[ APPLICATION FOR sirenspull ]
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro
Canon Format: Manga
Character's Name: Yako Katsuragi
Character's Age: 19 (going on 20 by March 10)
What form will your character's NV take? Just a standard flip-top cellphone, with a braid of hair attached as a charm. (Though the braid of hair is technically a character in her own right, if a minor one. She is shown attached to Yako's hair in the final chapter of the manga, a regular companion in her travels. If Yako is allowed to keep her, Akane will be treated as an NPC. If not, Yako's cellphone charm will be nothing more than a dead lock of hair and she'll have another mystery to puzzle over.)
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Canonically, Yako has no superhuman abilities (except, perhaps, for: 1) her voracious appetite (she's capable of eating 120kg of fish in one sitting), 2) her incredibly resilient body, which allows her to withstand the ridiculous amounts of slapstick violence Neuro so gleefully inflicts on her).
What she does have are a highly developed ability to understand others and a good intuition. These characteristics may not seem like much, but they're the core of her reputation as a world-renown detective, and what allow her to befriend people from all walks of life. She's not conventionally intelligent, but she has a good memory.
Yako has a good sense of taste, being a decent cook (with questionable taste in ingredients) and something of a gourmet (with a cast-iron stomach: blame her mother's god-awful cooking). She's able to tell, for example, that there's something unusual about what turns out to be drug- and steroid-laden food, commenting that "this isn't food" and "shouldn't be eaten."
At the point she's taken from, Yako states that she can speak at least four languages, including Spanish and Japanese. The others are unspecified, but since she learned languages as a 'survival tactic' for whenever she was lost in an unfamiliar environment, it would make sense for the the other two to be English and Chinese-- both widely spoken.
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? For Yako, whose 'normality' is her greatest asset, it's only appropriate that her power be something that doesn't stand out.
Yako is essentially the reverse of a Null or a Void: her ability is to amplify other people's powers, or even trigger dormant ones. How the power is amplified will depend upon the type of power it is, as well as Yako's intentions; it may be to extend the duration, range, strength, effectiveness, or even increase the number of times a power can be used, if it is limited to a certain number of times a day. Examples of practical application would be allowing a person with regenerative abilities to heal faster, allowing someone who can manipulate fire to create even larger, more destructive flames, and extending the effective range of someone with telepathic ability.
Yako's power is activated only by touch, and it's something she has to consciously will to happen. Initially, this won't be something she has perfect control over, and she may end up unexpectedly 'boosting' people she really shouldn't-- for example, by having the strong desire to help someone, she may inadvertently amplify their abilities.
The amplification only lasts for a brief period of time, depending on the extent of physical contact. Brushing against her casually would result in a 'boost' in that person's ability for thirty seconds; holding her hand will maintain the amplification after the hold is broken for maybe up to five minutes; constant contact will pretty much keep it up indefinitely... or, well, until she passes out.
Triggering someone's powers works slightly differently; it's also something that occurs only on contact, but it leaves Yako considerably more drained, since it works a bit like jump-starting a dead engine. The person whose abilities got triggered will probably experience amplified (but rather difficult to control) swings in their powers for 12-24 hours after coming into contact with Yako, and their reaction may not always be instantaneous.
The power's limit is Yako's own endurance. While she's capable of being put through taxing situations, boosting someone will drain her vitality much more quickly than any physical activity, leaving her feeling faint. If she tries to push the power too hard, she may even collapse. Her ability is basically fueled by the transfer of her own energy to another individual. At first, she will not be able to amplify powers by much and it will not completely exhaust her, but if she develops the power to its full potential the strain on her body may eventually be serious enough to require hospitalization.
Weapons: None, unless Akane counts: when attached to Yako's hair, Akane can use it (independently of Yako's will) to manipulate objects within its range, such as in this page. It's still fundamentally hair, though-- it can be restrained by hair products, can be cut with scissors, etc.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History:
[ The entire series can basically be summarized this way: Girl meets demon. Together, they fight crime! ]
Once Yako was as normal a high school girl as any (though her interests revolved around where she would get her next meal, rather than the opposite gender). Though her mother can't cook to save her life, and her father is a busy scientist, she had a happy childhood, surrounded by the love of her family and finding joy in the simple pleasures of life. Like eating.
Then, one day, she comes home to find her father dead: the victim of a closed-room murder. With her peaceful life now turned upside down, Yako is left to try and sort out how she feels about the whole thing-- only to be rudely interrupted:
"My name is Brain-Eater Neuro. I live to consume 'mysteries'... I am a resident of Hell."
That inauspicious introduction changes Yako's life forever.
A demon who has come to the human world in search of the ultimate mystery, Neuro wastes no time in coercing recruiting Yako to aid him. Merely knowing the truth of a mystery (usually some kind of crime) is not enough: for Neuro to be able to 'eat' the powerful negative emotions that created it, the culprit must be exposed and completely defeated. This is where Yako (promptly dubbed Slave #1) comes in, serving as Neuro's cover as the 'great high school detective' and her assistant.
The pair solve one mystery after another, running into several bizarre characters-- some friends, some enemies-- along the way. When they acquire an office for their slowly growing detective agency, they end up recruiting Godai (a former yakuza member who Yako realizes isn't as frightening as he seems) and Akane (a corpse stuck into the office wall). Sasazuka Eishi, a police detective they often run into when pursuing 'mysteries', also becomes an ally-- though he often expresses exasperation at them poking their noses into what is technically police business.
"The culprit... is you!"
At first, Yako is little more than an unwilling pawn Neuro drags around after him (how she finds the time to still go to high school is a wonder). She frequently questions her own worth in the resolution of the cases they take on, or whether she is nothing more than Neuro's tool. As the series progresses, however, she becomes more and more involved in the cases, slowly learning how to be a true detective. Neuro is intelligent enough to understand the method behind a crime, but he has no understanding of human emotions. He challenges Yako to grow, believing she is a human with the potential to 'evolve' into something greater.
As Yako's understanding of human beings and their motivations improves, she becomes a critical part of solving the case they encounter, providing the human insight that Neuro lacks. Neuro acknowledges that there are some mysteries which Yako, as a human, can solve-- while he, as a demon, cannot.
Their first major case is brought to them by Aya Asia, a famous singer whose music has the power to reach out to (and manipulate) those who feel lonely or isolated. Neuro accepts her request to re-investigate the suicides of her friends because he senses a greater mystery. Neuro's instinct proves correct, and it is revealed Aya Asia is the true culprit behind her friends' murders. However, it is Yako who understands Aya's motive: Aya's massive popularity and inspiration is because of her loneliness. Having friends eliminated this loneliness (and her ability to create music) and terrified her, so she killed them. Satisfied with Yako's reasoning, Aya allows herself to be arrested by the police.
... Though not before their confrontation is broadcast on live TV, catapulting the detective agency to national fame.
The detective agency attracts unwanted attention in the form of the Phantom Thief X, a killer whose trademark is placing his victims' liquefied bodies into glass boxes. Bestowed with the ability to transform into whatever he wishes, X (also known as 'Sai') suffers from amnesia because of the constant mutation of his cells. In the attempt to find his own origins, he creates Red Boxes to better examine the cells of his victims-- and he plans to do the same to Neuro, who is the first non-human existence he's encountered. The initial encounter is fleeting, but it leaves Yako shaken, realizing for the first time the different in ability and power between her and these 'inhuman' creatures.
The next major case Yako and Neuro get involved in is when a site with an 'electronic drug' (a video that drives people to commit crimes according to their deepest desires) goes viral. It escalates into an international incident once the true culprit reveals himself: not a person, but an electronic being called HAL. A program born from the memories of the scientist Harukawa Eisuke, HAL has already killed the original.
Neuro engages HAL in a battle over both the digital and physical world, destroying the three supercomputers, or 'Sphinxes,' that HAL uses to guard his location. HAL takes over the supercomputer of a nuclear aircraft carrier, sealing himself behind another impregnable 'Sphinx'... and, as a final line of defense, reveals a simple password-locked firewall whose password is known by HAL and Harukawa alone. Arrogantly stating that neither of them will even be able to reach the supercomputer to enter the password, HAL gives them one last, scornful hint:
"The password is my goal-- that is all... My goal is the same as Harukawa's: life. Even if it is in the world between one and zero, life."
With only that cryptic hint to guide her, Yako-- who has slowly been developing her abilities to reason and understand people through the various 'puzzles' she solves with Neuro-- becomes the key to defeating HAL. Neuro leaves solving the password to Yako, since it is probably something formed of human intent he cannot understand. While Neuro recovers from the numerous injuries he sustained from the previous Sphinxes, Yako searches for the motive behind Harukawa and HAL's actions.
Using Neuro's demonic abilities, they eliminate the final Sphinx. When Yako enters the password, the final barrier shatters, and Neuro defeats HAL, consuming his 'puzzle.'HAL-- paralyzed and weakened-- asks Yako how she was able to solve the password.
The password, 1/1018, is a number pronounced "setsuna": a word that means "an instant"... and also the name of one of Harukawa's patients, Honjou Setsuna. HAL and Harukawa's goal was to digitally recreate Setsuna, whose death he could not prevent, and give her a second life. HAL congratulates Yako for having been able to understand his motives, giving her a vaccine to the electronic drug-- and, as a final request, asking her to press the button that will delete him.
After HAL is destroyed, Sai uses the fragments left of HAL's data to create a weaker copy of the electronic drug. Abducting Yako to infect her with it, he and Neuro have another confrontation. It ends in an unexpected twist when a newcomer interrupts Sai's escape, shedding his disguise as an interpol agent to reveal his true self: a man named Sicks, who steps forward to claim Sai as his child. He reveals Sai's true origins: an experiment to create an altered clone of Sicks.
From there, things quickly spiral out of control. Sicks is, without a doubt, the greatest enemy Yako and Neuro face, and the final test of both their abilities. The leader of a group of superhuman beings calling themselves the New Bloodline, Sicks dreams of nothing less than the extermination of all human life. He invites Neuro to join forces with him, but Neuro-- whose goal is the ultimate mystery that only humans have the potential to create-- decides to oppose Sicks, dragging Yako along for the ride (naturally).
Sicks is by far the most inhuman enemy than either of them have ever faced. Driven not by human emotions like hatred or love, but the pure intent to destroy, Sicks is beyond Yako's understanding. Just being in his presence is enough to drive her to her knees, overwhelmed by the malicious aura surrounding him. Again, Yako seems to be out of place in the battle between Neuro and Sicks, as Sicks sends out his followers to weaken the demon until he is little better than human. During this time, Yako befriends Honjou Fumio, an eccentric mathematician who is later revealed to be Honjou Setsuna's father.
Yako's wiki article explains the conclusion of the Sicks arc more clearly than I could, so I'll just link it here.
"Go quickly and hurry back, you stupid demon."
At the end of the series, a much-weakened Neuro returns to hell to recover his strength, but not before he declares that Yako has finally evolved to the level of 'top slug'... and is worthy of being called his partner.
Three years later, Yako has become an internationally-known detective (with Godai as her manager), and that's where her story ends... for now.
Point in Canon: Just before the events of Chapter 202. While the main events of the series occur while she is 16, the interim between chapters 201 and 202 is a three-year timeskip, during which Yako becomes a famous detective and travels around the world to resolve different conflicts. I'll be taking Yako from the point where she's on a plane on her way to deal with a hostage crisis in Mexico.
Character Personality:
"Ravenous" isn't one of the first things that comes up when one thinks of a master detective, but if "intelligent," "resourceful," and "gutsy" apply, then Yako fits the bill.
Yako's reputation as the 'piggish detective' hasn't changed even with age: her immense appetite is (and probably always will be) her most readily identifiable trait, traumatizing people meeting her for the first time and ensuring her permanent ban from buffet tables. Yako appreciates good food (no matter how quickly she seems to shove it into her mouth) and believes that few things can't be resolved by a good talk over a hot meal. She's rarely without a smile on her face, even for strangers, and has an easy-going nature that allows her to take almost anything in stride.
When she's caught up in her own thoughts, Yako can be blunt, even insultingly honest with her words. Never afraid to speak her mind when she's certain of herself, she tends to follow her gut feelings or instincts rather than logic or reason. She cares deeply about other people's feelings, and is quick to apologize once she's realized she's caused offense. People like Neuro tend to bring out a more easily exasperated (and horrified) side of her, and she often finds herself playing the 'straight man' role to him and most of the over-the-top criminals they meet.
With her upbeat disposition, it's easy to dismiss her as just another teenager... Except most teenagers aren't world-famous detectives by the age of nineteen. Having made a promise to the demon Neuro, her own determination and hard work have brought her to where she is now.
Yako describes herself as more of a negotiator than a detective, and she makes an excellent one. With an innate grasp of human psychology and a genuine interest in others, she has a knack for understanding people. More than that, she seems to have an ability to gain the trust of those around her, and it's commented on several times by the other charactesr. Neuro refers to this as "the power to capture a human's heart as a fellow human"; Godai says "she looks inside to see how people feel."
Her ability to perceive other people's intentions is far from perfect, however, and it has cost her some of the people dearest to her.
The detective can keep her head even in the most absurd or dangerous situations: the greater the odds she has to beat, the harder she strives to overcome them. Having 'evolved' to meet Neuro's demands, she firmly believes that all human beings are fundamentally the same, with the same potential to have strong feelings and connections with one another. She's driven to reach out to others, and there are few people she cannot feel sympathy for. Sicks was Yako's first (and, she hopes, her only) brush with a truly inhuman individual, one who can only be described as evil.
The loss of friends or loved ones is one of the few things that can really upset Yako. It's quite likely that without Neuro's appearance in her life, she would never have reached this point. After her father's death, she could only feel a loss of appetite and a listlessness that she could not escape from. Sasazuka and Honjou's deaths also hit her hard, and some part of her still aches for those loss and her own helplessness to prevent it.
For someone so young, Yako's seen a lot of terrible things, especially about the dark side of human nature. In some ways, that's more frightening; insanely overpowered supervillains are once in a lifetime, but knowing that anyone you meet on the street has the potential to be a killer is a different story. It makes it all the more remarkable that she's chosen her current path, facing everything humans have to offer head-on. Rather than being jaded and bitter, her experiences have allowed her to become a stronger person.
Character Plans: Yako is used to unusual situations, considering she's had lot of experience being in them. Her negotiation/people skills often hit CANON SUE LEVELS (more S. Links than a Persona game) but it will obviously be different in Siren's Port-- considering the number of villains/anti-heroes/just plain weirdoes out there, it should be interesting to see just how she interacts.
She could end up doing a number of things as well, depending on what opportunities crop up: she might set up another detective agency, seek to work with the police as a negotiator (though I would prefer to avoid that path, since I already have a character in the SPPD), or... something else! Yako's personality and behavior is quite different from Rin and Fratley's. so I'm looking forward to the variety of relationships she can form.
I've specifically chosen her from this sort-of-post-series canon point because it's not a time I have seen her played from before. In the event that she gets canonmates, whether anime or manga-verse, I also foresee it being an interesting possibility to explore.
Appearance/PB: [HERE]
While she doesn't behave in a conventionally feminine way, Yako's taste in clothing is often surprisingly girly (she's typically seen in short skirts, dresses, sandals, or boots, and almost never pants). While not physically attractive enough for it to be remarked upon, she's pretty enough in a rather ordinary way, her personality being more of a drawing force than her appearance.
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
[ Hello, Siren's Port! Today, like so many other newcomers, a girl smiles brightly at the NV's camera lens, one hand sheepishly scratching at the nape of her neck. She looks like she's in her late teens, and (blonde hair notwithstanding) of Japanese descent.
Behind her is the plain decor of one of the Starter Apartments, wallpaper cracked and waterstained.]
This isn't exactly where I planned on being, but since it looks like I'm stuck here for now. It couldn't hurt to get to know the place. My name is Katsuragi Yako, and I'm--
[ She's interrupted by a loud, grim-sounding RUMBLE that seems to echo out from the NV. It might take a moment to realize that was the sound of a very empty human stomach. ]
... Er. It's been a while since I had lunch on the plane, and I don't really have a lot of money on me. If anyone could tell me where I could get something to eat... like a buffet... or a restaurant with unlimited refills of rice... or with an eat-all-you-can policy.. [ She looks almost alarmingly hopeful at the idea... trailing off into daydreams. Is she drooling? After a moment, she snaps out of it, coughing and wiping the back of her hand across her mouth. ]
Anyway, I'm not really picky about food, as long as it fills me up. [ She grins. ] I don't know if there's any way I can repay you, but I'd be grateful to anyone who can point me in the right direction!
Third Person Sample
Heaving a sigh of satisfaction, Yako pushed herself from the table, absently patting her stomach. That had been quite a meal, even for her, but that food had been so delicious she just couldn't help herself...! At least, if nothing else, Siren's Port had no shortage of wonderful restaurants. Now if only she could find a way to keep herself fed without constantly going bankrupt...
Wincing apologetically at the chef's glazed expression, she paid her bill (a few dollars short, but the man seemed too stunned to notice) and stepped out of the restaurant. Looking at it from an objective point of view, Siren's Port was about as normal as any other city. Except, of course, when you could occasionally see someone who wasn't entirely human walking down the road, or when someone flew overhead. It looked peaceful enough during the day, without a hint of the Darkness that warped it during the night.
How had Neuro described it, once...? "It is as though two wills exist side by side." The city was like a criminal whose two personalities remained distinct, and yet connected, one submerging as the other surfaced.
That demon would have probably found this city a delicious puzzle indeed.
She probably should have been frightened, finding herself here, but no matter how she looked at it, worrying about it was probably pointless. In the first place, she wasn't in any immediate danger: she just had to deal with having to keep herself fed and getting herself work, which wasn't terribly different from what she used to do anyway. If surviving in this city was supposed to be a challenge to her, she'd make sure she did.
Besides, even in a city filled with the residents of a hundred different worlds, she'd come to realize one important thing: apparently, humans really were all the same, no matter the origins they claimed.
General
Canon Source: Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro
Canon Format: Manga
Character's Name: Yako Katsuragi
Character's Age: 19 (going on 20 by March 10)
What form will your character's NV take? Just a standard flip-top cellphone, with a braid of hair attached as a charm. (Though the braid of hair is technically a character in her own right, if a minor one. She is shown attached to Yako's hair in the final chapter of the manga, a regular companion in her travels. If Yako is allowed to keep her, Akane will be treated as an NPC. If not, Yako's cellphone charm will be nothing more than a dead lock of hair and she'll have another mystery to puzzle over.)
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities: Canonically, Yako has no superhuman abilities (except, perhaps, for: 1) her voracious appetite (she's capable of eating 120kg of fish in one sitting), 2) her incredibly resilient body, which allows her to withstand the ridiculous amounts of slapstick violence Neuro so gleefully inflicts on her).
What she does have are a highly developed ability to understand others and a good intuition. These characteristics may not seem like much, but they're the core of her reputation as a world-renown detective, and what allow her to befriend people from all walks of life. She's not conventionally intelligent, but she has a good memory.
Yako has a good sense of taste, being a decent cook (with questionable taste in ingredients) and something of a gourmet (with a cast-iron stomach: blame her mother's god-awful cooking). She's able to tell, for example, that there's something unusual about what turns out to be drug- and steroid-laden food, commenting that "this isn't food" and "shouldn't be eaten."
At the point she's taken from, Yako states that she can speak at least four languages, including Spanish and Japanese. The others are unspecified, but since she learned languages as a 'survival tactic' for whenever she was lost in an unfamiliar environment, it would make sense for the the other two to be English and Chinese-- both widely spoken.
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them? For Yako, whose 'normality' is her greatest asset, it's only appropriate that her power be something that doesn't stand out.
Yako is essentially the reverse of a Null or a Void: her ability is to amplify other people's powers, or even trigger dormant ones. How the power is amplified will depend upon the type of power it is, as well as Yako's intentions; it may be to extend the duration, range, strength, effectiveness, or even increase the number of times a power can be used, if it is limited to a certain number of times a day. Examples of practical application would be allowing a person with regenerative abilities to heal faster, allowing someone who can manipulate fire to create even larger, more destructive flames, and extending the effective range of someone with telepathic ability.
Yako's power is activated only by touch, and it's something she has to consciously will to happen. Initially, this won't be something she has perfect control over, and she may end up unexpectedly 'boosting' people she really shouldn't-- for example, by having the strong desire to help someone, she may inadvertently amplify their abilities.
The amplification only lasts for a brief period of time, depending on the extent of physical contact. Brushing against her casually would result in a 'boost' in that person's ability for thirty seconds; holding her hand will maintain the amplification after the hold is broken for maybe up to five minutes; constant contact will pretty much keep it up indefinitely... or, well, until she passes out.
Triggering someone's powers works slightly differently; it's also something that occurs only on contact, but it leaves Yako considerably more drained, since it works a bit like jump-starting a dead engine. The person whose abilities got triggered will probably experience amplified (but rather difficult to control) swings in their powers for 12-24 hours after coming into contact with Yako, and their reaction may not always be instantaneous.
The power's limit is Yako's own endurance. While she's capable of being put through taxing situations, boosting someone will drain her vitality much more quickly than any physical activity, leaving her feeling faint. If she tries to push the power too hard, she may even collapse. Her ability is basically fueled by the transfer of her own energy to another individual. At first, she will not be able to amplify powers by much and it will not completely exhaust her, but if she develops the power to its full potential the strain on her body may eventually be serious enough to require hospitalization.
Weapons: None, unless Akane counts: when attached to Yako's hair, Akane can use it (independently of Yako's will) to manipulate objects within its range, such as in this page. It's still fundamentally hair, though-- it can be restrained by hair products, can be cut with scissors, etc.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History:
[ The entire series can basically be summarized this way: Girl meets demon. Together, they fight crime! ]
Once Yako was as normal a high school girl as any (though her interests revolved around where she would get her next meal, rather than the opposite gender). Though her mother can't cook to save her life, and her father is a busy scientist, she had a happy childhood, surrounded by the love of her family and finding joy in the simple pleasures of life. Like eating.
Then, one day, she comes home to find her father dead: the victim of a closed-room murder. With her peaceful life now turned upside down, Yako is left to try and sort out how she feels about the whole thing-- only to be rudely interrupted:
"My name is Brain-Eater Neuro. I live to consume 'mysteries'... I am a resident of Hell."
That inauspicious introduction changes Yako's life forever.
A demon who has come to the human world in search of the ultimate mystery, Neuro wastes no time in coercing recruiting Yako to aid him. Merely knowing the truth of a mystery (usually some kind of crime) is not enough: for Neuro to be able to 'eat' the powerful negative emotions that created it, the culprit must be exposed and completely defeated. This is where Yako (promptly dubbed Slave #1) comes in, serving as Neuro's cover as the 'great high school detective' and her assistant.
The pair solve one mystery after another, running into several bizarre characters-- some friends, some enemies-- along the way. When they acquire an office for their slowly growing detective agency, they end up recruiting Godai (a former yakuza member who Yako realizes isn't as frightening as he seems) and Akane (a corpse stuck into the office wall). Sasazuka Eishi, a police detective they often run into when pursuing 'mysteries', also becomes an ally-- though he often expresses exasperation at them poking their noses into what is technically police business.
"The culprit... is you!"
At first, Yako is little more than an unwilling pawn Neuro drags around after him (how she finds the time to still go to high school is a wonder). She frequently questions her own worth in the resolution of the cases they take on, or whether she is nothing more than Neuro's tool. As the series progresses, however, she becomes more and more involved in the cases, slowly learning how to be a true detective. Neuro is intelligent enough to understand the method behind a crime, but he has no understanding of human emotions. He challenges Yako to grow, believing she is a human with the potential to 'evolve' into something greater.
As Yako's understanding of human beings and their motivations improves, she becomes a critical part of solving the case they encounter, providing the human insight that Neuro lacks. Neuro acknowledges that there are some mysteries which Yako, as a human, can solve-- while he, as a demon, cannot.
Their first major case is brought to them by Aya Asia, a famous singer whose music has the power to reach out to (and manipulate) those who feel lonely or isolated. Neuro accepts her request to re-investigate the suicides of her friends because he senses a greater mystery. Neuro's instinct proves correct, and it is revealed Aya Asia is the true culprit behind her friends' murders. However, it is Yako who understands Aya's motive: Aya's massive popularity and inspiration is because of her loneliness. Having friends eliminated this loneliness (and her ability to create music) and terrified her, so she killed them. Satisfied with Yako's reasoning, Aya allows herself to be arrested by the police.
... Though not before their confrontation is broadcast on live TV, catapulting the detective agency to national fame.
The detective agency attracts unwanted attention in the form of the Phantom Thief X, a killer whose trademark is placing his victims' liquefied bodies into glass boxes. Bestowed with the ability to transform into whatever he wishes, X (also known as 'Sai') suffers from amnesia because of the constant mutation of his cells. In the attempt to find his own origins, he creates Red Boxes to better examine the cells of his victims-- and he plans to do the same to Neuro, who is the first non-human existence he's encountered. The initial encounter is fleeting, but it leaves Yako shaken, realizing for the first time the different in ability and power between her and these 'inhuman' creatures.
The next major case Yako and Neuro get involved in is when a site with an 'electronic drug' (a video that drives people to commit crimes according to their deepest desires) goes viral. It escalates into an international incident once the true culprit reveals himself: not a person, but an electronic being called HAL. A program born from the memories of the scientist Harukawa Eisuke, HAL has already killed the original.
Neuro engages HAL in a battle over both the digital and physical world, destroying the three supercomputers, or 'Sphinxes,' that HAL uses to guard his location. HAL takes over the supercomputer of a nuclear aircraft carrier, sealing himself behind another impregnable 'Sphinx'... and, as a final line of defense, reveals a simple password-locked firewall whose password is known by HAL and Harukawa alone. Arrogantly stating that neither of them will even be able to reach the supercomputer to enter the password, HAL gives them one last, scornful hint:
"The password is my goal-- that is all... My goal is the same as Harukawa's: life. Even if it is in the world between one and zero, life."
With only that cryptic hint to guide her, Yako-- who has slowly been developing her abilities to reason and understand people through the various 'puzzles' she solves with Neuro-- becomes the key to defeating HAL. Neuro leaves solving the password to Yako, since it is probably something formed of human intent he cannot understand. While Neuro recovers from the numerous injuries he sustained from the previous Sphinxes, Yako searches for the motive behind Harukawa and HAL's actions.
Using Neuro's demonic abilities, they eliminate the final Sphinx. When Yako enters the password, the final barrier shatters, and Neuro defeats HAL, consuming his 'puzzle.'HAL-- paralyzed and weakened-- asks Yako how she was able to solve the password.
The password, 1/1018, is a number pronounced "setsuna": a word that means "an instant"... and also the name of one of Harukawa's patients, Honjou Setsuna. HAL and Harukawa's goal was to digitally recreate Setsuna, whose death he could not prevent, and give her a second life. HAL congratulates Yako for having been able to understand his motives, giving her a vaccine to the electronic drug-- and, as a final request, asking her to press the button that will delete him.
After HAL is destroyed, Sai uses the fragments left of HAL's data to create a weaker copy of the electronic drug. Abducting Yako to infect her with it, he and Neuro have another confrontation. It ends in an unexpected twist when a newcomer interrupts Sai's escape, shedding his disguise as an interpol agent to reveal his true self: a man named Sicks, who steps forward to claim Sai as his child. He reveals Sai's true origins: an experiment to create an altered clone of Sicks.
From there, things quickly spiral out of control. Sicks is, without a doubt, the greatest enemy Yako and Neuro face, and the final test of both their abilities. The leader of a group of superhuman beings calling themselves the New Bloodline, Sicks dreams of nothing less than the extermination of all human life. He invites Neuro to join forces with him, but Neuro-- whose goal is the ultimate mystery that only humans have the potential to create-- decides to oppose Sicks, dragging Yako along for the ride (naturally).
Sicks is by far the most inhuman enemy than either of them have ever faced. Driven not by human emotions like hatred or love, but the pure intent to destroy, Sicks is beyond Yako's understanding. Just being in his presence is enough to drive her to her knees, overwhelmed by the malicious aura surrounding him. Again, Yako seems to be out of place in the battle between Neuro and Sicks, as Sicks sends out his followers to weaken the demon until he is little better than human. During this time, Yako befriends Honjou Fumio, an eccentric mathematician who is later revealed to be Honjou Setsuna's father.
Yako's wiki article explains the conclusion of the Sicks arc more clearly than I could, so I'll just link it here.
"Go quickly and hurry back, you stupid demon."
At the end of the series, a much-weakened Neuro returns to hell to recover his strength, but not before he declares that Yako has finally evolved to the level of 'top slug'... and is worthy of being called his partner.
Three years later, Yako has become an internationally-known detective (with Godai as her manager), and that's where her story ends... for now.
Point in Canon: Just before the events of Chapter 202. While the main events of the series occur while she is 16, the interim between chapters 201 and 202 is a three-year timeskip, during which Yako becomes a famous detective and travels around the world to resolve different conflicts. I'll be taking Yako from the point where she's on a plane on her way to deal with a hostage crisis in Mexico.
Character Personality:
"Ravenous" isn't one of the first things that comes up when one thinks of a master detective, but if "intelligent," "resourceful," and "gutsy" apply, then Yako fits the bill.
Yako's reputation as the 'piggish detective' hasn't changed even with age: her immense appetite is (and probably always will be) her most readily identifiable trait, traumatizing people meeting her for the first time and ensuring her permanent ban from buffet tables. Yako appreciates good food (no matter how quickly she seems to shove it into her mouth) and believes that few things can't be resolved by a good talk over a hot meal. She's rarely without a smile on her face, even for strangers, and has an easy-going nature that allows her to take almost anything in stride.
When she's caught up in her own thoughts, Yako can be blunt, even insultingly honest with her words. Never afraid to speak her mind when she's certain of herself, she tends to follow her gut feelings or instincts rather than logic or reason. She cares deeply about other people's feelings, and is quick to apologize once she's realized she's caused offense. People like Neuro tend to bring out a more easily exasperated (and horrified) side of her, and she often finds herself playing the 'straight man' role to him and most of the over-the-top criminals they meet.
With her upbeat disposition, it's easy to dismiss her as just another teenager... Except most teenagers aren't world-famous detectives by the age of nineteen. Having made a promise to the demon Neuro, her own determination and hard work have brought her to where she is now.
Yako describes herself as more of a negotiator than a detective, and she makes an excellent one. With an innate grasp of human psychology and a genuine interest in others, she has a knack for understanding people. More than that, she seems to have an ability to gain the trust of those around her, and it's commented on several times by the other charactesr. Neuro refers to this as "the power to capture a human's heart as a fellow human"; Godai says "she looks inside to see how people feel."
Her ability to perceive other people's intentions is far from perfect, however, and it has cost her some of the people dearest to her.
The detective can keep her head even in the most absurd or dangerous situations: the greater the odds she has to beat, the harder she strives to overcome them. Having 'evolved' to meet Neuro's demands, she firmly believes that all human beings are fundamentally the same, with the same potential to have strong feelings and connections with one another. She's driven to reach out to others, and there are few people she cannot feel sympathy for. Sicks was Yako's first (and, she hopes, her only) brush with a truly inhuman individual, one who can only be described as evil.
The loss of friends or loved ones is one of the few things that can really upset Yako. It's quite likely that without Neuro's appearance in her life, she would never have reached this point. After her father's death, she could only feel a loss of appetite and a listlessness that she could not escape from. Sasazuka and Honjou's deaths also hit her hard, and some part of her still aches for those loss and her own helplessness to prevent it.
For someone so young, Yako's seen a lot of terrible things, especially about the dark side of human nature. In some ways, that's more frightening; insanely overpowered supervillains are once in a lifetime, but knowing that anyone you meet on the street has the potential to be a killer is a different story. It makes it all the more remarkable that she's chosen her current path, facing everything humans have to offer head-on. Rather than being jaded and bitter, her experiences have allowed her to become a stronger person.
Character Plans: Yako is used to unusual situations, considering she's had lot of experience being in them. Her negotiation/people skills often hit CANON SUE LEVELS (more S. Links than a Persona game) but it will obviously be different in Siren's Port-- considering the number of villains/anti-heroes/just plain weirdoes out there, it should be interesting to see just how she interacts.
She could end up doing a number of things as well, depending on what opportunities crop up: she might set up another detective agency, seek to work with the police as a negotiator (though I would prefer to avoid that path, since I already have a character in the SPPD), or... something else! Yako's personality and behavior is quite different from Rin and Fratley's. so I'm looking forward to the variety of relationships she can form.
I've specifically chosen her from this sort-of-post-series canon point because it's not a time I have seen her played from before. In the event that she gets canonmates, whether anime or manga-verse, I also foresee it being an interesting possibility to explore.
Appearance/PB: [HERE]
![[HERE]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/kytha/yakowink.jpg){kind=link}
While she doesn't behave in a conventionally feminine way, Yako's taste in clothing is often surprisingly girly (she's typically seen in short skirts, dresses, sandals, or boots, and almost never pants). While not physically attractive enough for it to be remarked upon, she's pretty enough in a rather ordinary way, her personality being more of a drawing force than her appearance.
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
[ Hello, Siren's Port! Today, like so many other newcomers, a girl smiles brightly at the NV's camera lens, one hand sheepishly scratching at the nape of her neck. She looks like she's in her late teens, and (blonde hair notwithstanding) of Japanese descent.
Behind her is the plain decor of one of the Starter Apartments, wallpaper cracked and waterstained.]
This isn't exactly where I planned on being, but since it looks like I'm stuck here for now. It couldn't hurt to get to know the place. My name is Katsuragi Yako, and I'm--
[ She's interrupted by a loud, grim-sounding RUMBLE that seems to echo out from the NV. It might take a moment to realize that was the sound of a very empty human stomach. ]
... Er. It's been a while since I had lunch on the plane, and I don't really have a lot of money on me. If anyone could tell me where I could get something to eat... like a buffet... or a restaurant with unlimited refills of rice... or with an eat-all-you-can policy.. [ She looks almost alarmingly hopeful at the idea... trailing off into daydreams. Is she drooling? After a moment, she snaps out of it, coughing and wiping the back of her hand across her mouth. ]
Anyway, I'm not really picky about food, as long as it fills me up. [ She grins. ] I don't know if there's any way I can repay you, but I'd be grateful to anyone who can point me in the right direction!
Third Person Sample
Heaving a sigh of satisfaction, Yako pushed herself from the table, absently patting her stomach. That had been quite a meal, even for her, but that food had been so delicious she just couldn't help herself...! At least, if nothing else, Siren's Port had no shortage of wonderful restaurants. Now if only she could find a way to keep herself fed without constantly going bankrupt...
Wincing apologetically at the chef's glazed expression, she paid her bill (a few dollars short, but the man seemed too stunned to notice) and stepped out of the restaurant. Looking at it from an objective point of view, Siren's Port was about as normal as any other city. Except, of course, when you could occasionally see someone who wasn't entirely human walking down the road, or when someone flew overhead. It looked peaceful enough during the day, without a hint of the Darkness that warped it during the night.
How had Neuro described it, once...? "It is as though two wills exist side by side." The city was like a criminal whose two personalities remained distinct, and yet connected, one submerging as the other surfaced.
That demon would have probably found this city a delicious puzzle indeed.
She probably should have been frightened, finding herself here, but no matter how she looked at it, worrying about it was probably pointless. In the first place, she wasn't in any immediate danger: she just had to deal with having to keep herself fed and getting herself work, which wasn't terribly different from what she used to do anyway. If surviving in this city was supposed to be a challenge to her, she'd make sure she did.
Besides, even in a city filled with the residents of a hundred different worlds, she'd come to realize one important thing: apparently, humans really were all the same, no matter the origins they claimed.