Character Profiles
Kurusu Twins
Ren Kurusu
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Codename: Joker
Arcana: Fool
Background: Ren was the least successful of the Kurusu twins. Following in her brother's shadow was never her prerogative and she found herself labeled a trouble child in their small hometown. This set her apart from her twin as it became expected that she would be the one to bring her family problems. When Akira is the one who ultimately becomes arrested due to him being unable to simply sit back and watch a woman being attacked, she takes his place on probation. Going so far as to disguise herself as a male to live as Akira in Tokyo for a year so her brother could instead focus on himself and what he planned to do with his life after the probation period is over. She is one half of the Fool Arcana, without Akira her power can never be fully awakened.
Favorites:
Food: Maki Sushi
Color: Orange
Drink: Green Tea
Passtime: Video Games
Akira Kurusu
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Codename: Jester
Arcana: Fool
Background: The 'golden child' of the Kurusu twins. Akira held good grades and watched after his younger sister as they grew up in their small hometown. He had a bright future ahead of him until one night when he had to stay late at school and ran into a man harassing a young woman. In the mans drunken state he could not steady himself when Akira pulled him off of the woman and was hurt as a result. Akira was tried and convicted. Sentenced to a years probation and a dark mark on his name for the rest of his life. He was ready to shoulder the unfair burden himself, thankful in the fact that it was not his sister who was there that night, though Ren would not allow this and slipped sleeping drugs in his drink the night before he was due to leave for Tokyo. Ever the loving brother, he understood the motives behind her actions and chose to support her choice. However he couldn't allow her to live alone without checking in on her himself, which is when he discovers he holds the second half to the Fool Arcana, and to the Persona known as Arsene.
Favorites:
Food: Curry Rice
Color: Red
Drink: Coffee
Passtime: Reading
...
Day 0: The plan
"This is bullshit!" Akira jumped and turned his attention away from packing to stare at Ren with a confused quirk to his brow. "Mom and dad are sending you away for defending an innocent woman from a drunk?" Ren adjusted her glasses as a growl of anger imminated from her core. "It's bullshit." she mumbled after a long moment of silence where her twin brother simply stared at her awkwardly.
"They have no choice." He said finally as he moved to sit beside her on his bed. "The courts 'strongly suggested' I have a 'change of scenery' in order to avoid me 'lashing out.'" He made air quotations with his fingers so many times with just one sentence that she found herself snorting in response. She leaned against his arm and toyed with the ends of her shoulder length hair before letting out a long and angry sigh.
"It's still not fair, you did nothing wrong Aki." She complained softly as she closed her eyes. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder in an instant and his hand was settled on her hair.
"I will be okay." He said softly as he turned to glance out of his bedroom door. "I don't want you worrying about me when you have things to deal with here okay." She snorted again, this time from the irony of his words. It was no secret to Ren that their parent's used to have Akira on a pedestal before his trial, it was a surprise to her how quickly they changed their minds about their favorite child. She didn't want to see her brother suffer because he was a good person, if anything she deserved what he was going through, she was the one who ignored their parent's rules and managed to barely avoid being arrested after all.
A plan began to form in her mind, causing a devilish smirk to cross her lips.
"You should get some rest for tomorrow, I will go make you a cup of tea to help you relax okay?" She stood and made her way out of his room before he could react. In their kitchen she saw her parent's sitting around the dining room table and pressed herself against the wall in order to listen in on them without being noticed.
"If only it were Ren, Akira has so much going for him." Her mother was saying, causing a pang of guilt to shoot through her. It was true, if she had been in his place then her parents wouldn't be going through the pain of losing their son, Akira wouldn't be being torn from his home either.
"We can't think about that for now, we have to keep our heads down and hope this all blows over in a year." Her father, ever sensible, was calming her mother down the best he could. She clenched her fists at her sides as she lowered her head, her plan solidifying in her mind as she made her way to the cabinets to look through their collection of tea's.
"Mom, Dad?" She called as she stepped into the dining room a few moments later with a tray of tea cups all steaming with their fresh brewed drinks, "I'm sorry that I wasn't there to stop him," she began as she set their cups down before them and adjusted Akira's cup to the center of the tray, "We should just enjoy the time we have, I promise that tomorrow will be better." They didn't even seem to hear her as they took the offered drinks and continued to talk amongst themselves. She was both expecting and counting on this as she made her way out of the room. The tray was dropped off in the kitchen and the last cup of tea was delivered to her brother before she closed herself off in her room to carry out preparations for her plan.
Short hair was uncomfortably cold when met with the chilly early april morning air. Ren discovered this as she lugged her brother's bag to the train station. Her chest felt tight, the bindings around it making it harder for her to breathe than she thought they would. Her body shook as she pulled the blazer closer to herself. The hoodie she wore under it did nothing to stop the cold that seeped into her neck and cheeks.
It had only been a few hours, still she missed her long hair.
The warmth of the train that came from so many bodies packed so tightly together allowed her to relax a bit as she pulled Akira's phone out of her pocket. His lock codes were always so easy to figure out and hers were consisted of numbers that she picked at random, so it was easy for her to switch their phones with no worries of him getting into hers. His home screen popped up after she punched in their birthday, a picture of the two of them in matching sweaters was covered by rows of apps his phone held. A message alert caught her eye and she read quickly through the thread. Their parent's work friend had sent him the directions to a neighborhood and a name to ask around about. Sojiro Sakura was due to keep Akira for a year during his probation, a year which Ren would live through his probation for him.
Another message caused her to jump as the sender's name popped up on the screen, it was a group message Akira did have between himself and their parents. That didn't surprise her as much as the fact that they were awake just twenty minutes after the train for Tokyo carried her away.
Mom:
What the hell Ren!
You ran off and took his phone?
Get home now!
She sighed and adjusted her glasses before replying to the text.
Akira:
He doesn't deserve this mom,
I certainly do though.
I will be back in the spring.
Keep Aki safe and please don't try to stop me.
Dad:
Ren why did you feel you had to drug us?
Akira:
You wouldn't let me do this otherwise.
Look, I promise I won't do anything to make Aki look bad,
I will even take my studies seriously while I'm gone.
Just please let Aki live in peace.
No reply came for a long time, she was almost sure that her parents were piling into their suv to come after her when the phone chimed once again.
Dad:
Ren, it's Akira.
I spoke to mom and dad about this but are you sure this is what you want?
Akira:
Absolutely.
Dad:
Okay.
Dad:
I can't believe you took my phone though.
Dad:
That is commitment I guess.
Dad:
Thank you Ren, I don't know how to express my gratitude.
Akira:
No worries, just keep your head up.
A year isn't that long so relax while you can.
Dad:
Be safe.
She wasn't sure if it was Akira or her father who texted that but the feeling of warm tears slipping down her cheeks after reading it had her ducking her head as she replied.
Akira:
I love you.
She wiped her eyes and cleaned her glasses as she leaned back to glance out of the trains window. Already she was settled in for the long ride ahead. Her eyes slid closed as she rested her head against the window, the dull drone of conversations around her pulling her into a half sleep state.
"It's happening in Tokyo right?" her right eye opened as two girls stepped a bit closer to her.
"Yeah! They say that its nearly an epidemic at this point."
"I don't want a mental shutdown, I hope they figure out what's happening." She rolled her eyes, as if
mental shutdowns were a major thing. Ren had heard of them, but had simply chalked them up to overworked people and long hours giving them little to no break in between.
"Oh you have a pic of Akechi-kun! He is so cute!" With that Ren closed her eye once again, the up and coming detective prince had nothing to do with her and she had no interest in him. She tucked her phone into her pocket as the girl's conversation blended in to the others around her. All she had to focus on was making it through the year without being found out, and without causing a stir and bringing Akira's name through the mud more than it already was. She could do this, she had to do this.
...
Hello! Ad here!
What is this? you say. Twins AU with cross-dressing, who would ever even think of this while playing Persona 5?
Well ask no more! the answer is I would, why? Because I really wanted to use the manga and anime names for the protagonist and I hadn't seen any twins/female protagonist AU's anywhere. I read a few good stories to get inspired then wrote something completely different because well... I wanted to.
Anyway I do hope you enjoy this story, I know the first chapter is lacking and that is why the second chapter will be up shortly after this one is posted, so keep an eye out!
Let me know what you think of this AU and just anything you want to randomly tell me.
Fun facts are fun.
Or don't review at all, who do I look like? your mother?
tldr: you do you fam, and hope you enjoy this story.
Much love:
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