Adventure was in her blood, in her bones, in her soul. Ever since she could walk, she grew impatient at dark nights huddled by candlelight and instead enjoyed traversing through the forest to pick mushrooms for dinner, getting muddy and messy and grinning at her parents when she found the biggest mushrooms often hidden under tree roots. She had a tutor from Russian Turkestan who taught her advanced sciences such as geology and anatomy and biology and who also allowed her to smoke with him, she studied extensively Polish warrior women as she was fascinated by them, her parents drilled her in Russian and Japanese so she could speak to them but she also learned French as all Russians did, and she went to church every day and said her prayers.
She also played the balalaika masterfully, opting to sit in the corner and strum while the other girls her age danced merrily at country parties, their laughter lighting up the sky. Music was a part of them, as shown by her father who could play the violin and get all three of them dancing. She never really thought she had a calling for something greater, until one specific day.
On that day, a woman was found stabbed in the streets, the knife still in her. Her father jumped at the case, having been a detective by profession and wanting a new case to solve. She was right beside him, hunting for clues. The culprit was a drunken man she got into an argument with and he was hauled off to jail once they caught him. On that day, Yekaterina knew exactly who she wanted to be. A detective, just like her parents.
Her father was fourth in a line of them, after all, and her mother joined the profession when she moved there from Japan, citing the freedom she had in Russia that she didn't have back home. The two set up an agency that was popular despite their small town and primarily solved murders and abuse cases, common in their neck of the woods. Yekaterina was expected to continue the family trade, and she dreamed of the day she could become an adult and take over.
Until then though, her parents kept her worldly. They had to, after all, she was mixed, an extremely common sight in Russia so nobody even questioned why Prince Mikhail Surkov brought home a woman named Hana Shirogane, they just accepted it. It's what Russian nobles did after all, they had children with local women and Mikhail was expected to do the same. Sure, it got annoying sometimes, being asked to wear a kimono or serve tea or which Asiatic nation she was really from with those tiny eyes, but she dealt. She carried her father's physical features mainly, a proud Russian man he was, with eyes and hair as blue as winter.
Her locket, the one she never took off, was her gift on her tenth birthday. On one side was a photograph of her parents, and on the other side was a fancy drawing of herself, hands on her cheeks and her hair flowing around her. On the photos was written in elegant French: To my darling, love your father and maman.
All good things came to an end, of course. When she was just shy of thirteen, a terrible disease swept through her village and spared nobody. Cholera, she was told later. She herself laid in bed for days on end, spasming and vomiting and rotting from the inside out, sure she was next to die.
But she didn't.
The manor was silent.
The only memory she had of that awful time was calling for her parents and servants and receiving no answer before stumbling into the yard to drink from the well, being deathly thirsty. The local priest heard everyone had died and was coming to bless the place when he saw her there, standing with wild unkempt hair, a white nightgown, a blue face, water dripping from her mouth, and promptly dropped to his knees, screaming about how he found the spirit of disease that killed everyone.
The next two years were agonizing. Bounced around from distant relative to distant relative, having nothing to her name but her locket, sitting in hallways listening to adults debate her fate like she wasn't even there.
"She needs to live with a close relative."
"But then she'll have to leave the country!"
"Well, she's too young to be by herself."
"And she can't live alone as a girl!"
"She's still a child, so she has to listen to us anyway! Adults know best!"
"Best we send her away anyway, she might be cursed, didn't you hear, her whole village perished but her-"
Yekaterina bit her tongue and clenched her fists and turned away every single time, knowing tears were pointless but wishing to shed them anyway. She hated having to suck up to them, having to always say 'yes mistress' 'yes sir' and act like nothing was wrong, especially when she was ranked higher than the vast majority of them. She was a princess! The princess of Yekaterinburg! Yet they were treating her like a child!
And yet, what they said went. The law said until she came of age, she must live with a close relative, and that turned out to be her maternal grandfather in Japan. A man she only heard about in stories her maman told. She was promptly welcomed, told to bury everything about herself, and suffer in silence as she worked alone, no true friends or partners to call her own, constantly biting her tongue at everything that displeased her.
Even now, she suffered, though her innards weren't twisted and dead, so that was good at least. She'd doze off in her bed and wake up upside-down or stretched into a bizarre position, stiff and sore. She was immediately reminded of a boy in her village who died of tetanus after days, weeks, of being locked-up and in agony. She was sure that's not what she had, but it was similar enough to make her think of it anyway. What kind of a place was that, that made her feel so twisted?
After a few days of rest, she managed to get her affairs in order, first going to church at the Orthodox Church set up for Russian visitors to Japan that was just down the street from Grandpa's manor(how lucky was she?) and then lighting candles for Belobog and Chernobog, keeping both of them in her heart so they'd be balanced and never blessing her with too much good or bad fortune. She checked up on the servants and then got dressed for school, folding herself up into the uniform.
She really disliked it, kimono felt strange on her skin and she desired the flowing coats and scarves of her everyday clothing, but at school, laws must be followed. At least she still got to wear her hat.
Naoto met up with the others at school minus Kanji and Yukiko, but that made sense. Kanji already said he didn't attend school, while Yukiko was a girl and they weren't really educated in Japan. Certainly not in the country.
"Are you feeling better?" Chie asked her with a smile, and she nodded.
"Yes. I still need to thank you for helping me."
"Don't mention it!" Yosuke winked. "But why are you still wearing that? I mean, it looks girly, but don't you want to switch the colors?"
"I think it's perfectly adequate…" Naoto felt her face heat up suddenly. She realized too late upon getting it that there must've been some mixup and thus she was given a female uniform but in male colors. Wasn't that just the perfect metaphor for her life? Somehow, nobody questioned it too deeply so she kept wearing it.
"Look, it's our beloved prince." A boy nudged the other.
"No way, I heard that's actually a girl!" His friend whispered.
"Oh! Isn't that kinda cool though?" A girl came up behind them, her own friend giggling.
"I also heard she's mixed! Interesting huh? You think she eats dairy?"
Naoto sighed. "What is with everyone and butter…rumors travel fast here, don't they?"
"That's a small town for you." Yosuke said.
"Hey, they like dairy because it's good! And ignore what everyone else says about you. We know who you truly are, so just stick by us!" Yu interrupted, smiling wildly.
"I just want to be treated as you all had been before." She lowered her voice. "After school, I want to discuss the case and go over everything. We're dealing with a kidnap and murder case right in this very town, done by a citizen. It's dead serious and we need to focus on it. Tell the other two to come as well,"
"Now we know for sure it's not over," Rise said, and a sullen air fell over the group.
Naoto had only really visited Junes once or twice on her own, mainly to look around. If she needed anything, she sent one of Grampa's servants to shop for her. Still, she was familiar with the layout and sat easily on one of the wooden benches, looking around at everyone.
"Well?" Yukiko coaxed.
"There was a knock on the door, using the knocker. Three steady bangs. When I opened the door, nobody was there. Right when I registered that, I felt someone grab me from behind and shove something into my face, trying to knock me out. I was thrown into a sack and slung over their shoulder. I assume the culprit is male by the physical form and actions, and he's acting alone because I heard no other voices. Things get a bit murky, but I remember hearing a thud as I was thrown into the camera." She paused. "But that doesn't feel right. The biggest camera is the one at Junes, yet I was thrown in almost instantaneously."
"It's not just cameras. Photographs and paintings work too." Rise chimed in.
"Grampa has dozens of paintings, but I doubt the culprit would be rash enough to use things at a crime scene,"
"Maybe there was a camera by the side of the road!" Chie suggested.
"Why would that exist?!" Yosuke snapped.
"Either way, it makes sense to me now. Especially when you said you didn't remember what happened. The fact I can recall so much is impressive." She went through everything they had learned so far, frowning. They had more information, but felt no closer to solving the case, but at least they had her expertise now.
"If you knew what was happening, why didn't you try to take him down?" Yosuke asked. "I mean, I don't think you could've made a dent, but it's kinda sad for an ace detective to go down like that so easily."
She stared down at the table. "The truth is….I was scared…" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Hey, it's okay! Remember, she's a girl, and younger than us," Yukiko said, scooting closer to Naoto.
"I'm not that young. I turned sixteen back in April." She trailed off.
"I keep forgetting she's young. She just talks so formally. Well, you have big balls anyway!" Yosuke winked at her, making her face heat up.
"Anyway, the true culprit is still at large, and we need to figure out his true goal. Why all of us were targeted specifically. Let me join your team, I can help."
"Of course!" Yu nodded at her. "You can be a valuable member of our brains division."
"Don't forget these!" Raccoon pulled some blue spectacles from his testicles and showed them off to her, smiling. "Nao-chan's glasses!"
"Mhm." She took them without a fuss. "I've heard about you, your journey of self-identity. If you want help, just ask me. There's a lot of teachings in Orthodoxy and paganism you might find interesting to help you."
"You're so nice! I'll remember that!" He grinned.
Their task for the day done, Naoto headed back to the manor, quickly changing and writing a letter to the town's doctor to do a quick checkup. Normally, doctors just arrived at the patient's house, but what she had in mind would take way too long. Thus, she just had to hope they had the proper room in their clinic for an afternoon checkup.
After school, Naoto gathered up everyone and led them to the clinic, saying her name. The doctor looked at them all and sat them down, curious.
"I normally do house calls. What was so important you had to bring them here?" He asked.
"Just the number of people."
"Well, let me get my equipment." He left the room.
"Any reason we had to come here on short notice?" Chie asked curiously.
"I worried the Other Realm might have some kind of negative effect on you physically, so I asked to have you all examined. And, try to figure out what Raccoon is. I figured a doctor could help with that better than us." She took her own seat.
"Negative effects?! We could've been sick this whole time!?" Yosuke worried.
"If we were, I think we'd know by now," Rise sighed.
The doctor returned and first drew samples of blood, sticking a long but sharp needle into their arms and pulling it out quickly, catching the blood that dribbled out. Everyone either winced or gasped in pain, but Chie paled and almost passed out.
Next, he checked their hearts and breathing, placing his hands on their chests and backs, directing them to calmly breathe in and out when he told them to. Lastly, he had to take a urine sample, and provided a cup and curtained area for them to do so in.
Naoto wasn't sure how the other girls fared, but she did her business in the cup quickly and passed it along, sighing from anticipation.
Once everyone was done, they sat outside the clinic, waiting.
"That was boring! I thought they'd do more to us!" Yosuke broke the silence. "Like prodding and poking us with needles and machines!"
"Yeah, I thought we were going to be fed spicy herbs!" Kanji added.
"It was just a regular checkup." Rise frowned.
"Sorry for the wait." Naoto strode over with Raccoon, who looked serious and slightly dazed. "The surgery ran longer than I anticipated."
"Surgery?!" Yukiko gasped.
"Yes. I figured it would be best to look inside Raccoon inwardly so I paid for surgery to be done." The surgeon was quick about it, slicing Raccoon open and then restitching him in a matter of minutes. "And the weirdest thing they found was…his organs were small. Almost underdeveloped, but they assumed they still worked, after all he can still breathe."
"So he really is different from us?" Rise tilted her head. "Like his organs grew into him quickly."
"I'm sorry we couldn't find anything though…"
"We don't know much about that other world, and we don't know anything about Personas or Shadows." Kanji grumbled.
"I tried to read about them, but couldn't find anything." Yosuke said. "I'd assume they're all representations of our inner selves, like the Shadow is the negative part and the Persona is who we are when we accept that part."
"Shadows come from people, I know that much." Raccoon said. "But that's all I know." He then suddenly broke out into a huge grin. "Anyway, look what I have!" He waved some papers around. "The results of our checkups! Now I can see all your innards too!"
"Hey, don't look!" Yu gasped. "That's not fair!"
"Yeah, there could be embarrassing stuff in there!" Yosuke tried to run after him and take the papers back, but Raccoon was faster and held them just out of reach, laughing.
"Too late! Let's see who is the shortest…!"
"If you're going to do that, at least tell us something interesting like the girls' breast sizes!"
"Don't you dare!" Chie gasped. "That's not your business!"
"Go ahead. Everyone knows how petite I am." Rise cupped her chest and made her average breasts bounce through her kimono top, untethered because she didn't wear her corset with her school uniform. "Sometimes they lie and say I'm bigger than I am."
"Don't say mine!" Yukiko covered her own chest. Rise giggled.
"But why? Most guys wouldn't care, you know."
"Guys aren't the-"
"Plus, you can perfectly fit into a kimono! You're the perfect Japanese maiden!" Rise carried on. "Mine strain too much at the fabric."
"That's not the issue…!" She blushed.
"Let's see…ooooh, Naoto-kun is here!" Rise leaned closer. Naoto felt her face burn and she stood on the other side of Raccoon. "It says….huh? No way! It says you have a huge bosom!"
"What?!" Everyone else gasped. Naoto wretched the papers from Raccoon and held them close to her chest, red in the face.
"Enough of that! The important thing is, we're all healthy and in perfect shape! I'm going to give these back to the doctor now!" She stormed out of the room, slapping them onto his desk. "Honestly…" Her blush had died down, but the words still dug up memories she'd rather forget. Such as the sailors who took her to Japan, spending their days laughing at her bust. Back home she was actually pretty average. Not like she cared about that sort of thing anyway.
When she returned, Yukiko had taken the center of the group and was talking, jumping when she noticed her there. "Oh! I just had an idea…there might not be anything wrong with us physically, but what about mentally? Spiritually? I was thinking we go talk to that old woman in town, who sells the kimono stuff, and see our spirits."
Naoto raised an eyebrow.
"She might even have an answer for what's going on with Raccoon-san!"
"Okay."
Yukiko took the lead, making sure the others were following her as she walked through town, stopping in front of the little shop owned by the old woman. She carefully pulled the sheet aside and walked in, greeting her. Naoto looked around, seeing kimono accessories, fancy bottles, and other little odds and ends that didn't interest her. The woman herself was a stout and short woman with glasses and a solid green kimono on, no patterns or anything and very short sleeves. The room smelled of wood and blubber.
"We have a request! A specific request." Yukiko was saying. "Do you have any advice about spiritual health? Helping us maintain a good soul? We've been involved in some shady things and don't know if it's affecting us or not."
"Don't make it sound like we're criminals!" Yosuke hissed, nudging her.
The woman laughed heartily. "Yes, though I may not look it, I can provide some help for your problems. Just follow me…" They were led into the back of the store and walked through the mud until they reached the back of the shrine in town. They walked to the front and sat down on the wooden entryway in a semicircle.
The old woman took down her hair, grey with a few streaks of black, and ran her hands through it. A limber fox appeared from the shadows, letting Yukiko pet it.
"You've been touched by the gods." The woman said simply. Yukiko pet the fox before suddenly gasping and leaning back, her eyes shining.
"Inari-Okami…"
"You mean this fox is one of her messengers?!" Kanji asked, and the fox yipped.
"And yet this place has fallen into such disrepair…" Yu said to himself sadly.
"Yes, this fox is more than meets the eye, and so are you eight." The old woman lit a lantern and made their shadows fall on the grass. A light rain pattered on the ground and she gave them all small glasses of sake. "As I said, you all have been touched by the gods, made to be hosts to powerful beings. Yet, you also have dark energy swirling in you. Dark energy you must be purged of." She briefly disappeared into the shrine before returning to the group, carrying salt and a paper wand. "Not to worry! We'll get you purified and tidied up in no time!" She gently waved the wand slowly in front of them, tapping their shoulders and head before moving on. "You, my dear." That was to Yukiko. "I sense more power in you than I do the others. I think you've been chosen to host a powerful goddess indeed. And you, my son. You radiate the strongest of them all. Whoever chose you has extreme faith in you." She said to Yu.
The others were silent, not even daring to sip their drinks. The rain dripped off the roof.
"Gods don't bother us humans, it's not what they do. Even Susanoo, who is cursed to wander the earth, doesn't associate with us. Inari is the only one who does, and it's because she gifts us with food, with life. Yokai, however, are a different story. Close to the gods, yet with the minds of humans. Yes, you've been touched by a yokai, haven't you?" She looked at Raccoon fully. "You're a tanuki, aren't you?"
Raccoon just stared back at her, mesmerized. The fox waved its bushy tail.
"Yes." He finally said. "But I don't know where I came from, or my powers. I just sorta…came into being."
"Yes, that is the way of yokai. They are created from the beliefs of humans, thinking about strange phenomena. Wanting to believe in things. A childless couple suddenly finding one made from snow. A lonely man suddenly finding a wife on his door. A boy with no friends who suddenly has one. For benevolent yokai, this is what they do, and I think you were brought into existence because someone wished for it."
Raccoon grew silent, wringing his hands. "But…I have organs!"
She laughed.
"Was it them? Someone else? Or…the people in the Other Realm?" He whispered. "I already knew I was a tanuki, but not where I came from."
The old woman took a step back, looking at Naoto before purifying her. She shivered uncontrollably. "He is the only yokai, but I sense divine power leaking from all of you. You, you are a strange case. Touched by our gods, yet you truly belong to foreign ones, correct?"
She nodded slowly.
The old woman shook the paper wand over her. "It's been a long time since I've had to do something like this, so I hope it's right." She sprinkled salt where they had been sitting and wished them all a safe walk back home in the rain. Naoto went home alone, feeling confused and trying to drown herself in her schoolwork.
She was halfway through a book when there was a sudden knock at the door, then a servant tried to tell her she had a guest before Rise basically bowled them over, gasping.
"Naoto-kun! I'm sorry for how I acted! And…" She hesitated and kneeled in front of her desk. "Do you…really feel like a woman? When I first saw you, I thought maybe you were a masculine woman, because you don't hold yourself like a man. I didn't want to assume, but I've danced a lot of travesti roles before, so I know the look."
"What are you suggesting?" Naoto asked carefully.
"Do you truly feel like a woman, or did you just say that to throw the boys off?"
"...Yes. But not a traditional one. I've never been a conventional girl, even back home. I can see myself as a woman, but I don't think dressing like one is in my favor. Not now anyway." She sighed. "I'm a woman, I don't feel like a man."
Rise took her hands and smiled. "Then I'm happy to truly trust you as such."
Naoto found herself smiling back and taking Rise's hands in response. "And I'm happy I got to meet all of you."
-French was the court language of the Russian Empire so the vast majority of business and culture affairs were written in French, and numerous people as a result, even in the countryside, learned it. Peter the Great deemed it as such, thinking it was more dignified and refined than 'backwoods' Russian.
-Cholera is an intestinal disease caused by contaminated water and was often feared for the fact it could wipe out entire villages for seemingly no reason in the past. The symptoms were profuse, continuous diarrhea and vomiting that looked like water, leg cramps, and shrunken, wrinkly hands. It was often nicknamed 'the Blue Death' because the dehydration was so severe the patients would turn blue.
-Naoto's dad is a prince, not because he's a member of the royal family but because Russia used to reward government members, artists/musicians, police detectives, merchants, teachers, and a few other groups with noble titles, which led to a huge influx of titled new nobles winding up with more prestige and wealth than noble families. The Tzar also had to change the titles of his daughters to 'Imperial Princess' to differentiate them from the 'regular' princesses, can you imagine that? ('Grand Duchess' is a very common English translation but that's an inaccurate misconception. Grand Duchess was recognized as the title of the wife of Lithuania's ruler and therefore not used for this context) Calling her the overall princess of her town, Yekaterinburg, is inaccurate but the citizens likely gave her a courtesy rule to reference how they share a name.
-There were several Russian Orthodox Churches throughout Japan's Meiji period to serve the Russian population.
-Belobog and Chernobog are figures in Slavic myth hotly contested by researchers, as most sources that refer to them aren't deemed reliable. The general belief is that they're ideas more than physical gods, with Chernobog representing the dark and night while Belobog was merely created to be his opposite, light and day. Many Russian pagans believed in worshipping and honoring both the light and dark aspects of deities and nature to keep everything in balance and keep both good and bad luck and fortune equal and rotating. Most scholars believe these two personify good and bad luck respectively.
-Shinto purifications tend to be done with salt and waving or tapping a paper wand called ōnusa which has long papery pieces hanging from a stick. Using it on a person or object tainted by negative energy is said to purify them.
-Travesti roles were roles in operas and ballets that were played by the opposite gender. The term comes from the French word 'disguise' They were most common in French and Italian ballets where there weren't any male dancers due to being unpopular with audiences. However, Russian ballet is notable for not having any as male ballerinas were respected and taken seriously there.
