#but mostly just shinjiro being shinjiro

[llemon-soda]

cozy

[savagegood]

@shinjiroatae1126: To all my fans, today was a very special day for me. For years, I struggled to accept a part of myself...But now, after all I have been through, I finally have the courage to open up to you about something. I am a gay man. It has taken me a long time to be able to say I am gay. I could not even say it to myself. However, I’ve come to realize it is better, both for me, and for the people I care about, including my fans, to live life authentically than to live a life never accepting who I truly am. I hope people who are struggling with the same feeling will find courage and know they are not alone.

ps, he’s released a new song, “into the light”, which you can watch here. part of the proceeds from the single will go to lgbtq+ organisations

@shinjiroatae1126: July 26th, 2023 was a big day for me. I finally gathered the courage to come out to the public as a gay man. I am grateful to have received media coverage from multiple platforms both within Japan and overseas.

To be honest, I was extremely anxious before all of this happened. However, I've been pleasantly surprised to discover the overwhelming amount of positive feedback pouring in from both my fans and people who have come across the news about me. It's heartwarming to see that my story is being acknowledged from all around the world, and this brings me immense joy. Although they may be baby steps, I sense that this world is gradually moving into the light. Yesterday, I made an announcement about resuming my career as an artist. I also released a new song titled “Into The Light”. The music video for the song is also on YouTube now. This song is packed with the emotions and thoughts leading up to this point, including my decision to come out. Living with anxieties and struggles is not limited to just LGBTQ+ individuals. I hope this song can be a source of encouragement for anyone carrying such emotions. I've aimed for it to become a song that can uplift those with similar feelings. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Pride House Tokyo, Japan’s first permanent LGBTQ+ center, and ReBit, an organization providing resources and support for LGBTQ+ youth. I hope this song will touch many hearts.🙏🌈

At first, there was total silence. Then, there were shrieks, wild applause, weeping and shouts of “I love you!”

Fans of Shinjiro Atae, a J-pop idol who has been on a nearly two-year performance hiatus, had come to hear him talk about “the challenge of my life.” Standing onstage in a dark auditorium in front of 2,000 fans in central Tokyo on Wednesday night, he revealed something he has kept hidden for most of his life: He is gay.

“I respect you and believe you deserve to hear this directly from me,” he said, reading from a letter he had prepared. “For years, I struggled to accept a part of myself. But now, after all I have been through, I finally have the courage to open up to you about something. I am a gay man.”

Such an announcement is extremely unusual in conservative Japan, the only G7 country that has not legalized same-sex unions. Earlier this summer, the Japanese Parliament passed an L.G.B.T.Q rights bill but it had been watered down by the political right, stating that there “should be no unfair discrimination” against gay and transgender people.

In making a public declaration, the 34-year-old Mr. Atae, who spent two decades performing with AAA, a hit Japanese pop group, before embarking on a solo career, said he wanted his fans to know his true self. He also hopes to comfort those who might be grappling with anxieties about their sexuality.

“I don’t want people to struggle like me,” he said.

AAA debuted in 2005, with Mr. Atae, the youngest member, forgoing high school. He performed mostly as a dancer, and began appearing in TV series and movies.

His sexuality perplexed him. “It was a time when on TV, comedians would say two men kissing was gross,” he said. If anyone asked if he had a girlfriend, he just said he was too busy working.

Activists said they could not recall an instance when a Japanese pop star of his stature had publicly declared they were gay, because of anxieties about losing fans or sponsors.

“I think he has decided to come out in order to change Japan,” said Gon Matsunaka, a director and adviser to Pride House Tokyo, a support center for the gay and transgender community.

The decision to open up about his sexuality, he said, evolved over seven years of living in Los Angeles, where he saw how freely gay couples could show affection in public and built an extensive support network.

���Everyone was so open,” he said. “People would talk about their vulnerabilities. In Japan, people think it’s best not to talk about those things.”

Mr. Atae’s decision, he said, was not political.  All he wanted, he said, was to “normalize” being gay. Coming out, he knew, would likely draw criticism. “Whatever you do, there will be haters,” he said. “I can only focus on the people I might be helping.”

[randoimago]

Hello! I was the one who requested the taking the blow of the P5 boys! Thank you again!

I wanted to ask if I could make the same request of the reader taking a blow for the boys of Persona 3! Mostly Makoto/Minato, Junpei, Akihiko, and Shinjiro if that's fine!

Thank you!

Fandom: Persona 3

Character(s): Akihiko, Junpei, Makoto, Shinjiro

Note(s): Here you go!

Akihiko

His eyes go wide when he sees you jump in and take the hit for him. Akihiko feels frozen and his brain can't process what emotion he should be feeling. Mix that with the fact you're still in combat, we'll he's going through it until someone snaps him out.

He just doesn't even know what to say to you for what you did. He's watched so many people he love die and then you took a hit for him. Aki is doing his best to stay calm, but his adrenaline is on high and his brain won't shut off with the "what if" scenarios.

Akihiko asks you to never do that again. He doesn't care if he might actually die, that's part of the risk of being in SEES. Just please don't ever put yourself in danger on his behalf.

Junpei

You're so lucky that Junpei didn't hit you with his bat. He saw the shadow coming and he was ready to smack it to get it to go away, but then you jumped in. Junpei is definitely not happy with your actions.

He attempts to give you the silent treatment, but he's not good at being quiet. So he might just blow up and ask if you have that little faith in him. Did you think he was so weak and worthless that he couldn't take being knocked down by a shadow?

Doesn't care what kind of excuse you're making, he's just not happy with what you did. You two will need a serious discussion once you get back to the dorms. Until then, he's upset at you.

Makoto

Considering everyone takes hits for him, watching you do it too doesn't surprise him too much. He still doesn't enjoy seeing it happen, but it's a very reluctant acceptance he has come to.

Makoto might just do a team meeting sometime and tell everyone to knock it off. He appreciates not being knocked out by a persona (especially since no one else can revive him apparently), but he doesn't want to constantly see the people he cares for letting shadows harm them for him.

After getting back from Tartarus, he just pulls you along to his room. As punishment for being stupid and taking a hit for him, you get to be the big spoon while he lays on you.

Shinjiro

You're lucky you're his S/O or he's give you a blow to the back of the head for doing something so reckless. Shinjiro is very upset with you for doing that. His life is already cut short, he's fine with dying. Why the hell would you risk your own life like that?

He becomes a very grumpy and upset boyfriend. You get the silent treatment for the rest of the Tartarus visit. He's still keeping an eye out to make sure you don't do something that stupid again, but he's ignoring you besides that.

When you get back to the dorm, his voice is very serious as he calls your name. But instead of scolding you, he pulls you into his arms and mutters about how scared you made him. Tomorrow, you'll get the biggest scolding of your life, but right now he just needs to hold you.

[sunnixsunshine]

Gonna just post this all together lol uh big post, lots of words, whatever, enjoy

Anyway, meet Roronoa Hikoboshi and Orihime! Hikoboshi resembles Zoro’s dad, he takes over the restaurant eventually while Sora is off sailing, Shinjiro is off sailing, and Takehiko is just causing massive amounts of problems to every type of authority out there lol. Orihime is actually Pudding’s daughter, her only child in fact. Idk, Pudding just eventually gets over Sanji(good, hes way too old for you sweetie tbh; narratively I enjoy their story but ooooooof couldnt she have been at least 18?), meets a new gentleman whos just as kind to her. He, too, has an interest in baking and they open a bakery together, which eventually moves to the exact oart of the All Blue where Sanji resides. Hikoboshi and Orihime meet when theyre 15/16 years old and immediately theyre pretty infatuated. With Orihime being a fairytale and love at first sight kind of gal and Hikoboshi being just as much as a hopeless romantic as his father. When the two want ther parents to meet—its pretty awkward at first lol

Hikoboshi and Orihime is directly inspired by the myth and Tanabata festival itself. As I said, Hikoboshi more so resembles his grandfather Arashi. Orihime is supposed to look like her father the most, however I wanted to play with the idea of her resembling Big Mom a bit? Mostly just the hair honestly, which starts off as brown but as he gets older it gradually changes to pink. Which makes me think about the possibility of Pudding maybe holding some kind of issues against her early on???? Idk but I would like to explore the idea! Btw, their moles are supposed to reflect their respective stars’ positions, Vega and Altair!

But anyway heres my designs for Zoro’s parents. Arashi was s two swords style user trying to work his way up to three swords style before he died. He grew up an orphan on the very outskirts of the village after both of his parents passed away when he was roughly 10. Tera grew up on the same island but she wasnt born there, her father bringing her there when she was eeeeeh like 4-6. She didnt grow up in the village though, in fact she didnt up grow up having a home town to name, she doesnt know where in the east blue her family is specifically from, they camped out in a tiny cabin in the wood with a few other bandits. She gets lost a lot, which is where Zoro gets it! She actually ended up having to choose between “carrying on the family business” (being a thief) or Arashi, and she chose Arashi because she’s actually really bad ar being a bandit. They met when they were 18, married a year later, but it took four years to finally have a family of their own. And turns out Zoro is the only kid they ever would have. Quick little details; when Arashi was fatally wounded by the pirates attacking the village, his swords were both essentially destroyed and later buried with him. And so was his earring. Same with Tera, who had genetic illness, Huntington’s disease, however she actually died of pneumonia in the winter time, but her Huntington’s symptoms were prevalent and Zoro was aware of what was going on. She, too, was buried with her earring, two of Zoro’s earrings specifically just being replicas in memory of his parents. And gonna state it outright here: no Zoro doesn’t have Huntington’s disease, but it is a fear of his that he pushes off to the back of his mind constantly. Tbh I just think it makes him more human as a character to have such a natural fear, idk.

Something I kinda REALLY wanna expand on is my idea of Arashi and Koushiro having a relationship somewhat similar to Zoro and Kuina; Arashi being a few years younger than Koushiro who has actual training to begin with, Arashi having no formal training, just his parents’ swords that they left behind. Now neither of them even knew they were like distant cousins, to Koushiro Arashi is just this younger kid with an obnoxiously loud desire to go above and beyond to learn two swords style when he doesnt have any formal training nor does he even know one swords style! Koushiro finds Arashi annoying and even talentless—and yet for several years they met in a field so Koushiro could pass his formal lessons onto Arashi. Arashi couldnt learn at the dojo because he couldnt afford it. The lessons would stop once Koushiro is being prepared to take over the dojo one day and also when he meets his future wife—so hes about 21 give or take, Arashi is around 17 at the least. Their relationship was mostly bickering because Koushiro doesnt like Arashi’s rash attitude and tendency to goof off. And Arashi found Koushiro to be uptight and too grown up. Arashi never could surpass Koushiro in a dual, both one sword style and two sword style. Hes just always been several steps behimd Koushiro and that’s what pushed him to train more. Fast forward to present day, and honest to god Koushiro NEVER connected Zoro to being Arashi’s child. For one thing, he didnt know Arashi had a kid, thats how strained they became, and another, Koushiro, to be fair, doesnt even see an ounce of Arashi in this kid whatsoever. The ego and eagerness to go above and beyond, sure, but what little kid ISNT like that?? Anyway, it comes as a shock and a part of him feels more obligated to take care of Zoro after having witnessed Arashi’s death himself years prior when Zoro wouldve only been a toddler.

[amiedeselfes]

I have a new headcanon

Sure the idea of Ren coming from Inaba but what about Ren coming from Iwatodai?

Little boy who has no real loving or present parents, who spends time with the strays around. He's aware and awake during the Dark Hour but escape shadows because he runs after cats and since they run away from danger he escapes it

He often ends up around the SEES and he's still a quiet boy but still social butterfly. He can talk a lot about things that interest him but outside of that he's mostly a listener

He finds it lame SEES don't have special costumes for being heroes, he played with Evoker once but screamed Featherman instead, he has potential but never awoken it, stayed a child who hung out with SEES

He's a friend of Maiko and Ken (oh oh), learned French from Mitsuru (which ended up affecting him on why he has Arsène), learned cooking with Shinjiro too.

Also recall that in p5 we actually never sign a contract with Velvet Room? Imagine he did it when he was there in Iwatodai, just 6 years old but actually never awoken his potential so he never went to velvet room despite signing (or maybe he went one time but never again and thought of it as a funny dream)

I didn't finish the game yet but Ren recalling Ken when Akechi talks about his revenge sounds funny to me (nothing could go wrong)

Maybe he is an Arcana for Makoto but idk which one I just like to imagine him around coffins playing hide and seek absolutely insensitive to it which played later on in Tokyo.

[strega-scripts]

strega headcanons pretty pleas e

OUUUU I SO GOT YOU

headcanons under the cut bc this got long

jin can be incredibly clingy towards takaya. he is very dependent on him and on vulnerable days he will have panic attacks if he doesn’t hear from takaya, fearing something happened to him.

none of strega really like physical contact. takaya will go feral if someone touches him without permission, but he does enjoy it with jin, and is often the one to instigate it with him.

jin watches/reads featherman !!

chidori does makeup on jin sometimes just for fun and to see what he’ll look like. sometimes she does a genuinely good job and sometimes she’ll purposely make him look dumb as hell.

chidori is very disconnected from her emotions, but manages to understand other people’s emotions more than her own.

chidori has a decent amount of lolita style dresses that she literally just stole from places during the dark hour.

takaya enjoys chess and card games !!

strega is constantly on the move and does not have one set place they stay at. they hop from hotels, motels, and sometimes warehouses if they have to.

during nights with no requests they sometimes like to play shitty ripoff versions of board games together.

jin and chidori are found family siblings !!!

takaya and jin are gay trans men, but i also sort of see jin being some sort of non-binary. chidori is a bi trans woman !!

jin uses neopronouns and xenopronouns !!

jin uses kaomojis , mostly online !!

takaya sometimes sends the other two random ass memes and most of them don’t even make sense. they’ll be having a serious convo over text and then takaya will just send jin the “I know what you are” dog or something.

jin , before they discovered sees , often played mmos alongside fuuka without actually knowing who she is. sometimes they’d be in guilds together, other times they’d be rivals.

takaya has a journal where he writes down like.. everything. including his experiences at the lab. this is also how , in a universe where he survives after nyx , he remembers everything after nyx is sealed.

all three of them are autistic !!

jin’s special interest is coding !!!!

in a universe where there’s no personas and everyone just has normal lives, takaya would be a librarian.

strega at one point viewer shinjiro as one of their own.

chidori enjoys gardening !!

i have even more !! i may make character specific posts for these sometime , ik i definitely didn’t touch on my chidori hcs enough

[teecupangel]

So, we've had Desmond in the P5 universe. What if he landed earlier during the events of P3/FES/Reload? I think he would have a deep connection/bond to the protagonist considering both died to save the world. How would things play out in your headcanon?

The Persona 5 with Desmond idea for those curious.

I haven’t played P3R yet but I did play the OG P3, FES and Portable when it came out so we’ll be focusing on the og one for this.

Or maybe we’ll focus on the idea that P3R is a stealth ‘sequel’ and set it up first with Desmond waking up and talking a young boy with dark blue hair, asking him to sign in.

Desmond thought that he was in the afterlife and, sure, it looked like an average looking homey hotel but fine, he’d seen weirder shit in his life thanks to the Isus and the Animus so he just signed in.

He wakes up in a small apartment and a Japanese guy looking over him, telling him that he found Desmond where garbage bags were placed for the garbage truck to get them (Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Monday and Wednesday for burnable, Friday for not. He found Desmond on a Tuesday)

The man introduces himself as Edogawa and lets Desmond stay as he feels weak for some reason. By the time Desmond is strong enough to check his surrounding…

He finds out he’s in Japan, a city called Tatsumi Port Island.

And…

It’s the year 2009.

His phone isn’t working at all. No matter how much he tried to turn it on. When he borrowed Edogawa’s computer, there is no mention of Abstergo in the internet at all.

And the email he remembered his team had and the emergency email that Erudito gave him bounced back.

It took a few days before Desmond finally agreed that he wasn’t kicked into the past.

This was another world.

A world where the Assassins and the Templars didn’t exist.

Things turned weirder because the first time Desmond stays late at night, the city transforms and he is attacked by strange creatures…

He manages to take care of them thanks to his hidden blade and the knife he still had on his bag but their battle only ‘invited’ more creatures that tried to attack Desmond.

So he runs. He turns the corner…

And finds himself in a bar mostly painted in blue velvet.

And on the counter stands a woman who calls herself “Elizabeth”.

She welcomes him as a ‘unexpected guest’ and tells her about the Dark Hour and the Shadows.

She opens her book and shows him the page of the Fool Arcana, explaining to him that he signed the contract and is now able to serve as an ‘authorized representative’. Elizabeth will serve as the host of his Velvet Room.

She requests him to defeat the Shadows and challenge the Avatar of the Fall.

… and…

To change the ending.

Unorganized Notes:

I kinda like the idea of this being FeMC instead of the og MC of P3 but you decide XD

We are going to use a lot of FeMC’s alternate scenes (mainly because I want Shinjiro to live)

He becomes the bartender in Club Escapade and meets the MC during his first visit there. He keeps an eye on the MC because the MC likes to ‘pay’ the fortune teller there to check his fortune or something.

Desmond actually appears to the SEES members during the High Priestess boss fight. He can’t believe that kids are fighting the Shadows. He recognized the MC and also Junpei who has also visited the club before.

Desmond is more or less ‘recruited’ by the Kirijo group and Desmond agreed because they’re kids, he can’t just let them do this on their own. Desmond transfers to the dorm as a… ‘caretaker’

… which he actually does. He cooks them food (thank you, Ratonhnhaké:ton’s bleed) and cleans. He also walks Koromaru whenever he does grocery. By that point, he quits his job in the club.

SEES members think of him more like an older brother. He gets roped with Fuuka’s cooking and jogs with Akihiko at times. He helps out Junpei with his English assignments. He makes Ken coffee and is even roped by Ken to teach him how to make coffee the way he does. He also more than once slips inside the school because Yukari asked him to help her with her archery for some reason. His favorite is Mitsuru though because she tells him he can borrow her motorcycle any time he wants.

Aegis is wary of him which is fair and she’s always confused to why she always feels the need to have him in her sight. It becomes a running joke how Aegis has imprinted on both Desmond and the MC.

We never talked about Desmond’s Persona, right?

That’s because he doesn’t have one.

The first Persona he summons is a Pixie and the book that Elizabeth has is already filled completely. He can summon the Personas there as long as he pays the price and he can fuse them.

But he cannot overwrite the Personas in the book.

Desmond is the Avatar of the Fool.

… specifically… he is the Avatar of the original messiah that became a door to halt the end from happening.

The young boy who asked him to sign?

That wasn’t Pharos.

It was the male main character’s child form. To be more exact, how he looked when he lost his parents. He connected with Desmond so Desmond could become his avatar and changed the ending of this ‘repeat’ (aka Reload) that Elizabeth managed to create. He appears in Desmond’s dream as a glowing figure (and the red herring is making us think he’s the Reader but he’s not). The book Elizabeth is using to support Desmond is his compendium.

So yeah…

This is actually a fix it fic idea for Persona 3.

[proxythe]

You wanna elaborate on Junpei and Shinjiro's dynamic? I've always assumed them to have done some off-screen bonding since Junpei was ready to throw hands at Shinjiro's memorial service.

this i can do. it is a super good point u brought up about junpei snapping during the memorial service. i must be honest and say it’s p3 dancing that made me think of them as close tho. i love how they interact in that game, along w how happy shinji generally seems to be 😭

shinjiro telling him he’s too damn loud is one thing but it’s the tone in which he says it that always gets me. u would think junpei has just immediately caused him a headache and pain and irritation and ruined his entire vibe by being loud one single time. thats sibling realness to me…

havent played p3 in a minute so i feel like im making things up forgive me BUT junpei also thinks shinjiro is a badass methinks ???? sorry i cannot remember. anyways. its true to me regardless. i love the thought of junpei looking up to him in that way.

as for how they would have possibly bonded off screen, i think it’s obvious that junpei is very straightforward and loves to just talk, so i don’t think it would be very hard for him to start casual conversations with shinjiro. i don’t think shinjiro intimidates him either iirc ?? so he’d very easily just yap at him i think. tho i cannot imagine for the life of me what junpei would open with.

just remembered, shinjiro also makes a comment in reload about junpei (“where’d his game go?”) so i think it’s very funny to imagine junpei going to shinji of all people for relationship advice and somehow convincing shinjiro that he knew what the hell he was doing at all (considering he has a girlfriend, i suppose he does know what he’s doing). tho it’s funny, and a bit sweet, that shinji imagines junpei charming enough to have game, and expresses his disappointment when he seems to have lost it LOL

despite the fact that it seems like junpei is definitely someone who would irk shinjiro, i actually think they would get along pretty well. of course it makes sense that shinji would get irritated time to time, that’s just how grumpy he is, i feel like he would actually appreciate junpei and mostly enjoy being around him. ive always liked to picture junpei getting him to play like. fighting games. and junpei gets destroyed every time. shinji is totally very humble about it. hes totally not competitive and totally doesnt care about winning. junpei totally doesnt accuse him of cheating even tho theyre sitting right next to each other and he can see his inputs.

(junpei would say they r brothers from other mothers & shinjiro would act like his whole day is ruined)

[silent-partner-412]

ok i need to vent about a trope in video games (mostly rpgs and visual novels) that i really don’t like, and want to talk about why a lot of games fail at it and give a few examples of how it succeeds. however to do so im going to spoil a shitton of games. so if you plan on playing any of the social sim persona games, the xenoblade trilogy, sea of stars, 9 hours 9 persons 9 doors, pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky, chrono trigger, the great ace attorney, or danganronpa 2 and 3 (the anime not the game), do not read this post. i will be spoiling all of them.

so what’s up with characters dying But Not Actually so much?? it’s gotten to the point where whenever a main character dies, i’m almost certain that there’s going to be some funny business to justify bringing them back. it kind of drives me nuts, and i wanna talk about why this plot point fails in so many games (and also a few where it works in my opinion because it CAN work).

to start, the xenoblade games, specifically 1 and 3. i think fiora’s death in xenoblade 1 was my first exposure to this trope and honestly i think it’s done alright. there’s a LOT of foreshadowing about the nature of the face units in the early game, and having her be turned into one makes complete sense. also she’s not the only character who’s presumed dead that ends up in a face unit, so the concept feels more complete than just an excuse to bring back a main character. the main problem with fiora is more that her character pre-death is so much better than post-death, but that’s less to do with the resurrection and more just me disagreeing with the direction they take her character. overall this game gets a pass from me, not a bad use of the trope.

xenoblade 3 however i will not be so kind to. mio’s fakeout death fucking sucks and it ruined one of my favorite characters up to that point. they build up the fact that mio is dying all game, it’s a huge part of her character. the existentialism of it all was so compelling to me, i was excited to see where it was going to go. but the body swap with m during the prison sequence was so underwhelming it hurts. it is mildly foreshadowed in the fight against m, but it still felt like they sidestepped the conflict entirely because they didn’t have the guts to actually follow through on what they had set up. which, to be fair, this would be fine if they actually explored how she felt about living when she was supposed to die, but they don’t. this is pretty much the last major character moment for mio all game, and it was so disappointing to me. not a good use of the trope at all.

persona 3 (portable) and 4 use this trope too and it’s also pretty rough. shinjiro’s death is a big moment in persona 3, and saving him in portable feels super underdeveloped and feels like it was just used for fanservice at the end of the day. nanako’s death in persona 4 is almost insultingly underdeveloped too, it feels like it only happens because they needed to add extra tension during the climax of the game, when it would’ve worked perfectly fine if she was just severely injured in my opinion. having her die and come back just feels cheap and unearned.

persona 5 does it much better with akechi in my opinion but that’s also because him coming back is pretty much a mirage. the only reason he comes back in the third semester is because maruki thought him being back would be part of joker’s ideal reality, and once maruki is defeated akechi goes away too. it’s all pretty fantastic, and the way they explore akechi’s feelings about the whole situation is great too. of course, there is the moment at the ending where you seem him through the window but that’s left purposefully ambiguous and i choose to believe it’s just joker’s imagination lol.

chrono trigger is probably one of the oldest examples of this trope and it didn’t really bother me, but that’s mostly because i wasn’t super attached to crono in the first place cuz he doesn’t have much going for him in terms of characterization lol. i also think that because there are multiple endings including one where he doesn’t come back (and you really have to go out of your way to bring him back) makes it feel a bit less cheap? i don’t know, i don’t really have a strong opinion one way or the other for this case.

now sea of stars i’ve gone on record saying i adore, but i still don’t love how they handle garl’s resurrection. it feels almost identical to crono’s, and feels a bit too fanservicey for my liking especially since i thought garl’s death was so extremely well done. it’s cute, and i do love garl, but i prefer the regular ending where he doesn’t come back.

so… remember how all the characters in danganronpa 2 didn’t actually die? cuz they were in a simulation the whole time and it wasn’t a “you die in the game you die in real life” situation like they implied in the game? yeah that was weird. i don’t remember this bugging me a ton back in my danganronpa phase but like… the deaths in that game in particular were really well done for the series (let’s forget about chapter 3 for now) and having none of them matter in the end kind of sucks. it also doesn’t feel like that was the original vision since this reveal only happens in the danganronpa 3 anime and not in dr2, so it feels like it was probably done for fanservice more than anything.

these next two are ones i don’t think were too bad and that’s because they both happen and you kinda just know they’re not gone for good. kazuma from great ace attorney and snake from zero escape (999) both die so early and so suddenly after being set up to be seemingly important that you sort of just know they’re not gone for good, and if they were you’d probably be disappointed. also they both slap when they come back and their characters would probably feel incomplete without their reveal that they didn’t actually die. if you’re going to kill characters and bring them back, this is one of the better ways to do it in my opinion.

finally, this isn’t really a death but it still really bothered me. i really don’t like the ending of pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of sky’s final special episode. for years i thought that once grovyle and dusknoir returned to the future and you and your partner save the world, they’re gone. that’s how the game sets it up. i’ve thought that’s how it was for years since i didn’t play sky until last year. learning that no, they save the world and all the pokemon from the future are fine actually was so… it just felt wrong. i feel like they didn’t want a sequence that grim to end the episode in a game made for children, but i was like 9 when i beat explorers of time/darkness the first time and i understood the implications of what happened. learning that wasn’t actually the case now that i’m an adult bothered me and i wish they had stuck to their guns.

so what’s the common thread here? well, the times where it doesn’t work are usually because it feels like fanservice or like the story didn’t justify it well enough. it feels like you’re being coddled almost, like don’t worry your blorbo is fine!! they’re still alive!!! and i hate that so much. stick to your guns!!! if you don’t have a damn good reason to bring back characters after they supposedly die, don’t bring them back. it usually feels wrong and hollow. look, in real life, people die (i know big shocker), and there’s nothing you can do about it. i’ve had people very close to me die, and while i would do anything to bring them back, that’s just not how it works. i know games are supposed to be escapism where you suspend your disbelief, but i don’t usually feel happy when characters i love die and come back. it just feels like mildly condescending wish fulfillment. i just wish authors would be more thoughtful about this kind of thing.

[selicyoats]

my thoughts on the persona 3 cast

SPOILERS BELOW (OBVIOUSLY) Junpei Iori Battle Rating: 3/10 Junpei was never doing anything too impressive in all honesty. He had Agi and he had decent Phys skills, but he began losing relevance once Akihiko joined and Character Rating: 10/10 There's one of his lines that really spoke to me, and it went something like: "The only reason every day has felt the same was because I wasn't putting in the effort to make every day different." It's really stuck with me, and in addition, him helping Chidori find reason to want to look towards the future and living was also beautifully done. Yukari Takeba Battle Rating: 9/10 She's pretty useful early-game and late-game, with a slightly weaker mid-game due to Ken and Mitsuru being slightly more useful. Character Rating: 8/10 Seeing her come to terms with her father's death and her resolve to end the Dark Hour was very beautifully done, and seeing her interactions with Mitsuru really helped her character a lot. Akihiko Sanada Battle Rating: 10/10 Debuffing and having ridiculous normal attacks made Akihiko a staple team member for me, and boy does he pack a punch. It's a shame he doesn't get any physical skills, but his normal attack is pretty good as is. Character Rating: 10/10 Just look at the scene where he talks to Shinjiro's coffin and you just know, man. I couldn't do his character justice in a description, but I can at least lament at how they murdered his character so he could be turned into "lol protein!!!!!" man.

Mitsuru Kirijo Battle Rating: 8/10 "haha marin karin" have you heard about FULL OFFENSE (or playing portable like i did) She's pretty good. Heals plus damn good ice damage is very very nice. Character Rating: 8/10 Similarly to Yukari, her character benefits a lot from having to come to terms with her father's death. I unfortunately can't give much say, as I didn't get to spend much time with her. Once I do replay P3, I'll go through her S. Link. Fuuka Yamagishi Battle Rating: uhhh/10 She's your support, so, uh. Yeah? Kinda hard to rate her in that aspect. Character Rating: 7/10 She had cute interactions with Natsuki. While her character don't go extraordinarily far, she doesn't really need to have a deep character. Aigis Battle Rating: 10/10 She is so fucking busted and she also provides buffs and can also HEAL??? And she comes with Orgia Mode to boot? The devs 100% wanted you to use Aigis. Character Rating: 10/10 Man. Seeing her come to terms with how she'll never be human the more human she gets really hits hard, but seeing her resolve to "live" as herself and not as who she was made to be was such a great scene it made me tear up. Koromaru Battle Rating: 8/10 dog. The Mudo and Agi support kind of just make him a better Junpei I guess? I used him a bunch while Aigis was out and he did a great job. Character Rating: 6/10 I mean, dog? It's hard to give him character, but it's nice seeing him come to terms with his former master's death. Ken Amada Battle Rating: 7/10 He comes with healing support like Yukari, and the Hama skills are nice too. Shame he overlaps Zio with Akihiko, but he's not bad if you're not running Akihiko. Character Rating: 8/10 Like with most Persona 3 characters, seeing him deal with his mother's death is a big showcase of his character. It's nice seeing undertones of his character in the S. Link, and how he wants to be older and how he likes superhero movies but deep down he wants to be taken seriously, and he wants to be seen as more than just a kid. That being said, if you romance him with FeMC, what the fuck is wrong with you. That's a kid. Shinjiro Aragaki Battle Rating: i dunno I never used Shinjiro, but from the looks of it, he seems to be heavily phys-focused which is good for bosses but not so much for Tartatus exploration. Character Rating: 8/10 He's got cute stuff going on with Koromaru, but he's mostly a wheel to move other characters than he is a vehicle himself, if you understand what I'm saying. That being said, he acts as a fantastic wheel for both Akihiko and Ken, being pivotal for their character growths. In general, the S.E.E.S. has some fantastic characters under their belt, and I couldn't be any happier Persona 3 was my first Persona game. I'll probably give my thoughts on the Investigation Team another time.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

A New AU List of Fics I ACTUALLY Want to Write/Am Writing (Mostly BNHA)

Fics Being Written

Pulling on the Strings of Destiny: A reading the future fic with a single teen mom Fem!Izuku. Long term project.

Pairings: EraserMic right now. I do have other pairings in mind, but as of now am not quite announcing.

TUMBLR TAG/AO3

Mission: Woo Izuku Series: Thanks to a quirk, Izuku's future potential partners are revealed to the world. Mostly pure shenanigans and a lot of ocs. Semi Crossover for Shits and giggles with Dragon Age

Pairings: Izuku/Everyone Basically. EraserMic, Warden/Zevran, Kamui Woods/OC (has not been shown yet but is planned), Hawke/Merrill

On AO3 (I kept switching the stupid tag on tumblr and gave up trying to figure it out)

Diverging Paths: A series where Fem!Izuku is put into an arranged marriage with various people. Long Term Project, multiple 'routes'.

Pairings: IiDeku, TodoDeku, TokoDeku, MonoDeku, HawksDeku (sort of? not really?) Others depending on the fic.

On AO3/On Tumblr

Izuku's Many Siblings: A ridiculous AU where Izuku has multiple siblings. Mostly shits and giggles.

Pairings: Midoriya Inko/Pixie Bob, OC/Dabi

On AO3

Not A fic... Yet, but either being plotted or is being written

Aphrodite Rising: A Fem!Izuku AU where her Quirk is Attract Info, gaining her the ability to gain information on people who find her attractive. She gains OFA as well.

Pairings: OT4 (Iida Tenya/Uraraka Ochako/Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto), All Might/Midnight, Aizawa/Fatgum, Mic/Thirteen, Midoriya Inko/Tsukauchi Naomasa, others... (it's a rarepair hell)

TUMBLR TAG/AO3 (not on yet)

Purge!AU (The Purge of Heroes? Title unknown): HPSC decides to go through the hero ranks and remove a good portion of heroes who are: incompetent, glory hounds, cruel heroes, caused to much collateral, didn't meet a quota or even just they weren't useful in some cases. This happens before Izuku goes to UA, and a lot of things changed.

Pairings: So far leaning towards OT3 (Tenya Iida/Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako)

Tumblr Post

Unnamed MASH AiDeku Soulmate AU (Titled as 'Tumblr Made me Do it' as of now, open to change): Age swaped Shinsou, Jirou, Kaminari, Tokoyami, Aizawa, Mic, Midnight and Kurogiri, Magical MASH soulmate stuff is a thing. Disabled Fem!Izuku, Uraraka and Iida. Jirou is Izumi's cousin... kind of crazy.

Pairings: Age changed AiDeku, ShinJiro, MicNight (more later)

Tumblr Post

Predator and Prey AU: Soulmate HawksDekuNatsu with Yandere!Hawks and Natsuo. Murder, drama, a lot of creepy shit.

Pairings: HawksDekuNatsu, one sided TodoDeku, other couples.

Original Tumblr Post/Tumblr Tag

The Fathers of Izuku: Inko went to a sperm bank to have Izuku. However, they found out way later the bank used sperm 'stolen' from HPSC facilities. Said sperm was that of heroes. Izuku is now possibly the child of multiple heroes. Would be various stories with different fathers. (Due to an incident where a few heroes got hit by a villain who could make them sterile, teen heroes also had their sperm taken to. Mostly done for shits and giggles.)

Pairings: Multiple.

No Tumblr Tag yet...

Fics I Have written on AO3 that... I really wanna keep going at, but may take a while. Might do rewrites?

Midoriya Izuku: The Game: Gamer Quirk AU! That's... all I can say. Might rewrite? I like it but lost a lot of interest for some reason...

On AO3

Omega Quirk: Izuku has a Quirk that makes him like an Omega from fanfiction.

On AO3

Decagon: The Supportive Hero: Izuku has a Quirk that lets him boost other Quirks.

On AO3

Devotion to the Aesthetic: Fem!Izuku is a youtuber and loves American/Canadian 1950s stuff.

On AO3

[akechi-official]

Okay here’s my thoughts on the leaks.

P5T looks weird and I’m intrigued but I need more info. Mostly I’m glad for the confirmed English dubs, meaning Western release is likely going to be day to day with Japan release. Very cool.

Anyway so P3R-

A lot of people seem disappointed, and I don’t get it. I feel like Atlus fans are never satisfied. We’ve been demanding a full P3 remake for years, and Atlus delivered! It’s on P5’s engine and everything, what more do you people want? I’ve seen people call it “ugly” which I don’t get at all. It doesn’t look incredibly polished, but it’s leagues better than the original persona 3. I’m not making excuses for Atlus, but I’m not going to sit here and whine about a freaking full from the ground up Persona 3 remake. That’s heckin awesome.

The reaction feels very similar to like, everyone’s reaction to every announcement Atlus makes. It’s ridiculous. At least wait until the game comes out before you start complaining.

Secondly, some speculation: I have heavy doubts about FeMC being in the game. That is disappointing, but not unsurprising. Technically it’s still possible she’ll be there, but I don’t think so. If she was in the game, they definitely would’ve showed her in this trailer, and if they had plans to develop her she would’ve already been ready by now. So I don’t think we’re gonna get FeMC. I do think it’s likely we’ll get paid DLC later that let’s us play as FeMC, and I do think that if that were to happy everyone would complain again because “FeMC was available in the base game” despite that not being true. But I digress. We’re not getting FeMC, at least not upon release.

I do hope Atlus doesn’t release a second version of P3R. I’m not counting it out as a possibility, but I think it would be a waste of time, and it definitely wouldn’t be received well.

As far as the Answer, there’s still a chance that will be in the game. It’s post game content so maybe they don’t want to show it yet. I’m not counting it out totally, but I’m not holding my hopes up.

I think the most likely thing Atlus is gonna do is a completely new side story, with one or two new characters, right in the base game. I doubt they’ll just rerelease vanilla P3. Maybe I have too much faith in them, idk. If it’s not in the base game, they’ll definitely release paid DLC with new content, just like they did for Soul Hackers 2. And the new characters are gonna be extremely controversial and half the fanbase is gonna love them and half are gonna call them garbage.

Also, just as a side note, I am curious why no voice acting was shown in this trailer. I don’t doubt we’re getting an English dub, Atlus would be incredibly stupid to not give us one, but I am curious about it. Mostly because I’m wondering if they’re gonna recast Junpei or not. They didn’t for the rerelease, but that wasn’t a full remake. Odds are higher they’re gonna recast him, and if they don’t that’s gonna be another source of controversy for this remake.

My one hope? That they revamped the social links. It’s already clear they updated the gameplay to stay current, but we didn’t get much idea how the social links are gonna go. I really hope they introduce social links with the male party members, and allow you to friend zone the girls. If they just kept the vanilla social links, it’s going to be worse off for it. And if FeMC is never in the game, at least we’ll get new social links for MaMC with Akihiko, Junpei, Shinjiro, Ken, and Ryoji for the first time ever.

[missingmywing]

Less angsty, mostly a cute date preparation piece. Just hints sprinkled in here and there~

Day 3: Music/Flowers (Ao3 Link)

Post-P3 so it’s much sweeter and less horribly tragic than the first two.

This also got WILDLY out of hand very quickly. It was supposed to be a cute date piece of Ryoji being cheesy for their first non-fast food date. And then Yukari and Mitsuru swung in and stole the show.

~ ᙙᙖ ~

Neither Minato nor Ryoji had expected to survive the previous year, and yet somehow here they both were. Still alive and… relatively healthy. Despite mentally pleading for more time than they had for three whole months, neither of them had expected to actually receive it.

But they had.

They were still here.

… here currently meaning cleaning the dorm kitchen after Fuuka and Ryoji’s latest disaster, but here nonetheless.

Although judging by Shinjiro’s face they wouldn’t be in the kitchen itself for long.

The other two were very apologetic even as he kicked them out, while Minato just shrugged and dragged them away to get takeout. They were getting better, but their tendency to experiment out of curiosity meant that they were still prone to disaster.

“I thought it would be alright…”

“Doubling the amount of baking powder needed means exponentially increasing how much it rises, even if you do add extra ingredients,” Minato said mildly. “I’m still not sure what you added that made it explode like that, but there’s a reason people say that baking is as strict as chemistry. Ingredients react to each other.”

Fuuka buried her face in her hands. “I thought I was getting better!”

Ryoji rubbed the back of his head. “Oops. Oh well, there’s always next time.”

The sigh Minato let out was as fond as it was put-upon. “Stop experimenting. Recipes exist the way they are for a reason.”

“But…” Fuuka was pouting, arms crossed. “Shinjiro-kun doesn’t follow recipes exactly, and several of the people in the cooking club experiment!”

“How long have they been cooking or baking?”

“… well, years…”

“And do they experiment with random ingredients, or with ingredients they’re familiar with the properties of and have an idea of how they’ll mix together?”

She was quiet for a moment, considering. “You know… I never asked. I guess that does make sense though.”

Minato shrugged. “If you wouldn’t put random computer components together to see if you could make a working pc you shouldn’t put random ingredients together to see if you can make a working recipe.”

Fuuka stopped abruptly, staring at him with her mouth dropped open and a realization dawning on her face. “Oh… Oh!!!! I never thought of it like that, but you’re right! Of course just putting more of something won’t make it work better - it’s more likely to short something out or overpower it!”

Why had that only now clicked…?

Ryoji was chuckling beside him, and he elbowed him. “That goes for you too. Stop making disasters just to see what will happen. Shinji’s going to kill you himself if you keep it up.”

“Alright, alright!” Raising his hands defensively Ryoji just grinned at him. “It’s fun though.”

“I’m not going to save you when he loses his patience.”

“Aww, that’s cold,” Ryoji slung a comfortable arm over his shoulders. “You wouldn’t abandon me.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

The laugh he received said that Ryoji didn’t believe him.

He ignored him. “Fuuka, where do you want to eat?”

“Oh! Umm… that’s good question… Wild Duck Burger is always good?”

Eventually his friends would pick restaurants outside of the two they always seemed to default to. “Sure, that’s fine.” He should ask Mitsuru and Shinji what places around had good food.

They got their food quickly enough and found a booth, but Minato noticed partway through that Ryoji seemed distracted.

He nudged his leg. “What’s wrong?”

Ryoji hummed, still staring at something past him. “We should go on a date.”

Minato paused, trying to process the non-sequitur. “We already go on lots of dates.”

“Not like that. A date-date.”

… what kind of other dates were there? He glanced at Fuuka and found her looking as confused as he felt. Not that that was surprising given she had even less familiarity with this sort of thing than he did, but he could hope.

Twisting around to see what Ryoji was staring at, he saw a couple sitting at a corner table leaning close and talking and laughing together.

… which told him absolutely nothing because he and Ryoji did that sort of thing already.

He raised a brow at him. “If you’re using them as an example you’re going to have to be more specific because we already eat out together.”

That seemed to startle Ryoji out of his thoughts. “Wha- oh! No, not an example. Seeing them just reminded me of a conversation I had with a girl at school yesterday about dates, and what people mean by it.” Shrugging, he tossed a fry in his mouth. “She was complaining that none of the boys she dated recently took her on ‘real dates’, like to a nice restaurant and then out somewhere fun. She didn’t really specify what ‘somewhere fun’ meant, though given one of her friends mentioned karaoke and another one started talking about moonlit walks along the ocean I guess you can get creative?”

“A shame Tartarus is gone then,” Minato deadpanned. “A picnic at its peak and then walking down 263 floors sounds pretty creative to me.”

Fuuka shuddered and Ryoji shook his head with a chuckle. “Not quite what they had in mind, I don’t think. I think something different than usual could be fun, though!”

Maybe. There were a couple of problems with that, though. “Do you have money that you’ve been hiding?” Minato asked dryly. “Because I spent almost all of mine in that final rush to prepare for Nyx, so I don’t think I could afford a nice restaurant.” Unless he got a part time job again. “Not to mention nice enough clothes to be allowed in-” Unless he got a part time job and asked Yukari for store recommendations. “-and finding a restaurant that wouldn’t be weird about it.” … he had no clue for that one. If it were Kabukicho there were plenty, but Tatsumi Port Island was a very different place.

“Hmm…” Ryoji covered his mouth thoughtfully, finger tapping on the table.

… so it looked like they’d both be getting part time jobs then, and he was going to have to suffer through Yukari’s extremely nitpicky fashion sense.

Minato sighed. “I know several places always hiring, so the money should be easy enough to deal with. Yukari will be thrilled to finally get us in outfits she approves of, so that will be simple too. The restaurant itself is another problem entirely. I don’t feel like being whispered about and stared at the whole time we’re there.” Not that he really cared, but it’d get annoying if it happened the whole time.

“U-Um… I can help out,” Fuuka offered. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll see if I can find something online. Otherwise we could probably ask Mitsuru-san for advice…”

Minato winced. “I’d rather not ask Mitsuru. Knowing her she’d probably just rent out a whole restaurant room for us or something.”

“Oh that could be fun-”

“Absolutely not Ryoji.”

“Alright, alright!”

“Thank you, Fuuka.” Minato ran a hand through his hair, mentally plotting out his weeks ahead. He had kendo practices so he’d have to work around those, but it was doable… He also had more time now that he wasn’t trying to actively maintain over twenty social links and prepare a team for Tartarus every couple of days. Much as he still liked to keep in touch with his friends from various clubs, being able to quit most of his clubs had freed up an incredible amount of time.

After his rather spectacular collapse at the beginning of March, when everything had hit him all at once and a year’s worth of extreme pressure and stress slid off his shoulders - and Ryoji had revealed what his schedule had actually looked like - SEES had been incredulous and Yukari and Akihiko had shouted both him and Mitsuru down about overworking and taking on too much pressure. Suffice to say he’d been relegated to two clubs and one part time job at the absolute maximum, and strongly recommended to stick to one each under threat of Yukari’s fury.

So he’d dropped out of the track team (with some prodding from both Yuko and Kazushi when he hesitated), the art club along with Keisuke, the fashion club had been disbanded when Bebe left, and Chihiro and Hidetoshi had been pretty severe with cutting back his responsibilities for the Student Council once Mitsuru had told them the (abridged) reason for his collapse.

He’d kept up kendo just to keep using a sword, though, and with only one athletic club and no part time job it had been enough to keep his friends off his back while he slowly stopped feeling like he was going to pass out anytime he did anything strenuous.

Which had been sign enough, he supposed.

“Don’t push yourself too hard. I brought it up so I can take care of the money-” The look Minato sent Ryoji made him break off and lean back. “I’m not babying you! I, of all people, know you can handle the pressure, but there are days you can barely even stay awake in class. I just don’t want you to collapse again - you scared us.”

Fair enough. Minato sighed, shaking his head. “I won’t push it too far. But I’ve healed enough that it won’t be a problem.” As long as he paid attention. “As long as we can find a restaurant everything else should be simple.”

~ ᙙᙖ ~

He got lucky enough to get a job at the record store in Paulownia Mall just the job opened up, and his familiarity with music of various bands and ages impressed the owner enough to hire him instantly. So it was a low effort and enjoyable job with low chances of him overexerting himself and collapsing.

So that was one check.

(Not spending most of his money on the various albums in stock was more difficult.)

Ryoji got a job at a karaoke venue nearby, and from what he heard he was a very popular attendant, so it sounded like he was having fun with it as well. Not that he was surprised given how much the Shadow-turned-god-in-human-form loved people and loved interacting with them, but it still made him roll his eyes anytime he overheard some of the girls by the fountain giggling and wondering if they’d be able to “get him in private”. Ryoji was a flirt, but flirting was the only thing he’d do. Minato almost felt bad for them and the inevitable broken hearts.

It took a couple of months before they had an amount they deemed reasonable, and then Minato swallowed his dread and told Yukari. The hard gleam that appeared in her eye would have made even the toughest boy at school nervous. Minato had been expecting it, though, and just resigned himself to a long afternoon of being forced into clothing that would inevitably look good on him and end up self-justifying the whole ordeal.

At least Ryoji got excited about it.

He should have expected Yukari to tell Mitsuru, though. He was not expecting her to show up part way through the trip - didn’t she have enough else going on? She and her father were trying to set up an official Persona task force to deal with metaphysical distortions that may show up in the future, weren’t they? Why was she wasting time on a clothes shopping trip for a date between him and Ryoji??? This was not what he’d agreed to when he’d given in to Ryoji’s whim.

“This is a semi-casual date,” he repeated for the third time as Mitsuru drifted them towards the more formal section of the store.

“Yes, of course, and for semi-casual you need evening wear-”

“Normal person semi-casual, Mitsuru. Not ceo-heir semi-casual. Yukari please help.”

The girl laughed. “He’s right, Mitsuru. Has Fuuka found a reasonable restaurant yet?”

“Not that I know of, though we could always take a day-trip to Tokyo if need be. I know a few around the Kabukicho district. They’re more flippant about that sort of thing.”

The sudden sharp, considering look in Yukari’s eyes made him tense up. “Hmm.”

“Yukari-”

She ignored him and turned to Mitsuru. “How would you feel about a double date at Icho?”

Minato choked at the name, and even Ryoji whipped around with wide eyes.

“Y-Yukari,” Ryoji began, unusually nervous. “I’m not sure that’s what we-”

“Why that’s a delightful idea, Yukari.” Mitsuru smiled at her, why was she already pulling out her phone- “I can make the reservations for this Saturday evening then, if that’s amenable?”

“That sounds perfect!” Yukari chirped, and Minato felt nauseous.

“Yukari,” he said weakly, “Did I do something to make you angry?” How was this spiralling so quickly out of control? Outfits were one thing, but the most expensive, high class restaurant on Tatsumi Port Island was something else entirely. “First of all there’s no way we can afford that-”

“I’m aware,” Mitsuru cut in, waiting for her call to connect. “I assure you, I’ll be picking up the bill. Consider it the beginnings of repayment for everything I’ve put you through, and all you’ve done for us in the last year.”

“That’s really not necessary-”

She sent him a look. “Your idea of ‘necessary’ is the bare minimum of allowing you to remain in the dorm. Let us take care of you for a change, leader.” Her call finally connected and she turned to the phone and away from them. “Greeting, this is Kirijo Mitsuru. I’d like to make a reservation-”

Minato sent a desperate glance at Yukari. “You planned this,” he accused.

The self-satisfied smile on her face was all the confirmation he needed, even as she refuted him with a careless, “Oh don’t be ridiculous. It’ll be fun!”

Fun was not something he thought this classified under. “We’re not high class. I’m not high class. Why do you think this is a good idea?”

“Stop being a baby and overthinking it. It’s a nice restaurant, not a six course banquet.” Yukari rolled her eyes. “Just follow Mitsuru’s lead and you’ll be fine.”

Minato was regretting getting Yukari involved in this at all. Did none of his team understand the concept of moderation? He should have taken Ryoji for a day trip in Tokyo, stopped by Harajuku for clothes shopping, and then they could have gotten a reasonable restaurant on the main street of Kabukicho next to some of the gay or crossdressing clubs.

He didn’t realize he had his face in his hand until Ryoji’s hand brushed against his arm. He glanced over to see the boy with an apologetic look on his face, and Minato took a quiet breath in to calm down.

Yukari had paused and was watching him with a worried look.

It… was fine. Astronomically beyond his comfort zone, but he knew it would be fine. Mitsuru wouldn’t pull him into anything he couldn’t handle, even if it was beyond his usual… life experience. Tartarus was one thing, a fancy restaurant was something else.

It probably said a lot about him that Tartarus was the less nerve-wracking one.

Minato sighed. “A bit of warning next time. I’m better in battle than social situations, you know that.”

Yukari relaxed and shrugged apologetically. “I know. But if we give you warning then you’ll find a way to wiggle out of them.”

Now why could that possibly be?

“Mitsuru’s going to force me into a suit, isn’t she?”

“Wellllll-”

“Great.”

“A full suit isn’t necessary,” Mitsuru assured him, stepping back into the conversation.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Tie?”

“No, although it wouldn’t be out of place.” Her eyes flashed with amusement. “You needn’t be any more formal than how you wear your uniform - it isn’t the sort of place with a strict dress code. And we’ll have a private room besides.”

She’d gotten them a-

No, alright, he was going to stop thinking about the restaurant now. Mitsuru had claimed responsibility over it, he was going to delegate it to her and not worry about it. “So a dress shirt, pants, and jacket.”

“Or vest instead of jacket,” Yukari chirped, and Ryoji perked up.

Minato would take the jacket over a vest.

~ ᙙᙖ ~

He ended up with a vest too. Ryoji had taken one look at the blue vest in the same cut at the yellow vest he himself was getting and talked Minato into it.

So it wasn’t Mitsuru who talked him into what was essentially a suit - it was Ryoji. Ryoji who kept sneaking glances at him the entire time they were trying on clothes and who Minato could already tell was going to be constantly distracted the entire time they were on the date.

He’d be flattered if he weren’t already so exhausted with the whole thing.

Minato dropped back onto their bed in the dorm with a long, tired sigh, and Ryoji set down next to him after hanging their new acquisitions on the closet rack. “I know this wasn’t the plan-” he began apologetically.

“-but you had no idea it was turn into this,” Minato finished with closed eyes. “I know. It was my fault for getting Yukari involved. I didn’t expect them to spring this on me.”

“They’re trying to help.”

“I know. They just forget that not everyone is as sociable and adaptive as they are. I don’t want to upset them by turning them down.”

“I do think they’d understand.”

“They probably would but it would make them feel guilty too.”

Ryoji hummed, somewhere between amused and sad. “This is why I call you kind, you know.”

“Yeah well according to the Velvet Room my title as humanity’s champion is either “The Martyr” or “The Messiah” so I guess it fits.” He groaned, dragging a hand through his hair and glaring up at the ceiling. “This is going to be bothering me all week.

Reaching out to tug his hand from his hair gently and smooth it out, Ryoji soothed, “It’ll just be one night, and it’ll just be the four of us.”

“It’s stupid, I know.”

“It’s not. Minato,” Ryoji’s voice hardened, drawing Minato’s gaze to him. His eyes softened. “I’ve been here the whole time. I know.”

… of course he did. How often had he been Minato’s only anchor in a world that shied away from him? How often had he hovered protectively over or on the bed while Minato slept just in case the Shadows changed their minds? A silent protector, or a reassuring voice cutting through the static of an endlessly hurtful world?

Stepping from one world into another was always going to unnerve him, to make him anxious. Gone were the days of passive apathy - they’d disappeared when Thanatos had left him and come back as Ryoji.

Not that he minded, generally, but there were times like this where he missed it.

But then he wouldn’t be in this position if it were still true, would he?

A quick brush of lips against his pulled him out of his thoughts and he focused back on Ryoji smiling wryly down at him. “You’re thinking too much again.”

“I usually am.” But there was no point brooding about it, so he sat up. “Have you finished the homework for history?”

“I have. Have you finished the math?”

Minato sighed and dragged himself off the bed. “I’m about to.” If he distracted himself with schoolwork he wouldn’t send himself into a panic about the ludicrous hypotheticals that his brain wanted to shove at him.

He missed the straightforwardness of Tartarus.

~ ᙙᙖ ~

Minato tried not to be noticeably fidgety in the days leading up to Saturday, but he wasn’t sure how well he succeeded. The rest of SEES had noticed, as had a couple of student council members. He avoided the topic where he could, but Chihiro cornered him on Monday out of concern that he was pushing himself and between her and Hidetoshi he was forced to give a basic explanation.

The fact that he was unnerved about an upcoming date raised eyebrows, until he added that Yukari and Mitsuru had arranged it and gotten dinner reservations.

That made all the older council members who had worked with Mitsuru wince and nod sympathetically, while all the first years looked confused.

“Where at, if you don’t mind me asking?” One of the girls in his year asked.

“Isho.”

“Oh my god,” she muttered as a second year boy whistled lowly.

“Have you seen their prices?”

“No I haven’t, and I don’t want to know,” Minato said flatly. “I’m not thinking about it. I refuse. I’ll deal with the problem when I get there.”

“Probably the best way to go about it,” another third year sighed. “Good luck.”

He grimaced and looked at Chihiro. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but please tell me you have complicated paperwork for me to focus on. I’ll take anything at this point.”

She hesitated for a moment, then sagged with a nod. “I know it’s only June, but we’re trying to get an early start on the culture festival planning this year, so we’ve already started some of the initial setup for various class and club booths and events. The specifics will be done in September and early October in the lead up to the festival itself, but we’re trying to get the basic permissions of things we have every year done ahead of time so we’ll be able to smooth out the process for the more… unique… requests.”

“I’m only in the kendo club now, I take no responsibility for whatever insanity the art club comes up with this year,” Minato said flatly, holding out his hand. “I’ll get things organized and outlined.”

Chihiro handed over the folder with something akin to relief. “I appreciate it. I don’t mind doing it myself, but we’re still trying to deal with some issues coming up with some of the athletic club trainings overlapping with summer classes because of misorganization, not to mention the summer-”

“I’ll handle it.” Minato cut her off, flipping the folder open to pull out the documents. “Go deal with your crisis.” He paused, looked up. “Kendo isn’t one of those overlapping ones, is it?”

She winced. “I-It’s all of the sports clubs, I think.”

He closed his eyes with a sigh. “… not my problem,” he decided. “Good luck.”

Chihiro sighed, shoulders slumping. “Thanks, I’ll need it…”

Well at least his week was filled now, and with headphones on and his music blaring it quickly ate up both time and focus because festivals were always an ordeal, and the classes hosting events inevitably made it more difficult than it needed to be. Fortunately this was only the setup and not the actual prep for the events.

He wasn’t looking forward to October. Why had he accepted Mitsuru’s invitation to the student council last year again?

Oh right, because the student council had three separate Social Links and he needed more Personas and more power to deal with Tartarus. The same reason he’d been in four clubs and jumped between a couple of part time jobs.

Looking back, Nyx wasn’t the only reason he was surprised he’d survived the previous year.

A sudden splash of green and white invaded his vision and he blinked and refocused on the world outside of balancing numbers and club names to find a white gardenia on the table in front of him. A quick glance to the side revealed the culprit - a slicked-back black haired boy with bright two-toned blue eyes and a sappy grin that promised trouble.

Minato pulled out his headphones and paused his music with a flat look. “You aren’t supposed to be in here.”

“Oh, are upstanding, respectable, rule-abiding students not allowed to come discuss matters with a student council member?” Ryoji countered playfully.

“They are. You, though, are none of those. Out.”

Ryoji pouted, leaning closer. “How cruel - I even brought you a gift!”

So he had. And in front of the entire student council. Not that their relationship was anything less than an open secret, but he could at least try to be more subtle about it. He wouldn’t, but he could. Especially with a white gardenia of all things. Minato shook his head. “Not much of a secret if you give it to me in front of a dozen people.” Secret love indeed.

That just made Ryoji shrug with an impish grin as he snatched the flower back up and tugged Minatio’s hair back to tuck it behind Minato’s ear. “I just thought it would suit you~”

Alright that was it.

Minato shoved himself to his feet and slipped behind Ryoji to shove him towards the door. “That’s enough out of you. This is why I said you weren’t allowed in here. Out.”

“Minato!” Ryoji protested with a laugh, trying futilely to push back against him. “Come on!”

“No. Out. I’m busy. Don’t you have girls to flirt with? Go away. Whose idea even was this?”

“Several people mentioned flowers being absolutely necessary in the lead up to a date-”

“Not while I’m in the middle of student council business. Go away - and tell Junpei that if either of you come up with a stupid and unnecessarily difficult booth for our class this year I’m throwing you both off of the Moonlight Bridge.”

“That’s cold!”

“The ocean’s a lot colder. Aigis will be more than happy to help me throw you in.”

The boy shivered. “Duly noted.” Minato shoved him out the door. “I’m going I’m going!! I’ll meet you by the school gates once you’re done.”

“Fine, just go.” Minato slid the door shut behind him with a firm clack and dropped his head against it for a moment with a sigh. He tried not to let the fondness in his chest show as he turned around and returned to his seat.

He tried to ignore the feeling of eyes on him from several of the council members - ranging from envious to judging to sappily starstruck - and shoved his headphones back on to get back to work.

He didn’t bother taking the flower out, though.

 Ryoji was waiting for him by the gates, as promised, though Aigis’ presence as well was a surprise. They fell into step with Minato as easily as breathing as they made their way to the train station.

“Aren’t flowers usually a day-of thing?” he asked idly.

“Not necessarily! We got a lot of mixed answers, some people said you should do it all the time as surprise gifts, some people said a day or two leading up to the date, some people said a bouquet when you pick them up for the date, some people said that they’re tacky and overdone…” Ryoji shrugged. “Seems to be personal preference like any other gift.”

“Data inconclusive and contradictory, including type and amount of flowers,” Aigis agreed, frowning. “Flower meanings were called both unnecessary and good practice. I’ve found yet another human practice that is very strange and… messy.”

“Did you ask Yukari?”

“We did! She had the most clear answer, I think. Junpei was actually taking notes, it was kind of funny. I dunno why though - he doesn’t seem to have any problems figuring out what makes Chidori happy.”

“More ideas can’t hurt,” Minato said, leaning against the wall of the train as the doors closed.

“I guess…”

“I still don’t understand the complexities of human relationships in the form of dating,” Aigis sighed. “There seems to be so much wasted effort in the form of attempts to guess at what the other person likes. Why not simply ask?”

“Because Minato is a liar whose response to anything is ‘I don’t care’ or ‘whatever you want’,” Ryoji answered cheerfully. He grinned and dodged Minato’s elbow aimed at his head. “A lot of the time the guessing games happen because the person receiving them doesn’t want to admit that they want something, or that they like the idea of their partner putting in any unnecessary effort. If I asked Minato if he wanted flowers he’d say ‘I don’t need them’ or ‘seems like a waste of time’, but because I just gave it to him without asking he’s still wearing it. A lot of people are like that. It’s why Junpei just gets Chidori cute, sweet things that he thinks she’ll like even though she’d never even consider asking for them.”

“Don’t look so smug about it,” Minato muttered, pointedly not thinking about what emotions were swirling in his chest at Ryoji’s brutal dissection of his personality. Since when did he get embarrassed about something?

Aigis frowned, clearly thinking it over. “I see. It is an attempt to make someone happy, even when they refuse to admit that small gestures of otherwise pointless affection are something they enjoy.”

“Exactly!”

“I don’t have to listen to this.” Minato pointedly put his headphones on, ignoring Ryoji laughing at him even when the boy leaned against Minato’s back over the rail.

He could still distantly hear the other two continuing the discussion even through the muffling of his headphones, but he couldn’t make out the individual words anymore which was good enough. Even he had his limits and this was not a discussion he cared to be involved in.

He also hadn’t missed the implication that the flowers would be continuing throughout the week leading up to the date, and he made a mental note to find a vase to fill with water for them. Not that he was going to do that around Ryoji, the smug bastard.

The following day proved his assumption correct, when he found a pink and white primrose (first love, chastity, and admiration, how subtle) on his desk after lunch, and saw a couple of classmates smothering giggles and pointedly not looking at him or towards Ryoji (or Aigis? he thought he saw a couple of them glance at her, and wondered if Ryoji had decided to enlist her help to at least pretend at subtlety). He sighed heavily but tucked the flower behind his third-year pin and pulled out his notes.

The delighted, self-satisfied grin Ryoji wore for the rest of the day was distracting.

That grin only grew when they got back to the dorm and he saw Minato put it into the glass of water he’d commandeered as a mock-vase in their room rather than just putting it on the desk. Minato suffered through his increasingly handsy clinginess for the rest of the evening as he tried to finish his homework, eventually shoving a pillow in his face and telling him to focus.

Wednesday found a cluster of violets (honesty, and wasn’t that ironic for them?) in his locker - though how Ryoji had gotten them in there without crushing them he didn’t know - and he tucked them into the strap of his bag.

By now most of his class - and a number of people outside of it with friends who knew him - had caught onto the trend and were sneaking glances at him and whispering. Some enviously, others delightedly, and he ignored them with as much long-suffering grace as he could. The ribbing in kendo practice was more difficult to ignore but he rolled his eyes at them and the team captain shooed them all back into focusing soon enough.

Minato resigned himself to dealing with this for the rest of the week.

Even SEES teased him for it when he got back to the dorm, ignoring his dirty look to instead ask his which flowers he thought his “secret admirer” was going to give him next. Yukari played absolutely innocent when he accused her of initiating and enabling these antics, but her grin was too mischevious to fool him. The others were just as teasing - even Shinji was smirking at him.

Traitors, all of them.

Thursday brought morning glories, and it was the first ones to give him pause as he tried to remember their meaning beyond pop culture and artistic interpretations. It took a moment, but his chest tightened when he did because of course Ryoji would leave him flowers that meant both “willful promise” and “enduring devotion”.

“Are you the one helping him with these meanings?” he asked Yukari in an undertone as their classmates chattered around them.

“Nope, not after I first brought up the idea.”

“I knew it was you,” he muttered. “I guess he remembers that book I read too then.”

Yukari raised a brow at him. “When and why did you of all people read a book about hanakotoba?”

“To talk to you, actually.” Minato huffed as he tucked the flowers into his bag’s straps once more. “Remember when you asked me to help you pick out flowers for your room?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but couldn’t seem to decide what to say. It took her a moment. “I barely remember that. How is your memory about the most random facts so good?”

He shrugged. It wasn’t like he really planned to retain everything he read or learned. Stuff just… stuck.

Including flower meanings, apparently.

Ryoji caught his eye just before class started, and his smile was softer and somewhat wistful rather than the playfulness of the previous days. It was somehow more distracting, and Minato found himself rubbing his chest reflexively more than once throughout the lesson.

He pulled Ryoji to the roof for lunch so he could actually lean against him without drawing whispers, and Ryoji leaned back with a bittersweet smile. He didn’t need to say anything - the weight of the past eleven years between them spoke more than enough.

It seemed the latter half of the week would have heavier meanings, because Friday Minato received a red camellia with bluebells woven around it. The bluebells meaning gratefulness was simple enough, but when paired with the double meaning of the red camellia… passionate love and a warrior’s honourable death.

He didn’t look towards Ryoji, because he knew the look in his eyes would make Minato lose his composure.

The wounds from the fight against Nyx and their fall into the Sea of Souls before Ryoji managed to overpower Nyx and turn the tide to pull them both back out still hadn’t fully healed, and likely wouldn’t for a very long time. They’d both been prepared to die for the world - Minato just hadn’t expected Ryoji to be able to save them, even with Minato’s own power of the Universe to help him overpower and absorb Nyx.

He set the flowers in his lap, trying to focus on the lectures around his own swirling thoughts and painful emotions. It was difficult when all he could think of was their unrestrained freefall into death, Nyx’s power pulsing and clawing at them, trying to break through the seal Minato was trying to create around her, and Ryoji- Thanatos- Death clawing his way back to consciousness and reaching desperately out to Minato’s soul.

And as their souls bound together once more the seal’s shape changed - no longer a permanent separation but rather a temporary rope that could bind her in place while Death tore through her control from within and reversed their position. Breaking through his role as an “appraiser” and an “avatar”, powered by the bond they had forged and the humanity he had gained, Death and Minato twisted the rules of reality around them to erase Nyx and allow Death to take her place as something new. Something more than a careless bringer of the end.

Sometimes Minato wondered if he’d left part of himself there, in those waves of the Sea of Souls, that space between life and true death, but… well he was still here, wasn’t he? He’d died, but he wasn’t dead yet. He was still alive.

Even if he really shouldn’t be.

Minato really hoped that Yukari and Aigis were taking notes that he could look over later because he didn’t hear a single word of the lecture. As soon as the lunch bell rang he was gone from the classroom and rushing up the stairs to the roof just to try to breathe.

It was… it wasn’t a bad sensation, what he felt. It wasn’t the panic and fear of so many other memories. Wasn’t the pain and nausea and hurt of those memories of the bridge, of those two nights in back alleys under flickering streetlights.

It was something deeper and more integral.

Was there an opposite of existential dread?

Perhaps it was simply awareness. The reminder of what had happened, of their brush against and subsequent alteration of the foundational truths of the universe. Of what they were and all they had done.

Ryoji had barely stepped out onto the roof after him before he was shoving him against the wall and pressing their mouths together in a desperate attempt to be close. To find stability. Ryoji didn’t hesitate, wrapping his arms around Minato’s waist and holding him tightly as Minato wove his fingers into his hair. Minato felt- disconnected.

Frantic and disjointed, simultaneously numb and too aware of everything, like his emotions had shattered apart and the jagged edges were digging into his heart. Eternity stretched endlessly ahead of them and the clock raced towards the finite end so close to them.

It felt like November all over again and he didn’t know why.

The feel of Ryoji’s hand cusping his face and thumb tracing his cheek helped bring him back. Slowly the sensation of disconnect faded and Minato began to feel like he fit his body again. He was shaking as he finally pull back from the kiss and tucked his face against Ryoji’s neck. Ryoji slid his hand around the back of Minato’s neck, skimming his thumb along its curve.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured against Minato’s hair. “I knew you’d understand what I meant, but I didn’t expect it to have such an impact. Was it too much?”

Minato let out a shaky exhale and shook his head a miniscule amount. “No, it- it’s fine. This isn’t a problem just… intense. I hadn’t fully realized just what it was we did. It just all hit me at once.”

“I see. Well I’m glad, then. Do you want to skip this afternoon?”

… well now that he’d brought it up he did. “I shouldn’t. I already missed part of April because of my collapse, and I might miss more if we do have to deal with long lasting consequences of what happened with Nyx.”

“I think this qualifies as consequences, even if it is my fault,” Ryoji sighed, squeezing him. “I can talk to the teachers so we can go back to the dorms.”

Dammit. Now he couldn’t argue.

“That’d be good,” Minato murmured as he leaned against him. He felt exhausted.

Sometimes he really didn’t know how Ryoji did it. But the boy somehow got them both excused for the afternoon and they returned to the dorm and spend the rest of the afternoon napping. Or Minato did, at least - Ryoji was lying on the bed with him doing something on his laptop. What it was he didn’t know and didn’t care - just wrapped his arms around his waist, rested his head on his torso and went to sleep.

He mostly managed to brush off SEES’ concern when he and Ryoji went down for dinner. He had to come clean a little bit about the fact that he’d been putting off dealing with the side effects of the final battle, but the fact that it wasn’t something more serious - such as a relapse from overworking himself - seemed to set them at ease.

Though they were still concerned enough that they were going to be keeping an eye on him, he assumed with resignation. There was no help for it, he supposed.

The exhaustion had passed by the next day, and he weathered the half-day of classes easily enough. There were no flowers today, he noted, and he sent a suspicious glance towards Ryoji. He doubted it was because of the day before - Ryoji wasn’t so easily scared off of something, and it had been a relatively known problem anyway. He was planning something.

That something became apparent after they’d gotten changed later that afternoon, just before they went downstairs to meet Mitsuru and Yukari to be (apparently??? Mitsuru really needed to stop doing this) chauffeured to the restaurant.

Ryoji ruffled through his bag an pulled out a box with a sheepish look. “Unfortunately it’s too late in the year for me to get you the actual flowers - and doing it this way kinda ruins the symbolism of it I know - but here.”

Minato sent him a narrow look and took the box. He opened it to find a small wooden hair clip with white sakura blossoms set on it.

How incredibly poetic and cliche.

“I know it’s not your usual style at all,” Ryoji said, drawing Minato’s attention up to him. He shrugged with a small laugh. “And it not being real undercuts the point a little bit, but I thought it was the most appropriate thing to end on.”

Flowers representing the transience of life, considered the literal representation of life, death, and rebirth, and white ones specifically often used in representations of death. Of course Ryoji would choose them.

Minato sighed, fondness and exasperation intermingled in the action. It definitely was not something he would usually wear, but… he could make an exception this once. “If you were trying to push the symbolism a comb would have been more appropriate.” He plucked the clip up and set the box aside, holding the clip out to Ryoji in a silent offer and request.

Ryoji’s eyes widened and went suspiciously shiny and he swallowed as he realized what Minato meant, stepping forward to take it from Minato’s hand. Minato closed his eyes as Ryoji stepped close and reached up to pull the shorter left side of his hair back and up.

And the fact that he even knew to do that, and didn’t try to pull Minato’s bangs back out of his face to make him look more ‘neat’, made something tighten in Minato’s chest. “Your hair’s not long enough for a comb,” Ryoji quipped as he gently worked the clip into his hair. “If it was as long as Mitsuru’s - or even Shinji’s - I would have.” His hand dropped down to cup the side of Minato’s face and Minato opened his eyes to see the boy watching him with a small, fragile smile that Minato wasn’t used to seeing on him.

He tilted his head up slightly and Ryoji leaned down to press their foreheads together, closing his eyes with a shaky little sigh that made Minato reach up to rest a hand on his face.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Ryoji whispered. “I’m so, so glad we’re both here. I thought for sure we wouldn’t be.”

“Me too,” Minato murmured. “But we are, and we will be.”

Ryoji hummed in agreement, but didn’t pull away just yet. They both stood there for several moments just basking in the relief of their shared presence before Ryoji finally pulled back reluctantly. “We should probably head down now - Yukari and Mitsuru are waiting.”

Minato sighed but nodded. It’d be fine, but the whole thing was still a little ridiculous. At least Ryoji looked nice in his vest and rolled up sleeves. Minato was still annoyed at being convinced into a vest in the first place when he would have been just fine in the jacket.

But Ryoji kept shooting glances at him so he supposed it at least fulfilled its purpose.

Yukari and Mitsuru were both in nice evening dresses, unsurprisingly, and they looked very nice, also unsurprisingly. The rest of SEES seemed amused by the whole affair and Minato shot Akihiko and Shinji an annoyed glare at where they were smirking at him. He could almost hear their “Better you than me.” comments. Ken and Fuuka looked equally relieved to be staying there. Aigis sent him the pitying look of someone who’d long gotten used to his social awkwardness.

Junpei seemed torn between envy and relief, but one glance between Minato’s long-suffering expression and Mitsuru’s placid smile seemed enough to wipe the envy away and he grinned and tossed a salute to Ryoji and Minato. “Good luck! Hope the food’s good!”

“The food will be amazing, I’m sure,” Ryoji agreed cheerfully.

Minato just sighed. “We’ll see you when we get back.” He wasn’t going to think about the restaurant, he wasn’t going to think about the restaurant.

“If you survive, sure.”

“I’m going to pass out and fall down the stairs.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you.” Ryoji slung an arm over his shoulders with a grin, making Minato shake his head.

“You catching me would defeat the point.”

Yukari groaned and turned to to head out the doors. “No one’s going to die, stop being a baby and come on.”

Minato cast one more mournful look towards the stairs leading back up to his nice, comfortable, safe room and then turned to follow with the chuckles of SEES following him.

The limo - because of course it was god damn it Mitsuru - was nice, and Minato found himself envious of how laid-back the other three seemed to be. Anxiety squirmed in his stomach in a way that had him pressing his arm against Ryoji’s as surreptitiously as possible for comfort. Ryoji twined their fingers together.

He wasn’t sure if having him physically here was better than having him a reassuring presence in the back of his mind had been. Better in some ways, but at least when he was in Minato’s soul he could talk to him constantly.

As they rode to the restaurant Minato found himself zoning out and letting the chatter of the other three wash over him, watching the city passing by out the window. So long as he didn’t think about it it was nice.

The restaurant itself was too nice - he took one look at the other guests and their clothes and wanted to turn around and walk out. Instead he just edged as close to Ryoji and Mitsuru as he could without raising any brows and tried not to look around too much. For the first time he was incredibly relieved that Mitsuru had gotten them a private room because the sight of so many people of a very different type was nerve-wracking.

He let out a relieved breath once they were in the room and away from people, and Ryoji reached out to squeeze his hand and tug him to the rounded table. Mitsuru and Yukari sat across from them, watching him with concern. He waved it away and glanced around curiously.

The room had a wall of windows facing the ocean, the whole islands and part of mainland spread out before them. The Moonlight Bridge was almost directly below them and he quickly dragged his gaze away from it and out across the ocean instead.

Dinner went more smoothly than he’d anticipated, and he slowly relaxed as the evening passed. The food was, of course, incredible, and the staff was pleasant enough - though he left most of the interactions with them to Mitsuru just to be safe - but the fact that it was just the four of them for the most part was the most relaxing thing. Ryoji’s arm brushing his kept him grounded even as he left the conversation mostly to the other three.

The whole thing kind of blurred together, honestly. It wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d feared, but it was still out of his comfort zone enough that he was on-edge the whole time.

So it was with immense relief that Minato finally stepped back into the dorms after dinner.

The rest of SEES had scattered by now, only Aigis and Akihiko in the lobby doing homework and reading respectively. They both glanced up to greet them all, Akihiko making a quip about them all surviving, and Yukari rolled her eyes at him.

Minato shrugged and said “It was nice.” and left it very pointedly at that because he was not going to tell Mitsuru that he’d rather jump in the ocean than do that again when she’d been trying to do a nice thing. Judging by Aigis’ cocked head she could tell he was lying, but that was nothing new and it was fine. She knew and accepted that he lied a fair amount when dealing with other people and their feelings.

He and Ryoji bid them all a goodnight, thanked Mitsuru and Yukari for the dinner, and then hurriedly headed up to their room before Yukari could make any suggestion of a repeat sometime.

Minato dropped back onto his bed with a long groan. “Next time I’m not telling them. We’re going to Tokyo and I’ll get us a reservation at something by the clubs. Or we’ll get a private karaoke room at a bar or something.”

Ryoji laughed as he began stripping off his vest. “It wasn’t that bad.”

He didn’t bother responding, just closing his eyes with a quiet sigh. It hadn’t been that bad. But he still didn’t want to do it again. Something far more casual was his preference.

Minato was distracted from his thoughts by the bed dipping and a weight settling overtop of him. He opened his eyes to find Ryoji leaning over him with a small smile playing at his lips and a knowing look in his eyes. “Just the two of us next time,” he murmured.

“Harajuku, then Akihabara,” Minato decided, staring up at him. “I want to see what albums and niche collections Akihabara has. And see if the new portable audio system is as powerful as rumors are saying.”

Lips twisting into a smirk, Ryoji countered, “As long as I get to pick out some outfits for you in Harajuku.”

Minato made a face but didn’t deny him. That was fair, he supposed, even if Ryoji was absolutely going to get him into something ridiculous. “Fine. Just don’t go too overboard.”

A chuckle was all he received in response and Ryoji leaned down to press their foreheads together affectionately, eyes soft and affectionate as they met Minato’s. It was a comfort after the exhausting affair of dinner.

That said he was tired and wanted to go to bed, so after a few moments he nudged Ryoji off of him and began extracting himself from his overly nice clothes. Ryoji snickered at him again, but joined him in the nightly routine easily enough.

Normally it was early for them to head to bed, bun Minato was already beginning to fall asleep as soon as he dropped onto the mattress. He grumbled as Ryoji prodded him into moving under the covers and over so they’d both fit but acquiesced and allowed the other to settle in and tug him into a hug.

Just before he faded to sleep he glimpsed the cherry blossom hair clip gleaming in the moonlight alongside the vase of flowers.

It tugged a reluctant, fond smile from him, and then he closed his eyes and fell asleep to Ryoji’s breaths.

~ ᙙᙖ ~

Me: This’ll be a short, sweet chapter, nothing heavy or particularly angsty-

Ryoji and Minato holding up a hanakotoba book and existential crises: You sure?

Me: Heavy sigh

This was not at all what I was planning to write for this, but then they all got away from me and I had a lot of fun writing out the mundane life of Minato and friends post-canon. This au has turned into “Minato’s third year and how SEES moves on after P3” and honestly I can’t even regret it, because it’s so fun and is also making me mildly emotional to see what could have been.

Fun fact, the restaurant I chose is, in fact, a real one in Odaiba. Meals start at about $130 a person (after conversion) not including reservation fees or potentially drinks, so Minato is completely justified for being terrified of existing within its space because I would be too.

Mitsuru we love you but pls.

[randoimago]

could you write shinjiro, akihiko, mitsuru and maybe kotone with a fem s/o thats introverted, but loves listening to music with them?

have a good day / evening!

Fandom: Persona 3

Character(s): Akihiko Sanda, Kotone Shiomi, Mitsuru Kirijo, Shinjiro Aragaki

Note(s): Ngl, just chilling out and listening to music sounds like a fantastic date imo. You have a good day / evening too!!

Akihiko

Immediately by your side when he sees that you're uncomfortable. Akihiko is kind of a mix of being social and preferring to stick to those he's close to.

But he'll gladly step in and straight up let the other person know you're uncomfortable (he does say it politely, but he's also blunt).

Akihiko has had you in the same room as him while he's trained with his weights or punching bag. Music plays in the background as he works out and you hang out on his bed. It's honestly a very nice dynamic you both have.

Of course, he doesn't want you feeling neglected either so there are times when he'll lay with you on his bed (and he gets flustered every time) and share earbuds as you both listen to whatever music you choose.

Kotone

She's definitely more upbeat and bubbly (and chaotic) so she's happy to step in and take charge of any scary social situation you might have found yourself in.

Will subtly assert herself in the conversation and send you a small wink before she changes the subject to focus on her or the other person.

Kotone absolutely loves just hanging out in her dorm room and listening to music together. No headphones needed as she has her ipod playing as you both lay on her bed.

You two don't even need to talk as the music is playing. Of course, now and then she does decide to have a bit of fun and pull you up to dance chaotically with you. Who cares if you feel/look like an idiot? It's fun!

Mitsuru

Mitsuru is a natural leader and easily has the attention go to her so you don't have to deal with social situations. She's very polite as she makes an excuse and leads you both away from the situation.

She mostly listens to classical music so being able to hang out in your room (she insists of it being your room because hers is boring in her eyes) and listening to your music makes her happy.

Mitsuru has found that she enjoys music playing in the background while studying. The white noise is nice and not nearly as distracting as she initially thought it'd be.

So there are many study dates between you both where music is playing in the background.

Shinjiro

Scary dog privileged. You're in a situation that makes you uncomfortable? He's there to scare away whoever is causing that discomfort. Even if they're doing it unknowingly, he's not going to let you deal with it yourself.

Shinjiro is also not really a social person. He has a small group of people he likes. Really does rely on being intimidating so you both can have some space.

He's not the most verse in music so he lets you choose as he hangs out with you while music plays in the background.

Sharing earbuds would cause him to be too flustered, so he prefers the speakers to just play music in the background for you both.

Taglists: @reo-the-leo

[bi-naesala]

A happy memory

(Written for @p3akishinjiweek day 7: Special Occasions | Vacations)

Summer festival, Fluff, Self-hatred, Because it's Shinjiro we're talking about, Kissing, Bittersweet

Akihiko asks Shinjiro to accompany him for the summer festival. He's tempted to say no, but he doesn't. Might has well giving him one happy memory, before he has to go…

(AO3 link)

(Fic under the cut)

Through the sheer power of being a stubborn ass, Akihiko has convinced Shinjiro to go to the summer festival with him.

It ain’t exactly his thing, but there’s a limited amount of times he can manage to tell him no, before eventually caving in.

There’s also the fact that he knows that, between Castor and the suppressants, he doesn’t have long to live anymore, and as much as he keeps telling himself that keeping away will make it easier for Aki to deal with it… He also wants to give him a happy memory to remember him by. Not that there hasn’t been any happy moment between them in their entire life, just… not recently.

It’s selfish as fuck, but by now he’s made peace with the fact that he’s an irredeemable piece of shit, so who cares.

Besides, the way Aki beamed at him when he said yes made every eventual headache he’ll get immediately worth it.

After all, how bad can it get?

They’ve just got here, and Shinjiro already wants to leave. Too much noise, too many people… it’s just too much in general.

Still, he’s agreed to spend the evening with Akihiko, and he can’t back off now, not when they’ve just arrived.

He just has to hope that Akihiko won’t—

“Shinji, look! They have games!”

Well, nevermind.

They check the games stands, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary, just standard fair games.

“Seeing anything that catches your eye?” Shinjiro asks, leaning close to Akihiko, because apparently he’s a masochistic fuck who can’t wait to be involved into whatever game he wants to play.

“Mmmh…” Akihiko mumbles, inspecting each stand with his gaze. “How about that one?”

Shinjiro turns to the stand Akihiko’s looking at. Ah, that’s a classic: it’s one of those kinds of game where you have to knock down the targets to get prizes.

The problem with these games is that they’re mostly meant for children, so the prizes aren’t exactly intriguing for two teens like them, mostly dolls or stuffed animals.

“I bet I can get the big teddy bear,” Akihiko says, an enormous grin on his face.

Shinjiro sighs, massaging the bridge of his nose. Of fucking course the biggest, dumbest prize is the one that catches his eye. “And what exactly are you going to do with it, Aki?”

“I’ll give it to you, of course!” the other replies, like it the most obvious thing in the universe.

“Don’t you fucking even think about it,” Shinjiro threatens him, but Akihiko is already walking to the stand and speaking to the old man behind the counter and once Shinjiro reaches him, he has already paid for his shot.

Stupid fuckin…

“Oi!” he grabs Akihiko by the shoulder, shaking him. “Are you out of your mind?!”

“What?” the other replies, as if he’s not planning on humiliating him in front of who knows how many people. “Can’t I give my boyfriend a gift?”

That makes Shinjiro pause. It is true that they were together before everything went to shit, but they never really talked about it after he left SEES. The fact that Aki still considers them partners make him feel sick to his stomach – he doesn’t deserve it – but also… it makes him all warm inside in a way he hasn’t felt in a long time.

Of course, there’s no way he can say any of this shit out loud, so he decides to ignore the “boyfriend” part.

“What makes you think I want that?” he says instead, but Akihiko has already tuned him out, focusing on his target, and the ball in his hand.

If he really wants to get the giant teddy bear, he has to knock down all the four cans pyramids in one shot, which doesn’t sound possible at all. There’s no way he can do it, no way at all; he’s clearly doing this because he wants to mess with him, not because he really thinks he’s got a shot at it…

… And then the fucker actually manages to win. Whether that’s just dumb luck or skill, Shinjiro can’t tell. He’s still too stunned to speak.

If he dares to come close to him with that huge fucking teddy bear, he’ll deck him on the face, it’s decided.

It must be his lucky day – well, night – because he’s saved by a crying girl that has been begging her father to play as well, because she wants to get a giant teddy bear for herself too.

When Akihiko notices it, he makes a beeline towards her, and gives her his prize, accompanying the gesture with a charming smile that makes her stop crying immediately, accepting the gift from the kind stranger and thanking him.

It does make Shinjiro feel fuzzy inside, watching this scene. It makes him think about what could’ve been if…

He doesn’t even realize that Akihiko has made his way back, until he’s standing right in front of him.

“Sorry about that, she looked so sad that I couldn’t resist,” he apologizes. What is more appalling, though, is that he looks sheepish about it, as if Shinjiro actually wanted that teddy bear, and he’s upset that he gave it away.

Dumb, idiot Aki…

He says that, but he might’ve just fallen in love with him even more, now, so he may be the real dumbass here.

In order to exorcise any kind of sappy thought, he smacks the back of Akihiko’s head.

“Always playing the hero, huh?” he says, because it’s easier than to say I love you.

Akihiko doesn’t seem fazed by his snark – must’ve gotten used to it by now – and just smiles at him.

“C’mon, let’s take a look at the other stands,” he says, grabbing his hand.

If you ask Shinjiro, he’d say that he’s already had enough of the festival, but he’ll be damned if he lets go of his hand.

Alright, more stands it is.

Aki buys takoyaki for the both of them.

“Feeling generous, huh?” Shinjiro can’t help but to comment, accepting his share.

“Well, it was my idea to come here. Figured I should treat you,” the other shrugs.

“You don’t have to do that…” Shinjiro mutters, looking away. Damned Aki, always making things hard for him.

“But I wanted to!” Akihiko insists. “Isn’t it nice to do something normal from time to time?”

Except nothing about them is normal, no matter how much they can pretend it’s not, even for just this moment.

He doesn’t say anything, though, because this is supposed to be a happy memory for Aki; he shouldn’t ruin it by being an asshole.

A shrug. “I guess.”

It’s the best he can come up with.

They eat as they walk around, checking out other stalls.

Sometimes Shinjiro feels observed, eyes pointing daggers at him, but it’s hard to tell if it’s just his guilt, screaming at him because why is he having fun he doesn’t deserve to have fun, or if it’s just people being weirded out when Aki insists on feeding him one of the takoyaki – did Takeba got him to watch some sort of romantic comedy? This is the kind of shit couples do in those.

He tries to pay it no mind, reminding himself that he’s doing this for Aki, not for himself. He glances at him, just to make sure that he’s having fun, and he has to immediately look away: he looks so happy, so radiant, that staring at him feels like staring directly at the sun. At least he’s enjoying himself…

They’re still walking around, when Akihiko stops abruptly, prompting Shinjiro to do the same.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Shouldn’t the fireworks start soon? Let’s find a better spot, so we can watch them!” Akihiko exclaims, in fact. Just like last time, he grabs Shinjiro’s hand as he makes his way through the crowd, and just like last time, he doesn’t let go.

They find a nice spot on a small hill. After so much time spent around others, Shinjiro can finally sigh of relief at the fact that it’s just them up here. Alone at last.

“Finally…” he can’t help but to mutter, but he receives no response, which feels weird, because usually Aki would waste no time telling him that it wasn’t so bad and that he’s just being a grumpy killjoy.

When he looks to the side, he notices how close he’s standing, his whole body turned towards him. What catches his attention, though, is the intense way he’s staring at him, so intense that it almost makes him feel small, despite the fact that he’s taller.

“What?” he asks.

Akihiko’s reply is instant. “Thanks for coming here, with me. It means a lot.”

Shinjiro mirrors his stance now, so that they can be properly face to face.

“I just agreed to go to the festival with you. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is for me! Shinji, I…”

A whistle, then a bang. That’s all it takes to announce the beginning of the fireworks.

Shinjiro can see them out of the corner of his eyes, but he doesn’t move his gaze from Akihiko, not when the other is staring at him so intently. They’re supposed to enjoy the show, and yet they can’t keep their fucking eyes away from each other, like they’re drawn by an external force that makes it impossible to look away.

Then Akihiko moves, breaking this perfect stasis, reaching for Shinjiro’s hands, holding them tight in his own. The sound of fireworks is too deafening to hear what he’s saying, but Shinjiro couldn’t mistake those three words for anything else in the world; he doesn’t need to actually listen to them to know their meaning.

They both lean in at the same time, slowly but without hesitation, until their lips touch. It’s just a small peck at first, but before Shinjiro can pull away, Akihiko grabs him by the jacket and pulls him closer, pressing their lips together more insistently.

What else can Shinjiro do, if not surrender? Were he a stronger man, he would’ve pushed Akihiko away after the first kiss, but… he missed this, yes, he missed this so much, and now that he has it again, he’s not going to give it up, at least not for the evening.

He’s doing this for Aki, he keeps telling himself. Remember, the story of the happy memory to remember him by? This is part of it.

It’s just an exception, not the rule, of course: how would Aki react when he dies, if they keep going like this? The next day, things will be different, but for now, Shinjiro lets himself go.

It’s been a long time since he’s felt this good…

When they pull away, the fireworks have long stopped, but it matters little to them.

Shinjiro wants to say something, but words are frozen in his throat, unable to come out. Thinking about it later, that was for the best: he would’ve said something very stupid, otherwise.

In the end, it’s Akihiko the one who breaks the silence.

“See? Didn’t I tell you that normal isn’t bad?”

This time, Shinjiro can’t help but to smile, before pulling Akihiko close and kissing him again.

No, it’s not bad at all.

[queen-ofsunflowers]

How are Akihiko and Ryoji's relationship with Ayame and Shiro? Also, how would Shiro react to Kotone living with both Akihiko and Shinjiro? How does Shiro react to Shinjiro?

Okay! I think it's best to remember this little scene before I answer these questions.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t like you.” Minato sighed. Okay, he guessed that the way he acted towards Akihiko said otherwise, but... “My aunt and uncle are protective of Kotone — my uncle especially. When we left for Gekkoukan, he told me to keep an eye on her and keep certain guys away from her.” “...Certain guys?” “He told me to not let any guys like him anywhere near Kotone.” He had done it right before they left, knowing full well that his wife would’ve chastised him for being overprotective of their daughter like this. And that Minato would say yes if they didn’t get caught. “Guys like… him?” Sanada repeated, confused. Minato took out his phone, and in a short few minutes, he managed to pull up a picture of Shiro Shiomi. “This is my uncle and Kotone’s dad,” he said, showing the picture to Sanada. The image was of a man with ginger hair and reddish eyes, much like his daughter’s. However, the most noticeable features about him, however, is the fact that he’s littered with scars — on his fingers, knuckles, his forehead, underneath an eye and on his lip. It was the sight of all the scars that made Sanada wince. “What happened to him?” “Dunno exactly. All I do know is that he used to get into fights a lot. That’s where all those scars come from.” And that was all he could get either of his guardians to say on the matter. At one point, Minato had a bet going with Aunt Tsu that he had been involved with some shady stuff before he met Ayame. “He says that the only good thing that ever came out of it was that he met my aunt. She’s a nurse. So when you, a guy whose mind is constantly on fighting, showed interest in her… I kinda had to do something. ..."

Shiro is very protective of his baby girl to the point where he asked Minato to play guard dog. Ayame is much more chill about things. So with that reestablished, let's get into it.

How is Akihiko and Ryoji's relationship with Ayame and Shiro?

Ayame loves both of the boys. The first time that she had met them was when Minato and Kotone were in their comatose states. She would do her best to heal them, to give them enough energy to hold onto life. It was all that she could think of to do since they had no idea why this had happened yet. She thought that it was sweet that they came to check on them and visit them despite the fact that they were pretty much not conscious. It showed how much they cared.

She also learned of how much the pair did for them, though not to the full extent in some cases (i.e. the whole miyako situation). That just endeared her even more. Needless to say, Akihiko and Ryoji had her full approval fairly quickly.

Shiro, on the other hand, only got word about them through various phone calls and text messages sent from Minato and Kotone while they were in Iwatodai. He got the gist of them through their eyes. But meeting them was a different story. He was wary about both of them, but Ryoji managed to quickly change his mind. Akihiko was a different story, mostly because Shiro saw a lot of his younger self in Akihiko.

...it gets better with time, but Shiro still is firm on the ground that Akihiko has to beat him in a fight if he wants to propose to his daughter. He never expected Akihiko to take the challenge seriously, though.

How does Shiro react to Shinjiro?

Better than he does Akihiko, that's for sure. It all ties back to what Shinjiro did for Ken and why he ended up injured the way he was in the first place. Shiro is never one to judge a book by its cover, and choses to get to know someone before making his decision about them. Getting the story from Minato and Kotone on top of meeting Shinjiro in person was what led him to make up his mind about the guy.

Basically, he likes Shinjiro better than Akihiko. He sees him as being more careful in his actions and less reckless than the latter.

How would Shiro react to Kotone living with both Akihiko and Shinjiro?

He knows that Kotone is an adult at that point and can handle herself, but if those boys don't take care of his daughter, there's gonna be some hell to pay.