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Fanfic / Queen's Checkmate

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Queen's Checkmate (FFN link) is a Persona 5 Alternate Universe Fan Fiction by blazingEmblem (Who also wrote Confide in Me).

Based on Persona 5 Royal, the main premise of this story is that instead of Ren being the leader of the Phantom Thieves, Makoto instead leads them as the singular Wild Card, and as such, she was the one captured after the Casino heist instead of Ren. Having been drugged and beaten up, she must make it through an interrogation with her sister concerning the story of the Phantom Thieves.

The story is currently on a tri-weekly update schedule.

This fic assumes you have already played Persona 5 Royal, so beware of spoilers.

Tropes found in this fanfiction:

  • Accidental Pun: When fighting a Nue, Ryuji gets hit by its Skullcracker skill. He immediately lampshades it.
  • Adaptation Deviation:
    • Downplayed, but the Hawaii field trip happens several months earlier than in canon due to the police putting pressure on Shujin. This also means Kobayakawa is killed much earlier.
    • Instead of a beach trip, the last step in group's efforts to get Futaba accustomed to socialization takes them to Ren's hometown for a yearly festival.
  • Adaptation Expansion:
    • The backstories of the Phantom Thieves' targets are expanded upon through the memories they view when they collect the Palace's Will Seeds. This is based on a scrapped concept from Royal.
    • Shiho Suzui and Eiko Takao are both now Confidants for Makoto. The latter goes even further, becoming a Phantom Thief with the codename Witch.
    • Yusuke's mother, named Yua, is also elaborated upon when he sees Madarame's memory of killing her in his Palace. After Shadow Madarame is defeated, Yua herself appears (as a cognition of Madarame's) and states that she is proud of the person Yusuke has become and that she loves him. She then gives him Madarame's treasure, which is the true Sayuri painted by her. D'awwwww...
  • Adaptation Origin Connection: Makoto and Kaneshiro are given a more personal rivalry via The Reveal that Kaneshiro had Makoto's father killed. In canon, neither of them had any real connection to each other before Makoto was ordered to track him down.
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the original games, Ryuji was the Butt-Monkey of the team, but he wasn't too bothered by that. In this fic, after being the first one to get knocked out during the fights against Shadow Kaneshiro and the cognitive Wakaba, Ryuji starts feeling like a burden to the Phantom Thieves. When Makoto starts giving Ryuji less action out of concern for him, he doesn’t take it well, and these feelings of inadequacy worsen from there. It comes to a peak in Chapter 66 when Ryuji leaves the team in at the start of the Okumura arc after Morgana scolds Ryuji for being reckless and blurts out that Makoto was afraid of him getting harmed because of that. He rejoins them in Chapter 69 after Haru fully awakens to her persona.
  • Adaptational Badass:
    • Due to having the Wild Card, Makoto is this by default. And she was no wimp in the original game either!
    • While Morgana could already take care of himself in the original game, it says a lot when in Chapter 8 he saves Makoto from being raped by Kamoshida by latching onto his face and scratching him, allowing Makoto to flee to safety, and coming back in one piece all while in his cat form.
    • Zig-Zagged with Ren. While not having the Wild Card means he's no longer as powerful as in canon, Arsène is allowed to grow much stronger since he's not relegated to being Ren's starting Persona. In addition to more powerful Curse spells, he gets a number of Status Infliction Attacks.
  • Adaptational Intelligence: Principal Kobayakawa doesn't suspect Makoto is actually a Phantom Thief, but he is somewhat suspicious of her for the company she keeps, so he assigns Ann Takamaki to keep an eye on Makoto.
  • Adaptational Jerkass:
    • Believe it or not, the students of Shujin Academy are even worse than they were in the original game! Not only is Makoto a target of their gossip as well now, but unlike there where their rumors about Ren slightly die down after the Kamoshida arc, here they continue growing and even reach the Phan-Site itself!
    • Justified with Sae during the interrogation; she's a lot meaner to Makoto than she ever was to Ren, but she just discovered that to her point of view, Makoto is spitting on her father's legacy and ideals. She is not in a good mood, and it shows. After Chapter 12, she has a Jerkass Realization and calms down.
  • Adaptational Nice Guy:
    • Eiko is shown to be much kinder than she was in Makoto's Social Link in the original game. As a result of becoming the Faith Confidant, she is explored in more depth and has a much more sympathetic characterization.
    • Makoto was always a good person, but she is initially hostile toward Ren and his friends early in the game. Due to her being the Wild Card and being put in a position to interact with Ren constantly, she ends up on good terms with Ren and Ryuji early on. She even drops her initial hostility to Ryuji due to Ren vouching for him.
    • Yusuke's desire to paint Ann nude despite her wishes during the Madarame arc is almost completely absent. He does want to paint Makoto instead, but only because she herself offered and there's no nudity involved - only once Madarame is defeated does Yusuke bring up the idea of painting Makoto nude, and even then he quickly drops the idea after she protests it.
  • Adaptational Villainy:
    • The principal was merely a Professional Butt-Kisser in the original game. While he is still one in this story, he is now much more of an active threat to the Phantom Thieves to the point where he has his own palace and is the third major target of the Phantom Thieves before Kaneshiro, something that the police had no knowledge of.
    • Eiko's boyfriend, Tsukasa, was already a Con Man who strung her along in a relationship to extort her for money in the original game, but here he's one of Kaneshiro's lackeys and gives his boss the idea to use Makoto to get at Sae via blackmail.
    • In addition to murdering Futaba's mother and Haru's father like in canon, Akechi also murdered Makoto's and Sae's father under Kaneshiro's orders by causing a psychotic breakdown in a truck driver, leading to their father getting struck by the truck.
  • Ancient Rome: The theme of Principal Kobayakawa's palace.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Makoto started to give Ren one in Chapter 40, as the group is freaking out after Ren seemingly died after Taking the Bullet for Makoto. Before she actually gives a full confession though Ren comes to and unwittingly cuts her off.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: Makoto hits Sae with several of these after she makes a claim about The Needs of the Many.
    “If the ends justify the means, then what, precisely, is your problem with the Phantom Thieves? If you don’t believe that people like Kaneshiro’s, or anyone’s rights, matter more than the safety of society, then why do you care that we changed his heart without his consent? Or are only those who make or enforce the law allowed to break it?”
  • Armor-Piercing Response:
    • When Makoto asks Ren why he is friends with Ryuji, he tells her that he's the first one in Shujin that's treated him like a human being, which Makoto can't counter.
    • Ren gets another one, this time at Sae's expense, during her encounter with Sojiro over her investigation over him being abusive to Futaba, bringing up Sae's own words to Makoto from several chapters earlier:
      Sae: And what exactly do you think abuse is?
      Ren: How about calling someone "useless" or that they "eat away at your life"!
  • Ascended Extra: A handful of Makoto's Social Links are characters with small roles in the source material.
    • Eiko Takao, the friend Makoto made in her Social Link in the main game, becomes the Faith Confidant. In Chapter 76, she awakens to her Persona, Joan of Arc, becoming a new Phantom Thief known as Witch.
    • Naoya Makigami, the younger brother of the criminal group leader from a Mementos request (the one from the OVA), becomes the Temperance Confidant.
    • The otherwise unnamed Newspaper Club student is christened Takayo Tachibana, who expresses herself as a Phangirl after Kamoshida's change of heart and presents her skills as a journalist to help the Thieves with their work, making her the Moon Confidant.
    • Shiho Suzui, who's only prominent during the Kamoshida arc and otherwise only appears near the end of Ann's Social Link in the original game, becomes the Sun Confidant.
    • During the first half of the game, Haru Okumura receives sporadic cameo appearances. In this story, her Confidant Link begins months before her formal introduction, and she will be a recurring character during that part of the story.
    • In Chapter 45, Yohei Kiritani, a Mementos target in the game, becomes the Death Confidant after some occasional appearances early in the story.
  • Attempted Rape: Kamoshida attempts to rape Makoto during the latter's investigation, getting as far as trying to pull down her skirt before Morgana attacks him.
  • Awesome by Analysis: Takayo Tachibana, the Newspaper Club student, determines that Makoto was the one who posted the calling cards to Kamoshida due to her circumstances, and between that and the time she's spent hanging out with Ren and Ryuji, determines that she must be one of the Phantom Thieves, with the definitive proof of it being a call Ryuji makes to Makoto in front of her and talking about the Phantom Thieves with his No Indoor Voice. Fortunately for them, Takayo is a Phangirl.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Ren tells Makoto this is the reason why he is friends with Ryuji.
  • Big Eater: Ren. When the Phantom Thieves are at a buffet celebrating stealing Kamoshida's heart, Morgana comments that Ren seems to have brought nearly half of the buffet on his plate and Ren mentions that he had completed the Big Bang Challenge. When everyone has finished their food, Ren is the only one who doesn't feel extremely full and even states that he's ready for dessert. Later on, when therapist Takuto Maruki is introduced, Ren agrees to go to his therapy sessions because he offers free snacks. Not that he had any choice about it in the first place, since the school is forcing Makoto, Ryuji, and him to take the therapy sessions anyway.
  • Birthday Episode: Makoto gets one in Chapter 10 of the story.
  • The Caligula: Principal Kobayakawa is a Dean Bitterman example of this. Fittingly enough, his palace is a Roman temple.
  • Calling Your Attacks: The Phantom Thieves do this in the Metaverse.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Downplayed, but Ann gets somewhat jealous when she thinks Ryuji chose "Beauty Thief" as Haru's codename because he thought Haru was pretty. In truth, he wanted to call her "Ripper" but Haru wanted something more elegant and Beauty Thief was the best Ryuji could come up with.
  • Deadpan Snarker: All of the Phantom Thieves have their moments:
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: In chapter 32, Ren explains in his backstory that he was often bullied in his hometown for coming from a single-parent household (his father abandoned his mother). In Japan, a child that comes from a single-parent household is considered to have been raised in a bad household.
  • Demoted to Extra:
    • Ann Takamaki becomes a Phantom Thief during the Kamoshida story arc in canon. In this story, she is largely left out of the plot's events. Subverted after the Madarame arc (and then again, the very first chapter of the story states that she is a member of the Phantom Thieves when the Casino heist and Makoto's arrest takes place).
    • Yuuki Mishima is much less prominent in this fic than in the original game, in which he was the Moon Confidant and provided information on the Mementos target. Here he is only prominent during the Kamoshida arc and while he stills manages the Phan-Site, his role as a source of information is replaced by Tachibana. Subverted as of chapter 24, as it seems that Takayo and him are going to start working together.
    • Some of the characters who were confidants in the original game get hit by this, especially Kawakami and Takemi. That said, the story states that Ren is interacting with them off-screen, implying the Phantom Thieves may still get involved in their affairs.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation:
    • Kobayakawa is still assassinated by the Conspiracy for his continued failures (and the Phantom Thieves are still framed for it), but since his Palace has collapsed by that point he's shot dead in his home instead of suffering a mental shutdown.
    • While the framing story confirms that Kunikazu Okumura is killed, Makoto thwarts Akechi's initial attempt to kill his Shadow before his Palace collapses. Akechi instead has him assassinated by forcing a psychotic breakdown on a security guard. While this means the Phantom Thieves immediately realise what happened (in contrast to the game where they initially wonder if they may have made a mistake when stealing Okumura's heart), the authorities are still quick to assume it must have been them, Sae going so far as to suggest the Phantom Thieves and Okumura had been working toghether until they disposed of him.
  • Didn't Think This Through: In chapter 6, Ryuji walks into Kamoshida's Palace without even having awakened to his Persona's power after getting tired of waiting for Makoto, Ren and Morgana. He eventually gets caught by the guards and has to be saved by the trio.
  • Dirty Coward: Kobayakawa's Shadow spends his entire fight on the run from the Thieves, constantly consuming "tributes" and even other Shadows to heal himself. Even after he's defeated, he accepts a change of heart not out of any form of remorse, but rather, blind panic and the idea that he'd be safer in police custody.
  • Double Take: It takes Sae a few moments to register Makoto's offhand mention of having a boyfriend, which is immediately followed by her pounding the table and demanding she repeat herself.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Ann agrees in helping the principal keeping an eye on Makoto, Ren, and Ryuji and investigating the Phantom Thieves, however, she doesn't trust him and is only doing it because she wants to find who the Phantom Thieves are, as she herself is one of their supporters.
  • Dramatic Irony: The fact people think Makoto abetted Kamoshida's crimes while she actually helped put an end to them. It gets especially bad when Ann, one of the people who has suffered the most because of Kamoshida, makes a post in the Phan-Site demanding for Makoto to have her heart changed when she falls for the rumors that are being spread. Thankfully, Ann eventually does learn the truth.
  • Driven to Suicide:
    • Just like in canon, Kamoshida sexually assaulting Shiho leads her to jump off the school rooftop. Fortunately, she survives.
    • A worker of Okumura Foods is said to have committed suicide in Chapter 21, serving as foreshadowing for the Okumura arc.
  • Early-Bird Cameo:
    • Haru in Chapter 7. Her proper introduction is in Chapter 24.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Ren and Makoto get hit by this the most.
  • Everyone Can See It: It's become a Running Gag that everyone is immediately able to see that Makoto and Ren like each other very much despite the two of them being unaware of the other's feelings.
  • Everyone Knew Already: By the time Ren and Makoto reveal their relationship to the other Thieves, everyone had already noticed, with the exception of Ryuji: "WAIT, FOR REAL?! SINCE WHEN?!"
  • Faux Affably Evil: As with the source material, Kobayakawa acts friendly to Makoto, but he sweeps Kamoshida's crimes under the rug and openly threatens Ann about what will happen to her if Shiho or her say anything about the Kamoshida incident to the media.
  • Foregone Conclusion: For all the Ship Tease they have, the very first chapter of the story already states that Makoto and Ren will eventually get together.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • In Chapter 7, during Haru's Early-Bird Cameo appearance, Makoto immediately associates her last name with Okumura Foods, and Haru confirms it in a rather sad way. This foreshadows her father, Kunikazu Okumura, being the fifth major target of the Phantom Thieves as well as what Haru has to go through because of her father's ambition. Later on Chapter 21 makes mention of a worker of Okumura Foods being Driven to Suicide, and Makoto's first thought is Haru and Okumura Foods. Chekhov's Gun indeed.
    • In Chapter 8, after Igor tells her how to fuse Personas in order to obtain new and more powerful ones, Makoto can't help but feel unnerved by the whole situation, but she dismisses it as mere paranoia. All of this hints at Igor being an impostor and his real identity as Yaldabaoth.
    • In Chapter 15, Sojiro asks Makoto about the ideal gift for a girl around her age. While he states that it is for a friend's daughter, anyone who has played the game will know that this is hinting at Futaba's existence.
    • In Kobayakawa's Palace, the Thieves come across a series of statues in a shrine of worship. Ren is unnerved by the largest statue, one of a bald man with a goatee and glasses, but brushes it off as nothing.
    • In Chapter 32, Ren talks about how poorly he and his mother were treated for being an illegitimate child raised by a single mother. This foreshadows Goro Akechi's motivations due to his own experiences from being Masayoshi Shido's bastard child.
    • In Chapter 41, during a fishing trip, Ryuji starts ranting about Yamauchi, the Jerkass Shujin Academy brought in to run the track team, leading to this exchange:
      Makoto: The school really needs to vet its hires better.
      Ryuji: Tell me about it! At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if that Maruki guy's manipulatin' us too!
      Makoto: Oh come now, Dr. Maruki would never have any ulterior motives.
  • Forgotten Birthday: In chapter 10 Sae completely forgets that it's Makoto's birthday.
  • A Glass in the Hand: Makoto does this twice in Madarame's Palace: first to a rock, which causes a Jack Frost to become a Persona for her to use, and two chapters later to a can of soda Ryuji gave her, demanding something healthier instead.
    Ryuji: Remind me to never piss her off.
  • Gossipy Hens: The students of Shujin Academy, just like in the source material. Just ask poor Ren and Makoto.
  • Got Me Doing It: Ryuji uses his game greeting of "What's bonking?" often, and despite his friends, mainly Ann's annoyance and insistence that it would never become a thing, several of the Thieves end up saying it. Makoto says it once to humor Ryuji, Haru says it when caught by an Okumura robot, and even Ann says it after spending too much time with Ryuji. She immediately asks Makoto to forget she ever said it.
  • Hero of Another Story: Ren still gets involved in some of the events he gets wrapped up within the canon material, such as Operation Maid Watch, but they happen off-screen while Makoto is doing her own solo activities.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Both Ren and Makoto are victims of this. Makoto is rumored to know about Kamoshida's crimes and let him get away with it while Ren is still considered a dangerous criminal. People on the Phan-Site recommend them getting their hearts changed.
  • Heroic Second Wind: In the fight against Shadow Kaneshiro, after all of the Phantom Thieves have been knocked out, save for Makoto, and Joker is shot, Makoto strengthens her resolve to take Kaneshiro down and awakens Anat. Lampshaded by Kaneshiro.
  • Hired to Hunt Yourself: Similar to the source material, Makoto is assigned to hunt the Phantom Thieves by the principal without him knowing she is the leader.
  • Human Ladder: At the summer festival, Futaba insists on climbing on Yusuke's shoulders to watch the fireworks, to his mild annoyance, with Morgana climbing up on Futaba a moment later.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • Yusuke has the gall to say Hifumi is eccentric, that Eiko is weird, and tells Makoto that she has some strange friends. Makoto can only give him an exasperated side-eye.
    • Following the fight with Okumura's Shadow, Futaba tells Haru her father is, "kind of a dork. I mean, he was quoting and referencing things in the middle of battle. Like, who does that?" Everyone turns to her with disbelieving looks.
  • I Have No Son!: One of the first things Sae says to Makoto as the interrogation begins in Chapter 1 is that the latter has no right to call her a sister. She takes it back in Chapter 12 when expressing real concern about Kamoshida attempting to sexually assault her.
  • In-Series Nickname:
    • Ren has garnered two; "RenRen", courtesy of Ryuji (which Ren doesn't like, by the way). Makoto takes to calling him this sometimes too to get back at him for constantly teasing her. He also gets given the pet name "Renny" by Eiko, which he equally hates. The former is taken from Persona 5: The Animation
    • Makoto also gets two; "Ms. Prez" is the nickname Eiko calls her. Ren meanwhile sometimes jokingly refers to her as "Beep-Boop". Both come from the source game.
  • In Spite of a Nail:
    • Despite Makoto and not Ren being the leader, the opening interrogation confirms Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Futaba and Haru will all join the Thieves at one point or another as they did in canon.
    • Due to Makoto knowing Kamoshida's crimes, she prevents Ren and Ryuji from directly confronting him regarding Shiho's attempted suicide. Despite that, Kamoshida still plans on having Ren and Ryuji expelled by framing them for the crimes.
    • Despite no longer being the Wild Card, Joker still forms a friendship with Kasumi to help her get out of her gymnastics slump. It's similarly implied that he still also agreed to be Takemi's test subject for her experiments for medicine and also learned of Kawakami's double life.
    • Haru's initial code name is still "Beauty Thief", made up by Ryuji rather than Morgana in this story.
  • Innocent Innuendo: When inspecting the camper van in chapter 59, Makoto obliviously comments "I've never ridden anything this big before", causing Ren to choke on his curry.
  • Lack of Empathy: Kobayakawa's forms the basis of Palace (along with his obsessive need to be respected) and is the sin he is accused of in his calling card - apathy.
  • Love Epiphany: Makoto goes through one in Chapter 28 due to Takemi pointing out she has all the signs of lovesickness for Ren.
  • Love Triangle: Both Makoto and Kasumi fall in love with Ren, who in turn is implied to be juggling both their feelings at once. As mentioned during the interrogation, however, Ren will ultimately end up with Makoto.
  • Mood Whiplash: The mood of the story can change without previous warning on certain occasions. It can get from funny to horrific or from happy to sad in the span of a few seconds.
    • One especially prominent moment of this occurs in Chapter 68. When the Phantom Thieves run into Haru in their first trip to Okumura's palace, Makoto assumes she's Black Mask and fires off a Frelia as a warning shot. It's a tense confrontation, especially when Ren has to calm her down to prevent her from attacking who she presumes is the one who’s responsible for her father's death… and then once Ryuji shows up, Haru launches into her "Beauty Thief" routine, all while imitating their speech patterns.
  • My Beloved Smother: Sae, being Makoto's legal guardian and the only family she has left, is very strict towards her sister, often demanding that she should be studying instead of hanging out with friends in spite of her excellent grades.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: After accidentally slashing Makoto while briefly Brainwashed and Crazy in Chapter 19, Ren is left deeply regretful.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • In Chapter 1, Makoto alludes to another member that goes by the codename Witch, which was one of Joker's dialogue options when suggesting Makoto's codename. Said individual is Eiko Takao, who was a supporting character in Makoto's Confidant.
    • Igor is represented by the Hunger Arcana, the same Arcana that represented Tohru Adachi. Both Adachi and Igor, or rather Yaldabaoth, initially appear to be allies to the heroes but are later revealed to be central antagonists responsible for most of the conflict in the story.
    • In Chapter 12, when Sae tells Ren to tell her his name, he says that it's Akira Kurusu, which is his name in the Manga Adaptation of Persona 5. Sae doesn't believe him.
    • When negotiating with a Nue in Madarame's Palace, Makoto convinces it to join her by claiming she can impersonate a motorcycle. Unlike in that game, Makoto just has the Nue close its eyes while she summons Johanna.
    • Makoto's disguise when she meets with Ann is her Ball Stage Outfit from Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (in addition to a face mask and hat).
    • In Chapter 25, Ryuji throws Morgana to make him transform into his van form while yelling "YEET!"
    • During the Hawaii trip, the gang visits the statue of King Kamehameha on Ryuji's ill-researched suggestion, which is a scene from the original Persona 5 that was invokedDummied Out from the game's release. Much of the dialogue is taken from samples of the cutscene that still exist in the game's code.
    • In Chapter 39, Ren ends up Taking the Bullet when Shadow Kaneshiro tries to shoot Makoto, just as Shinjiro did when Takaya attempted to kill Ken (although unlike Shinjiro, he survives).
    • In Chapter 57, Hifumi visits the church in Kanda only to find Yusuke and Makoto in the middle of imitating the Passion of Christ whereupon she immediately decides to leave. A similar scene occurred in Persona 5: The Animation only with Ren in place of Makoto.
    • In Chapter 77, right before Eiko gives the finishing blow to Shadow Tsukasa, she yells him to "get bent", a phrase also used by Kanji Tatsumi.
  • Named by the Adaptation: Several unnamed NPCs are given names in the story.
    • In the game, we never get to know any of the other Student Council member's names. Here, the Vice President (the Tower Confidant) is known as Chiaki Yasui.
    • The unnamed Newspaper Club student is known as Takayo Tachibana.
    • Yusuke's mother's name was not given in the original game. In this fic, she is known as Yua Kitagawa.
    • Likewise, Makoto and Sae's father is known as Masanori Nijima.
  • Never My Fault: The principal blames Shiho for all the negative attention Shujin Academy got after her attempted suicide.
  • Noble Womans Laugh: The Moirae Sisters in the principal's palace have a tendency to do this.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: When Akechi is telling Makoto about his Dark and Troubled Past, Ren sympathizes with him due to having similar family situations — like Akechi, Ren's father walked out soon after learning his mother was pregnant, though she's still alive despite the pressures of single motherhood. Makoto catches a flash of irritation on Akechi's face at the comparison.
  • Number Two: Ren takes this position in the Phantom Thieves.
  • Oblivious to Love: Ryuji takes longer than he should to realise Ann is trying to ask him out in Chapter 60.
  • Once Done, Never Forgotten: Early in the story Makoto tried to be stealthy by hiding her face behind a book while pretending to read and taking a peek every so often. She only does this once, but Morgana and Ren, especially Ren, constantly remind her of this. Although she does hide behind a manga again in Chapter 24, she at least wears a disguise so she's harder to recognize.
  • Only Friend: Eiko mentions in Chapter 21 to Maruki that Makoto is her only friend.
  • Original Character: One of the Confidants (so far) is this, although many of them are based on NPCs seen in the original source material.
    • The source material showed others in the student council besides Makoto but gave no names or details, only appearances. Here, we have as vice president a third-year girl named Chiaki Yasui who has a chip on her shoulder concerning Makoto; she becomes the Tower Confidant.
  • Pet the Dog: Unlike in canon, Kunikazu Okumura goes out of his way to reserve all of Tokyo Destinyland for his daughter Haru and her friends. This is because Makoto saved his shadow from getting shot by Black Mask, which resulted in his heart being successfully changed instead of him experiencing the first stages of a mental shutdown.
  • Point of Divergence: In this story, certain events happen sooner. Because the Phantom Thieves take care of Kamoshida early on, he confesses shortly afterward rather than at the beginning of May. That also leads the Phantom Thieves to have their celebration at the beginning of Golden Week rather than the end of it. It's also why some of Makoto's Confidants differ from Ren's, as unlike Ren who does not have a social life in school due to his criminal record, Makoto is the student council president and so has a reason to have more Confidants that are within the school.
  • Relationship Upgrade: Makoto finally asks Ren to be her boyfriend at the Summer festival in Chapter 60, which he happily reciprocates (though expresses disappointment at missing his chance to ask first). Meanwhile, Ann also asks Ryuji out, with his response, "FOR REAL?!", implying that he feels the same way.
  • The Rival: Akechi becomes this to Makoto.
  • Role Swap AU:
    • In the games, Ren is the leader of the Phantom Thieves and Makoto was the team's second-in-command. Here, their positions are reversed.
    • As Ann is ultimately completely Locked Out of the Loop during Kamoshida's palace, she ends up taking Makoto's role of "stalking" the group to reveal their identity. This is what leads to the Phantom Thieves targeting the principal to get her to believe them.
    • The original games had Ryuji and Morgana get into an argument that resulted in Morgana leaving the Phantom Thieves at the start of the Okumura arc, as he felt useless to the team after Makoto and Futaba joined and took over some of the roles he had. This fic has Morgana call Ryuji out for being reckless in Chapter 66, which leads to Ryuji leaving the Phantom Thieves due to him feeling like a burden to the team after he got quickly knocked out against Shadow Kaneshiro and the cognitive Wakaba.
  • Saying Too Much: After losing a game of chess against Makoto in Chapter 94, Akechi calls Makoto by her codename "Queen". She had the rest of the Phantom Thieves refer to her as "Leader" while Akechi was on the team, so this serves as definitive proof that he is Black Mask since he overheard Haru using Makoto's codename in the Metaverse.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Ren and Makoto always act this way whenever someone asks them if they are a couple. Funnily enough, they will eventually become one.
  • Ship Tease:
  • Shipper on Deck: It's become a running gag the number of characters who have turned into one for Makoto and Ren.
    • Just like in the game, Eiko is infatuated with the idea of the "Prez" becoming an item with the infamous delinquent, and frequently teases Makoto about her growing crush. Ann is immediately on board with the idea after Eiko tells her that they're dating.
    • Ryuji meanwhile does exactly the same to Ren.
    • Takemi is amused by their awkwardness and has to flat out tell Makoto she obviously likes Ren.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Stalker without a Crush: Ann to Makoto after the Madarame arc, as the principal had told her to keep an eye on her, Ryuji and Ren. She eventually quits being this.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: Makoto definitely doesn't have a large collection of Buchimaru plushies in her bedroom.
  • Sweet Tooth:
    • Ann, per usual.
    • Makoto loves sweets, especially donuts. The characters who point this out even say the name of the trope.
  • Take That!: Chapter 4 contains a jab at how guns in vanilla Persona 5 only had a set amount of rounds per Metaverse trip (something that Royal, which this fic is based on, addressed by changing it so that the guns reload after every fight).
    Morgana: And your ammo will replenish, since the enemy will expect you to have full ammo.
    Makoto: That’s pretty useful. It’ll make getting through this place a lot easier.
    Ren: Yeah, can you imagine if it didn’t replenish and you only had a few bullets that needed to last the whole way? That would suck!
  • Wham Episode: Chapter 76 is titled "Witch", and sure enough, it reveals their identity as Eiko Takao.
  • Wham Line:
    • During the first chapter, Makoto mentally lists all of the Phantom Thieves... including an unaccounted-for individual that goes by the codename Witch, hinting right away that this story has some major differences to the original. Come Chapter 76, this individual is revealed to be Eiko Takao.
    • In chapter 21, when Sae and Makoto are about to start discussing the third major target of the Phantom Thieves.
      Sae: Fine then, let's continue with your next target, Junya K-
      Makoto: No, there was someone before him.
      Sae: What?!
    • In chapter 68, the Phantom Thieves encounter Sugimura in Okumura's Palace, but Morgana notes something about him.
      Morgana: This doesn't feel like a cognition. It feels more like... a shadow.
  • Who's on First?: When Makoto obtains a Persona named Nue, this exchange occurs between her and Ren:
    Ren: So, what's this one called?
    Makoto: Oh, he's Nue.
    Ren: Um, yeah, I know he's new, but what's its name?
    Makoto: No, Joker, I mean it's a Nue mask.
    Ren: I know it's a new mask, Queen, but what-
    Makoto: Moving on!
  • Worthy Opponent: Unlike the original where Akechi is initially dismissive of Makoto, he admits he is impressed that Makoto continued to investigate Kamoshida despite being told not to, and he is further impressed by how she can hold her own against him in chess.
  • Would Hit a Girl: The police officer at the beginning of the story has no problem physically assaulting Makoto.
  • You Are Already Dead: Makoto does this to a Nue in Madarame's Palace when fighting it alongside Ryuji. In fact, the whole scene is a Shout-Out to Fist of the North Star!
    Makoto: [delivering a flurry of punches] ATATATATATA!
    Nue: Is that all? Your fists couldn't hurt a fly!
    Makoto: [calmly] You're already dead.
    Nue: WHAT?! [explotes and bursts into black ooze]
  • You Don't Look Like You:
    • In the game, Shadow Madarame's Azazel form was four paintings depicting his eyes, mouth, and nose. In this story, Azazel is depicted as the statue of a demon divided into four main parts: the head, chest, arms, and legs.
    • Shadow Kaneshiro's Bael form was just his human form with the eyes and wings of a fly. Here, Bael is described as looking more like a giant fly than a human.
  • You Killed My Father: The fic reveals that Kaneshiro had Makoto and Sae's father killed via mental shutdown. Makoto is appropriately pissed over it and almost kills Shadow Kaneshiro on the spot.

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