"Hey, Dad, can we get that new game console we talked about soon?"
The sun had set and the moon was shining brightly in the sky as a father and his teenaged daughter walked home from the girl's school festival. The man stood a full head taller than his daughter, his height and distinctly frizzy hair made it easy to pick him out in a crowd. Decades ago, he was the leader of the mysterious Phantom Thieves of Heart, a group of vigilantes that took justice into their own hands when innocent lives were at stake, fighting injustice with their Personas, their rebellious spirits made manifest. These days, Akira Kurusu was a successful defense attorney, a loving husband to the love of his life, Police Commissioner Makoto Niijima, and a doting father to their only child, Kogo. Akira's daughter was the spitting image of her mother during her high school days, only with her father's black hair and a red hairband as opposed to her mother's chestnut brown hair and hairband. She had a very elegant and mature sense of style and was just as academically inclined as her mother, but she also had her father's strong sense of justice and his cocky devil-may-care attitude.
"Hmm, I dunno, how have your grades been?" Akira asked his daughter with a smirk. It was a rhetorical question, as he already knew his daughter was at the top of her class and spent some time during the festival beaming at her place at the top of the exam score ranking.
"Dad, they're just fine!" Kogo rolled her eyes and giggled. "Besides, I saw you looking at my exam scores earlier, you don't need to ask."
Akira cocked an eyebrow at the girl. "You saw that? I must be getting old if I didn't notice you in that empty hallway."
"Hee hee, or maybe I'm just that good at hiding!"
Grinning, Akira ruffled his daughter's hair. "Heh, you probably get that from me. When we were your age, your mother was awful at sneaking around. Oh, don't tell her I said that, you know how she gets when she's embarassed."
"Really? Wait, why do you know that?" Kogo looked at her father expectantly. She always loved hearing about her parents' lives and was eager to learn more about them.
"Oh, I never told you about how your mother and I met, have I?" Akira looked up in thought. "Maybe we should wait on this story for just a bit, until we get home and we can talk about it with your mother?"
"Aww, alright." Kogo pouted. "I wish Mom could've come tonight too, I bet she would've loved the Sharing Special."
"Haha, do you think so?" Akira started smirking again. "I remember the one time your mother and I went to the Sharing Special together. I think she's still incredibly embarrassed about it."
"Okay, you haaaave to tell me about it! Pleeeeaaaase?"
"Now, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, you wouldn't want to miss out on Mom's reaction to that, would you?"
"Hmm, I guess not." Kogo devilishly pressed a finger to her lip. She and her father both enjoyed teasing her mother, much to the woman's chagrin. Makoto eventually learned to take it in stride, however, and managed to get back at her family from time to time.
"So why the interest in the game console all of a sudden?" The two had reached their home in Aoyama and Akira had begun fishing around for his keys.
"Oh, right! I walked by a strange booth at the festival earlier today and a man with a really long nose gave me a game."
Finding his keys, Akira was in the middle of unlocking the door when he suddenly stopped and turned to Kogo. "A really long nose? Was this man balding, by any chance? And was his booth blue?"
"Yeah! And he had a speaker playing really soothing piano music, too! How did you know?"
"...Call it a hunch. This has to do with how I met your mother, so I'll tell you soon." Akira unlocked the door and ushered his daughter in. "So what kind of game did he give you?"
"It's an RPG, I think, but I've never heard of it before." Kogo took her shoes off and started digging through her bag.
"Akira? Kogo? Is that you?" A soft, yet commanding voice called out from the kitchen.
"It's us! We're home, Makoto!" Akira called back, making his way to his wife. She was hard at work in the kitchen, cutting dough, still in her work clothes. Akira reasoned that she had arrived home not long before he had and gave her a kiss. "Are you making donuts again?"
"Yes, I am. I wanted to make it up to Kogo for missing the last day of the festival and I know how much she loves my donuts." Makoto resumed her kneading a little more eagerly, now that she was in the company of her family.
"Ah ha! I found it!" Cheered Kogo, who slowly followed her father into the kitchen. "Hi Mom, I missed you!" She gave her mother a hug.
"Hello, Kogo. I missed you too." Makoto turned and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "What's that in your hand?" She looked quizzically at the box her daughter was holding.
"Someone at the festival gave this to me. It's a game called Persona 5." Kogo held up the box for her parents.
"Persona..?" Akira and Makoto said in unison, looking at each other with slightly confused expressions. "She can't mean that, right?" Makoto looked slightly concerned; she was also a former Phantom Thief, so she also had a Persona back in her heyday and was shocked to hear the word again after so long.
"You guys, that's not even the weird thing about this, look at the cover!" Kogo pointed at the bottom-center of the box - right at a very familiar face.
Akira looked and was taken aback. "Hey, that's... me!" He grabbed the box out of Kogo's hand to inspect it closer. "And that's Futaba, Yusuke, Ann, Morgana, Ryuji, Haru - and look, even you, Makoto!"
Makoto stared, wide-eyed. "Wh-what is this? Those characters look just like us!" Makoto stopped kneading again to look closer. "Is that Akechi? And Arsene?"
"Akechi? Who's that? I recognized my aunts and uncles from the box, but did you say our cat's on there too?" Kogo asked in confusion. "And who's Arsene?"
Akira flipped the box over to read the back. "We're here to take your heart... A group of high school students are out to reform Tokyo society. Troubled by the deception and hypocrisy all around them, these Phantom Thieves will steal into the hearts of people and confront the problem from the inside out..."
"Phantom Thieves!?" cried Makoto. "I don't believe it, what is this?" The brunette was getting more and more unnerved by the second.
Akira continued. "Spend the days as a normal student: go to school, hang out with friends, hold a part time job... After school, enter the 'Palaces' of people's hearts and root out the evil within... Your bonds are your power as 'Confidants' provide you strength and aid in battle and beyond..." He finished reading and flipped the box over again. "Well I'll be damned, Igor. You've certainly outdone yourself this time..." He mumbled to himself.
"Mom? Dad?" Kogo was really confused now. "Why are you two acting like this?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest." Makoto started to regain her composure. "I don't suppose we've ever talked about how your father and I met, have we?"
"Dad and I were just talking about that on our way home! But what does that have to do with this game?"
"I think this game'll tell you that story and more," said Akira, setting the box down. "You know, I was planning on telling you more about that, but I think I'll let this game do the talking," grinned Akira.
"Are you sure? What if it's dangerous?" asked Makoto.
"It's fine, I trust whoever gave this to Kogo." He
ruffled the girl's hair again. "Why don't you take this
upstairs and get ready for bed, then we can have some of
your mother's donuts before you go to sleep and tomorrow, I'll go out and pick up the console so we can play tomorrow night, okay?"
"Alright, Dad." Kogo nodded and made for her bedroom.
"How are you so sure it's safe?" Makoto returned to her dough and finished portioning her sweet treats.
"Do you remember that long nosed guy with the crazy eyes?" As she finished, Akira began foraging for a pot, a jug of oil, cocoa powder, and some powdered sugar.
"How could I forget?" said Makoto as he handed the powdered ingredients to her before heating up the oil.
"It sounds like Kogo met him earlier today." Leaving the oil to heat up, Akira walked to their fridge to find a bag of chocolate chips, a carton of oil, and a stick of butter.
"But you didn't?" Makoto gave him a skeptical look.
"No, but the way she described him hit all the right notes, so it's probably him." He began boiling some water in another pot, with a glass bowl on top filled with the chocolate chips.
"Well, alright, if you think it's safe. Should we tell the others?" Makoto began frying her donuts.
"Yeah, I'll bet they'd want to see this. I think everyone's in town for a little while, right?"
"Hmm, Ann has just returned from an American photoshoot, Ryuji is still the P.E. Teacher at Shujin, last I checked, Yusuke is not on tour right now and is overseeing his students, Futaba is always around, Haru is overseeing her cafes in Tokyo for the moment, and Morgana is sleeping peacefully in our living room." Makoto counted off each of their friends as she listed them.
"That's perfect. Wanna shoot them a message?" Akira began whisking the bowl of melted chocolate chips and butter over the pot of boiling water, stopping to pour in some cream partway through.
"Of course," Makoto pulled out her phone and began typing. "Hello... Akira and I were wondering if you were all free tomorrow night." She read her message aloud as she typed into the group chat they all shared. "Kogo found something interesting tonight at the school festival and we thought you guys would all like to see it." She set her phone aside to remove her last donuts from the pot to let them cool slightly.
"Are we frosting them tonight, or are we filling them?" Asked Akira, who took the molten chocolate off of the boiler and started walking towards one of the cupboards.
"Let's just do frosting tonight. It's late and I don't think Kogo wants to wait for the chocolate to cool so we can pipe it in."
"You got it," replied Akira, as he pulled out a small bowl and a container of sprinkles. He had just started pouring sprinkles into the bowl when his phone began buzzing, alerting him to messages in the group chat.
Ann: "Ooh, it's been so long! Of course I'm going!"
Ryuji: "Me too! I didn't have any plans for tomorrow anyway!"
Yusuke: "Of course. It will be delightful to see each everyone again."
Futaba: "Meehhhh."
Haru: "Oh, don't be like that, Futaba-chan. Aren't you interested in what Kogo found?"
Akira: "It's a game, Futaba."
Futaba: "A game? \(≧▽≦)/ Why didn't you say so? I'll be there! (✯◡✯)"
Yusuke: "That didn't take much convincing."
Futaba: "Shut it, Inari! (; ̄Д ̄)"
Ryuji: "A game? What kind?"
Ann: "This isn't something dumb, is it?"
Makoto: "I think you will all find this very interesting."
Akira: "Yeah, it definitely caught our attention when Kogo showed us."
Yusuke: "Intriguing. I shall be there."
Haru: "This sounds like fun! Are we meeting at your house, Akira?"
Akira: "Yup. Try to get here around 5? I'll make curry!"
Ryuji: "Ooh! I haven't had Akira's curry in ages! See you all at 5!"
Futaba: "Make lots! I hunger! (*¯︶¯*)"
Ann: "I'll have mine with lots of apples~"
Haru: "Shall I bring some coffee beans with me?"
Makoto: "Please do. We're down to our last bag."
"Mom, are the donuts ready?" Kogo called out as she walked back into the kitchen, ready for bed.
"Yes dear, we saved the best part for you." Makoto smiled and pulled a chair out for her daughter.
"Not too much now, let's save some for tomorrow." Said Akira as he sat down at the table. Taking one of the lumpier donuts, he dipped it in the frosting and he continued. "We invited your aunts and uncles over tomorrow so they could see the game too and we wouldn't want aunt Ann to get upset about missing your mother's donuts." He bit into his donut and smiled.
"Okay, Dad!" Kogo did likewise, making sure her donut was thoroughly covered in sprinkles before feasting. "Mom, your donuts are the best!"
"Thank you, sweetie." Makoto smiled. "You know, I first made donuts for your father at our first school festival together."
"Really?" The girl finished her last bite. "Do you think that'll be in the game?"
"Of course. I guarantee it." Winked Akira, as he began to frost the rest of the donuts. "Now, it's getting late, why don't you head to bed?"
"Okay then," Rising out of her seat, Kogo bid her parents a good night before returning to her room for the night.
