Józefina Korzeniowska/Relationships

"IMPORTANT!!!"Mostly of this page is only concept for my own fanfiction from Bungo Stray Dogs Universe. Many things can still change and must be taken with a pinch of salt. And if you found any error in the written text, would necessarily admonish me. I'll try to correct it as soon as possible.
* Skamader
* Armed Detective Agency
* Port Mafia
* Order of the Clock Tower
* Rats in the House of the Dead
* Decay of the Angel
* Special Division for Unusual Powers
* Others

## Rats in the House of Death

### Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor first heard about Józefina from the words and stories of Nikolai Gogol, whom he sometimes told about the genesis of his „realization of his imprisonment” and her ability towards which he had a rather ambivalent attitude, but it is largely a very negative one, since „her power is a complete negation of freedom”. Listening to his stories about Józefina, Fyodor developed an image about her in his mind, made up a little of the truth, a little of distorted facts, and a little of his ideas about her and his own thoughts. His image of Józefina assumed either an unbalanced endowed woman who attacked Nikolai for reasons known only to herself, or a cunning and extremely intelligent femme fatale who doesn't hesitate to use drastic measures in pursuit of her goals. He was also intrigued by her ability - this intrigue, however, wasn't enough to search for her on his own considering it a waste of time that it's unclear if it'll be profitable at all for him at the end.

## Decay of Angel

### Nikolai Gogol

It's not entirely clear how they met the first time - what is known, however, is that they immediately developed an affection for each other, despite the difference in their temperaments. While Józefina was always a very calm and „well-behaved” girl, who didn't cause any major problems for her parents, Nikolai was a boy who hated being restricted by his parents - he was constantly trying to „win” his freedom, which usually ended in argues at home. However, there was a common sign between them, which was the hook for their short but intense relationship - they were both constantly restricted, and their parents tried to throw them into roles that didn't suit them, despite warning signs indicating that they weren't the right people for it. At one point, Adam Mickiewicz - knowing that Nikolai was an ability user - asked Józefina to carry out a certain very Simple command - she was to order Nikolai to say anything she and Adam asked him, while having a strong desire in her mind to control him. At first, Josephine had tremendous moral resistance, but after much persuasion, she agreed and obediently carried out the command - at which point she probably used her ability at least partially consciously for the first time. Everything seemed to be going on Mickiewicz's way, but when 24 hours had passed since the memorable order, they were attacked by Nikolai himself, who began to slowly lose his temper and his senses as a result of the „Heart of Darkness” impact. It's unclear what happened next, but both, Józefina and Nikolai, talk about the „unimaginable tragedy” which she was the source of – this perfectly shows the scale of the problem.

They meet years later, when Nikolai is disguised as Tonan's secretary - they first meet at Café Uzumaki, where Józefina had been working for some time as waitress. Nikolai himself admitted that he and Fyodor discovered that she was currently in Yokohama, and decided to track down exactly where she was currently working and living in order to see her. He introduced himself as Jun and, as he put it, played the role of „a serious and secretive official from a wealthy family, whom her mother would describe as an ideal candidate for a husband for her”. After a while, he visited the café regularly and tried to talk to Józefina as often as possible while getting into his role well, without arousing too much suspicion in her or the agency members (except perhaps Dazai). By his own admission, he was getting tired of it - he wanted to „say goodbye” to her as soon as possible, as he was going to die as soon as he finished his mission. However, he also couldn't bring himself to spoil the plan, and so he tried to be as subtle as he could and controlled his movements so as not to arouse unnecessary suspicion - or at least that's what he thought. Józefina herself, despite her uneasiness and slight suspicion, tried to please him as a customer without paying attention to strange expressions or too „frivolous and casual, as if they know each other for a long time” behavior that threw her into a state of discomfort.

After a while, Nikolai, in disguise, noticed that his behavior reflecting a bit of his attitude toward her made her uncomfortable around him. So he decided to change his tactics and at some point offer help himself when she needed it. The opportunity came very quickly, when he helped Tonan gather information about the Agency. On the day he was supposed to bring the plan to a conclusion in a completely planned way, he took the same route as Józefina.

He initiated a - seemingly accidental - situation in which he collided with her, causing the documents with the data of Agency members to fly apart. When the woman wanted to help him, she came across the documents regarding Atsushi and Dazai, in which their offenses were recorded (Dazai's crimes when he was in the Mafia and the case of Atsushi's failure to control his abilities). Devastated, she couldn't believe what she was seeing and, despite handing over the documents, had to ask him what was going on, which she did. Nikolai as Jun explained that this was a very important operation on which the future of the country might depend, and beyond that he couldn't say anything. After that, he asked what time it was; it was almost six in the morning and replied that she could come to him and then they would talk in private at home. When this happened initially everything went fine, but when, according to Nikolai's plan, Józefina fell asleep after tea mixed with sleeping pills he wanted to move on to the next point. This, of course, was the complete elimination of his former friend, which ultimately did not happen - there were too many conflicting emotions hounding him to be able to commit the act of murder so easily on a person with whom he had such a strong bond. This made him feel disgusted with himself, chastising himself for being "too weak" and "not free enough." The long procrastination meant that he already had to go to fulfill the mission, so he left a sleeping Józefina.

When she awoke it was seven o'clock, while she discovered with surprise and horror that she was still in Jun's apartment, while he himself was gone. Not knowing what to do, Józefina decided to leave the premises, but on her way out she came across a room from which there was a strong smell from the beginning, as if a corpse was decomposing. Curious and concerned, she entered the room to see what was there. With fright verging on hysteria, she discovered that on the bed lay a golden cage in the middle of which lay a dead, heavily bloodied black bird with its wings torn off. Next to it lay a key with the alchemical symbol of Neptune and a short leaf with a riddle forming an "invitation" that basically told her to "go to where the great disclosure of detectives will be". She immediately took the key and the note with her and ran to the agency's headquarters. She wasn't even sure why she was doing it, but she was sure she needed to clear it up with all of them on a few issues. As soon as she arrived at the Agency Nikolai was just delivering his message and addressed it directly to her, saying that he was "pleased that she received his gift and hopes to meet her here." Completely blown away by now, Józefina began to connect all the dots and somehow already knew what he meant.

Despite the fact that members of the Agency forbade her to go with them, she followed them all the way to their destination, where in a few minutes the whole scene played out - the Agency turned out to be terrorists who captured the politicians, and Nikolai was tied up with a chainsaw chair when Józefina had already arrived. A brief discussion ensued during which Gogol expressed his disappointment in her attitude, that she was here at all and preferred to "give in to her emotions and his suggestions instead of trusting herself for once," adding that she had always been like this and her current attitude didn’t surprise him. Josephine replied to him here that he hasn't changed even one percent either, and he still doesn't know exactly who he is, still trying to "wrestle with reality for his illusion even if he doesn't technically want it himself." After a while, a saw to cut him in half was triggered, which caused a reaction in both Józefina and Nikolai. Józefina tried to tearfully run up to Nikolai, but was stopped by Yosano, in whose embrace she watched as her former friend was cut in half and - or so she thought at the time - killed before her eyes.

## References

1. ↑ In the fandom, the name Akaky (the name of the main character in the story „The Overcoat/The Cloak” by Nikolai's real-life counterpart) sometimes functions as a name for Nikolai in the diguise of a secretary. I somewhat understand where this choice came from, but as my knowledge (which is very poor) is that in Japan they would rather not accept a foreigner as a secretary of a respected official nevertheless (maybe they would, I don't know, but I prefer not to risk it), so I chose the name whose meaning most resembled to me the meanings of the name „Akaky” (nice, ordinary), that is, „Jun” written in kanji 純 (ordinary, pure).