Soejima Rie

Personal History

Rie was born to virologist Lin Luoxia and ghost hunter Soejima Daisuke shortly after her twin brother Denji. Following her parents' tortuous divorce proceedings, she lived with her mother and had occasional contact with her father (who had custody of her siblings) until her mother cut contact with him completely. She kept in contact with her siblings Rui and Denji through the internet in the meantime.

On her fourteenth birthday, an incident at school triggered the awakening of a ghost who had possessed her named Daichi. Due to her mother's lingering resentment over her divorce with the most prolific ghost hunter in the country, Rie's mother gave her a talisman meant to suppress Daichi until she could find an exorcist unassociated with Soejima Daisuke. Rie chose not to use it for its intended purpose due both to her full-swing teenage goth rebellion phase and Daichi's surprising interest in her personal safety.

Despite her father's (and twin brother's eventual) occupation as a ghost hunter, her exposure to ghosts and hunting them in general was minimal. Her tendency to attract ghosts combined with Daichi's extensive experience working as a ghost hunter resulted in their frequent encounters with and suppression of ghosts as she transitioned into high school.

During the December of her third year in high school, she moved in with her soon-to-be stepfamily the Eguchis in Osaka and was promptly greeted by Eguchi Juri attempting to kill her, beginning the events of the story.

Name Etymology

Her legal name 副島 利英 is a fairly common combination of characters for the Japanese pronunciation Soejima Rie.

• The Mandarin pronunciation is Fùdǎo Lìyīng (Pinyin romanization).
• The Hakka pronunciation is Futó Liyîn (PFS romanization).
• 副 (soe) means "supplemental." 島 (jima) means "island." 利 (ri) means "benefit." 英 (e) means "flower" or "hero.“

The alternate character set 副島 瓅繪 was created by her novelist aunt and mother for fun. In Japanese, it's also pronounced Soejima Rie.

• The Mandarin pronunciation is Fùdǎo Lìhuì (Pinyin romanization).
• The Hakka pronunciation would be something like Futó Ngok̍fi (PFS romanization). (Disclaimer: this is a speculative pronunciation, as 瓅 is a ridiculous archaic character I couldn't find Hakka pronunciation data on.)
• 副 (soe) means "supplemental." 島 (jima) means "island." 瓅 (ri) means "pearl luster." 繪 (e) means "paint.“

Behind the Scenes

• This project is heavily based on Clock Tower: Ghost Head. Rie is the counterpart of Midoushima Yuu/Alyssa Hale. To compare:
• Rie is much more headstrong than Yuu.
• Rie is much less apologetic about beaning people in the head with potted plants than Yuu.
• Daichi's awakening incident happened several years before Shou's, meaning Rie had more time to adjust to Daichi and the supernatural occurrences in her life than Yuu had adjusting to Shou and the cerebral toxin outbreak. Rie also did not move to Osaka as a result of Daichi's awakening incident and disabled her ghost suppression charm long before the events of the game.
• Rie has no equivalent to the hiding mechanic because she is insane and will run headfirst into danger. This bullet point sponsored by Daichi screaming in the back of her head to no avail.

Dressup:)