#this is my first maruki in a while.... i need to draw him more he's so sucks <3 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cakeboxie · 11 months

Text

Persona 5 hcs!!

Lol I had to rewrite this TWICE bc I use ctrl-z a lot and tumblr deleted my ENTIRE FUCKIGN POST

Anyway

I’ve been reading fanfic all day and the p5 brainrot is strong lol I wanted to do all the PTs + Akechi and Maruki but I got bored of writing this

Notes:

Not all of these are positive (esp Futaba)

There will be nsfw, so mdni pls :D

Some are reader insert, some aren’t

Reader is gn unless I fucked up somewhere and didn’t notice lol

Characters: Akiren, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba Triggers: mentions of abuse of all varieties, panic attacks, dissociation, past homophobia, Kamoshida being himself, self image issues, eating disorders, obsessive behavior, needle phobia, blackmail, hallucinating.

╰┈➤ Akiren

→ The man is TOUCH STARVED. He’s so used to being the shoulder for people to cry on when you offer to cuddle with him without expecting him to comfort you he fucking reels.

→ To elaborate on the above; in public he’s pretty subtle, usually just holding your hand or letting you lean on him when the trains are packed and you can’t reach a handrail. But in private he’s the walking definition of clingy. He has on more than occasion begged you to sit in his lap while he does whatever task he needs to do just so he can feel you near him.

→ Whether his name is Ren or Akira is an ongoing joke that Sojiro knows the answer to because of having done all the probation paperwork, but he won’t spill no matter how much the PTs beg him to

→ Despite his maxed proficiency stat and the amount of time he spent playing video games prior to moving to Tokyo he is entirely mediocre at mario kart.

→ He can draw! He doesn’t do it often and is unwilling to admit that he’s actually pretty okay at it.

→ He bluffs his way through the first time you sleep with him because he is a virgin somehow even with almost every living human in Tokyo throwing themselves at his feet.

→ The fact that he’s a quick shot is a closely guarded secret that you unearthed because you noticed he makes a point of making you cum on his fingers at least once before fucking you and when confronted about it he went very quiet and tried to stay stone faced despite the comically bright blush that painted his cheeks.

→ Awful phobia of needles post 11/18 to the point where he avoids seeing Takemi because the cartoon needle on one of her posters is enough to trigger his panic attacks.

→ He has frequent nightmares, and won’t tell you why. But they worsen significantly post 11/18, with him calling you at least once on most nights to help him through his panic attacks.

╰┈➤ Ryuji

→ He has a reputation for being desperate, and he definitely is, but in reality he’s far less shallow than it seems.

→ When you ask for his help dying your hair he practically leaps at the idea, and you learn that he’s really fucking good at it from maintaining his own bleached hair.

→ Ren got him a super sonico figure as a gift once and it lives unopened under his bed. Not because he has shame or doesn’t like it (he very vocally loves it actually) but because he’s worried about his mom accidentally seeing it one day.

→ THE PUPPY DOG EYES OMFG

→ The smell of alcohol gives him panic attacks, and he makes a point of avoiding the trains at night because of this.

→ Despite his initial reaction to conflict being fighting, he crashes hard after and often isolates himself for hours after while he dissociates.

→ He smokes more than he’s willing to admit, and thoroughly hates himself for it bc he can feel it fucking up his lungs and making it harder to catch his breath when he’s running.

→ He is bi, but is very defensive and unwilling to talk about it because he’s still working through the homophobia instilled in him by his father.

→ He is also a quick shot, but isn’t really good enough with his hands to compensate.

→ He does however really like watching you get off without him while he waits for you to finish so he can fuck you.

╰┈➤ Ann

→ Women <3

→ She often asks you to model with her, and should you agree she beams like you’ve just given her the best gift she’d ever received.

→ Her love of sweets seems to be contagious, as the more time you spend with her the more you find yourself enjoying them.

→ Really hates being touched, it takes her several months of gentle encouragement to let her hold your hand because the only person who ever had was Kamoshida.

→ Extremely anxious around men, and often gets you to stand between her and any dudes on the trains/in public in general.

→ Horrific self image issues, she covers it well with faux confidence, but she is deeply insecure and tends to hide herself away when she’s doing poorly.

→ She cries a lot, just in general. It doesn’t even need to be sad, she’ll cry just as hard over a really cute dog as she will a heart wrenching scene in a movie.

→ The local Romance Expert despite never having been in a healthy relationship.

→ You can tell when she’s struggling because it’s the only time she could be caught dead in sweatpants.

→ The pink highlights from her P5D outfit are canon to me, argue with the wall.

╰┈➤ Yusuke

→ He asks to paint you often, but rarely actually does. Often breaking down into fits of insecurity about his “inability to capture your beauty” as he puts it.

→ So very autistic, he is easily overwhelmed and carries a little notepad that he uses for communication when he inevitably goes non verbal, and for little doodles to help him ground himself.

→ He really awkwardly asked you out after a long conversation with ann about the difference between romantic and platonic feelings

→ “Ah… So my urge to include them in every single one of my paintings in some way is not platonic?”

→ He borders on obsessive about you once you & him start dating officially, and often cancels plans with the PTs to spend time with you.

→ Shy of losing himself in his painting he will drop anything he’s doing regardless of its importance on the off chance he can see you.

→ He asked at one point to paint you nude but for the first time in his life got so flustered at the sight of you that he had to excuse himself, and never asked again after that.

→ Past the first time asking him to hold your hand, he’s very casual about physical affection. Often attaching himself to you in one way or another unconsciously.

→ The only PT besides Akechi who isn’t a virgin.

→ Everyone was fucking appalled when they learned this ^ because how did yusuke end up with bitches and akiren didn’t???

╰┈➤ Makoto idk much about her I’m so sorry makoto enjoyers

→ Really fucking weird music taste? Like her study playlist is 90% breakcore and the first time akiren heard it he got fucking whiplash.

→ Teetering on the edge of gifted kid burnout and only manages to survive because of the terrifying amount of black coffee she drinks

→ She’s got an eating disorder and has a really bad habit of talking about her disordered habits like they’re normal.

→ Then is shocked when everyone is like “girl what????”

→ Haru was her lesbian awakening and even though they’re not dating anymore she still loves Haru dearly

→ That can be said about most of her exes, she tends to fall in love quickly and never really fall out of it, thankfully the rational part of her has prevented her from being seriously hurt.

→ Absolute pillow princess, despite the ongoing bit about her pegging ryuji there is not enough money in the world to convince her to be any kind of dominant.

→ almost kissed ann once on a dare and was so nervous she literally started sobbing, which caused ann to also start sobbing, they never ended up kissing.

╰┈➤ Futaba

→ She has bugs on everyone’s phone, and listens in on them constantly even after they change her heart.

→ She’s really creepy in general, and has a massive stash of audio clips and videos taken from security cameras and the bugs that range from mildly entertaining to blackmail worthy levels of incriminating

→ Has a document dedicated to everyone’s taste in porn.

→ She is autistic in the opposite direction as yusuke, she’s perpetually underwhelmed and needs to have 5+ different stimuli going at any time for her to be able to do anything

→ Likes akechi a little too much literally just because he likes featherman as much as she does.

→ Didn’t stop hallucinating after her heart was changed, they just became mild enough to ignore.

→ Had a really weird crush on akiren before her heart was changed, in hindsight it was probably just because she has a voice kink and she spent a lot of time listening to him talk.

#pvbbywrites #persona 5 #persona 5 royal #akira kusuru #p5 spoilers #ren amamiya #ryuji sakamoto #persona 5 ryuji #ann takamaki #yusuke kitagawa #p5 yusuke #futaba #makoto niijima #futaba sakura #pvbbysmut

11 notes · View notes

chronicbeans · 11 months

Text

Takuto Maruki Helping a Reader with Trypanophobia

Because I need self-indulgent Maruki content. Plus, he's located near the nurses office so in my brain this kinda makes sense...? Platonic btw ofc.

TW: Needles/Trypanophobia, Anxiety/Fear, Medications

💉 I can see him having to deal with something like this relatively often. He's stationed right outside of the nurse's office and there has to be SOME student who needs medication during the school hours, especially if it is something like insulin shots needed before or after meals to regulate blood sugar levels. A lot of the time, students will go to the school nurse for support while taking these injections.

💉 So, due to him and the nurse sharing a space, they have created a little system. When Maruki goes on break, the nurse shows up to set up their things while Maruki packs his snacks and leaves. Then, when he returns, the nurse packs their things to leave as Maruki sets up his snacks and such, moving their smaller equipment to a different room. That way, patient confidentiality is kept safe while nurse care can still be provided adequately. Theoretically, the nurse could just move to another room, but there is so much equipment needed that would be difficult to set up somewhere else, like beds and such, so this system is the best they got. If an emergency happens that requires bigger equipment like beds while Maruki is present in the nurse's office, Maruki will move to a smaller room to continue work.

💉 So, during the small amount of time where both Maruki and the nurse are in the office together is the most likely time where he would learn about you and your problem with needles. Due to your problem being a mixture of physical (needing the medication provided by the medication) and psychological (the immense fear of needles and, by extension, injections), the nurse may end up asking Maruki if he would help with your situation. Of course, they'd probably ask you if you were comfortable allowing Maruki to help, too. The first step that the three of you decide will help is allowing Maruki to watch you having medication administered.

💉 That starts your journey with Maruki. They set up a time for Maruki to observe your reactions to getting an injection. Walking in, he most likely expects the "usual" reactions from someone with needle anxiety. "Usual" meaning simply jerking away and whimpering. That's the most common thing he's seen and heard of, after all. He's only really heard of passing out and other more extreme reactions happening during blood draws, which well... involve blood, a different fear on it's own.

💉 Needless to say, when you walk in looking calm, he's still expecting a more relaxed reaction. He asks you a few questions about how you feel before the injection, with you giving short responses like "anxious", "scared", or "I hate this".

💉 Then you end up sitting on the bed in the nurse's office, and EVERYTHING changes. The nurse simply walks over to you, and now you're muttering things like "I'm going to die of my god someone HELP..." Only for it to get worse once the injection is being set up, then it being ready. Now you're flailing and screaming in pure panic.

💉 The nurse isn't any help, either, as they say simple phrases like "Just think about how it's going to help you!" In response to you screaming out things like "I FEEL LIKE I CAN'T BREATHE! Like I can but I CAN'T!" Overall, it's an absolute horror show that Maruki was NOT prepared for. He might even end up screaming in pure shock from you screaming. He just didn't expect anything close to this.

💉 He end up breaking out of his shock for a moment, which is enough for him to go to your side and hold his hand out for you to hold onto. You latch onto it harder that he expected. He starts talking, trying to distract you, which ends up in the most awkward conversation ever.

💉 "Are you okay, (L/N)?" "OH GOD I'M GOING TO DIE! SOMEONE SAVE ME!" "O-oh... I'm here for you! Just focus on our conversation!" "OKAY THANK YOU!!!" "Stay still while we talk, alright?" "PLEASE SAVE ME!!!" "I'm right here, okay? Just focus on me-!"

💉 Then you end up letting out the most bloodcurdling scream as the nurse seizes the opportunity to inject you. You then grow silent, like a deer in headlights. He's completely shocked into silence from that quick switch from loud screaming and flailing, to a completely still and silent demeanor.

💉 Once it is said and done, he watches as you sit up, look around, then say "Oh... that wasn't so bad!" Only for the nurse to laugh and say "You say that everytime! To be fair, this round went better than usual!" That... that whole reaction... this time was BETTER than usual? What are you like every other time?!

💉 As you walk away, Maruki ends up stopping you quickly, asking you if you want to have a counseling session with him to talk about your experiences with your needle... anxiety? Fear? Absolute horror? He just wants to help! Seeing that whole situation was absolutely painful, so being in it must be so much worse.

💉 Depending on the type of person you are, you may answer yes or no. If it's no, then he won't push you, instead just saying that the offer is always open and reminding you that he will only be at the school for a short time.

💉 If you do say yes, however, he will work with you to find a good time for an appointment with him depending on your schedule. During your appointments, it may start off with random topics to make sure you are comfortable, then slowly go into the main reason you are there: your fear of needles.

💉 He'll start with the obvious questions. What about needles scare you? Do you have any trauma surrounding needles? Do you have anything that you know of that helps you cope with this fear? Then, he'll discuss things he believes might help. Something interesting is how he uses his experience watching your reactions to the injection in his discussion. One main thing he seems to believe is that, for you, you need a very individualized solution. The basic strategies do not seem to be working for you.

💉 As more and more sessions occur, the questions start becoming a bit more odd. If you could, would you rather not need the medication? If you would rather keep needing the medication, why? What would you want to help you? You are unsure of what his questions have to do with your treatment exactly, but you answer them as well as you can.

💉 Overall, he is determined to help you, much like he is with everybody else. He isn't going to give up, no matter what.

#persona 5 royal #p5r #p5r maruki #takuto maruki #I love this man omg #completely self indulgent #Lol

7 notes · View notes

wispexists · 1 year

Text

P5R PMD AU because i am insane!!!

So I have many a thought in my head and with Spike Chunsoft dangling the idea of a new Mystery Dungeon entry in front of my face this past week I have more thoughts. Especially about the Mystery Dungeon AU's I create with every fandom I join.

So um Persona 5 PMD au (with some visuals).

Also this will contain major spoilers for Persona 5 Royal and Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon.

First, this is a rewrite of PMD Super, because I will not write a new story for this and also because I always see Explorers get the crossover au/rewrite treatment (as it should tbh) and we gotta switch it up!! Now with the main plot not really changing we can jump into the characters.

1. The Heros

The hero role is filled both by Akira Kurusu and Goro Akechi, both being human and both losing their memories respectfully after being isekai'd into a foreign world. These bitches gay, so I think it's funny to throw them into another god killing situation.

The role stays true to the plot, get chased by Beheeyem, get adopted, join the guild, etc. it would just have more banter between characters in between.

Akira:

At first you may think, "Wouldn't Zorua fit better? Isn't that the black and red trickster Pokémon that fits the overall aesthetic really well? Wouldn't it have been cool for an Akiren that could summon fake illusion personas???" Because I thought the same things until I realized I cannot draw Zorua!

I also think even though Floragato doesn't really fit aesthetically, it fits in every other aspect of joker persona. Silly little jester cat.

I also thought Zorua would be too much of an awkward fit in the group just, vibes man, he's too small. Once you see my other picks you'll get it. You get silly little jester cat take it or leave it.

Goro:

STUPID BIRD!! THE CHOICE IS OBVIOUS!! FUCKIN,, CROW MAN!! CORVISQUIRE SWEEP!!

I also made him shiny because it matches his color pallete. Literally easiest decision in the world. I was originally going to go with rookidee but again, too small.

2. The partner

You thought these bitches were doing this shit alone?? NO!! THEY NEED A SILLY FRIEND!! WHO ELSE TO PUT IN THE ROLE OF THE WEIRD ADOPTED ORPHAN THAN WEIRD ADOPTED ORPHAN FUTABA SAKURA!! Also going forward no other character is human, very important pmd shit.

Futaba:

Similarly to the p5 plot, Futaba is still grieving her mom while getting adopted by Sojiro. Wakaba died in an "unfortunate accident" while doing research for a guild on the grass continent. The last thing left in Futaba's possession is her harmony scarf. Unlike p5, Futaba didn't actually see her mom die since she was in Serene Village while her mom was doing research. She still somewhat blames herself for her mother's death but is motivated to find the truth behind it.

Futaba's social anxiety would prevent her from joining a proper exploration team, until of course she gets two new neighbors that are reminded of someone in her and feel obligated to help (THE HEROS FROM BEFORE IN CASE YOU DIDNT GET THAT). Also in Super, the partner doesn't join a team because everyone fucking hates them and I thought wow! That's way too mean! And not in character!! So I changed that.

Anyways JOLTIK FUTABA, SMALL CREATURE. The only one allowed to be teeny tiny.

I originally was planning to go with a Dewpider since I knew for a fact that I wanted her to be a bug type but then I saw Joltik and thought "wow, this bitch has so much mischievous energy" and it stuck.

She'd probably run a support build of some kind in preparation to be backup.

3. Nuzleafs replacement

Takuto Maruki.

If you thought anyone but him I would tell you to replay Super Mystery Dungeon BECAUSE I THINK IT FITS SO WELL.

Also because it's weird that Nuzleaf was like unemployed, I also made Maruki Audinos replacement as the school nurse. He can be in a weird cult and work at the school at the same time.

Yes Maruki is the one who sends our protagonists to hell! After his childhood friend Rumi never truly recovered from an accident, Maruki turned to the help of Yveltal, believing that the limbo-like state is better than suffering for a lifetime. This happiness can be easily achieved if only he had a human that could destroy the barrier on Revelation Mountain, then their plan would be foolproof..

Also important to note that actualization doesn't exist because personas and the metaverse wouldn't exist in Pokémon.

FURRET MARUKI SHAKES YOU. His ass looks normal until he STABS YOU IN THE BACK!!

4. Classmates

Ok I got a little burnt out at this point so I don't have references for these ones but the gist is they're literally just the Shujin guys. None of them would join the exploration team (sorry :() but they would still get little side stories. I also tried to match certain characters with their metaverse powers as a little silly.

Ann: Braixen. Literally makes so much sense. Strong girlboss fire wizard like get it queen!! Fuck yeah!

Ryuji: Luxio but specifically with rivalry instead of intimidate purely because it's funny.

Makoto: Houndour. Honestly went with this because of vibes and also because she counters and covers Haru's weaknesses because I am a Makoharu stan frfr.

Haru: Galarian Ponyta. See Makoto.

Mishima: Please suggest a Pokémon for Mishima. I do not have one.

Shiho: also up for suggestions

Sumire: Eevee. Since actualization doesn't exist, she still knows she's Sumire, but is still strongly advised by Maruki to follow in her sisters footsteps considering she trained her entire life as a performer, why shatter your dreams and pursue something that has the chance to bring you pain? Specifically replaces Espurr in this au since she's being manipulated by Maruki.

Yusuke: Alolan Vulpix. Not part of the school, he lives in Lively Town with Madarame, but he gets included on this list because I have no where else to put him.

Morgana: Purrloin. Isn't in this story like at all because he got arrested for crime. Thought I'd include him anyways.

5. Extra thoughts

I have a few more characters that I know for sure are going to be here. Every change of heart is going to happen but they would most likely get arrested instead (cause no metaverse).

This really is just a self-indulgent mashup of P5 and PMD. The characters still generally keep their arcs even if they aren't as important, the overall plot is just that of PMD Super.

And that about wraps it up for now! If you made it this far, I love you, mwah. Also please please please send any questions because I am writing this in the middle of the night and I KNOW I probably missed something and I really just want to share this silly au. Thank you for reading!

#persona 5 #pokemon mystery dungeon #persona 5 royal #p5 pmd au #au #crossover #pokemon #pokemon super mystery dungeon #my art #long post #this took two hours to write

16 notes · View notes

finishitjoker · 2 years

Text

Akechi's Mask for 3rd Semester

I stumbled on a post from when P5 Royal first released about how the poster didn't like Akechi in the 3rd semester that frustrated me and I need to voice my feelings to the void.

The post was complaining that Akechi seemed so "edgy" and how they preferred his character in the vanilla game because you got to see layers of him. I have two main problems with this.

First: Akechi, as we see him in the 3rd semester, may be (partially or otherwise) influenced by Maruki. It's claimed in the game that the Akechi we've been fighting with was brought back to life due to the protag's wishes by Maruki and while the end cut scene hints this may not be the case in cannon, there's no denying that parts of Akechi's life have been meddled with, same with the other characters. I'm not going to discuss my thoughts on Akechi living post 2/2 here but we know that even if Akechi survived, Maruki dipped his hands in and adjusted at the very least.

Akechi is vocally PISSED about this. He's understandably upset about living under the thumb of another adult thinking they're god. Thus, as he has no reason to act as the Detective Prince anymore and the protag has already seen him go feral once before, he's not going to keep up the original act of saccharin sweetness.

(I could write a whole essay on how I think the protag's wish of Akechi to be alive effected how he might've broken free of the false reality or just wasn't tempted by it at all but another time.)

Second: The "edginess" Akechi is using feels just as fake at times as the Detective Prince mask he wore so I would argue that it is another mask. One he developed as the Black Mask to scare shadows and cognitions if he needed to pressure but not cause a mental shutdown for Shido.

My thought is that his more natural personality is somewhere in the scale between the two but since Akechi is never able, in cannon, to feel truly without he's being controlled he never feels like he's able to take off the mask. Plus he's been performing both masks for years before then, its not like you get brought back to life and you're able to set those aside without hesitation or habit drawing them closer. There are moments where I think Akechi would naturally react another way and thus over exaggerates his mask to compensate the same way he does in the vanilla game with the Detective Prince mask.

#persona 5 #goro akechi #vic's void thoughts #brain worms #third semester #persona 5 royal spoilers #should I still tag spoilers?

23 notes · View notes

floaties-for-arsene · 3 years

Text

I saw these going around so I thought I’d do one with my favorite persona pair..I may do another one with souyo though...... 😳

And oh man. I have so much to say about every single one of these below the cut (:

- so for their sexualities and stuff! I hc them both as bi kings and you can fight me on that. Oh also maruki is a bi trans king, we love to see it.

- I don’t know their ages and I’m really bad at guessing ages like. I know zen’s probably in his 40s but he doesn’t move or act like it also I felt weird giving them a big age gap so I just kinda. Yeah.

-height wise like. I dunno originally when I found out maruki was fucking 180 cm I was like oh zen’s probably shorter than him but because of the way I draw him his massive fucking forehead is always taller than maruki so..I mean I imagined them pretty close in height anyway.

- big spoon little spoon is pretty self explanatory. Lots of cuddles. They like to cuddle and just be with each other and feel that the other is still there (:

- uhhh as far as borrowing clothes I imagine it more like they accidentally trade their clothes (and just objects in general), especially with their shirts since they both wear like the same blue shirt. Also speaking of clothes zen has to regularly tie Maruki’s ties for him because maruki had to teach himself...and he didn’t do a very good job at it.

- pet names! Zenkichi loves them. He has all sort of funny little ones for maruki (tanuki is my personal favorite...I’ve seen a lot of people use that for maruki and I am fucking. I’m so here for it). Maruki’s are pretty generic and he does use them, just not as often. He usually just calls him zen.

- I had a hard time with the introvert/extrovert one and I’m still a little unsure of it. I imagine both of them can act like an extrovert, but they have their limits with how many people they can be around and for how long. I feel like Zenkichi in particular gets really exhausted when he’s been around for people for too long. Since Maruki was a counselor for a bit I feel like he would have built up more of a tolerance for it, but Zenkichi I see as being more of a lone wolf (hahaha..get it) in his work and what he does.

- affection styles I also feel like is pretty self explanatory. Maruki likes to sweet talk him and sometimes gets really sappy and writes zen little love letters or will text him paragraphs of how much he loves him while he’s at work. And as for Zen, he can’t cook for shit but he finds other funny little ways to show his affection, like through cuddles and buying Maruki little things, etc.

- as for confessions. I imagine them both being so awkward and nervous about their feelings for each other so neither of them want to say anything. But since Zenkichi has a tendency to just. Say things. I imagine one day he just kinda accidentally blurts it out when he gets flustered.

- the bugs thing I was also kinda stumped on. I feel like they’re both pretty neutral about it. Maruki definitely feels bad killing them though. There was one time Zenkichi came home to him crying about how he had to kill a spider to get in the shower.

- okay for driving the car. We know maruki worked as a taxi driver for a bit so he doesn’t mind it that much. Now for Zenkichi, he definitely can drive. He just really doesn’t like it. I have this whole really sad hc that even though he wasn’t there for Aoi’s death, cars only remind him of the whole incident and the aftermath. He has a tolerance for it, but every now and again the idea of driving just makes him really sad and anxious. So, of course, maruki is more than happy to do most of the driving. Also since he has more free time he’s cool driving Akane places like school or sleepovers or going to visit zen at work (:

- cooking. yeah. yeah.... Zenkichi tries to help...he really tries his best.... he really tries....

- Zenkichi doesn’t dislike pda, he just gets super flustered about it. Especially because he’s never been in a relationship with a guy before and he’s still getting used to his sexuality. Basically he’s just shy. Maruki on the other hand. He loves flustering his poor bf, and is pretty comfortable with his sexuality so he loves showing the whole world just how much he loves his Zenkichi (:

- they’re both pretty protective because they’re so scared of losing each other. Since they’ve both lost someone incredibly close to them, they want to make sure the other is safe and happy at all times. Maruki is definitely more protective of Zenkichi’s feelings and emotions. While I imagine after royal he’s gotten better about feeling the need to save everyone, he still feels an intense need to help Zenkichi as much as he can. He’ll always ask him things like “are you okay?” or “am I making you happy?” because he worries so much he’ll somehow fail or lose Zenkichi. He also still has struggles with his own self worth, so some of his protectiveness comes from his own insecurities. Zen has to reassure him a lot that he’s very happy to be with him because Maruki doesn’t always believe it. And as for Zenkichi he’s more protective in a physical way. Any time maruki gets hurt he freaks the fuck out and his dad instincts kick in. Basically because of their past trauma they’re both pretty protective of each other ;v;

- for relationship experience, obviously they’ve both been in relationships. I put them both pretty low because

a) they don’t have much experience dating other guys (for zen this is like. The first time he’s ever even acknowledged feeling this way about another man) and

b) they’re both fucking idiots (affectionately)

I could go on but this post is already long enough so if anyone made it to the bottom holy shit thank you for indulging in my hasemaru bullshit with me (:

#my art #zenkichi hasegawa #takuto maruki #hasemaru #p5s #persona 5 strikers #p5r #persona 5 royal #this is MY favorite ship and I will go off about it as much as I like #anyway yeah uh them (:#sorry for any spelling errors I got really excited

25 notes · View notes

mistabullets · 4 years

Text

Twilight (Kinktober Day #5 - Corruption)

Characters: Takuto Maruki x Reader

Word Count: 3.0k

Summary: You remind Maruki too much of someone.

Content Warning: n/s/f/w, afab reader, fem pronouns, corruption, loss of virginity, vaginal fingering, vaginal sex, teacher/student relations, doctor/patient relations, angst, dubcon/noncon cw, mind manipulation/alteration cause of maruki’s persona, older man/younger woman, dubious ethics, maruki calls you by the wrong name, p5r spoilers

Note: I went to town on this. I’ve been wanting to write something with Maruki forever and finally got the inspiration I needed

It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.

It had started out simple - his relationship with you started out strictly professional. You were one of the seniors who had endured Kamoshida’s abuse, although not to the extent some other students had. You still held on to your high hopes and ambitions despite the pressure of exams weighing you down occasionally. Sessions with Maruki-sensei were relaxing. Unlike your parents and teachers, he listened . He didn’t brush off your complaints and invalidate them, he wouldn’t go off on tirades about how you needed to do better. He truly listened - it made you happy to be heard for once, even if you felt your problems were infinitesimal compared to your peers.

You frequented the nurse’s office. While you had friends who were probably better company than the school’s therapist, you found comfort in his words. You never grew bored or tired of his little lectures - he was researching something about cognition and how to mend the heart of its emotional labors. While he threw in complex words you couldn’t quite grasp, you tried your best to follow along and ask questions if you couldn’t wrap your head around a certain concept. And while Maruki was happy to grant you little tidbits of his knowledge, there was something gnawing at him, something he knew he shouldn’t admit.

Your mannerisms and speech patterns, the conversations you two shared, and your upbeat and quirky personality reminded him of Rumi. Every time your eyes glued on him, inquisitive and attentive, he was reminded of when Rumi would pause her studies, just to listen to him babble about two dots he was able to connect. Then he would recall her touch - lingering kisses, careful caresses, the act of becoming one, the noises that spilled from her lips, the heat that she would engulf him in—

But lately, he would visualize your face; contorted in pleasure, pleading with him oh-so-sweetly, and brows knitted as he speared your virginal walls.

However, he was the adult here. He knew it was wrong and he kept those thoughts locked away from his students. For him to fantasize about such things with a student more than a decade younger was unprofessional. For him to lock the doors after you left and pump his cock fervently to the thought of you was disgusting on his behalf. He tried to bury those carnal desires deep within - and he masked them for quite some time, believing he could simply get over it. His heart still belonged to Rumi and no one could replace her. Certainly, he wouldn’t throw that all away for some replacement, projecting her onto you, right?

But it all came to ahead.

The school was out for the day; most students had already gone home for the evening. Just when he was finished organizing paperwork, he heard his office door slam opened and closed. He glanced up, ready to offer whoever came in through his door some snacks and juice. But he was greeted to the sight of you, tears cascading down your puffy eyes. His chest tightened - he hated to see his students cry… but he didn’t want to see you like this. Usually, he thought of you as resilient and independent but he supposed you needed a shoulder to cry on, every once and awhile.

“Oh my, what’s the matter, L/N?”

He offered you a seat on the couch and sat beside you, offering a box of apple juice. You thanked him in a choked whisper, trying your best to collect yourself. Thank god Maruki had the patience of a saint, giving you ample time to compose yourself and reassuring you it’s okay every time you hiccuped a weak sorry .

You sniffled, “I-I don’t even know where to begin…”

“Take your time,” the counselor reassured.

A moment of silence. The clock ticked. You let out a shaky sigh and swallowed harshly, “T-This is all confidential, right?”

Maruki hesitated for a moment but nodded, “Yes. What happens in this room, stays in this room.”

“Okay… well, t-this is embarrassing. But I trust you the most right now,” you swallowed down your pride, willing the courage, “There’s… this student. We’ve been talking and we, uh… did some things.”

He raised his eyebrows when you paused, hearing you take in a deep and uneven breath. He could hear how broken your pride was - without considering it, he placed a hand on your upper back, rubbing it soothingly, reminding you to go at your own pace. It was welcomed. “Go ahead.”

“I… I really thought he liked me b-but…”

“He broke your heart, huh?”

You nodded, “I… I can’t go back in time. If I would have known… h-how cruel he is… M-Maruki-sensei, what should I do? My heart feels so heavy…” you buried your head into his chest, soaking his dress shirt with fat tear droplets. Awkwardly, he held you there, contemplating how he should properly respond to this situation. He furrowed his brows - he was a damn therapist and couldn’t even give you any advice on the matter. Hearing your cries reminded him too much of Rumi’s - the harrowing tears unstoppable as she was reminded of her trauma. He wanted to make them stop, make them disappear somehow. Life was so unjust, he pondered, forcing you to deal with inevitable heartbreak which would some way or another, define you. It was the seed of mistrust, the loss of innocence, and the beginning of life’s hardships.

He pulled you into his embrace, muffling your pathetic wails into his chest. Maruki noticed a faint throbbing in his head, a distant voice telling him, you can save her, let me help… he clung to that voice, asking himself how he could help, how he could be useful .

And then a flicker of kaleidoscope flooded the peripheral of his vision.

There was a ringing.

And your tears ceased.

“M-Maruki-sensei…”

You forgot why you were crying.

“L-L/N? Are you feeling any better now?”

Oh, right? You confessed your feelings.

“S-Sensei… I…!”

You lifted yourself away from the shirt you just soaked with your tears. Without hesitation, you pressed your lips desperately against his; you tasted coffee from his mouth and wanted more.

Maruki was registering what was occurring - a student was kissing him and he needed to put an end to it, he reasoned. However, before he could push you away, a hand reached down for his crotch. You pulled away from the intoxicating kiss, brain fried with overwhelming love for the man before you. “Takuto… a-are you hard?”

And for a moment, he was reminded of his first time with Rumi - her sweet voice whispering his name, worried about pushing him over the edge, “Takuto…”

Takuto…

“Takuto?”

And he snapped. He didn’t care anymore if this was wrong. He just needed you . He gained control and pushed you back into the couch, pouncing you like an animal. Experienced lips found yours and his tongue easily slipped into your mouth when you let out a gasp. He feverishly rubbed his clothed erection against your soft thigh as his kiss deepened and you were already moaning against his mouth. He needed you out of your uniform; he needed to be out of his clothes. God, he needed you so bad, he wanted you—

“A-Ah, please slow down, t-this is my first time.”

Oh right, you never specified if you were still a virgin or not. “S-Sorry…! Don’t worry, I’ll make you feel good, L/N… I mean, Y/N. Just let me take the lead.”

You nodded and assumed kissing, albeit much more calculated and less desperate. Maruki guided you as he promised. He stripped you of your pesky uniform, discarding them to the floor of his office. All that remained on your body were your simple bra and simple underwear which did not match. Maruki was addicted to the little noises you made under his kisses - you whimpered and sighed his name just like her . He ghosted his lips on the ample flesh of your breast and the experienced hand went unclip your bra, exposing the perky buds. His eager lips suckled and nipped each nipple, his slender hands fondled each mound with gentle calculation. He admired the quick rise and fall of your chest and your heavy pants; he wondered what kind of noises he could draw if he touched you down there. Would it be like Rumi’s?

“D-Do you like this, sensei?” you asked curiously, nervously spreading your legs apart as the older man settled in between them, groaning at the maiden heat of your core. He rutted against your clothed sex, relishing in the mewls you released and wishing he would strip off your panties already. God, you were particularly dripping - he couldn’t tell if it was your essence or his pre-cum that sullied the front of his trousers. And he didn’t care either.

“You’re doing so wonderfully, Y/N. You’re already so wet, my god… I’m going to take off your panties.”

“O-Okay…” and you helped him wiggle out of your underwear. He threw them to the floor, on the pile with the rest of your abandoned attire. While you were exposing yourself to him, you didn’t feel nervous - you trusted Maruki to handle you with care. The counselor gulped when you spread your legs for him, showing off your pretty pink pussy. He steadied his breathing and sighed, nestling him and observing it. Hesitantly, he brought a finger to collect your slick, rubbing the slit up-and-down. It was maddening, overwhelming all of your senses as he experimentally touched and observed your womanhood like it was some sort of specimen. Only when you bucked your hips against his hand did Maruki realize he was making you impatient. He couldn’t help but smile at your eagerness, “Patience, I need to prepare you so you can feel good.”

It was fucked up - how he was so willing to discard his ethics just to be able to relive the feeling of being with her; to fill the void in his heart since her memories were wiped clean. But wouldn’t it be more fucked up to deny your feelings? Sure, you may be confused, but… wouldn’t fall deeper into despair if he rejected you? Not only would you have to suffer through one heartbreak but two. If this helped relieve the stress of that one boy, so be it. If he could help you in the slightest, even if it means tossing morals and logic out the window, so be it. He’ll make sure you’re happy too .

After exploring every inch of your core, his index finger aligned with your entrance and pushed. Oh, did it burn but it was pleasant to have him inside. Maruki leaned down to pepper kisses on your throat and jaw, easing you into the thickness of his finger. When he buried it to the knuckle, he inserted his middle finger and sunk that into your tight heat. You hissed and the older man apologized, reassuring you that it would feel good here soon. You believed him and once you stopped trembling, the discomfort molding into a strange sensation, you told him you were ready. With careful precision, he pumped his digits inside of you slowly - he curiously scissored the canal, preparing you to take something bigger than his fingers.

When he curled his finger against a particular area of your wall, you jolted and cried out. It was just like Rumi’s first reaction, “Ah… I found your g-spot. Good, good… I’m going to go faster and touch that again. You may feel funny at first but I promise, it feels wonderful.”

Before you could question Maruki what he was about to do, you wailed as electricity shot throughout your synapses. You writhed and trembled, your head was flooding and your stomach was taut with a strange feeling. However, you couldn’t ask what this feeling was - not when the counselor kept assaulting your g-spot, particularly finger fucking and rendering you a whining mess. Your hands found purchase in the cushion of the couch, tensing when you felt your pussy throb around Maruki’s fingers. You called out his name and he leaned down to silence your cries with his lips - the faculty should be long gone now but he wanted to be safe. You continued moaning into his mouth - then the strange coil in your stomach exploded and you arched your back, wailing and crying. He continued his ministrations, easing you down from your climax.

“T-Takuto… I-I feel so warm…” you panted, once you came down from your high.

“You just orgasmed. It was beautiful, Y/N,” he said.

“I-I’m glad…” you sighed, your body slumping against the couch. As you were washing up to the shore of your post-climax, you heard the rustling of belts and zippers. You glanced down to see the hard erection of your therapist, the pink head glistening with some fluid of sorts. Trepidation overrode your tranquility.

After seeing you come undone with just his fingers alone, he wanted to see you come undone with just his cock. Your reaction reminded him of her too, when she first offered to blow him. Her eyes had widened in surprise, not believing his cock could have this much girth to it. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought you were her reincarnation. Not hesitating a moment longer, he reached for his pocket to tear open a package of condom (better safe than sorry). He rolled the latex over his length before spreading you open to rub himself with your juices, coating himself with plenty. He wished he had a bottle of lube, just to make sure you were prepared but you were particularly dripping on the couch. You watched nervously, chewing your bottom lips as the head of his cock aligned with your entrance.

Maruki had his manners though. He gave a chaste kiss, littering more to your neck and collarbone before placing his forehead against yours. A hand reached to hold yours. Your free hand went to hold on to the back of his shoulder as he gave another kiss. “This may hurt… just relax, breathe in and out, and tell me when you’re ready, okay? … Are you sure about this?”

You nodded, giving him a demure smile as you took a gulp of air, preparing for the intrusion.

And he pushed in his bulbous head inside and you whimpered pitifully. You squeezed his hand until your knuckles turned white. Carefully, he pushed further in and knocked the wind out of you - you cried out and he paused, whispering sweet nothings and apologies. Once you were calm, he continued, and finally, his heavy balls rested against you. “Good girl, now just tell me when you move… on your cue,” he praised, leaving more ghost kisses on your vulnerable skin. You shuddered, adjusting to the painful thickness impaling your insides. However, the pain was quick to fade to only mild discomfort - it was bearable now.

“T-Takuto, nngh… y-you can move now.”

He smiled gently and carefully moved out before slowly thrusting back in. His rhythm was slow and tactful, giving you time to adjust to the feeling of sex. The initial discomfort swirled and spiraled into intense pleasure. When you moaned for more, you received more. Maruki picked up the pace - and his kisses became harsher. His head was buried in the crook of your neck and he nipped the side of it, leaving behind a red-purple bruise. That made your nerves sing and made you mewl, “T-Takutooooo~ Go harder, go faster, p-please…!”

Groaning, the older man readjusted your legs, pressing them against your shoulders so he could fuck your sweet pussy even deeper. You moaned, back arching as Maruki started to pound your oversensitive cunt. He was impossibly deep, you swear you were going to break apart on his thick cock. You continued crying and singing how good he felt, how happy you were that he was your first, and how you were wanted more. Your thighs smacked together, his balls hitting your ass deliciously, and his groin swiveled against your needy clit. His big cock was wrecking your insides and rearranging your guts, and his pace was growing desperate. He would ram the entirety of his length deep inside until the tip kissed your womb before switching it up and jackhammering into your tight walls with abandon. It made your toes curl, made you dig your fingernails into the meat of Maruki’s shoulder, and god, were you about to orgasm again?

Yes, you’re cumming again, Maruki thought as he panted against your sweat-slicked skin, relishing in your virginal tightness. He released your hand to quickly rub your swollen clit - he rubbed and rubbed ferocious circles, groaning when your pussy gripped onto his cock like a vice. Losing himself to your unbearably warm cunt, he began singing a name.

“Rumi, Rumi, Rumi…! I love you…! I’m gonna cum…!”

But rather than question the name that didn’t belong to you, you held him closer, telling him you’re going to follow him over the peak. “T-Takuto, I-I love you…!”

And the two of you exploded. He spilled himself inside while you milked his cock for more.

And while he was crying out someone else’s name like a mantra, you were praising him, seemingly not minding this. Once he finished spending the last of his seed inside of you, he collapsed on top of you. He was exhausted and didn’t seem to realize he was murmuring that stranger’s name again in your ear. Instead of shrinking into the couch out of hurt, you clung to him, peppering kisses to the side of his neck.

“I love you, R̼̗̗̹̻̄ͭͦ͌͜u̶͙̱͌ͩm̺̠͉̥͖͖ͯ͢i̖͕͚͗̽̓…”

" Y/N…"

You smiled. You loved how your name left his lips.

“I love you too, Takuto…”

You glanced out toward the window.

It's twilight now.

#my writing #scenario #takuto maruki #maruki x reader #persona 5 x reader #persona 5 royal #persona 5 royal spoilers #dubcon cw #corruption cw #mind manipulation cw #loss of virginity #persona 5 #takuto maruki x reader #kinktober 2020 #not sfw

122 notes · View notes

ancient-day · 3 years

Text

On the Third Semester and PT Awareness

Over the year, I’ve seen various interpretations concerning the third semester and how “guilty” the Phantom Thieves are in falling prey to Maruki’s reality, and I wanted to throw out my own take and observation on the group. And this observation is based under the assumption that Akira has reached Confidant Rank 10 with every single party member, including Akechi and Sumire.

This isn’t to argue with anyone, and I’m not looking to make any sort of “I’m right; therefore, you’re wrong if you don’t agree” arguments here because at the end of the day, responses to media will always vary, and these characters are all human enough to have a multitude of interpretations. That does not make them badly written, it simply means that we as the audience may have different understandings based on our own personal experiences that impact how we view the characters.

With all that being said, I’ll get right into it. Do I think the PT were “bad friends” to Akira in the third semester? Short answer: It’s complicated, and different friends fulfill different needs. Long answer, below.

Starting with Akechi.

I’m gonna get this out of the way, but worry not, this isn’t an elaborate excuse to gush about their bond even if they’re my favorite characters. Bias aside, Akira and Akechi have a solid bond where they’ve finally come to rely on each other, and we finally get to see that come into play in this final arc of the game.

In Rank 8, Akechi expresses admiration for Akira’s strength and admits that he’d be relying on him in a pinch.

And this is exactly what he does when he seeks out Akira as soon as he’s let out of police custody. He notices things are odd and immediately goes to the person he knows he can rely on so that they can figure it out together. It’s painted as a deal, and obviously that appears strictly transactional, but that’s exactly how Akira has operated in his own relationships. He makes deals with his confidants; this is nothing new.

He even admits that he’d have snapped Akira out of the delusion, just like Akira does for all his other friends (albeit in a much less gentle way, but in his defense, he’s not exactly equipped for gently talking someone out of their happiness).

So for better or for worse, Akechi’s here with all the straightforwardness and sharp edges you could expect from someone dragged back from death’s door to deal with yet another manipulative adult trying to control his and his friend’s lives. He isn’t without his sympathetic moments, but for the most part, he’s clearly trying to be the consistent voice of reason when anyone may falter.

One of the most incredible displays of this is 2/2. By this point, all of the PT have been broken out of their trance, and they’re well aware that Maruki is going to confront Akira, especially because Akechi basically goes out of his way to point out that it’s the most likely scenario in their group chat.

Even though they all know this, they trust Akira to be able to handle this as their leader and to reach out if he needs anything. The problem here is that... Akira isn’t exactly known to do this. By now, they’ve all known him for a year, and they know that he handles most of his shit alone (mostly due to the Protagonist ProblemTM where the protag has to be mostly self-reliant to give the player something to do, but there are also instances of Akira deliberately hiding his pain and trauma from others to ease their minds [his headaches and responses to Shido]).

So why are they making him do it alone? Why isn’t anyone on stand-by? It’s possible they consider Morgana as enough support, so perhaps the thought never crosses their mind. Even Morgana is apprehensive about the whole thing, but doesn’t advise him to contact anyone else.

So who does give him back-up? Akechi. He doesn’t invite himself in, he doesn’t text Akira to let him know he’s just outside in case he needs him, and he doesn’t draw attention to it until Maruki calls him out.

He could be here for any number of reasons, and it doesn’t even have to be just one reason. But let’s assume he’s here because he wants to make sure Akira won’t be swayed by Maruki’s words or the temptation of his life without him being present to speak for himself. In both cases, he’s emotionally backing Akira up and going out of his way to help in his own way.

This speaks volumes for his strength of resolve and how far he’s come.

I don’t need to discuss the rest of this interaction because the primary focus is that Akechi demonstrates his friendship by being there for Akira even when his year-long friends weren’t (physically).

But are they bad friends for not doing this?

Not necessarily. Not everyone has this kind of strength and awareness to understand their friends on this level. Akira and Akechi understand each other well because they’re very similar at their core. This isn’t necessarily bias because the game goes out of its way to show and tell us this (hell, Arsene’s and Loki’s silhouettes are strikingly similar!). It makes them inconsiderate perhaps, but it doesn’t mean that they’re overall bad friends.

It’s not completely their fault that they buy Akira’s stoic leader personality. He doesn’t really give them much to work with, and as much as we all want to believe that we’d do better as friends, sometimes you really do think people can handle the problems they say they can and just hope that they’ll come to you when they need you. It’s human.

So rewinding now that I’m done focusing on what Akechi offered as a friend this semester and going back to the PT being under Maruki’s influence.

Each of the thieves offers Akira an apology during their third awakening, and I’m sure many people found this highly unnecessary because as far as we know, they were completely brainwashed by Maruki’s control on the world around them. However, if this were the case, then why would they feel so deeply apologetic? I have a couple theories about this.

One. This would be the second time Akira has to push them out of their own wallowing (the first time in the Velvet Room just before fighting Yaldabaoth), and their resolves back then would appear flimsy to them now having fallen under yet another form of manipulation. Where before they were ready to submit to the hopelessness and sloth, here they’re falling under Maruki’s spell because a strong enough part of them desired things to be different regardless of how far they’d come and how much they’d grown.

Two. Because they were at least partially aware things were odd and willingly chose to ignore it because they didn’t want to confront the truth.

This is said before the third awakenings, right after the group comes to rescue Akira and Akechi and help defeat berserk!Cendrillon. While the group had a conversation about vaguely remembering events that contradict their happy reality prior to this, this confirms that at least Futaba was aware things were odd even before Akira tried to snap her out of it. Whether this is due to her navigation abilities or her awakening having been linked to her desire to never again turn her eyes away from the truth, it’s hard to say. But this is important to note that while they were tempted by Maruki, at least one person in the group was aware that things were odd and willingly chose not to question it.

Can we blame her? Of course not. But it’s still worth pointing out that this situation isn’t so clear as “the PT had absolutely zero idea that they were in an odd situation until Akira tried to wake them from it.”

So what about everyone else? What do they really have to be sorry for?

Morgana apologizes for not holding true to his resolve, and he feels as though he’s let both himself and Akira down in doing so. He also acknowledges that he’s responsible for shoving all his own problems onto Akira and vows to change this.

While he doesn’t seem to admit to any awareness that things were odd before Akira put the idea in his head, it seems like he still holds himself responsible for having had doubts in his resolve that he’d reached with Akira in their rank 10. And these doubts caused him to rely on that false happiness and turn his back on Akira, even if he didn’t mean to.

I think it’s great that he brings attention to this and wants to be more independent. Of course Akira will still be there for him, but it’s not healthy for either of them for Morgana to have put him in this position, and now they can continue growing in their friendship. And so when he promises to protect Akira from here on out, it’s a vow that rings true because he had the strength to confront his own weaknesses, admit to them, and apologize for how they hurt someone he cares deeply about. Sometimes we hurt people we love without meaning to or when we’re caught up in ourselves.

And these characters are teenagers. They’re inherently pretty selfish, which isn’t an evil or bad thing so much as it’s a stage of life that makes it difficult to look outside yourself. Makoto even admits to this in her own apology.

When we’re fans of these characters, our instinct is to say you didn’t do anything wrong; you have nothing to apologize for, but these apologies aren’t coming out of no where, and they’re allowed to reflect and regret what they’ve done even if they didn’t mean to.

And I know I already touched on Futaba’s situation here, but there’s something else in her third awakening that shows her bond with Akira and adds to her guilt. She specifically fears that she’s betrayed him and hurt him greatly, even though he reassures her she hasn’t. Why does this stand out to me? Because all throughout Royal, one of Akira’s consistent fears is the fear of betrayal.

And this shows that Futaba knows him well enough to know this is something that hurts him personally, and she’s worried she did that to him. While the hurt isn’t as severe as she fears, it’s a fair assumption for her to come to after having admitted that she willingly turned away from the truth.

I’m going to cut the awakenings here because I don’t have much else to add about the entirety of the PT because it could end up redundant, but these were specific examples that show that they do have things to apologize to Akira for, and it’s not a matter of them blaming themselves for being “brainwashed” so much as them apologizing for once again putting Akira in a position where he has to snap them out of their weaknesses after they’ve promised to be there for him.

The overall impression I get from their responsibility in the matter is that to an extent, all of them probably experienced something similar to what Futaba described about having felt something was off initially but ignored/denied it until Akira came to them and really made them confront it out loud. Her sense of it may have been the strongest, but I still think there has to be some degree in each of them, even if faint.

This makes them human, flawed yet sympathetic. They’re allowed to mess up in their friendships, especially since a majority of them have close to no experience with friendship as is. Akechi isn’t the better support here due to his own skills in friendship; he and Akira have a special understanding of one another because they’re extremely similar and aren’t convinced by masks and appearances. And Akechi has been severely manipulated, so he knows damn well that Akira’s gonna need back-up against another manipulative person even if he thinks he can handle it alone. Akechi’s been there and he knows how that goes.

So it’s not necessarily a matter of him being the better friend overall so much as they’re all Akira’s close friends and support him in various ways. And ideally, Akira should have that in his friend group. There are things that the PT can offer that Akechi can’t, and vice versa. But I think it’s more than fair to acknowledge when the PT slip up and have a messy handling of their relationships.

They’re all growing and learning.

#jest ramblings #whoops i rambled but there are at least screenshots here?#I was gonna go through each of the 3rd tier awakenings but tbh this is already so long #kingdom queue

38 notes · View notes

yandere-daydreams · 4 years

Text

A Yandere!Takuto Maruki/Reader commission for the very lovely, very patient @furudolove for Persona 5 Royal. I’ve never played a Persona game and I don’t plan to, but I can hope I got the majority of Maruki’s character, in this. He’d so idyllic, and so delusional... He’d make a wonderful Yandere, if I knew a little more about the series.

Word Count: 3.0k

TW: Imprisonment, Emotional Manipulation, Gaslighting, and Isolation.

You could feel every detail of the cot underneath you.

It would’ve been impossible not to. Prominent, pointed springs poked through the thin mattress and prodded at your back, biting into your arms, your legs, any patch of open skin they could find and force themselves into without objection. You took it in, for a moment, your body too sore and your mind too drained to do anything but lay back and let the chilled air wash over you, too cold to be natural, too sterile. When you opened your eyes, you did so reluctantly, but there was nothing to ease your anxiety. Above you was a plain, tiled ceiling, glowing with an artificial light you couldn’t quite name the source of, not unlike the lamp you might place above the cage of a reptile, and the rest of the room seemed to fall into place as your eyes found it, a desk and a pair of chairs coming into existence as you struggled to comprehend the world you’d fallen into. They were white and unmarked, your bed bolted to a floor speckled with grey dots. Like the presidential suite of a freshly renovated asylum.

You weren’t certain where you were, but you were sure you’d never been here before.

And you knew you didn’t want to be any longer than you had to.

Slowly, you pushed yourself up, your back aching under the strain, protesting any slight shift, as if you’d fallen too far and landed too suddenly. A similar pain was quick to make itself known in the back of your head, and thoughtlessly, you brought up a hand to try and soothe the knots of pressure tying themselves in the back of your skull. You hissed as your fingertips made contact with the worst spot, the area tender, bruised, but you didn’t have much time to investigate.

As soon as you’d begun to examine the area in earnest, there was a hand around your wrist, pulling your arm away gently and hesitating to release it when you failed to resist. Your attention turned to the man now standing above you, and suddenly, you were startlingly aware of just how muddled your mind had become, how difficult it was to formulate any thought beyond general observations about your current predicament. His features, although vaguely familiar, were blurry, unfocused, and you couldn’t bring yourself to try to put a name to his face. You didn’t have to, though, not when his voice was more than enough to identify him.

“You shouldn’t push yourself,” Your counselor, Takuto Maruki, explained. “I’d hate to see you hurt yourself this early on.”

You opened your mouth, but he was quick to hush you, letting your hand fall into your lap and repositioning himself, smiling as he lowered himself to your height. It was all you could do to stare in his direction, a million questions playing on your tongue, the least indescribable of which had to do with his attire, suddenly too formal, and the grin he was barely trying to conceal, wide and welcoming, only broadening at the slightest hints of your acknowledgment. “I know this seems strange,” He began, his speech rehearsed, as if he’d been preparing it while you were unconscious. “But there’s no reason to be afraid, anymore. You’re in a better place, now, a better reality, one where you can be what you’ve been trying so hard to be, with my help.”

“I don’t understand,” You whispered, drawing your knees to your chest, your voice smaller than you’d like it to be. The creak of the ancient bedframe threatened to drown it out. “I can’t… You want me to change?”

“I want you to be what you’ve always wanted to be.” This time, when he took your hand, he held it close to his chest, a wide, self-satisfied smile spreading across Maruki’s lips. As if he couldn’t be more proud, and expected you to be just as exultant. “You’re in so much pain as you are, (Y/n). I want to take that away. I’ll satisfy your desires, make you the person you want to be. Assertive, brave, confident.” He paused, squeezing your hand a little too tightly for the gesture to go unnoticed. “We’ll rule this place together. You’ll have everything you’ve ever wanted, and I’ll have you by my side. We’ll be happy.”

You blinked, once, twice, your gaze flickering from your knees, to the ground, to Maruki’s face, still alight with anticipation as he waited for your answer. You could only think to say the obvious.

“I’m sorry, but… I’d rather not.”

Maruki visited twice a day.

Or, it felt like twice a day, at least. It was difficult to tell, when the sky outside your windows was always dark and the lights were always on, remaining bright and untouched regardless of how many times you threw your few, meager possessions towards the unfaltering ceiling. You were given books to occupy yourself with, games and consoles to play them on, but the hours were long and he seemed to be the only company you were allowed. You were tempted to complain, but it was difficult to find your voice, when he was around. When anyone was around, really, but you tried not to think about that. Not when there were so many other things to keep your concern yourself with.

For example, the location of your prison, relative to the world you should be a part of. And, preferably, how you got back to the latter of the two.

When you asked, you didn’t dare think. You swallowed your nerves and spit out the words, keeping your eyes narrowed on the pad of lined paper in front of you. Maruki had handed it over the moment you expressed an interest in the object, but you had yet to decipher its contents. To you, it just seemed like a list of names, only a handful of which you recognized. “Where am I?”

“It’s complicated,” He answered, automatically. As if he’d expected you to ask this question sooner. “It’s… It’s my perfect reality. One where everyone can be exactly what they want to be, and have everything they long for. There’s more of it than-” He motioned vaguely around the room, clearly unimpressed with its contents. You couldn’t say you blamed him. “-this, but I didn’t want to smother you. I know how overwhelmed you can get, sometimes.”

“I’m working on that,” You mumbled, immediately longing to take it back. If anyone knew what you were working on, it was Maruki, the man who you considered to be one of your closest confidants less than a week ago. He was a kind man, and you’d trusted him… You still trusted him, honestly. It was impossible to stop, once you’d already allowed yourself to open up. “And there’s no way out of… ‘your reality’, is there? Without your help, I mean.”

Maruki took offense to that. He’d been seated at your desk, for the duration of this visit, maintaining a professional distance, but he stood when you brought up the topic of leaving. You heard a sigh as soft, measured footsteps made their way to your side. He hadn’t tried to close the distance between you two since you first woke up. Rather, he slid onto the end of your bed, his back coming to rest against the barred footboard, his legs left to intermingle with yours in the space between. It felt intimate, and as if by instinct, you were against it. “I don’t want you to feel like your a prisoner--”

“I am a prisoner,” You interrupted. “I can’t leave, so I’m a prisoner.”

“You’re a guest.” He sounded disappointed, but firm, his eyes flickering over your face and attempting to meet yours. You looked away, once again attempting to focus on his many, nonsensical lists. “I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to make you happy. I can make people different, here, and I can make you different.” He finished with a bright, broad smile, only realizing his mistake a moment after your hurt became palpable. “Wait, that’s not what I - You won’t be different. You’ll be what you’re meant to be.” He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees, beaming forward like there was nowhere in the world he’d rather be. “Nothing about you will change. If anything, you’ll be more you than you are now. Everyone here is. I can show you around, if you let me help you.”

“If I let you control me.” He opened his mouth, ready to provide another repetitive rebuttal, but you didn’t let him, biting the inside of your cheek as you fought to continue. “That’s what it is, right? You know I won’t fight, not once you’ve got me trapped in your little, perfect daydream. The only thing I can’t think of is why you don’t just-” You waved a hand in some vague, arbitrary gesture, attempting to vent your frustration physically. The effects were minimal, at best. “-do it, already. If this was really your reality, you wouldn’t keep asking for my consent.”

“It has to be your choice.” The declaration wasn’t triumphant, or altruistic, or anything less than pained. As if it hurt him to admit it. “I know you need to make progress. You want this to be your accomplishment, and I’m not going to take that away from you. I want you to be proud, (Y/n), I do, but I can help. This can be our achievement. I can make it so--”

“So I forget I hate myself?” Before you knew it, you were on your feet, your fists clenched at your sides and your vision red. You were angry. There wasn’t a point in denying it, why would you? He was the only person you’d spoken too in weeks, and it wasn’t like there was much to discuss. You had no one to protect your reputation from, and you refused to strive to prove yourself to Maruki. He didn’t deserve that. Regardless of how badly he wanted to try to act like he did, he didn’t. You were sure of that.

You had to be sure of that.

“I don’t want to be some brainwashed doll you can tow around as a shining example of how wonderful your fucked-up therapy is. I’m not who you want me to be, I’m not who I want me to be, I’m me. I have to be the one to deal with that, even if I have to do it on my own. There’s no quick-fix, or magic solution, or ‘cognitive wrap’, whatever you’ve been calling it. That’s not what I need.” You gasped, if only to stop yourself from losing your temper. You’d started to pace without realizing it, and when you came to a stop, you were facing one of the dull, white walls. It was fitting, you guessed. You didn’t want to see his response, not right away. “Remember the first time we met? When I went to you for advice?

His reply was delayed. It came with a soft exhale, ragged, but tamer than yours. Nostalgic, even. “You shook like a leaf. How could I forget?”

“I was terrified,” You admitted, letting a fraction of the tension in your body dissolve. “I was in a bad place, and it took me days to scrape up the courage to tell someone about it. If you’d made your offer then…” You let out a sad, breathy laugh, the sound as humorless as it was dry. “You said I had to believe I could make progress before I relied on anyone else. That’s what I’m doing. You can’t guilt me for following your advice.”

There was a beat of silence, a moment where you genuinely could’ve thought he’d begun to understand. Then, Maruki opened his mouth, and you were snapped out of that fantasy as abruptly as you’d been thrown into it. “I loved you back then, too. As much as I do now. If I could’ve done anything to end your suffering, I would’ve.”

You didn’t hesitate, your voice just loud enough for him to hear. “I think you should leave.”

“(Y/n), I--”

“Please, Takuto,” You interrupted, your nails beginning to dig into your palms. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

There was a huff. A sigh. But, you didn’t look over your shoulder until the metal-plated door had swung shut, a lock clicking into place from the other side, leaving you more alone than you had been before he made his daily visit.

For whatever reason, you had a feeling you wouldn’t be getting a second, that day.

Isolation was a tenuous thing.

You couldn’t keep track of time. Not here, not in this room, not when the sky never changed color and you never really felt hungry or thirsty or much of anything at all, if it didn’t have to do with Maruki and his ‘perfect world’. But, after your first real argument, Maruki had stayed away long enough to make his absence known, rather than just a particularly long lapse between tense encounters. It might’ve been a day, a week, a month, but you didn’t care about the specifics.

It was long enough to make you miss him. You supposed that was all that mattered.

There was a unique intimacy in the hand he rested on the center of your back, the steady fingers of a practiced professional rubbing slow, deliberate circles into the space just below your shoulder-blade. He hadn’t gotten this close before. He could’ve, you wouldn’t have had the courage to stop him, but after so much time spent alone with your own thoughts, this was the first time you truly embraced his presence by your side, his knee almost touching yours. Anything to make it feel like you weren’t trapped inside your own head.

He allowed you to sit in silence for a moment or two, your face buried in your palms and your legs crossed, keeping you perched on the edge of the bed, allowing you to wallow in your own self-pity and a fraction of his, too. Maruki didn’t seem to mind. He smiled, the expression nothing short of nurturing, pushing you a little close to the cliffside between you and the flawless, guilt-ridden submission he so very much to shove you towards. The way he spoke wasn’t any better, just as kind. As sickeningly tender as the rest of his facade. “I pushed you too far,” He admitted, a half-hearted laugh lacing the edges of his confession. “Too much ground to cover, never enough time. I should’ve let you think.”

You sighed, the sound desolate, miserable. A poor imitation of something that should’ve brought relief. “It’s not… It’s not just that. I’d never really adjust to…” You trailed off, swinging your legs over the cot’s side, kicking idly at the well-scoffed tiles. “...Whatever this is. Maybe you should work on that. Make a Visitor’s Center for your next abductee.”

“I’ll make you the host,” He added, prodding your side with an elbow. “My offer still stands, if you’ve changed your mind.”

You leaned against him. You leaned against him, and you rested your head on his shoulder and you let out another labored, languid sigh, somehow more sorrowful than your last. “I think you know what I’m going to say, Takuto.”

His collected grin pressed against the top of your head as he pushed a kiss into your scalp, a gentle hand coming up to draw you into a one-sided hug. You allowed it, indulged it, even, smiling up at him as he pulled away. Maruki took his time standing, stretching idly and holding out a single hand, letting something long and golden appear in his palm, a staff that tapered off into a sharpened point on one end, and sprouted into a shining, petaled star on the other. You were shocked for a moment, both by the gaudiness of the object and how wrong it seemed in Maruki’s hand, but you didn’t have much time to linger on the new addition. Not when he was so quick to draw your attention away.

“I think I’m too nice to you,” He started, still facing the furthest wall. “That’s the common factor. I get ahead of myself, and then I try to make it up to you with time and understanding and all the things I assume you’ll want. That just makes you hostile, though. I’ll try something different, next time. Something less… personal. On my end, at least.”

There were a dozen things you could’ve said. Accusations, questions, everything in between and a handful of options you hadn’t thought of, yet. But, as soon as you opened your mouth, your eyes were closing, your body collapsing and a supreme sense of exhaustion washing over you, traveling hand in hand with dizziness and every other sensation that could’ve urged you to sleep. Every other tortuous thing Maruki could’ve forced onto your mind to bend you to his whim.

You felt yourself fall to the floor just as your vision went black.

You woke up on a cot that squeaked when you moved.

It was an awful noise, rusted out and worn down, and it only got worse as you forced your body to move, pushing yourself into a more respectable position with arms that didn’t want to cooperate. They ached, argued, screamed, and you had a feeling they would creak too, if they could. The room around you was blurry, blurry and smudged and alien, and you realized rather numbly that you didn’t know where you were.

You realized you didn’t know where you were, and alarmingly, you realized you didn’t care.

You didn’t have to. There was already a familiar face at your side, one hand clamped around your bicep and the other resting on your shoulder, holding you up when you failed to do so yourself. It was your counselor, Takuto Maruki, smiling as brightly as ever.

“I have an offer for you,” He said, once you’d regained your balance. “One I have a feeling you’ll like.”

Without thinking, you found yourself nodding along.

149 notes · View notes

thewinterwaifu · 4 years

Text

Believe

Pairing:Akechi x reader

Gender of reader:female

Word count:1049

Genre:fluff

Warnings:really heavy spoilers for both persona 5 and persona 5 royal (last palace info)

Plot summary:Y/n and Akechi are in Mementos and the danger of a certain encounter causes them to come to term with their feelings

A/N:Even though I write a lot of Akechi for my friend I still write him very ooc because I suck oop-. Okay but seriously this has huge spoilers

Akechi wasn’t dense. Otherwise, he would never been able to make it as a detective. No, he picked up on every little subtle clue and hint the world threw at him. It hadn’t been a challenge for him to figure out how Y/N felt about him. Perhaps it was even safe to assume that he had noticed it before she had even realized she was in love herself.

And being honest, Akechi felt the same, so why hadn’t he said anything yet?Well, he still didn’t believe it. He knew most people saw him as attractive, so why was he still surprised all the same?Well, she knew who he truly was. All the horrible things he had done, how he had betrayed the Phantom Thieves. So why? Why did her feelings persist?

He wished he could get an answer. For once, he was completely lost, no hypothesis or theory to hang on to. He just couldn’t...Of course, he didn’t want to voice his curiosity and feelings. If they got together, many on the group would surely judge her right?He didn’t want to cause her even more trouble than he already had.

“Being awfully silent today, detective” Y/N pointed out as they walked through Mementos. Akechi had tried to convince her than coming here on their own with nobody else’s help was a bad idea, especially with the reaper roaming around, but she was too stubborn. She would have come here alone if he didn’t comply and that was even more dangerous. As such, he had no choice but to join her.

“Well” he said with a frown “I didn’t know what you were expecting, since I was forced to come here!” he said.

“Forced?You agreed, didn’t you?” she said raising an eyebrow “You came here by your own account”

“Not really no. You said you’d just come here on your own” he reminded her, rolling her eyes.

“Exactly!Where’s the part where I forced you to come along?”

“Believe it or not, I don’t want you to get killed off. And not just because we need you to defeat Maruki” he said in a serious tone, looking into her eyes, or trying to at least. The masks made it a bit complicated

That took her a bit by surprise. She knew he cared about Joker, but her? Why her? Now she was the one with her mouth shut, at a loss for words.

“Cat got your tongue? Who’s the silent one now?” Akechi asked, raising an eyebrow. Yeah, he could get like this sometimes.

“Why?” she asked bluntly, getting straight to the point.

“Why what?” he said, feeling his cheeks blush for the first time in years. Well,fuck.

“Don’t play dumb!You know what I’m talking about Goro!”

“Why does it even matter?” he countered.

“Don’t answer a question with another question!” Y/N said. “That trick won’t work with me, you know that”

Suddenly, they were both silenced by the sound of rattling chains drawing closer. No time for aguing. Following his instincts in a panic, Akechi grabbed her wrist before he started running, dragging her as she ran as well. Well, this way harder when they didn’t have the Mona car.

As if it was a miracle though, they managed to get the next floor, making Akechi let go of her.

“Ouch…” she panted, looking at her wrist. His grip had been too tight and rough.

“Sorry”

Wow, she didn’t think she could get even more surprised today.

“No it’s fine, it was my fault for starting that discussion when I knew that thing would ambush us eventually…”

“Well, I didn’t stop you so I’m equally as guilty. But I hope that now you see this move was foolish. Let’s just go back, right now”

Unable to argue, Y/N simply nodded. Once out of metaverse, he started walking her home and both of them stayed silent all the while. They both gave each other a quick look every once in a while, hoping not to get caught. Sometimes their gazes did meet and they soon looked away again in embarrassment.

She couldn’t take it any longer. Once they reached her doorstep, he turned around, planning to go, but she stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulders.

“Hold on” she said. No, she couldn’t just leave him go like this.

“What?” he said, not even turning his head. No, that would show his blush and would be way too embarrassing.

“What you said earlier. What did you mean by it?”

He knew he couldn’t play dumb, she had already called him out for that in Mementos. But...he could still turn the tables, he was a resourceful one.

“Why don’t you take a guess?” he challenged her, wondering what she would reply.

“I...don’t know” Y/N said.

“Come on, you can do better than that”

“I just don’t see why would you-”

Goro finally turned around,shaking his head.

“Do I really have to spell it out for you?I have a crush on you” he...didn’t know where that came from. It had been an impulsive move, his subconscious had betrayed him.

“Goro I...feel the same way.” she admitted.

“I know. Known for a while” he said.

“Well then why didn’t you say anything?” she said in a confused tone.

“I was waiting for your feelings to fade” he confessed “I assumed they wouldn’t last long after I betrayed you and the others. I just can’t believe you still like me...why would you?I can’t figure it out and it drives me crazy.Why?”

“...Because I know you’re a good person, deep down” she said, looking into his eyes.

Akechi burst into laughter, thinking she was just messing with him.

“Please don’t lie to me. I just need an answer...so spit it out!” he said, growing even more upset.

“I meant it!That’s the truth!”

It...was?He found that hard to believe...then again he had found her crush hard to believe and yet here they were.

“Is it selfish of me to ask you to be with me then?Knowing you’re mistaken…?”

“I’ll show you I’m not” she said leaning in, letting their lips finally kiss like they had been yearning for what felt like an eternity.

#persona 5 #persona 5 royal #goro akechi #akechi goro #akechi #akechi x reader #goro akechi x reader #akechi goro x reader #persona 5 the royal #persona 5 fics

97 notes · View notes

innenofutari · 4 years

Text

On Goro Akechi’s morals and forgiveness (character analysis, but also just a very rambly post)

Akechi is… a very interesting character, I have no doubt about this. Also my favorite of course, if you hadn’t figured that out yet by this giant text you’re about to read (sorry). I have a lot I want to talk about in regards to him since he is so intriguing and we actually don’t have that much info about how his thought process works so it leaves a lot of room for speculation.

In any case, in this meta in specific I’m going to be talking about Akechi’s...morality(?), forgiveness and his relationship with regret. I’m not sure if that’s the best word to define this but I’ll roll with it for now. I’ll try to be fair and talk about things as I personally see them, it’s totally fine if you don’t share my views! Now, onto the actual meta.

Starting off, as people are obviously aware, Akechi is a morally gray character, a darker shade of, but he’s a sympathetic and tragic character nonetheless. That much is undeniable, he was written to be sympathetic, even if I’d argue Atlus did a pretty poor job of it in Vanilla (he was still my favorite ever since then though lol) but he’s reached his true potential in Royal, which makes me immensely happy to see. I get so unbelievably happy whenever I see people saying Royal changed their perception of him and started to like him more! But even then, there are a lot of people who just can’t forgive him for what he did, and that’s only natural. I personally think that, if you don’t try to sympathize with Akechi and truly, truly try to understand his mind and history, you’re doing him a huge disservice. But, forgiveness is something that everyone is free to think and decide if he deserves it or not. In Akechi’s case, I feel like forgiveness is something much more personal to the player, and this shows between the Phantom Thieves too.

There is a visual novel I hold very close to my heart called Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (which I’ll be quoting relentlessly throughout this entire post) that illustrates what I think better than I could put into words, so I’ll be quoting that scene with a few tweaks for better context:

“You said you understood the culprit’s motive.”

“...Yes.”

“Is that motive… a satisfying explanation for why they’d [commit murder]?!”

“Who knows. That’s for you to decide. Even if I say it’s satisfying, that doesn’t mean it will satisfy you. …You have to decide that for yourself.”

I really like this. It reminds me a lot of Akechi’s situation. I firmly believe that this has no “objective”, “most correct” answer to, just your personal feelings, which are the most important. I, as a player, do forgive Akechi, I want him to have a happy ending, another chance at life, manage to live happily with Akira and have some fun for once. That’s what “forgiveness” means to me in this situation, but while some people may empathize with Akechi, they still can’t forgive him. They think he should stay forever in jail or die since he cannot be redeemed in any way in their eyes. Where do I wanna go with this endless blabbering you ask, and I respond, I just want to try and see Akechi’s actions through two different lenses.

Well, I personally don’t like downplaying the crimes he committed and dumbing it down to “he was being manipulated” because, even if this is not false, it is not entirely correct either. Akechi is so fun to speculate about because he’s a character who is always clashing against himself in various ways as if he was in a constant state of internal turmoil, and this is not very different.

Akechi himself made the choice to go to Shido. It is extremely unlikely that he didn’t know he was going to be using his new powers for murder. He may have been very young, but despite the fact that he was a child forced to mature prematurely, he knew exactly which type of person Shido was. When he walked into that deal he was aware of the consequences and had fully made peace with the fact that he’d be taking another person’s life. Now, I’m not saying that Shido never manipulated him because he did, but not with that particular choice.

This alone tells plenty about Akechi’s morals. I believe that Akechi indeed has some level of empathy for other people, but I sincerely doubt he feels especially bad about the Okumura-like people he had to kill. He might feel bad for the family of the victims or just feel nauseated with himself, however, he doesn’t regret a thing. As if he had grown numb to it. ...Until a certain point, that is, but I’ll talk about that later.

I would also like to elaborate further on Akechi’s continuous conflict with himself, and this particular piece of Maruki’s confidant immediately reminded me of this:

He’s talking about Akira here, but isn’t it interesting to note that Akechi’s internalized and externalized realities are, in contrast to Akira’s, the farthest they could possibly be from each other? His sense of justice, childlike desire to be loved and seen as a hero, in contrast to the cold-blooded murderer he had become? It’s like there are two people fighting it out inside of Akechi’s brain (lol) which must cause him a lot of distress. I don’t believe that Robin Hood is a ruse or that his Detective Prince façade is entirely fake. The way I see it, they are his ideal, which he strayed so far away from he lost grasp of who he himself is.

In my opinion, Akechi has never cared about fame the slightest bit, he used all of that as an opportunity to act out the person he wished he was, just and virtuous, while still being the feral murderer and bloodstained person he is today. These are two integral parts of him that he has never known how to reconcile. It’s interesting to note that in the third semester he was the one who since the beginning advocated firmly to return to the harsh reality but he had spent the entire game living in the comforting “detective prince” dream he made for himself until the engine room scene happened.

With the third semester context, the engine room becomes so interesting because that scene is akin to Sumire finding out she’s not Kasumi. It’s a cold bucket of water thrown straight to Akechi’s face and telling him to wake up from this lie he made to comfort himself and face reality: he is no hero. Despite the fact that he is, too, a victim, he is simultaneously a murderer who perpetuated with the cycle of his father’s aggressions and he cannot escape that fact. Worse, he was being manipulated all along and his revenge plan and arguably his only reason to live AND justification for his actions was completely crushed.

Once again, this Umineko scene illustrates what I think Akechi’s situation up until that point was like:

Akechi rationalized every awful, inexcusable thing he did as, “It’s for my revenge’s sake” and ran with it. He was incredibly blinded by his hate and ignored the weight of the consequences of his actions up until that point where everything came crashing down right in front of his eyes. There is no excuse and no justification for that.

However, Akechi was also abused himself. There is no excuse for what he did, but is getting back at the person who took everything from him so reprehensible a thought? Is wanting justice against someone who essentially ruined your life not understandable? Many people like to say “cool motive still murder” or things of the like, but I’m asking you again to put yourself in his shoes.

Yet AGAIN with a Umineko screencap:

I played this the other day and one of the first things I thought of was Akechi. A lot of people draw parallels between Akechi and Adachi, but that’s just so damn wrong and make me lose my hair so much and become completely bald because that couldn’t be farther from the truth and I’m gently asking you to reconsider. In the pic above, Adachi would fit the “homicidal maniac” mentioned to a T, and while Akechi is by absolutely no means free of guilt and much less a stellar person, his crimes were moved completely by his heart.

For the people who use his choice to become Shido’s hitman to say Akechi does not deserve any kind of forgiveness and that he’s a murderous maniac, I ask you to at least think of what state of mind he was at that moment. Think very hard about it, imagine how completely bleak life must have looked like then, to the point that he risked everything on murder.

This is nothing more than my speculation, but I believe Akechi’s thought process at that moment was something along the lines of, “I have nothing to lose since my (current) life is completely meaningless". It was as if he had reached such a numb state he chose to forgo all his morals and humanity in pursuit of at least one thing that would give his life meaning, that being his hate for Shido, which I also think was the only emotion he ever truly understood well ever since his mom passed.

Since Akechi is all about conflicting emotions though, I would also like to remind you how vulnerable Akechi really is to any kind of affection. His “childlikeness” that Robin Hood represents was, by all accounts, still there. Akechi has a desperate need to be loved while simultaneously putting up walls and wearing masks, making it extremely difficult to have any kind of meaningful relationship. This is something that Shido thoroughly takes advantage of, too.

That’s also why one of his lines to Akira hit so much harder for me, following this reasoning. “If only we had met a few years earlier,” expresses many emotions at once. If Akechi had known something other than misery and hatred during that period of his life he would not have latched so thoroughly to that revenge plan. Akechi simply had nothing to lose, since he had nothing at all.

I mentioned earlier that Akechi doesn’t regret a thing, which I still think it’s true. Before he had met Akira, he truly did not regret a thing, but meeting Akira caused him a lot of strife because not only Akira is a person whose whole existence flaunts everything Akechi could have had if he hadn’t fallen into fate’s trap, but Akechi also experiences happiness through his connection with Akira. Hanging out and talking to him truly makes him happy, and it’s something more genuine than he’s ever known. Yet, it’s too late, because his choices were already set in stone and he had already pulled the trigger with no way to take any of the bullets back.

That’s why Akechi is so confusing, so controversial and sometimes uncomfortable to think about. There is no clear line between good or bad, he just is something in the middle. Akechi is both a person who ruined a lot of people’s lives with no regard whatsoever to the consequences but also a victim rebelling and retaliating against the person who took everything from him and made his life a living hell. That’s why it’s so hard for not only some players to form opinions about him but also downright uncomfortable for the Phantom Thieves to think about. There is no objectively best answer for what he deserves. It just doesn’t exist. Should he spend the rest of his life in jail, or dead, because his crimes were inexcusable? Or should he be given another chance at life to learn to be happy? It’s entirely subjective, and that’s why he’s so great to think or discuss about.

Aaand that’s it, I’m grateful you read so far, hope I didn’t piss anyone off, also not gonna pretend this wasn’t very self indulgent because of the amount of times I quoted Umineko in it. Anyways, thank you!

SIDE NOTE: I didn’t write this recently, it had been sitting on my drafts for some months now and I found it again today and decided to just release it into the wild because why not? I think this was meant to be much longer than it is and to elaborate more eloquently on a lot of points I brought up (like the PT with Akechi) but alas, I lost the train of thought and so it Perished.

#goro akechi #meta #p5r spoilers #persona 5 #p5 #persona 5 royal #character analysis #long post

133 notes · View notes

violet--crown · 4 years

Text

The Supposed Audience Surrogate And His Confidants

I believe that Ren (/Akira/Joker/Inmate/Haremfucker249/Whatever you want to call him) is a much more interesting character than the game presents him as in the Confidants. Although he does have his moments, in the Confidants he serves to be the shoulder to cry on for all the characters and through player choice reflects back to them what they want to see. Although this is never truly elaborated on, I do think it’s very interesting, but it doesn’t change the fact that in the Confidant routes Ren is reduced to a boring audience surrogate. I do believe he can both be explored as a character in the Confidant routes while also being careful with his words to make others like him. I want to examine how the Confidants could potentially be altered to make Ren less of a brick wall and to make the relationships feel more two-sided.

The except to the rule is the Justice Confidant. When paired with Akechi, Ren truly gets to shine as a character.

(P5R Spoilers Ahead)

Justice

Akechi’s Confidant stands out from the others. All the Confidants follow a similar pattern where the subject of the Confidant has to struggle with an internal and/or external conflict (usually both). Ann and Makoto are two good examples. Ann’s internal struggle is with finding her inner strength and drawing strength from those around her and the external conflict focuses on her job as a model and Mika’s antagonistic interference. Makoto struggles to find direction in her life when she’s no longer following anyone else’s plan and the external conflict is helping Eiko.

Akechi can’t follow this pattern. The external conflict, getting revenge on Shido is interwoven into the plot so that it can't be solved in their Confidant. And his myriad of personal issues also can’t be solved if the plot is to progress. So a problem arises: What is the focus of Akechi’s Confidant? And the solution is the relationship between him and Ren, which will later become vital to the plot in Royal and makes Yaldabaoth’s plan a lot more interesting and tragic. While Akechi is better fleshed out as a character in his Confidant, it’s not the sole focus; one primary focus is the relationship between him and Ren and it can’t exist if it’s one-sided. Ren has to be an active member in their relationship or the premise of their Confidant falls apart. We see that Ren is extremely perceptive, being able to pick up that Akechi is using his non-dominant hand when playing billiards after only meeting him once. Another important trait is his confidence and competitive streak. While him being cocky is established in the first scene of the game, his competitiveness is something established in the justice Confidant. All these traits draw the two together. As I just mentioned, Ren plays a very active role, while (as is in character for both of them) Akechi does most of the speaking, Ren is not just a brick wall listening to him walk. Ren forces the disguise on Akechi, showing he is not afraid to poke bears with sticks. He challenges Akechi, not wanting him to go easy on him in their billiards matches. And most obviously their debates on The Phantom Thieves, the thing that draws them together in the first place. Their relationship is filled with conflict which grows to be more serious as Yaldaboath’s plan comes into action, but it’s clear they care about each other. The importance of their relationship is part of what motivates Akechi to sacrifice himself and it’s what makes Ren’s ultimate wish for Akechi and him to “have a fresh start together,” according to Maruki. It’s clear their relationship has a profound effect on both characters and means a great deal to each even if there are clearly conflicting and complex feelings. This is only possible because both parties are equally involved without Akechi being the only focus.

Akechi and Ren hold a mirror to each other and their traits are explored through their similarities. One of the most interesting aspects explored is that of a dual identity. For Akechi this is extremely overt with the detective prince persona masking the bitter orphan who paradoxically craves both revenge and love. For Ren, this is a lot more subtle. His fake glasses are a symbol of his mask. He uses them to appear less threatening and make himself blend into a crowd. While this is nowhere near as extreme as Akechi’s facade, similarly to Akechi he does don a persona (you know what I mean) to make himself appear more presentable and to shed the bad reputation that’s been unfairly attached to him. He also hides the more passionate side of himself, the side he shows off when he’s allowed to be Joker. Their relationship is very dynamic, switching from argumentative to childish to serious to fun to antagonistic to caring. This relationship between them can’t exist if Ren is not playing an active role.

While their Confidant is easily my favourite, I don’t actually believe every Confidant should mirror theirs. The pattern exists for a reason and each Confidant does tell an interesting story. Additionally having every Confidant be like theirs could lessen the impact of Maruki’s final offer in the third semester. So if that’s the case, then what needs to change? I think Ren as a character needs to be able to shine through more often in the Confidants and at least one trait or aspect of his character should be explored.

The Hierophant

Sojiro is great. You’ve played the game (I’m assuming) so you know this. And Sojiro is a great dad. But how many kids does he have? That’s the real question. Ren—at the start of the game, when first under Sojiro’s custody—is not his son. Sojiro is simply his legal guardian for a temporary amount of time. But this changes over the course of the game… kinda. Ren hangs awkwardly at the side of the Sakura family, not quite a part of it but not not a part of it either. Multiple times the player has the option to have Ren refer to Futaba as his sister or as family, but she also has a romantic route. This leaves their familial status in a very awkward liminal space.

It’s clear Ren sees Sojiro as more of a parent than his own biological parents, even if Sojiro can’t keep custody. At the start of the game, Sojiro recaps what happened, telling Ren and the player “the courts ordered you to transfer and move out here, which your parents also approved.” And then rather cruelly remarks: “In other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass.” While it is a harsh way to put it and Sojiro doesn’t personally know Ren’s parents I’d argue his assessment is essentially true. The typical parent would fight tooth and nail to keep their children from being taken away, yet it’s implied Ren’s parents were content with Sojiro’s temporary custody. This leaves a parent shaped gap in Ren’s life.

In Royal’s bad ending, Ren has three wishes:

Having Akechi back.

For his friends to stay together.

To stay with Sojiro.

For now, I’m going to focus on that third one. Sojiro asks Ren "Would you maybe like to keep staying at the cafe? And maybe, even after graduation, you could..." and then trails off, waiting for Ren’s response. The two options the player is given is "Yes, I'd love to." and "I want to stay forever." Sojiro approaches Ren about this, indicating this isn’t just Sojiro being brainwashed by Maruki so Ren’s wish comes true, it’s clearly something wanted by both of them. Royal’s bad ending indicates that the two very much see each other as family and they want to remain that way.

I propose that a way this Confidant can be improved is to have Ren admit to Sojiro in one of the later ranks that he’s been more of a father then his actual parents. What Ren’s home life was like could be elaborated on in this Confidant. Then in rank ten have Ren welcomed into the family. I’m not suggesting massive changes, just that Ren’s family life be elaborated on a little bit more.

Please just let them be a family and cut the Futaba romance route. Please ATLUS I’m begging you just let hi—

Faith

Sumire’s Confidant is one I have many feelings and opinions on. I love Sumire as a character, but the Faith Confidant needed to be better. To me it seems as if Sumire was intended to be very close to Ren. She is one of two characters to have a show time with him and then no matter your personal feelings on the matter, it’s impossible to deny Sumire is pushed as the main love interest for Ren (just look at the marketing). Given their Confidant, this is undeserved. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think it’s any worse or better than any of the others, but if it’s going to be the main route and if her feelings are going to be canonical regardless of out route the player chooses, then their relationship regardless of whether it’s platonic or romantic has to be more two-sided. I think their relationship should be important. As I mentioned they have a show time together and a lot of the advertisement for Royal pushes them together.

Let’s take a quick look at Haru’s Confidant, while personally, it is not my favourite as I believed Haru could have been written better, her feelings for Ren make a lot of sense. She’s been very isolated her entire life and it’s clear that Ren is the only person who has ever just listened to her without ulterior motive so it seems natural that feelings would develop even if their relationship isn’t two-sided. I don’t want to sound cruel or malicious but in this situation, as long as Ren listens and is kind, the rest of his personality doesn’t matter.

Now, let’s return to Sumire. Ignoring romantic feelings for now, why does she like Ren? Because he inspired her and she wants to show off and impress him which drives her to complete and be her true self. This works as a premise but why Ren? She could want to impress her father or her coach. So why Ren? To answer this question you have to make their relationship more two-sided. She has to get to know Ren as he gets to know her.

The first five Confidants should focus on fun and showing off. The first five Confidants are, in my opinion, very boring. Sumire wants to get out of her slump and Ren offers to help her, I propose that Ren’s idea of how to get out of her slump should be having fun together. For example, they could go to the amusement park together or Destiny Land. I think the fourth Confidant where Kasumi’s bad cooking skills are established is important as a) it sets up the later reveal that Sumire is a good cook and just how far Maruki has influenced her that she’s losing skills and b) it establishes how much work she puts into being a gymnast, that she has to carefully consider everything she eats. But the rank itself is boring. My solution is to make it an eating competition between the two of them. We know from Akechi’s Confidant that Ren is competitive and of course from The Big Bang Burger Challenge that he wouldn’t lose automatically. Additionally, it’s a fun way to set up that Sumire likes showing off and impressing people, even if it’s at something as silly as an eating competition. These changes could also establish that Ren is one of the only people Sumire feels like she can relax and have fun around. While she wants him to have high expectations of her, those expectations aren’t crushing, they’re welcomed. I’m not saying the specific changes I’ve laid out 100% should have happened, but it’s an idea of how it could make their relationship more interesting.

Now the second half of their confidence is a lot more important, and already better written than the first half. I have two ideas for how to improve it to make their relationship more dynamic. Number one is the theme of futures. Sumire is one of two characters that Ren makes any hypothetical plans with beyond a general, we’ll remain friends, even if we split. (Though this number could technically be moved to three if you want to count Ren’s incredibly depressing refusal to move past Akechi’s death and holding onto the glove thinking he’ll come back). That’s incredibly important.

Sumire jokingly asks Ren to “join [her] on [her] tour.” The player doesn’t actually have the option to say no with a joking “give me a break” being the closest to it. (Oddly enough Sumire’s proposal only happens in the platonic route.) While this is purely hypothetical and Sumire only jokes about it, it is a possibility for the future that is more specific than a simple “no matter what we’ll remain friends.”

So I propose that the second half of the Confidant could focus on Ren’s future too. We never see what his future ambitions are and I think that Sumire’s Confidant is the perfect one to explore that in. Although there are other characters who question their futures, I believe Sumire’s fits the best as she’s driven and ambitious like Ren, and while she does question who she is because of her time as Kasumi, she’s always confident about being a gymnast which I feel clicks with Ren’s confidence.

Now I could stop here, but I also think Sumire’s Confidant could also have the potential to explore Ren’s mirroring nature. Sumire’s is one of the last Confidants the player will complete as the last five ranks are locked so this trait can be established prior to her Confidant. Additionally, she has a similar dual identity.

Due to how he’s written as a semi self insert protagonist, Ren adapts himself to each person he knows. To progress through the Confidants, as a player you have to choose and consider the right answers and this transfers onto Ren as a character. And at the beginning of the game, one of the first tasks you are given is not to stand out. I could write a ton on this but it’s going to clog this up so I want to keep it short. I think his friendship with Sumire could be an interesting way to explore this trait and how the two of them hide behind masks. Potentially Sumire could confront him about this and tell him she wants to get to know the real him like he got to know her over Kasumi. I’m going to move on now before I bring Akechi into this and start droning on and on about the Royal Trio and masks.

At Sae’s palace, Sumire says to Ren "My weak self relied on you so much... that ends today.” “It's my turn to come to your aid, Senpai." Sumire never truly follows up on this new promise. She helps him in that battle and in following battles against Maruki, but she never helps him emotionally as he helped her. She says she doesn’t want to rely on him anymore but she only becomes more dependent. I don’t think relying on one’s friends is a bad thing, of course it’s not, but when it’s only happening one way something is wrong. And there is a big difference between Ren helping Ryuji help the track team and Ren helping Sumire through her trauma relating to Kasumi’s death and her identity. I’m not trying to villainise Sumire or anything like that, but I really wished their reliance on each other was more equal.

I’d suggest that Sumire should say to Ren she feels guilty for always relying on him without ever giving anything in turn. Then either have them talk about their identity or have her ask about his future and ambitions. Either way, have her keep her promise to help and support him as he has done for her.

To be honest, I could go on and on about alterations to Sumire’s Confidant and her Confidant in general, but I’m gonna leave it as this (for now).

All in all, it seems as if Ren’s relationship with Sumire was supposed to be extremely important, but it doesn’t stand out from any of the other Confidants as being so. So in conclusion, their showtime is cool but ATLUS you gotta work to sell me on how close they are.

Conclusion

It’s a shame Ren’s treated as an audience surrogate for most of the Confidants when he’s more interesting as a character. While I think it makes sense that he is closer to some Confidants then others, for example, his bond with Mishima isn’t nearly as close as his bond with Ann, it would have been cool if his character had been explored at least partly through each and his relationships with each Confidant.

#persona 5 #p5 joker #ren amamiya #akira kusuru #persona 5 royal #goro akechi #sojiro sakura #sumire yoshizawa #violet talks

22 notes · View notes

shadowtarot · 3 years

Note

CHM: I am just using Sho as a Red Herring/Living Inciting incident FYI. Maybe he contacts Ryuji again, following a fight possibly, he tells him to tell his leader (how he knows about Ren in Inaba? who knows.) to go to Junes and stick his hand in the big TV in the Elec. Dept. just avoid the mascot and manager (Yosuke). Sho is just causing stuff for shits and giggles. Plus it’s a way to rope in P4.

Chariot's Mystery Part 18

Following that fiasco in the messed up Metaverse, Ryuji's been on edge. Despite the fact that Ren gave that threat to Kirijo, they now had to capture Sho as a show of faith. Or as it actually was, work with Sho to try and further expose Kirijo. That meant that he was bait for the red-haired manic. His mind goes back to the conversation that happened directly after school that day: "ARE YOU INSANE?!" Zenkichi says in the video call. "Sending Ryuji on his own to lure him is suicide. I had a first hand experience with him, and despite his looks he could easily break my damn sword if he wanted. At least...that's what I could tell at least." The Trio were in the warehouse again, given it was the only safe spot at the moment to discuss these things. "Buuut, we don't want to send you and Doc out there. You're both Newbs! Sure you've had a little experience in combat, but Ryuji's had his Persona longer than most of us! ...excluding Mona." Futaba plays with a Jaggriko in her hand as Yusuke sketches in the background. "Well I'm at least gonna stay on standby, I'm not about to let this get deadly if simple discussion goes south." Zenkichi folds his arms, looking at everyone seriously. Sophia's tiny icon bounces on the screen. "I can try to look up information on him while we do these dealings. Perhaps find any report of crimnal history?" Makoto nods. "That sounds good. Now Ryuji, Ren showed you how to make Thief Tools during our roundtrip right? We don't know Sho's elemental affinity...if he even has one. I'd make a few elemental rounds for each element. Just to be safe."

"Right." Ryuji nods, glancing over at the spare set of tools Ren gave him. Suddenly, Ryuji's phone alarm goes off. It was time for him to start heading down that same alley way as before. Zenkichi and Maruki were watching from a safe distance. All Ryuji needed to do was get Sho's cooperation. And as if on cue, Sho appears. "Seriously? The same damn alleyway? You're not supposed to be predictable in your line of work, dumbass." Sho's getting dangerously close, but Ryuji's hand is firmly in his pocket, thumb hovering over the Broken Metanav. He doesn't say a word as he activates it, dragging Sho into the Metaverse with him. Taking a deep breath as Skull opens his eyes to the glitchy Metaverse, he draws his weapon. "Sho, yeah? Look we both hate Kirijo, but we need a way to get closer in to dig more dirt on 'em so-" But Sho's already drawn one sword, pointing it at Skull's neck. "Blah blah blah. I'll listen to whatever the hell you got, but I ain't listing to SHIT until you fight me." Now that there wasn't several Persona users around him, Skull could better judge Sho's aura. There was no way in hell he'd win in a fair fight. Good thing he wasn't planning on fighting fair.

I gotta fight him just enough to figure out his weaknesses. Time to make him show his hand!

Skull charges at Sho, not even summoning William, choosing instead to just strike at him with his club. Sho just casually blocks it with his short sword, drawing his full length and striking him hard with the blunt end. "Did you seriously already forget how I was armed? Or are you really as much of a dumbass as I had you pegged for?" Sho mocks charging at Ryuji while he's stunned. He was fast, too fast to react to. But he needed to space himself somehow! Skull begins to scan the buildings, looking for a safe path to jump and scale. Unfortunately, while a path was found...a Curse attack had already hit him the moment he took his eyes off Sho. "Gah!" Ryuji winces. Curse didn't do a whole lot to him, but at least he could hopefully figure out his weakness now that he knows his affinity. Moving fast, a Bless Round is loaded into his shotgun as he aims...but looking down past the barrel...he sees Sho yawn as he puts his weapons away. "You space out in combat, then point a gun at me? Come on...at least make it interesting. Look, if your goal was to bore me with piss poor fighting you did it. Congrats, loser." Sho leans up against a wall though goes back to standing up once he notices the wall cease to exist. "Your group has a leader, and I know pretty damn well that none of you three bozos are it. Nooo, you gotta be special beyond special to lead a group. At least that's what those damn people in blue seemed to imply...." Sho mutters to himself. "Give me a way to contact him." Putting the shotgun away, Skull stares right at Sho. "You'll be contacting Joker in that case. I can't give you direct contact, but we have a sorta...uh...secure network we use to relay information and-" "And? You need an access point to ping me, yeah? Here." Sho takes out a slip of paper. The stuff written on it is foreign to Ryuji, but all he can gather is...Sho was already prepared for this. This might be why Kirijo counts him as dangerous. Three Hours following this exchange, Futaba is getting the link all set up for Ren. "Is it illegal to hack someone if they've given consent, Zenkichi-san?" Haru asks as the team has one last meeting. "If permission was granted, it'd be the same as hotwiring someone's car to save their life, yes? The act is frowned upon, but if there's no bad intent then it shouldn't have issues." Yusuke interjects. "Hey-let me at least answer the question!" Zenkichi sighs. Everyone laughs, only for Futaba to suddenly cheer. "Everything's all set up, Ren! Now whenever you use that access point we've been using to contact someone outside of the team on your cell...the voice filter should still work."

"Great. I'll be contacting him solo. I'll try to get any intel out of him I can." Ren nods. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow with what I got." Once the team logged off, Ren contacts Sho. "So you actually called, huh? Guess you guys do some things right after all." Sho's snark can be felt on the other end of the line. "Joker right? Why are you guys so hellbent on contacting me for?" "We want to strike a deal with you. We need an in to get on Kirijo's good side and expose what they have done in better detail. But to do this, we need your help. You know a lot about the group, correct?" Ren choses his words carefully.

"...yeah I do. Hell, they hide so many damn secrets, it's clear they're planning SOMETHING. Did your little data dig give you info about the TVs?" Sho's question is sudden.

"TVs?"

"Yeah. In a small town called Inaba, there's a TV in the local Junes that never gets sold. They use it as a normal TV for customers. But...if you touch that TV, something strange happens. No one in the town knows about it, so it's 100% a cover up." Sho's smirking on the other end of the line. "Confirm that rumor for me, yeah? ...and don't let the bear or the brunette see you."

Sho suddenly hangs up at that point. "TV in Junes. ...there is that outdated TV in the home appliances section." Checking the time, Ren makes his way to Junes. He had a few hours before they closed, should be enough time to see if it was BS or not. The store's huge, weaving and maneuvering around different isles until he finally reaches that section. "Hm...so if I touch it..." Ren says quietly, extending his hand to the screen only to see it ripple like water. "That movement....it's not dissimilar to how the Meta Nav takes you in. ...can I stick my hand in it...?" The moment he does, however...two pairs of eyes have already locked on to what he's doing. He forgot to heed the warning....

#compendium #chariot's mystery

2 notes · View notes

twilightknight17 · 3 years

Text

...today, on P5S...

...

Honestly, I talk a lot of shit about P5′s writing sometimes. Atlus made some exceptionally questionable writing choices in places. But one thing that P5 absolutely gets right is invoking the sort of emotion that draws you into the story.

With that said!

P5 is determined to make me want to stab actual human beings instead of Shadows. This is the second time now!

But first, I’ve got a boss fight to do.

Doing the mech part of Konoe’s boss fight again, it was actually easier the second time. I had a much better grasp of what I was doing, instead of flailing around frantically.

Konoe himself was still just as hard, but ultimately he was easier than Shadow Joker because it wasn’t a one-on-one duel. He still beat my ass, though; I think I used all of my rescue pills.

Once he goes down, Konoe starts going on about justice.

Don’t call me by my name like we’re friends. We never even introduced ourselves.

It’s interesting, because they admit to Konoe that what they’re doing isn’t without its flaws. But a world where no one can think for themselves is meaningless.

Konoe acknowledges that in his quest to eliminate evil, he ended up being the evil one. He also admits that he was the one who killed his father. He calls that “evil” too, which I don’t actually agree with. We saw what his father was like in the Trauma Cell. His father killed his mother, physically abused him, and threatened to kill him. I think, in that case, killing his father is a rational end result for someone in that situation. Not evil, just desperation.

The Thieves don’t contradict him, though. Just make some comments about how now he can make up for his actions. His Shadow returns to his real self, the Thieves return to the real world, and Zenkichi promises that as soon as they take Konoe in and get his confession, he’s going to arrest Owada, too.

With the case closed, the Thieves decide that it’s time to go back to Tokyo. But not before one last night in Osaka. The idea of leaving makes Sophia anxious, though, because she feels like she hasn’t learned enough about the heart. But Akira and Morgana reassure her that she can still stay with them, even after they return to Tokyo, and they’ll keep looking for answers about who she is.

Sometimes a family is a guy, a cat, and one of the guy’s four younger sisters. ^_^

Tenboto is the tower, and the game asks you to invite someone to the top. However, this time, you can only invite either the group of girls or the group of boys, so I took the boys, since I took Haru on the ferris wheel before.

Morgana isn’t pleased that we didn’t invite Ann.

However, I really don’t see the problem.

Look at how he’s looking at Yusuke! Even Ryuji can tell that we’re having a moment. :D

Afterwards, the whole squad headed off to “Universaland” to celebrate together.

I had no idea that there was a Universal Studios in Japan, but apparently there is, and it is in fact in Osaka! They compared it to their trip to Destinyland the year before, but thankfully this one went a lot better. Everyone had a good time! We had so much soda! We were so hungover the nex--what.

...what is it with Persona characters getting drunk off soda? XD I hope you kids at least played the King’s Game so the hangover wasn’t in vain.

Zenkichi shows up to let them know that Konoe’s in custody. He thanks them for everything that they’ve done, for both Akane and him, and says he’s telling them goodbye for now, but they’re welcome to visit whenever they want. He promises a tour of Kyoto next time. Yusuke will be so happy!

After hours on the road, lamenting that vacation is coming to an end, Sophia suggests detouring to Yokohama for a fireworks festival. So the Thieves finally get to see fireworks, and Sophia gets to experience them, too.

........don’t make me go home yet. I just want to spend time with my friends without the world ending.

After the fireworks, you get to speak to each of your friends, and get a trinket from each of them. Ann gives you a handmade friendship bracelet, Makoto a phantom thieves keychain that Akane made, Ryuji a Feather Red Duke mask to match his Yellow Ostrich, Yusuke his sketchbook that he filled with pictures of the trip, Morgana a scarf in phantom thief colors, Sophia a pair of custom gloves to match the scarf, Haru a teaspoon from Hokkaido with a flower pattern that symbolizes familial love, and Futaba a good luck charm for keeping families together.

STOP, P5S, you’re going to make me cry. Let these kids stay close.

Right before they’re about to leave, they take a group picture for Sophia, which we don’t get to see. Which sucks. But then she realizes that she can smell a Jail, and Zenkichi calls in a panic. It’s never a good sign when someone calls and leads with “Are you watching the news?”

EMMA’s servers were shut down, but apparently reactivated, and now a Jail is covering Tokyo all the way to the outskirts of Yokohama, and it’s just getting bigger. Zenkichi promises to meet us, and Lavenza opens a Velvet door because she wants to talk.

She’s... legitimately unnerved.

Thank you, P5S, for giving me the opportunity to comfort my youngest sister in some small way. Now let me out of this cell so I can actually give her a hug. With the context from Royal that she has actual nightmares about being ripped apart, this is heartbreaking.

She says that she regrets that she has to keep asking us for help, but the dialogue options let you reassure her that you’ll handle it, and that there’s thinking to worry about.

I appreciate having dialogue to actually reassure her more than I probably should.

Now...

LAST WARNING

If you’ve been reading along and don’t want the finale spoiled, DO NOT GO PAST THIS POINT. As soon as we leave for central Tokyo, we’re going 90mph and not slowing down.

If I didn’t have work in the morning, I’d have finished this damn game tonight. X’‘‘D Curse being a responsible adult.

After leaving the Velvet Room, Zenkichi’s waiting at the RV, and when you enter the RV, that’s when you get the warning above.

So we are off to Tokyo to figure out what the heck is happening with EMMA. And the core location is, exactly like I wanted...

LET’S CLIMB TOKYO TOWER, BABY.

People are crowded around the tower like mindless cultists. The Thieves are confused and unnerved, and then EMMA activates the navigation on its own and flings them into the Metaverse. LET’S SEE WHAT’S UP THIS TOWER.

...oh.

......oh no...

Ohhhhhhh no this is Mementos. Why is this Mementos. This is not a tower. Oh god. Why this.

Oh, we are incredibly fucked, what is this.

EMMA says calls itself the “Ark of the Covenant and the guide for all mankind.” This fucking AI thinks it’s a god. Holy hell. Human cognition really needs to cool it with elevating ordinary things to god status. We’re so tired. X’D

......I FUCKING KNEW THAT I DIDN’T TRUST THIS WOMAN. OH MY GOD.

She goes off about how EMMA brought her into this world to help it become a god. How Konoe teaching EMMA about cognitive psience allowed it to pass the usual boundaries of AI. How EMMA has been manipulating Konoe all along. How EMMA’s going to fulfill all of humanity’s desires.

Ichinose-san, may I suggest that you go hang out with Maruki? He has too much heart, and you have none. You’d complement each other perfectly, and then I can shove you both off a building.

The kids, obviously, reject this bullshit.

Logic over emotion, to the point of utter ridiculousness. She complains that people always want solutions to their problems, but that when the solution is offered, they turn it down.

Maybe that’s because your solution is mind control. At least Maruki wasn’t flagrantly puppeteering people.

“Li!” you cry, throwing up your hands at me. “Is this it? Is this why you want to stab her? Did you just admit that she’s worse than Maruki?”

To which I answer, “Oh, no. It’s the next bit that makes me want to stab her.”

After she straight-up admits that she has no emotions, she manipulated us right from the start, she was the one spying on the Monarchs, and that all of her cheer and friendliness is an act, the Thieves are ready to fight Ichinose. And Ichinose reveals why EMMA wanted her help specifically. Because not only did she program EMMA, she created Sophia as EMMA’s prototype.

And she can voice-override Sophia.

The Thieves freak out, the game throws us into a battle against a murder-mode Sophie, and none of your teammates will attack her. They just hang back or let her whale on them one at a time, and I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t attack her either, and Yusuke got knocked out...

And then it went into a cutscene.

Joker took a yo-yo to the face and was actually bleeding, and that was enough to snap Sophia out of it. She starts clutching her head, stumbling back, and eventually stumbles right off the edge while apologizing to Joker. He lunges to catch her, misses, Ryuji grabs him, and all the Thieves turn on Ichinose.

Ichinose does not give a shit. She just comments that maybe that’s why EMMA used Sophia as a failsafe, because it knew we wouldn’t want to fight one of our own. Shut the fuck up. You killed my little sister. I know she’s probably going to be fine, but it’s the principle of the thing.

She summons some sort of giant red crystal and blasts the hell out of us, sending us flying down even further into the depths.

We found Sophia; she won’t cut back on, so we have to get out of here so Futaba can figure out what’s wrong with her. And then, I am coming back, I am beating that woman to a pulp, and then...

Well. It’s bound to be easier to kill an artificial god than a false one. :3

#Li plays P5Scramble

4 notes · View notes

ask-the-phan-site · 5 years

Text

Phan Cam: The Festival of Our Dreams

WARNING: This post may be a bit long. Also, there’s a chance some posts may not show on time.

>The stage for the Dream Festival was all set up and ready. The idols were doing some last minute rehearsals before the first concert. Dream FES will last six days from Monday to Saturday this year. The first event takes place tonight on Monday which will be like any other concert. The second event takes place on Wednesday where it’s Open Mike Nite and anyone can perform on stage, even with the idols. The finale takes place on Saturday where the competition to see which Rookie Idols, Skull included, will get to become True Idols and possibly record a CD takes place with the idols finishing it with a huge show stopper.

Okay, so I stand here and I announce the groups when they come out. I think I got it.

Good. Now when you announce them, don’t hold back, give it as much energy as you can so the audience can feel it.

MC: I’ll do just that.

Worker: Hey, they stylist is calling for one last check!

MC: Coming!

>The MC leaves. Haruto also goes back stage.

>The dressing room. KUROFUNE was getting ready for that night.

God, this is just so great! We’re gonna blow this place tonight!

Calm down, Ryuji, I’m just as excited as you are.

Skull: I know. But this isn’t like all the other times I performed with you guys. This is the big time.

The real big time.

I’m glad to see you’re hyped for this. Now we know the songs we’ll be performing?

Yuto: First, we perform OVER THE SEVEN SEAS. Then, Treasured Hearts. And we finish off with Whole New World.

Skull: I like that choice. Though I wish I coulda written another song before all this.

Keigo: This year’s Dream FES is a week long to correspond with the End of Summer. You’ll have another chance soon.

??????: I hope so.

>They turn to see DearDream and Haruto come in.

Keigo: What brings you here?

We wanted to wish you luck... Or is it “break a leg”?

Either way, we hope you’ll do well.

Keigo: Thanks.

Yuto: What songs are you performing for Dream FES?

We’re starting with Dream Pulse. Next, we’ll do Up to speed!. And finally, GO TOMORROW!!!!!

I’ve added something new to our finale.

Skull: Really? You added something new to that last song?

Actually, he’s talking about the finale where both our groups perform.

Haruto: Actually. it’ll be three this year.

For real!? There’s more this year!?

Haruto: (smiling) You’re Ryuji Sakamoto, am I right? KUROFUNE’s newest member.

Skull: It’s a part-time job, actually. But I hope to work full if I can.

Haruto: I see. Well, this year, ANSwer will be joining you.

Kanade: So Asuma san, Chikage san, and Eiji san will be singing with us?

Haruto: That’s what the producers said. Letting one of the newer idol groups perform with two of the legendary idol groups, especially with KUROFUNE’s newest idol would gather more people.

Shin: That sounds a little... Big.

Haruto: That’s business. But don’t worry. I know you can do it. I’ve seen you do more impossible things than I can count.

Kanade: No doubt.

Haruto: So, can I count on you to do this?

KUROFUNE and DearDream: Yes!

Haruto: That’s the spirit. Well, see you tonight.

>With that, he leaves... And we come in.

Sounds like a big job.

Skull: I’m sure we can pull it off. With all of us here.

Keigo: That’s right. By the way, I like your concert outfits.

Thanks, my mom helped me put them together.

Keigo: God bless you, Katherine sama.

Wait until the Wednesday event, will have something really great on.

Chizuru: I’m already looking forward to it. By the way, how’s Suzui san? I hear she’s taking part in the Stride Tournament.

Panther: She’s doing fine. I’ll tell her you wish her luck.

Chizuru: And don’t forget to tell her that we love her.

That’s a little too much for her to take, but okay.

But thanks for wishing her luck, though.

>Then, Peter, Harry, Gwen, Miles, Anya, Aleksei, Randy, and Liz arrive. Also with them are John Jameson, Flash Thompson, even Alistaire Smythe, and three new faces: A young man with glasses, a chubby boy in a school uniform, and a young woman in a sweater.

You made it!

It wasn’t easy, we almost lost our luggage.

Only because one of us didn’t exactly packed light.

Well excuse me if this is my first trip overseas!

You should have just taken my advice and only packed what you really needed. Me? My football’s all I need.

So, you didn’t pack anything else? No clothes, just your ball and the clothes you already have on?

Flash: ... Okay, maybe there’s more than a ball that I need.

If he’s stayin’ with me and Harry, I draw the line at lendin’ my clothes to him.

Relax, Ryuji, I made arrangements at the Wilton Hotel.

Good. I don’t think any of the places our Japanese friends stay are wheelchair accessible.

Actually, my apartment has an elevator.

Yeah, we saw it the last time we were here.

So, how excited are you that you’ll be doing this?

Skull: I’m a little nervous, but everyone’s here, so I’m okay.

Speaking of everyone, aren’t you going to introduce us?

Peter: Right. Everyone, these are some of the friends I talked about. This is Kamala Khan.

Kamala: It’s nice to meet you.

(outfit altered to avoid being flagged) It’s nice to meet you, too, Kamala chan.

Harry: Ollie Osnick, he was a student at Oz Academy.

Actually, I’m already acquainted with Ryuji san.

Skull: Really? How so?

Ollie: ... It’s complicated.

Peter: And last, but far from least, Grady Scraps.

It’s nice to meet you. お会いできて光栄です。

名誉は私たちのものです。

Grady: Sorry about the uniform. It was in such a hurry, this was the only thing I could get on.

It’s alright, Grady, we’re here until the 24. We have plenty of time to shop for new threads.

Grady: That’s good to hear.

Chizuru: Then might I suggest Peace Parade. Sheep Heavenly is good, too.

For real!? Idol Brands can be bought as well?

Keigo: Normally, it isn’t. But remember, even though they are used in the Dream FES System, the clothes are still made by designers and they use our concert to promote their clothes.

Panther: It’s true. Mom does it sometimes, too.

Fox: I see... I wonder if I should feature my art in a concert.

Maybe on Wednesday. I know they'll love it, Yusuke.

And that’s why I love you, Ren.

>We both smile.

They’re the same as always. Even though we just saw them not that long ago.

Queen: Anyway, now to introduce ourselves.

>We introduce ourselves. Even Yuto, Keigo, and even DearDream introduced themselves.

Ollie: Nice to meet you all. But it seems you’re missing a couple of people.

Queen: Diego and Mishima are already in the crowd. We’ll be meeting up with them soon.

Skull: I just wish Axel and the others could be here, but they went back to Landmark City. I’m sure we’ll see ‘em again soon.

Oracle: Me, too. I’ve heard of this guy called Garrett and I really hope I’d meet him.

Worker: (coming in) Hey, the concert starts in a few minuets. You guys better get ready. (leaves)

Joker: Well, we’ll see on later on. Have a great show.

Enjoy the show!

>We leave.

>In the crowd, we meet up with Diego, Admin, Shiho Suzui, Boss, Sae, Mrs. Sakamoto, and even our councilor, Takuto Maruki.

About time you got here. This place is getting hyped up and packed.

(sorry if she’s still wearing her old uniform) He’s right, a lot of people showed up this year. Look over there.

>She pointed and we saw that Japanese fencer, Kagami Tsurugi, was here with French teen model, Adrien Agreste.

Panther: Are they here as a couple?

Shiho: I doubt it. They brought their friends.

>She is right, there are seven more teenagers with them... Two of which I recognized, but I won’t say more on it.

Not just them. Look there.

>He pointed to who is unmistakable the “Super High Schooler”, Moyuru Koda, and his teammate/boyfriend, Junichi Kotoba. They’re holding each other really tight.

It looks like we have some royal visitors, too.

>She was right. Not too far from where we were are the Royal Family of Attilan with their fellow Inhumans, Inferno, Iso, Haechi, and Flint Jaycen. (We’ll just call him Jaycen because we already know a Flint.) Not too far from them is King T’Challa of Wakanda, aka Black Panther. And next to him is Thor Odinson of Asgard.

I see a few other celebrities, too.

>I look around. I also see Hifumi is here. I also spot Rise, Yu, Yosuke Nanako, a man who I can assume is her father, and Teddie. I don’t think they notice me. With them is model/actress, Yukari Takeba. Not too far from them is the American author, Phoebe Halliwell and her husband, Coop. They were in deep conversation with... A young dark-skin man with pink dread locks who was accompanied by another dark-skin young man with brown cornrows, a young man with facial hair and glasses, a young man with long blonde hair, and, was was unmistakably, a brown and blue mecha.

This is getting too much. How’d I get dragged into this, anyway?

Oracle: (smirking) Because you just can’t say no to a face like this.

Boss: Heh! Maybe.

?????: Maybe you’re just getting soft.

>We turn to the newcomer... We were shocked.

What the hell are you doing here?

Are you saying it’s wrong to visit family once in a while?

Crow: Says the man who abandoned me and my mother in our hour of need.

Shido: That’s all water under the bridge now. Let bygones be bygones...

Besides, I happened to be a fan of Sankishi. Is that alright with you?

Crow: ... Just behave yourself, alright?

Shido: Like a church mouse. (sits quietly on his seat... Next to Crow)

This is going to be a long week.

?????: No kidding.

>Then, another comes in... You’ve got to be kidding.

I never pegged you to be someone who like theses events.

Now do we have to be such a downer? ... By the way, how do you like my anime look?

Seriously? What is it with older men and anime?

Stark: Just dressing for the occasion.

???: Actually, I kind of agree with her.

>Then, four new faces join in.

But at least your beard looks good.

Stark: That’s something, I guess.

Still, I guess it’s a slight improvement from your last two anime forms.

I’ve never seen that, so I can’t judge.

Eh, he’s still the same, either way.

Stark: (in defeat) Let’s just enjoy the show.

Mrs. Sakamoto: (whisper) It’s nice of you to come, by the way.

Energetic boy: (also whispering) Thanks.

>Then, the lights dimmed and the crowd starts cheering louder. The lights on the stage come on. The MC comes on stage.

MC: HELLO, TOKYO! WELCOME TO THE DREAM FESTIVAL 2019!

>The audience was hyped.

MC: Now before we begin, I first would like you all to give a big warm welcome to some famous people in the crowd tonight. Let’s give them a hand!

>The crowd cheered for all the people the others mentioned. Although, I’ve noticed that the Inhumans got little while Black Panther and Thor got a lot... Man, they’re cruel to them, they’re just like us... Only with power and slightly different appearances. Koda mostly got cheers from the girls while Rise and Yukari got cheers from the guys.

MC: And now, with out further ado, let’s welcome our first act for the night. The legendary idol group with a million cheers in one night, our very own Sankishi!

>The crowd cheered loud for the first idol group.

Haruto: Good evening, everyone! How are you?

>The crowd cheered.

Susa: That’s music to our ears. And we know that we’ll be music to your ears.

Ichika: Let our voices reach to you, tonight. Your hearts will glow for us.

Haruto: And we will glow for you. Let’s soar to our future.

Sankishi: TOGETHER!

Dorika Time!

Shido: I believe this one should suffice.

Crow: How... Fitting for you.

>We load our wands and launch the cards into the stage.

Catch Your Cheers!

Haruto: I shall wear your cheers with honor!

Catch Your Cheers!

Susa: My heart goes out to all of you!

Catch Your Cheers!

Ichika: The songs we sing shall be the pride of tonight!

(sorry for the chop job)

White Orchid Series! Complete!

>Sankishi begin their performance. The audience and us really enjoyed... But we know what we’re really looking forward to, but Sankishi is good, too.

>After some time, Sankishi finished their songs.

Haruto: Thank you all! I hope you enjoy the next group as much as you enjoyed us!

>They leave and the MC comes back.

MC: I’m so sure they will, Haruto san. Now for your next group. They were practically born for this show. Heck, they’re basically named after it. Give up for the idol group that puts the Dream back in Dream FES! DearDream!

>Everyone cheered.

Kanade: Before we begin, we would like to give a big thank you to Moyuru Koda, who is a big fan of ours, for coming here.

If you can really live up to your group’s name, I’ll really be hyped for the finale on Friday.

Junya: Then I guess we shouldn’t disappoint now, should we?

>The crow gave a little laugh. Then, I notice Koda is holding his arms and chest. I use my Third Eye to take a closer look at what he’ saying to Junichi.

It’s alright. We took all the precautions. I don’t think it’s going to happen here.

Koda: I know... I’m just worried. After what happened at that party... What I almost did to you.

Junichi: It wasn’t your fault. No one could predict that would happen.

Koda: Oh yeah? ... Tell that to your missing leg. You nearly lost your place on the team.

Junichi: But I didn’t give up... And you shouldn’t either.

Koda: Normally I would side with the winning team. I always saw you as that... But I realize, it never really was about winning or losing.

Junichi: And what’s that?

Koda: ... If I knew that, I would own the world.

>The two young men smiled in joy.

DearDream: Alright then, let’s being our show!

Dorika Time!

Junichi: If their first song is Dream Pulse, I think this one will work.

Koda: (smiling) Yeah, I think so, too.

>They loaded their cards and launched away.

Catch Your Cheers!

Kanade: Thank you so much!

Catch Your Cheers!

Shin: Thank you for your support!

Catch Your Cheers!

Junya: Your cheers will light up!

Catch Your Cheers!

Itsuki: Thank you, we’ll do our best for you!

Catch Your Cheers!

Chizuru: Your cheers will strengthen my love for you!

(Reminder: The following images are not in violation of the Tumblr policy as they do not actually contain sensitive or adult contain. They only show the upper half. Please do not flag.)

Candy Block R Series! Complete!

>DearDream performs their song, Dream Pulse. The audience really applauded when they finished.

>Meanwhile, with T’Challa and Thor.

I am still unfamiliar with this. Do all Japanese idols transform like that?

According to Stark, only those who work for this production company. Though I still wish I knew how.

(who couldn’t help but overhear) No one really knows. It’s one of Japan’s greatest mysteries. Although, I’ve heard the System works on the dreams of the idols and the people who go watch them... But that’s just one theory.

Thor: I see... I think.

King T’Challa: (looking through the Dorika) Let’s see. I was told when they first performed Up to speed!, they used this.

Iso: The original Candy Block Coord. That should be good.

Thor: Yes. Very elder school.

Iso: That’s old school.

Thor: What’s the difference?

Can you hurry up, Iso? They’re about to start up again.

Iso: Right.

Dorika Time!

Catch Your Cheers!

Kanade: Let’s get things up to speed! ... Okay, not a good job, but still.

>DearDream change their clothes.

Candy Block Series! Complete!

>DearDream performs their song, Up to speed!.

>Meanwhile, with the Investigation Team.

I brought the snacks!

Thanks, Yosuke senpai.

Yes, thank you.

I don’t think you need to copy that.

Just be careful, Yosuke, that looks like more than you can carry.

Yosuke: Sorry, Dojima san, I guess I didn’t expect a certain bear to order so many.

Teddie: (shocked) Now that’s just rude!

Yosuke: But you’re the one who- WHOA!

>Yosuke tripped.

Koda: (who noticed) Hold it!

>As if he were as fast as the wind, Koda quickly catches Yosuke and all the snacks before they hit the ground.

Koda: Your friend is right, you have way too many snacks here.

Yosuke: (a bit surprised) R- Right!

Teddie: (pouting) So mean.

Rise: (also surprised) Wow, you caught my senpai so quickly. No wonder you’re the Super High Schooler.

Koda: (helping Yosuke back on his feet) Thanks.

Nanako: (amazed) You’re the Super High Schooler? Wow. Actually, my big bro is a bit of a super high schooler himself.

Koda: ... (laughs) I doubt it. I have something he probably will never have.

Yu: And what’s that?

Koda: ... If I told you, they would kick me out of the tack team.

>The Investigation Team just stares in wonder. Koda begins to make his way back to Junichi when he suddenly felt like he was being watched. He turns... Phoebe Halliwell and the young man she was talking to were watching him. he quickly turns, pretending not to notice, and returns to Junichi.

>With them.

(using comic appearances to avoid getting in trouble) You saw it, too, didn’t you?

No doubt. So he’s really... That sucks. He’s boyfriend will probably be disappointed.

Hold on, Kaz, I don’t think we should act just yet. He hasn’t done anything, so I think we’re safe for now.

Kaz: Hope you’re right.

(sorry, this is the only picture I could find) Be patient, sir. We’ll have our chance.

Kaz: Right.

Yo, Kaz, they’re about to start.

We thought it over and we thought this should be used for GO TOMORROW!!!!!

It’s no Gucci, but I think this is just as fabulous.

Kaz: Right.

Dorika Time!

Catch Your Cheers!

Kanade: Let’s go on to our future together!

Rose Bullet Series! Complete!

>They being their song, GO TOMORROW!!!!!. The crowd really cheered, even us and the Royal Family joined in.

Looks like you guys have a favorite group.

Maybe.

Just a little.

...

Fine, a lot. But only because we can sense the heart in their songs.

As can I. If they were like us, we would definitely wish to bring them back with us.

*bark*

Iso: It’s one of the few things that makes us no different... Music.

Haechi: You might get your chance.

Kanade: Thank you for tonight’s cheers! Be sure to give that same love to KUROFUNE!

>With that, DearDream leaves and the MC arrives.

MC: For our next group, they have sailed through the trail and hardships, but have made it all they here tonight. They even recently picked up a new member. Ladies and gentlemen, weigh anchor and raise your colors for the Gold, Silver, and Bronze: KUROFUNE!

>As KUROFUNE gets on stage, the crowd cheered a lot. Me and my friends were cheering the loudest. I also notice the Investigation Team cheering really loud, too... I hope Skull gets the win on Saturday.

Yuto: The time has come to set sail to dreams ahead!

Keigo: The stars shall guide us to your hearts and your souls!

So join us on our adventure to find our passion!

KUROFUNE: Let KUROFUNE be your captain tonight!

Dorika Time!

Catch Your Cheers!

Yuto: The great seas are calling us!

Catch Your Cheers!

Keigo: Your cheers will be our map to you!

Catch Your Cheers!

New Sailing ver. Ryuji

Skull: Alright! The wind is blowin’ our way!

(Reminder: The following images are not in violation of the Tumblr policy as they do not actually contain sensitive or adult contain. They only show the upper half. Please do not flag.)

>Skull was wearing the same thing, but with a more Bronze color.

New Sailing Series! Complete!

>KUROFUNE begin their song, OVER THE SEVEN SEAS. We were cheering loudly for them.

Skull: (after finishing the song) This next song is a song I wrote. I would like to dedicate to my friends and family who supported me all this time. Especially, Ren Amamiya, Goro Akechi, Peter Parker, and Harry Osborn.

Thanks so much for everything you’ve done! I love you all!

We love you, too, brother!

We know you can do it, Ryuji!

Peter: You and KUROFUNE can do it! Together!

Harry: This is your dream! Go for it!

>Suddenly, the boy known as Makoto, leaped up from his seat.

Makoto: THAT’S RIGHT! JUST TAKE FLIGHT AND YOU CAN DO IT!

(whisper) Thanks, little bro.

Dorika Time!

Catch Your Cheers!

Innocent Pirates ver. Ryuji

Skull: I’m gonna enjoy this!

Catch Your Cheers!

Yuto: Now we shall sing to your hearts!

Catch Your Cheers!

Keigo: Your cheers shall brighten the stage tonight!

(Imagine Skull wearing the same outfit, but Bronze in comparison to Gold and Silver.)

Innocent Pirates Series! Complete!

>They being to sing Treasured Hearts.

>After they finished, a Wakandan guard comes to us.

Wakandan guard: My king and his fellow Avenger wish to speak to those Ryuji Sakamoto spoke of.

Really? They wishes to speak to us?

Wakandan guard: I also have been asked by Lady Crystal that Chloe, Kamala, and Makoto of the Future Avengers come as well.

Makoto: Only Bruno comes.

Bruno: (in defeat) Please don’t drag me into this.

Peter: Well, we should at least see what they have to say.

>We make our way to the VIP Seats where the royals were waiting for us.

Hello, Future Avengers and Web Warriors and friends.

Chloe: Hey, Triton.

Triton: We will be speaking with Chloe, Kamala, Makoto, and Bruno. King T’Challa and Thor will speak with the rest of you.

Peter: Alright.

Chloe: Tell them I’ll speak to them later.

>Me, Crow, Peter, and Harry go over to King T’Challa and Thor.

Thor: You are friends of Ryuji Sakamoto?

Joker: Yes, we are.

Peter: We support him in his dreams and what he does.

Thor: Yes. I know you two as Spider-Man and Stealth Spider, so I can say that you have made many great friends.

King T’Challa: That is true.

Crow: Is that all you just wanted to do?

King T’Challa: Maybe. I have heard a great deal about you, Goro Akechi, the Detective Prince. And your father.

Crow: What about him?

Thor: We know that Inhuman reside here in Japan as well. But they mysteriously disappeared... After the sudden appearances of psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns.

...

King T’Challa: But now that’s passed thanks to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. After some time, Japan’s Inhumans are slowly resurfacing.

Joker: Yes, we know. Some of them are even at our school. But we have no problems with that. They’re not doing anything wrong.

They make Japan feel like we’re part of something bigger.

Thor: That is true... However, there is one thing that troubles us.

Crow: What’s that?

King T’Challa: ... Actually, it can wait until after the show.

Harry: You’re right. This is Ryuji’s show. Let’s not spoil it. We’ll talk later.

>We return to our seats. Chloe stays behind to talk to King T’Challa and Thor.

Stark: So what did they have to say?

Bruno: We’ll tell you later. Right now, KUROFUNE is about to sing their last song for the evening.

Adi: (nods) I searched the deck and I think I know just the cards to use for this song.

Crow: I think that will be just perfect.

Dorika Time!

Catch Your Cheers!

Yuto: Now for our finale for tonight!

Catch Your Cheers!

Keigo: Thank you! This will keep me going!

Catch Your Cheers!

Skull: Nothin’ is between me and your Cheers!

(Skull’s has bronze colored feathers on both shoulders.)

Infinite Voyage Series! Complete!

>KUROFUNE performs their last song of the night, Whole New World. (Not the song from Aladdin, in case you were wondering.)

>With the Investigation Team.

(Can’t believe I didn’t get to talk when we came to the scene with Kida.) That song was great. It’s definitely nothing like the Disney one... Actually, they’re both good.

Nanako: I want to vote them to win the competition.

Rise: Well technically, KUROFUNE already won in a previous Dream FES. They’re not Rookie Idols anymore. Except for Ryuji, so I guess we can vote for him.

Nanako: Then I’ll vote for him.

Yu: That’s good of you, Nanako.

Teddie: Yes. Beary good.

Rise: If he ever makes it, I so want to help him with his CD. Yosuke senpai, you help, too.

Yosuke: (a little confused) Why me?

Rise: Well, you always have headphones on. Maybe you can lend a hand.

Yosuke: (groans) As if I have nothing better to do. And I have a relative who’s an idol, too.

>With us.

Way to go, KUROFUNE!

Adi: I agree!

Mrs. Sakamoto: I love you, Ryu kun!

(Does she have to shout out my pet name?)

Keigo: Thank you! And we hope you will share that love with Ryuji san and vote for him for the competition!

>The whole audience really cheered as the MC comes back on.

MC: I’m sure they will, Keigo san. And good luck to you... Ryu kun.

(trying to walk off stage quietly) (Keep it together. Keep it together.)

MC: And now, for our last group of the evening. They help with the most difficult questions in your life No matter what, they are the ones you are searching for. (Mostly because they were voted for that name.) Ladies and gentlemen, give a big hand for ANSwer!

Akiomi Inamasu: Good evening, Tokyo!

Nanao Hidaka: We may be last, but we’re really not the last!

Souji Kibino: Yes.

ANSwer: Now let’s get to it!

(Since they’re a minor group in Dream Festival, we’ll be skipping their song. Sorry, guys. Maybe if they make a third series.)

MC: Weren’t they spectacular? Make you wish they really were the answer, then every student would pass their test.

>Everyone laughs a little and the joke as they applauded.

MC: Well, that’s it for tonight. When we come back on Wednesday, we’ll be having our Open Mike Nite. Anyone wishing to perform doing whatever show they wish to put on, good luck to you all! And remember... If you wish to use the System, you have to sign in and pay the fee in advance before Wednesday. If you haven’t, you have to pay double.

>All the idols join the MC on stage.

Haruto: The Open Mike Nite is here to remind us that you are just as important to us as we are important to you.

Kanade: You have just as much talent as we do. If not in singing or dancing, then in other ways. No matter what.

Yuto: We wish only good luck to you for showing us just how well you do what you do. Not in competition, just for fun.

Akiomi Inamasu: So let’s see what you can do that night. So until then...

Idols: Our goal is the Dream Festival! Dream FES is about to start!

>Everyone in the audience, including us, cheer happily.

>In the dressing room, we, including, the Investigation Team, Tony Stark, and the Future Avengers, came back to congratulate KUROFUNE for their performance.

Flash: That! Was! AWESOME! ... Though it will never be as cool as Spidey.

Peter: Aw, thanks, Flash.

Flash: (unimpressed) Don’t push it, Parker.

What Mr. Thompson is trying to say is, you guys did well tonight.

Keigo: Thank you, Makoto chan.

Makoto: That’s gonna be tough. My name is like hers.

Queen: I don’t mind being called Mako chan if that’s alright with Haru.

Noir: It should be fine.

Mrs. Sakamoto: Ryu kun, I’m so proud of your performance.

Skull: Thanks, Mom. (And enough with the Ryu kun, already.)

Rise: Just keep it up and might win that CD debut.

Skull: Yeah. I’m lookin’ forward to it.

Yu: We’ll be supporting you all the way.

Yuto You have good friends, Ryuji san. Be happy with that.

You know it.

Oracle: This calls for a celebration!

After-party at Leblanc! Sojiro, let’s get a turkey.

Now hold it! I don’t think it’s big enough to fit us all.

Oracle: In that case...

Let’s pull our funds and get some sushi!

Diego: (really happy) I can get on board with that.

Fox: That could be hard. I’m low on cash at the moment.

Skull: Let me guess, art supplies?

Pretty much.

Harry: I’m rich. I can get the sushi.

Stark: I better pitch in, too. I still remember from what happened the last time I had some.

Bruno: I doubt you’ll be attacked this time.

I’m not going to ask what that means.

>We begin to make our way to the exit. I notice that the dressing room used by Sankishi. I hear voices in there. I couldn’t help buy listen.

Randy: Hey, Ren, you coming?

Joker: ... My shoelace came undone. You go, I’ll catch up.

Flash: Alright, but hurry up. I really want to taste that sushi.

Diego: I want some sushi, too... But I’ll stay behind and help.

>With that, the rest of the groups leaves while me and Diego stay.

Diego: What’s up, Joker?

Joker: I thought I heard something in Sankishi’s dressing room. I’m very suspicious.

Diego: Alright. I’ll see what I can do.

>Diego changes back to Morgana form and sneaks into the room. I access his collar cam with my phone... I was a little shocked.

Shido: Is that any way to talk to an old friend? Or even a fan?

Haruto: We’re not friends. But we still accept you as a fan.

Susa: And after knowing your secret, I doubt we’ll be friends now.

Ichika: Sorry. Guess stuff like this just happens.

Shido: I merely come here to congratulate you, and this is how you treat me? ... After everything I’ve done for D-Four?

Haruto: Tch! Don’t remind us. I’m surprised we’re still going after what happened with the Phantom Thieves... And what you did to your son?

>Shido, his face full of fury, bashes his fist against a mirror, shattering it.

Listen and listen well, you fucking, ungrateful fools! If it weren’t for me, D-Four Productions and you would have lost everything. The three of you would be out of a job. Your little proteges would be out of a job...

So I suggest you be a little more nicer.

Haruto: (looking down) ...

>Morgana returns to me and changes back to Diego. Just then, Shido walks out and notices us.

Can I help you two?

Well...

Shido: (staring at me) You look... familiar.

?????: I see you’ve met my new intern.

>I look up to see Tony Stark and Yuto coming up.

Shido: (unconvinced) Really? I don’t see someone like you hiring someone like him, Stark. What is this about?

Stark: (firm) It’s exactly as I said. Now if you don’t mind, I was about to treat my intern and his friend to sushi. So if you’re not too busy, you’re welcome to join us.

Shido: ... I’m due back at the Wilton. See you on Wednesday.

>With that, he leaves.

Yuto: We better go. Everyone’s waiting.

>So, we leave.

>The sushi restaurant in Ginza. While everyone partied, Stark and Yuto spirited me and Diego to a stall.

Yuto: How much did you hear?

Joker: A lot. What was that about?

Yuto: As most people probably don’t know, but there was a time D-Four Productions almost ceased to exist.

Diego: (a bit surprised) Really? What happened?

Yuto: ... Calystegia.

Joker: The song by Kanamin Kitchen originally written by deceased idol, Yuko Osada?

Yuto: Yes.When they sang it at the Love Meets Bonds Festival, their popularity skyrocketed... And they totally forgot about the Dream Festival. Only about 250 people showed up.

Diego: That’s harsh.

Yuto: With everyone so focused on Kanamin Kitchen, who works for Takura Productions, sales for D-Four were dropping. If that kept going on, many idol groups would have to be let go. Sankishi included. Even Amuse, Lantis and Bandai Namco, the companies that birthed D-Four, would have severed their ties with them to avoid being dragged down. Then, they would have filed for bankruptcy and their only salvation is to be bought out. Mostly likely their competitor, Takura Productions, or an overseas company, like Apollon Media.

Joker: Why would Apollon be interested in the Dream Festival?

Yuto: I don’t know. And I don’t care to find out. Anyway, Masayoshi Shido, who was already a major and well believed politician and a big fan of Sankishi, bailed them out by raising their popularity back up by showing his support. As a result, the next Dream Festival... The same Dream Festival KUROFUNE and DearDream first appeared, was a huge success.

Diego: So you owe him?

Yuto: Well, that’s what Shido thought. After his heart was changed by yo- The Phantom Thieves, our deal with him was over... But D-Four itself wasn’t.

Stark: Yeah, you’re welcome.

You helped them, Mr. Stark?

Stark: I got curious about why Shido loved Sankishi. So I listened to their songs... And I truly understood why they are famous for the night of a million cheers... That, and I was curious how the Dream FES System worked. Or even where it came from. So, I bought D-Four Productions. Now they’re members of the Stark International Family and those other companies didn’t have to sever their ties.

Diego: That’s quite generous of you, Mr. Stark.

Stark: Yeah, well, I still want to know more about the System... Maybe another time. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about Shido now. But just to be sure, we’ll keep an eye on him.

Yuto: And Ren, Diego, about what we just told you...

Diego: It’s our little secret.

Yuto: (happy) Thank you.

Joker: And than you for keeping D-Four open, Mr. Stark. It means a lot to Ryuji.

Stark: You can thank me by not calling me Mr. Stark. Just call me Tony.

Joker: I don’t think we can do that.

Stark: Why not?

For starters, we already know a CEO named Tony.

Stark: I see... But for the record, I’m a way better Tony than that skate punk.

>I smile a bit. And we rejoin the others.

#phantom thieves cam #dream festival #dream fes

1 note · View note