The Venetian Chronicles: Yukiko Yoshida

The Venetian Chronicles: Yukiko Yoshida
Yuuko: (fumbling with the camera before mounting it on a tripod. Before adjusting the focus on the camera and Clearing her throat) this is Council envoy Yuuko Shirakawa, agent of the dragon, and historian for the archives in Dublin Ireland. As part of the Chronicles initiative, I am interviewing active agents from the 21st century so that future generations may better understand the context in which events are taking place. This session is being recorded on 03-15-2016 in Greenfield Ireland, at the Green residence.
Yuuko: Could you please state your full name, date of birth, affiliation and rank.
Yukiko: Yoshida Yukiko, January 12, 1994, Templar Executor.
Yukko: Can you tell us about your family?
Yukiko: My parents divorced when I was quite young. My mother lives in London, she's a news anchor on the telly. My father is, or rather was, a finance executive with the Orochi Group. His current whereabouts are unknown.
Yuuko: Where did you grow up?
Yukiko: I was born and raised in London, though both my parents come from Tokyo. I did visit my father now and then in Japan.
Yuuko: How would you describe your childhood?
Yukiko: Lonely, I suppose. My mum, she did try hard, I realise that now, but she usually didn't seem to have time for me. My dad was more affectionate, but we only saw each other a few times a year.
Yuuko: How were you first introduced to the secret world?
Yukiko: For a long while, I thought I’d swallowed a bee, and that's still true so far as I know. I was in college, and it turned my life upside down. It’s actually a bit more complicated than that, but that's certainly the first time I learned that magic, monsters and all the rest of it are real.
Yuuko: Did you have any contact (either directly or indirectly) with your society before your powers awakened?
Yukiko: Not the societies as such, but the Orochi Group. I was really quite young, so I've learned more in hindsight than actually remembering it, but I met some of the people we’re up against now as a child. Sometimes I wonder if they remember, and how they feel about that.
Yuuko: Does anima sensitivity run in your family or are you the only one to develop powers?
Yukiko: That's really a wonderful question! Not as such, no, though there's a story about my ancestors fighting Oni. Of course, you can probably find stories like that about every family in Japan, if you look back far enough. More recently, I’ve found reason to think the ability is inherited, even if my parents are, well, dormant, I suppose.
Yuuko: Can you tell us what a normal day looks like for you?
Yukiko: It may be less a normal day than an ideal one, but I wake up late in the morning in Taito and go to work as a shrine maiden. That mostly involves cleaning the shrine, selling charms, performing rites and dances for special occasions, and closing everything up at the end of the day. It also brings me into contact with people who have, well, post-mundane problems, which is partly why I'm there. The evenings are spent dealing with those problems, and I use what's left of the dawn for studying before going to sleep. Of course, society business and more prolonged investigations can change that schedule considerably.
Yuuko: Has your work for your society ever brought you into contact with anyone who would be considered historically significant (world leaders, celebrities, scientist and engineers.)
Yukiko: Just the usual lot, I suppose. A man who made a very strong case for being a Norse trickster deity in disguise, a dapper 5,000 year old mummy, and some less reputable sorts. No one from mundane history, so far as I know.
Yuuko: Have you ever seen an event reported in the media and known that it was a lie and if so can you tell us what really happened?
Yukiko: A few years ago my flat burned down, along with the rest of the building. Nobody was hurt thankfully, they all made it out in time, and DI Shelly did a wonderful job convincing everyone that the old wiring had started it all off. The truth is that a Jinn was sent to kill me: the building burning down is just what happens when a fire elemental doesn't concern himself with collateral damage. Some of my neighbours saw it, but it didn't take much to convince them they'd imagined things because of the smoke. I imagine that's a very comforting idea for them.
Yuuko: What was the last event you can remember that shook both the secret world and the mundane equally?
Yukiko: The QBL broadcasts regarding the Kaidan terrorist attack. The public’s faced with a global “death cult” capable of destroying whole cities. As for the societies, and particularly the Bees, we've found ourselves hunted by the very people we’re trying to protect, all at the orders of a man who couldn't be bothered to lift a finger against the real culprits. Different consequences, to be sure, but neither world's been the same since.
Yuuko: Have you ever participated in an event considered historically important to the mundane world and if so was it on behalf of your society
Yukiko: From a mundane perspective, I'm afraid I’m really rather dull; it makes the work I do that much easier. As for my society, my sponsors may be in London, but my interest is in helping people and saving the world in the literal, not an ideological, sense. Anyone who's keen on skullduggery can have it: it's not what I’m here for.
Yuuko: Thank you for taking the time to speak with us agent Yoshida.
Yukiko: You're really quite welcome, and thank you for doing this! I hope someday the world, not just the secret world but all of it, will be ready for these stories and this side of history.
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