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somethingpersonarelated · 1 year ago

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On simplifying Akechi

My brain was ridden with these ideas people have about Akechi that piss me off a little. Mostly ones that say he is "just crazy" or "just hates Joker." There's countless metaposts countering these arguments (and they are absolutely wonderful) but I often wonder WHY simplifying Akechi down is so appealing, even to people who are fans of his character. I can't say I've never been immune to simplifications of his character either, and I feel like that's important to admit. I don't even think it's necessarily a bad thing, but I was wondering about that why question.

TW: Discussions of mental health and child abuse

Source: A high schooler's holiday from the P5 Comic Anthology (read it here!)

I do think it's hard for all of the little things Akechi's character builds upon to be conveyed through a single playthrough. If you go in blind or don't finish his confidant, you may only get that surface level exploration of his character. Base Akechi is flashy and still gets the point across that it needs to: he's a foil to Joker and the PTs. However, by missing out on his social links and special events, you miss cultural, relationship, and personal context.

Many words have been said about the translation, particularly in the engine room, being faulty in areas. But some people still don't understand that Akechi's plan isn't to kill Shido, even when the text makes that clear. There's also this scene with Shido, which reads more as an exposition dump in a long section of the game most players will either tune out or skip. Not everything you see will always stick in your head, and Persona is a LONG game. I feel like it's easy to forget people just... forget canon sometimes. It's easier to put these details aside and say Akechi isn't affected by the system he's raised in. But the reality is, you miss what Lavenza says about Akechi's role, you miss that one exposition scene, and you miss the confidant: you believe Akechi had much more autonomy than was actually true. In conversations I've had with people IRL about Persona, 2/3 either skipped or did not finish Akechi's confidant. It isn't improbable, playtimes can range from 100-300 hours, most playthroughs take weeks. People will forget things. It isn't a maybe, it WILL happen.

When the game feeds you so much information, it's also easier to take what the characters say at face value. Doing this with Akechi will bite your ass. Those words in Rank 8 are directly expanded upon in No More What Ifs, the engine room, and 2/2. Maruki and Morgana confirm Akechi doesn't hate Joker, but you never hear Akechi say it himself. To me the game beats you over the head with this information (as the game has a tendency to do for certain situations), but I've also been in the rabbit hole for over a year now.

There's also this idea that recognizing that Akechi was set up by Yaldabaoth, his upbringing, and Shido means that all the venom is taken away from his actions. That isn't true, and Akechi holds to that in third semester. He doesn't give himself any grace for the situation he landed in, wanting to take accountability for it when it is undone without his consent. Akechi is by no means a perfect victim, and he doesn't believe that either. Recognizing that he had no choice, it was either homelessness and neglect or the plan he conjured himself only brings to light the tragedy of his situation, not whether his actions were morally incorrect. He wanted his father to be in his life, and he wanted his father to suffer. He wanted to have someone like Ren in his life, and he couldn't have someone like Ren because his plan would be jeopardized. It's a series of choices, some of which are forced upon him, some of which he chooses himself. That is an important distinction to make.

There's also this idea that Akechi is 'just crazy,' or never suffered from abuse or events that affected him long term. That he doesn't suffer from unspecified mental health conditions or trauma, and chose everything with a clear mind. When someone brings up this argument, it's usually in response to people talking about his life experiences. That somehow, the existence of trauma or a condition is an excuse for whatever he did. There's a double standard here: Akechi is someone who suffers from a condition that makes him 'plain crazy', simplifying his entire motivation and role in the story, while also removing him from the context of his mother, Shido, and his experience with the foster system. Actually interacting with these facets of his character brings to light the challenging things the story asks you to think about when it comes to Akechi: Is he a victim? Is he like the Phantom Thieves? What about his situation informed his choices? Interacting with this requires effort and an actual acknowledgement about what it means to be someone that suffers from trauma. Calling him 'plain crazy' not only is in disservice of textual analysis, but more importantly incorrect (and frankly, it falls straight into ableist tropes about mental health).

Sometimes internet debates/discourse lead to simplification, even just random headcanons may lead to simplification. That isn't always bad. There are many ways to say what I said here in fewer words. I, unfortunately, am not skilled enough to do that. But some of these simplifications lead to entirely incorrect judgements about a character, or even about mental health issues. When that happens, I wish people would learn to reflect about what that means when they interact with a piece of media. Or even with other people.

tldr: people should learn to say they just don't like things instead of coming up with excuses that make no sense. basically

#p5 #p5 meta #goro akechi #p5 discourse #p5r #p5 spoilers #thinking-emoji #a rant i am so sorry

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phantom-chirp · 27 days ago

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I don't know if I plan to do anything more with this concept in my AU because I don't know if I want to directly have characters from the different games interact outside of whatever canon does with that concept maybe (haven't played any of the spin offs), but because of how I view both Naoto and Akechi in my AU I find it interesting to think about the idea of Naoto at least directly acknowledging Akechi's disappearance post-P5R

In my AU, Naoto gets brought up a few times directly during conversations Akechi and Ren have for a few different reasons, and Ren's eventually able to pick up on Akechi having a genuine positive view of Naoto. I imagine it would bring up a lot of emotions for Ren to see Naoto talking about Akechi being missing post-game with genuine care. I would imagine Naoto has a good understanding of the sensationalization that the media is doing whenever Akechi being missing is brought up, with there being little to no genuine seeming coverage. The general public doesn't truly care about Akechi as a person, they only care about him as the Detective Prince, or even just as an interesting story to pass the time. Naoto's willing to call this out, his own experiences as a Detective Prince and dealing with everything that happened because of any fame that came with that making him feel like he has something meaningful to say here. I think Ren, still very much grieving and trying to work through everything that happened with Akechi over the events of the game, would feel a lot of things hearing someone else express genuine concern and care for Akechi, especially Naoto of all people, when anyone else in the media who he's seen talk about him treats his disappearance more as entertainment or as a quick way to generate some attention by randomly going "Hey do you remember that this famous guy is missing?" and talking about whatever common theories would exist. Naoto never personally knew Akechi, so it's not the same as someone caring about him despite knowing his true self, but it's 100× better then most of the stuff Ren sees talking about Akechi, so it feels comforting in a way, but it's also painful

Since Akechi is alive post-game in my AU, I imagine Akechi himself seeing that would impact him a lot as well. I don't think he would fully accept it per se, as Akechi definitely struggles with accepting that some people genuinely care about him, but it would mean something to hear someone he looks up to talking about him like that. Naoto mentions something like "it's very likely Goro Akechi has real people in his life who worry about his safety. Not his fans, but family or friends who know him as a person." and it makes Akechi think about Ren, and it makes guilt about keeping his survival a secret bubble up along with a million other feelings. Akechi knows that it's for the best that he stays away though. He's able to convince himself of that at least

#he/him naoto #the intent of this post got away from me a bit because i started rambling a little #but the main thing is i really like thinking about both naoto and akechi in my persona au and connecting them in the narrative #i see two characters who have the same title and go “is anyone going to overthink that”#persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona 4 #persona 4 golden #goro akechi #ren amamiya #akira kurusu #naoto shirogane #persona 5 spoilers #persona 5 royal spoilers #shuake #kindaaaaa?#sure

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icespur · 1 year ago

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DadGoro Navigator Quotes Help

5/2: update: replaced some paragraphs with the originals in my Google Doc, Including some example quotes I came up with

originally I had a concept I was going to post about "Teen Akeshu Daughter from the future gets sent to the past during P5R", but I got preoccupied.

She tries to play matchmaker to get Akiren and Akechi on the right path. But she also can't risk revealing who she is, Akechi and Akiren don't know what to think of her. To them, she comes across as an unhinged Akechi fan that ships him with the Phantom Thief Leader for some reason, and is from the future, and looks like a mix of both of them if they squint real hard.

Akechi especially finds her irritating, and finds her very selective sharing of who she is very suspicious, and isn't buying her surname being “Akagi”. His detective senses are ringing like sirens that “🚨 THIS FUTURISTIC BITCH IS SUSPICIOUS AS FUCK! SHE’S CLEARLY NOT BEING TRUTHFUL IN THE SLIGHTEST, DO NOT TRUST, ALSO HIGHLY ANNOYING AND EVASIVE, MUST KEEP WATCH OF SUSPICIOUS TEENAGER! 🚨

So when Komari joins the Phantom Thieves in battle, and the rare instance where Akechi briefly takes over as Navigator, he especially makes his irritation of her known and just how much he doesn't give a shit what happens to her in battle.

("Akagi" is her "undercover" surname)

“Akagi-san’s health is down. Heal her I guess~”

“What a tragedy, Akagi-san has perished.”

“Oh, Akagi-san is fully healed and ready to continue to grace us with her presence~”

“Akagi-san has been incapacitated. Can't say I'm surprised.”

But once he finds out she's his future daughter—-

Granted,the fact that he’s destined to eventually have intercourse that leads to knocking up his rival is—-alot to take in—-. but this is his daughter. His future flesh and blood, he—oh he feels like such a piece of shit 🤦. Curse his trust issues and natural skepticism, he was a fucking dick, how is he going to fix this?

The “Daughter Reveal” makes him take a 180 in his behavior towards her. Something just clicks and “Fuck this annoying suspicious little shit.” Turns into “I've only known Komari for a couple of months, but if anything were to happen to her, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.” With zero warning.

I am thou,

thou art I,

Protective Dad Akechi has awakened!

Komari becomes number 1 priority in battle, and he’ll freak out if she gets injured or inflicted with an ailment. He demands Joker to immediately help her like the whole world will implode in on itself if he doesn't. Other teammates or enemy strengths and weaknesses be damned, Komari is important.

and this shows especially in battle.

The first time Komari gets severely injured in battle, Akechi practically teleports to her side and catches her in his arms. “JOKER, YOU BETTER HAVE A FULL HEAL ITEM ON HAND, USE ONE OF THOSE WEIRD DRUGS FROM TAKEMI-SENSEI YOU BOUGHT, HURRY! YOU'RE NOT LOOKING FAST ENOUGH YOU ONLY HAVE TWO POCKETS IN THAT COAT, HOW COULD YOU MISPLACE IT?! THE LONGER YOU TAKE FAILING TO FIND IT THE CLOSER MARI-CHAN GETS TO THE AFTERLIFE, ARE YOU THIS UNPREPARED AND USELESS WHEN THE REST OF YOUR TEAM IS IN DANGER?!”

“You stay with me, don't you dare close those eyes, you are not dying on us. You're strong, you can get through this—-JOKER, HURRY THE FUCK UP!”

Tears streaming down face while still yelling “PAPA’S HERE, I’M NOT LEAVING YOU, once your IDIOTIC FATHER finally heals you you’ll be all better.”

In the scenario where Komari and another party member is low on health, Akechi ignores them.

Ryuji speaks up faintly “Uh, hey. Hate to interrupt your guys' very understandable panic–but any chance you could throw me a full heal too?”

Akechi growls back “Walk it off, Sakamoto-kun, this isn’t about you!”

Just----the complete 180 from:

"Oh, what an absolute tragedy, Akagi-San has died, tip your masks in respect everyone. She will be sorely missed, if only we had a revival on hand~"

To:

"MY BABY!

JOKER, GET THE REVIVAL ITEM, HEAL HER, HURRY HURRY, GET IT OUT FASTER, OUR PRINCESS IS FADING, ARE YOU THIS USELESS WHEN YOUR OTHER TEAMMATES ARE IN NEED OF HEALING?!

when infected with ailment, Akechi and Joker immediately tag team her with the feather fans to bitch slap the ailment away.

Akechi or Joker always perform a followup attack when she's having her turn in battle.

After a successful battle and if Komari's Persona levels up and gains a new ability, the in-game dialogue would be Proud Dad Akechi complimenting and drawing attention to it. Pretty much a more aggressive version of Prince attire Akechi leveling up. “Everyone, look! I gained a new ability. :) “

A couple example dialogues I came up with:

“Hey, everyone pay attention, what, were you all raised in a barn? Mari-chan gained a new ability.”

“JOKER LOOK!---” Physically forces Joker's head to face Komari and her Persona (Even though he was already looking). “MARI GAINED A NEW ABILITY! HER STATS WENT UP AND EVERYTHING, SHE’S GETTING SO STRONG, MAYBE EVEN STRONGER THAN US, WE CREATED SUCH AN UNSTOPPABLE BADASS YOUNG LADY AIIISTRHGHGJFGHSSGNSKJS.”

“I’m already looking.”

“THEN FUCKING SAY SOMETHING, NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE SELECTIVELY MUTE!”

.............

“My future princess is turning more and more into a powerful badass with every new ability 🥲🥹. Ahem I mean—-oh, Komari-chan earned a new skill, ooo, that’s a good one.”

..............

“AHAHA! NOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR ENEMIES QUIVER BEFORE YOU EVEN MORE! MAKE US PROUD.”

................

Then, a friend mentioned dialogue for other battle actions like Baton Pass and Ailments that I didn't even think of!

So I'm going to have you fellow Akeshu fans participate because I'm having trouble coming up with more Proud Dad Akechi dialogue.

Write some dialogue reactions for Akechi if his and Akiren's daughter was a playable party member.

(you don't have to fill out all these sections. Just, if you come up with a line for one of the below actions, reply or reblog with it and once I get enough participants I'll make another post.

Akechi/Crow: passes Baton to Komari:

Crow/Black Mask response to Komari Attack Quotes:

Komari Dodges Attack:

Komari Downs an enemy:

Double Enemy Down:

Down all enemies:

Defeats an enemy:

Defeats two enemies:

Defeats last Enemy:

Attack miss or Skill miss:

HP at 25% at start of turn:

Affected by Tarunda/Attack Decrease:

Affected by Rakunda/Defense Decrease:

Affected by Sukunda/Speed Decrease:

Suffering from Shock:

Suffering from Freeze:

Suffering from Brainwash:

Suffering from Despair:

Suffering from Forget:

Suffering from Confuse:

Suffering from Rage:

Downed:

Recovers from being downed:

Incapacitated:

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sunriseinorbit · 4 months ago

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intro post ♡

hi! i'm hannah (she/her, 25) and i live in the midwest usa! this is my main blog (i've been here for over a decade and i gave up on keeping up sideblogs many many years ago) so you'll find a bit of everything. abandon hope all ye who enter here.

i post a lot about video games, especially sonic the hedgehog, persona, ace attorney, and zero escape/aitsf! i am extremely normal about mia fey and goro akechi i promise :)

i also love music (my favorite artists are phoebe bridgers and clairo) and i will gladly welcome any artist/album recommendations at any time

i'm a fic writer who has been posting on ao3 for more than 10 years! (but i also work full-time so i post sporadically at best) here are some of my recent/ongoing works:

it's like i can feel time moving (ace attorney, gen, t, oneshot, 3.7k -- being in your mid-20s is suffering featuring ema skye and mia fey, also past lanamia)

you keep me still (ace attorney, miego, e, oneshot, 8.3k -- an ode to my one true love, the porn with feelings tag. and also diego getting tied up.)

whatever the mess you are, you're mine (okay) (ace attorney, miego, t, oneshot, 3.8k -- post 3-4, getting together)

smoke signals (persona 5, shuake, e, ongoing, 56k/7 chapters -- post third semester missed deadline ending)

(keep in mind that some many of my fics are nsfw, and i'll be posting links here, but any snippets i post will be suggestive at most.)

my inbox is open for headcanons, song recs, whatever, i promise i don't bite!

socials/other places to find me

twitter | bluesky (i am never active on here but just in case that changes here it is)

ao3 | spotify | letterboxd | backloggd

if you see hannahsflahnnels somewhere on the internet, it is probably me! (including discord, and you're welcome to add me there, but just send me a dm here when you do so i know who you are lol)

#intro post

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the12thnightproject · 1 year ago

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Chapter 46: Divergent: Katsu and Toshiie reconnect, while Mitsuhide gives Katsu a field promotion.

Mitsuhide x OC; Hideyoshi x MC (Mai)

All Chapters Archived on Ao3

Logline - With Mai, Hideyoshi, and Aki missing, Mitsuhide and Katsuko reluctantly team up. Disguised as a merchant and his concubine, can they outsmart the man known as the God of Deceit?

As Toshiie continued to level his best glare at Mitsuhide, well… my first impulse had been to laugh. I didn’t laugh, of course, and squashed the giggles before they could reach my mouth. The idea of my clumsy brother picking up a sword to duel the cool elegant Mitsuhide seemed a recipe for self-inflicted injury. When the initial humor faded away, anger jumped in to replace it. “You knew that I was in Sakai… and you didn’t come to find me?”

“If I might offer an explanation –.” Mitsuhide began, before the second half of the realization hit me.

“And you! You knew my brother was here and you didn’t tell me either?” Someone was going to be sleeping alone tonight.

“May I continue, Brat?” At my shrug, Mitsuhide raised a questioning eyebrow at Toshiie, who also seemed to be inclined to let him keep talking. “Might I first point out that you never mentioned your brother’s name?”

I hadn’t? I thought back… I might not have.

“It didn’t occur to me that I had met your brother until after you returned to your original time.” When Toshiie startled at that, Mitsuhide nodded to acknowledge he was aware we were from the future. “Katsu, Toshiie was the healer who treated you when you were in the accident. Why he chose not to disclose the connection and not to return to see you is something that you need to discuss with him.”

When I turned to look at Toshiie, who hung his head, Mitsuhide again took control of the conversation, this time by removing the wig to reveal his natural silvery hair. “Before you two talk though, I must introduce myself to you, Master Toshiie. My name is not Kyubei, its Akechi Mitsuhide. When your sister and I were here earlier this summer, we were pretending to be a merchant and his concubine.” Even though Toshiie bristled like an angry cat, Mitsuhide strolled to my side, picked up my hand and kissed it. “My brilliant fiancée was kind enough to agree to the charade in order to help me locate a kidnapped Oda princess.”

As Toshiie edged down from DEFCON one status, I gave Mitsuhide a look. Ok, he technically hadn’t lied, aside from claiming that we were engaged, but I still was going to have to expand on the story to Toshiie… hang on. I slapped Toshiie’s arm “You didn’t visit me because you thought I was a prostitute?” Way to be sex positive… not.

Toshiie threw his hands up in the air and looked to Mitsuhide, apparently now deciding that hewas the good cop, and I was the hard ass. Mitsuhide simply bowed. “Dear me, it appears that the two of you need some time alone to sort through matters.” He kissed my cheek, and then whisked himself downstairs, where I expected he would probably get a lesson in all kinds of nasty potions.

Who am I kidding? He had probably crept back up the stairs and was listening in. I mean…. I would have.

“I thought he was holding you against your will.” Toshiie glanced toward the stairway. “He seems nice though.”

“He’s not nice… but he is kind. Nice would bore me.” Since Toshiie didn’t respond to that, and had instead fallen into awkward silence, I gestured at the walls. “Is this your building?”

The response to that question was bitter laughter, a sound that seemed out of place coming from my brother. “No, I work for the herbalist in exchange for room and board.” He seemed not to know what to do with his hands, and so, taking pity on him, I asked for tea, even though I was not thirsty.

While he bustled around the irori, I took a closer look around his quarters. His place was small – there was no upper floor above us, so all he had was a cooking area and a main room. A futon was folded neatly in the corner, with two cushions sitting on top of that, but there wasn’t very much in the way of décor.

It was such a huge departure from his room in modern Japan, which had always been full of art posters, brightly colored textiles, and piles (literally piles) of books and graphic novels, that I realized my brother had become a completely new person. One I would have to get to know from scratch. Well… I suppose it was the same with me. I was not the same directionless adrenaline chaser I had been in my adolescence.

Once the tealeaves were steeping, Toshiie grabbed the cushions from the futon and placed them on the floor on either side of a tray table. I knelt across from him and waited for him to begin his story.

…

When a couple minutes had passed with him doing nothing but stare uncomfortably into his teacup, I finally decided to prompt him with a little bit of interrogation. “Would you rather start at what happened the day we got here? Or fast forward to the day you found me and didn’t stick around for me to wake up.”

“Wow. Harsh… But I guess I deserved that.” He still wouldn’t look at me. “Last fall… I was in a bad way. I um, drank. All the time.”

"The first night I was injured. I don’t recall much, but I do recall hearing a flute. That was you, wasn’t it?"

Mitsuhide inclined his head. "The healer mentioned you might find it soothing."

"Where is this healer now? Did he not come back after the first time?" It was strange to hear about a doctor who popped in once but didn’t come back to check on a patient. Maybe he needed to be sent for.

"From what Shojumaru has told me, the man is brilliant but rarely sober." As if to illustrate the point, Mitsuhide poured himself a cup of tea, rather than breaking out his sake. "As long as you appeared to be incrementally improving, I thought it not necessary to further test his sobriety."

Calling on the spirit of my moderately awesome ninja pal, I kept my face as impassive as possible.

“And I thought I had nothing to offer… that you would hate what I had become. I needed to clean up first.” He clenched his hands so tightly that his knuckles paled in the effort.

“I wouldn’t have cared. I mean… well, I would have worried a lot, but I wouldn’t have ever hated you.” Although I might have done my best to stage an intervention… which probably wouldn’t be possible in a place where the rice wine was sometimes safer to drink than water. “I just wanted my brother back. I’ve been looking for you – that is one of the reasons I became a courier to begin with. To find you.” I paused a moment, then prompted by honesty, I added, “Well, that and I hated being a housemaid.”

“Until I saw you with Kyu- er, with Mitsuhide, I thought you were dead. Eaten by a bear.” His fingers played absently with a rough chip in the side of the teacup.

Eaten by a … what?

“A bear?” There was nothing I could do after hearing that except laugh. “I’m sorry,” I said when I caught his hurt expression. “I know you must have been devastated when you heard that, it’s just… I’ve never gotten close enough to a bear to even be bitten by one, let alone become a bear meal. They don’t eat people. They’re more scared of us than we are of them.”

At that point, there was only one thing to do, and that was to hug him and pat his back and he tensed and shuddered a few times. “I’m sorry. You must have felt so lost.”

Belatedly, I wondered whether Aki’s gruff, slightly distant affection had indeed been exactly what I needed. After my first few weeks of culture shock, and reluctant acceptance that yes, I was stuck 450 years in the past, my entire motivation had been focused on physically and mentally becoming the best scout/ messenger possible. I had thrived on the challenge, more than I ever would have on any challenge I had faced in modern Japan.

“I thought it was my fault. I was the one who suggested we go to the shrine that day, and then when we were attacked, I couldn’t protect you.” His face was still buried in my shoulder, and I could feel his tension through his entire body.

“You wouldn’t have had to suggest it if you weren’t so worried about me, but… it would never have mattered. They would have figured out how to get us here no matter what.” Ok, that last bit was still a theory, but given the whole Aki situation, I think we were both supposed to be here.

He pulled back, and now his expression was one of curiosity. “What do you mean?”

“It’s a long story… but I want to hear about you first.” I figured Toshiie needed to unload and get everything out. Bringing up Aki right now would just derail all that. “All I knew, or at least what I thought I knew, was that you were on a ship of some sort.”

“We’re going to need more tea.” He poured out another serving. “That’s right. I was on a ship. We'd been at sea about six weeks," he made a disgusted face, "when we encountered a rogue wave that damaged the mast. The ship limped into Sakai for repairs and in the confusion, I escaped… and well, I guess they probably didn’t look too much for me. I was an awful sailor. They were getting tired of stepping in my vomit… and when they asked me to clean it up myself… well, I just got sick again.”

Yeah, that tracked. Toshiie always had had terrible motion sickness. “I didn’t have any money though and for a long time I just existed by helping out in a noodle place. Chopping and stuff. Putting those medical skills to good use. And then I actually did put my skills to use when the restaurant owner cut himself and I stitched up the wound… did you know that they’d never heard of sutures here?”

In fact, I was aware of that, having witnessed my share of battles from the sidelines, but I didn’t want to stop his flow so I simply raised my eyebrows to get him to keep going.

“Anyway, every so often I would do some actual medical work and after a while people started coming to me when they were injured or sick. The herbalist downstairs thought it would be a good business decision to have me up here, so it is kind of a trade. However, he takes most of what people give me for the care.” He gestured around the sparse room and at his worn clothing. “Hence.”

Ugh really? And I had smiled politely at the man when we came in? “That’s not fair!”

“It … is though. I might have not spent it wisely anyway.” He left that open for interpretation, but I got the inference. “I haven’t been very proactive about this… career. Or really bothered to do much in the way of advancing my knowledge.” He sighed. “At first the drinking was just to help the sea sickness.”

“And that helped… how?” Wouldn’t that have made it worse?

As if no years had passed, my twin was able to glean my thoughts again. “You’re thinking it might have made it worse… but I already felt so miserably sick, that at least at some point I wanted not to care about it. Besides, you should have seen the quality of the water on board. You do not want to know what I found floating in one of the barrels.”

Ew… I could imagine.

He turned serious again. “Once I was off the ship… it made things seem less awful.” I stretched out my hands to him and he took them. “I didn’t want to live… but after what mom did, I couldn’t kill myself either.” His grip tightened on me. “When I saw you alive, I finally had a reason to change.”

He … should have changed for himself. I didn’t want to be anyone’s reason or purpose (too much pressure), but now wasn’t the time for that. “And … did you… change?”

A rather strained smile crossed his face, and I could see that there were dark unhealthy circles under his eyes, but his next words were from the old Toshiie, my sarcastic twin. “Cold turkey, baby. It… sucked, but having knowledge of herbal teas helped get me through the worst of the symptoms.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help.” Because there were no more words to say, I pulled him into a hug, and as he once had done when our mother died, he sobbed on my shoulder. Toshiie always had felt things more deeply and fiercely than… no, maybe that wasn’t true. His way of dealing with pain was different from mine. His outlet was emotion; mine had always been activity – to push my body until I couldn’t think.

Neither way was better or worse… they… just were.

After his emotional storm passed, he got up and pulled the teakettle off the irori. It had been steaming and spitting for a while now. He’d be lucky if there was any hot water left. While he made yet another pot of tea (well… he was probably still flushing poison from his system) I gave him the highlights of my past seven years, doing my best to get to this summer where I knew I would need to selectively edit information to match up to Mitsuhide’s story. “After Aki disappeared, Mitsuhide and I partnered up – “

“So you weren’t his fiancée?” Toshiie, of course leaped on that inconsistency, seeming (of course) very interested in my relationship with Mitsuhide.

“At the time it was more of a business partnership…”

“Heavens, wherever did you get the idea that I was offering you a partnership? You will be working for me, and you will do exactly as I say.” Before I could tell him where he could put his job offer (such as it was), he continued. “Don’t look so mutinous, Brat. Am I wrong in thinking that this was exactly the scheme you were planning with this man-” he nodded toward Francisco, “-as your conspirator? And would you agree that I would be far more competent in the role than a man who was not able to appear at the auction in time to rescue you from danger?” In spite of, or more simply to humor, Francisco, Mitsuhide sent a friendly smile in his direction.

Again, yes. Mitsuhide and his mouth full of teeth would be an upgrade in that regard. If I continued with Plan A. However, I could move directly to Plan B – finding and working for this Shojumaru – without taking a partner. Especially one who would-

“I rather think your rejection of me, while somewhat personally hurtful,” he dramatically placed his hand over his heart, and directed an over-the-top lovelorn glance at me, “lies in the fact that unlike your language-deficient friend, I would exert control over your somewhat impetuous behavior.”

“My rejection, as you put it, lies in the fact that I don’t want to work for you. I don’t want to work with you. I don’t want to spend any time in the same room with you.”

“OW!”

A punch on my arm startled me out of my reminiscence. Toshiie grinned at me. “Look at you, with that goofy smile on your face. You liked him even then. My little sister in love. Never thought I would see the day.”

Ooof. Goofy smile? Mitsuhide probably heard that. Oh boy. I was going to be teased for that for certain. “It was only after I got hurt that the two of us realized how we felt about each other… but Toshiie, I haven’t yet told you… it turns out that Aki is our father… he’s from some time in the future…. I mean the future of our future. If we hadn’t gone through the wormhole then, we might have ended up here at some point anyway.”

There was a long silence while Toshiie digested all that. “Wow. That’s some serious sci-fi stuff. I love it... Our bio dad, huh? What’s he like?”

“Gruff. Distant. But… I always knew he cared about me. Before learning he was our father, I would have said that I loved him as a father figure. My Obi Wan. Now… it’s all mixed up because of the multiverse … on man, I haven’t even explained that part of it yet.” Toshiie was looking at me with four parts fascination and one part incredulity. “We live in a multiverse, and you and I have alternate selves. There is only Aki, but lots of us, and in another timeline, I met my alternate – as well as your children. I met them. Nao and Mayumi. They’re pretty good kids. Nao likes to climb things.”

“Huh. Kids.” He smiled. “I don’t know why that helps. But it does. I feel less cursed.”

Well. That was good… but it made me wonder. My life, and Katsuko’s life and apparently my unmet alternate Okatsu’s life had turned out all right. Maybe the mysterious ninja self was good too.

But… were there timelines where we were not ok? Where things had gone as badly for us as they had for Toshiie in this timeline?

“Brat, I don’t recall you mentioning that you met an alternate version of yourself.” After spending most of the evening at Toshiie’s, Mitsuhide and I had returned to the machiya, eaten a light snack, and were now getting ready for bed. I’d hoped he’d missed that part of the conversation… but Mitsuhide misses nothing.

“Hah. I knew you were listening in.” His re-entry into Toshiie’s rooms had been suspiciously well timed to the end of my conversation with my brother, and his welcome interruption into what had been an awkward conversational lull had diverted the rest of the evening into a getting to know you session between the two most important men in my life. Under Mitsuhide’s acting of a fervent lover (and probably also under the spell of those cheekbones) Toshiie’s stiffness had melted away. By the end of the night, he’d agreed to Mitsuhide’s proposal to move to Azuchi.

“I was, and you would have done the same.”

Ok, that’s fair.

True, I had indeed expected him to listen in… but it had been difficult enough just to pitch my edited tale toward Toshiie. I’d decided I would just deal with the eavesdropper later.

Now, it was later… and I still hadn’t figured out how to handle any potential questions. Divert, divert, divert! I gestured to the parcel he’d brought back from the herbalist. “Did you buy something?”

“A little of this, a little of that.” He set a few paper-sealed packets up on the shelf where he kept the oil and incense. Then he turned around and gave me one of those looks. The look that seared into my soul and set my nerve endings buzzing. That prickly feeling… but now that I knew what it meant it was less frightening. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Ok… maybe a little bit frightening. But in a good way.

I knelt on a cushion, folded my hands piously, and gave him an innocent look.

Eyebrow raise.

Letting my fingers trail across the smooth straw of the tatami mat, I tried to ground myself. “It’s nothing really.”

Grounding would have been more effective if my kitsune hadn’t simply picked me up and tossed me onto the bed. He crawled on top of me and kissed the underside of my chin, his tongue flicking out to caress my throat. “You do remember I have my ways of making you talk… and moan… and scream.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you watch those old melodrama – oh!” He was already nibbling his way along my throat, moving leisurely up to my ear. I wiggled in anticipation of what would come next.

“You are avoiding the question.” That wicked smile told me he was having fun questioning me… and that he wouldn’t stop until he got an answer.

And, I suppose, that avoiding it would only make the revelation seem bigger than it actually was. “It’s really not that important. My alternate self is in love with Shingen.” When he frowned at that, I added, “but having met them both, the only way I could manage not to be weird about meeting another me was to think of her as my older sister, and as such, he will always be another brother in my eyes.”

Before he could respond, I hugged him closer. “Thank you for finding my brother. And for having someone watch over him.” I had not missed the nod that Mitsuhide had given to a man sitting across the road from the herbalist’s storefront. “It was the best grand romantic gesture a woman could ever dream of receiving.”

Well, that and travelling through time to find me.

There was silence for a moment, but I wasn’t expecting him to answer. Mitsuhide had as much trouble acknowledging a thank-you as he used to with accepting pleasure. Therefore, I was surprised when he very quietly whispered, “you are very welcome.”

“I’m glad he decided to come back with us. I mean, sure Kyoto isn’t that far from Azuchi, but it will be nice to see him every day…” Hm. That did remind me of one other white lie he had told my brother. “Although he’s going to figure out pretty soon that I’m not your fiancée.”

“He will not, because you are in fact my fiancée.” While I was still processing that matter of fact statement, Mitsuhide took advantage of my silence by kissing me thoroughly that most of my consciousness jumped the track to yes there, move closer, why are we both still dressed.

When my brain cells finally took control again… “I don’t recall there being a marriage proposal-“

“Consider it a permanent extension of our contract.” He propped himself up on one arm and smiled down at me, his fingers drawing little circles on my stomach.

“You know I’ll stay by your side without marriage. I’m more than happy as your lover.” Marriage had never been part of my dreams. “It’s not necessary.”

“You misunderstand. It is very necessary to my continued happiness that you become my wife. Until that blissful moment occurs, I intend to at least use the term ‘my fiancée’ on a daily basis.” He leaned down and placed a slow gentle kiss on my lips, one of reverence, one that said what his words could not. Then, he pulled away, and with that smirk, he added, “After all, do you not want to marry the man who can, to quote your brother, put that goofy smile on your face?”

I knew that was going to come back to haunt me.

@lorei-writes @bestbryn @selenacosmic @tele86 @lyds323 @akitsuneswife

#10things #10 things I hate about Mitsuhide #ikemen sengoku #fanfic #mitsuhide akechi #ikesen mitsuhide #oc katsuko #katsuverse #mitsuhide monday

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crystallinekai · 10 months ago

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ShuAke Childhood Friends(?) to Rival Lovers AU

(I'm posting this headcanon here so I can reblog onto my P5 roleplay blog~ 💃🏽 Also, I have not written anything headcanon related in ages so please bear with me.)

Goro and Akira met at a Japanese equivalent of a daycare at the age of 5 years old while Akira was 3 years old. Akira was already there, playing with some blocks, when he saw a shy Goro enter while clinging to his mother. Goro's mother was explaining her situation, a lot of words that Akira couldn't understand. Something about money and how she needed Goro to stay here during the daytime while she's at work. The employee quickly assured the woman, making her relax before she signed some registration papers.

Akira had no idea what was going on as he couldnt take his eyes off of Goro. The other boy piqued Akira's interest even before he glanced his way. It was more of a glare he received while he clung to his mother tighter. It seemed like the woman noticed and she saw Akira looking in their direction. She smiled at him, finished signing the forms and placing a payment. She walked over to Akira while Goro trailed closely behind her, still glaring at the boy. The lovely woman introduced her son to Akira and hoped they will be good friends to which Akira cheerfully promised, "We will!"

And while Goro and Akira had became friends, there was a tiny bit of a rivalry going on. Akira thought it was a game, but Goro was serious. Their competition would stem from who can put the toys up faster or who can count the highest. That one was a little unfair for Akira who was three. One of their odd competitions led to Akira crying and it made Goro feel bad. So he promised to bring some candy tomorrow as a way to call a truce and make it up to Akira. It was silly, but they ended up bonding more after that particular incident. They spent a lot of time together before one of them had to go home each day. Their friendship was pure happiness for over a year.

Until one day, Goro hadn't come back to daycare one day. And one day turned to two. Then three. Before Akira was even aware, a week went by with no sign of Goro. He was sad. And then, it was Akira's turn to move away. He was due to start primary school soon and with his parent's line of work, they had to move to a different city.

He hadn't seen Goro Akechi again since. Akira was heartbroken and he didn't understand why.

About 13 years went by and a series of events happened then turned his life upside down. Getting arrested and slapped with a false assault charge landed him in a different prefecture and school.

Imagine Akira's surprise when he met Akechi on a social studies trip with his school. He felt a sense of familiarity from Akechi which made him feel a bit nostalgic and also like something that was previously missing had fell into place. He had met his old friend again, but unfortunately, they were on opposite sides. Akechi was a famous ace detective while Akira was a Phantom Thief. Akira knew needed to be careful around him yet, he was eager to spend time with Akechi and make up for lost time. Akira found himself wanting to talk to Akechi once they exchanged contact information often and they did. Then they hung out in a few spots including frequenting Cafe Leblanc, the bathhouse in Yongen-Jaya and spending time at the Cafe or Club in Kichijoji. They gravitated to each other when their schedules happened to line up, talking about their past and sometimes exchanging opinions on the Phantom Thieves. Akira found himself looking forward to every hangout between them and deepening their bond. And he fell hard for Akechi.

Which was why the betrayal from Akechi had been expected, it still hurt his heart. He thought of their talks while he was in hiding for the next month, still yearning to hear Akechi's voice on the other line if he called or see his name come up in his messages. All was quiet until the moment they had crossed paths again in Shido's palace. Akechi revealed to Akira he hated him ever since they were kids, mostly out of anger and frustration about him being surrounded by everyone while Akechi had been alone and cast aside. The words were said, but that wasn't how Akechi had felt. Akechi actually loved Akira too. Even Akira's friends could see that. They fought each other and brought Akechi to his knees. Akira offered for Akechi to join yhem again to take down Shido together when the Cognitive Goro Akechi appeared, gun in hand and pointed it at the real Akechi. Akechi gave Akira one last look and said, "If only we had met sooner..." Which Akira was about to reply before the steel gate separated them and a single gunshot was heard. His heart shattered when Akira heard Futaba confirm she couldn't see Akechi's signal anymore.

The fight with Shido was difficult and he avenged the boy he loved while making Shido atone for everything. The change of heart was a success. Akira lamented to Morgana on how he was unable to save Goro. He was mourning the loss of someone dear to him and had been dear to him since they had first met.

Eventually, Akira had to turn himself in as he had promised to Sae Niijima. His initial charges from Shido had been cleared. He served his time in juvenile detention because no one can overlook the fact he is the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Akira accepted that easily than when he had to accept that Goro wasn't alive. He still had the glove Akechi gave to him. Thankfully, that hadn't been confiscated when he was first arrested.

Akira returned to his life outside of juvenile detention after his time served. His friends rejoiced in having him back. He was glad to be with them. However, Akira knew one more person should be here. He still waited for his phone call or even a text.

It was when Akira was watching the shop shortly after White Day was when he heard the door open. Akira greeted the customer as normal before getting a good look at him and froze. Those familiar brown eyes with a unique reddish hue to them, the chestnut brown hair and his beautiful face. He was here. Goro was here, alive in Leblanc. The one word, a name was all Akira managed to say when he locked eyes with the other man:

"Akechi."

end

#persona 5 #persona 5 royal #shuake #goro akechi #akira kurusu #;;ship headcanons #This could be a drabble or something? I don't know but it's been tickling the brain all day #Finally have some peace to be able to write it out #Thanks to my main (and favorite) roleplay partner for inspiring me to write this~#I hope she likes this ♡#Also i wasn't going to post this on twitter #Too much of a pain lol #I took some creative liberties in canon events to avoid some hangout spoilers #Oh I did tag p5r as I had played that and for tagging organization purposes #But this takes place directly after the vanilla content in the game #I don't feel like typing out the weird time we spent dealing with Maruki’s delulu land xD #Anyway I love shuake~ ♡

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lilac-melody · 2 years ago

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Fantasia LOVE&KISS Special Short Story

I'm not a professional translator so take this all with a grain of salt!! If you spot any mistakes, feel free to DM me.

You can read it yourself here.

Thank you!!

Aizou and Yujiro, the two members of the high school idol unit LIPxLIP, have finally announced their first attempt at a musical, and tickets were now on sale.

It was a popular topic among fans, with the expectations rising. And while it was exciting, the pressure was also quite high. After all, it was the first time for both of them to play a role on stage.

Yujiro had been practicing since he was a child because of his family's past, and had studied acting since then, as back then, it had been his dream to stand on the stage. However, it is also the first time for Yujiro to perform on a theater stage, and a musical stage at that.

Aizou was no different, having only played the role of a prince in a certain MV but otherwise having no experience as an actor. He struggled to keep up with the rest of the cast and was clearing his assignments day by day.

Neither of them had been able to attend school very much during these days because they had been busy in the practice room from the early morning until late at night, practicing their acting, singing and dancing lessons. It was hard to find time for their studies.

However, they were still students and regardless of the fact that they had good grades and could easily catch up, they couldn't afford to miss so much school.

Aizou arrived at school for the first time in several days, and after the morning class, he left the classroom and headed for the staff room, where his homeroom teacher, Akechi, had asked him to meet him in.

Akechi, who was working on his computer, started talking to Aizou as soon as he arrived. As expected, it was about the lack of attendance.

"I've heard about the situation from the office, and I've told the other teachers about it. I know that both of you have good grades, so I'm sure you'll be fine, but make sure you only attend make-up classes." Was what he said.

When Aizou received a printout with the schedule, he noticed that most of the days off from work and practice were completely clashed with each other.

Akechi glanced over at him, turning his body to face him. "You...can't get time off, can you?" His words were concerned, even if he asked it in a casual manner, and his tone was unassuming.

He also explained the situation to the other subject teachers about this make-up class, and they bowed down to him to make time for a special make-up class.

"It's just until the end of the stage play. I honestly can't take a break," Aizou said. Even on his days off, he felt as though he was going to lose focus and still practiced reading his script and the songs and dances on his own.

It wasn't as though he didn't get tired, it was just similar to a live performance, so Aizou was already used to it.

He felt a knob poke his forehead and looked up, seeing Akechi holding out a lollipop to him.

"Make sure you're resting properly. Get a good night's sleep tonight."

(What are you, my mom?)

Aizou almost laughed out loud as he accepted the candy from him. "Yeah. Thanks." And then he remembered something. "Ah, sensei. Is Yujiro here too?"

"Hm? Wasn't he going to take up kyudo?"

"No? I haven't heard anything about that," Aizou almost rolled his eyes.

"Really? He was carrying an archery book around and asked me if the school had an kyudo club, so I assumed he was interested." Akechi turned his chair around and faced his computer.

His lunch seemed to be a sandwich placed next to his keyboard. It was a thick-sliced beef cutlet sandwich, a rare item that can only be found occasionally at the Sakuragaoka High School market. It was placed casually by his coffee.

"It's probably for his role in the play," Aizou commented. His character used a bow and arrow.

The musical they were performing in was set in a fantasy world, and was a story about two traveling heroes who slay a dragon. Aizou's weapon was a thin sword called a rapier, and Yujiro's was a bow called a longbow.

Since there are not many places to test them out, he wanted to try archery instead, no doubt for the role.

"Sensei, does our school have a Japanese archery club?" Since neither Aizou or Yujiro were in any clubs, they didn't have much knowledge on what clubs there were.

"I see...it's for the play," Akechi muttered to himself, before speaking out loud. "No. This school doesn't have an archery range. Are you two off this Saturday?"

"Yeah...I think so," Aizou recalled the schedule. It would seem they'd have to do make-up classes that day.

"Then after your lessons, you should clear your schedule. Tell Someya about it too."

"Huh? Why?"

"For a special extracurricular lesson," Akechi was smiling at him like he had something planned, while Aizou stared at him in confusion.

He left the staff room with his eyebrows furrowed, wondering what it all meant.

There were girls in the corridor, who spotted him. "Aahh! It's Aizou-kun! Kyaaaa!" They ran away quickly.

(What am I, a lion?)

Aizou sighed and peeled the wrapper off of the lollipop that Akechi gave him, pushing it into his mouth. Moments later, he gagged.

(Why the hell is it mustard flavored?!)

After make-up lessons on Saturday, Aizou and Yujiro headed for the parking lot behind the school, as instructed by Akechi. There weren't any students nearby, so they didn't stick out.

(And if Akechi gives me any candy, I absolutely won't eat it!!)

Aizou gripped his bag in determination. He would need to warn his partner if Akechi took any candy out.

Yujiro stared at him in confusion. "Why do you look constipated?"

"I'm taking a lot of precautions...because he's dangerous."

"Hm." Yujiro looked back at his phone with clear disinterest. Before long, a car stopped in front of both of them, with Akechi rolling his window down.

"Both of you, get in."

Aizou and Yujiro glanced at each other, but climbed into the back seat of his car, and saw another student sitting in the passenger seat of the car. It was Yamamoto Koudai, a student who was one year their senior.

"Hey. Nice to see you today." He said.

"Eh? Yamamoto-senpai? What are you doing here?"

Koudai held his camera up. "I was hoping to get your permission to do an interview for the school paper. I'm going to be including it in a special issue in the near future."

This also meant that the special lessons had been approved by the office.

"Are you guys hungry? I brought lunch," Akechi reached back, holding out a paper bag to them.

"Thank you very much." Both boys said. They peeked inside the bag and saw various buns and drinks from a nearby bakery, though they all looked sweet.

Koudai, up front, already secured a croquette bun.

"Let's get going then," Akechi began to drive.

Yujiro didn't hesitate to pick up a chocolate cornet and some cocoa. He saw Aizou glance at him, and held them closer to himself.

"What? I'm not sharing with you." He said while holding them tightly, as if he were protecting them.

(I don't want them...)

Aizou reached into the bag at random, pulling out a cream bun, he was about to open it, but then stopped himself.

(No, wait...Akechi-sensei bought this for me...)

It looked like a cream bun, but the filling might be made of mustard.

As Aizou cautiously checked, Yujiro sipped at his cocoa.

"Sensei, where are we going today?"

(Yeah, I'd like to know too!)

Neither of them were told where they were going. Akechi rested his elbow on the edge of the window, with his other hand on the steering wheel. He was driving slowly, as if he was practicing driving safely. That, or maybe Aizou was just used to being in Manager Uchida's car while she drove a bit recklessly.

"I know where an archery range is located. It's a little far though."

Yujiro looked at him in surprise. He had expressed his interest in it and likely hadn't expected that the teacher would take him there.

When they arrived at their destination, they got out of the car. He saw a martial arts building with black roof tiles and white exterior walls standing at the end of the parking lot. Akechi entered through the entrance and told the receptionist in the lobby what he wanted.

An elderly man in a brown cardigan soon emerged from the back office. He was wearing a black sleeveless vest, so Aizou guessed he was an office clerk. As he stared, Akechi bowed deeply to the man.

"Yatake-sensei. It's been a while."

"Akechi-kun, you're looking well," The man, Yatake, smiled and raised a hand. From his casual tone, Aizou supposed that the two knew each other well. "I'm looking forward to working with you two today."

Aizou quickly bowed his head as Akechi held firm. Yujiro also immediately bowed his head.

"We look forward to working with you!"

"Yes, now, who was it who wanted to learn kyudo?"

"It's me," Yujiro said, raising his hand.

"Then come on and go change your clothes."

Yatake looked into the office. "Tsujima-san, you have a kyudo uniform, right? Will you go get it for him?"

A woman's voice resonated from the office. "Yes sir!"

When Yujiro came out wearing his kyudo uniform, Yatake lead him down the hallway, with Aizou, Akechi and Koudai following.

After explaining how to handle the equipment and precautions, Yujiro began to start learning some basic movements. Aizou and Akechi watched from a distance while Koudai snapped some pictures. He'll probably take a lot and sort them out later.

Yatake then helps correct Yujiro's elbow height as he readies his bow. Afterwards, he walked towards Aizou and Akechi.

"How's he doing?" Akechi asked.

"His posture is very good. Has he done any other forms of martial arts before?" Yatake asked with a smile.

"No, but I've heard he's practiced dance."

"Ah, I see. That makes sense."

While listening to them, Aizou stared at Yujiro, who was practicing. He had the same serious look on his face that he always had when practicing.

(I mean, did I really have to come? Just Yujiro would have been fine...)

If all he was going to be doing was watching him, then there was no point in being there. Just as he thought so, the doors slammed open.

"Where are the people who want to learn kendo?!" A man in a kendo uniform asked loudly. Yujiro, who had been practicing, got startled and froze, his eyes widening.

"Ah, right here," Akechi grabbed Aizou's wrist and made him raise his hand.

(.......Eh?)

While Aizou stood in shock, Koudai aimed his camera at Aizou, and he heard the sound of him taking a photo.

(I didn't hear about this at all!!!)

Aizou was soon given a kendo uniform, protective gear, and shoved into a locker room. Though, unlike Yujiro, he had no idea how to put his uniform on.

As he struggled, the kendo instructor told him that he was "late", and hurried him along, before dragging him to the kendo hall.

"Now strike from anywhere!" The instructor shouted, holding out his shinai.

(That's what he says..!)

Aizou, with the spirit of a bear in the mountains, didn't dare take another step forward, knowing the shinai would swing and hit his head.

"What's wrong with you? You wouldn't even beat your weaker self!"

Aizou quickly blocked the instructor's shinai with his own, but was then easily pushed aside and landed on his back.

"Ouch!"

"Look at your slumped back! Is that all you got?!"

Aizou clenched his teeth, grabbing his shinai that was on the ground.

(I'm not going to let this get me down..!!)

Aizou slowly stood up with the strength in his knees and readied his shinai. "Ha!" But before he could do anything, the instructor's shinai smacked his head with a smash.

"Ouch!"

"You weren't ready!"

(This is why I don't want to get involved with Akechi-sensei! I'm sure to be in trouble!)

Aizou silently vowed never to take candy from Akechi or get in a car with him ever again.

"Come and get me, brat!"

"B-brat?!" While Aizou was startled, the shinai swung forward and smacked his face again. He was an amateur, but the instructor didn't seem willing to pull his punches. His relentless attacks were enough to bring tears to his eyes.

(How is this supposed to help my performance?!)

"You're getting pummeled! Come on, hit me, brat! Be bold!"

(I have no choice but to show him the true spirit of an idol..!)

Aizou readied his shinai, glaring harshly at the instructor. He did a side step, then quickly lunged forward...only to immediately get smacked in the torso with the shinai.

"Ouch!"

"What was that weird crab move? What kind of crab are you?!"

(I'm not a crab!)

After a long, torturous session, Aizou returned to the archery range. His entire body was sore.

Aizou thought Yujiro would be finished with his practice by now, but it seemed that his practice was still going on. Yujiro stood at the archery range, aiming straight at the target. He had been practicing for about two hours now, but he was looking good with the bow in his hands.

"You're doing good...you should hit the target," Yatake was muttering, looking satisfied.

Yujiro shot the arrow with a look of concentration. He kept his posture as the arrow flew through the air. Koudai continued to take pictures.

The arrow hit the target, just as Yatake said. The corners of Yujiro's lips lifted up into a small smile.

It was after five o clock when they both finished training, cleaned up and changed their clothes, and left the martial arts hall. Yatake came to see them off.

"Thank you for teaching them today."

Following Akechi's lead, Aizou, Yujiro, and Koudai all bowed their heads. "Thank you very much!"

Yatake smiled and patted Akechi on the shoulder. "Take care of yourself, Akechi-kun, and come see me again."

"Yes...you take care of yourself too, sensei."

After bowing once more, the four headed to the parking lot.

"...So how was it over there?" Yujiro asked, looking over at Aizou.

"Don't ask." Aizou said flatly as Koudai stood to the side, listening to their conversation.

"I got some pretty good pictures."

"Yamamoto-senpai, did you watch me too?"

"It's an interview for the both of you," Koudai replied happily...which meant he saw and photographed that unattractive mess.

Aizou slapped his hand over his face and sighed.

"Was it really so hard? Kendo practice, I mean."

"I mean, it wasn't really hard, but it was the first time I was called a brat," Aizou frowned as he recalled the training. Yujiro's eyes widened, and he covered his mouth with a laugh.

"A brat..?!"

"It was a mess there, unlike your practice."

"Normal people don't usually say that so quickly. What did you do?"

"I don't know."

"Pfft...ahahahahahaha!" Yujiro started laughing, unable to hold back anymore. His hands flew to his stomach as he doubled over.

"You don't have to laugh so hard!" Aizou's face turned red, only to hear the sound of a photo being taken.

Both Aizou and Yujiro turned towards Koudai at the same time, only to see Koudai smiling at them.

"This is a good shot."

"Th-th-that isn't a good shot, Yamamoto-senpai!"

"...You just caught me off guard."

"Okay, you three. Just get in the car so that we can all go home," Akechi said as he opened the driver's door.

The three of them glanced back at each other, then quickly got into the car.

Yujiro, apparently wiped out, fell asleep in the backseat of the car. Aizou, who was sitting next to him, glanced at Akechi.

"Hey, Akechi-sensei? Did Yatake-sensei teach you archery?"

"No. That was my high school literature teacher," Akechi answered. Koudai, who was in the passenger's seat, also looked at Akechi in interest. "I heard that he'd already retired and was teaching kyudo there, so I got in touch with him. If it wasn't for something like this, I wouldn't have gotten in touch with him."

"So he's the former teacher of our teacher, Akechi-sensei." Koudai said.

"Well, yeah," Akechi chuckled.

Outside, the sun had set and raindrops started to hit the window.

"If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be a literature teacher as I am now...back then, I didn't understand the point of doing literature..." Akechi seemed to be mumbling to himself.

"So why did you decide to become a literature teacher?" Aizou leaned forward and asked. There was a slight pause before Akechi responded, staring at the raindrops with a nostalgic expression.

"...Yatake-sensei once told us in class that literature is the thoughts of people who were alive at that time and place, and that they are proof that they existed. Hearing that, I thought that leaving something behind and passing it on to the next person must be meaningful, and could be my role."

Both Aizou and Koudai listened to him, as if reliving his memory.

"...That's why," Akechi's tone returned to it's usual aloof tone, and said no more.

Yujiro, who should have been sleeping, was awake before Aizou knew it and stared ahead stoically.

(Proof of our existence...)

He was sure the stage play they were going to be on was going to be like that too.

They didn't want anyone to forget they were there.

They wanted to remain in peoples hearts deeply, forever.

They will put everything they have and do their best to engrave proof that they were alive and that they existed there.

That was the way of life that he and Yujiro chose.

#shibasaki aizou #someya yuujirou #akechi saku #yamamoto koudai #lipxlip #honeyworks #confession executive committee #heroine tarumono/heroines run the show #lisians translations

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a-nick · 5 months ago

Text

The Final Heist: Chapter 3

The streets were large and empty as far as the eye could see, the group traversing them tirelessly. Joker had begun walking backwards on his heels, likely an attempt at self soothing entertainment. The only thing notable for miles was a large building off in the distance. Said building had spotlights shining upon it and advertisements hung on the outer walls. Since the building was so far off in the distance, the advertisements were impossible to make out. The only thing easily deducible about it was that it was a theater of some kind.

"We've either found ourselves in Palace, Kingdom, or Jail," Morgana thought aloud. "But Kingdoms have a distinct feeling from the usual Metaverse, so I think we can at least rule that one out."

Joker backwards paced to face Morgana head on, "so we're either looking at a Palace or a Jail." Taking advantage of his turned around position, Joker looked at their surroundings. "But I haven't seen any desires being stolen, so..."

"By rule of extermination, it'd have to be a Palace," Makoto finished for him.

While the conclusion made sense, Morgana didn't feel fully satisfied with the answer. "True... But judging by our track record, this could also be something entirely new. Not to mention..." Like before, all eyes were now on Akechi.

"My presence here," said the detective flatly. Either due annoyance or lack of self awareness, Akechi completely avoided the gazes of the group. Joker had a feeling it was probably both.

"Could that mean Dr. Maruki is involved again?" Sumire inquired. She knew the doctor had good intentions, but after everything that happened with her sister... She shuttered at the thought.

"No, we thoroughly put him in his place. I believe this to be something else."

While Makoto had doubts about Akechi's presence, she'd be in denial if she ignored his deductive skills. Sure, some of his cases may have been fraudulent. But Makoto knew he had the skills to back his previous title up. "Then what is it?" She asked.

"If I knew, don't you think I would have told you already?" Ever since dropping his detective prince persona, Akechi had a venomous edge to his voice. One that was still present here.

Morgana crossed his little arms, one of his eyes raised. "It's not like you haven't lied to us in the past."

"Well, I'm not lying to you now. And whether you like it or not, you'll just have to trust me on that."

Sophia popped up next to Akechi, slipping next to the detective's side. "I believe you!" She said, an aura of absolutely positivity to her.

Joker nodded, "as do I."

Akechi only glared at the leader of the Phantom Thieves, "you would."

"I believe him too!" This time it was Sumire who said that.

Morgana, Makoto, and Haru all just exchanged looks of skepticism. But they were outnumbered here; they just had to trust him. At least for now...

While the Thieves conversed, a shadow snuck among their ranks. Joker, being the only one turned around was the first to see it. "Guys, behind you!" He alerted. He rose a hand to his face, victoriously pulling his mask off he shouted, "Arsene!" But... Nothing. Joker fumbled back in utter shock and disbelief. The grand being did not make its appearance whatsoever. He clutched his chest, a strange feeling of emptiness suddenly made itself apparent inside him. "What..." He gritted.

More shadows showed up and finally the other Thieves picked up on what was going on. All of them missed Joker's fumblings, all except, "Joker, are you okay?" Asked Morgana.

Joker shook his head, "Don't worry, I'm fine," he told both Morgana and himself. Joker desperately searched deep inside himself, hoping to find SOMETHING. And though it was faint, he did upon something. His eyes began to glow a faint orange, and out came "Alice!" And out came the persona of a deceivngly innocent girl. So Joker at least had his other Personas. That was a relief. But still, Arsene was gone. Not like Arsene hadn't been gone in the past. But this was different; Joker couldn't feel him at ALL.

As more shadows appeared, Joker knew this wasn't the time to think about this. However, the Thieves situation had begun to look grim. Shadows surrounded them, enough to back the seven Thieves into a corner. But as if it was a scripted event, a loud voice announced "THE CALVARY HAS ARRIVED," it was Ryuji and the remaining Thieves.

"There you guys are, we've been looking all over for you!" Came Ann's voice.

Morgana jumped up and down on his little paws. "Panther! You're a sight for sore eyes!"

"Dude, she's not the only one here!" Ryuji griped. Despite getting better over the past years, Morgana would still fall into his old "Lady Ann" habits.

"Wow, I didn't know there were THIS many other Thieves," Toshiro Kasukabe curiously wondered. Joker knew the other Thieves would likely make an appearance, but he was surprised to see the politician make an appearance as well. He was even more surprised to see Erina standing next to him.

Zenkichi, who thought he'd met all the Thieves at this point, was finding himself agreeing with Toshiro. Both Sumire and Akechi were completely unfamiliar faces to him. "Me either, but we best take care of these shadows before we go over introductions." Zenkichi released his pistols once more. With multiple shots, he took down many shadows with ease.

"We'll take care of these shadows lickity split!" Joker heard Futaba's familiar voice call into his ear. Her persona granted the young teen the ability to communicate with the other Thieves with ease.

"Most certainly!" Agreed Yusuke as he sliced through shadows left and right.

To make for a swift fight, people split off to use their personal skills more efficiently. Ryuji, Yusuke, Zenkichi, Haru, and Makoto for example, would take out the small-fry shadows in hoards. While people like Erina, Ann, and Sumire used their nimble skills to pick off shadows from the shadows. Joker and Akechi were able to dabble in both fighting styles, often switching between the two. Sophia and Morgana, while being able to contribute physically, took a major focus on healing. And finally, Futaba and Toshiro aided in the technical aspects, guiding the team through use of tactics.

With 14 Thieves all working together harmoniously, the fight was perfectly efficient. It took no time for the Phantom Thieves to make quick work of these shadows. "I think that's the last of 'em," Ryuji said as he propped his nail bat on his shoulder.

Haru made a similar pose, propping her axe on her shoulder. Admittedly, her version of the position was more danty and polite. Ironic considering she probably shed more blood than the bottle blond. "Great job, everybody!" She cheered, acting innocent of the crimes she'd just committed.

"Looks like everyone's here," Joker couldn't help but smile. It was nice to be surrounded by all these people again.

"Renren, my dude, I had no idea you were in Tokyo!" Ryuji went in to hug Joker. A hug which Joker reciprocated. Joker decided against mentioning that he texted the group chat, it was probably redundant at this point anyway. He was just glad that he could be here with everyone now.

Ann went in for the hug too, but a certain someone caused her to go dead in her tracks. It was Akechi. "You..."

Clearly annoyed, Akechi dramatically threw his hands up in the air. "Yes, yes, 'me'. Let's just get all the gawking out of the way, shall we? I'm tired of dealing with it."

"Prickly as ever..." mumbled Futaba.

Ryuji loudly added, "and still an ass," to Futaba's statement.

Zenkichi only felt more out of the loop by the minute. As the Thieves got more chummy with one and other, he just began to feel lost. "'As ever', insinuates he's not new around here. So yet another thief I haven't met, you guys mind getting the introductions rolling?"

"Right," Joker hummed, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. "Where to start..."

"But us core Thieves do not need introductions, correct?" Yusuke inquired.

Morgana nodded, a nod so hard, he bounced up and down on his toes. "Yep! Use core Thieves have experienced every misadventure! That just leaves..." turning on his little paws, Morgana faced Akechi, Sumire, Sophia, Zenkichi, Erina, and Toshiro. All the non "core" Phantom Thieves.

"We'll start with good 'ol Goro here," Joker strolled up to Akechi, now peaking from behind him. "He goes by Crow. Long story short, he tried to backstab us, but we're cool now." Joker only grinned during the Black Mask's introduction. Akechi's seething glare told Joker everything it needed to, he hated every second of this.

"Goro, like, Goro Akechi? Second coming of the Detective Prince, THAT Goro Akechi?" Zenkichi was involved in the police world, so of course he'd know the detective prince's name.

"'Don't' call me that, the detective prince is long dead."

As to clear the now tense air that loamed, Sumire decided to step foward. "I suppose I'll go next. I'm Sumire Yoshizawa, codename, Violet! Though I'm not really an offical member of the Phantom Thieves, I just kind of hop in when I get the chance!"

To continue the chain, Sophia was next to step foward. "I'm Sophia, humanity's companion and recent member of the Phantom Thieves! Here in the Metaverse you can call me Sophie!" The little mochi like ai never failed to charm everyone she met.

"I guess that means I'm next," Zenkichi took his chance to step up. "Zenkichi Hasagawa, or Wolf." Simple and to the point.

"I don't really think I'm a Phantom Thief, but I suppose I'll go now," said Toshiro awkwardly.

"Don't sell yourself short, Pops! You're one of us!" Futaba flashed her little gremlin grin as she said that.

Toshiro felt a bit giddy at that. If he were to be honest with himself, being a considered a Phantom Thief felt pretty cool. With more confidence, he continued his introduction. "Toshiro Kasukabe, it's nice to meet you all."

"So not only do you know the Detective Prince, you know one of the political world's biggest scandals? Sheesh, you guys sure know a lot of people" At this rate, Zenkichi was more impressed then he was surprised.

"What can I say," Joker winked, "we get around." Zenkichi softly chuckled at Joker's statement. These kids always had something new tucked up their sleeves.

That just left... "And I'm Erina; Leader of the Rebel Corps, honorary Phantom Thief, and protector of Toshiro's heart. I look foward to fighting beside you all!" Erina put on her classic confident smile. The kind of smile that could inspire those around her.

Morgana shifted onto the front part of his paws, mostly to gain height. To add onto that, he also had begun to wave his arms around. It was all likely an attempt to get everyone's attention. "While I'd love to explain HOW we met everyone, we've got no time for that. I think it's about time we started trying to figure out how to get out of here."

Joker strained his neck back to look at the theater in the distance. "Wherever 'here' is." In a joking sort of way, Joker started thinking REALLY hard about wanting to go home. Much to his surprise though, it actually began to work. Feelings of distortion overwhelmed the gang and next thing they knew they were a couple feet outside LeBlanc.

"Well, that was oddly convenient timing," purred Morgana who was now in cat form.

Joker, who was now back to just being plan old Ren, scratched the back of his neck. "You can say that again."

The size of their group lessened once in the real world, a detail Toshiro immediately picked up on as he frantically looked around. "Where'd Erina go?"

"She's tied to cognition, so we'll probably only see her when we're back in the Metaverse."

Toshiro had to look down to find where the voice was coming from. Having never seen Morgana in the normal world, he was slightly taken aback. "So you take the form of a regular cat in the real world? I guess that means I really WAS far off with my original cat-fish assumption..."

"Of course you were!" Morgana couldn't help but snap back. The cat-like being always got defensive over the status of what he truly was.

"Catfish?" Questioned Zenkichi, "at least I was closer with my monster cat one."

Makoto gently chuckled, "honestly, I think most of us originally assumed monster cat."

"Yeah, and it stung every time!"

"Aww-- there, there, Morgana," Ann leaned down to pet the feline. To which Morgana began purring.

With a ping and a chime, Sophia's voice joined the conversation. "If it makes you feel any better, Mona, I only thought you were a regular cat!" Instead of being on Ren's phone though, she'd jumped into Sumire's. Such an action startled the non-digital redhead.

"Sophia! How did you get into my phone?"

"It was the nearest one when coming back to the real world! I hope you don't mind!"

"Of course I don't-- I just didn't know that you were--"

"An a.i? Sorry for forgetting to tell you! Oh, and for the rest of the Thieves. I've already contacted Ichinose and told her I'll be spending some time with you guys!"

"Well that's a relief, I feel like if you didn't, she'd come chasin' after us like some kind of worried mom," Ryuji couldn't help but joke.

Futaba had her nose in her phone the entire conversation. She was seemingly checked out the whole time, but appearances can be deceiving. "Heya, guys? Speaking of apps... You might all want to check your phones..."

In simultaneous motion, each and every Phantom Thief picked up their phones and looked at them. Yusuke, who was the first to verbally react, gasped. "The Metanav."

"Ugh," Morgana groaned and stretched, "as if we didn't have enough problems already." Soon enough though, the tired kitty yawned. "But I think these are all issues we should tackle later, it's getting a bit late. Meet back at LeBlanc tomorrow?"

Everyone answered with their own ways of saying okay. There were silent nods, verbal okays, and positive alrights. "If you guys have anything else you wanna discuss, we can do it in the groupchat. For those of you not in it yet, I'll make sure to add you," Ren affirmed.

Finally, everyone said their goodnights and went their separate ways. All except Akechi, who Ren was hoping would hang back. "You can stay at LeBlanc, if you want."

Akechi simply turned his head from Ren. "I'll figure it out for myself." And he was off. Considering his response, Ren wasn't even sure why Akechi lingered in the first place. But that was Goro Akechi for you, a man who marched to the beat of his own drum.

Once Ren was finally in the comfort of LeBlanc attic, he realized his phone had blown up with messages.

Toshiro: I think this is my first time being in one of those "groupchat" things

Futaba: now THATS only something an old person would say

Zenkichi: You're setting a bad example for us seniors here

Haru: I can't believe all the Thieves are back together, this is so exciting!

Yusuke: Indeed it is. If the situation weren't so dire, I'd suggest we all visit a restaurant together

Ryuji: Dude what is it with you and food all the time?

Ann: That's just how Yusuke rolls, you should know by now not to question it.

Sophia: Hello everyone!

Sumire: I didn't know you could text too Sophie, how cool!!

Makoto: Still a rowdy bunch, as always

Ren: Goodnight everyone

Ren: Morgana says sleep well!

#persona 5 #persona series #persona 5 joker #persona #ren amamiya #persona 5 spoilers

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p5x-theories · 1 year ago

Note

My theory with the casino, is that instead of a point of divergence, it’s the point of convergence.

The plot of 5 & Phantom X take place concurrently with each other, possibly with Wonder the “Akechi” in a sense, a (genuine) wildcard of ruin.

While it’s clear as day that Joker is a cognition like 90% of the time in game, I feel the one who gets ambushed at the casino is the real Joker, as I don’t believe it’s possible to genuinely recreate a palace, one you haven’t seen before, from cognition.

Yeah, that part about recreating a Palace you haven't seen seems reasonable. Though... I suppose if you had seen the Palace before...

Definitely in agreement that there's at least two Jokers, a cognitive one and the real one, as well. It would be strange for the one at the casino to be a cognition, given the way he acts... though, we have quite famously seen another cognitive Joker, in a detailed cognitive recreation of an area the Palace ruler has seen before, get assassinated, so!

Anyway, that aside, the idea that both P5 and P5X are happening concurrently is an interesting one! I'd assume it would still have to be an alternate timeline/universe situation, given the missing Leblanc, Big Bang Burger, and etc., but there's certainly nothing to say the two timelines can't be running at the same time (in fact, I'd say FeMC's P3 universe is heavily implied to be concurrent with the male MC's P3 universe in PQ2, which'd even further suggest it's possible).

Wonder being on the side of ruin would also be interesting. Igor talks about him preventing the ruin, similar to false Igor in P5, but there's obviously a lot of room for misdirection and manipulation here, haha. Akechi himself in the canon timeline was being manipulated (less directly) for the side of ruin, as well, so it's not like that's unprecedented! All around an interesting theory here.

#complete-idiot-inc #theories #joker #wonder #third beta

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a-complex-joke · 6 months ago

Text

A Family Chrismas

MASTERLIST

Summary: it had been almost a year since Akira returned home. While the phantom thieves were still active, they weren’t taking on as many big-name cases.

They had all stayed in contact with him, but as I'm sure you know, not talking in person for a year will dwindle your friendships. But it’s Christmas so let's not let that get up down, and Sojoiro has invited everyone to a party at Leblanc.

Third persona POV

“Sojiro, Haru. Guess what!?” Futaba came running into Lablanc, placing her school bag on the counter, letting Mona out to stretch.

“Chief stepped out of a bit, I believe he was mailing something.” Haru turned petting the cat.

Haru had begun to work at Leblanc after graduation, not that she needed the money. She was still managing her father's business, with the help of trusted advisers.

She took the job at Leblanc for the experience.

“Ahh, boo. I swear he’s keeping something from me” the ginger said annoyed.

“Maybe it’s a Christmas gift for you” Haru laughed “So what is it you wanted me to guess about ?”

“Right, Akira just texted me a little while ago, and said he’s sending all of us something special for Christmas” Futaba Mused.

“Really? He is so selfless” Tears started to form in the girl’s eyes, at the thought of her friend.

“Oh no don’t cry” Futba ran around the counter to hug her.

“Im fine im fine, I just miss him.” she hugged the short girl back.

“Hey, what's with all the tears?” Sojiro asked walking in.

“We just miss Akira is all” Futaba answered.

“Ahh I see, well I may have just the thing to cheer you guys up” Sojiro handed a card to Haru.

“You’re hosting a party here?” Haru asked showing the card to Futaba.

“I thought it would be nice for you all to have a Christmas get-together. And some of you guys could use a place to go for Christmas.” he smiled, lighting a cigarette.

“Aww, Sojiro you big softie” Futaba teased her father figure.

“Who’s all coming,” Haru asked.

“Well I just sent out most of the invites, but I've invited the other phantom thieves, along with Sae, I believe Ann was gonna bring a friend of yours, and so were Ryuji and Yusuke. Oh, and I hope you don’t mind I also invited Akechi. I know you two weren't on the best terms with him”

The girls slightly cringed

“No, it’s fine we both have forgiven him and understand what he did was not personal,” Haru said, luckily had Futaba explained it wouldn’t have sounded as nice.

“Alright good then, I don’t believe I've invited anyone else, though some others may stop by for a short time” he laughed, seeming to lose his train of thought more with age. “Oh and Haru if you wouldn’t mind staying a little later to help decorate it would be greatly appreciated”

“Yes chief,” she said giving an awkward salute.

“Alright the things should be upstairs, Futaba how about you go up and help her.”

The girls head upstairs, while the old bedroom has become a storage area once again. It was still the phantom thieves' base. And none of the group would let Akira’s old room become trashed.

They started going through the long-forgotten boxes, searching for the decorations. Instead finding things that reminded them of their rebellious last year. The fake money they had stolen from Kanoshiro and the Legislator Pin.

“Do you think, had Akira stayed here, we would still be taking down as bad of people as Shido and my father?” Haru asked.

“I think, he drove us to aim higher, and without him, we feel less strong. Makoto is a good substitute leader but with her busy schedule, we have less time to plan everything out” Futaba Answered.

The two fell in silence for a while before Futaba jumped up.

“I have had the greatest idea. What if we all have a sleepover up here, everyone will be on break. How about tomorrow we go to Akihabara and buy some sleeping bags and snacks.” she laughed evilly

“Yeah, let’s do that, we can text the others to bring pillows and blankets” Haru responded, and the two jumped up and down with excitement.

“Have you found those Decorations yet!?” Sojiro yelled up to them, teasingly.

“Oh, not yet sir” Haru said, panicking, going back to looking as Futaba started visualizing the scene.

Let's look at another group while our girls craft their master plan.

Ryuji and Ann had been put in the same class for their third year at Shujin.

Mishima was in a different class but That didn’t stop him from getting bugged By Ryuji 24/7.

Shiho was attending a different school.

The four had grown rather close. So when they happened to run into Sojiro at the shopping district, he told them his idea to throw a Christmas get-together. They obviously asked if they could bring their friends.

The two outsiders were a little hesitant but came around quickly.

“Should we bring gifts?” Shiho asked.

“I mean Ann and I were but it’s just gonna be a chill gathering. So don’t feel pressured to get anyone anything. At most something for the chief to thank him for hosting,” Ryuji said.

“Oh but Futaba Just messaged me, she says that if we want to sleep over we should bring pillows and blankets”

“Wait a co-ed sleep-over” Mishima’s face turned rosy.

“Come on dude, it's not like we're gonna be doing anything explicit, plus you shared a room with Ann, Akira, and me in Hawaii” Ryuji nudged Mishima

“I think it sounds fun,” Shiho said making the others turn to look at her surprised “I've only met your other friends a few times. This could be a great time to finally make them our friends” she smiled.

“Aww Shiho, I could just eat you up,” Ann said hugging and squeezing the girl.

“Yo Yusake, whats up man?” Ryuji yells running over to the guy.

Yusuke had continued to attend Kosei High School and live in its dorms. Though Sojiro would let him stay in the upstairs room if he asked.

“Oh hello, I was not expecting to run into you all today” The boy looked slim.

“You spend all your money on art supplies again?” Ryuji asked already knowing the answer. Yuskae simply nodded.

“Alright let me buy you a burger” Ryuji sighed.

The Starving boy sat down with the others, as Ryuji ordered him something.

“By the way Yusuke, we told Sojiro you’d be bringing Hifumi to the Chrismas gathering, so could you” Ann laughed “Oh, and tell her she can spin the night if she brings her own bedding”

Yusake again just nodded fearing if he did more his sugar would finally dissipate and he’s faint.

Now let’s move on to a few days later when the Invites had been delivered to those still in need of them. And Futaba already texting the youngens, to BYOB(Bring your own bedding)

Makoto had been at police training for two months now and had come home for break, Sae had started training to be a defense lawyer in that time both sisters felt a sense of purpose that made them feel good.

“Im really excited to see the crew. how have they been?” Makto asked her sister.

“Good, not much has actually changed, though I hear Ruyji has been keeping up with his studies” Sea teased.

Next, there was Akechi. who since going on TV and revealing everything about his past, Minus the murder part.

He had found he was able to enjoy more of life and found less need to be as vengeful. Learning that the general public could care less about his conception. Sure he still liked to watch the life drain out of Shadow's eyes, but you don’t just get over that in a day.

He was honestly surprised to have received a text from Futaba let alone it being an invite to a sleepover, with people he believed hated him.

It honestly touched his heart a little… just a little

And the last of the main people was Sumire. She had continued to pursue her gymnastics and was already set for a scholarship to any college she’d like. As much as she loved the others, without Akira there she saw no reason to stay within the city.

This get-together would be the perfect time to tell everyone her plans.

Sojiro had sent out other Invites to people, who were yes aware of who the phantom thieves really were, but weren't integral to the whole thing.

Tonight was the night.

Sojiro, Futaba, Haru, and Mona stood waiting for the others to arrive.

“Here let me take your coat, my good sir, you can place any gift on that table,” Futaba said in an exaggerated tone.

“Why thank you, young lady, you're too kind.” Ryuji said in a similar tone “Should I just take my overnight stuff up?”

“Yeah, just make sure you don’t put your stuff next to mine, I don’t want your germs” Futaba joked.

“Suzui, so good to see you again” Haru mused.

“Oh please just call me Shiho, Senpai”

“Then you can just call me Haru, please make yourself comfortable, The chief and I have worked very hard on cooking up something you all to enjoy, so please help yourself”

“I won’t say no to that” Yusake laughed as he started making a plate. A silent laugh grows amongst the guests.

“Welcome in …” Futaba was caught off guard seeing Akechi.

“Oh hello… am I late?” he said scratching the back of his head. “Im sorry if you weren’t expecting me. I can go if you want” he started to turn to leave.

“No! I mean no you don’t have to go. It’s always gonna be awkward between us, ok? But if I was to hold this against you forever, I'd get nothing out of it either way. So let's just hug and put this behind us” she pouted.

He laughed “All right then,” he said pulling her into a hug.

“As much as I hate to break this moment, it needs to make a call, and you both are standing in front of the door” Sojiro quipped.

The two moved away awkwardly. “So… should I put my stuff upstairs, I traveled quite light” Akechi laughed

Soon everyone had arrived and the party was going well, Yusake acutely seemed to have color back on his face. A few people like Iwai and Ohay only stopped in for quick hellos, before heading to the bars. While Takemi and Kawakami stayed longer.

Sumire kept Avoiding all questions of what her plan for college was, seeming to chicken out on telling everyone the truth.

Everyone was starting to open presents.

“Oh, I just remembered, I forgot the gifts to all of you at the house, I'll be right back guys,” Sojiro said walking out the door.

“Huh, I guess you were right he was keeping a gift from me,” Futaba said to Haru. “I hope it’s a new figure”

“He’s so generous, getting all of us a gift. I just hope it’s something simple, like a recipe book” Haru said

“That would be so nice, I think I'd want his curry recipe” Ryuji mused, earning collective agreement among the cafe.

“Sorry I took so long everyone,” Sojiro said, entering back in making everyone turn in his direction.

Only to see someone else standing in front of him.

“Akira!” Futaba yelled running to the guy. Followed by many of the others.

“Hey guys, I heard we’re having a sleepover” he smiled hugging the girl.

“So you knew about this and didn’t tell me,” Futaba pouted turning to Sojiro, tears forming in her eyes. As Akira excepted more hugs

“Hey, it was his idea” he replied holding his hands up defensively.

“But what are you doing here? surely you couldn’t come all the way here just for the break.” Makto asked.

“I graduated Early, was doing a bunch of odd jobs, full of sleepless nights, saving up so I could move back here. I already have a place. Im ready to take back my position as leader of the phantom thieves… if you’ll have me.” he smiled.

Everyone is saying some variation of “of course”

It was weird to think how much this one person moving back here, changed everything, Sumire, now saw no reason to stay. A possible second home for Yusake to stay during the long breaks. Even Mona no longer has to sit bored out of his mind as Futaba hacks into a military base.

“Well then everyone let the boy get some of this food im sure he’s missed my cooking” Sojiro laughed.

The night carried on with lots of laughing and even some dancing. Soon the adults started leaving, and finally, Sojiro announced his departure for the night after everyone had helped clean up.

The kids headed upstairs to play video games, or sleep, and just enjoy their time together.

Deep conversations or friendly cuddles all that mattered was that they were together.

They were a family.

BTW these were the artworks that inspired me, so go support these people.

#persona 5 #fanfic #goro akechi #ryuji sakamoto #ann takamaki #yusuke kitagawa #makoto niijima #futaba sakura #haru okumura #sumire yoshizawa

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risette-blast · 2 years ago

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PERSONA 2 INNOCENT SIN SPOILERS AHEAD! DON'T READ THIS IF YOU'RE REMOTELY INTERESTED IN PLAYING THE GAME AND HAVEN'T BEEN SPOILED ON IT!!

(oh there are also traitor spoilers for P5 in here, but I feel like anyone who has played P2 has also played P5 already lol)

so last night, I finished P2IS. the ending still hurts by the way lol. but i've had a bit of time since then to think about the game in retrospect. so i wrote up a thought dump with sort of my "initial" thoughts on the game on twitter. afterwards, i decided to repost it here but with more detail since i'm not constrained with a character limit the same way I am with twitter (it's still gonna be in bullet points bc I don't really want to structure this like an essay haha)

this game's ending really was brutal. this is the main thing I've commented on ever since finishing the game, but it truly is awful. Maya is stabbed and killed, Lisa can't even heal her with Dia no matter how much she tries. the Earth is destroyed by suddenly stopping its rotation, causing the resultant inertia to instantly kill everything. in the end, it just turns out to be a rigged game between Philemon and Nyarlathotep (god that name is hard to spell lol). and then the entire cast is forced to go back in time and forget their memories with each other and everything to prevent the world from ending again. it's truly a cruel fate for them, I really did want them to have a happy ending so it just really hurts. 😭

a lot of this game's moments hit hard due to how good the OST is. this has honestly gone up to being one of my favorite Persona OSTs, and given how strong its competition has been, that's a noteworthy feat.

the gameplay was ass lol. I can't pretend it was good, it's worse than P1 in some areas which is wild (still liked IS more overall though, 1 has some very questionable mechanics)

now apparently this is specific to the PSP version, but man the menus were so slow. thankfully I was playing on an emulator so I even had this option but I genuinely just sped up the game somewhat frequently just to get through the menus more quickly

it was also probably the easiest Persona game I've ever played. P5R is genuinely harder. i'm not even kidding. I've gone on and on about how easy P5R is (on twitter), but P2IS makes P5R look challenging in comparison.

the characters were great. i didn't think I'd care about them as much as I did. they all had wonderful bonds with each other. personally I felt like yukino was the "weak" link, and like she doesn't have the bonds the other do so it only makes sense. and even then? she has some great moments and is genuinely well written too. I had played P1 before this but yukino wasn't in my party so she essentially disappeared; it's nice to actually get to know her.

that said, I don't rly like how P1 and P2 both kinda hide extra character details behind very optional dialogue that's easy to miss. it's not nearly as bad in IS though bc they get more characterization in the main story, so a lot of the characters in IS resonated with me more on a first playthrough than 1's characters did.

I've heard some people say P2's shadow encounters are better than P4's. I'm not sure I agree with that at least just from IS, but I thought they were pretty competent. I did like that they built up to the shadow encounters throughout the game, it's an interesting approach.

...personally I still like the P4 shadow encounters more overall. I just also really like the way the IS shadow encounters were handled too especially in the context of the story.

the dialogue about personas and masks was really cool. I wish the new Persona games did acknowledge that everyone has multiple masks they put on. the only characters from P3-P5 who really explore this imo (as far as I can remember) are Rise and Akechi, and even then, it's not nearly as substantial as 1/2. Rise's arc is more about her accepting that she can have multiple selves that are all her, and with Akechi, while he has two different masks that represent both the facade he presents to society vs his true nature, it's just a case of facade vs true nature, whereas IS acknowledges that everyone has multiple masks they present to society that form a full self.

I personally wasn't too invested in the romance options, and the game clearly didn't consider them super important either seeing as they barely affect the story or interactions, but I really did like that Jun was presented as a genuine, serious option. also it's not like P3-5 where it's kinda subjective, I feel like Jun just fits the best especially in retrospect.

I now truly understand why newsona's mechanics (calendar, s.links, etc) wouldn't work at all. there's no room in the story for that.

I didn't think the pacing was the best tbh. it feels like not a lot happens at first, then they throw a ton of story at you halfway through the game, then a lot more near the end. it could've been distributed a little better. I hear EP is better with this though.

I do have a few issues with the way the plot was presented. tbh it was just a little absurd lol, and also revealing that the whole story was Philemon vs Nyarlathotep (again, tough name to spell lol) at the very end was kinda mid. maybe I'll like it more with the context of EP. but what really made the story for me was ultimately the characters and their development, not so much the actual events in the plot itself, if that makes sense.

I love the ending theme, kimi no tonari. when you realize that the sumaru city (and a lot of songs in the game) share the same general leitmotif it just makes you sad to hear them in retrospect 😔

#persona #atlus #persona 2 innocent sin #persona 2 #p2 #p2is #thoughts #tatsuya suou #maya amano #lisa silverman #eikichi mishina #jun kurosu

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cyanide-e-pistachio · 11 months ago

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👀,🤩,🔗(other than Akechi if it’s Akechi lol, but still feel free to talk about Akechi’s social link cause it’s amazing)

👀 Character I hated but now loved — Would it actually be surprising to say Akechi here? LOL. I played Vanilla waaay back in the prime year of 2018 and wasn’t too satisfied with Akechi’s character at the time! I was never someone who got online and wrote manifestos as to why I disliked him or anything, I almost felt more upset by the missed potential? Thankfully, Royal came out and gave me everything I felt he lacked and then some 💚 which, of course, leads me to where I am now as a Shuake shipper LMAO so it all worked out

🤩 How’d I get into Persona? — Through my brother! He was a big P5 fan and is always recommending me stuff to play, so I gave P5 vanilla a shot on my crappy PS3 I had at the time that crashed constantly 😆 it was a super memorable experience though, I was living alone while my roommates had left college for the summer and all I did was work, go to the gym, and play P5, what a time! Ever since then I feel in love with the concept and the characters, and welp. Here I am lol

🔗 Favorite Social Link? — Akechi’s is probably my favorite (shocker, I know) not only because I love Shuake but because it’s so unique! Akechi is the one confidant in P5 that never fully warms up to you in the traditional sense. We also glean a lot about Joker’s character in Akechi’s link, moreso than many others! I just love watching his link and finding new subtle details I missed out on before about the boys. So iconic

Bonus for my second fav since the former was a cop out: Shinjiro’s from P3 💚 much like Akechi’s, this one is so good because it’s so unique. I love how his relationship with the FemC changes throughout the link, and we learn so much about him! The scene where he cooks for the whole crew always feels so bittersweet 🥹

#thanks for the ask!

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x1e3ju · 1 year ago

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sigh.

i realize i dont rant here enough like as much as i should. i should be drawing and not spending time being a fucking idiot ranting on TUMBLR at 2 am but shuake is just too serious for me

CUZ yall don’t understand my level of. crazy. my level of insane my level of obsession its been like 7 months of just straight up fixation and i always find the same things to feel the new feeling of love again for them. saw someone talking about their short film like a little summary on what its abt and the inspiration, a little love letter to their lover of sorts saying how the film is abt genuinely loving someone who is good to you for the first time, “This was the first time I would say "I love you" to someone, and it not come from a place of fear or a toxic one. This film is a celebration of vulnerability, and letting pure, secure love in without the constant impulse to self sabotage” I’ll quote and bc i cant think of love without immediately thinking of shuake (its a genuine problem lmao😭), i HAD to just think about them and yk what. idegaf their love is so beautiful to me. i think the idea of akechi having bpd and the same mental issues and disorders as me finding love in someone who is also very similar to him in some sense, like them both being autistic and such, just really speaks a lot to me.

im definitely not an opposites attract person, although they technically WOULD be opposites i think the whole troupe of “enemies” to lovers is the fact that they arent really enemies and actually have a lot more in common than first thought, at least when done well anyway so to me, they aren’t opposites when it comes to like. the things that matter like personality and the things that make people connect and become closer like the things u cant control ig lol but anywho, bc i hc (its basically canon) akechi having bpd i think thats why it means SO MUCH more to me and i love his character sm. he’s not my favorite, but bc that’s the first time i see a character like that be represented with something so similar to me and not be treated like a villain or just be really extreme like akechi is definitely. well. extreme but he’s not like, let’s say, like yuri level from ddlc like i wouldnt even consider that bpd she just straight up crazy😭 like idk, i just really relate to akechi so i really see him having bpd and bc ive always felt soo left out bc of my bpd even in spaces you would THINK would be safer, i always feel singled out somehow and although i still dont really know why, ig i see myself in akechi a lot and even akira too so the idea that parts of me could find that love and care like the fact that parts of me could find other parts of me, ig im not broken lmao like its all a little puzzle :)

okkk lore drop🔥🔥 got so hashtag emo there BUT that meant something i promise!!! that whole idea of feeling like ur missing something or theres just something wrong with u or ur unloveable or whatever, the idea that akechi felt that and FOUND it in akira makes my heart melt like a fucking fangirl i hate everything. i always think abt shuake and their love bc people always say how they are so toxic blah blah blah, and yk what, lemme not lie, that’s probably the truth! but i cant see them being soo toxic like that especially with how young they are like akechi was like. a few months of just turning 18, akira was 17 like they arent full grown adults even tho akechi was definitely aware enough to know what he was doing was wrong (even at 15 or however old he was when first helping shido i would say), you wouldnt understand the FULL severity of it like its a lot to explain but HOPEFULLY i make sense lol😭😭 and i think just being so young and growing through so much like im already. off. and i dont even live a life CLOSE to that EVER like of course he’s gonna be a little. off his rockets🤩 i mean what did yall expect😭 i keep using this phrase but yea!! so the idea of him meeting akira and finally being able to feel that youth and enjoy parts of life that typically teenagers get to live is si sweet to me.

mind u, im not saying that him living that “teenage life” is the way it HAS to be lived bc i think my life is better without those things as a teen myself and its most definitely not necessary but to me, akechi is just like. a very much stan twitter gay guy😭 he has his little bit of nerd (WHICH I LOVE^_^) but like anyone, of course he would want and need that friendship, that connection. do i believe he wouldn’t really care abt friends and shit? yea bc look, i dont really care for that myself but i wont lie to you and tell u i would love just ONE good connection in my life like yk, a friend i actually want but im not gonna be all friendless here so back to akechi!😊 he’s just very normal high schooler to me, ONE THING I LOVE ABT HIM AND SUMI ACTUALLY. i feel like with sumi, because ae doesn’t know like anything abt akechi’s past and what’s he’s done and stuff i feel like akechi just gets to live a “regular high schooler life” with sumi, yk? like everytime akechi and sumi would hang out (i like to believe they would hang out pre royal idgaf🥱) and akechi would complain or talk akira, sumi would just think “ah he’s on his crush thing again” like ae has NO CLUE he’s gonna shoot him in the head and yk what. that connection definitely means something bc that would be the first person akechi has ever met his age who ISNT involved in his “work life”?? like isn’t involved in his cases and shit like. a genuine healthy friendship🤯🤯🤯 and thats ANOTHWR reason i love sumigoro (make fun of me all u want but i seriously do not. gaf😜😝) bc i think akechi would really go and mess that up, he’d be like “wait. do i actually like sumi” all bc of the fact that they have a good connection and akechi isnt used to that

WHICH brings me to what i was GOING TO bring up (sorry for the crazy detour) but YEA, the whole idea of having a love and always feeling the need to self sabotage reminds me smm of shuake. akechi going and ruining their connection even though there was definitely ways he could’ve gone abt killing shido…. with the phantom thieves’ health possibly👀👀???? i feel like that was the prime explain of self sabotage, guilt and the fact that he wasnt even actually processing what he did and HAS done. like that one scene after 11/20 where he’s in the studio filming and their asking him abt the pts and he gets slient and thinks abt some shit like abt the pts and sorta feels guilty (idk if thats the undesirable child scene i think it is but im not sure lol) but yeah that, that is the PRIME explain of processing and guilt. after killing people and doing all that shit for so long i think that was the first time it actually hit him like “oh shit wait. i’ll never see these people again” like the idea that it hit so close to home, these were kids HIS age, even younger too and.. what EYE like to believe, people he thought probably deserved more life than even himself (like the after thought of it) bc u cannot convince me he really sent his ass over to shido’s palace just to tell joker some shit like girl. and getting himself killed too like naww that’s embarrassing as shit😭😭 like ik thats talked abt and thats what the whole scene is abt but like. EXACTLY he felt guilt for his actions and felt he needed to atone!! HE HADNT REALLT PROCESSED ANYTHING IF HE WAS FEELING THAT NOWW ofc he was going to get innocent people killed like. YEA😭😭 but he’s a fucking kid like what did u expect him to do, even if i had that power even with the current knowledge i have☝️🤓 i wouldnt even realize wtf im doing like yk ur doing something bad, but as a smart kid too.. its all abt competition lol, but in all seriousness tho and they show that in the game

ok sorry got off track again but yea, self sabotaging his love with akira all for the competition of it all, clearly i will never just flow into it naturally so ill state it plainly, self sabotaging his love and overall genuine connection with akira bc thats all he was ever thought to do, from his own mother and obviously, his own father. had to sabotage the love he had for his mother bc well. she ended up kwording herself😭😭 and had to sabotage the love for his father (which didnt exist to me idc) bc he had to kill him, i mean. he was awful😭😭 so having that constant battle between that, thats one thing i LOVE like ADORE ABOUT SHUAKE i love the idea that they could be vulnerable with each other i also love akira and his personality cuz he compliments akechi so well in SO MANY WAYS whoever wrote and made their characters and storylines personally ate with their yaoi deliverance😍😍 LMAO that was a joke but honestly. gave us such a good ship TY🙏 atlus at least for SOMETHING ur good at like like the thing i quoted said, THE WAY THAT IF ATLUS WOULDVE GAVE US AN I LOVE YOU BETWEEN THEM. aside from the fact i would’ve killed myself and died and then fell off a cliff and then kill myself again and killed myself a 3rd time just to make sure i also would’ve cried SO BAD, ik thats asking for WAYY TOO MUCHH but let a girl dream smh like IT WOULDVE MESNT SO MUCH AND HAD SM WEIGHT, it truly would’ve been akechi’s first ily that would’ve came from a genuine good place or would’ve been the first ily he ever heard that didnt try to manipulate or gain smth out of him!! which is. BEAUTIFUL ALL WAYS U LOOK AT IT like they definitely had their ups and downs (shuake i mesn) but the fact akira still wouldve loved him and seen him through everything is just so. something abt the unstable and the unstable but a little more stable dynamic😍😍 but seriously tho lol, i love their connection. again, it just speaks a lot to me SO PERSONALLY i hate everything

one thing i love abt royal is how we got to see akechi’s character a bit, i do like the royal writing a lot for this reason, some parts felt like aww yk lol and kinda reminiscent to the beginning of the game which felt a lot more genuine even tho royal’s writing felt more fanservicey, it had SOME sense of like, ok the characters arent written toooo bad here like the middle of persona so i appreciated it and u can tell atlus put a lot more work on the royal trio scenes (the fanservice was crazy in that part😭) so i also loved that too lol bc again, we got to see akechi’s character and the effect joker had on him and how like. less of an asshole he was like i wish we could’ve seen just a BIT more of him. again again i just LOVE dynamics like shuake and seeing characters grow and shit and shuake just does it so well UGH i hate them😭😭

#rants

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re-ikrmso · 1 year ago

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Horrifying weird-inbetween au where Akira is still himself but never accept Maruki's offer, but his friends haven't broken out of maruki's fake reality yet so Akira's just tthier weird ex-friend who keeps saying all kinds of crazy shit to the point where they start thinking to just. get a restraining order.

akechi is missing. he wasn't at the start. he was there. maruki is nowhere to be seen. the entire world is not actualized yet to akira's relief. he sleeps on the edge everyday in fear though. Akira sometimes sees sumire in the crowds but as he pushes through the people, always, always, she's gone one more time. the crowds always mock him. he can't see them as people as the days loop on.

any speculation? (i do have some answers but you'll have to ask the right questions first though i might get impatient enough and just like add more detail)

also someone please give me cool name suggestions for my au. i was thinking about naming it after an adjective that im trying to have this story aim for: which is aimlessness+some kind of horror

like the placeholder name for now is "persona 5: traction au"

because it is actuallykinda relavvant... "traction" and "tension"...is this being done on purpose? is there some bigger entity at play here? is it all in akira's head? pleaseeee...discuss!

#persona 5 #persona 5r thoughts #idk if ill make this a full au but. like the thought of Akira smiling while saying “deranged” stuff to his unknowing friends ohohoh #yes i am making a whole ass au out of a really cool image in my head sorry :{#guess ill call this...#Persona 5: traction au

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strawberryjamsara · 2 years ago

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Uh I guess I’ll put my final thoughts on tactica here.

Main Story

This had a lot of potential that I feel was missed. I liked Toshiro as a character, and seeing how the game was setting itself up to be his palace, and the consistent chiding from other characters about his crimes, I was really excited about the idea of the phantom thieves getting to know, relate to, and sympathize with someone they would have to steal the heart of and trying to figure out how with him. The game sort of took the opposite direction of that by having Toshiro do nothing wrong in his life though.

I was pretty excited when his shadow was revealed thinking ‘Wow, maybe they’ll pull a Persona 4 and he’ll have to accept the worst parts of himself to heal!’ But they took the lazy route of having his shadow just be a fake.

Erina also I feel was just reduced to being there to develop Toshiro. Don’t get me wrong, I love her, and Toshieri is extremely cute, but she’s pretty much just there to be a love interest. Both of these characters had so much potential that went wasted.

I think the thieves were mostly just their flanderized selves. They blended into the background but there was nothing too egregious. In particular, I’m glad there was no mention of the police from Makoto, and she gets to be the cool, slightly scary, and passionate senpai she was meant to be. I also like how they had Haru explain some sort of redeeming qualities her dad had, so we can see why she misses him a bit more. I still don’t like how the game lets him off the hook so much though. Let Haru realize her dad was a piece of shit 2023. And they sexualize Ann and have her be harrassed way less which is a god sent. In particular there seems to be an attempt of sorts to sand away some of the #problematic aspects of the original which is always welcome. The Ryuji wedding put a smile on my face.

Also Samael was just Yaldabaoth for a third time. It’s become comedic how many times the phantom thieves have killed/defeated Gods at this point.

One last thing: Toshiro deserved a phantom thief outfit. I’m very dissapointed they did not give that man a fruity little costume to wear.

DLC

So I maaaaaay be biased because I love Akechi and Sumire, but I liked this one way more.

Seeing these three actually get to have a full adventure together instead of the pittance we have in Royal, I felt like I was feasting like a king (no pun intended). Sumires idealism clashing with Akechi’s realism, and Akechi willing to go along if she gives him enough puppy dog eyes, her admiring his strength while he admires her kindness, is the perfect dynamic for them.

And it’s also nice seeing some softer moments from Akechi here. It’d be easy to argue that this is part of the mask, but you can really see in this game how despite his reservations, he really does come to feel for Luca and Guernica which makes sense considering his own roots match up with theirs. Honestly he probably sees a lot of himself in Guernica, as a person unable to change anything and filled with rage, driven to do horrible things by a manipulator… yeah that might hit a bit too close to home.

Sumire also feeling internalized guilt about Kasumi with Guernica and Lucas conflict is. Aaaaaugh… she’s so upset about how she and Kasumi grew apart, and she’s upset at Guernica for saying she doesn’t need her sister because she’s mad at HERSELF, but she doesn’t know it’s herself so she’s projecting it onto Guernica. Ooooh that’s so cool.

Also I liked having all the options to mess with Akechi during the story. All his thinly veiled anger moments were such a blessing.

Guernica and Luca were such good characters too. They were definitely a lot more simple in backstory than Toshiro but I think that’s for the best. Guernica has a cool design, a good backstory, and her helping out in the final boss and bonding with the PTs is a good way to endear us to her, and it’s even a little sweet how she counts Sumire and Akechi as the PTs who saved her. They aren’t ‘true’ phantom thieves, but they still helped make a persons life better, and for Akechi who wanted to be a hero, and Sumire who thought she’d never measure up to Kasumi, having them be able to save someone and make their life better is a heartwarming conclusion.

Also Jerri is just Samael again, but she gets points for being camp and slay.

Im a bit upset the trio gained collective amnesia after the story, but it makes sense that this had to happen for the sake of not having inconsistencies with Royals story. But also… CMAAAAAAAHN.

Gameplay and Graphics

I don’t usually like tactical games because I’m dumb as hell. I’m speaking as someone who really loves fire emblem awakening, I often do NOT play these games for the gameplay.

All that said, I had so much fun with the gameplay of this game. The way persona mechanics combine with a tactical rpg is so surprisingly fun. Trying to rack up ‘one more’s to travel across the board is so much fun, landing a big hit is extremely satisfying, it is SO MUCH FUN to walk up to an enemy and smack them out of their cover, and it’s so cool to land an all out attack on as many enemies as possible, it’s so much fun and I went out of my way to get every award and do every quest.

I also liked having every member of the party able to equip any persona. It helps with builds of characters, and from a story perspective it makes Joker less of a ‘special boy who’s the narratives favorite.’

I also LOVED the more steampunk aesthetic of the velvet room. The fusion animations were adorable, and if we’re moving onto art, this is the first time Lavenzas design really clicked for me. In the og artstyle I think Lavenzas design isn’t really memorable compared to Caroline and Justine, but she looks really cute here! The chibi artstyle is very cute and simple, but you can tell how much effort went into it from how the animated cutscenes with the models look just as good as the 2D animated scenes. That’s genuinely impressive and points to a lot of effort in the models!

So all in all, I think the game had a lot of missed potential but I’m glad I played it if just for the DLC.

#persona #persona 5 #p5 #gothitxt

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