Sniper Mask

## Yuka Makoto

* Masked (Manga)
* Unmasked (Manga)
* Anime

Yuri Honjo (Younger Step Sister)Unnamed Father unnamed stepmother unnamed stepuncle

## Character Voice

### English

Jonah Scott

**Yuka Makoto**, better known as **Sniper Mask** and also known as "Mr. Mask" by Kuon Shinzaki, is an anti-heroic supporting character of *High-Rise Invasion*. He is the brother to Rika Honjo and a stepbrother of Yuri Honjo.

After Kuon's supposed "death", the Sniper Mask became a God Candidate.

## Appearance

When under the influence of the mask, Sniper Mask wore a white tie, black shirt and a different style belt compared to when the influence was decreased. Currently (not under the influence of the mask's will), Sniper Mask wears a black suit, a fedora hat, a white shirt and a black tie. He also wears gloves, leather shoes, an interestingly designed belt, and of course, the smiling mask. He is often seen smoking on his free time but also occasionally smokes during a pursuit, as in the first time he encountered Yuri Honjo.

His hairstyle bears a resemblance with that of Rika Honjo. He appears to be relatively taller and older than Rika. He has a distinctive scar underneath his left eye and his adult self looks like a "sharper" version of his brother. When Sniper Mask was in a Japanese style room with Yuri to ask her whether she has seen him before due to his connection as a "close friend" to Rikka he shows her his face. Yuri squels and blushes as she describes his face as "super handsome" and later disappointed when Sniper Mask decides to keep his mask on questioning him as he is "super hot."

## Personality

Prior to the grenade incident with Yuri Honjo and Mayuko Nise, Sniper Mask is the same as the others Angel masks who are completely under its influence and are devoid of their own reasoning. He survived the explosion and his mask cracked on the right side near his ear as a result, causing it to malfunction. He regained his consciousness and some of his memories and he is now able to talk and analyze his situation. However, he was still unable to disobey the mask's orders to make humans commit suicide or to kill them if they do not show signs of despair. After meeting Kuon Shinzaki, he attempted to scare her by pointing his rifle at her, but the masked ordered him not to, to which he responded to with shock. The mask mentioned her status and gave him no further orders, meaning he was able to talk and finally express his concerns. Later on, he was able to talk with Yuri before going into hibernation mode, a setting the mask sets "defect" angels into. Fortunately, he was saved thanks to Kuon and Nise's help and he was no longer forced to obey the commands of the mask. However, he was suggested to keep the mask on because the suicide command still remains.

So, as a human who is not under the influence of the mask, he seems to be a very intelligent man. He considers his situations carefully and makes his decisions based on what he determines to be best. Once he grows close to someone, he starts to show his concern for them, but overall, he is determined to look cool in whatever he does.

Being cool seems to be a key aspect of the Sniper's personality as when he finds himself in embarrassing predicaments, he immediately jumps to the thought that he doesn't look cool enough. But since he seems to be naturally "cool" due to his demeanor and overall abilities, he does manage to find interesting ways to look impressive, even in the most embarrassing moments he's in (or those which he considers embarrassing).

He does show signs of care towards Kuon and then develops more into a leader once he is introduced to the group Yuri has formed.

## Relationships

### Rika Honjo

Rika is Sniper Mask's younger biological brother.

### Yuri Honjo

Yuri and Sniper Mask started off as enemies, but they eventually became allies to one another.

### Kuon Shinzaki

Sniper Mask acted cold towards Kuon during their first meeting, but he started to show his concern for her as their journey progressed.

He seems to be unaware of Kuon's feelings towards him.

## Abilities

* **Marksmanship**: Sniper Mask is capable of hitting any target even from a 200m distance. He is also skilled in short range combat, killing axe mask in a short battle with his rifle. He can also effectively use ricochet to eliminate any targets. He can easily catch normal bullet and even dodge a sniper bullet as well. It seems like he is using a Mosin-Nagant, which is a 7.62x54mm Russian bolt-action gun with a internal magazine.
* **Faceless mask**: After Kuon Shinzaki transferred her powers to him, Sniper Mask has all abilities of the faceless mask.
* **Ability to Manipulate Masks**: After Kuon transfer her powers to him, Sniper Mask presumably have this ability. If their wavelengths match or as long as the user's wavelength is above that of the Angel, he or she can control them. The number of masks that can be controlled differs from person to person. Similar with the first ability, it must needs be manually activated by that person's mental capacity to figure out how it is done.
* **Self-reinforced Ability**: After Kuon transfer her powers to him, Sniper Mask presumably have this ability. This ability strengthens the physical capability of the person who has become closer to god, giving them the power to get rid of a mask. In the case of an emergency measure as when they are attacked before the code is fully installed, this ability is automatically activated and will no longer be compressed in the wearer's brain.
* **Ability to manipulate Guardian angels**: After completing god code, Sniper Mask possess the ability to manipulate and control guardian angels unlike normal Faceless mask user who could only control Smiling mask he could also control guardian angels. He is the only know user so far who have this ability.
* **Mask Abilities**: One of the true abilities of his mask is that he possesses great hearing, to the extent of being able to locate the source of a sound without actually being able to see where it came from.
* **Ability To Blow Up Buildings** (ビルをブチ壊せる人): Sniper Mask is able to move the railgun system at his will thanks to Kuon's spirit reside in his mind which gives him the ability of the one close to God.
* **Forced Defragmentation** (the elimination of an Angel's mask program): Increased Sniper Mask's physical abilities as an Angel even further than what would normally be achievable with a regular Defragmentation and allowing Sniper Mask to fight evenly with an Apostle like Rika Honjo.
* **Enhanced hearing**: Sniper Mask has an advanced hearing. He can easily detect Mayuko's screech from hundreds of meters away and even learning her exact coordinates.

## Plot

The Sniper Mask is introduced on a building rooftop, targeting Yuri Honjo and Mizushita. Opening fire, the mask shoots Mizushita in the head, nearly killing him. Quickly reloading the mask begins to target Yuri.

Opening fire again, the mask sees his shot hit the ground as Yuri manages to flee around a wall barrier. Viewing Mizushita crawl across the ground, the Sniper Mask once again shoots him in the head, ending his life.

Yuri manages to come up with an idea with an impressive amount of intellect and the Sniper lost sight of her temporarily. Putting a cigarette into his mouth he lights it and stands there, waiting, until he is surprised to see Yuri move Mizushita's body. Wielding his rifle again, the Sniper Mask prepares to shoot.

Watching over a distance, he becomes unsure of the smoke arising from the targeted area. When the smoke covers the area around him, he becomes surprised. Unable to see he puts his rifle onto his shoulder and pulls out a small portrait. Pulling a picture out from his jacket, he stares at it until slowly utters the word "Yuri".

He then seems to travel around the rooftop buildings as we see him later appear when Yuri first meets Mayuko Nise. Yuri warns Nise that the Sniper was behind her and they both manage to slip around a corner. Yuri convinces Nise that they have to work together to stop the Sniper and she comes up with an idea. She grabs a grenade she had and tossed it down towards the Sniper as he appraoched and he didn't have time to run away as the bomb exploded in his face.

After some time, he got up and discovered that the impact cracked his mask, allowing him to have his conscience, but not his free will (the design and color of his tie, shirt and belt change during this time). He starts to head out when another mask walks towards him, and as they pass, the mask attempts to attack him. After a quick showdown, the Sniper won, but he is bewildered to know that other masks will now attack him due to the malfunction of his mask.

He travels more and ended up forcing someone to commit suicide, to which he could do nothing but watch. He paused, stunned by his actions and upset with himself. He begins thinking about the mask itself and finds himself remembering the words of someone he didn't know. He focuses on the quote he remembered, but it caused him to feel a slight jolt of pain, making him lean against a wall for balance. He stands there by himself and even considers committing suicide himself until Kuon appears, asking him if he is alright. The Sniper can only think to himself how stupid the girl is as he pulls out his rifle and aims it directly at her head. Unable to resist the will of the mask, he starts to apologize to her in his mind. However, the mask orders him to not attack her, as she became close to god. Puzzled, he lowers the gun, to which Kuon was relieved by.

He proceeds to ask her questions but finds out that she is just as confused as he is about the world they are trapped in. He goes to leave her behind, but before he could, he senses that someone is crossing a suspension bridge towards them. He hesitates and then sees the man. Kuon seems instantly worried, saying she had previously tried to get away from him. The Sniper notices that the man had a shield and Kuon claimed that he tried doing very terrible things to her. Assuming the worse, the Sniper went on the defensive and came out of hiding around the wall and attacked the man with his gun. The bullets were nothing to the shield, so he settled for shooting the bridge ropes that the man was crossing on. The bridge collapsed and the man fell to his death.

After this incident, the Sniper feels obligated to stay with Kuon until she finds safety. But then he considers who would protect her, and he confidently found his answer: Yuri. The girl he saw earlier was the same girl in the portrait he had, spiking his curiosity in her. He then turns to Kuon and agrees to travel with her until he finds Yuri, then Kuon could go with her and the Sniper could achieve his objective.

## Trivia

* Sniper Mask's face is never revealed in the anime and manga:
	+ Around Chapter 74/Episode 5, he takes off his mask to eat, but neither Kuon Shinzaki nor the reader are able to get a glimpse on what his face looks like. In Episode 6, a flashback of himself has his eyes covered in shadows, although his right eye and mouth were shown. His eyes were shown to be covered shadows once again as young boy in Episode 9.
	+ It happens again in Chapter 121 and Episode 10, but this time, Yuri Honjo sees his face that she comments on how he is "super handsome" and he has a scar beneath his left eye, although the viewer can't see.
	+ By the end of the story, his adult face is never fully revealed, saved when looking at the rail gun's code where he is overexposed to light.

## References

1. ↑ *Tenkuu Shinpan* manga: Chapter 9
2. ↑ *Tenkuu Shinpan* manga: Chapter 10
3. ↑ *Tenkuu Shinpan* manga: Chapter 11