I ran this by You, esteemed lore curator, and they didn't know if it had ever been sufficiently explained in canon.
So I decided to crowd-source opinions and any insight into canon, because it's still bugging me.
I just recently rewatched the movies and had forgotten that Araya knew about Shiki when she was still in high school and therefore did not learn about Shiki through Touko's involvement in the story.
So, what we know, from my understanding, is this:
1. Araya learned about Shiki, probably because he was around 200-150 years prior when possibly the Ryougi family was still involved in that demon hunting organization thing? He attacks her in 1995, at the moment when she's trying to muster the gumption to kill Mikiya because she can't handle her feelings.
2. Touko hires Mikiya in... 1998? 1997? I forget but before Shiki comes out of her coma.
3. At some point prior to hiring Mikiya, Touko worked on part of the design of the condo in Paradox Spiral. Unclear whether she was feigning ignorance of the project's nature to Mikiya when he asked about this fact, which he'd apparently learned through his research into the building itself, or if she had forgotten about the project because she took it up, did part of it, and did not - at the time - know that Araya was involved.
Point #3 is what I'm most interested in, because I don't think there's any way to gauge exactly when this happened unless Mikiya indicated when the condo started to be built and I have lost track of that thread.
Mahoyo isn't really in my frame of reference, but it's my understanding that Touko kind of retired from villainy after Aoko defeats her evil plan then, but that wasn't too terribly long after she left Clock Tower.
I wonder, then, did she maintain some kind of association with Araya (and Alba) after this point?
Was she directly working with them in the early stages of building the Paradox Spiral condo but then separated herself from the project because she felt like they were doing stuff she no longer wanted to be involved in?
Or, if she was hired and literally didn't know what was going on - either through some shell company/anonymous employer situation or because she was doing a favor for Araya without much thought put into it - did Araya seek her out for this project for some specific reason?
And, finally, how does this ultimately culminate in Touko hiring Mikiya?
Touko basically, as I recall, frames hiring Mikiya as "you're good at finding things; you found my workshop; here's a job." And she seems to learn about Shiki primarily from Mikiya and Shiki herself around the time Shiki wakes up. The latter part, at least, seems honest to me.
Therefore, I'm wondering if:
A) Touko involved herself and put herself in Mikiya (and therefore somehow Shiki's) way but made it look like a random, convenient happenstance because she had learned of Araya's negative interest in Shiki and was interested in combating whatever he had planned for her because of her heel-face turn.
B) Araya somehow socially engineered Touko getting involved through whatever influence he used to get her on board with the condo project or because she left the project somehow.
C) It's all just some kind of stupendous coincidence.
Thoughts?
Is this the realm of headcanon or are there answers anyone knows?
And somewhere between is welcome by me. This is just really bugging me.