Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Phantom Thieves’ Status:

Ryuji:

• Ryuji still plans to move close to a physical rehabilitation facility to get his leg healed and start running again. However, the date he and his mom would move was pushed to mid-August when he and Yusuke started dating. They’ll be moving there together, as Yusuke even found a school there with an excellent art curriculum.
• In early April, Ryuji started live streaming video games. After finding inspiration from a site Futaba showed him during school lunch, Ryuji bought his own basic, but workable and decent-quality laptop, microphone, webcam, and game capture equipment. He’ll play relatively any game, but whether or not he’s “good” at certain ones is very hit or miss. Ryuji usually streams 3-4 hours a day, though he occasionally skips a few days due to personal stuff. He goes by the handle “PhantomSkull,” but more regular followers also know him by his first name. By the time July has rolled around, Ryuji’s following, just about some single-digit short of ten-thousand (which would actually hit after the charity stream), is fairly well-sized for his semi-regular schedule.
• At first, Ryuji wanted to keep his newfound hobby extremely casual. But then Yusuke encounters the incidents on July 13th, and Ryuji spends part of the night developing his “wild idea” while Yusuke sleeps. The next morning, following some research and interest already expressed by his channel following, Ryuji announces a charity stream for Wish-Come-True.

Yusuke:

• Some time after Ren went home, Yusuke started dating Ryuji, and agreed to move in with him and his mom in mid-August. He also finds a school with a strong art curriculum in the same town, its reviews and alumni rivaling those of Kosei High’s.
• When it comes to Ryuji’s livestreams, Yusuke inadvertently walked in on his very first stream (a simple “test stream” that featured him playing Minecraft), with Ryuji freaking out as the few chatters watching started pointing out how Ryuji has a “hot guy pal(???).” (NOTE: yes, “hot guy pal???” is literally how the chatters phrase it; it’s a somewhat recurring joke in the chat)
• From then on, prior to the charity livestream this piece covers, Yusuke makes some appearance in nearly every stream. It can be as small as unexpected walk-ins to offer Ryuji extra water/liquids and food (akin to Markiplier’s girlfriend Amy, except Ryuji only says thanks if Yusuke promises him and the stream’s current audience that he’ll get himself food and water). But sometimes, Ryuji finally gets him into a game, much to his and his audience’s delight.
• Ryuji’s method of playing games with Yusuke is akin to the saying “throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.” His eccentric boyfriend actually enjoys a lot of Nintendo games (primarily those that’re casual or party/family-oriented and/or have a fun artstyle), Jackbox, and claims to be “positively challenged” by the aesthetics of Minecraft. If there was one game played on the channel that Yusuke could not understand, it was Five Nights at Freddy’s. He liked both the “daunting claustrophobia” and “blunt portrayal of the heinous American employee night shift” that the gameplay presented, but his opinion turned sour when his attempt at Night 2 resulted in a Foxy jumpscare around 2 AM in-game, causing him, Ryuji, and both of their chairs to fall in Yusuke’s blood-curdling shriek and back leap.
• Ultimately, it’s telling his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s mother of the July 13th incidents, primarily the distraught father he encountered on the train ride, that set the main story into motion. Though Yusuke typically wouldn’t be as severely upset by either situation, what drove him beyond quiet sulking was the jump from the harassment by the Kosei clique to the “epiphany” that tragedy strikes anyone regardless of age or character. In addition, Ryuji had to quickly learn that Yusuke’s eccentricities and “heart way bigger than he lets on” mean he can be very composed amidst anything just as much as he can be emotional and/or grandiose.

Ren (+ Morgana):

• Once more, Ren lives fairly cozily in his family’s countryside hometown (in this story, it’s said to be Inaba, just as nothing more than a semi-cheeky Persona 4 reference), even finding time over the summer to master his cooking skills and have Morgana spoiled by his parents. Though he misses the in-person connections he had with everyone in Shibuya, he keeps in touch with them through any other means possible. 
• He’s still unsure where he plans to specifically go after high school, nor what exactly he plans to study (though he is highly considering a degree in business and/or culinary arts). He knows he wants to put his strong test scores from his high school career to good use by getting a strong grade on his entrance exams, then going to whichever top college will accept him. Morgana is still able to verbally speak to Ren & Co., even if that will exclude the likes of Sojiro without the Metaverse existing.

***The events that occur for Ann, Makoto, Haru, Sumire, and Futaba are identical to their ambitions after P5R, but they all plan to start them up around August/September. Namely:

• Ann decides to study fashion abroad
• She’s successful, just as she deserves. Enough said.
• Sumire plans to pursue international gymnastics 
• I sadly couldn’t display too much of her personality without going over the ideal parameters for the zine. Just know that she’s been growing some of her own spunk that’s somewhat reminiscent of her late sister.
• Futaba aims for high school and college, thus aiming to be a psience researcher akin to her mother
• Frankly, I really liked the idea of Futaba being as good-hearted as she’s always been, but also growing a snarkier attitude with more frequent vulgarities to match. So yes, the push-up bit of the story confirms that, while both can say it at any time, Futaba spouts a full-fledged “fuck” more readily than Ryuji “Vulgar Boy” Sakamoto.
• Makoto and Haru go to different colleges for their aspired occupations (police commissioning and business, respectively) 
• (NOTE: since some people may find Makoto’s in-game ambitions here to be “tragically backwards” and/or “pushing for some good societal change,” it’s really up in the air for whether Makoto sticks with police commissioning, changes to something more akin to Sae’s line of work, or whatever else she could go for in law/politics)

***

Stream Structure (NOTE: this is just to paint the background of the plot; not all of these details were essential to the piece, but they provided a foundation for the plot to move forward with decent pacing, and possibly a few funny tidbits for the betas/mods that read through this—all of these range from backdropping decent chunks of the story, to brief mentions, to absolute omission (the last of which is utilized for most of the end of the weekend, sadly)):

Date:

• Friday, July 21 - Saturday, July 22

Location (not disclosed to livestream viewers):

• Sakura Residence (primarily the living room, though Ryuji and Yusuke are offered to sleep in a spare room to semi-supervise Morgana, and Futaba keeps her own bedroom; everyone else has a sleepover at LeBlanc)

General Roles:

• Ryuji (PhantomSkull): Main Streamer
• Yusuke: Main Co-Host
• Futaba (Alibaba): “Head” Moderator/”Main” Guest
• Ren/Ann/Haru/Makoto/Sumire: “Not Main But Still Very Important” Guests

Game Schedule:

• Friday, July 21

• • • 8:30-9 AM
      • Mini Pre-Show (Q&A, Introductions, Weekend Overview) (Ryuji and Yusuke)
    • 9 AM - 12 PM
      • Mario Party Superstars (Ryuji, Yusuke, Ren, Ann)

• • • 12 PM - 3 PM
      • The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie Video Game (Ryuji, Yusuke, Futaba)

• • • 3-5 PM
      • PowerPoint Party (All)
        • All eight hosts/guests each present a medium-to-long-length PowerPoint/Google Slides presentation (which were all made in advance) to each other and the live audience. The presentations were as follows (with the ones mentioned in the story being accompanied by brief summaries of the content explored, because those ones definitely deserve context):
          • Sumire: 10 Reasons Why All of Sumire’s Senpais Should Pick Up Dancing
            • 1: Healthy
            • 2: Allows for a Lot of Varieties and Expressions
            • 3: ~AWESOME MUSIC!!!~
            • 4: Allows Dancers to Convey Emotions and Tell Stories
            • 5: Makes People ~EXCITED!<3~
            • 6: Is An AWESOME Thing to Accomplish
            • 7: Different Dances for Different Music Genres
            • 8: People of All Experiences (of lack thereof) Are Welcome
            • 9: Sumire is Good at Dancing, SO HER SENPAIS CAN BE GOOD, TOO! ~
            • 10: It’s FUN! <3
          • Ren: Top 10 Acclaimed Movies/Games/Shows Worse Than the Phantom Thieves Fiasco
            • 10: Lupin the Third
              • “Traveled forward into and back from the future to rip off ‘certain elements’ of the Phantom Thief lifestyle”
            • 9: Cowboy Bebop
              • “Similar to Lupin the Third, but just in jazz music that ‘would be sexier for Phantom Thieves’”
            • 8: Batman
              • Dark superheroes that some people hated for “petty reasons”
            • 7: Star Wars
              • “It’s mostly fine, but just isn’t as fun as the Phantom Thief news was”
            • 6: Dragon Quest
              • “Would not be as good of a JRPG as a Phantom Thief JRPG”
            • 5: Yakuza
              • “Same as Dragon Quest”
            • 4: Final Fantasy
              • “Same as Dragon Quest and Yakuza”
            • 3: Ghostbusters
              • “Both groups fight gods, but the Phantom Thieves looked sexy while doing it and didn’t hate their blue-collared job in the process, and also the Thieves’ fights with the governmental law were more serious and therefore more epic because Ren says so and he was up until 3 AM before the stream finishing this PowerPoint”
            • 2: Kingdom Hearts
              • “‘Antithesis’ to Phantom Thieves, making it automatically bad”
            • 1: Life
              • “RIP Phantom Thieves, the world isn’t the same without you :,(“
          • Ryuji: PhantomSkull’s Top 10 Favorite Current Memes
          • Ann: Top 10 ACTUALLY Good “Sexy” Halloween Costumes + Top 10 ACTUALLY Good “Modest” Halloween Costumes
          • Yusuke: How to Romantically (NOT Pervertedly) Arouse Ryuji’s Devotion
            • Warm bubble baths in dim lighting beside a multitude of different scented candles
            • Scream encouragements to him as he undergoes his workout regiment
            • Be loving to him, like “both a husband and a wife”
            • Praise his kind spirit and “sacred heart” while imploring him to “unleash the intimately protective beast caged within him”
            • “Worship his body for the holy temple that it is” (everyone is confused by this point, and I don’t think I need to explain why)
            • Provide him beef bowls 
            • Engage in one another’s passions and interests
            • “Arouse his excitement” (that’s it, that’s the slide, and everyone’s freaking out again)
            • Offer him affirmations whenever possible
            • “Love him” (THAT’S IT - THAT’S THE LAST SLIDE…it’s up to interpretation how someone “loves” Ryuji)
          • Makoto: How Buchimaru-kun Merchandise Can Spread Awareness of Panda Endangerment
          • Futaba: Rating Ren’s Camera Roll Images I Hacked Into By Objective Good Quality
            • On a scale of 0 (garbage) to 10 (iconic), the general patterns from this presentation were as follows:
              • Horny stuff: 8-10/10
              • Morgana pictures: 11/10
              • Pictures of Ren and/or other PTs: 6-9.5/10
              • SFW anime stuff: 2-9/10
              • NSFW anime stuff (images that weren’t even graphic are censored in PowerPoint to slander Ren because Futaba chose violence when making this): 20/10
              • Other: Yes
          • Haru: Tea & Coffee: History, Types, Methods of Creation, Value, and Recommendations
    • 5-6 PM
      • Yusuke’s Shot for Redemption at Five Nights at Freddy’s (Yusuke…that’s it)
    • 6-9 PM
      • Jackbox Party Packs (All + Viewers)

• Between Friday Night and Saturday Morning

• 12-Hour Morgana Cam
• For the duration of the entire segment (which takes place in the living room with only pink-purple-blue LED lights against the walls), any of the following can happen:
• Morgana just sleeps (or tries to sleep) on either the living room carpet or the hard floor of the kitchen in the back
• Morgana tries to talk to the audience until Ryuji walks in to shush him (for obvious reasons, he appears to be merely meowing to the audience, and subsequent chat messages range from “HOLY SHIT IT SPEAKS AVNJONFONJFNJSNONGONOJGN” to “IM SCARED” to “STFU HOOMANS GONNA SMACK YOU”).
• Morgana semi-quietly plays around on the couch, near the lights, with Futaba’s plushies strewn about for him, and even in his “jungle gym” that Ren brought out from home.

• Saturday, July 22

• • • 9 AM - 12 PM
      • Super Bash Bros. Penultimate (All, though everyone takes turns to have short breaks)
        • (NOTE: aside from the parody name, the sole change from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is that, after Piranha Plant, Demifiend of SMT Nocturne takes the spot for the first challenger pack. Hero(es) from Dragon Quest follow suit and so on. Sorry, Joker.)

• • • 12-3 PM
      • Super Mario Odyssey (Ryuji and Yusuke)
        • (NOTE: Hi! By now, the big not-so-impossible milestone has been reached in the prose. Meaning the fic is done by this point, with only some mention to the following segments that are less video game-y and more IRL-y. But hey! Here it all lies for those curious. Hope these prospective aftermaths are cute for you all!)

• • • 3-4 PM
      • Arts & Crafts Contest (Ann, Futaba, Makoto, Haru) + Dance Workout Session (Ryuji, Yusuke, Ren, Sumire)
        • The first event occurs offscreen, with the four girls making something (literally anything) with arts and crafts stuff. As a compromise for having to be in the latter (only because he’d easily win the contest otherwise), Yusuke judges the projects by the end of the hour. The winner would receive “something special” provided by Ryuji.
          • Ann’s project: heart paper chain (wrapped into a circular wreath at the last minute) made of red, pink, purple, and white construction paper
          • Haru’s project: Mason jar of multicolor origami paper stars (Haru provided herself the jar, and makes over two-hundred origami paper stars in the time frame given)
          • Makoto’s project: Watercolor painting of a beautiful hill and oceanside during a warm sunrise, but a major mistake leads to improvisation that results in an incoherent blur of murky green, blue, brown, and slight dark gold
            • Makoto is declared the winner by Yusuke, who relates the “abstract horrors” of the painting with his fainting spell by the end of the workout (see other event)
              • Her prize from Ryuji is…literally a hug and a “heartfelt” 2-minute speech of her qualities on camera
          • Futaba’s project: Small play-doh sculpture of “hot nude girl with BIG honkers and wArM tHiGhS”
        • Sumire leads the guys in a Zumba workout, picking the specific program as means to have a dance workout that’s neither too difficult nor too uninvolved. The music played is hit or miss, and some of the “sexy” dance moves bewilder the guys dancing on camera. But Ren follows Sumire perfectly, Ryuji struggles on occasion…then Yusuke technically follows well, save for adding extra “flair” to numerous repeated choreographies. 
          • Yusuke, in particular, is urged by Ryuji to get some water intake between every dance. However, feeling ambitious and proud of his dancing, he neglects this for the first three quarters of the hour, thus nearly passing out and causing a two-minute pause on the routine. When he wakes up and is provided water and treatment, he wearily declares Makoto the winner from pure personal “attachment,” and everyone quickly revives the originally-cut yoga hour, led by Ann and Haru, to help the workout participants cool down.
    • 4-5 PM
      • Light Yoga and Meditation Session (for Yusuke’s Disconcerting Well-Being) (Yusuke, Ryuji, Ann, Sumire, Haru, Ren) (Originally a bonus few rounds of games from Jackbox Party Packs)
        • Ann, Sumire, and Haru had planned to add this “breath of relaxing fresh air” into the weekend, though Ryuji initially told them to “wait on that” if they preferred an extra hour of Jackbox. When Yusuke passes out in the former hour, however, Ryuji eagerly announces their new plan, much to Yusuke’s waking confusion. For this, the three girls brought an expensive diffuser (this was actually Ann’s idea), newly-bought yoga mats for everyone, and even Haru threw in a high-definition Bluetooth speaker that plays one of a two-hour copyright-free spa music playlist from YouTube. Yusuke starts out embarrassed by the idea, but finally gets into it about fifteen minutes in—just to fall asleep in the last five minutes of the meditation bit in the second half-hour.
          • The audience seems to enjoy this segment, albeit for various reasons. Some chatters claim to be following along at home, whereas others find amusement in merely watching the participants (such as Ren and/or Sumire “taking this too seriously,” Ryuji looking “unusually chill,” and, as the most commonly remarked on, Yusuke over the course of the whole hour).
    • 5-6 PM
      • Don’t Laugh Challenge (not to be confused with the “Try Not to Laugh” challenge; see Markiplier’s videos on it for details) (Ryuji, Ren, Haru, Makoto, Futaba)
        • While Ann and Sumire drag Yusuke off for a nap, everyone else plays the Don’t Laugh Challenge. In the case of the onscreen five, each one takes a turn keeping a large amount of water in their mouth, not swallowing it and thus preventing them from laughing. The remaining four have a minute to try to make that one person laugh (thus swallowing or spitting out their water) using themselves and props in the immediate vicinity. The individual cannot be touched or poked at by the others during their turn.
          • A notable change from the usual format is that, in all four rounds (each round basically entails that all five have one attempt, with no redos whatsoever), everyone can receive up to six points—one for every ten seconds past until the whole 60 seconds are up—in their minute of “stoic silence.” Whoever nets the most points by the end (out of a maximum of 24) of the fourth round is the winner (their prize being “friendly love,” according to Ryuji).
            • End Rankings:
              • 1st (worst): Ren (20/24)
              • 2nd (best): Futaba (16/24)
              • 3rd (one with the treasure chest): Haru (10/24)
              • 4th (IDK): Makoto (9/24)
              • 5th (sorry sweetie ahaha): Ryuji (5/24)
    • 6-8 PM
      • Human Splatter Paint Milestone & Wrap-Up (All)
        • Spending the last ten minutes of the previous hour to get ready, everyone is in a paper-covered spare room (floor and walls hastily covered with paper by the crew). Ren, Ryuji, and Yusuke (all wearing white t-shirts and worn jeans that Ren lent each of them) are tied together by each other’s hands in the center of the room. The girls (covered in aprons/smocks and huge plastic face shields) just throw paint of different colors at the guys, occasionally starting up paint fights amongst each other that the guys can only watch at from their very sad and very lonely center of the room (Futaba and, surprisingly, Haru, are the usual instigators). In the end, pretty much everyone ends up splattered in paint, with some even reaching the girls’ clothes behind their covers (much to Ann’s dismay, in particular). 
        • Wrap-Up is just thanks to viewers/donors and the onscreen crew. It’s nice and sweet, but the story had already ended by the Super Mario Odyssey segment, so HA!

Donation Incentives (NOTE: some incentives may be unavailable for certain segments) (Japanese Yen in comparison to US Dollars):

• ¥100 (less than $1): Yusuke takes a BIG gulp of water
• ¥777 (less than $7): Yusuke takes a BIG bite of a protein bar
• ¥5,000 (approx. $44): All onscreen hosts/guests wear a silly hat/accessory/prop for 10 minutes 
• ¥10,000 (approx. $88): Ryuji does 20 push-ups
• ¥50,000 (approx. $440): One onscreen host/guest does an attempt at Beanboozled
• ¥77,777 (approx. $685): Make Morgana wear “the big orange talking cat” (Garfield) costume on-camera for 10 minutes
• ¥100,000 (approx. $880): Ryuji does 30 sit-ups
• ¥500,000 (approx. $4400-4500): Ryuji wears a “male succubus” costume for 30 minutes (NOTE: basically it’s Ann’s Halloween costume but for “guys;” it’s literally just shorts instead of a skirt, and the shoes have slightly smaller, but rounder and less stiletto-style heels)

Fundraiser Milestone (Japanese Yen in comparison to US Dollars):

• ¥100,000,000 (approx. $880,000-900,000): Splatter Art on Ren, Ryuji, and Yusuke (Sumire, Ann, Futaba, Haru, Makoto)