Fanfic / Daredevil, You've Hit the Wall

Akira thought his career was over as a Phantom Thief, and he was happy enough to keep it that way. After all, he couldn't stand the thought of losing someone close to him again. But shortly after arriving in Tokyo, his worst fears are confirmed. The Metaverse is back, and the world is counting on him to fix it, by putting himself and his loved ones at risk all over again. It's not up to him anymore. The show must go on.

— Summary of Daredevil, You've Hit the Wall

Daredevil, You've Hit the Wall, is a Persona 5 Strikers fic written by ez_cookie that follows after the Royal continuity, featuring Akechi and Sumire to join along the thieves on their road trip all over Japan to scour for the Jails as the Metaverse returns. Meanwhile, the Phantom Thieves also deal with their own personal drama over Akechi's sudden reappearance along with Akira's unresolved issues with Akechi and how he had been dealing with the after effects of the turbulent previous year, along with Maruki's reality...

The story was first published in June 2021 and completed at March 2023, with extra side stories set in the Daredevil continuity planned to be released in the future.

The author announces on their twitter on 2024 that a sequel based on Persona 5 Tactica is in the works.

This story has the following installments, compiled in the "Daredevil, You've Hit the Wall" series collection:

• Daredevil, You've Hit the Wall: The main story
• Show's Over: The Bad Ending What If? scenario to the main story where Akira is made a Jail monarch at an earlier time.
• A Change of Heart: A Zenkichi centric side-story focusing on Zenkichi and Akane taking the first step to patch up their relationship after Akane was saved from her Jail.

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Daredevil, You've Hit the Wall contains the following tropes:

• Adaptation Deviation:
  • Just having Akechi and Sumire present for the plot of Strikers, when neither character is so much as mentioned in the original game.
  • The Velvet Room is described as taking on the appearance of a circus, with Lavenza donning the attire of a ringmaster. In Strikers, the Velvet Room retains it's appearance from Persona 5, as does Lavenza.
  • Shadow Hyodo and her Snow Empress forms are drastically overhauled from the gluttonous designs featured in the game. Shadow Hyodo is described as bearing a stronger resemblance to the real Hyodo, whilst her Snow Empress form is described as resembling the ice sculpture mentioned in her backstory.
  • Rather than bring Zenkichi into the Shibuya Jail so that they can explain the Metaverse and how changes of hearts work, the Phantom Thieves instead elect to keep him Locked Out of the Loop until they're forced to bring him into the Okinawa Jail with them.
  • Owada suffers from Death by Adaptation instead of being alive in this story.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • Served as one where the plot threads of Royal are brought to the continuity of Strikers and how it affected the thieves.
  • One of the main plot points of the story is expanding on Akira as a person outside of being the Player Character of the games such as his past and how he's dealing with the Trauma Conga Line he suffered from in Royal.
• Adaptational Sexuality:
  • Ann, Makoto and Haru are amongst Joker's potential romance candidates in Persona 5. In this story, Ann dated Shiho while Makoto and Haru dated each other with their relationship with Akira being platonic, though the author mentioned in their twitter that Akira and Haru are bisexual in this story.
  • Akechi is attracted to men in this story when there's no canonical indication to his sexual preference in canon.
• And Then What?: Makoto's subplot involves Makoto re-examining her own goals of wanting to be part of the police force just like her father. While she got to join the major that she's after, she had a fight with Haru over her choice of major and their relationship was fairly strained during the time of the trip of Strikers. When Zenkichi later tells her that being a police isn't worth the trouble, Makoto decided to change majors and fulfill her justice in the way she wants to do it instead of basing it on how her deceased father does it.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Both Goro and Sumire are major allies for the thieves and joined along the plot of Strikers.
  • Akira's Shadow is later revealed to be Raoul, Joker's third tier Persona who can only be obtained via downloadable content in Royal and plays a menacing presence in response to Akira's emotional struggles.
• Being Good Sucks: Part of Akira's Hidden Depths is that he is still emotionally drained and affected by the Trauma Conga Line that he suffered throughout Royal and when the Metaverse makes a return in Strikers, Akira felt Resigned to the Call at having to be the one to make things go back to normal despite his exhaustion, but because he had come to fear that he is nothing without the mask of "Joker of the Phantom Thieves", part of him wants the Metaverse to stay in some form to give him a purpose to live for.
• Bait-and-Switch: After Sumire shows up at Sendai with an alive Akechi, Akira moves towards Akechi and he thinks he's going in for a hug. He gets punched instead.
• Beta Couple: Ann and Shiho serve as one to the other romantic pairs that are shown in the story with Akechi and Akira both dealing with Unresolved Sexual Tension over what occurred between them in the aftermath of Royal while Haru and Makoto are dealing with their fight over Makoto's initial choice of major.
• Brick Joke: While exploring the Sendai Jail, the thieves went asking each other about "Who is the most fuckable shadow you met?" with Akechi not giving an answer, which eventually led to Akechi confessing that he's gay instead. Much later, after Akechi saved Akira and help him face and accept his shadow, Akira's Shadow morphed to Raoul and Akechi finally had the answer to who the most fuckable shadow was for him.
• Cutting Off the Branches: The Strikers continuity of this story follows after where Royal left off instead of the original game.
• Death by Adaptation: Owada, who is alive in Strikers canon, was revealed to have died from a heart attack in this story.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: One of Akira's Hidden Depths and struggles beneath his mask is that until he became a Phantom Thief, he doesn't have any idea what he wanted to do with his life and due to the things he experienced in Royal, he has come to believe that none of his friends want him for himself, and only wanted Joker, the leader of the Phantom Thieves. He had come to cling to the mask of Joker as a result as he feels that without Joker, Kurusu Akira is nothing.
• Doorstopper: The story is completed with 320,000+ words total.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Akira's Velvet Room being changed from that of the original prison room into what seems to be a circus arena and being relatively hostile to Akira despite Akira being the current guest hints that there's something going on with Akira's own heart. Igor later reveals that Akira's at risk of forming a Jail due to Akira still emotionally reeling from the Trauma Conga Line he is experiencing from Royal and Igor, along with Lavenza, facilitated the Velvet Room as a pseudo Jail to keep him safe from the out of control EMMA when she ascended as the Demiurge down the line. In the Bad Ending What If?, this comes true.
  • Akira's avoidance about the topic of his own parents. Akira is suffering from Parental Neglect from them.
  • Akechi notes how odd it was that Akira's awakening involves being selfless and rebelling against the shadows in Kamoshida's Palace instead of it being a full out rebellion. Akira's true self of rebellion for his third Awakening requires Akira admitting and accepting that he is Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life after all the Trauma Conga Line he experienced, and its how Akira manages to reconcile with his own Shadow.
• Hidden Depths: As part of the author's attempt to expand on Akira's character, he had several that is discovered over the course of the story:
  • Akira suffered from emotional Parental Neglect and said neglect made him aimless and had no ambition for anything until the fateful day he was falsely accused of a crime by Shido and later awakening to his Persona. Until then, he felt like he didn't have any idea of what he wanted to be and what he wanted to do for the future.
  • Despite looking mostly alright, Akira is far more affected by the Trauma Conga Line he experienced during Royal more than he lets on and is hiding it from his friends. The events of the third semester seem to convince him of the notion that his friends only wanted "Joker" and not "Kurusu Akira", which left him clinging to the mask as he feels he is nothing without "Joker" despite being utterly exhausted at having to be chosen to fix things when the Metaverse comes back.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: During the party celebrating Ango Natsume’s book, both Haru and Akechi steal glasses of champagne because they find the party so utterly boring that they decide they can’t investigate Natsume sober.
• Karma Houdini: Due to Death by Adaptation, Owada unfortunately ends up being this due to Owada dying way too early before Zenkichi can enact proper vengeance and justice for his wife. Regardless of the setback, Zenkichi vows to still find some way to bring Owada's crime to light at the end of the story.
• Mirror Character: Just like Akechi, Akira Konoe had an abusive father who was responsible for the death of his mother, twisting his sense of justice as he takes out his feelings against the world. Akechi himself lampshades this, and it's what drives him to write his own calling card against the CEO of Maddice. He's fully aware that the man's actions and motivations are ultimately no different from what he himself did, while acknowledging that his and Konoe's similar pasts don't justify their actions in any way.
• Mistaken for Misogynist: When pressed about what Shadow he'd like to fuck, Akechi points out that he doesn't like women. When Ryuji, of all people, calls his comment out for being sexist, Akechi clarifies that he's actually gay and thus not attracted to women.
• Mistaken for Romance: Sumire being the first person Akechi reached out to after his apparent survival, along with the fact that he took a personal trip with her to reach the Thieves, makes Akira mistakenly assume that the two of them are dating.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Makoto’s reaction when the Phantom Thieves are discussing who they consider the most fuckable Shadow, and Ryuji names Shadow Sae.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The story's title is taken and inspired by the lyrics to Persona 5 Strikers sound track Daredevil.
  • While trying to hide the injuries he received from his venture in the Velvet Room, Akira says "I injured it during the dream I had last night that we were all part of a dancing competition.", referencing Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight.
  • Morgana tells to Akechi in private that Akira wanted to bring the policewoman outfit to the trip, referencing both the crossdressing Punishment Cop DLC that Joker gets in Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight and the Mementos Mission manga where Joker did crossdress as one.
  • In the ending, Akechi mentions that Zenkichi got an offer from the Kirijo group and extended the offer to Akechi, hinting that Zenkichi potentially had joined the Shadow Operatives.
• Named by Adaptation: Joker is given the manga adaptation name of Kurusu Akira.
• Official Couple: The story majorly focuses on the Joker/Akechi pair with small hints and glimpses of other pairs.
• One-Steve Limit: The story uses the manga adaptation name, Kurusu Akira for Joker, which led to this trope when Konoe Akira appeared in the story proper. This is downplayed due to their different surnames, however.
• The Power of Love: Akira says this trope word-for-word when Akechi confirms that he did die, but was brought back to life thanks to the both of them being Wild Cards who the mutual wish to see each other again.
  Goro: But…if two wildcards wished to reshape the world in the same way… That is to say…it was the two of us, Akira. The strength of our bond. We subconsciously made a goddamn miracle happen, all because we were united in the same desire…to see each other again.
  Akira: Oh my god… You were brought back to life…by the power of love?
• Rotating Protagonist: While Akira and Akechi are the main focus protagonist, the story switches around point of views between the other phantom thieves.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Akira and Akechi doing the deed after they both confirm and had their Relationship Upgrade was framed this way.
• Shadow Archetype: Konoe Akira is one to Akira as a reflection of what the latter could have become if he didn't let go of his mask and need to be Joker due to the trauma and emotional turmoil he experienced making him believe that he is nothing without the mask of Joker, the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: In-Universe, there were supposedly quite a few fans of the Phantom Thieves who fought over whether or not the Detective Prince was in love with Joker. The topic was apparently held enough in such Serious Business that Akane ended a friendship just because she disagreed with the idea.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Akechi's Phantom Thief attire is neither his Detective Prince or Black Mask outfits, but rather applies the color scheme of the latter to the design of the former.
• Spared, but Not Forgiven: What Haru and Futaba come to regarding their feelings with Akechi. While both of them admit that they will never be able to forgive him for murdering their parents, neither of them can bring it in themselves to truly hate him as they both don't want to have their lives ruled by hatred and acknowledge that he's changed as a result of his own capabilities.
  Futaba: Because I don't hate you! I don't want to hate you! I saw hatred destroy your life, and I don't want to be like that. You changed your mind on your own, and when you came back from the dead or whatever and said you would fight with us...uh, the second time...I wasn't going to say no! Because I'm really, really scared! I'm really scared that somethings going to happen to Akira, and he's family, so of course I wanted you on our side! But...just because I don't hate you doesn't mean I can forgive you. I'll never forgive you.
• Spared By Adaptation: Akechi is revealed to be alive from his Uncertain Doom from Royal, and thus spared and was able to appear for the story of Strikers in this story. Later on, this trope is Played With, as Akechi confirms that he did, in fact, die. However, he was eventually brought back to life thanks to his and Akira's mutual desire to see each other again, effectively making him a case of Back from the Dead.
• Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: Akechi attempts to goad Haru into attacking him when she confronts him one-on-one for murdering her father. While Haru does end up striking him through his chest with her axe in a fit of rage (albeit by accident), once he's fine, Haru rips into him for his mindset, telling him that though she refuses to forgive him, she also refuses to be vehicle that he can use to punish himself for his heinous acts.
• Time Skip: The ending has a Time Skip which takes place half a year after the events of Strikers was finished with Akechi visiting Akira and Morgana in Akira's hometown and talk of their futures.
• Titled After the Song: The story's title is named after the Strikers soundtrack "Daredevil, You've Hit the Wall".
• What If??:
  • Has a Bad Ending What If? in Show's Over, based on what if EMMA the Demiurge succeeded in making Akira the host of a Jail early on and Akechi was forced to break him via the use of Call of Chaos to inflict a Psychotic breakdown on him because of how Akira refused to give up on his need to be "Joker".
• What the Hell, Hero?: Played for Laughs early when Akira mentions that he is dealing with the fact that Morgana went from magical talking cat to a "weirdly hot" human guy to Akechi during the third semester, Makoto's reaction was "You found human Morgana hot?".
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Despite murdering her father and never being able to forgive him for the act, Haru admits to Akechi that she ultimately doesn't consider him a despicable person since he was able to change and acknowledge his on actions on his own merits, something her own father couldn't do.
  Haru: Yes, you've done despicable things, but you are not a despicable person. Do you want to know how I know that? You've changed. And we didn't need to steal any treasure to make it happen. If my father had gone a successful change of heart, the only place I would have ever seen him again would be on the other side of a wall, during visiting hours.
  • In the penultimate chapter, Akira confesses to Akechi about all his problems and how he feels that he's nothing without Joker, the mask that he feels that his friends and even Akechi wants to see. Akechi tells him that he loves Akira for who he is, not the mask he wears.