Takasugi Tsukasa Masao

Shingami

GM to set Division

Appearance & Mannerisms

Takasugi Masao stands at a solid 6’3. His hair is a deep black and buzzed on either side of his head, though longer on top and messy with a drooping fringe that skims just below the left eye. He wears his hair long at the back, either drawn back into a ponytail or braided neatly with metal rings and beads. His lip is pierced on either side with silver rings, and he wears two silver eyebrow bars above the right eye. His right ear is also pierced with a plain silver stud in the earlobe and tragus, and two orbital hoops on the outer shell, with the upper hoop connecting to the tragus stud and the lower connecting to the earlobe with light silver chains. He maintains a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, and below the right side of his chin an oddly shaped and poorly healed scar can be seen extending down his neck.

As an unfortunate side effect of him suffering from intense migraines when subjected to sunlight, he is usually only assigned to evening missions and assignments, so appears physically drained and of ill health when interacted with during the daylight hours. During the day, he presents a sinister, ambling presence with broad, hunched shoulders and a near permanent looming half-stumble to his gait that almost reminds one of sleepwalking. He wears a pair of red-tinted goggles to assist with his migraines, though their effectiveness is debatable and may just serve to inadvertently add to his creepy aura.

By night, Takasugi returns to ‘normal’, having slept the previous day away in preparation for his duties in the evening. His stance straightens out, his lumbering hunch vanishing in place of a confident, purposeful stride befitting his strict dedication to his role within the Gotei. He wears his goggles around his neck, revealing tired but alert eyes of a deep brown, until the sun rises and the pain in his head starts again, after which he beats a swift retreat if he’s able into the nearest Senkaimon with his goggles firmly attached to his head. He wears the standard uniform of the Shinigami with no deviations whatsoever, however underneath he has the outline of a full Munewari depicting a kraken attempting to drown a dragon, sans colour, his death occurring before he could complete it. His Zanpakutou is nothing but an asauchi, but it has attached to him enough to take the form of a plain pine tantō with no guard and with no finish.

Personality

Takasugi is a man of strict honour and duty, having been a low-ranked Yakuza family man in his former life. Though he does not remember his past prior to awakening in Soul Society, his previous mannerisms have bled through into his new life and he maintains a deep-seated belief in responsibility, accountability and position. He does, however, have a deeply rooted fear of making the wrong choices and moral corruption, though he cannot quite remember why – it is enough that he gets a shiver of cold terror whenever a hell gate materialises before him to claim a damned soul that he has since stopped asking himself why. Instead, he is content to complete his work as painlessly and as kindly as possible, seeing the compassionate dispatching of hollows as a moral imperative, rather than just another task assigned to him.

Despite his imposing presence and the rough, unrefined timbre of his voice, Takasugi has a heart of gold and strives to make the world a better place. He is a man of few words and a gentle soul through and through, and has long since decided to lend whatever strength he has to those who need it most – on days he can stand to be out in the sun, he can be seen strolling through Rukongai’s poorest regions, aiding in the construction of shelters and helping tend the fields.

Takasugi has few aspirations, and has little to no interest in climbing the ranks of his Division. He is content to perform the duties assigned to him to the best of his ability, and finds satisfaction in a job well done enough to need little recognition, though he doesn’t seem to realise his lack of motivation hinders his wish to gain strength so that he might take on more dangerous assignments.

Biography

Takasugi Masao was a low-ranking member of a Yakuza family at the time of his death. Having been killed in a case of mistaken identity during a war between two family factions, his untimely end was written off by local law enforcement as a terrible case of ‘wrong place, wrong time’.

Understanding quickly that he had died, and coming to the conclusion that there was indeed an afterlife, Masao also quickly came to the inevitable conclusion that he must have been sent to hell for the deeds he had committed whilst alive. He watched powerlessly as the highest ranking members of both his family and the opposition were picked off one at a time in a brazen show of uncharacteristically open warfare that neither the local police nor the families themselves could halt. His family headquarters became a bloodbath, and all he could do was witness the slaughter.

Soon, his old family headquarters was seemingly overrun by chained souls from both families, clamouring in confusion. Unfortunately the violence escalated once again, with souls breaking their own chains to claw at the throats of their own murderers, too enveloped in their own selfish desire for immediate and utter revenge that not one of them stopped to consider the consequences. Masao couldn’t hold them responsible for their own stupidity, even after he witnessed the influx of hollows that poured into the tower block as a result – who could possibly have known?

It didn’t take long for the Shinigami to arrive, and Masao watched in horror as each hollow was dealt with. Outside the building, a deep rumbling shook the very windows behind him as a hell gate emerged. With wide eyes he watched as the souls he had once called family turned to hollows, only to be then dispatched by Shinigami and pulled screaming inside the gate. Even some who had not broken their chains were pulled inside when Soul Burial was performed on them, leaving Takasugi torn between breaking his own chain to become a monster and make a run for freedom, or sit tight and take responsibility for the sins he had committed in life. He made his peace. He patiently waited to be sucked into the gate as a black-uniformed woman touched his forehead with the pommel of her zanpakutou. A flash of light. Forgiveness. Takasugi Masao awoke in District 32 with no memory, but a soul-bound terror of repercussions for past sins he couldn’t recollect, both real and imagined.