Summary: Haru Okumura Week Day 1: Noir/Persona. Okumura Haru gathers her courage and approaches the Phantom Thieves of Hearts with a request. AU.
Note: This is a mafia AU set in canon setting (with a dash of Dying Will Flames from KHR). All my entries for Haru Okumura Week will be set in this AU but not necessarily done in chronological order.
And they could be written as standalones. (I hope…)
That said, this fic is set in late July in-game- post-Kaneshiro with no Medjed.
Warnings: Mafia AU, Haru Gonna Be A Donna One Day, Haru Has Guns In Her Purse You Have Been Warned, Some MakoHaru Snuck In, MakoHaru Being Soft, Haru Joins The PT MUCH Earlier.
Disclaimer: Don't own P5.
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Haru clutched tightly at the phone in her hand, its screen showing the online forum for the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, on the table in front of her were various news articles from a couple of weeks ago talking about Kaneshiro and his 'change of heart'.
She sighed and exited the forum before putting her phone on the table. She closed her eyes and thought hard about what she was planning to do; tomorrow she would go to café Leblanc in Yongen-Jaya, and she would ask for a personal request from Amamiya Ren, the person she was sure was the leader of the Phantom Thieves, asking him to change her father's heart.
It would be a bold move from her, as she would be basically confronting Amamiya in his home while revealing her knowledge of an incriminating secret of his and asking him to fulfill a request, but she couldn't wait any more, could she? Her father was heading into even more dangerous territories and needed a wakeup call to show him the need to play it safe and tread cautiously before someone put a bullet between his eyes. Okumura Haru was raised a mafia heiress and it time for her to take the matters of her family and Family into her own hands, even if it meant going up against her father and his wishes.
Forgive me, father, she thought as she gathered her things and hid them; her Rain Dying Will Flames filling her core, their Tranquility aspect soothing her while simultaneously fanning the flames of her determination.
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The Okumura Haru of a few months back would have never dared to do something like this, Haru thought as she stood in front of Leblanc.
But then again, the Okumura Haru of a few months back did not taste the burning resolve of an angry Sky lashing at their binds that fateful day in April; that Okumura Haru did not have a taste and hunger for more. But this Okumura Haru did; she did and she came looking for more- right from the source.
(She also hoped for Harmony with a Sky, but that was too ambitious, too greedy, she had no right to demand such a thing.)
Haru gathered her courage and walked through Leblanc's door, a bell chiming above her and announcing her presence. Luckily for her, the person she was looking for was standing behind the counter.
"Excuse me," She started, "May I ask for a moment of your time, Amamiya-kun?" Amamiya looked at her inquisitively in response, silently prompting her to elaborate, "My name is Okumura Haru and I go to Shujin as well, but I'm a third year student so you probably don't know me, and I am here to ask a special request of you. It's best to discuss it somewhere private where we won't be overheard. If you are willing to indulge me, that is." She forcibly made herself stand straight and look him in the eye while she talked; it was not the time to be meek or cower away from the intensity of the look in Amamiya's eyes, no matter how out of her depths she was in such a situation.
After what felt like an eternity, Amamiya gestured to the stairs at the back of the café as he took off his apron and walked around the counter and past Haru to flip the sign on the door to 'closed'.
If not for her flames holding back her nervousness and the non-threatening aura Amamiya maintained, she would have already freaked out and blindly reached for the gun in her purse.
As Amamiya ushered her towards the stairs, he reached towards her with a tendril of his flames, unseen but definitely felt, and definitely a Sky.
Definitely the defiant Sky Haru had been seeking
At the feeling of his flames, her nervousness melted away and her flames roared under her skin, eagerly reaching out to Amamiya's, which playfully poked at Haru's and lightly rebuked them as if saying 'not now, it's too soon'.
Something restless in her core settled down and she smiled; her gait as she walked up the stairs was relaxed.
She sat on the couch Amamiya indicated to her while he pulled a chair close.
"What's your request, Okumura-san?"
Haru straightened in her seat, "Amamiya-kun, I know that you are the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts." She paused and, after seeing that Amamiya wasn't going to lash out at her or react in any other way, she continued, "You have my word that I won't tell anyone about this. As to my request, I would like you to change someone's heart- Okumura Kunikazu's, my father's, heart to be precise. You don't have to answer me right away! Here-" She reached into her purse, carefully rummaging through the side that didn't hold the gun hidden in the purse, and taking out a piece of paper with her contact information, "-my contact information. Take your time, it's not an urgent request. If you do accept, I'm willing to pay for your help."
"You know e Phantom Thieves don't do their work for the sake of monetary compensation."
"Still! If not money, then I'm willing to aid you in whichever means you need to change my father's heart." Haru knew that if her tutors heard what she just said, she'd be lectured to the ends of the world and back; saying that she would do whatever needed to change her father's heart was the epitome of recklessness and, in different circumstances, may as well doom her and her family into being in the debt of someone else, but…
But it was a risk she was willing to take.
"Excuse me." She bowed her head and then stood before letting herself down the stairs and out the front door.
Amamiya did not contact her until a few days later, informing her that her request was accepted.
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Haru had assumed, when the Thieves didn't contact her for a couple of days after the first message informed her of their acceptance of her request, that they didn't need her help in anything. Which, while it stung a bit, was understandable; they changed the heart of a mafia boss and had Mako-chan with them, there was no need for Haru's presence to be a liability.
But just because it was understandable, didn't mean that it didn't make her bristle, didn't make her want to go to the family's shooting range to relieve the stress, anxiety and pressure of acting like an obedient doll for her father to put as a prop and a tool a to gain influence and power.
(It was starting to get harder and harder to ignore the glowing embers in her heart, waiting to ignite into a raging inferno.)
But then two days later, Mako-chan contacted her and asked her to meet up in the Student Council room a school.
Haru sent back an agreement to the meeting and had to stop herself from just rushing to the meeting spot.
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"Haru," Mako-chan greeted her with a warm smile and Haru let go of herself-imposed restrictions.
She placed her purse on the table and flung herself at Makoto, "Mako-chan!" Haru clutched Makoto tightly, letting herself relish in Makoto's warmth for a few moments before untangling, "What did you ask me to meet up for in here of all places?" Haru asked, even though she could make a good guess- it was for the better not to presume with such a serious situation.
"Haru," Makoto started, tone serious, "I'm afraid we are going to need your help to steal your father's heart."
"Anything," Haru said, voice full of conviction.
Makoto smiled softly, "You don't have to go that far, Haru."
"What did you need from me?"
"We need you to pass a specific scanner. It won't grant access to anyone who doesn't have Okumura's DNA."
"Alright. Where do I need to go from here?"
"I'll…" Makoto hesitated, "I'll take you with me, but before that, Haru, I'm going to ask you to come armed. Where we're heading won't be safe and you may end up having to defend yourself." Mako-chan looked regretful.
Haru nodded, her thoughts racing to the safe in her room, and planning which guns she was going to take with her, "I'll be going back to my place to get prepared. Shall we meet up at the school gate after?"
"Yes." Makoto framed Haru's face with her hands, "I'm going to protect you to the best of my ability, Haru."
Haru's cheeks colored pink, "You don't have to, Mako-chan."
"I want to."
"Then I'll have your back." Haru pressed a kiss to Makoto's cheek, "I'll protect you, too."
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After Haru returned to her house and brought a suitcase full of guns and ammo with her and then headed back to Shujin, Makoto took her to the Okumura Foods company building; Haru was bewildered, "Here?"
"Yes."
Makoto then led her to a discreet corner where a group was waiting for them. Haru recognized them all from her research about the Thieves- well, all except for the girl with glasses.
"We'll explain everything in a bit," Makoto said as she took out her phone, "This may feel strange." As Makoto touched the screen of her phone, no doubt to activate an app of some sort, Haru understood.
The world distorted around her in a dizzying wash of colors before the disorientation that took over her disappeared and she found herself standing in what looked like a space station while being surrounded by a group of strangely-dressed people.
"What?! Where am I?!"
"Relax." Makoto's voice came from the girl dressed in leather and spikes.
"Mako-chan?"
"Yes."
"It's better to call her Queen while in here," The one that looked like a bipedal cat said and Haru started at them in confusion.
"Queen? Here? Where is here?"
For the next few minutes, the group gave her a crash course about what they called Palaces and the Metaverse.
"I… think I understand? A bit?" There was so much information Haru felt a bit dizzy.
"It's a lot, isn't it?" Panther asked, sympathetic, "It's okay. It took me a while to take in everything, don't push yourself." She smiled, and Haru returned it.
"Now," Fox started, "We can now go through the door. Shall we?"
Joker nodded and led them all to the scanner and gestured Haru forward.
Haru walked up to the door, posture straight and footsteps sure. It was time for her to pull her weight.
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Haru joined the Thieves through their exploration of her father's Palace, even though she didn't join them during combat, due to her not having a Persona; instead, she stayed with the support team and covered the front-liners with gunfire.
(So she got to show off her marksmanship a little, so what? Skull's awed reaction when he first saw her pull a gun from her suitcase was satisfying.)
And then they ran into her father's Shadow and his cognition of her fiancé.
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Haru gripped a gun tightly in her hand as her father spoke- it hurt, knowing exactly how little she grew to mean to him. It also made her angry.
Maybe things would have been different, had her family not been a Family as well- maybe there was an Okumura Haru in another world who didn't grow up as a mafia heiress; then she would have had the chance to be selfish, try to talk things out with her father, try to reason with him, try to make him see sense. But this Okumura Haru wasn't, this Okumura Haru didn't have the chance to be selfish- there were others she had to think about, there was the Family to think about.
It wasn't just Okumura Foods her father was ruining, but the Okumura Family as well.
Pain slammed into her head and she gritted her teeth against it, refusing to buckle down now; she raised the gun and fired off the entirety of its magazine very close to her father's Shadow and the fake Sugimura, stunning them in place.
A voice reverberated inside her mind and soul and she grinned, reaching a hand to her face to tug at the black mask stubbornly clinging to it until she tore it off, blood bursting from where the mask had been stuck and blue flames whirling around her like a storm (not her Rain Flames, she distantly noted).
The fire vanished and she stood tall, staring her father's Shadow down with her Resolve burning in her eyes. Next to her stood a tall figure in a dress, chuckling.
I am thou, thou art I.
"Let's go, Milady!"
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End