History Fanfic / AYearToFillAnEmptyHome

** Both Takeshi and Chou learn to not just be {{Extreme Doormat}}s, but to stand their ground, speak their truth no matter what, help others, and take risks for the future, all to be strong for their son. This is in addition to the other skills and interests they cultivate throughout the year; Takeshi with solar energy, Chou with baking.

* EverythingsSparklyWithJewelry: Morita's pearl earrings and double-stringed pearl necklace are clear indications of her being a raging snob. After Chou manages to connect with her and change her worldview, she gifts her one of her pearl strings as a Christmas gift.

* ExtremeDoormat: At the start of the story, Takeshi and Chou are both like this (with Takeshi more as TheStoic and Chou more of a ShrinkingViolet), too passive to protest their son's arrest very strongly or defend him when others put him down as a delinquent. A lot of their year-long CharacterDevelopment is them [[GrewASpine overcoming this]].

* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler: For the entirety of Akira's probation, he was under the canon impression that his parents did this to him like everyone else in his life. So he founded the Phantom Thieves, risked his life multiple times throughout the year, and when his probation finally ended, he traveled back home with his friends resigned to a miserable year counting the days to return to Tokyo. As such, he is completely caught off guard when his parents welcome him home with open arms, and only finds out now that they had been mistaken about the details of the non-contact order and stayed away to keep him safe and out of jail. While they might've been misled, Akira is still rightfully distrustful since they never questioned the order for the entire year, which his parents admit to being too [[ExtremeDoormat passive and weak]] to do so.]]

* PlotParallel: This fic is this to Akira's own personal growth in ''Persona 5'', miles away in Tokyo. Just like their son, Takeshi and Chou start off the year as passive people just trying to stay out of trouble, and spend the year doing what they can to take up their time, finding new jobs, learning new skills, reading new books, growing as people, and even making their own pseudo-Confidants and helping them improve as well. They even get {{Friendship Trinket}}s from them as hallmarks of their growth. Also, [[spoiler: when Akira is arrested at the end of the year and the Kurusus fall into despair, it is the support of their Confidants that get them through their DarkestHour]].

* PoorCommunicationKills: [[spoiler: Due to a police officer who was either too judgmental or actively corrupt when he told the Kurusus about the non-contact order for their son's probation, Takeshi and Chou went the whole year believing that if they tried to contact Akira, his probation would be violated and he'd go jail, when in fact Akira wouldn't be punished at all if that happened. Moreover, they were too [[ExtremeDoormat passive]] to question, let alone protest the order and thus took it entirely at face value, and because they didn't manage to talk to Akira before he left, he spent the whole year thinking that they abandoned him.]]

* RewatchBonus: Throughout the year, the Kurusus encounter people whom they slowly form bonds over throughout the year and who give them [[FriendshipTrinket gifts]] at the end, mirroring the progression of a Confidant/Social Link. Once that's established, if one re-reads the story, they can count each scene with one of those characters (including the more antagonistic ones) and finds that there are 10 for each character, perfectly mirroring the [[RelationshipValues levels of progression]] for a Confidant.

* SharedFamilyQuirks: Watching how Takeshi and Chou handle their son's probation to Tokyo, with them taking on new jobs, learning new skills, making new friends/Confidants and even learn to stand up for what they believe in, you can very easily see where Akira gets his desire to do the same in Tokyo from.

* StartMyOwn: Takeshi and Fukuyama's job at Sato Electricians is none too pleasant, with their MeanBoss Sato having no respect for his workers and being all too eager to browbeat them if they screw up. They eventually decide to start their own electrician's company, with a focus in renewable, solar energy.

** The '''Pentacles''' suit represents wealth, career and vision. Fukuyama starts off as an ambitious upstart colleague of Takeshi's, whose desire to get promoted makes him impulsive and mistake-prone. After Takeshi saves his bacon from their boss, he starts listening to him more and learning from him, and in the end, the two of them make plans to start a new renewable energy company of their own.

* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: As Chou works at the bakery, she notices that her new boss Sachiko has some hangups with her children, considering how much she talks about children disappointing their parents. Indeed, when Sachiko's son Hayami shows up for a surprise visit, it's revealed that she has issues with him following his wife to Tokyo instead of helping her with the bakery, and a later conversation with Hayami reveals that he shares some of the same concerns. Chou does her level best to help mend that rift.

** Chou getting one of Morita's pearl necklaces at the end of the year is a reference to the conversation at the start of the year, where Takeshi's boss put him down for overtime and just told him to buy his wife jewellery with the extra money.

* CastHerd: With a bit of GeodesicCast included; Takeshi and Chou interact with each other at home, but each of them have their own social circles that generally don't intermingle. Moreover, they each have two pseudo-Confidants whom they help and learn from, one more initially antagonistic (Fukuyama and Morita), and one more neutral with ParentalIssues (Hana and Sachiko). The two circles only mix when [[spoiler: they're all helping support the Kurusus through the news of their son's remand to juvenile detention]].

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: When Akira returns home alongside his friends, [[spoiler: Makoto points out that the non-contact order of his probation would only punish the contacters and not Akira himself, meaning that the Kurusus could've remained in contact with their son for the entire year if they'd been willing to take the consequences - which they would've done so in a heartbeat. Moreover, they would've found this out [[PoorCommunicationKills if they'd just made the effort to contact him or question the order]], but because they were too [[ExtremeDoormat weak-willed]] to do so, they kept away from Akira to avoid putting him in prison and thus made him think that they'd abandoned him]].

** One good thing about Akira's parents being LockedOutOfTheLoop means that they don't worry too much when they read about [[spoiler: the Phantom Thieves' leader's suicide]]. It still gives Chou an awful feeling, wondering if [[spoiler:the deceased]] had any family that would miss him.

* HypocriticalHumor: In the epilogue, Sojiro gets in contact with Takeshi and asks when the Kurusus will reach Tokyo, because Akira's friends are getting impatient. When Takeshi replies that they don't want to say goodbye yet, Sojiro remarks that the kids should know how that feels, since they were late returning Akira home the previous year because they didn't want to say goodbye yet either.

* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Hana's Confidant route is like this, starting off as a listless middle school girl trying to get away from her arguing parents and latching onto the Phantom Thieves as a means of escape. Her interactions with Takeshi eventually helps her obtain her goal in life - to be a light novel writer.
* DoomsdayClock: Inversion. After Akira is sent away, Chou makes a year-long wall calendar to count down the days until her son's probation is over and he can come home.

** Partway through the year, Takeshi and Chou agree that as a welcome-home present, they'd allow Akira to get a cat as a pet. When Akira does come home, Chou is elated to see that he already got one.
** One good thing about Akira's parents being LockedOutOfTheLoop means that they don't worry too much when they read about [[spoiler: the Phantom Thieves' leader's suicide]]. It still gives Chou an awful feeling.
** [[spoiler: Because of the non-contact order, Takeshi and Chou regretfully cut off all contact from Akira so that he wouldn't go to jail. In actual fact, nothing of the sort would happen to Akira, meaning that from his perspective, his parents abandoned him like all the rest.]]

* ExtremeDoormat: At the start of the story, Takeshi and Chou are both like this, too passive to protest their son's arrest very strongly or defend him when others put him down as a delinquent. A lot of their year-long CharacterDevelopment is them [[GrewASpine overcoming this]].
** In Takeshi's case, this is how his [[TheStoic stoicism]] is viewed by his boss, and he doesn't argue when his boss puts him down for overtime on a project that would force him to spend more time away from his wife, despite his inner monologue lamenting how he spent the days after his son was sent away acting as normal. However, things change from that point on, starting from when he stands up to his inexperienced, [[TheStarscream insubordinate]] assistant when it would've been easier just to let him run roughshod over him.

* FictionalDocument: Hana's fantasy light novel “Riko, the Black Witch of Pure Heart”, about a [[BadPowersGoodPeople young witch who uses the dark power of a demon to save the world]], that Takeshi encourages her to write over the year. Takeshi reads a chapter or two in-story (particularly the one where a character based on him shows up), and Hana gives him a printed copy at the end of the year.

** Fukuyama's gift to Takeshi is an electrician's hat with the logo of their new company, "True Power".
** Sachiko gives Chou a key to the Red Ribbon bakery, showing Chou how much she trusts her with her workplace.

* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: A more amicable version happens in Chapter 8. Chou started off the year being too terrified of SadistTeacher Morita to ever call her out on her actions, but the two of them eventually develop a mutual respect of each other with Chou becoming more willing to speak her mind. After one spirited discussion, Morita comments that Chou would never have said anything before Akira's arrest.

* PlotParallel: This fic is this to Akira's own personal growth in ''Persona 5'', miles away in Tokyo. Just like their son, Takeshi and Chou start off the year as passive people just trying to stay out of trouble, and spend the year doing what they can to take up their time, finding new jobs, learning new skills, reading new books, growing as people, and even making their own pseudo-Confidants and helping them improve as well. They even get {{Friendship Trinket}}s from them as hallmarks of their growth. Also, [[spoiler: when Akira is arrested at the end of the year and the Kurusus fall into despair, it is the support of their Confidants that gets them through their DarkestHour]].

* SaveTheVillain: For the first part of the year, Takeshi has to manage the ambitions of his insubordinate assistant Fukuyama on a new project, who wanted to get him fired and himself promoted. But when Fukuyama makes a mistake and gets in hot water with their MeanBoss, Takeshi threatens to quit if their boss doesn't stop yelling at Fukuyama, defusing the situation.
* SharedFamilyQuirks: Watching how Takeshi and Chou handle their son's probation to Tokyo, with them taking on new jobs, learning new skills, making new friends/Confidants and even learn to stand up for what they believe in, you can very easily see where Akira got his desire to do the same in Tokyo from.

* TurnTheOtherCheek: Even after snapping and upbraiding Morita in public, Chou still doesn't want there to be any misunderstandings between them, so she bakes Morita a cake and sends it with a clarifying letter, offers to help Morita with a problem with her students even after Morita accuses her of causing it, and even tries to help clean Morita's house after it's vandalized.

* {{Unishment}}: After [[SadistTeacher Morita]] finds out that a student of hers had vandalized her house with a Phantom Thief sigil, she decides to expel him in lieu of pressing charges since he confessed willingly. However, the boy smiles at that news since it means he won't be under her pressure any more, [[HeelRealization which gets Morita to take another uncomfortable look at herself]].

* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: As Chou works at the bakery, she notices that her new boss Sachiko has some hangups with her children, considering how much she talks about children disappointing their parents. Indeed, when Sachiko's son Hayami shows up for a surprise visit, it's revealed that she has issues with him following his wife to Tokyo instead of helping her with the bakery, and a later conversation with Hayami reveals that he shares some of the same concerns. Chou does her level best to help mend that rift.

* DarkestHour: [[spoiler: After an entire year of self-improvement and anxious waiting for their son to come home, [[AllForNothing the news of Akira's arrest comes in and drives both his parents into despair]] (on [[CrappyHolidays Christmas]] no less). They relapse into their old coping habits and stop checking days off the countdown calendar.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Or in this case, “My God, What ''Didn't'' I Do?” Chou almost has a HeroicBSOD when she hears [[spoiler: Makoto pointing out that they had gotten the details of the non-contact order wrong and that they could've contacted Akira at any point in the year without risk of putting him in prison, and from her son's perspective, his parents had abandoned him out of pure selfishness]].

** Later on, while trying to figure out why some students are withdrawing from Morita's cram school, Chou runs into a parent who tells her that the Kurusus' actions in handling Akira's arrest were the reason they decided to put their son's happiness above his studies, and allow him to withdraw from the cram school rather than stressing him out under the pressure.

* UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming: In the first chapter, the {{Jerkass}} cop explaining the conditions of Akira's probation not-so-subtly suggests that his parents' behavior had some influence in him committing a crime, and uses it as pretense on sending him to Tokyo to "remove him from bad influences". This, along with Chou and Takeshi's ExtremeDoormat personalities, has them taking the non-contact order at face-value and not contacting their son for a year. [[spoiler: It's later suggested that the officer may have been on Shido's payroll and misinformed them on purpose.]]

* BittersweetEnding: Subverted. Akira finally returns home, [[spoiler: after spending the drive with his friends and inadvertently derailing his parents' welcome-home celebration, but his [[ChillyReception reception is outright chilly]] because he spent the entire year thinking that his parents abandoned him, and it almost seems that their year apart has had irreparable effects]]. Luckily, a little cake and explanation helps clear things up.

* PlotParallel: This fic is this to Akira's own personal growth in ''Persona 5'', miles away in Tokyo. Just like their son, Takeshi and Chou start off the year as passive people just trying to stay out of trouble, and spend the year finding new jobs to take up their time, learning new skills, growing as people, and even making their own pseudo-Confidants and helping them improve as well, even getting Key Items from them as hallmarks of their growth. Also, [[spoiler: when Akira is arrested at the end of the year and the Kurusus fall into despair, it is the support of their Confidants that gets them through their DarkestHour]].

** The '''Pentacles''' suit represents wealth, career and vision. Fukuyama starts off as an ambitious upstart colleague of Takeshi's, whose desire to get promoted makes him impulsive and mistake-prone. After Takeshi saves his bacon from their boss, he starts listening to him more and learning from him, and in the end, the two of them make plans to start a new renewable energy company of their own. His Key Item is a "True Power" electrician's hat with the logo of their new company.
** The '''Cups''' suit represents creativity, emotion and relationships. Sachiko is a baker who's extremely passionate about her craft, but the fact that her family doesn't share her passion has strained their relationship. After Chou sees how much of a community her bakery has built up, she encourages Sachiko's family to patch things up to repay the favor, allowing her to appreciate ThePowerOfFamily more. Her Key Item is the key to the Red Ribbon bakery, showing Chou how much she trusts her with her workplace.
** The '''Wands''' suit represents passion, motivation and determination. Hana starts off as a listless middle schooler who keeps following Takeshi home to get away from her argumentative parents, and buries herself in being a {{Fangirl}} of the Phantom Thieves. Takeshi gives her space in his home and encourages her to write a story before Akira returns as motivation to keep up with her studies, and her [[spoiler: witnessing Okumura's death on live TV]] is a jolt to her system that makes her decide to take control of her own life. By the end of the year, she's a driven girl who's found her passion of writing, and her Key Item to Takeshi is her completed light novel, “Riko, the Black Witch of Pure Heart”.
** The '''Swords''' suit represents conflict, intellect and communication. Morita starts off as the most antagonistic Confidant, being a SadistTeacher that constantly belittles Chou and her son's mediocrity. Chou finally standing up to her and arguing her viewpoint eventually makes Morita revise her outlook and rediscover her dream of supporting talented youths, and the two of them become friends who often debate teaching styles. As a Christmas gift, Morita takes half of her iconic double-stringed pearl necklace and gifts it to Chou as her Key Item.

* VictorySex: Double subverted by one day. After getting the news [[spoiler: from Nijima Sae that Akira's name and record have been cleared]] and he'll be home on time, Takeshi and Chou are so ecstatic that their SmoochOfVictory leads them right to their bed, but they stop before they end up giving Akira a little sibling.

** Morita undergoes a full on HeelFaceTurn, turning from a SadistTeacher obsessed with rewarding the smart and demeaning the mediocre and lower to an educator who rewards the improvement of all and who has rediscovered her dream of true meritocracy.

* EverythingsSparklyWithJewelry: Morita's pearl earrings and double-stringed pearl necklace are clear indications of her being a raging snob. After Chou manages to connect with her and change her worldview, she gifts her one string of pearls as a Christmas gift.

* ExtremeDoormat: At the start of the story, Takeshi and Chou are both like this, too passive to protest their son's arrest very strongly, defend him when others put him down as a delinquent, or, in the case of [[TheStoic Takeshi]], argue when his boss puts him down for overtime on a project that would force him to spend more time away from his wife. A lot of their year-long CharacterDevelopment is them [[GrewASpine overcoming this]].

* TheStarscream: Fukuyama starts off like this as a project assistant to Takeshi, trying to get him fired and himself promoted. His ambition causes him to do things like speak to the builders before Takeshi, always try to gets the last word in, and buying materials without consulting with Takeshi first… [[PrideBeforeAFall which comes back to bite him]].

** Partway through the year, Takeshi and Chou agree that as a welcome-home present, they'd allow Akira to get a cat as a pet. When Akira does come home, Chou is elated to find out that he already got one.

* FictionalDocument: Hana's fantasy light novel, about a [[BadPowersGoodPeople young witch who uses the dark power of a demon to save the world]], that Takeshi encourages her to write over the year. Takeshi reads a chapter or two in-story (particularly the one where a character based on him shows up), and Hana gives him a printed copy at the end of the year.

* GrewASpine: This is a major part of both Takeshi and Chou's CharacterDevelopment; becoming more willing to speak their mind and stand their ground for what they believe in.

* HeelRealization: [[SadistTeacher Morita]] has a couple of these that make her realize how her meritocratic ideals warped into contempt for mediocrity and mistreatment of her students; first when a student who vandalized her house is [[{{Unishment}} pleased when she expels him from her cram school]], and second when she looks on the Phan-site and sees how many requests there were for them to change her heart.

* InJoke: As Futaba reads Hana's light novel about a witch bonded to a demon and using its power to save the world to her friends, all of them smile and laugh like the subject matter resonates with them for some reason.

** Just like the Sayuri getting put up in Leblanc, a painting meaningful to Yusuke ends up in a place meaningful to Akira - when at the story's end, Yusuke's "Desire and Hope" painting gets put up in the Kurusu's home in place of the old countdown calendar.

* TheParagon: In their strive to be strong and improve themselves for their son, Takeshi and Chou find themselves having a positive influence on others, both friend and enemy.

* ParentsAsPeople: Takeshi and Chou are unquestionably GoodParents and love their son completely and unconditionally, but their [[ExtremeDoormat passivity]] causes some issues throughout the story, [[spoiler: including their son Akira thinking that they abandoned him when they didn't look into the details of the non-contact order]]. [[CharacterDevelopment This changes over the story]].

* ParentalNeglect: Hana's parents spend more time arguing and screaming at each other than paying attention to their daughter, leading her to find other places to go and other things to do just to get away from it all. She even starts sleeping at the Kurusus' home when things get too awful. [[spoiler: Things finally change at the end of the year (possibly due to Yaldabaoth's defeat) - they finally decide to go for marriage counselling and resolve things, one way or the other.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: One random encounter in public with [[SadistTeacher Morita]] and her once again putting down her son as nothing more than a mediocre delinquent with few future prospects is finally more [[BewareTheQuietOnes than Chou can take]], and she lets Morita ''have it''.

** The '''Wands''' suit represents passion, motivation and determination. Hana started off as a listless middle schooler who kept following Takeshi home to get away from her argumentative parents, and burying herself in being a {{Fangirl}} of the Phantom Thieves. Takeshi gives her space in his home and encourages her to write a story before Akira returns as motivation to keep up with her studies, and her [[spoiler: witnessing Okumura's death on live TV]] is a jolt to her system that makes her decide to take control of her own life. By the end of the year, she's a driven girl who's found her passion of writing, and her Key Item to Takeshi is her completed light novel, “Riko, the Black Witch of Pure Heart”.

* WellDoneDadGuy: For almost the entire year, the mantra that practically gets Takeshi and Chou out of bed in the morning is, “You need to be strong for Akira.” [[spoiler: When Akira finally returns home, his initial ChillyReception at the perceived abandonment nearly breaks his mother's heart.]]

* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: As Chou works at the bakery and interacts with Sachiko, she starts to get the feeling that she has her own hangups with her children, considering how much she talks about children disappointing their parents. Indeed, when Sachiko's son Hayami shows up for a surprise visit, it's revealed that she has issues with him following his wife to Tokyo instead of helping her with the bakery, and a later conversation with Hayami reveals he shares some of the same concerns. Chou does her level best to help mend that rift.

** When Chou hears that Takeshi's boss has put him down for an overtime project (meaning he'll spend less time at their already emptier home) and Takeshi mentions his boss's suggestion of buying her jewellery to make up for it, Chou replies that if she wanted jewellery, she'd get a job herself to earn it. When she thinks on it later, she decides that a part-time job would be good to take up her time.

* AnimalMotifs: Takeshi and Chou frequently compare Akira to a chameleon, with his habits of always wanting to do what other people were doing, and changing his behaviour to match them. When their son finally comes home after a year, Chou compares him to a rainbow from being surrounded by so many good and colorful friends.

* BookEnds: The Kurusus start the year trying to come to terms with their son being put on probation and sent away, with Takeshi going to work on autopilot while Chou dwells and falls to pieces at home with nothing to do. [[spoiler: The end of the year has the Kurusus trying to manage their grief of Akira being arrested and sent to juvie, but their friends helping them do so in more productive ways: Fukuyama telling Takeshi to go home and process, and Sachiko encouraging Chou to keep herself busy at the bakery]].

* CastHerd: With a bit of GeodesicCast included; Takeshi and Chou interact with each other at home, but each of them have their own social circles that generally don't intermingle. Moreover, they each have two pseudo-Confidants whom they help and learn from, one more initially antagonistic (Fukuyama and Morita), and one more neutral (Hana and Sachiko). The two circles only mix when [[spoiler: they're all helping support the Kurusus through the news of their son's remand to juvenile detention]].

** The brusque Sachiko, after a day with her family to clear the air, understands that she's been letting her love of baking drive a wedge between her and her family, and decides to step away from it more often and entrust more days to Chou.

* ExtremeDoormat: At the start of the story, Takeshi and Chou are both like this, too passive to protest their son's arrest very strongly, defend him when others put him down as a delinquent, or, in the case of Takeshi, argue when his boss puts him down for overtime on a project that would force him to spend more time away from his wife. A lot of their CharacterDevelopment is them [[GrewASpine overcoming this]].
** Chou even admits as much when [[spoiler: it's revealed that they could've contacted Akira without him being punished (they were mistaken about the specifics or directly misled) and Akira [[CallingTheOldManOut calls them out]] on not protesting harder]] - that they were weak at the start of the year and took what they were told at face-value.

* GrewASpine: This is a major part of both Takeshi and Chou's character development; becoming more willing to speak their mind and stand their ground for what they believe in.

* HappinessInMinimumWage: Not even minimum wage; the Red Ribbon bakery doesn't get enough customers to pay for even part-time work, but Chou doesn't mind. She takes the job because she can't stay at home to do nothing all day, and she eventually grows to enjoy her new baking skills, the air of community around it, and her boss, Sachiko.

* NowLetMeCarryYou: [[spoiler: After Takeshi and Chou are floored by the message at [[CrappyHolidays Christmas]] about their son's arrest, their friends immediately organize to help them through the days, by cooking, cleaning, keeping them company, and even keeping up Takeshi's paycheck.]] Morita's statement says it all:

** This is what encourages Chou to find Sachiko's son Hayami and encourage them to repair their strained relationship, because she wants to repay Sachiko for giving her that sense of community, and she doesn't want to see another family torn apart.

** The '''Wands''' suit represents passion, motivation and determination. Hana started off as a listless middle schooler who kept following Takeshi home to get away from her argumentative parents, and burying herself in being a {{Fangirl}} of the Phantom Thieves. Takeshi encourages her to write a full story before Akira returns as motivation to keep up with her studies, and [[spoiler: witnessing Okumura's death on live TV]] is a jolt to her system that makes her decide to take control of her own life. By the end of the year, she's a driven girl who's found her passion of writing, and her Key Item to Takeshi is her completed light novel, “Riko, the Black Witch of Pure Heart”.

* ActuallyAGoodIdea: When Chou hears that Takeshi's boss has put him down for an overtime project (meaning he'll spend less time at their already emptier home) and Takeshi mentions his boss's suggestion of buying her jewellery to make up for it, Chou replies that if she wanted jewellery, she'd get a job herself to earn it. When she thinks on it later, she decides that a part-time job would be good to take up her time.

* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler: When Akira gets home, he confronts his parents on why they abandoned him for the year (they were under the mistaken impression that his non-contact order would punish ''him'' instead of them - a fact that Makoto realized instantly after being told the story). His second question to them in a year is an ArmorPiercingQuestion all on its own:]]

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: When Akira returns home alongside his friends, [[spoiler: Makoto points out that the non-contact order of his probation would only punish the contacters and not Akira himself, meaning that the Kurusus could've remained in contact with Akira for the entire year if they'd been willing to take the consequences - which, considering their motivations to improve for their son, they would've done so in a heartbeat. Moreover, they would've found this out if they'd just made the effort to contact him or question the order, but because they were too [[ExtremeDoormat weak-willed]] to do so, they kept away from Akira to avoid putting him in prison and thus made him think that they'd abandoned him]].
* DarkestHour: [[spoiler: After an entire year of self-improvement and anxious waiting for their son to come home, [[AllForNothing the news of Akira's arrest comes in and drives both his parents into despair]]. They relapse into their old coping habits and stop checking days off the countdown calendar.]]
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Hana's Confidant route is like this, starting off as a listless high school girl trying to get away from her arguing parents and latching onto the Phantom Thieves as a means of escape. Her interactions with Takeshi eventually helps her obtain her goal in life - to be a light novel writer.

** [[spoiler: Takeshi and Chou apparently misinterpreted Akira's non-contact order (possibly deliberately by the [[{{Jerkass}} contemptuous]] officer who explained it), wrongly believing that trying to contact their son would break his parole and send him straight to jail, when in fact it would've been them who got punished and not Akira. This means, from Akira's perspective, his parents cut off all contact from him because ''they'' were afraid to go to jail, abandoning him like all the rest.]]

* EvilIsPetty: When it's revealed that [[spoiler: the Kurusus were maybe deliberately misled into believing that trying to contact Akira would be a violation of his non-contact order and send him to jail, Akira's friends suggest that someone had enough influence to get the local cops to lie to them, all in a further attempt to isolate Akira]].

* FirstNameBasis: After they finalize their plans to found a new renewable energy company, Fukuyama asks Takeshi to call him by his first name, Jun, an act that Takeshi reciprocates.

* GraffitiOfTheResistance: Midway through the story, Chou sees that [[SadistTeacher Morita's]] house has been vandalized with a symbol of the Phantom Thieves, and she decides to help clean it off.

* HanlonsRazor: [[spoiler: In a case of DramaticIrony, Akira thinks that his parents abandoned him to his probation for the whole year and never bothered to contact him, when actually they were just mistaken on the specifics of his non-contact order; specifically thinking that if they tried contacting him, ''he'd'' go to jail. If there was any actual malice involved, the other Thieves suggest that it might've been officers on Shido's payroll who deliberately misinformed them.]]

* HeelRealization: [[SadistTeacher Morita]] has a couple of these that make her realize how her meritocratic ideals warped into contempt for mediocrity and mistreatment of her students; first when a student who vandalized her house is pleased when she expels him from her cram school, and second when she looks on the Phan-site and sees how many requests there were for them to change her heart.

* MeanBoss: Sota/Sato, Takeshi's boss at Sato Electricians. He's completely unsympathetic to his employee's family matters, writes off Akira as an irredeemable delinquent without a second thought, [[GotVolunteered puts Takeshi down for overtime on a big project without asking him first]], and when one of his other employees screws up, he browbeats him mercilessly and doesn't stop until Takeshi intervenes.

** Chou's name means “Butterfly”, which shows in her overall cheerfulness and how, although she starts off passive and delicate, is able to brighten up everyone's day. It might also be a reference to the overall butterfly motif of the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series as a whole.

* MoodWhiplash: In Chapter 7, Takeshi is busy reading through Hana's light novel, when all of a sudden, Hana panics because [[spoiler: she just witnessed Okumura's death in the middle of his public confession]].

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Or in this case, “My God, What ''Didn't'' I Do?” Chou almost has a HeroicBSOD when [[spoiler: Makoto clarifies that Akira's non-contact order would only punish the contacter for trying to contact him and not Akira himself, meaning that they could've contacted him at any point in the year without risk of putting him in prison, and from Akira's perspective, his parents had abandoned him out of pure selfishness]].
* NowLetMeCarryYou: [[spoiler: After Takeshi and Chou are floored by the message at New Year's about their son's arrest, their friends immediately organize to help them through the days, by cooking, cleaning, keeping them company, and even keeping up Takeshi's paycheck.]] Morita's statement says it all:

* ParentsAsPeople: Takeshi and Chou are unquestionably GoodParents and love their son completely, but their [[ExtremeDoormat passivity]] causes some issues throughout the story, [[spoiler: including their son Akira thinking that they abandoned him when they didn't look into the details of the non-contact order]]. [[CharacterDevelopment This changes over the story]].
* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler: For the entirety of Akira's probation, he was under the canon impression that his parents did this to him like everyone else in his life. So he founded the Phantom Thieves, risked his life multiple times throughout the year, and when his probation finally ended, he traveled back home with his friends resigned to a miserable year counting the days to return to Tokyo. As such, he is completely caught off guard when his parents welcome him home with open arms, and only finds out now that they were laboring under the mistaken impression that if they contacted him, his non-contact order would've been violated and ''he'' would've been punished, thus they stayed away for his own sake. While they might've been misled, Akira is still rightfully distrustful since they never questioned the order for the entire year, which his parents admit to being too [[ExtremeDoormat passive and weak]] to do so.]]

* SpottingTheThread: The moment Makoto hears about [[spoiler: the non-contact order that kept Takeshi and Chou from contacting their son through the entire year for fear of sending him to jail]], she points out that [[spoiler: violating a non-contact order like that would only punish the person making contact, not the person being contacted]]. This puts Chou into a HeroicBSOD when she realizes that [[spoiler: her reasons for cutting herself off from her son all year were completely invalid. The other Thieves surmise that the cop who told her about the non-contact order may have lied about the details.]]

* TheStoic: Takeshi is often teased by his wife for being too stoic for his own good, which causes his work colleagues to view him as an ExtremeDoormat, or “a cog of the strong” as his boss puts it.

** The '''Pentacles''' suit represents wealth, career and vision. Fukuyama starts off as an ambitious upstart at Takeshi's electrical company whose desire to get promoted makes him impulsive and mistake-prone. After Takeshi saves his bacon from their boss, he starts listening to him more and learning from him, and in the end, the two of them make plans to start a new renewable energy company of their own. His Key Item is a "True Power" electrician's hat with the logo of their new company.

** The '''Wands''' suit represents passion, motivation and determination. Hana started off as a listless high schooler who kept following Takeshi home to get away from her argumentative parents, and burying herself in being a {{Fangirl}} of the Phantom Thieves. Takeshi encourages her to write a full story before Akira returns as motivation to keep up with her studies, and [[spoiler: witnessing Okumura's death on live TV]] is a jolt to her system that makes her decide to take control of her own life. By the end of the year, she's a driven girl who's found her passion of writing, and her Key Item to Takeshi is her completed light novel, “Riko, the Black Witch of True Heart”.

* HanlonsRazor: [[spoiler: In a case of DramaticIrony, Akira thinks that his parents abandoned him to his probation for the whole year and never bothered to contact him, when actually they were just mistaken on the specifics of his non-contact order; specifically thinking that if they tried contacting him, he'd go to jail. If there was any actual malice involved, the other Thieves suggest that it might've been officers on Shido's payroll who deliberately misinformed them.]]

** Takeshi's name means “Strength”, and his nature as TheStoic means that he is the rock for his family. Fukuyama takes some liberties with this meaning and the meaning of his own name (“Truth”) when he coins the new name of their electrician company, “True Power”.