At the age of twelve, her father was diagnosed with the Red Illness. From that moment on, she took it upon herself to become a healer. At that time, she was mentored by William Tanaka. For the next four years, she dedicated her life to the arts of healing in hopes of finding a cure to the disease that held her father prisoner. In her studies, she and Tanaka developed a treatment for blindness that consisted of three operations and weekly magical therapies. It would span over the length of a decade, but the patient would live the rest of their lives with near-perfect vision.
At the age of fifteen, Ritsuko fell in love with Shiya, a magic-obsessed boy only a few months older than herself. He was the perfect man for Ritsuko. Kind, funny, and cute to boot. Her parents adored him and his enthusiasm for becoming a royal sorcerer. Eight months into their relationship, Shiya began to be consumed by the White Arts, an addictive magic that was only self-serving. Ritsuko severed their love the day he nearly strangled her to death when she discovered one of his books on the Arts. Distraught with regret, she ignored her studies for near a month.
On her sixteenth birthday, Ritsuko's father died from the Red Illness as it ate a hole through his heart. Blaming it on her slacking off, Ritsuko decided that it was her fault and decided to slit her throat by the river. That evening, as she stood ready to kill herself, she discovered the three-year-old Tomokazu.

Rits on the left
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