#so it always pays to check the hangul is what i'm saying

[my5hiningstars]

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[nikeiyomiurioverthinker]

Hey i just saw your reblog to my post about void and I'd love to hear your theories/headcanons on what Nikei's backstory is like

Hey!! Thanks for the ask, I like to yap a lot and this is fantastic to scratch that itch.

I do have a bunch of theories about his backstory, but I wouldn't say I have exactly a MAIN one? Also because a lot of the theories are technically just the same theory with a few slight tweaks. I don't want to settle on one only because I don't wanna be disappointed once Linuj drops the backstory and it isn't like how I imagined it.

There isn't much in the game itself that tells us about what Nikei's backstory could be like, but we have three things you always have to consider when creating a backstory for this guy:

Nikei's family is absent by the time Utsuro saves him and he cannot reconnect to them in any way

You have to think up why exactly Nikei is so obsessed with his right hand

The picture Linuj drew 4 years ago has to fit seamlessly in it

It has to explain his fixation on power and control

So, having stated that, here's the details that I match together fairly arbitrarily when I'm thinking about Nikei's backstory:

As far as his family is concerned, he most likely lost them before Utsuro even came into the picture- he does talk about them exactly once, and it is in this specific comment:

I know it says household and not family, but I checked the Hangul and from what I've found online, the term he uses is often used in the context of expressing the social position of one's family- so, he is likely talking about his own parents here. It's a fleeting comment, not the type I would imagine one would make when talking about abusive parents- so since his family likely has nothing to do with his trauma (or at least, isn't the direct source of it), they definitely disappeared before it all started.

Personally, I believe that Nikei was probably kidnapped- either that, or he was sold off. It depends on how nice I want Nikei's parents to be. In the kidnapping case, it could happen in any context, really- on the way home from school, or even inside his own home. His family most likely died during that encounter, and Nikei was then whisked away by his future abuser. In the case of him being sold off... well, Nikei states that his family wasn't wealthy- it isn't a stretch to say that maybe they were struggling financially, made a risky contract with loansharks that clearly didn't pay off, and therefore they had to either give Nikei away to their creditors, or they just sold him off for money so they could pay the debt back. What's important here is to establish that Nikei physically cannot (or in the second case, simply wouldn't want to) go back to his family.

Either way, it ends with Nikei being taken away from his family and forced into a life of servitude by his abuser(s). Most likely, Nikei had to deal with CSA- I don't want to get into that conversation, but there are two main reasons as to why I believe that to be the case. First, Nikei fits the profile of a victim, and is shown getting stressed and fearful when someone physically threatens him- like in the case of Mikado in chapter 4, in that one CG. Also, and this reason has less to do with the story itself and more with the writing of it all- Linuj is clearly giving each Void a different type of trauma, and it wouldn't make much sense for Nikei to be 'only' physically assaulted by his abuser, since that is already a subject explored in Emma's backstory. This then would explain his need for control- it's more out of fear of being forced into that situation again than anything else.

Skipping to the meeting with Utsuro now- I like to explain away Nikei's obsession with his hand as him touching Utsuro with it, and thus believing that his hand was blessed and is the reason why everything starts to look up for him. We are never explained how or to what extent each Void meets him, so it isn't unlikely to think that they were close enough to touch. Either that, or after the meeting with Utsuro, Nikei gathered up enough courage to actually stand for himself and attack his abuser- likely killing him and therefore causing the hand obsession. It might also just be a mix of both? Either way, Nikei gets out of this terrible situation, and he then doesn't live happily ever after because even after meeting Utsuro his life objectively sucks, just slightly less than it did before.

This is the most sensible of the theories I have? Nothing groundbreaking, I know.

Allow me now to introduce you to the Nikei Grew Up In A Cult theory. This one is significantly less strong that the ones above but hey, I'm just having fun here.

So, in this theory, Nikei's family is fully entrenched in a cult- Nikei probably was born into it. The details of the cult itself aren't really important, but I'm imagining something vaguely Christianity-inspired (on one hand because it's stupidly easy to just create a cult with Christianity as a basis, but also because of the very weird relationship Nikei seems to have with specifically Christianity- I could probably make a whole separate post on that). As in most cults, the leader is a wholeass fucking clown who definitely takes advantage of the kids in his group of yes men. Nikei definitely hated everything that was done to him, but no one would listen to him or they would actively scorn him for not accepting what their leader gave him- which also definitely counts for his parents.

Nikei grew to despise being submissive to others- due to the fact that he would always be taken advantage of if he wasn't the only in control. Which influenced his desire for power- when he met Utsuro, he touched the other boy with his right hand, and after the encounter was blessed with the luck to escape the cult.

Despite hating what was done to him, Nikei had grown up fully entrenched in the cult's dogma, so it wouldn't be insane to presume that he assumed the boy he met had been an angel or even a God, that had bestowed upon him luck as a way to pay him back for his suffering. Therefore, he starts seeing his right hand as something that was touched by God, causing his obsession with it.

Then again, I'm projecting a liiiittle of my religious trauma on him with this theory. It kinda was born out of my brain assuming the True? Or False? on his shirt referred to religious doctrine. Don't take it too seriously.

Anyway, that's all I got. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.