Rakesh Oranye

Rakesh Oranye
Biographical information
Home	Sector 8 slums, Midgar
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Gameplay details
Type	Non-player character

Rakesh Oranye is a character in Final Fantasy VII Remake Trace of Two Pasts. The son of Dr. Dhamini Oranye, he is born and raised in the Sector 8 slums of Midgar, working in his mother's clinic. Rakesh initially helped Tifa Lockhart with her rehabilitation, and was a student of Rashard Zangan.

History

Rakesh was born and raised in the slums to Dr. Oranye. His father was also a doctor and medical researcher for the Shinra Electric Power Company who taught physical rehabilitation techniques, but was a biologist in training, but later specialized in observing and cataloging musculature of specimens in the company's labs to become editor-in-chief for a monster encyclopedia, before being killed by a research specimen.

At some point, Rakesh gambled Dr. Oranye's money on chocobo races. This put him heavily in debt to Mr. Manson, forcing Dr. Oranye to greatly overcharge patients in order to help pay off the debt.

Rakesh was also at some point a student of Zangan, memorizing his Book Two. Zangan would visit the slums every three-four months, occasionally visiting Rakesh among his other students spread across the slums. Each time Zangan visited, he complained about the smell, which hurt Rakesh to have his master insult his home.

Rakesh initially began rehabilitating Tifa Lockhart when she was taken to Dr. Oranye's clinic in November 0002, using techniques he had learned from his father. He also gave her advice on life in the slums, advising her to keep her criticisms of Shinra to herself.

When Tifa was released December 4, Rakesh gave her a temporary card to permit residence in the Sector 8 slums that claimed she was from Corel, before setting her up to live in a small apartment in Container Row, Mr. Manson's territory, where she would work for Mr. Manson in his company Sector 8 Steamed Buns. Rakesh gave a number of rules to her that he claimed were Mr. Manson's rules. Secretly, the rules he gave her were actually his own bogus rules, and Dr. Oranye had overcharged Tifa by three times of the actual cost of her treatment to help pay down Rakesh's debt to Mr. Manson. Mr. Manson stayed quiet about the plan due to how performant Tifa was at her job, not wanting to lose her, but was unaware of the rules Rakesh was making Tifa follow.

When Marle came to Dr. Oranye's clinic for treatment, Rakesh urged Tifa to convince Marle to take the treatment, due to Marle's refusal. However, when Marle asked Rakesh to pass on her address to Tifa so that Tifa could meet her later, Rakesh intentionally failed to pass on the message to Tifa.

On May 3 0004, Tifa's seventeenth birthday, Rakesh warned Tifa that her friends were Avalanche, and warned her to stay away from them. After Container Row was later attacked by Shinra, Rakesh stayed with her, showing awe of her combat abilities and complaining about Zangan and cursing Avalanche causing Tifa to ask him to leave. The following day he fibbed to her that Manson wanted her to live on Container Row and that it was his mother who owed money to Manson, and mentioned he could get her a job at Wall Market to pay debts faster; the revelation that she was paying Manson and the suggestion eroded Tifa's remaining trust in him.

Rakesh continued to check up on her in a way she found intrusive, voiced suspicions about her second job at Seventh Heaven (which she denied), and passing on an ominous message allegedly from Mr. Manson saying "Don't forget. You belong to me.". Tifa later confronted Rakesh angrily about him witholding Marle's address and suspected he may have been preventing Zangan from seeing her, his lies becoming more obvious; to his relief, she did not attack him there. Tifa ultimately lost patience with Rakesh, snapping at him that she still intended to pay Manson back; this was true, although her determination came from her own stubborn pride rather than from feeling any loyalty.

Rakesh stole from Tifa's savings purse of around 160,000 gil which Tifa had hidden under her clothes, intending to place a down payment for Seventh Heaven to become its proprietor. Tifa and Barret Wallace disovered it at Dr. Oranye's clinic, walking in on Mr. Manson demanding payment. There, Barret took Tifa's money back while Tifa beat up Rakesh, him first claiming she should be grateful he made sure she did not work at Wall Market before claiming her loved her. Dr. Oranye forgave Tifa's debts, and Tifa left after a slamming her heel into Rakesh's nose and leaving.

Characteristics

Rakesh was described as having inherited his mother's hair, warm brown skin, and contours of his well-shaped nose. Tifa also noted he had an attractive, lightly muscled physique, with a well-toned arm. Rakesh wore a single leather cord bracelet, a gift from Zangan.

Rakesh initially presented himself as friendly and approachable, making goofy smiles that lightened Tifa's mood, and complimenting her laugh. Despite this, he was duplicitous and abusive. Rakesh told lies, claiming that his mother wished she could have waived Tifa's fee when she had overcharged her. Later, when he stole Tifa's money with her savings, he acted as if it belonged to him, and despite having treated her poorly, gaslit her claiming he had spared her an even worse fate of working a job at Wall Market. Rakesh also developed feelings for Tifa, being visibly disappointed when Tifa asked for space from him, and in his final words to her telling her he loved her.

Rakesh had memorized Zangan's Book Two. However, his quick defeat to Tifa and to Mr. Manson suggested he was a much weaker fighter than she was.

References

• Kazushige Nojima (2023). Final Fantasy VII Remake Trace of Two Pasts [Book]. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-7348-2.