Persona 5 Royal Kawakami Confidant Guide Temperance
Persona 5 Royal is all about forming relationships with various characters. We have 21 different characters with whom you can establish ‘cooperations’. These characters, known as confidants, provide skill bonuses and are associated with the game’s arcana. The Temperance arcana is represented by Sadayo Kawakami, who is your school teacher and can develop a deeper connection with you.
Kawakami has a nice perk, Slack Off (gets better at rank 5), which sometimes lets you do all kinds of things during class. She is a great social link to max out early, as she has time-saving perks. Also, something that a lot of people will be happy about, you can build a romantic relationship with your teacher! I’ll indicate down below how to go for friendship or for romance.
This Persona 5 Royal Kawakami Confidant guide covers every Temperance rank and the choices you should make to earn maximum affection points. Remember that you need to have a Persona of the Temperance Arcana with you when hanging out with Kawakami. If you don’t, you won’t receive the full points indicated next to each answer.
Why You Should Max Out the Kawakami Confidant
Sadayo Kawakami’s Temperance Confidant is considered one of the most beneficial and time-saving Social Links in Persona 5 Royal, especially for players aiming to maximize their daily activities and complete all Confidants.
- Slack Off (Rank 1): This ability allows Joker to perform various activities (like reading, crafting infiltration tools, or even sleeping) during Kawakami’s class without using up your precious after-school time slot.
- Housekeeping (Rank 3): Allows you to request Kawakami to make coffee or do laundry for you. This frees up Joker’s time, as these chores normally consume time slots.
- Free Time (Rank 5): Extends the “Slack Off” effect to other teachers’ classes, further increasing your opportunities for passive activities during school hours.
- Super Housekeeping (Rank 6): Expands her services to include making SP-restoring curry and crafting infiltration tools.
- Special Massage (Rank 10): After a long day of exploring Palaces or Mementos (which normally exhausts Joker and restricts him to Leblanc at night), Kawakami can give you a massage that allows you to go out and perform another activity in the evening.
Kawakami Confidant Quick Facts
- Arcana: Emperor
- Phantom Thief Codename: Fox
- Location: Shibuya Station Underground Walkway
- Availability: All week in the daytime. He’s also available on rainy days, day and night
- Romanceable? No
- Best Persona: Equip an Emperor Persona for bonus points
- Gifts (only in ROYAL): Watercolor Postcard, Castella, … (complete list further down)
Kawakami Confidant Guide - Temperance
Rank 1:
Unlock Conditions: On 5/24, attend the story event where Ryuji hires a maid. Afterwards, speak to Kawakami in front of the Faculty Lounge to get her phone number. Call her from Leblanc’s phone with rank 3 (staunch) guts. Hanging out with her costs 5000 yen each time.
It’ll be our wittle secret, just for Becky and Master, okay? Can you keep a secret?
- Option 1: “Yeah, I get it.” +3
- Option 2: “I will if you will.” +2
- Option 3: “Please stop talking like that.” +2
- Unlocks Slack Off, which lets you spend class time performing other activities.
Rank 2:
Doesn’t it pain your heart to see such a cute maid all dirty?
- Option 1: It does.” +2
You weren’t expecting to do anything weird with me, were you?
- Option 2: “Absolutely not!” +2
Phone Call (P5R): Is that okay, Master?
- Option 1: “You have the wrong number.” +2
- Option 2: “Uh, what the hell?” +2
- Option 3: “Is this the hard sell?” +2
Rank 3:
The high-end cup noodles really do make a difference, don’t they?
- Option 1: “Yeah, they do.” +2
- Option 2: “Do some real cooking.” +2
I heard they might even cut the teachers’ salaries… I’m so sick of it…
- Option 2: “I’ll request you more often.” +3
Phone Call (P5R): You’re still young, so you really need to eat properly…
- Option 1: “Thanks.” +2
- Unlocks Housekeeping: Kawakami can make you coffee or do your laundry.
Rank 4:
But he said that he prioritizes ‘younger’ women!
- Option 1: “How rude.” +2
I look pretty good as a maid, don’t I?
- Option 1: “Yes, you do.” +2
- Option 3: “You need to love yourself.” +3
Rank 5:
You know you’re being used for money… and you still request me?
- Option 1: “It’s fun.” +2
- Option 3: “Who’s the Master here?” +2
He threatened me… saying that I’d be dismissed if I continued to tutor Takase-kun.
- Option 1: “How terrible…” +2
- Option 3: “So, did you stop?” +2
Phone Call (P5R): Do you get to eat that place’s curry every day?
- Option 3: “You want some?” +2
- Unlocks Free Time, letting you slack off more often at school.
Rank 6:
Sorry… I need to take a break…
- Option 2: “Want to rest a bit?” +2
I can’t stop coughing…
- Option 1: “Are you alright?” +3
- Option 2: “Have you seen a doctor?” +2
- Option 3: “You should go home.” +3
Phone Call (P5R): If you neglect stuff like that, it makes you more likely to get sick.
- Option 3: “How are you feeling, though?” +2
Rank 7:
I should be able to send it out tomorrow…
- Option 1: “Don’t strain yourself.” +2
- Option 3: “Don’t pay them.” +3
I guess transferring to our sister company is the only way…
- Option 3: “Think this through more.” +3
- Unlocks a Super Housekeeping: her services expand to include making curry and crafting infiltration tools
Rank 8:
This is just what I have to do.
- Option 3: “Is this what you really want?” +3
What do you think?
- Option 1: “You’re running away.” +2
- Option 2: “If that’s what you’ve decided.” +3
And that is my answer! …Well, what do you think?
- Option 1: “Be confident in your answer.” +3
- Option 2: “That’s the right choice.” +3
- Option 3: “You’re asking a student?” +3
As your teacher, I will never betray you.
- Option 1: “I want to protect you.” +3
- Option 2: “That’s reassuring.” +3
Phone Call (P5R): It’s thanks to you that I actually figured out what I need to do.
- Option 1: “You’re welcome.” +2
- After this rank, you’ll hear Kawakami during the next school day. You get a quest: A Teacher Maid to Suffer.
Rank 9 (Romance Point):
This is the point where a romance with Sadayo Kawakami becomes available. You need to complete the A Teacher Maid to Suffer quest before you can continue the social link. The Kawakami Romance requires a series of affirmative choices in order to happen.
I bet I’ll be an old woman by the time I achieve my dreams.
- Option 1: “Nonsense.” +3
Today marks the day I graduate from being your maid.
- Option 1: “What a bummer.” +3
- Option 2: “Thank you for your service.” +3
Besides, won’t you be lonely? Hm?
- Friendship – Option 1: “Not really.” +2
- Romance – Option 2: “I want to keep seeing you.” +2
Giving someone the wrong idea… It’s a sinful act, you know?
- Friendship – Option 1: “Got it.” +2
- Romance – Option 2: “I mean what I say.”
This situation isn’t normal. I’m a teacher, and you’re my student, you know?
- Friendship – Option 1: “I’m a master, you’re a maid.”
- Romance – Option 2: “I’m a man, you’re a woman.”
Phone Call (P5R if not romanced): “You can do it.” +2
Rank 10:
- Max rank, choices don’t matter.
- Unlocks Special Massage, which lets you go out at night after exploring the metaverse/shadow world.
- Unlocks Ardha fusion.
Best Gifts for Kawakami in Persona 5 Royal
- Castella: +2 Boost / Underground Mall, 1500 Yen
- Rose Bouquet: +2 Boost / Shinjuku at Night, 2400 Yen
- Chocolate Truffles: +3 Boost (P5), +2 Boost (P5R) / Undeground Mall, 2800 Yen
- Best of KGB49: +3 Boost / Underground Mall, 3000 Yen
- Idol Pins: +3 Boost / Underground Mall, 3000 Yen
- Rakugo Collection: +2 Boost / Underground Mall, 3000 Yen
- Incense Set: +2 Boost / Underground Mall, 3800 Yen
- Star Mirror: +3 Boost / Shinjuku, 4000 Yen
- Crimson Lipstick: +3 Boost (P5), +2 Boost (P5R), romance only / Underground Mall, 6000 Yen
- Designer Perfume: +2 Boost / Underground Mall, 7800 Yen
- Face Beautifier: P5R only, +3 Boost, Akihabara Electronics, 9800 Yen
- Super Noisy Alarm Clock: P5R only, +3 Boost / Shibuya Underground Mall, 12000 Yen
- High Performance Electric Toothbrush: P5R only, +3 Boost / Akihabara, 29800 Yen
- Robot Vacuum: +3 Boost, romance only / Akihabara, 44,800 Yen (Unique Reaction Kawakami)
- Heart Necklace: +3 Boost, romance only / Underground Mall, 68,000 Yen (Unique Reaction Kawakami)
- Heart Ring: +3 Boost, romance only / Underground Mall, 88,000 Yen (Unique Reaction Kawakami)
Kawakami Story and Background
Sadayo Kawakami is first introduced as Joker’s weary and seemingly detached homeroom teacher at Shujin Academy. Her initial interactions with Joker are cold, often marked by a dismissive attitude due to his transfer student status and “criminal record.”
The turning point occurs when Joker, Ryuji, and Mishima attempt to hire a maid service through a flyer Mishima finds. To their shock, the maid who arrives is none other than Kawakami. Caught in the act, she panics and demands that Joker keep her secret. The next day at school, another teacher, confronts Kawakami about her late nights. Joker intervenes, providing a cover story that Kawakami is tutoring him. Grateful, Kawakami gives Joker her work number, allowing him to officially initiate her Temperance Confidant by calling her from the Leblanc phone.
The Burden of Guilt
As Joker continues to hire Kawakami for her maid services (which include cleaning his room, doing laundry, and later, making coffee/curry, and crafting tools), her guarded exterior slowly begins to crack. She initially claims she needs the extra money for a “sick little sister’s medical bills.” However, as their bond deepens, she eventually reveals the truth: she has no sick sister.
Her financial struggles stem from a tragic past involving a former student named Takase. Kawakami had tutored Takase, who was an orphan working multiple part-time jobs to support himself. Due to exhaustion from his strenuous schedule, Takase was unable to achieve good grades. Kawakami, out of kindness, tried to help him, but she was threatened with resignation by her superiors.
Tragically, Takase later died in a car accident, presumed to be a result of his exhaustion. Takase’s manipulative relatives, who had adopted him, blamed Kawakami for his death. They threatened to cause a huge scandal and file a lawsuit unless she paid them “hush money” as an “apology” for her supposed role in his death. Overwhelmed by guilt and a sense of responsibility, Kawakami chose to pay them.
Redemption
The pressure of her double life and the emotional toll of her past takes a severe toll on Kawakami. She becomes visibly more exhausted and stressed. At one point, her overwork leads to her being hospitalized.
This culminates in a Mementos request called “A Teacher Maid to Suffer.” The Phantom Thieves intervene, changing the hearts of Takase’s corrupt guardians, forcing them to admit their extortionate behavior and release Kawakami from their grasp.
With the manipulative guardians dealt with, Kawakami is finally free from the immense financial and emotional burden that has plagued her. She decides to quit her maid-for-hire service, though she remains available for certain “housekeeping” tasks for Joker as a courtesy.
Conclusion of Kawakami P5R
By maxing out her Confidant, Kawakami fully embraces her role as a teacher and her compassionate nature. She overcomes her past trauma and guilt, realizing that she was not truly to blame for Takase’s accident. Her story is a powerful testament to the theme of finding justice and helping adults burdened by societal pressures or their own flaws
This concludes our Persona 5 Royal Kawakami Confidant Guide tutorial.