Persona 5 Part #70 - 7/12-7/16: It's A Lockdown, Baby

Part 70: 7/12-7/16: It's A Lockdown, Baby

Part 68: 7/12-7/16: It’s A Lockdown Baby

Anon: This is fun, so yeah!
Anon: thx admin!!!
Anon: i wanna know more bout em

Music: Beneath the Mask (Instrumental Version)

Did the Phantom Thieves really do that? Maybe people are just having fun, giving them credit for a coincidence… I mean, no one can actually steal someone’s heart—that’s just some urban legend noise.

Isn’t that what people said about that hacker group, too? It’s just a nice way of saying they’re blackmailing bad people into confessing their crimes! Who’re you to doubt the Phantom Thieves, anyhow?

...What?

Yeah, they’ve really taken off since the whole Kamoshida thing. The legend of the Phantom Thieves started at OUR school! We’re practically one of them!

And who can’t relate to what they’re doing? Punishing corrupt adults up to no good—the police should take notes.

Music: So Boring

Behind Kaneshiro’s arrest are the “Phantom Thieves,” the mysterious group that changes people’s hearts. If I recall, there were similar rumors back during that business with Kamoshida-kun. Help the weak and crush the strong… Truly a modern legend of the gentleman thief. In the long history of humans, the gentleman thief has been seen briefly during times of turmoil. Now then, please look at this picture. Hamiru-kun.

What was the name of the gentleman thief whose family was boiled alive during the Sengoku period?

Ha, your own name is up there as an option.

Correct. As I’m sure you know, this is the origin of the term “Goemon bath,” or a bath heated from the bottom. Only stealing from the rich and powerful, and sharing with the poor… Goemon’s exploits have been documented in many forms of media, like kabuki and novels.

Maaku gains Knowledge +1.

However, it’s actually unclear whether or not Goemon was indeed a gentleman thief. Rebellion against Hideyoshi, whose campaign had failed; propaganda by the government to sully his name… The gentleman thief Goemon may be no more than an illusion made by varying motivations. In actuality, most heroes and gentleman thieves throughout history are something like that.

Let’s make sure people don’t think we’re just an illusion. But before that, you need to study for the exams that are starting tomorrow.

Music: Tokyo Daylight

I’d be pretty sad if the leader of the Phantom Thieves got bad grades.

>I’ll give it a try.

That’s the spirit!

I’ve seen it in Shibuya before too! It’s like, totally cool. I hope they keep it up. I’ve been rooting for them this whole time! Aren’t they incredible? I heard they’re really gaining momentum. By the way, this is a damn good drawing. Is Hamiru a Phanboy?

I think our popularity’s rising! We’re really starting to get famous!

Are you all right? You’re sweating a lot...

I-I-I… *mumble*

I’m not sure what’s going on, but just relax. Let’s take our time, and try to talk normally.

Looks like our stalker’s change of heart went through.

Music: Aria of the Soul

Next, we need to clear a Persona slot to make room to resummon an Eligor again. We choose to fuse this Kin-Ki from Flauros and Nue.

Yes, I can see that, but what’s your name?

If you possess the mask, I will grant you the power of an unyielding heart...

Kin-Ki is another of the four oni controlled by Fujiwara No Chikata. It’s named after gold and its body is so strong that no weapons in existence can pierce it.

But we’re not done here yet. A little while back we unlocked a new feature called “Lockdown," and now’s the perfect time to show it off, for reasons I’ll explore shortly.

The cell’s empty for now, but that’ll change. Let’s get some explanations of this new system.

If you toss one of your Personas in a cell, we’ll give it some special training to help it grow. While you’re off loafing around, your Persona’s getting stronger… We treat you too well, Inmate! Oh, but we only keep one Persona in Lockdown at a time. This is solitary confinement, after all. And naturally, you’re not gonna be able to use that Persona in battle or fusion. Don’t forget, Inmate!

Once the training is over, the Persona you put in Lockdown’ll learn a new resistance. There’re times it’ll learn something different too though. That’s all up to chance. Either way, the stuff it learns will all be useful to you, Inmate.* Oh, and the higher the Confidant rank for the Persona’s arcana, the shorter they’ll need to train for. Don’t forget Master’s words… Forging Confidants is gonna help you on the road to rehabilitation.

*The stuff it learns may not all be useful.

I have no idea what “there are times it’ll learn something different” means, unless it means Null Skills instead of Resist skills.

It takes a set number of days ‘til a Persona’s training ends… but don’t forget it’s in there, OK? Personas are part of your heart, after all. If you leave it in for to long, it’ll disappear forever. Well, we’re not evil though. We’ll let you know if that’s gonna happen soon. But it’ll be on you from there on. Don’t come crying to us once you realize how stupid you were.

So, they’ll call you once the time is about to expire, but that’s probably not going to be a lot of help on story days you can’t go outside, which is part of the reason I never ended up using this feature on my first run.

Another reason? It’s really not that good. The resistances it provides are in the forms of skills, which are useful in that they can be passed on, but annoying in that they take up a skill slot, which are already at a premium on anything we’re fusing at this point in the game. Now, there’s reason to believe (mainly from GameFAQs posts that are unverifiable without careful testing, natch) that leaving a Persona in Lockdown for longer than you have to will give you a better chance of getting a good skill. Well, I don’t know about that, but we’ll try this out anyway.

Clotho has two weaknesses, so an extra resistance would be great. Let’s put her into Lockdown.

Sorry!

Outside of the Velvet Room (and before we resummon that Eligor), we can see this icon on Clotho’s name, indicating that she is in Lockdown. Now, the great thing I never realized about Lockdown is that while you can’t use or fuse the Persona, it’s still technically in your deck. This means you can get bonus Confidant points for a matching Arcana without pulling it out of Lockdown if you so choose. Considering how long it takes to get all 12 Persona slots in this game, it’s really handy that the game does you a solid this once.

Music: Tokyo Daylight

And, well… there is something I would like to try painting. Do you think you would be free to help?

>Hang out with him

I am in your debt. It would be rather difficult to go by myself. Now then, our destination is Inokashira Park. Let us go.

Music: My Homie

I will be counting on your cooperation today… by which I of course mean your oar work.

Hahaha, don’t get so excited. You’ll fall off, you know.

Perfect… This is it.

My previous painting captured only one aspect of the heart: desire. As such, I was unable to arrive at a truly artistic representation… That is why we have come today. I shall paint a second aspect… the burning passion between man and woman! Fittingly, our theme today will be… the wonders of love!

You will have an important role to play here today as well. While I draw, ensure the boat remains as steady as possible amid these devilish ripples.

Ah, this angle… Incredible! That bashful side profile, those moist eyes… Their overflowing passion is wholly evident!

They are akin to Adam and Eve… yet in time all lovers must come to know the pain of separation… Separation is the natural end to any such relationship… but even beyond that, love endures. Precisely… This is the truth of the human heart! *chuckle* It will make the most wonderful painting…! It shall be adored by all who gaze upon it! It may even be given top prize in the next exhibition…! Wait, now is not the time to be thinking of such trivial matters…!

Return to your prior angle! I must capture your profile!

Wh-What the hell’re you doing!?

Rejoice, for I shall preserve your beautiful love so that all coming generations may bask in its glory. Once I complete this painting, you will become new legends in the art world… A modern Adam and Eve!

L-Legends? Art…?

This dude’s off his rocker… Come on, let’s report him.

Hold on a sec… Are you drawing us!?

What!? You’re using us as models!?

A man and woman intimately swaying in a dinghy of dreams… The blush of their cheeks, the bashful looks… Yes, this is the love I was so emphatically searching for!

…Love?

Uh, I guess you could call it that… but it’s kinda weird...

ABORT MISSION! ABORT MISSION!

Ugh… I told you I didn’t wanna come here with you. The only ones who do this crap are stupid couples.

But I’ve always dreamed of coming to Tokyo and riding a boat here! Though it was supposed to be with my boyfriend… not my brother!

So that overflowing passion was just a figment of my imagination…? It seems my bias has caused me to overlook the truth of the matter...

Hm, romantic love and familial love… The two may be nigh indiscernible depending on one’s point of view.

What? No. Gross.

Perhaps… the truth of the heart lies in the eye of the beholder. Maaku, I feel as though I’ve learned something today…!

I can sense a quiet resolve from Yusuke...

That means those two...

Shhh! There are people from all walks of life here in the city.

Oooh, tell me more…

Gay jokes! Fun!

What are they talking about? Ah well… Come, it is about time we return home. Please row us back to shore, Maaku. Farewell.

Music: Beneath the Mask

Guess I should head home...

Kaneshiro has admitted that he gave orders to his subordinates to carry out crimes. However, countless people fell victim to his scams. Investigating every single scam will take time.

Oh, he really scammed a lot of people. I guess we’ll just leave the rest to the police.

Yikes, six new messages. One of these is the bog-standard “Please hang out with me oh god I’m so lonely,” and another is a request from Ryuji to study (which will give us Knowledge +3 and a bunch of points with Ryuji, neither of which we actually need, sorry Ryuji), but the other four are responses to completing the Mementos requests.

Mm-hm! I snuck in and left it there without anyone noticing.

Oh, and there was a post saying the culprit’s gonna turn himself in.

I’m sure his little bro’ll be shocked to hear he got caught.

Well either way, I think it should be better than how things were before.

Man, you guys really like keeping busy. Not that that’s a bad thing.

Anyway, that takes care of those restaurant burglars!

Things may have gotten a bit crazy, but it all turned out OK in the end.

It’s a bit unusual that we’re getting more than a few lines from Mishima about a simple Mementos request completion. Even the beginning of this one was more drawn-out than usual. Well, the reason for that is because before Persona 5 released, there was an OVA called The Daybreakers produced that took place about a month before this point in the story. This request was a tie-in to that, you see, which is why it was all so much more involved than normal.

Also there’s still no reward, fuck you.

She even apologzied online and everything. You know who she is, right? Why don’t you go check on her?

It seems she really did have a change of heart. Nice work!

I heard both of them ended up turning themselves in to the teachers. Things should be peaceful at school from now on. Well done!

It looks like the double change of heart was a massive success! Keep up the good work!

The student ended up quitting his part-time job there too. Apparently company HQ tried to offer him money to keep quiet, and he just couldn’t accept that. Still, he was really moved by what the Phantom Thieves did. I quote, “I can’t believe they wanted to help solve a nothing high schooler’s problems. Even I’m happy hearing that!

We really did a great job this time. Hearing how touched the student was is an added bonus too. I guess there really are all sorts of desires hidden away in the dark corners of Mementos...

Fine, let’s hear it. Please sit down.

Music: What’s Going On?

Her boyfriend stopped abusing her…? I don’t believe it! But even if he did stop, her fate should still be heading down the path to misery, without changing! I mean… look!

Chihaya performs a reading.

The sequence of arcana has completely changed! “Death” has moved far off into the future…

Uh, shouldn’t that be Tower? Death is about endings, not actual death.

Nrgh… No, no, no! This must be some sort of trick. What are you, a scam artist? You made a deal with her boyfriend or something, didn’t you?

That’s an obvious lie! It couldn’t have been that simple… Did you plunge him into Tokyo Bay, or cram him into a metal drum and dump insects on him? You must’ve taken some sort of extreme measures!

Well… you certainly do seem ordinary… Yes, quite ordinary, indeed. But there’s no way that could’ve happened… without you breaking the law. I mean, how could an ordinary high school student change the course of fate…? ...Fine. I’m just going to have to verify your power. The very power that reversed my tarot card prediction!

This is quite a serious situation for a fortune teller like me. I need to get to the bottom of this. You won’t have to do anything. Just sit next to me while I tell fortunes. And if another unopposable fate happens to appear… then I’ll test your power.

Well… that may be true… Oh, I know… I’ll read your fortune! Please? I’ll even prioritize your readings over my regular customers. Besides, I’ll be able to provide much more accurate predictions once I get to know you better! How does that sound? Is it a deal? *sigh* Otherwise, I won’t be able to go on… Please, I beg you… I need to know if fate can truly be changed…

You will? Really!? OK then, I look forward to verifying your “skills”! Please don’t blow me off, OK? We made a deal, after all.

I’ve made a deal with Chihaya...

Music: Interrogation Room

Or perhaps you had someone you consulted who gave you precise advice. You’re not getting away this time with just luck!

...What the fuck are you asking me? Are you having a stroke?

Music: The Spirit

Fortune portends luck (good or bad, depending on the orientation), karma, and destiny, but when reversed represents negative forces outside of one’s control.

Okay, so despite my rather clear distaste for Chihaya as a person (I should mention I never got her beyond Rank 3 in my original run), her skills can be quite useful. However, her selection of skills is somewhat… eclectic. In fact, I would say that her skills range from “literal worst garbage in the whole entire game” to “fucking essential.” We’re probably going to be blitzing through Chihaya’s Confidant pretty fast for one of these abilities that is going to be pretty much necessary to see everything we want to.

This current ability, Luck Reading, is one of those useful skills, for the record. It lets us add another “note” any time we gain points in a social stat for the rest of the day after the reading, and doesn’t take time. Now, apparently the boosted point doesn’t display (looking into this, apparently the actual value of each note can be one of multiple values, not just 1, 2, or 3, and that’s the number that gets a 50% boost from the Luck Reading, which is then rounded down,) when it would go from +2 to +3. If this is true, it’ll make the points a little inaccurate, but no one’s counting these anyway so it’s fine. There’s still a benefit, so it really doesn’t matter.

Buuuuuut, while we’re here, let’s explore how those stats work, courtesy of some Japanese wiki I found! 1 note is 2 points, 2 notes are 3 or 4 points (but functionally always 3 points unless it’s boosted), and 3 notes are either 5, 7 (certain activities like special books that take three “periods” instead of two to complete, or a boosted 5), or 10 (a boosted 7). This means that, yes, a Luck Reading boost of 50% will increase one note to two, but never two notes to three, because the number is rounded down.

Music: What’s Going On?

If it’s really possible, then...

Oh, it’s getting late! Let’s close up shop for today. It’s past your curfew…

Anon: Who do they think they are
Anon: dunno what they want. NO
Anon: Who needs police anymore?

All the news on Kaneshiro has distracted me from studying.

Did it suddenly get hot? I couldn’t sleep last night...

I heard the Phantom Thieves might be from our school!

That can’t be true. It’d be funny if it was though...

Anon: C’mon, show us your faces!
Anon: Truly. They got Kaneshiro.
Anon: get rekt, scumbags lmao
Anon: jokes on the cops! rofl
Anon: Could this really be it?
Anon: Holy shit, making history!
Anon: cmon, next target plz
Anon: Obviously. Let’s watch!
Anon: YES!!! fan club plz
Anon: Phantom Thieves YAAAS!

Music: Life Goes On

All right, exam time. We got this.

That sounds about right. Let’s see… An essay question? This looks tough, but let’s calm down and think it through.

Goemon was popular because he wasn’t just a thief. He was a…

Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor—yup, that’s Goemon all right. And, the person in power who had it in for Goemon was...

Yeah, Hideyoshi was the most powerful figure during the Sengoku period. And, Goemon’s death after he got captured by Hideyoshi is famous too...

Yeah! We even have the term “Goemon bath” because of it! “Goemon fought against those in power and was executed for it. After his death, he was seen as a hero.” You finished in time!

Time is up. Hmph… Give up already.

Anon: Holy shit, making history!

That sounds about right.

Anon: dunno what they want. NO
Anon: NO SHIT??? hahaha
Anon: omg they got the mafia lol

That sounds about right.

Look at this freshman psych major-ass response. “Justice is relative,” fuck off.

Anon: They’re surely in the right.
Anon: i call bs

You’ve seen all these before. You’ve got this, all right? …… This is going good. Looking forward to seeing your score.

Music: Tokyo Daylight

I can get back to actually sleepin’ in peace...

Huh. You must have been studying pretty hard if it kept you up at night.

Nah, I was up playin’ video games. Slackin’ off is just too much fun…

I know, right!? I kept cleaning my room instead of studying! It might even be too clean now...

You two are perfect exemplars of what escapism can mean.

*sigh* And I can only imagine what the end result will be.

Whatever, it’s over with now. Who cares about that anymore!? What’s real important is the Phantom Thieves’ popularity! Ain’t it amazin’!?

It kinda feels like our time’s finally here!

I have even heard people excitedly speculating about our next target. We will have to choose carefully.

There’s no need to hurry. We should spend some time thinking it over.

Hold up, the most important thing now is our celebration party! I hope you guys didn’t forget. It’s the fireworks festival on the 18th. I guess we’re good meetin’ up in Shibuya, yeah? Let’s say… 5 pm!

You sure are on top of these kinds of things...

Music: Beneath the Mask -Rain-

It seems we’ll continue to have localized torrential rainstorms all through next week. If you’re heading outside, be prepared for sudden changes in the weather.

I mean, they didn’t say anything about rain today...

You can only win if you buy a ticket! Tickets are on sale now until July 31st!

True, you’ll never win if you don’t buy a ticket… You want to try buying one?

Hell no.

That voice on the phone wasn’t Kawakami. Maybe you should ask for more details?

This is the head nurse at Aoyama Hospital, speaking on behalf of Kawakami-san.

What!?

Kawakami-san fainted and is currently hospitalized at our facility. Do you know our hospital’s address? Her room number is…

This isn’t good. Let’s head over there right away!

Wait a second. The nurse picked up the phone. Have we been directly calling Kawakami instead of the maid service this entire time? I guess that’d explain why she always was the one to pick up the phone, but it’s pretty weird. Also, the nurse knew our name, which means that Kawakami told her that we’d be calling. That’s not a plot hole, I just think it’s really sad that we’re the only person who might be calling her.

But thanks for coming all this way to visit me. Ugh, how could I collapse at a time like this? I really need to make some money… How am I going to make today’s payment…?

Music: Suspicion

Takase-san! You contacted the school…!?

Well, you weren’t answering your phone! And when I thought you finally answered, it was a nurse who told us you were here. It’s really an inconvenience for us when you miss a payment, you know.

Now, now, it’s not like she wanted to collapse… But our credit card payment is coming up soon, so we’ll need you to transfer the money.

I-I’m sorry...

These are Takase-kun’s guardians, the ones I mentioned the other day. They took care of him...

Who’s this…?

He’s one of my students. He came to visit me...

Messing around with another student, huh? Hahaha, you never learn, do you? Tsk, tsk… And after all you did to him...

I’m sorry...

So? When are you going to transfer the money?

I should be able to send it out tomorrow...

Stay out of this!

Don’t act so tough, kid. Our precious adoptive son, Taiki, died because of this woman. Honestly, she should’ve been fired.

That’s not...

And yet, she still doesn’t know her place… and she still continues to teach. We’re gonna need you to show some remorse for what you did to him… ...In a material and undeniable way!

...I understand. I will pay you… So…!

It’s not like we’re trying to extort you. But who was it that convinced Taiki to start studying when he needed to be working? The schoolwork on top of his part-time jobs overwhelmed him, which led him to that accident… Poor Taiki… It’s almost like he was murdered!

I’m really loving this scam you two got going here, especially the Mrs.’s role in it all. The man comes in all angry and forceful, and the lady contrasts with “care” and “understanding,” while piling on the guilt. Make no mistake, this is a practiced, confident shittiness.

So you no longer feel regret? In that case, perhaps we should sue the Board of Education… Or should we have a chat with your school? Either way, your days as a teacher would be over. Well, we’re looking forward to receiving your payment.

I guess transferring to our sister company is the only way…

One guess as to what this “sister company” does, ugh.

Why…? Why are you so interested in helping me? I’m not worth it...

I don’t know how the game managed to make the word “Meow” horrifically depressing but I’m here for it.

Music: Alleycat

...I’m so tired. All I really want is… a way to apologize to Takase-kun. So if his guardians demand money, then I just have to pay them...

Sorry, I’m not quite back to a hundred percent yet, so my thoughts are all over the place… ...I’m going to get some rest. I appreciate you coming to visit me today. ...It made me really happy.

I feel that Kawakami is starting to depend on me...

And now when we call Kawakami she’ll make us curry or infiltration tools! This seems kind of fucked considering how badly she was getting exploited in the previous scene!