Eri Natsuhara
| Eri Natsuhara | |
|---|---|
| |
| IC Information | |
| Full Name: | Eri Natsuhara (夏原 恵利) |
| Arcana: | Strength |
| Gender: | Female |
| Age (Birthdate): | 26 (August 19, 1985) |
| Hair Colour: | Auburn |
| Eye Colour: | Crimson |
| Height: | 5'4" /163 cm |
| Residence: | Akihabara, Tokyo |
| Workplace: | Akihabara Almost Daily |
| Job: | Reporter and Editor |
| Role: | Chorus |
| OOC Information | |
| Source: | Persona 5 Tactica |
| Groups: | None |
| Player: | Iwatodai Station |
NOTE: This page has spoilers for Chapter 3 and the ending of Persona 5 Tactica, particularly for the character of Toshiro Kasukabe.
"I promise, I'll catch up to you one day."
Eri Natsuhara is the owner, editor, and primary reporter of a strange and eclectic newspaper in Akihbara Electric Town: the Akihabara Almost Daily. It publishes articles on lifestyle, technology, and curiosities in Tokyo. The Almost Daily has proved successful, but sometimes people call it rather light fare: it stays away from serious issues like politics, corruption, and the like. This bothers Eri more than she lets on, but she remains a popular voice in news about life and technology in Tokyo. She maintains an online personality, with loyal followers, though public appearances are rare. This is in part because of disability: she walks with a pronounced limp and the aid of a cane, and an eye patch. She is driven to make the Almost Daily one of the best newspapers in Tokyo, but she struggles with overprotective parents, who are still guarding her after a life-defining incident ten years ago.
Background
Eri Natsuhara was born in Tokyo on August 19, 1985. She came from a middle-class family; her parents, Shuichi and Ryoko Natsuhara, were kind and thoughtful... but also pushovers. They had a "turn the other cheek" philosophy to life: don't make waves, don't rock the boat, don't get in trouble. Thus, while Eri had a happy childhood, she also sometimes clashed with her parents because of a headstrong, stubborn personality... and a tendency to say what she thinks. Her mouth could often get ahead of her brain; her parents were constantly asking, pleading, and begging her to not make waves and keep to herself.
And Eri, because she loved them and wanted to make them happy, tried to do just that.
But in her first year of high school in Shujin Academy, she ran into trouble. She was accused of stealing something that belonged to another student. She couldn't even remember what it was, a couple of years later. The what was inconsequential, but the what happened shaped her future. Eri was promptly ostracized by her peers; the rumor mill at Shujin, ever vicious, turned on her. She was accused with little evidence. When she asked her parents, they told her the best thing to do was "wait for it to blow over." So she did that, and it only got worse. Her friends dropped her; they took her silence as an admission of guilt.
Finally, her homeroom teacher, Saito-sensei, talked to her. She told Eri words that would live with her for the rest of her life: "Silence in the face of injustice is complicity. If your guts tells you something's wrong, why not fight back?"
So Eri fought.
She found out who the real culprits were, through some clever (if amateur) detective work. Her classmates apologized to her, and the student who really did the theft got in trouble. But, Eri found, some things just couldn't be undone. Her friends weren't her friends anymore -- they were the people who doubted her. Her peers would always be the ones that abandoned her. And so, after a tearful discussion with her parents, Eri decided to transfer to Seven Sisters next year.
That spring, she tried to put her new philosophy into action. She went looking for problems, and she found them: Seven Sisters wasn't the cut-throat environment that Shujin was, socially, but bullying and people in need still happened. So Eri Natsuhara tried to find people to help. And in doing so, she found a kindred spirit: Toshiro Kasukabe, the son of a Diet member. He seemed meek, weak-willed, and the sort of person who could be walked all over -- he reminded her of her parents, sometimes -- but underneath that, she saw someone who also stood up to others. She first saw him stopping some punks from mugging a fellow student, and he took a beating in turn.
She was fascinated, so she sought him out. He was the student council president, despite being a first year. She started bringing students' problems to him -- and while he was exasperated, the two started working together. They reconciled friends who were fighting; they tracked down lost property; they once found someone's cat in a park at ten o'clock. They broke up fights, and Eri would drag Toshiro with him. He was exasperated with her -- and often claimed he was just keeping an eye on her -- while she liked to needle and poke at him, because he had the most torturous--excuse me, hilarious reactions. Eri was charmed, and they soon became fast friends.
Together, in 2002 and 2003, they made Seven Sisters into a nice school. But then, a new teacher -- Ichiro Nakabachi -- suddenly became Vice Principal. The quickness of his rise was suspect, and worse, a pall was cast over Seven Sisters that year. Nakabachi created a web of blackmail: by getting dirt on students and teachers, he used the threat of revealing that to make them act as informants. This guaranteed his meteoric rise, despite -- prior to that -- being a mediocre teacher at best. Students lived in fear of him and each other. Eri and Toshiro learned of this when another student, Yuri Kurano, came to them and told them what was happening.
Eri immediately ran off and confronted Nakabachi. It didn't work. But, with Toshiro's help -- and after some convincing -- they got Nakabachi's victims to all agree to come forward. Nakabachi was undone, and it seemed like they had won. He lost his job. Unfortunately, it didn't end there. He began to be harassed by students from the school -- and so did some of those who helped him -- and that began to break things down. In early 2003, one wintery evening, Nakabachi followed Eri and Toshiro into a train station. He had a nervous breakdown, and in a fit of self-pity and anger, he charged at Eri and pushed her off the platform. She fell, reaching her hand out for Toshiro. And then, there was the light of an oncoming train -- and then it hit her, and there was only blood and darkness.
She woke up days later in the hospital, forever changed. Her left leg was severely broken. She was wrapped in bandages from the trauma of the impact, with most of her ribs broken and severe bruising. She lost her right eye -- and half her face was bandaged to treat the wounds there.
Eri grew depressed. Before that, she had been an athletic and energetic teenager. After that, the doctors were uncertain if she would ever walk again. Her parents went into an overprotective mode, and while they were frightened and loving, she was terrified that she might have brought it on herself. She received a small boost when Yuri came to visit, and thanked her; she could feel, at least, that she had done some good. But she felt exhausted as she considered the ways her life would change and the long road of physical therapy ahead of her. It was hard to not feel regretful and defeated.
When Toshiro visited her, Eri struggled. When he encouraged her, she had to admit that she couldn't keep fighting for something just. Toshiro was filled with guilt for what happened -- and Eri didn't blame him, but a part of her blamed herself. It was a part of herself that she thought she had quashed, when the theft incident happened, but that terrible thought reared back up. She finally pled with Toshiro to keep working for change, to not give up on the fight, and that one day, she would catch up with him. They parted, her words lingering with him, and his words lingering with her: she had to be able to reunite with him, some day, and that meant that she had to get better.
But after that, they didn't see each other much -- and that turned into "at all" after a few months. Toshiro was busy with the fallout at school and with his father. Eri was busy with physical therapy and rehabilitation. Distance let anxieties and doubts build; Toshiro grew to assume Eri blamed him for what happened, and Eri assumed that Toshiro blamed her for sticking her nose into things. It wasn't rational, but with her parents worrying and fretting over her, Eri couldn't quite shut those voices out.
It took over a year to receive the necessary surgeries and physical therapy, and she never fully recovered. Eri learned to walk with the help of a cane, but her left leg lacked the mobility to do more than a slow walk. She eventually got an eye patch for her right eye. She also wouldn't go back to Seven Sisters; she graduated through a program at her hospital, while she recovered.
When she was out -- it was a couple of months after graduation -- Eri had to decide what to do with her life. She still felt herself sliding into depression. She "recovered," but she didn't feel the same. Going outside and taking a walk was an ordeal and painful, still. The cane and the eye patch would draw stares. At first, Eri retreated into her room at her parents' house. But, Eri found an online community for people in a similar situation to her -- and she discovered a newfound love for electronics, and that let her begin to come out of her depression. She found a reason to make herself walk down to Akihabara, to buy parts for a computer that she wanted to build. She made and met friends who were into electronics.
By then, it was 2004, and Eri was just discovering that assistive technology was limited. She started researching it -- and found ways that electronics and modern appliances could make her life easier. When Eri was younger, she had been interested in being a journalist. The idea of challenging people in power terrified her, still, on some fundamental level. The idea of helping people like her -- and sharing her newfound enthusiasm -- appealed. Thus, after talking to her parents, she enrolled in college and majored in journalism. She still lived at home, and her parents had grown overprotective, but they supported her financially and helped her.
Eri graduated in 2008. With several friends, she decided to start a newspaper in Akihabara: the Akihabara Almost Daily, a lifestyle newspaper that covers the latest electronics, culture, and local happenings. Eri, by virtue of her force of personality, became the editor. Her parents helped her with money. And, to her immense surprise, the Almost Daily became a hit. The quirky reporting, the irreverent coverage of local events ("Akihabara Unites to Discover That Afternoon Television Sucks"), and in-depth looks at new technologies, gadgets, and computers made it a hit. But, sometimes, Eri debated looking at something meatier -- at evidence of corruption, at a social injustice -- and then she froze up.
The Almost Daily gained a reputation for being a fun newspaper, but not one of substance. This bothers Eri, but she isn't ready to catch up to Toshiro yet.
In late 2011, Eri undertook a large change: she finally moved out of her parents' house. The Almost Daily earns enough money to cover her expenses and then some, but her parents resisted the idea, convinced that she needed their help. Despite living away from home for almost six months, though, they won't quite let her try to live on her own. Her parents drop by frequently; they buy her groceries, they "help" without asking if Eri needs that help, and it leaves her without the sense of independence that she wants and has worked to provide for herself.
And after everything, Eri can't quite bring herself to tell them no. A little, traitorous part of her still whispers: maybe she got hurt because she fought back, and maybe Toshiro got hurt too because of that. So she accepts help that makes her feel like a child, and she struggles through every day, until she finds the will to do something about it.
Season 1, Episode 1
Forthcoming!
Special Skills
Eri is a woman in her twenties, with limited mobility and who has lost an eye. Nonetheless, she is an extremely talented writer and editor (though she prefers nonfiction). She also is very talented with electronics and computers, particularly building them. When she encounters a difficult situation, she has three approaches:
1. Helping is Job Number One (Understanding): If Eri sees someone in need, she gets to it and pitches in.
2. Turn Spirit into Strength (Guts): Eri thinks that her resolve and determination can overcome anything. Usually. And if she doesn't think this in a specific moment, this is what she goes back to.
3. Technology Opens Doors (Academics): Eri understands that looking at technology, and using it in innovative ways, can help solve logistical problems. And logical problems.
Relationships
| Name | Address | Arcana | Social Link | Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuuka Yamagishi | Yamagishi-kun | 3. Priestess | ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ | She's shy, but she's into electronics. That matters a lot. |
| Ichika Kawase | Kawase-kun | 14. Temperance | ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ | Love to see a kid who wants to be a reporter! |
NPC Relationships
| Name | Arcana | Social Link | Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toshiro Kasukabe | Unknown | ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ | Her best friend from school. Someone she misses terribly. Someone she isn't ready to see again. |
Soundtrack
TBD
Logs and Cutscenes
Season 1
There are no cutscenes on this wiki that Eri Natsuhara participated in.