History Fanfic / ATaleOfTwoTricksters

* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: In the first arc, the Phantom Thieves idealistic view of their actions put them at odds with Ren and due to circumstantial evidence against him over what really occurred between him and Shiho, and were so convinced that Ren is as guilty and as bad as the Shujin rumor mill and Mishima say he is that they didn't stop to think further about why he's in probation instead of being sent to juvenile prison for his supposed "crimes" nor do they actually try to get to know Ren as a person due to their belief that he had a hand in Shiho's suicide. When they eventually learn the truth from Futaba that Ren is actually innocent and their hostility towards Ren over their misunderstanding of Ren and Shiho's interaction had grave consequences (namely, that their mistreatment of Ren over their misunderstanding of him caused Ren to develop a Palace to begin with), they are forced to realize and given the wake-up call that reality isn't as black and white, and [[WhatYouAreInTheDark look back on whether or not do they actually believe in what they fight for]]. Ann in particular is the worst offender in this regard during the first arc along with Ryuji and Makoto in regards to how hostile they were towards Ren and believing him to be guilty over what happened to Shiho (and in case of Makoto, for supposedly blackmailing Kawakami), and were hit the hardest when they learn that Ren was innocent all along by the start of Arc 2. In Arc 3, [[spoiler:Sae privately discussed this trope in mind in regards to the Phantom Thieves' naive idealism before she learned the identity of the members, pointing out that Makoto and her friends' naive, black and white view of the world would have damaging consequences at some point when Makoto confesses that she and her friends (sans Futaba and Haru) had a hand in Ren developing a Palace over his supposed "crime".]]

* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: In the first arc, the Phantom Thieves idealistic view of their actions put them at odds with Ren and due to circumstancial evidence against him over what really occured between him and Shiho, were so convinced that Ren is as guilty and as bad as the Shujin rumor mill and Mishima say he is. When they eventually learn the truth from Futaba that Ren is actually innocent and their hostility towards Ren over their misunderstanding of Ren and Shiho's interaction had grave consequences (namely, that their mistreatment of Ren over their misunderstanding of him caused Ren to develop a Palace to begin with), they are forced to realize and given the wake-up call that reality is never so simple and [[WhatYouAreInTheDark look back on whether or not do they actually believe in what they fight for]]. Ann in particular is the worst offender in this regard during the first arc along with Makoto to a lesser extent. Ann and Makoto also took their mistreatment of Ren the hardest when Futaba told the Thieves the truth of Ren being falsely accused for his supposed crime and was innocent all along.

** Without Ren as the leader of the Phantom thieves and the Phantom thieves themselves being antagonistic of Ren due to what they perceive to Ren being complicit to what Kamoshida had done to Shiho, the thieves ended up being far more dysfunctional without him. Except for Yusuke and Futaba at the time they learn the truth about Ren's criminal record and how they got it all wrong, Ann, Ryuji, Morgana and Makoto's constant antagonism of him end up making him their biggest threat as he is all too willing to join Akechi's hand once he awakened to his Persona to save Akechi.

* ReformedButRejected: Ren's personal stance with [[spoiler:Mishima as Ren hated and vowed to never forgive Mishima for leaking his criminal record and ruining his chance for a future even after Mishima's HeelRealization.]]

** Ren's stance towards Ann, Ryuji, [[spoiler:Mishima]], and Makoto trying to apologize to him after realizing their mistake, as their apology had come too late for Ren to fully consider on accepting it. While Ren gave Makoto another chance due to Kobayakawa, that doesn't mean that his anger on her has simmered.

** While changing Kamoshida's heart brought momentary peace to those who had been his victims in Shujin, Ren was still affected by the effects of Kamoshida's actions due to the misunderstanding that the Shujin enrolled thieves and Morgana had that Ren was complicit to what happened to Shiho, which ultimately was left unresolved until the second arc where the Phantom Thieves and [[spoiler:Mishima]] were horrified that they villify an actually innocent teenager over being in the wrong place and time. While [[spoiler:Shiho and Mishima both work together to reveal the truth that Ren actually tried to ''save'' Shiho from Kamoshida, Yaldabaoth's MoreThanMindControl makes it difficult for the Shujin population to actually believe in it as they are too used to their own opinion of Ren being a criminal. However, by that point, Ren could care less to what the Shujin population had to say about him.]]

* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: In the first arc, the Phantom Thieves idealistic view of their actions put them at odds with Ren and due to circumstancial evidence against him over what really occured between him and Shiho, were so convinced that Ren is as guilty and as bad as the Shujin rumor mill and Mishima say he is. When they eventually learn the truth from Futaba that Ren is actually innocent and their hostility towards Ren over their misunderstanding of Ren and Shiho's interaction had grave consequences, they are forced to realize and given the wake-up call that reality is never so simple and [[WhatYouAreInTheDark look back on whether or not do they actually believe in what they fight for]]. Ann in particular is the worst offender in this regard during the first arc along with Makoto to a lesser extent. Ann and Makoto also took their mistreatment of Ren the hardest when Futaba told the Thieves the truth of Ren being falsely accused and was innocent all along.

* BluffTheEavesdropper: [[spoiler: After Ren informs Akechi that Futaba bugged Leblanc with hidden cameras, Akechi realises that Futaba bugged his phone and is aware of his true identity as the Black Mask. The two discuss a fake plan within earshot of the phones, then hide the phone and discuss their real plan.]]

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:Mishima tried to justify his spreading of Ren's "record" under Kamoshida's threat by trying to find proof that Ren really is justified for having a criminal record slapped on him, and [[SecretlySelfish that he'll be painted a hero to the thieves and the school]]. When Makoto later reveals that Ren's probationary officer, Sojiro, told the thieves (via Futaba) about how Ren had the record slapped on him just to save a woman from being sexually harassed and how he tried to kill himself and would have succeeded if it weren't for Akechi over how isolated he was in Shujin over the rumors that he was complicit to Shiho's suicide, Mishima breaks down and realizes that he tried to paint Ren as a villain for nothing and ended up being ''someone else's villain and potential murderer''.]]

** [[spoiler:Mishima has this when Makoto later told him the truth to [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished how Ren got a criminal record to start with]], prompting him to realize that he had been antagonizing Ren for nothing to satisfy his cowardice and selfishness and paid the price by having someone nearly killed by his own hand, and unlike what occured to Shiho, he nearly could have killed Ren had Makoto not tell him the truth and how Ren actually tried to commit suicide at July. Unfortunately for Mishima, Ren had a heavy grudge at Mishima over it once he learned that Mishima was the reason why his second chance in probation was ruined from the start, even if Kamoshida had blackmailed Mishima into it.]]

** [[spoiler:Mishima gets this when Makoto later told him what Ren's probationary officer had said about his supposed crime and gets a HeelRealization from it that he tried to frame Ren the villain over nothing.]]

** Shido's Palace is much more dangerous in this fic. The guards use real bullets, there are darumas scattered around which disable Personas within their radius, and the Palace incrementally increases the amount of SP used to cast spells.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Due to the thieves sans Yusuke, Futaba, Haru and Yoshizawa getting the AdaptationalJerkass treatment, Ren fully descended to become the VillainProtagonist of the story. Ren in this story is portrayed to be far more ruthless than he canonically would and [[spoiler:was the one who killed both Kobayakawa and Okumura senior]] here. The author confirms that this route of CharacterDevelopment from Ren is inspired from the BadEnding you can get by agreeing to Yaldabaoth's deal in the game and wants to explore what could motivate Ren to be just as ruthless and selfish as the portrayal of that BadEnding's Joker. However, this is later a DownplayedTrope due to Ren having his own MoralityPet in [[spoiler:Akechi, Futaba and Sojiro]] so while he isn't as villainous as the Yaldabaoth BadEnding Joker, he is ''still'' willing to dirty his hands to keep them safe.

* FightingYourFriend: Ren starts a fight with Akechi in Okumura's Palace, knowing full well that Futaba can sense his Persona's level, in order to force the Phantom Thieves to get stronger by giving them a goal to reach.

* DemotedToExtra: Due to Ren not interacting with some of the confidants he would have interacted with, some of them get this treatment. One example is Hifumi, who was Ren's Star arcana confidant in the games, and Yoshida, who was Ren's Sun arcana confidant. His other canonical confidants, like Shinya and Iwai, are alluded to instead, with the author mentioning that some of the interactions she initially had planned such as Shinya’s interactions with Ren and Jose’s involvement had to be cut due to time constraints.

* NiceGirl: Shiho is all and out revealed to be one of the kindest members of the overarching cast of this story. Beyond befriending Ann, she is willing to befriend Ren and [[spoiler:was horrified herself when Ann admits to Shiho that she villified Ren over believing and thinking that Ren was guilty of her suicide and sexual assault under Kamoshida in the first arc]]. Shiho willing to reach out to Ren has her take Ann's place as Ren's Lovers Confidant due to Ann's AdaptationalRelationshipOverhaul with Ren.

* AdaptationalDeviation: The AdaptationalRelationshipOverhaul due to the ButteflyOfDoom in effect where Ren never end up being the leader of the Phantom Thieves led to this effect:
** Yoshida and Hifumi were DemotedToExtra, though the author later confirmed in their Retrospring that Yoshida will appear in the ''Strikers'' set sequel as one of Akechi's future confidants.
** On the other hand, Kurobane Eri from the Memento's Mission manga and Chouno becomes AscendedExtra's and part of Ren's confidants.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Due to the thieves sans Yusuke, Futaba, Haru and Yoshizawa getting the AdaptationalJerkass treatment, Ren fully descended to become the VillainProtagonist of the story. Ren in this story is portrayed to be far more ruthless than he canonically would and [[spoiler:was the one who killed both Kobayakawa and Okumura senior]] here. The author confirms that this route of CharacterDevelopment from Ren is inspired from the BadEnding you can get by agreeing to Yaldabaoth's deal in the game and wants to explore what could motivate Ren to be just as ruthless and selfish as the portrayal of that BadEnding's Joker.

--> '''Akechi''': Yaldabaoth (Fool), Wakaba (Magician), Sae (High Priestess), Ren (Empress), Yusuke (Emperor), Sojiro (Hierophant), Shido (Chariot), Lavenza (Strength), Futaba (Hermit), Chihaya (Fortune), Shiho (Hanged Man), Shinya (Tower), Kasumi (Faith)

* HourglassPlot: Akechi and Ren's positions mentally and emotionally are the reverse of their canon counterparts. In canon, Joker finding the thieves has him improve and found people that he comes to cherish that he remains firmly heroic (Unless the Player consciously picked the bad endings), while Akechi remains isolated to everyone but Joker and becomes self-destructive due to believing that he had come too far in his plan. In ''A Tale of Two Tricksters'', Ren's horrible first semester due to the mistaken first impression the Shujin thieves sans Haru and Kasumi had on him on top of his pre-existing issues from his bad relationship with his parents caused him to spiral and becomes the self-destructive one between the two tricksters, to a point [[spoiler:Ren willingly sabotages some of the relationships he formed and under the belief that even people he cares about would abandon him and leave him for dead]], while Akechi instead manage to recover from some of his issues to a degree and is the one that tried to help Ren.

** After Makoto helps Kawakami out with the Takase's, she has a JerkassRealization and considers her lack of willingness to help Ren situate himself in school this way, along with her failure to help Shiho and Ryuji from Kamoshida's abuse.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Plenty of it happens.

** Makoto's choice of wording when trying to ask Kawakami about the blackmails from Kaneshiro cause Kawakami to instead believe that Ren sold her out to Makoto for having a double job and her response caused Makoto to vilify Ren and believe that Ren really threatened Kawakami. This action later, along with Kawakami's apathy caused Ren to actually go through with the threat Makoto claimed that he had done to the teacher and snitched her to Chouno for both this incident and for failing as a teacher.

* ShownTheirWork: Ren's therapy sessions with Dr. Ito showcases a lot of research done with proper counselling and several mental illnesses such as Anti-social Personality Disorder. The author studied psychology and took counselling for her college education major and shows it in those segments.

* VillainTakesAnInterest: Inverted. [[spoiler:Philemon takes an interest in Ren and offers him one of several powerful Personas. Ren ends up picking Yoshitsune]].

** Because Akechi operated and had been into the Metaverse longer, the thieves were under the assumption that he killed Okumura senior. [[spoiler:While Akechi ''did'' kill Wakaba, it's ultimately ''Ren'' who killed Haru's father.]]

** Ren has one where [[spoiler:he confesses to Akechi on how he didn't feel anything when he killed Okumura senior despite knowing that he's Haru's father and fear that he maybe even worse of a person than he initially imagined.]]

** [[spoiler:Philemon's involvement in ensuring a victory against Yaldabaoth despite the false god manipulating events to have both Akechi and Ren become the representative of Ruin under his palm had been hinted in the summary of the story. The "god" of the Velvet room does not refer to Yaldabaoth, who is currently taking Igor's visage by the start of ''Persona 5'', but Philemon, who Igor and the Velvet Room attendants ultimately answer to.]]

** After seeing Ren disassociating that he ran out of Leblanc barefoot, Sojiro realized that he [[WasTooHardOnHer was being unfair and unnecessarily harsh]] to Ren over his reason for probation and took the effort to reach out and have Ren open up to him, by June, Ren and Sojiro are close enough that Ren considers Sojiro [[ParentalSubsitute a better father figure than his own biological father]].

** The second arc has [[spoiler:the distrust and social link break mechanic from ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'' in play in Ren and Akechi's confidants with Ren's confidant link with Ohya being reversed (Due to Makoto being arrested) and Akechi's confidant with Sojiro being reversed as well (Due to learning from Futaba that Akechi's a traitor). The mechanic was also initially planned to be included in ''Persona 5'' proper before it was eventually scrapped in the final product.]]

* RashomonStyle: The story runs on having multiple point of views in each chapter with a dose of UnreliableNarrator, playing this trope straight.

** When [[spoiler:Mishima figured out that Ren had been the one responsible for changing Ooyamada's heart, he internally laments that Ren could have become a good phantom thief and one of their allies had he not doubled down to trying to paint Ren a villain to satisfy his cowardice for leaking his criminal record. Earlier before this, Morgana tried suggesting the thieves to recruit Ren to join their side but was shot down due to their recent discovery of the truth of Ren's record and point that the Thieves did too much wrong to Ren to make Ren fully accept the idea of working together with them, the people responsible for his horrible first semester in Shujin. In the original game, Ren really would have become one of the thieves had circumstances been different between Ren and the founding members.]]
** The second arc has [[spoiler:the distrust and social link break mechanic from ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'' in play in Ren and Akechi's confidants with Ren's confidant link with Ohya being reversed (Due to Makoto being arrested) and Akechi's confidant with Sojiro being reversed as well (Due to learning from Futaba that Akechi's a traitor).]]