#how do you even tag yoshizawa??

[emanation-aura]

What if Joker got a Palace in the Third Semester AU: the unhinged explanation.

Goro had looked up Kurusu last night, using old police files he wasn’t technically sure he had access to any more, but he was past giving a shit. The arrest record and documents listing charges against him he’d taken from the chief interrogator— they were still there, but curiously blank, in a way only cognitive distortion could manage. His hometown existed, but an illegal search of Shido’s census database didn’t reveal anybody living in the Kurusu household; not Akira Kurusu, not his parents or literally anyone else. The whole thing was a baffling mystery that had exhausted him to the point of passing out. The violence of clearing Shadows gives his aching mind a bit of clarity, though, and with it, a chilling thought. Akira Kurusu has been erased from reality.

Set from Goro's perspective. Instead of waking up on January 1st to a changed reality, on that day, Akira suddenly disappears. He is not gone from the Phantom Thieves' cognitions, but he is physically missing, and stranger still are his blank arrest records and the existence of the Kurusu household in a government census that Goro has completely transparently and legally obtained, despite the fact that "Akira Kurusu" does not exist.

“If he’s been erased from reality, does that mean Maruki overwrote his… his existence itself?" The low, simmering anger in her voice and the way she drops the honorific for Maruki speaks volumes about how Kurusu’s absence has radicalised Yoshizawa against Maruki’s tempting demands. It doesn’t quite satisfy him, because Kurusu is still missing and Yoshizawa is far too innocent for her own good; but it is enough to give him confidence in her teamwork, at least. “I have my doubts about that,” Goro says. He weighs his words carefully, trying to construct the evidence in a way that makes sense. “If he were truly overwritten from this reality, the Phantom Thieves wouldn’t remember their friend; they do, albeit in a very limited way.”

Yoshizawa hums thoughtfully. “Maruki managed to overwrite the cognitions of all the Phantom Thieves into believing their dead or estranged relationships had returned. He has no trouble writing people into reality; it should follow that he can write someone out of reality, but it seems while an effort was made, it wasn’t complete enough.” “Indeed.” Goro hides the modicum of surprise he feels at Yoshizawa’s brains; she’s no detective, but she’s decided smarter than Goro had given her credit for. “To support your conclusion: the papers on which his arrest record was printed still exist, even if the pages are blank. The census database indicates that the Kurusu household is empty, but also that it exists.” It would be a fascinating conundrum if he wasn’t under imminent threat of this cognitive reality. Either Kurusu has been imprecisely written out of this reality, or… “What if he’s currently residing in another plane of existence?”

In this AU, I basically postpone Kasumi/Sumire's internal crisis until after they have figured out what the fuck happened to Akira. "Kasumi" and Akechi enter the Odaiba Palace as usual despite the lack of Joker, find out it's Maruki, but he doesn't show "Kasumi" the traumatising videos of her past life for reasons untold.

“As you said, it is unlike Maruki to imprecisely remove him from reality. If he were so intent on giving his friends their paradise, he would either allow Kurusu to exist to be their friend, or overwrite his existence completely so the Phantom Thieves fully immerse themselves in the fantasy of their desired lives, which all supposedly took place before they met Kurusu.” Madarame’s pupil, the Nijima sisters and their father, Wakaba Isshiki, Kunikazu Okumura… the only exception is a human Morgana, but Morgana has always been an exception. “Instead Kurusu exists as a memory and artifacts of his existence weren’t properly erased. Perhaps, due to his… unique powers, he was able to separate himself from this version of reality before Maruki got to him.” It’s a stretch, but at the same time, the incongruity of the entire fucking Metaverse continues to burn a hole through his brain, so really, nothing is going to stop him at this point. “Crow-senpai…” Yoshizawa is hesitant, as if she is also grasping how tenuous the connection is. But then her face hardens in an expression he’d thought her incapable of: sheer, raw determination. “The Metaverse is an alternate plane of existence.”

Goro and "Kasumi" figure out that Palaces apart from Maruki's simply cannot exist, because technically, reality itself is Maruki's Palace; he is spreading his cognitive belief (distortion) to the entire world via god powers. With such overwhelming cognitive control, no "real" place exists for cognitive distortion to occur, because "reality" is already just "cognition" by Maruki.

They try Mementos, sure. Mementos is the collective unconscious, and while Persona-users can't have Shadows, if one is being perceived by the collective unconscious, one is also technically part of it: AKA, if the Shadows in Mementos registered Joker as like, a person, proof of his existence still exists in the cognitive world. (Of course said cognitive world is currently fusing with reality but I digress.) They try inputting Joker's name into the Mementos Nav to see if it will register him in the public unconscious, but unfortunately, no dice.

But Joker is special. He is the Wild Card, and unbeknownst to Goro or "Kasumi", he has access to the Velvet Room, a place 'between mind and matter, dream and reality'. Not saying that it's simple enough for him to just escape to the Velvet Room, but he's always been special, and has powers that none of them understand. So strange things always happen to him, and well:

“He can’t be totally gone,” Goro tries to reason, more for himself than Yoshizawa. If he has to try and convince the Phantom Thieves to face reality and defeat Maruki by himself, he is going to scream. “Evidence of his existence is improperly erased, meaning his cognition has not fully disappeared, even if Mementos doesn’t perceive him. If so—” Yoshizawa suddenly goes very, very still. “There is one other possibility,” she murmurs almost disbelievingly. It strikes Goro the way lightning skewers a tree. It would make sense, though. Maruki physically resides in his Palace because his distortion extends to the entire world; ergo, the entire world is technically his Palace. If Kurusu were physically residing anywhere else, it would be a cognitive reality under his control, not one where he'd been erased… “No,” Goro says out of sheer disbelief, the same time Yoshizawa flicks her finger to the ‘Palace’ tab and says in a somehow-perfect voice that doesn’t shake: “Akira Kurusu.” “Candidate found.”

Akira doesn't have a physical location for his distortion to center on; Metaverse Palace access depends on target/location/distortion to find routing, and location has thus far always been physical (Shujin, shack, Shibuya/Tokyo, Futaba's room, Okumura Foods company HQ, courthouse, Diet building). But somehow he's managed to escape Maruki's reality through a Palace of his own.

And, look. I've read a lot of Joker gets a Palace fics. The keywords vary from fic to fic; distortion is commonly masquerade / prison / theatre, or anything reasonable construed to separate facets of the social self. Location also varies, but less; I've seen Leblanc / his room / all of Tokyo / the entire world.

I'm not going to do anything particularly new either. But the keyword for location in this AU is going to be Akira's heart.

It's not a physical location, obviously. But it is also a very fitting metaphor for a Phantom Thief turned Palace owner who knows exactly what distortion is. It also provides a convenient respite from Maruki's reality, because "Akira Kurusu's heart" is not part of Maruki's cognition the same way "courthouse" or "Diet Building" might be. So when transported there by the Metaverse, "Kasumi" probably gets a flood of terrible memories, since she is in a plane of existence where she truly and only exists as Sumire.

As for distortion... I haven't decided yet, but I'm leaning towards prison. (rubs hands) it will slot nicely with the emotional repression angle: a prison with high walls and iron spikes, perched on a stormy island and impenetrable to all. Akira truly deludes himself in believing his heart is an impenetrable fortress where all his feelings must stay locked up... forever. Goro and Sumire are basically fighting to open the doors in his heart and stopping him from repressing his feelings, which is some dramatic irony with Mr. Black Mask doing the infiltration.

No real details yet, but I do want there to be a perfect replica of the interrogation room, including all the abuse and drugs, because poor akiren is probably repressing his trauma over that too :( I wonder how Black Mask Goro would react to seeing the interrogation room in full, bloody detail? Plus having Sumire along for the ride, who didn't know that this happened, making them the two absolute worst people to be witnessing this side of him.

Anyway, Third Semester Palace is more interesting to me than a post-game one because of all the wonky shenanigans around Maruki's control of reality. If reality is Maruki's "Palace", then the Wild Card (who resists by his very nature; see how he and Goro are the only ones sane) defends himself by escaping to another plane of existence. Unfortunately, one option is forming a Palace, which Akira was already on his way to doing because [insert fanon and this guy's trauma over losing Akechi and the interrogation room and the social burden of being an unwanted criminal branded to him for what seems like the rest of his life]. This all could have been avoided if Lavenza, but there would have been no AU for me to brainrot about, so.

(Why doesn't Maruki show "Kasumi" her trauma when Goro and her show up in the Palace? Butterfly effect: not from Joker being gone, but from Akira having a whole-ass Palace. Akira Kurusu, the kid Maruki therapised for nearly a year and formed a deep bond with. The saviour complex in Maruki compels him to focus on dismantling Akira's Palace, which he tries to do by cognitive "brute force" rather than Goro and Sumire's infiltration. So he's too distracted to harass "Kasumi".)

Technically, Maruki and Akira "doing battle" with cognition (Akira retreating from the overwritten reality hastily; Maruki trying to delete the Palace) implies a metaphysical plane where all Palaces/cognitive worlds exist in a same... "place" where they can cohabit, but that just seems like a dangerously close brush with persona 3's Sea of Souls where Door-kun is sealed and I am running out of steam to think more.

I wrote 1,500 words in a frenzy for this AU and had to share some here before I lost all my inspiration.

[vashtijoy]

@pugs-cats-bb-8 tagged on my 7/9 post:

#persona 5#goro akechi#it's funny that you say he's hard to get a hold of#the first day he's available is 6-13#and he's available 10 times leading up to mid-July#plus his rank 3 is dependent on having R.3 charm And Knowledge plus no rain#even though I'm sure that cafe has a slight awning#he says the charm and knowledge is because his fans won't except any less#I think Akechi's just picky and playing hard to get#he's only available 39 times in the whole game#September is the worst month with 4 days of availability#October is a close second with 5 days#best months are August and November with 8 and 7#throw in a double stat block and a weather block for R. 3#an aquarium date dependent on ranking up Ohya And doing Futaba's palace as soon as it opens#R. 6 having a date block#R. 7 having a date block And stat block of Knowledge R.4#plus if you want the best ending and his third tier you have to pick specific choices#he's also very picky in presents#only 6 presents give 3 notes#2 presents give 2 notes#and the rest give one note#this boy is very complicated

That is invaluable information, and a level of attention to detail of which I can only dream tbh. So, in that spirit, I went back and replayed the whole of June and half of July, to get a complete calendar of Akechi interactions. Here's what I learned:

Apart from Saturday, there doesn't seem to be any real "you can find him on these days" schedule. Between June 10th (confidant 1) and July 12th (the date I got confidant 5 on my live playthrough), there are 9 days when you can find Akechi in Kichijoji, and those days are as follows:

all three possible Saturdays;

3 out of 4 possible Wednesdays. The other, 6/15, is rained off—though he doesn't show up even if you're doing confidant 2 rather than 3, and of course he shows up for confidant 2 on 6/13 in the rain;

once each on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday;

never on Friday or Sunday.

The week of 6/13 only has one day when you can find him—the Monday, when you can get confidant 2 and then he vanishes for the rest of the week. If you (say) don't get confidant 2 on 6/13, he still won't show up on 6/15 (his regular Wednesday slot) to offer it again;

The weeks of 6/27 and 7/4 each have two opportunities to meet him;

The week of 6/20, on the other hand, has three opportunities, and he will text you twice;

Once you're time-locked on the confidant, he will no longer appear in Kichijoji, and he will not text you to hang out;

If he's not time-locked, he always texts on Saturdays, so it looks like you're his big night out. Heavens, Akechi, the wild life you do lead.

so does he vanish for months in the summer?

Over in this post, I talked about how Akechi vanishes for most of September and October, in the runup to Joker's murder. There just appear to be no plot notes that bring the two of you together.

If you do confidant 5 on 7/2, and confidant 6 when it unlocks on 9/3, that looks like another two-month gap—but actually, there are various choreographed events that break it up:

train station meetings on 7/11, 7/20 and 9/2;

the lunch with Yoshizawa on 7/11;

the Medjed meeting with the PTs on 7/18;

the aquarium date on 7/29;

there is then a month's gap before the Leblanc trauma dump on 8/28—interesting, since this mostly overlaps with Futaba's Palace. Which Akechi doesn't know about, so it looks like they've vanished as planned.

So they have a lot going on in July even apart from the confidant. But in August, in the summer, they're out of each other's hair, until he comes back for 8/28 and confidant 6. What's going on? Is this actually a longer disconnect of three months after confidant 5, broken up by setting up the Okumura plot? Does he think Joker gave up as he predicted, when faced with a difficult opponent like Medjed? (disappointing) Is it something else entirely? Or does he just have a busy August?

@pugs-cats-bb-8 mentions in their tags that September and October are Akechi's worst months for availability, which corresponds with his vanishing from the plot for those two months as shit falls apart. If August, by contrast, really is the best time to find him, it suggests he's not intentionally avoiding you then so much as the plot is just not throwing you together.

It looks like, in theory, confidant stages 2-5 are meant to be done by the end of July, when the game schedules a lot of other social stuff for you.

here's the calendar

June M T W T F S S 06 07 08 09 ! 11 12 * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 x * 24 x 26 27 28 * 30

July M T W T F S S 01 x 03 04 05 * 07 08 x 10 11 *

x—days when Akechi texts you to hang out. *—days when you can find Akechi in Kichijoji, but no text. !—the TV studio. Confidant 1.

Days when the game will always stop you doing anything in the evening (and so you could never meet anyone) are struck out.

Days in red are days he didn't appear in this replay (where I nailed all the dates), but did appear in my real, current playthrough (where I'm about a week behind). Note that 7/9 itself is one of these days—if you get confidant 5 on 7/2, he will not then face you on 7/9 after his tantrum.

Here's a summary list of events:

6/10 Friday—the TV studio. Confidant 1.

6/13 Monday—available in Kichijoji. Confidant 2.

6/22 Wednesday—he texts you in the evening. Confidant 3.

6/23 Thursday—available in Kichijoji. (no rank up)

6/25 Saturday—he texts you in the evening. Confidant 4.

6/29 Wednesday—available in Kichijoji. (no rank up)

7/2 Saturday—he texts you in the evening. Confidant 5.

7/6 Wednesday—available in Kichijoji. (but not if rank 5)

7/9 Saturday—he texts you in the evening. (but not if rank 5)

7/12 Tuesday—available in Kichijoji. (but not if rank 5)

also, we dreamed of him

Also, playing back to check certain days I missed to voluntary Metaverse activity, I found out you can go to bed early and have a dream that raises your stats or your confidants! So that's worth knowing. If you got this far down, here are some entertaining dreams.

"I dreamed that I was being chased by a gigantic Akechi... I'm glad that was just a dream."

"I dreamed that Akechi and I went to the beach, but the waves washed away my swimming trunks... I'm glad that was just a dream."

"I had a dream where I was in a quiet café, asking Akechi for advice... I feel a little closer to Akechi."

I think you may have a better chance of getting "good dreams" if you are ranked higher with the confidant.

[kiaroscuro]

Title: as the world caves in

Warnings: descriptions of violence, major character death

Rating: Mature

Main Pairing: Ren Amamiya / Arsene

Main Tags: post-canon, zombie au, angst, hurt / comfort, road trips

Warning:

· · ─────── =^.^= ─────── · ·

The persona is nothing if not attentive over the next few days, always around Ren to make sure that his side and eye didn't get worse; there was little to do for the lighting-strike other than to keep the surface of Ren's skin soft and flexible, and they've started treating it like the burn wound on Ren's arm. They don't speak much, basking in each other's presence while the wind howls outside, rattling the metal carcass of the plane and howling in sorrow. Once Ren feels as if he can walk for more than two steps, Arsene takes him to the pilot's cabin, making Ren sit down in the seat while the persona occupies the other, and then he starts talking about the controls of the plane. Arsene recites from not-memory how to fly a simple one, how many of the little devices were used by the military first. After some time, he started taking apart and inspecting the radio unit of the plane in the hopes of repairing it. Ren listens to him, watches the snowstorm swallow everything in white while the voice of his other half washes over him, and imagines a simpler life, one where he could've finished high school and then gone back to Tokyo for university. Sometimes, flecks of the star-lit sky become visible, and Ren's eyes search out familiar constellations, the North Star always a focal point, Ursus Major another he recognizes.

Ren closes his eyes and imagines meeting Zenkichi and Akane and the Yoshizawa twins in another life; maybe a new Metaverse would've emerged over summer vacation, and he and his thieves could've met Zenkichi as an officer working on the same case. Akane and the twins could've joined them as persona users, and Zenkichi and Sojiro could've met and gone along splendidly. Maybe Konoe would be one of Ren's confidants, the man a broken mess even before the cataclysm. He ruminates on their possible code-names, imagines how his thieves would've reacted to meeting them, imagines how Mona would've gotten along greatly with Akane. Arsene's voice has fallen into a steady rhythm, and he shifts ever-so-often to adjust his wings in the seat, claws drawing over the console and plucking around electrical wires without any power left.

Maybe, maybe, maybe...

Ren closes his eyes, feels his side dull to a slow throb, and listens as Arsene fumbles around with the broken radio unit while talking about his adventures of long past, telling tales about the world war because both of them were in a maudlin mood. It's a strange camaraderie, almost domestic in how at ease he finds himself in the persona's presence, and Ren thinks that he could grow used to staying like this forever.

(What a dangerous thought.)

Deft claws take apart the front panel of the radio, more wires exposed, a tangled mess that has Arsene hiss in displeasure. Ren eyes it, watches cables and wires twine together and destroy each other, and closes his eyes, exhaling once while he lets his weight sag against the seat. "...it's all such a mess," Ren murmurs, and Arsene's wings twitch and his fire flickers before he turns towards Ren with a low-burning confusion.

I can untangle them just fine, do not worry, mon cher. The persona says, but Ren shakes his head. "Everything had been perfectly fine, and then it got-- tangled together, and now I don't know--" he stops, stares down at his hands and imagines the blood of the nebiros and mithra on them. He can still taste the blessed flesh, insides protesting at the sense-memory. Arsene is silent for a moment.

...we aren't talking about the radio unit, are we? He asks, softly, and Ren breathes in shakily, tries to keep his voice even. Arsene's fire softens, before he puts the mess of cables and wires down on the console again, turning towards Ren.

"I should've listened to you and leave, but--" He shudders, "-- I really thought I could trust him. I just don't know why--"

He paid attention to ye, Arsene comments, still soft. At thy exploits and thy knowledge, and he allowed thee to use it for the people in a way that made a difference. My dear, this was not a trap thou could've known how to escape, because Maruki made certain to slather the oil with honey. He exploited natural human need for companionship and thy natural desire to help people -- for that, I cannot be sorry enough.

Ren draws in another shaky breath, eyes blinking because he can feel the tears stinging. "But--"

My greatest regret is not being there for ye throughout all of it.

I let him touch me--! Ren cries, unable to voice it out loud. He clenched his hands into fists before winding them around his elbows, pressing them against his stomach at the sick feeling surfacing. The wound on the side gives off a dull throb almost as if in warning, but Ren ignores it, relishes in the pain. "...I let him touch me," a broken murmur, "even though..."

Claws carefully pried his fingers off, smoothing them out one by one, Arsene's finger pads trailing over the palm of Ren's hands until they stopped clenching and lay flat on his thighs. Ren glances sideways at his persona, who had never looked so human as in that moment, regret trailing down over his mask like tears of golden ichor as he knelt next to Ren. Did what happened with Mademoiselle Shiho or even our own Panther make them weak in thy eyes? The persona asks gently. Ren hiccoughs and shakes his head. Of course not, but Ren's fallen for Takuto's soft words and machinations while Ann and Shiho had been forced into compliance...

Arsene thrums, lowly. His head tilts to the side, claws gently squeezing Ren's hands. Like this, Ren can see the cut on his throat, the thin line of discolored flesh. Had Fox not believed that Madarame was a honest and just man because he was raised under pretenses? Had he not cared for the artist almost like a father, because he was at one point treated as such? Ren, what happened to thee is in no way thy own fault. Thou should know this.

And the thing is-- the thing is: rationally, Ren knows this. But Ren also knows that he'd enjoyed Takuto's attention, his soft and ready touches and gentle smiles and adoring gaze -- his and Sumire's both. Ren also feels distinctly used and manipulated, and he wants to do nothing more than scrub the memory of that last dinner off of his skin. He hates himself for his feelings, because that silk-thin strand of possibilities that had been growing between him and Arsene--

Ren isn't sure he deserves it, anymore. "Even though--" he tries again, tries to get Arsene to understand, because Ren feels wretched and hollow and so, so greedy for taking all of his persona's attention, and--

"Ren, my dear," Arsene rasps softly, "seeking out a connection in these circumstances is not something I would ever begrudge thee." I will be happy with whoever thou decide to settle with, as long as both parties consent to it.

Ren shudders. "...even Akechi?" He asks, half in jest and half because there had been something between them, amidst all the murder and subterfuge and deceit. Arsene makes a noise, wings twitching. He's got them pressed tightly against his back, Ren notes, which has to be uncomfortable. Even Crow, though I would  question thy sanity on that matter. He admits, and then adds, softer still: I mean it, though.

"I don't want anyone else's attention," Ren admits, lowering his lashes and eyes growing distant. "I... for a long time now, I think, I didn't want anyone else's attention but yours." He's still fixated on the cut, remembering how soft the skin had felt under the touch of his lips. Arsene's exhale is a breath of warm air.

"I know, mon cher."

"I know I'm never going to have all of it," Ren continues, haltingly, because it is in Arsene's nature to be flighty. He is a magpie with treasures of gold and women, hoarding one shiny thing until something new catches his eye. Ren's read the novels, and moreover, Arsene is part of his own heart, and-- "but if I could have it for now, I'd..."

Oh, Ren, Arsene murmurs, squeezing Ren's hands before carefully turning his kneeling into a crouch, his mask pressed to the side of Ren's face. "I cannot promise that you'll have me forever, but for as long as I am by your side, you'll have me." You've had me ever since the day we've met for the first time, Arsene adds, softly.

Ren breathes out a weight he hadn't noticed holding. "Oh," he murmurs, before closing his eyes and turning in his seat until he can hug Arsene, until he can feel the persona's claws trail through his hair and over his cheek while Ren burrows his head in his neck. Thank you.

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[akechi-stole-my-heart]

My Persona 5 Fics

Regrets, Broken Trust, and Stardust - 9.9k+ words (ongoing longfic)

With the successful execution of their plan to change Niijima Sae's heart and deceive Akechi Goro, the Phantom Thieves have overcome their most dangerous obstacle yet--but one obstacle still remains. Akechi has yet to let the name of his boss and their ultimate target slip. The Thieves are at a loss for how to proceed, until one Sakura Futaba reveals a game-changing discovery that may unravel the secrets they seek.

Akechi Goro has a Palace.

-

Akechi Goro Lives and befriends the Phantom Thieves. Akechi Character Study. Rated Mature for themes. Abuse; Suicide. Akeshu/Shuake.

Insanity's what kept us sane - 6k+ words (ongoing longfic)

One November evening in 2016, an unlikely trio is sucked into a mysterious alternate world both like and unlike the Metaverse they are familiar with. There they find themselves opposed to the ruler of this world, a troubled young woman called Guernica, who has the power to drive people mad with her art. Thanks to her abilities, the Royal Trio are forced to face the most terrifying enemy of all: themselves.

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Rewrite of Tactica's DLC Repaint Your Heart; Royal Trio are brainwashed by Guernica and their masks are forced off prematurely. Brainwashing; Mental Breakdowns; Suicidal Ideation. Royal Trio focus, Mostly Gen.

code violet - 158k words (complete longfic)

code violet: an emergency code that can be called by any person who is a witness to a violent incident or a combative individual that poses a threat

The engine room confrontation goes down a little differently when one Yoshizawa Sumire is there, hiding in the shadows.

-

A two-shot that ballooned into a Royal Trio longfic. Sumigoro-centric. Canon Divergent - Akechi Lives. Slow Burn Akeshusumi Polyship.

joker's wild - 3.1k words (one shot)

joker's wild: a phrase used to refer to the use of the joker played as a wild card; unpredictable, chaos

Akira has to convince Akechi to join the Phantom Thieves, but nothing he says seems to reach him. He's got one more card up his sleeve, but not the courage to play it.

-

A companion piece to code violet that covers a missing scene from chapter two. Rated Mature for intense making out; Roleplaying; Dom/Sub. Akeshu.

Actualized - 5.9k words (one shot)

Akira has betrayed him. He's betrayed everything, become just as bad as that cursed doctor. Goro won't stand for it. He can't stand for it.

If he has to face Maruki alone on February 3rd, he will.

-

The Ideal Ending from Goro's point of view. Heavy Angst; Hurt No Comfort; Suicidal Ideation. Akeshu/Shuake.

Idyll - 2.3k words (one shot)

"Something is wrong, Akira."

"Whatever do you mean?" says Akira, sounding utterly unconcerned. He continues to hum under his breath, a permanent smile etched on his face. The picture of perfect contentment. "What could possibly be wrong?"

Blood dripping thick and red into his drink at the Jazz Club. Empty gray eyes. Goro blinks. The images disappear. "Something is wrong," he says, quieter.

-

Pseudo-sequel to Actualized (though reading it first is not required). Psychological Horror; Heavy Angst; Hurt No Comfort. Mind the tags. Akeshu/Shuake.

Awakened - 2.9k words (one shot)

Akechi Goro is dead, in every way that matters. It's time that Akira avenged him.

-

Conclusion to Actualized and Idyll. Angst; Hurt No Comfort; Major Character Death. Akeshu/Shuake.

you're so far gone, but i'm not leaving - 10k words (one shot)

Akechi Goro has one goal—live until election day.

Akechi Goro has one goal—make Shido pay.

Akechi Goro has one goal—

Akechi Goro—

Akechi…

Akechi Goro has one goal—live happily forever with his boyfriend.

Akechi Goro has one goal—escape.

-

Time loop of the day Akechi Goro dies. Angst; Suicide; Memory Loss. Akeshu/Shuake.

reaper - 5.5k words (one shot)

Futaba visits Mementos alone on a whim and senses something strange on her scanners. Curiosity gets the better of her, and well, you know what they say about curiosity.

But Futaba's never really cared for that particular saying.

-

Futago siblings/friends, set in the Third Semester. Fluff and Angst. Background Akeshu/Shuake.

weak to ice - 5.7k words (one shot)

Akira takes the Phantom Thieves ice skating in celebration of Haru's eighteenth birthday. Goro's displeased for one simple reason--he's not too fond of the idea of wasting a day on frivolities when Masayoshi Shido is still out there, awaiting his punishment.

And Goro doesn't know how to ice skate. There's that, too.

-

An exploration of Akechi's self-worth issues. Canon Divergent; Hurt/Comfort. Soft Akeshu/Shuake.

remember that you can't save everyone (remember that you have to try) - 2.0k words (one shot)

At first only silence greets him. The sound of fabric shuffling. Perhaps Kurusu merely called accidentally in his sleep, and there's nothing to be concerned about. But then there's a sniff, and something that sounds like a quiet sob.

"Kurusu-kun?" he tries.

Silence. Then, a very soft and quiet, "...Yeah."

"Is everything alright?"

More silence. An even softer, "No."

-

Takuto receives a call from Akira after Akechi dies. Angst; Survivor Guilt; Savior Complex; Mentioned Suicide, Alcohol Abuse. Gen.

heart(less) - 2.6k words (one shot)

Sophia sacrifices herself, and Akechi Goro has some belated realizations about himself, the heart, and the AI he underestimated.

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Sophiagoro friendship, Strikers but Akechi is there. Features Sophia, Goro, and Ichinose. Gen.

white raven, black swan - 5.5k words (one shot)

A collection of scenes taking place during Persona 5 Tactica's DLC Repaint Your Heart

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What it says on the tin. Sumigoro focus/friendship, Royal Trio. Gen.

drop dead - 3.2k words (one shot)

Kasumi is a bit overwhelmed. Infiltrating a Palace with a ruler who seems to know so much about her with Kurusu-senpai and an Akechi Goro who's acting more than a bit out of character is...somewhat stressful.

But she'll be okay. After all, she'll always have her senpai to help keep her head on straight.

...Right?

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Sumire deals with her feelings toward Akechi during the Royal Trio infiltration. Bad Girl Sumi; First Kiss; Trauma; Temporary Character Death. Akeshusumi Polyship.

giving the game away - 5.3k words (one shot)

Sumire wants to tell her parents about her boyfriends. Goro constructs a plan that is absolutely foolproof...for anyone but the fools he's surrounded himself by.

-

Future domestic fluff with Royal Trio. Secret Relationship; Akechi Goro Lives; Making Out; Knifeplay (sorta of, not really). Akeshusumi Polyship.

[personashitposting-va4]

My tagging system

So, as I'm writing this I'm in the process of doing an overhaul of my tags on all of my posts on here. Yes, all of them. This post is mostly for me to remember what all tags I use (because GOD i've used several tags on here in the past and forgotten about them). However, if you'd like to use this to help navigate my blog, then be my guest!

Characters

So the way that I'll tag characters is pretty straightforward. I'll just use their name (e.g. Akechi will just be "#goro akechi").

For the characters that don't have a canon name/have more than one name that the fandom calls them, I will tag them as follows:

P3 protag (male): I forgor P3 protag (female): I forgor this one too oops P4 protag: Yu Narukami P5 protag: Ren Amamiya "Sumi" Yoshizawa: Sumire Yoshizawa (I know that tagging her like this is spoilers but shhh it's fine. This blog isn't exactly P5R spoiler-free anyways lol)

Tags involving 2+ characters

Sometimes, when I really like the dynamic between two or more characters, I'll make a tag dedicated specifically to said dynamic. Essentially, I'll just take the arcana of the characters involved in the dynamic, and combine them. For example, posts revolving around the Akechi/Futaba dynamic would be "#the hermit/the justice". The order that the arcana are in is decided by what order each arcana is in in a tarot deck (e.g. the Hermit comes before the Justice). Not every character dynamic will be tagged like this, only the ones that I personally enjoy enough to tag. Also, I will almost exclusively be using this tagging system for the P5 cast. Sorry P3/4 fans!

Other tags with 2+ characters

#pts - Posts involving several (or all) of the Phantom Thieves #other p5 characters - Catch-all tag for P5 characters that I don't post/care enough about to tag them individually

Games

#p1 #p2 #p3 #p4 #p5 #p5r #p5s

AUs, theories, meta, all that

#acau - For the P5 Adult Confidants AU #antithesis au - Art, writing, etc where the roles of Ren and Akechi switch (i.e. Akechi as the protag and Ren as the "detective prince") #futago siblings - Content where Akechi and Futaba are half-siblings. One of my personal favorite theories tbh #shuake art #akechi meta

Other media

#icons #wallpapers #edits and such - For edits that I don't really know how else to sort. Good examples are moodboards and pride flag edits

Artists

I have a small handful of P5 artists on here whose stuff I really like. I try tagging their stuff with their name so that I can find it easily in the future :)

#marudyne #doodleodds #scruffyturtles #vhvrs

Miscellaneous tags

#vu's posts - My posts #vu's rants/vents - More negative stuff. If you want to block this tag then I get it honestly, since not everyone wants to read more vent-like posts (even if the posts are related to Persona) #fav - My favorite posts. This tag is used for funny/lighthearted stuff #fave - My favorite posts. This is for more serious posts (e.g. an art piece that I really like) #end of previous tags - Sometimes I'll put the previous person's tags in my own. When I do that, I'll typically put this after their tags that I copied #va4 rambles in the tags - When I go on tangents and such in the tags. It's kinda fun to look through here sometimes and see what kinds of stuff I've tagged with this omg

[starlight-phantom]

Top 10 Persona ships/Top 5 Persona 5 ships

1 - Ren Amamiya X Goro Akechi, I used to constantly change favourite ship for Ren until Royal came out and now my brain is in constant Akeshu mode. I still enjoy other ships of course, it's just this one is my favourite.

2 - Yu Narukami X Yosuke Hanamura, surprising no one whatsoever. I don't even know how to explain why I love these two so much but chances are you already know because everyone seems to love these two idiots.

3 - Takuto Maruki X Rumi, yes I know like two other people care about this ship, let me live they're adorable and I wish they could have had the happy life they were planning to have together.

4 - Sumire Yoshizawa X Futaba Sakura, these two are so dang cute. Again, no words, they're just adorable together and I can see them tagging along with Ren and Goro for a double date just to irritate them (mostly Goro)

5 - Ann Takamaki X Shiho Suzui, do I even need to explain why I love these two so much???

6 - Tatsuya Suou X Jun Kurosu, aka the 90's version of Akeshu that Atlus actually allowed to be gay. But in all seriousness, their relationship is written so well and I love how Tatsuya supports Jun and lets him know that he does deserve redemption.

7 - Kanji Tatsumi X Naoto Shirogane, aka the two characters that helped my fourteen year old self realise that she wasn't straight. These two are still way up there in my favourite characters and again, they're adorable together. Plus, if you wanna make it even cuter, throw Rise into the mix as well.

8 - Minato/Minako Arisato X Ryoji Mochizuki, both versions are great but in the Femc route, you can really see just how deeply Ryoji cares for them (Since y'know, you're actually allowed to date him that way) but there's just such a bittersweet tone to this pairing and I kinda love it.

9 - Junpei Iori X Chidori Yoshino, god these two are just so freaking cute. I really enjoy how falling for Chidori causes Junpei to grow. I mean he says some pretty bad stuff at the beginning of the game (Which I personally believe is something he picked up from his crappy dad while growing up) and then when he meets Chidori and learns about how she sees the world, he starts to mature and look at things differently. Not to mention, another pairing I really wish could have had a happy ending.

10 - Zen X Rei, I mean... I absolutely adore these two. They would be higher if they had more screen time but honestly they're just such a sweet pair. For one, just the lengths Zen went to make Rei happy (I don't wanna spoil for anyone who hasn't played because their story really isn't what you'd expect it to be) and the way their personalities play off of each other. Not to mention, they can be pretty funny at times. One scene that comes to mind is when Teddie remarks that Rei could be as much a disappointment as Yosuke and Zen just immediately pulls out his crossbow like "Say that again, you little shit, I dare you"

[in-fair-verona-we-set-our-scene]

I posted 3,660 times in 2021

181 posts created (5%)

3479 posts reblogged (95%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 19.2 posts.

I added 2,305 tags in 2021

#persona 5 - 895 posts

#goro akechi - 452 posts

#akira kurusu - 365 posts

#shuake - 213 posts

#meta - 111 posts

#sumire yoshizawa - 74 posts

#ann takamaki - 54 posts

#haru okumura - 49 posts

#ryuji sakamoto - 46 posts

#persona 4 - 46 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#if i own art it's either to support the artist/to gain the right to distribute it/or to have it physically in my home where i can look at it

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

If you don’t mind me writing Encanto meta for a bit (because I fucking loved the movie) something I found really interesting is how Luisa is associated with donkeys, especially during her song Surface Pressure.

Like obviously there’s the blatant symbolism of Luisa and donkeys. The donkey is a faithful, sturdy and resistant animal of labour, much like Luisa. They’re built for carrying heavy loads across long distances and they’re very hardy. You give burdens you don’t or can’t carry to your donkey. Donkeys are pretty great.

But also there’s something about the type of tasks Luisa ends up doing with the donkeys and I just think they get into the way the miracle is just used for the town out of convenience rather than use, even to the detriment of the Madrigals themselves. Luisa lifting up a church to move it makes sense to have Luisa do. It’s relatively easy and quick for her and doing it without magic would be a long arduous process that would take a lot of time and resources and hands. Luisa can turn months of hard labour into a couple of minutes of lifting something that is somewhat heavy for her but not that exhausting. It’s a net gain for everyone.

But... why have her gather a bunch of donkeys? It’s probably only going to get finished faster since she can carry a stack of them, but donkey herding is one of those jobs that doesn’t actually require being too strong. It’s mostly just tedious, a menial task that anyone could accomplish so long as the animals don’t get too ornery. Why make Luisa do it when she’s already busy fixing houses and rerouting the river, she’s busy why are you dumping all your time-consuming chores on her on top of the things her Gift would make easier for everyone including Luisa.

JUST SPEND AN AFTERNOON HERDING THE DONKEYS YOURSELF, RANDOM TOWN PERSON.

If I were distributing labour, first of all I would fix the stupid donkey pen. But also I would probably not make Luisa gather up a bunch of wayward donkeys. If she offered, sure, but I could collect the donkeys myself. Or get some other people in town to corral the donkeys. Or if Luisa insisted, maybe I and a few other people could help. But that’s part of the problem the movie was getting at, I think. The town (and Alma) see the members of the Madrigal family as their Gift and how that Gift can benefit the community/abstract concept of family to the point of neglecting their needs as individuals. So rather than giving Luisa tasks where she’d be most useful and then letting her spend the rest of her time for what she wants, having her contribute to the community but still not to the point of taking advantage of her, people just dump every burden on her shoulders.

Which is interesting. Luisa’s Gift should have been a net positive for everyone, including Luisa. Luisa’s Gift means less time spent on labour which means everyone, including Luisa, should get more leisure in general. But instead Luisa gets assigned more and more tasks to the point whatever benefit to Luisa herself is lost. She cannot rest after moving the church and rerouting the river even though she’s turned the labour of months into hours. Now she’s got to herd the donkeys and probably a ton of other chores that normal people could accomplish in a day and altogether take up more time than Luisa has even with her strength.

197 notes • Posted 2021-11-30 20:20:23 GMT

#4

I may be a shuake shipper, but I really don’t like the take that the Phantom Thieves betrayed Joker when they were trapped by Maruki’s reality, or they’re bad friends in general. Because, okay.

Maruki’s reality was designed specifically to prey on trauma. That’s how it worked. Akechi, unlike the rest, did not have a therapy session with Maruki where he revealed his heart and soul, and also Akechi’s entire life sucks so Maruki can’t exactly do a one-off fix of that mess. Meanwhile Joker was implied to be protected by the Velvet Room. There is no reason the other Thieves could have been expected to resist, and the way they try to blame themselves makes me super uncomfortable because no, darling, you’re teenagers who were once again taken advantage of by an adult you trusted and not at fault for falling for Maruki’s brainwashing. Anyone could have (and almost everyone else did) and being tempted by it is totally understandable. They are not weak for being tempted by their dead loved ones coming back to life oh my god.

Now, second point, I do think they are good friends. The issue mainly arises in how Confidants/Social Links often turn what should be a back-and-forth mutual sort of thing more into the protagonist witnessing an individual’s journey. It has to do with how they’re structured and that’s one of the reasons I’m so invested in shuake, because it deviates from this structure in an interesting way and I find it an incredibly unique relationship. But that shouldn’t be turned into a hyperbolic ‘the Thieves don’t care about Joker’ because that’s clearly not the case. I could write a bit more about it, maybe later, but you get my point. They’re good friends. I love them all. No need to bash other characters to uplift the ones you prefer.

230 notes • Posted 2021-04-14 07:45:00 GMT

#3

I watched the q-force trailer and am I the only one a little... uncomfortable with the backlash? I dunno I watched the trailer and while I’m unsure if it’s going to be good (honestly just strikes me as a typical adult animated comedy so far, but queer and also with animated fight scenes so I might watch it) the backlash is so... high-key homophobic to me? Like first there’s the thing about it being stereotypical (even though the show apparently has queer creators so now we’re in the realm of stereotype or queer people authentically representing themselves, and so far most of said stereotypes are just... being gnc? and colourful and sexual and very visibly queer?) but it seems to me more like it’s basing its characters on just like, the queer clubbing scene. So not my personal experience but still a very real experience for a lot of queer people.

And second, once again I don’t know whether it’s good or bad in terms of quality, but the backlash Q-force has received is so extreme compared to the zillions of other mediocre adult animated comedies written by and for cishet people that I’m very suspicious of it, and q-force is not particularly more homophobic than other shows in any way I can see. A lot of the criticism strikes me as that dumb “gays I respect gays I don’t respect” meme as well, just in terms of phrasing and “ironic” homophobic jokes. All we have is a trailer that also doesn’t seem to be very good at being a trailer either, so perhaps we should withhold judgement and ideally stop holding to content created by and starring marginalized people to higher standards than mainstream media that thinks “safe” rep is a 5 second gay kiss between side characters

238 notes • Posted 2021-06-25 22:48:08 GMT

#2

That rank 8 scene where Akechi throws his glove and Joker all dramatic-like and declares it’s a Western tradition is so funny to me because, like, yes I know Akechi is clearly intending it to represent a gauntlet thrown, he outright says so, but like every other thing Akechi does it can be interpreted as incredibly romantic because giving someone a small piece of clothing (often before they risk their lives, with the implication being they’ll have to stay alive to return it to you) also follows the Western tradition of romantic favours

393 notes • Posted 2021-04-09 15:02:56 GMT

#1

The fact that the artists had to fight for Luisa to be buff is fucking wild like... her character just doesn’t work if her biceps are not twice the size of my waist. She’s strong and she needs to look it. She’s hauling piles of donkeys over her shoulder, she can’t be skinny! And could you imagine some frail waif pulling off the banger that is Surface Pressure? No.

513 notes • Posted 2021-12-01 03:18:39 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[thoughts-of-a-bibleophile]

family

not me jumping onto the shusumi week train when there’s only a few days left 

i apparently used all my braincells to make this fic and saved none for the title

i...was very much possessed by a writing ghost when doing this. i was just reading some fics and suddenly had the idea for this and then an hour later, i had this fic. i was actually going for seasons when i first wrote this, but it very much turned more into a family piece, so here we are.

i’ve been a persona fan since about 2018, but this is my first work and, honestly, i’m really surprised it’s not shuake/akeshu since they’re usually my main ship. but the beauty of multi-shipping is that i can also love shusumi! i just think they’re really neat.

also, gonna be honest, i... think? this counts as shusumi? even though the focus is a lot more on family than anything else. i wanted to do a more internal piece about sumire and her thoughts after the events of royal, which i think i more or less got across here. there is definitely some shusumi in the end, though!

anyway, without further ado, i hope you enjoy!

if you’re in this tag, you probably don’t need this, but just in case: ***persona 5 royal third semester spoliers ahead!***

word count: 1.6k summary: sumire visits kasumi a year after the accident and reflects on everything that’s changed in the last year.

no beta, we die like men (i’m sorry in advance if there are mistakes, though!)

“I can’t believe it’s been a year.”

It was spring. The trees were green and blooming with flowers, the air perfumed with their sweet scent. Below them, rows upon rows of stones lined the grass, gray and somber, though some holding a pop of color from leftover flowers. A lone girl stood at one, clutching her own bouquet in hand, sakura petals clinging to her red hair.

She should be with her friends right now, celebrating their graduations and having their going away parties. But she couldn’t. Not after everything that had happened. Not without telling Kasumi first.

Of course you’d be the stick in the mud who had to ruin their days, a far too familiar voice seethed in her mind. She did her best to ignore it.

She bit her lip, wondering where to begin. How to begin. So much had happened that it seemed almost like a dream.

“I don’t even know where to start, but I guess the beginning is better than nothing, right?” Sumire sighed. “Honestly, you were always better at this than I was, but I’m going to do my best.”

And so she began. From living life as Kasumi for so many months to cope, to her short time as a Phantom Thief and battling monsters they had only heard of in storybooks, to her days of being lost as Sumire and denying the truth, to finally accepting herself with the help of her friends and-

“Akira...” she trailed off and felt herself smiling just at his name. “You would have loved Akira. He’s the one who was there through it all. He met me as, well, you, but he still likes me as Sumire and-“ She felt her cheeks warm, thinking of his ridiculous, yet romantic antics since she had blurted out that confession. And the fact that he had reciprocated-

Sumire shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts and her blush. That was a story for another time, another visit.

“Anyway, he’s actually the leader of the Phantom Thieves, but he also goes to Shujin. Things didn’t start out that well for him there, but he faced it all head on and did some incredible things. And he met so many people and has so many great friends.”

She paused. “Well, I guess they’re kind of my friends, too, now.” She shrugged to herself. “I wish you could meet them, Kasumi. You would fit right in, as usual. They’re all so kind and caring and funny and- I never thought I would meet people like them. Like I know you always had amazing friends, but for so long, I didn’t think I would ever meet people like that.”

I didn’t think I deserved friends like that, the thought rose in the back of her mind.

The stone in front of her said nothing. Not that she expected it to, but it felt nice talking to it anyway. She played with the edges of her bangs, lost in thought for a moment.

“But...that’s in the past.” She gripped the flowers in her hand tighter, her voice rising as her resolve hardened. “I made a lot of mistakes before, Kasumi, but I’m not going to make them again. I’m going to live my own life and make our dreams come true as Sumire Yoshizawa!”

Again, the stone said nothing. Her words hung in the air for a moment, only to be blown away by the breeze. She fiddled with the violets in her hand.

“I thought you’d like these. I know they’re your favorite.” She tried to smile, only for it to fall moments later. She tried to swallow the lump quickly forming in her throat.

“I know I didn’t tell you this when you were here, but I miss you. I miss you so much it hurts.” Her throat felt tight, her chest hollow, like something had carved a hole into it, never to be filled again. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as her head dropped, the old familiar feelings of guilt and despair slipping through the walls she had carefully built back up the last few months.

“I feel like I’m messing this up; I was never good with speeches like this.” She sniffled, pulling off her glasses to swipe at her eyes. “I just wish you could be here somehow.”

She closed her eyes, wishing just for a moment, for a sign that her sister was listening. The spring breeze picked up again, rustling the leaves of the trees around her. She opened her eyes to see the petals spinning in a circle, almost like they were dancing in a swirl of pink. It reminded her of the pink ribbons she and her sister had first practiced with, of dancing with her friends and of gymnastics and everything that she loved.

Perhaps it had been simply a coincidence or perhaps she was making something out of nothing, but it was enough. It was a reminder to live. To live their dream, to live her life.

Sumire smiled and sighed when the petals fell back to the ground as the breeze lessened.

“I’ll be back soon, Kasumi. I’m going to a graduation party for two of my friends! Makoto and Haru, I’ll tell you more about them next time.” She placed the flowers carefully into their designated spot. “And I’ll make sure to bring new flowers next time, too! And... maybe I’ll bring Akira next time. So you can meet him.”

With nothing in her hands, she fiddled with the hem of her coat, feeling like there was something left to say still, despite knowing that she likely didn’t have much time left.

“I don’t know what’s coming next, but I know you’ll be there with me, Kasumi.” Pink flowers fell on the gray stone and for a moment she could imagine them caught in brown hair instead. “I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that, but I’m glad I know now. I really am going to do my best to make our dreams come true, Kasumi. And I’m going to keep on going and live my own life! I promise.”

With a firm nod to herself, Sumire cast one last look at her sister’s headstone before returning to the walking path. Sakura blossoms covered the top, with purple violets at the bottom. Small sprouts of white flowers had begun to bloom at its base, leaving little gray showing through. Colorful and full of life, just like Kasumi.

Sumire turned back to the pathway and made her way back down to the entrance, full of hope for the future to come.

-

At the entrance, a boy with black hair and glasses stood, lost in thought, his hair covered in sakura petals as well.

Whether it was from leftover abilities from the Metaverse or he was just that perceptive - she was betting on the latter - he turned toward her as she descended the last few steps down to meet him.

Akira said nothing, just opened his arms to pull her close and rest his chin on the top of her head. She sank into the embrace, feeling the heaviness in her heart lighten just a bit. His hugs were great, but they weren’t magic, even if he liked to say they were. They had a long road ahead, especially her, but she knew they could get through it together.

“Thank you for waiting,” she said, more into his coat than to him. “I’m sorry it took so long.”

“It’s fine. I knew it was important.”

Sumire tightened her arms around him, nestling further into his chest, wishing they could just stay like that forever. But she knew that wasn’t possible, so instead, she looked up.

She had seen a lot of his smiles in the time she’d known him, but she’d only seen this one once before. It was on Valentine’s Day, when his usual smirks and grins had softened into the one he wore now, a quiet little thing that held such care and love that it made her heart clench.

“I’m proud of you, you know that?”

She blinked at him. “Why?”

“I know how hard it was to handle everything, let alone talk to your sister about it. But you did it. That takes a lot of guts, Sumire.”

She felt her face redden and that soft smile edged slightly into his familiar grin.

“I-It wasn’t that big of a deal,” she stammered out. “I mean, I wouldn’t have had the guts to even come here if you weren’t with me, senpai, and even then I didn’t do anything that special!”

Akira laughed, probably at how easy it was to still make her blush around him. He was so annoying sometimes and he knew it.

But then he was serious again and searched her eyes for a moment.

“Are you going to be okay? We can always just stay at LeBlanc and watch movies if you don’t feel up to the party later.”

Sumire shook her head, feeling more okay than she had in a long time. “I want to go and be with our friends. I’ll be okay.”

He smiled and kissed her, a simple, short thing that had done a dozen times at this point, but it never failed to make her head spin and her heart sing.

“If you’re sure,” he said as they separated, only to link their hands as they walked to the station. She squeezed it and felt herself smile, more of the heaviness in her heart lifting at the thought of seeing her friends soon.

“Time to celebrate!” she cheered into the early April sky, the sun seeming to shine brighter in agreement. Hand in hand, they ran toward the station, to meet their friends and celebrate the start of something new.

-

so that was sure something. i hope you enjoyed it?

sorry, it’s not on ao3 - i just...have not set my account up, so all of my fics are very much just vibing on tumblr. one day i’ll finish setting up my ao3.... one day...

anyway, let me know if you like this! i honestly have no idea if i’m going to be doing any of the other days, but we’ll see.

[shadowtarot]

Persona Character Deep Dive: Takuto Maruki

Time to talk about one of the best written characters in recent Persona history. This will contain Royal spoilers.

Maruki has to be my absolute favorite antagonist in Persona and in JRPGS in general. Now granted, I do say “antagonist” and not “villain” as there it a distinct difference.

Maruki has a goal not unlike our rag tag group of Phantom Thieves. He desires to make a better world by helping those who are suffering. And, much like Akechi, Maruki got his Persona pre-maturely. Though he never “awakened” to it until Yaldaboth fused Mementos with reality. 

What happened instaid was Maruki slowly distorted. The root of it all being his failure to protect his Fiance and her parents during a deadly break in. Rumi lost her parents in that instance, and suffered through PTSD as a result of it all. Maruki had alredy been studying Cognitive Psiance at that point but, Rumi’s mental truama as well as his own failure as a partner is what pushed him to keep going.

He gained Azadoth’s power of Actualization at that point when he visited Rumi in the hospital, and was able to “cure her” of her mental trauma by cognitively altering the events that played out in her mind. Though this ended up writing himself out of her life...

Because of how it affects others, Maruki decided to only take those drastic measures when normal treatment can’t do anything. But he used that instance to further his research.. But this was halted when Shido ordered a shutdown on Maruki’s studies and in-turn forced his Odiaba Lab, which was planned to be built for him using the funding he gained, to be turned into a Stadium instaid.

This event crushed Maruki. Yet despite it all, he pushes forward and takes a counseling position so he can still earn money as he works on his paper in private. This is where he’d gain Sumire Yoshizawa as a patent, who came to him for private Grief Counseling. Noting how depressed she had become, Maruki finds out that she desires to be her deceased sister Kasumi, as she was “the more loved one”. So Maruki actualizes her, and Sumire becomes Kasumi.

Though of course, as this timeline goes through Persona 5′s main plot..Maruki learns about the Phantom Thieves. Even seeing them leave Kamoshida’s Palace after Ann’s awakening. So Maruki approaches the Phantom Thieves to offer counseling, when he actually wishes to figure out how they were able to enter the Cognitive Realm. And over the course of the game, he learns everyone’s dream. Their desires.

But again, he has no ill intent this whole time, even if as he talks to Ren through his Confidant he slowly distorts more. Maruki’s just desperate to solve the one issue that could completely save people. Save Rumi. 

And when Shido confesses his crimes? Maruki figures out the whole dealings that Shido went through. That he abused Cognitive Psiance for his own gain, and ruined his own chance to save people for it. Enraged and with a finished paper finally proving his theory...he goes to the professor that rejected his claims.

And then Yaldaboth appears, and the sky turns red. Maruki can see it, due to having a connection to Ren...and he ends up awakening to Azadoth. But due to the corruption of the God of Control...Maruki’s good intentioned dream turns into a Savior complex. 

And the fact that the Phantom Thieves unconsciously made him the new God of Control doesn’t help matters.

As the Third Semester goes on, you learn just how much Rumi’s incident hurt and scared Maruki. He wants to make others happy, since he feels he can no longer be happy himself. So he desires to shoulder the pain others face and in turn, grant them the life they want.

Yet when you reach the Twilight Corridor, near the apex of the Lab of Happiness...you see all the statues of Rumi. When you enter his Willseed Rooms, Rumi is all he speaks about.

The woman that he was set to marry, the most important thing in his life...suffered because he couldn’t do anything to protect her family. Because he didn’t do anything.

And it’s more showing in the fact that Maruki never actively tries to fight you himself. Not until his Treasure is threatened at least. He doesn't like conflict. A relic of the cowardice he still has.

Yet he desperately clings to his desires in his fight. He tires to persuade the Phantom Thieves to re-accept his reality and cease the fight during Phase 1, yet at this point his words and even his actualization fail. 

Beginning with Phase 3, Maruki stops holding back. He doesn’t want to fight...and said in “Throw Away Your Mask”’s lyrics. He just wants to make people happy, but that happiness comes at a cost...freedom.

And this right there is why I love his character. Persona 5′s main theme is Freedom vs. Peace. Every Palace ruler oppresses that freedom that the PT fight for, but starting with Shido an argument is presented “People just want choices made for themselves due to how lazy they are.” Shido attempts to “grant” that wish with his huge gambit in the Conspiracy.

Yet it doesn’t really challange the ideals of the team. Yaldaboth expands on it, and it gets closer to being a good argument yet in the bad ending where you accept his deal, Ren is only acting for his own benefit. Humanity isn’t free...but a false peace was gained.

And Maruki is the embodiment for that bad end. His actions activly make the team question what they’re doing...and if it’s truly right for them to change his heart. Maruki isn’t evil...so they shouldn’t need to.

Yet, this push is ultimately the catalyst to developing the Phantom Thieves more. By giving all of the characters a glimpse of a world where they have what they most wanted, they learn that they can achieve those dreams...under their own power. Instaid of resigning to their ‘fate’ and doing nothing to improve their own lives.

And Maruki’s change of heart is the first one to truly make the target turn over a new leaf. Though I’ll still argue that him becoming a Taxi Driver was just an excuse to see him in the final cutscene, like seriously he could still study cognitive psiance!

All in all, Maruki is a great character and one I hope to see in spin offs.

[beautifuldead]

Skin Deep

Fandom: Persona 5 Relationships: Kitagawa Yusuke & Okumura Haru & Takamaki Ann Tags: Trans Haru Okumura, Nude Modelling

Coffee was always most delicious with friends.

With Akira and Morgana in their hometown, Yoshizawa training for her gymnastics, and Makoto studying for her exams well in advance, their Phantom Thieves meetups were getting to be a lot less lively. Still, Haru deeply enjoyed the company, even if it was only five members of their band of misfits. She loved them all, and wasn’t going to complain because it was only Ryuji, Ann, Futaba, Yusuke, and herself.

Ryuji and Futaba were competing for who could finish Sojiro’s curry the fastest, making their own ruckus while Ann slowly ate, Yusuke framed the curry, and Haru sipped on her coffee.

“So, Haru, how’s the coffee shop going?” Ann asked. Conversation had been rather quiet for whatever reason, perhaps because they were still enjoying the food.

Haru pressed her hands together and smiled. “Quite swimmingly! We open next week in Kanda. I’m looking forward to it!” she beamed. She’d been looking forward to this for the better part of a decade, and seeing it all come to fruition left her immensely excited.

Ann giggled in return. “Seeing you so excited makes me feel excited, and I don’t even like coffee!” She earned a devilish glare from Sojiro as the cafe owner left to retrieve a pack of cigarettes from the nearby grocery store.

“Behave,” he muttered on his way out (primarily to Futaba, who was crouched on the booth seat and definitely one wrong move away from severe property damage).

“Yes boss!” the crew responded.

Yusuke placed his fork on the table delicately, having finished his food, before he spoke. “I have a question to propose to everyone,” he said calmly. “Except Futaba-san, of course.”

“Hey! Why not me?” the hacker whined. Haru giggled lightly.

“I have an art project coming up, and wanted to ask for one of you to model,” Yusuke explained. “It’s a nude project. Normally I’d be okay with painting the models the school hires, but the two we have are rather…” he paused to think for the right word, “perfect. They feel as though they’re specifically carved to cater to society’s beauty standards, and it sets my teeth on edge.”

Futaba dropped in her seat. “Yeah, no, not doing that. Maybe when I’m old enough to pay rent.”

The artist chuckled. “That is why I specifically excluded you, Futaba-chan.” He looked around the table for responses.

Continue Reading on Archive Of Our Own

[creepercraftguy]

If Danganronpa: Another Despair Academy had an English cast

So I recently made a post very similar to this where I talked about who a hypothetical English voice cast for Our World Is Ended would be. I kind of enjoyed making that post, so I decided to do something similar with the cast of a Danganronpa fan game that has been featured prominently on my chanel and that’s the Danganronpa: Another series. Being a Korean fan game, the original dub of Danganronpa Another has barely any dialogue to speak of. In fact, the only two characters in the series who speak often are Yuki and Sora, the protagonists of the two games, but that’s when they’re in trials. As of right now, a group of people is working on an English dub for the second game. This is why I’m specifically going to talk about the first game in the series, and bare in mind 2 things.

1) There will be some pretty heavy spoilers that I talk about in this post, so if you’re going to read it, please play the game, watch a playthrough or read up on it first.

2) If by any chance the first game gets a dub and the following people I do mention end up voicing the characters, I assure you it is purely coincidental. I wouldn’t even call this a hypothetical scenario so much as I’d call it a basic thought process of my weird weird mind.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

Yuki Maeda: Yuri Lowenthal

In the current dub for the second game, Yuki is being voiced by a user by the name of Soluri, who is pretty talented in their right, but my thought process for an alternative voice actor would be this. Yuki as a protagonist takes a very similar standing as Makoto Naegi and Hajime Hinata, whom are voiced by Bryce Papenbrook and Johnny Yong Bosch respectively, so if I was given a choice to choose who could voice act him, then I think Yuri Lowenthal would be a fitting choice, since he’s also often voiced protagonists. Being someone who often does work in famous franchises, his voice work includes Marth from Fire Emblem, Yosuke Hanamura in Persona, Ben Tennyson in many Ben 10 works, Klavier Gavin in Ace Attorney, Simon in Gurren Lagann and Suzaku from Code Geass. However, he’d also be a fitting choice since I believe he’d be able to do a good job as both the somwhat cowardly and submissive Yuki as well as the mysterious and somewhat stoically dangerous Utsuro, as he is also the main VA for Sasuke in Naruto and Alucard in Castlevania. 

Akane Taira: Monica Rial

Akane’s basic character throughout the majority of the game is that she’s lighthearted and even though the killing game is getting to her just as much as everyone else, she still finds a way to lighten the atmosphere, and is a usually cheery and kind person, if a little scary when angry. However, her true nature is something much more freakish, being, in actuality, the mastermind behind the aforementioned killing game that she spends a lot of the game seemingly fighting against. For an English VA, I think the best bet is Monica Rial, who has previously voiced in Danganronpa as Sayaka Maizono in the Danganronpa anime. The reason for my choice is she has previously voiced usually nice, if a little stern, characters like Bulma from Dragon Ball, Tsuyu Asui from My Hero Academia, May Chang from Full Metal Alchemist, Tsubaki from Soul Eater, Kayano from Assassination Classroom, Mirajane Strauss from Fairy Tale and Sakura from CardCaptor Sakura. However, she’s not one to shy away from maniacal villains, or generally creepy characters either, also voicing Tanya from Saga of Tanya the Evil, Krul Tepes from Seraph of the End or Stocking from Panty and Stocking. Also doing the voice of Misaki Ayuzawa from Maid Sama and Mey-rin in Black Butler, she’s not new to voicing maid characters.

Tsurugi Kinjo: Crispin Freeman

Having already done voice work in a main Danganronpa game, albeit for a very unlikable character, I ruled out Matthew Mercer for this one. I can only really describe Tsurugi as the Nagito Komaeda of this series. He has good intentions, but a really messed up way of thinking, even at times quite self-deprecating and reflecting on his own incapabilities to stop the killing game and catch the mastermind. Like I already said, he seems like he’d be voiced by a deep voiced character like Matt Mercer, but when it comes to characters like that, Crispin Freeman is a safe bet. Some of the rightous and/or badass characters that he’s lent his voice to include Winston from Overwatch, Kyon in the Haruhi Suzumiya series, Tsume in Wolf’s Rain and more, but can also do a pretty good crazy character every once in a while, like Alucard from Hellsing, Itachi Uchiha from Naruto and Firefly in the Batman Arkham Series.

Rei Mekaru: Laura Post

Admittedly, I was considering Monica Rial for this crude and shrewd character too. Mature and professional to a fault, barely showing any sort of real emotion and often insulting the other killing game participants for seemingly no reason, Rei is basically Another 2′s Byakuya Togami, intelligent, but rude. Having previously voiced condescending characters, Laura Post is a pretty good choice. I’m referring mostly to characters like Kill La Kill’s Ragyo Kiryuin and Fubuki/Blizzard from Hell from One Punch Man, as well as Diana Cavendish from Little Witch Academia and one of her first ever performances, Queen Nehelenia from Sailor Moon. However, Laura Post has also voiced rather gentle and friendly characters before, which would be a good way to highlight Rei’s secret soft side. Characters like Nozomi Tojo from Love Live and her most recent role, Kasumi Yoshizawa from Persona 5 Royal.

Haruhiko “Haru”  Kobashikawa: Sam Riegal

The minute I was introduced to him, I immediately thought, “Ok, he’s going to be the Kazuichi of this game isn’t he?” And to be honest, I don’t think I was that far off. However, even so, he seems more like Kaito if Kaito wasn’t necessarily a central character. Haru’s important, but he’s on the same level of importance as a character like say...Game 1 Toko. A sociable person who’s only goal is to get along well with everyone, he’s cheerful, laid back and more often than not pretty amusing to watch. Someone I believe to be fit for the role, having previously voiced a repertoire of pretty dorky and likeable characters, is Sam Riegal. By that, I mean he’s done the voice work of Teddy from Persona, Phoenix Wright in Ace Attorney, Emperor Awesome in Wander of Yonder,  Kanata from Trinity Universe, Shirou Emiya from Fate/Stay Night and Donatello in a large number of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles works.

Teruya Otori: Kyle McCarly

Teruya is a character that returns for the second game, and his voice actor in that is NuzikVA. I was really stuck on this one, since Yuri Lowenthal, whom I picked for Yuki, was my main option for Teruya too, but my second option for him would be just as viable. One of Teruya’s most important aspects to his character is that he has a pretty unique western accent despite being Japanese, since his Ultimate Merchant talent means he’s travelled the world and picked up on a few things. On top of that, he’s pretty adorkable and a little childish. I’ve heard Yuri Lowenthal do accents before, which is why I considered it, but I figured anything Yuri Lowenthal can do, Kyle McCarly can do just as well, if not better. He’s a voice actor who’s lines are packed full of expression and some of his previous work includes 9S from Neir: Automata, Hyde in Cross Tag Battle, Hal in Astral Chain, Gatekeeper in Fire Emblem Three Houses and Narancia in JoJo Part 5.

Satsuki Iranami: Deva Marie Gregory

While she was a character that I found initially very irritating and she was definitely the one I had to warm to the most, I won’t deny that Satsuki Iranami is like 70% of the humour and happiness in this game. Similarly to Ibuki, she tends to act childish and make jokes in very tense situations and as described by Yuki as “a person that makes you tired just by talking with her” or something along those lines. Now, this might seem like a pretty obscure and strange choice for a VA, but my choice for a voice is Deva Marie Gregory. It’s obscure, since she is relatively new to the voice acting industry, only voicing one character in one franchise so far. However, that character is Flayn from Fire Emblem Three Houses, arguably one of the characters with the more comedic dialogue. I can totally picture her playing an “In-your-face” practical joker character like Satsuki, making common wisecracks, and it’s something I’d really like to bear witness to.

Mitsuhiro “Mitch” Higa: Joe Brogie

Possibly my least favourite character in this game, he’s essentially a worse version of Leon Kuwata from the first game. He’s genuinely kind of a chill guy, but his status as the Ultimate Soccer Player and his world fame makes him more than a little arrogant and cocky and often ignores people who he doesn’t care for. Joe Brogie is my choice for him, despite being a relatively new voice actor. His previous work includes the player character from God Eater 3, Linus from Fire Emblem Heroes, Donatello from Injustice 2 and Sylvain Jose Gautier from Fire Emblem Three Houses. However, despite his few roles and lacking history of voices, he’s talented and capable nonetheless. 

Kizuna Tomori: Tia Ballard

Kizuna can be described in the following words: Cutesy, flirtatious and distrustful. I know those phrases sound mutually exclusive to each other, but trust me, it’s true. Obviously, her nature just changes depending on the situation, since she’s lighthearted and merry more often than not, but in a tense situation becomes suspicious, snappy and even physically violent. I picture her having a high voice, and when taking her character into account, I think the best bet is Tia Ballard. The main reason for my choice is that Tia’s most common voices belong to generally “moe” anime girls, but she voices them in a way that doesn’t sound annoyingly high pitched like how Stephanie Sheh does with Mikan in Danganronpa 2. If Ballard voiced Kizuna, she could pretty much perfectly land the “cutesy at first, but angry when provoked” attitude that Kizuna has. Some of her previous work includes Marron from Dragon Ball, Happy from Fairy Tail, Chiho Sasaki from The Devil is a Part Timer, Takao from D-Frag, Zero Two from Darling in the Franxx and has actually voiced in Danganronpa previously as Daisaku Bandai in Danganronpa 3.

Mikako Kurokawa: Brittany Cox

Extremely similarly to my choice for Satsuki, my choice for Mikako has also only ever been in one game, and it’s the same game as my choice for Satsuki actually. Mikako is a quiet person and she isn’t much of a talker, and when she does she sticks to short replies after long periods of silence, often causing people to forget she's around or becoming surprised when she eventually speaks up. She is unresponsive in a conversation and avoids making eye contact with anyone she talks to which seems rude, but her past explains why. The character Brittany Cox plays in Three Houses is Ingrid Galatea, who is generally a pretty merry, if a little serious and motherly, character, who’s personality isn’t a quiet one. However, while her voice acting is really good, Brittany Cox has a bit of a stoic, monotone and quiet voice, that I believe would fit Mikako perfectly.

Kinji Uehara: Robbie Daymond

There were a few reasons why I chose this person for this characters voice, but I’ll talk about those in a moment. Kinji is the good type of priest, one who is serious and quiet, but is a good listener, and respectful of people to a point where he doesn’t force his religious ideals onto others. However, when put under immense amounts of pressure, he can break down and turn somewhat psychotic. Hence my choice for his voice actor. Robbie Daymond is a personal favourite of mine, since he has a special talent of playing characters such as Goro Akechi and Hubert Vestra, from Persona and Three Houses respectively; characters who for the most part are calm, reserved, quiet and in Akechi’s case, somewhat kind. However, after certain points in the games stories, the two characters turn inexplicably evil and crazy, and the voice work and the shift in tone has such an amazing range that it’s hard to believe it’s the same guy. Seriously, look up Daymond’s work as Akechi, it’s honestly amazing and is the type of voice I’d honestly expect for Kinji when he breaks down. Alongside those two roles, Daymond also voices Prompto in Final Fantasy 15, Reinhard in RE:Zero, Professor Willow in Pokemon, Gilthunder in Nanatsu No Taizai and Mumen Rider in One Punch Man.

Kiyoka Maki: Colleen Clinkenbeard

A girl with a personality that doesn’t match her talent, Kiyoka Maki is outgoing and carefree and doesn’t have an awful lot of care for her talent, being way more interested in more effeminate things than guns. When I first saw Kiyoka and was introduced to her character, for some reason I thought “This is the type of character Colleen Clinkenbeard would voice.” Originally I was going to cast Clinkenbeard as Teruya before I realised Teruya wouldn’t necessarily have a child-like voice. Clinkenbeard however, does have experience of voicing male anime characters, and a lot of characters that scream a lot, Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece and Young Gohan being the prime examples. Alongside that, she’s also voiced another gunslinger in Full Metal Alchemist as Riza Hawkeye, as well as Momo Yaoyorozu in My Hero Academia, Rachel Moore in Case Closed, Erza Scarlet in Fairy Tail and previously in Danganronpa 3 as the loveable Chisa Yukizome.

Ayame Hatano: Karen Strassman

Ayame is a stoic and strong-willed person. Although she appears to be perfectly calm in most situations, she admits that she can be awkward especially during conversations, and as a result, she has a tendency to ramble and wander off in her own, or not talk much at all. To me, she seems like a character that someone like Karen Strassman would lend her voice to, since she’s played several characters with those personality traits before. To name a few, there’s Aigis and Nanako from Persona and she’s also voiced Anna in several Fire Emblem games. She’s also played Kallen Stadtfeld in Code Geass, Miyuki Takara in Lucky Star and Rouge the Bat in several Sonic the Hedghog games.

Kanata Inori: Felicia Angelle

I was also considering casting Tia Ballard for this character too, but unlike Kizuna, Kanata genuinely seems like a moe character that would have a high voice. Kanata is a sweet girl who wishes nothing more than the comfort of her patients and everyone else around her. Exceedingly formal and polite, she addresses her classmates as Mr or Ms, like how Hifumi Yamada does in the first game. My choice for her is Felicia Angelle, who’s repertoire consists of both cute and geeky anime girls, as well a little bit of the scary stuff too. This includes Tohru Hagakure from My Hero Academia, Perona from One Piece, The Supreme Kai of Time from Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Shinoa Hiragi from Seraph of the end, Shaltear from Overlord, Georgie from Maid Dragon and has previously been in the Danganronpa anime, playing Aoi Asahina.

Kakeru Yamaguchi: J Michael Tatum

I have a pretty good reason for this cast. Becoming a legal prodigy when he was quite young, Kakeru is a character who seems to have a split personality, but on a level way less extreme than that of Toko Fukawa. Essentially, he’s usually quite a timid and shy person, that finds it hard to hold a conversation, but when he’s in the courtroom or a class trial, he becomes quite loud and brash in a way similar to that of Nekomaru in the second game. His personality reminds me that of characters like Tenya Iida from My Hero Academia and Rei Ryugazaki from Free! both of whom are voiced by J Michal Tatum, whom is my choice for Kakeru. Tatum has also voiced Zarbon from Dragon Ball, Commander Erwin from Attack on Titan, Rintaro Okabe from Steins:Gate, Scar from Full Metal Alchemist, France from Hetalia and Sebastian from Black Butler.

Yamato Kisaragi: Max Mittleman

Yamato is almost as crazy an inventor as Miu, sans the whole sexual and perverted invention parts. Being a character who’s introduced a little later into the story, Yamato is pretty quirky, energetic and honestly friendly, but that leads people to be a little doubtful of him, Tsurugi in particular. His energetic character and his genuine feel make me think that someone who could voice him is Max Mittleman. Mittleman’s previous voices include Plag from Miraculous Ladybug, Ryuji Sakamoto from Persona, Saitama from One Punch Man, King from Natatsu No Taizai, Meruem in HunterXHunter and more

So that’s what I got. If you liked this, then leave me a heart and repost if you want. If you have any other recommendations for Japanese exclusive projects I should assign voice actors to, then let me know.

[ao3feed-p5-boyslove]

by seatoriver

"So…" Akechi started, breaking the silence. "What do you think of Tokyo so far? I know you only just got here, but you know, I am quite curious."

How does Akira tell him that it's exactly as he remembered and yet so very different? As if he was coming home again but as a ghost, a stranger to all he loved dearly. How could Akira even begin to tell him how guilty he feels for being here, leaving his team behind from who knows where, all because he sacrificed his life for the same man walking beside him? How does he tell him that he just wants to go home ― not his hometown, not Leblanc ― but back to a time where he actually felt like he belonged for once?

"It's different," Akira simply said, because it was the truth.

Words: 9645, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Persona 5

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, M/M

Characters: Akechi Goro, Kurusu Akira, Persona 5 Protagonist, Amamiya Ren (Persona Series), Sakura Futaba, Sakura Sojiro, Niijima Sae, Takamaki Ann, Sakamoto Ryuji, Niijima Makoto, Okumura Haru, Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi

Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist, Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Persona 5 Protagonist, Suzui Shiho/Takamaki Ann

Additional Tags: shuake, akeshu - Freeform, thats the main r/s im developing but theres gonna be more prob, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Slow Burn, Comfort/Angst, Alternate Universe - No Personas (Persona Series), Persona 5 Spoilers, Persona 5: The Royal, im implementing royal stuff in here so kasumi is gonna be a chara, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, oh btw akechi and akira are like basically roleplaying sherlock and watson as partners here, Ill add more as I go along - Freeform, no third semester stuff... yet, Eventual Relationships

[starberry-cupcake]

Ok so, Les Mis fandom, hear me out. 

I was going through the list of upcoming Japanese dramas of the year, as one does, when I stumbled upon a scheduled special drama on January 9 in Fuji TV with the name “Les Miserables”. I hadn’t seen anything about this (maybe I missed it because we’re all so focused on BBC Les Mis?) but I though it would be either a dub of bbc les mis aired all together or a recording of the new staging with Park Romi as Madame Thenardier (how cool is that) and Hiroki Miura as Marius. Which sounds like it’s gonna be amazing, but it doesn’t open until April, so it made no sense. 

Turns out it’s neither. It’s a full on special on its own. 

Remember that one time Fox announced a modern day Les Mis where Valjean was a lawyer? This is a modern day Les Mis (kind of?) where Valjean is a lawyer, apparently. I don’t think the script writer was related to that project, so whether it was inspired or not, I don’t know, but it happened. And Valjean is Dean Fujioka. And Karina is in it. 

The plot sounds convoluted and weird af though, and if it wasn’t stated that it’s based on Les Mis I wouldn’t have got it, but here it is for you to read it yourselves, I’m gonna copy-paste what’s in that site I linked: 

Synopsis: One day in Kobe in the 1990s, news of the escape of a juvenile murderer from prison spreads around. Two years earlier, 17-year-old Baba Jun (Yoshizawa Ryo) got into a scuffle with Saito Futoshi (Terawaki Yasufumi), a self-serving man who had cheated his mother Yuko (Tomita Yasuko) of all her money, and killed Saito in self-defence. A high school drop-out, Jun worked hard at part-time jobs to earn money for surgery for his younger brother who suffered from biliary atresia. But he was slapped with criminal charges and thrown into a juvenile corrective institution. One day, Jun hears that his younger brother is in critical condition and breaks out. However, his brother is already dead. A despondent Jun tries to commit suicide but is saved by Tokuda Hiroaki (Okuda Eiji) who runs a self-support facility. He hides his identity and begins to live at the place. This is where he meets a youth Watanabe Takumi (Murakami Nijiro) who aspires to be a lawyer. There is another boy Saito Ryosuke, who is the only son of the man that Jun killed. Ryosuke had cut ties with his unscrupulous parents. But when it became known to the world that his father was killed for committing investment fraud, he was harassed by the media as if he was the assailant’s family even though he was supposed to be the victim’s family. Then the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake hit in 1995. This unprecedented natural disaster significantly changes the lives of the two boys. Some 10 years later, Jun (Dean Fujioka) has assumed Takumi’s identity. He opens a small lawyer’s office in a corner of Shinjuku in Tokyo and takes cases to defend the socially vulnerable. He also rehabilitates delinquent youth and provides free consultation to poor people. Ryosuke (Iura Arata) has become a detective with the Shinjuku Police Precinct’s Community Safety Division. He is in charge of many delinquent youth cases and is enforces strict control over them. One day, Ryosuke meets Takumi while cracking down on a brawl. The two men eventually develop a relationship of trust. However, Ryosuke finds out that this Takumi is his father’s murderer … …

I’m gonna assume that in this scenario, Baba Jun is obviously Valjean (I mean the name sounds close even) and Saito Ryosuke is Javert? Maybe this Takumi is kind of Fauchelevent-ish? I don’t even know, folks. It sounds very weird but I hadn’t heard about this so I thought I’d share in case anyone has seen anything about it to tell me what’s going on. Also, being a special, it’s a one episode thing, so it would be interesting to watch, but it wasn’t picked up by any fansub, so I guess it’s not gonna be around to watch easily, unless someone takes pity and picks it up. 

Anyway, I thought I’d share my amusement with you all. Maybe someone out there knows more about it than I do. And I fear I might be a bother but I’m gonna tag @pilferingapples because I thought the weird adaptation quality of it might be of interest. 

[iamapoopmuffin]

Fandom: Nanbaka/Corpse Party (crossover) Genre: Horror Characters: Hajime Sugoroku, Samon Gokuu, Kiji Mitsuba, Kenshirou Yozakura, Jyugo, Uno, Nico, Rock, Tsukumo, Liang, Upa, Qi, Honey, Trois, Musashi, Sachiko Shinozaki, Ryou Yoshizawa, Yuki Kanno, Tokiko Tsuji, Yoshikazu Yanagihori, Yoshie Shinozaki, Takamine Yanagihori, some OCs to take the role of Kizami later on instead of actual Kizami Includes major character death.

Chapter 6 of ?

Also available on Blogspot

The door slammed shut before they could step out, and they heard a loud crack behind them.

"My game!" A look behind them showed that Yuki had snapped the game system in half and thrown it to the floor. Tokiko was pointing at the door, as if she had commanded it to close. Both girls then raised their hands, and with a simple gesture, Qi felt a force pulling at his collar, dragging him back and up violently. The spirits rose with him as he struggled fruitlessly, and then they took hold of his wrists and pulled his arms out straight. He winced as he felt his arms wrench - if the girls pulled just a little harder or further, both his shoulders would dislocate, he was sure of it. He tried to protest their actions, make excuses, claim he wasn't leaving them. The last thing he said was 'I was just going to the bathroom, I swear', and then he went limp. It was like he'd gone into a trance. His eyes slowly shut and his head lolled forward, and the two little ghost girls held him in place, high off the ground.

"No! Let him go!" Nico yelled, charging forth in his usual foolhardy yet brave way. He seemed to hit an invisible wall, and was thrown back into the very visible and solid wall behind him before slipping to the floor.

"Nico!" Instead of rushing to his side to check he was okay, Upa turned back to the spirits. If ever there was a time his abilities were needed, this was it. If there was any chance he could affect those ghosts, he had to take it!

The only problem with that course of action was that something had felt off since he'd woken up here, and he'd not been able to put his finger on what exactly. As if something was weighing him down. When he tried to use his power, for one moment forgetting about the negative effects it might have on those around him, he found he couldn't do a thing. Perhaps this was it. It was like his qi was just out of reach, like this place had locked away a part of him or somehow strengthened the charm keeping his powers at bay. Impulsively, he reached up to pull the tag away from his own head, but managed to stop himself before he went through with it.

Of course, pulling the tag away wasn't a sure fire way to fix whatever was wrong with his qigong. Increasing his power level would also increase the chances of Qi getting hurt. Then again, if Upa harmed Qi with one blast, he would probably still come out better off than if they let the ghosts hurt him. Removing the tag was something he'd been warned against on many occasions. When they regrouped with the guards, he would be in big trouble, regardless of his reasons. Was it worth the risk? Would it help Qi to remove it? And there was Nico to think about as well. This was frustrating. He didn't know what the best thing to do for Qi's sake was, or the best thing to do for Nico's sake. Or his own, for that matter. What could possibly be the right course of action to take here?

He was angry. He was aware of that, and he was trying not to act impulsively. He was succeeding so far, he'd stopped himself from taking one impulsive action. He'd barely noticed how tightly he'd been clenching his fists, but as he relaxed them, he could feel the deep grooves his nails had left in his palms. Keeping his eyes on the ghosts, and Yuki keeping her eye on him, he backed off until he was next to Nico. It was hard to keep his eyes on the ghosts and check Nico over at the same time. He felt the back of his head, and felt a bump. Okay, he'd hit his head, and hopefully a bump was all it would be, but unconsciousness was never a good sign. He looked away from the ghosts and turned his full attention to the injured party, checking him over for other obvious injuries. He found some blood across Nico's back and felt the anger increase, but he couldn't figure out where it had come from. He didn't have much time to look, though, because another crack brought his attention back to Qi and the ghosts.

Yuki had stopped looking at him. She was now looking at Qi, and no longer holding his wrist, though it stayed suspended where she'd left it. Instead, she was pulling at his hair, digging her nails into his scalp. Upa thought if he looked hard enough, he could see a little blood in Qi's hair. On his other side, Tokiko still had hold of his hand, and was playing with his fingers, bending and straightening them curiously like she'd never seen fingers move before. Sometimes, she decided to bend his finger back as far as she could. One of them was at an abnormal angle. The crack before had been a bone breaking. The spirits were laughing as they messed with the unconscious man's body. Like he was a doll they were only too happy to break. He watched Yuki rip a large chunk of hair from the man's head, and for a moment thought he saw some skin come away with it.

He gave in to his temper's impulse and tried to tear the tag away from his head. He felt his connection to his qi returning, felt power surge. It was like being in this place had increased the power of that charm to the point that it completely took away his qigong abilities, but now it was off, he was at full power again. Like the charm had never been there. Now, using qigong out of rage was never a good thing. You need to be able to concentrate and have a clear head. He knew his temper could be a problem, that was one of the things meditation was supposed to help with, but here he was, giving into it again anyway. The flash of light that accompanied his attack against the ghosts hurt his eyes, a stark contrast from the dark and dreary surroundings, and he already knew it was going to hit Qi as well. At least he was already unconscious.

Only, the blast stopped before it reached him. It hit the same invisible wall Nico had hit before, pulsated, caused the wall to become visible - rotting wood, translucent, pulsating as the ball of energy was. Then, the blast ricocheted back at him. "Ah-" Was all he managed before he was blasted into the wall.

When Upa came to, Nico was crouched over him, his hands holding tight onto his shoulders. "Master? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Well, truthfully, it felt like he'd been trampled by a stampede, but Upa decided not to say that. "I'm fine, Nico." He managed.

"Oh, good. I was worried there. I woke up and you were just lying on the ground, not moving! I didn't know what happened! I thought maybe if I hugged you, you'd get better, like before-"

"Don't do that." He sat up, biting back a groan, and Nico hugged him anyway. "Nico!" Upa pulled away from the embrace and looked to Qi. He was still in the same place they'd left him, still with the ghost girls either side of him. When they noticed Upa looking, they hissed at him, and Yuki's hand went dangerously close to Qi's throat. The qigong master felt a cold, dreadful feeling pass through him.

"We have to leave." There was just something in his head screaming that if they didn't leave now, there would be hell to pay.

"But the old man!" Nico looked over to the ghosts, and then a look of fear crossed his face. He wasn't a complete idiot. Even he could tell that they had just succeeded in pissing off the ghosts holding the other inmate. Ever since they'd entered that room, they'd just made things worse and worse. "Hey, Master? I think we should leave."

Upa nodded and the two of them got up and fled the room. Great. What else could they mess up today?

"What do we do now?"

"We head back to the classroom and see if Kiji's come back yet, or if anyone else has seen our message."

The two made it all the way back to classroom 1-A without any major incident. There was nobody there, and no response to the note they had left. Nico shifted uncomfortably. "Nobody's been here."

"It doesn't look like it." The note was in the exact same place they'd left it before.

"Should we wait?"

Upa opened his mouth to respond, but didn't say a word as a sound from outside caught his attention. The sound of something heavy scraping across the ground, and of the footsteps of someone large and heavy-set.

"Master? What's that sound?"

Nico had noticed it too. Upa shrugged and went to the door, motioning for Nico to be quiet. He edged the door open as quietly as he could. Down the hall, away from the hole in the floor, a man was walking, dragging something large behind him.

A sledgehammer?

The man was pretty big. Broad-shouldered, probably overweight by the looks of him, but a significant portion of that weight may well have been muscle. He was certainly much bigger than either of the inmates watching him, but if Upa had to guess, he would say the man was about the height of Nico's cellmate, Uno, or the two inmates from Building 3. Not a giant by any means, but certainly decently sized and someone who gave off a definite air of danger and aggression. The man was lumbering away from them, moaning slightly with every heavy footfall. His clothes were grey and black, and unless he was wearing gloves, from where Upa stood it looked like the man's hands were grey as well. In fact, the only real colour he could see came from what appeared to be a doll attached to the man's belt.

"Is that a zombie?" Nico asked from behind, keeping his voice low.

"No." What was it, though? It certainly seemed zombie-like in its movements and the grunting sounds it was making. It was an adult man, and he seemed in some way similar to the three ghosts they'd seen before. Like he was dangerous and deadly, and not really alive. "I can't be sure of this, but he might be the killer."

"The killer?"

"That news report Qi showed us said those children were murdered by a teacher from their school. He could be that teacher."

"So he is a zombie!"

"What? No, he...sure. He's a zombie." He was more likely to be some kind of enraged ghostly manifestation, just like the three ghost children they'd seen thus far. "Keep your voice down. We don't want to attract his attention."

"Yes, Master."

The man made his way towards the stairs leading down to the first floor, and the watching inmates had to consider their next move. Obviously they wanted to avoid the murderer where possible. They couldn't be sure where he was going or what he was doing, but with a bloodstained weapon, it didn't look good. There was also the slight concern that staying in place would mean the murderer would eventually find and attack them, but wandering around aimlessly increased chances of randomly running into him. They'd been lucky to have not encountered him before. Upa moved to follow when he felt the man was a safe distance away.

"We should try and get past him and get to the entryway we saw before. We haven't been there yet, we've only seen it through the hole in the floor, and if we can secure an exit..."

Nico nodded and followed. Upa had already said to be quiet, and he didn't need to be told twice. It was obvious that this was a serious situation. The two moved towards the stairs, not really much choice but to follow the man's path, being careful not to draw attention to themselves.

Then Nico sneezed.

From how close they were to one another, Upa felt a spray of snot against the back of his head. He shot round and hissed "Cover your mouth, Nico!"

"Oops, sorry!" Was the response he got back. "Bless me...I think."

"...Bless you."

Nico smiled and wiped his nose on his sleeve. Upa figured he needed to carry tissues with him a little more often, because having someone else spew snot into your hair was irritating at best when you couldn't do anything about it, dangerous at worst, for someone with a compromised and medically suppressed immune system. At the very least, he figured Nico had just inhaled some dust that had tickled his nose a bit and caused the sneeze, so he didn't think he was going to catch anything from that, and certainly nothing serious. He watched Nico's line of sight travel upward and the smile fade from his face. He could already tell he wouldn't like what he saw when he turned back toward the stairs, and the deep, throaty moan confirmed that before he even dared to look.

The murderer was stood right there now, raising his bloody hammer high above his head, preparing to strike the two boys down there and then. Up close now, Upa could confirm his previous thought, that the man had had grey skin. It looked a bit like it was rotting away, so maybe Nico's zombie comments weren't too far off. His eyes were bloodshot and reddened and dull, and some kind of black ooze was streaming from his eyes and nose.

The hammer descended, coming right for Upa's head.

It was, in a way, lucky that he was used to dangerous situations and could see it coming. He moved back out of the way, taking Nico with him. It looked like they were engaging with this thing whether they liked it or not. With another mournful wail, the man swung his hammer again, and once again the boys were able to move back. The man's movements were big, easy to predict, but they weren't slow, and they weren't weak. When they hit the wooden walls and floors, they caused splintered craters. They couldn't just keep dodging forever, either. They would run out of space to back up, or stop being so lucky. The hammer came for them again, and it came so close to landing its mark this time. Upa could almost feel it against his skin, the force behind the swing. He stumbled and tripped, and landed on his backside while Nico kept his footing.

To prevent his prey from squirming away again, the big man placed his foot firmly over Upa's lower leg, and seemed to press his full weight on it. It hurt enough for him to cry out, but he didn't think enough force had been applied to break his leg. It was enough weight that he couldn't struggle free himself, and twisting the trapped limb in a futile attempt to escape would only serve to cause some real damage. The man raised his hammer again, and this time it would strike the intended victim with little difficulty.

"MASTER!" Nico, in a show of both stupidity and his usual fanboy heroics, leapt into action, levelling a kick at the man's chest, clearly determined to free his friend. The man let go of his hammer and instead grabbed Nico's ankle as the foot made contact. The kick forced the man back a step or two, freeing Upa and allowing him to get to his feet, but the man threw Nico aside like he was a ragdoll. The American hit a wall with a sickening sound, leaving a crater beneath him and crying out in pain. Upa crouched as the man approached him once more, apparently deciding Nico wasn't worth his time. Before he could reach him, a blast of energy hit the man square in the chest. The impact sent the man stumbling back toward the stairwell. With one misstep, the man disappeared from view and went tumbling down to the next floor.

Upa approached the top step and looked down. The man was no longer moving. Nico appeared at his side, clutching his arm and clearly in pain. "Is he dead?"

Well, thought Upa, he certainly didn't seem to be alive. Whether he was truly alive before he'd fallen down the stairs or not was another matter entirely. "He might still move. We should be cautious."

"Okay." Nico went down the stairs. "What's with the doll?"

"Don't touch it." Upa followed him down. He had to admit, his attention had been pulled to the doll as well. It seemed so out of place in comparison to the rest of the man. Upa didn't want to pick it up. Honestly, there was no guarantee the man wouldn't regain consciousness while they were thinking about the stupid doll, and thinking about how messed up everything else in here was, there could be consequences to touching it. Nico reached for it.

"Look, Master, it's so cute!"

"Nico!" He stopped just inches from the thing. Upa gestured for him to move away, and went back up the stairs to tear a piece of paper from the wall. The paper had a messy scrawl across it, likely left by one of the many victims of this school. It was a barely coherent writing about curses in the school. Carefully, he used the paper to pick up the doll.

It was most certainly not cute.

"It looks creepy to me." He admitted. The doll was a simple culture doll, small enough to fit comfortably in his hands. It wore a red dress and a matching bonnet, staring blue eyes and a bit too much make-up on its sheet white cloth face. He supposed the thing might be appealing to young children, or people who were like young children on the inside.

"It has the most kawaii little anime eyes!" Nico insisted, clearly enamoured with the thing. Upa did not like the kawaii little anime eyes. It just gave him an unnerving feeling, worse than he'd felt when he'd been back with Qi in the infirmary. Actually, that bad feeling had never faded out, just gotten worse now they had this doll.

"I am so sorry"

At the sound of the high pitched, tinny voice, Upa instinctively tossed the doll away from himself. It wasn't with much power, more a startled jolt than anything else, which is why Nico was able to easily catch it as it continued to apologise in a slow, rhythmic monotone. He then seemed to start examining the thing.

"What are you looking for?" Upa asked him.

"The button, or the string! Talking dolls have those, right? At least, there were dolls at this one prison I went to that were meant to be for entertainment. One guy tried to use the pull cord on the doll to hurt another guy. The talking dolls were banned after that."

"...It doesn't seem to have any such mechanism."

The doll was repeating the same words over and over.

"I am so sorry

To have killed children so brutally

I was not in my right mind

I was scared too

I did not want them to die

I am so sorry

I am so sorry

So very very sorry

I do not want them to suffer

I am actually a good person

I am so sorry

I am so sorry

So very very sorry"

And then it would repeat again from the top.

"Why is it saying that?" Nico asked, frowning. Upa, seeing his companion hadn't been affected by touching the thing, took it from him and examined it. He found, written on the back of the bonnet, the name Yoshikazu Yanagihori. He assumed that was the mystery man's name.

"I'm not sure. It looks like it belongs to this man."

"To the killer?"

"Yes. It sounds like the doll is talking about the murder as well."

"So...the doll is apologising for the teacher?" Nico suddenly got an 'I have an idea' look on his face. "So he's saying sorry for what he did, right?"

"It sounds like it, but it doesn't sound very sincere."

Nico grabbed the doll back and held it aloft. "If he apologises to the ghosts, maybe they'll feel better and they'll leave the old man alone!"

Upa doubted it was that easy. He doubted the people he'd harmed or killed in the past would forgive him just like that if he gave an insincere apology. Those children had died a horrific death and their spirits were being tormented. On the other hand, closure could be a step in the right direction and exactly what they needed. It was a tough decision to make.

If they made the wrong move, Qi would die.

Upa hesitated. Once again, he wasn't sure what the correct action to take was. Eventually, he asked "How sure are you that this will work?"

It was Nico's turn to hesitate. "I...I'm not. But we can't just leave him! And the ghosts are unhappy too! If this might help them, then..."

He gave a nod. "We can try and see if the apology will make them feel better then. At the first sign of things getting worse, we leave. If it doesn't seem like it's working, we leave. We do not want to make matters worse again."

"Yeah, you're right..."

When they got back to the infirmary, Upa opened the door first, hands raised and palms open to show he meant no harm. The girls were still giggling and still treating Qi as their plaything, but they both showed the two inmates due attention when they entered. Nico came in after, holding up Yoshikazu's doll so they could see her, and gently shutting the door behind him. It was Nico who did the talking.

"Hey, Yuki? Tokiko? We're really sorry we upset you earlier. We were scared, and we wanted our friend back. We thought he was in big danger and we thought we'd be safer with him around too. He can be scary sometimes, but he's also nice, like he was to you, and if he's that nice to you then you don't really want to hurt him, right? I think you're just sad and scared and lonely, too. So we found this for you, and we want you to listen to it! It's from that teacher! It's his thoughts and feelings and we thought it might help to hear them." He was quiet for a moment so the ghosts could hear the doll's words.

The ghosts listened, and then began to cry. They both released Qi, and he stayed suspended in the air and unconscious right up until the ghosts faded from view, at which point his eyes flickered open and he pitched forward. No-one moved to catch him as he fell toward the ground, yelling all the way. Uoa figured it would be fine, he would survive a fall like that easily, and it wasn't like the two of them could easily catch and support his frame without causing further injury to more than one of them anyway. The important thing was that the ghosts had released him for now, and once he got up off the floor they could do a quick emergency treatment for their injuries and get out of there.

He never did reach the floor, though. Instead, it was like his ankles were held in place. He swung until he was suspended upside down, and the momentum even caused his glasses to come flying off and something to fall from his pocket, both items skittering to the back of the room. He was still crying out in pain, likely due to the torn flesh on his head and the broken bones in his arm. None of them were really sure what was happening, but now the two younger inmates rushed forward to help.

Yuki and Tokiko appeared again, each holding an ankle, and just as Upa reached his cellmate, just as his fingers brushed against the idiot's collar, the spirits moved and pulled him away at such speed that his eyes couldn't keep up. It was like one moment, Qi was there, and the next he was gone.

He could register a few things. The spirits had flown to the door, the man held firmly between them, flying low enough that his head was dragging against the floor. He didn't have time to react himself, no time to try and prevent his fate. They crashed through the door, completely wrecking it on the way out, and disappeared from sight. For a very brief moment, Upa and Nico could hear a scream, a raw thing of pain and fear, and in an instant it was ended with a thick sound. Something between a splat, a crunch and a thump. The doll fell from Nico's hands, and Upa took a hesitant step towards the door. He felt sick, like the stress and pressure he'd been feeling from this place was having a physical effect on him. He stepped out, looked down the hall and froze.

"No..."

Frowning, Nico hurried over to stand beside him, and followed his gaze to the end of the hall, where the path turned a corner.

There were no words to explain the sight before him now. The wall at the end of the hall was decorated with the remains of a person, remains that had not been there before. Remains that were barely recognisable as a person.

Qi's remains.

It looked like the impact had torn him to pieces. There were bits of meat and bone splattered wide across the area, the nearby walls, the floor and ceiling...guts were sliding down the wall and collecting in a puddle. It was quite possibly the most horrific sight Nico had ever seen, and he'd seen some pretty bad things in his time. The worst part was that he knew this person, he knew that he knew this person, and he didn't know how to react. A strange squeaking sound fell from the back of his throat, but he couldn't speak. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought he heard a sound, but it was probably just the panic.

"I...I can't take this any more..." Upa managed before running off down the hall, disappearing round the bloodied corner. Nico reached out to stop him, stepped to follow.

"Master, wai-" Something heavy struck him on the back of the head and he felt himself losing consciousness.

Yoshikazu lifted the unconscious boy by his ankle with one hand, the other still gripping the sledgehammer tightly. With a dull moan, he turned and dragged the boy away from the mess on the wall, and away from his friend.

[midnight-in-town]

Koi wa ameagari no you ni: quick summary from vol 7 to currently

Okay so, I realized that I might as well share with all the people who enjoy this series my relatively short knowledge of what’s going on starting from vol 7, since it’s not translated yet and I don’t know when it’s going to be. 

Of course, spoilers for the anime currently airing, even if I doubt we’ll go until there, but it’s always better that you catch up with everything first before you take a look below, especially since a lot of things happen.

Warning: I’m not fluent in Japanese, not at all & far from it actually, so all of what I’m about to say is supposed to be taken with a huge grain of salt. I have rather limited knowledge buuuuut taking my time, Koiame proves to generally be easier to read than what I’m accustomed to. 

...Still, take everything with a huge grain of salt, you’re warned, don’t come crying if somehow I most likely got something wrong. :)))

/!\ I really hesitated to post this, because I’m not sure I could convey what I understood very properly and I know people are usually not really forgiving, so please do not ask for more details than what’s written below: if I didn’t describe more of some events, it’s because I wasn’t particularly confident about what I read. 

/!\ /!\ Feel free to correct me if you notice that I misunderstood something and you read it differently. I’ll update what’s under the link and tag you. 

Volume 7 (ch49-56)

vol7  was entirely translated by Roseliascans and vol 8 will apparently follow shortly so go read the translated chapters! 

Volume 8 (ch57-64)

It turns out that, ever since realizing his feelings for her, Kondo is losing sleep and mostly, he starts avoiding Akira as much as he can.

At some point he searches on the internet “how to get rid of insomnia” but Kase shows up right at this moment. He tries to “help” (I mean, it’s Kase) by telling him that maybe he should try herbal tea or sweet sake.

Then he says that the best thing to do first would surely be to get rid of “why” Kondo started being insomniac, so Kase (who, again, is 200% aware of Akira’s feelings for their boss) “jokingly” asks if he’s insomniac because he’s in love. Kondo gets super flustered so I think Kase found out what he wanted to know.

Still Kondo tries what Kase told him and he drinks herbal tea + sweet sake before going to bed, but there is no avoiding dreaming about Akira until his alarm clock wakes him up. 

Then he meets with Chihiro, who’s rambling about stuff and who gets pretty annoyed the few times Kondo seems to stare at his phone instead of listening to him, so Chihiro takes Kondo’s phone and sees that he’s trying to write a message to “Tachibana Akira”.

Initially Kondo tries to pretend that “Akira” is a male coworker’s name but Chihiro is quite convinced that “Akira” is a girl (and well, he’s right). Kondo admits nothing though, but Chihiro is pretty excited for him.

In ch58, the kouhai girls from the end of vol7 tell Haruka that they went to where Akira works, so Haruka decides to go there.

Meanwhile Yui and Akira are having lunch before going back to work: Akira tells Yui about how bothered she was by her kouhai showing up, and I believe Yui understands because her school doesn’t allow students to have part-time job. She also adds something about how she wouldn’t want her friends at school (I suppose) to know about Yoshizawa (so again, I think she agrees with Akira).

Going back to work, Akira and Haruka meet at the restaurant. Haruka tells Akira “please come back to the track & field club” because she feels she’s growing too much apart from Akira. In the end though, she doesn’t eat anything and leaves while Akira is stunned. Kondo sees Haruka leaving and realizes she’s the girl who helped him pick up Yuuto’s shoes.

Not sure I understood ch59 that well, because it seemed to be mostly built with metaphores initially coming from Kondou’s little storage issue with the restaurant’s computer. xD

So anyway, Kondo is still avoiding Akira, but Yuuto shows up and Akira ends up watching over him and giving him advice as he practices running. Kondo insists that she doesn’t have to force herself (since he knows she’s got slight issues on the subject and fears it might be too stressful) but she does it anyway and they both watch over Yuuto running around.

Akira says Yuuto is fast and that since he’s still a growing kid, he can become even faster if he practices properly. Then Kondo basically compares his son to a computer and the main gist of the whole scene (from the way I understood it) is that kids are “like computer” with huge data storage capacity, because they can learn & experience a lot as long as they’re hard workers.

Of course this leads Akira to wonder if adults can’t do this kind of things too (learning/experiencing new things) and what she was apparently implying by this as well as her staring and moving closer to him was enough to fluster Kondo a lot.

Frankly I don’t know if what she wanted to address was if he’d ever have feelings for her (since he hasn’t confessed yet when she did a while ago) or if she was more or less trying to go for a kiss, but either way, nothing happened except Kondo being extremely flustered. 

Anyway, next chapter has Kondo avoiding Akira just like always and wearing a scarf when she’s knitting one for him, so she gets pretty annoyed by all of it and ends up confronting him about his current behavior. He apologizes for not realizing he was avoiding her (lmao) but she’s still pretty jealous about the scarf even if he doesn’t know that. 

Nothing particularly important happens afterwards: Akira and Haruka want to go Christmas shopping but first, they go to pick up Sho-chan (who’s in the year below high school), which gives Akira an opportunity to check on Mizuki’s running performances. Of course the girl feels pressured, but Shota shows up and they leave quickly.

In another chapter, Yuuto gets in an accident because he was running in the street and a student on a bike hit him but it turns out he’s okay, he just sprained his ankle. 

Yui and Akira meet up for more Christmas shopping when Yui tells Akira that she wants to confess and gives the scarf to Yoshizawa before Christmas. She has Akira’s full support of course and they go to buy new hair pins.

When Yui doesn’t look, Akira also buys the hair tonic that Kondo uses because she likes the smell and it reminds her of him, which results the following days in everyone thinking that she’s the manager at first when nope. xD Kubo even tells her not to wear too much perfume in general since they’re working in a restaurant (and I guess different smells mixing isn’t good for the food)

Anyway the rest of the volume is focusing on Yui and Yoshizawa which is super cute. I think their little date starts because Yui wants to thank him for always allowing her to cut his hair and because he introduced her to his grandmother who gave Yui advice for knitting. 

So they meet up and go ice-skating (Yoshizawa is so cute, saying stuff like ‘I’ll teach you’ and he also thinks Yui’s hairdo suits her) and stuff happens before Yui decides to be brave and confess, with the scarf to offer, but...

he apologizes before running away... ;_; Poor Yui... Meanwhile Akira is waiting for Yui’s report about how it went but she hasn’t received any message yet. Turns out Akira is also waiting for someone and this person is...

Volume 9 (ch65-73)

...Haruka. They’re going to Kyoto with Tomoe, Akira’s aunt on her mom’s side, because Haruka is participating in a race. Akira’s aunt is reading “Waves by the window” and Akira asks her to lend it to her since she remembers that it was written by a friend of Kondo. 

They meet Mizuki again, who’s originally from Kyoto (and who’s visiting her old school?)

While in the bath, they discuss why Akira is knitting that scarf but they end up staying too long and get dizzy. xD Akira sends a text to Kondo, wishing him a merry Christmas and explaining that she’s in Kyoto but Kondo cannot open the image that she sent. 

I don’t really remember exactly what Akira and her aunt speak about while Haruka is running, but I think it’s something about how “growing up and things changing are painful” and Akira is wondering if that feeling ever changes over time (could be 100% wrong though). 

Meanwhile Yui finds some resolve again thanks to her sister who reminds her about her dream to become a beautician and how that involves always smiling even when things are painful. So Yui cuts her hair short :))

Going back to work, she also tells Akira that things didn’t work as she expected with Yoshizawa but that she still wants to become a beautician and she seems happy enough with just that. 

In the following chapter, Akira realizes that both Haruka and Yui are moving forward in comparison to her, so she feels pretty bummed out about feeling left behind. Going to the restaurant, Kondo greets her, asking about Kyoto, and Akira, in need of comfort, imagines herself hugging him, but it’s not really happening.

Anyway, she gives Kondo a bookmark that she bought as a souvenir from Kyoto for him and he shares a story about a bird nest there used to be above the restaurant but that Kubo took down.

This leads to him thinking about her injury and he says something about how it’s okay if a bird doesn’t fly away because it’s happy to stay at its usual place. But if the reason it doesn’t fly is because it gave up then it’s bound to eternally look up at the sky. So “girl, plz go back to running” should be the message here. xD

Back home, Kondo looks at the bookmark again and ends up writing during the whole night. The next day, he looks pretty tired as he leaves for a meeting at the main office, which is precisely when Chihiro comes to the restaurant. 

Of course Chihiro asks if the manager is here, since he knows it’s Kondo’s working place. He also checks out Yui’s and Kubo’s names on their uniform and thinks that “maybe ‘Tachibana Akira’ was a guy then”... He also thinks that he or she should be around Kubo’s age. Meanwhile Kubo thinks that she saw him somewhere before.

Chihiro ends up asking Yui about if there is someone working here called “Tachibana Akira-kun” and Yui is confused because yes, there is Akira, but obviously the customer is looking for a boy since he used “kun” so she answers “nope”. Meanwhile Kubo remembers him as being a famous writer who appeared on TV.

Just as Chihiro leaves the restaurant, Akira shows up and, between the ‘Tachibana’ name on her uniform and Yui saying “Akira-chan”, Chihiro realizes that she is the person he was looking for. 

Obviously it’s super funny because he gets all like “wait, no way, it can’t be” and in disbelief, he asks how old she is (she’s 17). xDD

Then Chihiro goes to a party at his office and his editor introduces him to a very talented young writer who’s one of Chihiro’s biggest fans but also 17 years old (I think his name is Machida Sui, but it’s not his real name).

When Kondo comes back at the restaurant, everyone tells him about Chihiro passing by and they realize that the two are friends. Then again, it’s super funny because Kondo says that they went to the same university and Kase is super shocked to realize that the manager went to the university in the first place (since he’s a uni student too). He even grabs Yoshizawa and tell him to think carefully about what he wants to do in life xDD

Kondo also realizes that if Chihiro came to the restaurant that means he must know now who Akira is and well, the perspective kinda frightens him.

Cute chapter follows with Yuuto making a yarn phone and wanting to try his new game with Akira. First he says ‘poop’ and she’s not happy xD but she ends up asking him when his father’s birthday is, since January is coming but Yuuto doesn’t know. Then she asks if he knows whether it’s in the first or second half of the month but Kondo takes the phone instead and answers that his birthday is on January 5th.

He asks her in return when her birthday is and she answers June 21st which leads to him saying that she is born during the rainy season. They play with the yarn phone again a few other times after that day, but apparently Akira feels lonely. 

Back to Chihiro who keeps wondering what’s up with these 17 years old youngsters lately xDD And right after that, he receives an invitation from Machida and they meet up in a restaurant. Turns out Machida’s real first name is “Akira” too (but he’s a guy).

The gist of their discussion is that it draws a comparison between Chihiro who’s 45 and who only ever focused on writing, while Machida is 17, already a talented writer but he wants to do many other things in life besides just writing. 

Chihiro says he envies him, but Machida says that he finds Chihiro’s devotion to writing to be beautiful. Chihiro ends up saying “let’s be friends”. :)) He visits Kondo afterwards and he ends up saying something about how these youngsters have enough power to move a dull heart and Chihiro feels motivated. 

The end of the chapter shows that Akira is reading a document that her doctor gave her about starting full rehabilitation in order to run again and the next one is a flashback to a year ago, when she was still running. Slightly later in the volume, it’s said that her doctor thinks that, if she does everything properly, she’ll be able to run again around next spring (as in a year, not in 3 months but again, I could have misunderstood).

End of the volume is coming and bad news come with it, because Yui-chan is quitting. ;_; It’s not that she wants to, it’s because her school asked her to. Yui apologizes to Akira but strangely enough, it’s Yoshizawa who is more stunned than everybody else.

On Kase’s side, I believe he still has this crush on his “sister” but things take a bad turn for him too, because while chiding her the usual way one evening, she ends up saying that she’s such a useless sister anyway that she will stop coming to his place. And obviously that puts him in a super bad mood at work.

Finally, it’s the end of the year and the staff decides to hold a party both to celebrate it and also Yui’s departure, but Kase is as bitter as ever and when the countdown for the new year starts, he ends up throwing her way something like “are you really quitting because you can’t get a boyfriend?” (or an equivalent), which gets Yoshizawa to yell “oi” but Akira is the one who ends up punching him in the face, lol.

The volume ends on January 1st, it’s snowing instead of raining, Kase got punched, Yui is leaving, Yoshizawa is confused, Kondo is still writing and Akira goes to visit him with the scarf she knitted and a letter.

Chapters 74-78

Akira shows up just at the moment Kondo decides to take a break from writing and a bath. She leaves the scarf and letter in front of his door and goes home when he doesn’t answer. He checks his phone after his bath and that’s how he notices she came by (her text says: “happy new year, will we meet again from now on?”)

so he kinda runs after her with the scarf and when he catches up with her he says he’s glad to see her. Akira wishes him a happy birthday slightly in advance and the scarf is her present for this occasion.

They go back to his house afterwards, but he has to clean up a little before she can get in. 

I’m not sure exactly of how it’s supposed to be worded but Kondo wonders about “meeting again” and IDK if it is that he has a strange feeling about why she said that in her text, or if it’s his own feeling. Sorry, this is confusing, but I wonder if Akira’s text doesn’t have something to do with that letter he has yet to read (maybe she’s quitting too?).

Anyway, at the beginning of ch75, Akira is relieved because she realizes that the reason Kondo was slightly different lately is because he’s writing again whenever he’s not working. 

They chat a little while he makes her coffee (and doesn’t forget her sugar) and he says that the snow outside really makes him feel as if they’re alone in the world. Then, watching her happy expression for the sugar, he thinks to himself that, because it’s such a quiet day with the snow falling outside, he feels as if he’s going to say words that he wouldn’t/can’t say usually. 

ch76 is Kondo imagining what it would be like if he was a high school student as the same time as Akira and he seems to think that he wouldn’t have any contact with Akira in high school (or rather, he’d notice her when she wouldn’t). 

Somehow (from the way I understood it) it’s as if the fact that they’re 28 years apart makes them closer than if they had met while both being 17, at least from Kondo’s point of view. I think that he is possibly confused about what he wants to do about his feelings for her. 

in ch77, it’s Akira who imagines what it would be like if Kondo was 17 and a classmate (something about 17 y/o Kondo wanting to do an interview for the school’s newspaper about Akira’s results in track & field). All in all, it comes down to the fact that Akira eventually doesn’t mind when it’s raining in that fantasy world because, even if she cannot go to the track & field club on raining days, she can still go to the library and meet with him.

ch78 is focusing more on the scarf: Kondo is surprised at her gift but also very impressed that she knitted it by herself. Akira confirms she did it by herself several times and she shows her cute jealous side towards his other scarf, pushing it away and, frankly, it’s adorable.

I think at some point Kondo asks about why she punched Kase during the New Year’s party and Akira says something like “I couldn’t forgive him” (surely because of what he said to Yui). That makes him laugh.

Aaaand the chapter ends with Kondo thinking namely about the scarf and while staring at Akira, he feels as if he can’t breath.

The editor’s line implies that he’s staring and is completely taken by Akira.

I don’t know what’s the usual update schedule (once or twice a month?) but anyway, that’s it for now. Again, please take with a grain of salt.

TBH I really wonder about the content of Akira’s letter, it seems very plot relevant. And I wonder if Kondo might not finally give in, at least about his feelings in one of the following chapters. ...At the same time, I feel like there could be a bittersweet development lurking due to him being still bothered by the huge age gap, soooo we’ll see!

FINAL POINT, kinda unrelated, but please do not ever refer to this series as ‘shoujo’ or ‘josei’. It’s ‘seinen’, meaning that it supposedly targets a more adult public than the other terms (yes, the slice of life genre in seinen does exist). Thank you!

[ask-the-phan-site]

Phan Cam: School Festival Day 1 of 2

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN PERSONA 5 ROYAL SPOILERS. PLUS, THE CHARACTERS MAY OR MAY NOT ALREADY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GAME. ALSO IT CAN GET A BIT LONG.

>October 26

(please ignore the timestamp)

Furuhonya: ... WHAT!? I came home early from an expedition to recover some lost scrolls in India so I can finally attend a School Culture Festival only to end up at the WRONG SCHOOL!?

>He notices several people watching him. So, Furuhonya calms himself.

Furuhonya: Right, I came back to attend a School Festival and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Even if this isn’t Joutou Business High School. Alright, get ready...

>He checks the plaque.

Furuhonya: (puzzled) Shujin Academy? Why does that name sound so familiar? ... Well, never mind. Here I come!

>With that, Furuhonya goes inside. The moment he enters the front doors...

Welcome to the Shujin Academy School Culture Festival!

Furuhonya: (surprised) A- Akechi!?

Furuhonya san!?

Furuhonya: (realizing now) Oh, now I remember! Your friends go to this school.

Crow: That’s right. What brings you here?

Furuhonya: I came back early to attend Yushi’s School Festival. But I guess I went to the wrong one. But I’ve decided, this will have to do.

Oracle: That’s good... I guess.

Furuhonya: By the way, why are you, Yusuke kun and Makoto chan doing here? Don’t you go to Kosei and you graduated?

Fox: Our Culture Festival is in joint with Shujin this year.

Queen: And me, Akechi, and Haru are volunteering to help. And who better to help at the Shujin Festival than the former student council president?

Furuhonya: Very well. Can’t wait to see what’s in store here.

>Furuhonya walks forward... Only to be stopped by Oracle.

Not dressed like that.

Furuhonya: (disappointed) But Antiquary sold it to me. It looks good on, doesn’t it?

Joker: It does. But...

It also makes you look like a demented pervert.

Furuhonya: (sighs in defeat) Fine. I brought my regular clothes, so I’ll go back to the station and change in the bathrooms.

>One quick change later.

Welp, it was fun while it lasted.

Crow: Maybe tomorrow. We have a cosplay contest.

Furuhonya: (happily) Yes. So, what do we have here? Got any recommendations?

Joker: Right now, I guess we can have you go to 2-D’s maid takoyaki booth.

Furuhonya: That sounds great. I wonder what it will be like.

>Class 2-D’s maid takoyaki booth.

Welcome to Maid Takoyaki. How may I be of service?

Obnoxious Male Student: Wow, Takamaki really is smoking hot in that maid outfit.

Rude Male Student: Yeah. Hey now that Kamoshida isn’t around, think you can hang out with us before you go home for the day? I know I nice little club in Shinjuku we can go to.

Jealous Female Student: Excuse me, I’m your girlfriend and I’m standing right here!

You know, if you’re not going to order anything: LEAVE!

Obnoxious Male Student: Okay, okay, we were just kidding. I’ll have some kimichi.

Jealous Female Student: And we’ll have curry and cheese.

Panther: ...

That’ll be ¥500 each.

Rude Male Student: That’s a rip... (in defeat) Fine.

>With that, the students take their seats. Then, we arrive.

Joker: Hey, Ann.

Panther: Hey, Ren. You guys. Wow, even Bookstore?

Furuhonya: I usually go by Furuhonya, but I guess that makes sense. Hey, where are the others?

Panther: Mona (which we will be calling him even in his human form since Persona 5 Royal) and Mishima are helping at the crafting booth, Haru is helping the gardening club, and Ryuji’s doing something with some other students for an event tomorrow.

Furuhonya: And Ka- I mean, Sumire?

Queen: She’s helping her father so she’ll be running late.

Furuhonya: I see.

Panther: Anyway, what would you like to try?

Heed my advice, don’t eat the Russian Takoyaki.

Furuhonya: Alright. Do you have long green onion?

Panther: We’re all out.

Furuhonya: Tanuki?

Panther: We’ll see. Take a seat.

>With that, Panther goes to get the takoyaki while we take Furuhonya to a table. We spot Makoto, Adi, Chloe, Bruno, Princess Crystal of the Inhumans, and Kei Kawade (aka Kid Kaiju).

Hey, guys! We’re over here!

>We go over to them.

Makoto: Taking a break?

Joker: For now. We have to return to the entrance to greet the people coming in.

Oracle: And I’ve gotta say, it’s way harder than it looks.

I guess it would be painful to smile all the time.

>With that, we return to our posts.

You’re the bookworm who lives in the same apartments as Akechi, aren’t you?

Furuhonya: I usually go by Furuhonya, but yes.

I’m also told that you go around the world collecting old, rare, ... unique books and scriptures.

Furuhonya: You could say that. I came back early after recovering some old scrolls that may have been in the possession of the great monk Sanzo during his pilgrimage to India.

Adi: (a bit worried) You didn’t bring them here, did you?

Furuhonya: No, I dropped them off at the apartments for now. Right now, I’m just glad to be here to attend a School Festival. The last two times didn’t work out so well.

So you’re hoping third time’s a charm.

Furuhonya: There’s no guarantee for that. It’s much easier to make your own luck.

Bruno: I agree. Nothing’s accomplished by chance. You have to take things into your own hands to get what you want in this world.

Furuhonya: Speaking of worlds, what bring Her Highness from the moon back to Earth?

I’m actually here on official royal business. I was invited to be the guest speaker here at Shujin. Since Inhumans have been reappearing in Japan, and made it especially known at the Dream Festival, I thought I would also offer them a place with us in Atyran. Of course, it has to be of their own choice.

Makoto: Glad you remember that.

Kei: What about me? In case you’ve forgot, I’m also an Inhuman.

Princess Crystal: Well, we were going to ask you, but it looked like you really enjoyed being on Mu Island with all your kaiju.

Makoto: I wish I could go to Mu... But the bugs make it a little... Difficult. (shudders)

Kei: (smiling) They’re not so bad once you get to know them. Besides, I would have thought a Future Avenger as brave as you would handle a few insects.

Makoto: (also smiling a bit) I guess... I guess I can come over... Especially if you’re there.

>Both boys smiled passionately at each other.

Male Student in Spectacles: Hey, are Hurricane and Kid Kaiju actually looking at each other like that?

Student in Maid Uniform: I wonder if this means they’re a thing now.

If they are, it’s not really any of your business.

Makoto: ... I actually doesn’t matter. I like a lot of people... I guess I just like Kei a little more... Maybe more than like.

Kei: Yeah, I feel the same way... At least in this universe. Sorry, Bruno.

Bruno: It’s alright. I know that me and Makoto will always be brothers.

Makoto: (smiling) You bet.

>The two brothers do a fist bump. Then, Panther gives them the takoyaki.

Panther: You’re in luck, this is the last batch of tanuki. I also brought some Italian special.

Adi: Thank you.

Furuhonya: Yes, thank you.

Panther: Actually, speaking of Inhumans, I thought Kamala would be here.

Chloe: She’s helping her pen pal with her own School Festival. But she said he will join us tomorrow.

Panther: I see.

Kei: Right, that reminds me. I’m also here on business. Since Makoto and the others were already coming, I tagged along.

Panther: What kind of business?

Kei: Well... With you and your friends. I’ll explain more after you get off. We’ll be waiting at the karaoke place in Shibuya.

Panther: Really? Actually...

We were going there for business already. I guess we can try and make it there.

Kei: That’s good to hear. Thanks.

Student in Maid Uniform: Hey, Takamaki chan, we’ve got a table waiting!

Panther: I’m coming! Well, see you guys soon.

Makoto: You bet.

>Back at the entrance, me, Fox, Queen, Oracle, and Crow were greeting people coming in when we spot Violet and her father coming in.

Here we are.

Yes, it really looks quite the sight, Sumire.

Joker: Welcome to the Shujin Festival, Mr. Yoshizawa.

Mr. Yoshizawa: Thank you, Ren san. I can’t wait to see what they have in store here. And what Sumire’s class is doing.

Violet: (a little disappointed) A rest area.

Mr. Yoshizawa: (apologetic) Sorry.

Violet: Though, I hear some of the sports clubs are doing a Q&A about what it would be like to be part of the upcoming 2020 Olympics. Especially do to the release of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Mr. Yoshizawa: I guess we can do that. You know, your old man here could have been in the Olympics. Especially in rugby sevens.

Violet: (laughing a bit) I bet.

Oracle: But if that doesn’t interest you, my class is doing a live performance of an episode of Phoenix Ranger Featherman.

Fox: Actually students from my school and Todai are also doing the same things with Kamen Rider Zi-O.

Queen: They’re doing it in honor of the airing of Kamen Rider Zero-One.

Not sure why you want to watch that. Everyone knows Kamen Riders is just a ripoff.

Just give it a try and I’m sure you’ll love it just as much as Featherman.

Oracle: (not convinced) We’ll see.

>An unused room in the Practice Building. Skull and some of his fellow students were practicing for the dance party tomorrow.

Leader Student: Okay, that’s it for today. Get ready, tomorrow’s the big day.

Students: Yes, senpai!

Tired Male Student: With Sakamoto here, tomorrow’s gonna be killer. How often does an idol get to perform here.

C’mon, it ain’t nothin’ to be too excited about. Just doin’ my part for my school.

>Later, after getting changed, Skull is met by a familiar face.

I see celebrity life is treating you better than over.

Well, it’s partly thanks to you. I never would have made it if it weren’t for you and the others.

Harry: (smiling) Glad to hear it. (stops smiling) But let’s be serious, you know why I’ve come here.

Skull: (also being serious) I know...

But you don’t know if you might actually do it. You care about Pete too much to do anything bad to him.

Harry: I know. But what if you’re wrong? I thought I was finally over my fath- Norman’s influence, but I’m still not sure.

Skull: I doubt it. Me and Akechi were there.

>Flashback.

>August 31. Oscorp Tower. In his brand new office, Harry was looking at a picture of his father, Norman Osborn. Then, someone calls on the speaker phone.

Caller: Mr. Osborn? Sir? ... Sir!?

Harry: (surprised) Huh!? Oh, I’m sorry. I, uh- I still think of Norman when I hear that. Call me Harry.

Caller: You have some visitors to see you.

Harry: Is one wearing a hoodie, the second with dyed blonde hair, and the third wearing a tie?

Caller: Yes?

Harry: Send them in.

>Then, Peter, Skull, and Crow come in.

Hey, Harry. I brought, some coffee and muffins from Joe’s.

Harry: (happy to see them) Thanks. And I’m also glad to see you guys before you have to go home.

C’mon, man, you know we’d never leave without sayn’ “See ya.”

And to wish you luck on your first day as CEO.

Harry: Again, thanks... (starts to look down)

Peter: I something wrong?

Harry: I’m just... I’m just still getting used to all of this. I know I’ve been studying enough to get ready and yet... And yet it just hasn’t occurred to me yet.

Crow: You’re just nervous. Give it time.

Harry: I wish it was just nerves. But it feels more than that.

Skull: Harry, it’s okay, you can tell us anythin’.

Harry: It’s just, with everything that’s happening now. I’m just still not sure I can do this. It’s just so overwhelming. I know I’m over 18, but I’m still just a kid at heart... I’m scared, you guys. And I... And I...

Peter: (reassuring) It’s alright, Harry... Say it..

Harry: ... I... I miss my father. I know that he lost the right to be called that, still I miss him. I miss him so much, and yet in some ways, I feel like I never even knew him. And now I’m expected to take over his position. It’s enough to make a person’s head spin.

>Both Skull and Crow were at a lost for word... But Peter clearly wasn’t.

Peter: Well, speaking scientifically, the best way to fight dizziness... is to focus on the thing in front of you. I know you can do this, Harry. You’re one of the smartest and most bravest people I know.

Skull: We all think so. No, we all know so. Especially me, are minds are linked after all.

Crow: And if you ever feel like falling from that dizziness, you can always count on your friends to catch you.

Peter: He’s right. We’ll always be here for you, Harry... I will always be here for you.

>Harry was silent for a bit... Then smiles.

Harry: More than a friend. For being the best thing that has ever happened in my life... I love you, Peter Parker.

Peter: And I love you, Harry.

>The two young men share a passionate kiss.

Crow: (happy) It’s so nice to see those two expressing how they truly feel about each other.

Skull: (also happy) It sure is... Hey, I just realized somethin’.

Crow: What is it?

Skull: Well, if those two are boyfriends, and our minds are linked to ours...

Would that mean you and I will be... that with each other?

Crow: I don’t know...

Would you like us to be?

Skull: ...

Let’s wait until we get there and see what happens...

Still, I’m happy that we’re on the same team. And you’re a really good friend. A great friend.

I’m happy, too. Thank you.

>Then, something spoke in their minds.

Yes, just as your minds are one... Your hearts are one.

One with the light that shines justice in this world...

One with the dark that hides many secrets...

>Then, Robin Hood and Loki come together in a burst of light...

One with the dawn and twilight that guide the world to its future.

>Both Skull and Crow smile happily knowing that... They are in the future and it’s bright.

>Then, a message comes on Crow’s phone.

Crow: That would be our Uber to take us to the airport.

Peter: And I should be at F.E.A.S.T. to help Aunt May. See you around?

Harry: (winks) You bet.

>With that, they leave and Harry sits himself at his desk. Then, something come up on the speaker phone. Harry plays the message... and is shocked.

Familiar voice: Congratulations, Harry.

Harry: (shocked) What!?

Norman’s voice: You’re finally in a position of power. You won’t be in my shadow anymore, son. I know you’ll do great things with the Osborn name.

>Suddenly, a nearby painting opens to show a vault. Harry goes to it... It opens.

>Back in the present...

Skull: Harry?

Harry: (snapping out of his daze) Huh? Sorry. I guess... I guess I’m just tired. I’ve been working non-stop while Doctor Octopus was in Pete’s body. Being both a CEO and a superhero.

Skull: I see that.

Harry: Still, I just have this bad feeling. That’s why I’ve come here. In case something happens and I might do something bad to Pete... I think only you, Akechi, Ren, and the other Phantom Thieves can stop me.

Don’t be like that! You know you won’t betray Peter.

Harry: I know. But promise me that you guys will stop me if that does happen. Promise. Just prome. (begins tearing up)

Skull: ... Alright.

For you, we’ll see what we can.

Harry: (relieved) Thank you. I promise, we will have our happily ever after.

Just promise you guys will be here for the Fight Before Christmas and we’ll call it even.

Just promise you guys will be here for the Fight Before Christmas and we’ll call it even.

Harry: Don’t worry. We’ll be there.

>Skull and Harry make their way to the courtyard. Harry then removes his suit.

Your Hobgoblin Suit?

Harry: (smiling a bit) Like I said, there are a lot of expectations in being the head of a corporation. But I haven’t fully given up on Stealth Spider. I’ll take up that suit and use my spider powers again someday. Maybe even soon. Actually, I made one for you, too. I would have given this to you for your birthday or Dream FES, but I got a little preoccupied working on my own.

>Harry give Skull a Hobgoblin 2.0 Suit Costume.

Skull: Thanks.

Harry: I really do appreciate you doing this for me. Consider this my payment for what you and the others have to do.

Skull: And if not, I’m sure Peter can help. You’re clearly not a bad guy who will end up like all those others he had to face.

>Harry chuckles and smiles.

Harry: That, Ryuji, is why Peter is someone I really care about. He never gives up on me. I’m not an Osborn to him, or a Lyman, or a hero, or anything else... To him, I’m just “Harry”.

>Both of them smile as Harry gets on his glider.

Harry: By the way... Your Japanese really is questionable at best.

Yeah, and so is your English.

>With that, Harry gives a thumbs up and takes off on his glider. Some students noticed this and started talking.

Cap-wearing Male Student: Was that Harry Osborn? As the Hobgoblin again? Here at Shujin?

Student in Pigtails: Yeah, he’s friends with Sakamoto. They even went to Osborn Academy together.

Female Student in School Jersey: Speaking of goblins, I read online that some cult is raising in New York called the Goblin Nation.

Male Student in School Jersey: Now that Osborn’s Hobgoblin again, you think he might join?

Student in Pigtails: (scared) What if he already did? What if he’s already one of them?

Of course he’s NOT! Why would ya think that!?

Cap-wearing Male Student: (surprised) Sorry, Sakamoto, we didn’t really mean any harm.

Male Student in School Jersey: Yeah. C’mon, let’s go. If we hurry, we can catching ending of the movie they’re showing at the AV Club.

>With that, they leave.

Skull: (thinking to himself) Those guys don’t know anythin' about him. All they see is what they wanna to see. Harry is a good guy. And I’ll always believe in him.

>Then, a message comes on Skull’s phone. He checks it.

Hey Ryuji, we’re done for today. We’re all going to be meeting at the karaoke place in Shibuya. Makoto, Kei, Bruno, Adi, and Chloe will be joining us.

Right. I’ll be there soon. There’s somethin’ I should tell you all.

Okay. See you.

>With that, Skull leaves to meet us.

>Central Street, Shibuya at night. We arrive in front of Paradise Resort Karaoke. (Sorry if we got the name wrong.) Makoto and the others were with us.

Excuse me, we’re looking for...

Black n’ Blue Birdie?

Receptionist: (snickers a bit) That would be Room 7.

Adi: (puzzled) What kind of name is that?

I guess we’ll soon find out. Though, I have an idea.

>We go over to Room 7. When we open the door... We’re met with a blast of music.

Baby, take me on a journey, I've been thinkin' lately I could use a little time alone with you

You guys?

Hey guy, long time no see!

Garfield, Dick, Barbara, and Kaldur? And some new guys?

I am known as Wyynde. Like Kaldur, I am from Atlantis.

And I’m Victor Stone. Call me Cyborg.

(ceasing his singing) Glad you guys can come. I know you’re all busy with your school’s Culture Festival.

Makoto: (surprised) You guys are from the Team, aren’t you? Young Justice?

I’m honored to hear that the Future Avengers know about us.

Chloe: Normally, we deal with Marvel heroes, but DC isn’t unknown to us.

Adi: But that doesn’t explain how you know these guys.

Queen: We helped Nightwing with a heist two years ago.

Garfield: And three years ago, we helped save a game show.

Adi: I see.

Joker: By the way, how is the Kryptonite Dagger?

Dick: Still under lock and key... But we might give it back to you if you consider my offer.

Sorry, our answer remains unchanged.

What offer?

Queen: Dick san, or rather, Nightwing , offered us a place on the Team. Of course, we turned him down.

Violet: I see.

But that is not why we’re here now.

Fox: What is the problem?

Dick: I know it’s going to sound strange, but...Kaldur and Wyynde been having these weird...

Dreams?

Dick: (surprised) How did you know?

Crow: We’ve had experience with Peter Parker and Harry Osborn.

Barbara: I see. Actually... Wyynde’s been dreaming about Peter Parker, as well as of you.

Of me?

Wyynde: I have actually also been having dreams of a flamboyant robot, a pair of twins, and a blond gunman. I think I have also had one of some false singer and Tuxedo Mask.

Crow: Along with a snake boy and a scarred faced man?

Wyynde: (nodding) And then, around the same time as you fell into your coma and Spider-Man started acting strange, I started feeling weak. Like... Something in my heart did not feel right.

Crow: I felt the same way when I fell.

Garfield: (a little worried) Wait up! You’re saying that there was a chance Wyynde could have gone into coma, too!?

Dick: (reassuring) I’m sure that won’t happen anytime soon.

Queen: And what about you, Kaldur san? You also have dreams of being another, don’t you?

Kaldur: Yes. Two of them, I already know well.

Cyborg: They’re actually a couple of versions of me.

Oracle: You mean two versions of the Teen Titans?

Kaldur: The same. There was also a mandrill, a wizard with a tattooed face, a four-armed alien, a robotic dinosaur, a man who can change his face, even, who I can only guess looks like Killer Croc. But the one that sticks out the most is... A young man with dreadlocks, wearing a headband, and...

Kei: Wielding blades made of plasma energy.

Kaldur: (a bit surprised) Y- Yes. How did you know?

Makoto: Are you also having dreams, Kei?

Kei: Well, I do have the occasional Adrien Agreste and Cat Noir dreams. Also had some of a half-demon boy with a sword, a young Chinese man, another young man who lives around here, mostly Ikebukuro, another young man who was trapped in a video game, a strong blonde boy, a young man who can change into a giant, a cat thief, another demon, a red-haired young man, one of the teachers at Shujin, a young man with different colored hair, a boy who can turn into a robot, and, most weird of all... A silver hedgehog. But none of them have ever been a problem and are unrelated to Kaldur’s dream... But I do know someone here in Japan who has dreams that might be related.

Kaldur: Really? Who?

>Suddenly, the phone on the wall rings.

Kei: I guess you’ll find out. (answers phone) Hello? ... Does he have some big guy in a black coat? ... Yup, that’s him. Send him in. Thanks. (hangs up) During the many times I had to move because of my kaiju, I met someone here in Japan. He’s actually the leader of the one the superhero teams here.

Makoto: (a bit excited) Which one?

>Then, there was a knock on the door. Kei goes up and answers it... Two people come in.

Kei: Glad you can make it.

Sorry I took so long. My hands were tied with the Culture Festival.

...

Makoto: (shocked) These guys are superheroes?

Boy in Glasses: (smiling a bit) Don’t judge a book by its cover. I’m Hiro. Hiro Takachiho. And this is my associate, Baymax.

Baymax: ... Hi.

Kei: Hiro has been having dreams that sound similar to Kaldur’s.

Kaldur: You know something?

Hiro: The man that you’ve been dreaming about... He’s called Wasabi. That’s not his real name, though. They call him that because he spilled wasabi on his shirt one time.

Kei: I wanted to tell you guys because Hiro is uncomfortable with that dream.

Joker: How so?

Hiro: Well for starters... The guy I am in the dream is also named Hiro. Hiro Hamada.

Kaldur: Hiro Hamada?

Hiro: (irritated) I know. That’s the stupidest last name I’ve ever heard. And here they say my last name isn’t realistic.

Barbara: But I’m guessing that’s not what disturbs you about the dream.

Hiro: (groaning) It just makes me sick that that hero is such a goodie goodie. I may be a hero, but even I am not above doing things that may not seem right. No matter what.

Makoto: Are you serious?

Bruno: It’s the hardest thing any hero can do. Doing something wrong for the right reasons. No matter what it takes. I know this. (begins looking down)

Makoto: (puts a reassuring hand on Bruno’s shoulder) But now, things are different.

Bruno: (smiles in relief) I know.

Joker: But, why would you think to come to us for this? What do you want us to do about it?

Kaldur: Well, this Wasabi and that Hiro... I think they are in trouble.

What kind of trouble?

Kaldur: I... I do not know.

Hiro: But I think I do.

Kaldur: Then tell us.

Hiro: Well, in their hometown, San Fransokyo, there’s this police chief, Diego Cruz, who’s giving that world’s Big Hero 6 a hard time. Especially since a villain called “Hardlight” is loose in the city.

Skull: So this chief doesn’t like superheroes?

Great, Spider-Man has J. Jonah Jameson, Ben Tennyson has Will Harangue, Young Justice has G. Gordon Godfrey, now Big Hero 6 has this Diego Cruz.

Noir: But at least Chief Cruz has no power in the media. So he can’t fully turn everyone against them.

Kaldur: But it is only a matter of time before he does. I can see that Big Hero 6 has a lot to contribute to their city. They have already done so much and this man seeks to undo it.

Joker: What do you want us to do about it?

Hiro: Well... You’re the Phantom Thieves. Just do what you do best.

You know who we are?

Hiro: Well, considering that I’m in the company of a guy who was put on probation for a crime he didn’t commit, an athlete who lost everything because of an idiot PE teacher, a girl who was being chased by the same teacher, the former apprentice of a disgraced artist, the younger sister of a prosecutor involved in the Phantom Thieves case along with the Detective Prince, the daughter of a scientist involved in the research of psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns in which the Phantom Thieves were accused of, the daughter of a CEO who died from a mental shutdown, and a mysterious guy with no last name and just one that sounds like woman’s name, it’s not exactly hard to put it all together.

Makoto: (worried) Are you going to tell on them?

Hiro: No way, I’m part of the Phandom. I support them.

Baymax: If Master Hiro supports them, so do I.

Adi: Well, that’s good to hear.

Hiro: Besides, I think I might need your help, too.

Adi: What do you mean?

Hiro: Our own Wasabi No-Ginger is having dreams of that Wasabi, too. If something happens, even I don’t know what will happen to us.

Crow: So you’re asking us to steal Chief Cruz’s heart so he can leave Big Hero 6 be?

Kaldur: If you can, yes.

Garfield: We’ll even reward you for it.

Joker: With what?

Dick: Well, for starters, we won’t bust you for that poll you brought up in September.

Oracle: You’ll have to speak to Nishima for that.

Dick: But also, we might be able to help to make sure that what happened to Akechi won’t happen to him or anyone else with a connection again. Without anyone losing their memories.

Violet: How did you know about that?

Dick: (smirking) The nurses know everything.

Violet: (shocked) Yikes! ... I wonder if I should be a nurse, too.

Dick: Don’t give up your dream of gymnastics just yet.

Joker: Even if what you say is true, how do you intend to make it so?

Barbara: It’s still a working progress. But we should be able to have it done before spring.

Crow: I hope so. I get this bad feeling that something bad is going to happen when spring comes. Almost... Venomous.

Barbara: Don’t worry, we will.

Dick: So, will you do it? For us?

>I’m silent for a moment. Then, I give my answer...

We’ll think about it. Right now, we already have quite the number of requests to handle.

Dick: Alright, we’ll wait. The offer will stand... Along with joining the Team. In the meantime, there’s still some time for one more song.

Cyborg: I already picked it. I think you’ll all love it.

Joker: I’m afraid we have to leave, we have to get ready for the last day of the festival tomorrow.

Makoto: And we have to be heading back to the Wilton to meet with Tony.

Cyborg: Your funeral. (getting excited) Here it is! My favorite song of all time.

Garfield: (unhappy) Seriously!? I knew I should have picked the last song... Fade Away is way better.

Kaldur: Actually... I kind of like this song... I love it, actually.

Cyborg: (happy) See? I knew you had a bit of myself in you!

>The Team laughs as Cyborg and Kaldur sing and the rest of us leave.

>My room in Leblanc. Me and Mona (now returned to cat form out of respect for me) were just about to lie down for the night when I get a message on my phone.

Who’s contacting us at this time?

>I check.

Ren san, you have to check the school’s channel.

What’s wrong?

You’ll see. Just check it.

>So, I checked the school website. A dark image was streaming live.

????: Attention students of Shujin Academy. As most of you do no know, I am your principal. I have been hidden for a while, but now the time has come to reveal myself. I was called in to fill in this position after my predecessor, Keiji Kobayakawa, died. However, I would only have the position for a year since I come from overseas. It was to be a trial to see if someone from another country can safely run a Japanese school. Now, the time has come to see the result.

>Then, the lights turn on to show the principal’s face.

I hope that for the remainder of this school year, we would know each other quite well. I also have another announcement... But I shall wait until the end of this year’s Culture Festival to say it. Until then, pleasant dreams.

>The broadcast ends and I return to the chat.

That was Owen Burnett, he used to be the personal assistant to David Xanatos of Xanatos Enterprises before announcing his retirement last year and passing the company to his son.

He’s our principal? What’s going on here?

I’ve already spoken with the current student council president. He said we will speak to him soon enough to grasp the situation. For now, we should get some rest. We’ll tell the others in the morning. Good night.

Good night.

>We end the chat.

Mona: Let’s got some sleep. We should have our answers soon.

Joker: Right. Good night.

>With that, we go to bed.

>To be continued on the last day.