RiYu

RiYu is the het ship between Yu Narukami and Rise Kujikawa from the Persona fandom.

Persona 4/Golden
Upon their first meeting, Rise does not show any immediate interest in Yu. This very quickly changes after rescuing Rise from the TV World. She asks to join the Investigation Team, suddenly upbeat and bubbly compared to her tired, slightly melancholic self from before. She takes a very obvious liking to Yu, complete with a heart graphic appearing above her head.

Her crush is continuous and obvious throughout the game; so much so she gets jealous seeing Yu interacting with other girls, even panicking and getting slightly upset asking if Yu and Marie are on a date. Rise is the one girl who will invite you on a date to the Summer Festival despite the fact that you are not dating. While at the festival, a vendor mistakes Yu as Rise's boyfriend, and she does not correct him. After the fact, she says to Yu, "so people do think you're my boyfriend", revealing that she likes being seen in that light. In Persona 4 Golden, you can take Rise on a day trip to the hot springs, in which you will talk about the future. In response, Rise says, "In the future, I'll be with you, and... That's not what you meant?", further proving the extent of her feelings for Yu. There are several story-driven dates that you can spend with Rise if she is your girlfriend. These include Christmas, New Years and Valentine's Day. She will spend the night in your room on Christmas, and gifts you a silver bangle. On New Years, she makes several dirty jokes/innuendos such as saying that if they went to Yu's house her Kimono would be taken off, which has obvious sexual undertones. On Valentine's Day, spending time with Rise has the two sitting by the ocean, having a conversation about a future where Rise is a famous idol and Yu is back in his hometown. When Yu leaves Inaba during the true ending of Persona 4, Rise will profess her love for him regardless of their relationship status.

They have several implied moments in cutscenes as well. Yu and Rise can be seen seemingly holding hands in Ameno-Sagiri's introductory cutscene. During the skiing trip cutscene, Yu and Rise are depicted having a one-on-one skiing lesson, sharing a small moment where Rise is standing close to Yu in between his skis. Eventually, Teddie comes rolling down the hill at immense speeds, to which Yu will shield Rise with a hug.

Social Link
Rise's social link automatically starts due to story events, and starts off quite normal as well. Her crush is still evident, but until her 4th rank nothing seems to be implied. In the 4th rank of her Social Link, Rise's former manager confronts her about not returning to her job as an idol. She makes up a story about running away and marrying Yu after they graduate, for which she apologizes after the encounter is over. When Rise apologizes for lying about marrying Yu, the optimal response is "It was a lie?!", implying that Yu may have actually gone along with the plan had she been serious. In her rank 6, she doubles down on the idea, asking "Doesn't that sound great? How about it?". While the optimal answers are both positive, Rise will playfully scold Yu for so nonchalantly agreeing to something like that. You can start a romantic relationship with Rise in the 8th rank of her Social Link, which is one rank earlier than most others. While Rise doesn't play a major part in initiating the relationship, this may indicate an eagerness on Rise's behalf.

Fanon
RiYu is often mistaken as canon by Persona 4 fans due to how many romantic interactions they have in canon, and how much Atlus seemingly pushes it. Yu is intentionally left without a canon love interest due to the nature of the Persona series, which tends to leave room for fans to choose their own romantic partner in-game. Despite the obvious implications, RiYu is not outrageously popular compared to other ships involving Yu, with many preferring the slash ship SouYo.

RiYu is the second most written ship for Yu and the most written ship for Rise on AO3.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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