Character Base

• Character Name: Akira Kurusu
• Age: 17.
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Canon point is Persona 5, post Strikers. Released in English: 2016 (Persona 5), 2020 (Persona 5 Royal), February 2021 (Persona 5 Strikers).
• Items Coming Along: His school bag (containing assorted school supplies, a single leather glove, and a good amount of cat hair), a knife, a large container of coffee beans, a coffee pourover, and box containing extra clothing and several instant noodle packages.
• Content Warnings for Character: Child abuse, child neglect, sexual assault.

Character Background

• History: Here.
• Core Relationships:

SHIDO MASAYOSHI: Shido Masayoshi is the politician that set off the events that nearly ruined Akira's life. When Akira tried to save a woman Shido was harassing from him, Shido used his political power to see Akira arrested, instead, which kicked off a chain of events that saw Akira expelled, moving to Tokyo to stay in someone's attic, and starting at a brand new school as the notorious delinquent. This instilled in him a deep distrust of the system; of the adults around him, who told him outright that the truth didn't matter. While Akira wasn't quite bitter about his situation, he was also very unhappy with the injustice. Akira was told to keep his head down and not stick his neck out for anyone, and he internalized this, becoming more quiet and hiding behind a pair of fake glasses to try and make himself fade into the background. Later, Shido would prove to be even worse than originally thought, and motivate Akira to put himself in danger -- again -- in order to try and save others and help change the world, one terrible adult at a time.

RYUJI SAKAMOTO: Akira's first friend when he arrived in Tokyo; Ryuji is an effervescent former track star with a boatload of issues and a fondness for tactile contact. He's completely opposite to Akira in most ways -- except that they both desire to have justice in an unfair world; to change the system that's oppressed them for so long. While Akira initially desired to be anonymous and keep out of trouble, he deliberately chose to break against that in order to save Ryuji's life, deciding that doing the right thing was more important than doing the thing that would keep him safe. Ryuji is endlessly supportive, and pushes Akira to be a better person because of it -- to have that same determination to help people, regardless of what it may cost them.

ANN TAKAMAKI: While Ryuji is the first life that Akira saved, Ann might be the more conscious decision made and consequently the decision that really grounded Akira into saving people. Ann was a victim of the system -- of the adults around her; of a society that didn't care about truth -- and Akira initially tried to ignore her clear suffering, but found himself unable to. Just like when he was initially arrested, he interfered and tried to help her, leading to nearly getting expelled the second time. Ann is one of Akira's closest friends, and has been an unfaltering pillar of support for him that he has done his best to return. Ann's way of looking at the world is very different to Akira's -- taking on problems she faces as obstacles to overcome in her own journey, versus internalizing the injustice of a situation like he tends to -- and she's helped him see things from a different, more positive, angle.

MORGANA: While Ryuji is certainly a top contender for Akira's best friend, Morgana is a shoe-in for the slot of "best friend who is also, usually, a cat". While their relationship was initially based on convenience -- Morgana had knowledge and Akira had raw power -- it rapidly developed into a deep friendship, in part because they were around each other 24/7. Morgana expresses a lot of questions that Akira wonders about himself subconsciously and has helped him work problems out that he might have struggled with himself, and helping Morgana with his own problems has helped Akira even with abstract empathy for the struggles of cats.

SOJIRO SAKURA: Akira arrived in Tokyo with a duffle bag full of clothing and ramen and was deposited on the coffee-scented doorstep of LeBlanc, a coffee shop owned by Sojiro. Sojiro initially presented as a cold guardian that was only taking Akira out of obligation and monetary repayment, which caused Akira to withdraw, going further inside of himself. For better or worse, Sojiro's initial disposition is a contributing factor to why Akira wound up having to become extremely independent, believing there was no one in his court to bat for him. Later, Sojiro and Akira's relationship would improve to the point of them nearly considering each other family (in fact, it's implied in a bad ending that Sojiro's ultimate wish would be for Akira to stay with them after his year of probation ends), but the lesson of independence and self-reliance sticks. Also Sojiro taught him how to brew coffee, which is neat.

GORO AKECHI: Akechi is… a lot of things for Akira. Initially, Akechi presents as a talented, intelligent, and mild-mannered minor celebrity; then he shows himself to be a wounded, sensitive figure; then he shows himself as a bitter victim of the system who thrives on chaos. For all of these, Akira reacts to him the same: he likes Akechi. Akechi has a variety of talents (billiards, darts, finding cool jazz clubs) and gently goads Akira into becoming better at them, bringing out a competitive side of Akira that wasn't previously exhibited. Akira seems to thrive on Akechi's weird negging, and when it becomes a life or death situation, Akira goes into a situation knowing full well that if he does not manage to outwit Akechi at 5D chess, he'll die. (He wins, for the record.) Later, when Akechi shows his true colors, Akira has his first experience with true grief. It's shown that Akechi's death is the thing that Akira regrets the most -- the one thing he would change in his life, more than anything else, including his own arrest record -- and that the promise he made with Akechi is something that's nearly always at the back of his mind.

TAKUTO MARUKI: Maruki is, first and foremost, Akira's counsellor at school. Despite this, Akira winds up helping Maruki more than the other way around -- which ultimately results in Maruki taking over the world to spawn an alternate reality to make everyone artificially happy. Whoops. This does, however, further Akira's own growth, as he has to deal with the idea of seeing all of his friends happy -- parents back from the dead, bad things having never happened -- and then ruining all of it for the sake of the "real" world. Akira leaves the decision to his friends to make, but is surprisingly passionate about not staying in the "fake" reality. He's one of only two characters who the false reality simply does not work on, because he's so reluctant to accept it after everything he's done to get where he is.

ZENKICHI HASEGAWA: Zenkichi is a Cop, and as such, is a figure that Akira does not trust at all initially. While Akira has come to trust a small amount of adults in his life, Zenkichi seems to present as a lot of what's wrong with the system -- until Akira glimpses what's under the surface. Zenkichi ultimately has a lot going on, and it humanizes him, allowing Akira to humanize a lot of adult figures. It's something of a turning point, as he starts to realize that he can help the adults around him as much as they can help him, and that some of the corrupt adults he knows might be doing their best.

THE PHANTOM THIEVES OF HEARTS: The phantom thieves, as a collective -- consisting of Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Haru, Morgana, Futaba, and (briefly) Akechi and Zenkichi -- are probably, overall, Akira's most important relationship and the one that projects him forward the most. Without the phantom thieves, it's likely that Akira would have kept his head down and never gotten involved in anything -- to his own detriment, as through knowing them, Akira grew, becoming more empathetic, charismatic, and passionate. Akira arrives in Tokyo with no close friends keeping in contact, no notable hobbies he's kept up, and nothing he seems particularly interested in; by the end of the game, through his relationships with everyone within the phantom thieves, he's gained several hobbies, a lot of great friends, and a considerable amount of passion and emotion. He also moves from being passive -- accepting of his circumstances, even if they're unjust -- to harnessing his spirit of rebellion, working on overthrowing injustice and taking down those who are corrupt.

Character Personality Through Key Moments

(2+) Positive Experiences:

Akira is extremely charismatic. While he initially aims to be a quiet, anonymous (but shockingly pretty) face in the background, he quickly learns the skills required to be absolutely charming. He's very good at saying the right thing, at being the shoulder people need to lean on, and becoming a close and trusted confidant. He's something of a social chameleon, capable of changing to fit the needs of others without ever changing who he is at the core.

Akira evidences this charisma (and his path to it) via some of his relationships -- he befriends a shockingly honest politician early on, and from that, learns how to speak with the kind of candor that attracts people. It helps him exhibit ways to be honest without losing face, which can be challenging. He also shows this when he sets his mind to helping a friend concerned about another friend -- he has to not only help support someone, but help her learn her own way forward in order to support someone else in her own way. Most notably, he has an entire chain of events with someone who initially begins as a shut-in and eventually works her way up to a functioning human -- due in no small part to Akira, who manages to support her when she needs to be supported, push her when she needs to be pushed, and give her headpats at the appropriate intervals.

Akira is very determined. Or stubborn, if you like. While his life hasn't been easy -- wrongful assault charge, expelled, moved into someone's attic, nearly expelled, nearly murdered several times, had his cognitive self shot in the head by his rival-slash-friend, had to defeat god to save the world (twice) -- he never stops. He never even slows down, either: he keeps going with a list of things he needs to do in the back of his head, steadily continuing forward. Whether it's keeping his head down and living an honest school life, working at a gay bar to find out intel on shady adults, or having to ruin an alternate reality where everyone is happy, Akira just does things without allowing himself to stop.

Akira befriends an older former member of the yakuza, and does this unflinchingly, even when the actual yakuza get involved; he isn't deterred by any of the demands put upon him, and simply works hard to meet those goals. He even shows his determination in smaller ways, such as the Big Bang Challenge, a literal burger eating contest that Akira manages to 100% win out of sheer determination (and the stomach of a teenage boy). The most determined moment he has, however, comes very early on -- after his arrest and wrongful expulsion, he takes all of his determination to live a life with his head down and flips it around entirely, pushing himself to his absolute limit to have his persona Awaken. This centered on his spirit of rebellion, and helped fuel him from then on.

It should be noted that this determination is sometimes detrimental; there is a point at which he has to save the world from a fake reality caused by Maruki, and despite the fact that this false reality has made all of his friends happy and brought back Akechi to life, Akira chooses to overthrow the reality and fight against it knowing what it would cost all of them. It's notable as one of the only times he so much as wavers in his conviction.

(2+) Negative Experiences:

Akira is self-sacrificing. To an extreme that is absolutely unhealthy. While Akira initially tries to be selfish and, like, not help people at his own detriment, he fails in this objective within, like, a week of arriving in Tokyo, and it's a downhill slog from there. Akira routinely does reckless things and puts his life on the line when he shouldn't; he takes more danger and responsibility than the rest of his teammates in order to lighten their burden; he fills his calendar with part-time jobs and social obligations to make sure that no one else has to; he engages in extremely convoluted plans that, if they go wrong even the slightest bit, will ensure he dies. This is most notable in the absolutely insane plan the Phantom Thieves concoct to save Akira from getting killed and save the Thieves as a whole from getting arrested, which has a very high likelihood of getting Akira murdered. They pull it off, in the end, but not without Akira getting beat senseless by corrupt policemen and drugged so thoroughly that he nearly doesn't pull off his plan.

There's also, once again, Maruki's reality: a false reality Maruki has laid over the real world. Maruki granted everyone their ultimate wish for happiness -- bringing back parents from the dead, mending relationships, allowing people to achieve their dreams. For Akira, this was to bring back Akechi, who died previously. Despite the fact that all his friends seem happier in this reality and despite the fact that Akira himself is undoubtedly happier in a reality where Akechi is alive -- Akira is deadset on overthrowing Maruki. He and Akechi set out to do it themselves, on the (incorrect) assumption that they might be the only ones to "wake up" from the fake reality. Even when Akira is aware that fixing the reality will send Akechi back to being dead and have Akira wake up in jail, he does it without flinching.

His self-sacrificing nature doesn't change, even with all of his other character growth: even when he comes to visit Tokyo for the summer and winds up on more wacky hijinks, the Thieves have several plans that revolve around Akira being bait or carrying off some dangerous task by himself. He does all of them without complaint, explicitly because it's too dangerous for any of the others.

Akira has trust issues stemming from the fact that 98% of the adults around him are simply the absolute worst. Starting with being arrested for saving someone, he develops an intense distrust for authority figures, realizing that they care more about image and personal gains than about truth; this continues even when dealing with people his age, as many of them seem content to fall in line and accept the status quo so long as it doesn't directly affect them. Akira seems unable to do this (even though he really does try), and so he simply doesn't trust anyone until they've proven themselves to him -- usually through manifesting a persona and helping take someone down, but sometimes through simply proving that they care about other humans and are trying to make a difference in whatever way they can.

Akira's trust issues allow him to think the worst of some people while thinking the best of others, based on where they fall in his own idea of good and bad. Most adults -- bad -- most downtrodden teenagers -- good. This is exhibited in the way he interacts with people: he works under the assumption that most of the people he meets are victims of the adults in their lives, rather than actively participating in whatever horrible thing is occurring. This does eventually get him into a good deal of trouble, when Akechi turns out to be an active murderer that has no interest in being perceived as a victim, which ultimately means Akira can more clearly see the grey area in people's status.

Most of Akira's adult confidants know that he's a Phantom Thief (if not the leader) by the end of their in-game relationships, and each time Akira seems to be shocked and surprised -- in part, we can assume, because the majority of the adults he's met to that point would have turned him in immediately, many of them for their own gain. For these adults not to do that -- and, indeed, to console him and support him immeasurably -- allows Akira to slowly change his perception of people around him.

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers: Akira has the ability to summon 12 Persona:

Arsène: Uses Curse (dark/unholy) and physical skills. Resists Curse skills. Weak to Ice and Bless (light/holy) skills.
Vishnu: Uses Wind and non-elemental skills. Resists Ice, Bless, and Curse skills. Weak to Fire skills.
Futsunushi: Uses physical and gun skills. Resists physical skills. Weak to Nuclear skills.
Cybele: Uses healing and Bless skills. Resists Bless and Fire skills. Weak to Electricity skills.
Mother Harlot: Uses Ice and Curse skills. Resists Electric and Curse skills. Weak to Bless skills.
Odin: Uses physical and Electric skills. Resists Bless, Curse, Wind, and Electricity skills. No elemental weaknesses.
Ishtar: Uses healing and Electric skills. Resists Electricity skills. Weak to Wind skills.
Chi You: Uses physical and Psychic skills. Resists physical, gun, and Psychic skills. Weak to Nuclear skills.
Metatron: Uses physical, Bless, and non-elemental skills. Resists Wind, Psychic, and Nuclear skills. Weak to Electricity and Curse skills.
Ongyo-Ki: Uses physical and status effect skills. Resists Bless, Curse, and Physical skills. No elemental weaknesses.
Yatagarasu: Uses Fire and healing skills. Resists Wind and Bless skills. Weak to Curse skills.
Jack Frost: Uses Ice skills. Resists Ice skills. Weak to Fire skills.

A few additional notes about his Persona:
- He only has access to the skills, benefits, and weaknesses of whichever Persona is active, and he can only have one active at a time. Arsène will be his default, and thus always active unless Akira consciously switches away from him.

- When Akira switches out his active Persona, he has to wait until he can switch again. He's limited to switching once per round in game, which I will translate as once every few minutes in Deer Country.

- Akira will only have access to Arsène when he first enters the game and will have to gradually regain the ability to access the others. Personas 2 through 10 in particular will take significant character and CR developments to access again, as he originally gained them by growing exceptionally close to the Phantom Thieves, so he'll need to make significant advances in his relationships in-game in order to get them.

- Since Akira can't reach the Velvet Room, these 12 are all he has for the foreseeable future. Even if he does eventually reach the Velvet Room (such as via an event, player plot, or mod reward) he'll never be able to hold more than 12 Persona at once i.e.: he'll have to give up one of the ones he already has in order to use a different one.

Akira can also use his Third Eye, which allows him to view an area to see certain things highlighted in colors: gold for something interesting, and red/yellow/green for enemies depending on how likely they are to murder him.

• Blood Type: Paleblood.
• Omen: A crow. His name is Arthur.
• Blessed Day: May 5th, which is the day the original Phantom Thieves of Heart (consisting of Ryuji, Ann, and Akira) were formed.
• Patron Pthumerian: Argonaut! He will, in fact, love Argonaut and protect this mothman with his life.
• Blood Power Manifestation: Akira can summon persona (a whole dozen of them), so this covers most of his abilities and outside of Arsène I genuinely have not settled on the other eleven because I intend for it to take a Good Long While for Akira to even realize he can summon Arsène, much less the others. (But I can decide on the other 11 pre-acceptance, if you want.) As for blood powers, since he'll be keeping his persona, his blood powers will be very weak and manifest in largely unintelligible and only helpful after the fact prophetic dreams and have really inconvenient telepathic intrusive thoughts.

Writing Samples

One: Here is his TDM thread from the initial TDM! Being that it's the TDM, it contains nudity, blood, violence, and a teenager having an existential crisis.
Two: Here is an AU PSL. Content warnings for suicidal ideation, violence, and depression. (Also contains explicit spoilers for the ending of Persona 5: Royal.)

The Player

• Player Name: Rei
• Player Age: 18+.
• Player Contact: yukimarimo#2784.
• Permissions: Here.

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