The Deck Of Wild Cards - Persona 5
Cross-Posted on AO3
Disclaimer: Don't own P5 or anything associated
This story will be told in four parts. The first part will follow the Phantom Thieves, The second shall follow The Investigation Team, The third will follow SEES and the fourth shall take us on a journey through the eyes of One, Two and Three will all be separate entities while part four will be a collective sequel to all three. But the stories of the Deck of Wildcards will make more sense as we travel further along our journey together.
The Deck of Wildcards
Part - The Phantom Thieves of Hearts!
Act I - Castle of Lust
Chapter One: New Life
The Contract Has Been Sealed.
The world is not as it should be.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding with us today, we will be arriving in Shibuya shortly. This is the last stop for this line, please transfer here for all subway lines The doors to your left will open."
"Looks like that's our signal."
The young man who had spoken was not looking toward the person he was revealing the information to, but instead, peering out the window, watching the last part of the journey for himself.
"I'm sorry you got caught up in this, Akira."
"There's no need to apologize, Ren. Was it my first intention to spend a year abroad keeping my falsely convicted elder brother in line due to a court ordering? No. Would I have gone if I was asked and not forced? Also, no." Seeing the nearly invisible glare on him, Akira quickly shifted his approach, "But, I am glad that you're not going to be forced through this ordeal alone."
"Nice save," the elder brother said, the faintest hint of a smirk on his lips.
"What are you gonna do?" Akira said, laughter dancing on his laps.
Finally, the train slowed to a stop and the two were able to stand. Wordlessly they exchanged a nod, then slowly made their way out of the cabin. The train was reasonably full, but they had enough space between them to get out in an orderly fashion. Akira touched down on the ground and looked back over his shoulder for a second, a little sigh falling off his lips.
"Akira? We'd better get a move on."
"Y-yeah, right."
Shaken from the distraction, Akira followed his brother, defaulting once again to silence. Though nothing was said between the two boys for the longest time, their eyes were darting around rapidly, at different parts of the platform they'd stepped onto, it was like the two of them had the ability to hold entire conversations without the need for a single word to be spoken aloud.
The subway was far different from the more suburban area the two boys were used to. Before everything had happened, Akira and Ren had lived in an area notorious for being quiet. Which only showed the state of Ren's luck more prominently. He once again found his eyes searching for his older brother and that was what triggered the flashback to the event that had altered their lives so much.
"And it is for that reason, we believe the best option is to send your second son along with the defendant to ensure that he has someone watching over his behavior as much as possible as we cannot in full confidence send this boy unsupervised anywhere in good conscience."
The day he'd gone from an ordinary kid to his brother's 'minder' had been a brutal realization for both Kurusu boys. Neither of the parents had spoken up for either of them and just like that they'd been shipped off to a new place without so much as a proper goodbye. He could hardly complain though since his brother had been the one to get the criminal record, all things considered, Akira felt that he'd gotten off lightly compared to Ren. Yes, he would still have to deal with the transfer and living in Tokyo, but unlike him, Ren would also have the added pressure of his past hanging over his head.
"Yo, Ren? Do we have enough time for me to get a drink from a vending machine?"
Ren looked down at his phone screen and the small number displayed indicated the time. He took in the appearance of the numbers, then spared a nod to Akira, "Should be fine," he said, "Just don't take too long."
"Got it!"
Ren watched his brother's departing form and sighed. How was it that Akira got wound up in his mess? He was fully prepared to go ahead with this plan since his other options were far, far worse. His eye caught a fraction of red and he quickly looked back to the main screen on his phone. Looking back at him was a small icon for an app he'd never seen before. A simplistic design of an eye bathed in crimson was staring back at him. Ren tapped it a few times, but to his surprise, nothing happened.
"You alright?"
Ren looked up from his phone and nodded, "Yeah. Ready to go?"
Akira held up the drink in his hand and nodded, "Ready."
Akira and Ren took a step out onto the road, Ren didn't look down, if he had, he might've noticed bright green kanji popping up on the screen. What he did notice was that slowly everyone on the street, Akira included, was being pulled up to a halt Ren's head whipped over to his brother, alarm written over his face. What was going on? People weren't supposed to freeze like that, were they? Wh-
Ethereal blue flames burned slightly in the distance, these flames were reflected in the young man's glasses and for a split second, the flames rose and rose into a high, towering pillar and right there, two flaming wings exploded out of the sides and Ren could've sworn he spotted the sadistic grin of an orange flame staring back at him for a single moment, but then just like that, it was gone and the people were moving along the crossing once more.
"Ren, you alright? You kinda spaced out."
"Yeah," he nodded.
The older Kurusu brother noted that Akira was looking at him strangely, but thankfully it seemed that his brother wasn't going to press the issue and now, the two of them could proceed with what they needed to do. Ren could hardly focus on it, what with everything he'd seen in the past few minutes but he needed to focus on the task at hand. At the very least, he and Akira needed to cross while they could. Ren made sure to take hold of the little icon and delete it from his phone first, of course. It was probably some kind of malware and he thought it best to get rid of it now rather than later.
—-
—-
The Tokyo Subway was as busy as he'd heard, it wasn't peak hour but Ren could hardly find space enough to stand, thankfully the PA system announced that they had arrived in Yongen-Jaya, in other words, his and Akira's destination and their home for the next year.
"We finally made it," he heard Akira say, "It's been a long trip."
"Journey's not quite over yet," Ren remarked softly.
Ren and Akira walked out onto the platform, and were greeted by about as mundane a sight as you could imagine. There was nothing in particular that stood out about the mostly gray space with a splash of bright yellow at the foot of some barricades to indicate the side where the tracks were. On the far left, a green sign labeled with Kanji and English lettering read 'Yongen-Jaya' but next to that was a brighter looking sign, Akira looked past it slightly and spotted a poster for a magazine that was popular even back in their hometown. He didn't pay too much attention to the exaggerated ad slogan. He had never particularly read the magazine himself so saw little need in spending too much time on it.
The two boys turned the corner, slowly approaching a set of stairs beside an escalator. A nod between them both and they elected for the stairs over the escalator as more people were choosing to use those since walking was a little faster than waiting for the escalator to go up. A short walk later and the two brothers were now pretty much at their destination. The backstreets of Yongen-Jaya were about what you'd expect, The area was mostly bathed in darker colors, giving off a particularly inoffensive vibe but Ren could detect a sense of unhappiness to it as well, as if the life had been sucked out of whoever had been the acting architect for the buildings here.
"We'd better find Sakura-san's house," Ren said, cutting through the silence, "Didn't the address we were given say he lived somewhere in the backstreets of this residential area?"
"Yeah, it does," Akira agreed softly, "Do you want to look around on the way there?"
"We can always do that later, I think we should focus for now."
"Right. Hey, Ren, maybe that police officer knows where we need to go?"
After getting directions from the officer in question, Ren and Akira made their way further down the street, both boys turning their heads to spot a grocery store along the way. The two of them were certain to note the location down in their heads, figuring it would be important for the duration of their stay. They hung a right at the apartment complex at the end of the street, and there it was.
"Guess this is the place, huh?"
Ren didn't verbally respond to his brother's question, but instead approached the house and tapped his finger to a button, signaling for the doorbell to activate. Seconds passed…then a solid minute…
"Guess he's gone out," Ren noted, "Should we wait here?"
"Looks like no one's home, oh yeah, Sakura-san's usually at his cafe around this time. Well, Leblanc's in the back alley so I should make my other deliveries first."
The delivery driver turned around without acknowledging either Ren or Akira, and he was gone before they got the chance to say anything to him. Having the information they needed now, they both nodded. They were better off seeking out Sojiro Sakura at his cafe rather than standing around out here waiting for an unspecified amount of time to pass before they returned home.
—-
—-
"Looks like this is the place," Akira said, pointing at the red and white sign above the building's door. It was of simple design and bore the words, 'Coffee and Curry, Leblanc," in simple black text.
"Let's go in."
Ren opened the door in front of them and the two boys were greeted by the sound of a bell ringing above their heads. This broke way to a cozy looking interior lined with booths down the left, several highly polished white tables the main thing Ren noticed at first glance, currently however, most of these tables were empty save for one occupied by an elderly couple near the middle of the room. To the right was the service area by the looks, a counter that stretched nearly to the front door and behind it several shelves of various merchandise lined high casings nearly up to the roof.
"A public transit bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customers still in it! The citizens can't live in peace if this keeps up."
The noise of the news report on the television screen in the far end of the store was what breathed sound into the silence, causing a reaction from the elderly couple at the booth. In reaction to it, the man and woman spoke up in turn.
"How frightening."
"What could be going on? Didn't something similar happen just the other day?"
It didn't seem that the man in the apron currently seated on a stool in front of the counter was paying much attention to the news report, and instead looking over a newspaper of some sort, Ren could barely hear the murmurings of what the man was saying to himself.
"And down is the name of a shellfish used in pearl farming."
Ren heard Akira's voice from beside him in that moment speak up, and Ren was surprised, because, while his brother did enjoy logic puzzles, he was usually the quieter one out of the two of them, preferring not to speak unless he needed to.
"That would be oysters, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah, fits the spaces, thank- Oh, right. They did say that was today.'
The man stood, swinging the newspaper over the counter and was quickly interrupted by the elderly couple getting up from their booth, ""We'll be going now, the payment's on the table."
"Thanks for coming," the man said.
"This place is in the back alley so there's no worry about a car crashing in here."
"What now?"
"There's been a string of those rampage accidents you know. I just hope that won't happen around here."
"That's none of my concern."
"Heh, we'll see you next time."
The man didn't say another word until the elderly couple had departed and what he said next had an entirely different tone, giving credence to the statement that most people changed when not in the direct light of customer service, "Ugh, four hours for a single cup of joe."
His focus shifted onto the two boys in front of him, the man took a second to take in their appearances then said, "So, you're the guys?
"Is Sakura-San here?" Ren asked politely.
"I'm Sojiro Sakura, you'll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of kids would show up but you're the ones, huh? Have you been told? A customer of mine knows your parents and- well, not that it matters. Both of you, follow me."
Ren and Akira were silent, following Sojiro through the store to a staircase at the back, and all three ascended it up to a space which opened up as a large room, though it was hard to tell amongst all the clutter. It was obvious that this place was mostly used for storage purposes. The only thing that made it slightly resemble a bedroom were the two beds on the far side of the room beneath the windows.
"This is your room. I'll at least give you both sheets for your beds. You look like you want to say something?"
"It's big."
"It's on you to clean up the rest. I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You'll both be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause any then… I got the gist of your situation."
"You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured and sued you, right? That's what you get for interfering in a matter between two adults. You did injure him, yeah? And, now that you've got a criminal record you were expelled from your high school. The court then ordered you to transfer out here, which your parents also approved and so that you wouldn't be left to your own devices they also ordered your younger brother be transferred out here to keep an eye on you and make sure that you're staying out of trouble. It's best if neither of you talk about anything unnecessary, I am in the restaurant business, you know."
The two boys wanted to speak up for themselves, but it seemed impossible with the speed at which their new guardian was listing off what he knew about their situation.
"We'll stay out of trouble," Akira assured him.
"Behave yourself for the year and your probation will be lifted. We'll be going to Shujin tomorrow, the school you'll be attending and introduce ourselves to the staff there properly. There's rarely a place that will accept someone like you, you know. Ugh, what a waste of my Sunday."
"Your luggage arrived a little while ago, I brought it up here for you."
Sojiro departed from the room and Ren and Akira both shared a look at the sight of their 'luggage'. A single, large cardboard box between the two of them? Sure, Ren's relationship with his parents had soured a great deal since the incident, but why did it seem like their parents had just tossed Akira into the same boat even though he had nothing to do with it? Ren couldn't help but feel a little guilty for-
"Don't," Akira assured him, "They're to blame, not you. Th-the way their faces lit up when they realized they were getting rid of the both of us tells me all I need to know."
"I'm sorry, Akira."
"Like I said, it's not your fault, Ren."
"Yeah, c'mon, let's get a little cleaning done."
End Chapter
So this chapter didn't diverge from canon all that much and really only served to introduce the two main characters. This will change from next chapter, I just wanted to get the mundane stuff done so I could get my ideas going. The inspiration for the fic was one I read a long while ago on another site that used the two names of the P4 protagonist being Yu and Souji to create a two brother dynamic. I wanted to try and replicate that with Persona 5.
The two brothers didn't seem to have many differences in this chapter, but I promise more differences will be illuminated in the coming chapters. I just wanted to, as said above, get rid of the obligatory set up first.
That being said, I could use your help with something. I've chosen Akira's persona to be King Arthur from Athurian Legend and am having trouble coming up with what the awakening scene might be like. For example in Ryuji's awakening it ends with, 'The Skull of Rebellion shall be your flag henceforth!" and I'm just not finding the words for what a King Arthur persona awakening might sound like.
I really don't want to change the Persona, so would really appreciate it if someone could help me come up with something cool sounding.
Thanks.
Well, until next time!