(Photo from Persona Central)
Yusuke Kitagawa had been drawing since he was a young boy. He could barely remember his mother, as she passed away when he was just three years old. Raised by his art teacher, he was rarely without a paintbrush in his hand.
When he became Fox of the Phantom Thieves, he found that he could only draw cats. Black cats, orange cats, striped cats, fat cats, cats in bowties, cats wearing bandanas. The last he attributed to his teammate Morgana’s influence. Morgana was cute both in cat form and in the Metaverse where he walked on two legs, with his adorable yellow bandana.
Yusuke became frustrated with his inability to draw anything else. He decided to ask his friends for advice. “What should I draw? It must be something aesthetically pleasing.”
“You should draw Morgana,” Akira said with a smile.
“What?! Why the hell would he want to draw Mona?” Ryuji asked. “You’re really strange, dude.”
“I think a sunrise would be really beautiful,” Ann contributed.
“Aha! I know what to do now! I have to go, I must paint!” And with that, Yusuke was gone. The next morning he was the proud craftsman of a lovely painting… of Morgana watching the sun rise.
He stopped by the cafe to show Akira his painting. “I don’t understand,” he said. “I can’t seem to stop drawing cats.”
“What’s wrong with cats?” Akira asked. “I think it’s a great painting, don’t you Morgana?”
“Yes, well he did paint my good side, that’s for sure!” Morgana said with a wink.
(Photo by Candra at Deviantart)
Depressed by his strange art slump, Yusuke visited the church for inspiration. He told the priest of his troubles while he was there. “Why don’t you stay with me at the church for a while,” the priest offered. “I can teach you to paint the angels and the sun and all of the prophets.” Yusuke agreed. He packed a bag and spent a week living with the priest. He learned to draw all of the things he was promised, and more, but also still couldn’t stop drawing cats. When the week was up, the priest frowned. “I think you will make a fine artist someday, but for now, maybe you should go draw cat portraits or something."
This put Yusuke in an even more gloomy mood. He was afraid to go back home. What if the others were ashamed of his failure? No, he wouldn’t go back until he succeeded in creating art that didn’t have cats in it.
As he walked aimlessly, he came across another church. This one was strange, full of cobwebs and dust and empty of people. “I wonder where the priest has gone?” Yusuke thought. “Perhaps I will clean up for him while I wait.” He spent hours cleaning the church, sweeping away the dust and the webs. When he finished, he was very tired. “I think I will lay down for awhile. I want to feel rested when the priest comes back, so I can ask him to teach me to paint something besides cats.” Before he went to sleep, he drew one more cat picture, a lovely portrait of Morgana in his yellow bandana on the wall.
(Photo by blazpu on Deviantart)
Yusuke heard terrible screams in the night. It sounded like animals fighting. He rushed out to see what was going on. He found a huge, dead rat in the middle of the floor, and noticed that his portrait of Morgana was now covered in blood. “My god! The drawing must have come to life and killed the rat!” Yusuke exclaimed.
Just then, Morgana popped off the wall, solid and made of flesh and blood. “What are you doing, you idiot! Why did you summon me here? And why are you in the Metaverse alone?” Morgana asked.
“Summon you? Metaverse? Wait…” Yusuke felt confused as he tried to absorb what had happened. “I accidentally activated the MetaNav and entered the Metaverse?” he asked the cat.
“Yep. Then I guess you drew me on the wall, and I ended up here, too. Just in time, that huge rat monster was about to eat you.”
“Forgive me, Morgana, and thank you for saving me.”
“Anytime. But we should probably go home, now. Akira will be worried.”
On the way out of the church, they ran into the priest Yusuke had been waiting for, and he paid Yusuke 100 yen for his cat drawing that saved the church from the rat monster.
When they returned to the real world, Yusuke told his friends the tale of how he got paid 100 yen for his portrait of Morgana. From then on, the Phantom Thieves referred to him as the Thief Who Drew Cats.
Author’s Note:
This story is a retelling of The Painter of Cats from Japanese folk stories and fairy tales, by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet. In the original story, a young boy drives his parents crazy by doing nothing but draw cats. When he draws a cat on his mother’s sash for her kimono, they get angry and send him to live with a priest. He studies and learns from the priest, and enjoys the work, but he still draws cats. The priest becomes angry when he draws cats on the walls of the temple and sends him away. The boy is afraid to face his parents, so he decides to look for another temple. He finds one that is dirty and empty. He cleans it up, draws cats on the wall, and goes to sleep. In the night, he hears animals fighting. A huge rat goblin is dead on the floor in the morning, and his cat pictures are covered in blood. He assumes they must have killed the rat. The priests are grateful and pay him 20 yen for saving their church from the rat goblin. In the future, he tells his art students that the first piece of art he sold was a picture of cats for 20 yen, and they call him the Painter of Cats. In this retelling, I have used characters from the game Persona 5. Yusuke is an artist who is having a slump and asks his friends what he should paint. One of the options for Akira (the main protagonist of the game) to answer with is that he should paint the cat, Morgana. In the game, their group called the Phantom Thieves have the ability to enter a cognitive world called the Metaverse. I thought it would be fun if Yusuke accidentally entered that world, and his drawing lured Morgana the cat in as well, to fight with the rat.
The Painter of Cats from Japanese folk stories and fairy tales, by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet. Web Source.
Angela,
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting story! I must admit, I’m not very familiar with either the original Japanese tale or with any of the characters from Persona 5. However, I think you were very creative by adding your own personal touch to the story! One particular part of this caught my attention - the part of the story where the artist’s painting comes to life and saves both him and the church. This reminded me of an old series that I read called the Inkheart books. In this trilogy, though my memory may not be entirely accurate, I believe there is a certain character that possesses a power similar to that of your artists. Either when he reads words from a book or writes words, the words come to life! What a fascinating idea.
Hi Angela!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story! I like the way you first describe Yusuke's cat paintings. The cats just get more and more ridiculous as the list continues, creating the sense of exasperation that the artist must feel in his inability to paint anything other than cats. I thought the incorporation of Persona 5 characters into the framework of the story was a really creative variation to it. Good job!
Hey Angela! Your story was very interesting. I know nothing about the video game Persona 5, so I was a little confused at first. Your author’s note is definitely important so that readers will understand the aspects of your story form the game. I think you did a nice job of explaining it all. I think you also did well with the dialogue. Good job on this and thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey Angela,
ReplyDeleteGreat story! I can tell from your introduction post and this story that you a cat person! I think that is cool that you found a story to incorporate things you like into it. There are so many different ways to retell a story but you did a good job with this one. A couple things that I think might help is to add in parenthesis the way to say some of the Japanese names. Also maybe to add a little more detail about the multiverse? Thank you for sharing this story!