Persona: The Beautiful

With Fusion votes, since they can be made almost anytime, I'd probably say we need about four people (may raise or lower this number) to vote on the same Fusion before it can happen.

Also, I wanted to go into S. Link Benefits a little ('Confidant' I feel is a term that's more P5-specific), I haven't talked about them much since they would be easier to implement in a game than in interactive fiction. Already said that the All-Aces Social Links open up more of their Empires, but with the others you have so far:

• Magician - Reina would give you access to specific armour sets, which her fashions would translate to on the Gameboard, along with Etiquette boosts.
• Priestess - Similar to Sadayo, gives you free time and lets you recover fatigue in class.
• Edit: Fortune - Similar to Hifumi with Tactical stuff, also Social and Cognitive boosts depending the character you create.
• Justice - Keiko's basically meant to be your conscience and tether, so may grant SP boosts like the Councillor S. Link.
• Death - Compendium and the Lockdown equivalent gets cheaper, also more of the Bonus DungeonGalactic Empire is unlocked.
• Temperance - Er, wasn't sure about Megumi at first, but maybe they could get you cool stuff back from college, or help you get into adults-only spaces.
• Tower - Basic Velvet Room stuff like more Persona capacity and special Fusions, also some navigational stuff like Futaba.
• Star - Hmm, this was the hardest to figure out, probably money-related stuff, although they're not exactly loaded, or maybe they could give you decorations as presents. Then again, you don't really need a benefit to talk to your parents... right?
• Moon - SP-recovering teas, also some Skill Card stuff when she brings out Tarot.

Out of the remaining S. Links, I'll just say you've already met the Lovers, Fortune, one of the possible Hanged Men and both Sun Links, and of course Emperor and Hierophant are the only All-Aces Links not started yet (Judgment, as you may expect, is kind of a weird one in this regard).

Edit: Think that leaves Hermit as the only S. Link you haven't met yet, fittingly enough, oh and also bonus one that'll be either Councillor or Apostle.

So slight error here, in that PA2's initial votes ended up not being counted by tally, since it only counts your last post's vote. However, his votes would've further secured the Nightshade vote's win and wouldn't have pushed Jester to the top, so the results end up the same.

(QM's Note: Little warning before we start, this chapter gets a little more, er, Mature-rated, especially halfway through, although nothing worse than what was tackled early on in Persona 5.
Also, there's a rough equivalent to Kamen Rider in Persona already, Zephyrman in P5 Strikers, but eh I feel he's kind of a stretch from KR.)

[X] "I'm feeling more and more like a marionette these days"
[X] "You do seem a lot happier, a lot more comfortable with yourself..."

---

"Haha, knew you'd come around," Nightshade grinned, before leaning in closer and saying, "Seriously though, if you tell anyone at school about this," she then mimed a finger across the throat.

"Ah, but interacting with fans bores me," she moaned, "I am overdue back on for an encore, don't want the crowd to tear this entire place down in frustration, after all. Grr, still stuck using backing tracks though, I really need to get a backing band together, but I can't ask any of my schoolmates".

It was then Colette stood up, "You can ask this schoolmate, I'm a great appreciator of music, from Classical to Contemporary. Admittedly writing and sewing are more my specialties, but you could say that means I'm skilled with my hands, hmhm," she giggled.

"Er, I've barely touched an instrument, but still, being in a Visual Kei girl band sounds way cooler than teaching. So I don't mind," Ryouko stepped in, before she admitted, "Plus, guess I owe you for, y'know, exposing you earlier".

The three of them then turned to look at you, so you just said to Nightshade, "Er, could we talk in private, please?"
The two of you walked to the side, where you went in and whispered, "Don't know if you've forgotten, Ace of Hearts, but your unhinged clubmate is threatening to kill me this Monday. I don't exactly have time to be practicing music".

Nightshade however only beamed widely at that, saying "Okay babe, why don't we make a sisterly Soul Pact? You back me up on stage, and if Eitaro really does fricassee you, then I'll Duel him to avenge you".

That didn't quite convince you, "What, are you going to hit him with your mic? Challenge him to a dance-off?"

"You dare underestimate my Anastasia?" Nightshade haughtily chuckled, "Oh, and as for my weapon of choice, try a ball-and-chain and throwing axes".

"Wow, okay then. So ah, do the other Aces know about you being Nightshade?" you had to ask.

That made Nightshade pause to think, before she said "I haven't told them, but I'm worried some of them may've figured it out on their own. Plus, my Gameboard Regalia is, well, not very subtle about it. Did think to ask Melissa to join me, but she'd just try and make the whole thing about her, then rat me out if I ever told her to shut it. The Jacks should be totally clueless about me though.
Oh, and if you're getting ideas about that, sorry, can't promote you to Jack of Hearts, people would just ask about the specific connection," she said.

"Why? Can't you just say we're like, friends or something?" you asked.

"First, we've known each other like, a week, and second, being a personal Jack is more about than just being friends," she said as she licked her lips, "You're basically asking to become my slave, little Haruka" she ran a nail along your skin.

"Ah, so yeah, I'll join your band," you quickly finished the conversation, as Nightshade and you could already feel Colette and Ryouko starting to stare you.

"Okay yeah, encore time, gotta go," Nightshade said as she headed back to the stage, "I'll let you decide what instruments you're gonna pick, sounds like you're equally hopeless at most of them, really".


"Okay, so instruments. Right then..."

[ ] Yourself: Guitar, Colette: Bass, Ryouko: Drums.
[ ] Yourself: Guitar, Ryouko: Bass, Colette: Drums.
[ ] Colette: Guitar, Ryouko: Bass, Yourself: Drums
[ ] Colette: Guitar, Yourself: Bass, Ryouko: Drums.
[ ] Ryouko: Guitar, Yourself: Bass, Colette: Drums.
[ ] Ryouko: Guitar, Colette: Bass, Yourself: Drums.
[ ] Write-in.

---

Back in your apartment, you had to now deal with your teacher and your roommate making out in the doorway.

"Oh my God, I had such a great time tonight," Ryouko moaned, fingering the top of Megumi's blouse.

"Same," Megumi just smiled, holding Ryouko's hand and receiving her kiss.

Ew, gross gross grossgrossgross, was what you'd been thinking the whole time.
"Okay, freakin' break it up you two," you yelled out, pushing Tanizawa-sensei out of the door.

"Argh, seriously Haruka?" Ryouko complained as she thumped on your now locked door. "Ooh, I am so going to dock your grade for this, young lady!"

"Sheesh, did you really have to do that?" Megumi frowned at you, "I did get you into that nightclub, y'know. Besides, contrary to popular belief, it's not easy to find dates in college".

You sighed, "Look, if you want, you can totally see my teacher whenever. Just... not while I'm in the room, please," you whimpered.

Megumi just had to laugh, sidling up to you and saying, "You're not jealous, are you?"

You then sprang back "...Jealous? W-why would I be jealous?" you tried to smile.

"That an overworked college student like me can at least still get a date," Megumi smirked at you, "Well okay, it is your first week back after all, so maybe that's unfair. Still, only took one night for Ryouko to come home with me".

You stared at them, as you slowly sputtered out, "Oh come on, I can get totally get a date! My popularity at school's shot way up since I started hanging with the All-Aces!" It's gonna go up even further once I'm dead, high school tends to be like that. "I just, ah, haven't found the time, that's all".

"If you say so," Megumi muttered, before saying with a flick of their hair, "Take a little advice from the 'lovemeister' here though. Seek out common interests, 'cause if you can't find them, all your conversations are going to be non-starters. For example," they picked up a figurine, "You know Phoenix Rider, right? Way better than Featherman, I'd say. Point is, being a popular series for decades now, it can also serve as a good starting topic".

[+3 Perception, +1 Etiquette]

"Er, well I haven't really kept up with the show for years, but I get your point," you said, thinking a little, "I know from childhood that Yuya's a fan, and Keiko even more so. Though er, why'd you think it's better than Featherman?"

"Eh, there's always a bunch of Phoenix Rangers, but a Phoenix Rider is forced to stand alone. Being outside the gender binary, that really gets to you," Megumi began, but had to admit "Okay, that's more true for earlier seasons. But Phoenix Rider had a Season themed around friggin' Candy, has Featherman ever had a season about that?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that" you nod, "It was about a girl escaping from the cult that abducted her as a child".

"Ahem, yeah. Kinda think we've gone off-topic a bit though," Megumi said, before standing up off the couch, "Point is, Nakamura Haruka, I'm challenging you to a contest. Find a date by your mid-terms, end of this year at the very latest, or you'll have to, er, well I'll think of something later".

Heh, I might not even have that long, you thought as you slumped down.

- Temperance has Journeyed to Rank 2! -

They suddenly shut the door to your own bedroom. "For cutting off my make-out session with Ryouko though, you're sleeping on the couch tonight. Deal with it," Megumi said through the door.

"What the- Oh come on!" you called out, thumping on your own door but to no avail.

---

"Hey, you heard about this new gossip site Secret Lives of Students? There's some nasty stuff on there -"


"What? You mean there's a Maid and Butler as students here? Oh, they're Jacks, guess that explains it -"


"Ah Haruka, perfect timing," you were suddenly met at the school gates by Gakuto, all of people. A small crowd of students had even started to crowd around.

"What is it?" you muttered, "I'm not exactly flush with cash, if you still wanna sell info on Eitaro".

"Oh my no, I'm more than loaded, so no yen required," Gakuto smiled, before suddenly leading you behind a tree.
"In exchange for every little speck of dirt I have on our Ace of Swords, I have a more... specific request," his smiled stretched out to a wide, thin grin as he pushed up his glasses "Send nudes".

You would've immediately taken a step back, had you not been back up against a tree "-The Hell?!"

"Preferably of Himawari, although Melissa I wouldn't mind if possible, but I could settle for disrobed pictures of you. Not Kikuko though, I'm no daredevil, I don't wanna risk getting my testicles sliced off," he said, before noticing your pulsing glare, "Okay, I can see you're not convinced. Look, I'll sweeten the deal, send me regular pictures and I'll just edit them to make deepfake porn, how's that sound? ...What about upskirt shots then?"

Not holding back, you swiftly kicked him right in the groin. "Drop fucking dead, Gakuto!" you roared.

[+3 Resolve]

"Gyaaargh!" he groaned and whimpered, before he hissed at you "You're lucky I've declared myself neutral in this Duel, else I would've sold every scrap of info I could find on you to Eitaro for that!"
He started laughing like a hyena, saying "Whatever, I've got this whole Persona Game in the bag. I'll just pit everyone against each other, then swoop in and finish off the last, weakened contestant".

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," you snarled.

Walking back to the school door, those students started whispering amongst themselves, stuff like "Did, did she just seriously kick an All-Ace in the crotch?", then opposing views like "How dare she do that?" and "Wow, she's badass!"

---

Sitting in class, you could feel Tanizawa-sensei's eyes fixed on you, as she slowly said "Okay then, Little Miss Vag-Blocker, how 'bout a question?"

Jesus, did you have to bring that thing with Megumi up in front of class? you thought as you sweated.

"Which of the following is not an Agatha Christie novel?"
[ ] A Daughter's a Daughter
[ ] Hallowe'en Party
[ ] Poirot Investigates
[ ] The Clocks

You gave your answer, but she hardly seemed that impressed anyway. She did have to turn around to admit to you, "Good job standing up to Gakuto back there though. I had him in my class last year, guy was a douche back then too".
Well, that was something.

Being Saturday, you were off school fairly early, so took the opportunity to head down to the game store you'd been on the phone with, Tumbling Dice, to more formally apply for a job there.

It wasn't the best looking or most spacious store, and the musty green wallpaper wasn't the most stylish, but it still had a very decent collection of board and tabletop games all stacked up, at least a decent collection to your knowledge. The scaly, medieval framework along its window was a nice touch.

It was then you were approached by the star-badged Student Council President himself, Morikawa Hotaru.
"Great, you've found the place, I was beginning to worry. Come in, come in! Er, duties here mostly just revolve around stacking boxes, also recommending games to customers based on their preferences, but that's about it really" he said before sighing.

"Wow, that really was you on the phone then," you had to giggle, "So I wasn't talking to a surprisingly good voice impersonator".

Hotaru didn't know how to react to that, but just "Oh yeah, huh, cool. Anyway, what I really needed help with was finding another member for our gaming group, especially since Daisuke, well, you know".

You didn't say anything to that, but just nodded. Yeah, I know, you thought.

"And I'm glad you came Haruka. From everything I've heard, it sounds like you'd be prime player material. Like, I checked your social media profiles, basic employment requirement, and it sounds like you've already got quite the backstory," Hotaru grinned.

You remembered that little fanfic of you Azuma wrote, "Oh yeah," That.

"Of course, before all that, we of course have to decide what game we're playing" he said, ushering you into the store's darkened back room where two other guys were at sitting at a table. One fairly normal looking, with slippery black hair and a suit on, almost like he hadn't had time to change out of his salaryman clothes, and the other a foreigner with greasy red hair and freckles.

"Torashi, Damian," Hotaru introduced the two, "This here's Haruka, she's gonna be our new member, right?"

"Uh yeah, sure," you mumbled, "Why not?"

"Okay, hi. So, we've settled on Dragon Record, right?" Torashi went on to say.

"Dragon Record, really? Come on, there's more interesting stuff out there, like why not Atomspire?" Damian spoke up.

"Look, Dragon Record gets way more interesting if you go beyond the basic setting," Torashi argued.

"Er, okay, so..." Hotaru gulped, "As Game Master here, I've got the final say, but I'd be interested in what you think, Haruka, you are the newcomer here after all", he said as he took a pile of six games and dropped them on the table, "We're probably not gonna get much more than character creation done this afternoon though".

[ ] Dragon Record. Basic Fantasy setting, Elves, Dwarves, Warriors, Thieves, Mages. Makes sense for your first time.
[ ] Slime: The Genesis. Er, apparently you play as blob-people. Tragic and serious horror game though.
[ ] Atomspire. Hybrid fantasy setting with nuclear power in it, drawing just as much on 50s America and other Atomic Age stuff.
[ ] Loathcrypt. Much more low-powered, well the player characters are anyway, RPG about retaining sanity in the face of the indescribable.
[ ] Phoenix Ranger Featherman RPG. Title kinda says it all.
[ ] Tears from the Veil. You play as high-schoolers, wow, big change there, but you go around solving mysteries about weird machines in the countryside.
[ ] Write-in.