Saori Hasegawa

Saori Hasegawa is a character from Persona 3 Portable. She is a student of Gekkoukan High School who can be found in the female protagonist's story.
==Appearances==
*Persona 3 Portable: Supporting Character
*Persona 3 Portable (F): Hermit Social Link
**Persona 3 The Movie: Cameo
**Persona 3 Portable Dear Girls Comic Anthology
==Design==
A mature student of Gekkoukan High School, Saori has curly, dark gray hair, gray eyes and fair skin. Like most of the school's students, Saori wears its uniform while at school. If the female protagonist decides to accept her offer to hang out with her on days off, Saori wears a black turtleneck shirt along with a greenish gray dress, black tights and dark gray slippers. She also wears a silver necklace with a fancy pendant.
Soejima was told not to make her too focused on her makeup and clothes, but rather "everything comes naturally to her." He drew her with a particular emphasis on her eyes.Atlus (2006, 2010). Persona 3 Portable Official Fanbook Art Book. Enterbrain. pg.125.
== Personality==
As she is older than every other student, she always gets addressed in a formal way, which makes her feel uncomfortable. Saori is a kind person, but has severe problems with interacting with others, which leads to her becoming a victim of bullying and false rumors by other students.
==Profile==
===Persona 3 Portable===
Saori can be seen on April 7 in the faculty hallway where she is lost. Saori's Social Link commences on May 8, when Ms. Toriumi wants the protagonist to join either the library committee or the health committee. She replaces Ms. Toriumi as the Hermit Arcana Social Link during the female protagonist's route.
Saori Hasegawa is a second year student who has been living overseas, and is two years older than the protagonist. She has difficulty interacting with others because of this, and the people around her couldn't seem to understand her; this makes her feel really troubled. She can be found as a health or library committee member. Saori is kind, but very passive and distant, which leads to becoming a victim of bullying and false rumors by other students: some would use her, knowing she couldn't say no to their requests, with some going out of their way to trick her into looking bad. Saori would constantly fall for them as all she would want was a friend.
A boy asks her out for karaoke, and wanting some friends she says yes. However, unknown to her, the boy was already dating somebody, and when his girlfriend finds out they went out together, she yells at and slaps Saori. The girlfriend, intimidated by the female protagonist, then warns Saori to stay away from her boyfriend. This incident sours her reputation further, but the female protagonist stays by her side.
One night, on a girl classmate's offer, she gets Saori to have a reporter take a picture of her in public for 4,000 yen, as he claims to be pleased to see teens wearing their uniforms outside of school. However, the picture of her is censored out and the article it is featured in claims that she is partying excessively. As others claimed that she was always seducing boys and cursing (which she only did once, to test out how it sounded,) Mr. Ekoda temporarily suspends Saori for tarnishing the reputation of the school, completely uninterested in the truth of the matter. He warns the female protagonist not to be like her.
Following her lifted suspension, she regretfully tells the female protagonist that her parents are sending her to a private school, thinking that she's a disgrace of a child. She was planning on keeping quiet about the rumors, but at the female protagonist's suggestion, she gathers the courage to voice her innocence over the PA. With the female protagonist's encouragement, she would tell the school about the fabrication of the article, the misunderstanding she brought herself into, and apologizing for the trouble she might have caused, as she loves the school and only wanted a friend. Ekoda comes to scold her, but Ms. Toriumi and Ms. Ounishi come to her defense and she is let off the hook. This would restore her reputation to an extent, and students wouldn't be actively avoiding her anymore.
On her last day of school, Saori reveals that she recorded her message onto her phone. She transfers it to the female protagonist's cell phone, and tells her that she will always be on her mind and that she'll listen to her own speech for strength. One more thing Saori tells the female protagonist is about who her first love was, that being her uncle.https://youtu.be/B37dNaZq8hA?t=1584Terms: 初恋 - first love (can be compared to "puppy love") and 叔父 - younger uncle She then leaves with her head held high.
At the end of the game, she sends a letter to the female protagonist, revealing why she was sent overseas 2 years prior. Saori mentions that the person she used to love has passed away, implying he has killed himself because she "pushed them into a corner."https://youtu.be/vaYUYDXUNuU?t=1962私が愛した人は、もうこの世にいません。私があの人を苦しめ、そして追い詰めてしまったのです…"The person I loved, is no longer in this world."(Japanese version for quick implication that she's not confessing about a second lover and that it's a follow-up of her original story.) Her parents sent her away because they blamed her for the incident. Once there, she had no one to support her, so she never went to school and took refuge in a church. She would pray for his soul every day at the church.
Saori does not attend the school trip to Kyoto, even if her Social Link is not maxed. Yuko mentions overhearing girls gossiping about a student staying home because of people badmouthing her.
===Persona 3 The Movie===
She and Rio Iwasaki appear briefly in the hallway.
==Gallery==
Saori concept draft.JPG|Design artwork
File:P3P Saori school uniform.png|Saori in her winter uniform
P3P Saori summer school uniform portrait.png|Saori in her summer school uniform
P3P Saori casual clothes portrait.png|Saori in her casual clothes
2.png|Saori makes a cameo appearance in Persona 3 The Movie
File:P3-Saori.jpg
==Etymology==
* The name Saori means "sand" (沙) (sa) and "weave, weaving" (織) (ori). 
* Saori's surname Hasegawa means "long, chief, boss" (長) (ha), "valley" (谷) (se) and "river, stream" (川) (kawa/gawa), which literally means "long valley river" altogether.
==In Other Languages==
Language	Title
English 	Saori Hasegawa
Japanese	長谷川 沙織 (Hasegawa Saori)
Korean 	하세가와 사오리 (Haegawa Saori)
==References==
Category:Persona 3 The Movie Characters
Category:Persona 3 Portable Characters
Category:Persona 3 Allies
Category:Hermit Arcana