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datheetjoella · 4 years

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Fantober 2020, Day 17: Haunted

Author: DatHeetJoella Fandom: Free! Pairing: MakoHaru Rating: T Part: 17/31 (read the full collection here) Word count: 1,761 Tags: Canonverse, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, School Festival, Haunted House, Mentions of Fake Blood Read at: AO3, FFn, or right here!

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Ever since elementary school, the cultural festival had been something Makoto looked forward to all year. In the weeks leading up to it, the atmosphere surrounding the school was even more pleasant and amicable than usual as everyone put in effort to make their class' event stand out. Preparing their event was a lot of fun, but the real fun came when their hard work came to fruition and the festival began. Seeing what all his classmates came up with, showcasing what his class made, enjoying all kinds of food at the various stalls and cafés, watching recitals and plays, it was a blast from start to finish. It was a time of unity between classmates and at the end, he was left feeling satisfied and fulfilled.

Makoto hadn't expected the enjoyment of it would dwindle when he got to university. On the contrary: everything was on a much grander scale and there were a lot fewer restrictions than in high school. Because of his job, Makoto wasn't in a club and therefore hadn't participated in the organisation, but he'd been looking forward to going to the festival with Haruka and experiencing what his friends had been working on for so long.

But more than twelve years of amusing cultural festivals were at risk of being destroyed in a single minute.

"Come on, Tachibana," Takagi said. "It's not that scary, I promise."

The axe headband sticking out between his copper-coloured locks and the fake blood trailing down his forehead did not support his claim. The instant Makoto spotted his friend, he had let out an audible shriek, drawing the attention of everyone in the hallway and sending his own blood rushing to his cheeks.

"You don't have to, Makoto," Haruka said from beside him and although he appreciated his support, it only strengthened Makoto's doubt.

Takagi had been a good friend of his since day one of university. They sat next to each other in Psychology and hit it off right away, agreeing to swap notes and help each other wherever they could. Quickly thereafter, Takagi had joined the Movie Research Club and, in collaboration with the Creative Writing Club, they had created a haunted house for the festival.

According to the advertisement posters, it was supposed to be like stepping inside a horror movie, a storyline the visitor was the protagonist of. That description set off numerous alarm bells in Makoto's head. He avoided haunted houses like the plague and vehemently refused to watch horror movies and this brought the worst of two worlds together.

The decision of whether or not to partake in this particular event seemed crystal clear. After all, he had strategically evaded the haunted houses in past festivals and had planned to continue this streak. But there was one roadblock: Makoto was a giant pushover.

"We all worked so hard on this and I would love for you to see what we made." Takagi slapped his hands together and bowed his head, nearly smacking Haruka with his axe-handle. "It's like a compilation of horror movie clichés, so it's more funny than anything. But if you do think it's too scary, I'll treat you to whatever you want."

There it was. It was not so much the promise that persuaded him, but the fear of disappointing his friend.

"W-Well, if you insist it's not that scary…" Makoto trailed off with an awkward chuckle.

"Thanks man, I appreciate it," Takagi said with a pat on Makoto's shoulder. "I hope you enjoy it. You too, Haru!"

With that, he stormed off to a group of young women to coax them into entering the haunted house as well.

The exchange left a frown on Haruka's face. "How am I on a first-name basis with your friend but you aren't?"

The dry comment dissipated some of the tension gripping Makoto's stomach. "Sorry, I think it's because I talk about you so much."

"Hm," Haruka hummed, and when he was sure Takagi was out of earshot, he said, "Makoto, you don't have to go in if you're not comfortable. I can go in by myself and tell you about it afterwards, in case he asks you what you think of it later."

Despite feeling like he was seconds removed from willingly throwing himself off a cliff, Makoto smiled. "Thanks, Haru, but I'll go with you. He said it wasn't that scary, so I should be fine."

Except he wasn't fine. The instant he stood before the room and heard the eerie music, Makoto knew he made a huge mistake.

When they entered the house, they got a handful of cards with dialogue options that they would need for certain checkpoints, then the interactive movie began. There was no way back.

Following the story that was being portrayed, Haruka and he moved into a vacant house that was far cheaper than the surrounding lots in the neighbourhood - a house Makoto would never buy in reality for obvious reasons. Right away, strange things began to happen in the house: lights flickered, keys clinked, lamps fell over and the phone rang, but when Haruka picked up, the line was dead. That was already enough to have Makoto clinging to Haruka's arm.

"It's alright, Makoto," Haruka said, rubbing his skin with his thumb. "Just close your eyes and try to think of something else. I'll guide us through."

Haruka's advice was a small comfort, but it was futile. Makoto's heart was actively trying to burst through his ribcage and his fight-flight-or-freeze instinct had kicked in, therefore he couldn't tear his eyes away from any of the things that were happening around him. Logically, he knew everything was fabricated by his peers, but it felt so real. This was exactly why he hated horror. How could anyone enjoy being scared?

When Makoto had unsuccessfully convinced Haruka it was fine, they continued. They had to investigate the reason behind these weird occurrences and found out that a hundred years ago, a young girl was murdered inside their house. It had been haunted ever since by various vengeful spirits and the only way to break the curse that had befallen the house was to figure out who the killer had been.

What the conclusion to the story was, Makoto didn't even care. A light, feminine voice ruptured the silence, ominously whispering about bringing forth suffering to those who had wronged her; suffering that exceeded the torture she endured. Makoto clamped onto Haruka's shoulders as he scanned the room to see where it was coming from. A short girl in torn, ivory robes emerged from the darkness, hunched over with her long dark hair obscuring her stark white face. She glided closer and when she stood before them, she looked up and revealed her pitch-black eyes.

When she popped up into his field of vision, Makoto screamed so loudly it alerted all the orcas within a thousand-mile radius. He nearly jumped on Haruka's neck in an attempt to hide his large frame behind Haruka's smaller one.

Fortunately, the girl noticed how genuinely terrified he was. She recoiled and forwent her script in favour of asking if he was alright, voice a bit heavier than the childlike tone she put on. Before Makoto could come with excuses, Haruka spoke up.

"He's not alright. Is there a way for us to leave?"

The girl nodded. "Code yellow!" she yelled, her voice vibrating throughout the area, then she turned back to them. "You can walk through now. No one will bother you."

"Thanks," Haruka said, and he tugged Makoto along by the hand. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Shame filled Makoto's senses, but when they passed through the rest of the haunted house and he saw the bloodied decor and props, relief washed over him. If he had to stay for the rest, he would either leave crying or in a fear-induced coma, so this was better for everyone involved.

What he did take away from this was that he would no longer trust Takagi's judgement. More funny than anything, he said. The only funny thing that happened inside that haunted house was Makoto's pathetic reaction.

When they were finally outside in the daylight again, Haruka dragged him over to a bench. Once he was seated safely, Makoto's soul returned to his body and his back slumped like all the life force had been sucked out of him.

"Are you okay?"

He looked up at Haruka with blazing cheeks. "I'm sorry, Haru. Because of me, you didn't get to experience the haunted house like it was intended."

Haruka merely shrugged. "As if I care about that. I just want you to be comfortable. But you do need to grow a spine."

"I know," Makoto said, head hanging low, "My childish fears always ruin everything."

"That's not it," Haruka said with a squeeze to Makoto's knee. "It's not weird or embarrassing to be scared of these things, a lot of people are. But next time, you need to come out for it and reject these offers right away. Stop being so afraid of letting people down and straight-up tell them no if you don't want to do something."

It was hard, but Haruka was right. He was an adult now and he should act like one. That included setting boundaries and adhering to them. "You're right. I'll tell Takagi-kun I couldn't handle it and that I won't go in next time. From now on, no more haunted houses or anything else ghost or murder-related for me."

"Good," Haruka said, bidding him a gentle smile that calmed Makoto's overworked heart. "Takagi owes us, but we'll find him later. First, is there anything you still wanted to see or do?"

The terror within his gut mellowed out and he smiled back at Haruka. "Well, I saw a sign for a sweets café earlier. Maybe we can check that out?"

"Sure. My treat," Haruka said and Makoto opened his mouth to protest, but he sent him a look that made it clear there was no room for argument.

Hand in hand they strolled over the campus towards the building that hosted the café. Haruka asked him what kind of pastries he was hoping they'd have and Makoto's mouth began to water at the thought of cakes and brownies.

If there was anyone who could chase off all the bad images and demons that resided in Makoto's mind, it was Haruka. It had been like that since they were kids and it would stay that way even as they grew older, because some things never changed.

#i'm sorry i'm stupid #makoharu #makoharu fic #my fic #fantober2020 #colourful days with you

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xxemitsuxx · 4 years

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You deserve better - a P5R bad end FF

hello it is I and this posts contains HEAVY SPOILERS FOR P5R READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Summary: A God who wasn't unnecessarily cruel, who didn't make innocents suffer; a God who knew what humans felt through first hand experience, who knew loss and pain and only wanted the best for everyone. Did he really make the right choice? | How Akechi and Ren cope with the latter's decision of living in Maruki's perfect reality.

"Well, I have your answer."

When Ren opened his eyes, the first thing that hit him was confusion.

"What's wrong? You seem out of it." Ren blinked at the scene unfolding in front of him. All of his friends, chatting happily in Leblanc. He turned his head to stare at Sojiro. The man was looking at him in mild amusement as the question lingered between them. Huh...what?

"Where's Maruki?," he carefully asked, clenching and unclenching his fists. The answer that came was entirely unsatisfying.

"Who?"

So. Maruki had done it, hadn't he? It made sense, Ren had agreed to it. He still felt it was for the best... yes, it was. He hadn't known what to expect; maybe he thought Maruki would wipe his memory and overwrite his cognition like he had done with his friends. In fact, he was surprised he hadn't. Maybe it was too early, maybe...

The reality of the situation hit him as he watched his friends, his teammates, squabble with each other without a worry in the world.

They were all here. Morgana, Ryuji, Ann,S̸͕̼̱͕͋̓ͅu̵̳̯̥͙͉̙̾̋m̶̢̱̗͉̼͇̍͌̐̔̕i̸̠̒̅̒͜͝r̶̘̥̘̙̈́̐̉͒̔̕ḛ̷̯̫͇̫̌̏̇̃̑ Kasumi, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru and... Akechi.

Ren's gaze rested on Akechi and he felt his stomach turn.

"Your indecisiveness on the matter is essentially a betrayal of my wishes."

He... he had to remember, too, didn't he?

"It says that's north-northwest of here, and a bit to the right, so... Roughly, that way."

Did he?

Ren kept close watch on Akechi and also his other friends during the party he had apparently planned for them, but he couldn't find any kind of abnormalities. They all seemed... happy. Not an unusual kind of fake happiness, but the normal kind.

This is what he had wanted for them, wasn't it?

The days passed like they were nothing. It was baffling. Every time he saw Futaba laugh with her mother, Ryuji bicker with his track teammates, Ann smile at Shiho, Morgana trailing close behind them with a blessed smile on his human lips, he felt like crying and he didn't know why. He was happy for them, so happy that they were happy, but there was this deep sorrow seated in his chest...

Did I really make the right choice?

The news barely reported anything bad happening anymore. Japan prospered, the people truly lived just the way they wanted, criminal rate broke down to a never seen before minimum as the world slowly melted into what God wanted it to. A God who wasn't unnecessarily cruel, didn't make innocents suffer; a God who knew what humans felt through first hand experience, who knew loss and pain and only wanted the best for everyone.

Did I really make the right choice?

He spent a lot of time with his friends, pushed down the suspicion that he only did it to distract himself and instead decided he did it to get an answer to the question plaguing him. Not that he could change anything if he got the false answer, not anymore.

"What's wrong, Ren?," Ann asked him one day as Shiho excused herself to go to the toilet. "You've been acting a little strange lately." Ren sheepishly dragged a hand through his hair, smiling slightly.

"Ah... sorry. I'm just a little restless in the last time." Ann laughed affectionly.

"I know how you feel! It's insane that Makoto and Haru are graduating soon, isn't it? Not seeing them at school anymore every day will be weird... But they'll be fine. I know it." Ren nodded slowly. "Yeah... me too." He said it with conviction, but for all the wrong reasons.

He obviously hadn't known Wakaba Isshiki in life, but in this reality, he did. The woman really was a lot like Futaba and it was hard not to like her. She was apparently fond of him as well and it felt so good to see Futaba smile without a worry in the world while nagging Wakaba to take them to Destinyland. She was so happy and he was so happy for her.

This must have been the right choice.

They also met up as a whole group a lot, apparently to not waste the precious time they had left before the third years went their own ways. Those outings were quite interesting to watch and also enjoyable to participate in, but he found himself staring at Akechi more than he wanted to. He couldn't shake the suspicion, as well as the incredible guilt nagging at his insides whenever he saw the detective laugh at something stupid Ryuji said in the same way he had once at Ren's words, in a way Ren had once thought genuine until finding out that all of it had been a lie. Was he being honest this time? He had to be, didn't he? Maruki had promised to make them all happy. Even if Akechi hadn't agreed with it, even if the the disappointed fury in his eyes as Ren had turned him down had almost consumed him..

He had to be certain.

"Hey, Akechi. Are you happy?" He asked this after having Akechi accompany him to get some drinks for the others. The brunet looked at him with an unreadable look in his eyes and for a moment Ren felt his heart drop; he remembers, he's acting, he's probably incredibly furious-

"Thats a weird question to ask. Are you okay, Ren?"

…

"... ah, sorry," he said after being dumbfounded for a moment. "Nevermind." The concern on Akechi's face looked genuine, but he couldn't be sure...

More days passed and Ren felt like he was going insane. Torn between guilt, uncertainty, the smiles of his friends and the shadows of a reality long passed, he felt like screaming, like punching something, like breaking down. He had never felt this way before and he couldn't help resent Maruki a little – hadn't he promised happiness? Why was he feeling this way? He wasn't happy, not even close to it.

Then suddenly, he was.

"Hey, Ren." Ren turned towards the voice and smiled when he recognized Akechi, excusing himself from his chat with Hanasaki and walking towards his friend. "Hey Akechi. What's up?" The other eyed him, also smiling a flawless smile.

Hm, weird. Why had he felt the need to point out that it was flawless...?

"Ah, you know. This and that. Preparing for graduation." Akechi laughed fondly. "It's been busy." His eyes met Ren's. "How have you been?" Ren tilted his head with a hum. To be honest, he felt the same as always; although lately, it seemed like Wakaba's food was even more delicious and the smiles of everyone a little more radiant, Morgana's hair a little nicer, Ryuji a little faster during his track runs.

"Really good, actually", he said, twirling a strand of hair on his finger. "Can't complain." Akechi nodded, still smiling. "You wanna come over to Leblanc and play some chess? We haven't done that in a while." Akechi stilled.

"Chess?"

"Hm?"

"Ah, I apologize. Of course. But not today. I have work to do." Ren laughed heartily, not noticing the way Akechi looked at him when he did.

"Of course you do. Good luck, detective." Akechi smiled so brightly it was blinding.

"Thank you, Ren." He waved as he turned. "Best of luck to you, too. You'll need it."

What a weirdo, Ren thought fondly as he turned back to Hanasaki without a care in the world.

A week later they stood in front of the school, ready to let a nice stranger take a picture of them. When said stranger walked away, Ren stared after him, feeling for the first time in his life like he was forgetting something important, but when he turned to his smiling friends, he quickly forgot about that, too.

After arriving home that day, the stranger from before was seated at one of the tabled in Leblanc. Ren didn't think it was strange that he was alone, Sojiro and Wakaba nowhere in sight.

"Oh, you're..." The man turned towards him, smiling.

"Hello there."

Ren bowed his head. "Thank you for earlier." A laugh.

"No problem. Could I have a house blend?" Ren nodded, stepping behind the counter to get to work. Silence unfolded and he found himself humming cheerily. He wasn't entirely sure why he was in such a good mood, but it didn't matter, did it?

"Hey, Amamiya-kun." Ren looked up and a distant part of him questioned why this total stranger knew his name, but somehow, it appeared right.

"Yes?"

"Are you happy?" That wasn't a question he had expected. Ren frowned in confusion and opened his mouth to answer, but in that moment words flooded into his mind, words from a distant memory which seemed far away and close at the same time:

"Hey Akechi, are you happy?"

He stopped in his tracks. Had he asked that? Why? The world spun and he felt hot and cold at the same time as if someone had ripped a curtain away which had been hanging in front of his eyes.

"Ah- I'm sorry Amamiya-kun- please, don't cry..." Ren suddenly felt incredibly disattached from reality, barely felt it when he raised his teary eyes towards the strange man and didn't realize his mouth was forming words foreign to him: "Maruki-sensei.." Distantly he wondered who Maruki was, but he could barely- he felt like he was forgetting something really important- "Maruki-sensei, I..."

"I'm sorry, Amamiya-kun," the man had gotten up to move in front of him; Ren's eyes saw the worry on his face but he couldn't comprehend anything-- "This... this is wrong..." What was wrong? "They're happy, but.." Who was happy? He was happy, wasn't he? Why was he saying these things? Was it even him saying them?

The man he didn't know looked at him with nothing but sympathy and pity in his eyes and put a hand on top of his head, "I'm so sorry.. I shouldn't have brought it up. I know how much you struggled with your choice so I tried to take at least your memories so you can live without the burden... there is something external which seems to shield you from me, I'm still trying to figure out what it is, I promise I'll do better soon." He sighed and the hand on top of his head moved affectionately. The gesture didn't reach Ren- or did it? He couldn't tell, he was so... so... "I owe you this much... If only I could help him like this, too..." Him?

"...Akechi," he heard himself say, and how did Akechi's name fit in here? "Does Akechi-"

"Pssh," the man interrupted him gently. "Don't think about it, Amamiya-kun. Your friend will be fine. You will be fine. Just leave it to me." Ren's eyelid fluttered and he thought how yes, it would be so nice to just leave his problems in the hands of another, because the feeling in his chest threatened to choke him without knowing why. Before he could properly think about how wrong that was, an all-consuming exhaustion overcame him and he closed his eyes to the soft humming of the stranger.

"Rennnn pleaaase~"

"Not a chance."

"Awww~" Ren snorted and gently pushed Futaba away after his sister-not-sister let herself fall against him when he once again denied her the money to try again for a Jack Frost figurine. They had been at this ever since the entire gang had met at the arcade in an attempt to relax during the Easter break.

"Just ask Wakaba-san for some more allowance."

"She'll never do that!"

"Maybe she would if you wouldn't waste all your money on video games."

"Shut it, Inari! At least I'm not broke like you!" Yusuke frowned."I am not broke."

"Ah yeah? Then how come you never tag along when we go out for lunch?"

"That's... I save the money sensei gifts me for more important things." Yusuke and Futaba kept bickering. Ren smiled fondly and let his gaze travel across the arcade. It was surprisingly empty; only they were there, as if the place had been booked for them alone. Ann and Ryuji were playing some shooter game together with Morgana cheering the former on, Makoto and Haru laughing while moving to Dance Dance Revolution, and Akechi...

Ren frowned. Where was Akechi?

"Is something wrong, senpai?" Ren looked at Kasumi; the younger girl had been laughing along with Futaba and Yusuke earlier, but was now looking at him with worry in her eyes.

"Ah, yeah. Kasumi, have you seen Akechi?" Kasumi frowned and tilted her head, thinking.

"Hm... He was talking to Morgana-senpai earlier about getting some fresh air, I think... So he should be outside?" Ren nodded, giving her a grateful smile before stepping outside with a quick excuse.

It wasn't unusual for Akechi to wander off on his own, but he had made a promise to beat the detective at Gun Online and he intended to keep that promise. Where could he have gone?

"Looking for someone?" Ren turned his head to find Akechi leaning against a wall in a narrow, easy to overlook alleyway. A soft smile rested on his face, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Nah," he responded while trailing towards him, "just some weird guy who's too scared to face me in a video game." Akechi scoffed and shook his head. When Ren got closer, he got a better look at his face; he was smiling as always, but... something felt off.

"Something wrong?"

Their eyes met and yes, he hadn't been mistaken; the other's face looked unusually empty. It didn't fit the boy at all- or wait... did it? It fit. But why? Akechi was pretty much always smiling, always looking out for Ren just as Ren looked out for him. They were-

"Your friend will be fine."

Ren felt his eyes widen, and after a moment, Akechi's empty, calculating expression melted into one of concern. "Ren, are you okay?"

"I-I..." Why had he just thought the sharp expression didn't fit Akechi? Why did the current concern, the soft eyes, feel so wrong? When their eyes met again, Ren suddenly felt as though he was drowning; air wouldn't come to him, he couldn't breath-

"I hate you."

"You're just some attic trash!"

" Let's make a deal."

He felt his eyes widen and he hadn't even noticed that he had crumbled to the floor, trying to gasp for air but not being able to move. What was...?

Usually, a friend of his or even a bystander would immediately worry, crouch down in front of him and ask him what's wrong. Akechi however stood still. Ren felt his eyes burn into his neck.

Then, "Hmph. You deserve this, you know." The other's voice was cold, colder than it had ever been before- or had it...? "Honestly, when I noticed that you're starting to forget I wanted to vomit. But looks like you're still struggling, so that's something. I could get used to that." His voice wasn't just cold now, it was seething with suppressed anger, and Ren couldn't- he didn't understand-

"That's enough, Akechi-kun. Can't you see he's in pain?" It took Ren all his will power to slowly raise his heavy head. It occurred to him that huh, since when where they in Leblanc, but the thought quickly faded away. Someone had manifested next to them out of thin air, and Akechi had jumped backwards, obviously startled. However, he quickly regained his composure and crossed his arms, glaring daggers at... „ "Maruki...sensei..." Ren again didn't recognize his own voice. The man he didn't know looked at him with a sad face and smiled fondly, before turning back to Akechi.

"...I can see that, thank you very much," the brunet spit out.

"Then why?" Akechi scoffed, directing his glare towards Ren. He flinched. "Why? Maybe I want to see him suffer. Suffer for choosing- whatever this is. Your stupid fucking puppet house realit-" Akechi stopped mid-sentence as he choked, hands flying to his throat in obvious panic. The strange man's eyes widened and he quickly shook his head. One of his hands was slightly raised. It dropped to his side.

"Oh, I- I apologize, Akechi-kun. I didn't mean to hurt you." He looked at Ren complementary, then he flicked his hand.

The world turned upside down and Ren felt himself crumble to the ground from his kneeling position. His eyes suddenly felt incredibly heavy so he closed them. Thinking became hard.

"What are you-"

"Don't worry. I'm simply putting him to sleep. He doesn't need to suffer because of our disagreements, does he?"

"Damn well he does!"

"Why are you so angry?" Another scoff.

"Ha! Are you seriously asking me that?" The voices were fading away...

"I'm sorry, Akechi-kun. I'm really trying to take the pain away from you, but it's proving to be challenging. The both of you are being shielded from my powers by... something. In Amamiya-kun's case I can still influence him to some degree, but because of your resistance I can't seem to-"

"Fuck off."

"- do anything. I'm really sorry, you'd be so much happier without..." The voice hesitated.

"Without what? Without my memories? My feelings? My free will? The things which make me who I am, which you are trying to TAKE AWAY from all of us?"

"No, that's-"

"I can't believe you. I can't understand how someone can be so disillusioned and in love with themselves that they think they can decide what's best for everyone. You make me sick to my core."

"Akechi-kun, please..." Footsteps passed by Ren.

So tired...

#persona 5 royal #p5r #spoilers #persona 5 #akechi goro #amamiya ren #kurusu akira #maruki takuto #fanfiction #bad ending

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typhoontroubadour · 4 years

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How do you guys like your tea

Some notes about the placements can be found under the cut.

Those Dead Peeps: Don’t know anything about so I can’t make a real judgement on any of them.

Fuck You Guys: Self explanatory.

Mishima: Mishima gets a lower tier than everyone else cuz he was the first to die so we spent the least amount of time with him, and despite the fact he keeps coming back in some way or another I still can’t make myself care about him THAT much. That being said, I haven’t yet played island mode where he’s the only player character so that might sway my judgement later.

Ranger: While a bastard he’s a very entertaining bastard. That alone I think warrants him above the Fuck You tier. And also, while I still hold him accountable, his dad was the dick who left him without positive emotions and led to him taking the actions he does.

Safalin: I was thinking about putting her a tier above where she is but I don’t think she deserves to be on the same tier as the charcaters above her. She’d likely need her own middle ground tier as my fave doll.

Sara: Probably the first real eyebrow raiser. Sara while being a good and expressive character I feel is one of the most generic and average out of the group so far. Note that I said so far. She’s steadily become more complex as the story unfolds. I hope by the end and we find out what her deal is that the orginization wants her so badly I can bump her up at least one more ranking. To compare the series to Danganronpa (something no one has ever done before) in terms of protagonist level, she’s kinda like Makoto to me. There’s nothing wrong with her, but I just feel the future protags are more complex, in due no small part from being able to learn from writing for the first game onwards.

Reko; Alright, listen. I like Reko. I think she’s a good character. But compared to Sara and even her brother? (congrats to the trans fans for being fed that good shit btw) I just feel rather lukewarm about her. Reko and Alice are kinda comparable as rather abrasive characters with a softer side to them. I always can appreciate a character who can he tough but care for or look after the weaker ones. But at the same time that character alone can only get so far in my eyes. I think she’s missing some crucial piece of charcater to her to really make her stand out as her own. Something truly unique about her to let her stand on her own two feet. Until that day comes, I just see Reko as that cool big sister who got me through the dancing sub game.

Q-taro: This one’s pretty simple, I feel like I want to like him more than I do but can’t. I honestly thought he’d be dead by the end of chapter 2 when playing through it. It kind of feels like we’ve seen the extent of his character already through where we are in the sotry. I also find his character to sometimes flipflop back and forth sometimes? Like how he goes from the first main game saying we can’t nominate the kids to not willing to take the stinger for Gin. He seems like he really cares about trust and believing in people (other than Shin) but then chapter 2 happens and he kinda loses it? I dunno, it’s reasonable for someone to crack, but for him, to me, it feels like there needed to be more of a build up of seeing him start to collapse a bit. And then his shady behavior kinda gets pushed aside cwhen he works with Keiji and the focus shifts away from him. Don’t some of you think he can come off as if changing his alliances when they’re convienant for him? Long story short, he just seems kind of like a mess to me that needs sorted out to make sense of at the moment.

Joe/Jou: However you prefer to spell it, I think we can all agree he is a very good boi. Not much to say that hasn’t already been said on him.

Alice: I rank him higher than his sister cuz I just think he’s a slighter better version of her character and more enjoyable to read. Kinda sad to see him go.

Kai: Kai was someone who if I ranked these guys simply on the stuff we knew about them from chapter 1 I’d likely put in the average tier, but thanks to chpater 2 he’s risen a rank. He’s a very fascinating character I hope continues to have some sort of presence in the final chapter. I kinda feel like he’s done now that we’ve cleaned out his laptop, but I can hope. He also gets props for smacking Miley upside the head.

Keiji: Do I even need to say anything? No? Didn’t think so.

Sou/Shin: Remember all I said about Q-taro? Yeah, I feel Shin is that but it actually makes sense and he’s just a real interesting charcater to see act and react to things. He is a great love to hate character for me. I’m very interested to see how he’s handled in chapter 3 as someone who chose to have him live the end of chapter 2.

As a quick break before moving on, to speak on the character we recently learned of, Shadow Sou, just Sou Hiyori, whatever, while we still don’t know anything of him, I think we can all put aside our differences to want to jump this smelly bad man. I would take pleasure in seeing him hooked up to a punishment machine and having a bot set up to mash a button meant to prolong his suffering. That is all.

Gin: Let me be 100% clear right now. Everyone in this tier is here purely for being my fave. Do they deserve to be this high regardless? Your results may vary, but I believe so. I love Gin so much. He’s so good. He is the final alive member of the group who must be protected at all costs. I’m glad he’s found his own use to the group as the story went on. I didn’t know how to feel about him at the start of the game, Kind of like Kai I didn’t feel really attached to him. But the more I was able to be with him, the more the little guy grew on me. He is my adoptive little bro and I will visit him everyday and make sure to play with him. I really hope nothing bad happens to him in chapter 3, but I’m also so worried we’ll have more damage done to Sara’s mental fortitude before the end to try to breka her further. And I feel like that can only really come from losing Gin or Keiji at this point to sting as much as when Joe did.

Nao: Oh, Nao. My sweet baby. I think I should start this off by saying what I think all fans of Nao would like to sy to the game. How about you go fuck yourself? I’m serious, Nao gets shit on through the whole game leading to her end in chapter 2. What do you guys have against Nao? She’s great and I would’ve happily traded away her sacrifice card for my own. She’s so pure and trying to do her best and be a better person without realying so heavily on tohers like Mishima. But, I’d be an idiot to just ignore the fact she did kinda fulfill that before her end. You could easily argue she kinda already reached the end of her arc as a character. She finally reached that point the others that supported her thought she could be. Am I still sad to see her go? Of course I am. Do I find it a satisfactory end for her character? I say I’m glad she was at least able grow into herself before dropping her. And that’s you can really ask of a game like this.

Kanna: Last but not least we have dear, sweet, precious Kanna. It was rough choosing to vote against her at the end of chapter 2. That’s something I’ll have to see the consequences of on a repeat playthrough once the game is complete. I took her words to heart and let her protect Sara the only way she knew how. I hope she’s able to rest easy with her sister. I think Kanna, much like Gin, fit that good child charcater trait of being able to see the good in people depsite some things about them in that naively and pure way only a kid can. I like how depsite everything, she put her faith into Sara and Shin to the very end. If there’s one thig to respect about her character it’s that she stuck to her guns like Joe despite knowing her end was likely coming.

To anyone who read this whole thing top to bottom, or skipped around to the characters they cared about and made it down here to read about Kanna and noticed this last little spiel, you are the mvps, and I hope your faves make it out alive.

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it-will-not-last-the-night · 5 years

Text

Blegh

In terms of Persona 5 I’d been riding high mostly since P5D. I’d been positive mostly over it because P5D and fan-generated content had been lovely overall and really engaging and enjoyable. It had helped me forget that the main game itself seriously does upset me at times and I have a less than ideal opinion of it.

*Sigh*

Now I’m starting to feel like that again. Both announcements of today have left brought back to mind some of my biggest problems with Persona 5 and the way Atlus writes in general. What are they? A bit of a lesson then in me;

For myself there are three events in Persona 5 that I really REALLY just consider outright despicable. In no order they are; 1) Two homosexual adult males being negatively stereotyped as child molesters targeting Ryuji 2) Ryuji’s friends responding to one of the greatest acts of selflessness in the entire story by physically abusing Ryuji and 3) The Valentine’s Day event making Canon that Akira/Ren is horrible, Sojiro is horrible and that Atlus thinks all the girls are vapid idiots.

‘Magical Valentine’ raises an issue I’ve always had but makes it even more forceful. You see in the game the Valentine’s Event is only ‘optionally’ canon. You can play a canonical run-through and not have it occur. So you can, legitimately, without needing headcanon or fanon, just have your own canon playthrough in which the girls are not vapid idiots. The anime however, now, makes it that, for the Animation, it is canon that Akira/Ren is an awful person and that the girls are vapid idiots. Oh and that Sojiro is just literally the worst like...like he is scum in this event. As bas as Akira/Ren is (and he’s bad in this version!) the bigger problem I think a LOT of people forget about the Valentine’s Harem Route is that it literally casts Sojiro as a Guardian of Futaba who would lie to conceal her boyfriend’s infidelities...even when said infidelities LITERALLY CAUSE FUTABA TO CRY!

So the animation is now making it canon that; 1) Akira/Ren sees no reason he has to be honest or forthright with any females in his life 2) Sojiro holds such low regard for his daughter he will aide Akira/Ren in an ongoing deception and emotional manipulation of her RIGHT AFTER SHE OVERCAME A SUICIDAL PHASE OF HER LIFE and 3) That Ann, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Takemi, Kawakami, Ohya, Hifumi and Chihaya all fall in love with the exact same person and are literally when confronted with incontervertible evidence of his infedilities not only tricked into instantly accepting that them all bringing him chocolate on Valentine’s Day was a ‘misunderstanding’ but, in the case of the Phantom Thieves members, this has so little impact on them that mere days later they have no reaction.

AKA the ending Valentine’s Harem Route basically says: “Akira/Ren successfully cheated on all the girls in his life, and is free to continue to do so since they are so stupid that they could be convinced to assume it was a ‘misunderstanding’ even under the most blatantly false of pretext,” the ending basically gives carte blanche to say that Akira/Ren will probably keep cheating on the women in his life because, well, they’re so stupid that even if they all end up right in front of him, confessing their love for him to each other’s faces...they somehow think this was a ‘misunderstanding’?

That’s gonna be canon now for the animation. Not ‘optional’ canon, just...just outright canon. Literally everything in the Canon is soured now. Did you like Ren’s bond with Ann in the foregoing episodes? Well bad news; Ren literally is willing to commit to an intimate relationship with her and then emotionally cheat on her with several different women at once. Did you like how Ren played a pivotal role in building Futaba’s character and helping her grow out of her emotional turmoil? Well sucks for you cause Ren is literally willing to lie to this girl’s face and tell her he loves her whilst carrying on behind her back with numerous other women.

It sort of goes without saying that this kinda wrecks P5A completely since, canonically, Akira/Ren is now just an irredeemable asshole and the female characters are reduced to stock harem-style idiot love interests with basically 0 individuality because everyone has to love the Protagonist (self-insert!).

But when you think about it even in the original game...this was a problem. Sure you could choose not to do it...but you could also choose to do it. This means, technically, as far as Atlus’ writing is concerned, canonically Akira/Ren has it in him to be a complete asshole with no respect for women or his friends...and the females in the game are all vapid idiots. That’s technically canon since that’s required for the Valentine’s Route to work.

Oh, also, that Sojiro is the worst. The worst.

The Valentine’s Harem Event, like the Ryuji abusing event post Shido’s Palace. does irrevocable damage to the characters and the content itself, kinda ruining it since for it to be canon...well it means the characters are terrible people or stupid. Why I sort of have to choose to ignore them to actually like the story.

Of course what does all this writing have in common? It’s a JOKE! Haha! Ryuji’s being abused, isn’t this funny? Haha! The girls are all vapid idiots and Joker’s such a chick magnet they have no varying tastes in partner at all! Haha! Gay men want to force Ryuji to undress for them!

Isn’t this funny? I mean, no, of course not. In almost all these cases the ‘humour’ is...someone suffering. A common retort I then see is; it’s not canon, its just for a joke.

But the problem is it is, all, strictly canon. I could definitely understand if these things were packaged as clear ‘not canon’ events.

Here’s an example; the Blazblue game series has ‘joke’ endings which are explicitly not canon but usually feature bizarre or ‘funny’ scenes. One of said scenes is a reoccuring bit in which the protagonist Ragna is made to wear glasses that causes the female cast to all fall in love with him. Putting aside the fact for the moment that, to me, this still isn’t funny since its treating the Mind Rape of the entire female cast as a ‘joke’ the fact remains that it is, however, not canon. The creators make sure that nothing that happens here technically infringes on or diminished the canon character content by making it explicitly non-canon.

Persona 5, both the game and now the Animation, take no such efforts. There are no efforts to make clear that Ryuji being beaten up is a ‘comedic non-canon overreaction’ or that Akira/Ren being a womanizing prick and Sojiro being the WORST are just ‘comedic non-canon skits’ all these are played as explicitly, irrefutably, canon. That is how the characters are, as far as Atlus is concerned. That is their opinions, their beliefs etc.

Is it weird that P5 Dancing has the best, most wholesome, most healthy characterization of the entire Persona 5 Franchise? I suppose maybe the mangas are good to, I must admit I’ve never read any of them since from what I can tell Ryuji is basically ignored in all of them in favour of focus on the girls.

Atlus has a writing problem and that problem is centered I fear on a simple fact; the protagonist is a self-insert who is assumed to be a self-insert for a very specific formula; a young male who sees female characters as things he wishes to collect for himself and wants to feel adored by. Almost all of the major writing problems stem from this; Girls seem exploited or turned into vapid haremettes? Well, obviously, gotta appeal to that ‘chick magnet’ fantasy. Homosexuality is cast as negative or frightning? Well, obviously, the fantasy being appealed to is explicitly heterosexual in nature, everything else is ‘icky’. Other males seem to constantly be the butt of a joke or consistently shown up compared to the protagonist? Naturally since the fantasy is about making the player feel like ‘the man’ and all other men are simply lame by comparison so that the girls will only love the protagonist (the self-insert).

What really bums me out about all of this is that Atlus can write such amazing scenes as Ryuji’s ‘the place I belong is next to you,’ but then in that same game or anime have the Valentine’s Event and the Ship scene. I imagine in part this is due to it being a game first, story second, so they feel there are ‘beats’ that need to be there (the loser must be made fun of, the protagonist must get all the girls) even if, from a storyboarding point of view...it just makes the characters look A) Very inconsistent in personality and attitude (Ren’s infamous standing up for a stranger being assaulted but then instantly refusing to step in to help Ryuji in Shinjuku) or B) Like massive asshats (The entire Valentine’s Event from Ren and Sojiro’s perspectives.

It is just...its sad. I want to like this story because there is legitimately good characters and writing but...in the name of appealing to the lowest common denominator it gets weighted down by stuff which is explicitly canon and makes the characters awful.

It really makes it tough to like it at times.

*Sigh*

At the end of the day I don’t know how to handle this. Accepting its canon makes a lot of people awful or stupid. Headcanoning it away is fine but...then I gotta accept I don’t like Persona 5 per say, I like what I, or other fans, create from Persona 5.

Also can we please just be able to date Ryuji. Please Atlus. We don’t need another female character to be another fangirl for Joker, to be another vapid idiot who can be duped by the WORST Sojiro, please Atlus, please. Please. There are ENOUGH love interests Atlus, please try perhaps instead stop treating women like little toys for a protagonist to effortlessly collect and dupe.

Watching all the Persona 5 Girls (sans Sae) in the Valentine’s Event is painful. They are characters I like, many of them have good writing...and then they are reduced to props to make a player feel “Oh yeah! Such a chick magnet! They all want me! Women are simply a commodity by which I inflate my own sense of self-worth since having multiple of them attracted to me and betrayed by me makes me feel as if this is a positive development and not a negative one!”

And I do mean that seriously. Look at most content or statements around the Valentine’s Event. They frame it positively. The ‘harem’ ending, Joker is such a ‘chick magnet’ and so ‘alpha’ etc. etc.

Terrible emotional betrayal? Deep seated trust issues? Sojiro treating his own daughter like garbage? Ignored because ‘Joker is a PLAYER! WOOO!” And this is overall seen as a positive development.

By now I’ve rambled on ridiculously long but if I must have a conclusion it is thus; Please give us a Female Protagonist who can date the other boys and stop selling this sexist approach where non-protagonist males and all females serve the same purpose; inflating the ego of the player character.

#persona 5 #p5 #persona 5 the animation #p5a #akira kusuru #kusuru akira #ren amamiya #amamiya ren #joker #phantom thieves of heart #phantom thieves #sojiro sakura #sakura sojiro #sojiro

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