This page contains unmarked spoilers for Persona 5 Royal. You Have Been Warned!
Royalty-free Rerun
is a Persona 5 fanfic by Eggsumi. During the final battle of Royal, the Phantom Thieves are defeated and ultimately killed by Maruki. Rather than live in Maruki's altered reality as a copy of her sister, Sumire commits suicide. Rather than dying, however, she wakes up in April, shortly after her sister Kasumi's fatal accident. From there, the younger Yoshizawa sibling vows to Set Right What Once Went Wrong and rekindle her relationship with one Akira Kurusu...
Royalty-free Rerun has examples of:
- Accidental Truth: In an attempt to point out the flaws in Maruki's plan, Akira insinuates that the only reason Maruki didn't just bring back Kasumi was because Sumire was selfish enough that she wished to become Kasumi outright. He's completely taken off-guard when that turns out to be exactly the case; it's only then that he realizes Kasumi and Sumire are very different people.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Downplayed. While Sumire's depression was mentioned in canon, it's far more prominent here due to her being the main character.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Haru meets the thieves in April, unlike in canon where she wasn't properly introduced until a few months later.
- Sumire meets Akechi during a trip to Mementos on 4/15; in the original game, Akechi only properly met the thieves on 6/9, during their trip to the TV station.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Surprisingly, Kamoshida. Not content with merely being a rapist and serial abuser, here he doesn't even attempt to put on a facade, openly provoking Ryuji into accidentally punching Sumire by using her as a Human Shield.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Akira and Ryuji at least are far more hostile to Maruki than they were in canon, due to him unknowingly being Sumire's Trauma Button and sending her into a traumatic flashback in front of them.
- Amnesiac Lover: An interesting case. While Akira doesn't remember the previous timeline, the emotions of his old self towards Sumire seem to have carried over to some degree (with him admitting in Chapter 7 that listening to Sumire has him thinking "this is classic Sumire" even though they only met earlier that day).
- Ascended Extra:
- While Sumire's storyline did have some prominence in Royal's third semester, she was ultimately a comparatively minor character who only joined the thieves near the end of the game and hardly interacted with anyone besides Joker and Akechi. Here, she's the main character, becomes a Phantom Thief early on and has much more detailed interactions with the other thieves.
- Since Shiho isn't Driven to Suicide by Kamoshida, she stays at Shujin and gets to interact with characters like Ryuji and Haru.
- Haru not only debuts much earlier than in canon, she's also granted additional relevance as a Secret-Keeper for the Phantom Thieves and gains some Ship Tease with Ryuji.
- Attempted Rape: Kamoshida attempts to drag Sumire to his office before Ryuji stops him. He later attempts to do the same with Shiho and Haru, but is stopped by the Thieves defeating his Shadow before he can do the deed.
- Bad Liar: Sumire can and does tell lies - but between her own emotional distress and confusion and Akira's skepticism, Akira and Morgana realize something is up with her, and learn from her that she's a Peggy Sue literally the same day they arrive in Kamoshida's Palace.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Akira may be the same All-Loving Hero he is in canon, but that doesn't stop him from brutally calling Maruki out for pushing Sumire's Trauma Button and using his delinquent reputation to scare the doctor into leaving her alone:Akira: You never answered my question, you know. I hope for your sake it just happened to slip your mind, because your reaction to her condition makes me think you might've done something stupid. Things like that come with consequences, so if you don't want me to act upon any unwanted impulses, I'd suggest you hush up and walk into that building.
- Bungled Suicide: One flashback in chapter 2 confirms Sumire attempted to overdose on pills a few days before the battle with Maruki, out of guilt for her part in Kasumi's death and her depression, only to get cold feet, puke them out, and call Akira for comfort at the last second.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: It takes one Masquerade from Sumire to take out almost all of Kamoshida's health, and an Agi from Ann to finish off the rest.
- Devoted to You: Sumire is completely and utterly in love with Akira - after being dismayed she missed their meeting in Chapter 18, when she sees he did too (and that he just woke up and is still in his pajamas), she has to leave Leblanc so she can Squee without him hearing her.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Sumire commits suicide in the first chapter, choosing to die with the rest of the thieves rather than live as a copy of her sister.
- Averted with Shiho, who's spared the event that caused them to attempt suicide to begin with.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Futaba appears in Chapter 18, and gets into contact with Sumire when she sees her outside Sojiro's house.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Akechi, himself a murderous hitman, has no qualms about calling Maruki out for refusing to just bring Kasumi back when it would have been much better for everyone than essentially brainwashing Sumire into being a copy of her.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Akira in the previous timeline has this when he realizes that while Kasumi isn't selfish, Kasumi and Sumire are different people.Seeing her like this... He couldn't take it. He tried his best to convince her that this was all a farce, but she still went along with it. Even after all that talk about her own family and the state of her sister's life, she still...? Didn't she want her back? Was that not the issue?
The only other option was... No, he'd said that to catch Maruki off guard, not for a second did he think those were her true feelings. She wasn't selfish, she was the total opposite. She was unwavering in her passion. She was overflowing with confidence, believing she would get out of her slump. She was selfless to a fault, and never once did she ask anything too strenous a task out of anyone. Even when they practiced together, she always made sure he was following along, smiling and encouraging all the while. That's just how she was. Kasumi was-
Kasumi...
It dawned on him then. He knows Kasumi. Those were Kasumi's traits. Sumire isn't her. He knows what Kasumi would've picked, but Sumire... He's never met her before. - For Want Of A Nail: Kamoshida tricking Ryuji into punching Sumire is what ultimately prevents Shiho's rape; Ryuji's guilt over the incident causes him to retreat to the roof where he meets Haru, causing her to befriend Shiho and stop her from going to Kamoshida's office.
- Friendless Background: Sumire's only real friend before Kasumi died was Kasumi herself, apparently.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Sumire is steeped in this, due to her depression, inferiority complex, and PTSD.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: According to the opening, Yusuke was killed in the battle against Maruki when one of his physical attacks got deflected back at him.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite Sumire preventing Shiho's attempted suicide, Kamoshida still threatens to get Ryuji expelled. However, while in the original timeline it was because Ryuji confronted him over Shiho's rape and attempted suicide, here it's because Kamoshida tricked him into punching Sumire by using her as a human shield.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Much like in canon, it's shown that Akira is the one thing keeping Sumire from ending it all. A flashback in Chapter 2 shows her suffering suicidal thoughts before Akira calms her down, and while she's a bit more well-adjusted in the present day, she still sometimes defers to him for comfort.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Ironically, for all of her future knowledge, Sumire was the only Phantom Thief in the original timeline who never realized Akechi was working with Shido and causing the mental shutdowns because Akira danced around the topic whenever it came up and her first Metaverse encounter with Akechi came post-Heel–Face Turn. This comes back to bite her when she encounters Akechi in Mementos and treats him like an old friend, only to be taken off-guard when he attacks and almost kills her.
- Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Sumire accidentally leaves one of her boots behind in Mementos after she escapes from Akechi.
- More than Mind Control: Sumire accepts Maruki's deal on the second of January in Chapter 4 due to her lingering self-hatred and inferiority complex - while Maruki's hitting of her Trauma Button played a part, there was no point in her decision where true Mind Control was involved.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Ryuji is extremely regretful after accidentally punching Sumire and even suffers a brief Heroic BSoD because of it.
- Oh, Crap!: Maruki is taken off-guard when Sumire has a panic attack upon seeing him and believes his actualization on her has worn off. He also realizes something is amiss when several details he previously knew about her don't line up with the Sumire he sees in front of him.She trusted him enough to tell her about that? Sumire never told me about any friends, in fact she's mentioned her suffocating loneliness more than once. She's never exhibited this kind of reaction during any of our sessions before either. Depression, lethargy, nihilism, suicidal thoughts, they were all there, but those vanished when I actualized her desire to become her sister! So why, why does it look like it's been reversed?! She's back to Sumire?! How?! Does my power not actually work? No, that can't be it! It worked with Rumi, and it was working with Yoshizawa, until suddenly... It just isn't?!
- Peggy Sue: The fic uses the popular "character goes through New Game Plus with their memories intact" plotline, with the twist being that Sumire is the one to go back in time rather than Joker himself.
- Reluctant Psycho: Downplayed: Sumire's depression (and to a lesser degree, PTSD) isn't a threat to anyone except her, but she's pretty clearly suffering from it and wants to feel better - whether through her bonds with her family and her friends, becoming Kasumi... or in her darkest moments, being tempted to kill herself.
- Secret-Keeper: Haru learns about the Phantom Thieves through overhearing Ryuji shouting about them. She promises to keep it a secret.
- Secretly Selfish: Why Sumire wished to be Kasumi herself instead of wishing for her sister back - a lifetime of being Always Second Best and getting told she wasn't as good and couldn't live up to Kasumi left Sumire dreaming of getting the adoration that she saw her sister getting but was never able to get herself. Later on, she admits she's this in her own dialogue and seems to have started accepting it."So what you're implying is... Kasumi isn't here, because Sumire is selfish enough to wish it so she was her instead?"
Sumire froze. Words spilled out of her mouth at a breakneck pace, and despite the accusation thrown at her she never let go of his hand.
"N-no.... No no no no, that's not, that's not why I... Of course I want my sister back! If she's back then I can be..."
I can be Sumire. Just say it, say it! That's what I want! P-please...
"Kasumi is soooo cool! She's always winning first place!"
"Did you see Kasumi's performance?! She nailed it!"
"I-I..."
"Kasumi? Now there's a child prodigy if I ever saw one."
"I-I want..."
"Yoshizawa twins? There's more than one Yoshizawa?"
"Yeah, Kasumi's sister. Though, I haven't really seen anything from her..."
"Shame. Though I guess living up to someone as amazing as her is impossible."
Sumire felt like throwing up. She WANTED to be Kasumi. She wanted the attention, the praise she got, everyone admiring her, everyone's love and affection and sponsorships and friendships and- - Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Sumire finds herself sent back in time to April, shortly after Kasumi's death. Her main goal is to make sure things don't turn out as badly as they did the first time.
- Stating the Simple Solution: One flashback has Joker and Akechi call Maruki out for continuing to insist on turning Sumire into a copy of Kasumi when he could have simply undone Kasumi's death, noticing it would have been healthier on all parties' ends.
- Suicide by Pills: One flashback in chapter 2 confirms that Sumire attempted to overdose on pills a few days before the battle with Maruki, out of guilt for her part in Kasumi's death and her depression, only to get cold feet, puke them out, and call Akira for comfort at the last second.
- Taking the Bullet: A flashback reveals Joker died in the original timeline by taking a shot of magic aimed at Sumire.
- Trauma Button: Considering he essentially brainwashed her before the events of Royal and killed the other Phantom Thieves later on, just seeing or hearing Maruki is enough to send Sumire into a full-on panic attack.
- Unreliable Narrator: It's made apparent throughout the fic that Sumire's recounts are stooped in Heroic Self-Deprecation; she sometimes believes that the thieves and the rest of the world hate her despite all evidence to the contrary and is thoroughly convinced she's a murderer out of guilt for the deaths of Kasumi, Joker, and the rest of the thieves.
- Villain Has a Point: Sumire admits in chapter 15 that, while it is all she is grateful to him for, she's grateful to Maruki for originally turning her into Kasumi.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: In chapter 3, seeing Akira with his life in danger is enough for the normally-quiet Sumire to mentally demand Ella come forth so she can save him, although this only takes place after Akira Awakens due to Ella holding back her transformation.
- World's Strongest Woman: Sumire still has Ella and all of the fighting skill she had at the end of Royal when the Thieves enter Kamoshida's Palace, is capable of fighting off Goro Akechi in a one on one fight, and effortlessly curbstomps Kamoshida's Shadow.
