#it's about Yusuke being the one to say Makoto deserves to know what's going on in Kaneshiro's palace

[yusuke-of-valla]

Anyway the Yusuke/Makoto friendship that exists in my brain is actually so important to me just because canon doesn't recognize their potential doesn't mean I have to ignore their matching mental illnesses

[arcplaysgames]

If the Fortune Arcana is literally a fortune teller, I am going to slash some tires. Especially since, like, the point of the fucking Wheel is that you are not in a position to see where it will turn.

Some journalist I've seen for like five minutes makes a deal with Reverie. She'll give a name of the criminal running the scams in Shibuya but she wants access to someone at Shujin who suffered under Kamoshida's abuse.

Which is a shitty deal, so calling it: Devil arcana.

Morgana suggests Mishima for the deal, so, uh

I hate Mishima but this feels terrible. 8C Come on, he's gonna think it's a date and instead someone is gonna ask him about the volleyball coach beating him. This sucks, Persona 5 Royal!!!! I hate this!

And Ryuji gets accosted by... drag performers??? Or are they just queer people? I am literally looking through my screencaps of this scene and I frankly don't get what it's trying to imply here???? I feel like it's a joke at my people's expense but I'm missing context, so. SHRUG.

Kaneshiro's palace seems to be the entirety of Shibuya's central street. Which made me think they just didn't want to make new assets but I'm proven wrong in a bit.

Seeing people as walking ATMs doesn't make sense to me, like, you withdraw from your own account with ATMs, not from the magical ATM fairy. I don't get this metaphor. Whatev!

TURNS OUT THE ACTUAL PALACE IS A FLYING BANK. Alright. That's sure a thing.

I feel like this was an incredibly valid question. Unfortunately, Morgana cannot turn into non-car things. Which really begs a lot of questions about why he can become specifically a van.

Ryuji when was the last time you were useful, homes, you are the one who got us into this fucking mess with Makoto because you kept screaming about being a Phantom Thief, you absolute dunderfuck. Don't insult Morgana.

Dinnertime at the Nijima Household.

This is a totally inappropriate reaction but I started laughing in disbelief because like. This turn is SO hard and SO sudden and came out of nowhere???? Sae, bruh, what the fuck, are you having a bad day?

OH MY GOD SHE IS LMAO THAT'S HER EXCUSE. And then she says she's going to stop coming home for dinner from now on???? Holy shit?

lmao as the main caretaker of a very frustrating person who drives me batshit, I am judging Sae so fucking hard right now. Remember the halcyon days when we first met Sae? God, I barely remember. Now she's interrogating our card collection and making Dojima look like Parent of the Year.

The Thieves meet up to talk about how to reach the Palace and Makoto just invites herself along again, and Ann happens to call her "useless" and oh my god is this like her trauma trigger?

ATLUS

WHO THE FUCK WAS YOUR SCENE COORDINATOR FOR THIS SEQUENCE

AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY?

YOU JUST FLASHED BACK TO A SCENE THAT LITERALLY JUST HAPPENED 40 SECONDS AGO.

Makoto completely loses her shit and is like "okay fine I will go find you Kaneshiro" and storms off

Gets shoved into the back of an unmarked car by two thugs

Everyone very reasonably flips their shit too and chases after her, including Ryuji throwing himself into the path of a speeding car to make it stop

which: is the most Chariot shit any Chariot has ever Charioted, but also if he got hit doing this, I would have deleted the game in a rage-blackout, i'm so furious with Makoto

and oh she leads them to Kaneshiro! and he immediately snaps a photo of them all for blackmail purposes. he wants 3 million yen in 3 weeks.

HEY YUSUKE?

THANK YOU

Everyone gets a shot of sympathy for Makoto because she's like super sorry that she flipped her shit and ran off and confronted some mafia dudes and got in their car and wound up needing a rescue and then got everyone on the hook for 3 million yen, which is about what I make in a fucking year (roughly)

whatever, they bring her into the Metaverse, she pops her Persona, it's a motorcycle, which is way more fucking cool than she deserves

you know what, same here. same here.

I think I feel comfortable saying, yeah, this is worse than Ryoji. If anyone is hoping I turn on Makoto later, do not hold your breath, because this is a staggeringly bad prolonged introduction to this character. I am to a point I want to sit down with the writers and just ask them to explain to me what impression they intended to leave on the player, taking a character who has thus far only been a stalker and harasser of the protagonists turned outright blackmailer turned into oh now someone else is blackmailing us bc of her? and then handing her off like "here's a new teammate"

what

the actual

fuck

thank you and good night. I'm going to bed.

[pugs-cats-bb-8]

Sae-Vanilla

I didn't know that you could check your stats in the menu.

It also took me till my second playthrough to find out that you could check your stats in the bathroom.

I forgot to mention this in the last part. The store that sells electronics in Royal is all shuttered up in Vanilla.

Akechi really likes Leblanc. Why is he always here? Three times so far.

Unvoiced conversation.

Mishima 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️. He did not just ask her if she does porn online. 🙄. He is so lucky he didn't get slapped. You don't ask anybody that.

Also, what's kek?

She can't remember his name and that burn was sick🤣🤣. He so deserves it.

Then he's trying to ask her out. 🤨. Just give it up man.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

Different questions and answers.

Unvoiced conversation.

Different questions and answers.

Unvoiced conversation.

Different questions and answers.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

Isn't it illegal to interrogate anybody under 18 without a parent, guardian or lawyer present?

Slightly different question.

So they added the "I have his number" thing in Royal. Makes sense Ren wouldn't have his number in Vanilla.

It's funny in Royal. I always thought it would make more sense for me to contact him, than Makoto. But in Vanilla, you're not that close.

"Yep, dead as a doornail". 🤣🤣 I love that option.

Eww, Mishima.🤢

Different question.

They changed the 24th to a Maruki question.

I didn't know non-students could go to the festival.

The "Honey, I'm Home" scene.😍😘🥰

Oh, now you get burgers.

I like the school festival scene in the anime better.

That octopus is cute.

There's 7/8 people (depending on if you include Morgana or not). What do they all get one piece of Takoyaki?

Akechi has no manners. At least in the anime, he asks if he can have one.

Poor Akechi. (Not joking)

I love how Ann's concerned about him.

I think they need a taller mic.

It's sad that Akechi sees himself as a big, bad, evil guy. (Not joking).

Akechi just blackmailed me and my team. I feel a bond of trust coming from him. 🤨🤣🤣 I'm sorry? How is blackmail a bond of trust?

Meaningful time? What does Akechi do in his life that makes blackmail "meaningful time"? Is he really that lonely? 😢 (not joking) Poor baby.

You don't lose Yusuke in Vanilla.

Unvoiced conversation.

I didn't know the calling cards were that big.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

He bobs his head like a chicken.

Morgana's ears move.

Why does Makoto delay entering the palace? It's never explained.

You get 4 abilities when you reach R.6.

In Royal, you get 2 when you reach 3rd sem, if you've maxed him.

Why do his glasses disappear then reappear?

You can hear Yusuke's keys. 

I like how in the anime, they jump over a hedge in the middle of the street. Although, I don't know how Futaba cleared it, given she's like 5 foot max.

Unvoiced conversation.

He's going to steal hearts.😍🥰

How dumb does Ryuji think Akechi is?

I can't tell if Akechi is genuinely excited about calling cards, or he's faking it. I think he's being a cute dork 😘🥰😍. Either way, Makoto has no right to be a bitch.

They added all the smashies near the door.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

Added 2 smashies and 3 enemies.

Different item in chest.

Unvoiced conversation.

I like this scene in the anime. 😍😍

I know this isn't a true awakening but 🥵🥵. I think they made it slightly longer in Royal.

Akechi's icon colour is gray in Vanilla and tan/beige in Royal.

I wouldn't be surprised if Akechi staked out Leblanc every day even if Ren let him know when they were going in.

If I didn't know he murdered people. I'd say he's just a weird stalker who has some kind of obsession with you. Sure, he's sketchy, but that's it. 🤷‍♀️

Unvoiced conversation.

You can back out when people text you while you're eating? I don't think I can do that in Royal. It seems like Sojiro's response to you checking your phone is based on your rank with him.

Once I finished the Big Bang Burger Challenge I never went back.

Different question.

I love that if you haven't met at the hideout by 11-2. Morgana forces you.🤣🤣

It doesn't gray out what books you've read.

Ren is going to keel over from all those burgers.

"I'm hungry now". You could've had some of the burger, Morgana. Then again, I don't want to kill my cat.

Akechi your insaneness is showing.

I could hear the chest on the other side of the wall.

He just kicks the door down. 🥵🥵😘🥰😍

I use the dancing costumes, so he has tennis shoes, instead of elf boots.

Unvoiced conversation.

Conversation about the door leading to the front was added.

You could get actual items out of smashies?

Vallykrie had no weakness?

The win sound is different.

There's noises?

When has Akechi been to a casino?

Different layout.

"I've totally got girl power". 🤣🤣 What? I want that voiced.

Different layout.

I love how Akechi's so blaise about shadows.

I love how he almost gets buried in coins.

"No way in hell". Throwing Ryuji's ass under the bus. 🤣🤣

"Ryuji! Go piss off the police"! 🤣🤣 Well, if anybody's going to be able to do it. It would be him. Tell me they kept that in the anime and manga. (It will probably take another volume or 2 to get to this point).

How long did they have to wait for the trial to be over?

"Dimmed significantly". 🤨🤨 If Ren didn't have Third Eye. Morgana would have to guide us.

Poor Ren's got to have one hell of a headache after the House Of Darkness.

"Don't resist". It's a Treasure Demon. What's it going to do? Slap you with its wavy plasma hands? Attack you? With what attacks?

I don't remember the bunny girls in the House Of Darkness.

I only had team members taken hostage 2-3 times.

"The playing field is even. It's weak to electricity". 🤨🤨 Ah, Makoto I passed to Akechi, not Ryuji. Short of using an item, Akechi has no electric skills. Good thing Rangda is weak to Bless too.

Different layout.

What the fuck? I just got out of the house of darkness. I don't want to explore anymore. Just let me beat the shadow, so I can get my coins.

They didn't move the safe room up? If you're going to put more obstacles in my way. At least give me a safe room before.

Unvoiced conversation.

Different gate opening sound.

Unvoiced battle dialogue.

So it was a gun that you could buy for Akechi in Vanilla. In Royal, it's a sword.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

This is explained better in the anime.

Different bridge sound.

Finally, after 4 palaces of not asking if you want to go back to the entrance, they finally ask you.

You couldn't select what Persona to fuse yours with on the network? You just had to hope? That's shitty. What if you got a bad one?

You had to click on a book for Morgana to tell you that you already read it 😡 Why? And it kicks you out of the menu each time.

Slightly different answer.

Morgana shames you for declining meetings.

Also, it used to be Mishima put up a forum post? In Royal, you send them a calling card.

You only got one item out of cubes, instead of multiple.

You could get junk out of chests?

I like how Orlov is weak to nothing, resists phys and nulls everything else.

You could get washed armour from chests?

Stone Of Scone is weak to Curse and not Fire.

"The Phantom Thieves would never murder people". *Looks at Akechi* I love waiting till I have Akechi to do this mission.

I don't believe some of the MM people ever change their ways.

You could get Skill Cards from chests?

The Reaper is cool looking.

I love how the Reaper is surprised when you escape.

You just leave your dead teammates when you escape 🤣🤣

Mystery Stew is being sold on the Home Shopping Network. Ren decides he'd rather not kill himself and his teammates. "Are you sure. It's only available today". 🤨🤨 Do you want me to die, Morgana?

Added a proficiency check for Haru's R.4.

6,000 Yen=41.01

Kthx was changed to cheers.

Slight different question.

Slight different question.

"Play with your stupid coffee beans". 🤣🤣

Slight different question.

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

Sae gets trolled by a 15-year-old girl. 🤣🤣

Nipple spikes.

More clanging sounds added.

My man got knocked in the head with a bunch of poker chips. 🤣🤣

I prefer Royal's fight. Also, Royal's palace. Palace is slightly different.

Let's rank up before he betrays me.

Arsene 🥴🥴 I wish he talked more. That's one of the reasons I kept him. I wanted to hear him talk.

Unvoiced conversation.

His waistcoat makes him look so skinny.

Ah, the you better save, or it's going to be like half an hour before the next save point. From there it's, another 1 hour 30-45? before you get control back.

That's a shiny pen.

I've never called Akechi "the traitor".

Question marks got changed to actual text.

More fluid in the anime.

Akechi's going to shoot me in the head. I understand him better. 🤨🤨

I still like the line from the anime. "And I hate cleaning out the attic". That line is so funny. I don't know if that's improvised or not. But if it is it's great.

When Ryuji says "We got em". He doesn't move his lips.

That pretty smirk. 😘😋🥵

Unvoiced conversation.

Unvoiced conversation.

I love the little pictures they drew.

How much alcohol does Shido need?

Young? Isn't Shido in his 50s?

I like when Akechi winks.

[headcanonstation]

Phantom Thieves S/O has palace

Ren Amamiya

Breaks his heart to find you have a Palace

Ren figures it out because of how you may have been acting. That or curiously getting to him to put your name in the nav

Apologies in advance, he isn’t gonna be reaching out too often as he’ll be putting way too much focus into preparing to infiltrate 

During this time there will be no Mementos trips 

If he can help it, there won’t be a day they aren’t going in until your Palace is taken down

Though for him personally, he doesn’t care how tired he may be. He is gonna go in

Odds are its getting dealt with in about a day or really close to that

It does kind of scare him on the why you have a Palace

What gets to him is he feels like he should have seen the signs. Feels like that maybe he could have prevented it or at least curb the development of it

Exploring the place is the actual worst to him he isn’t having a very good time

Ren will be kind of more quiet while in the Palace. Looking more focused

But he may be a little more “impatient” as it were

Ren really, really does not like running into your shadow

Has fingers crossed they don’t have to fight your shadow, but if they do he is gonna hate it

Gonna act as more of a support unit if they do have to fight said shadow

Regardless if you know he is a phantom thief or not, he is gonna write the calling card. And he is gonna drop it off to you. {In your mailbox, locker, under your door. Etc. He isn't going to directly hand it to you, again regardless if you know of him being a phantom thief}

Ryuji Sakamoto

The thought never occurs to him, almost believing it be absolutely impossible for you to have one

He is not gonna be the one to put your name in, regardless if he notices you being off your A-game. Someone else is gonna be doing it

Ryuji can’t help but wonder why you have one. Again, he found it be impossible for you to ever have one. So he is pretty curious as to why it happened

Whatever the reason is for the development of the Palace, he swears he is gonna knock it out of the park

He definitely gets impatient during infiltrations and downtimes

Kind of becomes pretty prone to getting into trouble and pushing forward which results in his friends going “oi slow down”

Also becomes a little more impatient 

Unlike Ren, Ryuji becomes more talkative during the exploration. Asking things like if they are closer, if Mona can sense the treasure, where exactly they are, what is the next course of action- you get me

He seems to have an “easier” time powering through any exhaustion he is having and practically demands to be on the frontlines at all times

Makes sure all his hits, hits harder

He has a huge need to know what your treasure is, further adding to his impatience

Will write the calling card, with help from Makoto

If you know he is a phantom thief {yeah,,,,,,"if"}, he hand delivers the card to you

If they have to fight your shadow, Ryuji does okay. He doesn't do the absolute best and his attacks may actually miss a lot

Ann Takamaki

She immediately has a need to know if anyone is connected to you having a Palace

She just wants to talk

Ann is a lot like Ryuji where she did not enter your name in the Nav, not wanting to see an answer at all pop up. The only difference is she knew it could be a possibility. It was not impossible to her if you had one- just unlikely 

Ann can’t help but think about the what if of the thieves finding you in Mementos. Able to stop you there and prevent a Palace from developing further

She just finds herself thinking how she could have helped prevent this, if at all. Playing scenarios in her head of helping you before it got this bad

But this is no time to wonder, this is the time to help you

Inside the Palace, she doesn’t act far too differently. Outside of it though, she becomes kind of pushy to go into the Palace

When it comes to you, she finds herself trying to spend time with you- more than usual

She doesn't like the Mementos trips during the time where you still have a Palace. While it's nice to help other people- you need her help right now

No matter what your Shadow is like, she swears she is gonna take them down

She promises to herself that no matter how much it hurts her, she isn't going to hold back on your shadow. After all, it's not exactly easy to attack something that resembles/represents you

Really would rather not see the calling card at all

Yusuke Kitagawa

His first thoughts are the fears that its alike to Madarame’s

He isn’t sure he can handle that

As such, he is pretty nervous about the whole thing

Upon finding out though its nothing like that, if anything more like Futaba’s, brings him a wave of relief

If he were to be honest, being in your Palace frustrates him

Not only does it frustrate him, but it hurts him. Especially as they go further and further into their exploration

You don’t deserve to have to be dealing with this and the burden this thing probably brings to you

Kind of like Ryuji, he just thought nothing like this would come to pass for you. At least, so as long as he was there with you

During the Palace, he is more reserved

A lot like Ann, he is kind of pushy with going into the Palace. Not nearly as much as Ann, but it’d be a lie to say he doesn’t at all try to push Ren into going in sooner

Seeing your Shadow actually angers him, more than anything. Because this isn’t you, but a distorted version of the person he cares about

But Yusuke remains relatively calm

During downtimes while they aren’t in the Palace, he will be trying to seek you out and keep you company- regardless if you know what is going on

Insists to be the one to write the calling card, there are no exceptions 

I would argue he is one of the more aggressive thieves when it comes to fighting your shadow. He holds absolutely nothing back and is ready to fight

This isn’t you and he wants to get rid of your shadow as fast as possible

Makoto Niijima

She audibly gasps

However, she can’t bring herself to bring it up for a short bit. Its not that she doesn’t want to, but it becomes more real whenever it is she mentions it

She ends up bringing it up after seeing you again and again. Knowing the toll a Palace can take on a person, she knows she can’t just ignore it

Part of her wonders if she is any part of the cause. She hopes not, but it worries her that what if she plays a part in your Palace

She tries to remain composed both in and out of the Palace, trying not to show any signs of struggling with the idea of it

When around you, she gets kind of awkward 

She’ll promise to you that she will be there for you, through thick and thin. Which to you may come out of nowhere, but Makoto feels a need to say it

Its when Makoto sees your shadow that it really, really hits her about the situation

Still, she tries to remain composed but internally she is just having a marathon if emotions

Makoto helps in creating the calling card and will hand it off to you should you know of her being a phantom thief

If not she will put it in a normal envelope and give it to you, saying simply it was addressed to you and not much else

Maybe even sneak it into a book your reading or in your locker

Fighting your shadow at first will have her be a deer in the headlights, but her friends will snap her out of it

Which will help her find new strength when it comes to taking down your shadow

Futaba Sakura

Curiosity kills the cat, and it killed Futaba upon entering your name in the nav

She figured if anything popped up, it would be just be a Mementos trip. Not something as extreme as a Palace

Her first thought was how long have you had this?

Futaba first brings it up to Ren before anyone else

She knows this is more of a personal Palace to take care of, but they have to help you

She had one of these things and she’ll be damned if she lets this go ignored

Futaba admittedly would rather it just be her and Ren, again seeing as this is more personal. However, this is a little more extreme than a simple field trip to Mementos, so that isn’t a viable option

Her nature ends up very serious, focused and a little hurt. She won't have snarky comments to hand out. She won’t really have any upbeat cheer in her voice either

Futaba is going to be going overdrive to help the thieves get rid of the Palace faster

Will be more subtle in pushing the idea of going into the Palace during downtimes. She isn’t going to be aggressive in it, more so just making it clear she would really like to get back in asap

She wishes she could do more while they are exploring the place

During time outside the Palace she will be in constant contact with you. Asking if your okay, if anything happened, if you need to talk, etc

Seeing your shadow will kind of have her wince, but outside of that it only fuels her further to steal your treasure

She doesn’t do anything when it comes to the calling card. She just demands to see it before it sent to you

Haru Okumura

She��s ready to go guns blazing just say the word

Haru would probably be the most worried when it came to the whole Palace infiltration

After all, last time they did this with someone she cared about they kinda died

So yeah she is a little on edge on the that “what if” even though she knows it wasn’t their fault

Regardless of her unease though, she’ll put her best face forward and try to remain optimistic 

There may be times during the Palace where she lets her emotions get to her

At first she was worried of what your Palace was and why it even existed. You weren’t a bad person,  so why in the world do you have one of these?

Honestly, overall you could be forgiven thinking she wasn’t too anxious about the whole thing. Because on the outside she doesn’t seem too bothered, but trust me she is having a time internally

She vows to herself they are going to take care of this for you and she is not going to let anything bad happen to you from this infiltration. She swears it

Seeing your shadow doesn’t seem to do anything to her, if anything it prompts her to try and further figure out the why question

Haru requests if she can give you the card, especially if you know she is a thief. Regardless, she promises things will work out

She is merciless when it comes to fighting your shadow? Way more than what anyone was expecting from her?

[tickly-trashcan]

Phantom Thieves Headcanons

oughh this started as brainworms over Yusuke and Makoto while I was playing earlier but i decided to just do the whole group because the brainrot is stronggg. I hope everyone enjoyssss

Akira Kurusu/Joker

okay first off idk what to call him for his real name LMAO so we’re going with Akira

He’s not crazy ticklish, but he can definitely get laughing pretty hard

His tickle spots are probably his sides, ribs, and underarms

He has a really cute laugh, it’s a bit higher than his regular voice but not by much

He wasn’t tickled much before transferring to Shujin, but after making friends with Ryuji he was often met with random tazes or tickles

Ryuji is his primary ler because Akira doesn’t really mind because they’re friends, even getting him back sometimes

Akira is a pretty good ler himself, though he doesn’t tickle people very often unless they intiate it

He had Ryuji nearly in tears one time after a prank though, and Ryuji has (sort of) learned his lesson

He’s also tickled Yusuke a couple of times, though he’s gotten him back plenty

I feel like after a little bit he and Akechi would also get into some tickle fights, Akira probably winning most of them

Morgana/Mona

it feels so odd adding Morgana to this but i figured i might as well just since he’s part of the group lmao

I feel like he’s not really that ticklish? but he does enjoy it

He loves like tummy tickles or tickles behind his ear, and even though he barely even chuckles (it’s more like purring) he really likes it

He only lets Ann do it though, anyone else is a no-go

Futaba tries constantly because she sees Ann doing it all the time but Morgana always hisses at her

She does get him every now and then, but Morgana isn’t a huge fan because Futaba can be a bit rough

Ryuji Sakamoto/Skull

Ryuji my baby *sobs*

He’s really ticklish because I said so and he has a really cute laugh because I said so

His laugh is really loud and frantic when he’s being tickled, and he giggles if you wiggle your fingers at him to threaten to tickle him

some of his tickle spots are his hips, knees, and tummy

Akira and Yusuke tickle him a lot, either because he’s being a dork or they just feel like it

When he was still on the sports team he got tickled by his teammates every now and then to help him destress but not anymore

Now if Ryuji’s feeling a bit antsy before a mission, all he needs is a few tickles to ease his nerves and he’s good to go

He loves to tickle Akira and Yusuke omg they probably get into tickle fights every now and then aaa

Ryuji loses ofc because he’s too ticklish for his own good and Yusuke and Akira can easily gang up on him

He tickled Ann once and got punched, so he doesn’t anymore lmao

so basically what I’m saying is he deserves a few tickles hehe

Ann Takamaki/Panther

okay kinda like Akira she’s not super ticklish but she has a few spots that have her laughing

She has literally such a pretty laugh omggg its like an angels laugh yaaas

she’s ticklish on her hips and under her arms

everywhere else she might giggle, but those spots she’ll definitely laugh, especially if you catch her by surprise

Ryuji’s tried to tickle her before, and that was just an epic fail so the only people that really tickle her now are Makoto and Futaba

Makoto doesn’t tickle her very often just because she’s very shy, but when Futaba comes out of her shell she’s definitely a huge tickle monster with Ann

Ann gets them back too! She’s more of a ler than anything so she’s good at tickling people

She can have Makoto and Futaba wheezing but she never really tickles any of the guys

She does occassionally poke Yusuke or Akira, but after Ryuji snuck up on her it’s a no go with tickles for Ryuji

Yusuke Kitagawa/Fox

YUSUKEEEEE

okay so since he’s one of my favorites he’s naturally really ticklish and that’s just how it works

His tickle spots are his ribs, tummy, and under his arms!

He doesn’t really like being tickled by people, but he doesn’t complain if it’s his friends

he has a pretty loud laugh, and it can be a bit squeaky if you get him in a bad spot

After he’s been tickled to bits the first thing he says is something like “That was embarrassing” because he just knows that he looks like a dork when he’s tickled lol

I meant that in a loving way, he’s a cute dork

Ryuji and Akira tickle him the most, and sometimes they even gang up on him which just has this poor boy absolutely reeling

Ann and Futaba also occasionally tickle him, and he can get a bit flustered when they tickle him

He doesn’t tickle others very much, buuut he does tickle Akira and Ryuji and occassionally gets into tickle fights with them!

He also might poke Ann or Futaba back a little if they poke him, but sometimes they full on tickle him if he does that and so he refrains most of the time

Makoto Niijima/Queen

Makoto my beloved

I feel like Makoto would actually really like being tickled! With both her parents being gone and her sister being busy most of the time she’s a little touch starved like me lol so when met with tickles she doesn’t mind at all

Her tickle spots are her tummy, ribs, and hips! But her neck and shoulders are also ticklish~

She’s never fully admitted to enjoying tickles, but it’s kind of obvious because of how she keeps her squirming to a minimum and only asks to stop when she really needs it

Ann and Futaba tease her about it sometimes and she gets really flustered and denies it, but they know

Haru is a bit nicer and gentle with her tickles, and Makoto is thankful for that but it’s still a bit embarrassing hehe

Haru was one of the people who very bluntly asked if she liked it, and Makoto did eventually admit to it but only to Haru

She’s also really flustered tickling others aaa she only ever pokes or very quickly scribbles up someones side, and even then, it’s only with the girls, Yusuke, and Akira

TLDR; absolute lee and absolutely deserves the tickles she wants

Futaba Sakura/Oracle

AN ABSOLUTE BABY she’s so sweet i cry

She’s veeery ticklish, but she’s not really used to being tickled

She can get overwhelmed easily with tickling, but the group knows when to stop with her when they tickle her

Akira, Haru, Ann and Yusuke are the ones who tickle her most often, though they do it in small intervals to make sure she’s completely comfortable

Her tickle spots are her tummy, hips, and knees

meanwhile, she’s a totally ruthless ler who loves to “torment” (her own words) her friends

They were hanging out in the cafe one time and Futaba just dug her hands under Ryuji’s arms (a constant victim of tickles from everyone it seems) and he just screeched

And he got yelled at by Sojiro which was probably Futaba’s plan in the first place

Futaba finds tickling as a way of pranking people, and she’s a huge prankster so she just loves to mess with her friends using tickles

so all in all, she’s the phantom thief to avoid when it comes to being tickled, she’ll wreck anyone that comes into her range

Haru Okumura/Noir

ahhh Haru she’s so cuteeee

I feel like she’s one of the wild cards, where she seems really sweet (and is!) but can be a pretty big ler when she wants

She’s ticklish, but mostly on her tummy, sides and waist

She has the SWEETEST giggles they’re super bubbly and a bit squeaky but so so cute

She loves to tickle the other Phantom Thieves too, especially Makoto!

She’s gentle with Makoto because she knows she likes it (sometimes she uses her nails which makes Makoto squeal) but with everyone else...

She just needs to wiggle her fingers at the other group members and they’re already giggling

She’s like infamous for her tickles, and after she got Ryuji that one time in front of everyone it was like,, they were fearful of her lol

Like not actually scared because they know she would never tickle them beyond their boundaries, she’s just so good that she can get all of them laughing really easily

She doesn’t really tickle anyone without a reason though, she’s nice about that

Goro Akechi/Crow

ahh i don’t know too much about him yet since I just got to the Palace where he becomes a Phantom Thief but I’ll do my best!

I feel like since he’s new to the group he’s not tickled as often, and because of his previous remarks to the Phantom Thieves there’s a bit of distrust

That said, when the group starts to trust him more he quickly becomes one of the tickle targets

I feel like he’s most ticklish on his ribs, sides, and hips!

Akira was probably the first person to tickle him, claiming it was “initiation”

After that Ryuji, Yusuke and Futaba poked him every now and then

Futaba and Akira ganged up on him once and the poor boy was a flustered, giggling mess by the time they were done with him

Yusuke and Ryuji mostly stick to poking him, but Ryuji’s gotten him pretty good a couple times

Akechi doesn’t really want to tickle the others because he doesn’t want them to be upset with him, but he does tickle Akira every now and then

They have yet to get into a serious tickle fight, but Akira would probably win anyway

Ahhh that’s all I have for right now! But prompts should be opening soon~ (probably after I get back from my trip hehe) so if anyone wants to send in any Persona related thing feel free! :D

[kationella]

What If Series: Persona 5

What if Akira never helped that woman?

Now THIS is something that changes the entire game.

The only way I see Akira not rescuing that woman from Shido is if he simply wasn't outside his house that night. Say, Akira went home early or even took a different route that night. Unfortunately, this spells doom for everyone else.

I don't need to tell you what happens to that woman.

So, Akira never gets into trouble and follows his life as normal. His dormant need for justice never awakens and his life continues to be as monotone as ever, just following society's rules. This is the last we will see of him in this What If.

Now, let's go to Tokyo.

Just because Akira isn't here doesn't mean Yaldabaoth's game won't begin. In fact, I don't think the god even considered Akira until he got arrested. Without him, he simply chose another pawn to play rebel. Would this new protagonist attend Shujin? I don't think it's very likely. Before Akira, not a single student seems ready to act against "the system".

I even considered for Shiho and Ann to end up in Kamoshida's Palace instead of Akira and Ryuji. The game would begin a day later than in canon, since Ann walked alone on Akira's first day. This time, it would be Shiho the first to awaken to a Persona in order to save Ann. Enter Morgana, who immediatly gets a crush on Ann... again.

Now that the girls know what Kamoshida truly thinks of the school, Ann insists on going back to finally give Kamoshida what he deserves. She awakens soon after that.

Kamoshida gives Shiho the threat of assaulting Ann if she doesn't sleep with him. This would be the new deadline for the first Palace.

Yaldabaoth already has his players. Let the game begin.

What happens to the other Thieves?

Ryuji would depend on if he catches wind of Shiho and Ann's plans to take down Kamoshida. If he does, you bet he will want in, whether they want him or not. Ryuji sneaks in and awakens as well. Since Mishima was the one to call Shiho whenever Kamoshida asked him to, he would know they were the Phantom Thieves. The Phansite is still created here.

With Yusuke being attracted to Ann's beauty for his "masterpiece" he is also recruited like in canon. Fox is on board.

Instead of stalking Akira (since he isn't here), Makoto suspects Ryuji, since he was the troublemaker who got beef with Kamoshida before the Thieves stole his heart. Some blackmail and one Palace later and Makoto is part of the team as well.

Now here is where the timeline truly diverges. With no connection to Leblanc nor Sojiro, the Thieves never meet Futaba. This means bad news for both parties. Futaba never discovers the truth about her mother's death and meets her end shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, the Thieves are unable to act against Medjed's threat and loose their popularity and most of their access in Mementos.

Sorry, Haru. The Thieves don't have the time nor power to save you.

It would take MONTHS for them to rebuild their previous popularity, and by then it's highly probable that Shido would win the elections and become the Prime Minister. RIP Akechi.

Yaldabaoth considers this the end of the game and takes control of humanity before Maruki.

The End.

[shadow-scenarios]

Can I get a phantom thieves reaction to feeling jealousy over their s/o for the first time please? thank you for your work 💞

Anon, you’re brilliant. Jealousy HCs are always fun for me to write.

Thank you for the compliment!! You best be staying hydrated and taking care of yourself.

- Nexus.

Joker { Akira Kurusu }

✧ As the master of suppressing his emotions, Akira knows exactly what jealousy is & how unhealthy it can be. However, despite months of practise he cannot help but pull them away from the person who was making him jealous. It is almost like an impulse.

✧ Very subtly he does this. It starts with distracting the conversation away to something he finds easy to talk about with his significant other & he very slowly starts to disinclude the person making him jealous from the conversation. He is so incredibly subtle that most people do not notice.

✧ Eventually he takes them away, holding their hand the entire time. There is a smile plastered on his face but inside he feels a sense of both pride for taking them away from the source of his suffering & shame for being so irrational. Akira kisses them on the top of their head but if they were to mention him being jealous, he would eventually admit it with a small frown.

Skull { Ryuji Sakamoto }

✧ Ryuji has rather intense feelings about his significant other & if he feels as though someone is flirting with them, he is quick to take action. Though most of the time he swoops in to check how they are doing, he will press a chaste kiss onto their cheek as he leaves.

✧ He tries to be subtle but it is very obvious when he is jealous because he complains about the person immediately after they leave & he vehemently denies any trace of being jealous. Although it is quite endearing, it can be frustrating to deal with.

✧ Talking to him is the key. Promising that they would never leave him for someone else is rather reassuring to his mind & although Ryuji is barely ever insecure about their relationship, seeing other people act flirty { even if unintentional } makes him feel not quite right.

Panther { Ann Takamaki }

✧ Ann often tries to see the good in people at first because she is an optimistic person at heart. However, no one comes between herself & her significant other. Her jealousy can be very dangerous if not kept under lock & key.

✧ Even if it is something rather minor such as accidental hand brushing, she will lean over & kiss them because there is an instinctual need to ensure that no one will steal them because she knows how lucky she is to have them.

✧ Anyone who is perverted towards them must be eradicated. She knows exactly what it is like to deal with that kind of abuse & cannot even stand the thought of her significant other dealing with anything even remotely similar to what happened with Kamoshida.

Fox { Yusuke Kitagawa }

✧ Yusuke is very hard to make jealous because he understands the beauty of the human body. He makes a lot of comments about how people are attractive & does not notice flirting most of the time because he is simply just very eccentric.

✧ Someone who incurred his wrath will be very deserving of it. Although he struggles with some social clues, he is not completely oblivious to certain advances. He will pour his heart & soul into a speech about how they are trying to steal away his lover, grabbing the attention of anyone nearby. It is actually quite embarrassing how boldly he proclaims his love for them.

✧ Afterwards, he places a kiss on their forehead & claims that no one shall steal them away whilst he is protecting them. Just wait until someone flirts with him & he has absolutely no clue what they are talking about...

Queen { Makoto Niijima }

✧ One of the people most likely to be logical & talk things out. If someone were to flirt with them, she would simply approach & tell them that she is their significant other, meaning that they are off limits. It is a methodical approach but it works well to ward most people off.

✧ For some stupid reason if they were to continue with that behaviour, they would face the Fist of Justice. Not literally though, she does not want to be arrested for assault. She would verbally attack them, saying that they are making her significant other uncomfortable.

✧ Makoto does not really get angry because she can see why people would flirt with them? They are beautiful & as long as everyone knows that they belong to her, everything will be fine.

Oracle { Futaba Sakura }

✧ Poor bean. Futaba does not understand a lot of her emotions so when she begins to feel rather weird around someone talking to her significant other, she goes & bothers them, hoping to distract both herself & them from the conversation.

✧ It is incredibly blatant that she is jealous by the way she is so obviously trying to pull them away from the person they are talking to but the process by which she goes about it is incredibly endearing.

✧ Explaining jealousy to her is important. Most of the time it is unconscious but catching her out of it is good because she can be quite clingy.

Noir { Haru Okumura }

✧ Haru is tolerant of most people due to her sweet nature so it is likely that she would not be jealous of anyone. However, in the unlikely event it does ever occur, she has a plan. She will not part with her significant other without a fight.

✧ As a warning, she very casually takes their hand in her own & continues on with whatever is happening. She makes sure that the object of her jealousy can see quite clearly. Despite being an indirect method, the simple action conveys a lot.

✧ If it got particularly bad & there was flirting going on, she would verbally say something. Very calmly, Haru would mention the length of their relationship or something about an anniversary, which would immediately cause them to back down.

& Bonus Character — Goro Akechi

{ I just had a really good idea with Akechi & wrote this as a spur of the moment thing— }

Crow { Goro Akechi }

✧ Akechi is not the type of man to share, especially when it comes to that criminal trash Akira Kurusu. He was merely on a date with his significant other at the arcade when they had ran into each other. It was clear that the interaction was mostly innocent & that they had known each other previously but when they put a hand on his shoulder, something snapped.

✧ Ever so politely, he takes their hand & suggests that they must be going, as they do not often get time to themselves for a date. At some point, he grips their hand slightly too tightly & does not notice until they point out that they are hurting them.

✧ Afterwards, Akechi appears rather embarrassed. He apologises at least three or four times, simply saying that he wanted to enjoy the little time the two of them had together. If his significant other were to tease him about it, he would actually become rather flustered & ask them to stop rather abashedly.

Word Count: 1.1k

Publish Date: 07.10.20

[snowthefirst]

Persona 5 Strikers theory: Mariko Hyodo and Haru Okumura’s connection.

In Persona 5 Strikers, a lot of the Phantom Thieves have a personal connection of some sort with a Jail Owner. Ann looked up to Alice Hiiragi, Yusuke sees both himself and Madarame in Ango Natsume, and so on. But there is one Phantom Thief that has an even closer connection with a Jail Owner, and I suspect it goes even deeper than that. I am speaking about Haru Okumara and Mariko Hyodo.

Haru icon from here                 

Mariko icon from Megamitensei wiki. 

Persona 5 Strikers tells us that Mariko is an old business partner of Haru’s father, Kunikazu Okumura, and Haru remembers Mariko as a woman that gave her guidance. But I believe that they have a connection that runs even deeper than that, which is simply this: Mariko and Haru are mother and daughter. 

The post that follows is going to be very long, so the body of my theory will be under the cut for anyone that is interested: 

I first got this inkling when looking at both ladies, which is why I added the icons. Mariko’s hair has a resemblance to Haru’s, and is even brown. Mariko’s hair is darker, but that is something that could have happened with age. But let’s take a look at Shadow Mariko: 

Shadow Mariko lets us look at her hair from a front angle and it looks even more similar to Haru’s floof. Not only that, but Shadow Mariko’s eyebrows are thin like Haru’s, as opposed to how the real Mariko has her eyebrows professionally done. 

But this is only half the equation. The other half is: wouldn’t this mean that Mariko Hyodo and Kunikazu Okumura got together at some point? I believe the answer is yes, and that there is actually compelling proof of this. We are first told that Mariko and Mr. Okumura are former business associates. 

Mariko Hyodo gives Haru condolences about Mr. Okumura’s death back in Persona 5, and speaks rather fondly of him. But this is only the surface, as once again Shadow Mariko seems to reveal something deeper. 

This seems like a far too personal way to refer to someone that was only a business associate. Especially when you consider that a person’s Shadow is made up of feelings they repress. So this statement has truth to it. 

Now if Kunikazu Okumura and Mariko Hyodo hooked up and conceived Haru, why didn’t they stay together? I may write separate theory for that, because I want to focus this theory on Haru, and how Mariko treats her. Because the most solid proof of this theory can be found in Haru’s story about Mariko. 

As the story goes, Haru was a small child tagging along a golf trip with Mariko and Mr. Okumura. While running around, Haru fell down and starting crying. Mariko went up to Haru and told her “Stop crying and get back up!” After that, Mariko hugs Haru and tells her, “No matter how many times you fall, you can always get back up and start again. Never forget that.” Even Haru talks about how surprised she is at seeing this side of Mariko Hyodo. Thinking about it, would most adults be this firm and physically affectionate to someone else’s child? Especially that of a business associate who could be offended and decide to sever ties? The answer is that Kunikazu knows full well that Mariko did this, and lets her because Haru is Mariko’s daughter too. 

Now, one could say that one question casts this theory into major doubt: If Haru is Mariko’s biological daughter, why didn’t Shadow Mariko seem to acknowledge this during the Sapporo Jail? Believe or not, there is precedence for this: 

Throughout Sae Niijima’s Palace, Shadow Sae didn’t seem to know that Makoto, her own sister, existed. At least, not much further than “Makoto is a Phantom Thief”. However, after the battle, Shadow Sae finally sees Makoto as her sister, and Makoto’s speech to her is what seems to trigger the change of heart. 

There seems to be a parallel to this in the Sapporo Jail. Shadow Mariko sticks to her guns, until Haru tells her to get back up”, returning the advice from so long ago. This in turn leads to the line about Mr. Okumura being happy with Haru as well. Haru took advice from her mother as a child, and returned it to Mariko years later, saving Mariko in the progress. 

This does raise another question; why wouldn’t Mariko Hyodo ever tell Haru that they are family? Well, it’s possible that after everything that happened, Mariko feels that she doesn’t deserve to be called Haru’s mother. However, the Phantom Thieves leave Sapporo, Mariko does tell Haru to call her for anything. It seems that Mariko plans to be there for Haru in the future. 

Does anyone have something to say about this theory? I welcome any feedback.

[kareofbears]

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort. 

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind. 

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao). 

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence? 

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch.  I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest. 

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there. 

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list! 

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters. 

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.  

The format of the game 

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting. 

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie). 

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.  

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters. 

But let’s talk about some of the new characters! 

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda. 

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!! 

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia 

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister. 

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle! 

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she  probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable. 

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me. 

And then sophia had a persona awakening. 

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me. 

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start. 

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it. 

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy. 

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji. 

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game. 

You know what else i love? Akiryu. 

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo). 

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally. 

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot. 

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game 

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean) 

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks.  This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.

[skyestar7703]

Okay so, hopefully people have thought of this before, and I just haven’t seen it, because I’d be super disappointed if I was the first to think of this, but imagine:

Persona 5 Leverage Au

Like, think about it:

It could take place after the game is over, maybe a year or two later.

And everyone is trying to go back to living a normal life, perusing their passions, being contributing members of society.

And yet, they all find themselves using what they’ve learned in the metaverse, and their stronger personas (because if SEES can learn to use their personas and skills in the real world, so can the PT) to correct the injustices they keep seeing.

And it keeps getting stronger, because sure, they want to be a part of society, but all of them are just so drawn to correcting the injustices they can’t ignore anymore, to being the Phantom Theives again, that their original aspirations just seem to pale in comparison.

And so eventually, during one of their get-togethers, Ryuji is the one to broach the subject.

“We can’t just do nothing anymore, can we?” He says. “I can’t just sit back and watch all these things happen.”

“None of us can,” Akira/Ren agrees, because he’s had it the worst of them. He knows so much now, has so many skills, and yet he feels so listless, like none of it truly calls to him.

“We can’t use the metaverse anymore,” Makoto reminds them. Makoto, who planned to become the police commissioner but who sees just how corrupt the police are, how much she’d have to bend her morals to even get close to that goal.

“We don’t need the metaverse to make changes to society,” Futaba, who’s spent her time using her skills to take down corporations and other, far worse hackers. “And we can use the magic our personas give us in the real world now.”

And after a bit of debate, everyone agrees.

Imagine: Akiren and Morgana as their best masterminds, of Ann using her improved acting skills to become an excellent grifter along with Haru, who knows how to play rich folks better than anyone, and can break out the axe when needed. Yusuke forging whatever papers and documents they need, Ryuji and Makoto being the hitters and the getaway driver, and Futaba of course backing them all up with her hacking skills. Every in the group could of course be considered “the thief”.

Essentially, the Phantom Theives who continue bringing justice against those who would hurt others and get away with it, even without the metaverse. Give me a PT who stay together (and maybe even polythieves?) and keep fighting alongside each other, because they know firsthand how much the little guy needs people fighting for them.

Idk, I’m just saying. If any group of Found Family deserves a leverage au, it’s these guys.

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #780: Playing Golf (Super Smash Bros Ultimate)

12:56 p.m. at the Other Side of Bonny Greens.....

Lavenza: (Sitting Next to Morgana While Watching Pit, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Dark Pit Play Golf) Is golf really as competitive as most sports are in this world?

Morgana: (Turns to Lavenza While Holding a Clipboard) Yeah, but it can be pretty fun for the most part. I would teach you how to play, but....(Frowns a Little) Not sure if my paws can do me any good in the long run.....

Lavenza: (Turns to Morgana With a Worried Frown on her Face) Do you still miss being a human?

Morgana: Yeah......I know it was a one time thing and everything, but......('Sigh') I'd be lying if I say I didn't miss it a little......

Lavenza: (Picks Morgana Up Close to Her and Hugs Him) Do not lose hope, Morgana. I am certain that you will become human again soon enough.

Morgana: Yeah.....(Smiles Softly) You're right. I'm not gonna give up on this. Once I'm human again, we'll do lots a things together. Play some sports, go to the movie theater together, go to restaurants.

Lavenza: (Smiles Brightly at her Feline Companion) And you are also welcome to hold my hand whenever you like.

Morgana: (Eyes Widened While Blushing) H-H-Holding your hand!? W-W-What makes you think I would want to do that!?

Lavenza: You seem to enjoy holding it when you were human. So naturally, it would make sense that you would miss doing that as well, yes?

Morgana: I-I-I mean.... Y-You're not wrong, but-

Lavenza: (Raised an Eyebrow) Buuuuuut?~

Morgana: (Stare at Lavenza For a Brief Second Sighing in Defeat) Fiiiiiiiiiine.... You're right....I....(Blush Turns Bright Red) Wouldn't mind holding your hand again......

Lavenza: (Giggles Softly as She Hugs Morgana Again) I'd figured that would be the case~ I wouldn't mind it either, Morgana.

Meanwhile........

Ryuji: (Watching Pit Stick his Thumb Out For Wind With DP and Yusuke) You know....This is nice.

Yusuke: (Smiles Relaxingly) I agree. As someone who is not fond of sports in general, I, for one, think this refreshing.

Dark Pit: (Simply Shrugs) Eh. I prefer other sports than this really. But yeah. (Smiles a Little).This is relax-

Before the dark angel could finish his sentence, the trio suddenly notice Yoshi, Waluigi, Bowser Jr., and Mayor Pauline racing among themselves I the distance while screaming in the process.

Yusuke: (Eyes Widened in a Bit of Surprise) What.... exactly did we just witnessed right now?

Dark Pit: Don't know, don't care. I'm not even gonna try and question it either.

Yusuke: Are you certain that you are not a tad bit curious about this?

Ryuji: Yeah, man....('Sigh') It's not even worth it at this point, ya know?

Yusuke: ('Sighs a bit in Defeat') Very well.

Dark Pit: (Turns to Pit) Hey, Pit-Stain! Are you done standing there, doing nothing or what!?

Pit: I'm not just standing, Pitto! I was just checking out how strong the winds are! Make sure it won't mess me up and stuff!

Dark Pit: Dude, all you have to do is make the ball to the hole. Now, get it over with already before I kick your dumbass to submission!!

Pit: Okay! Okay! Fine. Sheesh.....

With hopeful wishing, Pit look back and forth at the ball and hole for a brief second before putting the ball in question. Only for it to......

'Chip in Sound'

Pit: (Eyes Widened in Genuine Surprised) I did it? I-I made it in?

Morgana: Yep. You got yourself a Birdie.

Lavenza: (Smiles Brightly at Pit) Well done.

Pit: ...................(Pump Two of his Fists Up in the Air Victoriously) WOOOOOOO!!!! YEAHHHHHHHHH!!! (Keeps Pumping his Fist Back and Forth While Doing a Victory Dance)

Dark Pit: (Starts Pinching his Nose in Annoyance at the Sight of his Brother Dancing) ...............

Ryuji: (Eyes Widened at the Whole Scene Playing Out Along With Yusuke) ............Dude.

Lavenza/Morgana: (Stares at the Dance With a Bit of Distaste Before Covering Each Other's Eyes)

Pit: BIRD! DIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-

'SMACK'

Dark Pit: (Smack Pit Upside the Head with his Fist) CUT THAT SHIT OUT ALREADY!!!

Pit: (Winces in Pain While Calming Himself Down) Owwwwww.....(Turns to DP With a Soft Glare) Did you HAVE to hit me that hard like that?

Dark Pit: Trust me, Pit-Stain. If I wanted to hit you hard enough, I would've Electroshock you out of orbit instead.

Ryuji: Yeah, man.... You....kinda deserve that smack in the head for that one.

Yusuke: That was a rather cringeworthy dance number if I've ever seen one......

Pit: Yeah......(Chuckles Awkwardly) Sorry about that, you guys. I never thought I would actually make it towards that hole. (Smiles Brightly) Now I'm in the lead-

'Chip in Sound'

Lavenza: Oh my! It seems that the Queen has earned herself an Eagle.

Makoto: (Gasps from the Distance) An Eagle!? Yay!!~

Ren: (From a Distance) Ah hell yeah! That's my Queen!~

Pit: (Lowers in Head Down in Defeat) Ohh....

@keyenuta

@princekirijo

@caleb13frede

@cyber-wildcat

@ma-lemons

@albion-93

[auncyen]

two snippets from an early draft of “when the Cat Dragged in the Trickster” that had more buildup covering the school year and the repeat requests for Ren to be given a change of heart...because I’m deleting old docs to clean up but I still like them.

The first time they checked the MetaNav because Amamiya had been requested on the Phansite, Morgana crowed at the negative result. "See! He doesn't have a distorted desire! If he was wicked before, he has clearly reformed."

The second time they checked the MetaNav because Amamiya had been requested, Morgana rolled his eyes before explaining to a mildly curious Yusuke that people were only scared of Amamiya because of his dubious past and that they weren't paying enough attention to his current impeccable conduct. Ryuji then filled Yusuke in on what said dubious past was. Ann informed everyone the result was still negative. No distortion.

The third time Amamiya got requested, Ryuji shook his head when Makoto started to bring out her phone. "He ain't gonna be on there," he told her.

"You're certain?" the student council president asked. "With a record like his..."

"He's been on the site before, I believe," Haru said. "Was he already given a change of heart?"

Ann sighed in aggravation. "No, but we've checked both times Mishima's forwarded the requests before, and he hasn't shown up then either. I mean, yeah, you'd think if he assaulted someone out of the blue, he must be distorted, but he got arrested and put on probation for it. That'd be enough to make most people reflect on themselves, right?"

Haru nodded, accepting the logic, but Makoto still said aloud, "Amamiya Ren."

"Candidate not found."

Morgana huffed. "See?" He jumped up on the accessway's railing. "Lady Ann, I say we tell Mishima to not accept these requests anymore. They clearly have no basis."

Ann frowned, thinking. It'd be a little hard when they were still trying to keep some plausible deniability with Mishima, but she could probably...drop a heavy hint. "Okay--"

"Wait," Makoto said. "You only think it lacks basis because of the app. We don't know where it's from or how it was made, so how can we trust it to be accurate?"

"Do you think the accusation has merit, then? That he threatened the writer?" Yusuke asked. Morgana gave a loud, exasperated sigh.

"I...don't know," Makoto said slowly. "Honestly, I'd prefer if Ann's explanation was right. If Amamiya's reformed, it would mean the justice system at least works sometimes. It's just...what if these are serious? Haru made multiple requests, and you still nearly missed them before I brought them to your attention."

"By blackmailing us," Ryuji muttered.

Makoto's cheeks colored. Haru squeezing her hand as gentle reassurance didn't help. "...That's besides the point. I just want to make sure no other victims slip through the cracks either."

Ryuji and Ann exchanged looks. Ryuji shoved his hands in his back pockets and leaned against the railing. "Honestly, I kind of wonder if I'd be on the Phansite if it'd gone up before Kamoshida went down," he said. "People mostly just leave me alone now, but last year there was talk about how I was gonna haul off and hit the next person who looked at me funny. Shit made me want to quit school for a while."

"You called Amamiya-san 'the guy who stabs people'," Morgana reminded him.

"Well, that's how I knew him! And I wasn't spreadin' anything--Ann had already heard about him, and who were you gonna tell?" Ryuji shot back before a gesture from Makoto reminded him to lower his voice. "Look, I know the guy's done something bad once before, and from what I've seen of him, he's a little weird. Like, I can't get a read on him at all. But none of that means he should be harassed. I guess...we should check to be sure nothing's going on...but can we do it without bothering the guy?"

"I think...both Mako-chan and Ryuji-kun have a point," Haru said slowly. Since we don't know much about the MetaNav, we can't know for sure if it's always working correctly, can we? So I think we should do some questioning ourselves to make sure Amamiya isn't involved in anything suspicious. But we must be discreet, and if we find nothing, we ask the administrator to not accept any more requests about him. I wouldn't want us to be used as a tool for harassment. People deserve second chances."

"That seems reasonable," Yusuke said. "I agree with the proposed action." Makoto nodded, and Ryuji shrugged. Ann hesitated for a moment, but...if there was a victim...and if there was a chance the MetaNav didn't always work, they needed to know, considering how much they relied on it. She nodded.

Morgana held out for a couple of tense minutes, his tail swishing in agitation behind him, but at last it slowed. "I guess...it'd reflect badly on the name of the Phantom Thieves if we ignored a request that turned out to be legitimate... very well, then. We investigate, and then we tell Mishima to reject any further requests."

Morgana's phrasing made it obvious he expected Amamiya to be found innocent. Fortunately, he seemed to be right. Morgana tailed Amamiya from a distance. Yusuke kept an eye out for Amamiya when he people watched at the station. The four Shujin students kept an ear out for any current rumors that might have any basis. Ann asked Mishima if he would be able to find more details about Amamiya's record, since the original leak appeared long-deleted and he was good with the internet and searching for information.

Mishima was more than happy to help her find information--he actually pulled up the record itself for her. The details on the trial were sparse, with the victim's identity completely missing from the record. Was that normal...? Ann hoped it was, to protect victims. It seemed the assault conviction was legitimate enough, anyway. Amamiya had pleaded not guilty, but there was an identified witness who had testified that he had attacked the man she'd been with out of the blue. The judge had made a quick ruling--Ann guessed it was a fairly open-and-shut case. The most troubling thing was that the transcript of the proceedings gave no hint into what had provoked Amamiya to assault that man, who seemed to have been a stranger, besides the allegation that he had anger management issues. That lined up with a few of the rumors, but...the rumors were based on his record to begin with. And they were all old--nothing they turned up sounded that different from what they'd heard in April. Yusuke and Morgana had nothing suspicious to report, unless Amamiya holding three part-time jobs, one of which seemed to be where he was living, counted.

It was...weird. No, she guessed it made sense if Amamiya had reformed and was working to control his temper. They ended the investigation. Ann dropped hints to Mishima that the Phantom Thieves weren't after criminals who'd already been punished.

Mishima seemed seriously reluctant to take those hints, considering they got a fourth request for Amamiya while they were waiting for Futaba to wake up. Ann hadn't even finished reading the message before she deleted it in aggravation.

-

The second snippet being a slightly different form of investigating with interesting/concerning results:

Haru and Makoto were in agreement from the beginning, with Yusuke agreeing it seemed reasonable enough soon after. Ann was the first to be won over from skepticism. Then Ryuji. Finally, Morgana's ears drooped. "We really don't know how that thing works," he said with a glance at Ann's phone. "It'd be terrible if we accidentally ignored someone in danger...all right. We investigate, and then we tell Mishima to reject any further requests."

Morgana's phrasing made it obvious he expected Amamiya to be found innocent, and Ann was a little worried what would happen if he was wrong. Still, for now, they had a unanimous vote. They started an investigation.

Makoto tailed Amamiya, with Ryuji at a distance just in case she was confronted. All she learned was that that Amamiya worked at both 777 and a beef bowl shop and seemed to be a decent employee. Yusuke kept an eye out when he people watched at the station and spotted Amamiya a few times, but never saw him do anything or go anywhere unusual, and most of what he had to say about finally seeing the transfer student for himself was "his aesthetic is appallingly drab". He also figured out somehow that Amamiya's glasses were fake, but Ann didn't know what that information had to do with anything, even if Yusuke found it the one interesting thing about Shujin's transfer student.

Morgana also tailed Amamiya, and by 'tailed' he really just strutted up to Amamiya, meowed and acted like a lost cat, and let Amamiya take him home for the night. It was a lazy approach. It was also the most informative, though not in the way Ann had expected.

Amamiya returned Morgana to Ann in the morning. That, she'd expected: either Amamiya would be conscientious and return a cat he'd recognize as hers, or Morgana would eventually slip away and return on his own. What she hadn't expected was that Amamiya looked nervous--really nervous--when he let his schoolbag down on his desk and showed her Morgana, safe inside. Morgana looked upset.

"He...must have gotten out somehow? I found him in Shibuya, after my work shift--"

"He thinks you'll think he stole me," Morgana blurted.

"Okay, okay, come on," Ann said, reaching into the schoolbag to extricate the smallest thief. She was confused. Why on earth would Amamiya think she'd suspect him of kidnapping Morgana? He'd gone up to Amamiya himself--

Well, though...if Ann didn't know that, if Morgana was a normal cat--oh. Yeah, it might be suspicious that Amamiya of all people had 'found' him. Shoot. She immediately looked up at Amamiya and gave him her brightest smile. "I'm glad you found him! I was sooooo worried about this little guy. Thank you."

"'Little guy'?" Morgana muttered, but he clambered into her desk and turned himself about, his blue eyes focusing on Amamiya. "See? It's fine. Calm down."

Obviously, Amamiya couldn't understand Morgana. But he did seem to be relaxing. He smiled back a little at Ann, an awkward thing, and she felt so lost. What had happened to the guy who'd intimidated the entire class just to let a cat sit in a desk?

[vgckwb]

P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 46: Sunset, Sunrise

On the final day of Madarame’s exhibition, a surprise press conference was called by Madarame himself. As it started, Madarame was crying his eyes out. “People of Japan! I have to apologize!” He cried out. “I am not worthy of your admiration. The artist Madarame is nothing more than a sham. Most of my masterpieces, including the Sayuri, are not my own. I robbed my students of their art, and claimed it as my own. To keep this all under wraps, I intimidated my students, and I sometimes even abused them.”

Everyone present at the press conference was shocked. Meanwhile, Madarame’s eyes continued to flow like faucets left on. He continued speaking. “In fact, the real author of the Sayuri died before they could claim it as their own. I took it in an act of desperation, and jump-started my meteoric rise to the top of the artwork on the backs of my students, who are more deserving than I am.” He continued to cry his eyes out. Members of the press tried to ask further questions, but Madarame had lost control of himself and continued bawling.

Meanwhile, several people were watching the press conference on the big TV in the Shibuya crossing. It cut to a reporter reporting from a desk. “This shocking confession comes soon after Madarame’s home was broken into. The burglar in question was a former student of Madarame’s. However, as part of this confession, Madarame has decided to drop all charges against said student.

Furthermore, a little while after the break in, Madarame’s exhibit was the target of this message; A letter supposedly sent by The Phantom Thieves. This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened. While there are many who still are skeptical of the existence of these thieves, some are beginning to think that such a group may be real.

Needless to say, Madarame has been put under arrest. Due to Madarame’s age, he is being taken to the hospital for a full assessment of health. Once complete, he will be tried and sentenced.”

Among those watching at the Shibuya crossing was a boy in a coat and shoulder-length brown hair. “Phantom Thieves.”

Makoto was also watching. “The Phantom Thieves. Again. Hm.”

Another person in the crowd was Nakanohara, the person who led the Phantom Thieves to Madarame in the first place. He let out a single tear, as he quietly said “Thank you, Phantom Thieves.”

Meanwhile, the thieves were at their hideout. “Alright! Another success!” Ryuji shouted.

“Ryuji!” Ann said. “Not so loud!”

“Sorry” Ryuji said. “But more people are talking about us, eh.”

Yusuke looked onward. “Are you doing OK Yusuke-senpai?” Sumire asked.

Yusuke snapped out of his stupor. “Huh? Oh. Yeah.”

Everyone looked at him. “What’s up?” Ryuji asked. “I thought you’d be more excited.”

“Well… How do I put this?” Yusuke asked. “I’m glad that Madarame is finally paying for his crimes...but…” He sighed. “Living with Madarame, and everything that came with it is everything I’ve ever known. It’s just weird is all. I feel like what’s in front of me is this blank empty space.”

“Oh, uh, sorry” Ryuji said.

Sumire placed a hand on his shoulder. “I get it. That kind of thing can be hard. But it can bring about new good things too.”

Yusuke smiled. “You’re correct. In a way, that blank empty space is much like a canvas just waiting for a masterpiece.”

“I hope there’s room for us in that masterpiece you call life” Ren remarked.

“Hm. Of course” Yusuke said. “I cannot thank you enough for everything you did. Therefore, I humbly request to be a permanent member of the Phantom Thieves.”

Everyone else was surprised. “You don’t have to request anything,” Ren answered, smiling.

“Yeah, as far as we’re concerned, you’re already one of us,” Morgana added.

“I thank you,” Yusuke replied.

“So, ummmm” Ann said. “Do you still want to paint me?”

“Hm?” Yusuke said. “Well, I wouldn’t say that’s out of the question, but I don’t think now’s the best time to do that.”

“Right,” Ann said. She smiled. “Well, if you need me, you just have to call.”

“Just make sure you don’t do too good a job,” Ryuji said. “Otherwise the professional photographers she deals with will have your head.”

“Ryuji!” Ann said, shoving him playfully. Ryuji laughed.

“My, what a marvelous couple” Yusuke said.

Ryuji and Ann looked at him and turned cherry red. “What are you talking about?” Ryuji said, nervously.

“Y-Yeah. We’re just friends” Ann insisted.

“Really?” Yusuke said. “Huh. I guess I’m seeing the world in new ways. I apologize.” Ren and Sumire shared a snicker. Meanwhile, Morgana was frazzled. Jose noticed this and started scratching his ears. As much as Morgana didn’t want to enjoy it at that moment, he couldn’t help but smile.

After Morgana was placated, Jose stopped, turned to Yusuke, and said “So, do you need help moving into the dorms?”

“Hmmm” Yusuke thought. “Well, there’s a swath of police over at Madarame’s as we speak, collecting evidence. I assume that whatever’s left will be ‘my’ stuff, and I don’t know how much that is for sure though.”

Well we can go over and check it out” Jose said, optimistically.

“I’d like that,” Yusuke said.

“Wait!” Sumire interrupted. “If the police are there, will they find the treasure?”

Everyone was alerted, as no one had thought of that. Well, aside from Yusuke. “While I don’t know what on the periphery is mine versus Madarame’s, I know for certain a few things are, and the real Sayuri is hidden among them. We should be fine.” Sumire sighed a sigh of relief.

“So, what’s gonna happen to Kosuke?” Ann asked. “The news said that Madarame had dropped all charges against him.”

Yusuke nodded. “He actually contacted me soon after that, but before we all met up here. He said he was going to move to Sendai to start over.”

“I’ve been there before for some gymnastics competitions, '' Sumire said. “It’s quite lovely.”

“But, uh, what’ll he be doin’?” Rji asked.

“Apparently, another one of Madarame’s former pupils lives there,” Yusuke said. “He’s going to move with him, and he’s talking about this with the boss of his security company for a possible transfer.”

“I see,” Ann said.

“So, what do you think about the Phantom Thieves’s popularity now that we took down another baddie?” Ryuji asked.

“Hmmm” Ren thought. “Well, I think we can get deeper into Mementos now,” she remarked. “But as for what people think, it’ll take time.”

“Huh,” Ryuji said.

“So, how does this work now?” Yusuke said. “Do you have another target in mind?”

“Not really,” Morgana said. “Finding people to change their hearts requires legwork. And there’s no guarantee that the person would have a palace.”

“Meaning he pushes that onto us” Ryuji snided.

“Hey I found one person,” Morgana said.

“By almost getting kidnapped!” Ryuji retorted.

“That’s not the point!” Morgana said.

“Morgana stays with me most of the time” Ren said, trying to cool tempers. “So while he could go off and find leads, he’s better off staying with me in case anything happens.”

“Yeah!” Morgana said, only mostly confident in himself.

“...I guess that’s fair,” Ryuji relented.

“We wouldn’t want anything to happen to you, senpai,” Sumire said, giggling. Yusuke noticed Sumire’s slight blush, but decided not to make another remark, on the chance that it would spark another awkward moment.

“So” Jose interjected, “while we’re waiting, do you want to head over to the shack to grab your things now?”

Yusuke nodded. “Unless we have other business to attend to.”

Ren shook her head. “I just wanted us to meet up to make sure the confession went smoothly.”

“I certainly think it did,” Yusuke said.

“Oh yeah” Ann said. “Did Madarame ever say anything about the people he’s worked with?” Ann said.

“Sadly no” Yusuke said. “He was more caught up in his own dealings, rather than this apparent group.”

“I see,” Ann said. Ann was shaking a little, hesitant to ask what else was on her mind. “Well, did he give a reason as to why he said he let your mom die when according to the Will Seeds he didn’t?”

Yusuke grew more serious. “No, but I’ve been thinking about that. I think it has something to do with Madarame’s vanity. He has to be the most of whatever he’s embodying. He’s either the best artist of the modern age, the most heinous man he can be, or, as evidenced by the confession, the most remorseful. Him saying he let my mom die is his way of aggrandizing his own villainy.”

“Woah,” Ryuji said. “That’s...a lot.”

“Indeed,” Yusuke said. There was an awkward silence. “Well, we should get going, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Ren said.

“Hey, maybe we can find out if the police know anything,” Jose said, shifting the conversation. “Either about Madarame’s contacts, or any possible future targets.”

“My, you’re quite the thinker,” Yusuke said. “Very well. Let’s head off. Until next time!”

“Later” Jose said. The two of them headed to Madarame’s shack. The rest headed home for the evening.

Once the police left, Yusuke and Jose messaged the group.

Yusuke: I’m afraid we’ve had no such luck.

Ryuji: Wha?

Jose: While we were with the police, we didn’t hear anything about Madarame’s contacts.

Yusuke: We did hear some mumblings about drugs getting passed around Shibuya, but that’s about it.

Jose: No name, no nothing.

Ann: Well, that kind of stinks.

Ryuji: Do you think the police might be involved with the people Madarame was talking about?

Ren: As someone who was wrongfully arrested, I wouldn’t put it past them.

Yusuke: Hmmm.

Yusuke: Well, I don’t know if it would have come up much anyway.

Yusuke: Nothing about Madarame's palace was about this cabal anyway.

Sumire: So, stealing his treasure wouldn’t reveal much about it?

Yusuke: Precisely.

“That’s not a bad call, actually,” Morgana said.

Yusuke: And if the police are in on it, that part might get swept under the rug.

Ryuji: So, we’re basically back to square one?

Ren: Not quite.

Ren: We’re still the Phantom Thieves. So long as we’re out and about, we have the power to undermine whoever is abusing the metaverse.

Ryuji: I see. So we’ll be a constant thorn in their side! I love it!

Ann: But maybe we should be careful.

Ann: I mean, if these people are causing the mental shutdowns, and possibly have the police in line, then we’re dealing with some really heavy hitters.

“That’s true…” Morgana said. “Lady Ann’s so smart.”

Ren: Morgana says you’re smart Ann.

“What?!” Morgana said, panicking.

Ann: Tell him thank you. Morgana started blushing and muttering unintelligibly.

Yusuke: While that may be true, there are a lot of people who still don’t believe in us yet.

Yusuke: I’m sure if we can play our cards right, we can use that to our advantage as well.

Ryuji: I hear that. We gotta make sure that they'll never see us comin’!

Ren: We can’t forget about Eris and her deal as well.

Ann: Right.

Jose: Isn’t Eris’s whole thing to build us up to either side with her or fight with her?

Ren: Well, yeah. But it’s still important to remember that.

Ren: Besides, Eris is the emissary of chaos. She won’t hesitate to disrupt anyone’s plans so long as it suits her needs.

Ann: Yeah.

Ann: So the best thing to do is keep a steady head.

Ren: Yeah.

Yusuke: Well, sorry we couldn’t find anything useful.

Ryuji: Nah, it’s fine. It was probably a long shot anyway.

Jose: We should head to Kosei and get you settled in.

Yusuke: You’re right.

Yusuke: Good night.

Ryuji: G’night.

Ann: Good night.

Sumire: Good night.

Ren: Good night.

Ren set her phone down and laid in her bed.

Meanwhile, at the prosecutor’s office, the woman who was intimidating Sojiro was working on a laptop. As she was, the young man in the coat came in. “Ah, Niijima-san,” he said. “Working late again, I see.”

Niijima looked up from her computer and glared at the boy. “Akechi-san. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I was just hoping for some friendly chit-chat,” Akechi responded.

Niijima continued working away. “Those Phantom Thieves stuck again.”

“I saw that,” Akechi noted. “I believe your sister was in the crowd at the Shibuya Crossing when the confession was airing.” 

Niijima glared at him once again. “Do you WANT to irritate me?”

“Not at all,” Akechi said. “Like I said, I want this to be friendly.”

Niijima continued to glare for a bit, and then relented. “So, what did you wish to discuss?”

“Well, I’m assuming that you believe that these so-called ‘Phantom Thieves’ are the ones behind the mental shutdowns,” Akechi surmised.

“I do,” Niijima answered. “The M.O. matches up.”

“Well, about that,” Akechi said. Niijima was curious. “While it’s true that the Phantom Thieves cause a change in behavior, as do the mental shutdowns, the examples we have from the Phantom Thieves don’t match the examples we have from the mental shutdown cases. Besides, why start signing their work now?”

“Maybe they think they can get away with it,'' Niijima answered.

“Well, I guess that’s one way of thinking,” Akechi said.

“And you think that these two are unrelated?” Niijima asked.

“Well, not entirely,” Akechi said. “I believe the tactic used is similar, but I think they’re being used by two different groups.”

“Hm” Niijima grunted. “No matter. Even if your hypothesis is true, it’s still worth investigating them. If they know how to operate similarly, they might have an inkling who’s behind the shutdowns.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Akechi relented. “Still, you are awfully focused on this.”

“Your point being?” Niijima snapped back.

Akechi smiled. “With such a one-track mind, you might not be able to see what’s going on elsewhere.”

Niijima glared at him once more. “You’re one to talk.”

“Harsh. But true” Akechi said. “Maybe it’s time we find some life preservers before we both drown in our work and insecurities.”

“Maybe,” Niijima said. She went back to clacking away on her laptop.

“Well, good night Niijima-san,” Akechi said.

“Good night Akechi,” Niijima replied. Akechi started leaving. Before he fully left, he looked over Niijima once more. He was concerned, but couldn’t do much. He left.

The next day, after school, the announcements came on. Principal Kobayakawa began speaking. “Ahem. Attention students of Shujin Academy. Please meet in the gym for an assembly.”

“I wonder what this is about?” Morgana pondered. Ren shrugged and headed over with the rest of her class.

When everyone assembled, Kobayakawa took the stage once more. “As you may know, recently one of our faculty was caught up in a scandal.” There was some muttering about this, mostly about the disingenuousness of the principal. “However, the school wishes for you to continue learning, and to continue to have the best possible education. So, while we are looking for a permanent staff member, someone has agreed to be the interim gym teacher here at Shujin Academy.” There were some more murmurs. “Please welcome, Coach Chika Hiraguchi!”

Kobayakawa moved away as Coach Hiraguchi took the stage. Students were confused, but clapped anyway. “Thank you, Principal Kobayakawa,'' she said. She turned to address the students. “I know how difficult things have been here recently. That is why I don’t expect to have your trust right away. However, I do wish that for the time I am here I can prove worthy of your trust. I look forward to working with you, and making sure your school life is as good as it can possibly be.” She bowed. “Thank you.” The students clapped. From some of the mumblings Ren heard, they seemed to be impressed with her professionalism.

Kobayakawa took the stage again. “Yes. And thank you, Coach Hiraguchi.” He faced the students. “Please make sure to help Coach Hiraguchi feel welcome. You are dismissed.”

After the assembly, the Shujin-based Thieves met up. “So, your gymnastics coach is teachin’ here now?” Ryuji asked.

Sumire nodded. “Remember that day the principal called me to meet with him. It was decided then. As long as she’s here, I can continue as an honors student with all that brings.”

“You feeling alright?” Ren asked.

“Yeah,” Sumire answered. She sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s nice, but… it just feels weird. It seems more and more apparent that the world is moving without Kasumi, and that…” Sumire didn't have to finish the sentence. Ren wrapped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her in, rubbing her arm in an effort to calm her down. “Thanks. … I think I’m going to go practice with Coach today.” Ren nodded and let go. Sumire headed off.

“I should go too,” Ann said. “Shiho and I made plans for some one-on-one time today.”

“Really?” Ryuji said. “Well, I can’t complain, I guess. Have fun.”

“Thanks,” Ann said. She left to meet up with Shiho.

“I should get going too,” Ryuji said. “I’ve got something I need to do. Oh, but maybe you should buy some gym clothes.” Ren was confused. “I found a good place for a workout, now that our secret area isn’t so secret anymore.”

Ren nodded. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

“OK. Thanks” Ryuji said. “Seeya!” He rushed off. Ren decided to take Ryuji up on his offer and shopped for some workout clothes. After which, she headed to one of her jobs.

As she was wandering about Tokyo, she began to notice some things. The people, the buildings, the sounds. Ren had just moved here about two months ago, but everything changed so suddenly. To her, Tokyo was starting to feel like home. Ren smiled at that notion and continued walking with a spring in her step.

[akechicrimes]

You have the best takes and I was wondering what an actual Akechi redemption would look like? Sending him to prison is a weird take I've seen considering the themes of power, corruption, and manipulation of youth, and quite frankly it's just boring and lazy from a plot/character standpoint. I imagine the first step would be talking to Futaba and Haru (and others who were affected by his actions) but I'm not sure what would happen after that.

ok firstly THANKS i do my best yellin into the tunglr void

second “Sending him to prison is a weird take I’ve seen considering the themes of power, corruption, and manipulation of youth, and quite frankly it’s just boring and lazy from a plot/character standpoint” is the SEXIEST sentence ive ever read re: goro and thank you for putting these words in this particular order i want it framed, truly it makes zero sense whatsoever

third thanks for this super duper cool question because weirdly enough i havent…………….. really thought about it before??? ive seen more than a few really interesting goro redemption arc fics but if i were gonna do one myself………………….. hmmmmmm

ok ok ok ok ok ok i will. do my best. big psuedo revisionist fanfic under cut

a redemption arc needs to address the wrongs and hurts that he’s done, as well as just generally other noxious junk. to rattle them off so we know what we’re working with, he

killed wakaba (unknown circumstances), which hurt futaba

killed okumura, which hurt haru

assisted shido in his rise to power

assisted an unknown number of other douchebags like shido in their rise to power

killed an unknown number of other douchebags

created psychotic breakdowns, involving casualties and potentially some deaths

was generally a shit on live television

lied to sae.

betrayed joker.

and from there he needs to address these in such a way that his character grows and is better for it.

simultaneously i think it’s important to weigh the opposite issues, which are the ways that akechi is either right or has a valid point, the ways that akechi has presumably been mistreated/abused by people around him, and just generally following through on seeing akechi become happier and healthier for having gone through a redemption arc. in no particular order, he:

apparently desperately craves approval/recognition from others, but not in a productive way (sorry the TV audience does not actually love you lmao!!!!!!!)

has some kind of complicated relationship with shido to say the fuckign LEAST, and i think addressing that angle of shido’s abuse is important

really suffers from his inability to be honest with just about anyone; how deeply he’s hidden his true self has not only exacerbated his loneliness, but it’s done so in a way that i think should be really understandable to any one of the thieves, who also need to hide their true selves and feelings when in public

is 100000% correct about how much shido should eat shit and die

does have a valid point about how dangerous the phantom thieves are, and, in irony of all ironies, probably is a good critic and moral barometer to make sure joker doesn’t go over any lines

is canonically the character who is most unafraid to go against joker’s orders

is smart all absolute FUCK while maintaining an attitude of FUCK COPS

so with all that in mind:

i’d say, the engine room confrontation happens as SOON as they enter shido’s palace. not necessarily specifically in the engine room, but that confrontation happens off the bat. the phantom thieves take two steps into shido’s palace and find that they can’t go anywhere–everything’s locked, or off limits, and the whole place is under more surveillance than any palace they’ve ever seen. sojiro was right when he said that shido’s paranoid as fuck.

they try to leave the palace for the day to regroup, and akechi’s there like a guard dog ready to defend shido’s psyche. why wouldn’t he be? he must have planned that perhaps the thieves would retaliate like this, whether or not joker was alive.

that whole very embarrassing breakdown happens. haru and futaba already canonically seem in favor of akechi rejoining the team, so although haru does say she won’t forgive akechi, i do think that doesn’t need to be at odds with them being in favor of him working with the team.

so, say, akechi’s on the verge of being convinced to work with the team, and he’s not necessarily all in on this whole “being alive” thing, and he’s not super convinced that he deserves redemption, but the phantom thieves really really really insisted, because the phantom thieves can and do change hearts, even when they’re not in palaces, and they’ve just changed akechi’s. 

cognitive akechi doesn’t show up because i’m using him later.

first thing: akechi, haru, and futaba need to have a talk, which is actually pretty easy and not even irrelevant. go through shido’s palace, get the letters of rec, everyone recognizes akechi. like haru in okumura’s palace, akechi’s practically their ticket into half the ship.

getting the letters of rec naturally brings up okumura and wakaba, imo, because it hammers home that these sorts of scumbags are the kinds of people that akechi was killing. and also that this is the kind of scumbag that okumura was, in life. have haru go through the five stages of grief all over again, like she did back in okumura’s palace, realizing that her father kills his own employees for the first time. have her struggle all over again to reconcile the father she loves with the father who died with the father who murdered and exploited and drove his employees to the brink of death. have akechi face that even the people he killed were people, too.

depending on your interpretation of wakaba, she was either just as corrupt OR she was genuinely a nice woman, but that can be addressed in a bunch of ways–akechi didnt know what he was doing at the time, or he totally did but didnt feel like he had any other choice–either way, some sort of contextualization of wakaba’s role in shido’s conspiracy needs to be unearthed. 

say futaba wants to know what her mother was like. say she asks akechi because akechi knew her, maybe knew wakaba better than futaba ever did, because futaba was young and also because futaba never spent a few days literally crawling through her mother’s psyche like akechi did. make akechi tell futaba about the woman he killed with his own mouth. maybe he tells her only the good parts. maybe futaba MAKES him tell her the bad parts. maybe futaba thanks him for it, and akechi figures out that an apology could never be enough.

the point, basically, is to use shido’s palace to have haru, futaba, and akechi come to terms with each other. forgiveness isnt necessarily the point–understanding is more important. haru and futaba come to understand how and why akechi did what he did, while akechi has to sit through several weeks of looking his victims in the eyeballs.

for extra bonus points of making akechi look his victims in the eyeballs, personally i think that futaba would be the most supportive of all the phantom thieves of akechi turning over a new leaf. she canonically tells him that “it doesn’t matter where you start over” and relates his struggles to her struggle to turn her own life around, and honestly i think sympathy would fuck akechi up the most.

meanwhile, in the real world, capitalize on akechi’s position: if he’s deep in shido’s conspiracy, it really only makes sense that akechi could locate the people they need rec letters from in the real world, and use that to find their cognitive equivalent in shido’s palace. show me akechi’s relationship with shido, founded on akechi trying to appease shido and trying to avoid shido’s wrath simultaneously. 

maybe shido’s closing in on the phantom thieves in the real world. he suspects that things haven’t gone according to plan. make use of the fact that shido trusts (to an extent) akechi’s word, and have akechi cover for the phantom thieves in the real world. 

maybe show me shido actively manipulating akechi with praise. show me the greys of that relationship, like how we saw madarame treat yusuke well, or saw sae at her best and worst with makoto. show me how difficult it is for akechi to continue to help the phantom thieves even while actively engaging with his own abuser.

make akechi a traitor to shido. being a traitor was his role, wasn’t it? to betray the thieves? just have him betray shido back. he’s good at being a traitor, isn’t he? akechi probably volunteers himself for the role. let him capitalize on his ability to lie and outsmart those around him. let him make it up to joker in the only way that akechi feels he can: even more lying.

get all the rec letters. akechi himself hands shido the calling card. confront shido–cognitive akechi is there and just as much of a bitch as always. show me how much disdain shido has for akechi, how little he thinks of akechi, how nasty he is–and how blindly adoring cognitive akechi is in return. it’s gross as all hell, but it’s a final nail in the coffin to haru and futaba’s grieving process, even forms some sort of solidarity. 

there’s half a second where akechi is in the position to kill shido. shido’s shadow is down, akechi’s got a gun, he could pull the trigger before anyone could stop him. futaba tells him not to. 

haru tells him that he can kill shido if he wants to.

everyone’s like HARU??? HELLO???? but haru says, as far as i’m concerned, this man is just as much my father’s murderer as akechi-kun is. if you want to, i won’t stop you. but i know that it’s harder to survive than it is to die, too.

akechi does not kill shido. they steal shido’s treasure and return to the real world.

at this point in the canon plot, yaldabaoth starts to happen really fast, but bear with me for five seconds–bring sae back on the scene. shido confesses, and akechi’s reputation goes up in smoke. people call him a fraud, people won’t stop talking about shido being his dad, akechi’s name gets dragged through the mud worse than back when the PT were at their most popular.

sae takes up prosecuting shido’s case, and akechi can’t avoid her forever when he’s supposedly a key witness. sae says, i’m going to give you one chance to explain yourself. you lied to him, you tricked me, you pretended to be my partner all that time and then ran rings around me. talk.

so akechi explains himself, even though half that stuff isnt permissible in court. he doesn’t butter her up and he doesn’t use his cutesy prince mask, and for the first time sae sees him as he really is. and sae says, those are some pretty serious offenses, akechi, what are you going to do now? 

akechi’s just gone through that whole bonding session with haru and futaba, during which akechi had to realize, ah, shit, i fucked over the lives of these two very nice girls and even inflicted the same trauma that i myself went through onto other people. so akechi tells sae, well obviously i don’t fucking know, i dont have a career, i might be expelled, and i’ve killed a shitload of people and there’s no way that i can make up for that. but if i could, i would want to do something to right the wrongs that i did–i’d want to address the murders i committed, and maybe do something to fix it.

sae says, you’re smart as all hell, what you’ve done is irrevocable, you know your way around the police and its corruption, you’re willing to do better and you know how hard doing better is going to be. i’m the same way. i might not have killed anyone, but i’ve ruined the lives of so many people in the name of my career and a distorted sense of justice. if you want to do better, i could use a person like you. what do you say that when this case is over, we become partners for real, this time?

akechi says, but sae-san, what about your reputation, what about your career, wouldn’t it be bad to have a fraud like me by your side?

sae says, i didnt have you as a partner the first time around because you were stupid. use your head, make it work, and maybe i’ll buy you sushi off the conveyor belt someday.

case number one is prosecuting the shit out of shido. sae said they’d be partners after akechi is no longer a key witness, but at this point, being a key witness is basically like being her assistant. sae’s there every step of the way while akechi gets shoved through the public wringer. i say, make him lose all his public fame and reputation and more, everything that he thought he wanted, and he come out with sae’s respect, akira’s support, and the phantom thieves on his side.

the trial starts to stall because of yaldabaoth’s influence, which then brings us to that whole reveal about yaldabaoth using akechi as well for yaldo’s own ends. yaldabaoth offers the p5 vanilla bad end, in which the phantom thieves continue on and become incredibly famous and eliminate most crime because they just change the hearts of anyone who does anything halfway wrong.

i say, let the thieves deliberate on that one. all of them, not just joker. it’s not actually a very bad deal, necessarily; it’s just vaguely skeevy and authoritarian. let’s say, akechi is the biggest opposer, and points out that if akira goes down that route, akira will be doing exactly the same thing akechi did for so long–using his power for his own self-satisfaction, power unchecked and out of control. let akechi use the fact that he’s akira’s “rival” and outspoken critic to good use. akira tells yaldo where he can stick it.

fight yaldabaoth, win. sae takes akira into custody. akechi makes good on his deal with sae, and both of them work together to use akechi’s testimony, akira’s testimony, and shido’s testimony to nail shido and clear akira’s name. 

from there, flash forward to the epilogue in the same way that it happens in canon, except akechi is now sae’s lackey and she’s overseeing his efforts to undo whatever damage he did to all the nameless people he’s hurt over the years. she’s going to become a defense attorney, and akechi’s probably going to become her assistant and later paralegal. both of them are committed to reforming the justice system for the better and addressing their past wrongs.

im actually big fucking mad at how little i had to change about persona 5 canon to make this redemption arc work. @ persona 5 royal meet me in the pit.

[yusuke-of-valla]

face down in the carpet i feel safe

Gen, but you can read Shukita

TW: cursing, bleeding, self-depricating thoughts, mind control

[A/N]: @soniagiris​ welp. I stabbed the boy.

Wordcount: 1456

AO3

-

It’s almost like being in a dream. Things seem perfectly normal while you’re sleeping, but when you wake up you can’t understand how you thought the 8 foot tall bats flying down the street made any kind of sense.

It’s so funny, Yusuke can’t help but laugh while Makoto tries to staunch the blood flowing from his abdomen.

“Diarahan! Diarahan! Fucking diarahan!”

“Stop, you’ll just tire yourself out.”

“It- this should work! Why isn’t it working?”

It’s his own fault, naturally. He was too slow. If he’d just dodged that Marin Karin, if he hadn’t missed the shadow earlier and allowed Ann to finish it off before this could happen, he wouldn’t have gotten hit, and he wouldn’t have gotten wrapped up in a world where it made perfect sense to attack Akira, and Akira wouldn’t have had to stab him to get him to stop.

“We’ll just have to get him to a hospital. Skull, grab his legs, we need to get him into the bus.”

“Alright. Ya hear that, Fox? We’re going to get you help. Just hold tight buddy.”

If he’s being honest, he deserves this. Yusuke had barely slept the night before. He’d sat in his room in the dark trying to paint, just fucking paint— he used to be good at this didn’t he? He used to be able to make art that meant something, that reached people right?— and if he could’ve just done the one damn thing he’s done his entire life, if he’d just been enough then maybe he would’ve been rested and wouldn’t have been such a failure. He wouldn’t have let his friends down and gotten used like that and-

“I think he’s hyperventilating? Should he be hyperventilating? C’mon Inari you’re not allowed to die on us!”

“Fox, can you hear us? Just focus on my voice, alright? It’ll be okay”

Nothing is remotely okay. Yusuke doesn’t know the last time he’d been “okay”, not really. There had been days where he could keep his head above water but he’s always been one mistake away from being lost beneath the waves. It’s only natural that his luck finally ran out.

“Is the wound… getting worse?”

“What?!”

“Shit, I think he’s right. It’s getting bigger.”

“How is it getting bigger?”

“I don’t know! We’ve been keeping him as steady as possible.”

There’s too much shouting. Too many bright lights, too much going on. He wants-

He wants to feel like himself again.

He wants to feel like a person instead of some useless thing that can’t even do the one thing he’s really good at.

He wants to feel stable, and like he knows what’s expected of him, and what he needs to do.

He wants to be back at Madarame’s.

He wants to not be so pathetic. That’s really the right word for it, isn’t? He’s a child trying to cling desperately to a lie.

It’s so fucking funny.

Yusuke isn’t sure if he’s laughing or crying right now.

“Panther, knock him out.”

“What?”

“Just put him to sleep! I’ll explain in a second, but I think he’s the one making it worse.”

“Alright. Carmen!”

~

Yusuke wakes up in a hospital room. He tilts his head to see Akechi in the corner, reading a book.

Yusuke considers saying something, but the thought of talking feels like too much effort so he just watches Akechi, until Akechi looks up.

“Ah. You’re awake,” Akechi says, putting the book down and taking out his phone quickly. “How are you feeling?”

Yusuke hums noncommittally. He feels like trash, but he’s not giving Akechi that ammunition.

Akechi nods. “I see.”

Suddenly, the door bursts open and the rest of the Phantom Thieves spill into the room. 

“Yusuke!” Ann gasps. 

“Holy shit dude, don’t scare us like that!” Ryuji says. He looks like he’s been crying.

Yusuke supposes he can’t keep quiet now.

“Sorry?” Yusuke says. His voice is shaky and hoarse.

“We were so scared you…” Makoto takes a deep breath, and steadies her voice. “You lost a lot of blood, and the doctors said you’ll have to be here for at least another week, but probably a little longer.”

“Oh.” is all Yusuke can say, and really isn’t that just the cherry on top? They’ll insist on putting off any future operations for his sake now. He really is useless.

“Can you guys give us some alone time?” Akira asks. The others share a look, Futaba especially looks like she wants to protest, but eventually they all leave the room. Akira pulls up a chair closer to Yusuke, and sits down.

“Sorry for stabbing you.” Akira says.

“It was mostly my fault.” Yusuke replies.

Akira stares at him, and Yusuke isn’t sure he’s ever seen their leader truly at a loss for words. Akira’s been known to pause sometimes, to think over the best thing to say, but Yusuke’s never seen him look like this.

“I know what you’re going to say.” Yusuke says.

“You do?”

“I’ll accept my removal from the Phantom Thieves graciously, you don’t need to worry.” Akira’s eyes widen, and Yusuke tries to keep his composure. Of course this would happen, he messed up, he caused problems, which means he’s out. There’s no use keeping around someone who can’t pull their weight.

“Yusuke, no.” Akira says. “I would never dream of kicking you out, why would you even-” Akira takes a deep breath. “Alright, I can guess why, but still. That’s not true. What I was going to say was, after I stabbed you, the wound didn’t close up, no matter what we tried. And Akechi said that maybe the problem was your cognition.” Akira bites his lip. “Like, you didn’t want to be healed, or you didn’t think you should be.”

Yusuke turns away so that he’s not looking into Akira’s eyes anymore. “I… suppose my thinking was along the lines of ‘I failed, so I deserve it’,” he mutters.

“Yusuke… you didn’t fail. It was just an accident, it happens to the best of us.”

“When the others get brainwashed, they're not relentless to the point that you’re forced to stab them to get them to stop.” Because if there’s one thing Yusuke’s always been good at, it’s doing what he’s told. He’d gone after Akira with aplomb, had his hands around their leader’s neck and squeezed until Akira was forced to lash out and-

“That wasn’t you failing.”

“Then what is?” Yusuke snaps. What does he mean that wasn’t a failure? Yusuke nearly killed him, then he worried everyone because Yusuke apparently can’t be healed, so now he’s a liability in battle and-

Yusuke wants to scream. Akira is too nice. He’s never bothered by anything Yusuke does and Yusuke’s sick of it. Someone is always bothered by something Yusuke does, Yusuke can’t not fuck up somehow. Eventually he crosses one of the ten billion invisible lines that everyone but him seems to know, so why won’t Akira just tell him which ones to avoid? Why does he have to keep insisting there isn’t a point when Yusuke won’t be enough?

“Nothing.” Akira says firmly. 

“That isn’t true.”

“Yes it is.”

Yusuke rolls his eyes. “Akira, that’s absolute nonsense. There has to be a line. I could get Futaba killed. I could reveal your secrets, I could-”

“But you wouldn’t.” Akira insists. 

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. I trust you Yusuke.” Akira places a hand on Yusuke’s. “Please, trust yourself. Trust that you are doing the best you can do right now, trust that you don’t have to force yourself to be better, and trust that you’re not falling short of some sort of cosmic prerequisite for people to care about you.”

“You are a magnificent liar, Akira.” Yusuke says, drawing his hand away.

“I’m not lying.” Akira says. “Yusuke please look at me.” Begrudgingly, he does, and Akira takes off his glasses and meets Yusuke’s eyes. 

“Yusuke, I promise you, there is no way you could fail me, or any of the others in a way that would make us leave. You’re not going to be thrown away the second you’re no longer useful, alright?”

Yusuke nods. 

“And I am going to keep telling you that until you believe me. The others too.” Akira says.

Akira’s words hang in the air, and Yusuke...

A part of him wants to believe Akira.

Another part reminds him of the last time Yusuke desperately wanted to believe someone.

“Can you please go?” Yusuke mutters. “I’d like to take a nap.”

Akira stares at him, and for a split second Yusuke thinks that Akira will say no, and demand his attention, but eventually Akira nods. “Yeah, sure. We’ll be here when you wake up.

[raguna-blade]

So thinking bout persona, which as far as this blog is concerned is basically all I do, and I got to thinking.

So the Metaverse/Mementos, Shadow Time/Tartarus and The World in the Tv/Midnight Channel are all basically the same thing right? Not PRECISELY the same thing, but the overlap is immense and real. I'd be willing to bet that the various spinoff games Including Q and such would also count towards this in that they're kinda worlds in the sea of the Unconscious (and with at least Two Users of the Universe Arcana sleeping to keep the world secure right now, who knows what weird funky things are going on there.)

But they're generally the same thing, and part of the rules that are generally established have to deal with perception and one and all seem to exist as a rule in weird liminal spaces.

Forgive for innaccuracies it's been a while for P3 and P4, but with that out of the way.

Tartarus is a transformation of a school, and has strict limitations on how long it is active (not unlike a school really) and not only that is made up of discretely aesthetic but also very uniform locations. The Persona Users only have their one Extra Hour to make their way through (or at least in story that should be the case) and reach their final destination.

Tartarus is, without question, one of the most confusing nosense places because of course it extends up and up and up some 300 floors (apparently) which is weird, but what's perhaps weirder, at least in context of the Persona 3-5 Series of games is that there isn't really an effect upon the users precisely. Oh to be sure it effects people, it changes them into coffins which, considering the Tower's Purpose and all makes sense. The place is all about death and that great change, and the way that persona are summoned via Evoker I suppose would explain their not being coffins. There's an awareness of death there I suppose, and so an additional awareness of this special time given.

Ok. Cool.

The Midnight Channel though, it's a world more or less made up of the endless distorting fog, which alters shape to take the form of those who fall into it's greatest fears and concerns writ large and obnoxious, seemingly in an effort to have them confront themselves. At least, in theory, once the fog lifts, but formed in such a way that almost seems tailor made to have people freak the absolute hell out.

And of course, the place it exists/accessed is a television, turned off at midnight which, frankly is a pretty strange space if you're expecting anything to show up on it, or rather expecting NOTHING to show up on it right?

Everything blown up the way that it is, it makes sense that the world is endlessly foggy, not as stable as it initially appears, and all that, but as to the persona users themselves, they're...more or less just as they are. They're granted glasses by Teddie that allow them to see better, but they are otherwise not fundamentally changed.

Which...Leads us to Mementos. A Place that is explained as not only a direct connect to the sea of the unconscious, a rather different statement from the other major locales even if they too are a direct connection, but it also...changes the persona users.

The liminal space (and this is, I think admittedly, somewhat of a stretch) is more or less just any old random place, but you, distinctly, not a part of it. Well, that's the metaverse as a whole, but Mementos itself is a train station, which tracks as far as I understand the subject. It's a place of coming going, and just an endless sea of people who you really are just kind of one of.

But...Why does it change them so much? It's explained that the form that the phantom thieves take is their form of rebellion against the world. Very literally, the manifestation of their Rebellion (Of which Their Transformed Selves are paired with their Persona's with whom they made a contract).

Alright, that tracks, it's consistent to an extent, but this raises the question of why don't we see that in the other shadow worlds? Part of that, I've said before, is Because I think the Phantom Thieves are more or less playing at their Shadows as opposed to the other Persona Teams. The Shadows that We see in Persona 4 seem to be in line with what we're seeing in the Phantom Thieves, in that they are the version of their relevant person pushed to their extremes and distorted, pushed into a state of otherness for one reason or another.

Not all of them get fancy duds of course, and certainly that's at least as much because of the circumstances of their Shadow's formation (with them being dropped into the situation fully conscious as opposed to just kinda dropped int), as well as the nature and degree of their alienation. I expect that for those who didn't quite get the full transformation, they didn't quite feel that degree of alienation that you see in everyone else that develops a Full Dramatic Shadow.

Or perhaps another way to say it is, their personal view of themselves had yet to become distorted in any major way just yet.

Now the Investigation team get's to reintegrate into the world so their degree of isolation never get's to develop but it's worth pointing out that in the case of the Thieves that...doesn't actually happen.

Without fail, they're still outcasts one and all, if now outcasts that now cling together in friendship love and understanding of their circumstances.

But...

I don't know how to phrase this, but I suppose by the line of logic that I'm following here, the Phantom Thieves never quite Cohere as a group.

Like I recall hearing some folks talking about how the games seem to kinda abandon some of the character's personal plot points in rapid succession to focus on different issues, especially seen in their social links. Like the one that immediately pops to mind is Anne and Shiho and the hot nonsense that happens to them early on. Her social link instead of dealing with that at all beyond briefly touching on it as a thing that did happen, focuses instead on her modeling career, and a degree of taking that more seriously.

Which I agree is kinda bullshit. I'd love to know more about how Haru is dealing with the fallout of her dad beyond the lightish touch it gets, or more about Yusuke's relationship with his shitty dad, or more about Makoto's relationship with her sister and her parents and the like.

See, these things aren't NOT touched on, by no means. Haru's entire social link DOES deal with the fallout of her dad's death...In relation to the Company that she now holds a massive share of and not precisely related to her personally.

But they aren't really a thing that the Thieves, as a group, actually touch on. It's not a thing that get's directly dealt with constantly in the storyline as opposed to what goes down in Sees which is damnably intimate despite their initial desires. They do after all live together, and their job has just thoroughly run in and kicked them in the teeth on every front.

Hell, despite how uh...well badly(?) but definitely at least clumsily and obnoxiously (I am assuming, for a moment it's supposed to be awkward and kinda just...not great, for effect. It probably wasn't, but it's what we got, and at the very least I think it deserves an examination in that light.) The Issues that plague the Investigation squad one and all come up constantly. Kanji's issues with masculinity/homosexuality, Naoto's problems with gender/gender roles, Yukiko's princess status, Teddies Emptiness and attempts to fill that void, etc etc. It get's played with, rather directly, it get's shouted from the mountain tops, and for all that people very definitely fuck up and say some shit (Yosuke) this stuff comes up, and frequently I think.

But not with the Phantom Thieves. They're in fact, extremely guarded with each other, despite being on the same side and all that jazz.

Which leads me to Maruki, and the True End antics.

Cause see, Maruki also get's a Rebellion outift. It's not thief themed, no, it's more a kind of messiah. Or rather, A torch bearer. Whatever his means, his objective is and always was to lead people to being happier and better versions of themselves, although It's plainly obvious that he loses sight of doing that well with the method he chooses given how it's a thing that applies the same cure to every single person when that obviously wouldn't be a good idea.

Sumire says it herself, If not for him there's a good chance that she wouldn't have lasted long enough to make friends as is. And I don't think she's wrong considering how....well absolutely fucking done she was. That was not a healthy mental state that she was in BEFORE her sister died, and it wasn't much better after.

More importantly though, is what happens during that Third Semester. With the Third Persona's that everyone gained, every single one, WITHOUT FAIL, addresses the major concerns, the major events that they've all been staunchly ignoring and refusing to talk about. Ryuji's track desires, Haru's dad pain, Morgana's still burning desire to be human, all of it.

And he fixes it, and he makes, at least for a little bit, better. And in doing so, he absolutely changes the course of their lives, let's them see the way things COULD be, actually sit down and acknowledge one more part of themselves that they want to achieve, and in doing so unmasks, without fail, literally every single one of their persona's.

Well, I say unmask, but they also obviously have face coverings still going on or a degree of inorganic/ambiguous heads and faces, but the degree of difference is stark I think between that and their second persona's or their first.

Also, at least, if you actually bother to max out the social links, and just let someone actually IN, such as it is.

But back to Maruki, it's actually rather interesting that his Metaverse Outfit arguably makes him the HARDEST to identify of everyone. Yeah it's a big golden outfit with an obnoxiously huge helmet and cloak but...

The Helmet is far more interesting to look at than the person wearing it, and even looking at his face it's only really recognizable as him if you can get a clean side view. The Outfits is bright and Golden, but is otherwise unidentfiable if someone else were to be wearing it. The Cloak further makes it harder to see anything between being huge, fluttery, and covering basically anything of note body wise (and potentially facially since it again just flutters all over) In addition to his staff/torch it's...

If we're going through the Shadow Cosplay as looking at the person in questions distorted view of themselves, It's interesting that Maruki's distortion basically does everything in it's power to make him a non entity. Which, I suppose makes sense given his ultimately goal.