Fanfic / Dear Old Dad

Dear Old Dad is a Persona 5 Alternate Universe One-Shot Fic with a simple premise: all the Phantom Thieves of Hearts (minus Joker/Akira Kurusu and Morgana) are abandoned children of Masayoshi Shido, just like Goro Akechi.

Except Akechi only learns this right before the confrontation in Shido's Palace.

WARNING! This page and fic contain spoilers for Persona 5. You Have Been Warned.

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Dear Old Dad provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Shido is Ryuji's biological father here, and was emotionally abusive to the latter during the time he was married. Ryuji recalls trying to gain Shido's approval as a child, only to move on it once he realized Shido would never love him due to his inflated ego. He even notes that things "looked up" after Shido divorced his mother. By extension, Shido is this to the other Phantom Thieves (except for Joker and Morgana), having driven his daughter Futaba into becoming a suicidally-depressed Hikikomori to cover his own ass, and tried to kill them all like in canon.
  • Akechi was raised by the foster system as a child, but he has no love for his foster parents because they abused him. The Phantom Thieves decide to help him out by asking Akechi for his foster parents' names, intending to wreak vengeance on them for their terrible parenting on Akechi's behalf during their next Mementos visit.
  • And then there's Kunikazu Okumura, who pimped Haru's mother out to Shido in addition to his canon actions. Haru is so disgusted by her "father"'s actions that she forgives Akechi for killing him, and believes Kunikazu Okumura still would have abused her regardless of her connection to Shido.
• Adaptation Name Change: Ryuji's original surname is Shido, since he's Shido's biological son via marriage. It changed to Sakamoto since Shido was divorcing Ryuji's mother and wanted to keep his ties to Ryuji a secret.
• Adaptational Backstory Change:
  • Save for Morgana and Joker, all of the Phantom Thieves are Shido's children, whether by rape or by marriage. In particular, Ryuji's name was originally "Shido Ryuji", but changed his name to "Sakamoto Ryuji" since Shido agreed to divorce his mother on the condition that his son change his name and keep his heritage a secret.
  • Akechi was passed around child institutions as a child in canon, but here, he mentions many of his foster families were abusive to him.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Whereas canonically the Phantom Thieves are firmly against murder no matter how vile their targets are, here the Phantom Thieves are fully on board with killing Shido; Makoto outright acknowledges that what they're doing is murder, they just don't care at this point, and if anything thinks killing one person is offset by the countless people they've saved. Justified via the fact that, with the exceptions of Joker and Morgana, all of the Phantom Thieves are his bastard children, leaving them with heavy emotional baggage as a result of both his being their father and the crap he put their mothers through, giving them more than enough reason to make an exception to their no killing rule.
• Adaptational Karma: In the original game, Akechi, after his defeat by the Phantom Thieves, allows himself to hold off the scourge of shadows with no other punishment for his crimes. Here, Akechi still lets himself be arrested (though this time it's part of a plan the Phantom Thieves came up for him), except this time it sticks, and in addition, he has to stay far away from LeBlanc to avoid facing retribution from an angry Futaba (or her father Sojiro) for murdering Wakaba out of spite. This becomes retroactively applied in Persona 5 Royal, when he offers to be arrested in place of Joker in penance for his own sins, only to be mysteriously let out of prison later with no explanation given, with the entire thing being revealed to be part of a Lotus-Eater Machine Joker was put in.
• Adaptational Sexuality: Joker in canon only liked girls, with the option of being very conscientious about the girls he dates should the player go that route. Here, save for Morgana, he slept with all of the Phantom Thieves, male and female alike. However, this lands him in hot water with Makoto in light of the revelation that most of the Phanthom Thieves are half-siblings through Shido, causing Makoto to believe he committed Brother–Sister Incest with them.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • As vile as Shido was in canon, he was never shown to have attempted rape or sexual assault beyond the incident that got the Protagonist put on probation. Here he's an out-and-out Serial Rapist who ruined the lives of most of the Phantom Thieves' mothers, and was an abusive husband during the time he was married to Ryuji's mother. Akechi outright feels faint when he learns how much Shido literally and figuratively screwed everyone over, and does a Heel–Face Turn and Enemy Mine with his former teammates to kill him.
  • Yusuke and Haru were conceived as a result of Ichiryusai Madarame and Kunikazu Okumura, respectively, pimping their mothers out to Shido. Haru, in particular, is so disgusted by her "father's" actions that she completely forgives Akechi for killing him.
  • Canon Akechi's action of assassinating Wakaba was revealed here to be partially motivated by resentment of Futaba having a loving mother whereas he didn't. To his credit, Akechi comes to deeply regret his action, especially once he discovers Futaba is one of his half-sisters and killing her mother ruined her life in the same way his was.
• Archnemesis Dad: As in canon, Shido is the last human enemy the Phantom Thieves must face. Except this time around, the reasons behind it are much more personal, since almost all of the Phantom Thieves are Shido's biological children and have suffered through hell thanks to the absolutely horrendous things the man had done to their mothers.
• Badass Family: Retroactively: All the Phantom Thieves except Joker and Morgana turn out to be related to each other by dint of being Shido's children, making them half-siblings. This doesn't stop them from being the same capable fighting team they are in canon, and the fic ends with them about to kill Shido himself.
• Beyond Redemption: Whereas Shido was subjected to Brainwashing for the Greater Good by the Phantom Thieves in canon, Shido here is viewed as this by the Phantom Thieves because of the horrible things he did to their mothers, and how it affected themselves in various ways. Instead of redeeming him as part of their Thou Shalt Not Kill rule, they decide to just kill him in revenge.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Zigzagged — the Phantom Thieves have issues, but are all unambiguously decent people. Akechi and Shido are both parts of said family, however, and the latter in particular provides all of the "screwed up" part that is needed.
• Big "WHAT?!": Akechi's response to Yusuke's reveal that they're both related. It paves the way to the other Phantom Thieves (except Joker and Morgana) revealing their own connections to Shido and how they were each conceived.
• Black Comedy: Shido having Akechi as his bastard son who resents him due to his mother's suicide and his Parental Abandonment? Horrible. Every last member of the Phantom Thieves but Joker and Morgana (and legitimate but abandoned son Ryuji) being his bastard children? Darkly amusing.
• Blunt "Yes": Ryuji agrees that Akechi facing Futaba's wrath for killing her mother out of spite for losing his own mother was well-deserved.
• Brother–Sister Incest: What horrifies both Akechi and Makoto is the possibility of Joker being related to the Phantom Thieves through Shido, since that would mean he slept with all of his half-siblings (including Yusuke and Ryuji). Thankfully, Joker makes it explicitly clear that he isn't related to Shido because the man wasn't on the same continent when he was born, and they all double-checked just to make sure.
• Child by Rape: Every Phantom Thief except Joker, Morgana, and Ryuji (and maybe Akechi) was sired by Shido under circumstances of questionable or outright non-consent.
  • Yusuke and Haru were conceived after their mothers were pimped out to Shido by Ichiryusai Madarame and Kunikazu Okumura, respectively.
  • Futuba was conceived when Shido forced her mother, Wakaba Isshiki, to sleep with him under threat of sabotaging her research, or making her leave the cognitive psience division of research.
  • Ann was conceived via Date Rape — her mother had just started her model career and she took "skeevy" jobs like burlesque dancing just to make extra money. Shido offered her a drugged drink, and she doesn't remember anything other than waking up in a hotel room and finding out she was pregnant. Seeing Shido's face all over the TV is what triggered her memory and caused her to realize that Shido raped her. Fortunately, her husband — Ann's stepfather — was supportive and helped raise their illegitimate child.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Ryuji describes Joker as this. Given that he apparently slept with every single one of Shido's children (including Ryuji himself), he has a point.
  Ryuji: (on Joker) He's not a bad guy. Really helped us all out. Good leader in battle. And he never pushed us on the sex thing. But guy can't keep it in his pants to save his life.
• Cooldown Hug: Metaphorically at first, discovering that he has six half-siblings he never knew about shocked Akechi out of his initial fury. Then, Ryuji gives him a hug when he's told that Ryuji is Shido's "legitimate" son.
• Create Your Own Hero: Shido's actions ruined the lives of many women, but they also created the Phantom Thieves. This is also what ultimately does him in, as the Phantom Thieves opted to just kill him instead of changing his heart in light of what he had done.
• Cruel Mercy: Part of the conditions for letting Akechi join the Phantom Thieves in killing Shido is that he not set foot in LeBlanc ever again, unless he wants to take full responsibility for Futaba or Sojiro deciding to go through with killing him, and that he takes the heat for all the actions of the Phantom Thieves, including sole responsibility for Shido's murder. This way he can get his revenge like the others, but then will have to live with the consequences of his actions and beyond.
• Date Rape: How Ann was conceived. Shido gave Ann's mother a drugged drink after a burlesque dance performance, and she would wake up in a hotel room with no memory of what happened the night before. She would later discover she's pregnant, and seeing Shido's face on TV is what causes her to remember and realize that Shido raped her.
• Death by Adaptation: It's not done onscreen, but the Phantom Thieves, after discovering that Shido is the mutual father to most of them, have resolved to just kill Shido rather than change his heart. Makoto even flat out admits that they know it's murder, they just don't care.
• Death Glare: Happens twice.
  • When Joker starts laughing at Akechi's reveal of being Shido's bastard son, all the Phantom Thieves start glaring at him, shutting him up.
  • Later, when Morgana makes a very snide comment about Ryuji's plan to talk Akechi out of his revenge gambit, the Phantom Thieves glare at him in response, shutting him up.
• Domestic Abuse: Shido treated Ryuji's mother like a Trophy Wife who's supposed to make his political career look good. He also cheated on her and abused her. Eventually she got fed up with the mistreatment and wanted a divorce. Shido agreed to it, provided she and her son Ryuji don't keep the family name or bring it up anywhere. Ryuji admits he's surprised Shido didn't try to have both him and his mother killed considering what he did to the other Phantom Thieves' mothers.
• Dramatic Gun Cock: Ryuji grabs his shotgun and cocks it in preparation for killing Shido at the end of the story.
• Dramatic Irony: The fic ends with the agreement that Akechi will take the heat for murdering Shido, and that in exchange he gets to join his half-siblings and Joker in their revenge killing of Shido, thinking it will be over with that. As anyone who played the game will know however, it's not, as Yaldabaoth is still a problem, and if anything is even more dangerous since they're actually killing Shido, making his job of turning the public against them all the easier.
• Dude, Not Funny!: When Akechi tells the Thieves that he's (also) Shido's son, Joker is left struggling not to laugh. Yusuke explains that it's Joker's way of reacting to shock, but nonetheless everyone is not amused.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Turns out Joker managed to sleep with all of Shido's kids, male and female alike, something Makoto is incredulous and furious about after Akechi reveals they slept together before the attempt on Joker's life.
• Evil Counterpart: Shido is this to Joker/Akira. Both are charismatic individuals, except Shido is a sociopathic Bad Boss with a ginormous ego outside of his generous public persona, while Joker is friends with the Phantom Thieves and is a criminal with a good heart. Shido had sex with numerous women and wasn't above ruining their lives without a shred of remorse, and was also an abusive husband to the one woman he was married to once upon a time. Joker is a Chivalrous Pervert who slept with all of the Phantom Thieves (except Morgana), but was a very considerate partner and never pressured them into sex.
• Forgiveness: Haru forgives Akechi for killing her stepfather, Kunikazu Okumura, because she believes the latter would still abuse her regardless of whether she's related to Shido or not. Futaba, on the other hand, doesn't forgive Akechi for killing her mother (and thus being indirectly responsible behind Shido's abuse of her) just because he decided to vent his own misery on someone else, and is openly in favor of killing him.
• Good Stepmother: Or more specifically step-father in the cases of characters with canonical fathers replaced by Shido, such as Ann and Makoto. Despite knowing their children were illegitimate bastards sired by Shido, the Phantom Thieves' canon fathers were completely understanding and raised them as their own. This does not include Haru, who rightly believes that regardless of her biological ties to him or Shido, Kunikazu Okumura still would have abused her either way.
• Hate Sink: Shido was a sociopathic bastard in canon, but here, he's responsible for pimping out, raping, and ruining the lives of many women, siring most of the Phantom Thieves out of wedlock. He was also an abusive husband to Ryuji's mother, the one woman he was married to, and regularly cheated on her when he wasn't treating her like a political prop. By the end of the story, all of the Phantom Thieves decide to just kill him instead of changing his heart, and even Akechi chose to side with the Phantom Thieves and go along with their proposed plan out of sheer disgust towards Shido's atrocities.
• Heroic Bastard: All Shido's children who were conceived by rape are all infinitely better people than him, including Akechi, and he makes a Heel–Face Turn.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Makoto's mother was kidnapped and brought to Shido to warn her husband against investigating the Yakuza he was connected to. It didn't work, but it led to Makoto's conception.
• Irony: Akechi bitterly lampshades how he previously assumed Joker to be his one true rival, when his actual rival should be Ryuji, who was conceived by Shido legitimately instead of being one of his bastard children.
  Akechi: So... all this time I thought Joker was my rival, you... the idiot brute were the legitimate one. The one he decided to keep. The one he didn't throw away like trash?
• It's Personal:
  • The Phantom Thieves are in the stages of Tranquil Fury, but at this point, all of them except Morgana has a very personal reason to hate Shido. And Morgana probably hates him on general principle.
  • Futaba understandably hates Akechi for being the reason behind her mother's death and is very openly in favor of killing him.
• Karmic Death: This is what's going to happen to Shido this time around. Instead of changing his heart like in canon, the Phantom Thieves opt to just kill him due to how they were conceived and how much they suffered at his hands, whether directly or indirectly.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Akechi receives this twice.
  • Futaba angrily rips Akechi a new one for killing her mother just because he felt like a "cursed child" and decided he should make others miserable for it. She even tells Akechi she's still in favor of killing him, and that he should be glad no one told Sojiro about what happened. Akechi admits he deserved that, and the otherwise sympathetic Ryuji agrees with him.
    Akechi: (bowing his head in shame) I deserved that.
    Ryuji: Yeah you kinda do.
  • Then there's the Phantom Thieves' plan for him — Akechi gets to help them kill Shido, which would give him his revenge as intended, but in exchange, he has to turn himself in to the police and take the blame for everything the Phantom Thieves did (including their murder of Shido) on top of facing time for the other murders he committed. Akechi also has to stay far away from LeBlanc lest he wants to get poisoned by either Futaba or her father Sojiro for killing Wakaba out of petty spite, and get therapy for his issues. Akechi's fate is pretty light all things considered, and the Phantom Thieves do sympathize with him to a degree, but his fate is also well-deserved given all the horrible things he did in canon (such as murdering innocent people for getting in the way of his revenge scheme and screwing over the Phantom Thieves).
  • Played for Laughs in regards to Joker; his sleeping with all the Phantom Thieves plus Akechi (except Morgana) gets him in hot water with Makoto in light of the revelation that most of them are half-siblings via Shido. While he genuinely didn't know and did some research to be sure that he isn't related to them, Joker's attempts to explain himself still get him into more trouble.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Everyone (aside from Joker and, obviously, Morgana), but of all people Ryuji turns out to be Shido's only legitimate child.
• Make an Example of Them: The circumstances that led to Makoto's conception; Shido arranged for her mother to be abducted and brought to him as a warning to her father, who was investigating some Yakuza he was connected with. It didn't work.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Here, save for Joker and Morgana, the Phantom Thieves are Akechi's half-siblings through Shido. The revelation (as well as how they were each conceived) is such a doozy for Akechi that he pulls a Heel–Face Turn.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Akechi is genuinely horrified when he realizes his murder of Wakaba Isshiki inflicted the exact same circumstances of his awful upbringing upon Futaba.
• No Sympathy: Futaba absolutely has no sympathy for Akechi's Dark and Troubled Past, because regardless of he went through, he still murdered her mother to vent his misery over losing his own.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Ryuji admits that he initially was a "Well Done, Son" Guy to Shido as well like Akechi is, and he uses this to help Akechi move past it.
• Patricide: The story ends with the Phantom Thieves choosing to kill Shido because of what he did to their mothers and the hell they suffered because of him, directly or indirectly. Makoto even acknowledges what they're doing is murder, but they don't care at this point.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Implied to be why Shido divorced Ryuji's mother instead of killing her like the other women he had affairs with. If he killed the woman he had a public marriage with, her murder would be tracked to him, ruining his political career and plans. Of course, this didn't stop him from doing worse things to the other Phantom Thieves' mothers.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: The story ends with one from Ryuji, as the Phantom Thieves prepare to kill Shido.
  Ryuji: Alright, then. (grabs his shotgun and cocks it) Who's ready for a family reunion?
• Related in the Adaptation: The fanfic makes Shido the father of most of the Phantom Thieves, whether through rape or marriage, in turn making them half-siblings. This makes Akechi, Shido's Dragon with an Agenda in canon, their half-brother as well.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: Haru is not Kunikazu Okumura's biological daughter here — she's the result of him pimping her mother out to Shido, making Kunikazu Okumura her stepfather instead.
• Serial Rapist: Shido is one, simply by virtue of having explicitly raped or sexually extorted at least six different women. This makes most of the Phantom Thieves his children by rape.
• Sexual Extortion: Shido forced Futaba's mother, Wakaba Isshiki, to sleep with him under threat of sabotaging her research, or making her leave the cognitive psience division of research.
• A Shared Suffering: What got Akechi to pull a Heel–Face Turn and drop his poorly-thought-out revenge scheme was discovering most of the Phantom Thieves were Shido's children, and that they suffered at his hands both directly and indirectly. Ryuji in particular is Shido's only legitimate child, with his situation being the most similar to Akechi's, and thus became the one who successfully snaps Akechi out of it.
• The Sociopath: As in canon, Shido is this. While projecting a generous front towards the public, he actually sees himself as the only person worthy of leading Japan, looks down on everyone else (including his subordinates), uses and disposes of people like tissue paper, and refuses to accept responsibility for anything that might hold him back from his goal. Here, he was a Domestic Abuser to his ex-wife, Ryuji's mother, and ruined the lives of many other women — siring most of the Phantom Thieves through them — without a shred of remorse. Ryuji even compares trying to get Shido's approval to "trying to fill a barrel without a bottom", as Shido is so self-absorbed that he considers anything that wasn't done by him to be trash.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Akechi survives as part of the Thieves' plan for him to take the fall for killing Shido.
• Taking the Heat: The Phantom Thieves originally planned on killing Shido and letting the conspiracy blame Akechi for it. After learning that Akechi is also Shido's son though, while they, sans Futaba, feel some sympathy for him, he still fucked them over severely and killed a lot of people in his ill-conceived revenge scheme. So, they work it out with Akechi on what's gonna happen: in exchange for not going after Akechi, they'll include him in their murder of Shido, but Akechi will willingly turn himself in afterwards, taking the blame for not just his murder, but also the actions of the Phantom Thieves and all the other murders he committed. After he serves his sentence, he's not to go anywhere near LeBlanc lest he want to get poisoned by Futaba or Sojiro, and has to get therapy for his issues. Joker also wants the names of the foster parents Akechi got saddled with to target them in Mementos.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Futaba is very displeased over letting Akechi join the Phantom Thieves in killing Shido and being talked out of either killing him herself or letting her father Sojiro poison him. It's justified because Akechi murdered her mother, Wakaba Isshiki, for extremely petty reasons. To mollify Futaba, the Phantom Thieves tell Akechi to stay far away from LeBlanc lest he face Futaba and Sojiro's wrath for what he did.
• Trophy Wife: Shido expected Ryuji's mother to be, in Ryuji's words, "a good obedient housewife that made for a good political prop". Their marriage quickly fell apart thanks to Shido's philandering and abuse, and Ryuji's mother got fed up and wanted a divorce. Shido agreed to it on the condition that she and their son don't keep the family name or bring it up anywhere.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Deconstructed. This initially served as a greater part of Akechi's revenge plan against Shido, as was in canon, but hearing about the horrendous things Shido did to the mothers of the Phantom Thieves pushed him to pull a Heel–Face Turn in disgust. To Akechi's surprise, Ryuji also had the same issue as a kid due to being Shido's son by marriage, but realized and accepted long ago that getting his father's approval wasn't worth it. Ryuji sums it up thusly:
  Ryuji: It's not about you or me, Akechi. It's about him. Trying to get his approval is like trying to fill a barrel without a bottom. Don't matter how much work you put in, it's broken. I brought the guy pretty drawings of him and tried to get top marks in school, you killed a bunch of folks and tried to make him the most powerful man of Japan. It's got about as much chance to make this guy approve of something someone else did! If it's not done by Shido, it's trash. If you did a good thing, it's because you followed his orders, hurray for Shido, if things go fucked, then you're a stupid useless idiot who should have never been born. Am I wrong?
• What the Hell, Hero?: Makoto is furious with Joker because of the possibility of him being related to the Phantom Thieves (he isn't) in light of most of them being half-siblings, which in hindsight would have made their flings with him Brother–Sister Incest. Not to mention, Joker also slept with Akechi, who murdered a lot of people and screwed over the Phantom Thieves severely. Joker's feeble justifications only get him in more trouble.
  Makoto: (coldly) Akira Kurusu.
  Akira: Look, he was always very pleasant. And you know, TV personalities, they can be very charming.
  Makoto: (grabbing Akira) He was trying to get us killed.
  Akira: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?
  Makoto: (yelling) You fucked ALL of Shido's children?
  Akira: Maybe sub-consciously, I'm just trying to get back at him that way.
• You Killed My Father: Unlike the other Phantom Thieves, who sympathize with Akechi to a degree, Futaba completely hates Akechi's guts for murdering her mother, Wakaba Isshiki, to vent his own misery over losing his mother (and thus being directly responsible for Futaba becoming a Hikikomori in-game). She outright tells Akechi he's lucky the other Phantom Thieves convinced her not to kill him herself or, worse, tell Sojiro, who would have no qualms over poisoning him.
• You're Not My Father: None of Shido's children refer to him as "dad" or "father" in a non-formal sense, even Ryuji, who is his legitimate son. They just call him Shido. Also in Haru's case, she gives Kunikazu Okumura the same treatment.

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