Serious and cynical, Sojiro Sakura is the owner of the Leblanc Café who becomes Joker’s caretaker upon the latter’s probational move to Tokyo. Though Sojiro is initially cold towards Joker due to his criminal background, he eventually warms up to his new lodger, even teaching him how to brew coffee and make curry. Here is a spoiler-free guide on his confidant in Persona 5 Royal.

Availability

Sojiro will become available on 4/20. If the protagonist does not manually initiate a conversation with him, the first ranked event will happen on 5/6. He can always be found standing behind the counter at the Leblanc Café.

He is available at night every day except Wednesday. On rainy days, he is also available during the day.

Perks

  • Rank 2 || Coffee Basics: Allows you to make coffee which slightly restores SP to one ally. (+30 SP to one ally.) Rank 4 || Leblanc Curry: Allows you to make curry that slightly restores SP to all allies. (+20 SP to the entire party, including non-combatants.) Rank 6 || Coffee Mastery: Allows you to make coffee which greatly restores SP to one ally. (+100 SP to one ally.) Rank 9 || Curry Tips: Allows you to make curry that moderately restores SP to all allies. (+30 SP to one ally only when not in combat.) Rank 10 || Curry Mastery: Allows you to make curry that greatly restores SP to all allies. (+100 SP to one ally only when not in combat.)

Rank-Up Events

As with every confidant, having a persona of a corresponding arcana will increase the number of points you earn with them by one. The point increases with a Hierophant persona on hand are indicated in brackets next to the regular increases as such:

Prompt 1) point values for answers a, b, c [point values with matching persona]

In addition, Sojiro is one of the confidants where scoring high on exams will also provide a bonus. Ranking first in the entire school will give you 1.5x affinity points, while ranking within the top ten will give 1.2x. This stacks with the bonuses from having a matching persona. If you’re receiving bonus points on top of 3 points already, you will still see only three musical notes but gain more within the actual mechanics.

Rank 1

The only prompt that awards affinity points is the phone call at the end of the event:

  • Phone call) 3, 1, 1 [3, 2, 2]

Rank 2

    1. 1, 0, 0 [2, 0, 0] 2) 0, 1, 0 [0, 2, 0] 3) 1, 0 [2, 0] Phone call) 1, 0, 0 [2, 0, 0]

Additional effects

  • Kindness +2

Rank 3

Note that Sojiro will ask you to brew coffee at least once before this event.

    1. 1, 0, 0 [2, 0, 0] 2) 0, 1, 0 [0, 2, 0] Phone call) 1, 0, 1 [2, 0, 2]

Rank 4

    1. 2, 0, 0 [3, 0, 0] 2) 0, 2, 0 [0, 3, 0] Phone call) 1, 0, 0 [2, 0, 0]

Rank 5

Locked until 8/22.

    1. 1, 0, 2 [2, 0, 3] 2) 1, 2, 0 [2, 3, 0] 3) 1, 0, 0 [2, 0, 0] Phone call) 0, 1, 0 [0, 2, 0]

Rank 6

    1. 0, 0, 1 [0, 0, 2] 2) 1, 0, 2 [2, 0, 3] 3) 1, 0 [2, 0] Phone call) 0, 0, 1 [0, 0, 2]

  • Kindness +3

Rank 7

Requires Level 5 MAX Kindness (“Angelic”).

    1. 1, 0, 0 [2, 0, 0] 2) 0, 0, 0 3) 0, 0, 0 Phone call) 0, 0, 1 [0, 0, 2]

Rank 8

    1. 1, 2, 0 [2, 3, 0] 2) 0, 1, 0 [0, 2, 0]

Unlocks the “The Money-Grubbing Uncle” Mementos request.

Note that this request can only be completed separately from your usual trips into Mementos. To complete this request, talk to Futaba and tell her you would like to go into Mementos. The two of you will head to the location automatically and you will engage in single combat.

Rank 9

Locked until the “The Money-Grubbing Uncle” Mementos request is completed.

    1. 2, 1 [3, 2] 2) 0, 3, 2 [0, 3, 3] Phone call) 1, 1, 1 [2, 2, 2]

Rank 10 (MAX)

    1. 0, 0, 0 2) 1, 2 [2, 3]

NEXT: Persona 5 Royal Confidant Guide: Councillor - Takuto Maruki