wintersoldierland

[afterthelambs]

The fact that the 3 people we see Akechi kill directly onscreen are:

okumura aka fast food elon musk

principal kobayakawa, who let a sexual predator run wild among students for years

the corrupt misogynist SIU director who sexually harasses Sae

And the fandom wants me to be upset at Akechi for that? Akechi (a teenager who was groomed into violence) is somehow the evil douchebag of the game? Every time someone yells that Akechi killed those people I'm hissing "omg BASED" under my breath

[inkwell1013]

Quiet Hands - Persona 5

Pairing: Yusuke & the Phantom Thieves (platonic), Yusuke & Natsuhiko (familial)

Genre: Oneshot, Angst with a bit of fluff, Found family.

Word count: 2.9k

Warnings: In this fic, Yusuke deals with a lot of internalized ableism and ableist remarks from Madarame. There is also some physical abuse, emotional abuse and depiction of a panic attack. The r slur is also used. Please bear these warnings in mind before proceeding. 

Summary: Madarame never understood Yusuke. He was quick to punish Yusuke for fidgeting. Yusuke learns that loud hands get him hurt. It is much better to have quiet hands. It is better to hold down all the stuff that makes him different. It is better to be who Madarame wants him to be. The Phantom Thieves seemed to disagree with this.

- - - - -

Yusuke was a creature of unbreakable habit. He enjoyed order and structure, and liked to know when he was expected to do things and how he was expected to do them. The slightest disruption to his routine would send him spiralling, leaving him in a horrible mood for the rest of the day.

Today was one of those days. Madarame had invited a guest over without warning Yusuke beforehand, and that had sent him into a tantrum of epic proportions. He didn’t like strangers and he didn’t like surprises, so this was a particularly detestable event in his eyes.

Madarame dragged him downstairs despite his vehement protests. “I don’t want to,” whined Yusuke, trying to pull his arm out of Madarame’s grip. “Let me go!”

“Oh, grow up Yusuke!” snapped Madarame. “You’re not a little kid anymore, and this whining is completely unacceptable for someone your age. Sometimes you must do things you don’t want to do. That’s life, and complaining isn’t going to change anything. Now, you will behave and act normal in front of this curator, or I will ground you for the rest of the week. Do you understand me?”

Yusuke squirmed in his grip. “But it’s so difficult Daddy. I don’t like new people.”

Madarame scowled. “I am not your father. What do you call me?”

“Sensei,” sniffed Yusuke. “Do I really have to do it Sensei?”

“Yes, the curator is expecting to meet you. I’m not having you embarrass me again,” said Madarame, shoving Yusuke into the living room.

The curator stood to greet them as they came in. He was an aggressively friendly man, who immediately went to shake Madarame’s hand with a wide, toothy smile on his face. “Is this your son?” he asked brightly.

“No, he’s my student. I took him in after his mother’s death,” explained Madarame, pushing Yusuke forward. “Why don’t you say hello Yusuke?”

Yusuke mumbled a hello, doing anything to keep from making eye contact, which was made difficult by the fact that the stranger seemed to be attempted the exact opposite at every opportunity. “I apologise for his behaviour,” said Madarame. “He’s a little shy.”

He punctuated the last word with a sharp glare. Yusuke curled further in on himself.

“I understand,” laughed the curator. “My daughter’s shy too. Anyway, what layout are we thinking for this new exhibit?”

Madarame and the curator launched into a lengthy conversation about the upcoming exhibition, thankfully leaving Yusuke out of it. He didn’t want to talk anyway.

All this stress of meeting a new person was making him feel a bit shaky. Similar to how a kettle filled with boiling water needed a way to release the rising pressure, he had found his own way of release. It varied by situation and circumstance, and today it had manifested as fluttery fingers. The curator hadn’t noticed, still engrossed in the work that Madarame was showing him.

Madarame shoot Yusuke a murderous glare and reached over a hand. He pinned Yusuke’s wrist to the table, forcing his hands to a standstill. The curator happily continued with the conversation, having not noticed at all.

“Quiet hands,” hissed Madarame. “You know the rules.”

Yusuke knew he was in trouble.

Nothing happened until the curator left. Madarame was cruel, but he wasn’t stupid. He never struck Yusuke in public and never in front of others - he had his reputation to worry about after all - but things were different behind closed doors.

As soon as the front door slammed shut, Madarame struck, like a viper leaping from the brush. He yanked Yusuke forward, sharp nails digging into his wrist. Stumbling, Yusuke desperately tried to regain his footing, but was thrown of balance again when Madarame smacked him on the side of the head, sending him lurching to the left. He was lucky enough to grab a hold of the coffee table before he hit the ground.

His ear was ringing with discordant chords of a half-finished song, and his vision was blurred, but he could still make out Madarame’s scowling face.

“Sensei, I—”

“Ten fucking minutes! That was all I asked,” screamed Madarame. “And you couldn’t even do that. What is wrong with you?”

Yusuke stared down at the ground. “I don’t know…” he muttered.

“You don’t know?” Madarame said incredulously. “I’m not having a retard for a student. You need to learn to control yourself. No more of that stupid fidgeting. I’ve let it go on for far too long anyway.”

“But I can’t control it,” said Yusuke.

“You will learn. You are not a wild animal that is completely lacking in self control. I raised you better than that.”

“Sensei, you can’t—”

“I’m doing this for your own good Yusuke. No one is going to take you seriously if you act like that. Now go to your room and think about what you’ve done,” spat Madarame. “Don’t think I’m feeding you after this outburst.”

 Things only got worse after that. Madarame stayed true to his word and punished Yusuke for the fidgeting whenever he saw it. That didn’t mean that Yusuke stopped though; he just learned to hide it in front of his mentor. He learned to bottle it all down and release it when he was on his own so he could avoid the punishment.

Even so, the pressure was always building, hissing and screaming to be let out. Sometimes he couldn’t stop it from erupting out of him. Those where the worst days. He would be left shaking and crying, scratching at himself, trying to alleviate that crushing feeling deep down in his soul.

He was only hurting himself – he knew that – but it was the only way to make himself feel better.

Madarame didn’t understand it, just as he had never understood anything about Yusuke. As always, he resorted to violence. He would smack Yusuke on the back of the head every time, repeating the same words.

“Quiet hands.”

Like how a dog can be made to salivate at the sound of a ringing bell, Yusuke was conditioned to associate exhibiting these behaviours in front of others with fear. With pain. Whenever Madarame had guests over, he played the role of the perfect protégé and dutiful student, exactly how Madarame wanted him to, so that he could avoid his ire.

Not once did he question it.

Madarame just wanted what was best for him.

That was the only explanation.

 As sad as it was to admit, Yusuke had never had friends before he met the phantom thieves. He had always been too busy with his art and studies and never had enough time to socialise. No one at his school liked him enough to talk to him anyway.

The closest person he had to a friend when he was a child was Natsuhiko, who had been more like a brother to him, but Natsuhiko left when Yusuke was ten years old. Ysuuke didn’t even get to say goodbye. He just found his bed empty one morning and was informed of his departure over breakfast. Yusuke never quite forgave Natsuhiko for leaving him like that.

The Phantom Thieves were a motley crew, but they were the kindest people Yusuke had met in a long time, so he was happy to call them his friends. They were all kindred spirits, people who had been beaten down and abused by the world, and people who wanted change.

He found solace in their friendship. It was comforting to be around people who were so much like him, who had similar pasts and experiences, and who could understand him.

That day he was reminded of how kind the Phantom Thieves were.

Yusuke had started yet another one of his passionate rants – this time about an artist from the Edo period, who was well known for his unique handling of colours and composition – and instead of blowing him off and ignoring him, as he had expected them to, everyone was paying attention to what he had to say.

And he loved it. Art was a second parent to Yusuke (it had certainly done more to raise him than Madarame ever had) and he would happily ramble about it for hours on end. Once he got going, he could rarely force himself to stop.

There was a lull in his ramble, and he realised how rude he was being. “I apologise,” he said. “I let that go on a bit long, didn’t I? I have a bad habit of running my mouth. It won’t happen again.”

“We don’t mind man,” said Ryuji. “Art makes you happy and shit. We get that.”

“It’s like me and computers,” added Futaba, who was crouching on the couch and fiddling with the ends of her hair. “Sometimes you’ve just got to talk about these things.”

“Whatever makes you happy Yusuke,” said Ann.

“We’re your friends,” explained Ren, leaning dangerously far back in his chair. “We only want you to be happy, and if this is what makes you happy, go for it.” Haru and Makoto nodded in agreement.

Yusuke couldn’t stop himself. He felt bubbly and ecstatic. All that energy had to go somewhere and he found his hand flapping, quite without his input or permission. He rocked on his heels, riding that wave of joy.

It didn’t last long however, and a wave of horror came crashing down upon him as soon as he realised what he had done. Everyone was staring at him and he was frozen in place.

It was like he was the painting in Madarame’s palace. That damn thing haunted his dreams. He would never forget it – the reminder that he was nothing than a thing to the man who raised him. The man he thought of as his father. It sneered at him, as he tossed and turned, reminding him that he would never truly be free.

A tiny sliver of his brain knew that Madarame was gone, and couldn’t hurt him anymore. But it was overwhelmed by everything else that was screaming at him that he was in danger. That he needs to run and not look back. But he couldn’t even do that.

They’ll only hate you after this.

He tried to force himself to say something – anything – but couldn’t force out a single sound. He swore that he couldn’t breathe. Everyone’s eyes were on him. His heart was racing, pumping adrenaline through his veins that he wouldn’t even use because he was too terrified to run, let alone move.

“Yusuke is something wrong?” asked Ren, ever the gracious leader. Yusuke wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle it if Ren hit him. He was usually so composed, but Yusuke knew he packed a mean punch. He had seen him use it on shadows before.

Maybe, if he uses it on you, you’ll turn to dust and blow away as well. Then you won’t bother them anymore. They’ll be happy that you’re gone.

“I can’t— I don’t— I need—" he stammered, unable to form the words correctly. Everyone was staring at him. This was so humiliating.

Ren cast a desperate look to Futaba, who nodded and swayed to her feet. She inched toward Yusuke and reached out a hand to touch his shoulder. Yusuke flinched and she pulled away.

“You need to breathe Yusuke,” said Futaba. “I know it’s hard, but you need to breathe. In for four, hold for seven, and out for eight. Come on, do it with me.”

Yusuke took in a single shaky breath. And then another. Soon, his heart stopped palpitating at a million miles an hour, and he finally felt stable.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I don’t know what came over me. I- I don’t know. It simply happened.”

“It’s okay. You were just having a panic attack. Have you never had one before?” asked Futaba.

“No…” said Yusuke. “I can’t believe I lost control like that in front of everyone. This is mortifying.”

“No one’s going to judge you or anything. These things happen,” said Futaba, with a shrug. Everyone else nodded. “Do you know if anything triggered it?” she asked.

Yusuke chewed on his fingernails, a nervous habit that he never managed to kick, despite Madarame’s best efforts. “You’ll think it’s stupid.”

“We won’t. Trust me.”

“I am different to other people,” he admitted. “I always have been. When I was young, I had bad habits that were beginning to cause problems, so Madarame took it upon himself to… fix my issue.”

Futaba frowned. “You don’t mean..?”

“He used to hit me. It was never anything that bad, and never enough to bruise or scar, but it was adequate, and corrected the problem. I believe losing control and exhibiting that behaviour again in front of others was enough to remind me of it. I apologise for worrying you all.” He bowed his head, staring down at the ground.

There was a long, empty silence, which was broken by Ryuji. “Dude. He was abusing you.”

Yusuke blinked. “And that’s… bad?”

“Of course it’s bad!” exclaimed Ann. “He hurt you. It’s no wonder you’re afraid of him.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Ren, staring Yusuke down.

“I didn’t think it was important…”

Futaba walked over to the couch and took her previous crouched position. “So, Inari, are you autistic?” she asked.

Yusuke scowled. “I don’t see how that’s relevant. I was diagnosed as a child, but I grew out of it.”

He was a little surprised when Futaba cringed and Ren shook his head. “You don’t grow out of autism Yusuke,” said Ren, as gently as he could. “It’s a part of who you are.”

“But I’m not autistic anymore! I’m not. Madarame fixed me,” exclaimed Yusuke.

“Man, not to rude or anything,” interjected Ryuji. “But he lowkey traumatised you. He didn’t fix shit.”

“Hitting someone for stimming is like punishing your puppy for wagging it’s tail,” said Makoto. “You’re just doing what your body wants you to do. It’s normal. We all do it.” She gestured between herself, Futaba, and Ren.

Yusuke’s eyes widened. “You mean, you’re all like me?” he whispered.

“Yes,” said Ren “You’re not alone.”

“Thank you,” he mumbled, rubbing at his face with the sleeve of his shirt. Why was he crying? “You’re all too kind.

Ryuji rolled his eyes. “Nah. We’re just not shitty people like that bastard. Sorry if that’s rude or whatever, but it’s true.”

Yusuke couldn’t stop himself from snickering. “That’s absolutely true. He was a grade A asshole”

“Group hug!” announced Haru, launching herself at Yusuke. Soon, Yusuke found himself in the middle of a crushing group hug with every single Phantom Thief except Morgana, who was still peacefully sleeping on the windowsill.

“You’re a bit weird,” said Ryuji. “But you’re our weirdo.”

 It was Yusuke’s turn to decide where the group went on their weekly outing, and he chose the planetarium. Natsuhiko had taken him there once, when Yusuke was about ten years old. Looking back, he knew it was because Madarame had come home drunk again and Natsuhiko didn’t want him to see that.

It was funny how many of his good memories were tainted by hindsight.

Even so, the day stood out in his mind. It was a single happy moment in the sea of abject misery that was his childhood. Natsuhiko had spent the entire evening pointing out different constellations and telling Yusuke stories about them.

Even after Natsuhiko left, Yusuke remembered the stories. He would trace the constellations onto his palm and whisper the stories to himself, desperately clinging onto the few things he had left of Natsuhiko. He remembered every single word, exactly how Natsuhiko had told him.

He and his friends found their seats and settled down. The lights flickered on above them, stars appearing in the dark expanse. He remembered Natsuhiko daring him to try and count them. It was impossible; there were just too many. An incomprehensible number.

It was beautiful. He would paint it, but he could never capture its majesty quite right. All the swirls of purple and blue and black, with pinpricks of light shining through, filled the entire domed ceiling. It would never fit on a canvas.

Futaba leaned over and whispered to him, “Do you know any stories about the stars?”

“Are you sure you want to hear?” replied Yusuke. “You know how much I can go on about these things.”

“Of course. We all want to hear!” said Ann. Yusuke looked around to the smiling faces of his friends and couldn’t help but grin himself.

“Okay,” he said, flapping his hands, as he collected all the right words. Flapping was his favourite stim. There was nothing quite like it for that fluttery, excited feeling in his chest. “Can you see those three stars over there that form a line?” he said. “They are a part of a constellation called ‘Take No Fushi’. They represent a bamboo cane, being held by a young girl. The story stays that she and her sister were carrying buckets of water balanced on canes of bamboo, when they were attacked by a fearsome Oni. There was no escape, so they climbed a rope towards the sky. The elder sister became the moon, and the younger sister became the stars that trail after her…”

Everyone was listening to him. No one minded his stimming. He knew, for the first time in years, that it was okay to be himself around those he loved.

[icipersona5-pricefamily]

Who are your Top 5 fave Phantom Thieves of Hearts?

It could be just one or two, but sometimes you can't help it, but to love all of them. But there's always a fave or two and sadly a dislike. But let's focus on the top faves. Honestly for me... it's hard to chose. I mean I have my two faves, but do I have my top 5 faves? 🤔 Hmm... well, most do share the same spots... And please don't be mad at choices! 🙏 We all can't like the same the thing or person after all. Anyway! I will expose my top 5 and be warn, there are spoilers, so I advise you not to look at the list until you played the games or seen the walk through. If you like to spoil yourself, go ahead....

5. Sophia/Sophie. Why her? Well, she's adorable and an AI who has a Persona. She's not the first technology thing to have one, of course. But I like her plot and how she's trying to learn what a heart is. She has YoYo as her weapon which is cool and despite many let downs, she had learn from her teammates and understand what it means to be a Phantom Thief of Hearts. As the story goes, she was slowly losing her robot like voice and to find out how she was created! I like it! I'm gonna miss her...

4. Futaba Sakura/Oracle (Navi in Japan). Why? I just like her personalities and how she's a great hacker while trying to be outgoing. (You can do it, Futaba!). She's funny and I love her siblings relationship with Ren/MC and Yusuke. Her past was so sad and I just wanna hug her. I am glad she has an adopted dad like Sojiro and how she was willing to change her heart to save him. I'm really glad in Royal she has her victory pose after the all out attack. I just wish she'd had one in Strikers when things are looking bad, she actives her showtime to fully heal the HP and SP. PS, I love her UFO like Persona!!

3. Yusuke Kitagawa/Fox. I love this dork! He is beautiful, such a soul of an artist and kinda gullible in most things. He's a sweetie and never miss an opportunity to art. What happened to him in the past and in P5, I wanna protect him. I'm glad the Phantom Thieves came in to help and he becomes one. His relationship with Futaba is funny. They're like siblings to each other (Sorry to those who shipped them!). And he's sort of the first for Futaba to interact with. I do worry about his money situation, but he seems to be doing okay. I really wish Atlus added that you could date guys, I mean they made you date older women, but not a guy at close age to? O.o Anyway, Yusuke is a funny and sweet guy, kinda naive but a good guy. Kudos to the voice actors, both English and Japanese.

2. Morgana/Mona & Ryuji Sakamoto/Skull. Eh? Two?! Hey, it's hard to chose, okay? =3= Now why? Let's start with Morgana... He's a talking cat and he's adorable! (Morgana: I'm NOT a cat) Hehe... Anyway! He's like a mascot yet he's strong and wise in most situations. Despite being a cat in the real world, he still hangouts with the team to join in the fun. I love how he's smitten over Ann yet acts like a gentleman (sometimes) towards her and the fact he can become a bus (and helicopter in Royal) is awesome! I feel bad about when Morgana started to feel useless to the team and no one notice it until Haru appears as a thief. But I am glad he'd came back and to learn his past, wow! I nearly cried at the end of P5. I kinda wish he a human form like Teddie, but at least he kinda did in Royal. And I really wish his cat sprite has more reactions and stuff. The fact his Persona is Zorro... pfft X3c It's like Puss in Boots in Shrek! Now, Ryuji... He's such a good boy with a temper, but he has reasons why. Despite that, he's a good friend and never abandons his friends. Thanks to the MC, he slowly becomes who he should be and I'd a funny guy. I feel bad that his track team treated badly because of what happened and I kinda get it, but still... Anyway! He's like the loyal friend who got your back and is willing to stand up for his friends, even his life to save them. He even didn't judge the MC and becomes his first friend of Shujin Academy. Now, why both on the top fave 2? Well, they always bicker at each other yet they kinda get along sometimes. They both are close to the MC and they're funny like Yosuke and Teddie in P4. Glad their relationship had grew in Strikers and the fact that they are not afraid to blunt insults to each other. At least they're good friends.

Now, the top most fave(s), drum roll please........................

1. Ren Amamiya/Akira Kurusu/Joker & Zenkichi Hasegawa/Wolf. Again another spot is share! And before Strikers, Joker is still my top fave then Zenkichi came in, it's a tied. Let's start with Ren. Ren is handsome! He's cool and mysterious! The plot for him is perfect and how his Persona is Arsene is even more perfect. The background of his shows how hard life is, despite doing something good, he get punish in the end? That's bull crap and everyone treated him like he's a bad boy when he's not. Thankfully, he made friends and people around soon learns he's not a bad boy at all. Ren is charmer and he's still the guy who is willing to help those in need, of course that's up to the player. I do wish in Strikers that it kinda shown his distrust and trauma of the police. I would protect him and make any cops stay a safe distance from him. (Sorry Zenkichi) At least he kinda got his life back thanks to his friends and allies. Did I mention I like him? Seriously I do! 🥰 He's handsome and his smile... Sorry! Now, Zenkichi... This guy is a goof ball, the only adult of Phantom Thieves of Hearts and is a cop! Well, PubSec. He's like Dojima and Sojiro in one, sort of. At first, I did distrust due to he's a cop and all, plus you know in P4 and with Goro. I wasn't sure about him until I had watch the walk through and when first seeing him and when he'd laughed, I thought 'I might like this guy, but let's wait and see'. Now, I thought he would be a comic relief which he sort of is while still not trusting him until we learn he's a dad and how he'd lost his wife which 'Wait! He's a dad and had a wife who was killed in hit and run? Dojima 2?!' OwO I was surprised. Of course, not exactly the same, but similar plot. We get to learn about his past, his relationship with his daughter and why he was using the Phantom Thieves for such case. I start to feel bad for him and his daughter, heck even the Phantom Thieves felt bad. At some point, I did started to like him and Zenkichi was starting to bond with them and they even started to think as him part of the team. Once Zenkichi reveals why he'd hadn't caught the killer, I truly feel bad and understand why he let the killer go. Then boom! He has a Persona that fits him perfectly and such a cool Phantom Thief attire! 😳 That's when I fallen for him 'Dang it! First Joker now him!' He became like a dad of the team, always reminded them that despite what happened to the Monarch, it's still wrong what they're doing now. Despite how old he is (He's in his 40s) he can still fight and is cool! Still a goof ball good looking guy. Now, why both on the same spot? .....I love both them equally! 😍 They're both cool, good looking and those smirks... How dare Atlus did this to me?! I love their Personas. I wish we could see them having bonding moments though. *clears throat* Anyway. Because how I like them, as always I had created OCs to be with them. Hehe 😅

Now, for the rest of Phantom Thieves of Hearts. I do love them all, truly. Makoto is cool and she's the mom of the group. Ann is good friend to hangout, plus she's caring about others who had suffered. Haru is a sweetie who has scary side to her (Do not let her drive). Goro is someone that you wish he had saved sooner and yes I did hate him but I feel bad for what happened to him. Sumire, I wasn't sure about we had learn her background and wow! What a twist. I did call her a hypocrite while I can see why she thought that the people don't help themselves when reality the thieves gives courage and they done something to move on with some help, unlike what she did but I get it and I do like her persona.

Who would I want to be part of the team? Hmm... Hifumi since she was gonna be part of the team, but sadly that was cut off. She would've been better as a thief. Maybe Mishima, maybe! Sojiro... What?! It would've been cool, although he isn't young as he use to be, still. Lastly Maruki. I am surprised he doesn't count to be part of the team, but I guess it's because his Persona was kinda controlling him (I can't remember 😅) and didn't join the team. He would've been a neat addition to team, being a dad/uncle of the group. I feel bad for the guy and I get why did all that yet what about him? Doesn't he deserve to be happy to? Also... what happened to his girlfriend after the Metaverse vanishes in Royal? Anyway, he still like a sweet guy to me and I kinda wish Royal was mentioned in Strikers, but Strikers is technically a sequel/spin off to P5 since Strikers was part of P5, but it was too long and got cut. Hence of no mentioning of Royal.

Whew! Anyway! No hate on this, not everyone agrees with my choices and it's different from everyone opinions. But what about you guys? Got top faves and wish who would've been part of the team??

[risingmoonyue]

Batman/P5 Crossover

-Sometime before Akechi but after Futaba or Haru

-Damian is sent to Tokyo to check it out for whatever reason (maybe they had a fight, or he’s going stir crazy, or he’s just the only one they can send at the time and didn't bother with all that "you're not old enough" business)

-Dami is younger than Futaba by a year or three or four

-He is baby

-He is transferred to Shujin as a child prodigy where he also immediately joins the "outcast" community because of his attitude and intelligence

-Talia goes too, manages to cut off all his communications with the Batfam, and is planning to take him home in a month whether he likes it or not

-For whatever reason, Batfam doesn't realize this??? (Like, either she's faking reports or they're too busy (think fight or chaos in Gotham scenario maybe???))

-Anyways, obviously Dami doesn't want this

-Somehow the Phantom Thieves hear about the situation

-Maybe he was assigned to shadow Makoto for a while, and they managed to overhear a phone conversation either to Talia or Dami trying to get in touch with the Batfam and nothing really working

-And eventually they outright see him fighting with his mother with him at some point (either in person or over a phone call) mentioning that she already disowned him, he's happy with his Father's family, and that he will head her family business over his dead body—and oh would you look at that, you already managed that, care to try again Mother?

-The PT's are understandably alarmed

-And learn her name from Damian (from Makoto maybe or someone else he bonded a little with) (MORGANA) (THEY GAVE HIM MONA FOR A DAY AND NOW THEY KNOW EVERYTHING FROM HIS MANY PETS TO HIS LEAST TO MOST FAVORITE SIBLINGS STARTING FROM TIM TO DICK TO HIS FAVORITE FOODS TO EVERYONE IN HIS FAMILY’S NAMES TO HOW STUPID HE FINDS EVERYONE AND WHY THEY'RE STUPID TO HIS FAVORITE MUSIC TO WHY ANIMALS ARE SUPERIOR TO HUMANS AND MONA’S LIKE OMG TMI BUT LOVED IT THERE BECAUSE HE WAS PAMPERED LIKE NO TOMORROW GOT ONLY THE BEST FOOD AND THE BEST BEDS AND TOYS THAT HE GOT TO TAKE WITH HIM BACK TO LEBLANC AND NOW AKIRA AND SOJIRO ARE LIKE DUDE WHY AND MONA’S LIKE IM KEEPING HIM THIS HUMAN IS GOOD SORRY AKIRA YOU’RE DEMOTED)

-The palace is basically a fortress full of assasin ninjas and clones

-Dunno what her keywords are tho

-Or her what her palace actually is

-Help?????????

-Cognitive Bruce, Ra's, Damian, Dami clones, and Jason (maybe rest of batfam??? Idk)

-Long story short, the traps are so assassin-y that they need someone who knows the actual Talia because egads, this is the closest they have all come to actually dying

-And they didn't really want to do it and were just gonna power through

-But Dami manages to find out and get in and of course uses his background to help out whether they like it or not

(-he's slightly off put by Joker's name, but then decides to just solely call Gotham!Joker "The Clown")

-At some point they are captured by the Shadow Talia who is decked out in super fancy traditional Arab clothing and probably every conceivable hidden weapon known to man

-Talia says Damian won't and can't ever change from who he "is meant to be", referring to him as her Alexander and basically brutally addresses all of his insecurities concerning the batfam and people and society in general

-And all this is kinda killing him cause he still loves Talia despite the fact that she killed him and had a violent citywide custody battle with Batman but he also loves the batfam too even if he would absolutely never admit it (except to maybe Grayson)

-Joker does his emotional kick-start thing and/or Dami is like Makoto and just gets so mad he triggers it himself, but either way, lo and behold, Damian is now a persona user, usurping Futaba's place as the baby of the team

-The outfit is kinda inspired by his future adult league outfit with the top and bottom and gold jewelry, but has a raggedy cloak with dull gold edges, a Robin mask and gauntlets, and his main weapons are batarang-sword hybrids

---acknowledging his past and moving on with his present

-Persona: Aladdin, Tsun Zu, Ali Baba, somone else???? Need ideas plz help

-Probably the fastest member of the group

-His small body makes his hits not as strong, but hoo boy can that kid move around

-Hits a lot and dodges most

-Most of his Persona abilities are physical and have high crit and/or are status affects

-Downside is he has not a lot of SP (compared to the rest of the group)

-And he has pretty good HP

-Those good ol' “superior genetics” have to be good for something after all

-Anyways they escape to find the treasure another day

-And Dami is all smug because HA you definitely can't stop me now

-And the PTs are just resigned to keeping an eye on the extremely competent snotty assassin/vigilante child

-They do like him though so it's not too bad (comes with learning all his darkest secrets via his mother and thought processes that tends to accompany watching someone at their lowest get a persona)

(-They do manage to temper him a bit and help him adjust better to actual society too that's nice)

-As such, they also know about Batman and Robin and his whoooole family. Both sides.

-Damian decided not to tell batfam because he does agree with the whole "most adults suck" mentality that the Phantom Thieves have; despite his deep, deep respect for his father and mother and Grayson, they all do kinda suck

-And he’s rather not get pulled out as he surely would if he told them

(-On a side note, he likes Sojiro

-The man gives him coffee, curry, and leaves him mostly to his own devices

-Instant win)

-He is dubbed "Mockingbird" apon return to the metaverse because of his freaky talented vocal skills in mimicking anyone and everyone's voice

-Eventually, they beat Talia

-She doesn't publicly confess to all her sins unlike everyone else

-PTs don't realize it worked until Damian came into school with a genuine smile on his face, and more relaxed than he'd been since he got there

-PTs are confused until Damian's like, this works out because hey, don't want to have several people assassinated and draw the entire freaking league to Tokyo

(-Which was probably why Talia didn't)

-They agree

-But she does break down to tears in Dami's arms and promise to ACTUALLY TALK CIVILLY with Bruce to try and make up for everything and try to fix up the league

-He stays for the rest of p5

-But steers all his reports very much away from the Phantom Thieves

-If anything, he downplays absolutely everything, and makes it seem like it's nothing super big but he's gonna stay a while to keep and eye out because y'alls are busy and I like it here and I haven't gotten expelled so there

-The PTs like to add funny stuff on there just to see if they’ll notice

-Like, Akira likes to have Dami describe his day in excruciating detail. Like, recounting the entirety of his nine or so months to Sae during police interrogation, excruciating

-Mona is pushing for the shiny stuff

-Yusuke just likes to put in bursts of randomness (Dami once mentioned that an acquaintance made another acquaintance T-pose in a church for art lol)

-Ann loves to rant about food

-Haru is always insisting on about feelings

-Ryuji likes to complain about everything and puts in ridiculous requests

-Futaba is just putting in every gen-z thing ever

-Makoto is actually responsible and tries to get him to talk about his progress in school and his social life

-And Akechi is absolutely nowhere near any of this and doesn’t know it exists

-When they have the Tokyo/Japan-wide calling card, Batfam sees it too because let's face it, that's totally the sorta thing that they would keep an eye out for even if he didn't look at the news in the entirety of the time Dami was in Tokyo

-And they send a message to Damian (the first actual communication they've had since before Talia) saying "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON OVER THERE????"

-And with the entirety of the Phantom Thieves looking over his shoulder, Damian's just like "Chill dudes, everything's fiiiiiiiiiine"

-And they're like "UH WHAT PART OF THIS IS FINE????" because they've dug around a bit and found every news report, and oh hey, this isn't anywhere near as calm as Damian described and he’s being super OOC and what’s going on?!?!?!?!?!

-And Damian, being egged on by the most of the PTs, just sends a winky face

-Just

-😉

-And he's smug, because it's still chaos over there so they can't actually come get him and try to pull him out because he's being super ooc

-Which means he's free to do what he wants/needs in the meantime

-Cue the end of the game

-And Dami is going with them on their summer road trip and cackling because the batfam is scrambling to find him in Tokyo but lol nope he's in a van the Japanese government tried and fail to follow

-And he found all the trackers like, a year ago

-Every

-Single

-One

-They eventually track him down to Akira's house where they're calmly eating dinner (and they've been expecting this for the past week so Mona was keeping watch just so they could pull this off) and talking about how uneventful the school year was

-Cue mass confusion in the batfam

-As the PTs enjoy just confusing them so much

-By talking to Mona

-Talking normal then crazy then normal again

-And just generally being their normal selves lol

-They explain absolutely nothing beyond gushing about how much progress socially and academically he’s made (gotta embarrass the baby of the group somehow) and making sure that if Dami absolutely has to go home that he's able to stay in touch

(-Later, Damian forms his own hero persona outside of Batman and Robin)

(-He names it Mockingbird)

(-Batfam proceeds to have a brain aneurysm while the PTs dab their happy proud tears out of their eyes on their regularly scheduled tea time at the Wayne Manor)

(-Damian sends a private plane every week or two lol)

(Bonus: ARTTTTTTT)

(Psst if you guys have ideas for art, outfits, interactions or scenarios, let me know)

[wallstoothin]

A Bouquet Instead of a Goodbye

fixed up one of my fics

Akechi Goro’s body was eventually found, it was tucked away in some bush near the diet building. His eyes wide, broken, and very very dead. A proper autopsy showed a bullet hole on his forehead and a matching exit hole at the back of his head. There were also small cuts and bruises all over his body, their origin unknown. Some speculate that the detective was held hostage and eventually killed due to the lack of cooperation from the police department. Others said that it was from an old grudge from a case he did long ago. A situation like these happens in movies all the time. Who's to say it can’t happen in real life.

The one who found him was an ordinary gardener, the bush was growing wild and it was about the time to trim it. Based on the news the gardener ran all the way to the police station unable to utter a word and completely forgetting about the phone in his pocket, dragging the poor rookie all the way to the body. It was said by some sources that the young man almost threw up on the dead body.

The world mourned before they started pointing fingers because that’s what society does best. But the search for the culprit ended as soon as it started. His father, the disgraced politician  who had abandoned his son long before his birth, has admitted in prison that he had plans of killing him. The news ate it up. 

Akira found out from the comfort of his home, watching the evening news as he brushed Morgana’s hair. He could only stare at the dead body on the screen as his phone rang beside him. The news censoring the blood and gore as an announcer talked about Akechi. Later announcing that there would be a short thirty minutes special celebrating the life and accomplishment of Goro Akechi coming soon. There will also be a live funeral for him, his remains would be going under Shido’s family tomb for the sake of tradition. No one cared over the fact that it was Shido who ruined the young man’s life and set him up for a path of self destruction and ruins. And the fact that Akechi would most likely protest. But no one heard him, he’s dead after, and the dead don’t speak.

He can feel Morgana’s paws clawing at his shirt trying to get his attention, his phone just as whiny as his feline friend was also going off. Akira let out a sigh, reaching towards the remote and turning off the television with a small ‘click’ from the power button. He ignored Morgana’s questions of ‘Are you ok’ and the constant calls and messages from his friends. He stood up and brushed off any lingering cat hair that stuck to his pants and legs making a mental note of vacuuming sometime later before he get in trouble with his parents and head to his room.

He needs to do some research.

Akira has never attended a funeral before, he’s been invited to a few sometime during elementary and middle school but he never went. He wondered if his sister in heaven hates him for never going to hers. Akira also wonders what Akechi would think when he told Morgana and everyone else that he has no plan of turning into Akechi’s public funeral or when he decline the invitation Sae-san send him through email an hour after. 

That funeral is for the detective prince, a mask that Akechi wore in order to feel some semblance of love. But in the end that love was too distant for the dead man. Akira can see it right now, thousands of young girls watching as the black car pass by as they cry, some holding on to their handkerchief while others scream their confession out loud for the world but not Akechi to hear. Akira feels that he would not be able to stand going to a funeral like that. From what he heard, Haru and Futaba also decline going to the event. He hasn't heard from everybody else but he suspects that Ryuji might skip as well. 

He let out another tired sigh as he stared at his old laptop screen, he still had things to do. But at this rate he’ll be up all night. Akira can hear the rant Morgana have in store for him later but maybe if he play his card right he should be able to stay up late. He later watched Morgana eat his fatty tuna, his wallet clutch in his hand. His wallet was looking slightly lonelier but at least he got what he want.

A week passed and life went on as usual. The public forgot about the incident until the funeral where the name Akechi Goro is once again trending on the net. On the day of the funeral Akira left the house at five am, making sure to leave a note behind for Morgana to read. No need to leave anything for his parents. 

The walk from his house to the train station was long but he was unsure if the bus even operate at this time and like hell is he going to leave his bike near the station. Even in the city there are times where the train comes few and the buses fewer so he can’t really complain about it being just a ‘countryside problem’. He have no choice but to take the long route.

 It gave him even more time to reflect. Since he’s been back in his sleepy hometime that’s all he can do without being given a strange glance or an ugly look. Everything was quiet in his hometown even during the afternoon where everyone would be out of school and shopping around but it would still be quiet, no sound this town could make would ever compare to the Shibuya crossing and for some reason it irks him. Which led to a new habit of wearing headphones around his neck in case things get too quiet around, of course another good substitute is Morgana who enjoys chatting about the things he sees or other small topics that he demands Akira pay attention to. 

By the time he made it to the train station the sky had turned from a murky blue to a bright and sunny one. The train station was empty save for the workers and a few people in suits. It was still early after all. Had Akira decided to leave the house two hours later the station would be filled with people and many more inside the train. He did not want to be seen today. Akira checked his phone to look at the time. He still have another two hours before he reaches Shibuya, still a lot of time to spare. It was probably best to check the group chat before the rest of the gang do something stupid. 

Akira:

I’m alright guys don’t worry

The replies he got were all the same asking if he was really alright and if he need someone to come over. He’s been offline for days and now that he gets a good look at his notification he can see that his messaging app has over a few hundred unread messages.

 He softly smiled, the feeling of warmth covering his chest. He loved his friends. They cared for him more than anyone else in his life and he will do anything for them. 

Akira:

I’m sorry for not answering all you calls

And texts. My family has been busy.

He added a cute frowny emoji for good measure.

Akira:

I won’t be online for the rest of the day

Sorry! Talk to you all later

He felt bad lying to his friends. But today he’s on a solo mission. He doesn’t want anyone else to be with him. He hopes they can understand. Akira slips his headphones back on and lean back in his seat, his hand reaching out and pulling the blinds so they fully cover the window and for the rising sun light stays out of his eyes. His destination is still a long way. A quick nap before then couldn’t hurt. 

===

The news mentioned him once today. It was more of a passing comment from a news channel that barely talked about him when he was alive treats him just the same dead. The big screen on the building creates white noise behind the already loud Shibuya. He knows he shouldn’t dawdle, who knows how everyone will react if he takes too long to answer back. He doesn't want to worry them ever again. 

An aggravated sigh escaped his lips. Today is not about him. He shouldn’t be selfish today of all days. He needs to quickly transfer trains before someone spots him and distracts him from his task. 

He reaches into his pocket expecting his train pass to be in there, he doesn't have any money in the card at the moment but it should make entering and leaving the station much easier as soon as he refills it.

And his pocket is empty. 

Guess in the end he has to buy a ticket. Yippie. 

Putting paying extra aside-he still have some metaverse money that he split evenly between the team long after their last heist and a short while before his departure. In the end everyone received a good amount of cash and after a long lecture from Makoto went mostly to saving so wasting five hundred yen for a round trip shouldn't hurt his bank account at all. 

The train in Shibuya is much busier than the one he took from his hometown. He scoffs, Of course it’s busier everyone here is always busy doing their own thing and living their own lives. It was almost disturbing to see how quickly city folks move from one topic to another especially after seeing the public’s one track mind on the Phantom thieves and Akechi but that was all due to the influence of the false God. Now that everyone is free, everything went back to the same boring way it was before. 

The city charm has long died out somewhere along his journey. But it was better than the countryside for sure, as a third year he now have to worry about college and future plans. Whatever it is he hopes he can do it by his friends’ side and not alone. 

There was a soft melody on the overhead, that must be his train. He stepped aside as the people leaving rushed out, and as soon as the last person exited he made his move. He quickly glanced around the cart, there’s no empty seats how unlucky considering he’ll have to stand for another thirty minutes . The train was filled with sleeping salarymen and bored elderly. He knows he’s not getting a seat anytime soon. He pulled out his phone and opened the music app. He never liked the waiting game but hopefully music can make time go by faster.

-

Akira also dislikes being squeezed to the point he can feel his ribs but being in Tokyo comes with a price. The train was not that packed compared to the early morning rush that he dealt with every morning for the past year. But not being able to pull out his phone to change the song, has made the trip much longer than expected, when Akira pushed his way out of the train he let out a huge sigh in relief. It was a good thing he decided to buy the supplies on this stop, the last thing he need is to feel the glares of fellow passengers over spilt water and crushed petals all over someone’s over expensive suit.

A sponge, a small box of incense, small candles along with two canned coffee . He ignored the sad look the cashier passed him as she was ringing him up. Did he have everything he needed? He thinks he does but if he did forget something then there are sure to be a convenience store nearby. He still have some time before the next bus comes, maybe he can buy a triple seven chicken and gobble it down. 

As he step out of the store he paused in his step. Flowers ! How could he have forgotten about the flowers especially since he was complaining about it earlier. He open up his metaverse free navigator. It was still too early but there should be one place that’s open right? He grin widely after finding out that yes there is a place nearby that’s already open. A small family run store instead of the big corporate one that he worked in once before. Hopefully they can help him pick up the perfect bouquet for him. 

An hour later and a few thousand yen emptier, Akira finally reach the grounds.

The hike up the hill was just as stressful as the trip getting there, he nodded to the monk who was sweeping and headed over to the sink and grabbed one of the available pail filling it with water and started making his way up the hill. It took awhile for Akira to find the right grave, he did not have an exact location and it was not like the monk at the entrance knew each place by heart, so Akira had to walk pass each individual family grave until he found one that was covered with dirt and weed. 

Here it is. Abandoned and left alone like the people who’s spirit left there. He put down the bucket gently on the floor and reach for the sponge making sure the sponge took up as much water as possible before reaching toward the grave, the name which was hidden after years of abandonment shine in the sun. He smiles as he dip the sponge in the water again. 

--

Cleaning the grave back to its former glory took about an hour, cleaning around the graves like pulling out the weed and disposing of old flowers took about half. By then Akira was covered with dust, dirt and sweat and in need of a good soak. But it was far from over, setting up the candle and incense shouldn’t have been a problem. He done it many times before, but it took a few broken one and a sip of water before he was satisfied with the white smoke in the air. Akira then reached for the flowers and carefully placed them in their placeholder. ‘Done’ he thought to himself. After seeing his parents prepare the family grave each summer he thought it would be easy but it was a lot more work than what he expected. It must be the heat.

He then took out the canned coffee already lukewarm from staying in the heat the whole time and placed it right under the engraved name. Akira then put his hands together, closed his eyes and talked. 

When he opened his eyes again it was already dark and his neck was burning from standing outside for too long. His voice was hoarse from talking too much but it was not like he talked much in the first place. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tie that was frayed and wrinkled with the lack of proper care.  

Akechi’s body was long gone. His ashes spread over a name he hated all his life. By spreading the last part of him to a place where he wanted to rest would make him happy, right? He pulled out a lighter and slowly moved it towards the tie.

Akechi loved his mother didn’t he? So Akira should do this one last favor and help guide him to her. But- his hand shake as the fire slowly touched the end of the tie. He quickly turned off the flame before it take more of the tie than it already had. 

He can’t

Akira bit the end of his lips internally scolding himself. This is not about him, this is about Akechi. He shouldn't be selfish . It was selflessness that saved the world before, the options he had before when he was allowed to be selfish would have ended up in ruins. Even now after defeating the false gods, the golden rule still applies. He should hurry up and burn it up already !

He drop the lighter on the floor and clutch the tie in his hands tightly. One day, one day he’s sure that this decision is going to bite him back. It might even haunt him for the rest of his life. But it was unfair, he was still a kid, he should be allowed to grieve the way he wants to. He stare sadly at the grave in front of him. Akechi is probably mocking him. A sentimental fool. He wouldn’t mind hearing him sneer one last time. 

Akira let out a wet chuckle and wiped his eyes erasing any evidence of tears that was forming in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’ll try to visit again soon.” He said as he stood up, making sure to grab the bucket and sponge, leaving no garbage behind as he walked back down the hill and back home. 

A03 Link : https://archiveofourown.org/works/24458830

[irinanonyme]

Here's a Ryuji and Ryukoto appreciation post! (super long post but it's worth it)

One big problem (that everyone has already noticed, it's nothing new) is that the writers aren't really good at writing a good friendship between Ryuji and the other members of the phantom thieves.

While many say that his place in the group is used as a "comic relief", (which btw doesn't work because we feel bad for him), I also think that they're trying to make a fun friendship. Kinda like when you and your friends call yourselves "hoes" and "stupid bitches" but obviously don't mean it and it's just a joke, an affectionate way to say "I feel comfortable enough with you to say dumb shit".

However in Ryuji's case it doesn't work because not only does it go in only one way (the phantom thieves towards Ryuji but never Ryuji towards them... except maybe for Morgana but they're just quarreling) but also because Ryuji doesn't like it and doesn't take it as a joke.

The biggest example of him being mistreated was when he literally saves everyone's ass only to get beat up afterward while we know very well from his confidant that his father used to beat him and his mom, also his legs got broken by Kamoshida. The saddest thing is that he's not even trying to be dramatic about it.

He's just like "uh... yeah. My dad used to beat me up and my mom but whatever, I'm past that" while we get hours and hours of Futaba's palace showing us that "oh no her mom is dead those adults suck". No offense in any way to Futaba btw, I like her and there's nothing wrong with her arc but I just find that sad how while we got a whole big ass backstory for her troubles Ryuji's abuse gets downplayed the whole game and made fun of.

O-kaaaaay let's move on to the main point: Ryukoto.

This is something that seemed really obvious to me and I'm surprised that there's not many people talking about it. This ship has SO much potential if done right. (Emphasis on DONE RIGHT.)

I know it's super cliche because Makoto is supposed to be the typical "super intelligent girl with a badass side" and Ryuji the "lovable and reckless idiot" so this type of ship is overdone everywhere. Movies, games, TV series, manga, books, etc. I know.

But did any of you realize that both of them have many similarities?

For example, their troubles getting "downplayed". Like I said earlier Ryuji was abused by his dad but we never hear any more than that and in Makoto's case there's something similar happening. We know that her mom died when she was really young and then her dad but she never makes a big deal out of it just like Ryuji. I guess they didn't feel the need to add anything to that narrative because we already have many characters in persona who don't have/lost their parents (Futaba, Yusuke, Akechi, Haru, etc.) However there's something else happening, it's about Sae.

Remember that one scene where Sae just randomly started yelling at Makoto and telling her that she's useless, that she should "aknowledge their situation" and that she "eats away at her life". If it happend once what makes you think that it doesn't happen regularly? Afterward Sae realizes that she effed up, apologizes and says that from now on she'll eat outside which makes me think that this is not the first time this kind of thing happens. Makoto's reaction also comfirms it at the beginning when she wants to bring up their dad but knows clearly what can happen when she does.

Sae is obviously having a lot of stress due to the fact that she's now suddenly the "adult of the house" and she has to bring enough money home for both of them not to mention that Makoto has yet to get into a college (which can be really pricey). So it's understandable that Sae feels on edge and knows that she shouldn't say things like that. But even if she doesn't mean it she's still her sister and her words hurt. I'm hesitating on calling this a borderline verbal abuse situation because we don't have enough evidence for that (and also because many love Sae and I'll get my ass fried if I say anything bad about her, no worries though. I do think that she's an interesting character.)

So let's continue.

Then the whole time Makoto is teary eyed and silent which once. Again. Makes me think that this is absolutely not the first time this happens. Afterward we see Makoto's desperate attempts at trying to be useful to the phantom thieves and make a place for herself where there isn't. Both Ryuji and Makoto don't think highly of themselves, Ryuji thinks that he's a burden to his mother and Makoto to her sister. And so they always throw their lives away/put themsleves in great danger, Makoto when she goes with those strangers in a car to meet Kaneshiro and Ryuji when he stops a taxi by jumping on the road, or the time at Shido's palace when he saves everyone (the scene after that when he gets beat up is still super yikes like wtf do you think you're doing atlus??)

One thing that I always liked about her (that many don't) is that the palace in which she awakens doesn't have "much to do with her" compared to the others. But that's why it's great. Many say it would've been better if the palace was the headmaster's palace instead of "that random mafia guy" however I disagree. The build up to this moment always seems so obvious to me that it surprises me that a lot of people don't see the connection.

The whole build up before her awakening is all the people around her treating her like garbage and using her because she's the goody-two-shoes student council president who apparently only cares about a letter of recommendation and only does all those good things to get praise while we're proven wrong again and again. Does she want a letter of recommendation? Of course. It would be easier to get into a good college and help her sister financially since apparently if you have a letter of recommendation some colleges in Japan will take you for free (if I'm not wrong, I might be saying bullcrap so don't quote me on that). But is she mainly doing this for the letter? No. She does it because it's the right thing to do. She could've easily let those students in debt and tell the headmaster who the phantom thieves are but instead she prioritizes the students of her school.

And that's where all of this comes in: Kaneshiro DOES actually have something to do with Makoto because he attacked the students of HER school. If you get involved with the students of Shujin then you also get involved with Makoto.

But anyway, this turned out so long and I'm not even DONE.

Also how Ryuji and Makoto have similar taste. They're both sports-y, (Ryuji probably finds martial arts awesome I mean come on) and Makoto likes mafia movies which makes me think she also likes "cool" things and same for Ryuji. When Makoto awakened Ryuji was immediately on board calling Makoto an ass whooper, a post-apocalyptic raider and whatnot.

Both of them also get suppressed by their surroundings but for different reasons, Ryuji by the teachers and track team members because he's a ""delinquent"" and Makoto by the students and headmaster because she's the student council president.

Those two just understand eachother I'm telling you. Now just imagine them hanging out with eachother and helping eachother.

Makoto teaching Ryuji fancy Aikido moves he can pull out anytime just in case some crazy teacher has the bad idea to break his legs again so he can defend himself. Ryuji teaching her how to "talk casually" and more like people of her age so she can make friends, and also how to use emojis and play video games. Imagine Makoto saying "for real?!" and sending weird emojis to Ryuji then she has to explain what it means the next day. Like

"Hey uh, Makoto... Is Morgana okay?

-Of course, what do you mean?

-I mean, yesterday at 9pm you sent me this: "Morgana is gonna be delighted *knife emoji* *knife emoji* *cat emoji* *cat emoji* (🔪🔪🐱🐱)" what does that even mean?

-I was cooking something for Morgana since we couldn't bring him sushi yesterday. Is something wrong about that?

- Oh thank God... I thought you were about to kill him.

-What?! That's ridiculous. I would never!"

Ryuji also lends her some shonen and seinen manga because he knows she'll definitely like those (especially the mafia ones). Though they keep that a secret from the others because Makoto doesn't want them to know. But this one time they come into her room and Akira/Ren is like "hmm... I've seen the same mangas in Ryuji's room." So they just nervously laugh it off.

Just IMAGINE the studying scene actually helping Ryuji.

It starts off with Ryuji not even being serious about it and half assing it because he thinks "it's useless I'll never be able to get something better than a low passing grade" because his whole life he's been told that he's stupid and even when he put effort and time into it he wasn't able to get much better.

So then Makoto asks him what kind of method he uses to study and Ryuji's just like?? "What do you mean method? Isn't studying just about reading the same thing over and over again until it gets into your head?"

And so Makoto sighs and explains that there are different ways of memorizing and that everyone has different brains thus different methods of studying. For example she says she's more "manual" so she has to write down the important parts of her lessons a couple of time so she'll remember studying as an "activity/event" of her day thus she remembers what she was writing down because it takes concentration to write something and a councious effort to make a synthesis of all the important parts of her textbooks.

So they make a test to find out what type Ryuji is, Makoto will say 20 completely different words and everytime Ryuji will use a different way to memorize them. The first time around he writes them down then turns the paper so he can't see what he wrote.

He realizes that he was more focused on properly writing down everything she says rather than actually memorizing it so it doesn't work. Then they try again but this time all he has to do is listen carefully to her voice, she says that if it helps him he can also try to make a song with those 20 words.

No good, he's not the auditive type either.

Then lastly Makoto tells him to try to picture every word she says inside of his mind, if it's a tiger he'll picture a tiger. If it's cooking he'll picture someone cooking etc.

And so it ends up working best! He's more of the visual type.

Makoto then talks about the different ways he can study thanks to that. For history he can recreate the stories inside of his mind so anytime he needs to he can play the images in his brain and even if it's not 100% accurate it's fine. Imagine the story you're creating in your mind is a manga based on past events! For math where there isn't much "visualizing" to do, Makoto says he can try to "see" the layout of the page in his mind and if he gets through it a couple of times he can even remember which formula is in which spot of the page which makes it easier to remember them.

Makoto keeps giving him tips and Ryuji listens carefully. She ends her speech by saying that he's not stupid and that disliking studying is normal, having bad grades doesn't make an individual dumb. After seeing that Makoto is serious Ryuji also gets in the "study mood". He's happy because for once he's not being made fun of for really trying his best to get good grades. He feels comfortable with Makoto because she's not looking down on him for having troubles with studying and doesn't mock his efforts.

Thus he ends up having good grades (not Makoto level good but like... B+s and occasional As which seems like a dream for Ryuji.)

Everyone is baffled.

The phantom thieves, the teachers, the students.

It ends up looking really suspicious that he has good grades to the point where people think that he somehow managed to cheat or something. But it's fine, Ryuji doesn't care about what they think and he's super happy at the thought of his mom praising him. The whole time though Makoto is like "I knew it, Ryuji can achieve anything when he really tries." From this point onwards they always study together.

After a while Makoto invites him over since her sister is never home anyways and same for Ryuji. Also the daily lessons they have at school make their way into their conversations thus they pay more attention in class so they can talk about it afterward in their study sessions.

Since Makoto is a third year Ryuji asks her about the things he didn't understand and this helps Makoto to re-check her basics from past years since she tends to forget them and Ryuji also gets interested in third year material then starts getting ahead of his classmates.

This one time he was asked to solve a calculus equation/problem but he wasn't paying attention and he's like... wait... didn't I see this type of thing in Makoto's textbooks? He accidently uses the 3rd year formula instead having no idea that they didn't learn it yet and the teacher is like... "That's... correct? Isn't this third year material though?" And oblivious Ryuji thinks to himself "ah shit, am I gonna get scolded for not paying attention?"

But it's all fine, the teacher was just surprised that Ryuji knew how to use that method and everyone starts thinking that Ryuji is actually secretly super smart and all this time he was failing his tests on purpose to piss the teachers off. From that point onwards he doesn't seem as scary to the others anymore and he gets teased by his classmates sometimes, even the teachers. "So Sakamoto-kun is actually smart huh? Who would've thought."

After a while people start approaching him to ask for help with their homework and with his cheery personality he always explains everything in a super easy way to understand, many start coming to him. Even students from other classrooms then suddenly the "delinquent Sakamoto-kun" isn't scary at all anymore. Poor boy gets teased everyday, especially when they see him talking to Makoto.

"Hey dude! The blond hair doesn't suit you anymore, dye it back to black Sakamoto!!"

"So the student council president is your girlfriend? Makes sense, people who are alike get along right?"

"Aww and here I thought that I had a chance with you... Well, if you're just friends then maybe we could meet this weekend? Just the two of us."

Even Makoto finds teasing him entertaining. She does the typical *wink wink nudge nudge* whenever a girl says she's interested in him. Little does she know that he has someone in his mind already...

[phantom-thieves-official]

As a follow up question to the post-game Ren flees his hometown in the middle of the week in tears, how do you think each thief would react if they were the one to get a tearful call from their leader at 10 : 06 in the evening?

Ryuji: was awake anyway. His friendship with Ren seems like it wouldn't be unusual for one of them to call the other at any given time, even late at night (in game Ryuji himself calls Ren late at night more than once) so he's probably not thinking much of it. As soon as he hears how upset Ren sounds his attitude changes drastically. He doesn't even need an explanation - he knows what station Ren will be getting off at and he wastes no time going to wait for him at the station. He'll let Ren explain everything else in person, hopefully after calming down a little.

Ann: Was asleep probably. Her work as a model requires a pretty specific schedule and she's got an early shoot tomorrow. It's probably weirder for her to get calls at weird hours from anyone bc most people know her schedule is kinda strict. She considers ignoring the call but when she sees who it's from she picks up right away. She's worried right away, and she lets Ren explain what happened and talk to her until he calms down. And despite having to be up early she meets him when he gets off the train. He probably feels a little bad that he's keeping her up but she doesn't care.

Yusuke: probably was already awake working on a painting. Honestly although I would imagine it is weird for him to get random late night calls from Ren, he doesn't worry about it. In fact it takes him a moment to even pick up on how upset Ren is, and when Ren says he's leaving his hometown and coming to Tokyo Yusuke's first question is 'why' followed by 'this seems like an odd hour to come visit'. Of course he realizes soon after what's going on, and he may not be the best at comforting someone and can't do much to calm his friend over the phone, he has a calm presence so when they meet at the station - Yusuke's hands covered in paint because he didn't even take the time to clean himself up - even just being around him helps Ren relax a lot.

Makoto: is awake, working on homework for her university classes (but wishes she was asleep). Honestly I think she'd be a little annoyed at first: who's calling her this late and interrupting her focus? Of course when she sees it's Ren the annoyance vanishes - and she's definitely concerned bc he never calls her this late. She listens patiently while he tells her what's going on. She's not really the best at dealing with emotional situations and doesn't know what to say to help Ren calm down, but she does her best to be a good listened and give him a chance to vent as much as he needs to. It helps - just lending her ear lets Ren get everything off his chest. When she meets him at the station she resists the desire to ask why he didn't plan this out better - surely he acted in a moment of high emotional stress and hadn't actually planned on leaving. She understands that. Maybe after the whole situation is settled a little she can talk to him about being responsible and not making spur of the moment decisions like this. But he's still a little upset and right now he just needs support, so she doesn't mention any of that.

Futaba: is definitely awake, playing games or something. When she hears how upset Ren is she probably panics a bit. She's so used to it being her who calls him when she's upset, and it's a little unnerving to hear him so upset because he usually seems so unflappable. She doesn't know what to say to make him feel better, and (assuming we're talking like. Young adult. 20 or under) she still gets nervous sometimes in public, so going by herself to the station so late at night definitely makes her nervous. But she takes a deep breath and does it bc she wants to be there for Ren.

Haru: Is asleep, but considering her position in Okumura Food's, she's probably used to getting calls and such at weird hours. In fact, she assumes it's a call from someone in the company at first. She's a little confused when she sees it's Ren, but not immediately worried. However, as soon as she hears his voice she knows something is wrong. Of everyone, she seems like the most emotionally intelligent and she's good at comforting and calming people - and once Ren has calmed down a bit she asks him to explain what happened. She'd probably stay on the phone with him until he met her at the station, just to ensure he stayed calm and didn't get worked up again when they hang up the call.

[it-will-not-last-the-night]

Meat or Vegetables?

Ryuji is drawn into a deadly serious conversation concerning the relative health benefits of meat or vegetable-based diets with Chie and Haru. He may well die. (PQ2)

“Meat is the root of all meals! Meat will never lead you astray,” the rather objectively false statement was made like a declaration of allegiance to the room at large, as if the speaker felt it necessary that everyone around her knew exactly her feelings on the matter, even though none of them had inquired after it to begin with.

Granted as her friends, and the Phanthom Thieves + 1 Wild Card, had learned this was simply how Chie spoke. It just an affectation of her’s that was, at worst, quirky and at best endearing. On it’s own it wasn’t any danger or nuisance and, thus, Ryuji spent even less time considering his words than normal before he responded with a hearty;

“Damn straight, meat’s the best,” and a nodding of his head in solemn agreement. 

Honestly that should have been it and it should have been great. Here was a girl who seemed almost as meatheaded and impulsive as he was, and cute to boot! However, things were not that simple.

“Don’t forget to eat your vegetables too, they’re important,” in contrast to Chie Haru was soft spoken, her words directed politely at the person she addressed and not the surrounding room as well. It wasn’t an act Haru was, as all her friends could tell you, a sweet, kind, fluffy, understanding girl, the sort who cared about her friend’s health-

“Pssh! Yuck, no thanks, you can keep that garbage for yourself, I only eat meat and I’ve never been sick a day in my life!” At least Haru was mostly all those things. 

“Excuse me?” Chie either was simply brave enough to face that killing intent masked by a harmless smile or, more likely, similarly to Ryuji and Yusuke she simply lacked the social nuance to realize what was going on.

“What? Didn’t you hear? Vegetables can’t compare to meat, everyone knows that. I mean I guess if you just wanna be a dainty ballerina-type vegetables are good enough but if you want serious muscle you need meat!” Ann, Makoto, Futaba and Yusuke took a step back as one.

“That is...that is...that is...” Haru struggled to find a word to adequately express her distaste at the, once again objectively false, assertion; “..preposterous!”

It was when he heard Haru use a word like preposterous that Ryuji realized what his friends had already responded too, that he had to get out before he was caught in the crossfire. Alas, for him, having hesitated to long to step back, and having earlier signaled his participation, if it can be called that, in Chie’s inane point, he was fair game.

“Preposterous? No it isn’t, Skullhead here agrees with me, right? Meat rules,” it took Ryuji a few seconds to realize that ‘Skullhead’ had been a reference to him.

“It’s just Skull, and I do-” he caught Haru out the corner of his eyes, poofy pink sweater, poofy brown hair, soft, big eyes, like every part of her was designed to tug his heartstrings till they snapped.

“-don’t...don’t agree...agree with...uh...uh...” let’s take a quick look at Ryuji’s poorly developed conflict resolution skills. Whenever Ryuji finds himself in a situation where he has inadverdantly talked himself into a corner, a common occurence for him, he has only a few set responses; 1) Pass the buck to Ren. Invariably this has always been the most successful method of resolving a dilemna for him, he’d just turn to his best friend and Ren would often end up simply spinning a tangent until everyone forgot what had been the original point of the conversation. Unfortunately a cursory glance revealed that Ren was still helping the silver-haired Wildcard try to free their female counterpart from Theodore’s Popcorn machine which she, somehow, seemed to have become trapped inside of.

Well then, what was option 2? Option 2 was get mad...but it was hamstrung by the fact that he couldn’t do it to girls, old ladies, women, small kids or anyone else his very antiquated and maschismo-orientated sense of ‘fairness’ considered deserving his respect. 

What did that leave him with? Well, the only options left was to run, which was infeasible since he couldn’t escape the theatre, or...

“I don’t eat...”

Lie.

“You...don’t eat?” Chie said it slowly, as if understanding a foreign language.

“I don’t eat meat-” Haru’s face brightened as Chie’s expression soured for a moment;

“-or vegetables! I don’t...eat meat...or...vegetables...” 

he heard Ann’s palm hit her face with a loud smack.

“You don’t eat meat...” Haru’s eyebrows quirked in disbelief, as Chie finished off for her; “...or vegetables?”

This, of course, was the problem with lying. If you’re going to do it you need to, at least, be good at it. Ryuji was not good at lying.

“Ryuji we’ve literally gotten Ramen and Beef Bowls together, I’ve seen you eat meat and vegetables,” Haru was pouting now which made Ryuji begin to enter into a meltdown. It was incredible ow the sight of her puffed out cheeks and hands akimbo on her hips could make him break out in a sweat whilst, almost as bad, Chie was looking at him like he was a weirdo.

“I meant...I meant...I meant...” his eyes looked for a clue in the theatre around them, a if hoping for a miracle...

...unfortunately Ren had, in trying to extricate his fellow Wildcard, seemingly trapped himself in the popcorn machine as well now. Thus no miracle was forthcoming and Ryuji was forced to, once again, depend on his own initiative.

“I meant I haven’t eaten...any meat or vegetables since...I got...here...” it was at least more believable than his first assertion, in his defence! 

Ann’s face hit her palm again somewhere behind them and he could swear he heard Makoto groan.

“Wait have you...have you only been eating popcorn since we got here?” Haru’s brow furrowed, a quizzical look coming over her face.

“Yeah I mean...all the concession stand sells is popcorn and sweets so...” Chie too suddenly seemed to be in deep consternation about something.

Had he somehow, unbelievably, actually gotten himself off the hook for once?

“This is...” Chie looked up at Haru, the expressions of the two very different girls somehow mirroring each other’s i that moment.

“Very serious, we need to do something about it!” Some silent agreement passed between them and they nodded, some decision Ryuji was not privy to now made. 

“Alright the Ryuji, let’s get going,”

“C’mon Skullhead,”

The two girls approached him and Ryuji could do little but blink in confusion, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

“Go...where? Uh...did I miss something?”

“Wow! Is he always this slow?” Chie cocked a thumb at Ryuji and smirked while Haru giggled and, though he was glad the two seemed to have miraculously overcome their dispute, he couldn’t help but bristle at the remark;

“Hey-”

“Come now Ryuji, you said it yourself, we’ve had nothing but popcorn and junkfood since we got here,” Haru cut him off, placating voice demanding his attention. “I spotted some fresh vegetables back in Junessic Land-”

“-and we talked about getting that Dinosaur meat, remember?”

“So we’ll head out and collect some vegetables-”

“And meat!” Chie made sure to pipe up again, feeling it was very important the presence of meat was stressed.

“Yes, and meat, and then we can prepare some meals to determine once and for all what’s better, meat or vegetables,” that both girls had come to the same conclusion in the space of few seconds would be added to the long list of things that astonished Ryuji about girls.

“Oh well...okay then! I mean, that’s great, you two have fun with that, ha,” a nervous chuckle escaped his lips as he grinned, internally relieved that he’d managed to dodge being forced to choose between one over the other in the discussion.

“Oh, but you’re coming with of course, Ryuji,” sweat began to bead on the back of his neck as Haru’s smile grew just a little bit sly.

“Duh, we need a taste tester. I mean I don’t eat vegetables and I can’t trust her to give meat a fair shot. A red-blooded musclehead like you will do fine though, right?”

“Right! We’ll gather our ingredients, prepare our meals, then Ryuji can decide which is better, since it seems he’s unable to remember thanks to only having had junkfood to eat for so long...that is, unless of course, you’ve suddenly remembered which you prefer?”

The sensible thing to do, now, as Haru very clearly dangled an escape for him, would be to just come clean and say how he really felt; that though he did love meat vegetables were important too and their health benefits couldn’t be underestimated. That would have been the sensible thing to do.

“N-no...t-taste testing sounds...g-great!” So of course Ryuji did the opposite, nervously stammering as he found himself suddenly flanked by Chie to one side, Haru to the other. If there was one silver lining to the predicament at least he’d get to spend some time with both of them.

“Then we better get started! I know my good friend Ryuji won’t let me down,”

“And I know that real jock can resist the lure of meat!”

Ryuji simply knew that, before the day was through, he’d probably be very, very sorry.

The three departed and Ann could only watch, shaking her head. There was another thud and everyone turned to see that Yu, last of the Wildcards, had now joined his friends within the popcorn machine. 

[thermopylod]

Yutaba + 46

Futaba x Yusuke, “I’m in love…shit.”(~1900 words)

Futaba and Akira were 3 hours and 2 plates into their afternoon of retro gaming and curry-eating, and Futaba had been trouncing him well and good at Power Intuition and Punch Ouch. That must have been why he suddenly decided to use dirty distraction techniques to try to win a match.

“So, when are you going to ask Yusuke out?”

Yutaba jumped so high she knocked over the chair she was sitting on and fell down, prompting Akira to rush over to make sure she was ok. She shoved his well-meaning hands off, blushing a deep scarlet.

“Why would I do that?!”

Wasn’t Akira supposed to be super perceptive? He must be off his game if he thought Futaba had any interest in Yusuke. Which part of him was supposed to be attractive to her? The beanpole physique? The propensity for drinking paint water? The continuous flow of supremely boring art discussions? The horrible dietary habits? (Not that Futaba had much room to talk, but at least she ate, which was more than some people could say.) She stood up, brushing herself off, and glared at Akira. If he wanted to play matchmaker, he could go do that with Ann, or Haru, or hell, even Makoto would be a better target for his unnecessary meddling than Futaba.

“Because you’re into him?” he asked like it was some sort of obvious fact while he picked the chair up, proving that for all his interpersonal skills he really could be quite dense.

“No I’m not,” Futaba replied as she dropped onto the couch, assuming the conversation would end there. She’d had quite enough of fighting games for now; maybe it was time for round three of the curry…

“Coulda fooled me.”

Her head snapped up. So he wasn’t going to drop it. She sighed; Akira could be so persistent when he thought he was right, and she really had better things to do with her evening than explain to him why Yusuke wasn’t remotely attractive to her. Things like… cut her toenails. Or trim her split ends. Or maybe even color-code her closet. Anything had to be better.

She could feel her face still flooded with heat; she hated that that was her automatic reaction to awkward situations, and now Akira was going to read it as a sign or something, and had he gotten into Ryuji’s weird romantic manga stash again?

“I mean, you two hang out together all the time,” he continued.

Well, of course they did; Yusuke spent a large amount of his free time at Leblanc’s, and so did Futaba. He said it was for the atmosphere which “inspired the creative mind,” but she was pretty sure it was mostly because Sojiro always ended up feeding him when his stomach growled too loudly.

As for Futaba, since she didn’t go to school, it was either the cafe or her empty house, and since her change of heart she found that she appreciated being around other people sometimes. Not all the time, of course — she was still an introvert, nothing would change that, and closing the door onto her silent, quiet, empty bedroom was as relaxing as a hot bath after an excessively long day in the Metaverse. But sometimes, it was nice, having a few living, breathing people around to reminder her she wasn’t alone anymore.

And of course she often ended up talking with Yusuke; he was usually the only person under thirty in the cafe, and even his endless explanations of art movements couldn’t be as bad as discussing politics with the close-minded old regulars. If she got him on the right subject he could even be rather entertaining. He had a way of making scathing, offhand remarks without even appearing to realise it; sometimes it was like reading an oblivious snark blog and it took all she had not to laugh out loud, which inevitably broke the spell as he asked, completely confused, what was funny about the fiscally irresponsible choices of his classmate.

So clearly that didn’t mean anything. She opened her mouth to tell Akira as much, but he spoke first.

“Didn’t you even take him out to dinner the other day?”

She frowned. Take him out to… oh, right. She’d noticed he looked even paler than usual, with greenish undertones to his skin that he usually didn’t have unless he’d accidentally gotten paint on his face — not that she was paying any specific attention to his usually porcelain tone or perfectly blemish-free appearance. When she’d asked whether he was sick he’d told her to “please, not worry on his behalf,” which was the best way to make anyone worry.

(Futaba had read about reverse psychology, and decided that she was immune to that sort of mind manipulation trick. Therefore, the fact that she often felt the need to do the opposite of what she was told was simply her asserting her right to make her own decisions, and had nothing to do with any sort of psychology, reverse or otherwise.)

“When was the last time you ate something else than curry?” she’d asked him.

“Hmm… oh, yes, I had some bean sprouts on Monday. They were quite refreshing.”

“That… that was three days ago, Inari.”

“Well, I do have to wait for them to grow back. If I eat them too quickly, then there will be none left.”

Futaba had stared at him. It was a miracle he didn’t have scurvy at this point, really, and even if he was obnoxious and exasperating he was also a key member of the team. His ice skills were unmatched, so it would be a problem if he ended up in the hospital or on bed rest because he got less vitamins than a pirate from the 1700s. Figuring she could do something helpful for the team for once, she’d dragged him out to the closest restaurant that served salads and forced him to eat at least 3 different veggies, and also made him get a smoothie at the station on the way home too. He’d been excessively grateful, thanking her over and over, but he always acted like that around food. It hadn’t been a date or anything, just a smart tactical decision for the team.

“Then there’s the way you always hold his hand when we’re outside.”

Futaba blushed. That one was weird, she had to give Akira that. She’d just about fainted from embarrassment the first time Yusuke’d grabbed her wrist to drag her along in a crowd, but it had been a very efficient way to get through it quickly without getting lost — he had such long legs, she often had trouble keeping up. From then on, she’d started grabbing his hand anytime they were in a crowded area, and maybe when they weren’t too. It wasn’t some sort of romantic thing; she just felt safer that way. His warm hand in hers reminded her that she wasn’t alone, like a physical memento of the whole team’s support, and made it easier to deal with the slew of fears she still had. And if she’d started interlacing their fingers, that was only because their grip felt more secure that way. It had nothing to do with how soft his fingertips were against the back of her hand.

“And when we’re in the Metaverse, you always cast your support spells on him first.”

Now Futaba was getting annoyed. Had Akira been studying her or something? This was starting to sound like an interrogation, and he wasn’t letting her get a word in edgewise. He was wrong, and that was that. Did she boost or heal Yusuke first? Well, he was taller, so he probably just attracted her skill to him automatically; after all, she was casting them from above, so that would make sense. Or maybe he was the most injured, which meant he needed her help the most, and was she supposed to ignore that just because Akira would get weird notions if she didn’t? Clearly it wasn’t like she was doing it on purpose.

“But the main reason I asked, is that lately you’ve only made time to hang out with me when he’s not available.”

“How do you know when he’s available?”

“I am the leader, of this team, you know. I have all your calendars memorized so I can choose the best days to take us into the Metaverse,” he replied, ruffling her hair. “For example, I know Fridays are bad because that’s when your favorite anime airs and you’ll be distracted the whole time over missing it.���

“I am not — anyway, that’s not true, I don’t pick him over you!”

“Really? So you could have seen Yusuke tonight, but you came here?”

“Well, no, he’s at an art show, but that’s not the point! Anyway, I know you’re only here because Ryuji’s busy with his mom today, so you’re one to talk!” She stuck her tongue out at him, proud of her retort.

“Ah, but I have no issue admitting I love Ryuji,” he replied with a smug smile.

Futaba froze, and all her thoughts from the last fifteen minutes suddenly caught up with her. She spent all her time with him. She found him entertaining to listen to even though he was, objectively, really boring. She was familiar enough with his appearance to notice a slight change and worried about his health to the point of buying him dinner. She liked to hold his hand, felt safe in public when he was around, unconsciously prioritized him for support spells if Akira was to be believed, and would always choose hanging out with him over anyone else.

She slid limply off the couch into a pile on the ground, hiding her head against her knees.

“I’m in love… Shit!”

She heard Akira come to sit down next to her, and lifted her head to look at him when he laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Why him? Why me? Why? I never asked for this!”

Akira shrugged. “If you find out, let me know. I still can’t understand why I fell for my dorky best friend with the terrible fashion sense instead of one of the many gorgeous girls who throw themselves at me daily,” he said, trademark flirty smile on his lips as he posed with a hand beneath his chin.

She swatted at him and rolled her eyes. “You absolute narcissist.”

“I can’t help that I was born beautiful,” he said with a silly, over exaggerated pout, before smirking in a dangerously playful way. “So, back to my original question. When are you going to ask him out?”

“Never, oh my god, Akira!” Not in a million damn years. There was no change of heart strong enough to give her the courage for that, and obviously Yusuke didn’t like her back, so there was no point, and —

Akira was pulling his phone out, and she jumped at him. “Don’t you dare tell him! Or anyone else!”

He pushed himself away from her with his hands up, one holding his phone with the screen towards her. “I wasn’t going to, I just got a message!”

She looked at the screen suspiciously. There did seem to be a notification from the Phantom Thieves chat dating back just a few seconds. Still…

“If you tell anyone, I’ll send your full chat history with Ryuji to the group chat,” she threatened.

His gasp, entirely genuine, made her wonder if she ought to check it, then just as quickly realise the last thing she wanted to do was check it. “You wouldn’t!”

“Try me.”

[phantom-thieves-imagines]

Jealousy- Chapter2 (Goro Akechi x reader)

Wooh here’s the part 2 thats overdue, watch me decide to make this 20 chapters long lmafo

ooh ooh warning- the events in chapter 2 and onwards are cannon to the actual game meaning Akechi is...

chapter 1 can be thought of as part of this, or as a separate fic where Akechi hasn’t done...things...

spoilers ahead

-mod goro 

Makoto took a deep breath, pulling herself fully upright as she brought the microphone to her mouth, “Well then, we will now begin today’s panel. Our guest of honor is Goro Akechi.”

A bright spotlight reigned down on the detective in center stage, who gestured  with his gloved hand, smiling. “I feel kind of bad considering how many people have gathered....I’m sure you all would’ve been happier to have a singer or mascot appear, wouldn’t you say?”

 The crowd laughed, as Makoto continued, with more confidence. “We’d appreciate it if you could tell us about your experiences with the notorious Phantom Thieves.” She copied Akechi, turning up charm to the max and lathering on her words like honey, “It’d be wonderful if you could let us hear more about your actual investigative process.”

Akechi leaned on the podium in front of him, not one to lose he put on his own sweet-tooth smile. “I’m not used to being the one interrogated...so please go easy on me.”

Once again, the crowd laughed, Akechi had a way with people you knew that for sure.

“...How much do you think he knows.” Ann whispered to your group, up in the rafters. Below sitting in the crowd you could see the floofy hair of Haru and the blazing head of orange hair that was Futaba, sitting in her same frog-crouched position. The two had managed to grab two seats in the packed auditorium- Goro Akechi had literally sold out the gym. Ann had managed to snag a key to the rafters from a male who worked for the drama club, the 5 of you creeping quietly as to not attract any attention- it was highly likely the rafters were off-limits, that didn’t stop you all from positioning yourself with a good view of the stage. she nearly throttled Ryuji when he tripped on the stairs, causing the smack of metal against skin to vibrate throughout the hall. Luckily, with how loud the gym was at the time and how focused everyone was looking on stage, waiting for Akechi to show, you all managed to sneak up without being spotted. 

“Either he has an idea who the true culprit is, or...he has uncovered the identities of the Phantom Thieves.” Yusuke mumbled, 

Ryuji leaned on the railing, beside Ann. Apparently they didn’t care about being seen anymore. “C’mon Makoto....! You gotta get it outta him....!”

Yes, Makoto was under a lot of pressure. She was tasked with prying information about the phantom thieves out of Akechi, despite that fact that you were a friend of Akechi, you wouldn’t want to go head to head with him in a situation like this- this was his stage. 

“As much as you’re allowed to say, would you tell us how far along your investigation is on them?” Makoto continued.

“Getting right to the point, I see.” Akechi commented. 

You made a slight ‘tsk’ sound. Akechi was cocky, and pointed out every single thing Makoto did and why, just in a different, roundabout way.

You had a bad feeling, thing’s weren’t going to end well.

“Well, if it’s as much as I’m allowed to say, then everything on TV and the internet is all of it. We don’t have any leads yet, and the methods behind their crimes are still unclear.”

“I see...Even with this country’s power, arresting them is proving to be difficult....is that the case?” Makoto asked.

Akechi turned it over in his mind. “I wouldn’t phrase it that way...but well, something like that.”

“Something like that my ass.” you growled. The police had nothing, you knew that for a fact. If, and only if, they had something- it would have to be from Akechi. 

For that one, one reason, because of his one comment.

“Thank you for answering that question.” Makoto hummed, voice sweet like a child’s. Alright, at the very least you all know that the police can’t arrest the thieves at the moment, without fabricating piles of evidence and having fake witnesses. “...By the way, it seems you’ve denied a correlation between the Phantom Thieves and the murders...Why the sudden change? Until now, haven’t you upheld your stance that the Phantom thieves are dangerous? How are you so positive that they haven’t committed murder?”

Akechi breaks into his TV- oriented smile. “Aren’t you a little too comfortable interrogating people? Why, it’s as if you’re a prosecutor.” An attempt to derail the conversation and also stabbing at the fact that she’s acting like her obviously corrupted-sister. A disguised low blow.

The crowd laughed, god they must be tired of it by now. 

Makoto flushed slightly, embarrassed and a twinge of bitterness making her brow crease in the slightest as she closed her eyes. “Ah, excuse me. This is something I’ve personally been interested in so I couldn’t help it...” She opened her eyes, focusing on Goro. “But won’t you tell us...?”

‘Atta girl Makoto, keep up the heat.

“What reason is there that you’d claim their innocence when you previously stated they were unjust?”

Akechi turned to the audience for the first time since the interview started. “Every person whose heart they changed have truly been criminals, including Okumura. Why then, was he the only one who needed to be killed?”

“Why is that?” Makoto smiled, throwing the question back at him. That was the best way to do it, never put in your statement, just keep asking the same things out of the person to avoid them trying to interrogate you.

It was like watching two lions fight. Makoto and Goro both looking for the other to slip up and to gain the upper-hand.

Akechi looked forlorn, “I must admit...I couldn’t deduce a reason. That’s why I believe that case should be through of as if a different party is responsible.”

He leaned back off of the podium, the same natural look plastered on his face, “And if- This is all hypothetical, mind you, If the Phantom Thieves are the ones I know of, I can’t possible imagine they would kill anyone.”

A cry of shock rang throughout the auditorium, you felt a stone drop in your stomach. Down below you saw Futaba’s hair whip towards Akechi. Beside you, Yusuke tightened the grip on his arm, gnawing on his lip.

Makoto, startled, stuttered back into character. “Y-your comment just now...Does this mean the police have already identified who they are?”

“Dammit, fuck!” you felt like punching the wall. If this conversation continued...

Akechi frowned, but you knew he was really smiling, he realized it too, Makoto had fallen into his trap. “Oh, no. The police haven’t gotten that far yet.”

He paused, to let the audience laugh, before turning to look directly at those standing in the rafters.

“But I have my own conclusions about the true identities of the Phantom Thieves.”

Your blood ran cold. 

“He’s gotta be bluffin’!” Ryuji barked, slamming his hands on the railing.

Ann smacked his arm, “Pipe down!”

Haru and Futaba were huddled together, mumbling. Makoto had a dear-in-headlights look, her brain frantically trying to say something that could steer the conversation off course.

Akechi smiled, barely hiding pride. The lion was defeating the lioness. “You’re not going to ask me who they are...?” He asked oh-so-innocently. At this point he was just daring her to try him. ‘Do it, weren’t you so confident in getting information out of me? Where did that honey-like smile go?’

“He’s just playing her like a fiddle.” you mumbled to yourself. It was hard to believe this was the same guy who less than 24 hours ago, was talking in the courtyard with you about being friends, how he wanted to be friends, how he wasn’t used to being friends with people.

You wonder how much of it was fake, could be fake.

Ann gripped the railing so hard it made a noise.

“...it may have repercussions on the investigation. Are you sure you can share that with us?” Makoto was not even trying to hide her glare. She was frustrated. 

Akechi raised his chin, “It’s only my personal opinion, so announcing that here wouldn’t pose a problem.”

“However....” He continued. 

While looking at Makoto, his eyes momentarily drifted back again towards the rafters, he locked eyes with you for a moment and you help your breath until he looked away. 

“...There is a possibility that everyone present will hear the truth before the police or media...

“The truth...?” Ann whispered, fear lacing her words.

Makoto huffed,“That’s quite the confidence you have....if you’re so certain...then very well....”

She took a breath, steeling herself. Once she asks this, there was the high probability Goro would call her out right then and there, in front of the crowd. If that happened she needed to be ready, to act, to deal with the situation in any means necessary. 

Her last words, before, now that you look back on it, was the last moment before you would pretend that everything was okay, that you could continue attempting cracking the ice-tough detective without any fears of something sinister hiding underneath Goro Akechi’s mask.

She opened her mouth. 

“I’d like to ask you then: Who do you think the Phantom Thieves are, Akechi-san?”

Akechi-san, the lioness is wounded is trying her best to soften the blow she know will kill her.

“That, idiot!” Ryuji hissed.

“No, Ryuji,” You murmured, tugging his arm. “She had no choice, you have to know that.”

He met your eyes, you and Ryuji had been through a lot- being your first friend since you got to Shujin, besides Ann, and eventually Akira. He respected you, unlike Ann who he always bickered with, he always tried his best to please you. Taking you out to eat, friendly talks between classes- nothing there was ever implied to be more than friends, and you both were okay with that.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes with his palm, he’s just scared, and you know that, understand that.

“No...there’s no way he could have any evidence.” Yusuke mumbled in terror.

You’re not so sure you believe that now.

“They’re people you all know quite well.” Akechi started. “The identity of the Phantom Thieves are-”

Almost comically and to the relief of your group, Akechi’s phone rang.

He pulled it out, “Oh, it’s mine. I apologize for the interruption, but I can’t turn off my phone due to my job....would you mind if I step away for about...ten minutes or so...?”

“I’m terribly sorry, everyone, but we’ll be taking a break.” Makoto said, trying to keep the relief out of her voice. “We’ll resume the panel in ten minutes.”

Akechi pocketed his phone, grinning. “Please don’t troll me online for this interuption, ok?” 

For some reason, you felt the strong urge to go online and do just that.

Akechi bowed, and then walked over to Makoto. The two of them exchanged a few words. Akechi moved behind the girl, whispering something in her ear.

For some reason, you felt the hairs on your arm stand up, your teeth clench tighter.

Makoto gave Akechi a side-eye glare, biting her lip before the two disappeared behind the curtain.

“H-hey, it’s Makoto.” Ann mumbled, motioning to the IM app on her phone. You checked on your own as well,

Makoto, 2:47pm: P.E faculty office. Now. Everyone.

“Dammit!” Ryuji mumbled, rubbing his head. “It’s that damn Akechi!”

“What should we do...?” Ann murmured in a trance-like state. 

Akira, who hadn’t said anything since the panel started, finally spoke up. “I think, we should be on guard.”

Yusuke shivered, the lanky boy had probably burned all of his calories out of fear by now. 

Below you, Haru and Futaba were squeezing past people in the rows to get out of the gym. 

“We only have 10 minutes, we should hurry.” Akira said. Yusuke, Ann and Ryuji all hurried down the stairs, legs shaking. You stayed behind to wait for Akira, who was still standing, looking at the stage, the gleam from his glasses hid most of his face.

“Kurusu...?” You called out. He snapped his head towards you. “We should go.”

“Right.” He nodded, following you down the stairs, pushing the double doors and out into the blinding light of the sun.

---

Akechi slapped down three photos on the table. From the cries of Haru and Ryuji, you knew the plan of ‘trying not to look suspicious while Akechi interrogates us’ flew out the window with any other logical thoughts.

“Please, let’s not feign ignorance.” Akechi purred. Goddammit did his voice find a way into your blood, you shivered again. “All of you can go to that other world too, yes?”

Akira stepped up, as the leader, picking up his broken team in his own hands. “What do you mean, ‘us too’?”

Akechi smiled, “It’s not just all of you. I am aware of that world too...” 

Hidden behind a stack of boxes, you could see the tuffs of Morgana’s fur. He was sleeping on the grass while the panel was going on (Ryuji almost stepped on his tail while rushing out of the gym) and you all informed him of what had happened on the way to the office. 

“What? He was about to reveal the identities of the phantom thieves?” Morgana’s tiny voice cried, running to keep up with everyone power-walking.

“Yeah, now we’re in deep shit.” Ryuji cursed, trying to calm his nerves. 

“Well, what’s done is done, all we can do is try to either play dumb or work out a deal.” Akira mumbled.

Morgana’s tail twitched, left to right and back again.

“I found out about that world a month ago.” Aekchi stated, pulling his phone to show the currant-red eye of the Navigation app. “This had been installed onto my phone without my knowledge.”

You winced, Akira hummed, Morgana’s tail flicked up, once.

You sincerely, sincerely, sincerely hoped you were wrong, but even so, you can’t hide the fact that the evidence is looking right at you in the face. 

No one else, except for 3 out of the group seem to have realized it.

Ryuji rolled his arm, grabbing his shoulder, as if he was going to fight. “We’ve been listenin’ to you blab on for a while now, but cut the delusional-”

Akechi shut him down promptly, “All of you are acting as Phantom Thieves in the Metaverse. I can say so with conviction because I have the same power as you.”

Everyone was quiet and tense for a moment, no one no knowing or wanting to say anything.

“That’s right.” Akira spoke up, his hands taken out of his pockets. “And what now?”

“So, you don’t deny it then.” Akechi hummed. “To be honest, I’ve been curious about you since the time of the Madarame case.”

“We didn’t kill anyone!” Haru gave a shrill cry. Of course she’d feel the need to say that, it was her own father that was killed after all.

“I believe that, as well.” Akechi confirmed. He seemed like he was telling the truth, at least. 

Makoto cradled her hands nervously, “How can you be so sure?” 

And Akechi was willing to answer that as well.“Because I saw another- the real culprit.”

Instantly, everyone in the group recoiled. Shock and fear turned into anger, this was the person that was framing the Phantom Thieves, intentionally or not, for murder. 

Akechi hushed any outcries. “I couldn’t identify his face...he had a mask on, after all.”

“He?” You questioned, speaking Akechi for the first time since the day before. “So you know this person is a male.

Akechi winced, it was so small that it only looked as if his eye was twitching but it was there nonetheless, then collecting himself, answered. “Yes, from his figure I could assume it was male.”

He cradled his head, face scrunched as the retold his story. “Actually, when I took these photos, I entered that world too. That’s when I saw someone else moving about, besides all of you....He shot at me the moment he noticed me.”

Yusuke folded his arms, shifting his position. “That’s who killed president Okumura?”

Akechi removed his hand, nodding. “Most likely. At the very least, I was almost killed by him...’I can’t die here, I need to determine the truth.’ When those thoughts overcame me, I awakened to that power- a most fortunate accident.”

And all this happened, a month ago.

“This guy has a persona too...?” you heard Morgana mumble from his position behind the boxes.

Akechi jolted, his eyebrows raised up past the edges of his fringe. “This cat...” 

Morgana’s tail shot up in astonishment.

Goro shook his head. “I-i swear it just.....talked....!”

Ann spoke up, words flowing out of her in a rushed breath. “Morgana. Our teammate who taught us about the Metaverse.”

Akechi recoiled, before slowly returning, even closer to inspect Morgana. It slowly became more and more difficult to stop yourself from laughing- Goro always acted polished, calm and collected at all times. But when something threw him off guard he’d always try really really hard to keep his cool, though he wasn’t very good at it, to your humor. 

“Really...? This is unbelievable...” He murmured. “But it is true that you know things that I don’t...”

He cleared his throat, collecting himself to be the TV celebrity he was. “Say, Morgana. Were you also the one who instructed them on how to change people’s hearts?”

Morgana saw no need to stay in hiding he jumped up on the boxes. “We go in the Metaverse- we call them palaces- to steal the core of their desires: their treasure, those who’s treasure are stolen have a change of heart.

Word jumble that you’ve heard what is it...one two-  this is this 6th time now. You extended your arm out to Morgana, his ears flicked forward as he carefully climbed up your arm and came to a rest on your shoulder.

You scratched under Morgana’s chin, causing him to purr. You (Besides Haru, Futaba and maybe Ann if she tried) could pet Morgana like this, like he was an actual cat. Akechi’s eyes met yours for the third time that day, he looked away quickly.

 “...Ah, hahaha...” He chuckled, rubbing his face dejectedly . “There’s certainly no way anyone could figure out such an MO...”

“Anyways!”Ryuji couldn’t take how slow the conversation was moving at, his foot tapping against the tile with vigor.“Back to what you were talkin’ about! Are we in this mess ‘cause of that guy?!”

Akechi turned to Joker, your leader, speaking to the group.

You only half-focused on that , you kept running the calculations in your head, making sure what you were assuming was right. Morgana noticed, hissing(literally). 

“Hey, are you listening, what he said was important.”

“Yeah.” You mumbled back, ruffling his fur. He yelped, along with Ryuji and Ann both freaking out over blackmail and the threat with being arrested. 

Akira sighed, removing his glasses to rub the grime from the lenses. “You’re asking a lot.”

Akechi frowned in return. “I see...I don’t think it’s a bad deal though....well.” he smiled, one that seemed to spring naturally from his mouth. “Considering this is you we're talking about. I believe you’ll come to a favorable reply.

The smile was short lived, it was quickly replaced with 100% pure synthetic Akechi smile in a short second. “I’m glad we could talk. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to spend such a meaningful time like this.”

His words were meant to be ones of praise, but to you they just felt like slaps to the face. As if he was implying his time with you had been-

Meaningless.

‘This line of thought meaningless’ you thought.

“We should be getting back.” Akechi pointed out, observing his phone. He spoke to Makoto, brows furrowing in regret. “About that...I’m sorry, would it be acceptable if we ended the panel here...?”

Then he broke into a smile fitting for a cat like Morgana. “The reason why you called for me in the first place was because you wanted Intel,correct?”  He seemed passive-aggressive towards Makoto and from the look he gave him back, you assumed this would be another ongoing thing, like Ryuji and Morgana, great. 

Another tally for Akechi, he’s winning against the Phantom Thieves 1000-1.

“Ill deal with it somehow.” She finally said, seeming relieved to just be done with the situation. She held her hands, when you looked down you noticed- they were shaking.

Makoto Nijima was just as scared as everyone else.

Akechi walked past the group,not bothering to formally conclude things, or maybe he just didn’t know how to. 

He stopped to whisper in your ear on the way out, “I look forward to your answer.”

Morgana’s fur bristled, you locked eyes with Akechi, hoping to get some reason or clue from his eyes, anything that might change your mind-

Nothing, absolutely wiped and blank. 

He left the room.

Ryuji stomped his foot in rage. “Dammit! He had complete control over us!” the fear that seeped into his voice was evident. You tried to reach out for him, to help him but he stormed out of the room, slamming the door before you could get the chance. You made a mental note to go run with him to help burn off his adrenaline later.

No one had the strength to say anything else, with heavy hearts, everyone slowly filed out of the office. 

You, Akira and Morgana remained in the room.

“Hey, they’re going...” Morgana hoped down from your shoulder, voice somber. The cat sighed, shaking his head.

Akira looked at you, you both knew what each-other was thinking. It was pity. Pity because your so called friend, the one you tried to be friends with, the one Akira knew you had feelings for was-

Morgana’s tail swished, sadly. 

“You realized it too, then.” 

[goodestboyryuji]

Phantom thieves and hogwarts houses GO

YOU JUST MADE MY DAY. HERE WE GO FAM (I’m not finished with the game so since I don’t know much about Haru we’re just gonna go through Futaba)

Starting with my best boy Ryuji Sakamoto IS A HUFFLEPUFF AND THERE IS NO ARGUMENT AGAINST IT. I will accept that Ryuji has Gryffindor qualities (bravery, not afraid of confrontation, risk-taker, etc) but that boy is NOTHING if not LOYAL. Ryuji is sunlight incarnate I will accept no other metaphor. He cares about literally everyone before he cares about himself. He literally offers to be beat up if it would make his old team feel better (pls). He is relationship-driven and his risk-taking behaviors, his confrontations, his passion for justice all come from helping out someone else. Definitely the kinda dude that would consider the house elves in a dire situation. He’s so aggressively selfless that it’s almost like “pls care about yourself first just once.” Ryuji time and time again puts other people before his personal needs and safety without a single second of hesitation. He just DOES it. And he’ll do it fifty times if you need him to. If you call him at 3am crying he’s showing up in your room, sneaking you into the Hufflepuff common room for snacks.  If you don’t have a pencil in class, he’s giving you his without mentioning it’s his only one (s’not like he was gonna do nothin’ with it anyway). You about to head into a fight he’s got no stake in? Doesn’t matter, he’s got your back. He once punched a student for making snide comments about another student’s sexuality and he has no ragrets about it. A blushin’ fool whenever someone is tender towards him cause he’s so busy being that/doing that to everyone else he doesn’t think about being on the receiving end. He’s just happy to make someone else smile, ya know? HE IS KIND. HE IS TRUE. HE IS A HUFFLEPUFF.

Akira Kurusu is 3000% a Slytherin. Dark, mysterious, smug ass mofo. A leader of his in-group (teenagers being the in-group, adults being the out-group) and thus inclusive in the sense that anyone who joins the cause can be a Phantom Thief. Where a Hufflepuff (Ryuji) might do anything for anyone they care about impulsively, a Slytherin pauses for a second, calculating–instead of diving headfirst to save Ryuji in the first palace and ending up with nothing, he hesitates and that’s when Aresene is like “so u gonna let the boy die??” and akira is like “no gimme a second there’s a fucking mask on my face.” His persona is all about MAGIC and DARKNESS if that’s not obvious enough for ya. This boy is snakey sneaky, all cunning eyes and cocky smiles and deep, mocking laughs. He knows he’s powerful and he’s not afraid to show you that he knows it. What’s wrong with knowing your own strength? Let’s not forget he is a master of interrogation. The ultimate trickster, he’s not above pulling dumb pranks on you and blaming it on a Gryffindor for its lack of complexity. He a good dude, tho, because obviously Slytherins aren’t bad. He gives his plant nutrients to make it stronger bc he likes building something up to be more than it started (most ppl would just water it but aiight dude). He’ll casually walk up behind you while you’re getting bullied, sling his arm around your shoulders, and be like “something the matter?” Totally threatening without a single verbal threat. Secretly loves bubble baths, will give you a scathing look if you even try to tease him about it tho. 

Ann Takamaki, Gryffindor extraordinaire. She starts out kinda timid but she’s actually daring af. She keeps a relationship with Kamoshida who is the worst man alive just for her friend’s sake, but she also isn’t afraid to ignore Kamoshida’s calls (hesitant =/= afraid, ok). Fiery af, Ann is liable to go off on you at any time for a bunch of really good reasons (and some just ok). Ryuji, stop being a dick. Akira, enough brooding. Morgana, shut up for once. Just as spirited as Ryuji, but his light is like warmth and hers is like scorching. Like…literally, her specialty is fire these things write themselves i swear to god. Extremely passionate, especially for the things she believes in like The Phantom Thieves, Shiho (obviously), and giving people courage to stand up for themselves. She really wants to prove herself, seen esp in her social link, and be strong for herself and others. She’s headstrong, kind to the little guy, scathing to the big guy. She’s incredibly competitive and gets into eating contests all the time in the Gryf common room (she also wins every time, especially if the food of choice is crepes). She knows she is beautiful, and is thus confident, but avoids being vain by reminding herself how each person she comes across is also beautiful (”pretty eyes, biggest heart”). Feeling insecure? Call Ann, she’ll hype you up in under ten seconds. Spend an hour with her in a crowded room and you’ll swear it was just you two the whole time. Ann is giving, courageous, and ready to fly off the handle if need be. 

Yusuke Kitagawa, my darling painter boy, is a Ravenclaw. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back!!!!! Yusuke is a Ravenclaw through and through. He wants to know more, wants to expand his understanding. He’s not afraid of doing whatever it takes to achieve these things: he’ll spend hours watching the river, waiting for something to come to him, or he’ll awkwardly approach a couple in love and ask them what their love life is like (he needs to know for a painting ok it’s not a sexual thing). He is elegant and fluid and his definition of “the finer things in life” EDIT i’m dying i accidentally wrote “finger things in life” the first time depends on how much he knows about it and how much value he sees in it (for example, a cup of coffee brewed by Akira is one of the most delicious things he’s ever known, much finer than any rich person food, purely for the effort it takes to think of the beans, to make sure the water is the right temperature, etc). Gets lost in his head all the time. Has an understated air of haughty in certain situations, like he’s fully aware he’s better than u but only mentions it to remind you when it seems you’ve forgotten. Uses way too many words to describe a sneeze just because he can.  Yusuke doesn’t give a shit who you are: if you came out to him, he’d nod solemnly and then ask if he could interpret your emotions into an abstract painting (that he would then gift to you, of course). He’d ask you on museum dates, historical bus tour dates (why yusuke why), planetarium dates *cough*, even if things between you two were totally platonic. He just likes discovering, especially with someone he can bounce ideas off of. 

Makoto Nijima is, brace yourself, a Gryffindor. WHAT. yes. trust. Dis girl is POWERFUL. And you can be Ravenclaw and powerful too, no doubts about it, but just because she’s top of her class doesn’t mean she’s Ravenclaw. She studies cause she’s competitive. She’s student council president because she likes the status, the power associated with it (power to protect, to serve, not corrupt power). Makoto is also fiery like Ann, but in a different way. She doesn’t fly off the handle like Ann can; Makoto calculates first, strategizes, and then fuckin’ GOES FOR THE KILL. She’s a headshot kinda girl–take em out simply, easily, quickly (metaphorically speaking obvs she doesn’t go around killing ppl). Queen is a very apt codename because Makoto’s path is a fiery blaze of ambition and strength. She’s gonna get what she wants because she’s been working very hard for it and don’t u take that away from her u piece of shit. She’s not terribly confident though, and this sometimes makes her feel uncomfortable in the Gryf common room when everyone is talking about their achievements. She’d rather just show than tell. Not really a master of stealth (lol), Makoto is your big sister in the hallways always looking out for you. If someone breaks your heart she will literally punch them in the face (and apologize profusely afterwards, but you know she’s secretly p pleased with herself). She likes learning new things about the world, always turns it into a competition with you even if it pushes her boundaries (you two went to a strip club once and even though you put a dollar on the stage, she one-upped you by putting it in a thong, face blushing so hard but determined to overcome). Her drive and determination are her biggest, most redeemable, wonderful qualities. The rest is just the happy byproduct. 

Snarky is as Slytherin does for Futaba Sakura. This girl is a nightmare in all the best ways. Somehow she figures out your weakness just by looking at you and has the ability to absolutely destroy you in just a few words. What she doesn’t show is the literal hours of research she did on you beforehand: she bugged your robe, your wand, set up a camera in your common room…a girl’s gotta have intel, alright? Futaba is an actual mastermind of everything, but the Hat settled on Slytherin because of how Futaba intended to utilize such knowledge. She doesn’t love it for the sake of knowing it, she loves it for what power it gives her. Futuba loves the upper hand and having full view of the whole picture, so Slytherin’s innate ability to lead a situation and turn tables was a huge calling point for her. If Akira is the dark mysterious Slytherin, Futaba is the loud and out of control Slytherin who nobody messes with because she’s got dirt on everyone and the means to release it widely. She prefers to stay in her room than gather with her house or other classmates, often completing assignments from there, but no one minds because it’s not like she’s really gone. She conjures up stand ins for her and speaks through them, engaging without really engaging. Watch out for when Akira and Futaba team up tho–they’re the Slytherin version of Fred and George, conniving and ruthless when it comes to playing tricks on you. Like Akira, she’s still a good girl: she understands anxiety better than anyone and is well known for comforting students who fall into a panic attack. She struggles with social situations sometimes and no one makes mention of it, this time not because they’re afraid of her but because they care about her and they know she’d never cross a line with them, so why cross one with her? She just likes to wield information like a weapon. That’s all. >:)

I forgot Morgana lmao so you can find that here

[krissucanwrite]

Persona 5 is  a beautiful game with a lot of flaws.

This review of Persona 5 might contain spoilers for the game.

Have you ever been excited for the release of a game? What if that game was the next in a series that contained your favourite game of all time? What if that game got released in Japan almost a year before you had your hands on it? Would your excitement for it die? Or would that just make you more excited?

This was Persona 5 for me.

Persona 4 Golden is my favourite game of all time. To me, it’s perfect in every way. The characters are lovable, the story is fantastic, the music is stellar, and the setting was quaint. It felt like I was returning to a familiar town that I’d been to before. The characters became best friends that I looked forward to seeing each day. There was a true sense of excitement every time a new day rolled over. “Who should I social link with today? What adventures are we going to have? Where will we end up?”

Needless to say, Persona 5 had some big shoes to fill.

First, I’ll talk about everything I love about the game. The visuals are STUNNING. Because they’re so stylised, I’m willing to be they’ll hold up really well in the future. The contrast of reds and blacks and the way colour is used is brilliant. All the in game models, save for one, look flawless. The only model I have an issue with is Ryuji’s, and it’s simply because his eyes look too far apart. One out of dozens is not bad though, and overall, this game has the strongest visuals of any game I’ve ever played.

The soundtrack is pretty solid. Most of the music fits the situations you’re in. My favourite track is the one that plays during exams. Such intense music is really fitting since, even in the world of Persona, exams are a huge deal. I also love “The Days When My Mother Was There” and “Layer Cake.” These three tracks in particular really stood out to me. 

Speaking of Palaces, one of them was really well done. Futabas Palace. It connected with me so hard that once I was done the Palace, I cried harder than I ever have. It’s all about helping a little girl who’s trapped in her own mind. She can’t escape. She’s blaming herself for the death of her mother, and she doesn’t understand how to deal with what she’s feeling. This palace was constructed flawlessly. Every aspect of it was perfect, from the fact she saw it as a tomb to the music to the desert atmosphere. It’s probably my favourite dungeon in all of Persona.

Most of the characters are great, and even though I don’t think they’re as deep as the cast from Persona 4, they still work for the story. I think that the main cast, for the most part, is weaker than the Persona 4 crew, but the side social links were executed better. For example, I really loved Hifumi, the shogi player, and her social link. It was memorable, Hifumi had a great design, and her personality was unique. I also loved Tae, the doctor, and her social link. Even Sojiro ended up having a fantastic social link, and his interactions with the player are great.

The game plays smoothly and I really love the ambush system. The animations for each party member are slightly different and unique, and I really like them all. They took the system in Persona 4, which worked really well, and polished it. Fighting was a joy. The only issue with game play I had was the camera not behaving in certain sections of some dungeons. The issues were few and far between though, and overall the game was a delight in terms of playability.

However, as with all things, there are some problems with Persona 5, and they really stand out to me.

First, let’s talk about the other Palaces. Even though Futaba had a fantastic Palace, I still think most of the dungeons in the game were boring, bland, forgettable, or downright frustrating. The first Palace you do is long, annoying, and visually uninteresting. Madarame’s dungeon is visually boring, and quite annoying because of the security lasers. It goes on like that, and I personally think that even though they hit a great high with Futabas palace and the themes they explore, it doesn’t quite hit the same high again. 

The worst offender, however, is Shido’s palace. This place takes the form of a ship, which is not terrible. It’s slightly boring inside, but not awful. What makes the dungeon awful is the mechanic they introduce. For almost every hallway you have to go through from one area to the next, you’ll pass by statues. These statues turn the party into rats.

No, I’m not joking.

When this happens, be prepared for 20 minutes of avoiding shadows (you can’t fight as a rat), going through air vents that aren’t really obviously placed for the player to find, and being annoyed because you know this isn’t the last time this mechanic is going to be used. There’s one section in particular where you literally leave one set of hallways only to enter ANOTHER set of hallways right after it that use this mechanic. It took me nearly an hour to get through this part. It’s terrible. There’s no other word for this mechanic, and I hate it.

Another huge problem I have with the game is that all the BIG TWISTS are telegraphed so easily. I remember being in that TV studio for the first time and having Akechi talk to me, talking about pancakes, and thinking “Huh, he must be in the metaverse too, so he’s gotta be the one behind the shutdowns.” Lo and behold, there he was. I remember thinking “Huh, they keep telegraphing how important the metaverse is, I bet it’s a really important dungeon later on.” That’s what happens. “Man they keep showing this bald dude, I bet he’s a boss later on. He’s totally super important.” Shido turns out to be one of the most important bosses.

I’m not saying you should NEVER telegraph your twists. In Persona 4, the twist is telegraphed, but in such a way that, unless you were REALLY paying attention, you wouldn’t pick up on it on your first play through. Everything about Persona 5 is so easily predicted, and that’s my problem. When the twists are revealed, they’re posed as big shockers, when in reality, I’d guessed them HOURS before.

Even though I think the OST was pretty darn good, after a while, a lot of the music felt kinda samey. It was still GOOD, but they all blend together in the end. There’s a lot of funk, a lot of songs with similar sounding vocals. A lot of the same, over and over again. Listening to the tracks on their own feels great. The music outside of the context of the game is a fantastic album. Playing for 10 hours and listening to the music back to back, though, makes everything melt together. Persona 4 didn’t have this problem. Each track stood on its own, outside of the game AND in the context of the game itself.

I think one of my biggest problems with the game, however, is the main cast of characters. Some of them are great. Futaba felt fresh and new and well developed. Yusuke was funny and entertaining and made me laugh consistently through my journey. Haru, though quite bland at times, was charming and the balance the team needed in terms of personality. However, others are quite disappointing.

Ann is very one dimensional and flat. She’s a one note character, and even though I do like her, she’s rather forgettable in my opinion. She doesn’t have the humour or charm that Yusuke has, so she ends up being flat and bland. A character I could see in any JRPG. That’s a little disappointing considering she was the first party member we meet.

Ryuji is loud, obnoxious, annoying, and stupid. I was constantly infuriated with how idiotic and moronic he was. His character didn’t change much throughout the story either, so he was annoying and stupid for over 100 hours of gameplay. I know some people think he’s funny, but the whole “HEY EVERYONE WE’RE THE PHANTOM THIEVES” bit really made me angry. At the end, I truly disliked him.

Another character that was very annoying was Morgana. The character himself wasn’t TOO bad. It was weird how badly he wanted Ann, and some of the phrases he used rubbed me the wrong way. (Like being highly possessive over Ann, using phrases that made it sound like she was HIS and like she was a prize to be won) The biggest problem with Morgana though was the fact he forces you to go to sleep SO. OFTEN. In Persona 4, every time you go to sleep, it’s YOUR decision to sleep. “I’m feeling tired today, I should go to bed.” To me, there’s a HUGE difference between that and “Hey don’t you feel tired????? You should sleep early tonight!” In a game about time management, where every second is important, it stressed me so bad whenever Morgana would force me to go to sleep.

So, after all that, what do I think of Persona 5? Well, it was very hard not to go into this game with high expectations. Persona 4 Golden is my favourite game of all time. I was hoping for a game that took everything that made Persona 4 great and amplified it. Did that happen? Yes and no. The gameplay is a step up from Persona 4. The visuals are STUNNING. The side characters have much better social links. I think, though, the game falls flat on its face in terms of main characters and story focus. The game dragged in a lot of places, and I honestly felt like it could have been a 75-hour game instead of a 100-hour game. When I put the controller down, I wasn’t jumping to come back and play. Instead, I was content to wait a day or two. It didn’t grab me nearly as much as I had hoped.

Is it my fault for going in with such high expectations? Should I have dampened what I wanted in the game, and gone in hoping for nothing? Who knows.

Everything said I did enjoy this game. In terms of JRPG’s, it’s actually pretty good. And I think if you’d never played another game in the Persona series, you’d really enjoy it! I don’t feel bad about the time I’ve spent with it, despite all the flaws the game has. It will be interesting to see how I feel on a New Game + run.

If you’re going in thinking this will be as good, or better, than Persona 4, you might be disappointed. It’s still worth your time, though. If you go in wanting some very pretty, well-executed game play with some awesome side characters, I think you’ll be able to enjoy it. If you want a diverse, deep cast of main characters with a fantastic main story, stick to Persona 4.