#all his core things had *akechi* on them

[tricksheart]

go to pinterest, enter your character name + core and post the first nine pictures.

Tagged by: @foraltruism Tagging: @praeteritus-memories ( for Gojo ), @beauthief, @gloryseized, @alm1ghtysea, @trattcria, and anyone else who wants to do this. Say that I tagged you.

[hifugoro]

thinking sooooo hard about the removed akechi mementos request. not only because we got to see him Ace Detective-ing (peak!) but because the moral of it all is so. Akechi. very long rant incoming

one of the major things that I think sets him apart from the rest of the thieves is that he doesn’t believe that circumstances lessen the effects of actions. like at all. there are multiple examples of this but the cutscene during marukis fight where he’s the only one to keep attacking (and him being the only one to show outright disdain towards maruki in general) + the thieves den conversation with yusuke about shido / madarame (Y: “Perhaps there was a certain misstep in his life that eventually led him so astray.” A: “So you’re saying he may not have been truly evil? Your drivel’s as outlandish as always…”) are ones that stand out to me most. he doesn’t care about what causes bad people to be the way they are, and he doesn’t care what otherwise good people’s intentions are when they do bad things. the act itself is what matters

it goes without saying that this extends to himself, I mean he outright states that he cant comprehend the phantom thieves not just killing him after the engine room fight. he didn’t mean that as a “wow... I can’t believe you’re being so nice to little old me….” moment. it was him being genuinely confused as to why they’re still trying to get him on their side. because he didn’t say anything he said to gain pity points with them, nor does he think the things he said deserve enough pity points to spare his life

and then you have this mementos request. in which a corrupt diet member has a son with his mistress, who subsequently commits suicide, and then falsely accuses the son of a crime many years down the line. “you all want to help that poor victim, don’t you?” akechi says. the poor victim, who was enacting a revenge plot on his criminal father that made him into a criminal as well. huh.

again, this is all coming from the guy who like a month ago, got a heartfelt speech about how he can still come back from what he’s done because the thieves can understand where he’s coming from. this happens at (arguably) his emotional lowest, where it probably hits harder than it could at any other time. and this is his direct response to that. this is him saying, in essence, that their kind words at the end were nonsensical, because his circumstances Don’t Matter

after he sends these texts, morgana goes “But akechi is just like him…” because it’s true, but that’s the Point. It makes no difference that akechi can empathize, and place himself directly in toji’s shoes. he had a hunch about the truth the entire time, and he still aided in making toji’s act of extortion exposed. understanding the viewpoint of someone who does bad things Does Not Matter to him

and that, to me, is what his sense of justice is at it’s core. which is why in the end, he doesn’t have that same sympathy for himself that everyone else does. he killed people. end of story. no other notes

and my god! I really wish they kept this in, because it really hammers in that extra layer he has to him. atlus do you hate me

[extensionallydefined]

Okay, so, I need to talk about the relationship between Persona 5's ending and Persona 5 royal's ending, because I think it isn't discussed enough how one puts into question the themes of the other and in doing so it elevates everything that came before.

Spoilers are coming, you've been warned.

The main thing that's given me an outlet to think about this is a few quotes from the Phantom Thieves when they're in the Velvet Room after being Thanos-snapped by Yaldabaoth. Specifically these quotes:

Ann: "I... I never want anyone to have to go through what I did!"

Yusuke: "Just as art is meant to break boundaries, people should be saved even if they frown upon it. I won't allow the justice I believe in to be shaken any further!"

Ryuji: "We're doin' this to make sure people don't go through the same crap we did. It doesn't matter if they think we're just or not. We gotta do what we believe in!"

Futaba: "I can't let people suffer like this, even if I don't know them personally"

They mention some core ideas: 1. They want to prevent people's suffering because of the suffering they've felt. 2. They must do this regardless of if people want it, because they think it's the right thing to do. 3. Their justice is worth fighting for by virtue of being what they believe in.

Does this seem familiar? Maybe makes you think of a certain therapist who shows up in Royal?

I think Takuto Maruki serves a decent amount of purposes narratively and thematically, but one of the most genius things about him is that he serves as a foil to both the Phantom Thieves and Akechi, and in being that foil, he is, deep down, following the principles that the Phantom Thieves fought for - In the end, it was largely Joker who inspired him to fight for his reality.

Maruki fights for a reality where suffering straight up doesn't exist, because he doesn't want anyone to feel the suffering he's had to endure. Maruki wants the Phantom Thieves and Akechi to never feel suffering anymore, regardless of their stance on the matter. He is "saving" them regardless of their wishes, and will fight them to keep the reality he wants. He thinks the world is unfair, so his "justice" is to make a perfect world for everyone - and that's what makes it worth fighting for, because that's what he believes.

Maruki's rationale to fight against the Phantom Thieves and Akechi is (partly) the same reasoning that the Phantom Thieves use to regain their motivation to fight the Holy Grail/Yaldabaoth.

So, narratively, Maruki serves as a mirror that's telling things not to be told for the Phantom Thieves to look into and to see the ugly parts of their own way of acting. Can they really fight Maruki, knowing that he is just acting how they did?

I see people sometimes refusing Maruki's reality because it "wouldn't actually work" or "it's imperfect". But as far as I'm aware, it's imperfect because it hasn't been completed yet - I think the game is a lot more interesting under the pretense that Maruki truly has the power to erase all suffering, once his reality is complete, past the deadline. I also see the argument, and even the game uses it, that Maruki's world "isn't reality". But did we listen well to Morgana's speech before he disappeared in the Yaldabaoth arc? The world itself is made up of cognition, reality is born from the points of view of everyone. Maruki *can* change reality, and the real question of the game is not about the logistics or "ontological dignity" of his reality, but rather - Do you want a world where all your wishes are granted and no suffering exists?

In the end, the game shows the Phantom Thieves that "sticking to their justice" will make them fight against people with similar ideals as theirs. It's funny, in a way, how Akechi was the one fully willing to fight Maruki from the start. His rebellion has always been more individualistic in nature than the Phantom Thieves' - he wanted revenge for himself, then redemption for himself and now he wants a reality where he isn't under anyone's control anymore. To him, Shido's country, Yaldabaoth's ruin and Maruki's world are all the same - Maruki just has a nicer, more therapy-speaky way of presenting his proposal, and sees people as his equals rather than as insolent masses, but his goal is the same. They're all worlds that shackle you for the "greater good". And in the end, Maruki, and Royal, force the P5 gang to become more like Akechi - to value their individuality in the face of the public's "justice".

To fight for what you believe in you will face people with the same determination as you. They will be your equals in many, many ways. In the end, you can only stick to your guns and hope that what you believe in is worth more than what they believe in.

I have a lot more to write about these topics but I'll leave it there. Maybe about the relationship between Maruki's reality and individuality next? That could be fun ^^

Btw - Special thanks to @thedaythatwas for inspiring me to write up stuff about Persona 5 Royal!

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

A big thing of importance when attempting to predict or understand a plot point or character in a work of fiction is that you really have to approach it from what the story itself is trying to tell you.

Yeah, yeah, I know, but you really do need your starting point to be "what is the intention of this story? What is it trying to say?" Every story will have thematic elements that are core to its premise, and a lot of things will make sense more if you actively view them through this lens. You can't cast aside the intent of the story before you take the time to understand what the story is trying to do in the first place.

For instance, BSD has a knack for not killing off its characters, despite the violence of the world in which this story takes place. But BSD at its core is about survival and life, and particularly seeking a way to live even if your purpose and meaning and future are uncertain. It was created for people who need stories to live. This is why it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for them to kill off a bunch of characters, as that would conflict with the kind of story BSD is. I do not expect character death in this series, because unless there are some very specific circumstances (ie. Bram), it just wouldn't fit. Any death just isn't going to hold.

Dead Boy Detectives is extremely obvious in its theming - The good you do comes back around and will allow you to heal in turn. If you continue to be cruel to others, then you will only succeed in perpetuating that cycle, and become the toxic one in turn. This is the core of Crystal, Niko and Esther's story arcs in particular: the character who changes over the story, the character who exemplifies the themes, and the character who acts as the warning.

Themes are the connecting threads that help you understand why choices are made. It also really helps when trying to narrow down to a general idea of where something is going.

For one, the To the Moon/Sigcorp series is about things like memories, regrets, legacies, grief, and final moments before death. Due to this consistent theming, it really didn't come as a surprise to learn the major secret that one of the characters was hiding... or the kind of ending it's leading up to.

As another example, Persona 5 is about a lot of things: rebellion, anger against injustice, the failure of adults to protect the youth, etc., but more than anything I think, P5 is about building a support system after trauma; a support system which is a necessary crutch for people to get their feet back under them and learn how to heal so that they can find themselves and a way forwards again. But a support system doesn't just come to you - you have to trust in people, and let them help you. This is seen in all the characters' arcs, but is taken to extremes with both Futaba and Akechi. Futaba could not start to heal without choosing to allow people to help her. She stagnated in her own guilt and grief due to her isolation, and her decision to open herself up is made literal by a locked door in her heart that could only be opened if she chose to let them in. And, as a result, this running theme is how I knew, even during the worst of the traitor arc, that Akechi was going to end up complicated, yes, but also sympathetic. P5 is not subtle. We are told and shown again and again that this character had no one in his life to rely on, and was cast aside by society. But unfortunately, Akechi rebuffs any attempts to offer him help. As a result, he becomes more and more single-minded, strays further from what he truly seems to believe, and ultimately spirals into self-destruction.

Now we can start asking other questions, like "Was the story successful in what it tried to tell us? Did any of the themes conflict? Were thematically relevant threads left hanging?"

Going back to BSD, this is still a major issue I have with the prison arc. Objectively, the characters were in-character, and the logic holds (for BSD anyways lol). But thematically, it was unsatisfying - the intense setup of this arc made the audience expect much more in the way of story themes than was actually delivered.

This, to me, is where you get into "was the story good" without getting caught in the "well, I didn't like it/agree with it so it was bad".

And then there's where you come into it! Your initial reading of the themes of the story are also going to be shaped by your amount of practice in critical analysis, and also by your personal experiences and interpretations. This is where we get into things like "do I agree with what the story is trying to say" and "oh this was a missed opportunity to add in this little detail" or "objectively it was good, but it didn't really do it for me" or even "objectively it was bad, but something about it still makes me want to chew plaster". It's awesome and part of the joy of being in a community for these things. It's both limiting and lonely to see a story from only one perspective.

[argentsunshine]

have you posted about your characterization of Joker? i really like your takes about him and would love if it were explained, but understand if not

i don't think i've posted about it explicitly beyond writing fics and comics, but i do think about it a lot

i acknowledge that everyone picks different options for their akira(/ren, i'll be calling him akira here in case i have to differentiate between his real world and metaverse personas), but imo there are way more basic facts about akira that are the same regardless of what dialogue options you pick than people act like there are

he's quiet

he's not really a silent protagonist unless you're incredibly broad with the term, but he still isn't exactly the most talkative guy. you may be saying mr argent sunshine, this is obvious, why are you bothering to state this. well you see i often joke that i have a test where i back out of a fanfic if anyone describes akira as "loud", "talkative", or anything else to that effect. i have seen this so often and it drives me insane. especially when people portray him as like, a quirky hyperactive ditz constantly saying stupid shit...? people can be funny while saying very few words, guys. (sometimes it's even funnier to say less. wild concept.)

also, while the doylist purpose of his quietness is obvious - making the player pick a line every other sentence would get annoying and would force them to write and record way more dialogue to account for all the responses - i think it's interesting to examine from a watsonian perspective. was he always quiet, or is it a mask in the same way as the glasses are? i personally imagine him always being on the quiet side, but it's a space you could play in.

2. caring so deeply about everyone and everything all the time

this to me is the real core of akira's character. the defining moment of his whole deal to me is the one-two punch of him saving a woman he didn't know and losing everything for it, and, when arsene asks, him saying doing that was not a mistake, i'd do it again if i had to, even though the woman he was trying to save turned around and lied to the police, resulting in his arrest. he comforts ann when they barely know each other, he awakens to arsene in the first place while trying to protect ryuji, who he's known for all of ten minutes. yes, he loves his friends and found family dearly (and i'm sure when i started talking about things that are true no matter what option you pick someone went "oh like how akechi will still be akira's wish in maruki's reality no matter what you do", yeah, that too) but he's also ready to throw himself into harm's way for the sake of people he's never met.

(if someone wants my full rant on this point ask me about sojiro akira parallels but a side point to this is that he's deeply unselfish, to a level that may not be healthy in the long run. he just so happens to have gotten the exact magic powers to make his heroics feasible. i'm just saying, without getting persona powers he still would have managed to draw kamoshida's anger, and he would have been expelled and probably gone to juvie! but he still would have done it because he can't just look away.)

3. oh god i don't want this to turn into a whole full rant so now i have to pick one last point then shut up. oh god oh fuck. i could talk about akira forever but nobody wants to sit through that. let's talk about masks.

i don't think of joker as The Real Akira as much as his metaverse appearance is another facet of him. looking at him from another angle. i think his flair for the dramatic is fun and i love him, but i also think the concept of theatrics and illusion and trickery (ha) being built so deep into him is very important. even though it's always for the greater good, he does tell people what they want to hear a lot (off the top of my head, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of his non-PT confidants are at least somewhat based on false pretenses right from the start, even if they make him come clean in the end, and a lot of the rest involve akira being exactly who the person needs him to be.) you could argue that akira's always pretending to literally everyone fully all the time (I don't think this is true; i think he obscures parts of himself to make himself more useful or palatable to others, but i think arguing his connections are inauthentic is a) edgelord bullshit or, more commonly, shipper brain if they're arguing only one connection is authentic b) just not consistent with the way people work. i'm personally of the opinion that we're all always presenting tailored versions of ourselves to everyone around us - i'm ruder around my friends but kinder around my parents; openly ramble about my interests to my online friends but tend to keep a lid on them irl - these don't make some of my connections fake, it's just a difference in the facets people see. i don't think akira's tendecy to present different masks around different people is neccasarily the best way to go about life (in that i think it Will lead to an identity crisis inevitably) but it's definitely A Thing!

i lost track of what i was saying at the end there so i'll stop talking

[kavvehs]

RESUSCITATION — PERSONA 5 ROYAL

he should be dead, but if he has to spend another unfortunate minute alive he wants it to be spent with you.

♡ — themes : gender-neutral!reader, phantom thief!reader, angst, hurt / comfort, physical affection, reader is referred to with “you”, minor one-sided feelings (joker) if you squint, minimal dialogue, essentially a reunion fic bc i love this crazy bastard.

♡ — content / trigger warning : spoilers for shido’s palace + third semester + akechi’s background, mentions of blood / death / wounds.

♡ — word count : 3k

The cruelty started with his mother.

He was young, but he wasn’t stupid. He was a mere child, but he was far from naive and innocent to the ugly truth of the world around him. He knew that the way mothers and fathers gazed at their sons and daughters differed from the way his own mother would gaze at him. Goro could count on his own two hands alone how many times she looked him in the eye, a single hand for how often that lasted for more than a couple seconds that felt like significantly less than that. In her own way, however, a distant and saddened and haunted way, she cared about him. She dressed him and fed him and asked him if he had a good day at school over dinner at the rickety table held together by duct tape. She combed her fingers through his hair and kissed his forehead with trembling lips while her eyes became glassy, as if confronted by the horrible reminder that the literal personification of her suffering stood before her.

The obvious lingered in the air between them like smoke, but went unspoken like it wasn’t there to begin with. He wasn’t deaf to the slander and expletives hurled at them that only gave reason to another round of sobbing when she thought he was asleep. She still smiled at him afterwards, as if he didn’t notice the exhaustion hanging to the underside of her eyes or the expensive cologne clinging to her exposed skin. It wasn’t until he reached for her hand in search of comfort and was met with empty space that he realized just how blind he had been. She shielded him from countless cruel names and jabs because she placed what should have been his burden upon herself. His soft body wasn’t prepared for the punctures that the people’s cruelty inflicted upon him and still wasn’t, even when he was left battered and bruised and pleading for a warm hand, but received cold shoulders instead. A lonely child doesn’t know how to mend the wound that loss and grief leaves behind, after all.

He could still recall the poison-riddled sneers. Whether he was in earshot or not, it didn’t matter to the beasts masquerading as people, calling his mother weak and laughing as if they had no hand in the reason she gave up. She despaired until she couldn’t handle the heavy weight of torment and the pressure that came with enduring hardships any longer. She gave up not because of a lack of strength, but because of injustice and the savagery of the corrupted masses. For the pedestal human hearts are placed upon, they are no less easy to manipulate once you grasped what they treasured at their cores. A figure in the shape of him lingered in hers and that should have been enough—he desperately wanted it to be enough—but the unabashed hostilities opened each wound he tried to ease and heal with his tiny palms until he was powerless to do anything more. Hers would have given out eventually, but that didn’t ease the ache in his.

Goro spit in the face of fate, destiny, whatever bullshit name attributed to some scapegoat to shift the blame onto when things turned sour. How could anyone believe in something so knowingly cruel? How could they be content putting their lives in the hands of mere coincidences or a so-called deity that couldn’t care less about what became of mortal men, and then be alright with whatever miserable fate befell upon them? All because of destiny? All his mother did was meet a rotten shell of a man, and then what? She was fated to live in a constant cycle of torment and suffering and promptly die because a higher power said so? That was a load of shit if he ever heard it and he refused to live a life under someone else’s jurisdiction. It was because of his hard work, his perseverance, his accomplishments, his everything that he ended up where he was and he refused to allow anyone to claim that as their own.

Most importantly: Goro Akechi refused to live because someone else said so.

In the face of his impending demise, Goro was...somewhat, somehow, satisfied going out this way. Death certainly wasn’t ideal by any means—hell, he could say the same for the entire predicament he found himself in—but he was backed into a corner with no escape method. Unable to watch Shido be knocked off of his obnoxiously tall pedestal was honestly disappointing, but if anyone could take that piece of shit down at all, regardless of if he was there or not, it was the Phantom Thieves. They made it through the most impossible scenarios tossed at their feet and weaseled their way out with a just as impossible plan; this would be no different. To think that would be his dying wish. He didn’t think he’d have one at all. Knowing Shido would finally end up where he belonged, dead or alive, by his hand or someone else’s, brought him a twisted sense of closure. You would always be cared for while he was gone, and that would be enough.

When he closed his eyes and he allowed his thoughts to drift, Goro could still see the betrayal that lined your eyes, moistened by the hurt and confusion and worry he knows fully well that he’s deserving of. He told himself, readied himself, for that very look because he knew it was coming. It was inevitable and he knew that, but it was like a shot to the empty chasm where his heart should be to really see it and be the one it was directed towards and it hurt like hell. It was agony and Goro didn’t know how to soothe or turn his cheek from it, but he had no choice but to face you head-on. In the moment where nothing but laughter ran his throat hoarse and an addicting sort of adrenaline that totally disregarded any rational thought pumped through his veins, he decided he hated that fucking look. Quit looking at him like that! Goddamn you! He didn’t want your sympathy; your pity; your love; nothing! But he’s always been quite the liar, hasn’t he?

His last memory was him staring down the crumpled, fading corpses of the Shadows and his doppelganger while more of the distorted creatures formed in their place. Vaguely, he could still recall the cool metal against his back and the warmth between his fingers as he clutched his side. Seeing the physical representation of who he was in the eyes of that bastard neither shook or surprised him, but he could still taste the bubbling disgust. Its eyes were so empty and soulless while it declared how happy it would be to serve and lay down its life for someone who never cared for anyone but himself. Joker spoke through the wall and he somehow felt close to the nobody, but the irony was bitter considering the circumstances. Someone screamed his name from the other side of the door, voice echoing across the walls while his body rattled as a fist or weapon slammed against the divide over and over. He didn’t live long enough to hear the rest.

Goro Akechi died in Masayoshi Shido’s Palace and yet was miraculously resurrected in the busy streets of Shibuya. He might have been impressed if it didn’t piss him off. 

“One last thing,” Goro said, turning his back to the prosecutor. “How are they?”

Clarification is irrelevant when the tone of his voice dropped into something softer and uncomfortably vulnerable of its own accord. It’s obnoxious, really. Ren stood a bit straighter, a bit taller, squared his shoulders, and didn’t respond. The response, or lack thereof, is enough for him to get the picture. He didn’t have the right to know the answer, nor did he deserve it after the damage he inflicted, but his fingers still twitched to try and piece things back together. It would undoubtedly be messy and his hands would surely bleed and mix with what stained them already, but he was still willing to try. The look Ren gave him said enough, however: he didn’t have that option, not right now. He immediately felt like a fool for asking. In any other situation, he may have been proud of himself for the emotion that seeped through the Phantom Thieves’ leader’s mask of cool composure. Instead there was only disappointed numbness.

“Is something wrong?” Sae asked after a long period of silence and tension. He knew that some part of her, past the loyalty to the law and younger sister, she did care for the Phantom Thieves.

“Ah, nothing of concern,” he lied, voice pleasant and full of its usual false charm, but it didn’t quite reach his expression.

Though his words were directed towards the woman, his attention never shifted away from an openly conflicted Ren. He pinned him down with his glare alone and clung to the minute hope that he would get the answer at the very last second. Or a minute. Or even two if he remained patient. Pale lips didn’t so much as move from its frown and any visible surprise and relief from the detective’s initial appearance became a mere memory of moments prior. All things considered it was fairly understandable. He turned to Sae and it was clear that she didn’t believe a single word spoken, not after that, but he didn’t care or dignify her with a response, especially the one she was looking for. If he didn’t get what he wanted, neither would she. Goro turned his back to the both of them and began walking away in false stride.

“We should be going.”

Goro didn’t know why he was here. He had his suspicions of how and why he had been so rudely resurrected if his conversations with Ren were anything to go by, but the reason why he’s here in Shibuya and standing in the middle of the sidewalk like some idiot alluded him. There was nothing special about this place and nothing that stood out, and yet his feet refused to move despite his attempts at willing himself forward. He had nowhere to be, but no reason to stop either. Curious, or another one of the doctor’s cheap tricks. It was hard to say. Faceless passerby navigated around him and he couldn’t be bothered in giving them the time of day when they didn’t so much as blink in his direction anymore. It was the usual order of society, but he despised the unwelcome familiarity that crept to the forefront of his mind from where he buried it deep within his memories. The title of second-coming of the prince detective, all of his hard work, meant nothing in a world where he only lived for someone else.

The cool air nipped at his face and a cloud of air expelled from between his lips. Instinctively, he curled his hand a little tighter at his side, but when he glanced downwards at his glove he merely grasped at the empty air with nothing but the lens of what used to be filtered over his vision. To have you suddenly missing from his side was jarring, to say the least. Reflection wasn’t his ideal pastime, but it was all he had when his loss drowned him. Loss of what he once had, loss of direction, loss of company, loss of purpose. He didn’t regret what he did and there was no shame in his admittance, but a twinge of regret sparked for not doing more to keep you out of the confrontation. His waking moments wouldn’t be consumed so mercilessly if he had a little more time, was a little better. Maybe that’s why you chose to stand by Joker and not him, because that nobody living in an attic was somehow always better than him.

Goro shook those thoughts away before they could fester into something worse than his (not at all jealous) scowl and grounded himself back into the distorted reality around him, only to find his back seared from a burning gaze drilled into him from behind. He first glanced over his snowflake-covered shoulder and then turned his whole body, and was given little time to linger on the realization of how fluidly he was suddenly able to move when your eyes stared back from across the people-ridden street. It was something out of a fantasy, the crowds parting and disappearing as if the world belonged to you and him, and you and him alone. It could, a voice that sounded suspiciously like that damned doctor’s whispered in his ear. If that’s what would make you both happy. Tempting, calculating, sickeningly genuine. Goro swat that thought away without thinking twice.

Even when you sought warmth in the winter clothing bundled comfortably around you, you were just as captivating as he remembered, twice as breathtaking, and Goro wouldn’t have looked away even if he was capable of doing so. Your eyes, a gorgeous hue of color that he could wander and get lost in, widened in recognition and a sudden swarm of emotions that summoned tears. Were you crying for him or another reason? He would be selfish and hope it was the former, but then why would that be? He had your love—whether he still did was up in the air—and that was enough. Despite how much he craved it, craved you, craved more, he knew it was undeserved. How could you love someone who left scarlet stains across your face and body when he held you? The love in your eyes when his true self slipped past his princely persona was wholly authentic in the past, but would that remain when there wasn’t a front for him to fall back on?

His feet carried him forward and yours did the same with far more urgency and less self-deprecation between maneuvering around the mindless passerby, as if he was a fleeting memory you were desperately trying to hold onto. He tended his arms and dug his heels into the concrete before he could fall backwards when your body collided with his. Your arms wrapped around him and with his chest pressed against yours, he could distinctly feel the erratic drum of your heart. His, meanwhile, bled between your fingers from where he ripped it out and gave it to you for safe-keeping. In your kind and loving palms it swelled, it warmed, it beat, it mended itself together. Goro couldn’t recall the last time it did that or how, despite each and every crack and bruise and puncture, it still yearned and lived. For all that he did, you still held onto it and nurtured it. He still couldn’t put a name to the fluttering in his stomach after all this time.

Your grip on the back of his coat tightened incrementally, body and breath trembling between trying to muster all of the strength you had. Goro couldn’t even bring himself to hold you close like he had before and could only watch as his palms hovered over you, as if he’d somehow do further damage from touch alone. How pathetic he had become within your absence. He couldn’t tell how long you stayed like that for, but it certainly long enough, if you asked him. He couldn’t complain too much when you raised your head from where it rested against him for your teary-eyed gaze to meet his. A chill ran down his spine at the feeling of your wandering hands cradling his cheeks, fingers caressing the flushed skin beneath his eyes and outlining the contour of his face. One hand raised to cover yours as he melted into your touch and leaned into one palm without so much as breaking eye contact. All of the tension in his body faded far out of sight and out of mind.

“My Goro,” you whispered for him and him alone. “Is it really you? This isn’t a dream, right?”

It’s a little late to be asking that, what little of his mind that wasn’t drunk on you realized, but all he’s able to get out is a nod and a breathless, “Yeah, it’s me.”

It was hard to tell whether it’s because of the sound of his voice or the confirmation that summons them forward, but one tear after the other slipped down your cheeks and left glittering stains in their wake. With trained carefulness he used for nobody else, he brushed both away with the back of his fingers one after the other. Some part of him patiently awaited for the knee-jerk reaction to his touch, but it never came. Instead you sunk further into him and his free hand rose to rest against your hip where it belonged before he could so much as give himself the command. Then his lips are on yours and that’s an order he happily followed through with the moment it crossed his mind. It was too harsh, too ravenous, impatient, pathetically desperate, and Goro knew that, but he did nothing to ease it. His mouth moved against yours and he would have drew away at the initial stillness had you not returned the gesture tenfold.

His lips slipped away from yours for a breath of air at the very last second when his lungs screamed for oxygen and he only needed a second more before he went in for another, and another, and another. Eventually, he could feel the corner of your lips rise and laughter bubble between each depraved, downright desperate kiss. Goro nearly forgot how much he loved the sound of it, how much he missed it. His gloves curled tight into your clothing with only the whispered reminder of how careful he needed to be at the back of his mind, but it did nothing to stop him from holding you close against him. Your arms snaked around his shoulders and he blamed the chill for the shiver that tore through him until the pads of your fingers, cold yet somehow sparking warmth throughout his body, rested against the back of his neck. Your forehead pressed against his and he was only slightly aware of the gentle tugging at the strands of hair caught beneath his scarf, but he didn’t dare tear his eyes from yours.

“I missed you,” he admitted with a vulnerability that burned his lungs. “So, so much.”

“I missed you more.”

© EPIIMENIDES — do not edit, translate, or repost my work on any platform. please do not share it on tiktok.

[cookiecomics]

I’mma preface this by saying I adore your writing, you are one of the best and most prolific writers I have ever had the pleasure of reading from. Also I am only on chapter 46 of ATOTT if anything upcoming might contradict my following statements.

I adore the Robin Hood sugar you’re providing in ATOTT. A lot of writers I’ve noticed favour Loki or oversimplify Robin and Loki as a Shoulder Angel Shoulder Devil situation. Some YT theorists outright disregard Robin as “fake” just because of Akechi’s hypocrisy and take the one line Morgana said in English about one being a Persona for Akechi’s hatred and the other for his lies at face value. Your interpretation is far more compelling.

Going off of the Jungian concept of Personas and Shadows that canon interprets (in which Personas are the masks we wear within certain contexts and Shadows being the “undesirable” parts of ourselves we hide beneath these Personas) my takeaway from your interpretation of Robin Hood and Loki is that Loki is a Persona like the rest of the Phantom Thieves have which reject the expectations placed upon them by polite society, hence why Akechi only wears the signature Black of the Phantom Thieves after summoning Loki rather than the largely white Prince costume.

Meanwhile Robin Hood as a Shadow would be the parts of Akechi that he hides specifically from his father. Shido WANTS Loki and the Call of Chaos. Shido WANTS the unfeeling monster he’s convinced himself his son to be, but Robin Hood represents Akechi’s capacity for love (hence why Robin always talks about Sae and Ren) and his desire for justice for people like himself and his mother. Akechi goes berserk with Loki in the engine room and goes on about how teammates and justice is bullshit because caring for those sorts of things is a weakness that would get him killed in Shido’s world, and he must hide or outright deny the existence of these parts of himself for survival. You can just SEE how Akechi turns away and clenches his fists in suppressed disgust when talking to Shido in canon. Loki and Robin are not simply made up of either “hatred” nor “lies”. Neither is one “good” while the other is “bad”, they just manifested from the multiple masks Akechi wears within different contexts not unlike a wildcard does. The two only appear to be opposites because their goals oftentimes conflict with each other.

Also if my theory that your decision of giving Shadow form Robin Hood glasses as a reference to both Clark Kent for the Superman allusion and Ren Amamiya whom Akechi canonically admires deep down for being “a person who sticks to their justice” I will go Nucking futs.

Thanks for reading my little ramble.

Anon, your ramble has shot through my heart <3 first of all thank you for reading ;3; you're too sweet and i hope you enjoy the rest of the chapters!

Funny you should say that because I specifically wanted neither Loki or Robin hood to be wholly one-dimensional. They're both protective and aspects of how Goro shows his love, both at his anger towards wanting to protect / avenge his loved ones and the capacity he has for nurturing and justice, that as you point out, he actively hides not only from his father but from others. He categorically -refuses- to let the thieves humanize him, unlike Ren, who is constantly pointing at him going -that's pookie-.

Ren sees the light that Goro desperately tries to hide from others, because categorically, Goro doesn't believe his good side means anything when in regard to how his actions should be viewed.

One of the reasons I had both Robin and Loki agree that Goro should sabotage Sumi (sorry Sumi) was to show that Robin isn't this wholly angel figure. At his core, he's still a thief, still a representative of Goro's ideas of justice. So having Robin being perfectly fine with stealing Sumi's man if it came to that was my little wink at that. I love Robin Hood dearly and I'm glad I got to show off how much deep down, Goro just wanted someone to love and care for, just as much as he wanted to be cared for ;3;

anyway thank u for letting me ramble about them ;3; hope u enjoy the rest of the chapters!

[vashtijoy]

I'm one those guys who think Akechi is fine as a villain, but fails in being sympathetic due to being written like every other villain. But one thing I don't know if anyone talks is how manputive he can be. Mainly around Sae as he uses the phantom thieves as his current scapegoat for her to fixate on.

Oh, he's absolutely manipulative as all hell. Sae, in particular, he's working on all year, right from the first time we see them on 4/10—she's spotted all the cases he was "solving" as unrelated incidents, and tied them together into a single case... which she then brings him in on, presumably as the "expert". The very first time we see him he's manipulating her—for sushi, admittedly, and he fails. "You are making a child work late, after all."

Akechi certainly knows she has a palace, and every time we see them, he's quietly amplifying her paranoia and obsession. What does that do? It makes the palace bigger. It makes her shadow stronger. But even in the real world, it makes the real Sae easier to control. It binds her into the web the conspiracy want her in—she's going to be handed the poisoned chalice to get her out of the way.

He manipulates Shido, too, talking him down from mass murder on one occasion that we see. The core of his charm is manipulation—watch him in confidants 1 and 2. He smiles, he flatters, he tells you you're special. That "good-girl type of pushover" thing with Makoto is him sensing a weakness and shooting right at it—pure manipulation. The scene where he blackmails the PTs at Shujin, the scene on 2/2 where he confronts Joker... the list goes on.

And you can still see him being ordinarily manipulative in the third semester, in the deleted Mementos mission. The PTs see straight through him—but still do what he wants, because they agree it needs doing. Manipulation remains a tool in his back pocket, like murder.

I don't agree that Akechi's written like all the other villains. For a start, we spend most of the year with him, rather than a month's arc or so; we get to know him (to a degree) like we do the others. He's given far more depth and backstory than e.g. Shido, who's also around all year and is flat as a pancake, as flat as Kamoshida. He gets a voluntary change of heart, like Sae and Mishima, rather than having one forced on him. The other PTs understand him—that he's more like them than he is the adult villains, that if their luck had been worse they could be where he is—even if they don't forgive him or struggle to tolerate him. And of course, "what is forgiveness?" is one of the questions P5 should make us ask.

Lastly, he might not be nice when he comes back in the third semester, but he has genuinely changed his ways to a massive extent—and he didn't need anyone to brainwash him into it. That alone sets him apart from every other villain in the game.

[ophiuca]

Eidolon Fan Playbook: The Gemini

Inspired by Persona 5 and We Know The Devil, The Gemini is a playbook for Eidolon: Become Your Best Self 2e focused around the character having two Eidolons that they can switch between at will. One of their Eidolons represents a deep secret that they are trying to keep, and the other represents their desire to hide it. The core of the book is deciding how much of yourself you decide to show to the important people in your life, and building those relationships through emotional vulnerability.

Link to the book on Itch

Google Drive Link

Crossposted to Cohost Crossposted (ish) to twitter.

More about the book under the cut!

So around the end of August last year I played We Know The Devil for the first time and it permanently altered my brain chemistry as it does for most people. This happened around the same time that a big moment happened in Eidolon Ska with Kacey's Eidolon, Gemini Yachiyo had come out and I was still going feral over her little side story. All of these were swirling around in my head while I was going around looking for apples for work and coalesced around Goro Akechi. I started thinking about what was so compelling about him to me, and settled on that mainly what I like about his character is how hard he works to have the world see him as a perfect detective prince instead of the hurt, angry kid who was discarded until he became a living weapon. I tend to really like characters who hide behind a mask like that anyway, but the extra interesting thing about Akechi's case is that he puts so much energy into maintaining this facade that he effectively gave himself an entirely new Persona because of it. So I wondered what it would be like if there was a Playbook in Eidolon that let the player do something similar, giving them two Eidolons that were both related to something important about themselves that they weren't able to or ready to be open about. Keeping a secret close to your chest and only letting the people you trust in is a very compelling narrative to me, and so I started writing the Playbook that was in my head. A lot of where I came from on a design perspective was from my time playing a lot (Like. A Lot.) of Masks, and running Thirsty Sword Lesbians, so the book does have a lot of that emotional influence in it. I'm really happy that I feel like it's finished enough to share with people, I think I did a pretty good job, and I also hope that people will enjoy it!

[hopeymchope]

How the Phantom Thieves Became the Bad Guys (OR: A long-ass essay that’s likely to irritate any P5 fans that bother to read it)

PREVIOUSLY: I came to the sad realization that “Joker” — a.k.a. the Persona 5 protagonist, a.k.a. Ren Amamiya — is canonically an asshole.

...so I suppose the logical extension of that is for Joker to become a villain. 

And as it turns out, thanks to the third semester of Persona 5 Royal, he can! They WANT you to. 

I guess you could say the warning signs were always there.

...of course, alternatively, he might not. Because thankfully, the freedom of player choice still gives you some ways out. But sadly, the “True” (i.e., canonical) ending of the game requires Joker to lead the Phantom Thieves into a very dark place indeed. 

Before I delve into why that’s the case, though, I have to give the devs at Atlus credit for creating an ethical scenario that really challenges the player and makes them think. But uh, if you want to feel okay about pursuing the “True Ending,” you definitely shouldn’t think too much. It’s best that you just take the words of the characters at face value and try not to apply real-world morality, okay? Because applying serious thought to the moral debate in the third semester swiftly makes the Phantom Thieves into bigger baddies than some of the palace rulers they’ve previously battled.

Enough of the buildup, however. Let’s back up and dig into the core issue I’m talking about: Takuto Maruki’s quest to make the world a better place. 

The Setup

Maruki is a psychological counselor and cognitive researcher as well as a Social Link/Confidant that’s unique to the “Royal” version of the game. He’s also the central figure behind the new storyline that takes place after the ending of the original Persona 5. Said storyline involves Maruki leveraging his work as a psychologist and his studies of the cognitive world + Yaldabaoth’s merging of Mementos with the real world to rewrite reality, creating a new world where people’s innermost wishes are made real. The result? People who lost loved ones in traumatic ways see them now returned to life. People who experienced horrific injuries have had them undone. Rape victims were never violated in the first place. People who lost their dream jobs are suddenly re-employed by them. And so on. This is Maruki’s way of helping people move past being haunted by their traumas and worst experiences; now they can simply never have had such experiences.

Maruki is a very kind-hearted soul from the moment we first meet him. There’s never any doubt that he’s simply trying to make the world a happier, kinder place. And when he first triggers the change into a new timeline, most of the Phantom Thieves are blissfully unaware that the world has been rewritten around them. No less than three of our teammates are reunited with parents who died recently or years ago, although from their perspective, it’s not a “reunion” — it’s just the way things have always been, because those people were never murdered in the first place. Our lead character, Joker, and his rival/ally/antagonist, Akechi, are initially the only ones who remember the old reality. But Joker is soon triggering the rise of conflicting memories within his allies that make them call their new existence into question, even if just slightly...

(It’s cool how well this all aligns with a major area of current psychiatric research. Medical researchers have been seeking a way to target and delete traumatic memories from PTSD sufferers for well over a decade now, moving ever-closer to success. Traumatic memories can be debilitating to a level that millions of sufferers never can recover from their worst experiences even after living many decades more, frequently driving people to suicide; what if you could stop having to relive them? Granted, this wouldn’t literally undo them as it does in Maruki’s solution, but I think the core concept is similar, and that’s pretty neat. Though I have no idea if it was all intended and the devs actually knew about this... )

Concerns?

When I first entered and swiftly understood Maruki’s “new reality” in the game, I immediately theorized TONS of ways in which this could be a very bad thing. And even as I went through the initial phases of his palace/laboratory and slowly learned more about the situation, I continued to come up with new possibilities for why this could be a problem for the world.

...so what’s amazing is how, though a combination of main story dialogue and optional side dialogue, the game successfully addresses EVERY possible problem and erases ANY doubt regarding Maruki’s solution. I assume they were going for a more nuanced moral debate, but in practice wound up in a situation where Maruki’s solution carries only the slightest ambiguity as to its righteousness.

So! Let’s go ahead and break down EVERY concern I had... and how the game either dismisses them or muddies them up quite a bit.

Concern #1: Maybe this reality is fake, and the resurrection people are just illusions/cognitive beings? ANSWER: No, this is not the case. During their first couple of discussions, when Akechi asserts that this reality is phony, Maruki assures him that it’s every bit as real as the one they remember. Moreover, Akechi himself confirms this in his next phone call with you; he investigates the possibility that Wakaba Isshki is either an illusion or cognitive existence, and he confirms that she is indeed the real Wakaba. In fact, his research confirms that she simply didn’t suffer the incident the vehicular accident that previously ended her life... and history was rewritten from there. Per his testimony, this isn’t a false reality at all — it’s an alternate universe or new timeline with its own distinct history. Think of it like we just jumped to a new “world line” in Steins;Gate or something. 

The dark side implication of this fact is that it means that if someone WERE to revert reality back to its previous state, that’d be effectively the same as killing them yourself. 

Concern #2: Does this mean that people will never undergo loss or pain of any kind? No, negative experiences definitely still exist. Note that Yoshizawa still has endured the loss of a close sister who was killed in a vehicular accident! And the Niijima family is still missing their deceased matriarch. Ann specifically mentions how she was “so sad” when Shiho transferred away to another school. In fact, even Shido is confirmed to still be under arrest for multiple confessed crimes (courtesy of the Phantom Thieves) in this reality! But that last one could be an example of how people who don’t accept this new reality can continue to be trapped in their old struggles. You can see that particular problem in the homeless man in the subway... and even more blatantly in Akechi. He’s very open about his hatred of this new reality and his opinion that he needs his miserable life experiences. He literally defines himself by his trauma, which is... uh, not a good argument. In fact, Akechi is so messed up (and historically has been such a hostile, malevolent force) that his hatred of the new reality feels more like a ringing endorsement than something we should agree with. HOWEVER... it’s worth noting that later on in the “true” story route, Maruki continuously refers to his reality as one where nobody has to suffer. So perhaps the lingering tragedies/problems I’ve mentioned are actually imperfections he intends to iron out? Or it’s possible he’s just simplifying the situation, boiling it down to the essence of his argument even if it’s not strictly the case. UNCLEAR.

Remember: If Akechi thinks something is foolish, it’s probably a very good idea. 

Concern #3: Is everyone just going to live incredibly easy lives, then? Everybody gets whatever they wish for now? First: That’s literally impossible. It is inevitable that people’s wishes will conflict with one another. Second: It’s pretty clear that goals/wishes which logically require effort to be actualized will STILL require that effort. Sae Niijima is still said to be working late nights in her job as the district prosecutor ever after the new reality emerges, and Ryuji is literally doing laps around the school EVERY DAY in order to stay in shape and keep his track skills strong. So NO, it’s not like everything just comes on a silver platter without even trying for it. Third: In all other situations beyond ONE thing on January 1st (the first day of this new reality), it seems like the new world isn’t going to just give out every desire you might think of. See, the narrative waters are muddied by the fact that Yoshizawa wishes to not encounter a crowd at the shrine on New Year’s Day... and then, shockingly, it’s mostly empty. But for the rest of the story, this trick is never again employed. In fact, there are situations in which people would OBVIOUSLY be thinking or desiring something other than what they have, but they still aren’t magically granted the perfect life. Just look back at Concern #2: Are you telling me that it never would’ve occurred to Yoshizawa to NOT have such a tragedy in her past? In fact, just rewind back to my second point under this very concern - are you going to tell me that Sae never once wanted to have a lighter workload? And why the helld did Shiho EVER transfer away from Shujin in this new reality, huh? So the most logical conclusions here are either that A) The new reality was still forming (this was its first day after all), finding its footing and still in flux, but immediate fulfillment of random frivolous wishes won’t apply after this point. OR! B) One-off wishes that are specifically spoken aloud might be granted, but otherwise the focus is on granting the SINGLE deepest wish of each person. 

Concern #4: Wait, what if some real assholes/terrible people make destructive wishes? In the real world, somebody casually thinks “ugh, I want to die” all over the world at every second, and a few people probably think “Jesus, just blow up the planet” every few minutes, but it’s not like we see random citizens keeling over or the world exploding under Takumi’s new reality. But this is a fictional world, so maybe those kind of thoughts/statements don’t exist there. In which case  the fact that Shido is currently still imprisoned for his crimes seems like evidence enough that destructive wishes being granted isn’t going to be a concern. Does anybody really believe that Takumi would hand someone like Kamoshida his greatest (...and probably dark and perverted) wishes? Nah. No fucking way.

Concern #5: If Kamoshida never was at Shujin and never abused/violated anyone, and Madarame was actually an honest and supportive “master” to his apprentice, and Okumura is a caring boss and devoted father... does that mean the Phantom Thieves never existed in this world? Does that erase the special bond our characters built? ANSWER: No, it doesn’t mean that. I already mentioned that Shido is behind bars in this reality just as he is in the preceding one, and this is (as ever) courtesy of the Phantom Thieves. The Phan-Site is still running and putting out polls, and they’re still viewed as heroes to the masses. The Thief squad still possesses the same special connection they always had. 

The Stickiest Wicket: Kasumi and/or Sumire

Ultimately, the BIGGEST concern for many people about Maruki’s actions is what’s happened to Yoshizawa. She no longer even knows her real name (Sumire) or who she was born as. She’s living her life entirely as a deceased person (her sister, Kasumi). She fully believes she is that person, and she acts and thinks and feels just like them.

A lot of people find this creepy or weird, but Maruki originally triggered this change without even knowing he was doing so. Furthermore, it happened because that’s what Sumire wished for. It’s her own desire! 

But once Maruki realized Maruki’s argument is based in the trauma that got her here. Because, you see... Sumire is responsible for her beloved sister’s untimely death. Not in a direct “I literally killed her” sense, but I mean... Sumire picked a fight with Kasumi in the streets and then ran away upset, Kasumi naturally/obviously pursued to try and calm her down, Kasumi screamed out to Sumire to not run into the street because vehicles were coming, Sumire ignored her and ran into the street, Kasumi catches up to Sumiere JUST enough to shove Sumire out of the way of an oncoming truck... and Kasumi pays for that with her life. 

We are made to live out this experience in first-person view, and it’s harrowing. Afterwards, Joker and Maruki make some effort to calm and/or comfort her. Maruki gives her the opportunity to live her true self from then on and help her move forward... or to revert back to  Understandably, Sumire can’t comprehend having to live with this deeply traumatic experience in her mind.

No shame.

I come at this storyline from an unusual perspective because a very similar story happened near where I live when I was growing up. The story of a man who accidentally wound up causing his wife’s death while they were on their honeymoon.. it absolutely shook me to my core when I was a young teen. I won’t get into the messy details because I’d prefer to not pass the horror of a real-life tragedy on to a bunch of people, but suffice it to say that it was absolutely, undeniably an accident. Even so, he was similarly wracked with guilt. The area community watched that man’s psychological state completely collapse. He never recovered, and it was hard to blame him for that.

I can’t imagine how I’d ever recover if I accidentally caused a loved one’s death, either. And hopefully, very few people will ever have to know such horror. If I knew someone in such a situation, of course I’d be there to support them while simultaneously encouraging them to get professional help they can lean on. I’d encourage anyone in such a situation to seek out help and try to support them, naturally. And Joker does do that! But holy shit, when we see flashbacks to the aftermath of the tragedy, Sumire is DEEPLY miserable. She can barely go through the motions If Sumire believes that she is Kasumi, it does more than just help heal her feelings of inferiority —  it also means that she endured a tragedy in which her little sister died because of said sister’s own actions As we’ve established - tragedy still exists. Either sister being gone is a tragedy. And Sumire who died - not because of Kasumi but because of her own fault? Its still tragic (once again, reminder: hardships and tragedy still occur here), but it’s not completely debilitating in the same way.

In light of what I saw happen so close to home, I don’t blame Yoshizawa for choosing this life at all. It’d be preferable to just have both sisters alive and together, but it does not appear that Maruki has control over what people wish for. If he did, then maybe he could restore her sister and help build up her confidence from there... that’d be greatly preferable. But if this is her biggest wish — to simply BE her sister and live life with Kasumi’s confidence — then I’m with MarukI: At least this lets her live her life happily and at peace. 

I get that it’s not the perfect solution. But I’ll take whatever option is available that prevents a situation like the doomed, self-destructive widower I mentioned three paragraphs earlier.

Maruki is Doing the Same Thing the Phantom Thieves Did... But Better

Based on the above, this seems pretty win-win for everyone (although Sumire is certainly a debatable case). Well... it’s a win-win for most everyone except Akechi; he interprets any change to the current timeline as a removal of his free will. (Which obviously isn’t completely true; we watch a whole load of characters making clear decisions and choices during this arc, even before they are ‘awakened’ from this reality and, if they accept Maruki’s reality? Even AFTER that, too. So Akechi is full of shit, ofc.) In fact, Akechi is so dead-set on following the path he already chose that he’s still grimly adamant about doing so after finding out that he’s dead in the original timeline. Akechi insists that only HE can choose what is the truth, which is very much aligned with how he used to frame people for crimes in order to get credit for their arrest :P .... AND also not at all far removed from Maruki’s stance. Except Akechi’s “truth” is self-destructive, and Maruki’s “truth” is a positive for goddamn everybody.

Explained another way: The Phantom Thieves as a whole are doing the same thing as Maruki, just on a smaller scale and without actually addressing the societal problems that create such unfairness. The Phantom Thieves have spent this entire game forcibly changing the hearts and cognition of criminals and awful people, but they’ve never bothered to examine the root of such problems. Maruki is simply taking a single swing at erasing systemic injustice and sudden-onset cruelty in the world. The Phantom Thieves are firefighters; Maruki is an architect. The Phantom Thieves are whacking down whatever moles may pop up, but Maruki? He’s dismantling the whole rigged-ass game.

And y’know, considering how much Joker and the Phantom Thieves talk about carving their own future and free will and stuff in the “True” ending.. they sure do strip a whole lot of people of THEIR free will during the game’s campaign, don’t they? 

But look, I’m sure they don’t care about that. Because somewhere along the line — and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where —the Phantom Thieves stopped caring about other people. As in: Anybody outside of their own group.

The Phantom Thieves’ Great Big Selfish Dick Move

In the “True” route, once the Phantom Thieves remember their past lives, they struggle for a bit with the idea of whether they’re doing the right thing by opposing Dr. Maruki and the new timeline. He’s only trying to help people, after all. Including all of them.

But Ryuji gives a little speech that gets everybody on-board with changing Maruki’s heart and returning to the former reality.

WOO! FUCK everybody else who is living their lives happily! FUCK all the people who are now LITERALLY ALIVE in the new timeline! Let’s re-murder them, re-traumatize people we know (umm wasn’t Shiho literally raped in the original world? but not in this timeline?................... so WTF are you fucking doing you fucking monsters??????), because ONLY WE CAN DECIDE ON OUR REALITY! And we remember the old, shittier one right now, so let’s .... default to that one I guess! Despite the fact that this is one is already established to be EQUALLY FUCKING REAL.

Shockingly, the rest of the team chooses THIS is the time to finally fucking respect Ryuji. (NOTE: The time to respect Ryuji was, in truth, every single damn day BEFORE this one. He’s an excellent human being. Or... he was. Before this moment.)

BUT NOT EVERYBODY BELIEVES IN IT, YUSUKE! What about all those people who are happy here? And what about the fact that this reality isn’t any less real than your original one? Remember: This is LITERALLY happening. This is a valid AU. There’s no trickery employed. No illusions. This is a new timeline that is VERY real.

So, why?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!?!

.........................towards the end of the chapter, there’s an argument made that humanity has to suffer and overcome trials and struggle in order to develop and grow. Of course, we’ve fairly well shot down the idea that there’s zero suffering in this reality (see Concern #2 above) or that there’s no effort required (see Concern #3 above). But even if we hadn’t, there’s a bigger question to face here: Is there any evidence to suggest that people WON’T grow or evolve without struggle and suffering? Can we actually back that up, this idea that we have to “overcome” in order to become better people? 

I submit that we cannot. I further submit that this is the argument of the downtrodden; the argument of the sufferers who wish to justify their own misery to themselves. But in reality? They can’t say for certain that loss and trauma are “good.” 

In fact, let me argue right now that such things are inherently BAD. People who suffer from PTSD are far more likely to have suicidal ideation, and a 2021 study showed that suicide rates are more than four times higher for people suffering from PTSD than without. If we could really erase trauma and PTSD from our world, I think we can safely say it’d make a VERY lasting impact that would be EXTREMELY worth doing.

It seems that the “spirit of rebellion” within the Phantom Thieves extends to “any decision or idea any adult has ever implemented regardless of merit.” They’re teenagers, after all... and not a single one of them is as mature as someone like P3′s Mitsuru, so I accept that their knee-jerk rebellious instincts might be overriding their ability to think logically. 

Or, let’s be more charitable about it. MAJOR DIGRESSION: This could be a situation kind of like writing Star Trek: Insurrection. (I know most of you won’t understand what I’m referencing here. I’m sorry.) That movie presents a sticky ethical debate: Is it OK for a government to forcibly relocate a population of 600 people if their current homeland contains some natural healing mojo that could be used to save *billions* of people across the galaxy? Patrick Stewart once said that he was forced to make Picard very narrow-minded in order to serve the needs of the movie’s story. Because if that same story was presented in the format of multiple TV episodes, there would’ve been time to explore a bunch of alternative solutions that weren’t as binary as “force them out and take all the healing mojo OR leave them be and don’t take any of the healing mojo.” There would obviously be multiple negotiable middle grounds that just aren’t discussed because of time constraints. (To his credit, Picard DOES try to throw up a bunch of alternatives during his confrontation with a superior officer. They’re all shot down with hand-wavey explanations, but at least a few are suggested.)

DIGRESSION OVER. My point? Maybe that’s how it is here, too. Maybe the Phantom Thieves just can’t afford to sit around and discuss this matter in a serious debate because the game is already SUPER long; they need to get the fuck on with it and not just pump you full of non-interactive cutscenes, so Ryuji simplifies everything. ............. It’s just that he does so in a manner that makes the squad look really short-sighted and selfish.

In Conclusion

I took Maruki’s deal. That was MY ending to the game. And it might very well be the best ending available! Although I’d be willing to at least consider the original Non-Royal, didn’t-completely-Maruki’s-Confidant ending as a semi-contender... but DANG, yo. It’s tough to beat the Mega-Happy New Reality Ending. (I subsequently watched the rest of the “True” ending only on YouTube playthroughs, which is where I nabbed these screenshots.)

Taking Maruki’s deal results in basically everybody getting a fulfilling, beautiful life. Although I admit that I have no idea how Akechi is now part of the new reality... because he was never going to accept it, right? And we established repeatedly that those who don’t accept it can’t really reap the benefits, so... why is he now a legitimate “detective prince” whose external behavior from the first few chapters of P5 is now actually who he is inside? How’d THAT ever happen? Not sure about that shit.

Even so, it’s a long and beautiful ending full of gorgeous art of the squad all living their best lives. Morgana is relegated to just carrying “Miss Ann’s” bags while shopping, and he doesn’t even care - he’s just happy to be there. Makoto and Sae get to have dinners with their father again. Haru is more directly involved in the “Big Bang Burger” business, working to keep it ethical and respectful of the neighborhoods where they open as she prepares to carve her own path after high school. Makoto and Haru even get to graduate.

The whole thing wraps up with Sojiro inviting Joker to finish his high school experience in Tokyo. That’s right - he’s asked if he’d like to stay at the cafe and Shujin for his third and final year. Naturally, he’s happy to accept the offer. That means he’ll even be there for an overlap with Futaba’s FIRST year in high school. (Plus he no longer has to return to his small suburban town and his parents who NEVER ONCE CALLED OR MESSAGED DURING THE YEAR, WTF??? ............ or uh, maybe that happened offscreen?) 

It’s really weird how the writers of Persona 5 Royal SO THOROUGHLY argued against any possible downside of Maruki’s new reality. I get that they wanted a complex issue to grapple with, but if they really wanted us to choose to reject the new world and pursue the True Ending, they should’ve given us some kind of good reason, right? Even if it’s just a small reason, there’s got to be an argument that’s better than “I don’t like the idea that the timeline has changed”... which is ultimately all they’ve got. But I listed all the possible concerns above, and... they didn’t leave a single one of them standing. If they’d put just ONE of those potential problems in place, maybe I’d find the matter more debatable. 

Well, probably not Concern #5. That’s not really enough to justify erasing all this societal progress.

In the end, I’m left to ask you this:

[oakdll]

my favorite palaces in persona 5 royal ranked !! (MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 5 ROYAL)

1 - Maruki’s Palace

This is easily the best in the game, Maruki is such a wonderful character and he works fantastically as an antagonist. The palace uses its time to let you in to Maruki’s mindset, showing you cassette tapes of his key memories and forcing you to answer questions the way he would. You really understand his psyche by the end, and his boss fight might be my favorite in the game. The first phase is surprisingly difficult, even when I was using Izanagi No Okami Picaro, and the story in the next phases are phenomenal. Maruki’s defeat and the cutscene of him grabbing the snowflakes as they fall is gorgeous, and having the palace end with Maruki and Joker having a flat out fistfight is a stroke of genius. there’s so much emotion with Maruki, and he has so much depth as an antagonist, he honestly puts other palace rulers to shame. It’s perfect. Also the checkmate cutscene is amazing.

2 - Futaba’s Palace

Futaba’s palace is tied with number three for me, as someone who has dealt with literally the exact same things Futaba has (loss and agoraphobia) this palace is so interesting. The fragile state of her mind, the puzzles of her memories of her mother, and the aesthetics of the pyramid are so well done. The only things I don’t like is how Wakaba’s death was treated. It actually is a good decision story wise on a larger scale, but in terms of the emotional core of the palace, having her be murdered in a government plot feels much less personal. It definitely is a good decision for Shido’s arc, but it ruins some of the relatability and emotional resonance in Futaba’s palace.

3 - Sae’s Palace

This is tied with Futaba’s palace for me. I’m including the whole aftermath of Sae’s palace in this ranking, and everything with Akechi’s betrayal was done perfectly. The gameplay of this palace is phenomenal, and the aesthetics are INSANE. Whims of Fate singlehandedly brings this palace up a spot on the list. The casino visuals are gorgeous, and this palace being the one from the beginning sequence is ingenious. This palace is the culmination of everything P5 was building up to, even more than Shido’s and the Depths of Mementos in my opinion. Seeing everything come together was phenomenal to see. The only issue I had was how the Phantom Thieves were able to plan the whole fakeout death with Akechi so perfectly. I don’t mind the complexity like a lot of people do, I just feel like there’s no way this group of high schoolers would be able to plan something as elaborate as this. Still, phenomenal palace.

4 - Kamoshida’s Palace

This one is just a phenomenal opening palace for the game. Kamoshida is probably the single most hate-able villains in the series, and they did a great job establishing that. The library puzzles were actually a lot of fun for me, and the gameplay was much more challenging because of how early in the game it was. I was really only playing P5 for the story, so I was just using Izanagi no Okami Picaro the whole time, but in hindsight, the palaces before you could just buy Izanagi were definitely more interesting gameplay wise. Phenomenal opener for the game, and it sets the stage so well.

5 - Shido’s Palace

The penultimate palace in the base game, and the primary villain throughout the series. Shido’s palace was a lot of fun for me, Akechi’s betrayal is a great story element added to the palace, and the idea of having to beat all the 5 bosses before you can progress is super cool. I don’t get the hate for the rat puzzles, they definitely drag on too long, but they weren’t a bad concept from the start. It was pretty fun doing the rat puzzles the first few times, I just think they were too long and there were too many of them.

6 - Madarame’s Palace

I might be in the minority for enjoying this palace as much as I do. I really like Yusuke and his arc, and the gameplay behind this palace helps that even more. The laser puzzles and paintings of Madarame’s pupils added a lot for me. I honestly really enjoyed Madarame as a villain, the story and gameplay behind this palace was great and the only thing I don’t like is the puzzles inside the paintings. I also didn’t mind the Sayuri puzzles either, they weren’t super difficult and it makes a lot of sense for Madarame.

7 - Depths of Mementos

I really wish this palace was longer, but I get why it isn’t. Qliphoth was honestly kind of boring, it was just a bunch of enemies with no challenge, especially at this stage in the game. I could 1 or 2 shot every single mini boss, mostly because I had Myriad Truths, but even with more balanced attacks these fights were too easy. The final boss fight and Sheriruth carry this palace for me. I did enjoy the light floor puzzles and the concept of the palace, although the light floor puzzles were too confusing at times. There were some puzzles that were physically impossible to do until I did something else and sometimes the game just never told me, I had to look it up and realize I missed a button. The Yaldabaoth fight was a lot of fun, and the ending with fighting god with satan was definitely corny, but it was thematically resonant and entertaining, so it gets a pass. A great finish to the base game.

8 - Kaneshiro’s Palace

I didn’t love this one as much as some other people. I understand this is Makoto’s arc, but she wasn’t super involved with Kaneshiro really, she only got involved to help the Phantom Thieves with their change of heart. As a result, Kaneshiro feels kind of removed from all the main characters unlike every other palace in the game. I ended up paying 20,000 yen to open a door and I still don’t know if that was mandatory or just an optional solution to the puzzle, but I had the money to spare so it doesn’t matter much. I thought the gameplay was a lot of fun until the final massive lock puzzle. Having to use all those codes to unlock it was super boring, I just looked up the answers and I thought it was way too dragged out. Everything else was great though, and the reveal of him viewing all of Shibuya as his bank was super interesting. It really did feel like the Phantom Thieves taking on a larger force than before.

9 - Okumura’s Palace

Yeah, Okumura’s palace still is the worst in the game. The whole arc of Morgana leaving is still the worst part of the game, and this palace being Morgana’s arc instead of Haru’s really takes away from her as a character. The gameplay is pretty boring compared to the other palaces, the airlock puzzles aren’t super fun, and the story isn’t as interesting as every other arc. This is not an unpopular opinion, but I still think this is the worst palace. I also think the airlock puzzles are as bad as people say. I got stuck on the last room for a literal hour because every time I messed up I had to spend like 10 minutes getting back to the start so I could reset. The solution isn’t even that hard, you just have to spend so much time resetting in order to finish it. Still, Okumura’s palace is by no means bad, and I still think it’s underrated. No part of it is super great, but I still don’t think any of it is outright bad, just worse than the rest of the game.

[specterthief]

(in case it hasn't been asked) goro?

Sexuality Headcanon: GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAY. with a lot of these characters i'm like "oh yeah i can see them as bi too sure" but in this case it's not like a fun headcanon vibes thing, it is interpretation of the text (in which akechi shows absolutely no interest in women in a game that never passes up a "haha guys ogling girls" bit) that is critical enough to how i interpret akechi as a character in the full context of persona 5 that anything else will immediately take me out of a fic no matter what

(to be clear i do not care at all what other people ship and hope that everybody with m/f goro ships/who headcanons him as bi is having a great time over there but i personally just cannot see it) Gender Headcanon: cis guy! i've also seen some good trans guy goro content but while i like the idea i can't see it in canon in his case A ship I have with said character: akeshu is THE ship, it's such an incredibly developed dynamic in royal and ends up being the emotional core of my absolute favorite part of the game and manages to both hit a lot of tropes i really love (enemies-to-lovers, "two sides of the same coin", among other things) while having a really interesting twist on one i usually don't like (predestination.) i can't really see goro with anyone else seriously and akeshu is genuinely one of my favorite ships of all time. i cannot fucking believe having another chance to be with goro being joker's greatest wish and something he'd consider going against all his teammates and everything he's stood for for is real A BROTP I have with said character: it's such a fleeting underdeveloped thing but i'm really fascinated by the dynamic goro seems to have with muhen. i'm really curious what his history with jazz jin is and how much muhen does or doesn't know about what's going on with him. also in the brotp (fucked up) way i posited in the maruki post, i've been really intrigued by goro and haru recently (though this is also a brotp (genuine) in synthesis, which is part of what's made me so intrigued by their canon dynamic and the potential there.) recognition of the self in the other (derogatory), you know

i also have a soft spot for the "futaba and goro are half siblings through shido" headcanon and like to think about the drama of how that might shake out A NOTP I have with said character: sumire. there's nothing wrong with it and i'm sure plenty of the shippers are perfectly nice but the worst hate i've ever gotten in this fandom has been over just quoting the interview where wada says goro doesn't care about her (on my own account, just in the context of the "love triangle" quote about akeshu, not targeting any shippers) so i went from just not liking it to having a really negative association with even seeing it in general and i block everything to do with it A random headcanon: had he been given the opportunity to form a contract and make full use of his wild card powers, his velvet room would be a train, endlessly hurtling onward with no destination General Opinion over said character: he's my #1 favorite character in persona 5 (and persona as a whole so far)! he's a particular type of tragic antagonist i really love and i came into the game with a lot of affection for him already because one of my best friends is also obsessed with him and i was not disappointed when i got to experience him for myself. royal was such a blessing for his character and i enjoy everything about him so so much, best boy

[leonawriter]

I think if I had a recognisable writing quirk, a signature of sorts, something that’s recognisably me each time I write... it’d probably be that I never shy away from the consequences of traumatic events, but I also don’t shy away from showing the characters healing.

One of the things I love so much about P5R is how the fandom really gets how the characters - not just the protagonist, but all of them! - have trauma. Palaces as a concept (when used with Akira and/or Akechi) are all about recognising said trauma, and healing from it.

Some of my fics go into this more than others - Cognitive Resonance has the core of the story being Akira pushing everyone away because he’s afraid of how they’ll see him at his lowest points, and having to heal in order to let anyone back in (even Akechi). 

Harisen Recovery and “A Little Too Good To Not Be True” are both the idea of “what if Akira was suckered into the false reality, and kept having trouble being sure what’s real after breaking Maruki’s control.” Both of them deal with the aftermath of him not being able to tell anyone when he’s affected, and the courage it takes to talk about it, and especially the coping mechanisms he’d use to remind himself of what’s real.

In Pyrrhic Victories, Akechi has to live with the realisation that his victory was meaningless, and that he has all of the memories of hurting someone he grows to care for even more than he did before. 

I have a NG+ role swap AU in the works where one of my favourite things for it is that the boys have a future, one where they’re able to be happy even if they are changed and they’re never going to get back who and what they were.

And talking of NG+ ideas... all this came up because I was reminded of this one idea I’ve never yet written (though given my current feelings, I may be going back to it).

Akira, having gone through an indeterminate amount of time either looping to the start or back to a prior safe room or just a single loop, just... he’s been living parts of the same year for a while now. But he’s already out, and Akechi comes to visit his hometown to tell him that he’s alive after Maruki, and at some point in their conversation the whole “Akira is a time traveller” thing comes out. He remembers things he shouldn’t. More than that, he’s deathly afraid that he’s going to reach a point where he does something wrong and wakes up a week or two in the past. Or he walks down a familiar street at night and he’s back on the night he first got arrested. Or he’ll wake up on the train to Shibuya, and he’ll have to do everything all over again.

And to be honest, as much as I love NG+ time travel stories, this is a big thing that I think gets left out of a lot of them. The sense of - when does it end? Can we be sure it does? Not knowing that a cycle has been broken is a specific kind of horror. There’s no future, because there’s only the past. Nothing you do makes a mark on history, because for you, the world ends and begins with the loop. You can never be sure that the world outside of it moves on without you. If it goes far enough that a person has children, does going back in time erase those children? Does it mean they’ll never be born, or that they’ll grow up into a totally different person?

For my own story, I liked the idea of Akechi being the point of view character, having this horror of realising what his rival had been going through without telling anyone up until now (or has he? was there a time when he tried, and it failed? or did it work, and he had to leave that behind?) and, in spite of not having wanted to get back into contact with the Thieves more than necessary, texts Futaba and tells her that they need to get Akira back to Tokyo, because all he has in his hometown is basically silence and Morgana, and Morgana isn’t enough.

(Sometimes, the hope that things will work out and that tomorrow will be tomorrow isn’t enough.)

So, Akira coming back and having everyone support him, remind him that he’s moving forward. Get him tools to help if he ever does get sent back, even if everyone hopes it never happens, because it’s like giving a kid a stick to fight off dragons with (and if the dragons are real - they have a stick to fight with).

Just... if someone’s had something traumatic happen to them, the break isn’t going to happen immediately. And it’ll be like earthquakes, with tremors and aftershocks. Like grief, it comes in waves. 

This is one of the reasons I love hurt/comfort, because if I’m gonna traumatise my characters, then no way am I just going to leave them like that! It’s like impaling someone. If I leave them in the situation, it’s like leaving the object inside of them. If I take them out of the situation but I don’t give them the ability to heal from it, it’s like yanking it out and letting them bleed to death. But if I take them out of the situation, if I give them a support network, if I tell them it’s okay to hurt but to say when it’s hurting so that people can help... that’s basic first aid. That’s making sure they don’t die (or, just that they don’t fall into despair, time and time again, or break into something less.)

I see the term “kintsugi” used in terms of letting emotional scarring heal, and to be honest... this is the kind of thing that comes to mind.

[cx3ryz]

im back to rant. persona is such a disease

im so going through it again and yall know what that means, for some odd reason nothing can ever stick to my brain after i got into persona? this is a literal disease shuake means SO MUCH to me

i know they aren’t original or anything but something about them is soo special to me, they remind me a lot of the things that i miss and make me nostalgic about those particular things. i think the way their connection is and how personal goro’s character is to me is just like insane to see because i can really place a lot of aspects of my life onto both of them, even the good and the bad and i can always feel comfortable lol

i wish we had more scenes with them and i wish i could experience p5r for the first time again just for them, they truly are so special to me ive even been considering buying the og on the ps4 due to how much i just love them it’s insane cuz nothing else has ever felt the same and ive never loved something so deeply for a long time like this even with anything and everything like cardcaptor and how much i LOVED phoenix lmao, the love i feel for shuake is like me experiencing a constant hyperfixation and im able to just feel so deeply for so long yk? i love them

ive been wanting to get back into writing fanfics again but i cant seem to find the words as the memories just slip through my head. i love the way their connection just is even the to way that it focuses so much on them as individual characters like akechi for example, it isnt at all canonically but it works in a way that one can interpret their connection and such to dive deeper into their plotlines and how all that trauma has continued to affect them even now. like akechi and his bpd and just overall denial of a lot of the things around him, that core idea that fit into so many things and endlessly i can headcanon so much just for his character as like wow. the bad writing here✨ but fr tho lol the lack of character for him helps a lot and as much as i wish they gave him more than what he got, i love using him and akira’s characters as projection dolls its like everything to me, one of my favorite parts of bad media actually lmao

i love akira’s character too even if i dont talk about him as much, i got into persona due to him so he truly means a lot to me. i love viewing him like if he actually would’ve had an established personality of his own and how that also affects his worldview and their connection. the mutual toxicity between them and how they respectively view the world and people around is like UGH i love them! i love all the religious little allegories there i love all the mental illnesses they represent like UGHH i love them and i hate how i cant articulate my words for them properly it makes me so!!! but whatever rant is rant lmao

ill be probably posting fic stuff on here soon, i rly miss writing fanfics and im probably going to impulsively replay the game and q2 soon but we’ll see abt that cuz i always say that oml 😭 anywayss i love shuake sigh what a world

[ruiination]

@unrealization said: “Fuck you! Just shoot me!“ -For Akira from Goro

There is a slight tremble in his finger. It rested upon the trigger delicately. He hadn't been there when Akechi shot him. Not really. So he wondered if he had hesitated. He doubted it. He truly did. Whatever friendship they had was a lie. He knew it. He knew it painfully well. Was this their fate? Kill or be killed? If Akira spared Akechi here, would he die? The thought of dying sent a jolt of fear through his heart, but it didn't show on his face. He had to stay calm, even as the emotions swirled inside of him like a violent storm.

But for some reason... Even if it was all a trick, he couldn't hate Akechi. There was anger, sure... But he couldn't muster a single ounce of resentment. Maybe he was foolish, but Akira's heart could not be swayed easily. Even if it was for the best. Even if it was the only thing that made sense. As calm as he seemed, his emotions ruled him far too much.

"No." He says, his voice firm and calm. A simple refusal to what Akechi had screamed. There had been a time in which Akira wanted someone dead. Probably more than once. But because of his own convictions and the support from people around him, he never gave in to those dark thoughts.

Akechi was never one of those people. Not even for a second. In fact, there was a part of him that liked it. The cat and mouse. The dance with certain death from when the other planned on betraying them and he knew it. Yes, there was something wrong with him. A deep-seeded disease in both of them, though it took different forms. And maybe it was Akira's own arrogance that made him refuse to accept he could not save Akechi. Maybe it was his own desire for that rush of rivalry and betrayal.

He would rather die than live normally. He would rather die than lose. That was who he was, at his core. Blinded by his own pride and ego. A slave to his own ways. He hated it. And yet, he was helpless to fight against the current. He acted based on his twisted heart and the justice he swore to uphold.

Or maybe he was just a spoiled kid mad that he couldn't get his way. Who could say?

"I won't kill you, Crow."

[jkgnggj]

Never saw this addition but now that I have I wanna add onto it lmaoo

The psychickers always thought the other group were just... Y'know, joking around. Like just being silly when they said nice things Abt saiki and how kind and quiet he is. They always just played it off for laughs. Until they witness shit and they're like shocked to the core (Akechi pisses himself bc of how shocked he is) like Tori even pulls shun aside like alright chihuahua what did you do to make saiki like you? Did you bribe him? How many coffee jellies?! And shuns like wtf man I didn't do anything saikis just nice like that. But Tori is skeptical. Or saiki will be nice to nendou and Miko will be like uh do I got glitter in my eye or did I see that right? Who are you and what did you do to my kusuo?! And the psychickers are all worried and fretting over saiki like are you ok?! Do you have a fever?! Are you feeling well?!

One time they overhear the others gushing about how kusuo is a good listener and gave them a present they had their eye on for a while etc. and then Toritsuka passes by and is like "damn no fair. For my birthday saiki gave me a black eye and three broken ribs ;-;" and everyone's just dead silent and then they turn around and keep talking completely ignoring the germ. Best thing is nobody believes Tori yk.

Ok but on a serious note although he has a different relationship with both of his friend groups saiki still loves and cherished them in his own way. Like he is worried over his friends safety bc they got the shittiest timing and bad luck and bc they're also dumb and naive as hell so he's gotta babysit them like the mom of the group bc he feels responsible for them bc he's got powers that will help keep them safe yk? And sure he also looks out for the psychickers but not actively. Like he'll keep Miko safe bc of her job and help kechi if he bumps into bullies and uh... Heal Tori when hes on the brink of death (though that's usually because saiki made him see God). But he knows the psychickers are more or less capable of not needing his help bc they are actually competent (despite him calling them incompetent and useless all the time). Well except Tori, he's actually useless and incompetent but he's a danger to society so the world is better of without him teehee. Ok no but srsly saiki can be more upfront and honest with the psychickers bc they know his secret and with this secret comes other parts of his personality that were hidden. He puts up a bit of a front and some distance between him and his friend group bc they don't know Abt his secret and so he feels like they'd stop liking him if he did so ofc he's not gonna mess that up and he mean to them. But with the psychickers they know how dangerous he is (or at least how dangerous he perceived himself to be) and still willingly stick by his side like glue or more accurately like the fucking gun that u accidentally step on and gets stuck to the bottom of your fucking shoe and now u can't even scrape it off goddamn what a nuisance (affectionately). So yeah he lets up a little and maybe tries even harder to push them away by being mean and violent but that only pulls them closer to his heart <3

The main Saiki friendgroup and pk psychics are mostly seperate group right? And Saiki acts deferently with both of them so what happened is someone from the main friendgroup (like Kaidou or sth) witnesses some "weird" Saiki behavior? Like Saiki being more sarcastic and mean or even violent thowards Toritsuka, while hanging out with him. Or he hears Saiki calmly saying "kill yourself" and he's shocked that Saiki, who is so nice and calm could say something like that, even to the germ. Or Teruhashi overhears a conversation between Aiura and Toritsuka that goes like: "Yo wheres Saiki" "oh he's stalking that guy again" "again? Damn he needs to leave that poor guy alone" and she's like "what? Stalking? I never thought Saiki was like that". Or the groups combine and they’re playing "who is the most likely to..." and there’s a question like "whos most likely to tell you to kill yourself/beat someone up" and the psychickers are automaticaly like "Saiki" "Saiki-san" "Kusuo" and everyone else questions if they even know him.