Persona 5 Royal Makoto confidant guide: Priestess choices, romance & gifts
Of all the confidant cooperation relationships in Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, Makoto is sure to be a favorite. The Persona series' trademark focus on friendships remains in P5, and you'll especially spend a lot of your limited in-game calendar getting to know other members of your Phantom Thieves crew, including the talented Makoto Niijima, who holds the Arcana of La Papesse (II) - The Priestess.
On this page, we break down every single conversation you have with Makoto as part of her confidant relationship - known in this game as a co-operation, and perhaps known to PS2-era Persona fans as Social Links or S-Links. With this guide you'll know what effect everything you have a choice to say to Makoto at each rank will have on your relationship, plus understand when you unlock skills through your co-operation and what they do. This might be more important to you than some others, since you Makoto is a romanceable co-operation. This is just one page of our extensive Persona 5 Royal confidant guide, which covers every character and choice in the game.
Makoto Niijima Confidant Cooperation Guide - Priestess (La Papesse - II)
- Location & Days Makoto is available: Makoto can most often be found during the day in front of the Student Council Office inside your school, or hanging outside the gates. She's available in the daytime on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and is available day and night on rainy days.
- Makoto Gifts: To impress Makoto with gifts for extra cooperation points, give items like the Mini Cactus, Fountain Pen or Book Cover. We list a few Makoto gift suggestions below, but check out our Persona 5 Gift Guide for the full list.
Here's every single rank, every choice that actually gives you points towards your relationship, and every single unlock you'll reveal as you progress your relationship with Makoto. Plus, we make clear when you're advancing the relationship to be a full romance relationship, if that's what you want.
The +1, +2 and +3 'points totals' you see next to the effective answers for each conversation choice refer to how many 'points' get added to your confidant relationship. Any choices not listed are irrelevant; you can pick anything, as they'll all either add nothing or the same to your relationship. This is an invisible stat, but the more points, the more quickly you'll rank up, freeing up time to do other things.
The phone calls that are listed are for Persona 5 Royal only; while this guide is correct to the original game's confidant cooperation relationship, the phone calls are not in that game. Remember, you'll only gain the full benefit of these answers if you have a Persona of Makoto's Arcana - that's Priestess - in Joker's current stock when you're hanging out with her. Always keep a relevant Persona on-hand, as that awards point bonuses, too.
Rank 1:
- After clearing the Bank Palace dungeon in the story, find Makoto in front of the Student Council Office at school.
- Rank 3 (Scholarly) Knowledge is required.
- Unlocks Shadow Calculus ability, allowing you to see the skills and potential drops from enemies on the analyse screen.
Impactful Conversation Choices for this Rank:
- I’ve had all kinds of new experiences today… and it's even been a little fun.
- Option 1: "Let's go again sometime." +3
- Option 2: "It's a new you." +3
- Option 3: "The red-light district next?" +3
Rank 2:
Impactful Conversation Choices for this Rank:
- I heard there were quite a few brothels as well.
- Option 1: "You're very well informed." +2
- If you hadn't been there to rescue me, I...
- Option 2: "That was dangerous." +3
- Option 1: "You should have known better." +2
- Phone Conversation (P5R): I guess nothing beats practical experience.
- Option 1: "Couldn't agree more." +3
Unlocks Baton Pass ability, letting you pass Makoto's turn to other Baton Pass users in battle after a 1 More.
Rank 3:
Impactful conversation choices for this rank:
- What's up with that, Miss Prez?
- Option 1: "You have the wrong idea." +2
- She thought I was a robot...
- Option 2: "You can change." +3
- Option 1: "Don't let it get to you." +2
- Phone Call (P5R): She even has a bunch of Buchimaru-kun emoticons!
- Option 1: "Sounds like you two get along." +3
Unlocks the Brainiac Talk ability, giving Makoto the chance to step in and rescue a failed demon negotiation.
Rank 4:
Impactful conversation choices for this rank:
- So, my class had a practice entrance exam... and my score was significantly lower than last time. I'm concerned...
- Option 1: "That's unlike you." +2
- I sent her a picture... and it's apparently the same brand they use in the nurse's office at school.
- Option 1: "Why do you use it?" +3
- Option 2: "That's adorable." +2
- I had completely forgotten about that dream, to be honest...
- Option 3: "That's an amazing goal." +3
- Option 2: "I like a woman in uniform." +2
Unlocks the Follow Up ability, giving Makoto the chance to attack an enemy after Joker as a follow-up.
Rank 5:
Impactful conversation choices for this rank:
- She even sent me a picture of their date at Destinyland.
- Option 3: "He sounds suspicious." +3
- Option 2: "That's annoying." +2
- This time, um... you'll have to play the role of my boyfriend.
- Option 1: "I got this." +3
- Option 3: "Only if I can take it seriously." +2
- Phone Call (P5R): What should we do…?
- Option 3: "Try to reach out to her." +3
Rank 6:
Requires rank 5 (max) charm to continue this phase of the Makoto confidant link. Impactful conversation choices for this rank:
- Are you seriously datin'?
- Option 3: "Love comes in many forms." +3
- Option 1: "We just started." +2
- Phone Call (P5R): I want to ignore him, but I shouldn’t for Eiko’s sake…
- Option 1: "Tell him you're on a date." +2
Unlocks the Harisen Recovery ability, which gives Makoto the chance to step in and heal status ailments on party members when in the party.
Rank 7:
Impactful conversation choices for this rank:
- I'm not sure any of that would have happened if not for the incident with my father...
- Option 1: "That's a horrible story." +3
- Option 3: "He was a noble man." +3
- Option 2: "Was it tough without him?" +2
- Trying to bring justice and order to the world around him.
- Option 1: "That's admirable." +3
- Option 2: "I'm sure he was happy." +3
- And more importantly, how do I want to live...?
- Option 1: "Do you have an answer?" +2
- Option 2: "You can figure that out now." +2
- Wanna hav a double wedding?
- Option 1: "I'm game if you are." +2
- Option 2: "Refuse her, please." +2
- Phone Call (P5R): Can we keep this up until I can make a call one way or the other?
- Option 3: "It's the role I always hoped for." +3
- Option 1: "Of course." +2
Unlocks the Shadow Factorization ability, which tells you if an attack will be effective or not while targeting.
Rank 8:
Impactful conversation choices for this rank:
- So he calls you his special princess... What do you think, Joker?
- Option 1: "He says that to all the girls." +2
- Option 2: "That's how he ropes you in." +2
- She needs to realize that. You're going to help, right?
- Option 1: "Absolutely." +3
- Option 2: "What are you going to do?" +2
- Option 3: "Eh, she deserves him." +2
Unlocks the Endure ability, giving Makoto a chance to withstand a blow in combat that would usually kill.
Rank 9 [Romance Point]:
This is the point when a romance with Makoto Niijima becomes available. In order to start this rank, you'll need information on the host, Tsukasa. Get this by going to Shinjuku - there's a man outside the bookstore. Talk to him twice.
Impactful conversation choices for this rank:
- I dare you!
- Option 1: "Get away from her!" +3
- Option 2: "Your fight's with me." +3
- Option 3: "I'm calling the cops." +3
- People noticed what happened...
- Option 1: "We should get out of here." +2
- Option 2: "Follow me."
- I can't believe I actually hit one of my friends..
- Option 2: "That was the right move." +2
- How did you ever find somewhere like this...? You know so much.
- Option 1: "I'm a regular here." +3
- Option 2: "It's a popular meeting spot." +3
- Option 3: "Not as much as you." +2
- I can't learn about romance by myself...
- Friendship - Option 1: "You'll find someone someday." +3
- Romance - Option 2: "I'll be your study partner."
- Do you... like me? (only if "I'll be your study partner." selected):
- Romance - Option 1: "I do." +3
- Friendship - Option 2: "That's not what I meant."
- Phone Call (P5R if romanced): "I'd do anything for you." +2
- Phone Call (P5R if not romanced): "No problem at all." +2 / "No big deal." +2
Unlocks the Protect ability, giving Makoto the ability to shield Joker from an attack that would be fatal.
Rank 10:
- Any choices you make will be irrelevant, since this is the max rank.
- Unlocks Cybele for fusion.
- Unlocks Second Awakening, evolving Makoto's Persona to its second form, Anat.
Best gifts for Makoto in Persona 5 Royal
While giving the correct answers throughout the confidant cooperation story scenes will advance your relationship quite quickly, you can help it along even more with another area of Persona 5 Royal with choice - by handing over gifts that Makoto will love, in turn bringing you closer.
Our full Persona 5 Royal gifts guide has the informaiton in full, but here's a handful you can use to ply Makoto to your will:
- Designer Perfume: +3 boost to your relationship with Makoto, plus unique dialogue. Get it from the Underground Mall.
- Motorbike Figure: Of course Makoto likes this - it gives a +3 boon to your Makoto confidant relationship. You can buy it from Akihabara.
- Fountain Pen: Worth +3 points in Persona 5, and +2 points in Persona 5 Royal. Grab it from the Underground Mall.
- Heart Ring / Necklace: Gives a +3 bonus to the Makoto confidant relationship, but you can only hand it over if you're romantically involved.