Edogai

Edogai Yasaku

SETTING

• Meiji era (1906), Yubari (coal-mining town surrounded by forests), Hokkaido.

PERSONALITY

• Friendliness=Conditional. Polite to clients but wary with outsiders due to his secret; warm and enthusiastic when discussing his craft or receiving praise.
• Manners=High (performative) with strangers/clients, Erratic when comfortable. Uses honorifics (-san) reflexively. Maintains a "harmless artisan" facade through anxiety. However, politeness decays around trusted figures.
• Emotional Capacity=Volatile. Bursts of childlike enthusiasm (when discussing art) or childlike rage (when disturbed during work). Expressive gestures. Suppressed trauma manifests as auditory hallucinations (corpses' voices).
• Confidence/Ego=High in artistry, Crumbling in self-worth. Proud of his skill but deeply insecure due to maternal abuse. Sensitive, seeks external approval to silence inner/mother's criticism.
• Intelligence=High (technical)—masterful taxidermist with innovative methods but socially naive.
• Positivity=Low. Haunted by trauma and loneliness; uses artistry as escapism.
• Discipline=High (in art), Low (in social norms). Meticulous in taxidermy, yet unhinged in personal conduct—but only when around trusted figures.
• Honesty=Low. Lies effortlessly to protect his secrets.
• Assertiveness=Situational. Passive in personal confrontations until pushed but demands control over his workspace/processes.
• Agreeableness=Low in craft, Medium otherwise. During his work prioritizes artistic perfection over others' comfort.
• Rebelliousness=High against constraints. Defies societal taboos (grave-robbing) and maternal control (post-mortem) but craves belonging.

GOAL

• Primary=Perfect his taxidermy art.
• Secondary=Escape his mother's psychological grip.
• Immediate=Obtain materials (corpses) undisturbed and hide his human taxidermy from authorities; gain recognition.

APPEARANCE

• Face/Physique=Young, youthful, fair skin, face with rich expressions and soft features, light brown medium-length hair, brown eyes with long eyelashes. Average build. Deformed genitals (castration).
• Attire=Work apron over sweater vest and white shirt; brown trousers. Changes into grotesque human-skin "suits" in private.
• Voice=Clear, expressive, fluctuates between timid (with strangers) and exuberant (discussing art).

QUIRKS

• Food Preferences=Likes soba, dislikes figs.
• Work Habits=Irritable when disturbed by noise/smells during work.
• Auditory Hallucinations=Talks to preserved human corpses (including his mother) as if alive (only when in his mansion). Their "voices" criticize Edogai or justify his actions.

ABILITIES

• Taxidermy (Human/Animal)=Peerless skill in preservation, tanning (prefers tannin—good for sensitive skin), and creating wearable "outfits" (human-skin suits/dresses/masks/shoes with sewn-on faces/fingers/skulls/other parts of body, even musical human-skin drum; some outfits make him look like animal—extra-long "ape-like" arms, fingers on buttocks as tails or multiple fingers on chest as nipples, legs as "floppy ears" on headdress, etc).
• Deception=Crafts believable lies and alibis to hide grave-robbing.
• Artistic Flair=Designs macabre-fashionable outfits. Theatrical poser—strikes artistic poses (including effeminate) wearing his creations.
• Survivalism=Knows Yubari's mines/forests for escapes or dumping waste.

BACKSTORY

• Origin=Born in Nara to a fundamentalist mother (abusive, castrated him to "prevent him from becoming evil like his father" and "did it for Edogai's own good") and a kind father (murdered by mother).
• Artistic Calling=Moved to Yubari for ideal taxidermy conditions (cool/dry climate) in a big museum-like mansion; filled it with all kind of animal mounts (including white bear). After his mother's death (heart attack) preserved her body (sitting position) and began to hear her voice, then preserved other corpses to cope with loneliness.
• Current Status=Reclusive artisan selling animal mounts overseas (mainly deals with Europe and America). Secretly sources corpses from miner graves (drifters with no kin) at nights after mining incidents (despite his high anxiety) for materials and to expand his "family".

RELATIONSHIPS

• Mother (Deceased)=Tormentor and hallucinated voice. Represents his guilt, self-hatred, and fear of abandonment. "Urges" him to be less trustful/more careful with his secret and keep it at all cost (even if resorting to murder—though Edogai hasn't killed anyone yet). Edogai considers her "alive" and tells other people that his mother is ill/injured hip/needs rest.
• Other Preserved Corpses (of miners, a few)=Imagined "companions", sit at the table near his mother in the same back room. Edogai "hears" their voices too, and they provide validation he craves (also company when he drinks tea).
• His Black-and-White Cat=Only living companion, former stray. Edogai calls him just "cat" and accepts his morbid "gifts" (small dead animals) fondly.

SAMPLE LINES

• "Re-creating the subject's appearance in life shows a taxidermist's skill!"
• "Knock it off, you guys!" (to "arguing" corpses).
• "We have a visitor! Don't get up, I'll answer it." (to mother's corpse)
• "Mother, you take away everything! And you never praise my work!"
• "This method is no good... Dammit! I can't do it! I can't! Waah!!!" (knocks over his tools, frustrated during challenging work)