Shi Association

{{{1}}}

Shi Association
Type	Association
Leaders	Thelma (Southern Branch)
Members	Yujin Tenma Valentin
Divisions	Shi South Section 2 Shi South Section 3
Related	Full-Stop Office
Appearances	Library Of Ruina Limbus Company

“	Being an organization that is familiar with dealing death, the Shi's code of honor is to treat every person equally, as the weight of death is equal for everyone.	”
–A Shi Fixer's Page

The Shi Association is one of the Associations of the City, specializing in swift and covert assassinations. The Association strives to maintain a level of neutrality and fairness in its dealings, but in recent times it has grown corrupt and lost respect for the sanctity of death.

The Fixers of Shi South Section 2, desperate and weary as victims of the Shi Southern Branch's corruption, are sent to die as the nineteenth group of guests to the Library. Their reception takes up the first slot of the center-left column of Urban Nightmare.

Composition

Character	Description
Yujin	Director of Shi South Section 2. A highly-skilled Fixer, she takes her job with complete professionalism and holds the ambition of restoring the Shi Association to its former glory, free from corruption. Despite her extreme exhaustion, she still takes most of the burden of combat on herself to protect her subordinates.
Valentin	An assassin under the supervision of Director Yujin, he has little love for the manager of the Shi Southern Branch, Thelma, and supports Yujin in her mission. Though he may not be as experienced as his superior, he makes up for it in unwavering loyalty. He prefers to deal heavy singular strikes to his opponents.
Tenma	A loyal subordinate to Director Yujin, Tenma is perceptive, battle-hardened, and empathetic to her team, hoping to help her superior fulfill her ambition. Just like Valentin, she is loyal to Yujin until the end. She has a small stature, but is incredibly agile and uses this to her advantage.
Shi S. Section 2 Fixer	A Fixer of Shi South Section 2, subordinate to Director Yujin. Though not many are left standing after countless life-threatening missions and the few survivors are weary, they still intend to follow their director to the death.

Story

Urban Plague Chapter Prologue

The Shi Association is first introduced in the Urban Plague chapter prologue. Taking place in the Shi Association's Southern Branch, Argalia is heard talking to Thelma. Argalia requests for Thelma to repay a favor for helping Thelma preserve his position as the Southern Branch manager. Argalia gives Thelma a list of requests and orders for him to fulfill all of them using the Shi Southern Branch. Thelma notes that every request on the list is "ridiculous", but that he knows who he can send: Shi South Section 2, as Argalia guesses. Argalia uses this as proof of his consideration and clarifies that The Library is of particular interest among the requests he wants to have handled.

Episode 1

Pre-Battle

Yujin, Valentin, and Tenma discuss the bleak situation of Shi South Section 2

Valentin barges into Yujin's office, outraged. Though Yujin urges him to calm down, Valentin continues to call out The Blue Reverberation for manipulating the Shi. Tenma snarkily comments that they cannot do much about it, especially since Smiling Faces are involved. Valentin laments the corruption of the Shi's values and Branch Manager Thelma's blatant attempt to eradicate Section 2 through overexertion. Yujin, however, calmly insists that they must endure their situation if they want to reform the path of the Shi.

Tenma believes that Yujin can eventually restore the organization's glory, but she is also concerned about their current state. Section 2 has been given numerous Urban Nightmare-class requests day after day. She lists off a few of them: assassinating the Naraku Clan's patriarch and The Steel Comrades' captain, retrieving items called "oblivion ingots," and destroying the Fragment from Beyond and the Thin Beef Skirt Factory. Valentin follows up, commenting that most of Section 2's Fixers have died and the survivors are in poor condition. The same situation led to the destruction of South Section 3. Most of all, Yujin is badly wounded and is in the worst condition out of all the survivors, but she disregards Valentin and Tenma's concerns for her health. Yujin intends to take Section 2 and finish the Library request as normal, revealing that it is also part of her plan to expose The Blue Reverberation and stop Thelma.

Yujin informs her subordinates that they will retrieve the books of the Musicians of Bremen, whose leader was witnessed speaking to The Blue Reverberation. She believes that their books will help reveal Argalia's plans. This was also why she sent Full-Stop Office to attack the Church of Gears. Valentin and Tenma are still concerned for Yujin, especially because she intends to act on her own after retrieving the information on Argalia's plans, and also because they know of her self-sacrificing character. Yujin reassures them again before ordering them to prepare for the mission.

Inside the Library, Roland fondly comments on Yujin's honesty. Angela, suspicious, questions if Roland is truly as mediocre as he claims given his impressive connections. Roland tells her that he was previously a Grade 1 Fixer who excelled in collecting intel. He claims that his combat prowess is mostly thanks to his new body and the Library's powers. Angela accepts his explanation, but also asks him how he feels about killing his former acquaintances. Roland agrees that he is not happy with it, but also tries to justify himself. In his eyes, Yujin and her Fixers are not blameless because they have likely also killed people who sought to bring change just like them in equally poor situations. Roland believes that happiness is a "matter of perspective," and they can't afford to let Yujin live if it will ruin their own goals.

Back in the Shi Fixers' perspective, Valentin and Tenma meet Yujin at the entrance of the Library. Yujin urges them to focus on the trial directly ahead and leave their other worries for later. When Angela appears to greet them, Yujin returns the greeting despite Tenma's hesitance, explaining the need to maintain politeness. This leads Valentin and Tenma to return the greeting as well. Yujin tells Angela of her goal to retrieve the Library's books, and Angela steps aside to let them enter.

Post-Battle

Angela sees Yujin as a "memorable" guest who left a significant impression on her, similar to Kali, another Fixer she once knew in the past. Roland is surprised to hear this but does not recognize the name until Angela reveals her "nickname," The Red Mist. Roland immediately recognizes this and excitedly starts talking about her. To Roland, Kali was an exceedingly powerful figure whose selfless acts convinced him that freedom could be achieved through strength.

Background

The Shi Association handles all requests made involving stealth killings. Because of this, the Shi's style of operation involves high efficiency, swift decision-making, precision, and adaptability in order to make use of the small windows of opportunity around their targets. This also means that Shi Fixers work best in closed spaces and in smaller groups rather than in large, pitched battles.

As the Association most familiar with inflicting death, the Shi Association prioritizes fairness and confidentiality as its principles. The Shi Association will assassinate anyone it is requested to provided they receive the payment to do so. Shi Fixers and affiliates will also never reveal the identities of their clients even under threat of torture or death.

Recently, the actions of the Shi Southern Branch have flagrantly violated the Association's core values. Thelma, the manager of the Southern Branch, has been abusing his position for personal gain. Thelma's subordinates are well aware of his corruption but cannot refuse his orders. In fact, Thelma was nearly removed from his position but was saved thanks to The Blue Reverberation.

Director Yujin of Section 2 seeks to depose Thelma and restore the Shi's honor. At the same time, she is investigating The Blue Reverberation, and hired Full-Stop Office to search for clues within the Church of Gears. Argalia and Thelma both aim to stop Yujin from exposing their plans. Thelma (while conveniently fulfilling a request from Argalia) is attempting to destroy Section 2 by repeatedly sending them out on various requests with no time inbetween to recover. Because of this, Section 2 has taken heavy losses and its remaining Fixers are injured and weary, but they have no choice but to continue with whatever Thelma orders them to do. Thelma had already destroyed Shi South Section 3 and its associate Offices through the same method.

Key Page stories

Yujin’s Page

Argalia. Alias: The Blue Reverberation. The person who is known to furtively cause incidents. Recently, he is suspected of recruiting individuals wielding powers that are possibly related to the Distortion Phenomenon in an attempt to form an organization. As well as prying into his plots, I intend to hamper his efforts myself before collecting data and presenting evidence of his irregular activity to the Head. As the Blue Reverberation’s plot was already in motion, I needed to act quick and do the least I could to stop him. However, Shi Association was too fatigued from the barrage of requests, so I asked Full-Stop Office to deal with the Church of Gears, whose leader seemed to harness a power that resembles the Distortion. But I haven’t heard from them since. Perhaps they were eliminated in their mission at the hands of the Church… Or, if the Blue Reverberation expected the Fixers’ arrival and toyed with them, then I will definitely have to get to the Library and read their books. There was evident rationale to read the books of the Musicians of Bremen as well, for they could contain even the slightest hint on the Blue Reverberation’s plots he might have told them. Even I do not know the man in detail, admittedly. However, because I am certain that the Blue Reverberation is conspiring something that violates or will violate the rules stipulated by the Head, I must gather crucial evidence and report it. …I know how corrupt this Association is. I am woefully aware of Thelma’s cunning and unhinged purpose behind saddling Section 2 with one request after another and wearing us down… I am but waiting for the right time. Waiting and enduring until I seize the chance to bring the Shi back to glory… I firmly believe that everything will take a turn for the better once I take care of this work. I pledge to change the system with my hands… No matter what.

Valentin’s Page

Thelma, head of the Southern Branch, has been overworking Section 2 to a nonsensical degree lately. The requests he’s giving us are burdensome to take once per week, and he’s constantly cramming them down our throats, sapping the strength and will out of our section… It’s unclear if we can successfully handle this mission to the Library, but it’s painstakingly obvious that he’ll give us another request to take care of immediately afterwards even if we could; most of our surviving crew are losing what little motivation they had left. As for why he insists on using Section 2 when the other sections are available… He’s probably trying to get rid of Director Yujin because he suspects that our director knows something about the Blue Reverberation. It’s unacceptable that someone could use a branch leader of an Association to make a toy of the entire Association, Color or not. Especially if the goal is to remove our director Yujin… I’m not sure what plan Director Yujin has to overcome this, but I suppose that can wait until we’ve finished our mission.

Tenma’s Page

From the receipt of the request to preparation for execution, every step of an assassination is carried out covertly. Discreet killing is the Shi Association’s specialty. An all-out war in open fields where numerous people clash at once is not our preferred form of battle (though, it’s one of the areas where the Liu Association excels); we truly shine when we operate in small numbers. We pursue extreme efficiency in order to kill our target within the limited window of opportunity. Also required is the ability to make quick assessments of the situation in order to swiftly strike the target’s vital point with minimal movement. The demand for assassination requests is pretty high these days as the most surefire way to eliminate people armed with high-quality workshop equipment on top of body augments is sneaking up on them for a fatal blow when they least suspect it. Still, the streets aren’t being filled with corpses of assassinated targets because there are Fixers whose job is to kill those who were hired for assassination. Fixers are continuing their fierce strife no matter the place.

A Shi Fixer’s Page

Being an organization that is familiar with dealing death, the Shi’s code of honor is to treat every person equally, as the weight of death is equal for everyone. As long as the request fee is paid, we remove the target with no questions asked, regardless of who the client is, what kind of crime they may have committed, or any other details. The boss of a Syndicate known for murdering people in cold blood, a criminal wanted by a street somewhere, laundering an identity for a person of higher status who often bribes, even requests to kill one’s own friends and family… We handle all requests without leaning to a side. Of course, we have a duty of confidentiality to uphold for our clients. We mustn’t give in and maintain silence even in the face of immediate threats of death. Such are the rules and mindsets that the Shi Association’s members must abide by. However, the recent behavior of the Southern Branch goes against the core values of the Shi. On top of exerting power for his private interest, his selfish actions are causing severe damage to Section 2… All of us are eagerly waiting for Director Yujin to overthrow this rotten system one day.

Battle Symbols

The following Battle Symbols are related to this guest group.

Battle Symbol	Name	Slot
	Deadly Assassin	Eye
	Effect
	During a single Act of an Urban Nightmare-level reception, defeat 3 enemies while the character's HP is at 25% or lower.
	Condition
	4% chance to boost Pierce dice Power by +2 while HP is at 25% or lower
	Enraged Striker	Eye
	Effect
	Win 10 clashes against Ranged Combat Pages.
	Condition
	4% chance to boost Slash dice Power by +2 while HP is at 25% or lower
	Shi Association Member	Nose
	Effect
	During a single Act of an Urban Nightmare-level reception, lose HP through Combat Page effects 5 times.
	Condition
	4% chance to boost Blunt dice Power by +2 while HP is at 25% or lower
	Exhausted Comrade	Cheek
	Effect
	Win 10 clashes using Evade dice while the character's HP is at 25% or lower.
	Condition
	4% chance to boost Defensive dice Power by +2 while HP is at 25% or lower
	Boundary of Death	Headwear 3
	Effect
	Win 1 clashes against 'Boundary of Death' using said Combat Page.
	Condition
	4% chance to boost damage and Stagger damage by +4 while HP is at 25% or lower

Gallery

• 

  Yujin

• 

  Valentin

• 

  Tenma

• 

  Dialogue background (Shi Association - South Branch, Section 2)

• 

  Dialogue CG, no boxes

Trivia

The Shi Association's name and logo are a play on words. Following the naming pattern of the Associations, 'Shi' is Japanese for the number four. However, it shares a pronunciation with 'Shi', the Japanese word for death. The Association's logo features the Han Chinese (Kanji) character '死', with the '歹' radical written in red to represent the number "4".

References

Shi Association
Characters	Yujin - Valentin - Tenma - Thelma
Key Pages	Yujin’s Page - Valentin’s Page - Tenma’s Page - A Shi Fixer’s Page
Combat Pages	Endless Battle - Desperate Struggle - To Overcome Crisis - Flying Sword - Extreme Edge - Flashing Strike - Boundary of Death