Background/History: In Game of Fate, Earth is very similar to the world that we live in. The major difference in their world is the secret world of magic, which is guarded from the average civilian. Humans, as they are in our world, are violent and quick to panic - always wanting to rid themselves of something that they don't understand. Which is why magic remains hidden from them; if they were to know that there were others out there who harbored powers that they couldn't replicate, it would lead to all out magical genocide. Those who use magic do their best to remain under the radar, working normal jobs, living "normal" lives.
All parts of history are acknowledged by the world of Game of Fate, though all of these events happened sooner than they had in the real worlds history. With magic, inventions were able to be created earlier than they were in our timeline, making it quicker for society to grow. So whereas the story of Game of Fate takes place in the 2000s, its technologies are up to par with what we have today.
The only form of an actual magical government is MASQ. The group is made up of people who maintain the secret of magic, keeping tabs on magical incidents - making sure that all things magical that happen are quickly cleaned up, or disposed of. MASQ is the group that distributes that magical "Titles" as well. Titles are essentially a sort of secret identity for magic users, which separates the wizards and witches from their "real life" personas. Though what MASQ is best known for would be their regulation of the price system.
At the start, magic had been free. Now there is a system behind it. Those who use magic have been inflicted with a sort of "curse"; something that is transferred genetically to one magic user to the next. This curse is what insures the price system, putting a limit on how much magic a person can use, and what their price for their magic will be. These prices vary among the magic users, everyone having their own type of "currency."
The MASQ is always there to "help," of course. If someone has used too much magic and lost a lot of important things, they can do community service for the MASQ to eventually reverse the pricing systems effects and bring back what they had lost.
The pricing system hadn't come out of nowhere, however. It all started with two girls named Benita Goodon and Felicity Dystini, who had other ideas for magic. The two had decided there should be some sort of price for the use of magic - rather than letting people go around freely using it whenever they pleased. This was where the magic price system came into play, making all wizards and witches pay for the right to use their natural born talents. However, over the years, it became apparent to Felicity that the price system wasn't right; she decided it needed to be destroyed. Benita had to disagree and sealed Felicity away at a moments notice, making sure that she wouldn't interfere with the system they, together, had created.
It was then that Felicity swore that she would get free of her entrapment, and began to plan. She needed power, something like a magical reactor that she could use in a spell to set herself free. That something was Satou. Her mother, Horie, had been been asked by Felicity (aka Fate) to help her by giving birth to the prodigal witch that was needed; and she did. Though the birth of Satou didn't go according to plan - Horie loved the girl. With this love, she ran away to Japan with her husband and daughter in an attempt to escape the plan she had got herself involved in.
At this time in the 1990s, there was another girl, an eight year old girl, by the name of Masume Sakura. She wasn't a witch, or anything extraordinary in the least. She had a mother and a father who loved her, and whom she loved dearly. They traveled the world for a good portion of her young life, her father being a photographer and her mother working with the Global Medical outreach. From these travels she gained a good deal of knowledge, and even picked up on quite a few languages, being young enough to still grasp other people's words. She had the ideal child's life - traveling, adventures, meeting new people and having parents who supported her. It was all going well.
That is to say, until things started to not go well, as it always seems to go down. While in Japan, the family was involved in an accident, killing her parents and leaving Masume comatose. This is the way that Horie had come to find Masume, taking her essence as a base for the new, magical Masume Sakura.
She awoke from the coma anew, quickly swept up by her new "aunt and uncle" Horie and Yosuke, who adopt her into their household. Without a second to think, Masume leaves her past life behind, as well as many of her past memories of her actual mother and father; which works well enough, her loss of memory making it easy for her to believe that Horie and Yosuke have been her aunt and uncle all along.
Little did she know, her existence wasn't given back to her out of kindness to a child. Half of Satou's uber magical skills, unknown to either of the girls, had been placed in her. Now making her a device to keep the Kuroneko family out of the watchful eyes of Fate and Benita.
Masume was no longer the Masume Sakura that she had been before, no matter how much of her personality Horie had given her. Her memories were scattered - and some gone completely - and bits of her personality had to be picked up over time. She was, after all, no longer a person. She was magic, in a more physical form, and like a changelling, she had taken a child's identity in a flash, filling her position in the world. A copy of someone who had existed, but not human.
Her transition into the Kuroneko family is, unfortunately, not as smooth as she would have liked it to be. She didn't change her last name, holding onto the life she had once had with her actual parents; not wanting to forget her "real family." Though she did make sure to keep up her studies for her new parents, learning the lessons quickly due to her artificial intelligence.
Her main struggle was making friends with her new sister. Satou hated Masume, which Masume couldn't exactly figure out why, since she had no recollection of the family's history before she joined their lives, but she did her best to make nice. In fact, she was almost obsessive, making sure that she would get her sister to like her over time - which, eventually, she did.
Just in time for an adventure. Only a year after moving into her new household, Masume and Satou were given magic wands by a mysterious woman. The two had yet to be exposed to the secret underground life of magic, bringing about different reactions to the idea of this sort of adventure. Opposed to her sister's excitement, Masume was more uneasy towards the idea of it all - a fear brought up by her existence being made of magic. She will not pass up the idea of an adventure, having a strong need to do something more than study, so quickly gets over her anxiety and joins in the excitement towards the idea.
Because of their magical adventures, Masume and Satou grow closer, something that Masume had wanted from the get-go. Running around saving the day it certainly one way to become closer to your adoptive sister. But just as their bond had grown strong, tragedy had to strike.
After a long day of magical excitement, the sisters had returned to an empty house. Their parents, Horie and Yosuke, are missing in action - though this doesn't alarm the girls initially. The days of waiting is what builds the anxiety, knowing that their parents weren't going to return.
Three days after their parents disappearance, a girl named Vinita Godono (Benita Goodon with a new name that sounds nothing like her original name) has arrived at their doorstep. She has been watching them, though Masume is unaware that they've been under careful surveillance. Vinita reveals to them the existence of the organization MASQ and the Title Competition. To entice them to join, she tells them that their missing parents had been a price system, and that if they were to join the competition they could eventually bring them back. It was a special opportunity for them, since they were to young to come into a title naturally (witches titles being automatically assigned at age sixteen), but could win them. And with a title, comes to ability to work off magical debt, and in turn get back what was lost.
The whole explanation for their parents disappearance is a lie, though. The truth behind their parent's disappearance is that Satou had unknowingly murdered their father, which had turned Horie into a sort of nervous wreck, sending her off to who knows where.
But, alas, with that unbeknownst to the sisters, the two of them join the competition in hopes of paying off their magical debt and returning their parents to them. Joining up with the family friend Ryuu, they go to complete the three good deeds, which will showcase their magically abilities. During this time they see the good and bad sides of magic, and how people choose to use it.
As the competition goes on, Satou begins to make friends with many of the other competitors (and other people outside of the contest), which causes Masume to become jealous, since she is no longer the main focus of Satou. Even more so that Satou and Touka had become quick friends, where as Masume had to work a long time to get Satou to even like her. To worsen the situation, Satou tells Masume of Mikale, a childhood friend of hers, which deepens Masume's emotional state, causing her to become insecure about how much she doesn't know about the Kuroneko family before she entered it.
The two continue with the competition despite the insecurities that Masume harbors, finishing as winners. On their way to the award ceremony, they are attacked by witch hunters, who seemed to know where they were headed. Being ever vigilant, Satou serves as a distraction, getting Masume and Ryuu to go on without her. Touka stayed behind to help as Ryuu drags Masume out of the fray and off to safety.
Hours later, Masume is informed that the MASQ had stepped in to stop the fighting, though only Touka returns from the battle. In fact, nobody even notices that Satou is missing - that Satou had even EXISTED. With bitterness growing inside her, Masume goes along with Touka as they accept their titles - Masume gaining the title of Witch of Virtues and Touka gaining the title Peach Blossom Witch. The celebrations are short lived as Masume remains upset with Touka for being the only one coming back, and later for taking Satou's prize.
After the contest, Masume quickly falls out of contact with Touka due to her anger, choosing to wait around for Satou's return. But since her parents never returned, and Satou's disappearance continues, Masume is made to move to America with Ryuu and his family. Being a celebrity at this time, she's known quite well through-out the magical realm. However, this doesn't help her in her search for Satou, as nobody even acknowledges her disappearance aside from her close friends, which adds to Masume's bitterness.
Three years after the start of the competition, and just a short while after the end of it, Masume turns twelve. Then having had been apart from Satou from quite some time, she decides to find her sister. Thinking it best to join the MASQ, as they seem to have their fingers in every single pie, she begins to train herself up so that she could be qualified to join.
Which she does, passing the test with excellent scores and quickly joining the Investigative division. For the next couple years, she spends her time working the circuits, bringing in criminals and proving herself so that she can climb the ranks, in hopes that someday she may be permitted to use better resources so that she can find Satou.
In the Investigation division, on a typical mission, Masume takes down a murderous mage by herself, using magic that was emotionally charged. Before this task, Masume hadn't used offensive magic often, so wasn't aware that she had become so powerful. Even without being around her sister, the two girls continue to fill their magical containers to incredible levels, which Vinita is quick to realize. The two girls, even separated, can be just as threatening.
The power that Vinita witnessed leads her to send an assassin after Masume during a mission. In fact, she sends quite a few attacks in her state of paranoia. The first attacks don't seem to be targeting just Masume, which leads her to believing these are just terrorist attacks, rather than personal homicide attempts.
The attacks that had been made on Masume are quickly turned to the Witch of Sins stories, which prompts Masume's research into the subject. The Witch of Sins is well-known as a dangerous runaway witch, who has been missing for years. Masume's team is told to hunt her down, as Catriona has begun to hypothesize that the Witch of Sins may be after Masume's life, as she is her title counterpart. It is also theorized that the Witch of Sins may be related to Satou's disappearance, which gets Masume more into the case, and prompts her to be more thorough and interested in this case opposed to others.
Which is where she is currently in her story, and where she will be joining from.
Masume | Original Character | Not Reserved (1/3)