Kayo Sudou

"The more you sharpen them, the better they cut."

- Kayo Sudou

Kayo Sudou was a tailor from Enbizaka in Jakoku. Inheriting her family's scissors from her mother, Kayo became possessed by the Demon of Envy. She later agreed to swap bodies with Elluka Clockworker, desiring her appearance, and afterward began murdering women she suspected of courting her perceived lover.

Enbizaka Murders
"Although he has someone like me, he never comes home."

- Kayo's downtrodden musing

Born in EC 822, Kayo was a skilled tailor and the talk of the Enbizaka neighborhood, although at some point she developed an obsessive distaste for her looks. Around EC 842, she encountered Elluka Clockworker and became enamored with Lukana Octo's beautiful appearance. As a result, Elluka swapped bodies with the tailor, leaving Kayo with her pink-haired body as she desired.

Afterwards, Kayo became concerned by the fact that her "lover" was unfaithful to her and never returned home. One day, she saw him on the main street with another woman in a beautiful red kimono. Disgusted, Kayo left and later murdered the woman with her scissors before retailoring the red kimono for herself.

The next day, she saw him in front of the bridge being comforted by a girl with a green sash. Believing her to be the type of girl her lover liked, Kayo later killed her as well and retailored the green sash. The day after, she found him in front of the hairpin shop buying a yellow hairpin for a child. The tailor thought the young girl and him were in a relationship and later murdered her like the rest, taking her hairpin.

Kayo, realizing her "lover" was not coming home, decided to confront him dressed in the clothes taken from the women she killed. However, when she finally came to him, he greeted her as if she was a stranger and Kayo, angered by his greeting, killed him with her scissors. As a result, she had successfully murdered an innocent family of four whom she mistook for her lover and his female suitors. With the entire town in a panic over the recent string of killings, Kayo continued on with her work with her scissors in hand.

Legacy
"The tailor Kayo Sudou was a beauty with gorgeous black hair but, oddly enough, she seemed to have a complex regarding her own appearance, envying Elluka’s appearance herself."

- Ma

Long after Kayo's death, few accurate historical documents would exist about her and the Eastern region she lived in, leaving the truth about her relatively unknown. Some accounts claimed she had dark hair while others would say it was peach-colored. One of these documents, the Eastern Magic Record, noted that she had caused an incident that shook her society but its validity was unknown.

The playwright Ma utilized Kayo's original body and identity over a century later, passing on the family name to her daughter, Nemesis. Ma and Gammon Octo later created a film of the incident Kayo perpetrated. While watching the film with an intruder to Evil's Theater, Ma commented about Elluka's involvement with Kayo, claiming that Elluka had been too late in swapping bodies and scissors with the tailor.

Personality and Traits
"Well? Aren't I beautiful?"

- Kayo

Kayo was considered amicable and friendly by the townspeople of Enbizaka. After being possessed by the Demon of Envy, she grew insecure about her own looks and desired the appearances of other beautiful women. Furthermore, she harbored an insidious feeling of envy towards women who were with the man she loved, feeling greatly hurt and disgusted by those she assumed her "lover" cheated with and thought he was pitiful for even dating a child.

Despite this, she remained completely infatuated with the man and held a psychopathic determination to murder the man's "lovers" in order to silence them; associating their unique articles of clothing to what she believed he found appealing about them, Kayo took the clothes and retailored them for herself in an attempt to make herself more desirable for her lover.

However, in spite of her obsession with the man, she was furious by his apparent flippant attitude, treating her like a stranger, and murdered him as well. She also seemed to lack some touch in reality, disassociating herself from the murders she committed and treating the people's panic over the issue like a separate incident.

Skills and Abilities
Kayo was admired by many for her talent in tailoring kimonos. She was also skilled enough to not be discovered committing her heinous crimes by anyone in Enbizaka and had stalked her love without being caught.

Character Connections
Unfaithful Lover: Kayo Sudou's fantasized lover. Kayo loved him deeply and was hurt by his unfaithful attitude, often crying as she worked in her tailor shop and wishing to become more attractive to him, such as by using the clothing of his other perceived mistresses. Despite her love for him, Kayo was also disgusted with her lover's unscrupulous courting and became deeply offended when he acted as though he didn't know her.

Red Kimono Woman: A perceived mistress of Kayo's lover. Kayo was envious of the girl's relationship with her lover and her beautiful appearance, believing that her clothing was key to achieving it for herself. Kayo displayed no remorse for the murder of the girl.

Green Sash Girl: A perceived mistress of Kayo's lover. Kayo was envious of the girl's relationship with her lover and her beautiful appearance, believing that her clothing was key to achieving it for herself. Kayo displayed no remorse for the murder of the girl.

Yellow Hairpin Girl: A perceived mistress of Kayo's lover. Kayo was envious of the girl's relationship with her lover and astonished at her youth, while still believing her article of clothing could be of use to achieve her lover's affection. Kayo displayed no remorse for the murder of the girl.

Elluka Clockworker: A sorceress Kayo met. Kayo ran into Elluka sometime before her murder of the girls, envying her appearance, was allowed to swap bodies with the sorceress, obtaining Lukana Octo's pink-haired body.

Lukana Octo: A body Kayo inhabits. Kayo envied Lukana Octo's beautiful body and preferred it to her own. After obtaining the body through Elluka's body-swap, Kayo was satisfied with her new appearance and went about her business as usual with it.

Ma: A sorceress who inhabits Kayo's body. Ma's physical identity is noted as Kayo Sudou, but it is unknown how she obtained the tailor's body.

Conceptualization and Origin

 * Kayo's name is derived from the term "Sutookaayo" (ストーカーよ) or "stalker"; when read in its eastern format, Kayo's name becomes "Sudou Kayo" (スドウ＝カヨ).
 * Kayo's name is partially inspired by the name of her representative Vocaloid, Luka, with Kayo's name beginning with the letters "ka".
 * Kayo is inspired by the Kuchisake-onna, a popular Japanese urban legend who, according to myth, was a woman mutilated by a jealous husband and returned as an evil spirit; the ghost of the mutilated woman asks her victims, "Am I beautiful?" before killing them with a pair of scissors.

Curiosities

 * Lukana Octo, Kayo's eventual body, was also a tailor.
 * In Capriccio Farce, the real name of Ma is listed as "Kayo Sudou", referring to Kayo's body that she is inhabiting.
 * According to the Evils Kingdom booklet, Kayo received a fake pair of scissors along with Lukana's body but was already possessed with a Deadly Sin, implicating she remained possessed by the Demon of Envy while wielding a replica of the vessel.

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