Background
Tsuchiya Rika is a Shinto exorcist from Hiroshima, Japan. With the return of Hiroshima and the surrounding lands to Japan, ancient shinto rituals and practices regained their former magical nature. Rika’s sect quickly began training specialized exorcists to combat the creatures that plagued Rifts-Earth Japan.
Already comfortable with technology and mastering their newly empowered rituals, these exorcists became a powerful force in the battle against supernatural evil. As time passed and the new Republic of Japan re-established itself, these Shinto exorcists began placing more focus upon the religious practices rather than their new martial practices.
Not long after Hiroshima’s return, a small rift was found leading to another location on Rift’s-Earth. Travel to or from Japan was incredibly dangerous, so a small group of shinto priests set through to establish a monastery upon the mountaintop for future exploration. The rift is only open briefly and infrequently, so Rika, now an exorcist of some renown, was selected to head up a small exploratory group.
Their purpose, in addition to their usual duties, was to establish contact with friendly governments and to discover and map out the Kami of whatever land the Rift led to. The monastery was not large, but it was comfortable and well-stocked. The priests informed them of what they knew, and the team set off to begin their mission.
Rika met a grouchy grackle tooth at the monastery who was not a believer, but she could tell that he was opening his heart to their beliefs in his own way even if he could not recognize it himself. She wasn’t sure why at the time, but she felt that he would be important to her. Time would tell.
She determined that their best course of action would be to contact the ones calling themselves the Tomorrow Legion at Castle Refuge. She set out to contact them, but disaster struck. Her team encountered a city which was extremely haunted by spirits and other supernatural entities. Rika believed her team could sort the situation out with enough time given their training and specialization in spiritual matters, but it was too much to handle for a single team.
Her team was quickly overwhelmed. Several members were outright slain, and several more were possessed. They were surrounded and retreat was not an option, so they pushed forward through the city. Only four members of her original team remained.
They were approaching the outskirts when they decided to split up to escape the heavy concentration of enemies. Rika would run forward, through where they were most numerous. The other three would use her as a distraction to escape and they would rendezvous at a safe location outside of town.
She made it through, exhausted, but her remaining teammates never showed up. She continued to Castle Refuge to continue her mission even if her team was gone, and she signed up with the 24th COT. In her free time, she explores when she can to continue discovering the Kami of North America.
She returned to the monastery once, with Dr. Danlack - the grackle tooth she first met at the monastery. It was time for the rift to reopen, but when they arrived they found the monastery had been reduced a fiery ruin. The rift never opened - possibly due to some conflict between the Federation and the new Republic of Japan. She and Danny returned to Castle Refuge with a newly gained hatred for the Federation.
Most of her other Kami-charting expeditions were uneventful, however she once found herself treed by a group rhino-buffalo she wandered into by accident. She had no idea how she would escape because they were showing no signs of leaving. However, a strange wolf man appeared in their midst and dispatched each one himself.
She was initially scared of him, as he resembled the Raijū of legend - a monstrous lightning-wolf. However, he insisted upon staying until she came down for some reason. He was as stubborn and ornery as she, and the two became fast friends. In exchange for escorting her back to Castle Refuge and joining the Tomorrow Legion, she created a pair of powerfully enchanted gloves - some of her finest work to date.