Sae Niijima

## First Appearance

### Debut

Persona Record - Chapter 11 (Cameo)Persona Record: Magi Arena - Chapter 1 (Supporting)

**Sae Niijima** is a minor character of Persona Record Series. She is the older sister and legal guardian of Makoto Niijima since their father's death a few years ago. She now works as a Public Prosecutor of the Tokyo District Special Investigation Department at the Public Prosecutors Office.

## Background

After Sae's father who was a police officer died in the line of duty three years ago, she has been obliged to act as her minor sister, Makoto Niijima's legal guardian. However, she does not treat Makoto as anything other than a burden for her to take care of, and the sisters generally do not have a good relationship with each other prior to the second half of the game.

The Niijima sisters, Makoto and Sae, are raised alone by their father, since their mother died young. Unfortunately, three years ago, their father died when solving a case. Without a sole caretaker, Sae has to take care of Makoto alone and find a job. She found a job at the prosecutor's office, where she has to maintain an indiction rate of 99% at all costs, regardless of the defendant's innocence. She felt incredibly bitter about this fate where everyone else can have a normal life while she's stuck between rigging cases against her will and raising Makoto because her father died. As a result, she came to resent both her father and Makoto, viewing both of them as a burden.

Sae is a public prosecutor of the Tokyo District Special Investigation Department (independent from the police department) responsible for the Phantom Thieves of Hearts' case.

Sae first appears while visiting Café Leblanc before Ren Amamiya goes out on May 4th, where she expresses concern about the mental shutdowns and the Kamoshida case, wondering how could a person's mental condition change so quickly.

She then can be seen having dinner with Makoto. Makoto asks her if her dad would support the Phantom Thieves if he were still alive. This question greatly frustrated Sae, and she proceeded to throw derogatory terms at her, up until she called Makoto a burden. This greatly distressed Makoto and Sae quickly apologized to her. It was implied that she snapped because her father's death was what caused her to face extreme pressure to both uphold the court's reputation at all costs by rigging cases and having to become a foster parent for Makoto. She then tells her that she will be eating dinner tomorrow, causing the Niijima sisters to have a fall out. When combined with Akechi calling her a pushover and Ann scolding her as useless, this resulted in Makoto throwing herself into Junya Kaneshiro and getting all of the Phantom Thieves blackmailed by him.

On July 18th, in order to investigate the mental shutdowns, Sae turns to Sojiro Sakura, an old friend of Wakaba Isshiki for help, as Wakaba researched cognitive psience and Sae attempts to get information about Wakaba's research from him. When Sojiro refuses to cooperate, Sae threatens to bring him to family court, where he would almost certainly lose custody of his adoptive daughter, Futaba Sakura, resulting in the two having a falling out.

Early in September, Makoto uses a USB device prepared by Futaba to steal data from Sae's laptop. Sae later notices the intrusion and accuses Akechi of stealing the data, offending him. In truth, Sae realized Makoto was responsible, but was unwilling to admit it.

When Akechi forces himself into the Phantom Thieves, he suggests that the gang should steal Sae's heart to stop her investigation, otherwise the Public Prosecutors Office may hold them responsible for the deaths of Kunikazu Okumura and Principal Kobayakawa.

Her sin is Envy, which turns her Palace in the courthouse into a massive, rigged casino where everything is going in the favor of the house due to rigging mechanisms, representing her view of every prosecution case as one that she must win at all costs. There is also a member's floor which contains a pitch black maze which has no easily accessible exit and an arena that claims to only offer one-on-one battles which only the protagonist could enter but repeatedly pits him against multiple enemies. As she does not see anyone in a distorted manner, the Cognitive existences of the Palace only appear as regular people. However, her Shadow appears as incredibly bitter, cynical and spiteful, which shocked her sister Makoto upon meeting her.

Upon receiving her calling card, Sae is infuriated that the Phantom Thieves would consider her unjust, but reassures Makoto that the case will be over soon, and they can spend time together as sisters again, comforting Makoto when she tearfully promises to protect Sae. Sae takes a phone call, and is shocked to realize that the investigation has ordered that she be placed on standby.

Shadow Sae's boss fight takes place on a giant roulette wheel which she occasionally spins to influence the battle depending on if the Phantom Thieves win a bet (healing the winner, damaging the loser, and so on). Initially, her wheel is just as rigged as her other games, with her placing a glass shield over the cups that prevents the ball from landing and ensuring she always wins. Eventually, a member of the Thieves is sent to use their gun to knock the ball into the cup. This surprises and angers Shadow Sae, who transforms into Leviathan and attacks out of rage, declaring that the Thieves won't be able to take the only power she has away from her, and removes the glass to prove that she can defeat them in a fair fight, transforming into a grey plated, heavily armed monstrosity. However, she was still no match for the Phantom Thieves and Akechi. Makoto then manages to convince Sae to repent and make her an ally of the Phantom Thieves. However, a massive fleet of heavily armed policemen are stationing in the Metaverse's casino, in which they catch Ren on his way to escape and send him to interrogation.

The outcome of this operation differs depending on the dialogue choices after Ren has finished his long reminiscence in the interrogation room with Sae when she starts listing his confidants and party members. If he sells out his teammates or confidants during the interrogation and has confirmed to do so, Sae will end her interrogation and leave, promising to reduce his penalty, but Akechi will appear and assassinate him after killing a police guard and plant the gun to his hand to pretend a suicide. Ren then finds himself in the Velvet Room, where its residents lament him for his failure and Igor imprisons him within it for the rest of his life.

Additionally, failure to meet a Palace deadline up to hers will result in Ren giving the wrong testimonies, and Sae leaves the interrogation room for him to recover, in which Akechi takes the opportunity to assassinate him.

If Ren did not sell out his teammates or confidants during the last part of the interrogation, it will be revealed that the Thieves already set up a plan to trick Akechi from the get-go, since they all knew he was a traitor when he can hear Morgana talk about pancakes in the TV station and nobody that hasn't ran into Morgana in the Metaverse can hear him talk in the real world. As the nearby police station that would be used to interrogate Ren is uninfluenced by her cognition (and thus the police station would appear exactly like its real world counterpart) and she still has subconscious control over the surroundings as her treasure is not stolen, the party thought of stealing an empty briefcase and escaping, while Ren deliberately lets himself get arrested using himself as a decoy. The only thing that might make the plan fail is the police drugging him before he was sent to Sae. Using this, they were capable of making Sae trick Akechi into killing the cognitive versions of the protagonist and the guard of the interrogation room after the apprehension, both born from a part of her Palace where she has little influence in. Upon realizing the real reason of being appointed to the case and the true colors of her boss and Akechi, Sae cooperates with the Thieves and transports Ren safely to Café Leblanc. Sae apologizes to Futaba for putting pressure on Sojiro, and reconciles with Makoto.

When the gang reveal that about the mastermind behind Akechi is Masayoshi Shido, Sae admits that she had her suspicions of Shido because he gains the most from all the victims whose deaths are connected to the Palace.

When the Thieves publicize their video of the upcoming heist of Shido's heart, Sae is blamed by the Police Department for Ren's feigned death but she begins to pretend that her heart has been stolen.

After the conductor's fall, she is tasked with charging Shido after the latter's confession to his crimes, but because the Public Prosecutor needs a witness and Akechi has been reported missing, she turns to the protagonist which results in his confinement in the youth detention center for two months. After his allies try every way to prove his innocence in the street assault against Shido, Sae brings the good news of Shido's case and the release of the protagonist because Shido's victim who testified against the protagonist has changed her testimony.

Sae also reveals that after Shido's case has been completely settled, she will quit her current job and become a defense attorney. She believes that this is the better way to fight for justice than in the Public Prosecutors Office.

On Ren's last day, Sae can be found outside the café. She gives him her business card which states that she is now a defense attorney. She also encourages him not to become influenced by terrible adults, as the corrupt adults the Phantom Thieves despised are everywhere. Sae says he should call her if anything happens, although she is not worried about him, saying he will never lose sight of himself.

## Appearance

Sae is a tall and beautiful woman with upper-back length ashen brown hair that is asymmetrically parted on the left right side and brown eyes that are sometimes depicted with a hint of mauve red.

She wears a black business suit with a black turtleneck. Her blazer's cuffs and the lower part have clamshell-like designs. Accessory-wise, she wears a necklace of a section sign (§) which references her judicial occupation (it also appears in the top right of Shujin Academy's emblem), earrings and a few dark hair clips can be seen above her right ear. She has violet fingernails and wears black or dark gray high heels. She is sometimes seen with a smartphone and a black bag slung over her shoulder.

## Personality

Sae is intelligent, professional and serious, although her actual maturity is debatable. A workaholic, Sae is very strict in both her work as prosecutor and guardian for her younger sister, Makoto, constantly telling her to focus on her studies and such. With many responsibilities, Sae is always working due to Japan's work pressure, and is very stressed and exhausted. She must care for Makoto, almost putting her in a single mother's role. Her father dying in the line of duty and forcing her to raise Makoto acts as her very sore spot. She resents Makoto, as the Niijima sister's father throwing his life away in the name of justice forced her to raise her sister alone. The resentment is so horrible that when Makoto asks for her opinion on whether she would think the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were just, Sae snaps and says a bunch of cruel things that she instantly regrets, up to and including that she views Makoto as a burden.

Because of her father's death, Sae views the concept of justice as meaningless. This has made her hyper-competitive and obsessed with getting ahead, to the point of telling Makoto that success is all that matters in life. This is to her detriment, as it results in many unjust prosecutions that she blatantly rigs in order to maintain the court's reputation, even if the people indicted by her are innocent.

The desire to frame at all costs also clouds her judgement and leads to her trusting all of the wrong people. Throughout the investigation of the Phantom Thieves, she remains completely unaware that her boss is taking her for a complete fool and while she doesn't get along with Goro Akechi, she nevertheless trusts his judgement regarding the Phantom Thieves and unaware that he is actually a double edged sword. She also gets angry at every single NPC Ren makes a Confidant with because she suspects that they helped him commit crimes as a Phantom Thief, with many innocents that happen to befriend the protagonist such as Chihaya Mifune or Shinya Oda, or even people among her circles such as Makoto or Akechi being suspected as accomplices. The reasons for her suspicions are of a petty nature, such as Mifune giving him advice to evade the law or Yoshida teaching him how to make speechcraft for his calling cards. This also results in her more often than not getting into the way of innocents for the sake of getting a conclusion she wanted to present to her superiors, as she's easily willing to believe that Sojiro Sakura, the manager of a café she frequents, is abusing his daughter (though Makoto suspects the same thing for a time) and completely refuses to change her mind about the Phantom Thieves no matter what good deeds they do, to the point that she's willing to believe the worst of them at any time.

Sae's most consistent flaw is her hypocrisy. For all her supposed disgust of the Phantom Thieves, she's perfectly willing to resort to methods similar to theirs in order to catch them, claiming that they "can't be caught by following the rules." Akechi even points out to her that, in doing so, she is no different from the very people she claims to hate. This trait of hers is especially prominent in her Shadow, who repeatedly states that she wishes to do things "fair and square" despite constantly cheating.

Regardless of her many flaws, Sae isn't without standards or moments of compassion, a prominent example being when Ren was feeling fatigued over the drug injections making her feel concerned for him despite him being labeled a criminal. There were even times when she would be worried Ren would pass out. She is also genuinely disgusted and even disturbed at the cops for inflicting such pain on Ren. Despite Sae's hard demeanor and bitter relationship with Makoto, she loves her sister deeply and has even shown consolation for her, as it's indicated that some of her stricter attitude is born out of a desire to keep Makoto out of trouble and ensure that she succeeds.

Envious of her sister and colleagues, Sae feels they have freedom to do whatever they want, while she is stuck in a dead-end attempt to defend the court's tarnished reputation. This envy, combined with her growing disillusionment and frustration with her profession as a concept due to being regularly strung along by political corruption, manifests as a Palace resembling a casino and a hyper-competitive and dishonest Shadow Self hellbent on winning, desiring everyone to feel as helpless as she does while stuck in an unfair and corrupt system. She forces the Phantom Thieves into rigged gambling games that are impossible to win fairly. Her distorted and pitiful worldview is shown during her battle quotes, claiming that a society must have rules and order to operate, and those who do not follow society's rules must be punished and penalized but also that it is natural and right to alter the rules to favor one side, then call the rigged victory "justice." After being caught cheating in her supposedly "fair" game, this is her final straw as she goes berserk and attempts to kill everyone-offhandedly revealing that she didn't think it was possible to be fair until she gave up on the game. Despite this, unlike most other Palace rulers, Sae is open to listen to reason. After defeat, the Phantom Thieves convince her to let go of her jealousy without stealing Sae's Treasure. As a result, Sae has an epiphany about how pointless her grudges and overcompensation are without fundamentally changing her personality by using her feelings in a more proactive way, even going as far as forming a confidant herself and helping Ren trick Akechi and Shido so he won't get murdered.

## Relationship

### Makoto Niijima

Sae's younger sister. Although Sae doesn't have much time with Makoto that she always sees her as a burden, she loves her sister deeply and also shows her comfort.

### Phantom Thieves of Hearts

At first, Sae always wondered if they were involved in a crime, but once she learned the truth about the team, she decided to join forces and help them as a team member.

## Trivia

* Sae (冴え) is the Japanese verb stem for "to be clear/skillful." Niijima (新島) is a common Japanese surname meaning "New Island."
* A possible reference of Sae's name could be Yae Niijima (新島 八重\*)**?**, a fierce woman from the late Edo period who fought with a firearm in a siege and later worked as an army nurse during war-time. For a long time, Yae was criticized for her proud attitude over her second husband (which was the male spouse's idea to demonstrate gender equality) and westernized wardrobe, these led to Yae's isolation by her late husband's allies.
* The prominent yellow roses in Shadow Sae's design and her tattoo of a dog head both represent her envy: yellow roses symbolize jealousy in Japanese flower language, and envy is often associated with dogs.
	+ The dog tattoo may also symbolize guardianship, ritual, loyalty, and spirit. Wolves make quick and firm emotional attachments, and often need to trust their own instincts. This ties in with her undying loyalty to the Phantom Thieves.
* Sae enjoys motorcycling and kickboxing.
* Sae has a habit, especially when a flash-forward occurs during a Confidant meeting, of using some variant of "Explain yourself!", "Answer me!", "Isn't that right?", "Spill it!" or "What do you have to say to that?"

## Gallery

Concept artShadow Sae Concept artSae on her laptopSae and AkechiShadow SaeSae's formal dress