#ch. sojiro

[p5-apotelesma]

and ANOTHER THING. sojiro says hes 'already been paid for it' in regards to taking ren in. but then later. when ren answers a quiz show question. the answer is 'probation officers arent paid' and morgana comments on how 'the chief is doing all this for free.'

BUT sojiro isnt really ren's probation officer, though, i think? hes. more like a probationary guardian? since im pretty sure he says he has to report to the actual probation officer twice a month?? but the localization has weird line choices and shit all over the place so without looking into the original japanese im. not 100% on the technicalities of that

BUT REGARDLESS. sojiro straight up just lied to ren at the start when ren asked why sojiro agreed to take him in (likely part of his tough act he has around ren for a while) so sojiro is doing this as a civil duty and isnt being paid, as a gesture of good faith to both parties and to aid rens rehabilitation. so ren doesnt end up with someone whos just in it for the money and could. have bad intentions

but it also means that sojiro. could have expected rens parents to send him to tokyo with some money. yanno. like... a fucking food budget

for the first month or so. ren was honest to god like. afraid to take anything from the kitchen in the cafe when he was hungry because sojiro told him if anything went missing that ren would be in trouble. and also rens own dysfunctional eating habits and assumptions from his HOME LIFE. CARRIED OVER. so of course as soon as sojiro told ren that if anything went missing that he would throw ren out or call the cops, ren assumed sojiro was someone who would lock the fridge or the cabinets and generally be very controlling over what ren took to feed himself.

ren also wasnt sure if sojiro would let him get a job because for the first few weeks sojiro wouldnt let him leave the cafe at night. but he also wasnt letting them make money working at the cafe for him. where he would be supervised. so he just. didnt know what to do. or how he was supposed to eat

he often squirrels food away like an animal cause he doesnt know when hell be able to eat again and also he often eats too fast and gives himself tummy aches. these are. actual habits he formed in childhood and not the result of Accidental Child Neglect on sojiros part. (of course sojiro feels mortified when he realizes whats been going on)

ren had food in his luggage. the whole top layer of that carboard box was stuff from the pantry at home that hed previously bought for himself. so for a while he had snacks and cup noodles. but that was it, minus the times sojiro would make him curry in the mornings.

and honestly, if rens parents DID send him to tokyo with a food budget, i would honestly go off of the money bonus you get if you got the dlc. which is 100,000 yen. which in..... april of 2016 would only be like.... just under 900 usd. for the whole year. and at the start ren would try and save most of their money for phantom thievery.

so a lot of the time ren ONLY ATE WHEN HE WAS OUT WITH ANN OR RYUJI. THEY WOULD TAKE HIM OUT TO EAT... HE APPRECIATES RYUJI AND ANN SO SO SO MUCH…. they feed himb

LITERALLY ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS RYUJI DID FOR REN WAS TAKE HIM OUT TO EAT AND PAY FOR EVERYTHING…. also ann took ren out shopping, since he came to tokyo with the barest of necessities. ren was only able to take a few things of sentimental importance with him

[sexybritishllama]

after many, many, MANY hours, i have finally completed persona 5 royal and am now presenting my thoughts. overall i think i have to rate it a 4.5/10, with a note that rather than being generally mid, it swings so wildly between the good and the bad that it evens out just below average for me

spoilers for ALL of the game under the cut including 3rd semester

the good:

this game is STYLISH. that is probably the first thing everyone says about this game but it's true and it has to be said. everything from the hud to the settings menu is themed, it's slick and fun and just really well done

the music slaps. again, gets said a lot, but has to be acknowledged. so good

in theory the gameplay loop is fun. the swapping between dungeon crawling in the palaces and the daily social links is interesting, and for the first good 40 hours of the game or so i found it really addictive and well balanced (yes in spite of the tutorial)

the characters were (mostly) likeable and there were some good social link stories- notable mentions include futaba, sojiro and yoshida

i loved walking around tokyo, it felt very immersive. i used to travel to shibuya all the time for work and it was a lot of fun recognising the spots and even the way you walk out of the train station!

the bad:

IT'S TOO LONG. it's just too long. my save file is at 119 hours after completing the game. i spread this out over an irl year of playing the game. i was still so burnt out when i got to the end my main emotion was RELIEF. you could cut this game down to like half of this run time and it would only benefit it. there is so dialogue spent just repeating points you already know, or scenes that you have to play on a regular basis (eg me spamming through doing affinity readings or kawakami making coffee or WHATEVER), and it is not to the benefit of the game at all

the excessive length also makes other parts of the game that would otherwise be forgivable into absolute slogs. stuff like the combat being mostly way too easy (with the exception of random frustration spikes like okumura), or the fact that so many of the confidants follow the exact same pattern down to which rank you’re going to be asked to arbitrarily go to mementos to solve their problem- these would be much less annoying if i didnt have to do it SO MUCH AGAIN AND AGAIN

on that note oh my god mementos. i fucking hate mementos. most boring content in existence and when i found out they made more of it in the third semester i screamed out loud

ren/akira/joker as a self-insert main character did not work for me and that negatively impacted just about every character relationship with him for me (especially the romances) because it just felt like there was nothing for people to connect to. he’s just so… nothing, but at the same time wasn't enough of a blank slate for me to feel like i could fully project onto him as a self-insert

i think joker could have worked better for me if they either a) made him a more defined character (my preference), OR if they insist on sticking with a self-insert, make the dialogue options were varied. i don’t expect branching options but i do appreciate it when you at least pretend to give me some agency about the replies my character gives, it can mean a lot in a roleplaying game to actually feel like you're, yknow, roleplaying

i generally like the bombastic wild designs persona has for enemies and stuff but i really struggle to take some of the characters seriously when their masks look like this

IN PARTICULAR why is futaba's whole metaverse outfit so ugly. do my girl justice

akechi is a character who i feel will make for very compelling fanfiction but unfortunately i found his actual canon depiction underwhelming

the entire way they handled kawakami as a confidant and the fact you can choose her as a romance option. INSANELY uncomfortable and negates the point of her entire story arc about deciding to care about her students again and not get extorted anymore, but then you as the player character can date her, can continue to get her to do your manual labour for you and give you massages, which you're heavily incentivised to do because it's so useful as a gameplay mechanic. it is SO UNCOMFORTABLE

maybe i'll make a separate post breaking down my thoughts about each confidant because i have other issues with other peoples arcs but kawakami was the most egregious. as if people havent heard me rant enough already

in general that thing of the game undermining its own messages for the sake of either very bad comedy or fanservice is a reoccuring issue. unfortunately very anime in that sense. as well as kawakami: - you spend the entire first dungeon of the game talking about how shitty this perverted teacher is for his treatment of ann and trying to assault her and then i have to spend the rest of the game sitting through MULTIPLE fanservice jokes about ann (this underage girl btw) being really Hot and Sexy and forcing her to strip for yusuke - ryuji risked his life to save the others and then the girls... beat him up for it? it was clearly meant for comedy, but god did it land flat - the game proves over and over again that the police and justice system is corrupt and ineffective but they never actually seem to... want to do anything about it? makoto literally says she's going to become a cop at the end of her confidant arc!!! girl!!!

their solution to the justice system being shit is to get people to confess to their crimes and Feel Bad, where the villains then proceed to.... be handled under the same justice system we have i guess? as though the issue here was just the fact that bad guys wouldn't confess, and we don't need to look at, hey, why do these people commit the crimes they do, how do we handle punishment vs rehabilitation, etc.

it's weird because they do sort of dance around this topic sometimes (like with akechi's fucked up upbringing) but it always feels like they're scared of diving too deep into it. i don't expect a full marxist re-examining of society from highschoolers but idk man, for SUCH a long game i feel like it was a weirdly shallow reading of the societal issues around authority and crime

also: why does the 'rebel against social norms!' game still not let me romance same-gender confidants. let me date ryuji you cowards

[izfaish]

[go go loser ranger manga spoilers - vol. 6 | ch. 43-42]

SSHSNDJDJDUKSJDHS

i don't even know if i can be coherent here odjdjfjf

what a way to start the volume. GOD i love the internal struggle. the imaginary dream sequence. the way it almost mirrors the meal scene with the dragon keepers, with peltrola coming in and killing that chef the way akabane killed his jfc. it's nit a 1-to-1 comparison but it just reminded me of that same old rottenness. and the fact that sakurama is d's conscience so to speak... oufjfjfjfj

it makes sense that d would resolve to get rid of both the dragons keepers AND the executives. to him, they're the same. it is heartwarming to see him regard his cadet buddies as special, so much so that d is unsettled by the idea that HE would hold such power over them. the same power and authority that he despises from the dragon keepers and executives.

HIS EYES. HE HAS THE UNSETTLING SPARKLES! NO D YOU'RE FALLING INTO THE TRAP!!

ok i just wanted to say that this made me laugh. like first nadeshiko's panacea thing was funny and then suzukiri pulls out a tv remote like HELLO????

i love d standing up for himself like this but i can also see the slippery slope of becoming like the executives... getting what you want and forcing that onto others... i wouldn't be surprised if d one day becomes an executive and has to grapple with that. hell, maybe in the later chapters he becomes a dragon keeper AND executive... damn.

i will say, peltrola is an interesting antagonist. someone so holier-than-thou who sees themselves as a god,,, an interesting match-up to the dragon keepers' divine sense of authority, what with their divine dragon tools.

okay i did not like blue keeper when he was introduced, but i think that's normal. i still don't like him but i do find him a lot more interesting and i appreciate his sense of self-awareness. living your life knowing you toe the line between good and evil, never committing fully to one, and feeling that your resolve wavers because of it... like damn. you did not deserve to die. you deserved to live and commit to doing better. death isn't redemption, it's just a tragedy. speaking of..

holy hell. the way d's murder of blue keeper was actually horrifying. just... the juxtaposition between d achieving his goal but feeling empty with loss anyway just hit so hard.

also (backtracking a bit) lil hibiki and tokita!!!!!! would not be surprised if tokita modeled his look after aogama. also aoyome and aogama's relationship is sweet. i like how she sees the best in him even if the worst of him shouldn't be ignored or excused.

OKAY i didn't realize there's an image limit so here's my other fav panels:

;u; xx,,,, they're both just trying to carve meaning out of their existence (that backstory into d was also just... ough. there's,,, probably parallels there with blue keeper. raised to be a shield, a scapegoat, a loser... god...

THE WAY I INTERNALLY SCREAMED. I'M SO HAPPY WAAAAAAAA

the fav is alive i am JUMPING FOR JOY

NO IDEA if koguma will be like,,, a friend or ally. or used as bait or get hurt again,,, leave him alone pls. also rip sojiro, you were a real one. really symbolic that the oldest veteran cadet of them there died, kinda symbolizes the passing of a baton... damn. rest in peace.

also - suzukiri! achieved her goal once more. she's so so interesting. i wonder what sakurama is up to...

okay look. i like sesera a lot but her thing with sakurama is NOT IT DNDMFNND. i know it's a trope but the fcking body pillow was so weird, like cmon. i still like her though, she's my fav of the dragon keepers. that,, might change going forward im not sure. i do like,,, sharks,, green keeper arc is next? shark teeth a+ design heeeee.

ONTO VOLUME 7 WAHOOOO

[halfmoonism]

it has just occurred to me that I did not explain what the au even was. so (p5r spoilers below):

also feel free to ask me qs abt this. they will not leav my head

not-quite roleswap au where an akechi who is persona-less until 17 unwittingly becomes the leader of the "phantom thieves" (they are not called that) w/ morgana makoto futaba and sumire (in that order)

joker meanwhile is Sort Of black mask (they are not called that) w/ ryuji ann yusuke and haru. they have their reasons trust me (mild blackmail, a lot of bad influences, The Works)

starts in his/makoto's/haru's 2nd yr (sept/2nd sem), goes up to end of canon

no ships btw. akechi is dragged kicking and screaming into a found family and it takes 200k to do it (no longer exaggeration I fear)

um. i offer new confidant links (mostly introduced through other ppl bc Come On do you think akechi waltzes into deep potent friendships by himself) such as: lala escargot. shinichi yoshizawa. muhen. jose. eiko takao. uh. checks notes shinya and sojiro are here again sorry that's my found family

also everyone's arcanas are shifted to fit their new chara arcs but they don't get the old arcana storyline (i.e. akechi is now the tower, reversed at the start but he does not get shinya's storyline lmao)

okay more specific details below:

lavenza has been fighting The Demons (yaldabaoth) off for two years which is why akechi is persona-less at the start (his/makoto's 2nd yr). we do not meet her until 3rd sem sorry lavenza. yes this also means akechi can't fuse personas

akechi and makoto are the worst worsties ever. every day they wake up and wish violence upon e/o. akechi directly contributes to makoto's awakening (again). it takes them 5 entire chs to establish a confidant link. and yet they form one of the strongest friendships in the entire thing

akechi has loki and a different persona SORRY robin hood just didn't make sense for the direction his chara took (i.e. after 15 yo and still feeling helpless all hope he had that he could be a hero of justice that avenged his mother died)

futaba fights now :) she has a scythe :)

since there are only 5 party members I figured the one who's swapped out during fights does the nav role, meaning everyone else helps teach sumire how to analyze weaknesses after she joins the team <3 I love found family

also since there are only 5 party members I switched up element specializing: akechi - curse/ice/gun (loki), bless/psy/phys (2nd persona), morgana - wind (he's the main healer + can full party buff + I was not giving him gun sorry lmao), makoto - nuke/lightning, futaba - psy/fire, sumire - bless/phys

makoto does not become a cop and morgana is not really fucking weird towards ann (or anyone) anymore god bless

the new group names are mildly cringe on purpose. they are high schoolers They think it's cool and that's what matters <3 my loser kids

the third sem wishes are appropriately updated. as is engine room. smile

if i start tagging things w/ my p5 longfic AU sorry it's me trying to cope

[ludwigplayingthetrombone]

hi! i'm terribly sorry to bother you, but did you by chance ever do a comic with sojiro shimada using his dragon's abilities to protect hanzo and i think baby genji? i've been looking for the comic everywhere, and i keep remembering it in your art style, so i figured i'd ask!

No bother! If it's the right scene, I believe it's from chapter 6 of getting together comic here!

[lets-say-maybe]

Hmmmmm. Interest check for a shuake fic I've been thinking of that's a Beauty and the Beast Au.

Ideas-

Ren is living with Sojiro and Futaba after a run in with the royal guard when defending a woman from a drunk noble who turned out to be the f-ing king(i.e. obviously shido, but shush you)

Goro is more of a crow like creature than a fur ball, cause I love his black mask outfit and I want fanart of this soooo bad

Goro is actually the banished bastard prince that was cursed by a malious 'god' wanting the kingdom to fall to ruin, rather than a beautiful enchantress.

The PT are the trapped servants, but they aren't objects. They are cursed to never be able to leave the castle grounds though.

The curse isn't to be lifted by falling in love(that's just a side bonus :D) but rather by finding one's 'will of rebellion'. I was thinking that the reason everyone was cursed was because they all had the potential to be incredibly powerful magic users that could grow strong enough to overthrow the corrupt kingdom.

I have some other ideas as well but they're more nebulous and might shift as I get writing.

Is this something anyone else would be interested in reading? It's been flouting in my head for awhile, but finding motivation for something that I don't know if people will even read is hard.

Edit:

Mostly working on the outline right now. I'll make a new post whenever ch.1 gets posted.

[poagberty]

Persona 5 Fic Rec List

Whump/Interrogation

what you make of it by jortsbian

Summary: Sojiro never expected to become a father, but he also never anticipated Futaba and Akira entering his life. He can’t say he regrets the change.

Word Count: 4,585  Status: Completed  Chapters: 1/1

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

In-Between Palaces by JuneLuxray

Summary: One-shot gallery composed of shorts of the cast of Persona 5 doing day-to-day stuff between Palaces. Mostly fluff, slice of life, and humor.

Word Count: 103,086  Status: Uncompleted  Chapters: 60/? (Interrogation Aftermath Ch. 22-23)

what comes after victory by glowingjellyfishtreelights

Summary: A week of recovery, after interrogation.

Word Count: 9,491  Status: Completed  Chapters: 1/1

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Ships

Makoto’s Lies by PixieRed

Summary: Makoto is an elegant, refined young lady with purely logical reasons for her actions that don't involve personal desires for love or justice.An in-game Makoto POV shipfic focusing on her relationship with the protagonist and her early discovery of a certain palace.Cross-posted from FFnet.My thanks to the kind folks curating the TVTropes page for this fic (Spoilers!)

Word Count: 152,362  Status: Completed  Chapters: 27/27

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

[claroquequiza]

Chapters: 28/? Fandom: Overwatch (Video Game) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Jesse McCree/Hanzo Shimada, Genji Shimada & Hanzo Shimada Characters: Jesse McCree, Hanzo Shimada, Genji Shimada, Winston (Overwatch), Other Character Tags to Be Added, Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Jack Morrison, Lena "Tracer" Oxton, Tekhartha Zenyatta, Torbjörn Lindholm, Fareeha "Pharah" Amari, Lúcio Correia dos Santos, Hana "D.Va" Song, Mei-Ling Zhou, Sojiro, Satya "Symmetra" Vaswani, Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix Additional Tags: Slow Burn, like reeeeaaaaally slow burn, because uh they hate each other, at first, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, If I can swing it LET'S FIND OUT TOGETHER, Isolation, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asshole Jesse McCree, Asshole Hanzo Shimada, But they get better, after suffering, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Reconciliation, The Brothers Learning How to Be Brothers Again, slowly and painfully, of course, Glacial Burn, non-kumichō Sojiro, kumichō Shimama Summary:

Overwatch can be forgiven for keeping Hanzo at arm's length despite the endorsement of his intended murder victim. Six months of provisional membership, spent in the field, is a reasonable compromise.

But not everyone is on board with giving Hanzo a chance.

McCree, least of all.

[theexistentiallyqueer]

I promised that I would compile a list of fic recs so here we go.

hungry, thirsty roots by coolkidroland (T) - This is it kids, this is the fic that turned me into a goroboy. Goro has a palace AU, shuake with a side of okujima, and easily my favorite Goro redemption stories. I have reread this at least ten times. I just reread it last week. (Make sure you read all three works in the series.)

l’appel du vide by xov (M) - I didn’t think I would need to list the single most popular shuake fic ever written, but some people I’ve talked to have never heard of it and listen, this fic will change your life. New Game+, Akira has a palace, bigtime slow burn, an Akira who flirts with anything that moves but specifically with Goro any time he moves. I have no idea where the plot is going but it is definitely going PLACES. Xov updates at a glacier’s pace but it is so, so, so beyond worth it.

cover your tracks by prosodiical (T) - What if Akira and Goro had met earlier? Like the first time Goro walks into the Metaverse, for example.

ᚴᚱᚨᚴᚱᚷᚨᛚᛞᚱ (Krákrgaldr) by songofproserpine (M) - Goro has a palace AU, and that palace is dripping with Norse mythology references written with carefully crafted care. A lot of v good literary horror up in this Big Bang Burger tonight.

it takes a village by shouldbeworking (M) - New Game+, but all the phantom thieves are playing and Goro hasn’t got a clue. Their absolute DISASTER Goro is one of my favorites.

false start by xov (M) - Goro is older and married to the man he loves. Just kidding! Haha...unless...? Everything Xov touches is gold.

a study in distress by xov (G) - No powers AU where Akira went to Goro’s high school. Akira is thirsting big time and Goro is very dumb.

start again at your beginning by joisbishmyoga (T) - The kids pull off the long con but have some caveats on the takedown. Sojiro POV.

on the way by chashmish (T) - One of several fics about Akira giving Goro a haircut, because we are simple people with simple wants and like Goro being vulnerable by letting the guy he tried to kill put a blade near his neck.

the level knife by relationshipcrimes (G) - Another fic about Akira giving Goro a haircut, because we are simple people with simple wants.

the soul signal by relationshipcrimes (G) - Literally the only soul mate AU fic I have ever read and boy am I glad that I did.

the devil’s details by relationshipcrimes (G) - Goro goes to prison in Akira’s stead.

the pleasure game by relationshipcrimes (T) - We are simple people with simple wants and one of those wants is fics where Akira and Goro are hooking up in game despite knowing it’s a very bad idea (the thirst wants what the thirst wants).

a multitude of deaths, and a world for the two of us alone by deplore (M) - Goro survives, but god, at what cost? A very good breakdown of how actually becoming a murderer in your formative years really fucks you up, doesn’t it. Warnings for dream sequences of intimate partner violence.

the collective by deplore (M) - A series of drabbles, some of which are darker than others. Ch 4 has sexual content.

to err is human by katraa (E) - Akira and Goro flirt-quote philosophy at each other and then have sex. You know, as boys do.

push & pull by aizawashouta (E) - Goro has a lot of emotional hangups and Ren has the patience of a saint, honestly. Get your boy a therapist.

spring cleaning by deplore (G) - Goro waits for Akira to come home. Post-game, Goro lives (obviously).

come light undying by chashmish (G) - Drabble collection. Tell chashmish thank you.

skeptic by chashmish (G) - Goro has some hot takes about Akira’s personality.

actor out of work by chashmish (T) - Akira is having clandestine makeout sessions with the boy he knows is planning to kill him. It’s fine. Everything is fine.

with mournful tread by yustiel (G) - A very dark, very depressing New Game+.

sunny with a chance of storms by mysecretfanmoments & suggestivescribe (E) - Akira is a thirsty motherfucker on main. 

go home by prosodiical (T) - Goro survives and feels messy about it.

it’s a long life, better pinch yourself by tnevmucric (G) - The love confession Atlus robbed us of.

a stupid shelter, like an umbrella against lightning by tnevmucric (T) - Set during Royal but has no Royal spoilers on account of being written before the game even came out.

[tevokkia]

Search Results Ch.15 extra scene

Have you read the chapter yet? Yes? In that case, scene is below the cut.

I had to put this in extras because neither of our boys are actually in it. Do you guys want to see more of this stuff?

Hey look, a new chapter after A YEAR

Sojiro Shimada sat in his office in downtown Seattle, his fingers threaded together as he gazed at the private investigator sitting across from him. “What do you have for me?”

“Jesse McCree, eighteen years of age. Currently living with his adopted family in Santa Fe, New Mexico and enrolled at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque starting next month. Employed at Alder Feed & Supply in Santa Fe.” 

The detective set a fat manila envelope on the desk between them, and Sojiro nodded for her to continue. “Friendly and well-liked, but few close friends, only one known living relative that he has no contact with, and no romantic relationships prior to your son that I could find. Social media accounts are rarely updated. His history before age twelve is spotty at best, but I wouldn’t worry.” The ghost of a smile flitted across her dark features, and she draped an arm over the backrest of her chair. “Honestly, this was the tamest job you’ve ever sent me on, sir. Practically a vacation.” 

Barely raising an eyebrow, Sojiro slid the envelope toward himself. He would look at it when he was finished here. “What do you mean by ‘spotty at best’?”

There was a shrug in reply. “He went into foster care at seven -- the police report preceding that is in there -- and his records were sealed when he was legally adopted at fourteen. He’s been squeaky clean since then. Car accident report is a bit gristly, but nothing worse than what you’ve seen before. That’s about it.”

“Thank you, then, Ms. Tamborra. I will have the balance of your fee transferred directly.”

Tamborra rose at the dismissal and bowed slightly. “Pleasure working with you, as always,” she said, and let herself out.

Once the door was closed, Sojiro picked up the manila envelope and slid the stack of papers out of it. Tamborra’s summary was on top, only slightly more detailed than what she had told him aloud and with several candid photos paperclipped to it, followed by her comprehensive report. She had been thorough, performing surveillance with an associate, interviewing McCree’s employer and a few teachers, pulling public records, combing social media accounts -- most things pointed to a very private individual who was hard-working, charismatic, and resourceful. The photos were completely mundane: McCree jogging, mowing the lawn, at his place of employment ...

The most recent thing on his Facebook page was someone’s post to his wall wishing him a happy birthday the month before, preceded by a handful graduation photos his adoptive mother had tagged him in -- Sojiro saved the ones that Hanzo was also in. He did the same with the prom photos from May before continuing to scroll. It didn’t take long to get to the end; McCree seemed to post only when there was an event, like being accepted to college, having some of his work published, or joining the staff of the school newspaper (and one lonely post from a few years back stating he was out of the hospital with no context), while information about his daily activities was limited to tagged posts belonging to Ms. Amari. There was a status change from ‘single’ to ‘in a relationship’ in late March, shortly before Hanzo had come home for spring break.

 His Twitter account was all but blank.

Skimming the report from the accident -- ‘gristly’ was an adequate word for it -- Sojiro left the two other reports, each more than ten years old, slid everything back into the envelope, and locked it away. 

If Hanzo had actually come to him to speak about something in his personal life, it meant that he was incredibly serious about it: his eldest son was not generally forthcoming with that sort of information. It only made sense for Sojiro to investigate the young man, and he was relieved that nothing indicated he would have to perform a more thorough, less legal follow-up, or offer him a large sum of money to disappear and never contact Hanzo again. It seemed it was safe to let things progress for now.

Reasonably satisfied, Sojiro returned to work; he had a business meeting to prepare for.

[p5-apotelesma]

and i 100% think goro knew wakaba. because when he approached shido and said he had powers and could be useful to him, he wasnt gonna just fucking believe the kid. but he still knew about cognitive pscience. (“if not for my knowledge on it, id think you were insane” he says something along those lines)

so who else would he hand goro over to to see if it all was legit, but wakaba? his researcher. and of course in the end hes gonna use goro to steal information for him and get rid of her once hes been made aware of what goro can do. and has strung the kid along with praise and promises of stability

and if goro is homeless at this point, i could see goro staying at the LAB for a while. thats right, hes the weird feral cat who sleeps under the desks (kidding) but goro cant stay there anymore AFTER wakaba dies. shido pulls his funding and the lab shuts down.

sojiro of all people, during his last possible trip there (probably looking for anything wakaba could have left behind) offers goro a ride when he sees the poor kid just standing around outside looking lost. he doesnt know if this kid has anywhere to go.

he asks, “can i take you anywhere?” and goro agrees. gives sojiro an address. (and sojiro feels uneasy about letting goro walk away for a long time, but like a lot from around that terrible time, the memory grows fuzzy) sojiro drops him off and goro goes right into a big office building to meet with shido.

“it’s a shame, really…” shido says “having to sacrifice a bright mind like hers. she wouldn’t have had to die had she just complied.”

a breath. (think about breathing. when did that stop being automatic?)

“you, however… you’ve exceeded my expectations, akechi. well done.”

“...thank you. shido-san”

“truly, its a relief to know you’re capable of doing what needs to be done. i’ll be counting on you from now on.”

“thank you for this opportunity, sir. i’ll work hard.”

“see that you do. now... there's the matter of your living situation.”

He slides goro a set of keys.

“ive selected a condo for you.”

(THE GROOMING!! THE GROOMING, BABEY!!)

[0ssianic]

Into the Tomb of Her Heart (Ch 1/?)

Summary: Her whole life is contained in a few square meters. There, she spends every waking moment with the guilty little voice inside her head. It's suffocating. Futaba reaches out for help to change her heart before it can kill her. // Read on AO3

Chapter Title: Prologue (~460 words)

Futaba woke up and rolled out of bed and into her computer chair. As she did yesterday, the day before that, and the day before that. 

Her day (or night, not like she could tell) was spent on her usual hobbies: gaming, browsing chans, and napping, with the odd bit of coding on her latest project in between it all. The date sat innocently in the lower corner of her screen. Friday February 19th.

    A knock on the door broke her concentration. It must be Sojiro with food. She waited until she heard his footsteps fade down the hallway before she moved for the door.

    She cracked the door open and slid the plate plate in, snapping the door shut as soon as it cleared. Her eyes landed on the small addition Sojiro had left her and it broke her monotonous daily routine. Next to her normal dinner, a cupcake was balanced on the rim of the plate. 

The sight of it was like a punch to the chest. Birthday. Her birthday. Today she turned fifteen. And Mom wasn’t here. She would never be here again. Futaba would be sixteen, then seventeen, then eighteen. All her birthdays would come and go and she would still be stuck here in the same few square meters.

 She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. It was like the walls were closing in, trying to crush her, suffocate her. 

I am going to die here. 

She fell backwards, collapsing against her bed. The words kept echoing in her head.

I am going to die here. I killed Mom so I deserve to die here. 

Futaba clutched at her head. Stop it stop it stop it! Her hands clenched tighter as she tried to curl away from her own guilt. 

It was no use.

She had no clue how long the attack lasted. It could have been minutes or hours. All that mattered was now. She only knew when it was over when she felt coherent again. She tried to push herself to her feet, but coming off the adrenaline high left her trembling. She couldn’t do it. Instead she crawled over to her mini-fridge and pulled out a drink. 

A few sugary sips later, she felt marginally better.  

Her food was still by the door, going cold. Sojiro had done something nice for her, but it made her sick to her stomach. Yet another thing for her to feel guilty about. Sojiro put up with a lot. He put up with her. He didn’t deserve that. 

It was too much for the day. Time for a hard reset. She climbed into bed, ready to pass out.

I can’t keep doing this. 

Someone, please, please help me. 

She fell asleep and dreamed of being buried alive.

[izfaish]

[go go loser ranger ch.40 spoilers]

okay technically it's spoilers for prev chapters too, ive just been saving my thoughts so i don't go on a reblog spree djdjd

BUT YEAH

i loved this moment because it calls back to how kurusu was put on a pedestal back then with words of praise. now he affirms that no, one's actions and decisions prove their character. i liked the conflict between him and yukino with regards to rheir resolve and how similar they ended up being.

GOD. i also really liked the conflict set up with d with the executives and just feelings of abandonment. imagine doing a puppet act for 12 years only to find out that your leaders or a leader could've stopped it. how would that sway your faith? who can you believe in then to fuel your cause? (a cause that they themselves stoked in the footsoldiers)

THIS MOMENT SLAPPED SO HARD. I LOVE PARALLELS SO MUCH! the realisation that shion also thinks the rangers are bullshit, that they could be the same, was so fcking good. the visual language and paneling to convey that was so so good. this manga has some banger compositions for sure.

love reading a character's dialogue and then realizing that another character could say the exact same thing but in a mildly different context. IT'S SO GOOD.

i didn't take screenshots between okusubo and sojiro's fight, but i also found it interesting (esp. with the hisui reveal!) and how sojiro eventually felt his old self resurface somewhat, by seeing hisui in a corner okusubo. i like okusubo a lot!! def one of my fav characters (PLS PLS DON'T LET ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN TO HER I BEG YOU HARUBA-)

side note but her hair and hair clips remind me of mina from kn8!

ok now the thing that made me rush here to tumblr lol:

OKAY SO A LOT HAPPENED OBVIOUSLY. BUT JUS. GEEZ. i won't comment on it all unless asked but this moment just. wow. does d think of the executives as similar to the dragon keepers? with their holier-than-thou attitude. GOD THE PARALLELS OF THE HIERARCHIES!!

'it is the executives who are truly invaders' like HELLO??? replace key words with 'dragon keeper' and 'rangers' and you've got yourself an internal conflict.

d, who hates being a loser, a reject, hates being looked down upon (despite having spent 12 years in a fortress looking down on others), would of COURSE act out. seems like he did so on instinct, attacking peltrola. GOD THAT JUST,,, wow.

ANYWAY. THOSE ARE SOME OF MY THOUGHTS. this manga continues to be a banger. i think i'll save these review posts for when i finish a volume, and five my thoughts all at once.

but yeah if you've read this far uhh come yell at me about this manga pls pls

[a-student-out-of-time]

//I also wanna take the opportunity to discuss my personal headcanon to explain Kokoro’s behavior in Chapter 0. I think you can sorta consider her as having three stages

//The first is teen Kokoro, who we meet in the main game. While she’s fairly stoic, aloof, and likes to keep to herself, she has good intentions and genuinely cares about the others. Her decision not to help the group find the Voids initially seemed selfish, but it was actually her trying to help from behind scenes.

//The third is adult Kokoro, who’s far more callous, dismissive, and apathetic. She openly states that she only gave birth to Mikako for the emotion project, she’s confused why Sojiro left with her, and says she’s bored from Mikado asking about them. She really comes across like a different person.

//But I think there’s a lot you can read between the lines there. Take a look at these bits from Ch. 0 about the file containing Mikako’s data (Translation courtesy of Johnny Youngster):

//That moment of hesitation stuck out to me. 

//Her trying to brush every discussion about her family as “boring” also felt off to me too. And I think it’s because she does care. She cares and she doesn’t want to admit it.

//That second stage of Kokoro is her currently in this story. She realized what she did was wrong and, while she may not fully process it because of her Alexithymia, she’s suffering from a lot of guilt. She misses Sojiro and Mikako, the family she’d made for herself, and only then did she realize how much she missed them. She’d spent so long trying to help people, being hit by that kind of realization, that she h lead to her changing.

//That third stage? It’s a coping mechanism. It’s her trying to distance herself from any kind of strong emotional connection to them, telling herself that she only had Mikako for the project. I also think it especially hurts with Sojiro, who she genuinely cared about, even if it was hard for her to grasp, and so she really doesn’t want to talk about him.

//It’s just like Jataro and his desire to be hated in his abusive home environment. It’s her coping with their loss by deciding anything about them is boring and meaningless to talk about because she only had that family because of the project. She wants to believe that herself, and maybe she eventually did. Or at least convinced herself of it.

//It probably doesn’t help that The Tragedy was going on by then. I think she may have begun to numb herself to people in general with all the violence going on, focusing on just accomplishing her own research. Someone who started off so moral and genuinely kind eventually becoming so detached and lost, even from themselves.

//And the most ironic thing? Kokoro’s dislikes include “People who deceive their own feelings.”

[yumizurueleonora]

Chapters: 18/18 Fandom: Genei Ibun Roku #FE | Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, Persona 5, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Oribe Tsubasa & Caeda, Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright & Aoi Itsuki, Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright & Persona 5 Protagonist, Amamiya Ren (Persona Series) & Aoi Itsuki, Aoi Itsuki & Kurusu Akira, Aoi Itsuki & Persona 5 Protagonist Characters: Oribe Tsubasa, Caeda (Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE), Takamaki Ann, Amamiya Ren, Kurusu Akira, Persona 5 Protagonist, Aoi Itsuki, Akagi Touma, Tsurugi Yashiro, Yumizuru Eleonora, Kurono Kiria, Sakura Futaba, Oribe Ayaha, Sakamoto Ryuji, Kitagawa Yusuke, Akechi Goro, Niijima Makoto, Okumura Haru, Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Morgana (Persona Series), Naruhodou Ryuuichi | Phoenix Wright, Niijima Sae, Ayasato Mayoi | Maya Fey, Karuma Mei | Franziska von Karma, Original Female Character(s), Sakura Sojiro, Navarre (Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE), Chrom (Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE), Tharja (Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE), Virion (Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE), Cain (Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE), Draug (Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE), Shimazaki Maiko Additional Tags: It starts w/ TMSFE but P5 and AA will be coming soon!, more tags to come, Major Character Death but also they don’t die, Lmao it’s wack just check it out, TMSFE: Post-Canon, P5: Post-Canon, AA: JfAish era, TMSFE enters at the Prologue, P5 enters at ch 2, AA enters at ch 6! Summary:

Ren Amamiya, Itsuki Aoi, and Phoenix Wright. Three people that are completely different are forced to work together to save the people that they hold dear.

Stolen Souls is officially completed! Thank you all for your support!

[hirokiyuu]

aaaaand ch8 notes!

fun fact p much every element of this ch has been planned for Months and Months. details were missing but we talked abt goro failing a hit + goro rejecting the food sae buys for him/them having a fight + shido giving him sojiro as a hit like, a While ago. mentioned in the ch proper but shido giving him the file w/sojiro’s name has been written for MONTHS

uhhhh more bullet pointz tho this is less in order i think

shido features more heavily as a concept in this versus other chs bc goro’s feelin Real Bad. goro tends to subconciously ignore things he doesnt like but after what happened to ftb he’s feeling so shitty part of him is continually thinking abt shido as a self-harm mechanism

wakaba having a palace is smth ive always thought abt? like. goro’s job is shitty and fucked up. but also how much easier must it be to kill ppl when u get to see all teh absolute worst sides of them. like. how many of us watched the end of kamoshida’s palace and just thought abt how justified ann wouldve been in killing him there u kno. and meanwhile goro’s spent years traversing the shittiest part of people??? it’s no wonder why he’s able to do this job day in and day out.......

originally the place goro n sae went to for lunch was gonna be a set lunch place but I Like Udon

originally “never got chased during tag” was “always got picked last at dodgeball” but in jp they dont choose teams, u usually just janken for it. i agonized over having that line in there bc on the one hand it was good but on the other hand Cultural Accuracy!!! Cultural Accuracy!!!!!

goro dissociating is always a fun exercise to write. trying to capture the feeling of being so disconnected from ur body like that is interesting??? it happened before in ch...... 3 i think? w/the cup

point of order, even tho we dont date the fic we actually have a full doc and know what day every single scene is happening lol. shido meeting was day after madarame’s confession (6/6)

the reason sojiro is a target is.......... implied in the fic but i’ll definitely clarify next chapter haha tbh i thought it was clearer than it was but on a reread i can see why ppl are confused so??? shrugs

also after finishing proofreading apples only story comment was “its not a real slowburn unless character b doesnt even show up once in chapter 8″ or smth like that