. This wasn’t right at all. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Why did that happen?! They did everything the same as they had done before, so why...?!

Haru hurries home, and Futaba is left in shock, still staring at the screen as the Thieves try to figure out what happened. She tells them that this was the same as what happened to her mother right before she died.

A mental shutdown. That’s what happened. Okumura suffered a mental shutdown. And there’s... there was nothing... It was--

Ren’s immediate thought is that it was their fault. They were the ones who targeted Okumura. It was his fault that they rushed out of the Palace so fast. They should’ve stayed to make sure that he actually did fade to rejoin himself back in reality, not... Maybe if they stayed it would be different... Maybe... Fuck.

Ren, Yusuke and Morgana head back to the Mankai dorms in relative silence, with Ren’s mind stewing over what just happened and thoughts only repeating that it was their fault, their fault, their fault, his fault--

Ren immediately heads upstairs to the attic, not saying a word to anyone for the rest of the night. He doesn’t even realize that what he said to Banri actually got through to him, and that the leader of Autumn Troupe is staying. Or that the “Brat” nickname he seems so keen on calling him has gone from derogatory to platonically.

When they get up to the attic, they’re confronted by Masumi and Kazunari confront the team about this, especially since the mental shutdown has lead to Okumura’s death. Ren and Yusuke quickly assure them that they don’t know what happened. The process was repeated the same way as it always had been. Nothing else was changed, so they don’t know what went wrong. Kazunari is quick to believe them, but it takes a while for Masumi to be convinced they weren’t responsible for Okumura’s death. He proposes the question of if they didn’t kill him, then who did?

And Ren doesn’t know how to answer.

Chapter 24: Ultra Yo-Yos

Things are getting better for Autumn Troupe. Banri’s finally giving a 100% to acting and to The Roman Episode. He’s even started coming to morning rehearsals. But things for Ren... not so much. That day at school, Haru doesn’t come in. And no one can get in touch with her, either. It’s cause for worry. All the comments that Ren has been hearing about the Phantom Thieves at school are not helping either.

It’s not until the next morning during rehearsals that Ren hears from Haru. She wants to have a meeting after school to discuss things. He sets it up easily just as Yuki comes in with the costumes for Autumn Troupe to try on. Normally Ren gets excited about costumes, but this time... Izumi takes note that some thing’s up, but Ren quickly dismisses the notion. He’s fine. He’s absolutely fine. Why wouldn’t he be?

Along with costumes, props get brought out as well. Sakyo takes the opportunity here to grill Ren on why they look so realistic and where exactly he got them. Ren just shrugs, not really wanting to answer. He really isn’t paying that much attention and gets smacked in the face with a yo-yo by Taichi. He... doesn’t even remember buying those. Apparently, Sakoda snatched them up with the leftover money after Ren had left him alone.

Ren’s kind of zoned out the rest of the rehearsal, even after Taichi apologized profusely for hitting him. He’s just kind of... gone. Not even the threatening letter that the company receives can snap him out of it. If anything, it makes Ren’s mental state a little worse. And it starts to worry Izumi and a couple members of Autumn. Just what the hell happened last night to change him so much?

Ren’s just lucky that no one questions the fact that he’s stopping by the theater for his meeting with the rest of the Phantom Thieves. They need to talk about what happened, there’s no avoiding it. Especially when the public has begun to blame the Phantom Thieves for Okumura’s death, calling them all murderers and changing the previous attitudes that they had of them pretty quickly. To make matters worse, there was a calling card found in Hanasaki’s principal’s office. Now they’re being implicated for his death, too. Haru knows they weren’t responsible for her father’s death; she was there after all when they stole his heart. However, it takes some reassurance for her to believe them about the principal. He was never even on their radar, so why...?

It hits the team then. They were set up. The other Metaverse User -- whoever the hell their Black Mask was... the one responsible for causing all the shutdowns and breakdowns in the first place. They had fallen right into their hands without even realizing it.

And thoughts start churning in the back of Ren’s mind. There was one thing that he had overlooked that he sincerely wished that he didn’t. He feels stupid and really wished that he had paid more attention to it in hindsight. And he starts blaming himself. If he had just figured it out sooner, maybe none of this would’ve happened. He was just so stupid and blind and it’s his fault. His fault, his fault, his fault, his fault. Why didn’t he see it sooner?!

For now, the Phantom Thieves must remain in the shadows and not draw attention to themselves until they can decide on their next move. For Ren, that’s easier said than done.

Chapter 25: A Midnight Lesson

Once again, Ren’s mentally gone during rehearsals that evening. It’s starting to get concerning now that he’s barely there. He brushes off all questions that ask if he’s fine, because he is. Why wouldn’t he be? Everything’s fine, don’t worry, I’m okay, let’s focus on rehearsals. Juza’s still struggling to get this move right...

It all comes to a head that night. The continuous loop of what Ren’s been hearing about the Phantom Thieves online and at school and even in the dorms because someone just had to bring it up at dinner has been playing in his mind, all with the ever-chanting chorus of things being his fault because he was too stupid and too naive and too much of a damn coward to realize that things were heading where they were.

And he can’t sleep because of it. Not wanting to bother Yusuke or Morgana with his issues (he’s their leader, he can’t let them see him falter, he has to be the example, he can’t break--), Ren gets up to try and clear his head about everything, but all he does is get in his head even more. He heads to the courtyard, trying his best to remain silent as to not wake everyone else. But he doesn’t realize that someone already is awake.

He runs into Banri and Juza in the courtyard, where Banri had been helping Juza get down some of their action sequences that he was struggling with earlier. When the two question him on what he’s doing awake at this hour, Ren begins to panic. He is just trying not to break down in front of Banri and Juza, but it’s difficult. He badly fucked up and he can’t tell them about it because they don’t know that he’s the leader of the Phantom Thieves or even that his friends are the Phantom Thieves. It’s hard to help the kid when he can’t even tell him what’s wrong.

And so, the bottle Ren’s kept everything sealed up in for the past few days starts to come loose. He’s struggling to keep a lid on it all, they can’t see, they can’t know, he can’t let them see him break, he’s supposed to be the strong one, just a crack could...! Ren does the only thing he can think of to do.

He runs. He just takes off. He pushes past Taichi and Omi at the door, ignoring the calls from Autumn Troupe for him to stop and come back. Ren runs and just keeps running until his legs give out. He ends up in the middle of Mementos, having gone there without thinking. It’s the only place that he can truly be alone with his thoughts. ...unfortunately, those thoughts aren’t the best right now and Ren’s never truly alone. He always has his Persona -- in this case, it’s primarily Arsene -- by his side.

And it’s lucky that not even in the one place where Ren can think that he’s alone that he is alone. There’s someone there to talk sense into him. Arsene manifests in front of him, both to protect Ren from any Shadows that would dare to try and attack him right now as well as to calm him down. He is the manifestation of Ren’s heart, after all. While Ren’s plagued by these thoughts and not thinking straight, his Persona is able to to some degree. It takes Maruki -- Ren’s school counselor that he accidentally runs into when Arsene gets him to calm down enough to leave Mementos. It’s him that he walks back to the dorms with and helps kind of calm him down. Ren then tries to enter the dorms alone, but the moment he’s visible from the dormitory’s windows, Ren is being tackled by a super worried Izumi and Morgana, with Omi and Sakyo not too far behind her.

Apparently, after Ren had bolted, the Autumn Troupe boys woke up the entire dorm. The entire company is out looking for him, as well as the Thieves thanks to Yusuke and Futaba. Ren’s tears refresh anew as he’s taken back inside while Izumi thanks Dr. Maruki for bringing him back safe and sound. But because of their talk, Ren realizes that he can’t really keep this hidden anymore... can’t keep his lives separate anymore. Not after that talk with his own psyche... and counselor. I haven’t touched upon this, but Ren has been talking to him during his lunch breaks every Friday. That’s it. That’s the Confidant. It’s necessary for future plot.

So while they’re waiting for everyone else to get back to the dorm, Ren finally opens up about what’s been bothering him and that leads to telling the three of them about the Phantom Thieves and his identity. It doesn’t take long for the three adults to figure out who the rest of the Thieves are as well.

To his surprise, they... take it well. Sakyo had figured something was up with Ren’s strange behavior following Okumura’s death as well as small slip-ups he made throughout the year. Izumi is stunned, but now Ren’s absences are making sense. And Ren is having a hard time reading Omi’s expression at all. Everything’s out in the air with his guardians now, and Ren’s just kind of thankful that they’re understanding of things when he explains. It could’ve honestly gone a lot worse.

And yes, I did mean to say guardians. It also comes out that Sakyo was meant to be Ren’s original guardian. He owed Ren’s mother a favor (why though, he doesn’t say and Ren’s wondering why the hell the yakuza owes his mom a favor) and this was how she cashed it in. Ren had gotten the wrong address when he arrived, and because of Sakyo’s work he thought Ren would be safer at Mankai. But obviously, trouble likes to follow Ren around.

Ren manages to reassure them that they weren’t responsible for Okumura’s death and that they’ve been careful (except for with Masumi, but with Kazunari they didn’t have a choice). That’s about all he gets out before the remaining troupe members and Yusuke return to the dorms, Ren getting tackled again by notable members such as Sakuya, Citron, half of Summer Troupe and Taichi. Yeah, he worried a lot of them, especially with the way that he ran out.

Eventually after getting lectured again by the other troupe members -- Banri surprising Ren by being part of that and making him realize that maybe he did get through to him -- everyone returns to their rooms for the night... almost everyone anyway. Ren and Omi remain downstairs. Ren is still kind of worried because Omi hasn’t said anything. It takes a moment or two, but he does get Omi’s opinion on the matter. He’s more worried than anything else.

Because Ren didn’t see his portrait, Omi tells him about it. He tells him about the gang that he was in, about what happened to his best friend. All of it. It all comes back to one point: he sees the same reckless teenager that he used to be in Ren.

Omi warns Ren to be careful going forward. Considering what happened to Okumura, the Thieves pissed off some pretty dangerous people. Those aren’t the kind of people that kids can deal with. If he does this alone, he could get himself and the others seriously hurt. Ren promises he’ll do his best. That’s all he really can do at this point.

Ren tries to figure out what to do about the situation, and he knows that he could use the company’s help or at least warn them to be careful with everything that’s about to happen. He tried to keep them separate so they wouldn’t get hurt, but that’s not gonna happen.

Later, when Ren tells the Thieves that there are more people at the company that know, it’s... mixed results, but given the circumstances... yeah.

Chapter 26: Staged Bonds

The next week goes by fairly quickly, especially since midterms take place this week, too. Soon the Phantom Thieves regroup to discuss their next course of action. Futaba’s taken the past week to figure out that they were right and there was someone setting them up. The Medjed that provoked the Phantom Thieves during the summer wasn’t part of the organization at all.

Whoever provoked them used the situation they created to make the Phantom Thieves famous. They even hacked the Phan Site to mess with the rankings to put Okumura at the top. The timing and the target... they were all set up by one mastermind. Even if Ren’s suspicions about who’s involved in it are correct, then they still are missing the bigger picture. They have the puppets, but who is the puppet master?

Meanwhile, Sae is given full lead on the Phantom Thieves case. However, with recent events, there’s a lot of pressure from her bosses for her to capture the Thieves no matter what it takes, and if she succeeds, there’s a promotion in store for her. When Makoto is told about this, she quickly realizes that’s why Sae is aiming for, rather than to do what’s right. And she’s willing to do whatever it takes to bring the Thieves in -- unknowingly targeting her own sister. Things are getting bad. Even the students of Hanasaki are interrogated.

So, in order to keep themselves from drawing attention, Makoto has the second years and Haru help her with the school festival. This includes helping with the special guest panel that they’ll be doing. Unfortunately, the guest that the student body has voted for Detective Prince Goro Akechi... the person who is working against them and the only one who could possibly persuade him to come is Ren. I should note, he is the last person that Ren wants to see right now, despite him starting to defend the Phantom Thieves in the media as he claims that they didn’t kill Okumura.

Even so, at first, all Akechi tells Ren is that he’ll think about it and ghosts him for the next few days. Ren is still irritated about it when Izumi takes him and Autumn Troupe to pass out flyers that afternoon. Normally he would’ve gone at this with Yusuke, but Yusuke’s way to focused on painting something -- whether on canvas or wood, Ren doesn’t know -- today that it is impossible to draw him away.

So, Ren is out handing out flyers with Morgana when he gets accosted found by the one person who hasn’t been talking to him for the past few days -- Akechi. They talk for a bit while Ren takes a break. Ren is honestly surprised a bit that Akechi has begun siding with the Phantom Thieves, considering how against them he was before. He also seems fairly confident that the Phantom Thieves are innocent... in the matter of Okumura’s death, anyway.

Akechi also considers Ren’s offer to visit Hanasaki for their cultural festival and finally gives him his answer: yes. In hindsight, perhaps running into him was a blessing after all... Akechi snatches one of Ren’s flyers before taking his leave, promising to be there closing night. It does seem like an... interesting show, after all.

Ren immediately tells the rest of the Phantom Thieves the good news.

Time goes by quickly, and the festival arrives. The Hanasaki students are joined by those from Ouka High School -- so in this case, Taichi, Tenma, Juza and for AU purposes Yusuke -- alongside Futaba. (Izumi’s excuse for sending the boys there was primarily to give them a bit of a break since they had been working so hard).

Either way, the guest panel begins with Makoto running the show with carefully chosen questions. All of them leads to Akechi revealing one fact: through his investigation, he has figured out the Phantom Thieves’ identities. Before he’s able to announce them, Ren acts quick, pulling away from his friends and calling Akechi’s phone to cut him off. Even though this was to stop him from saying anything, Akechi actually does request to meet with Ren and his friends in private. With Masumi’s help, as the rest of the Mankai troupe members present don’t know who the Phantom Thieves are yet, Ren’s able to separate actor from Thief.

In their little meeting, Akechi reveals that he has identified them as the Phantom Thieves as he had seen them enter the Metaverse outside of Okumura’s Palace. It was also here that he supposedly followed them into the Palace where he fought with the true culprit behind the mental shutdowns, resulting in his own Persona -- Robin Hood -- awakening as well. He wants to cooperate with the Phantom Thieves to bring this real culprit to justice, otherwise Sae would bring them all in no matter what it takes, even if it means using false evidence. If he is allowed to join their ranks, he’ll turn a blind eye to all that they’ve done...

It’s difficult, but the Thieves have no choice but to work with the detective for the time being. Ren accepts the deal. With the situation laid out before them on the table, Ren makes another decision -- one that needs to be enacted as soon as they make it to the theater.

I should put a side note here involving the post-festival scene with Sumire. It happens mostly because after regrouping, Ren and Taichi get separated from the rest of the group. Ren sees the way that Taichi is looking at Sumire dancing. How red he’s gone and how he’s mesmerized. after it’s all said and done, Ren invites Sumire to come see one of the Autumn Troupe’s performances, an arm looped around Taichi’s shoulders and a hand over his mouth to keep him from stopping him. Sumire accepts and is gone before Ren thinks about letting Taichi go.

Chapter 27: Passion Torn Asunder

Ren can no longer hide his Phantom Thief activities from Mankai Company. Not with what’s going on, and not with the problem looming over the horizon. And so, he asks the actors in their group as they walk back from the festival to gather everyone and meet him at the theater. Though they’re confused, they agree. It buys the Thieves a little time to think of what to do. Yusuke suggests doing what Autumn Troupe had done not so long ago: a portrait.

Though the others are quick to bring up Ren’s stage fright, Ren... honestly believes that the idea makes sense. Even the topic does. While Ren’s biggest regret might be his stage fright, now he has something new to take its place: letting himself become blind to the truth until it was too late and someone else had to pay the price. How he didn’t trust those around him with his biggest secret when he knew that said secret could endanger their lives if he wasn’t careful. ...how he kept everything from the people who had taken him in and accepted him despite all the baggage he carried. It was time to clear the air. No more secrets and no more regrets. No more fear.

When the company arrives, they’re a bit confused to find Ren standing on the stage. The Thieves are waiting behind him to help support and tell the story, but the spotlight’s all on him. He can do this. Ren draws in a breath and once everyone’s seated, he begins. He tells the entire troupe everything, starting from the very moment he arrived in the city up until now. They are quiet throughout his performance, though Ren can clearly read the shock, confusion and relief on their faces. When he’s done, the other Thieves stand by his side and Ren has a single question to ask the Mankai Company: will they trust him?

The next day, the news comes out that there’s now a bounty on the Phantom Thieves’ heads. They’re just lucky that the company took the reveal fairly well. Now they have another group backing them, even if most don’t agree with their methods, they do care about these kids.

The Thieves eventually end up meeting up with Akechi at the theater to discuss the details of their little deal. Their chosen target is the same woman who is targeting them: Sae Niijima. Her own heart has become twisted because of all the pressure that has been piling on top of her to the point where she doesn’t care who the culprit is, she’ll falsely convict someone if it brings the case to a close. Changing Sae’s heart would also protect her from the same fate as Okumura. If the true culprit can’t get to her Shadow, they can’t cause a mental shutdown. Without little room for argument, the Phantom Thieves agree and begin their Palace infiltration -- the courthouse this time, taking the form of a grand and rigged casino.

It takes them a good few days to get through the Palace, and Ren’s lucky that they make it just before dress rehearsals, too. He hasn’t missed a show yet, and it looks like he’ll be able to keep up that streak this time. Unfortunately, though, Akechi trips that up when he suggests sending the calling card at the last possible moment in order to ensure that Sae -- ever on guard -- will actually have the calling card work on her and have her treasure manifest. ...that is the night before closing night for The Roman Episode. Given the circumstances, the Thieves have no choice but to agree. Hopefully Izumi isn’t too mad about them missing one night... (She’s upset, but after they explain things out a bit more to her, she understands.)

So, with him possibly being out of commission during the tail-end of the show run, Ren puts his all into the remaining rehearsals. Even the Phantom Thieves get in on this -- all of them, Akechi included -- sit in on the stage rehearsals to help Autumn Troupe get used to performing in front of a live audience. Futaba’s even started helping out in the tech booth to get things flowing smoother... she’s also having a blast positioning everyone during tech week.

So, they’re all present for the final tech rehearsal before dress rehearsal when Yuki runs into the theater in a panic. The costumes that he had worked so hard on are absolutely torn apart, with another threatening note left behind at the scene.

side note: the thieves are kind of surprised that akechi actually has nothing to do with this. he seems to be as in much shock as the rest of them are. there was a sneaking suspicion that he was responsible for the threats, but that just got proven wrong.

Everyone is pissed. Dress rehearsal’s tomorrow and they don’t have any costumes. So, it’s time to band together and haul ass.

Chapter 28: The Final Warning

Under Yuki’s direction, Autumn Troupe and even the Phantom Thieves work hard the next day, sacrificing dress rehearsal in the process, to make sure that the costumes are ready for opening night.

But, even with that in mind, they manage to get everything done in time. The costumes fit and the audience won’t be able to notice the stitches on them. From the closest distance, they still won’t be able to tell.

Akechi takes Ren aside later while everyone is passed out in the common area after their rush to tell him that there might be something that Taichi knows that they both don’t, considering his quiet reaction to the costumes’ destruction. That wasn’t a face of shock that he had like the rest of them. It was of guilt. And he has been wearing the same expression for a while now. So something’s definitely up.

And it’s that thought that lingers in Ren’s mind as they reach opening night. He keeps a close eye on Taichi, having Morgana follow him around when Ren can’t keep an eye on him. Taichi is only grateful that Morgana seems to be worried about him, having tears in his eyes whenever he thanks the cat.

Even without dress rehearsal, opening night goes off without a hitch. Though the actors are tired and everyone excluding Sakyo is found passed out in the dressing room. Ren takes note that Morgana is purring on Taichi’s chest, something that he realizes that Morgana does for Ren when he’s stressed or worked up about something.

Unfortunately, Ren doesn’t have much more time to think about it as another threatening note rears its head. Morgana once again doesn’t know where it came from. He admits to losing track of Taichi at one point, though. That, combined with the rest of the evidence that Ren’s gathered the past few days tells him to be on lookout for something going wrong.

Chapter 29: A Curveball Conundrum

Things proceed the same way that they do in canon, right down to the props going missing mid-show. Like before, Ren has Morgana keeping an eye on Taichi, but it’s been difficult to do with the show going on. Technically, Morgana’s not allowed to be backstage. He only gets a pass because Izumi like to play favorites. That, and Taichi’s gotten pretty good at giving Morgana the slip lately.

However, the situation’s solved fairly easily because of Ren’s quick thinking. With Makoto’s and Yusuke’s help (as well as a favor from Sakyo to get them a car), he’s able to get the stash of his own model pistols that he has been using in the Metaverse to use as props for the show. It takes a while for the pair of them to actually make it to the theater, so Juza still has to do the finger-gun thing during one of the scenes. Ren is still stunned that this actually works.

Chapter 30: A Shadow... The True Self Sakyo, Playing for Keeps

Everything goes smoothly for the rest of the show (aside from one line that Sakyo messed up, but given the situation, it’s not surprising that someone did) thanks to Ren not getting rid of his Metaverse weapons just in case. (though its not for props, though, it’s mostly just in case he loses or breaks the one that he’s currently using somehow).

As everyone settles in for the night, there are still thoughts weighing heavily on Ren’s mind. And that still guilty look on Taichi’s face. Every time Ren has tried to ask if something was up or there was something he wanted to talk about, Taichi’s brushed it off. But thanks to Morgana’s recon and the fact that nearly everyone at Mankai trusts the cat, Ren knows there’s something Taichi is hiding. But not even Morgana could get that from Taichi. It’s almost like... like...

On a whim, Ren takes a look at a name in Mementos, and it turns out to be a hit. He heads out on his own, telling the others that he just wants to make a quick run before they send their calling card in a few days. Ren wants to keep this quiet since it’s personal, and if he’s right, it’s a similar situation with Futaba’s own Shadow.

Or at least he wants to keep it personal but ends up running into Akechi down in Mementos as well, who had the same suspicions and decided to investigate (whether this is true or not, Ren has no idea.) The two of them travel into the depths of Mementos.

In a small pocket of the mindscape, the two come face-to-face with a scared boy with dark hair, golden eyes shining with tears and dressed in one of the costumes for The Roman Episode with the exception of the visible tears. It’s Taichi’s Shadow. While Akechi immediately goes to fight it, Ren decides to take a different approach and holds him back. It isn’t acting like the Shadows that they’ve normally confronted in Mementos before. He’s not lashing out or anything. Actually, he looks scared as shit. Akechi thinks is just a ruse, but Ren is willing to take a chance.

It takes some persuading (and getting called an idiot), but Ren carefully approaches the Shadow, calling it by his counterpart’s name. The Shadow honestly gets even more scared when he sees Ren and actually threatens to lash out. But this is also Taichi. Ren’s gotten to know him over the past few months, and his Shadow seeing him might just have made things worse. Ren takes his mask off, trying to put the Shadow at ease.

Taichi’s Shadow is absolutely terrified of something, and when Ren asks what and finally gets it across that they just want to help (recalling what Futaba’s Shadow did for her), Taichi’s Shadow completely breaks down and spills everything that Taichi had been burying.

After all is said, Taichi’s Shadow believes that Ren’s gonna hate him for what he’s done, but that’s not true. Ren cares deeply about all of Mankai, Taichi included. He hates seeing them hurt like this. And he’s willing to bet, that if he didn’t get kicked out for being a member of the Phantom Thieves, that they’re not going to kick out Taichi for all that he did. Ren’s left holding the Shadow as it fades to rejoin its counterpart in reality with the promise to set things right as soon as possible.

This is also where Rank 8 of Akechi’s Royal Confidant takes place if anyone’s interested about that, so there is actually a Mementos fight that takes place but the set-up is different. It’s more so Akechi being frustrated and confused with Ren’s approach to things and goading him slightly into agreeing to the fight in the first place by questioning whether he’s strong enough or not to do what needs to be done when it comes to stealing Sae’s Treasure.

A lot of feelings are out in the open with those two by the end of it (and knowing what’s going to happen in a few short days, it also hurts like hell), and with Taichi’s situation as well. Ren can only hope that talking to the Shadow worked, and that Taichi will be able to do the right thing in the end.

Chapter 31: The Truth

Taichi is quiet for the next few days, but Morgana says that he seems to be a bit more at ease now. It eventually makes it to the night that the casino heist is to take place. As Ren gathers everything that he and the other Thieves that live at the dorms will need, he becomes the subject of Omi’s mother henning. Given what they’re about to do and what’s about to happen, Omi has a right to be worried.

They’re heading towards the common area, double checking Ren’s supplies when they find Taichi in the middle of the courtyard on the phone with someone. Some of the stuff that Taichi is saying is very incriminating. Ren and Omi carefully confront him, worried about what’s going on though Ren has a sneaking suspicion that he knows exactly what just happened.

It’s here that Taichi finally breaks down, unable to keep things bottled up much longer. As he sobs, he finally admits to being the one behind everything that went wrong with the show. He was the one who wrote the letters. He was the one who tore up the costumes. He hid the props.

These are things that Ren already knew and admits as much. Taichi’s Shadow had already told him everything. When Taichi asks if Ren stole his heart like he did to a lot of other people, Ren can only shake his head. He just sort of... nudged things in the right direction. This was all Taichi’s own repressed desires that are finally getting aired and him accepting them. What I’m saying is that Taichi’s Shadow was more along the lines of Persona 4′s Shadow Selves rather than Persona 5′s.

Omi comforts Taichi as he cries, believing that he’ll have to quit the troupe and acting now, despite wanting to stay at Mankai with everyone else. The two of them take Taichi inside once he’s calmed down. Ren reassures him, much like he did his Shadow, that everything will be alright.

Chapter 32: Confession

Omi and Ren take Taichi inside, where Autumn Troupe, Izumi, Morgana and Yusuke are waiting -- the former for their final meeting for the night, and the latter two waiting for their leader before they head out. But before they do, Taichi has something to tell everyone.

Taichi openly admits to being behind the sabotage and explains why. Prior to joining Mankai, he used to be a member of God Troupe. Under Reni’s instruction, Taichi was sent to spy on the company. If he could ruin their show, then he would be able to get a lead role in God Troupe’s shows, something he now regrets accepting.

When no one is sure what to say or do, Banri suggests doing their portraits. He was the only one who saw all of them, after all. It would help clear the air between everyone... and since Taichi’s felt incomplete, he can finally tell the whole story now that there’s no more secrets. Only the truth.

Unfortunately, Ren can’t stick around to see how this will turn out. The clock is running out for them. He wishes Taichi luck, reminding him that if they didn’t kick him out for being a Phantom Thief, then they won’t kick Taichi out for being a spy.

Izumi wishes the boys luck before Ren, Yusuke and Morgana head out to meet with the other Phantom Thieves and steal Sae’s Treasure. Only she, Sakyo (who had been the third person responsible for the script that Ren’s following in the interrogation room), Omi and Tsuzuru know what’s going on. Everyone else... doesn’t. They only know that the Phantom Thieves are going to be stealing Sae’s Treasure that day. Ren only promises the troupe that he’ll be waiting at the dorms for them as soon as the curtain falls on closing night.

As everyone’s confessing their biggest regrets, the Phantom Thieves begin a performance of their own. In the casino-like Palace, the Thieves confront Sae’s Shadow and defeat her. As Ryuji snatches up the Treasure, the team manages to convince Sae to change her ways much like Ren had done for Taichi only a few days before.

All seems fine and dandy until Futaba picks up on a few... okay, a lot of extra readings in the Palace. Somehow, the police manage to infiltrate the building and they’re looking for them. In order to keep his Thieves safe, Ren takes the Treasure and splits off from the rest of the team. He becomes a decoy, stashing the Treasure away and putting on a show to keep the police distracted while everyone else escapes.

Unfortunately, the plan doesn’t work out like everyone expects. While escaping the Palace himself, Ren is caught and arrested. In police custody, Ren is beaten and drugged and forced to sign a false confession to all the Phantom Thieves’ crimes.

And that brings us to the present.

Chapter 33: My Portrait, V

Sae has been given the full story up until now. But as stated before, one thing has been clear throughout everything: Ren has refused to give the real names of his accomplices. Nothing that Sae says can goad Ren into giving away who helped him, who he worked with, the members of his team and anyone associated with him. Doing so would mean giving up his... his...

Ren’s mind starts to clear as the drug wears off. He knows what his role is, and he’s playing it rather well. He manages to get Sae to take his phone and convinces her to show it to Akechi on her way out. With time up, Sae leaves and the performance’s finale has begun.

Ren’s head starts to grow heavy as adrenaline fades and fatigue starts to take over. His head hurts like crazy... everything is starting to hurt. But through it all, as the minutes pass... he grins. It worked. Their plan actually worked.

And just as the show comes to an end, Ren passes out from exhaustion. The door to the interrogation room opens...

Chapter 34: The Night Before Full Bloom

Meanwhile, the Mankai Company is preparing for thier closing night performance. All the Phantom Thieves -- excluding their leader -- will arrive to watch this one, as they usually do with their heists. It’s revealed that as Ren said, Taichi wasn’t kicked out of the troupe. He was accepted as a member fully. After all, the Mankai Company would never abandon one of their own, and that is what Taichi became when he stepped through the theater’s doors to audition. The troupe protects each other, no matter what the case. That point has been made pretty clear already.

And they thought that all would be well... that was until Ren didn’t return with Morgana and Yusuke late that night/early that morning. They claim that they don’t know what had happened, that Ren had acted as bait to keep everyone else from getting caught. But this is Ren that they’re talking about. He’ll be fine. ...right?

The thing is... Yusuke and Morgana aren’t sure. And they won’t be until they see Ren again. All they can really do now is wait.

It’s hard to sleep that night without Autumn Troupe’s Brat safe and sound in the dormitory’s attic.

Chapter 35: Parting Ways

It’s that worry from last night that’s sticking with everyone as The Roman Episode’s final show draws nearer and nearer. They know that Ren said he’d be waiting at the dorms for them after closing night, but... it’s weird not having him here. They trust Ren, they really do, but...

But it doesn’t erase the nerves. It’s when Taichi needs a shoulder to lean on the most because while taking a breather before curtain, he’s confronted by Reni Kamikizaka, along with Haruto and a silent Tasuku. They came to watch the performance.

Remembering the deal they made and then the fact that Taichi has broken it makes Taichi more afraid than anything else has in the past few days. But luckily, he gets bumped into by Morgana winding around his legs and hissing at two of the three God Troupe members. And its Morgana that draws in Banri and Juza to his aid. It gives Taichi the courage to stand up and finally quit God Troupe in order to stay with Mankai. He’s found the place where he belongs, and that’s where he’s going to stay.

And as they’ll find out much later, Taichi’s not the only one who quit God Troupe that night either.

Chapter 36: High Five

Izumi has to pull Sakyo and Omi aside before they step on stage to remind them to not let their nerves over what their boy is currently doing get to them. If Banri, Juza or Taichi -- or even the troupe members that are in the audience -- pick up on their nerves, it could throw off the show and give away that they know what’s up and something’s wrong. It will make the others worry. So, despite how concerned they are, they stomach that worry to keep up the charade that they’re in the dark.

So, the men steel themselves, and the show goes on. Despite the worry and concern in the back of their minds, they’re able to play their roles perfectly (in more ways than one) and make it the best run of the show by far. The curtain closes to the standing ovation of the audience.

Chapter 37: A Series of Encounters

Autumn Troupe is tackled by the remaining members of Mankai, as the Phantom Thieves (excluding Yusuke and Morgana, since they live at the dorms as well as Ann since she is related to one of the actors) have gone home to avoid raising suspicion.

Why Muku recognized Juza when he came to audition is revealed here, too. Much like Ann and Banri, they’re cousins as well. Juza wanted to keep quiet about it so that his reputation wouldn’t affect Muku in anyway.

Taichi also tells Yuki about how he shredded the costumes, and as punishment, gets roped into helping Yuki with the wardrobe for the Winter Troupe’s show and every show after that. All in all, not a bad punishment.

Everyone’s riding high on that closing night adrenaline that a certain fact slips their minds entirely until they bring up the situation with the props. It now that they remember that the Autumn Troupe’s Brat is waiting for them back at the dorms like he promised.

That is, until a notification pops up on someone’s phone. A new announcement has gone out that the leader of the Phantom Thieves has committed suicide while in police custody.

Chapter 38: Smoldering First Love

After reading the news, most of the Mankai Company is freaking out because that’s not a criminal. To them, that’s their bratty assistant director and a member of this - - - - - -. It’s Ren Amamiya, not just the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

Everyone books it back to the dorms in a panic, wondering what the fuck is going on because certain people yusuke and morgana didn’t say anything about Ren getting arrested. The only ones who aren’t freaking out and keeping everyone from doing something stupid are Izumi, Omi, Sakyo, Tsuruzu and Yusuke since they know what’s going on.

However, they start freaking out too, once they get to the dorms. Ren is barely even awake on the common area’s couch -- beaten black and blue, with obvious bruises from too-tight handcuffs around his wrists. Sae is also there, having just brought him back. She was doing her best to keep an eye on him since there was no one else present when she arrived. She had gotten in thanks to a spare key Makoto had told her was hidden under the mat.

Sae only can explain so much herself, but she has to leave in order not to draw any more suspicion than she already has. She leaves Ren in the director’s care. While getting Ren upstairs to his room, the company is in a panic over what happened. But not even those who knew what Ren was doing can’t explain it since they don’t know the why. And Yusuke’s only one piece of the puzzle, it’s going to take more than him to say anything.

So, the conversation that Izumi and Sakyo have takes place in the dorms rather than in the theater like in the game while the former takes care of Ren’s injuries.

There’s something looming in the shadows... on both the Phantom Thieves’ front, as well as the stage’s...

...Ren has a lot of explaining to do when he wakes up.

Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 4

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yzkhr · 4 years ago

Text

Third installment of the Love Language Miniseries

It might be OOC so please bear with me

Dedicated to the one who gave me this wonderful yet painful series idea @meitanteisachi!

Words of Affirmation- You get a thrill from receiving compliments and unexpected praise. You like it when others say they care about you or appreciate having you in their lives. You love feeling understood and receiving recognition for a job well done.

Shinichi trusts Ran a lot. But having a recent 'misunderstanding' along with being busy with his detective work and texting an apology yet receiving a slur of misspelled sentences with only the words 'Sonoko' and the name of a specific bar being decipherable, he can't help but worry and overthink.

(The name 'Kazuha' was readable as well and it did lessen his panic, but the reassurance he felt was nothing compared to Sonoko and her constant tricks that worsened when they became adults.)

Reaching the said bar on Rans' text message, he rushes inside and immediately dislikes the smell of mixed alcohols and smoke everywhere. Face indifferent, he passes through the dancing crowd and went straight to where he deduces his girlfriend to be.

Knowing Ran, she's not someone to go wild in such a tight place, nor does she appreciate the smell of cigarettes all over the dance floor. She would be somewhere comfortable and quiet enough to converse with Sonoko and Kazuha. Shinichi can't think of a better spot than the bartenders' counter.

And he was right.

There she was, in the middle of a familiar drinking blonde on her left and a brown haired woman on her right, reclined in her stool and mouthing words to her left side. Despite her back being the only thing he can see from where he's standing, he recognized it in an instant, having been familiar from the sight since childhood (her iconic hairstyle also helped).

Walking a little closer to be heard and putting his hands into his pockets, he calls out. "Ran."

The girls, save from the gulping heiress who ignores him, turns around and express the same visage upon seeing him. Rans' expression instantly change however, as her wide eyes and agape mouth closes and curls up into a smile.

"Shinichi!"

She stands up from her seat and walks over to him in an odd unbalanced manner. On a closer inspection, Shinichi noticed how her cheeks flushed a rather more healthy red than normal.

Raising an eyebrow, he opens his mouth to scold but his prepared reprimands die on his throat as Ran hugs him instead of just standing in front of him, her slender hands wrapped around his neck slowly, her feet tiptoeing as she concluded she wasn't tall enough to reach Shinichis' height.

He instinctively backs away from the unexpected warmth and weight, flustered and confused. Ran didn't even gave him the time to recover, leaning her head into the crook of his neck and sniffing it as he felt her sigh, successfully making his mind blank.

"You smell nice." she whispers, letting out a giggle as if entertained at her out of nowhere compliment while he stands there, frozen and left with no words to respond. Even after five years of being together, her effect on him stays consistent and powerful, similar to their first meeting.

Fortunately, he was brought out of his reverie by a familiar—not in a good way— smell of rum mixed into her natural sweet odor. From that, everything clicked. Her red face, wobbly walking and unexpected behavior finally made sense to him.

"You're drunk." he deduces as he looks down at his girlfriend who avoided eye contact by looking sideways and pouting, confirming her guilty.

"Sorry Kudo-kun," he redirects his gaze at the source of the voice, finding an apologetic Tooyama Kazuha. " We're the ones that invited her here and as you can see," her eyes went to Ran briefly before going back to him and continues sheepishly, "We kinda got carried away."

He expected the answer. After all, Ran rarely drinks, much less get drunk. She'd only really go all out when there's an important celebration or a really big problem, like a certain misunderstanding that may or may have not happened between the two of them.

"It's fine." he acquits as his eyes looks at anywhere but Kazuhas' green ones, unsure of how to ask. "Umm, did Ran told you anything concerning? Like if there's a huge problem or something?"

The Osakan woman's eyes widened and suspiciously travelled to Ran as if asking for permission, who in return tightened her grip around his neck to bring him down a little. Kazuha now seems to have an answer, glancing back at him.

"Nope, Ran-chan said nothing like that at all." with the way she puts up a tight lipped smile, it was obvious she was lying. "Besides, if there is an issue like that, why don't you ask her? I'm sure she'd tell you."

He wants to disagree, being aware of Rans' nature to he very considerate that she might dismiss the topic. But Shinichi really isn't fond of the idea of pressuring his bestfriends' girlfriend, so he didn't say anything. Besides, Kazuha was right, if there was anyone to ask about what is wrong, it would be his girlfriend.

"Yeah, you're right." he laughs and attempts to change the topic, not wanting to make the atmosphere awkward. "Anyways, it's pretty late. Want me to take you guys home?"

The brunette shakes her head and looks from behind. Shinichi follows her gaze, only to find Sonoko still on the counter and talking to someone on the phone. Her voice is so loud that it can mildly be heard from where they're standing.

"No thanks, it seems Sonoko-chan is already calling Makoto-kun to pick her up."

"It seems so," he now looks back to her. "How about you?"

"No need," she pulls out her phone, showing him her private chat with Hattori. "The ahou already texted he's on his way."

"And besides," Kazuha sends him a teasing look and an amused smile. "Even if we didn't have our boyfriends picking us up, you'll still get your hands full."

As if on cue, Shinichi was reminded of his girlfriend who's still clinging on to him, her constant breathing on his ear enough to make him go red, as if he's the one intoxicated.

He silently agrees to Kazuhas' statement.

Ran insists on walking home instead of getting a taxi. He protested but after being presented with the same adorable pleading look she always used on him back when he was Conan;wide eyes, pouty lips, and blushing cheeks, he was really left with no choice.

Now, they tread across the empty streets of Beika with the moon illuminating the area, Shinichi makes sure that his girlfriend doesn't trip from her quivering steps, choosing to carry her on his back, her arms hanging loosely around his neck while his hand secured on her thighs, assuring of no fall. The night serves peaceful, accompanied by a comfortable silence.

Until he decided to break it.

"Hey Ran--" he starts, wanting to ask her about the 'problem' he wasn't sure they're having, but was cut off by her instead.

"Ne, Shinichi?" her voice is a bit slurred but with his proximity, he heard it just fine. She seemed to have timed it when he decided to speak, deliberately avoid the questioning from him, concluding that something is wrong. He wanted to ignore her distraction and push further, but with Rans' current condition, he gives up and lets her get away.

"Hmm?"

"Did it hurt?" he stops walking in confusion at such a sudden question, prompting him to face her as she wears an innocent smile.

"What hurt?" he asks, not getting the point. It took him a few seconds to catch on to what her 'innocent smile' and question means, and he isn't exactly happy at the conclusion he got.

"Please no," he exclaims as she looks at him expectantly, really wanting to continue. he complains. "Isn't this supposed to be the other way around?"

A glare is all it took for him to know she's not giving up. However, Shinichi isn't going to comply so easily either.

"Let me guess, when I fell from heaven?" he teases her, ahead of the supposed pick up line she's about to say.

Instead of being angry however, Rans' smile widens more than before, not looking as innocent. "No."

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion he asks, "What?"

"When you fell for me."

He stares in disbelief. He had never expected such a cheesy pick up line to be even more cheesier than it already is and it honestly impresses him(in a bad way). Meanwhile, Ran looks way too proud of herself, a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Okay, you win." he states rather dejectedly and continues walking, wishing his surrender to be the end of her drunk flirting.

If he were to be completely honest, Shinichi somewhat expected Ran to do something crazy and uncharacteristic, since it isn't the first time for her to be this intoxicated. The last time, she sang random songs with the most intangible lyrics he had ever heard, her drunk singing voice comparable to his normal one. This time it's the same, only now it's sappy pick up lines instead of crappy lyrics( he isn't sure which one is worse).

"Shinichi," she starts again, and it was cue for Shinichi to pick up his pace to get home faster, and he did. But Ran is stubborn. She calls his name on repeat way too many times, that he has to stop and finally decides to listen.

"Alright, let's hear it and quickly take you home to your apartment because I'm already tired of this." he yields, defeated and weary. On the other hand, Rans' expression is the complete opposite, too cheerful and energetic like neon lights on a dark room.

"You know why you're tired?"

"Yeah because of your pick up--"

"Because you've been running through my mind all day long." she breaks into a laugh as he stops functioning, wondering how his girlfriend can be so witty and stupid at the same time whenever she drinks a lot more than usual.

He ponders if Kaito has something to do it. After all, there is no one better and worse at flirting with words than he is. Rans' are tolerable but maybe it's because he loves her so much that he does appreciate them, but they're still pretty bad.

He deadpans at her still cackling form just to express his emotions. "You know, other people will call you an idiot if they know you're doing this."

She pauses, her turn to be confused. "Just other people? What will you call me then?"

"My idiot who's doing this."

Her reaction is instantaneous. Her face blossomed a shade of crimson as she coughs, too taken aback while he tilts inwards, smirking at having to get back at her antics.

"That's not fair!" she whines, throwing daggers at him as she cough a little more.

"You started it." he yawns, the night catching on to him.

He really thought it was the end of it, but Ran always proves him wrong as she started once again. "Yeah, being good looking must be sooo tiring."

He really is impressed at how her mind can processed a mundane action and turn into a bad and cheesy pick up line. But he didn't become friends with the worst flirt in the world for nothing. Clearly not accepting defeat, he decides to play along. "Then you must be exhausted."

Her face turns into a blushing mess either from embarrassment or frustration or maybe even from both.

"Shinichi!"

And that's what they did until they got home. He truly was worried that there was something bothering Ran, but from the way she conversed and flirted with him(even though he's sure it's the alcohol talking), he was confident that if there was a problem, it isn't as bad as he expects it to be.

After an hour of throwing trashy jokes at each other, they finally made it to her apartment. He grabs the key he got from her earlier and opens the door, going straight to the sofa to put down his girlfriend.

Ran looks tired, eyes constantly blinking as she takes off her shoes, slower than it's supposed to be. She flops down on the couch, ready to doze off. Making sure she won't fall off, he strides into the kitchen to get some water.

Going back in the living room with a glass, he now finds her sitting instead of her laid down position a minute ago. She's dazed, eyes dead set on the table across as her brows intensely furrow as if trying to figure something out.

"Here you go," he sits down beside her, offering the water. He watches her drink it languidly, attentive to her every move. After finishing and putting it back on the table with a thud, Ran stands up, a hand on her throat.

"What's wrong?" he asks as the panic becomes visible on her visage, eyes roaming everywhere.

"I think I'm gonna throw up," as if on signal, she makes a strained sound while Shinichi rushes her inside the bathroom, certain that Ran won't appreciate walking into her living room with vomit all around it.

Upon reaching the toilet, Shinichi lets her bend over it and finally lets out everything she ate and drank that day as he soothes her back, stroking it back and forth. He also holds her hair up just make sure it doesn't get in the way.

"Are you okay?" he tilts his head in confusion as she turns around now done with her task, eyes watering slightly.

"I'm hungry." he sighs, having predicted it. He isn't the best at cooking, but letting his girl cook for herself while still being a bit visually impaired and losing her self balance every now and then sounds like the worst decision he can make in this situation.

"Fine. I'll make you something." hearing such words, Ran wipes her tears and beams at him. He leads her out of the restroom, leaving her on the couch and heading to the kitchen to cook at least a soup just to quench her hunger.

A few minutes passed and he comes back to a yawning Ran, with a hot and steamy soup laying in his hands. She offers him a drowsy smile, and he gives a knowing one in return.

"Here," he places the bowl on the table in front her and Ran takes it leisurely. She takes a chunk of food and blows at it, in the hopes of lessening the heat. Satisfied, she puts it on her mouth and makes a noise, glancing at him.

"It tastes good!" he chuckles and shakes his head in disapproval. "Thanks but, I'm pretty sure it only taste like that because you're drunk."

He leans in the wall as he watches her consume the soup with gusto, making his heart swell. When Ran finally eats half of it, he speaks out.

"Seriously, what made you drink so much like that?" despite the high chance that she won't answer, he still gives it a try.

After hearing no response, the detective sighs and looks away, deciding to let it slide and thinks that he'll just try again tomorrow.

But it looks like that he doesn't have to.

"It's Shinichi's fault." she said it so casually and quietly, but it didn't get pass his ears. Shock at the fact that she replied and at the specific retort, he looks back and stares at her.

"Eh?"

"It was Sonoko's little dare," she finishes the rest of the food without care and continues, "She told me how you're always so indifferent and said to make you blush or whatever. But, you you were so busy with the case that I didn't even had the chance and just gave up."

He was left dumbfounded. The events three days ago went back to him in a flash. All of Ran's little glances, her stuttering words, and even her hold on him before he left after taking her home finally made sense.

'That Sonoko!' he twitches his eyebrow in annoyance. He really should've seen that coming. If there was anyone this world who could think such an idea, it would be none other than their childhood friend.

He attempts to talk, but she beats him to it.

"But, now that I think about it, I really dont mind Shinichi being busy like that," she's now looking at him, a smile plastered on her blushing face, sign of still being under the influence of the alcohol. "After all, I really love Shinichi's face whenever he solves a case. Shinichi's eyes always lights up, like it's alive and burning. As if seeing a world no one else knows."

"Whenever Shinichi solves a case, he helps a lot of people. And it's amazing to know, that tons of people are alive right now—because of Shinichi." she rambles on, calling his name too many times as if she's only talking to herself, like he isn't standing right there at all to listen.

Her voice, despite being slurred holds honesty in them that didn't make the current condition of his heart any better as he's hearing her compliment him.

"I guess that just means, that I really love Shinichi." she laughs at her own words, finding such a revelation amusing.

Meanwhile, Shinichi stands there having only two things in his mind; that Ran is really drunk, and that he's just glad the dare is over. Because if it wasn't, with the way he feels his face burning right now, he was sure Ran would've absolutely won it.

#dcmk #Sorry if it's a little OOC #I love writing drunk Ran #Shinran #3/5 #the next update might take a decade #I have to use all of those pick up line prompts somehow

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kareofbears · 3 years ago

Text

plainly in truth, chapter 2/5

“Without you around, it’s sorta like stuff is just kinda…bleh.“

—

Or: hiding, confiding, and misguiding.

read on ao3 or below the cut :)

Yusuke wasn’t too sure if what he was doing was of the right mind, but his heart is definitely in the right place.

There’s a lapse in time between Jails and hitting the road. Everyone is out soaking in the last of Sendai; Ryuji and Akira (and by extension, Sophia) are on a quest to buy any last minute supplies that they might need while the girls and Morgana are taking in the sights that they didn’t quite manage to explore as much as they’d like.

Well, the girls who like crowds and sightseeing are on a quest, at least.

Futaba and Yusuke are in the trailer by their own volition—he didn’t need to see anything else that wasn’t a timeless statue, and he learned early in his life that if you pace your spendings, you can then use that money to spend in the future. Quite the contrary, Futaba has had a little too much excitement these past few days and is more than happy to hide away in her top bunk with only her laptop charger peeking out from the bottom of her fleece blanket.

(A cartoon rendition of the Sendai temple is printed onto the fleece. Apparently Haru had yet to see Futaba purchase anything ‘tourist-y’ and action figures of various anime characters don’t seem to count.)

He tugs on her laptop cord. “Hello.”

“...What?” she grunts, voice slightly muffled. Through the thin fabric, he can see the illumination from her screen.

“I need help reacting to something.”

“And you decided to ask me?” she deadpans. “The literal shut-in?”

“The previous shut-in,” he corrects. “You haven’t been a shut-in in nearly a year. A marvelous feat, if I do say so myself.”

“Yeah, and this is my way of celebrating.” The lump on the bed seems to curl further in on itself. “Begone. Do a painting or something. This is my me time. The equivalent of guzzling down a boat load of Arginade. There’s barely any time to be by myself considering the whole group is treating this RV like a pimped out party bus, so shoo.”

J-pop starts playing from inside the blanket fort, and even Yusuke knows a dismissal when he hears one. That won’t stop him, though.

He tugs again, harder. “That is the reason I’m asking you now. I can’t have this be heard by prying ears.”

Had there been a cat on the bunk bed, its ears would have twitched. “Is this…?”

“Yes,” he nods sagely. “It’s a secret.”

Futaba’s head pops out, eyes wide and nearly glowing in excitement. If there was one thing that she liked more than recovering her energy, it's uncovering every nook and cranny of people’s lives, whether they want it or not.

“Inari, you should’ve said something!” She throws the blanket off herself, snatches her laptop in her arms and jumps down. Slamming it down on the booth, she throws herself on top of the smooth faux leather. “Tell me everything. The deets, the specs, all down to the last dirty drop of tea.”

He slides in to join her, albeit much slower. “Before you tell me that I misled you, I want to make it clear: I don’t know what the secret is.”

“What!” she slaps her forehead, groaning. “Yusuke, why would you do me like that? That’s false advertising to the max, and I do not appreciate you tricking me.”

“There wasn’t a trace of trickery. What I’m about to say really does have to do with a secret, but I need your help with how to deal with it.”

“I’m gonna level with you here pal,” she puts a hand on his wrist. “I’m not the right person for this, but I’d be darned if I let you walk away without telling me anything. So let’s hear it! I’m ready for some juicy goss. Oh! Can I guess? Is it about Haru?”

He frowns. “No. Is there something about Haru?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I was asking you!” she says, patting her hands rapidly on the table. “Come on, just spill the beans already.”

“There are no ‘beans’ to spill yet, and besides, that sounds like a waste of perfectly good food.” He leans back against the plush cushion. Only a pinch of guilt arises in him as he says it. “It’s about Ryuji.”

“Ooo, Skull himself. Gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting him.”

“It relieves me that you said that. I share the same sentiment—it wasn’t until I had run into him the night before when I had started to truly suspect something. And what I found was…” he trails off.

Her lips pull downwards. “That bad?”

“It was worrying, to say the least.”

She sighs. Most of the energy in her seemed to have filed out in the presence of a more serious topic. “Dang. I knew it was fishy when he left, but he’s always been able to just hash things out on his own.” Her expression changes as an idea pops into her head, and it morphs into one he recognizes. “Does—?”

“No. Akira doesn’t know, apparently.”

Futaba splutters, and he has to resist the urge to nod his head at her reaction. “He—Akira—wait, what? He doesn’t know? Oh, it must be bad bad.”

“My thoughts exactly. Initially, I had thought that whatever this was, it was manageable. Like that time he had spent his month’s allowance on a claw machine to win Makoto that light-up buchimaru.” Idly, he touches her keyboard lightly, appreciating the kaleidoscope of colors that emanate from it. “You know how I feel. We’re the Phantom Thieves; we can’t allow anyone to suffer alone, even if the one we’re helping is a Phantom Thief himself.”

Futaba raises an eyebrow. “And how do you want to help him?” she asks. “By talking to him? Let’s be real, you and I have the lowest social stat in this group. Combined, we can maybe reach the nerd student council president, and the guy who can and should handle this doesn’t even know about it!” Biting down on her lip, “Should we tell Akira?”

“Absolutely not. That was the one thing he had requested, and we cannot go against it. By extension, I don’t think we should tell anyone else.” A thought comes to him. “Wait, he mentioned that Ann knows of his situation.”

“Great! Someone who knows how to deal with people’s problems and isn’t us. What are we waiting for?” She reaches for her phone, and Yusuke proceeds to smack her hand out of the way. “Ow?”

“Don’t call her!” he hisses. “Ryuji said that she’s, and I quote, ‘part of the problem’. We can’t have her knowing that we know something.”

“Ann is?” Futaba exclaims, shoving her glasses up her nose. “This is getting too deep. We don’t even know anything yet, and it’s really starting to feel like we’re part of some conspiracy.”

“That’s right, we don’t know anything, and it is our largest road block.” Yusuke crosses his arms. “We don’t know what happened between Ryuji and Ann, or if something even occurred between Ryuji and Ann. What if they had an argument? What if they’re fighting, and it becomes irreparable between them? What if it begins affecting our Jail runs?”

“You really gave this some thought, huh?”

“But of course. I must nurture the few friends that I have managed to treasure.” He glances outside and sees the crowds clambering to see their tourist spot. “We may be different from most teenagers, but I don’t believe we’re immune to the nature of cliques or dramas or even insecurities.”

“God, what a good friend you are, it’s bugging me,” Futaba accuses. “So what the heck, Mr. Philanthropist? We’re stuck between a rock and our friend group here. This mission was doomed before you even dragged me out from my hideout,” she says, eyes drifting away to stare longingly back at her bunk bed.

“Stop making that expression. There’s a reason why I talked to you about this.” He leans forward. “What I’m asking is, to be frank, unfavorable, but I really do believe that it’s worth it to do this.”

She looks at him, and it only takes her a few seconds for realization to set in. Her jaw drops. “Oh Inari, that’s vile.”

“If you’re uncomfortable with it—”

“I didn’t say I was uncomfortable with it,” she cuts in. The grin on her face is wide; a woman in her element. “I just thought you’re the one who’d be all against this kind of thing.”

Futaba pulls her laptop towards her. “Sit back and observe the master at work.”

He watches as her fingers breeze through the keyboard, eyes inscrutable as light reflects off of her glasses. “So you can do it?”

“I’ve hacked into the Diet Building’s security cameras on a dare back when I was twelve,” she snorts. “This is Mario Kart Baby Park with the railings up.”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“It means—” With a flourish, she hits a key before glancing up at him, smug. “That this will be very easy. I’m thinking we can start with their text messages and work our way up to the big stuff.”

“Oh, right. You can go through our phones,” he grimaces. “You’ve stopped doing that, yes?”

“Of course I have! By the way, did you figure out what courses you wanted next term? I saw your advisor was bugging you about it, you should really email her back.”

“Yes, I’ve finally decided on sculpting as opposed to visual photography since it lets me focus on the anatomy of...” he pauses. “Wait—”

“Okay, looks like I got his text messages with Ann, so let’s all focus on this now!” she says loudly. “Scooch over, let’s go through ‘em.”

He does, and she moves to sit next to him. Yusuke peers at her screen. “Nothing out of the ordinary. There is a significant drop in the frequency of his replies, but that’s been the case for me as well.”

“Same here.” She continues scrolling up rapidly, so fast he wonders how she can keep up with herself. “Memes, memes, lots of ‘where you at’ texts, more memes…”

Something catches his eye. “Hold. Go down slightly, I think that link might be interesting.”

“‘How to treat knee pain: 11 steps with pictures’?” she reads aloud. “His knee is acting up again?”

“What’s peculiar is that I haven’t seen any sign of it.” He squints at Ryuji’s response to it—generic gratitude. “Even in Jails, he runs around without a care in the world.”

“What’s even weirder is that Ann is actually sending Ryuji wikihow links on how to treat his knee,” she snorts. “Let’s put a pin in this one and move on, Ann’s chat is chalking up to be a dead end.”

Rubbing her hands together, she straightens up like a professor in front of a lecture hall on the first day of classes. “Now Yusuke, when you’re looking to crack someone open like a tasty, moist omelette, there are two things that you must look into: their email and their bank account.”

After some clicking, Ryuji’s email pops up. “Email is obvious, since this pretty much tracks anything big. Delivery shipments, subscriptions to websites, acceptance letters. It’s all here in a neat little bow, ready for us to read.”

“‘Manga’s are 20% off for this weekend only,” he reads. “‘Anime convention next weekend’, ‘Pizza coupons’.”

“Ugh, he’s so boring! Next!” Clicking sounds through the RV, emphasizing how much they were snooping through their friend’s private life. “Bank account, show us your wisdom.”

“My word,” Yusuke gasps when the tab opens up. “That’s quite a lot of funds.”

“Inari, four thousand yen is definitely not a lot of money. How much do you have in yours?”

“I don’t have an account,” he admits. “I was on my way to the bank to open one, but I ran out of train fare. By the time I had gotten there, it was already closed. Quite rude, considering that it was only two o’clock.”

She levels him with a look. “Was it a Sunday when you did all this?”

“Why does that matter?”

“Never mind,” she shakes her head. “Okay, so nothing conclusive or even embarrassing. That means that whatever this is, he really doesn’t want anyone knowing about it.”

Futaba hops out of the booth and starts rummaging through everyone’s luggage. “That means we unlock the secret, classic, never goes out of style method of snooping—” with an expression of triumph, she showcases Ryuji’s backpack to him. “Going through their stuff IRL.”

Yusuke winces. “Don’t you think we might be going too far?”

“Hey, what’s with the cold feet? Where was your ‘justice’ from before?”

“I’m all for justice,” he watches her unzip the backpack, recoiling. “But even this seems a little excessive.”

“Look, we already went through his email, his bank account, his text messages. At this point, it’s kind of weird if we don’t find anything. Like—” she throws a pair of shorts behind her as she rummages. “What kind of teenage boy doesn’t have anything to hide? And also, it’d be kinda messed up to go through his stuff and come up empty-handed. If we didn’t find anything—” she pulls out several t-shirts and a crowbar and places them on the ground next to her. “Then we’d just be a bunch of snoops.”

“I suppose you’re right,” he reluctantly agrees. “Above all else, we need to find out what’s happened in his life to make him so upset.”

“Exactly. Oh man, wouldn’t it be crazy if we just found some porn mags or something? Retro to the max, but I can totally see him as the kind of guy to lug something like that along. Unless it’s of Akira.” She makes a face. “Ew. Funny thought is no longer funny.”

“Karma, if you will.”

“Shut it. Oh ho ho, what do we have here?”

“You found something?”

“It’s some fancy looking letter.” Futaba flops herself on the ground. She clears her throat. “'Sakamoto Ryuji. This letter is to inform you that…'” she stops all of a sudden.

“Futaba?” he probes.

“Um,” she blinks, and laughs nervously. “Um?”

He reaches over, and she doesn’t resist when it slips out of her hands. Skimming through the letter, only his eyes dare to move. When he finishes, he lets out a breath. “Oh no.”

“We shouldn't've read that,” she whispers, a perfect summation of what he was feeling. “We really should not have read that.”

—

There’s something to be said about the quayside in Sendai, in the way that it’s almost exactly like Tokyo.

Sure, the buildings here are definitely shorter—gone are the towering structures back home, and instead they’re replaced with shorter structures with cute local designs and colorful patio restaurants. The people here are different, too. Maybe it’s something to do with the water here, in how it’s cleaner and how you can actually see some fish down in the canals if you know where to look. Don’t even get him started in the air; jeez, do they infuse the oxygen here with something? He hasn’t stopped taking deep breaths ever since they got here.

But despite all of those discrepancies, the feeling of Akira’s hand in his is just like being home.

“And it’s actually really interesting,” he hears vaguely. “Because back in Leblanc, there used to be a couple issues about the temperature and stuff, but in my hometown there’s…Ryuji? Are you even listening to me?“

Akira’s telling him something. A story about Morgana? And Ryuji’s sure it’s very interesting, but he’s too focused on the way that sunlight hits his cheekbones.

“I’m listening,” he lies. “Keep going. This is just my listening face, I promise.”

“Sure, sure,” Akira agrees easily. “That’s just your listening face, rather than me and my wicked good looks, right? I totally believe you.” He wiggles his fingers. “Give.”

Ryuji offers him the caramel ice cream cone in his other hand, letting him bite into it like some kind of psychopath. “Done?” he asks, shifting the tote bag tucked into the crook of his elbow, careful not to rattle the eggs inside. Akira bravely offered to carry the groceries, but he had obviously refused.

“Mmm. That’s good stuff.”

“Right? I read about the ice cream here when I was younger, and they were really hyping it up on the ad.” He takes a lick, grinning when the taste hits his tongue. “And on a summer day like this? Unbeatable. It’s really reminding me of last summer when we hung out everyday in your room eating crap, taking naps, and playing games.” It also helped that hanging out with his crush was a daily thing, he thought.

“And I got to hangout with my crush a lot too, so that’s always a plus,” Akira adds.

Ryuji stops, and Akira turns around to give him a weird look. “What?”

“You get me,” he says in awe.

“I sure hope so,” he tugs him forward, and they continue their walk, their shoes rhythmically landing on the wood in unison. A comfortable silence takes over, but that’s no good. Ryuji wants to hear him talk.

“So imagine you get ten million yen,” he starts. “What do you do with it?”

It’s not the first time he’s asked this. They discuss it often, eagerly like the dreaming boys they both are. Akira considers it and Ryuji loves that about him. It doesn’t matter how stupid his questions are—he will always answer them with as if it were a serious question.

“For starters, Yusuke’s getting a place as soon as possible.”

“Duh,” he snorts. “Apparently, his roommate brought someone back to hook up with them. Poor guy got so traumatized he slept over at Haru’s.”

“We should be glad that he didn’t ask them for poses,” Akira laughs. “Next, I’m making sure that Sojiro has enough for retirement.”

“Obviously. Rest in peace Leblanc—you make fire coffee, but no one’s there to drink it.”

“And then I’m making sure your mom has the funds for retirement for sure.”

“I love you,” he sighs.

“I know.” Akira starts swinging their hands back and forth. “Then with the rest, I’ll buy us some new shoes for when we start training again together, and whatever’s left we can split it up with the rest of the Thieves and they can do what they want with it.”

“I bet Ann would go on a shopping spree in France,” he says.

“Haru would probably donate hers.”

“Makoto’s is going straight into university. I can see her going in to get a Masters with that kind of money.”

Ryuji refuses to let his expression fall. “That’s her. Big bookworm with a capital B.” Stop talking about this, stop talking about this. “How about you, Sophia? Any clue what you’ll do with a boatful of moolah?”

A harmonic beep rings through the air and Akira passes her over to him. “I would invest in cryptocurrency and turn ten million into one hundred million,” she says cheerfully. “Then I would take that hundred million and turn it into one billion yen.”

Ryuji coughs, sliding her into his back pocket. “You know what? That’s my bad. I should’ve expected that, honestly.”

Akira plucks the remainder of their ice cream cone from his hand and throws it in his mouth, munching. Wordlessly, he takes out a pack of wet-wipes from his pockets and hands it to Ryuji.

“Thanks.” Reluctantly dropping his hand, he thoroughly cleans through his sticky fingers. “You didn’t ask me what I was gonna do with my money.”

He nods in a go ahead way.

“After I give most of it to my mom, I was just gonna give the rest to you.” Ryuji kicks a stray pebble. It skirts off the edge of the boardwalk. There’s a tug on his arm. “Yeah?”

Akira covers his mouth with a hand, before making an incomprehensible garble of noise.

“Huh? My bad, I didn’t catch that.”

A few seconds of vigorous chewing, he swallows. “I said,” Akira says, eyes glimmering the way it does when he gets really excited. “I was going to do the exact same thing.”

“Dude!” Ryuji throws his arm around his shoulders, tugging him in close. “You understand me like no one else does. What the eff!”

“I’m glad,” he says softly. Wrapping his arm around him, Ryuji blinks at the unexpected hug. “It’s nice that we're on the same wavelength.”

Suspicion tingles across Ryuji’s skin. “Hold up.” Pulling away, he squints his eyes at him. “No.”

Akira immediately looks to the side. “What?” he says, defensive. “It’s nothing.”

“No freaking way.”

“I think I saw a cool arcade back there, it has cool prizes that I think you’d like, and—“

“Kurusu Akira,” he says sternly, grabbing his face between his hands. “Don’t tell me that you’re jealous.”

“I’m not!” he insists, pushing his glasses higher on his nose. “I’m not, you know I’m not that type of guy.”

“But?” Ryuji prompts.

“But…” he hesitates. “I’d be happy for you, if you find that it’s easier to talk to other people that aren’t me.” Akira straightens up, pulling out of Ryuji’s grasp but inspects his hand like it were something to be studied. How strange it was to see his long, elegant fingers grasp his brutish, blistered ones. “I’m relieved that I didn’t leave you alone. I just...miss being your go-to, I think.”

“Akira.” He says slowly. “My man. The love of my fucking life. You are never not gonna be my go-to. You’re my go-one.” Rapping his knuckles against Akira’s temple carefully, “Your hometown is messing with you up here, making you say weird shit like that.”

“I know, I know.” Running his index finger down his wrist, Ryuji can feel how cold he is. “You knew what you were getting into when you started dating an overthinker.”

“As a chronic underthinker, no, I did not.” He kisses Akira’s palm. “But it works out, so it’s all good.”

Turning them both around, Ryuji starts walking. “I know this is super duper impossible for a guy like you, but I’m gonna have to ask you for a favor.”

“Anything.”

“You have got, to the best of your ability,” he bumps into Akira’s shoulder. “Stop stressing out.”

He frowns. “It’s my job to stress out.”

“It’s our job to stress out,” he corrects. “You and me. Founding Thieves. We share the burden, bro. We got into this together, we’re getting out of it together. That includes you worrying about our relationship outside the ‘Verse, and extend it all the way to what dingy hometown you took the bullet train from.”

“I’ll try,” he says doubtfully. “You’re kind of enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean? No way I can enjoy the most perfect person on the planet be a little jealous over his boyfriend getting attention, what kind of asshole would I be?” And before Akira can say anything, “I know, not jealous, but I’ll take what I can get.”

“I love you.”

“I know,” he flashes a peace sign.

“I know you know.” A group of middle schoolers pass them, chattering about nothing and pointing out random things on the quay, all enjoying their summer vacation. “You know that you can tell me anything, right?” he asks suddenly.

Unable to help himself, he ruffles Akira’s hair, pitch black and hot to the touch. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

“I don’t?”

Gray eyes look into his brown ones, earnest and trusting. Just like that, the light feeling in Ryuji’s chest vanishes. “No,” he responds slowly. “You don’t.”

“Good,” Akira nods, and sees where they were heading towards. “Oh, you took that seriously?”

“You bet your crisp ass I did,” he says, pushing the glass door open. The arcade is bright, neon, and littered with claw machines. Add that to the list of similarities from Tokyo. “I don’t fuck around with arcades. I’m in the top hundred players in the Gun Gale in Shinjuku.”

“Was that with Shinya or without?”

“Not important.” He surveys the area. “There it is. Can you grab us some change? I’ll pay you back.”

Akira waves his hand, walking towards the coin machine. “Don’t. What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I let you pay for our dates?”

“A hot one!” he yells. When he turns the corner, Ryuji collapses into a bright red racing chair. “Fuck,” he hisses, heart beating too damn fast for it to be normal. “Chill out, Sakamoto, jesus.”

It only gets worse when a familiar beep rings out. “Ryuji, your heart rate is at 160. Is everything alright?”

“Sophia!” he wheezes out, relieved. “Can you—will—” he stops, scrunching his eyes closed. “I’m having a panic attack, I think.”

“Searching for how to treat panic attacks,” she says immediately, and he sags into the cool plastic gratefully. “Deep breaths will help, slowly to the count of ten.”

His heart is beating so hard that he can barely hear the jingles and the whirrs of the machines around him. “Count out loud. Hurry, before he gets back.”

She does, and he grips the side of the chair as he focuses on breathing. The attack passes by faster than he hoped it would. “Thank god,” he breathes. “Thank you.”

“No prob,” she says, before hesitating. “Akira—”

“Will not know about this,” he cuts her off, rubbing his hand over his face. “I’ll tell him eventually, don’t worry, et cetera. I know all this. Ann’s been hounding me non-freakin’-stop. Just don’t tell him, Soph. Please.”

Before she can say anything, Akira comes back, pockets full of change and that signature small smile resting on his lips.

—

The bright side about missing out on Sapporo’s snow festival is having its tourism as its lowest point when you visit it in the summer.

Even the shopping district just outside Susikino isn’t very crowded; there’s the usual street vendors and shops with bright pastries and cute clothes. But even having it right beside the Sapporo Tower, it’s still nothing uncomfortable. At least, it’s not uncomfortable when you get to observe the environment through a phone lens.

“This is nice, isn’t it? I don’t think I’ve had much of an opportunity to talk to you yet, which is quite rude of me.”

“No prob,” Sophia replies easily. She was swaying from Haru’s neck, hanging by a silicone phone holder that she had bought from a convenience store. Futaba had guffawed when she saw it, but Sophia’s happy about the purchase. It’s fun, and it lets her people watch from the perspective of one of her friends. “I have been meaning to talk to everyone one by one as to better understand each of you.”

“Oh, good! What better use of a nice chat while doing some shopping along the way?” Haru chirps, thumbing through a rack of out-of-season clearance sweaters as they pass. “I have to admit, I’m not the best when it comes to fashion and whatnot. Most of the time, I ask Ann-chan to accompany me.”

“I can try my best! Online websites are constantly updating in order to provide their readers with the newest trends.” Idly, she takes a peek. “Wide-legged pants are back in style.”

“That’s a relief,” she sighs. “I never pulled off skinny jeans too well. Long, flowy skirts have always been my thing. It just gives off such a nice aesthetic, doesn’t it?”

Sophia smiles. “I think you’d look good in anything. Have you considered going punk? You’d look very dope and intimidating with a black streak in your hair and a leather jacket.”

“Now that I can agree with, but that’s more Mako-chan’s style, I’m afraid.” She pauses. “Actually, I bet Mako-chan would actually like that. Sometimes I feel as though she isn’t willing to branch out of her circle of clothes past a pair of Oxfords and a deep-coloured sweater. A push might be what she needs.”

She considers this. “Is it possible to buy clothes for her? That can be a possible ‘push’, quote unquote.”

“Hmm, I don’t think so. She would never let us do such a thing.”

“One moment.” Pulling out a few files from inside her memory storage, she clears her throat. “According to my data analysis, Niijima Makoto has high difficulty straying away from well-mannered behaviours. Do you think that includes saying no to gifts given to her? That can be advantageous.”

Haru stops walking and pulls the phone up so that they’re at eye-level. “Sophia-chan,” she beams. “I have a feeling we’re going to be very good friends.”

They continue walking down the street when Haru gasps suddenly. “You literally can’t shop, can you?”

“Of course I can. I can get anything in the world for you,” she says proudly. “Anything.”

“Alright, we’ll have to test that later, but I mean you can’t use what you buy,” she frowns, eyes troubled. “Your sweater is adorable, but you’re forced to wear it everyday, right? Can you even do your hair differently? Is it possible for you to pin it, or even let it down?”

Sophia finds it endearing that she would let such a thing bother her. She doesn’t even have a social insurance number, but Haru’s worried about hair clips. “No, but I quite like it the way it is. It doesn’t get in the way when I do my work, and in the Metaverse, it gets completely hidden as to let me do my fighting,” she explains, karate chopping in her screen. “But I can understand the human desire for change.”

“Would you like that?” Haru asks gently. “To change? Um, change out of your clothes, and change mentally. Either one.”

“Change mentally, of course! I’d love to understand my friends better and understand how to help them. It’s a vast mountain of knowledge, but I’d want nothing more than to decode the mystery of the human heart,” she says eagerly. “But for clothes...I’m not sure. I haven’t tried it. I’m pretty sure I can’t try it.”

“That settles it,” Haru looks both ways before crossing the street, jogging slightly.

Sophia perks up. “If you’re heading somewhere specific, I can give you directions.”

“No need.” She has an intense, hungry look on her face, not unlike the one she had when the new axe Akira bought had finally arrived at their RV. “We’re just about here.”

They stop in front of a store, and she can barely read the sign from the phone’s angle. “‘Case in Point’?”

Haru pushes the glass door open, greeting the cashier. “It’s a phone modifier shop.”

There’s no effort to explain anything else, but Sophia can confidently add ‘anticipation’ onto her growing list of experienced feelings.

—

“Out of curiosity—” Haru begins as they exit the modifier store, the cashier still bug-eyed from the tip she had left at his counter. “Can you see everything inside Akira-kun’s phone?”

“Yes,” she replies. The environment that she lives in, and more specifically, Akira’s phone, is now a bright, perfectly polished shade of rose gold with a mint outline. A far cry from the matte black that it was before. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason.” Her voice is sweet as sugar. “Out of curiosity once again, is there anything interesting? Anything worth noting?”

She jumps as Sophia’s voice suddenly morphs into Akira’s without warning. “Nice try,” the phone plays. “But no.”

And just as quick, Sophia comes back to the phone. “Sorry about leaving,” she says. “Akira had asked me to play that clip if someone ever, and I quote, ‘tried me.’”

Haru giggles. “Just like Akira-kun to be so thorough. Impressive as always, leader.” She peers down at her watch. “I suppose it’s about time to head back, isn’t it?”

“We still have eight minutes to spare.”

“We do. Perhaps we should take a stroll around the park?”

“Cool,” she says. “Wanna ask Futaba and Yusuke if they want to come with?”

“Sure?” Haru blinks. “That’s very specific.”

“On your two o’clock,” she points out. “In front of the book store.”

They watch as Futaba and Yusuke stand across the street from them. Futaba is aggressively pointing her finger at the books on display, then slapping her fist against her palm like she was devising a war strategy. Yusuke shakes his head wildly, comically putting his hands in his pockets and revealing that there was nothing inside. She sighs and walks away, tugging along a dejected boy behind her.

“Aren’t you going to ask them?”

“In a moment.” Haru takes them to the front of the store. “This isn’t a bookstore, I don’t think. What’s it called Sophia?”

After a quick search: “‘Sapporo’s School Supply Store’,” she says. “The alliteration makes it fun to say.”

“Indeed it does.” Peering into the store, Haru makes an introspective noise. “Now isn’t this interesting?” she hums. “Do you mind if I make one more purchase?”

“Not at all,” Sophia says, thrilled to add another point she had learned: If Haru wants something, there’s nothing that will get in her way.

—

“So,” Makoto starts, and Ryuji has to hold back a groan. He knows that tone. He’s memorized that tone. All the second years can feel her tone from a mile away. Hell, Ann probably took an instinctive step back just now. “Have you started to think about university?”

“Nope,” he says, wiping the sweat off his brow as they jog around the corner of Odori park. Back before he had left for his hometown, Akira and Ryuji would be up at dawn to train. Lately though, he’s been using any free time he has that isn’t planning for, prepping for, or actively doing a Jail run to sleep in the RV. And hey, he has no beef with Makoto, and it’s not like she can’t keep up with his training (she can most definitely kick his ass in hand-to hand), but she has a tendency to push when it comes to this sort of stuff. “Not a single thought towards it. It’s been pretty good, actually.”

“I can tell,” she agrees. “It’s almost like you blocked my number.”

“I did not!”

“So you actively choose not to answer any of my texts?”

“Ugh, don’t set me up like that,” he winces. “You know I’m stupid enough to fall for shit like that everytime.”

“Hold on.”

Ryuji grunts as he feels a hold on his shirt, forcing him to stop. “Ew, don’t touch my back, it’s Nigeria there.”

“First of all, it’s Niagara.” She spins him around. He’s only a little taller than her, but something about her always seems to tower over him. “Second, do you know why I keep pushing all of you to go to university?”

“Because you hate us?” he mumbles.

Makoto glares at him. “Try again.”

“...Because you don’t hate us?”

“Because I don’t hate you,” she repeats. “You’re all rowdy and wild and sometimes I don’t understand the jokes you make—”

“You’re just mad ‘cause you fell for a deez nuts joke.”

“But I do, inexplicably, love all of you,” she pushes on, and that shuts him up. “I know what you’re all capable of. Amazing things! I understand you all believe that I’m the be-all end-all, and I appreciate your compliments, but there are some things that only Ann can do, or Akira, or Yusuke.”

Makoto continues running, and he reluctantly follows suit. “And you. You can achieve things that I can’t even dream of, Ryuji.”

He resists the urge to yawn. “Thanks for the pep talk, Niijima.” Looking left, the gelato is looking real good. “Wanna get something to eat? I’m starving.”

“You aren’t very good at hiding secrets, Ryuji.”

Now that grabbed his attention. “Whoa, whoa, whoa there, prez!” Speeding past her, he holds out a hand to make her stop. “What do you mean by that?”

She raises a brow. “Nothing in particular, but your reaction is showing me that I should have meant something by it.”

He gnaws on the inside of his cheek roughly. “Okay, but why did that come into your brain? Why do you think I have some kinda secret?”

“I live with a prosecutor everyday of my life, of course I know when something’s afoot.” Pushing her hair back, she squints up at him. “You’ve been more...jumpy lately, yet somehow more laid-back than usual. I wanted to talk to Akira about this—”

Blood pours into his mouth when he accidentally bites too hard. “You talked to Akira?!” he half yells, red dribbling from the corner of his lips.

“Oh my god!”

“Fuck,” he clamps a hand over his mouth. “Sorry. Bit too hard.”

“N-no! Don’t apologize!” she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a napkin, pulling him to a stone ledge. “Sit and take this so you don’t bleed all over yourself. I’ll be back.”

He doesn’t bother speaking, only nods as she turns around. When she comes back, she’s holding a water bottle. “Here.”

Taking it gratefully, he takes deep gulps before spitting it out. “Why the hell does this taste like the beach?” he splutters.

“I didn’t say to drink it! It’s salt water to get rid of infections!”

“Why would you do that to me?!”

“Because I thought you knew to do that from the second-year health class!” she shoots back. “Gargle it and spit. Near the gutter, mind you, it’s rude to spit in front of kids. They might get the wrong idea.”

As if kids are gonna see him and think that there’s something worth remembering. He sips, sloshing it around his mouth before gently letting it dribble into the grated sewer. “Blegh.”

“You’re welcome. Keep at it. And while you’re doing that,” she sits next to him, shoulder to shoulder. “Do you want to tell me what’s been making you anxious?”

He pauses. “Anxious?”

Makoto gives him a stern look. “‘Experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.’ It was covered in your midterm.”

“Ah, right,” he mutters. Gripping the fabric of his shirt, his heart is beating too quick for it to be normal. Then again, when was the last time it wasn't? “You think I’m anxious?”

“I’m not sure. Keep gurgling,” Makoto chides.

He does, the salt water still red whenever he spat, and she continues. “All I know is when my anxiety gets really bad, I chew on my lip. Sae used to chide me when we were younger, but you know, she got busy,” she shrugs, as if he didn’t know how much it pained her to lose her only family member to a career of protecting the wrong people. “When I mentioned it to Akira, he took it upon himself to check up on me regularly during exam weeks.”

To prove her point, she takes her lower lip and flips it out for him to see—white teeth marks, but old scars instead of anything fresh. Letting go, her expression is smug. “He hasn’t felt the need to check in for a while now.”

Spitting, water finally running clear, he grins. “Good for you. I’m glad to hear that, dude.”

“Thank you, but that wasn’t the point. My point was that I was only able to get better because I told someone about it. Someone I trusted.” Makoto turns to him, her gaze serious. “I know that’s what Akira is to you. Habits like these are harmless at first, but they can turn into something else more dangerous. I won’t stand for that. My own justice won’t stand for that.”

Ryuji opens his mouth, before closing it. I’ll tell Akira, he wants to say. How many times does he have to repeat that line before he starts believing it himself? “Okay,” he says, because it’s the only thing he can say without hating himself even more.

“Okay.” She pats his knee before standing. “I can get us some gelato.” She stretches, wincing as her joints crack into place. “If you’re feeling up to it, start your cool down. Unless you wanna keep training?”

“I’m good. Felt enough blood rush for the day.”

She goes to the ice cream stand, and he stares up at the blue sky.

Makoto’s right, because of fucking course she is. She’s right, he knows she’s right. But she doesn’t get it. To her, Akira’s a friend. A guy who helped her out and changed her life, yeah. If he hadn’t met her when she did, maybe she would’ve become a scummy adult who didn’t look up from market pricing and hedge funds.

But Ryuji? Ryuji would be dead without Akira. That’s a fact and a half.

To Makoto, Akira’s a friend. To Ryuji, he’s Akira, and you can’t be on a higher pedestal in his mind than that.

—

It was Yusuke who took the first step.

“Ann,” he greets cordially. “How do you do?”

She gives him a weird look. “Kinda trying to focus here,” she says, gesturing at the scene in front of them. They, Morgana, and Sophia were in the B team as they watched the rest of them try and get rid of the remaining Shadows in Mariko’s Jail, tersely attentive and waiting on Joker’s word in case they needed a last minute switch. The Jail was environmentally brutal; the ice underneath the soles of their shoes makes them skid more often than they’d like. It almost makes the fights seem quicker, one notch faster than usual.

Yusuke pays her dismissal no mind. “I, myself, am learning many new things lately. Can the same be said about you?”

In the corner of his eye, Futaba pauses typing on her laptop to face palm.

“Are you...” Ann says after a brief pause. “Is this a threat? Are you threatening me?”

“No—”

“Panther!” Akira’s clear voice rings out.

Ann dashes forward without question, high-fiving Morgana as they trade spots.

Futaba marches forward, glaring at Yusuke like he was crazy. “You dolt!” she hisses. “What was that supposed to be? I said be slick and cool, not act like a fool!”

“While I admire the rhyme scheme, I don’t understand what you want from me. That was as ‘slick and cool’ as I’m capable of,” he furrows his brow. “I even opened with a question that seemed as though the conversation would be a normal one, but then used that to transition into what I actually wanted to discuss.”

“Stop looking so proud of yourself and—”

“Fox!”

“Back in a moment,” he says before he’s gone, Makoto taking his place, leather uniform still smoldering from when she took a fire move head-on.

“What was that about?” Haru asks, swinging her axe like a picnic basket.

“Nothing, Noir,” Futaba sighs, plopping back into place where Ann had stood. Carmen had kindly left a warm patch of concrete in her wake. “Just Inari became a big ole’ dumb-dumb.”

“I see,” she hums. “So this has nothing to do with what you two have been conspiring about lately?”

Her eyes shot wide open. “Con...conspiring?” she stutters out. “What do you mean by—”

A particularly loud scream rips into the air, and everyone turns their heads to see Captain Kidd slam his hook into the ground, purple arms erupting from the snow and wiping out a huge chunk of Shadows all in one go.

“Hot damn,” Futaba says, directing her focus back to her laptop and making sure Ryuji has enough health to keep going.

“He’s strong,” Haru observes, all playfulness gone.

“Too strong.” After Futaba gives everyone on the main team a good amount of health, something on her screen makes her pause. “Huh…?”

“Noir.”

Haru turns around to see Makoto waiting for her. “I need to discuss something with you.”

“Of course,” she steps closer to her and drops her voice. “Is everything alright?”

“I’d bring this up with Joker, but I don’t want to bother him if I’m not sure if there’s anything wrong yet,” Makoto pushes her mask up. “But have you noticed Skull's been acting strange lately?”

“Mona!”

He swaps with Ann, her pigtails covered in snow. “Ugh,” she grimaces as she shakes it out. “I could try and melt it, but it’ll just drip down my back and freeze later on, and I do not want that.”

“Panther, I’d like your input as well, if you don’t mind,” Makoto says.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“I was just talking to Noir about this, but did you notice anything strange about the way Skull’s acting lately?”

Ann takes a step back. “Well, what—No—I mean, that’s your opinion, I think!” she exclaims. “To me, Skull's acting is completely normal. He’s normal—actually, scratch that, he’s better than usual. Nothing about him is wrong, I think, and that’s pretty outstanding and impressive once you consider that he’s the one with the life-long injury. Not that that has to do with anything!” Ann yells. “I just wanted to point out how far he’s come, and how much he’s kicking ass right now. Actually,” her voice shifts to a stage whisper. “Don’t mention this because I don’t wanna cause drama, but Fox has been a little weird.”

“Weird how?” Makoto whispers back, looking extremely lost.

“Just earlier, he asked me how I was.”

“...I’m not following.”

“No, Panther-chan has a point,” Haru breaks in. “I can’t say for certain, but I have a strong feeling that Fox and—” she points at Futaba conspicuously. “Are up to something.”

“Sophie and Fox?” Ann breathes.

“Panther!”

“Damn, again? That’s what we get for going into an ice Jail,” she grumbles, swapping with Yusuke.

Haru sighs. “Panther-chan isn’t the best with context clues, is she?”

“Hello ladies,” Yusuke greets. “What were we discussing?”

Makoto gives him a suspicious look. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

His jaw drops, bewildered, but before he can say anything, Futaba waves him over. “Get your fox butt over here!”

“I...Alright,” he says, resigned.

“Look at them,” Makoto nods at the pair. “I think you’re onto something.”

“I think so too, but I don’t want to be too hasty. After all, the two of them are such good friends now; it would be unfair to assume negative outcomes without evidence, or at least confront them first,” Haru says nonchalantly.

She understands immediately. “You have evidence?”

“Something of the sort.”

“Noir!”

“Duty calls,” she gives her a thumbs up, before Ann comes back once again.

“I can’t wait for us to go to a really hot place again,” she kicks the snow with her heels. “Then I’ll be comfortably in the B team because all the Shadows have fire resistance to the max.”

“Oh good, she’s back,” Yusuke’s expression is one of relief.

“Fox—” Futaba warns without looking up from her laptop.

“Come here. There is something we would like to discuss with you.” Whether or not it was intentional, he rests his hand on the handle of his katana.

“Okay but before we start, I just wanna ask—what are you doing with Sophie?” Ann accuses. “It’s fine to be friends with her, but you have to be careful. She’s really susceptible to what we say right now, and if you try anything funny—”

“What are you even saying?” he says, offended. “I barely even talk to her!”

They all glance at Sophia, who had been standing perfectly still and silent. She gives them a wave. They all awkwardly wave back.

Makoto places a hand on Ann’s shoulder. “Panther, Noir meant Fox and Oracle.” Ann flushes red as she continues. “And while we’re all here, I wanted to bring this up with you as well. Have you all noticed something strange with Skull?” Futaba stops typing. “I’m not sure how to explain it, but I think he’s extremely anxious about something. You all know that I’m an overthinker, so I might have the wrong idea but…” she trails off.

Futaba glances at Yusuke. Yusuke glances at Ann. Ann helplessly glances at Ryuji, still fighting alongside Akira and the others.

“I know nobody asked me,” they all jump a foot in the air when Sophia speaks beside them. “But I can at least confirm for suresies that there is something strange with Skull.”

“Which is…?” Makoto prods.

“I don’t know the specifics.” Ann, Yusuke, and Futaba let out a breath. “But he did have a panic attack recently.”

“I knew it!” Makoto snaps her fingers. “He’s had signs of being anxious, but I wasn’t too sure about it.”

“Queen!”

She runs out, and Ryuji comes in, looking exhausted but pleased. “Hey y’all, what were we talking about?”

It was dead silent before Sophia steps forward. “Look what I can do!” she exclaims, changing the expression on her screen to be an emoji with a flower.

“Whoa!” His eyes bug out, and they all sigh in relief. “That’s awesome! Can you do more?”

“That’s super cool Sophie, but,” Futaba looks at Ryuji, skeptical. “Don’t you feel weak right now? Your health is way down.”

“Oh, I didn’t even notice,” he rubs the back of his neck. “Sophie, you mind?”

“Not at all.” She calls for Pithos and green sparkles fall on him. “Better?”

“Thanks, I owe you one.”

“Skull!”

“When the king calls, his knight answers,” he salutes, sprinting out as Makoto comes back in.

“So,” she glares at the rest of them. “What do the rest of you know?”

Ann groans. “Even if I did know something, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

“Wait,” Futaba points an accusing finger at her. “What do you know?”

“What do I know? What do you know? And for that matter, what does he,” Ann points at Yusuke. “Know? Noir said you guys are doing secret stuff together!”

“That’s preposterous,” he scoffs. “If it was secret, she wouldn’t have known.”

“That’s the dumbest argument I’ve ever heard.”

“How is it dumb?” he asks. “You can’t possibly think that just because Futaba and I are doing ‘secret stuff’ that it has anything to do with Skull’s situation!”

There was a pause. “Are those two connected?” Sophia asks. Futaba buries her face in her hands.

“That was...not the question I expected,” Yusuke answers weakly.

“Sophie!”

“God, I wish Joker would call for Inari instead,” Futaba groans.

Rushing out, Sophia high-fives Ryuji on the way. “Guess who’s back, motherfuckers?”

In an effort to bury their conversation, they all begin cheering overenthusiastically, Yusuke clapping politely. Bewildered, Ryuji instinctively gives them a thumbs up. “Thanks guys. Usually, my jokes don’t really land, but that made me real happy.”

“Uh, Skull,” Futaba raises an eyebrow. “How do you keep losing health? I didn’t even notice you taking a hit.”

“I’m low again? Damn, I didn’t even notice,” he groans loudly. “Queen, can you—”

“I’m on it.”

Just as Johanna heals him, Akira calls out once again: “Skull!”

“Joker really does rely on you, doesn’t he?” Yusuke observes.

Ryuji laughs. If they didn’t know any better, they would think it sounded a little nervous. “Well, gotta jet!”

High-fiving Makoto, he runs out. She stares at the remaining members of the B team. “You all know something,” she accuses. “And I understand if you’re all being loyal to him by keeping what you know close to your hearts. But remember this:” she takes a step forward, and they all take an unconscious step back, Futaba scooting from where she sat on the ground. “There comes a point where it’s actually more important to keep a person safe and healthy than to uphold a potentially dangerous secret.”

They all digest her words for a second, and flinch when a flash of blue flame appears, taking Akira’s Persona away.

“Finally.” He stretches his shoulders, satisfied. “That took awhile. Good work everyone, let’s keep going.”

Making their trek deeper into the Jail, Futaba half-jogs, half-speed walks to Ryuji. “Your health again,” she chides. “Seriously. I know I like to play around, but I always have my eye on you guys when you’re fighting. I literally have not seen you take a hit, but you’re getting drained like milk in a sink.”

He shrugs, unperturbed. “Whatever. You see my hits today, though? They were tough.”

“Yeah,” she agrees reluctantly. “But your health is still low. I’ll call Joker about that.”

Before she can turn, he grabs her wrist. “Nope,” he says. “I’ll ask Panther. Thanks though!”

Ryuji goes to Ann, and he can feel everyone’s eyes on him, watching him, surveying his every move.

All eyes except for the one that really matters.

#p5 #p5s #yusuke kitagawa #mine #fic tag #plainly in truth #ryuji sakamoto #akiryu #pegoryu #chapter two! neat #akira kurusu #persona 5

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