Akari Kishiri

"Paladin"

"Call me... 'Paladin'-- a noble guardian light in a world rife with darkness. It's not what most people would call a 'rebel', but... I always did have a particularly unique view of the world."

### Canon

Persona 5: Wings of Rebellion (future arc)

### Affiliation

- Neo Phantom Thieves of Hearts (former)- MPF

- Phantom Thieves of Hearts

### Age

16-17 (Wings of Rebellion)26-27 (TCS: Ultimate, Multiverse Paradise)

### Occupation

Waiter, Phantom Thief

**Akari Kishiri** is a major character from ***Persona 5: Wings of Rebellion***.

## Canon

27 years after the the original Phantom Thieves of Hearts triumphed over the God of Control, Yaldabaoth, the Metaverse mysteriously reappears, brought about by a group known as the Cult of the Grail, seeking to carry out Yaldabaoth's will and succeed where their god had failed. This calls, then, for a new generation of Phantom Thieves to save Tokyo from enslavement once more.

A group of Shujin students, under the tutelage of the now-adult Akira Kurusu, who inherited Leblanc from Sojiro Sakura after his retirement, are shaped into the **Neo Phantom Thieves of Hearts**. Of this group, Akari served as the battle medic under the codename **Paladin**, utilizing his specialty in Healing and Support spells to turn the tide of battle in his and his allies' favor as they progressed through a number of Palaces, including ones belonging to an arrogant internet doxxer, a corrupt juvenile court judge, and even Akari's own father, before finally confronting the leader of the Cult.

Together, the Neo Phantom Thieves of Hearts put a stop to the Cult of the Grail right before they could seize control of Tokyo in their vicegrip.

Akari had also acted as the Sun Social Link for Daisuke Kaminari, the group's Wild Card. During this Social Link, Daisuke helps Akari by bolstering his self-confidence, primarily when the staff of Shujin Academy accuse Akari of being to blame when entire classes of students fail to show up to class simply because they find Akari is better at explaining the subject material than the teachers themselves. In the end, Daisuke joins Akari in the principal's office, and Akari is remarkably able to stand up for himself when he would have otherwise remained quiet, nervous, and shy. Akari, quite grateful for Daisuke's help, grants him his very own **Pocket Fox**, and Akari both physically and mentally "removes the bandage" upon his neck, which had been there because of a failed attempt at suicide many years prior. With this freedom from his past woes knowing that he has a true-blue friend by his side, he forms a tight bond with the Wild Card.

## Pre-Paradise

After saving Tokyo from the Cult of the Grail, the Neo Phantom Thieves of Hearts peacefully disbanded, but kept in contact with each other as great friends. After Akari graduated from Shujin Academy, he took up a part-time job as a waiter at a diner called **Chrome Star**, where he would take orders and bring them to the kitchen. This job would later become full-time, and Akari's duties as an employee would thereby also include physically bringing out food from time to time. Akari viewed this as an opportunity to help combat his social anxiety while also helping his parents with expenses.

Nine years later, Akari's abilities as a Persona-user would mysteriously return, and he was contacted by a group calling themselves the "Multiverse Protection Foundation" (MPF, for short), asking him to join their cause and to help save the Multiverse from Ganondorf and his terrifying powers of Twilight. Akari accepted this invitation, and traveled along with the MPF into different universes, including Hell itself, upon being shot by a planet-destroying beam from Darth Vader's Death Star.

Just as the Radio Demon, Alastor, had whisked the members of the MPF away into separate dressing rooms, presumably for some sort of entertainment, the MPF's quest to stop Ganondorf was interrupted when Akari and a number of his allies were then whisked away to the **Multiverse Paradise** mid-mission.

## Plot Involvement

Confused by what had happened, Akari took to the island's public chatrooms, where he began to describe his adventures as a member of the Neo Phantom Thieves, and how he had stopped the Cult of the Grail from seizing control of Tokyo. Unbeknownst to him, the "past versions" of the original Phantom Thieves of Hearts had also been brought to the island, and upon noticing Akari's stories, Ryuji Sakamato, sock-puppeting the Phantom Thieves' official account, questioned Akari about who he was and how he knew about Yaldabaoth. Akari willingly complied, revealing himself to be a Phantom Thief from the distant future, along with a description of the Cult of the Grail, before apologizing for revealing too much private information, and not realizing the original Thieves were present on the island, as well as enemies of the Phantom Thieves. Akari promises to maintain better secrecy about his identity as a Phantom Thief, and the conversation is ended by both parties considering another conversation in the future, though the Thieves are presumably still suspicious of him.

Akari was meant to bump into Jason Todd (also known as Red Hood), the acting leader of the MPF, but this scene was cut due to time constraints.

Akari meets Naoya Toudou, where the two of them eat food from the Coconut Mall's food court. Both Akari and Naoya explain the events of what led them to become Persona-users, though Akari takes greater heed this time to spin the story so as to prevent Naoya from learning he was an actual Persona-user, himself. After mentioning how he was unarmed, Naoya ends the interaction by pointing Akari towards a weapon shop, and that if he should ever need help, Akari can call on Naoya for backup.

Later on, Akari runs into an alternate-universe version of Sadayo Kawakami in the hotel's laundry room, who turns out to be a Phantom Thief, themself. Akari notices her use of the particular phrase "distorted desires" and quickly comes to the conclusion that she is a Phantom Thief. In a rather awkward move to ensure the room is airtight and secure, Akari and Kawakami converse for a short while, where he issues another apology, this time in-person, and explains himself to her, saying how he would like to help the rest of the Phantom Thieves escape from the Multiverse Paradise, and to help assuage her concerns along with the other Phantom Thieves.

At Immaterial Fashions, the Coconut Mall's clothing store, Akari meets Alyss while picking out an outfit for the island's Masquerade Ball. The two share stories about Tokyo from their own universes and how different they are, before they part ways when Akari wishes his life could have been as exciting as Alyss's. Alyss, perhaps perturbed by Akari's remark, parts ways with him.

At this Masquerade Ball, Akari engages in a brief conversation with Aigis of the Shadow Operatives, though this scene was cut short.

Akari meets a strange figure known as "Salad Fingers", initially assuming they were some sort of armed terrorist holding hostages in their hotel room. Prepared to fight, Akari knocks on the door and enters their hotel room, wherein both characters converse with each other before Akari's view of them changes when they see the dismal interior of their room.

Akari has interacted with a number of other characters in the Paradise's public chatrooms, such as Ryuji Sakamato, Yu Narukami, Naoto Shirogane, Takuto Maruki, and Lupin, to name a few, along with a few members of the island's Management, working under discrete pseudonyms such as "Question Marks", "Parentheses", and "Squares" (the last of which is revealed to be Galaax). He has also participated in the Q&A, wherein one particularly infamous conversation with Lupin led to a discussion about the American restaurant chain **Hooter's**, followed by a veritable chat-war about female breasts.

Akari has been a spectator at the island's Pokestravaganza, where he applauded for a number of acts, as well as a spectator at the Galaax Arena, where he took a picture of Galaax to later show the MPF in their own group chat. In this same group chat, Akari also provided an explanation as to who Tohru Adachi was when they provided Jason Todd with information about Toffee, as well as how he obtained his Persona.

On the quest to the Land of the Damned, Akari joined in, as well as fellow MPF member Kassandra, wherein he provided support in the battle against Judge Frollo and healed his comrades once they entered the Abandoned Mine.

After Takuto Maruki makes his public announcement and Mementos appears in the Paradise, Akari re-enters the text conversation with the Phantom Thieves' official account (this time sock-puppeted by Ann Takamaki), where he learns about who Maruki is and what his true goal is. Akari explains his plan of entering Mementos alone in the interest of simply scouting out the interior, and provides his Phantom Thief codename should anyone run into him while inside Mementos, though this meetup is likely to occur after the events of the "Maruki arc".

## Character Relationships

* *Multiverse Protection Foundation -* A peacekeeping organization acting to maintain the general well-being of the Paradise's inhabitants. Akari greatly respects his fellow members, including Benrey, who was generally disliked by the group for his desire to simply sit on the sidelines, play video games, and carelessly indulge his pyromania. Akari, however, views Benrey's Tool Gun as a mechanical wonder, with how it is able to create anything one could think of. As one of the MPF's two medics (including the actual Medic from Team Fortress 2), he valiantly continues his duties as a purveyor of justice.
* *Phantom Thieves of Hearts* - A group of Persona-users capable of entering the Metaverse and "stealing the distorted desires" of Palace owners, and the main protagonists of Persona 5 Royal. They are initially quite suspicious of Akari, with how a person unknown to them knows so much about their goals, the Metaverse, and Yaldabaoth, but Akari seeks to relieve this anxiety and join their group chat so as to aid them as Support.
* *Naoya Toudou -* The group leader of Megami Ibunroku Persona. Akari respects Naoya, and is particularly impressed by how they pierced their own ear at a young age. When Naoya summons his Persona, Akari had initially planned to only *act* surprised, but when he saw how relatively simple Naoya's summoning process was compared to his own, that surprise turned genuine. Akari and Naoya become good friends, and both decide to keep in touch should either of them need help protecting one another.
* *Alyss Lyons -* An elite soldier and ex-leader of the ORION team Stardust. Akari is initially very fascinated by Alyss's advanced technology, and enjoys making conversation with her about her version of Tokyo and his own. Akari, however, potentially hurts Alyss's feelings when he wishes how his life had been as exciting as her's, even though Akari was in fact secretly a Phantom Thief and member of the MPF. Nevertheless, Alyss is still shown to care for Akari's well-being, even going as far as offering to protect him from the enemies of the Phantom Thieves, though Akari wished to keep her assistance in mind for later out of a desire to not get her involved unless absolutely necessary.
* *Salad Fingers -* A character from an animated YouTube series. Akari is initially put quite off by Salad Fingers' appearance, and at first believes they are holding hostages in their hotel room, but upon actually entering the room and talking with them for a while, Akari comes to the conclusion that Salad Fingers is in fact just a lonely, tormented soul from a dark, dismal world without any true friends to call his own. Akari takes pity on them, and before being asked to leave so as Salad Fingers can think things over, Akari recommends for Salad Fingers to try and use the public chatroom so as to see if he can garner any friends while on the island.
* *Lupin -* An original character, and son to Roselyn. While Akari has not physically met Lupin, he has interacted with them through the chatroom on a couple of occasions, even going so far as to defend them upon realizing other island inhabitants were bullying him for his lack of friends. Though Lupin's reception of Akari seemed rather bristly (especially when Lupin called him a "dork" in a previous conversation), Akari remained kindhearted towards him, insisting that Lupin simply needed the right opportunity to make a real friend, even going so far as to try to come up with an idea for how Lupin could start a friendship with someone. Though Lupin had made no comment afterwards, Akari clung onto his belief that someone would assuredly befriend Lupin, and that the young Prince of the Astrals should not give up.
* *Tohru Adachi* - A major antagonist from **Persona 4 Golden**, and the deuteragonist of **Persona 4 Arena Ultimax**. When foggy weather appeared on the island, Akari spoke in the public chatroom of how he was reminded of the murder cases of Yasoinaba and how a certain detective (implied to be Naoto Shirogane) had helped to solve the murder mystery. Adachi, however, misinterpreted Akari's words to mean the latter was merely dancing around the fact that Adachi, a former detective himself, had committed the murders. Adachi confessed to his crimes, and stated how he was seeking to pay for his crimes, leading Akari to garner some amount of respect for him. This respect is shown in his response to a Q&A question read simply as "Adachi?", where Akari defends Adachi and states how he was trying to atone for his misdeeds. When Adachi contacted Jason Todd about information regarding Toffee, Akari helped to explain who Adachi was, and though Akari still did not fully trust them, he advised for the MPF to not engage Adachi in any unnecessary battles, perhaps out of the aforementioned respect for his desire to be willing to serve his jail time.
* *Investigation Team -* The main protagonists of Persona 4, and a group of Persona-users. Akari knows about them (as well as Adachi) from what the Akira Kurusu of his world told him after his visit to Yasoinaba. Akari, as with nearly all of the other Persona-users, respects them for their deeds, and though he speaks primarily with Kanji Tatsumi through a private message, he nevertheless proposes the idea of having the Investigation Team help out in the quest to return the island's forced inhabitants back to their home worlds.
* *Takuto Maruki -* A supporting character turned major antagonist of **Persona 5 Royal**. Akari initially held some respect for Maruki, believing him to be nothing more than a "mild-mannered therapist" who only sought to help the other island residents in obtaining peace of mind, including Galaax, based on their messages in the public chats. However, once Mementos made its appearance on the island and Maruki revealed his true colors, this respect was immediately shattered, and Akari viewed him as an enemy.

## Trivia

* Akari is medically diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, more than likely possessing a form of high-functioning autism, as evidenced by his high intelligence and capability of maintaining conversations. This form of autism also grants him unique views of certain concepts, including intangible ones such as hatred and even his own Metaverse attire, leading him to wax philosophical at times.
* Akari carries a small stuffed toy in one of his pants pockets, referred to as his "pocket fox", clinging to the outside of his pants with magnet-filled paws.
* Even though the members of the Investigation Team from Persona 4 and the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are (mostly) in fact younger than Akari, he still refers to them by the honorific title "-san", not just to be respectful, but also because he is used to them being grown adults in his universe.
* Of his fellow Neo Phantom Thieves, Ezra Steinman is the only member that Akari does not refer to by his surname, but rather his first name, calling him "Ezra-kun".
* Ironically, despite representing the Sun Arcana of his group, Akari dislikes sunny weather, and instead prefers rainy weather, partially for its proven therapeutic effects.
* Akari greatly dislikes cold temperatures, and this leads to him being weak to Ice spells rather than Curse spells, which he in fact resists.
* Though Akari uses his ultimate Persona, Kronos, during the events of Ultimate and Multiverse Paradise, Akari's initial Persona was Oedipus. This is very loosely referenced in the public chatrooms when Akari recalls seeing a translated-to-Japanese copy of William Shakespeare's *Oedipus Rex* in Shujin's library after Ryuji Sakamato mentions seeing a book about famous pirates.
* In the tale of Oedipus, the namesake character inadvertently kills his own father and marries his mother. In the canon of Wings of Rebellion, Akari instead *nearly* kills his own father when he comes close to driving his sword through the heart of his father's Shadow out of rage that a "wicked imposter" would dare to bear his father's face, believing that utterly destroying the Shadow would totally reverse his father's hatred of Akari's autistic quirks and desire to "fix him". Morgana, however, warns Akari of the consequences and stops him from carrying out the deed, telling him that doing so would result in a mental shutdown, as had (brutally) happened with Kunikazu Okumura in the past. Akari, realizing what he almost did, removes his mask and instead shares a tight embrace with the Shadow, mentioning how his past hatred almost got the better of him once again and that while he isn't the perfect son as they viewed him, he would never forgive himself if he was to blame for slaying his own father.
* Akari loves quite a number of furry animals, including wolves, red pandas, cats, and perhaps most of all, foxes.
* Contrary to popular belief, Akari's username in the public chatrooms, "<FoxyPaladin>", does not intentionally contain his Phantom Thief codename, but instead was meant to refer to how he enjoys playing support roles in video games (as the Paladin class is said to excel at), as well as his love of foxes.
* Akari actually does not mind most of the "furry" community, and instead only dislikes the "fetishized" parts of it.
* Akari loves milkshakes, though his favorite flavor is peanut butter.
* Akari has a love of the old-fashioned and retro, as evidenced by his use of medieval weaponry and armor in the Metaverse as opposed to his fellow Neo Phantom Thieves' more futuristic design choices. This is also shown when Akari asks, "Where's the upbeat 1950's rock music?" when answering a music-based question in the Q&A. Chrome Star, the diner where Akari works as a waiter, is also a parody of the real-life American restaurant chain *Johnny Rockets*, known for their 1950's diner flair.
* Despite Goro Akechi being canonically dead in Akari's universe, Akari encounters a zombified version of Akechi during the events of Ultimate. It is from seeing Akechi in this way that, should the two ever meet on the island, Akari will recognize Akechi by appearance.
* Akari's surname contains the Japanese word for "knight".
* Akari's ultimate sword is called the *Sumarbrandr*, which in Norse mythology is said to have belonged to the Vanir god Freyr, associated with sunlight and summer. This is perhaps fitting, as Oedipus and Kronos, Akari's initial and ultimate Personas, are both of the Sun Arcana.
* Akari's ultimate crossbow, the *Archimedes*, is named after the Greek mathematician, engineer, inventor, among other titles. Just as the history of Akari's sword is related to the Sun Arcana in some way, it was said Archimedes conceptualized a weapon used to concentrate the rays of the Sun into a beam with the intention of setting enemy ships ablaze.