Persona 5 FAN PROJECT: Alternate Story

Persona 5 AU Part 2: Shrine of Despondency

Now HERE is where we detour from this well-trodden path. A short time after Kaneshiro confesses to his crimes, and midterm exams at Shujin are over, the Phantom Thieves attend the Fireworks festival like they did in the original game. And, like in the original game, it ends up getting cancelled due to crap weather. The Thieves decide that instead of parting ways, they make up for it with a visit to Café Leblanc. Ren returns to the café to get everything ready, and watches Sae interrogate Sojiro. When Sae leaves, Ren explains to Sojiro what happened and he feels sorry for him. He promises he will make the group Coffee when they arrive

Once The thieves arrive, they begin to chat and then, much to Ann and Ryuji's dismay, the conversation turns to exam results. Out of nowhere, Makoto asks Yusuke how he fairs in his exams at Kosei. Yusuke tells her that in art, he's top of his class, and in his other subjects he does alright. However, there's interesting and clever girl in his class who's always good at her subjects, particularly Maths. Ryuji is surprised, as he thought that Kosei was full of people like Yusuke and he asks Yusuke the girls name, he tells him that it's Hifumi Togo, which Makoto seems to recognise. She explains that Togo is a rather famous female and beautiful shogi player. After a few explanations from Makoto and Yusuke, Ryuji's interests are peaked. Yusuke tells him that he's not particularly friends with Hifumi and that she's the type of person who doesn't let herself get close to others, but he does know that she likes to practice in the church in Kanda. Ryuji states that they've got to go and see her, but Ann tells him that he'll probably be smited. Ryuji argues that he merely wants her to teach the team battle strategies, since she'd likely be good at them. Yusuke and Ann agree that may be a bit of a stretch, but Morgana actually agrees with Ryuji's idea, putting aside his ulterior motive. He says, however, that they shouldn't all go together as not to draw attention. The group decides that Makoto, Yusuke and Ren and Morgana will all go. Ann is worried her brain will melt with all the technical stuff involved in the game, and Ryuji is denied invite for obvious reasons, which he is not happy about. At the church, they meet Hifumi and Ren asks her to play a game of Shogi with her. Hifumi, reluctantly, accepts, but then gets into the game, spilling out her anime quotes as she plays. When she takes Ren's last piece, she apologises for being weird. Makoto assures her that it's nothing to worry about, but then a prim and proper lady in a blue dress enters the church. She introduces herself as Mitsuyo Togo, Hifumi's mother. She is delighted that Hifumi finally made some friends and tells her daughter that she should invite them to her upcoming public Shogi match. Hifumi likes the idea, but then Makoto asks if they could have two additional tickets for Ann and Ryuji.

The next day, the Phantom Thieves arrive at a public hall where the match is being played. Mitsuyo greets them when they enter and she explains that Hifumi is currently playing her match in the Semi-finals. The Phantom Thieves take their seats and watch as Hifumi decimates her opponent. After the match, Hifumi meets up with the group and introduces herself to Ann and Ryuji. Ryuji begins to freak out, as he realises what Makoto said about Hifumi's beauty was true, but he contains himself. Ann asks Hifumi if she wants to join them for lunch, and if she can teach her the basics of Shogi. Makoto is also interested. Hifumi accepts their offer and they sit together at a nearby café for lunch. Suddenly, Mitsuyo comes up to the group and asks if she can borrow Hifumi for a moment. Hifumi apologises and goes to speak privately with her mother, but Morgana gets curious. He leaves Ren's bag and goes to eavesdrop on their conversation. He overhears Mitsuyo telling Hifumi that her next opponent will be a true master and professional at Shogi that currently outranks her. She makes Hifumi promise that she'll try her best, since she went through so much effort to set the tournament up. Hifumi tries to reply, but can only nod. Mitsuyo also tells her that she's started to gain a lot more male fans due to her photo spreads and as of such should be careful around the Phantom Thieves. Mitsuyo assures Hifumi that once she's famous, she'll be able to get 50 guys. Before she departs, she makes Hifumi promise that she'll fix the mistakes that she made in the past. Hifumi promises, though from the sound of her voice, she's reluctant. Hifumi goes to sit back down and luckily doesn't notice Morgana. A little while later, Hifumi has to head off. Once she leaves, Morgana explains what he overheard. The thieves wonder what Mitsuyo means by "fix the mistakes", but suddenly they overhear a small group of people chatting amongst one another. They discuss how Hifumi is so good at Shogi, particularly in the tournaments, that it's almost funny. They also discuss how the tournament was set up by Mitsuyo and joke about how the board may be rigged to make her win. This catches Morgana's attention. He exclaims that there's a chance that the game being rigged may be true, but he can't base it off false assumptions. He decides to begin an investigation, and asks the other thieves to get involved. They accept, however, Ryuji asks how exactly it is they're going to get in contact with Hifumi. Luckily, Yusuke promises he will talk to Hifumi in his spare time, since they go to the same school.