jigokucho app

[softshoes]

MAJOR SPOILERS for the Great Ace Attorney throughout!

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: Danni
ARE YOU AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD?: Yes
CONTACT: smithsyndicate
CHARACTERS PLAYED: Kamui Uehara (metafictions)

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Yujin Mikotoba
CANON: The Great Ace Attorney
CANON REFERENCE: here
CANON POINT: post-canon
CRAU HISTORY: n/a
AGE: 43
APPEARANCE: here
CONTRACT PAYMENT: A guarantee that he will return, and that, when he does, he will find his daughter Susato safe and sound.

QUESTIONNAIRE:

(IC) What does family mean to you and who do you consider a part of your family?

I am a father. A sorry one, but a father nonetheless, no matter how incompetent I have been in the past. My own failures do not absolve me of responsibility for my daughter's well-being... nor of my role in guiding the young man I've taken into my home.

[There is remorse in Mikotoba's voice, and he bows his head as he speaks, but there's also not a hint of embarrassment in his tone. He knows what he's done; what he is responsible for. He cannot deny how his absence during Susato's smallest, most vulnerable years has harmed the person he holds dearest in this world.]

My family is everything to me. Even those to whom I am not bound by blood: since he was a boy, I've cared for the son of a departed friend as if he were my own. My ward aside, I certainly have more than one dear friend who I would consider family.

[Discreet as he is, he doesn't name them: things are better for everyone on a need to know basis, with only fragments of the truth published in Randst Magazine. But on his mind are a certain pair of Londoners residing within a certain apartment on Baker Street.]

It is my role to guide my family through the world, and to give them the best of any opportunities I can secure for them.

[His daughter in particular. He can't give her the world, much less return those six difficult years of his absence to her-- but if there are any obstacles he's able to move away for her, he'll stop at nothing to do so. She deserves nothing less than that.]

(IC) What are your greatest regrets, if you have any? What would you have done differently?

[Mikotoba's quiet for a long moment. He doesn't know how to answer this question at all: his greatest regrets are all so closely tied up with his greatest joys and successes to the point that they are completely inextricable. Without the untimely death of his wife Ayame, he wouldn't have Susato. Had he, in his pain, not fled from the responsibility of caring for his infant daughter, he'd never have studied in London. Never studying in London would mean losing him his prestigious career, and the contacts within the global medical community that he has now. Nor would he have ever met his partner, Herlock Sholmes: the greatest friend he has ever, and will ever have in this life.

Then, of course, there is the tangled web of the Professor case, only just unraveled. How might that decade-long tragedy have changed if he'd done even a single thing differently? Could anything have really gone differently, with Mael Stronghart's claws so deep in the English government and so many of its officials? Would Genshin Asogi have always become a victim and a scapegoat of corruption, no matter how much or how little he'd tried to intervene?

But, then again-- if any one thing had happened differently, he wouldn't have been there to bring his best friend's adoptive daughter into this world, either.

Finally, brows knitted tightly together, Mikotoba answers.]

I only wish I could've given Susato more.

[He closes his eyes.]

But dwelling on regret serves no one, really. All I can do now is to press on. The past cannot be changed, but the future is yet unmade.

(OOC) An enemy of your faction has asked for a meeting, proposing a truce of sorts to deal with a greater threat. On one hand, there is indeed a threat at hand, but on the other, this person double-crossing you is just as likely an outcome. Do you agree to the meeting? Do you trust them?

Mikotoba would agree to the meeting while keeping his wits about him. First of all, he is a diplomatic advisor to the Japanese government, so such a meeting would be him in his element. However, on a more personal level-- although the risk of betrayal would be present, that risk is always present. This is particularly true following the end of his canon, in which it's revealed that a number of friends and colleagues were in the pocket of Mael Stronghart's far-reaching conspiracy. Many of them were people he knew well and trusted for over a decade. If he wasn't cautious of others' motivations then, he certainly is now. Ultimately, however, he's an altruistic person. Mikotoba wouldn't ignore a chance to work for the greater good just to save his own skin, so he'd be willing to accept the danger of betrayal.

As for Mikotoba's trust... well. Yes, he is a genuinely kind and pleasant person, but a great deal of who he really is and what he knows is on a strictly need-to-know basis. He is a man with a great deal to protect-- the promises he's made to dead friends, the safety and security of his loved ones, the keys to global conspiracies set to blow like powder kegs-- which means that he's also a man with a great deal of secrets. He's far from naive to the fact that other people are acting upon their own agendas, seeing as he has many of his own to worry about.

In the end, it's like this: he'll do what he can while expecting the other party to fulfill their end of the bargain. Expecting anything more is only asking for trouble.

(OOC) How important is loyalty to you? What does it take to earn your loyalty? What extents are you willing to go through to maintain loyalty, and respect the loyalty others might have invested in you?

In spite of the treachery that he's often been on the other side of, Mikotoba himself is deeply loyal and considers it to be a virtue. As his universe's equivalent to a Sherlock Holmes' Watson, he's the picture of an honorable Victorian gentleman: loyal and true, maybe even to a fault, if the amount of people who've managed to deceive him is any indication.

Interestingly, however, his loyalty isn't always unconditional and honest. That much is only easily afforded to his family and very closest friends, including Herlock Sholmes. He can be loyal and reliable to a person without having his complete faith in them, which is often the case when the political relationship shared by Britain and Japan is so sensitive and not every figure's motives are clear.

So it might be better said that he's accountable, rather than honest and loyal. Mikotoba is incredibly dishonest in the service of the deepest loyalty that he holds for Sholmes and his loved ones. As their professor he manipulates Ryunosuke and Kazuma, in order to ensure Ryunosuke can be cleared of his murder charge without endangering the study abroad trip Kazuma has wanted all his life; he lies to the whole Japanese court by allowing his daughter to serve as an attorney by passing her off as a young man, if only to protect her friend and validate Susato's abilities; he even lies to Susato to bring her home from London prematurely, in order to prevent her and Ryunosuke from breaking open a top secret case that would put them in mortal danger. He is willing to be manipulative for the greater good if he needs to be... and, very often, he does. At least by his own estimation.

In short, his real loyalty is hard-won, but when it's earned it's for life. To date, he's still keeping promises to men who've been dead for years. Furthermore, his professionalism as a doctor, a professor, and a gentleman ensure that even when he doesn't truly trust someone, he's still able to keep his word. It's through Mikotoba's steadfast nature and actions that he maintains the loyalty others have in him... even if he's going through unconventional and winding avenues to keep his promises.

POWERS & ABILITIES: Yujin is a doctor and professor of forensic pathology, a sharp investigative assistant, and a particularly excellent tap dancer. Additionally, he has some basic hand-to-hand abilities (Susato Yujin Takedown, anybody?) and is familiar with the use of firearms circa 1900, though neither skill could be considered above average. Otherwise, he's a perfectly ordinary human man with no superhuman abilities.

SUITABILITY: As the trusty partner of legendary detective Herlock Sholmes, Yujin spent 6 years directly investigating all manner of crime, then 10 more corresponding with Sholmes on casework from a distance. As an expert in forensic pathology, violence and death are part and parcel of his everyday job: gore will not phase him much, either, after his years working in the morgue. Even taking Jigoku-cho's more cavalier attitudes toward sex and drugs into account, none of this is new to him-- despite being very buttoned-up himself, the seedy underground of Victorian London was wilder than you might think, so he's far from naive. As for anything else, he's a mature adult man who's seen a lot in his life: he'll adjust.

FACTION SUITABILITY:

Shuten:
Mikotoba might have a rough time fitting in with Shuten-- he can handle himself well enough, but he isn't strictly a fighter, and he doesn't have an particular love for holding power. However, his sense of responsibility would really shine within the clan. He would value and appreciate the Shuten's responsibility for the community of Jigoku-cho, and he'd be willing to throw himself into that service even while at odds with the clan's more aggressive nature. He'd also understand the Shuten clan's sense of death before dishonor, as a man from a time and culture that places importance on reputation and treading carefully based upon your status in society. Like, he doesn't always agree-- but he understands and knows exactly how to navigate it.

And, finally... Mikotoba would be the exact kind of sneaky bastard whose dishonesty would still fly in Shuten. He's the potent combination of someone who looks earnest and kind-- and is earnest and kind-- while being willing and able to lie in the service of some greater good.

Tamamo:
Tamamo's value of cunning and insight would definitely resonate with Mikotoba, who is much more of a careful and strategic thinker and planner than a fighter. Discreetly staying one step ahead is his entire MO, as is the importance of being true to oneself in spite of society's expectations. In particular he's surprisingly progressive for a man from the turn of the 20th century, pushing for his daughter's opportunities in a world that seeks to deny her those chances; it's also worth noting that he's a Japanese man who studied in London during this time and had to stand tall and prove his own talents in the face of xenophobia and racism. In a perfect world, neither he nor others should have to "hide their tails", so he'd have a lot of sympathy for Tamamo's libertarian ideals.

Additionally... in spite of his dedication to his responsibilities, there's a part of Mikotoba that sometimes longs to be freed from them. He considers his 6 year study tour in London and many (mis)adventures with Herlock Sholmes to be some of the best times of his life-- but it was, at the same time, a period in which he was grieving his wife and not around to raise his daughter. His guilt coupled with the Tamamo clan's indulgence and encouragement to be truer and more honest with himself would make this an interesting choice arc-wise.

Sutoku:
Much like the Tamamo clan, Mikotoba would be a great pick for the Sutoku Alliance because of his natural tendency for strategy and planning. One of his best skills is networking: because of his earnest and well-meaning attitude, he's easy to get along with and seemingly trustworthy, which makes it easy for him to make friends in high places. And although he's not one to abuse his influence, he absolutely knows how to throw it around if it's needed: for example, he's able to bend rules for Ryunosuke Naruhodo simply by telling his pupil to give his name to the right people.

And finally, he'd find a lot of alignment with the Sutoku's egalitarian nature and value of knowledge moreso than strength. Being an academic, as well as a person who values societal growth and progress through education, maintaining wise and strategic leadership is definitely something Mikotoba would agree with.

Enma:
Mikotoba would be a fun Enma mismatch! There's a fundamental contradiction in how law-abiding and orderly he looks, as opposed to his true nature. Though Mikotoba appears to be on the straight-and-narrow all the time, in reality he's perfectly willing to manipulate loopholes in the law or even blatantly break it for the sake of the truth and what is actually right and just. However, the important part is that he always does so secretly, whether it's by sneaking around or being the idea man behind the people breaking the rules a little more obviously. He'd probably balk at having to uphold order, especially in the face of laws he personally considered unjust. No doubt he'd be using his influence as an officer of Enma as leverage for his own agenda, rather than the Enma's.

SAMPLES

TDM: Kate
TDM: Herlock (spoilers)
and even more TDM