Difference between revisions of "Sayako"

Sayako was a little friendly ghost who haunted Millennium City. She showed up at many costume contests and quickly became popular among the contestants, some of which she befriended. She was notoriously known for her weird accent and being followed by her best friend Teddy-kun, a.k.a. the Sorcerer Teddy.

Background

Hereinbelow are the last entries found on the computer of Dr Hiroshi Katsuya, psychiatrist. Dr Katsuya was appointed by the Mercy Hospital with UNTIL recommendation, to study the case of "the ghost girl of Mercy Hospital".

Day twelve
Sayako didn't seem very happy today when we met. She didn't even want me to give a cookie to Teddy. I didn't insist. When asked about her sadness, she said she just felt that way sometimes. I couldn't get her to speak about it anymore, so we just talked about random things for an hour. She was a little happier after that, and I still consider this a success.

Day fourteen
I finally may have found a clue about Sayako's origins. The father of the little boy who first saw her in the hospital said that they visited Japan a few months before he fell ill. During their trip, they stopped in a little village in the country, which was inhabited by only two people : an old man and his daughter, who was about 60 herself. At the exit of the village was an altar with some offerings. The woman said that it was always here when she was a kid, and she said that her father herself, born in that village, always saw it in his young days. It was an altar made to appease the spirit of a young girl who was murdered long ago by her father, chocked to death with a pillow. However, since the old man grew too old and weak, nobody took care of the offerings. The family decided to make one before leaving. I've tried to track down that story, but all I could learn was that the old man died soon after the family left, and his daughter went back to Kyoto where she still lives. I will have to talk to Sayako about that, that's a very promising progress !

Day twenty
It has been several days since I last wrote here. Sayako was nowhere to be found for a couple of days, and then she suddenly reappeared. She told me she wanted to see Millennium City and found a place where our local heroes gathered with fancy costumes. She must have found the MCPH Theater. I tried to talk to her about my discovery, the village in Japan and the altar, but she was always coming back to the costume contests. Strangely, I had a feeling that if I tried too hard, I would make her angry, and the mages from the Trismegistus Council told me firmly to not do such a thing, for my own sake. This is getting hard. Sayako is really cute and living - as far as a ghost can be - but her childish behavior makes it difficult to find the truth behind her existence.

Day twenty-three
Liz called me again last night. Shuya is still asking when his dad will come back from work. I'm still forbidden from telling my own wife and child the truth, but it's for the best. I never told Sayako about them, because I know she would ask to meet them, and I'll have to refuse. And who knows what could happen if I refuse anything to her ? I wish the Council was wrong, and Sayako is probably just a lost soul in search for friendship. What can I do ?

Day twenty-six
Sayako was unusually sympathetic today. She brought me a whole box of cookies, missing a few though, that she pretended Teddy ate. I felt like it was the best time to ask her about everything I knew about her so far. I recorded the whole thing, but when I tried to play it back, nothing but my voice could be heard. Every moment Sayako spoke was replaced by a creepy silence. However, from what I recall, she remembers the village and the old man, but that's about it. It's like her memory erases the events of her life and afterlife. I will have to send my conclusions to the Council soon, as they will send theirs to me. I have no idea what will be decided regarding Sayako after that. Will she be accepted as a simple ghost, or treated as a threat and banished from this world ? But if she was banished, where would she end ? Wouldn't it be a worse fate than her current state ? The mages don't spend as much time with her as I do, and I know she's not the maleficent spirit they think she is.

Day twenty-seven
Very strange thing happened last night, if not terrifying. It was raining outside and I was watching it from the window of my hotel room. Suddenly, the sky seemed to darken in front of me, and then the lightning stroke. Floating in the air nearly 20 meters away was a female form cloaked in shadow. She didn't move at all at first, but when a second lightning strike occured, her face began to distort in a twisted way, her black mouth growing to inhuman length, and she screamed with an ear-tearing voice "GIVE HER BACK TO ME !". One second later she was gone as if nothing happened. It took me a long time to come back to my senses. Now I'm pretty sure she said those words in Japanese. Who was that woman ? Was she talking about Sayako ? If that's the case, then my sweet little ghost is in grave danger, and she doesn't even realize it.

Day twenty-nine
This is the report from the Trismegistus Council regarding Sayako.

So that's what she is to them... a lab rat. They still think she's a potential threat, when she's the one in danger. I won't let them hurt Sayako or put her in jeopardy. The key to the underworld may be in her hands, I just need a few more days to have her accept me totally as a trusty friend, and then I will be able to unveil the truth about life after death. It's more important than anything I've worked on so far !

Day thirty-one

I've sent an email to Liz, promising to be back next week. Shuya needs me by his side, and I've been a terrible father by ignoring him for so long. I will deeply miss my time with Sayako. One of the mage from the Council, whose name I cannot even pronounce or remember, told me that I was at the limit of my sanity, and thus I had to step back. I suspect that he used so magic tricks or mental suggestion to make me agree, but now I realize it's for the best. Coming too close to the gate of the underworld isn't for mere humans to do. Luckily, I could spend a few more minutes with my sweet Sayako. I lied to her by telling her that I would be working in another country, helping kids like her, and she seemed to accept that. She even offered me a hug and some cookies and said "ganbatte, Hiroshi-san !" before going back to play with her dear Teddy-kun. I've been crying for hours after that, both from my sadness to leave her for good, and my happiness to go back to my family. UNTIL has sent me a private jet and I must be at the landing area in Millennium City. Whatever dark secret lurks behind the existence of the cutest, sweetest ghost I've ever met, I truly hope that one day, she will find the peace and happiness that she brought to me in one month.

The body of Dr Hiroshi Katsuya was found the following day in his hotel room by a cleaning lady. The autopsy revealed that he died from a heart attack, after a sudden terror crisis. His corpse shows several marks of decay inflicted by darkness-like slashes. Every evidence of his work about Sayako was transfered to UNTIL. Sayako has been spotted in the Millennium City Powerhouse Theater many times ever since, and no evidence could be found proving her involvement in Dr Hiroshi's death.

Characterization

To most people aware of the myth of the onryō, Sayako was a total enigma. She had the greyish white skin and clothes, and blackish eyes and mouth, and razor-sharp claws under her sleeves, but there ceased the similarities. She was living, friendly, adorable and would hardly hurt anyone or anything. That's probably as far from a typical onryō as one can be. Her usual self was that of a cute little girl with very few knowledge about the world.
Though her body was entirely ethereal, she seemed to be able to contact living beings, as she had already proven many times by hugging her friends. Coming close to her sent chills down the spine, like a freezing breeze.

Story

After she first appeared in Millennium City, Sayako haunted the Powerhouse Theater for a while, curious about the costume contests. There, she befriended Piffle and Panda, from the Defenders of the Galaxy, who asked her to join the group. As part of that group of (mostly) young heroes, her role was to keep her friends safe thanks to her life-leeching abilities, inherited from a mysterious entity inside of her and identified as a powerful being from Yōmi.

Her first personal enemy was a shinobi named Yogo Bourei, leader of a clan of ghost-hunting ninjas. While not a supervillain himself, the mission of the Yogo clan forced Bourei to use any mean necessary in order to destroy Sayako's soul. He was taken down by the powers of the entity and his clan dispatched, unable to hurt the ghost anymore.

Shortly after those events, Sayako showed the first sign of her possession and the truth about her other-self : Izanami no Mikoto, Goddess of the Underworld, the one evil spirit who tried to possess her body centuries ago. Witchcraft decided to watch over Sayako, keeping her in check in case her emotions would allow Izanami to increase her power over the spirit. But Izanami still had some followers in Japan, and she asked them to release the source of Sayako's greatest fear : an oni, a demon from the Shinto underworld. The oni hunted Sayako down for months, nearly causing her to break down and release the full extent of Izanami's powers. After a long battle, Sayako overcame her fear to protect her friends and managed to destroy the oni, but at the cost of giving Izanami enough power to manifest in the realm of the living.

While Sayako joined Ravenswood Academy to learn about the world, as every normal kid would, the evil Goddess laid low for a while, plotting to destroy several places so that the souls of the dead would grant her more power, like Takofanes did before. She finally revealed herself to Sayako and her friends, and the Defenders of the Galaxy promised to help their ghostly companion. After one final hard battle on Monster Island, Sayako, helped by Piffle, Panda, Alto and Veronica, put an end to Izanami's plans once and for all. Shadow Destroyer, who was lurking around, wasted no time and took over the few remaining assets the Goddess had left behind her.

With Izanami finally sent back to Yōmi and unable to resurrect, Sayako lost all of her powers and her spirit was freed, ready to move to the afterlife. The powerful wizard Spellbinder was the first one to realize that the little ghost would pass away and sadly confirmed the news to all of her friends. With one last chance for the Defenders of the Galaxy to spend time with Sayako, they held a ceremony in the japanese gardens in Downtown MC, and after many tearful goodbyes, Sayako left for good, to an unknown destination, where she would be waiting for her friends to join her one day... or for her soul to be reincarnated, if the Kami deemed her worthy.

Powers and abilities

According to the supernatural experts who studied her, Sayako existed between the plane of the living and the Shinto underworld known as Yōmi. She was able to summon spirits to protect her, or channel a dark energy to stop any assaillant by plunging her foe into a state of major fear. She could also fly by extending wing-shaped appendices behind her back.
Thanks to the gear provided by her friends, she was able to call the teddy bear Valiant to her help, and she disguised herself under a human form with a holo-projection device made by Shortbus for the time that she spent at Ravenswood Academy.

Tropes

• Anti villain : while willing to help the good people by fighting the bad ones, Sayako is unaware that her powers send her enemies into various awful states, from full terror to completely send their souls to Yōmi , after feeding them to her summoned shadows.
• Back From the Dead
• Bittersweet Ending : defeating Izanami was the last thing Sayako needed to do, stopping the Goddess of Death from coming back to the realm of the living. Unfortunately, it was also her demise, as all of her powers vanished after that. She was finally able to rest in peace, leaving her living friends behind for good.
• Cheerful Child : everytime she gets sad, she finds a way to be happy again in a matter of seconds.
• Companion Cube : tragically, Teddy-kun is nothing but an action figure. Only Sayako doesn't seem to care about it. After her passing, Piffle inherited Teddy-kun, and she claimed that he was now alive, not unlike a tsukumogami.
• Creepy Child
• Creepy Cute
• Cute Ghost Girl
• Expy : Sayako is definitely an homage to the two major cursed ghosts from Japan horror movies, Sadako (Ring) and Kayako (Ju-On). Even her name is inspired by them. It turns out the two aforementioned girls fought each other in a recent movie, that ended with them fusioning into a single entity called Sayako. However, our Sayako is not a murderous spirit, and her personality has a lot more similarities with anime characters such as Pino from Ergo Proxy, Wendy from Fairy Tail, and Nina Tucker from Fullmetal Alchemist.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals : a major part of Sayako's popularity is her friendship with Teddy-kun. Everyone in Millennium City has one, but she's probably the first (and only) hero to give it a personnality.
• Moe : apparently, that's what made her popular.
• Psychic Powers : Sayako has a few abilities in this, though she doesn't seem to realize it.
• Rage Breaking Point : the Trismegistus Council is certain that she has one, and its members do their best to prevent her from reaching it, because they fear what may happen.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl
• The Cutie : if it wasn't for her look, she'd win Millennium City Cute Award.
• Woman In White

Trivia

• She didn't eat or sleep, being a ghost.
• Strangely enough, she claimed to not be able to swim.
• She had been with Teddy-kun for as long as she can remember. Considering the action figures became popular only after the tragic events of Detroit's annihilation by Dr Destroyer, and her presumed age, it may either not be true, or she forgot everything before it. After Sayako passed away for good, Teddy-kun went to live with Piffle.
• Everything smaller than herself would be branded "cute", even if it was horrible.
• With the exception of Teddy-kun, her best friends are Piffle and Panda, from the Defenders of the Galaxy. She also befriended a lot of people from the weekly costume contests : Duck, Power Sentry, Pandora, Straxus, Ziggy, Alto Mk-7 v2, and many others.
• She never told her last name to anyone, because she forgot it. It was discovered after the Trismegistus Council conducted an investigation in Japan.
• After she started to listen to Dawn Radio, she had shown interest in rock/metal music, going as far as wearing a full Kiss Army costume, then a Babymetal one. The DJs also liked to remind listeners about Teddy-kun.
• Strangely enough, Sayako shares some similarities with Erma from the webcomic Erma by Brandon J. Santiago. However, she was created without any knowledge of that character. In Champions Online, she's also close to Sammie, the girl who sits by Therakiel's church in Vibora Bay, asking heroes to find her six dolls.
• Sayako's theme : Come out and play[1] ; Benny Hill's theme (unofficial, used by Dawn Radio) ; Catch me if you can[2] (metal theme picked by Mordykus)

What other people think about Sayako

Here are the accounts from other heroes who met Sayako (feel free to add your own !)

Power Sentry@shadowolf505: Sayako is a wonderful little ghost, very funny and cute as well.

Soundtrack

Note from Mordykus. After I retired the character, I put this playlist together as sort of the soundtrack of her existence in the game. You might find those tracks on any musical/media website, so I'm not putting links, only the titles.

1. Little ghost girl (Come out and play by Darren Curtis)
2. Teddy-kun (You're my best friend by Queen)
3. Ohayo, fliendsh! (Casper the friendly ghost by Little Richard, from the Casper movie)
4. Defenders (Teen Titans go by Puffy AmiYumi, from the Teen Titans animated series)
5. Little ghost hero (Zankoku na tenshi no teeze by Yoko Takahashi, from Neon Genesis Evangelion)
6. Good times (Happy by Pharell Williams)
7. Izanami, the Goddess of Death (Village of whispers by Mick Gordon, from Killer Instinct)
8. Hard reality (Aeris' theme by Nobuo Uematsu, from Final Fantasy VII)
9. Stages of grief (Sadness and sorrow by Toshio Masuda, from Naruto)
10. One last day together (Hear you me by Jimmy Eat World)
11. Tearful reunion (If we were ghosts by Of Mice And Men)
12. Arigato (Secret base ~Kimi ga Kureta Mono~ (10 years after Ver.) by Machida Norihiko, from Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day)
13. Huggles (I hope you dance by Lee Ann Womack)
14. Always be watching you (Fairy Tail theme ~SLOW by Yasuharu Takanashi, from Fairy Tail)
15. Lil Valkyrie's flight (Into the west by Annie Lennox, from The Return Of The King)
16. Rest in peace (Remember me by The Birthday Massacre)
17. Sayonara (No rain, no rainbow by Babymetal)
18. Friends forever (The one ~English version by Babymetal)

F.A.Q.

SPOILER ALERT. Some informations in this section may reveal part of Sayako's background. Do not read if you don't want to know.

* How old is Sayako ?
She was eleven when she died, and as a ghost, she doesn't age anymore. However, if you consider the time of her death in the current timeline, she is between 200 and 300 years-old.

* Who was Sayako before she died ?
She lived in a small village in Japan, during the Edo period (aka Tokugawa period). As many people in that time, her parents were rice farmers.

* Why did she die, and who killed her ?
MAJOR SPOILERS HERE.
A sect dedicated to the goddess of death, Izanami-no-Mikoto, lived in the area nearby. They plotted against the daimyo rules, stealing rice and killing lost travelers, as offerings for their kami. Then, one of the fanatics decided that the time had come to bring Izanami back into the world, by giving her a human body to possess. Scouts were sent to several villages, and Sayako was the chosen one. The cultists kidnapped her and brought her to their lair. Sayako's parents ran to their lord and begged for help. Although the daimyo didn't care much for the life of a young girl, he couldn't allow maho (black magic) to occur on his lands. As one of the many voices of the Emperor, he ordered a group of samurai to find the cult's lair and save the girl by any means necessary. The samurai found the cult and attacked at night, while the ritual had already begun. Many of the cultists were sliced dead by the samurai, but the high priest was almost done and the twisted spirit of Izanami was about to take possession of Sayako. Seeing the little girl screaming in terror and pain, the bravest of the warriors, who happened to know Sayako, charged alone and slaughtered his enemies. He soon realized that though victory was achieved, he couldn't save the little girl, who began to change into something else. In order to save her soul from Yomi, he took a pillow and choked her to death, before Izanami could fully possess her. He then brought Sayako's body back to her family. She was burnt and her ashes scattered to the wind, and a small altar was raised in her memory, to appease her soul.

* Why did Sayako become an onryo ?
Onryo are spirits of vengeance. It is obvious that despite being an adorable little girl, Sayako would seek revenge for her horrible death upon those who wronged her. On top of that, she was partly possessed by Izanami herself, who rules over Yomi. While the altar may have prevented the spirit of Sayako from haunting the village after her death, her ghost was still waiting to enter the world. The many disturbances in the mystic world, mostly because of Shadow Destroyer and his minions in the Qliphothic realm, weakened the barrier between Yomi and Earth, thus allowing Sayako to come back.

* What does Sayako remember about her past ?
Nothing, except for her being Japanese. She can't recall anyone from her family, or why she died. To her, she was always a ghost.

* Can she avenge her death ?
While the Izanami cult was responsible for her possession, it was the samurai who killed her who's guilty for her death. He ended his life as a buddhist monk, at peace with himself, centuries before Sayako could ever come back from the dead. So she can't claim revenge on him. Now, maybe she can turn her sight on someone else... if she ever realizes why she's back in the first place.

* Is Teddy-kun alive ? Is he possessed by a spirit ?
Sadly, no. Teddy-kun is nothing but the same action figure that everyone has. As hard as Sayako claims it, he's not alive and doesn't eat cookies. Or speak. Or transform into Valiant. He's nothing but a mere toy.

* What powers does she possess ?
Only a few from her ghost nature, like inspiring fear. Every ability she showed until now, classified as "darkness" on UNTIL files, comes from the small part of Izanami inside of her. They are manifestations of the bridge between Yomi and Earth, thoughtlessly summoned by Sayako.

* Why is Sayako so afraid of oni ?
As a little girl, her parents always told her about oni living in the woods, pretty much like we do about the big bad wolf to prevent children from roaming alone in dangerous places. However, it took a tragic turn when the cultists took her away, disguised with oni masks. That image was forever etched in her memory, as she truly believed oni had come to take her.

* Why can't Sayako speak normally ?
She actually does speak normally when she speaks Japanese. She learnt English by listening and memorizing, and some of the sounds aren't exactly what they are supposed to be. One theory is that when she was smothered, part of her jaw was dislocated, or she swallowed her own tongue ; whatever the real cause may be, she does not speak normally because she can't. It's subconscious.

* How to speak like Sayako ?
As long as she uses Japanese words, nothing changes. In English though, every "sss" sound becomes a "shhh", and every "r" becomes a "l" (something that most of the English speakers struggle to understand, as they're always been told that Japanese can't say "l" and say "r" instead. Not every language thinks the same, though, it really depends how you say "r" and "l"). Example, "sorceress" would be "sholchelessh", "excellent" would be "exchellent", etc. She also uses some classical Japanese words or expressions, like "hai !" (yes), "nani ?" (what ?), "ohayo !" (used as a familiar "hi !", though "ohayo gozaimasu" means "good morning") and "arigato" (thank you). Also, she uses Japanese honorific suffixes. Finally, she likes to use simple words to call her friends : Flog-san (Clippy), Neko-kun (Alto), Cutie-chan (Cutiebot), Kylie-chan (Lil Valkyrie), Pallot-san (Polly).

* What does Sayako sound like ?
Like the Japanese voice of Lulu or Annie, from League of Legends, except that she has a slight echo in her voice. When she fights or gets angry, the Izanami powers take over, and the echo sounds deeper and scarier, like Kalista. She doesn't realize it.

* How did you create Sayako's character ?

That's one of the questions I've been asked by people on Dawn Radio recently, during the Dawncon 3 event, and an interesting one. For the time I've been playing Champions Online, quite some years now, most of my characters are created according to a concept rather than just gameplay : classical superhero, sentient A.I., super-soldier, witch, etc. Only a few of them are really used for roleplay, and among them, the majority fall into the super-serious type, sometimes broody/edgy, which is the easiest to play for me as I am myself kinda like that in real life. When I created Sayako, the idea was to try something new, and explore out of my comfort zone. The very first inspiration for the idea of a little kid was Piffle, who I've seen a lot at the time in costume contests. But since I didn't want to go full-on with the super cute and nice type, I added a dark element to add drama to the story, and then I had The Ring in mind. It took me a few hours to come up with the perfect size and pieces to make Sayako. The rest came along the way, as her popularity grew among the community : her story, her friendship with Teddy-kun, her speech impediment. I also have to credit Mad Vyking for the Benny Hill run, which started during a party aboard the Gateway Space Station when he played the track and suddenly, I made Sayako start to run everywhere, and other people followed. Although she's now pretty much defined as a character, the process of making her is not over yet and some interesting things could happen in the near future, building her a little more.