#and Makoto is my doppelganger I love her

[zorialdiamond-blog]

In fun news that might explain my lack of activity lately, I dug my copy of Persona 5 Royal off the shelf, and after actually getting how to play it this time and getting sucked in, I've now beaten it after just over 120 hours!

Amazing game, definitely better late than never to the party!

[zevfern]

My thoughts on the core members of the Phantom Thieves from Persona 5! Spoilers ahead.

Kenta (Joker): he's just like me for real!

But seriously though, I really like Joker, and it's cool to RP as him, especially since the modern setting allows me to do so more naturally. I especially like fitting in pro wrestling related headcanons to his behavior (my headcanon is that Kenta is a huge pro wrestling fan, and before the events of the game was training to join a dojo after graduating HS).

Ryuji: THE BROOOOO

My favorite of the Phantom Thieves, his hotheaded and impulsive personality reminds me of a friend I have irl. For some reason his voice reminds me of Axel from KH despite the two having different VAs, and the two characters are quite different as well. He was the first confidant I completed, and maybe in a different timeline he would have been romanceable.

Ann: A rose by another name

Ann's very sweet and kind, and yet posseses tons of internal strength. Her whole story arc with Shiho and her recovery is so heartwarming it was hard not to shed tears during their farewell. Her VA also did an incredible job throughout the game, it's between her and Ryuji for best VA performance in my opinion.

Yusuke: Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, but poor

Really knocked me for a loop when I first saw this guy, but despite the looks he is quite different from his Fodlan doppelganger. His confidant cutscenes are some of the goofiest in the game despite (or maybe because of?) his serious demeanor. Yusuke also gets bonus points for introducing Hifumi Togo into the story, the girl I chose to romance in my first playthrough.

Makoto: Breaking the rules, for once

This is a very unpopular opinion, but I don't particularly like Makoto. Her whole "follows the rules but her true self wants to break them" isn't appealing to me, reminding me of a few other characters from other games and media I've never connected with. That said, I do think she has a great friendship with Haru, and their Showtime is incredible (it's a series of pro wrestling moves ending with a tag team finisher! They are in love a tag team your honor.)

Futaba: On the spectrum, off the wall

It's always interesting to see characters in video games who are autism coded, and while Futaba isn't perfect (of course she's a hacker and visits 4chan 🙄), it's the little details like her elementary school memories (surprisingly similar to mine) and the way she approaches her self improvement after having her heart stolen that really impressed me.

Haru: We fly balloons on this fuel called love

I'd been extremely exited to meet Haru from the first time I sighted her in game, as she's voiced by the same VA who voiced Marianne and I wanted to compare the two characters. In contrast to Marianne's gloomy demeanor that eventually turns hopeful, Haru is a beam of light right from the beginning. Her introduction as a Beauty Thief is the funniest gag in the game, and she keeps her optimism despite incredible hardship involving her father. Shame she's introduced so late, by the time I got her confidants I was already with Hifumi.

Akechi: I have forgiven Maxwell

The moment Joker met Akechi, this started playing in the background:

Hair jokes aside, Akechi's a fascinating antagonist: much like Kenta/Joker and his friends he's an outcast in Japanese society, an orphan living in poverty, and has only been accepted due to his newfound fame as the Detective Prince. While visibly he resembles Light Yagami, his personality reminds me of MJF, who also manipulated the people around him for his own gain. I haven't finished the game yet so I don't know if Akechi will repent, but MJF did turn face with Adam Cole's friendship, so maybe Joker can do the same to Akechi.

[aeymii]

Yeah, that AU would probably be one of the verses with one of the most stable relationships between Mikan and Nagito, due to the different circumstances. Wouldn't be anything like the unpleasantness of Chapter 3's trial in the main verse thanks to Mikan never developing an obsessive love for Junko, and the survivors becoming closer. Could be a very affectionate platonic relationship. Or romantic if you want to go there. And I'd like to think her and Hiyoko are on better terms too.

Even though I said their ship is "Insert preferred ship here", I do also like to muse about the idea of Protag!Nagito being in a relationship with the doppelganger of main Nagito's love interest. And it becoming a source of angst and development.

Like to use Komazumi for example, the first encounter could involve the survivors of the class swap verse traveling to the main verse and meet up with its Remnants (also Nagiko who's just chilling on the island). Lots of high emotions from seeing living variants of their deceased classmates, with the same being true for Makoto and co. visiting their Remnant counterparts. And after a bunch of interactions, Nagito, Mahiru, and the main Class 77 starts to pick up on some vibes from Protag!Nagito and Survivor!Mahiru. And then doing a double-take and realizing "Holy shit, are you two...a thing?"

The idea of his "lucky bastard" counterpart being in a stable relationship (with the doppelganger of someone he might have feelings for no less), becomes another source of envy for main Nagito. Feeling at this point that he neither can nor should be in any relationship like that. But the gradual humanization of his protag counterpart through learning about the dude's various flaws and mistakes (and their "sister" trolling him a bit), and the acceptance of him as his "precocious twin brother", eventually helps him come round to the idea that maybe it's okay for him to love again too. And seeing how happy and at ease her other self is, Mahiru starts to wonder if maybe the two of them actually could work as a couple.

Lol they hate eachother, her thinking he weird, he pushing her out of the way to hold hands with Makoto, YAYYY THEY CLOSE, I like that!! My two children getting along for once and having a stable bond with eachother! This survivor group is just amazing!!!!

Hmm I personally prefer platonic Komamiki because I like seeing them be besties and interacting hehe- survivors getting a close bond like found family is everything to me 💕💕

Ohhhhhh him getting somewhere with mains partner?? That's interesting ‼️‼️ ohhh they meet up with the mainverse!! AND NAGIKO IS JUST CHILLING IN DA BACK AHAHAHA!! OOOOO THE EMOTIONS THE MIXED FEELINGGGGSS GIMME DA JUICY ANGST!!!! They sense SOMETHING AHAHAH KNEW IT LOL, Even the gang knows ahahhaha, their romance meter has picked up on some particularly high energy around the two ehehehheeheh

BRO STOLE HIS LOVE INTEREST?! NAHH THAT'S WILDDDDD 🗣️🗣️ He should've made a move when he had da chance and NOW his literal universal counterpart is making out with his partner AHAHAHHA he got no one for real, that sheet brutal 💀💀 NO WONDER HE JEALOUS, YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE MY GUY LOL!! Oh ohhhh this is some development!!!! AND THE TROLLING HAHA- Yayyy love saves all and they get character development<3

[marudyne]

hello!! im absolutely in love with your art and i found a post u made of fanfic recs and i was wondering if you had any more to add to that? your taste is *chefs kiss*

First of! Thank you! I think that recently my taste in fics has changed a bit…Oh boy, these are going to be a lot of akeshu fics. (There’re two taesae fics, a person whom i was recc’d for PegoRyu and three gen ones too).

Gen fics:

Sobremesa - Akira centric, food as metaphors for love. It’s very cute, rated GenSoma- Body horror/dark eldritch take on the Velvet Room mechanics, rated E. No one is surprised I smash that mf like button. (Seriously, mind the tags)Little Reminders - Rated G. Makoto, Protagonist, and compulsory heterosexuality. There’s not enough stuff exploring this themes in the fandom.RULES FOR PLAYING DEAD - 11/20 spoilers, Ren centric and how he adjusts to his new life. Rated T.One Man’s Trash - Rated G- Implied AkeShu, spoilers for the whole game. About Ren, and the significance of the junk he steals from his friends.

The fic writer singlehandedly making me consider pegoryu: carlyraejepsen. If you like PegoRyu/are curious about the ship you should read this person’s pegoryu. They only have three oneshots, but they are really good. My friend’s recc.

Shiho/AnnSteadfast - Rated G. The monster inside was one Shiho wanted to slay. She wanted to wrangle it from Ann’s body. This angry creature that she had, undoubtedly, stirred when she took that step off the edge of the school roof.

TaeSae:Stellar Collision - Vampire AU, Rated M. Mutual unrequited pining between vampire Sae and human doctor with some blood bags in her hands Tae.Do No Harm - Huntress Sae + With Tae AU. Rated E. Sae is injured and she needs to be patched up- Tae offers to help.

Now for All The AkeShu:The Best We Can Hope For is Revenge- A set of two drabbles, both rated T, set in canon, both before 11/20. Canon divergence where Akira+Akechi end up on the same side.Two Lies and One Truth - Another drabble set (2). First one rated T, second one rated M. Akira and Akechi meet, but during Akira’s train ride to Tokyo.on the way- Akechi asks Akira to cut his hair. Rated T.mask- Not rated, Majour Character Death. Akechi notices Akira is different.False Start- Rated M. Akechi gets a small taste of what the future could have been. Also xov wrote this and I devour everything xov writes please read l’appel du vide if you havent yetand it looks so very much like me- Post canon, rated M.  The velvet room has a new attendant.mouth full of crimson gold - rated E, violent thoughts. Akira is so goddamn pretty. Each to Each - Post traitor boss fight, rated G. Akira seeks comfort from a dead boy and his doppelgangerTo Share, Sometimes - Rated T. Ren and Akechi share a bed, established relationship + post canon. Listen I’m fond of this one dont @ meTo Bake and Eat Your Cake- Rated T, another one im fond of dont @ me. Akechi decides to see where a little bit of honesty will take him.Changes - Rated M. Ren and Akechi are intimate before November, and all the hesitations that come with the uncertainty of an unspoken relationship.

[pyropsychiccollector]

Sayaka Maizono remembered. It was as if her eyes had been forced wide open. All the peculiar events that had happened on this island... Suddenly, it all made sense. A tragic, despicable sort of sense.

This was Monokuma's next motive? It was almost sad, seeing her classmates so pitifully naïve. All of their attention was on the "obvious" infected ones - Asahina, Ishimaru, Kirigiri... They were all sideshows compared to what she received. The Remembering Disease.

With these memories, she was practically compelled to murder one or two of her classmates. It didn't matter they were all friends - hell, because they were all friends this needed to be done! They'd forgotten the whole reason they had come into this rehabilitative program in the first place. Thanks to the program, they even forgot that's what all this was - a simulation.

But Sayaka remembered.

Seeing.... him mixed in with all the students, it was amazing he hadn't been found out already. How dare they? What right did the Future Foundation have to use him as an observer?! Makoto Naegi had died! And the Future Foundation, former students of Hope's Peak, had no right to speak his name, let alone use his memory to watch over them.

It hurt so much just looking at him... To hear his voice, the tones and words he would've used.... To look at them all with the same eyes.... To smile like he did.... Ithurtithurtithurt.....

But as much as Sayaka considered it, she couldn't bring herself to kill the doppelganger. As much as her eyes stung just watching him interact with Leon, and Fujisaki, there would be no point to killing the disrespectful fake, except to satisfy her own bitter feelings.

Sayaka told herself that it was because of Ultimate Despair's mission. Their mission to kill themselves and let Junko take over their bodies. Sparing him had nothing to do with any sentiment she might've felt toward the AI.... She simply had a mission to carry out, nothing more.

.... So why did she agree to hangout with him more than once....?

Why did she enjoy hanging out with him....? 

Sayaka put the finishing touches on her plan. Kiyotaka was an easy target due to the fact his disease made him willing to do anything he was told to do. Sayaka had also decided Kirigiri would die, seeing as how the detective was currently bedridden, passing in and out of consciousness with a despairfully high fever..That bitch had also pushed Makoto into the elevator that led to his death. That way, even if she was found out during the trial, one of the smarter ones would be sacrificed to Junko. That way, trials would be that much tougher to solve from then on.

Everything was settled. It was all planned out. She was even making her way to the music venue, where Kiyotaka had been instructed to wait for her after the nighttime announcement. Her resolve was unshakeable, and yet.... she just had to run into him outside the venue.

"Maizono!" The brunet greeted casually,  causing the singer to stiffen. Did.... he know about Ishimaru? Is that why he was out here waiting for her? To try and stop her?

Sayaka kept herself calm and composed.

"Naegi-kun. It's rather late, isn't it? Shouldn't you be back at the motel with the others?" It was agreed that she and Mukuro would watch over the ones who were sick, since they'd spent the most time around the three sick patients. They had no medical professional in their group, so they could only hope that those who had the various Despair Diseases wouldn't die.

The Luckster laughed softly, unfazed by the suspicious glare she was sending him.

"I guess. I was just concerned for you and Mukuro. I really should have been the one to look out for those three, not you guys."

'Because you're expendable?' Sayaka sniped in her mind. She loved hated how realistic this doppelganger was. How selfless he was...

It was almost like having Naegi amongst them again....

"You don't need to worry, Naegi-kun." Sayaka forced her biggest smile. "We'll get through this."

"You're right, of course...." Makoto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He then adopted a serious expression, which threw the idol off-guard. "But Sayaka... please, don't lie to yourself. You.... know... Don't you?"

 For a moment, Sayaka's mask dropped, and she glared at the fake Luckster in annoyance. But then she shook her head and forced another big smile.

"Wh-What are you talking about, Naegi-kun....? I'm not..." She flinched as he cut her off.

"You stopped using my given name, Sayaka...." The fake had the gall to look wounded. "And lately, you sometimes shoot me these dirty looks for no reason! I don't know how, but.... You have the Despair Disease, don't you?"

Sayaka curled her hands into fists and tried to rein in her temper. The fake was too perceptive.... but then again, Makoto had been rather perceptive, too....

"Again, I have no idea what you are talking about, Naegi-kun. Now, if you will excuse me...." The idol nearly hissed as the brunet caught her by the wrist.

"Sayaka, please! Talk to me! I don't want to lose you....!"

That caused something within her heart to snap, and the idol whirled on the AI, pushing back her initial taunt and speaking from her heart.

"Well, you and I both know that's not very fair, now is it, Naegi-kun?!" The blue-haired singer spat venomously. "After all, you were the first to die on us....!"

Makoto's eyes softened, but his grip remained strong.

"So you do remember...." He looked down at the ground. "I was afraid at least one of you would be forced to get your memories back.... But I was really hoping it wouldn't be you."

Why hadn't she broken free from his grip....? Why was she still wasting words on this thing?

"Life's full of disappointments, Naegi-kun." Sayaka put on a false cheerful smile. "I remembered the day my heart was wrenched from my chest and shattered into a million pieces. I remembered the very moment the real Makoto passed through that door into the very afterlife itself! I remembered through no fault of his own, the real Makoto was murdered!"

Makoto still didn't let go, and Sayaka was making no moves to escape. She was glaring at him with ferocious intensity, just daring him to say another word... and unfortunately for her, he took her up on that dare.

"And that's why you were brought here, Sayaka.... You and the rest of our class..." He trailed off, looking up at her with newfound determination. "You suffered so much, and you lashed out at the world! I might not know what Makoto was thinking when he died, but I know enough about him from your and everyone else's memories to at least guess at what he was thinking!"

Sayaka let out a derisive laugh. Tears spilled out from her eyes.

"So you know he died asking why he had to go so soon?! Or are you going to say he's disappointed we ended up this way?!"

"He was disappointed with himself." Makoto's sharp words were enough to stop Sayaka in her tirade and to make her look at him in abject bewilderment. "He knew just what kind of effect his death would have on you guys - all thanks to Junko - and he blamed himself, Sayaka! How he wasn't strong enough to get through that labyrinth on his own. He always saw how 'ordinary' he was as a weakness, and he died begging for you guys' forgiveness for causing you so much pain....!"

Now Sayaka tried to wrench her hand away. Her voice cracked.

"D-Don't pretend to understand....! You know nothing! Nothing!" She shrieked, hand poised to slap him if that's what it took for Makoto to release her.

"I know he cared about you." Again, his soft but firm voice cut through her hysteria. She still trembled, but she settled down enough to listen again. His grip tightened around her wrist, but not enough to cause harm. "When you started dating, he was the luckiest guy in the world! He'd never been happier in his life! Of course he'd be upset that he caused you so much grief!"

The idol felt numb, and her body went limp - the only thing keeping her one arm up was Makoto, and he didn't look to be letting go anytime soon. Bangs fell over her eyes, and the tears just continued to flow.

How could she possibly forget that day she'd confessed to him.....? It was physically impossible to do so. She'd confessed because she knew Makoto was too shy to make the first move, and she just loved teasing him about what an open book he was...

His words that day echoed exactly what this AI was saying. Makoto had been overjoyed. He'd been so determined to make her happy and to do whatever she said to keep their relationship a secret, for both their sakes.

Sayaka didn't want to recall that day. It was a painful reminder of what she lost, and....

It made her waver in her resolve.

When he finally let go of her wrist, Sayaka hated how quickly she reached out to snatch his hand. A part of her was scared that the loss of contact would fill her with all the bitter, hateful feelings she'd harbored since regaining her memories.

It was so stupid.... this was just an AI....

But he was Makoto, even if it was just his ghost of a memory...

And.... And....

"Sayaka....?" He asked gently, meeting her tear-filled eyes as she looked back up at him.

"I don't...." She choked out, trembling again. He patiently waited for her to speak. "I don't.... want to spread Despair anymore.... I don't want to feel Despair...."

The last part was barely a whisper, and anyone would've written the words off as a hallucination. But not Makoto. Never Makoto.

"Then stay with me for a while." The Luckster softly spoke back, drawing her into an embrace. One that she initially stiffened at, but eased into rather quickly.

Sayaka Maizono might've been inflicted with the Remembering Disease, but she remembered more than just the Despair of the past....

She remembered her Hope.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Which arcana do you think fits FeMC besides fool?

Ok so I’ve been meaning to write an analysis for like……4 ormore years on this. But to summarize my basic idea, besides Fool (and Death obvs), Ithink FeMC ties pretty well with the Sun arcana…which in turn means MaleMC tieswith the Moon arcana (tbh it’s kind of ironic considering I may or may not have writtenlengthy analysis about Hamuko from The Fools’ Tournament as the Moon cause theauthor said so and it fits her more for that fanfic 8U). Ngl I think they canboth switch if they want (from what I can tell those two arcanas work prettyfluidly with each other, esp when discussion positive readings vs negativereadings), but I think the FeMC would best be described as a Sun arcana person ina Moon arcana world.

(under the cut cause kinda lengthy, but it’s also kinda thecliffnotes version of a more in depth essay I wanna write later)

Considering how day and night play a big role in this game Idon’t think it’s too far fetched. Especially with how both Sun and Moon arcanasplay in both routes and feel important in different ways (Sun being a dying manwhom both MCs will essentially join later in the afterlife as well as both his design resembling Messiah later; and then with theMoon on the male side whom is basically foreshadowing the end month of P3 alongwith the fact he looks like a chubbier maleMC and the MC is apparently the doppelganger of Nozumi’s fraternal twin bro; and then with Shinjiro on theFeMC where she can actually change history by saving him).

I personally like to joke to myself that both P3MCs arekinda weird love children of Tatsuya and Maya (just switch the genders andpersonality traits a bit). No really there’s a lot of similarities betweenthese 4 (and it might be because of how one came after the other and the FeMCwas originally part of P3 before they ran outta money and time andaofdns;aflka; my poor baby ;w;). Like, ok let’s play a game, tell me who this is: A brown haired,red-eyed (which are sometimes portrayed as brown for some reason in someofficial works I dunno Atlus can’t seem to decide), possibly (by which I meantotally) bisexual MC whom apparently has a lot of admirers at school, kind ofhas a crap love life, esp with one of their love interests being associatedwith the Moon arcana dying, luckily they have a blonde hair girl who is totallyin love with them, they have a motorcycle key in their possession, have aninitial persona who’s primary magic is fire, has signature personas who’srelated to music, has a prime/modified version of their initial persona, whoare kind of maybe the reason the world might be ending, and they sacrificesomething important so that their friends can have normal lives. So who came tomind? Tatsuya or FeMC? The answer should be both. 8U 

(also side note, I figuredP5MC wouldn’t be able to date guys cause I cracked the code long ago guys, onlyway you can date both genders in Persona is if you have an MC with at leastbrown hair and red eyes, so like atlus should’ve just scrapped P5MC and justmade Goro or Makoto the main character if you wanted to date both genders 8U)

Ok ok, enough goofing around, let’s talk about the actual arcana. I do feel like the FeMC experiences both the positive andreversed arcana (actually depending on your choices it feels like itfluctuates).

Positives meaning:(Youthful) Optimism, energy, clarity of thought, creativity/new ideas,enlightenment, and reality

Positives in game:All of these are shown throughout the game. FeMC has been said to be “optimistic”on countless occasions (to the point she feels similar to Maya even having ashout-out to Maya’s signature catchphrase). In P3P the unstable Tartarus dayswere introduced, bringing certain floors and a new line “you’ve come up withnew combat ideas you should be able to gain more exp on this floor.” She isshown to have a lot of energy (even commented on it by people, exampledepending on your choice when you first meet Ms. Toriumi). LastlyEnlightenment, tbh this fits the MaleMC as this is what they basically achievewhile fighting Nyx. Also same with MaleMC, “reality” can be read choosing to letRyoji live and facing the reality of death or whatever. 8U

Negatives meaning:Vanity, Fantasy, everything is clouded, cynicism (also one or two placesmentioned the feeling of being “left out”)

Negatives in game:Choosing to kill Ryoji could mean the MCs indulding in the fantasy of notknowing Nyx is coming. The one I really want to focus on is the cynicism….Now you can play her as kind/optimistic pretty much to the end, or you can playher as harsh/cynical….but there’s something interesting looking at the male vsthe female routes, in the male route he starts kind of cold/neutral and as thegame goes on he gets more…”positive” dialogue options. FeMC, however, has alarge range of emotions from the start, but as the game goes on she gets morenegative options (tbh I’m not surprised, her love life is a mess, one boyeither dies or is in a coma, one leaves her to go home to France after sayinghe loves her, one states he can’t be with her until he becomes a “better man,” oneis a guy who has sister issues and is a pain to romance, one is a kid and evenif she claims she’ll wait for him she’ll just end up hurting him even more, oneof your friends turns you down cause he already had/has girl issues, one isdeath itself and leaves you after saying he’s basically gonna kill you, yourrobot almost died on you and is now coming out of the closet just in time forthe FeMC to die on her….god I’m not surprised she’d want to personally shootall of Strega in the head herself. Like “the world’s ending, no one loves me,come at me bro”). In terms of feeling left out, I feel like this applies alot  more to the FeMC than the MaleMC,while other characters will do stuff off screen to forward the plot, theimplications of their actions to the P3MCs are different. MaleMC probably hasn’tor can’t SL with them, so while he may feel out of the loop it’s not like it’sreally negative. FeMC, however, has the ability to SL her team as soon as theyjoin or come back from injury *cough Akihiko* (barring Mitsuru and Aigis causereasons), so when a teammate does something off screen, I dunno like confidingin another character instead of their supposed “best friend” the FeMC, it mayimpact the FeMC more. It makes her feel even more left out considering she ismuch closer.

Other Associations:Fire and Masculinity

Other Associations ingame: Fire obvs points to Orpheus. But Masculinity, oh I bet you thoughtyou got me here, but nope. If  the FeMCequips Mara Theo comments how “unlady-like” it is, Liz says the same thing asshe says to  the MaleMC “Tee-hee howmanly” (at least if you romance her that is she’ll say that 8U). On top of thefact….she has a choice to have Liz as her VR attendant…. Cause VR Attendantsare supposed to represent the anima/animus of their guest: Theo is the FeMC’sanimus (aka  in the unconscious of a woman it is expressed as a masculine innerpersonality) while Liz, Margaret, and Twins are the P3MaleMC, P4MC, andP5MC’s anima (aka in the unconscious of a man thisarchetype finds expression as a feminine inner personality). So if FeMC is female, she should just have anAnimus right? Yet she can have Liz….which means she represents the Anima….whichmeans….she’s there to basically balance out the FeMC’s (hidden) masculinity? 8UMight be why she gets along with the guys so well (even actually having friend…orshould I say “bro” routes in her SLs 8U), and maybe why she kinda has similar “flirty dialogue” that the MaleMC has with the girls (cause it’s pretty much copy and pasted over 8U). (as for if MaleMC matches with theMoon’s more “feminine” reading, I dunno he seems more interested in the ladiesthan the men in his SLs so he’s pretty women focused…in a way).

I would be inclined to think that Star arcana would fit her too (cause optimism theme as well, and cause a star persona is used to create her ultimate weapon….and cause cause the star arcana seems to be a theme with Hashino’s Persona era tho it mostly applies to P4/5), but that fits more with naive optimism while Sun kinda has to face the harshness of the world yet still find a positive outlook. Considering the running “gag” (not really a gag in most cases) since P2, Sun arcana characters tend to find themselves in bad situations and have to struggle to find a positive outlook. I feel the FeMC’s situation becomes very…dire like the other Sun arcana characters (like I said above “the world’s ending, no one loves me, everyone leaves me out, come at me bro”). You could interpret that she could start off as Star and then switch to Sun (naive then maturing basically) as the game goes on, I mean Star does come before Sun (with Moon in the middle) so….yeah….FeMC’s side could just be 3 arc Star->Moon->Sun story (but, again, I think Sun fits her the best 8U)

[devilmasked-a-blog]

me, talking abt my sweet bby hinako again and a lot of “what if” she was in the game/her arc

ooh boy oh boy. OK SO, i feel like her parents palace would take place in-between either makoto and futaba or after haru and before casino? that mid-game edge is always rough but w/e. the way it’d be introduced would be because mishima keeps getting this one goddamn request for the same two people to get their hearts stolen by user Lichhichi. it’s been going on ever since madarame (bcs it coincides when she learns of the phantom thieves and if they can perform miracles that gives her hope). with each palace, the request becomes more incessant to the point where ever post has the request. one day, the requests go silent. they investigate a month after the silence, believing it’s only a low-level shadow, when surprise, they can’t find the duo in mementos.

on the other side, on 8/30, hinako discovers the metaverse through the app mysteriously on her phone. believing in the fictional worlds of labyrinths and witches, with no powers of her own she begins to kill the lower-level grunts outside the palace, generally fuck things up and inconvenience the palace rulers. although she’s still a reckless idiot with a broomstick with a horde of knives taped onto the end. she’s doing her best ok?

the phantom thieves start looking into the matsui couple and find jack shit. only reports of their good deeds and general information. it takes a lot (I mean a lot, as in a whole week of digging) to find reports of more sketchy behavior. screenshots of a hidden forum pop up, badmouthing tokyo’s elite. from there, more claims of unsavory things like blackmail, ruining companies and people and most notable, the lone claim of the matsui couple being child abusers. this gets the thieves into gear and they go about finding their home and going into the palace.

then they see the queen of fucking shit up, hinako matsui herself. she wears a custom punk magical girl-esque outfit (for #aesthetics), with a shit ton of needles on the sash (for #aesthetic) and a dust mask (cause she thinks shadow dust might be harmful to her plus it ties together the look). immediately, she’s an asshole and very cold to these strangers. cutting them off at every turn and making sure they don’t get past the front gates. the pt end up fighting her and demolish her ass. most likely, they’d talk to her and she’d explain what she knows and after that, she’ll be fighting alongside them as a support ally (giving healing items, random chance to knock down an enemy)

although, she warms up to them during the palace, chatting with them in safe rooms, offering advice on where to strike within the palace. still wary and using the name ‘inky’, she claims she’s fighting for ‘the people the matsui family wronged’. any encounter with the shadow rulers, however. the girl is silent, closing her eyes and sometimes even covering her ears. its obvious she’s terrified of the rulers, even edging towards the brink of tears when seeing the cognitive hinako follow the duo. yet this changes as braving deeper into the palace allows her to fight the doppelganger head on and beat the shit out of it. (go bby)

the boss of the palace has 2 phases, one in which the thieves fight alone and cannot win (dia and iehisa constantly heal each other and deal instant kill spells.) leads to the rulers kicking "inky” down when she tries to defend the thieves and gets called out as their ‘imitation of a daughter’. then disown her, which, naturally sends her over the edge and awakens her persona lucrezia. then they steal the treasure after decimating her parents. she sells it and then joins the thieves in fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, never running from a real fight, she is the one the phantom thieves named ‘lich’.

anyway, she’s very status based, with mostly physical attacks and status spells. later on, when she hits around level 45, she starts gaining a lot of almighty spells and insta-killers. she’s best as a one hit killer for grinding and the enemies with hella nulls. using spears and naginata, late game the spears start to get a lot of fear and despair based affinities, with her ultimate spear being Gungnir with a no-miss rate (though it shares the same atk as the normal best spear for her; Tonbokiri) and her best gun is Hellraiser with high-fear inducing. she’s just an all around great gal and i love my sweet, sweet shadow killer child. love her.