Fanfic / Steal the Truth, Reach Out For Your Heart

Steal The Truth, Reach Out For Your Heart is a Persona fanfic written by chrising.

Nanako Dojima is the ideal student: good grades, likable, great at sports, with a promising future ahead of her. Yet despite that, she feels like there's something missing in her life. After a chance encounter with Ren Amamiya at the Tatsuhime shrine, her life begins to take a very different turn...

An Alternate Universe Fic where Nanako joins the Phantom Thieves early on as a second Wild Card, dragging the casts of Personas 3 and 4 into the events of 5. Expect plenty of Adaptation Expansion, a little Fix Fic, and quite a bit of Ship Tease.

The story is split up into very short chapters, usually by different parts of the day. This leads to it having a large chapter count. The most recently completed arc, the Bank of Gluttony, concluded on August 19, 2023 with Chapter 365.

It can be read here. The author also made an audiodrama version under the title Persona 5 Remix, which can be found here; it has been discontinued.

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Examples

• Adaptational Badass: A chapter from Aika Nakamura's perspective reveals how she is able to deliver her food so quickly and accurately. Turns out she was not only using the TV World to speed up her deliveries, she later accepted her shadow when confronted by it and gained the Persona Ukemochi, Goddess of Food. Even later, she also gained access to the Metaverse, allowing her to literally search the name of the person she's delivering to and drive directly to them.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: While Haru was given a few Early Bird Cameos in Royal, she still didn’t play a major role until Okumura’s Palace. Here, she becomes Nanako’s Hermit Confidant during the Kamoshida arc. The author’s note at the end of her debut chapter confirms this was intentional.
  Author’s note: I'm giving Haru some sweet sweet screentime.
• Adaptational Intelligence: Ryuji is still as (un)intelligent here as he was in the original, but Nanako’s presence helped discover why: Ryuji is a kinesthetic learner. He needs to move, touch, interact with things to learn about them. This makes him a poor fit for school where most people learn from sitting down and studying.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Shiho Suzui is a justified example. When Nanako tries out for the volleyball team, Shiho verbally antagonizes her and even attacks her outright during their volleyball match. This is because she's trying to keep her as far away from a violent sexual predator with the authority figures of Shujin backing him up as possible. After Shiho's suicide attempt, she apologizes and admits her true goal.
• Adaptational Karma: Downplayed by Madarame. Every single one of his living former students participates in creating the Phantom Thieves' calling card, which is personally approved in city hall and delivered by Nakanohara.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • For a very twisted interpretation of "Nice", anyway. Unlike in canon where Madarame considered Yusuke just another source of profit, here he reveals that he intended to groom Yusuke into his protege and eventually have him take over the plagiarism business. A deeper look inside the “Yusuke exhibit” shows that Madarame genuinely saw Yusuke as his own son and raised him to the best of his ability, and his Shadow’s final words are to warn Yusuke about the “Black Mask”.
  • Downplayed heavily, but Kaneshiro actually has someone he was in love with and still cares about, Hanabi. His lingering feelings for her, as well as the thought of the life they could've had if he hadn't been so obsessed with money, actually causes his shadow to genuinely promise to better himself. In canon, he did no such thing and spent his last moments taunting the Phantom Thieves about Black Mask.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In canon, Shiho was one of Ann's friends from the volleyball team, whose attempted suicide was the driving force behind Ann's path to becoming a Phantom Thief. In this story, they're a lot more than friends. They finally get together in chapter 325, once Ann musters up the courage to confess to her.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • Like a lot of other Persona 5 fics, Ann is in love with Shiho, while in canon she was one of Joker’s romance options. Turns out Shiho reciprocates Ann’s love and the two end up dating after confessing to one another.
  • Kanji is interpreted as being bi, whereas in canon it was rather ambiguous.
  • In Chapter 316, it's revealed that Mitsuru and Yukari are married, whereas in Persona 3 they were both potential romance options for the male protagonist but not the female protagonist.
• Adaptational Sympathy:
  • Downplayed with Kamoshida. In canon, he was a flat Hate Sink whose only personality traits were those conductive to being an utterly loathsome sexual predator. Here, Nanako witnesses some of his memories from childhood to early adulthood, showing the innocent kid he started out as and how he developed into the monster he is today.
  • Downplayed with Kaneshiro. In canon he is simply an unlikable Hate Sink who treats everyone in Shibuya as banks and sees the kids he blackmails as just stupid fools that he is free to exploit. Here, similar to Ebenezer Scrooge, we learn that Kaneshiro used to have a relationship with a woman named Hanabi who eventually left him after she realized how obsessed he was with money, which affected him far more than he anticipated. He even finds himself horrified at the thought of possibly scamming and blackmailing Hanabi's daughter upon learning about her.
• Adaptation Expansion: The proto-Palaces of Mementos targets such as Nakanohara and Shimizu are given more uniqueness to them.
• Adaptive Ability: Kaneshiro's Palace contains an advanced AI, dubbed Compyshiro by the Phantom Thieves, which adapts to the Thieves' infiltration and combat capabilities and develops counter strategies to try and prevent them from changing Kaneshiro's heart. One of these is the B.O.A.R.
• Adapted Out:
  • The events of Persona 4: Arena and Ultimax did not happen in this continuity, which means the casts of P4 and P3 have never met before.
  • While certain additions from Royal have been included (notably Will Seeds, Showtimes, and grappling hooks), Kasumi and Maruki are nowhere to be seen.
• Age Lift: The Persona 5 cast retain their canon ages, but the story nows takes place in 2021 rather than the implied 2016 in canon, making them a bit younger than their canon counterparts. This also has the consequence of making SEES and the Investigation team older than they would be at this point.
• Alliterative Name: Nanako’s Strength Confidant Satoichi Sano, as well as his friend Moriko Miura.
• Alternate Universe Fic: Not just concerning Nanako's intervention. The longer the story goes on, the more it becomes clear that certain past events are different from what happened in the original game.
  • At the end of the second, third, and fourth parts, we see reports from Wakaba Isshiki about her cognitive psience research, not only explicitly referencing the events of the previous four games but heavily implying and later outright confirming that the primary source of her information is Teddie, whom Futaba meets and gets along with. By far the biggest impact on the story comes in the last report, wherein Wakaba says that she faced and accepted her Shadow, making her canonical death by mental shutdown no longer possible.
  • It's unclear exactly what kind of relationship Sojiro has with Ren's parents, but it's implied to go far deeper than in canon. Later, it also comes to light that he knew Yusuke's mother before she died.
• Amicable Exes: Yu and Naoto were engaged to be married before they broke up, and while it's far from comfortable for either of them, they still deeply care about each other.
• And I'm the Queen of Sheba: When Nanako lies about being 20 to a guy who caught her going into the Jazz Jin, the guy responds with “And [he’s] famous saxophone player Sadao Kujo”. Nanako believes him.
• Anti-Smother Love Talk: Kaho, Nanako's step-mom, convinces Ryotaro to let Nanako proceed with her plan to follow Ren to Tokyo and study at Shujin despite his heavy objections by telling him that whether he likes it or not Nanako will eventually start living on her own, whether as a result of getting married or finding a job, and he risks permanently damaging his relationship with Nanako if he doesn't give her room to act independently. The speech makes an impact on Ryotaro as he reluctantly agrees to let Nanako go to Tokyo.
• Arc Welding:
  • In this AU, Dr. Takemi was part of a medical team sent to Inaba to investigate the coma Nanako fell into during Persona 4 (the medical community got understandably curious when a young girl nearly died despite having no visible symptoms).
  • Wakaba Isshiki developed the Metaverse Navigator app based on information received from Teddie.
• Arc Words: Contradictions. Specifically, the contradictions of the human psyche, how two apparent polar opposites can exist in harmony in someone's heart.
• Artistic License – Law: Mitsuru and Yukari are married in the fic even though same-sex marriage is not legal in Japan ^ExplanationAt least not in the time the story takes place (2021) and this doesn't apply to every prefecture in real life Japan, as Nagoya is the first Japanese prefecture to legalize same-sex marriage in 2023..
• Ascended Extra:
  • The newspaper club girl actually gets a name (Yuzu Noriyaki), and becomes half of one of Nanako's Social Links.
  • Shiho goes from Ann's driving force to her best and closest friend at Shujin. They later go through a Relationship Upgrade after Ann discovers her sexuality.
• Babies Ever After: It is revealed that in the ten years after the events of Persona 4 Yukiko got married and had two children: a son and a daughter. By the start of the story, she is pregnant with a third child.
• Bad Date:
  • Yosuke and Mika’s date (arranged with the help of Nanako and Ann) does not go well at all — Mika was convinced that Yosuke's father was the owner of the entire Junes corporation, not just the manager of one branch. Even so, Yosuke thanks Ann and Nanako for giving him the courage to date again, and hopes the next one will go better.
  • The next one, with Takemi, does seem to go much better — until she shows Yosuke her stash of fetish gear, sending him fleeing in terror.
• Bait-and-Switch Boss: Shadow Kaneshiro is sent into a Villainous BSoD right before the big showdown and can't face the Phantom Thieves in combat. The true final enemy of the Kaneshiro arc is "Compyshiro", the metaphysical manifestation of Kaneshiro's paranoia and methodical nature.
• Battle of Wits: Makoto and Nanako engage in several of these, usually resulting in Nanako foiling Makoto's Inspector Javert tendencies with Plausible Deniability.
• Best Friend: Nanako's best friend among the Phantom Thieves is Ann due to Nanako being there for Ann when she was dealing with Shiho's attempted suicide. In fact, Ann is the first of the Phantom Thieves with whom Nanako achieves a Max Level social.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Makoto recklessly tries to infiltrate Kaneshiro's organization, things go sour and she finds herself in a seven-on-one fight. Then Akihiko and Chie arrive to save her skin.
• Big Good: Margaret plays this role, with the twist that she can't let anyone know she's doing it. Later, Kotone begins helping out as well.
• Birthday Episode: Chapter 344 focuses on the Phantom Thieves celebrating Ryuji’s birthday, throwing a party at Yu and Rise’s apartment.
• Bi-Wildered:
  • Ann ends up on the receiving end of this trope as she realizes that she is in love with Shiho.
  • Averted by Kanji who has long since accepted his bisexuality by the start of the story.
• Blackmail Backfire: Makoto's interrogation goes very differently due to Nanako's presence. First, when presented with a recording of Ryuji yelling about "shitty adults" (minus Ryuji yelling about being a Phantom Thief), Nanako says that Ryuji could have been complaining about anything related to adults and society. After Makoto shows a photo of the group and points out the Contrived Coincidence of Nanako being friends with victims of Kamoshida and Madarame, Nanako accuses her of twisting evidence to suit her conclusion and asking how Nanako and her friends are able change other people's hearts despite being high schoolers attending school every week. When Makoto shakily states that she doesn't know and then threatens to get the police involved, Nanako points out that the police would look at her evidence and ignore it, seeing it as Makoto trying to play detective. This is the point where Makoto breaks down completely. Without Ren's last minute intervention, Makoto would likely have been too beaten-down to cooperate with the Phantom Thieves at all.
• Boxed Crook: Adachi has been approached by Akechi for information on his role in the serial killings of Inaba in the hope of some insight on the Metaverse. In return, Adachi receives prison favors and better living conditions.
• Brick Joke: Near the story's beginning, Nanako helps Kanji on one of his craft live streams and offers her suggestions for what he's making. By the end, he's made her a small charm of a blue samurai fox wearing a black jacket and white robe. A few hundred chapters later, when Yusuke joins the Thieves, he asks Nanako why she has a charm of his Metaverse self on her bag, flustering her to hell and back.
• Call-Forward:
  • During their first meeting at the Tatsuhime shrine, Nanako thinks Ren is making light of Okura's situation.
    Nanako: Okay, I get it. This is a joke. You listened to me pour my heart out in front of this shrine and you felt like the best thing to do was tell a joke. Way to go, joker.
  • In Chapter 229, which features a flashback showing Yusuke's mother's death, the chapter description is "The Days My Mother Was There," which is the name of the soundtrack for the fourth Palace in the original game.
  • During Sano’s Rank 9 event, Nanako and Haru wear domino masks as part of their cowgirl cosplay. The narration specifically notes that it looks good on Haru.
  • When Nanako and Ann discuss tracking down Hanabi, Kaneshiro's ex-girlfriend, Nanako says that it's be easier if they had "some sort of super-hacker" with them.
• Canon Foreigner:
  • Nanako gets several Social Links of her own, some composed of the P4 and P5 cast, others of all new characters.
  • Each villain gets an additional shadow that represents some other aspect of their personality. Kamoshida gets "Kamothreeda," who represents the ingratiating facade he presents to his superiors. Madarame gets "Fatherame," the part of him that thinks of Yusuke as a son. Kaneshiro gets "Compyshiro," which represents his calculating and methodical side and manifests as an AI controlling the bank's security.
• Cassandra Truth: During their disastrous date, Yosuke claims to Mika that he's friends with a famous idol. Mika doesn't believe him.
• Chekhov M.I.A.: Teddie has been missing for years prior to the events of the story. Chapter 365 confirms that he was a participant in Wakaba Isshiki’s investigations of the Metaverse.
• Chicken-and-Egg Paradox: Wakaba Isshiki finds that her research into the Metaverse is this.
  Wakaba: Are the beings of the Metaverse waiting for us on the other side? Or are they created when we enter, shaped by our own subconscious energy? Were we created by gods, or did we create them?
• Clear Their Name: Nanako and Ren first become acquainted when a classmate is framed for taking nudes of girls, and they set out together to prove his innocence.
• Clingy Costume: When Ann puts on Teddie's suit and wears it into the Metaverse, she is unable to remove it until they return to the real world.
• Closet Key: Shiho ends up being this to Ann.
• Combination Attack: Like in Royal, the Phantom Thieves are able to create Showtime attacks where two characters work together to hit the enemy with a more powerful attack. Thus far, we have four: Joker and Angel, Joker and Skull, the canon one between Mona and Panther, and Panther and Angel. The fourth one ends up debuting to defeat Compyshiro/Piggytron.
• Connected All Along: In this universe, SEBEC’s assets and technology were absorbed by the Kirijo group. Wakaba suspects that the DEVA system was a key part in the creation of the Dark Hour.
• Cool Teacher: Yosuke has become a beloved teacher at Yasogami High after the events of Persona 4.
• Crossover: Chapter 345 sees the Phantom Thieves encounter the Tokyo Manji Gang from Tokyo Revengers, here reimagined as a dart club.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Shiho Suzui acts like a massive bitch to Nanako during volleyball tryouts, in contrast to her usual demeanor. But it's only so Nanako doesn’t end up as one of Kamoshida's "playthings".
• Cutting Off the Branches:
  • Nanako's conversation with Yu in chapter 22 establishes that he joined the basketball team and the drama club during his year in Inaba. We also learn that he romanced Rise.
  • Shortly after Madarame's Palace, it is revealed that the female protagonist from Persona 3 Portable—named Kotone—is the Great Seal.
  • It’s also revealed that in this story’s universe Kotone romanced Akihiko.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 298 comes from the perspective of Aika Nakamura and reveals how she can deliver food with such superhuman speed and accuracy.
• Decon-Recon Switch: The fic seems to deconstruct the idea that it's possible to meet the love of your life as a teenager. Yu dated Rise for a year in high school, but they broke up, partly because of her jealousy issues. Yu then got so close with Naoto that they got engaged, but ultimately broke it off due to their personal and professional lives getting too intertwined. However, about a year before the fic begins, Yu reconnects with Rise. Having both matured a lot, their relationship goes much better this time, to the point where Yu is willing to risk another engagement. The takeaway seems to be that while intense young love won't inevitably last forever, it still can, as long as both lovers are willing to work on their flaws and grow together.
• Demoted to Extra: Since Nanako's NPC social link slots are mostly filled by her friends from Inaba, the canon NPC confidants have largely been sidelined. Only Kawakami, Takemi, Sojiro, and Ohya are there, but not as important as they were in canon.
• Depraved Bisexual: Inverted with Kanji and Ann (possibly, as she is still questioning herself), who are both genuinely nice and kind-hearted people.
• Despair Event Horizon: After meeting his former lover, Hanabi, as she's picking up her daughter from a daycare, Kaneshiro is driven into despair, causing many of the shadows protecting him to be incapable of fighting and even being destroyed through the Despair status condition. Unfortunately, even this isn't enough to completely defeat him as Compyshiro simply hides Shadow Kaneshiro inside Piggytron and let's the armor protect him from harm.
• Dreaming of Times Gone By: Nanako begins to experience dreams of the past after coming into contact with the Metaverse. It starts with her repressed memories of Heaven, but she later starts seeing things she could never have known about, like the Investigation Team's encounter with Shadow Yukiko.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Yusuke briefly appears in Chapter 24 when he bumps into Nanako while she's walking to Shujin, over a hundred chapters before the Thieves target Madarame.
• Everyone Has Standards: When the Phantom Thieves end up in a dart game with the Tokyo Manji Dart Club, one of their members uses a fan to sabotage Ryuji's throw. Their leader Mikey calls it "disgraceful" and gives the Thieves a free throw.
• Fakeout Makeout: Ren pulls this on Nanako when they almost get caught sneaking back out of the school in an early chapter.
• Fix Fic: Minor example, as the story tweaks a few beats from Persona 5 that the author found either unsatisfactory or distasteful.
  • One example is the group's reaction to Yusuke's proposal to draw Ann nude: Nanako slaps him and gives him a brutal dressing-down.
  • The Phantom Thieves meet Nakonohara anonymously via a burner phone smuggled into his pocket rather than meeting in person.
  • Related, the author ditches the layers of clothes gag in lieu of having Ann wear Teddie's costume, only to get stuck inside.
  • Makoto's introduction to Kaneshiro turns out differently, with her offering to provide recruits to Kaneshiro under the pretense of wanting a sizeable income, showcasing her intelligence and her penchant for self-destructive behaviour.
  • Instead of Makoto and Ryuji personally distributing dozens among dozens of calling cards, the Phantom Thieves utilize the Phan-site’s community by anonymously giving them an image of Kaneshiro’s card to print and distribute all over Shibuya at their request.
• Foil: Discussed by Ryuji in Chapter 334, who says that Nanako and Makoto are on “opposite sides of the same circle”. Both are the daughters of police officers who lost their mothers at a young age and were raised by their older silver-haired siblings (cousin, in Nanako’s case). But that’s just about where the similarities end. Nanako’s dad would eventually remarry, while Makoto’s father died. And whereas Yu has always cared about Nanako and lets her stay at his place, Sae is resentful of Makoto and considers her a burden.
• Fourth-Date Marriage: Yukiko married her husband within six months of meeting him. By all accounts, the marriage is a happy one.
• Freudian Slip: When Takemi and Nanako meet for the first time, Takemi recognises her and immediately refers to her as "the coma girl from Inaba" before clamming up and refusing to elaborate when Nanako gets confused by the statement. Chapter 337 reveals that Takemi was part of a team of doctors sent to Inaba to find out what was wrong with Nanako during the events of Persona 4 and stated to her that the fact that she recovered from flatlining for hours is a miracle. She then chalks up Nanako's lack of recollection of the event to Trauma-Induced Amnesia. Using this information, Nanako pieces together that Yu saved her by defeating Adachi in the TV World.
• Gayngst: Ann goes through it when she realizes that she loves Shiho. However, she eventually gets over it with the help of Nanako and Kanji.
• God's Hands Are Tied: When Nanako asks Margaret why she can't intervene in the coming crisis herself, Margaret orders Nanako to never offer her the Compendium. If Margaret had it, she would attempt to stop the crisis, despite knowing she would be defeated and lose the book to the true enemy.
• Gold Digger: Yosuke accuses Mika of being one during their disastrous date. Given that her tone of voice audibly sours when she learns that Ann had overhyped him as the son of the owner of Junes instead of the son of a regional manager, it's hard to blame him.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Akihiko's mission to expose Kaneshiro, due to Makoto deciding to seek out Kaneshiro behind his back, resulting in several of Kaneshiro's henchmen getting injured in a brawl. After meeting with Kaneshiro, Akihiko and Chie are forced to give up under threat of death.
• Good Parents:
  • Downplayed with Ryotaro. He can be quite strict and overprotective of Nanako (for good reason) and at one point even shouts at her when she reveals that she intends to follow Ren to Tokyo on her own, but it is made clear that he acts this way because he genuinely cares about her and he and Nanako have a good relationship.
  • Played straight by Kano, Nanako's step-mom, who is more open-minded and less strict than Ryotaro and serves as a moderating influence on his Papa Wolf tendencies.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Nanako is intensely jealous of Makoto Niijima, fearing that she could take her place on the team.
• Half-Breed Angst: Ann mentions in a conversation with Kanji that she hates how she sticks out like a sore thumb due to being a hafu.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: The Shadow of Sano’s father is dressed entirely in leather, highlighting his obsession with his family's tradition. His berserk form is even a giant mass of leather.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The first fight against the B.O.A.R. robot in Kaneshiro’s Palace, because it is able to adapt to and counter any tactics the Phantom Thieves use. The Thieves are forced to retreat after Nanako is badly injured.
• Hurricane of Puns: Apparently, wearing Teddie's bear suit for too long makes the wearer uncontrollably make bear puns. Ann learned this the hard way... and she keeps doing it even after taking the suit off.
• Hypocrisy Nod: Akihiko acknowledges it's a bit hypocritical of him to condemn Kobayakawa for demanding that Makoto investigate the Phantom Thieves and then turn right around and ask her to help him investigate Kaneshiro.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Chie's reaction after Kaneshiro uses Makoto as leverage to force her and Akihiko to back off of the investigation against him.
• Inconsistent Spelling: Sano's first name has been spelled as either Satoichi or Satoishi whenever it's been brought up. When asked which spelling was correct, the author said that it was "probably" Satoichi.
• Inexplicably Awesome: Aika Nakamura was able to enter the Midnight Channel before awakening to her Persona, without any readily apparent connection to Izanami or any other Persona-granting deity.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Knowing its target demographic, the fic doesn't do much to avoid making Akechi look sinister. Anybody who would do favors for Tohru Adachi in exchange for information on the Metaverse is definitely not wholly on the side of good.
• LGBT Awakening: Ann goes through one when she realises that she is in love with Shiho.
• LitRPG: The fic runs with the premise that Nanako is the playable character of a Persona game, so her stat increases and social links appear onscreen.
• Lipstick Lesbian:
  • Ann. She occasionally works as a model and ends up in a relationship with Shiho. Downplayed in that Ann is not sure if she is bisexual or a lesbian.
  • Mitsuru and Yukari also qualify as they married each other sometime after the events of Persona 3.
• The Lost Lenore: Kotone is this to Akihiko who is still grieving her death 11 years later. However, he eventually starts to move on from her death and it is implied that Chie will eventually take her place.
• Love Confession:
  • Nanako receives one from Sano in Chapter 300. Unfortunately, the moment is ruined when Sano's father comes in and due to a combination of hating cosplay artists (which he believes Nanako to be due to her wearing a cosplay outfit) and wanting Sano to run the family leatherworking business tells Nanako to leave. She does, although not before telling Sano that she does not feel the same way, although there is someone close to them who does.
  • Ann confesses to Shiho in chapter 325, after spending many chapters planning to do so.
  • Ren confesses to Nanako in chapter 364 after he realizes that the fight against Compyshiro nearly killed her. Nanako responds in kind.
• Love Dodecahedron: Sano's social link. Moriko likes Sano, who likes Nanako, who likes Ren.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Makoto comes up with a plan to take down Compyshiro involving having the Phantom Thieves engage the B.O.A.R. while Morgana plants a bomb on the computer tower nearby, which Makoto (correctly) theorizes to be Compyshiro's actual body. The only other people she tells about the plan are Ren and Morgana to avoid accidentally tipping off Compyshiro.
• Married in the Future: It is revealed that Mitsuru and Yukari got married at some point after the events of Persona 3 and are still together as of 2021.
• Mentor in Queerness: Kanji Tatsumi, who is openly bisexual, serves this role to Ann at Nanako's request after Ann starts going through a period of Gayngst once she realizes that she is in love with Shiho.
• Mundane Utility: Aika Nakamura used the TV World to make her deliveries across Inaba. This later extends to the Metaverse as a whole, which she uses to deliver across the entire world.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Nanako is congratulating herself for winning another Battle of Wits with Makoto...until Ren asks Makoto why she's trying to find the Phantom Thieves. Makoto breaks down and admits she needs help and doesn't know where else to turn. Nanako instantly regrets her behavior, realizing she'd gotten so focused on defeating Makoto that she forgot the point of everything was to help people.
  Nanako: What the heck are you doing!?
  Ren: I just...did what I thought you would've done.
• Named by the Adaptation:
  • Yusuke’s mother is named Fujiko Kitagawa. She was originally named Natsuhiko, but when the author was told it was a male name, they changed it to Fujiko.
  • The SIU Director is named after his Japanese voice actor, Tomohisa Aso.
• Near-Death Experience: The fight against Compyshiro results in Nanako getting harpooned, nearly killing her. Had it not been for Kotone bequeathing her with Orpheus to let her use the skill Cadenza, she would've been dead for good.
• New Transfer Student: Much like Ren, Nanako transfers to Shujin Academy at the start of her second year.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: A tragic example in Chapter 229 is when we see Yusuke's mother having the seizure that led to her death, and she starts babbling nonsense before she collapses. Or is it nonsense?
  Fujiko: After all the mix of masks and the gunpowder could bring about the right mixture of friends and pigment.
  Madarame: (Double Take) What?
  Fujiko: I said that the fallen angels of the mind will break palaces in the future and...I...gabble...shmababble...(collapses)
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, as Nanako shares her codename Angel with the Persona of the same name.
• Outside-Context Problem: Nanako's Metaverse powers are loaned to her by Margaret, meaning she does not spontaneously manifest a costume and has no Persona of her own. This chafes with Morgana, as his knowledge of the Metaverse is all he can remember and Nanako's powers call into question whether he can even be sure of that.
• Overly Long Name: Teddie's surname is Narudojihanasatoamatatsukujishirokuma, derived from the first parts of each of the Investigation Team's surnames as well as Dojima and "Kuma," the Japanese word for "bear" and his name (and a Verbal Tic) in the original Japanese. Morgana even asks Nanako what kind of a name it is when she tries to find Teddie in Mementos.
• Perception Filter: Nanako's Compendium (formerly Yu's) has one that keeps people from wondering why she's lugging around a heavy tome all the time. Nanako herself can't even read the pages without Yu's Investigation Team glasses.
• Playing Cyrano: Discussed when Nanako and Ren discuss the former's plan to set up Yosuke on a date — Chouno-sensei even asks them about the Trope Namer.
• Pretender Diss: Tohru Adachi mocks Akechi as a bad ripoff of the Detective Prince, noting that Naoto actually has the skills that Akechi only wishes he had.
• Properly Paranoid: Ryotaro's fears of Nanako getting hurt in Tokyo end up being proven right as Nanako temporarily dies during her fight with Compyshiro and would have likely ended up being Killed Off for Real if not for Kotone's intervention.
• Pungeon Master: In lieu of the obscene amount of clothing she wore in canon to bluff Yusuke into thinking she'd pose nude, Ann wears Teddie's bear suit, which Yu had kept over the years, and is somehow compelled into making bear puns at every possible opportunity. Even after she gets the suit off, the effects linger, lessening but never vanishing.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • Averted. Despite the story taking place in 2021, no reference is made to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Played straight with certain inclusions; the fic began well before Royal came out, omitting the opportunity to introduce Kasumi Yoshizawa, Dr. Maruki, or Jose. However, the author does introduce Will Seeds and Showtime attacks as well as Joker's grappling hook, though that one was revealed far in advance due to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Nanako gives one to Yusuke after he reveals his plan to use Ann as a nude model.
  Nanako: How dare you. How dare you try to blackmail her into such a thing. You have no idea what she's already been through, and if you think I'm going to let you take advantage of her kindness and loyalty to her friends, you're damn wrong. Ren is right. You're lying to yourself. You know what's going on is wrong, but you endure it anyway. We felt bad for you, Kitagawa, but maybe we were wrong. Maybe he really is your sensei. After all, here you are, using a little bit of power for your own perverted gains, just like he would.
• Red Pill, Blue Pill: In Chapter 27, immediately after being knocked out by the knights of Kamoshida's castle for refusing to dress in lingerie, Margaret confronts Nanako in a dream and warns her that she's on a path she was never meant to follow. Her choice comes in the form of two tarot cards. The Blue Pill is Justice, representing her bond with her cousin Yu Narukami, which will erase the memories of the past month and return her to the happy, peaceful, mundane life in Inaba she was meant for. The Red Pill is The Fool, the mark of the Wild Card, which will maintain her current path of life-risking confusion and fear. Despite her reservations, Nanako refuses to turn away from Ren and takes the Fool card, whereupon Margaret grants her just enough power and instruction to escape the castle.
• Running Gag:
  • Nanako tries wearing various outfits to make up for the fact she can't manifest a costume like the other Phantom Thieves. Every single one is practically destroyed on the same mission she acquires it for.
  • Tanaka advertises a product on the TV that Nanako dismisses, then another product she impulsively buys, bemoaning that he convinced her. Said products usually come in handy in the Metaverse, such as smoke grenades and a military cosplay costume, complete with bulletproof vest.
  • Nanako going out to eat with a friend, only for them to go to Big Bang Burger and take on the Big Bang Burger challenge while Nanako just watches. Mostly just Ren, but Haru gets in on it, too.
• Second Love:
  • A couple years after the events of Persona 4, Dojima met and married a woman named Kaho. Nanako accepted her as her new mother relatively quickly and even started calling her “Mom” when she was ten.
  • Rise is this to Yu; they're about to become engaged, though it's the second time for Yu, who was about to marry Naoto before they called it off. Subverted, as this version of Yu romanced Rise during the events of Persona 4 before they broke up — they both had a lot of growing up to do before being ready for each other.
  • Chie is set to become one for Akihiko, as he starts to move on from Kotone after her death 11 years ago.
• Secret Relationship: The relationship between Yu and Rise is one due to Rise's idol career. Nanako didn't even know about it, and she didn't learn until Rise turned up at his apartment (which is revealed to actually be hers).
• Setting Update: While Persona 5 keeps the year it takes place in ambiguous, it’s implied to be set in 2016. This fic changes it to 2021 so Nanako can join the Phantom Thieves.
• Ship Tease:
  • Ren and Nanako rather blatantly throughout the story. While the author hasn't confirmed they will be the final pair, only tagging them as a platonic pairing, the pair's dynamic has strong shades of Childhood Friend Romance. They become an Official Couple in Chapter 364, shortly after the Phantom Thieves steal Kaneshiro's Treasure.
  • As befits the protagonist of a Persona game, Nanako gets this with just about every eligible boy, including Ryuji, Yusuke, Sano, and even Akechi.
  • Ann has a crush on Shiho, which is likewise now officially reciprocated.
  • Makoto's introduction to Mementos shows shades of this between her and Ryuji. He reluctantly admits his crush to Nanako in Chapter 378.
  • Tons between Akihiko and Chie, complete with Mitsuru and Nanako both playing Shipper on Deck.
  • As her memos wander more off-topic, Wakaba admits that she regrets turning down Sojiro for a date.
• Shout-Out:
  • Nanako directly namedrops Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when crossing the painted hole in Madarame's Palace.
  • Ren quips about Nanako having a Blue Eyes Fight Dragon during his and Nanako's Showtime.
  • There’s a famous saxophone player named Sadao Kujo.
  • Ryuji mentions Unbreakable and its two main characters when explaining how Nanako and Makoto are on “opposite sides of the same circle”.
  • In Chapter 345, the Thieves play darts against the Tokyo Manji Dart Club, who are the cast of Tokyo Revengers.
  • Nanako describes her idea to attack Kaneshiro's emotional weakness as a "Scrooge" plan.
  • Nanako and Ann's Showtime is named "Seki-ha, Love and Friendship, Tenkyouken".
• Show Within a Show: Nanako uses several manga as excuses to get Sano to make her leather goods for the Metaverse, claiming she needs them for cosplay. So far, we've seen Library Chicks (post-apocalyptic girls battle to protect the knowledge of civilization) and 25th Century Bike-Chan (a time traveler on a motorcycle trying to change the course of World War III).
• Significant Birth Date: The Investigation Team celebrates Teddie's birthday on July 10th, which was the day he first went to the real world in Persona 4. Meta-wise, it is also the Japanese release date of the original Persona 4, befitting Teddie's status as the game's mascot.
• Significant Name Overlap: In Chapter 168, Ren gasps quietly when he hears the name 'Sayuri.' In Chapter 170, it's revealed that Sayuri is his mother's name in this story. And in Chapter 229, the last coherent phrase that Yusuke's mother ever says is that she named the picture after a dear friend of hers, hoping that that friend's strength would rub off on her as she raised Yusuke.
• Single-Stroke Battle: The climax of the Yusuke's battle with Shadow Madarame, since both favor traditional samurai motifs.
• Skewed Priorities: In addition to Yusuke's canon problems with prioritization, he often chooses expensive ingredients that taste better with no consideration of making his finances last. Nanako works to correct this when she takes him out shopping.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Implied to be the fate of Shinjiro Aragaki. The female protagonist is the one who became the Great Seal, and Akihiko mentions a man he considers an annoying brother who owns a Nikudon shop.
• Spell Book: Nanako summons Personas from Yu's Compendium instead of a mask. The Personas she summons are also those that were recorded in it, such as Izanagi.
• Super-Empowering: Kotone promises to pass on her Persona, Orpheus, to Nanako if she can save Akihiko from Kaneshiro's wrath. She ends up having to pass on Orpheus early after Nanako dies going up against the B.O.A.R. as without the Cadenza spell, the Phantom Thieves would have died and Nanako would have been Killed Off for Real.
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: In Kamoshida's childhood, his peers would bully him for his unusual height. It got much better once he started using that height for volleyball. Unfortunately, the stardom got to his head and eventually brought out the worst in him, turning him into the monster he is today.
• Tarot Motifs: As per canon, Nanako’s Social Links/Confidants are represented by the Major Arcana. Her bonds with the canon characters are all given different arcana than what they originally had. For example, Rise is Nanako’s Magician Confidant when her original Arcana was the Lovers. Ann, the canonical Lovers Arcana from Persona 5, is now the Star for Nanako.
• That Came Out Wrong: In Chapter 101, during a flashback to Kamoshida's past, when a coach was inviting him to join volleyball in middle school:
  Coach: Come on, let’s stop moping around about whatever dumb chick broke your heart and let’s get you some balls!…er, that came out wrong.
• That Wasn't a Request: Inverted when Akihiko asks Makoto to help him in the Kaneshiro investigation. He makes it clear that it's a request, not an order.
• Throw the Book at Them: Yu's Compendium is extremely sturdy, so since Nanako didn't materialize a weapon like the Phantom Thieves, she just whacks Shadows with the book.
• Tranquil Fury: Discussed in Chapter 97, when Nanako tries to get Ryuji and Ann to take control of their anger. Ann tries to wave her off, saying her anger is her weapon, and Ryuji says they can't be calm like she and Ren.
  Ren: Calm? You think I'm calm? I’m not calm. You’ve all heard the rumors about my past. My criminal record. Well, it’s true. I do have a criminal record. But it’s an unfair one. I was trying to protect someone. The aggressor was drunk and fell, but he blamed me for it. He got me arrested for assault, and the judge bought it. I was kicked out of school, my parents sent me to live with a man I don’t know…my whole future in society is at risk because I tried to do the right thing.”
  (Beat)
  Ren: So you think I’m calm? I’m not. I’m pissed. I’m pissed off at him, at the system, at all of Japan and the society it supports. I live with this rage with me all the time. It’s become this quiet friend that lurks in the background. And every once in a while, it threatens to over take me and cause wanton destruction. If I’m screwed in society anyway, I might as do whatever I want, right? But I don’t. I control it. I tell it to back off and release itself at the right moment. When I swing my knife, when I dodge behind a couch, when I fire my gun, when I summon Arsene…these moments are little explosions of my rage. I measure it out. I target it. I use it as a tool. When the anger comes too strong, I always ask myself the same question. Do I want to get angry…Or get even?”
• Twofer Token Minority: Ann. She is mixed race and is in love with Shiho, which makes her non-heterosexual (Ann is not sure if her crush on Shiho means that she is bisexual or a lesbian).
• Unnamed Parent: The given name of Sano’s father is never revealed. This is especially notable when the Phantom Thieves have to face his Shadow in Mementos, as usually they would need the target’s full name to pinpoint their location.
• Unstoppable Mailman: The delivery services of Aiya's Nikudon remain ridiculous. In Chapter 194, to prove a point to Ryuji, Ren places an order from Tokyo for three beef bowls and then sprints randomly through Yongen-Jaya's backstreets with him and Nanako in tow. Aika Nakamura still shows up on her moped and delivers the order with impossible speed, despite Inaba being several hours away by train. Later justified as it's revealed Aika has access to both the TV Realm AND the Metaverse, which she uses to make her deliveries faster.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Kamoshida was once an ordinary child with normal dreams and bullying problems. His recruitment to the volleyball team at high school gave him acceptance, and eventually brought out the worst in him.
• Victory by Endurance: The crux of the boss fight in Kaneshiro's Palace. Piggytron can't overpower the Phantom Thieves and Compyshiro knows it, but he also knows that Kaneshiro will harden his own heart after 24 hours and his heart will be untouchable after that, so he just has to hold out until then.
• Villainous BSoD: Nanako manages to cause one in Kaneshiro when she leads him to the daycare where his ex-girlfriend's daughter goes, forcing him to confront the happy life he threw away in his endless obsession with money.
• We Can Rule Together: It turns out Madarame has been grooming Yusuke to take the throne of his plagiarism business. Yusuke is horrified and wants nothing to do with it.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 365. A major diversion from canon comes with the reveal that Wakaba Isshiki confronted and accepted her Shadow with Teddie's help, though it's unclear if it became a Persona afterward; this heavily implies that death by mental shutdown is no longer possible. We also get confirmation that Teddie is being held captive on the orders of Shido's conspiracy.
• What Does She See in Him?: Non-romantic example with Ann's admiration for Mika. Nanako agreed to try setting Yosuke up with her because of Ann's assertions that she's "tough and cool" and would challenge Yosuke, only to learn after the date's started going to hell that it's because Ann thinks Mika is "like an anime villain."
• What the Hell, Hero?: Ren confronts Nanako about her feud with Makoto after the latter officially joins the team. He's sympathetic as Nanako's friend, but as the leader of the Thieves, he'll have to sideline her if their argument threatens the mission.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Chapter 25 acts as an epilogue for half of the former Investigation Team members, showing what they've been up to in the nine years since the end of Persona 4.
  • Yukiko is still in Inaba, running the Amagi Inn with the help of her husband with whom she had two kids and is pregnant with a third.
  • Kanji also runs his family's shop, Tatsumi Textiles, having expanded into social media and become a YouTube star with his "Badass Crafting" webshow to modernize the business.
  • Yosuke now works as a teacher at Yasogami High.
  • Yu is living in Tokyo and works as a journalist.
  • Later chapters reveal the fate of the other four: Chie has become a cop, specifically a truancy officer, but winds up joining the investigation team for the mental shutdowns. She's also on good terms with Lieutenant Akihiko Sanada.
  • Naoto is also working with the investigation team for mental shutdowns, in part because it's her best lead on finding Teddie.
  • Teddie has been missing for two years, and it comes to light that he's trapped in the Metaverse, with Naoto working to find some way to free him.
  • Rise's idol career is still going strong, and she's currently living with and dating Yu.
• Wrong Context Magic: While the other Phantom Thieves' powers are derived from their wills of rebellion, Nanako's are derived from appropriating her big bro's Persona Compendium. As a result, she does not spawn a Metaverse costume or armaments when entering the Metaverse and has to make do with conventional disguises and using said Compendium as a crude bludgeon.

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