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A Woman In Uniform

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‘’A Woman in Uniform’’ is a ‘’Persona 5’’ fanfic by Theralion

Four and a half years after the events of the original game, Makoto Niijima has achieved her goal of joining the police, but she knows it’s only the first step. She must rise through the ranks to become commissioner and change it from within.

But the process won’t be easy, and there are multiple reasons why. She's a woman in a male-dominated field, not all of her colleagues share her sense of justice, and being a police officer is already a demanding and dangerous career even if she doesn't go beyond the call of duty.

Complicating matters is her relationship with Haru Okumura, who is seeking to open a cafe of her own. Makoto and Haru's personal goals not only demand much from them, but require that they keep their relationship secret. Can they balance their goals with their romantic relationship, or will something have to give?

The fic can be found on Fanficiton.net and AO3. A collection of related stories can be found on Fanfiction.net and AO3.

The fanfic contains examples of:

  • Arc Words: “It only seemed fair” comes up whenever Haru and/or Makoto makes sacrifices or compromises for their relationship.
  • Armor-Piercing Question:
    • Zenkichi concedes Makoto’s point that the police need to be reformed, and that someone has to do it, but asks, “Does it have to be you?”
    • Ater Makoto blows the whistle on her colleagues, her fellow officers start giving her the cold shoulder. Noticing something’s off, she asks one of them about it, and he responds by asking her if she’ll snitch on him if he answers the question.
  • Beta Couple: Ren/Sumire is the secondary couple, with this fic showing key moments from their relationship in omakes.
  • "Both Sides Have a Point" Remark: While Haru is supportive of Makoto's goal of changing the police from within, she also admits that she sympathizes with Sae being uncomfortable with Makoto being a police officer, since she also worries about Makoto at times.
  • Career-Ending Injury: Sumire suffers an injury in an accident during a performance, resulting in her having to retire from gymnastics and take an office job at Sae's law office.
  • Central Theme:
    • Not getting what you want or having to give up something you cherish, but finding something to take its place. Makoto doesn't get together with Ren, but does get together with Haru. Sumire's gymnastics career comes to an end after she's injured, but she gets a job that allows her to stay close to Ren. After Tsukasa turns out to be using Eiko, she applies herself to her studies, gets a job and a good husband she wouldn't have considered earlier.
    • Starting again. In addition to Sumire's gymnastics career coming to an end, Sae has a career change to a defense attorney, and Makoto realizes that some of Ren's Confidants went down similar paths. Sumire gently tells Makoto that it she wants to stay with Haru, she should find a job that's less demanding of her time.
    • Whether it's necessarily possible to follow in the footsteps of the people you admire. As much as Haru and Makoto admire their respective grandfather and father, they find themselves forced to make the choices that make sense for them rather than always following in their heroes' examples, and to acknowledge their heroes' imperfections.
  • Crusading Lawyer: Ren has become a defense attorney and works in Sae’s law office.
  • Female Misogynist:
    • One of Haru’s female subordinates at Reverb is unhappy about having a female superior despite being female herself. Haru doesn’t take it personally but believes that if you can’t accept your boss simply because of your boss’s gender, you should find somewhere else to work.
    • In “Rent-Free in Mementos,” one landlady rejects Makoto and Haru on the basis of them being two women. Because her parents pressured her to find a husband instead of going into the workforce, she believes women need to be married to men, and disowned her daughter over being a lesbian.
  • Happily Married:
    • Ren and Sumire get married in Chapter 5, after the five-year Time Skip, and are quite happy together.
    • Eiko marries her coworker Eikichi, and while he’s the kind of person she wouldn’t have considered in the past, she’s happy with him.
  • Long-Distance Relationship:
    • For much of Ren and Sumire’s relationship, the two had a long-distance relationship. At first, it was primarily due to Ren having to go home at the end of Persona 5, but after Ren got into college, Sumire's gymnastics career caused her to spend much of her time at training or competitions.
    • Makoto and Haru end up being forced into one after Makoto is reassigned, and the fact that Haru is in the process of opening her cafe prevents her from joining Makoto.
  • Older and Wiser: Eiko is significantly more mature as an adult, valuing honesty and dependability rather than someone who makes her feel special.
  • Riches to Rags: While Haru is by no means destitute, she goes from living in a Big Fancy House with her wealthy father to living in a small apartment with Makoto. She's well aware that she'll never be as wealthy as she once was and is fine with that.
  • Second Love:
    • Makoto was originally in love with Ren, but realized near the end of her Confidant events that while he was willing to help her, he only saw her as a friend, and had feelings for Sumire.
    • After Eiko learned that Tsukasa was trying to sell her off, she eventually got her act together, got a job and fell in love with one of her coworkers.
  • Secret Relationship: Haru and Makoto’s relationship is secret from everyone except a handful of close friends and family members.
  • Shout-Out: Reverb, the cafe where Haru works, is named after Echo, the cafe Miyako manages in Bloom Into You.
  • Significant Name Shift:
    • At the start of the fic, Makoto and Haru use their standard modes of address- “Haru” and “Mako-chan”- in private, but call each other by their surnames in public to keep their relationship secret, and Haru calls Makoto “Makoto-san” around Sae for the sake of politeness. Over time, the two become somewhat more formal, even calling each other “Makoto-san” and “Haru-san” in private, as a sign of how their relationship has evolved over time.
    • In the years since the end of Persona 5, Futaba has started calling Sojiro "Dad" rather than "Sojiro."
  • Take That!: When Makoto gets home after a long day at work, the narration mentions that she’s so tired that she doesn’t even need Morgana to tell her to go to bed.
  • Time Skip: There are multiple timeskips of varying lengths, but Chapter 5 has the longest, jumping ahead to shortly before the five-year anniversary of Makoto’s time in the police.
  • Title Drop: In the first chapter, Haru remarks that she “love(s) a woman in uniform,” a reference to one dialogue option in Makoto’s Confidant in the first game.
  • Wacky Marriage Proposal: Ren leaves Sumire a calling card to propose to her.
  • Wham Episode: Chapter 7. Makoto blowing the whistle on one of her colleagues leads to her being reassigned and having to start a Long-Distance Relationship with Haru, who can’t move due to being in the process of opening her cafe.
  • Wham Line: Chapter 6 ends with Makoto giving Haru some bad news.
    Makoto: I’ve been reassigned.

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