It started with a home improvement project gone wrong. After returning from their adventures across Japan in Strikers, Sae and Makoto Niijima decided their apartment needed some minor renovations. A decorative pole that jutted awkwardly from their living room ceiling had been a source of Sae's frustration for years.

"I keep telling the landlord it's a hazard," Sae complained one Saturday morning, tugging at the stubborn fixture. "It doesn't even match the rest of the décor."

Makoto, who had been marathoning classic anime series during her post-Phantom Thieves downtime, looked up from her laptop where "Ranma " played. "Need help, sis?"

What followed was a comedy of errors involving a stepladder, an overzealous tug from Sae, and Makoto's attempt to catch both her sister and the falling pole. The end result: one unconscious Makoto and one extremely concerned older sister.

When Makoto's eyes finally fluttered open, something was... different.

"Airen!" she exclaimed, looking directly at her phone wallpaper featuring the Phantom Thieves (with Joker front and center). Her voice had taken on a peculiar lilting accent. "Shampoo find you at last!"

Sae, who had been frantically dialing for medical assistance, froze. "Makoto?"

"No Makoto. Is Shampoo!" her sister insisted, striking a martial arts pose that was surprisingly accurate for someone who had only been watching anime for three days straight.


Ann Takamaki received the distress call from Sae around noon.

"I don't know what to do," Sae's voice trembled slightly over the phone. "She's demanding I take her to her 'husband' and has already broken three plates demonstrating some Chinese amazon fighting technique."

By late afternoon, most of the former Phantom Thieves had gathered at Leblanc, where Sojiro watched with a mixture of confusion and amusement as they frantically strategized.

"So she thinks she's... an anime character?" he asked, sliding a cup of coffee toward a stressed-looking Sae.

"Not just any character," Futaba said, spinning her laptop around to display an image. "Shampoo from Ranma . Purple-haired Chinese amazon warrior who's obsessed with the main character because he defeated her in combat."

"And in this scenario, I'm... Ranma?" Akira asked, pushing his glasses up nervously.

"You're her 'airen'—her husband," Futaba confirmed. "According to amazon law—"

"There's amazon law now?" Ryuji interrupted.

"In the ANIME," Futaba clarified with an eye roll. "If a male outsider defeats an amazon warrior, she has to marry him."

"Did I... defeat Makoto at some point?" Akira wondered aloud.

"The training sessions in Mementos," Yusuke offered thoughtfully. "You did often serve as her sparring partner."

The bell above Leblanc's door jingled as it flew open, revealing Makoto in a hastily constructed outfit reminiscent of Shampoo's signature look—complete with makeshift bonbori weapons fashioned from kitchen implements.

"Airen!" she cried joyfully, leaping toward Akira with inhuman agility. "Shampoo make too too delicious ramen for husband!"


The footage began circulating among Shujin students three days later—a compilation of increasingly bizarre incidents:

Makoto performing an elaborate martial arts kata in the middle of Shibuya Crossing

Makoto attempting to deliver ramen to Akira during a mock college entrance exam

Makoto challenging a confused Ann to combat while calling her "obstacle for husband's affection"

Makoto scaling the side of Leblanc to reach Akira's attic room, declaring it "amazon shortcut"

Worse still was the video taken at Shujin's athletics day, where Makoto had shown up uninvited, declared herself a "guest martial artist," and proceeded to demolish every sports record in the school's history while periodically shouting "For airen's glory!" and pointing dramatically at a mortified Akira.

To everyone's surprise, this part of the video caught the attention of several university scouts, who were less concerned with the bizarre behavior and more impressed by her athletic prowess.


"How long do you think this will last?" Ann asked as they watched Makoto practicing what she called "ancient amazon techniques" in Inokashira Park, drawing quite a crowd with her impressive (if theatrically exaggerated) moves.

"According to my research on temporary amnesia and personality disorders triggered by head trauma, anywhere from a few days to a few weeks," Yusuke replied, sketching the scene with rapid strokes. "Though I must admit, her form is quite magnificent."

"She's gonna be so embarrassed when she snaps out of it," Ryuji sighed, wincing as Makoto shattered a park bench with a spinning kick.

"At least she's getting scholarship offers," Futaba noted, scrolling through her phone. "Three martial arts programs have already reached out through her Shujin email."


The end came as unexpectedly as the beginning. Two weeks into what the group had started calling "The Niijima Incident," Makoto was demonstrating her "amazon special technique" in Akira's attic room when she tripped over Morgana and hit her head on the same workbench where Akira had once crafted infiltration tools.

When she came to, surrounded by concerned friends, her eyes cleared of their manic gleam.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" she asked, rubbing her head. "And... why am I wearing purple hair extensions?"

The collective sigh of relief was audible throughout Yongen-Jaya.


Explaining everything to Makoto took hours, during which her face cycled through every shade of red humanly possible. The videos—now thankfully contained to just their friend group after Futaba's aggressive digital cleanup—were particularly mortifying.

"I called the student council president WHAT?" Makoto gasped, covering her face.

"'Obstacle spatula girl,'" Futaba confirmed. "But in your defense, you also gave her a recipe for okonomiyaki that she says is actually pretty good."

The final blow came when Sae presented her with an envelope.

"What's this?" Makoto asked warily.

"A full martial arts scholarship to Tokyo University," Sae replied with a small smile. "Apparently, your 'amazon techniques' impressed someone on their admissions board."

Makoto buried her face in her hands. "I'm never watching anime again."

"Probably for the best," Akira agreed, patting her shoulder sympathetically. "Though I have to admit, your ramen wasn't half bad."

"Don't you dare," Makoto warned, though a reluctant smile tugged at her lips.

As a precaution, the group decided to remove all potential head-trauma hazards from their usual hangouts. After all, as Futaba pointed out while not-so-subtly hiding her "Sailor Moon" collection, they couldn't risk anyone else getting "anime amnesia."

"Besides," Ryuji added with a grin, "I don't think the world is ready for Yusuke thinking he's Jotaro Kujo."

Yusuke looked thoughtful. "I do possess the stoic demeanor that would befit such a character..."

"NO!" everyone shouted in unison.

Notes:

Ai Prompt: sometime after persona 5 strikers: after watching too much ranma 1/2 and getting bonked on the head via a stubborn pole sae was trying to remove from their ceiling makoto became convinced that she was shampoo and joker was her amazon husband. unfortunately unlike haru her behavior was recorded. though she did get several martial arts scholarships for college.